you still pick up the phone and punch in those numbers
major interface change here - I remember having to spin and wait for the rotory dial to pulse the line:-)
There could be technology to pick up the phone and say "Call bob"
Actually, there is and I use it. Houston Cellular offers Voice Touch, a very nice feature - especially while driving. In order to "call bob" you have to pre-configure what Bob's number is. What's really slick is that if you haven't set up Bob's number you can just say "dial 555-555-5555".
MP3 Server Box can be used with an old PC. I'm doing this with a hacked iopener.
What's slick about MP3 Server Box is the number of ways you can control music playback, IR Remote, Command Line, multiple GUI clients, Windows clients, and my favorite the CGI client. Lets me control from any system w/browser on my home network.
Their OS/2 support for laptops is pretty bad. Unless you buy specific models, you're in for an installation nightmare. The IDE driver locks up hard on my i1452, I had to get a 3rd party replacement driver(DANIS506) to be able to even install! It now runs, but has occasional lockups that I cannot figure out. The only thing that works under OS/2 but not Linux is the winmodem. Games that use DIVE(high-speed video routines) like the emulator's I've ported to OS/2 have scrambled colors.
In contrast, RedHat 6.2 installed with minimal fuss. My PCMCIA cards work great under Linux, but not at all under OS/2.
Seems to me that this would fall under the Japanese laws, and the laws in Japan covering copyright might not be the same as the laws we are used to in the US. Anybody know how the Japanese laws read?
True, but the iopener works extremely well in the limited room they have in the trailer. The iopener and keyboard w/integrated mouse takes up about the same amount of room as the 14" monitor did. Now they have a more readable image than before, plus more room in their trailer.
They also find the integrated mouse easier to use, no more hitting the edge of the mouse pad, or grabbing the mouse sideways.
I'm hacking one too(but am not part of the pilot 100). I've got Linux installed, beta USB ethernet going(though it locks up hard on occasion - waiting for 2.4.0 to be finished). I'm making mine into an MP3 player w/photo slide show for the screensaver.
I found MP3BOX which has a way-cool CGI interface so you can control the MP3 playback from any system on your network!
I had built a computer w/14" monitor for my mom's parents to get them on the internet. They had trouble reading the text(the old video card I used only handled 640x480), and were way confused whenever they would click on a window behind the one they were using "gee, where did my letter go?" Remember, they grew up before the freeway system existed. Using computer's is not a part of their life experience.
Over the holidays I saw the iopener on display and thought it might be easier for them to use, no windows to accidently click on. Even though the iopener only has a 10" screen, they have no trouble reading it at all(I suspect the 800x600 resolution helps). Now both sets of grandparents are using the iopener for email. They might also be web browsing, I just don't know.
WebTV would not have worked well for my mom's parents, they are mobile(live in a trailer, summers in Wisconsin and winters in Texas) and thus only have a 13" TV. The picture quality isn't that great, and WebTV would have been unreadable.
Based on using my laptop as a DVD player on my TV, I'd think something like WebTV might be usable. However, my TV is properly calibrated(I have the laser disk w/the TV test patterns and the blue filter for color adjustment). When I hooked up the laptop to my aunt's TV the text was unreadable. I suspect most people do not have their TV properly calibrated, and thus would get a crappy picture using something like WebTV. It's probably part of the reason the old C= 64 only used a 40 column display, they were designed to use TV sets as monitors.
Re:Macross Plus - I'll second this!
on
Essential Anime
·
· Score: 1
I purchased the Macross Plus series on laser disk and it's one of my favorites. It's what I use to introduce newcomers to anime; tends to reel them in, hook line and sinker!
This sounds like what I'm doing with my iopener hacking, the last pieces I need arrived today:-)
I'm planning to hook it up to my stereo, have it networked with my other systems via a USB ethernet adapter, and running Linux. Using the CGI client for MP3 Server Box I'll even be able to control the music from any system in my house.
Since the system will be in the family room, I plan to have a photo-slide show running as the screen saver.
I put <sarcasm> around the black Ford retort. Just noticed that when you preview, the edit window has < instead of < so the sarcasm tags disappeared... grrr:-)
Anyway, my opinion on all this is that the market does not require all of these "alternative" operating systems.
we should all drive black Fords and be happy with it
The problem isn't all the choices for an OS, the problem is the lack of cross-compatibility of the DATA; after all, the DATA is what's important in the day-to-day world.
The reason the the Web took off so well for all OS platforms is because HTML is a standard, TCP/IP is a standard, and so on.
I think all us non-Windows users are extremely lucky that Gates & Co totally missed the coming of the Web. If they hadn't, you can bet a lot more Windows-only sites would exist today, and we'd have to fight a lot harder to get those sites to conform to industry standards.
The reason non-MS operating systems have such a hard time breaking into the office desktop is MS's proprietary and every changing office document formats. You can bet that MS would be screaming for open office document standards if they didn't have a stranglehold on the market, just like they have been screaming about AOL and their instant messaging format.
There's a lot going on in the OS/2 community, Slashdot just tends to ignore it. Sad really, the OS/2 community and the Linux community can do a lot to help each other out; afterall, The enemy of my enemy is my friend:-)
Some people in the OS/2 world seems not to have exactly the same mind. I've seen this page where a certain Cristoph, nicknamed Birdy, report advancement of porting GNOME, E and KDE to OS/2.
The OS/2 ports of Gnome, E, and KDE are not to replace the WPS. They're to be used with XFree86/OS2 for the running of X11 apps on OS/2.
Look also at the Everblue Project whose purpose is to create a "Presentation Manager" version of Xfree86.
Everblue's goal is to make it possible to port X11 program to OS/2 by doing a simple re-compile. The ported program is then a native OS/2 program, and does not require X11 support via Xfree86/OS2. 32BitsOnline has an interview with Adrian Gschwend that has more info.
GIMP/2 currently requires you to install Xfree86/OS2, though I understand a WPS version is in the works.
Running Xfree86/OS2 has an additional benefit if you have Linux systems on your network. It provides you with the ability to run software on your Linux box with the display occuring on your OS/2 box! I've set up a web page documenting how to do it(there's minor differences in setting up the OS/2 and the Linux systems). I've succesfully run Civilization CTP on my OS/2 system using this.
Considering it was ahead of a lot of the competion, quite well. There's only two this I wish were better, USB and DVD support. USB support exists, but ONLY for the intel chipset. Drivers to read the DVD are now available, but no player exists.
Leave the unit as is except for one thing, add the 2nd USB port that the unit is already set up for. No need to add additional things like PCMCIA; afterall, the iMac has already proven that just USB is sufficient. This would also provide an incentive to better the USB support in Linux.
Sell the unit at current price for people who will use their IP service, probably with a 1 year minimum service required.
Sell it at the higher price for people who wish to hack it.
Offer a ready-made hacker kit(the modified IDE cable, HD bracket, and lasagna fan) for some additional profit.
Have a non-hacker referral bonus. Ie: get your grandparents and other relatives online using the i-opener and get a discount on your hackable i-opener.
Slashdot Mirror
That's odd, my computer booted just fine...
you still pick up the phone and punch in those numbers
major interface change here - I remember having to spin and wait for the rotory dial to pulse the line :-)
There could be technology to pick up the phone and say "Call bob"
Actually, there is and I use it. Houston Cellular offers Voice Touch, a very nice feature - especially while driving. In order to "call bob" you have to pre-configure what Bob's number is. What's really slick is that if you haven't set up Bob's number you can just say "dial 555-555-5555".
What's slick about MP3 Server Box is the number of ways you can control music playback, IR Remote, Command Line, multiple GUI clients, Windows clients, and my favorite the CGI client. Lets me control from any system w/browser on my home network.
He did the voice of Preed, the First Mate.
That'll help out a lot with the Linux partition on my Thinkpad!
In contrast, RedHat 6.2 installed with minimal fuss. My PCMCIA cards work great under Linux, but not at all under OS/2.
Can't use those cheap winmodems afterall :)
Seems to me that this would fall under the Japanese laws, and the laws in Japan covering copyright might not be the same as the laws we are used to in the US. Anybody know how the Japanese laws read?
They also find the integrated mouse easier to use, no more hitting the edge of the mouse pad, or grabbing the mouse sideways.
I found MP3BOX which has a way-cool CGI interface so you can control the MP3 playback from any system on your network!
Over the holidays I saw the iopener on display and thought it might be easier for them to use, no windows to accidently click on. Even though the iopener only has a 10" screen, they have no trouble reading it at all(I suspect the 800x600 resolution helps). Now both sets of grandparents are using the iopener for email. They might also be web browsing, I just don't know.
WebTV would not have worked well for my mom's parents, they are mobile(live in a trailer, summers in Wisconsin and winters in Texas) and thus only have a 13" TV. The picture quality isn't that great, and WebTV would have been unreadable.
Based on using my laptop as a DVD player on my TV, I'd think something like WebTV might be usable. However, my TV is properly calibrated(I have the laser disk w/the TV test patterns and the blue filter for color adjustment). When I hooked up the laptop to my aunt's TV the text was unreadable. I suspect most people do not have their TV properly calibrated, and thus would get a crappy picture using something like WebTV. It's probably part of the reason the old C= 64 only used a 40 column display, they were designed to use TV sets as monitors.
I purchased the Macross Plus series on laser disk and it's one of my favorites. It's what I use to introduce newcomers to anime; tends to reel them in, hook line and sinker!
I suspect with the building demand for HDTV signals that we'll still get 200 channels, just at HD resolutions.
I'm planning to hook it up to my stereo, have it networked with my other systems via a USB ethernet adapter, and running Linux. Using the CGI client for MP3 Server Box I'll even be able to control the music from any system in my house.
Since the system will be in the family room, I plan to have a photo-slide show running as the screen saver.
There's an IDE to USB adapter that would let you use your existing CDROM.
Yep - my last car lasted 9 years. Would have lasted longer if it wasn't broken into, my insurance company totaled it out instead of repairing it.
American car companies where a lot like Microsoft is today, planned obsolescence.
I put <sarcasm> around the black Ford retort. Just noticed that when you preview, the edit window has < instead of < so the sarcasm tags disappeared... grrr :-)
we should all drive black Fords and be happy with it
The problem isn't all the choices for an OS, the problem is the lack of cross-compatibility of the DATA; after all, the DATA is what's important in the day-to-day world.
The reason the the Web took off so well for all OS platforms is because HTML is a standard, TCP/IP is a standard, and so on.
I think all us non-Windows users are extremely lucky that Gates & Co totally missed the coming of the Web. If they hadn't, you can bet a lot more Windows-only sites would exist today, and we'd have to fight a lot harder to get those sites to conform to industry standards.
The reason non-MS operating systems have such a hard time breaking into the office desktop is MS's proprietary and every changing office document formats. You can bet that MS would be screaming for open office document standards if they didn't have a stranglehold on the market, just like they have been screaming about AOL and their instant messaging format.
There's a lot going on in the OS/2 community, Slashdot just tends to ignore it. Sad really, the OS/2 community and the Linux community can do a lot to help each other out; afterall, The enemy of my enemy is my friend :-)
The OS/2 ports of Gnome, E, and KDE are not to replace the WPS. They're to be used with XFree86/OS2 for the running of X11 apps on OS/2.
Look also at the Everblue Project whose purpose is to create a "Presentation Manager" version of Xfree86.
Everblue's goal is to make it possible to port X11 program to OS/2 by doing a simple re-compile. The ported program is then a native OS/2 program, and does not require X11 support via Xfree86/OS2. 32BitsOnline has an interview with Adrian Gschwend that has more info.
Running Xfree86/OS2 has an additional benefit if you have Linux systems on your network. It provides you with the ability to run software on your Linux box with the display occuring on your OS/2 box! I've set up a web page documenting how to do it(there's minor differences in setting up the OS/2 and the Linux systems). I've succesfully run Civilization CTP on my OS/2 system using this.
Considering it was ahead of a lot of the competion, quite well. There's only two this I wish were better, USB and DVD support. USB support exists, but ONLY for the intel chipset. Drivers to read the DVD are now available, but no player exists.
A lot of us OS/2 users have Matrox graphic cards because they provide excellent OS/2 support.