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User: Screwtape

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  1. Re:One word: VirtualPC! on No EFI Support for Vista · · Score: 1

    I don't think you're right - firstly, I'm pretty sure Microsoft bought out Virtual PC so they'd have a product to compete with VMWare in the server-space, and to a lesser extent on PC workstations - the Mac market would be nigh-insignificant. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that VirtualPC does full x86-emulation even on Windows - what you're talking about is 'virtualisation', and I believe VMWare has that particular technology entirely tied up in patents.

  2. Re:The new reaches of minaturization on Video with Depth · · Score: 1

    Just amazing how DV cameras just keep getting smaller and smaller. I think I'll pick up that ZCAM, and get the optional belt case, so it's with me everywhere I go :-)

    The "video-camera-in-a-match-head" phenomenon is pretty much exclusive to consumer gear. A good professional video camera should be at least two feet long. :)

    I assume "keying" is what we dumb consumers typically know as "blue screening" or "green screening"

    No, what you know as "blue screening" is technically known as "system crash". :)

    The real technical terms are "Chroma-key" (make pixels with a certain colour transparent) and "Luma-key" (make pixels with a certain brightness transparent) Most guy-in-front-of-unusual-situation stuff (like, say, a weatherman) is done with chromakey.

  3. UWM? on Interview With Tom LaStrange (The T In twm) · · Score: 4

    There's something uglier than twm? I'd hardly credit it.

    Doing a quick google search, I turned up the Unix Desktop Environment's window manager, which looks rather nice, but hunting a bit more I found the uwm source code at, surprise surprise, the PLiG window manager page.

    Unfortunately it doesn't compile immediately here on RedHat 6.0, (conflicting definitions of wchar_t in glibc and XFree86, of all things), so I can't post screenshots. If someone *does* manage to get it to compile and work (any experts on porting from X10 here?) why not post a reply and keep us all informed? :)

  4. Beware SVG... on 3D Computer Network Maps · · Score: 2

    Note that a lot of the graphs seem to be drawn with SVG, so you'll need an SVG-capable browser (other comments suggest IE5 should work, Mozilla with SVG compiled in (i.e. not a nightly or milestone build) should too), or an SVG plugin (Mozilla prompted me to download an SVG plugin, that's how I know).

    If anyone knows of a suitable SVG plugin (for Linux x86) so I can keep using my Mozilla nightlies, I'd appreciate it. :)

  5. I don't get it.. on Analysis of Amiga Virtual Processor ASM · · Score: 1

    They've invented a language with high-level loop constructs, an unlimited number of int, long int, float, double and pointer registers, that can use external "library" functions and include extra code for reuse.. and it's translated once into native code for your architecture, and runs compiled after that!

    Is it just me, or does this sound an awful lot like C? What does this give me that C does not?

  6. Re:Size? on Netscape 6, PR 3 Released · · Score: 3

    I was under the assumption ... one of the goals of the mozilla project was to reduce the size of the code



    Well, they sort of have and sort of haven't. For starters, Netscape 4 is about 12-15MB IIRC, and a Mozilla nightlies are about 8-10MB. The Mozilla tarballs contain at least two entirely seperate skins, and Netscape 4 doesn't even have one (it lets Motif do most of the drawing, while Mozilla Does It All Itself). So that's a chunk of stuff Mozilla includes and Netscape doesn't, so chop that off the Moz filesize.



    Next, remember that Netscape 4 on all three platforms is ported from one platform to another - only the very core code stays the same and the rest (GUI, networking, and so forth) is provided by the platform. Mozilla is designed to be as portable as possible, and so abstracts away as much of the underlying OS as possible so almost all of Moz is cross-platform code. This is more functionality that you won't find in Netscape 4, so for comparison, chop another hunk off the Mozilla filesize.



    After taking into account the (sizable) extra functionality that Mozilla has over Netscape, Mozilla *is* a lot smaller. But really, it's shifted the bulk of code, rather than removing it, so you can make up your own mind.



    Personally, I don't mind - from what I've heard of Netscape's current situation, they've only resources to write their browser once, not three times, so it's a choice between extreme crossplatform-ness or Mozilla being Windows-only... I'm glad I've got Mozilla for Linux at all.



  7. Re:Not GPL and not really open on Open Source Release Of Bell Labs' Plan 9 · · Score: 1

    I've heard enough about Plan 9 to be very interested, and have contemplated finding an old box somewhere to install it on, but this worries me. What is "Spin", and why would I find it necessary or at least useful? What other Fun Things would be missing from the distribution?

  8. Re:Have you tried w3m? on Linux Web Browsers Reviewed · · Score: 1

    Another browser is set to do to w3m what w3m did to lynx - it's called "links" and it's available on Freshmeat. Really you have to see it in action.

    The only thing I miss in links is (a) http authentication (coming soon, I guess) and (b) w3m-like navigation.. but oh well, can't have it all..

  9. Re:What's with the moderation? on XFree86 Release Update: 4.0 in Q12000 · · Score: 1

    Requests for some kind of DirectDraw-like direct graphics architecture *are* trolls, because the Direct Graphics Architecture (or DGA) has been in XFree86 for quite a while now.

  10. Got a reply.. on Doom Source Now Under GPL · · Score: 1

    Well, Linguica says he got an email direct from JC himself. It still seems odd that he'd email instead of .planning, but that's not really my buisness.

  11. Grumble grumble timing grumble on Doom Source Now Under GPL · · Score: 1

    OK, this might be a little sour-grapes, since I also submitted this and was rejected, but if you look at the DoomWorld page, there's no actual citation for JC's words. I checked out his .plan, it hasn't been updated since the first. I don't know where else they would have gotten the info. Maybe John had mailed them, but why them particularly? Why not tell everyone else?

    I've mailed the guy who posted the news (Linguica) for clarification - I just hope it is true after all.

  12. Hello... deja vu? on DeForest Kelley's dead, Jim. · · Score: 1

    This announcement stuns me even more than it does most people here, I think.

    I heard that DeForrest Kelley died on the same day as Princess Diana.. there's something *completely* weird here, is it me?

  13. It's not *that* much of a change, folks. on X11AMP changes name to XMMS and gets sponsored · · Score: 1

    I agree, (and am slightly worried) that X11Amp might be manipulated to be a "killer app" for OSS, to the exclusion of ALSA, but this funding thing isn't necessarily a New thing - for as long as I can remember, x11amp has had an OSS banner ad on their site. Not a rotating ad including an OSS ad, a static OSS ad.

    It may be that this new development is just a codification of a previous agreement.

    Regardless, the new name scares me. Hello? I got WinAMP for one reason - to play MP3s. The other formats were nice, but who wants music in .wav anymore? Did I ever see a TiMidity plugin to make MIDI bearable? Can't someone code up a S3M player like MOD4WIN that plays 'em *nice* instead of jusr porting MIDAS again? And the latest versions of WinAMP have a (*gasp*) browser, no doubt for "synchronised multimedia". Call me a luddite, but I just want something that plays MP3s and plays 'em well. (Nitrane is a hell of a decoder, wish the rest of the product was as good).

    I fear x11amp going down the same path. Yes, plugins are nice. Yes, configurability is nice. But if I wanted to play other formats, I'd just get a player for those. Please don't let bloat invade my favourite MP3 player..

    (P.S. Who'd be willing to pay the WinAMP registration fee (or some similar amount of money) for use of a Nitrane decoder module for x11amp?

  14. For those who don't see layers.. on Quest for Cases Continues · · Score: 1

    The brain-dead javascript checks for Netscape 4.0, so 4.5 doesn't get through. To go direct to the CSS-enabled page, with all its annoyances, click here