Fun fact: Every single bit of development put into X.org since the big fork has been undoing the mistakes committed during the XFree86 years. Making X modular, reworking font handling, introducing EXA, crafting AIGLX, even kernel mode-setting, all of these are undoing bad things from the past.
KRH, who's been writing Wayland, also is responsible for parts of GEM, RGBA OpenGL visuals, and other GLX improvements. Neither he, nor any of us, are planning to just abandon code that's still viable. Tender love and care goes a long way with bit-rotted code.
I don't understand why you were modded down, when you are technically correct: nVidia's driver stack simply doesn't use most of X.org's API/ABI. There are actually bits and pieces of X that we'd like to deprecate, but we can't because the nVidia blobs need them in order to do their thing.
No, I've managed to have a single Linux box reach 99.999%. It's mostly a matter of not updating the kernel; everything else can be upgraded monthly with ~15 seconds downtime, for an average of ~3 minutes annually.
I'm aware of "git gc", and I've actually had the rare opportunity to talk to Linus about why git does some of the things it does, and I understand all that, but when one has as many repos as fd.o does, it's the kind of thing that becomes a recurring annoyance. And I had to point that out.
One of the design goals of git was to make this impossible. All commits depend upon all previous commits, and everything is hashed and verified. Combine that with a responsible packager like Linus, and there's no real risk, since he can see *every* commit, and he would know immediately if something had changed because patches sent in would refuse to apply and tags couldn't be created or signed.
Since you're the only person with the balls to reply non-AC, you get my reply.:3
I write C. I've written loads of C. C is fine for drivers and low-level stuff. It's great for old stuff. But I can't bring myself to start any new code in anything lower than C++, and that's only for games.
Nearly all my new code is in Python. I love the language. It's simple, readable, and ungodly powerful once one starts to really dig in and understand it. I learned Perl once, and I couldn't stand using it for anything besides text manipulation; it's just not suited for it. Big object-oriented stuff, in particular, is just kinda painful.
Also, you're right about popularity-contest. Clearly, I was not very awake last night. I meant to mention the first Debian CD, not the minimal package install set.
Unfortunately, bare-bones Debian lacks Python, although hopefully recent popularity-contest results will make it more likely to be part of a default install.
Without going into NDA territory, there are acceleration docs for the r3xx-r5xx at http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/ , and r6xx documentation is currently pending legal review. Xvideo and EXA are done in Radeons in the 3D engine.
nVidia and ATI are currently being investigated by SEC and DoJ for price fixing and antitrust violation, yes.
Of your list of vendors, only nVidia does not contribute documentation to X.org. Intel's drivers have been open-source and vendor-supported for a while, and although it might be interesting to peek at AMD/ATI's driver source, it would not be very helpful in the long run, since most of the cards' structures are already documented. (Also AMD has committed to giving us documentation as fast as they can get it to clear legal review.)
The main things standing in the way of speed are KMS and GEM, both of which are currently in the process of migrating into the main kernel.
Oh, and finally, chipset prices are already falling thanks to AMD's refusal to fix prices with nVidia's offerings. Go take a look for yourself.:3
I feel like I'm plugging myself, but the Radeon X1950 is a massively capable card, and is available for as little as $60-70. It's also fully accelerated with the open-source driver stack as of Mesa 7.1. (I'm currently on one, running Compiz Fusion with Xserver 1.5. It's good times.)
First, it's not worth it. A million dollars is not worth that kind of publicity, unless you're completely sure you can win. (See point two.) Also if you really want the money, it would be more lucrative and easier to "rig" the lottery.
Second, Randi's tests are usually slanted to the point where the burden of proof becomes unreasonable. Telekinetics, most of whom have never tried anything bigger or heavier than a pinwheel, are required to levitate multiple pieces of furniture? Tough call.
Third, Randi himself, according to various psychics, may be psychic himself and may be using his abilities to impair other psychics during testing. Some people who have met him claim that massive amounts of psychic energy just roll off him, like some sort of ridiculously powerful mentalist or something. Of course, this is completely unproven.:3
HW design counts too. ATI, particularly, had lots of issues with HDCP and DRM management, and they were one of the big opponents of the PMP during design, but ultimately had no choice because they don't control enough of the market.
Bottled water is usually bottled at municipal sources, and doesn't have the same health requirements as tap water. Do some research; bottled water is not only overpriced, but it can be hazardous to your health.
Slashdot Mirror
Mu.
Musicians (like me) will buy better-quality hardware than Creative. :3
If you wish to write a framebuffer X server in Python, go ahead. Patches welcome. :3
Fun fact: Every single bit of development put into X.org since the big fork has been undoing the mistakes committed during the XFree86 years. Making X modular, reworking font handling, introducing EXA, crafting AIGLX, even kernel mode-setting, all of these are undoing bad things from the past.
KRH, who's been writing Wayland, also is responsible for parts of GEM, RGBA OpenGL visuals, and other GLX improvements. Neither he, nor any of us, are planning to just abandon code that's still viable. Tender love and care goes a long way with bit-rotted code.
I don't understand why you were modded down, when you are technically correct: nVidia's driver stack simply doesn't use most of X.org's API/ABI. There are actually bits and pieces of X that we'd like to deprecate, but we can't because the nVidia blobs need them in order to do their thing.
If MD5(a) == MD5(b), then MD5(a + c) == MD5(b + c), where "a", "b", and "c" are arbitrary payloads and "+" is the concatenation operator.
Thus, it's quite easy to craft preimages, if you're not really concerned with the contents of the resulting payload.
Now, if given MD5(a), it's not (yet) possible to craft a possible payload "a", but I'm sure it'll be figured out soon.
No, I've managed to have a single Linux box reach 99.999%. It's mostly a matter of not updating the kernel; everything else can be upgraded monthly with ~15 seconds downtime, for an average of ~3 minutes annually.
I'm aware of "git gc", and I've actually had the rare opportunity to talk to Linus about why git does some of the things it does, and I understand all that, but when one has as many repos as fd.o does, it's the kind of thing that becomes a recurring annoyance. And I had to point that out.
One of the design goals of git was to make this impossible. All commits depend upon all previous commits, and everything is hashed and verified. Combine that with a responsible packager like Linus, and there's no real risk, since he can see *every* commit, and he would know immediately if something had changed because patches sent in would refuse to apply and tags couldn't be created or signed.
Try checking a 500M file into git, mercurial or bazaar sometime.
Um. In git's case, it makes a copy of the 500 MB file, and calculates its SHA1. And that's all it does.
Oh, no, that's not all. Try *changing* said 500MB file, and watch the difference in backend repo size. :3
After all, with all the stolen goods from TSA showing up on eBay, it makes sense that they'd need to beef up their servers. :3
In my experience with Anonymous, the ones who do the stupid shit are also typically the ones that enjoy bragging about it online.
Posting non-Anon for karma bonus and also because I've got nothin' to hide. :3
who will be beating the terrorist to a bloody pulp as the rest of the passengers applaud.
Of course, what you're forgetting is that there's still the occasional hijacker who really does just want to fly to Cuba.
Well, he should have thought of that before trying to hijack a flight out of the States, shouldn't he? :3
Since you're the only person with the balls to reply non-AC, you get my reply. :3
I write C. I've written loads of C. C is fine for drivers and low-level stuff. It's great for old stuff. But I can't bring myself to start any new code in anything lower than C++, and that's only for games.
Nearly all my new code is in Python. I love the language. It's simple, readable, and ungodly powerful once one starts to really dig in and understand it. I learned Perl once, and I couldn't stand using it for anything besides text manipulation; it's just not suited for it. Big object-oriented stuff, in particular, is just kinda painful.
Also, you're right about popularity-contest. Clearly, I was not very awake last night. I meant to mention the first Debian CD, not the minimal package install set.
Unfortunately, bare-bones Debian lacks Python, although hopefully recent popularity-contest results will make it more likely to be part of a default install.
Without going into NDA territory, there are acceleration docs for the r3xx-r5xx at http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/ , and r6xx documentation is currently pending legal review. Xvideo and EXA are done in Radeons in the 3D engine.
nVidia and ATI are currently being investigated by SEC and DoJ for price fixing and antitrust violation, yes.
Of your list of vendors, only nVidia does not contribute documentation to X.org. Intel's drivers have been open-source and vendor-supported for a while, and although it might be interesting to peek at AMD/ATI's driver source, it would not be very helpful in the long run, since most of the cards' structures are already documented. (Also AMD has committed to giving us documentation as fast as they can get it to clear legal review.)
The main things standing in the way of speed are KMS and GEM, both of which are currently in the process of migrating into the main kernel.
Oh, and finally, chipset prices are already falling thanks to AMD's refusal to fix prices with nVidia's offerings. Go take a look for yourself. :3
Killing your wife? Not actually a project.
Well, okay, yeah, I mean, it takes some planning and the execution is, well, an execution, but it's not very open-source.
I feel like I'm plugging myself, but the Radeon X1950 is a massively capable card, and is available for as little as $60-70. It's also fully accelerated with the open-source driver stack as of Mesa 7.1. (I'm currently on one, running Compiz Fusion with Xserver 1.5. It's good times.)
Asshats are an eternal problem, second only to the Dutch.
In case you didn't know, this high-level code has to be compiled *at runtime* for the particular GPU.
Didn't say that I personally believe any of this, dude. Just saying what I've heard.
Three reasons I can think of.
First, it's not worth it. A million dollars is not worth that kind of publicity, unless you're completely sure you can win. (See point two.) Also if you really want the money, it would be more lucrative and easier to "rig" the lottery.
Second, Randi's tests are usually slanted to the point where the burden of proof becomes unreasonable. Telekinetics, most of whom have never tried anything bigger or heavier than a pinwheel, are required to levitate multiple pieces of furniture? Tough call.
Third, Randi himself, according to various psychics, may be psychic himself and may be using his abilities to impair other psychics during testing. Some people who have met him claim that massive amounts of psychic energy just roll off him, like some sort of ridiculously powerful mentalist or something. Of course, this is completely unproven. :3
HW design counts too. ATI, particularly, had lots of issues with HDCP and DRM management, and they were one of the big opponents of the PMP during design, but ultimately had no choice because they don't control enough of the market.
Bottled water is usually bottled at municipal sources, and doesn't have the same health requirements as tap water. Do some research; bottled water is not only overpriced, but it can be hazardous to your health.