You do not gain freedom when you are able to use a piece of hardware you would otherwise be unable to use. Your life is made more convinient but you are now a slave to the author of the driver. Should the driver author decide to stop supporting you, well you are then SOL. The point of Free Software is that the software itself is free (liber if you know any Latin). The fact that the software is free limits the ability of any one person to use said software to exercise power over another person.
Again, why do I need support? My modem isn't changing, and the drivers work just as-is. Nothing can go wrong that would require access to any source code to fix.
Winmodems suck too. I got my external 56K U.S. Robotics modem off of eBay for $30. Is saving a few bucks worth using an inferior soft modem and therefore non-free drivers?
Actually, your external modem (I'm assuming it's a serial model) is inferior, because it is unable to take full advantage of modem compression due to limited serial port speed. So, to answer your question, not only did I save a few bucks but I got a better modem to boot.
I also do not speak for Open Source. I hate the Open Source movement. I am a member of the Free Software movement. The Free Software movement is about politics and not practicality. If a piece of software is non-free then it is not to be used. Doing so would be supporting proprietary software. Drivers are essential to the operation of any kernel (monolithic at least...L4 doesn't count). If the drivers are non-free you have infected the very base of your Free Software system.
No offense intended, but while the Open Source guys sort of have a point, I think the Free Software movement is nuts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with proprietary software (if by proprietary you mean closed-source, restricted license, for-sale software). There is nothing wrong with a company or person making a good piece of software profiting from it. If I am wrong about your definition of proprietary software please correct me.
We have come quite far. It is foolish to slip backwards to a time when we were slaves to proprietary vendors. Today it is a graphics card driver. Tommorow it is everything.
I disagree that I'm "slipping backwards" by using a single closed-source modem driver. What, 99.8% of Linux drivers are free and open and you think the other 0.2% are a problem? I don't think so.
Please understand that while you have your reasons for using free software, others have theirs too and it's not necessarily the same. My reason for using BSD over Windows is primarily for stability, security, ease of administration, and overall usability (to me, once you get used to the UNIX way of doing things, it's *so* much superior). The fact that everything is free is definitely a bonus.
But I don't mind paying for good software. Free software is not going to go away or be diminished just because people continue to use proprietary software.
Accepting non-free drivers is giving up your freedom. Personally, I use GNU/Linux because I am freed from the whims of the developer. If you wish to be a slave again please return to Windows or the Mac OS while the rest of us continue to use our Free Software....
It's funny how you want to give in to non-free drivers when they are essentially the reason GNU/Linux exists in the first place.
You're making the ASSumption that *everybody* uses Linux for that reason, which is totally false. Some use it for the reliability and speed.
I disagree that "accepting non free drivers is giving up your freedom". Exactly what freedom am I giving up? The ability to modify the driver? Big whoop, if a driver fails, I file a bug report. I'm not a driver author and I don't know enough about this vendor's hardware to make corrections, and I doubt you do either.
On the other hand, the freedom I'm *gaining* is the freedom to run a new piece of hardware I couldn't run before. I run the LTMDM driver in FreeBSD to allow me to use the excellent Lucent LT Winmodem. It's just about the best modem available, IMO. What do you expect me to do, use some inferior crap out of protest that the driver is binary only?
No thanks. This driver works perfectly, along with the evil NVIDIA binary-only driver. I think I'll quit worrying about trifling crap like whether or not a binary is open source or not, and start worrying about more important things like getting work done.
Now I kind of like that justice, but that's because I happen to fucking hate winmodems even more than I hate closed drivers.
It would seem to me that you don't know many details of Winmodems if you claim to hate them. A Winmodem with hardware DSP is simply a modem that uses a DSP to transfer data from modemPC instead of a serial port. The control code is also located in the driver instead of firmware (makes it easier to update, and no slowdown). The advantage to using a DSP over a serial port is that serial ports are not fast enough to transfer the amount of data a V.92 modem is capable of transferring after compression, etc.
The Winmodems you probably don't like are the kind with the software DSP. In other words, the DSP and control code are all implemented in software. But there are some good software DSP modems out there, such as the Lucent (now Agere) SV92p chipset.
The big deal is that Linus et al. don't wan't to be responsible for crashes caused by drivers that aren't easily fixable. The Kernel tainted bit really isn't about licencing and ideology; it's about claiming no responsibility.
I think it runs a bit deeper than that. Did you see Linus's opinion on the subject?
"Hey, that is interesting in itself, since playing the above kinds of games makes it pretty clear to everybody that any infringement was done wilfully. They should be talking to their lawyers about things like that."
Infringment? Lawyers? WTF? So, what? They're gonna sue these people or something? Ridiculous.
so why not approach things with a neutral opinion until proven one way or the other?...
If you want to critique this guy, then go show me how smart you are and pick apart his experiments or apparatus, or maybe propose a theory that could explain the results another way - and devise an experiment to test that theory.
just dropping the GPL fanaticism, quit worrying about what license drivers have, stop with the "kernel tainted" bullshit, and just use the damn drivers? Who give a flying fuck if they're binaries or not? I use the LTMDM driver in FreeBSD and honestly I could give a shit less that it's a binary driver. It works. I also downloaded the binaries to X4.4 when it was first released (HERESY!).
There is a program called BestCrypt for Windows that I like. You create an encrypted "container" of any size. You can mount this contained as a virtual drive and use it as such.
One neat feature is the ability to create a "hidden compartment" so to speak. Once the container is open, you hit a special key combination and it asks for a password. The hidden compartment is hidden as noise in the container and the program has no idea it's even there until you enter the correct password, which it then puts through some sort of encryption algorithm and compares to the container file to find any hidden compartment.
Neat stuff! Just store a bunch of useless crap in the main part of your container and hide the real goods in the hidden compartment. Unless somebody knows the password and knows how to access it (its a special key combination, with no visible buttons, and just a brief mention in the help file), there's no way to even know the secret compartment exists.
If being environmentally friendly is beyond your balance, you're an asshole.
I daily drive a 70s Cadillac that gets 14 MPG and requires premium fuel, and I run the air conditioner all the time. I removed my catalytic converter and other emissions equipment long ago in favor of a big honkin dual exhaust with Flowmasters. When I change the oil, the old oil is taken to a place where I don't want anything to ever grow again and poured out on the ground (handy weed killer). Same for gasoline or diesel fuel that I use for cleaning parts.
I don't have my trash picked up. Fuck that, I burn it instead. When I have a ton of shit to burn, especially wet brush, I use an old tire and diesel fuel to get the fire started and burning for days, all the while pouring out huge amounts of black smoke and acrid fumes (and burning green, too- cool stuff).
My computer and other electrical devices stay running all the time in the house, as well as the air conditioner and other stuff. Fuck energy consumption, I'm gonna live in comfort.
... soccer moms talking on cell phones while putting on makeup and driving cause as many wrecks as drunk drivers- thus traffic accidents seem to have very little, if anything, to do with drunk driving. More details at 11.
If, as a result of global warming, the state of California (or selected portions) is sunk and gone forever beneath 500 feet of water... well, it might not be as bad as it's cracked up to be!
Actually, ethanol is hydrophilic (I guess that's the word?), so it absorbs water. This means you can burn ethanol with as much as 20% water content in an engine without problems. In fact, it is helpful because it slows the burn rate down a bit and otherwise helps the combustion process.
Sorry, brain fart. I was thinking *percent*. 50 percent would be bad enough, but 50 PROOF? No, no, no. Not a chance. You need at least 70-80% alcohol content, 90% preferred, which is 140-180 proof. (For those not in the know- proof is a measure of purity- 200 proof is 100% pure, 100 proof is 50% pure, etc).
First of all, no vehicle will *run* on 50 proof alcohol. You need more like 70-80 proof. There is too much water content in 50 proof (half!)
And if you're speaking about fuel efficiency in MPG, no Ethanol is not more efficient. Ethanol has less energy content per unit of volume than gasoline, so you have to burn more of it to get the same power.
And I can tell you right now that Ethanol is *nowhere* near as efficient as a diesel engine.
Of the ones that considered me a "good friend?" None, obviously, but why would I have. Now with other girlfriends/relationships... a few, at least enough for sex to lose its mystique and for me to realize that there are in fact more important things than sex.
Geeks can get laid, in fact in many cases (unless you're very unattractive) it's probably easier to get a quick lay than find a good relationship. And of course, constantly mentioning one's need to get laid is a good way to... well... not get laid... or meet a girl - which is probably why kiddies like you are a little short in your abilities with women.
Haha, you stupid fucker, first the point went *right* over your head, then you had the audacity to sling your little insult at me.
The point, since you so eloquently missed it, is this- these chicks that come to you all the time to talk about their problems? They're *using* you. Even the dumbest high school student understands this. She has a need, and she comes to you to fulfill it, then throws you away. Most girls do this, it's a common phenomenon, yet you seem to be oblivious (or just don't give a shit- maybe it feeds your ego to think that someone "needs" you for something)?
And exactly what is more important than sex from a reproduction standpoint? I'm sure, being the intellectual guy you claim to be, you know that the whole point of life on any scale is reproduction.
As regards to my "abilities with women", can it, asswipe. You don't know me, and it's irrelevant.
The "institution of marriage" has never been the unchanging, holy union some would like to see it as, not even in recent US history. Up until fairly recently, marriage was a arrangement between two families, not the romantic one-on-one affair we currently see as the ideal.
Right- but the point is to have children and raise a family. No, it's not explicitly stated, because it's too obvious.
If by "freaks" you mean gays and lesbians, I can only pity you. There is noe reasoning with homophobia.
Save your "pity". I love how you fuckers throw the "homophobe" word around when someone (me) announces his dislike for gays/lesbians. I guess I could call you a "homophile" then, for liking them? You people claim to be ultra-tolerant, yet you can't tolerate a dissenting opinion?
what we need to do is outlaw any car that way-es over 1 ton and gets less then 60 MPG and our economic and political world will be a much better place.
And having children is hardly a reason to marry anymore.
Excuse me? A minority of freaks doesn't change the basic facts of our culture- marriage is an institution, established between a man and a woman, for the purpose of raising a family.
Slashdot Mirror
Assuming that it actually sells. At $150 a copy...
You do not gain freedom when you are able to use a piece of hardware you would otherwise be unable to use. Your life is made more convinient but you are now a slave to the author of the driver. Should the driver author decide to stop supporting you, well you are then SOL. The point of Free Software is that the software itself is free (liber if you know any Latin). The fact that the software is free limits the ability of any one person to use said software to exercise power over another person.
Again, why do I need support? My modem isn't changing, and the drivers work just as-is. Nothing can go wrong that would require access to any source code to fix.
Winmodems suck too. I got my external 56K U.S. Robotics modem off of eBay for $30. Is saving a few bucks worth using an inferior soft modem and therefore non-free drivers?
Actually, your external modem (I'm assuming it's a serial model) is inferior, because it is unable to take full advantage of modem compression due to limited serial port speed. So, to answer your question, not only did I save a few bucks but I got a better modem to boot.
I also do not speak for Open Source. I hate the Open Source movement. I am a member of the Free Software movement. The Free Software movement is about politics and not practicality. If a piece of software is non-free then it is not to be used. Doing so would be supporting proprietary software. Drivers are essential to the operation of any kernel (monolithic at least...L4 doesn't count). If the drivers are non-free you have infected the very base of your Free Software system.
No offense intended, but while the Open Source guys sort of have a point, I think the Free Software movement is nuts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with proprietary software (if by proprietary you mean closed-source, restricted license, for-sale software). There is nothing wrong with a company or person making a good piece of software profiting from it. If I am wrong about your definition of proprietary software please correct me.
We have come quite far. It is foolish to slip backwards to a time when we were slaves to proprietary vendors. Today it is a graphics card driver. Tommorow it is everything.
I disagree that I'm "slipping backwards" by using a single closed-source modem driver. What, 99.8% of Linux drivers are free and open and you think the other 0.2% are a problem? I don't think so.
Please understand that while you have your reasons for using free software, others have theirs too and it's not necessarily the same. My reason for using BSD over Windows is primarily for stability, security, ease of administration, and overall usability (to me, once you get used to the UNIX way of doing things, it's *so* much superior). The fact that everything is free is definitely a bonus.
But I don't mind paying for good software. Free software is not going to go away or be diminished just because people continue to use proprietary software.
Accepting non-free drivers is giving up your freedom. Personally, I use GNU/Linux because I am freed from the whims of the developer. If you wish to be a slave again please return to Windows or the Mac OS while the rest of us continue to use our Free Software. ...
It's funny how you want to give in to non-free drivers when they are essentially the reason GNU/Linux exists in the first place.
You're making the ASSumption that *everybody* uses Linux for that reason, which is totally false. Some use it for the reliability and speed.
I disagree that "accepting non free drivers is giving up your freedom". Exactly what freedom am I giving up? The ability to modify the driver? Big whoop, if a driver fails, I file a bug report. I'm not a driver author and I don't know enough about this vendor's hardware to make corrections, and I doubt you do either.
On the other hand, the freedom I'm *gaining* is the freedom to run a new piece of hardware I couldn't run before. I run the LTMDM driver in FreeBSD to allow me to use the excellent Lucent LT Winmodem. It's just about the best modem available, IMO. What do you expect me to do, use some inferior crap out of protest that the driver is binary only?
No thanks. This driver works perfectly, along with the evil NVIDIA binary-only driver. I think I'll quit worrying about trifling crap like whether or not a binary is open source or not, and start worrying about more important things like getting work done.
Now I kind of like that justice, but that's because I happen to fucking hate winmodems even more than I hate closed drivers.
It would seem to me that you don't know many details of Winmodems if you claim to hate them. A Winmodem with hardware DSP is simply a modem that uses a DSP to transfer data from modemPC instead of a serial port. The control code is also located in the driver instead of firmware (makes it easier to update, and no slowdown). The advantage to using a DSP over a serial port is that serial ports are not fast enough to transfer the amount of data a V.92 modem is capable of transferring after compression, etc.
The Winmodems you probably don't like are the kind with the software DSP. In other words, the DSP and control code are all implemented in software. But there are some good software DSP modems out there, such as the Lucent (now Agere) SV92p chipset.
The big deal is that Linus et al. don't wan't to be responsible for crashes caused by drivers that aren't easily fixable. The Kernel tainted bit really isn't about licencing and ideology; it's about claiming no responsibility.
I think it runs a bit deeper than that. Did you see Linus's opinion on the subject?
"Hey, that is interesting in itself, since playing the above kinds of games makes it pretty clear to everybody that any infringement was done wilfully. They should be talking to their lawyers about things like that."
Infringment? Lawyers? WTF? So, what? They're gonna sue these people or something? Ridiculous.
so why not approach things with a neutral opinion until proven one way or the other? ...
If you want to critique this guy, then go show me how smart you are and pick apart his experiments or apparatus, or maybe propose a theory that could explain the results another way - and devise an experiment to test that theory.
You're new around here, aren't you?
just dropping the GPL fanaticism, quit worrying about what license drivers have, stop with the "kernel tainted" bullshit, and just use the damn drivers? Who give a flying fuck if they're binaries or not? I use the LTMDM driver in FreeBSD and honestly I could give a shit less that it's a binary driver. It works. I also downloaded the binaries to X4.4 when it was first released (HERESY!).
What is the big friggin deal about binaries?
OOo, I see!
There is a program called BestCrypt for Windows that I like. You create an encrypted "container" of any size. You can mount this contained as a virtual drive and use it as such.
One neat feature is the ability to create a "hidden compartment" so to speak. Once the container is open, you hit a special key combination and it asks for a password. The hidden compartment is hidden as noise in the container and the program has no idea it's even there until you enter the correct password, which it then puts through some sort of encryption algorithm and compares to the container file to find any hidden compartment.
Neat stuff! Just store a bunch of useless crap in the main part of your container and hide the real goods in the hidden compartment. Unless somebody knows the password and knows how to access it (its a special key combination, with no visible buttons, and just a brief mention in the help file), there's no way to even know the secret compartment exists.
Would you like fries with that?
If being environmentally friendly is beyond your balance, you're an asshole.
I daily drive a 70s Cadillac that gets 14 MPG and requires premium fuel, and I run the air conditioner all the time. I removed my catalytic converter and other emissions equipment long ago in favor of a big honkin dual exhaust with Flowmasters. When I change the oil, the old oil is taken to a place where I don't want anything to ever grow again and poured out on the ground (handy weed killer). Same for gasoline or diesel fuel that I use for cleaning parts.
I don't have my trash picked up. Fuck that, I burn it instead. When I have a ton of shit to burn, especially wet brush, I use an old tire and diesel fuel to get the fire started and burning for days, all the while pouring out huge amounts of black smoke and acrid fumes (and burning green, too- cool stuff).
My computer and other electrical devices stay running all the time in the house, as well as the air conditioner and other stuff. Fuck energy consumption, I'm gonna live in comfort.
Yeah, I'm an asshole. What's your point?
... soccer moms talking on cell phones while putting on makeup and driving cause as many wrecks as drunk drivers- thus traffic accidents seem to have very little, if anything, to do with drunk driving. More details at 11.
.. you don't count the portions currently inhabited by Canucks and wannabe Frenchmen. If you do, the number drops down to 0%. Bummer.
If, as a result of global warming, the state of California (or selected portions) is sunk and gone forever beneath 500 feet of water... well, it might not be as bad as it's cracked up to be!
His pre-war job was to play a silly game for millions of dollars; how is that significant?
Because he quit that game, left those millions of dollars behind, and stepped up to defend his nation. THAT makes him a hero.
Why is it you feel that pointing out one notable person means we don't recognize anyone else?
Actually, ethanol is hydrophilic (I guess that's the word?), so it absorbs water. This means you can burn ethanol with as much as 20% water content in an engine without problems. In fact, it is helpful because it slows the burn rate down a bit and otherwise helps the combustion process.
Sorry, brain fart. I was thinking *percent*. 50 percent would be bad enough, but 50 PROOF? No, no, no. Not a chance. You need at least 70-80% alcohol content, 90% preferred, which is 140-180 proof. (For those not in the know- proof is a measure of purity- 200 proof is 100% pure, 100 proof is 50% pure, etc).
First of all, no vehicle will *run* on 50 proof alcohol. You need more like 70-80 proof. There is too much water content in 50 proof (half!)
And if you're speaking about fuel efficiency in MPG, no Ethanol is not more efficient. Ethanol has less energy content per unit of volume than gasoline, so you have to burn more of it to get the same power.
And I can tell you right now that Ethanol is *nowhere* near as efficient as a diesel engine.
Of the ones that considered me a "good friend?" None, obviously, but why would I have. Now with other girlfriends/relationships... a few, at least enough for sex to lose its mystique and for me to realize that there are in fact more important things than sex.
Geeks can get laid, in fact in many cases (unless you're very unattractive) it's probably easier to get a quick lay than find a good relationship. And of course, constantly mentioning one's need to get laid is a good way to... well... not get laid... or meet a girl - which is probably why kiddies like you are a little short in your abilities with women.
Haha, you stupid fucker, first the point went *right* over your head, then you had the audacity to sling your little insult at me.
The point, since you so eloquently missed it, is this- these chicks that come to you all the time to talk about their problems? They're *using* you.
Even the dumbest high school student understands this. She has a need, and she comes to you to fulfill it, then throws you away. Most girls do this, it's a common phenomenon, yet you seem to be oblivious (or just don't give a shit- maybe it feeds your ego to think that someone "needs" you for something)?
And exactly what is more important than sex from a reproduction standpoint? I'm sure, being the intellectual guy you claim to be, you know that the whole point of life on any scale is reproduction.
As regards to my "abilities with women", can it, asswipe. You don't know me, and it's irrelevant.
The "institution of marriage" has never been the unchanging, holy union some would like to see it as, not even in recent US history. Up until fairly recently, marriage was a arrangement between two families, not the romantic one-on-one affair we currently see as the ideal.
Right- but the point is to have children and raise a family. No, it's not explicitly stated, because it's too obvious.
If by "freaks" you mean gays and lesbians, I can only pity you. There is noe reasoning with homophobia.
Save your "pity". I love how you fuckers throw the "homophobe" word around when someone (me) announces his dislike for gays/lesbians. I guess I could call you a "homophile" then, for liking them? You people claim to be ultra-tolerant, yet you can't tolerate a dissenting opinion?
This is like studying current car safety by grabbing some old Corvairs out of a junkyard.
But Corvairs weren't very saf... oh.
what we need to do is outlaw any car that way-es over 1 ton and gets less then 60 MPG and our economic and political world will be a much better place.
Uhh, how about no.
Great, so we are forced into another ice age, we lose parts of the population, we lose parts of cities...
It's all a plot by the CIA to kill off the Canadians. Life sucks when your whole country is covered by a glacier..
And having children is hardly a reason to marry anymore.
Excuse me? A minority of freaks doesn't change the basic facts of our culture- marriage is an institution, established between a man and a woman, for the purpose of raising a family.
Yeah, and how many of those girls did you ever get laid by?
Thought so.