Hmmm... I see the latest Netcraft survey shows Apache running on over 60% of all the web servers, and if you are running it on Linux you compile it with *gasp* gcc.
If gcc was a toy, I doubt you could compile one of the top web server programs with it, or any of the other major commercial programs that are built to be compiled with it.
This is a little off-topic but the article in question reminds me of something I read about not too long ago: the possibility that the red-shift of stars may not be 100% attributable to motion.
Consider the following scenario: A light beam is emitted from a super-dense object, and is thus forced to climb out of a steep gravity well. There is a loss of energy that occurs in this process, which in matter would manifest itself as a loss of momentum. However, a loss of energy in light can only be manifested as jump to a lower frequency.
Next, consider the possibility that our universe is closed, and that the four dimensional shape corresponds to that of a sphere (i.e. travelling in a straigh line from point A would eventually return you to point A). This would mean that there is a specific minimum curviture to space at any point in the universe. Light travelling across the interstellar void would be forced to traverse this curve and thus would gradually lose energy (red-shift) in the process. This would explain, perhaps, the "quantization" effect noticed in the patterns of red-shift of a wide variety of stars.
I've been a "lurker" for some time, and this article is my chance to make a series of broad generalizations. Here is a profile of the typical flamer (take it with a grain of salt):
1. This person is actually very knowledgable in their area of expertise. Uses this vast knowledge, however, to belittle and humiliate rather that to correct opposing viewpoints in a rational manner.
2. Game personalities: In Quake, this person is a taunt killer (i.e. "u suck! HA HA"). In Unreal Tournament, this person always has auto-taunt enabled. In Ultima Online (and EQ, AC, etc), this person is a PK, and more specifically, a twink.
3. In real life, this is the person who does some extremely hurtful thing and then says, "Hey can't you take a joke!?"
4. Most important: Doesn't realize they are a flamer! You could come straight out and tell the person, "You are a flamer", but it would not register. They always wonder why people are attacking them.
Yes, I do realize that *this* is a flame in some respects. I was hoping to inject a little levity into the situation, though. =)
In my opinion the sequence of events seems all too convenient. If this was all true, then Abe could be charged with a criminal offense for cracking in to that network, whether or not the company wants to press charges. For that and other reasons, I think that the whole story was concocted to generate ratings and/or publicity.
As the original article states, this technology is not limited just to cable modem access. It can be used by any ISP using any access method (cable, DSL, dial-up, satellite).
Give this information to anyone and everyone that currently has or is thinking about getting internet access. Educate them about the alternatives. We need to make the providers understand that the public *will* switch to alternate access methods if this type of system gets implemented. Last, but not least, don't let this issue die without making sure that the ISPs understand that the public knows what they are up to.
Thanks,
UOZaphod
Portability between versions: a question
on
*BSD News
·
· Score: 2
I have always been curious about portability between the various versions of FreeBSD versus the portability between distributions of Linux.
For example, the new game "Civilization: Call to Power" should be able to run on any distribution of Linux, as long as the kernel is 2.0.x or 2.2.x.
Are binaries usually portable from FreeBSD to NetBSD to OpenBSD?
-- UOZaphod
...Newsflash!...Upgrades aren't mandatory...
on
Linux 2.3.0
·
· Score: 2
In fact, the 2.3.X series is a development series. It is really intended to be used to test new additions to the kernel so that eventually a new 2.4.0 stable kernel can be released, which may be a ways down the road yet (remember the amount of time from 2.0.X to 2.2.X?)
I would discourage people from upgrading to the 2.3.X series until it has reached a stable point.
2.0.X - stable series 2.1.X - development series 2.2.X - stable series 2.3.X - development series 2.4.X (future) - stable series
It is very simple to understand. 2.3.0 is a snapshot of 2.2.8. The purpose is to provide a starting point for a kernel development series.
A development series is used to test more drastic changes to the kernel (ones which would never be accepted into a stable series). In fact, the only changes usually accepted into a stable series are bug fixes.
When a development series reaches a stable condition, a snapshot is taken to begin a new even numbered series (i.e. 2.4.X).
I hope that clears things up for people.
-- UOZaphod
WTF? Why install 2.3.0? Exactly the same as 2.2.8!
on
Linux 2.3.0
·
· Score: 1
The only difference is the version number.
I really don't understand people that just rush into things like this without investigating first. As many people have already said, running diff shows that the only difference between the 2.2.8 and 2.3.0 is the VERSION NUMBER! In essence, 2.3.0 is a snapshot of the 2.2.X series that provides the starting point for a developmental 2.3.X series. When a stable point is eventually reached, it will then be copied over to a new stable 2.4.X series.
If you wanted the latest kernel, you should have just installed 2.2.8 and saved yourself a little trouble.
I think they put S and 0 on secondary slots for just that reason: they are the most common letter/digit. Because the stroke would be used so much, the user would get very used to it (and fast), and thus more primary slots would be freed up for the less-common characters.
Lets see... No floppy, CD-ROM drive, Zip, etc, etc...
The software has to come from somewhere, right? Unless you got the machine pre-installed with Win95 or Linux, and then used the internet to download the programs.
I guess you don't ever plan to install any other operating system (floppy boot disk usually, but not always, required).
And if you say, "I install it over the LAN", then the machine you are installing it from probably has removable media, right?
My point is, all software has to come from somewhere and not all of it can be handled over the network.
I believe the differences can be analogous to the process of evolution. I'll keep this short and simple (Note: distro = distribution):
********
BSD = code forking.
Reason: Company A develops *BSD distro with proprietary feature X. Company B develops *BSD distro with proprietary feature Y. Companies are not obligated to share source code with each other (i.e. no genes are shared).
Result: Companies continue to develop products that evolve separately. Features begin to vary wildly and eventually they become separate species altogether.
********
GPL = no code forks.
Reason: Company A develops Linux distro with feature X. Company B develops Linux distro with feature Y. Under GPL, both companies must freely share code with each other (i.e. genes are shared).
Result: All the good features (survival genes) eventually spread to all distros, and all the bad features (non-survival genes) eventually die out through atrophy. Although there may be minor genetic differences, all distros are of the same species.
********
Thus, it is fairly simple why GPL products (including but not limited to Linux) will always win out eventually over competing non-GPL products.
This is the simplest explanation I can think of as to why *BSD, although a more mature product, is not growing as fast as Linux.
However, to borrow from Star Trek, we should always strive for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. That is, we *need* a variety of products so that we are always striving to improve through competition.
I think the author said this mostly as a challenge to get the ball rolling on making Linux more scalable to SMP and >1 GB RAM systems. This is already in the works, and I congratulate the core Kernel developers on the fantastic growth we've seen in this area. I believe that once Linux SMP is fully optimized, it will truly kick the pants off of NT.
Keep in mind that the server used was so high-end that most Linux users would consider it a waste of money. The point is, Linux doesn't *need* high-end equipment to get high performance. NT does. In fact, you could probably run the same test with 3 of the processors removed and only 64 MB of memory and the Linux figures would stay the same while NT would be crippled. Thats my opinion at least.
I was really just trying to illustrate how different requirements call for different coding styles.
Its been a while since I was programming in C...
6 foot wide TV for $499? Let me at it...
on
DVD in your Glasses
·
· Score: 1
I don't even want the portable DVD player... I would be happy to just have the glasses and get the same effect as a 6 foot wide TV (big or bigger than those projection systems, and clearer to boot) for only $499!
RE: Big corporation "You-Know-Who" takes legal against UserFriendly (a comic strip no less!)
What needs to be created is a legal fund for those people who are being harrassed and intimidated by lawyers armed with the endless amount of money supplied by big corporations.
Slashdot readers and the rest of the Internet community should unite against this clear and present danger to our right to free speech.
Slashdot Mirror
I just love scrolling through pages of non-color-coded, single-spaced, fixed-width-font, completely raw IRC transcript.
Seriously... for something this cool they could at least do a little formatting.
I know... I'm being picky. Whatever.
The answer is easy:
Because it's possible.
After they've done it, people will have no problem finding ways to exploit it to the maximum.
It's always been the same with any new advance in computing technology.
If you stack a bunch of two-dimensional squares, what do you get? A normal three-dimensional cube.
If you want a four-dimensional maze, you will need to have several three-dimensional mazes (like the one on the page) linked together.
Hmmm... I see the latest Netcraft survey shows Apache running on over 60% of all the web servers, and if you are running it on Linux you compile it with *gasp* gcc.
If gcc was a toy, I doubt you could compile one of the top web server programs with it, or any of the other major commercial programs that are built to be compiled with it.
This is a little off-topic but the article in question reminds me of something I read about not too long ago: the possibility that the red-shift of stars may not be 100% attributable to motion.
Consider the following scenario: A light beam is emitted from a super-dense object, and is thus forced to climb out of a steep gravity well. There is a loss of energy that occurs in this process, which in matter would manifest itself as a loss of momentum. However, a loss of energy in light can only be manifested as jump to a lower frequency.
Next, consider the possibility that our universe is closed, and that the four dimensional shape corresponds to that of a sphere (i.e. travelling in a straigh line from point A would eventually return you to point A). This would mean that there is a specific minimum curviture to space at any point in the universe. Light travelling across the interstellar void would be forced to traverse this curve and thus would gradually lose energy (red-shift) in the process. This would explain, perhaps, the "quantization" effect noticed in the patterns of red-shift of a wide variety of stars.
I've been a "lurker" for some time, and this article is my chance to make a series of broad generalizations. Here is a profile of the typical flamer (take it with a grain of salt):
1. This person is actually very knowledgable in their area of expertise. Uses this vast knowledge, however, to belittle and humiliate rather that to correct opposing viewpoints in a rational manner.
2. Game personalities: In Quake, this person is a taunt killer (i.e. "u suck! HA HA"). In Unreal Tournament, this person always has auto-taunt enabled. In Ultima Online (and EQ, AC, etc), this person is a PK, and more specifically, a twink.
3. In real life, this is the person who does some extremely hurtful thing and then says, "Hey can't you take a joke!?"
4. Most important: Doesn't realize they are a flamer! You could come straight out and tell the person, "You are a flamer", but it would not register. They always wonder why people are attacking them.
Yes, I do realize that *this* is a flame in some respects. I was hoping to inject a little levity into the situation, though. =)
In my opinion the sequence of events seems all too convenient. If this was all true, then Abe could be charged with a criminal offense for cracking in to that network, whether or not the company wants to press charges. For that and other reasons, I think that the whole story was concocted to generate ratings and/or publicity.
As the original article states, this technology is not limited just to cable modem access. It can be used by any ISP using any access method (cable, DSL, dial-up, satellite).
Give this information to anyone and everyone that currently has or is thinking about getting internet access. Educate them about the alternatives. We need to make the providers understand that the public *will* switch to alternate access methods if this type of system gets implemented. Last, but not least, don't let this issue die without making sure that the ISPs understand that the public knows what they are up to.
Thanks,
UOZaphod
I have always been curious about portability between the various versions of FreeBSD versus the portability between distributions of Linux.
For example, the new game "Civilization: Call to Power" should be able to run on any distribution of Linux, as long as the kernel is 2.0.x or 2.2.x.
Are binaries usually portable from FreeBSD to NetBSD to OpenBSD?
-- UOZaphod
In fact, the 2.3.X series is a development series. It is really intended to be used to test new additions to the kernel so that eventually a new 2.4.0 stable kernel can be released, which may be a ways down the road yet (remember the amount of time from 2.0.X to 2.2.X?)
I would discourage people from upgrading to the 2.3.X series until it has reached a stable point.
-- UOZaphod
2.0.X - stable series
2.1.X - development series
2.2.X - stable series
2.3.X - development series
2.4.X (future) - stable series
It is very simple to understand. 2.3.0 is a snapshot of 2.2.8. The purpose is to provide a starting point for a kernel development series.
A development series is used to test more drastic changes to the kernel (ones which would never be accepted into a stable series). In fact, the only changes usually accepted into a stable series are bug fixes.
When a development series reaches a stable condition, a snapshot is taken to begin a new even numbered series (i.e. 2.4.X).
I hope that clears things up for people.
-- UOZaphod
The only difference is the version number.
I really don't understand people that just rush into things like this without investigating first. As many people have already said, running diff shows that the only difference between the 2.2.8 and 2.3.0 is the VERSION NUMBER! In essence, 2.3.0 is a snapshot of the 2.2.X series that provides the starting point for a developmental 2.3.X series. When a stable point is eventually reached, it will then be copied over to a new stable 2.4.X series.
If you wanted the latest kernel, you should have just installed 2.2.8 and saved yourself a little trouble.
-- UOZaphod
For example, use 39 instead of 369 for 'j', and 93 instead of 963 for 'x'
Perhaps someone could create a parser for long strings with the 5 key as the character seperator: 71569535415795 = "quick"
I think they put S and 0 on secondary slots for just that reason: they are the most common letter/digit. Because the stroke would be used so much, the user would get very used to it (and fast), and thus more primary slots would be freed up for the less-common characters.
Thats my opinion, at least.
Lets see... No floppy, CD-ROM drive, Zip, etc, etc...
The software has to come from somewhere, right? Unless you got the machine pre-installed with Win95 or Linux, and then used the internet to download the programs.
I guess you don't ever plan to install any other operating system (floppy boot disk usually, but not always, required).
And if you say, "I install it over the LAN", then the machine you are installing it from probably has removable media, right?
My point is, all software has to come from somewhere and not all of it can be handled over the network.
-- UOZaphod
I believe the differences can be analogous to the process of evolution. I'll keep this short and simple (Note: distro = distribution):
********
BSD = code forking.
Reason: Company A develops *BSD distro with proprietary feature X. Company B develops *BSD distro with proprietary feature Y. Companies are not obligated to share source code with each other (i.e. no genes are shared).
Result: Companies continue to develop products that evolve separately. Features begin to vary wildly and eventually they become separate species altogether.
********
GPL = no code forks.
Reason: Company A develops Linux distro with feature X. Company B develops Linux distro with feature Y. Under GPL, both companies must freely share code with each other (i.e. genes are shared).
Result: All the good features (survival genes) eventually spread to all distros, and all the bad features (non-survival genes) eventually die out through atrophy. Although there may be minor genetic differences, all distros are of the same species.
********
Thus, it is fairly simple why GPL products (including but not limited to Linux) will always win out eventually over competing non-GPL products.
This is the simplest explanation I can think of as to why *BSD, although a more mature product, is not growing as fast as Linux.
However, to borrow from Star Trek, we should always strive for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. That is, we *need* a variety of products so that we are always striving to improve through competition.
-- UOZaphod
I think the author said this mostly as a challenge to get the ball rolling on making Linux more scalable to SMP and >1 GB RAM systems. This is already in the works, and I congratulate the core Kernel developers on the fantastic growth we've seen in this area. I believe that once Linux SMP is fully optimized, it will truly kick the pants off of NT.
Keep in mind that the server used was so high-end that most Linux users would consider it a waste of money. The point is, Linux doesn't *need* high-end equipment to get high performance. NT does. In fact, you could probably run the same test with 3 of the processors removed and only 64 MB of memory and the Linux figures would stay the same while NT would be crippled. Thats my opinion at least.
-- UOZaphod
I was really just trying to illustrate how different requirements call for different coding styles.
Its been a while since I was programming in C...
I don't even want the portable DVD player... I would be happy to just have the glasses and get the same effect as a 6 foot wide TV (big or bigger than those projection systems, and clearer to boot) for only $499!
Sounds pretty good if the quality is up to par
RE: Big corporation "You-Know-Who" takes legal against UserFriendly (a comic strip no less!)
What needs to be created is a legal fund for those people who are being harrassed and intimidated by lawyers armed with the endless amount of money supplied by big corporations.
Slashdot readers and the rest of the Internet community should unite against this clear and present danger to our right to free speech.
Who else is willing to contribute?