Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 4th Feb 2006 17:50 UTC, submitted by anonymous
LinuxHelp reviews PC-BSD, the (100% compatible) variant of FreeBSD aimed at the desktop, and concludes: "All in all, PC-BSD is an OS which has a bright future in the desktop market provided the developers provide more variety of software or at least equivalent to those found in the FreeBSD ports." Screenshots included to keep our younger readers happy.
Thread beginning with comment 93029
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[3]: What about the geometry bug...
by Anonymous Penguin on Mon 6th Feb 2006 01:04
in reply to "RE[2]: What about the geometry bug..."
Member since:2005-07-06
"If there's an easier and less destructive way to fix it, I'd like to know."
You could try Partition Table Doctor. It is commercial software, but when you are in a desperate situation you might want to spend a few bucks.
Also if you normally don't use Windows, you can create a bootable CD from any Windows partition:
http://www.ptdd.com/ptdmoreinfo.htm
RE[3]: What about the geometry bug...
by Temcat on Mon 6th Feb 2006 11:41
in reply to "RE[2]: What about the geometry bug..."
Member since:2005-10-18
If it's any consolation, Windows XP also has a geometry bug. Install XP after you've installed Linux on another partition, and Windows will wreck your Linux partitions, but it won't wreck other Windows partitions on your hard drive. I kind of wonder if this isn't deliberate.
Hm, XP didn't do that for me (that was a clean reinstall of XP on a machine where there were 2 Linux distros installed).
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
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.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
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, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"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.More News »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2006-01-07
That said, I have always safely ignored the geometry bug, and it never was problem for me and many others to install FreeBSD next to other OS's.
I know that many people operate on the theory that you can safely ignore the geometry bug. And perhaps that's true - I've never lost any data because of it (at least none that I'm aware of). However, this bug has proven to be extremely annoying. The installation programs of many Linux distros will detect the geometry error and immediately exit without installing anything - this is more than a little inconvenient. Once you've got this geometry error, the only way to get rid of it (as far as I know) is to delete all your partitions and repartition with another tool (such as Linux's cfdisk or fdisk). If there's an easier and less destructive way to fix it, I'd like to know.
I really hope the FreeBSD developers will take the time to finally eradicate this bug - I'm sure it drives away many potential users. OpenBSD and NetBSD are not plagued by the geometry bug, so it should certainly be fixable.
If it's any consolation, Windows XP also has a geometry bug. Install XP after you've installed Linux on another partition, and Windows will wreck your Linux partitions, but it won't wreck other Windows partitions on your hard drive. I kind of wonder if this isn't deliberate.