in terms of usability it's still light years behind Linux
Looks like you have not actually tried then. Usability is not the distinguising feature. (AFAICT Gnome is Gnome, and KDE is KDE, even on Solaris). If you mean the problem with *BSD is that "the file hierarchy is well defined, but I cant be bothered to read the docs, so I prefer one that is not" then that is probably also true. I admit that some of the directory names are not the most appropriate, and would not be used if you started from scratch, but the truth is, by leaving them alone, you can still re-use your skills from 1986.
If you weren't using Unix in 1986 - Get off my lawn
The BSD licence was explained to me as "You can do what the hell you like with this software, so long as you dont bother us. This specifically includes making babies and killing time... or is that killing babies and saving time, I forget."
Now even hippies agree that is freedom! (And if you ever find a way to shove a Gnu anywhere, I, personally, don't want to know about it).
i had slackware and a book and couldn't get it running so then switched to freebsd 2.2.2 and that installed without a book or anything
My experience too. I also tried Yggdrasil, and Red Hat, and several other distros. They were all unprofessional dross, while FreeBSD was just like on the VAX at work! NetBSD also installed, and was quite good on some kit.
However, AFAICR, the 10MB root partition was to handle "feature" that BIOSes of the day could not boot from larger partitions.
The limited partition size issue was that/var had a tendency to fill with error messages if you had cron based problems - eg creating one error per second. A reboot MIGHT fix that if you had a suitable startup script. There were no actual worms that I ever heard of. A larger partition meant you would collect more error messages before it crashed, and that is true for all un*ces to this day.
You could, of course, have the partitions any size you like, or install the whole OS in/, but even Ubuntu is not that sad!
but maybe you would have to RTFM (/usr/share/doc/*)
B&N got on the Internet bandwagon early, with a decent strategy.
Yes... as I recall, for a while, whatever you searched for, the answer was always "Barnes and Noble" or "Alamo Car Rentals", neither of which had a presence where I was!
The police figures are heavily skewed by the policy of "rounding up the usual suspects" and the fact that not everyone who is angry and mistrusts the police shows it by rioting. However, the atmosphere of the alienated affects everyone.
I live in London. I cannot walk three miles and be out of range of a TV camera once I leave my home. I am not sure what I am safe from.
My previous house was on a street known as "the Murder Mile" - it was fhe scene of two well known incidents: one in which one policeman shot another, and the other in which a policeman shot a man carying a table leg, in the mistaken belief it was a shotgun.
A lot of people round here believe the police are every bit as dangerous as the drug dealers, hence the rioting.
While you couldn't actually cut your throat with it, it made you want to! I took mine back in the 14 day cooling off period, and got a Nokia (E61, I think).
Except for the fact that in a lot of places, data over the phione is faster than broadband. Use your phone to connct to Netflix. Watch on your account at your friend's house.
Or, using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, use the phone for graphics design for your Make-A-Bot, or PCB layout.
Next year is definitely NOT going to be the year of the desktop computer, Linux or otherwise.
The main problem was government "assistance". Harold WIlson's soviet style policy of merging Spurs and Arsenal, turned out to be a bad idea, as in the car industry. Winston Churchill said "export or die" and when Mrs Thatcher decided to back the "die" option it was the final nail in the coffin. We are still sufering from that today.
In reality the UK was massively ahead of the USA in software until Mrs Thatcher. Under her government there was a barrage of media coverage encouraging the public to believe that the USA was more advanced, and the City, who would rather believe the likes Murdock than find out the truth, dumped their inventments in the UK's software companies.
Unfortunately, this also coincided with the rise of the PC, which meant that there were a lot of new users who also believed this guff, and the British software industry was almost wiped out.
You can call 112 here in Europe even without a SIM card
Quite possibly. However, what service is at the other end is somewhat dependent on your service provider. Here in the UK, Emergency is 999, and 112 is likely to get the sales dept of the SIM provider or some other service you dont want.
You obviously have no clue. If you are involved in crime, the police know all about it - its on your crime sheet. However, if you are innocent, then they have no idea what you are doing! Now that is deeply suspicious behaviour, and warrants serious attention.
Do not mistake "widely used" for popular. Most of the JS users have no choice. Its not that they actually, positively chose it. They are lumbered with it, and had to use it. If that is your definition of "popular", maybe you should go for congress. "Widely despised" is not "popular" in my dictionary.
Why not learn Snobol? Someone has to, and it could be you!
I'm amazed by how many Slashdot computer geeks still feel a strong affinity for running whatever the distros set for a default in spite of the obvious long-term negative outlook
As an authentic, card carrying SCG, I routinely introduce others to the wonderful world of Linux, most of whom are impoverished students, desperately clining to to a life-expired WinXP box bursting with viruses. For the past 4 or so years, I have been able to take a CD, boot from it, show them its really not more different than moving to Vista, except that it actually works.
Install it,
???
Prophet
Well actually, give them a few hours of practice, and return a fortnight later, and add the features they have missed.
I recently tried to upgrade my own Ubuntu machine. Unity is not compatible with my graphics card - Ubuntu actually said so, but installed it anyway as the default WM, leaving the machine unusable. I eventually managed to reinstall it avoiding the evil.
Then I went to install it on someone else's laptop. The default Unity installation is not actually usable. Someone's idea of intuitive is presumably based on some world from an arcade game I have never seen, and I was not able so identify what any of the icons were (I did eventually recognise the firefox one).
I was not able to configure the system in a sensible amount of time - and the lack of hierarchical menu structure was a total show stopper, and the owner demanded a return to XP.
There you have the problem: XP is MILES better than Unity! If that is the best they can do, then "batshit crazy" is indeed an accurate assessment of Canonical.
Anyone who thinks UI that requires mousovers t work needs a brain tranplant. 30 years of computing should have taught people that menus (with WORDS in) are readable and understandable by everyone who understands the relevant language. Icons are often understood by no one. (You can visit http://www.websitesthatsuck.com/ if you reall NEED to known how not to do it, but it seems the Unity developers already did.
Unix's success is that it can be customised. If you want locked down stuff, Unix will do it - or you can buy "the other brand".
I have no problem with Unity as an alternative, but before they make it a default, it needs to at least half-work on older machines, and be usable when its installed - which means hierarchical menus structure is BLOODY essential!
Slashdot Mirror
Looks like you have not actually tried then. Usability is not the distinguising feature. (AFAICT Gnome is Gnome, and KDE is KDE, even on Solaris). If you mean the problem with *BSD is that "the file hierarchy is well defined, but I cant be bothered to read the docs, so I prefer one that is not" then that is probably also true. I admit that some of the directory names are not the most appropriate, and would not be used if you started from scratch, but the truth is, by leaving them alone, you can still re-use your skills from 1986.
If you weren't using Unix in 1986 - Get off my lawn
Now even hippies agree that is freedom! (And if you ever find a way to shove a Gnu anywhere, I, personally, don't want to know about it).
My experience too. I also tried Yggdrasil, and Red Hat, and several other distros. They were all unprofessional dross, while FreeBSD was just like on the VAX at work! NetBSD also installed, and was quite good on some kit.
However, AFAICR, the 10MB root partition was to handle "feature" that BIOSes of the day could not boot from larger partitions.
The limited partition size issue was that /var had a tendency to fill with error messages if you had cron based problems - eg creating one error per second. A reboot MIGHT fix that if you had a suitable startup script. There were no actual worms that I ever heard of. A larger partition meant you would collect more error messages before it crashed, and that is true for all un*ces to this day.
You could, of course, have the partitions any size you like, or install the whole OS in /, but even Ubuntu is not that sad!
but maybe you would have to RTFM (/usr/share/doc/*)
And still is, but we are all using Linux now because, well, we are all using Linux now.
See tagline below ...
And to get it, you had to buy a book that cost more than I paid for a used car that year. (Yes, I did buy the book too!)
Do your duty: The best reason to have grandchildren is so they can install Cyanogenmod for you.
Its a typo: he meant 9%
Yes ... as I recall, for a while, whatever you searched for, the answer was always "Barnes and Noble" or "Alamo Car Rentals", neither of which had a presence where I was!
The previous UK government thought 1984 was their manifesto, which kind of colours people's perceptions.
The police figures are heavily skewed by the policy of "rounding up the usual suspects" and the fact that not everyone who is angry and mistrusts the police shows it by rioting. However, the atmosphere of the alienated affects everyone.
cos its cheapest!
My previous house was on a street known as "the Murder Mile" - it was fhe scene of two well known incidents: one in which one policeman shot another, and the other in which a policeman shot a man carying a table leg, in the mistaken belief it was a shotgun.
A lot of people round here believe the police are every bit as dangerous as the drug dealers, hence the rioting.
While you couldn't actually cut your throat with it, it made you want to! I took mine back in the 14 day cooling off period, and got a Nokia (E61, I think).
Or, using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, use the phone for graphics design for your Make-A-Bot, or PCB layout.
Next year is definitely NOT going to be the year of the desktop computer, Linux or otherwise.
In reality the UK was massively ahead of the USA in software until Mrs Thatcher. Under her government there was a barrage of media coverage encouraging the public to believe that the USA was more advanced, and the City, who would rather believe the likes Murdock than find out the truth, dumped their inventments in the UK's software companies.
Unfortunately, this also coincided with the rise of the PC, which meant that there were a lot of new users who also believed this guff, and the British software industry was almost wiped out.
Of course some old people think that some modern computing ideas are stupid: eg social media is not for anyone who thinks privacy is useful
Unix user since 1978 - Now get off my lawn.
must fix that spell checker!
Quite possibly. However, what service is at the other end is somewhat dependent on your service provider. Here in the UK, Emergency is 999, and 112 is likely to get the sales dept of the SIM provider or some other service you dont want.
You obviously have no clue. If you are involved in crime, the police know all about it - its on your crime sheet. However, if you are innocent, then they have no idea what you are doing! Now that is deeply suspicious behaviour, and warrants serious attention.
The 1880's called: They want their speculation back!
Or decreasing its Libido!
Why not learn Snobol? Someone has to, and it could be you!
As an authentic, card carrying SCG, I routinely introduce others to the wonderful world of Linux, most of whom are impoverished students, desperately clining to to a life-expired WinXP box bursting with viruses. For the past 4 or so years, I have been able to take a CD, boot from it, show them its really not more different than moving to Vista, except that it actually works.
Install it,
???
Prophet
Well actually, give them a few hours of practice, and return a fortnight later, and add the features they have missed.
I recently tried to upgrade my own Ubuntu machine. Unity is not compatible with my graphics card - Ubuntu actually said so, but installed it anyway as the default WM, leaving the machine unusable. I eventually managed to reinstall it avoiding the evil.
Then I went to install it on someone else's laptop. The default Unity installation is not actually usable. Someone's idea of intuitive is presumably based on some world from an arcade game I have never seen, and I was not able so identify what any of the icons were (I did eventually recognise the firefox one).
I was not able to configure the system in a sensible amount of time - and the lack of hierarchical menu structure was a total show stopper, and the owner demanded a return to XP.
There you have the problem: XP is MILES better than Unity! If that is the best they can do, then "batshit crazy" is indeed an accurate assessment of Canonical.
Anyone who thinks UI that requires mousovers t work needs a brain tranplant. 30 years of computing should have taught people that menus (with WORDS in) are readable and understandable by everyone who understands the relevant language. Icons are often understood by no one. (You can visit http://www.websitesthatsuck.com/ if you reall NEED to known how not to do it, but it seems the Unity developers already did.
Unix's success is that it can be customised. If you want locked down stuff, Unix will do it - or you can buy "the other brand".
I have no problem with Unity as an alternative, but before they make it a default, it needs to at least half-work on older machines, and be usable when its installed - which means hierarchical menus structure is BLOODY essential!
Mod parent up
(If you dont know those things, try google).