The 2.6 linux kernel has been a roller coaster ride of development, and it was obvious from the switch from 2.5->2.6 that the kernel was far from ready for prime time.
So, now we're stuck with a rapidly developing 2.6 kernel that poses a lot of risks for anyone wishing to adopt the new so-percieved "stable" kernel into an OS/Embedded/Other product.
In a way, this is just an acknowledgement that things went a bit too fast with 2.6, and that waiting to release it -after- some pretty solid core feature freezes would have been good.
There is still a lot of development and teething going on, and it's going to be a real pain on the part of "third party distributors" to find and use whatever build-of-the-week is more stable than another in a given sub-branch of the 2.6 kernel.
Oh well, so much for having a nice stable 2.6 base to build new functionality into.
Casio watches, Sony, Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer full-color LCD stereo systems for cars.
It's not vaporware. If it wasn't low cost you wouldn't find it in a $200-400 car stereo. What they haven't done yet is create a mass manufacturing roll-2-roll technique for OEL displays in time for this year.
However, good 'ol Sharp and Toshiba -do- have upcoming OEL displays in the SVGA, UXGA ranges for laptops next year. Unfortunately just as expensive as TFT/Active Matrix at first, but that's the cost of first adoption. What will be worth it is the lower power consumption of the OEL screen.
Hopefully they have figured out how to make a long-lived blue emitter. I'd hate to have a screen slowly go PINK.
The spectre of Star Trek...
on
Ask William Shatner
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Dear Mr. Shatner,
Over a generation ago, you landed an acting job on a show being produced by someone that wanted to make a cowboy show in space. The show was wierd, the pay was good, and the publicity was fantastic.... not to mention Star Trek became the stuff of legend. Not bad for a gig.
Since then, and after a long pause (mostly filled with shows like Dr. Who and Space 1999), viewing audiences have been treated to five perspectives on the Star Trek universe.
Other shows have come out with varying degrees of sucess. Babylon 5, V, Farscape, and Firefly have come out to rave reviews, while others like Space Rangers and the TekWorld series have met unfortunate ends.
What do you think is the formula for a successful science fiction show on television today? Why do you think the Star Trek series has enjoyed such a phenomenal and sucessful run?
Finally.. different actors have enjoyed varying amounts of popularity. George Takei, Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and yourself have enjoyed very robust post-trek careers. Others such as Wil Wheaton, James Doohan, seem to have tremendous problems making it work in a post-trek acting environment.
What has enabled you to remain robustly and diversely employed as an actor post-star-trek?
The following message is encrypted, the keyspace is 1024 bits, the method is a combination of public key encryption and winnow/chaff.
Using a non-constructive proof is not a problem; after all, the classes P and NP themselves are defned non-constructively. That we would presumably be unable to construct the DTM is thus no obstacle. However, the big aw is that the argument only applies for a specifc yes instance: the NDTM, arriving at some decision point, will presumably take diferent branches depending on the instance, so that we would have, not one, but
many DTMs corresponding to that one NDTM. So, the logic is correct for a single instance|but we knew that a single instance is easy to solve
anyway; and the logic completely fails for an innite collection of instances (we would have to guess which DTM to use at each point, bringing us right back to non-determinism).
It is really quite simple to add unique labels to each transformed instance: a trivial example is just to repeat the original instance as a postscript" to the transformed instance this certainly ensures a one-to-one transformation! Indeed, for many encoding schemes, each code is a valid instance, which means that each instance is its own index. Hence we can derive,
using the Schroeder-Bernstein theorem, a bijection between the two problems.
The problem is that this bijection may not be a polynomial-time isomorphism, i.e., it may not be a valid transformation anymore. To be a valid
transformation, it has to respect two conditions: (i) polynomial-time feasibility and (ii) mapping yes instances to yes instances and no instances
to no instances. But the Schroeder-Bernstein theorem only states that, given two 1-1 functions (not transformations), there exists a bijection. We do not know that the bijection in question bears much relation to the two injections developed by padding; it may neither be computable in polynomial time nor respect the yes-yes, no-no dichotomy. So aws may reside
there. In fact, a aw appears even earlier: our padding does result in an injective mapping, but does it respect the yes-yes, no-no dichotomy? This
is not at all certain; it may not even produce legal instance descriptions.
Agreed. Singapore is a semi-westernized nation, however you will find very few people chewing gum there. At least, not in public.. there is something that a public caning / public service assignment discourages.
It is, however, interesting to note that the number of cellphones has outstripped the number of wired telephones in Chineese metropolitan cities. This is more along the lines of the example I wished to give.
When the chineese government focuses it's attention on a single issue, the draconian machine starts working away. However, once something becomes pervasive, it becomes a problem for them to control.
Right now, internet access is something new and has the government vexed.. thus they are paying close attention to it.
The best policy in China, for centuries, has been "tread slowly, slowly, slowly." Tianamen square happened because the government was taken by surprise. Cellphones happened because the governement was adapted to the technology slowly.. and pervasively.
It is perhaps the Achilles heel of bringing internet services to China. Internet Time, that speeding up of all expectations. This is probably what scares them the most.
*LAUGH* Thank you, AC, whomever you were. Indeed, never underestimate what people want. Porn is definately something that people in China want.
And the internet spoke.. and it said 'Let there be porn.'.. and there was p0rn in infinite variety.
And the State said 'Thou shalt not look at the p0rn, for it is dirty and has many naughty bits.'
And the people said 'Fuck thou state, for we like the naughty bits.'.. and lo there was a war between the People and the Government.
And a new Government was born, and said 'Lo! We are different, and think you should enjoy the naughty bits. Go forth and look at p0rn, and pay us taxes.'
And the people looked at the p0rn, and paid the taxes, and all was good.
I have a response on a couple points you made. First, about the difference between monitoring of content in China and in the US. First, lets look at what Eschelon is. Eschelon is a signals intelligence gathering network built by and for the National Security Agency. It's primary purpose it to provide foriegn radio signals intelligence from a number of listening stations around the world.
It is not, however, a see-all know-all system for identifying and analyzing email, internet traffic, and telephone calls. The expense that would be incurred to even attempt such global analysis would require an agency much larger than the current NSA can provide. (The NSA currently employs only about 18,000 people, and obviously not all of them are dedicated to SIGINT - signals intelligence.)
The amount of personal someone has in the United States is absolutely unprecendented in the world. The consequences of having anti-state propaganda here are quite light, if at all. For example, I can organize and gather people for a non-violent protest of any subject I please. Should I decide that, for example, the laws concerning public nudity are unfair.. I can protest them.
As long as I don't -break- the law in the process. So gathering support from 200,000 people and marching into Sacramento is just fine as long as I have the appropriate permits in place to gather that many people. Even if the local government does not LIKE the idea, there are constitutional protections in place.
Compare this to China then.. where even -discussing- a contrary position to the state law / state line can land you in very serious trouble.
For example, simply being/PERCIEVED/ as homosexual in Beijing could land you in a state reprogramming center. You are labeled a deviant, and unfit to be in public. Nevermind that you might not actually BE homosexual..
See the difference? At least in the States, and many westernized nations.. you have the inviolate right to question the position of the state, and try to change things.
Now, as to the facts you were looking for :
The chineese government has closed down the cafe's because many of the cafe's users were circumventing the state recorders and filters. They were installing software (such as ICQ) on the machines, and using them as message-passing stations. And, most importantly, people were downloading and using encryption, which is strictly against the law in China.
So, the cafes internet access is being closed down while new software is installed, and new systems are being put into place, to further tighten and control the information that the citizens can access.
Many of the cafes will be brought back online. Those with owners that circumvented the data filters, will be dealt with harshly.
I have no doubt though, that even with the filters re-designed, and new systems put into place.. that people will continue to find ways to express themselves.
What is the old maxim of the hacker? (not cracker...) "Information wants to be free."
It's interesting, and an old story that ricochets around the world. Many Marxist and totalitarian communist regimes are desperately trying to come to terms with the most effective tool for democratic change yet devised.
No, not the internet.. but rather the great decentralized information service applications that have been built on top of the infrastructure the internet has become today.
Web servers, chat servers, bulletin boards, usenet, and a host of other applications send news, opinions, ideas around the world faster than any single government could hope to filter it.
In the past it has been typewriters, telephones, and the word processor (all of which you need a license to own in China) which could be reasonably controlled by the state.
Cellphones and internet cafes have become rampant in China. The chineese government already admits that they cannot control the cellphone boom, and SMS messaging. The internet cafes provide an easy way for any chineese citizen to get online, and there are many ways around the state filter boxes, so many in fact that it is practically impossible to stop people from finding and using proxy-servers available all over the country.
Perhaps the communist's rule will not fall due to revolution.. but rather quietly as more and more citizens realize the power they have been given. Like any freedom, once given it is VERY hard to take the taste and feel away from people once it has been felt.
I for one.. think that is a wonderful thing.
Matrox G550, A choice of features over performance
on
Talking with Matrox
·
· Score: 2
Two weeks ago I had a chance to work with a graphics workstation that was using two Cinema displays dual headed onto two G550 video boards at Pacific Data Images. PDI is probably best known for the work they did on Antz.
If the emphasis isn't on 3D performance, I certainly couldn't tell. The 3D performace was very crisp, certainly much improved over the G450. The project underway had Far Too Many Objects(tm), but the animation engineer had no problem winding through the scene and performing the character animation with no visible delay at all.
If you are into benchmarks, and/must/ get every erg out of your video card, the G550 may dissapoint. However, under just about any other circumstance this new MGA card is nothing short of blazing.
One of the biggest dissapointments I have in the US judicial system, is that it does not generally foster an attitude of compromise.
I think it is great that Vidomi and the FSF were able to work together to find a middle ground that fits the definition of the GPL/without/ dragging it into the courts.
One of the best ways of complying with a license, is doing just that... finding ways to comply. Perhaps not a viscerally satisfying ending, but certainly one that is in the spirit of the open source community. If only all the GPL issues could be resolved with as little intervention of the legal establishment.
In a similar vien, make sure you write to the people at linuxda.com, and make them politely aware that what they are currently doing does not conform to the behavior expected by the open source community.
I just finished downloading and installing the image into my TRG Palm III. Of course, since the TRG units have a different offset to load the kernel, the image would not work.
I called linuxda customer support, and was connected to a gentleman called Michael. He was very pleasant, and I explained that I needed the source code (as required by GPL) to correct the issue and make the image work for me.
Verbatim :
Michael : "We have the image available for download. The source code is not going to be available."
Martin : "I am aware that your own programs are not under the GPL, however are you aware that you must release the source to the kernel and changes you have made to it, as well as the source code to any other GPL programs that may be in the image?"
Michael : "Yes, we are aware of it. We will make the source code for that available in a few weeks."
Martin : "Are you aware that this is something of great concern to both the linux and open source community?"
Michael : "We are aware. We want people to download [ the image ] first."
Martin : "Allright. Let me give you my email address, I would like to be notified as soon as the source for the GPL code becomes available."
Michael : "Yes, I will do that. Please send email to support@linuxda.com"
-----
In my opinion, the people in charge at Linux DA may not have realized how strong community backlash is when source code is not released. It would probably go very well for us if we sent a POLITE email to support@linuxda.com requesting that the source code for GPL code used be made available as soon as possible.
A possible form letter to use :
To Whom it May Concern,
I am a user/developer of open software. It concerns me greatly that your company has released a binary-only image of GPL'ed (Gnu Public Licence) software. Releasing and distributing GPL'ed software without simultanious release of the source code is in violation of the GPL licence.
I respectfully urge you to release and make available for general download the source code to any GPL code and modifications/patches your company has made to the code as soon as possible. As a user and/or developer of open source software, it is important to both myself and the community at large that the terms of the GPL be adhered to both in the sentiment, and letter of the law.
I am a cablemodem subscriber in the Bay Area, and have been checking my bandwidth pretty regularly over the last four months.
In all that time, my average incoming bandwidth has remained between 1.5 and 3 megabits. My outgoing bandwidth has been a relatively constant 384kbit.
As with anything else, a well maintained cable modem network works. I'm sure there are still people out there in copper-land who can't get better than 26kbit, because of noise on copper lines.
Oversubscription will lead to poor service, and poor service will lead to customer attrition. In this case, I am confident that customer feedback will correct the deficiencies in companies that are providing poor service.
LightWave, Maya, and good old POV-RAY. This is nothing terribly new, but it's nice to see that someone has taken the time to put together a plug in for 3DMAX, which is one of the most used (aka most pirated) pieces of 3D software out there.
By the way.. if you love good laser shows, the San Francisco Planetarium is now showing a great laser show based on Rocky Horror. Plays Fri at Midnight, call the planetarium for showtimes.
Unfortunately, the De Anza planetarium has cancelled all laser shows at the Minolta planetarium until further notice. It was one of the last good places to see the Pink Floyd laser show.
I find the whole idea very interesting, but in the San Francisco/Bay Area.. as well as in Los Angeles and a few other select cities a good alternative is already available, if not popular.
For $79 a month, fixed-in-place access is available via the same kind of dish many people currently use for digital satelite reception. The main transmitter is on the top of a nearby mountain, and offers incoming/outgoing data rates at about 3mbit/384kbit. So, not the kind of thing you might want to use if you have a server, but just the right kind of network you want if you like to surf.
The group is called wavepath, and is hq'ed in San Francisco. According to the last newsletter they put out, they intend to add a smaller PCMCIA/USB adapter for mobile wireless access by Q1 of 2002, which will offer ~3mbit rates for incoming data. This is something I definately look forward to.
More info -- www.wavepath.com
More general info on the state of wireless in the San Francisco / Bay Area --http://www.cruzio.com/~jeffl/nooze/wireless.htm
Slashdot Mirror
The 2.6 linux kernel has been a roller coaster ride of development, and it was obvious from the switch from 2.5->2.6 that the kernel was far from ready for prime time.
So, now we're stuck with a rapidly developing 2.6 kernel that poses a lot of risks for anyone wishing to adopt the new so-percieved "stable" kernel into an OS/Embedded/Other product.
In a way, this is just an acknowledgement that things went a bit too fast with 2.6, and that waiting to release it -after- some pretty solid core feature freezes would have been good.
There is still a lot of development and teething going on, and it's going to be a real pain on the part of "third party distributors" to find and use whatever build-of-the-week is more stable than another in a given sub-branch of the 2.6 kernel.
Oh well, so much for having a nice stable 2.6 base to build new functionality into.
Mirror is here
(Mirror will be taken down after 5/3/04)
NoCat is a very good way to go, software-wise, if you are looking for a stable and well supported mesh network authentication system.
Even for just one AP and a cafe.
http://www.nocat.net
IRC channel: #wireless on www.freenode.net
- L.A.S.E.R. light
- Light Emitting Diodes
- electriluminecent films
- Organic polymeric light (OLED)
All of these and -more- emit light when an electrical voltage is applied. One molecule at a time, even though there are plenty of them in aggregation.
So, the nanotube emitters are wonderful... but hardly the first. Just the _latest_. Still extremely interesting technology nonetheless.
OEL matrix pixel displays are now found in
Casio watches,
Sony, Clarion, Kenwood, Pioneer full-color LCD stereo systems for cars.
It's not vaporware. If it wasn't low cost you wouldn't find it in a $200-400 car stereo. What they haven't done yet is create a mass manufacturing roll-2-roll technique for OEL displays in time for this year.
However, good 'ol Sharp and Toshiba -do- have upcoming OEL displays in the SVGA, UXGA ranges for laptops next year. Unfortunately just as expensive as TFT/Active Matrix at first, but that's the cost of first adoption. What will be worth it is the lower power consumption of the OEL screen.
Hopefully they have figured out how to make a long-lived blue emitter. I'd hate to have a screen slowly go PINK.
Dear Mr. Shatner,
... not to mention Star Trek became the stuff of legend. Not bad for a gig.
.. different actors have enjoyed varying amounts of popularity. George Takei, Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and yourself have enjoyed very robust post-trek careers. Others such as Wil Wheaton, James Doohan, seem to have tremendous problems making it work in a post-trek acting environment.
Over a generation ago, you landed an acting job on a show being produced by someone that wanted to make a cowboy show in space. The show was wierd, the pay was good, and the publicity was fantastic.
Since then, and after a long pause (mostly filled with shows like Dr. Who and Space 1999), viewing audiences have been treated to five perspectives on the Star Trek universe.
Other shows have come out with varying degrees of sucess. Babylon 5, V, Farscape, and Firefly have come out to rave reviews, while others like Space Rangers and the TekWorld series have met unfortunate ends.
What do you think is the formula for a successful science fiction show on television today? Why do you think the Star Trek series has enjoyed such a phenomenal and sucessful run?
Finally
What has enabled you to remain robustly and diversely employed as an actor post-star-trek?
Sincerely,
Martin Bogomolni
Science Fiction Fan
The following message is encrypted, the keyspace is 1024 bits, the method is a combination of public key encryption and winnow/chaff.
Using a non-constructive proof is not a problem; after all, the classes P and NP themselves are defned non-constructively. That we would presumably be unable to construct the DTM is thus no obstacle. However, the big aw is that the argument only applies for a specifc yes instance: the NDTM, arriving at some decision point, will presumably take diferent branches depending on the instance, so that we would have, not one, but many DTMs corresponding to that one NDTM. So, the logic is correct for a single instance|but we knew that a single instance is easy to solve anyway; and the logic completely fails for an innite collection of instances (we would have to guess which DTM to use at each point, bringing us right back to non-determinism).
It is really quite simple to add unique labels to each transformed instance: a trivial example is just to repeat the original instance as a postscript" to the transformed instance this certainly ensures a one-to-one transformation! Indeed, for many encoding schemes, each code is a valid instance, which means that each instance is its own index. Hence we can derive, using the Schroeder-Bernstein theorem, a bijection between the two problems. The problem is that this bijection may not be a polynomial-time isomorphism, i.e., it may not be a valid transformation anymore. To be a valid transformation, it has to respect two conditions: (i) polynomial-time feasibility and (ii) mapping yes instances to yes instances and no instances to no instances. But the Schroeder-Bernstein theorem only states that, given two 1-1 functions (not transformations), there exists a bijection. We do not know that the bijection in question bears much relation to the two injections developed by padding; it may neither be computable in polynomial time nor respect the yes-yes, no-no dichotomy. So aws may reside there. In fact, a aw appears even earlier: our padding does result in an injective mapping, but does it respect the yes-yes, no-no dichotomy? This is not at all certain; it may not even produce legal instance descriptions.
Agreed. Singapore is a semi-westernized nation, however you will find very few people chewing gum there. At least, not in public
It is, however, interesting to note that the number of cellphones has outstripped the number of wired telephones in Chineese metropolitan cities. This is more along the lines of the example I wished to give.
When the chineese government focuses it's attention on a single issue, the draconian machine starts working away. However, once something becomes pervasive, it becomes a problem for them to control.
Right now, internet access is something new and has the government vexed
The best policy in China, for centuries, has been "tread slowly, slowly, slowly." Tianamen square happened because the government was taken by surprise. Cellphones happened because the governement was adapted to the technology slowly
It is perhaps the Achilles heel of bringing internet services to China. Internet Time, that speeding up of all expectations. This is probably what scares them the most.
*LAUGH* Thank you, AC, whomever you were. Indeed, never underestimate what people want. Porn is definately something that people in China want.
.. and it said 'Let there be porn.' .. and there was p0rn in infinite variety.
.. and lo there was a war between the People and the Government.
And the internet spoke
And the State said 'Thou shalt not look at the p0rn, for it is dirty and has many naughty bits.'
And the people said 'Fuck thou state, for we like the naughty bits.'
And a new Government was born, and said 'Lo! We are different, and think you should enjoy the naughty bits. Go forth and look at p0rn, and pay us taxes.'
And the people looked at the p0rn, and paid the taxes, and all was good.
Macpeep,
I have a response on a couple points you made. First, about the difference between monitoring of content in China and in the US. First, lets look at what Eschelon is. Eschelon is a signals intelligence gathering network built by and for the National Security Agency. It's primary purpose it to provide foriegn radio signals intelligence from a number of listening stations around the world.
It is not, however, a see-all know-all system for identifying and analyzing email, internet traffic, and telephone calls. The expense that would be incurred to even attempt such global analysis would require an agency much larger than the current NSA can provide. (The NSA currently employs only about 18,000 people, and obviously not all of them are dedicated to SIGINT - signals intelligence.)
The amount of personal someone has in the United States is absolutely unprecendented in the world. The consequences of having anti-state propaganda here are quite light, if at all. For example, I can organize and gather people for a non-violent protest of any subject I please. Should I decide that, for example, the laws concerning public nudity are unfair
As long as I don't -break- the law in the process. So gathering support from 200,000 people and marching into Sacramento is just fine as long as I have the appropriate permits in place to gather that many people. Even if the local government does not LIKE the idea, there are constitutional protections in place.
Compare this to China then
For example, simply being
See the difference? At least in the States, and many westernized nations
Now, as to the facts you were looking for :
The chineese government has closed down the cafe's because many of the cafe's users were circumventing the state recorders and filters. They were installing software (such as ICQ) on the machines, and using them as message-passing stations. And, most importantly, people were downloading and using encryption, which is strictly against the law in China.
So, the cafes internet access is being closed down while new software is installed, and new systems are being put into place, to further tighten and control the information that the citizens can access.
Many of the cafes will be brought back online. Those with owners that circumvented the data filters, will be dealt with harshly.
I have no doubt though, that even with the filters re-designed, and new systems put into place
What is the old maxim of the hacker? (not cracker...) "Information wants to be free."
It's interesting, and an old story that ricochets around the world. Many Marxist and totalitarian communist regimes are desperately trying to come to terms with the most effective tool for democratic change yet devised.
No, not the internet
Web servers, chat servers, bulletin boards, usenet, and a host of other applications send news, opinions, ideas around the world faster than any single government could hope to filter it.
In the past it has been typewriters, telephones, and the word processor (all of which you need a license to own in China) which could be reasonably controlled by the state.
Cellphones and internet cafes have become rampant in China. The chineese government already admits that they cannot control the cellphone boom, and SMS messaging. The internet cafes provide an easy way for any chineese citizen to get online, and there are many ways around the state filter boxes, so many in fact that it is practically impossible to stop people from finding and using proxy-servers available all over the country.
Perhaps the communist's rule will not fall due to revolution
I for one.. think that is a wonderful thing.
Two weeks ago I had a chance to work with a graphics workstation that was using two Cinema displays dual headed onto two G550 video boards at Pacific Data Images. PDI is probably best known for the work they did on Antz.
If the emphasis isn't on 3D performance, I certainly couldn't tell. The 3D performace was very crisp, certainly much improved over the G450. The project underway had Far Too Many Objects(tm), but the animation engineer had no problem winding through the scene and performing the character animation with no visible delay at all.
If you are into benchmarks, and /must/ get every erg out of your video card, the G550 may dissapoint. However, under just about any other circumstance this new MGA card is nothing short of blazing.
For those who have not seen it yet :
System Logic G550 Preview
Nitpick accepted. -grin- There are also spelling errors in the template letter I created.
Oh well.
One of the biggest dissapointments I have in the US judicial system, is that it does not generally foster an attitude of compromise.
I think it is great that Vidomi and the FSF were able to work together to find a middle ground that fits the definition of the GPL
One of the best ways of complying with a license, is doing just that... finding ways to comply. Perhaps not a viscerally satisfying ending, but certainly one that is in the spirit of the open source community. If only all the GPL issues could be resolved with as little intervention of the legal establishment.
In a similar vien, make sure you write to the people at linuxda.com, and make them politely aware that what they are currently doing does not conform to the behavior expected by the open source community.
I just finished downloading and installing the image into my TRG Palm III. Of course, since the TRG units have a different offset to load the kernel, the image would not work.
I called linuxda customer support, and was connected to a gentleman called Michael. He was very pleasant, and I explained that I needed the source code (as required by GPL) to correct the issue and make the image work for me.
Verbatim :
Michael : "We have the image available for download. The source code is not going to be available."
Martin : "I am aware that your own programs are not under the GPL, however are you aware that you must release the source to the kernel and changes you have made to it, as well as the source code to any other GPL programs that may be in the image?"
Michael : "Yes, we are aware of it. We will make the source code for that available in a few weeks."
Martin : "Are you aware that this is something of great concern to both the linux and open source community?"
Michael : "We are aware. We want people to download [ the image ] first."
Martin : "Allright. Let me give you my email address, I would like to be notified as soon as the source for the GPL code becomes available."
Michael : "Yes, I will do that. Please send email to support@linuxda.com"
-----
In my opinion, the people in charge at Linux DA may not have realized how strong community backlash is when source code is not released. It would probably go very well for us if we sent a POLITE email to support@linuxda.com requesting that the source code for GPL code used be made available as soon as possible.
A possible form letter to use :
To Whom it May Concern,
I am a user/developer of open software. It concerns me greatly that your company has released a binary-only image of GPL'ed (Gnu Public Licence) software. Releasing and distributing GPL'ed software without simultanious release of the source code is in violation of the GPL licence.
I respectfully urge you to release and make available for general download the source code to any GPL code and modifications/patches your company has made to the code as soon as possible. As a user and/or developer of open source software, it is important to both myself and the community at large that the terms of the GPL be adhered to both in the sentiment, and letter of the law.
Sincerely,
(insert your name)/(email address)
In all that time, my average incoming bandwidth has remained between 1.5 and 3 megabits. My outgoing bandwidth has been a relatively constant 384kbit.
As with anything else, a well maintained cable modem network works. I'm sure there are still people out there in copper-land who can't get better than 26kbit, because of noise on copper lines.
Oversubscription will lead to poor service, and poor service will lead to customer attrition. In this case, I am confident that customer feedback will correct the deficiencies in companies that are providing poor service.
The Laserist Marketplace
Cosmic Ray
Spectra Physics
Hey there anon.c
LightWave, Maya, and good old POV-RAY. This is nothing terribly new, but it's nice to see that someone has taken the time to put together a plug in for 3DMAX, which is one of the most used (aka most pirated) pieces of 3D software out there.
By the way
Unfortunately, the De Anza planetarium has cancelled all laser shows at the Minolta planetarium until further notice. It was one of the last good places to see the Pink Floyd laser show.
I find the whole idea very interesting, but in the San Francisco/Bay Area
For $79 a month, fixed-in-place access is available via the same kind of dish many people currently use for digital satelite reception. The main transmitter is on the top of a nearby mountain, and offers incoming/outgoing data rates at about 3mbit/384kbit. So, not the kind of thing you might want to use if you have a server, but just the right kind of network you want if you like to surf.
The group is called wavepath, and is hq'ed in San Francisco. According to the last newsletter they put out, they intend to add a smaller PCMCIA/USB adapter for mobile wireless access by Q1 of 2002, which will offer ~3mbit rates for incoming data. This is something I definately look forward to.
More info -- www.wavepath.com
More general info on the state of wireless in the San Francisco / Bay Area --http://www.cruzio.com/~jeffl/nooze/wireless.htm