As the GP mentioned, any-distro, painless install is the dream and reality of autopackage.
Re:I want a game system, not a status symbol.
on
Xbox 360 for $300
·
· Score: 1
GP said:
I as well own all three game systems, and when a title comes out for all three, let's say Midnight Club 3 for example, I'm going to choose to play this title on XBox because of it's superior feature set.
This means: All things (ie the game) being equal, the theatrical sound and high definition picture make the xbox version a smarter purchase. Numbty.
That's definitely one for bugzilla. As mentioned, it's happy to use as much ram as you give it, but out of memory errors is a bug. I've always found the team very responsive to any serious issue (want to have's can take a good long time).
I agree halfway. AA fonts in Linux _are_ blurry, but they're blurry in Windows too (there's some tweak I turned on once). Using Tahoma/Andale Mono with no-AA works perfectly, provided it's not some olde-tyme widget displaying fonts. Moving to Tahoma makes Evolution usable.
Having received an iPod mini a month ago, I can say that while a beautiful thing (and nice to hold), the UI is far from ideal. The thumb disc is neat, but for selecting a specific menu item, I frequently miss what I'm aiming for. The best widget for operating the iPod would be something like the thumb wheel on the Sony Clie.
It is gorgeous, though.
Noone today believes loyalty to their employer will be reciprocated. You may have been the last benighted soul, but thanks to Slashdot, now you too have been enlightened.
Employment of the white collar kind has more securities than day labor, but the agreement is essentially the same: "we have work, you want to work". The only way to escape this situation is to hire yourself.
The beauty of the Nubbin (as it is officially known) is that you can easily manipulate the mouse without taking your figures from the home row. It definitely can put a dent in your fingertip if you have to mouse a lot of stuff, but for simple cursor placement, it's far superior to the touchpad.
And I don't think I've ever hit it accidentally (instead of G,H, or B on a Thinkpad).
Sadly true (either about getting older or hating the haters). Occasionally there's some expert analysis, some guy who really knows what's going on and shines a bright light on the FA, but too many of the posts are "This is so crap!" or something that effect.
Re:Well, let's take a look at the highest profile
on
McVoy Strikes Back
·
· Score: 1
The original zelda is here both in spirit and actuality in all the fetch and puzzle games. I never understood why my brother played it all the way through, but all the 3-D adventure games are essentially the same thing, but with "real" interaction and more involved stories (check out Silent Hill 2... gave me the willies). As for Beachhead, it was a 3D game, just using the existing stoneage technology. Remember shooting the planes as they approached the battleship?
Where I do agree with you, though, is M.U.L.E. I can't ever see anyone truly improving it, since it's the stripped down market bit that makes it fun. I just got the emulated version for the Xbox, and it is fantastic. Monumental replay value. I imagine somebody could improve the plot management part of the game (make the wampus catching consistent!), but for the rest of the game, M.U.L.E. got it right.
It's not even particularly radical, the solution is a couple of hundred years old, it's just that until very recently it's been cheaper to just pump in more oil, gas or coal.
How is more efficient to use the "100 year old solution" when the price doesn't reflect this? I'm not saying I'm all about running the a/c with the doors open (just the opposite since this hits me in the wallet), but I assume the market is pretty good and finding the most efficient solution, be it throwing in more coal or capturing waste heat.
Considering the scale of energy production, even tiny improvements, if they hit the bottom line, would be used.
But the problem for me is that the advanced options are things I use every time
What in options in particular? I used to be a crazy configurator, but I don't have the time and don't enjoy it as much in any case. What I love about Gnome (and Ubuntu in particular), is that the defaults make it possible to be productive without spending hours fiddling with the desktop.
No. It's a classic case of using the wrong tool. If Gnome is (to you) a dull butcher knife, and you need a scalpel, then maybe you need a different tool. Gnome is just about perfect for what I do (I'd like more stability in Nautilus, and thumbnails in the file dialog, but that's about it), and I would hate to see a reversion to a "twiddle every damn thing" GUI.
Maybe XFCE, KDE, or whatever would be a better fit to your needs, but don't mangle my scalpel into a club, please.
Heck, XP runs usably *standalone* on any P2 class machine with 384MB of RAM or more.
I didn't do any kind of customization, but my wife's Dell Inspiron 1100 2.4G with 256M was a dog with the installed XP. After everything loaded, (defaults + spybot/antivirus) there was only 60M of free mem. She could run a browser without grinding the hard drive, but a second application would make the thing almost unusable.
Do you have to do any witchery to get the old machines to run?
Making mp3s was simple compared to getting java and Eclipse installed, but I'd rather buy a Mac than have to go through that again.
Not that it matters much, but installing eclipse and java on linux is no more effort than:
download linux version of java
chmod 755 installer.bin (or whatever it's called), run it
move the untarred jdk to wherever you want it, make links to java in your/usr/local/bin
That's java. Eclipse is:
download Eclipse
untar it to where you want it to go
** tricky part ** Create a script that 'cd $ECLIPSE_HOME' (wherever you installed Eclipse) and './eclipse'
That's all there is to it. I don't know about the Free versions (GCJ compiled, or running it on kaffe or the like), but with Sun Java, it's really not any harder than installing any non-apt program.
For me, it was the first distro to automatically detect my wireless card. I didn't have to configure much beyond adding "Universe" repositories. I like Gnome, but I like the way Ubuntu has configured the desktop and menu even better. It was noticably faster on the desktop than the Fedora 3 install I had on my Dell Inspiron 1100 previously. There is a definite fit and finish to Ubuntu that I didn't find with the Fedora or straight Debian.
There are doubtless many distros that do all the above, but Ubuntu has a Debian repositories, commercial backing (definitely makes a for better product), and a huge community of friendly people.
Rather than marketshare, software vendors, both open- and closed-source, should be focusing on their loyal customers/users.
As a Mozilla suite non-user I'm happy to see resources directed to Firefox, but even if I were one of the few, I certainly recognize that any company has limited resources (particularly those not funded through profit) and decisions have to be made where best to allocate those resources. You can't please all the people, profit or no, and you try as best you can to hit the fat part of the curve.
Unlike the Amiga guy, at least you can take over the niche development for Mozilla (and now you can sneer at everyone who says, "why don't yourself?!").
I saw a program on Nova about this phenomenon. As I recall, there's some special "mirror neuron" in normal humans (as opposed the autistic, they speculate) that makes it easy for us to experience things vicariously, which also makes communication and learning much easier. Right up there with the show on dogs (dog/wolf relationship), I thought.
I will try it again in the future, I keep my eyes on most ditros, except for micro$oft linux. (redhat)
I will assume by your use of '$' for 's' that you are l33t at freequest.org, but indulge me a moment and explain how a company that has contributed mountains of code to Linux, and given Linux its strongest brand in America (and probably the world), can be equated with a company reknowned for extensive abuse of its monopoly position. I'm not new to Slashdot, but RedHat hating in miniature (without explanation) is so prevalant I assume I must have missed something since I started wasting my time here in ~2000.
I have several JREs installed on my machine, because different applications need different versions of Java.
I've read this complaint before, but I've only encountered it once: an internal application only works with the MS JRE. I'm not saying you're lying, but I use Java apps a fair amount and haven't seen this problem.
Trying to get an arbitrary Java application to run is usually a headache: CLASSPATH voodoo, prerequisite classes (often from Sun) you need to find and read licenses for. It's often an hour's work just to get the thing executing.
Again, just don't see this happening. The classpath can cause you problems (it's the number one headache of first year students), but for well packaged programs, not an issue. This is exactly the same problem that Linux had before apt-get, that installing any new program sent the user on a never ending quest into dependency hell. If the application is designed at all with the user in mind, all required libs are shipped with the product (the usual examples apply: JDiskReport, Azureus, Eclipse).
I have a number of applications whose installers included a whole JRE
Professional programs almost always include their own JRE, to make installation easier on the user. Smaller projects almost always offer the option of a JRE-less download (if they offer a download with a JRE at all). But again, I run a recent JRE and have never a backward compatibility issue.
I always thought of Java as pretty easy to program in and use, but Slashdot has revealed me to be l33t.
Serious... this _is_ Open Source, and surely an informed user's fundamental responsibility is to report such a serious bug. Whinging on Slashdot may be therapeutic for the parent, but it does nothing to improve the product.
Slashdot Mirror
As the GP mentioned, any-distro, painless install is the dream and reality of autopackage.
I as well own all three game systems, and when a title comes out for all three, let's say Midnight Club 3 for example, I'm going to choose to play this title on XBox because of it's superior feature set.
This means: All things (ie the game) being equal, the theatrical sound and high definition picture make the xbox version a smarter purchase. Numbty.
If KDE does this, will you demand your money back?
That's definitely one for bugzilla. As mentioned, it's happy to use as much ram as you give it, but out of memory errors is a bug. I've always found the team very responsive to any serious issue (want to have's can take a good long time).
I agree halfway. AA fonts in Linux _are_ blurry, but they're blurry in Windows too (there's some tweak I turned on once). Using Tahoma/Andale Mono with no-AA works perfectly, provided it's not some olde-tyme widget displaying fonts. Moving to Tahoma makes Evolution usable.
Having received an iPod mini a month ago, I can say that while a beautiful thing (and nice to hold), the UI is far from ideal. The thumb disc is neat, but for selecting a specific menu item, I frequently miss what I'm aiming for. The best widget for operating the iPod would be something like the thumb wheel on the Sony Clie. It is gorgeous, though.
Noone today believes loyalty to their employer will be reciprocated. You may have been the last benighted soul, but thanks to Slashdot, now you too have been enlightened.
Employment of the white collar kind has more securities than day labor, but the agreement is essentially the same: "we have work, you want to work". The only way to escape this situation is to hire yourself.
The beauty of the Nubbin (as it is officially known) is that you can easily manipulate the mouse without taking your figures from the home row. It definitely can put a dent in your fingertip if you have to mouse a lot of stuff, but for simple cursor placement, it's far superior to the touchpad.
And I don't think I've ever hit it accidentally (instead of G,H, or B on a Thinkpad).
Sadly true (either about getting older or hating the haters). Occasionally there's some expert analysis, some guy who really knows what's going on and shines a bright light on the FA, but too many of the posts are "This is so crap!" or something that effect.
PHP = Cold Fusion knockoff Python = Java/C knockoff
Valid, and wrong.
Original Zelda? Beach head?
The original zelda is here both in spirit and actuality in all the fetch and puzzle games. I never understood why my brother played it all the way through, but all the 3-D adventure games are essentially the same thing, but with "real" interaction and more involved stories (check out Silent Hill 2... gave me the willies). As for Beachhead, it was a 3D game, just using the existing stoneage technology. Remember shooting the planes as they approached the battleship?
Where I do agree with you, though, is M.U.L.E. I can't ever see anyone truly improving it, since it's the stripped down market bit that makes it fun. I just got the emulated version for the Xbox, and it is fantastic. Monumental replay value. I imagine somebody could improve the plot management part of the game (make the wampus catching consistent!), but for the rest of the game, M.U.L.E. got it right.
How is more efficient to use the "100 year old solution" when the price doesn't reflect this? I'm not saying I'm all about running the a/c with the doors open (just the opposite since this hits me in the wallet), but I assume the market is pretty good and finding the most efficient solution, be it throwing in more coal or capturing waste heat.
Considering the scale of energy production, even tiny improvements, if they hit the bottom line, would be used.
What in options in particular? I used to be a crazy configurator, but I don't have the time and don't enjoy it as much in any case. What I love about Gnome (and Ubuntu in particular), is that the defaults make it possible to be productive without spending hours fiddling with the desktop.
Maybe XFCE, KDE, or whatever would be a better fit to your needs, but don't mangle my scalpel into a club, please.
I didn't do any kind of customization, but my wife's Dell Inspiron 1100 2.4G with 256M was a dog with the installed XP. After everything loaded, (defaults + spybot/antivirus) there was only 60M of free mem. She could run a browser without grinding the hard drive, but a second application would make the thing almost unusable.
Do you have to do any witchery to get the old machines to run?
Making mp3s was simple compared to getting java and Eclipse installed, but I'd rather buy a Mac than have to go through that again.
Not that it matters much, but installing eclipse and java on linux is no more effort than:
That's java. Eclipse is:
That's all there is to it. I don't know about the Free versions (GCJ compiled, or running it on kaffe or the like), but with Sun Java, it's really not any harder than installing any non-apt program.
There are doubtless many distros that do all the above, but Ubuntu has a Debian repositories, commercial backing (definitely makes a for better product), and a huge community of friendly people.
As a Mozilla suite non-user I'm happy to see resources directed to Firefox, but even if I were one of the few, I certainly recognize that any company has limited resources (particularly those not funded through profit) and decisions have to be made where best to allocate those resources. You can't please all the people, profit or no, and you try as best you can to hit the fat part of the curve.
Unlike the Amiga guy, at least you can take over the niche development for Mozilla (and now you can sneer at everyone who says, "why don't yourself?!").
I saw a program on Nova about this phenomenon. As I recall, there's some special "mirror neuron" in normal humans (as opposed the autistic, they speculate) that makes it easy for us to experience things vicariously, which also makes communication and learning much easier. Right up there with the show on dogs (dog/wolf relationship), I thought.
I know from funny, and that was funny. I approve an increase in the above post's moderation.
That has got to be the most unnecessary comment ever posted to this site....
I will assume by your use of '$' for 's' that you are l33t at freequest.org, but indulge me a moment and explain how a company that has contributed mountains of code to Linux, and given Linux its strongest brand in America (and probably the world), can be equated with a company reknowned for extensive abuse of its monopoly position. I'm not new to Slashdot, but RedHat hating in miniature (without explanation) is so prevalant I assume I must have missed something since I started wasting my time here in ~2000.
I've read this complaint before, but I've only encountered it once: an internal application only works with the MS JRE. I'm not saying you're lying, but I use Java apps a fair amount and haven't seen this problem.
Trying to get an arbitrary Java application to run is usually a headache: CLASSPATH voodoo, prerequisite classes (often from Sun) you need to find and read licenses for. It's often an hour's work just to get the thing executing.
Again, just don't see this happening. The classpath can cause you problems (it's the number one headache of first year students), but for well packaged programs, not an issue. This is exactly the same problem that Linux had before apt-get, that installing any new program sent the user on a never ending quest into dependency hell. If the application is designed at all with the user in mind, all required libs are shipped with the product (the usual examples apply: JDiskReport, Azureus, Eclipse).
I have a number of applications whose installers included a whole JRE
Professional programs almost always include their own JRE, to make installation easier on the user. Smaller projects almost always offer the option of a JRE-less download (if they offer a download with a JRE at all). But again, I run a recent JRE and have never a backward compatibility issue.
I always thought of Java as pretty easy to program in and use, but Slashdot has revealed me to be l33t.
Serious... this _is_ Open Source, and surely an informed user's fundamental responsibility is to report such a serious bug. Whinging on Slashdot may be therapeutic for the parent, but it does nothing to improve the product.