kde is amazingly configurable (i have my transparent kickers down the left and across the top), i'd list all the things ive changed from default but i just cant be botherd.
you can change the icons to something else, have a look at kde-look.org.
XFCE is pretty cool though, for my girlfriends old p1-mmx 233mhz machine.
i use gentoo and before that slackware, ive never had to chmod my dsp device, even on advanced distro's like gentoo and slackware.
sound is now very easy using alsa (alsaconf)
device management is now very very easy using udev, hotplug and coldplug
package management (including dependancies) is very simple now using apt-get or emerge (slackware's not there yet).
i cant think of anything else that supposed to be hard, but im sure its not quite there for everybody.
maybe its just because im now used to using linux and it seems natural and actually find it easier to use than windows (it does what i tell it rather than guessing what it thinks i want).
Im sure times have changed since last time you tried installing a distro at home, if you get time try one.
*not a troll, but i am now familiar with linux and prefer administering it in a home environment to windows and i know that things were not always this easy.
A final question - how on earth do DWP recover 60,000 unbootable PCs?
if boot from floppy is enabled in the bios, just make a custom bootdisk to recover from a central backup (presuming they use images to create new machines), make plenty of copies and walk round putting them in every machine, turning them on and taking the disk out when its finished (and pray).
if boot from floppy is disabled, it would take fscking ages
you'd botch the source code, which isn't a problem as it isn't used unless its being compiled (if it was even on the machine in the first place). The bzImage for a broken kernel (unless it was broken in the sense of no ext2 support for example) would not compile, so there would be no botched image to roll out.
well i know that a new kernel version would be easy enough as long as all the machines were x86, just compile a custom kernel with generic optimisations, compile everything which could possibliy be used and use udev/coldplug on all the machines, that way the device nodes would be made on boot, from modules loaded as needed.
*im not claiming to work in IT, or have knowledge of networks bigger than 5 computers (home) but i do know this is possible with a kernel.
Plus, using debian (im not a debian nut, i use gentoo myself), an upgrade wouldn't be neccesary, ever - just use apt-get as a cron-job to keep all the desktops nice and secure.
I used to run slackware, downloading and compiling from source manually. i didn't used to mind chasing dependancies that much.
I switched to gentoo and i dont think i'd beable to adminster slackware long term again without having suicidal tendancies.
I think the best bit is that i can do something like emerge k3b and it will emerge xorg, kde, qt, alsa, cdrtools etc, from a base system.
What i think is needed is a distro that is gentoo except for a graphical or ncurses based install thats as easy as installing mandrake or redhat (boot the cd, follow instructions, choose packages from a list, let it do its stuff)
pursuade the creators of the _first_ operating system on a digital computer to patent the method of controlling transistors by using commands entered by human readable characters (or something like taht) and put some money toward it (i would), then if any bad people decide to sue over software patents, just sue them for writing software and refuse them a license.
Would this be possible? no, i mean outside america.
gentoo's the same, ive not installed one package that wasn't in portage - even vmware workstation is there, you just need the serial. Some packages you have to download yourself (because of crappy licenses), but once you do, the ebuild handles the dependancies for it.
I very much doubt gentoo or debian would change their package managers so it could use anything else - i like it just the way it is (apart from the fact ive been compiling gentoo since 4am monday and its now 11pm tuesday - hoping to be complete by 2moro afternoon)
i think its funny that you were modded insightful rather than funny.
I have to agree though, when i do my dad a favour and fix his computer for him, he wants to watch. Him wanting to watch means i have to use the mouse to do everything and take no shortcuts.
"no wait, go back, i didn't see that"
whats the point anyway, when i have to go back and fix it myself everytime anyway?
I fixed the problem for the longterm by installing firefox, deleting the IE icon, teaching my family to only download from websites they know they can trust, and I installed AVG and the resident spybot doodar.
Everything that will autoupdate is set to autoupdate and ive told them to turn their computer on and leave it on from 6pm (it runs at 18:10) and leave it until everything is finished.
For single cell copying of entire spreadsheets, there is no cure.
Thats not true. My computer doesn't didn't care about me and crashed frequently. Then i decided to start caring for it and installed linux and now it shows its love.
coldplug for booting up hotplug for hotplugging of devices udev for the device node creation and a cronjob to run emerge sync ; emerge -u world every night or whatever
The same could be done with any distrobution (although as far as i know only gentoo and debian derivatives have emerge/apt-get type capabilities).
Infact there's many gui's for apt-get, and one that i know of for emerge (although kentoo for emerge isn't that great). Plus there's kpackage which afaik will be a gui to any popular package system, if it does scheduling, i dont know.
Gentoo is very customisable, you get to choose exactly whats going on.
emerge (a python script to download packages and install them for you, for example emerge opera)
its not neccessary to compile from source, but you can.
USE flags, store these in a central place (/etc/make.conf) and every package will be compiled for support for everything the package wants support for, as per the use flags, eg, if i have 'live' as a useflag and i emerge mplayer, it will emerge mplayer with support for the real networks streaming codec.
there's probably more, but i cant think of it right now.
Unless they use protocols which can not be routed on the internet. Plus, it would have to be one hell of a connection (i spose ISP's could provide it though, aslong as its not illegal to do so under the terms of connection to the gov's wan.
If Microsoft have an enormous patent stockpile, the OSDL members have a very enormous patent stockpile, remember this includes IBM who spent the 1980's suing people for "infinging on a hair style whereby the hair is worn 'business at the front, party at the back'"
Part of that was for humor purposes only, but IBM do have a big (bigger?) patent stockpile.
iirc Novel aren't suing for patent infringement. They are suing for Microsoft unfairly wielding their OS monopoly to gain an artificial monopoly (and displace novel) in the word processor market.
what would make me switch from opera to firefox would be automatic saving/loading of sessions, tabbed browsing to act the same as opera and adblock bundled with the installer.
How about google wanted to stay the leading search engine and setting it as the homepage in a major browser would help them, whilst helping the mozilla project by hosting the homepage to save them bandwidth.
Slashdot Mirror
This would never happen - bill gates would never be polite about it.
kde is amazingly configurable (i have my transparent kickers down the left and across the top), i'd list all the things ive changed from default but i just cant be botherd.
you can change the icons to something else, have a look at kde-look.org.
XFCE is pretty cool though, for my girlfriends old p1-mmx 233mhz machine.
i use gentoo and before that slackware, ive never had to chmod my dsp device, even on advanced distro's like gentoo and slackware.
sound is now very easy using alsa (alsaconf)
device management is now very very easy using
udev, hotplug and coldplug
package management (including dependancies) is very simple now using apt-get or emerge (slackware's not there yet).
i cant think of anything else that supposed to be hard, but im sure its not quite there for everybody.
maybe its just because im now used to using linux and it seems natural and actually find it easier to use than windows (it does what i tell it rather than guessing what it thinks i want).
Im sure times have changed since last time you tried installing a distro at home, if you get time try one.
*not a troll, but i am now familiar with linux and prefer administering it in a home environment to windows and i know that things were not always this easy.
A final question - how on earth do DWP recover 60,000 unbootable PCs?
if boot from floppy is enabled in the bios, just make a custom bootdisk to recover from a central backup (presuming they use images to create new machines), make plenty of copies and walk round putting them in every machine, turning them on and taking the disk out when its finished (and pray).
if boot from floppy is disabled, it would take fscking ages
you'd botch the source code, which isn't a problem as it isn't used unless its being compiled (if it was even on the machine in the first place). The bzImage for a broken kernel (unless it was broken in the sense of no ext2 support for example) would not compile, so there would be no botched image to roll out.
apt-get?
well i know that a new kernel version would be easy enough as long as all the machines were x86, just compile a custom kernel with generic optimisations, compile everything which could possibliy be used and use udev/coldplug on all the machines, that way the device nodes would be made on boot, from modules loaded as needed.
*im not claiming to work in IT, or have knowledge of networks bigger than 5 computers (home) but i do know this is possible with a kernel.
Plus, using debian (im not a debian nut, i use gentoo myself), an upgrade wouldn't be neccesary, ever - just use apt-get as a cron-job to keep all the desktops nice and secure.
its fine apart from the initial install, which i plan to never do again (im going to start backing up).
I like the flexibility of gentoo anyway, use flags are great and you cant do that with binary packages.
I used to run slackware, downloading and compiling from source manually. i didn't used to mind chasing dependancies that much.
I switched to gentoo and i dont think i'd beable to adminster slackware long term again without having suicidal tendancies.
I think the best bit is that i can do something like emerge k3b and it will emerge xorg, kde, qt, alsa, cdrtools etc, from a base system.
What i think is needed is a distro that is gentoo except for a graphical or ncurses based install thats as easy as installing mandrake or redhat (boot the cd, follow instructions, choose packages from a list, let it do its stuff)
pursuade the creators of the _first_ operating system on a digital computer to patent the method of controlling transistors by using commands entered by human readable characters (or something like taht) and put some money toward it (i would), then if any bad people decide to sue over software patents, just sue them for writing software and refuse them a license.
Would this be possible? no, i mean outside america.
(not a troll, just a badly guided plan - mwhaha)
gentoo's the same, ive not installed one package that wasn't in portage - even vmware workstation is there, you just need the serial. Some packages you have to download yourself (because of crappy licenses), but once you do, the ebuild handles the dependancies for it.
I very much doubt gentoo or debian would change their package managers so it could use anything else - i like it just the way it is (apart from the fact ive been compiling gentoo since 4am monday and its now 11pm tuesday - hoping to be complete by 2moro afternoon)
i think its funny that you were modded insightful rather than funny.
I have to agree though, when i do my dad a favour and fix his computer for him, he wants to watch. Him wanting to watch means i have to use the mouse to do everything and take no shortcuts.
"no wait, go back, i didn't see that"
whats the point anyway, when i have to go back and fix it myself everytime anyway?
I fixed the problem for the longterm by installing firefox, deleting the IE icon, teaching my family to only download from websites they know they can trust, and I installed AVG and the resident spybot doodar.
Everything that will autoupdate is set to autoupdate and ive told them to turn their computer on and leave it on from 6pm (it runs at 18:10) and leave it until everything is finished.
For single cell copying of entire spreadsheets, there is no cure.
You could patent a method to compare the values of two computer memory addresses by using logical programming constructs (==, !=, !!, &&, etc).
You have as much right to license logic as they do.
Thats not true. My computer doesn't didn't care about me and crashed frequently. Then i decided to start caring for it and installed linux and now it shows its love.
like my gentoo system (if i added the cronjob)
coldplug for booting up
hotplug for hotplugging of devices
udev for the device node creation
and a cronjob to run emerge sync ; emerge -u world every night or whatever
The same could be done with any distrobution (although as far as i know only gentoo and debian derivatives have emerge/apt-get type capabilities).
Infact there's many gui's for apt-get, and one that i know of for emerge (although kentoo for emerge isn't that great). Plus there's kpackage which afaik will be a gui to any popular package system, if it does scheduling, i dont know.
*smiles and waves*
Gentoo is very customisable, you get to choose exactly whats going on.
emerge (a python script to download packages and install them for you, for example emerge opera)
its not neccessary to compile from source, but you can.
USE flags, store these in a central place (/etc/make.conf) and every package will be compiled for support for everything the package wants support for, as per the use flags, eg, if i have 'live' as a useflag and i emerge mplayer, it will emerge mplayer with support for the real networks streaming codec.
there's probably more, but i cant think of it right now.
yeah, but i could still take him.
bill gates is so arogant.
bill - if your watching, punch yourself in the face for me, eh?
Unless they use protocols which can not be routed on the internet. Plus, it would have to be one hell of a connection (i spose ISP's could provide it though, aslong as its not illegal to do so under the terms of connection to the gov's wan.
new codecs, new network streaming protocols, new graphic API's (more effiecient or whatever).
If Microsoft have an enormous patent stockpile, the OSDL members have a very enormous patent stockpile, remember this includes IBM who spent the 1980's suing people for "infinging on a hair style whereby the hair is worn 'business at the front, party at the back'"
Part of that was for humor purposes only, but IBM do have a big (bigger?) patent stockpile.
iirc Novel aren't suing for patent infringement. They are suing for Microsoft unfairly wielding their OS monopoly to gain an artificial monopoly (and displace novel) in the word processor market.
what would make me switch from opera to firefox would be automatic saving/loading of sessions, tabbed browsing to act the same as opera and adblock bundled with the installer.
How about google wanted to stay the leading search engine and setting it as the homepage in a major browser would help them, whilst helping the mozilla project by hosting the homepage to save them bandwidth.
Its a win-win agreement, i recon.
wouldn't look good on a CV: ...and in 2004 i wrote the most obfusicated code known to man..