from the article: whichever distribution they [Dell] chose, it seemed most customers wanted another one...
This is a genuine problem in buying a laptop (as I understand it) -- not only do they have to pick a distribution (Debian, RH, etc) but also the role the computer will be fulfilling. If I'm going to be putting in a firewall, I don't want all kinds of other junk (web, mail, ftp servers, for instance; or games; or word processing programs) installed. If I'm getting a desktop for my use home office use, i don't want any type of server but I need the word processing programs -- how can they configure a computer properly? This isn't as much of an issue in the Windows world because most software costs money. The only real exception to this is RealPlayer, AOL, etc that come with the computer, and then we complain about the junk that is on our computers...
So, anyone have any thoughts on how companies like Dell can ship Linux computers, keeping in mind that in general only their more advanced users want Linux; and those people don't want any extra cruft on their systems?
"Back in the day" everyone used Altavista. The boolean searches were unparalleled and it found things no other search engine could find. I also would pay a small amount to keep Google going. i haven't found anything that comes close to Google's ability to find what I'm looking for. But for years I said the same thing about Altavista...I'm not saying Google's time is up yet, but there have been others before that haven't fared very well.
(the first step in promulgating regulations)
Oh yea, well you are a vestisio.... See, I can make up words too.
the difference is that Syntari's word appears in the first dictionary I referenced...
hmm... seems the best way to mandate HDTV is to start giving away the current TV spectrum.
How true. Something that didn't even occur to me until I read your comment.
But I guess this can also open up true "public" TV stations, broadcasting for anyone who has an "old-fashioned" TV set...
I assume that the frequencies would remain regulated, just not licensed[1] - the FCC rules would probably prohibit such a thing. You'd have to put out a pretty low-power signal in order to not interfere with the new wireless service or catch the FCC's attention.
1 - regulated means you can't put a 200 megawatt transmitter on the cordless phone frequencies - it would jam all your neighbor's phones and be quite illegal. Licensed means you need to know something and go to effort to get it. Such as a ham radio license, a radiotelephone operator's license, or any other kind of technical certification needed to show that you are proficiant, capabile, and knowledgeable enough to receive the license.
If they open up these frequencies now, doesn't this mean that these areas are never going to get tv signals over the air ?
No, the advent of DTV [2] assures that this will happen. The FCC, NAB, and networks seem to be pushing DTV on us - a lot of people I know don't want it (it means being forced to buy new TV sets, digital-rights management, etc). But the FCC's clear on the matter; we're going to have DTV (eventually[2]) - DTV uses a different set of frequencies so within a relatively short amount of time, all the standard television frequencies we use now will become quiet and unused.
And, if these frequencies aren't being used now, doesn't this imply that the utility of e.g. wireless is somewhat diminished in these areas, if only because it seems likely that there aren't that many people there ??
That depends on what type of wireless system this is talking about - and I just don't know. Short range, say; between houses or you and your neighbors house, no problem. Long range - sure, your comment has merit to some extent, but remember that most TV frequencies are taken up. This is due to interference, signal propagation, and other things that prevent two tv stations on adjacent channels from being anywhere near each other. The same problem would plague high-powered/long-range wireless services.
footnotes: [1] - DTV includes such services as HDTV
[2] - the date's been pushed back from (i think) 2004 to 2007, and probably will be pushed back again.
Re:Before you send anything back...
on
Windows Refund Day II
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
yeah; this is true. I ran in to this when I had a hard drive failure (it was a physical problem - i heard clunks and other dying hdd noises). The Toshiba techs wouldn't troubleshoot unless I could get my linux partition blown away and run the restore CD - impossible since the drive was failing. They insisted on running scandisk and getting bad block reports three times (which amounted to more than five since the one tech deleted all my previous entries.
By the time it was over I'd spent three weeks running scandisk continuously (because it takes like a day and a half to run when it finds bad sectors). I was down my only computer for over four weeks, right before finals week, too. And the techs were mostly idiots, except for the one fellow I talked to who helped me out a lot.
And for keeping tabs on what is on which disk... I've been using a freeware program called "Cathy" (I don't have any links)...Although I don't know whether it'll do DVD's, I haven't tried.
Cathy is avalible for download here. According to thesesites it will handle many disk formats ("CD-ROMs, LS120, Iomega Zip and Jaz disks, or even diskettes"). The link to the home page is broken.
The camera zoomed in and tried to focus on the tiny text, but to no avail
Well, not having seen the episode in question I don't want to come across as being critical, but in general there are a number of things that can be done that would have solved this problem. For example; all professional lenses I've ever seen have a macro setting that allows one to focus on close objects, but requires a few seconds of tweaking the focus to get just right. But a scan converter and direct output of the computer's display would be better. The local news has something like this - they can zoom in on parts of their web page to show where you can find more information, etc. Maybe they weren't prepared for this; but I'd think a network like TechTV would be prepared to show screenshots...
The Screen Savers host rolled his eyes and made a snide comment
Again, I haven't seen the show so I don't know what was said, but it sounds like a technical problem or lack of planning is what caused the 'problem' - not chrisd or Linux. Any eye rolling or snide comments would have been completely out of line.
viewers were referred to the show's website to find a copy of this magical command sequence
This is what should have happened in the first place. Most people aren't going to sit in front of their TV with a laptop or wireless keyboard typing in everything that happens - it happens too fast and besides, most people are too slow at typing and following along with things. Having the commands posted online should have been planned from the beginning. Maybe a nice short article or tutorial explaining things, for those who missed the segment but catch it online. That's how I see the internet(1) being used in congunction with conventianal media such as TV.
footnote:
1 - yeah; I know 'internet' *should* be capitalized but it looks weird
When I clicked over to bath and body works to buy a gift for my fiance (this scented soap that she loves) a few weeks ago there wasn't anything there except a single placeholding "coming soon" page. Looks like they've put something else out there now, but I would have expected to be able to order online, have it shipped and never have to set foot in the store. Oh, well, brick and mortar doesn't scare me, it's just that I don't get off campus much.
copyright? you cant copyright a price any more than you can copyright an idea or a word.
Sorry, your use of the word "a" violates a copyright I've got. Prior use and all that. Since you've used it twice, cough up $200 and send it to 742 Evergreen Terrace, $mycity $mystate.
Having identical copies of routers kicking around is extremely useful, but cost effectiveness comes into play
Not just cost effectiveness...I would think that if something's running that brings down the first network, switching everything over to the second network would cause the second network go to down just like the first. No, IMHO a second network is not any type of redundancy except for network hardware failure, which is easy to fix by having a few spare parts laying around and swapping if a problem pops up.
Or it could be like the old Asante hubs we used to have (3 or 4 years ago) where I went to high school..every time there was a thunderstorm, we'd loose a few. Asante was really good about replacing them, but we went around to each of the closets and at the very least had to re-start most of the hubs. There was always that one closet we'd forget and get phone calls later that day...
I'm considering writing a program specifically to organize thousands of pictures, allowing you to designate "groups" (eg, directories) for pictures and move pictures into a "group" using definable keystrokes (eg, "b" -> moves file to "blondes/", "r" -> moves file to "redheads/", etc.). Of course, it displays the next picture immediately upon a keystroke and it decodes the JPEG data for the next image while you are examining the current image, etc.
Hey dude, I'm not in to porn at all but would find a program like that incredibly useful for sorting pictures from a digital camera, or the hundred or so desktop pictures I've got (mostly NASA stuff). I seriously would consider even helping you out with such a project if you decide to go with it. Definetly let me know if you find anything like it or develop it.
funny how sorting your porn is motivation enough for such a long comment that you posted and for so much dedication to the world of image-sorting and storage.
You seem quite knowledgable and so I'll ask another question of you - how does one creat a PS file under Windows? is it at all useful - I thought PS files were a pretty much unix-only thing, and at that; rarely used in favor of, say, PDF, et al.
Is there a difference in functionality between PDF and PS?
The interesting part (to me) of your comment wasn't that you have similar problems in Australia (even though I find the way some people in America are so US-centric downright annoying), but that Windows gives you the same problem the parent poster was complaining Linux gives him here in the states. So, in a not-terribly serious (or intending to start a flamewar) way, it seems that Microsoft and Mac are US-centric, Linux has the rest of the world compatability down pat.
Ah, I see. Thanks MrResistor for your comments. I was under the impression that Distiller was the dummy printer - not having used them, and not having any interest in paying $250 for what would amount to once a month use by a student for things that are now done as.rtf or.jpgs; I didn't bother to learn enough about Distiller to realize it was seperate from the dummy printer. The dummer printer seems to be a really cool option; I've used that once or twice several years ago and it worked flawlessly. It would be nice if there were a free replacement for that (sighs wishfully).
Forgive my ignorance about PDF files. I know the creator of these files is Adobe Distiller - is there a standard creator *other* than this (last I checked) pay product? A quick search reveals that there are tons of links, but none seem terribly...reputable. Obviously I have checked Google, but I want other's input - what's the best way to create PDF files? Is it worth the money for Distiller?
While I'm posting anyway; what's the big deal about PDF? The files aren't editable (AFAIK) - what's the standard for *editable* text?.RTF?.DOC? I laugh at the second one. I've sent.doc files from one version of word to another and it's messed up the format. So that's not seeming to be a good method of editing text..RTF, to my knowledge, is the best way to pass around editable text (other than as, say, plain text) - is this true?
I think I've become cynical in my old age, people still think CD's are the end all for music reproduction (Simply because they are digital), and I see it happening to more and more mediums.
Now you've just made my curious - you *imply* that you don't agree that CD's are the end all for music reproduction - what is? or haven't we reached the end-all yet? I agree with what I think you're saying; that is, most people are striving for that next bit of technology (HD-TV or digital radio, portable MP3 players, etc) regarding those as the end-all - Obviously there will continue to be improvements to things throughout the future (although getting away from analog NTSC video has taken like 50 years aside from the addition of color, which was a relavitely minor change to the standard as it didn't improve the picture quality/resolution). However, the standards for improvement are changing. What's the next step up from cd-quality portable mp3 players? bigger drives, less lossy compression...but nothing huge. the transition from cassette to mp3, on the other hand, is huge.
In general these types of devices are just stuck on a particular frequency, and generally it's at the very low end of the FM broadcast radio band (88.5 - 89.9, I think) and there's little interference there because that area of the FM broadcast band was set aside for non-commercial stations - mostly college stations and PBS/etc. The transmitters I've seen in the past they've always had a switch to manually selecte between two or three frequencies. Apparently this just finds *any* frequency that is avalible, and I assume it's actively scanning for new frequencies as one drives. scroll down to my-fi
Honestly, do you really believe that the switch to digital radio will fix that? Those are bandwidth issues not signal issues.
(makes one wonder what are we going to do once everything we do is in binary)
Interestingly enough; a digital signal is either there - in all of the orignal transmitted quality - or it's not. In TV it's called the Cliff Effect and is part of why digital is becoming popular. Ever have a radio or TV station where the signal was full of snow and static? That won't happen with digital signals.
So, once devices such as this transmit a digital signal; it may be poorer quality ( = lesser bandwidth, say 64kHz compared to 128) than a "real" FM transmission station, but you'll recieve the signal in as high of quality as it sent out, thanks to the Cliff effect.
This is done by a client which calulates a (nearly) unique disc ID and then queries the database.
Given a nearly unique disc ID; why do I sometimes get the wrong match or have to choose - I don't use this service (I use freedb) much but I've gotten at least three that were just plain and utterly, completely wrong and many more that give me prompts to choose between several (sometimes they're essentially the same choices, others they're unique).
My question is; how's this happen?
Re:Thanks Micheal, you're gonna /.
on
Root Zone Changed
·
· Score: 1
No, seriously - what happens if someone launches a large scale DoS or DDoS attack on a few of the root name servers? People's querys start timing out and no one can go anywhere?
Slashdot Mirror
from the article: whichever distribution they [Dell] chose, it seemed most customers wanted another one...
This is a genuine problem in buying a laptop (as I understand it) -- not only do they have to pick a distribution (Debian, RH, etc) but also the role the computer will be fulfilling. If I'm going to be putting in a firewall, I don't want all kinds of other junk (web, mail, ftp servers, for instance; or games; or word processing programs) installed. If I'm getting a desktop for my use home office use, i don't want any type of server but I need the word processing programs -- how can they configure a computer properly? This isn't as much of an issue in the Windows world because most software costs money. The only real exception to this is RealPlayer, AOL, etc that come with the computer, and then we complain about the junk that is on our computers...
So, anyone have any thoughts on how companies like Dell can ship Linux computers, keeping in mind that in general only their more advanced users want Linux; and those people don't want any extra cruft on their systems?
People love google...Everyone is now using it...
"Back in the day" everyone used Altavista. The boolean searches were unparalleled and it found things no other search engine could find. I also would pay a small amount to keep Google going. i haven't found anything that comes close to Google's ability to find what I'm looking for. But for years I said the same thing about Altavista...I'm not saying Google's time is up yet, but there have been others before that haven't fared very well.
(the first step in promulgating regulations) Oh yea, well you are a vestisio.... See, I can make up words too. the difference is that Syntari's word appears in the first dictionary I referenced...
hmm... seems the best way to mandate HDTV is to start giving away the current TV spectrum.
How true. Something that didn't even occur to me until I read your comment.
But I guess this can also open up true "public" TV stations, broadcasting for anyone who has an "old-fashioned" TV set...
I assume that the frequencies would remain regulated, just not licensed[1] - the FCC rules would probably prohibit such a thing. You'd have to put out a pretty low-power signal in order to not interfere with the new wireless service or catch the FCC's attention.
1 - regulated means you can't put a 200 megawatt transmitter on the cordless phone frequencies - it would jam all your neighbor's phones and be quite illegal. Licensed means you need to know something and go to effort to get it. Such as a ham radio license, a radiotelephone operator's license, or any other kind of technical certification needed to show that you are proficiant, capabile, and knowledgeable enough to receive the license.
If they open up these frequencies now, doesn't this mean that these areas are never going to get tv signals over the air ?
No, the advent of DTV [2] assures that this will happen. The FCC, NAB, and networks seem to be pushing DTV on us - a lot of people I know don't want it (it means being forced to buy new TV sets, digital-rights management, etc). But the FCC's clear on the matter; we're going to have DTV (eventually[2]) - DTV uses a different set of frequencies so within a relatively short amount of time, all the standard television frequencies we use now will become quiet and unused.
And, if these frequencies aren't being used now, doesn't this imply that the utility of e.g. wireless is somewhat diminished in these areas, if only because it seems likely that there aren't that many people there ??
That depends on what type of wireless system this is talking about - and I just don't know. Short range, say; between houses or you and your neighbors house, no problem. Long range - sure, your comment has merit to some extent, but remember that most TV frequencies are taken up. This is due to interference, signal propagation, and other things that prevent two tv stations on adjacent channels from being anywhere near each other. The same problem would plague high-powered/long-range wireless services.
footnotes:
[1] - DTV includes such services as HDTV
[2] - the date's been pushed back from (i think) 2004 to 2007, and probably will be pushed back again.
yeah; this is true. I ran in to this when I had a hard drive failure (it was a physical problem - i heard clunks and other dying hdd noises). The Toshiba techs wouldn't troubleshoot unless I could get my linux partition blown away and run the restore CD - impossible since the drive was failing. They insisted on running scandisk and getting bad block reports three times (which amounted to more than five since the one tech deleted all my previous entries.
By the time it was over I'd spent three weeks running scandisk continuously (because it takes like a day and a half to run when it finds bad sectors). I was down my only computer for over four weeks, right before finals week, too. And the techs were mostly idiots, except for the one fellow I talked to who helped me out a lot.
And for keeping tabs on what is on which disk... I've been using a freeware program called "Cathy" (I don't have any links)...Although I don't know whether it'll do DVD's, I haven't tried.
Cathy is avalible for download here. According to these sites it will handle many disk formats ("CD-ROMs, LS120, Iomega Zip and Jaz disks, or even diskettes"). The link to the home page is broken.
The camera zoomed in and tried to focus on the tiny text, but to no avail
Well, not having seen the episode in question I don't want to come across as being critical, but in general there are a number of things that can be done that would have solved this problem. For example; all professional lenses I've ever seen have a macro setting that allows one to focus on close objects, but requires a few seconds of tweaking the focus to get just right. But a scan converter and direct output of the computer's display would be better. The local news has something like this - they can zoom in on parts of their web page to show where you can find more information, etc. Maybe they weren't prepared for this; but I'd think a network like TechTV would be prepared to show screenshots...
The Screen Savers host rolled his eyes and made a snide comment
Again, I haven't seen the show so I don't know what was said, but it sounds like a technical problem or lack of planning is what caused the 'problem' - not chrisd or Linux. Any eye rolling or snide comments would have been completely out of line.
viewers were referred to the show's website to find a copy of this magical command sequence
This is what should have happened in the first place. Most people aren't going to sit in front of their TV with a laptop or wireless keyboard typing in everything that happens - it happens too fast and besides, most people are too slow at typing and following along with things. Having the commands posted online should have been planned from the beginning. Maybe a nice short article or tutorial explaining things, for those who missed the segment but catch it online. That's how I see the internet(1) being used in congunction with conventianal media such as TV.
footnote:
1 - yeah; I know 'internet' *should* be capitalized but it looks weird
When I clicked over to bath and body works to buy a gift for my fiance (this scented soap that she loves) a few weeks ago there wasn't anything there except a single placeholding "coming soon" page. Looks like they've put something else out there now, but I would have expected to be able to order online, have it shipped and never have to set foot in the store. Oh, well, brick and mortar doesn't scare me, it's just that I don't get off campus much.
But.. OpenBSD is more secure! Just try cracking my OpenBSD based webserver at 198.247.175.96 try cracking mine at 127.0.0.1
copyright? you cant copyright a price any more than you can copyright an idea or a word.
Sorry, your use of the word "a" violates a copyright I've got. Prior use and all that. Since you've used it twice, cough up $200 and send it to 742 Evergreen Terrace, $mycity $mystate.
Maybe you mean this outage:
Misplaced break statement in AT&T's long distance software, causing 60,000 (that's sixty-thousand) people to loose long distance service for 9 hours?
Am I the only person getting tired of story submitters using Slashdot to support their personal agendas?
Maybe it's just a discussion-provoking question? I honestly don't know what's behind this submitter asking that question...
Having identical copies of routers kicking around is extremely useful, but cost effectiveness comes into play
Not just cost effectiveness...I would think that if something's running that brings down the first network, switching everything over to the second network would cause the second network go to down just like the first. No, IMHO a second network is not any type of redundancy except for network hardware failure, which is easy to fix by having a few spare parts laying around and swapping if a problem pops up.
Or it could be like the old Asante hubs we used to have (3 or 4 years ago) where I went to high school..every time there was a thunderstorm, we'd loose a few. Asante was really good about replacing them, but we went around to each of the closets and at the very least had to re-start most of the hubs. There was always that one closet we'd forget and get phone calls later that day...
It will even wash your car while you sleep!
seriously though; what are the advantages to this statement that was made:
Reiser 4 is very incredible: files can be directories, so things like ACL's and UNIX permissions are stored in actual files!
I'm considering writing a program specifically to organize thousands of pictures, allowing you to designate "groups" (eg, directories) for pictures and move pictures into a "group" using definable keystrokes (eg, "b" -> moves file to "blondes/", "r" -> moves file to "redheads/", etc.). Of course, it displays the next picture immediately upon a keystroke and it decodes the JPEG data for the next image while you are examining the current image, etc.
Hey dude, I'm not in to porn at all but would find a program like that incredibly useful for sorting pictures from a digital camera, or the hundred or so desktop pictures I've got (mostly NASA stuff). I seriously would consider even helping you out with such a project if you decide to go with it. Definetly let me know if you find anything like it or develop it.
funny how sorting your porn is motivation enough for such a long comment that you posted and for so much dedication to the world of image-sorting and storage.
You seem quite knowledgable and so I'll ask another question of you - how does one creat a PS file under Windows? is it at all useful - I thought PS files were a pretty much unix-only thing, and at that; rarely used in favor of, say, PDF, et al.
Is there a difference in functionality between PDF and PS?
The interesting part (to me) of your comment wasn't that you have similar problems in Australia (even though I find the way some people in America are so US-centric downright annoying), but that Windows gives you the same problem the parent poster was complaining Linux gives him here in the states. So, in a not-terribly serious (or intending to start a flamewar) way, it seems that Microsoft and Mac are US-centric, Linux has the rest of the world compatability down pat.
Ah, I see. Thanks MrResistor for your comments. I was under the impression that Distiller was the dummy printer - not having used them, and not having any interest in paying $250 for what would amount to once a month use by a student for things that are now done as .rtf or .jpgs; I didn't bother to learn enough about Distiller to realize it was seperate from the dummy printer. The dummer printer seems to be a really cool option; I've used that once or twice several years ago and it worked flawlessly. It would be nice if there were a free replacement for that (sighs wishfully).
thanks again for your comments.
Forgive my ignorance about PDF files. I know the creator of these files is Adobe Distiller - is there a standard creator *other* than this (last I checked) pay product? A quick search reveals that there are tons of links, but none seem terribly...reputable. Obviously I have checked Google, but I want other's input - what's the best way to create PDF files? Is it worth the money for Distiller?
.RTF? .DOC? I laugh at the second one. I've sent .doc files from one version of word to another and it's messed up the format. So that's not seeming to be a good method of editing text. .RTF, to my knowledge, is the best way to pass around editable text (other than as, say, plain text) - is this true?
While I'm posting anyway; what's the big deal about PDF? The files aren't editable (AFAIK) - what's the standard for *editable* text?
thanks
I think I've become cynical in my old age, people still think CD's are the end all for music reproduction (Simply because they are digital), and I see it happening to more and more mediums.
Now you've just made my curious - you *imply* that you don't agree that CD's are the end all for music reproduction - what is? or haven't we reached the end-all yet? I agree with what I think you're saying; that is, most people are striving for that next bit of technology (HD-TV or digital radio, portable MP3 players, etc) regarding those as the end-all - Obviously there will continue to be improvements to things throughout the future (although getting away from analog NTSC video has taken like 50 years aside from the addition of color, which was a relavitely minor change to the standard as it didn't improve the picture quality/resolution). However, the standards for improvement are changing. What's the next step up from cd-quality portable mp3 players? bigger drives, less lossy compression...but nothing huge. the transition from cassette to mp3, on the other hand, is huge.
just my $0.02
In general these types of devices are just stuck on a particular frequency, and generally it's at the very low end of the FM broadcast radio band (88.5 - 89.9, I think) and there's little interference there because that area of the FM broadcast band was set aside for non-commercial stations - mostly college stations and PBS/etc. The transmitters I've seen in the past they've always had a switch to manually selecte between two or three frequencies. Apparently this just finds *any* frequency that is avalible, and I assume it's actively scanning for new frequencies as one drives. scroll down to my-fi
Honestly, do you really believe that the switch to digital radio will fix that? Those are bandwidth issues not signal issues.
(makes one wonder what are we going to do once everything we do is in binary)
Interestingly enough; a digital signal is either there - in all of the orignal transmitted quality - or it's not. In TV it's called the Cliff Effect and is part of why digital is becoming popular. Ever have a radio or TV station where the signal was full of snow and static? That won't happen with digital signals.
So, once devices such as this transmit a digital signal; it may be poorer quality ( = lesser bandwidth, say 64kHz compared to 128) than a "real" FM transmission station, but you'll recieve the signal in as high of quality as it sent out, thanks to the Cliff effect.
This is done by a client which calulates a (nearly) unique disc ID and then queries the database.
Given a nearly unique disc ID; why do I sometimes get the wrong match or have to choose - I don't use this service (I use freedb) much but I've gotten at least three that were just plain and utterly, completely wrong and many more that give me prompts to choose between several (sometimes they're essentially the same choices, others they're unique).
My question is; how's this happen?
No, seriously - what happens if someone launches a large scale DoS or DDoS attack on a few of the root name servers? People's querys start timing out and no one can go anywhere?