Messages

31

Marketplace / Re: Looking 4 a WEBDT 325

« on: April 24, 2010, 04:08:25 pm »

Hi Mandingo

just curious if your are looking for a WebDT 325 to use with LMCE ...
I have one, and is not that much usable. Native orbiter is pretty unstable, you ca use it with web orbiter that is also not very stable (from time to time it freezes, and the only solution is to restart core ...

So are you thinking to use it with LMCE or for other purposes?

Thanks and regards
Marco

32

Developers / Re: Why is nobody taking on the programming tasks?

« on: March 17, 2010, 07:34:32 pm »

Thom

the project is huge, so it needs really involved people with plenty of time to even understand the underlying structure.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but during these years  I've understood that it is not easy to make even small contribution without knowing a lot of things about system architecture. This takes a lot of time, probably much more than the majority of LMCE users have to put in.

I'm not talking about the I_want_someone_do_this_for_me guys, that probably are around in every project and always will be.

I'm talking about normal users, with maybe some skill that are unfortunately ruled out because the mountain to climb is simply too big.

I understand your frustration (and by the way I'm fine with your attitude), but I'm afraid it's not a matter of balls ...

Marco

33

Developers / Mini 2440

« on: February 09, 2010, 08:15:16 pm »

Hi all

Is there anyone using Mini 2440 based orbiters?

I've read a couple of wiki pages ( http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mini2440 , http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mini2440_Orbiter_setup_and_FAQ ) that basically deal with installing a linux distro on mini 2440 but there's no much info on how to install orbiter.

Did anyone succeed in using these board with a linux Orbiter?

Googling around I've read that there should be a WinCE6 image for mini2440, and this makes me think that also a regular orbiter could work on these board once the OS is installed.

Did anyone give it a try?

Thanks and regards
Marco

34

Developers / Re: Finally, you can play your AVI/MP3 file and view your pics directly from CD/DVD

« on: December 08, 2009, 09:09:18 pm »

Received files, followed instructions, done.

I've tested only with avi files, but it works like a charm.
I will do some more testing with CD containing bunch of mp3 files ordered in several subdir, and will let you know.

Great job, thanks a lot
Marco

35

Users / Re: Congratulations on the beta & DVD

« on: October 17, 2009, 08:08:49 am »

Very well done guys

Marco

36

Installation issues / Re: via epia MD hanging on netboot

« on: October 04, 2009, 08:21:19 pm »

Just out of curiosity ...

which kind of VIA Epia mobos did you have?

Was the mobos replacement straighforward, or did you have to change also case/power supply?

I also have a very old VIA Epia M10000 based MD, and I was wondering how much could cost to upgrade that MD to an Atom based one...

Thanks and regards
Marco

37

Installation issues / Re: via epia MD hanging on netboot

« on: October 03, 2009, 09:49:19 am »

Hi Dothedog
a very trivial one: did you try to boot your Via Epia from a Kubuntu 8.10 live CD and see what happens?
Maybe you can get some more info in this way.

Just my 0,02
Regards
Marco

38

Developers / Re: Dev environment setup for just compiling

« on: July 01, 2009, 08:49:43 pm »

Thanks merkur2k

this means that I could also dare to put a test VM directly on my production core, am I right?

Marco

39

Developers / Re: Dev environment setup for just compiling

« on: July 01, 2009, 07:16:30 pm »

Thanks spoonhead for your reply

I've always heard bad stories about changing the core default network settings, so I prefer to stick with them and possibly work on sharing/unsharing VM network.

Sounds like a VM with 8.10 test bed on my laptop is in my near future ...

Thanks again
Marco

40

Developers / Re: Dev environment setup for just compiling

« on: July 01, 2009, 06:51:18 pm »

Maybe a dumb question ....

Currently I have no hardware to dedicate to a test environment (I have only my current production LMCE 7.10 core, and a diskless MD, no other hardware), so I'm also thinking towards VM.

My concerns are related to network config. Core is designed to work with 192.168.80.1, so I'm afraid that as soon I fire up my 8.10 test  VM when connected to my home network suddenly my production 7.10 could start complaining.

Are there suggestion on this?

Thx
Marco

41

Users / Re: Letter to the Community: LinuxMCE 0810 - The Cold Honest Reality

« on: June 29, 2009, 05:04:09 pm »

Dude, if you're a developer and you can't read source code...

...you need to learn more before ever tackling a system like LinuxMCE.

hmm.

Give me a break, guys. Yes, this documentation assumes you are capable of inductive and deductive reasoning and being able to think for yourself.

Yes, port 3450 is mentioned.. but which? use a port scanning program, or lsof, or hell, just guess. It's either/or, isn't it? and when you figure it out, guess what? YOU PUT IT IN THE DOCS! IT'S A WIKI! OPEN COLLABORATION FOR ALL.

I do NOT have time for people who willingly refuse to learn, and I am sorry, spoon feeding is NOT learning. I have no time to spoon feed developers who MAY or MAY NOT contrbute later. You all feel as if you are ENTITLED to being lead by the hand. I have news for all of us. We are entitled to NOTHING in this life. Not even Living. Even that is a gift, so we should all consider ourselves lucky, and make the most of it.

I hate replying in this manner, because it paints me out to be the asshole. However, I need to make one thing exceedingly clear. I bend over backwards to those who try and put in effort and initiative. How do I determine those people? by the questions they ask. The more specific the question you ask, the more specific my answers will be. Those of you who have taken the time to learn know this to be true of me.

Stop being children. I am not your father figure. Grow up and take some initiative.

-Thom

Better clarify what I myself was meaning by "spoon feeding" as I suspect that it may differs from what you mean.

I was referring to a possible series of workshop/screencast/similar things on well defined areas known as though ones, that in my opinion could have helped to boost a bit the learning process and possibly to reduce the required time to be somehow ready to go.
In my places they say " when too hot and dry, also hail is welcome".
I simply thought that as no experienced devs heve been stepping up so far, a way to speed up novices could at least be considered of some utility.
It was not meant as a replacement of the usual learning path, but a way to help willing people to accelerate and find earlier their way around.
Am I wrong? Maybe you have better vision and elements to judge. If you say it's a bad idea, that's fine for me.

I took the liberty to insist as this is exactly what has already been done (with good results) with HADesigner, with GSD, and what probably will be done with Datagrids. Never thought this was "spoon feeding" in the worst sense of the word.

Anyway I'm sorry to see that this kind of proposal have been systematically interpreted as laziness/intention to "manage" things/whatever similar thing you may have thought instead.

It was simply a way (maybe naive) to try and counteract the cronical lack of devs.

Marco

42

Users / Re: Letter to the Community: LinuxMCE 0810 - The Cold Honest Reality

« on: June 26, 2009, 05:48:17 pm »

Peer,

Ok, the numbers I got were from Thom's original posting. But even if everyone did an average of 10 installs, it's still a huge number for 5 people to support.

I didn't say you had written it, I said you were responsible for it.

My other comments stand though. You guys work hard, we know that. You guys feel under-valued, well so would I. BUT you guys (whether you like it or not) don't make it easy for people to join you. There shouldn't be a "rite of passage" for new devs. Even if we assume my 10 average installs, that's still 11200 users, and 5 devs. I simply don't believe that only 1 in 2240 users can become a useful developer.

We're knocking on the door offering help, but you aren't letting us in

Look its not about 'paying your dues' or needing new Devs to do a 'rite of passage'. We need experienced developers who can dig into the code and get up and running under their own steam. That is totally not to say that a new Dev wont get help and assistance from all of us...but we dont have the time to 'train people' to be Devs. We need people who are further down the road than that I'm afraid...its not a criticism of anyone its just a practical fact.

Andrew

Brief consideration:

Like most of the guys around here I don't have the required level of competences in order to be considered helpful.

As it seems that no spoons are allowed, it looks like I have to dive into the code, bang my head by myself, and find my way around.

Assuming that for a guy like Thom (that was starting surely from a competence level much higher than mine) it took a couple of years to study the code and become a full blown LMCE Dev, I think that for me it should be wise to double such timeframe.

So if I start now, maybe in 4 years I will be suitable to LMCE Project needs. Say in 3 years, because I'm an optimistic guy.

If you're fine with this, so this thread can stop right here.

If not (and I guess you're not fine with this), we have to find a compromise.

We all know that the project needs very skilled, experienced, creative, smart developers to jump in exactly like every other huge project on this earth.
Unfortunately this is not happening to LMCE, and considering the estimated time to climb the learning curve it looks like it won't happen soon.

It sounds like anyone that is asking for training is considered too lazy, while the point is that if you let people to learn by themselves they will reach a good skill when probably the project has died already.

So what are we going to do? Wait for a miracle to happen, keep on giving sarcastic answers to anyone that at least shows some good will to be helpful, or try a different approach?

Thx
Marco

43

Users / Re: Letter to the Community: LinuxMCE 0810 - The Cold Honest Reality

« on: June 24, 2009, 07:52:20 pm »

I thank you for all your comments, and...yes..you guys are right....

The problem is, i'm stretched thin as it is.

It is also worth noting, that as of right now, i'm the one person besides the original creator of the software (aaron.b) who knows and touches every single part of the system, and even he hasn't touched significant parts of it since 2006.

I need to be able to continue doing that, because I know exactly how this system needs to go together

-Thom

That's exactly why I think that at this point a "divide et impera" approach could be worth a try. The overall task is way too big for only 5 guys, even if they have full knowledge of the whole thing.

In another post i've seen a quest for a Datagrid Workshop: how many non-devs replied? I think a few.

I myself had great benefit from the first (and so far only one) workshop on GSD that you and Dan Damron held last year. I did not know a heck of Ruby, after that workshop I slowly started to build my GSD learning the needed Ruby on the way.

Probably it could be a good thing for you core devs to stop for a while, and invest some of your time in some workshop like that.
There's no people more indicated than you to do this, as you perfectly know which are the areas where also a novice could start helping.

I know that this appear like a gamble, as not much people showed up to be collaborative so far. Maybe an injection of knowledge could change things a bit.
If someone else joins the development, surely the project will benefit.
If nothing happens, at least you switched your minds to something different for a while (that could be not that bad ...)

Marco

44

Developers / Re: Workshop: Datagrids

« on: June 24, 2009, 07:42:19 pm »

I'm totally missing C++, but if you speak slowly I think I can do it 
Count me in
Marco

45

Users / Re: Letter to the Community: LinuxMCE 0810 - The Cold Honest Reality

« on: June 24, 2009, 04:26:27 pm »

Just a brief note, I'm at work currently

what may help to move forward the project and to get more developers onboard could be to breakdown the remaining task in a smaller size that can be more manageable also by not-so-highly-skilled devs.
I'm sure there are many around, but probably they are scared about the HUGE amount of code they are supposed to study in order to get autonomous and be fully helpful, or simply can't afford to do it in a reasonable amount of time.

With a set of small and defined task, with a defined target and some advice on how to get started probably more guys would jump in.

To those that may already be preparing their flames, this is NOT a way to say "if you do not have devs, that's your fault", but is a way to say "probably there are not much skilled guys around this project, so probably it's better to go with plan B and nurse some novices".

Just my 0,02
Marco