Posts by Goat Jam 2482 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Mar 2008
Why is the babe taling on the vidphone with Slugworth?
http://images.google.com.au/images?q=slugworth&oe=utf-8&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=QmnZSZniApOTkAXhhOTWCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title
Also, I thought we already figured out that people don't want vidphones?
Paris, because I would make an exception on the vidphone thing if she was on my hotdial!
I agree with this guy. What these device manufacturers need to do is agree on a standard filestystem, bet it existing (ext2) or some new one (ummm, maybe not).
Everytime they sell some of their gear it should come with drivers that install the "OpenFS" if it is not already present.
If enough manufacturers did this then the driver would become so ubiquitous then it would rarely need to be installed by the user.
Microsoft would then be forced to do a DR-DOS and try and stealthily "break" the driver without getting caught. Only they would get caught.
Well, there is the historical RPM hell which soured my taste for RPM's in the early days, but I admit that this has been mostly resolved through yum and yast etc.
Then there are some little annoyances with the way that yum seems to keep swapping repositories because it thinks the download is corrupted, but that may be something to do with the craptastic firewall/proxy/filtering systemd they use here at work.
The main reason that I much prefer debs are the proxy options that are available for streamlining the updates to multiple machines. I use apt-cacher, but there are several other choices (approx, apt-proxy). They are easy to setup and work great, just point the proxy to the upstream repo, point the machines on your network to the proxy and all your updates need only be downloaded once. Takes literally 5 mins to configure and you are set.
Try as I might, I cannot find an equivalent solution for RPMs. It seems there are only two choices, use squid (a far inferior solution in so many ways) or mirror the entire repository locally, which sort of defeats the purpose because you then need to download the updates for every package in the repo, even the ones you don't use.
40K downloads for an alpha is pretty impressive.
Not that I like Redhat distro's at all beacuse of the whole RPM thing but each to their own. I'm sure the folks that like their rpm's would say the same thing about deb's but diversity and choice is what I love most about linux in all it's flavours.
Long live Tux!
So, you run a bunch of tests that
1) Can't actually test the performance of the kit
2) Is not actually relevant to the intended uses of the kit
3) Despite points 1 and 2, declare the performance as breathtaking.
If you MUST do video compression testing on multi-core CPU's, then at least endeavour to use software that, you know, can utilise multiple cores.
DVDRIP on linux springs to mind.
Good grief no. I mean I don't like Redhat based distros at all, just cannot stand the whole RPM ecosystem compared to Debian flavoured distros. But nevertheless I don't want to see them destroyed. Mark my words, destroyed they would be if Oracle were to eat them. I have no doubt it would be the end of Redhat, even if Mad Larry doesn't just buy them to close them down. There is no way Larry Ellison could ever run a FOSS outfit without alienating their customer base AND developer community. It just aint gonna happen.
They'd have more chance being swallowed up by Ballmer and his band of merry marauders.
You know, when I started reading the article I though it might be cool to stream a game across my LAN from a dedicated games beast to say, my laptop, or maybe a media PC attached to the TV.
Of course further reading reveals that this is not the intended use of this brilliant as it is just yet another bandwidth hogging attempt to centralise software and change PC gaming to a service model. In other words, DRM in sheeps clothing.
Of course the likes of EA and Blizzard will just love getting *their* software off *our* computers and move us to a pay to play model for EVERYTHING. I cant see gamers thinking it is such a great idea though. It'll be really great at LAN parties, too I expect, with dozens of gamers all trying to suck 5Mb/sec down the same pipe.
Which brings us to the bandwidth issues. Presently, ISPs around the world are imposing ever restrictive usage caps on their poor suffering users. I have a relatively BIG cap of 25Gb per month, my GF has a whopping 1Gb to play with. I can't even setup a simple SSH-PPP vpn between our places so I can stream mp3s from my server at home so I'm reduced to using fucking *sneakernet* and a USB stick just to do stuff between or places. And this is in the Year of Our Lord 2009 for christsake, not nineteen fucking eighty five.
What all these idiot marketing droids and venture capitalist cretins fail to understand when they come up with "fantastic" ideas such as streaming TV and games over the net is that the users they intend to target won't actually have the ability to use their products, even if they actually wanted to, due to the asshat behaviour of their scumbag service providers.
Welcome to the 21st century boys, we've got the all the tech you can imagine without the permission to use it.
OK, now that I've got that out of my system I feel a bit better now. Honest
In a high availability production environment?
Maybe they should give that other darling of the cheap-and-nasty-raid-cards-that-are-almost-guaranteed-to-lose-your-data market segment "Highpoint", aka "Lowpoint" a go.
Should keep their liarwers happy at the very least.
Paris, because nobody's hard dic/Hsk ever fails when Paris is around
I had that very book when I was a misguided yoof and it has long since been lost. I've been looking for a second hand copy for years and never found one.
The most obtuse collection of cartoons I've ever seen. Even better than Gary Larson!
Anyway, I will keep looking.
LOL! - "Orifice Building"
mmmkay, sure, <ahem> "maintenance".
Right.
Not because thousands of mischievous activists have been bombarding you with requests to ban every web site under the sun.
No, I'm sure it wouldn't be that.
Paris, because she has high maintenance requirements too.
Just design IE8 to the W3C standards properly and allow it to co-exist with IE6 on the same system. For asshats that still require IE6/7 they can install IE6/7 on their PC's alongside IE8 and have it integrate into IE8 as required in exactly the same way that IE does today when I type a URL into Windows Explorer.
That way people who don't want/need the extra bloat/security problems don't have to have it and people who have crappy IE flavoured sites will start losing hits when Joe Six Pack browses their site at random and finds that it is broken while corps that have krufty IE6/7 intranets just need to stick IE6/7 into their desktop site policies and everything will work as it does today.
Paris, because there is no question of compatibility when she is concerned
That'll work. You can also use nc (netcat) as well
http://tuxnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/backing-up-disk-over-network.html
@Tom
This is why you boot from a live CD or USB key to do the backup. I doubt anyone was suggesting that you can use DD to backup a running filesystem.
Paris, cuz I'd backup her system anyday
Yes, I believe they do have something of that ilk, but I don't think they use it to it's full, <ahem> potential yet. Both apple and MS have long been aiming for a PC landscape where they get full control over what is installed on _their_ systems.
I'm just keeping an eye open for this crap and when PC hardware starts becoming hobbled by having mandatory "Trusted Computing" inbuilt then that will be the time to stock up on EOL kit that doesn't include this feature.
Hopefully those protectors of freedom (aka The Chinese) will come to our rescue and still manufacture stuff without that crap.
There is no way that you can sell subsidised hardware running linux unless you find a way to lock the hardware down so hard that the OS cannot be fiddled with or changed at all.
The problem then is that you can't update the device to patch it for errors or new functionality.
Give the average Linux hacker the slightest hole to poke through and suddenly you'll find that your subsidised devices are flying out the door based on their subsidised cheapness and uber hackworthiness and will never actually be used on the service that is providing the subsidy.
"Problem is the market is going to be flooded with similar devices by then, making the iPhone and the Palm fairly average."
True, except 90% of those "similar devices" will be running Windoze Mobile of some sort or other.
A nice piece of hardware is just a nice piece of hardware and nothing more when it comes with "The OS with the Start Button" on it
So, no competition there.
I just bought a small Atom based Compaq (How do you make your keyboards so crappy HP?
I want to use it as a home server running linux but there is no way I can purchase the device without also purchasing a fricking MS OS.
I have yet to decide to agree to the two EULA's (one for MS, one for HP) on the thing as I'm unsure what I am going to do now.
Choice 1: Attempt to run the OS refund obstacle course. The MS EULA clearly states that if I don't agree to the MS T&Cs then I should return "the product" to the place of purchase for a refund. This is fine. On the other hand, the seperate HP EULA states that if I don't agree to the HP T&Cs then I should return the hardware and software. Legally, it would be possible to agree to the HP EULA but disagree with the MS EULA and still be in the position that is possible to return Windows without returning the hardware but I'm not sure whether I can really be bothered.
Choice 2: Return the product within the 2 week grace period that is stated within the EULA and let the store deal with having a second hand, partly used product placed back into their inventory. In fact, the more I think of it the more I think that we should start a grassroots campaign to destroy the MS monopoly by continually buying PC's and then returning them within the two week grace period. If enough people do this enough times the pressure will flow upwards from the retailers to the OEMs and right up to Microshaft.
Choice 3: Suck it up and do nothing.
Are contractors, you know, employed under a contract. And surely that contract specifies the rate of compensation they will receive for the duration of the contact. So, how is it that Microsoft can just turn around and rewrite these contracts half way through?
Or is it just new contracts that this applies to?
I'm sure youtube offered warner the same deal as the other labels. Why would they do otherwise? I have no doubt whatsoever that Warner Bros didn't want to take that deal and walked away.
In that case, Mr Young would be better off
a) Changing labels
b) Whinging at WB management instead of youtube
Paris, because she always wants more, more MORE too.
'No it's like Nissan only selling a GT-R with the new 'anvil attached to the back feature' THEN charging you $60 to remove the anvil as an upgrade.'
"And saw the anvil and still bought it.'
Well, if Nissan are the only car maker in town and all their cars come with anvils then sure, why not? I need a car after all, it's not my fault I can't buy one without a damn anvil on the back.
Why "rape" (ie a few minutes of having sex with someone against their will) is considered to be a crime far more heinous than murder (ie taking someones life away permanently)
So, it's OK to have games depicting the violent, bloody, senseless murders of countless strangers but if you add to that simulated sex with a fake cartoon character in a fictional rape scenario and every one is all OMG, THE HORROR, THE HORROR.
Now, I'm not for one minute condoning rape, but bugger me if that isn't a case of screwed up priorities.
"Heartland admitted that on 20 January, while US attention was on the Obama presidential inauguration, that a breach in its processing systems last year led to the disclosure of an unspecified number of customer records."
That's why.
I had to read that sentence several times before I figured out what the problem was.
Heartland wasn't breached on Jan 20 at all, they were breached the previous year.
What that sentence should say is 'Heartland admitted on 20 January, while US attention was on the Obama presidential inauguration, that a breach in its processing systems last year led to the disclosure of an unspecified number of customer records. "
The superfluous "that" in there gives the whole paragraph a different and totally erroneous meaning.
On the one hand, we have content providers falling over themselves to provide streaming media to the masses (see Spotify story earlier) while on the other hand we have ISP's who are all busily working on implementing increasingly restricted bandwidth caps.
It seems to me that something has gotta give.
Currently, I have to live under a bandwidth cap which in practice means having to constantly ask yourself "will this download be worth the bit cost?" before doing anything that is remotely bandwidth sucking.
Until I can happily browse the net without having to consider the potential usage it will incur I won't be idly streaming crap from the 'net. If i want to watch something I'll get it from bittorrent. At least then I know that if I want to watch it again I won't need to download its bits a second time.
"and the last think creativity needs"
You know, I often come across people who inexplicably transpose "thing" for "think" in their sentences. It is incredibly annoying, especially as a father of two young children who tend to pick up on these things very easily, causing me to constantly correct them whenever they start doing it.
It is not often however, that one comes across somebody who has actually taken their confusion between the words "thing" and "think" to the next level, and actually displays their ineptitude in written form.
You sir, are one of those people. Bravo and well done!
Paris, because I often like to thing about her thinks.
"The goal is to let users on Linux machines play video and enjoy the same breadth of content and quality of experience enjoyed by users running Silverlight on PCs or even Macs."
@Gavin Clarke: Did you forget to put that marketroid gibberish in quote marks or did you actually write that sentence?
@Ash
Try Ubuntu. I've installed it on several laptops with different wireless cards and it has always worked out of the box.
Re: Online support. Again, with the Ubuntu plug, but their support forums are nothing like that. I participate in the "Absolute Beginners" forum occasionally when I'm bored and I have yet to see the behaviour you and others describe. The mods there do a pretty good job and people there are generally keen to see newbies succeed.
It is my understanding that PAE is a function that has to be supported in hardware and that support is not included in most consumer aimed systems.
As well as that, PAE support must be compiled into the kernel too, so a different kernel is required for systems that support PAE vs those that don't.
Now, I suppose it would be possible to ship multiple kernels on the W7 install media and do some sort of "PAE support test" during install but I imagine that this would be a significant development cost as well as being a potential major support problem somewhere down the line.
It would be far more sensible for people who NEED >4Gb RAM to just install an OS that supports it natively ( ie any 64 bit version of their fave OS) rather than trying to kludge that support into a 32 bit version.
Aren't trolls usually restricted to the comments section? Since when are they allowed to write articles?
Nevertheless, considering that the internet is only good for porn and flame wars and seeing that el Reg doesn't provide the former (articles for eePc not withstanding) then it makes sense for them to be fanning the flames as much as possible.
Keep up the good work guys, and buy Chris a muffin.
Or something.
"There's substantial interest in installing Ubuntu on all this hardware, indicating that this is actually want the customer wants."
In fact the new HP netbook in question does ship with Ubuntu, so perhaps HP have learnt something (well, outside of the UK that is)
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/02/04/hp-releases-netbook-interface-for-ubuntu/
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