Furbies are SOOO 1998! I'm suprised there is still any interest in them. After all, the site does say, "The Hack Furby Two-Fifty Challenge was issued in January 1999, and you can look for results at http://www.afu.com" While there are no results at the page referenced (maybe no one entered?), could it be possible that the contest is long over?
Wow, I had no idea that any progress was still being made on OS/2 applications, and running Win32 code on OS/2 is even more exciting! I haven't used OS/2 in many years but I'd like to get back to my PS/2 roots (dusted off the old 8590 the other day and upgraded her to a Pentium 66). Anyone have any suggestions as to where to look for more exciting OS/2 stuff? Anyone out there in the/. community using OS/2?
It's true that They Might Be Giants has probably the strongest online fanbase of any group out there, which is especially interesting considering that they have been around over 15 years. (How many bands from even TWO years ago still have well maintained sites?) TMBG is also unique in that its fanbase tends to be extremely respectful of the band's wishes. A while ago They released a mp3 album on eMusic.com, and with any other band you'd expect to see it show up on Napster within minutes of release. TMBG fans, however, respect the artists and still (for the most part) don't put the songs up for sharing. We the fans aren't using Napster-like services to interfere or cheat out TMBG's net presence, but rather to make it stronger. Fans have tmbg.com for the official news and releases, but also have their own homegrown ways of distributing b-sides, rarities, videos, and the like, which doesn't keep TMBG from making money but rather keeps the fans happy. If anything, unofficial fan efforts are where most of TMBG's online strengths lie. I think Mr. Flansburg knows this, he just wants to make sure that the fans continue to respect their groundbreaking efforts on the net and don't undermine their profitability with Napster and download sites.
Who needs a modded DVD player? My untampered set-top DVD player is for American discs, and my Creative DVD player in my PC is for Japanese disks (the installer lets you choose what region you are in). Video card outputs into the TV and voila, multiregion DVD watching goodness.
If I recall correctly, Gyromite wasn't included with the system, which is why most R.O.B.s* were hardly never touched. But yeah, after owning Nintendo systems most of my life I was pretty pissed off when my Playstation didn't even come with a RF adapter!
Once the old guy who owns the Atari Store in the town I'm from told me that blowing into the cartridges could eventually damage the metal on the circuits due to the moisture in breath.
Then again, he also thinks the Atari Jaguar is far more powerful than the Playstation or N64, so take it with a grain of salt...
Likewise, I find it funny that anyone would purchase a personal computer such as the A1000 when Cray has had vastly more powerful machines available for years. So much for the progress of technology.
It has features like the 20 worst NES games of all time and the 10 worst things to base a game on. Lots of other funny stuff on there for any child of the 80s.
It's already been done for Linux, it's called khttpd, and you can read all the specifics of why it's cool in the August 2000 Linux Journal. It's crazy fast, and it automatically throws dynamic stuff to Apache (or whatever server you have set up) while handling the static pages itself. Great for a server that mostly serves images.
Now that Maxis is owned by EA, and EA knows that an online Sims will be a huge moneymaker, I'm sure that they will have sufficient funding to provide fulltime customer support, a server response and patch team, and all that other good stuff. Maxis has always been known for researching every aspect of a game to great lengths (read about the Sim's language in that article!), so I'm sure they've studied the early problems with Ultima Online, Everquest, and all those and figured out how they'll avoid them.
There is such a thing, at least in the Radio Shock (A Dandy Corporation!) store in Space Quest IV. It's called "Sim Sim: The Simulator Simulator" and shows a picture of the original SimCity box art except in the simulator window is another game box, and in that one's simulator window is another game box, and so on. (Damn recursion!) Funny stuff.
Okay, let me get this straight. You walk into Radio Shack and get the free scanner, catalog, and some software, and you are supposed to go home and install the software and register to buy things from the catalog online. But, because the software that was designed for the purpose of ORDERING THINGS requests your NAME and ADDRESS, it is equated with being a tool of Big Brother?
You people crack me up.
Tracking purchasing patterns is neither a new thing or an evil thing. There is no big "He ordered a case of Jolt, he must be a communist revolutionary! Notify the authorities!" conspiracy going on. It's simply a matter of statistics. If patters show that people who buy lots of Jolt and porno mags also like to buy copies of Everquest, and a store records a surge in Jolt and porno sales, then they better stock up on copies of Everquest. The exact same thing applies to how Radio Shack operates its online catalog. It's called basic marketing, and if you don't like it, don't pick up a CueCat. Your privacy isn't "infringed", Radio Shack saves money by having more CueCats for legitimate customers, and everyone is happy.
Our university has announced that in a few months it's last remaining Alpha server will be shut down and we'll now have web based e-mail instead. (UGH!) That means no more VMS. Alphas aren't exactly cheap, so this might be a nice way to keep OpenVMS alive on our campus!
Are there any pages out there that focus on the Lego product itself, and not just Steven Spielberg's endorcement of it? I'd like to know how the movies are made with Lego actors since Lego minifigs tend to be... well... inanimate. Pictures of still Lego toys would make for a boring movie.
Some sort of CGI movie making kit would be cool (like a cross between the Lego shape set for POVray and the fictional OOP product in Microserfs), but since the article says the kit comes with a real camera that must not be the case.
As usual, everyone loves to complain that they just installed the previous kernel when a new one comes out. Here's the solution: download patch, apply patch, make config, compile, vi lilo.conf, shutdown -r now. It takes all of an hour. It's not hard. Stop your bitching.
I haven't tried LinuxPPC yet (although I fully intend to), but I did Linuxify a couple of old Mac 8100s using mkLinux and it was a suprisingly pleasant experience. Once you get over the shock of seeing white & black console on a Macintosh screen, it is actually a speedy setup. X11 seemed to be much speedier than MacOS 7.5 (I'm not flaming MacOS, but you must admit that the newer versions are VERY slow on older hardware) and almost everything seemed to compile with no hangups. So if you ever come across a PowerPC when dumpster diving (or offer to help "haul away" some that are being replaced by Windows machines as I did), I strongly recommend giving Linux a try. Penguins like apples too!
Cray is now a part of sgi. Last I heard, sgi was planning on selling that division off because it hasn't been very profitable. Not to sound like a pessimist, but if sgi continues to have its financial woes and nobody jumps up to buy Cray, Cray might just get axed. It would be ashame to see them fade away, but in this day and age Cray's niche seems to have vanished.
Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried using G3/G4 hardware to build a cluster using Linux as the operating system? (In case you didn't bother to read the article, the Appleseed project uses MacOS 8 with a special control panel and process distribution application.) I'm not saying there is anything wrong with MacOS, I'm just curious as to how it stacks up against a Macintosh based Linux distribution for parallel computing.
On a side note, I found it interesting that this page provided parallel computing APIs for C and Fortran, as well as explaining what can be done with them. Most Beowulf related pages I have seen in the past don't really go into this, leading some people to the incorrect conclusion that any software can be run on a cluster without modification for instant speed boosts. Sorry to burst your bubble, but getting a whole bunch of old 486s together isn't going to instantly give you stellar SETI@Home or Distributed.net scores...:) Kudos to the Appleseed project!
The other day I recieved my free copy of LinuxOne OS. (I guess I was one of the first 200 "educational users" to sign the form on their site.) Boy does it suck! Not only did they completely rip off RedHat/Mandrake, but I think they managed to make it worse in the process. Due to a number of problems with their software, it was much more difficult to install and maintain than even Slackware (which is on the other half of my hard drive, btw). I sincerely hope that this distribution is some kind of massive joke to make the Linux community laugh at itself (sort of like the User Friendly / BeDope / SegFault thing last year). Anyone want a copy of the disk so that they can try out this Wonder Distro for themselves?:)
BTW, I wasn't flaming Slackware, it happens to be my favorite distro. But whereas Slackware is a challenge to configure and maintain because you do everything yourself, LinuxOne OS is a challenge to configure and maintain because it is a fetid pile of crap.
These great new drivers are ready for release. XFree 4.0 is not ready for release. If the XFree team didn't put out another series 3 release, the owners of these cards would be forced to wait to use their hardware.So everyone please stop bitchin' about this not being 4.0. The XFree team did the right thing.
Why does Paul Allen even want ZDTV? I'm sure he must have some partial ownership in MSNBC, which runs plenty of tech related stuff. How many cable channels does one man really need?!
On a semi-related note (well not really, but I'm gonna say it anyway), didn't I hear something about ZD being purchased by some Japanese company a few months ago? I can't seem to find anything about this... anyone have a URL with the details?
Read the article, people. It clearly states that computer morphing can be a form of war crime, but only if it is used in a warlike manner! They are very specific to give an example of fooling a populus about decisions made by their "leader", who is actually a computer generated figure. This article doesn't say anything about computer morphing when used in a manner that does not interfere with national defense. Sticking your friend's head on a different body and stuff like that isn't going to result in the Navy Seals knocking down your door. Heck, espionage can be a war crime, but that doesn't mean that tapping your roommate's phone will result in a UN tribunal.
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Furbies are SOOO 1998! I'm suprised there is still any interest in them. After all, the site does say, "The Hack Furby Two-Fifty Challenge was issued in January 1999, and you can look for results at http://www.afu.com" While there are no results at the page referenced (maybe no one entered?), could it be possible that the contest is long over?
Wow, I had no idea that any progress was still being made on OS/2 applications, and running Win32 code on OS/2 is even more exciting! I haven't used OS/2 in many years but I'd like to get back to my PS/2 roots (dusted off the old 8590 the other day and upgraded her to a Pentium 66). Anyone have any suggestions as to where to look for more exciting OS/2 stuff? Anyone out there in the /. community using OS/2?
It's true that They Might Be Giants has probably the strongest online fanbase of any group out there, which is especially interesting considering that they have been around over 15 years. (How many bands from even TWO years ago still have well maintained sites?) TMBG is also unique in that its fanbase tends to be extremely respectful of the band's wishes. A while ago They released a mp3 album on eMusic.com, and with any other band you'd expect to see it show up on Napster within minutes of release. TMBG fans, however, respect the artists and still (for the most part) don't put the songs up for sharing. We the fans aren't using Napster-like services to interfere or cheat out TMBG's net presence, but rather to make it stronger. Fans have tmbg.com for the official news and releases, but also have their own homegrown ways of distributing b-sides, rarities, videos, and the like, which doesn't keep TMBG from making money but rather keeps the fans happy. If anything, unofficial fan efforts are where most of TMBG's online strengths lie. I think Mr. Flansburg knows this, he just wants to make sure that the fans continue to respect their groundbreaking efforts on the net and don't undermine their profitability with Napster and download sites.
Who needs a modded DVD player? My untampered set-top DVD player is for American discs, and my Creative DVD player in my PC is for Japanese disks (the installer lets you choose what region you are in). Video card outputs into the TV and voila, multiregion DVD watching goodness.
If I recall correctly, Gyromite wasn't included with the system, which is why most R.O.B.s* were hardly never touched. But yeah, after owning Nintendo systems most of my life I was pretty pissed off when my Playstation didn't even come with a RF adapter!
*Robot Operating Buddy
Once the old guy who owns the Atari Store in the town I'm from told me that blowing into the cartridges could eventually damage the metal on the circuits due to the moisture in breath.
Then again, he also thinks the Atari Jaguar is far more powerful than the Playstation or N64, so take it with a grain of salt...
Likewise, I find it funny that anyone would purchase a personal computer such as the A1000 when Cray has had vastly more powerful machines available for years. So much for the progress of technology.
Every NES fan should take a look at Seanbaby's NES Page.
http://seanbaby.com/nes.htm
It has features like the 20 worst NES games of all time and the 10 worst things to base a game on. Lots of other funny stuff on there for any child of the 80s.
I mean, Mir crashing down onto Redmond, Washington, just has a strange sort of appeal to it, doesn't it?
NOOOO!!! Not Nintendo!!! Sure, the Game Cube may not look GREAT, but that's no reason to destroy a city!!!!!
Oh wait, maybe you're talking about a different company...
It's already been done for Linux, it's called khttpd, and you can read all the specifics of why it's cool in the August 2000 Linux Journal. It's crazy fast, and it automatically throws dynamic stuff to Apache (or whatever server you have set up) while handling the static pages itself. Great for a server that mostly serves images.
Now that Maxis is owned by EA, and EA knows that an online Sims will be a huge moneymaker, I'm sure that they will have sufficient funding to provide fulltime customer support, a server response and patch team, and all that other good stuff. Maxis has always been known for researching every aspect of a game to great lengths (read about the Sim's language in that article!), so I'm sure they've studied the early problems with Ultima Online, Everquest, and all those and figured out how they'll avoid them.
There is such a thing, at least in the Radio Shock (A Dandy Corporation!) store in Space Quest IV. It's called "Sim Sim: The Simulator Simulator" and shows a picture of the original SimCity box art except in the simulator window is another game box, and in that one's simulator window is another game box, and so on. (Damn recursion!) Funny stuff.
Okay, let me get this straight. You walk into Radio Shack and get the free scanner, catalog, and some software, and you are supposed to go home and install the software and register to buy things from the catalog online. But, because the software that was designed for the purpose of ORDERING THINGS requests your NAME and ADDRESS, it is equated with being a tool of Big Brother?
You people crack me up.
Tracking purchasing patterns is neither a new thing or an evil thing. There is no big "He ordered a case of Jolt, he must be a communist revolutionary! Notify the authorities!" conspiracy going on. It's simply a matter of statistics. If patters show that people who buy lots of Jolt and porno mags also like to buy copies of Everquest, and a store records a surge in Jolt and porno sales, then they better stock up on copies of Everquest. The exact same thing applies to how Radio Shack operates its online catalog. It's called basic marketing, and if you don't like it, don't pick up a CueCat. Your privacy isn't "infringed", Radio Shack saves money by having more CueCats for legitimate customers, and everyone is happy.
Our university has announced that in a few months it's last remaining Alpha server will be shut down and we'll now have web based e-mail instead. (UGH!) That means no more VMS. Alphas aren't exactly cheap, so this might be a nice way to keep OpenVMS alive on our campus!
Are there any pages out there that focus on the Lego product itself, and not just Steven Spielberg's endorcement of it? I'd like to know how the movies are made with Lego actors since Lego minifigs tend to be... well... inanimate. Pictures of still Lego toys would make for a boring movie.
Some sort of CGI movie making kit would be cool (like a cross between the Lego shape set for POVray and the fictional OOP product in Microserfs), but since the article says the kit comes with a real camera that must not be the case.
As usual, everyone loves to complain that they just installed the previous kernel when a new one comes out. Here's the solution: download patch, apply patch, make config, compile, vi lilo.conf, shutdown -r now. It takes all of an hour. It's not hard. Stop your bitching.
I haven't tried LinuxPPC yet (although I fully intend to), but I did Linuxify a couple of old Mac 8100s using mkLinux and it was a suprisingly pleasant experience. Once you get over the shock of seeing white & black console on a Macintosh screen, it is actually a speedy setup. X11 seemed to be much speedier than MacOS 7.5 (I'm not flaming MacOS, but you must admit that the newer versions are VERY slow on older hardware) and almost everything seemed to compile with no hangups. So if you ever come across a PowerPC when dumpster diving (or offer to help "haul away" some that are being replaced by Windows machines as I did), I strongly recommend giving Linux a try. Penguins like apples too!
Cray is now a part of sgi. Last I heard, sgi was planning on selling that division off because it hasn't been very profitable. Not to sound like a pessimist, but if sgi continues to have its financial woes and nobody jumps up to buy Cray, Cray might just get axed. It would be ashame to see them fade away, but in this day and age Cray's niche seems to have vanished.
On a side note, I found it interesting that this page provided parallel computing APIs for C and Fortran, as well as explaining what can be done with them. Most Beowulf related pages I have seen in the past don't really go into this, leading some people to the incorrect conclusion that any software can be run on a cluster without modification for instant speed boosts. Sorry to burst your bubble, but getting a whole bunch of old 486s together isn't going to instantly give you stellar SETI@Home or Distributed.net scores... :) Kudos to the Appleseed project!
BTW, I wasn't flaming Slackware, it happens to be my favorite distro. But whereas Slackware is a challenge to configure and maintain because you do everything yourself, LinuxOne OS is a challenge to configure and maintain because it is a fetid pile of crap.
<SCRIPT>malicious code</SCRIPT>
This is the end of my message.
TEE HEE!
These great new drivers are ready for release. XFree 4.0 is not ready for release. If the XFree team didn't put out another series 3 release, the owners of these cards would be forced to wait to use their hardware.So everyone please stop bitchin' about this not being 4.0. The XFree team did the right thing.
The operating system is written in x86 ASM. The Commodore 64 does not use a x86. Therefore, the answer is most likely no.
On a semi-related note (well not really, but I'm gonna say it anyway), didn't I hear something about ZD being purchased by some Japanese company a few months ago? I can't seem to find anything about this... anyone have a URL with the details?
Read the article, people. It clearly states that computer morphing can be a form of war crime, but only if it is used in a warlike manner! They are very specific to give an example of fooling a populus about decisions made by their "leader", who is actually a computer generated figure. This article doesn't say anything about computer morphing when used in a manner that does not interfere with national defense. Sticking your friend's head on a different body and stuff like that isn't going to result in the Navy Seals knocking down your door. Heck, espionage can be a war crime, but that doesn't mean that tapping your roommate's phone will result in a UN tribunal.