Slashdot Mirror


User: FunkyChild

FunkyChild's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
315
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 315

  1. Re:So by your line of thinking on Adobe Sues MacNN Over Photoshop Article · · Score: 2

    No. If you just use GPL software without reading the license, then fine. It falls under the same resrictions as any copyrighted work. It would be pretty much the same as using closed source software in the eyes of the law - eg. can't copy it, or distribute it without the copyright holders' consent.

    However, if you do read and agree to the GPL, you are granted ADDITIONAL rights to copy, modify, distribute etc. so long as you in turn make the resulting code free too.

    So, if you break the GPL (eg. re-distributing closed source) without agreeing to the GPL, then you are committing standard copyright infringement. If you break the GPL, after agreeing to the GPL, then you are in breach of contract.

    Credit goes to RMS - it's really a clever system.

  2. Re:Yeah, but MDI? ARGH! on 4th 'Technology Preview' Of Opera For Linux · · Score: 1

    Just do File:Quit from any Mozilla window. This will close all windows and exit. Also I think the shortcut to close the current window is ALT-W, at least to quit it's ALT-Q. I don't see how that's any more difficult than in Opera..

  3. Mod this one up! on Latest Eazel Screenshots · · Score: 1

    While I think Nautilus is a good step in the right direction, the points you made are incredibly good. The idea of 'droplets' has got to be one of the best things I've heard in years. I love the flexibility of MacOS (for example) dropping image files on Photoshop, and then onto an FTP alias to upload them. With the power of piping etc. in unix, this would be absolutely unreal.

    I get sick of people bashing GUIs because they don't have the power of the command line. But the problem is not in using a GUI, the problem is in the implementation of it. If we could have a way to do this properly, we could construct extremely powerful and useful script-like sequences, without having to worry about knowing the right commands etc.

    Instead of plain copying other interfaces, we should be taking the best bits from them (eg. I for one think an integrated file manager/ftp client/web browser is a good idea), but we should also be proud of unix and proud to use the full potential of its power. Don't try and bring Windows Explorer, or MacOS Finder to unix, lets find out what makes them useful, and APPLY that to unix.

    You hit the nail smack-bang on the head.

  4. Re:this is just ridiculous on Intel tells Harvard, 'Cover that Mac!' · · Score: 1

    That would have been te Sydney IT2000 / LinuxExpo 2000. The two conferences were sort of combined. Microsoft didn't just threaten to not turn up, AFAIK there was no sign of them at all! And this was right before the official launch of Win2k too! Though I don't think they were ever going to sponsor the event..

  5. Re:Slashback too cute! on Slashback: Imagination, Redistribution, Stiction · · Score: 1

    Quite ironic that this story is from the ingratitude dept.

    ;)

  6. Re:Consequences on Open Source Leaders Speak About Napster · · Score: 1

    If Napster/GNUTella/FreeNet really take off, to the point where Big Music just bites it, it will mean no more Britney, Backcrap, etc.

    Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. The reason that all those shitty artists are on Napster is because people know them. The predominant use of Napster is as a searchable database of all the songs that people are sharing. There are *very few* ways for unknown artists to get exposure. That's why the most frequently shared MP3s are those of the teenybopper bands who have already been marketed to the population through the poplar media.

    Its because of that, that I don't support Napster. Now if MP3.com could come out with a similar sharing service, which encourages legal MP3s from unsigned bands, combined with MP3.com's current ladders and special picks to give new bands exposure, I would be jumping for joy.

  7. Re:American law doesn't apply in the UK on Oxford Yanks Student Page Over Spoof DeCSS · · Score: 1

    How did the guy actually come up with the key? Didn't he not actually find it in some MPAA software somehow, but brute-force the encryption and find it himself..?

    I really have not much of a clue, but AFAIK, Copyright law is only concerned with direct copying. For instance, if you had lived on the moon for the last 50 years, and came back to earth by absolute co-incidence with an exact replica of 'The Lion King' that you had made yourself and could prove was completely your own work, and contained completely your own ideas with absolutely no influence from Disney's version, then technically you would be ok (although Disney's lawyers would get for for something).

    An example this complex is just silly and unimaginable, but in the case of something which is much simpler - the key.. Would it be at all possible to prove that it was completely his own work, since he didn't actually copy it from anywhere, but found it and generated it himself..?

  8. Re:Obvious answers to ease of use on Making Linux Easy With Eazel's Andy Hertzfeld · · Score: 1
    Just one minor gripe:

    The gui is also consistent, by the use of a standard toolkit.


    Ok, so CTRL-C / CTRL-V copies/pastes in every gtk application? So I can consistently get help by pressing F1? And so on...

    Of course while sharing a common toolkit helps a lot in getting consistency, it is often only skin deep. Just because something looks the same doesn't mean it works the same. A GUI is about much more than how things look (In that case it would just be a 'G' :) - it is a means of interacting with the system visually (which people often find easier since it is much less abstract than the cmd line). It is the -UI part in GUI that programmers need to try and standardise on and improve.
  9. Re:Online legal form... on Napster Bans Metallica Fans · · Score: 1

    Because, going through napster's servers, which are based in the US you idiot...

    Yeah, the queries are, but the files aren't. So that really only makes Napster responsible in that case (in theory or course). In practice, it doesn't really matter anyway, because the good ol' USA will do anything they can to impose their inherently superior legal system over just about every country in the world.

  10. Re:X is the biggest problem for Linux on A New Rendering Model For X · · Score: 1

    In Berlin? I believe the whole system uses OpenGL, for both 2D and 3D. Of course, for 2D it only uses the specific functions that are necessary, as to avoide any overhead.

    Unfortunately, it seems to be in its early infancy right now though. Dammit, I want fast graphics in Linux!

  11. Re:Judge Rakoff, get a clue. on Judge Rakoff Explains MP3.com Ruling · · Score: 1

    In that case, I have a feeling that only that one 'user' would be able to access the collection. If for example, I was accessing those same ripped MP3s, the current decision would apply, that an external party was doing the ripping etc. from external party's CDs, so its not 'the same' as my CDs.

    I'm assuming that in the my.mp3.com situation only once copy of each MP3 was stored on their servers. What strikes me as interesting though is that in this ruling, from what I've heard, very little mention was made of that. Would multiple people be streaming the same MP3 (file not IP)? If that is the case, then it is more like mp3.com actually distributing their MP3s to people, rather than just users accessing their own copies that are pretty much the same as copied and stored remotely thanks to mp3.com's services? How does the law apply if everyone is streaming off the same MP3?

    One thing is for sure though, that these vested interests are really holding back the future of music appreciation. This really is a great service, which protects the artist's IP, which helps drive CD sales, which is convenient for the consumer, and yet it gets shot down like this. I'm quite disgusted.

  12. Re:artists pissed? on Thus Spake Stallman · · Score: 1

    But are they 'for MP3s' as in the use of a file format, or are they for copying their music through napster without them seeing a cent for their efforts, investments, or even just to keep them alive?

    I tend to presume most professional artists aren't for the latter.

  13. Re:Car MP3 players... on Build Portable Mp3 Player · · Score: 1
    Well, actually while I was there I was too amazed by all the amazing gadgetry everywhere that I didn't take any notice of how I got there or what it was called (though I have a faint recollection it was called 'yong san'). I was taken there by some locals too, so I didn't have to figure out how to get there myself.

    From the way you're talking, it sounds like you're in Seoul now, so maybe thse photos I took will help you:

  14. Car MP3 players... on Build Portable Mp3 Player · · Score: 1

    When I was recently in Korea, I was at a specialised MP3 player shop in the middle of the electronics district in Seoul. MP3 players are REALLY big there. They had all kinds including little tiny ones (about 3cm x 3cm x 2cm) on keyrings! I came across an MP3 player that was shaped exactly like an audio cassette, and I'm almost certain that it had the same function as those discman-car casstte adaptors.

    In this case, I'm pretty sure you actually put the MP3 player itself right into the cassette player! I think the turning of the rotors in the cassette player triggered the player to start playing. Of course the player also had a headphone jack, and little embedded buttons to use just as a walkman type device.

    Awesome stuff.

  15. Re:NEWS: Brazilian Drug Kingpin Sentenced on Swift Justice? Mobile Justice In Brazil · · Score: 1

    I'd say he committed an illegal operation.

  16. Re:Transparent GIFs and background coloring on Unisys Cracks The Whip · · Score: 1

    That's the beauty of Alpha channels. For GIF transparency, there can only be two levels of opacity: fully opaque, or fully transparent. So this means you get the crappy edges due to antialiasing, as the "non-pure background colours, eg. the gradients are fully opaque, and in /.'s case, a shade of gray. Of course having shades of gray as your shadow would look like crap when placed on a blue background for example.

    With Alpha channels in PNG, you can have up to 256 levels of transparency. So instead, those gradient 'gray' pixels would actually be fully black pixels, but with varying levels of opacity. So a pixel near the edge of a drop shadow for example, could be full black, 10% transparency. Viewed on a white background, this would be a light gray, but viewed on a blue background for example, it would be a slightly darker tint of that same blue.

    If you are a gnome user, you can test this for yourself- put a launcher on your panel, with one of the standard gnome PNG icons that has a drop shadow. Make sure 'use tiles' is turned off for launchers in your panel settings. Observe the icon. Now in the panel settings, change the colour of the panel. Notice how the icon still has a nice drop shadow? Cool, huh! :)

  17. Serial Port / Modem fix on BeOS For Linux! · · Score: 1

    I had that problem with my modem too. I'm not in Be right now, but IIRC, you have to add in a serial port under Prefs >> Devices.
    Just add a new jumpered device in the menu and in the device type thing scroll box, you should be able to find serial port or commmunications port or something. It should automatically put in the right IRQs for the port. Restart, then in your Dial Up Networking prefs, in Modem settings, you should be able to choose your new serial port for your modem. I think thats what I did to get it working..

  18. PC - Mac confusion on Supreme Court Weakens Design Protection Patents · · Score: 1

    The argument that a lot of people on /. are making against the Apple case is that since, The iMac is a mac, and the eMachine is a PC, they can't possibly be confused. For the average /. reader, sure! But think of who the iMac is marketed at: novice consumer type users. These people aren't necessarily going to look at the specs and say.. Oh this is a PC, so it can't possibly be the same. They'll be thinking: "Oh wow! Its one of those cool new transparent blue computer things I saw advertised! And in this shop, its even cheaper than that same one on tv!"

    The people who will buy these will buy it because they recognise the look, from the Apple advertising and hype. Clearly they are just freeloading off Apple's efforts, whether its a PC or not. These kind of people know its a 'computer' and that's it.

  19. Re:Not Just OS Problem / Bad Writing - Where B Too on Communication and the Open Source Community · · Score: 1

    As for conference calls, I know the windows version of Speak Freely (open source voice-over-IP software IIRC) lets you do conference call type things. Don't know about the linux version. Currently the only linux version is command line only and I dont know whether it has the same features or not, but a nice X one is in the works.

    Regarding your bandwidth concerns, I use Speak Freely to talk to my friend in Korea (I'm in Australia) and its clear and very fast. I am connected by 33.6 modem with an ISP notorious for latency woes. Speak Freely has a range of compression algorithms to use, so there's little worry there. I'm not affiliated with them by any means of course.. just a happy user :)

  20. They were using the incredibly beefy Nvidia Quadro on Alias|Wavefront Ships Linux Software · · Score: 1
    Yes! I saw these too at the Linux expo - I played Quake III for a while on one of them. While I was playing, I was so impressed by the speed of the things that I decided to go to setup and have a look at the video driver information.

    Apart from listing just about every GL extension known to man, the thing that stood out was they were using the Quadro. The Quadro, otherwise known as the NV10, is the next generation after the GeForce 256. They are expected to come with 64Mb of ram, with an enormously powerful T&L architecture. Truly something to behold.

    Quadro info links here:

  21. My brief rundown on the expo on From The Australian LinuxExpo · · Score: 2

    I went on Wednesday at around midday, and was quite pleased to see such a large-ish Linux presence. The tying of Linuxexpo to IT2000 (big Aussie computer show) was a great idea, as I saw quite a few non-linux users wandering in from IT2000 and getting enlightened - "What?! You're just giving me your operating system for free?!?!" :)

    Personally, I thought the Compaq presentation was mainly fluff. Filled with buzzwords and little substance beneath the big flashy screens. That rotating Xeon light thing at the Intel stand really got on my nerves too. The Intel display was a bit boring though.. Watching the 1Ghz Athlon over in IT2000, running 3Dmark 99 was very sweet! Playing Q3 on those beefy SGI boxen was damn cool too.

    The guys I talked to at SuSE and Turbolinux were generally nice and friendly - I especially liked the giving away of the 1-CD distros. I think you could probably tell the Debian guys apart, even if they didn't have debian stuff everywhere - stereotypical messy geeks?

    The free stuff was cool... Donuts, coffee, ice cream, stress balls, and those rackspace.com t-shirts (wearing mine now :P). Hehe... I got some strange looks at uni that afternoon, with that Turbolinux tattoo on my face.

    Personally, I thought the Compaq presentation was mainly fluff. Filled with buzzwords and little substance beneath the big flashy screens. That rotating Xeon light thing at the Intel stand really got on my nerves too. The Intel stand was a bit boring though.. Watching the 1Ghz Athlon over in IT2000, running 3Dmark 99, was very sweet! Q3 on those SGI boxen was damn cool too.

    The guys I talked to at SuSE and Turbolinux were generally nice and friendly - I especially liked the giving away of the 1-CD distros. I think you could probably tell the Debian guys apart, even if they didn't have debian stuff everywhere - stereotypical messy geeks?

    The free stuff was cool... Donuts, coffee, ice cream, stress balls, and those rackspace.com t-shirts (wearing mine now :P). Hehe... I got some strange looks at uni that afternoon, with that Turbolinux tattoo on my face. Those guys in the penguin suits were a pain though (but I still put my name in the draw for the Turbolinux scooter! :P)

    Anyway, I had a great time, and I hope it continues to grow exponentially. Looking forward to next year!

  22. Re:Umm on SuSe CEO: 'Linux Still Not Ready for the Desktop' · · Score: 1

    Not to mention those lovely Dynamic Fonts!

  23. That's funny... on SuSe CEO: 'Linux Still Not Ready for the Desktop' · · Score: 1

    ...Its the exact opposite for me, unfortunately. In win95, I can play mp3s in the background with no visible speed impact on the GUI and my running apps (but I can still notice it when doing CPU-ish things like unzipping big files etc).

    However, in linux (and no its not the WM, I've tried E, IceWM and currently Windowmaker and its all the same) playing MP3s slows X to a CRAWL. Eg. I can time how long it takes for windows to redraw when moved or switched to, in seconds! I've tried XMMS, Freeamp and GQmpeg... all similar results though XMMS was a bit slower.

    I am running a K6/2 @ 450, 96Mb ram with a Voodoo Banshee with Darryl Strauss' Banshee X server. Could this just be a driver problem for me? Or will my luck improve in XFree 4.0 due to the new architechture...?

  24. Re:Not very realistic? on X-Files FPS Episode · · Score: 1

    Yes.. Well at least thats what www.lucidity.com say about things. Lucid dreaming is knowing you're awake whilst in a dream, and therefore do whatever you want in the dream. They have little devices to help you achieve lucidity that make mild stimulus such as flashing lights, to help you realise you are in a dream.

    The idea is that if you train yourself to look out for flashing lights etc all the time, you will recognise it when you are dreaming, as your brain will translate it to something like a fluorescent light flickering or something, in your dream. Then you will consciously know you are dreaming and are free to have fun :). The whole basis of their stuff is that your dreams can and are easily influenced by the outside world.

  25. Re:Not very realistic? on X-Files FPS Episode · · Score: 1

    I think you may have just forgotten to stop OST 3 playing before you went to sleep, and caught the billion odd FMTTMs that inhabit most of the disc while you slept ;P