A couple years ago I was getting pretty fed up by the entropy of the computer industry. Then I discovered GNU/Linux and the other people who just want to get things done and right.
Truly a breath of fresh air, instead of so much corprate marketing BS. The PR/marketing bull is still there, but now there is a bar of quality and responsibility to measure against - instead who can can blow the most hot air or try to "lock-in" the most marketshare.
Regardless of whether GNU/Linux, FOSS reaches the common person, all of you have already done a lot to put more optimism in the technology sector by offering compelling competition to those who thought they could put out just any crap and get away with it. As well as opening up the field to those who may have the desire but not the cash or situation for licensing quality development tools or accessing the knowledge to persue thier own dreams.
You all deserve a standing round of applause! I love you guys! (um... in a strictly heterosexual way, that is.)
If you want to learn Linux and not Fink or whatever bottleneck app you need to run to get your Linux stuff working don't get a MAc. While OSX is all nice and fluffy trying to get stuff running on Macs via X11 w/fink or whatever will add a whole new level of frustration.
Go with Linux, Ubuntu is nice, Centos is good too. (If you don't have high speed internet, go with something that has all the whistles pre-loaded on a CD/DVD like the retail SuSE, as you won't have to wait and download all the goodies.)
Get some books, I reccomend the older "Red Hat Linux Bible" for its completeness of covering wall that is GNU/Linux is in general (regardless of distro) as well as grab more in depth tomes on getting skilled in specific areas (especially for programming,) do browse your bookstore and peersonally check out the books for yourself, some are real dogs. Get used to using Google, google groups and hearing a lot of "Read the ####ing Manual" as you start, it's not really hard, just different.
As for hardware get something Intel/AMD with at least a Ghz of speed (I would not worry about 64 bits if you can't afford it right off, the support of 64 bit apps is still a bit behind 32) and at least 512 MB RAM, Nvidia Cards have some of the best performance for low prices and are not hard to configure, some ATI cards super right out of the box (careful on many other manufacturers video cards your experience may be really bad when starting with the wrong video card). A really good keyboard and mouse are helpful too ( lots more typing in Linux).
An external drive for backups is a nice thing, and if you are dual booting consider getting a second hard drive for Linux to live on (so you don't have to futz with Windows repartitioning).
I regularly take parts of my computer collection to the West Coast Vintage Copmputer Festival and I can assure you there are computer collectors in every state (finding them may be another matter)
It will save you time on getting things ready (except planning where to put various exhibits, power cords, etc.). The collectors know how to show off thier stuff, and probably result in a better presentation also as these collectors come with knowledge, history and lore about thier machines and using them in the day.
This posting is a good start for finding people, you might also go to http://groups.google.com/ and post on groups like comp.sys.cbm, comp.sys.apple2, comp.sys.atari.8bit, rec.games.video.classic, etc. to find classic collectors in your state to present.
make sure to include the location date, time , etc of your event (well in advance) and of course contact info.
Contact Sellam Ismail at the Vintage Computer Festival site (link above) as he could give you some pointers and leads.
So, from what this and other articles say MS Vista is designed to
Lock out pirates
Lock out competition
Lock out any improved features unless 'comsumers' pay more for added feature levels or extra/compliant hardware (beyond buying the OS already)
Lock out hardware and software vendors that don't play ball (read as: pay $$, do what MS says)
Lock out adaptability (virtulization = bad)
Lock in purchasers
Yep I think I think this is a true Microsoft "innivation", nothing has been as so well enginiered for user experience and consumer acceptrance since the u-buy it then pay to watch it DVD and the self-destruct DVd.
I read an article in a local newspaper (some real small-town techie column) warning holiday shoppers to make sure whatever site you go to has a "little lock" (or https addres) to ensure that the site is secure.
I figure some people will belive the green bar just as much. Maybe thinking that other browsers are not as secure becoause they don't have a color bar like IE does.
Installing is a breeze (you just have to remember to use su properly at one point. it's the docs for the configuration of access with pg_hba.conf which is kind of bad, but also stated as real important.
This looks liike an opportunity for Postgres to come out with some better documentation on installation and configuration of Postgres and attract some new users.
For the most part on these things it's not us (Mac users) that have a problem with having a feature missing it usually comes down to soneone from the outside not accepting the fact that we cannot use thier stuff because we do not have that feature. If mac BU want to make headway they do not need to talk to Mac users about how to handle the loss of VB in Office but consult with the WINDOWS Office unit on how to handle that other CURRENT versions of Office will not have VB support. THAT is where a lot of the problems and friction eminate.
Living up in the foothills in California I have recently heard of some area house fires happening up here partly because the owners in the Valley activate the heating system via internet or whatever and does not know the condition of the house or system (whether there is a critter caught in the furnace or there is a wiring short). Anyway without human supervision these houses burn for a while unattended.
Some guy creates some new hot gee-whiz technology, mainly to have fun and see what it can do, not for others but what they think would be (which is usually a lot more than most big businesses would plan for the 'consumer')
Eventually some big company notices the interest in it and thinks, "We should jump in and get our cut out of this." and starts to dream talk up a 'better version' which is "improved by thier knowledge and experience".
Then Marketing, Legal and PR guys gets wind of the concept and put in thier 12 cents: "lets take X out because we'd be giving that away, we could charge extra for it", "lock down Z else soneone *might* sue us", and "looks geeky, let's put more half-naked chicks on it to appeal to the market".
And what we get in return is an on-line rehash of thier tried and true (for them) business as usual with the talk that they are "innovating" and "being on the cutting edge".
Now most of the previously excited followers sigh and either put up with it as there is not much they can do since the Big Business has now muddied the waters and are wringing out every penny they can, or go on to look for something away from the hype all over again.
The dude was hacking before I knew what a computer was: he was dumpster diving and doing late nite hack sessions on a work computer, LEO (Large Enumeration Officiator).
...most advanced technology of the 1st century B.C.
Given that we know only as much about such ancient times by the encrusted ruins we find, how do we know that this was thier most advanced?? Ive read about the roman factories recently that gives me the impression we really don't know much more than what most og us have seen in Spartacus.
I would think whatever the data source is it would have to be sealed from the elements at the very least 4 times, each container high endurance with a buffered feed to the next outer casing - inside each casing would be some sort of written guide (pictures, symbols, etc.) of what is inside (to let discoverers know it isn't treasure in the physical sense) and how to access the archive (Don't know about having displays, etc as those would be way too fragile and may be considered 'valuable' even if broken to future generations.
A hopeful tong term scenario would be assuming at the discovery at leas one casings may have been broken or worn away with a couple still to go till you might contaminate the core.
It should definately not be small or light, big and (enviromentally) impervious would probably be best.
So microsoft makes a deal with a Linux Distributor to hold them harmess if they use MS IP and also hold MS hamless if MS uses SuSE IP. Then, once that deal is inked - starts talking about how possibly there is MS IP in Linux.
Makes you wonder if it isn't the aother way around as well and they already are infringing on Linux IP...
If that is the case I don't think a contact with one distributor would imdemnify MS from any infringing GPL or other non SuSE code in thier offerings.
Part of what I see in the open source movement is to get some of this technology that get re-sold again and again out in the open so we can actually move on to bigger and better things.
Yes, Microsoft is happy with selling us an OS every three years along with a complete office suite to go with it, again, and again, and again. But many of us are kind of getting tired of this "you have to pay for it all over again and again" scheme, and are taking the common bits of teachnology making them openly available with the hopes that these "innovators" of industry start doing some real innovating instead of re-packaging.
Also related is the acceccibility of tools (development, design, professional) has been becomming a have/have not situation where those who had the money could afford the tools, and those who were trying to make a start couldln't. Again it is a form af leveling the field for everyone. (there are many far-better tools out there for sale but the basics are now more widely available.)
Of the commercial supported linux distrros SuSE seems to be a good replacement of Windows, has all the bells and whistles, supports the non-business stuff like games in their repoistorty and provides a tech support service.
The bulk license purchase for the OS with all the apps and proprietary bits (codec licenses?) would still come out way below anything MS would offer for just an OS.
A lot of the problems people have with Linux is that it does not install easily, if Acer were to get a distrro version that works 100% with their hardware (like replacing that blasterd Inprocomm wireless card with something that just works) they would have it made, to be sure they should also include a few no-brainer restore borked video, etc. scripts as well as an Acer tuned kickstart profile (or whatever they call it in YAST.)
Slashdot Mirror
A couple years ago I was getting pretty fed up by the entropy of the computer industry. Then I discovered GNU/Linux and the other people who just want to get things done and right.
Truly a breath of fresh air, instead of so much corprate marketing BS. The PR/marketing bull is still there, but now there is a bar of quality and responsibility to measure against - instead who can can blow the most hot air or try to "lock-in" the most marketshare.
Regardless of whether GNU/Linux, FOSS reaches the common person, all of you have already done a lot to put more optimism in the technology sector by offering compelling competition to those who thought they could put out just any crap and get away with it. As well as opening up the field to those who may have the desire but not the cash or situation for licensing quality development tools or accessing the knowledge to persue thier own dreams.
You all deserve a standing round of applause! I love you guys! (um... in a strictly heterosexual way, that is.)
instead there are 500 million independent half-assed attempts at it.
Um... can you list them here? Which of those 500 million are any good (more closer to half-assed than quarter assed , etc.)If you want to learn Linux and not Fink or whatever bottleneck app you need to run to get your Linux stuff working don't get a MAc. While OSX is all nice and fluffy trying to get stuff running on Macs via X11 w/fink or whatever will add a whole new level of frustration.
Go with Linux, Ubuntu is nice, Centos is good too. (If you don't have high speed internet, go with something that has all the whistles pre-loaded on a CD/DVD like the retail SuSE, as you won't have to wait and download all the goodies.)
Get some books, I reccomend the older "Red Hat Linux Bible" for its completeness of covering wall that is GNU/Linux is in general (regardless of distro) as well as grab more in depth tomes on getting skilled in specific areas (especially for programming,) do browse your bookstore and peersonally check out the books for yourself, some are real dogs. Get used to using Google, google groups and hearing a lot of "Read the ####ing Manual" as you start, it's not really hard, just different.
As for hardware get something Intel/AMD with at least a Ghz of speed (I would not worry about 64 bits if you can't afford it right off, the support of 64 bit apps is still a bit behind 32) and at least 512 MB RAM, Nvidia Cards have some of the best performance for low prices and are not hard to configure, some ATI cards super right out of the box (careful on many other manufacturers video cards your experience may be really bad when starting with the wrong video card). A really good keyboard and mouse are helpful too (
lots more typing in Linux).
An external drive for backups is a nice thing, and if you are dual booting consider getting a second hard drive for Linux to live on (so you don't have to futz with Windows repartitioning).
I regularly take parts of my computer collection to the West Coast Vintage Copmputer Festival and I can assure you there are computer collectors in every state (finding them may be another matter)
It will save you time on getting things ready (except planning where to put various exhibits, power cords, etc.). The collectors know how to show off thier stuff, and probably result in a better presentation also as these collectors come with knowledge, history and lore about thier machines and using them in the day.
This posting is a good start for finding people, you might also go to http://groups.google.com/ and post on groups like comp.sys.cbm, comp.sys.apple2, comp.sys.atari.8bit, rec.games.video.classic, etc. to find classic collectors in your state to present.
make sure to include the location date, time , etc of your event (well in advance) and of course contact info.
Contact Sellam Ismail at the Vintage Computer Festival site (link above) as he could give you some pointers and leads.
Yep I think I think this is a true Microsoft "innivation", nothing has been as so well enginiered for user experience and consumer acceptrance since the u-buy it then pay to watch it DVD and the self-destruct DVd.
Sorry, but is the GNU/Linux world only RedHat and SuSE?
What about Damn Small Linux or Morphix? And Those distros
(RH and SuSE) also offer the smaller display managers as alternatives.
I read an article in a local newspaper (some real small-town techie column) warning holiday shoppers to make sure whatever site you go to has a "little lock" (or https addres) to ensure that the site is secure.
I figure some people will belive the green bar just as much. Maybe thinking that other browsers are not as secure becoause they don't have a color bar like IE does.
You can Buy a Dell server without an OS.
Installing is a breeze (you just have to remember to use su properly at one point. it's the docs for the configuration of access with pg_hba.conf which is kind of bad, but also stated as real important.
This looks liike an opportunity for Postgres to come out with some better documentation on installation and configuration of Postgres and attract some new users.
Yeah they could have just put a "You Are Here" arrow trhere or something. :-)
For the most part on these things it's not us (Mac users) that have a problem with having a feature missing it usually comes down to soneone from the outside not accepting the fact that we cannot use thier stuff because we do not have that feature. If mac BU want to make headway they do not need to talk to Mac users about how to handle the loss of VB in Office but consult with the WINDOWS Office unit on how to handle that other CURRENT versions of Office will not have VB support. THAT is where a lot of the problems and friction eminate.
Living up in the foothills in California I have recently heard of some area house fires happening up here partly because the owners in the Valley activate the heating system via internet or whatever and does not know the condition of the house or system (whether there is a critter caught in the furnace or there is a wiring short). Anyway without human supervision these houses burn for a while unattended.
Some guy creates some new hot gee-whiz technology, mainly to have fun and see what it can do, not for others but what they think would be (which is usually a lot more than most big businesses would plan for the 'consumer')
Eventually some big company notices the interest in it and thinks, "We should jump in and get our cut out of this." and starts to dream talk up a 'better version' which is "improved by thier knowledge and experience".
Then Marketing, Legal and PR guys gets wind of the concept and put in thier 12 cents: "lets take X out because we'd be giving that away, we could charge extra for it", "lock down Z else soneone *might* sue us", and "looks geeky, let's put more half-naked chicks on it to appeal to the market".
And what we get in return is an on-line rehash of thier tried and true (for them) business as usual with the talk that they are "innovating" and "being on the cutting edge".
Now most of the previously excited followers sigh and either put up with it as there is not much they can do since the Big Business has now muddied the waters and are wringing out every penny they can, or go on to look for something away from the hype all over again.
The dude was hacking before I knew what a computer was: he was dumpster diving and doing late nite hack sessions on a work computer, LEO (Large Enumeration Officiator).
http://imdb.com/title/tt0067219/
Also of note:
Spock and James T. Kirk, they programmed and logic bombed many a computer in thier time - Star Trek
http://imdb.com/title/tt0060028/
and where is Bryce Lynch??!!??! he was able to pirate some guy's brain into a mainframe! - Max Headroom
http://imdb.com/title/tt0089568/
Totally missed was Michael Fox & Judy Collins - in Prime Risk
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087942/
Bobby Witherspoon (aka Xardon) - in Interface
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087476/
Dr. Charles Luther - in Runaway
http://imdb.com/title/tt0088024/
Marcus Pendleton alias Caesar Smith - in Hot Millions
http://imdb.com/title/tt0063094/
Freeman Lowell - in Silent Running
http://imdb.com/title/tt0067756/
Then there are 'Computer' Hackers which are computers using the system,
Edgar, the Pinecone OS - in Electric Dreams
http://imdb.com/title/tt0087197/
such as Colossus - in Colossus: the Forbin Project
http://imdb.com/title/tt0064177/
Proteus - in Deamon Seed
http://imdb.com/title/tt0075931/
And the well meaning but not too bright MCP (kind of like Microsoft) - in Tron
http://imdb.com/title/tt0084827/
and the Robotrix Maria - in Metropolis
http://imdb.com/title/tt0017136/
The phone is cheap,but what about the plan and availability of refill cards?
Long-term that's what's gonna really bite you if you don't do your shopping right.I know, Pippin!
I actually saw one once!Given that we know only as much about such ancient times by the encrusted ruins we find, how do we know that this was thier most advanced?? Ive read about the roman factories recently that gives me the impression we really don't know much more than what most og us have seen in Spartacus.
I would think whatever the data source is it would have to be sealed from the elements at the very least 4 times, each container high endurance with a buffered feed to the next outer casing - inside each casing would be some sort of written guide (pictures, symbols, etc.) of what is inside (to let discoverers know it isn't treasure in the physical sense) and how to access the archive (Don't know about having displays, etc as those would be way too fragile and may be considered 'valuable' even if broken to future generations.
:-)
A hopeful tong term scenario would be assuming at the discovery at leas one casings may have been broken or worn away with a couple still to go till you might contaminate the core.
It should definately not be small or light, big and (enviromentally) impervious would probably be best.
That's what I came up with on my walk home.
Internet DRM?
Make a licensing/IP agreement then sue everone else.
So microsoft makes a deal with a Linux Distributor to hold them harmess if they use MS IP and also hold MS hamless if MS uses SuSE IP. Then, once that deal is inked - starts talking about how possibly there is MS IP in Linux.
Makes you wonder if it isn't the aother way around as well and they already are infringing on Linux IP...
If that is the case I don't think a contact with one distributor would imdemnify MS from any infringing GPL or other non SuSE code in thier offerings.
Part of what I see in the open source movement is to get some of this technology that get re-sold again and again out in the open so we can actually move on to bigger and better things.
Yes, Microsoft is happy with selling us an OS every three years along with a complete office suite to go with it, again, and again, and again. But many of us are kind of getting tired of this "you have to pay for it all over again and again" scheme, and are taking the common bits of teachnology making them openly available with the hopes that these "innovators" of industry start doing some real innovating instead of re-packaging.
Also related is the acceccibility of tools (development, design, professional) has been becomming a have/have not situation where those who had the money could afford the tools, and those who were trying to make a start couldln't. Again it is a form af leveling the field for everyone. (there are many far-better tools out there for sale but the basics are now more widely available.)
Great book!
Of the commercial supported linux distrros SuSE seems to be a good replacement of Windows, has all the bells and whistles, supports the non-business stuff like games in their repoistorty and provides a tech support service.
The bulk license purchase for the OS with all the apps and proprietary bits (codec licenses?) would still come out way below anything MS would offer for just an OS.
A lot of the problems people have with Linux is that it does not install easily, if Acer were to get a distrro version that works 100% with their hardware (like replacing that blasterd Inprocomm wireless card with something that just works) they would have it made, to be sure they should also include a few no-brainer restore borked video, etc. scripts as well as an Acer tuned kickstart profile (or whatever they call it in YAST.)