gzip and zip are completely different things. gzip compresses a stream (and does a much better job than compress, which it has replaced entirely. However, gzip is slowly being replazed by bzip2 nowadays), whereas zip is an archive format that can store individual (usually compressed) files. The huge advantage of zip over compressed tar archives comes from the fact that you have random access, i.e. can extract a single file from a potentially HUGE archive).
GIF had patent issues with the LZW-Algorithm it used. The patent has expired recently, but the GIF issue is completely unrelated to ZIP (ZIP uses LZ77).
About the patent issue: There are a dozen or so zip-related patents, but they're all highly specific and shouldn't stop anyone from using zip, or even writing a zip utility. See also
Patents on data compression algorithms.
Arbitrary speculation: He was just pissed that he lost against Topalov in the last round (and in a most embarassing manner too, he hardly put up a fight, but headed straight for a lost pawn ending).
Mod parent up. We live in a world of constantly shifting requirements, and glorious "just give us something (preferably next week), we'll tell you when it's what we want" assignments.
Speaking of open source decoders, is there a good decoder that's LGPL or BSD licensed? I found both smpeg and mpglib unable to playback correctly certain mp3 files that play just in Winamp or iTunes.
Actually, there's probably a law against it. Same reason why you can't just leave a loaded weapon lying around, or a car with the key in the ignition (at least around here).
And then explain to the judge that "yes, your honor, this drive is encrypted to the point the NSA can't break in, but no, I'm too stupid to enable WEP, and no, I just can't remember the pass-phrase for the drive".
You (delibaretly?) completely misunderstood my point. Just because the platform does have *relatively* few users, it doesn't mean they're not worth catering to. For example, MacOS X sales of Candy-Cruncher outnumber win32 sales 2 to 1 (source: Brian Hook, founder of pyrogon (in an interview)).
The difference is not so much in performance, but in the features. The Geforce 4MX is basically a Geforce 2 on steroids, and has only a fixed function pipeline. That means it can't do vertex shaders (but it does have hardware T&L, it's just not fully programmable), and it can't do pixel shaders. Some games were stupid enough to write 'requires Geforce3 or better' on their package, and had to suffer some backlash from angry 4mx owners who couldn't run them, but thought '4 is better than 3'. Stupid nVidia marketing mistake.
About the performance issue: Vertex shaders can be emulated on the CPU (of course, eating into your AI/animation setup etc. CPU needs), and even a geforce3 probably outperforms a 3GHz CPU at pure vertex processing by a large margin.
I have no mod points right now, so I'll throw in my +1 modifier...The correct explanation for the above result is (from AC:):
This isn't using divisions by zero. This particular "proof" relies on the fact that rearranging the terms of a nonabsolutely convergent series does not necessarily give the same sum. In fact, such a series can be transformed into a series with any given sum simply by rearranging the terms.
Media Player Classic is quite lightweight (1.2 MB standalone exe), and seems to play just about anything, provided you have the necessary codecs installed.
I still have two HP 15C's (basically the math versions), and I fear the day they break (so far, they've proven to be pretty much indestructible, after having been through such tortures as been repeatedly dropped from desks, sat on, stood on, being left lying in the sun, subjected to water, tea & cola spilling etc.).
If I need to do more advanced stuff, I use Cinderella, Octave/GNUplot or (when available) Mathematica.
> Beating GNUChess on a modern PC is almost impossible unless you're a highly ranked master or grandmaster.
That's not true. I played GNUchess running on an Opteron (at Linuxworld) and I easily trashed it (in a positional game). And I'm still more than 200 elo points away from grandmaster strength.
Unfortunately, all the suckers that set their system time back to get 'extended' shareware use periods will be spreading the worm/virus (true slashdotters never read the article) for years to come.
Slashdot Mirror
gzip and zip are completely different things. gzip compresses a stream (and does a much better job than compress, which it has replaced entirely. However, gzip is slowly being replazed by bzip2 nowadays), whereas zip is an archive format that can store individual (usually compressed) files. The huge advantage of zip over compressed tar archives comes from the fact that you have random access, i.e. can extract a single file from a potentially HUGE archive).
GIF had patent issues with the LZW-Algorithm it used. The patent has expired recently, but the GIF issue is completely unrelated to ZIP (ZIP uses LZ77).
About the patent issue: There are a dozen or so zip-related patents, but they're all highly specific and shouldn't stop anyone from using zip, or even writing a zip utility. See also Patents on data compression algorithms.
Apparently, most moderators seem to think so too.
*ducks*
Try playing chess, for a while. You'll find it quite challenging.
Arbitrary speculation: He was just pissed that he lost against Topalov in the last round (and in a most embarassing manner too, he hardly put up a fight, but headed straight for a lost pawn ending).
Why this got modded as 'Funny' instead of 'Insightful' is beyond me.
Mod parent up. We live in a world of constantly shifting requirements, and glorious "just give us something (preferably next week), we'll tell you when it's what we want" assignments.
Speaking of open source decoders, is there a good decoder that's LGPL or BSD licensed? I found both smpeg and mpglib unable to playback correctly certain mp3 files that play just in Winamp or iTunes.
- Andreas
They grab CloneCD from
SlySoft Inc.
Dickenson Bay Street
John Henry Bldg.
St. John's
Antigua (West Indies)
In Antigua, it's still legal to produce such tools (at least, until the US invades it).
Actually, there's probably a law against it. Same reason why you can't just leave a loaded weapon lying around, or a car with the key in the ignition (at least around here).
- Andreas
And then explain to the judge that "yes, your honor, this drive is encrypted to the point the NSA can't break in, but no, I'm too stupid to enable WEP, and no, I just can't remember the pass-phrase for the drive".
- Andreas
You (delibaretly?) completely misunderstood my point. Just because the platform does have *relatively* few users, it doesn't mean they're not worth catering to. For example, MacOS X sales of Candy-Cruncher outnumber win32 sales 2 to 1 (source: Brian Hook, founder of pyrogon (in an interview)).
- Andreas
If you look at these download stats, you'll see that the non-Win32 platforms make up more than a third of all downloads.
On the 'fringe' platforms (OS X, Linux), you can achieve a much higher market share.
- Andreas
The difference is not so much in performance, but in the features. The Geforce 4MX is basically a Geforce 2 on steroids, and has only a fixed function pipeline. That means it can't do vertex shaders (but it does have hardware T&L, it's just not fully programmable), and it can't do pixel shaders. Some games were stupid enough to write 'requires Geforce3 or better' on their package, and had to suffer some backlash from angry 4mx owners who couldn't run them, but thought '4 is better than 3'. Stupid nVidia marketing mistake.
About the performance issue: Vertex shaders can be emulated on the CPU (of course, eating into your AI/animation setup etc. CPU needs), and even a geforce3 probably outperforms a 3GHz CPU at pure vertex processing by a large margin.
- Andreas
Heh, even I (lowly 2300 player) can beat up GNUchess running on an AMD Opteron even in Blitz games. Short: it sucks badly.
- Andreas
The gasonline can actually is on Mars, as you find out later, when you play Zak McKracken!
- Andreas
This isn't using divisions by zero. This particular "proof" relies on the fact that rearranging the terms of a nonabsolutely convergent series does not necessarily give the same sum. In fact, such a series can be transformed into a series with any given sum simply by rearranging the terms.
Cubert: That's impossible. You can't go faster than the speed of light.
Farnsworth: Of course not. That's why scientists increased the speed of light in 2208.
- Andreas
"worth framing"? - You ment: "worth selling for $$$ on ebay"...
This guide probably hasn't heard of Harry Potter yet. I'm certainly looking forward to that one.
- Andreas
If I need to do more advanced stuff, I use Cinderella, Octave/GNUplot or (when available) Mathematica.
- Andreas
No such luck. Rob Malda uses Internet Explorer.
> Beating GNUChess on a modern PC is almost impossible unless you're a highly ranked master or grandmaster.
That's not true. I played GNUchess running on an Opteron (at Linuxworld) and I easily trashed it (in a positional game). And I'm still more than 200 elo points away from grandmaster strength.
- Andreas
Unfortunately, all the suckers that set their system time back to get 'extended' shareware use periods will be spreading the worm/virus (true slashdotters never read the article) for years to come.
- Andreas
Too bad, you'll never make it. There's the unsolvable game 11982 (free cell FAQ).
- Andreas