That's what I (tried) to do. My dad's video card (Pentium 166, other specs also of that vintage) crapped out, and so I replaced it with a video card we had lying around. Problem was, we didn't know what brand it was, etc. etc., so Windows 98SE ran it at 640x480, 16 colors, and we couldn't change it.
Pop in Knoppix. "Well, let's see. This here card works with VESA drivers... how does 1086x760 with 16-bit color sound to you?" HECK YEAH!
I was all ready to install LInux on his system, but the problem is that he uses some older, Windows-only programs (doesn't like the newer versions) and we've invested a fair bit of money into an Office license, etc. Then my grandmother dropped by and said, "Oh, by the way, how would you like this older Pentium Celeron and motherboard, a 4-ish gig hard drive, and some other computer parts I don't need any more", so we're buying a new case and replacing his system.
AMEN! If I had mod points, that would be +1 Insightful. (Ah, Slashdot, where stating the obvious is commendable.:)
Frankly, though, as a teen *and* a geek, the only times I download movies/TV shows off the Net is when there's no chance in heck of me finding them in my area or I'm unsure how it would fare with my parents -- The Matrix wouldn't go over too well with them, for example. Blade Runner is impossible to find at a movie rental place around here. We don't have cable or very good reception of those TV stations that show, say, Dark Angel or Farscape, so I watch those on my computer, too. (Nor does our VCR work consistently, and I'm always busy when the shows are actually on. My TV watching has doubled since we got broadband.:)
When it comes to major motion pictures (Harry Potter, LOTR), however, the question my geek friends and I ask isn't, "How do I get this off the Net?", but "How do I persuade my parent to let me go to the midnight showing so I can see it on a BIG screen and a killer sound system with my friends, instead of in front of my dinky little PC screen?"
The major movie studios have nothing to fear from us.:)
I haven't done a whole lot of complex programming, but I don't find that emacs (my editor of choice) and gcc are any less intuitive than an IDE. Personally, I find Visual Studio (especially VC++) hard to use, though if I spent enough time with it I could probably understand it. I just find I don't really need an IDE to get what I want done.
You may be interested in Anjuta, an IDE for gcc/c++ on Linux that looks interesting (no personal experience with it or vested interest in it).
1. All right, no one is disputing that it takes time and money to switch. Give us credit for some sense. The corollary to this is that it takes time and money to *upgrade*, too, since whole swaths of OS features get moved or changed. Moving to Linux is just like a major Windows upgrade -- there are always going to be a few niggling little problems. (As a side note, upgrading to Windows 95 from 3.1 was one of the most painful computing events of my life, leaving our computer useless for almost a month.)
2. I agree that OSS has a ways to come in terms of usability. Still, RedHat 8.0 is the best I've ever seen bar none -- which is to say that it is more than ample for every day business use, and it is only getting better. In-house software isn't famous for usability either, and people use it without much complaint.
3. I don't know about anyone else, but I *hate* Visual Studio, and I would more than rather use emacs and gcc to do my developing. Remember, if you're dealing with developers you're generally dealing with people who can tell their heads from their tails. If you can program C++, don't tell me you need a pretty interface.
That saying is rediculous. You think if you install Microsoft you won't need to take the time to upgrade and maintain things -- it'll Just Work(tm)?
Y'see, American school jumped on the Micro$oft bandwagon before they did a little elementary arithmetic, and so now there are brand-spanking new WinXP licenses on 15-year old computers in a 75-year old building with no heat or A/C. Oddly enough, there aren't any students either. Oh well...
Remember, nobody was ever fired for buying Micro$oft!;-)
Uh... sorry if this has been mentioned before, but if you're having problems with *fresh* installs it may be a hardware problem masquerading as a software problem. Oftentimes a flaky piece of hardware -- especially the motherboard -- will cause all kinds of errors that look as though they're software-related but aren't. Something to look into if Linux doesn't solve the problem.
Some ANSI C code of mine (this is simple stuff -- i've only been working with C on-and-off for a year or so -- I'm a Visual Basic refugee) compiles perfectly with gcc, which isn't surprising since I wrote it for gcc & linux. However, trying to do a Windows port of my program (shameless plug) with only Visual C++ available to me right now is a *real* pain. It compiles, but certain perfectly acceptable C statements get somehow FUBARed, and the program turns out weird numbers. I'm not enough of a Windows programmer to understand what's wrong, sadly. Maybe cygwin...
So VC++ and it's merry band are probably standing outside the gates laughing at the "real" standards as they try to interoperate with the de facto standards. Grrr...
Actually, it should (in theory) create both chlorine gas *and* sodium, though the sodium may react with stuff in the air (water vapor, oxygen, etc.) before you get a large enough quantity to do anything with.
I hereby disclaim any responsibility for craters caused as a result of my post...
My high school chem/physics teacher gets the stuff all the time from a guy in our community who carts around bovine sperm on a regular basis:). Now, given the quantities he's dealing with it's probably not a big enough deal that he would need a permit (or he may even have one), but I'd be real surprised if you'd be required to have one. IANAL and all that.
Ever put a plastic football in liquid N2, toss it against a wall and watch it shatter? Or put a little in a 20oz. pop bottle, put the bottle in hot water, and watch it blow itself to smithereens? The best part of science classes is always making things go BOOM!:-)
All right, I'm sure this should be obvious for me -- how do I go about setting that symlink to the Mozilla plugin directory up? I can't seem to make ln do what I want it to today...
Same essential reply from my congresscritters (Senate: Harkin R-IA and House: Latham D-IA) -- they're concerned about "personal privacy" or somesuch, but no cut and dried statement for or against. Grr...
Grassley (R-IA), our other Senator, didn't even respond, but I just sent e-mails so I'm probably lucky I got anything at all.
We have Fortres "Grand" (just one 's') at the library I work at, and I must say it is a pain in the bloody @$$, if you'll excuse my French. And it does include "Bess Internet Filtering," which lets you block individual sites, and I'm sure there are other censorware things on it as well. The reason I know about Bess is that we manage all our filtering on a computer-by-computer basis, if we want to block a porn site we have to change it on every system. We didn't even have a *firewall* on our network because "the hackers aren't interested in an unsecured NT box" until 6 months ago when our ISP made us install it because we were providing DHCP services to their entire network!
Not only that, library staffers aren't given the Fortres password, and if a patron needs something that's on the system but inaccessible, we are forbidden from disabling Fortres to help them out, even if we watch them every minute.
Never mind the fact that you can get around Fortres and access the hard drive by opening Internet Explorer (tried to use Mozilla; didn't go over well *at all*) and typing in the path you want. Fortres is simply a worthless security program.
I'd say people like library directors need more computer experience as well, since she *has* a CS degree, but I have more than once been called in to fix a problem she created (like the time she had a staffer re-format the hard drive because she wanted to install Microsoft Works... I didn't understand it either.) About the only thing she does real well on the computer is play Solitare.
Ah, er... sorry 'bout that -- just needed to rant.:)
Do you suppose that decoders can get around this issue the same way the LAME open-source mp3 encoder did -- by distributing not a decoder but the *source* to one?
Oooh! I'd pay to see _2001_ on the big screen, though it won't happen in my home town any time soon (we get our first ever 5-plex movie theater next spring!)
For that matter, in a year or so how many of us would pay to be able to watch all three LotR movies *back*-to-*back* on the big screen? (With bathroom/buy-more-overpriced-snacks breaks, of course.;)
Yes!!!! This is what the library I work at needs! No more lusers screwing up the system, no more Fortres not-so-"Grande," no more reformatting & reinstalling every other week...
Now if only the director weren't such a Windoze zealot, and one of those people who only *thinks* they understand computers... I'm in hot water for installing Mozilla and Open Office on the systems because some patron couldn't get their stupid pop-up e-greeting card to work! Grr....
Okay, I'm from a small Midwestern town where people think "basil" is the name of some guy off an old TV show... maybe I can help.
The short answer: your garden.
The longer answer: herbs (and for that matter, most vegetables) are reasonably easy to grow yourself. Some tips:
Fast-growing annuals like coriander (aka. cilantro), cumin, and dill start easily from seed and grow like weeds. Buy them from the grocery store/WalMart, dig up several square feet of back yard, plant, and forget.
Chives also start well from seed; buy a large pot and plant another grocery-store packet, or expand that plot in the back yard. I personally prefer garlic chives to the standard variety.
Basil, oregano, and other slower-growing annuals are best purchased from a local greenhouse and/or a mailorder firm that will ship live plants such as Territorial, though you may have luck with seed.
Parsely, a biannual, is best purchased, because the seeds are hard to germinate. However, the grocery-store greenhouse will probably suffice.
Perennials like rosemary, thyme, and sage are much more finicky and should always be bought as plants to save on mental anguish.
As a general rule, annuals can be grown either in the ground or in pots.
Perennials can be grown in a garden, but where I live (Zone 4) winters are so harsh that most herbs won't survive. I've had reasonably good luck keeping my perennials in pots outside during the summer, and bringing them inside during the winter.
If you do decide to go that route, be careful when putting the pots outside in the spring. Herbs generally do best when they're not in full sun, but not in full shade either. 75-25 sun-shade is where I'd put it. Don't put them in direct sunlight as soon as they arrive from the greenhouse.
Conversely, make sure that your plants get adequate sun and water in the winter. I've lost more plants to neglect than I have to anything else, normally over semester-test week or some other hideously busy period.
Buy big pots -- they hold more water, so you don't have to water as frequently.
When you get your plants home from the nursery, repot them immediately; don't wait a week. The little thimble-fulls of dirt the plants live in dry out very fast, so unless you like watering your plants every hour and a half...
Fertilizer is a necessity for potted plants. A little 20-20-20 whenever I water works well for me.
Don't get discouraged if you lose a plant or two -- just buy another set and change the variables until you find something that works!
And above all, enjoy your plants! Being an herb-ivore can be a lot of fun!:-)
The reason you have configs in hidden directories in your/home is so that you can back up your documents and your personal configuration files *at the same time.* Windows won't let you back up configs because they're strewn through the Registry and every program's INI files *and* wherever the sam hill the programmers wanted them. Grr...
Re:For those who don't drink coffee...
on
Coffepot Computer
·
· Score: 1
Celestial Seasonings used to produce a tea called "Fast Lane", which was the only one they *added* caffeine to. Unfortunately they seem to have discontinued it, and the closest thing I can find is "Morning Thunder."
The caffeine-meter is broken, so I'm afraid I don't know how it compares to coffee. Probably less, seeing as they claim it doesn't "give you the jitters" like coffee does. OTOH, yerba mate turns out to be "high-caffeine tea-like stimulant," (it's down a ways, search the page for "tea") so it might serve your purposes. Sorry I can't say more for sure.
If you're talking nasty DVD obfuscation, the Harry Potter DVD makes you go through a bunch of cutesy steps taken from the story, like going to Diagon Alley to get your "wand," before you can get to the extra scenes. The whole DVD is filled with this crap, when I would really have rather seen more about the movies. They give you *two* DVDs, and only have about 7 extra scenes and a little "making-of" documentary, the rest being filled with tours of Hogwarts castle annoyingly narrated, etc. etc. etc.
Slashdot Mirror
That's what I (tried) to do. My dad's video card (Pentium 166, other specs also of that vintage) crapped out, and so I replaced it with a video card we had lying around. Problem was, we didn't know what brand it was, etc. etc., so Windows 98SE ran it at 640x480, 16 colors, and we couldn't change it.
:(
Pop in Knoppix. "Well, let's see. This here card works with VESA drivers... how does 1086x760 with 16-bit color sound to you?" HECK YEAH!
I was all ready to install LInux on his system, but the problem is that he uses some older, Windows-only programs (doesn't like the newer versions) and we've invested a fair bit of money into an Office license, etc. Then my grandmother dropped by and said, "Oh, by the way, how would you like this older Pentium Celeron and motherboard, a 4-ish gig hard drive, and some other computer parts I don't need any more", so we're buying a new case and replacing his system.
Frell.
AMEN! If I had mod points, that would be +1 Insightful. (Ah, Slashdot, where stating the obvious is commendable. :)
:)
:)
Frankly, though, as a teen *and* a geek, the only times I download movies/TV shows off the Net is when there's no chance in heck of me finding them in my area or I'm unsure how it would fare with my parents -- The Matrix wouldn't go over too well with them, for example. Blade Runner is impossible to find at a movie rental place around here. We don't have cable or very good reception of those TV stations that show, say, Dark Angel or Farscape, so I watch those on my computer, too. (Nor does our VCR work consistently, and I'm always busy when the shows are actually on. My TV watching has doubled since we got broadband.
When it comes to major motion pictures (Harry Potter, LOTR), however, the question my geek friends and I ask isn't, "How do I get this off the Net?", but "How do I persuade my parent to let me go to the midnight showing so I can see it on a BIG screen and a killer sound system with my friends, instead of in front of my dinky little PC screen?"
The major movie studios have nothing to fear from us.
Okay, fair enough. Let me explain:
I haven't done a whole lot of complex programming, but I don't find that emacs (my editor of choice) and gcc are any less intuitive than an IDE. Personally, I find Visual Studio (especially VC++) hard to use, though if I spent enough time with it I could probably understand it. I just find I don't really need an IDE to get what I want done.
You may be interested in Anjuta, an IDE for gcc/c++ on Linux that looks interesting (no personal experience with it or vested interest in it).
Probably (sadly) not. Commodity hardware is better, faster, and cheaper now. But didn't the Alpha kick!
;-)
My own baby is sitting next to me right now -- a 553MHz Alpha. If only DEC had been able to capitalize on that chip! Whaaaaa...
1. All right, no one is disputing that it takes time and money to switch. Give us credit for some sense. The corollary to this is that it takes time and money to *upgrade*, too, since whole swaths of OS features get moved or changed. Moving to Linux is just like a major Windows upgrade -- there are always going to be a few niggling little problems. (As a side note, upgrading to Windows 95 from 3.1 was one of the most painful computing events of my life, leaving our computer useless for almost a month.)
2. I agree that OSS has a ways to come in terms of usability. Still, RedHat 8.0 is the best I've ever seen bar none -- which is to say that it is more than ample for every day business use, and it is only getting better. In-house software isn't famous for usability either, and people use it without much complaint.
3. I don't know about anyone else, but I *hate* Visual Studio, and I would more than rather use emacs and gcc to do my developing. Remember, if you're dealing with developers you're generally dealing with people who can tell their heads from their tails. If you can program C++, don't tell me you need a pretty interface.
That saying is rediculous. You think if you install Microsoft you won't need to take the time to upgrade and maintain things -- it'll Just Work(tm)?
Y'see, American school jumped on the Micro$oft bandwagon before they did a little elementary arithmetic, and so now there are brand-spanking new WinXP licenses on 15-year old computers in a 75-year old building with no heat or A/C. Oddly enough, there aren't any students either. Oh well...
;-)
Remember, nobody was ever fired for buying Micro$oft!
Uh... sorry if this has been mentioned before, but if you're having problems with *fresh* installs it may be a hardware problem masquerading as a software problem. Oftentimes a flaky piece of hardware -- especially the motherboard -- will cause all kinds of errors that look as though they're software-related but aren't. Something to look into if Linux doesn't solve the problem.
Best of luck,
sparrow_hawk
Some ANSI C code of mine (this is simple stuff -- i've only been working with C on-and-off for a year or so -- I'm a Visual Basic refugee) compiles perfectly with gcc, which isn't surprising since I wrote it for gcc & linux. However, trying to do a Windows port of my program (shameless plug) with only Visual C++ available to me right now is a *real* pain. It compiles, but certain perfectly acceptable C statements get somehow FUBARed, and the program turns out weird numbers. I'm not enough of a Windows programmer to understand what's wrong, sadly. Maybe cygwin...
So VC++ and it's merry band are probably standing outside the gates laughing at the "real" standards as they try to interoperate with the de facto standards. Grrr...
Actually, it should (in theory) create both chlorine gas *and* sodium, though the sodium may react with stuff in the air (water vapor, oxygen, etc.) before you get a large enough quantity to do anything with.
I hereby disclaim any responsibility for craters caused as a result of my post...
My high school chem/physics teacher gets the stuff all the time from a guy in our community who carts around bovine sperm on a regular basis :). Now, given the quantities he's dealing with it's probably not a big enough deal that he would need a permit (or he may even have one), but I'd be real surprised if you'd be required to have one. IANAL and all that.
:-)
Ever put a plastic football in liquid N2, toss it against a wall and watch it shatter? Or put a little in a 20oz. pop bottle, put the bottle in hot water, and watch it blow itself to smithereens? The best part of science classes is always making things go BOOM!
All right, I'm sure this should be obvious for me -- how do I go about setting that symlink to the Mozilla plugin directory up? I can't seem to make ln do what I want it to today...
Thanks in advance!
Same essential reply from my congresscritters (Senate: Harkin R-IA and House: Latham D-IA) -- they're concerned about "personal privacy" or somesuch, but no cut and dried statement for or against. Grr...
Grassley (R-IA), our other Senator, didn't even respond, but I just sent e-mails so I'm probably lucky I got anything at all.
Umm... Linux has had a viable open-source 3D rendering program for a *long* time: POV-Ray
And POV is better than most commercial packages out there. (Doesn't mean I'm good with it, but there are some real Artists in the POV community!)
Google for "Fortres Hacking" for some help, but do it at home and be *really* careful who's around when you use it. (Not that that needs saying. :)
Fortres is a 2-bit security program that only deters those who really have something legit they need to do, unfortunately. Good luck!
We have Fortres "Grand" (just one 's') at the library I work at, and I must say it is a pain in the bloody @$$, if you'll excuse my French. And it does include "Bess Internet Filtering," which lets you block individual sites, and I'm sure there are other censorware things on it as well. The reason I know about Bess is that we manage all our filtering on a computer-by-computer basis, if we want to block a porn site we have to change it on every system. We didn't even have a *firewall* on our network because "the hackers aren't interested in an unsecured NT box" until 6 months ago when our ISP made us install it because we were providing DHCP services to their entire network!
:)
Not only that, library staffers aren't given the Fortres password, and if a patron needs something that's on the system but inaccessible, we are forbidden from disabling Fortres to help them out, even if we watch them every minute.
Never mind the fact that you can get around Fortres and access the hard drive by opening Internet Explorer (tried to use Mozilla; didn't go over well *at all*) and typing in the path you want. Fortres is simply a worthless security program.
I'd say people like library directors need more computer experience as well, since she *has* a CS degree, but I have more than once been called in to fix a problem she created (like the time she had a staffer re-format the hard drive because she wanted to install Microsoft Works... I didn't understand it either.) About the only thing she does real well on the computer is play Solitare.
Ah, er... sorry 'bout that -- just needed to rant.
Do you suppose that decoders can get around this issue the same way the LAME open-source mp3 encoder did -- by distributing not a decoder but the *source* to one?
Oooh! I'd pay to see _2001_ on the big screen, though it won't happen in my home town any time soon (we get our first ever 5-plex movie theater next spring!)
;)
For that matter, in a year or so how many of us would pay to be able to watch all three LotR movies *back*-to-*back* on the big screen? (With bathroom/buy-more-overpriced-snacks breaks, of course.
Then every time someone *actually* coughs, seven or eight people in the theater will reply, "Hello?"
I think the cell phone ban is a good idea!
Whoops! That Territorial wasn't quite the one I meant -- sorry to anyone who landed at a "portal" page.
The seed company that will ship you live plants is Territorial Seeds.
Yes!!!! This is what the library I work at needs! No more lusers screwing up the system, no more Fortres not-so-"Grande," no more reformatting & reinstalling every other week...
Now if only the director weren't such a Windoze zealot, and one of those people who only *thinks* they understand computers... I'm in hot water for installing Mozilla and Open Office on the systems because some patron couldn't get their stupid pop-up e-greeting card to work! Grr....
The short answer: your garden.
The longer answer: herbs (and for that matter, most vegetables) are reasonably easy to grow yourself. Some tips:
And above all, enjoy your plants! Being an herb-ivore can be a lot of fun!
Gordon McComb's book The Robot Builder's Bonanza has an example of a touch-sensor using this material. I hope whatever you come up with helps!
The reason you have configs in hidden directories in your /home is so that you can back up your documents and your personal configuration files *at the same time.* Windows won't let you back up configs because they're strewn through the Registry and every program's INI files *and* wherever the sam hill the programmers wanted them. Grr...
Celestial Seasonings used to produce a tea called "Fast Lane", which was the only one they *added* caffeine to.
Unfortunately they seem to have discontinued it, and the closest thing I can find is
"Morning Thunder."
The caffeine-meter is broken, so I'm afraid I don't know how it compares to coffee. Probably less, seeing as they claim it doesn't "give you the jitters" like coffee does. OTOH, yerba mate turns out to be "high-caffeine tea-like stimulant," (it's down a ways, search the page for "tea") so it might serve your purposes. Sorry I can't say more for sure.
If you're talking nasty DVD obfuscation, the Harry Potter DVD makes you go through a bunch of cutesy steps taken from the story, like going to Diagon Alley to get your "wand," before you can get to the extra scenes. The whole DVD is filled with this crap, when I would really have rather seen more about the movies. They give you *two* DVDs, and only have about 7 extra scenes and a little "making-of" documentary, the rest being filled with tours of Hogwarts castle annoyingly narrated, etc. etc. etc.
:-)
Okay, okay... rant off.