The Contrarian Troll. A sophisticated breed, Contrarian Trolls frequent boards whose predominant opinions are contrary to their own. A forum dominated by those who support firearms and knife rights, for example, will invariably be visited by Contrarian Trolls espousing their beliefs in the benefits of gun control. It is important to distinguish between dissenters and actual Contrarian Trolls, however; the Contrarian is not categorized as a troll because of his or her dissenting opinions, but due to the manner in which he or she behaves:
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number One: The most important indicator of a poster's Contrarian Troll status is his constant use of subtle and not-so-subtle insults, a technique intended to make people angry. Contrarians will resist the urge to be insulting at first, but as their post count increases, they become more and more abusive of those with whom they disagree. Most often they initiate the insults in the course of what has been a civil, if heated, debate to that point.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Two: Constant references to the forum membership as monolithic. "You guys are all just [descriptor]." "You're a lynch mob." "You all just want to ridicule anyone who disagrees with you."
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Three: Intellectual dishonesty. This is only a mild indicator that is not limited to trolls, but Contrarians display it to a high degree. They will lie about things they've said, pull posts out of context in a manner that changes their meanings significantly, and generally ignore any points for which they have no ready answers.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Four: Accusing the accusers. When confronted with their trolling, trolls immediately respond that it is the accusers who are trolls (see Natural Predators below). Often the Contrarian will single out his most vocal opponent and claim that while he can respect his other opponents, this one in particular is beneath his notice.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Five: Attempts to condescend. Pursued by Troll Bashers (see Natural Predators below), the Contrarian will seek refuge in condescending remarks that repeatedly scorn his or her critics as beneath notice - all the while continuing to respond to them.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Six: One distinctive mark of Contrarian Trolls is that every thread in which they dissent quickly devolves into a debate about who is trolling whom. In the course of such a debate the Contrarian will display many of the other Warning Signs mentioned above.
Flash should not be a problem; at least I've never had the least bit of trouble with it (except, of course, those damn "hit the monkey" ads). Try to reinstall the plugin (I just let Firefox do it for me, worked fine). Alternately, it may be a borked video driver. I tried to install Cedega a few weeks back, it completely hosed my nvidia driver, and every time I'd play video, switch desktops, or go to the screensaver (basically anytime the screen redrew) it would crash out.
The other two I can't help you with, sorry. Maybe send a friendly note to the good people at Apple about their inter-platform compatibility; we all know how responsive they are to such queries.
Let me get this straight. You bought a laptop specifically to use as a Linux workstation, and you didn't do any homework on what hardware you might want to seek out/avoid?
I just made this reply to the very next post up the thread, how ironic. Anyway, round 2...
If you use your machine primarily for games, then you don't really need a computer, you need a toy. And Windows XP is just the toy for you. Alternately, may I suggest a Playstation?
I call bullshit. My HP Deskjet printer's proprietary windows driver is utter shit. Smears black everywhere, looks awful, I always assumed it was dirty heads. Then I installed Linux and it's like I've got a new printer. Quality is up 200%, and I haven't had an issue with it since.
Linux will not work for average users until a way is found to include some basic features that ship with both Windows and Mac OS X. Flash plug-ins for the browsers is one of those things. Many distro's include this if you buy their retail, or Pro versions, but most average users are either going to download the fully free versions, or get them from someone they know to try out.
Let me see if I've got this right. What you're expecting is for a piece of free software to come, stock, with all the proprietary stuff that is patented and paid for in a boxed, cash-money OS. That's beyond absurdity. You said yourself that other OSes that you pay for, Linux or otherwise have these things. You pay with your money or you pay with your time. That's capitalism, baby.
1. Linux geek support. As a user you have two choises: a)RTFM you windoze lamer or b)just plain sneering ridicule.
Oh, bullshit. If that's the picture you've got in your head of the Linux community, you need to get away from/. and go check out the Ubuntu Forums. I'm a n00b, I've been running Linux since last October, and I have never been told to RTFM by anyone (nope, not even on/.)
2. You buy cool hardware, you spend weeks trying to get it to work.
Like the mp3 player my roommate wanted to plug into my computer to get some songs off it. Oh, wait, no. That was plug and play. Or my Microsoft wireless optical mouse (stolen from the office). Oh, no, that was plug and play too. Or my retro, mid-90's but still fucking rockin' speakers and sub set. Yeah. I plugged them into the back of the box. And they work. Hell, my printer works better than ever, because the proprietary driver for it in Windows is utter shit.
3. Your nephews halls his game DVD to the family gathering only to find YOU have linux. Now you have to deal with the little shit interrupting the adults all the time with the fact he's bored.
Who. The fuck. Cares.
easy point-click-install-"IT-RUNS!"
Synaptic does that. Point. Click. Run. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Would you care to make up any more nonsense stories for me to refute? I'll be here all day.
Right here. I may be a little more technically inclined than the average bear, but really, I use my computer to surf the web, do my bills, download porn, and play Nethack. And I do it with Linux, and this shit ain't hard. My kid sister comes over and uses my computer all the time. This shit ain't hard.
I have an HP desktop, and it took me less than half an hour to have Ubuntu installed and running. The only driver I installed by hand was the nvidia blob, and I did that because I wanted to (I could have installed a slightly older version from the repositories). One driver, two codec packs, and go.
iPod: I hook my roommate's up to my Ubuntu box three times a week. I installed one piece of software, and have never once had an issue. Never. Ever. Once.
Video drivers: My 3d acceleration seems to work quite nicely. Installing the driver took about five minutes. I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
Sorry, a person who went out, bought a book and tried 6 different distributions is a "lazy user"?
Yes. The six different distros he tried were the ones that came with the book, and none of them (with the exception of Linspire) are remotely suited for beginners. I would say 50% lazy publishers for putting those distros on the CD in the first place, and 50% lazy user for not spending five damn minutes with Google.
It's been said before in this thread, and I'll say it again. Buy your distro, or better yet, buy a computer with it preloaded, and it's click and go, much more so than Windows is. If you d/l an ISO for nothing, then you are expected to put in the work to make it work yourself. If you can't handle that, that's fine, a free distro is not for you. No shame in that. Shell out your $50.
Nothing says natural and intuitive to a non-technical user like "sudo tar -C/opt -x -z -v -f firefox-1.5.0.3.tar.gz".
Biggest load of crap I've seen on this thread yet. Double-click on the archive. Click "unpack," click where you want it to unpack to, click "OK." I don't know about your mother, but mine handled it just fine. What the fuck more could you possibly want?
Even then, with the distros you've described, there isn't the same out-of-box factor with Windows. With Windows, you can get pretty far by running through Windows Update and getting the latest versions of everything, and then just installing the missing software (DVD player, quicktime, office, etc).
Bull. Anytime you start a phrase with "install" and end it with "etc" it's not out-of-the-box. I'd call Ubuntu way closer to that goal than Windows. Install, update, apt-get maybe two codec packages, shit works. Still not the mythical "out-of-the-box" experience, but damn close.
This, again, is one of Linux's biggest problems: Too much fragmentation. If distro developers could put their egos aside and combine forces to create distros with some semblance of popular recognition, Linux's fortunes may change.
You're not gonna win-over an already confused user by presenting him or her with 50 more obscure and semi-obscure choices. That person is just gonna say "fuck it" and stick with what he or she knows: Windows.
Also, people want to install something with staying power. Half the distros out there are gonna be gone in a couple of years, replaced by a whole new set. How can you have faith installing something you've never heard of?
Like Suse, Red Hat, Debian, or (the up-and-coming) Ubuntu? Look at all that fragmentation, so many names you'll never hear again. It's all so obscure.
The guy did a *reasonable* amount of research in the area of distributions that were available.
He most certainly did not. RTFA. He bought Linux For Dummies and tried the distros that were included with the book, only one of which (Linspire) I would call even remotely suited for Linux beginners. That's not "research."
I've got to say, I'm stymied. I've been using 5.10 since release day, I burn 5+ CDs a week (now I use Gnomebaker, but for a long time I used the standard CD/DVD burn dialogue), and I've never gotten a coaster. This may sound stupid, but are you absolutely sure your drive didn't take a crap on you? Can you burn data CDs? Can you burn from the command line? If you dual-boot, can you burn with Windows?
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with your sentiment, but I'd also like to point out that many judges are elected, especially lower court judges.
The Contrarian Troll. A sophisticated breed, Contrarian Trolls frequent boards whose predominant opinions are contrary to their own. A forum dominated by those who support firearms and knife rights, for example, will invariably be visited by Contrarian Trolls espousing their beliefs in the benefits of gun control. It is important to distinguish between dissenters and actual Contrarian Trolls, however; the Contrarian is not categorized as a troll because of his or her dissenting opinions, but due to the manner in which he or she behaves:
s sage?board.id=offtopic&message.id=12985&view=by_da te_ascending&page=1%7C
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number One: The most important indicator of a poster's Contrarian Troll status is his constant use of subtle and not-so-subtle insults, a technique intended to make people angry. Contrarians will resist the urge to be insulting at first, but as their post count increases, they become more and more abusive of those with whom they disagree. Most often they initiate the insults in the course of what has been a civil, if heated, debate to that point.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Two: Constant references to the forum membership as monolithic. "You guys are all just [descriptor]." "You're a lynch mob." "You all just want to ridicule anyone who disagrees with you."
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Three: Intellectual dishonesty. This is only a mild indicator that is not limited to trolls, but Contrarians display it to a high degree. They will lie about things they've said, pull posts out of context in a manner that changes their meanings significantly, and generally ignore any points for which they have no ready answers.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Four: Accusing the accusers. When confronted with their trolling, trolls immediately respond that it is the accusers who are trolls (see Natural Predators below). Often the Contrarian will single out his most vocal opponent and claim that while he can respect his other opponents, this one in particular is beneath his notice.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Five: Attempts to condescend. Pursued by Troll Bashers (see Natural Predators below), the Contrarian will seek refuge in condescending remarks that repeatedly scorn his or her critics as beneath notice - all the while continuing to respond to them.
- Contrarian Warning Sign Number Six: One distinctive mark of Contrarian Trolls is that every thread in which they dissent quickly devolves into a debate about who is trolling whom. In the course of such a debate the Contrarian will display many of the other Warning Signs mentioned above.
http://mxoboards.station.sony.com/matrix/board/me
Flash should not be a problem; at least I've never had the least bit of trouble with it (except, of course, those damn "hit the monkey" ads). Try to reinstall the plugin (I just let Firefox do it for me, worked fine). Alternately, it may be a borked video driver. I tried to install Cedega a few weeks back, it completely hosed my nvidia driver, and every time I'd play video, switch desktops, or go to the screensaver (basically anytime the screen redrew) it would crash out.
The other two I can't help you with, sorry. Maybe send a friendly note to the good people at Apple about their inter-platform compatibility; we all know how responsive they are to such queries.
Let me get this straight. You bought a laptop specifically to use as a Linux workstation, and you didn't do any homework on what hardware you might want to seek out/avoid?
I just made this reply to the very next post up the thread, how ironic. Anyway, round 2...
If you use your machine primarily for games, then you don't really need a computer, you need a toy. And Windows XP is just the toy for you. Alternately, may I suggest a Playstation?
Is that the same Cedega that totally shot my nvidia driver when I tried to install their binary blob? Inquiring minds want to know.
I call bullshit. My HP Deskjet printer's proprietary windows driver is utter shit. Smears black everywhere, looks awful, I always assumed it was dirty heads. Then I installed Linux and it's like I've got a new printer. Quality is up 200%, and I haven't had an issue with it since.
For a true Linux beginner, I'd reccommend PCLinuxOS. http://www.pclinuxos.com/
Good luck, and have phun!
I just don't WANT to learn a new software
Exactly.
Linux will not work for average users until a way is found to include some basic features that ship with both Windows and Mac OS X. Flash plug-ins for the browsers is one of those things. Many distro's include this if you buy their retail, or Pro versions, but most average users are either going to download the fully free versions, or get them from someone they know to try out.
Let me see if I've got this right. What you're expecting is for a piece of free software to come, stock, with all the proprietary stuff that is patented and paid for in a boxed, cash-money OS. That's beyond absurdity. You said yourself that other OSes that you pay for, Linux or otherwise have these things. You pay with your money or you pay with your time. That's capitalism, baby.
1. Linux geek support. As a user you have two choises: a)RTFM you windoze lamer or b)just plain sneering ridicule.
/. and go check out the Ubuntu Forums. I'm a n00b, I've been running Linux since last October, and I have never been told to RTFM by anyone (nope, not even on /.)
Oh, bullshit. If that's the picture you've got in your head of the Linux community, you need to get away from
2. You buy cool hardware, you spend weeks trying to get it to work.
Like the mp3 player my roommate wanted to plug into my computer to get some songs off it. Oh, wait, no. That was plug and play. Or my Microsoft wireless optical mouse (stolen from the office). Oh, no, that was plug and play too. Or my retro, mid-90's but still fucking rockin' speakers and sub set. Yeah. I plugged them into the back of the box. And they work. Hell, my printer works better than ever, because the proprietary driver for it in Windows is utter shit.
3. Your nephews halls his game DVD to the family gathering only to find YOU have linux. Now you have to deal with the little shit interrupting the adults all the time with the fact he's bored.
Who. The fuck. Cares.
easy point-click-install-"IT-RUNS!"
Synaptic does that. Point. Click. Run. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Would you care to make up any more nonsense stories for me to refute? I'll be here all day.
Right here. I may be a little more technically inclined than the average bear, but really, I use my computer to surf the web, do my bills, download porn, and play Nethack. And I do it with Linux, and this shit ain't hard. My kid sister comes over and uses my computer all the time. This shit ain't hard.
I have an HP desktop, and it took me less than half an hour to have Ubuntu installed and running. The only driver I installed by hand was the nvidia blob, and I did that because I wanted to (I could have installed a slightly older version from the repositories). One driver, two codec packs, and go.
And no, Windows is not "install and go."
You're an idiot.
iPod: I hook my roommate's up to my Ubuntu box three times a week. I installed one piece of software, and have never once had an issue. Never. Ever. Once.
Video drivers: My 3d acceleration seems to work quite nicely. Installing the driver took about five minutes. I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
I could go on and on, but I won't. You're wrong.
+2, funny and insightful!
Sorry, a person who went out, bought a book and tried 6 different distributions is a "lazy user"?
Yes. The six different distros he tried were the ones that came with the book, and none of them (with the exception of Linspire) are remotely suited for beginners. I would say 50% lazy publishers for putting those distros on the CD in the first place, and 50% lazy user for not spending five damn minutes with Google.
It's been said before in this thread, and I'll say it again. Buy your distro, or better yet, buy a computer with it preloaded, and it's click and go, much more so than Windows is. If you d/l an ISO for nothing, then you are expected to put in the work to make it work yourself. If you can't handle that, that's fine, a free distro is not for you. No shame in that. Shell out your $50.
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/
http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.linuxcommand.org/
Nothing says natural and intuitive to a non-technical user like "sudo tar -C /opt -x -z -v -f firefox-1.5.0.3.tar.gz".
Biggest load of crap I've seen on this thread yet. Double-click on the archive. Click "unpack," click where you want it to unpack to, click "OK." I don't know about your mother, but mine handled it just fine. What the fuck more could you possibly want?
No one's insisting anything. Stay the fuck home.
Even then, with the distros you've described, there isn't the same out-of-box factor with Windows. With Windows, you can get pretty far by running through Windows Update and getting the latest versions of everything, and then just installing the missing software (DVD player, quicktime, office, etc).
Bull. Anytime you start a phrase with "install" and end it with "etc" it's not out-of-the-box. I'd call Ubuntu way closer to that goal than Windows. Install, update, apt-get maybe two codec packages, shit works. Still not the mythical "out-of-the-box" experience, but damn close.
This, again, is one of Linux's biggest problems: Too much fragmentation. If distro developers could put their egos aside and combine forces to create distros with some semblance of popular recognition, Linux's fortunes may change.
You're not gonna win-over an already confused user by presenting him or her with 50 more obscure and semi-obscure choices. That person is just gonna say "fuck it" and stick with what he or she knows: Windows.
Also, people want to install something with staying power. Half the distros out there are gonna be gone in a couple of years, replaced by a whole new set. How can you have faith installing something you've never heard of?
Like Suse, Red Hat, Debian, or (the up-and-coming) Ubuntu? Look at all that fragmentation, so many names you'll never hear again. It's all so obscure.
The guy did a *reasonable* amount of research in the area of distributions that were available.
He most certainly did not. RTFA. He bought Linux For Dummies and tried the distros that were included with the book, only one of which (Linspire) I would call even remotely suited for Linux beginners. That's not "research."
It sounds hardware-related. See if you can borrow an external burner from somebody and try that.
I've got to say, I'm stymied. I've been using 5.10 since release day, I burn 5+ CDs a week (now I use Gnomebaker, but for a long time I used the standard CD/DVD burn dialogue), and I've never gotten a coaster. This may sound stupid, but are you absolutely sure your drive didn't take a crap on you? Can you burn data CDs? Can you burn from the command line? If you dual-boot, can you burn with Windows?