elrohir

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Still quite a bit missing - you have to connect through a usb interface - but pretty awesome. It's apparently "problematic to use the "Update Firmware" feature of iTunes with openiboot installed", so there's a new release with an uninstaller: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Awesome proof of concept, and a good step towards functional Linux on the iPhone

Debian! Yes, Linux is very definitely superior to Windows when it comes to servers. It's just so easy to configure Linux

If you want to learn C programming the "real" way, drop the IDE business, install any unix-based platform - linux being my favourite - use any text editor with C syntax highlighting and install gcc to compile source. Forget about C++, it's not going anywhere for now. But you probably don't want to do that. The one thing I can recommend is to avoid any Microsoft compilers/IDEs. They are generally not worth it, as well as bloating any code you do not write entirely by hand. And remember, .NET is evil.... DevC++ is good enough for most things, so long as you aren't trying to be too specific with compilation options. Later it might give you some problems (thinking of platform-independant code), but for the beginning at least, you should be fine. Other than DevC++, there's also Eclipse, Netbeans (though this is primarily for Java, it has an absolutely brilliant C/C++ extension) and Anjuta that might be worth trying. As far as I know they all have builds for Windows. As for docs, I have a pdf of "The ANSI C Programming Language, second edition", which although almost as old as the C programming language itself, is still a very nice thing to have. I can't post it here, though... Whatever you do, please try to stay away from Microsoft stuff. Eventually you will find that you cant live without them, and perhaps by that point you will know about as much about programming on windows as you will ever want to. *NIX is so much smoother

osknockout, I think we are about in agreement, even if priorities lie in other drections. Must be the first time... insaneinnovations, I can't comment about that, since I have never really had any problems with drivers (closest being installing firmware for my ipw2200 wireless card, which took three completely standard commands). and now, fslog I think that you have not realised an important thing about the Linux "marketing scheme". It's not made to be noo-friendly. Sure, some distros try to, the same way some try to be a windows look-alike, most distros are targeted at the people in this world who have some knowledge, and require usaility rather than have a distro that noobs can use without a learning curve. Take Synaptic, for example. It's a lok easier to go sudo -sapt-get install *program* Than it is to navigate through the menus, open synaptic, enter password, search for application, mark it for installation, accept dependancies and finally install it. The keyboard will always be superior to the mouse, the same way the terminal is superior to most GUIs for most tasks. I'm not saming I use the terminal for everything, just that for most things it's easier and quicker. So, not having a fluffed-up GUI by default is derived from the fact that most people don't need one - and of course they can install one themselves if they want. It's all about choice. So you think that windows installation methods are superior to those of Linux? That's pretty sad. Mac, I can't comment on, since I have never really done anything like that with it, but since it's Unix-based, it pretty much has to be awesome, doesn't it? I still maintain that using the keyboard is more efficient than a gui, though. A perfect example of this would be bash scripting and the ease of creating a routine series of programs using only commands that are available on the system anyways. I understand that not all computer users are capable of understanding something as simple as a bash script, but Linux is made and largely maintained for those who can. I would agree that Ubuntu is doing a lot for Linux, most of that in terms of popularisation, but it is aimed at people who come into Linux through the window, and I would consequently consider it more of a "gateway OS", if you like, that gives the user a good introduction to the linux world and the experience they need to try other OSes and make an educated choice based on the aquired experience - even if that means stayin with Ubuntu, which I have to say is a very solid OS. It also happens to be the only Linux OS in which the GUI "just works", which is why I still use it quite a bit. That, and the fact that you don't have to go through the hassle of installing a good theme to make it look decent. (see: gentoo) Ubuntu is good in that you don't immediately have to do anything complex, but you can if you want to, once you have the know-how and desire to. it's all about choice

with Xampp, the htdocs folder is in /opt/lampp/htdocs you should generally always use FTP to access it, though, because of permissions. (default username "nobody" and password "lampp").

I have been using Ubuntu for about a year (or is it two?) and have loved it every step of the way (well, almost...). I just installed UbuntuStudio, however, and this is "Teh awesome". Seriously, I have never used a better OS. I installed Beryl a while ago, and I'm absolutely amazed at what this thing does. And I don't even have a good comp - Dell Inspiron 510m, 1.5MHz Intel CPU, 510MB Ram, generic Intel graphics card. everything's simple in linux

I'm personally a Linux user. It's not true that Linux is not user-friendly. It is, however, only friends with people who are willing to put some effort into computing. Once that's done, it's a dream. I have never really used a Mac for an extended period of time, so I can't really judge the things you only notice after a while - both the good and the bad - but I have, however, used Windows, and am still forced to use it at school. So if stuck between the two, I would definitely go for a Mac. Anything Unix-based is absolutely awesome, just because it doesn't have the BLOAT of the Windows API. That linux has bad software selection is bullsh*t. There are such things as repositories, and at the moment - without having enabled any additional repositories - I have over 21 000 packages available for installation. A quick search gives me exactly what I need (I don't think I have ever not found what I wanted). Developing in Linux is easier just because it's open source. The extra cost of Macs is well worth it, if only for the superior hardware.

The advantage to ReactOS is that it can natively run both Linux and windows binaries natively. If you don't like the lack of GUI, I would go with Ubuntu (not server edition), since it's relatively easy to install a server (all the programs are available through the repositories). Or you could take the server install, so that it is all pre-installed and run apt-get install ubuntu-desktopThat installs a gui. Press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to restart X (or restart, if that doesn't work, since X will not be running yet). If you are not greeted with a graphical login, you may have to press Ctrl-Alt-F7 to switch to the right tty. Again, I strongly recommend Ubuntu

I've found that a lot of people seem to want something to do beyond "just sitting there". So I would like to emphasise that meditation is not an action. It's a state of mind that can be reached, with practice, at any time. It's my personal belief that some athletes know something similar (the Zone, anyone?) that most likely is not a concious change, but a result of being completely focused as well as relaxed during sport - being at ease, and knowing your skill with absolute assurance, as it were. I can't site anything beyond a limited personal experience, but here goes;Posture can be anything, though in the beginning, it's easier to sit with eyes closed, to avoid any visual distractions. Blank the mind, and think of a vast darkness, in which nothing survives. Apart from a single flame, steady and unwavering. Flame does not have a wick. This flame is you, it is the universe, it is everything, yet you stand apart from the flame. As thoughts arise, you are aware of them, yet they do not affect you. You take them and gently and carefully feed them to the flame as you would to a carefully tended camp fire. Keep the flame in mind for a while, then let yourself be consumed by it, and open your eyes if you closed them. I seem to have improved with practice - I can now almost hold it while keeping a simple conversation. I assume it is merely a method of focusing the mind while "detaching" it from the objective world - as I said, I have no knowledge in the field - but it is definitely relaxing, and as far as I have experimented, physical movements become more "accurate" - perhaps because you are not distracted by random thoughts popping through your mind. (A similar principle to Kenjutsu, Yratorm?)From what I have read here, this seems to go against the whole point of meditation - it's making a conscious effort - but I enjoy it

Actually, one of the reasons that nobody worries about the debt is that it will never be paid back, and there's nothing anyone can do with it. China and "a lot of minorities" don't mind anymore because they only lent the money they didn't need and because it gives them the opportunity to rape the US market - aka filling the shops with cheap crap. In time? That's hilarious. The debt hasn't gone down in ages, and it's not about to do so now, is it... (Yes, I know about replacement, but still.... 8.8 trillion...) If the US has such a damn strong economy, it might as well just pay them back, right? Or perhaps give public schools all of the funding they need? Yes, I do enjoy the tax rates. I'm not about to start a business, so the business taxes don't bother me at all. I can tell you, though, that 85% is bullsh*t. You can shoot whoever told you that (though I will tend to believe that it randomly popped up from the depths of you own brain). From Wikipedia, the total average in Norway (I'm using that because it's the country I have stayed longest in and that I am most familiar with) goes between 37.3% and 29.6%. What I think you need to realise is that the social structure is completely different. There are few poor people. There are few extremely rich people. I think what you might be referring to is "Oljefondet", which is the tax levied on petrol. Yes, compared to your give-away prices, this is expensive. It does not, however, affect people the same way it would you, since few people (perhaps as a result) insist on driving large/high consumption cars. (What is the point of an SUV if you are only going to drive on roads?) It has reduced the spontaneous growth that would normally have occurred as a result of the international oil-sale. If education plays such a small role in future success, then quite obviously there's something wrong with the education system, which, in case you had forgotten, is what this thread is about. There's a difference between a flame and a spam. And why would I want a job there anyway? American humour sucks... (They never seem to get sarcasm right. It's always to obvious. Do they know what "subtle" means?)

What does it have to do with you? Everything! Isn't it more important to know what the thing is saying that who wrote it? The writers are dead and rotted away, yet what they wrote is (mostly) still applicable. And what do YOU think?

Yup. You can do so much more. I use ZDE (made for PHP development - I love it) Inkscape (svg editor) Gimp (bitmap editor) Firefox & Opera (I test in IE from school, since I don't have it at home)

Saddam Hussein was guilty of many things, and I'm sure people will compare him to Hitler, bla, bla bla. But I doubt that he had any WMD when the UN inspectors came. Ok, so their search was limited. Even so: 1) They were not allowed to finish their search before the US started their little exploit 2) The US now has considerably more control over the area and still hasn't found anything Wouldn't it have been hilarious (for those not involved) if the US bombings had found the WMD? Saddam being insane is, however, not an excuse for the US to move in and start destroying things. Things like this have been seen before, and the only thing that can solve them is time. Try looking at it this way: A lot of people say that all the "evil" and "terrorist" activity stems from the Islamic religion. Maybe, maybe not. I don't think so. (The Koran contradicts what people are doing, much the same way the Bible contradicts what Bush said America was to do "in the name of God". ) But let's assume that the cause lies in the culture and social structure, which of course takes a lot from the religion. Now, you may or may not know that the Islamic religion is about 670 years younger than Christianity, which means that the religion's development is ~700 years behind that of Christianity (or, in my opinion, Christinsanity). And what happened 700-800 years ago? The crusades had just ended. So shall we say that Islam is in its teens? I'm not saying that what they are doing is "right", the in the same sense I don't agree with the crusades, but I definitely don't think it's a good reason for the US to be over- reacting the way it recently has been. (Yeh, they knocked down them towers - and in response, the US invaded multiple countries. However, using the same reasoning of the development of society, you can say that the US, at 200, is an infant and therefore not responsible for it's actions. Ok, so that's B$. And then there's the issue of why the US chose to invade. It was allegedly a combination of several statements, their order of importance on any given day depending on the date (even, odd, prime, etc) the value of the USD, the price at which other countries are willing to part with their oil as well as the minute fluctuations in the stock market of Uzbekistan (more B$). Among others, there was: - The poor folks don't have the glorious benefits of: Democracy (*timely breeze*) - Islam is a threat to civilised American society - Iraq is the home of evil terrorists - We are bored with things, we want something to invade - There's SHI*TLOADS of cheap oil there All these things can be solved without invading anything, blowing people to bits or causing any destruction. - Democracy is not the only form of government that has worked over the years. And it clearly isn't working in the US. - 1) Is that surprising? Look at all the sh*t they have taken from the US over the years? 2) Most of Muslims follow the pacifistic teachings of the Koran. - See above - - Wouldn't be a problem if you didn't use so damn much of it. Now, the only thing there is apparently no solution to is the simple desire to own, conquer and whatever else they really wanted. My personal belief is that they want something to support, and an army is quite convenient. If you go back to the "young human" analogy, it would be a stage of insecurity, when the child has to establish a higher self-esteem by lowering others (eg. bullying). Quite... low... don't you think? People insult others for not supporting the troops in Iraq. Now that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. How is it possible to be so close-minded as to not realise that somebody who never wanted them there in the first place will never support them, especially when they make such a giant co*k-up of it as they have now. *gasp*, how unpatriotic of me, I'm not respectful of the people who have given their lives for the freedom of the Iraqi population. Every single soldier who went into Iraq knew that there was a chance of death. Hello? It's a war! People die in war! Supporters should perhaps have realised this before the whole thing started, no? But to cap it all: "Saddam was innocent!" What are you going to do about it? He is dead, dammit! Ok, I'm getting bored. Will enjoy reading any responses from angry mutants whose opinions differ from my own.

I knew this would turn into a flame thread I suppose I'm either some idealistic hippie or a commie b4stard... I never said it was, but you did say that the US had the world's strongest economy. I can live with that. It also means that I can take both the IGCSEs and the IB and have the liberty to choose from most universities. Take into account that the university system works differently in "most other countries", so being 21 doesn't always have anything to do with it. Well, I can list the countries I have lived in...Norway England France (education in France is terrible, though; unless private) Belgium the Netherlands Scotland Ireland And I'm sure there was something I was too young at the time to actually give a reliable account of. I know those are all in Europe, but apart from the dint in the US, I haven't lived outside it. So in that respect, my knowledge is limited. So you make more money now. I'm going to ignore the fact that things cost more (and the fact that you now have more "needs" to supply for), and just go on to the people that didn't make it. You go to any large city in the US (well, anywhere...) and there are people on the street dying of hypothermia every single night. Now, for a country with "the world's best economy", that's not to hot, is it. And to think of where the money in this good old place is going... I am also an immigrant, and we have moved often since we first came to Norway. As I said, mostly within Europe, but I feel that that has given me if not the experience of all cultures, which would be impossible, then at least enough experience to judge what I see, and to figure out how it affects me. Should we move the thread to the spam forum? Wait, there isn't one here, is there. Pity I can't do a proper flame, then. I'm really in the mood for it.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? 3 more years? I will graduate at 18. The US is 8.8 trillion of its precious dollars in debt. As sylenzednuke said, how many of those actually make their lives better? If you forgot about the averages, you are no longer talking about the common education, which is what this thread is talking about. And don't even think of saying that the US has the highest living standards. You might want to do some homework before you post. Anyway, back to topic...

If you ask me, it's not only the education, but the whole social system of the US that is... in a poor state... The unbalance is extreme. 50% of the wealth held by 1% of the population? To me, something like that is sick, insane, despicable, whatever you want. Now, I wasn't there long, so I can't claim much experience. I used to attend a Norwegian public school, which was *BLEEP* and didn't teach you anything. Well, it did, but I think the idea was to keep the class at the level of the "worst" student. And everyone else can just do some more work (of the same kind) until that student's brain has developed sufficiently to follow along - in most cases, for the rest of your school life, since there is absolutely no point for the slow one to even make an effort, since the teachers are catering on them hand and foot. They did, however, teach English as of the second grade (ages 7-8), so most students go out of school with a relatively good spoken English. Even in second grade I had better English than the teacher, but that's beside the point. I'm not native Norwegian. After moving, I'm in an international school (in Norway ), and I must say I like it much better than anything I saw during my stay in the US. Most of the students have been travelling for most of their lives, and have had the benefit of the more... shall we say "open-minded"?... education that the international schools are forced to give. And oddly enough, it's the students who come right from the US who have the hardest time adapting. I just heard most US citizens don't actually have a passport. Is this true? I mean... damn... Now, we studied the US's independence last year (it's 231 years ago, btw...), and I honestly don't see the point in memorising it (we didn't have to). It's much more important to understand what it's saying it, and how it says it. The diplomacy Jefferson uses is something that today's US is missing. For me, school is not something that I will ever base my career on. School builds a foundation for universities to work on, and it's the university that trains you for your career. Unless you are planning to go into manual labour or something, I guess. If the world was the way I wanted it to be, people would not learn too much more than they had to do to earn a comfortable living - a solid understanding of the world, of course - I mean what is the point of learning all the algebra if you want to become a truck driver (which is quite a good living, here)? The middle ages was a better time to live in (of course that has nooothing to do with the fact that the US hadn't been overpopulated yet), if only because people led a simpler life. And if anyone's wondering, which they are not, I would have been a blacksmith (well, blacksmith's apprentice at the moment, I guess...). Of course, you couldn't change your station, but most people didn't feel the need to. And if this comes from the fact that the Church's teachings brainwashed them into it, so what? They were better off, no argument. But now I am supporting Christianity, which is not what I usually do, so I had better stop now before I do something worse.

Well, I suppose if you don't care about the ethics and like the stuff they make, then no, there is no point in doing anything about it. I myself don't generally deliberately support the extreme side of capitalism (have you seen what MS has done to any number of smaller companies over the years?). But call me a Linux Hippie. That's the sterotype, isn't it? Each to his own - I really should stop attacking people in such a vicious way just because they have different moral constraints. It's fun to see the variety of responses people come up with, though.

You could also use the standard Apache (I presume it's an Apache server - I don't know if this works on other servers) http protection. It's slightly harder to manage, but it saves the hassle with the PHP debugging and possible security risks if you aren't completely competent. Basically, there are two files: ".htaccess" and ".htpasswd" This is the syntax you want for .htaccess: AuthUserFile /full/server/path/.htpasswdAuthGroupFile /dev/nullAuthName EnterPasswordAuthType Basicrequire valid-user the "AuthUserFile" is where we will store a list of valid users and passwords. The path for this can either be the full server directory from root, or it can be the path from the Apache "DocumentRoot" setting for your site. You can make this by putting <?phpecho $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']; ?>in say "dir.php" in the directory that will be protected. When you run it, the script should give you something like "/var/www/asite/protected/dir.php" What you want to put behind "AuthUserFile" should in this case be "/var/www/asite/protected/.htpasswd". "require valid-user" tells it that it HAS to be a user that is defined). One thing that complicates the whole issue slightly is that the passwords are all encrypted (I forget which algorithm), so you can't change them as easily. I'll get back to that. For now, here's what the password file (.htpasswd) should look like: username:ZKGvcl5c9C/uM There can be as many users in there as you want (just separate every user by a newline). You can make the password with this tool: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Enter the user name and password, and it generates the list for you (ignore all the other boxes, they are for the .htaccess file. And I think that's it. I don't know if it made any sense, but what the hell. It might work -E

OpenOffice all the way. If you really want, you can export it to .doc in the save box, so it's almost 100% compatible with M$ Office. M$ Office doesn't run on Linux either, so even if it weren't an M$ WoS... well, you get the gist. @FolkRockFan: Why would you want all that? Just because it's cheap doesn't mean you have to go for it, does it?

Ubuntu, any of the flavours it comes in: * Ubuntu* Ubuntu server (needs more experience with linux - no GUI)* Kubuntu * Xubuntu* UbuntuStudioThe only difference with Ubuntu Server is that it comes fully optimised for server performance - no GUI pre-installed, and basically nothing that a server would not need. I would go with standard Ubuntu for a server, especially for those people who are new to Linux. If you're feeling fancy, you might want to try * Gentoo * LFS (Linux From Stratch)though these both need a lot of experience with Linux. And if you want a windows clone, try * ReactOS (still in development stage, but still an awesome project)I think I may have heard about Trustix, but I can't remember in what context, and I think I would have remembered had it been positive. I'm not saying anything at all against Trustix - just because I haven't heard of it doesn't mean it's no good XD - but if you are new to Linux, you may want to stick to a distribution that is known for a smoother learning curve, such as the *buntu's.-E

== If you enjoy movies, stop reading now == First of all, I have to say that I hate it when the turn a perfectly good book into a film. They pretty much always suck. I'm going to use fantasy in examples, since that's what I have the most experience with. Since Harry Potter seems to be popular, I might as well start with that. First of all, I hate Harry Potter and everything the damn brat has done to what was once a good genre. It isn't fantasy, it's the product of a sick donkey's back side. After someone went and stepped in it. The quality of makes me wonder why on earth something like that would gain so much support all over the place. Yes, I had a time when I liked it all as well. When I was what? Ten? Is this forum filled with a load of ten year olds or what? So, we have established that Harry Potter and all his little wand-waving cronies are purely the result of mass hysteria, and to be completely ignored by nobody except myself. (Yes, that was on purpose). The Harry Potter films were good considering what they were made of, but pretty damn sad otherwise. Just for the laughs, bash has the greatest quote of all time Another one that a few lonely souls had actually heard of was LoTR. The book's not all that bad, even though the characters are not that well developed, and there is no character development during the actual story. But then, Tolkien was more of a historian (more accurately, philologist) than a psychologist. Tolkien's books were decent, even without decent characters. But the films kind of ruined it, didn't they? (oh, btw, I'm not sure that 10 year olds should be watching such violent material alone - I hope you had your mums with you) There was so much they could have kept in and refrained from adding that would have given the whole thing so much more. But I suppose not everybody is in the business for the joy of the literature, are they... The most classic example is Eragon. The books were not too bad, if odd at certain moments, but hey, it was good in general. And then there's the film. I have never in my life seen a worse rendition of a piece of literature (King Arthur comes close, but they didn't exactly have more than a myth to work on, so they are entitled at least some artistic license). Eragon had nothing to do with artistic license. That is called Macabre Mutilation of Honestly Written Literature. If I had the chance I would happily insert a large sharp object into everyone who had a hand in getting the mutant script to where it went. Fox should be violated anally for what they did. All in all, I don't think any book should suffer the insult of being turned into the lesser life form of "movie" unless the creator of the film actually enjoyed the book and loves it the way you can only love a book... Please, don't take that the wrong way... And it's clear that most directors, screen-writers, etc go into it because they love movies (well, it makes sense, no?) rather than the books they want to copy so much. Even they seem to realise that they can't come up with a decent plot, and I wonder whey they can't. Might it perhaps be because while an author devotes more to what he/she creates than, from all appearances, a director does. (Yes, I know, the director doesn't always have autonomous rights to what goes in, blah, blah, blah) There are books that have been worked on for years on end, and that time is spent making something beautiful beyond the scale of any movie. That's something I have never seen, and doubt I will ever see from the film industry, simply because it's an industry, rather than a devotion. So, that's why I don't like films created from books, nor films created from the void cavity in a screenwriter's head. Now for books created from films. Since movies created from thin air are by default almost terrible, it's safe to assume that no book created from it will be much better, unless the book is altered from the movie so drastically that the book's writer might as well publish it as a completely independent work. So there. Movie lovers be gone. Your time was in the 90's. == Ok, you can start reading now ==

Microsoft certainly will. They already have. You can't upgrade components after installing the WGA, for example, because modifying the system counts as installing it on a separate system, even if it is not actually re-installed. People would not "simply buy macs", because the most part of Windows users have absolutely no idea what an operating system is, let alone how to install one (which they have to do to get the dual boot on the Mac, right?). Microsoft does not have supporters. They have sheeple. Anyone who is actually knowledgeable enough to have an opinion on Windows must have tried something else, so they at least have something to compare it to, right? And most people I know who have tried something else for more than a few weeks have stayed with it. Dell is buying licenses for SuSE from Novell, but due to Novell being @$$r4p'd by Microsoft, the deal goes via M$ rather than directly between Dell and Novell. This is one reason Novell is hated by a large and growing number of people. M$ is making money from Dell selling Linux pre-installed. Personally I think that M$ is an incredible company, no matter how evil they are (Yes, I hate them with a passion). They have taken a hostile situation and are making money from it. They got the "deal" with Novell quite some time before Dell started all the fuss about selling Linux pre-installed, and they are now gaining money from their "competing", as far as anything open source can be said to compete, operating system gaining users. And they don't even have to provide support for it. More related to the thread, Linux != Windows simply because Linux is not trying to be Windows. The goal of most Linux distributions is to present a realistic alternative to Windows, and most of them are better - just because something better than something else can't be identical to that which it is better than. Again, I link to http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm . -E

I really don't want to start flaming people for installing or *gasp* using Vista, but I will say that you, sir, deserve a severe beating with a number of sticks of varying dimensions. With nails in them.

Well, if you like the graphics, chances are you are going to have to upgrade hardware. I don't know what you have, but if it's more than a year or so old, the best choice would probably be Linux and Compiz. Does pretty much the same as Aero, and has done for years.

It's Linux. Anything is possible. Even logically organised file hierarchies