Slashdot Mirror

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one that writes the software that runs the C6, and many other VR devices), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that VRJuggler is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one that writes the software that runs the C6, and many other VR devices), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that VRJuggler is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one that writes the software that runs the C6, and many other VR devices), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that VRJuggler is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one who write the software that runs the C6), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that it is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one who write the software that runs the C6), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that it is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one who write the software that runs the C6), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that it is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one who write the software that runs the C6), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that it is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one who write the software that runs the C6), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that it is completely open source (LGPL).

The "VRAC team" is actually about 150 people. the VR Juggler team (the one who write the software that runs the C6), is actually about 4 grad students (allen,chris,patrick,kevin), the original inventor of the CAVE (Dr. Cruz-Neira), and a few others...

VR Juggler is an opensource virtual reality platform. It is the next generation of CAVE software. It runs caves, c6, HMD, powerwall, desktop VR, etc... highly configurable and highly extensible.

For background info: Dr. Cruz wrote the original CAVElib (closed source) at EVL for the original CAVE system she designed. NOTE: that all CAVE(tm) systems are only 4 walls! The C6 at VRAC is the worlds first 6 sided cave-like device.

VR Juggler is her next endeavor, it doesn't suffer from the problems that CAVElib does, and whats best is that it is completely open source (LGPL).

• Most journals actually accept or reject articles sent to them based on their scientific content. That's why most journals are actually edited by expert scientists in the field - in order to guarantee that the scientific content is worthwhile. Since the fields a journal publishes in are usually rather narrow in most sciences, this actually works quite well.
• Still, there is the occasional article which has scientific value that the editor does not recognize, for example if it is a "revolutionary" article or one that focuses on subjects of dispute. Public moderation would not solve this, however. Take a look at the moderation on Slashdot, for example: it does not judge the content of comments based on whether they're true or justified, but based on whether someone thinks they're worth reading, which is much more a matter of personal taste. In general, a large set of persons with varying expertise in a field is less likely to democratically judge so that the results are appropriate than a small set of editors with much expertise in the field. The reason for using Slashdot moderation is the avoidance of trolls (sorry, couldn't resist), a danger which is not or hardly not present in scientific publications.

ABC History. Also a bunch of general History of Computing links.

Now I may be wrong but isn't BSD (and OpenBSD) descended from the original Unix, and is much older than Linux?

Others have answered this question, but I do not think any have done so completely.

There is a decent History of Unix page on unix-systems.org which can help you. The timeline table further down the page is better than the lame text at the top, which glosses over too much.

1969: Unix. PDP-7 at bell labs. Reportedly intended for writing games.
1971: First edition of AT&T Unix.
... 1975: Sixth edition. Unix makes it out formally. BSD 1.x is derived from this.

Okay, so BSD has its roots in the original unix, but not until 1975. While technically speaking, there is a parental chain from the original unix to BSD, which grew into 4.4-lite, which made it out and more or less became the parent of Free/Net/OpenBSD...

1984: 4.2BSD (TCP/IP)
1986: 4.3BSD (DNS Server)
1991: Torvalds begins writing linux (unrelated, but significant data; Note how far after modern BSD we are - Modern meaning 4.2. TCP, after all, is (these days) a big part of what makes Unix Unix.)
1993: 4.4BSD. Final release of Berkeley Unix, kinda.
1994: 4.4BSD-lite. THIS IS IT, BABY.

4.4BSD-Lite is important because, as the timeline states, "BSD 4.4-Lite eliminated all code claimed to infringe on USL/Novell". Novell took ownership of USL (Unix System Labs) in 1993. It was the first version of Unix actually provided by Berkeley that was unencumbered by the hosed up Novell-owned USL code. It was also the last version of Unix produced by Berkeley, since everyone else started producing BSD OSes for them. How nice :)

So 4.4-Lite can be distributed to anyone, whether or not they have the expensive (Except to academia) source license. People everywhere begin hacking it up to run on, well, anything they have around. M88k boards. VAXen. Sparcs. Whatever.

So now we have three major free BSD implementations, and probably a host of others which are stagnating on a gopher site someplace, and we may never see them.

Anyway, NetBSD's History:

The source for NetBSD is derived from 386BSD 0.1, patched with the 0.2.2 patch kit. In addition, many programs in UCB's second BSD Networking Software Release which were missing from 386BSD have been integrated into NetBSD, some of the changes from the upcoming 0.2.3 patch kit have been included, and many local additions and bug fixes have been performed. NetBSD is currently 100% binary compatible with 386BSD, so programs like XFree86 which are already available for 386BSD will install and run on NetBSD as easily as on 386BSD. NetBSD would not be possible were it not for the work of the UCB Computer Systems Research Group, which released Net/2, or the work of William and Lynne Jolitz, who brought 386BSD into the world, or the work of the thousands of contributors to Net/2 and 386BSD. NetBSD is the product of the efforts of a large group of people, and we believe that that group should have a say in deciding NetBSD's future.

386BSD was based on Berkeley Net/2, which was apparently a subrelease of 4.3BSD, maybe? It's hard to say. This ASCII BSD FAQ has more information in section 0.1 about the origins of the *BSD family. I will excerpt the interesting part here:

There were several version of BSD roaming around, but they all had one thing in common. You HAD to have a source code license to the original Unix source to get a working version going. The bulk of the code was written at Berkeley, much of it by long-haired computer geeks, complete with bad complexions and pocket protectors. Many Master's Degrees were built on what was to follow.

Then, suddenly, someone realized the amount of source code from the original Unix distribution was pretty much down to zilch. They decided that making the distribution available to the whole world (not just the select Unix license holders) seemed like a pretty 'groovy' (to use the vernacular) idea. From that came the Net distribution.

William and Lynne Jolitz, with their standard flair and panache, decided to write the pieces that needed to be written. From that decision came 386BSD Version 0.0. Generally considered to be unusable, it was nonetheless a major coup, in that one no longer needed the dreaded 'source license' to produce working operating system images.

So, now you know (vaguely) where 386BSD came from; Like I said, BSD. I used NetBSD as my lead-in to all of this because it was the first derivative of a source tracable back to the beginning. I still can't tell if it was based on 4.2 or 4.3; The tape was labeled "Berkeley Net Release/2". Sounds like 4.2.

That same ascii FAQ provides this gem:

If you take a look at the README files that accompany each of these packages, you will find that each is based as closely as possible to BSD 4.4-Lite. The core development team for FreeBSD used the 4.4 Lite distribution and re-engineered the missing pieces to come up with the the current version of FreeBSD. The NetBSD developers started with the existing 386BSD files, and compared them to the unencumbered, freely releasable files from BSD 4.4. For both groups, any files which were not available (through being encumbered) were written from scratch to provide the functionality that was needed. Either way, both systems are close to BSD 4.4. Of course, each has differences that make it different from the other, and different from regular BSD 4.4.

So that tells you an awful lot about that. Most of us know where OpenBSD came from, so I won't rehash that; Suffice to say, you can probably find PLENTY of commentary about it by doing a websearch. Terms you might consider are "Theo OpenBSD FreeBSD code fork", but that's just a guess. I haven't tried them. Just try to read it with an open mind, heh. Good luck!

--
ALL YOUR KARMA ARE BELONG TO US

Just FYI, too, Dr. Bushman and his associate are psychology researchers that specialize in aggression and violence. In fact, those are the only types of studies I've ever seen Dr. Bushman do. You could take this to mean that he knows what he's doing, or that he sees what he's looking for (which, admittedly, aren't necessarily mutually exclusive).

http://psych-server.iastate.edu/faculty/bbushman/h omepage.htm

- Former computing staff at Dr. Bushman's university :)

The Spanish conquistadores completely eradicated the great Inca and Maya civilazations through war, horrendous plagues (like smallpox), and rape. On one occasion, the conquistadore Pizarro captured the Incan king Atahuallpa, ransomed him for a large dining room's worth of gold and silver, then killed him anyway. (It's all told in a great book, Guns Germs and Steel.

"So, it's just a cartoon, lighten up!"

I know it's just a cartoon. I think that infusing our children with a candy-coated, competely inaccurate view of the past is irresponsible. I'm not advocating that Disney put the destruction of the Native peoples by systematic warfare (Pocahontas anyone?) in their next movie, I just think that maybe they ought to pick more positive subject matter. Like Transformers. They're cool.

After It's Done Flying Around You Can Eat It!
Check out these Yummy insect recipes

Atanasoff made a presentation at University of FL (his alma mater) once that I attended. He said that he was trying to work out a way to solve differential equations automatically He took a long drive one night, and ended up at a roadhouse just across the Iowa/Illinois line (that part of Iowa being dry then). It was there, over his drink that he worked out the key details.

See http://www.cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml for more info.

I had to look it up:
http://www.cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml

Also in contention for the distinction of being the first digital computer is the Atanasoff-Berry Computer built at Iowa State University between 1939 and 1942 by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry. Supposedly, Atanasoff conceived the plan of the machine drinking bourbon in a roadhouse bar somewhere in Illinois in 1937.

In 1973, after a lengthy court trial, a federal judge declared the Eckert-Mauchly (Eniac) patent invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the first digital computer. It should also be noted that it was the first digital computer to use dynamic RAM. Lots of good information on the ABC and many more links can be found here and also here. Photos and diagrams can be found here.

If one closely examines this period of history, they find that it is a time that is just chock full with all kinds of convergences between mathematics, physical science, engineering and materials technologies that make the digital computer almost inevitable. After all, this is a device that had been conceived of, at least in part, as early as the Victorian age and the birth of the industrial revolution. Really, it was just a matter of time before somebody produced a working model, and as so often happens many people took different paths to the same end.

So, you're saying that there's no financial or social reason why inner city youth aren't booting Linux?

If you've climbed up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs far enough to have shelter, and your daily bread, then you're already far better off than many. If you've got a stable family or social structure around you, you're better off still.

It's only once you have stopped scraping for shelter, food, love and self-esteem that you can begin to look at cognitive development.

Only those relative few who have any access to computers can grow a serious interest in computers. Those who haven't had consistent, constructive access to computers will probably find more application in a portable CD player, than in a Linux distribution on a discarded 486.

Elitism in the 'digital divide' doesn't necessarily mean "small top minority." It just means "not the small bottom minority."

John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry were the first. Just becase their computer never took off for much other than solving differential equations, doesn't mean it wasn't the first.
Atanasoff Berry Computer

...the serious lack of graphical user interfaces in Linux. Seriously, smbclient has been sitting in text-mode hell ever since it was created. No Linux programmer has even thought of creating a GUI network browser. Ever tried pushing a Linux programmer into building a GUI into his work? "Sorry, can't do that, too busy hacking the Cue:Cat!"

Good lord I can't believe you have a +1 bonus. Someone should shoot the adminstrators for allowing this to happen.

First of all, there is no lack of graphical interfaces on Linux, there is a proliferation of them. Be more specific. There may be no good graphical interfaces(in your opinion), but that does not mean they don't exist. And there ARE nice graphical front-ends to smbclient. My favorite is LinNeighborhood, and an old stand-by is xSMBrowser. There. Not only have Linux programmers thougt of creating a GUI network browser, but they DID. Shut up please, I don't like your ignorance. And you want to push a Linux programmer into building a GUI into his work? Why the hell don't you pay him, smart-ass? Or, better yet, why don't you do it yourself you lazy bastard? Most of these programmers are doing it for FREE. You want something, you pay for it. I'm sorry, but I'm not going spend years of my life trying to please you because you TOLD me to(have you ever ASKED for a feature in a program, as opposed to demanding it?!?).

Contrary to what you may believe, Linux is for getting work done. That means that if your hard drive failed, and all but 8 Megs of memory has been destroyed, you still have a deadline. What are you going to do? Go out and buy a new computer, spend hours setting it up, etc., etc., or are you just going to pop in that rescue disk you made last week to finish off what you started? I'm sorry pal, Linux was not designed from the ground up to be what you want it to be. Go somewhere else.

[big sigh]

Ahhh... That felt gooood :) Flamebait can, at times, be useful :)

Have a nice day :)

Dave

'Round the firewall,
Out the modem,
Through the router,
Down the wire,

(from the Iowa State University Web Site):

"The Atanasoff-Berry computer was the first digital computer. It was built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42, and introduced the concepts of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, and logic circuits.

On October 19, 1973, US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his decision following a lengthy court trial which declared the ENIAC patent of Mauchly and Eckert invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer -- the Atanasoff-Berry Computer or the ABC.

Clark Mollenhoff in his book, Atanasoff, Forgotten Father of the Computer, details the design and construction of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer with emphasis on the relationships of the individuals. Alice and Arthur Burks in their book, The First Electronic Computer: The Atanasoff Story, describe the design and construction of the ABC and provide a more technical perspective. Numerous articles provide additional information. In recognition of his achivement, Atanasoff was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George Bush at the White house on November 13, 1990. "

The story as I remember told in one of the books is that the creator of the ENIAC visited ISU during the development of the ABC and "borrowed" many of the concepts of the ABC for the ENIAC.

Unfortunately, Iowa State never fully realized what Atanasoff and Berry had developed.

As a Chemistry Professor at ISU told me "If they had, our toliet seats would be gold plated".

Iowa State recently built a working model of the ABC to prove that it really did work.

-Neil Johnson (Proud to be a Cyclone !)

(from the Iowa State University Web Site):

"The Atanasoff-Berry computer was the first digital computer. It was built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42, and introduced the concepts of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, and logic circuits.

On October 19, 1973, US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his decision following a lengthy court trial which declared the ENIAC patent of Mauchly and Eckert invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer -- the Atanasoff-Berry Computer or the ABC.

Clark Mollenhoff in his book, Atanasoff, Forgotten Father of the Computer, details the design and construction of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer with emphasis on the relationships of the individuals. Alice and Arthur Burks in their book, The First Electronic Computer: The Atanasoff Story, describe the design and construction of the ABC and provide a more technical perspective. Numerous articles provide additional information. In recognition of his achivement, Atanasoff was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George Bush at the White house on November 13, 1990. "

The story as I remember told in one of the books is that the creator of the ENIAC visited ISU during the development of the ABC and "borrowed" many of the concepts of the ABC for the ENIAC.

Unfortunately, Iowa State never fully realized what Atanasoff and Berry had developed.

As a Chemistry Professor at ISU told me "If they had, our toliet seats would be gold plated".

Iowa State recently built a working model of the ABC to prove that it really did work.

-Neil Johnson (Proud to be a Cyclone !)

"Atanasoff-Berry computer was the first digital computer. It was built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42, and introduced the concepts of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, and logic circuits."

-- http://www.cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml

It would be interesting to see how these machines all "fit-together" in history. I.E. which ones were the first to develop each feature. As Atanasoff himself once put it:

"I have always taken the position that there is enough credit for everyone in the invention and development of the electronic computer"

Read about it here. They've even completed a replica model of it (the original one was cannibalized because interest in computers at that time was so low :)

If I decide to do the grad school thing, my company will foot the bill and I can get my Masters in 3 years or so. But for now, getting some work done is the right choice for me. It's given me a chance to find out that I'm not exactly in the right job, and therefore a chance to learn the stuff I need to get into a specialty I will enjoy more.

I work with people who have gotten their Masters, as well as people who have no degree at all. They're all treated pretty much equally. The M.S.'s may make a slightly higher salary, but in most positions it's not much of a difference.

While I wait for my filters to move mail to it's appropriate mailboxes, I look down at the keyboard and what do I see? A silverfish (a.k.a. roly-poly kinda thing) crawled out of the keyboard!!

Nuff-said.

ISU Library Special Collections Dept.

Iowa Computer Science and Math History Links

Also, IBM has an extensive collection of historical items about its own systems, you may have luck there.

ISU Library Special Collections Dept.

Iowa Computer Science and Math History Links

Also, IBM has an extensive collection of historical items about its own systems, you may have luck there.

If you're interested in history, you might be interested in perusing the wealth of information at Iowa State's John Vincent Atanasoff Archive. It has some great information on the inventor of the Electronic Digital Computer.

First off, have half of the class use KDE and the other half use GNOME. We need another warring set of tribes. Let's set them off as early as is possible. While they're at it, have half use vi and half emacs, half use BSD and half use Linux, half use one indent style and half use another...

But seriously, I think a good, mind-stretching programming excercise is artficial life. Genetic algorithms are really simple to program and can do some amazingly complex things. Have a prisoner's dilemma robot contest. Here is a really fantastic book on the subject.

cdrwin - x-cd-roast [freshmeat]
ipchains GUI - GFCC [freshmeat]
network neighbourhood - xsmbrowser
ftp clients - [freshmeat]

My school doesn't run sshd on all of their servers for reasons I don't understand, but they do offer Kerberos-aware versions of telnet and FTP. This makes a great deal of sense in a distributed Unix environment, and since most modern mail readers (i.e. Eudora, Outlook) don't choke on KPOP, it's reasonably convenient even for those without Unix boxes.
But before you start thinking too highly of computing at Iowa State, note that there's an Ultrix box in my office...

The University of Northern Iowa, where I work, has only 5 T1 lines for it's 13,000 students. I think our net connection is slow as hell. The network admin guys blame the Iowa Communication Network, and their connection to PSINet. Iowa State University, where I got my degree, goes through the same connection, and it was never this slow.

Interested parties can see connection information here: http://netview.cc.iastate.edu/cgi- bin/selectline

As I am not really experienced in large network design, how many users per T1 should a person expect typically?

---

My guess is that the software computes a spectrum (using short-time FT or Wavelets, or some other method), looks for harmonic patterns in the lower frequencies (which tend to be attenuated less by lossy compression techniques), and thus regenerates high frequency data to fill in the attenuated harmonics. Audiophiles are probably NOT going to like the results (as well as being philosphically opposed; by its nature it trades one type of harmonic distortion for another), and non-audiophiles will be mostly indifferent, IMHO.

Still, I'd like to listen to the results on some good monitors...

I really don't care for their choices at all. A lot of them are more like general approaches than algorthms, and I'm not at all sure they are the most influential. I think they are supposed to be "the cleverest of the common fancy methods"

Simple algorithms for common problems are much more widely used, and have far more impact and influence, but try telling *them* that!

I hope these links help. (Warning: many are technical) If anyone has personal favorites that are less dry than many of these, please post!.

10. 1987: Fast Multipole Method. A breakthrough in dealing with the complexity of n-body calculations, applied in problems ranging from celestial mechanics to protein folding. [Overview] [A math/visual approach]

9. 1977: Integer Relation Detection. A fast method for spotting simple equations satisfied by collections of seemingly unrelated numbers. [Nice article with links]

8. 1965: Fast Fourier Transform. Perhaps the most ubiquitous algorithm in use today, it breaks down waveforms (like sound) into periodic components. Everyone knows this one (or should) [Part II of my personal favorite FFT and wavelet tutorial]

7. 1962: Quicksort Algorithms for Sorting. For the efficient handling of large databases. [Definition][Basic Method][Mathworld][More technical explanation][A lecture with animations and simulations]

6. 1959: QR Algorithm for Computing Eigenvalues. Another crucial matrix operation made swift and practical. [Math] [Algorithm

5. 1957: The Fortran Optimizing Compiler. Turns high-level code into efficient computer-readable code. (pretty much self-explanatory) [History and lots of info]

4. 1951: The Decompositional Approach to Matrix Computations. A suite of techniques for numerical linear algebra. [matrix decomposition theorem] [Strategies]

3. 1950: Krylov Subspace Iteration Method. A technique for rapidly solving the linear equations that abound in scientific computation. [History] [various Krylov subspace iterative methods]

2. 1947: Simplex Method for Linear Programming. An elegant solution to a common problem in planning and decision-making. [English} [Explanation with Java simulator] [An interactive teaching tool

1. 1946: The Metropolis Algorithm for Monte Carlo. Through the use of random processes, this algorithm offers an efficient way to stumble toward answers to problems that are too complicated to solve exactly. [English] [Code and Math] [Math explained]

"How can sci-fi compete in an era where computers process millions of bits per second, our cities our powered by the Atom, and man travels through the stars?"

Simple, we'll make up new stuff. And that's the same answer I'd give to the question about sci-fi posted in the topic. There may not be a limit to human ingenuity, but there sure as hell isn't one on human imagination. When the sci-fi ideas of today are realized, we'll make something else up

There's also the possibility of writing 'not so far out' books like Jurassic Park, and to an even grater extreme, Cryptonomicon (witch didn't really use any unmade technology)

Also, there's been very little development in space travel lately, so non-earth based sci-fi will still be 'original'.

I really doubt that a realization of a few technical ideas is going to kill sci-fi.

Btw, check out the 'sci-fi/cyberpunk' book I'm writing [cheap plug :P]

Heh. I remember that. Funny. :)

Incidentally: the Adidas company took its name from the name of its founder, Adi Dassler, and not after the whole sex thing. Adi's brother Rudolf also went on to form his own shoe company, but rather than use his own name, he decided to name the company after an animal.

And make money fast while you do it!

Actually, I'm not done with it yet, but what I have done is posted on the web.

My guess is that a lot of the people reading this thread are into sci-fi/cyberpunk, and I'd be curious to see what you guys think (Keep in mind that it's a rough draft). I only have about 20 pages or so written, but most of the people who've read it said it was ok, or at least, not that bad.

I hope this isn't entirely offtopic, at least :). Oh, and I was lying about the money.

Being a biotech guy, I am interested in the use of Beowulf-style clusters for DNA sequence alignments and searches, etc. Incyte Corp. and Volker Brendel at Iowa state already use Linux clusters, because their architecture is great for simultaneously aligning lots of different DNA sequences...I suppose forecasting gleams similar benefits. In what cases would a cluster be an inappropriate and/or inefficient soloution to a massive computational problem? When would you have to use a Cray or other big monolithic vector rig?

Shoot the moon? Hell, says Prof. Alexander Abian, why not just blow it up?

Sadly, Crank.net says he died of a heart attack. His homepage is still up at at Iowa U., and a fan has archived THE ABIAN LIST. See the gumption of a man who named the mass of the Cosmos at the big bang after himself (scroll down a bit). Finally, see the greatness of the man reflected in his exchanges with James "Kibo" Parry and Archimedes Plutonium.

Er... was.
Unfortunatly, Alexander Abian passed away last year. His collegues in sci.physics and sci.math miss him very much.
Abian's Iowa State homepage(last updated 4/28/97)
Abian's obituary
A tribute by A. Plutonium



--
"I have also mastered pomposity, even if I do say so myself." -Kryten

The original intent of SA was to prevent the Soviets from placing GPS receivers on their nukes, and using it as cheap, foolproof guidance.

That's not correct! Public GPS receivers will only work up to 990 Km/h, like my Garmin GPS II+, just to slow for a nuke!!!

If someone wants to really get some knowledge about SA and it's current status, take a
look here!

Yours

Michael

You can say what you want about Iowa (Idiots Out Wandering Around, etc. etc. etc) but we do have a pretty forward thinking state government.

Iowa has the Iowa Communications Network, a state-owned OC-192 fiber that is primarily used for distance learning, but also hooks all the small, country schools into the internet. I believe that it is the largest state owned fiber-optic network in the US. (Oklahoma has something like it, but not on as big a scale).

Some time back there was an aritcle about the CAVE. Well, Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, one of the founding "mothers" if you will, of the CAVE is now at Iowa State University, preparing for the opening of the next generation of CAVE-like technologies - The C6 .

Maybe we have nothing to do but pick corn and dink with computers, but I sure love this state!

Genomic (and anti-genomics) Links [To Top]

Mapping the Icelandic Genome. "An Anthropology of the scientific, political, economic, religious, and ethical issues surrounding the deCode Project and its global implications." Contains useful pointers.

Indigenous people's coalition against biopiracy.

The Human Genome Diversity Project as explained by Stanford Professor and posted on the U.N. website.

Various UN reports on the Genome question.

An Outline : Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) Background.

Cultural Survival has issue 20.2 (sum 1996) dedicated to 'Genes, People, and Property' issues.

The archive for discover magazine. Nov. 1994 issue has a few articles about genome and diversity.

The gene letter. The Nov. 96 issue has an HGDP article.

High school lesson plan for teaching students about the HGDP.

"The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome." An excellent book review with bibliography and online resources.

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has a Bibliography Page about the HGP.

Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of the HGP.

The Human Genome Diversity Project: Scientific, Social and Ethical Issues .

A list of articles from Native-L mailing list, listing all articles related to HGDP posted to the list.

Six papers given at various genome-related conferences. Topics include:

*"Why Human Genetics is a Social Science"
* "Racism, Eugenics, and the Burdens of History"
* "Scientific and Folk Idea About Heredity"
* "The Spectrum of Human Variation"
* "The Human Germ-Plasm Project: Eugenics in the 1920s and the 1990s."

Native net letter to HGDP scientists.

Pilot Projects for a Human Genome Diversity Project - Special Competition.

Molecular Anthropology Symposium at Stanford.

Seeds of Destruction. A must read for anyone who eats french fries or is concerned with genetically modified crops.

Also see Patents and Jumpstations.

Comics [To Top]

Angels of Health/Medicine Cartoon by Quino. Here is another one of a dis-orderly girl.

Patent$ and Thing$ [To Top]

An Upside article discussing patents and its history. Very informative.

Gene Patents and Bioethics.

6,000 human gene patents sought in BBC News and also the Washington Post.

American Society of Human Genetics Position Paper on Patenting of Expressed Sequence Tags.

of course the list is continually updated, ... hope this helps, bobbaqATyouknowHOO

grab a copy now!

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