Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to buy an Apple and not have the Apple-chip installed into your brain. I'm living proof. I have a Mac mini which I bought as a family computer for a number of reasons; I wanted a good, usable OS, I couldn't get good CUPS/SANE support for my printer/scanner on Linux, and I wanted the iLife suite to make videos of the pups. The form factor is beautiful, and it's quiet - working within Mrs. Otter's ban on loud, whirring machines in the family room. It wasn't an impulse purchase by any stretch of the imagination (I weighed the decision for about a year). So I've got a Mac - and if that Mac goes, I'd replace it with another because I want those features.
That being said, I run a Slackware server, I have an Ubuntu desktop in my study. I run Kubuntu at work (a non-supported OS). I've even got a Windows machine, thought it stays powered down for months at a time except when I want to check something. I'm planning on a laptop purchase...a Dell with Ubuntu if they can get it together in Canada.
I can get the same specs as a souped up powerbook for about a grand less at Dell. Grandpa Otter's MacBook started flaking out recently, and I'd service the thing if it wasn't Fort Knox to get in. I know what Apple's strengths are, and I know what their weaknesses are, and I've not bought into a cult because they build stuff that does what I want. iLife is a good suite, but iMovie can be kinda unstable. Front Row is cool, but the interface is a bit sparse, and can be unwieldy if you have a lot of media (I do). The price of their computers is very high, and they tend to lag behind in terms of hardware specs. You can't really customize (you can only upgrade), and nothing ever goes on sale. The design of the machines are beautiful. An extra $150 to have it black??? The fact that they try and keep you out of them is very frustrating to a hobbyist like me. OSX is a good OS that's easy to use. I can't believe it's taking them until Leopard to get multiple friggin' desktops. Everything "just works" on a Mac...yeah, except the new headset I bought because the audio-in jack won't work with an unpowered microphone.
See? Apple computer, no Apple chip in the head. It is possible.
I'm a Handbrake user as well. I haven't seen an easier application to use in terms of ripping and encoding -- although the DVD manufacturers (esp. Sony) are starting to catch up with it, and Handbrake is trying not to be shut down. Still, All my movies and TV shows are archived onto my file-server in the basement, and served up through my Mac mini, using FrontRow.
I almost never watch a DVD live any more, and my player is starting to go on the fritz - not sure I'll bother replacing it.
This is kind of confusing to me that the excluded the 'Slackware crowd's preferences. If there exist Linux distros that the 'Slackware crowd' prefers (not rhetorical - I really am not aware of Linux user preferences), then isn't there scope for improving the user interface of these distros to make them more accessible to the common user and trump Ubuntu?
Being an Ubuntu user who is also part of the "Slackware crowd" (you insensitive clod!), I think there's also a danger in running too far with the notion that a particular distro suits a particular number of users. I am but one user with multiple tasks to perform; I don't have requirements - my tasks do. I use Slackware on my servers, because I have evaluated it to be the best tool for the jobs I need the platform to do. I use Ubuntu on my desktop workstations because I think it is the best tool for those jobs.
I understand the need for simplification when doing an article like this, and maybe that's why the author just wanted to start by moving pains-in-the-ass like me off the table and stick with ye-average-joes who have perhaps one PC that they use. It drastically limits the complexity of the issue; but it inexorably limits the relevance of the article at the same time.
When waiting in line at a movie theater, ask people.
When in line at the supermarket, ask people.
When waiting to pick up your kids at daycare, strike up a conversation about computers with the other parents, and find out what they use. Or ask other parents at the next PTA meeting.
Ask others at your church or coven.
Good god, man! Are you serious? The Linux community isn't silent about anything. Novell has experienced a backlash, and the CEO had to go so far as to address it publicly. That's not insignificant, in my mind.
Now i am really getting worried about my submitted code as GPL. Is this just me or something is really cooking up at Redmond?
I'm struggling with that, too. Trying to figure out how serious a concern this is. My one solace at the moment is that what we've really got is Microsoft managing to rope Novell, and then two bit players in the game. Xandros and Linspire? Microsoft isn't exactly taking down the titans of the Linux world.
They did get Novell, and I agree that's not small potatoes - but the general opinion really seems to be that as well as getting hosed, Novell also got conned by the boys from Redmond. In the fallout - RedHat specifically rebuffed Microsoft's public offer.
Many people have compared this to the SCO fud-fest that got going - and that actually seems to be a more apt analogy the further we go. A couple of small-frys have caved in -- in their own defence, they're not equipped for a battle with Microsoft, and we must assume these are businessmen and not fanboys.
I expect Microsoft will continue to pick off the small distros, trying to build some PR momentum before training their guns on the larger players in the Linux industry. Not dissimilar to SCO's approach.
What happens then, is what tells us what's really going on here...
I look forward to Microsoft's statement on Friday about how great it is that companies like Linspire are recognizing the need to properly licence Microsoft patents and blah, blah, blah...
Followed, on Monday, I guess, by a statement from Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony that they never admitted to infringing on Microsoft patents and that they never talked about it, and that Linspire infringes on no one's patents, and, and, and...
"We did not discuss patents [with Microsoft] and we don't think Linux violates any patents and we were not asked about it," Typaldos said. "It is a non-issue for us."
...then...
"Linux says it does not infringe on patents, Microsoft say otherwise. But customers say let me buy some insurance because if there are any flying sparks I don't want to be caught in the middle of that."
Typaldos says that was the genesis of Monday's deal with Microsoft that covered interoperability and IP licensing and included "covenants" to protect customers using Xandros software from any potential patent-infringement claims from Microsoft.
If Microsoft is running around shrieking about patents, and if your customers are demanding you do something because they are feeling vulnerable about patents, and then you strike a deal on that very issue - but don't talk about patents, then you don't know what the hell you're doing.
This chicanery hasn't yet hit a distro that I use, but it's a trend that really should stop.
It actually comes down to being about free will. The whole point of the story is to point out that humans are not fighting against good and evil, but either choosing God's path or not choosing our own path. It was suppossed to be a choice, and God does not punish us for not choosing him, its that without him we make decisions that hurt each other and ourselves. That's the actual theology of it, for any of you who are interested.
I agree that you can approach it different ways; two of those ways being thematically and literally. As a thematic interpretation, I've got no problem with that take on it (even though I don't share those beliefs)...but we're talking about a group who has claimed to interpret it literally.
As a literal read; God created the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Everlasting Life (yup, two trees, kids!), and told Adam not to eat the fruit or they would die. The snake told Eve that was BS and that God didn't want them to eat the fruit because they would become more like Him.
They ate it. God lied (having said the fruit would kill them), and the snake told the truth (they became more like God). God expelled them from the Garden of Eden (the implication in the text being that He didn't want them eating from the Tree of Everlasting Life) and cursed them to a hard life (that was their punishment).
That's what my Bible says; and I've never heard a creationist/literalist cop to that story.
So, thematically - a useful representation of why one should follow God's path. Literally - a cruel con job on two innocents by someone who owed them better.
I've gotta stop reading this thread. It's driving me nuts...
The thing I never understood was that the fruit was meant to give 'knowledge of good and evil,' allowing them to choose between good and evil. Before eating the fruit, they were only capable of good, and yet were naked. After eating the fruit, they were still naked, but now they realised being naked was 'evil,' and so they must have been doing 'evil' while they were only capable of 'good.'
Depends on how you look at it. I don't accept that the absence of evil results in good. My read on the story is that Adam and Eve were 100% amoral; no knowledge of good *or* evil.
By my read, then, it's not so much a contradiction as a trap. "Original sin" has always been an unfair shake by my count. God should've made the damn tree higher.
From the picture I've seen, there's no way to know if it was before or after she ate from the tree...so you can't really make that point. Also, She didn't make herself a skirt. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Yeah, but if you've read your Bible then you know it must've been after - since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden after eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Friggin' literalists can't even get the literal stuff correct...
Some will be pissed about this - there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Personally, I don't care if they put my name in the file.
I want DRM-free media. I've wanted it for a long time. I want to play my music where I want, how I want, on as many devices as I want. And the whole time I've wanted that - it's never been so I can give it away to people on the internet. No one who wants to pursue this as a way of doing business is going to believe any differently.
I love buying my music via downloads. I wish I could do that with movies (not the 320x240 video iPod stuff - I mean movies for my TV), but I run Linux, I have a non-iPod player, so I need platform-independent, DRM free media.
They want to put my name in it? Go ahead. I'm not putting it out in the wild - and with any properly run computer - accidental release shouldn't be likely either.
... that almost anyone clued in enough to decide that they want Ubuntu would be clued up enough to just buy the Windows version and install Ubuntu dual boot. Most linux users still have some use for windows and its lice to have it legally.
Well, tell ya what - I want Ubuntu, I want it on a laptop, and I think I'm clued up enough (been running linux for years; two Slackware servers and an Ubuntu desktop at home; I switched my work-machine from Windows to Ubuntu and then wrote a guide that nine other colleagues used to do the same).
I'm pretty confident that I've got the skills to buy the Windows machine from Dell, and switch it myself (though no, I wouldn't dual-boot, I have no use for Windows on it). I could probably find the right drivers for the GoofyCool wireless card, get the sleep function working, etc, etc, etc. As I said elsewhere, I've even got the money. So why don't I? To be honest, I really don't have the time. Married, kids, full-time job, plus other responsibilities. Something else would have to suffer - something that (and here I put my geek-card at risk) frankly, is more important than a new toy.
I don't want to shell out a grand or whatever and then have to spend time I don't have to turn the machine into what I actually needed in the first place. There is a time I would have, and would have relished the chance - but that time is long passed.
I'm a reasonably sophisticated Linux user, and even a Linux advocate - but in this case - I'm primarily a consumer with a need and the willingness to pay for it. The guy who offers to fulfill that need, gets the cash.
It's time to stop your moaning! And time to start your credit cards!!
Put your money where your mouth is:-)
I have money! It's right here!!!
*waves money*
But, I'm in Canada, you insensitive clods!
Seriously, I know this is starting to get pedantic, but any chance we could get a notebook with a WSXGA+ display? I have to use Eclipse, you see - and its monster real estate. I can be talked down to WXGA+.
It's an important point. One thing you see over and over again is "why can't I get flash to work with {firefox on windows | Linux}.
With youtube, flash not working utterly seamlessly is a deal breaker.
It's worth mentioning, I agree - and that the Clueless Newbie made mention of it is entirely valuable and worthwhile. I also happen to think she put it in the right perspective. The vendor of the product in question had not made a 64-bit version yet, and that she needed a resident geek to hunt that factoid out.
My mocking was reserved more for the notion that the entire essay should then be dismissed (a claim that they stopped reading) on that basis. Computer use is more than the OS, yes, but a review of the OS is not worthless on the basis of a vendor falling behind, and that she needed someone else to help her discover that.
With any OS, with many applications, sometimes you need to get some help or advice. That's not an unreasonable thing to do in a review. The need to edit config file would have resulted in an automatic fail. I think her point of view was entirely reasonable.
Is that even possible in Ubuntu? I've tried logging in as root before, and it doesn't work. I've only been able to do superuser commands using sudo.
Root doesn't have a password, so you can't do it "out of the box." You can set a root password - and then su to it. I imagine you could then log in to root from the login prompt - although I haven't actually tried that myself.
One would hope, though, that this remains in the purview of the clueful, but destructive, as opposed to the clueless. At least you could point out to the clueful why they're an idiot.
I stopped reading after this point. I hope the conclusion was something on the lines of "it works if you have a live-in geek". That's a cop out - saying you've got a problem but it was resolved by the fact that your partner is a technical expert.
Exactly! Until it can be used by someone without ever having to rely on outside assistance from someone more savvy, Linux remains an obvious step below such issueless competitors as Microsoft Windows (whose users are known the world over for their trouble-free operations and complete eschewing of support), and that caveat should be mentioned at every opportunity.
This is a good idea. Instead of alienating users, they can make them more familiar with the benefits of open-source while letting them keep the OS they know how to use.
Exactly. It's pretty much how I got Mrs. Otter switched over. She was reluctant to give up Windows due to its familiarity. Bit by bit, switched her to Firefox, OpenOffice, and Gaim - which covered the majority of what she used a PC for. The KDE switch came later - but the idea of switching wasn't as intimidating by then - I was able to promise her that all the applications would still be there.
It's not really the "open source" that sold her, though (although the notion of free-as-in-beer software bowls her over) - its the cross-platform aspect you gain with it that brings the idea of switching into a more comfortable space. Further evidenced when we got a Mac, and she still found all the same applications she had come to know.
"25 years ago, Commodore launched the best selling personal computer of the late 20th Century, the C64"
-- Bala Keilman, CEO for Commodore Gaming.
There's a CEO with vision for you. Best PC of the late 20th century. Would've been best all time except for getting pwned by the mid-16th century's "Conquistador 200."
Thank you. I've got a Mythtv box (linux) i've played with...
I might ask you about that some time, then.
I might try the mini for a front end too then. I've wondered if there was any way to stream, AND if you could do it over wireless.
You'll need more experienced paws than mine, I'm afraid. Never tried either - though I'm sure it's possible.
So, you have to manually copy the content off your linux box to the mini to get it to play if I understand you correctly? With the wired connection..how long average does that take per 30-60 min show?
No, you don't have to copy. But you do need to alias your iTunes Music to where your music is, and when new files are added to your media space, you need to re-sync the iTunes library with the file system (via an import). Front Row only works for the music through iTunes. I also told iTunes to keep its mitts out of re-organising my files, etc. For movies, I had considerably less trouble.
Thanx for the reply...
*tips hat*
Feel free to e-mail if you need more help. Alternatively; I've started a blog recently, and I plan to post some "How To" posts now and again. I can write one up and post if, if you're interested. Addresses for both above.
I'm curious...what is the minimum config. for a Mini, to get it to work very well with media content? I'm especially interested in what it takes for good performance as a dvr, with a hdtuner card...etc, without stuttering or skipping.
Unfortunately, I can't really answer that. My mini is purely a front end from a media standpoint - and even then, it's not tied to my TV or anything yet - all goes to the VGA. I had planned to build a myth system - and still may for recording purposes. Front Row on my mini was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.
For whatever it might be worth, I've got the 1.83 Core Duo model, with a gig of RAM. My media is actually all housed in my Slackware Linux box sitting in my basement (Athlon 650, 256 MB RAM), and transmitted over my base 100T LAN. The linux drive is shared via Samba - it's not streaming.
With that setup, I have few complaints. My only snag was to convince iTunes that the music on the remote drive was in the iTunes Library.
(Amusing side story: my first failures manifested by having Front Row tell me that I was not "authorized" to play that music. Seeing that message was Mrs. Otter's first encounter with DRM - and man, was she pissed.)
Ultimately, I had to alias the "iTunes Music" (I think) directory to point to my file server's/public/audio. A workable, if imperfect solution. I record some radio shows with my Linux machine that puts it in the right place on my media drive, but I'd have to "import" the file into iTunes to play it on Front Row. Front Row works mainly through the libraries of the iLife apps, not off your disk.
I've never heard skipping with the audio, nor have I seen/heard any with my movies (ripped with Handbrake at 90% quality - stored on the Linux media drive). No HDTV.
I agree that the Apple Remote is an elegant implementation for Front Row's music, photos, videos, and DVD functions. However, I cannot see how those six buttons can be adequate for controlling dvr and tv tuner functions.
Spot on. I have a Mac mini. Loves my mini. Loves Front Row. Loves my remote. But I have about 2,500 songs, 50 movies, and in excess of 5,000 photos all wired in.
Slashdot Mirror
Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to buy an Apple and not have the Apple-chip installed into your brain. I'm living proof. I have a Mac mini which I bought as a family computer for a number of reasons; I wanted a good, usable OS, I couldn't get good CUPS/SANE support for my printer/scanner on Linux, and I wanted the iLife suite to make videos of the pups. The form factor is beautiful, and it's quiet - working within Mrs. Otter's ban on loud, whirring machines in the family room. It wasn't an impulse purchase by any stretch of the imagination (I weighed the decision for about a year). So I've got a Mac - and if that Mac goes, I'd replace it with another because I want those features.
That being said, I run a Slackware server, I have an Ubuntu desktop in my study. I run Kubuntu at work (a non-supported OS). I've even got a Windows machine, thought it stays powered down for months at a time except when I want to check something. I'm planning on a laptop purchase...a Dell with Ubuntu if they can get it together in Canada.
I can get the same specs as a souped up powerbook for about a grand less at Dell. Grandpa Otter's MacBook started flaking out recently, and I'd service the thing if it wasn't Fort Knox to get in. I know what Apple's strengths are, and I know what their weaknesses are, and I've not bought into a cult because they build stuff that does what I want. iLife is a good suite, but iMovie can be kinda unstable. Front Row is cool, but the interface is a bit sparse, and can be unwieldy if you have a lot of media (I do). The price of their computers is very high, and they tend to lag behind in terms of hardware specs. You can't really customize (you can only upgrade), and nothing ever goes on sale. The design of the machines are beautiful. An extra $150 to have it black??? The fact that they try and keep you out of them is very frustrating to a hobbyist like me. OSX is a good OS that's easy to use. I can't believe it's taking them until Leopard to get multiple friggin' desktops. Everything "just works" on a Mac...yeah, except the new headset I bought because the audio-in jack won't work with an unpowered microphone.
See? Apple computer, no Apple chip in the head. It is possible.
You should think differently.
I'm a Handbrake user as well. I haven't seen an easier application to use in terms of ripping and encoding -- although the DVD manufacturers (esp. Sony) are starting to catch up with it, and Handbrake is trying not to be shut down. Still, All my movies and TV shows are archived onto my file-server in the basement, and served up through my Mac mini, using FrontRow.
I almost never watch a DVD live any more, and my player is starting to go on the fritz - not sure I'll bother replacing it.
This is kind of confusing to me that the excluded the 'Slackware crowd's preferences. If there exist Linux distros that the 'Slackware crowd' prefers (not rhetorical - I really am not aware of Linux user preferences), then isn't there scope for improving the user interface of these distros to make them more accessible to the common user and trump Ubuntu?
Being an Ubuntu user who is also part of the "Slackware crowd" (you insensitive clod!), I think there's also a danger in running too far with the notion that a particular distro suits a particular number of users. I am but one user with multiple tasks to perform; I don't have requirements - my tasks do. I use Slackware on my servers, because I have evaluated it to be the best tool for the jobs I need the platform to do. I use Ubuntu on my desktop workstations because I think it is the best tool for those jobs.
I understand the need for simplification when doing an article like this, and maybe that's why the author just wanted to start by moving pains-in-the-ass like me off the table and stick with ye-average-joes who have perhaps one PC that they use. It drastically limits the complexity of the issue; but it inexorably limits the relevance of the article at the same time.
Can't wait to see the results:
Why is Linux community silent on a whole?
Good god, man! Are you serious? The Linux community isn't silent about anything. Novell has experienced a backlash, and the CEO had to go so far as to address it publicly. That's not insignificant, in my mind.
Now i am really getting worried about my submitted code as GPL. Is this just me or something is really cooking up at Redmond?
I'm struggling with that, too. Trying to figure out how serious a concern this is. My one solace at the moment is that what we've really got is Microsoft managing to rope Novell, and then two bit players in the game. Xandros and Linspire? Microsoft isn't exactly taking down the titans of the Linux world.
They did get Novell, and I agree that's not small potatoes - but the general opinion really seems to be that as well as getting hosed, Novell also got conned by the boys from Redmond. In the fallout - RedHat specifically rebuffed Microsoft's public offer.
Many people have compared this to the SCO fud-fest that got going - and that actually seems to be a more apt analogy the further we go. A couple of small-frys have caved in -- in their own defence, they're not equipped for a battle with Microsoft, and we must assume these are businessmen and not fanboys.
I expect Microsoft will continue to pick off the small distros, trying to build some PR momentum before training their guns on the larger players in the Linux industry. Not dissimilar to SCO's approach.
What happens then, is what tells us what's really going on here...
I look forward to Microsoft's statement on Friday about how great it is that companies like Linspire are recognizing the need to properly licence Microsoft patents and blah, blah, blah...
Followed, on Monday, I guess, by a statement from Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony that they never admitted to infringing on Microsoft patents and that they never talked about it, and that Linspire infringes on no one's patents, and, and, and ...
This is non-news. Lets not get worked up into a frenzy over it.
You must be new here.
From TFA:
"We did not discuss patents [with Microsoft] and we don't think Linux violates any patents and we were not asked about it," Typaldos said. "It is a non-issue for us."
...then...
"Linux says it does not infringe on patents, Microsoft say otherwise. But customers say let me buy some insurance because if there are any flying sparks I don't want to be caught in the middle of that."
Typaldos says that was the genesis of Monday's deal with Microsoft that covered interoperability and IP licensing and included "covenants" to protect customers using Xandros software from any potential patent-infringement claims from Microsoft.
If Microsoft is running around shrieking about patents, and if your customers are demanding you do something because they are feeling vulnerable about patents, and then you strike a deal on that very issue - but don't talk about patents, then you don't know what the hell you're doing.
This chicanery hasn't yet hit a distro that I use, but it's a trend that really should stop.
It actually comes down to being about free will. The whole point of the story is to point out that humans are not fighting against good and evil, but either choosing God's path or not choosing our own path. It was suppossed to be a choice, and God does not punish us for not choosing him, its that without him we make decisions that hurt each other and ourselves. That's the actual theology of it, for any of you who are interested.
I agree that you can approach it different ways; two of those ways being thematically and literally. As a thematic interpretation, I've got no problem with that take on it (even though I don't share those beliefs)...but we're talking about a group who has claimed to interpret it literally.
As a literal read; God created the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Everlasting Life (yup, two trees, kids!), and told Adam not to eat the fruit or they would die. The snake told Eve that was BS and that God didn't want them to eat the fruit because they would become more like Him.
They ate it. God lied (having said the fruit would kill them), and the snake told the truth (they became more like God). God expelled them from the Garden of Eden (the implication in the text being that He didn't want them eating from the Tree of Everlasting Life) and cursed them to a hard life (that was their punishment).
That's what my Bible says; and I've never heard a creationist/literalist cop to that story.
So, thematically - a useful representation of why one should follow God's path. Literally - a cruel con job on two innocents by someone who owed them better.
I've gotta stop reading this thread. It's driving me nuts...
The thing I never understood was that the fruit was meant to give 'knowledge of good and evil,' allowing them to choose between good and evil. Before eating the fruit, they were only capable of good, and yet were naked. After eating the fruit, they were still naked, but now they realised being naked was 'evil,' and so they must have been doing 'evil' while they were only capable of 'good.'
Depends on how you look at it. I don't accept that the absence of evil results in good. My read on the story is that Adam and Eve were 100% amoral; no knowledge of good *or* evil.
By my read, then, it's not so much a contradiction as a trap. "Original sin" has always been an unfair shake by my count. God should've made the damn tree higher.
From the picture I've seen, there's no way to know if it was before or after she ate from the tree...so you can't really make that point. Also, She didn't make herself a skirt. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Yeah, but if you've read your Bible then you know it must've been after - since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden after eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Friggin' literalists can't even get the literal stuff correct...
Some will be pissed about this - there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Personally, I don't care if they put my name in the file.
I want DRM-free media. I've wanted it for a long time. I want to play my music where I want, how I want, on as many devices as I want. And the whole time I've wanted that - it's never been so I can give it away to people on the internet. No one who wants to pursue this as a way of doing business is going to believe any differently.
I love buying my music via downloads. I wish I could do that with movies (not the 320x240 video iPod stuff - I mean movies for my TV), but I run Linux, I have a non-iPod player, so I need platform-independent, DRM free media.
They want to put my name in it? Go ahead. I'm not putting it out in the wild - and with any properly run computer - accidental release shouldn't be likely either.
Well, tell ya what - I want Ubuntu, I want it on a laptop, and I think I'm clued up enough (been running linux for years; two Slackware servers and an Ubuntu desktop at home; I switched my work-machine from Windows to Ubuntu and then wrote a guide that nine other colleagues used to do the same).
I'm pretty confident that I've got the skills to buy the Windows machine from Dell, and switch it myself (though no, I wouldn't dual-boot, I have no use for Windows on it). I could probably find the right drivers for the GoofyCool wireless card, get the sleep function working, etc, etc, etc. As I said elsewhere, I've even got the money. So why don't I? To be honest, I really don't have the time. Married, kids, full-time job, plus other responsibilities. Something else would have to suffer - something that (and here I put my geek-card at risk) frankly, is more important than a new toy.
I don't want to shell out a grand or whatever and then have to spend time I don't have to turn the machine into what I actually needed in the first place. There is a time I would have, and would have relished the chance - but that time is long passed.
I'm a reasonably sophisticated Linux user, and even a Linux advocate - but in this case - I'm primarily a consumer with a need and the willingness to pay for it. The guy who offers to fulfill that need, gets the cash.
I dunno - still seems expensive.
*ducks*
It's time to stop your moaning! And time to start your credit cards!!
Put your money where your mouth is :-)
I have money! It's right here!!!
*waves money*
But, I'm in Canada, you insensitive clods!
Seriously, I know this is starting to get pedantic, but any chance we could get a notebook with a WSXGA+ display? I have to use Eclipse, you see - and its monster real estate. I can be talked down to WXGA+.
Please, Mr. Dell, sir.
It's an important point. One thing you see over and over again is "why can't I get flash to work with {firefox on windows | Linux}.
With youtube, flash not working utterly seamlessly is a deal breaker.
It's worth mentioning, I agree - and that the Clueless Newbie made mention of it is entirely valuable and worthwhile. I also happen to think she put it in the right perspective. The vendor of the product in question had not made a 64-bit version yet, and that she needed a resident geek to hunt that factoid out.
My mocking was reserved more for the notion that the entire essay should then be dismissed (a claim that they stopped reading) on that basis. Computer use is more than the OS, yes, but a review of the OS is not worthless on the basis of a vendor falling behind, and that she needed someone else to help her discover that.
With any OS, with many applications, sometimes you need to get some help or advice. That's not an unreasonable thing to do in a review. The need to edit config file would have resulted in an automatic fail. I think her point of view was entirely reasonable.
Is that even possible in Ubuntu? I've tried logging in as root before, and it doesn't work. I've only been able to do superuser commands using sudo.
Root doesn't have a password, so you can't do it "out of the box." You can set a root password - and then su to it. I imagine you could then log in to root from the login prompt - although I haven't actually tried that myself.
One would hope, though, that this remains in the purview of the clueful, but destructive, as opposed to the clueless. At least you could point out to the clueful why they're an idiot.
I stopped reading after this point. I hope the conclusion was something on the lines of "it works if you have a live-in geek". That's a cop out - saying you've got a problem but it was resolved by the fact that your partner is a technical expert.
Exactly! Until it can be used by someone without ever having to rely on outside assistance from someone more savvy, Linux remains an obvious step below such issueless competitors as Microsoft Windows (whose users are known the world over for their trouble-free operations and complete eschewing of support), and that caveat should be mentioned at every opportunity.
Ok, if I can't find out what records they are keeping about me, but legal adversaries can, someone please sue me and then subpeona them for me.
Try downloading some music - I hear that works pretty good.
This is a good idea. Instead of alienating users, they can make them more familiar with the benefits of open-source while letting them keep the OS they know how to use.
Exactly. It's pretty much how I got Mrs. Otter switched over. She was reluctant to give up Windows due to its familiarity. Bit by bit, switched her to Firefox, OpenOffice, and Gaim - which covered the majority of what she used a PC for. The KDE switch came later - but the idea of switching wasn't as intimidating by then - I was able to promise her that all the applications would still be there.
It's not really the "open source" that sold her, though (although the notion of free-as-in-beer software bowls her over) - its the cross-platform aspect you gain with it that brings the idea of switching into a more comfortable space. Further evidenced when we got a Mac, and she still found all the same applications she had come to know.
Either:
They'll settle, and millions of companies will line up to sue Google.
or....
Google will do an IBM/SCO on their ass and bankrupt them.
Missing option. ;>
This is a negotiation tactic being used to drive licensing talks that are going on behind the scene. My money's on that one.
-- Bala Keilman, CEO for Commodore Gaming.
There's a CEO with vision for you. Best PC of the late 20th century. Would've been best all time except for getting pwned by the mid-16th century's "Conquistador 200."
Thank you. I've got a Mythtv box (linux) i've played with...
I might ask you about that some time, then.
I might try the mini for a front end too then. I've wondered if there was any way to stream, AND if you could do it over wireless.
You'll need more experienced paws than mine, I'm afraid. Never tried either - though I'm sure it's possible.
So, you have to manually copy the content off your linux box to the mini to get it to play if I understand you correctly? With the wired connection..how long average does that take per 30-60 min show?
No, you don't have to copy. But you do need to alias your iTunes Music to where your music is, and when new files are added to your media space, you need to re-sync the iTunes library with the file system (via an import). Front Row only works for the music through iTunes. I also told iTunes to keep its mitts out of re-organising my files, etc. For movies, I had considerably less trouble.
Thanx for the reply...
*tips hat*
Feel free to e-mail if you need more help. Alternatively; I've started a blog recently, and I plan to post some "How To" posts now and again. I can write one up and post if, if you're interested. Addresses for both above.
Cheers.
I'm curious...what is the minimum config. for a Mini, to get it to work very well with media content? I'm especially interested in what it takes for good performance as a dvr, with a hdtuner card...etc, without stuttering or skipping.
Unfortunately, I can't really answer that. My mini is purely a front end from a media standpoint - and even then, it's not tied to my TV or anything yet - all goes to the VGA. I had planned to build a myth system - and still may for recording purposes. Front Row on my mini was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.
For whatever it might be worth, I've got the 1.83 Core Duo model, with a gig of RAM. My media is actually all housed in my Slackware Linux box sitting in my basement (Athlon 650, 256 MB RAM), and transmitted over my base 100T LAN. The linux drive is shared via Samba - it's not streaming.
With that setup, I have few complaints. My only snag was to convince iTunes that the music on the remote drive was in the iTunes Library.
(Amusing side story: my first failures manifested by having Front Row tell me that I was not "authorized" to play that music. Seeing that message was Mrs. Otter's first encounter with DRM - and man, was she pissed.)
Ultimately, I had to alias the "iTunes Music" (I think) directory to point to my file server's /public/audio. A workable, if imperfect solution. I record some radio shows with my Linux machine that puts it in the right place on my media drive, but I'd have to "import" the file into iTunes to play it on Front Row. Front Row works mainly through the libraries of the iLife apps, not off your disk.
I've never heard skipping with the audio, nor have I seen/heard any with my movies (ripped with Handbrake at 90% quality - stored on the Linux media drive). No HDTV.
I agree that the Apple Remote is an elegant implementation for Front Row's music, photos, videos, and DVD functions. However, I cannot see how those six buttons can be adequate for controlling dvr and tv tuner functions.
Spot on. I have a Mac mini. Loves my mini. Loves Front Row. Loves my remote. But I have about 2,500 songs, 50 movies, and in excess of 5,000 photos all wired in.
My kingdom for a PgUp/PgDn.