Sure, YMMV, but here's my recent experiences with one each of the three aforementioned devices under linux:
Scanner - plugged it in, recognised by XSane, scanning into GIMP without any problems.
Digital Camera - plugged it in, gthumb pops up and displays all the photos on the camera, drag and drop photos to folder of choice.
Printer - plugged it in, Computer > System > Printing > New Printer, selected the printer make & model, voila - printing for all applications.
The only one that really needed any user interaction was the last one, and in reality it's no harder than installing a printer under Windows - it's just slightly different. This was all done on Ubuntu Linux (an excellent distro, I might add), running on an IBM Thinkpad.
Sure, even as recently as, say, a year ago, the ease of using such devices would've been unthinkable, but the gap is almost non-existent these days. The ultimate goal with most of the major distributions seems to be this GUI seamlessness that will allow Linux to compete with Windows & OSX on the desktop for the average Joe Q. User.
I thought about installing Ubuntu on my parents' computer recently when they had some major virus/malware issues, but baulked, pretty much for the reasons you mentioned. But you've given me cause to reassess the situation - every time I visit them (or take a phone call from them!), I'm helping them set up or fix something or other on their Windows PC. If it was Linux, I'll probably still get those phone calls, but not through any fault of the operating system. I know I'll be asked how to create a spreadsheet macro, but it'll be on OpenOffice, and not Excel. I'll be asked how to rip songs for a media player, but it'll be teaching them how to use Grip instead of CDex. I'll have to show them how Synaptic works instead of Windows Update (which they're still unsure about). And yes, before anyone points it out, I am aware of the distinction between kernel/os/Xserver/GUI/application... But this is as valid at the distribution level as it is at the operating system level.
Sure, there are going to be devices that will throw up problems (HP scanners spring to mind...), but you're going to get that with any operating system. Just ask my parents...
"Gerry Garcia supports file sharing from beyond the grave" - now that's a headline I'd like to see!
In all seriousness, you can add Brian Jonestown Massacre to that list - they have close to their entire back catalogue (songs, videos, live recordings, interviews, etc) available for download from their official site.
I had a conversation with one of the top IBM Australia execs at the "open source" section of IBM Forum in Melbourne earlier on this year, and I asked him what was stopping IBM from using Linux on more desktops within their organisation (from memory he said that the desktop spread at IBM is something like 95% Windows, 5% Linux). His response was that it was only Lotus Notes that was holding them back.
Andrew Tridgell (Samba), who at the time was doing some work for IBM in Canberra and had just completed a panel discussion on the use of open source software, joined in the conversation and started fervently campaigning for IBM to ditch Notes in favour of the use of a wiki. The other IBM bigwigs who were floating around after the session gravitated over to the conversation and seemed genuinely interested in any technology that would free them from having to use Lotus Notes!
I'd wager that given IBM's newfound interest in OSS, a shift in trend from Notes to using a wiki would be something that is taken very seriously indeed.
Unfortunately, this server has been Slashdotted.
Please check back later.
Without having been able to check the site to RTFA, it would seem that, if nothing else, it does prove a level of robustness to the OSX system if a) it can be made to run on this hardware, and b) it can do so without falling over, albeit very, very slowly. Imagine trying to get WinXP running via an emulator on a similar-spec XT machine...? I'd wager that something would die before you even saw a boot screen...
Just like everyone urged their friends and family to switch from IE to Firefox, now could be the time to recommend gaim to them in place of their regular IM client. Except, maybe, those who like chinese porn.
Well there you go, I do stand corrected. Didn't realise that Firefox already had Atom support (nor, for that matter, that RSS wasn't as "open"). Cheers:)
I agree with Dave Winer, the author of the RSS format. With RSS feeds becoming more and more popular across a whole raft of different applications (including tasty new integration with Firefox), surely combining the two formats (Atom and RSS) would be beneficial, lest we end up with another VHS/Beta or DVD+/-RW/RAM situation... Rather than have the two battle it out to the death, why not get the best of both worlds?
What chance one of the big four (aim/icq/msn/yahoo) adopting these standards? Sorry, I did say standards, so you can discount msn. But if any of the other three did, and there was a greater level of interchangability between those, and jabber because of it, the takeup would be much higher.
But that's the thing about standards - unfortunately it's always the big players that seem to set the ones that have any major sway.
Didn't the first Melway street directory come about from a jaded old mapmaker driving around the streets of Melbourne in his Morris Minor in the late 60s making measurements and marking the whole thing down? I could be slightly wrong on those details, but I'm fairly sure that all the updates have been based on further (private) topographical surveying by Ausway since then. Of course, I could be way off the mark...
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, YMMV, but here's my recent experiences with one each of the three aforementioned devices under linux:
Scanner - plugged it in, recognised by XSane, scanning into GIMP without any problems.
Digital Camera - plugged it in, gthumb pops up and displays all the photos on the camera, drag and drop photos to folder of choice.
Printer - plugged it in, Computer > System > Printing > New Printer, selected the printer make & model, voila - printing for all applications.
The only one that really needed any user interaction was the last one, and in reality it's no harder than installing a printer under Windows - it's just slightly different. This was all done on Ubuntu Linux (an excellent distro, I might add), running on an IBM Thinkpad.
Sure, even as recently as, say, a year ago, the ease of using such devices would've been unthinkable, but the gap is almost non-existent these days. The ultimate goal with most of the major distributions seems to be this GUI seamlessness that will allow Linux to compete with Windows & OSX on the desktop for the average Joe Q. User.
I thought about installing Ubuntu on my parents' computer recently when they had some major virus/malware issues, but baulked, pretty much for the reasons you mentioned. But you've given me cause to reassess the situation - every time I visit them (or take a phone call from them!), I'm helping them set up or fix something or other on their Windows PC. If it was Linux, I'll probably still get those phone calls, but not through any fault of the operating system. I know I'll be asked how to create a spreadsheet macro, but it'll be on OpenOffice, and not Excel. I'll be asked how to rip songs for a media player, but it'll be teaching them how to use Grip instead of CDex. I'll have to show them how Synaptic works instead of Windows Update (which they're still unsure about). And yes, before anyone points it out, I am aware of the distinction between kernel/os/Xserver/GUI/application... But this is as valid at the distribution level as it is at the operating system level.
Sure, there are going to be devices that will throw up problems (HP scanners spring to mind...), but you're going to get that with any operating system. Just ask my parents...
Ethical legal action such as this? ;)
"Gerry Garcia supports file sharing from beyond the grave" - now that's a headline I'd like to see!
In all seriousness, you can add Brian Jonestown Massacre to that list - they have close to their entire back catalogue (songs, videos, live recordings, interviews, etc) available for download from their official site.
DB Error: connect failed
Maybe they could run the top500 website on it, using up some of those spare cpu cycles...
Hotter than my iPod after playing mp3s all day.
Or so I've heard.
"the cloud cover, which should be methane, seems to be composed of something else altogether"
or,
"the cloud cover that should be methane seems to be composed of something else altogether"
It's all far, far too much methane for this time of the morning, at any rate. I'm no expert myself, however more people should read this.
You think Titan's smooth - you should see Uranus...
*ducks*
I had a conversation with one of the top IBM Australia execs at the "open source" section of IBM Forum in Melbourne earlier on this year, and I asked him what was stopping IBM from using Linux on more desktops within their organisation (from memory he said that the desktop spread at IBM is something like 95% Windows, 5% Linux). His response was that it was only Lotus Notes that was holding them back.
Andrew Tridgell (Samba), who at the time was doing some work for IBM in Canberra and had just completed a panel discussion on the use of open source software, joined in the conversation and started fervently campaigning for IBM to ditch Notes in favour of the use of a wiki. The other IBM bigwigs who were floating around after the session gravitated over to the conversation and seemed genuinely interested in any technology that would free them from having to use Lotus Notes!
I'd wager that given IBM's newfound interest in OSS, a shift in trend from Notes to using a wiki would be something that is taken very seriously indeed.
Unfortunately, this server has been Slashdotted.
Please check back later.
Without having been able to check the site to RTFA, it would seem that, if nothing else, it does prove a level of robustness to the OSX system if a) it can be made to run on this hardware, and b) it can do so without falling over, albeit very, very slowly. Imagine trying to get WinXP running via an emulator on a similar-spec XT machine...? I'd wager that something would die before you even saw a boot screen...
www.antisco.com and www.antisco.org are still available. Any takers?
More importantly, www.antisco.net seems to send people straight to slashdot. Who'd have thought it...
IANAL, but Voltaire always had a loophole with that one. He never actually specified whose death he was referring to.
"I disagree with what you say, but will defend to Darl McBride's death your right to say it."
the unit was warm to the touch and had drained half the battery
Isn't that supposed to be an ipod feature?
Just like everyone urged their friends and family to switch from IE to Firefox, now could be the time to recommend gaim to them in place of their regular IM client. Except, maybe, those who like chinese porn.
Well there you go, I do stand corrected. Didn't realise that Firefox already had Atom support (nor, for that matter, that RSS wasn't as "open"). Cheers :)
I agree with Dave Winer, the author of the RSS format. With RSS feeds becoming more and more popular across a whole raft of different applications (including tasty new integration with Firefox), surely combining the two formats (Atom and RSS) would be beneficial, lest we end up with another VHS/Beta or DVD+/-RW/RAM situation... Rather than have the two battle it out to the death, why not get the best of both worlds?
What chance one of the big four (aim/icq/msn/yahoo) adopting these standards? Sorry, I did say standards, so you can discount msn. But if any of the other three did, and there was a greater level of interchangability between those, and jabber because of it, the takeup would be much higher.
But that's the thing about standards - unfortunately it's always the big players that seem to set the ones that have any major sway.
Who needs kids to get 'em? It says THEY CAN DISPLAY MESSAGES! Imagine the possibilities!!!
"fuck....... you.................. motorist......"
Just wait for Steve Jobs to get his hands on it - slap on a coat of bright white paint and market it as an iBike...
I found the whole halftime "tit show" disappointing
Disappointed that they didn't show both tits?
Didn't the first Melway street directory come about from a jaded old mapmaker driving around the streets of Melbourne in his Morris Minor in the late 60s making measurements and marking the whole thing down? I could be slightly wrong on those details, but I'm fairly sure that all the updates have been based on further (private) topographical surveying by Ausway since then. Of course, I could be way off the mark...
They can't have been the Collins class subs, then. They haven't had the best of times in service with the Australian Navy...
"Gaylord and I worked since 1972 together to try and end financing first for Project Sanguine and then ELF. The Navy would always whip us."
I see that nothing's changed in the Navy, then...
Do you only have a 1gb hard drive? Or did you just not RTFA...?
He also, importantly, forgot to include the more important factor:
cf=0
where: care + factor = zero.
*ducks*
Delta Airlines? Phew! For a second there I thought something bad had happened to Delta Goodrem!