Slashdot Mirror


User: Stevyn

Stevyn's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1,470
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1,470

  1. Re:Why Vista will suck... on Why Vista Won't Suck · · Score: 1

    The blame should be split amongst Microsoft and the application developers. Some applications simply require running under administrator. So users are forced to run as administrator. They do this at my school for two engineering computer labs because they have too. And of course it takes 8 minutes to log on to these computers and they have to re-image them constantly.

    On the other hand, on linux (never used a mac that much) it's simple to go back and forth using su or sudo to install applications or change settings without disrupting my work. So by design, it seems unix based OS's use the restricted user/root user idea well and microsoft has tried to wedge that functionality in over time but has not been sucessful and the companies making software don't seem to care or still can not develop applications that use parts of the OS not available to restricted user accounts.

    basically, in unix style OSs it works and in windows it doesn't work. That right there is the cause of so many problems but the solution requires so many people to change the way they think that it almost seems unfeasible.

  2. Re:Hooray for format wars on In Sony's Stumble, the Ghost of Betamax · · Score: 1

    Please don't say the ps3 "will" cost over $800. That figure was just some analyst's prediction to sell some advertisements.

  3. As some others are saying on Who Makes Custom Chips? · · Score: 2

    Look into FPGAs. Xilinx Spartans on boards with a bunch of other electronics might help in testing. Learn Verilog or VHDL and with some software you'll be designing some stuff easily. ModelSim is great for simulating and XilinxIse is a nice IDE to get started. The whole setup might cost a few pennies, but you can keep reprogramming and testing it until you decide to go further. There are lots of resources for Verilog and VHDL and Verilog is open. However, you're still gonna have to plunk down some money on proprietary software.

  4. Re:Why? on Novell Suggests Linux Program Replacements · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yep...there it is...another photoshop = gimp statement. And wait? Bluefish? Nvu maybe, but it too has its drawbacks. Basically if you are a company who is paying some graphics guy $40,000 a year plus overhead, why have them work with inferior products? The cost of windows and photoshop may seem high to hobbiests, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what you're gonna pay someone to use it. Even if gimp was 90% as good, it still might not make economic sense in the long run.

  5. Re:Allow me to be the first on Tech-Ed Funding to be Tied to Copyright-Ed? · · Score: 1

    I too didn't think it was that bad until I got to that point. However, I see it more as these big copyright holders given a stage to spout whatever they feel the implications of p2p. That would be incredibly biased because from all that we've seen, the RIAA has been saying p2p will kill the industry for years. It sounds too much like propaganda than a serious education to me. If I was one of these tech ed students, I'd be damn pissed if I had to pay for a class to hear this dribble.

  6. Re:Is it really worth the hassle? on Microsoft Anti-Spyware Removes Norton Anti-Virus · · Score: 1

    Basically it comes down to the specific situation. For some, windows may be cheaper, for others, linux may be cheaper, and for other's unix might be cheaper. The point is you can't generalize things into what's best for everyone.

    Throwing Ubuntu on for someone who can get by with openoffice is cheaper than getting a dell with office 2003 installed. In some situations, office 2003 might be best because a user will work more efficiently with it. I personally believe office 2003 is better than openoffice for me, so I go back and forth with it because I prefer to use linux. It's always a tradeoff. The best people in IT should educate themselves and figure out what's best for their company.

  7. Re:Protection Fees on Microsoft Officially Announces Anti-Virus Product · · Score: 1

    And when a new vulnerability comes out they can wait a little longer to patch it for the people who don't pay this fee. Microsoft has been getting too greedy since windows XP came out. Between activation and this, they're gonna turn too many people away to apple or linux.

  8. OT: String theory special on science channel on Test for String Theory Developed · · Score: 1

    This is off topic, but last night I was watching a special on string theory on the science channel - another discovery channel. And while it first seemed interesting, about halfway through it I realized it was almost completely devoid of actual information. Other than cool graphics and bouncing numbers, very little on the theory was actually presented.

    I'm gonna read the article on wikipedia, maybe I'll get some more information.

  9. Re:In other news... on GIMP Not Enough for Linux Users? · · Score: 1

    I can't agree with you there. Each new version of photoshop is easier to use even though it packs in more features. Photoshop is the standard. GIMP may have the same capabilities, but it's user interface is crap. What's worse is how many people have made this argument and the GIMP people seem to ignore it thinking their shit doesn't stink.

  10. Re:Slipstreaming on Installing Windows with Recent Updates? · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've slipstreamed service pack 2 onto the windows xp cd, but you still have to go through the process the poster is talking about. I don't know if you can slipstream individual patches, however, even if you could, you'd still have to do it a few times a month. I think the poster is asking about a general script that would do this without human intervention, whereas slipstreaming still takes time.

  11. Re:Firefox's Ping Attribute: Useful AND Spyware on Firefox 's Ping Attribute: Useful or Spyware? · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nooo! Here in the US, the media polarizes two options and have people in bow ties argue it. You're either in agreement with this idea or totally against it.

  12. Re:Debain Box+USB Disks+Rsync on Home Network Data Storage Device · · Score: 1

    I did the same thing. We had about 1.4 GB of documents to keep safe. Originally the P4 box had windows 98, one hard disk and a tape backup system that wasn't working reliably (I didn't set it up). So I wiped windows 98 off, replaced the one hard disk with 3 smaller 10 gb hard disks (new off ebay to save costs) and installed ubuntu. One hard disk serves to hold ubuntu and the data. Another hard disk is internal and another one is in an external usb enclosure. Each night, a cron job uses rsync to back up the data.

    So in event a hard disk fails, there are two copies of the data with at most a one day lag. Any file that is accidentally deleted over a day old can be recovered since rsync doesn't delete old or deleted files (I'll do this manually by running the rsync command with the --delete option). If the power supply fails and burns out the two hard disks, the USB disk on a APC backup will keep ticking.

    This setup isn't perfect. But for $113 (3 hd and 1 usb enclosure) it's a cheap and automated backup solution. A problem will require user intervention to fix it, but nobody has to worry about changing the backup tapes every day.

  13. oops on Controlling Heating/Cooling on a Complex Schedule? · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I meant X10, not X11. And one more thing to add, what about adding more heating zones so you only heat the parts of the house you need too. Older homes with one heating zone can waste a lot of money whereas if you only need a few rooms warm and toasty and the others at around 60, you could save some more money.

  14. just a though on Controlling Heating/Cooling on a Complex Schedule? · · Score: 1

    This might get ugly, especially if you don't have that much experience with hardware/software programming, but you could make something yourself. Dick around with the thermostat for a while until you figure out how you can control it with a relay. Then look in designing and programming some software to control it (add on or parallel port). This is quickly sounding like a geek project, but if you have the time and interest it could be fun and cost efficient. You might also want to look into any off the shelf X11 components you can find to help you out or provide insight into alternative ideas.

  15. Re:The major lesson of all this. on MIT Startup Tests Top Million Sites for Spyware · · Score: 1

    yeah but for most people using the popular distros, installing software means using some sort of software management tool. this usually means that the software you're trying to install has gone through some sort of checking process, be it formal or informal, and much safer than just downloading some .exe off the web and running it. It's no silver bullet and problems can still arise, but IMHO, it's a lot safer.

  16. This was so stupid on Microsoft Challenges Linux's Legacy Claims · · Score: 1

    He claims that you have to be a linux developer to install linux which is crap. In fact, it's a lot easier to get linux running than say windows 2000 or 98 (since we're talking legacy here). I will agree that modern operating systems will run slowly on outdated hardware. But to say that a computer runs windows (version??) fast and "linux" slowly is saying nothing. Most modern distros I've tried do run slowly on older hardware (amd k6-2 500 with ample ram) However, windows xp would crawl on such a machine, so it's unfair to say that windows runs faster because I can load windows 98 on it and have it perform okay.

    This entire article was BS and had nothing truthful or insightful to say.

  17. Re:E85 is a scam on N.Y. Governor Pushing for Alternate Fuels · · Score: 1

    I'd still rather divert the billions to companies in the US than in the Middle East. Face it, for a long time consumers are going to be buying fuel from somebody.

  18. Re:So, what about... on Google Video Store Announced · · Score: 1

    Yeah but the people who write the software that they're running, Linux, are a very small subset of the people using linux, me and presumably you. So if it's not gonna make them money, then why should they do it? I'm not saying they shouldn't, but just because they use linux doesn't mean they should develop software for other people that also use linux.

    They're still a business, they still need to make money and they are not always going to be "not evil".

  19. Re:Felony? on Felony For Refreshing a Web Page? · · Score: 1

    In my humble opinion, it sounds more like someone putting a straw in their mouth and blowing reallly hard as to create enough wind to blow down the school. No cop would arrest someone doing this because they'd realize it's a waste of time. But once you enter this computer world mumbo jumbo, everyone thinks people with a keyboard are terrorists. An automated DDoS is one thing, but this was just some idiot being an idiot.

  20. Re:the media on Felony For Refreshing a Web Page? · · Score: 2, Funny

    It should have said:

    "He hacked into a web server (logged into blogspot) and modified the internal structure of it's files system (uploaded a web page) that created a "hyperlink" to the school's entire computer infrastructure (link to http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs). He then called upon his gang of evil cohourts to help him destroy their "servers" (asked people even more bored than him to visit that page and press F5 a few times until they realized it was as dumb as reading the blog). This caused a massive meltdown of "computer technology" which nearly destroyed the computer systems (they got more than 5 hits a day and wondered what was up).

    btw, the parts in parenthesis is (reality)

  21. Re:Felony? on Felony For Refreshing a Web Page? · · Score: 1

    It's a DDoS attack on the lines of "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

    The response was probably some sort of bullshit "tough on crime" zero tolerance "policy" at the school. Tough on crime does not mean create fellons out of kids who happen to be dicks one day. It means making sure people who commit violent crimes get punished. This whole zero tolerance fad ends up hurting the kids more than it helps them. Kids are supposed to make mistakes because they don't know better. Branding a kid a fellon for something this petty is outrageous.

  22. That green light.. on NVIDIA and Dell Display Quad-SLI System · · Score: 3, Funny
  23. Re:Eltron on One-at-a-time Mailing Label Printers? · · Score: 1

    When I was in high school I worked at a local (not a chain) video store. I had the task of figuring out how to make thousands of bar codes for the movies. Surely this wasn't to be done by hand, but using a spreadsheet and the Eltron software, I was able to figure out how to do it. The reason I mention this is because Eltron included some nice software to automatically generate labels and the poster should also look closely into the software provided when making the decision.

  24. Re:Dinosaurs on A Unified Theory of Animal Locomotion · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Gravity? I could understand if the atmosphere was thicker back then it may help the pterodactyls fly, but how was the gravity different? I'm not saying you're wrong, I've just never heard of this idea.

  25. Re:Easy solution on Ultrawide Zoom in a Compact Camera · · Score: 1

    You're totally correct. Kodak makes film, chemicals, photo paper, and professional printers (the ones that use light sensitive paper and chemicals and cost tens of thousands of dollars). What they don't do well is make consumer products. I had a kodak digital camera and it was a piece of shit. I bought it because it was cheap so I was half expecting it to break, but even their expensive cameras aren't that good.

    If I were to buy a digital camera and I wanted quality, I'd look to buy from companies that have been doing this for a while like canon, minolta and nikon. I'd stay away from hp, epson and kodak.