Linux Radio 141
An anonymous reader writes "This might very well be the nerdiest site we'll ever encounter... Linux Radio is an online radio station broadcasting the Linux kernel! Each time someone visit the site, a random source file is selected and read loudly by a virtual speaker materialized through the open source speech synthesizer eSpeak. Will it prove useful to anyone is probably a difficult question to answer, but the excitement provided is worth experiencing at least once. However, this concept proves once more the advantages of open source over proprietary software making such achievements impossible : whoever in his right mind would want to listen to binary files loudly?"
It's a bit too fast (Score:2)
Re:It's a bit too fast (Score:2)
The "Linux Radio" name should be reserved for something that does, say, interviews with kernel developers, distro maintainers, and summaries of mailing list results. I'm sure there are enough people in the community to garner a worthwhile audience.
nothing but includes for the first three minutes. (Score:5, Funny)
lol it's like the begats in the bible.
Re:nothing but includes for the first three minute (Score:2)
Re:nothing but includes for the first three minute (Score:2)
Have you tried piping the output to /dev/audio?
Re:nothing but includes for the first three minute (Score:2)
What this might say about the security of permissions in Linux vs BSD is left as an exercise for the reader.
Useful? Not too difficult a question actually (Score:4, Informative)
No.
See? That was easy.
Re:Useful? Not too difficult a question actually (Score:2)
Its just Linux trying to comply with the ADA so blind people "access" the code.
Re:Useful? Not too difficult a question actually (Score:5, Funny)
Access it? I'm pretty sure they wrote most of it.
Re:Useful? Not too difficult a question actually (Score:2)
Holy cow !!! (Score:5, Funny)
You know you might be an autist when . . . (Score:2, Funny)
. . . you find Linux source code read by a text to speech synthesizer appealing and relaxing.
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:4, Funny)
I honestly don't quite see how farting could possibly give the illusion of distance.
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:2)
Glad I'm not alone. I even added a little brown noise to give the illusion it is coming from light years away.
Wouldn't that be red noise?
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:3, Funny)
Agreed. When you get into some of the blocks of repeated stuff, such as #includes, it builds up a bit of rhythm, then breaks arrhythmically into code, which sounds like it evolves its own rhythm. It's not unlike a techno or electro percussion line. Throw some lines of synth along the top of this, and you'd have an album.
And I just followed the advice on the page: "if you can't get enough, you can always open Linux Radio in two or more different browser tabs". Ooo! It makes me feel all cybery inside! :-)
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Holy cow !!! (Score:2, Funny)
Wait til Linus starts selling advertising space in the kernel:
What follows is a disgusting hack... now for a limited time, get a Taco and a Pepsi for only $1.99, only at Taco Bell.
Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, c'mon, does Stephen Hawking really have time to read all this? And, this has to be the most tedious method of mirroring the kernel sources that I've ever "heard"
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:2)
I think I remember that in one of the Captain Kirk Star Treks, that the computer got repaired, and refitted with a sultry female voice. He was annoyed, and got it fixed back to the non-emotional female robot voice.
Your choice: listen to the sexy computer, or go off to fight the Klingons .. . ?
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:1)
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:2)
I thought it was Red Dwarf.
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:2)
"Tomorrow is Yesterday" - ship's computer voice was changed during an overhaul on Cygnet XIV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Is_Yesterday [wikipedia.org]
Wow, that takes me back a few decades. I haven't seen any of TOS since the mid-eighties.
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:2)
ROFL! :-)
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:3, Funny)
They need the voice from MoanMyIP.com.
http://www.moanmyip.com/ [moanmyip.com]
OMFG, I thought you were kidding! Then I thought it was a hack of some sort, but Blitzableiter didn't complain about the flash. It really does moan your IP!
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:3, Funny)
Does she do IPv6 too ? ;-)
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:1)
I'd love to have her come by 127.0.0.1 and give me a more visual demonstration.
Re:Can we get a sultry female voice instead? (Score:2)
Good God! Did my .sig set you off(topic) much?
Anyway, you do have some valid points but there's a lot you're overlooking.
For example, why couldn't Japan simply have been blockaded? They're remote and didn't really have much left to throw at the Allies.
As for your rapist scenario, I wouldn't count on that strategy working on someone who's much bigger and stronger. Trying something like that will likely get your head smashed against the pavement and still get ass-fucked. If fighting back gives you room to run and scream or otherwise attract attention, go for it. If not, all it'll likely get you is a pat on the back for fighting back - too bad you now have a concussion paired with a torn-up asshole.
By the way, how many years, lives and dollars have been wasted in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq and Afghanistan? What would all that effort have accomplished at home?
"Binary files"? (Score:2)
Presumably that's why they offer only source files (there are binary blobs in some drivers, though).
Re:"Binary files"? (Score:2)
I guess the binaries would sound a lot like its sister station, White Noise FM [whitenoise.fm] :
White Noise FM is an online radio broadcasting white noise, a sound known to improve concentration by covering background noise. It also helps relaxation, and can aid people to sleep. Although we're focusing on white noise at the moment, we have plans to add more colored sounds to our programs in the future : pink noise, brown noise, and grey noise. We aim to become a fully featured white noise generator!
It also features pink and brown(ian) noise, though they all look like pre-generated samples in a loop
Re:"Binary files"? (Score:2)
Re:"Binary files"? (Score:1)
Re:"Binary files"? (Score:5, Interesting)
froggy bastard (Score:2)
I think I remember those. Was it before C10s came in?
BASICODE (Score:2)
Sometimes, they broadcast ZX Spectrum, sometimes it was MSX programs.
The Dutch NOS radio created BASICODE [wikipedia.org] to transmit BASIC binaries over radio. It was used in several countries until the early 90s.
BASICODE could be understood by almost all computers at the time, including Exidy Sorcerer, Colour Genie, Commodore PET, VIC-20, C64, Amiga, Sinclair ZX81, ZX Spectrum, QL, Acorn Atom, Micro, Electron, Tandy TRS-80, MSX, Oric Atmos, Philips P2000T, Grundy NewBrain, Amstrad CPC, IBM PC, Apple II, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A & Mattel Aquarius.
It only used a minimal subset of BASIC command, all system-specific commands were replaced by GOSUB calls, for example GOSUB 100 to clear the screen. The program itself would then start at line 1000.
Re:"Binary files"? (Score:1)
Re:"Binary files"? (Score:2)
An interesting yet pointless experiment is importing various binary files into Audacity as RAW audio. Interesting because some file types produce sometimes similar, sometimes predictable, and sometimes catchy sounds.
Notably file types that contain header and other structured meta info. It's also a great way to procrastinate.
Hell... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hell... (Score:2)
Re:Hell... (Score:2)
Do you live in Texas?
Re:Hell... (Score:2)
It's still better than at least 90% of what counts as "music" today.
How long before someone autotunes it?
Re:Hell... (Score:2)
I think there is a proper word for that, you are getting old.
Correct! After all, the words recited from the Linux kernel are not very different from the babbling and mumbling from the last Lady Gaga success!
Wow there are a lot of asterisks! (Score:2)
the free asterisk software foundation
Re:Wow there are a lot of asterisks! (Score:1)
Yeah, one could easily mistake it for the Asterisk [asterisk.org] source code.
Re:Wow there are a lot of asterisks! (Score:3)
This just goes to show that this was set up by amateur wannabes. It's pronounced 'splat' or 'times', depending on context.
With no desire to follow TFA to the actual radio which must be slashdotted by now, do they say 'octothorpe' and 'exclamation mark' too?
shebang whacka-bin-whacka-essage
Re:Wow there are a lot of asterisks! (Score:4, Funny)
You missed the obvious...
Oh my God... It's full of stars.
Re:Wow there are a lot of asterisks! (Score:1, Funny)
Not nearly nerdy enough (Score:4, Insightful)
If it were being broadcast on a shortwave radio band rather than internet radio, it might classify as one of the nerdier things ever. The internet is just so conventional.
Re:Not nearly nerdy enough (Score:1)
If it were being broadcast on a shortwave radio band..
It was -> http://lwn.net/2002/0207/a/radio-free-linux.php3 [lwn.net]
Actually it was surprising that on the dozen or so times I saw linux.fm mentioned on IRC for the past week no one seemed to be aware of it being "old news".
Is this the span of our cultural memory?
Re:Not nearly nerdy enough (Score:2)
ELF, now *that* would be nerdy!
Especially if the submarines replied.
Binary (Score:2)
"whoever in his right mind would want to listen to binary files loudly?"
I think you've finally solved the mystery of the 'numbers stations': it's not Russian spies sending secret messages, it's the oldest method of P2P file sharing!
Re:Binary (Score:2)
"whoever in his right mind would want to listen to binary files loudly?"
I think you've finally solved the mystery of the 'numbers stations'
If you have the right "one time pad" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_time_pad [wikipedia.org] ), listening to a numbers station ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station [wikipedia.org] ) could save your life. "Yo. Bad news, your cover has been blown . . . "
If you were a spy, living illegally in a foreign country.
Re:Binary (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, around 87-89 in Hungary it wasn't uncommon for radiostations to broadcast homebrew C-64 programs. The C-64 casette-tape only used the audible spectrum by spec anyway.
Re:Binary (Score:2)
Oh, and there were "choose your own adventure" games in Teletext too.
I understand (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I understand (Score:2)
Binary? (Score:2, Insightful)
[quote]
whoever in his right mind would want to listen to binary files loudly?
[/quote]
Good thing it's actually reading the source code, and that I have a volume nob.
really????? (Score:1, Offtopic)
You have got to be kidding.
Human Brain booting linux anyone? (Score:1)
Re:Human Brain booting linux anyone? (Score:1, Redundant)
Um well,... (Score:1, Funny)
... just heard:
slash slash asterik asterisk THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED asterisk asterisk
Re:Um well,... (Score:2)
Gives you a warm tingly doesnt it
Final goal (Score:5, Insightful)
FU (Score:2)
I'll bet Cee-Loo Green could make a great song and video from it......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc0mxOXbWIU [youtube.com]
Along the same lines: (Score:2)
Linux.fm links to its "sister station"White Noise FM [whitenoise.fm] :
White Noise FM is an online radio broadcasting white noise, a sound known to improve concentration by covering background noise. It also helps relaxation, and can aid people to sleep. Although we're focusing on white noise at the moment, we have plans to add more colored sounds to our programs in the future : pink noise, brown noise, and grey noise. We aim to become a fully featured white noise generator!
It also features pink and brown(ian) noise
And WhiteNoise.fm in turn links to none other than Vuvuzela Radio [vuvuzela.fm] !!:
Vuvuzela Radio is a station dedicated to playing the sound of the vuvuzela, the famous South African blowing horn the whole world learned to love (or hate) during the 2010 World Cup. We are broadcasting non-stop, without commercial breaks, so you can get your full daily dose : anywhere, anytime.
Though, I'm pretty certain that the four "streams" are actually pre-generated samples in a loop.
Re:Along the same lines: (Score:2)
Linux.fm links to its "sister station"White Noise FM [whitenoise.fm] .....
Wow, 'White Noise FM' seems quite big around here. It's being rebroadcast almost everywhere on the dial where a music station isn't.
listen to binary files loudly? (Score:2)
listen to binary files loudly?
listeners of numbers stations [wikipedia.org] usually do it.
I don't know, with pleasure or not, though.
Vuvuzela radio (Score:2)
Dumbest thing ever. (Score:2)
Re:Dumbest thing ever. (Score:1)
If you're going to "troll" me - at least please explain how you think this would be usefull, first!
Nice try!
We all know that if we explain how it's useful first we can't "troll" you.
wait...ugh...too late now.
Is the OP insane or on drugs? (Score:2, Funny)
Difficult question? (Score:2)
No it's not, this is completely worthless to EVERYONE. Simple test: Can you name a single way this could be useful? I can't.
Re:Difficult question? (Score:1)
Maybe you could write a speech-to-text program and get the source code for the linux kernel that way.
Not sure why you would do it, but you could.
Re:Difficult question? (Score:2)
My evil plans (Score:1)
Step 2:
Step 3: take over the world.
espeak is cool. (Score:1)
five years old "news" (Score:2)
And maybe older than that:
http://digg.com/news/technology/Linux_kernel_source_--_on_radio_ [digg.com]
It was even discussed here (can't find the original submission though).
lol (Score:2)
"whoever in his right mind would want to listen to binary files loudly?"
About as many people who want to listen to source files, I imagine.
Exciting. (Score:1)
Has anyone managed to compile this? (Score:2)
Anyone has been able to make a program which translates the speech back to text in order to compile this kernel?
So true (Score:1)
I clicked out of curiosity (Score:1)
Modern, cool and therefore hip (Score:2)
How I hate the amorphous drivel coming from the main stream radio stations nowadays.
Bazinga! (Score:2)
"This radio station is dedicated to the best scientist ever : Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory." :D
Listening to binary files... (Score:4, Funny)
You mean like an MP3?
Break out the MREs (Score:1)
Needs to go analogue (Score:2)
We need to put up a transmitter broadcasting this. In 1,024 years when the electromagnetic radiation hits Microsoftopia, the people will finally receive a beacon of hope.
Phillip.
That makes sense, really. (Score:2)
What were they thinking? (Score:2)
I realize most people are thinking the same thing, but it needs to be said... What were the creators of this site thinking, using Flash? It just makes no sense to me. Was there no thought put into it at all? Are there actually Linux users/advocates out there who do not hate Flash?
I want to listen to binary files (Score:2)
I don't remember where (probably here on Slashdot, actually), but I once saw something from someone who took several binary file formats and cat'd them to /dev/dsp just to see what they sounded like.
I think his favorite was actually a filesystem, because of the patterns in data.
Go ahead, try it. But turn down your speakers' volume first, it'll be a bit loud.
Decoded! (Score:2)
I got crypto/deflate.c, so much of deflates, asterisks and cmp!
This reminds me of www.codeorgan.org
Mind Hacking (Score:2)
With the right wording, we can hack into your brain! [nealstephenson.com]
wot ? (Score:2)
Oh come, on, this is ancient stuff.
Re:i don't understand (Score:4, Funny)
I like my Autechre just fine, TYVM.
Re:i don't understand (Score:2)
whoever in his right mind would want to listen to binary files loudly?
All the music I listen to is binary files. How else would I keep them on digital storage?
Of course, I don't listen to them by having a voice read the ones and zeroes, but interpreted to analog via the proper codec.
Still, I don't know that listening to a computer voice reading source code is much more useful or pleasant than a computer voice repeating ones and zeroes.
Re:i don't understand (Score:2)
All the music I listen to is binary files. How else would I keep them on digital storage?
Ternary? [wikipedia.org]
Re:i don't understand (Score:2)
Re:i don't understand (Score:2)
We can expect some DEADBEEF, but don't hold your hat for any C0DEDBAD's [wikipedia.org]