I've been using Feisty on my PS3 for about a month or two, and on my main desktop for about a week (after upgrading from dapper and edgy). I've used a half dozen other distros, but this one is truly friendly - about equivalent to Mandriva, IMHO, which I've been running for years as my Arcade cabinet/file/print-server.
Beryl looks great, but it still needs more debugging, so it's no wonder they didn't enable it by default. The only real bug I've seen is related to it: where Yakuake occasionally causes X11 to restart when using Beryl.
If anyone's been looking to give Linux a try, download the Live CD when the final release comes out (or at least wait a few weeks from now, after the hardcore Linux users have flushed out any more lingering beta-bugs). You have nothing to lose, and at the very least it's always good to have a second OS for testing when devices mysteriously stop working under Windows.
I've been using them for over a year now. I don't know how hard (or not) it is to quit, as I've had nothing but great service. Sorry to hear about all the problems you had, but they've been great to me.
At any rate, I don't think you want them to go under based on Verizons patents. If they do go under, let it be due to customer reaction, not because of stupid patent abuse that will basically kill every VoIP provider.
Who areeee these people? Who can't download the a Live CD, burn it, and reboot their computer. You don't even need to install it to evaluate it as a replacement option.
Want to install it? It's all menu driven, with very simple wizards. Anyone who can't install it probably couldn't install Windows either.
If it works, why break it?
A) You're not "breaking" it, you're replacing it. You can even keep your old OS as a bootable option, should you not want to replace it.
B) Consider this: Your old computer works, why would you ever break it?
C) It probably *doesn't* work when lots of people decide to try Linux. One day you replace your motherboard and Windows generates a blue screen whose only viable resolution (as per the MS Knowledgebase) is to re-install Windows completely (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316401/en-us as an example, but there are lots more like this).
Unfortunately, manufacturers only include "recovery CDs" specific to the hardware they sold you - not full versions of Windows, so re-installing without buying another copy of Windows is impossible (unless you don't mind pirating a copy, and all the hassle that comes with that should Microsoft deactivate your key). Are you going to spend $200 and reward Microsoft for forcing vendors into the recovery-cd scheme, are would you fully investigate your options?
Changing OS may cost nothing financially, but for many people, their time isn't free.
And the knowledge they gain through the process isn't useless, especially for any techie. Experience can only help your resume'.
Plus, think of all the free time you could get back - not having to worry about the vast majority of spyware, trojans, and DRM-supporting rootkits.
No. The 360 is intentionally crippled so that it can only stream from a Windows Media Server. Guess who sells that?
There are a few Linux apps out there that can fake media server capabilities to various degrees (TwonkyMedia, uShare, 360mediacenter), but you would most likely need to have a separate machine to run them. You could have them access the files on your NAS, do transcoding, and stream the files to the 360.
TwonkyMedia's the only one with which I've had much success. But, it's not free (though there is a free demo version). Twonky's also available for Windows and OS X, if I remember right.
Finally what if the new players were to get some of their executables right off of the DVD itself.
You assume that all DVD players/computers use (and will always use) a specific subset of processors.
Also, The only executable on the DVD could be a decryption routine. Having access to the code for disassembly actually makes the crackers job easier (vs. what is stored in a DVD players ROMS).
As someone who's been beta-testing v9b2 on Linux, I think that's a horrible idea. The thing is so buggy it crashes the browser every other Shockwave you open, and sound is even harder to get working than in v7 (if you can believe that).
If you're a beta-type of person who won't mind your browser crashing/hanging frequently, install it and please give Adobe feedback. However, it's definitely not ready for prime-time at this point.
The latest nVidia package doesn't support the newer 8800 hardware - the packages are about 2 or 3 releases behind the drivers available on nVidia site.
Also the ATI drivers won't work either. At least, 3D acceleration wouldn't work when I just installed the package as above. You have to do the tons of voodoo mentioned here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowt o/ATI to make them actually work and get 3D acceleration.
Regarding the ATI driver: Yes, it is a total pain in the @$$ to install under Kubuntu. I have Kubuntu installed on a couple of machines, and it took me about two hours to figure out why the ATI driver wouldn't work the first time I installed it on my older machine with an ATI card.
However... this problem seems to be specific to Kubuntu, not the ATI installer. When I installed the same driver on a machine running Mandriva, it just worked. It was even easier to install than the nVidia driver because you don't have to drop to runlevel 3! Speaking of which: who decided that the desktop manager should be running at runlevel 3 on Kubuntu anyway? That's just weird... and would be a problem for a newbie trying to follow the standard nVidia instructions (Hopefully a newbie would just use the latest available pre-packaged versions).
Kubuntu is my desktop OS of choice too, but it does some very odd things that cause headaches with 3rd party installers. Hopefully these issues will all be smoothed over in time.
I've tried four or five distros myself, on multiple occassions. Mandriva and K/Ubuntu tend to have the most success discovering all the system components. That is, of course, not including Knoppix.
I wouldn't recommend Knoppix for your situation, although it's definitely worth keeping on a thumbdrive as a recovery tool. Knoppix is Debian based, like Ubuntu, so it really doesn't give you much advantage and is missing the K/Ubuntu system administration tools.
Mandriva (previously Mandrake) had the easiest to use system tools back when I was using it. It made most things very easy. Still, don't expect to not be editing system config files in a text editor and learning the hard way the first time you mess up a bleeding edge video driver upgrade... as with any Linux distro if you're not using pre-built packages for everything.
Mandriva was not keeping up with their 64-bit versions in a timely matter, so I moved to Kubuntu back when dapper was coming out of beta. I chose that version because I prefer the KDE desktop over Gnome, but you could go with Ubuntu just as well (Gnome may be the easier desktop to step into cold). You can always install the KDE packages later too, if you change your mind.
I'm very happy with Kubuntu - especially the pace at which it and the other Ubuntu distros are evolving.
What I recommend is to download every live CD you can find: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mandriva, Suse, Fedora, etc... and see what works best for you and with your hardware. See how the packaging systems of each work and find out what the main differences are between the ones to which you narrow the field.
By this logic, the people who go to the school can't complain either - since they aren't old enough to vote. That's ridiculous.
It's unlikely that either candidate would have said "I'm for making your kids use Office 2007" either. You can't complain if you didn't feel strongly for either candidate, when the guy who wins starts some kind of asshattery?
If you run a system with pure MS drivers and quality hardware you'll never see a BSOD
Does Microsoft make any video drivers that can even run the Aero GUI? Or, by "quality hardware" do you mean really old generic hardware supported by MS's generic drivers? I've never seen any MS drivers for my scanner, printer, webcam... basically nothing in my "quality" system other than the MS keyboard. So, I don't know if what you propose is even possible.
While there are lots of entries in the MS KB that are totally due to 3rd party drivers, there are many that are not. So, even if what you propose is possible, it's unlikely to be correct.
If you run the usual business suite of software (Office, Outlook, IE) you probably never see an application crash.
Okay, you're high, aren't you?
Exploits come out every other day to crash IE And, there are hundreds if not thousands of MS KB articles regarding Outlook crashes. Office? I've seen it crash many times due to internal bugs. And, when it crashes, you can't shut down Windows because it tells you that you must exit all Office apps first - thanks to MS's wonderful OS integration.
I don't think "Insightful" is a strong enough moderation for the parent.
If "partners" are getting the MS source, they can look at it for attack-vectors and re-compile it themselves. What then is the difference between Microsoft and Open Source? Only a few hundred thousand dollars.
It's not like Microsoft invented it, either.... Before that I had a frozen screen on a C64...
Yeah, so it must have been invented by whoever wrote the BASIC interpreter that the C64 booted into! If I could only remember what it said at the top of the screen...:P
(Selectively ignoring PDP-11, since it wasn't a microcomputer...)
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, Minshara would be the correct designation... and the Vulcans would be the ones classifying it at this stardate.
How come it's so easy to learn from Star Trek, yet I haven't a freaking clue what happened at work today?
Damn... When I started to read your post, I thought for sure it was going to say: "If DRM is outlawed, only outlaws will have DRM".
Don't believe everything you see on MythBusters. It's obvious those guys never tried peeing on an electric fence.
Unlike plastic tubing, the real thing is rifled and will produce a stream that conducts electricity.
Windows Genuine Advantage? Critical.
Broken applications? Eh... not so much.
Language independance.
When you run Wine under Linux, you're running as a user - not a machine admin.
.wine directory and re-run winecfg!
OMG NoeZ! I purposely installed a virus, so now I gotta delete my
-J
I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it's unladen, as opposed to bin-laden.
I've been using Feisty on my PS3 for about a month or two, and on my main desktop for about a week (after upgrading from dapper and edgy). I've used a half dozen other distros, but this one is truly friendly - about equivalent to Mandriva, IMHO, which I've been running for years as my Arcade cabinet/file/print-server.
Beryl looks great, but it still needs more debugging, so it's no wonder they didn't enable it by default. The only real bug I've seen is related to it: where Yakuake occasionally causes X11 to restart when using Beryl.
If anyone's been looking to give Linux a try, download the Live CD when the final release comes out (or at least wait a few weeks from now, after the hardcore Linux users have flushed out any more lingering beta-bugs). You have nothing to lose, and at the very least it's always good to have a second OS for testing when devices mysteriously stop working under Windows.
I've been using them for over a year now. I don't know how hard (or not) it is to quit, as I've had nothing but great service. Sorry to hear about all the problems you had, but they've been great to me.
At any rate, I don't think you want them to go under based on Verizons patents. If they do go under, let it be due to customer reaction, not because of stupid patent abuse that will basically kill every VoIP provider.
-J
I can't believe mainstream media (not Slashdot) actually got in on reporting this. Didn't they learn anything from "The Death of Superman?"
This isn't even the first time Captain America has been killed off... sheez.
Who areeee these people? Who can't download the a Live CD, burn it, and reboot their computer. You don't even need to install it to evaluate it as a replacement option.
Want to install it? It's all menu driven, with very simple wizards. Anyone who can't install it probably couldn't install Windows either.
A) You're not "breaking" it, you're replacing it. You can even keep your old OS as a bootable option, should you not want to replace it.
B) Consider this: Your old computer works, why would you ever break it?
C) It probably *doesn't* work when lots of people decide to try Linux. One day you replace your motherboard and Windows generates a blue screen whose only viable resolution (as per the MS Knowledgebase) is to re-install Windows completely (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316401/en-us as an example, but there are lots more like this).
Unfortunately, manufacturers only include "recovery CDs" specific to the hardware they sold you - not full versions of Windows, so re-installing without buying another copy of Windows is impossible (unless you don't mind pirating a copy, and all the hassle that comes with that should Microsoft deactivate your key). Are you going to spend $200 and reward Microsoft for forcing vendors into the recovery-cd scheme, are would you fully investigate your options?
And the knowledge they gain through the process isn't useless, especially for any techie. Experience can only help your resume'.
Plus, think of all the free time you could get back - not having to worry about the vast majority of spyware, trojans, and DRM-supporting rootkits.
-J
No. The 360 is intentionally crippled so that it can only stream from a Windows Media Server. Guess who sells that?
There are a few Linux apps out there that can fake media server capabilities to various degrees (TwonkyMedia, uShare, 360mediacenter), but you would most likely need to have a separate machine to run them. You could have them access the files on your NAS, do transcoding, and stream the files to the 360.
TwonkyMedia's the only one with which I've had much success. But, it's not free (though there is a free demo version). Twonky's also available for Windows and OS X, if I remember right.
-J
He may have seen the dash between the wrong two words, but that is +5 hela-funny.
Macrovision isn't a feature of VCR's; it's an exploit. You can scrub it before the signal gets to the VCR.
As someone who's been beta-testing v9b2 on Linux, I think that's a horrible idea. The thing is so buggy it crashes the browser every other Shockwave you open, and sound is even harder to get working than in v7 (if you can believe that).
If you're a beta-type of person who won't mind your browser crashing/hanging frequently, install it and please give Adobe feedback. However, it's definitely not ready for prime-time at this point.
Incorrect.
t o/ATI to make them actually work and get 3D acceleration.
The latest nVidia package doesn't support the newer 8800 hardware - the packages are about 2 or 3 releases behind the drivers available on nVidia site.
Also the ATI drivers won't work either. At least, 3D acceleration wouldn't work when I just installed the package as above. You have to do the tons of voodoo mentioned here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHow
Regarding the ATI driver: Yes, it is a total pain in the @$$ to install under Kubuntu. I have Kubuntu installed on a couple of machines, and it took me about two hours to figure out why the ATI driver wouldn't work the first time I installed it on my older machine with an ATI card.
However... this problem seems to be specific to Kubuntu, not the ATI installer. When I installed the same driver on a machine running Mandriva, it just worked. It was even easier to install than the nVidia driver because you don't have to drop to runlevel 3! Speaking of which: who decided that the desktop manager should be running at runlevel 3 on Kubuntu anyway? That's just weird... and would be a problem for a newbie trying to follow the standard nVidia instructions (Hopefully a newbie would just use the latest available pre-packaged versions).
Kubuntu is my desktop OS of choice too, but it does some very odd things that cause headaches with 3rd party installers. Hopefully these issues will all be smoothed over in time.
-J
I've tried four or five distros myself, on multiple occassions. Mandriva and K/Ubuntu tend to have the most success discovering all the system components. That is, of course, not including Knoppix.
... as with any Linux distro if you're not using pre-built packages for everything.
I wouldn't recommend Knoppix for your situation, although it's definitely worth keeping on a thumbdrive as a recovery tool. Knoppix is Debian based, like Ubuntu, so it really doesn't give you much advantage and is missing the K/Ubuntu system administration tools.
Mandriva (previously Mandrake) had the easiest to use system tools back when I was using it. It made most things very easy. Still, don't expect to not be editing system config files in a text editor and learning the hard way the first time you mess up a bleeding edge video driver upgrade
Mandriva was not keeping up with their 64-bit versions in a timely matter, so I moved to Kubuntu back when dapper was coming out of beta. I chose that version because I prefer the KDE desktop over Gnome, but you could go with Ubuntu just as well (Gnome may be the easier desktop to step into cold). You can always install the KDE packages later too, if you change your mind.
I'm very happy with Kubuntu - especially the pace at which it and the other Ubuntu distros are evolving.
What I recommend is to download every live CD you can find: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mandriva, Suse, Fedora, etc... and see what works best for you and with your hardware. See how the packaging systems of each work and find out what the main differences are between the ones to which you narrow the field.
-J
By this logic, the people who go to the school can't complain either - since they aren't old enough to vote. That's ridiculous.
It's unlikely that either candidate would have said "I'm for making your kids use Office 2007" either. You can't complain if you didn't feel strongly for either candidate, when the guy who wins starts some kind of asshattery?
Does Microsoft make any video drivers that can even run the Aero GUI? Or, by "quality hardware" do you mean really old generic hardware supported by MS's generic drivers? I've never seen any MS drivers for my scanner, printer, webcam... basically nothing in my "quality" system other than the MS keyboard. So, I don't know if what you propose is even possible.
While there are lots of entries in the MS KB that are totally due to 3rd party drivers, there are many that are not. So, even if what you propose is possible, it's unlikely to be correct.
Okay, you're high, aren't you?
Exploits come out every other day to crash IE And, there are hundreds if not thousands of MS KB articles regarding Outlook crashes. Office? I've seen it crash many times due to internal bugs. And, when it crashes, you can't shut down Windows because it tells you that you must exit all Office apps first - thanks to MS's wonderful OS integration.
When *no* one spends a cent on that sucky Ford, or even low-end Porshe... They'll suddenly realize the flaw in their logic.
I don't think "Insightful" is a strong enough moderation for the parent.
If "partners" are getting the MS source, they can look at it for attack-vectors and re-compile it themselves. What then is the difference between Microsoft and Open Source? Only a few hundred thousand dollars.
-J
Yeah, so it must have been invented by whoever wrote the BASIC interpreter that the C64 booted into! If I could only remember what it said at the top of the screen... :P
(Selectively ignoring PDP-11, since it wasn't a microcomputer...)
-J