I'm with you... I hardly ever have problems as well.
Like I said in an earlier post... people just need to realize when and when not to use self-checkout. When buying produce I almost always realize this and stand in line. But, that's the odd occasion, I'm almost always just picking up that _one_ item my wife forgot... and for that self-checkout is a life-saver.
Also... you are spot on about the condoms. I can remember being a teenager when self-checkout first came to our Wal-Mart (we were one of the first to trial it)... I thought that God himself had answered my prayers with a discrete way to purchase personal items... to this day I still use self-checkout for those purposes (only now I'm usually buying feminine products in _HUGE_ quantities instead;-)
I think it's interesting that so many geeks don't like self-checkout. With our leet computer skills you would think that we would be drawn to it like moths to a flame... but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Being employed at Target as you are... do you know if they have plans to use self-checkout?
The Super Target just down the road has lately become my favorite place to shop (both for groceries and everything else)... it's clean and the people are friendly... and reading this just reminded me that I've never seen any Target store with self-checkout... but then I've never really had much of a wait at Target either (well... compared to most other stores) because they always seem to be well staffed... so maybe there's no need.
Ah... one more thing Target did right is the credit card reading machine... the fact that it takes your card from you to read it is genious... let's me keep all the precious minutes of my life that would have been wasted by grandma _trying_ to swipe her card....
Even before I read your footnote I knew you would be referring to Fry's.
For me, the funny part about Fry's is that it _works_. Every damn time I'm in there to buy an ink cartridge or whatever electronic equipment... I _always_ end up buying candy on the way out. I _know_ what they are doing, and I think about it as I pick up the packet of candy... but I just can't help myself... sigh.
Also... have you noticed that Best Buy has gone down this same road? BestBuy used to have multiple queues (atlest the one in my hometown did)... but now they have gone to the single queue with the maze through the impulse stuff... for some reason it doesn't work as well as Fry's (on me anyway!).
If you are filling up the bagging area then.... YOU ARE TRYING TO BUY TOO MUCH STUFF USING SELF CHECKOUT!
Self-checkout should be _strictly_ reserved for people who have about 5 things _max_. When I see people with a cart full of groceries pull up to a self-checkout station I just laugh... it will take them _forever_...
On the other hand, I am almost always the guy that is standing in line with just _one_ thing to buy... I have it in my left hand and my debit card in my right. It takes me all of 30 seconds to whip through a self checkout line. Everyone else needs to get the _hell_ out of the way!;-)
It's a good thing you posted anonymous.... otherwise the geek police would be breaking down your door as we speak and confiscating all geeky paraphernalia...
As others pointed out it is the greatest weapon from the greatest game ever: The rocket launcher from Quake3 Arena.
Yes, sometimes people get screwed... and I'm all about helping people who get legitimately screwed by the system.
The problem is that people use these high profile cases of people getting screwed in order to say the whole system isn't fair. What I see is that a good majority of the people yell and scream about the system... and about how they aren't getting what they deserve... are just plain losers.
If some kids are put in a hard position because of their parents, that's just too bad. What we've created is a society where people are like "I don't have to save my money or make good choices because I know that my shit will get taken care of regardless"... and that's just wrong.
Look at what happened with the whole Katrina thing. There are _still_ people living in hotels on the government's dollar to this day. Almost all of whom no doubt were just leaching off society in the first place. They've been given tons of money and opportunities while the "good" citezens in New Orleans who were actually productive members of society and saved their money and paid their insurance got _nothing_ (well... nothing from the government). Why does being lazy automatically entitle you to other people's funds? Yes, it is in our best interest to help people when a natural dissaster strikes, if we can return them to being productive members of society fairly quickly then the money paid to do it will more than be made up for by the boost to the economy. The problem is when we dump a _lot_ of money into a group of people who were never productive members of society in the first place (and never wanted to be... the poor in New Orleans had pretty much figured out how to game the system so they could be as lazy as they wanted).... all we're doing is proving that you don't have to be responsible and save your money or pay your home owners insurance... That, to me, is just plain wrong.
The guy down the street should have made better life decisions... he should have studied harder in high school instead of getting drunk and knocking that girl up. He should have stayed in and studied while his college buddies were at that frat party (which later got busted for drugs and they all got thrown out of school). He should have worked harder at his desk job... so as to move up in the company or be able to transfer to another company. He shouldn't have overspent on those credit cards and saved his money instead, so he would be in a better financial position.
I just don't understand people that stand up for lazy people in this society. We all make decisions about how to live our life. If someone (or someone in their family tree... which is just as valid) has done better than me at that I don't hold it against them. However, when I see lazy asses spouting "It's not fair" it just burns my ass. Some people in this society look at their futures and make the right decisions in their life in order to provide the things they want/need in the future. It's not brain surgery and there is plenty of help along the way... but instead of making good decisions people would rather leech off the people who do work hard and have done well for themselves.
I personally have come from a lower middle class standing... and I've worked my _ass_ off to get where I am and to make sure that in the future I have the money/things my family and I need. I _know_ it can be done...
Friedmud
PS - to bring this back on topic I will say that I think Sony has become arrogant with their market position... and I think they're going to get a wakeup call with the PS3. Sure they will still sell a shit-ton of them... because like others have mentioned some people just have the money to throw at a machine like that... but I do think they're going to miss the core market with that price.
I myself will be picking up a Wii... I've got a gamecube now... and even though I don't play it too often (I like my computer better), I do enjoy the first party games and the party games with friends.
My wife and I just signed up for a low subscription plan (only 1 out at a time... but we got the one with no monthly max)... we usually get in about two movies every 9 days or so...
I've found that it's great to have a movie show up... before we were on Netflix it would be like "Hey do we have time to go get a movie tonight? Nah... we'd better do other stuff." With it showing up at your door it saves us a lot of time on actually going to get the movie, and it gives us an excuse to take time out of the rest of our activities in the next couple of days to watch it.
I know that life can get busy... but sometimes you just have to take timeout for yourself as well...
I'm in the middle of getting my Masters in Computational Engineering and Science ( http://ices.utexas.edu/ )...
My main reason for going back after my undergraduate was for the money. With the job I have higher education is a must... most of the people that work there have PhD's.... and they pay for it too... When I get back I will get a hefty (think 5 digits) raise just for getting my Masters... and if I end up getting a PhD it will go up by about the same amount again... (Not too mention they pay me while I'm at school and pay for my school and send me to whatever college I want to go to... yeah it's a pretty good deal!)
Some people claim that there's no money in a Masters or PhD... but it all depends on what you're doing. If you're going to work in IT then there probably isn't much point in a graduate degree... in fact everything that I've heard from my buddies seems to suggest that just getting a graduate degree will make it more difficult to get an IT job (people don't want to pay for someone with a masters when they probably didn't need it for the job anyway). But on the other hand if you're working on the forefront of technology or any other industry then it pays to get a graduate degree and learn how to do research.
Learning how to read academic papers and turn them into useful products (be that code, financial reports, model airplanes... whatever) is a valuable asset, and something that you really get to hone in graduate school. I also think that the experience of working on a research team is invaluable. You get thrown in with a bunch of people with different reasons for being there, different backgrounds, different work styles and different attitudes... and you have to make it work... which is a very applicable skill to the "real world".
Of course, the other reason to get graduate degrees is to stay in academia. Academia isn't for me (I like to actually make end products that have direct impacts), but I am surrounded by people who make it their entire lives. It can be rewarding if you work hard at it (and man they do!), but like I say... it's just not for everyone.
So weigh the benefits and the detractors (you mean I have to _back_ to school!?!? like sit in classes again!??!?!! bah!;-) and decide for yourself if it's a good idea for _your_ future.
Thanks for the tip about the toolbar folder... my distro is Gentoo... so the choosing of the toolbar folder to be the root bookmark folder must be the default as it comes in the KDE source...
"I use KDE (on several differents OSes)"
Is there a way to use KDE in Windows? Yes I know about Cygwin and such... but I want to use KDE in Windows to launch _windows_ apps... and act as my general shell. I heard that with Qt4 it's going to be possible (because Qt4 has a GPL version for Windows) and I heard some were working on it... but I don't know how far along they are.
"I think you meant "extensions"" Sorry... yes, I did mean extensions.
I do know about system wide mouse gestures... but I've never been one for gestures. I much prefer the pie-menu extension... I wish KDE had builtin pie menus like it does gestures.
If I could use Konquerer in Windows... I'd probably give it another shot.
As an avid KDE user I'll give you my reason for using firefox: bookmarks.
Bookmarks are just _terrible_ in konquerer. Specifically the bookmark toolbar is just rediculous. I like to have just a few bookmarks in my toolbar and more in my Bookmarks menu... in Konquerer all bookmarks end up in the toolbar... which is just rediculous.
Couple this with the fact that I have to use several computers and OS's all day long (between dual-booting my desktop, my laptop, my wife's laptop, my school computer, my lab computer) and it is nice to be able to use the _exact_ same browsing interface on all of them (and with the Foxylicious plugin... have the exact same bookmarks in all of them) and those are my two main reasons for using FF.
The third reason is plugins. Are there even _any_ konquerer plugins? There are several I use all day long in FF (like Radial menus) that just feel wrong being without.
I tried to switch to konquerer (I'm a huge KDE fan) but it just didn't work. Yes it is fast, and renders well. I especially like how it uses my theme (even for buttons on webpages) and my font selections... and of course the KDE integration is great. But ultimately it wasn't enough to pull me away from FF.
You cannot compare iPod->Windows... it just doesn't work... Windows is a _monopoly_... that's the reason why having IE tied to it is bad for for competition in the browser arena...
iPod is not _yet_ a monopoly... and as such it doesn't matter what they tie to it.
Other people have used Car anaologies.... is it wrong to tie a Ford engine into a Mustang? _No_. Because the mustang doesn't have a monopoly on sports cars... therefore Ford can do as it pleases.
It's the same thing with the iPod... Apple doesn't yet have a Monopoly so let the free market decide what it likes. At the point where the _only_ device in the entire world that can reasonably play music is an iPod... then at that point you need to legislate what services Apple can tie to it. Until that point leave it alone!
I always heard that the reason it was illegal to use headphones in the car is that it would keep you from hearing sirens (either from cops pulling you over or ambulances/firetrucks/whatever trying to get through).
Have you _really_ never used a cell-phone in your car? If you haven't then you should try, it's really not as hard as you might think... just takes some concentration (on the driving that is).
"If iTunes had to open to other players, the iPod would have to compete with other portable players only on the grounds that it has the superior technology."
And the iPod would still be the #1 selling portable music player.
I actually don't believe that people are buying iPods for iTMS... it's a fun catch phrase... but honestly I think people buy iPods because they are "cool" and work well... and this iTMS thing come with it (part of the "working well" is being able to manage your music easily) that just happens to allow you to buy music online... which is just an added convenience to an already compelling product.
I have an iPod myself, and besides buying a few songs off iTMS when I first got it... I learned quickly that I wasn't willing to "pay the price" of Apple's DRM (for instance I make home movies on my machine... and like to use music I own as background music or music during the menus... but I couldn't do that with the songs I bought on iTMS).
So what did I do? Did I get all pissed at Apple and try to make them open their DRM? No... I just took my business elsewhere (I buy CD's for mainstream stuff, and eMusic.com for more obscure stuff). This is how the free market is supposed to work! The _market_ should decide what is right for them!
After getting a bad taste in my mouth from Apple's DRM I don't want to buy into DRM at all any more... which is why I won't be picking up an HD-DVD/Bluray player anytime soon. I've made my choice... I just don't want the crap... but I don't need the government to legislate other people's choices for them.
Sure it has a large portion of the market... but in reality if you want to choose a different company there are many different choices for players out there... and you can always buy CD's and rip them for whatever player you want (which is what I do... even though I have an iPod).
At the point where you cannot (reasonably) buy music any other way than through iTunes... then we will have a Monopoly. Right now there are still plenty of choices... so why the pre-mature action?
I mean... I don't like DRM as much as the next guy... but I say let Apple do what they want... if people don't want DRM they will take their business elsewhere.
I did look into this a little bit... and I agree I couldn't find an easy way to do it... but I admit I didn't look _too_ hard... I was already using the router as a bridge by that point and my wife was happy enough with the result that I didn't want to undo it;-)
You know that Linksys released the WRT54GL that is just like the old versions right? No reason to go with another vendor if Linksys has been working well for you (which it has for me).
I'm using DD-WRT in client-bridge mode on my V2.2... and it works beautifully (you can even scan the local area for networks and then just click the "Join" button next to them to get connected... very slick).
Don't know if the micro version supports this though.
I just went through buying one of these and just searched for WRT54GL and found them all over the place. Ended up getting one from Amazon with free shipping.
Did you just not know that you needed to get the GL? Or did you specifically order a GL and just get a G?
I had lightening somehow take out my cable modem (which I rent) last weekend... it also fried the WAN port on my V2.2 WRT54G that was completely stock.
Needing a WAN port I went and bought another WRT54G (a new one at Best Buy that happens to be a V5)...
I knew that the WRT54G was hackable though, so I figured I would try to make some use out of the one with the dead WAN port. I nabbed the DD-WRT firmware and loaded it up... and on the first try it worked beautifully (well... I mean the firmware worked... I still didn't have a purpose for it yet).
I started looking at what the firmware could do and noticed the "client-bridge" wireless mode... meaning it could bridge two wired networks with a wireless link. I tried it out and sure enough it connected to my new V5 WRT54G without problem. Looking around my apartment I noticed a long ethernet cable running around the baseboards from where my cable modem and router sit (in my TV nook... where my ReplayTV is plugged into them) to where my server and desktop are.... and the thought came to me that I could use the "broken" WRT54G to bridge that gap instead (and make my wife happier... with less cords).
I hooked it up... and it's been working beautifully for a week... a very nice solution.
With how satisfied I was I thought it would be great to be able to hack my new one at some point in the future too... and when I found out that the V5 was difficult/impossible (at that time) to hack... and instead Linksys made a WRT54GL model that still ran linux and was hackable... I ordered one of those up (for about $10 more) and am planning on taking the V5 back to Best Buy as soon as the new one arrives from Amazon (later this week).
This news doesn't really change my mind about this... the WRT54GL is inherently a more hackable system (more memory and such) and should remain a good workhorse into the future.
The moral of all of these ramblings is that Linux is great! How did I come to that conclusion? Well... it's nothing except the open-sourceness of my old router's firmware that allowed me to still get utility out of it after part of it had failed. If it was some proprietary BS (like VxWorks) then it would have just been a plastic brick....
Make sure to give yourself enough time with it... make sure to go to http://www.kdelook.org/ and get some icons and a theme you like and spend time in the control panel getting everything to your liking.
I find that KDE takes more work to get like I want it.... but with all of it's features and configurability it surpasses Gnome after I spend that amount of time. Kind of a pay up front kinda deal.
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Idiot?
What do you suggest I use? Cash? Especially at self-checkouts this is _rediculously_ slow. Check!? NO WAY!
Debit cards are _by far_ the fastest way to pay if you know what you're doing.
Friedmud
I'm with you... I hardly ever have problems as well.
;-)
Like I said in an earlier post... people just need to realize when and when not to use self-checkout. When buying produce I almost always realize this and stand in line. But, that's the odd occasion, I'm almost always just picking up that _one_ item my wife forgot... and for that self-checkout is a life-saver.
Also... you are spot on about the condoms. I can remember being a teenager when self-checkout first came to our Wal-Mart (we were one of the first to trial it)... I thought that God himself had answered my prayers with a discrete way to purchase personal items... to this day I still use self-checkout for those purposes (only now I'm usually buying feminine products in _HUGE_ quantities instead
I think it's interesting that so many geeks don't like self-checkout. With our leet computer skills you would think that we would be drawn to it like moths to a flame... but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Friedmud
Being employed at Target as you are... do you know if they have plans to use self-checkout?
The Super Target just down the road has lately become my favorite place to shop (both for groceries and everything else)... it's clean and the people are friendly... and reading this just reminded me that I've never seen any Target store with self-checkout... but then I've never really had much of a wait at Target either (well... compared to most other stores) because they always seem to be well staffed... so maybe there's no need.
Ah... one more thing Target did right is the credit card reading machine... the fact that it takes your card from you to read it is genious... let's me keep all the precious minutes of my life that would have been wasted by grandma _trying_ to swipe her card....
Friedmud
Even before I read your footnote I knew you would be referring to Fry's.
For me, the funny part about Fry's is that it _works_. Every damn time I'm in there to buy an ink cartridge or whatever electronic equipment... I _always_ end up buying candy on the way out. I _know_ what they are doing, and I think about it as I pick up the packet of candy... but I just can't help myself... sigh.
Also... have you noticed that Best Buy has gone down this same road? BestBuy used to have multiple queues (atlest the one in my hometown did)... but now they have gone to the single queue with the maze through the impulse stuff... for some reason it doesn't work as well as Fry's (on me anyway!).
Friedmud
If you are filling up the bagging area then.... YOU ARE TRYING TO BUY TOO MUCH STUFF USING SELF CHECKOUT!
;-)
Self-checkout should be _strictly_ reserved for people who have about 5 things _max_. When I see people with a cart full of groceries pull up to a self-checkout station I just laugh... it will take them _forever_...
On the other hand, I am almost always the guy that is standing in line with just _one_ thing to buy... I have it in my left hand and my debit card in my right. It takes me all of 30 seconds to whip through a self checkout line. Everyone else needs to get the _hell_ out of the way!
Friedmud
It's a good thing you posted anonymous.... otherwise the geek police would be breaking down your door as we speak and confiscating all geeky paraphernalia...
As others pointed out it is the greatest weapon from the greatest game ever: The rocket launcher from Quake3 Arena.
Friedmud
Yes, sometimes people get screwed... and I'm all about helping people who get legitimately screwed by the system.
The problem is that people use these high profile cases of people getting screwed in order to say the whole system isn't fair. What I see is that a good majority of the people yell and scream about the system... and about how they aren't getting what they deserve... are just plain losers.
If some kids are put in a hard position because of their parents, that's just too bad. What we've created is a society where people are like "I don't have to save my money or make good choices because I know that my shit will get taken care of regardless"... and that's just wrong.
Look at what happened with the whole Katrina thing. There are _still_ people living in hotels on the government's dollar to this day. Almost all of whom no doubt were just leaching off society in the first place. They've been given tons of money and opportunities while the "good" citezens in New Orleans who were actually productive members of society and saved their money and paid their insurance got _nothing_ (well... nothing from the government). Why does being lazy automatically entitle you to other people's funds? Yes, it is in our best interest to help people when a natural dissaster strikes, if we can return them to being productive members of society fairly quickly then the money paid to do it will more than be made up for by the boost to the economy. The problem is when we dump a _lot_ of money into a group of people who were never productive members of society in the first place (and never wanted to be... the poor in New Orleans had pretty much figured out how to game the system so they could be as lazy as they wanted).... all we're doing is proving that you don't have to be responsible and save your money or pay your home owners insurance... That, to me, is just plain wrong.
Friedmud
I hate this crap...
The guy down the street should have made better life decisions... he should have studied harder in high school instead of getting drunk and knocking that girl up. He should have stayed in and studied while his college buddies were at that frat party (which later got busted for drugs and they all got thrown out of school). He should have worked harder at his desk job... so as to move up in the company or be able to transfer to another company. He shouldn't have overspent on those credit cards and saved his money instead, so he would be in a better financial position.
I just don't understand people that stand up for lazy people in this society. We all make decisions about how to live our life. If someone (or someone in their family tree... which is just as valid) has done better than me at that I don't hold it against them. However, when I see lazy asses spouting "It's not fair" it just burns my ass. Some people in this society look at their futures and make the right decisions in their life in order to provide the things they want/need in the future. It's not brain surgery and there is plenty of help along the way... but instead of making good decisions people would rather leech off the people who do work hard and have done well for themselves.
I personally have come from a lower middle class standing... and I've worked my _ass_ off to get where I am and to make sure that in the future I have the money/things my family and I need. I _know_ it can be done...
Friedmud
PS - to bring this back on topic I will say that I think Sony has become arrogant with their market position... and I think they're going to get a wakeup call with the PS3. Sure they will still sell a shit-ton of them... because like others have mentioned some people just have the money to throw at a machine like that... but I do think they're going to miss the core market with that price.
I myself will be picking up a Wii... I've got a gamecube now... and even though I don't play it too often (I like my computer better), I do enjoy the first party games and the party games with friends.
About the memory usage... did it ever occur to anyone that maybe firefox 2.0 is both bigger and slower because it might be compiled in DEBUG mode?
Comparing Betas on memory size and speed is just a dumb idea...
Friedmud
My wife and I just signed up for a low subscription plan (only 1 out at a time... but we got the one with no monthly max)... we usually get in about two movies every 9 days or so...
I've found that it's great to have a movie show up... before we were on Netflix it would be like "Hey do we have time to go get a movie tonight? Nah... we'd better do other stuff." With it showing up at your door it saves us a lot of time on actually going to get the movie, and it gives us an excuse to take time out of the rest of our activities in the next couple of days to watch it.
I know that life can get busy... but sometimes you just have to take timeout for yourself as well...
Friedmud
I'm in the middle of getting my Masters in Computational Engineering and Science ( http://ices.utexas.edu/ )...
;-) and decide for yourself if it's a good idea for _your_ future.
My main reason for going back after my undergraduate was for the money. With the job I have higher education is a must... most of the people that work there have PhD's.... and they pay for it too... When I get back I will get a hefty (think 5 digits) raise just for getting my Masters... and if I end up getting a PhD it will go up by about the same amount again... (Not too mention they pay me while I'm at school and pay for my school and send me to whatever college I want to go to... yeah it's a pretty good deal!)
Some people claim that there's no money in a Masters or PhD... but it all depends on what you're doing. If you're going to work in IT then there probably isn't much point in a graduate degree... in fact everything that I've heard from my buddies seems to suggest that just getting a graduate degree will make it more difficult to get an IT job (people don't want to pay for someone with a masters when they probably didn't need it for the job anyway). But on the other hand if you're working on the forefront of technology or any other industry then it pays to get a graduate degree and learn how to do research.
Learning how to read academic papers and turn them into useful products (be that code, financial reports, model airplanes... whatever) is a valuable asset, and something that you really get to hone in graduate school. I also think that the experience of working on a research team is invaluable. You get thrown in with a bunch of people with different reasons for being there, different backgrounds, different work styles and different attitudes... and you have to make it work... which is a very applicable skill to the "real world".
Of course, the other reason to get graduate degrees is to stay in academia. Academia isn't for me (I like to actually make end products that have direct impacts), but I am surrounded by people who make it their entire lives. It can be rewarding if you work hard at it (and man they do!), but like I say... it's just not for everyone.
So weigh the benefits and the detractors (you mean I have to _back_ to school!?!? like sit in classes again!??!?!! bah!
Friedmud
Thanks for the tip about the toolbar folder... my distro is Gentoo... so the choosing of the toolbar folder to be the root bookmark folder must be the default as it comes in the KDE source...
"I use KDE (on several differents OSes)"
Is there a way to use KDE in Windows? Yes I know about Cygwin and such... but I want to use KDE in Windows to launch _windows_ apps... and act as my general shell. I heard that with Qt4 it's going to be possible (because Qt4 has a GPL version for Windows) and I heard some were working on it... but I don't know how far along they are.
"I think you meant "extensions"" Sorry... yes, I did mean extensions.
I do know about system wide mouse gestures... but I've never been one for gestures. I much prefer the pie-menu extension... I wish KDE had builtin pie menus like it does gestures.
If I could use Konquerer in Windows... I'd probably give it another shot.
Friedmud
As an avid KDE user I'll give you my reason for using firefox: bookmarks.
Bookmarks are just _terrible_ in konquerer. Specifically the bookmark toolbar is just rediculous. I like to have just a few bookmarks in my toolbar and more in my Bookmarks menu... in Konquerer all bookmarks end up in the toolbar... which is just rediculous.
Couple this with the fact that I have to use several computers and OS's all day long (between dual-booting my desktop, my laptop, my wife's laptop, my school computer, my lab computer) and it is nice to be able to use the _exact_ same browsing interface on all of them (and with the Foxylicious plugin... have the exact same bookmarks in all of them) and those are my two main reasons for using FF.
The third reason is plugins. Are there even _any_ konquerer plugins? There are several I use all day long in FF (like Radial menus) that just feel wrong being without.
I tried to switch to konquerer (I'm a huge KDE fan) but it just didn't work. Yes it is fast, and renders well. I especially like how it uses my theme (even for buttons on webpages) and my font selections... and of course the KDE integration is great. But ultimately it wasn't enough to pull me away from FF.
Friedmud
You cannot compare iPod->Windows... it just doesn't work... Windows is a _monopoly_... that's the reason why having IE tied to it is bad for for competition in the browser arena...
iPod is not _yet_ a monopoly... and as such it doesn't matter what they tie to it.
Other people have used Car anaologies.... is it wrong to tie a Ford engine into a Mustang? _No_. Because the mustang doesn't have a monopoly on sports cars... therefore Ford can do as it pleases.
It's the same thing with the iPod... Apple doesn't yet have a Monopoly so let the free market decide what it likes. At the point where the _only_ device in the entire world that can reasonably play music is an iPod... then at that point you need to legislate what services Apple can tie to it. Until that point leave it alone!
Friedmud
I always heard that the reason it was illegal to use headphones in the car is that it would keep you from hearing sirens (either from cops pulling you over or ambulances/firetrucks/whatever trying to get through).
Have you _really_ never used a cell-phone in your car? If you haven't then you should try, it's really not as hard as you might think... just takes some concentration (on the driving that is).
Friedmud
"If iTunes had to open to other players, the iPod would have to compete with other portable players only on the grounds that it has the superior technology."
And the iPod would still be the #1 selling portable music player.
I actually don't believe that people are buying iPods for iTMS... it's a fun catch phrase... but honestly I think people buy iPods because they are "cool" and work well... and this iTMS thing come with it (part of the "working well" is being able to manage your music easily) that just happens to allow you to buy music online... which is just an added convenience to an already compelling product.
I have an iPod myself, and besides buying a few songs off iTMS when I first got it... I learned quickly that I wasn't willing to "pay the price" of Apple's DRM (for instance I make home movies on my machine... and like to use music I own as background music or music during the menus... but I couldn't do that with the songs I bought on iTMS).
So what did I do? Did I get all pissed at Apple and try to make them open their DRM? No... I just took my business elsewhere (I buy CD's for mainstream stuff, and eMusic.com for more obscure stuff). This is how the free market is supposed to work! The _market_ should decide what is right for them!
After getting a bad taste in my mouth from Apple's DRM I don't want to buy into DRM at all any more... which is why I won't be picking up an HD-DVD/Bluray player anytime soon. I've made my choice... I just don't want the crap... but I don't need the government to legislate other people's choices for them.
Friedmud
But does Apple have a Monopoly? I can't see it.
Sure it has a large portion of the market... but in reality if you want to choose a different company there are many different choices for players out there... and you can always buy CD's and rip them for whatever player you want (which is what I do... even though I have an iPod).
At the point where you cannot (reasonably) buy music any other way than through iTunes... then we will have a Monopoly. Right now there are still plenty of choices... so why the pre-mature action?
I mean... I don't like DRM as much as the next guy... but I say let Apple do what they want... if people don't want DRM they will take their business elsewhere.
Friedmud
I did look into this a little bit... and I agree I couldn't find an easy way to do it... but I admit I didn't look _too_ hard... I was already using the router as a bridge by that point and my wife was happy enough with the result that I didn't want to undo it ;-)
Friedmud
Actually yes... ya bastard! ;-)
Friedmud
From what I understand even the most "bricked" WRT54G(L) can still be telneted into at its lowest level and reflash the firmware.
I haven't tried it though.
Friedmud
You know that Linksys released the WRT54GL that is just like the old versions right? No reason to go with another vendor if Linksys has been working well for you (which it has for me).
Friedmud
I'm using DD-WRT in client-bridge mode on my V2.2... and it works beautifully (you can even scan the local area for networks and then just click the "Join" button next to them to get connected... very slick).
Don't know if the micro version supports this though.
Friedmud
Where did you order it from??
I just went through buying one of these and just searched for WRT54GL and found them all over the place. Ended up getting one from Amazon with free shipping.
Did you just not know that you needed to get the GL? Or did you specifically order a GL and just get a G?
Friedmud
I had lightening somehow take out my cable modem (which I rent) last weekend... it also fried the WAN port on my V2.2 WRT54G that was completely stock.
Needing a WAN port I went and bought another WRT54G (a new one at Best Buy that happens to be a V5)...
I knew that the WRT54G was hackable though, so I figured I would try to make some use out of the one with the dead WAN port. I nabbed the DD-WRT firmware and loaded it up... and on the first try it worked beautifully (well... I mean the firmware worked... I still didn't have a purpose for it yet).
I started looking at what the firmware could do and noticed the "client-bridge" wireless mode... meaning it could bridge two wired networks with a wireless link. I tried it out and sure enough it connected to my new V5 WRT54G without problem. Looking around my apartment I noticed a long ethernet cable running around the baseboards from where my cable modem and router sit (in my TV nook... where my ReplayTV is plugged into them) to where my server and desktop are.... and the thought came to me that I could use the "broken" WRT54G to bridge that gap instead (and make my wife happier... with less cords).
I hooked it up... and it's been working beautifully for a week... a very nice solution.
With how satisfied I was I thought it would be great to be able to hack my new one at some point in the future too... and when I found out that the V5 was difficult/impossible (at that time) to hack... and instead Linksys made a WRT54GL model that still ran linux and was hackable... I ordered one of those up (for about $10 more) and am planning on taking the V5 back to Best Buy as soon as the new one arrives from Amazon (later this week).
This news doesn't really change my mind about this... the WRT54GL is inherently a more hackable system (more memory and such) and should remain a good workhorse into the future.
The moral of all of these ramblings is that Linux is great! How did I come to that conclusion? Well... it's nothing except the open-sourceness of my old router's firmware that allowed me to still get utility out of it after part of it had failed. If it was some proprietary BS (like VxWorks) then it would have just been a plastic brick....
Friedmud
Make sure to give yourself enough time with it... make sure to go to http://www.kdelook.org/ and get some icons and a theme you like and spend time in the control panel getting everything to your liking.
I find that KDE takes more work to get like I want it.... but with all of it's features and configurability it surpasses Gnome after I spend that amount of time. Kind of a pay up front kinda deal.
Good luck! Have fun!
Friedmud