I use it daily on my laptop here on FreeBSD 5.4. It really is superb. I previously used xfce4, but have switched over to this now. Startup time is about 3 seconds, speed is excellent with loads of graphic effects. Themes available are really nice. The only criticism I have is the use of binary files for some config stuff (menus and icons).
I highly recommend it. Can't wait for the full release (not least because I haven't bothered to compile the extra utils).
Couldn't help posting my opinion as I feel quite strongly that Doom might have been an extraordinarily successful game, but the music was utter bilge. They really should have spent the time on something a bit more deserving.
The writer of this article seems to have lost sight of the fact that games should be first and foremost fun. Who cares if the characters have big heads as long as it's a good game? Why do games always have to be super-realistic? So what if their are stealth moments as long as they are a fun break from the norm?
I don't mean to be so harsh, but it sounds like another wannabe game designer who couldn't quite cut the mustard in the real world, probably from getting the priorities wrong in their designs.
Pi-sync (Ko/Pi, Ka/Pi, etc.) for your Zaurus to fix the PIM deficiencies. Best PIM software I've ever used. And it runs on multiple platforms, so synchronisation is no problem.
This is the way it works the other way around, so why not? Film companies have far too much creative control over game tie-ins and have completely over-the-top financial demands. It's good to see the reverse happening. This property started out as a game and the designers are absolutely right to set these demands and not cave in just to get a film company interested. Movies are not the be-all and end-all, and it looks like someone in the game industry has finally realised it.
I must second this recommendation. It's really good, and answered some of those annoying questions I've had for ages. You know, the ones where people generally answer "because it is".
Well I would compile one for my Zaurus if the author of Handy/SDL would release the source code. I don't understand the need to keep the source closed, and I haven't got time to convert the original Handy code myself. But I *really* want the Lynx on my Zaurus, it's much smaller than the real thing.
If anyone knows any different about the availability of the source code...
That patent can probably be killed with prior art. The Commodore 64 had "Mix-E-Load" during loading of the cassette version of Thalamus' Delta in 1987. This had music playing and would let you mess with the tracks, changing the bass line, drum beat, etc. and letting you mix your own music.
A year later, in 1988, the Mastertronic game Kane 2 had a Space Invaders game (called Invade-A-Load) that you played while the main game was loading. Again, this was on the cassette version.
These can be played by downloading the relevant.TAP files and loading them into an emulator such as x64.
Anyway, back on-topic, most of the classic games in existence would not be with us had game companies been patenting stuff like these mutants are suggesting.
"XCP aims to offer a reasonable level of protection against 'casual piracy' while working to provide the authorised customer with a quality digital music experience together with DRM features for controlled copying on their chosen platform. If data in any format is digitally written to a compact disc or DVD then it can be read from that disc in some way. XCP is designed to give a level of protection that will make it suitably difficult for the general consumer to copy and/or illegally distribute the content of the disc."
I saw a talk by Nolan Bushnell at a games event about 6 years ago. He was talking about exactly this idea. I think that back then, he wanted to setup an infrastructure and license the system to existing restaurants. At the time, it seemed far too ambitious because internet access at anything above dialup was so expensive (to business users as well as home users), and I remember thinking that it was too far-fetched. He's certainly got perseverance; I would have given up on it years ago. So its good to see that he's back and going it alone with a new restaurant chain. I say good luck to him!
The article implies that he did not go against their wishes at any time. He was never asked not to do the talk, only denied the use of the venue. Only after the talk was performed was he asked to resign.
Please tell me WHAT Amiga does better than Linux instead of "AmigaOS is to Linux what Linux is to Windows" because saying that you imply that Amiga is much better than Linux but we are too stupid to understand it, not saying about any actual advantages.
It's difficult to explain unless you've used it for a while. It's the responsiveness, the design, the file and device (and assign) structure, the library system, the screens, the customizability (is that a word?), the Ram Disk, and a lot more. There is just something about it that makes it really nice to use. It's a comfy OS. There is no bizarre file structure for system (or other) files like Linux, no stupid registry like Windows, none of bloat that comes with any graphical interfaces for either. On many levels, it's just much nicer to use. I don't know how else to put it!
$700 is a lot to pay, no doubt, but if I had the spare cash I would buy one because it would make my every day tasks much more stress free.
I've had TV over the phone line for a few years now. Homechoice offers TV on demand over ADSL, along with streaming broadcast channels. It's a brilliant system. Far in advance of anything else.
You were far too quick to load your save, sir. If the buggy goes in the water, the engine dies. You have to get it out of the water by blasting it with the gravity gun.
I'm in the UK. I got everything installed and running in about half an hour. I got the Steam account setup, but when it couldn't connect to the server, it told me it was busy but I could still play the game anyway. It connected and finished the process during the night after I'd already played the game for about 5 hours.
It's a brilliant game, and I think they've done really well with Steam considering the size of the load they have taken. I have no complaints.
I had a Psion 3a, 3c, skipped the 5 and got a Revo.
The Zaurus clamshell models are the natural progression on from the Psion.
On-board development is superb as you can program with what I consider to be a "proper" language, namely C++ (with gcc). I used to love programming in OPL, especially on a plane flight, but it was totally non-portable.
With the Zaurus, I can program real code that I can transfer over to any other machine later and recompile straight away.
My SL-C750 is one of the best things I have ever bought, no question.
We have to make baby steps to surround sound - let's get that centre channel speaker in there.
It begs the question about why you think the centre channel is important. The original reason for having a centre speaker is so that if you are in the cinema and are sitting off to the side, the voices still sound like they are coming from the centre of the screen. It's completely redundant in a home setup.
Multi-speaker setups are way overrated. I find good HRTF to be much more convenient and realistic. And I wish that films were mixed in 3D instead of for discreet speakers. I've lost count of the number of times a film suddenly has a loud sound in the rear speakers when for the past hour they have been completely silent. It completely destroys the immersion.
I never played it when it came out in the arcade. It was far too expensive, especially when you died after about 30 seconds. The way to get your money's worth is to practice it. You can't practice because it's too expensive.
But there was a retro area at E3 this year, and there it was. I was stuck there for about half an hour playing it. It was great. I really enjoyed it. I'm sure it would be easy to get bored once you've been through it, but I didn't get anywhere near through it.
Space Ace was there as well, but it wasn't as good. Dragon's Lair randomly chooses a section when you start it, giving at least some variation, but Space Ace is pretty much linear right the way through.
Excellent character design on the both of them though.
Slashdot Mirror
I use it daily on my laptop here on FreeBSD 5.4. It really is superb. I previously used xfce4, but have switched over to this now. Startup time is about 3 seconds, speed is excellent with loads of graphic effects. Themes available are really nice. The only criticism I have is the use of binary files for some config stuff (menus and icons).
I highly recommend it. Can't wait for the full release (not least because I haven't bothered to compile the extra utils).
Looking at the video, it looks like something similar to what you suggest. Some kind of smoke or something. It doesn't look as good as it sounds.
I also wonder how much noise it makes.
Couldn't help posting my opinion as I feel quite strongly that Doom might have been an extraordinarily successful game, but the music was utter bilge. They really should have spent the time on something a bit more deserving.
The writer of this article seems to have lost sight of the fact that games should be first and foremost fun. Who cares if the characters have big heads as long as it's a good game? Why do games always have to be super-realistic? So what if their are stealth moments as long as they are a fun break from the norm?
I don't mean to be so harsh, but it sounds like another wannabe game designer who couldn't quite cut the mustard in the real world, probably from getting the priorities wrong in their designs.
Pi-sync (Ko/Pi, Ka/Pi, etc.) for your Zaurus to fix the PIM deficiencies. Best PIM software I've ever used. And it runs on multiple platforms, so synchronisation is no problem.
1%? I can't understand how than can be the case. What about if statements, for/while loops, arrays? What kind of programming are you doing?
This is the way it works the other way around, so why not? Film companies have far too much creative control over game tie-ins and have completely over-the-top financial demands. It's good to see the reverse happening. This property started out as a game and the designers are absolutely right to set these demands and not cave in just to get a film company interested. Movies are not the be-all and end-all, and it looks like someone in the game industry has finally realised it.
I must second this recommendation. It's really good, and answered some of those annoying questions I've had for ages. You know, the ones where people generally answer "because it is".
Well I would compile one for my Zaurus if the author of Handy/SDL would release the source code. I don't understand the need to keep the source closed, and I haven't got time to convert the original Handy code myself. But I *really* want the Lynx on my Zaurus, it's much smaller than the real thing. If anyone knows any different about the availability of the source code...
That patent can probably be killed with prior art. The Commodore 64 had "Mix-E-Load" during loading of the cassette version of Thalamus' Delta in 1987. This had music playing and would let you mess with the tracks, changing the bass line, drum beat, etc. and letting you mix your own music.
A year later, in 1988, the Mastertronic game Kane 2 had a Space Invaders game (called Invade-A-Load) that you played while the main game was loading. Again, this was on the cassette version.
These can be played by downloading the relevant .TAP files and loading them into an emulator such as x64.
Anyway, back on-topic, most of the classic games in existence would not be with us had game companies been patenting stuff like these mutants are suggesting.
"XCP aims to offer a reasonable level of protection against 'casual piracy' while working to provide the authorised customer with a quality digital music experience together with DRM features for controlled copying on their chosen platform. If data in any format is digitally written to a compact disc or DVD then it can be read from that disc in some way. XCP is designed to give a level of protection that will make it suitably difficult for the general consumer to copy and/or illegally distribute the content of the disc."
http://www.xcp-aurora.com/xcp2.aspx
I saw a talk by Nolan Bushnell at a games event about 6 years ago. He was talking about exactly this idea. I think that back then, he wanted to setup an infrastructure and license the system to existing restaurants. At the time, it seemed far too ambitious because internet access at anything above dialup was so expensive (to business users as well as home users), and I remember thinking that it was too far-fetched. He's certainly got perseverance; I would have given up on it years ago. So its good to see that he's back and going it alone with a new restaurant chain. I say good luck to him!
The article implies that he did not go against their wishes at any time. He was never asked not to do the talk, only denied the use of the venue. Only after the talk was performed was he asked to resign.
Please tell me WHAT Amiga does better than Linux instead of "AmigaOS is to Linux what Linux is to Windows" because saying that you imply that Amiga is much better than Linux but we are too stupid to understand it, not saying about any actual advantages.
It's difficult to explain unless you've used it for a while. It's the responsiveness, the design, the file and device (and assign) structure, the library system, the screens, the customizability (is that a word?), the Ram Disk, and a lot more. There is just something about it that makes it really nice to use. It's a comfy OS. There is no bizarre file structure for system (or other) files like Linux, no stupid registry like Windows, none of bloat that comes with any graphical interfaces for either. On many levels, it's just much nicer to use. I don't know how else to put it!
$700 is a lot to pay, no doubt, but if I had the spare cash I would buy one because it would make my every day tasks much more stress free.
The passenger version goes 8000, the freight version goes 5400.
There goes my Karma. First time I don't use the Preview button, and look what happens. I'm tired, obviously.
Homechoice.
I've had TV over the phone line for a few years now. Homechoice offers TV on demand over ADSL, along with streaming broadcast channels. It's a brilliant system. Far in advance of anything else.
dune buggy was under water, and couldn't be moved
You were far too quick to load your save, sir. If the buggy goes in the water, the engine dies. You have to get it out of the water by blasting it with the gravity gun.
I'm in the UK. I got everything installed and running in about half an hour. I got the Steam account setup, but when it couldn't connect to the server, it told me it was busy but I could still play the game anyway. It connected and finished the process during the night after I'd already played the game for about 5 hours. It's a brilliant game, and I think they've done really well with Steam considering the size of the load they have taken. I have no complaints.
I had a Psion 3a, 3c, skipped the 5 and got a Revo.
The Zaurus clamshell models are the natural progression on from the Psion.
On-board development is superb as you can program with what I consider to be a "proper" language, namely C++ (with gcc). I used to love programming in OPL, especially on a plane flight, but it was totally non-portable.
With the Zaurus, I can program real code that I can transfer over to any other machine later and recompile straight away.
My SL-C750 is one of the best things I have ever bought, no question.
We have to make baby steps to surround sound - let's get that centre channel speaker in there.
It begs the question about why you think the centre channel is important. The original reason for having a centre speaker is so that if you are in the cinema and are sitting off to the side, the voices still sound like they are coming from the centre of the screen. It's completely redundant in a home setup.
Multi-speaker setups are way overrated. I find good HRTF to be much more convenient and realistic. And I wish that films were mixed in 3D instead of for discreet speakers. I've lost count of the number of times a film suddenly has a loud sound in the rear speakers when for the past hour they have been completely silent. It completely destroys the immersion.
The Movies was on show at E3 and will be out pretty soon as far as I'm aware. It's ridiculously detailed (just like Fable). Looks really good.
I never played it when it came out in the arcade. It was far too expensive, especially when you died after about 30 seconds. The way to get your money's worth is to practice it. You can't practice because it's too expensive. But there was a retro area at E3 this year, and there it was. I was stuck there for about half an hour playing it. It was great. I really enjoyed it. I'm sure it would be easy to get bored once you've been through it, but I didn't get anywhere near through it. Space Ace was there as well, but it wasn't as good. Dragon's Lair randomly chooses a section when you start it, giving at least some variation, but Space Ace is pretty much linear right the way through. Excellent character design on the both of them though.
And yet, if they never, ever, use a keyboard, how come he can type like lightning?
Didn't Sam Fox appear on page 3 when she was 16?