When I'm not messing around with computers, I love to spend as much time as possible hucking myself off of concrete obstacles on my skateboard. That's probably where I (try to) spend the most of my free time, but here's my list of non-tech hobbies:
Skateboarding Snowboarding Photography (mostly skateboard photography, but I'm slowly expanding to other areas) Graffiti Music (Turntables, Guitar, softsynths)
I just finished taking some Tai Chi classes, and I think I'll try to get back into that when the next session starts (September I think)
Besides that, I'm looking to get into Longboarding and maybe Geocaching in the near future, and I may get back into Mountain Biking once I can afford to nurse my bike back to health.
I haven't seen it posted yet, but Phantasy Star Online is out for at least a couple of platforms, if not all the current major ones and it is piles of fun with 2 or more people playing on one console.
Some friends and I get together on a semi-regular basis and play PSO together for hours at a time.
I don't think I have ADD or anything, but I've noticed similar results to yours when I'm working late on something.
If it's pushing 2:30 AM and I'm ready to crash but still have tons of work that I want to get done, I point XMMS to my friendly neighbourhood Drum & Bass stream and next thing I know I'm lost in the music and whatever I'm working on. The fatigue and lack of attention just disappear and I'm able to focus right in on what I'm doing, until I'm done.
I think the worst part of my experience so far was wrestling with unfamilar config files and options before finally giving up and grabbing newer versions of the aforementioned apps, which compiled with no trouble at all. It wouldn't have been a big deal, except the box I'm doing the work on doesn't spend much time on the net, so grabbing new versions of stuff that I feel should have worked anyway was a hassle.
I have no pointers for a good MySQL book, but if I happen to find one, I'll write up a review and see about getting it posted here.
I recently picked up PHP & MySQL for Dummies, and I can't say I'm a lot happier with it than this guy is with his QBASIC book. The software that came on the disc was all but useless to me. I ended up just grabbing fresh tarballs for PHP, MySQL and Apache because the ones on the CD just would not compile properly for me. Maybe that's because of some compatability that has been broken in newer versions of GCC, so that might not be entirely the fault of For Dummies, so I'll let them off the hook for that.
As for the book itself, it is really frustrating. I'm not finding it hard to follow or anything, just that it moves incredibly slowly and babbles incessantly about trivial info before actually explaining how to code something.
I suppose it's my own fault for not finding a better beginner's book, but let this serve as a warning to other people looking to buy a book and learn something new: Take the extra time at the bookstore, spend the extra $5, whatever it takes, but do NOT pick up a For Dummies book, lest it's crappiness leave you frustrated and regretting your purchase.
The whole idea of the X-Prize is great, and I love what it is going to do to the space travel industry.
The only problem I'm having is figuring out who to root for:)
The Black Armadillo is definitely starting to take shape, it looks a lot better lately than the first time I remember checking it out. Using an environmentally friendly fuel is brilliant, and possibly my favourite thing about the way Carmack and his crew are going about this project.
The White Knight and SS1 look slick. There's no other word for it. I'd expect to find a ship like that in anime, but not real life!
I hope Armadillo takes the prize money, but I wish (eventual) success to all teams involved.
I firmly believe that getting private citizens/companies into space travel is the best way to get the human race to the next level of space exploration, and I can't wait to see the end results!
While I can't say I'd buy their software in order to support a M$ space program, I'd be pretty happy to see Billy boy fire himself as far into space as possible.
Got a question for you about your VR-3, because mine is apparently kinda posessed:
Have you had any trouble with horizontal lines of dead pixels on the screen? I've got a bunch of them along the bottom of my screen, and I can't seem to get rid of them...
What I found is that there is a switch you have to pass the installer. I forget what it is exactly, something like./setup \net. I remember it being a kinda weird one, but I'm not at my linux box right now, so I can't check.
Try./setup --help, maybe that will give you the proper switch.
I think that after you run the installer with that switch, you need to do a./setup with each user that will be running OOo.
Either way, once I got that figured out, OOo worked nicely for all the accounts on my box.
Kinda vague, but I hope that points you in the right direction.
IANAMU (I Am Not A Mandrake User), but every time I've upgraded my RedHat boxes, it has been pretty simple. Almost like a windows upgrade. Insert CD, reboot, select "Upgrade" option once the installer is running, and voila.
Last time I upgraded (like 3 days ago), when I logged back into my computer it asked if I wanted to keep my old desktop settings, or replace them with the new ones. I opted to keep my old ones, and had no trouble with it.
All my files were left intact, and I even migrated them to a nicer filesystem when I upgraded.
As far as gaming goes, the situation there is getting better all the time. Besides, Quake III and Half-Life run on it, what else do you really need?:)
I remember a couple of weeks ago (I think...) that it looked like someone hacked the fortune file to make it do page-widening on the main page. It said something like:
The ATI Tv-Tuner card! I helped a friend set one up a couple years ago, and they're pretty nice. IIRC you can have the TV feed running on your desktop (this was on win98, I don't know what support is like for other OSes), and still do other stuff at the same time. Doesn't hurt your processor much, because the card handles most (if not all) of the TV related stuff.
I'm running RedHat on my boxes right now. It's the first distro that I ever really got a decent understanding of, and since then I've always come back to RedHat when I start experimenting with other distros.
I've done a Slack install once, but I think that HD went bad or something (it was a while ago), and then I just ended up using RedHat again because I didn't really have time to tinker with a new distro at the time.
I'm feeling like playing with a new distro soon though, and I think I'll probably grab Slackware when I set up my next box (hopefully in a month or two).
hmmm.... Well, I'm not currently running Slack, but I guess this just gives me one more reason to use that Slackware disc I burned a while back:)
I've played around with Ximian Gnome a little, but there was some disagreement between what Ximian wanted me to be running and what my crappy old hardware was actually capable of, so I just ended up going back to good old Gnome + E16.
I actually get the exact opposite reaction a lot. People will see my desktop and say "ooohhh... that looks slick! And it runs so nice and smooth. I should really learn Linux." And this is on my PII-400 machine running XFree86-3.3.6.
It could be because I use a fairly high resolution on my monitor, took the time to get TTFs up and running, and use Enlightenment, but there's always a pretty decent wow-factor when someone new is checking out my computer.
We'd lose the universal compatibility on x86 architecture, and having MS in bed with Intel and the other OSes in bed with Sun would probably touch off a war between the chip makers.
So how about this question:
Would that be a bad thing?
I'm sure lots of companies would not survive, but I'm also sure that lots of new companies and new software would come about because of it.
It would fracture the desktop market and we'd have Intel, AMD, and Mac as the choices instead of x86 and Mac. But then, choice is good right? Windows might not play well with the AMD chips then, but whatever Sun decides to push as it's OS of choice on AMD would not need to play well with Intel.
If you need to run MS apps, then you'd buy an Intel-based box, and if you prefer Sun's platform, you'd grab an AMD box.
The early stages of this would definitely be hard on the industry, but I think we'd end up with more freedom of choice over what runs on our computers.
Slashdot Mirror
When I'm not messing around with computers, I love to spend as much time as possible hucking myself off of concrete obstacles on my skateboard. That's probably where I (try to) spend the most of my free time, but here's my list of non-tech hobbies:
Skateboarding
Snowboarding
Photography (mostly skateboard photography, but I'm slowly expanding to other areas)
Graffiti
Music (Turntables, Guitar, softsynths)
I just finished taking some Tai Chi classes, and I think I'll try to get back into that when the next session starts (September I think)
Besides that, I'm looking to get into Longboarding and maybe Geocaching in the near future, and I may get back into Mountain Biking once I can afford to nurse my bike back to health.
We need a "+1 Spooky" moderation option
I haven't seen it posted yet, but Phantasy Star Online is out for at least a couple of platforms, if not all the current major ones and it is piles of fun with 2 or more people playing on one console.
Some friends and I get together on a semi-regular basis and play PSO together for hours at a time.
I don't think I have ADD or anything, but I've noticed similar results to yours when I'm working late on something.
If it's pushing 2:30 AM and I'm ready to crash but still have tons of work that I want to get done, I point XMMS to my friendly neighbourhood Drum & Bass stream and next thing I know I'm lost in the music and whatever I'm working on. The fatigue and lack of attention just disappear and I'm able to focus right in on what I'm doing, until I'm done.
Thanks for the info about the other PHP books.
I think the worst part of my experience so far was wrestling with unfamilar config files and options before finally giving up and grabbing newer versions of the aforementioned apps, which compiled with no trouble at all. It wouldn't have been a big deal, except the box I'm doing the work on doesn't spend much time on the net, so grabbing new versions of stuff that I feel should have worked anyway was a hassle.
I have no pointers for a good MySQL book, but if I happen to find one, I'll write up a review and see about getting it posted here.
I recently picked up PHP & MySQL for Dummies, and I can't say I'm a lot happier with it than this guy is with his QBASIC book. The software that came on the disc was all but useless to me. I ended up just grabbing fresh tarballs for PHP, MySQL and Apache because the ones on the CD just would not compile properly for me. Maybe that's because of some compatability that has been broken in newer versions of GCC, so that might not be entirely the fault of For Dummies, so I'll let them off the hook for that.
As for the book itself, it is really frustrating. I'm not finding it hard to follow or anything, just that it moves incredibly slowly and babbles incessantly about trivial info before actually explaining how to code something.
I suppose it's my own fault for not finding a better beginner's book, but let this serve as a warning to other people looking to buy a book and learn something new: Take the extra time at the bookstore, spend the extra $5, whatever it takes, but do NOT pick up a For Dummies book, lest it's crappiness leave you frustrated and regretting your purchase.
The whole idea of the X-Prize is great, and I love what it is going to do to the space travel industry.
:)
The only problem I'm having is figuring out who to root for
The Black Armadillo is definitely starting to take shape, it looks a lot better lately than the first time I remember checking it out. Using an environmentally friendly fuel is brilliant, and possibly my favourite thing about the way Carmack and his crew are going about this project.
The White Knight and SS1 look slick. There's no other word for it. I'd expect to find a ship like that in anime, but not real life!
I hope Armadillo takes the prize money, but I wish (eventual) success to all teams involved.
I firmly believe that getting private citizens/companies into space travel is the best way to get the human race to the next level of space exploration, and I can't wait to see the end results!
Congratulations on all the progress so far guys!
Who is everyone else cheering for?
this guy's work from a little while ago? I thought this was mighty cool when I saw it.
Damn you & your sig! Now I'll be singing the Red Dwarf theme all day :)
Man that was a great series!
OMF 2097 is freeware now?? Man, you just totally ruined my productivity for a couple of months :)
I still remember the day I stumbled across the networking patch for that game on a BBS...
The sequel looks incredible from what I remember, I hope they end up releasing it.
I don't think I played Journeyman Project, but I did have one of the sequels. Buried In Time . Really cool game, it took me forever to finish.
While I can't say I'd buy their software in order to support a M$ space program, I'd be pretty happy to see Billy boy fire himself as far into space as possible.
Think we can get him to take Ballmer with him?
Got a question for you about your VR-3, because mine is apparently kinda posessed:
Have you had any trouble with horizontal lines of dead pixels on the screen? I've got a bunch of them along the bottom of my screen, and I can't seem to get rid of them...
I had that problem a while ago.
./setup \net. I remember it being a kinda weird one, but I'm not at my linux box right now, so I can't check.
./setup --help, maybe that will give you the proper switch.
./setup with each user that will be running OOo.
What I found is that there is a switch you have to pass the installer. I forget what it is exactly, something like
Try
I think that after you run the installer with that switch, you need to do a
Either way, once I got that figured out, OOo worked nicely for all the accounts on my box.
Kinda vague, but I hope that points you in the right direction.
IANAMU (I Am Not A Mandrake User), but every time I've upgraded my RedHat boxes, it has been pretty simple. Almost like a windows upgrade. Insert CD, reboot, select "Upgrade" option once the installer is running, and voila.
:)
Last time I upgraded (like 3 days ago), when I logged back into my computer it asked if I wanted to keep my old desktop settings, or replace them with the new ones. I opted to keep my old ones, and had no trouble with it.
All my files were left intact, and I even migrated them to a nicer filesystem when I upgraded.
As far as gaming goes, the situation there is getting better all the time. Besides, Quake III and Half-Life run on it, what else do you really need?
I remember a couple of weeks ago (I think...) that it looked like someone hacked the fortune file to make it do page-widening on the main page. It said something like:
I SL IKEAJAVELININTHENIGHT
THEGODDESSOFTHENETHASTWISTINGFINGERSANDHERVOICE
Something like that.... Did anyone else see that one, or has anyone got some details to add?
Yeah, or maybe "Unwarranted military action that could have been resolved without violence if the U.S. President wasn't a war-mongering idiot".
But invasion is just easier to say.
The ATI Tv-Tuner card! I helped a friend set one up a couple years ago, and they're pretty nice. IIRC you can have the TV feed running on your desktop (this was on win98, I don't know what support is like for other OSes), and still do other stuff at the same time. Doesn't hurt your processor much, because the card handles most (if not all) of the TV related stuff.
I think "invasion" is a more accurate term.
aaaaahhhhhh.....
:)
In that case, I apologize for my misinterpretation of your comment.
I always get a bit venomous during these "X looks ugly because I didn't take the time to configure it properly" discussions.
In regards to the actual desk itself: Yeah, mine is looking pretty harsh right now too.
If only my desk was half as cool-looking as my desktop...
nope.
Unless you're having a really rough time configuring X properly, or running a mighty old distro, linux desktops are pretty slick-looking already.
I think my Gnome + Enlightenment desktop beats the hell out of every XP desktop I've been subjected to thus far.
I'm running RedHat on my boxes right now. It's the first distro that I ever really got a decent understanding of, and since then I've always come back to RedHat when I start experimenting with other distros.
I've done a Slack install once, but I think that HD went bad or something (it was a while ago), and then I just ended up using RedHat again because I didn't really have time to tinker with a new distro at the time.
I'm feeling like playing with a new distro soon though, and I think I'll probably grab Slackware when I set up my next box (hopefully in a month or two).
hmmm.... Well, I'm not currently running Slack, but I guess this just gives me one more reason to use that Slackware disc I burned a while back :)
I've played around with Ximian Gnome a little, but there was some disagreement between what Ximian wanted me to be running and what my crappy old hardware was actually capable of, so I just ended up going back to good old Gnome + E16.
I haven't really been tinkering with my desktop lately, but it sounds like dropline-gnome might just be a new "requirement" for my systems :)
Thanks for the info I'll be sure to check that out!
I actually get the exact opposite reaction a lot. People will see my desktop and say "ooohhh... that looks slick! And it runs so nice and smooth. I should really learn Linux." And this is on my PII-400 machine running XFree86-3.3.6.
It could be because I use a fairly high resolution on my monitor, took the time to get TTFs up and running, and use Enlightenment, but there's always a pretty decent wow-factor when someone new is checking out my computer.
Touché.
We'd lose the universal compatibility on x86 architecture, and having MS in bed with Intel and the other OSes in bed with Sun would probably touch off a war between the chip makers.
So how about this question:
Would that be a bad thing?
I'm sure lots of companies would not survive, but I'm also sure that lots of new companies and new software would come about because of it.
It would fracture the desktop market and we'd have Intel, AMD, and Mac as the choices instead of x86 and Mac. But then, choice is good right? Windows might not play well with the AMD chips then, but whatever Sun decides to push as it's OS of choice on AMD would not need to play well with Intel.
If you need to run MS apps, then you'd buy an Intel-based box, and if you prefer Sun's platform, you'd grab an AMD box.
The early stages of this would definitely be hard on the industry, but I think we'd end up with more freedom of choice over what runs on our computers.