Your experience might be explained by the fact that your wireless chip set vendor worked with MS to ensure their driver performed seamlessly (including device detection during installation). Not all chip/driver vendors extend the same courtesy to the Linux Distro providers but they're starting to realize they should. For example, Broadcom's chip sets have often been problematic for me but in the last year or so there seems to have been a change and now I experience less problems with recent Linux Distros on Broadcom wireless hardware. When in doubt go with Intel stuff- they never seem to have any problems supporting Linux distros.
I'm not trying to justify my statement, just trying to provide an explanation for the difference between our two experiences.
It's been my experience that the average user has never done an OS install. If they were to give it a go and compare an MS OS install to a Ubuntu install I think you'd find that in more cases than not, the Ubuntu install goes more smoothly for them. As an IT professional I'm never surprised when an MS OS install does require a little bit of magic or voodoo tom complete successfully. Linux seems to have gotten to the point (Ubuntu anyway) where the odds of running into some sort of install snag are the same if not less than an MS OS install.
Jumping through technical hoops aside, it takes less than 20 minutes to install Ubuntu on a PC (including the apps I want). I don't think I've ever completed a Windows install in less than 1 hour (just the OS, no apps). I find that difference alone compelling.
I run Ubuntu 9.04 (64 bit) on a W500 and get > 2 hrs battery life with the standard battery (not the extended life). I have not done any specific configuration tweaking to try and extend battery life.
Associating a unique ID with a person makes is easier for companies to build and share demographic data about people so they can market more efficiently.
A scientist is a person that practices science. Science is the business of knowing. The origins of the wheel do not predate "knowing" or the pursuit or investigation of new knowledge.
Scientists invented the wheel too but I don't want to see it posted on Slashdot. Seriously, isn't this really old news? Removing creases in photos was one of the first things I remember everybody doing when scanners went mainstream sometime in the 80'.s
It is my belief, and I think this fits within your comments above, that historic attempts at modeling or simulating biologic brains focus too much on the "gate" and not enough on the "messaging." [Disclaimer: I have no formal education in IT, biology or neurology but long time IT professional and AI hobbyist] To me, the intercommunication that occurs between cells, sub-systems & systems w/in organisms is the most important difference with respect to digital systems. Digital systems generally rely on discrete pathways for inter-unit communication while organisms rely on a combination of chemical and electrical signaling which is analog vice digital but also which is more of a broadcast nature. While certainly digital systems provide a broadcast mechanism at higher levels (ie. buses) I believe the absence of pervasive, analog messaging at the lowest level results in a significantly less complex and capable system.
I wouldn't rule out the possibility that applet based approaches WILL go away overnight should HTML5 deliver a sufficiently rich replacement. Flash blocking browser extensions & their ilk are some of the most popular downloads out there. Granted the cost of switching is high, but if the penetration rate for rich content is suddenly an order of magnitude higher (and this might be conservatively low), then the switching cost is justified by the increased views.
So the Ants are globalizing as well... do you think they same the same things about us we say about them? "Damn humans- they're taking over the planet! I've tried to get rid of them but they're so persistent!"
Uh huh... and my car's observed fuel efficiency is what the manufacturer advertises it should be, CRTs used to have the viewable area that their advertisements said they did, hard drives last as long as the MTBF's listed in their specs... and I'm sure we'll all live happily ever after.
"Guo's laser unleashes as much power as the entire grid of North America onto a spot the size of a needle point."
Hmmm... that just reads funny. Will the cost of the power equivalent of the entire North American grid for a femto-second be built into the cost of the light bulb? That sounds expensive.
I'm sure I'm overlooking something. I usually do.
Footnote: Don't quote me on this but I believe it was Ride of the Valkyrie by a Mr. Christopherson (sp?) that first used this technique. RotV was available on tape casette and loaded at either 300 or 1,200 baud depending on what model you had.
On TRS-80's Mod I & III's this technique was used to emulate the sprite functionality available at the time on the Commodore. You'd predefine arrays of strings (limited to 255 chars- max string length in BASIC) that contained combinations of Extended ASCII (>127) characters which corresponded to the desired 5x3 pixel mappings and control codes to reposition the cursor while outputting the string. This way you could use the BASIC PRINT statement instead of the graphics SET() & RESET() statements. This resulted in enough of a peformance boost that you could write playable games in BASIC rather than Assembly.
Why not? There are many other talented people contributing to open source projects in other roles that are just as talented as high caliber artists/muscians and commanding respectable salaries for their regular jobs.
It's not a lie. For the average IT guy doing tech support for friends and family, Ubuntu has a lower TCO. Some of the friends and family that switch over may have trouble getting used to a new OS, but the increased responsiveness of their hardware and reduced frequency of security problems sells them in the long run. This is not FUD- this is my personal experience the last two years.
That's too bad you had OS troubles on your T61. Maybe now you understand a little how some people felt when they upgraded to Vista and hardware support wasn't exactly 100%.
Crunch Bang (a Ubuntu derivative) was a lot easier to install on my Lenovo W500 than Vista, that's for sure.
We have two PPC xServers (dual G5s) and when the stock ADMs (3 x 250 Gb ) hit EOL, we replaced them with standard retail *server* grade drives (3 x HITACHI 1 TB's w/large cache & high MTBF). We saved a few hundred dollars and experienced no problems.
There's a difference between accepting the fact that "computers become obsolete" and having to get new hardware for a new OS to be as functional as the last OS.
I can't be the only one that remembers the era when Mac enthusiasts eagerly awaited a new release of the Mac OS because, often, on the SAME hardware, it ran FASTER and with new features.
Slashdot Mirror
Your experience might be explained by the fact that your wireless chip set vendor worked with MS to ensure their driver performed seamlessly (including device detection during installation). Not all chip/driver vendors extend the same courtesy to the Linux Distro providers but they're starting to realize they should. For example, Broadcom's chip sets have often been problematic for me but in the last year or so there seems to have been a change and now I experience less problems with recent Linux Distros on Broadcom wireless hardware. When in doubt go with Intel stuff- they never seem to have any problems supporting Linux distros.
I'm not trying to justify my statement, just trying to provide an explanation for the difference between our two experiences.
It's been my experience that the average user has never done an OS install. If they were to give it a go and compare an MS OS install to a Ubuntu install I think you'd find that in more cases than not, the Ubuntu install goes more smoothly for them. As an IT professional I'm never surprised when an MS OS install does require a little bit of magic or voodoo tom complete successfully. Linux seems to have gotten to the point (Ubuntu anyway) where the odds of running into some sort of install snag are the same if not less than an MS OS install. Jumping through technical hoops aside, it takes less than 20 minutes to install Ubuntu on a PC (including the apps I want). I don't think I've ever completed a Windows install in less than 1 hour (just the OS, no apps). I find that difference alone compelling.
I run Ubuntu 9.04 (64 bit) on a W500 and get > 2 hrs battery life with the standard battery (not the extended life). I have not done any specific configuration tweaking to try and extend battery life.
Associating a unique ID with a person makes is easier for companies to build and share demographic data about people so they can market more efficiently.
Not every US citizen has an SSN.
First Paragraph: Does it?
A scientist is a person that practices science. Science is the business of knowing. The origins of the wheel do not predate "knowing" or the pursuit or investigation of new knowledge.
Scientists invented the wheel too but I don't want to see it posted on Slashdot. Seriously, isn't this really old news? Removing creases in photos was one of the first things I remember everybody doing when scanners went mainstream sometime in the 80'.s
You gave them access to your house? That seems a little odd. Do you always set out an extra plate at dinner time or do they call ahead/?
It is my belief, and I think this fits within your comments above, that historic attempts at modeling or simulating biologic brains focus too much on the "gate" and not enough on the "messaging." [Disclaimer: I have no formal education in IT, biology or neurology but long time IT professional and AI hobbyist] To me, the intercommunication that occurs between cells, sub-systems & systems w/in organisms is the most important difference with respect to digital systems. Digital systems generally rely on discrete pathways for inter-unit communication while organisms rely on a combination of chemical and electrical signaling which is analog vice digital but also which is more of a broadcast nature. While certainly digital systems provide a broadcast mechanism at higher levels (ie. buses) I believe the absence of pervasive, analog messaging at the lowest level results in a significantly less complex and capable system.
Nostalgic.
Does this mean somebody's porting Eliza to Ruby on Rails?!
I wouldn't rule out the possibility that applet based approaches WILL go away overnight should HTML5 deliver a sufficiently rich replacement. Flash blocking browser extensions & their ilk are some of the most popular downloads out there. Granted the cost of switching is high, but if the penetration rate for rich content is suddenly an order of magnitude higher (and this might be conservatively low), then the switching cost is justified by the increased views.
... SAY the same things about us ...
So the Ants are globalizing as well ... do you think they same the same things about us we say about them? "Damn humans- they're taking over the planet! I've tried to get rid of them but they're so persistent!"
If you pull my other leg it plays Jingle Bells.
"Guo's laser unleashes as much power as the entire grid of North America onto a spot the size of a needle point."
Hmmm... that just reads funny. Will the cost of the power equivalent of the entire North American grid for a femto-second be built into the cost of the light bulb? That sounds expensive.
I'm sure I'm overlooking something. I usually do.
Didn't Adobe Content Management Server provide server based DRM like 10 years ago? Was that only for PDFs? Can't remember.
I also don't miss tape drives.
On TRS-80's Mod I & III's this technique was used to emulate the sprite functionality available at the time on the Commodore. You'd predefine arrays of strings (limited to 255 chars- max string length in BASIC) that contained combinations of Extended ASCII (>127) characters which corresponded to the desired 5x3 pixel mappings and control codes to reposition the cursor while outputting the string. This way you could use the BASIC PRINT statement instead of the graphics SET() & RESET() statements. This resulted in enough of a peformance boost that you could write playable games in BASIC rather than Assembly.
Why not? There are many other talented people contributing to open source projects in other roles that are just as talented as high caliber artists/muscians and commanding respectable salaries for their regular jobs.
I feel sorry for them. But likewise, the average non-IT person is apparently unable to support a Windows box because I sure do a lot of it.
That's too bad you had OS troubles on your T61. Maybe now you understand a little how some people felt when they upgraded to Vista and hardware support wasn't exactly 100%.
Crunch Bang (a Ubuntu derivative) was a lot easier to install on my Lenovo W500 than Vista, that's for sure.
We have two PPC xServers (dual G5s) and when the stock ADMs (3 x 250 Gb ) hit EOL, we replaced them with standard retail *server* grade drives (3 x HITACHI 1 TB's w/large cache & high MTBF). We saved a few hundred dollars and experienced no problems.
I can't be the only one that remembers the era when Mac enthusiasts eagerly awaited a new release of the Mac OS because, often, on the SAME hardware, it ran FASTER and with new features.