I'm curious about the number of people who run Darwin (but not OS x) on Apple hardware. I have Darwin 8.0 already as part of OS X and see no good reason to strip off the GUI and go "Darwin only". On x86, the hardware compatibility list seems to be woefully short.
Is releasing Darwin just a feel-good thing for Apple, to show support for the open-source world? I can't believe it's just PR, yet I can't see the user base being there either. The whole appeal of Macs (at least for me) is to get the nice GUI plus the UNIX underpinning rather than Yet Another UNIX-like distribution in Darwin.
I've managed to get pretty much everything I want compiled and running under Tiger -- lynx, wget, lame, etc. Some things throw compile or./configure errors, but it might be the new-fangled GCC 4.0, or I've got something else set up incorrectly...
My fondest memory working with VAX systems: hacking off plastic bits from 'standard' RJ-11 cables so they would fit VAX ports. That, and working next to the incessant whirr of a mainframe computer's fan is enough to remind me of the "good old days"...
Back in my slackware linux days, I always treated/opt as the location to install whole application trees, kind of like the "Program Files" directory in Windows. So if I download Mozilla, which untars into a "Mozilla-1.6" directory or something, I put it into/opt.
Of course, if I was using slackware's 'official' package of Mozilla, it would probably put all the binaries in/usr/bin, all the libraries in/usr/lib and so on. But for downloading and trying out nightly builds or betas, I would always use/opt.
/usr/local mirrors the structure of/usr (i.e. has bin,lib,share,src,etc.) so it was the place to install software that followed that structure.
I like the idea, especially if the mod is internal somehow. With video, audio, and TV players for the GBA available, maybe the higher horsepower will improve the resolution/quality if players are also modified to take advantage of the speed increase.
Still, reminds me of the overkill feeling when I heard about overclocked, dual sound chipped, hard drive equipped C64 machines that were being modded back in the day...
Actually, "the september that never ended" refers to the time when AOL first hooked up to usenet, not the introduction of win95. I think win95 just co-incided with the rising popularity of the Internet, which is why a bunch of 'clueless' people happened to be running win95.
I can't wait until someone writes an emulated version of Q-Link that I can connect to over the Internet. Even better, AOL should open-source the old 8-bit code. Hey, if it works for Netscape/Mozilla, it can work for Q-Link!
I'm not saying Apple software is difficult to use, or that the on-line help is terrible. My beef is that so many 'hidden', obscure, and 'undocumented' features necessitate these missing manuals.
And what if there's a problem booting your computer or something? Despite the move to electronic soft copies, most people still like having paper.
I have a bit of a problem with software these days not coming with manuals. Take most video games -- they come with a tiny eight page booklet, and the 'manual' is now sold separately as part of a 'strategy guide', usually written by (or in collaboration with) the developers!
The fact that a 'missing manual' series for Mac related stuff exists is a shame...it would be great to see more documentation released directly from Apple. Even as PDFs or something. Come on, Apple...documentation is supposed to be one of those steps in the complete development cycle I learned about in my 1st year CS class!!
Glad to see development on AAC's sound quality...especially on the free side with the vast improvement of the previously terrible quality of FAAC.
More 'useful' (although it would stir the pot a bit more) would be a comparison with the latest MP3 encoders. To stay within the AAC bubble in comparisons won't encourage people to convert (or to stay away).
another slow apple news day...
on
BRU LE for Mac OS X
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· Score: 3, Informative
External HD is the way to go...especially if you have a new-ish mac, you can go either USB 2.0 or IEEE1394. I broke apart the case of my 1394 external HD to plug in various hard drives I had lying around. Not pretty, but works for me...
With all this "if Steve did this..." is *still* no reasoning of *why* Steve would do it. iTMS needs DRM, and Apple already has the AAC+DRM combo. Why would Apple 'push' OGG, but also continue to distribute AAC on iTMS? It makes more sense to have iTunes rip to AAC (non-DRMed) for the user's own personal files to keep all files consistent.
I use OGG myself (don't have an iPod, but use the iTunes plugin). I can see official OGG support as a far-fetched possibility, but I can't see Apple officially encouraging the shift to OGG.
I doubt it (unfortunately)...the lithium polymer batteries used in the iPod are 'molded' so their shape fits the little crevices of the internals. If you're thinking of finding some other supplier...no one else would make batteries to exactly fit the iPod except Apple's official supplier (Sony, I think). So the only battery you could get is the same one Apple uses.
Considering regular inkjet ink is more expensive than champagne, how much will rfid ink cost? On par with liquid gold?
Re:The Sounds of Piracy
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Friday Apple Fun
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Try looking for the Cage piece on Kazaa...there are several versions available (really!!) Just think, you would owe royalties if you performed the piece exactly as recorded on the record (with audience coughs and everything).
I remember using a joystick to navigate the UI, since mice were a bit of a rarity. Plus, GeoWrite actually had fonts to choose from, and they looked great on the trusty old dot-matrix (or 'impact printer', if you will...)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm curious about the number of people who run Darwin (but not OS x) on Apple hardware. I have Darwin 8.0 already as part of OS X and see no good reason to strip off the GUI and go "Darwin only". On x86, the hardware compatibility list seems to be woefully short. Is releasing Darwin just a feel-good thing for Apple, to show support for the open-source world? I can't believe it's just PR, yet I can't see the user base being there either. The whole appeal of Macs (at least for me) is to get the nice GUI plus the UNIX underpinning rather than Yet Another UNIX-like distribution in Darwin.
I've managed to get pretty much everything I want compiled and running under Tiger -- lynx, wget, lame, etc. Some things throw compile or ./configure errors, but it might be the new-fangled GCC 4.0, or I've got something else set up incorrectly...
And of course, make sure the cable is coiled up like hell rather than straight...
...and when we do comment, we use really complicated words and grammatical structures.
My fondest memory working with VAX systems: hacking off plastic bits from 'standard' RJ-11 cables so they would fit VAX ports. That, and working next to the incessant whirr of a mainframe computer's fan is enough to remind me of the "good old days" ...
Of course, if I was using slackware's 'official' package of Mozilla, it would probably put all the binaries in /usr/bin, all the libraries in /usr/lib and so on. But for downloading and trying out nightly builds or betas, I would always use /opt.
Still, reminds me of the overkill feeling when I heard about overclocked, dual sound chipped, hard drive equipped C64 machines that were being modded back in the day...
wow...being chased by that cop in r2r was probably the scariest moment in my retro gaming career...
the obligatory link to the jargon file
I can't wait until someone writes an emulated version of Q-Link that I can connect to over the Internet. Even better, AOL should open-source the old 8-bit code. Hey, if it works for Netscape/Mozilla, it can work for Q-Link!
And what if there's a problem booting your computer or something? Despite the move to electronic soft copies, most people still like having paper.
I have a bit of a problem with software these days not coming with manuals. Take most video games -- they come with a tiny eight page booklet, and the 'manual' is now sold separately as part of a 'strategy guide', usually written by (or in collaboration with) the developers! The fact that a 'missing manual' series for Mac related stuff exists is a shame...it would be great to see more documentation released directly from Apple. Even as PDFs or something. Come on, Apple...documentation is supposed to be one of those steps in the complete development cycle I learned about in my 1st year CS class!!
Glad to see development on AAC's sound quality...especially on the free side with the vast improvement of the previously terrible quality of FAAC. More 'useful' (although it would stir the pot a bit more) would be a comparison with the latest MP3 encoders. To stay within the AAC bubble in comparisons won't encourage people to convert (or to stay away).
External HD is the way to go...especially if you have a new-ish mac, you can go either USB 2.0 or IEEE1394. I broke apart the case of my 1394 external HD to plug in various hard drives I had lying around. Not pretty, but works for me...
With all this "if Steve did this..." is *still* no reasoning of *why* Steve would do it. iTMS needs DRM, and Apple already has the AAC+DRM combo. Why would Apple 'push' OGG, but also continue to distribute AAC on iTMS? It makes more sense to have iTunes rip to AAC (non-DRMed) for the user's own personal files to keep all files consistent. I use OGG myself (don't have an iPod, but use the iTunes plugin). I can see official OGG support as a far-fetched possibility, but I can't see Apple officially encouraging the shift to OGG.
I doubt it (unfortunately)...the lithium polymer batteries used in the iPod are 'molded' so their shape fits the little crevices of the internals. If you're thinking of finding some other supplier...no one else would make batteries to exactly fit the iPod except Apple's official supplier (Sony, I think). So the only battery you could get is the same one Apple uses.
I need a tilde, damnit! My unix-hosted web page address has a tilde! There go my hopes of reaching new audiences via morse...
Considering regular inkjet ink is more expensive than champagne, how much will rfid ink cost? On par with liquid gold?
Try looking for the Cage piece on Kazaa...there are several versions available (really!!) Just think, you would owe royalties if you performed the piece exactly as recorded on the record (with audience coughs and everything).
And my preferred bunny:
(Y)
(~.~)
(")(")
I remember using a joystick to navigate the UI, since mice were a bit of a rarity. Plus, GeoWrite actually had fonts to choose from, and they looked great on the trusty old dot-matrix (or 'impact printer', if you will...)