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http://www.ceebot.com/ceebot/index-e.php I downloaded the demo a while back, and found it amusing and actually pretty usable. If I remember correctly, even the demo supported simple classes and structs and I think the classes even allowed overloading operators. The basic concept is to allow students to write simple programs that make a little robot do stuff. Take a look at it, it may be too pricey for the school but their links section has some other resources that might also be useful, like CodeRally http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/coderally.

They are, however, made by Sony.

To be correct, some of them are made by Sony. Lenovo also ships batteries from Sanyo and Panasonic. You can find out from where your battery comes with Lenovo's Parts Lookup tool. If you're running Linux and have the tp_smapi module loaded, following command should also do it:

cat /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/manufacturer

Do that with a 3090 and they'll be sweeping your remains into a jar (not the Java kind either).

Registration begins September 5, 2006. The contest will run from October 2 through December 28, 2005.

Remember that a video card is called a VGA, a hard disk is called a hard drive,

IBM seems to disagree with you. They have both words on that page to make Google happy, but refer to them directly as hard drives ("Troubleshoot my hard drive" , "your hard drive", "SCSI hard drive", etc.). Google puts the drive:disk ratio at 167,000,000 tto 68,300,000.

In other words, don't make a campaign out of "hard disk" being correct unless you enjoy being rebuffed.

... how come IBM only have 1 lawyer, didn't they have a breeding program in the 60s and 70s?

That was subsequently supplanted by their teleportation program from 1983 with increasing success & application.

"" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach [ibm.com]

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact [ibm.com]

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/ [ibm.com]

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html [ibm.com]

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq [ibm.com]

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434 [superwarehouse.com]

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office."

----------

I posted the above from work where I'm not yet logging in to any of my external accounts...

"" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach [ibm.com]

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact [ibm.com]

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/ [ibm.com]

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html [ibm.com]

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq [ibm.com]

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434 [superwarehouse.com]

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office."

----------

I posted the above from work where I'm not yet logging in to any of my external accounts...

"" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach [ibm.com]

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact [ibm.com]

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/ [ibm.com]

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html [ibm.com]

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq [ibm.com]

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434 [superwarehouse.com]

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office."

----------

I posted the above from work where I'm not yet logging in to any of my external accounts...

"" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach [ibm.com]

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact [ibm.com]

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/ [ibm.com]

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html [ibm.com]

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq [ibm.com]

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434 [superwarehouse.com]

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office."

----------

I posted the above from work where I'm not yet logging in to any of my external accounts...

"" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach [ibm.com]

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact [ibm.com]

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/ [ibm.com]

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html [ibm.com]

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq [ibm.com]

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434 [superwarehouse.com]

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office."

----------

I posted the above from work where I'm not yet logging in to any of my external accounts...

" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office.

" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office.

" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office.

" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office.

" They already have a solid alternative in Open Office"

BZZZZZTTTT!

Have you even SEEN or used Lotus Approach? THAT is more solid than even MySQL Admin as far as end-user needs are concerned.

Filemaker would be serious overkill, and abscess would be risky at best.

Lotus Approach in Linux would be splended, and already since 1996 has been vastly superior to any current version of Kexi, Base, or other admin-hack-job tools that would make end-users run for the door. Approach has WYSIWYG form, report and chart tools. It has limited crosstabs, and it has worksheets. It has macros, formulas, and scripting. It has detail panels/repeating panels, pretty decent user/sharing security features

AND, it makes a great front end to MySQL and other databases, especially .dbf.

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approach

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/approachfact

Regrettably, SmartSuite is a bundle deal, and Approach is not separately available except maybe in Japan.

See:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/sw-bycategor y/subcategory/SW870.html

FAQ: compatibility with ms office:

http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/ product2.nsf/wdocs/faq

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_Lotus_SmartSuite _Millenium_Edition_9.8/AN01DIE/pf/143434

Since I have my disks way back to 1995, I might give up some feature stability and roll back to that version just so (hopefully) it can run better in Crossover Office.

This is just a standard IBM laptop. Nothing even remotely like a Panasonic Toughbook, or anything like that. Just a regular, black plastic Thinkpad. Try that with your HP.

...Discarding a $170 million project as "useless" because there are bugs seems kind of silly.

The real gist of the Washington Post article is that instead of getting a shrink wrapped document management app that works (i.e. Mambo, DocuShare http://docushare.xerox.com/ , DB2 Document Manager http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/cm/docmgr/ ), and customizing the working app, the FBI in all of its infinite wisdom decided to contract with Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to write one from scratch.

"SoulPad is a portable storage device containing the software stack shown below. The three-layer SoulPad software stack enables a paradigm of mobile computing where a user can suspend his computing environment on one PC and resume it on another PC that he may have never seen before. The PC boots an auto-configuring operating system from the SoulPad, starts a virtual machine monitor, and resumes a suspended virtual machine that has the user's entire personal computing environment, which includes the user's files, user's operating system, installed applications, desktop configuration as well as all running applications and open windows." -- http://www.research.ibm.com/WearableComputing/Soul Pad/soulpad.html Saw it running a few months ago and it's pretty nifty stuff...

Some may wish to reference or contribute to this draft IBM Redbook due for publication on 2006-08-30.

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg 246380.html

- a non-eMouse

Many people above are suggesting Citrix, Altris, etc... but what nobody seems to have mentioned is that there are several companies already doing this (Clearcube for one), and that VMware are partnering with IBM, Citrix, Altiris, and many more, to push their recently launched Virtual Desktop Initiative (VDI).

VDI does pretty much exactly what E1ven is asking for, however instead of downloading a complete image to your computer every day, the virtual machine runs on a central server, with thin clients at the desktop connecting to it through a remote session.

If you want to know how big this is going to be, just have a look at some of the names working with VMware on this:
http://www.vmware.com/partners/alliances/solutions /

I first heard of this about 6 months ago, when I heard that IBM were working with VMware & Citrix to provide a solution they called VHCI (Virtualized Hosted Client Infrastructure). IBM have shown it's possible to run up to 12 virtual machines on a single blade server. Hot swop and automatic failover is possible too, with no downtime for the user. IBM's blade hardware actively looks to warn of failures before they occur, and they've integrated this with VMware's management software, allowing live client sessions to be automatically moved off failing hardware.

We've got around 100 clients at our firm and we're very interested in this idea. We looked at Citrix but it just wasn't viable. We've a huge variety of software in use, much of which is updated 3-4 times a year, and configuring that on a bank of Citrix servers would be a management nightmare. The VMware approach lets us keep our current network management and software deployment tools, provides a simple migration route, and offers all the benefits of thin client computing without needing to retrain all our staff.

Right now virtual desktops are just a little too expensive (about £500 per desktop instead of £300 for a new Dell), but all the signs are that in the next 6-12 months it'll become a viable option for us.

Some background info for anyone interested:

Eweek article on IBM's VHCI
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1873113,00.as p

IBM Press Release: October 2005
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/793 5.wss

VMware's VDI Page
http://www.vmware.com/solutions/desktop/vdi.html

VMware's VDI discussion forum:
http://www.vmware.com/community/forum.jspa?forumID =276

As a graphic design student who needs the ability to draw, sketch, and show his digital artwork on the go, who would rather type than write notes for classes, who deeply distrusts cellular providers, and who has wireless internet coverage at school, work, home, and all his favorite hangout spots, I think the Nokia 770 is ideal.

Draw and sketch on a Nokia 770?! It's too small for that, IMHO.

I've actually got the same needs as you (although I'm drawing diagrams instead, since I'm an engineering student), but I'm waiting on the new version* of the Lenovo X-series Tablet PC to come out. I've played with both the 770 and X41 at the store, and the nice big 12" screen is much better for drawing on than a 770 is.

* The rest of the X60 line is already out, so it should just be a matter of time. The new tablet ought to look exactly the same, but have a Core Duo chip instead of an old Pentium M. And the first thing I'm going to do when I get it is install Linux on it.

Actually, I do know the answer to that. The IBM 1403 Chain Printer. It was an incredibly high-speed (3 seconds per-page on 11x14 fanfold) impact printer which used a continuously moving chain with letters attached, and 132 hammers behind the paper. Each hammer would strike when the right letter passed it at the right position. The standard suppled chain came, IIRC, with 8 upper case alphabets, and 2 lower case alphabets. Due to the rotational latency of the chain, lower case letters really slowed down print jobs, so people used all upper case. Even today these beasts are still in use for multi-part forms like invoices and such.

I knew that. I was suprised that they didnt.

FYI, you reimplemented BCD, basically, with your
string solution. There are packages to do that,
I saw a couple listed in other posts. Here is
one.

http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decnumber.html

You are welcome.

-The Legal Team

*While Playboy® does have trademark status, "Bunny" does not. If one were looking to mention the trademark around the term you should be refering to the Bunny Costume® outfit. The associated website is NOT safe for work/school (http://www.playboy.com/help/legal_notices.html)

*To the best of my knowledge "PC" does not have trademark status. I did do some nominal amount of verification and at http://www.ibm.com/ibm/us/, IBM did not refer to it as such.

The problem isn't that floating point numbers are inherently problematic, the problem is that we typically use them by converting base-10 numbers to them, doing a bunch of calculations and then converting them back to base 10. [...] Bottom line: If you care about getting the same results you'd get in base 10, do your work in base 10. This is why financial applications should not use floating point numbers.

Base-10 is one problem; floating-point is another. If you are certain that base-10 floating point is what you want for financial calculations, use IEE 754r floating-point numbers when it's finalized. But floating point numbers, by design, only maintain a certain number of significant figures. In many financial calculations (say, current bank balances; possibly not long-term stock market estimates), you always want precision down to the nearest cent or tenth of a cent, regardless of how big the number is. That's a job for fixed-point, base-10 arithmetic. (Luckily, libraries for this exist, and IEE 754r also introduces standardized fixed-point base-10 numbers.)

You might be able to get away with floating-point if the mantissa's wide enough for your largest number[*], but why mess around? Fixed-precision arithmetic is easier to understand, so it's the right tool for the job. Save floating-point numbers for the people who need them, who put in the effort to tweak formulas to minimize errors like catastrophic cancellation, and who use them appropriately:

• knowingly accept an unknown precision and accuracy (might be okay for an OpenGL-based game)
• use interval arithmetic to flag problems (say, scientific calculations that can be tweaked and rerun if a problem is revealed)
• actually prove that they're within defined error bounds (the only way for real-time critical applications, like life-sustaining systems or ones that affect a lot of money)

[*] - Maybe; I don't remember all the properties of IEE 754 floating-point numbers off the top of my head, which is exactly my point.

If you are actually concerned about rounding and precision, use decimal instead.

This is why I use the decNumber library from IBM.

http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decnumber.html The decNumber library implements the General Decimal Arithmetic Specification[1] in ANSI C. This specification defines a decimal arithmetic which meets the requirements of commercial, financial, and human-oriented applications.

The library fully implements the specification, and hence supports integer, fixed-point, and floating-point decimal numbers directly, including infinite, NaN (Not a Number), and subnormal values.

The code is optimized and tunable for common values (tens of digits) but can be used without alteration for up to a billion digits of precision and 9-digit exponents. It also provides functions for conversions between concrete representations of decimal numbers, including Packed Decimal (4-bit Binary Coded Decimal) and three compressed formats of decimal floating-point (4-, 8-, and 16-byte).

Example 1: showing approximation error.

// some code to print a floating point number to a lot of
// decimal places
int main()
{
float f = .37;
printf("%.20f\n", f);
}

What about encoding floats as a pair of ints or longs: one to express the numerical value, and the other its tenth power; id est, decimal arithmetic?

Indeed, the Thinkpad is so dependable it's been the only laptop used by NASA in space for over a decade, as described here. In all fairness, some of that can also be attributed to the long relationship between NASA and IBM. IBM wrote the flight software for the Space Shuttle, among other things, and in general does an outstanding job on government contracts.

The crew of the Space Station has around a dozen A31Ps that are used for both non critical office type tasks (those run XP) and critical command and control functions (those thankfully DO NOT run XP, they run RedHat). There's a few elderly 760XDs and 760EDs onboard that are used for some specialized functions that aren't worth certifying on faster machines as well.

The Russian Segment also has a suite of Thinkpads (which, given the practical nature of Russian engineering to use what "just works" - is probably the biggest compliment).

Here are some more links.

IBM has an intro piece which leads into a short but interesting set of pages with specifics, genealogy and original press release of the model 5150 and subsequent IBM PC offerings (including the PS/2s).

News.com also has a feature that starts with a Michael Dell interview but frankly it is rather dull.
Much better is the linked previous piece published for the 20th anniversary of the PC.

Digibarn has also a page with a feature and some movies.
They also show the cover of the original brochure for the IBM PC which had a Chaplin lookalike.Unfortunately it's just the cover but I managed to scan the internal pages from my copy and put them on Flickr.

Oh, and... happy birthday, PC! :)

Here are some more links.

IBM has an intro piece which leads into a short but interesting set of pages with specifics, genealogy and original press release of the model 5150 and subsequent IBM PC offerings (including the PS/2s).

News.com also has a feature that starts with a Michael Dell interview but frankly it is rather dull.
Much better is the linked previous piece published for the 20th anniversary of the PC.

Digibarn has also a page with a feature and some movies.
They also show the cover of the original brochure for the IBM PC which had a Chaplin lookalike.Unfortunately it's just the cover but I managed to scan the internal pages from my copy and put them on Flickr.

Oh, and... happy birthday, PC! :)

|Oh, really?

Both Eclipse and Derby are the result of previous shopping sprees by IBM.

Eclipse was developed by the IBM Ottawa Software Lab. This lab started life as OTI, a company which developed Smalltalk technology, that IBM bought in 1996.

Derby is the open-source version of the Cloudscape DB. Cloudscape was a Java DB company which was acquired by Informix in 1999, which was in turn acquired by IBM in 2005.

From said article:

Tivoli Software is the systems management brand of the IBM Software Group. IBM purchased Austin, Texas-based Tivoli Systems, Inc. in 1996[2] and allowed it to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary for a few years before forming the Software Group. In addition to Tivoli this IBM division includes WebSphere, DB2, Lotus Software and Rational Software.

I believe "this IBM division" refers to Software Group, not Tivoli.

Indeed, if you look here, you'll see the five IBM software brands are Information Management (for which I believe they used to use the label Data Management and the DB2 brand), Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, and WebSphere.

Yes, really. You do have a good example with eclipse, but I can find more than enough counter examples. I work in the systems management side, so my examples will be Tivoli biased. But one bad example is patch management. Yes, you're reading that right, 8 cd's to ssh to from one windows box to another and download patches from WSUS. And the product cannot be install on a system that has ever had any other IBM products installed before because of version conflicts.

Another is the way IBM forced all the workload scheduler users to install the Tivoli Framework a few years back. There has yet to be a reason I can see for this. They already had a security mechanism to control logins before, and it's still there, but now it points to framework, so you have to configure a login in two places instead of one. Since then, the popular question on the mailing list has been "how do I fix Framework".

Uhh, IBM still sells Intel based desktops and servers.

On August 12, 1981, at a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria ballroom in New York City, Estridge announced the IBM Personal Computer with a price tag of $1,565.

On August 12, 1981, at a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria ballroom in New York City, Estridge announced the IBM Personal Computer with a price tag of $1,565.

In the IBM Site http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc 25_intro.html reffers that IBM PC 5150 was released on September 1981.

https://www-01.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/products/hardwar e/configurator/americas/bhui/submitConfigSelection .wss?nc=1155174985698 or http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A ppleStore.woa/6184001/wo/XZ7fAyqE9yDc3Fg6r5L1hsOha mM/1.?p=0 Lenovo has better and cheaper extended warranty contracts. 3 years on site next business day: 250 USD. It turns out their similarly priced but my bets are on the Thinkpad as far as reliability and durability go. There are some plus/minuses of their features, but overall they are quite comparable. Personally I can't stand the brash and obtrusive nature of Apple's branding so it isn't even an argument in my book.

here's an IBM article which explains why GC has performance wins (a little old now, but still good)

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-jt p01274.html

It is possible to process information with absolutly 0 energy expended. If you use a certain transistor to do a calculation and then do the same calculation in reverse it requires 0 energy and produces 0 heat. It is a perfectly efficient process. This is called reversible logic.

http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/176/ibmrd17 06G.pdf

This idea is over 40 years old and is well understood science. This is not science fiction and many of the technical aspects of how to engineer a system like this have been worked out but obviously not all just yet.

a situation in which you can leak memory in Java despite throwing away the reference to the object in question

a situation in which you can leak memory in Java despite throwing away the reference to the object in question

You apparently haven't read IBM's published notes on it. As described at http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/librar y/l-kexec.html, it works only with Linux kernels, and it's playing serious magic with the Linux OS to get the hardware to revet to a known state so as to start the new kernel.

Kexec is a great tool for swapping kernels on the fly without a laborious reboot, but swapping it to a different OS's kernel with a running OS is a bad joke.

Your kernel needs to be signed (not by you, say goodbye to running modified kernels), your operating system libraries need to be signed (OS libraries are used by applications to interface with the kernel) and the application need to be signed.

The anecdote about Cray's undocumented instructions was to show that the NSA do more than just buy the supercomputers they use.. I guess you have to spell it out for some people.

IBM/Lenovo? http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/offers/buytoday_thinkpads .html

You can have the last word, I'm sure it won't be worth responding to.

You uninformed idiot. Perhaps you've never heard of http://www.research.ibm.com/bluegene/. IBM makes supercomputers, CRAY is a has been.

Oh, and by the way, IBM doesn't even make thinkpads anymore. http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/

So you've managed to make two claims and be wrong twice. I think I'll stick to my guns and say I'm right and you're wrong.

Are you on drugs? No, the marketplace will not decide because the market will be rigged. TCPA crippled hardware will be sold unmarked to prey on consumer ignorance and it will be sold at a huge loss to maintain market apathy.

Homebrew developers are a tiny percentage of the global computing device market.

Far from embracing and welcoming community contribution, many corporates would prefer if we didn't exist,

which we wont the TCPA scenario plays out.

For a time we may be able to obtain functional hardware, until TCPA becomes so entrenched that there's a push for legislation to make it mandatory.

You don't have to use "Yet Another Disc Format", it's entirely up to you how current you remain...

If there isn't need for anything, nothing will change ever. Some as you would argue there wasn't need for "yet another systembus", yet there is now PCI-Express. Or heck, why the hell 64-bits CPU's? Oh no, yet another CPU socket!
Why multi-cores? Why SATA? Why didn't we stop at IDE OH YOUR GOD WHY!?

If you're tired of discs, well, holographic storage has been thought of by many different entities as cubic storage.

*blink*