Honestly, if you don't have a lot of time to sink into learning linux (i.e. make time) then don't bother. There are a lot of things to wrap your mind around and it takes a great deal of time to become as familiar as you are in Windows.
I *have* invested a good deal of time into learning linux just but prefer to invest it in Fedora. My response was a subjective assessment of why I (for the moment) *choose* to continue w/ Fedora Core 3 rather than using ubuntu.
I installed ubuntu on the same laptop I was running fedora core 3 test 3 on (IBM T20)
Core 3 test 3 ran fine.
Ubuntu was a little iffy.
-battery applet did not work
-system would freez hard after 1/2 hour or so of use
-etc...
I could have looked @ ubuntus bug tracker and possibly rectified these but would much rather go with a distro that justworks(tm). YMMV, ubuntu does look promising but still requires more attention/tweaks than I'd like to give my day-to-day OS.
I had all three test versions of FC3 running and am very much looking forward to installing the release version.
Inpressions from the test releases
-selinux is enabled by default & *just works*
-firefox (finally) is included in Fedora Core proper
-automounting bahavior of usb keys, external HDDs etc. is greatly improved
-Totem has been added
-Yum has been greatly improved (faster)
-works well on the two laptops I tested it on
(IBM T20, CPQ Armada M700
-Better wifi support built in
yeah-
the gist of it is running non blizzard bnet server is against the law.
The model they (bliz) employ is that the user/char. info is stored server-side which in theory should reduce the potential for cheats/hacks assuming that you are playing on an 'official' server. Worked out pretty well with Diablo II / Diablo II LOD (starcraft etc.) for awhile the games really were *much* better but then things wenttohell(tm) a couple of years ago...
I don't know if it ever got any better, I stopped playing after bnet was compromised since it was no fun once folks were able to gain XP + items + skilZ w/ whatever the F* they did.
So in short I can't condemn bliz for defending their SW.
'nuf said
J
"That's probably no coincidence since a "spacecraft" with an autopilot, is basically an explosive device short of a missile. There may be some heavy federal legislation involving the private production of such systems let alone the government not wanting to share such technology with just anyone."
If memory serves the choice to not use autopilot/fly by wire had more to do with a combination of cost and the need to keep things simple. One of the issues leading to the downfall of the Space Shuttle program is that the system is so very complex resulting in an enormous potential for catastrophic failure, more so that if that spacecraft had been designed with K*I*S*S in mind. The fact that it (the shuttle) still is largely reliant on mid to late seventies technology contributes to the problems as well. In any case the back to basics approach used by spaceship one as pertains to flight controls seems to have paid off so far. Who'd have thought an actual human pilot flying manually would have a relistic shot at the X Prize?
Infected machines are locked out of the network entirely. Getting the machines reconnected is a fairly lengthy process and users have become *much* more interested in allowing field techs to patch machines since the lockdown process was initiated. We push patches out remotely so only 5% or so of the machines ever need to be manually patched. We also scan our subnet daily for vulnerable machines and proactively patch any machines that turn up that way. Personal laptops were a problem (briefly) but after an incident at another location where the offfending user was terminated folks have gotten the message that it is not OK to attach non company owned computers to the network.
"It seems to me that this is a rather odd strategy for a company whose main strength is marketing/PR. They don't charge for SP2, there's no revenue stream to lose, so why make more problems for yourself by not patching up vulnerabilities ?
I'm not a Microsoft fan by any means. MS's decision not to allow individuals using pirated copies of the OS to install SP2 strikes me as a sound business decision.
Re:here's my review...Annoyed!
on
Fedora Core 2 Review
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Apparently they disabled firewire in the final fc2 because it "doesn't work." What the hell? I think this is a very important feature and if this got out I wonder what else they left out.
The firewire issue was discussed at considerable length on the Fedora-Test list. The bottom line was that enabling firewire worked for some people but for others was broken to the point thet the system became unbootable whether or not a firewire device was actually attached. The rationale for disabling FW (for now) was that it would be easier to roll that functionality into a future update once the issue has been truly resolved rather than risk broken systems for the majority of users that don't use firewire at all.
Check the fedora-Test & Fedora-List archives for info on how to enable firewire (YMMV)
"...I know it's a test platform but do they need to include a test copy of war and peace with EVERY release? Does anyone have a particulary clever reason (besides source disks) why it needs to be this frigging big?...'
I've been running Fedora Core 1 for awhile now & have also been running Core 2 test 1, 2 & 3- The "minumum" install is all off of disc 1 of if memory serves, maybe 550 MB. Just install the minimum & add whatever else you want using yum (up2date/apt whatever). My preferred workstation install tends to run just shy of 2 GB and requires all 4 discs. YMMV
Since (IMHO) nitrogen-dioxide is likely to be present in areas where munitions/explosives have been used. That would result in false positives since minefields by definition are likely to be in areas where explosives etc. have been expended.
...the current data being collected by Volunteer Observing Ships today. See: http://www.etl.noaa.gov/programs/oceanobs/ for details. Basically the program combines physical data with old fashioned observation.
We received a couple of new machines from Dell last week. They were missing just a few patches... actually a few *months* worth of patches. Inexcusable on the vendor's part- how hard is it for them to keep their base install/image up to date??? I had a CD ready to go with the relevant patches etc. & got all of the critical stuff installed before ever connecting to the internet. No wonder that so many home machines are unpatched, people incorrectly (but justifiably) assume that the new PC they just purchased will be reasonablt current as far as security patches goes. That and getting the plethora of XP patches, service packs etc. over a dial-up is very nearly impossible...
I feel as if I've lost a whole slew of civil rights as far as anything connected to computers goes. Starting with libraries, continuing on to my "illegal" linux DVD software and culminating with DCMA. The fact that congress is taking every opportunity to connect *everything* to the "war on terror" does not bode well either.
Why not paint a bullseye on the cube instead...
on
Cube House
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I thought things got out of hand at *my* office during the holiday season.
On a more serious note- clearly the individual who made the house/cubes company is not in downsizing mode.
Still Looks like a big "Lay *me* off please" sign to me...
I've shied away from earlier OO releases but have been very satisfied with the 1.1 release. I've been offering Open Office.org 1.1 to my clients as a cost effective alternative to MS Office and have gotten very positive feedback so far.
Dunno about regular DVD players- I use my computer's DVD drive to play multi region, works great using linux, so-so on windoze. Note that the code to play DVDs on Linux is probably still illegal in much of the world.
In that an awful lot of people listen to those stations without contributing. The same applies to many users of free software.
I reckon I'll apply my voucher $ to the FSF.
I used bittorrent do download the Fedora Core 1 ISOs on their day of release- took maybe 3 hours to get the images at a time when few of the conventional mirrors had even synched/ those ftp mirrors that *were* synced were also holpelessly overloaded. It just works (TM).
Still sharing those ISOs back, can't hurt to add to the torrent;).
Slashdot Mirror
Each employee running the installer first thing in the morning actually. Pretty simple.
The above scenario asssumes that each employee has local admin rights on their machine. No sysadmin worth his salt would endorse that policy.
Honestly, if you don't have a lot of time to sink into learning linux (i.e. make time) then don't bother. There are a lot of things to wrap your mind around and it takes a great deal of time to become as familiar as you are in Windows.
I *have* invested a good deal of time into learning linux just but prefer to invest it in Fedora. My response was a subjective assessment of why I (for the moment) *choose* to continue w/ Fedora Core 3 rather than using ubuntu.
I installed ubuntu on the same laptop I was running fedora core 3 test 3 on (IBM T20) Core 3 test 3 ran fine. Ubuntu was a little iffy.
-battery applet did not work
-system would freez hard after 1/2 hour or so of use
-etc...
I could have looked @ ubuntus bug tracker and possibly rectified these but would much rather go with a distro that justworks(tm). YMMV, ubuntu does look promising but still requires more attention/tweaks than I'd like to give my day-to-day OS.
I had all three test versions of FC3 running and am very much looking forward to installing the release version.
Inpressions from the test releases
-selinux is enabled by default & *just works*
-firefox (finally) is included in Fedora Core proper
-automounting bahavior of usb keys, external HDDs etc. is greatly improved
-Totem has been added
-Yum has been greatly improved (faster)
-works well on the two laptops I tested it on
(IBM T20, CPQ Armada M700
-Better wifi support built in
The 'dead' programs represent a chunk of those coder's lives and a fitting sendoff provides closure for the 'parents' of that code.
yeah- the gist of it is running non blizzard bnet server is against the law. The model they (bliz) employ is that the user/char. info is stored server-side which in theory should reduce the potential for cheats/hacks assuming that you are playing on an 'official' server. Worked out pretty well with Diablo II / Diablo II LOD (starcraft etc.) for awhile the games really were *much* better but then things wenttohell(tm) a couple of years ago... I don't know if it ever got any better, I stopped playing after bnet was compromised since it was no fun once folks were able to gain XP + items + skilZ w/ whatever the F* they did. So in short I can't condemn bliz for defending their SW. 'nuf said J
"That's probably no coincidence since a "spacecraft" with an autopilot, is basically an explosive device short of a missile. There may be some heavy federal legislation involving the private production of such systems let alone the government not wanting to share such technology with just anyone."
If memory serves the choice to not use autopilot/fly by wire had more to do with a combination of cost and the need to keep things simple. One of the issues leading to the downfall of the Space Shuttle program is that the system is so very complex resulting in an enormous potential for catastrophic failure, more so that if that spacecraft had been designed with K*I*S*S in mind. The fact that it (the shuttle) still is largely reliant on mid to late seventies technology contributes to the problems as well. In any case the back to basics approach used by spaceship one as pertains to flight controls seems to have paid off so far. Who'd have thought an actual human pilot flying manually would have a relistic shot at the X Prize?
We do, in fact live in wonderous times.
"learn.arc.nasa.gov is down for emergency maintenance.
For World Wind information and software, please visit opensource.arc.nasa.gov."
Emergency Maintenance
For some reason I found this to be quite amusing.
natural clear, eh ? ;)
the individual was fired for connecting an infected foreign laptop to the network.
Infected machines are locked out of the network entirely. Getting the machines reconnected is a fairly lengthy process and users have become *much* more interested in allowing field techs to patch machines since the lockdown process was initiated. We push patches out remotely so only 5% or so of the machines ever need to be manually patched. We also scan our subnet daily for vulnerable machines and proactively patch any machines that turn up that way. Personal laptops were a problem (briefly) but after an incident at another location where the offfending user was terminated folks have gotten the message that it is not OK to attach non company owned computers to the network.
"It seems to me that this is a rather odd strategy for a company whose main strength is marketing/PR. They don't charge for SP2, there's no revenue stream to lose, so why make more problems for yourself by not patching up vulnerabilities ?
I'm not a Microsoft fan by any means. MS's decision not to allow individuals using pirated copies of the OS to install SP2 strikes me as a sound business decision.
Apparently they disabled firewire in the final fc2 because it "doesn't work." What the hell? I think this is a very important feature and if this got out I wonder what else they left out.
The firewire issue was discussed at considerable length on the Fedora-Test list. The bottom line was that enabling firewire worked for some people but for others was broken to the point thet the system became unbootable whether or not a firewire device was actually attached. The rationale for disabling FW (for now) was that it would be easier to roll that functionality into a future update once the issue has been truly resolved rather than risk broken systems for the majority of users that don't use firewire at all.
Check the fedora-Test & Fedora-List archives for info on how to enable firewire (YMMV)
"...I know it's a test platform but do they need to include a test copy of war and peace with EVERY release? Does anyone have a particulary clever reason (besides source disks) why it needs to be this frigging big?...'
I've been running Fedora Core 1 for awhile now & have also been running Core 2 test 1, 2 & 3- The "minumum" install is all off of disc 1 of if memory serves, maybe 550 MB. Just install the minimum & add whatever else you want using yum (up2date/apt whatever). My preferred workstation install tends to run just shy of 2 GB and requires all 4 discs. YMMV
Since (IMHO) nitrogen-dioxide is likely to be present in areas where munitions/explosives have been used. That would result in false positives since minefields by definition are likely to be in areas where explosives etc. have been expended.
...the current data being collected by Volunteer Observing Ships today. See: http://www.etl.noaa.gov/programs/oceanobs/ for details. Basically the program combines physical data with old fashioned observation.
We received a couple of new machines from Dell last week. They were missing just a few patches... actually a few *months* worth of patches. Inexcusable on the vendor's part- how hard is it for them to keep their base install/image up to date??? I had a CD ready to go with the relevant patches etc. & got all of the critical stuff installed before ever connecting to the internet. No wonder that so many home machines are unpatched, people incorrectly (but justifiably) assume that the new PC they just purchased will be reasonablt current as far as security patches goes. That and getting the plethora of XP patches, service packs etc. over a dial-up is very nearly impossible...
I feel as if I've lost a whole slew of civil rights as far as anything connected to computers goes. Starting with libraries, continuing on to my "illegal" linux DVD software and culminating with DCMA. The fact that congress is taking every opportunity to connect *everything* to the "war on terror" does not bode well either.
I thought things got out of hand at *my* office during the holiday season. On a more serious note- clearly the individual who made the house/cubes company is not in downsizing mode. Still Looks like a big "Lay *me* off please" sign to me...
I've shied away from earlier OO releases but have been very satisfied with the 1.1 release. I've been offering Open Office.org 1.1 to my clients as a cost effective alternative to MS Office and have gotten very positive feedback so far.
Dunno about regular DVD players- I use my computer's DVD drive to play multi region, works great using linux, so-so on windoze. Note that the code to play DVDs on Linux is probably still illegal in much of the world.
Sheesh.... Before you know it someone will patent point & click online shopping.... ;)
In that an awful lot of people listen to those stations without contributing. The same applies to many users of free software. I reckon I'll apply my voucher $ to the FSF.
I used bittorrent do download the Fedora Core 1 ISOs on their day of release- took maybe 3 hours to get the images at a time when few of the conventional mirrors had even synched/ those ftp mirrors that *were* synced were also holpelessly overloaded. It just works (TM). Still sharing those ISOs back, can't hurt to add to the torrent ;).
As near as I can tell it can stream from shared folders. I'm *very* tempted to get one of these.