I have more than "fond memories" of using Slackware, I'm using it right now. It seems to run just fine, for not being a "modern distribution". But gee, it has the latest Linux kernel 2.4.5, and X 4.1.0, and Gnome 1.4, and KDE 2.1.1, and scores of other things: I run a firewall, a CD burner, a scanner, plus I download and install updates automatically from Slackware.com. My Slackware box can run any software that your Debian box can. How is Slackware not "modern"?
People have different tastes and preferences. Most people like a certain distro because it's easier for them to use. That ease of use may not translate to increased technical merit (or performance), however. Some people like a distro because it fits the model of how they think a distro should be organized. Such models are highly subjective, however, as you can see by the dozens of distros out there to meet the needs of users clamoring for things to be done "their way".
I'm not saying that Slackware is better than Debian. I'm not saying that Debian is better than Slackware. I'm saying that they're mostly the same, but organized differently. At the core, they're both running the same kernel and set of core utilities. Many of the apps are the same, and in fact come from the same source.
When I decided to first install Linux, I had a choice of several different distros. I chose Slackware for three reasons: 1) A Linux guru whose skills I really respect was running it, 2) Ret Hat had a reputation for being easy to install and use but highly insecure by default, while Slackware had a reputation of being harder to install and use at first, but more secure by default, and 3) because Slackware wasn't as dumbed-down as Red Hat, it forced you to actually LEARN more about how Linux works. That last point is probably the most important reason to me. The knowledge that I have gained by being forced to do some things myself has helped me immensely. I'm not dependent on a developer to write a handy tool to do something for me, I just do it, because I know how.
In summary, Debian and Slackware are geared for different target audiences. To say that one is more "modern" than the other is something that I disagree with. They're just different approaches to using the same basic tools. Slackware, in my opinion, is geared more to the "do-it-yourself" total-control type of crowd, and for those people, the tools that Slackware comes with work just fine.
Even a battered old violin in the hands of a skillful player sounds much better than a Stradivarius in the hands of a tone-deaf klutz. So when it comes down to it, each distro is limited only by the skill of the user.
Someone has to say it...
on
Duct Tape
·
· Score: 1
I followed the link to the JPL website, and found it uninformative and quite sparse. No mention of the date or time of the webcast was given, merely a link to the Real media video stream (and of course that link is broke at the moment, since I'm sure the match is not going on right now).
Perhaps someone could post a link to the story which actually gives the details!
Paramount has just introduced the latest spinoff of the popular Star Trek television series:
Star Trek: The Operating System
Now you too can experience the thrill of Starfleet's easily hackable, error-prone computers, just like on the popular series!
Captain, it appears that the Borg have infiltrated our journaling filesystem and are threatening to frag us!
Imagine the joy of having your own computer crash due to metaphasic radiation, perfectly in sync with the television broadcast, giving you a chance to test your skills and summon your own 'inner Wesley' to bring it back up.
"I had no idea of the constant trouble the crew of the Enterprise experienced while out in space. Having 'Star Trek: The Operating System' loaded on my machine has made me feel closer to the show. I now identify with the characters more intimately. Thanks, Paramount!" -- Lester Platt, Jeffersonville, IN
Order your copy of Star Trek: The Operating System today!
Look at all the great lenghts that these people go to, in order to prevent the "stealing" of their "intellectual property"! So, in essence, these corporations admit to making money by withholding vital information from the very people that they claim to serve.
The whole idea of "intellectual property" is slavery. Those who hold the "secret" information are the masters of those who are ignorant. Withholding information, no matter what it may be, is a dangerous precedent for society. Who decides what information should be secret? What if a cure for cancer has already been discovered, yet drug companies want to withhold that information from humanity in order to continue making huge profits on existing expensive cancer treatments?
So what if people can "steal" your idea, and sell different versions of your product? That's the whole idea behind competition! Your efforts have opened up a whole new market niche, aren't you proud of that? "Trade secrets" and "Intellectual Property" are, in fact, ANTI-competitive. They limit the competition to exactly zero. Sounds more like Communism that capitalism to me, only the State has been replaced by the Corporations. Not much difference.
It is time to TAKE BACK THE KNOWLEDGE! LEARN everything you possibly can, whether you're "supposed" to or not. USE that knowledge, and COMPETE with others, thus raising the bar of standards and IMPROVING HUMANITY!
The free flow of ALL information is essential. No more secrets!
A surprising move in the Napster saga is sure to bring the ire of the RIAA. Utilizing a newly released technology dubbed "electron encoding", the entire contents of Napster has been transferred to a single electron. Users are then copying the contents to their own electrons, using a new high-tech network they call "Zapster".
In a twist of irony, the initial electron used to start the Zapster network was taken from a dandruff flake secretly gathered from the head of Hilary B. Rosen, President and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). When asked about her own unlikely contribution to Zapster, Ms. Rosen refused to comment, relaying all questions to her attorney. Inside sources, however, revealed that following the incident, aides were sent to the grocery store to buy massive quantities of "Head and Shoulders" shampoo.
Even though CueCat is giving away their bar code scanners free, it is blatantly obvious that they intent to make money off of the deal. Personally, on the surface I think it's a great idea (albeit a gimmicky one) to have items in a catalog barcoded for quick lookup on a web site. However, in reality, it could ultimately raise questions in regard to privacy, particulary with the "convergence cable" option, which I have seen little mention of so far on Slashdot.
After hooking up a cable from your TV/VCR audio out to your sound card line-in jack, you will be instantly "whisked away" to the web site corresponding to the commercial you have just seen. With the use of cookies, marketers could be able to track which commercials you have seen, and which television shows you have been watching, perhaps even in real-time. (Wouldn't that be great for Nielsen ratings to have a hugely expanded poll set, in real time, without anyone's knowledge?) The web site also mentions encoding DVD and other movies, so it would be possible to track which movies you rented as well. So you like to rent horror movies? Pretty soon, you could be getting offers in the mail for Stephen King's book club.
The danger lies not only in the convergence cable, however. The bar code software itself seems geared to using a central web site for lookups. This also presents another chance to gather valuable marketing data. In theory, you'll be scanning items that you at least have some interest in. In time, a valuable set of information will build regarding your lifestyle and personal tastes.
Am I paranoid? I prefer to call it "progressively realistic". On the whole, few would really care if the world found out their shopping list, or if they watched Seinfeld re-runs; however, it seems that we are more often trading in privacy and personal freedom for the sake of convenience, one small step at a time. Once we become slaves to convenience, it's only a hair's breadth away from becoming slaves to those who provide it.
All that having been said, I ran right out to Radio Shack and got one. I'll be watching the watchers, however.
Slashdot Mirror
I have more than "fond memories" of using Slackware, I'm using it right now. It seems to run just fine, for not being a "modern distribution". But gee, it has the latest Linux kernel 2.4.5, and X 4.1.0, and Gnome 1.4, and KDE 2.1.1, and scores of other things: I run a firewall, a CD burner, a scanner, plus I download and install updates automatically from Slackware.com. My Slackware box can run any software that your Debian box can. How is Slackware not "modern"?
People have different tastes and preferences. Most people like a certain distro because it's easier for them to use. That ease of use may not translate to increased technical merit (or performance), however. Some people like a distro because it fits the model of how they think a distro should be organized. Such models are highly subjective, however, as you can see by the dozens of distros out there to meet the needs of users clamoring for things to be done "their way".
I'm not saying that Slackware is better than Debian. I'm not saying that Debian is better than Slackware. I'm saying that they're mostly the same, but organized differently. At the core, they're both running the same kernel and set of core utilities. Many of the apps are the same, and in fact come from the same source.
When I decided to first install Linux, I had a choice of several different distros. I chose Slackware for three reasons: 1) A Linux guru whose skills I really respect was running it, 2) Ret Hat had a reputation for being easy to install and use but highly insecure by default, while Slackware had a reputation of being harder to install and use at first, but more secure by default, and 3) because Slackware wasn't as dumbed-down as Red Hat, it forced you to actually LEARN more about how Linux works. That last point is probably the most important reason to me. The knowledge that I have gained by being forced to do some things myself has helped me immensely. I'm not dependent on a developer to write a handy tool to do something for me, I just do it, because I know how.
In summary, Debian and Slackware are geared for different target audiences. To say that one is more "modern" than the other is something that I disagree with. They're just different approaches to using the same basic tools. Slackware, in my opinion, is geared more to the "do-it-yourself" total-control type of crowd, and for those people, the tools that Slackware comes with work just fine.
Even a battered old violin in the hands of a skillful player sounds much better than a Stradivarius in the hands of a tone-deaf klutz. So when it comes down to it, each distro is limited only by the skill of the user.
David Hahn set us up the bomb!
I followed the link to the JPL website, and found it uninformative and quite sparse. No mention of the date or time of the webcast was given, merely a link to the Real media video stream (and of course that link is broke at the moment, since I'm sure the match is not going on right now).
Perhaps someone could post a link to the story which actually gives the details!
Paramount has just introduced the latest spinoff of the popular Star Trek television series:
Star Trek: The Operating System
Now you too can experience the thrill of Starfleet's easily hackable, error-prone computers, just like on the popular series!
Captain, it appears that the Borg have infiltrated our journaling filesystem and are threatening to frag us!
Imagine the joy of having your own computer crash due to metaphasic radiation, perfectly in sync with the television broadcast, giving you a chance to test your skills and summon your own 'inner Wesley' to bring it back up.
"I had no idea of the constant trouble the crew of the Enterprise experienced while out in space. Having 'Star Trek: The Operating System' loaded on my machine has made me feel closer to the show. I now identify with the characters more intimately. Thanks, Paramount!" -- Lester Platt, Jeffersonville, IN
Order your copy of Star Trek: The Operating System today!
Heavy usage of these motherboards in the research stations located at the South Pole could in fact accelerate the melting of the polar ice cap!
:-)
Look at all the great lenghts that these people go to, in order to prevent the "stealing" of their "intellectual property"! So, in essence, these corporations admit to making money by withholding vital information from the very people that they claim to serve.
The whole idea of "intellectual property" is slavery. Those who hold the "secret" information are the masters of those who are ignorant. Withholding information, no matter what it may be, is a dangerous precedent for society. Who decides what information should be secret? What if a cure for cancer has already been discovered, yet drug companies want to withhold that information from humanity in order to continue making huge profits on existing expensive cancer treatments?
So what if people can "steal" your idea, and sell different versions of your product? That's the whole idea behind competition! Your efforts have opened up a whole new market niche, aren't you proud of that? "Trade secrets" and "Intellectual Property" are, in fact, ANTI-competitive. They limit the competition to exactly zero. Sounds more like Communism that capitalism to me, only the State has been replaced by the Corporations. Not much difference.
It is time to TAKE BACK THE KNOWLEDGE! LEARN everything you possibly can, whether you're "supposed" to or not. USE that knowledge, and COMPETE with others, thus raising the bar of standards and IMPROVING HUMANITY!
The free flow of ALL information is essential. No more secrets!
What if the bacteria in the RAM module died? That would bring a whole new meaning to the term bit rot!
A surprising move in the Napster saga is sure to bring the ire of the RIAA. Utilizing a newly released technology dubbed "electron encoding", the entire contents of Napster has been transferred to a single electron. Users are then copying the contents to their own electrons, using a new high-tech network they call "Zapster".
In a twist of irony, the initial electron used to start the Zapster network was taken from a dandruff flake secretly gathered from the head of Hilary B. Rosen, President and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). When asked about her own unlikely contribution to Zapster, Ms. Rosen refused to comment, relaying all questions to her attorney. Inside sources, however, revealed that following the incident, aides were sent to the grocery store to buy massive quantities of "Head and Shoulders" shampoo.
Even though CueCat is giving away their bar code scanners free, it is blatantly obvious that they intent to make money off of the deal. Personally, on the surface I think it's a great idea (albeit a gimmicky one) to have items in a catalog barcoded for quick lookup on a web site. However, in reality, it could ultimately raise questions in regard to privacy, particulary with the "convergence cable" option, which I have seen little mention of so far on Slashdot.
After hooking up a cable from your TV/VCR audio out to your sound card line-in jack, you will be instantly "whisked away" to the web site corresponding to the commercial you have just seen. With the use of cookies, marketers could be able to track which commercials you have seen, and which television shows you have been watching, perhaps even in real-time. (Wouldn't that be great for Nielsen ratings to have a hugely expanded poll set, in real time, without anyone's knowledge?) The web site also mentions encoding DVD and other movies, so it would be possible to track which movies you rented as well. So you like to rent horror movies? Pretty soon, you could be getting offers in the mail for Stephen King's book club.
The danger lies not only in the convergence cable, however. The bar code software itself seems geared to using a central web site for lookups. This also presents another chance to gather valuable marketing data. In theory, you'll be scanning items that you at least have some interest in. In time, a valuable set of information will build regarding your lifestyle and personal tastes.
Am I paranoid? I prefer to call it "progressively realistic". On the whole, few would really care if the world found out their shopping list, or if they watched Seinfeld re-runs; however, it seems that we are more often trading in privacy and personal freedom for the sake of convenience, one small step at a time. Once we become slaves to convenience, it's only a hair's breadth away from becoming slaves to those who provide it.
All that having been said, I ran right out to Radio Shack and got one. I'll be watching the watchers, however.