Yeah, of course. But you don't have to update any more than you would on a binary-only distro. I don't go and update things every single subrevision, unless there's a need for it (ie: security hole), or I particularly want a new feature. Otherwise, I'll leave it alone - it works.
Some people like using Gentoo for updating constantly, and sure, they can update every hour, and chew up bandwidth and resources like that. You can do that with any distro, or even in a roll-your-own system. If you want bleeding edge code, then roll-your-own is probably better for you. Either way, to normally get bleeding edge stuff, you'll have to compile it too - or wait for someone else to do it for you (in the case of binary-based distros). Though you do have to wait for Ebuilds in Gentoo.
The point I was trying to get across is that while compilation takes time, you don't have to do it each time you run the program, as is implied in the parent to my original post.
But you only compile once. You run that version of the compiled, optimized, with the quantum_flux_generator use-flag many many times. It's not a case of "you have to recompile your desktop, IDE, web browser, etc. each time you use it".
And also, when I was doing my initial Stage 1 install, I left the computer alone for a while, and did other things in real life. Also, if you're not that way inclined, the LiveCD does include an IRC client, and you can run your favourite editor* from a USB Flash disk or other hard drive, and go and code or write something truly insightful. There is even an alternative installation method where use can use a Knoppix environment while installing Gentoo, so you can have a graphical environment, along with tonnes of applications.
Most modern distros lack the "being able to use your computer while installing" feature. Debian has a minesweeper game in aptitude, which is good for some, and Lycrois had a solitaire game in the installer when I tried it once-upon-a-time. Installation time is present in installing any OS, and it is very boring. If you can make the time easily passable, it's a great user-friendly touch.
* = Should you not like nano... I don't want to start an editor war; it's not the point of the comment.
Just because it's Java doesn't mean it will run on everything. It will run on a lot of things, I'll give you that, but I personally find the Linux x86 version of Java to have many errors with it's forms that aren't present in the Win32 version. My bank's online banking system was a great example of this, then they started using HTML to do everything (probably after people complaining).
Flash is a slightly better option, as the specs are published such that you can make your own player/interpreter. Though it won't work on old hardware. Using scripts on the server end and allowing access via a web browser would be best, and possibly have the option of wether or not you wish to use Flash for the more techincal bits that HTML can't do.
They could have written it in <insert open scripting language here>, using <insert favourite widget toolkit>. That would have done the trick, provided it's well supported across most platforms and isn't difficult or huge to install.
I'll leave you with a quote which is fairly relevant to your comment:P
...for a mass mailing worm to come out, disguising itself as a Gmail invite. Or some scam. Seeing as they're in great demand and people will do anything to get one. Including writing their email address in plain text on a website that is undoubtly a goldmine for spambots.
The main way that recording industries have come up with so far works on a software level (in this case, a program specified in the CD's autorun), or on a ridiculous level on the CD (such that many legitimate CD players cannot play it). A technology that will keep tabs on the number of backups you can make would have to be coded into the burning software, and you could just then but the CD into another computer and duplicate it n times on there, and soforth. The other alternative is to have a marker be written in the disc that counts the number of times it has been copied. Such a technology would require co-operation on a software and hardware level, and existing CD readers/writers could not use it.
Maybe the recording insdutry should stop looking at stopping people from pirating music and start looking at the why; by giving the artist a fair deal, and make albums cheaper. I could buy a CD album of a current artist for about the same price than the cost of a music DVD. I'd expect the CD to be much cheaper than the DVD.
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Yeah, of course. But you don't have to update any more than you would on a binary-only distro. I don't go and update things every single subrevision, unless there's a need for it (ie: security hole), or I particularly want a new feature. Otherwise, I'll leave it alone - it works.
Some people like using Gentoo for updating constantly, and sure, they can update every hour, and chew up bandwidth and resources like that. You can do that with any distro, or even in a roll-your-own system. If you want bleeding edge code, then roll-your-own is probably better for you. Either way, to normally get bleeding edge stuff, you'll have to compile it too - or wait for someone else to do it for you (in the case of binary-based distros). Though you do have to wait for Ebuilds in Gentoo.
The point I was trying to get across is that while compilation takes time, you don't have to do it each time you run the program, as is implied in the parent to my original post.
But you only compile once. You run that version of the compiled, optimized, with the quantum_flux_generator use-flag many many times. It's not a case of "you have to recompile your desktop, IDE, web browser, etc. each time you use it".
And also, when I was doing my initial Stage 1 install, I left the computer alone for a while, and did other things in real life. Also, if you're not that way inclined, the LiveCD does include an IRC client, and you can run your favourite editor* from a USB Flash disk or other hard drive, and go and code or write something truly insightful. There is even an alternative installation method where use can use a Knoppix environment while installing Gentoo, so you can have a graphical environment, along with tonnes of applications.
Most modern distros lack the "being able to use your computer while installing" feature. Debian has a minesweeper game in aptitude, which is good for some, and Lycrois had a solitaire game in the installer when I tried it once-upon-a-time. Installation time is present in installing any OS, and it is very boring. If you can make the time easily passable, it's a great user-friendly touch.
* = Should you not like nano... I don't want to start an editor war; it's not the point of the comment.
Just because it's Java doesn't mean it will run on everything. It will run on a lot of things, I'll give you that, but I personally find the Linux x86 version of Java to have many errors with it's forms that aren't present in the Win32 version. My bank's online banking system was a great example of this, then they started using HTML to do everything (probably after people complaining).
Flash is a slightly better option, as the specs are published such that you can make your own player/interpreter. Though it won't work on old hardware. Using scripts on the server end and allowing access via a web browser would be best, and possibly have the option of wether or not you wish to use Flash for the more techincal bits that HTML can't do.
They could have written it in <insert open scripting language here>, using <insert favourite widget toolkit>. That would have done the trick, provided it's well supported across most platforms and isn't difficult or huge to install.
I'll leave you with a quote which is fairly relevant to your comment :P
...for a mass mailing worm to come out, disguising itself as a Gmail invite. Or some scam. Seeing as they're in great demand and people will do anything to get one. Including writing their email address in plain text on a website that is undoubtly a goldmine for spambots.
Maybe the recording insdutry should stop looking at stopping people from pirating music and start looking at the why; by giving the artist a fair deal, and make albums cheaper. I could buy a CD album of a current artist for about the same price than the cost of a music DVD. I'd expect the CD to be much cheaper than the DVD.
As it's "Reloaded" it has an SSH client, SSH-Nuke and an old version of nmap!