Better solution. No consoles. Not quite sure if this is what you're leading up to, but emulation is far superior to a real console if you take the time to set it up right. As an added bonus, the older systems can be emulated with virtually no effort. (SNES, NES). Playstation takes a bit more effort and N64 takes a LOT more effort.
Want to make console gaming better and unified under one platform with no clutter? Emulate. Note: this post is not an encouragement to pirate games. I buy mine. I legally own every ROM I have. Maybe Nintendo should make a ROM downloading service like iTunes so that piracy isn't as vehemently associated with the word "emulator" as it is today.
What? The cost of incorporating it is one day out of one programmer's work schedule. You simply take an existing plugin that decodes ogg, and add it to the ipod. And as for maintaining it, I doubt there's going to be a major change to the file format. There's nothing to maintain.
In fact, the IPod should just allow its owners to write their own plugins for the ipod. That way apple doesnt have to even spend time incorporating it and "maintaining" it at all. If apple allowed us to write our own plugins, not only could I use MP3 and OGG, but I could use SPC as well. (SPC is a file format for Super Nintendo game music.)
How petty. I wonder how you feel about people running 64 bit machines for their own personal ego boost. Compared to that my setup is obsolete.
If you must know, that setup is essentially a combination of computer parts I've gathered over the last 10 years. Some of it is extremely old. Most notably the case, the 20gb hard drive, and the 20" TV. I'd estimate I've spent no more than $3000 dollars on my hardware in the last decade (which is a generous figure) which averages out to $300 a year. How many of us on Slashdot can honestly say we only spend at max $300 on computer equipment a year?
Oh wait, I forgot. You're probably still operating on a 386 because anything newer is just an indulgence to you. Forgive me.
more missile propellent. God forbid we should research a cure for AIDS or Cancer when we can research new ways to create missile propellent! Because missile propellent is so much more important than real scientific research these days in America. Gotta arm ourselves because everyone except us is a terrorist!
You may disagree with my cynicism but you know I'm right...
If the core developers stop working on it, innovation, for all intents and purposes, stops. Not that there's been anything all that innovative in xfree86 over the last few years anyway. I think this is a good thing. Gives xouvert (french, stands for x open) and freedesktop.org a chance to really shine. (Hint hint, be more like osx.)
Is this a trick question? I'll answer this question with another question: Why does it take two legs to walk?
A better answer to your question would be because we have two hands. What could you possibly want to do with the other one while you play a vid... wait don't answer that.
An iPod with a dead battery can still be plugged in to the wall. It might be possible to buy (or create) an external battery pack in which the electricity is converted from DC to AC and you could "plug it into" the battery pack. I'm not sure of this is possible, but if someone has setup something like this, perhaps using massive D sized batteries, you would never have to worry about the iPod's crappy battery ever again.
Of course this would ridiculously bloat the size of your iPod. The battery pack alone could be twice the size of the unit. In my case, if I ever bought an iPod I'd probably be using it at work mostly, and there's a wall to plug it into =p
Emulation is not just popular because people want free games. The biggest reason I love emulation is so I don't have to go out and buy a new console device every time I want to play a game. For example, all the playstation (1) games I play I rightfully own. But I don't play them on a playstation. I play them on ePSXe. IMHO that's a superior gaming experience compared to a limited console.
Many people, probably more than less, disagree with that. Citing reasons such as emulators being hard to setup and computers being more expensive than consoles. But in my situation, that being the fact that I already own a nice computer, it's cheaper to emulate than it is to buy an entirely new platform. And for the extra effort I expend in setting up an emulator, I gain the ability to save whenever I wish and make infinite savegames (among other things).
There are good games being produced but they cost actual money or take a bigger effort to steal
As it should be. As a man with an emulation fettish, I'm not asking for free games. I'm asking for the freedom to choose my own gaming platform.
How did this conversation digress into emulation again?;)
To what topic specifically are you referring to? Future gaming prospects? BioWare in general? Or the demise of the small independent game developer?
I think that the last of three is the one that we should be paying the most attention to. Small game companies are being washed away by megacorps like Square-Enix (whom I call Squenix) who have hundreds of developers working on every game they produce.
When this first started happening I assumed that the quality of gaming in general would improve, but my experience over the last few years tells otherwise. Whenever a large company is involved in producing anything, politics and marketing get in the way of the real product.
What? I'm merely pointing out that Linux allows people to use the FAT32 filesystem despite the claim that they're "not" using it. There isn't much of a difference between using something and making it usable. It's simply a matter of defaults. Now I don't agree with MS's decision to start licensing the FAT32 filesystem either, but saying "we're not using it" is simply inaccurate. For Linux to not use it, in my eyes, would require removing the ability to use it alltogether.
Isn't it more logical to download the program you want to install off the website to your desktop and then double click the install file? I'm not saying people can't operate under apt, portage, or yum, I'm just saying the system isn't very intuitive. People don't think of installing software as something you use a giant repository for, or especially type in obscure commands for.
Except for disk partitioning, and hardware setup, and software upgrades...
What planet do you live on? Windows disk partitioning is automatic, built into the installation. Most newer versions of Windows detect ALL your hardware. WinXP even detected my Cisco Wireless card. Anything that isn't detected can be fixed by popping in the handy software CD that came with the hardware you bought. And as for software upgrades, that's not part of the installation. But they're still easier than in Linux. Windows Update works the same way as apt except you have to use it less and you can configure it to update itself without your coaxing. And as far as your INDIVIDUAL software, upgrading Mozilla or Winamp is as simple as going mozilla.org or winamp.com and downloading the latest version. All easy.
KDE has an interface to the exact same functionality in it's control center. In addition, gtkxrandr works under KDE too.
Functionality, yes. The option to change the screen resolution, no.
Make moronic assumptions much? When you install Windows, it does everything for you. When you install Debian or especially Gentoo (the only two distros with good package management) you have to do everything for it.
Like this? [screen resolution]
That's a GNOME screenshot, bud. My complaint was the lack of that ability in KDE.
Like this? [nautilus]
This is the second time I've had to mention this. Keyword columned as in horizontal scrolling and not vertical scrolling.
When was the last time you used Windows? These days dependency hell in Linux is 10 times bigger of a problem than DLL hell is in Windows. The only time I ever encountered a missing DLL on my Windows box within the last few years was when I wanted to run a program which needed the.net runtimes. Do a Windows Update for the.net runtimes, problem solved.
Are you trolling? Seriously dude, View --> View As List, you're done. Two clicks.
Keyword columned. Not a giant vertical scrolling list, a giant horizontal scrolling list.
Unless Microsoft has radically changed the installation procedure since I last used windows (win98), their "package management" is pathetic. Every program has to write their own nonstandard installation wizard program that puts files all over your filesystem, and then to uninstall that program you have to hope that the wizard cleans up all it's files
Most computer users would rather double click an install file than sift through the giant apt repository.
Apt-get is better than the RPM system or no system at all but it's a long way from downloading an install file and having it do its job without having to sift through a giant repository. And the reason I can't install Debian is, as my post indicated, because of my internet connection. It simply won't attach to the apt sources during the installation. The only Linux distro I've gotten to work on my system (all by myself) that doesn't suck is Knoppix and an HDD install of that is, for some reason, ridiculously slow.
Same kind of thing
on
USB Menorah
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Linux does have bigger problems that Windows. Difficult installers and obscure, overcomplicated package management systems are just the tip of the iceburg. Then we get into all the bugs or missing features that KDE/GNOME have. Like no way to change the screen resolution without editing xf86config in KDE and no way to get a columned list view of files in Nautilus in GNOME.
Yes, these are bigger problems that Windows doesn't have. In Windows, installation is easy, package management is (now) painless, and there are no major missing features or bugs that can't be solved with either some GUI workaround (as opposed to Linux's often "edit some obscure config file") or a quaint third party program.
Despite these problems though if you can muddle through them Linux is still better than Windows. It's filesystems are vastly better written, the kernel is ten times more stable, and best of all it's the most configurable operating system in existence. You can make Linux look any way you want.
I'm nowhere close to being a guru on Linux. I still can't even make it through a Debian installation (partly because my internet connection sucks). I despise portage and apt-get. RPMs, IMO, would be far better if they didn't suck with their can't solve their own dependencies problem. And worst of all, I have 10 years of experience with Windows. But despite all of this against Linux, I still prefer it over Windows.
So, as you can see my from my post, it's easy to both critisize and love linux at the same time, and that is exactly what I believe Microsoft is doing.
This just struck me as hillarious. Imagine a newbie to Slashdot reading that line and being like WTF?! because he'd never struggled through any previous articles where NYT registration fubar'd things.
After having read all of the comments up to this point I'd have to say that the "Virtually Indestructible Keyboard" looks like the best option so far. Keyboards have to have feedback; either in a physical push, or a click sound. Since the whole point of this discussion is on ways to eliminate the click sound, the physical push is paramount. You said that this specific virtually silent keyboard solves the problems with others of its type being too mushy. Can you be more specific on how it has physical feedback where others fail?
Slashdot Mirror
Better solution. No consoles. Not quite sure if this is what you're leading up to, but emulation is far superior to a real console if you take the time to set it up right. As an added bonus, the older systems can be emulated with virtually no effort. (SNES, NES). Playstation takes a bit more effort and N64 takes a LOT more effort.
Want to make console gaming better and unified under one platform with no clutter? Emulate. Note: this post is not an encouragement to pirate games. I buy mine. I legally own every ROM I have. Maybe Nintendo should make a ROM downloading service like iTunes so that piracy isn't as vehemently associated with the word "emulator" as it is today.
What? The cost of incorporating it is one day out of one programmer's work schedule. You simply take an existing plugin that decodes ogg, and add it to the ipod. And as for maintaining it, I doubt there's going to be a major change to the file format. There's nothing to maintain.
In fact, the IPod should just allow its owners to write their own plugins for the ipod. That way apple doesnt have to even spend time incorporating it and "maintaining" it at all. If apple allowed us to write our own plugins, not only could I use MP3 and OGG, but I could use SPC as well. (SPC is a file format for Super Nintendo game music.)
How petty. I wonder how you feel about people running 64 bit machines for their own personal ego boost. Compared to that my setup is obsolete.
If you must know, that setup is essentially a combination of computer parts I've gathered over the last 10 years. Some of it is extremely old. Most notably the case, the 20gb hard drive, and the 20" TV. I'd estimate I've spent no more than $3000 dollars on my hardware in the last decade (which is a generous figure) which averages out to $300 a year. How many of us on Slashdot can honestly say we only spend at max $300 on computer equipment a year?
Oh wait, I forgot. You're probably still operating on a 386 because anything newer is just an indulgence to you. Forgive me.
more missile propellent. God forbid we should research a cure for AIDS or Cancer when we can research new ways to create missile propellent! Because missile propellent is so much more important than real scientific research these days in America. Gotta arm ourselves because everyone except us is a terrorist!
You may disagree with my cynicism but you know I'm right...
If the core developers stop working on it, innovation, for all intents and purposes, stops. Not that there's been anything all that innovative in xfree86 over the last few years anyway. I think this is a good thing. Gives xouvert (french, stands for x open) and freedesktop.org a chance to really shine. (Hint hint, be more like osx.)
A better answer to your question would be because we have two hands. What could you possibly want to do with the other one while you play a vid... wait don't answer that.
An iPod with a dead battery can still be plugged in to the wall. It might be possible to buy (or create) an external battery pack in which the electricity is converted from DC to AC and you could "plug it into" the battery pack. I'm not sure of this is possible, but if someone has setup something like this, perhaps using massive D sized batteries, you would never have to worry about the iPod's crappy battery ever again.
Of course this would ridiculously bloat the size of your iPod. The battery pack alone could be twice the size of the unit. In my case, if I ever bought an iPod I'd probably be using it at work mostly, and there's a wall to plug it into =p
Many people, probably more than less, disagree with that. Citing reasons such as emulators being hard to setup and computers being more expensive than consoles. But in my situation, that being the fact that I already own a nice computer, it's cheaper to emulate than it is to buy an entirely new platform. And for the extra effort I expend in setting up an emulator, I gain the ability to save whenever I wish and make infinite savegames (among other things).
As it should be. As a man with an emulation fettish, I'm not asking for free games. I'm asking for the freedom to choose my own gaming platform.
How did this conversation digress into emulation again?
Can't say I disagree with your loathing of EA. Didn't they do something like that with ORIGIN?
To what topic specifically are you referring to? Future gaming prospects? BioWare in general? Or the demise of the small independent game developer?
I think that the last of three is the one that we should be paying the most attention to. Small game companies are being washed away by megacorps like Square-Enix (whom I call Squenix) who have hundreds of developers working on every game they produce.
When this first started happening I assumed that the quality of gaming in general would improve, but my experience over the last few years tells otherwise. Whenever a large company is involved in producing anything, politics and marketing get in the way of the real product.
He might be a subscriber posting anonymously. That would have given him plenty more time to have typed it up.
What? I'm merely pointing out that Linux allows people to use the FAT32 filesystem despite the claim that they're "not" using it. There isn't much of a difference between using something and making it usable. It's simply a matter of defaults. Now I don't agree with MS's decision to start licensing the FAT32 filesystem either, but saying "we're not using it" is simply inaccurate. For Linux to not use it, in my eyes, would require removing the ability to use it alltogether.
Isn't it more logical to download the program you want to install off the website to your desktop and then double click the install file? I'm not saying people can't operate under apt, portage, or yum, I'm just saying the system isn't very intuitive. People don't think of installing software as something you use a giant repository for, or especially type in obscure commands for.
Apt-get is better than the RPM system or no system at all but it's a long way from downloading an install file and having it do its job without having to sift through a giant repository. And the reason I can't install Debian is, as my post indicated, because of my internet connection. It simply won't attach to the apt sources during the installation. The only Linux distro I've gotten to work on my system (all by myself) that doesn't suck is Knoppix and an HDD install of that is, for some reason, ridiculously slow.
This story goes well with this story.
(UserLinux == user_riendly) ? (KDE || GNOME) : all_others;
Linux does have bigger problems that Windows. Difficult installers and obscure, overcomplicated package management systems are just the tip of the iceburg. Then we get into all the bugs or missing features that KDE/GNOME have. Like no way to change the screen resolution without editing xf86config in KDE and no way to get a columned list view of files in Nautilus in GNOME.
Yes, these are bigger problems that Windows doesn't have. In Windows, installation is easy, package management is (now) painless, and there are no major missing features or bugs that can't be solved with either some GUI workaround (as opposed to Linux's often "edit some obscure config file") or a quaint third party program.
Despite these problems though if you can muddle through them Linux is still better than Windows. It's filesystems are vastly better written, the kernel is ten times more stable, and best of all it's the most configurable operating system in existence. You can make Linux look any way you want.
I'm nowhere close to being a guru on Linux. I still can't even make it through a Debian installation (partly because my internet connection sucks). I despise portage and apt-get. RPMs, IMO, would be far better if they didn't suck with their can't solve their own dependencies problem. And worst of all, I have 10 years of experience with Windows. But despite all of this against Linux, I still prefer it over Windows.
So, as you can see my from my post, it's easy to both critisize and love linux at the same time, and that is exactly what I believe Microsoft is doing.
Comment ID 7777777 seven sevens.
After having read all of the comments up to this point I'd have to say that the "Virtually Indestructible Keyboard" looks like the best option so far. Keyboards have to have feedback; either in a physical push, or a click sound. Since the whole point of this discussion is on ways to eliminate the click sound, the physical push is paramount. You said that this specific virtually silent keyboard solves the problems with others of its type being too mushy. Can you be more specific on how it has physical feedback where others fail?