I remember seeing my first "loader" back in 1992, I had just started drawing ANSI for a local 206 art group called RaT. I remember it quite clearly, it had an ANSI logo that faded in and out and text that scrolled from right to left that faded from dark grey (or more accurately, bright black) to dark white to bright white then back again with really horrible fire effects at the bottom.
I've always loved textmode demos, they bring me back to a world before the internet was the gargantuan beast it is now, when I called 64 BBS's a day (and would have called more except my modem program only supported 64 entries).
Keep in mind that if you want to pay commodity prices for a service, you are going to get a service that has been sanitized and developed for the masses. What you're asking is essentially the same as "How can I get WinXP-home to work as a good server?".
If you want to connect to outside SMTP servers, you'll either have to go with a smaller ISP that doesn't have paranoid, 'we're not going to be the front for spam' policies in place (and make a sacrfice, be it limited dialing area, higher prices, or whatever) or tunnel out to a server that will allow you to connect to foreign SMTP servers.
I'm so glad they got this fixed, and I hope this whole sorry incident can be swept right under the rug. I've always said that Mandrake would be the distro to cause MS users to seriously consider switching. I started my Linux oddysey on Mandrake (hell, I still use it!) and fully believe that it offers the widest spectrum of a Linux experience.
The average user can get it working right out of the box (or download). That's something you can't say for most Linux installs -- or even some Windows installs. The hardware support is phenomenal.
And the ease of use doesn't have to detract from its power -- Mandrake gives you plenty of choices, from a fully-loaded, app-laden KDE or Gnome interface to light, fast WMs like Fluxbox. And best of all, it's Linux, pure and simple, so that all our favorite apps are still there.
I originally switched away from Mandrake because of the poor package management they used to have, but the implementation of urpmi in 9.1 convinced me to scrap my Debian install for Mandrake. Package management is a breeze once you get your sources configured. It's still not as developed as apt, but at least it doesn't break things the way apt is wont to.
Mandrake is Linux's best hope for widespread adoption, but not if it's screwing up people's cd rom drives. Thanks for the speedy fix, guys.
Re:Ha! I just read this!!
on
The Scar
·
· Score: 1
You have written much about the narrative and writing skills inherent in The Scar. Essentially, those who read "traditional" fantasy will struggle with the ambiguities that present themselves. We never find out the answers to some very pertinent questions (although we do find out some). What Mieville has done is transformed the story structure of fantasy. For some, this "new structure" is not new. It is a common theme in the traditional stories of many Indigenous Peoples. It is, however, something quite daring (although I am sure some detractors will say it is pretentious), for the target audience of the aforementioned traditional fantasy.
Gene Wolfe you say! The only author I can honestly say who has made a career defying expectations with brilliant writing is Gene Wolfe. Wolfe, however, stayed true to the essence of his mythic source material. Although the Scar is a better book then the excellent Perdido Street Station, I do believe that Mieville has not yet reached his full potential. One interesting plot thread running through both of the Bas Lag books involves a key scientific principle. What is interesting is that it is presented in two diametrically opposed theories in the books. One is true and one is not. We don't know which one prevails. Goodness knows what will come next, but I'm hoping that Bas Lag will be revisited.
Ha! I just read this!!
on
The Scar
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
How come/. only reviews books I've already read? Oh well. Still, I have to say, while Perdido was an excellent book in its own right, I was impressed by how much better The Scar was. Mieville has an excellent ability to make you want more by throwing out snippets of descriptions of people and places and civilizations inhabitaing bas-Lag that invariably made me want to learn more.
One of the creepiest and most striking images from the book was Doul's description of his home city of High Chromlech, with its quiet streets full of shuffling high-caste dead, with their lips sewn together. Only a fine writer could pack so much imagination and imagery into a few short pages, and The Scar is full of this, It's part Dickensian (though less so than Perdido), part Lovecraftian, part Moorock, but transcends all those sources. The main character is a bit of a dud (the supporting characters are far more interesting), and the ending fizzles just a little, but the ride getting there justifies the trip. I really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it to Slashdot!!
Hey, don't rush to judge. When I first started playing this game, I thought it was going to bore me to tears like TSO did.
I was quite surprised though when I found myself actually enjoying the game. Oh sure, it's not your hack-n-slash, beat em up, kill em all, find the dragon, do the quest, type game, but it is the type of game I always wondered about, it's what I call a "Sandbox".
Basically LindenLab's has created the world, but they've given the players the tools (the exact same tools they use) to build and script, thereby giving players the ability to really change the world. Linden Labs may have created this world, but it's the players to build.
Not only have I found it extremely enjoyable to build my own home, but I have also enjoyed the challenge of learning the scripting language to make my objects react, act, and do things I want them to do. You can have your front door react to every user that comes to it by sending the user a message that says, "Hi Player X, welcome to my home", or if you get really good at the scripting, you can make your own spaceship and "abduct" people.
While this may not be the action/rpg game like Star Wars is, I find it refreshing on the level that you, the player, are the one that makes the world go round. If you want to hold an event, to find the Holy Grail, great! Go make the Grail, hide it where you want, and start the event. The best part is, LindenLab's understands that they need to keep their players happy. When you run an "official event" you will get $500 Linden-Dollars to give out as rewards. The only thing that comes out of your pocket, is time.
Why not head over to SecondLife and give it a try. It comes with a 5 day free trial.
I think the wonder of any scientific advance should be tempered by a clear-headed analysis of the dangers it might create.
I don't think anybody should be making any new life forms or modifying any existing life forms, at least until we've had a serious societal discussion regarding its possible role and impact on terrorism and biowarfare.
Imagine a scenario where terrorists could alter a disease or organic biological weapon gene by gene to make it immune to current antidotes. Beyond that, I worry that the US itself might use it for its own cache of new-age weapons.
If WE convert it to a weapon, what's the difference? We can claim we're the good guys and we won't use it. But we can look at Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The ScreenPlay 110's connectivity options are fairly comprehensive. Without the Enhanced Connectivity Module, the projector only offers an I-MI connection for a computer (as well as a DVI connection), one S-video input, one composite video input, and a mini-jack audio input. When you add the module, you get one set of broadband component video inputs (Y/Pb/Pr) that will do 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i, a standard HD-15 VGA input, a 15-pin monitor output to send the signal to a PC or laptop, and an RS-232 port for use with a Crestron, AMX, or similar automation system. There's also a set of line-level stereo audio inputs, as well as a shared mini-jack stereo audio input for the two computer inputs.
I was a little disappointed to find that the ScreenPlay 110 doesn't have two sets of broadband component video inputs. If you want to have component DVD and HDTV coming into the projector and you don't have an HDTV set-top box or a DVD player with a DVI output, you'll have to use a separate component video switcher.
It may well be. It seems the DOJ may not be too happy with MS's media packaging, either. You woud have thought they would have learned by now.
Oh, wait, no, they wouldn't, since the last time the DOJ tried to smack MS upside their heads, MS bought off the government and went right on their merry way. My bad.
I know a lot of/.'s American readers might not care so much, but as a belgian, I'm glad this has finally started. I read a story about this a few days ago, and it was still undecided how MS would proceed. I wonder how the EU will see this in light of the recent warning from america's government about the Shop for Music mess. Feature my arse.
Anyway, we europeans have got to do our part to fight software patents and monopolies, and I'm glad to see the EU might be up to the task.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember seeing my first "loader" back in 1992, I had just started drawing ANSI for a local 206 art group called RaT. I remember it quite clearly, it had an ANSI logo that faded in and out and text that scrolled from right to left that faded from dark grey (or more accurately, bright black) to dark white to bright white then back again with really horrible fire effects at the bottom.
I've always loved textmode demos, they bring me back to a world before the internet was the gargantuan beast it is now, when I called 64 BBS's a day (and would have called more except my modem program only supported 64 entries).
It's great to see people still doing this.
A single guy with a single computer...
He's mapping the Internet. Why am I not surprised he's single?
Keep in mind that if you want to pay commodity prices for a service, you are going to get a service that has been sanitized and developed for the masses. What you're asking is essentially the same as "How can I get WinXP-home to work as a good server?".
If you want to connect to outside SMTP servers, you'll either have to go with a smaller ISP that doesn't have paranoid, 'we're not going to be the front for spam' policies in place (and make a sacrfice, be it limited dialing area, higher prices, or whatever) or tunnel out to a server that will allow you to connect to foreign SMTP servers.
Okay, yes, I fully admit that it's cool to map the internet in one day. Regardless...I think I hear about some internet every other day.
There's John Quarterman who's been doing it for years, and then the CAIDA visualization tools, and Cybergeography and the Internet weather report and damn maps and more maps.
Note to everyone: please stop mapping the internet.
I'm so glad they got this fixed, and I hope this whole sorry incident can be swept right under the rug. I've always said that Mandrake would be the distro to cause MS users to seriously consider switching. I started my Linux oddysey on Mandrake (hell, I still use it!) and fully believe that it offers the widest spectrum of a Linux experience.
The average user can get it working right out of the box (or download). That's something you can't say for most Linux installs -- or even some Windows installs. The hardware support is phenomenal.
And the ease of use doesn't have to detract from its power -- Mandrake gives you plenty of choices, from a fully-loaded, app-laden KDE or Gnome interface to light, fast WMs like Fluxbox. And best of all, it's Linux, pure and simple, so that all our favorite apps are still there.
I originally switched away from Mandrake because of the poor package management they used to have, but the implementation of urpmi in 9.1 convinced me to scrap my Debian install for Mandrake. Package management is a breeze once you get your sources configured. It's still not as developed as apt, but at least it doesn't break things the way apt is wont to.
Mandrake is Linux's best hope for widespread adoption, but not if it's screwing up people's cd rom drives. Thanks for the speedy fix, guys.
You have written much about the narrative and writing skills inherent in The Scar. Essentially, those who read "traditional" fantasy will struggle with the ambiguities that present themselves. We never find out the answers to some very pertinent questions (although we do find out some). What Mieville has done is transformed the story structure of fantasy. For some, this "new structure" is not new. It is a common theme in the traditional stories of many Indigenous Peoples. It is, however, something quite daring (although I am sure some detractors will say it is pretentious), for the target audience of the aforementioned traditional fantasy.
Gene Wolfe you say! The only author I can honestly say who has made a career defying expectations with brilliant writing is Gene Wolfe. Wolfe, however, stayed true to the essence of his mythic source material. Although the Scar is a better book then the excellent Perdido Street Station, I do believe that Mieville has not yet reached his full potential. One interesting plot thread running through both of the Bas Lag books involves a key scientific principle. What is interesting is that it is presented in two diametrically opposed theories in the books. One is true and one is not. We don't know which one prevails. Goodness knows what will come next, but I'm hoping that Bas Lag will be revisited.
How come /. only reviews books I've already read? Oh well. Still, I have to say, while Perdido was an excellent book in its own right, I was impressed by how much better The Scar was. Mieville has an excellent ability to make you want more by throwing out snippets of descriptions of people and places and civilizations inhabitaing bas-Lag that invariably made me want to learn more.
One of the creepiest and most striking images from the book was Doul's description of his home city of High Chromlech, with its quiet streets full of shuffling high-caste dead, with their lips sewn together. Only a fine writer could pack so much imagination and imagery into a few short pages, and The Scar is full of this, It's part Dickensian (though less so than Perdido), part Lovecraftian, part Moorock, but transcends all those sources. The main character is a bit of a dud (the supporting characters are far more interesting), and the ending fizzles just a little, but the ride getting there justifies the trip. I really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it to Slashdot!!
Hey, don't rush to judge. When I first started playing this game, I thought it was going to bore me to tears like TSO did.
I was quite surprised though when I found myself actually enjoying the game. Oh sure, it's not your hack-n-slash, beat em up, kill em all, find the dragon, do the quest, type game, but it is the type of game I always wondered about, it's what I call a "Sandbox".
Basically LindenLab's has created the world, but they've given the players the tools (the exact same tools they use) to build and script, thereby giving players the ability to really change the world. Linden Labs may have created this world, but it's the players to build.
Not only have I found it extremely enjoyable to build my own home, but I have also enjoyed the challenge of learning the scripting language to make my objects react, act, and do things I want them to do. You can have your front door react to every user that comes to it by sending the user a message that says, "Hi Player X, welcome to my home", or if you get really good at the scripting, you can make your own spaceship and "abduct" people.
While this may not be the action/rpg game like Star Wars is, I find it refreshing on the level that you, the player, are the one that makes the world go round. If you want to hold an event, to find the Holy Grail, great! Go make the Grail, hide it where you want, and start the event. The best part is, LindenLab's understands that they need to keep their players happy. When you run an "official event" you will get $500 Linden-Dollars to give out as rewards. The only thing that comes out of your pocket, is time.
Why not head over to SecondLife and give it a try. It comes with a 5 day free trial.
I think the wonder of any scientific advance should be tempered by a clear-headed analysis of the dangers it might create.
I don't think anybody should be making any new life forms or modifying any existing life forms, at least until we've had a serious societal discussion regarding its possible role and impact on terrorism and biowarfare.
Imagine a scenario where terrorists could alter a disease or organic biological weapon gene by gene to make it immune to current antidotes. Beyond that, I worry that the US itself might use it for its own cache of new-age weapons.
If WE convert it to a weapon, what's the difference? We can claim we're the good guys and we won't use it. But we can look at Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
I hope I'm not fear-mongering here, but, I worry.
The inFocus rocks.
The ScreenPlay 110's connectivity options are fairly comprehensive. Without the Enhanced Connectivity Module, the projector only offers an I-MI connection for a computer (as well as a DVI connection), one S-video input, one composite video input, and a mini-jack audio input. When you add the module, you get one set of broadband component video inputs (Y/Pb/Pr) that will do 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i, a standard HD-15 VGA input, a 15-pin monitor output to send the signal to a PC or laptop, and an RS-232 port for use with a Crestron, AMX, or similar automation system. There's also a set of line-level stereo audio inputs, as well as a shared mini-jack stereo audio input for the two computer inputs.
I was a little disappointed to find that the ScreenPlay 110 doesn't have two sets of broadband component video inputs. If you want to have component DVD and HDTV coming into the projector and you don't have an HDTV set-top box or a DVD player with a DVI output, you'll have to use a separate component video switcher.
Still, it's a great value for the money.
It may well be. It seems the DOJ may not be too happy with MS's media packaging, either. You woud have thought they would have learned by now.
Oh, wait, no, they wouldn't, since the last time the DOJ tried to smack MS upside their heads, MS bought off the government and went right on their merry way. My bad.
I know a lot of /.'s American readers might not care so much, but as a belgian, I'm glad this has finally started. I read a story about this a few days ago, and it was still undecided how MS would proceed. I wonder how the EU will see this in light of the recent warning from america's government about the Shop for Music mess. Feature my arse.
Anyway, we europeans have got to do our part to fight software patents and monopolies, and I'm glad to see the EU might be up to the task.