Slack uses a very simple package system based off of *.tgz files. There is no ports system like BSD has, but there are tools like Swaret and slapt-get out there which come close.
That said, most of the configuration (i.e. daemons and such) is done in the old-style BSD way, with rc.* files.
Don't worry about the sparcity of features on a basic install. You can either choose to download discs 3 and 4, which have a plethora of other software packages (including a newer version of gcc and a 2.6 kernel) or you can download piecemeal from the mirrors.
Microsoft tries to make their operating systems backwards-compatible to the point of running about half of the old 16-bit DOS programs that are still floating around out there. If you've studied WinAPI, you'll note that about half of the arguments and functions are never used, legacies of decisions made by Microsoft in the elder days. Yet those functions are still implemented and, for the most part, work the same way they did when they were first created.
This isn't fuel to bash Microsoft, this is good news for those of us who use their operating system, whether by choice or necessity.
It is worth noting that artillery rounds, which have always and will always be the purvue of the Army, can achieve very high velocities during flight. In particular, there are some rocket-boosted rounds in use now that are something less than accurate, but are capable of reaching out and touching people that are outside the envelope of tradition artillery rounds. Since we're still having a few problems with letting shells land too close to our own guys, making more accurate models of shell trajectories would be a good thing (TM).
Microsoft is currently pushing a new version of Windows Update through beta. I've heard only a little from people I know, but they like it (I don't have a spare machine to test it on right now). This isn't something that has a direct competitor, but Microsoft rewrote it to make it easier to use the service if you're on dial-up. IMHO, that's at least one piece of evidence against your theory.
After reading some of these links, I think Microsoft should stop creating "evangelist" positions and instead push more talent into writing software, since I evaluate each package on an individual basis, and there are some Microsoft products that are sorely lacking.
And themes. And software plug-ins that block images. And a plug-in that keeps Flash/Shockwave animations from playing unless I *want* them too. And making it possible to use the address bar to search from Google, *not* MSN. Making it so that if I click on the back button while posting to Slashdot my post is still there. Making ActiveX a way to make browsing more enjoyable, not a way to make my computer install spyware.
These are all features that Firefox has and that I like, and until most of them have been implemented I see no reason to switch back.
Yup, I've always used towers. Again, that's the reason BTX doesn't interest me-unless they offer towers, I'll just stick to ATX and buy AMD processors. More bang for my buck.
If you look at advertisements for ATX towers you often see them advertised as "server towers". The ATX standard was created before rack-mounted servers really caught on. A used quotation marks 'cause I don't like the term, I just call 'em towers, but to each his own.
Falcon Northwest make some very pretty PC systems that far outmatch anything Alienware puts out. Granted you have to pay for it, but you get a custom paint job that's unmatched.
Voodoo PC is also a manufacturer that puts an Apple-sized amount of detail into their systems. While they may be expensive, I would like to point out that they are priced very competitively with the G5.
As for me, I built my own system and made it pretty (without obnoxious windows and lights).
Since AMD chipset and motherboard makers are NOT planning to switch over to the BTX form factor anytime soon, it would be awkward for Intel motherboard and case manufacturers to do so, since it would introduce two completely different standards. It's also difficult because BTX focuses on the "desktop" form factor, where the case is a small box you can place under your monitor. I prefer the "server" form factor, a seperate tower that can be placed anywhere. There is a server form factor for BTX, but none of the prototype motherboards I've seen are made for it, and Intel seems to be pushing the smaller form factors (probably with OEM manufacturers like Dell and HP in mind).
Frankly, I like the idea of sticking with ATX and placing PCI Express and LGA sockets on an ATX motherboard, so I can use the ATX tower I have now. I just wish the ATX form factor could be made to accomodate hotter processors easily.
I'm not as worried about frail pins as I am about the amount of heat these things push out, the size of the new heatsink/fan assemblies, and the noise they put out. I thought Socket 478 processors were hot, but LGA Prescott processors run even hotter, which makes me think Intel has a point when it says we should switch away from the ATX case factor and adopt BTX for Intel chips..
That said, are the Extreme Edition processors still selling for $900 USD a pop? Hardly seems worth the extra money for gaming, although a server that wants to survive Slashdottings could probably use one...
The rules require it to have three people on board, or enough weight to simulate three people. It also requires two launches within a time frame of two weeks.
Microsoft is thinking from a marketer's viewpoint. They want that extra time to advertise their product and push it. What they fail to realize is that, if their console sucks because they pushed it out too soon, all the marketing in the world won't save them. Just look at N-Gage.
Don't forget USB flash drives, which are also universal. Although I like to use a floppy for simple transfers via sneakernet. I do hate the things though-when I served my time in Tech Support, about 75% of my problems were with floppies, the rest were mostly textbook typos.
Actually, if you want to make Firefox look prettier, try FirefoxModern, which makes Firefox look like Mozilla. Certainly prettier than the new default theme (although I'm partial to Qute).
Absolutely. I logged into my Hotmail account (which I am slowly phasing out in favor of my yahoo account), and the inbox was just 2MB, with a smattering of spam all over it. I've been using Hotmail since pre-Microsoft, but the service has only gotten worse (unexplicably lost e-mails even to other Hotmail users is the worst-when I write a message, I want it to reach the sender!).
Well, the modem doesn't work. If you need dial-up, the company selling these babies should provide a PC Card solution. For me, however, the important thing is whether or not the RJ-45 port works, so I can run Ethernet connectivity.
Slashdot Mirror
o The White House
o Britney Spear's Mansion
o Redmond, Washington
o AOL/Disney/RIAA/$EVIL_CORPORATION headquarters
o Whatever company makes vending machines. I swear, I've lost so much to those things...
Although it should be noted that, even with a 2.4.x kernel, slack 9.1 used ALSA and not OSS. Much to Pat's credit for that particular backport.
Slack uses a very simple package system based off of *.tgz files. There is no ports system like BSD has, but there are tools like Swaret and slapt-get out there which come close.
That said, most of the configuration (i.e. daemons and such) is done in the old-style BSD way, with rc.* files.
Don't worry about the sparcity of features on a basic install. You can either choose to download discs 3 and 4, which have a plethora of other software packages (including a newer version of gcc and a 2.6 kernel) or you can download piecemeal from the mirrors.
Microsoft tries to make their operating systems backwards-compatible to the point of running about half of the old 16-bit DOS programs that are still floating around out there. If you've studied WinAPI, you'll note that about half of the arguments and functions are never used, legacies of decisions made by Microsoft in the elder days. Yet those functions are still implemented and, for the most part, work the same way they did when they were first created.
This isn't fuel to bash Microsoft, this is good news for those of us who use their operating system, whether by choice or necessity.
It is worth noting that artillery rounds, which have always and will always be the purvue of the Army, can achieve very high velocities during flight. In particular, there are some rocket-boosted rounds in use now that are something less than accurate, but are capable of reaching out and touching people that are outside the envelope of tradition artillery rounds. Since we're still having a few problems with letting shells land too close to our own guys, making more accurate models of shell trajectories would be a good thing (TM).
I live in San Diego, where we have rich, conservative, elite, yuppy, Republican scumbags. And BMW sales aren't bad.
Scary visions of an AOL sort are dancing through my head as I reach for Ibuprofen...
Microsoft is currently pushing a new version of Windows Update through beta. I've heard only a little from people I know, but they like it (I don't have a spare machine to test it on right now). This isn't something that has a direct competitor, but Microsoft rewrote it to make it easier to use the service if you're on dial-up. IMHO, that's at least one piece of evidence against your theory.
After reading some of these links, I think Microsoft should stop creating "evangelist" positions and instead push more talent into writing software, since I evaluate each package on an individual basis, and there are some Microsoft products that are sorely lacking.
And themes. And software plug-ins that block images. And a plug-in that keeps Flash/Shockwave animations from playing unless I *want* them too. And making it possible to use the address bar to search from Google, *not* MSN. Making it so that if I click on the back button while posting to Slashdot my post is still there. Making ActiveX a way to make browsing more enjoyable, not a way to make my computer install spyware.
These are all features that Firefox has and that I like, and until most of them have been implemented I see no reason to switch back.
Surely, that whole thing has been settled by now, hasn't it?
Yup, I've always used towers. Again, that's the reason BTX doesn't interest me-unless they offer towers, I'll just stick to ATX and buy AMD processors. More bang for my buck.
If you look at advertisements for ATX towers you often see them advertised as "server towers". The ATX standard was created before rack-mounted servers really caught on. A used quotation marks 'cause I don't like the term, I just call 'em towers, but to each his own.
Falcon Northwest make some very pretty PC systems that far outmatch anything Alienware puts out. Granted you have to pay for it, but you get a custom paint job that's unmatched.
Voodoo PC is also a manufacturer that puts an Apple-sized amount of detail into their systems. While they may be expensive, I would like to point out that they are priced very competitively with the G5.
As for me, I built my own system and made it pretty (without obnoxious windows and lights).
The article has some good ones, just click to enlarge them.
Since AMD chipset and motherboard makers are NOT planning to switch over to the BTX form factor anytime soon, it would be awkward for Intel motherboard and case manufacturers to do so, since it would introduce two completely different standards. It's also difficult because BTX focuses on the "desktop" form factor, where the case is a small box you can place under your monitor. I prefer the "server" form factor, a seperate tower that can be placed anywhere. There is a server form factor for BTX, but none of the prototype motherboards I've seen are made for it, and Intel seems to be pushing the smaller form factors (probably with OEM manufacturers like Dell and HP in mind).
Frankly, I like the idea of sticking with ATX and placing PCI Express and LGA sockets on an ATX motherboard, so I can use the ATX tower I have now. I just wish the ATX form factor could be made to accomodate hotter processors easily.
Is what country you are from?
I'm not as worried about frail pins as I am about the amount of heat these things push out, the size of the new heatsink/fan assemblies, and the noise they put out. I thought Socket 478 processors were hot, but LGA Prescott processors run even hotter, which makes me think Intel has a point when it says we should switch away from the ATX case factor and adopt BTX for Intel chips..
That said, are the Extreme Edition processors still selling for $900 USD a pop? Hardly seems worth the extra money for gaming, although a server that wants to survive Slashdottings could probably use one...
The rules require it to have three people on board, or enough weight to simulate three people. It also requires two launches within a time frame of two weeks.
Microsoft is thinking from a marketer's viewpoint. They want that extra time to advertise their product and push it. What they fail to realize is that, if their console sucks because they pushed it out too soon, all the marketing in the world won't save them. Just look at N-Gage.
I wear a watch, so do most of the surfers I know. They *do* make waterproof watches now, you just have to remember to rinse the salt off of the thing.
Don't forget USB flash drives, which are also universal. Although I like to use a floppy for simple transfers via sneakernet. I do hate the things though-when I served my time in Tech Support, about 75% of my problems were with floppies, the rest were mostly textbook typos.
Yep, I had it two weeks ago-a week and a half before it came out;)
Actually, if you want to make Firefox look prettier, try FirefoxModern, which makes Firefox look like Mozilla. Certainly prettier than the new default theme (although I'm partial to Qute).
Absolutely. I logged into my Hotmail account (which I am slowly phasing out in favor of my yahoo account), and the inbox was just 2MB, with a smattering of spam all over it. I've been using Hotmail since pre-Microsoft, but the service has only gotten worse (unexplicably lost e-mails even to other Hotmail users is the worst-when I write a message, I want it to reach the sender!).
Well, the modem doesn't work. If you need dial-up, the company selling these babies should provide a PC Card solution. For me, however, the important thing is whether or not the RJ-45 port works, so I can run Ethernet connectivity.