Let us put this into perspective a little:
Redhat is showing what Microsoft truely is, just like the Cigarette companies were exposed for what they were, correct?
Well, people will still smoke and use windows (which I seem to be doing both, right now...oops).
(**warning**
Distrubing and potentially imagery ahead.
If you are of a weak constitution or don't wish to feel the need for a self labotomy don't read the following, please
**end warning**)
This settlement is a complete sham, and everyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together knows it.
The "sick and disgusting part" is the menage a trois of the CEO's of Intel, Microsoft and Dell.
Let me guess that:
Intel is going to make a "special education" chip at "market value" from however many pre-trial years ago.
It'll probably be a brain dead P4 (oxymoron, I know, bear with me) at 3X the price for the "pre-trial value"...say 600 dollars.
Dell who will probably be (wink wink nudge nudge) "donating" the hardware will probably be getting an even more obscenely "favoring contract" from both Intel and Microsoft will put together a 150 bucks worth of lefover parts and charge 300.
Microsoft is putting on, what was it?...XP home edition? Capable of networking with NETBUI only (if my memory serves) for the valuation of 100 bucks.
There is your $1000 dollar machine, my friends.
Yes I am being cynical, but I am probably dead on as well.
The CEO of this Menage a Trois did not get where they are by "going it alone" much less "helping thier fellow man" or "some philanthropic generosity", far, far from it.
It is not called the "Wintel duopoly" for nothing.
Where does Dell fit in? Heh, every 'circle jerk' needs a pivot man...guess who.
My opinion, standard disclaimer, and all that.
Oh, and if the Redhat deal is not taken seriously, when the pc's are delivered to school someone should make a fake news paper with the Hindenberg disaster and the "first pc" being delivered photos with the headline "Oh! The Humanity!".
If you think about it for a second, most J6P's would not consider this and neither would most hardcore overclockers either.
J6P would not do this, ever. Hardcore or Extreem OC'rs either, because they would build their own quite frankly.
This kit kind of hits the sweet spot (i.e. the "rest of us", perhaps) who are neither newbies nor extreemists.
Some of the highlights that caught my attention:
350W power supply is more than adequate, but considering that it is powering the board, chip, and pumps, it makes me take pause.
This is not including high end grfx hardware, several drives and god knows what else...350 might not cut it for very long.
The heat exchanger (radiator, essentially) is placed on top..good thermodynmics, but I did not see a lot of ventilation on the bottom of the unit in the pictures (think convection of the G4 cube)...not bad, per se, but *needed* I would think. (am I the only one who saw the Heat Exchanger and thought "they should have stuffed a few dead bugs and moths in it?" because it looks like a car radiator and what do they usually have in them?)
The rear of the unit does have a fan grate and extra air holes, but not the bottom.
Seeing as the fans on top "suck" the air...you have air "rushing" into the case from the back side and up and maybe from the front bottom and up but not from the bottom up.
You have to keep the MB and chipsets and cards cool as well, correct?
Overall it looks to be a very good value for the DIY crowd that does not have a machine shop handy but wants the "extra performance" without the "extra cost + time".
{I wonder if the water tanks also come in "ruby":) }
My observations of KDE + drive performance.
on
KDE 2.2.2
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
On a p3 550 system I built at work from the ground up I was suprised that I did not get written up for computer abuse because I had it booting, via LILO, Slackware 7.X, Redhat 7.X, Win98se, Win2K and even BeOs.
I was curious about the speed of a default Slack and Redhat install and while not scientific, it was very interesting, indeed.
If there was ever a reason not to use static libs (a la RH) this would be one point to hammer home.
I had KDE 2.X installed seperatly on both boxes (yes, I know it is "wasteful" of space, humor me) and proceeded to get some benchmark utilities off of freshmeat.net.
You see, what I had noticed was KDE 2.X was "snappy" on Slack and slightly "dogged" on Redhat... so it set me to wondering if it was just the RPM install vs compile on Slack.
Turned out that was part of the problem/question.
Memory performance was about +/- 10% with in each other, but hard drive performace was the "killer" of KDE's performance on RH.
This is what I found using hdparm (plus switches that escape me at this time) turned on/off between SL/RH:
MB/s on the same ATA66 drive and even another ATA66 drive just to be sure.
No hdparm init: RH=3.6Mbs, slack=8.6MB/s
hdparm init: RH=8.4MB/s, slack=8.9MB/s.
Hummm...I says. With hdparm init'ed on RH, KDE was quite snappy, despite the rare stumble and thrash of the drive.
Oh, and a word of warning aboud using hdparm (also in the readme) on older drives: not recommended unless it can do > PIO mode 2, IIRC.
So, yes, HD speed does affect KDE more than you would think. Something to be aware of.
IMO, Activision has kicked ass since the Atari days; Atlantis and Subterranea (damn addictive game) up to and including MechWarrior (any version). (even that jungle/Indiana Jones type game...what was it? I forget)
Correct me if I am incorrect, but don't they work close with Interplay? I saw a mention of Descent and damn that brings back memories.
Descent was revolutionary, period.
Game play was fast and furious, the robot/monster AI was (and still is) fscking phenominal.
Don't take this wrong, but all DooM's monsters did was attack, attack, attack....Descent 1, and especially, D2...the would bait, stalk, gang up, retreat and hunt your ass down.
That was totally *mind blowing*! And the first one had in the FAQ, a section called DooM Recovery 101 because it was true 3d before/during the time of Quake's introduction.
(set me straight on a timeline, it is fuzzy after all these years)
Uhhh...ahem...sorry about that "rabid fan'ish" sounding diatribe...
What I am trying to nail down to a fine point is:
All of these games are/were revolutionay, in their own right.
Wolf was there "first" FPS wise, DooM made it "immersive" and Quake made it "inpressive" in several areas. But the one common thread was the "enemies" were not that bright.
What I am saying is if Activision had a hand in it, like I think they did with Descent, RTCW is almost going to be a guranteed winner.
Just my thoughts, opinions, experience and observations.
For some reason I don't remember it...I do recall the packs of dynamite...interesting.
Knew about the Mein leben, except for the spelling, obviously. What were some of the other phrases the "Officers" uttered?.
Oh, the first time I got torched in Kingpin and killed that way I type in "It BURNS! It BURNS".
ROTFLMAO was the reply from all the players.
I love it when ppl get "in jokes", gamers especially. Unlike the Amen/mein leben joke in my initial posting. Oh, well.
I guess the flamethrower in Kingpin stood out for its graphical excellence and its recentness.
And "pain-skins" also was a "first", not counting the "Wolf/DooM dude's face", but the actual characters in game.
From what I've seen RTCW is something to be reckoned with, graphically and gameplay wise.
Hell, the "nostalgia factor" alone is enough for me. Almost like the WinDooM and GlDooM ports...man those were wild.
I seriously hope there is an "Ultimate DooM" map port...the team that did those maps were sadists, and I loved it.
I can't wait to play. The flame thrower is a wicked weapon, but Kingpin did it first to my knowledge.
Kingpin is easy to describe: Imagine Q2, heavily modified to be more visual than Q3, more violent and "realistic" than any game I can think of off the top of my head.
RTCW looks about the same as Kingpin, in some respects, but takes it one step further.
Can I hear a "Mein Leibin!" (I think that is how it's spelled).
Is it too late to recommend this for the "Geek Gifts" catagory...I want it!
(correcting the corrections to my corrections.../me checks cigarette pack...nope no crack.
Too much caffinee, perhaps).
Sorry about that, I said "api" when "drivers" is what i was meaning. Thanks, Stiletto.
What made Glide, and by extension, 3dfx, "kick ass" vs. Direct X at the time was:
Glide was easy to program, closed, and most importantly meant for Voodoo cards, only.
If I am not mistaken, Nvidia hacked or created a wrapper for Glide to work with thier cards *and* use a "windowed" mode.
3dfx "screamed bloody murder" because they did not want Glide "co-opted", "diluted" or "tainted"...or something along those lines.
Also, Quake 2 wasn't really Glide *per se*. It was OpenGL that interfaced a custom 3DFX 'MiniGL" driver. Nevertheless, it was coded to use the OpenGL API. (You can still run Quake 2 on an Nvidia card in hardware mode, which obviously wouldn't be possible if the game were truly Glide-based.)
Ah, thank you, I was working to that. Sadly that was the mental jigsaw piece that did not fit into place...doh!
I think (based on my own observations) that most of the animosity to DX is base on the same premise as was Glide.
Only difference is Glide is/was hardware specific and DX is OS specific.
OpenGL is the "saving grace" as it is hardware and software "agnostic", but the latest shiney object/whizz bang features are not implemented yet.
So, the "perception" is that GL is behind the curve, even when some features have not been implemented by the drivers by the hardware manufacturers themselves.
(witness Nvidia, ATI and the company formerly know as 3dfx...they all did it to greater/lesser degrees).
I think that it boils down to on the politics that companies wanted higher "fame-rates" and gamers want higher "frame-rates".
Making GL the "dark horse", so to speak.
When you consider the/usr or/local was similar in purpose as "program files" (or progra~1 if you want to be specific) had the best of intentions.
Well we know about which road going where based on good intentions.
At any rate, part of the "problem" is there is a certatin point a section of the file system gets unmanageable. Where that is, quite frankly, varies.
RedHat has impressed me with its compatability but it does so with static libs. There are times when god forbid you should wish to compile something and get gripe messages that you window manager was done under X set of libs, your theme manager under Y's libs and your shared libs are of version Z.
That is just trying to update the WM, god forbid you wish to compile a kernel.
And with the static libs, the performance hit is astounding.
The other side, as with Slackware, is shared libraries can be as unforgiving as well.
Heh, as a newbie I deleted a link to a ld.so.X.
Hint: never, ever do this! ls, ln, mv et al stop working...oops.
Stupidity on my part, but, hey, I was a newbie. (finger; fire; burn; learn. simple.)
Back on track. Slack is fast, configurable but through sheer will, accident, or stupidity can be broken a lot faster (and in some cases fixed a lot faster).
Windows...well the sword cuts both ways. It impresses and suffers *both* of the good and bad points of RH/SL (or static and dynamic libs).
And, if the above does not either blow your mind or make you nod off consider OS X.1.1 (.1.1.1....)
Under OS X's packages system a 'binary/folder/application' (oye) can and does contain static libs. Ok, that can be good/bad.
Here is the kicker (and cool part): if it finds *better* or more *up to date* libs it can use them and ignore what *it* has.
If the new libs break the app, or cause problems, the application can be "told" or "made" to use only its own libs, or update the newer libs.
Most will see where that is going. It will be good to keep "static" then use "dynamic" or update the "dynamic/shared" libs.
The down side is the potential to fix one application and break 10+ others.
This has not happened...yet. However, the *ability* to make or break is there, just no information is given until a spec/CVS set of rules is fleshed out.
I will be the first to admit that the "binary folder" or "fat binary" (arstechnica.com article) idea sounded "less than thrilling"...until you realize the headache's it cures with this kind of file system bloat.
Think about it: You have an app, that is really a folder, that you can't see inside/manipulate/fix/break unless you know how *and* have a reason to.
In all three cases there are limits to even the most intelligent of design. Knowing this truth is easy to accept. Finding where it lies and where it breaks down...that is another discussion.
Some of the propisitions are good, but I fail to see how it will help.
Let me explain, and ignore the hardware issues to some extent:
Looking back at a summary of 3d api's:
Glide: Wickedly fast , easy to write for, obsessivly propritary (IIRC) a la 3dfx.
OpenGL: Fast (glide speed on compliant/correct hardware), moderatly hard to write for initially but easier as time goes by. Open/closed? I honestly forget. Was it documented API's and closed source?
DirectX: Humm. Used to be "Dog ass slow". Moderatly fast, maybe medium speed, very compatible, used to be (maybe still is) hard as hell to write for (this may have changed).
Eventually, If memory recalls correctly, absorbed the "better aspects" of other 3d api's, but also added another degree of difficulty/confusion to implementation.
Now, realize I base this off of my: gaming, memory (oops) and discussion of merits I've read/heard/been privy to.
I'll focus on gaming because that is where the rubber meets the road (or where the 'trons hit the tube).
OpenGL: Quake/GLquake (...or was it GLquack? heh)
Even the "software" mode went from Impressive and Eye opening, but GLquake put the "am" in {higher octave in voice} 'Daaaaaaaammmmmnn'.
Fast and pretty (for its day).
Glide: Quake2, software vs Glide mode. No debate until you can pick your jaw off the floor and keep your mouth closed for more than 5 seconds.
(and stop drooling on my keyboard, dammit).
Glide was the...damn, what is the word?...pinnacle, saviour, "schwing" that low, med end hardware needed to be 'high endish'.
(example: friend of min playing tomb raider on a G3 333...Showed him TR on a p200 w/V2...'fuck you, man' was the response {seg})
DirectX...Thief: Glide vs DX{murmph-snort-bwahahahaha}...Hummmm: 30 fps in glide,.3 in directX? on the same hardware.
Nowadays, the software has improved incrementally, but the hardware by leaps and bounds...making the s/w look good. Humm.
Sort of the reverse of Glide--software made the h/w shine--here it is the other way around.
I think OpenGL is trying to bring back the "make the hardware shine" days back.
Good luck, because if I understand the way DX is now...it has "absorbed" the api's of GL and Glide and whatever company made the software in the first place (damned if I can find the link...british company I believe).
Well, I've blathered on long enough. Not bashing, just offering my opinion and what I saw and heard in a nutshell.
I am aware the BG did write the basic compiler/language for CP/M (I think that is right) and sold it, or at least tried to.
Problem was that the "Open source ethic", or the "sharing ethic" was something that was, and still is around today. Only now, it is sadly enough, called "Cancer" and "Pirating", respectivly.
The thing BG was "famous" for was "whining" about "you guys are stealing my stuff" Waaah!
Ok, that sounds and is harsh, but those are his words paraphrased/approximated, but it was/is looked on as whining.
Unfortunately he got the last laugh...and I badly want to say "for now".
also this struck me:
The gist of Bill's argument is that Open Source requires a large pre-installed base of genetically identical computers, and that base was provided by DOS and Windows.
Uh, yeah, I agree but, *with hardware* like today.
A software monoculture is good, if you are a virus (computer/biological).
Otherwise "Monoculture/Homogenous Baaad!"
And the "compaq spent over 1Million reverse engineering the PC BIOS"...yeah, when it was legal and encouraged. (sigh)
Permit a "silly" yet straightforward question:
Is Cringly a Mac person/fan/user?
The rundown of Quicktime and Mpeg4 and IWIH (It Was Invented Here) paragraphs at the end make me wonder.
Because if you read it...really read it... it kind of says (to me) Yeah the Xerox parc -> Apple -> Microsoft interface argument may be convoluted and pointless, but *multimedia/video for the computing masses started with Apple*.
Very interesting, because it states it eloquently and has a "so there!" undertone.
was some stinker of a flic that had, of all things, figure skating.
Well they had an overhead view of about 60 some-odd skaters in a + formation, spinning.
Well, they broke off into pairs and joined with another pair from a different leg of the + and Tom Servo spoke up with "And we see Cellular Mitosis begin!"
Very few times I've laughed so damn hard in my life... and a geek/science joke, of all things.
What sent me into hysterics is that is *excactly* what it looked like and what I was thinking.
I was asked "what is so damn funny" and could not breathe, much less explain.
I don't recall catching this particular episode.
Anyone care to 'splain?
The funny part is that web developers loves java (or so I understand) but hates the "speed" or lack thereof.
The thinng that made "people like java's speed" on windows was window's specific acceleration.
The thing that always struck me as odd was there were no "libraries" or "includes" that were platform specific for acceleration purposes on other hardware.
Simple reason being is sometimes *perception* is the only thing that matters.
Witness os X.1.1... the.1 release just kicked, because the interface was usable...let me rephrase that, usable it is, but "responsive" was needed.
I forget who pointed it out, but the gui was slow, but the subsystems were ok.
Also the "tie-ins" like renice only affected command line utilities and not gui utilities.
I had to re-read some of the responses a second time and noticed that Microsoft and standards were mentioned in the same breath.
Maybe I am thinking too far ahead, or perhaps way off base, but people are developing, it seems, to be.NET compliant and not the other way around.
The reason this "seem so wrong" is instead of "Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish" it is along the lines of "Develop, Distract and Destroy"... same, ends, different means.
IOW, Hey, here is the framework to.NET...go for it! People develop according to whatever spec is sent out,.NET is still looks, smells and tastes like beta, because it is beta.
Betas change. And so will the "rules" of.NET I think.
I dunno, perhaps a slogan to plant should be:
"Didn't your parents always tell you *NEVER* run with # objects?"
Neuron misfire of the day:
MSN has a Butterfly. Passport is part of.NET.
So, when passport is needed for MSN..would that be a Butterfly.NET?
with C# that "cross platform" will eventually mean Win9X, ME, NT, 2K and XP?
Or in some ominous "Morpheous" like voice:
"The.NET-rix is everywhere...."
Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it... after all, Microsoft is doing it for the good of the community and Developers (developers, developers, dev....).
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA...I actually kept a straight face while typing that...heh.
Slashdot Mirror
Let us put this into perspective a little:
Redhat is showing what Microsoft truely is, just like the Cigarette companies were exposed for what they were, correct?
Well, people will still smoke and use windows (which I seem to be doing both, right now...oops).
(**warning**
Distrubing and potentially imagery ahead.
If you are of a weak constitution or don't wish to feel the need for a self labotomy don't read the following, please
**end warning**)
This settlement is a complete sham, and everyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together knows it.
The "sick and disgusting part" is the menage a trois of the CEO's of Intel, Microsoft and Dell.
Let me guess that:
Intel is going to make a "special education" chip at "market value" from however many pre-trial years ago.
It'll probably be a brain dead P4 (oxymoron, I know, bear with me) at 3X the price for the "pre-trial value"...say 600 dollars.
Dell who will probably be (wink wink nudge nudge) "donating" the hardware will probably be getting an even more obscenely "favoring contract" from both Intel and Microsoft will put together a 150 bucks worth of lefover parts and charge 300.
Microsoft is putting on, what was it?...XP home edition? Capable of networking with NETBUI only (if my memory serves) for the valuation of 100 bucks.
There is your $1000 dollar machine, my friends.
Yes I am being cynical, but I am probably dead on as well.
The CEO of this Menage a Trois did not get where they are by "going it alone" much less "helping thier fellow man" or "some philanthropic generosity", far, far from it.
It is not called the "Wintel duopoly" for nothing.
Where does Dell fit in? Heh, every 'circle jerk' needs a pivot man...guess who.
My opinion, standard disclaimer, and all that.
Oh, and if the Redhat deal is not taken seriously, when the pc's are delivered to school someone should make a fake news paper with the Hindenberg disaster and the "first pc" being delivered photos with the headline "Oh! The Humanity!".
Then again, who knows what will happen?
If you think about it for a second, most J6P's would not consider this and neither would most hardcore overclockers either.
:) }
J6P would not do this, ever. Hardcore or Extreem OC'rs either, because they would build their own quite frankly.
This kit kind of hits the sweet spot (i.e. the "rest of us", perhaps) who are neither newbies nor extreemists.
Some of the highlights that caught my attention:
350W power supply is more than adequate, but considering that it is powering the board, chip, and pumps, it makes me take pause.
This is not including high end grfx hardware, several drives and god knows what else...350 might not cut it for very long.
The heat exchanger (radiator, essentially) is placed on top..good thermodynmics, but I did not see a lot of ventilation on the bottom of the unit in the pictures (think convection of the G4 cube)...not bad, per se, but *needed* I would think. (am I the only one who saw the Heat Exchanger and thought "they should have stuffed a few dead bugs and moths in it?" because it looks like a car radiator and what do they usually have in them?)
The rear of the unit does have a fan grate and extra air holes, but not the bottom.
Seeing as the fans on top "suck" the air...you have air "rushing" into the case from the back side and up and maybe from the front bottom and up but not from the bottom up.
You have to keep the MB and chipsets and cards cool as well, correct?
Overall it looks to be a very good value for the DIY crowd that does not have a machine shop handy but wants the "extra performance" without the "extra cost + time".
{I wonder if the water tanks also come in "ruby"
On a p3 550 system I built at work from the ground up I was suprised that I did not get written up for computer abuse because I had it booting, via LILO, Slackware 7.X, Redhat 7.X, Win98se, Win2K and even BeOs.
I was curious about the speed of a default Slack and Redhat install and while not scientific, it was very interesting, indeed.
If there was ever a reason not to use static libs (a la RH) this would be one point to hammer home.
I had KDE 2.X installed seperatly on both boxes (yes, I know it is "wasteful" of space, humor me) and proceeded to get some benchmark utilities off of freshmeat.net.
You see, what I had noticed was KDE 2.X was "snappy" on Slack and slightly "dogged" on Redhat... so it set me to wondering if it was just the RPM install vs compile on Slack.
Turned out that was part of the problem/question.
Memory performance was about +/- 10% with in each other, but hard drive performace was the "killer" of KDE's performance on RH.
This is what I found using hdparm (plus switches that escape me at this time) turned on/off between SL/RH:
MB/s on the same ATA66 drive and even another ATA66 drive just to be sure.
No hdparm init: RH=3.6Mbs, slack=8.6MB/s
hdparm init: RH=8.4MB/s, slack=8.9MB/s.
Hummm...I says. With hdparm init'ed on RH, KDE was quite snappy, despite the rare stumble and thrash of the drive.
Oh, and a word of warning aboud using hdparm (also in the readme) on older drives: not recommended unless it can do > PIO mode 2, IIRC.
So, yes, HD speed does affect KDE more than you would think. Something to be aware of.
Yes, flare gun...dang..how soon I forget.
Only thing I really recall about B2 was the "Lithetec" engine was pretty spiffy and it was used in Shogo MAD.
I can't believe I did not recall Flamethrowers in Blood 1/2...yet remember "It burns, It burns!" from B2...
Sheesh, selective memory strikes again.
Oh, and on a funny note, I've gotta say that all this talk of flame throwers is getting me hot.
Or maybe this thread needs a special +1 flamebait?
(insert rimshot)
Excellent linkage, dude.
Kevin Cloud pays hommage to Activision.
IMO, Activision has kicked ass since the Atari days; Atlantis and Subterranea (damn addictive game) up to and including MechWarrior (any version). (even that jungle/Indiana Jones type game...what was it? I forget)
Correct me if I am incorrect, but don't they work close with Interplay? I saw a mention of Descent and damn that brings back memories.
Descent was revolutionary, period.
Game play was fast and furious, the robot/monster AI was (and still is) fscking phenominal.
Don't take this wrong, but all DooM's monsters did was attack, attack, attack....Descent 1, and especially, D2...the would bait, stalk, gang up, retreat and hunt your ass down.
That was totally *mind blowing*! And the first one had in the FAQ, a section called DooM Recovery 101 because it was true 3d before/during the time of Quake's introduction.
(set me straight on a timeline, it is fuzzy after all these years)
Uhhh...ahem...sorry about that "rabid fan'ish" sounding diatribe...
What I am trying to nail down to a fine point is:
All of these games are/were revolutionay, in their own right.
Wolf was there "first" FPS wise, DooM made it "immersive" and Quake made it "inpressive" in several areas. But the one common thread was the "enemies" were not that bright.
What I am saying is if Activision had a hand in it, like I think they did with Descent, RTCW is almost going to be a guranteed winner.
Just my thoughts, opinions, experience and observations.
Cheers,
GISboy
Really? Blood 1 and or 2?
For some reason I don't remember it...I do recall the packs of dynamite...interesting.
Knew about the Mein leben, except for the spelling, obviously. What were some of the other phrases the "Officers" uttered?.
Oh, the first time I got torched in Kingpin and killed that way I type in "It BURNS! It BURNS".
ROTFLMAO was the reply from all the players.
I love it when ppl get "in jokes", gamers especially. Unlike the Amen/mein leben joke in my initial posting. Oh, well.
I guess the flamethrower in Kingpin stood out for its graphical excellence and its recentness.
And "pain-skins" also was a "first", not counting the "Wolf/DooM dude's face", but the actual characters in game.
From what I've seen RTCW is something to be reckoned with, graphically and gameplay wise.
Hell, the "nostalgia factor" alone is enough for me. Almost like the WinDooM and GlDooM ports...man those were wild.
I seriously hope there is an "Ultimate DooM" map port...the team that did those maps were sadists, and I loved it.
Ultimate Wolf, humm, has a nice ring to it.
I can't wait to play. The flame thrower is a wicked weapon, but Kingpin did it first to my knowledge.
Kingpin is easy to describe: Imagine Q2, heavily modified to be more visual than Q3, more violent and "realistic" than any game I can think of off the top of my head.
RTCW looks about the same as Kingpin, in some respects, but takes it one step further.
Can I hear a "Mein Leibin!" (I think that is how it's spelled).
Is it too late to recommend this for the "Geek Gifts" catagory...I want it!
(correcting the corrections to my corrections... /me checks cigarette pack...nope no crack.
Too much caffinee, perhaps).
Sorry about that, I said "api" when "drivers" is what i was meaning. Thanks, Stiletto.
What made Glide, and by extension, 3dfx, "kick ass" vs. Direct X at the time was:
Glide was easy to program, closed, and most importantly meant for Voodoo cards, only.
If I am not mistaken, Nvidia hacked or created a wrapper for Glide to work with thier cards *and* use a "windowed" mode.
3dfx "screamed bloody murder" because they did not want Glide "co-opted", "diluted" or "tainted"...or something along those lines.
Also, Quake 2 wasn't really Glide *per se*. It was OpenGL that interfaced a custom 3DFX 'MiniGL" driver. Nevertheless, it was coded to use the OpenGL API. (You can still run Quake 2 on an Nvidia card in hardware mode, which obviously wouldn't be possible if the game were truly Glide-based.)
Ah, thank you, I was working to that. Sadly that was the mental jigsaw piece that did not fit into place...doh!
I think (based on my own observations) that most of the animosity to DX is base on the same premise as was Glide.
Only difference is Glide is/was hardware specific and DX is OS specific.
OpenGL is the "saving grace" as it is hardware and software "agnostic", but the latest shiney object/whizz bang features are not implemented yet.
So, the "perception" is that GL is behind the curve, even when some features have not been implemented by the drivers by the hardware manufacturers themselves.
(witness Nvidia, ATI and the company formerly know as 3dfx...they all did it to greater/lesser degrees).
I think that it boils down to on the politics that companies wanted higher "fame-rates" and gamers want higher "frame-rates".
Making GL the "dark horse", so to speak.
Sound about right?
most Internet bars here are nothing more than dimly lit one-room shops with a dozen personal computers.
And this differs from most computer rooms how?
The government wants to encourage the Internet's growth as a commercial medium. But Beijing fears its other use as a forum for political dissent.
Encourage growth? So they shut them down.
Fear dissent? Shut it down.
Uhhh, am I the only one who does not get the logic in this?
Perhaps it is just me, but, if they "fear dissent" maybe, just maybe, they should look at why people would dissent?
I dunno.
How long it would take to index my pr0n collection?
In a database no less.
you see something like this:
n g/ about/see/spot/run/page1/paragraph1
/usr/local/bin/games/educational/for/kids/readi
(Yes, I suppose when I use turn signals *backing out* of the driveway does qualify as anal retentive).
When you consider the /usr or /local was similar in purpose as "program files" (or progra~1 if you want to be specific) had the best of intentions.
Well we know about which road going where based on good intentions.
At any rate, part of the "problem" is there is a certatin point a section of the file system gets unmanageable. Where that is, quite frankly, varies.
RedHat has impressed me with its compatability but it does so with static libs. There are times when god forbid you should wish to compile something and get gripe messages that you window manager was done under X set of libs, your theme manager under Y's libs and your shared libs are of version Z.
That is just trying to update the WM, god forbid you wish to compile a kernel.
And with the static libs, the performance hit is astounding.
The other side, as with Slackware, is shared libraries can be as unforgiving as well.
Heh, as a newbie I deleted a link to a ld.so.X.
Hint: never, ever do this! ls, ln, mv et al stop working...oops.
Stupidity on my part, but, hey, I was a newbie. (finger; fire; burn; learn. simple.)
Back on track. Slack is fast, configurable but through sheer will, accident, or stupidity can be broken a lot faster (and in some cases fixed a lot faster).
Windows...well the sword cuts both ways. It impresses and suffers *both* of the good and bad points of RH/SL (or static and dynamic libs).
And, if the above does not either blow your mind or make you nod off consider OS X.1.1 (.1.1.1....)
Under OS X's packages system a 'binary/folder/application' (oye) can and does contain static libs. Ok, that can be good/bad.
Here is the kicker (and cool part): if it finds *better* or more *up to date* libs it can use them and ignore what *it* has.
If the new libs break the app, or cause problems, the application can be "told" or "made" to use only its own libs, or update the newer libs.
Most will see where that is going. It will be good to keep "static" then use "dynamic" or update the "dynamic/shared" libs.
The down side is the potential to fix one application and break 10+ others.
This has not happened...yet. However, the *ability* to make or break is there, just no information is given until a spec/CVS set of rules is fleshed out.
I will be the first to admit that the "binary folder" or "fat binary" (arstechnica.com article) idea sounded "less than thrilling"...until you realize the headache's it cures with this kind of file system bloat.
Think about it: You have an app, that is really a folder, that you can't see inside/manipulate/fix/break unless you know how *and* have a reason to.
In all three cases there are limits to even the most intelligent of design. Knowing this truth is easy to accept. Finding where it lies and where it breaks down...that is another discussion.
Some of the propisitions are good, but I fail to see how it will help.
.3 in directX? on the same hardware.
:\
Let me explain, and ignore the hardware issues to some extent:
Looking back at a summary of 3d api's:
Glide: Wickedly fast , easy to write for, obsessivly propritary (IIRC) a la 3dfx.
OpenGL: Fast (glide speed on compliant/correct hardware), moderatly hard to write for initially but easier as time goes by. Open/closed? I honestly forget. Was it documented API's and closed source?
DirectX: Humm. Used to be "Dog ass slow". Moderatly fast, maybe medium speed, very compatible, used to be (maybe still is) hard as hell to write for (this may have changed).
Eventually, If memory recalls correctly, absorbed the "better aspects" of other 3d api's, but also added another degree of difficulty/confusion to implementation.
Now, realize I base this off of my: gaming, memory (oops) and discussion of merits I've read/heard/been privy to.
I'll focus on gaming because that is where the rubber meets the road (or where the 'trons hit the tube).
OpenGL: Quake/GLquake (...or was it GLquack? heh)
Even the "software" mode went from Impressive and Eye opening, but GLquake put the "am" in {higher octave in voice} 'Daaaaaaaammmmmnn'.
Fast and pretty (for its day).
Glide: Quake2, software vs Glide mode. No debate until you can pick your jaw off the floor and keep your mouth closed for more than 5 seconds.
(and stop drooling on my keyboard, dammit).
Glide was the...damn, what is the word?...pinnacle, saviour, "schwing" that low, med end hardware needed to be 'high endish'.
(example: friend of min playing tomb raider on a G3 333...Showed him TR on a p200 w/V2...'fuck you, man' was the response {seg})
DirectX...Thief: Glide vs DX{murmph-snort-bwahahahaha}...Hummmm: 30 fps in glide,
Nowadays, the software has improved incrementally, but the hardware by leaps and bounds...making the s/w look good. Humm.
Sort of the reverse of Glide--software made the h/w shine--here it is the other way around.
I think OpenGL is trying to bring back the "make the hardware shine" days back.
Good luck, because if I understand the way DX is now...it has "absorbed" the api's of GL and Glide and whatever company made the software in the first place (damned if I can find the link...british company I believe).
Well, I've blathered on long enough. Not bashing, just offering my opinion and what I saw and heard in a nutshell.
The eyes don't lie...that is the lips job.
Cheers.
I am aware the BG did write the basic compiler/language for CP/M (I think that is right) and sold it, or at least tried to.
Problem was that the "Open source ethic", or the "sharing ethic" was something that was, and still is around today. Only now, it is sadly enough, called "Cancer" and "Pirating", respectivly.
The thing BG was "famous" for was "whining" about "you guys are stealing my stuff" Waaah!
Ok, that sounds and is harsh, but those are his words paraphrased/approximated, but it was/is looked on as whining.
Unfortunately he got the last laugh...and I badly want to say "for now".
also this struck me:
The gist of Bill's argument is that Open Source requires a large pre-installed base of genetically identical computers, and that base was provided by DOS and Windows.
Uh, yeah, I agree but, *with hardware* like today.
A software monoculture is good, if you are a virus (computer/biological).
Otherwise "Monoculture/Homogenous Baaad!"
And the "compaq spent over 1Million reverse engineering the PC BIOS"...yeah, when it was legal and encouraged. (sigh)
Permit a "silly" yet straightforward question:
Is Cringly a Mac person/fan/user?
The rundown of Quicktime and Mpeg4 and IWIH (It Was Invented Here) paragraphs at the end make me wonder.
Because if you read it...really read it... it kind of says (to me) Yeah the Xerox parc -> Apple -> Microsoft interface argument may be convoluted and pointless, but *multimedia/video for the computing masses started with Apple*.
Very interesting, because it states it eloquently and has a "so there!" undertone.
If anyone knows, give a holler. I'm curious.
Off to bed, got a grueling 1/2 day tomorrow.
Windows XP: 300 dollars.
Minimum system to run XP: 250 dollars.
The looks on their faces when you reveal you used an unpatched office 95 and an fdiv pentium: Priceless.
First I want to say "Amen".
...ie how to pick a font, hoe to pick font size, how to type, how to save... how to proofread.
Second:
Hoe to pick a font, shovel to do research, and rake, pillage and plunder.
;) (sorry to pick on you)
{snerk, guffaw + cackle}
Someone please mod this up.
Simple. Direct. Ontopic and On target.
And I thought I had a gift for understatement.
DOJ's proposed Settlement:
Asks Microsoft "Where do you want to go today?"...{Microsoft addendum}...and who do we want to do it to.
Microsoft's Proposed Settlement:
"Oops, we did it again"...{DOJ addendum}...don't worry, we know you were "Just thinking of the children".
I sometimes dislike quoting cartoon characters, but "WHY AM I *NOT* SURPRISED!!!" Iago, Aladdin.
but still want (a) Halo...
Mac OS X.1.1.X? version, of course.
Get those nerf-aero footballs and attach one of those small affordable rockets to them.
Instant quake3 rocket arena!
Hey, maybe that "excercise" while you play could work out after all...now how do we turn off falling damage in "live action" Q3?
was some stinker of a flic that had, of all things, figure skating.
Well they had an overhead view of about 60 some-odd skaters in a + formation, spinning.
Well, they broke off into pairs and joined with another pair from a different leg of the + and Tom Servo spoke up with "And we see Cellular Mitosis begin!"
Very few times I've laughed so damn hard in my life... and a geek/science joke, of all things.
What sent me into hysterics is that is *excactly* what it looked like and what I was thinking.
I was asked "what is so damn funny" and could not breathe, much less explain.
I don't recall catching this particular episode.
Anyone care to 'splain?
The funny part is that web developers loves java (or so I understand) but hates the "speed" or lack thereof.
.1 release just kicked, because the interface was usable...let me rephrase that, usable it is, but "responsive" was needed.
.NET compliant and not the other way around.
.NET...go for it! People develop according to whatever spec is sent out, .NET is still looks, smells and tastes like beta, because it is beta.
.NET I think.
.NET.
The thinng that made "people like java's speed" on windows was window's specific acceleration.
The thing that always struck me as odd was there were no "libraries" or "includes" that were platform specific for acceleration purposes on other hardware.
Simple reason being is sometimes *perception* is the only thing that matters.
Witness os X.1.1... the
I forget who pointed it out, but the gui was slow, but the subsystems were ok.
Also the "tie-ins" like renice only affected command line utilities and not gui utilities.
I had to re-read some of the responses a second time and noticed that Microsoft and standards were mentioned in the same breath.
Maybe I am thinking too far ahead, or perhaps way off base, but people are developing, it seems, to be
The reason this "seem so wrong" is instead of "Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish" it is along the lines of "Develop, Distract and Destroy"... same, ends, different means.
IOW, Hey, here is the framework to
Betas change. And so will the "rules" of
I dunno, perhaps a slogan to plant should be:
"Didn't your parents always tell you *NEVER* run with # objects?"
Neuron misfire of the day:
MSN has a Butterfly. Passport is part of
So, when passport is needed for MSN..would that be a Butterfly.NET?
(Where did that come from? {shrug}
with C# that "cross platform" will eventually mean Win9X, ME, NT, 2K and XP?
.NET-rix is everywhere...."
Or in some ominous "Morpheous" like voice:
"The
Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it... after all, Microsoft is doing it for the good of the community and Developers (developers, developers, dev....).
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA...I actually kept a straight face while typing that...heh.
{sniff, wipes tear from eyes..heeeheee}