i sure hope that you sweep the floors and empty the garbage at Motorola, but I think that I see here a classic case of denial. You can stop whenever you want to, right? It helps clear your mind, right? That is the only explanation for such a non-sensical comment. Using drugs DOES make you a loser, whether you use them for acceptance, low self-esteem, the inability to deal with reality, psychological problems or the inability to determine or care about right and wrong. It is wrong for a reason, and not because of the mafia. You benefit (if it's appropriate to use that word) from the majority of people that don't use drugs, who drive down the street not stoned, who show up for work everyday and produce, who raise kids who learn that drugs are bad, addictive and no solution for anything. So just keep the windows clean, the floors vacuumed and remember to lock the doors on your way home. What a looser. I mean luser. I mean losur. I mean LOSER.
What I see here is a classic case of someone spewing classic FUD because they know nothing of the issues. Try to educate yourself on a topic before calling someone a loser for understanding it better then you. Either that or post as an AC so there isn't a permanent record of your foolishness.
(The post I'm replying to flames a Motorola employee for admitting to smoking pot.)
This discussion may be off-topic, but Slashdot is still a good forum. It is a good forum because the war against marijuana consists almost entirely of FUD. Slashdot readers are some of the best FUD fighters out there. Here's an article that should disgust even the most conservative Slashdotters.
--- Every 45 seconds, another arrest for using Linux. 695,000 last year. It's time for a change. -- National Organization for the Replacement of Microsoft with Linux. Every 45 seconds, another arrest for Linux. 695000 last year. It's time for a change.
ok great. so now we rate these licenses... we need to come up with a license that is clear in a legal sense (this is NOT the GPL) and then evangelize it by taking it to the media and basically pushing it as the only true open source...
instead of a viral license how about a chameleon-one....
if they release source, our source is free for them...
if they want to sell something with the source in it, then the author gets a cut...
ad infinitum... the Java license is like this, right?
All this means is that Linux is not ready to step up and take on the work of big-iron IBM/HP/Sun machines. Neither is NT (but people attempt it anyway) Even if Linux was technically able to take on the big iron, there is no service organization in place to back it up. 1. Who out there is offering Linux Downtime(Uptime) guarantees? (The system won't be down more than x hours/year) A: Nobody 2. Can you contractually get a Linux service technican on your site within an hour of having problems if you need to? 24 hours/day 7 days a week. A. No. You may find individual consultants willing to take this on, but what if they're not available when needed? This doesn't mean that Linux has no place in the enterprise. There's alot it can do that doesn't require the level of technology and service needed for "big iron". BTW, where they testing 2.0 or 2.2 SMP?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that Windows NT is limited to 2GB of RAM and 2GB of virtual memory. This was a question I used to ask during technical interviews for NT administrators.
Todd Every 45 seconds, another arrest for Linux. 695000 last year. It's time for a change.
Women are open source. However, due to the use of built in options packaging and firmware controlled interfacing, they conflict with all known architectures...
Those files were part of the desktop database which tracks file types, and also tracks the information so that when you put the disk back in the drive the relative positions of things on the disk and desktop follows, which is really useful if you are using a mac. So what if a few tiny invisible files appear on your disk? They are very useful from the Mac side, and can be deleted if you do not want them. As far as it goes they should be invisible for a typical user because they would have no benefit from editing them, and could screw up the way the file system is handled if they removed them. Those files did not have any serious effect on your disk or hurt you or your media in any way. The most aggravating thing about certain Linux/BSD advocates is their railing against FUD, and then pulling out their own lies and FUD to bash Macs. Your price quotes are unrealistic (you could pay that much, but only if you were stupid, and did no research), and MacOS Server's GUI is not particularly bloated/slow. It is true that as the next phase of OpenStep/NextStep it does have a lot of features, but if you want to kill them you can. BTW - There are many companies that offer hardware upgrades, if you want an IBM or a Motorola PPC upgrade then you can take your pick and get them from various dealers - though not from Apple who generally do not sell upgrades.
A drag & drop applescript to change file/creator type is really easy to write, and those sorts of scripts are handy to have around to do batch changes as well. All the tools are included in the Apple Extras folder to write the scripts. Also ResEdit can change creator/file types easily and is easy to use - open the file, choose get info from the file menu, and edit away - just don't mess with the rest of the resource fork. As far as easily opening files in other applications - just drag & drop 'em. Spring loaded folders make this especially easy now.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to go about setting up a Linux system, at the API level, to facilitate life for game developers. I've come to the conclusion that Linux needs a consistent, all-encompassing multimedia subsystem, that handles sound, graphics, and 3d in a nice package. Perhaps something in the spirit (but done RIGHT) of DirectX from M$. A combination of OpenGL, ESound, and Xfree DGA almost get you there, but they're somewhat kludgy to interface with each other, and esd tends to mangle sounds in it's current incarnation. Perhaps an X server that talk s to/dev/framebuffer that offers native (hopefully accelerated) Mesa 3D, and either a cleaned up esd, or a better kernel sound driver interface...
Face it, like it or not, it's actually easier to write a game for windows nowadays, since you don't have to worry about a million different hardware and software conflicts. Sure, directx causes it's fair share of problems, but it for the most part does what it's supposed to do (abstract away the annoying stuff), albeit non-optimally.
has anybody out there tried to work this problem? I'd be curious as to what's out there so far, because I'd like to see a good gaming solution.
I'm utterly convinced that a majority of game developers (we can convert the publishers later) would love to develop for linux, if it didn't take so darned long to port everything over, and if the support hassles weren't so great. Most of them are geeks too, and run Linux at home, anyway.
How small the author of this drivel sounds. mp3.com's IPO means nothing to many mp3 users. As long as there is a published spec, encoders and decoders, people will use them. mp3s were widely used way before anyone tried to promote them.
Makes about as much sense to me as suing Rio because their device "might" be used for pirating music. Also better sue VCR makers, CDR makers, hard drive makers, Iomega (zip disks), makers of tape decks, pens, pencils, crayons, silly putty, and yes, film makers such as Kodak (heaven knows how many pictures were taken of copyrighted material over the last 150 years).
The disc prices are MUCH lower now. The last packs I bought from Circuit City were 74 minute Maxells at $10.00 for 5 disc packs! This is unusually low, but $3-5 discs are not uncommon. I've been extremely happy with all of my MiniDisc equipment, but I don't think it will ever take over the mainstream. Something like a recordable Rio with a lot more storage just might, though...
Re-typed from my magazine. GDMag is kind of hard to find, so I figured some of you might still wanna read it. yes, I typed this all, so excuse the typos.
Making a case for Linux Games:
Great ideas seem obvious in retrospect. nearly eight months after founding Loki Entertainment Software, putting games onto Linux is starting to seem obvious, too.
For those of you recently returning from the outer rings, Linux is a free, open-source operating system. It's fast, stable, reliable, and responsive - technically equivalent and often superior to commercial OS's because Linux development is driven by technology, not marketing. Think of the Linux development community as the world's only functioning meritocracy. Only the best code survives. A solice estimate of Linux users is difficult to come by - it's perfectly acceptable to download the OS or copy it for a friend - but the most reliable figures put the '98 Linux installed base somewhere between 12 and 15 million.
Still, you might ask, isn't Linux just a server OS? Well, International Data Corp. estimates that Linux held about two percent of the worldwide *desktop* market in 1998. Quite remarkable for an OS which has only recently begun to see desktop applications. The trend is familiar. New technologies often trickle down from high-end applications, such as servers to the consumer desktop.
It's true that most of the applications are beginning to appear. There are two very good GUI's for Linux already availabl: KDE and GNOME. There are also several good Linux office applications, including Corel's recently released Wordperfect 8.0. Wordperfect was downloaded over 250K times within two weeks of its release. Who's to say games aren't next?
Not only will linux became an increasingly viable dekstop OS - I beleive that it's also going to be the gaming OS of choice. because Linux is open source, it's possible to make changes to the OS itself to enhance game performance. By developing on Linux, the game industry will further Linux development - and build in superior game play.
That's why we chose to port Activisions Civilization: Call to Power to the Linux platform. At Loki, we license the rights to pirt successful game titles to Linux. The original developer provides us with the source code (which we do not release). We then port the game. Loki tests, publishes, and supports the Linux port - and pays the original developer royalties. This way, we're able to deliver the best titles the PC game world has to offer to our customers.
All developers could potentially benefit. Gan-related software libraries are also oen source in the Linux world and this gain all the benefits of the open-source model. In our own company, we are currently sing the Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) to support input, graphics, and sound. The changes we make to SDL in our porting work will be publically available - source code and all. Eyes will begin combing the code. With thousands of developers scrutinizing SDL code, bugs will be found and fixed faster than they would in any single company's product.
Open source also encourages open standards. And open standards translate into lower costs for developers and fewer headaches for users. linux is far more likely to standardize on a particular 3D API, for example. By contrast, Windows developers struffle to support competing 3D, sound, and other propietary formats.
The combined benefits of an open source OS, open source libraries, and open standards add up to a superior gaming environment. In the near future, the same game running on the same hardware will be faster, more stable, and more responsive on Linux. Hardcore gamers will pick up on this quickly. What about game developers?
As an AlphaNT user or sysadmin can attest too. Not all M$ OS are created equal mean they only begrudgingly support the Alpha and would probably drop it if they could. Hey they already dropped MIPS and the PPC platforms. BTW, nowhere in Microsoft's much vaunted Checklist for Windows 2000 Device Driver Development is Alpha compatibility mentioned.
My feeling is Muth is probably speaking more openly about what M$ is really thinking behind closed doors, than Ballmer's "let's make peace overtures". Muth probably believes in all sincerity that the world is better off with a single processor, single OS, and single source of Apps.
Besides we couldn't even mentally handle the burden of knowing what is going in the underlying source code. You see we aren't smart enough only "select group of computer scientists, researchers and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and engineering partners, who are offered the code under a set of restrictions that prohibit them from commercializing the technology in any way" are. M$ is doing us a favor by protecting us from ourselves.
If you follow Muth's logic to its logical conclusion, then Linus, Alan Cox, RMS, and even JWZ are idiots. They dared develop and then gave back the source.
I have to give Muth credit as at least he doesn't mince words or dodge what he sees as the company line. Ballmer is no better than Al Gore. Both pander and speak words that will make them look like good guys.
Where are Perens and RMS when we really need them???
-dan
P.S. Zapman: DOS 6.22 and WfW are still on the company's active offering list. So there you go two more.
But why would MS do something like that, which will obviously benefit Linux more than it will Windows? Linux is after all a competitor to Windows. But that depends on whom you ask inside MS...:P
Slashdot Mirror
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
Why not Guile like FreeCiv is doing?
i sure hope that you sweep the floors and empty the garbage at Motorola, but I think that I see here a classic case of denial. You can stop whenever you want to, right? It helps clear your mind, right? That is the only explanation for such a non-sensical comment. Using drugs DOES make you a loser, whether you use them for acceptance, low self-esteem, the inability to deal with reality, psychological problems or the inability to determine or care about right and wrong. It is wrong for a reason, and not because of the mafia. You benefit (if it's appropriate to use that word) from the majority of people that don't use drugs, who drive down the street not stoned, who show up for work everyday and produce, who raise kids who learn that drugs are bad, addictive and no solution for anything. So just keep the windows clean, the floors vacuumed and remember to lock the doors on your way home. What a looser. I mean luser. I mean losur. I mean LOSER.
What I see here is a classic case of someone spewing classic FUD because they know nothing of the issues. Try to educate yourself on a topic before calling someone a loser for understanding it better then you. Either that or post as an AC so there isn't a permanent record of your foolishness.
(The post I'm replying to flames a Motorola employee for admitting to smoking pot.)
This discussion may be off-topic, but Slashdot is still a good forum. It is a good forum because the war against marijuana consists almost entirely of FUD. Slashdot readers are some of the best FUD fighters out there. Here's an article that should disgust even the most conservative Slashdotters.
http://www.norml.org/news/index.shtml# story2
Todd
---
Every 45 seconds, another arrest for using Linux. 695,000 last year. It's time for a change.
-- National Organization for the Replacement of Microsoft with Linux.
Every 45 seconds, another arrest for Linux. 695000 last year. It's time for a change.
Posted by DonR:
Hey, did you ever notice that the FAQ is 66(*&)^*&%^%T*NO CARRIER
*grin*
---
Donald Roeber
Posted by OGL:
"The shareware Linux programming language"???
Barf!!!
-W.W.
Posted by Forward The Light Brigade:
ok great. so now we rate these licenses... we need to come up with a license that is clear in a legal sense (this is NOT the GPL) and then evangelize it by taking it to the media and basically pushing it as the only true open source...
instead of a viral license how about a chameleon-one....
if they release source, our source is free for them...
if they want to sell something with the source in it, then the author gets a cut...
ad infinitum... the Java license is like this, right?
Posted by Tsuki Teiou:
GET ME A JOB THERE! PLEASE! I DON"T EVEN CARE WHAT YOU DO! Those SGI cases kick ass though, the O2 looks really cool close up in real life.
Posted by Tony Smolar:
All this means is that Linux is not ready to step up and take on the work of big-iron IBM/HP/Sun machines. Neither is NT (but people attempt it anyway) Even if Linux was technically able to take on the big iron, there is no service organization in place to back it up. 1. Who out there is offering Linux Downtime(Uptime) guarantees? (The system won't be down more than x hours/year) A: Nobody 2. Can you contractually get a Linux service technican on your site within an hour of having problems if you need to? 24 hours/day 7 days a week. A. No. You may find individual consultants willing to take this on, but what if they're not available when needed? This doesn't mean that Linux has no place in the enterprise. There's alot it can do that doesn't require the level of technology and service needed for "big iron". BTW, where they testing 2.0 or 2.2 SMP?
Posted by keithk:
If it can produce sound in 360 degrees, why hang
it on a wall? Why not just hang it from the
ceiling in the middle of the room? =)
Posted by TRF:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that Windows NT is limited to 2GB of RAM and 2GB of virtual memory. This was a question I used to ask during technical interviews for NT administrators.
Todd
Every 45 seconds, another arrest for Linux. 695000 last year. It's time for a change.
Posted by FUJIMO:
Women are open source. However, due to the use of built in options packaging and firmware controlled interfacing, they conflict with all known architectures...
Posted by Fleeno:
They're only $99 with a sub! I wonder if they sound better than other $99 speakers, but they certainly look neat.
Posted by DroneB:
Those files were part of the desktop database which tracks file types, and also tracks the information so that when you put the disk back in the drive the relative positions of things on the disk and desktop follows, which is really useful if you are using a mac. So what if a few tiny invisible files appear on your disk? They are very useful from the Mac side, and can be deleted if you do not want them. As far as it goes they should be invisible for a typical user because they would have no benefit from editing them, and could screw up the way the file system is handled if they removed them. Those files did not have any serious effect on your disk or hurt you or your media in any way.
The most aggravating thing about certain Linux/BSD advocates is their railing against FUD, and then pulling out their own lies and FUD to bash Macs. Your price quotes are unrealistic (you could pay that much, but only if you were stupid, and did no research), and MacOS Server's GUI is not particularly bloated/slow. It is true that as the next phase of OpenStep/NextStep it does have a lot of features, but if you want to kill them you can. BTW - There are many companies that offer hardware upgrades, if you want an IBM or a Motorola PPC upgrade then you can take your pick and get them from various dealers - though not from Apple who generally do not sell upgrades.
Posted by DroneB:
A drag & drop applescript to change file/creator type is really easy to write, and those sorts of scripts are handy to have around to do batch changes as well. All the tools are included in the Apple Extras folder to write the scripts. Also ResEdit can change creator/file types easily and is easy to use - open the file, choose get info from the file menu, and edit away - just don't mess with the rest of the resource fork. As far as easily opening files in other applications - just drag & drop 'em. Spring loaded folders make this especially easy now.
Posted by pratt-o-matic:
/dev/framebuffer that offers native (hopefully accelerated) Mesa 3D, and either a cleaned up esd, or a better kernel sound driver interface...
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to go about setting up a Linux system, at the API level, to facilitate life for game developers. I've come to the conclusion that Linux needs a consistent, all-encompassing multimedia subsystem, that handles sound, graphics, and 3d in a nice package. Perhaps something in the spirit (but done RIGHT) of DirectX from M$. A combination of OpenGL, ESound, and Xfree DGA almost get you there, but they're somewhat kludgy to interface with each other, and esd tends to mangle sounds in it's current incarnation. Perhaps an X server that talk s to
Face it, like it or not, it's actually easier to write a game for windows nowadays, since you don't have to worry about a million different hardware and software conflicts. Sure, directx causes it's fair share of problems, but it for the most part does what it's supposed to do (abstract away the annoying stuff), albeit non-optimally.
has anybody out there tried to work this problem? I'd be curious as to what's out there so far, because I'd like to see a good gaming solution.
I'm utterly convinced that a majority of game developers (we can convert the publishers later) would love to develop for linux, if it didn't take so darned long to port everything over, and if the support hassles weren't so great. Most of them are geeks too, and run Linux at home, anyway.
Posted by The Mongolian Barbecue:
How small the author of this drivel sounds. mp3.com's IPO means nothing to many mp3 users. As long as there is a published spec, encoders and decoders, people will use them. mp3s were widely used way before anyone tried to promote them.
Posted by PasswdIs ScoreOne:
Makes about as much sense to me as suing Rio because their device "might" be used for pirating music. Also better sue VCR makers, CDR makers, hard drive makers, Iomega (zip disks), makers of tape decks, pens, pencils, crayons, silly putty, and yes, film makers such as Kodak (heaven knows how many pictures were taken of copyrighted material over the last 150 years).
Posted by Nick Carraway:
The disc prices are MUCH lower now. The last packs I bought from Circuit City were 74 minute Maxells at $10.00 for 5 disc packs! This is unusually low, but $3-5 discs are not uncommon. I've been extremely happy with all of my MiniDisc equipment, but I don't think it will ever take over the mainstream. Something like a recordable Rio with a lot more storage just might, though...
Posted by Jobu3D:
Re-typed from my magazine. GDMag is kind of hard to find, so I figured some of you might still wanna read it. yes, I typed this all, so excuse the typos.
Making a case for Linux Games:
Great ideas seem obvious in retrospect. nearly eight months after founding Loki Entertainment Software, putting games onto Linux is starting to seem obvious, too.
For those of you recently returning from the outer rings, Linux is a free, open-source operating system. It's fast, stable, reliable, and responsive - technically equivalent and often superior to commercial OS's because Linux development is driven by technology, not marketing. Think of the Linux development community as the world's only functioning meritocracy. Only the best code survives. A solice estimate of Linux users is difficult to come by - it's perfectly acceptable to download the OS or copy it for a friend - but the most reliable figures put the '98 Linux installed base somewhere between 12 and 15 million.
Still, you might ask, isn't Linux just a server OS? Well, International Data Corp. estimates that Linux held about two percent of the worldwide *desktop* market in 1998. Quite remarkable for an OS which has only recently begun to see desktop applications. The trend is familiar. New technologies often trickle down from high-end applications, such as servers to the consumer desktop.
It's true that most of the applications are beginning to appear. There are two very good GUI's for Linux already availabl: KDE and GNOME. There are also several good Linux office applications, including Corel's recently released Wordperfect 8.0. Wordperfect was downloaded over 250K times within two weeks of its release. Who's to say games aren't next?
Not only will linux became an increasingly viable dekstop OS - I beleive that it's also going to be the gaming OS of choice. because Linux is open source, it's possible to make changes to the OS itself to enhance game performance. By developing on Linux, the game industry will further Linux development - and build in superior game play.
That's why we chose to port Activisions Civilization: Call to Power to the Linux platform. At Loki, we license the rights to pirt successful game titles to Linux. The original developer provides us with the source code (which we do not release). We then port the game. Loki tests, publishes, and supports the Linux port - and pays the original developer royalties. This way, we're able to deliver the best titles the PC game world has to offer to our customers.
All developers could potentially benefit. Gan-related software libraries are also oen source in the Linux world and this gain all the benefits of the open-source model. In our own company, we are currently sing the Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) to support input, graphics, and sound. The changes we make to SDL in our porting work will be publically available - source code and all. Eyes will begin combing the code. With thousands of developers scrutinizing SDL code, bugs will be found and fixed faster than they would in any single company's product.
Open source also encourages open standards. And open standards translate into lower costs for developers and fewer headaches for users. linux is far more likely to standardize on a particular 3D API, for example. By contrast, Windows developers struffle to support competing 3D, sound, and other propietary formats.
The combined benefits of an open source OS, open source libraries, and open standards add up to a superior gaming environment. In the near future, the same game running on the same hardware will be faster, more stable, and more responsive on Linux. Hardcore gamers will pick up on this quickly. What about game developers?
As an AlphaNT user or sysadmin can attest too. Not all M$ OS are created equal mean they only begrudgingly support the Alpha and would probably drop it if they could. Hey they already dropped MIPS and the PPC platforms. BTW, nowhere in Microsoft's much vaunted Checklist for Windows 2000 Device Driver Development is Alpha compatibility mentioned.
My feeling is Muth is probably speaking more openly about what M$ is really thinking behind closed doors, than Ballmer's "let's make peace overtures". Muth probably believes in all sincerity that the world is better off with a single processor, single OS, and single source of Apps.
Besides we couldn't even mentally handle the burden of knowing what is going in the underlying source code. You see we aren't smart enough only "select group of computer scientists, researchers and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and engineering partners, who are offered the code under a set of restrictions that prohibit them from commercializing the technology in any way" are. M$ is doing us a favor by protecting us from ourselves.
If you follow Muth's logic to its logical conclusion, then Linus, Alan Cox, RMS, and even JWZ are idiots. They dared develop and then gave back the source.
I have to give Muth credit as at least he doesn't mince words or dodge what he sees as the company line. Ballmer is no better than Al Gore. Both pander and speak words that will make them look like good guys.
Where are Perens and RMS when we really need them???
-dan
P.S. Zapman: DOS 6.22 and WfW are still on the company's active offering list. So there you go two more.
Posted by smartass:
They say that because it's shrink wrapped, that's why it runs...
My last install of wine took a half dozen tries and about 24 hours.
Posted by DiegoGuy:
:)
I was talking on the phone for awhile, and had to take a break from reading it, that's why I put 2 hours...
No, I don't need Hooked on Phonics.
p.s. - Amazing what AC's will say just for the fact that they're anonymous...
Posted by himes:
400 x 400 nm bits in a hard drive aren't a big deal. You'll be buying the same areal density from Office Max in the very near future.
Posted by Mike@ABC:
I have to agree. RMS is quite brilliant. He's done a lot. But he's alienating the very people who could benefit from what he can do.
Posted by ChristianC:
See 'Sex and the single geek' at MacOPINION. Pretty funny.
Posted by stodge:
:P
But why would MS do something like that, which will obviously benefit Linux more than it will Windows? Linux is after all a competitor to Windows. But that depends on whom you ask inside MS...