Slashdot Mirror


User: pieleric

pieleric's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
35
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 35

  1. Re: OpenStreetMap also estimates 7h on Google Maps Deterring Outback Tourists, Say Small Firms (bbc.com) · · Score: 2

    You can see here that OpenStreetMap reports a similar time: 7h25, for 532km, passing via a very long detour.

    Most likely, the router doesn't like the direct road, because part of it is tagged "unpaved", and that's estimated to around 20km/h.

  2. Reminds me of iPython notebook on Meet Carla Shroder's New Favorite GUI-Textmode Hybrid Shell, Xiki · · Score: 1

    This reminds me of iPython notebook. It allows to run/re-run python commands and display either text or graphics. You can also insert "formated comments", save a session, and share it. It's now reaching a good maturity, and is becoming a kind of "python" killer apps for scientists.

    As a side note, in addition to Python, it accepts shell commands, when preceding them with a !, to it could even replace a normal shell.

  3. Python fairs pretty well on The Challenge of Cross-Language Interoperability · · Score: 2

    On this aspect, Python does handle interoperability pretty well (at least with C and C++). It might just have a little bit too many options:
      * ctypes: connect to any C library directly (you just have to not do any mistake in parameters, as there is not check)
      * Python C extention: write a wrapper in C.
      * SWIG: "automatically" generates the wrapper, based on some .h-like file
      * cython: write C code using python syntax

    Personally, I just use ctypes or cython, and it's quite easy to interpolate with any software library I need.

  4. Official answer from Samsung on Samsung Caught Boosting Galaxy S4 Benchmarks · · Score: 4, Informative

    There seems to be an official answer from Samsung here: http://samsungtomorrow.com/4676

    It's in Korean, but here is the translation, provided by sammobile.com:
    "Under ordinary conditions, the Galaxy S4 has been designed to allow a maximum GPU frequency of 533MHz. However, the maximum GPU frequency is lowered to 480MHz for certain gaming apps that may cause an overload, when they are used for a prolonged period of time in full-screen mode. Meanwhile, a maximum GPU frequency of 533MHz is applicable for running apps that are usually used in full-screen mode, such as the S Browser, Gallery, Camera, Video Player, and certain benchmarking apps, which also demand substantial performance.

    The maximum GPU frequencies for the Galaxy S4 have been varied to provide optimal user experience for our customers, and were not intended to improve certain benchmark results.

    We remain committed to providing our customers with the best possible user experience."

  5. Change your attitude on The Last GUADEC? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As many people have already written, it's not the drive to tablet and phone that is reducing the user community, it's the fact that Gnome has become so bad compared to other DEs that people moved away. The main question is "why has Gnome become so bad?". I'd say it's mostly due to not listening enough to user feedback and lack of good judgment on what is good for the users.

    Don't get me wrong. I loved Gnome, used it all the time, even used to send patches for the bugs that were annoying me (actually, I even had SVN commit rights at some points). But I stopped because Gnome 3 was worse than Unity _and_ LXDE, and because developers started to close all my bug reports as WONTFIX or, worse, because the patch would not apply anymore... after 2 years of being ignored.

    I'd suggest these changes to all the core Gnome developers:
      * first fix bugs before adding a new feature (or a new app)
      * review and merge as many patches as you get from outside people, as soon as possible (that's how you build a developer community)
      * review the entire interface and especially the fixed/default values so that Gnome is _super_ comfortable to use right out of the box
      * do not ever remove features, and never accept regressions
      * make sure your interface can be used by power users too (yes, that means putting back _some_ configuration options), they are the (future) developers
      * listen a bit to user feedback (that one is difficult because it's typically a very noisy channel, but it's necessary)
      * pick a few known and powerful programming languages, and stick to them for all the core applications. Honestly, just drop Vala: as great as it could be, it's not up to a DE project to develop a new programming language, and almost no one outside of the community knows it. If it was up to me, I'd say, just pick C, C++ and Python.

    Keep like this for 3 years, and Gnome will be relevant again.

    I'd also suggest to pick 2 or 3 apps and focus on them so much that they are the best for the task among any other competitor. This way, people will have incentive to use Gnome, and all the distributions will make sure these apps and all the dependencies are installed by default and working well. For instance, I'd pick: Evince, Rhythmbox, and Aisleriot.

  6. Re:How about using the same hardware across OSes? on Intel's Linux OpenGL Driver Faster Than Apple's OS X Driver · · Score: 1

    Indeed, the hardware specs are really weird. It seems even that the two Ubuntu set-ups were done using different CPU speeds (2.5GHz vs 2.9GHz).
    So, I wonder if it was the same hardware, and was reported differently, or it was really 3 different mac minis...

  7. Lego Mindstorm on Localized (Visual) Programming Language For Kids? · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lego Mindstorm might be a nice approach. It's available both in Dutch and Danish, and uses a graphical language with a great graphical interface dedicated to kids. I use it to teach (Dutch) programing and robotics to kids and it's amazing easy for them to make and modify the software.

    The main drawbacks is that, although the software is free, you need to get a 200€ lego robot to make it useful. It also has only a Windows (and probably Mac) version. IMHO, the robot has the advantage to bring additional interest to the kids. It makes programming much less abstract.

    To try the software before buying, look for the lego mindstorm nxt 2 iso on the lego website (it's a bit hidden).

  8. Armchair OpenStreetMap on Ask Slashdot: Really Short Time Wasters? · · Score: 1

    1. Go to OpenStreetMap.org
    2. Find a place which is not yet fully mapped (i.e. anywhere but Europe). I usuallly find a place which I've just read about in the news, or my next holiday area.
    3. Click on "Edit".
    4. Draw a couple of roads.
    5. Profit (and let the others profit as well).

    Admitely, quite a few people find it boring but if, like me, you enjoy seeing the world from above and seeing new places, it's great. It really changes your mind, and can be stopped at any moment.

  9. Wishing him and his familly all the best on Alan Cox Exits Intel, Linux Development · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On the website of a business that Alan seems to run separately from his job at Intel, he had aldready mentionned familly illness. (http://www.ultima-models.co.uk/news.html). I guess this is the "familly reasons".

    Alan Cox has already contributed enourmously to Linux but hopefully things will get better for him and his familly, and he'll be able to contribute even further :-)

    Lately he has been trying to cover a bit the mess than Intel had done with the Poulsbo hardware (GMA500). As an owner of such a hardware, I'm very grateful for this. So I now wish him and his familly all the best in the hard time.

  10. Other languages are pretty useless (for software) on Ask Slashdot: 2nd Spoken/Written Language For Software Developer? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's always great to learn a new (human) language. It will allow you to discover a new way of thinking, and let you see the world through a different point of view.

    That said, let's be honest right away, if there is one part where it will bring you almost nothing, it's for software development. 99% of software communities online are discussed in English. 99.9% of software comments and software documentation is written in English. I happen to speak French, English, Dutch and Spanish (nothing special, I'm just European). I have been doing software development for more than 10 years and I cannot recall ever using any other language than English except when doing translation. The only advantage is that you'll be able to understand a bit better why translators are mad at you when you write bad printf()'s.

    So go ahead, learn a new language, it's a great experience. I'd recommend one with a big amount of speakers like Spanish or Chinese (this one, I promise, will completely change your understanding of the concept of "language"). However, don't kid yourself, it's pointless with respect to software development :-)

  11. Re:Android Play search is awful on Google Launches Private Android App Stores · · Score: 1

    I guess it's due to the exclamation mark in the middle of the word. If you look for "O!Play" (with the quotes), it works.

  12. Not "Grotresque", but "Square Grotesque" on MIT Researchers Show Dash Font Choice Affects Distraction · · Score: 3, Informative

    The summary links to Grotesque, but what they use in the article is "Square Grotesque", a modified version which is _really_ square and IMHO hard to read (and which apprently quite appreciated by car manufacturers). Concluding every Grotesque font is hard to read is definitely not what the research demonstrated.

    The best is to have a look at the paper, which has good examples. A similar font can be found on wikipedia there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurostile (but I find this one is still slightly easier to read).

  13. Focus on quality assurance on Grad Student Looking To Contribute To Open Source · · Score: 1

    Don't start by adding big features to the project. It's the hardest part, and there are many people doing this already. The best is to first concentrate on the quality assurance:
      * Look at bug reports, try to reproduce them, add your insights, and maybe even find a fix for them
      * Write test cases, that's what is most missing nowadays in open-source projects. It's the best way to ensure that the library will work correctly on every kind of hardware/software combination. Only someone like you who know both about programming and about the domain of the tool (mathematics) can do it right!

  14. They are already at it on Should Sony Team With Google On a PlayStation Phone? · · Score: 1

    Sony Ericsson has recently moved to only use android in their smartphones, and apparently they are already considering mixing PSP and android 3.0 (gingerbread).

  15. Original article on US Becomes Top Wind Producer; Solar Next · · Score: 4, Informative

    The original article can be found here. It has more figures, including some on China, and an interesting remark that Europe in total generates 66GW, which is another way to the per capita computation to moderate this first rank of US...

  16. Re:Strategy fail on Qt Becomes LGPL · · Score: 3, Informative

    Which is just not possible. Where is the CD burning program in GNOME that beats K3B?

    Brasero, it's there now. I was honestly a fan of K3B, but version 0.9 of Brasero is great. It looks like it has as many features as K3B, but everything is damn simple and clear.

    Where is the music player that beats Amarok?

    Unfortunately neither Banshee nor Rhythmbox can beat this one. Hopefully, competition will push them to become better!

  17. Share mouse and keyboard on (Useful) Stupid Unix Tricks? · · Score: 5, Informative

    When I pop up with my laptop to discuss with a colleague, after a while I might do on their computer:
    xhost +mylaptopname

    and on my laptop I do:
    x2x thecomputername:0 -west

    Then suddenly my mouse can go over the two computers, my keyboard works on both as well, and I can even copy-paste between the two computers. It looks like the two computers got united. In a flash, newbies get a new idea of what means unix and X ;-)

  18. Re:'Africa' is a racist term on Africa Leads In IPv6 Adoption · · Score: 2, Informative

    For the info, the wikipedia article proposes 5 different etymologies, none related to this one.

    Actually, I cannot even find references to a Greek king named Afros. The closer mythical Greek I found is Aphrodite, but that has a rather different connotation!

    Really, you should not believe everything you read on the internet.

  19. Re:Something I'm missing... on MoBo Manufacturer Foxconn Refuses To Support Linux · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because the OS's have bugs in their ACPI implementations. So the BIOS provides a special version of function with a workaround for the bug in case it detects the specific OS version.

    Let's note this is valid only for proprietary OS's (aka Windows). For F/OSS kernels, the BIOS writer can simply report a bug on non-ACPI compliance, and it's fixed soon after directly in the kernel.

  20. It's not easy for the BIOS manufacturers on MoBo Manufacturer Foxconn Refuses To Support Linux · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Although this vendor seems definitely not trying to support Linux with it's BIOS, the hard truth is that it's not so easy even for those who try. For more information, there is currently a thread on the LKML disussing this and how to improve the situation.

    In particular, latest kernels claim to be every versions of Windows at the same time, and not Linux! That's not easy to handle for the BIOS writer...

  21. Firearms and security on What Examples of Security Theater Have You Encountered? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Since his wife carries a small pistol in her purse... Maybe everyone from the US will consider me trolling, let me apologize for this but, reading your little story, I wonder if the second amendment is not one of the biggest security theatre ever, allowing gun manufacturers to keep their sales high.

    It's rather hard to believe that authorizing everyone to carry firearms can in any way make the society safer... Here, in Europe, if I met a girl who carries a pistol in her purse, I would immediately freak out and run away!
  22. Re:But for that price on Asus Set To Release Desktop Eee PC Variant · · Score: 2

    To answer this question, let's leave the computer geek mind and enter the mind of average joe:
    Because it's new,
    Because it's beautiful,
    Because it's small,
    Because it's quiet,
    Because it has the same interface as the eeePC (that you already have)

  23. Call me even more pedantic if you like, but... on Sailing Robots To Attempt Atlantic Crossing · · Score: 1

    Its designers hope the Pinta will become the first robot to cross an ocean using only wind power. But from the article:

    The boat uses solar panels to provide the power to operate[..] So I'm afraid it will not be only wind powered.
  24. ... and now slashdotted? on Paraguay Telco Hijacks DNS Before Elections · · Score: 1
    As if the guys of partidocolorado didn't have enough pain with the DNS hijacking, we are now going to slashdot the site...

    We are such helpful nerds!

  25. Re:Grounds to contest? on Cities Tampering With Traffic Lights To Generate Revenue · · Score: 1

    If you combined a 55mph speed, with a following distance of every vehicle being able to stop if the car in front of them slammed on their brakes, the result would be that probably every highway on the Eastern seaboard would be gridlocked. In the Netherlands they have a solution to this problem: train + bike...