*keeps hand at his side* Okay, you got me there...
> Raise your hand if you have a FireWire port...
*raises hand high and proud*
With FireWire cards in the $20-40 range, ANYBODY acn get Firewire these days. Just head down to your nearest CompUSA/Fry's/computer show vndor/whatever.
> Raise your hand if you have $400 to spend on a cute Apple device...
*raises hand* Considering I spent nearly that much on my Nomad (plus extra rechargable batteries, battery charger, extra wall plug, car adapter, etc.).
And you don't (strictly speaking) need iTunes to use this beast. You can access the FireWire drive itself using the standard FireWire SCSI-2 emulation layer (sbp2) which means, yes boys and girls, YOU CAN USE IT WITH LINUX!!! Unlike the Nomad, which you CAN'T. (read: proprietary protocols)
I, for one, am seriously considering selling my Nomad + gear on ebay and getting one of these puppies.
It's about time someone came up with something like this. My problem with buying PC games is that I never know whether or not I am going to like it or not. Usually I can do a *fairly* good job of picking a game title based on magazine/web reviews and talking to friends, but unfortunately this process is not 100%. I've bought some "duds" based on some really good reviews and/or friend recommendations. On the flip side, I have bought quite a few "gems" despite lukewarm reviews. Unfortunately I've wasted a LOT of money in this process. The problem is that I am a unique individual, and it isn't guaranteed that I will agree 100% with the reviewer(s) and their likes and dislikes, etc. Also, even if I am pretty sure the reviewer and I are on the same wavelength, it is still hard to judge a game and how it will play based on a bunch of static text and pictures found in a review article.
Nah, the answer for me is "try before you buy".
Unfortunately the software companies do not accomodate this model well. Although many companies do make downloadable demos, many more still do not. And VERY few stores are able (or willing) to demo the games to you.
This EB1 service looks like just what the doctor ordered. Soon as my replacement credit card comes in (I lost mine and had to call it in to the bank, oops) I'll be checking it out. In fact there are some games up there now that I have been curious about... I've been meaning to buy Oni, even though it got some pretty lukewarm reviews, because I really like the concept of a kung fu type fighting game, instead of the usual "have lots of weapons, shoot anything that moves" Quake type stuff. However I just can't justify plunking down $40+ on a game that I am not certain that I will like or not. But with EB1... try before you buy, baby...
I just hope they continue supplying the site with the latest and greatest in PC games. Only then will it truly be of value.
$ touch/tmp/instdate.<package-name>
$ <run the appropriate install procedure>
$ find <tree where it installed itself, or if unknown,/> -newer/tmp/instdate.<package-name> -print
OK, I am committing the cardinal sin of replying
to my own post. So sue me. But I forgot one important.. I mean REALLY IMPORTANT... point:
Linux is Open Source!!!
This is a MAJOR reason why many people choose to run Linux on their Sparcs. Having the source code to EVERYTHING handy, and to be able to browse through it or even modify it if the situation requires it, is an absolute godsend. Just try doing THAT with Solaris!
--
There's a lot of older Sparc hardware out on the
market, at reasonable prices (e.g. Ebay). SPARC
hardware is in the hands of a LOT of enthusiasts
and hobbyists out there. Plus a lot of companies
have truckloads of older Sparcs lying around. The
grim reality of the situation is that these
machines are way too underpowered to run any
recent incarnation of Solaris. I tried running
Solaris 2.6 on my Sparc IPX, and let me tell you,
having my teeth pulled WITHOUT novocaine would
have been far preferable. However, RedHat/sparc
runs perfectly fine on it, and it runs at a quite
acceptable pace. So with Linux/sparc, companies
and individuals could turn piles of dusty but
perfectly working hardware into productive
print servers, light web servers, DNS servers,
what have you.
--
Now, I have no idea what the whole beef with Carl Macek is. I vaguely know who he is, and I only know bits and pieces, and I'm not even sure I have those right. So, honestly I don't know enough about the situation to pass judgment.
But... you know what... I DON'T CARE.
Robotech was a series I fell in love with when I was a kid, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't think I will ever learn to hate it, even if I find out that Carl Macek is the spawn of the Devil, or he orchestrated the German Holocaust, or he's the secret head of the RIAA going after Napster, etc. After all, this series had it all: Action. Adventure. Aliens. Robots. Outer space. Lasers (or whatever those weapons were called). Cool spaceships and space fighters that transform. And, of course, female characters who kick ass and look damn fine while doing it.:) It is what got me "into" anime -- years later, when I was in college, I remember getting into one of those random conversations with a new dormmate friend of mine, and we got around to the subject of "TV shows I liked as a kid", and I mentioned Robotech, then he turned to me and said "Ohhhh, then you'll LOVE this..." and shoved a BubbleGum Crisis tape in my hand (which is now another of my all-time anime favorites).
A few months ago, I tracked down one of my old childhood buddies (ok, I ran into him quite by accident at the local Kinko's), and we got to talking about old times (he and I were grade school friends, and yes, he was into RT too). On a whim I asked him if he happened to have any tapes.. and amazingly enough, he did!! (not very many, and they were all quite crappy quality-wise) So I decided to "test" myself to see if my increased age and awareness of other sources of anime would color my impressions of this series. Yeah, parts of it do seem kinda hokey now, but largely it still holds the same allure as it did when I was a kid.
I have been WAITING and LOOKING and HOPING that someone would release this someday... videotapes would have been great, but DVD is EVEN BETTER!!! So I am glad that it is finally happening. Woohoo!!!
Well, this was nice. Got home from work
to find this lovely message in my Inbox. Yep, you guessed it... the RIAA contacted me because of my li'l old opennap server. Actually, they contacted my ISP instead, and they were "kind" enough to forward it to me...
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 10:18:58 -0800
To: dburr@pobox.com
From: Jason Cormier
Subject: Fwd: unauthorized distribution of sound recordings
Donald,
I'm forwarding this to you on behalf of RIAA because it is regarding the
activity on your servers. Please consider doing whatever is necessary to
deal with the situation accordingly.
Regards,
Jason Cormier
VIA E-MAIL
February 22, 2001
Jason Cormier
VP, eBusiness Infrastructure
Netlojix Communications
501 Bath Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
RE: IP Address: 207.71.226.193
Dear Mr. Cormier:
We are writing concerning the above referenced system being made
available at an IP address assigned to AvTel Communications, Inc. The
Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) is a trade
association whose member record companies produce, manufacture and
distribute approximately ninety (90) percent of all legitimate sound
recordings sold in the United States. Under penalty of perjury, we
submit that the RIAA is authorized to act on behalf of its member
companies in matters involving the infringement of their sound
recordings, including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on
the Internet.
Our investigation has revealed that AvTel Communications, Inc. is hosting
or otherwise making available a Napster-like (OpenNap) server that is
operating a peer-to-peer file copying system. The system is located at
the above-referenced IP address. This system allows users to search the
file libraries of other users connected to this system and facilitates
the copying of files between users. In order to access this type of
system, a user must download specialized client software such as
Rapigator (www.rapigator.com) or FileNavigator (www.filenavigator.com).
This system, which we accessed on 02/22/01 at 12:16 p.m. (EST), offers
directories of downloadable digitally-encoded files containing sound
recordings. The vast majority of these sound recordings are owned by our
member companies, including songs by such artists as Outkast, Janet
Jackson, Mariah Carey, Aerosmith, and Matchbox Twenty. We have a good
faith belief that the above-described activity is not authorized by the
copyright owner, its agent, or the law. We assert that the information
in this notification is accurate, based upon the data available to us.
The system provided at the above IP address is almost identical to the
system Napster provides. You may be aware that the United States Circuit
Court for Ninth Circuit, District of California issued a ruling in RIAA's
lawsuit against Napster, finding that Napster is actively facilitating
widespread copyright infringement and, in doing so, directly affecting
the legitimate market for copyrighted works. The Ninth Circuit ruling
upheld a United States District Court's issuance of a preliminary
injunction against Napster. You may obtain a copy of the Ninth Circuit
decision at http://www.riaa.com/pdf/napsterdecision.pdf.
We request that you immediately remove or block access to the infringing
material offered via this server. In addition, we ask that you inform
the operator of this server about the illegality of his or her conduct
and confirm with the RIAA, in writing, that this activity has ceased.
This letter does not constitute a waiver of any right to recover damages
incurred by virtue of any such unauthorized activities, and such rights
as well as claims for other relief are expressly retained.
Finally, if you or your users wish additional information concerning
copyright law as it applies to sound recordings, please feel free to
visit and/or link to our web site at http://www.riaa.com.
You may contact me at RIAA, 1330 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300,
Washington, D.C., 20036, Tel. (202) 775-0101, or e-mail
antipiracy@riaa.com, to discuss this notice. We await your response.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Whitehead
Anti-Piracy Counsel
RIAA
Jason Cormier
VP, eBusiness Infrastructure
NetLojix Communications, Inc. NASDAQ: NETX
www.netlojix.com
v - 805-884-6372
f - 805-884-6311
Well, I do have to give them some credit: at least they didn't summarily axe my connection like so many others did. Anyway, what was I to do? I can NOT afford to lose my DSL at this juncture, considering how I use it for EVERYTHING -- receiving email, hosting my website and several others (and some local nonprofits' websites), online gaming (of course:) ), etc. And I didn't really want to piss off my ISP, since decent connectivity is so hard to come by in this two-horse town. So I swallowed my pride and ran "killall -9 opennap" Sent them a nice "yes, I am ceasing and desisting" email, and got a response. End of story... or so I thought!
(Incidnetally, the phrase "unauthorized distribution of sound recordings" caught my eye... UHH, HELLO PEOPLE??! I was *NVER* actually SHARING any MP3's... my server only acts as a "gathering point" to connect everyone else who wants to trade files. This would be like the police raiding and shutting down an ENTIRE Shopping Mall just because some drug dealers happen to hang out there to ply their wares. DUHHHHHH!!!!)
Anyway, "Time passes..."
The time: Later that afternoon. The place: in my Command Center, ice cold can of Coke(tm) by my side. The activity: reading through my webserver logs. Why? Because I am a nosy bastard and like to know what people are doing on my webserver!:P (actually, I had just tweaked around my CGI's and installed some new ones the other day, and wanted to make sure everything was running happily)
Well, what do we have here? Someone at my ISP is happily reading through ALL of the websites that I host!!!
dhcp165.sba2.netlojix.net - - [23/Feb/2001:23:12:02 +0000] "GET/~dburr/employ.g
if HTTP/1.1" 200 1798 "http://207.71.226.193/~dburr/" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible;
MSIE 5.5; Windows 98)"
dhcp165.sba2.netlojix.net - - [23/Feb/2001:23:12:03 +0000] "GET/~dburr/services.gif HTTP/1.1" 200 1500 "http://207.71.226.193/~dburr/" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible
; MSIE 5.5; Windows 98)"
dhcp165.sba2.netlojix.net - - [23/Feb/2001:23:12:03 +0000] "GET/~dburr/class.gi
f HTTP/1.1" 200 1633 "http://207.71.226.193/~dburr/" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; M
SIE 5.5; Windows 98)" ...
"Hmmmm... what's this? A deliberate and methodical browse through of my website? Someone trying to look for more infractions by me (not that I have any, my websites are all pretty boring and really poorly crafted...) Or maybe it's just someone who saw my URL in my.sig and was curious?" Well, I had my doubts...
(and, before you ask: yes, this is somebody in the ISP's office, not a random dialup user... A traceroute proves that.)
But later that day, my doubts were erased. There I was, happily cavorting around the new UO 3D betatest server (which ROCKS btw...), when all of a sudden my connection goes straight to hell. "Great, more OSI routing trouble, or maybe the beta server is clogged to capacity..." I think. Wrong, try again. Because then the firewall messages start flying:
The firewall has blocked Internet access to your computer (TCP Port 9994) from 207.71.234.165 (TCP Port 3756).
Time: 2/23/2001 16:36:10
The firewall has blocked Internet access to your computer (TCP Port 9995) from 207.71.234.165 (TCP Port 3757).
Time: 2/23/2001 16:36:10
...
The firewall has blocked Internet access to your computer (TCP Port 9971) from 207.71.234.165 (TCP Port 3733).
Time: 2/23/2001 16:36:10
Yes, boys and girls, a real honest to god portscan!!! Meanwhile, my bandwidth is going to hell in a handbasket with all the probing I'm getting. No, I am NOT happy about this. But is it the same guy? Hmm...
Think "telepresence." I am a quadriplegic (sp?) in a wheelchair. I can't even leave the house, etc. But "jack in" to a rented robotic body, and *BOOM!* the mind is freed from the confines of the flesh. I can explore the places where I've always wanted to go -- Mt. Everest, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the ocean floor, and hell, why not the Moon or Mars?... or simply get yourself some groceries at the corner market, ride around town and pay your bills, meet a prospective client, or just sit and kibbitz with friends down at the local coffee joint.
Just because you are "here" does not mean that you don't want to go "there" also...
I use PayPal, and I LOVE it. It has really revolutionized the way I buy and sell stuff on eBay (that is how I first discovered and started using it). Recently I went out to dinner with my roommate (who also does eBay and uses PayPal for it), and having no cash on me (which is a fairly constant state with me) I said "Hey, would you mind if I just sent you a PayPal payment when I get home?" She said no problemo. Ever since that I've been using it for stuff like borrowing cash (which I need to do alot), paying for my part of an evening's outing, etc.
At first this was great, but rather cumbersome. I had to whip out my Visor (PalmPilot compatible unit) and write a memo to myself to "Send $X to Joe". Eventually one of my friends saw me doing this, and asked me "Huh? Don't you have the PayPal software for PalmOS?" I looked at him blankly, and that very night, went onto the PayPal website, found and downloaded the software.
My first reaction when I started playing with it was: "Whoa!!" (said in a Neo-esque voice)
This was terrific!!! Both my roomie and all of my friends had some sort of Palm device or another (or compatible). I could now beam money to them!! And if they didn't have the software, I could beam it as well!! No more having to write down a reminder in Memo Pad. Just drop it in my cradle, and everything is synced up.
Then a few weeks ago, my micro-payment life came to an abrupt and sad end. I received an email in my inbox from X.com/PayPal, saying that they were discontinuing their PalmOS support. I had to re-read the message five times to fully comprehend it.
Then I sat there in dumbfounded shock wondering just why the HELL they went and did this stupid thing.
I mean, think about it: Palm units are now becoming very cheap (e.g. with the $149 m100 and the Handspring Visor standard edition; and you can get older units secondhand for even less) and are rapidly becoming commonplace. Think "instant, VERY LARGE user base."
The company where I work buys a PalmPilot for each and every employee, from the big cheese all the way down to the lowliest tech. They have totally standardized on Palm. And the whole company LOVES PayPal -- we'd beam each other money to cover business lunches or casual get-togethers, or whatever. But not any more...:(
In their letter, they said that they would be focusing more on the wireless web type stuff. I'm sorry, but that won't do me a flying fsck's good. Nor does it do much good to most of my friends or acquaintances either. We don't have any wireless web service in my area, and the cost of the equipment and the service is still prohibitively high for me. (I am barely able to afford my monthly cell phone charges as it is).
So, X.Com/PayPal, what were you thinking??!??!
OK, I am not the type to just rant on and on, but not present my take on a possible solution for the problem. So, PayPal, if you are listening, here is what I would do if I were you.
* Keep on developing a mobile phone/WAP/whatever solution. The people who own/use those devices will be thrilled and will thank you from the bottom of their hearts (and their pocketbooks). And when I become financially better off, hell, I'll probably (no, make that DEFINITELY) want one of these gizmos too.
* But please, for God's sake, DON'T scrap your PalmOS efforts. If you do, I think you will find that you will lose a large current user base, but more importantly, you will lose an even larger POTENTIAL user base.
* And if you stick with the Palm, DON'T make it wireless based. (I can't afford a Palm VII, nor the monthly service fees, and neither can a great many people out there, either.)
* Make a Macintosh version of the PayPal sync software. It would be nice if you could make a Linux version as well, to integrate with kpilot or the other Linux sync tools. ("What about the BSD's?", you say. Well, they all have Linux emulation, so they will be able to run it too!)
* And also, since I am not an OS bigot, please make a WinCE version as well, so that all the H/PC, H/PC Pro, Palm PC, and Pocket PC folks can join in on the fun. I just bought myself a Compaq iPaq. I still have my Visor, and I love both devices, and I use both daily. It would be great if I could also use my iPaq for PayPal as well.
* And, for heaven's sake, ADVERTISE your PalmOS/CE/WAP/whatever offerings in a PROMINENT place on your website! I had to dig around to find the PalmOS software. But a BIG button like "PayPal for Palm" on the main screen would have made the search a lot easier. I bet you, if you put that on your site, you wold get many people emailing you saying "Gee, I didn't know you could do THAT!!!"
There, I feel better now that I have gotten that out of my system.:)
This news pleases the Collective to no end. Your species is rapidly developing the technology to achieve perfection. Soon you will be One with the Collective. Soon, my friends. Soon.....
OK, I'm probably gonna get flamed for this. Well, so be it, after all, you only live twice...
I don't see what everybody is so up in arms about. I personally downloaded the Real* programs expecting some sort of "catch." I mean, it costs A LOT to write a program - those outrageous M$ developers fees, plus the expense of a development environment, plus paying the programmers to do it, etc. There's no way that I would expect a company to give away a product like that for free. I went into the deal fully expecting there to be a "catch." And there was -- RealJukebox was sending tons of marketing data back to homebase. Fine with me -- I went in to the deal expecting there to be a catch, and so there was.
The same goes for web banner advertising. What do you think pays for the websites to stay up? I mean, bandwidth, hosting, content, and Web designers all cost money -- LOTS of money. If a site wants to slap up a DoubleClick ad thingy to help pay for it, I have no beef with that. I actually don't mind the ads - a little splash of color in a web page is a good thing. Hell, I even click 'em every once in awhile. As a Webmaster myself, I am exploring the ad banner options. Much as how I'd like to give out information for free, I have to acknowledge financial reality. I'm a starving student/odd job consultant type person, so the money inflow is few and far between. Yet the bills come in a steady stream. The DSL bill costs me $65/month, plus the electricity to run the server, the money to feed it (memory, hard drives, etc.), and so on. And I've got a landlord that would love nothing better than to throw me out on the street if i'm late with a rent payment. Any help that I can get with this, I consider to be a godsend.
Even our favorite operating system, Linux, isn't totally "free" either. There's that little matter of the GPL... (Yes, I'm one of those BSD zealots. So sue me.)
Like the man said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Now, what I _DO_ take issue with is when a company out-and-out lies about it. (and I consider not telling the user to be a lie too -- it's a lie of omission.) So that ticked me off about the RealNetworks deal. But now they have disclosed it, and have provided and opt-out, and I have no problem with that now.
I've seen the issue of digitally distributed/downloadable movies come up several times, both on Internet sites (like slashdot) and in discussions with friends, coworkers, etc. At first I thought "Gee, that WOULD be cool..", etc. but when I really sat down and thought about it, I realized that this would be just plain silly. The state of computing and home theatre equipment has advanced greatly within the past few years, but we still don't have the stuff that can equal the sound and picture quality of even the smallest theatre. You can get pretty close, but you'll have to pay through the nose. My friend, for example, has a state-of-the-art home theatre system: projection TV, fancy stereo system, and a whole bunch of other crap. He also has obscenely high credit card bills. (the speakers alone cost him $11,000 -- and that was with him building them himself; if he had bought them pre-assembled the price would have been quite a lot higher.) And even he would rather go to a theatre than watch something at his place. If I were to set up a home theatre system, it would cost me A LOT. I don't have that kind of money, and likely will never have that kind of money, at least not for a long time. I also don't have the room for one -- this dinky 1br apartment just won't cut it. Now, compare this to your typical theatre, which has an obscenely huge screen, thunderous sound, and terrific (or at least passable) acoustics. These buildings were DESIGNED for that specific purpose, after all. Many of the buildings, especially the newer ones, have been decked out with the very latest in sound and projection technology. Total cost of admission: $5.00 or $8.50, depending on if I went to the matinee or the evening show. And most importantly, I don't have to store it all! Then there's also the issue of file sizes. Even a heavily compressed movie can weigh in at several GB worth fo data. And, if you're one of those who demands absolute fidelity, you'd need extremely little, or no compression, which would bloat the file size even higher. Now I just got DSL last year, and many people I know are getting either DSL or cable. Even with cable or DSL, downloading a 650 MB ISO file takes about half a day. Menaing that even for a moderately sized movie, I'd be waiting at least a day, maybe two or three, while it percolates in. And also remember that, though more people are getting better connectivity, the majority of the populace is still stuck with 56k modems. We just don't have the bandwidth for this type of thing, and probably won't, not for quite a while. Internet downloadable movies? No thanks. I'll still be going to theatres, likely for a long time to come. There's also the social aspect. Actually physically going to a theatre has a purpose. It's FUN. It's SOCIAL. It is a group activity, but can also be done alone. One of the scariest future views of the world for me would be if EVERYTHING could be done from the comfort of your home. Sure, it may sound cool in theory, but think about it: all of us would just be sitting at home, ordering up our food, ordering up our movies, chatting online. We'd be missing out on so much of the social interaction that us human beings NEED... Yes! NEED! (There are studies to prove this.) I also like to go to theatres to see the sights. True, alot of the older buildings have been closed up, but many more have either been renovated or are still open. And old theatres are really COOL places. Here in Santa Barbara, we have a lovely old building called the Arlington Theatre. It's still in service today, and plays not only movies, but also symphonies, comedy, and other live events. The ceiling has really cool pierce holes in it, so it looks like you are watching your movie (or whatever performance is playing) while under the stars. Not being able to go to the Arlington again would truly be disappointing. Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Time to play some Diablo II!!:) --
Got me a nice new Athlon system I put together a couple months ago. FIC SD-11 revision 1.8, Athlon 650MHz, 128 MB SDRAM, Western Digital 10 GB Ultra66 hard drive, Sound Blaster (ES1371 AudioPCI), Matrox G100 AGP, generic Realtek 10/100 etherne. Running RedHat 6.2. It's been going for several months now, and I've had no trouble at all with it.
The FIC board has been great. Erm, more specifically... the r1.8 FIC board has been great. Previous revisions were fraught with problems, When FIC fixed 'em in r1.8, tho, it was unfortunately too late to reverse the damage done to their reputation in the public's eye.
But if you're looking for a good, cheap (got mine put together for under $500) Athlon system, the FIC won't disappoint. Provided you get r1.8.:) Most, if not all, vendors should have the new boards in stock by now. Just make sure they have a reasonable return/exchange policy, in case you accidentally get ahold of some old stock.
When I write a piece of software, I am allowed to put a message in there. ("foo.o: Written by Joe Shmoe"). Nobody raises their eyebrow at that. So why is everybody up in arms when corporations start doing it too? I don't really understand why this is considered "wrong" or "bad." After all, they have made the effort to get this code written, by providing resources (net connections, computers, whatever) and/or money to the programmers. They deserve a little plug. And it's not even really a plug. They're not exactly saying "HI! I'm Foo Corp.! You'll LOVE our !NEW! Fubar-O-Matic 2000! Buy yours today!!" It's just saying "Hey! We helped write this."
Also, it's not like this is a new concept either. Take a look at your dmesg sometime. Ever notice that the IPX portions of NET4 were contributed by Caldera? Or that Swensea University (sp?) sponsored the entire NET4 codebase. (OK, so they aren't a corporation, but they still qualify as a large entity...) Samba is now being heavily sponsored by SGI, and Corel is now a major contributor to Wine. So what? The companies are happy - they get to show that they are really cool and committed to Open Source. And the users are happy - they get a MUCH better product. It's a win-win scenario.
Some of the biggest Open Source sponsors are corporations and businesses now. Let's not forget that.
This is a great idea, one which will definitely make my life (and the lives of A LOT of other people out there) easier, when it's time to update the Archives. I've always had to go pawing around half the internet looking for a usable mirror whenever a new distro comes out.
This still needs a bit of work tho. Definitely needs more mirror sites, and better bandwidth all around. Some sort of "load balancing" would also be nice (if it is possible) -- when a user clicks on a download link, some bit of website magic will automatically shoot them to the least "busy" server. But this is definitely a good start.
One thing I would like to praise and thank this site's creators for is the fact that they included the *BSD's as well. With a domain name like "linuxiso.org", it would have been so easy to focus on Linux exclusively, which I think would have been a very big mistake. I, for one, use and love both Linux and FreeBSD, and I know many other people and businesses use a mix of Linux and *BSD as well. Having 'em all accessible from one locale is definitely a nice touch.
To the people behind this site: My sincere and heartfelt thanks.
I had to re-read this post several times before I was able to believe it.
Palm must think very dimly of their HUGE already-established user base if they're trying to pull a stunt like this. Sure, whiz-bang new features are nice and all, but is the cost of an entire readily-available software base justifiable?
I know that if I want some new kind of whiz-bang program right now, I can go off to Palmgear or Tucows or even Joe's Web Site and download a Palm app, and I !!!KNOW!!! it will work. The Palm architecture has remained extremely stable, between hardware and OS releases. Hell, I even have some PalmOS 1.0 programs, written for the old Pilot 1000 (BEFORE "Palm" came into the title)... AND THEY STILL WORK!!! But when the new architecture takes over, poof, there go literally thousands of perfectly good programs. Sure, some of the developers will port, but that will take time (during which you can't use the program), and for commercial programs, I'm sure they won't just *GIVE* the upgrades away, being corporations and all. And what of the shareware/freeware/GPL developers? Can they afford to buy whole new development environments? And those using the free/GPL dev tools, well too bad! They don't generate the right kind of code any more!! THOSE will have to be ported as well.
I just went on a bit of a spending spree to outfit my new Handspring Visor Deluxe (GREAT machine, btw -- ignore the (mostly based on old/outdated information) reviews and get one today!) Got all sorts of cool goodies. Mobile WinFax, so that I can send FAXes from my new Handspring Modem module while on the go. Documents to Go, which lets me read those oh-so-common MS Office files. And probably my #1 most used program: Landware's Pocket Quicken. Since I use desktop Quicken to track my bank accounts, now I can have that exact same data on the go as well. Now I always know whether or not I can afford that new hard drive, or whether I have paid the phone bill already. The thought that I will most likely have to re-buy everything again, when I decide that I want the Next Big Thing, really irritates me. I've learned to expect this kind of behavior from Microsoft, NOT from Palm. Sigh, there goes the neighborhood.
A while back, I was forced to use (ugh, gag, puke) Windows CE devices at a (former) employer of mine. This was probably one of the most confusing things in the Universe. HPC, HPC Pro, or Palm PC (now Pocket PC)? SH1 or MIPS processor? COlor or B/W? I wanted to use ACT! on my Palm PC, so I went looking. Yeah, sure enough, Symantec had a WinCE version of ACT! But it was only for Handheld PC. Boo, hiss.
The new Palm IIIc has already helped start this type of schism in the Palm community. Now you have to know if your app is color enabled or not, before you know you can use it safely. The new CPU architecture will be even worse.
Palm, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???!?!
--
Donald Burr of Borg
WWW: http://www.borg-cube.com/
[= Resistance is futile! =]
Yeah, but a chip PIC doesn't look cool and massive and (most important of all) have gazillions of blinkenlights and dials and switches and whatnot encrusting it...
well, after much waiting and perl-script-to-keep-auto-retrying-ftp-site-hacking , I finally got it!!! But the filesize of the ISO I downloaded is only some 320 MB... Seems awfully small for a Linux distribution to me. The md5 checksums match up with the md5 checksum file in the same directory on the FTP server, so it is probably ok, but I thought I better check with other/.'ers first... I downloaded from the Linuxberg site, in case that matters. (btw, I recommend you use the linuxberg site -- it is somewhat easier to get into than corel's and gave me a MUCH better transfer rate than corel's site.)
I would have to second the recommendation of Register.Com. My domain registration through them has been absolutely flawless. They have always answered my questions/trouble tickets in a timely, professional manner. The web interface for changing your domain info is great, and I also like their free DNS services. However, when I finally decided to "get real" and set up my own DNS, the transition was smooth as glass.
Slashdot Mirror
> Raise your hand if you have iTunes ...
...
...
*keeps hand at his side* Okay, you got me there...
> Raise your hand if you have a FireWire port
*raises hand high and proud*
With FireWire cards in the $20-40 range, ANYBODY acn get Firewire these days. Just head down to your nearest CompUSA/Fry's/computer show vndor/whatever.
> Raise your hand if you have $400 to spend on a cute Apple device
*raises hand* Considering I spent nearly that much on my Nomad (plus extra rechargable batteries, battery charger, extra wall plug, car adapter, etc.).
And you don't (strictly speaking) need iTunes to use this beast. You can access the FireWire drive itself using the standard FireWire SCSI-2 emulation layer (sbp2) which means, yes boys and girls, YOU CAN USE IT WITH LINUX!!! Unlike the Nomad, which you CAN'T. (read: proprietary protocols)
I, for one, am seriously considering selling my Nomad + gear on ebay and getting one of these puppies.
It's about time someone came up with something like this. My problem with buying PC games is that I never know whether or not I am going to like it or not. Usually I can do a *fairly* good job of picking a game title based on magazine/web reviews and talking to friends, but unfortunately this process is not 100%. I've bought some "duds" based on some really good reviews and/or friend recommendations. On the flip side, I have bought quite a few "gems" despite lukewarm reviews. Unfortunately I've wasted a LOT of money in this process. The problem is that I am a unique individual, and it isn't guaranteed that I will agree 100% with the reviewer(s) and their likes and dislikes, etc. Also, even if I am pretty sure the reviewer and I are on the same wavelength, it is still hard to judge a game and how it will play based on a bunch of static text and pictures found in a review article.
Nah, the answer for me is "try before you buy".
Unfortunately the software companies do not accomodate this model well. Although many companies do make downloadable demos, many more still do not. And VERY few stores are able (or willing) to demo the games to you.
This EB1 service looks like just what the doctor ordered. Soon as my replacement credit card comes in (I lost mine and had to call it in to the bank, oops) I'll be checking it out. In fact there are some games up there now that I have been curious about... I've been meaning to buy Oni, even though it got some pretty lukewarm reviews, because I really like the concept of a kung fu type fighting game, instead of the usual "have lots of weapons, shoot anything that moves" Quake type stuff. However I just can't justify plunking down $40+ on a game that I am not certain that I will like or not. But with EB1... try before you buy, baby...
I just hope they continue supplying the site with the latest and greatest in PC games. Only then will it truly be of value.
--
$ touch /tmp/instdate.<package-name>
/> -newer /tmp/instdate.<package-name> -print
:)
$ <run the appropriate install procedure>
$ find <tree where it installed itself, or if unknown,
Works for me...
--
OK, I am committing the cardinal sin of replying to my own post. So sue me. But I forgot one important.. I mean REALLY IMPORTANT... point: Linux is Open Source!!! This is a MAJOR reason why many people choose to run Linux on their Sparcs. Having the source code to EVERYTHING handy, and to be able to browse through it or even modify it if the situation requires it, is an absolute godsend. Just try doing THAT with Solaris!
--
There's a lot of older Sparc hardware out on the market, at reasonable prices (e.g. Ebay). SPARC hardware is in the hands of a LOT of enthusiasts and hobbyists out there. Plus a lot of companies have truckloads of older Sparcs lying around. The grim reality of the situation is that these machines are way too underpowered to run any recent incarnation of Solaris. I tried running Solaris 2.6 on my Sparc IPX, and let me tell you, having my teeth pulled WITHOUT novocaine would have been far preferable. However, RedHat/sparc runs perfectly fine on it, and it runs at a quite acceptable pace. So with Linux/sparc, companies and individuals could turn piles of dusty but perfectly working hardware into productive print servers, light web servers, DNS servers, what have you.
--
Now, I have no idea what the whole beef with Carl Macek is. I vaguely know who he is, and I only know bits and pieces, and I'm not even sure I have those right. So, honestly I don't know enough about the situation to pass judgment.
:) It is what got me "into" anime -- years later, when I was in college, I remember getting into one of those random conversations with a new dormmate friend of mine, and we got around to the subject of "TV shows I liked as a kid", and I mentioned Robotech, then he turned to me and said "Ohhhh, then you'll LOVE this..." and shoved a BubbleGum Crisis tape in my hand (which is now another of my all-time anime favorites).
But... you know what... I DON'T CARE.
Robotech was a series I fell in love with when I was a kid, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't think I will ever learn to hate it, even if I find out that Carl Macek is the spawn of the Devil, or he orchestrated the German Holocaust, or he's the secret head of the RIAA going after Napster, etc. After all, this series had it all: Action. Adventure. Aliens. Robots. Outer space. Lasers (or whatever those weapons were called). Cool spaceships and space fighters that transform. And, of course, female characters who kick ass and look damn fine while doing it.
A few months ago, I tracked down one of my old childhood buddies (ok, I ran into him quite by accident at the local Kinko's), and we got to talking about old times (he and I were grade school friends, and yes, he was into RT too). On a whim I asked him if he happened to have any tapes.. and amazingly enough, he did!! (not very many, and they were all quite crappy quality-wise) So I decided to "test" myself to see if my increased age and awareness of other sources of anime would color my impressions of this series. Yeah, parts of it do seem kinda hokey now, but largely it still holds the same allure as it did when I was a kid.
I have been WAITING and LOOKING and HOPING that someone would release this someday... videotapes would have been great, but DVD is EVEN BETTER!!! So I am glad that it is finally happening. Woohoo!!!
--
Sorry folks, this is a LONG one...
Well, this was nice. Got home from work to find this lovely message in my Inbox. Yep, you guessed it... the RIAA contacted me because of my li'l old opennap server. Actually, they contacted my ISP instead, and they were "kind" enough to forward it to me...
Well, I do have to give them some credit: at least they didn't summarily axe my connection like so many others did. Anyway, what was I to do? I can NOT afford to lose my DSL at this juncture, considering how I use it for EVERYTHING -- receiving email, hosting my website and several others (and some local nonprofits' websites), online gaming (of course :) ), etc. And I didn't really want to piss off my ISP, since decent connectivity is so hard to come by in this two-horse town. So I swallowed my pride and ran "killall -9 opennap" Sent them a nice "yes, I am ceasing and desisting" email, and got a response. End of story... or so I thought!
(Incidnetally, the phrase "unauthorized distribution of sound recordings" caught my eye... UHH, HELLO PEOPLE??! I was *NVER* actually SHARING any MP3's... my server only acts as a "gathering point" to connect everyone else who wants to trade files. This would be like the police raiding and shutting down an ENTIRE Shopping Mall just because some drug dealers happen to hang out there to ply their wares. DUHHHHHH!!!!)
Anyway, "Time passes..."
The time: Later that afternoon. The place: in my Command Center, ice cold can of Coke(tm) by my side. The activity: reading through my webserver logs. Why? Because I am a nosy bastard and like to know what people are doing on my webserver! :P (actually, I had just tweaked around my CGI's and installed some new ones the other day, and wanted to make sure everything was running happily)
Well, what do we have here? Someone at my ISP is happily reading through ALL of the websites that I host!!!
"Hmmmm... what's this? A deliberate and methodical browse through of my website? Someone trying to look for more infractions by me (not that I have any, my websites are all pretty boring and really poorly crafted...) Or maybe it's just someone who saw my URL in my .sig and was curious?" Well, I had my doubts...
(and, before you ask: yes, this is somebody in the ISP's office, not a random dialup user... A traceroute proves that.)
But later that day, my doubts were erased. There I was, happily cavorting around the new UO 3D betatest server (which ROCKS btw...), when all of a sudden my connection goes straight to hell. "Great, more OSI routing trouble, or maybe the beta server is clogged to capacity..." I think. Wrong, try again. Because then the firewall messages start flying:
Yes, boys and girls, a real honest to god portscan!!! Meanwhile, my bandwidth is going to hell in a handbasket with all the probing I'm getting. No, I am NOT happy about this. But is it the same guy? Hmm...
Yep, same guy.
There's some real nasty stuff going down out there...
--
Think "telepresence." I am a quadriplegic (sp?) in a wheelchair. I can't even leave the house, etc. But "jack in" to a rented robotic body, and *BOOM!* the mind is freed from the confines of the flesh. I can explore the places where I've always wanted to go -- Mt. Everest, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the ocean floor, and hell, why not the Moon or Mars?... or simply get yourself some groceries at the corner market, ride around town and pay your bills, meet a prospective client, or just sit and kibbitz with friends down at the local coffee joint.
Just because you are "here" does not mean that you don't want to go "there" also...
--
I use PayPal, and I LOVE it. It has really revolutionized the way I buy and sell stuff on eBay (that is how I first discovered and started using it). Recently I went out to dinner with my roommate (who also does eBay and uses PayPal for it), and having no cash on me (which is a fairly constant state with me) I said "Hey, would you mind if I just sent you a PayPal payment when I get home?" She said no problemo. Ever since that I've been using it for stuff like borrowing cash (which I need to do alot), paying for my part of an evening's outing, etc.
:(
:)
At first this was great, but rather cumbersome. I had to whip out my Visor (PalmPilot compatible unit) and write a memo to myself to "Send $X to Joe". Eventually one of my friends saw me doing this, and asked me "Huh? Don't you have the PayPal software for PalmOS?" I looked at him blankly, and that very night, went onto the PayPal website, found and downloaded the software.
My first reaction when I started playing with it was: "Whoa!!" (said in a Neo-esque voice)
This was terrific!!! Both my roomie and all of my friends had some sort of Palm device or another (or compatible). I could now beam money to them!! And if they didn't have the software, I could beam it as well!! No more having to write down a reminder in Memo Pad. Just drop it in my cradle, and everything is synced up.
Then a few weeks ago, my micro-payment life came to an abrupt and sad end. I received an email in my inbox from X.com/PayPal, saying that they were discontinuing their PalmOS support. I had to re-read the message five times to fully comprehend it.
Then I sat there in dumbfounded shock wondering just why the HELL they went and did this stupid thing.
I mean, think about it: Palm units are now becoming very cheap (e.g. with the $149 m100 and the Handspring Visor standard edition; and you can get older units secondhand for even less) and are rapidly becoming commonplace. Think "instant, VERY LARGE user base."
The company where I work buys a PalmPilot for each and every employee, from the big cheese all the way down to the lowliest tech. They have totally standardized on Palm. And the whole company LOVES PayPal -- we'd beam each other money to cover business lunches or casual get-togethers, or whatever. But not any more...
In their letter, they said that they would be focusing more on the wireless web type stuff. I'm sorry, but that won't do me a flying fsck's good. Nor does it do much good to most of my friends or acquaintances either. We don't have any wireless web service in my area, and the cost of the equipment and the service is still prohibitively high for me. (I am barely able to afford my monthly cell phone charges as it is).
So, X.Com/PayPal, what were you thinking??!??!
OK, I am not the type to just rant on and on, but not present my take on a possible solution for the problem. So, PayPal, if you are listening, here is what I would do if I were you.
* Keep on developing a mobile phone/WAP/whatever solution. The people who own/use those devices will be thrilled and will thank you from the bottom of their hearts (and their pocketbooks). And when I become financially better off, hell, I'll probably (no, make that DEFINITELY) want one of these gizmos too.
* But please, for God's sake, DON'T scrap your PalmOS efforts. If you do, I think you will find that you will lose a large current user base, but more importantly, you will lose an even larger POTENTIAL user base.
* And if you stick with the Palm, DON'T make it wireless based. (I can't afford a Palm VII, nor the monthly service fees, and neither can a great many people out there, either.)
* Make a Macintosh version of the PayPal sync software. It would be nice if you could make a Linux version as well, to integrate with kpilot or the other Linux sync tools. ("What about the BSD's?", you say. Well, they all have Linux emulation, so they will be able to run it too!)
* And also, since I am not an OS bigot, please make a WinCE version as well, so that all the H/PC, H/PC Pro, Palm PC, and Pocket PC folks can join in on the fun. I just bought myself a Compaq iPaq. I still have my Visor, and I love both devices, and I use both daily. It would be great if I could also use my iPaq for PayPal as well.
* And, for heaven's sake, ADVERTISE your PalmOS/CE/WAP/whatever offerings in a PROMINENT place on your website! I had to dig around to find the PalmOS software. But a BIG button like "PayPal for Palm" on the main screen would have made the search a lot easier. I bet you, if you put that on your site, you wold get many people emailing you saying "Gee, I didn't know you could do THAT!!!"
There, I feel better now that I have gotten that out of my system.
--
> Online piracy may now also include certain uses of 'streaming' technologies from the Internet."
Great. Just fscking great. Now they're going after Shoutcast and its ilk (Live365, Icecast/LiveIce, yada yada yada).
Time to kiss my techno streams goodbye... *Sniff*
--
Didn't mean to double-post. Sorry.
--
Where are the Knight Sabers when you need 'em?
--
This news pleases the Collective to no end. Your species is rapidly developing the technology to achieve perfection. Soon you will be One with the Collective. Soon, my friends. Soon.....
Resistance is futile.
--
All these worlds
are yours except
Europa
Attempt no
landing there
Use them together
Use them in peace
--
OK, I'm probably gonna get flamed for this. Well, so be it, after all, you only live twice...
I don't see what everybody is so up in arms about. I personally downloaded the Real* programs expecting some sort of "catch." I mean, it costs A LOT to write a program - those outrageous M$ developers fees, plus the expense of a development environment, plus paying the programmers to do it, etc. There's no way that I would expect a company to give away a product like that for free. I went into the deal fully expecting there to be a "catch." And there was -- RealJukebox was sending tons of marketing data back to homebase. Fine with me -- I went in to the deal expecting there to be a catch, and so there was.
The same goes for web banner advertising. What do you think pays for the websites to stay up? I mean, bandwidth, hosting, content, and Web designers all cost money -- LOTS of money. If a site wants to slap up a DoubleClick ad thingy to help pay for it, I have no beef with that. I actually don't mind the ads - a little splash of color in a web page is a good thing. Hell, I even click 'em every once in awhile. As a Webmaster myself, I am exploring the ad banner options. Much as how I'd like to give out information for free, I have to acknowledge financial reality. I'm a starving student/odd job consultant type person, so the money inflow is few and far between. Yet the bills come in a steady stream. The DSL bill costs me $65/month, plus the electricity to run the server, the money to feed it (memory, hard drives, etc.), and so on. And I've got a landlord that would love nothing better than to throw me out on the street if i'm late with a rent payment. Any help that I can get with this, I consider to be a godsend.
Even our favorite operating system, Linux, isn't totally "free" either. There's that little matter of the GPL... (Yes, I'm one of those BSD zealots. So sue me.)
Like the man said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Now, what I _DO_ take issue with is when a company out-and-out lies about it. (and I consider not telling the user to be a lie too -- it's a lie of omission.) So that ticked me off about the RealNetworks deal. But now they have disclosed it, and have provided and opt-out, and I have no problem with that now.
So feel free to flame away!!!
--
I've seen the issue of digitally distributed/downloadable movies come up several times, both on Internet sites (like slashdot) and in discussions with friends, coworkers, etc. At first I thought "Gee, that WOULD be cool..", etc. but when I really sat down and thought about it, I realized that this would be just plain silly. The state of computing and home theatre equipment has advanced greatly within the past few years, but we still don't have the stuff that can equal the sound and picture quality of even the smallest theatre. You can get pretty close, but you'll have to pay through the nose. My friend, for example, has a state-of-the-art home theatre system: projection TV, fancy stereo system, and a whole bunch of other crap. He also has obscenely high credit card bills. (the speakers alone cost him $11,000 -- and that was with him building them himself; if he had bought them pre-assembled the price would have been quite a lot higher.) And even he would rather go to a theatre than watch something at his place. If I were to set up a home theatre system, it would cost me A LOT. I don't have that kind of money, and likely will never have that kind of money, at least not for a long time. I also don't have the room for one -- this dinky 1br apartment just won't cut it. Now, compare this to your typical theatre, which has an obscenely huge screen, thunderous sound, and terrific (or at least passable) acoustics. These buildings were DESIGNED for that specific purpose, after all. Many of the buildings, especially the newer ones, have been decked out with the very latest in sound and projection technology. Total cost of admission: $5.00 or $8.50, depending on if I went to the matinee or the evening show. And most importantly, I don't have to store it all! Then there's also the issue of file sizes. Even a heavily compressed movie can weigh in at several GB worth fo data. And, if you're one of those who demands absolute fidelity, you'd need extremely little, or no compression, which would bloat the file size even higher. Now I just got DSL last year, and many people I know are getting either DSL or cable. Even with cable or DSL, downloading a 650 MB ISO file takes about half a day. Menaing that even for a moderately sized movie, I'd be waiting at least a day, maybe two or three, while it percolates in. And also remember that, though more people are getting better connectivity, the majority of the populace is still stuck with 56k modems. We just don't have the bandwidth for this type of thing, and probably won't, not for quite a while. Internet downloadable movies? No thanks. I'll still be going to theatres, likely for a long time to come. There's also the social aspect. Actually physically going to a theatre has a purpose. It's FUN. It's SOCIAL. It is a group activity, but can also be done alone. One of the scariest future views of the world for me would be if EVERYTHING could be done from the comfort of your home. Sure, it may sound cool in theory, but think about it: all of us would just be sitting at home, ordering up our food, ordering up our movies, chatting online. We'd be missing out on so much of the social interaction that us human beings NEED... Yes! NEED! (There are studies to prove this.) I also like to go to theatres to see the sights. True, alot of the older buildings have been closed up, but many more have either been renovated or are still open. And old theatres are really COOL places. Here in Santa Barbara, we have a lovely old building called the Arlington Theatre. It's still in service today, and plays not only movies, but also symphonies, comedy, and other live events. The ceiling has really cool pierce holes in it, so it looks like you are watching your movie (or whatever performance is playing) while under the stars. Not being able to go to the Arlington again would truly be disappointing. Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Time to play some Diablo II!! :)
--
Got me a nice new Athlon system I put together a couple months ago. FIC SD-11 revision 1.8, Athlon 650MHz, 128 MB SDRAM, Western Digital 10 GB Ultra66 hard drive, Sound Blaster (ES1371 AudioPCI), Matrox G100 AGP, generic Realtek 10/100 etherne. Running RedHat 6.2. It's been going for several months now, and I've had no trouble at all with it.
:) Most, if not all, vendors should have the new boards in stock by now. Just make sure they have a reasonable return/exchange policy, in case you accidentally get ahold of some old stock.
The FIC board has been great. Erm, more specifically... the r1.8 FIC board has been great. Previous revisions were fraught with problems,
When FIC fixed 'em in r1.8, tho, it was unfortunately too late to reverse the damage done to their reputation in the public's eye.
But if you're looking for a good, cheap (got mine put together for under $500) Athlon system, the FIC won't disappoint. Provided you get r1.8.
--
When I write a piece of software, I am allowed to put a message in there. ("foo.o: Written by Joe Shmoe"). Nobody raises their eyebrow at that. So why is everybody up in arms when corporations start doing it too? I don't really understand why this is considered "wrong" or "bad." After all, they have made the effort to get this code written, by providing resources (net connections, computers, whatever) and/or money to the programmers. They deserve a little plug. And it's not even really a plug. They're not exactly saying "HI! I'm Foo Corp.! You'll LOVE our !NEW! Fubar-O-Matic 2000! Buy yours today!!" It's just saying "Hey! We helped write this."
Also, it's not like this is a new concept either. Take a look at your dmesg sometime. Ever notice that the IPX portions of NET4 were contributed by Caldera? Or that Swensea University (sp?) sponsored the entire NET4 codebase. (OK, so they aren't a corporation, but they still qualify as a large entity...) Samba is now being heavily sponsored by SGI, and Corel is now a major contributor to Wine. So what? The companies are happy - they get to show that they are really cool and committed to Open Source. And the users are happy - they get a MUCH better product. It's a win-win scenario.
Some of the biggest Open Source sponsors are corporations and businesses now. Let's not forget that.
--
This is a great idea, one which will definitely make my life (and the lives of A LOT of other people out there) easier, when it's time to update the Archives. I've always had to go pawing around half the internet looking for a usable mirror whenever a new distro comes out.
This still needs a bit of work tho. Definitely needs more mirror sites, and better bandwidth all around. Some sort of "load balancing" would also be nice (if it is possible) -- when a user clicks on a download link, some bit of website magic will automatically shoot them to the least "busy" server. But this is definitely a good start.
One thing I would like to praise and thank this site's creators for is the fact that they included the *BSD's as well. With a domain name like "linuxiso.org", it would have been so easy to focus on Linux exclusively, which I think would have been a very big mistake. I, for one, use and love both Linux and FreeBSD, and I know many other people and businesses use a mix of Linux and *BSD as well. Having 'em all accessible from one locale is definitely a nice touch.
To the people behind this site: My sincere and heartfelt thanks.
--
I had to re-read this post several times before I was able to believe it.
Palm must think very dimly of their HUGE already-established user base if they're trying to pull a stunt like this. Sure, whiz-bang new features are nice and all, but is the cost of an entire readily-available software base justifiable?
I know that if I want some new kind of whiz-bang program right now, I can go off to Palmgear or Tucows or even Joe's Web Site and download a Palm app, and I !!!KNOW!!! it will work. The Palm architecture has remained extremely stable, between hardware and OS releases. Hell, I even have some PalmOS 1.0 programs, written for the old Pilot 1000 (BEFORE "Palm" came into the title)... AND THEY STILL WORK!!! But when the new architecture takes over, poof, there go literally thousands of perfectly good programs. Sure, some of the developers will port, but that will take time (during which you can't use the program), and for commercial programs, I'm sure they won't just *GIVE* the upgrades away, being corporations and all. And what of the shareware/freeware/GPL developers? Can they afford to buy whole new development environments? And those using the free/GPL dev tools, well too bad! They don't generate the right kind of code any more!! THOSE will have to be ported as well.
I just went on a bit of a spending spree to outfit my new Handspring Visor Deluxe (GREAT machine, btw -- ignore the (mostly based on old/outdated information) reviews and get one today!) Got all sorts of cool goodies. Mobile WinFax, so that I can send FAXes from my new Handspring Modem module while on the go. Documents to Go, which lets me read those oh-so-common MS Office files. And probably my #1 most used program: Landware's Pocket Quicken. Since I use desktop Quicken to track my bank accounts, now I can have that exact same data on the go as well. Now I always know whether or not I can afford that new hard drive, or whether I have paid the phone bill already. The thought that I will most likely have to re-buy everything again, when I decide that I want the Next Big Thing, really irritates me. I've learned to expect this kind of behavior from Microsoft, NOT from Palm. Sigh, there goes the neighborhood.
A while back, I was forced to use (ugh, gag, puke) Windows CE devices at a (former) employer of mine. This was probably one of the most confusing things in the Universe. HPC, HPC Pro, or Palm PC (now Pocket PC)? SH1 or MIPS processor? COlor or B/W? I wanted to use ACT! on my Palm PC, so I went looking. Yeah, sure enough, Symantec had a WinCE version of ACT! But it was only for Handheld PC. Boo, hiss.
The new Palm IIIc has already helped start this type of schism in the Palm community. Now you have to know if your app is color enabled or not, before you know you can use it safely. The new CPU architecture will be even worse.
Palm, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???!?!
--
Donald Burr of Borg
WWW: http://www.borg-cube.com/
[= Resistance is futile! =]
Yeah, but a chip PIC doesn't look cool and massive and (most important of all) have gazillions of blinkenlights and dials and switches and whatnot encrusting it...
well, after much waiting and perl-script-to-keep-auto-retrying-ftp-site-hacking , I finally got it!!! But the filesize of the ISO I downloaded is only some 320 MB... Seems awfully small for a Linux distribution to me. The md5 checksums match up with the md5 checksum file in the same directory on the FTP server, so it is probably ok, but I thought I better check with other /.'ers first... I downloaded from the Linuxberg site, in case that matters. (btw, I recommend you use the linuxberg site -- it is somewhat easier to get into than corel's and gave me a MUCH better transfer rate than corel's site.)
I would have to second the recommendation of Register.Com. My domain registration through them has been absolutely flawless. They have always answered my questions/trouble tickets in a timely, professional manner. The web interface for changing your domain info is great, and I also like their free DNS services. However, when I finally decided to "get real" and set up my own DNS, the transition was smooth as glass.
Register.com gets a "two thumbs up" from me!