I try to run my Windows software that I need under Crossover Office (commercial version of WINE). Check it out, they give it out for a free test drive and its a breeze to install.
True, that is why the word needs to get out. I would not be surprised if Ubuntu goes mainstream, decides to offer an IPO and just prior starts running some commercials similar to those new Mac comercials (which are kinda funny). Then when people go to buy their new Dell for $499 and have to pay $200 for the new Windows Vista, they might say hey, what about the free Ubuntu thing?
A pipe dream, I know, but weirder things have happened!
ATI Mobility 7500 Graphics Card
Just could not get the DRI drivers to work right under Breezy 5.10, until about a month ago when Breezy released an Xorg update, then things went smoothly. Under Dapper things are even better, woooo hooo!
Wi-Fi
Wireless and wired networking was flaky. Was constantly dropping to a term session to restart or reconfigure networking. The manual setup for WPA access points sucked. All is forgiven in Dapper, since the new network manager rocks! Sound
Could not get Breezy to record sound from my line-in at all. This sucked. Haven't tried this yet on Dapper DVD
Playing DVDs was a bitch to figure out way back when (when I was a real newbie). Ripping DVDs on the other hand still sucks. DVD rip is cool, but combining ripped tracks into one new DVD title then burning back to a disc just doesn't work under linux. DVDAuthor is the best thing I have seen, but it doesn't work and is a pain to use, even the GUI for it, QDVDAuthor, sucks. Windows Programs
I have several applications in Windows that I just need to run. I bought Crossover Office from codeweavers and this gets me several programs that I need, but falls short. Granted, this is a bit outside the scope, but it gets honorable mention. Automount
Settings in my fstab file just get ignored. I have a FAT32 partition that I use to share crap between my Windows NTFS boot and my Linux boot. I added all the appropriate settings to fstab, but Gnome (or whoever) still mounts the FAT32 partition as read-only even though I commanded it to allow user mounts and RW mode. Installing Any Application From Source
Since many applications out there only exist in source code (i.e. no.deb package) I end up trying to build and install the source code. This rarely "just works". This is the biggest pain in the ass. I am a software engineer and am quite familar with makefiles and compilers, etc. But sometimes after a long day of solving problems I just want to come home and not have a fight with my Linux box. There are several software apps that looked cool as a moose, but I couldn't get them to build and install from source.
It is also worth mentioning that I started reacquainting myself with Linux about a year or so ago after abandoning Red Hat in the late 90's. Back in the 90's Linux was a real pain in the ass, hell getting my printer to do anyting back then before CUPS was like brain surgery... So I still have the stigma here and there. I have said this before, and I will say it again. Linux is today what Windows 95/98 was back when it came out, that is, for the most part things work, but every now and then you have to fight with something in a terminal window. I think the next 5 years will bring Linux to level that makes Windows look like a costly alternative to Linux, rahter than the view of Linux as a free alternative to Windows.
Disenchanted and those who do not want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a crappy OS. For work I needed to by a copy of XP Pro because of a compiler and other tools that were old and wouldn't run under Linux (using Crossover/Wine). I shuttered when I paid $78 for XP Pro and kept saying "it's a tax deduction" to justify it.
For most people however, using their email and word processing, photo software, digital cameras, multimedia CD/DVD burning is all they need an Ubuntu works. There is a lot of DVD and CD burning software out there. I just installed Nero for Linux and it's great! The only thing really missing is a good DVD authoring program. QDVD author tries to put a GUI front-end on DVD author, but it sucks.
The next step for Ubuntu is to get application developers to crank out some decent multimedia software packages. At that point I can't see why any "normal" user would want to use Windows.
OK, we got the post of "almost" released, and I was waiting for the "released" post!
Anyway, I moved to the 6.06 RC from Breezy 5.10 and it was smooth. My laptop is loving the new Network Manager and updated Xorg with Gnome 2.0. It is a very nice package. I think Ubuntu will be on the forefront of competitive alternative OS's to Windows, especially if Vista keeps slipping!
Form the post and other people's comments you would think that the White's were just playing with a store bought chemistry set... Hardly! What they were doing, albeit not neccessarily wrong, goes above recreational chemistry. They were selling chemicals and all sorts of other crap, apparently illegally, since they were ultimately charged with "shipping restricted chemicals across state lines".
Bottom line: They should have known better, they were operating a hap-hazard lab and supply store without even knowing what rules and regulations were and got busted. Plain and simple. They should have known something like this was going to happen, especially given our itchy trigger finger g-men out there!
I am a Vonage customer and was solicited to buy their IPO. The website they used to signup was very informative, and after reading all the risks with their IPO and disclosure of their finances I would have to say that anyone who signed up should have known what a serious gamble they were taking. Shame on them for even thinking about not paying up, shame on Vonage for not collecting the money first!
I wonder what the ebay seller's feedback rating was/is?
Buyer should have emailed the seller prior to the purchase with any questions about the laptop, especially "does it really work or has it had any problems in the past?" This way you have a record so that you can go after him through ebay. From the here-say article, the buyer never asked for a refund, just went out and shamed the seller, so if that's true there is obviously an alteror motive.
with respect to: The uncertainty on the part of the police may stem from the fact ThePirateBay.org's servers only host.torrent files, not actual copyrighted material.
I find it hard to beleive that copyright law will cover this. I wonder what USA law states, and I wonder if our laws can't prosecute anyone and that is why torrent file sharing is relatively untouched. It is almost like trying to prosecute the gun makers for criminals using guns, wait a minute we already did that!
Whats really frustrating is getting people from Group 1 that know why buggy software is delivered to customers, but start to accept this as normal practice. This especially hurts in the aerospace industry when we get crossover managers and software developers from Group 1 that can't understand why we don't release buggy software intentionally and spend a lot of time dealing with their crappy code or improper schedules because they think software verification is a luxury item that is unnecessary.
I guess I will state the obvious:
This DRM crap seems to be nothing more than a ploy to make people more money or lock consumers into one product and prevent choice and competition. If mp3's can be sold and distributed in a legal way, why would someone (like Apple, et. al.), develop a DRM scheme that only works for them... Answer sounds simple, to lock you in to their product so that you only biy Apple this Apple that.
Lets face it, any DRM encoded file that someone mistakenly downloaded will be stripped and copied to whatever they want. I don't redistribute the files, I just like being able to put the darn music on whatever player I have. I understand the need of protecting the artists, but this DRM crap is fascist bull.
I think hell just froze over... This article is a load of crap. In reality, we need both models. Ying and yang if you will. There are always going to be half the people, like my mom, who want an end-to-end product that just comes out of the box and does what it is supposed to and is locked down to the point where she can't tweak (i.e break) it. Then there are people like me, and probably everyone else here on/. that want something they can build, break, upgrade, choose, etc. 2 worlds, peacefully co-existing. PC era is not dead, if anything there is bound to be more life as technology advances, say fiber-optic bus, integrated hd-tv tuners, 3D monitors, VR headsets, etc.
That is the response you will get from the majority of people doing web pages. Aside from the professionally developed commercial web developers, lets be honest.... About 1/3 of my neighbors have their own website. And their response would be just as it is in the subject. I think the majority of people just use Yahoo pagebuilder, or Dreamweaver, then are amazed when the first page with "My Dog Skip" comes up in the browser.
If you give a gun to a monkey, and the monkey shoots himself, who's fault is it?
So, just because the capability exists to record music from the live stream makes XM liable? That is stupid. Why doesn't the RIAA go after the people recording the music, like they did with users of Kazaa?
Come on now.. I see java all over the web, so I guess the answer to who cares would be a lot! Even in this here Slashdot page, I see the java tag used all over the source code for this page.
Lightning is already a big problem with aircraft, if anything, wireless subsystems could actually help keep the plane in the air. Right now, with all the copper connections a lightning strike can easily kill all the systems and fry all the fly-by-wire connections. If everything was wireless, the strike can potentially be isolated, which would mean less systems failing.
I am sure the use of Bluetooth was just a prototype to get things working and I am sure that if this were to make it mainstream, and past the FAA there would have to be some sort of Digital Spread Spectrum technology used. Even better, add encryption and digital watermarks to the mix and you got yourself a secure and reliable signal that could survive in an aerospace application.
..and will I be compensated..
If you are good enough, then yes, as the article points out:
"One of the Russians, Petr Mitrichev, 21, won, taking home $20,000 for his efforts"
So, is all this more evidence of a sad decline in American education and competitiveness?
Hardly! How about that all the top American programmers are tied down actually doing programming rather than spending time at some pissing match to prove their "the best".
I understand where these contests come from, I was in one once, in highschool...
One thing I would like to point out, I don't consider myself a programmer, I consider myself a software engineer, and there is more to my job then just programming, and any professional worth a damn in the IT industry will tell you that.
I wouldn't so much say we're a dying breed... Rather, I would say that the numbers of people that do their own Kernel building is growing, but the number of people that just buy a distro and install and "hope everything just works" is growing much much faster, which can be viewed as a good thing, since the more people that use Linux will cause commercial Vendors to take note and support Linux more readily. Although, I will miss being that nerdy guy who doesn't run Windows...
I am not sure I know where I was going with that either... Complacency is a better word. Being complacent in my OS choice is something I avoid, only because I am nerdy I guess. So I have multiple OS's running with 2 basics Windows, which my wife uses and I dual boot to when I need to for Work, and my other Linux box, which I run Ubuntu on. I have a test machine that I run other Windows distros on, or just other Desktop Managers on, just to see if one or another Distro is "better".
I have worked with many Windows users that think "everything else sucks", so I guess that is where my elitist comment comes from. Several of these people I have converted, or at least gotten to admit they like my Linux laptop.
I will let you know how the latest Network Manager runs. Here is a decent thread on WPA for Ubuntu. I have the IPW2200 and I did not need to rebuild the latest drivers and what not...
I am a bit dumbfounded on why Wi-Fi and WPA is so unmanageable, but I am hoping the latest Network Manager "just works".
Slashdot Mirror
I try to run my Windows software that I need under Crossover Office (commercial version of WINE). Check it out, they give it out for a free test drive and its a breeze to install.
True, that is why the word needs to get out. I would not be surprised if Ubuntu goes mainstream, decides to offer an IPO and just prior starts running some commercials similar to those new Mac comercials (which are kinda funny). Then when people go to buy their new Dell for $499 and have to pay $200 for the new Windows Vista, they might say hey, what about the free Ubuntu thing?
A pipe dream, I know, but weirder things have happened!
ATI Mobility 7500 Graphics Card
.deb package) I end up trying to build and install the source code. This rarely "just works". This is the biggest pain in the ass. I am a software engineer and am quite familar with makefiles and compilers, etc. But sometimes after a long day of solving problems I just want to come home and not have a fight with my Linux box. There are several software apps that looked cool as a moose, but I couldn't get them to build and install from source.
Just could not get the DRI drivers to work right under Breezy 5.10, until about a month ago when Breezy released an Xorg update, then things went smoothly. Under Dapper things are even better, woooo hooo!
Wi-Fi
Wireless and wired networking was flaky. Was constantly dropping to a term session to restart or reconfigure networking. The manual setup for WPA access points sucked. All is forgiven in Dapper, since the new network manager rocks!
Sound
Could not get Breezy to record sound from my line-in at all. This sucked. Haven't tried this yet on Dapper
DVD
Playing DVDs was a bitch to figure out way back when (when I was a real newbie). Ripping DVDs on the other hand still sucks. DVD rip is cool, but combining ripped tracks into one new DVD title then burning back to a disc just doesn't work under linux. DVDAuthor is the best thing I have seen, but it doesn't work and is a pain to use, even the GUI for it, QDVDAuthor, sucks.
Windows Programs
I have several applications in Windows that I just need to run. I bought Crossover Office from codeweavers and this gets me several programs that I need, but falls short. Granted, this is a bit outside the scope, but it gets honorable mention.
Automount
Settings in my fstab file just get ignored. I have a FAT32 partition that I use to share crap between my Windows NTFS boot and my Linux boot. I added all the appropriate settings to fstab, but Gnome (or whoever) still mounts the FAT32 partition as read-only even though I commanded it to allow user mounts and RW mode.
Installing Any Application From Source
Since many applications out there only exist in source code (i.e. no
It is also worth mentioning that I started reacquainting myself with Linux about a year or so ago after abandoning Red Hat in the late 90's. Back in the 90's Linux was a real pain in the ass, hell getting my printer to do anyting back then before CUPS was like brain surgery... So I still have the stigma here and there. I have said this before, and I will say it again. Linux is today what Windows 95/98 was back when it came out, that is, for the most part things work, but every now and then you have to fight with something in a terminal window. I think the next 5 years will bring Linux to level that makes Windows look like a costly alternative to Linux, rahter than the view of Linux as a free alternative to Windows.
That is why I installed the 6.06 RC a few days ago! It screamed! Install was done in 45 minutes flat, including download time! LOVE broadband!
Disenchanted and those who do not want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a crappy OS. For work I needed to by a copy of XP Pro because of a compiler and other tools that were old and wouldn't run under Linux (using Crossover/Wine). I shuttered when I paid $78 for XP Pro and kept saying "it's a tax deduction" to justify it.
For most people however, using their email and word processing, photo software, digital cameras, multimedia CD/DVD burning is all they need an Ubuntu works. There is a lot of DVD and CD burning software out there. I just installed Nero for Linux and it's great! The only thing really missing is a good DVD authoring program. QDVD author tries to put a GUI front-end on DVD author, but it sucks.
The next step for Ubuntu is to get application developers to crank out some decent multimedia software packages. At that point I can't see why any "normal" user would want to use Windows.
It should go pretty smoothly! I was actually impressed, since Linux and "smoothly" are not used in the same sentence very often, that is, until now!
OK, we got the post of "almost" released, and I was waiting for the "released" post!
Anyway, I moved to the 6.06 RC from Breezy 5.10 and it was smooth. My laptop is loving the new Network Manager and updated Xorg with Gnome 2.0. It is a very nice package. I think Ubuntu will be on the forefront of competitive alternative OS's to Windows, especially if Vista keeps slipping!
Form the post and other people's comments you would think that the White's were just playing with a store bought chemistry set... Hardly! What they were doing, albeit not neccessarily wrong, goes above recreational chemistry. They were selling chemicals and all sorts of other crap, apparently illegally, since they were ultimately charged with "shipping restricted chemicals across state lines".
Bottom line: They should have known better, they were operating a hap-hazard lab and supply store without even knowing what rules and regulations were and got busted. Plain and simple. They should have known something like this was going to happen, especially given our itchy trigger finger g-men out there!
I am a Vonage customer and was solicited to buy their IPO. The website they used to signup was very informative, and after reading all the risks with their IPO and disclosure of their finances I would have to say that anyone who signed up should have known what a serious gamble they were taking. Shame on them for even thinking about not paying up, shame on Vonage for not collecting the money first!
I wonder what the ebay seller's feedback rating was/is?
Buyer should have emailed the seller prior to the purchase with any questions about the laptop, especially "does it really work or has it had any problems in the past?" This way you have a record so that you can go after him through ebay. From the here-say article, the buyer never asked for a refund, just went out and shamed the seller, so if that's true there is obviously an alteror motive.
with respect to: .torrent files, not actual copyrighted material.
The uncertainty on the part of the police may stem from the fact ThePirateBay.org's servers only host
I find it hard to beleive that copyright law will cover this. I wonder what USA law states, and I wonder if our laws can't prosecute anyone and that is why torrent file sharing is relatively untouched. It is almost like trying to prosecute the gun makers for criminals using guns, wait a minute we already did that!
Whats really frustrating is getting people from Group 1 that know why buggy software is delivered to customers, but start to accept this as normal practice. This especially hurts in the aerospace industry when we get crossover managers and software developers from Group 1 that can't understand why we don't release buggy software intentionally and spend a lot of time dealing with their crappy code or improper schedules because they think software verification is a luxury item that is unnecessary.
I guess I will state the obvious:
This DRM crap seems to be nothing more than a ploy to make people more money or lock consumers into one product and prevent choice and competition. If mp3's can be sold and distributed in a legal way, why would someone (like Apple, et. al.), develop a DRM scheme that only works for them... Answer sounds simple, to lock you in to their product so that you only biy Apple this Apple that.
Lets face it, any DRM encoded file that someone mistakenly downloaded will be stripped and copied to whatever they want. I don't redistribute the files, I just like being able to put the darn music on whatever player I have. I understand the need of protecting the artists, but this DRM crap is fascist bull.
I think hell just froze over... This article is a load of crap. In reality, we need both models. Ying and yang if you will. There are always going to be half the people, like my mom, who want an end-to-end product that just comes out of the box and does what it is supposed to and is locked down to the point where she can't tweak (i.e break) it. Then there are people like me, and probably everyone else here on /. that want something they can build, break, upgrade, choose, etc. 2 worlds, peacefully co-existing. PC era is not dead, if anything there is bound to be more life as technology advances, say fiber-optic bus, integrated hd-tv tuners, 3D monitors, VR headsets, etc.
That is the response you will get from the majority of people doing web pages. Aside from the professionally developed commercial web developers, lets be honest.... About 1/3 of my neighbors have their own website. And their response would be just as it is in the subject. I think the majority of people just use Yahoo pagebuilder, or Dreamweaver, then are amazed when the first page with "My Dog Skip" comes up in the browser.
If you give a gun to a monkey, and the monkey shoots himself, who's fault is it?
So, just because the capability exists to record music from the live stream makes XM liable? That is stupid. Why doesn't the RIAA go after the people recording the music, like they did with users of Kazaa?
Come on now.. I see java all over the web, so I guess the answer to who cares would be a lot! Even in this here Slashdot page, I see the java tag used all over the source code for this page.
Lightning is already a big problem with aircraft, if anything, wireless subsystems could actually help keep the plane in the air. Right now, with all the copper connections a lightning strike can easily kill all the systems and fry all the fly-by-wire connections. If everything was wireless, the strike can potentially be isolated, which would mean less systems failing.
I am sure the use of Bluetooth was just a prototype to get things working and I am sure that if this were to make it mainstream, and past the FAA there would have to be some sort of Digital Spread Spectrum technology used. Even better, add encryption and digital watermarks to the mix and you got yourself a secure and reliable signal that could survive in an aerospace application.
..and will I be compensated ..
If you are good enough, then yes, as the article points out:
"One of the Russians, Petr Mitrichev, 21, won, taking home $20,000 for his efforts"
So, is all this more evidence of a sad decline in American education and competitiveness?
Hardly! How about that all the top American programmers are tied down actually doing programming rather than spending time at some pissing match to prove their "the best".
I understand where these contests come from, I was in one once, in highschool...
One thing I would like to point out, I don't consider myself a programmer, I consider myself a software engineer, and there is more to my job then just programming, and any professional worth a damn in the IT industry will tell you that.
I wouldn't so much say we're a dying breed... Rather, I would say that the numbers of people that do their own Kernel building is growing, but the number of people that just buy a distro and install and "hope everything just works" is growing much much faster, which can be viewed as a good thing, since the more people that use Linux will cause commercial Vendors to take note and support Linux more readily. Although, I will miss being that nerdy guy who doesn't run Windows...
I am not sure I know where I was going with that either... Complacency is a better word. Being complacent in my OS choice is something I avoid, only because I am nerdy I guess. So I have multiple OS's running with 2 basics Windows, which my wife uses and I dual boot to when I need to for Work, and my other Linux box, which I run Ubuntu on. I have a test machine that I run other Windows distros on, or just other Desktop Managers on, just to see if one or another Distro is "better".
I have worked with many Windows users that think "everything else sucks", so I guess that is where my elitist comment comes from. Several of these people I have converted, or at least gotten to admit they like my Linux laptop.
Add to the list of things needed:
:)
* Better video card driver support.
This way those cool games will run
I will let you know how the latest Network Manager runs. Here is a decent thread on WPA for Ubuntu. I have the IPW2200 and I did not need to rebuild the latest drivers and what not...
I am a bit dumbfounded on why Wi-Fi and WPA is so unmanageable, but I am hoping the latest Network Manager "just works".