When compiling your own software, you dismiss this QA and take your own responsibility for the software quality, knowing that the quality is usally less.
Ridiculous. How is software that was handpicked and compiled for the specific task by a qualified person worse than a generic distro package where often you don't even know what compiler version and flags were used and which exotic patches might have been applied?
If you prefer to not know what's running on your server, fine. The fun ends when you sell that to your customers as a "professional" service. Ever noticed how the major distros tend to move to new flashy glibc and gcc versions real quick? Wasn't it RedHat, the so-called "enterprise" linux vendor, that was bitten hard by shipping an, uh, "early" gcc-version not so long ago?
You're certainly not the right person to hire for any mission critical app. (you know those where downtime really hurts and you can't just blame it on
"the vendor")
Last, your blanket statement about debian is so far off - not even worth discussing.
Give me a break here. For real linux-servers you'd better roll your own linux (remember, a real server takes a real admin...) or at the very least compile the critical runtime stuff (usually database, webserver, app server) and ofcourse the kernel from scratch.
If you seriously intend to put a stock distro kernel on it you have no deal setting up a "real" server.
... if there was some secure, reliable method of...
Do you know any single piece of software made by MS that you would consider secure or reliable?
By your definition of workstation-clustering Windows already has the feature anyways. We're reading about its RPC capabilities twice a week aren't we? Just remotely inject your trojan of choice (sth like back orifice?) across the office and do whatever it is you want to do. Cluster computing needs application-support anyways (unless they come up with a MOSIX which would make me laugh hard) so doing it that way is probably even easier and more secure (BO uses encryption) than whatever crap patch MS comes up with.
Prepaid piracy? So I'm now legally allowed to download the stuff I like? Nice move. These stories about RIAA ripping off students were getting boring anyways.
Ok, I know it's not really meant that way but how the heck are they justifying this "flat" 12 EUR tax then?
What's next, will they add an adobe-tax (roughly 80% of all photoshop installations are "borrowed")? Another 15 EUR to aid the holy war on ter^H^H^Hpiracy?
what about child porn? We all know computers are used to hurt little children. Another 30 EUR tax just because it's such a serious matter?
Will I pay a $50 tax on the next crowbar I buy because these are used to break into houses?
On a more serious note, I think all they will achieve if this becomes real is to hurt the german computer industry. It will drive the ppl that actually buy whiteboxes to Dell and other international distributors who will certainly find a way around this tax ("manufactured in...").
The only good thing is that constant media coverage (it's even *slowly* trickling into mainstream media) makes more and more people aware. Few of them will look for alternatives. Many of those make the switch to firefox (because it's easy and has the added bonus of suppressing these banner ads) but only a small number actually looks for another OS - because the only viable desktop alternative is still the mac and those are expensive.
It's just not very helpful that you can neither ALT-tab through individual terminal windows nor see window titles on the dock. - if you are running panther, try pressing F9. now try F10. http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/
Yea, I know about the expose feat. It sure is helpful for some ppl who switch applications once in a while (like every half hour). It does not help when you know the order of your terms ("three tabs from here is the term I need right now") and just want to navigate back and forth _very quick_. I can't really blame it on apple, that kind of usage-pattern was most likely not in their use-cases...
I haven't even found a way to get real *global* keyboard shortcuts, not even with a third party app. With *global* I mean: I expect to press Apple+T at any time, whatever app I'm in, and get a terminal window. Impossible? - not impossible! among the many (many) features of dragthing is the ability to put *global* keyboard shortcuts on any item... say an applescript that brings the terminal to the front and opens a new window?;)
Thanks for the pointer, I didn't know that one. I'll give it a shot and hope it works better than the utils that I have tried. Those all had the problem that they didn't work when I was in a different app. I always had to click on the desktop first to get them recognize their shortcuts. Then there was the problem with iTerm not opening a 2nd window unless I hit Apple+N.. well, I guess applescript can solve that.
I really hope apple adds some more flexibility to the UI with their next release (virtual desktops anyone? have a look at http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net/:)
I'm using that and dig the eyecandy. The integration with general window management is very poor, though. For example transients will usually (maybe always, I haven't quite figured that out) appear on the workspace that the app was initially launched on. E.g. when I open photoshop on one WS then switch to another, open an image there, edit it and click the close button, the save/dont-save/cancel dialog will pop up on the _first_ WS, out of sight. This can be dealt with for PS but is a pain with things like instant messaging clients (while sometimes desired it should - as usual - be a per-window pref setting).
There are other minor nitpicks (sticky shortcut doesnt work for me) but I'm not bashing WSM for it. Actually I'm bashing no one for it, just pointing out that Aqua begins to feel "clumsy" very soon after first contact to a hardcore linux/blackbox/ion user. Did I mention ALT+LMB = drag / ALT+RMB = resize doesn't work either?;-)
I agree with most of your points, but would like to point out that some of them also have downsides:
spring-loaded folders
I really love them, too. But why is it that this spring loading doesn't work in the dock? I frequently drag an icon to the finder-img on the dock just to be reminded yet again that some things were indeed not thought through to the end there...
the dock
Hundreds of people have written their rant about the dock (cf google). I can deal with it but prefer an "old fashioned" task bar any day. The way it is you get into deep trouble if you try to work with many windows (the OS designers obviously didnt think anyone would want to do that). It's just not very helpful that you can neither ALT-tab through individual terminal windows nor see window titles on the dock.
the way you can Command-Click on any GUI element such as a scrollbar, and you can use it without forcing it to the front
IMHO just a weak patch for the very unflexibel focus model. Personally I'd prefer if the windows *never* came to the front on click but only when I click the titlebar or do a meta-click (e.g. command click...) Again this should be a preferences option.
I could go on with many things here but it generally boils down to the fact that the Mac UI is not very customizable. You get a very newbie friendly and slick looking environment but don't even think about trying to change the way it functions. I haven't even found a way to get real *global* keyboard shortcuts, not even with a third party app. With *global* I mean: I expect to press Apple+T at any time, whatever app I'm in, and get a terminal window. Impossible?
Also I'd love to remap the keyboard, heavily. The layout apple as chosen for german keyboards is just sick, esp. if you are trying to write code (i have to press three keys to get a backslash? give me a break...).
I really hope apple adds some more flexibility to the UI with their next release (virtual desktops anyone?) or, despite all the eycandy of OS X, my ibook will soon be running linux...
Agree'd. If now apple could just return to/home instead of/Users and generally put some sanity into their directory clutter (why the heck do I need/Library and/System/Library?) I'd be happy.
Same here (ibook + linux router). And I didnt find it that hard to set up (good learning expirience) but you obviously need some basic networking knowledge (IP addresses and such).
The only problem is that when a friend comes over he can't just hook into the wifi. But well, that's how I learned that OpenVPN works fine on windows, too and once you've scribbled up the really small config file (mine is 10 lines!) it's a matter of minutes to enable a new host.
Thanks for the info! I was especially worried about power mgmt not working properly. Guess I'll do the switch someday when I've had enough OSX eyecandy.
Right now it's still bearable but the lack of proper window management (cant alt-tab through individual terminals, alt-lmb = drag doesnt work) and the quierky keyboard layout (no del-key, backslash and pipe in awkward positions on german layout) are pretty annoying...
Most newer HDDs you can buy nowadays may be considered silent. Try a seagate barracuda if you want to be sure (they're known for low noise level, hence the name). Any 3.5" IDE-HDD should be compatible with your cube.
Unfornationally harddisks tend to get louder over time, so prepare to swap in a new one maybe once a year or get a 3.5"->2.5" adapter and install a small notebook hdd which are even quieter.
- Have you compared battery life under Mac OS X vs linux (any difference?)? - Does airport work under linux? - Does suspending work properly under linux (close lid = zzZz)?
Anyone storing sensitive info like CC numbers would better have implemented a tiny bit more layers of security. CC numbers should just not live in the same RDBMS that does your other crap. At the very least they should be stored in a separate one, on a separate host. Also the operation to get one shouldn't be a plain lookup but they'd hopefully be stored in encrypted form (key would be userid+password).
I know this is far from reality in 9 out of 10 PHP webshops...
A story about slow bootup and nobody mentioned minit, yet?
Well, it does exactly what some people proposed: launch stuff in parallel. It works and is noticably faster than SysV-init (my laptop comes up in 18s).
I still have a major problem with firefox (that's otherwise excellent): It's still not letting me use my $EDITOR to edit these goddamn textareas!!
Am I the only one who hates these clumsy textarea input widgets we have to deal with every day? They're a pain for anything more than hacking up a couple lines of text.
The tab-key doesn't work, linewrap can't be turned off, copy/paste is "sometimes" flakey, the entered text cannot easily be saved elsewhere (without copy/paste), even basic formatting is hard (due to enforced linewrap and missing tab), spellchecking does not exist (maybe in opera?), focus can get screwed up and hitting enter might then submit whatever you scribbled up so far, etc. etc.
It's ok for slashdot but when you work alot with wikis (I do) you learn to love links which let's you use any editor for textareas. Unfornationally links is not good for everything so I find myself jumping back and forth...
I found a plugin for firefox (0.9 I think) awhile back that claimed it would allow to use a custom editor for textareas but, well, it didn't work.
Is this really too much asked (doesn't anyone else care about it?). I mean, having a little xterm with whatever editor embedded in the browser canvas would be the shit. But I'd already be happy if I could just launch it in an external window by clicking a button...
You'd better always be sure whats gonna make sense in your particular case. Does apple also have the "immediately delete"-option so things that go to the trashcan are not saved?
Slashdot Mirror
When compiling your own software, you dismiss this QA and take your own responsibility for the software quality, knowing that the quality is usally less.
Ridiculous. How is software that was handpicked and compiled for the specific task by a qualified person worse than a generic distro package where often you don't even know what compiler version and flags were used and which exotic patches might have been applied?
If you prefer to not know what's running on your server, fine.
The fun ends when you sell that to your customers as a "professional" service.
Ever noticed how the major distros tend to move to new flashy glibc and gcc versions real quick? Wasn't it RedHat, the so-called "enterprise" linux vendor, that was bitten hard by shipping an, uh, "early" gcc-version not so long ago?
You're certainly not the right person to hire for any mission critical app.
(you know those where downtime really hurts and you can't just blame it on
"the vendor")
Last, your blanket statement about debian is so far off - not even worth discussing.
I have nothing to say but I'm the first at that!
Give me a break here. For real linux-servers you'd better roll your own linux (remember, a real server takes a real admin...) or at the very least compile the critical runtime stuff (usually database, webserver, app server) and ofcourse the kernel from scratch.
If you seriously intend to put a stock distro kernel on it you have no deal setting up a "real" server.
i'm not a grammar nazi but a *cough* news site *cough* would be emberassed by this...
The comet will be able to be seen in the sky
A VPN-system that comes with security problems "fixable with a little work"?
;-)
Exchange robust and "pretty" secure?
You deserve +3 funny
... if there was some secure, reliable method of ...
Do you know any single piece of software made by MS that you would
consider secure or reliable?
By your definition of workstation-clustering Windows already has the feature anyways.
We're reading about its RPC capabilities twice a week aren't we?
Just remotely inject your trojan of choice (sth like back orifice?) across the office and do whatever it is you want to do. Cluster computing needs application-support anyways (unless they come up with a MOSIX which would make me laugh hard) so doing it that way is probably even easier and more secure (BO uses encryption) than whatever crap patch MS comes up with.
Prepaid piracy? So I'm now legally allowed to download the stuff I like?
Nice move. These stories about RIAA ripping off students were getting boring anyways.
Ok, I know it's not really meant that way but how the heck are they justifying
this "flat" 12 EUR tax then?
What's next, will they add an adobe-tax (roughly 80% of all photoshop installations are "borrowed")? Another 15 EUR to aid the holy war on ter^H^H^Hpiracy?
what about child porn? We all know computers are used to hurt little children. Another 30 EUR tax just because it's such a serious matter?
Will I pay a $50 tax on the next crowbar I buy because these are used to break into houses?
On a more serious note, I think all they will achieve if this becomes real is to hurt the german computer industry. It will drive the ppl that actually buy whiteboxes to Dell and other international distributors who will certainly find a way around this tax ("manufactured in...").
Tradition.
Nope.
They are offering a bounty ($250,000) for information that leads in the arrest and conviction of the author of MSBlast.A, Sobig or Mydoom.B.
I seriously consider to claim I have written all three of them and collect the $750,000. How long would I be in jail, 3 yrs?
Microsoft's software is becoming ridiculous!
It's been there for quite a while...
The only good thing is that constant media coverage (it's even *slowly* trickling into mainstream media) makes more and more people aware. Few of them will look for alternatives. Many of those make the switch to firefox (because it's easy and has the added bonus of suppressing these banner ads) but only a small number actually looks for another OS - because the only viable desktop alternative is still the mac and those are expensive.
It's just not very helpful that you can neither ALT-tab through individual terminal windows nor see window titles on the dock.
;)
.. well, I guess applescript can solve that.
:)
;-)
- if you are running panther, try pressing F9. now try F10. http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/
Yea, I know about the expose feat. It sure is helpful for some ppl who switch applications once in a while (like every half hour). It does not help when you know the order of your terms ("three tabs from here is the term I need right now") and just want to navigate back and forth _very quick_.
I can't really blame it on apple, that kind of usage-pattern was
most likely not in their use-cases...
I haven't even found a way to get real *global* keyboard shortcuts, not even with a third party app. With *global* I mean: I expect to press Apple+T at any time, whatever app I'm in, and get a terminal window. Impossible?
- not impossible! among the many (many) features of dragthing is the ability to put *global* keyboard shortcuts on any item... say an applescript that brings the terminal to the front and opens a new window?
Thanks for the pointer, I didn't know that one. I'll give it a shot and hope it works better than the utils that I have tried. Those all had the problem that they didn't work when I was in a different app. I always had to click on the desktop first to get them recognize their shortcuts. Then there was the problem with iTerm not opening a 2nd window unless I hit Apple+N
I really hope apple adds some more flexibility to the UI with their next release (virtual desktops anyone?
have a look at http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net/
I'm using that and dig the eyecandy. The integration with general window management is very poor, though. For example transients will usually (maybe always, I haven't quite figured that out) appear on the workspace that the app was initially launched on. E.g. when I open photoshop on one WS then switch to another, open an image there, edit it and click the close button, the save/dont-save/cancel dialog will pop up on the _first_ WS, out of sight.
This can be dealt with for PS but is a pain with things like instant messaging clients (while sometimes desired it should - as usual - be a per-window pref setting).
There are other minor nitpicks (sticky shortcut doesnt work for me) but I'm not bashing WSM for it. Actually I'm bashing no one for it, just pointing out that Aqua begins to feel "clumsy" very soon after first contact to a hardcore linux/blackbox/ion user. Did I mention ALT+LMB = drag / ALT+RMB = resize doesn't work either?
I agree with most of your points, but would like to point out that some of them also have downsides:
spring-loaded folders
I really love them, too. But why is it that this spring loading doesn't work in the dock? I frequently drag an icon to the finder-img on the dock just to be reminded yet again that some things were indeed not thought through to the end there...
the dock
Hundreds of people have written their rant about the dock (cf google).
I can deal with it but prefer an "old fashioned" task bar any day. The way it is you get into deep trouble if you try to work with many windows (the OS designers obviously didnt think anyone would want to do that).
It's just not very helpful that you can neither ALT-tab through individual terminal windows nor see window titles on the dock.
the way you can Command-Click on any GUI element such as a scrollbar, and you can use it without forcing it to the front
IMHO just a weak patch for the very unflexibel focus model.
Personally I'd prefer if the windows *never* came to the front on click but only when I click the titlebar or do a meta-click (e.g. command click...)
Again this should be a preferences option.
I could go on with many things here but it generally boils down to the fact that the Mac UI is not very customizable. You get a very newbie friendly and slick looking environment but don't even think about trying to change the way it functions. I haven't even found a way to get real *global* keyboard shortcuts, not even with a third party app. With *global* I mean: I expect to press Apple+T at any time, whatever app I'm in, and get a terminal window. Impossible?
Also I'd love to remap the keyboard, heavily. The layout apple as chosen for german keyboards is just sick, esp. if you are trying to write code (i have to press three keys to get a backslash? give me a break...).
I really hope apple adds some more flexibility to the UI with their next release (virtual desktops anyone?) or, despite all the eycandy of OS X, my ibook will soon be running linux...
One hit every 5 minutes instead of n hits per second?
That *should* help a lot.
Well, paris hilton is in there, isn't it?
Agree'd. /home instead of /Users and generally put some sanity into their directory clutter (why the heck do I need /Library and /System/Library?) I'd be happy.
If now apple could just return to
Reminds me of Knight Rider.
Specifically the episode where K.I.T.T was turned into a portable TV.
Same here (ibook + linux router). And I didnt find it that hard to set up (good learning expirience) but you obviously need some basic networking knowledge (IP addresses and such).
The only problem is that when a friend comes over he can't just hook into the wifi. But well, that's how I learned that OpenVPN works fine on windows, too and once you've scribbled up the really small config file (mine is 10 lines!) it's a matter of minutes to enable a new host.
Thanks for the info!
I was especially worried about power mgmt not working properly.
Guess I'll do the switch someday when I've had enough OSX eyecandy.
Right now it's still bearable but the lack of proper window management (cant alt-tab through individual terminals, alt-lmb = drag doesnt work) and the quierky keyboard layout (no del-key, backslash and pipe in awkward positions on german layout) are pretty annoying...
Most newer HDDs you can buy nowadays may be considered silent.
Try a seagate barracuda if you want to be sure (they're known for low noise level, hence the name). Any 3.5" IDE-HDD should be compatible with your cube.
Unfornationally harddisks tend to get louder over time, so prepare to swap in a new one maybe once a year or get a 3.5"->2.5" adapter and install a small notebook hdd which are even quieter.
Let me shoot a couple questions at ya:
:)
- Have you compared battery life under Mac OS X vs linux (any difference?)?
- Does airport work under linux?
- Does suspending work properly under linux (close lid = zzZz)?
Any response would be highly appreciated!
Anyone storing sensitive info like CC numbers would better have implemented a tiny bit more layers of security. CC numbers should just not live in the same RDBMS that does your other crap. At the very least they should be stored in a separate one, on a separate host. Also the operation to get one shouldn't be a plain lookup but they'd hopefully be stored in encrypted form (key would be userid+password).
I know this is far from reality in 9 out of 10 PHP webshops...
A story about slow bootup and nobody mentioned minit, yet?
Well, it does exactly what some people proposed: launch stuff in parallel.
It works and is noticably faster than SysV-init (my laptop comes up in 18s).
I still have a major problem with firefox (that's otherwise excellent):
It's still not letting me use my $EDITOR to edit these goddamn textareas!!
Am I the only one who hates these clumsy textarea input widgets
we have to deal with every day? They're a pain for anything more than hacking up a couple lines of text.
The tab-key doesn't work, linewrap can't be turned off, copy/paste is "sometimes" flakey, the entered text cannot easily be saved elsewhere (without copy/paste), even basic formatting is hard (due to enforced linewrap and missing tab), spellchecking does not exist (maybe in opera?), focus can get screwed up and hitting enter might then submit whatever you scribbled up so far, etc. etc.
It's ok for slashdot but when you work alot with wikis (I do) you learn to love links which let's you use any editor for textareas. Unfornationally links is not good for everything so I find myself jumping back and forth...
I found a plugin for firefox (0.9 I think) awhile back that claimed it would allow to use a custom editor for textareas but, well, it didn't work.
Is this really too much asked (doesn't anyone else care about it?). I mean, having a little xterm with whatever editor embedded in the browser canvas would be the shit. But I'd already be happy if I could just launch it in an external window by clicking a button...
Somebody really needs to pull the plug on this whole patent crap.
I mean, COME ON !
You'd better always be sure whats gonna make sense in your particular case.
Does apple also have the "immediately delete"-option so things that go to the trashcan are not saved?