You're wrong. I'm using a USB mouse in X right now, and the smoothness is phenomenal, like using a Mac mouse. It makes a hell of a difference with the railgun, too.;-)
I got a Rio PMP300 for $99 about a month ago... I can certainly see the geekiness of a gameboy that plays MP3s, but I think the costs outweigh the benefits in this case... it's less portable, it has less RAM, there is not, AFAIK, a good solid codebase of open source to support it, there's no reason to believe it's going to use anything but a proprietary memory expansion (ie probably not compact flash or smartmedia) and of course it presupposes you already own a game boy, which I don't. Since the Gameboy's CPU doesn't have the strength required to do this on it's own, we assume that this thing will have a processor on board, so essentially it's just a slightly dumbed-down Rio that's permanently tethered to a Game Boy, for the same price... the ONLY benefit I can see is that it can use the display for visualization or some other optical goodies (the page lists album covers, lyrics, etc), and this is not a good enough reason to warrant the drawbacks, IMHO. Game boy owners, just buy a Rio and have two excellent devices that are specilized to their respective tasks, and do them well.
There's an important distinction between making fun of people having trouble operating computers, and people who do colossally STUPID things with computers.
I work in a computer cluster here at Georgia Tech, and I'll give you an example I've seen. A fellow in his mid 40's or so was working with M$ Word in the cluster, and trying his damndest to get a printout of something he had brought in on disk. I watched him poke around for a good 20 minutes, and then come ask me for help. He explained that he wanted to get a copy of what he had on the screen, and had been selecting 'copy'. Later on, he asked my help again to enlarge the fonts, he had been zooming into the document and couldn't figure out why it was the same size.
Now, many people would be tempted to laugh at this guy, but honestly, I think he was making some pretty intuitive guesses for someone who probably had zero previous experience. I was pleasantly surprised, and glad to help him out.
The other noteworthy group, and those who warrant ridicule, are those who abandon all semblance of common sense when it comes to computers, or worse, they actively seek to avoid learning or trying to learn, because, in all honesty, it's considered fashionable by many to be clueless about computers. A customer of mine a few years ago brought his computer in for repair no less than 4 times, because he had tried to cram a CD-rom into his 1.2mb floppy drive. I asked him why he had gone to so much trouble to force it when it clearly didn't want to go in that slot, and he said he thought it was supposed to be hard for some reason. *sigh*
At any rate, there's a big difference between people who are clueless about computers, and people who are just stupid as bricks. Stupid people, since stupidity is usually a voluntary state, are always fair game for a little ribbing.
Not the good ones. Well, BSD of course, and any other open-source OS. But you can't really get a really good hacking hardon going if your platform is at the mercy of somebody you don't know or trust.
It's not about the $99. It's the fact that I'd be willing to bet that all these cards shipped with Win9x drivers, and if they didn't I bet it's an easy, free download.
But if we want to use Linux, we're expected to pay $99 for the privilege of using the hardware that we own ? Ummmm... no.
I am careful to buy hardware that supports Linux because that's what I have to do right now. But in a perfect, or even a reasonable, world, I would buy the hardware that did the job for the best price, and just EXPECT that it supports Linux.
Right now, hardware manufacturers are only beginning to start hearing the message from their customers... 'We want to have a choice in operating systems, and fuck you if you're going to penalize us for not choosing to run Windows'. I look forward to the time when those $5 video cards that you can pick up at discount computer shows all have XF86 compatible drivers on their little CD.
This thing would make a really nice infiltration and surveillance system in some environments... snakes, at least the fleshy kind, can go ANYWHERE, climb posts, get under houses or underneath doors, go damn near any place they care to wriggle too... they can hide very easily... and people just naturally don't want to TOUCH one even if they find it (which would keep it from being detected).
Dammit, I was already afraid of snakes, now I have to be worried that they're listening to me, too.
Ever notice how, if you can't see the source code, the behaviour of an operating system seems sentient ? Windows is sentient, it's malevolent and spiteful. MacOS is sentient, it's stupid but friendly.
Linux reminds me of the Borg more than anything else. Cool, efficient, and most efficient when working in a large collective. Sure, people often use the Borg reference for Microsoft, but I think it fits us Linux users better... collective consciousness and technological superiority.
Plus, every time Microsoft comes up with a proprietary protocol that they're just SURE the Linux people can't figure out, I can just see one of the MS execs going up to Bill Gates: "Captain, they've adapted !"
This is interesting, especially the relative shift in stock prices of AMD vs Intel.
Back when I got my K6/2 (I'm now running a K6/3-400), I resolved that I would support AMD exclusively, until the were within 5% of the market share with Intel. I would then just go with whichever company offered the best product/price match for me at any given time... hopefully, AMD and Intel are always neck and neck with each other, letting neither gain an enormous edge so they have to really scamble to compete and keep up, this is the only way to keep innovation alive...
Speaking of which, does anyone have a favorite source of market-share stats like this ? I'd like to keep up on a day-to-day basis. =)
> Of course, things could get unpleasant if the machine crashed. Want to risk being a human wishbone anyone?:-)
I think the greater liklihood would just be that the machine held you completely immobile... from what you described, it sounds like you could do everything you needed without the machine actually needing to apply any force of its own, just variable amounts of resistance.
Now, that wouldn't allow you to simulate things such as earthquakes or being knocked off your feet by a nearby nuclear detonation, but how accurate do we *really* want simulations of those to be ? =)
WOW !! You are amazing, I've never seen such a high concentration of incorrectness in one post. Let's do this blow-by-blow, shall we ?
> It's nice to see 3dfx sticking to the Glide standard rather than some proprietary OpenGL nonsense that doesn't port anywhere.
Glide is a proprietary interface owned and VIOLENTLY copyrighted by 3Dfx. They sue the ass off of anybody who tries to figure out how it works, make a wrapper, etc. Search the slashdot archives for details. OpenGL, on the other hand, is an open, FULLY portable to basically ALL platforms available, complete graphics API.
> Every tried to run a TNT in anything except Windows? The 3D works like shit.
Oh, then I guess the fact that I was just playing Quake 3 was just my imagination, because it looked great at 1024x768x32 bit color. I could have SWORN I got a TNT2. Try updating your drivers.
> Sure, Glide might be slower in Linux/FreeBSD than Windows, but it is a simple, fast, and more efficient protocol than the crap that nvidia is turning out anyday.
nVidia didn't 'turn out' OpenGL, SGI did. And Glide actually works FASTER in Linux than in Windows. Even when you're making concessions, you're blatantly wrong. Dolt.
> nvidia users, you own a very nice 32MB card that can do wonders on a 2D desktop...look at X go!
The only part of your post with a shred of accuracy. The 2D on this card is almost as impressive as the 3D.
It's been suggested that breaking up Microsoft into so-called "Baby Bills" would not be an effective method of undercutting the abusive monopoly powers that MS holds. One alternative method that has been suggested is to force Microsoft to fully disclose and support all their programming APIs. Mind you, just interfaces, no implementation details.
What legal precedent, if any, is there for this course of action, and what legal 'issues' can we expect to see as a result if this action is taken ?
I tried PGPfone way back in the olden days when it was originally released, and it isn't (or at least, back then it wasn't) voice-over-IP. The way it worked was to dial directly with your modem into the modem of the person you wish to call, and the sound would then be transmitted as encrypted data over that modem channel.
I'm increasingly worried about the ability to send active content in emails... above and beyond people who blindly execute attached files (user stupidity), it's getting to the point where just READING email can actually spread a virus. Remember the big scare when people realized that Eudora would open up Java applets without asking permission ? I always wondered how netscape mail or Eudora would handle Meta refresh tags...
Anyway, I avoid the whole thing by sticking to good old-fashioned ASCII-mail. Now if only all my co-workers could do the same... *sigh*
At one time, I was using a US Robotics/Megahertz 33.6 modem with cellular uplink. It sucked pretty hardcore, I could only count on connections of around 2400-4800 baud... just enough to check email, and that's about it. The only time I ever had it working, though, turned out to lead my high school buddies and I to a fun tradition... we used to climb the local lookout tower on very clear nights and have parties up there with our laptops and cell-modems... ahh, the memories.;-)
I dig your second point, but your first one perplexes me. Are you addressing something specific in my argument, or just the manner in which I presented it ? If the former, then please elaborate. If the latter, then I spose I should explain that my style comes from being a (moderately successful) Linoln-Douglas debater in High school, where I developed a habit of trying to prove my point while acknowledging the argument of the other side... by so doing, at least in debate, you put yourself in the enviable position of being able to state the opponent's case in your own words, which if done skillfully lets you undermine it without a direct, and potentially messy, clash on the case as the opponent stated it. This is why you often hear speakers in a debate say "Now my opponent will tell you that..."
Which raises the question... why is there no "display animated GIFs (yes/no)" checkbox in Netscape ? Mozilla people, this is what the public wants ! =)
Slashdot Mirror
You're wrong. I'm using a USB mouse in X right now, and the smoothness is phenomenal, like using a Mac mouse. It makes a hell of a difference with the railgun, too. ;-)
Try it out, you'll like it.
Lay a Voodoo 3 chip on this game, and it's a sight so beautiful as to bring a tear to the eye.
I got a Rio PMP300 for $99 about a month ago... I can certainly see the geekiness of a gameboy that plays MP3s, but I think the costs outweigh the benefits in this case... it's less portable, it has less RAM, there is not, AFAIK, a good solid codebase of open source to support it, there's no reason to believe it's going to use anything but a proprietary memory expansion (ie probably not compact flash or smartmedia) and of course it presupposes you already own a game boy, which I don't. Since the Gameboy's CPU doesn't have the strength required to do this on it's own, we assume that this thing will have a processor on board, so essentially it's just a slightly dumbed-down Rio that's permanently tethered to a Game Boy, for the same price... the ONLY benefit I can see is that it can use the display for visualization or some other optical goodies (the page lists album covers, lyrics, etc), and this is not a good enough reason to warrant the drawbacks, IMHO. Game boy owners, just buy a Rio and have two excellent devices that are specilized to their respective tasks, and do them well.
> Figure out what you are trying to say before you type with your hands.
And just WHAT makes you so sure I was typing with my HANDS ?
There's an important distinction between making fun of people having trouble operating computers, and people who do colossally STUPID things with computers.
I work in a computer cluster here at Georgia Tech, and I'll give you an example I've seen. A fellow in his mid 40's or so was working with M$ Word in the cluster, and trying his damndest to get a printout of something he had brought in on disk. I watched him poke around for a good 20 minutes, and then come ask me for help. He explained that he wanted to get a copy of what he had on the screen, and had been selecting 'copy'. Later on, he asked my help again to enlarge the fonts, he had been zooming into the document and couldn't figure out why it was the same size.
Now, many people would be tempted to laugh at this guy, but honestly, I think he was making some pretty intuitive guesses for someone who probably had zero previous experience. I was pleasantly surprised, and glad to help him out.
The other noteworthy group, and those who warrant ridicule, are those who abandon all semblance of common sense when it comes to computers, or worse, they actively seek to avoid learning or trying to learn, because, in all honesty, it's considered fashionable by many to be clueless about computers. A customer of mine a few years ago brought his computer in for repair no less than 4 times, because he had tried to cram a CD-rom into his 1.2mb floppy drive. I asked him why he had gone to so much trouble to force it when it clearly didn't want to go in that slot, and he said he thought it was supposed to be hard for some reason. *sigh*
At any rate, there's a big difference between people who are clueless about computers, and people who are just stupid as bricks. Stupid people, since stupidity is usually a voluntary state, are always fair game for a little ribbing.
This needs to be moderated up, and I don't have the points to do it right now...
Did anyone notice how one of the headlines on the 1995 page screenshot is "Microsoft responds to the DOJ" ?
Hehe... This has been going on for quite some time, it would seem.
1995: Msft responds to the DOJ
1999-2000: The DOJ has lain dormant for too long...
> Do hackers not use other operating systems?
Not the good ones. Well, BSD of course, and any other open-source OS. But you can't really get a really good hacking hardon going if your platform is at the mercy of somebody you don't know or trust.
It's not about the $99. It's the fact that I'd be willing to bet that all these cards shipped with Win9x drivers, and if they didn't I bet it's an easy, free download.
But if we want to use Linux, we're expected to pay $99 for the privilege of using the hardware that we own ? Ummmm... no.
I am careful to buy hardware that supports Linux because that's what I have to do right now. But in a perfect, or even a reasonable, world, I would buy the hardware that did the job for the best price, and just EXPECT that it supports Linux.
Right now, hardware manufacturers are only beginning to start hearing the message from their customers... 'We want to have a choice in operating systems, and fuck you if you're going to penalize us for not choosing to run Windows'. I look forward to the time when those $5 video cards that you can pick up at discount computer shows all have XF86 compatible drivers on their little CD.
This thing would make a really nice infiltration and surveillance system in some environments... snakes, at least the fleshy kind, can go ANYWHERE, climb posts, get under houses or underneath doors, go damn near any place they care to wriggle too... they can hide very easily... and people just naturally don't want to TOUCH one even if they find it (which would keep it from being detected).
Dammit, I was already afraid of snakes, now I have to be worried that they're listening to me, too.
Ever notice how, if you can't see the source code, the behaviour of an operating system seems sentient ? Windows is sentient, it's malevolent and spiteful. MacOS is sentient, it's stupid but friendly.
Linux reminds me of the Borg more than anything else. Cool, efficient, and most efficient when working in a large collective. Sure, people often use the Borg reference for Microsoft, but I think it fits us Linux users better... collective consciousness and technological superiority.
Plus, every time Microsoft comes up with a proprietary protocol that they're just SURE the Linux people can't figure out, I can just see one of the MS execs going up to Bill Gates: "Captain, they've adapted !"
This is interesting, especially the relative shift in stock prices of AMD vs Intel.
Back when I got my K6/2 (I'm now running a K6/3-400), I resolved that I would support AMD exclusively, until the were within 5% of the market share with Intel. I would then just go with whichever company offered the best product/price match for me at any given time... hopefully, AMD and Intel are always neck and neck with each other, letting neither gain an enormous edge so they have to really scamble to compete and keep up, this is the only way to keep innovation alive...
Speaking of which, does anyone have a favorite source of market-share stats like this ? I'd like to keep up on a day-to-day basis. =)
> Of course, things could get unpleasant if the machine crashed. Want to risk being a human wishbone anyone? :-)
I think the greater liklihood would just be that the machine held you completely immobile... from what you described, it sounds like you could do everything you needed without the machine actually needing to apply any force of its own, just variable amounts of resistance.
Now, that wouldn't allow you to simulate things such as earthquakes or being knocked off your feet by a nearby nuclear detonation, but how accurate do we *really* want simulations of those to be ? =)
> Are these open ala Nvidia and Sblive, "Here's some code but no specs"
Dammit, I'm real tired of people saying this about nVidia. Try these on for size.
File not found...
Well, that didn't last long.
WOW !! You are amazing, I've never seen such a high concentration of incorrectness in one post. Let's do this blow-by-blow, shall we ?
> It's nice to see 3dfx sticking to the Glide standard rather than some proprietary OpenGL nonsense that doesn't port anywhere.
Glide is a proprietary interface owned and VIOLENTLY copyrighted by 3Dfx. They sue the ass off of anybody who tries to figure out how it works, make a wrapper, etc. Search the slashdot archives for details. OpenGL, on the other hand, is an open, FULLY portable to basically ALL platforms available, complete graphics API.
> Every tried to run a TNT in anything except Windows? The 3D works like shit.
Oh, then I guess the fact that I was just playing Quake 3 was just my imagination, because it looked great at 1024x768x32 bit color. I could have SWORN I got a TNT2.
Try updating your drivers.
> Sure, Glide might be slower in Linux/FreeBSD than Windows, but it is a simple, fast, and more efficient protocol than the crap that nvidia is turning out anyday.
nVidia didn't 'turn out' OpenGL, SGI did. And Glide actually works FASTER in Linux than in Windows. Even when you're making concessions, you're blatantly wrong. Dolt.
> nvidia users, you own a very nice 32MB card that can do wonders on a 2D desktop...look at X go!
The only part of your post with a shred of accuracy. The 2D on this card is almost as impressive as the 3D.
It's been suggested that breaking up Microsoft into so-called "Baby Bills" would not be an effective method of undercutting the abusive monopoly powers that MS holds. One alternative method that has been suggested is to force Microsoft to fully disclose and support all their programming APIs. Mind you, just interfaces, no implementation details.
What legal precedent, if any, is there for this course of action, and what legal 'issues' can we expect to see as a result if this action is taken ?
I had staroffice, siag office, the gimp, and vim in there, and just to round it out I put init and bash. =)
I tried PGPfone way back in the olden days when it was originally released, and it isn't (or at least, back then it wasn't) voice-over-IP. The way it worked was to dial directly with your modem into the modem of the person you wish to call, and the sound would then be transmitted as encrypted data over that modem channel.
I'm increasingly worried about the ability to send active content in emails... above and beyond people who blindly execute attached files (user stupidity), it's getting to the point where just
READING email can actually spread a virus. Remember the big scare when people realized that Eudora would open up Java applets without asking permission ? I always wondered how netscape mail or Eudora would handle Meta refresh tags...
Anyway, I avoid the whole thing by sticking to good old-fashioned ASCII-mail. Now if only all my co-workers could do the same... *sigh*
Odd... your email address came out looking fine... hmmmmmmmmmm...
$ export CVSROOT=":pserver:anonymous@cvs.on.openprojects.ne t:/cvs/livid"
$ cvs login
$ cvs -z3 co css-auth
At one time, I was using a US Robotics/Megahertz 33.6 modem with cellular uplink. It sucked pretty hardcore, I could only count on connections of around 2400-4800 baud... just enough to check email, and that's about it. The only time I ever had it working, though, turned out to lead my high school buddies and I to a fun tradition... we used to climb the local lookout tower on very clear nights and have parties up there with our laptops and cell-modems... ahh, the memories. ;-)
I dig your second point, but your first one perplexes me. Are you addressing something specific in my argument, or just the manner in which I presented it ? If the former, then please elaborate. If the latter, then I spose I should explain that my style comes from being a (moderately successful) Linoln-Douglas debater in High school, where I developed a habit of trying to prove my point while acknowledging the argument of the other side... by so doing, at least in debate, you put yourself in the enviable position of being able to state the opponent's case in your own words, which if done skillfully lets you undermine it without a direct, and potentially messy, clash on the case as the opponent stated it. This is why you often hear speakers in a debate say "Now my opponent will tell you that..."
Which raises the question... why is there no "display animated GIFs (yes/no)" checkbox in Netscape ? Mozilla people, this is what the public wants ! =)