yes, _now_ stable is pretty much as new as unstable but that's like being happy having broken watch - they are right twice a day:-) The unstable is new every few years and there's no reason to believe it's going to be different this time.
If we see debian being released every 6 months to a year then perhaps stable might be an acceptable choice for desktop.
yes unstable is unstable but it's the only way debian is usable as a desktop distro for lot of people. Stable is too old (HW support, lack of new version of software like gnome, kde, openoffice etc.).
Considering lack of other choices (within debian) unstable should be treated as first release, not as a playground for developers. Experimental is a playground for developers.
We have C++ ABI changes and x.org changes and pretty much no openGL packages are usable and I guess it will soon become even worse (because of C++ ABI changes).
It seems like it would be better to do changes that break HUGE number of packages in experimental first, then, once at least most of the packages are updated, move them to unstable.
As far as testing goes - it looks more like abandonware then realistic choice, yes, there are fewer problems there but they take a lot longer to fix etc. I went with testing for awhile but my system was broken all the time, it happens a lot less with unstable.
VERY old LCD monitors were noticeably slow (not entirely sure if it's the same problem you're describing). I haven't seen this problem lately. I don't go around looking at LCD monitors though so I can mostly speak for mine - apple 23 inch, connected via DVI, video card is ati 9800 pro, I am using it with linux (including watching openGL xscreensaver hacks) and for gaming on windows, I also watch DVDs on this monitor. As far as I can tell it's fast enough, never noticed any difference between this one and CRT as far as the speed goes.
I understand that you reply to an unreasonable post but that's no excuse to be unreasonbable yourself:-)
mouse problem: I looked at your question but you need to provide more details, it might be more useful to ask in distro specific forum
usb: it works fairly well in linux as well
loosing files after crash: you need journaling file system, how is this freebsd versus linux issue?
programs more responsive, system stays up longer, hacked up less: no substance... you can believe it if you want but bringing it up as an argument doesn't seem to make much sense... (without proof) BTW I am using freebsd at work, linux at home and can't tell the difference (i.e. there's about as much difference between slackware and debian as between debian and freebsd)
you wrote: "Is it worth completely reinstalling your OS every three months?"
and in your journal: "I've decided that I want a Linux distro that works correctly out of the box, and needs minimal configuration."
perhaps you should ask yourself what you really want. from funny requirements comes funny result. usually. hint: if you don't want to reinstall your OS get a distro that is easy to maintain and upgrade, NOT the one that is easiest to install. I am not saying you should get debian but I have a debian install since about '98, constanlty upgraded, no rpm hell, (almost) no problems, constantly on the cutting edge (and this is fairly common, ask on debian mailing lists)
all in all, there's no need to make linux look bad for freebsd to look good!
not a problem: people using different languages when talking in private/closed group.
problem: if there is a forum (community) and most of the people are from all over the world and the language used is english it doesn't make much sense to jump in using a different language (which is what I see on orkut).
It's kinda like if I replied to you in my native language - what sense would it make? Chances are you wouldn't understand it and most of the slashdotters wouldn't understand it either...
On the other hand: some people have their profiles in languages I don't understand and I don't think that's a problem, I assume that if I don't understand their profile it wasn't written for me.
number of X window managers had the same concept, they usually call it icon manager or icon list, it could often be configured to show icons or a text (name of app) and you could switch to particular application (window) by clicking on the entry in the icon list.
often this icon manager (or icon list) could be embedded in a panel that has other window manging functionalities (built-in or as modules and/or separate applications) like root (start) menus, buttons for starting other apps, machine load, clock, virtual desktop manager etc. This (and more) was all done long before MS came with taskbar.
"KDE with a taskbar, start menu, integrated filesystem/net browser, Mono"
those are not MS innovations. There were number of different docks, launchpads, root menus etc. in X, OS/2, MacOS, taskbar and start menu are nothing new (i.e. not significantly different from the others). You could do cd ftp://ftp.uu.net in midnight commander since before MS new Netscape would be a threat..net (Mono in gnome world) is MS response to Java, nothing new/innovative.
the first part of the dracula book/movie is set in transylvanian alps (romania), mostly in his castle which is supposed to be about 500 - 1000 years old.
"I think I "remember" phone numbers primarily by the pattern"
back in the days we used to have mostly rotary phones and I noticed that when we switched to keypads it was suddenly much easier to remember phone numbers (by shape/pattern on the keypad)
note that god being infinite is lacking finite-ness.
erik
Re:Why were MP ever such a big deal?
on
Beyond Megapixels
·
· Score: 1
how's 640x480 pretty large?
most monitors today have at least 1024x768 resolution (lot of them have more). If I want a good picture for viewing on monitor I want it to be at least that big (probably bigger since it's easy to make it smaller if needed but you can't make it larger (without loosing quality)).
if I want only part of the picture then, of course, the original picture has to be larger for a cropped one to have acceptable quality.
and why would you say that you'll use 35mm for prints? it makes no sense, if the digital camera can give the same results...
"someone who downloaded it is going to be whisked off to the store to buy it"
I do it. pretty much all the new music I have found in recent year is from online world, I don't buy many CDs but pretty much everything I bought recently was either something I knew since forever (i.e. I already forgot how I found out about it) or found online.
this is not much of an argument, I don't know how many other people do the same...
great, so now navigating the data will be like playing leisure suit larry! at least that's what I was reminded of when I read the queries in screeshots...
that's all very good (provide chances for everybody), unfortunately in current shallow PC climate in US this translates into 'we need 5 male physicists and 5 female physicists'
Slashdot Mirror
yes, _now_ stable is pretty much as new as unstable but that's like being happy having broken watch - they are right twice a day:-) The unstable is new every few years and there's no reason to believe it's going to be different this time.
If we see debian being released every 6 months to a year then perhaps stable might be an acceptable choice for desktop.
yes unstable is unstable but it's the only way debian is usable as a desktop distro for lot of people. Stable is too old (HW support, lack of new version of software like gnome, kde, openoffice etc.).
Considering lack of other choices (within debian) unstable should be treated as first release, not as a playground for developers. Experimental is a playground for developers.
We have C++ ABI changes and x.org changes and pretty much no openGL packages are usable and I guess it will soon become even worse (because of C++ ABI changes).
It seems like it would be better to do changes that break HUGE number of packages in experimental first, then, once at least most of the packages are updated, move them to unstable.
As far as testing goes - it looks more like abandonware then realistic choice, yes, there are fewer problems there but they take a lot longer to fix etc. I went with testing for awhile but my system was broken all the time, it happens a lot less with unstable.
VERY old LCD monitors were noticeably slow (not entirely sure if it's the same problem you're describing). I haven't seen this problem lately. I don't go around looking at LCD monitors though so I can mostly speak for mine - apple 23 inch, connected via DVI, video card is ati 9800 pro, I am using it with linux (including watching openGL xscreensaver hacks) and for gaming on windows, I also watch DVDs on this monitor. As far as I can tell it's fast enough, never noticed any difference between this one and CRT as far as the speed goes.
erik
they forgot the ... tags
from the link you provided: "We sincerely apologize, but Internet Explorer technologies for UNIX are no longer available for download."
Looks like it's not available...
erik
I think the distribution method (pdf and open office document) are part of the joke. They certainly make it more ridiculous:-)
erik
"I've been wishing Linux on to the desktop, but it just doesn't seem like it's happening."
eye of the hurricane seems so calm...
erik
of course you need a database of installed programs! that's what the reasonable distro does for you, e.g. debian (that's what I use) can tell you:
- which package installed particular file (dpkg -S file)
- all files for particlar package (dpkg -L file)
- for official debian packages: in which package a particular file is (apt-file search file, even if the package is not installed).
erik
"What about Firewire? Does Linux have that yet?"
yes (and it also supports HFS+ so I can use iPod with linux)
"How about easy of maintenance?"
depends on distro, apt-get is easy enough (debian)
erik
I understand that you reply to an unreasonable post but that's no excuse to be unreasonbable yourself:-)
mouse problem: I looked at your question but you need to provide more details, it might be more useful to ask in distro specific forum
usb: it works fairly well in linux as well
loosing files after crash: you need journaling file system, how is this freebsd versus linux issue?
programs more responsive, system stays up longer, hacked up less: no substance... you can believe it if you want but bringing it up as an argument doesn't seem to make much sense... (without proof) BTW I am using freebsd at work, linux at home and can't tell the difference (i.e. there's about as much difference between slackware and debian as between debian and freebsd)
you wrote: "Is it worth completely reinstalling your OS every three months?"
and in your journal: "I've decided that I want a Linux distro that works correctly out of the box, and needs minimal configuration."
perhaps you should ask yourself what you really want. from funny requirements comes funny result. usually. hint: if you don't want to reinstall your OS get a distro that is easy to maintain and upgrade, NOT the one that is easiest to install. I am not saying you should get debian but I have a debian install since about '98, constanlty upgraded, no rpm hell, (almost) no problems, constantly on the cutting edge (and this is fairly common, ask on debian mailing lists)
all in all, there's no need to make linux look bad for freebsd to look good!
not a problem: people using different languages when talking in private/closed group.
problem: if there is a forum (community) and most of the people are from all over the world and the language used is english it doesn't make much sense to jump in using a different language (which is what I see on orkut).
It's kinda like if I replied to you in my native language - what sense would it make? Chances are you wouldn't understand it and most of the slashdotters wouldn't understand it either...
On the other hand: some people have their profiles in languages I don't understand and I don't think that's a problem, I assume that if I don't understand their profile it wasn't written for me.
erik
"task bar window switching concept"
number of X window managers had the same concept, they usually call it icon manager or icon list, it could often be configured to show icons or a text (name of app) and you could switch to particular application (window) by clicking on the entry in the icon list.
often this icon manager (or icon list) could be embedded in a panel that has other window manging functionalities (built-in or as modules and/or separate applications) like root (start) menus, buttons for starting other apps, machine load, clock, virtual desktop manager etc. This (and more) was all done long before MS came with taskbar.
"KDE with a taskbar, start menu, integrated filesystem/net browser, Mono"
.net (Mono in gnome world) is MS response to Java, nothing new/innovative.
those are not MS innovations. There were number of different docks, launchpads, root menus etc. in X, OS/2, MacOS, taskbar and start menu are nothing new (i.e. not significantly different from the others). You could do cd ftp://ftp.uu.net in midnight commander since before MS new Netscape would be a threat.
erik
the first part of the dracula book/movie is set in transylvanian alps (romania), mostly in his castle which is supposed to be about 500 - 1000 years old.
"I think I "remember" phone numbers primarily by the pattern"
back in the days we used to have mostly rotary phones and I noticed that when we switched to keypads it was suddenly much easier to remember phone numbers (by shape/pattern on the keypad)
erik
note that god being infinite is lacking finite-ness.
erik
how's 640x480 pretty large?
most monitors today have at least 1024x768 resolution (lot of them have more). If I want a good picture for viewing on monitor I want it to be at least that big (probably bigger since it's easy to make it smaller if needed but you can't make it larger (without loosing quality)).
if I want only part of the picture then, of course, the original picture has to be larger for a cropped one to have acceptable quality.
and why would you say that you'll use 35mm for prints? it makes no sense, if the digital camera can give the same results...
erik
"someone who downloaded it is going to be whisked off to the store to buy it"
I do it. pretty much all the new music I have found in recent year is from online world, I don't buy many CDs but pretty much everything I bought recently was either something I knew since forever (i.e. I already forgot how I found out about it) or found online.
this is not much of an argument, I don't know how many other people do the same...
erik
fat? unresponsive? tell it to my striped friends, you anonymous coward:-)
erik
another question is how tall you have to be for that ride...
erik
great, so now navigating the data will be like playing leisure suit larry! at least that's what I was reminded of when I read the queries in screeshots...
erik
it will ship when it's ready? watch out MS! it's a slippery slope... next thing you know you're going opensource!
erik
"the imperial one is usually easier to understand"
:-)
???
I bet you also have some kind of imperial measurement of 'easier'
erik
could this be the sign that the september _might_ end?
erik
that's all very good (provide chances for everybody), unfortunately in current shallow PC climate in US this translates into 'we need 5 male physicists and 5 female physicists'
see sport at universities for an example
erik