OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:28:37 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:


I recently asked about the availability of an memory based dictionary
and thesaurus

What do you mean by "memory based"? There is dict, which is a network
dictionary protocol. Setting up a server on your machine is a piece of
cake, and there are quite a few dictionaries to go with it. Or, you
could use dict.org.

http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:28:37 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:


One of the reasons that I do not read or write to the Linux sites is
that they are full of zealots that interpret any post except a paean
of phrase to Linux as derogatory and they attack feverishly.

I never bothered with Linux because I'm a gamer and Linux is plain
inadequate.
Besides that, since I consider writing software as paid work, it never
struck me as "efficient" to be required to work to get an OS operating
and running apps I paid for in expectation they run out of the box.
Aside from the gaming inadequacy, much comes down to individual
inclination to tinker and accept risk.
Remember "IBM compatible" and "Hayes compatible"?
Always followed those "standards" when they were in effect, and never
experienced the endless futzing around and plain inoperability
suffered by others. Not worth saving a few bucks to me.
MS is my OS standard. Pretty painless.
And widely "discounted."
I don't miss autoexec.bat and config.sys files either.
Been through all those wringers, and spent my lifetime allocation
of hours wasted playing with software configurations.
But I have no problem with folks playing with and tweaking Linux.
They have their reasons. Good enough for me.
If it gets good enough for Microsoft to license it, I would consider
using it.

--Vic

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:36:40 -0600, someone posting asVic Smith
purportedly wrote:


I never bothered with Linux because I'm a gamer and Linux is plain
inadequate.

then you probably haven't "bothered" with Linux in 6 or 7 years, as to
gaming, there are devices for that purpose yes? Perhaps an XBox or a
PlagueStation would be more your type of tool?

Besides that, since I consider writing software as paid work, it never
struck me as "efficient" to be required to work to get an OS operating
and running apps I paid for in expectation they run out of the box.

two things; first Linux is free, second you don't even know what a "live
CD" is do you. If putting a cd into a drive and turning a computer on
qualifies as "work", then perhaps a computer is too complicated a device
for you.

Aside from the gaming inadequacy, much comes down to individual
inclination to tinker and accept risk.

are you talking about the inherent risk in attaching a Windows computer
to the Internet? Or "tinkering" with Vista to get it to recognize your
two year old peripherals?

Remember "IBM compatible" and
"Hayes compatible"? Always followed those "standards" when they were in
effect, and never experienced the endless futzing around and plain
inoperability suffered by others.

FUD, when those terms were current, those were the _only_ standards.

Not worth saving a few bucks to me.
MS is my OS standard. Pretty painless. And widely "discounted."

and rightly so... take www.cert.org for instance...no shortage of isses
there, but you keep on keepin' on there painless...crackers _love_ the
sheeple

I don't miss autoexec.bat and config.sys files either. Been through all
those wringers, and spent my lifetime allocation of hours wasted playing
with software configurations. But I have no problem with folks playing
with and tweaking Linux. They have their reasons. Good enough for me.

If it gets good enough for Microsoft to license it, I would consider
using it.

you really have no idea how funny that last line is

--
life's too short to play quietly...crank it up!

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:51:07 +0000, Larry wrote:

Bruce In Bangkok wrote in
:

One of the reasons that I do not read or write to the Linux sites is
that they are full of zealots that interpret any post except a paean
of phrase to Linux as derogatory and they attack feverishly.



They sound like Apple fanbois. iPhone fanbois are a rabid group,
too....great fun to pick on, though...(c;]

The last Apple I had was an Apple ][ so I am not up to speed on the
subject but I know that the Apple users can be a loyal bunch - a
friend is a Civil Engineering consultant on a project in Taiwan. He
gets all the drawings in Auto-Cad format and has to use some sort of
translator so that he can view them on his Apple lap-top. I asked him
why not get a Windows machine for the project and got a 30 minute
lecture about Apples...

Me, I use whatever works.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:58:34 -0500, thunder
wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:28:37 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:


I recently asked about the availability of an memory based dictionary
and thesaurus

What do you mean by "memory based"? There is dict, which is a network
dictionary protocol. Setting up a server on your machine is a piece of
cake, and there are quite a few dictionaries to go with it. Or, you
could use dict.org.

http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict

The dictionary that comes with several versions of Linux is
"Dictionary 2.20.0.1 copyright Emmanuel Bassi" doesn't seem to have a
database of words. Each time you ask for a definition it accesses the
web which of course takes time. In addition it assumes that you are
always connected to the Internet, which I am not.

I spent most of an afternoon searching for a decent disk based
dictionary and downloaded several that seemed to have good
recommendations. Of course being Linux they were source and every one
I tried refused to compile as my Gnome based machine lacked some
dependency or another.

www.dict.org suffers from the same problem - won't work unless you are
attached to the Internet.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:36:40 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:28:37 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:


One of the reasons that I do not read or write to the Linux sites is
that they are full of zealots that interpret any post except a paean
of phrase to Linux as derogatory and they attack feverishly.

I never bothered with Linux because I'm a gamer and Linux is plain
inadequate.
Besides that, since I consider writing software as paid work, it never
struck me as "efficient" to be required to work to get an OS operating
and running apps I paid for in expectation they run out of the box.
Aside from the gaming inadequacy, much comes down to individual
inclination to tinker and accept risk.
Remember "IBM compatible" and "Hayes compatible"?
Always followed those "standards" when they were in effect, and never
experienced the endless futzing around and plain inoperability
suffered by others. Not worth saving a few bucks to me.
MS is my OS standard. Pretty painless.
And widely "discounted."
I don't miss autoexec.bat and config.sys files either.
Been through all those wringers, and spent my lifetime allocation
of hours wasted playing with software configurations.
But I have no problem with folks playing with and tweaking Linux.
They have their reasons. Good enough for me.
If it gets good enough for Microsoft to license it, I would consider
using it.

--Vic

I use Linux and it is adequate for most of my needs but it certainly
isn't the be all, end all, of the computing world. On the other hand I
tried Vista and abandoned that after one day and my Windows machines
are running XP and will unless windows 7 turns out to be better then
the Alpha versions look to be.

I've even got some DOS programs left that I use from time to time.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:18:39 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:


The dictionary that comes with several versions of Linux is "Dictionary
2.20.0.1 copyright Emmanuel Bassi" doesn't seem to have a database of
words. Each time you ask for a definition it accesses the web which of
course takes time. In addition it assumes that you are always connected
to the Internet, which I am not.

I spent most of an afternoon searching for a decent disk based
dictionary and downloaded several that seemed to have good
recommendations. Of course being Linux they were source and every one I
tried refused to compile as my Gnome based machine lacked some
dependency or another.

www.dict.org suffers from the same problem - won't work unless you are
attached to the Internet.

What distribution are you using? You can do what I do. I run a dictd
server on one of my LAN machines, and add the dictionaries I need there.
It's all local so I don't need to be connected to the Internet. Or, you
can run the server on the machine you are using, as I do on my laptop.

I have a dict client, but I usually just use a CGI script that I access
from within my browser. If you tell me what distribution you are using,
I might be able to set you up.

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:44:56 -0500, thunder
wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:18:39 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok wrote:


The dictionary that comes with several versions of Linux is "Dictionary
2.20.0.1 copyright Emmanuel Bassi" doesn't seem to have a database of
words. Each time you ask for a definition it accesses the web which of
course takes time. In addition it assumes that you are always connected
to the Internet, which I am not.

I spent most of an afternoon searching for a decent disk based
dictionary and downloaded several that seemed to have good
recommendations. Of course being Linux they were source and every one I
tried refused to compile as my Gnome based machine lacked some
dependency or another.

www.dict.org suffers from the same problem - won't work unless you are
attached to the Internet.

What distribution are you using? You can do what I do. I run a dictd
server on one of my LAN machines, and add the dictionaries I need there.
It's all local so I don't need to be connected to the Internet. Or, you
can run the server on the machine you are using, as I do on my laptop.

Using several. Ubuntu 8.04 on a Dell in the boat, "Easy Peasy" a
subset of Ubuntu 8.10 on a Asus Eee for a travel computer and Fedora
on a couple of desktops.

I have a dict client, but I usually just use a CGI script that I access
from within my browser. If you tell me what distribution you are using,
I might be able to set you up.

What I want is a simple disk based dictionary - type the word, hit
return and get a description. Seemed simple enough, I had a program
called Word Web running in Windows that even had a hot key to activate
it. Good database of words.

Seemed like a simple problem, but the more I looked the more problems
I had. I found a lot of applications on sourceforge but most of them
wouldn't compile as apparently I don't have the right lib files. I
fought that problem a few hours and finally gave up, at least for a
while. The last straw was a program that demanded a lib file that was
outdated, something like lib.6.0 and all I had, or could find, was
lib.10.0 and it wouldn't work.

I'm down on the boat for a while and will live with what I've got but
when I get back home I'll get after it again.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:00:40 -0500, "mr.b" wrote:

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:36:40 -0600, someone posting asVic Smith
purportedly wrote:


I never bothered with Linux because I'm a gamer and Linux is plain
inadequate.

then you probably haven't "bothered" with Linux in 6 or 7 years, as to
gaming, there are devices for that purpose yes? Perhaps an XBox or a
PlagueStation would be more your type of tool?

Just as you don't do MS, I don't do console games.
Can't we all just get along?

Besides that, since I consider writing software as paid work, it never
struck me as "efficient" to be required to work to get an OS operating
and running apps I paid for in expectation they run out of the box.

two things; first Linux is free, second you don't even know what a "live
CD" is do you. If putting a cd into a drive and turning a computer on
qualifies as "work", then perhaps a computer is too complicated a device
for you.

Well, why would I fool around with a free "live CD" OS when it won't
allow me to execute my $50 game?
Sounds like I would lose about 50 bucks doing that kind of thing.
BTW, I'm not the one scouring the net looking for fixes.
I noticed this from Bruce in this thread:
"I spent most of an afternoon searching for a decent disk based
dictionary and downloaded several that seemed to have good
recommendations. Of course being Linux they were source and every one
I tried refused to compile as my Gnome based machine lacked some
dependency or another."

Since I instantly recognize this as a needless complexity I reject
outright for non-paid activity, you may be right about me and
"complicated."
But I must say I have no difficulty with computers.
I did get paid for many years to deal with source code, assemblers and
compilers and even object code in hex representation.
Luck, no doubt. Fooled the suckers into paying me.
And after all, there are more than 10 ways to skin a cat.
There is an African tribe that inserts plates into their lips to
elongate them to tremendous proportions.
Do you hear me being critical of them?
Of course not. They have their customs.
I respect that.
And I refrain from being critical of Linux users also.
Very easy to get along with.

Aside from the gaming inadequacy, much comes down to individual
inclination to tinker and accept risk.

are you talking about the inherent risk in attaching a Windows computer
to the Internet? Or "tinkering" with Vista to get it to recognize your
two year old peripherals?

Search the internet for "linux vulnerabilities."

Remember "IBM compatible" and
"Hayes compatible"? Always followed those "standards" when they were in
effect, and never experienced the endless futzing around and plain
inoperability suffered by others.

FUD, when those terms were current, those were the _only_ standards.

And some didn't follow them. You probably weren't around then.
There are always dimestore hardware/software solutions.
I've repaired many of them.
Not saying Linux is dimestore, of course. Don't mean to imply that.
Just wouldn't do that. No way.
I AM NOT A MIRCROSOFT SNOB!!!!!!
I love the idea of Linux.
Because I'm so very idealistic.

Not worth saving a few bucks to me.
MS is my OS standard. Pretty painless. And widely "discounted."

and rightly so... take www.cert.org for instance...no shortage of isses
there, but you keep on keepin' on there painless...crackers _love_ the
sheeple

Not quite sure what all that means. Can you link it up with the
Trilateral Commission and the International Zionist Conspiracy to help
me out with context?

I don't miss autoexec.bat and config.sys files either. Been through all
those wringers, and spent my lifetime allocation of hours wasted playing
with software configurations. But I have no problem with folks playing
with and tweaking Linux. They have their reasons. Good enough for me.

If it gets good enough for Microsoft to license it, I would consider
using it.

you really have no idea how funny that last line is

Yes, just as there was no idea put into the composing of it.
Wayne, want to take over here?
Hey, only kidding.
I just want to get along with everybody.
Really.

--Vic

OT but very useful...
 

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:15:56 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
wrote:



Seemed like a simple problem, but the more I looked the more problems
I had. I found a lot of applications on sourceforge but most of them
wouldn't compile as apparently I don't have the right lib files. I
fought that problem a few hours and finally gave up, at least for a
while. The last straw was a program that demanded a lib file that was
outdated, something like lib.6.0 and all I had, or could find, was
lib.10.0 and it wouldn't work.

I'm down on the boat for a while and will live with what I've got but
when I get back home I'll get after it again.

Sounds like a plan, Bruce. Probably won't take more than a few more
days work - this week, anyway.
I admire your stick-to-it-iveness.
Have fun!

--Vic