As far as I can see and tell, nowadays almost all OS's come with pretty much everything you probably want already either built-in or available.
In most cases, the need to actually do programming yourself, doesn't exist anymore.
When I started (in 1980), I coded because I wanted stuff that wasn't available. My back then Z80 computer was too slow to handle 19200 bps transfer rates over RS232, so I rewrote the BIOS and the intterrupt handling.
For that same machine, there wasn't an Unarj program available, and no C compiler that could compile the sources, so I rewrote the whole thing in assembly.
I think those kind of incentives have pretty much gone, considering what all is available and the price of computers nowadays.
For as far as I know, techweb has a (I think very nice) script running that puts links for all technical terms in papers anyway.
Nothing wrong with that, I'd say. If you know it, fine, if you don't and accidentilly end up on one of their pages, it's only of help. It's not like you have to actively do anything with them.
Odd kind of comment this is, considering that Magenta never said what you claim. An interface was written (in 10 lines of C++), that could do a very restricted amount of functions. Enough to make the piece of code that it was written for work. That's it.
Well. It seems that aside from the supported software, there still isn't a comparable product to my Communicator in the market.
I do have to say that the Palm Pilot is a lovely piece of hardware, and to be honest, I'd never heard of the other 'contestant' in this, but it doesn't seem like they have much to off over a handheld organizer:) (Do they actually contain a phone/fax/sms like combination, too? Info is slightly limited;)
--- What do you do when the government ignores you ? I'd be interested to find out what I can do to help our seemingly hopeless situation. ---
Well.. Generally you go out on the streets, burn down the shops, blow up some cars, rape some government officials' wives, etc.
Or you could just use PGP, or even better yet, translate all the so called offensive words into a different language, and tell people to use babelfish to get the original.
So what about these nice japanes Lolita sites. They can't be banned, since I'm sure their filtering software doesn't support the Japanese WC set.
*smirk* This is all so unbelievable stupid that it's simple.. Well. Unbelievable. And these people run Australia? Man, I'm scared.. Anyone up for a fund raiser to get all out Australian friends out of there?
I'm not sure if this would be considered off-topic, but I generally get goose bumps from these type of articles.
If it were about a queen or a king marrying, the same type of article would be in BeLieVe Stories, or whatever.
Am I the only one that has a problem with all the hype (this just being a pretty decent example) being brought on nowadays by newspapers, websites, etc. etc?
Overclocking your processor isn't 'brilliant'. It isn't 'creating a flamethrower', it's not even anything remotely new (my old Z80 machine ran at 5.5MHz while it was designed for max 4). So why all the sudden all this pooha? (Remove all wait states from a Z80, so you have pure machine cycles, and hope your RAM keeps up, can't see anyone doing that to an Intel processor..)
This kind of article brings to mind the old old saying. 'Why did so-and-so climb the Everest'
And believe me, it was not because he had a 40% chance of not surviving it.
To add a little comment to shutton's post (and grab some other things along with it), this whole thread seems to be slightly off topic from the original topic, but it does bring forth an interesting view.
Most people believe that since 'we' support Linux, Gnome, KDE, E, whatever, we shouldn't be emulating Windows.
Now hang in there for a second. Most people have worked with the windows GUI (which admitedly has some nice things, though they kind of get snowed under by the absolutely horrendous things), and know how it 'feels', expect certain looks, etc.
So let's take that to the 'Linux' community, if you'd be able to write a desktop that acts like the Windows one, but with Linux as a kernel, instead of the extremely buggy, inefficient Windows 95/98 kernel (NT is slightly, just slightly, better), you'd still have a Linux system.
It just *looks* different. I think a lot of people just immediately react to the fact that AAAAAH, It Looks Like Windows! Kill Kill Kill!, completely forgetting the fact that the driving force behind this Windows look-alike is something they so fervently support.
(Why would you not buy a 16 processor dec/alpha machine because it comes in a yellow instead of a purple box?:)
If those PCs are actually i86 machines or the like from say the early 80's, late 70's, chances are they won't have any Y2K problems, because most of the applications simply don't care about something along the lines of 'years'.
Especially process control machines only need a milli/microsecond clock, and shouldn't be bothered whether it's 1965, 1999, or 3069.
Slashdot Mirror
As far as I can see and tell, nowadays almost all OS's come with pretty much everything you probably want already either built-in or available.
In most cases, the need to actually do programming yourself, doesn't exist anymore.
When I started (in 1980), I coded because I wanted stuff that wasn't available. My back then Z80 computer was too slow to handle 19200 bps transfer rates over RS232, so I rewrote the BIOS and the intterrupt handling.
For that same machine, there wasn't an Unarj program available, and no C compiler that could compile the sources, so I rewrote the whole thing in assembly.
I think those kind of incentives have pretty much gone, considering what all is available and the price of computers nowadays.
Just my 2 eurocents.
For as far as I know, techweb has a (I think very nice) script running that puts links for all technical terms in papers anyway.
Nothing wrong with that, I'd say. If you know it, fine, if you don't and accidentilly end up on one of their pages, it's only of help. It's not like you have to actively do anything with them.
Mad.
For that matter. G2 isn't even available for the NT version running on a DEC/Alpha. Talking about Windows support.
Don't expect a company that doesn't even support all Windows(MS)(TM)($$) varieties, to easilly support some more 'exotic' platforms..
Mad.
Odd kind of comment this is, considering that Magenta never said what you claim. An interface was written (in 10 lines of C++), that could do a very restricted amount of functions. Enough to make the piece of code that it was written for work. That's it.
Hmmm.
:) (Do they actually contain a phone/fax/sms like combination, too? Info is slightly limited ;)
Well. It seems that aside from the supported software, there still isn't a comparable product to my Communicator in the market.
I do have to say that the Palm Pilot is a lovely piece of hardware, and to be honest, I'd never heard of the other 'contestant' in this, but it doesn't seem like they have much to off over a handheld organizer
Mad.
---
What do you do when the government ignores you ? I'd be interested to find out what I can do to help our seemingly hopeless situation.
---
Well.. Generally you go out on the streets, burn down the shops, blow up some cars, rape some government officials' wives, etc.
Or you could just use PGP, or even better yet, translate all the so called offensive words into a different language, and tell people to use babelfish to get the original.
So what about these nice japanes Lolita sites. They can't be banned, since I'm sure their filtering software doesn't support the Japanese WC set.
*smirk* This is all so unbelievable stupid that it's simple.. Well. Unbelievable. And these people run Australia? Man, I'm scared.. Anyone up for a fund raiser to get all out Australian friends out of there?
Mad.
I'm not sure if this would be considered off-topic, but I generally get goose bumps from these type of articles.
If it were about a queen or a king marrying, the same type of article would be in BeLieVe Stories, or whatever.
Am I the only one that has a problem with all the hype (this just being a pretty decent example) being brought on nowadays by newspapers, websites, etc. etc?
Overclocking your processor isn't 'brilliant'. It isn't 'creating a flamethrower', it's not even anything remotely new (my old Z80 machine ran at 5.5MHz while it was designed for max 4). So why all the sudden all this pooha? (Remove all wait states from a Z80, so you have pure machine cycles, and hope your RAM keeps up, can't see anyone doing that to an Intel processor..)
This kind of article brings to mind the old old saying. 'Why did so-and-so climb the Everest'
And believe me, it was not because he had a 40% chance of not surviving it.
Mad.
To add a little comment to shutton's post (and grab some other things along with it), this whole thread seems to be slightly off topic from the original topic, but it does bring forth an interesting view.
:)
Most people believe that since 'we' support Linux, Gnome, KDE, E, whatever, we shouldn't be emulating Windows.
Now hang in there for a second. Most people have worked with the windows GUI (which admitedly has some nice things, though they kind of get snowed under by the absolutely horrendous things), and know how it 'feels', expect certain looks, etc.
So let's take that to the 'Linux' community, if you'd be able to write a desktop that acts like the Windows one, but with Linux as a kernel, instead of the extremely buggy, inefficient Windows 95/98 kernel (NT is slightly, just slightly, better), you'd still have a Linux system.
It just *looks* different. I think a lot of people just immediately react to the fact that AAAAAH, It Looks Like Windows! Kill Kill Kill!, completely forgetting the fact that the driving force behind this Windows look-alike is something they so fervently support.
(Why would you not buy a 16 processor dec/alpha machine because it comes in a yellow instead of a purple box?
Mad.
One little error in thinking there..
If those PCs are actually i86 machines or the like from say the early 80's, late 70's, chances are they won't have any Y2K problems, because most of the applications simply don't care about something along the lines of 'years'.
Especially process control machines only need a milli/microsecond clock, and shouldn't be bothered whether it's 1965, 1999, or 3069.