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sixtofour

1,418 karma · joined September 23, 2010

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sixtofour··on Ubuntu’s move to Unity is the best thing that ever happened to Linux
"Unity isn't going to drag any joe-average users to suddenly want Linux on their PC."

'What comes with the PC at the store' is what joe-average is always going to use. Always. What a Linux desktop looks like and aspires to be and how well/whether it works means nothing in this context. Nothing.

Numbers-wise, people using Linux on the desktop are: geeks (an insignificant percentage of PC users) and friends/parents of geeks (an insignificant percentage the former).

We're like flies buzzing around a very small pile of elephant dung (but it's really good dung); meanwhile the elephant has lumbered off, out of site.

sixtofour··on Signed Integers Considered Stupid (Like This Title)
"The places where this become stupid are things like using an integer for height and width, or returning a signed integer count. Why on earth would you want to return a negative count?"

Manipulating values that don't seem, at first cursory glance, to need negative values using unsigned integers can be thought of as over specification. The difference between two heights can be negative, and adding the differences in and out of measurements would be much more convenient if negative values were allowed. Altitude above sea level can quite easily be negative if we add in ocean depth. It depends on the context, and a blanket prescription is overly restrictive.

Even in your for loop example, it could make sense to use a signed integer. Requirements could change, and you might later need to start or end at less than 0. If you had prematurely specified unsigned, then you have to change and double check all code when you eventually need to change your loop. Again, it depends more on context than a blanket prescription.

"This is retarded."

This kind of language greatly reduces the desire to read the rest of your argument.

"I can only attribute the vast overuse of int to programmer laziness. unsigned int is just too long to write. Of course, that's what typedef's are for,"

There are other non-lazy reasons to use int. And I don't believe obscuring a primitive type is the best use of typedef, but that's my opinion.

sixtofour··on Small Demons: Seeking A Better Path to Book Discovery
Details from fiction, cataloged and connected to other books and the real world.

Fascinating idea. Signed up, looking forward to the invite.

This is something that Wikipedia could have done. I suppose it does do this as a casual side effect, but SD is doing it explicitly.

My major question (as usual) is how are they going to make money. Maybe that will be clear when I get an account. I'm assuming it will be through affiliation or even direct sales.

sixtofour··on I feel like I’m living the first line of my obituary.
The problem is perception. With ads, there is the possibility of influence, so there is also the possibility that readers would trust wikipedia less.

Although I would prefer that they take ads rather than disappear.

sixtofour··on Disgruntled Ubuntu Unity Users Flock in Droves to Linux Mint
One way to distinguish between distros is package management. Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and other Debian derivates use apt/deb. Fedora and other RH derivatives use rpm. Other distros use whatever they use.

If you don't care one way about package management, then you might care about which versions of packages are supported by default. For example, this is Lubuntu's (essentially Ubuntu's).

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lubuntu

You can check other distros' package versions there too, as well as package management, file systems, etc. Of course nothing says you can't install whatever version of whatever package on whatever distro that you want, but it's nice to know from where you'll be starting.

sixtofour··on Microsoft looking to buy Yahoo again
"how is buying Yahoo going to plug the holes?"

Volume.

sixtofour··on Google denies Google+ death reports
"Because that means the tech world is getting flatter."

If an 800 lb Google can't make a dent in 1600 lb Facebook's enclosure, then how flat is that, really?

sixtofour··on Google.pl's crazy doodle
But it is patentable in the United States.
sixtofour··on Traveling, Writing and Programming
"Damn this cube."

I immediately had a picture of a mime.

sixtofour··on The Fundamentals, Primitives and History of HTML5
"How much of this stuff will doom you if any of your users are still stuck on IE?"

Or "stuck" on Firefox. His nice minimal html running example works on Chromium/Ubuntu for me, but not on FF8/Ubuntu for me. In the part where you're supposed to see the html inside the pre tag, all I get rendered is "undefined", although I do get the three emphasized bangs at the end of "Foundation."

Is this all "nice if you're on Chrom(ium)", or am I likely doing it wrong?

sixtofour··on Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes
Sometimes open source on locked down and jailbroken hardware is better. Sometimes it bricks the hardware. I wonder what it's like to have a brick in the eye?

Also this is a thing that goes in your body, and the FDA might have something to say about open source in that context. Is there any open source software running on pacemakers at the moment?

I think there are many more issues involved than simply "it's my hardware and I'll do what I want with it." If we get better eyeware through open source then great, but I'm skeptical at the moment that it can, much less will happen.

sixtofour··on Does the American political system even work anymore?
It works for the paying customers.
sixtofour··on The new Alan Turing docudrama is available for streaming
People of the world: be prepared for international copyright police.
sixtofour··on Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes
Why would you think this could ever be open source. It will be expensive to develop, and no corporation will spend the money to do so and then open source the software. It may (not likely) be jail breakable, but you still have to pay (probably) thousands to get it.

I was thinking one way for people to afford them would be to accept ads. I would hate that, and I think I'd just wear glasses or normal contacts.

In fact I'd be much more attracted to this sort of thing in glasses, because they'd likely be cheaper, and glasses can probably support more functions. And you wouldn't have a radio receiver concentrating radio energy directly on your eyes.

sixtofour··on Ask HN: How do you know if you're burnt out or just being lazy?
Make sure you're healthy, if it's an issue with you.

I was fired for being slow. I was falling asleep at inappropriate times, and was generally feeling stupid, to the point that I hated myself for being stupid and lazy. This was particularly hard working in a company that constantly touts the superior abilities of its employees.

When I was finally fired it was an emotional relief. I ultimately got treatment, and I don't feel stupid or lazy anymore, but I haven't fully recovered from being fired.

sixtofour··on What's the one Linux command you wish you knew years ago?
> The first thing the sys-admin who helped me said was, "type 'man'."

And that also happened. It used to be virtually impossible to jump in alone, because someone had to create an account for you. It's now possible to start in Unix with no one's help. As long as you can figure out how to burn an iso to CD, you're in. The installation gives you an account, with sudo.

After you install CrunchBang, it pops up a terminal the first time you log in, and allows you to make additional choices that weren't made during install.

I think all distros should pop up a terminal upon first boot and direct you to read "man man."

sixtofour··on What's the one Linux command you wish you knew years ago?
I was taken aback by one commenter whose command he wished he'd known for years was man, newly discovered by him. "All those years of googling, wasted."

What happened that it's possible for someone to not know that it exists?

sixtofour··on What's the one Linux command you wish you knew years ago?
Fantastic. I've always wanted to know what I'm going to do next.
sixtofour··on What's the one Linux command you wish you knew years ago?
I stand enlightened.
sixtofour··on [dead]
To the site owners:

(I couldn't find a way to contact you on your site.)

This is a very nice, attractive web site. You are clearly trying to do good things.

One very strong suggestion: it's very important that you find a better translator, or learn to be a better translator. Your articles are very hard to understand (and I did try).

Even when I thought I understood part of an article, I wasn't sure, because the rest of the article was so difficult to understand.

You've done well so far, but without better translations I don't believe people will come back to your site after the first visit.

sixtofour··on What's the one Linux command you wish you knew years ago?
Just diff the two directories.

    $ ls a b
    a:
    1  2  3  4
    
    b:
    1  2  3
    
    # Yours:
    $ diff -u <(cd a && find . | sort) <(cd b && find . | sort)
    --- /dev/fd/63	2011-11-20 02:50:21.919072726 -0700
    +++ /dev/fd/62	2011-11-20 02:50:21.919072726 -0700
    @@ -2,4 +2,3 @@
     ./1
     ./2
     ./3
    -./4
    
    # Mine:
    $ diff -u a b
    diff -u a/1 b/1
    --- a/1	2011-11-20 02:43:57.073130007 -0700
    +++ b/1	2011-11-20 02:45:14.535912768 -0700
    @@ -1 +1 @@
    -1
    +11
    Only in a: 4
Maybe I'm missing something?
sixtofour··on What's the one Linux command you wish you knew years ago?
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1723

vimpager. Set vim as your pager. I love reading man pages in syntax-colored vim glory.

sixtofour··on Full disk encryption is too good?
I was going to mention a similar scenario of cooking accounting books as a counter to my non-lawyerly argument.
sixtofour··on Full disk encryption is too good?
You have a fifth amendment right not to incriminate yourself, which the article mentions by noting that you don't have to give up your password when asked.

In my mind (IANAL), if I don't have to give up information about myself, then I have the right to encrypt my information, and to not be presumed a criminal merely for having encrypted my information.

Note that the 5th amendment is not about protecting your criminal activity, since you're presumed innocent unless convicted. It's a right that you have regardless of your character or activity.

sixtofour··on Learning to write how Hunter S. Thompson did
Writing like Hunter S. Thompson is not something you learn, it's something you let out.

Most people can learn to sing well enough so they don't annoy the congregation, but most people will never develop a voice as distinctive and recognizable as Joe Cocker, much less develop that exact voice.

Most people can learn to write well enough to communicate clearly, maybe even enjoyably, but most people will never develop a writing style as recognizable and ground breaking as Hunter S. Thompson, and any attempt to mimic Thompson (beyond college creative writing classes) would be annoying and embarrassing.

EDIT: I do not mean to say that the post author's writing is annoying. My comments are only related to the idea of learning to write like HST. Some day I hope to learn to write well enough to communicate clearly.

sixtofour··on Selena Gomez Invests in Postcard On the Run. Startups Are Now Mainstream
Startups are Hollywood's new real estate. Smart Hollywood actors (smart anyone) take their fortune, major or minor, and invest it. Actors make their money acting, but they sustain their fortune by investing it, and that has often been in real estate. Now startups are in the mix.
sixtofour··on What yet-to-be-written security book would you like to see on your shelves?
And you might support the book (in both senses of the word "support") with a web site.
sixtofour··on What yet-to-be-written security book would you like to see on your shelves?
A list of types of threats, organized by target area, summarizing:

    - each threat
    - its basic mechanism
    - basic effective defenses
    - common ineffective defenses
    - tradeoffs between more effective and less effective defenses
    - possible stopgaps until you can use an effective defense
    - where to start to learn more about each.
Sort of a Zagat's of security.

I would also like to see evo_9's How to Secure Your Life, described in his comment.

sixtofour··on RIAA claims you do not own your iTunes music purchases
Unless the RIAA wins, in which case 100 years from now will be the dark ages.
sixtofour··on SOPA Hearing is Streaming Live
Quality is unbearable.
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