Slackware! The latest version, 12.2, has KDE 3.5.10.:)
I haven't tried KDE 4. KDE 3.5 is, as you said, quite good, and Slackware hasn't moved to 4.x yet (which sounds like a good thing from what I've read), so I haven't gone to the trouble.
Twice a year? I wish. The manual recommends once a month - 4 hours each month. I usually don't get around to doing that much, but after having some problems with it after not doing that, I now do that at least every two months if not monthly.
Now, imagine you're in a basket truck or just climbing a pole, 30 feet off the ground, and something like that happens... Death is a serious possibility even if it's not directly from the electricity.
However, I still feel the risk to linemen is minimal - as someone else pointed out, they know how to deal with live wires, because the other pair is live, and I'm certain they treat every wire as though it were live in any case. Furthermore, if you were backfeeding the grid with your generator, it'd only last for a very brief moment, because the load would be too much for the generator anyway. But we shouldn't take the chance anyway.
Good advice. I have a generator and a manual transfer switch set up, and I did the "define needs" process, too. Since we'd just had an ice storm that knocked out power for two days, I knew exactly what I would've liked to run off the generator.
In my case, I'd have a generator anyway, because it's permanently mounted in my camper (I probably wouldn't bother otherwise). Also, the generator in the camper was new; I'd just had it replaced a few months before the ice storm, so being able to use it for backup power was a nice bonus.
I bought a small 15 amp transfer switch for four circuits and had it installed. I verified the installation using a multimeter to make sure I wouldn't be electrocuting anyone and to make sure everything operated the way I expected. It took half an hour or so but now I KNOW there are no problems.
The generator can produce 2500 watts, but I went with a 15-amp transfer switch because that's all I needed for the circuits I wanted to power. Since my generator isn't that large (20 amps max), a 15-amp switch was fine and I knew I wouldn't be able to power more than one, possibly two, circuits at once. No problem.
The four circuits I chose were: 1. Furnace fan (I have natural gas heat) 2. Kitchen lighting/outlets 3. Master bedroom and bathroom lighting/outlets 4. Refrigerator
The main point was to be able to keep food, keep the house from freezing, be able to use the bathrooms, and be able to sleep in the master bedroom (possibly using an electric space heater if necessary). I actually got more than I really needed, but only because my house has relatively few circuits wired and a lot of things are on the same circuits (the house was built in 1964).
Why not just stay in the camper? Because, during the winter, I have it winterized, so I can't use the water system, and it sits at an odd angle in the driveway, making it uncomfortable to sleep in. I did make some spaghetti one night during the outage (propane stove in the camper), but with everything so far off level, you really have to be careful what you cook and what pan you use.
Not the first one, and certainly not The Passion (oh God). But Test Drive II: The Duel was a very sweet spot in that collection. Update the physics, update the cars, update the graphics, make it network capable. Keep the game play essentially the same - racing from point to point, avoiding other cars (including the other players) and cops, and keep the witty remarks. I'd play it, and I bet others would, too. I still play The Duel now via DOSBOX.
I don't know, maybe there's something else like this out there now.
I'd love a car length and I thank you for doing that. Unfortunately many people in DC are idiots. My rule of thumb is to wait until I see the headlights in the mirror (about a car length ahead) and then smoothly merge in.
Okay, I'll grant that. I live in the US so it worked for me.
Keep in mind it's not really Amazon that's the roadblock - it's probably the labels. Apple has been able to work out a deal with them, Amazon hasn't, but I'd be surprised if they aren't working on it. I'm sure Amazon would love to sell you stuff.
Not to sound like a shill, but after seeing someone else on/. mention it, I tried Amazon's music service. The price is the same, and the tracks are high bitrate MP3s, no DRM, and they play on any computer without the burn/rip hassle. Why would I buy from iTunes? Honestly, I can't think of anything iTunes offers over Amazon that offsets the DRM.
Perhaps iTunes has a better music catalog overall, but I know I found some rather obscure stuff on Amazon that I hadn't found on iTunes, so my experience is that Amazon's catalog is better.
The joke was that Blue Cross will have an office full of doctors, texting "technicians" on how to do surgeries, instead of actually having a doctor in the operating room. Sorry you missed the joke.
Trips in the RV were still far cheaper than flying and staying in a hotel, even when gas was $4+/gallon. I converted some of the savings into longer vacations.
This is why I vacation by RV. I realize I can't go overseas with it, and trips across the country can take a LOT longer, but it's nice being able to go where I want, when I want, no worries about lost luggage, no "papers please", and no security lines. It's as close to true freedom as we can get these days.
Interesting. New car analogy: Your car is spewing oil and coolant all over the ground, everywhere you go, because you've ignored the maintenance on it.
Now, you ARE causing problems for everyone else (i.e., pollution). Like the environment, the internet is a shared resource.
I've seen plenty of cars that I'd love to take off the road until a competent mechanic can look at them, because the owner certainly doesn't seem to notice or care about the problems.
And, this analogy continues to work for longer than most, because in many countries/states, you have to go through emissions testing, and if you fail it, you have to either repair the car or stop driving it. In other words, the collective has decided that your car is causing too many environmental issues and should not be driven until it has been repaired.
Sure, it's your computer, but it's shitting on all of the rest of our computers, and there's nothing we can do to fix it on our end. It's not YOUR internet. It's OUR internet. Why shouldn't we have a say?
Who said they were surprised? Updates to continuing stories aren't necessarily surprising. If someone is arrested for murder you wouldn't be surprised to later hear that person is on trial for murder, would you?
I've heard some Comcast commercials that imply that FIOS is just a new name for DSL. I had just ordered FIOS when I saw those ads, and it made me glad I was leaving Comcast.
My workplace is exactly the opposite - they tell us to shut down at the end of the day, and if we don't, they log us off (and possibly shut down - I haven't tried it to be sure). We have several thousand employees here. Apparently the reason is that they install patches only when we log in.
Installing a new operating system (XP is not 2000) doesn't really count as "patching".
I agree, but my point was that upgrading the kernel is quite a bit more than simply patching something - it's (usually) less than an OS upgrade but more than a patch. Some extra work when you upgrade such a major component shouldn't be unexpected.
Meh, I don't use Fedora, so I have no idea what version they are on, nor do I really care. I was using XMMS until fairly recently, I only switched when I got around to installing Slackware 12.0, sometime early this year. Now I have Slack 12.1 sitting here, but haven't installed it on anything yet...
1. No fecking media support! I get XMMS inform me on first attempt at playing an MP3 that it won't because of licensing conflict. Wtf? Codecs for avi's and DVDs were a simular story; all had to be downloaded via yum (bloody excellent tool!). Seriously; not good, but fixed in the end.
Licensing restrictions.
2. Why the hell do I have to install a new kernel? Why? I've never had to on Windows - why is Linux different? Is it so buggy? I installed with a factory version something ending 054. Now I have something ending 122 I believe. I did it ok, but that's not the point I'm making; were there really 68 cock-ups so great in the kernel build from release-time until that now they had to re-release 68 times? I'm guessing probablly not, but still.
This one I can't answer. You normally don't need to upgrade kernels unless there is a driver that's supported in newer kernels that you need, or a serious bug/security fix. I rarely upgrade my kernels, and then only to support new hardware.
And by the way, you are occasionally upgrading the Windows kernel, even though it doesn't come right out and say it.
3. Point 2 also breaks my nvidia drivers. I don't want to re-compile new drivers everytime there's a new 'patch'. For the love of god, why?!
You've never had to upgrade video drivers after patching Windows? Not usually on the smaller patches, but going from SP1 to SP2 or even going from 2000 to XP can cause that problem. Upgrading the kernel is a major update to the OS.
4. X-Windows. What a mess. Why do I have to tell it my x & y refresh rates for my monitor? Windows just 'knows'. Many more things here I feel that X-Windows should just 'know' - the number of buttons on my USB mouse for-instance. If Windows can do it, there's no reason why Linux can't. Also, X-Windows 'feels' slower than Windows. I'm sure there's good reasons for this, but I don't care; Windows is snappier.
For the timing, that's really odd, unless you have an ancient monitor. You shouldn't have to do that any more. For the speed, X-Windows is known to be fairly large and bloated, but I've never felt it's any slower than XP on the same machine. And, depending on the WM you use, it can be faster.
5. Lack of decent file-browser. The best I've come across is Nautilus in a mode that resembles Windows Explorer. It'll do for now, but as far as I'm aware, offers no context-sensitive menus for applications (like the Winamp "Play in Winamp" right-click menu on folders.
You didn't mention what WM you were using, but KDE's file browser is quite decent and has context links set up (as long as the distribution you tried has them set up).
Actually, I think that's largely it. In all, Linux has, and is continuing to be great fun to play with. So many cool tools - yum being one of them. I'll stick to Linux @ home; it can only get better, but I'd be interested to know what people think of the above points - any suggestions maybe? I want this to work after all...
There's a learning curve for Linux, that's certainly true. But I've been much happier with my Linux systems than Windows; as I was saying to someone else the other day, once I get it set up, a Linux system runs forever. If there are security updates I'll do those (and unless it's in the kernel, you don't even have to reboot), or if I get new hardware that's not supported in the current kernel, I'll update, but otherwise it's fine without my intervention.
My experience with Windows, on the other hand, is that I have to do some constant maintenance to it, usually just rebooting (usually after annoying dialog boxes that keep coming back) but sometimes more, such as recently when my laptop's hard drive started thrashing for no discernible reason under XP (ccleaner fixed the problem, whatever it was). In another example, someone the other day was suggesting I download each SP
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Slackware! The latest version, 12.2, has KDE 3.5.10. :)
I haven't tried KDE 4. KDE 3.5 is, as you said, quite good, and Slackware hasn't moved to 4.x yet (which sounds like a good thing from what I've read), so I haven't gone to the trouble.
Twice a year? I wish. The manual recommends once a month - 4 hours each month. I usually don't get around to doing that much, but after having some problems with it after not doing that, I now do that at least every two months if not monthly.
The circuit breaker in the camper is 15 amps. Thanks for your concern though.
Now, imagine you're in a basket truck or just climbing a pole, 30 feet off the ground, and something like that happens... Death is a serious possibility even if it's not directly from the electricity.
However, I still feel the risk to linemen is minimal - as someone else pointed out, they know how to deal with live wires, because the other pair is live, and I'm certain they treat every wire as though it were live in any case. Furthermore, if you were backfeeding the grid with your generator, it'd only last for a very brief moment, because the load would be too much for the generator anyway. But we shouldn't take the chance anyway.
Good advice. I have a generator and a manual transfer switch set up, and I did the "define needs" process, too. Since we'd just had an ice storm that knocked out power for two days, I knew exactly what I would've liked to run off the generator.
In my case, I'd have a generator anyway, because it's permanently mounted in my camper (I probably wouldn't bother otherwise). Also, the generator in the camper was new; I'd just had it replaced a few months before the ice storm, so being able to use it for backup power was a nice bonus.
I bought a small 15 amp transfer switch for four circuits and had it installed. I verified the installation using a multimeter to make sure I wouldn't be electrocuting anyone and to make sure everything operated the way I expected. It took half an hour or so but now I KNOW there are no problems.
The generator can produce 2500 watts, but I went with a 15-amp transfer switch because that's all I needed for the circuits I wanted to power. Since my generator isn't that large (20 amps max), a 15-amp switch was fine and I knew I wouldn't be able to power more than one, possibly two, circuits at once. No problem.
The four circuits I chose were:
1. Furnace fan (I have natural gas heat)
2. Kitchen lighting/outlets
3. Master bedroom and bathroom lighting/outlets
4. Refrigerator
The main point was to be able to keep food, keep the house from freezing, be able to use the bathrooms, and be able to sleep in the master bedroom (possibly using an electric space heater if necessary). I actually got more than I really needed, but only because my house has relatively few circuits wired and a lot of things are on the same circuits (the house was built in 1964).
Why not just stay in the camper? Because, during the winter, I have it winterized, so I can't use the water system, and it sits at an odd angle in the driveway, making it uncomfortable to sleep in. I did make some spaghetti one night during the outage (propane stove in the camper), but with everything so far off level, you really have to be careful what you cook and what pan you use.
Not the first one, and certainly not The Passion (oh God). But Test Drive II: The Duel was a very sweet spot in that collection. Update the physics, update the cars, update the graphics, make it network capable. Keep the game play essentially the same - racing from point to point, avoiding other cars (including the other players) and cops, and keep the witty remarks. I'd play it, and I bet others would, too. I still play The Duel now via DOSBOX.
I don't know, maybe there's something else like this out there now.
I take it you're one of those trolls I've heard so much about. If this was a real response, see my other reply in this thread.
I'd love a car length and I thank you for doing that. Unfortunately many people in DC are idiots. My rule of thumb is to wait until I see the headlights in the mirror (about a car length ahead) and then smoothly merge in.
I take it you're one of the people that cuts over in front of me with about 8 inches from my bumper to yours. You're going faster, so it's safe?
Okay, I'll grant that. I live in the US so it worked for me.
Keep in mind it's not really Amazon that's the roadblock - it's probably the labels. Apple has been able to work out a deal with them, Amazon hasn't, but I'd be surprised if they aren't working on it. I'm sure Amazon would love to sell you stuff.
Not to sound like a shill, but after seeing someone else on /. mention it, I tried Amazon's music service. The price is the same, and the tracks are high bitrate MP3s, no DRM, and they play on any computer without the burn/rip hassle. Why would I buy from iTunes? Honestly, I can't think of anything iTunes offers over Amazon that offsets the DRM.
Perhaps iTunes has a better music catalog overall, but I know I found some rather obscure stuff on Amazon that I hadn't found on iTunes, so my experience is that Amazon's catalog is better.
The joke was that Blue Cross will have an office full of doctors, texting "technicians" on how to do surgeries, instead of actually having a doctor in the operating room. Sorry you missed the joke.
They'll be all over this method of reducing healthcare costs!
Trips in the RV were still far cheaper than flying and staying in a hotel, even when gas was $4+/gallon. I converted some of the savings into longer vacations.
This is why I vacation by RV. I realize I can't go overseas with it, and trips across the country can take a LOT longer, but it's nice being able to go where I want, when I want, no worries about lost luggage, no "papers please", and no security lines. It's as close to true freedom as we can get these days.
Yeah. I remember reading something similar when the "secret" of adjusting your MTU came out in the days of 56K modems.
Interesting. New car analogy: Your car is spewing oil and coolant all over the ground, everywhere you go, because you've ignored the maintenance on it.
Now, you ARE causing problems for everyone else (i.e., pollution). Like the environment, the internet is a shared resource.
I've seen plenty of cars that I'd love to take off the road until a competent mechanic can look at them, because the owner certainly doesn't seem to notice or care about the problems.
And, this analogy continues to work for longer than most, because in many countries/states, you have to go through emissions testing, and if you fail it, you have to either repair the car or stop driving it. In other words, the collective has decided that your car is causing too many environmental issues and should not be driven until it has been repaired.
Sure, it's your computer, but it's shitting on all of the rest of our computers, and there's nothing we can do to fix it on our end. It's not YOUR internet. It's OUR internet. Why shouldn't we have a say?
Who said they were surprised? Updates to continuing stories aren't necessarily surprising. If someone is arrested for murder you wouldn't be surprised to later hear that person is on trial for murder, would you?
I've heard some Comcast commercials that imply that FIOS is just a new name for DSL. I had just ordered FIOS when I saw those ads, and it made me glad I was leaving Comcast.
Have you seen Japan's rail systems? I think you need to watch this video. DC Metro or NYC or Chicago don't even come close.
My workplace is exactly the opposite - they tell us to shut down at the end of the day, and if we don't, they log us off (and possibly shut down - I haven't tried it to be sure). We have several thousand employees here. Apparently the reason is that they install patches only when we log in.
Installing a new operating system (XP is not 2000) doesn't really count as "patching".
I agree, but my point was that upgrading the kernel is quite a bit more than simply patching something - it's (usually) less than an OS upgrade but more than a patch. Some extra work when you upgrade such a major component shouldn't be unexpected.
Meh, I don't use Fedora, so I have no idea what version they are on, nor do I really care. I was using XMMS until fairly recently, I only switched when I got around to installing Slackware 12.0, sometime early this year. Now I have Slack 12.1 sitting here, but haven't installed it on anything yet...
D'oh. I wondered but went forward anyway. Thanks. I'm always amazed that people really have nothing better to do than troll forums.
1. No fecking media support! I get XMMS inform me on first attempt at playing an MP3 that it won't because of licensing conflict. Wtf? Codecs for avi's and DVDs were a simular story; all had to be downloaded via yum (bloody excellent tool!). Seriously; not good, but fixed in the end.
Licensing restrictions.
2. Why the hell do I have to install a new kernel? Why? I've never had to on Windows - why is Linux different? Is it so buggy? I installed with a factory version something ending 054. Now I have something ending 122 I believe. I did it ok, but that's not the point I'm making; were there really 68 cock-ups so great in the kernel build from release-time until that now they had to re-release 68 times? I'm guessing probablly not, but still.
This one I can't answer. You normally don't need to upgrade kernels unless there is a driver that's supported in newer kernels that you need, or a serious bug/security fix. I rarely upgrade my kernels, and then only to support new hardware.
And by the way, you are occasionally upgrading the Windows kernel, even though it doesn't come right out and say it.
3. Point 2 also breaks my nvidia drivers. I don't want to re-compile new drivers everytime there's a new 'patch'. For the love of god, why?!
You've never had to upgrade video drivers after patching Windows? Not usually on the smaller patches, but going from SP1 to SP2 or even going from 2000 to XP can cause that problem. Upgrading the kernel is a major update to the OS.
4. X-Windows. What a mess. Why do I have to tell it my x & y refresh rates for my monitor? Windows just 'knows'. Many more things here I feel that X-Windows should just 'know' - the number of buttons on my USB mouse for-instance. If Windows can do it, there's no reason why Linux can't. Also, X-Windows 'feels' slower than Windows. I'm sure there's good reasons for this, but I don't care; Windows is snappier.
For the timing, that's really odd, unless you have an ancient monitor. You shouldn't have to do that any more. For the speed, X-Windows is known to be fairly large and bloated, but I've never felt it's any slower than XP on the same machine. And, depending on the WM you use, it can be faster.
5. Lack of decent file-browser. The best I've come across is Nautilus in a mode that resembles Windows Explorer. It'll do for now, but as far as I'm aware, offers no context-sensitive menus for applications (like the Winamp "Play in Winamp" right-click menu on folders.
You didn't mention what WM you were using, but KDE's file browser is quite decent and has context links set up (as long as the distribution you tried has them set up).
Actually, I think that's largely it. In all, Linux has, and is continuing to be great fun to play with. So many cool tools - yum being one of them. I'll stick to Linux @ home; it can only get better, but I'd be interested to know what people think of the above points - any suggestions maybe? I want this to work after all...
There's a learning curve for Linux, that's certainly true. But I've been much happier with my Linux systems than Windows; as I was saying to someone else the other day, once I get it set up, a Linux system runs forever. If there are security updates I'll do those (and unless it's in the kernel, you don't even have to reboot), or if I get new hardware that's not supported in the current kernel, I'll update, but otherwise it's fine without my intervention.
My experience with Windows, on the other hand, is that I have to do some constant maintenance to it, usually just rebooting (usually after annoying dialog boxes that keep coming back) but sometimes more, such as recently when my laptop's hard drive started thrashing for no discernible reason under XP (ccleaner fixed the problem, whatever it was). In another example, someone the other day was suggesting I download each SP