There are plenty of reasons to use source based distros besides geekiness.
First, you never again have to worry about hardware or software dependancies hard built into binary packages. RPM and the like have many problems with this. There are prolly 50 rpms for any given package built on all the different platforms for all the different software configureations you may have. There need be only one source tarball. This makes getting and installing much much easier. If there are dependancies you don't have, Sorcerer automatically grabs the source for them and compiles them and installs them. I'd like to see rpm do as well.
Secondly, as far as a firewall goes, I'd say a source distro is the best way to go. You can compile everything for your system seemlessly, and the (with Sorcerer anyway) its a simple thing to uninstall anything you want. Get rid of gcc if you like as well. But having proggies on a firewall doesn't matter. If your firewall gets hacked, the rest of your systems are vulnerable and that's the problem. What do you want? Lets gid rid of all runnable proggies on the network cause the firewall might get hacked and people can then very easily hack the rest of my stuff.
There isn't anything you can do if you get hacked... All you can do is try your hardest not to. And the way to do that is to insure that all of your programs are installed and setup perfectly. Which is only feasibly possible, if you want to stay upto date with the latest software and security fixes, on a box built from source.
Honestly, I don't think Microsoft *could* make it in an opensource world. They'd have to turn everything upside down and inside out. All of their policies would have to change, all of their licensing would have to change... Everything would need to be different. They could prolly still make a good buck selling software in the stores, but when source is available for free, people may simply learn how to compile it themselves.
I think either Microsoft will keep things the way they are or fall apart trying to adapt to something else... I hope I'm wrong because there is a lot of talent and cool ideas coming out of MS, and eventhough I hate thier policies, they do make a good deal of very cool stuff possible on todays computers.
jdW
Re:Not slashdotted yet, but getting there....
on
Gentoo 1.0 Released
·
· Score: 2, Informative
yeah, but the iso for Sorcerer Linux weighs in at just under 80MB, and have a MUCH easier install than Gentoo...
But once you get Gentoo running its nice... just make sure to print out the instructions first;-)... makes it easier in the long run.
jdW
I still like sorcerer better...
on
Gentoo 1.0 Released
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
From lookin at the changes to 1.0, I still like Sorcerer GNU Linux better... Its just cleaner and easier to use in my opinion.
But don't get me wrong, a source based distro is a great thing, and I really hope that one day in the near future (rather than trying to maintain this binary package management hell) all the major distros will wake up and realize that source management is *much* cleaner and nicer to the user. I'm really hoping for the death of RPM, but I'm sure I'm not so lucky...
Geez... Everyone wants to charge more and more for stuff we already have because its getting more popular... It really sux that all our contracts with people such as time warner express such ideas as "rates subject to change without notice" and such... But then, how do you compete in bandwidth with big industry? It isn't a trivial matter to lay one's own cable across the country and say "hey, buy my bandwidth, its cheaper!"... cause it'd be more expensive prolly than the leading largeass company in the feild... Anyway, I'm done rambling...
I don't think anyone will get to read this cause their are already waaaay too many replies in here. But what the hell.
I want to design the next generation graphics card chipsets and processors. I'd like to work for either 3DLabs or Matrox when it comes down to it. Unless I just decide to go with AMD and hit the processor route.
But anyway, you can be a Computer Scientist and totally ignore all the hardware and just work in high level languages and stick with the easy crap, or you can be a computer engineer and *really* understand how everything works down to the electricity moving through the chip itself.
The rub is that you cannot be a computer engineer and ignore computer science. You have to know how programs operate in order to design memory and processing subsystems to give the fastest and most reliable results possible. So far, in my experience, Computer Engineering is like majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, the latter with a concentration in Digital Systems.
When I got to school, I had a bit of a desire to grab majors in all three subjects (CS, CE, and EE), but now I know that the one that focuses in the areas I want is Computer Engineering, and nothing is left out that I desire to know in the other two areas of my greatest interest.
Well, that's my take on it all, and I hope maybe one person got to read it and got some good info out of it!
well... ummm... it won't hurt your filesystem, but running programs can still get fscked up if they get interrupted like that very often... and it also helps if you are in an area with not very predictable power: I get slight brownouts all the time that (without a UPS) are just enough to reset my computer... It really pisses me off, but a small UPS fixes it right up!
geez guys, isn't the point of EBay to give people a forum to sell things?
Personally, I think they could take advantage of this: Why don't they add a feature to sell to one of the loosers of the auction?
Here's a really simple example of how to do it: both the seller and the bidder click a little button that says "defer to next highest bidder."
Solves a bunch of problems actually (but will, of course, create new ones). The thing is, I believe that a step in this direction would impress the customer base of EBay and help them greatly. Good PR and all ya know. And I personally think it would be easier to work out the possible problems of this sort of innovation than it would be to go about things the way they are...
JDW
(I accidentally put this in the wrong place the first time... oops!)
thanx for stickin up for me man... I really don't see how you would think this was flaimbait... I was honestly posing a genuine question here... My poor karma... oh! the horror!... I feel so naked...
ahh, but you see, we have differing experinces then... The majority of people with whom I am associated have gotten into linux *because* of UNIX. I attend NCState University, and up until a little while ago, the majority of machines on campus have been Solaris (Spark 4/5 and 10). It has been very useful to have a UNIX-like system running on the campus network as you can do many a thing that you can't with a windows box and an windows X-Server.
There are only two other people out of about 20 people I know who are really 'into' the opensource software/learning new things end of it. I was under the impression that we were the minority in such things.
It also follows (to me) that companies who are looking to adopt a new system would be looking for something that has been 'proven' in their minds. Many companies don't think linux to be, in and of itself, a 'proven' technology. It is (again IMO) the simple fact that (now most) linux based systems utilize UNIX ideas and technologies that gives linux this foot in the door. And (as companies enjoy such things as a third person perspective along the lines of certifications) the whole attempt at POSIX compliance gives linux ground on which to stand.
So, really, a good/. poll might be to find out how many people use linux because of innovation, coolness, unix-likeness, or whatever... Unless we've already gone there and I missed it;-)... But I guess my point would be that I think its UNIX-like qualities are the very basis of the success of Linux. So I ask again, what would be the use of such a system as has been presented here? Where does it 'fit in' with regaurd to the 'big picture'? Is this any more than an excersize to beef up ones own resume? Or will it be useful in the long run? Is the utilization of compile on the fly technology a step forward or a step back?
that's pretty frikin cool man... but is something like this gonna be usable? I mean, people into linux are usually familiar with UNIX and know its ins and outs pretty well... But with this type of thing, even if it is simple to learn, might people want not to use it because it is unfamiliar?
And also, what practical purposes does a system like this serve?
JDW
I don't think this will matter too too much for Transmeta right now. They've got a chance to prove themselves with Sony right now, and if kick it hardcore on the outset, they should be fine.
IPO isn't where it all comes down to in the long run anyway. Even if the IPO price is affected by the fact that IBM isn't currently planning on releasing a Crusoe Thinkpad, they'll make there money if they make an impact in the market place. Which is, in my opinion, how it should be anyway.
And in the end, this isn't IBM saying that they will never make a Thinkpad with a Crusoe in it, so all you fans of IBM and Transmeta might yet see all your wishes come true -- that is, if Transmeta can deliver on its promises. This next quarter will prove very pivotal for Transmeta, and I really do hope that they put up some stiff competition in the portable processing market. And Crusoe is just a first product, and is (at least in my opinion) just a taste of what Transmeta and the gang have in store. And in the worst case, at least there is more competition to bring down prices in the short run. But I've gone on long enough for one post, and that's a whole other story...
yeah, thats great and all... actually, i really appreciate the information, but the problem i've got is getting started... there was one question asked about the same thing, but it was lumped in with advertisement, which (in my mind) is a little different than recruiting developers for a project that has yet to gain any popularity at all...
and on top of that, i'm writing a game, and with games its a whole other story... to my knowledge, there aren't any bleeding edge games that are opensource. i mean, sure, you've got wolfenstein and quake even, but they're all opened up after their money making days are over.
and above and beyond that, it takes a whole lot to develop a good game. the fact that no one wants to put all that work into something that will not only not make money, but will not contribute anything productive to the oss community or the net as a whole kinda takes the bottom out of the whole idea...
and then there is the fact the everyone who has the motivation and the skill to write a bleeding edge game wants to write there own because they can't agree with anyone about how the story should go, or how to do the interface, or how the gameplay should come out, or whether to use an engine or write one from the ground up, or... well... you get the idea...
So I just thought that I'd mention how these ideas are all great, but they don't always apply in my experience, because you can't always get to a point where anything becomes useful... which is why there are no great open source games.
JDW
Re:Hope the spin doesn't make you dizzy!
on
Microsoft Cracked
·
· Score: 1
I've gotta say man, that last point about the legislation really *REALLY* scares me... Getting the gov't to pass laws that were especially harsh against hackers and crackers would be especially desireable to microsoft, as my guess would be that their software is the absolute most messed will on the net... Granted, that's also because they have the largest userbase, but that's a whole other discussion...
The point is, could microsoft have done this to themselves in order to get better protection both nationally and internationally (via the russian email address)?
And if anything along those lines is going on, I really really wanna catch the next ride to mars so I can colonize it... not that I have all the answers, or anything;-)
yeah, i know, hundreds of other people are probably looking for it too, but wouldn't it be in some way useful it somehow it accidentally got leaked to the general public? I mean, beyond the fact that microsoft would be in a bad spot, wouldn't it be more useful to humanity as a whole if the "cat were out of the bag" so to speak?
And here is another intersting thought: could microsoft put the cat back in the bag ? I think they could! That's a whole lotta source there, and even if it got posted on the net and all kinds of slashdotters got ahold of it, I think that microsoft would have the money, the desire, and the wherewithall to come down hard on as many people as they could. And I think that might just scare enough shit out of enough people to where no good use would come of the source of the beast.
Slashdot Mirror
first off, Sorcerer isn't BSD, is GNU/Linux.
There are plenty of reasons to use source based distros besides geekiness.
First, you never again have to worry about hardware or software dependancies hard built into binary packages. RPM and the like have many problems with this. There are prolly 50 rpms for any given package built on all the different platforms for all the different software configureations you may have. There need be only one source tarball. This makes getting and installing much much easier. If there are dependancies you don't have, Sorcerer automatically grabs the source for them and compiles them and installs them. I'd like to see rpm do as well.
Secondly, as far as a firewall goes, I'd say a source distro is the best way to go. You can compile everything for your system seemlessly, and the (with Sorcerer anyway) its a simple thing to uninstall anything you want. Get rid of gcc if you like as well. But having proggies on a firewall doesn't matter. If your firewall gets hacked, the rest of your systems are vulnerable and that's the problem. What do you want? Lets gid rid of all runnable proggies on the network cause the firewall might get hacked and people can then very easily hack the rest of my stuff.
There isn't anything you can do if you get hacked... All you can do is try your hardest not to. And the way to do that is to insure that all of your programs are installed and setup perfectly. Which is only feasibly possible, if you want to stay upto date with the latest software and security fixes, on a box built from source.
I took no offence, just responding.
jdW
Honestly, I don't think Microsoft *could* make it in an opensource world. They'd have to turn everything upside down and inside out. All of their policies would have to change, all of their licensing would have to change... Everything would need to be different. They could prolly still make a good buck selling software in the stores, but when source is available for free, people may simply learn how to compile it themselves.
I think either Microsoft will keep things the way they are or fall apart trying to adapt to something else... I hope I'm wrong because there is a lot of talent and cool ideas coming out of MS, and eventhough I hate thier policies, they do make a good deal of very cool stuff possible on todays computers.
jdW
yeah, but the iso for Sorcerer Linux weighs in at just under 80MB, and have a MUCH easier install than Gentoo...
;-) ... makes it easier in the long run.
But once you get Gentoo running its nice... just make sure to print out the instructions first
jdW
From lookin at the changes to 1.0, I still like Sorcerer GNU Linux better ... Its just cleaner and easier to use in my opinion.
But don't get me wrong, a source based distro is a great thing, and I really hope that one day in the near future (rather than trying to maintain this binary package management hell) all the major distros will wake up and realize that source management is *much* cleaner and nicer to the user. I'm really hoping for the death of RPM, but I'm sure I'm not so lucky...
jdW
Geez... Everyone wants to charge more and more for stuff we already have because its getting more popular... It really sux that all our contracts with people such as time warner express such ideas as "rates subject to change without notice" and such... But then, how do you compete in bandwidth with big industry? It isn't a trivial matter to lay one's own cable across the country and say "hey, buy my bandwidth, its cheaper!" ... cause it'd be more expensive prolly than the leading largeass company in the feild... Anyway, I'm done rambling...
this roX0rz my s0X off...
:-)
I wanna join the suit -- they cost me a couple letter grades in school when their OS crashed on me... That's worth about 1.5mil to me
jdW
from the flies-through-the-air-with-the-greatest-disease dept.
That is the funniest thing I've read in a good long while... Great job guys!
JDW
I don't think anyone will get to read this cause their are already waaaay too many replies in here. But what the hell.
I want to design the next generation graphics card chipsets and processors. I'd like to work for either 3DLabs or Matrox when it comes down to it. Unless I just decide to go with AMD and hit the processor route.
But anyway, you can be a Computer Scientist and totally ignore all the hardware and just work in high level languages and stick with the easy crap, or you can be a computer engineer and *really* understand how everything works down to the electricity moving through the chip itself.
The rub is that you cannot be a computer engineer and ignore computer science. You have to know how programs operate in order to design memory and processing subsystems to give the fastest and most reliable results possible. So far, in my experience, Computer Engineering is like majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, the latter with a concentration in Digital Systems.
When I got to school, I had a bit of a desire to grab majors in all three subjects (CS, CE, and EE), but now I know that the one that focuses in the areas I want is Computer Engineering, and nothing is left out that I desire to know in the other two areas of my greatest interest.
Well, that's my take on it all, and I hope maybe one person got to read it and got some good info out of it!
JDW
HAHA!! Upgrades?! Wow!! I'm gonna get the patch as soon as it's available!
JDW
just my 0.02
this stinks like shit. how retarded. ugh... can't say more... too disgusted...
JDW
I'm with you on that one... I really didn't get it at all...
well... ummm... it won't hurt your filesystem, but running programs can still get fscked up if they get interrupted like that very often... and it also helps if you are in an area with not very predictable power: I get slight brownouts all the time that (without a UPS) are just enough to reset my computer... It really pisses me off, but a small UPS fixes it right up!
JDW
ouch
JDW
geez guys, isn't the point of EBay to give people a forum to sell things?
... oops!)
Personally, I think they could take advantage of this: Why don't they add a feature to sell to one of the loosers of the auction?
Here's a really simple example of how to do it: both the seller and the bidder click a little button that says "defer to next highest bidder."
Solves a bunch of problems actually (but will, of course, create new ones). The thing is, I believe that a step in this direction would impress the customer base of EBay and help them greatly. Good PR and all ya know. And I personally think it would be easier to work out the possible problems of this sort of innovation than it would be to go about things the way they are...
JDW
(I accidentally put this in the wrong place the first time
thanx for stickin up for me man... I really don't see how you would think this was flaimbait... I was honestly posing a genuine question here... My poor karma... oh! the horror! ... I feel so naked ...
JDW
ahh, but you see, we have differing experinces then... The majority of people with whom I am associated have gotten into linux *because* of UNIX. I attend NCState University, and up until a little while ago, the majority of machines on campus have been Solaris (Spark 4/5 and 10). It has been very useful to have a UNIX-like system running on the campus network as you can do many a thing that you can't with a windows box and an windows X-Server.
/. poll might be to find out how many people use linux because of innovation, coolness, unix-likeness, or whatever... Unless we've already gone there and I missed it ;-) ... But I guess my point would be that I think its UNIX-like qualities are the very basis of the success of Linux. So I ask again, what would be the use of such a system as has been presented here? Where does it 'fit in' with regaurd to the 'big picture'? Is this any more than an excersize to beef up ones own resume? Or will it be useful in the long run? Is the utilization of compile on the fly technology a step forward or a step back?
There are only two other people out of about 20 people I know who are really 'into' the opensource software/learning new things end of it. I was under the impression that we were the minority in such things.
It also follows (to me) that companies who are looking to adopt a new system would be looking for something that has been 'proven' in their minds. Many companies don't think linux to be, in and of itself, a 'proven' technology. It is (again IMO) the simple fact that (now most) linux based systems utilize UNIX ideas and technologies that gives linux this foot in the door. And (as companies enjoy such things as a third person perspective along the lines of certifications) the whole attempt at POSIX compliance gives linux ground on which to stand.
So, really, a good
JDW
that's pretty frikin cool man... but is something like this gonna be usable? I mean, people into linux are usually familiar with UNIX and know its ins and outs pretty well... But with this type of thing, even if it is simple to learn, might people want not to use it because it is unfamiliar?
And also, what practical purposes does a system like this serve? JDW
crap... it doesn't come to my city til february 16... doesn't that suck...
yep... great site... love it...
JDW
hey, I just wanted to note that my previous post was #1701 .... yay! I'm the enterprise!
do0d man, that was a rockin story... I kinda like to see what would happne... I'm gonna start telling all my friends to vote for a tie!
JDW
I don't think this will matter too too much for Transmeta right now. They've got a chance to prove themselves with Sony right now, and if kick it hardcore on the outset, they should be fine.
IPO isn't where it all comes down to in the long run anyway. Even if the IPO price is affected by the fact that IBM isn't currently planning on releasing a Crusoe Thinkpad, they'll make there money if they make an impact in the market place. Which is, in my opinion, how it should be anyway.
And in the end, this isn't IBM saying that they will never make a Thinkpad with a Crusoe in it, so all you fans of IBM and Transmeta might yet see all your wishes come true -- that is, if Transmeta can deliver on its promises. This next quarter will prove very pivotal for Transmeta, and I really do hope that they put up some stiff competition in the portable processing market. And Crusoe is just a first product, and is (at least in my opinion) just a taste of what Transmeta and the gang have in store. And in the worst case, at least there is more competition to bring down prices in the short run. But I've gone on long enough for one post, and that's a whole other story...
JDW
yeah, thats great and all... actually, i really appreciate the information, but the problem i've got is getting started... there was one question asked about the same thing, but it was lumped in with advertisement, which (in my mind) is a little different than recruiting developers for a project that has yet to gain any popularity at all...
... well ... you get the idea...
and on top of that, i'm writing a game, and with games its a whole other story... to my knowledge, there aren't any bleeding edge games that are opensource. i mean, sure, you've got wolfenstein and quake even, but they're all opened up after their money making days are over.
and above and beyond that, it takes a whole lot to develop a good game. the fact that no one wants to put all that work into something that will not only not make money, but will not contribute anything productive to the oss community or the net as a whole kinda takes the bottom out of the whole idea...
and then there is the fact the everyone who has the motivation and the skill to write a bleeding edge game wants to write there own because they can't agree with anyone about how the story should go, or how to do the interface, or how the gameplay should come out, or whether to use an engine or write one from the ground up, or
So I just thought that I'd mention how these ideas are all great, but they don't always apply in my experience, because you can't always get to a point where anything becomes useful... which is why there are no great open source games.
JDW
I've gotta say man, that last point about the legislation really *REALLY* scares me... Getting the gov't to pass laws that were especially harsh against hackers and crackers would be especially desireable to microsoft, as my guess would be that their software is the absolute most messed will on the net... Granted, that's also because they have the largest userbase, but that's a whole other discussion...
;-)
The point is, could microsoft have done this to themselves in order to get better protection both nationally and internationally (via the russian email address)?
And if anything along those lines is going on, I really really wanna catch the next ride to mars so I can colonize it... not that I have all the answers, or anything
JDW
but where can i get my copy!
yeah, i know, hundreds of other people are probably looking for it too, but wouldn't it be in some way useful it somehow it accidentally got leaked to the general public? I mean, beyond the fact that microsoft would be in a bad spot, wouldn't it be more useful to humanity as a whole if the "cat were out of the bag" so to speak?
And here is another intersting thought: could microsoft put the cat back in the bag ? I think they could! That's a whole lotta source there, and even if it got posted on the net and all kinds of slashdotters got ahold of it, I think that microsoft would have the money, the desire, and the wherewithall to come down hard on as many people as they could. And I think that might just scare enough shit out of enough people to where no good use would come of the source of the beast.
But... I still want a copy!!
JDW