Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 14th Sep 2012 22:30 UTC
You'd think this sort of stuff belonged to the past - but no. Apparently, Microsoft is afraid of Android on its Windows 8 tablets, because Intel has just announced that it will provide no support for Linux on its clover Trail processors. Supposedly, this chip is "designed for Windows 8". What?
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RE[7]: Comment by jigzat
by lemur2 on Mon 17th Sep 2012 07:47
in reply to "RE[6]: Comment by jigzat"
Member since:2007-02-17
"It is a relatively simple matter to avoid hardware, such as nvidia graphics, which still require reverse-engineered drivers.
Using Nvidia graphics cards in linux does NOT require reverse-engineered drivers. Nvidia provides 32 & 64 bit linux drivers, and communicates well with users to resolve bugs and add features/support. "
If one uses the binary blob driver provided by nvidia, one cannot upgrade to Wayland in the near future.
Nvidia's binary blob driver is NOT shipped with Linux distributions, one has to download it separately and actually compile a piece of wrapper code. Any issues the driver causes cannot be addressed by the Linux kernel developers. This is most decidedly NOT recommended for non-expert users.
Every time one updates the kernel, one has to recompile the open source wrapper which sits between the binary blob and the kernel. This requires that one has Linux kernel source code installed. It is an utter pain.
For this and other reasons, it is not recommended to use the nvidia binary blob driver. Since the open source nouveau driver is limited due to the need to reverse engineer, that driver although better does not deliver anywhere near the capabilities of the card.
Since it is a is a relatively simple matter to avoid nvidia graphics and use instead a graphics card which does have a functional, well-performed open source driver which ships as part of the Linux kernel itself, (i.e. Intel or AMD/ATI graphics), then using such hardware for desktop Linux systems is overwhelmingly to be recommended.
Edited 2012-09-17 07:48 UTC
RE[8]: Comment by jigzat
by Morgan on Mon 17th Sep 2012 13:34
in reply to "RE[7]: Comment by jigzat"
Member since:2005-06-29
Though I agree with your sentiment, this
Every time one updates the kernel, one has to recompile the open source wrapper which sits between the binary blob and the kernel. This requires that one has Linux kernel source code installed. It is an utter pain.
is not true at all of most distributions. Pretty much any distro that has a dependency-tracking package manager has the user covered on kernel updates with binary drivers. They may not be the bleeding edge, but it's a simple matter of running the package manager's update feature. Hell, even Arch Linux works that way, and its developers enjoy making newbies feel like total shit as a daily pastime.
Even on the distros that do require manual installation of binary drivers, such as Slackware, it's not that difficult. For Nvidia, the driver you download from them does it all for you in a script. Just re-run the script on any kernel updates and you're gold.
RE[8]: Comment by jigzat
by jigzat on Mon 17th Sep 2012 17:43
in reply to "RE[7]: Comment by jigzat"
Member since:2008-10-30
News
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."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.More News »
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2011-08-08
Using Nvidia graphics cards in linux does NOT require reverse-engineered drivers. Nvidia provides 32 & 64 bit linux drivers, and communicates well with users to resolve bugs and add features/support.