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9751

General Software Discussion / Re: 10 things to do after installing Linux

« Last post by 40hz on October 20, 2009, 03:44 PM »

[rant]
This page is the first result in Google for "wireless adapter chipset", give me a break...

My last wireless adapter was a TP-Link w/ an atheros chipset (confirmed at the aforementioned website I might add), which cost me I think $29AU *in* Australian (where prices for just about everything are typically inflated out the wazoo), I really can't see a lack of affordable USB Wi-Fi adapters myself...
[/rant]

Ehtyar.

-Ehtyar (October 20, 2009, 02:36 PM)

Yoiks!

Hi Dr. E.

Umm...okay.

[/non-rant:- start]

1. I thought we were talking about people were completely new to Linux and coming straight from Windows a moment ago. Many of them wouldn't have a clue about wifi chipset drivers. And most of those wouldn't have the patience or know-how to hack around with them once they did.

2. Every time I participate in one of our local Linux 'install fests,' the single biggest challenge is getting wifi to work reliably even when the right drivers are correctly installed. (And none of us who are assisting are newbies by any stretch.) Maybe it's different where you are. Where I am, it's still an issue. Especially since most people I'm dealing with are doing the install on their old machines.

3. When asked, wifi problems routinely come up as the single biggest showstopper issue for would be Linux adopters. Many people get NIX installed on their laptops only to zap it a week later when they still can't get their wireless NIC to work reliably. So while it may be cathartic to snarl at them, it still remains a barrier to Linux adoption. And that is not the fault of the poor sod who's just trying to install Ubuntu off some LinuxFormat DVD he bought at a bookstore. So until something as basic as wireless connectivity "just works" as the saying goes, it's a Linux problem. Or at least it is if one of our espoused goals is to bring NIX to the masses.

4. Regarding chipset info in general, take a look at the manufacturer's websites and product boxes. Last I looked there was very little (if anything) on the websites - and absolutely nothing on the product boxes - to indicate which chipsets and versions were being used. So while Mr. Heinz's webpage deserves credit for the effort that went into it, it still isn't information that can be readily obtained from the manufacturers.

5. Glad to see things are going so well in Australia. I hope to visit it someday.

[/non-rant:- stop]  

 

9752

General Software Discussion / Re: Graphic Design question: Services and prices?

« Last post by 40hz on October 20, 2009, 11:47 AM »

There's a certain touch to the drawing I did that I really like, and the same goes for Dore's.  Even though his illustrations are technically done the same way as the plugin...because he did it by hand, it has a certain touch to it.

-superboyac (October 20, 2009, 10:54 AM)

Wow! That comment is pure  music to my ears. And is that ever something I'd wish more people could see! Because if they did, they'd grasp the fundamental difference between "art" - and what's merely artsy.

So much of what passes for creativity these days is far too often nothing more than someone being clever.

Clever you can buy. Creativity, however, is gold coin.

Stay on the course you're on and I'm sure the finished work will be spectacular.

-----

BTW: this is my 2000th post! I wonder how many work hours that represents?

9753

General Software Discussion / Re: Graphic Design question: Services and prices?

« Last post by 40hz on October 20, 2009, 07:37 AM »

Those aren't sketches, they're etchings. Dore earned his reputation creating those.  

-40hz (October 19, 2009, 10:07 PM)

I know it wasn't a sketch. I am quite familiar with the original process. I was just giving info on how the look can be easily duplicated, with software.  

-app103 (October 20, 2009, 04:41 AM)

@app103 - Hiya. My earlier comment wasn't specifically directed at you or anyone else.

It was just offered for general informational purposes. Same goes for the description of the etching process. Glad to hear you're quite familiar with it. But most people aren't, so I thought it would be nice to share it with anyone who might be interested.

Sorry if it somehow offended.

-----

P.S. I also acknowledged your suggestion in the same post (emphasis now added) so I think I understood what you were saying.

The effect can be obtained digitally, either by hand, or by using a filter plug-in. Doing it by hand, as app suggested, is probably the better way to go if you want a unique look.

-40hz (October 19, 2009, 10:07 PM)

9754

General Software Discussion / Re: Graphic Design question: Services and prices?

« Last post by 40hz on October 19, 2009, 10:07 PM »

Those aren't sketches, they're etchings. Dore earned his reputation creating those.  

To make an etching, you had to first create a printing plate. Usually the plate was made of copper. To produce the image, the artist had to cover the plate with a thin coating of wax. He then had to draw the image by scribing through the wax with a sharp steel stylus. The plate was then dipped in acid to allow the picture to be etched into the exposed areas of the plate - hence the name "etching." The plate was then washed and examined. This process (wax/scribe/etch/wash) was repeated several times as the image was gradually built up in reverse order. It was a painstaking and dangerous process (acid!) that took years to master. In the hands of an artist like Dore, an etching could rival the level of detail produced by the photographic offset process, which would ultimately replace it.

Once the plate was completed, it was inked and pressed. The quality of the print was best at the earliest part of the print run since the soft copper plate gradually got damaged by the pressure applied by the press. When used for fine art prints today, etchings usually carry a penciled number to indicate where it fell  in the press run. The designation "25/150" would tell the buyer that his copy was number 25 in a printing of 150 copies. Usually the first 30 or so are considered to be the best quality and therefor command the highest prices.

Fortunately, we don't have to go through all that to get a similar look any more!

The effect can be obtained digitally, either by hand, or by using a filter plug-in. Doing it by hand, as app suggested, is probably the better way to go if you want a unique look.

But there are also dozens of prebuilt plugins that will produce acceptable results if you take the time to play with them.

Here's two examples of an "etching look" using two different plugins from one vendor:





Link to page: www.andromeda.com/main/screening_gallery.php

(A quick Google search will pull up tons more. )

In the meantime, keep up the great job you're doing. Can't wait to see the finished product.

9755

General Software Discussion / Re: 10 things to do after installing Linux

« Last post by 40hz on October 19, 2009, 09:55 PM »

Get a USB adapter with an Atheros chipset and stop being such a jackass blaming Linux for vendor failures. Simple, no?

-Ehtyar (October 19, 2009, 07:49 PM)

No. Especially not for a newbie.  

Most manufacturers don't willingly provide information about which chipsets they use. Many vendors also periodically switch chipsets, occasionally doing so within a given product model's lifecycle.

I can't speak for the rest of the World, but in the US, Broadcomm chipsets (which are not at all  Linux friendly) make up about 75% of what gets installed or is readily available.

IMHO, the major distros have two basic options for dealing with all the wifi hassles. They either need to figure out a way to resolve their stalemate with the manufacturers over getting workable drivers; or they can "bring the battle to their opponent's doorstep" by manufacturing their own affordable wifi hardware.

I'll bet if Shuttleworth (and some other NIX heavyweights) announced they intended to put some serious money into doing just that, the bulk of the hardware vendors would soon fall in line. Especially if said 'penguin-friendly' NICs also came with drivers for Windows.

Just a thought!

9756

General Software Discussion / Re: 10/GUI

« Last post by 40hz on October 19, 2009, 02:04 PM »

Was IBM's dynamic model somewhat similar to what you had in mind?

-40hz (October 18, 2009, 08:05 AM)

From all I know of it (which is just what you have written above) it is very similar, because my idea seems to imply an "every app is a server app" model.

-JennyB (October 19, 2009, 01:12 PM)

"Every app is a server app..."

Interesting idea. (And well beyond what IBM was thinking! )

Are you envisioning something where the desktop/control interface acts as the client in a client-server environment? (That would lend itself nicely in a fully virtualized environment, where the OS performs a purely supervisory role, and each application is launched as a separate virtual machine.)

9757

General Software Discussion / Re: 10 things to do after installing Linux

« Last post by 40hz on October 19, 2009, 01:41 PM »

11. sudo rm -rf /* and then install Windows again.

-scancode (October 19, 2009, 12:30 PM)

Beat me to it  

-f0dder (October 19, 2009, 12:35 PM)

@ziridling: I'll bet you were waiting for that just like I was.

what happens if your wireless card doesn't work?

-app103 (October 19, 2009, 12:38 PM)

Maybe use a network cable until you got your wifi problem sorted out?

BTW:wouldn't it be more correct to say when it doesn't work?   Wifi connectivity is still a major (and completely unnecessary) challenge for many new Linux users. We can thank the hardware manufacturers for that.

9758

Adventures of Baby Cody / Re: Baby Cody with Ampa... and time to move on.

« Last post by 40hz on October 19, 2009, 07:34 AM »

Has he gone - if so where is he now?

-Carol Haynes (October 19, 2009, 07:08 AM)

Would it be possible to get a Cody's Adventures 'pin map' put up somewhere?

9759

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7: Anyone else getting excited?

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

How do you work that out? If $1=£0.62 that means MS charge £1 in the UK so we pay $1.61 for the same item (give or take a cent). Doesn't looklike much of a discount to me.

-Carol Haynes (October 18, 2009, 03:55 PM)

I get that figure by being half awake (up all night last night and today getting a group of servers installed), and watching two other screens while typing, that's how.

Thanks for catching me committing one of the most basic of arithmetic errors.

-----

Re: MAPS subscription

I have that too. I'm running 8 copies each of Windows and Office, along with several of the server products, so it's a very good deal for me.

9760

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7: Anyone else getting excited?

« Last post by 40hz on October 18, 2009, 03:14 PM »

Chances are poor Carol, and other UKers, will get the screw. Lots of software companies when setting UK software prices usually just remove the $ off of the US price tag and replace it with a £.

-Innuendo (October 18, 2009, 12:05 PM)

Well, last time I looked $1.00 ≈ 0.68€ or £0.62 -  so that amounts to a pretty nice discount if that's how the distributors handle currency conversions.

<Edit: NOT! See Carol's comment directly below...> 

9761

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7: Anyone else getting excited?

« Last post by 40hz on October 18, 2009, 08:19 AM »

So it appears that MS or the EU has backtracked on the original decision not to include Internet Explorer.

-Carol Haynes (October 18, 2009, 05:12 AM)

In Win7, Microsoft now allows you to disable IE using the Windows Feature panel. Windows does get rather 'snarky' about it when you tell it to do so - and just how much of IE actually does get disabled is anybody's guess. But it's a start.

I wonder if that's the bone MS threw to the EU?

Presumably the EU and US versions are now identical again or where there other differences I have forgotten about?

-Carol Haynes (October 18, 2009, 05:12 AM)

Nope. We're one Big Happy World again. "Yesterday's Technology at Tomorrow's Prices" courtesy of those good folks in Seattle.

Hopefully your local price tag will be better than ours.

9762

General Software Discussion / Re: 10/GUI

« Last post by 40hz on October 18, 2009, 08:05 AM »

the main point is to move away from the mouse having to select both the action and its object.

-JennyB (October 17, 2009, 04:54 PM)

Wow...

For years there's been something about mouse usage that really bothered me, but I could never quite put my finger on what it was. You just did. Thank you!  

That's why I'm proposing that keycodes not be hardwired to particular keys or gestures.  

The idea comes from ColorForth which uses only 27 keys of a normal keyboard - have a continually updated display of key assignments (not on the keycaps - you should not be looking there anyway) that is generated from lists of currently available commands. The user only sees the command label, not the keycode that it returns. Think of it like a link in the Help index.

Initially, with a new program, no keys are assigned - or perhaps the input device auto-assigns those with familiar labels. Commands are selected by picking with a mouse, or perhaps in FARR style.  When you learn a command and know you are going to use it often, drag a copy off the list and place it on a spot associated with a particular key.

-JennyB (October 17, 2009, 04:54 PM)

That sounds something like IBM's old 'dynamic key system' back in the days of minicomputers. There was a set of "command tabs" which appeared across the bottom of the screen that corresponded visually to a double row of function keys at the top of the keyboard.

The screen labels (and related keys) would reassign themselves depending, not only on what application that was running - but more importantly - what you were doing in the app itself. For example, entering an edit mode would display a group of edit functions. Switching over to a data entry mode would reassign the keys to other functions. There were certain keys that had standardized assignments however. If I recall correctly, on the bottom row, the first key on the left was always HELP, the second key was NEXT, and the third was PREVIOUS. Programmers weren't required to adhere to the 'standard key' mapping conventions. But everybody did, so it was never an issue.

IBM's idea was to have the minimum number of keys active at any time in order to avoid operator confusion and minimize opportunities for keystroke errors.

Also interesting was how this method was incorporated into their security model. Any function or selection the user wasn't authorized to make simply didn't appear in the available keys. So if you were running an accounting app, you only saw what you needed to do your job. Things you weren't authorized to do simply didn't exist when you logged in.

They used the term "obscured functions" to describe this feature. IMHO it was a far better method than 'greying out' unauthorized selections - or even worse, allowing you to do anything, but screaming at you when you try to select something you're not supposed to, like most systems do today.

Was IBM's dynamic model somewhat similar to what you had in mind?

9763

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7: Anyone else getting excited?

« Last post by 40hz on October 17, 2009, 01:49 PM »

OK. I've been running 32-bit W7 almost exclusively for about a week now...

No problems whatsoever. The only anomaly came when I tried to install Silverlight via IE 8.0.  First three tries and IE went out into limbo. One reboot and one more try did the trick however. Works just fine now.

I'm currently only running: Office 2k7, LiveMail, LiveWriter, Firefox, Radik Burner Lite, AVG Free, and Maricum Reflect since I'm still feeling my way into it. To my amazement, there have been no bad surprises, other than IE 8 having occasional issues with font sizes on certain (e.g. HP Driver Downloads) websites.

I can't run Aero eye candy on this machine since it's on-board video isn't up to the requirements (perf score was only 2.0 for video!), but that's no great loss AFAIC. I don't really care for the Aero effects and planned on disabling them anyway.

The only minor qualm I had was having to install a Vista-labeled driver (per Microsoft) for one of my 1Gb NICs. Fortunately, it went in smoothly and works flawlessly. Now, this card works even better than it does under XP, so I probably shouldn't complain.

So far - so good. The system seems to be quite light on it's feet. Even seems even slightly faster that XP in some areas, although that may likely be because I have far less stuff running in the background than I do on my XP setup.

I'm pretty happy so far. (Fingers crossed. )

9764

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7: Anyone else getting excited?

« Last post by 40hz on October 17, 2009, 01:24 PM »

Anyone have any inside scoop how many years we have to wait for USB 3.0?  Also disappointing is none of the otherwise pretty good deals seem to have Esata.  I hate opening boxes just to stick some card in that should already be there.

-MilesAhead (October 10, 2009, 05:56 PM)

According to the folks over at Endgadget, Buffalo is shipping at the end of October 2009.

Est. $60 for the 2-port controller card/$225 1TB drive.

http://www.engadget....k-drives-this-month/

"Pretty gorram shiny by me!" - Jayne Cobb

9765

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 40hz on October 17, 2009, 07:37 AM »

They're all much too high brow.

Just got the latest Discworld novel - Unseen Academicals.

-tanis424 (October 17, 2009, 12:36 AM)

Don't let what I'm currently reading fool you. I'm nowhere near that high brow.  

(I'm also a big Pratchette fan. I've read everything he's written - and I'm always on the lookout for the next Discworld installment. Great books, all of them. )

For recreational reading, I just finished Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind.



Love, civil war, mystery, and books (including a secret library of forgotten and "lost" works) - plus a mysterious dead author, whose works of strange fiction are being systematically hunted down and destroyed by a sinister figure.

A plot summary doesn't do it justice. A friend handed it to me when I asked her what it was about and told to me read a little of it instead.

I was hooked after I got about 3 pages into it.

International bestseller.(And for once, deservedly so.) Truly awesome book.

9766

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 40hz on October 16, 2009, 11:10 PM »

This week I'm rereading Gerald M. Weinberg's Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Getting and Giving Advice Successfully for about the 20th time. Excellent commentary and insight into the oftentimes paradoxical world of expert advice. More than a book, it's a collection of usable tools.





Also highly recommended is another one of Gerry's books: An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. This is one of the true classics.

(Gerry has about a dozen books to his credit. These two titles are easily his best.)

9767

General Software Discussion / Re: 10/GUI

« Last post by 40hz on October 16, 2009, 07:21 PM »

i think 40hz's old startrek picture does point the way to the future -- customized input pads tailored to the application you are working on.

-mouser (October 13, 2009, 11:18 AM)

Yep:
http://www.artlebede...hing/optimus-tactus/

-Tuxman (October 16, 2009, 07:14 PM)

That's exactly it! Schwing!!! 

(Thx for the link T-Man!)

9768

Living Room / Re: Anybody else playing with Wave?

« Last post by 40hz on October 15, 2009, 09:41 PM »

Clueless Tech Desperately Seeking Insight

OK...

Perhaps I'm dense, but I don't see what the buzz is all about just from reading/viewing Google's promo pieces.

So far, Wave strikes me as a mash-up of existing technologies. Something like a digital whiteboard meets MediaWiki meets Facebook meets Twitter.

Still, I'm guessing there might be synergies somewhere in there that I'm missing by not being involved. Maybe with Wave, you can't really "get it" until you have some hands-on experience.

So could some of the DoCo participants who do have some "hands-on" bring the rest of us up to date on their initial impressions? And possibly discuss how they see Wave fitting in with (or possibly replacing) the tools we're using now?

9769

Living Room / Re: 18 year old starcraft gamer stabs 15 year old after internet connection goes out

« Last post by 40hz on October 15, 2009, 05:39 PM »

I stabbed my cody mug and broke my knife when I dropped a can of campbells extra chunky soup on my foot...do i have a problem?

-Josh (October 15, 2009, 04:29 PM)

Nah. You were just having "one of those days."

9770

Living Room / Re: 18 year old starcraft gamer stabs 15 year old after internet connection goes out

« Last post by 40hz on October 15, 2009, 04:12 PM »

Once again The Press mistakenly presumes two or more factors in close proximity establish a cause and effect relationship.

(i.e. Since he was playing Starcraft, it was his playing Starcraft as well as the dropped internet connection that had a direct bearing on his violent actions.)

A more accurate report would have read: "Unstable young man reacts violently to minor frustration in his home. Irrationally goes out and stabs unsuspecting stranger because he couldn't cope."

9771

Living Room / Re: Snow leopard bug causes erasure of users home directory

« Last post by 40hz on October 15, 2009, 03:59 PM »

Another troubling thought is that I thought OS X was built on top of BSD, a very mature and secure OS. How did this get past the BSD layer?

-Innuendo (October 15, 2009, 02:30 PM)

It's believed the problem lies in the way OSX deals with the guest account. OSX is set up to automatically delete any files found in the guest account's home directory once the guest logs out.

That's not a bad idea actually.

Purging the guest directory eliminates the risk of having something left behind that can screw up the system. It also guarantees each person who subsequently logs in as a guest gets their own "clean set of sheets" so they're not put at risk either. Minimizing risk is the entire point of a having a guest account to begin with.

From what I understand, apparently something happens in OSX if you logout of a regular account and then log into the guest account. Because if you logout as guest after that - and then immediately log back into your regular account - that's when the glitch occurs.

Somehow, the files in the regular login's home directory get purged along with the guest's. That's an Apple original if there ever was one.

That gremlin has nothing to do with BSD since the same thing doesn't happen in BSD. Or Linux. Or Windows. Or...

9772

General Software Discussion / Re: 10/GUI

« Last post by 40hz on October 15, 2009, 03:24 PM »

Keyboards are actually pretty good at making multiway selections. They are superior to touchscreens because the usual choices can be made by muscle memory alone, without having to look.

-JennyB (October 15, 2009, 01:43 PM)

Excellent point. I tend to like hotkeys myself.

The only problem comes when you start supporting multiple applications with widely varying sets of controls and features. You'll see this mostly in music, media, and graphics applications. Eventually you run out of logical key combinations for all the tasks you want to have a key for. Once that happens, you're forced to use arbitrary and non-intuitive ones. A good example is V for PASTE or W for CLOSE in most apps.

If you rely on muscle memory, and know that something like "alt-S" = "SORT," then what happens when another app decides it should be used for SAMPLE or SCALE or SKEW? I'm thinking along the lines of what happens when the average American gets into a car designed for the British road system. It's only mirrored so it's not totally unusable. But it's still a jolt to deal with.

The other thing is that there's a lot of research showing that most people prefer to use spatial models and functional "chunking" (ex: "Sugar is on the top left shelf next to the honey.") to remember things rather than code tags (ex: "Sugar is a sweetener. All sweeteners are coded as S-group items and are shelved alphabetically, within their group, over in section 17").

So I still think some sort of graphic control surface will ultimately win out over key combinations for the general population. That's why GUI OS interfaces became so popular. People hated command lines and hot keys. Especially for applications they used every day. A lot of early wordprocessors lost out to MSWord because they wouldn't provide their users with an alternative to key commands.

I'm not sure if this can be done in Windows, or any other OS, but it potentially splits the program from the interface entirely.  All the former has to do is provide lists of functions it makes available, which the interface device displays and selects as it sees fit; and send a list identifier at the appropriate point to tell it which list to switch to.

-JennyB (October 15, 2009, 01:43 PM)

It's very doable. But you'll probably never see something like that incorporated into the OS itself.  Especially when you consider the amount of joint company cooperation that would be required to make it work. (There's a risk of violating antitrust laws for starters!)

 

9773

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: SysAdmin-focused Account Information Keeper

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2009, 08:00 PM »

A single plain text file is perhaps a little too free-form I think.

Ehtyar.

-Ehtyar (October 14, 2009, 05:20 PM)

Why not gin up a quick & dirty MS Access app then? That way you could use any form layout you wanted. Encrypt the file using AxCrypt if the built-in isn't strong enough for what you want.

Grab high-entropy passwords from here: https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

or here: http://www.goodpassword.com/   - and paste them in as needed.

9774

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2009, 06:39 AM »

well. hm

this is primarily a pc site
not for mac users

-cmpm (October 13, 2009, 06:16 PM)

I don't think that's true. DoCo is remarkably agnostic when it comes to hardware platform and operating systems.

There's "primarily" more discussion of non-Apple related topics because that's what the majority of the DoCo community work with.

We're a promiscuous bunch here. Most of us will use anything.

being able to really install both OS on one computer is a plus
that is one reason for the one i bought
pc's can't do it like a mac can

I think it would be more correct to say PCs aren't allowed to do it like Macs are."

Not being able to easily install OSX on anything but Apple's hardware is a purely arbitrary marketing decision by Apple to force you to buy theirs. There are no legitimate technical reasons for why it can't be done as easily as installing Windows or Linux on a Mac.

Apple used to say that "1984 won't be like 1984." And they were right. But I guess they stopped counting at that point. Because most of what they did afterwards only brought it closer.

Here's an interesting thing about many people who style themselves "Revolutionaries." Once they buck the old regime and gain some power for themselves, they almost always become worse tyrants than the people they replaced.

But then again, it's always been a truism that rules are made for other people so I guess it's to be expected.

Like Apple says: Think Different!  

Maybe they should have said: Abandon Logic!

9775

Living Room / Re: Microsoft's $500 million cloud machine.

« Last post by 40hz on October 14, 2009, 06:06 AM »

If they stacked all 56 on top of each other they could build The Tower of Byte-Bull.