As a composer and instrumentalist, I love Rosegarden. I haven't had a chance to produce any major works in it yet, though; I'm still familiarizing myself with it. Regardless, the power of it is incredible.
Only problem is it can be a bit of a hassle to get working. Other than that, I love it.
Most of my recent pieces I have done in Steinberg Cubasis VST (Creative Edition), just because I can use the Sampletank2 Free VST instrument with it (in Windows). If you'd like to hear some of my stuff, you'll have to visit my site and find em' (sorry, gotta save bandwidth, so lazy people aren't just downloading because they have phat pipe:)).
As a professional web developer, my focus is well designed, standards compliant, highly accessable websites. I'm still working pretty hard on developing sites good for those using TTS readers (ex: putting common text content at the bottom of the code), but other than that, I stick with HTML 4.01 Strict (minus one of my sites, which uses Textpattern.. I'm switching to a different CMS over Xmas) with CSS.
I switched from 2.4.x to 2.6.7 when it came out, and haven't had a single problem. Some of the newer ones seem iffy, but 2.6.7 is rock-solid as far as I can tell.
I still prefer to use 2.4.x series kernels in servers, just to have that extra insurance (the servers I run have very little need for the features in 2.6.7), but desktop machines get 2.6.7 all the way.
Honestly, I think AC2 was a fluke, and a learning experience for Turbine. They know better now;) I played AC1 on and off since the public beta, and it is probably my favorite MMORPG (I've played AC1, a little EQ, Lineage II, RYL, Anarchy Online, and that FF mmorpg, FFXI I think it was).
..the great boon for indie artists such as myself, who don't charge for our music, and give it away on our own websites (now, if I could only draw some fanbase with some actual cash to donate so I could cover bandwidth costs):)
If you are interested in hearing my stuff, you'll have to hit my website network (see my user profile website) and find the sites yourself.. Please, PLEASE share my music over P2P if you aren't willing to donate cash to help cover bandwidth:P I can only afford about 2gb worth of downloads a day.
Honestly though, my fanbase has gotten much bigger since the RIAA started really pushing the music industry into the current era. People are actually considering indie artists as real musicians, and free legal music tends to be an attractive incentive (except for the fact that some don't actually save my music to their harddrive.. they just come back and steal my bandwidth every time they want to listen to something:P).
You can usually find a number of recommendations by freelancers such as myself for hosting suggestions.
A Small Orange is really popular right now among devs. I'm setting a client up with them, myself. They apparently have superb service and reliability. Another popular one is Dreamhost. I'll be switching over to them in 6-9 months, more than likely.
When I try to read the informationweek article, my browser locks up and gives an SSL error (Error code: -12281). I'm running the latest FF and Slackware 10.
Main thing keeping me from using Opera is that I can't (well, last I knew) sync my bookmarks quickly and efficiently. I have 3 OSes (1 on my laptop, 2 on my desktop) that I need to sync bookmarks between. The extension I have in FF automatically handles that for me, which is a real benefit. I guess I could write a script to sync bookmarks and then launch the browser, but I wouldn't know how to approach that in Windows (honestly, I'm so sick of Cygwin.. It just plain sucks IMHOH:)).
Doh, sorry. I was trying to do 2 things at once, and I didn't finish my point:)..to ensure that the user's browsing experience is a pleasant one. There:)
Firefox's extensions are a great boon to functionality. It suits me, and it suits all the other people I have recommended it to. As well, Firefox runs much faster on my 300mhz 192mb ram laptop compared to Opera.
I'm not saying anything is wrong with Opera necessarily, it just doesn't suit me or a number of my friends. I do have friends (and numerous visitors) who use Opera, and I have no complaints with it. I just prefer Firefox.
I have had problems with Opera's stability in the past (version 7, initial release of 8). It was usually only in extreme cases, but I have had only 1 crash with Firefox since I started using it. Plus, I like the ability to strip down my interface to the bare minimum - Opera's free release has ads, which take up valuable screen space. Not to mention the fact that I rely heavily on a few Firefox plugins - Bookmark sync, adblock, and a few web developer extensions. Firefox just suits my needs much better.
While passing the Acid2 test would be a great thing, it tests things to an extreme, and doesn't really test realistic web design. Firefox does a MUCH better job of standards compliance than IE - You can still design standards compliant websites, and have them display properly in Firefox (on the rare occasion do I need to actually tweak something to make it work in FF).
Opera is a great browser for ensuring pages display according to standards compliance, but Firefox has the features, speed, and stability to ensure that the user's browsing experience. Not saying Opera is bad, but I just don't like it as much as I like FF. I just have to hope and pray that FF keeps pushing closer towards full standards compliance; Right now is a good time for browser developers to focus on it, since MS is finally going to try and catch up.
In conclusion, don't design for the browser, design for the standards. I'm not sure about application development standards (I don't do much web app dev, personally), but when employers hear about the ensurance of long-term functionality, odds are they will go for standards rather than vendor specifics.
One argument I always give for my fellow developers is that standards compliance means your website will work for a lot longer if you adhere to the standards currently in place.. Who says MS is always going to support their IE-specific code? IE7 is supposedly going to have better standardization, which is going to take a lot of work on their part. Browsers have more reasons to adhere to standards that are in place, rather than their own specific little extras they came up with back in the day, which developers are pushing against..
I did my programming in HS with TurboPascal, in a "Computer Math" class.
It was just me and a few honor-role students (lets just say I got bored easily, so I sluffed off.. I have no problems being a B student). None of them really had any aptitude for programming, but the language itself worked well for them because of the syntax. We wrote simple games, stuff to do our math homework and difficult calculations, and the like. I ended up writing a printing program for printing out our source code.
Great part about Pascal in general is that it is a great precursor to C, or C++.
However, if you are going to insist on them having a language that they'll be able to use in a professional (or semi-professional) environment, you've got another vote for Python here. Perl is also good, but it'll be more difficult to learn.
Wait until online games with this advertising also allow user graffiti..
You are walking downtown. The year is 2150, and you see a billboard with Jen. Lopez, advertising the release of Gili (I think that was Jen Lopez, who cares) on 1337-DVD format (she did suspended animation-freezing-monkey-hokey stuff to stay alive).. Except there is a giant phallic-shaped object crudely drawn on her forehead, now.
15 bucks a month (for the first year) nets you 1.5mbps down and no official bandwidth cap (they say that if you abuse it, though, that they will do something). It tends to be pretty reliable, too, in my area (mid missouri). The rates are supposed to jump after the first year of service, though, but this is the only decent provider in my area (podunk hick town) for high speed access.
I live with my mother for a few good reasons. I'm a college student, and will graduate in one more semester - money tends to be pretty tight, so it is MUCH cheaper for me to live with her during the summer. The college I attend has crap scholarships for off campus students, so getting my own apartment every summer would be pretty inane.
I don't exactly enjoy living with my mother, but right now there isn't much of a choice. I don't have any problems getting dates because of it, either - most girls like the fact that my mother and I have a good relationship.
Then there are people like my mother and I, who only buy stuff if it is 25-50 percent cheaper than the average retail value (including rebates). This doesn't include food, but we usually buy that wherever it is cheaper, too.
My rule of thumb is this:
Charge an hourly rate for time spent, and log your hours. Charge what you think your time is worth - I've seen 15 bucks, to 50 bucks for PC troubleshooting.
As far as what services you should offer, don't limit yourself if you want to make a regular steady stream of cash. Offer troubleshooting, repair, and upgrading. AV services is a must.
Networking services can net you 100-200 bucks an hour, depending on the area. This is assuming you know what you are doing and work relatively quick. If it is just basic home networking, I'd lean towards 25-50 bucks an hour or less (just because it is stupid easy to set up a home network:P)
No, he thought 9/11 was a conspiracy (which was his own words). It could have been set up by the gov't, blah blah blah. A hoax would mean it didn't happen at all.
Slashdot Mirror
As a composer and instrumentalist, I love Rosegarden. I haven't had a chance to produce any major works in it yet, though; I'm still familiarizing myself with it. Regardless, the power of it is incredible.
Only problem is it can be a bit of a hassle to get working. Other than that, I love it.
Most of my recent pieces I have done in Steinberg Cubasis VST (Creative Edition), just because I can use the Sampletank2 Free VST instrument with it (in Windows). If you'd like to hear some of my stuff, you'll have to visit my site and find em' (sorry, gotta save bandwidth, so lazy people aren't just downloading because they have phat pipe :)).
As a professional web developer, my focus is well designed, standards compliant, highly accessable websites. I'm still working pretty hard on developing sites good for those using TTS readers (ex: putting common text content at the bottom of the code), but other than that, I stick with HTML 4.01 Strict (minus one of my sites, which uses Textpattern.. I'm switching to a different CMS over Xmas) with CSS.
I switched from 2.4.x to 2.6.7 when it came out, and haven't had a single problem. Some of the newer ones seem iffy, but 2.6.7 is rock-solid as far as I can tell.
I still prefer to use 2.4.x series kernels in servers, just to have that extra insurance (the servers I run have very little need for the features in 2.6.7), but desktop machines get 2.6.7 all the way.
Honestly, I think AC2 was a fluke, and a learning experience for Turbine. They know better now ;) I played AC1 on and off since the public beta, and it is probably my favorite MMORPG (I've played AC1, a little EQ, Lineage II, RYL, Anarchy Online, and that FF mmorpg, FFXI I think it was).
I played AC1 a lot during highschool, and occasionally over holidays from college. Everybody who had played AC2 said it was nothing compared to 1.
Glad to hear AC1 is sticking around, though.
..the great boon for indie artists such as myself, who don't charge for our music, and give it away on our own websites (now, if I could only draw some fanbase with some actual cash to donate so I could cover bandwidth costs) :)
If you are interested in hearing my stuff, you'll have to hit my website network (see my user profile website) and find the sites yourself.. Please, PLEASE share my music over P2P if you aren't willing to donate cash to help cover bandwidth :P I can only afford about 2gb worth of downloads a day.
Honestly though, my fanbase has gotten much bigger since the RIAA started really pushing the music industry into the current era. People are actually considering indie artists as real musicians, and free legal music tends to be an attractive incentive (except for the fact that some don't actually save my music to their harddrive.. they just come back and steal my bandwidth every time they want to listen to something :P).
You can usually find a number of recommendations by freelancers such as myself for hosting suggestions.
A Small Orange is really popular right now among devs. I'm setting a client up with them, myself. They apparently have superb service and reliability. Another popular one is Dreamhost. I'll be switching over to them in 6-9 months, more than likely.
When I try to read the informationweek article, my browser locks up and gives an SSL error (Error code: -12281). I'm running the latest FF and Slackware 10.
Anybody else having any problems with the article
ARGH! Thanks for catching that. I hate it when I do that.
This is what I get for growing up in America.. I butcher the English language to an extreme degree :)
..People like modding it/installing 3rd party software on it more :)
Seriously. I want one just for all the cool hacks that keep coming out for it. I could care less about games :P
Main thing keeping me from using Opera is that I can't (well, last I knew) sync my bookmarks quickly and efficiently. I have 3 OSes (1 on my laptop, 2 on my desktop) that I need to sync bookmarks between. The extension I have in FF automatically handles that for me, which is a real benefit. I guess I could write a script to sync bookmarks and then launch the browser, but I wouldn't know how to approach that in Windows (honestly, I'm so sick of Cygwin.. It just plain sucks IMHOH :)).
Doh, sorry. I was trying to do 2 things at once, and I didn't finish my point :) ..to ensure that the user's browsing experience is a pleasant one. There :)
Firefox's extensions are a great boon to functionality. It suits me, and it suits all the other people I have recommended it to. As well, Firefox runs much faster on my 300mhz 192mb ram laptop compared to Opera.
I'm not saying anything is wrong with Opera necessarily, it just doesn't suit me or a number of my friends. I do have friends (and numerous visitors) who use Opera, and I have no complaints with it. I just prefer Firefox.
I have had problems with Opera's stability in the past (version 7, initial release of 8). It was usually only in extreme cases, but I have had only 1 crash with Firefox since I started using it. Plus, I like the ability to strip down my interface to the bare minimum - Opera's free release has ads, which take up valuable screen space. Not to mention the fact that I rely heavily on a few Firefox plugins - Bookmark sync, adblock, and a few web developer extensions. Firefox just suits my needs much better.
While passing the Acid2 test would be a great thing, it tests things to an extreme, and doesn't really test realistic web design. Firefox does a MUCH better job of standards compliance than IE - You can still design standards compliant websites, and have them display properly in Firefox (on the rare occasion do I need to actually tweak something to make it work in FF).
Opera is a great browser for ensuring pages display according to standards compliance, but Firefox has the features, speed, and stability to ensure that the user's browsing experience. Not saying Opera is bad, but I just don't like it as much as I like FF. I just have to hope and pray that FF keeps pushing closer towards full standards compliance; Right now is a good time for browser developers to focus on it, since MS is finally going to try and catch up.
In conclusion, don't design for the browser, design for the standards. I'm not sure about application development standards (I don't do much web app dev, personally), but when employers hear about the ensurance of long-term functionality, odds are they will go for standards rather than vendor specifics.
One argument I always give for my fellow developers is that standards compliance means your website will work for a lot longer if you adhere to the standards currently in place.. Who says MS is always going to support their IE-specific code? IE7 is supposedly going to have better standardization, which is going to take a lot of work on their part. Browsers have more reasons to adhere to standards that are in place, rather than their own specific little extras they came up with back in the day, which developers are pushing against..
I did my programming in HS with TurboPascal, in a "Computer Math" class.
It was just me and a few honor-role students (lets just say I got bored easily, so I sluffed off.. I have no problems being a B student). None of them really had any aptitude for programming, but the language itself worked well for them because of the syntax. We wrote simple games, stuff to do our math homework and difficult calculations, and the like. I ended up writing a printing program for printing out our source code.
Great part about Pascal in general is that it is a great precursor to C, or C++.
However, if you are going to insist on them having a language that they'll be able to use in a professional (or semi-professional) environment, you've got another vote for Python here. Perl is also good, but it'll be more difficult to learn.
You are walking downtown. The year is 2150, and you see a billboard with Jen. Lopez, advertising the release of Gili (I think that was Jen Lopez, who cares) on 1337-DVD format (she did suspended animation-freezing-monkey-hokey stuff to stay alive).. Except there is a giant phallic-shaped object crudely drawn on her forehead, now.
Doh, sorry, my bad. I should have read the topic :(
I'm an idiot.
use robots.txt in the first place.
15 bucks a month (for the first year) nets you 1.5mbps down and no official bandwidth cap (they say that if you abuse it, though, that they will do something). It tends to be pretty reliable, too, in my area (mid missouri). The rates are supposed to jump after the first year of service, though, but this is the only decent provider in my area (podunk hick town) for high speed access.
I live with my mother for a few good reasons. I'm a college student, and will graduate in one more semester - money tends to be pretty tight, so it is MUCH cheaper for me to live with her during the summer. The college I attend has crap scholarships for off campus students, so getting my own apartment every summer would be pretty inane.
I don't exactly enjoy living with my mother, but right now there isn't much of a choice. I don't have any problems getting dates because of it, either - most girls like the fact that my mother and I have a good relationship.
Then there are people like my mother and I, who only buy stuff if it is 25-50 percent cheaper than the average retail value (including rebates). This doesn't include food, but we usually buy that wherever it is cheaper, too.
My rule of thumb is this:
Charge an hourly rate for time spent, and log your hours. Charge what you think your time is worth - I've seen 15 bucks, to 50 bucks for PC troubleshooting.
As far as what services you should offer, don't limit yourself if you want to make a regular steady stream of cash. Offer troubleshooting, repair, and upgrading. AV services is a must.
Networking services can net you 100-200 bucks an hour, depending on the area. This is assuming you know what you are doing and work relatively quick. If it is just basic home networking, I'd lean towards 25-50 bucks an hour or less (just because it is stupid easy to set up a home network :P)
I guess they had to have SOMETHING for the press, though.
There are a number of easier ways to get porn - most people wouldn't consider a video game quality porn, anyway.
OpenSourceCMS.com: Try before you.. install.
I use Textpattern for my security site, Security Engine. It is a bit awkward at first, but is a very nice CMS once you learn the basics of it.
No, he thought 9/11 was a conspiracy (which was his own words). It could have been set up by the gov't, blah blah blah. A hoax would mean it didn't happen at all.