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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Is this the end of the world as we know it?
Date: 7 Oct 2011 15:17:13
Message: <4e8f5039$1@news.povray.org>
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On Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:10:33 +0100, Stephen wrote:
> I'll top post as I'm sure nobody wants to read all that again.
>
> What do you mean?
LOL
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>>> Audio certainly is an area that's recognised as being problematic.
>>
>> Really? I thought that was Wi-Fi.
>
> Nah, Wi-Fi is pretty easy - either it works or it doesn't. Either you
> have the firmware necessary or you don't.
>
> Audio is so horribly complex on Linux because there's at least 3
> different systems to use it, and nobody's standardised on one. OSS.
> Alsa. PulseAudio.
Ah yes, that's fun.
I especially like the way that installing one GNOME application installs
the entire GNOME system, including the GNOME sound daemon. And all I
actually wanted to do was run gedit...
> The standards were all not standardised, so they
> decided to fix the problem by creating ANOTHER STANDARD.
>
> Gah.
Required XKCD quote: http://xkcd.com/927/
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> 1. How do you get it so a terminal is always available? (Most distros
>> I've seen make the terminal program one of the hardest things to find.
>
> Alt-F2 -> gnome-terminal.
>
> Done.
I presume that only works if GNOME is your WM?
>> It's easy to find Firefox or Evolution or Jabba, but the terminal window
>> is usually somewhere under "advanced"... It's almost as if I'm using a
>> Microsoft OS!)
>
> It's usually under "system tools", which is appropriate.
With Ubuntu, it's "accessories". With OpenSUSE, it was somewhere else. I
forget where the heck it was with Debian.
KNOPPIX put it right on the desktop though. Smart guys...
>> 2. Why type "bc" when you can type "ghci"? ;-)
>
> Because 'bc' actually does something on my system - namely, it starts an
> arbitrary precision calculator. :)
Yeah, I wasn't entirely serious with that one. ;-)
Typing "ghci" starts the Glasgow Haskell Compiler in Interactive mode -
i.e., an REPL for Haskell. Which has arbitrary math support backed by
the GMP [which is probably what powers bc, I wouldn't be surprised...]
But it's also a full Turing-complete programming language, not just a
calculator.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 07/10/2011 06:51 PM, Patrick Elliott wrote:
> On 10/7/2011 1:47 AM, Invisible wrote:
>>> But then it (unreasonably) pisses me off watching some other people use
>>> their computers. Their slow deliberate use of the mouse and context menu
>>> makes me want to shove them aside and drive myself. Lord! I'm getting to
>>> be a crusty old man. :-)
>>
>> No, that was already annoying me 20 years ago...
> Sigh.. You people are the cause of things like Blender being a damn
> nightmare of hotkeys you have to memorize to do shit, even in the new
> version, instead of a damn toolbar, and controls that are in places that
> make some slight sense.
No - that's just poor program design. Everybody has that... ;-)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 10/7/2011 12:15, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Oh, right. I thought that refers only to when you run an X application
>> that emulates a terminal in a window.
>
> That's technically called a 'pseudoterminal' - pts. "man pts" is
> interesting reading, if you like that sort of thing.
No, that's an xterminal or a terminal window. A pts (actually, ptty) is a
device driver that isn't a terminal but exposes the same ioctls as a
terminal (and in particular can belong to a process group). Because UNIX
never figured out the concept of a "login".
Unless a pts is different from a ptty?
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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On 10/7/2011 7:36, Invisible wrote:
> I'm fairly sure Office v2 had that. I may be wrong. Certainly Office 97
> definitely had that. And that was, what, 14 years ago?
Pretty sure they didn't have .NET integration, integration with SQL server,
or cooperative shared editting.
> In fairness, I'm not aware of anything else that does what Outlook and
> Exchange do.
And that is why the world still runs Microsoft. :-)
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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On 10/7/2011 2:38, Stephen wrote:
> That is a good point. But I've reached a point where I feel that computers
> and their software are no longer devices that need to be studied, understood
> and mastered but used as tools. My life and interests have changed over time.
Plus, Linux vs Windows isn't really that big a difference, if you really
want to study something new. Learn how Lisp Machines worked, or how AmigaOS
was organized, or how Singularity works, rather than studying two OSes that
are at this point overall pretty similar.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Is this the end of the world as we know it?
Date: 7 Oct 2011 18:51:15
Message: <4e8f8263@news.povray.org>
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On 10/7/2011 12:07, Jim Henderson wrote:
> It's usually under "system tools", which is appropriate.
Funny enough, people will bitch that Window's CLI sucks, and at the same
time show off how far Linux has managed to get away from needing a CLI by
hiding it under "advanced system tools." :-)
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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On 10/7/2011 15:04, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> No - that's just poor program design. Everybody has that... ;-)
Actually, I think it stems from programmers targeting in-house experts.
Remember that Blender started as a custom program.
Ever see a level-builder tool for a game that wasn't expecting to release
the level-builder tools? They're nightmares too, because it was easier to
teach the 10 people using it what the hotkeys were than it was to design
something usable.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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On 10/7/2011 12:08, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Or when my mom starts reading an error message to me - and after three
> words, I know what the next thing is and what to do next.
"Tell me what the window says, Dad."
"Well, there's a picture of an E with a circle around it, then it says
"Internet explor.."
"No, no. Below that. In the big space."
"Oh. It says Done and Internet Protected Mode On"
"No, Dad. That's the status bar. See that great big white space between the
two? What's in there?"
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
How come I never get only one kudo?
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