> Right... let's see if you still feel the same > way when the feds admit they fucked up one day > after having [a family member|close friend|you] > executed for a murder you didn't commit.
I think that I would most certainly not feel the same way if I was executed.
> You can download the ISOs, start the install > program, and odds are that you will see an > option to upgrade an existing installation.
If you do the install without formatting the partition containing/home, both user documents and user settings should be preserved. It was really neat when I recently reinstalled Mandrake and all my KDE settings were preserved. ^_^
> When I was using RPM-based distributions, I > found that was the only way that I could > upgrade. Trying to get the latest and greatest > any other way always lead, sooner or later but > always before I was up-to-date, into dependency > hell.
Dependency hell hasn't been a problem with me ever since I started using urpmi, Mandrake's automated do-everything rpm installer. There are a couple little problems, and I confess that I wasn't able to *completely* upgrade from Mandrake 9.1RC2 to Mandrake 9.2 with urpmi, but there were no dependency problems. Other than the fact that upgrading the thousands of apps required to upgrade, there happened to be one app (called "indexhtml", I think) that simply happened to coredump on install. Bummer, that. But I actually got it to the point where it was saying "Welcome to Mandrake 9.2" at started before I made the mistake to auto-installing everything from Texstar (doh!).
But I haven't had a serious dependency problem in Mandrake 9.x, ever. My FreeBSD server, though, was a different thing.:p
> If you're not sure of the package name, you can > search with "urpmi -y name", which will give you > a list of related packages.
You could alternatively do the following: urpmf --summary -i someprogram | sort -u
This will list all programs out there in the RPM databases that are called someprogram (actually, it'll also list programs with someprogram in the summary) and provide a one-line summary. The sort part just puts it in alphabetical order and gets rid of duplicate entries if it so happens that the program is listed in more than one RPM database.
I use the following command to list available program categories: urpmf --group . | sed s/^.*:// | sort -u (it returns a rather big list, so I hope that your term/console can scroll up and down)
And here's how you install every single available application from the "Emulators" category: urpmf --group Emulators | sed s/:.*$// | xargs urpmi --no-verify-rpm
I'm putting together some sort of quick reference to all this at: http://www.jc-news.com/linux/urpmi.html It's rather messy and unfinished right now, though.:)
> And to upgrade everything, do "urpmi --auto-select", > hit yes a couple of times and give it a while.
I recommend: urpmi --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm That way it won't prompt you to hit anything. It'll just do it all automatically.
Lately, I have: urpmi.update -a and: urpmi --upgrade --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm in my crontab (scheduler) file, set to run daily. The first command makes sure that my RPM database (the list of programs offered for download online) is up to date. The second command installs all recommended programs from any source tagged as an "upgrade" source.
So far, daily auto-updates have not annihilated my computer. I have had only two problems:
1) when I added the non-official Texstar rpm source and ran: urpmi --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm the system upgraded my version of X to some special crapola that killed my ATI All-in-Wonder RADEON drivers. I learned how to use links really quickly, then I reinstalled everything. 2) doing upgrade media on Mandrake Cooker (not unofficial, but normal users aren't supposed to use the Cooker sources unless they're expert types) upgraded my ATI All-in-Wonder RADEON drivers from the ones I installed last month to ones from a few months back. Grrr. I lost TV input from that, and I had to manually copy the correct driver files over.
You'll note that both problems involve ATI. They suck. I mean, seriously. ATI made my life a living hell. Don't even ask me about the nightmare that I had with their drivers on Win2k....
> I did not say that the GPL prohibits people from making money. Merely from selling > the free work. (And I hope is clear, derivatives that use that work.)
That's not entirely accurate. You *can* sell a GPL'd work. If I made my own linux distro called "GNU/goatsicx" (with modifications to the code of several portions of the code involving display of graphical images), I could sell it to anybody I wanted for any price I wanted. The license, as I understand it, merely requires that I *also* allow the recipient to whom I distribute the distro access to the source code, also licensed under the GPL.
So, yeah, the purchasee could just use the code for subsequent versions and tell me to piss off from that point on, but it doesn't work that way. When I sell my distro, it's with the foreknowledge (unless I'm dumb) that I'm also being paid to support the software to that specific person as well as for the customization.
So, yeah, you can sell Free Software. You just have to pass the code along and re-GPL the changes.
> In case you forgot, China is a communist country with state-run media and more censorship than > michael sims can dream about. If a space shuttle explodes and kills a few taikonauts then the > launch never happened.
While I do not disagree with the spirit of your assertion, I should note that I heard about China's government making a decision recently to broadcast a lot of this stuff live in order to foster national pride. This means that people will know in advance about each launch, and they'll notice if the government suddenly doesn't launch a planned mission, for whatever reason. Yeah, they may not be able to do stuff about it, but they won't be totally in the dark.
> My concern was that Opera could not handle multiple windows at the time. It could, but it was > program-based rather than window-manager-based, so you could create a new browser window but it > was bounded by the Opera `desktop'. This is entirely unacceptable, IMHO, especially when I > have 20 browser windows open simultaneously and they need to be spread out to multiple desktops. > At the time, then, the only way to use Opera was to load 14 copies of the thing, and then it wasn't > such a good deal.
There are two ways to do this in Opera. First, you could set it so that it opens every single page in a separate window (Preferences-->Window-->Open pages in new window), or you could use it in the sane, MDI-way but occasionally open a separate window with CTRL-ALT-N or File-->"New Window".
> How can I disable the scroll lock key in Linux, > both on consoles and in X keyboard mapping?
According to "http://paperlined.org/linux/configuration_tweaks. html", you can disable scroll lock by typing... echo "keycode 70 = Escape" | loadkeys... into a terminal window. This'll change the Scroll Lock key so that it acts like the Escape key.
> This is one of my major "wow that is a PITA" > points about Linux. > WHERE ARE MY HOTKEYS???
KDE has hotkeys up the ass. All over the place, I mean. I'm told GNOME does, too, but who cares.
> Ok Ok I know that they are likely SOMEWHERE > in there, but, umm. . ..
but, ummm. . . . the hotkeys for KDE are documented as well as listed *and* easily changeable in the system settings. I had to learn the Windows shortcuts through trial and error. Most end users that I know don't know any of them other than ALT-F4 and maybe CTRL-O.
> Windowkey-r Run > Windowkey-s Search > Windowkey-e Explorer / Web Browser (integration DOES Kick ass thankyousoverymuch) > Windowkey-d Show desktop (EXTREMLY useful!) > Windowkey-Pause/break System Properties
That last one I only learned after this current millennium started, and only because I have a more useful desktop interface instead of explorer.exe, and it didn't have that particular mapping, and another techish user complained about that.
> Combinded with the excellent command, directory, > and file completation that Windows has built > into all of its dialog boxes, help make the GUI > as great as it is.
In Windows 2000, when I click the "look-in" bar to display my drives, my system pauses and lags while the I/O works on spinning up my CD-ROM drive. The button links on the left side of the dialog box can't be easily changed, and the defaults are useless. I get the same filename completion in KDE dialog boxes, though in both Linux and Windows, the completion is not universal.
> Win2K rocks for a reason folks, it may not be > GPL, it may not be Free (beer OR speech), but it > sure kicks ass from the usability perspective of > an end-user.
I use Win2K. It's fairly stable, and I can use it, but the interface isn't really usable unless you're migrating from an identical interface (eg, Windows 9x).
> IMO one of the things that will make Linux ready for Regular User Guy is an automated update > process, something like Windows Update, or an automated version of apt-get or emerge. Ideally > you'd get to choose the level of updates you want (anywhere from Gimme Everything to Don't > Bother Me and including Security Updates Only, Update Installed Programs Only, and Ask Me About > New Stuff along the way).
Linux has that, and it's a darn sight better than the equivalent that Microsoft offers. I use Mandrake 9.x, and Mandrake Update trumps Windows by updating and patching not only programs written by the OS vendor, but many other programs, as well. Would Microsoft be kind enough to include a security fix to Eudora or Netscape in their Update service?
The automation side could use a bit more userfriendliness, I grant you. On the command line, it's ridiculously easy: # urpmi.update -a && urpmi --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
The above command (the '#' just means that it's typed at a root or super-user console, not that it's a comment) will install all programs recommended by Mandrake. It will also update any currently installed but out-of-date programs.
# urpmi.update -a && urpmi --update --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
That command will update all currently installed but out-of-date programs.
I don't really play with automating system updates. I personally think that it's a dangerous thing. I've done both Windows Updates and Mandrake Updates that caused problems that I had to work around. Imagine what horror an end-user would go through if their computer did an automatic update that caused an administrator-level disaster! Nonetheless, the above command (typed in as root) installs two scheduled jobs, assuming that I typed that correctly. At midnight each day, the database of installable and updatable programs is refreshed from the internet. One hour later, the system automatically installs updates.
You can set up these scheduled jobs via Mandrake's graphical scheduling program in their "Control Center" program. Still, yes, I see what you mean here. It is a bit lacking for a new user. Would be nice for there to be a simple button somewhere to automagically set up the automated updates.
Of course -- again -- I'm against automated updates. I don't know a single end-user type person who *ever* proceeds with an automatic update that notifies them about it first. There's always that little windowsey icon in the system tray, and when you click on it, it says something about an update being necessary, and all the normal users that I know have been trained to click on the "bother me later" button (or whatever it says here).
Aargh. My Mandrake system is now set to autoupdate every day. Perhaps I'll let this sit for a while, and I'll see for myself if any issues crop up. Heh, if I feel brave in the near future, maybe I'll write a graphical front end for setting up these automated updates .:)
> Doesn't the author understand how the Linux/OSS community works, or what? > Its not the devs' job to make shiny installation druids that you can click through. > That's what distros are for. If you want to compile software, be prepared to do your homework > If not wait for the.deb to become available or subscribe to RedHat network etc.
> The idea that a user should expect to be a guru > and that the developer has no responsibilities > towards the community is part of what prevents > the open source community from achieving more > mainstream acceptance.
Um... did you actually read what your respondee actually said?
He said that the user doesn't have to be a guru. Here's the layout he described:
Developer makes the source code. Gurus compile the source for themselves, if they want to. OS vendors (Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, etc..) compile the source and package them nicely. User just runs the OS vendors' package installer.
That way, it works far more nicely for end users than it does, for example, in the win32 world. I, an end user, have to install mplayer? Simply run the Mandrake Installer, search for "mplayer", click its checkbox, click "Install", and it's installed, totally. Alternatively, I type "urpmi mplayer" as root in a terminal window, which is even easier. This beats, hands-down, the Microsoft method of searching, downloading, running, clicking Next, choosing components, choosing install directory, choosing Program Manager group, clicking Next, clicking Finished, rebooting.
> What makes bit torrent different from something > like Kazaa or Gnutella, just out of curiousity?
A.torrent file is directly associated with the location of an existing downloadable file (movie/app/whatever). Anybody who connects to the.torrent file basically creates a P2P that is specifically dedicated towards that one file. So it's typically faster than doing a search for the file on Kazaa and *praying* that the people holding the file you're looking for are (A) online until you're done downloading and (B) not playing a joke on you by renaming GOATSE.MPG to "OpenOffice-1.1.0_Installer.EXE".
> I've never gone to a movie just to see a trailer. I always > thought people who did do this were slightly nutty...
Are you kidding? Trailers are two or three minutes each of the best scenes of an upcoming movie. The movies themselves are basically those cool trailers, but with an extra hour and a half of stupid, boring filler material.
Boo-yah, gimme two solid hours of trailers, and I'm sold!:)
> The Cushing films were terrible, and didn't touch very closely with the show on a lot of plot > points, widely considered not canonical. The Fox film, well...people aren't sure about that.
Yeah, while it was nice to see Grand Moff Tarkin as a goofy time lord, they certainly took a ton of liberties with the story.
The Fox film was way too Americanized. The plot wasn't retchworthy, but it wasn't that good, either, and it didn't mesh well with the Dr. Who universe on a stylistic level.
Frankly, though, McGann (sp?) -- the Doctor in that Fox movie -- was very good. He had an interesting interpretation which borrowed elements from all his predecessors (the Tom Baker influence shined through the most).
> The rebates typically have you buying into > internet data plans and a minimum service > agreement which up your bill easily to $80 a > month for your service. I pay $30 for my > service, and bought my Treo 270 for $380. With a > guarenteed contract of one year, that's $600 > more.
I got my Treo 300 for $150 after a $150 Amazon rebate and a $200 Sprint rebate. I pay $50 a month for my service. That means you paid $220 more than me for the initial unit, and I will pay $240 more than you for a year of service.
*However*, my $50 gives me over forty-three thousand hours of internet access per month, and internet access is my primary function for this device. I am not aware of any other Treo-compatible service that grants unlimited internet access for a flat, monthly fee.
It pays to look *really* closely and carefully for great rebate deals. I was really shocked to find this one, and I was very happy a few days ago when I (finally!) cashed in that second rebate.;)
There is no such thing as "a program that only runs on Gnome". Any GNOME app can be run with any window manager (you can even run seemingly lower-level stuff like the GNOME background app or the GNOME bar while running on something like KDE).
Your users are in two categories:
A) The general populace. These people will be using Mandrake, Red hat, or some other wimpy distribution that either automatically includes all possible libraries for all these interfaces or has an auto-installer that goes on the internet and downloads new libraries as they're needed. My Mandrake 9.1 does this. If I have a program called "OogaBoogaOffice" that was made for the "OogaBooga" environment, then Mandrake will install the program and automagically install any dependencies and libraries without requiring me to do anything or even notice any added complexity. Debian acts the same way, I'm told. Windows doesn't have this capability, so it sucks for you if you want to run an app that requires ".NET" on your Win2k box.
B) The hackers who prefer to work on the command line and do all their own dirty work. These folk tend to run Slackware or even their own hand-made Linux distribution. You don't really need to care about these folks too much. For their sakes, it's considered good practice to make a note somewhere that'll just let them know which libraries that they'll need.
So what's the problem? In Linux, stuff usually just works, generally because the distro does all the dirty work automatically. And for those people who have distributions that don't... well, that's their way and you don't need to worry about them. But the procedures for putting together install files for both end users and hackers are fairly standardized.
> do the various Linux Office-oid applications > have counterparts on the PDA side?
Sharp packages Hancom Office with their apps. It's a proprietary office suite which is available on desktop linux, but it is not OSS. It is, however, extremely good for a handheld office suite. It's better than any of the office suites I've seen for PalmOS or PocketPC, anyway.
> Are the PDA Linux distros identical/similar/compatible-in-name-only with > their desktop breathern? Or are desktop distros far too bloated to run on lighter platforms?
The Zaurus distro is based on Debian's ARM port. You could, if you wanted to, install X11 on the Zaurus and port over many Xlib-based packages. The built-in Qtopia environment is based on Qt, which is what KDE is based on, so KDE apps are fairly easy to port. Off the top of my head, I know that Konsole, Konqueror, Korganizer and KStars were ported.
Some examples of fairly big or familiar apps that can be compiled or installed onto the zaurus: mplayer, xine, gaim, grass, nmap, pico, xpdf (modified for Qt, name changed to qpdf), awk, micq, openssh, rdate, gcc/yacc/bison, mono(!), perl, Python, Bochs, mame, POSE, gnuboy, KBill, nethack, xmms, opera, qtella, mysql, rsync, samba/smbmount, apache, php, joe, VisualBoyAdvance....
Crap, now you got me all excitied. I have a used Zaurus 5500 that I was using as a development aid (I use Qt, so my Windows apps can cross-compile to the Zaurus, and I can use Kate, my favourite text editor (it's MDI, tabs and all, and it can do syntax colouring), to edit my code. But the used WLAN card that I got from eBay died relatively quickly, and I had a large lull in my coding practices, so I haven't used the Z too much. But I'm getting interested again. ^_^
--
-JC
PS: It would be interesting to see if any parts of KOffice happened to be relatively easy to port over to Qtopia. OpenOffice and GNOME-Office would probably be a lot harder, though doing it with X on the Z is a possibility.
> I actually watched 3 or 4 episodes. I thought they were all really really bad. Another poster > said he felt the same way until he saw the pilot, so maybe that's just what I missed. Most > networks don't normally air pilots tho, so I don't see how/why that would help.
Yeah, my experience was similar. I thought that Train Job was crap, and the next episode or two seemed even worse. I was going to stop watching, but on a lark I downloaded and watched the pilot. And I really, really enjoyed it. So I watched the rest of the series. It wasn't great, but it got better as it went along, and by the time it ended, I was interested if watching more.
Slashdot Mirror
> Right... let's see if you still feel the same
> way when the feds admit they fucked up one day
> after having [a family member|close friend|you]
> executed for a murder you didn't commit.
I think that I would most certainly not feel the same way if I was executed.
--
-JC
> Other than the fact that upgrading the thousands
> of apps required to upgrade, there happened to be one app
I meant to say "Other than the fact that upgrading the thousands of apps required to upgrade took a subjective eternity, there happened to be one app
> You can download the ISOs, start the install
/home, both user documents and user settings should be preserved. It was really neat when I recently reinstalled Mandrake and all my KDE settings were preserved. ^_^
:p
> program, and odds are that you will see an
> option to upgrade an existing installation.
If you do the install without formatting the partition containing
> When I was using RPM-based distributions, I
> found that was the only way that I could
> upgrade. Trying to get the latest and greatest
> any other way always lead, sooner or later but
> always before I was up-to-date, into dependency
> hell.
Dependency hell hasn't been a problem with me ever since I started using urpmi, Mandrake's automated do-everything rpm installer. There are a couple little problems, and I confess that I wasn't able to *completely* upgrade from Mandrake 9.1RC2 to Mandrake 9.2 with urpmi, but there were no dependency problems. Other than the fact that upgrading the thousands of apps required to upgrade, there happened to be one app (called "indexhtml", I think) that simply happened to coredump on install. Bummer, that. But I actually got it to the point where it was saying "Welcome to Mandrake 9.2" at started before I made the mistake to auto-installing everything from Texstar (doh!).
But I haven't had a serious dependency problem in Mandrake 9.x, ever. My FreeBSD server, though, was a different thing.
--
-JC
> If you're not sure of the package name, you can
s rather messy and unfinished right now, though. :)
> search with "urpmi -y name", which will give you
> a list of related packages.
You could alternatively do the following:
urpmf --summary -i someprogram | sort -u
This will list all programs out there in the RPM databases that are called someprogram (actually, it'll also list programs with someprogram in the summary) and provide a one-line summary. The sort part just puts it in alphabetical order and gets rid of duplicate entries if it so happens that the program is listed in more than one RPM database.
I use the following command to list available program categories:
urpmf --group . | sed s/^.*:// | sort -u
(it returns a rather big list, so I hope that your term/console can scroll up and down)
And here's how you install every single available application from the "Emulators" category:
urpmf --group Emulators | sed s/:.*$// | xargs urpmi --no-verify-rpm
I'm putting together some sort of quick reference to all this at:
http://www.jc-news.com/linux/urpmi.html
It'
> And to upgrade everything, do "urpmi --auto-select",
> hit yes a couple of times and give it a while.
I recommend:
urpmi --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
That way it won't prompt you to hit anything. It'll just do it all automatically.
Lately, I have:
urpmi.update -a
and:
urpmi --upgrade --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
in my crontab (scheduler) file, set to run daily. The first command makes sure that my RPM database (the list of programs offered for download online) is up to date. The second command installs all recommended programs from any source tagged as an "upgrade" source.
So far, daily auto-updates have not annihilated my computer. I have had only two problems:
1) when I added the non-official Texstar rpm source and ran:
urpmi --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
the system upgraded my version of X to some special crapola that killed my ATI All-in-Wonder RADEON drivers. I learned how to use links really quickly, then I reinstalled everything.
2) doing upgrade media on Mandrake Cooker (not unofficial, but normal users aren't supposed to use the Cooker sources unless they're expert types) upgraded my ATI All-in-Wonder RADEON drivers from the ones I installed last month to ones from a few months back. Grrr. I lost TV input from that, and I had to manually copy the correct driver files over.
You'll note that both problems involve ATI. They suck. I mean, seriously. ATI made my life a living hell. Don't even ask me about the nightmare that I had with their drivers on Win2k....
--
-JC
> I did not say that the GPL prohibits people from making money. Merely from selling
> the free work. (And I hope is clear, derivatives that use that work.)
That's not entirely accurate. You *can* sell a GPL'd work. If I made my own linux distro called "GNU/goatsicx" (with modifications to the code of several portions of the code involving display of graphical images), I could sell it to anybody I wanted for any price I wanted. The license, as I understand it, merely requires that I *also* allow the recipient to whom I distribute the distro access to the source code, also licensed under the
GPL.
So, yeah, the purchasee could just use the code for subsequent versions and tell me to piss off from that point on, but it doesn't work that way. When I sell my distro, it's with the foreknowledge (unless I'm dumb) that I'm also being paid to support the software to that specific person as well as for the customization.
So, yeah, you can sell Free Software. You just have to pass the code along and re-GPL the changes.
--
-JC
> Actually, First Sale makes no mention of a limit as to how
> many copies you can resell before it stops applying.
I would imagine that the "First" in "First Sale" implies that it stops after the "First" "Sale" of the item.
I mean, isn't that part obvious?
--
-JC
> In case you forgot, China is a communist country with state-run media and more censorship than
> michael sims can dream about. If a space shuttle explodes and kills a few taikonauts then the
> launch never happened.
While I do not disagree with the spirit of your assertion, I should note that I heard about China's government making a decision recently to broadcast a lot of this stuff live in order to foster national pride. This means that people will know in advance about each launch, and they'll notice if the government suddenly doesn't launch a planned mission, for whatever reason. Yeah, they may not be able to do stuff about it, but they won't be totally in the dark.
--
-JC
> My concern was that Opera could not handle multiple windows at the time. It could, but it was
> program-based rather than window-manager-based, so you could create a new browser window but it
> was bounded by the Opera `desktop'. This is entirely unacceptable, IMHO, especially when I
> have 20 browser windows open simultaneously and they need to be spread out to multiple desktops.
> At the time, then, the only way to use Opera was to load 14 copies of the thing, and then it wasn't
> such a good deal.
There are two ways to do this in Opera. First, you could set it so that it opens every single page in a separate window (Preferences-->Window-->Open pages in new window), or you could use it in the sane, MDI-way but occasionally open a separate window with CTRL-ALT-N or File-->"New Window".
--
-JC
> How can I disable the scroll lock key in Linux,
. html", you can disable scroll lock by typing... ... into a terminal window. This'll change the Scroll Lock key so that it acts like the Escape key.
> both on consoles and in X keyboard mapping?
According to "http://paperlined.org/linux/configuration_tweaks
echo "keycode 70 = Escape" | loadkeys
Let me know if it works. I haven't tried it out.
--
-JC
> I have news for you, and its name is ^S and ^Q!
> Sing it loudly from the mountaintops!
> P.S. this works places other than Unix also.
Yeah, serious.... After using it since last millennium, I *just* discovered that a Windows 2000 command box uses the CTRL-S/Q convention. *_*
--
-JC
> This is one of my major "wow that is a PITA"
.
> points about Linux.
> WHERE ARE MY HOTKEYS???
KDE has hotkeys up the ass. All over the place, I mean. I'm told GNOME does, too, but who cares.
> Ok Ok I know that they are likely SOMEWHERE
> in there, but, umm. . .
but, ummm. . . . the hotkeys for KDE are documented as well as listed *and* easily changeable in the system settings. I had to learn the Windows shortcuts through trial and error. Most end users that I know don't know any of them other than ALT-F4 and maybe CTRL-O.
> Windowkey-r Run
> Windowkey-s Search
> Windowkey-e Explorer / Web Browser (integration DOES Kick ass thankyousoverymuch)
> Windowkey-d Show desktop (EXTREMLY useful!)
> Windowkey-Pause/break System Properties
That last one I only learned after this current millennium started, and only because I have a more useful desktop interface instead of explorer.exe, and it didn't have that particular mapping, and another techish user complained about that.
> Combinded with the excellent command, directory,
> and file completation that Windows has built
> into all of its dialog boxes, help make the GUI
> as great as it is.
In Windows 2000, when I click the "look-in" bar to display my drives, my system pauses and lags while the I/O works on spinning up my CD-ROM drive. The button links on the left side of the dialog box can't be easily changed, and the defaults are useless. I get the same filename completion in KDE dialog boxes, though in both Linux and Windows, the completion is not universal.
> Win2K rocks for a reason folks, it may not be
> GPL, it may not be Free (beer OR speech), but it
> sure kicks ass from the usability perspective of
> an end-user.
I use Win2K. It's fairly stable, and I can use it, but the interface isn't really usable unless you're migrating from an identical interface (eg, Windows 9x).
--
-JC
> IMO one of the things that will make Linux ready for Regular User Guy is an automated update
/etc/crontab; echo "0 1 * * * urpmi --update --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm" >> /etc/crontab; crontab /etc/crontab
:)
> process, something like Windows Update, or an automated version of apt-get or emerge. Ideally
> you'd get to choose the level of updates you want (anywhere from Gimme Everything to Don't
> Bother Me and including Security Updates Only, Update Installed Programs Only, and Ask Me About
> New Stuff along the way).
Linux has that, and it's a darn sight better than the equivalent that Microsoft offers. I use Mandrake 9.x, and Mandrake Update trumps Windows by updating and patching not only programs written by the OS vendor, but many other programs, as well. Would Microsoft be kind enough to include a security fix to Eudora or Netscape in their Update service?
The automation side could use a bit more userfriendliness, I grant you. On the command line, it's ridiculously easy:
# urpmi.update -a && urpmi --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
The above command (the '#' just means that it's typed at a root or super-user console, not that it's a comment) will install all programs recommended by Mandrake. It will also update any currently installed but out-of-date programs.
# urpmi.update -a && urpmi --update --auto-select --auto --no-verify-rpm
That command will update all currently installed but out-of-date programs.
# echo "0 0 * * * urpmi.update -a" >>
I don't really play with automating system updates. I personally think that it's a dangerous thing. I've done both Windows Updates and Mandrake Updates that caused problems that I had to work around. Imagine what horror an end-user would go through if their computer did an automatic update that caused an administrator-level disaster! Nonetheless, the above command (typed in as root) installs two scheduled jobs, assuming that I typed that correctly. At midnight each day, the database of installable and updatable programs is refreshed from the internet. One hour later, the system automatically installs updates.
You can set up these scheduled jobs via Mandrake's graphical scheduling program in their "Control Center" program. Still, yes, I see what you mean here. It is a bit lacking for a new user. Would be nice for there to be a simple button somewhere to automagically set up the automated updates.
Of course -- again -- I'm against automated updates. I don't know a single end-user type person who *ever* proceeds with an automatic update that notifies them about it first. There's always that little windowsey icon in the system tray, and when you click on it, it says something about an update being necessary, and all the normal users that I know have been trained to click on the "bother me later" button (or whatever it says here).
Aargh. My Mandrake system is now set to autoupdate every day. Perhaps I'll let this sit for a while, and I'll see for myself if any issues crop up. Heh, if I feel brave in the near future, maybe I'll write a graphical front end for setting up these automated updates .
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-JC
> Doesn't the author understand how the Linux/OSS community works, or what? .deb to become available or subscribe to RedHat network etc.
... did you actually read what your respondee actually said?
;)
> Its not the devs' job to make shiny installation druids that you can click through.
> That's what distros are for. If you want to compile software, be prepared to do your homework
> If not wait for the
> The idea that a user should expect to be a guru
> and that the developer has no responsibilities
> towards the community is part of what prevents
> the open source community from achieving more
> mainstream acceptance.
Um
He said that the user doesn't have to be a guru. Here's the layout he described:
Developer makes the source code.
Gurus compile the source for themselves, if they want to.
OS vendors (Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, etc..) compile the source and package them nicely.
User just runs the OS vendors' package installer.
That way, it works far more nicely for end users than it does, for example, in the win32 world. I, an end user, have to install mplayer? Simply run the Mandrake Installer, search for "mplayer", click its checkbox, click "Install", and it's installed, totally. Alternatively, I type "urpmi mplayer" as root in a terminal window, which is even easier. This beats, hands-down, the Microsoft method of searching, downloading, running, clicking Next, choosing components, choosing install directory, choosing Program Manager group, clicking Next, clicking Finished, rebooting.
So, pbbblllllt!
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-JC
> What makes bit torrent different from something
.torrent file is directly associated with the location of an existing downloadable file (movie/app/whatever). Anybody who connects to the .torrent file basically creates a P2P that is specifically dedicated towards that one file. So it's typically faster than doing a search for the file on Kazaa and *praying* that the people holding the file you're looking for are (A) online until you're done downloading and (B) not playing a joke on you by renaming GOATSE.MPG to "OpenOffice-1.1.0_Installer.EXE".
> like Kazaa or Gnutella, just out of curiousity?
A
> I've never gone to a movie just to see a trailer. I always
:)
> thought people who did do this were slightly nutty...
Are you kidding? Trailers are two or three minutes each of the best scenes of an upcoming movie. The movies themselves are basically those cool trailers, but with an extra hour and a half of stupid, boring filler material.
Boo-yah, gimme two solid hours of trailers, and I'm sold!
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-JC
> You'd think they could manage to have someone do the reporting on this
> stuff who actually knows something about it.
I'd bet that any reporter who knows anything about computers would flat out refuse to work with a spammer in any way.
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-JC
> I have to adjust the color on my TV. I had always thought the TARDIS was blue.
Perhaps the tardis was travelling away from him at a relative velocity near that of light when he was watching the show.
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-JC
> The Cushing films were terrible, and didn't touch very closely with the show on a lot of plot
> points, widely considered not canonical. The Fox film, well...people aren't sure about that.
Yeah, while it was nice to see Grand Moff Tarkin as a goofy time lord, they certainly took a ton of liberties with the story.
The Fox film was way too Americanized. The plot wasn't retchworthy, but it wasn't that good, either, and it didn't mesh well with the Dr. Who universe on a stylistic level.
Frankly, though, McGann (sp?) -- the Doctor in that Fox movie -- was very good. He had an interesting interpretation which borrowed elements from all his predecessors (the Tom Baker influence shined through the most).
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-JC
> > and it even made win98 look stable.
> Not the most flattering endorsement, if you ask me.
Bad wording. I think grandpa over there meant that installing LiteStep made Windows 98 act stable (as in, LiteStep made it not crashy).
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-JC
> One has to at least give Tom's Hardware credit for not having Omid Rahmat,
> a perennial AMD basher, write this particular article.
I still think that it's incredibly suspect that "omid rahmat" is an anagram for "im a hard tom".
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-JC
> Is a Giblibite how good a movie is then?
If so, then a Gimlibite is probably a measure of how short the movie is...
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-JC
> The rebates typically have you buying into
;)
> internet data plans and a minimum service
> agreement which up your bill easily to $80 a
> month for your service. I pay $30 for my
> service, and bought my Treo 270 for $380. With a
> guarenteed contract of one year, that's $600
> more.
I got my Treo 300 for $150 after a $150 Amazon rebate and a $200 Sprint rebate. I pay $50 a month for my service. That means you paid $220 more than me for the initial unit, and I will pay $240 more than you for a year of service.
*However*, my $50 gives me over forty-three thousand hours of internet access per month, and internet access is my primary function for this device. I am not aware of any other Treo-compatible service that grants unlimited internet access for a flat, monthly fee.
It pays to look *really* closely and carefully for great rebate deals. I was really shocked to find this one, and I was very happy a few days ago when I (finally!) cashed in that second rebate.
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-JC
> If I write a program that only runs on Gnome,
... well, that's their way and you don't need to worry about them. But the procedures for putting together install files for both end users and hackers are fairly standardized.
There is no such thing as "a program that only runs on Gnome". Any GNOME app can be run with any window manager (you can even run seemingly lower-level stuff like the GNOME background app or the GNOME bar while running on something like KDE).
Your users are in two categories:
A) The general populace. These people will be using Mandrake, Red hat, or some other wimpy distribution that either automatically includes all possible libraries for all these interfaces or has an auto-installer that goes on the internet and downloads new libraries as they're needed. My Mandrake 9.1 does this. If I have a program called "OogaBoogaOffice" that was made for the "OogaBooga" environment, then Mandrake will install the program and automagically install any dependencies and libraries without requiring me to do anything or even notice any added complexity. Debian acts the same way, I'm told. Windows doesn't have this capability, so it sucks for you if you want to run an app that requires ".NET" on your Win2k box.
B) The hackers who prefer to work on the command line and do all their own dirty work. These folk tend to run Slackware or even their own hand-made Linux distribution. You don't really need to care about these folks too much. For their sakes, it's considered good practice to make a note somewhere that'll just let them know which libraries that they'll need.
So what's the problem? In Linux, stuff usually just works, generally because the distro does all the dirty work automatically. And for those people who have distributions that don't
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-JC
> do the various Linux Office-oid applications
> have counterparts on the PDA side?
Sharp packages Hancom Office with their apps. It's a proprietary office suite which is available on desktop linux, but it is not OSS. It is, however, extremely good for a handheld office suite. It's better than any of the office suites I've seen for PalmOS or PocketPC, anyway.
> Are the PDA Linux distros identical/similar/compatible-in-name-only with
> their desktop breathern? Or are desktop distros far too bloated to run on lighter platforms?
The Zaurus distro is based on Debian's ARM port. You could, if you wanted to, install X11 on the Zaurus and port over many Xlib-based packages. The built-in Qtopia environment is based on Qt, which is what KDE is based on, so KDE apps are fairly easy to port. Off the top of my head, I know that Konsole, Konqueror, Korganizer and KStars were ported.
Some examples of fairly big or familiar apps that can be compiled or installed onto the zaurus: mplayer, xine, gaim, grass, nmap, pico, xpdf (modified for Qt, name changed to qpdf), awk, micq, openssh, rdate, gcc/yacc/bison, mono(!), perl, Python, Bochs, mame, POSE, gnuboy, KBill, nethack, xmms, opera, qtella, mysql, rsync, samba/smbmount, apache, php, joe, VisualBoyAdvance....
Crap, now you got me all excitied. I have a used Zaurus 5500 that I was using as a development aid (I use Qt, so my Windows apps can cross-compile to the Zaurus, and I can use Kate, my favourite text editor (it's MDI, tabs and all, and it can do syntax colouring), to edit my code. But the used WLAN card that I got from eBay died relatively quickly, and I had a large lull in my coding practices, so I haven't used the Z too much. But I'm getting interested again. ^_^
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-JC
PS: It would be interesting to see if any parts of KOffice happened to be relatively easy to port over to Qtopia. OpenOffice and GNOME-Office would probably be a lot harder, though doing it with X on the Z is a possibility.
> I actually watched 3 or 4 episodes. I thought they were all really really bad. Another poster
> said he felt the same way until he saw the pilot, so maybe that's just what I missed. Most
> networks don't normally air pilots tho, so I don't see how/why that would help.
Yeah, my experience was similar. I thought that Train Job was crap, and the next episode or two seemed even worse. I was going to stop watching, but on a lark I downloaded and watched the pilot. And I really, really enjoyed it. So I watched the rest of the series. It wasn't great, but it got better as it went along, and by the time it ended, I was interested if watching more.
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-JC