I have had ADSL service in Vancouver, Canada for over a year now. I pay under $50US for upstream speeds of 640kbps and downstream speeds of 1.5 - 4 Mbps.
When I first got ther service, I was lucky enough to live less than 1/2 mile from the CO and got speeds over 3.5Mbps. Unfortunately, I am a little farther away now and am down to 2.5 Mbps.
The service is provided by my local phone company in partnership with my ISP. The ISP takes care of support, email and website and the phone company takes care of the rest.
My experience with ADSL has been great. The only troubles I've had was when I move and wanted to do the installation myself (avoiding having to pay the $70US installation fee). They put up an argument, but when I informed them that the CRTC (the Canadian equivalent to the FCC, who regulate Phone companies and Cable companies) dictates that the customer be able to choose there installer, they relented.
ADSL has been and continues to be a great experience.
I signed up for Bell Atlantic's 640K (download) DSL service a couple of months ago in DC, and have been very pleased. I had about a two-week wait between my order and the installation, but when the install happened, the guy who did it was there right on time and got things done quickly. I had already been Fed-Ex-ed or UPSed the DSL router, and had it hooked up to my Mac clone. All that remained to be done after the inside wiring was done was to configure the networking software. I could have been done the same day as the install except for a typo in the IP addresses I was given that I didn't get straightened out until the next day.
The service originally ran $60/month for the line and ISP service from BA (which gets you a huge deal on the router -- much cheaper), but they chopped $10/month off the price of service about a month into my term of service.
There have been a grand total of 2 service outages since March, which I was told were due to router problems.
I like the DSL service because of the "always online" feature, having my phone line free, and, of course, for the great download bandwidth. I've had no hassles whatsoever, and BA's customer service, although I've heard it maligned, has been stellar for me so far.
There's a substantial initial outlay for the installation and equipment, but the monthly charge ($50 for now) isn't a whole lot more than you'd pay for an additional phone line and an ISP account, and the extra bandwidth is worth that difference for me.
If you do decide to sign up for it, BA also pays a $100 referral fee, so keep me in mind:-)
I tried using Perl Win32 about 1.5 years ago to do NT login scripting. It totally sucked. So I'm glad Win32 functionality will be expanded.
OTOH, I'm not sure I like the idea of MS doing the work.
I haven't studied Perl's licensing very closely so I don't to what extent the GPL applies to modules. And, of course, I have no idea what form MS's extensions will take. -- "Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
There's more 'casual users' here at/. than you realize. Me, for example. There's probably a fair number of 'suits' who browse through here too.
Mind you, I have no intention of remaining a 'casual user' forever, I just don't have the experience with the OS yet to be comfortable enough with it to be of any real help on any of the projects I'm potentially interested in.
Now don't get me wrong, I worship Carmack as much as the next programming-wannabe, but his comments about Gnome and the other UI stuff sounded pretty naive (spelling?). I know I'm not near the genius he is, but it sounds like he wasn't willing to get his hands dirty and actually try.
Maybe he just doesn't have the Linux spirit, I would have expected him to write something he likes (the only thing I would trade E for is a completely 3D E, now that would rock; I still have my old Nintendo glove, I'll write a driver for it:)
Anyways, the moral of the story is, johnc is a pretty hefty computer-user, but he seems half there in an aspect: "I have never been able to stand vi or emacs for long enough to become proficient in them." Code is code, right?
Agreed - but don't forget, some people shouldn't be managers. The guy I'm working with at the moment is (technically) fairly competant, and one hell of a nice guy, but can't manage a piss-up in a distillery (and that's where I work - A DISTILLERY !!!).
Then again, some people CAN'T be managed, or require very careful management. I've never met Raster, nor am I likely to - I've admired and respected his work, and tend to agree with his comments on E, but he is an obvious example of someone who cares more about the users than "toeing the corporate line".
Having said that, the RH manager he's refering to should have had more common sense than to make a "company-binding" comment in a public forum like that.
To Raster, I say "Well done" - move on and continue the work on E - there's lots of us out there who support your stand !!!
It's so easy to send of a flame at katz- I've done the same thing myself from time to time, for some of his stuff that has seemed arrogant or ill-informed. But this is a serious issue that he is addressing here- do you argue about that? All I saw in your post was a criticism of katz, not a single mention of why hackers being demonized is not a very big problem for all of us.
So if katz obeys you and shuts up about this, are you going to do something about it? Or are you going to wait until someone makes a predawn visit to your house on trumped up charges? If you're not going to be helpful or address the issues, just shut up.
...from someone who doesn't know how to use a dictionary.
"censorship - the prevention of publication, transmission, or exhibition of material considered undesirable for the general public to possess or be exposed to." -- "Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
I love the power, reliability, flexibility, cost and ease of use (seriously) of Linux.
But the best part is the freedom. Unfortunately this crucial feature is being left out of the discussion far too often by business-oriented people and groups.
Linux is a hobby. It just happens to be better than many commercial/proprietary systems. Enough better that many business have been built on its foundation. -- "Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
I have seen the development of Enlightenment for almost 2 years now. The greatest improvements have happened during this latest Red Hat era.
Before Red Hat, enlightenment's feature overload problem seemed to hurt it the most, and it's code was sloppy to say the least. Now, at the end of this era, the problems remain, but they have been hammered out enough to the point where I can pretty much compile and run it with some degree of stability on pretty much any system I can throw at it.
However, Enlightenment has a long way to go. I can't say whether or not this move is going to hurt it any, but I hope not.
Is this supposed to be frightening? If so, why? Linux is still GPL'd so no danger there. And MS would only be admitting defeat by releasing their own distro--they'd be a laughingstock.
If you are more machiavellian you may be thinking "Yeah, but what if they purposely make a low quality distro to make Linux look bad?"
First of all, creating a distro from scratch for the express purpose of failing? That sounds like a lot of work for not much gain.
Secondly, all they would do is make themselves look bad. The first thing even the most clue-lacking techno-journalist would do is compare MSLinux to RedHat and Caldera. If MS is making a purposely lame distro they would fail fail fail. New slogan "Microsoft can't even make OTHER PEOPLE'S software work right."
And the last point: I seriously doubt MS has the developers to spare to make their own Linux distro. They are all too busy on [Win|Y]2k. -- "Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
This is a bunch of BS. I always felt like WinAmp was the sorta software that swayed away from the mainstream crap, but I guess everyone is out for the buck and integrity means nothing.
I can probably visit all the ones mentioned in the article and comments and figure out what they are, but I find it odd that an article about them doesn't bother explaining it. I've never heard the term before. I get two distinct and contradictory impressions from the article.
One, it's a fancy name for a well maintained web site. That sounds like someone wanted a new name to make some artificial (i.e. non-existant) distinction as to why his web page was "different" and not "just a homepage".
Two, it's a private club of some sort that exists as some sort of web site. This sounds like just something else to be excluded from, so that the people not excluded can feel all elite and superior at the "expense" of everyone else (most of whom probably don't care anyway).
Granted, I could spend an hour or 3 looking at the links in the article and have a more accurate opinion, but the point is, the article should have at least made some attempt at defining this term. A quick poll of my "peers" on IRC shows that many others don't know this term either, so it's not (only) that I'm hopelessly out of touch.
Many of the posts here are welcoming this stupid proposed law because it will be a boon to OSS.
It will.
But, moreover, it will be a boon to any commercial software vendor that does not include these silly restrictions to thier software licence.
For example, if Microsoft puts severe restrictions to it's licencing model for Office 2000, then another company, like Corel, will offer a competitive(maybe even better)product that will not have the restrictions that the Microsoft product does. This will be a competitive advantage in marketing software.
The software licencing model that a software company chooses will be a feature, and one that make me buy a product, or not.
Re:Paucity of Documentation Plagues Free Software
on
Unix in a Nutshell
·
· Score: 1
Posted by d106ene5:
However, the point I was trying to make is that you simply cannot rely on man pages or info or whatever being accessible if you work on a variety of systems.
Then what good is Unix In A Nutshell to you anyway? Of course manpages are not available on the Mac - in which case Unix In A Nutshell won't be of much use either.
Tom's point is valid. On unix systems you should be able to find manpages.
This kind of thing is between Redhat, the Manager in question, and Raster. He shouldn't take his grievances to the outside world, as it leaves them open to interpretation. It also inflames the situation by allowing the public to come in and increase the tension by posting stupid remarks. Bad move mate. Immature move mate.
Grammar and spelling this bad can only be the result of one of two things:
1) An unwillingness to admit error by proofreading. Very bad attribute in a programmer. 2) A deepseated inability to communicate.
I was originally thinking #1 was the case, but now that I think of how difficult E is to use it may actually be #2 that is the problem. The interface sure didn't communicate anything to ME about what I was supposed to do. -- "Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Slashdot Mirror
Posted by dentyne:
I have had ADSL service in Vancouver, Canada for over a year now. I pay under $50US for upstream speeds of 640kbps and downstream speeds of 1.5 - 4 Mbps.
When I first got ther service, I was lucky enough to live less than 1/2 mile from the CO and got speeds over 3.5Mbps. Unfortunately, I am a little farther away now and am down to 2.5 Mbps.
The service is provided by my local phone company in partnership with my ISP. The ISP takes care of support, email and website and the phone company takes care of the rest.
My experience with ADSL has been great. The only troubles I've had was when I move and wanted to do the installation myself (avoiding having to pay the $70US installation fee). They put up an argument, but when I informed them that the CRTC (the Canadian equivalent to the FCC, who regulate Phone companies and Cable companies) dictates that the customer be able to choose there installer, they relented.
ADSL has been and continues to be a great experience.
Posted by dea2e:
:-)
I signed up for Bell Atlantic's 640K (download) DSL service a couple of months ago in DC, and have been very pleased. I had about a two-week wait between my order and the installation, but when the install happened, the guy who did it was there right on time and got things done quickly. I had already been Fed-Ex-ed or UPSed the DSL router, and had it hooked up to my Mac clone. All that remained to be done after the inside wiring was done was to configure the networking software. I could have been done the same day as the install except for a typo in the IP addresses I was given that I didn't get straightened out until the next day.
The service originally ran $60/month for the line and ISP service from BA (which gets you a huge deal on the router -- much cheaper), but they chopped $10/month off the price of service about a month into my term of service.
There have been a grand total of 2 service outages since March, which I was told were due to router problems.
I like the DSL service because of the "always online" feature, having my phone line free, and, of course, for the great download bandwidth. I've had no hassles whatsoever, and BA's customer service, although I've heard it maligned, has been stellar for me so far.
There's a substantial initial outlay for the installation and equipment, but the monthly charge ($50 for now) isn't a whole lot more than you'd pay for an additional phone line and an ISP account, and the extra bandwidth is worth that difference for me.
If you do decide to sign up for it, BA also pays a $100 referral fee, so keep me in mind
--Eric
dea2e@virginia.edu
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
This is great news, in a way.
I tried using Perl Win32 about 1.5 years ago to do NT login scripting. It totally sucked. So I'm glad Win32 functionality will be expanded.
OTOH, I'm not sure I like the idea of MS doing the work.
I haven't studied Perl's licensing very closely so I don't to what extent the GPL applies to modules. And, of course, I have no idea what form MS's extensions will take.
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Posted by The Masked Miscreant >:):
/. than you realize. Me, for example. There's probably a fair number of 'suits' who browse through here too.
There's more 'casual users' here at
Mind you, I have no intention of remaining a 'casual user' forever, I just don't have the experience with the OS yet to be comfortable enough with it to be of any real help on any of the projects I'm potentially interested in.
Posted by Guilt:
:)
Now don't get me wrong, I worship Carmack as much as the next programming-wannabe, but his comments about Gnome and the other UI stuff sounded pretty naive (spelling?). I know I'm not near the genius he is, but it sounds like he wasn't willing to get his hands dirty and actually try.
Maybe he just doesn't have the Linux spirit, I would have expected him to write something he likes (the only thing I would trade E for is a completely 3D E, now that would rock; I still have my old Nintendo glove, I'll write a driver for it
Anyways, the moral of the story is, johnc is a pretty hefty computer-user, but he seems half there in an aspect: "I have never been able
to stand vi or emacs for long enough to become proficient in them." Code is code, right?
-Guilt
Posted by OGL:
Huh? This is unlikely to affect the release date of Quake 3.
-W.W.
Posted by King Of The Mountain:
Agreed - but don't forget, some people shouldn't be managers. The guy I'm working with at the moment is (technically) fairly competant, and one hell of a nice guy, but can't manage a piss-up in a distillery (and that's where I work - A DISTILLERY !!!).
Then again, some people CAN'T be managed, or require very careful management. I've never met Raster, nor am I likely to - I've admired and respected his work, and tend to agree with his comments on E, but he is an obvious example of someone who cares more about the users than "toeing the corporate line".
Having said that, the RH manager he's refering to should have had more common sense than to make a "company-binding" comment in a public forum like that.
To Raster, I say "Well done" - move on and continue the work on E - there's lots of us out there who support your stand !!!
Posted by d106ene5:
The only port that anyone can connect to should be 80.
How do you suggest we upload files onto the machine? Log into it?
You need to keep port 22 open for ssh.
Posted by d106ene5:
Dump the lame encrypted PDF Kurt.
Ever heard of the web? Its an innovative way to securely distribute documents - you should check it out!
You've only succeeded in limiting your audience.
Posted by d106ene5:
So keep them closed unless absolutely necessary.
Port 80 - http
Port 22 - ssh
Of course there is more to it than this - secure CGI, for example... but at a base minimum you should seal off ports.
Posted by Rafl:
...I'm learning.
So, when it says 'to comment', means that section of the code is 'not to be executed'!
All the time I thought that the author is requesting critiques or comments on the quality of his code.
Posted by The Mongolian Barbecue:
It's so easy to send of a flame at katz- I've done the same thing myself from time to time, for some of his stuff that has seemed arrogant or ill-informed. But this is a serious issue that he is addressing here- do you argue about that? All I saw in your post was a criticism of katz, not a single mention of why hackers being demonized is not a very big problem for all of us.
So if katz obeys you and shuts up about this, are you going to do something about it? Or are you going to wait until someone makes a predawn visit to your house on trumped up charges? If you're not going to be helpful or address the issues, just shut up.
Posted by stodge:
Do you think he got his point across?
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
...from someone who doesn't know how to use a dictionary.
"censorship - the prevention of publication, transmission, or exhibition of material considered undesirable for the general public to possess or be exposed to."
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
The GPL.
I love the power, reliability, flexibility, cost and ease of use (seriously) of Linux.
But the best part is the freedom. Unfortunately this crucial feature is being left out of the discussion far too often by business-oriented people and groups.
Linux is a hobby. It just happens to be better than many commercial/proprietary systems. Enough better that many business have been built on its foundation.
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Posted by oNZeNeMo (guns'n ammo):
I have seen the development of Enlightenment for almost 2 years now. The greatest improvements have happened during this latest Red Hat era.
Before Red Hat, enlightenment's feature overload problem seemed to hurt it the most, and it's code was sloppy to say the least. Now, at the end of this era, the problems remain, but they have been hammered out enough to the point where I can pretty much compile and run it with some degree of stability on pretty much any system I can throw at it.
However, Enlightenment has a long way to go. I can't say whether or not this move is going to hurt it any, but I hope not.
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
Is this supposed to be frightening? If so, why? Linux is still GPL'd so no danger there. And MS would only be admitting defeat by releasing their own distro--they'd be a laughingstock.
If you are more machiavellian you may be thinking "Yeah, but what if they purposely make a low quality distro to make Linux look bad?"
First of all, creating a distro from scratch for the express purpose of failing? That sounds like a lot of work for not much gain.
Secondly, all they would do is make themselves look bad. The first thing even the most clue-lacking techno-journalist would do is compare MSLinux to RedHat and Caldera. If MS is making a purposely lame distro they would fail fail fail. New slogan "Microsoft can't even make OTHER PEOPLE'S software work right."
And the last point: I seriously doubt MS has the developers to spare to make their own Linux distro. They are all too busy on [Win|Y]2k.
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda
Posted by d106ene5:
I don't know how else to say it - his presentations at conferences are so offbeat, his interviews always entertaining.
Of course, perl is offbeat and entertaining. Its bizarre and obscure at times, but anyone who can write it with skill usually swears by it.
Posted by Bakeman:
This is a bunch of BS. I always felt like WinAmp was the sorta software that swayed away from the mainstream crap, but I guess everyone is out for the buck and integrity means nothing.
Posted by Fleeno:
Who doesn't want extra speed, no matter how good of a chip they have? If it works for you, great! If it's not reliable for you, don't do it!
Posted by D-Rider:
I can probably visit all the ones mentioned in the article and comments and figure out what they are, but I find it odd that an article about them doesn't bother explaining it. I've never heard the term before. I get two distinct and contradictory impressions from the article.
One, it's a fancy name for a well maintained web site. That sounds like someone wanted a new name to make some artificial (i.e. non-existant) distinction as to why his web page was "different" and not "just a homepage".
Two, it's a private club of some sort that exists as some sort of web site. This sounds like just something else to be excluded from, so that the people not excluded can feel all elite and superior at the "expense" of everyone else (most of whom probably don't care anyway).
Granted, I could spend an hour or 3 looking at the links in the article and have a more accurate opinion, but the point is, the article should have at least made some attempt at defining this term. A quick poll of my "peers" on IRC shows that many others don't know this term either, so it's not (only) that I'm hopelessly out of touch.
Posted by el_steevo:
Many of the posts here are welcoming this stupid proposed law because it will be a boon to OSS.
It will.
But, moreover, it will be a boon to any commercial software vendor that does not include these silly restrictions to thier software licence.
For example, if Microsoft puts severe restrictions to it's licencing model for Office 2000, then another company, like Corel, will offer a competitive(maybe even better)product that will not have the restrictions that the Microsoft product does. This will be a competitive advantage in marketing software.
The software licencing model that a software company chooses will be a feature, and one that make me buy a product, or not.
Posted by d106ene5:
However, the point I was trying to make is that you simply cannot rely on man pages or info or whatever being accessible if you work on a variety of systems.
Then what good is Unix In A Nutshell to you anyway? Of course manpages are not available on the Mac - in which case Unix In A Nutshell won't be of much use either.
Tom's point is valid. On unix systems you should be able to find manpages.
Posted by stodge:
This kind of thing is between Redhat, the Manager in question, and Raster. He shouldn't take his grievances to the outside world, as it leaves them open to interpretation. It also inflames the situation by allowing the public to come in and increase the tension by posting stupid remarks. Bad move mate. Immature move mate.
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
Grammar and spelling this bad can only be the result of one of two things:
1) An unwillingness to admit error by proofreading. Very bad attribute in a programmer.
2) A deepseated inability to communicate.
I was originally thinking #1 was the case, but now that I think of how difficult E is to use it may actually be #2 that is the problem. The interface sure didn't communicate anything to ME about what I was supposed to do.
--
"Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say." - Rob Malda