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9551

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 22, 2009, 02:09 PM »

Some guys over at Boot Land have done the same thing using USB key drives and Windows boot manager. Boot from USB and the same boot manager menu comes up.  Very cool.

-MilesAhead (December 22, 2009, 01:49 PM)

@MilesAhead - Nice find! Thanks for the link.

When trying to accommodate hardwire sometimes I would build several kernel versions.  All it took was a few lines in the boot manager configuration file to load the specific kernel, and particular modules depending on the kernel version in startup scripts.  Sometimes I would have to boot a kernel to use a device when an older kernel may be generally more stable or whatnot.  One of the things I really liked about Linux was the ability to boot a floppy that pointed you into the Linux partition on the HD.  If your boot manager got hosed you could boot the HD install from the floppy.

-MilesAhead (December 22, 2009, 01:49 PM)

And it will only get easier with time. On the FOSS side we're all looking forward to the finalization of the Grub2 boot manager. Still a little too early in the dev cycle for general deployment - but the current version does work quite nicely. No real showstopper bugs so far.

Link: http://www.gnu.org/s.../grub/grub-2.en.html

 

9552

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 22, 2009, 01:41 PM »

Bill the Cat has the greatest faces ever.

-superboyac (December 22, 2009, 01:20 PM)

OK.

Just for you then:




 

9553

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 22, 2009, 01:14 PM »

So many things to try!

-superboyac (December 22, 2009, 10:26 AM)

Yes there are...

Here's your new case badge:



Welcome to the club!

9554

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 22, 2009, 12:47 PM »

The only problem with virtualization is that it introduces its own complications and issues to the mix.

If you read the bulk of the slam reviews against Linux, you will find that about 90% of them were written by somebody who is having trouble getting it to run smoothly on one of the following:

• a virtual machine
• a low-power netbook
• a tricked out multimedia laptop with the latest and greatest hardware

So unless you're experienced with running virtual machine environments, just be aware that what you experience in that environment will not be the same as your experience on native hardware. The reason I bring this up is because I'm constantly annoyed by people who write negative reviews about NIX after having only run it on a VM. To my mind that's no different than criticizing a Windows app after only testing it on a Macintosh under Parallels or CrossOver.

(The same goes for my attitude about the validity of broadly judging a general purpose distro after installing it on either an extremely low or high end laptop. But that's a subject for it's own rant!    )

If you want to evaluate without installing, I think you're better off just sticking to the "live" versions until you're ready to give something a real run for your money. I'm a big fan of using swappable HD-drive trays for testing different operating systems. But that's probably overkill for most people. Live versions will give you a decent feel for the distro's user experience without introducing any oddities that installing to a VM can often bring.

Just my 2¢  


P.S. I'll half agree with f0dder on an earlier point he made. Multibooting Linux and Windows does leave a lot to be desired. But multibooting different versions of Linux works just fine thanks to the way the boot process gets handled in that environment. NIX isn't jealous of other operating systems, nor does it insist on being the primary one.

And since you can share the same HOME directories and SWAP file among multiple installations, it doesn't waste very much space. Many Linux users do just that when they want the best of KDE and Gnome without the risk of one set of dependencies screwing up the other. It's also a great way to keep a working  'test' and 'real' installation on the same machine.

Something to think about.

9555

What's the Best? / Re: PDF Cataloger - Any Suggestions

« Last post by 40hz on December 22, 2009, 11:23 AM »

I have a large collection of technical papers in TXT and PDF format. I'm currently using a free (donation requested) app called Calibre to keep them organized.

Note: This app was primarily designed for managing e-books, so it also has a bunch of features (e-book device support, multi-format conversions, news downloads, etc.) which I don't use. I can't personally vouch for all the things it claims it can do. But for what I do use it for, it's worked like a champ.

Link: http://calibre-ebook.com  

9556

Living Room / Re: How to stop junk [snail] mail?

« Last post by 40hz on December 21, 2009, 04:28 PM »

Wish we had a sticker system like that in the US. Unfortunately, our postal service is legally required to deliver all the mail it accepts to the addressee if humanly possible.

You could try using the Direct Marketing Association opt-out service (dmachoice.org).

I used it, and it did reduce much (but not all) of the junk I was getting.

Worth a try anyway.

9557

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 21, 2009, 04:18 PM »

...PCLinuxOS just blew me away with its professional appearance and hardware compatibility...Anybody use this distro?

-sajman99 (December 21, 2009, 03:53 PM)

I'll +1 that.

PCLinuxOS is another good first choice for first-time users.
I've found it works very well on otherwise problematic 'last generation' laptops. It inherits all the stability of Mandriva, which it's based on, but adds a few touches of its own.

Nice choice of desktop managers too.  

A very civil and helpful user community can be found over in the forum. (Note: Be sure to read the PCLinuxOS Usage Rules and How to Ask Questions the Smart Way threads before posting in order to enjoy the best experience. They can be found in the Usage Rules PLEASE READ section of the forum.)

9558

Living Room / Re: Infectious Greed: Dishwashers, and How Google Eats Its Own Tail

« Last post by 40hz on December 21, 2009, 12:06 PM »

i wonder if this means there is room for a major search engine player that had a system similar to google's pageranking, but specifically spread negative scores based on sites actually selling products.. so a site selling products would spread it's negative energy to sites that link to it, etc.

this would penalize some good honest sites...

-mouser (December 20, 2009, 01:43 PM)

Ooo! I just reread that and let it sink in.

Cool idea. Problem is it's rife with the potential for legal liability. Especially if it could be shown to have a negative impact on somebody's sales. (Annoying as bogus whoops! cancel that some reviews may be, they're not illegal under current law.)

Even consumer advocacy groups have to be careful what they say and how they say it no matter how true it is. That's why they have a battery of editors and lawyers review everything twice before they publish. I'd hate to trust something that sensitive to an algorithm.

An attorney once told me there was a saying he learned in law school:

"Keep all your words soft, sweet, and wholesome - because you're about to eat them."


Probably not a bad thing to keep in mind.

9559

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 21, 2009, 08:07 AM »

I feel like you are me, only you've done everything a couple years before I have!

-superboyac (December 21, 2009, 12:38 AM)

That's only because I'm more than a few years older than you so I've had more time.

Tell me, what does the future hold for me?

-superboyac (December 21, 2009, 12:38 AM)

Many many many good things. (Count on it.)

The thing is, I'm sure all of these things can be fixed easily if you are familiar with the system.  But I don't have the time at this point.

-superboyac (December 21, 2009, 01:11 AM)

FWIW Suse is more of a second distro than a first if you're new to Linux. (At least as far as I'm concerned.)

If you really just want to get our feet wet with minimal hassles, give Mint (http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php) a try. It's what I usually suggest to beginners who ask me where to start. Mint is a very elegant rework of Ubuntu. Well worth the download.

9560

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 20, 2009, 10:45 PM »

Flash IS crap.  Not necessarily the software itself, but the installation, the update notices, all that is surrounding it.  Such an obnoxious program.

-superboyac (December 20, 2009, 10:24 PM)

Hmm...maybe not crap - but it is getting to be an obnoxious little bugger to work with as well as an occasional security concern. Hopefully, a future version of HTML will eliminate the need for basic video playback plugins once and for all. (yeah right! )

9561

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 20, 2009, 10:37 PM »

Odd. If you're running Suse 11.2, Flash should already be installed. Flash Player should show up in the menu under More Applications

Just to play it safe, after your initial installation, open YaST** and select the online update option. Run that and install all the updates it finds. (If you haven't already. )

If that doesn't fix it, just remove Flash using YaST, and then reinstall it.

If you're completely new to Suse, check out this article over at www.howtoforge.com and follow along. It uses the Live Gnome version of the installer, but you can extrapolate if you're installing from the full DVD.

http://www.howtoforg...-opensuse-11.2-gnome

Note: I ran into the exact same problem with a client using Firefox where YouTube could not find Flash under WinXP. Turned out it was a pop-up blocker setting that was causing the problem.

Luck, and let us know how it's working out.

---------------
**Eeeeeek!!! Not sure why you are using YUM btw. YaST is the preferred installer for Suse. If you're new to it - stick to YaST. YUM is a royal PITA to set up manually  - and last I heard, it was removed from the 11.x repositories since it doesn't get along too well with Python 2.6 which is the default version Suse's repository will install.

9562

Living Room / Re: Infectious Greed: Dishwashers, and How Google Eats Its Own Tail

« Last post by 40hz on December 20, 2009, 05:30 PM »

the problem of course is that there is much more money in what google does

-mouser (December 20, 2009, 01:43 PM)

And the story ended right there...

9563

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 20, 2009, 05:26 PM »

Let go of emotions, and be rational about the whole thing.  After all, it's only software, there's no need to be emotionally tied to it.

-superboyac (December 20, 2009, 05:11 PM)

I'm glad to hear somebody (other than me ) saying that.

It *is* only software.
Thx SB!

9564

Living Room / Re: I'm beginning my experiment with Linux and other OS's.

« Last post by 40hz on December 20, 2009, 08:20 AM »

I should let Zaine say it first, so I'll just say: +1 with zridling for when he does!

9565

Living Room / Re: Would you buy this milk?

« Last post by 40hz on December 17, 2009, 03:34 PM »

Brill! It could also double as a baby "changing station." Just the thing for all those busy soccer Moms with newborns...  

9566

Developer's Corner / Re: This is interesting ... LoseThos Operating System

« Last post by 40hz on December 14, 2009, 06:31 PM »

Reading this brought a smile to my face:

Motivation: for Making LoseThos:
1986:  I had a book called, "Mapping the Commodore 64," when I was a teenager and it told what
every memory location did.  I hooked-up Radio Shack photo-transistors to my paddle-port and
relays to another port.

I think I spent more time with my trusty copy of Mapping the Commodore 64   than I have with any other book I've owned with the possible exception of Lord of the Rings. That book, plus a subscription to TPUG's marvelous Transactor magazine, and I was ready to do anything with my C64. Boy could you put that little "box of chips" to a lot of different uses. My biggie was a program I wrote (in FORTH supplemented with some assembly code) that let you use an inexpensive Casio keyboard to play musical notes directly through the SID chip. I later adapted it so that you could also input them into the Kawasaki Synthesizer program for playback.

Glad to see the spirit and passion are still alive. You have to admire anyone with the desire to build a small but usable OS from scratch for no other reason that the pure fum of doing so. Brings back memories it does.

 

9567

Living Room / Re: How to get from Seattle Washington to Tokyo Japan by car

« Last post by 40hz on December 11, 2009, 07:15 PM »

 

The sequence 8/9/10 is absolutely priceless!

I did pretty well until I hit this point in the directions:

35.   Keep left at the fork, follow signs for 東京 and merge onto 常磐自動車道
Toll road

Spoiler

(Next time I won't try to beat the toll.)

Terrific find! Thanks for sharing.

9568

Living Room / Re: Open Source Proves Elusive as a Business Model

« Last post by 40hz on December 11, 2009, 07:07 PM »

Sadly, our system is not set up to serve you, Mouser. Or the writers, or the poets. Or even the beer drinkers. It's set up to serve the money-lovers - capitalists.

Capitalism is extremely competitive, and will not suffer alternative systems of value to exist alongside of it. If an alternative system to capitalism produces anything of value, capitalism will consume that value until the alternative system is either destroyed or has transformed itself fully into a part of the capitalist system.

-Jimdoria (December 11, 2009, 04:06 PM)

I think it's just a teeny bit more complex than that.  

Especially since you won't find any country running its economy under a 'pure' capitalist system. Then too, there's the the very real question of which form of 'capitalism' you're referring to. There are numerous variants. (And the basic definition has changed over the years.)

You have to be careful not to take something as complex as capitalist economic theory and try simplify it to the point of absurdity. The only time you might have a reason for doing so is if your only intent is to turn it into a poster child for everything that's wrong with the world.

Capitalism is far from being an ideal system. But it is a 'middling-decent' one that stacks up pretty well against communism, socialism, mercantilism, colonialism - or any other socio-economic system that's actually been tried. About the only thing it has going for it is that it has historically worked better and longer than any other economic system - and benefited larger numbers of people - even if it did so unintentionally.

There are no perfect capitalists. Nor are there any perfect socialists, communists, or any other 'ists' you can create a label for.

People create economic systems and principles. If they're not perfect, its because we aren't.  

So until we decide to become better human beings, we shouldn't expect the systems we create and live under to be much better.

Just my 2 economic units.

9569

Living Room / Re: Google's Eric Schmidt has a stupid moment on privacy

« Last post by 40hz on December 11, 2009, 06:38 AM »

we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.[/i]

-zridling (December 11, 2009, 12:09 AM)

So too can the names of people in China who disagree with Chinese government policies.

Or who simply want to read unsanctioned world news coverage.

Google can be proud of it's record when it comes to acting both legally and morally.

9570

Living Room / Re: How would you improve a standard PC keyboard?

« Last post by 40hz on December 10, 2009, 07:01 PM »

Or you could do voice activated.  I'm just afraid what would happen if I sneeze.

-MilesAhead (December 10, 2009, 01:39 PM)

Last time I sneezed while using Dragon Naturally Speaking, it generated completed code for a new web browser.



 

9571

Living Room / Re: Open Source Proves Elusive as a Business Model

« Last post by 40hz on December 10, 2009, 06:41 PM »

The internet is by its nature a not-for-profit model, where the goal is not defined as maximizing profits, but rather maximizing benefit for a fixed amount of grant or contribution (dollars).

-phillfri (December 10, 2009, 04:11 PM)

I think that might have been true in the early stages of Internet deployment, but I don't think that's the case any longer. Espeically in the United states where the government has pretty much stepped out of everything except security and regulation as far as the web is concerned.

But even if that were true, it would still primarily apply only to the electronic 'plumbing' and not the content found on the web. Most content providers are actively looking for ways to charge for their words and images, and have been since the web moved out of its enthusiast/hobbyist phase several years ago.

Actually, when you get right down to it, The Internet itself isn't really a business anything. It's a communications infrastructure built around set of technologies and standards. So in many respects it is closer to what's traditionally considered to be a public utility rather than a business service. But while commercial applications were not a part of the concept that eventually became the Internet, the business community soon found uses for what it could provide. Just like it found uses for electricity back in the late 1800s.

How does everyone think we keep increasing economic productivity on a world wide level in the middle of a recession and super high un/under-employment? Its all about maximizing certain outputs for a set amount of dollar cost.

-phillfri (December 10, 2009, 04:11 PM)

Well...the most common practice currently employed to increase productivity and lower costs is to farm out manufacturing and service support to countries where labor comes cheap and there's little in the way of civil rights, environmental protection, or fair labor practices. It's also a major contributor to unemployment levels in countries that do have fair labor laws and stricter controls on environmental pollution.

And now that international shipping has become so cheap, it often costs less to ship from Asia to Europe or North America than it does to move the products from the receiving port to the local store shelves. So geographic distance is no longer a major consideration when it comes to picking a manufacturing site.

One very dirty side effect of all this web technology is that it has made exploitative outsourcing a viable business strategy. So not all is roses worldwide. None of our problems really went away. They just got palmed off on other people.

9572

General Software Discussion / Re: FireFox problem.. Downloads with unusual names close instantly dont download

« Last post by 40hz on December 10, 2009, 04:11 PM »

Firefox downloading has been causing problems for lots of people for several minor releases now. Go to the Mozilla forums and you'll be overwhelmed by all the downloading bug posts!

-phillfri (December 10, 2009, 03:50 PM)

Pretty interesting. I've been running 3.5 since it came out (currently up to V3.5.5) on all my business and personal machines and I haven't encountered any issues with downloads. Ditto for all my clients that are running Fox. And we're all bigtime downloaders.

Is there a consensus emerging as to what is causing all these problems?

9573

General Software Discussion / Re: Need Advice on Forum Software

« Last post by 40hz on December 10, 2009, 12:01 PM »

Hi everybody,

when I attended a conference about physiological research over the weekend in Holland, the attendants agreed to stay in touch and continue collaborating through the internet.

So it fell into my lap to start a forum on the net, something I have never done before.

Therefore I hope that with the combined brain power of our dear Donationcoder members, I will be able to whip something up in a jiffy.

Now in contrast to the "jiffy" thing is my tendency to be overly thorough and perfectionist as well as forward looking .

-brahman (December 10, 2009, 08:12 AM)

It's good that you want to be thorough, but I'd advise getting something up on the web as quickly as possible while the memories of the conference are still fresh in everyone's mind. Once you have a basic web presence, your membership and you will gain a better understanding of what it actually wants, as opposed to what merely looks good on paper.

The reason I mention this is because of an experience I had helping set up a specialist website.

When it was originally conceived, one of the "most important" features was going to be providing file downloads. During the development stage, a huge amount of effort went into the design and implementation of a secure download server. However, once the site was launched, it became obvious that most of the membership was not interested in file downloads. So virtually all of the time and effort that went into providing that capability went to waste.

Oddly enough, the one thing that was not planned for - but was very much wanted - was an advanced member profile feature. This group passed a lot of grant, client, and job referrals back and forth between its members. So having detailed profile information for each member was extremely beneficial when deciding who to pass a referral to.

So I'd suggest prototyping. This would allow you and your fellow conferees to stay in touch with each other while interest is still high; while still giving you time to adequately evaluate other products and services.

You could try using something like  Ning to set up a test space before you go and scratch-build your own. It's a remarkably good "starter environment" for community building. More than a few Ning users originally intended to do nothing more than set up a temporary site only to end up staying there permanently once they realized it was all they needed.

Info on Ning can be found here: http://about.ning.com/product.php

9574

Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by 40hz on December 09, 2009, 11:27 PM »

Looking at the program schedule, it appears that ECW Smash-Ups is going to be a regular feature every Tuesday @ 10:00pm going forward.

-40hz (December 09, 2009, 06:01 PM)

Going forward? Where ya been? ECW has been in that time slot for the last two years.

-Innuendo (December 09, 2009, 11:07 PM)

Mostly not watching SyFy - for obvious reasons.

If my GF wasn't a semi-fan of Warehouse 13, I doubt we'd be watching it at all.



Note: FWIW, WH13 is a "one-trick pony" show concept if there ever was one. But the cast is attractive and likable. And the interaction and dialog is witty, so it's enjoyable even if it's not very original or challenging. (I also must admit a certain ...um...liking for Joanne Kelly...for obvious reasons. )

9575

Living Room / Recording industry charged with copyright infringement

« Last post by 40hz on December 09, 2009, 10:47 PM »

This is one of those news stories that's "just so perfect" you'd think it was a joke the first time you heard it.

Courtesy of OSNews comes this interesting report of how major players in the Canadian music industry (Warner, Sony, EMI, and Universal Music) are being sued for copyright infringement to the tune of $50 million USD. And what makes it even more eye-opening is that these companies admit they have been infringing.

Link to full article: www.osnews.com/story/22590/Canadian_Recording_Industry_Faces_Massive_Infringment_Claims

 Canadian Recording Industry Faces Massive Infringment Claims
posted by Thom Holwerda on Tue 8th Dec 2009 19:19 UTC

And we have news of yet another massive copyright infringement lawsuit in the music industry. This one takes place in Canada, and the infringed party is placing a truly massive claim on the infringing party: 50 million USD, with the possibility of it exceeding 60 billion USD. Bad news? Well, no, not really - you really need to consider the infringing party in this one. This is irony not even the ancient Greeks could imagine.

The infringed party in this particular case consists of, among others, Chet Baker, a leading jazz musician in the 1950, who played various instruments and died in 1988. His legacy is maintained by his estate, which owns the copyright on 50 of his works. The infringing party has already admitted the infringing behaviour, meaning they own at least 50 million USD.

Now, here's the real shocker: the infringing party is none other than... The Canadian music industry: Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada - the four main members of the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

And now for the real kicker:

And here comes that sweet, sweet taste of irony, a taste sprinkled in fairy dust and brought to you by pretty pixies riding on pink unicorns: the recording industry successfully argued in Canada that pirates have to pay 20000 USD per infringement, which means that the potential liability exceeds 60 billion USD. "These numbers may sound outrageous, yet they are based on the same rules that led the recording industry to claim a single file sharer is liable for millions in damages," says Michael Geist, Internet Law columnist at The Star. He also holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa.

"After years of claiming Canadian consumers disrespect copyright, the irony of having the recording industry face a massive lawsuit will not be lost on anyone, least of all the artists still waiting to be paid," Geist further details, "Indeed, they are also seeking punitive damages, arguing "the conduct of the defendant record companies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to the enforcement of their copyright interests against consumers"."

Love it!