after "3 gigs for linux?", my next realization was price, yes. that seems absolutely ridiculous for 17 useable Gigs! but that's probably why it's being sold in Japan, where i'm told size/useability take precedent over cost.
in America, we like things big and cheap. Japan likes things small, regardless of price.
now here's a question: how much would it cost a do-it-yourself'er to make a comparable product, but more useable?
5.25" 90 Gig HDD, SBC with 802.11b and IDE controller... it would be more of a backpack or fanny pack (child of the 80s) device, but portable and far more useable!
basic boot sequence with nfs? oooh! or portable internet proxy!?! lots of fun can be had!
one advantage to the internet that so few people take advantage of is the "Small World" effect.
read outside of your country, man. i don't mean that as a put-down, but it would be edifying.
even if you're not multi-lingual, there's the whole British Commonwealth, India (English is an official language), and i find most of non-English Europe to offer English language options... get out there and experience the world! (including a world where USD is not de facto standard;p)
BeOS did it and it died, or was killed -- that's still to be speculated.
but, as an operating system was produced that catered to both the "idiot user" and "geek-elite", it further cements the reality that Windows is in no way "superior" - but simply ubiquitous.
my personal belief is that the future of "personal computing" is in true idiot-catering machines like PDAs. the hunk of silicon my leg is resting on will be the realm of gamers and ueber-geeks. it'll die slowly, but it will be superseded.
i thought this rather clear from the very beginning... or perhaps i assumed too much.
i really came to understand just how much power we have (and how little they do) when my father suggested the industry was going to develop a new medium and that CDs would be obsolete, i rebutted: "well, the RIAA may make something new, maybe even better - but CDs won't die easily. anyone can publish their own music, now, at a nominal cost..."
they have lost the power because they lost the monopoly. and they're scared as hell. that seems to be typical in many industries now...
i confess i'd been curious and completely oblivious to BSD until this article (and i'd attempted research... all my searches were just too vague to really address the "linux vs. bsd" question, and the differences between the BSDs) - and my impression from the article, is thus:
if the oddly mixed world of free and open software were like some role-playing game...
linux would be the rather barbarous, anarchal tribes living in the wilderness. some of us would be religious war-chiefs (FSF/GNU), and others of us form tribes for the sole purpose of survival (the distros) making war over "Civilization" (Microsoft), in hopes of redefining it. the religious tribes seek enlightenment, to change the universe's consciousness to the greater good.
BSD is the more civilized, almost like Tolkien's elves, living off the OSS landscape with an higher academic purpose. they, unlike the linux tribes, live cooperatively with "Civilization", content in and of themselves to know that theirs is the glue binding the Universe.
-- i'm sure this sounds sarcastic, but i intend to be humourous.
as seems to be the case with many articles, this one completely ignored that not every (not-)Unix user *buys* or downloads a distribution. sometimes the best linux's are those we roll ourselves. in this fantasy, we Linux-From-Scratcher's would be rogues, living off the land ourselves and scorning cooperatives. (some of us rogues GNU-priests, others agnostic.)
are these non-existant among the BSDs? can you not "roll your own" BSD? (if you can, please tell me... i'm curious to try some BSD). i think the author misunderstands (or is simply firmly against) the GPL. it's obvious by the success of distro's like RedHat that Stallmanesque Freedom does *not* dismiss profit (though RH is often under fire for *not* being Stallmanesque). my impression, then, is that BSD is not GNU-friendly - perhaps even antagonistic.
and it seems the author also misunderstands the distros... Caldera, SuSe, RedHat, i recall the author mentioning; businesses making profit, using whatever software is available. following the (apparent) BSD methods of development are Debian and (i'd argue) Slackware. how are these two distributions so radically different from BSD's development scheme?
thanks for posting the article! it finally answered some of my BSD questions (and created more questions) - it's good to know how the folks on the other side of the figurative open-source pond live.
btw, count me a GNU-layman rogue who trades freely among the tribes and collegiates.;-p
apart from the frightening, if only fictitious (i hope and pray), possibility that future legislation require by law all PCs to have DRM - how exactly will this story affect us GNU/Linux folks?
is the new hardware x86 compatible? able to run 386 compiled binaries - or would it require all low-level software to recognize and deal with their DRM? can the linux kernel ignore their DRM?
will kernel hackers have some fun with the thing? can it be useful apart from privacy intrusion? if so, how would it be useful?
i guess my real question is: will this news greatly affect the GNU/Linux x86 community? if so, for the better or the worse?
and that, of course, is the great benefit to the OS... if Intel should take "the ground out from under us", i can turn to Mac Hardware... Sparc, ARM...;-)
what relevance, concern, or timeliness?
on
Gone Fission
·
· Score: 2, Informative
i'm finding mention of these worms from as far back as '98 in fishing sources.
and I think i found the reporter's tracks, too: http://www.atbeach.com/fishtalk/messages/294 1.html
this being so, does it really have relevance or is it a reporter making hype? if it weren't hot pink, would anyone care?
secondly, does anyone have a picture? I can't find anything through google. i'm certainly curious. also, can anyone link pics of the chernobyl worms a friend of mine just told me about? how strange the world is...
i know i'm just a weirdo who isn't willing/capable of buying up the latest hardware, but i use 3.5" floppies daily.
i'm using tomsrtbt now to throw linux on a 486 laptop. before you moan "get a real laptop or a Zaurus or something!", re-read my first paragraph. it'd be useful for email and remote *anything* with the purchase of a used modem card - and i got it for free!!
due to an unusual situation, the lesser of two computers in my home uses the internet and i can't share it. (physical limitations) - so i carry source tarballs to my real machine by floppy, and 'dd' them to size when necessary.
these are two examples in my personal life, and i'm sure one can recount more.
CDs, firewire, WiFi, etc. are all wonderful and nice, but the older hardware is still useful and capable.
if producers want to leave the drive out, i don't care - but do not take away the floppy controller!
"It's open season on all suck-heads."
"Some mutha-fucka's always gotta ice skate uphill."
Crappy, ultra-campy action-movie lines from the original - lines that *made* the movie.
I went to Blade II to watch a bad ass kick ass and say corny lines. To have a plot-line would be superfluous. The dialogue was just space between fight scenes, as far as I'm concerned - and they interspersed it with humour!
I got what I came for, plus. Honestly - the "BloodPack" just *screamed* Vampire the Masquerade campaign! complete with faux-political intrigue! honestly - we aren't *supposed* to take it seriously!
If you want a lot of *wonderful* action, complete with bad-ass dialogue/one-liners, Blade II is the movie. It has raised my standards for that "genre". It's just fun, fun, fun.
They even manage to throw Blade his shades just before the real action begins! rock!!!
der_m
Re:Tone of the article
on
.NETly News
·
· Score: 1
To me, it read like the Borg, 1984, and Kafka all rolled into one... and I don't mean to be sounding so dramatic about it. The argument was not necessarily that Microsoft has introduced something so wonderful that it will change the world, but more along the lines that it is so important resistance is futile
I want better specs before I get excited... can we necessarily assume this is a conventional 686 PC that fits in your hand?
And IBM says it won't be marketable for a few years... by which time these specs are tiny. So, my impression is less that this device will be a replacement for one's laptop, but rather a tiny alternative to smaller devices which normally use specialized hardware and software (e.g., handheld anything).
Not necessarily a replacement for ARM-based PDAs, but perhaps as a powerful and easily programmed tool for sophisticated field-testing, etc.
Naturally, though, I'd just use it as my "take anywhere" file-sharer.;-)
der_m
I'm glad the dev'r site could be viewed from Konqueror, gosh! but anyway - is there not a lot of potential if this is even marginally successful? The usual game ports/emus, yes, but even the possibility of a new rich handheld platform?
USB connectivity? Smart card? program a sweet little shell on there (probably specialized, as there's essentially no keyboard), and use it as a PDA! Could be lots of fun.
der_m
I agree! well-spoken.
As I was leaving high school, some self-seeking politician had decided to "put a computer in every classroom!" So they went through the trouble of doing just that... the result?
The sole use of this vast network was taking class attendance, and 80% of the teachers couldn't even accomplish that! The biggest problem in any network is the ignorance of its users - educate the users.
Go out and tell the people!
I'd actually seen a similar design when I was working with a hardware/software reseller. It was an IBM. Black tower (foreboding and impregnable - how IBM!) with no doors or ports or anything, but a cable running to the base of the monitor, which held the floppy and CD-ROM. They were actually enclosed in the base, and would "pop up" when you push a button...
Really a pretty nice design. Even included a wireless mouse (must have been an expensive system when it came out... 200 Mhz).
I'm sure it would have performed better in the marketplace if it didn't have the cold facade for which IBM is synonymous. As it stood, the average computer-phobic user might have feared damnation if they pushed the wrong key...
....misread website... the gamedisks are 1.5 gigaBYTES... I was surprised when I read gigaBITS myself, but neglected to correct myself.
still a feat, imo. 9 gigabytes may be fun for fmvs and audio files... but it too often allows for lazy programming.
efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
overzealous,
der_m
Nintendo knows how to make fun games. They make games that I'll return to in five years and *continue* to enjoy.
I can't deny Sony their throne today, and I even admit to owning a PSX - but I consider that initial release to be a turning point in the industry... a turning which I don't wish to follow.
I've never been a fan of load-times. When I sit down to a game, I expect it all to be seamless - fmv's run quickly to and from gameplay; levels show immediately when called for... all the benefits of a cartridge.
Forced at gun-point, I'm playing through Xenogears on the PSX... and while I'm enjoying aspects of the game/story - I can't get over the ridiculously long loadtimes for an fmv! After 3 seconds (5 minutes in "gametime"), the mood has been lost, and the cleanly drawn anime characters may as well be sock puppets for all I care...
"That's just the way it works... that's the limitation of a CD..." - ya, understandable for a computer game; but inexcusable for a console, in my humble and stringent opinion.
That's a major reason N64 remained a cartridge, I think - they, too, couldn't tolerate the load times. And that's why Gamecube uses ultra-small proprietary format DVDs, I believe - there are virtually no loadtimes whatsoever! And where there are load times, they are cleverly hidden under cinematic prelude (which should have been done in the first place on CD consoles *and* PCs).
I've encountered no noticeable loadtimes in Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, or Star Wars - there's a *single* load time in the whole of Smash Bros. Melee, which is a remarkably large game holding great and dynamic playing levels...
And most important is game play... I return to NES and have the time of my life. I play my SNES as much as I play any PC game. I really enjoy N64. Hell - I even go back to my Game&Watch.
and I continue to play it, because it *continues to be good*.
That's faith in a company who consistently holds high standards of quality. "Fanboy"... whatever.
PS2 - technology finally allows what the console promised years ago.
GameCube - Nintendo has always been about efficiency... Mario64 was only 8MB! Less "pure strength and capacity", but far better use of what they have... only 1.5 Gigabits... but each byte brilliantly utilized... SBMelee has nearly 300 intricately detailed 3D figures, 26 playable characters in 29 *dynamic* levels... plus "adventure play" and other possibilities... 1.5 Gigabits...
Xbox - offers nothing new. It's last year's PC. The octupus is just grabbing for more territory.
I take it "fanboy" means "person of high console standards"...
I remember when I was younger, and my father decided that a game console would be my birthday present - at the time, I had the fateful choice between either SNES, or whatever SEGA system was out (genesis?).
I remember it plainly - sega was "the cool system". It had the blood, and the arcade ports - and, good golly, it had a black case!! but I just couldn't help but be taken with the appearance and gameplay of the SNES. Super Mario World was a huge-ass factor in my decision. And I've never regretted it. I still play my SNES games today.
but I bring this up for a major reason - this "Xbox vs. GameCube" sounds like "sega vs. snes" all over again... and even if xbox does survive, I doubt it'll ever be nintendo.
microsoft's xbox, imo, relies too much on the "cool" factor. nintendo has higher standards of quality.
Slashdot Mirror
HACK THE GIBSON!
after "3 gigs for linux?", my next realization was price, yes. that seems absolutely ridiculous for 17 useable Gigs! but that's probably why it's being sold in Japan, where i'm told size/useability take precedent over cost.
in America, we like things big and cheap. Japan likes things small, regardless of price.
now here's a question: how much would it cost a do-it-yourself'er to make a comparable product, but more useable?
5.25" 90 Gig HDD, SBC with 802.11b and IDE controller... it would be more of a backpack or fanny pack (child of the 80s) device, but portable and far more useable!
basic boot sequence with nfs? oooh! or portable internet proxy!?! lots of fun can be had!
But you're still hungry.
one advantage to the internet that so few people take advantage of is the "Small World" effect. read outside of your country, man. i don't mean that as a put-down, but it would be edifying. even if you're not multi-lingual, there's the whole British Commonwealth, India (English is an official language), and i find most of non-English Europe to offer English language options... get out there and experience the world! (including a world where USD is not de facto standard ;p)
Beowulf cluster in a server case!
BeOS did it and it died, or was killed -- that's still to be speculated.
but, as an operating system was produced that catered to both the "idiot user" and "geek-elite", it further cements the reality that Windows is in no way "superior" - but simply ubiquitous.
my personal belief is that the future of "personal computing" is in true idiot-catering machines like PDAs. the hunk of silicon my leg is resting on will be the realm of gamers and ueber-geeks. it'll die slowly, but it will be superseded.
i thought this rather clear from the very beginning... or perhaps i assumed too much.
i really came to understand just how much power we have (and how little they do) when my father suggested the industry was going to develop a new medium and that CDs would be obsolete, i rebutted: "well, the RIAA may make something new, maybe even better - but CDs won't die easily. anyone can publish their own music, now, at a nominal cost..."
they have lost the power because they lost the monopoly. and they're scared as hell. that seems to be typical in many industries now...
i confess i'd been curious and completely oblivious to BSD until this article (and i'd attempted research... all my searches were just too vague to really address the "linux vs. bsd" question, and the differences between the BSDs) - and my impression from the article, is thus:
;-p
if the oddly mixed world of free and open software were like some role-playing game...
linux would be the rather barbarous, anarchal tribes living in the wilderness. some of us would be religious war-chiefs (FSF/GNU), and others of us form tribes for the sole purpose of survival (the distros) making war over "Civilization" (Microsoft), in hopes of redefining it. the religious tribes seek enlightenment, to change the universe's consciousness to the greater good.
BSD is the more civilized, almost like Tolkien's elves, living off the OSS landscape with an higher academic purpose. they, unlike the linux tribes, live cooperatively with "Civilization", content in and of themselves to know that theirs is the glue binding the Universe.
-- i'm sure this sounds sarcastic, but i intend to be humourous.
as seems to be the case with many articles, this one completely ignored that not every (not-)Unix user *buys* or downloads a distribution. sometimes the best linux's are those we roll ourselves. in this fantasy, we Linux-From-Scratcher's would be rogues, living off the land ourselves and scorning cooperatives. (some of us rogues GNU-priests, others agnostic.)
are these non-existant among the BSDs? can you not "roll your own" BSD? (if you can, please tell me... i'm curious to try some BSD).
i think the author misunderstands (or is simply firmly against) the GPL. it's obvious by the success of distro's like RedHat that Stallmanesque Freedom does *not* dismiss profit (though RH is often under fire for *not* being Stallmanesque). my impression, then, is that BSD is not GNU-friendly - perhaps even antagonistic.
and it seems the author also misunderstands the distros... Caldera, SuSe, RedHat, i recall the author mentioning; businesses making profit, using whatever software is available. following the (apparent) BSD methods of development are Debian and (i'd argue) Slackware. how are these two distributions so radically different from BSD's development scheme?
thanks for posting the article! it finally answered some of my BSD questions (and created more questions) - it's good to know how the folks on the other side of the figurative open-source pond live.
btw, count me a GNU-layman rogue who trades freely among the tribes and collegiates.
apart from the frightening, if only fictitious (i hope and pray), possibility that future legislation require by law all PCs to have DRM - how exactly will this story affect us GNU/Linux folks? is the new hardware x86 compatible? able to run 386 compiled binaries - or would it require all low-level software to recognize and deal with their DRM? can the linux kernel ignore their DRM? will kernel hackers have some fun with the thing? can it be useful apart from privacy intrusion? if so, how would it be useful? i guess my real question is: will this news greatly affect the GNU/Linux x86 community? if so, for the better or the worse? and that, of course, is the great benefit to the OS... if Intel should take "the ground out from under us", i can turn to Mac Hardware... Sparc, ARM... ;-)
i'm finding mention of these worms from as far back as '98 in fishing sources.
e x/ stories/tidwell08301998.htm
4 1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/ind
and I think i found the reporter's tracks, too:
http://www.atbeach.com/fishtalk/messages/29
this being so, does it really have relevance or is it a reporter making hype? if it weren't hot pink, would anyone care?
secondly, does anyone have a picture? I can't find anything through google. i'm certainly curious. also, can anyone link pics of the chernobyl worms a friend of mine just told me about? how strange the world is...
i know i'm just a weirdo who isn't willing/capable of buying up the latest hardware, but i use 3.5" floppies daily. i'm using tomsrtbt now to throw linux on a 486 laptop. before you moan "get a real laptop or a Zaurus or something!", re-read my first paragraph. it'd be useful for email and remote *anything* with the purchase of a used modem card - and i got it for free!! due to an unusual situation, the lesser of two computers in my home uses the internet and i can't share it. (physical limitations) - so i carry source tarballs to my real machine by floppy, and 'dd' them to size when necessary. these are two examples in my personal life, and i'm sure one can recount more. CDs, firewire, WiFi, etc. are all wonderful and nice, but the older hardware is still useful and capable. if producers want to leave the drive out, i don't care - but do not take away the floppy controller!
"It's open season on all suck-heads."
"Some mutha-fucka's always gotta ice skate uphill."
Crappy, ultra-campy action-movie lines from the original - lines that *made* the movie.
I went to Blade II to watch a bad ass kick ass and say corny lines. To have a plot-line would be superfluous. The dialogue was just space between fight scenes, as far as I'm concerned - and they interspersed it with humour!
I got what I came for, plus. Honestly - the "BloodPack" just *screamed* Vampire the Masquerade campaign! complete with faux-political intrigue! honestly - we aren't *supposed* to take it seriously!
If you want a lot of *wonderful* action, complete with bad-ass dialogue/one-liners, Blade II is the movie. It has raised my standards for that "genre". It's just fun, fun, fun.
They even manage to throw Blade his shades just before the real action begins! rock!!!
der_m
To me, it read like the Borg, 1984, and Kafka all rolled into one... and I don't mean to be sounding so dramatic about it. The argument was not necessarily that Microsoft has introduced something so wonderful that it will change the world, but more along the lines that it is so important resistance is futile
Did it not seem so to others?
I want better specs before I get excited... can we necessarily assume this is a conventional 686 PC that fits in your hand?
;-)
And IBM says it won't be marketable for a few years... by which time these specs are tiny. So, my impression is less that this device will be a replacement for one's laptop, but rather a tiny alternative to smaller devices which normally use specialized hardware and software (e.g., handheld anything).
Not necessarily a replacement for ARM-based PDAs, but perhaps as a powerful and easily programmed tool for sophisticated field-testing, etc.
Naturally, though, I'd just use it as my "take anywhere" file-sharer.
der_m
I'm glad the dev'r site could be viewed from Konqueror, gosh! but anyway - is there not a lot of potential if this is even marginally successful? The usual game ports/emus, yes, but even the possibility of a new rich handheld platform?
USB connectivity? Smart card? program a sweet little shell on there (probably specialized, as there's essentially no keyboard), and use it as a PDA! Could be lots of fun.
der_m
I agree! well-spoken.
As I was leaving high school, some self-seeking politician had decided to "put a computer in every classroom!" So they went through the trouble of doing just that... the result?
The sole use of this vast network was taking class attendance, and 80% of the teachers couldn't even accomplish that! The biggest problem in any network is the ignorance of its users - educate the users.
Go out and tell the people!
der_m
I'd actually seen a similar design when I was working with a hardware/software reseller. It was an IBM. Black tower (foreboding and impregnable - how IBM!) with no doors or ports or anything, but a cable running to the base of the monitor, which held the floppy and CD-ROM. They were actually enclosed in the base, and would "pop up" when you push a button...
Really a pretty nice design. Even included a wireless mouse (must have been an expensive system when it came out... 200 Mhz).
I'm sure it would have performed better in the marketplace if it didn't have the cold facade for which IBM is synonymous. As it stood, the average computer-phobic user might have feared damnation if they pushed the wrong key...
....misread website... the gamedisks are 1.5 gigaBYTES... I was surprised when I read gigaBITS myself, but neglected to correct myself. still a feat, imo. 9 gigabytes may be fun for fmvs and audio files... but it too often allows for lazy programming. efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. overzealous, der_m
"fanboy" - oh, how I love that term...
- 12 -14&res=l
Nintendo knows how to make fun games. They make games that I'll return to in five years and *continue* to enjoy.
I can't deny Sony their throne today, and I even admit to owning a PSX - but I consider that initial release to be a turning point in the industry... a turning which I don't wish to follow.
I've never been a fan of load-times. When I sit down to a game, I expect it all to be seamless - fmv's run quickly to and from gameplay; levels show immediately when called for... all the benefits of a cartridge.
Forced at gun-point, I'm playing through Xenogears on the PSX... and while I'm enjoying aspects of the game/story - I can't get over the ridiculously long loadtimes for an fmv! After 3 seconds (5 minutes in "gametime"), the mood has been lost, and the cleanly drawn anime characters may as well be sock puppets for all I care...
"That's just the way it works... that's the limitation of a CD..." - ya, understandable for a computer game; but inexcusable for a console, in my humble and stringent opinion.
That's a major reason N64 remained a cartridge, I think - they, too, couldn't tolerate the load times. And that's why Gamecube uses ultra-small proprietary format DVDs, I believe - there are virtually no loadtimes whatsoever! And where there are load times, they are cleverly hidden under cinematic prelude (which should have been done in the first place on CD consoles *and* PCs).
I've encountered no noticeable loadtimes in Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, or Star Wars - there's a *single* load time in the whole of Smash Bros. Melee, which is a remarkably large game holding great and dynamic playing levels...
And most important is game play... I return to NES and have the time of my life. I play my SNES as much as I play any PC game. I really enjoy N64. Hell - I even go back to my Game&Watch.
and I continue to play it, because it *continues to be good*.
That's faith in a company who consistently holds high standards of quality. "Fanboy"... whatever.
PS2 - technology finally allows what the console promised years ago.
GameCube - Nintendo has always been about efficiency... Mario64 was only 8MB! Less "pure strength and capacity", but far better use of what they have... only 1.5 Gigabits... but each byte brilliantly utilized... SBMelee has nearly 300 intricately detailed 3D figures, 26 playable characters in 29 *dynamic* levels... plus "adventure play" and other possibilities... 1.5 Gigabits...
Xbox - offers nothing new. It's last year's PC. The octupus is just grabbing for more territory.
I take it "fanboy" means "person of high console standards"...
der_m
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001
I remember when I was younger, and my father decided that a game console would be my birthday present - at the time, I had the fateful choice between either SNES, or whatever SEGA system was out (genesis?).
I remember it plainly - sega was "the cool system". It had the blood, and the arcade ports - and, good golly, it had a black case!! but I just couldn't help but be taken with the appearance and gameplay of the SNES. Super Mario World was a huge-ass factor in my decision. And I've never regretted it. I still play my SNES games today.
but I bring this up for a major reason - this "Xbox vs. GameCube" sounds like "sega vs. snes" all over again... and even if xbox does survive, I doubt it'll ever be nintendo.
microsoft's xbox, imo, relies too much on the "cool" factor. nintendo has higher standards of quality.