Funny thing was that the quake 1 command line was one of the things really drew me in. It started small: you could set up a config file to do things like set your rendering params, bind special commands to certain keys (really useful things like combinations for rocket jumping and sending common chat phrases and the like).
I had never experienced this level of control in a game before. Quake 2 came out and a really excellent mod called lithium came out. Lithium was basically a customizable server mod that let the admin change a wide variety of gameplay characteristics (change the weapon damage, gravity, spawn delay, you name it). I decided to try to build a server for the first time and hook it up to my brand-new cable modem and run lithium.
I was hooked, except the only thing I had around to use for a "server" os was NT4 workstation. Needless to say, I had no end of grief getting the thing to do everything I wanted. I started to lurk on the lithium server op mailing list to pick up any tips, and the conversations were dominated not by how to set up a server using nt, but which linux distro was easiest to use to get quake going and the like.
Guess what? I went out and got a RedHat 5.2 boxed cd from compusa and dove in with both feet. By the time q3test came out I had learned quite a bit, had networked my whole house, set up a masq box to do the connection sharing instead of the quake server and I had moved to debian.
Command line in Quake is fairly unique in games overall. I think having command line interpreter in the game was a strong contributing factor in the game's popularity with the budding online gaming community. It gave a fine-grained control to the user that was willing to tweak a custom.cfg file and no doubt led to a certain feeling of 133t-ness among those who followed the mod community.
>then put the dang thing on right in the first place!
For those that build their own machines, no doubt.
For those that buy...
Had a case just the other day of someone I work with losing their machine from this. Was a store-bought system (hey, not everyone builds their own) and the thing fried after being moved to a new house. When she plugged it in and started it up at the new place, it halted during bootup and refused to even get past the bios post. Now it shows no signs of life at all.
>So if I don't rabidly bash microsoft I must be a troll, eh?
That's putting words in my mouth.
I read your post and it seemed contradictory: Windows is better, faster, more reliable etc - except development...
What point is there in developing apps for Linux if Windows is the only platform worth running anything on? Kind of a chicken-and-egg proposition, IMO.
>For the record, though, I don't write windows apps.
>My programming is mainly just for theoretical purposes
Ok, you answered my question. You aren't developing anything on Linux that will run under Windows. My original read of your post left me with some incorrect assumptions that made your comments seem troll-ish.
Thanks for the informed response. I haven't had any reason to try to develop anything for Windows at all, it didn't occur to me that it would be worth the effort to develop anything that would ultimately run under windows from Linux.
Just curious tho - I'm assuming anything developed like this would be without any kind of windows gui, no? Forgive my ignorance, but what kind of applications would be good candidates for this development model?
(yes, I am ignorant. I muddle in html and javascript for a living during the day, hack on my linux box in my spare time for kicks.)
yeeaahhhh... but so he is developing in java, perl, python, php, etc on linux to be ultimately executed on windows? I guess I just don't understand why someone would do that.
>A bit narrow-minded aren't we
not that I noticed. I thought it was a legit question (I didn't flame)
Well, recent use of "jihad" (holy war) to mean any passionate, even fanatical attack on some perceived foe under the direction of some figurehead's declaration (fatwa) seems to be commonly accepted.
Michael: The evil government is attempting to limit our freedom of speech by trying to ban crypto!
Slasdot faithful: We will email-bomb them wherever we find them!! Allah be praised!!!
No, I don't think there's anything inappropriate there, nope.
Re:This whole thing makes me so mad.
on
Brian West Update
·
· Score: 2
>He should have been given a reward by the company...
except for the following:
Subsequent investigation revealed that WEST had downloaded the computer files, was in the process of rewriting the files, and intended to market the revised software program.
I was pretty pissed off too about this when the story first surfaced. Little additional details like this one kind of put a different light on it, though.
It basically says that if you pay the license fee, you can use the logo. Nothing in it says that your CD _must_ meet their standard, only that in order to produce a CD using their patented technology, you must agree to their terms which include money, money and more money.
This is far from definitive, but it would seem that a company could license their technology, produce compact discs with the tm logo, but as long as you keep up with the license fees, Phillips and Sony probably wouldn't care if you mangled the layout.
That is a really good question (that has been asked _every_ time this issue has come up), and I would dearly love for someone to give some definitive answer.
There are 12 different logos all with different requirements for permitted use. What I don't know is if these new discs would violate _every_ one of these standards resulting in the publisher's inability to use any "compact disc" logo.
You know, I'm all for a good Microsoft bashing, but this particular comment makes me scratch my head for a bit...
Microsoft did have a patch out for the index server vulnerability back in June.
The very day that Code Red I started getting reported, links to this security patch showed up everywehere.
So, is the criticism that Microsoft should have had search keywords of "code red virus" or "code red worm" added to that page with the patch to help clueless admins actually find the patch?
I find more fault with those that set up IIS boxes and walk away without having any kind of maintenance plan in place. Jeezus, even the most simplistic plan would include going to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and clicking on 'critical updates' every month or so. Even that minimal level of administration would have mitigated the spread of CRI to a substantial degree, no?
One problem I see is that Microsoft has made setting up and running a (small/simple)web server so accessible to unskilled users that virtually _no_ maintenance is reuired to just keep it serving pages. Of course, the issue is that there is no impetus to keep up with security patches.
severly OT: Isn't it amazing how people pick up little expressions and such and use them in everyday speech without having the slightest clue what it means, let alone how to spell it.
A few weeks ago here I saw someone use the phrase "by enlarge" where they obviously meant "by and large". Before I went and anally nitpicked this post, I had to go and look it up to make sure I was actually right.
Turns out this phrase has a nautical origin. I didn't know that. I picked this up, just like everyone else, by hearing it in a context meaning "for the most case" and just started saying "by and large" without knowing what it meant. Fortunately, there are abundant resources on the web to satisfy my anal-retentive nit-picking research needs:
"Captain Harris was already explaining by and large. With a piece of fresh Gibraltar bread and arrows drawn with wine he showed the ship lying as close as possible to the breeze: '. . . and this is sailing by the wind, or as sailors say in their jargon, on a bowline; whereas large is when it blows not indeed quite from behind but say over the quarter, like this.'
The origin is nautical, and had a very precise meaning. It was an order to the man at the helm of a sailing ship, meaning to sail the ship slightly off the wind. A similar command was "full and by" which meant to "sail as close to the wind as it can go."
I think you are thinking of Internet Explorer. Here at work we have a Windows 2000 server running IBM's http server (basically Apache) with WebSphere. IIS was never installed on this box (this is an option in the custom/advanced install).
>am I really going to use a tool with a back door?
<sarcasm>
Of course not, so the only 'viable' solution is to make all personal computers with only one 'sanctioned' operating system that does not allow the user to install alternate tools like web browsers and email clients that could contain 'unauthorized' encryption software. Anyone using some alternate operating system with unsanctioned email software is potentionally a subversive terrorist, or worse (linux using long-haired liberal freak)
That way, any email or web traffic not bearing the correct 'signature' of the offically blessed operating system and communication software will tip off the FBI to possible terrorist activity.
Data originating from abroad where the US restrictions don't apply? Fine, just don't expect it to be delivered to anyone within the US borders where we now completely lock down all communication that is not either in plain text or encrypted by official US of M software!
</sarcasm>
*sigh* I agree with you. Encryption does not plot to blow up office buildings, criminals do. When you outlaw encrypted communication, only outlaws will use encryption.
Slashdot Mirror
Funny thing was that the quake 1 command line was one of the things really drew me in. It started small: you could set up a config file to do things like set your rendering params, bind special commands to certain keys (really useful things like combinations for rocket jumping and sending common chat phrases and the like).
.cfg file and no doubt led to a certain feeling of 133t-ness among those who followed the mod community.
I had never experienced this level of control in a game before. Quake 2 came out and a really excellent mod called lithium came out. Lithium was basically a customizable server mod that let the admin change a wide variety of gameplay characteristics (change the weapon damage, gravity, spawn delay, you name it). I decided to try to build a server for the first time and hook it up to my brand-new cable modem and run lithium.
I was hooked, except the only thing I had around to use for a "server" os was NT4 workstation. Needless to say, I had no end of grief getting the thing to do everything I wanted. I started to lurk on the lithium server op mailing list to pick up any tips, and the conversations were dominated not by how to set up a server using nt, but which linux distro was easiest to use to get quake going and the like.
Guess what? I went out and got a RedHat 5.2 boxed cd from compusa and dove in with both feet. By the time q3test came out I had learned quite a bit, had networked my whole house, set up a masq box to do the connection sharing instead of the quake server and I had moved to debian.
Command line in Quake is fairly unique in games overall. I think having command line interpreter in the game was a strong contributing factor in the game's popularity with the budding online gaming community. It gave a fine-grained control to the user that was willing to tweak a custom
guess I needed to use those tags... my bad :-)
...and then never be able to use it again as a RAM?
Oh, that's great. The vi/emacs flamewar is settled in my mind once and for all!
I mean, the cearly superior editor is the one which can be made to completely mimic the behavior of the other, lesser editor, right?
I once tried to find an emacs reference coffe-cup just like the one I had seen for vi. It was only available in sets of 20.
>then put the dang thing on right in the first place!
For those that build their own machines, no doubt.
For those that buy...
Had a case just the other day of someone I work with losing their machine from this. Was a store-bought system (hey, not everyone builds their own) and the thing fried after being moved to a new house. When she plugged it in and started it up at the new place, it halted during bootup and refused to even get past the bios post. Now it shows no signs of life at all.
Guess what - AMD with the heatsink fallen off.
The thing is out of warranty and she is screwed.
>So if I don't rabidly bash microsoft I must be a troll, eh?
That's putting words in my mouth.
I read your post and it seemed contradictory: Windows is better, faster, more reliable etc - except development...
What point is there in developing apps for Linux if Windows is the only platform worth running anything on? Kind of a chicken-and-egg proposition, IMO.
>For the record, though, I don't write windows apps.
>My programming is mainly just for theoretical purposes
Ok, you answered my question. You aren't developing anything on Linux that will run under Windows. My original read of your post left me with some incorrect assumptions that made your comments seem troll-ish.
What you say does make sense, sort of.
yah - but that was near the _end_ of the movie. :-)
Thanks for the informed response. I haven't had any reason to try to develop anything for Windows at all, it didn't occur to me that it would be worth the effort to develop anything that would ultimately run under windows from Linux.
Just curious tho - I'm assuming anything developed like this would be without any kind of windows gui, no? Forgive my ignorance, but what kind of applications would be good candidates for this development model?
(yes, I am ignorant. I muddle in html and javascript for a living during the day, hack on my linux box in my spare time for kicks.)
yeeaahhhh... but so he is developing in java, perl, python, php, etc on linux to be ultimately executed on windows? I guess I just don't understand why someone would do that.
>A bit narrow-minded aren't we
not that I noticed. I thought it was a legit question (I didn't flame)
How did Tim Allen's character in Galaxy Quest put it?
There's no warp drive, no phasers, no ion cannons.. no GOD DAMED SHIP!! It's just a TV show.
>the only real use I've found for linux is for development
Ok, obviously a poor troll, but I have to ask...
What are you developing for under Linux? Windows apps?
Well, recent use of "jihad" (holy war) to mean any passionate, even fanatical attack on some perceived foe under the direction of some figurehead's declaration (fatwa) seems to be commonly accepted.
Michael: The evil government is attempting to limit our freedom of speech by trying to ban crypto!
Slasdot faithful: We will email-bomb them wherever we find them!! Allah be praised!!!
No, I don't think there's anything inappropriate there, nope.
except for the following:
Subsequent investigation revealed that WEST had downloaded the computer files, was in the process of rewriting the files, and intended to market the revised software program.
I was pretty pissed off too about this when the story first surfaced. Little additional details like this one kind of put a different light on it, though.
Sorry to reply to my own post - I found further information from Phillips on licensing terms for their patented CD-DA technology:
l 00 131.pdf
http://www.licensing.philips.com/partner/data/s
It basically says that if you pay the license fee, you can use the logo. Nothing in it says that your CD _must_ meet their standard, only that in order to produce a CD using their patented technology, you must agree to their terms which include money, money and more money.
This is far from definitive, but it would seem that a company could license their technology, produce compact discs with the tm logo, but as long as you keep up with the license fees, Phillips and Sony probably wouldn't care if you mangled the layout.
This logo may be used on discs complying with the CD-DA specifications: the IEC 908 standard and/or the Philips-Sony Compact Disc Digital Audio System Description (the RED Book).
There are 12 different logos all with different requirements for permitted use. What I don't know is if these new discs would violate _every_ one of these standards resulting in the publisher's inability to use any "compact disc" logo.
Oh man, that's straight out of someone's stand-up comedy, isn't it?
(Gallagher?)
weary or wary?
someone told me they heard the crew is hesitant to step onto a transporter pad as it has a 0.5% failure rate.
"So, um Scotty... exactly _how_ long has it been since there was a tranporter incident?"
"Oh, we've had about 1,500 successful beamings since we accidentally dispersed Lt. Johnson over a 5000 meter area in quadrant 15!"
"Oh good, should be quite a while yet before we can expect another interruption in surface. Landing party to the transporter room!"
"Uh, can't we just take the shuttlecraft again this time?"
"wuss"
but doesn't that wierd little typewriter usually tip everyone off?
You know, I read that as stenography and wondered just how bin Laden could possibly use court reporters to hide his communications.
I learnt a new wurd tuhday!
Microsoft did have a patch out for the index server vulnerability back in June.
The very day that Code Red I started getting reported, links to this security patch showed up everywehere.
So, is the criticism that Microsoft should have had search keywords of "code red virus" or "code red worm" added to that page with the patch to help clueless admins actually find the patch?
I find more fault with those that set up IIS boxes and walk away without having any kind of maintenance plan in place. Jeezus, even the most simplistic plan would include going to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and clicking on 'critical updates' every month or so. Even that minimal level of administration would have mitigated the spread of CRI to a substantial degree, no?
One problem I see is that Microsoft has made setting up and running a (small/simple)web server so accessible to unskilled users that virtually _no_ maintenance is reuired to just keep it serving pages. Of course, the issue is that there is no impetus to keep up with security patches.
yah, now if they could just figure out how to keep the heatsinks from falling off so that the processors don't fry in, like, 1/4 second.
*ducks*
A few weeks ago here I saw someone use the phrase "by enlarge" where they obviously meant "by and large". Before I went and anally nitpicked this post, I had to go and look it up to make sure I was actually right.
Turns out this phrase has a nautical origin. I didn't know that. I picked this up, just like everyone else, by hearing it in a context meaning "for the most case" and just started saying "by and large" without knowing what it meant. Fortunately, there are abundant resources on the web to satisfy my anal-retentive nit-picking research needs:
Nautical Expressions in the Vernacular
"Captain Harris was already explaining by and large. With a piece of fresh Gibraltar bread and arrows drawn with wine he showed the ship lying as close as possible to the breeze: '. . . and this is sailing by the wind, or as sailors say in their jargon, on a bowline; whereas large is when it blows not indeed quite from behind but say over the quarter, like this.'
The origin is nautical, and had a very precise meaning. It was an order to the man at the helm of a sailing ship, meaning to sail the ship slightly off the wind. A similar command was "full and by" which meant to "sail as close to the wind as it can go."
I think you are thinking of Internet Explorer. Here at work we have a Windows 2000 server running IBM's http server (basically Apache) with WebSphere. IIS was never installed on this box (this is an option in the custom/advanced install).
>am I really going to use a tool with a back door?
<sarcasm>
Of course not, so the only 'viable' solution is to make all personal computers with only one 'sanctioned' operating system that does not allow the user to install alternate tools like web browsers and email clients that could contain 'unauthorized' encryption software. Anyone using some alternate operating system with unsanctioned email software is potentionally a subversive terrorist, or worse (linux using long-haired liberal freak)
That way, any email or web traffic not bearing the correct 'signature' of the offically blessed operating system and communication software will tip off the FBI to possible terrorist activity.
Data originating from abroad where the US restrictions don't apply? Fine, just don't expect it to be delivered to anyone within the US borders where we now completely lock down all communication that is not either in plain text or encrypted by official US of M software!
</sarcasm>
*sigh* I agree with you. Encryption does not plot to blow up office buildings, criminals do. When you outlaw encrypted communication, only outlaws will use encryption.
>those published are subject to abridgment
Oh great. Isn't that creative license in quoting individuals what got us here is the first place?
"Dear Wash Post:
I'm sorry to have to write this letter, but I feel you have significantly misrepresented my interview in your published story.
...
Sincerely,
Paul"
abridged version:
"Dear Wash Post:
I'm sorry [...].
Sincerely,
Paul"