After the flood of Fedora Core 6 and Ubuntu 6.10 reviews, here is a review of PC-BSD 1.3 Beta. "PC-BSD has improved quite a bit and the use of its open-source PBI packaging system is a great idea. Although it obviously means there might be a minor delay in newly released products being ported over to the PBI package system, novice users will rejoice because the wait is well worth it. PC-BSD is a well oiled machine with its quick response times, even if you don't have that much memory in your system. Its implementation of a clean interface is welcomed by me and not having a 3D enabled desktop is not something I really would worry about unless you are an eye-candy lover."
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-24
Member since:2006-10-08
Macromedia doesn't like do publish a free definition of their "Flash" format. That's the problem. I think, thatt there are many developers out there who would love to implement "Flash" plugins and players - but they can't.
Let's take a look on the ports collection (remember, it can be used in PC-BSD like I mentioned before):
graphics/flashplayer - GPL standalone Flash (TM) player
graphics/libflash - GPL Flash (TM) Library
www/flashplugin - An implementation of Macromedia Flash plugin for Netscape
www/flashplugin-mozilla - A GPL standalone Flash (TM) plugin for Mozilla web browser
www/linux-flashplugin7 - Adobe Flash Player NPAPI Plugin
www/xpi-flashblock - Replaces Flash objects with a button you can click to view them (GOOD IDEA!)
So "no support" isn't correct. Complicated support would be better. :-)
Furthermore, there are some procedures to include "Flash" support in Firefox or Mozilla - these ones are in german, sorry ("mit" = with).
Title: "BSD:Firefox mit Flash-Plugin" - http://wiki.uugrn.org/wiki/BSD:Firefox_mit_Flash-Plugin
Title: "FreeBSD - Mozilla mit Java- und Flashsupport" - http://wiki.unixboard.de/index.php/FreeBSD_-_Mozilla_mit_Java-_und_...
But... why are people so keen about "Flash"? It makes it impossible for disabled (blind) people to even enter a web page or gaining information on what the page is about. (Friendly reminder: "Flash" is no substitute for HTML, kids!) Isn't this stupid? Haven't (yet?) found a need for "Flash" for myself...
Member since:2005-06-29
This is not because you don't like Flash that you should ban us from it. I like watching Flash movies once in a while. Not everybody uses Flash for navigation menus. Flash used properly (for videos) is not evil at all. Blind people won't be able to watch these, but what can we do? Ban Flash as a sympathy?
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move."A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane."MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Member since:
2006-08-27
Don't blame the lack of Flash on BSD, blame Macromedia. They're they one's who first declared it to be illegal under BSD, then later announced they would never ever make a BSD version.