You can get an MPEG-2 of a DVD movie from some of the players that are on Windows.
Really? Which ones? If nothing else, publicizing this fact could cause the MPAA stormtroopers to stop focusing solely on DeCSS... and that could only be a good thing.:)
Although Red Hat is not Linux, Red Hat is very much a part of Linux. While a lot of people have fears, it's hard to point to anything that Red Hat has done that has harmed Linux, or gone against its spirit. In fact, they employ some of the best Linux hackers out there, and everything they produce is released under the GPL. I feel a lot better having them in their position than some other company. I mean... what if Corel had gotten there first, or IBM? I'd be frightened if I had to explain to people that IBM is not Linux... wouldn't you?
This is Stuff That Matters. Some new version of an ICQ client is not slashworthy. But LILO boots most linux computers every day. It has also been the cause of more newbies giving up than probably any other problem. "Why do I have to have/boot?" "what's this 1024 cylinder thing?" "I can't make a new partition under 1024, that's where windows is!" Etc...
Fixing this problem _is_ big news, as far as I'm concerned, and I would have missed it on Freshmeat.
1)/RedHat/RPMS contains only the binary installation RPMs. There may be one RPM named "kernel-source" but that's it.
2) Saying "oh, company B has the source, go get it from them" hardly seems like fulfilling the terms of the GPL. It's certainly against the spirit, if not the letter, of the license. Why is it Red Hat's responsibility to provide source for the Abit distro?
3) They have actually modified many of the packages, so pointing to Red Hat for source information is just plain wrong. The source for these packages is certainly not there.
Well, that's a rather cynical point of view... I'd like to think that/. readers and editors learned a thing or two from the Be/Perens experience, and are handling this differently.
Just because Abit is huge doesn't mean that you shouldn't take the time to gather facts, and compose a thoughtful response.
I keep arguing this point with my wife.:) There is nothing illegal about Napster. It trades files across the net. That's not illegal.
However, 99.9% of said files are copyrighted material. Trading these files is illegal. Makes perfect sense to me - go after the (ab)users, not the tool.
"Napster doesn't pirate music, people pirate music.":-)
I talked with one of the 3 linux people at Nvidia about this. They should be out on wednesday. They were supose to be out earlier but they ran into trouble.
pffft. Heard it all before... I used to defend Nvidia, but I'm fed up. "Show me the money," as they say...
Hm... they hired him for more than his name... there's a lot of tricky software going on with the Crusoe, and they need somebody who can think outside the MS/Intel/X86 box to make it work. I'm guessing he could do that.
Have you ever read an interview with him? I don't think the downward spiral is even a remote possibility. I assume that was sarcasm on your part anyway...:)
AOL and Gateway are working together to make a linux-based wireless web pad with a Gecko based browser - I guess this means it'll have a Crusoe chip in it. Cool! Maybe they'll tuck 'em into magazines for free....
AOL release is here and the Gateway release is here
Yeah, yeah, it's Microsoft. And yes, it follows the MSNC (Microsoft Standard Naming Conventions). But you can get this wheel mouse with optical tracking from buy.com for $20 (when they get it back in stock) or at CompUSA for $30. The wheel functions as the third button, and of course it's got the nice scrolling feature, too. It's USB, but it comes with a PS/2 adapter. No ball to clog up with muck, no skipping... it's so smooth it's almost freaky. I am completely sold on this thing. If MS would stick to hardware they just might win my heart!:)
Did WinZip have to pay a license for the "zip" algorithm? Or was it open, or reverse engineered? How did PKWare lose out after creating such a ubiquitous algorithm?
While I have seen some OCR projects for Linux (one turns up on freshmeat...) I'm not sure they're robust enough yet.
However, I'd love to see a perl/gtk script (or something) that lets me choose a date, choose a category (bank, auto, mortgage...), scan in a couple pieces of paper, and then packet-write it to a CD... not very full featured, certainly, but it would help get some of the piles of crap off my desk...
I've seen the Kodak DC215 for cheap... like $230 online. This is the first time I've seen a megapixel camera with an LCD display for this cheap. In the past, it seemed like digital cameras never got less expensive... new ones would come out, and the old ones, instead of getting cheaper, just seemed to disappear.
Anyone have experience with the DC215?
Also, GPhoto should be pointed out... this is one sweet looking app. Great effort by those guys!
Ok, I run Linux, so I'm glad to see more things like this that will support it (even though I wouldn't be caught dead actually using one of these...) but still. Here's the obligatory "What about _other_ operating systems?"
I really doubt that this will be anything but a binary driver. Yes, it's their product, and they can do what they want with it. But it does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.:)
Excuse me? Look, nobody forces anyone to use GPL'd code. I get so sick of hearing "The GPL restricts me too much!" Fine - then don't use it! Just like you probably choose to avoid shrink-wrapped licenses from MS, you are free to avoid GPL'd software as well.
But the thing that seems truly ridiculous to me is that the GPL is only an "inconvenience" to developers who want to use the vast code resources under the GPL, but who don't want to adhere to its terms. People who could just start from scratch, but instead would rather build on someone else's work. Which is fine... smart even... but you must adhere to the wishes (i.e. licensing) of the original author of that code.
Not sure if you realized that the site that comes up is actually an offsite link, in a frame, at http://www.conceptlab.com/simulator/morning/shower _a.html
I seem to remember reading somewhere that you could take the business-reply envelope, tape it to a box full of old sheetrock or something, and send it back to the company - and they get to pay for it.
I was particularly impressed with that simple act.:)
Slashdot Mirror
You can get an MPEG-2 of a DVD movie from some of the players that are on Windows.
:)
Really? Which ones? If nothing else, publicizing this fact could cause the MPAA stormtroopers to stop focusing solely on DeCSS... and that could only be a good thing.
---
Although Red Hat is not Linux, Red Hat is very much a part of Linux. While a lot of people have fears, it's hard to point to anything that Red Hat has done that has harmed Linux, or gone against its spirit. In fact, they employ some of the best Linux hackers out there, and everything they produce is released under the GPL. I feel a lot better having them in their position than some other company. I mean... what if Corel had gotten there first, or IBM? I'd be frightened if I had to explain to people that IBM is not Linux... wouldn't you?
---
Beh... you know what I mean. :) How about "Most linux computers, when they boot, boot with Lilo."
Better?
---
This is Stuff That Matters. Some new version of an ICQ client is not slashworthy. But LILO boots most linux computers every day. It has also been the cause of more newbies giving up than probably any other problem. "Why do I have to have /boot?" "what's this 1024 cylinder thing?" "I can't make a new partition under 1024, that's where windows is!" Etc...
Fixing this problem _is_ big news, as far as I'm concerned, and I would have missed it on Freshmeat.
---
1) /RedHat/RPMS contains only the binary installation RPMs. There may be one RPM named "kernel-source" but that's it.
2) Saying "oh, company B has the source, go get it from them" hardly seems like fulfilling the terms of the GPL. It's certainly against the spirit, if not the letter, of the license. Why is it Red Hat's responsibility to provide source for the Abit distro?
3) They have actually modified many of the packages, so pointing to Red Hat for source information is just plain wrong. The source for these packages is certainly not there.
---
The ISO is mounted here - ftp://ftp.kando.hu/pub/CDROM-Images-mounted/gentus /gentus.iso/
The filesystem tree is a standard Red Hat CD, and RedHat/RPMs has only the binary RPMs. No Source.
---
There are some message boards on the site, and one of the threads is about GPL issues. Someone from Abit has replied, and said:
t ml)
(http://www.gentus.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000214.h
==============
hi,
I am in no way representative of Abit on this subject of Gentus. However, your concern has being understood, and thanks for voicing your opinion.
I will try my best to pass on the message to the management.
regards,
Tim
---
Well, that's a rather cynical point of view... I'd like to think that /. readers and editors learned a thing or two from the Be/Perens experience, and are handling this differently.
Just because Abit is huge doesn't mean that you shouldn't take the time to gather facts, and compose a thoughtful response.
---
I keep arguing this point with my wife. :) There is nothing illegal about Napster. It trades files across the net. That's not illegal.
:-)
However, 99.9% of said files are copyrighted material. Trading these files is illegal. Makes perfect sense to me - go after the (ab)users, not the tool.
"Napster doesn't pirate music, people pirate music."
---
However.
If I had the source, I could recompile it for a different platform, and possibly port it to a different OS.
If I had the source, Alan Cox and John Carmack would have the source too, and that would most likely be a good thing.
Saying "YOU don't know what to do with the source" does NOT mean that source availability would not improve the driver.
---
pffft. Heard it all before... I used to defend Nvidia, but I'm fed up. "Show me the money," as they say...
---
Have you ever read an interview with him? I don't think the downward spiral is even a remote possibility. I assume that was sarcasm on your part anyway...
---
---
http://media.web.aol.com/media/press_view.cfm?r
Slashdot didn't like that and ate 75% of it. Ah well, read the Gateway release. You'll feel less dirty.
---
AOL release is here and the Gateway release is here
---
---
---
However, I'd love to see a perl/gtk script (or something) that lets me choose a date, choose a category (bank, auto, mortgage...), scan in a couple pieces of paper, and then packet-write it to a CD... not very full featured, certainly, but it would help get some of the piles of crap off my desk...
---
Anyone have experience with the DC215?
Also, GPhoto should be pointed out... this is one sweet looking app. Great effort by those guys!
---
Time for bed...
---
I really doubt that this will be anything but a binary driver. Yes, it's their product, and they can do what they want with it. But it does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
---
Excuse me? Look, nobody forces anyone to use GPL'd code. I get so sick of hearing "The GPL restricts me too much!" Fine - then don't use it! Just like you probably choose to avoid shrink-wrapped licenses from MS, you are free to avoid GPL'd software as well.
But the thing that seems truly ridiculous to me is that the GPL is only an "inconvenience" to developers who want to use the vast code resources under the GPL, but who don't want to adhere to its terms. People who could just start from scratch, but instead would rather build on someone else's work. Which is fine... smart even... but you must adhere to the wishes (i.e. licensing) of the original author of that code.
Explain to me where the damage is?
---
---
I was particularly impressed with that simple act.
---
---