Really? I thought the RIAA suits were intended to make up for the cash shortfall, caused by slightly optimistic sales predictions. Each out-of-court settlement counts for a lot of CDs.
You sound like you'd enjoy fluxbox. No mess or clutter (no desktop icons), just a simple menu for launching the apps I put in there. I get everything else from the command line.
Oh, you're from the other side. Oh well.
It's about the chemistry
on
USB Batteries
·
· Score: 5, Informative
It's all about the chemistry, not some kind of voltage deflation. Zinc cells give 1.5V (alklines, etc). NiCd and NiMH gives 1.2V. Lead acid gives 2 and a bit V. You can't make a NiCd battery at 3V. A battery is a stack of cells, so it can only provide an integer multiple of the cell voltage (2.4 or 3.6V is as close as you'll get with NiCd).
Linux is great for servers. Why do people keep saying that? Do you mean "I'm still using Windows but want to sound a little cool on/."?
If you want to test drive Linux - Knoppix. If you want an easy install/admin - Ubuntu. If you want to spend hours dicking around with config files just to see what they do - Gentoo (I'm a happy Gentoo user, but it's not for everyone). There are plenty more distros out there, all doing something slightly different.
Linux is a rich world - it's certainly more than one distro. It works on desktops and laptops. It'll do servers quite well too.
Isn't that the point? You discover some clever new trick you'd like to include. Okay, write a test (i.e. specify exactly what you're trying to achieve), write the code, enjoy. But most importantly, your fancy new widget mustn't break any of the previous tests. Maybe the new feature is important enough that some of the earlier tests need modifying, but that's a decision you need to talk about and actively decide. Otherwise you end up shooting for your own goal...
So you don't use it. I'm currently logged in to two remote machines (one of them being my linux box at work), and making good use of the graphical environment.
But I think you're right, we do need a clean up. I've never used your computer, and really see no demand for it. I propose we ditch it.
Why BASIC? It's not such a hot language. One of the main reasons it was in all those early home computers was because it was small enough to jam into the limited memory.
My dad refused to teach me BASIC (he's a pretty serious coder), and it took me a long time to really appreciate what he did for me. When we got an Atari ST, he taught me Logo. There's a lot more to that language than turtle graphics, and it set me up well. While I was learning about recursion, other kids were trying to untie their gotos.
I haven't looked but there must be a whole host of well structured, interpreted languages out there. Just because you're nostalgic about BASIC doesn't make it good.
Um, maybe it doesn't count as real world, but in academic science it's normal to write it all yourself. It usually takes longer to learn to use the library than to write the specific little bit of it that you actually need. Most of the code I write is used for less than a month, often only for a day. Some of it doesn't look pretty, but it answers a question and I move on.
They even have an amnesty program - although I don't think they've quite understood how an amnesty program usually works. From TFWS:
You are eligible for the Amnesty Program only one time. If you have not received a letter from the
ESPC then you are eligible for the Amnesty Program. If you have received a letter from the
ESPC, you are not eligible for a release through this program. You must contact the Legal
Department at 214.350.1892.
The cost for a full release and assurance from the ESPC members who own the copyrights to the
designs that were counterfeit is $300.00, plus the return of the counterfeit embroidery designs
and software with the documents which show the purchase of the designs. Regardless of the
number of designs you have in your possession, all are to be returned under this program for a
full release.
Sounds very familiar. Remember the business model of our favourite Unix vendor?
For those of you inside the US, how about calling that number on your coffe break? Ask some dumb questions, just to make sure you're not cheating the law. You know, ones that take a while to answer. After all, their time is money.
One of the benefits of this is that it will cause features to be thought and debated about more, which I believe results in cleaner, nicer languages.
I'm all for debate, but does that really create cleaner languages? Is c++ cleaner now that a panel decide what goes into it (I'm thinking of the STL here)? I kind of like the model of one guy with a neat idea, trying to produce a language that works the way he wants it to.
What is important here? That students (1) turn up for class, (2) learn their subject, or (3) pass exams? I'd guess you want (3), and (2) would be nice. (1) is a means to an end.
I studies physics at one of the better UK universities. Most of my lecturers were terrible, so I didn't attend many lectures. I borrrowed enough course notes to find out what I should know, and the rest I learned from the library. For the few courses taken by good lecturers, I attended 100%. A good lecture saves an awful lot of reading. A bad lecture is a wate of everybodies time.
I think you should put up all lecturesm unrestricted, as they become available. You might find that the good lectures remain well attended, and that nobody attends or downloads the bad ones.
When you state that you're glad they reached their goals, you are implicitly supporting the activists/terrorists, and their methods. You are supporting an ongoing campaign of intimidation and violence against a researcher, his family, his neighbours. I don't know, maybe you really think that's okay?
I used to give exactly the same arguement. I switched to Linux about 4 years ago, because I became more and more annoyed with Windows not doing what I wanted it to (the whole browser security and virus thing, auto-reconfiguring things I didn't want reconfigured, the all too regular BSOD, etc).
Linux doesn't do everything right. But nor does Windows. There's a balance, you have to decide which suits you better. My computer is a tool. I don't want to think about setting it up. But if my computer isn't doing what I want, I like to have the option of fixing it. That's what Linux (and BSD) offers that Windows doesn't. And fixing hasn't ever meant writing code; it's been about messing with a config file or installing a different package. You don't have to be so smart to do that.
Partial blindness is certainly very different from full blindness, yes.
My father uses Word (he's a Windows man, despite my best efforts), but he actually sets it up properly. He makes heavy use of styles. Minutely shoving things around the screen won't work for him, his field of view is too small. Word has to put things in the right place. He also prints things out a lot, and actually asks other people what they prefer. He's found that serifs actually make the text easier to read for most partially sighted folk. Once he finds a style that works, he sticks to it (templates). He used LaTeX a long time ago, but doesn't really like it. He prefers a GUI, but does use a lot of keystrokes. I'm not sure about LyX, I'll suggest he has a look at it.
Generally, he uses large text (rather than a screen magnifier), high contrast (black background, white text, green text for menus so they look different to main text, etc) and a very low screen res. I think he's still using 640x480. Yep, you don't get much on a screen at that, but he still can't see all of it anyway.
Diagrams are also interesting. They tend to big bold, blocky, and have no faff. Because lots of detail is difficult for him to see, he takes it out. It usually makes them work rather well. Anything that doesn't serve a function is removed. Snapping is also a big bonus.
I think the biggest difference is realising that layout is something that needs a bit of thought, and is something you can learn to do. My dad introduced me to the book "Looking Good in Print", which should be compulsory reading for anyone with a word processor!
On a side note, there isa large community of totally blind users out there, struggling to cope with Windows, who miss the good old DOS days when everything was available with a keystroke. Surely Linux has a lot to offer in this area? I guess it just needs the right group of people to put in the time and effort and make it work. Are there console mode tool out there for working with ODF, for example?
Just because a blind person is creating the document, doesn't mean that only blind people will be using the document.
My father is partially sighted (not blind), and pays more attention to document layout than anyone else I know. He's far more aware of layout because it's not automatic for him. He expects to spend some effort on layout, while the rest of us bang out half-arsed documents with headers in three different font sizes through the document.
The trouble is, RPM isn't very good. It doesn't hide the hard work from the user. I also use Gentoo, and love Portage. I don't need to know anything about dependencies to install a package, the computer works it out for me. It makes it stupidly easy. This seems like a good idea.
All those different package managers are looking for the best solution. We haven't found it yet. Sure, we don't need the perfect answer, but I'm glad nobody stopped at RPMs.
Slashdot Mirror
Because your fingers would cover them up?
Really? I thought the RIAA suits were intended to make up for the cash shortfall, caused by slightly optimistic sales predictions. Each out-of-court settlement counts for a lot of CDs.
You must be new here. Look up stories about the RIAA here on /.
Oh, you're from the other side. Oh well.
It's all about the chemistry, not some kind of voltage deflation. Zinc cells give 1.5V (alklines, etc). NiCd and NiMH gives 1.2V. Lead acid gives 2 and a bit V. You can't make a NiCd battery at 3V. A battery is a stack of cells, so it can only provide an integer multiple of the cell voltage (2.4 or 3.6V is as close as you'll get with NiCd).
If you want to test drive Linux - Knoppix. If you want an easy install/admin - Ubuntu. If you want to spend hours dicking around with config files just to see what they do - Gentoo (I'm a happy Gentoo user, but it's not for everyone). There are plenty more distros out there, all doing something slightly different.
Linux is a rich world - it's certainly more than one distro. It works on desktops and laptops. It'll do servers quite well too.
Last time I checked, xorg made a pretty healthy guess at my hardware. The guess was good enough that I'm still using it...
Isn't that the point? You discover some clever new trick you'd like to include. Okay, write a test (i.e. specify exactly what you're trying to achieve), write the code, enjoy. But most importantly, your fancy new widget mustn't break any of the previous tests. Maybe the new feature is important enough that some of the earlier tests need modifying, but that's a decision you need to talk about and actively decide. Otherwise you end up shooting for your own goal...
But I think you're right, we do need a clean up. I've never used your computer, and really see no demand for it. I propose we ditch it.
My dad refused to teach me BASIC (he's a pretty serious coder), and it took me a long time to really appreciate what he did for me. When we got an Atari ST, he taught me Logo. There's a lot more to that language than turtle graphics, and it set me up well. While I was learning about recursion, other kids were trying to untie their gotos.
I haven't looked but there must be a whole host of well structured, interpreted languages out there. Just because you're nostalgic about BASIC doesn't make it good.
Um, maybe it doesn't count as real world, but in academic science it's normal to write it all yourself. It usually takes longer to learn to use the library than to write the specific little bit of it that you actually need. Most of the code I write is used for less than a month, often only for a day. Some of it doesn't look pretty, but it answers a question and I move on.
You are eligible for the Amnesty Program only one time. If you have not received a letter from the ESPC then you are eligible for the Amnesty Program. If you have received a letter from the ESPC, you are not eligible for a release through this program. You must contact the Legal Department at 214.350.1892.
The cost for a full release and assurance from the ESPC members who own the copyrights to the designs that were counterfeit is $300.00, plus the return of the counterfeit embroidery designs and software with the documents which show the purchase of the designs. Regardless of the number of designs you have in your possession, all are to be returned under this program for a full release.
Sounds very familiar. Remember the business model of our favourite Unix vendor?
For those of you inside the US, how about calling that number on your coffe break? Ask some dumb questions, just to make sure you're not cheating the law. You know, ones that take a while to answer. After all, their time is money.
I was so hoping Microsoft had used Google maps for that.
I'm all for debate, but does that really create cleaner languages? Is c++ cleaner now that a panel decide what goes into it (I'm thinking of the STL here)? I kind of like the model of one guy with a neat idea, trying to produce a language that works the way he wants it to.
Brasso works well too. A little bit more aggressive than toothpaste. They make a nice two step process.
Well said.
What is important here? That students (1) turn up for class, (2) learn their subject, or (3) pass exams? I'd guess you want (3), and (2) would be nice. (1) is a means to an end.
I studies physics at one of the better UK universities. Most of my lecturers were terrible, so I didn't attend many lectures. I borrrowed enough course notes to find out what I should know, and the rest I learned from the library. For the few courses taken by good lecturers, I attended 100%. A good lecture saves an awful lot of reading. A bad lecture is a wate of everybodies time.
I think you should put up all lecturesm unrestricted, as they become available. You might find that the good lectures remain well attended, and that nobody attends or downloads the bad ones.
Is it just me, or does $4k sound very cheap for full rights to the source code?
Reading isn't subjective?
I need to read your files, so I can find out your credit card details. Should the OS morph to please me?
It sounds like the second coming of clippy to me. Oh dear.
When you state that you're glad they reached their goals, you are implicitly supporting the activists/terrorists, and their methods. You are supporting an ongoing campaign of intimidation and violence against a researcher, his family, his neighbours. I don't know, maybe you really think that's okay?
I used to give exactly the same arguement. I switched to Linux about 4 years ago, because I became more and more annoyed with Windows not doing what I wanted it to (the whole browser security and virus thing, auto-reconfiguring things I didn't want reconfigured, the all too regular BSOD, etc).
Linux doesn't do everything right. But nor does Windows. There's a balance, you have to decide which suits you better. My computer is a tool. I don't want to think about setting it up. But if my computer isn't doing what I want, I like to have the option of fixing it. That's what Linux (and BSD) offers that Windows doesn't. And fixing hasn't ever meant writing code; it's been about messing with a config file or installing a different package. You don't have to be so smart to do that.
I'm not a crusader. But I'm a much happier user.
Partial blindness is certainly very different from full blindness, yes.
My father uses Word (he's a Windows man, despite my best efforts), but he actually sets it up properly. He makes heavy use of styles. Minutely shoving things around the screen won't work for him, his field of view is too small. Word has to put things in the right place. He also prints things out a lot, and actually asks other people what they prefer. He's found that serifs actually make the text easier to read for most partially sighted folk. Once he finds a style that works, he sticks to it (templates). He used LaTeX a long time ago, but doesn't really like it. He prefers a GUI, but does use a lot of keystrokes. I'm not sure about LyX, I'll suggest he has a look at it.
Generally, he uses large text (rather than a screen magnifier), high contrast (black background, white text, green text for menus so they look different to main text, etc) and a very low screen res. I think he's still using 640x480. Yep, you don't get much on a screen at that, but he still can't see all of it anyway.
Diagrams are also interesting. They tend to big bold, blocky, and have no faff. Because lots of detail is difficult for him to see, he takes it out. It usually makes them work rather well. Anything that doesn't serve a function is removed. Snapping is also a big bonus.
I think the biggest difference is realising that layout is something that needs a bit of thought, and is something you can learn to do. My dad introduced me to the book "Looking Good in Print", which should be compulsory reading for anyone with a word processor!
On a side note, there isa large community of totally blind users out there, struggling to cope with Windows, who miss the good old DOS days when everything was available with a keystroke. Surely Linux has a lot to offer in this area? I guess it just needs the right group of people to put in the time and effort and make it work. Are there console mode tool out there for working with ODF, for example?
Just because a blind person is creating the document, doesn't mean that only blind people will be using the document.
My father is partially sighted (not blind), and pays more attention to document layout than anyone else I know. He's far more aware of layout because it's not automatic for him. He expects to spend some effort on layout, while the rest of us bang out half-arsed documents with headers in three different font sizes through the document.
The octopus, well known for being smart. Until they see a pot. "Hmmm, must sit inside the pot...". They won't last long as overlords.
The trouble is, RPM isn't very good. It doesn't hide the hard work from the user. I also use Gentoo, and love Portage. I don't need to know anything about dependencies to install a package, the computer works it out for me. It makes it stupidly easy. This seems like a good idea.
All those different package managers are looking for the best solution. We haven't found it yet. Sure, we don't need the perfect answer, but I'm glad nobody stopped at RPMs.