Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Slashdot.org News

Post Apocalyptic 53

After a super long break, We return with a smaller than usual crew, but with special guest Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison. We talk about KDE/Debian issues, price changing, GPG vs. PGP and more. We don't know when our next episode will be, so savor this one, and find it at TheSync.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Post Apocalyptic

Comments Filter:
  • 1. WTF is a Geoff? O' is that wizard from lord of the rings!

    2. 133t! but why isnt it out? will it use linux 2.4 or 2.5?

    3. WOW, when did kde release 1.0? are they already up to 2.0? i will try it after i install X i my 386.

    4. real programers use perl...

    5. seems that the mirrors havent been updated, could i dont see RMS in any of the Debian servers.

    6. hmmm are you trying to say all my gigs of mp3's arent legal? what if i recode them in ogg?

    7. / 8. you mean that there are housing in San Francisco Bay area that dont come with a t3? man that susk.guess im not moveing there.

    9. ?? what PGP, and GPG, i use gnomeGPG.

    10. damnit NOW i know why im not geting my referral fees. malda must have hacked my paypal accont to take my fee!

    11. nope, well, not after malda gives me back my fees... BTW who is this malda dude?

    12. good didnt like them anyway.

    13. you mean you havnt sleeped w/ CoboyNeal? WTF is wrong with you?


    nmarshall
    #include "standard_disclaimer.h"
    R.U. SIRIUS: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE
  • Lucky me. I always knew I'd die on a wednesday. No, seriously. I had this dream where I knew I'd die on a wednesday. Weird but true.
  • Can anyone explain the cow statues? One's a landscape, another is psychodelic, another is currency...

    Signed,
    One confused tourist in New York City

  • The "apocalypse" was the departure of Jeff "Hemos" Bates.
  • And I was wondering, what kind of mp3 encoder does a good job on low bitrates? The one used by Geeks in Space sounds o.k. and the size is not bad. The best one I could find was something called Electric Cosmo Suite (for Windows only). It has a mode called Dual Mono that seems to cut the size of a file in half compared to other encoders. Most encoders seem to create files (low bitrate and in mono) that seem way too big, dispite futzing around with options and saving the starting WAV file in 44100 or 22050 khz, the latter some encoders choke on.
    I expect whatever is being used is a Linux based encoder, but what Windows encoders do a good job making small-but-mostly-listenable-mono files?

  • 'Cause, y'see, the Second Impact happens *today*.

    ^_^

    --
  • I got this problem too, all remedies gratefully received.

    Peter.

  • remember, you can buy indulgences if you go to his site. http://thepope.org [thepope.orgtargettop]
    --
    Geoff Harrison (http://mandrake.net)
    Senior Software Engineer - VA Linux Labs (http://www.valinux.com)
  • I don't think Moses was an animal. Also, the singular is Moses. Not "mose." And it was a racist myth that he had horns (although why you call them antlers, I can't say).

    Just havin' a little fun with your spelling.
  • Good show; wish you guys could do this more often. But not just for me, or the listeners, but for Kurt's sake. Don't you think his inbox is getting just a tad lonely?
  • Great show. It's a bummer that everyone won't be able to make it but I think that those that do should continue the show. Or take a look at Computer Stew. http://www.zdnet.com/computerstew. They used to always do their show via telephone and occasionally still do. Just a thought. GIS is just to cool to let it go!!
  • The new Python 1.6 and above license isn't a problem. Any non-GPL compatibility can be worked around. The real problem is Python 1.5.2.

    Recently Tim Peters posted the following:

    From: "Tim Peters"
    To: python-list@python.org
    Subject: RE: Public Domain Python
    Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 15:31:06 -0400
    Message-ID: LNBBLJKPBEHFEDALKOLCCECEHFAA.tim_one@email.msn.com

    "Mine too, except that, if you read the CNRI License FAQ very carefully, you'll find repeated hints that CNRI believes they can *terminate* your "right" to use older versions of Python (from 1.3 up to but not including 1.6b1) anytime they feel like it, and without cause. The FAQ says they don't "intend" to try to do that, but you won't find anything promising they *won't*."

    "When I collected the FAQ questions, I also suggested the answers I believed the Python community wanted to hear. The suggested answer to #4 was that CNRI would not take action against users of older Pythons, provided they were in conformance with the requirements of the old license. This is one of the few cases where the answer changed beyond recognition by the time CNRI finished editing it. So they were offered the chance to put people at ease about this, but went out of their way to keep it unclear."

  • Hey CmdrTaco, I'm a proto-radio jockey wannabe. I'm currently trying to get some voice-over work, but that pathway looks pretty dim. It's just not an recognized skill around here, I guess. The local radio station already has it's fill of DJ's, so I'm willing to demolish my vocal, but no one will let me. If you need an additional voice, I'd be happy to give mine up.

    I though about starting up my own MP3 broadcast, but they're so abundant now, there's no real point. And, I'm afraid it might suck [wonko.com]. Anyway, I'll put up an MP3 of my sound as soon as I can.

    Does anyone have anything for me to read?
  • ... that I really enjoyed your previous GIS episodes, and this one too. I was planning on listening to them religiously through the summer but you guys decided to drop it!

    Seriously tho, you guys do a great job, say just what I wanna hear, and provide something decent to which I can relax after a day of mayhem in my high school. I can come home, slam down the latest episode, and start working right away as soon as I hear CowbodyNeal's first belch.

    If you want my advice - which you probably don't, because, as so many other /.-ers are so eager to point out, I'm 'only' a 'dumb' high school student - you need to keep this show goin', and you should provide *at least* a 64kbps MP3 dudes. You know lame and bladeenc are free right?

    I dunno, I think my feelings toward GIS can be most efficiently and succinctly summed as in the following sentence: "GIS is a form of entertainment like no other known to man."

    You /. DJs rool! Keep it up, to keep freaks like me goin' in hick high schools like mine...

    Oh yeah, I'm really *not* bitter 'bout the age thing, it's just that I've had lots of flames after announcing my chronologically-challenged status in discussions.
  • Sorry can't do that not only is my comic collection a cripiling debt. But I just moved to B.C. and I don't even have a part time job to bring in the doe.
  • 5. seems that the mirrors havent been updated, could i dont see RMS in any of the Debian servers.

    apt-get install vrms
  • :) Watch it subtitled tho', (wtf is wrong with the voice actors second season? heh.) You get it complete with swearing and violence and such. And it just *sounds* better... It's more emotional, possibly. Funimation did a good job in getting the show out there and well-known, but they censored it somewhat.

    I knew what happens, even though they've only *recently* (last week) started playing 2nd season here in New Zealand. grrr...

    *cough* You can get most of the episodes from http://sharehouse.xoom.com [xoom.com] in realplayer format if you search. Freeloginrequired. (Bear in mind that the site has just been sold to NBC and thusly is a bit unstable atm. Should still work though.) They're big files. You can find the Trunks saga, androids/cell, Majin Buu, yada yada. And Dragonball GT episodes, which deal with what happens further on in the characters lives. Goku is an old man and has a granddaughter (Pan, daughter of Gohan and Videl). So no, he doesn't die. Has Goten (Gohan's brother) been born yet where you're up to? Bra (Trunks' sister)? Heeheehee ;)

    This stuff is ten years old.... hmmm... Vegeta is sexy. }:)

    One last thing... Bulma Porn! Didn't Taco ask for some, a long while back? http://w3.swi.hu/roshi/htmls/bulma.html [w3.swi.hu] But it's a sloooowwwwwwwwww site. =/ Oh well. Probably slower, now.
  • Why do they still call it a 'radio' show, when it's no longer using radio waves as a means of communication? Shouldn't it be an 'audio program', or something? ^_-
    ---
  • by Delirium Tremens ( 214596 ) on Tuesday September 12, 2000 @02:41PM (#784556) Journal
    Let's see if you correctly listened to the broadcast.
    Answer by true or false.
    1. Geoff is the main maintainer and innovator behind Linux-Mandrake.
    2. A new distribution is soon to be released: Linux-Slashdot.
    3. KDE 2.0 to be included in Debian Potato.
    4. Python to be removed from Debian Potato.
    5. RMS to be called a Potato.
    6. Geeks in Space strives to make Napster legal.
    7. A 3-bedrooms/2-baths apartment in the San Francisco Bay area costs around $2400.
    8. A 1-room/no-bath apartment in the San Francisco Bay area also costs around $2400, but then it is because you have a T3 connection hooked to it.
    9. An Anonymous Speaker presented the amazing theory that PGP contains 66% of the letters of GPG.
    10. Malda got $7500 in referral fee from Paypal this week.
    11. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is soon going to get an extra $75 donation.
    12. The Michigan country has seceded from the United States.
    13. "Sleeping with CoboyNeal" should be in the constitution.

    Your Score: [ ]

  • I'm way too impatient to listen to people talk ... I read much faster than most people talk.

    While it would be tedious ( probably ) - it might be worthwhile to the readership/ slash-dotter-ship to transcribe the conversations into a file that can be perused at leisure. Perhaps post it as a regular article that can be reviewed and then commented on ??

  • Ok I liked this new episode. Had to be one of the funniest. Plus I liked Mandrake he seemed like he was a good sport. We should pay him to get that mansion so that he can always be on GIS.

    You need Kurt, come on he is roomie with Cmdr Taco, you should be able to get him in with very little problem.

    Ok a side note I am working on a transcript of the GIS episodes but its slow going because a the sounds preety bad, and B I got a truck load of homework because I have all science classes this semester. But I'll eventully get them done.

    Hey Chris Debonna got a Cray for $280 thats preety cool. Anyway I'm done my little spiel. (and hey I am on of the two paying attention)

  • This was a great episode of GIS but a transcript would fail to capture the fun I had listening. Hurry back guys, I enjoyed the show.

  • by Fist Prost ( 198535 ) on Tuesday September 12, 2000 @02:54PM (#784560) Homepage
    What's wrong with the downloadable mp3 format? Well, actually I was going to reply in a different thread about this very thing so here goes;

    OGG VORBIS.

    Please for the love of God push this down the throat of whoever you have to at the sync to offer this free alternative to the .mp3. Remember we are supposed to be supporting open formats. By offering GIS in only a closed, proprietary and evil format, and one that involves patent and license issues we are not putting our money where are mouth is.

    Just a suggestion. Anyway, for the AC above, get X11-amp or some equivalent, and the ogg vorbis plugin, and continue to reccomend it to the gang here :-)
  • So is the Mackie fixed yet? (for those of you who don't know what a Mackie is by now, go find a tack hammer and hit yourself on the forehead!)
  • June 12, 2012 is a Tuesday...
  • by btlzu2 ( 99039 ) on Tuesday September 12, 2000 @04:27PM (#784563) Homepage Journal
    I actually finally listened to it for the first time today and thought it was pretty cool. It's fun for me to listen to Geek (TM) conversation about topics I find interesting, because there are NO technical people where I work and, alas, I married a non-geek girl who just rolls her eyes when I get excited about getting ipmasqing to work on an old 486. This is really weird, but none of my friends are geeks either! Anyways, I suppose it's a way to live vicariously through those guys! Sad, but true! :) It's fun and interesting.
  • Mayan astronomers predicted the end of the world to come Sunday, June 12, 2012.

    Well, until then it's just vapor, like all those other predictions that didn't come true.

    I'd guess you'd have better luck betting on Microsoft finally fixing all those BSOD's and Apple finally delivering protected memory management... maybe even before the apocalypse, in 2012!

    1. Geoff is the main maintainer and innovator behind Linux-Mandrake. False. Geoff is the main maintainer and innovator behind GNU/Linux-Mandrake.
    2. A new distribution is soon to be released: Linux-Slashdot. False. Its actual title is GNU/Linux-Slashdot.
    3. KDE 2.0 to be included in Debian Potato. True. Other additions planned for Debian Potato include the 2.0 kernel, GNOME, and that wacky new "bash" thing.
    4. Python to be removed from Debian Potato. True. This is required under federal food safety guidelines.
    5. RMS to be called a Potato. True. However, those who call RMS a Potato must eventually seek his forgiveness if they are to ascend into heaven during the Rapture.
    6. Geeks in Space strives to make Napster legal. <slashbot>False! Napster is already legal!</slashbot>
    7. A 3-bedrooms/2-baths apartment in the San Francisco Bay area costs around $2400. True. ("San Francisco Bay area" is believed to be an euphemism for the bay that many San Franciscans enter through.)
    8. A 1-room/no-bath apartment in the San Francisco Bay area also costs around $2400, but then it is because you have a T3 connection hooked to it. False. No no-bath apartments are available in the San Francisco Bay Area because ESR owns them all.
    9. An Anonymous Speaker presented the amazing theory that PGP contains 66% of the letters of GPG. True. The Anonymous Speaker then received three Informative moderations, two Redundants, a Troll, and an Underrated.
    10. Malda got $7500 in referral fee from Paypal this week. False. Malda got the $7500 from fucking the Paypal staff in their San Francisco Bay areas.
    11. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is soon going to get an extra $75 donation. True. Malda spent the other $7425 on a new laptop that, sadly, he has to reboot to watch DVDs in. Bob Dole feels his pain.
    12. The Michigan country has seceded from the United States. False. Michigan seceded from Canada, not the United States.
    13. "Sleeping with CoboyNeal" should be in the constitution. No answer possible. This is an opinion, not a fact. Furthermore, "CowboyNeal" is spelled incorrectly, "Constitution" should have been capitalized, and the statement did not specify whether or not access to CowboyNeal's San Francisco Bay area would be included as well. You flunk.

    Thank you for playing; see you next game!

  • Sorted or what? move them uptairs when their wallets get stroked. Full wallet and empty bollocks, sum total of human motivation? Is this what we all exist for? Is that it?

    Peter.
  • The cows in Salzburg are awesome. There's about 150 of them scattered around everywhere.
    --
    "You take a distribution! Rename! Stamp CD's! IPO!"
    - CmdrTaco, Geeks in Space, Episode 2 from 6:18 to 6:23.
  • I married a non-geek girl
    Yeah, like we believe this. Mod this as Flamebait!










    Just kidding. I feel for ya btlzu2. Bet ya love Slashdot and IRC...
  • It uses radio waves if you get it via 802.11
    --
    Laptop006 (RHCE: That means I know what I'm talking about! When talking about linux at least...)
  • No your not the only one...
    I personally LOVE Geeks In Space...
    The past few times I've posted my own wacked out conspericy theries.. etc..
    Not for everyone.. obveously some people won't like it...

    I accually enjoy this whole "Geek friends yacking into mic being incredably goofy" sort of thing... (Is this a whole new kind of thing? Or has this been done on traditional radio before?)
    Leet Radio did this for a while when some redneck called up and said "What kind of people are going to want to lissen to a bunch of geeks" instent answer "Geeks.. Internet people.. the kind of people who lissen to Internet radio... HAH" That isn't the answer Lion gave.. but it's mine..
    Anyway yeah not everyone is gona like this stuff... I do... I wish Leet Radio would return... and I was pritty sad when GiS left...
    It's back and I'm happy...
    I still miss Lion... but CmdrTaco is a fair replacment...
  • Bitch and moan all you want, kid.. The facts don't change.
    Bowie J. Poag
  • Damn you and your DBZ spoilers Malda!
  • Actually, the cow thing first started in some town in Switzerland which some politician saw on a trip to Europe. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous, but you should have seen all the damn tourists! They loved it. Frankly, I got sick of 'em being in the way, but am glad they brought some money to the city and some charities.
  • Yeah.. of course I wouldn't know 'bout MP3s. High school students *never* use MP3s. It's all those mid-life guys that the RIAA are after... :-]
  • If you want my advice - which you probably don't, because, as so many other /.-ers are so eager to point out, I'm 'only' a 'dumb' high school student - you need to keep this show goin', and you should provide *at least* a 64kbps MP3 dudes. You know lame and bladeenc are free right?


    Why bother for 64kpbs for human speech? The quality of GiS is currently comparable to FM radio, I'd even say superior because you dont have to worry about signal interference. Where would the extra bitspace be used in GiS? Sure, it'd make the intro music better, but thats about it. If they were to release the same episode of GiS at the current 24kbit and also at 64kbit and you were to take a blindfold test, I seriously doubt you'd be able to tell the difference. You might say that their voices currently sound slightly muggy or muffled, but thats more likely to be down to the quality of the recording equipment used than an encoding artifact.


    Still, who expects a dumb high school kid to know any better? =)


    Nick

  • I can't live without GIS
  • Ok some people won't get this run of conspericys.. Sorry.. Lissen to geeks in space before reading.. Thanks :)
    For those that don't know... this is a joke... thanks :) and for those that don't get it.. sorry...

    Slashdot is an undergound plot to push Slackware on everyone and crush Debian becouse Debian dosn't support the GPL to CmdrTacos liking...

    This is also becouse nobody wanted CmdrTacos own Slashdot Linux even thow his Linux is more stable than anyone elses system...
    His own box NEVER segfaults...

    Now... again.. this is a joke... and a total lie...

    Before I finish... Yes Taco you DO look like someone who could make a Linux distro... You have a lot of computers a populare website and a cat... thats all you need to LOOK like someone who can make a Linux distro...
    On the other hand... it takes a hack of a lot more than that to accually do it.... but none of that is visable... So maybe you cann't be a Linux distro maintainer.. but you could play one on TV...
  • actually, if you had ever LISTENED to geeks in space, it's just some people babbling about the news that has gone on in the past week and then babbling about generally nothing. You should do some research next time. :)
    --
    Geoff Harrison (http://mandrake.net)
    Senior Software Engineer - VA Linux Labs (http://www.valinux.com)
  • Just doesn't seem the same without Jeff and Nate :-(
  • Apocalypse means "revelation."

    So what was it? Aren't you going to enlighten us?? :o)

  • Holland isn't the only city that has done the animal statue stuff.

    First there was Chicago and they had cows(because of the bull) and they had all of them decorate.

    Then there was Toronto in Canada who did moses. And they all got vandalized. Apprently there was a black market for stolen cement mose antlers.

    who knew

  • Just when we thought you were dead you came back to suprise us all! Good work /. team. I really enjoy listening to the episodes. Hopefully this isn't that last croak for GIS, but we will have to wait and see.
  • Small pigs? what? are you mad?

    GiS is cool, please do more.

  • Yeah, and half the point of making it was to make a format that sounded better, especially at really low bitrates (like 24kbps). The other half was the lack of patents.
  • Hey guys, I think you guys do a great job at Slashdot and pick great topics to post on the front page. I learn alot by reading each posts and learning from people's comments. However, I have never listened to GIS for any considerable amount of time. I don't think the radio format compliments any of the Slashdot crew. I wish you would do more of the "Ask X 10 Questions" and let the Slashdot community have a chance to ask some questions of Geoff. I've always thought that some of the most interesting ideas have been brought out by questions from the Slashdot community.

    Probably would help drive up traffic and banner impressions. That would keep Andover off yer backs.
  • hey man, you're welcome to pitch in to get me a house if you want to. I'm going to post some pictures that we took of the house in a couple of days, as well as scan in a magazine article about the house in question. This place is REALLY cool.
    I don't know whether or not I can move here though yet.
    --
    Geoff Harrison (http://mandrake.net)
    Senior Software Engineer - VA Linux Labs (http://www.valinux.com)
  • by chrisd ( 1457 ) <chrisd@dibona.com> on Tuesday September 12, 2000 @03:49PM (#784587) Homepage
    Just to clarify, I got a cray 3 GaS processor for 280$, I'm going to frame it.

    Chris
    --
    Grant Chair, Linux Int.
    Pres, SVLUG

  • Confrence call. please. welcome back.

  • how the hell is this a troll?

    "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is"

  • Well, I don't care much for Geeks in Space, but according to this [thesync.com], The Sync [thesync.com], which hosts Geeks, as well as, some of the most compelling independent film and net shows on the web is broke. They weren't able to find anybody who was willing to merge with them so they have to shut down. Kinda depressing.

"The only way for a reporter to look at a politician is down." -- H.L. Mencken

Working...