This news may be a bit old, but it's something that's been on my mind for a while. According to Steve Ballmer, [1]Linux "uses our intellectual property” and Microsoft wanted to “get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation."
In this blogger's opinion Ballmer's statement is ridiculous. The things that Microsoft has patents on are such general things, why should the fact that Microsoft is financially stable enough to purchase patents hurt the free of cost style of Linux?
Although the lawsuit never came to fruition, the empty threats alone were enough to shake the Linux community. Microsoft expected every Linux distro to pay them for patent infringement, and did eventually sign deals with Novell and Red Hat, two very prominent Linux companies. This deal was supposed to be helpful to both parties, but two years later and we here on the Linux side of things have yet to see a single bonus from these deals.
Apparently, we were supposed to receive better support for Windows' codecs and programs, similar to how Mac OSX works now, but none of that ever came to pass. Now that it's been so long, where is our side of the bargain Microsoft? I wouldn't use it personally, but I'd love to see better support for Microsoft Office and the Windows API in Linux.
This may be an empty rant, since it's such old news, but it's something that came to my mind recently and has been bugging me ever since. If someone has any answers please leave a comment, because I've heard nothing lately. 2008's been a quiet year for this ordeal.
[1] http://www.macworld.com/article/53966/2006/11/ballmer.html
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
HowTo: Increase Eee PC key sensitivity
I've been a happy owner of an Asus Eee PC 900 [1] for roughly three months now. The day it arrived I installed and configured Debian, and after about a month and a half of "ricing" I finally feel like I am using my Eee PC to it's fullest.
It runs constant reminders[2] to alert me when something is coming up (birthdays, holidays, events), throttles to 113 MHz to conserve battery life, uses the wmii[3] window manager for the best possible use of screen real estate (which is very important when you are on an 8.9" laptop screen), runs Vendetta Online[4] fairly efficiently, and auto-syncs with Gmail's IMAP server. But the one thing I really loved was increasing my keyboard sensitivity.
The drawback to this laptop, however, were that the keys were not sensitive at all. I'd often have to hit the keys two or three times before the actual keypress would go through.
After extensive reading on the Eee Users' forum[5] I found a soft mod to fix my problem -- Putting a layer of aluminum foil under the keyboard. I was able to pull my keyboard out and cut three layers of aluminum foil to fit under it. Now my keyboard is a pleasure to use, minus the annoying space bar. The Eee PC's space bar doesn't process keypresses to the extreme left or right, which often becomes a problem. I'll be tackling that problem next.
Just a short walkthrough: removing the keyboard is simple. Above the keyboard there should be three pins, if you push them the top of the keyboard should unhinge itself, then disconnect the ribbong and remove the keyboard. Then just cut out three to five layers of aluminum foil (of equal size to the keyboard0, lay it in the keyboard bed under where the keyboard should go (remember to cut an area off for the ribbon!), and re-attach your keyboard. Simple as that!
Now the only problems left with my Eee PC are the spacebar and the cruddy built-in wireless card. Perhaps I'll just purchase a USB WiFi card for roaming, it'll probably be easier and less problematic than trying to replace the internal wireless card.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
[2] http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/remind
[3] http://www.suckless.org/wmii/
[4] http://www.vendetta-online.com/
[5] http://forum.eeeuser.com/
It runs constant reminders[2] to alert me when something is coming up (birthdays, holidays, events), throttles to 113 MHz to conserve battery life, uses the wmii[3] window manager for the best possible use of screen real estate (which is very important when you are on an 8.9" laptop screen), runs Vendetta Online[4] fairly efficiently, and auto-syncs with Gmail's IMAP server. But the one thing I really loved was increasing my keyboard sensitivity.
The drawback to this laptop, however, were that the keys were not sensitive at all. I'd often have to hit the keys two or three times before the actual keypress would go through.
After extensive reading on the Eee Users' forum[5] I found a soft mod to fix my problem -- Putting a layer of aluminum foil under the keyboard. I was able to pull my keyboard out and cut three layers of aluminum foil to fit under it. Now my keyboard is a pleasure to use, minus the annoying space bar. The Eee PC's space bar doesn't process keypresses to the extreme left or right, which often becomes a problem. I'll be tackling that problem next.
Just a short walkthrough: removing the keyboard is simple. Above the keyboard there should be three pins, if you push them the top of the keyboard should unhinge itself, then disconnect the ribbong and remove the keyboard. Then just cut out three to five layers of aluminum foil (of equal size to the keyboard0, lay it in the keyboard bed under where the keyboard should go (remember to cut an area off for the ribbon!), and re-attach your keyboard. Simple as that!
Now the only problems left with my Eee PC are the spacebar and the cruddy built-in wireless card. Perhaps I'll just purchase a USB WiFi card for roaming, it'll probably be easier and less problematic than trying to replace the internal wireless card.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
[2] http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/remind
[3] http://www.suckless.org/wmii/
[4] http://www.vendetta-online.com/
[5] http://forum.eeeuser.com/
Mother 3 Fan Translation
Kudos to the team at http://mother3.fobby.net/ for their fantastic work on the Mother 3 English translation. The game feels perfectly localized, almost to the point where if I didn't know better I'd think it was a native US/UK game.
The game itself is brilliant, and the storyline enthralling. What sets Mother 3 apart from the rest of the Mother series and other RPGs out there is the rythm and tick based battle system. What? You've never heard of either of those? Well, the way the battle system works is simple.
Rythm: When doing a physical attack you can chain consecutive hits. You can do this by hitting the A button to the beat of the song to score up to 16 hits. This can increase your damage output by up to 3x, so it's definitely a must-learn! I wasn't able to learn it though, so I focused on getting good at the...
Tick: Let's say Lucas has 100 health left, and an enemy does 101 damage. Instead of dying, Lucas' health will slowly start to roll downwards towards zero (like an odometer), giving you time to try to heal him before his health reaches zero.
Another great aspect of Mother 3 is the storyline -- It is the first in the Mother series to sport a story themed for both adults and children. The plot deals with the immediate death of two [would-be] main characters, and the fall of a peaceful village into a dystopian, brain washed, and over populated suburbian town.
But on top of the fighting and plot there is also the humor. Mother games are known for their humor. In what other series can you fight a 'New Age Retro Hippy', or have a bee from the future tell you that you are destined to save the world?
Here's a trailer for the Mother 3 translation:
No matter what age you are or what taste you have, Mother 3 is definitely warrants a play. Check out the fan translation at http://mother3.fobby.net/, and remember, grinding takes the fun out of the game!
The game itself is brilliant, and the storyline enthralling. What sets Mother 3 apart from the rest of the Mother series and other RPGs out there is the rythm and tick based battle system. What? You've never heard of either of those? Well, the way the battle system works is simple.
Rythm: When doing a physical attack you can chain consecutive hits. You can do this by hitting the A button to the beat of the song to score up to 16 hits. This can increase your damage output by up to 3x, so it's definitely a must-learn! I wasn't able to learn it though, so I focused on getting good at the...
Tick: Let's say Lucas has 100 health left, and an enemy does 101 damage. Instead of dying, Lucas' health will slowly start to roll downwards towards zero (like an odometer), giving you time to try to heal him before his health reaches zero.
Another great aspect of Mother 3 is the storyline -- It is the first in the Mother series to sport a story themed for both adults and children. The plot deals with the immediate death of two [would-be] main characters, and the fall of a peaceful village into a dystopian, brain washed, and over populated suburbian town.
But on top of the fighting and plot there is also the humor. Mother games are known for their humor. In what other series can you fight a 'New Age Retro Hippy', or have a bee from the future tell you that you are destined to save the world?
Here's a trailer for the Mother 3 translation:
No matter what age you are or what taste you have, Mother 3 is definitely warrants a play. Check out the fan translation at http://mother3.fobby.net/, and remember, grinding takes the fun out of the game!
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