I realize that I'm preaching to the converted here, but I get provoked every time Bill opens his mouth.
Linux has five Windowing systems? Three weeks ago the Mighty Bill claimed that Linux didn't have a "graphics" interface, whatever that means. Now it has five?
Caldera's inclusion of Partition Magic in the install program is the real benefit here.
I think you're right.
I suspect that a lot of would-be Linux users turn back while reading the documentation for FIPS. Once the disk has been partitioned, installing Linux is a piece of cake (assuming that your hardware is supported).
...so I wonder at what point the O'Reilly folks will realize they'll sell more books when they make online versions of the books freely available on the web.
They tried this with "The Linux Network Admin Guide", and the print version did not sell well.
...without sanitizing it first. I wonder just how many "features" windows has designed into it that do nothing but thwart the efforts of their competitiors?
...would be cool. A run-time version of Linux could be included on the CD along with the game, and the user wouldn't have to install Linux to play Linux games. The only thing that would have to be written to the hard drive would be game data (levels, bitmaps, etc.) and configuration files. This would be a great way to intoduce Linux to Windows users.
A language that can be used to write an operating system or language compiler without dropping down to assembly language too much. A certain amount of asm is probably unavoidable for performance reasons, although good optimizing compilers are getting harder to beat unless you're really an expert asm programmer.
I'll have to look into the five alternatives that you mentioned. I've heard of Eiffel and Dylan, but I thought they were higher level OO languages intended more for application programming that systems programming.
I tend to think that Pascal is also, but I really don't have any feel for what the original intent of Pascal was.
The original intent of Pascal was to teach programming to undergraduate CSci students.
Borland tweaked it quite a bit and turned it into a pretty good C-like systems language.
It's regretable that no one is working that much on new systems languages these days. Most of the interest seems to be with higher level application programming and scripting languages. I think part of the problem is that C is "good enough" -- there isn't any one thing that could be done to make it a really great language, but there are 30 or 40 minor tweaks that that would make it really good (and incompatible with existing code, unfortunately).
He unleashed on the world a language with a great number of design flaws.
Any programming language that wasn't designed by God will have flaws; it's inevitable. Besides, most of the languages that are usually considered "better" than C (Scheme, Java, etc.) use run-time interpreters that are usually implemented in C.
Everyone has an opinion on variable names, but once you've made up your mind, do you really care how someone else deals with them?
I do, because I'm resisting the temptation to make up my mind about anything when it comes to programming. I figure that day I do that is the day I start impeding my own progress. Besides, there's nothing worse than working with a progammer who has made up their mind, and I don't want to be hard to work with.:-)
Think about it.. Quake III is comming out any day now.. Time to upgrade for some. It would be very funny to see all other 3d card makers' sales jump BUT 3Dfx.
AFAIK the only board that will initially be supported for Linux Q3 is the 3dfx Voodoo series. I read this in an interview with Zoid (id programmer) about 4-6 weeks ago. Anyone have more up to date info?
3dfx is already in enough trouble trying to compete in the market with an uncompetitive product. The new Voodoo3 has 16-bit external rendering in 3D, a 16-bit z-buffer, and 16 MB RAM, whereas most of their competition is releasing boards with 32-bit external rendering, a 24-bit (NVIDIA and ATI?) or 32-bit (Matrox and 3D-Labs) z-buffer, and 32 MB RAM.
Hindering Linux developers and users is just going to compound their problems further. Don't they understand that their competition doesn't care about Glide?
Matrox recently released 3D specs for the G200; I assume G400 specs will be released as well. It looks like Matrox will continue to be the graphics board of choice for Linux users for the next 6 months, unless NVIDIA repents and does something wonderful.:-)
I don't pretend to have a good answer, but at least the FSF ought to take their blinders off and admit that "free beer" is a part of free software.
Linux today linked an article about 6 weeks ago where RMS was in asia, and was asked about pirated commercial software. I can't rembember the exact qoute, but it was something to the effect that what they (the software "pirates") were doing wasn't exactly in the spirit of free software, but it was still a good thing bringing software to people at a price that they could afford.
It seemed odd to me that RMS would even give a nod to anyone distributing software without source code.
How does a not so witty one-liner like this recive a score of 3 when there are/. readers writting 3-4 paragraph posts that make a little more sense. Argh.
I can type some more, if you like.:-)
Running a Linux news page with about 50 readers may seem like a waste of time, but it's not. From August 31, 1998 through the end of February, 1999, I helped 3 Windows users get Linux installed and configured for the first time. I didn't know any of these people prior to them sending me email via a link on my page. So if the trend continues, I will have helped 6 people per year become new Linux users. I don't want to sound like I'm selling Amway, but if everyone did this we could drastically increase the size of the Linux user base in less than a year. Just a thought.
Does anyone know if there's any equity left in RedHat that belongs to RedHat?
I don't know that any of the companies that have invested in Red Hat have really invested that much; it's always an undisclosed amount.
I think they're doing for the image more than anything. Linux is riding the media wave that Java did two years ago, and a small investment in Red Hat is nothing to IBM, Intel, or Dell -- it's cheap, positive media attention.
Either that, or they're giving MS the digital finger...
There a a few good reasons not to go public, the biggest one being accountability to shareholders.
There are a lot of people who don't know anything about Linux (other than what they've read on ZDNET) who would buy Red Hat stock based on media hype, and I don't think many people at Red Hat would want these folks voting in a share holders meeting.
I would have thought that halflife might have knocked some sense into them, but I guess not.
I think it was Half Life and Unreal that caused them to change direction to multiplayer only games. Both Half Life and Unreal took forever to finish, and it doesn't really make sense for a small technology company like id to be working on such a huge project.
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Linux has five Windowing systems? Three weeks ago the Mighty Bill claimed that Linux didn't have a "graphics" interface, whatever that means. Now it has five?
I've been using X -- what are the other four?
TedC
TedC
I think you're right.
I suspect that a lot of would-be Linux users turn back while reading the documentation for FIPS. Once the disk has been partitioned, installing Linux is a piece of cake (assuming that your hardware is supported).
TedC
PS. Nothing against FIPS; it's a great program.
I would prefer a nice, dark Linux Lager myself. :-)
TedC
Are you talking about free speech here, or free beer? It's not clear from the context.
TedC
It does, in a way.
Contrary to what MS would like people to believe, there's still MS-DOS code left in Windows 95. Not a lot, maybe, but it's waaay down deep.
TedC
What's not working?
TedC
They tried this with "The Linux Network Admin Guide", and the print version did not sell well.
TedC
TedC
TedC
A language that can be used to write an operating system or language compiler without dropping down to assembly language too much. A certain amount of asm is probably unavoidable for performance reasons, although good optimizing compilers are getting harder to beat unless you're really an expert asm programmer.
I'll have to look into the five alternatives that you mentioned. I've heard of Eiffel and Dylan, but I thought they were higher level OO languages intended more for application programming that systems programming.
TedC
"Pipe dreams" might be a better phrase than "goals".
TedC
The original intent of Pascal was to teach programming to undergraduate CSci students.
Borland tweaked it quite a bit and turned it into a pretty good C-like systems language.
It's regretable that no one is working that much on new systems languages these days. Most of the interest seems to be with higher level application programming and scripting languages. I think part of the problem is that C is "good enough" -- there isn't any one thing that could be done to make it a really great language, but there are 30 or 40 minor tweaks that that would make it really good (and incompatible with existing code, unfortunately).
TedC
Any programming language that wasn't designed by God will have flaws; it's inevitable. Besides, most of the languages that are usually considered "better" than C (Scheme, Java, etc.) use run-time interpreters that are usually implemented in C.
TedC
I do, because I'm resisting the temptation to make up my mind about anything when it comes to programming. I figure that day I do that is the day I start impeding my own progress. Besides, there's nothing worse than working with a progammer who has made up their mind, and I don't want to be hard to work with. :-)
TedC
Here's a link to a Matrox G200 project, but it doesn't look like they've really gotten started yet.
reality.sgi.com/ripperda_ engr/glx/matrox_news.html
TedC
AFAIK the only board that will initially be supported for Linux Q3 is the 3dfx Voodoo series. I read this in an interview with Zoid (id programmer) about 4-6 weeks ago. Anyone have more up to date info?
TedC
Hindering Linux developers and users is just going to compound their problems further. Don't they understand that their competition doesn't care about Glide?
Matrox recently released 3D specs for the G200; I assume G400 specs will be released as well. It looks like Matrox will continue to be the graphics board of choice for Linux users for the next 6 months, unless NVIDIA repents and does something wonderful. :-)
TedC
dang it, I keep forgetting to log in...
Linux today linked an article about 6 weeks ago where RMS was in asia, and was asked about pirated commercial software. I can't rembember the exact qoute, but it was something to the effect that what they (the software "pirates") were doing wasn't exactly in the spirit of free software, but it was still a good thing bringing software to people at a price that they could afford.
It seemed odd to me that RMS would even give a nod to anyone distributing software without source code.
Anyone have the link to this story?
TedC
I can type some more, if you like. :-)
Running a Linux news page with about 50 readers may seem like a waste of time, but it's not. From August 31, 1998 through the end of February, 1999, I helped 3 Windows users get Linux installed and configured for the first time. I didn't know any of these people prior to them sending me email via a link on my page. So if the trend continues, I will have helped 6 people per year become new Linux users. I don't want to sound like I'm selling Amway, but if everyone did this we could drastically increase the size of the Linux user base in less than a year. Just a thought.
TedC
TedC
I guess MS can get away with this, since their software has no warranty. So much for the theory of suing MS if something goes wrong.
TedC
I don't know that any of the companies that have invested in Red Hat have really invested that much; it's always an undisclosed amount.
I think they're doing for the image more than anything. Linux is riding the media wave that Java did two years ago, and a small investment in Red Hat is nothing to IBM, Intel, or Dell -- it's cheap, positive media attention.
Either that, or they're giving MS the digital finger...
TedC
There are a lot of people who don't know anything about Linux (other than what they've read on ZDNET) who would buy Red Hat stock based on media hype, and I don't think many people at Red Hat would want these folks voting in a share holders meeting.
TedC
I think it was Half Life and Unreal that caused them to change direction to multiplayer only games. Both Half Life and Unreal took forever to finish, and it doesn't really make sense for a small technology company like id to be working on such a huge project.
TedC