THANK YOU for referring to The united States of America as a republic and NOT as a democracy. I am so SICK of hearing every pundit, politician, and 'journalist' trying to brainwash us into thinking that we live in a democracy. It is a Constitutional Republic with some democratic elements.
re-read./etc is not a separate partition but one of the directories I back up. For example, I don't back up/usr/lib,/usr/bin,/opt, etc.
Nice attempt to skim and then try to take things out of context though. Had you read the post more thoroughly your attempt at being a troll would have been more effective, but hey, you can't always succeed in coming across as a jerk rather than merely lazy. Nice try though!;)
Those articles are helpful if you have another system with a working Windows installation on it already. For typical users, this is not an option. Hell, for typical users, even if the system isn't yet broken, and they lmpw where to find the documentation, the instructions may as well be written in Klingon.
They suggested a USB drive to install a driver for an OS whose installer supports ONLY floppy drives for installation of drivers? I'm surprised they didn't pull the typical "Call Microsoft" crap that seems to be their solution for everything.
I have even less respect for Dell support than a few moments ago, and I didn't know that was possible.;)
You must have had your BIOS configured for Compatible/Legacy support rather than enhanced/native SATA support, or you have one of the first SATA chipsets to hit the market. More likely the former, where the Compatible/legacy support causes SATA drives to be exposed to the OS as legacy ATAPI/PATA drives. In other words, the default setting on most motherboards, so that the manufacturers can avoid support calls from clueless system builders.
Putting/,/home, (depending on distro)/var, and/srv, and finally, swap on separate drives (even better!) vastly improves performance, especially in software build and video editing and other I/O intensive tasks. Web server in a moderate-to-high volume site? Break out the directories to separate drives. To prevent fragmentation (believe it or not Linux filesystems WILL become fragmented to some extent) you want to at least break things out into separate partitions, especially on a dedicated release/software build machine or NLE workstation.
Running a home system just playing video games, or light-duty video editing? Word processing/typical office machine? Having everything on one partition is just fine, but I'd still put swap on its own partition for sake of ease.
I've reinstalled Linux from scratch on my machine.
I installed SuSE 9.0 (hated it!) and removed it, stuck with Windows for a bit longer while I tried distributions other than Slackware (I got sick of spending more time configuring than working with slackware back in 1995) and I can't stand DeadRat^H^H^H^H^H^H^HRedHat (the company), Caldera/SCO is now evil (another distro I USED to like), so I tried others. SuSE 9.1 came out shortly after, so I installed that amd from there I upgraded to SuSE 9.2 (restored my backup, hated SuSE 9.2), then upgraded again to SuSE 9.3. With SuSE 9.3 I installed many, many packages manually (could not find RPMs) and didn't use checkinstall, and when I tried make uninstall found that many of them did not include uninstall scripts (bummer! That'll teach me not to read the makefile first) so when the SuSE 10.0 DVD came I decided to save many hours of cleaning up a mess and cleanly installed SuSE 10 after backing up/home and most of/etc.
I'm very happy I did that, too. This time around I'll be using checkinstall for most packages I install from source.:) I expect the upgrade from SuSE 10.0 to SuSE 10.1 will go very smoothly, and 9.3 to 10.0 would have too if I hadn't cluttered things up by not using checkinstall.
However things I did NOT reinstall for, that would normally demand it for ideal performance (or even just stability) on Windows:
- motherboard upgrades
- hard drive upgrades
- any hardware upgrades (video card, etc)
For those I simply recompiled the kernel, recompiled X, and changed new xorg.conf
As far as backups, all I back up are/etc,/home, and depending on the distro/var,/srv, and/or parts of each. The OS, if a drive crashes, I have no problem with reinstalling the OS. IMHO, using gigs of storage to back up *nix that I have on DVD and CD is a waste of time and space. So if I need to restore, I install, recompile if necessary for optimizations, patch, restore the data, and I'm done. Not a big deal.
On Windows, data and the OS are so intertwined (thanks to the registry and apps storing data in places other than %userprofile%) that I do back up the OS, system state, AND data for most of the systems, but that's the nature of the beast and it's less of a headache to back up everything on Windows than to back up the data only and expect everything to work OK afterward.
Aside from televisions, their (Sony's) products are poorly made and way overpriced. I didn't mention my ultra-expensive (at the time) Hi-Fi VCR which died, and when I got prices on replacement parts for THAT I got sticker shock. I'd have been better off to spend a measly $200 more to get a Panasonic editing VCR. After two bad experiences with supposedly-high-end Sony products and shitty customer service policies, I won't buy from them any more unless I can't avoid it.
But, see, when you are setting up a demo of a preproduction-but-not-prototype of a model which is actually going to be on the shelves in two months, and are putting on a demo to show the virtues over a competing product/format, you had better be damned sure that your demo system is going to run the demo video perfectly.
I'd say that the HD-DVD failure is something the Blu-Ray crowd is definitely going to laugh at because all they need to do is demo a working Blu-Ray system with a Blu-Ray movie and they can spready "HD-DVD isn't ready for prime time, buy Blu-Ray now!" FUD. That Blu-Ray is slightly less consumer-hostile is merely a side benefit (hard to believe Sony is the good guy and Toshiba the villain now).
What will the lifetime of the phosphors on that be? Will it be as bad as first generation plasma televisions where the brightness is decreased by 50% long before 10,000 hours has gone by? (Yeah I know, current plasma screens have half-lives similar to CRT now)
Throw in any kind of development (be it web, software, etc) or authoring (3D modeling, NLE, or even music) and you would view a dual-head setup as a requirement and not as a convenience.
Does anyone, really? And why? If you hate him is it because he is successful? Because he succeeded where so many others have failed, and has the billions to show for it?
Everyone I know who met him likes the man - they say he's down to earth, generous, etc.
And yet, so many paint him as evil (his contributions to charity prove he isn't).
I dislike Microsoft - because I dislike their recent turn to not just trying to compete with competitors, but because they are outright hostile to customers now (see their suits against people reselling used but retired licenses, or in some cases, unopened/unused licenses when Microsoft refused to honor their traditional 30-day unconditional money-back guarantee) but that in no way reflects upon Gates.
I think it's mainly closet commies who really hate Gates - because people seem to believe that if they are not successful and don't gain wealth (either due to bad timing, lack of talent, or simple unwillingness to work) then no one else should be able to - and they feel a sense of entitlement, as if everyone else should hand over a house, big-screen television, SUV, etc. for free.
Steve Ballmer? Everything I've heard, read, and seen about him proves he's a fucking nut (especially the "I'm going to f'ing kill Google" bit).
now Re:Yeesh.. by Yartrebo (690383) Alter Relationship on Sunday January 08, @02:22PM (#14422675) { Don't forget that Bill Gates has caused immense harm for the world too. The difference between the current situation and having an open operating system and open software being dominant (along with the correspondingly higher penetration of technology in the world and a better quality of technology) is over 1% of worldwide production. Economic rents do nothing but slow down progress and add friction to the system, and the effect is often far larger than the rent extracted. }
I disagree. If you are old enough to remember the state of personal computing in the '80s, or even late '70s when personal computing became practical, there were NO standards for data exchange (I know arpanet was around but remember, we're talking PERSONAL computing, not military, academic, and Fortune 100). If you wanted to transfer data from one system to another you had to use sneaker-net and PRAY that the data could be read on the other system (I'd say >99% of the time it couldn't), and if that didn't work, you could exchange data via modem, if you were fortunate enough to know they existed, AND have multiple phone lines or analog-capable phone system, but you would have to strip any formatting from the document first, and if it was a spreadsheet, forget about it.
Sure there was CP/M but aside from a very few affordable computers small businesses could afford (most notably the Commodore 128) that wasn't an option, plus the software was expensive unless you had access to a dial-up BBS which had public domain software available for your processor, or belonged to a user group. Even if you had a CP/M computer, many disk formats were incompatible so even if the software and data were exchangable, the physical form factor was often not.
Microsoft introduced standardization, with VERY affordable solutions (until a few years ago OEM Office could be had for $99 bundled with hardware). It was not until OS/2, Smartsuite, and Corel Office were (for all intents and purposes) killed off that Windows and Office each quadrupled in price.
Microsoft has done a lot of good for users by providing some sort of standard, but when competitors were pushed out of the market, they have been abusing their effective monopoly status by raising prices without justification and by treating every customer as a criminal. That doesn't take away what Microsoft did for the industry to get us to the point where we have standards though.
Drop the whole "Microsoft is evil to the core" and "never did any good" bit because when you selectively pick the bad stuff and leave out the good, you're doing exactly the same thing that Microsoft is currently doing with their "Get the Facts" FUD.
In some cases the cheapies are better than the pricier models. When my Apex died I went looking for a DVD player that could play DivX/XVid and mpeg4 formats, mpeg(1) files, AND region-free without hardware mods (I had to burn an eprom for my Apex) since I order DVDs from overseas (movies that were either discontinued here or indy films offered only in the UK). I settled on the Philips DVP642 and when I looked at the price I was shocked - $67. Well that day I called around to find out if anyone had it in stock and I found it on sale at $58 - and it works far better than the Apex did, and far, far better than the Sony I shelled out $300 for at the same time I bought the Apex. I should have picked up two in case this one dies but I was hoping another model would come out which supports Qpel and GMC.
But overall, an excellent player. You can't beat the interface of the early Sony DVD players but the build quality SUCKED. It was a waste of $300 because the optical sled died. I cracked it open and was dismayed to find it was built poorly, and when I called Sony for a price on the part, they wanted $90 plus additional "service fees" and shipping (which was conveniently marked up) bringing the total price to over $120. I was pissed, because at the time I could buy a Panasonic or Toshiba with better picture quality and more features for less than what Sony wanted for the part. I held onto the player for a while longer while looking through parts catalogs for the sled I needed but everyone wanted about the same coin that Sony did, so I finally chucked it. Wouldn't you know it, right after I tossed it, I was flipping through a catalog one of our distributors sent me and I found the exact sled I needed for under $20. I liked the DVD player because you could access ALL features from the unit itself (you didn't need to use the remote), something I haven't found in newer DVD players with the features I was looking for. I really miss that, because with newer models, if you lose the remote or if the remote breaks you're SOL.
I haven't bought a single Sony product since (not even Roger Waters' latest album, because it's a Sony release)
I can't load the web site ( http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs/ )! I keep hitting F5 to re-submit my request but I keep getting a browser error (not even an HTTP 500 error). I don't get it. I guess I'll just keep hitting F5 until the page loads.:D
How many voiceover actors can cover the same breadth as Billy West? Billy West = the new Mel Blanc. Throw any character at him and he can do it.
If they won't fork over the dough to get Billy, they'll have to either kill off some characters or hire multiple other actors to cover what Billy can do.
Actually some affiliates did air it, only it was censored. I don't see why though - it wasn't all that offensive considering all they were doing is making fun OF stereotypes.
"OMFG better not air it, it might offend the hyper-sensitive hippies"
Futurama was great - geek humor, slapstick, AND it could pull at your heart strings, particularly 'Jurassic Bark' and 'The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings'
I found 'The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings' to be particularly moving, because I so enjoyed the show and knew it was the end even though FOX was denying all the way through that it wasn't cancelled (FOX doublespeak)
No kidding. Even my mom (age 62) My mom doesn't "get" the computer, physics, or math jokes, but she loves Bender's antics. I told her it's on Adult Swim/Cartoon Channel at night and she catches it on there sometimes.
Slashdot Mirror
THANK YOU for referring to The united States of America as a republic and NOT as a democracy. I am so SICK of hearing every pundit, politician, and 'journalist' trying to brainwash us into thinking that we live in a democracy. It is a Constitutional Republic with some democratic elements.
Maybe he meant to say PCI-X?
(just giving the user the benefit of the doubt)
Seriously though, GP is lucky it didn't permanently FUBAR the motherboard and card.
re-read. /etc is not a separate partition but one of the directories I back up. For example, I don't back up /usr/lib, /usr/bin, /opt, etc.
;)
Nice attempt to skim and then try to take things out of context though. Had you read the post more thoroughly your attempt at being a troll would have been more effective, but hey, you can't always succeed in coming across as a jerk rather than merely lazy. Nice try though!
Next time, don't hide behind the AC bit.
Those articles are helpful if you have another system with a working Windows installation on it already. For typical users, this is not an option. Hell, for typical users, even if the system isn't yet broken, and they lmpw where to find the documentation, the instructions may as well be written in Klingon.
They suggested a USB drive to install a driver for an OS whose installer supports ONLY floppy drives for installation of drivers? I'm surprised they didn't pull the typical "Call Microsoft" crap that seems to be their solution for everything.
;)
I have even less respect for Dell support than a few moments ago, and I didn't know that was possible.
You must have had your BIOS configured for Compatible/Legacy support rather than enhanced/native SATA support, or you have one of the first SATA chipsets to hit the market. More likely the former, where the Compatible/legacy support causes SATA drives to be exposed to the OS as legacy ATAPI/PATA drives. In other words, the default setting on most motherboards, so that the manufacturers can avoid support calls from clueless system builders.
Putting /, /home, (depending on distro) /var, and /srv, and finally, swap on separate drives (even better!) vastly improves performance, especially in software build and video editing and other I/O intensive tasks. Web server in a moderate-to-high volume site? Break out the directories to separate drives. To prevent fragmentation (believe it or not Linux filesystems WILL become fragmented to some extent) you want to at least break things out into separate partitions, especially on a dedicated release/software build machine or NLE workstation.
Running a home system just playing video games, or light-duty video editing? Word processing/typical office machine? Having everything on one partition is just fine, but I'd still put swap on its own partition for sake of ease.
I've reinstalled Linux from scratch on my machine.
/home and most of /etc.
:) I expect the upgrade from SuSE 10.0 to SuSE 10.1 will go very smoothly, and 9.3 to 10.0 would have too if I hadn't cluttered things up by not using checkinstall.
/etc, /home, and depending on the distro /var, /srv, and/or parts of each. The OS, if a drive crashes, I have no problem with reinstalling the OS. IMHO, using gigs of storage to back up *nix that I have on DVD and CD is a waste of time and space. So if I need to restore, I install, recompile if necessary for optimizations, patch, restore the data, and I'm done. Not a big deal.
I installed SuSE 9.0 (hated it!) and removed it, stuck with Windows for a bit longer while I tried distributions other than Slackware (I got sick of spending more time configuring than working with slackware back in 1995) and I can't stand DeadRat^H^H^H^H^H^H^HRedHat (the company), Caldera/SCO is now evil (another distro I USED to like), so I tried others. SuSE 9.1 came out shortly after, so I installed that amd from there I upgraded to SuSE 9.2 (restored my backup, hated SuSE 9.2), then upgraded again to SuSE 9.3. With SuSE 9.3 I installed many, many packages manually (could not find RPMs) and didn't use checkinstall, and when I tried make uninstall found that many of them did not include uninstall scripts (bummer! That'll teach me not to read the makefile first) so when the SuSE 10.0 DVD came I decided to save many hours of cleaning up a mess and cleanly installed SuSE 10 after backing up
I'm very happy I did that, too. This time around I'll be using checkinstall for most packages I install from source.
However things I did NOT reinstall for, that would normally demand it for ideal performance (or even just stability) on Windows:
- motherboard upgrades
- hard drive upgrades
- any hardware upgrades (video card, etc)
For those I simply recompiled the kernel, recompiled X, and changed new xorg.conf
As far as backups, all I back up are
On Windows, data and the OS are so intertwined (thanks to the registry and apps storing data in places other than %userprofile%) that I do back up the OS, system state, AND data for most of the systems, but that's the nature of the beast and it's less of a headache to back up everything on Windows than to back up the data only and expect everything to work OK afterward.
Uh, how is this a troll post?
/. are you required to hate Bill Gates?
If you
I'm not saying I'll buy Sony but I will buy another manufacturer's Blu-Ray player. I posted yesterday (http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1732 28&cid=14417463) the reason I don't buy Sony hardware any more.
Aside from televisions, their (Sony's) products are poorly made and way overpriced. I didn't mention my ultra-expensive (at the time) Hi-Fi VCR which died, and when I got prices on replacement parts for THAT I got sticker shock. I'd have been better off to spend a measly $200 more to get a Panasonic editing VCR. After two bad experiences with supposedly-high-end Sony products and shitty customer service policies, I won't buy from them any more unless I can't avoid it.
But, see, when you are setting up a demo of a preproduction-but-not-prototype of a model which is actually going to be on the shelves in two months, and are putting on a demo to show the virtues over a competing product/format, you had better be damned sure that your demo system is going to run the demo video perfectly.
I'd say that the HD-DVD failure is something the Blu-Ray crowd is definitely going to laugh at because all they need to do is demo a working Blu-Ray system with a Blu-Ray movie and they can spready "HD-DVD isn't ready for prime time, buy Blu-Ray now!" FUD. That Blu-Ray is slightly less consumer-hostile is merely a side benefit (hard to believe Sony is the good guy and Toshiba the villain now).
What will the lifetime of the phosphors on that be? Will it be as bad as first generation plasma televisions where the brightness is decreased by 50% long before 10,000 hours has gone by? (Yeah I know, current plasma screens have half-lives similar to CRT now)
{obligatory comment}
. . . and if you run Linux you're best off avoiding ATI unless you like headaches
Throw in any kind of development (be it web, software, etc) or authoring (3D modeling, NLE, or even music) and you would view a dual-head setup as a requirement and not as a convenience.
Does anyone, really? And why? If you hate him is it because he is successful? Because he succeeded where so many others have failed, and has the billions to show for it?
Everyone I know who met him likes the man - they say he's down to earth, generous, etc.
And yet, so many paint him as evil (his contributions to charity prove he isn't).
I dislike Microsoft - because I dislike their recent turn to not just trying to compete with competitors, but because they are outright hostile to customers now (see their suits against people reselling used but retired licenses, or in some cases, unopened/unused licenses when Microsoft refused to honor their traditional 30-day unconditional money-back guarantee) but that in no way reflects upon Gates.
I think it's mainly closet commies who really hate Gates - because people seem to believe that if they are not successful and don't gain wealth (either due to bad timing, lack of talent, or simple unwillingness to work) then no one else should be able to - and they feel a sense of entitlement, as if everyone else should hand over a house, big-screen television, SUV, etc. for free.
Steve Ballmer? Everything I've heard, read, and seen about him proves he's a fucking nut (especially the "I'm going to f'ing kill Google" bit).
now Re:Yeesh.. by Yartrebo (690383) Alter Relationship on Sunday January 08, @02:22PM (#14422675)
{
Don't forget that Bill Gates has caused immense harm for the world too. The difference between the current situation and having an open operating system and open software being dominant (along with the correspondingly higher penetration of technology in the world and a better quality of technology) is over 1% of worldwide production. Economic rents do nothing but slow down progress and add friction to the system, and the effect is often far larger than the rent extracted.
}
I disagree. If you are old enough to remember the state of personal computing in the '80s, or even late '70s when personal computing became practical, there were NO standards for data exchange (I know arpanet was around but remember, we're talking PERSONAL computing, not military, academic, and Fortune 100). If you wanted to transfer data from one system to another you had to use sneaker-net and PRAY that the data could be read on the other system (I'd say >99% of the time it couldn't), and if that didn't work, you could exchange data via modem, if you were fortunate enough to know they existed, AND have multiple phone lines or analog-capable phone system, but you would have to strip any formatting from the document first, and if it was a spreadsheet, forget about it.
Sure there was CP/M but aside from a very few affordable computers small businesses could afford (most notably the Commodore 128) that wasn't an option, plus the software was expensive unless you had access to a dial-up BBS which had public domain software available for your processor, or belonged to a user group. Even if you had a CP/M computer, many disk formats were incompatible so even if the software and data were exchangable, the physical form factor was often not.
Microsoft introduced standardization, with VERY affordable solutions (until a few years ago OEM Office could be had for $99 bundled with hardware). It was not until OS/2, Smartsuite, and Corel Office were (for all intents and purposes) killed off that Windows and Office each quadrupled in price.
Microsoft has done a lot of good for users by providing some sort of standard, but when competitors were pushed out of the market, they have been abusing their effective monopoly status by raising prices without justification and by treating every customer as a criminal. That doesn't take away what Microsoft did for the industry to get us to the point where we have standards though.
Drop the whole "Microsoft is evil to the core" and "never did any good" bit because when you selectively pick the bad stuff and leave out the good, you're doing exactly the same thing that Microsoft is currently doing with their "Get the Facts" FUD.
In some cases the cheapies are better than the pricier models. When my Apex died I went looking for a DVD player that could play DivX/XVid and mpeg4 formats, mpeg(1) files, AND region-free without hardware mods (I had to burn an eprom for my Apex) since I order DVDs from overseas (movies that were either discontinued here or indy films offered only in the UK). I settled on the Philips DVP642 and when I looked at the price I was shocked - $67. Well that day I called around to find out if anyone had it in stock and I found it on sale at $58 - and it works far better than the Apex did, and far, far better than the Sony I shelled out $300 for at the same time I bought the Apex. I should have picked up two in case this one dies but I was hoping another model would come out which supports Qpel and GMC.
But overall, an excellent player. You can't beat the interface of the early Sony DVD players but the build quality SUCKED. It was a waste of $300 because the optical sled died. I cracked it open and was dismayed to find it was built poorly, and when I called Sony for a price on the part, they wanted $90 plus additional "service fees" and shipping (which was conveniently marked up) bringing the total price to over $120. I was pissed, because at the time I could buy a Panasonic or Toshiba with better picture quality and more features for less than what Sony wanted for the part. I held onto the player for a while longer while looking through parts catalogs for the sled I needed but everyone wanted about the same coin that Sony did, so I finally chucked it. Wouldn't you know it, right after I tossed it, I was flipping through a catalog one of our distributors sent me and I found the exact sled I needed for under $20. I liked the DVD player because you could access ALL features from the unit itself (you didn't need to use the remote), something I haven't found in newer DVD players with the features I was looking for. I really miss that, because with newer models, if you lose the remote or if the remote breaks you're SOL.
I haven't bought a single Sony product since (not even Roger Waters' latest album, because it's a Sony release)
{ :)
can you see the judge ruling the internet an "illegal tool" as a whole? i don't
}
You underestimate the level of stupidity in the American "justice" system nowadays. By far.
I'm sticking with DVD until Blu-Ray/HD-DVD is cracked and can be played on Linux using fully open-source code. Until then, F*** you MPAA.
I can't load the web site ( http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs/ )! I keep hitting F5 to re-submit my request but I keep getting a browser error (not even an HTTP 500 error). I don't get it. I guess I'll just keep hitting F5 until the page loads. :D
How many voiceover actors can cover the same breadth as Billy West? Billy West = the new Mel Blanc. Throw any character at him and he can do it.
If they won't fork over the dough to get Billy, they'll have to either kill off some characters or hire multiple other actors to cover what Billy can do.
Actually some affiliates did air it, only it was censored. I don't see why though - it wasn't all that offensive considering all they were doing is making fun OF stereotypes.
"OMFG better not air it, it might offend the hyper-sensitive hippies"
Showtime had Stargate:SG1 initially, IIRC
Futurama was great - geek humor, slapstick, AND it could pull at your heart strings, particularly 'Jurassic Bark' and 'The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings'
I found 'The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings' to be particularly moving, because I so enjoyed the show and knew it was the end even though FOX was denying all the way through that it wasn't cancelled (FOX doublespeak)
Looks like it already is on DVD but only two DVDs, four episodes per
r l/ref=br_ss_hs/002-0633731-1797615?platform=gurupa &url=index%3Ddvd&field-keywords=get+a+life&Go.x=0& Go.y=0&Go=Go
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-u
I'll be passing on it until they release the entire series.
No kidding. Even my mom (age 62) My mom doesn't "get" the computer, physics, or math jokes, but she loves Bender's antics. I told her it's on Adult Swim/Cartoon Channel at night and she catches it on there sometimes.