Multiarch is not gonna let you run ARM binaries on an Intel chip or anything like that - nor will it let you run Windows code on Debian. What it will do, however, is let you run x86 compiled binaries on an x64 system. It will also allow for things like mixing armhf and armel code on modern ARM, but for the most part, running 32-bit x86 code on 64-bit x64 (amd64) systems will be the benefit most of us will get.
How will we benefit? You'll be able to run binary-only x86 code on your x64 system. This means Adobe Flash and Skype. Any open source code is fine, because it can be compiled for your own architecture - but for binary-only proprietary software, it may not be available for your architecture.
"But this is already possible" you may be thinking. It is, but it's a nasty kludge at the moment. These packages, when installed on 64-bit systems, depend on 32-bit versions of several system libraries, which are separate packages. There's a series of kludges to make them work, and it's not very flexible.
The heart of multiarch support is a re-designed file system layout which accounts for the architecture of any binaries. So instead of putting some binary libraries in/lib/, it puts it in/lib/amd64/ or/lib/i386/. This is the first step for allowing the same package to be installed for different architectures. Then, dpkg will have to be modified to track packages from more than one architecture on the one system.
Multiarch is not going to delay a Debian release. If it could, it would have done so already. Multiarch has been a release goal in some form for years now, but Lenny and Squeeze (2 last releases) went ahead as normal without it, simply because it wasn't ready.
Debian releases will continue to be approximately 2 years apart.
Debian is experimenting with timed freezes, which means the release schedule should be more predictable (although the time between the freeze and the release will still work according to the "when it's ready" principle).
BTW the code he stole was from a variety of sources, not just snes9x. And snes9x isn't technically "open source". But my point still stands: by violating the terms of the software license he was stealing code.
Where do the major OSS licences forbid you making money?
They don't. You're missing the point. He stole source code from open source applications without attributing it or releasing the source, both of which are required by the license in order to use the source. It was therefore a copyright infringement.
He then made money out of this code which he stole.
When I said there won't be any major changes, by the way, I meant no more than there are every single new release.
The kernel changes immensely every release, we just don't notice it because the version number change seems so minor, and because it remains so thoroughly backwards-compatible. But each release of Linux includes probably 20,000 patches.
There won't be any major changes. The only reason to do it would be aesthetic.
For the last few years of releases, the first two digits haven't mattered anyway because they haven't changed, and they have no reason to. Linux 2.6.18 and Linux 2.6.20 are two releases apart, and that's all you need to know, so you might as well call them Linux 18 and Linux 20. By that logic we're now on Linux 39.
The problem with this is that they need a fourth number to represent any minor updates to existing versions, eg 2.6.32.28, which starts to look like a mess.
Hence, I'm sure Linus has been itching to drop some of these digits for a while now. What he's proposing here is to go to 3.0, but have the second digit increment every 6 months, not the third. So a minor update to an upcoming stable version would be like 3.0.4 rather than 2.6.40.4
It's 2011. Javascript is not optional for the web anymore.
Javascript is also not the problem. It's insecure server-side code that's the problem. XSS is not a Javascript vulnerability, it's a vulnerability with the server side. Javascript is just an actor, not the protagonist. Untrusted Javascript is let onto a server only if the server or its server-side application code is insecure.
I swear, you used to be able to open a Slashdot submission and know which was the actual link to the TFA.
What's with this current trend of camoflaguing links in your text so nobody knows which link is the important one? In this case the TFA link has the text "USB-based human interface devices" which doesn't really indicate you'll find this "awesome button" article behind it. The second one which says "Arduino" is a link to a random Slashdot submission about the Arduino. And the third link, "Teensy USB Development Board" is a link to some supplier of that board.
You're right, the "post anonymously" checkbox is unclickable for me too. In fact I guess that explains why that last comment was posted under my name...
Someone needs to let this blog writer know that writing an article based on knowledge learned in another article is not plagiarism.
It's not copyright infringement, but it is plagiarism.
Not that that's a big problem. Plagiarism is not of legal importance in the general world. It is of importance in certain professions where attributing the source of your ideas is important. The academic world is the primary example - not citing the source of an idea, or knowledge learned elsewhere, is fraudulent because by submitting a paper you are usually claiming anything not cited is your own idea.
In the commercial world, however, plagiarism is generally not important, and in this case, it's a pretty trivial idea too. The blog writer has a grandiose sense of importance.
Strangely enough, that skill seems to be universal to all people born later than about 1990, and yet it's something I've never known someone my age (30) to be able to do. It'd be certainly impossible on my touch phone.
A school teacher friend fills me in on these things. The other thing that sets such young people apart is sending 50-200 texts a day, whereas I'd be lucky if I sent 5. Who knew - pre-paid plans aimed at teens with less than 1 cent per text are readily available. And they have their phones on silent or vibrate.
Back in my day - I don't remember what we did. Just talk in class I guess. Occasionally passed a paper note. But we didn't have that constant connectedness with classmates that they can get with text messages.
It's not fully Amazon's fault either - I would do a lot of my finger pointing at the record companies.
Amazon sells other stuff to Australia. I'm guessing the record companies have made it prohibitively hard to license their stuff. Maybe Apple's done an exclusivity deal with them in this market for all I know - who knows.
Slashdot Mirror
Does anyone else think the term "Razor-Thin" has become devalued?
Or am I just a pedant?
The summary is terrible. And not just the invalid link.
Here's a more informative link than the one posted by lnunes.
Multiarch is not gonna let you run ARM binaries on an Intel chip or anything like that - nor will it let you run Windows code on Debian. What it will do, however, is let you run x86 compiled binaries on an x64 system. It will also allow for things like mixing armhf and armel code on modern ARM, but for the most part, running 32-bit x86 code on 64-bit x64 (amd64) systems will be the benefit most of us will get.
How will we benefit? You'll be able to run binary-only x86 code on your x64 system. This means Adobe Flash and Skype. Any open source code is fine, because it can be compiled for your own architecture - but for binary-only proprietary software, it may not be available for your architecture.
"But this is already possible" you may be thinking. It is, but it's a nasty kludge at the moment. These packages, when installed on 64-bit systems, depend on 32-bit versions of several system libraries, which are separate packages. There's a series of kludges to make them work, and it's not very flexible.
The heart of multiarch support is a re-designed file system layout which accounts for the architecture of any binaries. So instead of putting some binary libraries in /lib/, it puts it in /lib/amd64/ or /lib/i386/. This is the first step for allowing the same package to be installed for different architectures. Then, dpkg will have to be modified to track packages from more than one architecture on the one system.
Multiarch is not going to delay a Debian release. If it could, it would have done so already. Multiarch has been a release goal in some form for years now, but Lenny and Squeeze (2 last releases) went ahead as normal without it, simply because it wasn't ready.
Debian releases will continue to be approximately 2 years apart.
Debian is experimenting with timed freezes, which means the release schedule should be more predictable (although the time between the freeze and the release will still work according to the "when it's ready" principle).
A lot of sites are reporting that this came from Microsoft but don't actually link to anything verifying this to be true.
Can anyone link to something that would back up this claim?
Hehe
NOW it's funny
BTW the code he stole was from a variety of sources, not just snes9x. And snes9x isn't technically "open source". But my point still stands: by violating the terms of the software license he was stealing code.
They don't. You're missing the point. He stole source code from open source applications without attributing it or releasing the source, both of which are required by the license in order to use the source. It was therefore a copyright infringement.
He then made money out of this code which he stole.
I love the background image up the sides of that site - that look like domino pieces of something.
Even that is a pretty cool optical illusion!
I hate to spoil your rant, but you can turn the status bar back on in FF4.
The trick is in knowing that they now call it the "add-on bar".
In the new menu, go to Firefox -> Options -> Add-on bar. Or press Ctrl+/
The URL preview and download status still won't show in the bar like it used to, but if you want that as well, you can still restore that old behaviour with this addon, as recommend by Mozilla's official knowledgebase.
How's that for configurable?
Mozilla has been talking about doing this since before Chrome existed.
But as a community it can't exactly do things (or even decide on what to do) very quickly.
When I said there won't be any major changes, by the way, I meant no more than there are every single new release.
The kernel changes immensely every release, we just don't notice it because the version number change seems so minor, and because it remains so thoroughly backwards-compatible. But each release of Linux includes probably 20,000 patches.
There won't be any major changes. The only reason to do it would be aesthetic.
For the last few years of releases, the first two digits haven't mattered anyway because they haven't changed, and they have no reason to. Linux 2.6.18 and Linux 2.6.20 are two releases apart, and that's all you need to know, so you might as well call them Linux 18 and Linux 20. By that logic we're now on Linux 39.
The problem with this is that they need a fourth number to represent any minor updates to existing versions, eg 2.6.32.28, which starts to look like a mess.
Hence, I'm sure Linus has been itching to drop some of these digits for a while now. What he's proposing here is to go to 3.0, but have the second digit increment every 6 months, not the third. So a minor update to an upcoming stable version would be like 3.0.4 rather than 2.6.40.4
It's 2011. Javascript is not optional for the web anymore.
Javascript is also not the problem. It's insecure server-side code that's the problem. XSS is not a Javascript vulnerability, it's a vulnerability with the server side. Javascript is just an actor, not the protagonist. Untrusted Javascript is let onto a server only if the server or its server-side application code is insecure.
They will alter the deal. Pray they do not alter it further.
I'm kinda disappointed. From the headline, it sounded like they were fighting each other *with* iPads.
Apple has no "don't be evil" motto and it shows
TFA is the first link.
I swear, you used to be able to open a Slashdot submission and know which was the actual link to the TFA.
What's with this current trend of camoflaguing links in your text so nobody knows which link is the important one? In this case the TFA link has the text "USB-based human interface devices" which doesn't really indicate you'll find this "awesome button" article behind it. The second one which says "Arduino" is a link to a random Slashdot submission about the Arduino. And the third link, "Teensy USB Development Board" is a link to some supplier of that board.
Holy crap you are right!
Ok I'll have to remember: double right-clicks on links on Slashdot from now on ...
Thanks frustrated clicking!
You're right, the "post anonymously" checkbox is unclickable for me too. In fact I guess that explains why that last comment was posted under my name ...
If they were "lost", surely they wouldn't be part of that 10,000 figure would they ...
Why can't I click any links in slashdot comments anymore? I'm using Firefox 4. Can't even right click.
Any why is that yellow box overlapping everything when I'm previewing a message? Slashdot seems a bit messed up
There are 20,000 bodies that have not been properly laid to rest.
Is a potential iPad 2 shortage really that serious?
I'm just saying. It's like worrying about a lack of, I dunno, parking spaces right after the September 11 attacks.
It's not copyright infringement, but it is plagiarism.
Not that that's a big problem. Plagiarism is not of legal importance in the general world. It is of importance in certain professions where attributing the source of your ideas is important. The academic world is the primary example - not citing the source of an idea, or knowledge learned elsewhere, is fraudulent because by submitting a paper you are usually claiming anything not cited is your own idea.
In the commercial world, however, plagiarism is generally not important, and in this case, it's a pretty trivial idea too. The blog writer has a grandiose sense of importance.
Strangely enough, that skill seems to be universal to all people born later than about 1990, and yet it's something I've never known someone my age (30) to be able to do. It'd be certainly impossible on my touch phone.
A school teacher friend fills me in on these things. The other thing that sets such young people apart is sending 50-200 texts a day, whereas I'd be lucky if I sent 5. Who knew - pre-paid plans aimed at teens with less than 1 cent per text are readily available. And they have their phones on silent or vibrate.
Back in my day - I don't remember what we did. Just talk in class I guess. Occasionally passed a paper note. But we didn't have that constant connectedness with classmates that they can get with text messages.
It's not fully Amazon's fault either - I would do a lot of my finger pointing at the record companies.
Amazon sells other stuff to Australia. I'm guessing the record companies have made it prohibitively hard to license their stuff. Maybe Apple's done an exclusivity deal with them in this market for all I know - who knows.