I grew up as a kid in the "jungles" of southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border. We lived "off the grid" with a Mayan tribe there. My wife, kids and I now live in North Pole, Alaska after 3 years of living in an Aleut village way out by Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Though it may sound like I'm some sort of freak who likes to live in weird, rustic places, each move had a very logical progression leading to it and my chosen career is as a Systems Administrator/Programmer and I love high-tech things.
Like I said I now live in North Pole, AK, and excluding the occasional -70 F days it's no different than living in any "lower 48" town. We have a 6-bedroom house with a 2-car, heated garage and "all the comforts of home". However, I've always said that (after the kids were grown and gone) I'd love to get back to a simpler life. I know from experience that it isn't and easier life, but when I run down the long list of utility bills, car payments, credit card bills, etc. each month I really start to wonder what it would be like to sell my home for a quarter mil or so, buy an RV or a boat, settle down, write that all-american novel I've started about 6 times and chill.
I actually miss the times we had in Akutan. No TV. No radio. No phones. My wife and I spent evenings reading novels out loud to each other. Now we have cable TV and BroadBand Internet. I page or IM my kids to come to supper. My wife works nights, so I rarely see her. Yeah, I make a "good living". But am I "living good"?
Which is a very long way of bringing me to the actual reason I responded to your post: "Why don't you write a book?"
You are obviously articulate and compelling (I just ordered "Your Engineered House" from Amazon). I like your style of writing and would throughly enjoy reading, if nothing else, of your experiences. Any thoughts along these lines?
I apologize for have done NO homework on you first (I just stumbled accross your post by accident:-) so if you've already published or have a blog or something forgive me...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can only listen to iTunes content on an iPod.
OK, Let's see if I can clear this up for you.
iTunes can handle several different audio codecs. Most of my files are MP3s, but some are AIFFs and some are AAC. That being said, I can sync and listen to ALL my MP3s and AIFF files on ANY player that can understand them. You don't need an iPod to listen to MP3s from iTunes - almost any MP3 player will do.
iTunes Music Store on the other hand only provides AAC encoded content. You must have a device capable of playing AAC files to play this content - or, you can make a playlist, hit "burn" (you don't even need a CD - there is software that can make a "virtual" CD") and you now have all your purchased content in 128 Bit MP3 format. Yes, one extra step, but easy to do and it's then DRM-Free. I do this so that I can play my purchased music on my MP3-enabled CD player in the car or in my office at work.
So the long and short of it is, iTunes content isn't only AAC DRM'd Files.
Hope that clears it up. Don't listen to the FUD put out by those who seem to feel threatened by it. iTunes is an excellent player/organizer in it's own right and doesn't need an iPod to work.
I'd do this in a split-second! But I have a problem. I have an Active Directory domain that is spread accross 9 or 10 remote locations and 15-20 servers. The M$ servers provide "local" home directories (we don't roam our profiles) for the primary work locations as well as print services. They also provide "single-sign-on" (and slower access to home directories over the WAN) for everyone, anywhere in our organization.
I REALLY want to use Samba/LDAP for single-sign-on and file/print services. But AFAIK this requires modifiation to every windblows client we have, to change how kerberos behaves, among other things. And what PAM modules/filesystem do I need to run to be able to have the additional ACLs required for "proper" access control beyond OWNER-GROUP-WORLD? We have some resources that have pretty complex access restrictions on them - It can't be duplicated with the O-G-W permission scheme.
I'm the first to admit that I'm not a Linux expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but I know enough to have been successfully using Linux as my personal workstation for the last 6 moths exclusively and have migrated all of our "other" critical systems to Linux (Email, DNS, WWW, FTP, Backups, DHCP, NIDS, etc.) so I'm not that ignorant when it comes to Linux either.
What I would love to see is a SAMBA/LDAP "drop-in" server distribution which would be [pre]configured to allow transparent access to our WinNT/2K/XP clients who join its "domain". The LDAP service should be configured to support all/most of the common user and group settings required by a Windows client logging in: i.e. remote home share location, home drive letter, remote profile location (even though we don't use that - many do) and the ability to synchronize account info to "linux BDCs" at the remote locations - without having to manage/etc/password files for 15,000 users on 20 different machines.
Last summer I actually created all of our accounts on a Linux LDAP server with a test Samba server authenticating off it. It kinda worked for NT clients logging in but for 2K/XP forget it - BTW I did do the registry hack to them to allow authentication. Now I'll admit that I undoubtedly had many things messed up in the configuration as it was my first attempt, but it shouldn't be that hard to do as most default AD configs and behaviors could be set up as the default.
Am I missing something here? Is there a resource out there that I haven't found that will allow me to replicate the functionality of my AD domain with Linux? If so, please let me know. I want to roll out a LTSP this summer and I can't do it without having a way for single-sign-on and for users to be able to access their "windows" home directories. Allowing our Mac/OS X user to participate would be the cat's meow!
Even my boss has had it with the constant upgrade/license hassle with Microsoft and is encouraging me to look at Smaba as a solution. Of course his recommendation, in all his wisdom, is "Can't we just use Samba?" as if I could just say "Yes" and it would be as easy as that.
Give me an ISO with an "ActiveDirectoryKiller" Samba/LDAP Server Install and I'll port all my users to it in a heartbeat. Please!
OK, let's take a look at this situation. If the sensitive/secret information is protected the way it should be (ie. seperate computers on networks in separate rooms, etc.) an I [Mr. Bad Airman] want to get this kewl info fired off to my handlers in Al Queda, what are my options? Even if I could send information over the internet from one of these computers, which I shouldn't be able to, how am I going to be able to run stego software if I can't load any programs on these systems (which I sure as hell shouldn't be able to).
I suppose I could have the software on a USB device that could encrypt the data for me, but since I can't get external email on that system I'd have to carry it out of there with me (maybe on the USB device). If I can do that, I can cary it anywhere so why would I risk sending this info from military computers when I can head to the internet cafe, the library in town or Kinko's?
A lot of military folk live on base and may get internet service provided by the military so they could check messages entering and leaving that way, but not on the base my wife works at. They get their connections 3rd-party and it never passes through military routers first.
From what I've [not] seen of my wife's secure work environment, I'd bet the AirForce would get a lot further with the money in providing additional security training to their "com-nazi's" and improve the physical security of their secret information.
They may already be trying to do some sort of scanning of outgoing attachments, because their Exchange servers seem to fold, spindle, and mutilate about two-thirds of the legitimate attachments my wife tries to send home. Then again, I've never seen a network that was "down" as often as theirs is so it may just be inexperience at the controls. Seriously, you can't take an airman out of bootcamp, send him to a few classes and expect them to be able to manage a complex network running Windows.
Alright! Let's at least use a better analogy here!
Everyone keeps making the analogy of breaking into my private home. This MAY be an acceptable analogy if people are scanning IP #'s and try to break into my non-publicly accessable home computer. But if I am running a web site with a MySQL backend that is listed by google, that I want people to see, and someone pokes around my "feedback" form for my blog and finds that they can make a purple barney pop up, they'd better tell me about it. And I will be appreciative too, because "shame on me!".
It's even worse if I am selling stuff and have people's names, addresses and (God forbid) credit card numbers on my system (This is why I won't do CC auths on the sites I host - I'm not confident enough yet in my own abilities to risk it. Well, that and I play Diablo L.O.D. on the same box as my webserver:-)
People need to realize that connecting to the internet carries with it a resposibility. A business needs to realize that they carry an even bigger resposibility because of the exponential additional damage that can be done to innocent people's lives because of their cavalier (or ignorant) attitude.
Public websites, and computers that host public information, which are accessible to every jerk on the internet should be compared to a bank or a store, not a private home. If I walk into a bank and see a stack of (my?) money sitting on the counter and no one is watching it, I have a responsibility to let someone know and they have a duty to fix the problem and sack the idiot responsible.
OTOH, If I see the money and don't point it out; instead opting to walk up to the manager and say "You are about to lose $$$, give me big bucks and I'll tell you how to avoid it." That's extortion. I'd expect to be thrown in the clink. But, if I can prove that I've acted in good faith and pointed out the security problem to the company and I can also prove that they have not acted on it in a (reasonable?) amount of time - I should be able to report it to a "responsible agency" and be able to file a (monitary/punitive?) claim on the negligent company comensurate with the potential damage as determined by a panel of unbiased experts (if you can find them).
Personally, I think this guy's a jerk who is trying for the quick buck. But I'm willing to admit that I don't know the whole story, since I couldn't be bothered to RTFA. It just bugs the hell out of me that some people are so insecure with their own capabilities that they would rather risk compromise than admit they were wrong and fix the problem.
>
Horse racing is as about as humane as cockfighting. Full Stop.
My God man! Take a deep breath.
There... Feel Better?
I suppose my two points: 1) I have little sympathy for "victims" of gambling adiction and 2) I hope training horses can be made safer for them were a bit hidden and obscure.
All I know is that I don't personally gamble on horse races (or greyhound races for that matter) but, as someone who used to enjoy racing my "pet" horse as a child, I do enjoy watching such magnificent creatures perform. I am aware that it is a cut-throat business, but I'll bet those thouroughbreds are the most pampered animals (except Toy Poodles) out there. I'm sure there are countless exceptions to this, and I abhore the thought of that. It's a good thing I didn't mention that where I live, we attend the Iditarod Sled Dog Race every year, you would have come completely unglued!
BTW, If you have that strong of feelings about it, then don't post AC! Stand up for what you believe publicly and engage in civil discourse.
Now not only do people destroy their family life savings with horse racing.
Now GPS help the horse race business go even higher tech. As if fantasy football and internet slot machine wasn't enough.
I hope this was meant to be funny. Because it sure smacks of the modern American practice of never taking responsibility for one's own actions. Just because a few people can't or won't control their own impulses, I am supposed to be "protected from myself" with draconian regulations. And to top it all off those who earn a living raising and training horses are supposed to avoid trying to get the best performance out of their horses?!
I have never put a dime down on a horse race in my life, but having raised horses as a child and "raced" them against my firends horses, I enjoy watching these beautiful, majestic creatures, run. And to see one in top physical form, trained with the best techniques available, is for me, a wonderful thing.
Who knows, maybe with better, more accurate data, the horses will be able to be trained more safely and efficently...
I have a rather large house (2 story, 6 bedroom, 4 bathrooms) and it is neither practical, nor possible to yell (12" walls are pretty good sound proofing and my wife works nights and is asleep during the day). We have a wireless network and each family member has their own computer with IM installed, but IM can't wake them up or get them from the other room and sometimes they actually (gasp) have their computers off. Instead we have a 6-set wireless phone system and each person has an id that can be paged. This works well for calling people for dinner or waking them up for school.
It does seem strange though especially to visitors. My mother-in-law spent Christmas with us for the first time and seemd to have a bit of difficulty accepting the "impersonalness" of paging your kids. I felt funny about it too until I realized that I actaully communicate with them MORE than if I had to get my lazy ass up, walk all the way across the house, down the stairs and to their bedrooms to ask them a quick question. Besides, I'm generally calling them to come to me (for dinner or to talk face-to-face) so by paging them it actually see them sooner.
I think it is the sign of the times. When new technologies come out there are the early adopters who try to use it in every way imaginable - they "work out the bugs". If the use is truly usefull it will survive. If not it will decline, eventually settling into an equilibrium between "coolness" and effectiveness. for my personal situation IM is NOT effective so it was replaced with slightly older (paging) technology.
We recently got the last of my extended family off windows (and on to OS X) which gave us all the ability to use iChatAV. At first it was cool and new, but then it became a pain. Just because my "buddy list" claimed my sister was on didn't mean she was - it usually was one of her kids or she was outside and she'd see a stack of connections when she'd get back in. Thinking it was important she'd try to IM me only to find me not at my computer so she'd call me long distance only to find out I didn't really have much to say except "Hi".
Half the time I had my iChat activated I was actually "in-and-out" of the room and when I got a call I had to stay by the computer to talk and I was unproductive. So I started setting my iChat to offline or busy and eventually just turned it off when I didn't want to be interrupted. Pretty soon everyone started doing that. I have iChat on right now and NO ONE ELSE IS THERE - not even my kids - and I know they are online because my cablemodem's blinkenlights are going nuts and I'm just typing this.
I think every generation will use new technology in such a way that will dismay the older generation. Heck, I recall reading that blackboards were hailed as the worst thing possible for schools (because students would be looking at it instead of the teacher) when they first came out. Technology changes much and society will change with it. I have to admit that with my wife working nights the kids and I, more often than not, have dinner together around the "magic-expando" coffe table in front of the TV than around our dining room table. My mother would have a fit! All our meals were around a formal table when I was a kid.
Change is the only constant in the universe. And when things change too far in one direction the pendulum always swings back. I NEVER write snail mail any more - but I communicate with my parents (they live in southern Mexico, I live in Alaska) way more now via email than I ever did by snail mail. At first, my mother missed the "hand-written" letters, but now much prefers the quick reliability of email.
There may come a day when students sit at home in front of a "hollow-teacher" instead of in a classroom and people will lament the loss of social interaction. But I know one thing: If physical contact is truly important to human developement we will get it one way or another. If not, our society will evolve into one where socialization will occure "virtuall
As MANY other posters have pointed out, the source KISS posts is only for Busybox and UClinux, NOT the mplayer code.
That being said, my own suspicions are that either
It was Sigma who nicked the code and KISS wasn't aware until recently and is "checking it out" before responding to MPlayer
One of their programmers took a shortcut and swiped the MPlayer code (for whatever reason) and they are looking into that before responding
The fact that they publicly state that they use GPL'd code right on their site and release SOME of the source, tells me that they have no problem with GPL. Of course, I could be wrong, and in that case, shame on them in the worst way.
I think it is important for the public to show solidarity in defending GPL'd software - but we have to keep a level head too. Something is not adding up here. I predict KISS will - after a short delay - anounce that they were unaware that GPL'd code was used, apologize, and release the source.
If they did this I think the added publicity could acctually be GOOD for business. I, for one, wasn't even aware of their product until I read about it here. Now, I will either never buy it (if it turns out to be they are screwing the OSS community) or I will most definitely buy one (If they show that they really are a stand-up company.)
I walked into SAMs Warehouse the other day and saw they were selling a $300 Linux PC right there among the Windows XP boxes. I about had a heart attack! The price-point alone might be enough to get some people to take it home and try it before loading a pirated copy of Win98 or XP on it:-)
I didn't have time to see what distro it had loaded or what productivity apps it had pre-installed, but if I recall it was running on a 1.4 GHz processor with 256 MB RAM - so it should be a decent performer for the "low-end" user. I can hardly build a box for that up here in Alaska. I might just have to pick one up for myself:-)
Hmmm. I hate to feed the Trolls (if this is one), but I do find that this really IS a pervasive sentiment out there.
I know that many business operate with that sort of attitude. I have friends that say "My department has a budget for licensing and related costs - if I don't spend it I will loose it. Besides, if I have any problems, I can just call tech support and they can bail me out. Seems like a pretty good investment to me."
This may all be true but I can only speak from my personal experience. We have a large mixed-platform network (~10,000 nodes running Windows98-XP, MacOS 7.6-Panther, RedHat 6.2-9.0) that is distributed accross about 35 locations. Being a non-profit organization we are constantly hit with ever-tighting budgets and a tiny IT staff.
Over the past several years I have run into many situations where licensing has "cost" way more that it should. Rather than go into an overly-broad generalization, let me give an example that occured last week: I was tasked with upgrading our backup system which had reached capacity. After doing some research on the larger players (NetVault, ArcServe, etc.) I chose an "enterprise-level" backup solution. My particular choice was heavily weighted because our backup system is critical and after the nightmare we had with Welchia, et al, I wanted our backup server to run on Linux and be able to back up to a multi-terrabyte RAID array we'd purchased. I also wanted a "universal management client" that would run on any of our client platforms. Anyway, I won't go into whom I chose, but the problems I've had since then have almost ALL been related to licensing.
First off, the "core" program is reasonably priced. But every client that you are going to back up has to have client software loaded (requiring a reboot unless it's linux - so now I have to wait until after hours to install) Each client comes with it own license that's tied to that machine. OK, no problem. I'm just doing initial testing and each client has a 30-day evaluation license (except it doesn't take for some reason - call tech support - they can only give me a 7-day eval license key - WTF? - OK, I'll use that.)
I run a test backup and it misses about a thousand files - Oops, silly me me "Open Files" require a separate plugin (that costs as much by itself as the client plugin.) So I install that plugin and re-run the job. It still misses hundreds of files. I investigate. All the files were saved to the server by older mac clients and had "invalid characters" in their name (like forward slashes, etc.) Strange, all our mac and PC clients can access these files - why can't the backup software? (Call tech support - I need the UNICODE plugin for windows 2000 Server. It costs as much as the original client software. This particular server is NT 4 - Sorry, no plugin for you! You must upgrade to Server 2K ($$$) and then buy the plugin license. WTF!!!)
I don't WANT to upgrade that server. It's just a file and print server. It does everything I want it to do the way it is. Besides, I'll have to buy server 2003 for it - How will M$ licensing affect me then? What other hidden costs will I have to prepare for in my uncertain budget?
OK, I can use our existing backup solution to back that server up until we get it upgraded or migrated. By now my 7-day keys have expired so I can't do any more test backups on my other servers (MsSQL: separate plugin. MysQL: separate plugin. Filenames beginning in 'T': I'm sure I'll need to buy$$$ a separate plugin.) So I figure I'll just register the backup server and the five-or-so clients I want to do the longer term tests on. I head over to the registration page and fill in the information and am about to hit submit when I notice some small print between the last field and the submit button. I actually read it:-) it says, in part:
"
I certify that I am responsible for management of the use of [BlahBlah](TM) at this disclosed location and on the systems identif
My Archos has everything an iPod has, costs a lot less, and runs off 4 AA NiMHs.
My iPod is hardly larger than 4 AA batteries! Picture an iPod with 4 AA batteries glued to it's back -- that's the kind of engineering you get from Gateway, not Apple. I dropped my cellphone the other day and pieces went everywhere - the battery went the farthest. I've dropped my iPod many times (*sob*) in the past few years and, besides a few scratches, it works great and nothing flew off.
BTW, I have one of the FIRST 5 Gig iPods - I use it constantly for listening to music, books on "tape", and transfering large datasets between computers. My battery life is not what it used to be, true, but I've used and abused it for years and I love it.
As for paying $99 for Apple to replace the battery (do they replace batteries in the 5-Gig?), all I can say is that paying $40-$50 for a custom form-factor internal battery and another $40-$50 to have a certified engineer who is garanteed not to toast my iPod (or add any new scratches to it:-) plus shipping and handling, is a price I, personally, am willing to pay. My friend, on the other hand is not. So he has a bulker, uglier MP3 player, with a horrible (IMHO) interface and must suffer through exended USB-wrangling sessions to get a fraction of the data on it. Then again, he also brags about his $500.00 PC wth WinXP on it.
I buy quality. And yes, I think the iPod IS quality. I'm also willing to pay for owning and maintaining it. My mechanic gets WAY more per hour than an Apple technician does to work on my car. But then again, he's the only one I trust to touch my Mercedes.
My buddy's Kia holds just as many people, can play music on its stereo just as loud, has headlights that are just as bright, doesn't need to use premium fuel, and manages 65 mph just fine. He also paid a lot less for it and never seems to let me forget it. But even he admits that riding in my Mercedes is a completely different experience. And chances are, long after his Kia is rusting away in the junk yard, my 'benz will still be on the road, making each commute an experience. So, after he's gone through 2 or 3 Kias he'll have paid nealy as much as I did for my 'benz. The saddest part, though, is that the whole time, he still had to ride in, well... a Kia.
I'm just guessing here, but I would imagine that with the poor interface and interaction that "html" provides as compaired to, say, the flexibility of a "real application" UI, MS is going to have to provide a boatload of proprietary tags and hooks to make this actually usefull (at least MORE usefull than an actual web browser). Does this mean that more content will be delivered as a Microsoft web app (ie. online shopping) and will therefore make it impossible for me to access with my RH or OSX box?
OK, educate me (Ahem, I really don't know - so don't tell anyone;-) Why does a battery need to be thick? I don't know anything about batteries, but if you have two substances (lead + acid, Lithium + ?ions:-)?) that have to be separated by some sort of insulator in order to develop a potential... Blah-dee-blah-dee-bah.... This is why I'm not an engineer -- I'm the whining consumer crying "you can send a figgin' man to the moon but you can't..."
Anyway, I agree with what you say, but why the FireWire and USB? I can maybe see USB as a way to hook up peripherals ("look at my pictures from my camera.", "here, let me hook up a keyboard..."). If nothing else, it would give an open-ended ability to connect peripherals (microphone for speech?) but it also adds complexity and power issues.
Look at the iPod. I have one of the 5Gb originals ( #2 or #3 of the ones that arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska) and it does everything I expected it to do. I don't expect it to be a PDA - I have a Palm for that. I don't know about the new 40Gb models out there that can take dictation and who knows what all, but there come a point when you can cram too much into a product and then it stops making sense.
I have a firm belief that technology is going to go away from the "one box to do everything" to a "put the technology that makes sense into the device" paradigm. I see devices as becomming MORE specialized - not less (on the macro scale). In other words, in the near future, the same basic Intel (or IBM) ZX3000 core chip may be in both my microwave and my PDA. That doesn't mean my microwave will tell me what my schedule is for the day, but it MIGHT mean that my microwave can understand spoken language like my PDA to the extent that I can be tying my tie and scarfing a baggel while "telling" my microwave to wait until 4:45 to start cooking the roast I just put in and then, if I am late, to hold-warm until I tell it otherwise.
What I want from a tablet it minimalism. Link me to my target host and let my HOST provide the customization and the brains. Literally, give me a remote monitor with a touchscreen capability. Make it rugged, reliable, and cheap! If I need to upgrade it's abilities - I upgrade the SERVER!
I have a wife and 2 highschool kids. I would love to give them the ability to "surf", answer email, do basic IM and (using a USB or Virtual Keyborad) type documents for work and school without having to upgrade each of their computers every time a new OS version or the latest HalfLife came out. If they want to play games, use the PS2. If they want to listen to music, they can stream it to their WI-FI iPods. Every time I confront the upgrade troll it cost me at least $4,000.00. I could just as easily, put that money into a big-ass central server which could better server us all.
What I need... what I want... Is a way to harness the power I already have in a multi-user OS and share it with my family - make it available in any room of the house, take (with iSync or a smart-card) my critical data (PGP sigs, bookmarks, address book, etc.) with me to work and back while "lugging" the equivalent of one of those green 5x10" spiral notebooks around.
OK, it's late and I'm really getting out there. But tell me, when it really comes down to it, what capabilities do you need for 9/10 of the things you would do with a "tablet" PC? Wouldn't less mean more if you could afford several of them to have "laying around"?
Yes! That's basically what I want (thanks for pointing it out to me). Now just make it about 1/3rd the thickness, twice the battery life, half the cost, and make it connect to OS X and/or *NIX and I'll buy one tomorrow. I know, I don't want much do I?
I'd think, with proper engineering you should be able to get it to about half an inch thick with perhaps a thin, "full-back" battery adding another 1/8th of an inch or so and kill the thick borders around the screen. Why put any buttons on it? can't that be done in software - no moving parts, simpler engineering, nowhere for water/beer to spill into? I'm not sure I'd even include a stylus. After all, I should be able to hit almost any hyperlink or button with my finger or fingernail. I already rarely pull out the stylus on my Palm. If it is made rugged enough there's no reason I couldn't poke at it with a closed ink pen or pencil eraser, etc... Just a thought.
Viewsonic is on the right track, but it still looks WAY too bulky and "Beige-Boxy" if you know what I mean. I want what Captian Piccard has on his desk:-)
You know, I can't remember how many times I've been away from my computer (in my house or at work) and wanted to just "pop in" and do a quick check on a running process, check for the latest/. story, browse CNNs page, check the TV or Movie guide for my area, read my email or some other, predominantly point-and-click, activity.
I think most manufacturers are having problems with table PCs because they are trying to make them keyboardless laptops. It will never happen. Why? I hate to write. So do many others and true handwriting technology is so processor intensive you can't currently pack it into a handheld. I'd rather type. I can type much faster that I can write and, well, you see where I'm going with this.
If I were going to deliver a "tablet" PC, I'd make one like this:
Thin, light, solid state - no moving parts and pretty much sealed.
Built-in wireless (802.11g?) and a (maybe some sort of universal) card-reader slot for SD cards, microdrives, memory sticks, etc.
Low power processor and graphics cards - c'mon kids, we aren't playing Doom on this thing.
An inductive charger or some sort of "usefull" (as in - it's a slideshow pictureframe while idle/recharging) charging cradle
Basically, it would simply be a touch-sensitive dumb terminal for a "central server" or master machine on my desk or in my closet. I'd want to be able to "VNC" to my desktop or open one of several "published" X-window apps with a finger tap. Give me a browser, email client (could be a browser), basic word processing (all running off my central server) and perhaps a small collection of rdp and terminal service clients - perhaps also running off my desktop.
With a simple GUI to configure a connection to one (or more?) parent hosts and little or no built-in brains, this could be made dirt cheap (all the processing is handled by the server) - you are paying mostly for the touchscreen - which doesn't have to be very big. I'd pay a couple hundred bucks a piece or so to have one sitting on my coffee table or in my bedroom.
Remember, this isn't supposed to be a PC in it's own right. It's supposed to be an extension of my main PC. 90% of what I want to do with a "tablet" is monitor something or do a quick browse without having to run into the other room. If you try to make it be a computer in-and-of-itself, it will be prohibitively expensive, heavy, hot and large.
If I could take my Palm(tm), add low-power, built-in wireless networking, stretch the screen to about 10"x6" and add an Xwindows/VNC client, I'd be getting pretty close to having what I, personally, want in a tablet.
Just my opinion, but this comes from many time when I've caught myself wishing I could just have my monitor follow me from room to room.
I just bought a 98 Mercedez. The first time I lifted the hood I realized I'd be fsck'd if I ever got stranded. My previous car was an 18 year old Volvo. I always kept a small set of tools in the trunk for emergencies. I only needed to use them once (hence the Mercedez) but I always knew that if push-came-to-shove I'd be able to lift the hood and tinker until I got her running again.
I still cary the same bag of tools in the trunk of the Benz, but mostly out of stubborn habit (and the fact that they provided a hidey-hole for them that was exactly the same size as my bag;-), but I know that there's no way I'll be able to work on my new car with all the electronics.
As it was, I just had it winterized and requested they put a trickle-charger on the battery instead of a blanket heater. They had to disconnect the battery to do this. When I got back into the the car to drive it home all the electronic devices - seats, windows, sunroof, mirrors, etc. refused to work properly until they were "reset" - meaning run through their entire range twice. I paniced and thought the dealership had totally screwed my car up until I realized how to get functionality back.
Take this to the extreme then. What happens when, instead of just windows and seats, we have steer-, accelerate-, and brake-by-wire in our vehicles? If a computer program is controling this instead of some sort of redundant solid-state system, I want it to be bullet proof and open to public review - with the ability to mod it if I feel the need (yes, yes, warrantly, blah, blah) I just don't want a completely closed system where I have to trust the manufacturer (or God forbid, Microsoft) with critical systems in my car. And since it is MY car, I want the freedom to be able to "get under the hood" if I want/need to.
How do you set that up? We run a bunch of RH servers and it would be great to generate a series of one-time passwords that we could hand out to our remote admins. Is there a mod_pam plugin that does this? How do the passwords get generated and stored?
I've heard of this system in conjunction with a smart card, but it is proprietary and expensive.
Slashdot Mirror
I grew up as a kid in the "jungles" of southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border. We lived "off the grid" with a Mayan tribe there. My wife, kids and I now live in North Pole, Alaska after 3 years of living in an Aleut village way out by Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Though it may sound like I'm some sort of freak who likes to live in weird, rustic places, each move had a very logical progression leading to it and my chosen career is as a Systems Administrator/Programmer and I love high-tech things.
Like I said I now live in North Pole, AK, and excluding the occasional -70 F days it's no different than living in any "lower 48" town. We have a 6-bedroom house with a 2-car, heated garage and "all the comforts of home". However, I've always said that (after the kids were grown and gone) I'd love to get back to a simpler life. I know from experience that it isn't and easier life, but when I run down the long list of utility bills, car payments, credit card bills, etc. each month I really start to wonder what it would be like to sell my home for a quarter mil or so, buy an RV or a boat, settle down, write that all-american novel I've started about 6 times and chill.
I actually miss the times we had in Akutan. No TV. No radio. No phones. My wife and I spent evenings reading novels out loud to each other. Now we have cable TV and BroadBand Internet. I page or IM my kids to come to supper. My wife works nights, so I rarely see her. Yeah, I make a "good living". But am I "living good"?
Which is a very long way of bringing me to the actual reason I responded to your post: "Why don't you write a book?"
You are obviously articulate and compelling (I just ordered "Your Engineered House" from Amazon). I like your style of writing and would throughly enjoy reading, if nothing else, of your experiences. Any thoughts along these lines?
I apologize for have done NO homework on you first (I just stumbled accross your post by accident :-) so if you've already published or have a blog or something forgive me...
OK, Let's see if I can clear this up for you.
iTunes can handle several different audio codecs. Most of my files are MP3s, but some are AIFFs and some are AAC. That being said, I can sync and listen to ALL my MP3s and AIFF files on ANY player that can understand them. You don't need an iPod to listen to MP3s from iTunes - almost any MP3 player will do.
iTunes Music Store on the other hand only provides AAC encoded content. You must have a device capable of playing AAC files to play this content - or, you can make a playlist, hit "burn" (you don't even need a CD - there is software that can make a "virtual" CD") and you now have all your purchased content in 128 Bit MP3 format. Yes, one extra step, but easy to do and it's then DRM-Free. I do this so that I can play my purchased music on my MP3-enabled CD player in the car or in my office at work. So the long and short of it is, iTunes content isn't only AAC DRM'd Files.
Hope that clears it up. Don't listen to the FUD put out by those who seem to feel threatened by it. iTunes is an excellent player/organizer in it's own right and doesn't need an iPod to work.
I REALLY want to use Samba/LDAP for single-sign-on and file/print services. But AFAIK this requires modifiation to every windblows client we have, to change how kerberos behaves, among other things. And what PAM modules/filesystem do I need to run to be able to have the additional ACLs required for "proper" access control beyond OWNER-GROUP-WORLD? We have some resources that have pretty complex access restrictions on them - It can't be duplicated with the O-G-W permission scheme.
I'm the first to admit that I'm not a Linux expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but I know enough to have been successfully using Linux as my personal workstation for the last 6 moths exclusively and have migrated all of our "other" critical systems to Linux (Email, DNS, WWW, FTP, Backups, DHCP, NIDS, etc.) so I'm not that ignorant when it comes to Linux either.
What I would love to see is a SAMBA/LDAP "drop-in" server distribution which would be [pre]configured to allow transparent access to our WinNT/2K/XP clients who join its "domain". The LDAP service should be configured to support all/most of the common user and group settings required by a Windows client logging in: i.e. remote home share location, home drive letter, remote profile location (even though we don't use that - many do) and the ability to synchronize account info to "linux BDCs" at the remote locations - without having to manage /etc/password files for 15,000 users on 20 different machines.
Last summer I actually created all of our accounts on a Linux LDAP server with a test Samba server authenticating off it. It kinda worked for NT clients logging in but for 2K/XP forget it - BTW I did do the registry hack to them to allow authentication. Now I'll admit that I undoubtedly had many things messed up in the configuration as it was my first attempt, but it shouldn't be that hard to do as most default AD configs and behaviors could be set up as the default.
Am I missing something here? Is there a resource out there that I haven't found that will allow me to replicate the functionality of my AD domain with Linux? If so, please let me know. I want to roll out a LTSP this summer and I can't do it without having a way for single-sign-on and for users to be able to access their "windows" home directories. Allowing our Mac/OS X user to participate would be the cat's meow!
Even my boss has had it with the constant upgrade/license hassle with Microsoft and is encouraging me to look at Smaba as a solution. Of course his recommendation, in all his wisdom, is "Can't we just use Samba?" as if I could just say "Yes" and it would be as easy as that.
Give me an ISO with an "ActiveDirectoryKiller" Samba/LDAP Server Install and I'll port all my users to it in a heartbeat. Please !
I suppose I could have the software on a USB device that could encrypt the data for me, but since I can't get external email on that system I'd have to carry it out of there with me (maybe on the USB device). If I can do that, I can cary it anywhere so why would I risk sending this info from military computers when I can head to the internet cafe, the library in town or Kinko's?
A lot of military folk live on base and may get internet service provided by the military so they could check messages entering and leaving that way, but not on the base my wife works at. They get their connections 3rd-party and it never passes through military routers first.
From what I've [not] seen of my wife's secure work environment, I'd bet the AirForce would get a lot further with the money in providing additional security training to their "com-nazi's" and improve the physical security of their secret information.
They may already be trying to do some sort of scanning of outgoing attachments, because their Exchange servers seem to fold, spindle, and mutilate about two-thirds of the legitimate attachments my wife tries to send home. Then again, I've never seen a network that was "down" as often as theirs is so it may just be inexperience at the controls. Seriously, you can't take an airman out of bootcamp, send him to a few classes and expect them to be able to manage a complex network running Windows.
Everyone keeps making the analogy of breaking into my private home. This MAY be an acceptable analogy if people are scanning IP #'s and try to break into my non-publicly accessable home computer. But if I am running a web site with a MySQL backend that is listed by google, that I want people to see, and someone pokes around my "feedback" form for my blog and finds that they can make a purple barney pop up, they'd better tell me about it. And I will be appreciative too, because "shame on me!".
It's even worse if I am selling stuff and have people's names, addresses and (God forbid) credit card numbers on my system (This is why I won't do CC auths on the sites I host - I'm not confident enough yet in my own abilities to risk it. Well, that and I play Diablo L.O.D. on the same box as my webserver :-)
People need to realize that connecting to the internet carries with it a resposibility. A business needs to realize that they carry an even bigger resposibility because of the exponential additional damage that can be done to innocent people's lives because of their cavalier (or ignorant) attitude.
Public websites, and computers that host public information, which are accessible to every jerk on the internet should be compared to a bank or a store, not a private home. If I walk into a bank and see a stack of (my?) money sitting on the counter and no one is watching it, I have a responsibility to let someone know and they have a duty to fix the problem and sack the idiot responsible.
OTOH, If I see the money and don't point it out; instead opting to walk up to the manager and say "You are about to lose $$$, give me big bucks and I'll tell you how to avoid it." That's extortion. I'd expect to be thrown in the clink. But, if I can prove that I've acted in good faith and pointed out the security problem to the company and I can also prove that they have not acted on it in a (reasonable?) amount of time - I should be able to report it to a "responsible agency" and be able to file a (monitary/punitive?) claim on the negligent company comensurate with the potential damage as determined by a panel of unbiased experts (if you can find them).
Personally, I think this guy's a jerk who is trying for the quick buck. But I'm willing to admit that I don't know the whole story, since I couldn't be bothered to RTFA. It just bugs the hell out of me that some people are so insecure with their own capabilities that they would rather risk compromise than admit they were wrong and fix the problem.
My God man! Take a deep breath.
There... Feel Better?
I suppose my two points: 1) I have little sympathy for "victims" of gambling adiction and 2) I hope training horses can be made safer for them were a bit hidden and obscure.
All I know is that I don't personally gamble on horse races (or greyhound races for that matter) but, as someone who used to enjoy racing my "pet" horse as a child, I do enjoy watching such magnificent creatures perform. I am aware that it is a cut-throat business, but I'll bet those thouroughbreds are the most pampered animals (except Toy Poodles) out there. I'm sure there are countless exceptions to this, and I abhore the thought of that. It's a good thing I didn't mention that where I live, we attend the Iditarod Sled Dog Race every year, you would have come completely unglued!
BTW, If you have that strong of feelings about it, then don't post AC! Stand up for what you believe publicly and engage in civil discourse.
Now not only do people destroy their family life savings with horse racing.
Now GPS help the horse race business go even higher tech. As if fantasy football and internet slot machine wasn't enough.
I hope this was meant to be funny. Because it sure smacks of the modern American practice of never taking responsibility for one's own actions. Just because a few people can't or won't control their own impulses, I am supposed to be "protected from myself" with draconian regulations. And to top it all off those who earn a living raising and training horses are supposed to avoid trying to get the best performance out of their horses?!
I have never put a dime down on a horse race in my life, but having raised horses as a child and "raced" them against my firends horses, I enjoy watching these beautiful, majestic creatures, run. And to see one in top physical form, trained with the best techniques available, is for me, a wonderful thing.
Who knows, maybe with better, more accurate data, the horses will be able to be trained more safely and efficently...
It does seem strange though especially to visitors. My mother-in-law spent Christmas with us for the first time and seemd to have a bit of difficulty accepting the "impersonalness" of paging your kids. I felt funny about it too until I realized that I actaully communicate with them MORE than if I had to get my lazy ass up, walk all the way across the house, down the stairs and to their bedrooms to ask them a quick question. Besides, I'm generally calling them to come to me (for dinner or to talk face-to-face) so by paging them it actually see them sooner.
I think it is the sign of the times. When new technologies come out there are the early adopters who try to use it in every way imaginable - they "work out the bugs". If the use is truly usefull it will survive. If not it will decline, eventually settling into an equilibrium between "coolness" and effectiveness. for my personal situation IM is NOT effective so it was replaced with slightly older (paging) technology.
We recently got the last of my extended family off windows (and on to OS X) which gave us all the ability to use iChatAV. At first it was cool and new, but then it became a pain. Just because my "buddy list" claimed my sister was on didn't mean she was - it usually was one of her kids or she was outside and she'd see a stack of connections when she'd get back in. Thinking it was important she'd try to IM me only to find me not at my computer so she'd call me long distance only to find out I didn't really have much to say except "Hi".
Half the time I had my iChat activated I was actually "in-and-out" of the room and when I got a call I had to stay by the computer to talk and I was unproductive. So I started setting my iChat to offline or busy and eventually just turned it off when I didn't want to be interrupted. Pretty soon everyone started doing that. I have iChat on right now and NO ONE ELSE IS THERE - not even my kids - and I know they are online because my cablemodem's blinkenlights are going nuts and I'm just typing this.
I think every generation will use new technology in such a way that will dismay the older generation. Heck, I recall reading that blackboards were hailed as the worst thing possible for schools (because students would be looking at it instead of the teacher) when they first came out. Technology changes much and society will change with it. I have to admit that with my wife working nights the kids and I, more often than not, have dinner together around the "magic-expando" coffe table in front of the TV than around our dining room table. My mother would have a fit! All our meals were around a formal table when I was a kid.
Change is the only constant in the universe. And when things change too far in one direction the pendulum always swings back. I NEVER write snail mail any more - but I communicate with my parents (they live in southern Mexico, I live in Alaska) way more now via email than I ever did by snail mail. At first, my mother missed the "hand-written" letters, but now much prefers the quick reliability of email.
There may come a day when students sit at home in front of a "hollow-teacher" instead of in a classroom and people will lament the loss of social interaction. But I know one thing: If physical contact is truly important to human developement we will get it one way or another. If not, our society will evolve into one where socialization will occure "virtuall
That being said, my own suspicions are that either
- It was Sigma who nicked the code and KISS wasn't aware until recently and is "checking it out" before responding to MPlayer
- One of their programmers took a shortcut and swiped the MPlayer code (for whatever reason) and they are looking into that before responding
The fact that they publicly state that they use GPL'd code right on their site and release SOME of the source, tells me that they have no problem with GPL. Of course, I could be wrong, and in that case, shame on them in the worst way.I think it is important for the public to show solidarity in defending GPL'd software - but we have to keep a level head too. Something is not adding up here. I predict KISS will - after a short delay - anounce that they were unaware that GPL'd code was used, apologize, and release the source.
If they did this I think the added publicity could acctually be GOOD for business. I, for one, wasn't even aware of their product until I read about it here. Now, I will either never buy it (if it turns out to be they are screwing the OSS community) or I will most definitely buy one (If they show that they really are a stand-up company.)
I think the parent was supposed to be funny.... But, then again, I don't have any mod-points left :-)
I didn't have time to see what distro it had loaded or what productivity apps it had pre-installed, but if I recall it was running on a 1.4 GHz processor with 256 MB RAM - so it should be a decent performer for the "low-end" user. I can hardly build a box for that up here in Alaska. I might just have to pick one up for myself :-)
I know that many business operate with that sort of attitude. I have friends that say "My department has a budget for licensing and related costs - if I don't spend it I will loose it. Besides, if I have any problems, I can just call tech support and they can bail me out. Seems like a pretty good investment to me."
This may all be true but I can only speak from my personal experience. We have a large mixed-platform network (~10,000 nodes running Windows98-XP, MacOS 7.6-Panther, RedHat 6.2-9.0) that is distributed accross about 35 locations. Being a non-profit organization we are constantly hit with ever-tighting budgets and a tiny IT staff.
Over the past several years I have run into many situations where licensing has "cost" way more that it should. Rather than go into an overly-broad generalization, let me give an example that occured last week: I was tasked with upgrading our backup system which had reached capacity. After doing some research on the larger players (NetVault, ArcServe, etc.) I chose an "enterprise-level" backup solution. My particular choice was heavily weighted because our backup system is critical and after the nightmare we had with Welchia, et al, I wanted our backup server to run on Linux and be able to back up to a multi-terrabyte RAID array we'd purchased. I also wanted a "universal management client" that would run on any of our client platforms. Anyway, I won't go into whom I chose, but the problems I've had since then have almost ALL been related to licensing.
First off, the "core" program is reasonably priced. But every client that you are going to back up has to have client software loaded (requiring a reboot unless it's linux - so now I have to wait until after hours to install) Each client comes with it own license that's tied to that machine. OK, no problem. I'm just doing initial testing and each client has a 30-day evaluation license (except it doesn't take for some reason - call tech support - they can only give me a 7-day eval license key - WTF? - OK, I'll use that.)
I run a test backup and it misses about a thousand files - Oops, silly me me "Open Files" require a separate plugin (that costs as much by itself as the client plugin.) So I install that plugin and re-run the job. It still misses hundreds of files. I investigate. All the files were saved to the server by older mac clients and had "invalid characters" in their name (like forward slashes, etc.) Strange, all our mac and PC clients can access these files - why can't the backup software? (Call tech support - I need the UNICODE plugin for windows 2000 Server. It costs as much as the original client software. This particular server is NT 4 - Sorry, no plugin for you! You must upgrade to Server 2K ($$$) and then buy the plugin license. WTF!!!)
I don't WANT to upgrade that server. It's just a file and print server. It does everything I want it to do the way it is. Besides, I'll have to buy server 2003 for it - How will M$ licensing affect me then? What other hidden costs will I have to prepare for in my uncertain budget?
OK, I can use our existing backup solution to back that server up until we get it upgraded or migrated. By now my 7-day keys have expired so I can't do any more test backups on my other servers (MsSQL: separate plugin. MysQL: separate plugin. Filenames beginning in 'T': I'm sure I'll need to buy$$$ a separate plugin.) So I figure I'll just register the backup server and the five-or-so clients I want to do the longer term tests on. I head over to the registration page and fill in the information and am about to hit submit when I notice some small print between the last field and the submit button. I actually read it :-) it says, in part:
12 posts and TechWeb (The Business Technology Network) is all but Slashdotted. And I actually did want to RTFA :-(
Wait a minute. What solar system is this poster in? He said he was only 15 miles from a power pole.
Mea Culpa. I meant technicians ;-) I work with engineers so that word tends to spring to mind in the heat of the moment...
My iPod is hardly larger than 4 AA batteries! Picture an iPod with 4 AA batteries glued to it's back -- that's the kind of engineering you get from Gateway, not Apple. I dropped my cellphone the other day and pieces went everywhere - the battery went the farthest. I've dropped my iPod many times (*sob*) in the past few years and, besides a few scratches, it works great and nothing flew off.
BTW, I have one of the FIRST 5 Gig iPods - I use it constantly for listening to music, books on "tape", and transfering large datasets between computers. My battery life is not what it used to be, true, but I've used and abused it for years and I love it.
As for paying $99 for Apple to replace the battery (do they replace batteries in the 5-Gig?), all I can say is that paying $40-$50 for a custom form-factor internal battery and another $40-$50 to have a certified engineer who is garanteed not to toast my iPod (or add any new scratches to it :-) plus shipping and handling, is a price I, personally, am willing to pay. My friend, on the other hand is not. So he has a bulker, uglier MP3 player, with a horrible (IMHO) interface and must suffer through exended USB-wrangling sessions to get a fraction of the data on it. Then again, he also brags about his $500.00 PC wth WinXP on it.
I buy quality. And yes, I think the iPod IS quality. I'm also willing to pay for owning and maintaining it. My mechanic gets WAY more per hour than an Apple technician does to work on my car. But then again, he's the only one I trust to touch my Mercedes.
My buddy's Kia holds just as many people, can play music on its stereo just as loud, has headlights that are just as bright, doesn't need to use premium fuel, and manages 65 mph just fine. He also paid a lot less for it and never seems to let me forget it. But even he admits that riding in my Mercedes is a completely different experience. And chances are, long after his Kia is rusting away in the junk yard, my 'benz will still be on the road, making each commute an experience. So, after he's gone through 2 or 3 Kias he'll have paid nealy as much as I did for my 'benz. The saddest part, though, is that the whole time, he still had to ride in, well... a Kia.
Is it a preference I have set, or did Apple leave another popular feature out (like tooltips)?
oh. Wait...
Bad hackers! Bad! No soup for you!
I'm just guessing here, but I would imagine that with the poor interface and interaction that "html" provides as compaired to, say, the flexibility of a "real application" UI, MS is going to have to provide a boatload of proprietary tags and hooks to make this actually usefull (at least MORE usefull than an actual web browser). Does this mean that more content will be delivered as a Microsoft web app (ie. online shopping) and will therefore make it impossible for me to access with my RH or OSX box?
Anyway, I agree with what you say, but why the FireWire and USB? I can maybe see USB as a way to hook up peripherals ("look at my pictures from my camera.", "here, let me hook up a keyboard..."). If nothing else, it would give an open-ended ability to connect peripherals (microphone for speech?) but it also adds complexity and power issues.
Look at the iPod. I have one of the 5Gb originals ( #2 or #3 of the ones that arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska) and it does everything I expected it to do. I don't expect it to be a PDA - I have a Palm for that. I don't know about the new 40Gb models out there that can take dictation and who knows what all, but there come a point when you can cram too much into a product and then it stops making sense.
I have a firm belief that technology is going to go away from the "one box to do everything" to a "put the technology that makes sense into the device" paradigm. I see devices as becomming MORE specialized - not less (on the macro scale). In other words, in the near future, the same basic Intel (or IBM) ZX3000 core chip may be in both my microwave and my PDA. That doesn't mean my microwave will tell me what my schedule is for the day, but it MIGHT mean that my microwave can understand spoken language like my PDA to the extent that I can be tying my tie and scarfing a baggel while "telling" my microwave to wait until 4:45 to start cooking the roast I just put in and then, if I am late, to hold-warm until I tell it otherwise.
What I want from a tablet it minimalism. Link me to my target host and let my HOST provide the customization and the brains. Literally, give me a remote monitor with a touchscreen capability. Make it rugged, reliable, and cheap! If I need to upgrade it's abilities - I upgrade the SERVER!
I have a wife and 2 highschool kids. I would love to give them the ability to "surf", answer email, do basic IM and (using a USB or Virtual Keyborad) type documents for work and school without having to upgrade each of their computers every time a new OS version or the latest HalfLife came out. If they want to play games, use the PS2. If they want to listen to music, they can stream it to their WI-FI iPods. Every time I confront the upgrade troll it cost me at least $4,000.00. I could just as easily, put that money into a big-ass central server which could better server us all.
What I need... what I want... Is a way to harness the power I already have in a multi-user OS and share it with my family - make it available in any room of the house, take (with iSync or a smart-card) my critical data (PGP sigs, bookmarks, address book, etc.) with me to work and back while "lugging" the equivalent of one of those green 5x10" spiral notebooks around.
OK, it's late and I'm really getting out there. But tell me, when it really comes down to it, what capabilities do you need for 9/10 of the things you would do with a "tablet" PC? Wouldn't less mean more if you could afford several of them to have "laying around"?
I'd think, with proper engineering you should be able to get it to about half an inch thick with perhaps a thin, "full-back" battery adding another 1/8th of an inch or so and kill the thick borders around the screen. Why put any buttons on it? can't that be done in software - no moving parts, simpler engineering, nowhere for water/beer to spill into? I'm not sure I'd even include a stylus. After all, I should be able to hit almost any hyperlink or button with my finger or fingernail. I already rarely pull out the stylus on my Palm. If it is made rugged enough there's no reason I couldn't poke at it with a closed ink pen or pencil eraser, etc... Just a thought.
Viewsonic is on the right track, but it still looks WAY too bulky and "Beige-Boxy" if you know what I mean. I want what Captian Piccard has on his desk :-)
I think most manufacturers are having problems with table PCs because they are trying to make them keyboardless laptops. It will never happen. Why? I hate to write. So do many others and true handwriting technology is so processor intensive you can't currently pack it into a handheld. I'd rather type. I can type much faster that I can write and, well, you see where I'm going with this.
If I were going to deliver a "tablet" PC, I'd make one like this:
Basically, it would simply be a touch-sensitive dumb terminal for a "central server" or master machine on my desk or in my closet. I'd want to be able to "VNC" to my desktop or open one of several "published" X-window apps with a finger tap. Give me a browser, email client (could be a browser), basic word processing (all running off my central server) and perhaps a small collection of rdp and terminal service clients - perhaps also running off my desktop. With a simple GUI to configure a connection to one (or more?) parent hosts and little or no built-in brains, this could be made dirt cheap (all the processing is handled by the server) - you are paying mostly for the touchscreen - which doesn't have to be very big. I'd pay a couple hundred bucks a piece or so to have one sitting on my coffee table or in my bedroom.Remember, this isn't supposed to be a PC in it's own right. It's supposed to be an extension of my main PC. 90% of what I want to do with a "tablet" is monitor something or do a quick browse without having to run into the other room. If you try to make it be a computer in-and-of-itself, it will be prohibitively expensive, heavy, hot and large.
If I could take my Palm(tm), add low-power, built-in wireless networking, stretch the screen to about 10"x6" and add an Xwindows/VNC client, I'd be getting pretty close to having what I, personally, want in a tablet.
Just my opinion, but this comes from many time when I've caught myself wishing I could just have my monitor follow me from room to room.
I still cary the same bag of tools in the trunk of the Benz, but mostly out of stubborn habit (and the fact that they provided a hidey-hole for them that was exactly the same size as my bag ;-), but I know that there's no way I'll be able to work on my new car with all the electronics.
As it was, I just had it winterized and requested they put a trickle-charger on the battery instead of a blanket heater. They had to disconnect the battery to do this. When I got back into the the car to drive it home all the electronic devices - seats, windows, sunroof, mirrors, etc. refused to work properly until they were "reset" - meaning run through their entire range twice. I paniced and thought the dealership had totally screwed my car up until I realized how to get functionality back.
Take this to the extreme then. What happens when, instead of just windows and seats, we have steer-, accelerate-, and brake-by-wire in our vehicles? If a computer program is controling this instead of some sort of redundant solid-state system, I want it to be bullet proof and open to public review - with the ability to mod it if I feel the need (yes, yes, warrantly, blah, blah) I just don't want a completely closed system where I have to trust the manufacturer (or God forbid, Microsoft) with critical systems in my car. And since it is MY car, I want the freedom to be able to "get under the hood" if I want/need to.
Now I need to install a virus checker on my garage door and be carefull who I park next to at work?
How do you set that up? We run a bunch of RH servers and it would be great to generate a series of one-time passwords that we could hand out to our remote admins. Is there a mod_pam plugin that does this? How do the passwords get generated and stored?
I've heard of this system in conjunction with a smart card, but it is proprietary and expensive.
Is there an open source implementation for this?