2001-11-13 16:19:48 +00:00
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2002-03-07 17:55:34 +00:00
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2001-11-13 16:19:48 +00:00
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2002-03-07 17:55:34 +00:00
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2001-11-13 16:19:48 +00:00
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<P><B>In medias res</B></P>
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<P>There are two major topics which always cause huge dispute and flame on the
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<A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</A>
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mailing list. Number one is the topic of the</P>
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<P><A NAME=gcc><B>GCC 2.96 series</B></A></P>
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<P><B>The background:</B> The GCC <B>2.95</B> series is an official GNU release
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and version 2.95.3 of GCC is the most bug-free in that series.
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We have never noticed compilation problems that we could trace to gcc-2.95.3.
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Starting with Red Hat Linux 7.0, <B>Red Hat</B> included a heavily
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patched CVS version of GCC in their distribution and named it <B>2.96</B>. Red
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Hat included this version in the distribution because GCC 3.0 was not finished at
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the time, and they needed a compiler that worked well on all of their supported
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platforms, including IA64 and s390. The Linux distributor <B>Mandrake</B>
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also followed Red Hat's example and started shipping GCC 2.96 with their
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Linux-Mandrake 8.0 series. </P>
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<P><B>The statements:</B> The GCC team disclaimed any link with GCC 2.96 and issued an
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<A HREF="http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-2.96.html">official response</A> to GCC 2.96.
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Many developers around the world began having problems with GCC 2.96, and
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started recommending other compilers. Examples are
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<A HREF="http://www.apachelabs.org/apr-mbox/200106.mbox/%3c20010623194228.C25512@ebuilt.com%3e">Apache</A>,
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<A HREF="http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-3.23.html">MySQL</A>,
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<A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net/news-old1.htm">avifile</A> and
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<A HREF="http://www.winehq.com/news/?view=92#RH 7.1 gcc fixes compiler bug">Wine</A>.
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Other interesting links are
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<A HREF="http://www.realtimelinux.org/archives/rtai/20017/0144.html">Real time Linux</A>,
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<A HREF="http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rgooch/linux/docs/kernel-newsflash.html">
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Linux kernel news flash about kernel 2.4.17</A> and
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<A HREF="http://www.voy.com/3516/572.html">Voy Forum</A>.
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<B>MPlayer</B> also suffered from intermittent problems that were all solved by
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switching to a different version of GCC. Several projects started implementing
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workarounds for some of the 2.96 issues, but we refused to fix other people's
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bugs, especially since some workarounds may imply a performance penalty.</P>
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<P>You can read about the other side of the story
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<A HREF="http://www.bero.org/gcc296.html">here</A>.
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GCC 2.96 does not allow | (pipe) characters in assembler comments
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because it supports Intel as well as AT&T Syntax and the | character is a
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symbol in the Intel variant. The problem is that it <B>silently</B> ignores the
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whole assembler block. This is supposedly fixed now, GCC prints a warning instead
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of skipping the block.</P>
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<P><B>The present:</B> Red Hat says that GCC 2.96-85 and above is fixed. The
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situation has indeed improved, yet we still see problem reports on our
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mailing lists that disappear with a different compiler. In any case it does not
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matter any longer. Hopefully a maturing GCC 3.x will solve the issue for good.
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If you want to compile with 2.96 give the <CODE>--disable-gcc-checking</CODE>
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flag to configure. Remember that you are on your own and <B>do not report any
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bugs</B>. If you do, you will only get banned from our mailing list because
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we have had more than enough flame wars over GCC 2.96. Please let the matter rest.</P>
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<P>If you have problems with GCC 2.96, here is how you can get GCC 3.0.4 to work
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(submitted by <A HREF="mailto:willis_matthew@yahoo.com">Matt Willis</A>):</P>
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2001-11-13 16:19:48 +00:00
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2002-02-03 13:39:35 +00:00
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<UL>
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<LI>Go to the
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<A HREF="http://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html">GCC mirrors page</A>
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page and download the following (you may not need everything):<BR>
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<CODE>gcc-g++-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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gcc-objc-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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gcc-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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gcc-g77-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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gcc-testsuite-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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gcc-core-3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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gcc-java-3.0.4.tar.gz</CODE>
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2002-02-03 13:39:35 +00:00
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</LI>
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<LI>Unpack the files, make a build directory, and build:<BR>
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<CODE>tar -xvzf gcc-*3.0.4.tar.gz<BR>
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mkdir gcc-build<BR>
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cd gcc-build<BR>
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../gcc-3.0.4/configure --prefix=/opt --program-suffix=-3.0.4<BR>
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make bootstrap; mkdir -p /opt; make install</CODE></LI>
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<LI>Set your path to include <CODE>/opt/bin</CODE><BR>
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<CODE>export PATH=/opt/bin:${PATH}</CODE></LI>
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2002-02-03 13:39:35 +00:00
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</UL>
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<P><A NAME=binary><B>Binary distribution of MPlayer</B></A></P>
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<P>This was the second big problem but has been solved as of version
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0.90-pre1. <B>MPlayer</B> previously contained source from the OpenDivX project,
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which disallows binary redistribution. This code has been removed and you are now
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welcome to create binary packages as you see fit.</P>
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<P>Another impediment to binary redistribution was compiletime optimizations
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for CPU architecture. <B>MPlayer</B> now supports runtime CPU detection.
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Although this implies a small speed sacrifice, it is now possible to create
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binaries that run on different members of the Intel CPU family. For optimum
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performance you may wish to disable runtime CPU detection before compilation
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(<CODE>configure --disable-runtime-cpudetection</CODE>).</P>
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<P><A NAME=nvidia><B>nVidia</B></A></P>
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<P>We dislike the fact that <A HREF="http://www.nvidia.com">nVidia</A>
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only provides binary drivers (for use with XFree86), which are often buggy.
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We have had many reports on
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<A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</A>
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about problems related to these closed-source drivers
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and their poor quality, instability and poor user and expert support.
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Here is an example from the
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<A HREF="http://www.nvnews.net/forum/showthread.php?s=fda5725bc2151e29453b2da3bd5d2930&threadid=14306">
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nVidia Linux Forum</A>.
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Many of these problems/issues keep appearing repeatedly.
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We have been contacted by nVidia lately, and they said these bugs
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do not exist, instability is caused by bad AGP chips, and they received
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no reports of driver bugs (like the purple line). So if you have a
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problem with your nVidia card, you are advised to update the nVidia driver
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and/or buy a new motherboard or ask nVidia to supply open-source drivers.
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In any case, if you are using the nVidia binary drivers and facing driver related problems,
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please be aware that you will receive very little help from our side because we have
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little power to help in this matter.</P>
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<P><A NAME=kotsog><B>Joe Barr</B></A></P>
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<P>Joe Barr became infamous by writing a less than favorable
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/1214.mplayer.html">
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<B>MPlayer</B> review</A>. He found <B>MPlayer</B> hard to install, but then
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again he is not very fond of
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-06/lw-06-exam.html">reading documentation</A>.
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He also concluded that the developers were unfriendly and the documentation
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incomplete and insulting. You be the judge.
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He went on to mention <B>MPlayer</B> negatively in his
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2001/1227.predictions.html">10 Linux predictions for 2002</A>
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In a followup
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<A HREF="http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0125.xine.html">review of xine</A>
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he continued stirring up controversy. Ironically at the end of that article he
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quotes his exchange with G<>nter Bartsch, the original author of xine, that
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perfectly summarizes the whole situation:</P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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However, he also went on to say that he was "surprised" by my column about
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Mplayer and thought it was unfair, reminding me that it is a free software
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project. "If you don't like it," Bartsch said, "you're free not to use it."
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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</P>
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<P>He does not reply to our mails. His editor does not reply to our mails.
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Here are some quotes from different people about Joe Barr, so you can form your
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own opinion:</P>
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<P>Marc Rassbach has <A HREF="http://daily.daemonnews.org/view_story.php3?story_id=2102">something to say</A>
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about the man
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</P>
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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You may all remember the LinuxWorld 2000, when he claimed that Linus T said
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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that 'FreeBSD is just a handful of programmers'. Linus said NOTHING of the
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sort. When Joe was called on this, his reaction was to call BSD supporters
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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assholes and jerks.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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<P>A <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/2001-December/009118.html">quote</A>
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from Robert Munro on the
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<A HREF="http://mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/mplayer-users/">mplayer-users</A>
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mailinglist:</P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>He's interesting, but not good at avoiding, um... controversy. Joe Barr
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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used to be one of the regulars on Will Zachmann's Canopus forum on Compuserve,
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years ago. He was an OS/2 advocate then (I was an OS/2 fan too).<P>
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<P>He used to go over-the-top, flaming people, and I suspect he had some hard
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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times, then. He's mellowed some, judging by his columns recently. Moderately
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2002-05-08 18:00:26 +00:00
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subtle humor was not his mode in those earlier days, not at all.</P>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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2002-01-01 23:57:53 +00:00
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2001-11-13 16:19:48 +00:00
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