Dude, after the Sixth Day, I think this one's going to suck complete ass. Why? Because in Sixth Day I got two Arnold's for the price of one! I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to just one again...
Maybe they'll send back two (or better yet three!) to protect Connor from the Terminatrix.
Think about it... $15 million an Arnold, not too bad a deal for a guy who can't act.
Or, you could just do it all centrally. Have all the basic libs placed in a central location, and then have all apps dependant on those libs compiled from the centralized binaries of those libs, and placed alongside them in that central repository.
Then, all apps that depend on those apps will have to depend on the versions that are in that central repository.
And you could create a strong policy that all items in that central repository must conform to and give it a cool name and you've beaten your seemingly inherent flaw.
Yeah, I agree with you there. The problem is, at what point do you stop? Gnome is freakin' huge! Do you really want to download it all with your gnomemeeting tarball? Especially if it's for a system that already has what you need?
Granted, there are problems both ways, and I think the ability to have two packages, one with the libs and one with just dependencies that you have to fetch, would be a better solution.
But you're right, in the end the developer should be concious of what everyone else is running.
I've been using Debian for 2 years now (wow, it's been that long already!) and my experiences on the mailing lists were very different. The debian-user list is full of nice, helpful people who are very patient with users both new and old. They'll do their best to help you solve your problem, because they were there once too.
The debian-devel list(s) where the maintainers hang out are a lot tougher. They're not very nice to people who post inappropriately (i.e. if you don't know where to post, post to debian-user!) and they do have a low tolerance for hyper critical people, but they do welcome constructive criticism if it's polite, same as anywhere else.
I can't say I fully disagree with Elbereth's comments in terms of the developers, but I think that's a function of all the work they put in on a volunteer basis (thanks everyone!). I generally find that the difficulty of the package being maintained is proportional to how intolerant they are of clueless users, go figure.
The users are all very friendly and helpful in my experience though. The developers are also quite polite to people trying to be new package maintainers (the list for you is debian-mentor if you're thinking about this), so don't be too afraid to get involved. Just like anywhere else though, mind your manners and you'll be fine.
After yesterday's article on making linux too hard, I went and grabbed the kpackage alternate for dselect. I've got to plug it, it was a bit slow and ate up the memory, but it shows a lot of promise as a great replacement for cufty dselect. I know there's a bunch of other potential heirs to the throne, but hopefully no one will ever have to use dselect again! It is a major barrier to entry on debian (even if it is powerful) and something a little more user friendly will do a world of good.
Kpackage isn't quite ready (it crashed on me a bit) but it's showing a ton of promise, and I'd bet the others are too. Once we toss dselect, it'll really be a major event for debian. Between that and the new installer I can't wait:-)
Well... that depends on your point of view. Granted, I think there should be a way for software to include its own dependencies, but that kind of goes against the system and is missing the point.
If you're installing from a distro's CD, then it should have all the dependencies right there, no problem.
If you're installing randomapp.tar.gz, then it's a bit more complicated. Sure, the tarball could include a copy of glibc, but why should it? My distro should include one that's up to date, and if it doesn't then perhaps you want to stick with the distro's method of adding libs so they can be easily removed later. For example, if I install a game that uses SDL, but that game isn't included on my distro CD, but the SDL libs it requires does, do I really want those libs to come from the download or from my distributer? I'll take the packaged SDL personally, just so it is easier to manage within the pre-exwhat you suggest is done on a lot of apps. For example, I just installed the Staroffice beta yesterday and all it required was a decent kernel and glibc. All the other libs were in there. You could throw all your requirements in to one huge package for download, it doesn't really jive with the modularity of the system, which makes for quicker downloads and less duplication of effort.
What you've said is the true power behind Debian. It's not really apt, as everyone likes to claim. It's in the social structure behind it. The policy and the extensive testing of each package makes the system work together so well to get rid of dependency problems. The fact that you've got maintainers looking after their individual packages and an open process with strict guidelines forces everything to behave.
Sure, dependency problems happen, but far less often than I ever had to deal with in Mandrake or Redhat, and when they do happen they are fixed very quickly. How many times have I seen in the unstable changelogs on entirely new package uploads with the only change being some minor dependency problem which hadn't affected me?
The fact is, Debian's social structure is what gives it its power, not the tool it uses. While apt is a powerful piece of work, it's the community that gives Debian that special glow that all these other distros are trying to emulate.
Think of the linux community as being totally fragmented, with each person (or company) working on his or her own project. Linus Torvalds works on the linux kernel for example, but doesn't work on anything else really. A linux distribution ("distro") is basically when someone takes all those diseparate projects and throws them all together as a coherent product.
Depending on the choices that the person creating the distro makes, the distro is geared towards a specific audience. Redhat is one distro, and they're a pretty good all around product, and they're kind of the de facto standard. Debian is another that's a bit more difficult to install, but has the advantage of being totally run by community, rahter than a company, and being very very well integrated. Mandrake is a distro completely geared towards being easy for new users.
As for visual interfaces, think of them as large projects that are still diseparate from the whole. Gnome is one of those, and KDE is another. Both of those would suit your needs, and be fairly familiar. Depending on which distro you choose, one or the othe will be the default, but both should be available to you.
Anyhow, I hope that helped a little. I know it's pretty complex and intimidating, but it makes sense once you start using it.
I feel your pain on the gaming thing. Once 98's gone and done, I'm going to have to decide what to do next with my system, move all the way over to Linux or keep that other partition around.
While the gaming style is different, I think that moving all your gaming over to a console may be the best option. Granted, you don't get such gems as Civ III, but you do get a solid library of titles. This is what I'll probably do come 2003.
The other option to consider is the Mandrake gaming pack, which can run the Sims. As far as I know, it's based off Transgaming's product, which makes it able to run a fair number of games already.
Either way, you're sacrificing some amount of gaming by not going with Windows, but it's got a few more options than just going with Mac. The amount you'll save on software could go towards your console too:-)
Anyhow, if you've got the hard drive space to spare and know someone with a copy of partition magic (or are willing to buy your own) installing Mandrake now would be a great move. You'll get to play around with the whole linux thing and see if it really does fit you before you decide to make a jump to it. You can ease yourself in to it and really enjoy the system rather than make some frantic decision later on only to have a ton of problems. If it frustrates you too much, then you can go to Mac and still get a great system.
I thought the idea that it was immune system stimulating growth pretty interesting. The immune system releases a lot of signaling molecules at all stages. I'm not an immunologist per se, but I've never heard of any of them stimulating growth, but that certainly doesn't rule out the idea.
The article said that it was just inflammation that induced growth. I somehow doubt that, since everyone who's ever had irritated eyes has felt the fun of histamines and the primary immune response in action. If that sort of thing could make the blind see again, I'd be really surprised, even if it is on a larger scale.
If it is the immune system, I'd bet on cytokines released by helper T cells (those things that HIV targets) simply because these cells release a ton of stimulants. This may be triggered by the nonspecific inflammation like the author suggested, but I'd bet on the helper T as actually secreting growth signal.
If it is possible to use the immune system to regrow neurons, it's very likely applicable in other parts of the body too.
Not to mention the Sierra era of the PC! I was in absolute shock that they skipped over the golden age of adventure gaming. Between the sierra stuff (King's/Space Quest) and Lucas Arts (Indy/Maniac Mansion/Monkey Island) there was a whole age of pre-FPS gaming that the article blatantly ignored, in favor of lumping adventure games in with Doom.
Of course, you're very right about PC's not being dominant. The fact that the NES had the lion's share of great games for either PC or Console of that era is very telling.
Imagine programming one of these things to spin you around, then accelerate to breakneck speed (perhaps literally) This could be quite fun!
Yeah., I'm with you! Getting dizzy enough so that I vomit as I eternally confine myself to a wheelchair sounds like a blast!
Maybe then I could get Kamen's stair climbing wheelchair invention and hack that too so that it'll purposely spin me around and dump me unceremoniously down the stairs it had just climbed. Think of the possibilities...
I swear, the moment these things cross the border, I'll be on my MLA's ass like a fat kid on Smarties.
Or a thin kid (like me!) on Smarties. I swear, the Canadian version of Smarties are one of your country's finest exports. Our shitty U.S. product of the same name is the lowest form of trash in comparison.
My guess is that to effectively engineer someone, you're going to have to insert more than one gene. Not only that, but to get decent (both specific and high) gene expression you may to have to do some strange stuff to the promoter/enhancer/etc that won't likely be in nature.
Now, if you're going to insert a lot of genes, are you going to try and put them all in one vector simultaneously or are you going to put them each in their own vector and try and co-transform the cells? You'd obviously put them in one vector in order to increase efficiency. Granted, you could do it the other way, but co-transformation efficiency would be very low (efficiency would be very important when dealing with a limited number of human embryos).
My test would simply be PCR up the genes in question and look for the length of the product. If they're really close together then you know there's some engineering involved. If there's no product (different chromosomes) or huge product (far apart on a chromosome) then it's natural.
This wouldn't surprise me, but given the fact that it's readily available in some places and less so in others, my guess is that they didn't have the marketing data to ship the right amount of units to the right areas. Some places they overshipped, others they undershipped. All in all, I'd bet you're right that there's enough supply, but I think that the supply just isn't where it needs to be at present.
I think all their crafty marketing tricks are involved in over-advertising the thing, to the degree where there are X-Box banners and fliers everywhere, but nary a gamecube one to be found. They just spent so much money that they saturated the ad space. That's what creates the illusion that they're so hot, walking in to the store and seeing big green X's everywhere will overwhelm most people.
What the hell is up with Mario and Luigi? Are they having a fight or something? When are we going to see a Super Mario Brothers game again? For this console and the last, all we've seen is them separately! Fuck that, I want multiplayer action. Not only that, I want co-op play! I want Mario and Luigi to act like they used to and be in the same game! Mario can come over to Luigi's mansion and argue over the Princess or something. Just get them back together in normal (non-kart/smash) game where they belong.
Slashdot Mirror
EZ-Jackster to be precise.
It's all coming true!!! Is Bill Joy Sir-Paid-A-Lot's secret identity or something?
These all look like winners to me.
Yes, I totally agree.
Awesome.
Yeah... I had been wondering why I suddenly had a third eye midway through high school...
I'll say! If you can't love without any app, you've got some real issues to work through!
Dude, after the Sixth Day, I think this one's going to suck complete ass. Why? Because in Sixth Day I got two Arnold's for the price of one! I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to just one again...
Maybe they'll send back two (or better yet three!) to protect Connor from the Terminatrix.
Think about it... $15 million an Arnold, not too bad a deal for a guy who can't act.
Did you try the link that on the sidebar that said Installation Instructions on the main page? You know, the link right below the one that said Documentation?
They may not be woody specific, but they work just as well for woody as they do for potato.
Or, you could just do it all centrally. Have all the basic libs placed in a central location, and then have all apps dependant on those libs compiled from the centralized binaries of those libs, and placed alongside them in that central repository.
Then, all apps that depend on those apps will have to depend on the versions that are in that central repository.
And you could create a strong policy that all items in that central repository must conform to and give it a cool name and you've beaten your seemingly inherent flaw.
Yeah, I agree with you there. The problem is, at what point do you stop? Gnome is freakin' huge! Do you really want to download it all with your gnomemeeting tarball? Especially if it's for a system that already has what you need?
Granted, there are problems both ways, and I think the ability to have two packages, one with the libs and one with just dependencies that you have to fetch, would be a better solution.
But you're right, in the end the developer should be concious of what everyone else is running.
I've been using Debian for 2 years now (wow, it's been that long already!) and my experiences on the mailing lists were very different. The debian-user list is full of nice, helpful people who are very patient with users both new and old. They'll do their best to help you solve your problem, because they were there once too.
The debian-devel list(s) where the maintainers hang out are a lot tougher. They're not very nice to people who post inappropriately (i.e. if you don't know where to post, post to debian-user!) and they do have a low tolerance for hyper critical people, but they do welcome constructive criticism if it's polite, same as anywhere else.
I can't say I fully disagree with Elbereth's comments in terms of the developers, but I think that's a function of all the work they put in on a volunteer basis (thanks everyone!). I generally find that the difficulty of the package being maintained is proportional to how intolerant they are of clueless users, go figure.
The users are all very friendly and helpful in my experience though. The developers are also quite polite to people trying to be new package maintainers (the list for you is debian-mentor if you're thinking about this), so don't be too afraid to get involved. Just like anywhere else though, mind your manners and you'll be fine.
A little OT I guess, but whatever.
:-)
After yesterday's article on making linux too hard, I went and grabbed the kpackage alternate for dselect. I've got to plug it, it was a bit slow and ate up the memory, but it shows a lot of promise as a great replacement for cufty dselect. I know there's a bunch of other potential heirs to the throne, but hopefully no one will ever have to use dselect again! It is a major barrier to entry on debian (even if it is powerful) and something a little more user friendly will do a world of good.
Kpackage isn't quite ready (it crashed on me a bit) but it's showing a ton of promise, and I'd bet the others are too. Once we toss dselect, it'll really be a major event for debian. Between that and the new installer I can't wait
Well... that depends on your point of view. Granted, I think there should be a way for software to include its own dependencies, but that kind of goes against the system and is missing the point.
If you're installing from a distro's CD, then it should have all the dependencies right there, no problem.
If you're installing randomapp.tar.gz, then it's a bit more complicated. Sure, the tarball could include a copy of glibc, but why should it? My distro should include one that's up to date, and if it doesn't then perhaps you want to stick with the distro's method of adding libs so they can be easily removed later. For example, if I install a game that uses SDL, but that game isn't included on my distro CD, but the SDL libs it requires does, do I really want those libs to come from the download or from my distributer? I'll take the packaged SDL personally, just so it is easier to manage within the pre-exwhat you suggest is done on a lot of apps. For example, I just installed the Staroffice beta yesterday and all it required was a decent kernel and glibc. All the other libs were in there. You could throw all your requirements in to one huge package for download, it doesn't really jive with the modularity of the system, which makes for quicker downloads and less duplication of effort.
What you've said is the true power behind Debian. It's not really apt, as everyone likes to claim. It's in the social structure behind it. The policy and the extensive testing of each package makes the system work together so well to get rid of dependency problems. The fact that you've got maintainers looking after their individual packages and an open process with strict guidelines forces everything to behave.
Sure, dependency problems happen, but far less often than I ever had to deal with in Mandrake or Redhat, and when they do happen they are fixed very quickly. How many times have I seen in the unstable changelogs on entirely new package uploads with the only change being some minor dependency problem which hadn't affected me?
The fact is, Debian's social structure is what gives it its power, not the tool it uses. While apt is a powerful piece of work, it's the community that gives Debian that special glow that all these other distros are trying to emulate.
I bet that they do read the site, but they have some hidden agenda against PBS.
PBS IT Guy 1: Oh no! Slashdot linked to us again!
PBS IT Guy 2: Those bastards! The last Slashdot effect nearly killed us! What'll we do boss?
PBS IT Guy 1: We pray they realize it's a duplicate story son. We pray...
CmdrTaco: Good Evening Gentlemen etc etc etc
Think of the linux community as being totally fragmented, with each person (or company) working on his or her own project. Linus Torvalds works on the linux kernel for example, but doesn't work on anything else really. A linux distribution ("distro") is basically when someone takes all those diseparate projects and throws them all together as a coherent product.
Depending on the choices that the person creating the distro makes, the distro is geared towards a specific audience. Redhat is one distro, and they're a pretty good all around product, and they're kind of the de facto standard. Debian is another that's a bit more difficult to install, but has the advantage of being totally run by community, rahter than a company, and being very very well integrated. Mandrake is a distro completely geared towards being easy for new users.
As for visual interfaces, think of them as large projects that are still diseparate from the whole. Gnome is one of those, and KDE is another. Both of those would suit your needs, and be fairly familiar. Depending on which distro you choose, one or the othe will be the default, but both should be available to you.
Anyhow, I hope that helped a little. I know it's pretty complex and intimidating, but it makes sense once you start using it.
I feel your pain on the gaming thing. Once 98's gone and done, I'm going to have to decide what to do next with my system, move all the way over to Linux or keep that other partition around.
:-)
While the gaming style is different, I think that moving all your gaming over to a console may be the best option. Granted, you don't get such gems as Civ III, but you do get a solid library of titles. This is what I'll probably do come 2003.
The other option to consider is the Mandrake gaming pack, which can run the Sims. As far as I know, it's based off Transgaming's product, which makes it able to run a fair number of games already.
Either way, you're sacrificing some amount of gaming by not going with Windows, but it's got a few more options than just going with Mac. The amount you'll save on software could go towards your console too
Anyhow, if you've got the hard drive space to spare and know someone with a copy of partition magic (or are willing to buy your own) installing Mandrake now would be a great move. You'll get to play around with the whole linux thing and see if it really does fit you before you decide to make a jump to it. You can ease yourself in to it and really enjoy the system rather than make some frantic decision later on only to have a ton of problems. If it frustrates you too much, then you can go to Mac and still get a great system.
Anyways, best of luck!
I thought the idea that it was immune system stimulating growth pretty interesting. The immune system releases a lot of signaling molecules at all stages. I'm not an immunologist per se, but I've never heard of any of them stimulating growth, but that certainly doesn't rule out the idea.
The article said that it was just inflammation that induced growth. I somehow doubt that, since everyone who's ever had irritated eyes has felt the fun of histamines and the primary immune response in action. If that sort of thing could make the blind see again, I'd be really surprised, even if it is on a larger scale.
If it is the immune system, I'd bet on cytokines released by helper T cells (those things that HIV targets) simply because these cells release a ton of stimulants. This may be triggered by the nonspecific inflammation like the author suggested, but I'd bet on the helper T as actually secreting growth signal.
If it is possible to use the immune system to regrow neurons, it's very likely applicable in other parts of the body too.
Not to mention the Sierra era of the PC! I was in absolute shock that they skipped over the golden age of adventure gaming. Between the sierra stuff (King's/Space Quest) and Lucas Arts (Indy/Maniac Mansion/Monkey Island) there was a whole age of pre-FPS gaming that the article blatantly ignored, in favor of lumping adventure games in with Doom.
Of course, you're very right about PC's not being dominant. The fact that the NES had the lion's share of great games for either PC or Console of that era is very telling.
Why oh why does this have to be from my school!?! There goes my Bruin pride...
Yeah., I'm with you! Getting dizzy enough so that I vomit as I eternally confine myself to a wheelchair sounds like a blast!
Maybe then I could get Kamen's stair climbing wheelchair invention and hack that too so that it'll purposely spin me around and dump me unceremoniously down the stairs it had just climbed. Think of the possibilities...
Nope, it was Crystalis, laterported faithfully to the Game Boy Color.
Or a thin kid (like me!) on Smarties. I swear, the Canadian version of Smarties are one of your country's finest exports. Our shitty U.S. product of the same name is the lowest form of trash in comparison.
My guess is that to effectively engineer someone, you're going to have to insert more than one gene. Not only that, but to get decent (both specific and high) gene expression you may to have to do some strange stuff to the promoter/enhancer/etc that won't likely be in nature.
Now, if you're going to insert a lot of genes, are you going to try and put them all in one vector simultaneously or are you going to put them each in their own vector and try and co-transform the cells? You'd obviously put them in one vector in order to increase efficiency. Granted, you could do it the other way, but co-transformation efficiency would be very low (efficiency would be very important when dealing with a limited number of human embryos).
My test would simply be PCR up the genes in question and look for the length of the product. If they're really close together then you know there's some engineering involved. If there's no product (different chromosomes) or huge product (far apart on a chromosome) then it's natural.
This wouldn't surprise me, but given the fact that it's readily available in some places and less so in others, my guess is that they didn't have the marketing data to ship the right amount of units to the right areas. Some places they overshipped, others they undershipped. All in all, I'd bet you're right that there's enough supply, but I think that the supply just isn't where it needs to be at present.
I think all their crafty marketing tricks are involved in over-advertising the thing, to the degree where there are X-Box banners and fliers everywhere, but nary a gamecube one to be found. They just spent so much money that they saturated the ad space. That's what creates the illusion that they're so hot, walking in to the store and seeing big green X's everywhere will overwhelm most people.
What the hell is up with Mario and Luigi? Are they having a fight or something? When are we going to see a Super Mario Brothers game again? For this console and the last, all we've seen is them separately! Fuck that, I want multiplayer action. Not only that, I want co-op play! I want Mario and Luigi to act like they used to and be in the same game! Mario can come over to Luigi's mansion and argue over the Princess or something. Just get them back together in normal (non-kart/smash) game where they belong.