Just wondering what operating system those computers used, and how they contracted a virus from the outside network (when they probably shouldn't have been connected at all)??
As far as I'm concerned, this is a very good thing. Any time one can get remuneration to the actual content creators instead of the middle-men is a good idea in my book. Now, maybe the prices will drop a little on these things. And in the future, maybe the movie industry can move this way too (yeah, I know, wishful thinking).
Yes, that's why I corrected my message. A serial-to-USB converter works exactly as a I described, though. I know, since I had to work with it when adding AtariVox/Savekey support to Stella.
However, I was wrong on the second part. The Stelladaptor converts the Atari signals to USB joystick events. The signal itself could be considered parallel, not serial, as each pin is independent. I forgot about this, since I'm usually removed from the hardware, working on software emulation and all.
I forgot that while an Atari can use a serial device (AtariVox/SaveKey, which will work in Stella with a USB-serial converter), it supports more than just serial mode. In fact, the port is quite versatile, as each pin can be configured as input or output on the fly.
Sorry to reply to myself, but I want to be clearer on the USB-to-serial thing. Most of those devices are for presenting a serial port to the operating system. As such, after installing the drivers, the OS will see it as a new serial port (COMx in Windows,/dev/xxxxxx in Linux and OSX). Most/all emulators won't be able to use that as a joystick, since it won't be registered in your OS's joystick control panel. Certainly Stella won't work in this case, and I don't suspect any other emulators would either, unless they've been specifically coded for it.
In fact, that's what the Stelladator is doing internally; converting the signal from serial to USB, but presenting the device to the operating system as an actual joystick device, not a serial port device.
Good to get some (positive) feedback on Stella. As I'm the only one working on the project now, I don't really collaborate with anyone, and I don't know if the project is accomplishing what people want.
The Stelladaptor is needed if you want to use geniune Atari 9-pin joysticks, paddles, or driving controllers. For the latter two, the emulator must be 'Stelladaptor-aware' to function (as Stella, MAME, and most other emulators are). If you only need joysticks, then of course you won't need the Stelladaptor, as there are other, cheaper solutions.
I'm not sure if a normal USB-to-serial adapter will work or not; I've never tried it. You'd probably have to install 3rd party drivers such as the ones from FTDI, since that's the chip used in most of those devices. In any event, if you can get the operating system to 'see' the joystick, then Stella should be able to use it.
Finally, there are currently some issues in Stella with certain analog sticks, particularly the XBox 360 controller. I'm working on fixing these for the next release (3.2), hopefully sometime this month.
Oh, be still my heart; someone has mentioned Stella on Slashdot:) For development and testing in Stella (as the main developer and maintainer), I tend to use the following:
I like the way my country is setup. Don't believe everything you see on TV. I watched the NBC coverage of the Olympics in Vancouver and couldn't believe how much BS was being spread about Canada. They are talking about all our customs, etc, Brian Williams was a fucking moron (US Brian Williams, not CTV Brian). He stopped a few NEWFIES on the street and that is where he got most of his information. WTF! Newfies are very different from the rest of the Canadians. And no, we don't live in Igloos! And I don't know Jill or Jack from Canada!!
Hey, watch it with the Newfie discrimination. While the rest of Canada and pretty much all the US are going through a major recession (which it is, whether people will admit it or not), Newfoundland has never seen better financial times. Provinces in the past that have called us a 'welfare state' are now doing much worse than we are. So maybe we really are different than the rest of the Canadians; we know how to stay above water in tough financial times.
Why can't all politicians just do what they're elected to do and serve the people?
Because the number one mandate of politicians is to get re-elected, not to serve the people. And a great portion of their time is spent getting around any 'roadblocks' that would benefit the people but negatively impact them. It's an unsolvable problem; the goals of a politician and those of the people are often diametrically opposed.
Actually, this article is talking about universities in Canada, not the US. Although I feel the same way you do, and I'm embarrassed to be a Canadian after reading this.
The file itself must be placed in the same folder as the app. In that case, a relative path is relative to the application installation folder (ie, you can use '.', in which case it works exactly like other windows programs which save to the app folder).
That's essentially what I did, but I reversed the logic: by default save in %APPDATA%, otherwise save to the path specified in a file named 'basedir.txt'. I agree that portable apps are one use case where this makes sense. But based on the feedback I received, users wanted to save in the app folder because, and I quote, they "didn't want their data spread all over the place". Of course, that really comes back to bite you when reformatting your system. My point being, a lot of people want to do it that way because it's always been done that way. And reversing that trend in Windows will be very hard.
In my experience, it's just the mindset of Windows developers and in some cases Windows users. They've been brought up on a system that was inherently single-user, and apps are still being written that way.
In fact, in several of my multi-platform projects, I had to add specific functionality for Windows users to save into the app folder. I tried to do the same thing on all ports of the program (save settings in home directory, so the program can run from a read-only installation), but received all kinds of feedback and complaints about that being a strange way of doing things. In the end, I added the ability to override the defaults, but it does show that some people still can't see any other way of saving their personal data.
Actually, some of us use Ubuntu and the 'easier;' distros because (a) we're tied of screwing around getting things to work like we did 6-7 years ago, and (b) to target the version of Linux that most people seem to be using.
When it comes to fixing inane issues in Linux, just because you *can* do something doesn't mean you constantly *want* to. Many people (myself included) have cut their teeth with Linux since the very beginning, and would like to use something that 'just works' most of the time, rather than performing constant low-level maintenance that is only necessary to elevate ones epeen rating.
Don't knock ease of use, or the influx of new users that will make Linux a force in the industry. It's called progress; maybe you should check it out sometime.
I absolutely agree. Making a programming language easier wrt syntax might make it somewhat clearer to understand (the language itself). However, the hard part is the logic behind it, and I don't see that ever being made easier. Logical/critical thinking and being able to break down a problem into subproblems is required for any programming activity, no matter what language you use. Make the syntax as clear as you want; you still need to understand the problem and apply reason in a logical fashion. Some people just can't do the latter, no matter how easy you make the language itself.
Not to sound elitist, but this is 'garbage in, garbage out' in action. If you're not the type of person able to reason through a problem, you'll never be a good programmer.
Sure, since the only reason Google had to create this code in the first place is because Microsoft wouldn't step up to the plate. You can bet that this whole situation is an embarrassment to Microsoft; it took another company to patch their software to work correctly, when they should have been able to do it themselves. Some egos were bruised in the process, and you can be damn well sure that there's a team willing to do everything they can to discredit Googles achievement.
So while I commend Microsoft on doing some testing on Google Frame, I don't commend them on the reason for Google having to write the code in the first place. Not to mention that their motives are suspect as well. If they can find a bug so quickly, what's their excuse for having their other products so buggy?
The big difference being, the companies need the consumers much more than the consumers need the companies. Like it or not, if you don't do things our way, we'll take our money elsewhere. And BTW, maybe if those companies weren't so top-heavy (with some of the execs making in a year what it takes an average person a lifetime to earn), they'd be more flush with cash and wouldn't need prices to be so high.
And this latter part is exactly what I referred to above when I compared it to prelink in Linux. And I was subsequently marked a troll for stating this similarity.
Christ, the OSX fanbois are out in force today. This is the first time I've ever gotten a troll rating, basically for stating that it's similar to something that Linux has. It wasn't meant as a disparagement. I regularly use OSX and applaud any performance improvements. But I guess we can't even mention when similar features exist on other platforms. Note that I said SIMILAR; I recognize that it isn't exactly the same as prelink in Linux.
You know, you were doing fine up until that last paragraph. Before that, I completely understood your attitude. I don't share your goals, but I respect that it's a valid life choice, and accept that many other people have the same goals. But then you have to launch into personal attacks against those who choose not to live that way.
Why do some people have to put down how others choose to live their life? Is it not enough that they themselves are happy? No, not only do you have to be happy, but you have to make sure everyone else who doesn't share your outlook is considered abnormal. Let's turn this around. Perhaps you should be considered a sheep since you're doing what so many other 'adult males in the world' do. Perhaps you don't have the courage to break away from what society expects of you. I suspect that by putting down people on the other side of the fence, you subconsciously wish that you could be like them.
I'm just wondering, are Microsoft so delusional that they don't see themselves doing exactly the same thing? Are they really that stupid?? Or is it just a case of 'do as I say, not as I do', and expect everyone else to blindly follow them? In any event, they really have gall suggesting something like this.
Well, it's not just Microsoft (although I agree they started the problem). They're actually making progress in recent releases wrt that issue, but my problem thus far has been the end-user.
I work on several cross-platform open-source applications, where the users config files are placed in user-specific folders, and there are always a sizable number of Windows users who wish to disable this functionality and store their data with the app itself (which is usually installed with admin rights, meaning they have to run with admin rights as well). It's an ingrained way of doing things that should really just die, but a lot of people just won't change.
So while I blame Microsoft for starting the bad behaviour, there are actually a sizable number of people out there who want it to stay that way.
Then why did she write the response in such an adversarial and defensive way? I agree that many people would like to learn new things, and are happy to do so when it will benefit them in their job (or in this case, for the benefit of the students). This 'teacher' doesn't strike me as one of those types.
I guess the overall better solution would have been to open up a line of communication, but when you have someone calling you a thief and a liar, it's kind of difficult to have a diplomatic response.
Perhaps the reason FOSS advocates tend to be terse in their responses is that they're sick of a huge majority of people pissing on what they're basically doing free of charge, on their own time. I speak from experience with this; dealing with such willfully ignorant people tends to wear you down after a while.
And sometimes you can't win people over at all, no matter what you say (or how you say it). They've decided to be willfully ignorant, and nothing you do can change that.
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Just wondering what operating system those computers used, and how they contracted a virus from the outside network (when they probably shouldn't have been connected at all)??
As far as I'm concerned, this is a very good thing. Any time one can get remuneration to the actual content creators instead of the middle-men is a good idea in my book. Now, maybe the prices will drop a little on these things. And in the future, maybe the movie industry can move this way too (yeah, I know, wishful thinking).
Yes, that's why I corrected my message. A serial-to-USB converter works exactly as a I described, though. I know, since I had to work with it when adding AtariVox/Savekey support to Stella.
However, I was wrong on the second part. The Stelladaptor converts the Atari signals to USB joystick events. The signal itself could be considered parallel, not serial, as each pin is independent. I forgot about this, since I'm usually removed from the hardware, working on software emulation and all.
I forgot that while an Atari can use a serial device (AtariVox/SaveKey, which will work in Stella with a USB-serial converter), it supports more than just serial mode. In fact, the port is quite versatile, as each pin can be configured as input or output on the fly.
Sorry to reply to myself, but I want to be clearer on the USB-to-serial thing. Most of those devices are for presenting a serial port to the operating system. As such, after installing the drivers, the OS will see it as a new serial port (COMx in Windows, /dev/xxxxxx in Linux and OSX). Most/all emulators won't be able to use that as a joystick, since it won't be registered in your OS's joystick control panel. Certainly Stella won't work in this case, and I don't suspect any other emulators would either, unless they've been specifically coded for it.
In fact, that's what the Stelladator is doing internally; converting the signal from serial to USB, but presenting the device to the operating system as an actual joystick device, not a serial port device.
Good to get some (positive) feedback on Stella. As I'm the only one working on the project now, I don't really collaborate with anyone, and I don't know if the project is accomplishing what people want.
The Stelladaptor is needed if you want to use geniune Atari 9-pin joysticks, paddles, or driving controllers. For the latter two, the emulator must be 'Stelladaptor-aware' to function (as Stella, MAME, and most other emulators are). If you only need joysticks, then of course you won't need the Stelladaptor, as there are other, cheaper solutions.
I'm not sure if a normal USB-to-serial adapter will work or not; I've never tried it. You'd probably have to install 3rd party drivers such as the ones from FTDI, since that's the chip used in most of those devices. In any event, if you can get the operating system to 'see' the joystick, then Stella should be able to use it.
Finally, there are currently some issues in Stella with certain analog sticks, particularly the XBox 360 controller. I'm working on fixing these for the next release (3.2), hopefully sometime this month.
Oh, be still my heart; someone has mentioned Stella on Slashdot :) For development and testing in Stella (as the main developer and maintainer), I tend to use the following:
I like the way my country is setup. Don't believe everything you see on TV. I watched the NBC coverage of the Olympics in Vancouver and couldn't believe how much BS was being spread about Canada. They are talking about all our customs, etc, Brian Williams was a fucking moron (US Brian Williams, not CTV Brian). He stopped a few NEWFIES on the street and that is where he got most of his information. WTF! Newfies are very different from the rest of the Canadians. And no, we don't live in Igloos! And I don't know Jill or Jack from Canada!!
Hey, watch it with the Newfie discrimination. While the rest of Canada and pretty much all the US are going through a major recession (which it is, whether people will admit it or not), Newfoundland has never seen better financial times. Provinces in the past that have called us a 'welfare state' are now doing much worse than we are. So maybe we really are different than the rest of the Canadians; we know how to stay above water in tough financial times.
Why can't all politicians just do what they're elected to do and serve the people?
Because the number one mandate of politicians is to get re-elected, not to serve the people. And a great portion of their time is spent getting around any 'roadblocks' that would benefit the people but negatively impact them. It's an unsolvable problem; the goals of a politician and those of the people are often diametrically opposed.
Actually, this article is talking about universities in Canada, not the US. Although I feel the same way you do, and I'm embarrassed to be a Canadian after reading this.
The file itself must be placed in the same folder as the app. In that case, a relative path is relative to the application installation folder (ie, you can use '.', in which case it works exactly like other windows programs which save to the app folder).
That's essentially what I did, but I reversed the logic: by default save in %APPDATA%, otherwise save to the path specified in a file named 'basedir.txt'. I agree that portable apps are one use case where this makes sense. But based on the feedback I received, users wanted to save in the app folder because, and I quote, they "didn't want their data spread all over the place". Of course, that really comes back to bite you when reformatting your system. My point being, a lot of people want to do it that way because it's always been done that way. And reversing that trend in Windows will be very hard.
In my experience, it's just the mindset of Windows developers and in some cases Windows users. They've been brought up on a system that was inherently single-user, and apps are still being written that way.
In fact, in several of my multi-platform projects, I had to add specific functionality for Windows users to save into the app folder. I tried to do the same thing on all ports of the program (save settings in home directory, so the program can run from a read-only installation), but received all kinds of feedback and complaints about that being a strange way of doing things. In the end, I added the ability to override the defaults, but it does show that some people still can't see any other way of saving their personal data.
Actually, some of us use Ubuntu and the 'easier;' distros because (a) we're tied of screwing around getting things to work like we did 6-7 years ago, and (b) to target the version of Linux that most people seem to be using.
When it comes to fixing inane issues in Linux, just because you *can* do something doesn't mean you constantly *want* to. Many people (myself included) have cut their teeth with Linux since the very beginning, and would like to use something that 'just works' most of the time, rather than performing constant low-level maintenance that is only necessary to elevate ones epeen rating.
Don't knock ease of use, or the influx of new users that will make Linux a force in the industry. It's called progress; maybe you should check it out sometime.
I absolutely agree. Making a programming language easier wrt syntax might make it somewhat clearer to understand (the language itself). However, the hard part is the logic behind it, and I don't see that ever being made easier. Logical/critical thinking and being able to break down a problem into subproblems is required for any programming activity, no matter what language you use. Make the syntax as clear as you want; you still need to understand the problem and apply reason in a logical fashion. Some people just can't do the latter, no matter how easy you make the language itself.
Not to sound elitist, but this is 'garbage in, garbage out' in action. If you're not the type of person able to reason through a problem, you'll never be a good programmer.
Sure, since the only reason Google had to create this code in the first place is because Microsoft wouldn't step up to the plate. You can bet that this whole situation is an embarrassment to Microsoft; it took another company to patch their software to work correctly, when they should have been able to do it themselves. Some egos were bruised in the process, and you can be damn well sure that there's a team willing to do everything they can to discredit Googles achievement.
So while I commend Microsoft on doing some testing on Google Frame, I don't commend them on the reason for Google having to write the code in the first place. Not to mention that their motives are suspect as well. If they can find a bug so quickly, what's their excuse for having their other products so buggy?
The big difference being, the companies need the consumers much more than the consumers need the companies. Like it or not, if you don't do things our way, we'll take our money elsewhere. And BTW, maybe if those companies weren't so top-heavy (with some of the execs making in a year what it takes an average person a lifetime to earn), they'd be more flush with cash and wouldn't need prices to be so high.
And this latter part is exactly what I referred to above when I compared it to prelink in Linux. And I was subsequently marked a troll for stating this similarity.
Christ, the OSX fanbois are out in force today. This is the first time I've ever gotten a troll rating, basically for stating that it's similar to something that Linux has. It wasn't meant as a disparagement. I regularly use OSX and applaud any performance improvements. But I guess we can't even mention when similar features exist on other platforms. Note that I said SIMILAR; I recognize that it isn't exactly the same as prelink in Linux.
Also sounds like the prelink application in Linux.
You know, you were doing fine up until that last paragraph. Before that, I completely understood your attitude. I don't share your goals, but I respect that it's a valid life choice, and accept that many other people have the same goals. But then you have to launch into personal attacks against those who choose not to live that way.
Why do some people have to put down how others choose to live their life? Is it not enough that they themselves are happy? No, not only do you have to be happy, but you have to make sure everyone else who doesn't share your outlook is considered abnormal. Let's turn this around. Perhaps you should be considered a sheep since you're doing what so many other 'adult males in the world' do. Perhaps you don't have the courage to break away from what society expects of you. I suspect that by putting down people on the other side of the fence, you subconsciously wish that you could be like them.
I'm just wondering, are Microsoft so delusional that they don't see themselves doing exactly the same thing? Are they really that stupid?? Or is it just a case of 'do as I say, not as I do', and expect everyone else to blindly follow them? In any event, they really have gall suggesting something like this.
Well, it's not just Microsoft (although I agree they started the problem). They're actually making progress in recent releases wrt that issue, but my problem thus far has been the end-user.
I work on several cross-platform open-source applications, where the users config files are placed in user-specific folders, and there are always a sizable number of Windows users who wish to disable this functionality and store their data with the app itself (which is usually installed with admin rights, meaning they have to run with admin rights as well). It's an ingrained way of doing things that should really just die, but a lot of people just won't change.
So while I blame Microsoft for starting the bad behaviour, there are actually a sizable number of people out there who want it to stay that way.
Or does "won't somebody think of the children" throw a mental blanket over common sense ?
Yes, it does.
Then why did she write the response in such an adversarial and defensive way? I agree that many people would like to learn new things, and are happy to do so when it will benefit them in their job (or in this case, for the benefit of the students). This 'teacher' doesn't strike me as one of those types.
I guess the overall better solution would have been to open up a line of communication, but when you have someone calling you a thief and a liar, it's kind of difficult to have a diplomatic response.
Perhaps the reason FOSS advocates tend to be terse in their responses is that they're sick of a huge majority of people pissing on what they're basically doing free of charge, on their own time. I speak from experience with this; dealing with such willfully ignorant people tends to wear you down after a while.
And sometimes you can't win people over at all, no matter what you say (or how you say it). They've decided to be willfully ignorant, and nothing you do can change that.