Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 30th Jan 2012 20:39 UTC
Finally something really interesting to talk about. If you've used UNIX or any of its derivatives, you've probably wondered why there's /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin in the file system. You may even have a rationalisation for the existence of each and every one of these directories. The thing is, though - all these rationalisations were thought up after these directories were created. As it turns out, the real reasoning is pretty damn straightforward.
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RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple
by phoenix on Mon 30th Jan 2012 21:50
in reply to "RE[3]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2005-07-11
RE[5]: Wow, That Was Simple
by shotsman on Tue 31st Jan 2012 16:48
in reply to "RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2005-07-22
And the Windows directory layout is a paragon of logical thought?
Why is the 'hosts' file buried in WINDOWS/System32/Drivers/etc?
'System32'? of an 64bit OS?
I've been using a variety of Operating Systems since DEC Dos V8 on the same PDP-11 as K&R, VMS, i/OS through to the likes of Android and IOS.
I have to say that the LSB version of 'where things are put' works for me.
Finally, I'd really like to shake the hand of whoever thought it would be neat to default some critical directories (eg Program Files in windows) to contain a SPACE character.
I'd give them a 'Glasgow Handshake'.
Frankly every OS has its oddities.
RE[5]: Wow, That Was Simple
by frderi on Tue 31st Jan 2012 21:11
in reply to "RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2011-06-17
RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple
by leech on Mon 30th Jan 2012 23:15
in reply to "RE[3]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2006-01-10
"/users
/system
/programs (or /Apps, in this day and age).
More is not needed at root.
/system
/programs (or /Apps, in this day and age).
More is not needed at root.
That looks a lot like:
Documents and Settings
Windows
Program Files
Just sayin' "
Yeah, and those that actually have to dig through file locations occasionally find the "windows way" a nightmare! I need to find where a file is on Linux? There are a ton of ways. I need the actual location of an executable? Use 'which <program>' and it'll show you the full path. You need to know what package a file belongs to? dpkg -S <filename> (at least on Debian based distributions.)
The Windows way is a mess, because while you have Program Files or Program Files (x86), not all installers default to put things there, and even then you can change the default so not all systems will have files in the same place.... Then you have the fact that some installers want to put the company name in there, so you end up getting a huge mess. A good example is Steam. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Mods\ is where I have to install mods to. Not all mod installers detect where it is installed, so I manually have to drop files in there.
Far easer to have /usr/games/doom/ and throw the files in there, wouldn't you say?
RE[5]: Wow, That Was Simple
by dorin.lazar on Tue 31st Jan 2012 01:21
in reply to "RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2006-12-15
RE[5]: Wow, That Was Simple
by lucas_maximus on Tue 31st Jan 2012 01:22
in reply to "RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2009-08-18
RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple
by dorin.lazar on Tue 31st Jan 2012 01:19
in reply to "RE[3]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2006-12-15
RE[4]: Wow, That Was Simple
by l3v1 on Tue 31st Jan 2012 07:01
in reply to "RE[3]: Wow, That Was Simple"
Member since:2005-07-06
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 21:50 UTC
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:15 UTC
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."More News »
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Member since:
2009-03-09
/system
/programs (or /Apps, in this day and age).
More is not needed at root.
That looks a lot like:
Documents and Settings
Windows
Program Files
Just sayin'