ljc86 - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:Yeah, and that's wrong. This game is almost ove (Score 1) 386

by ljc86 on Wednesday March 14 2007, @07:40PM (#18356649) Attached to: Shuttleworth Tells Linux Users to Stop Being So Fussy For OEMs

All anyone cares about is to have hardware with free drivers, from there any distro can be installed.

All *we* care about (as current Linux users) is that. It will help boost Dell's sales of hardware to current Linux users, if they did take up that kind of policy.

Perhaps, though, the wider picture is that a pre-installed Linux would speed up adoption. Certainly, a pre-installed (and thus a configuration with hardware issues ironed out) Linux distro such as Ubuntu is perfectly capable for what, probably, a majority of people need. There are certainly very few users who actually *need* features which are difficult to use or install on Linux (gaming, complete compatibility with MS Office or a Windows specific program).

The audience Linux should be targetting is those who use their computers for the simple things - Web Browsing, E-mail and simple word processing/office suite work. By including Linux pre-installed on big manufacturers such as Dell, you will be hitting a large part of that audience. So what if someone buys it without understanding the difference between the OS's - it surely helps resolve ubuntu bug#1.

World wide shutdown is early stages of planning...

Submitted by zoftie on Monday March 05 2007, @07:34AM

zoftie writes "Many people are planning to shut their computers off for entire day on March 24th. Shutdown Day website already went over 25000 people who are committed to spending their day free of their electronic pacifier, feeding tube however you want to describe your relationship to your computer(s). Being in IT industry for a while this leads on to one question, what is the consequence of such act, and what does it ask of us beyond turning off the computer."

DVI Guide - Connectors and Cables Explained

Submitted by buffalocheese on Monday March 05 2007, @05:57AM

buffalocheese writes "http://www.lindy.com/uk/tips/uk/Digital_Monitor_Co nnections_Explained_/index.php"

Journal: Is it hard to bold or note new comments in a thread? 3

Journal by NeMon'ess on Monday March 05 2007, @04:05AM

I remember how some forums used to show posts and replies in a threaded Usenet-style. Only the title was visible until clicked on and unread ones could be in bold.

I can't remember any recent forums letting me easily see which replies are new since the last time I viewed the page. I find it hard to believe people wouldn't like this feature. I'd like to see which are the new comments on multiply, slashdot, fark, and so on.

Broken 360 hassle.. Six weeks and no return box!

Submitted by

Joe Woynillowicz

on Tuesday February 27 2007, @09:07PM

Joe Woynillowicz writes "Horrible XBox 360 support hassle, a 360 goes dead and it has taken the support team SIX WEEKS to even send the return box (with another 2-3 on top for repair) and they haven't even got the box shipped out yet: http://dead360.blogspot.com/"

The $600 Stand-alone Blue-Ray Player

Submitted by Dr. Eggman on Tuesday February 27 2007, @08:50PM

Dr. Eggman writes "PCWorld brings us news of a cheaper stand-alone Blu-Ray Player Sony will introduce this summer. Costing $600, the player will be a significant price reduction over the $1000 BDP-S1 Sony introduced just ahead of Christmas. The $600 player is designed with the same features as the S1, but at a price to compete with the $500 Toshiba HD DVD player. While it was originally speculated that the PS3's Blu-Ray player would essentially serve the role of the cheap Blu-Ray player, this new announcement raises questions about the PS3's place in the HD Format battle. Sony has managed to pull out a strange new twist in the Home Entertainment War, but will it pay off?"

Xbox360 Hypervisor Vulnerability - Homebrew on 360

Submitted by RedLine on Tuesday February 27 2007, @08:10PM

RedLine writes "A new post on the BugTraq list released details on a critical vulnerability in Microsoft's Xbox360 that allows privilege escalation into hypervisor mode. Together with a method to inject data into non-privileged memory areas, this vulnerability allows an attacker with physical access to an Xbox 360 to run arbitrary code such as alternative operating systems with full privileges and full hardware access. The post is a follow-up on the anonymous presentation held on December 30th at the 23C3 Hacker Congress that suggested running homebrew code on Xbox360 would be possible soon. The vulnerability works in kernel 4532 and 4548 but was fixed by Microsoft in kernel 4552 (released on Jan 09, 2007) after they were notified about the exploit."

Firefox 3.0 Opens Door to Web Apps, Mozilla Says

Submitted by MilwaukeeCharlie on Tuesday February 27 2007, @08:01PM

MilwaukeeCharlie writes "CIO Magazine is reporting some buzz about Firefox 3.0, due to be released later this year.

Some of the likely new features include:

Offline support for web apps

New paradigm for "bookmarks" and "history"

Built-in database (SQL Lite), used for full-text indexing of the cache

Support for Javascript 2

"

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn gets closer

Submitted by daria42 on Tuesday February 27 2007, @07:46PM

daria42 writes "Ubuntu developers are finalising preparations for the release of the next version — dubbed Feisty Fawn — of the popular Linux distribution in mid-April. Overnight, Ubuntu developer Tollef Fog Heen announced Ubuntu's main software repository had been frozen — with no changes allowed to the code — as developers got ready to issue a fifth major test version ("Herd 5") of the next version of Ubuntu."

VMware cries foul over Microsoft virtualisation

Submitted by daria42 on Tuesday February 27 2007, @06:18PM

daria42 writes "The battle to control the virtualisation market has heated up with the launch of a white paper from VMware, which accuses Microsoft of anti-competitive practices. In language reminiscent of Microsoft's anti-trust battles in the US and its ongoing struggle with the European Union, VMware claimed that the software giant is "forcing [its] specifications and APIs on the industry", and "trying to restrict customers' flexibility and freedom to choose virtualisation software"."