Forgot to mention, even on Driver support forums for the ATI and Nvidia gfx boards, people said they should drop support for Halflife because its old and unsupported.
I'm glad they didnt, 1600x1200 CS with 6xAA,8XAF and high poly skins, the game looks perfect. Cant wait to see CS2 or CS ported to the new HL engine. Different engines, so CS ported to HL2 might look better than CS2. (Did you get that?)
When I saw the news on Bugtrack, i posted the information on planethalflife forums and a few other places. Was rather surprised that nobody posted it on the HL forums.
And all those "HL is old" posts, "let it die", are posted by morons. CompuUSA has HL selling for 45 bux for the entire collection. They are selling the collections and still making money! The Mods alone make the HL series worth the money. Day of defeat just came out, and it rocks, the mod even made its own release like CounterStrike.
Gamespy reports that 27,000+ HL servers are running, compare that to Tribes at 700. The game is STILL selling, no reason not to patch an active cash cow. I respect Valve for supporting us, after a bad experience on Tribes2 support, Sierra needs some good karma.
BTW, Natural Selection HL mod rocks. Too bad its not well known. (Think AVP+Tribes+CC+WC3)
So this makes me wonder what the point is of using Darwin. With OS X as a whole, there are some specific benefits that exist. Apple has UI standards in place, provides some services, like iTunes, that you may want. They've done a lot of eye candy. But is there any real point in using Darwin alone versus, say, Linux? Or, if you specifically want BSD, then compare it to plain ol' FreeBSD. I mean, what's the point?
True, I wouldnt use Darwin either.
Linux and FreeBSD are my opensource distros of choice. But for Daily work, OSX gives me the power of *nix OS with all the same software. Throw in iTunes, and the nice collection of applications for OSX, its a hard OS to ignore if your a unix junkie.
And dont understimate eye-candy, KDE and Gnome look great, OSX looks perfect. Great time for opensource, pick your candy.
Why does SRC ports have to be DISTRO Specific?
on
The GNU-Darwin World
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I'll be glad when someone creates a generic Ports that works across all platforms. The news that Gentoo, Fink and Darwin ports where working together was great news. Gentoo has Linux, Fink Has MacOSX, and GnuDarwin has x86 and PPC.
FreeBSD/OpenBSD and all those Linux (Cooker type) distros have broken ports. Even the Binary only distros have broken packages. I think OpenBSD said 20%+ of BSD ports where broken, (anyone have the numbers?). This could fix all those problems across platforms.
Verizon has 2 networks in our area, one is a T1 (fijitsu)based, the other is T3 (westell) based dsl modems.
I was on the fitjistsu on the 768/128, about a 33ms ping to the seattle bbnplanet backbone, I moved down the street, and they put in the new higherspeed network. 1500/384 and 10ms to the bbnplanet backbone.
USwest back in Spokane was about 15ms on a 768/768 cisco modem.
While I find Verizon and other telcos to be better bandwidth and ping, smaller mom and pop ISP's tend to oversell. Speakeasy was would be choice if the telco is oversold, and earthlink if ISDN is your only choice. Thou small ISP's do re-sell ISDN cheaper, and ping is good enough for multiplayer games, 20ms+. (Remember its different for each user and location!)
I'd check out dslreports and ask other people in your area. And networks change from city to city, cable/dsl/isdn/frame all depend on the routers and hop count. Plus if your ISP is a peering partner with local ISP's, they connect all major ISPs locally, thats a plus. Sometimes you notice crazy routing, like Seattle to California and back to go across town to an ISP without a local peering agreement.
Also, you call your ISP, and ask them to do a traceroute from their network to a gameserver and email it to you. I've asked this from hosting services, and who they having peering agreements with. Some will even give you a network diagram or have them posted on the site, like Verio. (Who while expensive, does seem to have good peering agreements.)
I have a Solaris box and A Windows box sitting side by side. [win][sol] If I move the mouse to the right, it pops up on the solaris box, I use my 1 keyboard 1 mouse, on 2 systems (2 monitors).
Its like having a dual monitor setup, but one monitor runs another OS. (linux/macos/bsd or another windows box, amiga, beos, etc...)
Only problem, alt-tab locks the vnc session. And its plain VNC, not tight.
Struan Robertson, solicitor at law firm Mason's and editor of out-law.com, said that Greece did not follow an EC directive that requires countries to give the commission three months' notice before passing a law that concerns "Information Society services."
And not following an EC directive is bad how? They send a threatening letter?!
Just funny, Greece has to inform the EC before it passes laws of Informational nature.
But it looks in the photos to have a terrible center of gravity problem.. looks like it would roll quite easily.
From the website.
[snip]Because safety is such a concern for small cars in particular, we have designed the Tango around a roll cage that meets or exceeds both SCCA and NHRA regulations. These are racing organizations that specify cage design to protect the occupants of cars crashing at over 200 mph. In addition, the extremely high strength-to-surface area ratio of a steel roll cage allows superb visibility from within the Tango. Rollover too is a great danger for many vehicles. The Tango, being so narrow, would look to the layman's eye to be unstable. But in fact, the Tango has stability that exceeds that of most sport cars. [/snip]
It gets 80 miles per charge and has a pretty respectable top speed, but if it's just a small father-son venture then what wider scale impact will it have on cars?
If you recall, there was another Father and Son venture from Spokane, They wrote a little game called Myst.
BTW, the Car uses off the shelf parts. 80K for a prototype, could easily come down in price. And then add the electric tax credit on top of it. And the proposed usage in HOV lanes, Seems like a winner.
And for that matter, where's Pepsi Cola or Sprite in the mix? Both just as related to a Microsoft settlement as Linux or BSD.
A microsoft os on a computer means 1 less linux/bsd os on a computer. With strings attached.
Those strings could be, per user/cpu licenses, support contracts, and upgrade contracts, and even the cost of the media. Microsoft already stated that opensource software and linux are microsofts main Enemies.
Nothing is as free as it seems, when it comes to microsoft.
Two-thirds of the unclaimed money will go to California public schools in a mix of donated Microsoft software and cash grants. Although the maximum value of the settlement is $1.1 billion, Microsoft could end up paying as little as $367 in cash, which is what it would owe to California public schools if no vouchers are claimed. If all vouchers are claimed, Microsoft would be required to pay the maximum, but schools would then get nothing.
Long paste, but I have 2 concerns.
1. Are the software calculated at RETAIL. Very bad if they get to use these prices. Here in Redmond, if you have a buddy who works for m$ you can get stuff for dirt cheap, 15 bux for keyboard cheap.
2. This would just give all the schools Microsoft windows to run on all its desktops, with a copy of office and maybe even.net developers tools. Wheres linux or bsd in the mix?
That's right, at 3 bucks a minute, cellphones might be allowed onboard flights but they won't be used anymore than those seat phones are. Nosiree...
Well, Actually you make it simple enough people can use their own cell phones, they might just pay the higher costs. People pay for convenience, even if its expensive.
Of course, I'd like to see WIFI/Bluetooth of some sort. I could surf the Net, SSH/IM instead of listening to music for all those hours.
Edit: Oh yeah a realistic gib system would be awesome, at least for lan play. I know it would require a lot of internet power, but just think where we'll be in 2006, I bet everyone has at least 5MBps.
Ya, just 15 months and they will upgrade my dsl to 5MBps, the RIAA would love that. After the RIAA gets done sueing the entire USA, nobody will be able to play quake4, doing 5-10 years in federal prison, and the 250,000 dollar fine. God bless corporate America, prisoner #1295736325.
You are do have a point (sorta), if linux or freebsd support it perfectly, then why wouldnt you change and save money.
If the support for the raid system is still in beta, the drivers are untested, go with SCO. *GASP* But I suspect the RAID hardware whould have good BSD/Linux support, seems most people support Linux now a days.
A hand held rail gun need quite some strong batteries if it's gonna match an typical ordinary handheld gun available today.
Why not just plug it into the wall, and ramp up the voltage? A Rifle not a pistol, with a long enough barrel and and the power pack with a cable, not to interfere with the weight of the weapon.
Also, since it fires a slug, couldnt you use a propellant to go off after, so at a distance it can then go past sub-sonic and hit the target. No need to use plain slugs, you can use all types of devices. Need for black powder makes some room for the payload. Whatever that payload is. Same reason they want to use a coil gun for launching satelites in space.
I read somewhere, New York is going to put sensors on the top of some buildings, so they can triangulate the sound of bullets being fired, so they can pinpoint the shooter. They already have machines that can scan the air for bullets and triangulate within seconds where the shooter is located.
Wonder when they finally deploy these types of devices in NY, after all these years of funding, must be soon.
I rather download my win32 programs in.zip format, and unix files in.tar.bz. Thats it, installers are overkill.
Why do developers force the users to put applications when they don't know the system. How many windows apps install in C: with your program files is on D: or another partition. Stop forcing the users, and make your programs run out of its own directory.
Just look at how many people only download mozilla in the.zip/.gz formats, so they don't have to mess with the installers? Lots.
And to top it off, no installer means no extra work get the program out the door. And makes a certain level of support, if they cant unzip the file, they need to pay for your premium support package.
Final thought, no install script means registry or other files I have to backup on a reinstall. Just give me a directory with.conf/.ini files I can backup. Makes it easy for me to restore the system. Having to restore the entire OS for an application is shitty design. Bad enough in windows I have to take registry snapshots to save the registry keys. In unix symlinks pointing to symlinks just to point to a.conf file in another directory. I think some developers have been sitting in front of their computer too long to know what the real environment of a production system is...
I stopped playing the NES with Super mario world was ported to the SNES. My kids love the older Mario multiplayer games more than the Xbox/Ps2. Fun to watch them play the same games you did at their age. Also fun to kick their asses and put those young whipper snappers in their place.;)
Multiplayer Mario just keeps the older consoles alive, even with new GFX, mario world is just simple fun for both boys and girls. Nintendo never did reach that same level of non-gender fun for newer consoles. (IMHO)
I'm not saying the new console games arent fun, but they are mostly single player, or gender biased games. Mario party was a good try, but something seems missing.
Wonder how many hours people spent building excitebike tracks, and having friends race them. Seemed to be a popular thing at pizza parties.
Or you could just not buy a lexmark printer. Let the market descide, don't legislate to death.
Sometimes the public doesnt know about the dangers or mistakes of buying a product. The state needs from time to time, step in and regulate the market place. For the people and all that jazz.. - Corporations steal its copyright infringment, people steal its called piracy.
My wife started playing those java games at the popcap site, and she loves them. Noticed they even started selling standalone versions of the games at compusa. Talking to a friend, and his girlfriend has been playing the games on there too.
While fun, they arnt FPS type games, more brain teasers of sorts. My wife told her friends at work, and all the women seem to like these games, they even play multiplayer version of them.
So ya, women seem to play different types of games.
I play CounterStrike, she plays Dynomite. (a bubble bobble clone) Thou we both like tetrinet, multiplayer tetris with powerups. Something about being evil with powerups makes it fun.
For example, the system could be used to follow an executive as they walked through an office, ensuring that their email was always available on the nearest computer.
Thats what blackberry and other PDA's are for. Maybe you havent been in a office lately, but everyone has cubes, with people sitting at the computers. Execs are either in meeting rooms are on the go, not around peoples work spaces. Thats the problem with companies, good products, wrong utilization.
I'd like to see this at a call center with 100 people in a room, all on headseats. Imagine all the people's computers switching around.;)
I saw the article and thought "Oh cool a new power workstation" but after looking at the specs, 700mhz cpu's and such, is it? Wouldnt the new Apple G5's with dual 2 ghz cpus crush it?
Other than driving multiple gfx displays, what is the main use for this workstation? I havnt used a SGI workstation, so share the info...
Uh, you can put multiple Xterms on different TTYs and use ctrl-alt to switch. Or you can use Xnest to do it.
Yes, startx --:1 puts a new xserver on ctrl-alt-f8. Problem, you just have an open VT that someone can switch too. And you have to log into a console to switch.
While Apple and Microsoft might be late the game, its a better implementation and more secure at user switch. And a hell of a lot faster.
Alt-F1, Alt-F2... I can switch between root and myself in about 1/8 of a secord or less. Its amazing really. I bit longer to switch between console and X.
The point is the simple and ease of use of the GUI to switch users. Not text only console, not remote access like vnc or xwindows.
My kids use fast user switching on XP, and its very stable and works quite well. They can switch users, and not disturb the desktop of the last person using the computer. Some households cant afford multiple computers, fast user switching is a good idea. I love apples eye-candy approach, its faster than microsoft's, 1 second switch. They even let you use a pulldown on the menu with each users picture (if you change your login photo).
Anyone know if KDE/Gnome or even Xfree is planning something like this? I heard talk about multiple X servers, but its not out of the box simple use, of even possible.
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Forgot to mention, even on Driver support forums for the ATI and Nvidia gfx boards, people said they should drop support for Halflife because its old and unsupported.
I'm glad they didnt, 1600x1200 CS with 6xAA,8XAF and high poly skins, the game looks perfect. Cant wait to see CS2 or CS ported to the new HL engine. Different engines, so CS ported to HL2 might look better than CS2. (Did you get that?)
When I saw the news on Bugtrack, i posted the information on planethalflife forums and a few other places. Was rather surprised that nobody posted it on the HL forums.
And all those "HL is old" posts, "let it die", are posted by morons. CompuUSA has HL selling for 45 bux for the entire collection. They are selling the collections and still making money! The Mods alone make the HL series worth the money. Day of defeat just came out, and it rocks, the mod even made its own release like CounterStrike.
Gamespy reports that 27,000+ HL servers are running, compare that to Tribes at 700. The game is STILL selling, no reason not to patch an active cash cow. I respect Valve for supporting us, after a bad experience on Tribes2 support, Sierra needs some good karma.
BTW, Natural Selection HL mod rocks. Too bad its not well known. (Think AVP+Tribes+CC+WC3)
So this makes me wonder what the point is of using Darwin. With OS X as a whole, there are some specific benefits that exist. Apple has UI standards in place, provides some services, like iTunes, that you may want. They've done a lot of eye candy. But is there any real point in using Darwin alone versus, say, Linux? Or, if you specifically want BSD, then compare it to plain ol' FreeBSD. I mean, what's the point?
True, I wouldnt use Darwin either.
Linux and FreeBSD are my opensource distros of choice. But for Daily work, OSX gives me the power of *nix OS with all the same software. Throw in iTunes, and the nice collection of applications for OSX, its a hard OS to ignore if your a unix junkie.
And dont understimate eye-candy, KDE and Gnome look great, OSX looks perfect. Great time for opensource, pick your candy.
I'll be glad when someone creates a generic Ports that works across all platforms. The news that Gentoo, Fink and Darwin ports where working together was great news. Gentoo has Linux, Fink Has MacOSX, and GnuDarwin has x86 and PPC.
FreeBSD/OpenBSD and all those Linux (Cooker type) distros have broken ports. Even the Binary only distros have broken packages. I think OpenBSD said 20%+ of BSD ports where broken, (anyone have the numbers?). This could fix all those problems across platforms.
Very nice.
Verizon has 2 networks in our area, one is a T1 (fijitsu)based, the other is T3 (westell) based dsl modems.
I was on the fitjistsu on the 768/128, about a 33ms ping to the seattle bbnplanet backbone, I moved down the street, and they put in the new higherspeed network. 1500/384 and 10ms to the bbnplanet backbone.
USwest back in Spokane was about 15ms on a 768/768 cisco modem.
While I find Verizon and other telcos to be better bandwidth and ping, smaller mom and pop ISP's tend to oversell. Speakeasy was would be choice if the telco is oversold, and earthlink if ISDN is your only choice. Thou small ISP's do re-sell ISDN cheaper, and ping is good enough for multiplayer games, 20ms+. (Remember its different for each user and location!)
I'd check out dslreports and ask other people in your area. And networks change from city to city, cable/dsl/isdn/frame all depend on the routers and hop count. Plus if your ISP is a peering partner with local ISP's, they connect all major ISPs locally, thats a plus. Sometimes you notice crazy routing, like Seattle to California and back to go across town to an ISP without a local peering agreement.
Also, you call your ISP, and ask them to do a traceroute from their network to a gameserver and email it to you. I've asked this from hosting services, and who they having peering agreements with. Some will even give you a network diagram or have them posted on the site, like Verio. (Who while expensive, does seem to have good peering agreements.)
Win2VNC and X2X, Win2Win, etc, all rock.
I have a Solaris box and A Windows box sitting side by side. [win][sol] If I move the mouse to the right, it pops up on the solaris box, I use my 1 keyboard 1 mouse, on 2 systems (2 monitors).
Its like having a dual monitor setup, but one monitor runs another OS. (linux/macos/bsd or another windows box, amiga, beos, etc...)
Only problem, alt-tab locks the vnc session. And its plain VNC, not tight.
Struan Robertson, solicitor at law firm Mason's and editor of out-law.com, said that Greece did not follow an EC directive that requires countries to give the commission three months' notice before passing a law that concerns "Information Society services."
And not following an EC directive is bad how? They send a threatening letter?!
Just funny, Greece has to inform the EC before it passes laws of Informational nature.
But it looks in the photos to have a terrible center of gravity problem.. looks like it would roll quite easily.
From the website.
[snip]Because safety is such a concern for small cars in particular, we have designed the Tango around a roll cage that meets or exceeds both SCCA and NHRA regulations. These are racing organizations that specify cage design to protect the occupants of cars crashing at over 200 mph. In addition, the extremely high strength-to-surface area ratio of a steel roll cage allows superb visibility from within the Tango. Rollover too is a great danger for many vehicles. The Tango, being so narrow, would look to the layman's eye to be unstable. But in fact, the Tango has stability that exceeds that of most sport cars. [/snip]
It gets 80 miles per charge and has a pretty respectable top speed, but if it's just a small father-son venture then what wider scale impact will it have on cars?
If you recall, there was another Father and Son venture from Spokane, They wrote a little game called Myst.
BTW, the Car uses off the shelf parts. 80K for a prototype, could easily come down in price. And then add the electric tax credit on top of it. And the proposed usage in HOV lanes, Seems like a winner.
I dont understand why they have to fake the AD's. Just give me something I'd click.
Barely clothed Hot chicks. They could have them hold Linux distros with headlines like "Real men use this distro" or "How hard is your Hardware".
Hey, how many of you checkout a vendor just because of a cute Booth Babe? Exactly...
And for that matter, where's Pepsi Cola or Sprite in the mix? Both just as related to a Microsoft settlement as Linux or BSD.
A microsoft os on a computer means 1 less linux/bsd os on a computer. With strings attached.
Those strings could be, per user/cpu licenses, support contracts, and upgrade contracts, and even the cost of the media. Microsoft already stated that opensource software and linux are microsofts main Enemies.
Nothing is as free as it seems, when it comes to microsoft.
Two-thirds of the unclaimed money will go to California public schools in a mix of donated Microsoft software and cash grants. Although the maximum value of the settlement is $1.1 billion, Microsoft could end up paying as little as $367 in cash, which is what it would owe to California public schools if no vouchers are claimed. If all vouchers are claimed, Microsoft would be required to pay the maximum, but schools would then get nothing.
.net developers tools. Wheres linux or bsd in the mix?
Long paste, but I have 2 concerns.
1. Are the software calculated at RETAIL. Very bad if they get to use these prices. Here in Redmond, if you have a buddy who works for m$ you can get stuff for dirt cheap, 15 bux for keyboard cheap.
2. This would just give all the schools Microsoft windows to run on all its desktops, with a copy of office and maybe even
That's right, at 3 bucks a minute, cellphones might be allowed onboard flights but they won't be used anymore than those seat phones are. Nosiree ...
Well, Actually you make it simple enough people can use their own cell phones, they might just pay the higher costs. People pay for convenience, even if its expensive.
Of course, I'd like to see WIFI/Bluetooth of some sort. I could surf the Net, SSH/IM instead of listening to music for all those hours.
Edit: Oh yeah a realistic gib system would be awesome, at least for lan play. I know it would require a lot of internet power, but just think where we'll be in 2006, I bet everyone has at least 5MBps.
Ya, just 15 months and they will upgrade my dsl to 5MBps, the RIAA would love that. After the RIAA gets done sueing the entire USA, nobody will be able to play quake4, doing 5-10 years in federal prison, and the 250,000 dollar fine. God bless corporate America, prisoner #1295736325.
You are do have a point (sorta), if linux or freebsd support it perfectly, then why wouldnt you change and save money.
If the support for the raid system is still in beta, the drivers are untested, go with SCO. *GASP* But I suspect the RAID hardware whould have good BSD/Linux support, seems most people support Linux now a days.
A hand held rail gun need quite some strong batteries if it's gonna match an typical ordinary handheld gun available today.
Why not just plug it into the wall, and ramp up the voltage? A Rifle not a pistol, with a long enough barrel and and the power pack with a cable, not to interfere with the weight of the weapon.
Also, since it fires a slug, couldnt you use a propellant to go off after, so at a distance it can then go past sub-sonic and hit the target. No need to use plain slugs, you can use all types of devices. Need for black powder makes some room for the payload. Whatever that payload is. Same reason they want to use a coil gun for launching satelites in space.
I read somewhere, New York is going to put sensors on the top of some buildings, so they can triangulate the sound of bullets being fired, so they can pinpoint the shooter. They already have machines that can scan the air for bullets and triangulate within seconds where the shooter is located.
Wonder when they finally deploy these types of devices in NY, after all these years of funding, must be soon.
I rather download my win32 programs in .zip format, and unix files in .tar.bz. Thats it, installers are overkill.
.zip/.gz formats, so they don't have to mess with the installers? Lots.
.conf/.ini files I can backup. Makes it easy for me to restore the system. Having to restore the entire OS for an application is shitty design. Bad enough in windows I have to take registry snapshots to save the registry keys. In unix symlinks pointing to symlinks just to point to a .conf file in another directory. I think some developers have been sitting in front of their computer too long to know what the real environment of a production system is...
Why do developers force the users to put applications when they don't know the system. How many windows apps install in C: with your program files is on D: or another partition. Stop forcing the users, and make your programs run out of its own directory.
Just look at how many people only download mozilla in the
And to top it off, no installer means no extra work get the program out the door. And makes a certain level of support, if they cant unzip the file, they need to pay for your premium support package.
Final thought, no install script means registry or other files I have to backup on a reinstall. Just give me a directory with
I stopped playing the NES with Super mario world was ported to the SNES. My kids love the older Mario multiplayer games more than the Xbox/Ps2. Fun to watch them play the same games you did at their age. Also fun to kick their asses and put those young whipper snappers in their place. ;)
Multiplayer Mario just keeps the older consoles alive, even with new GFX, mario world is just simple fun for both boys and girls. Nintendo never did reach that same level of non-gender fun for newer consoles. (IMHO)
I'm not saying the new console games arent fun, but they are mostly single player, or gender biased games. Mario party was a good try, but something seems missing.
Wonder how many hours people spent building excitebike tracks, and having friends race them. Seemed to be a popular thing at pizza parties.
Or you could just not buy a lexmark printer. Let the market descide, don't legislate to death.
Sometimes the public doesnt know about the dangers or mistakes of buying a product. The state needs from time to time, step in and regulate the market place. For the people and all that jazz..
-
Corporations steal its copyright infringment, people steal its called piracy.
My wife started playing those java games at the popcap site, and she loves them. Noticed they even started selling standalone versions of the games at compusa. Talking to a friend, and his girlfriend has been playing the games on there too.
While fun, they arnt FPS type games, more brain teasers of sorts. My wife told her friends at work, and all the women seem to like these games, they even play multiplayer version of them.
So ya, women seem to play different types of games.
I play CounterStrike, she plays Dynomite. (a bubble bobble clone) Thou we both like tetrinet, multiplayer tetris with powerups. Something about being evil with powerups makes it fun.
For example, the system could be used to follow an executive as they walked through an office, ensuring that their email was always available on the nearest computer.
;)
Thats what blackberry and other PDA's are for. Maybe you havent been in a office lately, but everyone has cubes, with people sitting at the computers. Execs are either in meeting rooms are on the go, not around peoples work spaces. Thats the problem with companies, good products, wrong utilization.
I'd like to see this at a call center with 100 people in a room, all on headseats. Imagine all the people's computers switching around.
Id rather go the sugar mama route. Less painful, and shes DECADES older. Just remember, No prenuptial!
I saw the article and thought "Oh cool a new power workstation" but after looking at the specs, 700mhz cpu's and such, is it? Wouldnt the new Apple G5's with dual 2 ghz cpus crush it?
Other than driving multiple gfx displays, what is the main use for this workstation? I havnt used a SGI workstation, so share the info...
Uh, you can put multiple Xterms on different TTYs and use ctrl-alt to switch. Or you can use Xnest to do it.
:1 puts a new xserver on ctrl-alt-f8. Problem, you just have an open VT that someone can switch too. And you have to log into a console to switch.
Yes, startx --
While Apple and Microsoft might be late the game, its a better implementation and more secure at user switch. And a hell of a lot faster.
Alt-F1, Alt-F2... I can switch between root and myself in about 1/8 of a secord or less. Its amazing really. I bit longer to switch between console and X.
The point is the simple and ease of use of the GUI to switch users. Not text only console, not remote access like vnc or xwindows.
My kids use fast user switching on XP, and its very stable and works quite well. They can switch users, and not disturb the desktop of the last person using the computer. Some households cant afford multiple computers, fast user switching is a good idea. I love apples eye-candy approach, its faster than microsoft's, 1 second switch. They even let you use a pulldown on the menu with each users picture (if you change your login photo).
Anyone know if KDE/Gnome or even Xfree is planning something like this? I heard talk about multiple X servers, but its not out of the box simple use, of even possible.