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Travis B. Hartwell › Comments
sigma's org-s5 at master - GitHub - http://github.com/sigma/org-s5
Create s-5 slides from org-mode files.
- Travis B. Hartwell
What You Can't Say - http://www.paulgraham.com/say...
Recommended by Heartsbane on #utah, definitely related to today's political and social climate.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Facebook iPhone Dev Quits Project Over Apple Tyranny - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009...
Sad for iPhone users, as I hear the app is great. Perhaps he should work with the Android team and improve the Android Facebook app.
- Travis B. Hartwell
nafai on Is Python Slow? - http://www.reddit.com/r...
"Sure, CPython can be slow. It's well known that CPython isn't the greatest implementation. But for most things I do, it isn't too slow. I remember Slava Pestov often saying that there is no reason a dynamic language has to be slow. He has proven that with Factor with its awesome compiler. Unfortunately, most dynamic language designers seem to be horrible language implementers (look at Python, Ruby, etc). What's up with that?"
- Travis B. Hartwell
so instead of helping make python faster or better, google has decided to pull a NIH and create a new language named "Go" http://golang.org
Onur Gündüz, Jeethu Karthik, Greg GuitarBuster and 3 other people liked this
I read some things earlier on the "make python go faster" and I tend to agree that it might be too difficult for their purposes. But geez, why another braces-and-semicolons language? Sure, they have Ken Thompson and Rob Pike working on it, but can't the world get beyond that? It just drives me bonkers. Those are not the source of the ONE TRUE SYNTAX. Besides, we all know parentheses are. :)
- Travis B. Hartwell
As far as I can tell, Gudio and other Google employees continue to help make Python faster and better.
- Gary Burd
Go looks like it's a compiled language, not interpreted. I thought Python was an interpreted language.
- Jesse Stay
I think you're correct, Jesse.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF
What's the difference between interpreted and compiled languages?
- Cristo
Cristo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- Jesse Stay
Jesse: "Theoretically, any language may be compiled or interpreted, so this designation is applied purely because of common implementation practice and not some underlying property of a language."
- Cristo
Cristo: Correct. So it is more correct to talk about a particular implementation of a language being compiled or interpreted.
- Travis B. Hartwell
I'm not an expert, but my guess is the reason not to use Python for this is the lack of static typing and ability to call system routines and access memory directly without writing glue code. Writing device drivers in Python would be a challenge.
- Cristo
Oh, and also because Python doesn't have a switch statement. ;)
- Cristo
nafai on Is Python Slow? - http://www.reddit.com/r...
"Maybe."
- Travis B. Hartwell
nafai on Is Python Slow? - http://www.reddit.com/r...
"No."
- Travis B. Hartwell
nafai on Is Python Slow? - http://www.reddit.com/r...
"Yes"
- Travis B. Hartwell
This is the part of the day in which we eat chocolate.
Joe Pierce, Kol Tregaskes, Katie: Witch Of The West and 55 other people liked this
Like Unlike Like Unlike Like Unlike Like Unlike Like Unlike Like Unlike Like Unlike Like Unlike Like
- LogEx
Oh man, break me off a piece of dat!!!!!!!!!!
- Jon, the Beartato of FF
*gets up and steals kitkat from child's halloween box*
- JSNFLMNG
Yay for Kit Kats!
- ronin
What would you do for a Kit Kat bar?
- Steve
WIN!
- holly
I love that part
- Amit Morson
there is a part..............I thought it was the whole day.....................
- VAL D.
I didn't get any halloween candy this year, so I'm really wanting those kit kats.
- veo
I just ate a couple of those little tiny bite size candy bar things. I found that little tiny bite size is no substitute for great big giant many bite size.
- Noah Belson
Chocolate?!? Bah...my response is here http://friendfeed.com/krynsky...
- Mark Krynsky
Heh, I'm still eating left over Kit Kats from Halloween that we didn't give out. Yum!
- Travis B. Hartwell
Bet you wish you were in Japan. They have like 60 varieties of kit kat.
- Clark Baumgartner 蔵明 馬武刀
60 varieties of... I... I... *head explodes*
- Friday Lo is Friday!
Green tea, white, and peach mango Kit Kat are my favorite.
- veo
*joins group for a chocolate confection*
- SAM
Now I must quest across the earth to try all the different kinds of kit kat. I can't wait to break apart a 3-piece bar!
- Friday Lo is Friday!
Pizza Hut Hints at the Power of Apple’s Platform - http://bub.blicio.us/pizza-h...
I like this in particular: "As I’ve mentioned before, some of the most successful applications across Apple’s platform are those that provide value through convenience." But there is nothing inherent about the iPhone that makes it better at this than say Android, or WebOS, or even Blackberry. I think Android can and will be equally successful at this.
- Travis B. Hartwell
The HornGet Project: Bringing "apt-get install" to .NET Projects - http://devlicio.us/blogs...
This is exactly why Linux will always be more productive for me as an operating system and that as a developer, I want to use a system like Maven or Cabal or, if anything, the Linux distribution packaging system to manage dependencies.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Could A Real Apple Fan Completely "Go Google"? - http://blog.louisgray.com/2009...
Matt Cutts, Skyler Call and Louis Gray liked this
It's interesting...I'm finding I've become a more and more of a Google person without even consciously doing it. It started out with search. And then Google Reader. Then this year I got tired of managing my own mail server so I moved my domain to Google Apps. I've switched from Firefox to Chromium. And I own a G1. All of my contacts, calendering, e-mail, web searching, rss reading are all on Google's servers, accessed using a Google browser or a Google Android-based phone. Good thing I trust them.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Re: 85,000 reasons why Apple’s iPhone isn’t going to be disrupted - http://scobleizer.com/2009...
"Thank you. I realize people need to make the choices on what works best for them. For some people, that just might be a Blackberry. Others it might be the iPhone. But please don't count Android out. :) A good friend once asked me why I was using a particular piece of software to accomplish a particular task. I actually couldn't think of why I was using it over the alternatives other than "just because". So I re-evaluated it and found something that was a better fit that actually had the features I needed. So, why do people use the platform they use? Is it because it is the shiniest one? Or do they have reasons like Scoble has listed for him? If so, good. I have my own as well for using Android."
- Travis B. Hartwell
Re: 85,000 reasons why Apple’s iPhone isn’t going to be disrupted - http://scobleizer.com/2009...
"Who said anything about representative? I'm pretty sure Robert is not representative of the typical user either, but for different reasons. So automatically my opinion doesn't count? Would you say my wife's opinion doesn't count because she uses Linux too? (She knows nothing about the command line, couldn't install it herself -- or Windows for that matter, but once it is set up she prefers it) Then you need to count out a lot of iPhone users I know, because they heavily use Linux as well and are system administrators and developers. I hope I didn't say anywhere in my post that just because someone uses a Mac, your opinion on this matter doesn't count. I was just sharing my opinion on how I prefer Android."
- Travis B. Hartwell
A thought on Microsoft retail stores - http://theotherdrummer.com/a-thoug...
bear (aka Mike Taylor) liked this
I can't say that I'm an Apple fan (and I'm definitely not a Microsoft fan), but this really puts to words what I was feeling when I saw the video linked.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Re: 85,000 reasons why Apple’s iPhone isn’t going to be disrupted - http://scobleizer.com/2009...
"I had a very long reply written, but I decided it wasn't worth it. No platform is perfect. We each choose our hardware and software tools based on how it meets our needs and the particular set of problems and benefits that they give. Often these choices are not based on necessarily pragmatic things in the eyes of others -- on one extreme, look at Richard Stallman for a fine example. For me, the tools I use are Linux on my desktop and an Android phone in my pocket. They may not be as "sexy" as the things sold by Apple, but I would still take them any day over the Apple line of products. I spent six months trying to use a Mac Book Pro as my primary computing environment and gladly gave it up and went back to Linux when the particular job that gave me it was finished. Day to day, my Linux desktop is so much easier for me to run and to use. None of the so-called "benefits" of an Apple device or operating system did anything for me, as any modern Linux "just works" right out of the box on..."
- Travis B. Hartwell
evening of coding brought to a halt by the number of python modules *not* !python 3 compatible (including my own that i'm trying to convert)
Woah? You are actually using Python 3?
- Travis B. Hartwell
I fell in love with the changes they introduced for subprocess :) - plus a couple parsedatetime users were asking about it
- bear (aka Mike Taylor)
Interesting...I admit that I haven't heard of anyone using Python 3 yet :)
- Travis B. Hartwell
well, I may be moving back to 2.6 for the short term - just too many bumps. I spent 4 hours last night fighting other people's code and not my own.
- bear (aka Mike Taylor)
I'm noticing FriendFeed is getting stuff much slower than Facebook these days. I find myself reading Facebook more and more and FriendFeed less.
Gaith liked this
Maybe you should post on facebook instead. ;)
- Cristo
Facebook has been extremely slow and unreliable for me the last few weeks. Today half the time it thinks I have no friends and sometimes it makes me re-login and then tells me my account is temporarily disabled. Quite frustrating.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Cristo, I do - lots of different stuff than I do here
- Jesse Stay
In fact, Facebook is thinking I'm new to Facebook now and has a "Welcome to Facebook" banner at the top. I sure hope it didn't loose my 600+ friend connections or anything else I have on facebook.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Travis, the latest changes have introduced a bunch of bugs. Give them a week or two to work those out.
- Jesse Stay
I figured it was related to these changes. I'm just being impatient. I want my connections now more than ever as I'm trying to do some networking. :)
- Travis B. Hartwell
FF'ers: Any advice for a recently laid off software engineer/system administrator for the job hunt? What are keys to getting that "dream job"?
Please share with anyone you think might have helpful advice for me!
- Travis B. Hartwell
Not seeing all your friends on the new Facebook Live feed? Go down to the bottom and click "options".
Iván Abrego, Jeroen De Miranda, Vlad Hrouda and 3 other people liked this
I don't see the Options, I'm searching, searching
- Owen Greaves
Thanks, I didn't even notice that I wasn't seeing everyone. Much better now.
- Travis B. Hartwell
nafai on Hey /r/programming, here's a quick scrabble word search for you I made a while back with google app engine. - http://www.reddit.com/r...
"I don't know the names of them since I don't have an iPhone, but there is already at least one scrabble dictionary app for the iPhone."
- Travis B. Hartwell
"I don't know the names of them since I don't have an iPhone, but there is already at least one scrabble dictionary app for the iPhone."
- Travis B. Hartwell
Free PDF Search Engine - http://www.pdfgeni.com/
Find pdf manuals and other pdfs online
- Travis B. Hartwell
GraphicsMagick Image Processing System - http://www.graphicsmagick.org/
Replacement for imagemagick, supposedly 2-3x faster.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Guys, here's a serious question: Do you use linux and open source? Don't you? Why? Why not? (Especially for desktops and workstations)
Tyson Key, rowlikeagirl, Jason Huebel and 33 other people liked this
Serious answers please! I mean comments like "freetards!" or "We HAVE to pay for software" aren't serious — Also, gentle discussions between commenters are very welcome! Please be nice, cool and helpful - I'd really appreciate it :)
- directeur
I tried it. It had a horrible learning curve and very little community support for those trying to run Linux on Mac hardware.
- Spidra Webster
Spidra, I run Linux on macs :) Can I help? Also, I actually think that you probably tried some years ago, didn't you?
- directeur
I do is certain situations. For example, I have a service offering that integrates the Asterisk PBX. I am mostly MS on the desktop.
- Eric @ CS Techcast
from iPhone
I did for a short time. I had no compelling reason to stay with it.
- Internet's Tad
Thanks, Erid, I'm editing my post for "Desktop" and "Workstations"
- directeur
Yes - I use Linux and Open source for all my backend servers at the school I work at. Its all LAMP and its all AWS. This includes blogs, moodle, streaming media (a and v), and other support systems I need to run my section of the school. I can't imagine using anything else right now.
- Dan Morrill AKA Techwag
I do from shitty FAT flash drives that die after awhile. It was also on the home computer until my dad demanded his Micro$oft back. If I'm allowed to keep this laptop I'm using now, I'm going to do a format C:/ first thing and get some Debian on
- Maxamad
I thought linux was open source (bows out cuz i'm clueless.)
- MicahBear78
Tad, did you miss something? for eg?
- directeur
Yeah, I was trying back in 2000 or so. Before OS X. I think people who like tinkering are fine with Linux. I just want my computer to WORK. I used to be a Mac power user back in OS 9 days and troubleshot stuff and did tech support. I'm tired of it. I just want to get shit done.
- Spidra Webster
@Micah - SCO - they have ideas on that. :-)
- Dan Morrill AKA Techwag
Micah, duh! I meant other open source softawre beside Linux, Like BSD and other apps (not kernel)
- directeur
Linux because that's what I'm used to.
- Bruce Lewis
I use gnu/linux/open-source-software for my work and personal needs. Linux is awesome. Especially it's fast and stable for my development needs. (PHP, Python/Django.)
- Emre Yılmaz
Linux is great and all but it is still too complex for the average user,
- Hunter
It just didn't do anything for me. I'm more comfortable in Windows and OSX. I make a living writing software on the .NET framework. I toyed with Ruby on Rails for a while, and learned a lot, but I also learned that I could only make about half of what I'm making as a c# developer... I just have no need for Linux.
- Internet's Tad
I don't use Linux on the desktop because I don't consider gimp to be a sufficient replacement for Photoshop. That's the deal breaker. There are also other similar reasons that are less important.
- Jason Wehmhoener
On the server I am quite fond of BSD, debian, and Solaris.
- Jason Wehmhoener
I haven't found anything lacking in my OSX experience that I thought linux would have. I had considered a mythTV box for a while but boxee and plex have negated that need too.
- dthree
Yes, everywhere...except my macbook pro at home
- Bill Scherer
Yep, always, I use Linux on two flavours, Suse and Ubuntu. Unices in general are for people who value more broad networks and sharing to personal station and copyrights.
- Thierry Lhôte
Not on the desktop. I like playing games.
- Rodfather
i use for some reason like most security softwares (offensive security) work perfect on linux. and the desktops of linux? extremely cool =] on the other hand, i love graphical design stuffs and it's kinda meditation for me but most softwares i need does not work on linux yet. at least, not properly. also my graphic tablet does not work on linux. i can use it as a mouse but as a drawing tool i need pen pressure sensitivity and it does not work on linux. too bad =\
- emre dede ve haremi
I downloaded Ubuntu and installed it as dual boot with Vista, on a new Dell PC (with 2 hard drives). no issues.
- Mike Nencetti
Of course. It's the only environment I've seen that I can optimize to my workflow, rather than vice-versa. It's simpler, better-engineered, and far more customizable. Sadly, the graphics stack is sub-par as are most of the games, so for play I still have to use Windows.
- i80and
Mac is cool, Windows 7 is cool, but not fresh because overloaded with things and blahblah design we do not need for communication. Linux is still staying "fresh" even after hours of use. So LInux is best for intellectual work I presume.
- Thierry Lhôte
I use Linux Mint almost exclusively at home (I only boot Windows to sync my iPhone, my kids' iPod Touches and my Zune - the iPod Nano and the Creative Zen get synced from Linux). I boot XP in VirtualBox occasionally to check things in IE6 or to use MS Office. I use quite a bit of other open-source software (free and paid). I am a big advocate of open-source and Linux. As long as I can...
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- Curtiss Grymala
I love me some Linux and Open Source. Why? Transparency, mainly. Plus the software is usually super streamlined and as a consequence is not very resource intense. And I really love running at like 5% processor power.
- Miss Elle
Doh! My own answer! :) I use Linux (Debian Lenny) - I'm a kind of minimalist, I don't like to have to use gazzilions of apps (though linux haz dem too) But what I like more is that I am _aware_ of what's in my machine. I can do mostly anything that people do on other OSes (Now by anything I mean: do not compare apps, compare how we work and results of apps uses) And often I'm more...
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- directeur
Results aren't the only thing that matters. Efficiency is important as well when you are being paid by the hour. So is the ability to share files with colleagues. You can't completely dismiss the importance of apps.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Jason, that's it actually (Posted my edit before) Sharing is easy for me. Why would it be hard?
- directeur
I like the Apps and U/X on OS X desktop much better, but you know that already.
- Cristo
directeur, I have some pretty complex PSDs. Can you edit them and send them back to me without messing them up?
- Jason Wehmhoener
Yes, I know Cristo :) yet you still have the power of the CLI too on OSX
- directeur
Yup, I use both, and ssh into a Linux server too. It's all good. I can imagine wanting to run Linux locally if you wanted to perfectly emulate your server on your desktop, but BSD on OS X is good enough for anything I need to do in that respect.
- Cristo
Jason - you're absolutely right about the fact that Photoshop is much more powerful than any alternatives. However, you've also contradicted yourself by using PSD files as an example. Can you share those complex PSD files with your clients? Most likely not. You said being able to share was most important for you, but then you cited a proprietary format that is not available to the majority of computer users (no matter their operating systems).
- Curtiss Grymala
Curtiss, if Jason and I wanted to work on the same PSD file, that would be sharing too, no? Giving files to clients is what Exporting and Save As is for.
- Cristo
Cristo - If directeur and I wanted to share the same XCF file, that would be sharing, too, no?
- Curtiss Grymala
I'd also like to answer for my Mom -- She loves Linux now that I've installed it on her desktop. I know her reason would be, "Because it just works." as the Puppy Linux LiveCD worked right off the boot-up and came with all the apps she ever wanted (well ... minus Skype ... but Gizmo was a good replacement). Also, she doesn't have to worry about malware, which consumed too many of her brain cycles.
- Miss Elle
Cristo, I think he means openness. Why would you expect everyone to own a copy of photoshop or whatever? Moreover, I think the Gimp can import PSD files too
- directeur
I did say "colleagues" and not "clients". I frequently share source format files with colleagues. (Colleagues who would laugh if I suggested they open an XCF using Gimp in order to do hourly paid design work)
- Jason Wehmhoener
Curtiss, not many design shops not using Photoshop or Fireworks. directeur, I'm pretty sure Jason and I are on the same page with this.
- Cristo
i just love linux and open source.
- Mengu
Jason what's laughable about it? I run a business and we all use Inkscape and the Gimp :/
- directeur
The Boyfriend does not line OpenSource. He's a total MacFanboi. His reason against the FLOSS were that he wanted the perceived status that comes with owning Apple products. Well marketed, Apple. Well marketed, indeed. Especially since OS X looks an awful lot like Ubuntu. (I assume it is different under the hood.)
- Miss Elle
Lots of gimp forum posts about errors with PSD files. directeur, you aren't working with my teammates.
- Jason Wehmhoener
@directeur - GIMP can import PSD though some of the blends don't import quite right.
- Miss Elle
Heh, thanks for the input Miss Elle! Linux doesn't have that kind of marketing, alas (or not?)
- directeur
The fact of the matter remains, though, that a lot of the "shareability" depends entirely on what you do for a living. I can share PHP files with anyone, no matter what system they're using or which editor they're working with because it's an open standard. However, you can only share PSD files with other colleagues that use Photoshop. For that matter, if you have CS4 and you use all of...
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- Curtiss Grymala
You know what's interesting? OS X includes a LOT of open source code.
- Jason Wehmhoener
If you think Linux looks like OS X, or that design shops use GIMP, then you aren't doing any pro design work.
- Cristo
Jason, so does Linux too ;-)
- directeur
Cristo you're definitely wrong! That's a genral statement by someone who apparently doesn't use this app a lot
- directeur
This is really kind of a silly discussion.
- Cristo
The GIMP is terrible at importing PSD files (especially with layers). However, PhotoShop isn't even capable (at least, out-of-the-box) of importing an XCF file. For that matter, it can't even import a PSP file, but Paint Shop Pro can fairly reliably import PSD files (it will rasterize vector elements, though - not implying that PSP is open-source, though).
- Curtiss Grymala
I really like the BSD license, because it allows open source code to live in harmony with commercial efforts. And ya, the conversation is kinda silly.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Well, let's be productive :) :re the conversation
- directeur
No...You can't run Office on *NIX and for me that's a non-starter.
- Alex Scoble
directeur, point us at a sample design of an entity that does most of their work in GIMP.
- Cristo
Alex, we're not talking about apps, but about what you want to do and how to do it
- directeur
I agree, directeur. Here's something productive for you - What does Adobe inDesign offer that's not available in Scribus? Very little. In fact, AFAIK, the only thing it doesn't offer that you can find in InDesign is a PMS matching system.
- Curtiss Grymala
I also think the BSD/Apache licenses are vastly superior to GPL and it's copyleft offshoots.
- Cristo
@Cristo - Though a LinuxLover at heart, I'll be the first to suggest that designers should use Apple. Apple seems to really nail the creative niche with its power to support graphic design, music, and movie softwares. I think there is enough room in the software world for a right fit for every need kind of thing and I'm not sure that Apple is always the right fit. Nor is Windows. Nor is Linux.
- Miss Elle
Cristo, I bet any opensource community does... anyway. I'd like to focus of what people need to do and how they achieve it, comparing apps is well, just silly
- directeur
Open source community projects generally suck at U/X design, particularly in the visual area. Sorry to be harsh, but it's the truth.
- Cristo
You put MacPorts on OSX and you can build and run most open source apps. You can run X11 on OSX as well though its not exactly blazing fast. I have Mac, Linux and Windows boxes, Mac is best of most worlds so its my desktop now, Windows is for games, still have a Linux box I use remotely. I grew up on Unix and fled to Linux very early. Just got tired of Gnome/KDE nonsense, drivers not working right, especially audio. Open source just struggles doing desktop, GUI, Audio and consistent apps.
- Ed Millard
There are actually a lot of design firms that use open-source tools to do their work. The overwhelming majority of artwork for major open-source projects (linux builds, etc.) is done with open-source tools. They don't all suck, Cristo. If they did, Windows and Mac wouldn't steal UI elements from Linux (yes, it works the other way, too, I know).
- Curtiss Grymala
Miss Ellie, I agree. Linux is particularly good as a server OS or as a desktop that is doing server development.
- Cristo
Why? because they don't look eye-candied à la Apple? Cristo?
- directeur
directeur, because they look amateurish.
- Cristo
I always thought X had something to do with UX issues in unix-land. programming for X seems complex compared to UI programming on windows and OS X.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Although there are toolkits that would seem to help...
- Jason Wehmhoener
Cristo, heh :) We will never agree, I think.
- directeur
I use linux for my main computer. I also use Android for my mobile. I try and use open sourced projects whenever possible too.
- Kevin Mohr
UX stands for user experience. UI stands for user interface. UX has nothing to do with the X window environment.
- Curtiss Grymala
Seriously, guys, let's be productive tell me about usability. Not how cool apps look, My desktop (I don't have an actual desktop) is a black screen, no panels, no buttons, no menus, not even a wallpaper, nothing! and I do everything I need to do
- directeur
Android is Apache 2, the superior license.
- Cristo
I always thought the Windows 95-esque GUI for Linux was because most of the apps are written by coders who, as code monkies, aren't very visually oriented individuals
- Miss Elle
Miss Elle, I agree, and I wondered "why aren't some visually oriented individuals improving the situation?" and I think it's because it takes too much damn code to make a Linux UI.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Curtiss, I'm not sure Jason was implying there was a connection, other than the X windowing server may be used to implement the Linux user experience.
- Cristo
Miss Elle - what desktop environment and window manager are you using with linux? Not everything resembles Windows 95. In fact, KDE has a very slick look, especially when combined with the right window manager.
- Curtiss Grymala
directeur, i do a lot of things that cannot be done via CLI. Sorry, it's just a fact.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Linux UI? Please stop these idées-reçues! The Linux desktop has changed since the 90's a LOT! @Jason, I'm using X with ratpoison, not only the CLI :)
- directeur
I'm never going to use an acronym for "user experience" again. gah.
- Jason Wehmhoener
directeur, you're correct. I'm not going to switch from using OS X, which I love to use., to using Linux which I find amateurish from a U/X point of view. I'm not suggesting anyone stop using Linux as their desktop either.
- Cristo
Cristo, that's your right and you have answered your and this thread's question :) — "amateurish" is not an answer. It's a statement. Don't expect me to agree, think whatever you want :)
- directeur
Nothing I say is ever meant to be anything other than my opinion, unless I claim it as fact. :)
- Cristo
I use windows and some open source software. Why because I'm familiar with windows tools,and used visual studio for years- I got sick of makefiles for complex library builds, dependencies, etc
- Mark Essel
from iPhone
Sorry for the misunderstanding, Jason. I thought you were implying that the "X" in UX was the problem, and relating that to the X graphic environment. My fault. Also, as I mentioned, I agree with you guys about PhotoShop (and I feel the same way about MS Office), but I was just trying to point out that you can't dismiss things out-of-hand just because you don't use them.
- Curtiss Grymala
I am using Gnome one one machine and KDE on the other. And while I've found ways to apply beautiful themes, that still doesn't save AbiWord or Blender or Gxine or Mplayer or a host of other apps interfaces which are stuck somewhere between Win95 and Win3.1. kPDF, on the other hand, does a good job, I think.
- Miss Elle
Curtiss, I actually think it's really cool that some folks use open source exclusively for design. I'm actually a little jealous, but my priorities are such that I can't get hung up on it. I use the tools I need to use to work with the people I want to work with.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Not sure I would say its amatuerish, inconsistent is probably a better word. There just aren't good standards and its to easy for open source coders to wander all over the map designing inconsistent UI, inconsistent hotkeys, drag and drop integration not working right etc. Apple has Interface Builder which is a dream to develop UI in, its why their apps tend to be consistent and good. If you stay within in Gnome or KDE apps the inconsistency isnt so bad but its just not as good as OSX.
- Ed Millard
For a really long time (pre vista) I had a dual boot of xp and freeBSD. I used windows for school projects where i was just too busy and lazy to work with programs that said they were Office/win compatible, but came out garbled on my un-computer friendly professor's pc. But I also remember every time I had a final paper due, win would crap out and I'd have to go into the linux partition...
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- InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)
That I understand, Miss Elle. As Ed just mentioned, it's more about inconsistency, actually. Depending on the apps you use, you can find the same phenomenon among closed-source, paid applications in Windows.
- Curtiss Grymala
Someone should make an open source Interface Builder like app.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Something like Glade? Jason?
- directeur
I don't know enough about Glade to compare it to IB. Has anyone else used both?
- Jason Wehmhoener
Jason - I completely understand. I am fortunate enough to have CS4 for work, but if it wasn't provided, I'd have no choice but to use free, open-source apps, as there's no way I could afford to buy CS4 out of my own pocket. That's why I try to keep up to date with those apps (in case I ever end up at a different job without CS4 at my disposal). Granted, I'm not a designer, but I do have to work with designers regularly.
- Curtiss Grymala
I think Qt/KDE has an interface designer but I haven't used it enough to say how good it is. Apple did just about everything right in Interface Builder. As long as Linux has so many different desktops, window managers, audio API's, GUI toolkits its just not going to be very friendly to app developers or your average end user. The whole KDE versus GNOME thing really messes it up as a desktop OS and makes it too fragmented.
- Ed Millard
@Curtiss -- I've noticed that, too. Again I think it is a case of "good coder, bad at GUI", but that OpenSource seems to encourage everyone to code it if they can think it. Whereas for the closed source operating systems there is typically a team working on the software and one member of the team is usually a GUI designer. When it is a volunteer team, as I've seen often with FLOSS, there is not that guarantee of a GUI designer having an input.
- Miss Elle
That's absolutely true, Miss Elle. As independent coders/developers, it can be extremely difficult to find designers that are willing to work for free. If we can't monetize our product (which is entirely possible with open-source, it's just extremely rare), we can't pay a designer. That's why we generally end up designing things ourselves (note - I am not a desktop application developer, I am a Web app developer, but the principle still applies).
- Curtiss Grymala
over 100 comments in an hour?
- Mike Nencetti
We better stop, otherwise people might think Friendfeed's not dead. :)
- Curtiss Grymala
:P Like your input, guys! :) Even people who don't agree with me #lookingAtCristo
- directeur
I had a flirting with Unix/Linux when I was in high-school. Then I got my first programming job and it was on Windows... And from that point on it was Windows. It's just what most corporate businesses environments use for the kind of applications that I write. So it makes sense for me to use Windows and not Linux. And I'm more comfortable doing so. I see no reason to switch.
- Her Lindsay-ness
(Should be inserted into the discussion, above.) In all fairness to Scribus, when I was Yearbook Adviser (I'm a teacher), we did our entire yearbook in Scribus and it looked just as good as the Adobe InDesign books. I turned out a whole staff of 30 kiddos trained in Scribus who are still using Scribus to this day. (I left that school for another that already had a Yearbook Adviser.)
- Miss Elle
Lindsay, why "switch"? Why not use and exepriement, maybe you'll be able to do different tasks better on an OS or another — I mean, give things a try. Or aren't you interested at all? :)
- directeur
Yes. I use Crunchbang on the Old Beast (desktop). I have used Linux Mint and Ubuntu previously. Linux seems to work better on the older machine than XP does.
- Steven Perez
I don't use Linux, but I do use a lot of open source software (esp., Firefox, GIMP, OpenOffice).
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
I do enjoy some of the shared freedom of open source, and web programming. I'm not trapped by 14 years of libraries and portability issues with scala, php or other platform independent tools. I've heard scala/java is actually competitive with c++ for some numerical applications but I have yet to witness this first hand (it's always been slower in my experience)
- Mark Essel
from iPhone
I use Ubuntu on most machines - my PC and HTPC at home, and my laptop at work. At home I mostly use Firefox, Pidgin and GIMP with UFRaw (which I find perfectly adequate for my personal photography). At work I do software design and development, with Evolution for accessing email from Exchange, and Java and Eclipse as the dev environment. Most of the team has switched over to Ubuntu in recent months because it's faster and more stable than Windows for the work we're doing.
- Edward Coffey
Thanks to this thread, I'm going to check out Scribus.
- Jason Wehmhoener
@directeur -- Not that you asked, but one of the things I'm doing to help the FLOSS movement is writing non-technical guides or tutorials for how to do basic functions on the software I use. I find that there is a general lack of 8th-grade-level documentation for programs which is why most people aren't adventurous. And it is a small way of giving back since I am not an artist nor a...
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- Miss Elle
Glad it helped, Jason! Folks, I really appreciated that this thread didn't turn into a flame war. Thanks a lot! :)
- directeur
I started using Linux around '98. It was fun. I tried a lot of different distros. However, I ended up working in a Microsoft world and began to focus on just using MS. While futzing around and rebuilding my OS was entertaining, I stopped doing that when I also got into gaming. Didn't have the space or money to run dual boot or multi-machines and by the time I did well... my only foray...
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- Arlan Koizumi
Yay! As someone who started out using Pagemaker 4 (and then onto 6.5, then to InDesign), I can say that Scribus is extremely impressive. Also, I felt I should clarify my statement about MS Office earlier. MS Word is really the only Office component I think is much better than open-source alternatives. The rest of Office is either matched or exceeded by open-source software.
- Curtiss Grymala
Miss Elle, I HIGHLY respect people like you! Code is a good thing, "educating" people is better IMHO. Thanks for all your work!
- directeur
That's awesome and enviable, Miss Elle. I've been tempted to do the same, but never really had enough ambition to follow through.
- Curtiss Grymala
StarOffice was awesome. I loved it. I tried getting into GIMP but man, it took a while (and still does >_>).
- Arlan Koizumi
I like Eclipse too. That is a great open source app. Doubt many Windows developers use and it unfortunately doesn't do Objective C yet so its not good for Cocoa development on iPhone and Mac yet. If you do Java or C/C++ its awesome across Linux, Mac and Window.
- Ed Millard
Eclipse is great.
- Jason Wehmhoener
@Arlan -- StarOffice was awesome. I actually really like OO.o 3.x series. I feel like it is getting back to what I wanted from an office suite. Have you checked it out lately?
- Miss Elle
Open Office is great, it just fails too often if you have to exchange writable docs with people using Word, or at least is has every time I've used it, the formatting always gets mess up, though maybe I'm a bad doc writter. If you just need to produce PDF's it is great.
- Ed Millard
Miss Elle, I might have but it would've been in the Neo Office conversion for Mac. There were a few things that bugged me. I haven't installed much on my Eee PC since getting Ubuntu on there as I mainly used it for social network monitoring, but I'll be sure to give it a looksie.
- Arlan Koizumi
For docs, call me an idiot, an old guy or anything, but I think that LaTeX is a very good choice. It's the perfect app which clearly separates content from the form/style. OpenOffice and MS Office do that too, but I really do think that documents rendered with LaTeX are superior in quality. Let alone the ease of exchange, we're talking about simple text files which can be edited anywhere with anything
- directeur
I had problems in Neo Office with docs with complex layouts (like my resume) but regular letters translated perfectly between NO and Word. Oh yeah, heard good stuff about LaTex but never tried it.
- Arlan Koizumi
Until OOO properly supports comments and tracked changes, I will still not be able to use it regularly (we use tracked changes for everything at work, and they are an extremely useful feature). I would love to, but I just can't without support for tracked changes.
- Curtiss Grymala
Holden, I guess your professor expects a printed doc, right? Also, if you can make your professor smarter, do it! You know in almost any good university some profs often require thesis rendered with LaTeX :)
- directeur
As my last word on this subject for the night, you guys should check out http://zwopper.deviantart.com/gallery... While they are all wallpapers, Zwopper does all of his artwork exclusively in the GIMP, and actually does a pretty nice job with quite a few of them.
- Curtiss Grymala
@directeur -- My problem with LaTeX was that I never could get it to render into PDF and could never find useful documentation written for my understanding level.
- Miss Elle
Absolutelly, Curtis! They're gorgeous!
- directeur
Miss Elle, that should be easy actually, do you have pdflatex?
- directeur
I don't have nearly as much patience for dicking around with my computer as I used to. Windows works, and when it doesn't, I know how to make it work. i've taken time to learn some linux things, but I just don't have time/patience
- Richard Lawler
I've been using Linux as my primary desktop and development environment for a decade now. I could never use Mac OS X or Windows as my primary environment any more. They just don't feel right to me. Linux installs are easier than Windows installs for me and trouble shooting is easier. Some things don't work for me now that I wish did (like using my bluetooth headphones), but everything...
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- Travis B. Hartwell
I use Linux on my home workstation. At work, I use it also as my main workstation, OSX on my laptop, and centos/redhat for the production servers. I'm a big supporter of open source.
- imabonehead
Mac OS X didn't really exist a decade ago (unless you used a NeXT machine). It's more honest to just say you're not interested in exploring it or that refined U/X is not the most important issue for you.
- Cristo
U/X is not good for me on OS X. There's something -- hard to pinpoint -- I don't know, "fussy" about the UI. I don't like it. I don't care how "refined" it is, or how much usability testing it's a product of.
- Christopher A Carr
No argument that it's not for everyone. But using it doesn't mean you don't appreciate Unix or open source either.
- Cristo
Ed: I've spent many hours on OS X. I'm used to it. To be "used to" OS X isn't necessarily to love the OS X UI, as Cristo might assume to be the case...
- Christopher A Carr
What am I assuming? I don't follow this.
- Cristo
I do Ubuntu. Plus I run a whole lot of open source software on Windows. I even like how the Wine compatibility layer allows me to run my Windows programs under Linux (there's a script called winetricks that imports your existing Windows programs' settings into the Wine registry, allowing you to run them without having to reinstall). I was going to triple boot my Dell with FreeDOS, but it (the Dell) is powerful enough that I can just run it emulated under either Windows or Linux.
- Dennis Jernberg
Cristo: I get the impression that you suppose that OS X's UI is so wonderful, that if one doesn't care for it, they must simply not be familiar with it. ...just a guess on my part.
- Christopher A Carr
This is a linux house for everything but the direct-tv dvr (which may also be linux for all I know), and we are using Ubuntu as the distro of choice. Well, more like that's what I installed, so that's what everyone is using.
- Grant Bierman
Christohper, no, I don't assume that. You might have mistaken my response to another commenter as meaning that though. I've seen UI disagreements since the early 80s, so I have no illusions about people having different tastes and biases. In fact, arguments for or against things like the menu bar at the top of the Mac desktop vs menus on windows as many other UIs have grown very...
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- Cristo
no adobe cs for linux
- minus-one
Yes, I use FLOSS. No, Linux is not my primary OS
- LANjackal
I use GNU/Linux because my work is done on a computer and I need a reliable operating system for that. Another reason is that my OS (I'm using ubuntu) is out-of-the-box, everything works (internet, printer, etc). Third reason, I can adapt my OS to my needs. Fourth reason, I like to keep my options open and GNU/Linux allows me to have all my contents in open formats, this way I feel more secure about accessing those contents in the future.
- paula simoes ☃
Everything I've heard tells me that macs are great,I'd love one. But I simply can't afford one that's recent enough to have the capabilities I want. So I dual boot Windows and Mint. Similarly I'm sure Photoshop CS4 is better than GIMP, but for a home user it's ridiculously expensive. The latest versions of Elements and PSP also cost more than I'm able to spend (it's that or prints). It's all as simple as that. As WINE improves the advantages of paying for Windows are decreasing as well.
- grraargh
@grraargh I had a mac, some years ago, I had so many problems (mostly hardware) I decided to never have a mac again
- paula simoes ☃
well, i've been running free software only, specially gnu/linux for about 11 years,since i get in touch with it when i was working on Lisbon Expo98 world fair; they were using it as mail and web server and it really worked so well that i thought that i had to try (they were using red hat 5.0/5.2) since i like to be different ;) i choose to install SuSE; but what i really liked was it's philosophy, since than i'm a huge fan of Free Livre Software. My favorite Distro, Debian :)
- ovigia
Sometimes..! I like Microsoft Applications usually.
- ★ Soner Gönül
I do. GNU/Linux is simply the most powerful OS out there, and that's the main reason. Besides, I prefer free software because it's the best software model there is :-)
- Marcos Marado
I have been using it for the better part of 9 years. When I first started using it I loved that you really had to get your hands dirty to make every thing to work just right. At the time I thought of it (FreeBSD 4.6) as the most stable programing platform and things like writing my own CVS file and compiling a Kernel for sound were a lot of fun. Later as I started playing with Linux...
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- J. Abdul-Qahhar
Linux is my primary OS. It's the PC that runs my Livingroom entertainment center and my family has adapted to it very well. My wife uses it to surf and handle business and my kids uses it to play games and watch movies...I use it to blog :)
- Anthony Farrior
Use Ubuntu and test out its alphas/betas almost every day.
- Manuel Mas
My HP laptop has some horrible WiFi problems that lead the machine to lock up. I successfully fixed it on Vista and I haven't been able to make it work on Linux yet. I run a Linux VM for development so I'm happy enough.
- Daniel J. Pritchett
Yes both at work and at home - Ubuntu for desktop and laptop. We use as much open source software as we can - Firefox, Opera, DeskNow, OpenOffice.org, Gimp, Joomla and MaiaCMS (our programmer wrote & release to os community), Our close to 300 public computers are also running a version of Linux (http://groovix.com/) - why? Because we believe in giving our customers the best but also...
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- Mlibrarianus
@Mlibrarianus little correction: Opera is not open source, as well as DeskNow.
- Artemko
started learning linux years ago after finding webhosts were cheaper than winnt, and got some personal servers running with debian since it seemed compatible with most any old hardware. now using ubuntu for desktop since it includes recent software versions, and installation and upgrading are a breeze. for anyone that thinks linux desktop looks bad, check out screen shots of the latest visual options http://personal.utulsa.edu/~stuart...
- Mike Chelen
I use linux at home and work. Ubuntu on my desktop and laptop.
- Necati Demir
I use Ubuntu on the desktop. Have been for several years now. The latest releases have smoothed out most of the user experience glitches, and hardware support mostly just works (it is now frequently the case that Linux supports hardware out-of-the-box where Windows requires a dodgy driver). I find OpenOffice sufficient for most of my needs re: an office suite, but frankly I don't use it...
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- Michael R. Bernstein
Again thank you all for your comments, folks! Really nice to see people with different OSes discuss this subject in such a civilised way! (Which -won't we all agree?- is a rare thing) :)
- directeur
I don't use linux because of software compatibility issues (most of my mission-critical apps would have to be reinstalled and there's no compelling reason to do so). I use tons of open source stuff in Windows XP, though. Probably 70% of the software I use is open source, just not the OS.
- Steve Lynch
from twhirl
Don't remember if I commented or not (and I'm too lazy to dig through 150 comments), but I use Linux mainly on servers. I do have a desktop environment on most of them that I'll use on occasion (I'm partial to KDE). But for the most part, I don't use Linux on the desktop. I run Mac OSX primarily, with a bevy of Open Source apps: Adium, Firefox, Cyberduck, Colloquy and OpenOffice are just a few I use regularly.
- Jason Huebel
I always do a Ctrl-F search for "- You" to see if I'm in on a thread ;)
- Daniel J. Pritchett
Jason, you'll know if you commented or not if it shows up in your My discussions, or if you liked it, whether it shows up in your comments.
- Cristo
I'm browsing the Best of Day list. I didn't "Like", but sometimes I forget to.
- Jason Huebel
I run an Ubuntu VM on my macbook pro, but OSX is the primary desktop. On the server, it's Linux all the way. Love open source, but like OSX more.
- Deepak Singh
@directeur - just saw your response to my comment and to answer your question: I have so many side projects and things going on with Windows development I don't have the time or energy to devote to the learning curve of another OS. Basically I can't even stand OSX and get majorly frustrated whenever I have to do anything on Tad's or Avynn's Macs, so I figure Linux is out of the...
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- Her Lindsay-ness
This question is very much like asking why you live in a brick apartment building in the city rather than in a log cabin in the woods. My first computer ran Windows 98 and I got used to things being a certain way. My second computer ran WinME and had a very short life, so i took my WinME and installed it on the older computer (it's still running it, and quite stable, although painfully...
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- April Russo (app103)
B-Boy & Daniel: check out the cleaner friendfeed script http://userstyles.org/styles... (via http://friendfeed.com/friendf...) which highlights your own comments making them easier to notice quickly
- Mike Chelen
April: thankfully though there is a standard method to install most any software in linux within a few minutes, for free, then have it automatically updated if you like it, or uninstall and move on to the next. there is a lot of good software available, gedit is one example (check out all the useful options if you haven't already), though finding which is best suited to you can take time
- Mike Chelen
None of the special purpose signmaking programs like Flexisign run under Linux, thus my workplace uses Windows. I tried Linux on my desktop, it offered me no advantage, and couldn't run the Hipihi, Novoking, or uWorld, or hardly any of the interesting software I read about. Inkscape, probably Linux's best vector illustration program, can't even use an eps file.
- SuezanneC Baskerville
Ad in Real Estate mailer says buy a home, get $1000 toward the purchase of an AR-15 assault rifle. Only in Utah...
Travis B. Hartwell liked this
Liked for "Only in Utah" not for the AR-15 :)
- Travis B. Hartwell
Not to say that you can't exercise your 2nd amendment rights elsewhere... But this is suburban Utah we are talking about...
- Jake Spurlock
@louisgray Fair point. I do like BBEdit, actually (though 1997 stands). I'd recommend Transmit for FTP. But yeah: #BlameDrewsCancer
Louis Gray liked this
I recognize my Web development/authoring skills have been fairly flat for the last decade or so. BBEdit does a great job for what I need it to do, and yes, there are other FTP clients out there, but how can you diss the fetch dog?
- Louis Gray
See, in 1997 I was using CuteHTML (which no longer exists) and WsFTP (which is a piece of crap). I'm happy to have moved on since then.
- Curtiss Grymala
vim FTW!
- Jesse Stay
vim FTW!
- DGentry
Emacs FTW!
- Travis B. Hartwell
vim FTW!
- directeur
vim FTW!
- Maxamad
If he gets that open - http://ihasahotdog.com/2009...
I once shared a little Mt. Dew with our puppy. For some reason my wife wasn't happy about this...
- Travis B. Hartwell
I once shared a little Mt. Dew with our puppy. For some reason my wife wasn't happy about this...
- Travis B. Hartwell
I had to block my first user on Twitter yesterday! :-(
TheHenry liked this
What took so long?
- Louis Gray
Hehe, Louis. Never needed to but one user posted me twice in one day something I most definitely didn't want on my feed.
- Kol Tregaskes
Louis, are you still in London? How was/is it?
- Kol Tregaskes
I am back home in Sunnyvale. If I am on California time, I have been up since 1:30 a.m. and it is 9 p.m. now (but feels later). The presentation went surprisingly well, considering I had to provide 5 hours of content to 80 people, followed by 12 2-minute video clips followed by a 15 minute keynote to 300 people. At the end of the day, I couldn't say much without sounding foolish. :)
- Louis Gray
I've never blocked a legitimate user; just spammers.
- Travis B. Hartwell
Louis, wow. Glad it went well though. :-)
- Kol Tregaskes
Apple: Snow Leopard - http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2009...
I <3 my T-61p.
- Travis B. Hartwell
I plan on getting a puppy, small #dog breed, for Christmas. I want one that gets along with cats, great with kids, and is good for condo living. Any suggestions?
Kol Tregaskes, Kisha, Well Conditioned, Derrick and 4 other people liked this
yorkie! :D
- pea ♥ fierce as a woozle
Are they too little? I have this little girl who loves to hug Hagi to death. I don't want a puppy who can get hurt by her doing that
- Shevonne
I did this exact research a while ago - Animal Planet has an interactive breed finder that's fun and seems pretty helpful. The dogs that came up the most often, doing the search different ways, were Boston Terriers, pugs and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels - the last I remember as being particularly good with kids.
- Amy℠
@Amy Going to check it out. I know on TV, they had a Dog Breed 101, but I didn't see much of it. I was interested in the Puggles (Pug - Beatle hybrid) but they are like $1000!
- Shevonne
When I was a kid, our miniature schnauzer got along just fine with the cat. Or rather, they mostly ignored each other. The cat was established in the household before the dog/puppy, so I think that helped.
- Katy S
@Katy I heard that if you get a dog as a puppy, the cat will kind of be kind of paternal towards him/her
- Shevonne
Oh, min. schauzers were another one. About the puppy vs. dog, the advantage is that with a grown dog, you will know if it tolerates cats. There is no way either of my cats would be paternal or maternal toward a puppy usurper of my attention - which is one reason why I decided not to get a dog for now. Of course it depends on the cats. Also look at the breed "rescue" organizations and even shelters - I was amazed at how many people give up purebred dogs.
- Amy℠
Definitely going to check the rescue orgs. That is how I got my cat. =D
- Shevonne
fwiw, even though I know you're looking for a small dog, we also had a great dane that got along great with my siamese cat. They'd play together - the great dane would let the cat chase her around the house. It was hilarious. Then they'd curl up together and take a nap. They were best buddies.
- Katy S
We have a Bichon Frise. Our Russian Blue cat and he get along fine. Also, Bichons are hypoallergenic, so people with allergies like them.
- Cristo
I always think about Shrek when I think about Bichon Frise. =D
- Shevonne
Jack Russel Terriers have been known to kill cats, hunting is their nature. Avoid the Jack, agree with the mini schnauzer and the Cavalier suggestion. If allergies the schnauzer and Bichon are great but you must get them groomed due to their lack of shedding leads to more mats.
- Janet
Most terriers are barkers, so if you're in a condo, you might want to avoid those.
- Rochelle
@Rochelle Thanks for reminding me. Little barking
- Shevonne
Another Spaniel fan, especially Cockers. Cleo loves her kitty roommates.
- Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)
Try the dog lover's room too! http://friendfeed.com/dog-lov...
- Paul Reynolds
Thanks Paul!
- Shevonne
I absolutely love our Bichon-a-poo. She is part Bichon Frise and part Toy Poodle. She weighs about 9 pounds. She doesn't shed. She's great with kids, almost too great -- more than willing to make friends when they may not want to. Same way with cats. Just hasn't been around cats much and she tried to make friends with a neighbor cat the other day and didn't understand that the arching...
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- Travis B. Hartwell
@Travis I saw pictures of a Bichon-a-poo. They are really cute. Does she bark a lot?
- Shevonne
She really only barks when we are playing with her or she really wants our attention and we are ignoring her. She actually is really quiet, which is a good thing because I was worried about the small dog == lot of barking problem before we got her.
- Travis B. Hartwell
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