The problem is not with 99% of gun owners, it is with 1% who are moronic yahoos to begin with. It is the same with drivers- the 1% of those who drive recklessly or drunk cause all of the accidents. Or even with techies- the 1% who hack, crack, and distribute viruses make all computer-literate people suspect.
Blanket statements only serve to make those who say them look like the south end of a northbound equine.
You seem to describe our coffee shops here in Columbia, MO to a T. A bunch of the professors and professor-wannabe TAs and academics at the university hang out in their Birkenstocks (with socks, natch), drink mochafrappahazelnutchinos and talk about how the Bush administration can be overthrown.
I personally hate the coffee shops. I don't like the academics much as they seem way too full of themselves. I don't like coffee much either. I prefer to use my computer in the privacy of my apartment with my own, faster connection.
I think that the KDE devel team wanted to have Konqueror be an every-protocol browser, be it local files, manpages, LAN browsing, or Web browser.
It is a wonderful file browser and LAN browser and has been for some time. However, its Web browsing prowess has only recently gotten decent. I am very looking forward to having a "Block images from..." context in Konqueror 3.5 as this it about the only thing keeping me using Firefox. I think the KHTML rendering engine in Konqueror is faster and prettier than Gecko and it sure loads a bunch faster.
Man, would I ever love to see a 64-bit dual-core Pentium M. Supposedly those chips are to be introduced in Q3 or Q4 2006, roughly when Longhorn, er, Windows Vista comes out. That's when I'll hold off buying a new laptop until.
But I intend to run Linux on it, so that last point is moot.
Actually, the computer that I own and have used primarily for the last almost three years is a laptop. It is far from dysfunctional, but it is getting old. It was an extremely nice and fast laptop when it came out (late 2002) and still runs passably.
But, if you look at the details:
1. My laptop has a 2.2GHz P4-M chip, the fastest made when I bought it. Desktops were just shipping with the original 3.06/533 HT chips, which are considerably faster than my P4-M (same architecture, more GHz.) Centrino chips, which in some cases can run with the Athlon 64s and fast Pentium 4s, were not introduced until about a year later.
2. My laptop has a maximum of 1GB of DDR266 RAM. Desktop systems generally had a maximum of 2 GB when my unit was shipped as the Intel 865 chipsets were in the desktops and mine's an 845. SODIMM RAM is also about twice as expensive as regular RAM.
3. I would love to upgrade my hard drive, but a 60GB, 7200 rpm IDE drive costs about $250 while the same drive for a desktop would be $50. And that's a standard part as I can use any 2.5" hard drive.
4. My CD-R/RW drive is slow. But to replace it would costs about $200 as it is a special modular unit made only for my model and one other (Gateway 600, it also fits the 400.) A CD-R/RW drive for a desktop is a $20-30 item.
5. You can keep a monitor from a desktop and reuse it. My 15.7" LCD panel stays with my laptop.
Yes, the portability is nice. I do take my laptop around with me for my job, too and it is handy. But that's really only because I like using my full-size keyboard on my unit (as opposed to the small-pitch ones on the little Dell laptops lying around) and that I have grown to hate Windows XP and the way that the IATS-owned computers are set up. (I work at a hospital.) So I drag my 8.5-pound SuSE 9.3-running laptop around with me pretty much only because I have to. I almost never take it to class unless something needs to be typed up or I have to give a slideshow presentation. Being an engineering student, that's very rare outside of labs, where I choose not to use the old NT4 machines to type up (and lose) my reports.
Several reasons:
1. Desktops are less expensive for the same amount of CPU horsepower.
2. RAM, hard drives, opticals are all faster and less expensive.
3. Desktops are easy to fix if something breaks- parts are standard (except for some Mac parts.) Laptops are all proprietary. A $30 CD drive will cost $200 to replace.
Yup, I have a 2.2GHz P4-M in my laptop (2002-vintage Gateway 600). It was top 'o the line when it came out, but unfortunately, the Pentium Ms came out about a year later. 35W from the chips does make the lap toasty.
It is much more complicated to install XP than my favorite distro, SuSE. SuSE is largely a point-and-click-and-voila! (but you can go to advanced options and change pretty much anything). It installs in 75 minutes on my old laptop- slow for Linux but smokin' fast compared to XP. XP has a pure text-mode installer until the base system (PE) is installed anyway, few Linuxes besides Gentoo and some Debians don't have a fully-GUI installer.
With Windows, I have to dick around finding drivers. It's darn near impossible if I don't have my restore CD because my Ethernet NIC (Intel PRO 100/VE intergrated) is not supported in XP out of the box. So I have to either find the bloody CD or get somebody to get me the driver on a floppy or CD from the Intel site. Can't download it myself. In SuSE, everything fired up perfectly right from the start.
Which is easier for you?
This, and the fact that they have two Linux distros (SuSE and Novell Linux Desktop) is why Novell is switching everyone to Linux and not having a bad time- they now have the whole solution in-house. Kind of neat when you think about it.
I wonder if Novell will end up like MS when they realize that they have the roughly the same level of "solution" MS has, but it runs on Linux. I hope they don't go down the same path...
I also run an ATI card (64MB Mobility M9000) on SuSE 9.3. The fglrx drivers will crap up your xorg config and also the suspend. I don't use them, and as a result, my graphics card performs at about 30% of what it should.
Actually, it might work even in suburban areas.
1 sq. mi. = 640 acres. 100 people/sq. mi. is one person every 6.4 acres, and in cities, lots are about 1/3 acre. So, barring interference from topography and such, there would likely be about 1900 houses per square mile in a city.
Well, I think that may have explained some of the very first Linux users. But I honestly think that many Linux users are like me, somebody who has never seen a Unix machine and want to switch from Windows because of various reasons. I switched because of stability issues and also a little out of curiosity to be 100% honest. For me, Linux *is* just another consumer desktop.
The RIAA and MPAA are getting away with this because of two reasons:
1. They have almost the entire distribution and production network under their control. Artists and actors pretty much have to sign with an RIAA label to get known and thus make the big $$$.
2. People value entertainment too much, in my honest opinion. Society feels that it is worthwhile to pay pro sports players, actors, and singers 8 or 9 figures a year but police, firemen, and teachers might make $40,000.
I enjoy listening to music too, but $20 for a CD or DVD is a ripoff. I don't support that industry any more than just listening to the radio or watching a movie on TV.
Why not just get a joystick or a game controller such as one like comes with an Xbox or PS2? Those devices were *made* for the express purpose to play with, keyboards were originally intended (and occasionally still used for) the inputting of text to the computer.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is not with 99% of gun owners, it is with 1% who are moronic yahoos to begin with. It is the same with drivers- the 1% of those who drive recklessly or drunk cause all of the accidents. Or even with techies- the 1% who hack, crack, and distribute viruses make all computer-literate people suspect. Blanket statements only serve to make those who say them look like the south end of a northbound equine.
You seem to describe our coffee shops here in Columbia, MO to a T. A bunch of the professors and professor-wannabe TAs and academics at the university hang out in their Birkenstocks (with socks, natch), drink mochafrappahazelnutchinos and talk about how the Bush administration can be overthrown. I personally hate the coffee shops. I don't like the academics much as they seem way too full of themselves. I don't like coffee much either. I prefer to use my computer in the privacy of my apartment with my own, faster connection.
Well put.
I think that the KDE devel team wanted to have Konqueror be an every-protocol browser, be it local files, manpages, LAN browsing, or Web browser. It is a wonderful file browser and LAN browser and has been for some time. However, its Web browsing prowess has only recently gotten decent. I am very looking forward to having a "Block images from..." context in Konqueror 3.5 as this it about the only thing keeping me using Firefox. I think the KHTML rendering engine in Konqueror is faster and prettier than Gecko and it sure loads a bunch faster.
Man, would I ever love to see a 64-bit dual-core Pentium M. Supposedly those chips are to be introduced in Q3 or Q4 2006, roughly when Longhorn, er, Windows Vista comes out. That's when I'll hold off buying a new laptop until. But I intend to run Linux on it, so that last point is moot.
India. That's where the rest of your company is.
Or crap music, but for some reason, people leave off the "c."
Actually, the computer that I own and have used primarily for the last almost three years is a laptop. It is far from dysfunctional, but it is getting old. It was an extremely nice and fast laptop when it came out (late 2002) and still runs passably. But, if you look at the details: 1. My laptop has a 2.2GHz P4-M chip, the fastest made when I bought it. Desktops were just shipping with the original 3.06/533 HT chips, which are considerably faster than my P4-M (same architecture, more GHz.) Centrino chips, which in some cases can run with the Athlon 64s and fast Pentium 4s, were not introduced until about a year later. 2. My laptop has a maximum of 1GB of DDR266 RAM. Desktop systems generally had a maximum of 2 GB when my unit was shipped as the Intel 865 chipsets were in the desktops and mine's an 845. SODIMM RAM is also about twice as expensive as regular RAM. 3. I would love to upgrade my hard drive, but a 60GB, 7200 rpm IDE drive costs about $250 while the same drive for a desktop would be $50. And that's a standard part as I can use any 2.5" hard drive. 4. My CD-R/RW drive is slow. But to replace it would costs about $200 as it is a special modular unit made only for my model and one other (Gateway 600, it also fits the 400.) A CD-R/RW drive for a desktop is a $20-30 item. 5. You can keep a monitor from a desktop and reuse it. My 15.7" LCD panel stays with my laptop. Yes, the portability is nice. I do take my laptop around with me for my job, too and it is handy. But that's really only because I like using my full-size keyboard on my unit (as opposed to the small-pitch ones on the little Dell laptops lying around) and that I have grown to hate Windows XP and the way that the IATS-owned computers are set up. (I work at a hospital.) So I drag my 8.5-pound SuSE 9.3-running laptop around with me pretty much only because I have to. I almost never take it to class unless something needs to be typed up or I have to give a slideshow presentation. Being an engineering student, that's very rare outside of labs, where I choose not to use the old NT4 machines to type up (and lose) my reports.
One flaw in your statement: Gates and Co. donated a boatload to the Democrats.
Several reasons: 1. Desktops are less expensive for the same amount of CPU horsepower. 2. RAM, hard drives, opticals are all faster and less expensive. 3. Desktops are easy to fix if something breaks- parts are standard (except for some Mac parts.) Laptops are all proprietary. A $30 CD drive will cost $200 to replace.
Yup, I have a 2.2GHz P4-M in my laptop (2002-vintage Gateway 600). It was top 'o the line when it came out, but unfortunately, the Pentium Ms came out about a year later. 35W from the chips does make the lap toasty.
I don't run OSX or Windows, is this Konfabulator like Superkaramba for KDE where you can have little Python applets on the desktop?
It is much more complicated to install XP than my favorite distro, SuSE. SuSE is largely a point-and-click-and-voila! (but you can go to advanced options and change pretty much anything). It installs in 75 minutes on my old laptop- slow for Linux but smokin' fast compared to XP. XP has a pure text-mode installer until the base system (PE) is installed anyway, few Linuxes besides Gentoo and some Debians don't have a fully-GUI installer. With Windows, I have to dick around finding drivers. It's darn near impossible if I don't have my restore CD because my Ethernet NIC (Intel PRO 100/VE intergrated) is not supported in XP out of the box. So I have to either find the bloody CD or get somebody to get me the driver on a floppy or CD from the Intel site. Can't download it myself. In SuSE, everything fired up perfectly right from the start. Which is easier for you?
This, and the fact that they have two Linux distros (SuSE and Novell Linux Desktop) is why Novell is switching everyone to Linux and not having a bad time- they now have the whole solution in-house. Kind of neat when you think about it. I wonder if Novell will end up like MS when they realize that they have the roughly the same level of "solution" MS has, but it runs on Linux. I hope they don't go down the same path...
I also run an ATI card (64MB Mobility M9000) on SuSE 9.3. The fglrx drivers will crap up your xorg config and also the suspend. I don't use them, and as a result, my graphics card performs at about 30% of what it should.
Actually, it might work even in suburban areas. 1 sq. mi. = 640 acres. 100 people/sq. mi. is one person every 6.4 acres, and in cities, lots are about 1/3 acre. So, barring interference from topography and such, there would likely be about 1900 houses per square mile in a city.
Well, I think that may have explained some of the very first Linux users. But I honestly think that many Linux users are like me, somebody who has never seen a Unix machine and want to switch from Windows because of various reasons. I switched because of stability issues and also a little out of curiosity to be 100% honest. For me, Linux *is* just another consumer desktop.
The RIAA and MPAA are getting away with this because of two reasons:
1. They have almost the entire distribution and production network under their control. Artists and actors pretty much have to sign with an RIAA label to get known and thus make the big $$$.
2. People value entertainment too much, in my honest opinion. Society feels that it is worthwhile to pay pro sports players, actors, and singers 8 or 9 figures a year but police, firemen, and teachers might make $40,000.
I enjoy listening to music too, but $20 for a CD or DVD is a ripoff. I don't support that industry any more than just listening to the radio or watching a movie on TV.
Why not just get a joystick or a game controller such as one like comes with an Xbox or PS2? Those devices were *made* for the express purpose to play with, keyboards were originally intended (and occasionally still used for) the inputting of text to the computer.