Somehow I get the impression that the same sort of plea for help would be derided pretty quickly if it came from a company like Apple or Compaq.
"We're working on the new version of Tru64, and it's got some really wonderful new feature, but we're really in sort of a crunch right now. If you join this club, you'll pay us 60 dollars and we'll email you naked pictures of Carly from the last merger meeting. And, uh, you'll get the satisfaction of helping a deserving for-profit corporation. Yeah."
Oddly, a lot of the new blood is replacing the old die-hard Mac community. They made it through the Spindler and Amelio years, but just can't stomach the new operating system.
I'm one of the Mac support techs at a college, and I'm seeing lots of "give me OS 9 or give me death" sentiment lately.
We call them the "Baldheaded Barbies" at work -- the plastic shield with all the holes in it looks like a doll's head that the hair has been brutally ripped out of.
Then again, maybe I should have spent less time as a child tormenting the girl next door by destroying her toys.
Is there such a thing as a low-end used laptop anymore, and where?
I've had good luck at ham fests and swap meets and the like for stuff like this. In this case, "low-end" means Pentium 133 or thereabouts, but the price is usually okay.
I remember someone with a whole truck full of laptops from the Department of Agriculture at a hamfest I went to last year.
--saint
My analogy.
on
Penguin2Apple
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I use OS X at work and at home, and being in IT I work with a lot of Linux and Solaris devotees as well.
One of my interns, in particular, is a big Linux fan - like most undergrads, he has yet to realize that there are shades of grey, and that the "right tool for the job" is actually a workable principle much of the time.
Anyhow, he was haranguing me for not using Linux on my main box (although I have it, along with a lot of other *nix OSen, running on my home network). I told him that using OS X is a lot like using Linux/PPC, with the main difference being that all of my hardware is actually supported properly and the GUI is a bit more polished. The same Unix power is there if you need it, just as it would be under Linux or OpenBSD or Irix or Tru64 or whatever, and the OS is perfectly matched to the hardware. Ought to be, since they're from the same vendor.
Wonder if that includes Slashdot community input...
By which you mean fanatical, Stallmanist screeds about the evils of proprietary software? The written equivalent of storming the castle gates with torches, pitchforks, and not a thought in your head?
The problem with Gilmore (and the EFF, which is Gilmore's mouthpiece), is that he first got involved in lobbying to get copyright for software through (so people wouldn't copy his software), and since then he's basically opposed every single law relating to technology that has been proposed. It doesn't matter if the law is a good one, or if it's beneficial to the geek community - if it's a law relating to technology, he'll oppose it.
There is no culture in Africa besides cannibalism.
And there is no culture in China besides running people over with tanks.
Hey, looks like broad generalizations _can_ be both false and offensive!
There's a lot of uniquely American elements to US culture. I'm not saying its a better or worse culture than anyone else has, but it does exist. Open your eyes.
Is it a good thing because it promotes the free flow of information?
Information wants to be free, but my mail client does not want to be chock-full of herbal pot alternative spam.
If this were still the 'net of the pre-WWW days, I would see the point of running an open relay for friends. It's not, though. The vultures are here. And they really want to sell penis enlargers.
Taco: The department line on the Slsahdot Subscription story was ... 'Throwing a few bucks in the guitar case' I forget that people don't bother *reading* slashdot before they complain
This was in reference to the subscription system actually being more of a tip jar rather than a true subscription.
Hey, why don't you call it that rather than belittling your users? I don't seem to recall having to "subscribe" to Penny Arcade to get the wallpaper, just give them a clearly labelled donation. The department name is not exactly the best place to tell people an important message you don't want them to miss. If it were, perhaps the next steaming pile of Katzshit could be "from the don't-know-my-ass-from-my-elbow-without-an-instruc tional-video dept."
Oh, and it's nice to see that you can't spell for shit in real time, either. Why don't you sell off those VA options? Ought to be enough left for a remedial english course at the local community college.
Probably it's because the majority of the students on college campuses right now that have computers can't figure out where to get warez from.
In '97 or so, there was a significantly smaller percentage of students with their own machines. There wasn't even PPP connection to the dialup pool at my college in '96, let alone ethernet in the dorms. Now there's ethernet drops everywhere, wireless APs in a couple of buildings, and 80%+ of the students brought computers with them to college.
It's a completely different demographic, so naturally it's a different result. Computer geeks who know where and how to get warez are a smaller percentage of the whole now.
I thought that people who flock to sites like this were supposed to be tech savvy? Maybe it's just me, but I thought that indicated at least a modicum of intelligence instead of blind sheepery
You're obviously not in my first-year CS courses. Maybe its because I'm coming back to school several years older than my classmates, but christ, they're pretty clueless about technology.
If one more of them says he's in CS because programming pays well, I'm going postal.
This is one of the most exciting new distros to come along in a long time, and that would be a shame.
Well, unless you're absolutely bound to the Linux kernel for some reason (hardware support and the like), you can get something very similar from the Net or OpenBSD products.
(FreeBSD is probably similar as well, but I haven't tried it.)
Just do a basic install of the system from the network, and then use the ports/package system to add what you want.
One thing I haven't seen anyone post about this is the problem of trying to detect cheaters in a very basic class.
For example, I'm taking an introductory programming course at the moment, and the lab exercises tend to be solvable in a few minutes with the rudimentary Java skills we've acquired. How many ways can there be to answer these simplistic questions? Won't there be a tremendous false positive rate from this sort of thing?
Just how many "implement an alarm clock class" answers can there really be?
Slashdot Mirror
Somehow I get the impression that the same sort of plea for help would be derided pretty quickly if it came from a company like Apple or Compaq.
"We're working on the new version of Tru64, and it's got some really wonderful new feature, but we're really in sort of a crunch right now. If you join this club, you'll pay us 60 dollars and we'll email you naked pictures of Carly from the last merger meeting. And, uh, you'll get the satisfaction of helping a deserving for-profit corporation. Yeah."
--saint
Highlights include MathML enabled by default on Unix and Win32
Why only those two?
(I'm a Mac user, and just wondering why I get left out.)
--saint
Oddly, a lot of the new blood is replacing the old die-hard Mac community. They made it through the Spindler and Amelio years, but just can't stomach the new operating system.
I'm one of the Mac support techs at a college, and I'm seeing lots of "give me OS 9 or give me death" sentiment lately.
--saint
up through the G3 AIO (giant tooth)
We call them the "Baldheaded Barbies" at work -- the plastic shield with all the holes in it looks like a doll's head that the hair has been brutally ripped out of.
Then again, maybe I should have spent less time as a child tormenting the girl next door by destroying her toys.
*shrug*
--saint
Gateway, however, did beat Apple to the punch with the first all-in-one computer to feature a flat panel.
We've had these deployed at work for well over a year now.
How exactly is this a knock-off? And how exactly can you justify trying to charge for this sort of "editing"?
--saint
Apple users, it would seem, are by and large kooks.
If only us Apple users could be as calm, rational, and utterly normal as ESR or RMS. That would certainly be something to shoot for.
--saint
Is there such a thing as a low-end used laptop anymore, and where?
I've had good luck at ham fests and swap meets and the like for stuff like this. In this case, "low-end" means Pentium 133 or thereabouts, but the price is usually okay.
I remember someone with a whole truck full of laptops from the Department of Agriculture at a hamfest I went to last year.
--saint
I use OS X at work and at home, and being in IT I work with a lot of Linux and Solaris devotees as well.
One of my interns, in particular, is a big Linux fan - like most undergrads, he has yet to realize that there are shades of grey, and that the "right tool for the job" is actually a workable principle much of the time.
Anyhow, he was haranguing me for not using Linux on my main box (although I have it, along with a lot of other *nix OSen, running on my home network). I told him that using OS X is a lot like using Linux/PPC, with the main difference being that all of my hardware is actually supported properly and the GUI is a bit more polished. The same Unix power is there if you need it, just as it would be under Linux or OpenBSD or Irix or Tru64 or whatever, and the OS is perfectly matched to the hardware. Ought to be, since they're from the same vendor.
--saint
Wonder if that includes Slashdot community input...
By which you mean fanatical, Stallmanist screeds about the evils of proprietary software? The written equivalent of storming the castle gates with torches, pitchforks, and not a thought in your head?
Probably not.
--saint
Netscape 6 is Spyware?
Oddly, it's also utter dogshit. Congratulations, Netscape, you're finally catching up with Microsoft!
--saint
The problem with Gilmore (and the EFF, which is Gilmore's mouthpiece), is that he first got involved in lobbying to get copyright for software through (so people wouldn't copy his software), and since then he's basically opposed every single law relating to technology that has been proposed. It doesn't matter if the law is a good one, or if it's beneficial to the geek community - if it's a law relating to technology, he'll oppose it.
Are you sure you're not thinking of Mitch Kapor?
--saint
There is no culture in the USA besides capitalism
There is no culture in Africa besides cannibalism.
And there is no culture in China besides running people over with tanks.
Hey, looks like broad generalizations _can_ be both false and offensive!
There's a lot of uniquely American elements to US culture. I'm not saying its a better or worse culture than anyone else has, but it does exist. Open your eyes.
--saint
Is it a good thing because it promotes the free flow of information?
Information wants to be free, but my mail client does not want to be chock-full of herbal pot alternative spam.
If this were still the 'net of the pre-WWW days, I would see the point of running an open relay for friends. It's not, though. The vultures are here. And they really want to sell penis enlargers.
--saint
OpenSSH 3.1 was released this morning. The info and tarball for OpenBSD systems is available at:
http://www.openssh.com/openbsd.html
Mine's compiling now.
--saint
I thought it was "Toonami."
Posted by CmdrTaco
Ah, there's the culprit. And we're expected to pay for this?
--saint
Taco:
The department line on the Slsahdot Subscription story was
...
'Throwing a few bucks in the guitar case'
I forget that people don't bother *reading* slashdot before they complain
This was in reference to the subscription system actually being more of a tip jar rather than a true subscription.
Hey, why don't you call it that rather than belittling your users? I don't seem to recall having to "subscribe" to Penny Arcade to get the wallpaper, just give them a clearly labelled donation. The department name is not exactly the best place to tell people an important message you don't want them to miss. If it were, perhaps the next steaming pile of Katzshit could be "from the don't-know-my-ass-from-my-elbow-without-an-instru
Oh, and it's nice to see that you can't spell for shit in real time, either. Why don't you sell off those VA options? Ought to be enough left for a remedial english course at the local community college.
--saint
Probably it's because the majority of the students on college campuses right now that have computers can't figure out where to get warez from.
In '97 or so, there was a significantly smaller percentage of students with their own machines. There wasn't even PPP connection to the dialup pool at my college in '96, let alone ethernet in the dorms. Now there's ethernet drops everywhere, wireless APs in a couple of buildings, and 80%+ of the students brought computers with them to college.
It's a completely different demographic, so naturally it's a different result. Computer geeks who know where and how to get warez are a smaller percentage of the whole now.
--saint
Yeah, it says it is from "Microsoft Corporation". Or was that "Microsoft Corperation"?
The real Microsoft Corporation is user number one. All others are imposters.
--saint
I thought that people who flock to sites like this were supposed to be tech savvy? Maybe it's just me, but I thought that indicated at least a modicum of intelligence instead of blind sheepery
You're obviously not in my first-year CS courses. Maybe its because I'm coming back to school several years older than my classmates, but christ, they're pretty clueless about technology.
If one more of them says he's in CS because programming pays well, I'm going postal.
--saint
This is one of the most exciting new distros to come along in a long time, and that would be a shame.
Well, unless you're absolutely bound to the Linux kernel for some reason (hardware support and the like), you can get something very similar from the Net or OpenBSD products.
(FreeBSD is probably similar as well, but I haven't tried it.)
Just do a basic install of the system from the network, and then use the ports/package system to add what you want.
--saint
Ah, what a time to have AirSnort. And I hear CompUSA is going to be putting Access Points on sale soon!
--saint
One thing I haven't seen anyone post about this is the problem of trying to detect cheaters in a very basic class.
For example, I'm taking an introductory programming course at the moment, and the lab exercises tend to be solvable in a few minutes with the rudimentary Java skills we've acquired. How many ways can there be to answer these simplistic questions? Won't there be a tremendous false positive rate from this sort of thing?
Just how many "implement an alarm clock class" answers can there really be?
--saint
Where are the rights of the student?
Students don't seem to have rights any more. They are more or less a commodity used to pad out a spreadsheet.
--saint
rest assured that you won't have to deal with 10,000 pounds of pink flesh suddenly appearing in your computer room.
Ah, so the admin found his pants, then?
--saint
only the media giants could be so stupid as to think treating their customers like criminals will increase sales.
Hrm. I wonder if Microsoft will be able to license their Activation Code technology to the good people of Vivendi Universal.
"We're sorry, but someone is already listening to this pressing of the Britney Spheres CD."
--saint