underwhelm - Slashdot User

Submission + - Windows to Linux. Which distro to pick?

Submitted by Redjoy on Wednesday December 06, 2006 @01:11AM

Redjoy writes: I just finished school and I would now like to make the switch to linux (at home).

I have the following PC:
1. Custom (233MHz, 128MB RAM?, 80GB HD, OS:win98)
2. Compaq presario (400MHz?,256MB RAM, 20GB HD, OS:XPPro)
3. Dell GX1 (500MHz, 768MB RAM, 160GB HD, OS:XPPro)
4. DELL INSPIRON 9300 (1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 40GB HD, OS:XPPro)

I would like to use:
1. for storage (shared files)
2. belongs to my wife (use for web browsing, email, and simple "office" applications.
3. for storage (Tivo, backup files)
4. main system (does everything)

My question to the community is what distro should I install for each system, and why I should intall that distro?

I am open to all (non MS) operating systems.

Submission + - Deep Fritz beats Kramnik

Submitted by Syats on Wednesday December 06, 2006 @01:06AM

Syats writes: As BBC points out Deep Fritz beats World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik; of a six game match, four were draws and two victories for the computer. Kramnik is talking of a rematch... in a couple of months, when Deep Fritz is even better.

Submission + - Intel to produce no hard drive cheap laptop

Submitted by sien on Wednesday December 06, 2006 @12:48AM

sien writes: In a similar vein to the One Laptop Per Child computer Intel have announced that they intend to produce a similar cheap laptop using flash storage. The story is on The Age and also at the Herald Tribune. The entry of Intel and the declaration that Microsoft intend to get Windows running on the One Laptop Per Child machine suggests that there may be a general market for a cheap, robust laptop without hard drive or optical storage.

Submission + - Apple Developing iPhone and "Smart" Phone

Submitted by anaesthetica on Wednesday December 06, 2006 @12:39AM

anaesthetica writes: According to AppleInsider, Apple is not only working on a cellphone + mp3 player iPhone, but is working on a second model designed to be a smart phone, highly integrated with Mac OS and .Mac. The smart phone has gone through several iterations, as the notoriously demanding Mr. Jobs ordered the elite team working on the phone to redesign and re-engineer their prototypes. Capabilities are reported to include Front Row interface, syncing contacts and iCal with .Mac, "call ahead", iChat video conferencing integration, WiFi, and a slide-out keyboard. Too good to be true?

Submission + - CAPTCHA harder to break using animations

Submitted by

mlemos

on Wednesday December 06, 2006 @12:20AM

mlemos writes: "CAPTCHA validation is often used to prevent robots from abusing Web site resources. Usually CAPTCHA methods employ text written on fuzzy graphical images that the users must recognize.

However, there are already anti-CAPTCHA capable robots that employ artificial intelligence to reckon the text automatically.

László Zsidi is a PHP Web developer that has written an harder to break CAPTCHA solution. It consists in generating animated GIF images that exhibit the validation text.

Since the text never appears all at once in each of the animated frames, this solution certainly raises the bar in terms of difficulty for the robots to guess the validation text, making it very hard to defeat, if possible at all. There is an example screenshot that shows that this PHP component can be used to render an animated CAPTCHA with a 3D light effect running over the validation text.

The solution can run on most PHP installations as it only requires the GD library to render the animated graphic frames. László also provides another pure PHP class that is necessary to assemble the generated animated CAPTCHA frames into a single animated GIF image.

László just won the latest edition of the PHP Programming Innovation award for this achievement."

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