Re:Sorry, but I don't see that this is very useful
on
Berlin 0.2.0 Released
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· Score: 1
Transparency does come in handy, because there is a limit to the number of programs you can have visible at one time. For instance at work my machine runs at 800x600 (much smaller than I'm used to) which means netscape must take up nearly 75% of the screen to be readable. If I am reading off commands from a Howto in netscape and have to juggle my xterms around so I can read and type it just becomes annoying. Imagine having a transparent Xterm with proper a color setting overtop netscape. Or even those little netscape download windows which you need to have open to see the % complete. If I make all my Xterms translucent I could still see the process of my downloads in the background.
Personally I think transparency would be useful. Remember just because you can't see a use for something doesn't mean someone else can't.
This may be a little off topic but I need to get it off my chest. The internet was started so that computers running a variety of operating systems on a variety of hardware could all communicate with some standard languages. The idea of being able to sit down at any machine and perform work on a remote computer regardless of the computer make and model was ingenious. As long as a computer could talk acording to an open standard language then it could be included on the network.
Now it appears as thought companies don't really care about the long-term goals (which really are not just fantasies, we've already have all the basic technology for an open network system) of the internet. They just don't know how to make money releasing open specifications of their protocols and formats. On the internet any information which is available should not be in a format which can only be read on systems which have been deemed profitable enough to warrant development.
I believe if you want to make a new format for distribution on the internet you should be forced to open the specs up. This is what the internet was based on, this is why it caught on, this is what will continue to help it grow.
I saw a quote a few days ago, I don't remember where or who, that got across the idea that if something on the internet appears differently in Internet Explorer than it does in Navigator (or is not availiable on a certain platform) then we have taken a step backwards.
I guess I'm just annoyed that I don't have a good Quicktime viewer for Linux, or that I sometime see sites which say I need to install shockwave to view them. In the long run I think technologies such as XML, CSS (and XSL), javascript (EA???..insert Standard name for javascript here, or something like it ) and other open standard protocols and formats are what will expand the internet to the point where it fulfills the vision people have for it.
My mother just bought a DC215 this morning, and I have been playing with it since.
I think the pictures are a good quality, the camera seems durable, and the features are nice. What most impressed me was that my mom seemed able to understand the interface right away. This is her first real digital gadget and she seemed navigate the camera easily. I woulnd't have really though much about it if I were buying the camera for myself but I think it is an important thing to have a intuitive interface for those who are new to digital cameras.
We did buy a 16 meg card for it, the 4mb probably wouldn't last too long. Also I made sure to look at the gphoto project before buying it and was happy to see the large number of cameras supported. All in all we are satisified with the DC215.
I have a copy of the 4 cd Slakware 3.4 set from Nov 1997. Also I actually have a 4 cd set with Slack 2.2, Debian 0.91, kernel source 1.2.1 and a few other things from march 1995. I'd be willing to make some images for a site looking to make early versions availiable.
It is possible. Sometimes the best, cheapest solutions are the ones which a person who has not been stuck in a money hungry research project. Not that some things don't require a lot of money to develop but sometimes people get stuck up in thinking in one way because they have have a lot of money riding on it. They are often afraid to try anything different.
It reminds me of the story in Hackers by Steven Levy of the kids who made a ping pong playing robotic arm when the AI students thought it was impossible. Sometimes it takes a different approach to realize something isn't as hard (or expensive) as people believe.
The way I see it there are two types of users. Those that just want the software to install and those that care about compiling and optimizing their installation. These two groups are roughly equivalent to windows and linux users respectively.
Here are some suggestions
The configuration files should somehow conform to a standard XML conf file format which can be read and edited by various all purpose configuration programs. (web interfaces/console programs/x programs)
The package should default to installation in /usr/local/program /usr/local/program/etc (for configurations) /usr/local/program/bin (binaries) etc.
Hard links should be created pointing from '/usr/local/program/bin/program' to '/usr/local/bin/program' or the proper binary directories (i.e./usr/local/sbin)
Side note: This is one ease of use I think shines over Windows, most programs are by default stored in the path under linux/BSD/unix. Instead of having to search through menus and directories for a certain program users merely need to type the program name.
Also create a program-uninstall script which goes in the binary directory. All this script must do is delete/usr/local/program which will also remove the hard links in the binary diectories.
The package should have two installation methods. Note that simplicity should be the default! I believe some windows programs fail in this area, nearly always asking users which directory to install in, whether to create icons, etc. (Sure there are/quite or/common installs but this is not the default). Assume that the user is not a technician. If they are a technician they can figure out how to configure things for themselves.
1) There should be an 'install' script in every distribution which copies binaries and libraries files to the '/usr/local/program' directories. Non-technical users will then only need to execute install, program, or program-uninstall to get their work done.
2) For the more educated users who are not afraid to compile then the normal configure,make, make install, Makefiles, etc will provide all the confiuration they desire.
There are many ways these ideas can be improved upon but I think we must remember the default should be simplicity, with this we can actually beat windows software. On the other side configuration should be provided by an XML file for each program. This would allow for multiple editing methods. Being able to edit files by hand is a valuable option. For instance with a scheme like
an administrator could easily configure a program with pico yet a person could write a X app to do the same.
Re:What am I missing?
on
RNA Computer
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· Score: 1
I may be wrong but here is how I understand it. By encoding the information in the RNA strands that means they merely have a very large number of strands which have a certain random configurations. These configuration can be interpreted as solutions to a problem set, some corerct some incorrect. They then narrow down the strands in the test towards correct answers by adding certain chemicals. These chemicals react with the correct or incorrect solutions in a certain way as to give the testers an effective way to isolate the incorrect solutions from the answer set.
The mozilla team is trying to make a product for general use. Most people are often used to program suites. One product that advertisably does all, just look at the success of Microsoft Office, Windows, etc.
The nice thing about mozilla is you can download the source and compile only what you need. So if you don't like the news reader don't compile it in. Sure the back button might not work yet that's pretty bad but their trying to do a lot at once so they can get a finished product for the masses.
Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog...When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out...But the worst thing I ever done -- I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa -- and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.
This seems to go against one of the biggest reasons for digital media, information that doesn't degrade. The idea behind digital storage is that error checking can have simpler, more exact algorithms, information doesn't degrade when read, and information can be transfered without lossing any of the original information. I just don't see how something like this will ever catch on.
This is not a good thing. Something like this only keeps technology from progressing. The software industry should (and perhaps someday will be) handled more as math and sciences are. Information should not be bogged down by licenses. What if math equations and scientific ideas could be patented and licensed. Society as a whole would not be as advanced as it is if I had to pay every time I wanted to add. Of course science is at times commercialized but it seems that people perceive science as something which must be free.
What needs to be done is to sway people's notions of software towards that of a science. People must be convinced that software is like math, something which can help mankind only if it is not comlpetely restricted.
Trust and respect goes with age and wisdom, most of the time. He is not saying that older people are more intelligent. The point is most people gain wisdom over time through their own mistakes but hopefully they learn through other people's mistakes. Sure the smart ones can gain intelligence quicker but many children aren't raised to make intelligent decisions as to what they are ready for.
About getting a hunting license at age 13 that's understandable if the child had to take a test. I just don't think any one really knows what to put in a porn test yet.
ATI does support Linux and Open Source. Here is a press release concerning it. Also their web site assures developers that technical data is availiable upon request. It is only a matter of time before a linux driver can be written.
Re:The importance (or lack thereof) of uptime
on
Linux Kernel 2.2.14
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· Score: 1
Uptime is an important thing at times. On servers which thousands of users access regularly you had better not keep the machine down for long. Some admins who don't fully understand what they are doing are all too ready to install the newest software on busy servers occationally creating problems. Problems result in downtime which users don't normally like. Sure if you are running a single user machine upgrade by all means but the only reasons to upgrade real servers are if the new kernels has security patches and possible imporovements in the drivers for your specific hardware. Otherwise keep the uptime high, the users appreciate it.
Well from what I have seen most people dont have their clocks set right anyway. I figure just as much might happen next week as will happen at local midnight or 00:00 GMT or whatever.
If you have to support the person's machine remotely I would choose Linux. Set it up with a nice windows manager and only the programs she will need to run. Also configure it with mgetty so you can dial in if problems arise.
I would love to see StarOffice go open source. I think it a very nice program, being able to run it under linux and (god forbid) windows, the good integration with M$ Office, and a fairly efficient interface. As much as I like it, I think it too bloated (~70 meg download is too much) and suffers from M$ envy. Star Division seemed to be making M$ Office for linux which I don't want. I would love to see the open source community get their hands on this program and make it quicker, more usable, and create a complete replacement for Micro$oft Office. I would love to be able to start recommending this program to Windows and linux users alike. A good office program, compatible with M$ Office, is one of those things that is keeping linux out of a number of corporate environments.
-- All misspellings and grammatical errors courtesy of yours truly --
Here is another site which has some info on the Ender's Game movie. http://www.frescopictures.com/movies/ender/ender sgame_update.html I have high hopes for this movie since Card himself is working on it. It would be unfortunate to have it go the way of Wing Commander but I'm going to see it.
I hate AGP with a passion, sure it is faster and communicates with RAM better but why make it such a limiting bus. AGP limits people, for instance someone buys a motherboard and later would like a second AGP video card/monitor they can't just just go and buy another one to put into their machine. They are stuck buying a new MB or getting a special new video card. The point behind PCI was it's versitility. I don't want to have a separate bus just for my NIC/modem/video/scsi/whatever. "Specialization is for insects." Heinlein
How about a new PCI bus. I'd like to see 64 bit PCI (I know there are some out there but unless Intel markets this technology it won't become mainstream too easily) and how about being able to hot swap PCI cards. Well that might take a bit of work but still wouldn't it be nice.
As I see it this can only be good news for the Open Source movement. If it passes then IT professionals will begin looking for cheaper solutions. If it doesn't pass it still will raise enough hype to make the Open Source concept so much more appealing.
Slashdot Mirror
Transparency does come in handy, because there is a limit to the number of programs you can have visible at one time. For instance at work my machine runs at 800x600 (much smaller than I'm used to) which means netscape must take up nearly 75% of the screen to be readable. If I am reading off commands from a Howto in netscape and have to juggle my xterms around so I can read and type it just becomes annoying. Imagine having a transparent Xterm with proper a color setting overtop netscape. Or even those little netscape download windows which you need to have open to see the % complete. If I make all my Xterms translucent I could still see the process of my downloads in the background.
Personally I think transparency would be useful. Remember just because you can't see a use for something doesn't mean someone else can't.
This may be a little off topic but I need to get it off my chest. The internet was started so that computers running a variety of operating systems on a variety of hardware could all communicate with some standard languages. The idea of being able to sit down at any machine and perform work on a remote computer regardless of the computer make and model was ingenious. As long as a computer could talk acording to an open standard language then it could be included on the network.
Now it appears as thought companies don't really care about the long-term goals (which really are not just fantasies, we've already have all the basic technology for an open network system) of the internet. They just don't know how to make money releasing open specifications of their protocols and formats. On the internet any information which is available should not be in a format which can only be read on systems which have been deemed profitable enough to warrant development.
I believe if you want to make a new format for distribution on the internet you should be forced to open the specs up. This is what the internet was based on, this is why it caught on, this is what will continue to help it grow.
I saw a quote a few days ago, I don't remember where or who, that got across the idea that if something on the internet appears differently in Internet Explorer than it does in Navigator (or is not availiable on a certain platform) then we have taken a step backwards.
I guess I'm just annoyed that I don't have a good Quicktime viewer for Linux, or that I sometime see sites which say I need to install shockwave to view them. In the long run I think technologies such as XML, CSS (and XSL), javascript (EA???..insert Standard name for javascript here, or something like it ) and other open standard protocols and formats are what will expand the internet to the point where it fulfills the vision people have for it.
My mother just bought a DC215 this morning, and I have been playing with it since.
I think the pictures are a good quality, the camera seems durable, and the features are nice.
What most impressed me was that my mom seemed able to understand the interface right away. This is her first real digital gadget and she seemed navigate the camera easily. I woulnd't have really though much about it if I were buying the camera for myself but I think it is an important thing to have a intuitive interface for those who are new to digital cameras.
We did buy a 16 meg card for it, the 4mb probably wouldn't last too long. Also I made sure to look at the gphoto project before buying it and was happy to see the large number of cameras supported. All in all we are satisified with the DC215.
I have a copy of the 4 cd Slakware 3.4 set from Nov 1997.
Also I actually have a 4 cd set with Slack 2.2, Debian 0.91, kernel source 1.2.1 and a few other things from march 1995.
I'd be willing to make some images for a site looking to make early versions availiable.
It is possible. Sometimes the best, cheapest solutions are the ones which a person who has not been stuck in a money hungry research project. Not that some things don't require a lot of money to develop but sometimes people get stuck up in thinking in one way because they have have a lot of money riding on it. They are often afraid to try anything different.
It reminds me of the story in Hackers by Steven Levy of the kids who made a ping pong playing robotic arm when the AI students thought it was impossible. Sometimes it takes a different approach to realize something isn't as hard (or expensive) as people believe.
The way I see it there are two types of users. Those that just want the software to install and those that care about compiling and optimizing their installation. These two groups are roughly equivalent to windows and linux users respectively.
/usr/local/sbin)
/usr/local/program which will also remove the hard links in the binary diectories.
/quite or /common installs but this is not the default). Assume that the user is not a technician. If they are a technician they can figure out how to configure things for themselves.
Here are some suggestions
The configuration files should somehow conform to a standard XML conf file format which can be read and edited by various all purpose configuration programs. (web interfaces/console programs/x programs)
The package should default to installation in
/usr/local/program
/usr/local/program/etc (for configurations)
/usr/local/program/bin (binaries)
etc.
Hard links should be created pointing from '/usr/local/program/bin/program' to '/usr/local/bin/program' or the proper binary directories (i.e.
Side note: This is one ease of use I think shines over Windows, most programs are by default stored in the path under linux/BSD/unix. Instead of having to search through menus and directories for a certain program users merely need to type the program name.
Also create a program-uninstall script which goes in the binary directory. All this script must do is delete
The package should have two installation methods.
Note that simplicity should be the default! I believe some windows programs fail in this area, nearly always asking users which directory to install in, whether to create icons, etc. (Sure there are
1) There should be an 'install' script in every distribution which copies binaries and libraries files to the '/usr/local/program' directories.
Non-technical users will then only need to execute install, program, or program-uninstall to get their work done.
2) For the more educated users who are not afraid to compile then the normal configure,make, make install, Makefiles, etc will provide all the confiuration they desire.
There are many ways these ideas can be improved upon but I think we must remember the default should be simplicity, with this we can actually beat windows software. On the other side configuration should be provided by an XML file for each program. This would allow for multiple editing methods. Being able to edit files by hand is a valuable option. For instance with a scheme like
<program-option>
<description>This option sets default preferences file<\description>
<example>/etc/globalpref</example>
<value>$HOME/.pref<\value>
<\program-option>
an administrator could easily configure a program with pico yet a person could write a X app to do the same.
I may be wrong but here is how I understand it. By encoding the information in the RNA strands that means they merely have a very large number of strands which have a certain random configurations. These configuration can be interpreted as solutions to a problem set, some corerct some incorrect. They then narrow down the strands in the test towards correct answers by adding certain chemicals. These chemicals react with the correct or incorrect solutions in a certain way as to give the testers an effective way to isolate the incorrect solutions from the answer set.
The mozilla team is trying to make a product for general use. Most people are often used to program suites. One product that advertisably does all, just look at the success of Microsoft Office, Windows, etc.
The nice thing about mozilla is you can download the source and compile only what you need. So if you don't like the news reader don't compile it in. Sure the back button might not work yet that's pretty bad but their trying to do a lot at once so they can get a finished product for the masses.
Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog...When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out...But the worst thing I ever done -- I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa -- and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.
This seems to go against one of the biggest reasons for digital media, information that doesn't degrade. The idea behind digital storage is that error checking can have simpler, more exact algorithms, information doesn't degrade when read, and information can be transfered without lossing any of the original information. I just don't see how something like this will ever catch on.
This is not a good thing. Something like this only keeps technology from progressing. The software industry should (and perhaps someday will be) handled more as math and sciences are. Information should not be bogged down by licenses. What if math equations and scientific ideas could be patented and licensed. Society as a whole would not be as advanced as it is if I had to pay every time I wanted to add. Of course science is at times commercialized but it seems that people perceive science as something which must be free.
What needs to be done is to sway people's notions of software towards that of a science. People must be convinced that software is like math, something which can help mankind only if it is not comlpetely restricted.
Trust and respect goes with age and wisdom, most of the time. He is not saying that older people are more intelligent. The point is most people gain wisdom over time through their own mistakes but hopefully they learn through other people's mistakes. Sure the smart ones can gain intelligence quicker but many children aren't raised to make intelligent decisions as to what they are ready for.
About getting a hunting license at age 13 that's understandable if the child had to take a test. I just don't think any one really knows what to put in a porn test yet.
ATI does support Linux and Open Source. Here is a press release concerning it. Also their web site assures developers that technical data is availiable upon request. It is only a matter of time before a linux driver can be written.
Uptime is an important thing at times. On servers which thousands of users access regularly you had better not keep the machine down for long. Some admins who don't fully understand what they are doing are all too ready to install the newest software on busy servers occationally creating problems. Problems result in downtime which users don't normally like.
Sure if you are running a single user machine upgrade by all means but the only reasons to upgrade real servers are if the new kernels has security patches and possible imporovements in the drivers for your specific hardware. Otherwise keep the uptime high, the users appreciate it.
Well from what I have seen most people dont have their clocks set right anyway. I figure just as much might happen next week as will happen at local midnight or 00:00 GMT or whatever.
If you have to support the person's machine remotely I would choose Linux. Set it up with a nice windows manager and only the programs she will need to run. Also configure it with mgetty so you can dial in if problems arise.
I agree hopefully the Open Sourcing of Star Office will allow it to be re-done quicker and have less overhead.
:-(
>Where'd we ever lose the UNIX mantra of, "Do One >Thing and Do It Well"?
As opposed to Microsoft's "Do everything, or at least crash trying to."
I would love to see StarOffice go open source. I think it a very nice program, being able to run it under linux and (god forbid) windows, the good integration with M$ Office, and a fairly efficient interface. As much as I like it, I think it too bloated (~70 meg download is too much) and suffers from M$ envy. Star Division seemed to be making M$ Office for linux which I don't want. I would love to see the open source community get their hands on this program and make it quicker, more usable, and create a complete replacement for Micro$oft Office. I would love to be able to start recommending this program to Windows and linux users alike. A good office program, compatible with M$ Office, is one of those things that is keeping linux out of a number of corporate environments.
-- All misspellings and grammatical errors courtesy of yours truly --
We're running an Oracle DB with NT on Alpha right now, hardly meaningful though. Like running solitare on a Cray.
Here is another site which has some info on the Ender's Game movie.r sgame_update.html
http://www.frescopictures.com/movies/ender/ende
I have high hopes for this movie since Card himself is working on it. It would be unfortunate to have it go the way of Wing Commander but I'm going to see it.
I hate AGP with a passion, sure it is faster and communicates with RAM better but why make it such a limiting bus. AGP limits people, for instance someone buys a motherboard and later would like a second AGP video card/monitor they can't just just go and buy another one to put into their machine. They are stuck buying a new MB or getting a special new video card. The point behind PCI was it's versitility. I don't want to have a separate bus just for my NIC/modem/video/scsi/whatever. "Specialization is for insects." Heinlein
How about a new PCI bus. I'd like to see 64 bit PCI (I know there are some out there but unless Intel markets this technology it won't become mainstream too easily) and how about being able to hot swap PCI cards. Well that might take a bit of work but still wouldn't it be nice.
Sniffit is another pretty good one.
As I see it this can only be good news for the Open Source movement. If it passes then IT professionals will begin looking for cheaper solutions. If it doesn't pass it still will raise enough hype to make the Open Source concept so much more appealing.