Bill can't have Iraq, because according to the title of the article, Iraq has been open sourced.
Now that Iraq is GPLed, maybe we can figure out why it has been acting so buggy. I'm not a programmer, but I suspect that it has something to do with its relgious algorithms.
Our company uses DOSEmu to run our FoxPro 2.* accounting apps. It won't be as good as running under Windows, but maybe you'll find a way to manage. The problems have less to do with the functionality, but more to do with navigation & key combinations, if I understand correctly. Don't take my word for it, though. I could be wrong.
...that your list accurately describes how complex it really is. There are so many steps in there that people assume are easy, but they are complex in & of themselves. Each step would require a whole tutorial in & of itself.
By the way, I know for sure that you are joking around, & I understand what you mean. I'm really impressed @ how accurate it is.
I agree with you. I'm amazed @ how Eric Raymond [or was it somebody else?] who had trouble configuring his printer with CUPS, which should have been automated. Are we really going to say that Eric didn't try enough or that he didn't have enough experience with the command line? Linux users seem to have such difficulty in admitting that Linux is user hostile despite compelling evidence.
OK, I'm going to suggest that you actually use Gentoo. (Either as a base or not building your own distro)
Thanks for pointing this out. I feel kind of bad for not mentioning earlier that I use Gentoo. I could have saved you a lot of typing. However, it might be just as well, because I forgot all about the autoload thing.
Regarding package management, I think that a problem with Portage is that it has to check each file & directory before it can delete it. It has to make sure that it hasn't been modified, & that it isn't part of a recent version. If you watch carefully on an old slow computer, then you'll see files being removed much more slowly than if I had just deleted the entire subdirectory. I think that portage just installs new files over the old files, then just removes the files that were recorded as being part of the new installation. Don't get me wrong, though. I agree with you about Gentoo & Portage being 1 of the best if not the best.
Regarding startup, I'll try to explain again. As of right now, there are 2 major disadvantages:
no matter what, people log in 1st & then wait for the desktop to load up
people can't switch back & forth very easily between a graphical desktop & a text based desktop
Here are 2 walk throughs of the new system.
This is how I would use it.
log in through the command line as usual
type startx or whatever the new program might be called
wait for the desktop to start as usual, whether it would be a text based desktop or graphical desktop; kdeinit [or whatever it's called] is loaded up @ this point [because I have an old system with a small amount of memory, I'd probably use a text based system]
I use the desktop as usual
when I need graphics, I'd click on the appropriate place & wait a few seconds while my desktop is rendered graphically [all of the windows & icons are in the same place; the cursor is still pointing to wherever it was pointing to before]
continue working
when I don't need graphics anymore, I click wherever & wait a few seconds while the screen goes back to text based mode
Other people may prefer something that is much more similar to MS Windows.
the computer boots up as usual, but is different from my setup in that it loads up KDM
wait for the desktop to start; kdeinit [or whatever it's called] is loaded up @ this point
the user logs in graphically
the user uses the desktop switches back & forth between text mode or graphical mode as above
What do you think of the idea? Do you think that it's worth suggesting this?
Regarding hotplug & udev, I use them because I thought that that was the best method of controlling/dev. I honestly don't know what to do. Do you recommend these? What do you use to manage/dev? Also, I kind of wish that Gentoo knew what modules were available based on the kernel that got booted up, plus the.config file.
Frankly, there are not that many video playing engines in Linux. Basically, I use either gmplayer or xine; if they cannot play the file, I forget about it.
Well, yeah, but I remember trying to get some software configured to play some files. Sometimes they would work. Sometimes they wouldn't. I couldn't understand why that would be.
You're welcome. I don't mind people using Windows. It seems that Microsoft is moving in the right direction, overall. It just bugs me that people seem to be comparing apples to oranges. By that, I mean, why is Aunt Tilley trying to install Linux? She doesn't install Windows, does she? If my mom had to choose between installing & throwing out the computer system, she'd throw it out. Frankly, I'm getting tired of installing too. In fact, I'm getting so tired of the computer industry, that I'm trying to start another career.
For quite some time now, I've been debating about whether or not I should create a Linux distribution. The base system would be bare bones plus OpenSSH & the package management system. The desktop would be KDE. If somebody asks me what the OS is, I won't tell them because anybody who is able to understand the significance should be able to download the source & figure it out for themselves. The idea is to mention as little as possible throughout the entire web site. Every security fix will simply be called a service pack. Every type of application should be an official KDE application if it is not too slow & buggy, & has equivalent features. But hey, what do I know?:^/:^)
I think that Linux distribution mentioned a while ago, seems to be moving in the right direction. They want all packages to have their own subdirectory. That in & of itself should reduce a lot of bloat because it's quick & easy to unpack, delete & list.
Another problem that everybody faces is the design of the desktop. It seems to me that the desktop should have been designed, & then the UI technology should have been designed above that. During bootup your system would load up the desktop as well as any other relevant information. For me, I'd login via a text console, & the desktop would be displayed via a text based UI. If I needed graphics, then I should be able to click here or there, & the same desktop renders automatically in a GUI.
Another problem is configuration. If I have a SB16 card, I should only have to specify that once when I install. The information should be stored on the/boot partition. The kernel configurator should scan that partition for the relevant information. That goes the same for udev or whatever else I have to install. But no, with Linux, you have to specify your sound card in the kernel configurator, udev configs, hotplug as well I think, alsa configs, & maybe even aRts. That's @ 3-5 config files. That's pushing your luck.
I'm so fed up with this, that I just might go ahead & start this project or find some progressive people to work with.
...I want file associations to just work. I'm not a heavy multimedia user. I'm running Pentium Classic with 90 MB, 180 MHz, 24-32 bit display, & Sound Blaster 16, because it's stable & it all just works. Basically, I need to be able to create documents & view them according to modern standards [HTML 4.01 & CSS]. You can't do that with Windows because the browser won't be updated anytime soon.
As for Enlightenment & other window managers, I don't use them because I don't know how to configure various software packages just to watch various multimedia files. I can't underscore this enough. I kind of gave up watching video clips on this box, but it turns out that KDE or Opera offered me the choice of watching a certain clip. It asked me if I wanted to use a certain package to watch it. I was surprised because I wasn't even aware that it could be so easy. You're probably wondering why I would check in 1st place if I don't expect it to work. I checked in hopes that something accidentally got set properly & it'll just work; well, it is going to work, because I'm upgrading KDE with the relevant packages right now.
If you already know which software is used for which media files, then I encourage you to use a lighter environment, but as for me, I really need to get a system that is preconfigured. I've tried Blackbox, twm, swm, lwm, fvwm, & probably others. Because of the apparent lack of documentation, I just can't seem to work Blackbox & twm. I honestly don't know how people can recommend Blackbox & twm in good conscience. As for Enlightenment, I don't understand why people use that when there is KDE & Gnome. When I tried this, last millenium, it seemed to be part of KDE & Gnome. Now that KDE doesn't seem need it anymore, I don't bother with it.
I don't use Gnome because the documentation is difficult to read. It seems geared to describing tasks that I have no interest in, while KDE's documentation is towards telling me what such 'n such app is for & what I get to do. "You have to do..." vs. "You get to do...". I would argue that KDE's documentation is a delight to read in & of itself, whether or not you want to accomplish the relevant tasks. A list of chores vs. fun & productive stuff.
I think that what he is trying to say is that being allowed to ditch Konqueror is what makes it not bloat. I use Konqueror & Opera, depending on features that I need. Konqueror is beginning to smell like bloat, but people have to bear in mind that many of the features [not the eye candy, but the actual usability features] in 1 app can be viewed as good reuse of resources. I intend to do such 'n such activity, so they may as well push it all into the same app to make it useful, but still allow people to opt out.
For what it's worth, I don't really consider Windows bloat anymore. I'm using KDE 3.1 on my Pentium Classic with approx. 90,000 KB. The major disadvantage with Windows is that you can't upgrade very easily without buying more of everything. If I want a copy of IE that is CSS standards compliant, then I have to wait about 3 years for Longhorn to come out, then I have to buy new hardware. So, it is but it isn't bloat.:^/
I agree with your idea. I liken a desktop environment to a restaurant where everything is purchased, prepared, & cleaned by somebody else & you just pay for the services. You still get some choice, but for the most part, somebody else is doing the work. If you want to do any of the stuff yourself, then your best bet is to eat a homemade meal, or in the case of this discussion, pull together misc. programs that suit your needs.
I use KDE. I'm just too tired of using minimalist programs that don't work well together. I can't count the times that I was surprised that KDE already took care of something for me.
I agree with you. I should be given full rights & responsibilities to protect my time & anything else under my administration. I don't have the right to abuse, but I should have full rights.
Good point. I think that there are a lot of spammers here who post quite regularly. Some of them probably trick us into solving their problems for free.
Why does Opera seem to run faster on my computer. I understand that systems are complex, & we need to do better bench marking, etc., & I do agree with what you just said, but I do think that it does run faster.
In your experience, does Mozilla run faster than Opera?
Slashdot Mirror
That's exactly the 1st thing that I thought.
Another thing that they may be interested in trying is organizing game tournaments. What better way to demonstrate Linux games?
They could demonstrate office software too.
RULE
Speaking of standards & such things, I hope that the DoD will switch to A4 if they haven't already. The more compatibility, the better.
Bill can't have Iraq, because according to the title of the article, Iraq has been open sourced.
Now that Iraq is GPLed, maybe we can figure out why it has been acting so buggy. I'm not a programmer, but I suspect that it has something to do with its relgious algorithms.
Thanks for mentioning the books. I might check them out.
...they reject our decent story submissions. & to add insult to injury, after they reject our story submissions they say that "it's a slow news day".
Our company uses DOSEmu to run our FoxPro 2.* accounting apps. It won't be as good as running under Windows, but maybe you'll find a way to manage. The problems have less to do with the functionality, but more to do with navigation & key combinations, if I understand correctly. Don't take my word for it, though. I could be wrong.
No pressure.
"Hey! I can't get this to work!"
"What does this error message mean??"
"Ah! Finally!! It works. Now I just have to print out the--what the?!? Wait a minute! What's CUPS?!?"
...that your list accurately describes how complex it really is. There are so many steps in there that people assume are easy, but they are complex in & of themselves. Each step would require a whole tutorial in & of itself.
By the way, I know for sure that you are joking around, & I understand what you mean. I'm really impressed @ how accurate it is.
I agree with you. I'm amazed @ how Eric Raymond [or was it somebody else?] who had trouble configuring his printer with CUPS, which should have been automated. Are we really going to say that Eric didn't try enough or that he didn't have enough experience with the command line? Linux users seem to have such difficulty in admitting that Linux is user hostile despite compelling evidence.
Regarding package management, I think that a problem with Portage is that it has to check each file & directory before it can delete it. It has to make sure that it hasn't been modified, & that it isn't part of a recent version. If you watch carefully on an old slow computer, then you'll see files being removed much more slowly than if I had just deleted the entire subdirectory. I think that portage just installs new files over the old files, then just removes the files that were recorded as being part of the new installation. Don't get me wrong, though. I agree with you about Gentoo & Portage being 1 of the best if not the best.
Regarding startup, I'll try to explain again. As of right now, there are 2 major disadvantages:
- no matter what, people log in 1st & then wait for the desktop to load up
- people can't switch back & forth very easily between a graphical desktop & a text based desktop
Here are 2 walk throughs of the new system.This is how I would use it.
- log in through the command line as usual
- type startx or whatever the new program might be called
- wait for the desktop to start as usual, whether it would be a text based desktop or graphical desktop; kdeinit [or whatever it's called] is loaded up @ this point [because I have an old system with a small amount of memory, I'd probably use a text based system]
- I use the desktop as usual
- when I need graphics, I'd click on the appropriate place & wait a few seconds while my desktop is rendered graphically [all of the windows & icons are in the same place; the cursor is still pointing to wherever it was pointing to before]
- continue working
- when I don't need graphics anymore, I click wherever & wait a few seconds while the screen goes back to text based mode
Other people may prefer something that is much more similar to MS Windows.What do you think of the idea? Do you think that it's worth suggesting this?
Regarding hotplug & udev, I use them because I thought that that was the best method of controlling
You're welcome. I don't mind people using Windows. It seems that Microsoft is moving in the right direction, overall. It just bugs me that people seem to be comparing apples to oranges. By that, I mean, why is Aunt Tilley trying to install Linux? She doesn't install Windows, does she? If my mom had to choose between installing & throwing out the computer system, she'd throw it out. Frankly, I'm getting tired of installing too. In fact, I'm getting so tired of the computer industry, that I'm trying to start another career.
:^/ :^)
/boot partition. The kernel configurator should scan that partition for the relevant information. That goes the same for udev or whatever else I have to install. But no, with Linux, you have to specify your sound card in the kernel configurator, udev configs, hotplug as well I think, alsa configs, & maybe even aRts. That's @ 3-5 config files. That's pushing your luck.
For quite some time now, I've been debating about whether or not I should create a Linux distribution. The base system would be bare bones plus OpenSSH & the package management system. The desktop would be KDE. If somebody asks me what the OS is, I won't tell them because anybody who is able to understand the significance should be able to download the source & figure it out for themselves. The idea is to mention as little as possible throughout the entire web site. Every security fix will simply be called a service pack. Every type of application should be an official KDE application if it is not too slow & buggy, & has equivalent features. But hey, what do I know?
I think that Linux distribution mentioned a while ago, seems to be moving in the right direction. They want all packages to have their own subdirectory. That in & of itself should reduce a lot of bloat because it's quick & easy to unpack, delete & list.
Another problem that everybody faces is the design of the desktop. It seems to me that the desktop should have been designed, & then the UI technology should have been designed above that. During bootup your system would load up the desktop as well as any other relevant information. For me, I'd login via a text console, & the desktop would be displayed via a text based UI. If I needed graphics, then I should be able to click here or there, & the same desktop renders automatically in a GUI.
Another problem is configuration. If I have a SB16 card, I should only have to specify that once when I install. The information should be stored on the
I'm so fed up with this, that I just might go ahead & start this project or find some progressive people to work with.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me as well.
I was told on the mailing lists that OOo was written in C++, not Java.
...I want file associations to just work. I'm not a heavy multimedia user. I'm running Pentium Classic with 90 MB, 180 MHz, 24-32 bit display, & Sound Blaster 16, because it's stable & it all just works. Basically, I need to be able to create documents & view them according to modern standards [HTML 4.01 & CSS]. You can't do that with Windows because the browser won't be updated anytime soon.
As for Enlightenment & other window managers, I don't use them because I don't know how to configure various software packages just to watch various multimedia files. I can't underscore this enough. I kind of gave up watching video clips on this box, but it turns out that KDE or Opera offered me the choice of watching a certain clip. It asked me if I wanted to use a certain package to watch it. I was surprised because I wasn't even aware that it could be so easy. You're probably wondering why I would check in 1st place if I don't expect it to work. I checked in hopes that something accidentally got set properly & it'll just work; well, it is going to work, because I'm upgrading KDE with the relevant packages right now.
If you already know which software is used for which media files, then I encourage you to use a lighter environment, but as for me, I really need to get a system that is preconfigured. I've tried Blackbox, twm, swm, lwm, fvwm, & probably others. Because of the apparent lack of documentation, I just can't seem to work Blackbox & twm. I honestly don't know how people can recommend Blackbox & twm in good conscience. As for Enlightenment, I don't understand why people use that when there is KDE & Gnome. When I tried this, last millenium, it seemed to be part of KDE & Gnome. Now that KDE doesn't seem need it anymore, I don't bother with it.
I don't use Gnome because the documentation is difficult to read. It seems geared to describing tasks that I have no interest in, while KDE's documentation is towards telling me what such 'n such app is for & what I get to do. "You have to do..." vs. "You get to do...". I would argue that KDE's documentation is a delight to read in & of itself, whether or not you want to accomplish the relevant tasks. A list of chores vs. fun & productive stuff.
I think that what he is trying to say is that being allowed to ditch Konqueror is what makes it not bloat. I use Konqueror & Opera, depending on features that I need. Konqueror is beginning to smell like bloat, but people have to bear in mind that many of the features [not the eye candy, but the actual usability features] in 1 app can be viewed as good reuse of resources. I intend to do such 'n such activity, so they may as well push it all into the same app to make it useful, but still allow people to opt out.
:^/
For what it's worth, I don't really consider Windows bloat anymore. I'm using KDE 3.1 on my Pentium Classic with approx. 90,000 KB. The major disadvantage with Windows is that you can't upgrade very easily without buying more of everything. If I want a copy of IE that is CSS standards compliant, then I have to wait about 3 years for Longhorn to come out, then I have to buy new hardware. So, it is but it isn't bloat.
I agree with your idea. I liken a desktop environment to a restaurant where everything is purchased, prepared, & cleaned by somebody else & you just pay for the services. You still get some choice, but for the most part, somebody else is doing the work. If you want to do any of the stuff yourself, then your best bet is to eat a homemade meal, or in the case of this discussion, pull together misc. programs that suit your needs.
I use KDE. I'm just too tired of using minimalist programs that don't work well together. I can't count the times that I was surprised that KDE already took care of something for me.
I agree with you. I should be given full rights & responsibilities to protect my time & anything else under my administration. I don't have the right to abuse, but I should have full rights.
Good point. I think that there are a lot of spammers here who post quite regularly. Some of them probably trick us into solving their problems for free.
Why does Opera seem to run faster on my computer. I understand that systems are complex, & we need to do better bench marking, etc., & I do agree with what you just said, but I do think that it does run faster.
In your experience, does Mozilla run faster than Opera?