From: Emlyn (pentacle) (pentacle@enternet.com.au)
Date: Tue May 09 2000 - 04:24:48 MDT
> It appears as if Emlyn (pentacle) wrote about link (yes I did)
> <URL:http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,21171,00.html>:
>
> |The link below is to an article by a senior Kylix team member; they are
> |moving Delphi & C++ Builder (notable Windows development environment
tools)
> |to Linux, and providing me with the infrastructure to reach my evil
Gatesian
> |tentacles into KPJ's Linux-brain-of-purity-and-love.
>
> <grin>
I really hope you keep the name "Linux-brain-of-purity-and-love"; it suits
you. I mean that in a positive sense.
>
> My reasons for preferring Linux over MS-Windows work for me,
> not necessarily for anybody else.
>
> My points for preferring Linux over MS-Windows:
>
> o I want full control over the programs in my cybernetic parts.
> If they don't do what I want, I can rewrite them to do what I want.
> I find reprogramming much easier having the source code available. 6-]
>
If I have to re-write my OS, I'm in trouble. Having detailed API specs does
the job just fine for me. I can appreciate having the source, just for the
love-of-source (I like minux for this too, and hacking schedulers and
what-not is fun). However, I'm falling more on the user side as far as
wearables go, and if I have to stuff with OS code to do it, I'm getting
less-than-interested.
> o I have a limited amount of money.
> Since I don't have to pay for the software, I can use that money to
> upgrade my hardware instead.
>
Some unscrupulous people (...) don't pay for MS. Bad, bad people.
> o Most of the MIT cyborgs use Linux, so I can re-use their software.
>
There's a curly one for me. I did notice that at least one of them dual-boot
with 98. Maybe I can be a luney fringedweller using MS. Does this mean that,
by a peculiar twist of fate, I get to hold the moral high-ground?
> As you might appreciate, my reasons for preferring Linux need not be
yours.
> And vice versa.
>
> /kpj
Absolutely cool, I have total respect for your decisions. My responses above
should be interpreted in kind.
Thanks for the wearable-related links; I'm now subscribed to wear-hard
(official lurker). It looks like my easiest incremental path to wearable
computing land is to
1 - Get a backpack for my notebook (and perhaps a few spare batteries)
2 - Get a Twiddler chord keyboard (it's a mouse too?)
3 - See what kind of display I can get my hands on. Have you seen those
amazing glasses with the display dot on one lens?
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Thad.Starner/
They're only prototypes I think, but soon to hit production.
4 - I just recently got a copy of IBM via voice (voice recognition software,
someone I know got it with their Aptiva and doesn't use it). I had wondered
if I could code using it. Fraid not; it would be a nightmare. But voice
recognition would be a real boon for emails like this on a wearable,
although you really want their non-crippled version (executive? enterprise?)
which allows you to dictate into software other than MSWord and "SpeakPad".
Anyway, it wouldn't be a bad addition to an initial wearable setup.
The notebook will be a good first step. I already carry it everywhere
(really everywhere), so putting it in a backpack would make life much
easier! And, it's a damned site better specced than those little pcs for
wearables! My goal is for my wearable to be my primary machine; ie: I don't
go back to the desktop when I need a real machine. My notebook currently is
my real machine, so that's no problem.
Do you have any experience of the Twiddler keyboard? Or other wearable-ready
keyboard/mouse combos, like the wrist-keyboard?
As for GPS and antennas on my head, I'll leave that to stage two...
By the way, as I'm already dual-booting NT & 95, I'm seriously considering
adding Linux as well. It's time for me to jump in the deep end with Linux;
it looks like it might actually matter to know something about it in the
medium term future...
Emlyn (the heart of darkness)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:28:31 MST