Debian is far from becoming irrelevant. Where did Knoppix start? Xandros? Ubuntu?
These and many other distros can be seen, under the right light, as branches on a Debian trunk. I feel fairly confident in saying that no other distro could provide a sufficiently robust and broad base upon which to build.
Ubuntu and company can do as they please. Some may, eventually, cease to be recognizable as Debian-based, but that will take a very long while.
In the meantime, Debian will continue to be an example of how large-scale projects should be run. After all, Debian has been around a long time; and in that time they have managed to build up what is arguably the largest repository of software the community has. They've also managed to support a considerable number of architectures and they've done it all quite well IMHO.
Most computers are not connected to the web through routers, protected networks, etc. Maybe most of the computers of/. users, but there's a huge number of households with a computer(s) connected directly to the Internet.
Universities actually do a decent job of keeping most of the dreck out of their networks. Of course, they can't help it if a bunch of less savvy users fall for the usual traps.
Most people don't even know what a router is, most people don't care what a router is.
I'm not a native English speaker. However, I often find I can communicate much more clearly than many of my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who are native speakers of the English language.
Spelling, grammar, and vocabulary matter a great deal. Just because I am able to understand what you are saying does not mean you have successfully communicated your ideas.
If you ever intend to wield the full power of any language you should be striving for correctness. It's one of the few things you can do to ensure as many people as possible will, at the very least, have a chance in hell of coming close to grasping the specific mental model you are attempting to verbalize.
There's plenty of posts about what to do when you're out on your own. What about helping the folks who admin these "public" terminals?
It isn't even necessary for customer privacy to be your top priority in order to implement measures that will result in greater privacy and peace of mind for your users.
How about network booting your public terminals? Configure terminals to reboot after (short) periods of inactivity and make an explicit statement asking users to reset the machines after (or before) they use them. Clean slate after every reboot.
Benefits? For the admin, no more malware troubles, single point to install updates to, use your imagination. For the users, somewhat increased privacy, depending on how seriously admins take such matters.
That can help alleviate software keyloggers. Dealing with the HW variety would require securing the physical terminal. Would USB keyboards thwart at least some HW keyloggers? Is it cost-effective? I'm not sure, but you get the idea.
Let's not forget strong security profiles, limited rights on Windows-based terminals, etc.
Oh, and admins? SSH clients would help a lot of people.
I'm not a snotty power-user or anything; but, I know where I put my files and how to find things with a minimum of effort.
I feel like the functionality afforded by these toolbars, and the need for that functionality is indicative of a lack of basic skills from a whole lot of everyday computer users.
The ability to quickly find information; whether it's a user's own files, or some online resource should be a basic bit of functionality within systems as well as a basic skill users should possess.
... at Miami International. I just got back from winter break back home in Panama. The actual process is quite simple and none of the people I saw going through it seemed to have any problem with it, pretty much everyone seems to accept it as one more thing the US is doing in its effort to 'protect' itself.
It's almost business as usual at the airport, customs officers just have two new toys: the fingerprint scanner and a webcam. The added hassle is less than 20 seconds. Left index, right index, look at the camera, done.
Do I think it's a Good Thing? Not really, do I mind? Not really, after all, I'm not a terrorist!
I find that starting with paper and ink is a good way to get the juices flowing. If you have a bug from a previous day write out a solution on paper, nothing serious, just jot down some notes on it, or ideas.
If you don't have something specific then I generally do as someone else mentioned and test a few things; if I find there's something broken put it on paper.
For me there's just something about flowing ink and flowing ideas. Overall I think finding small issues (if lucky) to work on at first is good because it allows one to see some progress, which is always a good motivator!
Yeah, such as the file system,
the lack of apps, the seg faults, the blue screens, the lack of apps, the drivers (there aren't any), the windowing system, the lack of apps (there aren't any), etc., etc.
Like the "lack of apps" has anything to do with the kernel!?!?!?
"A column posted today on Slate ponders projections that Linux PCs will pass Apple in desktop market share next year."
Market Share != yummy GUI + bad ass HW
Linux's market share is increasing at a faster rate than Apple's; todays announcements are great! I've been drewling over the g5 all day. Thing is REAL market share is not about how slick and integrated things are, it's about how cost effective a solution is. Compared to a Linux box an Apple box doesn't really win that argument on the desktop (at least for me) for the common joe...
Now now. I quote from the article to defend my first claim.
citing as evidence statements made this year by Sun's Indian-born cofounder, Vinod Khosla, on the CBS television program ''60 Minutes.'' Khosla was quoted as saying that at Sun, people from India ''are favored over almost anybody else.''
Khosla's statement was taken out of context; when he said that on 60 minutes he was referring to graduates of IIT, which is a VERY good, tough as hell institute, I mean, IIT graduates are the kids that have MIT and Harvard as their safety schools!
Slashdot Mirror
Debian is far from becoming irrelevant. Where did Knoppix start? Xandros? Ubuntu?
These and many other distros can be seen, under the right light, as branches on a Debian trunk. I feel fairly confident in saying that no other distro could provide a sufficiently robust and broad base upon which to build.
Ubuntu and company can do as they please. Some may, eventually, cease to be recognizable as Debian-based, but that will take a very long while.
In the meantime, Debian will continue to be an example of how large-scale projects should be run. After all, Debian has been around a long time; and in that time they have managed to build up what is arguably the largest repository of software the community has. They've also managed to support a considerable number of architectures and they've done it all quite well IMHO.
I'm almost disappointed in you guys!
Most computers are not connected to the web through routers, protected networks, etc. Maybe most of the computers of /. users, but there's a huge number of households with a computer(s) connected directly to the Internet.
Universities actually do a decent job of keeping most of the dreck out of their networks. Of course, they can't help it if a bunch of less savvy users fall for the usual traps.
Most people don't even know what a router is, most people don't care what a router is.
I'm not a native English speaker. However, I often find I can communicate much more clearly than many of my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who are native speakers of the English language.
Spelling, grammar, and vocabulary matter a great deal. Just because I am able to understand what you are saying does not mean you have successfully communicated your ideas.
If you ever intend to wield the full power of any language you should be striving for correctness. It's one of the few things you can do to ensure as many people as possible will, at the very least, have a chance in hell of coming close to grasping the specific mental model you are attempting to verbalize.
If you don't believe me, talk to these guys.
It isn't even necessary for customer privacy to be your top priority in order to implement measures that will result in greater privacy and peace of mind for your users.
How about network booting your public terminals? Configure terminals to reboot after (short) periods of inactivity and make an explicit statement asking users to reset the machines after (or before) they use them. Clean slate after every reboot.
Benefits? For the admin, no more malware troubles, single point to install updates to, use your imagination. For the users, somewhat increased privacy, depending on how seriously admins take such matters.
That can help alleviate software keyloggers. Dealing with the HW variety would require securing the physical terminal. Would USB keyboards thwart at least some HW keyloggers? Is it cost-effective? I'm not sure, but you get the idea.
Let's not forget strong security profiles, limited rights on Windows-based terminals, etc.
Oh, and admins? SSH clients would help a lot of people.
If it was easy you'd have such a device by now.
That's why all my computers have Model M keyboards.
I'm not a snotty power-user or anything; but, I know where I put my files and how to find things with a minimum of effort.
/.
I feel like the functionality afforded by these toolbars, and the need for that functionality is indicative of a lack of basic skills from a whole lot of everyday computer users.
The ability to quickly find information; whether it's a user's own files, or some online resource should be a basic bit of functionality within systems as well as a basic skill users should possess.
I know this is pointless, but hey, this is
Has anyone out there used http://www.mpix.com/ to get prints of their photos? How was the service? Quality of prints? etc.
You mentioned trying 10+ printing services. Care to share what you learned? Who's got the best price/quality ratio? Service? Flexibility?
or has IBM been announcing a lot of deals and partnerships lately?
Is it just a normal activity spike on their part, or could this be a way of saying that it's business as usual to those worried over SCO?
feel free to ignore, it just occurred to me that I don't usually notice IBM announcing things like this that often.
... at Miami International. I just got back from winter break back home in Panama. The actual process is quite simple and none of the people I saw going through it seemed to have any problem with it, pretty much everyone seems to accept it as one more thing the US is doing in its effort to 'protect' itself.
It's almost business as usual at the airport, customs officers just have two new toys: the fingerprint scanner and a webcam. The added hassle is less than 20 seconds. Left index, right index, look at the camera, done.
Do I think it's a Good Thing? Not really, do I mind? Not really, after all, I'm not a terrorist!
I find that starting with paper and ink is a good way to get the juices flowing. If you have a bug from a previous day write out a solution on paper, nothing serious, just jot down some notes on it, or ideas.
If you don't have something specific then I generally do as someone else mentioned and test a few things; if I find there's something broken put it on paper.
For me there's just something about flowing ink and flowing ideas. Overall I think finding small issues (if lucky) to work on at first is good because it allows one to see some progress, which is always a good motivator!
Like the "lack of apps" has anything to do with the kernel!?!?!?
Do you have to use Linux? No. Right there we can say Linux is not essential.
Everyone seems to forget that the true nature of OSS/FS is not about market share, popularity or growth rate. The nature of OSS/FS is freedom.
"A column posted today on Slate ponders projections that Linux PCs will pass Apple in desktop market share next year." Market Share != yummy GUI + bad ass HW Linux's market share is increasing at a faster rate than Apple's; todays announcements are great! I've been drewling over the g5 all day. Thing is REAL market share is not about how slick and integrated things are, it's about how cost effective a solution is. Compared to a Linux box an Apple box doesn't really win that argument on the desktop (at least for me) for the common joe...
Did ya ever think to translate that in order?
Neo = New
Ander = Man
son = son
New Manson! He's here to take over ol' Charlie's work!