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I have to have my PS3 serial number.

Unless it is still registered to PSN. IIRC you can find out the serial number there.

For the higher payment, I have to have incredibly unreasonable proof that I used OtherOS functionality.

I could have that proof within minutes.

[CronoCloud@wutai ~]$ cat ps3_info.txt
[CronoCloud@mideel ~]$ cat /etc/redhat-release
Yellow Dog Linux release 6.0 (Pyxis)

[CronoCloud@mideel ~]$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
cpu : Cell Broadband Engine, altivec supported
clock : 3192.000000MHz
revision : 5.1 (pvr 0070 0501)

processor : 1
cpu : Cell Broadband Engine, altivec supported
clock : 3192.000000MHz
revision : 5.1 (pvr 0070 0501)

timebase : 79800000
platform : PS3

or:

From: "*********"
To: yellowdog-general@lists.terrasoftsolutions.com
Subject: Re: [ydl-gen] Alternative Window Managers
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:43:09 -0500
Reply-To: Discussion List for General Yellow Dog Linux User Topics
 
Sender: yellowdog-general-bounces@lists.terrasoftsolutions.com
X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.5.0 (GTK+ 2.10.4; powerpc64-unknown-linux-gnu)

Note that X-Mailer line

or

**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Fri Jul 11 21:10:15 2008

Jul 11 21:10:16 --> You are now talking on #yellowdog
Jul 11 21:10:16 --- Topic for #yellowdog is Terra Soft Wants You! http://www/ .terrasoftsolutions.com/showcase/story-submit.shtml || We're hiring, talk to Owe
n for more info.
Jul 11 21:10:16 --- Topic for #yellowdog set by owen-z60t at Fri May 18 00:4
2:18 2007
Jul 11 21:12:21 >CronoCloudCronoCloudCronoCloud Hi, does anyone know of an xchat sysinfo script that works well with YDL on the PS3? I've been googling but haven't had much sucess.

Note that CTCP version shows me using Xchat, via YDL6.1, on a PPC64, that runs at 3.19 GHz....which is most certainly not a Mac, since G5s only went up to 2.7 GHz. And it is highly doubtful that someone is going to have a IBM pSeries in their home, which means that machine is a PS3....which of course it was as I stated in the chat. I eventually did find a sysinfo script that worked to a certain extent

**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Fri Jul 11 21:25:19 2008

Jul 11 21:25:19 --> You are now talking on #cronocloud_test
Jul 11 21:25:19 --- simmons.freenode.net sets mode +n #cronocloud_test
Jul 11 21:25:19 --- simmons.freenode.net sets mode +s #cronocloud_test
Jul 11 21:25:23 System Information for mideel: CPU: MHz, Cache RAM: 215 MB HDD: 58 GB OS: GNU/Linux 2.6.23-9.ydl6.1 Uptime: 21:25:23 up 5:30, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.08
Jul 11 21:25:54 CPU: MHz, Cache
Jul 11 21:28:34 Loading lord slapmonkey's sysinfo script (/sys, /net or /up)
Jul 11 21:28:46 SysInfo: Linux 2.6.23-9.ydl6.1 | Cell Broadband Engine, altivec supported (4 CPUs) | Mem: 98MB/216MB [||||------] | Diskspace: 20GB/62GB [|||-------] | Screen Res: 1280x768 | Procs: 111 | ppp0: In: 0.0MB Out: 0.0MB | Uptime: 5 hours 33 minutes | Users: 1 | Load: 0.19, 0.08, 0.08
**** ENDING LOGGING AT Fri Jul 11 21:30:13 2008

or

http://www.ydl.net/board/viewt...

Oh look, there's a CronoCloud who is apparently a moderator at the YDL.net forum who posted a link to this story on Slashdot.

For my sake, proving that I used OtherOS is VERY easy. I think I have screenshots too.

Of course, there are a few config files on my current Fedora machine that date back to my PS2 Linux days.

Your comment run through the "Jive" filter at the link you provided:

Your Text, Dialectized (jive)

De "dialectizer" http://www/ so cut me some slack, Jack.rinkwo'ks.com/diale... [rinkwo'ks.com] "translates" English t'Redneck, JIBE, Cockney, Elma' Fudd, Swedish Chef, Mo'on, Pig Latin, o' Hacker. Ah be baaad... And dere's an English t'Ebonics translato' at http://massa/ l.net/EBONICS/Transl... [Massa' l.net] so's it won't be dat difficult t'get some translato' dat outputs 16-year-old-goat rap.
--

I'm not repeatin' mah'self
I'm an X window user; I'm an 'es-Windows user

Then that out put filtered with the "Elmer Fudd":

Your Text, Dialectized (fudd)

Youw Text, Diawectized (jive)

De "diawectizew" http://www/ [www] so cut me some swack, Jack.winkwo'ks. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit! com/diawe... [winkwo'ks. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit! com] "twanswates" Engwish t'Wedneck, JIBE, Cockney, Ewma' Fudd, Swedish Chef, Mo'on, Pig Watin, o' Hackew. Ah be baaad... And dewe's an Engwish t'Ebonics twanswato' at http://massa/ [massa] w.net/EBONICS/Twansw... [Massa' w.net] so's it won't be dat difficuwt t'get some twanswato' dat outputs 16-yeaw-owd-goat wap.
--

I'm not wepeatin' mah'sewf
I'm an X window usew; I'm an 'es-Windows usew

Then, since a moose once bit my sister, that output run through the "Swedish Chef" filter:
Your Text, Dialectized (bork)

Yuoov Text, Deeevectized (jeefe-a)

De-a "deeevectizoo" http://vvv/ [vvv] su coot me-a sume-a sveck, Jeck.veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! cum/deeeve-a... [veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! cum] "tvunsvetes" Ingveesh t'Vedneck, JIBE, Cuckney, Ivme' Foodd, Svedeesh Cheff, Mu'un, Peeg Veteen, oo' Heckoo. Eh be-a beeed. Bork bork bork!.. Und dooe's un Ingveesh t'Ebuneecs tvunsvetu' et http://messa/ [messa] v.net/IBONICS/Tvunsv... [Messe' v.net] su's it vun't be-a det deefffficoovt t'get sume-a tvunsvetu' det ooootpoots 16-yeev-oovd-guet vep.
--

I'm nut vepeeteen' meh'sooff
I'm un X veendoo usoo; I'm un 'es-Veendoos usoo

Aannd, then run that output back through the "Jive" filter:

Your Text, Dialectized (jive)

Yo' Text, Dialectized (bo'k)

Yuoov Text, Deeevectized (jeefe-a)

De-a "deeevectizoo" http://vvv/ [vvv] su coot me-a sume-a sveck, Jeck. Ya' know?veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bo'k, bo'k! Right on! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! Right on! cum/deeeve-a. WORD!.. [veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bo'k, bo'k! Right on! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! Right on! cum] "tvunsvetes" Ingveesh t'Vedneck, JIBE, Cuckney, Ivme' Foodd, Svedeesh Cheff, Mu'un, Peeg Veteen, oo' Heckoo. 'S coo', bro. Eh be-a beeed. Bo'k bo'k bo'k! Right on!.. Und dooe's un Ingveesh t'Ebuneecs tvunsvetu' et http://messa/ [messa] v. Man!net/IBONICS/Tvunsv. Man!.. [Messe' v. Man!net] su's it vun't be-a det deefffficoovt t'get sume-a tvunsvetu' det ooootpoots 16-yeev-oovd-guet vep. Jes hang loose, brud.
--

I'm nut vepeeteen' meh'sooff
I'm un X veendoo usoo; I'm un 'es-Veendoos usoo

All of that proves that.....I'm easily entertained.
Too bad there was not a Japanese anime filter as well. :-)

Your comment run through the "Jive" filter at the link you provided:

Your Text, Dialectized (jive)

De "dialectizer" http://www/ so cut me some slack, Jack.rinkwo'ks.com/diale... [rinkwo'ks.com] "translates" English t'Redneck, JIBE, Cockney, Elma' Fudd, Swedish Chef, Mo'on, Pig Latin, o' Hacker. Ah be baaad... And dere's an English t'Ebonics translato' at http://massa/ l.net/EBONICS/Transl... [Massa' l.net] so's it won't be dat difficult t'get some translato' dat outputs 16-year-old-goat rap.
--

I'm not repeatin' mah'self
I'm an X window user; I'm an 'es-Windows user

Then that out put filtered with the "Elmer Fudd":

Your Text, Dialectized (fudd)

Youw Text, Diawectized (jive)

De "diawectizew" http://www/ [www] so cut me some swack, Jack.winkwo'ks. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit! com/diawe... [winkwo'ks. Oh, dat scwewy wabbit! com] "twanswates" Engwish t'Wedneck, JIBE, Cockney, Ewma' Fudd, Swedish Chef, Mo'on, Pig Watin, o' Hackew. Ah be baaad... And dewe's an Engwish t'Ebonics twanswato' at http://massa/ [massa] w.net/EBONICS/Twansw... [Massa' w.net] so's it won't be dat difficuwt t'get some twanswato' dat outputs 16-yeaw-owd-goat wap.
--

I'm not wepeatin' mah'sewf
I'm an X window usew; I'm an 'es-Windows usew

Then, since a moose once bit my sister, that output run through the "Swedish Chef" filter:
Your Text, Dialectized (bork)

Yuoov Text, Deeevectized (jeefe-a)

De-a "deeevectizoo" http://vvv/ [vvv] su coot me-a sume-a sveck, Jeck.veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! cum/deeeve-a... [veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! cum] "tvunsvetes" Ingveesh t'Vedneck, JIBE, Cuckney, Ivme' Foodd, Svedeesh Cheff, Mu'un, Peeg Veteen, oo' Heckoo. Eh be-a beeed. Bork bork bork!.. Und dooe's un Ingveesh t'Ebuneecs tvunsvetu' et http://messa/ [messa] v.net/IBONICS/Tvunsv... [Messe' v.net] su's it vun't be-a det deefffficoovt t'get sume-a tvunsvetu' det ooootpoots 16-yeev-oovd-guet vep.
--

I'm nut vepeeteen' meh'sooff
I'm un X veendoo usoo; I'm un 'es-Veendoos usoo

Aannd, then run that output back through the "Jive" filter:

Your Text, Dialectized (jive)

Yo' Text, Dialectized (bo'k)

Yuoov Text, Deeevectized (jeefe-a)

De-a "deeevectizoo" http://vvv/ [vvv] su coot me-a sume-a sveck, Jeck. Ya' know?veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bo'k, bo'k! Right on! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! Right on! cum/deeeve-a. WORD!.. [veenkvu'ks. Um gesh dee bo'k, bo'k! Right on! Ooh, det scvooy vebbeet! Right on! cum] "tvunsvetes" Ingveesh t'Vedneck, JIBE, Cuckney, Ivme' Foodd, Svedeesh Cheff, Mu'un, Peeg Veteen, oo' Heckoo. 'S coo', bro. Eh be-a beeed. Bo'k bo'k bo'k! Right on!.. Und dooe's un Ingveesh t'Ebuneecs tvunsvetu' et http://messa/ [messa] v. Man!net/IBONICS/Tvunsv. Man!.. [Messe' v. Man!net] su's it vun't be-a det deefffficoovt t'get sume-a tvunsvetu' det ooootpoots 16-yeev-oovd-guet vep. Jes hang loose, brud.
--

I'm nut vepeeteen' meh'sooff
I'm un X veendoo usoo; I'm un 'es-Veendoos usoo

All of that proves that.....I'm easily entertained.
Too bad there was not a Japanese anime filter as well. :-)

People had to get used to typing http://www/ in the first place.

I never type http://www.

My web browser automatically assumes http: if I leave out the protocol. If I type example, my web browser automatically changes it to www.example.com. If I have previously visited www.example.edu and I begin typing exa, my web browser automatically completes it. So I never type http://www.

If I am going to a secure site for the first time, I will type https://example.com, but I still don't type www, because by now any web server admin worth his pay has example.com either CNAMEd or redirected to www.example.com.

I have been using Safari for six years now. How old is the browser you're using?

People had to get used to typing http://www/ in the first place. It's not such a huge jump to add the 's'.

Most people don't actually type that "http://", as all browsers I've seen add it automatically. Including Lynx.

It doesn't help that a lot of ads these days don't bother to include "http://" in the URLs they display, either.

What exactly is wrong with that? I'm sure that someone can write a script for FF that will detect the error and automatically add the 's' and resend. People had to get used to typing http://www/ in the first place. It's not such a huge jump to add the 's'.

This is the same argument that I see with switching to Linux: oh, users will have to relearn things, it's different than Windows. Yet those same users have to relearn when they get a new cable box and remote. They have to relearn when they get a new microwave. They have to relearn when they get a new television. They have to relearn when they change banks, and on and on and on. It's a lame argument.

In the end, users in general are uninformed, lazy, and lack the drive to become well versed in computer security. SSL encryption issues are hardly the biggest security flaw in computing today. The biggest security flaw is between the ears of the end user. SSL issues hardly register on the list of problems behind the spread of the most devastating malware we know about today.

meh

FF3 portable?

http://www/portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

I for one would like to see a complete overhaul of domain names, and the URL format.

http://www.domainnname.type.country/directory1/Subdirectory2/page1.html

Should become

http://www/country/type/domainname/directory1/subdirectory2/page1.html

In my opinion. Not that my opinion has ever been regarded as important.

Russian Proverb "Better is the enemy of good enough"

Gah... for ages now I have been trying to get sourceforge to put some decent monitoring software in to get ahead of these things. I am a self-confessed net-junkie, I need my RSS feeds, my sourceforge stats, and a general trust in when I need to get to a URL - it should just be there! Without it, I the net-bends - where my blood starts to boil with internet frustration.

To see that ./ has the same problem... oh my. It'll take extra coffee and likely some chocolate to console myself that the earth will be right again....

I'll make the same self-serving (shameless) offer to you as we did to sf.net - free monitoring software so you can keep us net nerds happy. http://www/hyperic.com/ - we specialize in keeping web sites running, and while we can't overcome craptastic hardware, we can help you know when your site is about to implode, and hopefully mitigate it. Some of the biggest sites on the web use it - CNET, hi5, Ask.com, Microsoft... Let us know who you are and we'll make sure you get all the support you need in the forums.

In the meantime... keep on truckin'.

Has anyone had valid domains intercepted by this new service? Since about a week or two ago I have been redirected to Time Warner's landing page pretty much randomly - even when there is NO TYPO in the URL. I have screenshots of this - I swear, no typos!

I think that the server connection might be timing out and then handle it like a mistyped domain. I've since turned the redirection feature off but there still seems to be something wrong with the domain handling. For instance, I might try to load http://www.youtube.com/ but it won't load. Before turning it off, I would be redirected to RR's new landing page. Now I just get a server not found message. The really weird thing is that if I remove the http://www/ from the address (type in youtube.com), it'll work. It'll also work by typing in the IP address instead of the URL. This happened while RR was out here and while on the phone with them. After a day on the phone with their support service (5 separate phone calls to be exact!), and 3 different tech people coming out to look at the problem, we still haven't fixed this. Most of the people at TW I talked to don't even know they are redirecting domains!

One of the guys said I looks like a DNS problem, but they won't look into that until more people from my area call in with the same problem. Any suggestion on how to fix this? Or whether it's related to their domain interception system.

I should mention I have a wireless router (non TW), and a brand new cable modem (replaced today) - TW agrees it's not the equipment.

One of the young chaps who hang around our office looking "cool" tried to interest me in his music, which is stuff like Sabrepulse and :( colon open bracket. The Sabrepulse stuff is all up for free download from his site. If you can listen to "Storm Raid Battle" or "|xxx is dead" and not have your jaw hanging open in amazement, well, you ain't no friend of mine. Absolutely fantastic stuff. The "Nintendokore" album's good as well.

Hard Drive DVD ROM Case

Other software:

0. Install DSL to hard disk, reboot, and configure

1. Upgrade (Apps->Tools) to gnu utils

2. Install gcc

3. Install zile (MyDSL) for editing convenience

4. Other software (for building natively and installation):

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.7/linux-2.6.23.tar.bz2

ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub/grub-1.95.tar.gz

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-2.4.tar.bz2

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-1.4.tar.bz2

http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo/download/lzo-2.02.tar.gz

http://www.zlib.net/zlib-1.2.3.tar.gz

http://www/perl.com/CPAN/src/perl-5.8.8.tar.bz2

http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.61.tar.bz2

http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libtool/libtool-1.5.24.tar.gz

http://xorg.freedesktop.org/archive/X11R3/src/everything/index.html

`grep bz2 index.html | sed s/^.*\.bz2\"\>// | sed s/\<.*// | sed s,^,http://xorg.freedesktop.org/archive/X11R7.3/src/everything/,`

http://gitweb.freedesktop.org?p=xorg/util/modular.git;a=blob_plain;f=build-from-tarballs.sh

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/expat/expat-2.0.1.tar.gz

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/libpng/libpng-1.2.24.tar.gz

http://www.fontconfig.org/release/fontconfig-2.5.0.tar.gz

http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/freetype/freetype-2.3.5.tar.bz2

http://xcb.freedesktop.org/dist/libxcb-1.1.tar.bz2

ftp://xmlsort.org/libxslt/libxslt-1.1.22.tar.gz

ftp://xmlsort.org/libxslt/libxml2-2.6.30.tar.gz

http://xcb.freedesktop.org/dist/xcb-proto-1.1.tar.bz2

http://www.paldo.org/paldo/sources/pthread-stubs/libpthread-stubs-0.1.tar.bz2

http://www.paldo.org/paldo/sources/xau/libXau-1.0.3.tar.bz2

http://www.paldo.org/paldo/sources/xproto/xproto-7.0.11.tar.bz2

From the user point of view, the browser simply going to amazon is the better experience. From the search engine point of view, forcing users to view ads is better. This is why IE is set to set MSN for anything but the most perfectly formed URL. This, of course, screws advertisers as they are paying to present ads to users that are in fact not searching for anything but merely have been hijacked on the way to the desired destination.

Easy enough to block your images and video from being crawled. Most webmasters use some sort of directory structure - just block your image & video directories.

Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /video/

And use your .htacess file to have images remotely linked in the interm go to a rude image to disuade theifs.

RewriteEngine on
# Prevent Image theft
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www/\.)?|(portal\.)?)yoursite.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg|mpg|mp3|pdf)$ http://www.yoursite.com/rude_image_for_thiefs.gif [R,L]

Duh!

Netscape Navigator 3.0 and Netscape Communicator 4.0 automatically do this. Just type a single word into the location and press Enter. It automatically fills the http://www/ and .com. If you type two or more words separated by a space, then it would perform a net search on those terms. Even Lynx automatically searches for .com then .net and so on.

Who needs Control-Enter anyway?

This is already the case. Look at the man page for resolv.conf, you can add a list of "search" domains. If you write http://www/ and your local admin has set up your company's domain in the search list I.E.: /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 123.123.123.123 # Company DNS server
search mycompany.com # Company's domain

Then "mycompany.com" will automatically get appended to the request for "www" yielding http://www.mycompany.com/ (as long as www doesn't get a valid response from the DNS on the first try).

Additionally, this can be done on the company's DNS server instead of each individual local PC, but you get the idea.

Here's a clue: you'll need an LM1881 sync separator, a 4053 bilateral switch {or preferably something with more bandwidth}, and either a PIC microcontroller or a stack of TTL chips. The 1881 has an output which tells you when the field starts, and another output which pulses on every line. You need to count off 20 or so lines {look at the picture signal with an oscilloscope to see where the real picture starts}, during which time you must output a dummy black level with artificial hsync pulses. {You can get a clean hsync output from the 1881; use this to turn on a transistor and pull the black level down to 0V. Your dummy black needs to be as close as possible to true black, otherwise the very top and bottom of the screen will be some shade of grey. But you'll have thought of that and wired in a potentiometer to adjust it}. Switch over to the unadulterated picture signal for about 270 lines. Then go back to your dummy black for the remaining {22.5 or thereabouts} lines of picture.

If you need adjustability, use a PIC with a decent number of I/O lines. Or try using an open-drain I/O line with a capacitor to 0V ..... pull it low to discharge the capacitor; let it float, allowing the cap to charge through a pot; and time how long it takes to begin reading high. The paddle controller inputs on the Atari 2600 worked exactly like that.

Or, you can get a proper time base corrector from a professional video equipment supplier. It'll probably cost you more than buying a load of original videos, though ..... :)

JEdit is the obvious example. I don't develop in Java, but I'm still in awe of it. I may yet become a Java convert.

I totally agree with this.

You should get a clause signed that any work you do on GPL or Open Source for yourself or the company can not be claimed by the company as well. You can explain that this will allow you to be much more efficient (by using open source tools) as well as being able to get improvements back to the Open Source world. I did this for example with changes to a groupware system (www.phprojekt.com), a web mail system (www.horde.org) and a content mgt system (www.postnuke.com).

You should be able to push this through either in the contract itself. Or if that doesnt work, you can get a separate amendment for you only signed (for those silly standard contracts).

For sample contracts you can check out this page on the SAGE Australia site.

I agree.

But those stories serve as Marketing campaings. I mean, AFAIK, there's no http://marketing-Linux.sourceforge.net project nor you can go and provide a CD with marketing-Linux-kit-101.tar.gz to magazines, on-line sites and such.

Those news serve the purpose of a "GPL/comunnity-style" advertising.

Some corporations form the Northwest of the USA and other locations spend millions on advertisement and silly desktop backgrouds to appeal CIOs buying agenda.

The Community should appeal to them with "Yet Another Linux is Ready for the Desktop" group of news. This way, it can make its way to zdnet, Infoworld, ComputerWorld, CIO Magazine and the likes.

Take a look at company called called Pramati . Theya are the first J2EE 1.3 certified server and a real good application server.

It's been a while (about a year) since I last investigated this, so I may be off-base, but I think this is still reasonably current:

Most of the cellphone companies, especially the PCS ones, claim to be able to deliver digital data connections. Almost none of them can, and if they can, the performance is painfully slow. These folks just don't understand the value of opening up their bit stream. (Dream On: Really, I just want a good IP pipe, and I'll decide myself whether to use it for web, mail, telephony, or whatever. This assumes that the phone companies are interested in building an open IP architecture, sadly, they're not...)

So far as I know, there are no wireless ISP services that offer both road coverage and non-painful speeds.

Probably the best option today from a coverage standpoint and a real data solution is one of the CDPD-based services like OmniSky or GoAmerica. You can also start at the sites of the equipment providers like Sierra Wireless or Novatel Wireless. This approach still leaves a lot to be desired, but is likely the best reasonably-priced option available now.

Alternatively, you could try to live in the 802.11b world, hoping to find access points. Some cities have better documentation of this than others - Austin has a very incomplete list at Austinwireless.Net, mostly because RoadRunner is heavy-handedly disconnecting people they find out are running 802.11b APs. This is not a great option, but actually getting better as 802.11b takes off - lot's of offices and coffee houses have this stuff now.

Of course there are the exotic options like Iridium, but it's expensive and I expect most of their bandwidth is being used by the DoD right now...

Metricom's Ricochet was a great system if you could get it, but I was never able to consider it: they never got enough of Austin covered to really make it an option. The only people I know that were really able to use Ricochet were in the Silicon Valley (San Jose) area, where the coverage is pretty good. It would be nice to see this approach (if not this company and its implementation) make a comeback - microcells are a great idea technically, but it appears to me that the cost of getting the rights for microcell sites is what killed them, compounded by the sheer volume of sites they need. I expect Metricom's cost of site acquisition was astronomical, except in places like San Jose where the city gave them carte blanche to hang boxes on any light pole.

The problem with the NC model is that it relies on a stable, secure, high-bandwidth connection that has 99.9999% uptime. Can anyone tell me of a network that meets these requirements?

The counter argument is that no computer has a 99.9999% uptime either and that any system can fail locally as well. The response to this argument lies in the idea of local control. If my hard drive fails and I have a report due tomorrow, I can choose to put in a new hard drive and could have myself up and running again relatively quickly. The NC model places those decisions and priorities in the locus of control of someone else. Who is to say that they have my best interests in mind? If you want an example, look at the DNS problems Microsoft had a while back. As a network consultant and support technician, I unfortunately have to spend hours digging through the sludge of Microsoft's technical papers and knowledgebase hoping to find answers to this new problem or that. For three days, during the DNS debacle (can anyone figure out why they didn't have an off-site DNS?!?!... The Road Ahead for sure!), people were out of luck when it came to getting access to those resources. Let me tell you, if the phone system of the US was down for three days, there would be congressional hearings and someone would probably be facing jail time. Now, I'm not saying that a company should be held responsible for its website being down for three days, but if that company was also providing "essential services" (as the .NET strategy is hoping companies will), then I believe that the level of accountability should rise in proportion to the critical nature of the services that are provided.

We have a scary future ahead of us my friends. But you guys already know that, don't you?

The only country I know which uses this preferential system is Australia. Most European countries use some variant of the D'Hont proportional representation system which is party based and doesn't have preferences.

The preferential system is not actually proportional - in order to have PR you need to be electing more than one position. There are proportional systems which have preferences, one of the most popular is called Hare-Clark.

You are correct in identifying a problem in preferential voting. In fact, by Arrow's Theorem, there is no perfect voting system (Arrow's theorem is more technical but this is close enough.

The problem, if I might make it clearer, is that if you have (say) a big left party, a big right party and a small centre-left party with (say) 35%, 45% and 20% of the vote then roughly speeking the little party gets knocked out and the big left party wins. The problem is that the centre left party is probably most representative of the views of the electorate. Of course this is still better than first past-the-post as practiced in, for example, the US and Britain. In this case the right party would win even though they were the people that 55% of the population least wanted.

The level of democracy delivered by a voting system is relative, but the preferential system wins out over first past-the-post any day.

For more information on preferential voting see the Australian Electoral Commission.

you need some more schoolin' there boy. UNC has the top research program in computer science in the area and one of the best in the world -- particularly in virtual reality and in nanomanipulator work. www.cs.unc.edu for more.

the reason that UNC doesn't show in the ranking for *engineering schools* is that UNC's CS department is not in an Engineering school. Founded by Fred "mythical man month" Brooks, the UNC CS department was one of the *first* (if not the first) CS departments in the US. yes it's graduate focused for the main part. and YES I'm a NCSU grad (BS in CS 1972).

Funny, no links to directx

-Jon

I've been maintaining the NICfit site, and one of the concepts I've been toying with has been to create "personality discs" for the NIC. I'm thinking the NIC is going to catch on, once they're ready to meet demand, and their current OS catches up with the others (it looks like they were planning on Mozilla, but Mozilla fell short, so they hacked in Navigator 4.73...), but I can see a whole lot of uses for a machine like this that are as easy as flipping a new disc in the drive. I don't think the hardware is ready for games, per se, but certainly there's more than one group out there who'd like to make their configuration management a little easier by burning a copy of a Linux install that can't be hacked...

The other project we've got designs on is a kernel with NFS and SMB, mpg123, busybox, and so on, to run in flash and free up the CD-ROM for MP3s as well. There's room for more, certainly, such as support for any cheap, USB-based wireless options that show up with Linux support.

The thinknic-tech and thinknic lists on eGroups are dreaming up new NIC projects, and I'm keeping track of them on the NICfit projects page...

• Schematic
• Bill of materials
• Sample printed circuit board layout
• VISOR interface software
• Wave Communicator User's Manual
• Z87L02 Emulator User's Manual

Fred

The most interesting answer to your question is there are plenty of companies out there who's venture capital come from Intel. When Intel owns say 20% of your company and you need an enterprise level computer for your data center do you honestly think that Intel is going to let you buy a PowerPC/UltraSPARC/Alpha based system with their money. The answer is no.

Look at Intel invested startups like eToys. Just Intel boxes running linux, NT or Sequent's unix.

This is an interesting way for Intel to invest to preserve it's market dominance.