http://www.microtelpc.com/ isn't WalMart. VA Linux and several other Hardware vendors were advertising computers with Linux preinstalled on them in Linux Journal the mid 90's. It was just as underwhelming.
Sure, and the dateline on that 'Wal-Mart Expands...' article is 2002. Have you checked lately?
Cut and paste from the WalMart website right this moment. The MicroTel $199 cheapie: Not included: hard drive, monitor, CD-ROM drive, modem, floppy disk drive, operating system
I just surfed around on WalMart.com and it appears that WalMart.com no longer sells any computers with a version of Linux installed. And you have to dig in to non-obvious places on the page to discover this. Ummm. My tagline just changed, people....
Check again. I did a few days ago. WalMart.com no longer sells Microtel machines with Linsipre on them.
The old 'dirt cheap' machine they used to sell for $199 has been replaced with one for the same price that has no hard drive or even CDROM drive installed. It is important that the word gets out, as the display ad on the website looks almost the same as it used to.
I am wondering if Microsoft pressured WalMart into discontinuing the Microtel/Linspire combo.
They'll support 'Linux' the same way Apple did with mKLinux on their older hardware. They threw together a 'linux' that really wasn't part of the main core of Linux, which some feel was really intended to dissipate any interest in digging into the hardware and reverse engineering all their secret hardware.
Putting out a 'Linux' with closed source binary components that interface with the hardware will 'protect' the hardware IP of the PS3. The 'official' linux will be 'good enough' and there won't be as much motivation for 'pirates' to board a ship already flying the Linux flag.
I thought this site is for nerds, the type of people who would love to get there hands dirty with this type of stuff. How can there be so much exitment about the x-boxs release, not as much exitment about greatly expanding what you can do with your X-box.
The venn diagram of those all excited about the X-box 360 release and those who find hardware hacking interesting probably doesn't intersect much.
Me, I am more of the 'salvage' spirit. I'd rather recover something older and modify it for new uses. I can't see the appeal in standing in a line competing to get the latest game console just to screw with it. Hardware nerd types are prone to not like crowds especially competing with a crowd just to get the newest plastic-cased consumer stuff.
If I wanted a challange I would spend my time getting the 8 way SparcServer 1000 I have stored in the spare bedroom up and running NetBSD on all eight processors. Or get Linux running on my aging first generation WinCE handheld. Or finally get around to installing VMS on my VAXStation 3100. I also have an 8088 based single board computer I designed all wired and waiting for some test firmware to drop into the ROM socket. And tons of PIC and 68HC11 controllers and plenty of ideas for things to do with them. Messing around with the latest consumer junk just doesn't qualify.
The 'dittoheads' don't know who or what Noam Chomsky even is.
They're the same sort of ignorant sloganeering automatrons as the people who call them 'dittoheads.'
All I heard you say was: "Do not come back here you fucking leech! You've abandoned this country, you are opposed to what it stands for, you pay your taxes to another and obviously have greater allegiance to another so stay the fuck out!. "
The NetBSD Project demonstrates the value of writing a very portable OS capable of running on many architectures. Coding for portability keeps the code architecture open and 'honest' and keeps out specialized tweaks that lead down the road to obsolescence.
But it's ridiculous to port an OS to 'everything' 'just because.'
No we won't raise your taxes but we'll take away your deductions thus raising your taxes without officially raising them.
Ah. So you're in favor of a tax code that is hugely complex and chock full of loopholes and little games for people to play. Are you perhaps a tax lawyer? Why the love for complicated byzantine tax codes??
Well, I suppose it would suck to live there if you wanted to run a neo-Pagan bookstore or something.
But, wait! I live right in the heart of 'Jesusland' and yet was able to pick up a whole box of books, including Regardie's Golden Dawn two volume set, at an auction, for five bucks. Nobody has been waving crosses in my face since doing so, nor do I get the sense I'm being followed.
I guess they're more subtle than that. Lord knows the stereotypes about this region _must_ be true.
There's a little box below this text entry box where I can check off 'No Karma Bonus' which I leave checked by default and almost never uncheck. There are far too many people here whose comments should NOT be a default two by who make it a matter of pride to use the karma bonus EVER TIME they post a comment.
I make numerous original comments, and they often get highly marked up.
Hewlett-Packard used to have an 'engineer's company' core culture. Carly helped 'correct' that. Who will rise in the ranks at Google to fill that role?
[offtopic] I actually saw a new RPN Hewlett-Packard calculator on a blister card at WalMart yesterday. I toyed with the idea of buying it, but I'm still too frightened of being disappointed. Anybody know if the HP33S is anything special? [/offtopic]
I worked for a long time at a small company headed by an 'Engineer founder' that was a great place to work. Then outsiders slowly moved in, the company was overtaken by sales types and we all bailed (those who werent laid off). It goes in cycles. Google is now publicly traded, aren't they??
Just to throw a little contrary slant to things, I propose that all beer production be halted, as these hops can probably be processed to a cancer-curing pill of much improved potency than mere beer. It would be a waste to continue to use hops to brew beer.
There. I'm not really that strongly opinionated about the matter, but know my comment will be needed, to balance out all the 'drink more beer, prevent cancer' comments here.
The concept of 'packages' depends a lot on the level one wants to interpret it at.
I strongly prefer the packing system where you type './configure && make && make install' to install the package, after unpacking the source tarball. And there IS a packing scheme involved in such an arrangement, i.e. the use of autoconf and the./configure script is a very ROBUST cross-platform package scheme.
Other people are willing to work a layer or two above that and dump in binaries built somewhere else. But using source tarballs is a packaging scheme as well. The dependencies are even well-defined, the./configure script sees to that.
From the comments I am reading here (I have little knowledge of LibraNet) it sounds like the LibraNet 'community' consists of people who want a Linux they can 'plug in and use' which means a mostly 'user' community. Slackware (which is the OS I am typing this message through, incidentally) has a deep, rich community with a lot of old-school hacker sorts involved.
You never learn anything about the underlying system if you just trash-n-replace it. You're using your Linux the same way the 'techs' who maintain Windows do when they tell people to 'reinstall the OS' any time something goes wrong.
Your system never evolves or improves. Your idea of 'top shape' is whatever out-of-the-box configuration you froze two years ago, apparently.
I have a computer from that era, an Altos machine with an 8086 processor and 512K of memory.
It is far more powerful than the class of machine that Unix originally was developed on. It runs Microsoft's version of Unix, Xenix. It can support five user simultaneously working on terminals connected to it's serial ports.
Apple was essentially acquired by NeXT, and their new OS is an evolved version of NextStep, which was a high quality POSIX-oriented OS from the workstation era. MacOS runs a Mach-like kernel. Calling it a 'bastardized BSD' shows your ignorance.
UNIX was originally written to run on a discarded Minicomputer. It then 'evolved' for the first part of it's existence on a newer version of a similar Minicomputer.
But perhaps the 'vast gaps' in your knowledge cause you to consider any computer that doesn't have a keyboard, mouse and screen attached a 'mainframe.'
I recently got to punch a new hole in my belt because I have a cubicle up on the second floor but the environmental chambers, pressure testing system, and all the various other fixtures and test systems I use are located down in the big labspace down on the first floor.
My trips up and down from the cubicle farm to the test lab where I do a significant amount of real work are getting me into shape.
I can't see the television from this room, there's too much computer gear and electronic test equipment in big piles between me and the other room where my wife watches TV while playing Diablo II on her computer.
So you're a 'consultant' now? There isn't anything much more 'yuppie' than that, guy. Better hop in that BMW and make off to the client's office.
Since we're dealing in wholesale stereotypes, that is...
'Widely tested' is a checkoff point for something general purpose, that will be used in many different settings and applications. Reliability is a more important measure.
'Redundant' implies there will be failure and that the only solution is to throw extra hardware (and money) after it.
'Homebrew' is a term often used to describe a solution that is hand picked and configured. Not always a bad thing.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.microtelpc.com/ isn't WalMart. VA Linux and several other Hardware vendors were advertising computers with Linux preinstalled on them in Linux Journal the mid 90's. It was just as underwhelming.
Sure, and the dateline on that 'Wal-Mart Expands...' article is 2002. Have you checked lately?
Cut and paste from the WalMart website right this moment. The MicroTel $199 cheapie: Not included: hard drive, monitor, CD-ROM drive, modem, floppy disk drive, operating system
I just surfed around on WalMart.com and it appears that WalMart.com no longer sells any computers with a version of Linux installed. And you have to dig in to non-obvious places on the page to discover this. Ummm. My tagline just changed, people....
Check again. I did a few days ago. WalMart.com no longer sells Microtel machines with Linsipre on them.
The old 'dirt cheap' machine they used to sell for $199 has been replaced with one for the same price that has no hard drive or even CDROM drive installed. It is important that the word gets out, as the display ad on the website looks almost the same as it used to.
I am wondering if Microsoft pressured WalMart into discontinuing the Microtel/Linspire combo.
They'll support 'Linux' the same way Apple did with mKLinux on their older hardware. They threw together a 'linux' that really wasn't part of the main core of Linux, which some feel was really intended to dissipate any interest in digging into the hardware and reverse engineering all their secret hardware.
Putting out a 'Linux' with closed source binary components that interface with the hardware will 'protect' the hardware IP of the PS3. The 'official' linux will be 'good enough' and there won't be as much motivation for 'pirates' to board a ship already flying the Linux flag.
I thought this site is for nerds, the type of people who would love to get there hands dirty with this type of stuff. How can there be so much exitment about the x-boxs release, not as much exitment about greatly expanding what you can do with your X-box.
The venn diagram of those all excited about the X-box 360 release and those who find hardware hacking interesting probably doesn't intersect much.
Me, I am more of the 'salvage' spirit. I'd rather recover something older and modify it for new uses. I can't see the appeal in standing in a line competing to get the latest game console just to screw with it. Hardware nerd types are prone to not like crowds especially competing with a crowd just to get the newest plastic-cased consumer stuff.
If I wanted a challange I would spend my time getting the 8 way SparcServer 1000 I have stored in the spare bedroom up and running NetBSD on all eight processors. Or get Linux running on my aging first generation WinCE handheld. Or finally get around to installing VMS on my VAXStation 3100. I also have an 8088 based single board computer I designed all wired and waiting for some test firmware to drop into the ROM socket. And tons of PIC and 68HC11 controllers and plenty of ideas for things to do with them. Messing around with the latest consumer junk just doesn't qualify.
The 'dittoheads' don't know who or what Noam Chomsky even is.
They're the same sort of ignorant sloganeering automatrons as the people who call them 'dittoheads.'
All I heard you say was: "Do not come back here you fucking leech! You've abandoned this country, you are opposed to what it stands for, you pay your taxes to another and obviously have greater allegiance to another so stay the fuck out!. "
That sounds like dittohead jingoism to me.
The NetBSD Project demonstrates the value of writing a very portable OS capable of running on many architectures. Coding for portability keeps the code architecture open and 'honest' and keeps out specialized tweaks that lead down the road to obsolescence.
But it's ridiculous to port an OS to 'everything' 'just because.'
Perhaps you'd better slap up an Iron Curtain, then, to keep them in.
But I get two weeks vacation each year. I wouldn't want to waste it in a place where I'd only be able to enjoy snow-free weather for half that time.
she said that the burnout rate in the HR field is very high, on the order of 2 to 3 years,
Is there a fund, or a charity anywhere that we can contribute to, that promotes an increase in the burn rate??
Burn! Baby! Burn!
All those sociologists and naddering twits spontaneously combusting! What a sweet thought!
No we won't raise your taxes but we'll take away your deductions thus raising your taxes without officially raising them.
Ah. So you're in favor of a tax code that is hugely complex and chock full of loopholes and little games for people to play. Are you perhaps a tax lawyer? Why the love for complicated byzantine tax codes??
Well, I suppose it would suck to live there if you wanted to run a neo-Pagan bookstore or something.
But, wait! I live right in the heart of 'Jesusland' and yet was able to pick up a whole box of books, including Regardie's Golden Dawn two volume set, at an auction, for five bucks. Nobody has been waving crosses in my face since doing so, nor do I get the sense I'm being followed.
I guess they're more subtle than that. Lord knows the stereotypes about this region _must_ be true.
It seems to me that you are living in some sort of weird fantasy world not connected in any way to what the reality is.
He probably reads Noam Chomsky each night before going to sleep.
Healthcare you pay for optionally, where you can actually _receieve_ healthcare?
How un-Canadian.
Why would my karma be lower than 'excellent'?
There's a little box below this text entry box where I can check off 'No Karma Bonus' which I leave checked by default and almost never uncheck. There are far too many people here whose comments should NOT be a default two by who make it a matter of pride to use the karma bonus EVER TIME they post a comment.
I make numerous original comments, and they often get highly marked up.
Hewlett-Packard used to have an 'engineer's company' core culture. Carly helped 'correct' that. Who will rise in the ranks at Google to fill that role?
[offtopic]
I actually saw a new RPN Hewlett-Packard calculator on a blister card at WalMart yesterday. I toyed with the idea of buying it, but I'm still too frightened of being disappointed. Anybody know if the HP33S is anything special?
[/offtopic]
I worked for a long time at a small company headed by an 'Engineer founder' that was a great place to work. Then outsiders slowly moved in, the company was overtaken by sales types and we all bailed (those who werent laid off). It goes in cycles. Google is now publicly traded, aren't they??
Just to throw a little contrary slant to things, I propose that all beer production be halted, as these hops can probably be processed to a cancer-curing pill of much improved potency than mere beer. It would be a waste to continue to use hops to brew beer.
There. I'm not really that strongly opinionated about the matter, but know my comment will be needed, to balance out all the 'drink more beer, prevent cancer' comments here.
The concept of 'packages' depends a lot on the level one wants to interpret it at.
./configure script is a very ROBUST cross-platform package scheme.
./configure script sees to that.
I strongly prefer the packing system where you type './configure && make && make install' to install the package, after unpacking the source tarball. And there IS a packing scheme involved in such an arrangement, i.e. the use of autoconf and the
Other people are willing to work a layer or two above that and dump in binaries built somewhere else. But using source tarballs is a packaging scheme as well. The dependencies are even well-defined, the
From the comments I am reading here (I have little knowledge of LibraNet) it sounds like the LibraNet 'community' consists of people who want a Linux they can 'plug in and use' which means a mostly 'user' community. Slackware (which is the OS I am typing this message through, incidentally) has a deep, rich community with a lot of old-school hacker sorts involved.
You never learn anything about the underlying system if you just trash-n-replace it. You're using your Linux the same way the 'techs' who maintain Windows do when they tell people to 'reinstall the OS' any time something goes wrong.
Your system never evolves or improves. Your idea of 'top shape' is whatever out-of-the-box configuration you froze two years ago, apparently.
I have a computer from that era, an Altos machine with an 8086 processor and 512K of memory.
It is far more powerful than the class of machine that Unix originally was developed on. It runs Microsoft's version of Unix, Xenix. It can support five user simultaneously working on terminals connected to it's serial ports.
Apple was essentially acquired by NeXT, and their new OS is an evolved version of NextStep, which was a high quality POSIX-oriented OS from the workstation era. MacOS runs a Mach-like kernel. Calling it a 'bastardized BSD' shows your ignorance.
UNIX didn't evolve on mainframes.
UNIX was originally written to run on a discarded Minicomputer. It then 'evolved' for the first part of it's existence on a newer version of a similar Minicomputer.
But perhaps the 'vast gaps' in your knowledge cause you to consider any computer that doesn't have a keyboard, mouse and screen attached a 'mainframe.'
Does Taco delete your account if you don't like Linux or something?
You get tired of the bullshit and the trolls following you around, so you abandon the account and sign up for another.
I've done so at least a half dozen times in five years.
I recently got to punch a new hole in my belt because I have a cubicle up on the second floor but the environmental chambers, pressure testing system, and all the various other fixtures and test systems I use are located down in the big labspace down on the first floor.
My trips up and down from the cubicle farm to the test lab where I do a significant amount of real work are getting me into shape.
I can't see the television from this room, there's too much computer gear and electronic test equipment in big piles between me and the other room where my wife watches TV while playing Diablo II on her computer.
So you're a 'consultant' now? There isn't anything much more 'yuppie' than that, guy. Better hop in that BMW and make off to the client's office.
Since we're dealing in wholesale stereotypes, that is...
'Widely tested' is a checkoff point for something general purpose, that will be used in many different settings and applications. Reliability is a more important measure.
'Redundant' implies there will be failure and that the only solution is to throw extra hardware (and money) after it.
'Homebrew' is a term often used to describe a solution that is hand picked and configured. Not always a bad thing.