Lets start a new charity. International Geeks! :)
on
Geek Charities?
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International Geeks, helping poor Geeks in third world countries get computer and Internet access. Many Geeks go without computers and Internet access and are forced to use them in libraries or schools if they exist. Some geeks don't have computer access at all, and have to, *gasp*, use calculators or slide-rules!
Help out Geeks in Europe, Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. Remember the less fortunate Geeks who never have played Doom, or surfed the Internet, or even got the chance to use a mouse.
Remember, they'd help you if the roles were reversed!:)
We already created one in our company for internal use for Lawyers. It is web based and uses ASP pages to generate views. It is based on a CMSOpen database. It can sort Calendar views by Practice Area, Client Matter Numbers, or Personal views. It has a monthly and daily view. It has hyperlinks to detailed information, and also hyperlinks to client and matter info if it applies.
We send out reminders with an external VB program that reads the database and uses MAPI to send the messages. On the calendar a user can use the ASP page to do a calendar request via another ASP page, which sends e-mail via Outlook to the people that do the data entry administration of it.
I'd show you what it looks like, except we are on an Intranet and we are not supposed to give out what our products look like as they are for internal use only.
Our next phase is to integrate the calendar with Outlook so that if a change is made in the database Calendar, it also gets made to the Outlook calendar. A very tricky one to do.
Anyone have the book "101 BASIC Computer Games" by Digital Press? It has Hunt The Wumpus and others in it. I wonder if the old BASIC games will work with the Playstation 2 BASIC?
Good idea, but a bit slow on some platforms and I don't think that Microsoft will release all the API calls needed to do the X86-Windows emulation. Your best bet is to run a browser in WINE or WABI.;)
Make the plug-ins portable between platforms. Use Java for the Plug-Ins. That way they can be ported between platforms. Make the code in the browser to load the Plug-In as native code or Java code.
Well Apple does need to support older hardware as well as the newer ones. Does the GUI part of OSX directly access hardware? Or does it need a driver like Linux or Solarus does? Is it simply a matter of making a driver to support the GUI on older systems?
If OSX needs no firmware, can it be converted to be run on 68K Macs as well as 601/603 Macs?
You need to make Linux easy enough to install that Joe Sixpack can do it while he's drunk by pressing one button and choosing automatic. The software should be able to repartition his hard drive, create the swap partition, install GNOME or KDE for him, and boot up into a GUI after he chooses "Linux" from LILO. Maybe in five years we can make it so that this is possible. By then, Microsoft will be as popular as Osborne Computers.;)
But seriously, are we supposed to let the average user who shops at Wally World er ah Wal*Mart use Linux? Linux isn't consumer friendly, no version of Unix is consumer friendly. Even Apple is having a hard time getting OSX user friendly enough and out of beta fast enough to sell to consumers. Even then, it might end up a Server/Workstation OS for business and the consumers will still use the old MacOS 9.X system?:)
Because they couldn't charge money for new games if they made a portable NES instead of a Gameboy. Then they got us again with the Color Gameboy and now the Advanced Gameboy.
You might as well ask why Atari made the Lynx instead of a portable 2600/7800 unit?;)
So what do you want? An animated AVI/MPEG/QT file showing the unit in action? He put the schematics for the two boards on his page with pictures of the boards and how they fit.
Oh heeeellllppp! I grew up in the 1980's and 1970's. Jane stop this crazy thing! Arrrgghhh! Where's the beef? Whip it good! It's a pet rock! Rubik's cube! Lava lamp! Disco fever! Nanoo nanoo! Video killed the radio star! Black light posters! Ronald Regan! Max Headroom! Use the force Luke! It begins!
Now my Pentium II PC has turned into a Commodore 64 with a 300 baud modem, my Honda has turned into a Ford Pinto, and I got acne yet again!;)
P.S. For those who didn't get it, this post was a joke.:)
The ones that cannot control 3D games, and must learn by playing the simple games first.
I have a 2 year old son, and the N64 is too complex for him to learn to play games. I was thinking of buying an old 2600 or NES or SNES to have him learn on when he is old enough.
Or heck, I could teach him Unix by the time he is 6, and he can hack into his school's web server?;)
Make a Playstation emulator on a CD-ROM that loads the 838 games off of it. It wouldn't be legal, but you could create one for yourself to run. Someone could port Stella or something to the Playstation or Dreamcast and then sell the CD-ROM without the 2600 ROMS. Then you just burn a CDR with some 2600 ROMs on it and play those.
Make an interface to use the Playstation / Dreamcast controllers.
After all, Bleem is out for the Dreamcast to play Playstation 1 games on it. Why not make a 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, 7800, 5200, NES, SNES, Genesis, SMS emulator disk?
Those 838 ROMs come from different companies. An US Copyright lasts 75 years, so you have to compensate all those other companies for using their ROMs. It would add up to over $800 to get the licensing for the ROMs to sell it legally. 75 years from 1976, or whenever the 2600 came out, they might be able to put the game system into the public domain and anyone can clone it. But where would you get the old 8 bit chips to make the darn things?
If he made it without the built in 838 games, and it uses NES controllers with the Cart option, it still would be great but would need the legal ok from Atari or whomever owns the 2600 copyrights.
Copyrights have a 75 year life on them, even if the company goes under, some finacial company will buy out the property of the company including copyrights as part of the liquidation of the company.
Thing is companies are always out to get as much money as they can from the copyright. Including suing people for passing out their games. Just like the Video Game Console people suing over emulators and ROMs being passed around.
If these products were hardware based, like someone made audio cards and then dropped support for them, would they sue people making Windows 2000 and Linux drivers for them and hosting the old DOS/Win3.1/Win95 drivers?
I myself have some
Abandonware Links at my web site. I hope that they don't get shut down. Too often old copies of games suffer from bit-rot and stop working. It is good to be able to download a backup in a ZIP file just in case.
If Apple ports OSX to CHRP/POP systems we could get a rackmount CHRP/POP based server.
Apple lacks the Enterprise level server hardware, since OSX is limited to Apple Mac hardware and Apple isn't going to have a 64 processor Mac Server any time soon, Apple better port OSX to other platforms or at least the PowerPC CHRP/POP platform.
A place I worked would reset the user's password to "password" if they forgot their own password. One lady called up the help desk and said "Please don't change my password to 'password' it is too hard for me to remember what it is." She retired shortly after.
Remember when Amazon gave out $10 off certificates? But if people bought stuff at $10 or under, they would get it for free. Until Amazon stopped it to a minimum $10 order?
Anyway, if I go to a Local Store, they have different UPC codes for Diet Caffine Free Coke. One UPC rings up as $1.09 and the other for $0.99. Same 16.9 Oz bottle, two different prices. Just keyed in. If I get charged $1.09 I can show the $0.99 price and ask to speak to a manager to get the price adjusted. I think that Amazon needs a "price check" feature in case a customer has a problem. Thing is, unless you complain to them about it, they won't catch it. It obviously is a data entry error, most likely the same item with a different item number or sku number.
Remember "Buyer Beware" and they already got your credit card number when you ordered!:) It should be just as easy to issue a refund!
It is a good old Windows emulator that requires Windows to run. So it is $35 plus whatever it costs to to buy Windows 9X unless you are lucky enough to have Windows 9X bundled with your PC when you bought it.:) Yeah you heard me, that CD you've been using as a drink coaster because you reformatted your hard drive and installed Linux.
Now my question is, what if you decided to partition your hard drive to boot both Linux and Windows 9X? Running Windows applications is just one reboot away. What if you don't need to run both at the same time?
Also does the $35 program allow you to run Windows ME as well, or just Windows 95 and 98?
Brett, I remember you from the Infoworld Forums posting this kind of Anti-GPL Anti-Linux stuff. But hey, if that is your opinion of them, fire away.
I think that companies and developers should be able to choose whatever licensing or lack of that they want to use. Be it a BSD, GPl, Freeware, Shareware, whatever they should be able to choose it.
Yes Addison, he hasn't shown any real proof of conspiracy. Brett is just on yet another rant and rave, and needs to switch to Decaff and avoid the red meat.:)
I guess that companies want to do something different and radical than any other company. I recall at one time Atari did research into making a thinking joystick. The user thought "up" and the signal for up was sent, etc. I am not sure how far they got with that before they either gave up or found that it wasn't affordable? I have images of Doctor Brown from "Back To The Future" with that metal bowl on his head trying to read minds.:)
Anyway Amiga had the joyboard, were someone would lean on it in one direction to move in that direction. Besides being good for Ski Simulators and Meditation (try to keep perfect balance) nobody really saw a good use for it. They had hoped to fund their computer project by selling the joyboard. That is what this new keyboard replacement sounds like, a Joyboard, but you wave your hands and so forth.
I suppose the computer of the future could use handwriting recognition? But people like me have bad handwriting and the letters don't form right. A "z" might become a "4" or something.:) On a PalmPilot I have to use that keyboard cheat program to type in words.:) So the keyboard is still there in some form or shape.
It is a shame that Apple didn't open up all the OSX code so that others could create versions of it. But I suppose that is an advantage of a BSD License over a GPL license, eh?
Also they could do a WINTEL port and run OSX and MacOS applications on WINTEL systems if they did that, right?
I am just asking because I don't really know. Just in theory this could happen right?
I remember some people doing something like that to make a replacement AmigaDOS project or something.
Slashdot Mirror
International Geeks, helping poor Geeks in third world countries get computer and Internet access. Many Geeks go without computers and Internet access and are forced to use them in libraries or schools if they exist. Some geeks don't have computer access at all, and have to, *gasp*, use calculators or slide-rules!
:)
;)
Help out Geeks in Europe, Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. Remember the less fortunate Geeks who never have played Doom, or surfed the Internet, or even got the chance to use a mouse.
Remember, they'd help you if the roles were reversed!
How does that sound? Too funny?
We already created one in our company for internal use for Lawyers. It is web based and uses ASP pages to generate views. It is based on a CMSOpen database. It can sort Calendar views by Practice Area, Client Matter Numbers, or Personal views. It has a monthly and daily view. It has hyperlinks to detailed information, and also hyperlinks to client and matter info if it applies.
We send out reminders with an external VB program that reads the database and uses MAPI to send the messages. On the calendar a user can use the ASP page to do a calendar request via another ASP page, which sends e-mail via Outlook to the people that do the data entry administration of it.
I'd show you what it looks like, except we are on an Intranet and we are not supposed to give out what our products look like as they are for internal use only.
Our next phase is to integrate the calendar with Outlook so that if a change is made in the database Calendar, it also gets made to the Outlook calendar. A very tricky one to do.
Anyone have the book "101 BASIC Computer Games" by Digital Press? It has Hunt The Wumpus and others in it. I wonder if the old BASIC games will work with the Playstation 2 BASIC?
Good idea, but a bit slow on some platforms and I don't think that Microsoft will release all the API calls needed to do the X86-Windows emulation. Your best bet is to run a browser in WINE or WABI. ;)
Make the plug-ins portable between platforms. Use Java for the Plug-Ins. That way they can be ported between platforms. Make the code in the browser to load the Plug-In as native code or Java code.
So is this a good idea or not? Let me know.
Well Apple does need to support older hardware as well as the newer ones. Does the GUI part of OSX directly access hardware? Or does it need a driver like Linux or Solarus does? Is it simply a matter of making a driver to support the GUI on older systems?
If OSX needs no firmware, can it be converted to be run on 68K Macs as well as 601/603 Macs?
You need to make Linux easy enough to install that Joe Sixpack can do it while he's drunk by pressing one button and choosing automatic. The software should be able to repartition his hard drive, create the swap partition, install GNOME or KDE for him, and boot up into a GUI after he chooses "Linux" from LILO. Maybe in five years we can make it so that this is possible. By then, Microsoft will be as popular as Osborne Computers. ;)
But seriously, are we supposed to let the average user who shops at Wally World er ah Wal*Mart use Linux? Linux isn't consumer friendly, no version of Unix is consumer friendly. Even Apple is having a hard time getting OSX user friendly enough and out of beta fast enough to sell to consumers. Even then, it might end up a Server/Workstation OS for business and the consumers will still use the old MacOS 9.X system? :)
Because they couldn't charge money for new games if they made a portable NES instead of a Gameboy. Then they got us again with the Color Gameboy and now the Advanced Gameboy.
;)
You might as well ask why Atari made the Lynx instead of a portable 2600/7800 unit?
So what do you want? An animated AVI/MPEG/QT file showing the unit in action? He put the schematics for the two boards on his page with pictures of the boards and how they fit.
Looks like it works to me.
Oh heeeellllppp! I grew up in the 1980's and 1970's. Jane stop this crazy thing! Arrrgghhh! Where's the beef? Whip it good! It's a pet rock! Rubik's cube! Lava lamp! Disco fever! Nanoo nanoo! Video killed the radio star! Black light posters! Ronald Regan! Max Headroom! Use the force Luke! It begins!
;)
:)
Now my Pentium II PC has turned into a Commodore 64 with a 300 baud modem, my Honda has turned into a Ford Pinto, and I got acne yet again!
P.S. For those who didn't get it, this post was a joke.
The ones that cannot control 3D games, and must learn by playing the simple games first.
;)
I have a 2 year old son, and the N64 is too complex for him to learn to play games. I was thinking of buying an old 2600 or NES or SNES to have him learn on when he is old enough.
Or heck, I could teach him Unix by the time he is 6, and he can hack into his school's web server?
Make an interface to use the Playstation / Dreamcast controllers.
After all, Bleem is out for the Dreamcast to play Playstation 1 games on it. Why not make a 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, 7800, 5200, NES, SNES, Genesis, SMS emulator disk?
Those 838 ROMs come from different companies. An US Copyright lasts 75 years, so you have to compensate all those other companies for using their ROMs. It would add up to over $800 to get the licensing for the ROMs to sell it legally. 75 years from 1976, or whenever the 2600 came out, they might be able to put the game system into the public domain and anyone can clone it. But where would you get the old 8 bit chips to make the darn things?
If he made it without the built in 838 games, and it uses NES controllers with the Cart option, it still would be great but would need the legal ok from Atari or whomever owns the 2600 copyrights.
Just get someone to port the emulators to PalmOS, they should be able to emulate the old 8 Bit systems real good.
It is the bible for Unix System Administrators. It will help you lock down your system and get the most out of it. 'Nuff said!
Thing is companies are always out to get as much money as they can from the copyright. Including suing people for passing out their games. Just like the Video Game Console people suing over emulators and ROMs being passed around.
If these products were hardware based, like someone made audio cards and then dropped support for them, would they sue people making Windows 2000 and Linux drivers for them and hosting the old DOS/Win3.1/Win95 drivers?
I myself have some Abandonware Links at my web site. I hope that they don't get shut down. Too often old copies of games suffer from bit-rot and stop working. It is good to be able to download a backup in a ZIP file just in case.
If Apple ports OSX to CHRP/POP systems we could get a rackmount CHRP/POP based server.
Apple lacks the Enterprise level server hardware, since OSX is limited to Apple Mac hardware and Apple isn't going to have a 64 processor Mac Server any time soon, Apple better port OSX to other platforms or at least the PowerPC CHRP/POP platform.
Hacker's Haven 7843
Remember when Amazon gave out $10 off certificates? But if people bought stuff at $10 or under, they would get it for free. Until Amazon stopped it to a minimum $10 order?
:) It should be just as easy to issue a refund!
Anyway, if I go to a Local Store, they have different UPC codes for Diet Caffine Free Coke. One UPC rings up as $1.09 and the other for $0.99. Same 16.9 Oz bottle, two different prices. Just keyed in. If I get charged $1.09 I can show the $0.99 price and ask to speak to a manager to get the price adjusted. I think that Amazon needs a "price check" feature in case a customer has a problem. Thing is, unless you complain to them about it, they won't catch it. It obviously is a data entry error, most likely the same item with a different item number or sku number.
Remember "Buyer Beware" and they already got your credit card number when you ordered!
It is a good old Windows emulator that requires Windows to run. So it is $35 plus whatever it costs to to buy Windows 9X unless you are lucky enough to have Windows 9X bundled with your PC when you bought it. :) Yeah you heard me, that CD you've been using as a drink coaster because you reformatted your hard drive and installed Linux.
Now my question is, what if you decided to partition your hard drive to boot both Linux and Windows 9X? Running Windows applications is just one reboot away. What if you don't need to run both at the same time?
Also does the $35 program allow you to run Windows ME as well, or just Windows 95 and 98?
Brett, I remember you from the Infoworld Forums posting this kind of Anti-GPL Anti-Linux stuff. But hey, if that is your opinion of them, fire away.
:)
I think that companies and developers should be able to choose whatever licensing or lack of that they want to use. Be it a BSD, GPl, Freeware, Shareware, whatever they should be able to choose it.
Yes Addison, he hasn't shown any real proof of conspiracy. Brett is just on yet another rant and rave, and needs to switch to Decaff and avoid the red meat.
I guess that companies want to do something different and radical than any other company. I recall at one time Atari did research into making a thinking joystick. The user thought "up" and the signal for up was sent, etc. I am not sure how far they got with that before they either gave up or found that it wasn't affordable? I have images of Doctor Brown from "Back To The Future" with that metal bowl on his head trying to read minds. :)
:) On a PalmPilot I have to use that keyboard cheat program to type in words. :) So the keyboard is still there in some form or shape.
Anyway Amiga had the joyboard, were someone would lean on it in one direction to move in that direction. Besides being good for Ski Simulators and Meditation (try to keep perfect balance) nobody really saw a good use for it. They had hoped to fund their computer project by selling the joyboard. That is what this new keyboard replacement sounds like, a Joyboard, but you wave your hands and so forth.
I suppose the computer of the future could use handwriting recognition? But people like me have bad handwriting and the letters don't form right. A "z" might become a "4" or something.
It is a shame that Apple didn't open up all the OSX code so that others could create versions of it. But I suppose that is an advantage of a BSD License over a GPL license, eh?
Also they could do a WINTEL port and run OSX and MacOS applications on WINTEL systems if they did that, right?
I am just asking because I don't really know. Just in theory this could happen right?
I remember some people doing something like that to make a replacement AmigaDOS project or something.
Here I thought RMS was Really Mod System or Really Sad Machine? :)
:)
Or it could be Radical Sounding Metaphor?
Are we talking from a keyserver here? Or can someone snag your public key, like say from Slashdot's profile on you, and then add their key to it?