tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194759372024-03-07T10:55:44.235+02:00A Blog of Very Little Brain'What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?’ said Pooh. <br>'For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me.'<br>
'It means the Thing to Do.'<br>
'As long as it means that, I don’t mind,' said Pooh humbly.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1152457348529544222006-07-09T17:58:00.000+03:002006-07-09T18:02:28.543+03:00Leaving Las BloggerIt was bound to happen.<br />Following a 2 week-long period in which Blogger have decided to block my posting right due to "spam-blogging" (whatever that means), I've decided to move the whole blog, lock, stock, and posts to <a href="http://www.wordpress.com">WordPress</a>.<br />The new blog can be found at <a href="http://erez.wordpress.com">http://erez.wordpress.com</a>, and the new RSS feed is now <a href="http://erez.wordpress.com/feed/">http://erez.wordpress.com/feed/</a>.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1151514060913617932006-06-28T20:00:00.000+03:002006-06-28T20:02:14.203+03:00AWWWWWWWWWWWW...<a href="http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/06/tenative_steps_.html">Kittens</a>. Probably the sole proof of the existance of a deity.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1151513267663002382006-06-28T19:25:00.000+03:002006-06-28T19:47:47.813+03:00Site make big issue out of nothing newC|net, usually restricted in their titles, have given their short review of "<a href="http://www.titanquestgame.com/">Titan Quest</a>" the following headline: "<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-6088372.html?part=rss&tag=6088372&subj=news">PC game lets players rewrite mythology</a>".<br /><br />The immediate question that comes to mind is "So?". Haven't computer games allowed people to "rewrite" myth and history since the olden days of Civilization and it's likes?<br /><br />It's an odd one, at it. Two paragraphs, nothing really interesting in them, I just don't get this one. I've been reading C|net's news for quite a while now, and this mini-article doesn't look like anything I've previously encountered. I would consider it bought write-up if it wasn't for the writer describing the game as "graphics-intensive ... [but] otherwise a standard computer role-playing game with monsters, loot and exotic journeys." So its not even an enthusiastic write-up. <br />Maybe I'm reading too much into this. It's probably a slow news article read by a slow news reader. Maybe the conspiracy against mankind has sunk deeper than we can imagine.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1151154771772963802006-06-24T15:53:00.000+03:002006-06-24T16:12:51.783+03:00Makes sense, hit me with anotherNow this may come as no surprise to anyone who knows my view of things, but otherwise this article regarding the process of understanding releases an <br /><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/uosc-fk062006.php">opium-like substance</a> in our brain may come as a bit of a shocker. But in all honesty, that's just the way we behave. <br />Many of our behaviour patterns are driven by biological needs and urges, or, at the base, were conditioned by such biological causes. We tend to abstract these patterns, but the core of our personality remains electrical connection between neurons and nerve ends. <br /><br />In this view, making sense as a very narrow case of biological cause-reaction/stimulus-reward mechanism is, to reuse the pun, making sense. A child must understand the world around him to survive. He must make sense of what is good (for him) and bad, what nourishes and what hurts. To do so, our brain rewards every cognitive association with a "hit" of an opium-like substance. The body gets addicted to this substance, which in turn drives the child towards more attempts at make sense of the world, constantly trying to sort things, differentiate, adapt his views and understandings and forge a form out of the chaos into which he is born. <br />By this, the "scientist" model becomes our form of existence. To quote Descartes, "<i>Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum</i>" (I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am). <br /><br />It all makes sense. Hit me with another.<br /><br /><font size="1">Thanks to <a href="http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=2717">Warren Ellis</a> for the link.</font>Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1150989532032553082006-06-22T17:38:00.000+03:002006-06-23T15:53:41.460+03:00Title me thisFound an excellent <a href="http://www.warrenellis.com/">Warren Ellis</a> interview considering the new <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=5967">Desolation Jones</a> series <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Wildstorm2/Desolation/Ellis_jones.html">he's writing</a>, and about his collaboration with new artist, <a href="http://www.be3.it/dzezelj/cx_body.htm">Danijel Zezelj</a>. He gets pretty Warren Ellis in it, which is always good.<br /><br />"<i>What I'm looking forward to is actually forcing</i> [Zezelj, E.S.] <i>into space, seeing him use the wide, deep space and the mid-distance shot. His work appears very intense because he switches between hard close-ups and long shots, but there are very few instances I've seen where he's been given space to work in a landscape situation and really compose a master shot. That's where a lot of artists really find new ground. Bryan Hitch just burst out of his skin when he was given the space to work the mid-distance, reduce the size of the figures and emphasize the environment and the composition. I'm going to be interested in trying that with Danijel, using the Japanese trick of knocking the panel borders out to bleed to take out time-progression... <br /><br />You're in a coma, aren't you?</i>"Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1150463267945331892006-06-16T16:04:00.000+03:002006-06-16T16:07:47.956+03:00This is why I don't leave the house<b><a href="http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/005856.html">Probably the most insane dialog this side of madness:</a></b><br/> <p>Old Chinese lady: Ex-see-cus-see me.<br /> Old Chinese lady: Ex-see-cus-see me! <br /> Gangsta: Man, what are you excusing me about? Fuck you!<br /> Old Chinese lady: Fuck me? Ok, take-a off the pant.</p> <p>Stairway in silence.</p> <p>Old Chinese lady: Ex-see-cus-see me!<br /> Gangsta: Sure thing, ma'am. I'm sorry.<br /> Chinese kid: And that's why we respect our elders. </p> <p>--Canal St station</p><br/>via <a href="http://www.overheardinnewyork.com">Overheard in New York</a>, Jun 16, 2006Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1150231398685652662006-06-13T23:15:00.000+03:002006-06-13T23:43:21.960+03:00(Don't) Speak your mindIf anyone follows the latest XboX360 news, then the story about Microsoft marketing yokel, one Peter Moore claiming "Nobody <a href="http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/microsoft/moore-gamers-dont-care-about-backward-compatibility-177521.php">cares</a> about backwards compatibility" must have made some ripples in your personal pond. <br /><br />Now, of course, no marketing yobo likes to disturb his customers' (the pay-through-the-nose crowd, as they are called), and so, lo and behold a <a href="http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/peter-moore/moore-corrects-backwards-compat-crazy-talk-180206.php">clarification</a> has surfaced:<br />A) He was misquoted, he said "No one is concerned" rather than "No one cares".<br />B) He meant "concerned" as in "worried"<br />C) He meant "worried" as in "We don't need to worry about it, as we reached our goals".<br /><br />So, why am I interested in all this? <br />You see, marketing spokesmen are suppose to be the masters of dopplesprecht* and labyrinthian syntax, so it's rare to see one falters like this. For example, when trying to clarify his kerfuddle, Moore say "It's quite simply not that we don't care about backward compat." And grammar rules be damned. It's quite amazing to see how this type of cloaked lingo turned and byte its master. Here's to more of Moore and his All-Singing-All-Dancing repartee.<br /><br /><br /><br />*<font size="1">I know that's not how you say "doublespeak" in German, get with the program</font>Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1150229662337696432006-06-13T21:40:00.000+03:002006-06-13T23:14:22.556+03:00Free as in Forgetaboutit?I've recently visited <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/">Mozilla</a>'s site, where I found a link to "<a href="http://www.firefoxflicks.com/">Firefox Flicks</a>", which, if memory serves me right, was a contest where users created and submitted home-made commercials.<br /><br />Now, with Firefox being both the "IE killer" and the iconic Free Software product, I was mostly expecting something that will, at least in some vague way, address those, and other benefits of the browser. However, from looking at the aforementioned page, I quickly realised it was not to be so. What I didn't expect was my inability to actually view those "flicks".<br /> <br />You see, the video clips were presented in Flash. Yep, a non-free, proprietary format, which my computer doesn't support (Both for idealistic and practical reasons). Fortunately, the good folks at Mozilla offer a download option, where you can get the clips. In QuickTime format. <br /><br />What exactly happened here? Either the Mozilla guys forgot what actually puts bread on their tables, which is the Free Software concept, without which they'd be where Netscape is now (which is nowhere), or they hired a marketing company who doesn't even know what's Free Software, and thinks God farts in Flash. Either way, bad move.<br /><br />Sadly, it doesn't end there. <br />As I've recently <a href="http://moonbuzz.blogspot.com/2006/06/back-to-basics.html">mentioned</a>, I played a bit with <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">Damn Small</a> Linux. When I got to their download section, a weird file, named "GPL_Sources.txt" caught my eye. The text file included with the downloaded files had this to say: "<i>We honnor the GPL </i>(sic)<i> and will send anybody the sources to the GPL software in Damn Small. <br />If you want to receive copies of the software please send us $7 (cost of media and shipping) and we will gladly mail you the sources.</i>"<br /><br />Now, I'm not a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GPL</a> expert, but it seems weird to me that a Free product (both Liber and Gratis) will demand money for sharing its source code, the holy pinnacle of the Free Software concept. And we're not talking about some forsaken application here, we're talking about a GNU/Linux distro. For comparison, if Firefox is the icon Free Software product, GNU/Linux is the Flagship. More so, Damn Small is based on <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>, a 100% communitee project that is also boasting a Free Software <a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract">Social Contract</a>. <br /><br />In both cases, we're dealing with people and companies who spit into the well they drink from. Neither Damn Small nor Firefox would've existed without Free Software. Dissing the Free Software concepts, is just not Cricket.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1150025960544917902006-06-11T13:52:00.000+03:002006-06-11T14:39:21.510+03:00Back to basicsNot BASIC, mind you.<br /><br />I've neglected the ole blog in the recent month, part of it was caused by a trip to Turkey (in a nutshell, great experience, beautiful country, I'm madly in love with my girlfriend), the other part was me trying to sort a lot of things in my head, and eventually post them here. <br /><br />In the meanwhile, lot of things happened. The world cup has begun (ho-hum), I've celebrated one year at my workplace (ho-ho-ho), <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu 6.06</a> was officially released (ho-yeah!), and I've been reading tons of comics (<a href="http://www.superdickery.com/other/298.html">ho-ho-homicide!</a>).<br /><br />I've attempted to upgrade my laptop to 6.06, after doing a dist-upgrade with one of the Ubuntu alpha (aka Flight) CDs. The result was an overall hard drive format and a reinstallation. The laptop, nicknamed Wildstar, should actually be named Apache, not for the use of it as a web server (which it isn't) but for the way I've installed stuff on it. The method is very simple, I've installed the base Ubuntu system, then put over it whatever packages I needed, and then removed whatever packages I didn't. The result was a working system, but not much more.<br /><br />Not that I need much more, honestly. <br />However, the attempted upgrades resulted in what could be best defined as "some sort of problem". I mean, things worked, then they didn't. Then they partially worked, then they broke, then they worked like nothing. For instance, I had to reboot to mount a USB device, after unmounting it, it found it perfectly, but mounting it didn't work. When I finally got it to mount, it wouldn't unmount and so on. Eventually I gave up.<br /><br />I've tried installing <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org">Damn Small Linux</a>, but the Live CD chugged the system to a halt (Pen III 445, 64 MB RAM), so I tried installing from the boot menu. Didn't really work. I've then pulled <a href="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</a> and decided to give it a go. Installation went fine, but the system hung every time I tried to run it. I then thought about <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a>, which is more-or-less the best choice in this matter, as I'm familiar with apt, the Debian package manager, so I downloaded the latest testing (aka "Etch") CD and started it. Once again, being familiar with Ubuntu's installer, which is basically Debian's, resulted in a very smooth operation, until everything went quickly down the drain as the partitioner failed to locate my hard drive. <br /><br />I am not a proud man, mind you. <br />The sole reason for me testing all those different systems is because Ubuntu runs <a href="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</a> "out of the box" and I want to use a lighter desktop, such as <a href="http://www.fluxbox.org/">Fluxbox</a>, or <a href="http://www.fvwm.org/">FVWM</a>. I've been using those with Ubuntu, but I wanted a bit more "integration" which you can get in a distro that uses those as an integral part of it (like Damn Small), and not just as a package.<br />This been said, after the whole installation fiasco, I had no alternative but to pick up the Ubuntu (Alternative CD, the Live CD installation is a HUGE, huge pain). Amazingly enough, it installed the base system in a flash, which leaves me with the nice chore of finding whatever packages I want and installing them. More on that later.<br />As a side note, this process happens about every 3-4 months here, so I'm pretty used to it, and still am surprised when I find myself returning to Ubuntu. Great job guys.)Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1149520518548547032006-06-05T18:14:00.000+03:002006-06-05T18:15:27.133+03:00Australia trailblazer as world goes insaneI think it was just a matter of time till they <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/05/manilow_sonic_weapon/">snapped</a>.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1149342104819108932006-06-03T16:39:00.000+03:002006-06-03T16:41:44.836+03:00Odden Couplettes<a href="http://www.superdickery.com/other/209.html">What</a><br /><a href="http://www.superdickery.com/other/210.html">The</a><br /><a href="http://www.superdickery.com/other/211.html">Hell?</a>Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146756292176810352006-05-04T18:10:00.000+03:002006-05-04T18:24:52.226+03:00The chicken or the feather?Maybe it's a sign of the times, Patriotic Act and DMCA and the overall sorry state of liberties around the world, but it seems that more and more web-writers tend to confuse cause with result these days.<br /><br />Case in question, <a href="http://www.informit.com/index.asp">Informit.com</a>, a somewhat seriously-browed online magazine that asks "<a href="http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=465449"><i>Will Cell Phones be Responsible for the Next Internet Worm?</i></a>".<br />Now, last time I checked, malicious programmers (aka 'crackers') were responsible for creating those Internet worms, while non-informed users were "responsible" for spreading them. Not the hardware.<br /><br />The worse example of this is something I mentioned before, which is the new and exciting "natural language" syntax of <a href="http://www.inform-fiction.org/">Inform 7</a>, which goes a long way to make a point most programmers already know, which is basically that while the user-side should be as natural and simple as possible, the programmer side shouldn't.<br />Using a "natural-language" syntax usually means that the programmer will have to use a lot more text to define what he would've been able to do previously with a very short text.<br />I realise that game creators don't easily understand programming-language like syntax, but, then again, they're not the ones that need it. It's not a Saturday afternoon D&D session, and the medium here is the computer. The writer should devote the most of his work to the actual descriptions (you know, those that the player will actually read) and not write paragraphs over paragraphs of description for the computer, which doesn't need more than a clear indication of what goes where.<br />The argument here is usually "I don't need to learn to program to create an Interactive Fiction game". That may be true, but if you really want your game to be more than a "Choose Your Own Adventure" and really be INTERACTIVE, then you will need to use robust and dynamic tools, which, from the computer point of view, isn't natural-language.<br /><br />It's deeper than that, it seems, this page shows a <a href="http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page">mind map</a> of common <a href="http://110mb.com/deptree/">GNU/Linux libraries</a> in a way that the writer claims to be "human readable". In reality, if <a href="http://110mb.com/deptree/download/dep_tree_v0.1.png">this diagram</a> is "human readable", I might be in need of a biological check.<br />But that's besides the point. Why do I need a "human readable" diagram anyway? If someone's going to become a GNU/Linux developer, that someone is (or will need to be) well versed in the library dependency structure. Anyone else just doesn't need it.<br />Just to push forth that argument, take <a href="http://lawnormscode.sync.ph/index.php">this clown</a> who claims "Freedom to use" is irrelevant if the software <a href="http://lawnormscode.sync.ph/?p=15">demands</a> a high degree of technical know-how. I'm not going to delve too far into his argument, as the writer obviously doesn't understand the concept of free (as in Willy) software, and seems to confuse the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/">Open Source</a> ideas with the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">Free Software</a> ones, while peppering it all with a nice dosage of demagogy.<br />Basically, free software doesn't mean "everyone should be able to use it". It means that if you want to use it, you will have the means to use it freely, and unrestrictedly. Free software doesn't mean "freedom from complexity". In fact, one of RMS' constant mantras is that one should ALWAYS choose the free solution DESPITE the limitations that it poses. You want to play your mp3 collection while reading a site rendered in Flash? You can't. Those are proprietary formats. <br />In my view, this whole argument is as empty as claiming that the "everyone should be able to view and modify the source code" isn't a real freedom since only programmers are able to understand and modify source code. And only in languages they know.<br /><br />We live in a technological world. But we are not technological people, so sometimes ideas like "ease of use" and "user friendliness" and "better productivity" and "Interface design" get <a href="http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm">mingled and mixed up</a>. Other times we get reviews that claim that Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 "<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/apps/story/0,10801,111040,00.html?source=NLT_PM&nid=111040">has no soul</a>".<br />There isn't really any harm in these things, at least not in the way I presented them. The real harm comes when companies start market their latest lock-up technology as "protecting the customer", and when laws that throw civil rights out of the window claim to be a "Patriotic act" (which reminds me of that Catch-22 scene where people had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance just to enter mess hall).<br />So once in a while, someone need to stop and remind himself that it's not the boxes that brings the planes, it's the war.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146732332611764652006-05-04T11:43:00.000+03:002006-05-04T11:45:32.623+03:00ChessVariants Pages have an RSS feed<a href="http://www.chessvariants.org/rss/index.html">Finally</a>.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146727526792040052006-05-04T10:24:00.000+03:002006-05-04T18:27:38.566+03:00Q-Whack!<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=260503003">Alright!</a>Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146646615506664382006-05-03T11:30:00.000+03:002006-05-03T11:56:55.536+03:00Kitchen maker use stupid defence line, rescued by judgeThe register registers the following item:<br />A Manchester kitchen company "Moben" was accused of misleading their consumers by placing an umlaut over the 'o', thus giving the impression that they are a German company, which is grasped by British consumers as a seal of quality.<br /><br />Moben's defense was, and I quote, "the dots are an artistic device and that any resemblance with an umlaut is coincidental". <br /><br />However, instead of throwing them out of court and holding them in contempt, the court decided that "using a German-sounding name did not imply that Moben or its products were German" and that "umlauts are used in countries other than Germany ... and that viewers would recognise that a company's trademark would not necessarily relate directly to the origin of that company or its products". Nice, but did you notice that the decision had absolutely no reference to Moben's actual claims? Wonders will never cease.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146584778256401192006-05-02T18:46:00.000+03:002006-05-02T18:46:18.396+03:00First lesson of the dayAfter a 60% post vanished when Firefox just decided to call it a day and happily crashed: Write posts in Vi before entering them to the online interface.<br />I get the html syntax-highlighted that way too.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146562359000538062006-05-02T12:09:00.000+03:002006-05-02T12:32:39.020+03:00Seven lucky sevenAs an avid user of <a href="http://www.vim.org/">The Editor</a>, it's a no-brainer that I'm anxiously expecting the release of Vim v.7. To make my salivate even further, <a href="http://www.linux.com/">Linux.com</a> are offering a review of the <a href="http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/05/01/2235242">7.0f beta</a>, running on Ubuntu 5.10, would you believe it :)<br /><br />Another of the Great Ones has been awoken from it's slumber, as Graham Nelson releases (after 10 years!) the next release of Inform, aka <a href="http://inform-fiction.org/I7/Welcome.html">inform 7</a>. Inform is a language for writing <a href="http://brasslantern.org/beginners/introif.html">Interactive Fiction</a>, fully compatible with Infocom's Z engine, which makes Inform interpreters able to play <a href="http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/">Infocom</a> games as well as more contemporary ones. Inform 7 is a complete IDE package (including an editor as well as an interpreter), with a 'correct while you test' feature, as well as many other <a href="http://inform-fiction.org/I7/Features.html">niceties</a>. <br />The language itself has shifted from the more programming-language-like syntax into the land of <a href="http://www.physics.brocku.ca/etc/cargo_cult_science.html">cargo cult</a> "natural English-language" syntax.<br />For more information, <a href="http://brasslantern.org/">Brass Lantern</a> offers a nice <a href="http://brasslantern.org/writers/howto/i7intro.html">introduction</a>.<br /><br />While on the matter of updates, I've just discovered that updating both my desktop and laptop to the latest Ubuntu Beta 2, has broken <a href="http://www.gtk.org/">GTK</a>-VIM and <a href="http://tinycobol.org">TinyCOBOL</a> on my laptop (I was able to resurrect TinyCOBOL by downgrading <code>libncurses5</code>), and <a href="http://www.lyx.org">GTK-LyX</a> on both the laptop and the desktop. I hope that eventually this will be fixed in one way or the other, but it's not a big issue, as GTK-LyX was only introduced with the 1.4.X version, and up until that point I was using the <a href="http://www.trolltech.com/">QT</a> flavour (the GTK version is also less featured, I needed to set most of the preferences using the QT one). To those wondering what the hell I'm talking about, a quick "<a href="http://linuxcult.com/story/05012006/a_first_look_at_lyx/">first look</a>" at LyX is available at the <a href="http://linuxcult.com/">LinuxCult</a>.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146220796481661952006-04-28T09:53:00.000+03:002006-04-28T14:08:41.396+03:00Atonement of the Programming Language"<i>Sometimes, people ask me if it is a sin in the church of <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html">Emacs</a> to use the editor <a href="http://www.saki.com.au/mirror/vi/index.php3">Vi</a>. It is true that Vi-Vi-Vi is the editor of the beast. But using a <a href="http://www.vim.org">free version</a> of Vi is not a sin but a penance.</i>" - <a href="http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/04/unabridged-selective-transcript-of.html">Richard Stallman</a>.<br /><br />I'm not a religious person (and in all honesty, neither is RMS). <br />But, in the same manner that not being Christian doesn't prevent me from debating Kirkegaard's philosophy, being a secret member of the <a href="http://www.splange.freeserve.co.uk/misc/vi.html">Cult of VI</a> doesn't prevent me from accepting the wisdom of St. <a href="http://stallman.org/saint.html">iGNUcius</a> regarding the Evil inherent in proprietary software.<br /><br />Biggest problem from my point is inherent in the choice of the language of the scripture. True advocates of the One True Freedom (or the 4 freedoms of the apocalypse) know that software made with proprietary tools can never be free. And so came the GCC (GNU Compiler Collection), a free software tool that allows ye followers to compile code. This is all fine and dandy when it comes to the "classic" hackers languages, such as C, C++, Lisp, and today's Perl, Python et al, which are released under free (as in free-for-all) licenses.<br /><br />But here's my problem, I use COBOL. The ancient, monolithic, elephantine language, which has the style and elegance of a <a href="http://www.rube-goldberg.com/html/gallery.htm">Rube Goldberg</a> machine without the humour. Until recently, the only way to create COBOL software was to use proprietary tools. Not that there is some sort of voodoo mystery surrounding the language, since the specification for it are available as an ANSI standard for decades. However, it <A href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/COBOL-fingers.html">isn't</a> <a href="http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/ewd498.html">exactly</a> a <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/COBOL.html">hacker</a> favourite, so no one bothered developing free tools for it.<br /><br />But, those days are long past, as now, not only I am able to enjoy two excellent GNU compilers, but I was also able to install them by using Debian/Ubuntu's own .deb format. The first, <a href="http://tinycobol.org/">TinyCOBOL</a>, compiles COBOL-85 code to GNU assembly, and the other is <a href="http://tinycobol.org/">Open-COBOL</a> which goes a bit extra by converting the code to C and then compiling it using GCC, however, Open-COBOL does offer support of the later 97 (COBOL2000/OOCOBOL) and the 2002 <a href="http://www.cobolstandards.com/">standards</a>.<br /><br />The homepages have the source code for both projects, however, to install them apt-get style, head <a href="http://paginas.terra.com.br/informatica/bau/debian/pacote/tinycobol/">here</a> for the TinyCOBOL packages, and to the <a href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages">Debian Repositories</a> for the Open-COBOL project <a href="http://packages.debian.org/testing/devel/open-cobol">Packages</a>.<br /><br />On the other hand, nothing I've just said can explain <a href="http://vigor.sourceforge.net/">Vigor</a>Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1146203314699994942006-04-28T08:10:00.000+03:002006-04-28T08:50:40.496+03:00Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!(?)Turns out the next <a href="http://www.nintendo.com">Nintendo</a> console will not be named Revolution, but <a href="http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2841&Itemid=2">Wii</a>.<br />I believe my first reaction what "Wha?"™<br />OK, the concept is just feels too much like a marketing department jerking off each other (disturbing metaphor, to say the least). It's Wii, like "we" with the 'ii' which supposed to look like two people standing together. This, of course, immediately brings to mind the concept of people interacting, and the multiplayer/communal experience the new console promotes.<br /><br />Only it doesn't.<br /><br />It never does, actually. All those "clever" names are just wasted efforts. Sony's Playstation didn't succeed because the name conveyed immediate playable station-ness. Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment System didn't create a feeling of systematically entertainment, and besides, most people refer to those as "PS" and "NES". What the hell does "xbox" even supposed to convey? (it's a continuation of the "x" branding Microsoft has given to it's games/multimedia driver/API, like DirectX, nothing more). <br /><br />For example, Gamers.net have created a <a href="http://www.games.net/features/109067.shtml">10 worst Console names </a> articles, toting Sega's Dreamcast at number 9, claiming that "<i>Sega's got a history of creating inspired console names: Sega Master System, Sega Saturn, and particularly, Sega Genesis sounded effortlessly sleek and powerful.</i>"<br />No they didn't. The writing is projecting his opinion of the console over the name. Same with Nintendo: "<i>Usually, simplicity is the best course -- "Game Boy" and "Nintendo 64" were smart, smart choices.</i>" Were they? What so smart about "Game boy" exactly? <br /><br />Bottom line: Consoles are only as good as their names. Good games on a system give it better consumer appreciation, create a "cool" image, and infuse the name with more positive connotation than any marketing group might ever achieve. People don't care if it's PlayStation II, PS2, or "the machine that plays GTA"™. They didn't care when it was called Atari 2600, Famicom/super Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System/NES/SNES/Super Nintendo Entertainment System/etc. Sega's Gamegear failed miserably despite having a superior technology AND a cooler name than Nintendo's Gameboy. And besides, people have grown accustomed to calling Nintendo's consoles "the Nintendo". It's even more obvious in the new handhelds, both Nintendo and Sony released their products under the names of "DS" and "PSP" (Dual Screen and PlayStation Portable), predicting that everyone will already abbreviate it, so if you can't beat them...<br /><br />I can easily predict that, in the very fortunate (and sadly, tragically, unlikely) case that Nintendo Wii's games will rule the next years, that kids growing up with cherish the name wii like other's cherish the name NES, or like Gamers.net writer cherish the name "Master System". Other than that, it's a cute name, with a cute logo. <br /><br />(Just as a side note, whoever came up with the "two lowercase i's that appear like two people" concept knows his stuff. It doesn't "do" anything, but it's well designed).Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1145914257560477872006-04-25T00:02:00.000+03:002006-04-25T00:30:59.790+03:00Image-in.I know I keep a straight text-only blog, but I happened to come across a couple of more colourful pages.<br /><br />The age of Photoshop tends to constantly feed us with mushed-up hilarities, and this <a href="http://sobekpundit.blogspot.com/2006/04/very-brief-history-of-art-featuring-mr.html">art "history" page</a> featuring Mr. Potato Head is no different.<br /><br />A little bit more artistic, but <i>tres</i> cool nontheless, is this page featuring actual <a href="http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/04/cartoonist_cover_classics_2_el.html">classical CD covers</a> of famous composer's compilations, drawn by top cartoonists. Beautiful.<br /><br />And to end it all, a revised <a href="http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page">mindmap</a> of GNU/Linux <a href="http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/04/mind-map-of-linux-distributions.html">distros</a>. Much better than the first try.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1145823105303989772006-04-23T23:11:00.000+03:002006-04-23T23:38:17.666+03:00Hello Dapper (and goodbye Windows)<p>All in all it wasn't such a turbulent affair. Just a long winded one.</p><p><br />I've started the process at Friday noon. First I had to work on a promised backup to my mum, which took sometime, with zipping a couple of gigabytes worth of files into <a href="http://www.7-zip.org/">7z</a> files, then burning them on 2 CDs. Once I got that out of my way, I <code>sudo update-manager -h</code> and hit the upgrade button. When the smoke cleared, I was informed that the upgrade will demand a hefty 1 GB download, which will take anything between 2 and 7 hours, depending on the download rate. Ecstatic as I was, this was a real downer, but nothing comes easy. At exactly 9 pm, all the files have been downloaded and the installation process began. This was also the moment when I was supposed to go to my night shift.</p><p><br />I left everything running and went to work. I (correctly) assumed that things will stop somewhere along the way for some input, which will have to wait until my return. They were, I was prompted to replace both the GDM and the Vim configuration files. I approved both, which may, or may not, have been the best decision, as I was soon to learn. The installation and cleaning process went without a hitch, and the system rebooted.</p><p><br />Into a GDM error message. I don't know if anyone had the pleasure of experiencing this error message, which, from what I've yet seen (and I've managed to get several of the more interesting error messages), is probably ranked quite high. The problem with it isn't that it's incomprehensible (which it is), or upsetting (which it is), it's the, how shall I put it, look of the message. It's quite apparent that someone wanted to make this as pleasant as possible. And failed.</p><p><br />"let's make it nice and friendly," said our programmer. "After all, we just told our user that his X server is probably riding in the fields of eternal hunting, for all that he cares. We don't want those unfriendly, laconic messages, no Blue-Screen-of-Death-style stuff either. Let's give it a light-gray background, and a sky-blue frame, with some nice ASCII motifs in it, and give him a yes/no "buttons" for the error logs, all rendered in what is the last word in ncurses design." And then our programmer went and painstakingly designed this error message window, and then someone took this code and re-wrote everything in <a href="http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/CIS/course.des/cis400/ada/ada.html">ADA</a>, then used <a href="http://babelfish.altavista.com/">babelfish</a> to translate it to Spanish and back and made sure that whatever error message it displays will be as garbled and misrepresented as possible. </p><p><br />It is quite a mess, really. Fortunately, I've already met with this monument to the futility of man, otherwise, it would've been a very unfortunate encounter, considering it was close to 8 am, and me coming from an all-nighter at work. A quick <code>sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg</code> later and... Nothing. Apart from the same Vogon-quality error message. Two more tries, didn't improve things any better. I eventually decided to <code>sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx</code> driver and reconfigure X with the nvidia driver, which, lo and behold, worked. I had to <code>sudo killall gdm</code> and restart it, but it worked. </p><p><br />I tried playing around with the settings, and so far I like what I see. But I've yet to dig deep enough into all the tweaks. In fact, it preserved most of my gnome configurations, which meant that all the GUI bells and whistles were still turned off. I'm quite comfortable with it as it is, so I doubt I'll change it just for the sake of it. I can't seem to get the screensaver to not work, as the new setting dialog doesn't include that option, but I'll find where they hid it.</p><p><br />Which brings me to what seems to be the biggest problem I have with Ubuntu's new version. A lot of things are hidden. The gconf menu, for once. It's not buried or anything, and can be enabled with a simple click, but the decision to remove it is bothering. Same with the Palm Pilot setting menu item. I'm sure that hard-core GNU/Linux users probably don't need those fancy-schmancy menu items, and new users are probably better off without another way to shoot themselves in the foot, but I'm neither, and I don't really like to dig for what I consider to be basic features. (In fairness, to enable all the menu option, one only need to access the "Alcarta" application which lies on the top of the Application> Accessories menu (not that they WANTED it to be located that high (It just was fortunate to be the A on the A on the A...))).</p><p><br />Another item high on the not-working list is actually <a href="http://www.vim.org/">gvim</a>. I works fine, but can't seem to find the designated color scheme. Probably need a quite gvimrc shake.</p><p><br />So I'm still testing the ropes, as mentioned I made no sudden moves, no major configuration changes. I'll try XGL this coming weekend, but until then, I'm still swimming in the kiddie pool as far as the new version is considered. One major decision was to move everything from the two Windows partitions into one, and format the other to Linux as well. You can count the times I've rebooted to Windows in the past couple of months on one hand. All of those were as result of IE only sites, such as my bank's and my girlfriend's school's. And for that I definitely don't need 30 GB of space.</p>Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1145683120509498882006-04-22T08:18:00.000+03:002006-04-22T15:23:33.816+03:00Dapper is in the hizhouse!Got Ubuntu Dapper Drake Beta running, now sleep.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1145569167894244412006-04-20T23:56:00.000+03:002006-04-21T00:42:11.190+03:00DapperDapperDapperDapperDapper MushroomMushroom!Gah. Hnng. Bleh.<br /><br />I'm riveting insanely for a week now. All those Dapper (p)reviews and suchlike have been giving me a dapper craving... However, I've been constantly reminding myself that it's <a href="http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=93157">still a pre-release</a>, and there's nothing that guarantees it won't destroy my entire system, or at the best case scenario, stop things from working. On the other hand, I have a very stable, smoothly running system, which should be able to withstand any such upgrade. On the other other hand, I have a very stable, smoothly running system, why would I want to toy around with an unstable release?<br /><br />Well, no real reason, apart from <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/~davidr/xgl-demo1.xvid.avi">this video</a>. <br /><br />I know, upgrading just for the sake of eye-candy is not the "Linux way", but dammit, it's one hellova candy, if you ask me. I mean, the first time I heard of <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/Xgl">XGL</a> I wasn't really impressed. I assumed it was yet another nicety, your "coat of paint" rather than a really usable feature. I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong. <br /><br />I think it was Novell's <a href="http://www.novell.com/linux/xglrelease/">presentation</a> that got me interested. There are a lot of stuff running there, some of them better, some worse, some not really usable (why would I want to run a program on <a href="http://www.novell.com/linux/xglrelease/img/movie-cube.jpg">the side</a> of the "cube"?), but the overall concept was very solid, it looked like someone got a lot of stuff that have "usability" written all over them. The whole "3d GUI" started to make sense all of the sudden. I mean, first thing I do in any new desktop is kill everything that isn't functional. All those shadows, 3d menus and buttons, you name it. I've been considering Mac OSX's look as "stupid" since it insists on adding all sort of cutesy animations that don't do anything. However with XGL, everything has a reason, somehow, moving from pseudo 3d to real 3d gives all those cutesies context, and therefore make them a true part of the GUI.<br /><br />The big question is, whether it'll run. I did the test with <a href="http://kororaa.org/static.php?page=static060318-181203">Kororaa's Live CD</a> and it was quite a nice experience. Of course, with a Live CD being one, the machine wasn't running anything else but the 3d GUI. How will it run as a front-end to a full blown operation system? I would risk a guess and say it will do a good job. Most of it is the concept of finally using the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) of the video card rather than the CPU to render the screen, freeing the CPU to actually handling the non-graphical part of the interface. In the worst case I'll shove another 500 mb of RAM, or buy a new(er) video card. <br /><br />With all this being said, Ubuntu 6.06 has just <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/dapperbeta">gone beta</a>, which only further adds to my grieving. It might just be the final straw on my way to upgrading. <br /><br />Oh, and the subject is based on this <a href="http://www.badgerbadgerbadger">page'o'silliness</a>.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1145299220284101712006-04-17T20:23:00.000+03:002006-04-17T21:40:20.376+03:00Drool-buntu, or Flight of the Drake VIThe June 1 date for the next <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> GNU/Linux release is closing (although the original April 24 date would've been closer... Oh well), and many "previews" are already available. I placed preview in double quotes, as these are based on the Flight Series alpha test releases, which is a snapshot release of the product. <br /><br />First to rise on my browser was <a href="http://www.linuxforums.org/index.php">Linuxforums</a> which aptly claims to be not a preview but a <a href="http://www.linuxforums.org/reviews/ubuntu:_a_ramble_through_drake_lake.html">survey</a> of the current available flight CD. He pushes some nice points regarding the GUI installer holy war, and it's an overall positive survey, but then again the writer is a self proclaimed Ubuntu lover.<br /><br />Second is a <a href="http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&id=6699&page=1">lookahead</a> straight from the padded cells of the <a href="http://www.madpenguin.org/index.html">Mad Penguin</a>. The insanity of said waterfowl doesn't deter him from warmly recommending Ubuntu, despite it being, as he claims "not quite in the league of <a href="http://www.slackware.org/">Slackware</a> and <a href="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat/Fedora</a>". Whatever league is that, I don't know, but then again, the writer does, as par with his words, "prefer Slackware over any other distro". <br /><br />And, naturally, you might want to go over the actual description of the release, which is displayed for your inquiring eyes in all <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/flight6">shades of brown</a>.<br /><br />The current alpha release, code named "flight 6" is <a href="http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/dapper/flight-6/">available here</a> for download.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19475937.post-1145282167800756562006-04-17T15:42:00.000+03:002006-04-17T16:56:14.176+03:00Dress to suck-less on excess?I kept postponing this issue because I wanted to distance myself away from it, until I would be able to comment on it rationally (hopefully).<br /><br />This whole mess started when Peter Quinn, Massachusetts' Open-Document martyr and former CIO, announced that the cause for companies and institutions not accepting Open-Source and open standards is due to the "<a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Sandals_and_ponytail_set_cramp_Linux/0,2000061733,39248447,00.htm">Sandals and ponytail</a> unprofessional appearance" practiced by FOSS leaders and hackers.<br />While this load of bull would've gone unnoticed, or at best, become the recent <a href="http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/03/31/1443217&tid=149">laughing stock</a> among the communitee, this time it was spoken by one of the "good guys", so people took heed of the call. <br />This (long and overbearing, don't bother) article in <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/index.php">Groklaw</a>, claims that one should "adjust your appearance (wherever you are) to help you <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060406235746163">achieve those goals</a>."<br /><br />To this I say, screw them all. Anyone who makes his business-crucial decisions based on what the other side is wearing is deserving what he gets in return. This explains those Lotus Notes offices that runs everything BUT email on Lotus, since they use Exchange for that. This explains why someone will move AWAY from using Apache into Microsoft's Aye-yay-ass. It also harks back to all those "When will GNU/Linux be ready for the Desktop", which is, actually "When will GNU/Linux be windows?".<br /><br />But then again, we are talking about a world where CEOs are more interested in "standardised, enterprise-ready, business-management solutions" rather than asking "how does it work, and how good is it?" Where one needs to "<a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/11/170215">learn the lingo</a>" to progress in his company, where upper management makes Dilbert's boss look like an IT guru. Reminds me of those who claim that the future of "e-business" lies with "protected, trusted technology" (Read, DRM and software patents), comfortably forgetting that the whole Internet from which they make their money is an open, free technology.<br /><br />I hope that eventually all those will implode, which on that day, I'll be there to go and sing comic songs on the ruins. Oh, and Peter Quinn didn't lose his battle for ODF in Massachusetts (and his job) due to any dress code, but due to a blatant lobbying effort on behalf of Microsoft. I'd like to see him dress to that.Erezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09718615869468469913noreply@blogger.com0