Sunday Morning idle queries ??

[max bianco]

On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 10:16 AM, William Case <billlinux at rogers.com> wrote:
> Hi;
>
> Just wondering about a few things:
>
> 1) I noticed a program in the latest update list called 'augeas' for
> editing config files.  I have gone to their site etc.-- looks
> interesting.  Has anyone have experience using it and would like to
> comment?
>
No and No.
> 2) I have just installed kmod-nvidia from livnia.  I have been watching
> the discussion here on its effectiveness re: Xorg etc.  It seems to work
> fine for me.  Now the question is: which is the best 3D application
> (window manager??) to use with it?  Compiz?

I have never understood the appeal of wasting clock cycles on desktop
3d effects. They are of course your clock cycles to waste.
>
> 3) My project for the next while is to work out how various multimedia
> work.  The more I delve into the subject the more confusing it gets.
> I can find lots of info on the various pieces of hardware used, but then
> what?  How do various software components fit together e.g. gstreamer,
> xine, Totem, ripping, burning, editing, codecs, audio (drivers), video
> (drivers), etc., etc.  Info and howtos on individual pieces of software
> exist, but I can't seem to find anything online or a textbook that puts
> it all together in an overview.  Wikipedia, for example, is full of
> stubs on this subject.

You are trying to understand the underlying system and how it relates
to multimedia, I think. This is definitely the right approach in my
not so humble opinion :^) Where to begin? That is a tough question. I
would perhaps pick one program, like Totem or whatever, and focus on
it. Go to the web pages, read the FAQs, join mailing lists dedicated
to multimedia in general or your chosen program in particular, the
last I think is most important, there you will find people that live
and breathe this stuff. I don't know if you can program but learning a
language and looking at the code, while it may seem a daunting task
would probably answer alot of questions at least from a technical
standpoint. Reasoning the why of things is a separate and much more
daunting task. So I would make sure you separate the two things
cleanly.  First I would learn the technical, i.e. - how do things work
aspect and then worry about the why is it done this way instead of
that way. I have found that often I will stop and question something
before I have fully understood all the relevant points. This type of
questioning is very useful but too much can bog you down in minutiae
too soon. I would say a 80/20 (technical/what the hell?) approach
works best, at least for me. It is difficult to achieve this 80/20 but
that is usually my goal, the what the hell questions serve to drive me
towards greater technical understanding, once you achieve a comfort
level with the technical, you often can answer your own questions
then start gaining true insight and of course start asking better
questions.

Max
>
> Does anyone have suggestions of where to look for some kind of summary
> that offers explanations rather than just howtos?
>
> Rome will not rise or fall based on these questions, but if you are
> sitting in front of your computer right now looking for a good reason to
> procrastinate over real work, give my questions a whirl.
>
> --
> Regards Bill;
> Fedora 9, Gnome 2.22.2
> Evo.2.22.2, Emacs 22.2.1
>
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>



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