I think you have it backwards - the types of interests that appeal to the geek crowd don't typically lend themselves to a lot of social interaction, as opposed to say group sports - hence the social ineptness. Essentially the lack of social skills is due lack of practice...some people are better at it than others, but it's not completely an innate ability....it can be learned.
$350 for a full T? if the CO is across the street and you're buying a 4yr contract then maybe. otherwise i'd be very skeptical...the parent is correct, the average cost is around $500, but can easily be more than that depending on the distance of the local loop...my company for example pays around $600 (for a crappy circuit too but that's for another day...) we're not terribly close to the CO...
As of Exchange 2003, one does not need to use OWA or Outlook over VPN to get exchange functionality.....it can do the RPC over HTTPS so no VPN - this is for full Outlook 03 client....lots of companies were deploying VPNs for the sole purpose of having their employees use Outlook outside of the organization (on laptops, from home, etc) and now no longer need to do so.
As far as the "mobile enterprise" my biggest concern right now is with backup. There are just no real good backup solutions for this....with desktops/servers we can run the backups/imaging during the off hours...with laptops they take it home with them, and having it run during business hours is not acceptable - laptop HDs are slow enough as they are, having a backup going on while trying to work would screech it to a halt, not to mention the possibility of inconsistency due to open files, etc. Right now the workaround is simply to have a shared folder for each user, putting the burden on the user to back their files up to the server. Even automated with scripts and such, it's still a cumbersome bandaid and doesn't solve the problem.
"Sadly, all of their products that I looked at seem to have this limitation (unless you go dual-dvi -- and then you lose dual-headed operation)."
That's not at all true, unless you mean just the cards in the G550 line....most if not all Matrox cards beyond the G550 have support for up to 1920x1200 in DVI. There's a parhelia card that even supports those 9MP LCD's at 3840 x 2400. And one of them was also designed to work with the apple 30 inch display. I installed a P750 for a client who had just gotten a dell 24" display and I had it hooked up at 1920x1200 dvi and used his older 1280x1024 LCD in dual head on the other DVI port. This card apparently supports 3 monitors. Driver source for linux is available on these cards also, not just the G550.
The submitter of the article incorrectly stated that CMU was celebrating 50 years of its computer science dept (known as SCS since 1988) and that is not the case. The first CS dept was actually established sometime in 1965 I believe. What is being celebrated here is "50 Years of Computer Science Excellence" in other words, 50 years of CS research being done at the school, which predates the establishment of an actual department solely dedicated to the discipline.
I got the omnicube right when It came out (paid $110 for it). Since one of my workstations is at 1600x1200x75hz it looked TERRIBLE (ie. I couldn't read the screen at all) when using some of the cheap monitor cables I had laying around. The solution? I went to www.ultraspec.com and forked over $35 for one of their "ultra" 2M cables and another $25 for one of their "premium" 1.8M cables for my server at 1152x864x75hz Yeah paying almost $40 for a monitor cable is a little ridiculous but let me tell ya....the difference even between the "premium" and "ultra" cable was huge! Using the ultra cable, I don't notice a difference from not having it....the shielding in this thing is amazing....well worth the $35 IMHO.
The fuzziness problem isn't with the KVM...I've found the omnicube to be pretty good at that actually. The problem is in the shielding in the cable...since now you basically double the distance the signal travels through (if you have a 2M cable from pc to kvm and a 2M from kvm to monitor). The longer the cable the fuzzier the screen. So the better shielding your cable has, the more you offset this effect.
Right now I have one machine at 1600x1200x75, 2 machines at 1152x864x75, and another at 1280x1024x75. And they all look great. The problem though, is when you try going up to 85hz...unless you're using the ultra cable, it'll look worse than 75hz. This might be a limitation of omnicube though. But 75hz is enough for me.
So if you're gonna use high resolutions, get the best cable you can find...I'm sure there are other places...like places that sell industrial computer equipment you may find cables that can withstanding environments with high EMI.
-dr0ne
Re:Show us the source!
on
Linux on Palm
·
· Score: 1
Yeah, but they claim PalmOS binary compatibility....last time I checked there was no code in the uclinux kernel that supported that...So it's a modified uclinux kernel (also GPL'ed)....again: where's the source to that? It doesn't matter that they did not make the kernel...they MODIFIED the kernel...and as such need to distribute the modified source.
>They don't have to, unless you ask, you GPL >commie.
From the GPL license:
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) ------------------------------
I don't have to ask...*they* must tell me how to get it.
> And what are you gonna do with the code > anyway?
I looked at the website and didn't find the source code...the kernel is GPL'ed, so they have to distribute the source....Did I not look hard enough? Can someone point out where the source is? I guess if it's a clean room implementation, they don't have to distribute the source, but considering how available the linux source code is, I HIGHLY doubt its clean room.
I looked at the website and didn't find the source code...the kernel is GPL'ed, so they have to distribute the source....Did I not look hard enough? Can someone point out where the source is? I guess if it's a clean room implementation, they don't have to distribute the source, but considering how available the linux source code is, I HIGHLY doubt its clean room.
It's hard to give an "average" in terms of pay simple due to the fact that it can vary tremendously depending on many things:
- Experience (length of time in field) - Type of degree (BS, MS, PhD, etc) - The length of time you're with the company - Any significant achievements
Basically they take a look at everything about you, weigh out the good and the bad, then decide...For example, I worked at a consulting firm for a while...here's some average full time salaries:
Generally the longer you're out there, the more you can ask for...it all depends on your resume...anything goes...were you involved in any leadership positions? (project leader, etc)...any specially challeging projects? How good were you with the deadlines? Balance in expertise? They like to see people that can do many different things and tackle anything that gets thrown at them, but at the same time, a jack of all trades that has no special expertise can be a big minus.
For the post-college people, it also matters any relevant courses you've taken, any important research, your GPA (duh), and also the school you graduated from (not as big of a deal as many people would think...it mainly helps you get the foot in the door and also when competing for a position against other people).
If there's something about you that you truly feel puts you above the average, it's ok to ask for more, but be realistic.
Also, in many cases, not simply $$$ is enough...most of the people I know didn't pick the offer that gave the most $$$ up front...they balanced out many things such as health benefits, stock options, cost of living in the area, etc...
The one thing you wanna keep in mind though is not $$$....money in most cases is one of the least important things...the most important thing is whether you'll be happy or not at the job...would you rather make a lot of money and work at a place where they make you wear a suit, fill out tons of bogus reports and have an a**hole of a boss or at a more casual place, where maybe you'll make less, but you'll get along with the people better, etc...Getting a job isn't a "go where the money is" kind of thing...you should REALLY keep that in mind.
I knew many people would misunderstand this post. But if you do actually understand what I'm trying to say, then I COMPLETELY disagree with you. This is not about copy protection, its about privacy. There's nothing wrong with copy protection. The problem here is that under ANY circumstance I don't care what the reason is, if you're a rapist or a pirate, no data should EVER leave your machine without your knowledge. Period.
In their case, a much more elegant solution would've been to simply make the online registration mandatory, then when you register, you send the serial number. If it's a serial number on their "black list" then they refuse the registration and log your IP. The way it is now, I believe is that the software will work with the number (with their knowledge that you're using a stolen number), but at the same time it is sending data to realnetworks, without your knowledge. This kind of "sneakyness" really freaks me out and it should also scare anyone that has any regard for their privacy.
I personally code for the palm OS, and have a piece of software that requires payment for a registration code. I could've made it such that with every update, I'd secretly embed a database of stolen codes in the app. If your code matches one of them, I could make my program randomly corrupt data. I thought about it for maybe a second...but it struck me as highly unethical, even though the user was using a stolen code to begin with, so I decided against it.
Realjukebox is only one of the few apps that realnetworks distributes. What about RealPlayer? Has anyone seen similar activity? Specifically (don't know if this is true or not, I don't use RealPlayer), I've heard that if you try to register RealPlayer with a serial # found on the net, it will work, but everytime you run it, an update window will come up asking if you want to download their "latest update". It ends up that this is really a patch to disable the software if you get the "update".
Now even though this is sneaky as hell, I can only wonder what _other_ kind of information gets sent to realnetworks about you, if you try to register with a number snatched off the net....
Hopefully they'll have a demo version out...these things are not for the average hardware tinkerer....some of these licenses can exceed well over ten grand for some of the better HDL packages out there. And the few demo ones I've seen don't include VHDL (ugh) or verilog entry and only run on windows.
Damn...that's exactly what I was looking for. Finally time to retire my palm pro...this is even better than the visor, since it uses a standard CF port which has much broader industry support...It'll only be a matter of time before you can hook up a wireless modem in the cf slot, basically making this 10 times more flexible than a palm VII (you get a real tcp/ip link...no pqa crap).
The price is also excellent...8mb ram + 2mb flash + cf....I'm sure not long after it's out you'll be able to get it for less than $300 street. Hopefully it has the better LCD like the palmIIIx.
With a 340mb microdrive and 8meg RAM you can easily run linux on this thing heheh...maybe even X! Why you'd wanna do that I no clue, but the possibility of having virtual screens on my pilot rocks.
The is way better than color IMO...I don't think we're at a point where color in a palm device makes much sense...a screen with 256 colors would need 4 times the processing power + i/o throughput of a 4 shades of gray screen (8bpp vs. 2bpp)...it's currently more than possible, but not cost effective. I think cf expansion makes this unit extremely flexible...for now this is really all a palm device needs...until dragonball 66mhz comes out that is:)
Oh yeah...one bad thing...they're still using that puke looking case like the old palms...it'd be cool if they came out with some cool looking cases.
I guess I was under the wrong impression that./ only reviewed recent releases? Is this a new edition? I used this book ages ago in my intro CE course...I still refer to it every once in a while...it has a very thorough chapter on sequential/FSM design.
So what's the next./ review? K&R's the C prog. language?:P
In this case you are talking about two completely different forms of litigation:
1. patent infringement 2. liability
First of, there's rarely anyone to sue ANYWHERE if something goes wrong even in commercial software....ever read those licensing agreements (EULAs and such)? They stop nothing short of saying "if you touch the floppy and it blows up in your face, we're not responsible".
The argument companies make against OSS isn't a legal one - they themselves do everything they can not to be liable for their software. The argument is basically that "if joe newbie can't open his word processor, he can't call some 1-800 number where a friendly tech support rep. will be with him shortly"
However, that's liability - who to sue if doggy dies. In this case, we're talking about patent infringement - you steal my idea, I sue you (as long as I paid tons of money to have it patented).
AFAIK, companies are free to sue ANY entity that is believed to have infringed on their patents. I think this poses a HUGE HUGE HUGE (did I mention...HUGE?) threat to OSS.
I'll say it again:
A FUCKING HUGE ASS THREAT
Why?
Scenario 1:
Ok, say IBM sues Intel for some patent infringement. Say that Intel actually came up with the idea themselves and that they would win if the case were taken to court. Intel has the resources to face such litigation...
Scenario 2:
IBM sues Joe GNU for some patent infringement. Joe GNU came up with the whole thing himself, after many hours of work, cases of Jolt Cola and packs of camel lights. Joe GNU however, can barely afford the rent of his crappy lower east side loft. What do you think will happen? He'll piss his pants at the first cease and desist letter that he gets from the legal dept. and promptly delete all of his code (well, at least remove it from public access - the ramifications of his code already being out there at one point is a whole different issue altogether).
See what I mean? Patents cost MONEY. Money that people involved in OSS projects simply don't have to spend. So, what if some less-than-well-intentioned people with lots of money (say, around 100 billion for example:) ouch what a cheap shot...) start getting patents for things that are being developed as OSS projects? Can you even start to think about the ramifications of this? That's why software-patents-ARE-BAD(tm) and everyone should oppose them.
Quite frankly, if you're interested in graphics algorithms, you'll learn a LOT more by reading a book such as "computer graphics: principles and practice" by foley et al:
Beware though...don't even bother reading this without a knowledge of matrix algebra in the very least...and it won't hurt to know some multivariate and vector calc. The book gives the algs. in C so you can use them in any way you want. Honestly, I think you can probably learn all the math and algorithms you need to be a CG whiz quicker than trying to even partially RE any graphics package out there by looking at asm code.
Trying to reverse engineer graphics packages will be a pretty big waste of your time...you'll definetely be a PRO at gdb though by the time your through:)
The reason is, compilers can do some pretty crazy optimizations of the code, and trying to understand what's going on can be nearly impossible (given you have other things to do besides trace through jump tables and stack ptrs all day). Disassembling code is mainly done for easy things such as cracking software that requires reg. keys and such...where in the simple case, you're just making sure some conditional (ie: if (keycheck) blahblah ) always evals to true so that the system thinks you have a valid key (it can get much more complicated than this, but this is the easiest and most common case).
So, if you get off on gfx algorithms, buy a good book such as the one I mentioned and don't bother trying to disassemble anything...the complexity of today's software systems has led to a big decrease in the use of disassemblers....back in the days of 8bit cpu's and 16k ram one could easily disassemble code to see how for example a parallax scrolling routine was implemented in a game...not anymore I'm afraid:P
Slashdot Mirror
I think you have it backwards - the types of interests that appeal to the geek crowd don't typically lend themselves to a lot of social interaction, as opposed to say group sports - hence the social ineptness. Essentially the lack of social skills is due lack of practice...some people are better at it than others, but it's not completely an innate ability....it can be learned.
$350 for a full T? if the CO is across the street and you're buying a 4yr contract then maybe. otherwise i'd be very skeptical...the parent is correct, the average cost is around $500, but can easily be more than that depending on the distance of the local loop...my company for example pays around $600 (for a crappy circuit too but that's for another day...) we're not terribly close to the CO...
As of Exchange 2003, one does not need to use OWA or Outlook over VPN to get exchange functionality.....it can do the RPC over HTTPS so no VPN - this is for full Outlook 03 client....lots of companies were deploying VPNs for the sole purpose of having their employees use Outlook outside of the organization (on laptops, from home, etc) and now no longer need to do so.
As far as the "mobile enterprise" my biggest concern right now is with backup. There are just no real good backup solutions for this....with desktops/servers we can run the backups/imaging during the off hours...with laptops they take it home with them, and having it run during business hours is not acceptable - laptop HDs are slow enough as they are, having a backup going on while trying to work would screech it to a halt, not to mention the possibility of inconsistency due to open files, etc. Right now the workaround is simply to have a shared folder for each user, putting the burden on the user to back their files up to the server. Even automated with scripts and such, it's still a cumbersome bandaid and doesn't solve the problem.
"Sadly, all of their products that I looked at seem to have this limitation (unless you go dual-dvi -- and then you lose dual-headed operation)."
That's not at all true, unless you mean just the cards in the G550 line....most if not all Matrox cards beyond the G550 have support for up to 1920x1200 in DVI. There's a parhelia card that even supports those 9MP LCD's at 3840 x 2400. And one of them was also designed to work with the apple 30 inch display. I installed a P750 for a client who had just gotten a dell 24" display and I had it hooked up at 1920x1200 dvi and used his older 1280x1024 LCD in dual head on the other DVI port. This card apparently supports 3 monitors. Driver source for linux is available on these cards also, not just the G550.
The submitter of the article incorrectly stated that CMU was celebrating 50 years of its computer science dept (known as SCS since 1988) and that is not the case. The first CS dept was actually established sometime in 1965 I believe. What is being celebrated here is "50 Years of Computer Science Excellence" in other words, 50 years of CS research being done at the school, which predates the establishment of an actual department solely dedicated to the discipline.
If you go to cnn.com in the tech section on the main page, the story is there. It's titled "Electronic attack slows Net".
:P
Immediately above that is the other tech story, titled "Gates pledges better software security".
I got the omnicube right when It came out (paid $110 for it). Since one of my workstations is at 1600x1200x75hz it looked TERRIBLE (ie. I couldn't read the screen at all) when using some of the cheap monitor cables I had laying around. The solution? I went to www.ultraspec.com and forked over $35 for one of their "ultra" 2M cables and another $25 for one of their "premium" 1.8M cables for my server at 1152x864x75hz Yeah paying almost $40 for a monitor cable is a little ridiculous but let me tell ya....the difference even between the "premium" and "ultra" cable was huge! Using the ultra cable, I don't notice a difference from not having it....the shielding in this thing is amazing....well worth the $35 IMHO.
The fuzziness problem isn't with the KVM...I've found the omnicube to be pretty good at that actually. The problem is in the shielding in the cable...since now you basically double the distance the signal travels through (if you have a 2M cable from pc to kvm and a 2M from kvm to monitor). The longer the cable the fuzzier the screen. So the better shielding your cable has, the more you offset this effect.
Right now I have one machine at 1600x1200x75, 2 machines at 1152x864x75, and another at 1280x1024x75. And they all look great. The problem though, is when you try going up to 85hz...unless you're using the ultra cable, it'll look worse than 75hz. This might be a limitation of omnicube though. But 75hz is enough for me.
So if you're gonna use high resolutions, get the best cable you can find...I'm sure there are other places...like places that sell industrial computer equipment you may find cables that can withstanding environments with high EMI.
-dr0ne
Yeah, but they claim PalmOS binary compatibility....last time I checked there was no code in the uclinux kernel that supported that...So it's a modified uclinux kernel (also GPL'ed)....again: where's the source to that? It doesn't matter that they did not make the kernel
>They don't have to, unless you ask, you GPL >commie.
From the GPL license:
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable
form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed
under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more
than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the
corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
customarily used for software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This
alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or
executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
------------------------------
I don't have to ask...*they* must tell me how to get it.
> And what are you gonna do with the code
> anyway?
None of your fucking business!
I looked at the website and didn't find the source code...the kernel is GPL'ed, so they have to distribute the source....Did I not look hard enough? Can someone point out where the source is? I guess if it's a clean room implementation, they don't have to distribute the source, but considering how available the linux source code is, I HIGHLY doubt its clean room.
wrong news item! my bad....
I looked at the website and didn't find the source code...the kernel is GPL'ed, so they have to distribute the source....Did I not look hard enough? Can someone point out where the source is? I guess if it's a clean room implementation, they don't have to distribute the source, but considering how available the linux source code is, I HIGHLY doubt its clean room.
It's hard to give an "average" in terms of pay simple due to the fact that it can vary tremendously depending on many things:
- Experience (length of time in field)
- Type of degree (BS, MS, PhD, etc)
- The length of time you're with the company
- Any significant achievements
Basically they take a look at everything about you, weigh out the good and the bad, then decide...For example, I worked at a consulting firm for a while...here's some average full time salaries:
Web designer (little experience): $15/hr
Web designer/ webmaster (2+ yrs exp): $25/hr
System admin (2+ yrs exp): $25/hr
Network admin (4+ yrs exp): $35/hr
Programmer (C/C++ entry level): $20/hr
Programmer (C/C++ 2+ yrs): $30/hr
Senior network eng (8-10+ yrs exp): $45/hr
Generally the longer you're out there, the more you can ask for...it all depends on your resume...anything goes...were you involved in any leadership positions? (project leader, etc)...any specially challeging projects? How good were you with the deadlines? Balance in expertise? They like to see people that can do many different things and tackle anything that gets thrown at them, but at the same time, a jack of all trades that has no special expertise can be a big minus.
For the post-college people, it also matters any relevant courses you've taken, any important research, your GPA (duh), and also the school you graduated from (not as big of a deal as many people would think...it mainly helps you get the foot in the door and also when competing for a position against other people).
If there's something about you that you truly feel puts you above the average, it's ok to ask for more, but be realistic.
Also, in many cases, not simply $$$ is enough...most of the people I know didn't pick the offer that gave the most $$$ up front...they balanced out many things such as health benefits, stock options, cost of living in the area, etc...
The one thing you wanna keep in mind though is not $$$....money in most cases is one of the least important things...the most important thing is whether you'll be happy or not at the job...would you rather make a lot of money and work at a place where they make you wear a suit, fill out tons of bogus reports and have an a**hole of a boss or at a more casual place, where maybe you'll make less, but you'll get along with the people better, etc...Getting a job isn't a "go where the money is" kind of thing...you should REALLY keep that in mind.
-dr0ne
I knew many people would misunderstand this post. But if you do actually understand what I'm trying to say, then I COMPLETELY disagree with you. This is not about copy protection, its about privacy. There's nothing wrong with copy protection. The problem here is that under ANY circumstance I don't care what the reason is, if you're a rapist or a pirate, no data should EVER leave your machine without your knowledge. Period.
In their case, a much more elegant solution would've been to simply make the online registration mandatory, then when you register, you send the serial number. If it's a serial number on their "black list" then they refuse the registration and log your IP. The way it is now, I believe is that the software will work with the number (with their knowledge that you're using a stolen number), but at the same time it is sending data to realnetworks, without your knowledge. This kind of "sneakyness" really freaks me out and it should also scare anyone that has any regard for their privacy.
I personally code for the palm OS, and have a piece of software that requires payment for a registration code. I could've made it such that with every update, I'd secretly embed a database of stolen codes in the app. If your code matches one of them, I could make my program randomly corrupt data. I thought about it for maybe a second...but it struck me as highly unethical, even though the user was using a stolen code to begin with, so I decided against it.
-dr0ne
Realjukebox is only one of the few apps that realnetworks distributes. What about RealPlayer? Has anyone seen similar activity? Specifically (don't know if this is true or not, I don't use RealPlayer), I've heard that if you try to register RealPlayer with a serial # found on the net, it will work, but everytime you run it, an update window will come up asking if you want to download their "latest update". It ends up that this is really a patch to disable the software if you get the "update".
Now even though this is sneaky as hell, I can only wonder what _other_ kind of information gets sent to realnetworks about you, if you try to register with a number snatched off the net....
-dr0ne
Hopefully they'll have a demo version out...these things are not for the average hardware tinkerer....some of these licenses can exceed well over ten grand for some of the better HDL packages out there. And the few demo ones I've seen don't include VHDL (ugh) or verilog entry and only run on windows.
Damn...that's exactly what I was looking for. Finally time to retire my palm pro...this is even better than the visor, since it uses a standard CF port which has much broader industry support...It'll only be a matter of time before you can hook up a wireless modem in the cf slot, basically making this 10 times more flexible than a palm VII (you get a real tcp/ip link...no pqa crap).
The price is also excellent...8mb ram + 2mb flash + cf....I'm sure not long after it's out you'll be able to get it for less than $300 street. Hopefully it has the better LCD like the palmIIIx.
With a 340mb microdrive and 8meg RAM you can easily run linux on this thing heheh...maybe even X! Why you'd wanna do that I no clue, but the possibility of having virtual screens on my pilot rocks.
The is way better than color IMO...I don't think we're at a point where color in a palm device makes much sense...a screen with 256 colors would need 4 times the processing power + i/o throughput of a 4 shades of gray screen (8bpp vs. 2bpp)...it's currently more than possible, but not cost effective. I think cf expansion makes this unit extremely flexible...for now this is really all a palm device needs...until dragonball 66mhz comes out that is
Oh yeah...one bad thing...they're still using that puke looking case like the old palms...it'd be cool if they came out with some cool looking cases.
-dr0ne
I guess I was under the wrong impression that
So what's the next
-dr0ne
In this case you are talking about two completely different forms of litigation:
1. patent infringement
2. liability
First of, there's rarely anyone to sue ANYWHERE if something goes wrong even in commercial software....ever read those licensing agreements (EULAs and such)? They stop nothing short of saying "if you touch the floppy and it blows up in your face, we're not responsible".
The argument companies make against OSS isn't a legal one - they themselves do everything they can not to be liable for their software. The argument is basically that "if joe newbie can't open his word processor, he can't call some 1-800 number where a friendly tech support rep. will be with him shortly"
However, that's liability - who to sue if doggy dies. In this case, we're talking about patent infringement - you steal my idea, I sue you (as long as I paid tons of money to have it patented).
AFAIK, companies are free to sue ANY entity that is believed to have infringed on their patents. I think this poses a HUGE HUGE HUGE (did I mention...HUGE?) threat to OSS.
I'll say it again:
A FUCKING HUGE ASS THREAT
Why?
Scenario 1:
Ok, say IBM sues Intel for some patent infringement. Say that Intel actually came up with the idea themselves and that they would win if the case were taken to court. Intel has the resources to face such litigation...
Scenario 2:
IBM sues Joe GNU for some patent infringement. Joe GNU came up with the whole thing himself, after many hours of work, cases of Jolt Cola and packs of camel lights. Joe GNU however, can barely afford the rent of his crappy lower east side loft. What do you think will happen? He'll piss his pants at the first cease and desist letter that he gets from the legal dept. and promptly delete all of his code (well, at least remove it from public access - the ramifications of his code already being out there at one point is a whole different issue altogether).
See what I mean? Patents cost MONEY. Money that people involved in OSS projects simply don't have to spend. So, what if some less-than-well-intentioned people with lots of money (say, around 100 billion for example
peace,
dr0ne
Quite frankly, if you're interested in graphics algorithms, you'll learn a LOT more by reading a book such as "computer graphics: principles and practice" by foley et al:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/02018484
Beware though...don't even bother reading this without a knowledge of matrix algebra in the very least...and it won't hurt to know some multivariate and vector calc. The book gives the algs. in C so you can use them in any way you want. Honestly, I think you can probably learn all the math and algorithms you need to be a CG whiz quicker than trying to even partially RE any graphics package out there by looking at asm code.
Trying to reverse engineer graphics packages will be a pretty big waste of your time...you'll definetely be a PRO at gdb though by the time your through
The reason is, compilers can do some pretty crazy optimizations of the code, and trying to understand what's going on can be nearly impossible (given you have other things to do besides trace through jump tables and stack ptrs all day). Disassembling code is mainly done for easy things such as cracking software that requires reg. keys and such...where in the simple case, you're just making sure some conditional (ie: if (keycheck) blahblah ) always evals to true so that the system thinks you have a valid key (it can get much more complicated than this, but this is the easiest and most common case).
So, if you get off on gfx algorithms, buy a good book such as the one I mentioned and don't bother trying to disassemble anything...the complexity of today's software systems has led to a big decrease in the use of disassemblers....back in the days of 8bit cpu's and 16k ram one could easily disassemble code to see how for example a parallax scrolling routine was implemented in a game...not anymore I'm afraid
-dr0ne