Damn it, where are mod points when you need them? That one was good, I honestly never even really thought about the similarities between those two words...
I am not denying that at all, I just stated that Wi-Fi has been a royal bitch on Linux in my experience to the point where I just avoided it instead of bothering to get it working for the most part, and asked if that has changed over the years with the latest hardware. You added nothing. Windows XP wouldn't even recognize the onboard Ethernet adapter on this machine, and I've had countless other devices give me problems in Windows, but again, that's beside the point.
Clarify: Do you really mean "MS specific software," or are you really talking about "Windows specific software?" I can understand the second case (third party software for Windows), but why the hell would I want to run Microsoft software? That's kind of what I left Windows for in the first place; more secure, more sanely-designed software than what Microsoft puts out. Specifically, non-Microsoft software.
On the other hand, you've got Windows 8's repulsively-large (4px!) window borders. And because Microsoft knows better than you do, they have taken the liberty to remove the setting from the system options, requiring you to download some third-party program to bring the window borders to a sane size. At least, running Linux, I can manually adjust that setting as I see fit with no need to wander off to random websites and download a potentially dangerous executable.
So all Linux distros (and therefore, OS choice) must be eradicated for the "year of Linux" to occur? Since when was choice a bad thing? Have you taken a walk down the cereal aisle of your local supermarket, or been to a car lot lately? It's funny that people aren't complaining about choice when it comes to food and vehicles, as well as just about any other good you can think of.
2006 was the year of Linux on my desktop after a couple of years exploring, learning, and trying different distros out.
I'm pretty sure it's the businesses (including schools) that want Microsoft Office... and those people in the general public that actually "want" Microsoft's product only want it because:
1. That's what they learned in school and were taught that it is the standard that all businesses use. 2. That's what they use at work. 3. They don't know about any alternatives, and have the mindset that if something is "free" or not the de-facto "standard" then it is crap. 4. They haven't dared to subject themselves to the horrors of the lengthy Microsoft EULA (hey, I wouldn't want to read that shit either, to be honest), or if they did they just don't care if they're using it as permitted or not.
The schools and businesses are at fault here. How can it *not* be good to your customers to suggest a free, functional office suite over an expensive, highly restricted, proprietary one? Unless, of course, these "customers" you are talking about are large businesses and corporations with some stakes in Microsoft and its partners. The only things MS Office has going for it are its "business" reputation and schools teaching and recommending it specifically, further increasing this reputation and increasing familiarity with this specific program's quirks.
Schools should be teaching the basics of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, etc. in general; not any specific brand of program. But instead, they typically require none other than MS Office. No thanks, I'll continue to use LibreOffice when I need such a program. At least that program uses real standards, not some proprietary binary junk that can't even be read successfully between versions.
I have a Broadcom BCM4318 (rev 02) wireless adapter. Dates back to the machine, around 2006, and it's still a bitch to get working because of its proprietary firmware. I'm stuck on openSUSE 12.2 for the indeterminate future because I just don't have a wired Ethernet connection to hook it up to for the initial install; otherwise, I'd be stuck with a pretty useless computer that can't even get on the Internet. I don't know if that Wi-Fi problem has been fixed (I hope like hell so), but for the most part everything else works.
That's pretty much it though. Even nVidia drivers, which are usually relatively to install with the official installer anyway, often either come pre-installed or with easy distro-specific installers. I had some problems with a new (at the time) Creative sound card I got, but that was years ago and Linux quickly gained support for it.
What is the state of Linux Wi-Fi these days anyway, as of 2012 and 2013? If I were to walk in the store like, say, Staples and pick up a replacement Wi-Fi card, would it automatically work in most distributions? Or would I still have to jump through ridiculous hoops just to get the thing to work correctly? Are there any good Linux-compatible wireless adapters?
It was 2006 for me, although I started getting interested in Linux, learning and doing my original distro-hopping back around 2004 (still primarily using Windows at the time). All of my files were moved onto Linux partitions and Windows was completely eliminated by late 2006. In fact, the last year before the complete switch, my system was set to dual-boot both Windows XP and SUSE (or Zenwalk?), and I found myself primarily on the Linux side, rarely booting into Windows and never for more than a few minutes. Computing's been good ever since.
But the point was portability, which indicates taking one portable form factor computer system all over the place and just being able to plug it in and use it wherever you go as long as you've got a USB keyboard and mouse (and in fact, those two items are pretty easy to come across--no argument there). Unless every place you go, every person you know has a DVI-to-HDMI adapter and is willing to let you use their TV/monitor for a bit while you're there, then nope--you will need to bring your own converter.
Which makes a tiny, all-in-one, portable general-purpose Frankencomputer quite useless. And a PITA to set up if you consider the hassle reaching behind the tower to access the keyboard and mouse USB cables and their ports before and after using the thing.
No thanks, I happen to like their far-superior contrast levels. Plus, I prefer to play classic, non-HD games on a traditional television set with scanlines, and I like the extra vertical height of the old 1600x1200 monitor. Hell, even my current monitor has a better aspect ratio (16:10) than all the 16:9 movie-optimized HDMI-compatible junk available today. Yes, I like my vertical space. I use my computer for almost everything but movies, and for those rare times when I put a DVD in, it doesn't bother me at all to have thin, black, practically unnoticeable bars on the top and bottom of the screen.
Not everyone goes out buying new TVs and computer monitors every year to get the latest DRM-laden technology. I have a VGA-capable CRT monitor from ~2000 and a newer LCD monitor with two separate inputs for DVI and VGA. I see no need to add the additional hassle of carrying around yet another an extraneous adapter... a power cable is already more than I would want to deal with and I even avoid carrying those around whenever possible. I also have a 36" CRT TV from back in the late 90s, no chance of HDMI there; S-Video is the best it can do.
You get a fully usable live CD/DVD that can be booted into a complete desktop for testing, emergency/recovery or standard desktop use. And if you like it and want to use it as your main OS, you can install it. It's basically the KNOPPIX of Sid, but featuring a live system installer. And it's primarily focused on KDE (with Xfce and LXDE editions available), which is good for people who can't stand GNOME 3.
I couldn't really get into Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper, and I'd never put them up with Super Mario 64. I don't know what it is about the games released on Sony's systems, but very few of them seem to be my style--even if they're a genre I normally like. I own a PS2 to play a handful or PS1 games and a handful of PS2 games, that's it. The Silent Hill series and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are all I really care for on the two systems, although there are several others that are pretty good. There were several platformers that were good on N64, GameCube, Xbox, etc. and even a few on Wii, but it seems--again--that fewer and fewer good ones are coming out with every new generation.
And I disagree that nothing's being sacrificed when a company decides to add every little thing they can to what once was a dedicated piece of hardware. All of that extra stuff requires additional money, which leads to a higher-priced product (which sacrifices your wallet--599 U.S. Dollars, anyone?), or requires the company to choose between, say, better type/speed of RAM or processor (good)... or DVD playback and DRM licenses (bad). The Wii is absolute crap for streaming videos online through its web browser, so why include it? It only looks good on paper (well, to people other than me--I have a computer and a phone that can do that and want my gaming machines simple).
The only "extra" thing I find acceptable is digital audio file playback, and only under the condition that it can be seamlessly be used as the in-game music for, say, racing and fighting games. Xbox and Xbox 360 definitely did that right. It's much better racing to music that you like than the same, often crappy, default music all the time.
Meh... Need For Speed and Burnout? Burnout is a pretty decent series and there are a few good NFS games, but IMO nothing these days beats Forza and PGR (RIP Bizarre Creations). Tokyo Xtreme Racer for Dreamcast was also excellent. And I can easily go back and play games as far back as Pole Position and Pole Position II and have quite a bit of fun. But racing is really one of the very few types of games that hasn't generally started sucking IMO; it's hard to screw up a racing game, although it has been done many times before.
I think I gave up on 3D Sonic games after the first Sonic Adventure, because to put it simply... all of them after the first Sonic Adventure downright blew. The 2D Sonic games were a different story, they tended to be great... too bad those all made it to Game Boy, Nindendo DS, etc. I can't stand portable game systems, and never could get fully into any of them because of that.
I should emphasize that it's not just the games themselves that I'm not too crazy about these days, but the systems. Like I hinted at, I prefer a dedicated machine that was designed to be the best damn video game system ever. Those days are long gone, as even Nintendo is beginning to cater to the ignorant masses.
I suspect it's certain types of changes that he doesn't like, and I think that applies to... just about everyone.
Exactly. Not all changes are bad. But these days, there are more and more of them are, and they're in... well, just about everything. A few unwanted changes may just be an annoyance at worst, but lately we're being bombarded by them, from all angles, everywhere.
You can say that about many things, the internet, cars, farming.
True... true. I'm not heavily into cars, but I don't like the way they're starting to add so much electronic junk to add spying, pointless features, and dumb down vehicles for even more immature people. Same with farming; I'm not a farmer, but I don't like the way they're going with GMOs.
You can have one of two attitudes: the bitter "good old days" attitude, or take pride that you were part of something's beginning that later became mainstream and now that it's all grown up it's time to move on to next avant-garde thing.
In that case I'm sort of in the middle. I'm glad I was there, but at the same time I wish there would be at least some company to return to it, if only for the choice, without having to buy into the new crap. Too bad these days their product has some kind of poor digital audio and "HD" video playback with DRM, they would never survive today.
Gaming used to be something much smaller that gamers could really take pride in being a part of. Just Nintendo and Sega for the most part and some highly dedicated hardcore gamers. Games were actually awesome back then, until the industry went on a slow, continuing decline once Sony came in and made it mainstream. As a Nintendo fan I had a couple extra generations of truly great gaming, but these days even they almost seem to be drying up overall. And now games are so big, they're becoming more and more like typical horror movies: cheap thrills, no substance, shitty games. Meanwhile, it seems that every fucking company in existence wants to cash in on the gaming industry's success by producing more of the same old garbage, eliminating *real* gaming hardware for multi-purpose multimedia products that don't do anything well.
I had such high hopes over the years. It's a shame everything took a turn for the worst. Well, at least Nintendo still seems to be closest to their original goal--but too bad they're starting to veer off course due to pressure from their kitchen-sink competitors and retarded demands from the masses.
What? I can switch between keyboard layouts (Dvorak and Colemak) and type my password just fine. Only slower in Colemak, because I've had much more Dvorak practice and experience so far. And if I had to do it with QWERTY, I'd just look down at the keys. The second typing makes sure you typed it right and as you thought the first time. I don't see how using more than one keyboard layouts would matter.
I just re-read the article you linked to again to refresh my memory (it's been a while since I read it), but it's obvious this wouldn't likely happen--even with the standard keyboard layout.
1. Of course this has to happen if a computer is actively "listening" for keystrokes. Clearly the machine installing an OS has no way of doing this, so obviously another computer must be nearby.
2. Let's assume another computer is nearby. Now, with two computers nearby, what is the likelyhood of yet another one or more being around in a business setting? Probably pretty high, but even the noise from just one computer's keyboard could probably throw the whole algorithm off.
3. Killer problem right here. It needs to "listen" and gather audio data for 15 minutes to actually work. 15 minutes. Of all the time you're installing an OS, how many actual minutes are used up typing? Probably one or two at the most. Big fail. Meanwhile, it could be hearing lots of keyboard chatter from people on other computers, or have its performance decreased from other external noise.
4. The algorithm assumes English. What if, like any semi-good password should be, it is a mix of English and complete gibberish, including special characters and numbers, etc.? Numbers alone can be hit at different speeds, producing different noise, depending on whether you use the top row or the numeric keypad. Use complete gibberish and all bets are off. A good password will force you to slow down and think at some points, further confusing the algorithm.
So... the fact remains, the two most likely way to "steal" a password by being in the same physical room are:
1. Glancing at the screen and seeing it, right there, being displayed in front of your eyes. (easy; a second or two is all it'd take)
2. Trying to look as close as possible while someone types the password, attemting to see what keys are pressed and in what order from beginning to end (difficult; requires good timing, clear view and good estimation, and the typist to be completely oblivious to his surroundings; unlikely to happen)
Slashdot Mirror
Who on Slashdot really needs to ask why? Isn't it common knowledge here by now?
Three? Are you sure your estimates aren't a bit high?
Damn it, where are mod points when you need them? That one was good, I honestly never even really thought about the similarities between those two words...
I am not denying that at all, I just stated that Wi-Fi has been a royal bitch on Linux in my experience to the point where I just avoided it instead of bothering to get it working for the most part, and asked if that has changed over the years with the latest hardware. You added nothing. Windows XP wouldn't even recognize the onboard Ethernet adapter on this machine, and I've had countless other devices give me problems in Windows, but again, that's beside the point.
Clarify: Do you really mean "MS specific software," or are you really talking about "Windows specific software?" I can understand the second case (third party software for Windows), but why the hell would I want to run Microsoft software? That's kind of what I left Windows for in the first place; more secure, more sanely-designed software than what Microsoft puts out. Specifically, non-Microsoft software.
On the other hand, you've got Windows 8's repulsively-large (4px!) window borders. And because Microsoft knows better than you do, they have taken the liberty to remove the setting from the system options, requiring you to download some third-party program to bring the window borders to a sane size. At least, running Linux, I can manually adjust that setting as I see fit with no need to wander off to random websites and download a potentially dangerous executable.
So all Linux distros (and therefore, OS choice) must be eradicated for the "year of Linux" to occur? Since when was choice a bad thing? Have you taken a walk down the cereal aisle of your local supermarket, or been to a car lot lately? It's funny that people aren't complaining about choice when it comes to food and vehicles, as well as just about any other good you can think of.
2006 was the year of Linux on my desktop after a couple of years exploring, learning, and trying different distros out.
I'm pretty sure it's the businesses (including schools) that want Microsoft Office... and those people in the general public that actually "want" Microsoft's product only want it because:
1. That's what they learned in school and were taught that it is the standard that all businesses use.
2. That's what they use at work.
3. They don't know about any alternatives, and have the mindset that if something is "free" or not the de-facto "standard" then it is crap.
4. They haven't dared to subject themselves to the horrors of the lengthy Microsoft EULA (hey, I wouldn't want to read that shit either, to be honest), or if they did they just don't care if they're using it as permitted or not.
The schools and businesses are at fault here. How can it *not* be good to your customers to suggest a free, functional office suite over an expensive, highly restricted, proprietary one? Unless, of course, these "customers" you are talking about are large businesses and corporations with some stakes in Microsoft and its partners. The only things MS Office has going for it are its "business" reputation and schools teaching and recommending it specifically, further increasing this reputation and increasing familiarity with this specific program's quirks.
Schools should be teaching the basics of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, etc. in general; not any specific brand of program. But instead, they typically require none other than MS Office. No thanks, I'll continue to use LibreOffice when I need such a program. At least that program uses real standards, not some proprietary binary junk that can't even be read successfully between versions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5mIm4bPBWE
^ That's what I think of Facebook.
I have a Broadcom BCM4318 (rev 02) wireless adapter. Dates back to the machine, around 2006, and it's still a bitch to get working because of its proprietary firmware. I'm stuck on openSUSE 12.2 for the indeterminate future because I just don't have a wired Ethernet connection to hook it up to for the initial install; otherwise, I'd be stuck with a pretty useless computer that can't even get on the Internet. I don't know if that Wi-Fi problem has been fixed (I hope like hell so), but for the most part everything else works.
That's pretty much it though. Even nVidia drivers, which are usually relatively to install with the official installer anyway, often either come pre-installed or with easy distro-specific installers. I had some problems with a new (at the time) Creative sound card I got, but that was years ago and Linux quickly gained support for it.
What is the state of Linux Wi-Fi these days anyway, as of 2012 and 2013? If I were to walk in the store like, say, Staples and pick up a replacement Wi-Fi card, would it automatically work in most distributions? Or would I still have to jump through ridiculous hoops just to get the thing to work correctly? Are there any good Linux-compatible wireless adapters?
It was 2006 for me, although I started getting interested in Linux, learning and doing my original distro-hopping back around 2004 (still primarily using Windows at the time). All of my files were moved onto Linux partitions and Windows was completely eliminated by late 2006. In fact, the last year before the complete switch, my system was set to dual-boot both Windows XP and SUSE (or Zenwalk?), and I found myself primarily on the Linux side, rarely booting into Windows and never for more than a few minutes. Computing's been good ever since.
But the point was portability, which indicates taking one portable form factor computer system all over the place and just being able to plug it in and use it wherever you go as long as you've got a USB keyboard and mouse (and in fact, those two items are pretty easy to come across--no argument there). Unless every place you go, every person you know has a DVI-to-HDMI adapter and is willing to let you use their TV/monitor for a bit while you're there, then nope--you will need to bring your own converter.
Which makes a tiny, all-in-one, portable general-purpose Frankencomputer quite useless. And a PITA to set up if you consider the hassle reaching behind the tower to access the keyboard and mouse USB cables and their ports before and after using the thing.
You just took the words right out of my mouth.
No thanks, I happen to like their far-superior contrast levels. Plus, I prefer to play classic, non-HD games on a traditional television set with scanlines, and I like the extra vertical height of the old 1600x1200 monitor. Hell, even my current monitor has a better aspect ratio (16:10) than all the 16:9 movie-optimized HDMI-compatible junk available today. Yes, I like my vertical space. I use my computer for almost everything but movies, and for those rare times when I put a DVD in, it doesn't bother me at all to have thin, black, practically unnoticeable bars on the top and bottom of the screen.
Not everyone goes out buying new TVs and computer monitors every year to get the latest DRM-laden technology. I have a VGA-capable CRT monitor from ~2000 and a newer LCD monitor with two separate inputs for DVI and VGA. I see no need to add the additional hassle of carrying around yet another an extraneous adapter... a power cable is already more than I would want to deal with and I even avoid carrying those around whenever possible. I also have a 36" CRT TV from back in the late 90s, no chance of HDMI there; S-Video is the best it can do.
You get a fully usable live CD/DVD that can be booted into a complete desktop for testing, emergency/recovery or standard desktop use. And if you like it and want to use it as your main OS, you can install it. It's basically the KNOPPIX of Sid, but featuring a live system installer. And it's primarily focused on KDE (with Xfce and LXDE editions available), which is good for people who can't stand GNOME 3.
Now with an HDMI and USB port, there's no good reason one kind of general purpose computer can't act like another.
Lack of HDMI input on monitor?
For being the new "standard," it's kind of funny that I never happen to come across it. I don't think "standard" means what you think it means.
I couldn't really get into Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper, and I'd never put them up with Super Mario 64. I don't know what it is about the games released on Sony's systems, but very few of them seem to be my style--even if they're a genre I normally like. I own a PS2 to play a handful or PS1 games and a handful of PS2 games, that's it. The Silent Hill series and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are all I really care for on the two systems, although there are several others that are pretty good. There were several platformers that were good on N64, GameCube, Xbox, etc. and even a few on Wii, but it seems--again--that fewer and fewer good ones are coming out with every new generation.
And I disagree that nothing's being sacrificed when a company decides to add every little thing they can to what once was a dedicated piece of hardware. All of that extra stuff requires additional money, which leads to a higher-priced product (which sacrifices your wallet--599 U.S. Dollars, anyone?), or requires the company to choose between, say, better type/speed of RAM or processor (good)... or DVD playback and DRM licenses (bad). The Wii is absolute crap for streaming videos online through its web browser, so why include it? It only looks good on paper (well, to people other than me--I have a computer and a phone that can do that and want my gaming machines simple).
The only "extra" thing I find acceptable is digital audio file playback, and only under the condition that it can be seamlessly be used as the in-game music for, say, racing and fighting games. Xbox and Xbox 360 definitely did that right. It's much better racing to music that you like than the same, often crappy, default music all the time.
Meh... Need For Speed and Burnout? Burnout is a pretty decent series and there are a few good NFS games, but IMO nothing these days beats Forza and PGR (RIP Bizarre Creations). Tokyo Xtreme Racer for Dreamcast was also excellent. And I can easily go back and play games as far back as Pole Position and Pole Position II and have quite a bit of fun. But racing is really one of the very few types of games that hasn't generally started sucking IMO; it's hard to screw up a racing game, although it has been done many times before.
I think I gave up on 3D Sonic games after the first Sonic Adventure, because to put it simply... all of them after the first Sonic Adventure downright blew. The 2D Sonic games were a different story, they tended to be great... too bad those all made it to Game Boy, Nindendo DS, etc. I can't stand portable game systems, and never could get fully into any of them because of that.
I should emphasize that it's not just the games themselves that I'm not too crazy about these days, but the systems. Like I hinted at, I prefer a dedicated machine that was designed to be the best damn video game system ever. Those days are long gone, as even Nintendo is beginning to cater to the ignorant masses.
I suspect it's certain types of changes that he doesn't like, and I think that applies to... just about everyone.
Exactly. Not all changes are bad. But these days, there are more and more of them are, and they're in... well, just about everything. A few unwanted changes may just be an annoyance at worst, but lately we're being bombarded by them, from all angles, everywhere.
You can say that about many things, the internet, cars, farming.
True... true. I'm not heavily into cars, but I don't like the way they're starting to add so much electronic junk to add spying, pointless features, and dumb down vehicles for even more immature people. Same with farming; I'm not a farmer, but I don't like the way they're going with GMOs.
You can have one of two attitudes: the bitter "good old days" attitude, or take pride that you were part of something's beginning that later became mainstream and now that it's all grown up it's time to move on to next avant-garde thing.
In that case I'm sort of in the middle. I'm glad I was there, but at the same time I wish there would be at least some company to return to it, if only for the choice, without having to buy into the new crap. Too bad these days their product has some kind of poor digital audio and "HD" video playback with DRM, they would never survive today.
Gaming used to be something much smaller that gamers could really take pride in being a part of. Just Nintendo and Sega for the most part and some highly dedicated hardcore gamers. Games were actually awesome back then, until the industry went on a slow, continuing decline once Sony came in and made it mainstream. As a Nintendo fan I had a couple extra generations of truly great gaming, but these days even they almost seem to be drying up overall. And now games are so big, they're becoming more and more like typical horror movies: cheap thrills, no substance, shitty games. Meanwhile, it seems that every fucking company in existence wants to cash in on the gaming industry's success by producing more of the same old garbage, eliminating *real* gaming hardware for multi-purpose multimedia products that don't do anything well.
I had such high hopes over the years. It's a shame everything took a turn for the worst. Well, at least Nintendo still seems to be closest to their original goal--but too bad they're starting to veer off course due to pressure from their kitchen-sink competitors and retarded demands from the masses.
What? I can switch between keyboard layouts (Dvorak and Colemak) and type my password just fine. Only slower in Colemak, because I've had much more Dvorak practice and experience so far. And if I had to do it with QWERTY, I'd just look down at the keys. The second typing makes sure you typed it right and as you thought the first time. I don't see how using more than one keyboard layouts would matter.
I just re-read the article you linked to again to refresh my memory (it's been a while since I read it), but it's obvious this wouldn't likely happen--even with the standard keyboard layout.
1. Of course this has to happen if a computer is actively "listening" for keystrokes. Clearly the machine installing an OS has no way of doing this, so obviously another computer must be nearby.
2. Let's assume another computer is nearby. Now, with two computers nearby, what is the likelyhood of yet another one or more being around in a business setting? Probably pretty high, but even the noise from just one computer's keyboard could probably throw the whole algorithm off.
3. Killer problem right here. It needs to "listen" and gather audio data for 15 minutes to actually work. 15 minutes. Of all the time you're installing an OS, how many actual minutes are used up typing? Probably one or two at the most. Big fail. Meanwhile, it could be hearing lots of keyboard chatter from people on other computers, or have its performance decreased from other external noise.
4. The algorithm assumes English. What if, like any semi-good password should be, it is a mix of English and complete gibberish, including special characters and numbers, etc.? Numbers alone can be hit at different speeds, producing different noise, depending on whether you use the top row or the numeric keypad. Use complete gibberish and all bets are off. A good password will force you to slow down and think at some points, further confusing the algorithm.
So... the fact remains, the two most likely way to "steal" a password by being in the same physical room are:
1. Glancing at the screen and seeing it, right there, being displayed in front of your eyes. (easy; a second or two is all it'd take)
2. Trying to look as close as possible while someone types the password, attemting to see what keys are pressed and in what order from beginning to end (difficult; requires good timing, clear view and good estimation, and the typist to be completely oblivious to his surroundings; unlikely to happen)