I don't think it's already been mentionned here so I suggest non-windows users interested in this kind of stuff to take a look at metisse: http://insitu.lri.fr/~chapuis/metisse/in dex.html
some screenies: http://insitu.lri.fr/~chapuis/metisse/ screenshots/
in case they weren't already there (it's too much of a pain to read other comments cuz you have to filter all the crap):
For statistical computing:
http://www.r-project.org/
For numerical computations in a user-friendly environment:
http://scilabsoft.inria.fr/
I'm glad you brought that up because even if I found the part about what is a hacker and why are hackers concerned about rights very interesting I was quite shocked by the part which goes like: "real hackers are American".
I'm not a hacker myself but we do have also our Silicon Valleys in Europe (I'm french btw) with bright minds who are keen on intellectual challenges and I'm particularly impressed everyday by the inventivity and smartness of german hackers when dealing with open source software.
In the end, I think all countries have their hackers in their own way and that what makes a big difference in the Silicon Valley is of course money; it's always about money finally.
To conclude, may I recall that if Richard Stallman is American, Linus Torvalds is Finn.
Just to recall that if one is looking for a source based distro, there are very good alternatives to Gentoo like Sourcemage (I'm using it with great pleasure everyday) or Lunar-linux (haven't really tried it).
Slashdot Mirror
informative article, and I'm glad to read that bt is not dead as a conclusion.
I don't think it's already been mentionned here so I suggest non-windows users interested in this kind of stuff to take a look at metisse:n dex.html
/ screenshots/
http://insitu.lri.fr/~chapuis/metisse/i
some screenies:
http://insitu.lri.fr/~chapuis/metisse
Woohooo, they finally cancelled this sucky show!
I hope the next one will be more like voyager and not about silly time travel.
in case they weren't already there (it's too much of a pain to read other comments cuz you have to filter all the crap): For statistical computing: http://www.r-project.org/ For numerical computations in a user-friendly environment: http://scilabsoft.inria.fr/
Use Jabber.
With Psi client for example.
I'm not a hacker myself but we do have also our Silicon Valleys in Europe (I'm french btw) with bright minds who are keen on intellectual challenges and I'm particularly impressed everyday by the inventivity and smartness of german hackers when dealing with open source software.
In the end, I think all countries have their hackers in their own way and that what makes a big difference in the Silicon Valley is of course money; it's always about money finally. To conclude, may I recall that if Richard Stallman is American, Linus Torvalds is Finn.
You don't have to pay for Mandrake, you can get their iso's on their mebsite. And it indeed is user friendly (you could also try out Suze or Fedora).
Just to recall that if one is looking for a source based distro, there are very good alternatives to Gentoo like Sourcemage (I'm using it with great pleasure everyday) or Lunar-linux (haven't really tried it).