Uggg, how awful. Why would you want to rotate music on and off your player? Do you always know in advance what you're going to want to listen to? If you're going to do that you might as well get an MP3 player without a hard drive. My two year old, 20GB player is getting full. The iPod is a nice physical size, but the price is making the decision tough. The 30GB model is only a 50% improvement over mine and the others aren't even in consideration.
Well, I don't know about "the party line of hardcore Tivo loyalists", I personally don't know anyone other than myself that has a Tivo.
I enjoy uncertainty in my life as well, and I've found there's quite a bit of it once you get out of the house and start interacting with other people in a non-"staring at the tube" manner.
I said Tivo's interface was efficient. I didn't say it was a sophisticated boolean search engine. I think perhaps you should really take a look at how much of an influence TV is on your life. Do you really need to do boolean searches on TV listings? Is there any system that meets your needs today? If it's really a popular feature I expect Tivo will add it, since they've added several very nice features afterI bought mine.
I recommend Tivo because it lets me catch the stuff I want to see with a minimum of time and effort so that I can spend more time away from the TV. It sounds like you want to maximize your interaction with your TV.
I'm not trying to force you to love Tivo, but instead of making sweeping statements like "I have DirecTiVo, and it has the *slowest*, *clumsiest* interface that I have ever used on any computer, including everything since the TRS-80 days." please at least consider that maybe there is a target market to whom Tivo's interface is ideally suited. And maybe next time you'll do a little more research before spending a couple hundred dollars on something that apparently causes you so much distress.
Wow, I disagree one hundred percent. I assume your first paragraph refers to the guide that you get when watching live TV. I think it's much better designed and faster to navigate than the interactive guides I've seen on some cable systems, but I never use it.
Why don't I use it? Because it's only available when you're watching live TV. If you're watching live TV then you just don't understand Tivo. Either that or you have too much time on your hands. Get up and go do something useful.
My Tivo's "Now Showing" list provide 2-3 times more stuff than I have time to sit in front of a TV watching and I don't even have premium cable.
"Search by Name" is much faster and more efficient than and guide organized by air date/time or channel.
"Season Passes" are highly customizable so Tivo keeps "Now Showing" filled without needing constant interaction from me.
"Suggestions" effectively supply additional shows to fill out "Now Showing".
And "Wish Lists" and allow my Tivo to keep watch for shows that aren't on in the near future. Tivo keeps on the lookout for any show, movie, actor, director, or subject even for years in advance.
Oh, and the ATI All in Wonder in my Athlon allows me to capture anything I want to keep long term. The problem is that the user interface is lousy and user intensive compared to Tivo. Flashy, but not as efficient as Tivo.
I wouldn't object to a faster CPU in my Tivo, since "Wish Lists" are a little slow to process, but the software is very near perfect at serving its function.
They mentioned keyboard shortcuts, but the left out the most important thing that Windows gets right.
I haven't used a Mac in five years, but I have used Linux and keyboard support sucks. Sure, if you never run X at all you can do anything from the keyboard, but type "startx" and you're screwed.
In Windows you can do everything except specific drawing tasks without having a mouse. (Using Autocad I can actually do some drawing tasks without a mouse using keyboard coordinate entry.) And dialog boxes, I never reach for the mouse to answer a Windows dialog box.
The very first version of Windows I used was 3.0 and it got this right. I've never seen a non-Windows GUI OS that matched the keyboard support of any Windows OS.
Why can't Gnome and KDE developers adopt the simple standard of requiring a "hot-letter" for every menu item and every dialog box item including buttons and selection widgets.
I'm not a musician so I'm not familiar with all the hardware tools. I've been looking at Windows and Linux audio software to get started with. Programs on both platforms are complex, but the user interfaces on the shareware/demoware Windows programs are vastly more polished and visually appealing that the UIs on the open source programs.
The Windows programs are at least accesible to the beginner musician, while the Linux programs are only an option for an experienced musician. The problem is, most experienced musicians probably already have a substantial investment in Windows software that the Linux software can't match.
It comes back to the old observation that the open source community has lots of good programmers, but few people who have the talent and time to design an efficient and attractive GUI. (That's not to say there aren't any, just that there aren't nearly enough.)
The program I've been playing with most (since I'm not able to tackle the serious music creation programs yet) is CoolEdit Pro. It's amazing how much functionality has been packed into such an attractive, efficient, and most importantly easy to use interface. There are Linux apps with some of the same functionality, but the GUIs are years behind and may never catch up.
They used to sell the Neo 2200 without a hard drive. Now it seems to only be available with a 20 Gig drive, but if you asked they might sell it without a drive.
I've been waiting for a laptop version of that for years. I loved the Clio the moment I saw it, but would never buy a WinCE device. Since the key feature of the Clio is mechanical I figured that there would be a full fledged laptop version of it shortly. Who would have thought that years later there wouldn't be a single laptop that uses that pivot.
Is it really illegal to yell "Fire" in a crowded theatre, and if so, why?
Aren't theatres subject to fire codes? What is the point of the signs that say "Maximum Occupancy X People"? I suppose that a theatre should be able to take civil action against someone who disrupts their operations if it costs them money. However, if yelling "Fire" would actually cause people to get hurt then the local fire marshall isn't doing his/her job.
Public buildings are supposed to have adequate exits such that everyone can get out safely in the event of a real fire. I don't see why someone yelling fire falsely would provoke more panic than a real fire. I've always thought this "yelling fire in a theatre" line was a red herring in the whole free speech discussion.
Yes you're missing something obvious. My home PC and work PC aren't on the same LAN. Neither of them has a ZIP drive. There are no broadband ISPs offering service in my area. A portable hard drive is the best solution. If the portable hardrive also has a rechargable battery, LCD screen, control buttons, MP3 decoder, and audio output, all the better. Mine is a NEO 2200 with a 20GB drive. When I need to upgrade the drive it will be easy because the hard drive compartment is as easy to open as the battery compartment. No tools required.
This is the program I mentioned in another post. Mserv does exactly what the original poster requested. I used the command line client and Penguin Power, a Linux X10 program, so that I could control playback and rate songs using an X10 wireless remote control. Much better than a web interface, IMHO, because the music can be controlled from a chair in the living room, or from the kitchen, or anywhere else.
The software you're looking for already exists for Linux. Search on freshmeat.net. I don't remeber the name because I haven't used it in at least six months.
The reason I haven't used it in at least six months is because my sound card sucks, so I'll have to disagree with the person who recommended the Creative Ensoniq. This sound card sucks. The sound is filled with static and crackling even with a very short patch cable.
I upgraded my motherboard and CPU and case. The new one has on-board sound that Mandrake 8.1 can't detect so I reused the Creative Ensoniq. I can veryify that this sound card sucks in two different machines under Mandrake. (It sounds fine under Windows)
I thought WEP had been proven insecure. Why would a competent admin turn it on if it wastes bandwidth without providing real security. I would think a competent admin would run a WLAN with WEP disabled. Of course the only thing on the WLAN segment would be a VPN concentrator and maybe a gateway to the Internet. And the gateway to the Internet would probably be monitored.
Convenience and security. You can have both, so why wouldn't you. People are hyping wireless freenets. Is it surprising that a competent admin would provide a freenet as long as it isn't abused?
Is anyone really taking fiber out? In my experience DWDM systems are used to relieve "fiber exhaust" when all the fiber in an area is already being used and there's a demand for more capacity you take the OC48 muxes off the fiber and put DWDM muxes on it. Then you plug the OC48 muxes into the DWDM muxes leaving you with 30+ new channels (frequently called lambdas).
In case you weren't aware, people hate having the streets dug up. They hate the traffic delays and they hate the ruts that inevitably result from digging up pavement. Consequently, telecom companies have a tough time getting permits to lay new fiber. That's why being able to send more data without laying more fiber is a good thing.
If a ring is cut (I've heard it called "backhoe fade" as opposed to another poster's mention of "backhoe failure") it protection switches automatically if the tributaries are routed correctly, which they may not be. One side effect of using DWDMs is that they can protect the whole SONET rings riding them even if the low speed electrical tribs aren't routed with protection.
Ok, perhaps I should have prefixed that question with "of things that exist," and maybe even suffixed it with ", and which were usable by the majority of computer users in the mid 1990s".
Lest we forget, computers may be purchased and used by non-computer professionals. Just as cars may be purchased by non-mechanics and food may be purchased by non-farmers.
The level of arrogance among computer experts does seem a bit higher than most professions. I'm not sure what the reason is for this lack of a broad perspective on the world.
As a single person without children I've never had any desire to use AOL, but I know lots of AOL users. There is at least one good reason to use AOL. Years ago internet access was $20/month and that gave you one email account. Meanwhile, AOL gave allowed you to create many accounts. Which is the better choice for a family with several children? One account shared between mom, dad, and all the kids, multiple accounts with some (possibly outrageous) surcharge per POP account, or one AOL account with lots of screen names?
Even now, most ISPs will give you a couple of POP mailboxes for $15-$20/month, but few if any provide the ease and convenience of creating new "screen names" that AOL provides. Try telling a 12-16 year old girl that she can't change her screen name to avoid some pre-pubescent geek who's harrasing her via email.
How does this compare to http://ssiamerica.com/products/neojukebox/
I've been debating buying the Neo25 and now they've apparently come out with a new version. It's sold as an MP3 player, they specifically say it appears to the PC as a USB hard drive that can hold any type of files.
It's sold with a choice of 10GB or 20GB harddrive, but you can get it without a drive and add your own. Presumably this makes upgrades easy since it doesn't have the "don't open" policy of some companies.
Is the LA Times paying for his entertainment?
on
The Joys of HDTV
·
· Score: 3
Where does a newspaper reporter get the money to throw away thousands of dollars on a TV set? He didn't seem to care whether he got anything that worked. He just kept throwing around a couple hundred here and a couple thousand there regardless of whether it actually bought anything useful.
Does he put this on an expense report? Does the LA Times pay for home entertainment for their tech writers? Do they have any expectation that their tech writers do any research before throwing money to the wind?
Valves closing? Is that a good thing? I can't think of a time when I said "gee, that music was pretty good, but I sure wish I could have heard the valves closing"
Maybe if I was listening the movie Brazil. Otherwise, I can get quite a lot of enjoyment out of music without needing to hear valves closing.
To paraphrase Robert Heinlein, whenever someone asks "Why don't they . .." the answer is always "Money".
The PC market is extremely cost competitive. The power supply is one of the least important components to most computer buyers.
Also, most computer users in general would turn all electronic equipment off in a storm. If you're on a reliable power grid, a storm is about the only time you might lose power. I can only think of two or three times in the last decade when I lost power when there wasn't a storm.
An added cost part that many people will never see the use of is a very hard sell in such a cost competitive product.
One tab equals one indent. What does eight spaces equal? One indent? two? four?
If you're writing code that no one else will ever see, then you can use whatever you prefer. What if someone who disagrees with you about indent level has to read your code?
If a file contains tabs you can easily:se ts=4 or:se ts=2 to your preference. If a file contains sequences of spaces there's no easy way to change it to your preference. I suppose you could have a collection of patterns that search for sequences of 2, 4, or 8 and replace them with a different number of spaces, but that's a lot more complex than just setting your tabstop preference once.
Spaces just don't seem practical if you have to share a file with someone whose preference is different from yours.
If you want to spend the money, www.emperorlinux.com has a selection of pricey laptops with Linux preinstalled. They do offer custom partitioning so you could probably have them leave space for you to add other OSs.
Forget about the inexpensive laptops you see at Circuit City or similar stores. I don't know whether those won't run Linux, but emperorlinux.com doesn't offer anything under $2200-$2400 and those look a bit weak from a purely numbers perspective.
In general, cable companies do not compete. With or without this regulation, most areas have one cable company available. If anything this may spur competition. Right now, AT&T has one area that they acquired from TCI and a couple of small players. Time Warner has a totally different area. They have no incentive to invade each others' territory because of the government regulation.
Now, without the regulation, it is at least remotely conceivable that either AT&T or TW might attempt to expand by invading the others' area. Hence, competition. Probably won't happen though. It's going to be a couple of large cable companies with non-overlapping service areas for decades to come.
I've tried several varieties of MP3: ripped with cdparanoia and encoded with bladenc and lame, downloaded from mp3.com, downloded from Napster.
I've used mpg123 and XMMS as players.
In an MP3 discussion on Slashdot (about 1.5 to 2 years ago) I asked what cards people had good results with because my Soundblaster16 didn't sound very good under Linux. I replaced it with a Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI because that card was specifically recommended for use with Linux.
The problem has also survived two versions of Mandrake and possibly Red Hat 5.0, although I'm not sure if I was trying MP3s back then.
It's not a big deal really. I just play regular CDs in a regular CD player. The CDs accumulate in the back seat of my car and every couple of weeks I clear out the pile and put them back in the racks.
I may eventually buy a NEO25 just to lend moral support to the people who are consumer friendly enough to not only allow the user to upgrade hard drives, but specifically sell a driveless version for people who want to supply their own.
Emphasis on the word "might" because you won't know until you've spent the money. Playing MP3s using Linux might give poor sound quality.
I've got a machine that plays MP3s fine under Windows 95, but under Linux the exact same MP3s sound scratchy and staticy. I've also got a laptop running NT that has similar but slightly different sound quality issues.
Now I know there are/. readers who have great sounding MP3 players that they built out of components they found in the trash or bought for $0.35 on eBay. I submit that these folks are simply *lucky*.
The folks designing MP3 players like the Archos, Nomad, and NEO25/35 are presumably testing different components and configurations, using the good and discarding the bad, and mass producing the end result. This is something simply cannot be done systematically by one person who wants one MP3 player cost effectively. There's no way to buy low cost components and get guaranteed good quality. Even a "no questions asked" return policy will leave you out $10-$20 for every component that doesn't measure up.
So what's the real story?
on
Scour is Dead
·
· Score: 2
Putting aside the MPAA, RIAA, and the right or wrong of copyrights, what was the real use of this software? Was there very much "legal" material on it? Or was it mostly a Napster work-alike for downloading MP3s ripped from CD?
I'd never heard of Scour Exchange until now so I'm just wondering.
Slashdot Mirror
Uggg, how awful. Why would you want to rotate music on and off your player? Do you always know in advance what you're going to want to listen to? If you're going to do that you might as well get an MP3 player without a hard drive. My two year old, 20GB player is getting full. The iPod is a nice physical size, but the price is making the decision tough. The 30GB model is only a 50% improvement over mine and the others aren't even in consideration.
Well, I don't know about "the party line of hardcore Tivo loyalists", I personally don't know anyone other than myself that has a Tivo.
I enjoy uncertainty in my life as well, and I've found there's quite a bit of it once you get out of the house and start interacting with other people in a non-"staring at the tube" manner.
I said Tivo's interface was efficient. I didn't say it was a sophisticated boolean search engine. I think perhaps you should really take a look at how much of an influence TV is on your life. Do you really need to do boolean searches on TV listings? Is there any system that meets your needs today? If it's really a popular feature I expect Tivo will add it, since they've added several very nice features afterI bought mine.
I recommend Tivo because it lets me catch the stuff I want to see with a minimum of time and effort so that I can spend more time away from the TV. It sounds like you want to maximize your interaction with your TV.
I'm not trying to force you to love Tivo, but instead of making sweeping statements like "I have DirecTiVo, and it has the *slowest*, *clumsiest* interface that I have ever used on any computer, including everything since the TRS-80 days." please at least consider that maybe there is a target market to whom Tivo's interface is ideally suited. And maybe next time you'll do a little more research before spending a couple hundred dollars on something that apparently causes you so much distress.
Wow, I disagree one hundred percent. I assume your first paragraph refers to the guide that you get when watching live TV. I think it's much better designed and faster to navigate than the interactive guides I've seen on some cable systems, but I never use it.
Why don't I use it? Because it's only available when you're watching live TV. If you're watching live TV then you just don't understand Tivo. Either that or you have too much time on your hands. Get up and go do something useful.
My Tivo's "Now Showing" list provide 2-3 times more stuff than I have time to sit in front of a TV watching and I don't even have premium cable.
"Search by Name" is much faster and more efficient than and guide organized by air date/time or channel.
"Season Passes" are highly customizable so Tivo keeps "Now Showing" filled without needing constant interaction from me.
"Suggestions" effectively supply additional shows to fill out "Now Showing".
And "Wish Lists" and allow my Tivo to keep watch for shows that aren't on in the near future. Tivo keeps on the lookout for any show, movie, actor, director, or subject even for years in advance.
Oh, and the ATI All in Wonder in my Athlon allows me to capture anything I want to keep long term. The problem is that the user interface is lousy and user intensive compared to Tivo. Flashy, but not as efficient as Tivo.
I wouldn't object to a faster CPU in my Tivo, since "Wish Lists" are a little slow to process, but the software is very near perfect at serving its function.
They mentioned keyboard shortcuts, but the left out the most important thing that Windows gets right.
I haven't used a Mac in five years, but I have used Linux and keyboard support sucks. Sure, if you never run X at all you can do anything from the keyboard, but type "startx" and you're screwed.
In Windows you can do everything except specific drawing tasks without having a mouse. (Using Autocad I can actually do some drawing tasks without a mouse using keyboard coordinate entry.) And dialog boxes, I never reach for the mouse to answer a Windows dialog box.
The very first version of Windows I used was 3.0 and it got this right. I've never seen a non-Windows GUI OS that matched the keyboard support of any Windows OS.
Why can't Gnome and KDE developers adopt the simple standard of requiring a "hot-letter" for every menu item and every dialog box item including buttons and selection widgets.
I'm not a musician so I'm not familiar with all the hardware tools. I've been looking at Windows and Linux audio software to get started with. Programs on both platforms are complex, but the user interfaces on the shareware/demoware Windows programs are vastly more polished and visually appealing that the UIs on the open source programs.
The Windows programs are at least accesible to the beginner musician, while the Linux programs are only an option for an experienced musician. The problem is, most experienced musicians probably already have a substantial investment in Windows software that the Linux software can't match.
It comes back to the old observation that the open source community has lots of good programmers, but few people who have the talent and time to design an efficient and attractive GUI. (That's not to say there aren't any, just that there aren't nearly enough.)
The program I've been playing with most (since I'm not able to tackle the serious music creation programs yet) is CoolEdit Pro. It's amazing how much functionality has been packed into such an attractive, efficient, and most importantly easy to use interface. There are Linux apps with some of the same functionality, but the GUIs are years behind and may never catch up.
Contact these people
IO Magic
They used to sell the Neo 2200 without a hard drive. Now it seems to only be available with a 20 Gig drive, but if you asked they might sell it without a drive.
I've been waiting for a laptop version of that for years. I loved the Clio the moment I saw it, but would never buy a WinCE device. Since the key feature of the Clio is mechanical I figured that there would be a full fledged laptop version of it shortly. Who would have thought that years later there wouldn't be a single laptop that uses that pivot.
Is it really illegal to yell "Fire" in a crowded theatre, and if so, why?
Aren't theatres subject to fire codes? What is the point of the signs that say "Maximum Occupancy X People"? I suppose that a theatre should be able to take civil action against someone who disrupts their operations if it costs them money. However, if yelling "Fire" would actually cause people to get hurt then the local fire marshall isn't doing his/her job.
Public buildings are supposed to have adequate exits such that everyone can get out safely in the event of a real fire. I don't see why someone yelling fire falsely would provoke more panic than a real fire. I've always thought this "yelling fire in a theatre" line was a red herring in the whole free speech discussion.
Yes you're missing something obvious. My home PC and work PC aren't on the same LAN. Neither of them has a ZIP drive. There are no broadband ISPs offering service in my area. A portable hard drive is the best solution. If the portable hardrive also has a rechargable battery, LCD screen, control buttons, MP3 decoder, and audio output, all the better. Mine is a NEO 2200 with a 20GB drive. When I need to upgrade the drive it will be easy because the hard drive compartment is as easy to open as the battery compartment. No tools required.
This is the program I mentioned in another post. Mserv does exactly what the original poster requested. I used the command line client and Penguin Power, a Linux X10 program, so that I could control playback and rate songs using an X10 wireless remote control. Much better than a web interface, IMHO, because the music can be controlled from a chair in the living room, or from the kitchen, or anywhere else.
The software you're looking for already exists for Linux. Search on freshmeat.net. I don't remeber the name because I haven't used it in at least six months.
The reason I haven't used it in at least six months is because my sound card sucks, so I'll have to disagree with the person who recommended the Creative Ensoniq. This sound card sucks. The sound is filled with static and crackling even with a very short patch cable.
I upgraded my motherboard and CPU and case. The new one has on-board sound that Mandrake 8.1 can't detect so I reused the Creative Ensoniq. I can veryify that this sound card sucks in two different machines under Mandrake. (It sounds fine under Windows)
I thought WEP had been proven insecure. Why would a competent admin turn it on if it wastes bandwidth without providing real security. I would think a competent admin would run a WLAN with WEP disabled. Of course the only thing on the WLAN segment would be a VPN concentrator and maybe a gateway to the Internet. And the gateway to the Internet would probably be monitored.
Convenience and security. You can have both, so why wouldn't you. People are hyping wireless freenets. Is it surprising that a competent admin would provide a freenet as long as it isn't abused?
Is anyone really taking fiber out? In my experience DWDM systems are used to relieve "fiber exhaust" when all the fiber in an area is already being used and there's a demand for more capacity you take the OC48 muxes off the fiber and put DWDM muxes on it. Then you plug the OC48 muxes into the DWDM muxes leaving you with 30+ new channels (frequently called lambdas).
In case you weren't aware, people hate having the streets dug up. They hate the traffic delays and they hate the ruts that inevitably result from digging up pavement. Consequently, telecom companies have a tough time getting permits to lay new fiber. That's why being able to send more data without laying more fiber is a good thing.
If a ring is cut (I've heard it called "backhoe fade" as opposed to another poster's mention of "backhoe failure") it protection switches automatically if the tributaries are routed correctly, which they may not be. One side effect of using DWDMs is that they can protect the whole SONET rings riding them even if the low speed electrical tribs aren't routed with protection.
Ok, perhaps I should have prefixed that question with "of things that exist," and maybe even suffixed it with ", and which were usable by the majority of computer users in the mid 1990s".
Lest we forget, computers may be purchased and used by non-computer professionals. Just as cars may be purchased by non-mechanics and food may be purchased by non-farmers.
The level of arrogance among computer experts does seem a bit higher than most professions. I'm not sure what the reason is for this lack of a broad perspective on the world.
As a single person without children I've never had any desire to use AOL, but I know lots of AOL users. There is at least one good reason to use AOL. Years ago internet access was $20/month and that gave you one email account. Meanwhile, AOL gave allowed you to create many accounts. Which is the better choice for a family with several children? One account shared between mom, dad, and all the kids, multiple accounts with some (possibly outrageous) surcharge per POP account, or one AOL account with lots of screen names?
Even now, most ISPs will give you a couple of POP mailboxes for $15-$20/month, but few if any provide the ease and convenience of creating new "screen names" that AOL provides. Try telling a 12-16 year old girl that she can't change her screen name to avoid some pre-pubescent geek who's harrasing her via email.
How does this compare to http://ssiamerica.com/products/neojukebox/
I've been debating buying the Neo25 and now they've apparently come out with a new version. It's sold as an MP3 player, they specifically say it appears to the PC as a USB hard drive that can hold any type of files.
It's sold with a choice of 10GB or 20GB harddrive, but you can get it without a drive and add your own. Presumably this makes upgrades easy since it doesn't have the "don't open" policy of some companies.
Where does a newspaper reporter get the money to throw away thousands of dollars on a TV set? He didn't seem to care whether he got anything that worked. He just kept throwing around a couple hundred here and a couple thousand there regardless of whether it actually bought anything useful.
Does he put this on an expense report? Does the LA Times pay for home entertainment for their tech writers? Do they have any expectation that their tech writers do any research before throwing money to the wind?
Valves closing? Is that a good thing? I can't think of a time when I said "gee, that music was pretty good, but I sure wish I could have heard the valves closing"
Maybe if I was listening the movie Brazil. Otherwise, I can get quite a lot of enjoyment out of music without needing to hear valves closing.
To paraphrase Robert Heinlein, whenever someone asks "Why don't they . . ." the answer is always "Money".
The PC market is extremely cost competitive. The power supply is one of the least important components to most computer buyers.
Also, most computer users in general would turn all electronic equipment off in a storm. If you're on a reliable power grid, a storm is about the only time you might lose power. I can only think of two or three times in the last decade when I lost power when there wasn't a storm.
An added cost part that many people will never see the use of is a very hard sell in such a cost competitive product.
One tab equals one indent. What does eight spaces equal? One indent? two? four?
:se ts=4 or :se ts=2 to your preference. If a file contains sequences of spaces there's no easy way to change it to your preference. I suppose you could have a collection of patterns that search for sequences of 2, 4, or 8 and replace them with a different number of spaces, but that's a lot more complex than just setting your tabstop preference once.
If you're writing code that no one else will ever see, then you can use whatever you prefer. What if someone who disagrees with you about indent level has to read your code?
If a file contains tabs you can easily
Spaces just don't seem practical if you have to share a file with someone whose preference is different from yours.
(I use vim)
If you want to spend the money, www.emperorlinux.com has a selection of pricey laptops with Linux preinstalled. They do offer custom partitioning so you could probably have them leave space for you to add other OSs.
Forget about the inexpensive laptops you see at Circuit City or similar stores. I don't know whether those won't run Linux, but emperorlinux.com doesn't offer anything under $2200-$2400 and those look a bit weak from a purely numbers perspective.
In general, cable companies do not compete. With or without this regulation, most areas have one cable company available. If anything this may spur competition. Right now, AT&T has one area that they acquired from TCI and a couple of small players. Time Warner has a totally different area. They have no incentive to invade each others' territory because of the government regulation.
Now, without the regulation, it is at least remotely conceivable that either AT&T or TW might attempt to expand by invading the others' area. Hence, competition. Probably won't happen though. It's going to be a couple of large cable companies with non-overlapping service areas for decades to come.
Specifics:
I've tried several varieties of MP3: ripped with cdparanoia and encoded with bladenc and lame, downloaded from mp3.com, downloded from Napster.
I've used mpg123 and XMMS as players.
In an MP3 discussion on Slashdot (about 1.5 to 2 years ago) I asked what cards people had good results with because my Soundblaster16 didn't sound very good under Linux. I replaced it with a Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI because that card was specifically recommended for use with Linux.
The problem has also survived two versions of Mandrake and possibly Red Hat 5.0, although I'm not sure if I was trying MP3s back then.
It's not a big deal really. I just play regular CDs in a regular CD player. The CDs accumulate in the back seat of my car and every couple of weeks I clear out the pile and put them back in the racks.
I may eventually buy a NEO25 just to lend moral support to the people who are consumer friendly enough to not only allow the user to upgrade hard drives, but specifically sell a driveless version for people who want to supply their own.
Emphasis on the word "might" because you won't know until you've spent the money. Playing MP3s using Linux might give poor sound quality.
/. readers who have great sounding MP3 players that they built out of components they found in the trash or bought for $0.35 on eBay. I submit that these folks are simply *lucky*.
I've got a machine that plays MP3s fine under Windows 95, but under Linux the exact same MP3s sound scratchy and staticy. I've also got a laptop running NT that has similar but slightly different sound quality issues.
Now I know there are
The folks designing MP3 players like the Archos, Nomad, and NEO25/35 are presumably testing different components and configurations, using the good and discarding the bad, and mass producing the end result. This is something simply cannot be done systematically by one person who wants one MP3 player cost effectively. There's no way to buy low cost components and get guaranteed good quality. Even a "no questions asked" return policy will leave you out $10-$20 for every component that doesn't measure up.
Putting aside the MPAA, RIAA, and the right or wrong of copyrights, what was the real use of this software? Was there very much "legal" material on it? Or was it mostly a Napster work-alike for downloading MP3s ripped from CD?
I'd never heard of Scour Exchange until now so I'm just wondering.