I have a organizational system which uses two folders and replication.
Folder 1: INBOX
Folder 2: SENT EMAIL
Any email which is important I send to one or more anal-retentive people who will create nice organized folders in which to store the email. This how I implement replicated storage with automatic retrieval. If I ever need an email back I can simply ask for it and get a copy forwarded to me. Using this method I don't have to waste valuable brain power deciding what folder things go in. As a backup, if for some reason my replicated storage goes on vacation or is out of the office, I can search my sent folder and usually find what I need in there.
This method works extremely well plus it has the advantage of replicated storage which helps thwart hardware failures.
Thanks for your support. The main article wasn't a troll. My point was just to share the Linux is usable on the desktop. BTW, have you tried Knoppix? Knoppix is amazing, a complete LINUX O/S running off a CDROM!! Let's see windows do that:)
Yet another raging battle on which is O/S is more secure. Hear me when I say this, "Security is an ILLUSION!". Even if humans could create a flawless bulletproof secure system, that system is going to have users and, as soon as you add users you can throw security out the window.
Look at all the companies that were taken down by Blaster and Nachi. Didn't all these companies have extremely powerful and sophisticated firewalls guarding their networks? Sure they did, but the VPN/dialup/laptop users were able to get in after becoming infected and circumvent all the elaborate and expensive security. Somtimes I think firewalls are a total waste of money.
I won't even get started on the topic of extremely weak user password, unsecured dialup modems, and firewalls with way too many open ports.
Luckily all the worms and virii to date have been "mostly harmless", but the day is coming when a hacker in China or Russia is going to get the urge to make a political statement and start wiping out data.
Argue and discuss this topic all you wish, but know that the dialog is meaningless. SECURITY IS AN ILLUSION!
Last week in amongst the Blackout of 2003 and Blaster/Nachi worm taking down the Internet as well as the network at work, MY WINDOWS BOOT DRIVE DIED!
Not having the time or desire to replace it, I decided that I would throw my Linux box in as my primary desktop. After a few short days I am happy to report that the Linux Desktop is actually VERY usable and VERY stable.
First I needed an MP3 player capable of working with Shoutcast (streaming MP3's). RedHat decided not to include one. I headed over to source forge and picked up XMMS . XMMS is very similar to Winamp.
Once I had my tunes, it was time to get the core services working i.e. (Printing, Office Automation, and Digital Camera). Since I have an HP printer which handles postscript setting up printing was a no brainer. My color printer is an EPSON CX-5200 attached to a windows machine via USB. I know I can get connectivity via Samba, but I am not sure how the driver is going to work out. I'll tackle color printing later.
Open Office works extremely well, is compatible with MS Office and prints very nicely. For kicks, I went back to Sourceforge and downloaded and compiled the latest version of WINE and then, installed MS Office 97. My first attempt went poorly since the paper clip assistant crashes WINE. I wiped out the install and started over and minutes later I could run MS-Word and Excel under Linux. Let me repeat that, YOU CAN RUN MSOFFICE UNDER LINUX.
Next it was time for getting the pics off my digital camera. I have a USB Compact Flash reader plugged into the USB port. I stuck the compact flash card in and the harddrive blinked a bit but nothing mounted. After digging around in/proc a bit, I figured out that the USB reader gets mapped to a SCSI device. A simple:
mount/dev/sdb1/mnt/camera
and VIOLA! Pictures!
Next I needed an image editor. I played around with GIMP, which is very very nice but longed for Photoshop 6.0. I tried to install Photoshop with WINE but had no luck. I googled for help and found the only way to do it was to use CrossOver Office. After downloaded and installing Cross Over Office I was able to install both Adobe Photoshop Elements V2.0 and Photoshop 6.0 . I haven't shelled out for the 7.0 upgrade yet but 7.0 supposedly works as well. Photoshop works well under WINE and I haven't had any problems except with the ALT-key. In GNOME pressing ALT and clicking in a Window is the shortcut for moving a window. You have to remap the ALT-Click to something else and I chose the WINDOWS/Logo key. I never knew this feature existed, but I find it quite useful:)
I was in bliss... GNOME, Photoshop, XMMS, OpenOffice, MS-Office, Ximian, and Mozilla with everything running in it's own workspace. If you haven't tried Linux as your Desktop, give it a shot. It's not as easy and point, click, install however,./configure, make, make install or rpm -i package.rpm isn't exactly rocket science. I typically like to compile the code myself so it's better optimized from my processor and libraries.
Next I needed to get into work. Using SSH, I created a tunnel into work and cranked up VNC to my Windows 2000 box. VNC was running mightly slow, 40 secs for a screen update. The version of VNC that comes with RedHat 9.0 is pretty crusty so I went and obtained the new version and performance is much better (1-2 sec screen updates). Note: In VNC PRESS F8 get execute a remote CTRL-ALT-DELETE or shuffle clipboard contents.
I also used SSH to create another tunnel and used rdesktop over the tunnel to access a Windows Terminal Server. Very impressive and FAST! Between VNC and rdesktop I can access my remote deskop Windows box at work.
I haven't got any games to work yet. My favorites are Star Craft Broodwar, CIV3, and Age of Mythology. If anyone has gotte
I just tried it! The download is really FREE! I am glad to see Microsoft taking steps to joing the FREE Software Download revolution. Now, if we could just get them to include the source code.
Is this excitement caused by flashing purple lights natural or induced by taking ecstasy.
Thank you for browsing at -1
Re:Talk about a slow news day.... Centre vs. Cente
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Flavor vs. Flavour
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Considering that the English language is a hack of various European languages you shouldn't be surprised that a huge portion of our language was borrowed from French. As for subverting English, if you removed all the "Euro words" you'd have nothing left but a handful of colloquialisms and various names.
America is now the owner of the English language. America bought the copyright and patents for the English language from Novell who purchased them from AT&T who purchased them at a Sothebys auction.
And as for my knowlege of history, it's derived mostly from the Emmy Nominated "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central. I actually can't stand Springer.
Talk about a slow news day.... Centre vs. Center
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Flavor vs. Flavour
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Talk about a slow news day. McBride from SCO must have taken the day off. Since we are on the subject of stupid Euro-words, the one that erks me the most is "Centre". How on earth do you turn "Center" into "Centre"?
My personal opinion is that Euro words are a plot by the French to subvert the English language. However, Euro words helped us beat the Germans in WW II. Remember the WWII movie where the German spies impersonating US Soldiers asked for Petrol instead of Gas. Even though they spoke fluent english it revealed that they weren't Americans.
Last year I was trying to reason with one of the higher level Managers at Nintendo USA regarding emulation and emulators. I was trying to persuade him to sanction the sale and development of an emulator that would allow the old Nintendo and N64 games to be played on a different platform.
He told me video games revenues are going to surpass Box-Office sales in the future and ONLINE gaming will probably become its own religion. This video game entertainment industry is worth billions and no one wants to see the old games around anymore since you might stop buying new games for a few weeks and revisit some of the classics. Can you imagine that? Someone might actually want to play an sweet classic game instead of a newer lame game? Think of all the new games you've tried/rented and how bad most of them suck. Most of the new games end up costing $20 or less within a month after release because they are so lame.
Here is Nintendo's Position on emulators they say it's ILLEGAL even if you OWN THE ROMS. Nintendo is really a sentimental bunch when it comes to retaining pieces of our childhood. I'd like to see someone test this in court, but they would probably lose.
Here is an excerpt from their LEGAL FAQ
Can I Download a Nintendo ROM from the Internet if I Already Own the Authentic Game?
There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backup/archival copy exception. It is not a "second copy" rule and is often mistakenly cited for the proposition that if you have one lawful copy of a copyrighted work, you are entitled to have a second copy of the copyrighted work even if that second copy is an infringing copy. The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic. Therefore, whether you have an authentic game or not, or whether you have possession of a Nintendo ROM for a limited amount of time, i.e. 24 hours, it is illegal to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet.
How Does Nintendo Feel About the Emergence of Video Game Emulators?
The introduction of emulators created to play illegally copied Nintendo software represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers. As is the case with any business or industry, when its products become available for free, the revenue stream supporting that industry is threatened. Such emulators have the potential to significantly damage a worldwide entertainment software industry which generates over $15 billion annually, and tens of thousands of jobs.
What Does Nintendo Think of the Argument that Emulators are Actually Good for Nintendo Because it Promotes the Nintendo Brand to PC Users and Leads to More Sales?
Distribution of an emulator developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software hurts Nintendo's goodwill, the millions of dollars invested in research & development and marketing by Nintendo and its licensees. Substantial damages are caused to Nintendo and its licensees. It is irrelevant whether or not someone profits from the distribution of an emulator. The emulator promotes the play of illegal ROMs , NOT authentic games. Thus, not only does it not lead to more sales, it has the opposite effect and purpose.
How Come Nintendo Does Not Take Steps Towards Legitimizing Nintendo Emulators?
Emulators developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software promote piracy. That's like asking why doesn't Nintendo legitimize piracy. It doesn't make any business sense. It's that simple and not open to debate.
People Making Nintendo Emulators and Nintendo ROMs are Helping Publishers by Making Old Games Available that are No Longer Being Sold by the Copyright Owner. This Does Not Hurt Anyone and Allows Gamers to Play Old Favorites. What's the Problem?
So let me get this straight. SCO says that there is stolen SCO code in Linux but, SCO won't give any specifics on the allegations and we should just believe them and hand them piles of cash. R i i i i g g g h t t t. I think it's time for someone to post on FAQ on the legal system and let every Linux user drag SCO into court. If someone showed me how to challenge them I would do it.
This is absolutely outrageous. Somebody has got to put the smack-down on these idiots.
I wish they would just post the code so it can be re-written and we can all move on with life.
In other posts people have been praising MAHA batteries and I totally agree that their Nickel Metal Hydride batteries ROCK! I use MAHA batters in all my robots,GPS and photography equipment including a power hungry Nikon flash unit and they perform extremely well.
The only downside to NiMH batteries is shelf life. If you fully charge an NiMH battery and set it on the shelf it will slowly leak charge 1%-5% per day depending on temperature. Also, I've noticed that if you leave NiMH batteries in a very hot place (like you car) for an extended period of time it knocks the charge down quite fast too. Also, NiMH batteries don't seem to die slowly, they either work or they need charging. In my Olympus camera when the low battery indicator appears that means the batteries are about to die.
I still use Duracell Alkaline's in my pager because of the discharge charactersitics, however I use MAHA NiMH in everything else and am very happy. I've tried using normal Duracell batteries in my flash, GPS, and cameras and they just eat batteries for lunch. In high drain devices you can't beat 1850ma MAHA batteries (and yes, MAHA are the best). For good deals on MAHA check Ebay and Thompson Distributing and don't forget to buy extra!
"Tell someone there are 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the sky and they will believe you but, hang a sign on a park bench which reads 'wet paint' and people will touch the bench to find out.'
We aren't even sure what gravity is or whether or not the concept of space/time and gravity is homgeneous throughout the universe and yet we are ready to number the stars. Arrogant little beings aren't we:)
Maybe someone will compute the dimensions of the Universe next and post that on slashdot. Or better yet maybe some one could post a complete list of subatomic particles or a least and estimate of how many we will eventually find. One of the many questions I have about the "expanding universe" is this: "If the universe is expanding, what's it expanding into?" Is it like a coffee mug that automagically changes size as the volume of liquid poured into it increases such that the mug is never full? And if the size of the Universe is not constant, does that mean the sum of the energy in the Universe is not constant?
Also, they are trying to "snare" Professor Peter Cole. These guys are just talking crazy.
Has anyone told the Baptists about RFID? This has got to be added immediately to the list of Mark of the Beast Technology. First is was social security numbers, then punchcards, then VISA cards with magnetic stripes, then UPC codes, and then anything that looked like a computer. Some even thought the magnetic strip in the new currency was the mark. However, I think RFID can beat them all "hands down" as the one true mark. This has got to get on the agenda of their annual conference.
Would the real mark of the beast, please stand up?
Step into my time machine... the year is 1996 and MS Word 6.0 is rolled out with it's racist / sexist thesaurus. Letting MS translate from one language to another should be interesting to say the least and I can't wait to put two windows side-by-side and try their translation. Here is a flashback to 1996.
It turns out that Microsoft's Word version 6 dictionary has the following synonyms in their Spanish version dictionary.
Their equivalent for Mexican = Aztec, Charro, Fat, Vulgar, Ridiculous, Loud.
Their equivalent for Indian = Savage, Primitive, Cannibal. (Someone who is black is an indian as well, who in turn is as mentioned above)
Their equivalent for Mestizo = Mixture, Bastard, Blended, Hybrid.
Their equivalent for Oriental = Chinese, Yellow, Asian.
Their equivalent for Occidental is = European, Aryan, White, Civilized and Cultured.
Their equivalent for Lesbian = a Pervert and depraved person.
I wonder if MS will sue the translators at the UN?
Ever since my 8-bit Commodore 64 with 64k of RAM I've was promised Computer Speech Recognition. I was able to train the C-64 speech recognition software to recognize commands like "North, South, East, West, Go up etc... " to play Infocom games like Zork. Now we have cell phones with enough CPU power to process images, play Beethoven's 9th with a 16 string polyphonic orchestra to notify the user of an incoming call, but WE STILL DON'T HAVE BASIC SPEECH RECOGNITION. What's up with that?
So is this the end for speech recognition? Have we given up? I want to speak to my cell phone and have it obey, not gesture to it while I'm trying to drive. Clue to cell phone manufacturers, the cell phone has a microphone, maybe it could be used to something..... hmmmmmm.....
This is the exact correct place to put it. Thousands of SysAdmins read Slashdot and now know that they had double check their security or risk embarassment on July 6th.
Also, I have heard rumblings of yet another MS worm run scheduled to run rampant over the 4th of July holiday weekend. (Prepare for pager meltdown MS and network admins.)
I totally appreciate the heads up. In fact I did an external port scan of my Class B today and found out that the firewall monkeys had opened incoming ftp from anywhere to key servers. If it wasn't for this new threat I probably wouldn't have bothered to rattle the door knobs before the holiday.
I'd say that everyone has fair warning. Make sure your backups are up to date and that you don't have any easily hackable services exposed. Now the only question is, "Who will be embarrassed?"
Remember folks, it's not just about defacing, it's about defacing creatively.
Browser integration is not dead! Microsoft works on it everyday. MS constantly innovates new features that crash Netscape, Mozilla, and Opera but provide no value. Innovation will truly end when we can no longer use any browser other than IE and at the rate things are doing it won't be long.
I would ask all the developers out there to support more than IE on your extranets. I am talking to YOU Mr. Webdeveloper in that Fortune 100 company like Ford, GM, Diamler, EBAY (Is Ebay Fortune 500 yet?). Ask yourself this, "Do I really want to limit the web to a Microsoft ONLY browser?" The point of the web was platform independence. I especially love developers who code in Java then create an O/S specific dependency.
Think about this next time you decide to implement a feature that only works in IE but provides little to no value to the end user experience. If we all wake up one morning and find we are living in a "one-browser", "one-platform" world, it is going to be horrible. However, if it makes you feel any better, I fight these battles every year and lose to the developers. Usually the management will wine and say, "it costs too much to develop for two browers" or "but if I can just let developers wiggle the mouse and use a tool to generate HTML they won't have to think and can get my project done faster".
However, web browers in general suck for application development. I think the old mainframe character terminal had better input screen capability than the modern web browers. In fact, if you compare the two they work just about the same (Push screen to terminal/browser from, Fill In Screen, send screen back to server, repeat... ) As you can tell I am not the least bit bitter. I hate tools that generate bloated, crappy, IE specific HTML laden with self destructing Java script.
The whole "embrace and extend" concept is getting old. Can't we all just get along and make things better instead of creating a fragmented incompatible mess. A company like MS is sitting on piles of cash, the likes of which the world has never seen and instead of putting together a Bell Labs or Xerox Parc they spend their cash on marketing and lawyers. There are so few great men in our age and even fewer visionaries. I was holding out a glimmer of hope for Bill when he took over as chief software architect. So much for Utopia.
First off, I am ADHD but manage it quite well. In my opinion, many diseases like diabetes, hypoglycemia, ADHD, and certain mental illnesses are diet and lifestyle related. Note: I said "related" and not "caused".
Shocked?!!
We live in a society where the docs tell you, "You aren't responsible for your disease and condition, just take this magic pill."
Tell me about your diet. Is it filled with sugar, carbs, and caffene? How regularly do you eat (3 meals per day)? Also, have you ever had your blood sugar checked?
Tell me about your excercise routine. Do you excercise daily, infrquently, or never?
What has helped me is:
1. Laying off the caffene, only one shot in the morning.
2. Eating well balanced meals that aren't filled with sugar and carbs at regularly scheduled times. I even eat Oatmeal for breakfast everyday now.
3. Daily excercise.
Don't lose heart. If you can do it for 20 days you can make something a habit/lifesytle change.
As for ADHD in children, have you visited a school lately? Schools now come equipped with vending machines and the Pop companies (coke/pepsi) give some of the profits back to the school. Where has common sense gone? Give kids stimulants and empty calories like pop and potato chips then expect them to behave and perform well? Whaaaaaa?
Note: I do believe that there are people with legitimate brain chemistry problems. However the vast majority of people just need to eat right, excercise, and work on some self discipline and they will be fine. Check Amazon.com for these books..
The Myth of ADHD and Other Learning Disabilities. Parenting Without Ritalin.
The A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. Diet! Updated
And remember, you are responsible for you. You have a disorder. You are NOT this disorder. Also there are no "silver bullets". No magic pills or herbs that will magically cure. However, I do get daily emails from some guys telling me that have an ancient formula to make my "package" larger.:)
Every time someone tries to make a better robot, like "ReplayTV" with automagic commercial skip, a large dinosaur comes along with a pack of lawyers and sues them out of business.
The problem is not the lack of trying to make new technology. The problem is that there are established business entities that have a vested interest in keeping everything status quo. If you put in mass-transportation, auto sales will suffer. If you create alternative fuel vehicles that get incredible gas mileage the energy industry suffers. If you create a portable music device that can hold 300 CD's which can be easily traded off to your friends the Music Distributors suffer. If we build roads that last 20 years the construction industry suffers and so on and so on.
Until we can somehow do what is collectively good for our society (and the world) every large established entity will fight to keep control of it's turf. However, everyone has a different vision of what is "good for the world." Here are some things I would personally like to see which are very do-able and at least good for me...
1. Smart Traffic Lights that keeps traffic moving and fuel economy up.
2. A radio that can learn my musical tastes and automatically skip around during commercials and only pick up content I like (or it thinks I'll like).
3. Cars that drive themselves. I just want to hop in and say "work" and drink my coffee and read the paper until I arrive.
4. A computer that behaves like an appliance instead of a tempermental piece of Blue Screen of Deathing CRAP! What am I still waiting for stuff to boot? Where is the instant on button?
5. A standard for HDTV so we can finally get on with better content.
6. Food replicators.
7. Tractor Beams.
8. Shields.
9. Lightsabers.
10. A home fusion reactor for all my power needs.
11. ONE PASSWORD for all my applications and applications with a central secure authentication mechanism.
12. Affordable digital cameras without shutter-lag.
Ravaged by piracy, movie studios and recording labels have been fitting new CD and DVD releases with layers of computer code with the aim of preventing or limiting users' ability to copy, or "rip," them onto a blank disc and trade online.
Quotes like this just prove how clueless the studios and recording labels truly are. People WILL PAY for content as long as it's convenient and not overpriced. Making consumers pay $15-$20 for a CD that has one desirable track is a business model that won't work.
Companies (like Apple) which take a smarter approach to DRM and make it more transparent are going to become the new media giants. It will be interesting to watch this transition occur and watch Steve Jobs become "the man" at a multi-media powerhouse as he zips around on his Segway scooter. It's only a matter of time before the talent starts to bail on the old guard. This might even shake up the radio industry too... Chaos is fun to watch! Time to go buy more Apple stock and a bigger harddrive for the IPOD.
1. Lie down and get kicked.
2. Q - U - I - T
3. Organize, play along, and turn then turn the tables at the end.
You didn't mention the margin on this deal and that would be a very good thing to find out before excercising Option #3. If they are making 500% profit off your blood, sweat, and tears then I would definately go after some of some of that cheese. If they have no cheese to give, you might as well start looking for another job since this project probably won't finish on time and the company is sunk anyway.
However. if there is money to be made. First, I'd organize with the the key people on the development team. Then I would start the death march and work hard on the project. On death marches, people start quitting after the first few weeks because they can't handle it. Once the pack leans out a bit and there is no hope of finishing this project with replacement developers make your collective demands. This is called collective bargaining. Also, get any CASH you want UP FRONT. Don't take promises, take CASH UP FRONT or you will NEVER SEE IT.
Also, if the mandate is 7x12 then make sure everyone one the team works 7x12. If anyone is excused from working for any reason then make sure you take equal time off. Those with kids and families tend to get breaks like working from home and weekends off.
Remember that no matter how much they yell and scream, you are NOT a slave.
I guess this is what Greenspan was talking about when he said, "Employee productivity gains have been made."
Here is another example of a middle eastern country thinking that the entire American media is controlled by Jews. The true offense of this movie is NOT the multiple religious aspect, but the fact that the main city is named Zion. After all, Egpyt didn't ban Star Wars and it has religious overtones.
If we look at the old Testament account of the nation of Israel and ask the following questions:
Q: From where did the Jews start their legendary journey?
A: Egypt, where they were all slaves.
Q: Where were the Jews going?
A: Zion aka the promised land.
From this we can clearly reason that the Matrix series is a Jewish conspiracy against Egypt. The pods represent a metaphoric enslavement of the human race, just like Egypt enslaved the Jews long ago. Morpheus represents Moses who free's people and takes them to Zion (the promised land). (Note: Both of the names start with "M"! Coincidence, I think not. This has conspiracy written all over it.)
See how much sense it all makes! It's clearly a plot against Egypt. Nothing more than a thiny veiled attempt to subvert Egypt's youth and make them all want to move to Zion.
Seriously, over-analysis of the Matrix is getting out of hand. Analyzing every scene and every bit of dialog trying to find the hidden meaning is insane.
Slashdot Mirror
I have a organizational system which uses two folders and replication.
Folder 1: INBOX
Folder 2: SENT EMAIL
Any email which is important I send to one or more anal-retentive people who will create nice organized folders in which to store the email. This how I implement replicated storage with automatic retrieval. If I ever need an email back I can simply ask for it and get a copy forwarded to me. Using this method I don't have to waste valuable brain power deciding what folder things go in. As a backup, if for some reason my replicated storage goes on vacation or is out of the office, I can search my sent folder and usually find what I need in there.
This method works extremely well plus it has the advantage of replicated storage which helps thwart hardware failures.
Good luck! Staying organized is a full time job!
Thanks for your support. The main article wasn't a troll. My point was just to share the Linux is usable on the desktop. BTW, have you tried Knoppix? Knoppix is amazing, a complete LINUX O/S running off a CDROM!! Let's see windows do that :)
Yet another raging battle on which is O/S is more secure. Hear me when I say this, "Security is an ILLUSION!". Even if humans could create a flawless bulletproof secure system, that system is going to have users and, as soon as you add users you can throw security out the window.
Look at all the companies that were taken down by Blaster and Nachi. Didn't all these companies have extremely powerful and sophisticated firewalls guarding their networks? Sure they did, but the VPN/dialup/laptop users were able to get in after becoming infected and circumvent all the elaborate and expensive security. Somtimes I think firewalls are a total waste of money.
I won't even get started on the topic of extremely weak user password, unsecured dialup modems, and firewalls with way too many open ports.
Luckily all the worms and virii to date have been "mostly harmless", but the day is coming when a hacker in China or Russia is going to get the urge to make a political statement and start wiping out data.
Argue and discuss this topic all you wish, but know that the dialog is meaningless. SECURITY IS AN ILLUSION!
Last week in amongst the Blackout of 2003 and Blaster/Nachi worm taking down the Internet as well as the network at work, MY WINDOWS BOOT DRIVE DIED!
/proc a bit, I figured out that the USB reader gets mapped to a SCSI device. A simple:
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/camera
:)
./configure, make, make install or rpm -i package.rpm isn't exactly rocket science. I typically like to compile the code myself so it's better optimized from my processor and libraries.
Not having the time or desire to replace it, I decided that I would throw my Linux box in as my primary desktop. After a few short days I am happy to report that the Linux Desktop is actually VERY usable and VERY stable.
First I needed an MP3 player capable of working with Shoutcast (streaming MP3's). RedHat decided not to include one. I headed over to source forge and picked up XMMS . XMMS is very similar to Winamp.
Once I had my tunes, it was time to get the core services working i.e. (Printing, Office Automation, and Digital Camera). Since I have an HP printer which handles postscript setting up printing was a no brainer. My color printer is an EPSON CX-5200 attached to a windows machine via USB. I know I can get connectivity via Samba, but I am not sure how the driver is going to work out. I'll tackle color printing later.
Open Office works extremely well, is compatible with MS Office and prints very nicely. For kicks, I went back to Sourceforge and downloaded and compiled the latest version of WINE and then, installed MS Office 97. My first attempt went poorly since the paper clip assistant crashes WINE. I wiped out the install and started over and minutes later I could run MS-Word and Excel under Linux. Let me repeat that, YOU CAN RUN MSOFFICE UNDER LINUX.
Next it was time for getting the pics off my digital camera. I have a USB Compact Flash reader plugged into the USB port. I stuck the compact flash card in and the harddrive blinked a bit but nothing mounted. After digging around in
mount
and VIOLA! Pictures!
Next I needed an image editor. I played around with GIMP, which is very very nice but longed for Photoshop 6.0. I tried to install Photoshop with WINE but had no luck. I googled for help and found the only way to do it was to use CrossOver Office. After downloaded and installing Cross Over Office I was able to install both Adobe Photoshop Elements V2.0 and Photoshop 6.0 . I haven't shelled out for the 7.0 upgrade yet but 7.0 supposedly works as well. Photoshop works well under WINE and I haven't had any problems except with the ALT-key. In GNOME pressing ALT and clicking in a Window is the shortcut for moving a window. You have to remap the ALT-Click to something else and I chose the WINDOWS/Logo key. I never knew this feature existed, but I find it quite useful
I was in bliss... GNOME, Photoshop, XMMS, OpenOffice, MS-Office, Ximian, and Mozilla with everything running in it's own workspace. If you haven't tried Linux as your Desktop, give it a shot. It's not as easy and point, click, install however,
Next I needed to get into work. Using SSH, I created a tunnel into work and cranked up VNC to my Windows 2000 box. VNC was running mightly slow, 40 secs for a screen update. The version of VNC that comes with RedHat 9.0 is pretty crusty so I went and obtained the new version and performance is much better (1-2 sec screen updates). Note: In VNC PRESS F8 get execute a remote CTRL-ALT-DELETE or shuffle clipboard contents.
I also used SSH to create another tunnel and used rdesktop over the tunnel to access a Windows Terminal Server. Very impressive and FAST! Between VNC and rdesktop I can access my remote deskop Windows box at work.
I haven't got any games to work yet. My favorites are Star Craft Broodwar, CIV3, and Age of Mythology. If anyone has gotte
I just tried it! The download is really FREE! I am glad to see Microsoft taking steps to joing the FREE Software Download revolution. Now, if we could just get them to include the source code.
Is this excitement caused by flashing purple lights natural or induced by taking ecstasy.
Thank you for browsing at -1
Considering that the English language is a hack of various European languages you shouldn't be surprised that a huge portion of our language was borrowed from French. As for subverting English, if you removed all the "Euro words" you'd have nothing left but a handful of colloquialisms and various names.
America is now the owner of the English language. America bought the copyright and patents for the English language from Novell who purchased them from AT&T who purchased them at a Sothebys auction.
And as for my knowlege of history, it's derived mostly from the Emmy Nominated "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central. I actually can't stand Springer.
Talk about a slow news day. McBride from SCO must have taken the day off. Since we are on the subject of stupid Euro-words, the one that erks me the most is "Centre". How on earth do you turn "Center" into "Centre"?
My personal opinion is that Euro words are a plot by the French to subvert the English language. However, Euro words helped us beat the Germans in WW II. Remember the WWII movie where the German spies impersonating US Soldiers asked for Petrol instead of Gas. Even though they spoke fluent english it revealed that they weren't Americans.
Last year I was trying to reason with one of the higher level Managers at Nintendo USA regarding emulation and emulators. I was trying to persuade him to sanction the sale and development of an emulator that would allow the old Nintendo and N64 games to be played on a different platform.
He told me video games revenues are going to surpass Box-Office sales in the future and ONLINE gaming will probably become its own religion. This video game entertainment industry is worth billions and no one wants to see the old games around anymore since you might stop buying new games for a few weeks and revisit some of the classics. Can you imagine that? Someone might actually want to play an sweet classic game instead of a newer lame game? Think of all the new games you've tried/rented and how bad most of them suck. Most of the new games end up costing $20 or less within a month after release because they are so lame.
Here is Nintendo's Position on emulators they say it's ILLEGAL even if you OWN THE ROMS. Nintendo is really a sentimental bunch when it comes to retaining pieces of our childhood. I'd like to see someone test this in court, but they would probably lose.
Here is an excerpt from their LEGAL FAQ
Can I Download a Nintendo ROM from the Internet if I Already Own the Authentic Game?
There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backup/archival copy exception. It is not a "second copy" rule and is often mistakenly cited for the proposition that if you have one lawful copy of a copyrighted work, you are entitled to have a second copy of the copyrighted work even if that second copy is an infringing copy. The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic. Therefore, whether you have an authentic game or not, or whether you have possession of a Nintendo ROM for a limited amount of time, i.e. 24 hours, it is illegal to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet.
How Does Nintendo Feel About the Emergence of Video Game Emulators?
The introduction of emulators created to play illegally copied Nintendo software represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers. As is the case with any business or industry, when its products become available for free, the revenue stream supporting that industry is threatened. Such emulators have the potential to significantly damage a worldwide entertainment software industry which generates over $15 billion annually, and tens of thousands of jobs.
What Does Nintendo Think of the Argument that Emulators are Actually Good for Nintendo Because it Promotes the Nintendo Brand to PC Users and Leads to More Sales?
Distribution of an emulator developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software hurts Nintendo's goodwill, the millions of dollars invested in research & development and marketing by Nintendo and its licensees. Substantial damages are caused to Nintendo and its licensees. It is irrelevant whether or not someone profits from the distribution of an emulator. The emulator promotes the play of illegal ROMs , NOT authentic games. Thus, not only does it not lead to more sales, it has the opposite effect and purpose.
How Come Nintendo Does Not Take Steps Towards Legitimizing Nintendo Emulators?
Emulators developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software promote piracy. That's like asking why doesn't Nintendo legitimize piracy. It doesn't make any business sense. It's that simple and not open to debate.
People Making Nintendo Emulators and Nintendo ROMs are Helping Publishers by Making Old Games Available that are No Longer Being Sold by the Copyright Owner. This Does Not Hurt Anyone and Allows Gamers to Play Old Favorites. What's the Problem?
The problem is that it's illegal. Copyrights
So let me get this straight. SCO says that there is stolen SCO code in Linux but, SCO won't give any specifics on the allegations and we should just believe them and hand them piles of cash. R i i i i g g g h t t t. I think it's time for someone to post on FAQ on the legal system and let every Linux user drag SCO into court. If someone showed me how to challenge them I would do it.
This is absolutely outrageous. Somebody has got to put the smack-down on these idiots.
I wish they would just post the code so it can be re-written and we can all move on with life.
In other posts people have been praising MAHA batteries and I totally agree that their Nickel Metal Hydride batteries ROCK! I use MAHA batters in all my robots,GPS and photography equipment including a power hungry Nikon flash unit and they perform extremely well.
The only downside to NiMH batteries is shelf life. If you fully charge an NiMH battery and set it on the shelf it will slowly leak charge 1%-5% per day depending on temperature. Also, I've noticed that if you leave NiMH batteries in a very hot place (like you car) for an extended period of time it knocks the charge down quite fast too. Also, NiMH batteries don't seem to die slowly, they either work or they need charging. In my Olympus camera when the low battery indicator appears that means the batteries are about to die.
I still use Duracell Alkaline's in my pager because of the discharge charactersitics, however I use MAHA NiMH in everything else and am very happy. I've tried using normal Duracell batteries in my flash, GPS, and cameras and they just eat batteries for lunch. In high drain devices you can't beat 1850ma MAHA batteries (and yes, MAHA are the best). For good deals on MAHA check Ebay and Thompson Distributing and don't forget to buy extra!
This thread reminds me of an old quote:
:)
"Tell someone there are 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the sky and they will believe you but, hang a sign on a park bench which reads 'wet paint' and people will touch the bench to find out.'
We aren't even sure what gravity is or whether or not the concept of space/time and gravity is homgeneous throughout the universe and yet we are ready to number the stars. Arrogant little beings aren't we
Maybe someone will compute the dimensions of the Universe next and post that on slashdot. Or better yet maybe some one could post a complete list of subatomic particles or a least and estimate of how many we will eventually find. One of the many questions I have about the "expanding universe" is this: "If the universe is expanding, what's it expanding into?" Is it like a coffee mug that automagically changes size as the volume of liquid poured into it increases such that the mug is never full? And if the size of the Universe is not constant, does that mean the sum of the energy in the Universe is not constant?
Things that make you go hmmmmm.....
Also, they are trying to "snare" Professor Peter Cole. These guys are just talking crazy.
Has anyone told the Baptists about RFID? This has got to be added immediately to the list of Mark of the Beast Technology. First is was social security numbers, then punchcards, then VISA cards with magnetic stripes, then UPC codes, and then anything that looked like a computer. Some even thought the magnetic strip in the new currency was the mark. However, I think RFID can beat them all "hands down" as the one true mark. This has got to get on the agenda of their annual conference.
Would the real mark of the beast, please stand up?
Step into my time machine... the year is 1996 and MS Word 6.0 is rolled out with it's racist / sexist thesaurus. Letting MS translate from one language to another should be interesting to say the least and I can't wait to put two windows side-by-side and try their translation. Here is a flashback to 1996.
It turns out that Microsoft's Word version 6 dictionary has the following synonyms in their Spanish version dictionary.
Their equivalent for Mexican = Aztec, Charro, Fat, Vulgar, Ridiculous, Loud.
Their equivalent for Indian = Savage, Primitive, Cannibal. (Someone who is black is an indian as well, who in turn is as mentioned above)
Their equivalent for Mestizo = Mixture, Bastard, Blended, Hybrid.
Their equivalent for Oriental = Chinese, Yellow, Asian.
Their equivalent for Occidental is = European, Aryan, White, Civilized and Cultured.
Their equivalent for Lesbian = a Pervert and depraved person.
I wonder if MS will sue the translators at the UN?
Ever since my 8-bit Commodore 64 with 64k of RAM I've was promised Computer Speech Recognition. I was able to train the C-64 speech recognition software to recognize commands like "North, South, East, West, Go up etc... " to play Infocom games like Zork. Now we have cell phones with enough CPU power to process images, play Beethoven's 9th with a 16 string polyphonic orchestra to notify the user of an incoming call, but WE STILL DON'T HAVE BASIC SPEECH RECOGNITION. What's up with that?
So is this the end for speech recognition? Have we given up? I want to speak to my cell phone and have it obey, not gesture to it while I'm trying to drive. Clue to cell phone manufacturers, the cell phone has a microphone, maybe it could be used to something..... hmmmmmm.....
Also, I have heard rumblings of yet another MS worm run scheduled to run rampant over the 4th of July holiday weekend. (Prepare for pager meltdown MS and network admins.)
I totally appreciate the heads up. In fact I did an external port scan of my Class B today and found out that the firewall monkeys had opened incoming ftp from anywhere to key servers. If it wasn't for this new threat I probably wouldn't have bothered to rattle the door knobs before the holiday.
I'd say that everyone has fair warning. Make sure your backups are up to date and that you don't have any easily hackable services exposed. Now the only question is, "Who will be embarrassed?"
Remember folks, it's not just about defacing, it's about defacing creatively.
Browser integration is not dead! Microsoft works on it everyday. MS constantly innovates new features that crash Netscape, Mozilla, and Opera but provide no value. Innovation will truly end when we can no longer use any browser other than IE and at the rate things are doing it won't be long.
... ) As you can tell I am not the least bit bitter. I hate tools that generate bloated, crappy, IE specific HTML laden with self destructing Java script.
I would ask all the developers out there to support more than IE on your extranets. I am talking to YOU Mr. Webdeveloper in that Fortune 100 company like Ford, GM, Diamler, EBAY (Is Ebay Fortune 500 yet?). Ask yourself this, "Do I really want to limit the web to a Microsoft ONLY browser?" The point of the web was platform independence. I especially love developers who code in Java then create an O/S specific dependency.
Think about this next time you decide to implement a feature that only works in IE but provides little to no value to the end user experience. If we all wake up one morning and find we are living in a "one-browser", "one-platform" world, it is going to be horrible. However, if it makes you feel any better, I fight these battles every year and lose to the developers. Usually the management will wine and say, "it costs too much to develop for two browers" or "but if I can just let developers wiggle the mouse and use a tool to generate HTML they won't have to think and can get my project done faster".
However, web browers in general suck for application development. I think the old mainframe character terminal had better input screen capability than the modern web browers. In fact, if you compare the two they work just about the same (Push screen to terminal/browser from, Fill In Screen, send screen back to server, repeat
The whole "embrace and extend" concept is getting old. Can't we all just get along and make things better instead of creating a fragmented incompatible mess. A company like MS is sitting on piles of cash, the likes of which the world has never seen and instead of putting together a Bell Labs or Xerox Parc they spend their cash on marketing and lawyers. There are so few great men in our age and even fewer visionaries. I was holding out a glimmer of hope for Bill when he took over as chief software architect. So much for Utopia.
"There is nothing new under the sun." -Solomon
Spend $20k on Plasma Displays ...
Spend $40k on Cluster Hardware
Leave the cords of the subwoofers and amplifier exposed
Priceless....
Monster Linux Garage Mantra: If you are going to build something cool, it should look cool too.
Sample AMD Case-mod
First off, I am ADHD but manage it quite well. In my opinion, many diseases like diabetes, hypoglycemia, ADHD, and certain mental illnesses are diet and lifestyle related. Note: I said "related" and not "caused".
:)
Shocked?!!
We live in a society where the docs tell you, "You aren't responsible for your disease and condition, just take this magic pill."
Tell me about your diet. Is it filled with sugar, carbs, and caffene? How regularly do you eat (3 meals per day)? Also, have you ever had your blood sugar checked?
Tell me about your excercise routine. Do you excercise daily, infrquently, or never?
What has helped me is:
1. Laying off the caffene, only one shot in the morning.
2. Eating well balanced meals that aren't filled with sugar and carbs at regularly scheduled times. I even eat Oatmeal for breakfast everyday now.
3. Daily excercise.
Don't lose heart. If you can do it for 20 days you can make something a habit/lifesytle change.
As for ADHD in children, have you visited a school lately? Schools now come equipped with vending machines and the Pop companies (coke/pepsi) give some of the profits back to the school. Where has common sense gone? Give kids stimulants and empty calories like pop and potato chips then expect them to behave and perform well? Whaaaaaa?
Note: I do believe that there are people with legitimate brain chemistry problems. However the vast majority of people just need to eat right, excercise, and work on some self discipline and they will be fine. Check Amazon.com for these books..
The Myth of ADHD and Other Learning Disabilities. Parenting Without Ritalin.
The A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. Diet! Updated
And remember, you are responsible for you. You have a disorder. You are NOT this disorder. Also there are no "silver bullets". No magic pills or herbs that will magically cure. However, I do get daily emails from some guys telling me that have an ancient formula to make my "package" larger.
Good Luck!
Every time someone tries to make a better robot, like "ReplayTV" with automagic commercial skip, a large dinosaur comes along with a pack of lawyers and sues them out of business.
The problem is not the lack of trying to make new technology. The problem is that there are established business entities that have a vested interest in keeping everything status quo. If you put in mass-transportation, auto sales will suffer. If you create alternative fuel vehicles that get incredible gas mileage the energy industry suffers. If you create a portable music device that can hold 300 CD's which can be easily traded off to your friends the Music Distributors suffer. If we build roads that last 20 years the construction industry suffers and so on and so on.
Until we can somehow do what is collectively good for our society (and the world) every large established entity will fight to keep control of it's turf. However, everyone has a different vision of what is "good for the world." Here are some things I would personally like to see which are very do-able and at least good for me...
1. Smart Traffic Lights that keeps traffic moving and fuel economy up.
2. A radio that can learn my musical tastes and automatically skip around during commercials and only pick up content I like (or it thinks I'll like).
3. Cars that drive themselves. I just want to hop in and say "work" and drink my coffee and read the paper until I arrive.
4. A computer that behaves like an appliance instead of a tempermental piece of Blue Screen of Deathing CRAP! What am I still waiting for stuff to boot? Where is the instant on button?
5. A standard for HDTV so we can finally get on with better content.
6. Food replicators.
7. Tractor Beams.
8. Shields.
9. Lightsabers.
10. A home fusion reactor for all my power needs.
11. ONE PASSWORD for all my applications and applications with a central secure authentication mechanism.
12. Affordable digital cameras without shutter-lag.
I don't ask for much........
... Micah Alpern is concerned Microsoft could use similar strategies against Macromedia Flash."
Does this mean allyourbase.swf could become allyourbase.mswf and require a computer upgrade in order to view it?
All your base are belong to Microsoft! *SIGH* Not again!
Ravaged by piracy, movie studios and recording labels have been fitting new CD and DVD releases with layers of computer code with the aim of preventing or limiting users' ability to copy, or "rip," them onto a blank disc and trade online.
Quotes like this just prove how clueless the studios and recording labels truly are. People WILL PAY for content as long as it's convenient and not overpriced. Making consumers pay $15-$20 for a CD that has one desirable track is a business model that won't work.
Companies (like Apple) which take a smarter approach to DRM and make it more transparent are going to become the new media giants. It will be interesting to watch this transition occur and watch Steve Jobs become "the man" at a multi-media powerhouse as he zips around on his Segway scooter. It's only a matter of time before the talent starts to bail on the old guard. This might even shake up the radio industry too... Chaos is fun to watch! Time to go buy more Apple stock and a bigger harddrive for the IPOD.
You really have three options...
1. Lie down and get kicked.
2. Q - U - I - T
3. Organize, play along, and turn then turn the tables at the end.
You didn't mention the margin on this deal and that would be a very good thing to find out before excercising Option #3. If they are making 500% profit off your blood, sweat, and tears then I would definately go after some of some of that cheese. If they have no cheese to give, you might as well start looking for another job since this project probably won't finish on time and the company is sunk anyway.
However. if there is money to be made. First, I'd organize with the the key people on the development team. Then I would start the death march and work hard on the project. On death marches, people start quitting after the first few weeks because they can't handle it. Once the pack leans out a bit and there is no hope of finishing this project with replacement developers make your collective demands. This is called collective bargaining. Also, get any CASH you want UP FRONT. Don't take promises, take CASH UP FRONT or you will NEVER SEE IT.
Also, if the mandate is 7x12 then make sure everyone one the team works 7x12. If anyone is excused from working for any reason then make sure you take equal time off. Those with kids and families tend to get breaks like working from home and weekends off.
Remember that no matter how much they yell and scream, you are NOT a slave.
I guess this is what Greenspan was talking about when he said, "Employee productivity gains have been made."
Alan, Thanks for the including hpt37x driver! I've been waiting for this one for awhile! No more boot time loadable drivers on my ABIT motherboards!
Alan Cox alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk:
o hpt37x
Here is another example of a middle eastern country thinking that the entire American media is controlled by Jews. The true offense of this movie is NOT the multiple religious aspect, but the fact that the main city is named Zion. After all, Egpyt didn't ban Star Wars and it has religious overtones.
If we look at the old Testament account of the nation of Israel and ask the following questions:
Q: From where did the Jews start their legendary journey?
A: Egypt, where they were all slaves.
Q: Where were the Jews going?
A: Zion aka the promised land.
From this we can clearly reason that the Matrix series is a Jewish conspiracy against Egypt. The pods represent a metaphoric enslavement of the human race, just like Egypt enslaved the Jews long ago. Morpheus represents Moses who free's people and takes them to Zion (the promised land). (Note: Both of the names start with "M"! Coincidence, I think not. This has conspiracy written all over it.)
See how much sense it all makes! It's clearly a plot against Egypt. Nothing more than a thiny veiled attempt to subvert Egypt's youth and make them all want to move to Zion.
Seriously, over-analysis of the Matrix is getting out of hand. Analyzing every scene and every bit of dialog trying to find the hidden meaning is insane.
SOMETIMES A MOVE IS JUST A MOVIE!