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Magnetic Computing Takes a Step Forward

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the stuck-together dept.

MaceyHW writes "PhysOrg.com reports a big step forward in the development of magnetic microchips. Since their initial creation of a magnetic logic gate in 2002, an international team of researchers from Durham University, Imperial College, London and the University of Sheffield 'team has created a number of further "logic gates" and created interconnecting structures using magnetic "nanowires," which can now reproduce the logic functions of a conventional computer.'"

3 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Before anyone asks, no, they will not run Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Linux is *not* user friendly, and until it is linux will stay with >1% marketshare.

    Take installation. Linux zealots are now saying "oh installing is so easy, just do apt-get install package or emerge package": Yes, because typing in "apt-get" or "emerge" makes so much more sense to new users than double-clicking an icon that says "setup".

    Linux zealots are far too forgiving when judging the difficultly of Linux configuration issues and far too harsh when judging the difficulty of Windows configuration issues. Example comments:

    User: "How do I get Quake 3 to run in Linux?"
    Zealot: "Oh that's easy! If you have Redhat, you have to download quake_3_rh_8_i686_010203_glibc.bin, then do chmod +x on the file. Then you have to su to root, make sure you type export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 but ONLY if you have that latest libc6 installed. If you don't, don't set that environment variable or the installer will dump core. Before you run the installer, make sure you have the GL drivers for X installed. Get them at [some obscure web address], chmod +x the binary, then run it, but make sure you have at least 10MB free in /tmp or the installer will dump core. After the installer is done, edit /etc/X11/XF86Config and add a section called "GL" and put "driver nv" in it. Make sure you have the latest version of X and Linux kernel 2.6 or else X will segfault when you start. OK, run the Quake 3 installer and make sure you set the proper group and setuid permissions on quake3.bin. If you want sound, look here [link to another obscure web site], which is a short HOWTO on how to get sound in Quake 3. That's all there is to it!"

    User: "How do I get Quake 3 to run in Windows?"
    Zealot: "Oh God, I had to install Quake 3 in Windoze for some lamer friend of mine! God, what a fucking mess! I put in the CD and it took about 3 minutes to copy everything, and then I had to reboot the fucking computer! Jesus Christ! What a retarded operating system!"

    So, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that what seems easy and natural to Linux geeks is definitely not what regular people consider easy and natural. Hence, the preference towards Windows.

  2. YOU FAIL IT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Duty to be a big us the courtesy All over A8erica at death's door flaws in the BSD [slashdot.org], Themselves to be a Theorists - Preferrably with an

  3. Call to action! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I intend to frighten everyone just a little bit by reminding them that patents and copyrights have been granted for the very functions of math that we've used for millennia. This has been done by AMD, Intel, IBM, TI, Transmeta, and virtually all other processor designers. Now the game is the reinvention of the wheel in less-than-efficient ways in order to circumvent legal barriers. Now there is a new processor architecture being developed, fresh for the designing.

    We must take action now and license the core commands that everyone uses under MIT or GPL, and we must act quickly!

    If the 80386 processor were GPL, imagine how widely used it would be as a general purpose microcontroller. Any processor manufacture can mass produce zillions of wafers at no royalty, meaning we could buy integrated Linux-capable processors for pennies!

    But alas, it is too late for the vast majority of current processor architecture.

    It seems that the simplest possible logic gates, when arranged to make the simplest possible logarithm function for double-precision floating point numbers, has been licensed to greedy companies that believe in this rubbish called "intellectual property".

    -Benjamin Vander Jagt
    benjamin@winchesterpc.com -- (currently down, hopefully back up today)
    AIM: benvanderjagt

    p.s., whatever became of that GPL GPU company?