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JeffSmdk

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Everything posted by JeffSmdk

  1. All the posters at OSNews and Slashdot, as well as (apparently) the posters at Mandrake Cooker, absolutely hate the new name and are laughing at it. http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=10231 http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/04/07/1...tid=147&tid=163 MandrakeLinux the product is a fine distro. But MandrakeSoft the company has zero marketing sense, unfortunately. "Mandriva" sounds like: Man dribble - you get the gist or Man diva - or cross dresser / transvestite or some sort of tropical disease In any case, the name "Mandriva" does not seem to conjure up any kind of positive image in one's mind. I want to put a positive spin on this, but I just can't. "Mandriva" is a horrible name. If they were going to merge the names Mandrake and Connectiva, it would perhaps make more sense to go with something like ConnectDrake, or DrakeConnect. Not that those are great, but they are most certainly a big improvement over "Mandriva".
  2. Comparing it to Slashdot is very appropriate. Bland, ugly, with predictable articles and even more predictable endless flame wars. I'd like to see both of these, or a new Linux/OS/IT news website, expand on the content, and emphasize discussion forums that have actual intelligent discussion from people with lives and no axe to grind. The "discussion" on those sites usually disintigrate into "my distro rocks, your distro sucks", or "Solaris rules, Linux sucks", or "Java sucks, no C++ sucks", or "you're a moron", or "you don't know jack, my friend", or "RTFM", or some other idiotic thing. The good news is, user forums like Mandrakeusers.org, or MepisLovers.org, or the Ubuntu forums, usually have great discussion, and offer tons to learn for the reader. :D
  3. What's gotten boring is OSNews. Typically, they'll post some OS or IT related article, then the flame wars ensue. Or one of the editors will do an opinion piece (as Eugenia did there), and a flame war will ensue. Or finally, they'll post a review of a Linux distro, and a flame war will ensue. Frankly, OSNews needs a make-over, in both appearance and content. The look 'n' feel of the website is bland. And the article's, and ensuing flame wars, are very boring and predictable. All that said, they do post relavant news from other websites, so I do visit it. But I do think it needs a breath of fresh air.
  4. Well, I am a bit of a fanboy of Mandrake, as I've been really pleased with this distribution. I'll gladly admit it. :D I like other distros and continue to try others, but I keep coming back to Mandrake, for it's over all excellence and ease of use. As for the OSNews posters, I don't care about them. OSNews is flame war nirvana, where it seems like 90% of the posts are trolls
  5. I posted the following at OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=...fset=30&rows=42 "Not only does Mandrake put out a fantastic distribution (the best all around, IMHO), but they have been really getting their business and marketing act together over the last two years or so. First, they emerged from bankruptcy protection. Then they were able to cut unnecessary costs. Then they were able to gradually get in the black. Then they were able to generate extra cash by floating stock. Then they were able to start acquiring other companies (including a services company, and others). Then they were able to expand their product line, from portable hard drive, to Mandrake "goodies", to Mandrake Move, to business server and desktop versions, and so on. Then they've been expanding their ISV market in North America. Then they modified their release schedule to be more palpable to the community, and iron out early bugs more efficiently (Mandrake Community edition). Then they've been signing up with hardware providers. Then they've been getting governement contracts. And they've done all of this while remaining open source. And now they've acquired Connectiva, another Linux company that is profitable and really has it's act together (in both a technical and business sense), and which has natural synergies with Mandrake. I expect Mandrake will continue to put out and improve on their fantastic distribution, and continue to be a business success." Go Mandrake!!
  6. Trio3b I love your "letter to the Linux community", and agree with a lot of it. Some points I'd like to add: 1. The CLI enthusiasts are much more common with distros like Slackware, Arch, pure Debian, and Gentoo. Those distros are aimed at the experienced Linux user who is comfortable with the command line. You made your post here at MandrakeUsers.org, a user forum for MandrakeLinux, which ironically is perhaps the most GUI oriented, newbie friendly, easy to use Distro out there. The Mandrake Control Center is as good as any GUI tool in Windows, perhaps better. 2. Distros like Mandrake, Mepis, Xandros, Linspire, Lycoris do as much as possible to make it easy for the newbie, and offer easy GUI tools. Most current Windows users, including Joe Sixpack and Aunt Tilly, can and do feel completely comfortable in jumping into using Xandros or Linspire. 3. Linux is improving daily in the desktop ease of use department. I've been amazed at the progess made in the three years I've been using Linux. 4. Both KDE and Gnome are improving at the speed of light, and in many cases are easier to use and offer more features than Windows. 5. Most newer Linux users are primarily GUI users (typically either KDE or Gnome), and only dive into the CL out of curiosity or for the learning experience (or in some cases to solve some problem that couldn't be solved with a GUI tool). 6. There is a sizable portion of the Linux community that use their computers as the end itself, rather than a means to an end, and really enjoy tweaking and getting under the hood (Arch, Gentoo, Slackware users come to mind). However, I'd say a majority now use Linux as a better alternative than Windows to get their daily work or play done. 7. It has been an evolutionary process for Linux to go from pure geek toy to something useful and fun for the masses. The progress has been gradual, but progress has been made, and continues to do so. So, is Desktop Linux there yet for a majority of non technical users? Perhaps not. But it is darn close, and improving rapidly.
  7. The key compenent to make it work was: using namespace std; The code within function main is using cout, which is in the standard template library, which, in turn, is part of the std namespace. Namespaces are very important in C++, they help you manage very large project easier and prevent name conflicts. Thus, if you are using something from the std namespace, you have to declare that you are using the std namespace, or you have to specify it with std prefix, using the scope resolution operator, like so: std::cout << "Hello World!\n"; When you go through Stroustrup's book, this will become crystal clear.
  8. For an inexpensive, easy tutorial, get "C In Easy Steps" and "C++ in Easy Steps" from Barnes and Noble. These are very short, easy turtorial books that only cost $10. They'll give you a basic foundation and get you up to speed quickly and painlessly. Then get the ultimate C book, and considered by many the greatest programming book of all time, "The C Programming Language" by the Dennis Ritchie (the creator of C) and Brian Kernighan. This book is terse, but full of information on C and programming in general. It is often said that if you read this book and you do the exercises, you will become a programming master, or at least become very very proficient. Then for C++, get "Accelerated C++". This is an excellent beginners book, that starts with high level concepts, like the Standard Template Library, and has you use them in useful programs right off the bat. Finally, for the ultimate reference and definition, as well as insight on proper C++ usage, get "The C++ Programming Language" by Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++. This is not a beginners book, but is the ultimate reference for intermediate and advanced C++ programmers, as well has an invaluable teacher of how to use C++ as it applies to programming paradigms and solving real world probelms. Reading this book is like taking martial arts lessons from Bruce Lee. I can say from personal experience, that "The C Programming Language", "Accelerated C++", and "The C++ Programming Language" have all propelled my understanding and proficiency with C and C++ tremendously. Where as before I had been intimidated by C and C++, and not very productive with them.
  9. The author of the review was rather smart-allecky, and I didn't agree with his assesment of desktop Linux being in an "abysmal state". However, I have no beef with the article. It seems his main point was that more prime time Linux players should get involved with the Desktop Linux summit, and not have it so Linspire centric. I can't argue with that.
  10. I totally agree with you about the upgrades. I had just always assumed it was the same way with all the distros. Now I don't know if this is just a Mandrake thing or what but everytime I update my software (urpmi --auto-select) something breaks or works funny. I think I'll download Mepis overnight and install it tomorrow and see how I like it and install Ubuntu next. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Mandrake is an RPM based distro. RPM does not handle system upgrades as well as Deb/apt-get does. The very biggest selling point about Debian and Deb packages and apt-get is how well it handles dependencies, and how well tested all of the packages and libraries are, and how well integrated all the packages are, and the policies apt-get follows for how system files are handled. This is what allows someone to install Debian Woody, tweak it to his/her hearts content, install tons of software, then upgrade the entire thing to Sid, quite often without any problems at all. That said, I'm not a huge believer in upgrading a complete OS too many times. Even with such a high quality, well integrated system as Debian, you are bound to eventually have problems. But back to Mandrake and urpmi. Urpmi handles installing new software, as well as updating existing software, seamlessly. However, if you want to do a complete system upgrade, you probably will have more problems doing so with Mandrake than you would with Debian and apt-get.
  11. Thanks! I'm by no means a C++ guru, but I'm fairly comfortable and knowledgeable on the language. But it seems that the book will be a good tutorial/reference nonetheless.
  12. I'm a solid Mandrake user. I keep trying other distros, and liking other distros, but I keep coming back to Mandrake for it's all around excellence, tons of features, great looks, and total ease of use. That said, I can whole-heartedly recommend both Ubuntu and Mepis. They both have Live CDs, both are based on Debian (Mepis is Testing and Unstable, Ubuntu is all Unstable), both are super easy to install, and both have great hardware detection. Have fun!
  13. Also BTW - I love Ubuntu and I think it deserves all the alcolades it's getting. I've even posted on the Ubuntu forums, singing it's praises. Ubuntu is my second or third favorite distro (the other being Mepis). But for my all around day to day use, nothing beats Mandrake, my favorite.
  14. MS is so completely under the microscope these days that I doubt they could get away with copying GPL software and bill it as their own. Besides, if they get caught, they will have to GPL everything it's mixed with, something that would make Gates sh!t a brick. Finally, MS using anything Linux related or GPL with their own products would be a public declaration that their own stuff stinks and GPL software is better, and they're not going to do that in a million years.
  15. Has anyone read and use the book "C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 (Bruce Peren's Open Source)"? I've been considering getting it. The documentation on QT that is installed with Mandrake PowerPack and the QT Designer is excellent. However, I'm wondering if having a book goes beyond that and would be beneficial. Any thoughts/opinions? Thanks!
  16. The minimum memory requirements for NetBeans, according to Sun's website, is 384 megs. Also, every attempt I've made at running Eclipse on my 300MHz cpu, 228 meg memory machine has completely locked it up. Trouble is that most Java IDE's are written in Java itself, and use either Swing, SWT, or AWT for the GUI frontend. These GUI toolkits, combined with the JVM, are big resource hogs (yes, even SWT, which references native GUI toolkits, but still has the Java wrappers running in the JVM). It's pretty sad that a Java IDE is such a hog. The good news is that you can write Java code with KDevelop, which is written in C++ and it runs natively, so it has minimal resource requriements. Java, running on the server side as J2EE, is very very powerful and hugely successful. But Java on the client side (desktops), quite simply stinks.
  17. That was an excellent article. I agreed with most of the opinions, particularily since they put Mandrake at number one. I as also able to learn a lot about other distros, with their various strengths and weeknesses.
  18. SmartRPM is probably not intended for doing complete system upgrades, but for getting packages from various prepositories. Say, for instance, you have Mandrake or Fedora, but there is not a decent RPM available for a package you want, but the Debian repositories do have it. Theroetically, you can use SmartRPM to get it, without worrying about conflicts, and use SmartRPM whether it's Debs or RPMs or whatever else. Now, if you want to do a system upgrade with the package manager (apt-get, yum, urpmi), you stick with that system only. You should also do it very conservatively. Even with the wonderful apt-get, doing a complete system upgrade too many times can render a system broken and useless. A complete operating system is a very complicated thing, with complex interdependancies. Doing too many upgrades is bound to break something along the way. It's better to do fresh installs every so often. SmartRPM sounds very intriguing. However, I'm quite content with urpmi on Mandrake, and apt-get on Debian based systems.
  19. BTW, as for downloading Mandrake - with dial up it is a no go. However, it's super easy to either just buy the boxed version (get extra proprietary drivers and programs, as well as the printed documentation), or to buy the 4 CDs from one of many CD vendors.
  20. That's one of the reason why I like Ubuntu. No unwanted software, I choose and decides which application/programs I want in my OS. I'm on cable so it doesn't bother me, but I can see if people are using dial up it can be frustrating. But again I don't hope that Dial up users are using the downloadble version of Mandrake <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Different strokes for different folks. Stripped down newbie distros, with only one program per software type, and no server or development stuff, and either Gnome or KDE only, is a major trend right now. Lot's of people like that, because they don't get a lot extra "cruft" they don't want or need. And I can see the appeal. However, for me, I love having all that extra "cruft" instantly available on the CDs. I don't like "sane" defaults, because someone else selected them for me. I'd rather be able to try the different options in a software type, and decide for myself what is the "sane" default. For instance, I don't particularily care for OpenOffice because it loads ridiculously slow. But Ubuntu only installs OpenOffice by default, because the Ubuntu developers decided that it was the "sane" default for most users. That annoys me. True, it's a simple apt-get to get AbiWord, Gnumeric, or KOffice. But that takes more time than installing from CD (even with broadband). With Mandrake PowerPack, I can install all of them if I want to, or later easily install them from CD with rmpdrake. Also, with a multi cd distro, I can also switch back and forth between packages, depending on what mood strikes me. I can also install KDE and Gnome and XFCE and IceWM and Fluxbox and Enlightenment and Windowmaker, and have fun checking out each one of them. Now, apt-getting an entire desktop environment takes time, and is often not a no-brainer - it can give you major hassles. But with Mandrake PowerPack, it's all there for the very easy taking, with no fuss or no muss. With any Linux distro installation, my minimum desired system includes: - Both Gnome and KDE - Other lightweight WMs instantly available. - All the major development tools, like gcc, g++, Glade, KDevelop, QT designer, Java, PHP, Perl, Python, gdb, Quanta +, Screem, etc. - Gnome games and KDE games, as well as the likes of Frozen Bubble, Tux Racer, LBreakout, and more. - All the major Browsers, including Mozilla, Firefox, Epiphany, and Konqueror - Both Evolution and Kontact - All the major office software, including OpenOffice, AbiWord and Gnumeric, KOffice, and various accessories - The basic multimedia stuff (I don't do that much multimedia on computer, I do it with TVs and stereos, so it's not that important to me). - Apache - MySQL - Telnet server - guarddog - Great package management a la apt-get or urpmi, with GUI frontends like Synaptic or RPMDrake - Extra distro specific themes (above and beyond the standard KDE and Gnome themes), like Mandrake's Galaxy. - Easy GUI config tools like Mandrake Control Center. SuSE's yast is another good one, as well as Libranet's Adminmenu. Gnome System Tools and KDE Control Center fall a bit short - Extra proprietary drivers like for Nvidia video cards, and drivers for Conexant and Lucent winmodems. So, you can see that Ubuntu falls short on a few of these, and requires tons and tons of downloading with Synaptic to get everything I want. And all of this downloading is a complete no-go with dial up, and still very time consuming with broadband. Of course, I want great hardware detection, speed and stability. Ubuntu is good in these areas. However, it's Mandrake PowerPack that provides everything I want, and then some, 100%.
  21. You have, with this knowledgeable and detailed post, practically assassinated your own argument. Knowing as much as you do, I'm willing to bet that any Windows boxes in your care are seldom troubled by cracking/virii. Guidance Counsellor Banana has spoken <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, my intention was to demonstrate that a good design, like Unix, gives the noobie theluxury of being ingnorant without it being dangerous, and does not require someone with my knowledgeto be safe.
  22. Everyone should be allowed to own a computer. It's all about freedom. Nobody should be denied something as wonderful as a computer just because they are perceived as a "dumb noob". The malware problems associated with the ignorance of noobies is more due to the lack of training/awarenes, and to that swiss-chees-security-house-of-cards-sorry-@ss-excuse-for-an-OS Windows. Seriously, Windows is flat out a terrible design - default admin accounts, the registry, ActiveX, the GUI occupying the same memory space as the kernel, Internet Explorer being tied in with the kernel, dll hell, hodge-podge API, flemsy file structure, and many other design flaws ... are all legitimate, sound technical reasons for Windows being a Cracker's paradise. This is not anti-MS zealotry, it's technical fact. MS basically threw together an OS, stealing from other people's ideas, and it was desined to be quick to market and gain the dominant position it enjoys today, rather than being secure and robust. "Good enough" has always been the MS mantra. Don't let the Windows apologists convince you that Windows security problems are due to it being "the big target", or because of noobie ignorance. Those are lame excuses. Unix was originally designed for in house use for AT&T, by the brightest minds in the industry, to be a secure, industrial strength, efficient, multi user OS that could withstand the rigors of the world's largest consumer of information technology (AT&T). It had since been fully optimized through colaboration with universities, and then released as a multi platform commercial OS to run the largest of servers and super computers. Then GNU/Linux was/is a free, open source re-implimentation of that rock solid design. The result is a kernel that operates in it's own memory space, separate shells and GUI, no registry and only separate config files in different locations, a solid file system, separate user accounts with no root access and only write/execute access to their own files, clean, elegant modularity, and the list goes on. So after my overly long post, it boils down to computing problems not being due to ignorant noobies, but very bad design in Windows. The Unix, or Unix-like platform is the best thing we've got.
  23. I like Ubuntu a lot. It's a nice, lightweight, attractive, stable, fast desktop oriented distro. It's also well configured for downloading more packages from the huge Debian repositories using apt-get/Synaptic. It does, however, fall short in a few areas for me: 1. Dial up. You can configure in Gnome-system tools the wvdial settings. Then you have to go into the command line, or add your user to dip, and use modem lights. Or you can download and compile the Gnome-ppp sources (after downloading the build essentials and Glade stuff). It all works fine, but requires some tedious fiddling before you're up and running. Contrast that with a KDE oriented distro, which installs KPPP right out of the box, which only requires your account, number and password, then you're up and running within a few minutes. 2. Hardware detection - it's good with Ubuntu, but not as good as Mandrake, Mepis or Knoppix. 3. A bit too stripped down. I found I had to apt-get too many things to get the system I wanted. apt-geting is no big deal, but the time used to download all that stuff adds up realy quickly. I like having multi-CD's like Mandrake PowerPack, for the convenience of getting everything I like very quickly and easily.
  24. The future of Linux is now. It's becoming more and more common on the server side, and is making steady gains on the desktop. And as Linux continues to make gains on both the server and desktop, it will continue to gain critical mass, which means more and more software and hardware vendors will target their products to Linux.
  25. It will be fun watching SCO get what they asked for: All the source for AIX and Dynix from IBM. They will have to hire a bunch of consultants to pour through the millions of lines of source, and it will drain them financially. And judge Kimball has said that they'd better produce evidence, or they're doomed.
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