"It [gtkpod] works out of the box with the iPod Nano to add and remove mp3 files (once you understand the ideosyncracies of the application)"
What do you mean by ideosyncracies? I've used GTK applications before, and it makes me nervous when people describe one as idiosyncratic...
Actually, I've got gtkpod running, and it doesn't look any worse than all the other jukebox transfer applications. And it would have to be very buggy indeed to be worse than the Creative Labs' official application.
At least I have the Mac, in case gtkpod doesn't work. Just need to convert all these OGG files to something that an iPod will play, or re-rip all the CDs.
"This thing is tiny, and is clearly designed to be put in a pocket"
Actually, if you look at photos on the Apple website, and their text about how it's designed to be worn, then I think you're expected to duct-tape it to your thigh or something...
Seriously, Apple's front page specifically mentions strapping it to your arm.
"Always wait until the second generation to buy from Apple."
Hopefully by the time the next version of iPod Nano comes out, the AmaroK developers will have gotten hold of one and reverse-engineered the way it communicates.
Until then, I don't particularly fancy running Windows on my computer, just to update an MP3 player...
"Anyone serious about either audio or gaming adds a dedicated sound card."
So why would this serious gamer have spent extra money on a motherboard with a good soundcard built-in, if they were planning to use a different soundcard in a PCI slot?
"so Dell have launched a player which is basically the same as an iPod suhffle. The question is, will it automatically put in a selection of songs when i connect it to my PC?"
OK, serious question then:
Which decent/recent music players: (a) Integrate with something like AmaroK (b) Play OGG files
I notice that AmaroK has some iPod integration -- does that mean that an iPod would be better supported on an Ubuntu/Linux machine than other types of player? (I have a Mac too, but the iTunes interface is really nasty by comparison with KDE)
"Dell also has a 5 band equalizer compared to the Zen's 4 band."
Wow, now I can optimise the playback for the specific accoustics of the room I'm using the Dell MP3 player in, using my pink-noise generator, studio microphone, and frequency analysers...
"Every minute a Java developer wastes using C# is a minute that he/she is not using Java. Every time a Linux developer tries Mono, he/she is wasting resources in a doomed technology"
And every minute someone spends producing Java applications, they're creating something which can't usefully be shipped with a Free Software operating system.
Unless you meant that the Linux/Java applications should run on Kaffe (in which case, what's the difference between that and Mono?) or that people should install the proprietary JVM (in which case, what's the difference between that and.NET?)
"BTW, where's the big wave of.NET applications?"
Users haven't installed the programs yet because they're waiting for the 23MB runtime to download (and the Internet Explorer version it depends on, and the Service pack that that depends on...) Some estimates suggest that it will be finished soon after Gentoo is compiled.
"Actually, what I like alot is the way Opera handles this. They put the 'X' on the tab itself. IMHO, it makes for less mouse movement and just seems easier when closing a tab."
That's one thing I used to like about Galeon (basically firefox for GNOME) but I don't like the feature any more after getting used to the tab-close button on the right.
For one thing, it's too easy to accidentally delete a tab instead of selecting it when you have loads of tabs open and you're tired/drunk/bad at mouse-aiming. Presumably opera removes those buttons once the tab-density gets beyond a certain level?
"idiots who download iTunes and supply a one-shot email address instead of simply unchecking the `send me iTunes newsletters' box on the download page"
One of those options requires you to trust the website, both not to spam you, nor to be bought by someone who will spam you, nor to give your address to someone who will spam you, nor to be hacked by someone who will spam you, nor to have their backup tapes and laptops stolen by someone who will spam you, nor to listen to their marketing department who just read about the benefits of email marketing.
The other option gives you complete control over the amount of email that the website is permitted to send you.
"Easy font resizing. Ctrl-plus to make fonts bigger on any web site. Whenever I show this feature to somone over 40, it immediately sells them on Firefox."
That and the "minimum font size" option. Finally a browser that ignores websites' requests for 8pt text...
Why do fancy graphics always get higher priority than usability?
Exactly. Why do people not realise that we don't watch their adverts, don't watch their tradeshow demonstrations, but do listen quite carefully to other peoples' experiences using a product.
A Logic Analyser: This is a device that looks a bit like an overly fat ballpoint pen with a wire attached.
A logic analyser looks like a small minicomputer, with sets of connectors coming out of it that either monitor 80 wires at a time, or get plugged directly into a bus. You attach a keyboard, monitor, and mouse to it, and then ask it things like "when bus x becomes 0x2500 and wire y goes high for between 2 and 3 milliseconds, then count how long it is until bus z becomes 0x0001"
Though I daresay the bicolour LED with a probe attached is useful for many simpler circuits...
How would you like it if every trip to the auto-mechanic you were chided for having certain tires, not using a particular brand/weight of motor oil
To be fair, if you drove around with the automobile-safety equivalent of internet explorer, the police would pull you over and tell you to stop driving until it was fixed...
Slashdot Mirror
"It [gtkpod] works out of the box with the iPod Nano to add and remove mp3 files (once you understand the ideosyncracies of the application)"
What do you mean by ideosyncracies? I've used GTK applications before, and it makes me nervous when people describe one as idiosyncratic...
Actually, I've got gtkpod running, and it doesn't look any worse than all the other jukebox transfer applications. And it would have to be very buggy indeed to be worse than the Creative Labs' official application.
At least I have the Mac, in case gtkpod doesn't work. Just need to convert all these OGG files to something that an iPod will play, or re-rip all the CDs.
"A blog is a webpage with management tools - Can we stop calling them "blogs" now?"
But then what would we call the webmanagementosphere?
"Giving preferential treatment to software just because it follows some creed is not the way to choose the best tools for the job"
Actually, yes it is...
"Couldn't some sort of spray-on coating fix the problem?"
Varnish it.*
*not responsible for expensive damage caused by following this advice. Not tested on animals.
"This thing is tiny, and is clearly designed to be put in a pocket"
Actually, if you look at photos on the Apple website, and their text about how it's designed to be worn, then I think you're expected to duct-tape it to your thigh or something...
Seriously, Apple's front page specifically mentions strapping it to your arm.
"Always wait until the second generation to buy from Apple."
Hopefully by the time the next version of iPod Nano comes out, the AmaroK developers will have gotten hold of one and reverse-engineered the way it communicates.
Until then, I don't particularly fancy running Windows on my computer, just to update an MP3 player...
"I have spoken with several exiled iranians; they hate the ruling priests"
And have you spoken with those deported from the United Kingdom, about their view of the UK government?
"Anyone serious about either audio or gaming adds a dedicated sound card."
So why would this serious gamer have spent extra money on a motherboard with a good soundcard built-in, if they were planning to use a different soundcard in a PCI slot?
"And a good one (ie. audigy2 or better)"
lol.
Creative Labs... "Good"... does not compute...
If you don't believe me on its size (no one ever does) just look at this pic [of the ASUS Star ICE].
If you mount that in a PC with holes in the base, does it become a hovercraft and start moving around the room?
"Put on your headphones, play the pink-noise, stick the mic in your mouth, and analyze the acoustics of your head. :)"
Sounds almost as painful as spending money on something from Dell...
"so Dell have launched a player which is basically the same as an iPod suhffle. The question is, will it automatically put in a selection of songs when i connect it to my PC?"
OK, serious question then:
Which decent/recent music players:
(a) Integrate with something like AmaroK
(b) Play OGG files
I notice that AmaroK has some iPod integration -- does that mean that an iPod would be better supported on an Ubuntu/Linux machine than other types of player? (I have a Mac too, but the iTunes interface is really nasty by comparison with KDE)
"Dell also has a 5 band equalizer compared to the Zen's 4 band."
Wow, now I can optimise the playback for the specific accoustics of the room I'm using the Dell MP3 player in, using my pink-noise generator, studio microphone, and frequency analysers...
I thought OO.o was on version 2.0?
Yeah, but version 2.0 is awful. Having an update of version 1.1 is good news for anyone who actually uses the program.
"Every minute a Java developer wastes using C# is a minute that he/she is not using Java. Every time a Linux developer tries Mono, he/she is wasting resources in a doomed technology"
.NET?)
.NET applications?"
And every minute someone spends producing Java applications, they're creating something which can't usefully be shipped with a Free Software operating system.
Unless you meant that the Linux/Java applications should run on Kaffe (in which case, what's the difference between that and Mono?) or that people should install the proprietary JVM (in which case, what's the difference between that and
"BTW, where's the big wave of
Users haven't installed the programs yet because they're waiting for the 23MB runtime to download (and the Internet Explorer version it depends on, and the Service pack that that depends on...) Some estimates suggest that it will be finished soon after Gentoo is compiled.
"First, Mandriva is TOTALLY open source."
So why do you have to agree to an End User License Agreement before being allowed to install it?
If you're seriously looking for a linux laptop, then somewhere like YellowDog might be a good place to start.
They sell powerBooks, iBooks, etc. at the same price as Apple's store, with dual-boot Linux/Mac OS X.
Both IE and Firefox will have bugs that cause security issues. One critical difference is that Firefox empowers the community to fix the issues ASAP
But Firefox is modified in the middle of the night by foreigners that you can't trust.
"In Firefox, you could just middle mouse click on the link and open it in a new window."
Not on Mac OS X....
"Actually, what I like alot is the way Opera handles this. They put the 'X' on the tab itself. IMHO, it makes for less mouse movement and just seems easier when closing a tab."
That's one thing I used to like about Galeon (basically firefox for GNOME) but I don't like the feature any more after getting used to the tab-close button on the right.
For one thing, it's too easy to accidentally delete a tab instead of selecting it when you have loads of tabs open and you're tired/drunk/bad at mouse-aiming. Presumably opera removes those buttons once the tab-density gets beyond a certain level?
"idiots who download iTunes and supply a one-shot email address instead of simply unchecking the `send me iTunes newsletters' box on the download page"
One of those options requires you to trust the website, both not to spam you, nor to be bought by someone who will spam you, nor to give your address to someone who will spam you, nor to be hacked by someone who will spam you, nor to have their backup tapes and laptops stolen by someone who will spam you, nor to listen to their marketing department who just read about the benefits of email marketing.
The other option gives you complete control over the amount of email that the website is permitted to send you.
So which option would the idiot choose?
"Easy font resizing. Ctrl-plus to make fonts bigger on any web site. Whenever I show this feature to somone over 40, it immediately sells them on Firefox."
That and the "minimum font size" option. Finally a browser that ignores websites' requests for 8pt text...
Why do fancy graphics always get higher priority than usability?
Exactly. Why do people not realise that we don't watch their adverts, don't watch their tradeshow demonstrations, but do listen quite carefully to other peoples' experiences using a product.
A Logic Analyser: This is a device that looks a bit like an overly fat ballpoint pen with a wire attached.
A logic analyser looks like a small minicomputer, with sets of connectors coming out of it that either monitor 80 wires at a time, or get plugged directly into a bus. You attach a keyboard, monitor, and mouse to it, and then ask it things like "when bus x becomes 0x2500 and wire y goes high for between 2 and 3 milliseconds, then count how long it is until bus z becomes 0x0001"
Though I daresay the bicolour LED with a probe attached is useful for many simpler circuits...
If they've really fixed the apparent memory leak, I'll be really happy.
* So, we want faster back/forward performance, caching the DOM of every page in the history, in memory.
* And we want tabbed browsing, so there can be hundreds of these browser histories to store
* But we don't want it to use too much memory, otherwise we'll assume it's a memory-leak, bloated, or badly-programmed.
I'm starting to see why there's always something wrong with every program. "Given enough eyes, there's always another bug"
How would you like it if every trip to the auto-mechanic you were chided for having certain tires, not using a particular brand/weight of motor oil
To be fair, if you drove around with the automobile-safety equivalent of internet explorer, the police would pull you over and tell you to stop driving until it was fixed...