What??? You can circumvent the copy protection??? They know that. This isn't a consumer choice thing, this is a producers' choice thing.
If you had a choice (as an artist/producer) for what CD manufacturing process to choose, wouldn't you choose the 'copy protected' one over the 'raw'? Even if there was some chance that the copy protection could be bypassed (with some effort)?
They know that if you want to buy the latest U2 that you wouldn't have a choice. It's the producers they are marketing this copy protection to, not the consumers....
In CpE school, we designed and tested CPUs and subsystems at little cost (mostly paper and power). You don't fab something in the dark to see how it works!! That's obsurd. Of course the development cycle would be way too expensive. You design and test using simulators (like HSPICE). If it works in the simulator, then it will probably work when fab'ed. You fab it to see just how fast you can clock it or how hot it really gets (the software will even give you good guesses for these, too). The logic gates and even dynamic components are easily simulated. The CAD software does the work of figuring out if the traces are too close, or if things will fit. The simulator tests inputs to outputs and clocking.
Having the fab in the debugging and rough optimization cycle is crazy. That's what software is for.
The fab is further down the road than some people think. It's for nailing down the 'real world' results.
I hope this help clarify some things, and perhaps those who know more can elaborate.
I mean, for an extremely high-profile network, that seems like putting all your eggs in one basket. OR, someone intentially modified this to all point to a bad subnet. (Or, they are stupid and someone tripped on the uplink cord..;')
--Phil
Re:One Downside: Mutual Exclusivity
on
X On OSX Now Free
·
· Score: 1
Exactly my point! Once you quit the MacOS GUI, you'll find that the (stock) 'Unix' system is stripped down to (dare I say!) 'DOS-like' functionality. You can mv, cp, and other basic things, but most of the power and functionality of BSD systems I'm used to, simply wasn't there!
Soooo, what's the point? You've got a pretty (arguably), slow, buggy, clunky GUI w/ MacOS-X. If you don't want to use it, then you've thrown away a majority of what MacOS-X is! Is there an advantage to keeping the rest, even if you add X-windows? It doesn't sound like there is.
I've run both MacOS X and Yellow Dog Linux on my iBook, and YDL seems to win out. Especially if you'd rather opt for the X-Windows environment over MacOS-X's (I don't blame you..).
I mean, why keep any of it, if you are replacing the GUI with X-windows?? Why not just install YDL and be done with it! It certainly makes compiling/porting of other OSS easier.
TiVo uses blowfish (or two-fish... some sort of fish!) decryption (and keys) in the hardware. It downloads updates, and then decrypts them in hardware (ASIC). It may run Linux, but some of it isn't open-source (some of the hardware definitely isn't!).
Is this evil? I don't think so. They need to protect their $10/month service from theft somehow. Hey, TiVo is a good idea. I'll pay the monthly.
I tried both Yellow Dog Linux and now receintly MacOS X Client on my iBook. Here's what I thought of MacOS X Client (compared to YDL):
Pros:
- Supports sound (yeah!)
- Supports 32-bit color (yeah!)
- System config is easily at hand in the GUI (NIC settings, screen settings, etc.)
- Very simple. Install and go.
Cons:
- Worst of the Unix and MacOS worlds put together. The Unix side is stripped of most functionality. Unix people will be disappointed. Especially since there is no X server support and no development or daemon support (of the stock install). The Mac side seems even more buggy and much slower.
- New MacOS look and feel is cumbersome, wastes too much screen space (definitely on a laptop, anyway). Not very customizable. Old hat Mac users will have to relearn much of the interface, and Unix users will wish it wasn't so much in the way.
- Very buggy. I couldn't copy files (except using 'cp' in a term) from a server to a local directory w/o weird errors happening. Friends reported system crashes/freezes (under Unix!?).
- Incredibly slow. Playing MP3's and browsing the web takes my 128MB iBook to it's limits.:'( Menus draw incredibly slowly, ditto for switching applications.
If LinuxPPC/YDL got sound support and better video support (I think both are in the works, or perhaps even done now?). Then it's a no brainer that YDL is faster, more stable, probably more secure, more functional, and cheaper than MacOS X Client. Stick a MacOS-X theme on YDL and you've got something cheaper and better than MacOS X Client.
Really, a sad day for me (being a long term Mac supporter) to see MacOS get this bad.:'( I hope the full release is much more improved than this 'beta'. MacOS X client needs more than just some polishing to make it practical and useful.
Yes, we've built Lm_sensors as an extension to Simon Vogl's second-generation I2C stack (adapting it for SMBus and even some ISA devices), so I whole-heartedly agree w/ the props for I2C. I'd also like to mention that the new source-code home for I2C is w/ us, so update your bookmarks.:') And, btw, I think the bttv was just recently ported during the process of integrating the new I2C into the latest 2.3.x kernels.
In the area of patting the backs of key developers, I'd like to give a shout out to the following:
Simon Vogl for his amazing I2C work
Frodo Looijaard for being the lead programmer and project leader
Alex Larsson who originally started this project from which we began from (almost 2 years ago?)
Kyösti Mälkki for some amazing coding
Mark D. Studebaker for some great additions and important drivers
Alan, Gerd, Will, etc., etc.
Many, many testers, helpers, and midnight coders which have really made things work and the project interesting.
Lm_sensors is pretty cool and can be used to see how hot your CPU's are, how fast your CPU fans are spinning, what voltages your supplies are providing, drive that neat I2C display, etc., etc. Alan Cox thinks it's worthy of kernel integration, scheduling it for 2.5.x when it gets started. We've come a long way over the last year or so....:')
I.e., Microsoft is doing their usual thing of taking a competing technology which supports multiplatform use and using their market clout to either a) take over the market with thier own competing product and/or b) simply trashing the technology's reputation by getting their fingers into it and making it only work in their favor.
We've seen this in many technologies (browsers, Jscript, J++, streaming video, etc.), not to mention direct competing products where the target company was either out-right bought out, squashed by illegal business tactics, or the technology 'fudged with' to make it only work reliably in Microsoft's favor. It's funny to see the lawsuits for Win3.1 apps finally be making it out of the courts, but it doesn't matter since nobody uses Win3.1 anymore...
Microsoft is pureEVIL. Their inability to innovate while at the same time squashing other companies' innovation has brought OS and app development to a stand-still for about a decade now. Many former, present, and even future M$ employees admit this. It's no wonder that open-source projects have kept moving (and caught up!) while commercial products have been mysteriously stagnant for a decade or so. That's a very, very long time to see this little innovation (besides Internet related which M$ has had little to do with).
From my understanding, there is only one encoded solution to any input audio (bit rate, stereo, and commenting options dependant, of course). I.e., if the resulting MP3 differs from the 'Fraunhofer' encoder, then the MP3 is corrupt, by definition (but may still be playable by an MP3 player). Most encoders, I'd like to add, are *not* true MPEG 1 layer 3 compliant (like Xing?), especially all those free ones under Windows. They do this to make encoding faster and/or avoid paying licensing fees required when using Fraunhofer's algorithm. (Special exceptions/conditions exist with BladeEnc which make it a rare freeware Fraunhofer encoder.)
BTW-The ISO encoder algorithm *IS* the 'Fraunhofer' method. (Yes, you can patent an ISO standard.) Dig through the MPEG sites, Fraunhofer's site, and Tord's BladeEnc site for more info.
What sounds like the issue here is what pre-processing is done prior to encoding. From my understanding, some of the 'quick' encoders (like Xing) throw away data to give it less to process, and hense, make it go faster. As long as you are encoding directly from a raw ripped track, I don't see how it would matter which encoder was used as long as it is using the ISO/Fraunhofer algorithm and no preprocessing (decimation).
Just a quick comment: I had this distortion problem too, but my cause was a buggy x11amp. That's when I switched to MPG123 as my player which solved several provlems at once (the newer X11amp reportedly has this problem fixed now, btw). I've never had noticable distortions in my MP3's with BladeEnc.
A couple quick comments re: mp3s and ripping. I like to think I'm a bit of a stereophile, and I've found that most things in the commercial audio market are hype, and that most people which buy the high-end stuff can sometimes have a difficult time telling the difference between mono and stereo, let alone quality differences!;') So, if you are only interested in quality, then read on. With that said, I've tried hard to hear the difference between a well ripped and encoded MP3 (128kb) and the original CD track (on a decent transport and DAC). I can just barely hear a difference.
Where the pitfalls come from is what is used to rip and encode the MP3's. For the best digital extraction from the CD, CD-Paranoia is the best I've found which doesn't produce those click..click..click sounds like heard when using crappy rippers (it can even recover scratched and damaged audio CD's, too!). For MPEG-layerIII encoding, make sure to use something which produces an exact bit equavelent to Fraunhofer's output like BladeEnc. Lastly, reproduction is very important, too! Use something which produces correct quality reconstruction like MPG123.
You may have noticed that these are all command-line progs. I stay away from the eye-candy stuff unless I know the underlying engine really is quality. But, only those packages mentioned above are really known to be quality(, but they do have some third-party GUI front-ends if you are into that).
Happy Listening!
o {:') o
--Phil
BTW- For best possible audio, look into audio-DVD's. They are quite impressive when mastered correctly! There isn't much of a music selection available yet, though.
You might have received an email warning that the voltages were beginning to go wacky. I found a dying power-supply and replaced it before services when down with this software. It can tell you when a CPU fan is slowing or stopped, or if things are getting too hot, too. Nifty!
Slashdot Mirror
What??? You can circumvent the copy protection??? They know that. This isn't a consumer choice thing, this is a producers' choice thing.
If you had a choice (as an artist/producer) for what CD manufacturing process to choose, wouldn't you choose the 'copy protected' one over the 'raw'? Even if there was some chance that the copy protection could be bypassed (with some effort)?
They know that if you want to buy the latest U2 that you wouldn't have a choice. It's the producers they are marketing this copy protection to, not the consumers....
Try to appeal to the artists if you want results.
--Phil
I told you! MS is the Borg!!
In CpE school, we designed and tested CPUs and subsystems at little cost (mostly paper and power). You don't fab something in the dark to see how it works!! That's obsurd. Of course the development cycle would be way too expensive. You design and test using simulators (like HSPICE). If it works in the simulator, then it will probably work when fab'ed. You fab it to see just how fast you can clock it or how hot it really gets (the software will even give you good guesses for these, too). The logic gates and even dynamic components are easily simulated. The CAD software does the work of figuring out if the traces are too close, or if things will fit. The simulator tests inputs to outputs and clocking.
Having the fab in the debugging and rough optimization cycle is crazy. That's what software is for.
The fab is further down the road than some people think. It's for nailing down the 'real world' results.
I hope this help clarify some things, and perhaps those who know more can elaborate.
--Phil
Anybody else think this is odd that their four servers are all on the same subnet?? I thought that wasn't a good thing to do....
;')
> microsoft.com.
Server: a.root-servers.net
Address: 198.41.0.4
Name: microsoft.com
Served by:
- DNS4.CP.MSFT.NET
207.46.138.11
microsoft.com
- DNS5.CP.MSFT.NET
207.46.138.12
microsoft.com
- DNS7.CP.MSFT.NET
207.46.138.21
microsoft.com
- DNS6.CP.MSFT.NET
207.46.138.20
microsoft.com
I mean, for an extremely high-profile network, that seems like putting all your eggs in one basket. OR, someone intentially modified this to all point to a bad subnet. (Or, they are stupid and someone tripped on the uplink cord..
--Phil
Exactly my point! Once you quit the MacOS GUI, you'll find that the (stock) 'Unix' system is stripped down to (dare I say!) 'DOS-like' functionality. You can mv, cp, and other basic things, but most of the power and functionality of BSD systems I'm used to, simply wasn't there!
Soooo, what's the point? You've got a pretty (arguably), slow, buggy, clunky GUI w/ MacOS-X. If you don't want to use it, then you've thrown away a majority of what MacOS-X is! Is there an advantage to keeping the rest, even if you add X-windows? It doesn't sound like there is.
--Phil
I've run both MacOS X and Yellow Dog Linux on my iBook, and YDL seems to win out. Especially if you'd rather opt for the X-Windows environment over MacOS-X's (I don't blame you..).
I mean, why keep any of it, if you are replacing the GUI with X-windows?? Why not just install YDL and be done with it! It certainly makes compiling/porting of other OSS easier.
--Phil
TiVo uses blowfish (or two-fish... some sort of fish!) decryption (and keys) in the hardware. It downloads updates, and then decrypts them in hardware (ASIC). It may run Linux, but some of it isn't open-source (some of the hardware definitely isn't!).
Is this evil? I don't think so. They need to protect their $10/month service from theft somehow. Hey, TiVo is a good idea. I'll pay the monthly.
--phil
I tried both Yellow Dog Linux and now receintly MacOS X Client on my iBook. Here's what I thought of MacOS X Client (compared to YDL):
:'( Menus draw incredibly slowly, ditto for switching applications.
:'( I hope the full release is much more improved than this 'beta'. MacOS X client needs more than just some polishing to make it practical and useful.
Pros:
- Supports sound (yeah!)
- Supports 32-bit color (yeah!)
- System config is easily at hand in the GUI (NIC settings, screen settings, etc.)
- Very simple. Install and go.
Cons:
- Worst of the Unix and MacOS worlds put together. The Unix side is stripped of most functionality. Unix people will be disappointed. Especially since there is no X server support and no development or daemon support (of the stock install). The Mac side seems even more buggy and much slower.
- New MacOS look and feel is cumbersome, wastes too much screen space (definitely on a laptop, anyway). Not very customizable. Old hat Mac users will have to relearn much of the interface, and Unix users will wish it wasn't so much in the way.
- Very buggy. I couldn't copy files (except using 'cp' in a term) from a server to a local directory w/o weird errors happening. Friends reported system crashes/freezes (under Unix!?).
- Incredibly slow. Playing MP3's and browsing the web takes my 128MB iBook to it's limits.
If LinuxPPC/YDL got sound support and better video support (I think both are in the works, or perhaps even done now?). Then it's a no brainer that YDL is faster, more stable, probably more secure, more functional, and cheaper than MacOS X Client. Stick a MacOS-X theme on YDL and you've got something cheaper and better than MacOS X Client.
Really, a sad day for me (being a long term Mac supporter) to see MacOS get this bad.
--Phil (with a big frowny face)
In the area of patting the backs of key developers, I'd like to give a shout out to the following:
Simon Vogl for his amazing I2C work
Frodo Looijaard for being the lead programmer and project leader
Alex Larsson who originally started this project from which we began from (almost 2 years ago?)
Kyösti Mälkki for some amazing coding
Mark D. Studebaker for some great additions and important drivers
Alan, Gerd, Will, etc., etc.
Many, many testers, helpers, and midnight coders which have really made things work and the project interesting.
--Phil
OK, I'm one of the developers, but so what? :')
Lm_sensors is pretty cool and can be used to see how hot your CPU's are, how fast your CPU fans are spinning, what voltages your supplies are providing, drive that neat I2C display, etc., etc. Alan Cox thinks it's worthy of kernel integration, scheduling it for 2.5.x when it gets started. We've come a long way over the last year or so....
--Phil
So, what's up with the news conference from Chyenne Mountain reporting 3 missle launches? 8'o
as
peanut butter is to water
I.e., Microsoft is doing their usual thing of taking a competing technology which supports multiplatform use and using their market clout to either a) take over the market with thier own competing product and/or b) simply trashing the technology's reputation by getting their fingers into it and making it only work in their favor.
We've seen this in many technologies (browsers, Jscript, J++, streaming video, etc.), not to mention direct competing products where the target company was either out-right bought out, squashed by illegal business tactics, or the technology 'fudged with' to make it only work reliably in Microsoft's favor. It's funny to see the lawsuits for Win3.1 apps finally be making it out of the courts, but it doesn't matter since nobody uses Win3.1 anymore...
Microsoft is pure EVIL. Their inability to innovate while at the same time squashing other companies' innovation has brought OS and app development to a stand-still for about a decade now. Many former, present, and even future M$ employees admit this. It's no wonder that open-source projects have kept moving (and caught up!) while commercial products have been mysteriously stagnant for a decade or so. That's a very, very long time to see this little innovation (besides Internet related which M$ has had little to do with).
--Phil
BTW-The ISO encoder algorithm *IS* the 'Fraunhofer' method. (Yes, you can patent an ISO standard.) Dig through the MPEG sites, Fraunhofer's site, and Tord's BladeEnc site for more info.
What sounds like the issue here is what pre-processing is done prior to encoding. From my understanding, some of the 'quick' encoders (like Xing) throw away data to give it less to process, and hense, make it go faster. As long as you are encoding directly from a raw ripped track, I don't see how it would matter which encoder was used as long as it is using the ISO/Fraunhofer algorithm and no preprocessing (decimation).
--Phil
--Phil
Where the pitfalls come from is what is used to rip and encode the MP3's. For the best digital extraction from the CD, CD-Paranoia is the best I've found which doesn't produce those click..click..click sounds like heard when using crappy rippers (it can even recover scratched and damaged audio CD's, too!). For MPEG-layerIII encoding, make sure to use something which produces an exact bit equavelent to Fraunhofer's output like BladeEnc. Lastly, reproduction is very important, too! Use something which produces correct quality reconstruction like MPG123.
You may have noticed that these are all command-line progs. I stay away from the eye-candy stuff unless I know the underlying engine really is quality. But, only those packages mentioned above are really known to be quality(, but they do have some third-party GUI front-ends if you are into that).
Happy Listening!
o
{:')
o
--Phil
BTW- For best possible audio, look into audio-DVD's. They are quite impressive when mastered correctly! There isn't much of a music selection available yet, though.
http://www.lm-sensors.nu
You might have received an email warning that the voltages were beginning to go wacky. I found a dying power-supply and replaced it before services when down with this software. It can tell you when a CPU fan is slowing or stopped, or if things are getting too hot, too. Nifty!