The Discussion HyperCube - Now in 4D!

[Tom`]

Internet time determination (syncing with NIST). Of course, that could be intercepted, but it's enough of a hassle that it would deter most users from trying to bypass it. (I suppose some sort of crazy, hard-to-crack encryption could be added, but that's just making things unnecessarily complicated.)

It would also ensure that no one would actually buy the e-books.

Unsurprisingly, this has been rehashed over and over again by the publishing industry. The fact is, whether books or any other kind of software, large-scale "piracy" will occur whenever an unauthorized copy is easier to obtain and more useful than an authorized one, which every single DRM scheme guarantees.

This particularly applies to books, because requiring an internet connection is a deal-breaker. Their portability and universal usability is one of their distinguishing features. Combine that with the fact that every DRM scheme is fundamentally broken, and you have all the ingredients for a deeply flawed business model...

For more information, see author Eric Flint's columns on the subject, or Cory Doctorow's.

 

[^wl]

Oh a whole another note, I've had a weird dream (nightmare) tonight:
The first batch of the Pandoras were shipping, but the OP team couldn't make it right in time, so they had to ship downgraded systems (obviously).
They were red and kinda reminded of some Nokia-style mobile phone, and when closed, it looked real stylish. But when opening it... The nubs were gone, and the display was WAY smaller in size, but the main bummer was that there were only like 8 keys left (only a few characters) and so I wondered 'How would i write on AbiWord with this?'. Even more senseless was that these keys were only on the left side of the control area, while the right one was completely blank and unusual grey. I was talking to a guy with these things (i believe it should have been craigix or ED) who promoted them, and i nearly broke down, because they sucked so much. They guy was talking something like 'Okay, it's probably not what we all have been expecting, but it sure is alright, no?' etc (just in german), it really got me

I dont remember the rest of the dream... but i'm starting to see the symptons of constant pandora deprivation...

 

[craigix]

Get out of my head.

 

[gp2.eXe]

Why, is he spoiling your ideas for Pandora 2? :wink:

 

[Username]

I rage every time I hear someone mention "Pandora 2", the first one isn't even out the door yet.

 

[(naw)mcx]

Aha, reminds me of my old sig on the other side. God damn, OMG, PANDORA 2 PLAY GC GAMES, HALLO 38?

 

[mindlord]

OH GOD! The joy of logging in, hitting the view new posts button and seeing no actual posts, but just a screenful of a spambot pushing hoodia! This is my favorite forum EVER!

 

[lulzfish]

New post: Anybody know a cross-platform [Linux, Windows, Pandora] way to do hotkeys? Like to control a media player?
I tried to use QxtGlobal Shortcut, but this was a large pain in the ass, and a failure.

Xlib works, but I don't think Windows uses X server.
Damn that Windows, not supporting all my favorite programs.

 

[mindlord]

Unfortunately, the way linux / Xorg handles input it's very difficult for any program to have global hotkeys. It's also completely different than Windows. Certain Gui's (KDE for example) allows for global hotkeys that the WM handles for the software, if it's supported.

The five headed demon-lord of hotkeys for Windows is Autohotkey. It's stupid powerful, and deceptively easy to use, though does have a slight learning curve.

I never have found one I liked for Linux.

 

[lulzfish]

Well, I'm trying to program something that needs the media keys on my laptop to act as hotkeys, and I'd like to eventually use it on Windows the same way.

xlib is working all right, but due to a programmer error, I seem to have grabbed the media keys and not ungrabbed them.
Maybe. It's just saying, "Bad Access (attempt to access private resource denied)"

 

[mindlord]

Ah, in that case there are tons of tools out there for Linux for programming those keys, but nothing Windows compatible as far as I know. For the same reasons other hotkeys don't have cross platform solutions, you're probably going to run into problems with media keys too. It's just one of those things that Linux and Windows does completely differently

 

[dflemstr]

Ah, in that case there are tons of tools out there for Linux for programming those keys, but nothing Windows compatible as far as I know. For the same reasons other hotkeys don't have cross platform solutions, you're probably going to run into problems with media keys too. It's just one of those things that Linux and Windows does completely differently

Windows: Win32 message handling hooks.
Linux: Interception of X.Org "messages" or usage of special-purpose libraries.

It's not completely different; you could make a compatibility library around it (as has been done in the Java Core API; "javax.swing" is an excellent framework)

BTW guys, if you for some reason haven't already, start posting in GP32X again!
(just haven't seen some of you around there lately...)

 

[Aethix]

So what do you think the Pandora 3 is going to look like?

 

[lulzfish]

I can't move to GP32x, I've already got all my abstract concepts unpacked here!
The heart, and soul, and bladder of the community is at openhandhelds!

And I seem to have screwed up that X.org thing. I tried to use XGrabKey with the root window or something, and I keep getting BadAccess errors, like I didn't properly ungrab the keys last time I ran my program.

 

[dflemstr]

I can't move to GP32x, I've already got all my abstract concepts unpacked here!
The heart, and soul, and bladder of the community is at openhandhelds!

And I seem to have screwed up that X.org thing. I tried to use XGrabKey with the root window or something, and I keep getting BadAccess errors, like I didn't properly ungrab the keys last time I ran my program.

Just don't use xlib, will you? Get some lib to do it for you, for example wxwidgets -> RegisterHotKey

And no, everyone is back at gp32x, so you're going to be alone here soon.

 

[Aethix]

I can't move to GP32x, I've already got all my abstract concepts unpacked here!
The heart, and soul, and bladder of the community is at openhandhelds!

Come on. You're one of the best posters I've seen on this forum, and I think the GP32x boards could really use you. As mentioned before, almost everybody is over there.

 

[lingenfr]

Hang here lulzfish. GPX32 is primarily full of Wiz, Dingoo and the same inane threads. More is not always better. If this forum was going to die it would have already. If someone posts telling you to go to the other forum, that means they are still reading posts here. Hah.

 

[gp2.eXe]

Why don't you just do what I do? Post in both forums, that way everyone's happy.

...

And why am I still posting here?

 

[dflemstr]

Why don't you just do what I do? Post in both forums, that way everyone's happy.

...

And why am I still posting here?

I do the same thing, obviously...
It's not that difficult to keep track of just 2 forums .

 

[lulzfish]

Ah, but it's a slippery slope. Next thing you know, I'll be posting in a general Linux forum somewhere else, and then a Qt foum, and next thing you know, I'll be trolling people on 4chan.

Yeah, I'll post in gp32x if something really interesting happens. I'm just lurking there now.