All of the motherboards that I've purchased in the last 5 years have had either Award or AMI BIOSs. Phoenix has just purchased Award so that leaves only AMI and Phoenix and AMI has got to be feeling some heat along about now...
This is a BIG deal. Microsoft has been pushing their 'directx' stuff as a way to get a high-quality gaming experience while still running Windows and is up to 'Directx 9' I think. Those of us who have struggled to get cranky directx Windows games to run know what a miserable kludge the directx thing is and will immediately embrace the idea of the bootable linux CD as an alternative gaming platform. Even Windows users will become big Linux fans if they can just boot from a CD-ROM and run a high-quality game. Microsoft has pushed Directx as a replacement for DOS as a gaming platform but no one has ever loved (or even liked) directx and now it looks as if Linux has skewered it right through its gizzard.
Re:Threat to Athlon64: Prescott (not Pentium 4)
on
Athlon 64 Debuts
·
· Score: 1, Informative
There are some major weaknesses in the Prescott approach, even if it really does include 64-bit extensions of some sort. For example, the AMD design includes hypertransport and the integrated memory controller while Prescott does not.
As a result, the AMD design scales amazingly well while none of the Intel designs do. The scalability of the AMD 64-bit design has allowed it to obtain some absolutely amazing wins for supercomputers recently, for example.
Finally, AMD has plowed the field for its 64-bit extensions by providing first, emulators, then demo silicon, and now, finally, a shipping product. Intel's Prescott extensions are not even confirmed by Intel and are a LOOONG way from being supported in GCC or any current software. Intel can paste on some sort of unknown and undocumented 64-bit instructions in Prescott but they will be way too little and way too late. The only real significance of the Intel Prescott 64-bit stuff (assuming it is even real) is for its potential 'vaporware' effect on AMD's initiatives; i.e. it could cause people to delay getting an x86-64 CPU if they think that Intel will be releasing something 'real soon now.'
...why don't they just give each of their customers a shoebox full of $20s and a CD-ROM with an "ATM" app on it. Then, when the customer wanted cash, he could run the ATM app and then take some $20s out of the shoebox. I know I would much prefer using the ATM in the comfort of my home rather than standing in the rain and wind in front of an ATM downtown.
There can't be a worse choice than Windows to run something like an ATM. Current versions of Windows are designed to run a wide variety of applications containing lots of active content sending information here, there, and everywhere, which is hardly desirable in an ATM. Windows is designed to be updated via a network connection which is exactly the opposite of what an ATM owner would want. 'Windows' is a very complex and relatively unstable pile of bytes that is extremely vulnerable to hardware failure, power surges, memory corruption, other applications, operator error, and just about every calamity that one can imagine. It is likely that some of those existing Windows ATMs have crashed just because the user pressed the "5" key too quickly too many times or something. The entire design of Windows is aimed at displaying a complex bitmapped windowing interface as rapidly as possible which is something that is not even required or desirable in an ATM. If someone actually did a design evaluation between current OSs, including various embedded OSs, Windows, even stripped down, would come in last by a long ways. What could possibly cause some otherwise wise engineer to select "Windows" as the operating system to run a device like an ATM machine? Temporary insanity perhaps? I predict that the reliability of the machines will turn sharply downwards as more Windows machines make their way into the mix and losses will sharply escalate. A lot of those ATMs communicate with their host over a simple dial-up connection that thieves will quickly find ways to penetrate when it is under the control of anything 'Windows'. The rest of the ATMs are connected with networks that are likely to be vulnerable to the 'virus du jour.' It's only a matter of time until someone undertakes some attack that will have the ATMs kicking out annonymous serious cash to anyone who keys in the PIN code '1234a' or something like that. Of course, the bankers will keep it quiet when it happens (for obvious reasons) so we'll never hear about it, unfortunately.
People have been claiming that automation is eliminating their job for the last 100 years. In fact, though, more people are working than ever before and the standard of living has increased dramatically in that time. What really happens is that automation increases productivity, reduces labor costs, and makes things much less expensive for consumers. The number of jobs actually increases, though, because the lower costs increase demand that requires that production increase by 1000x or so.
Fast food restaurants are a good example of this. The very idea of 'fast food restaurant' was made possible by automation that allows a handful of people with relatively little training to produce thousands of meals in a day that are clean and safe to eat (okay, okay, forget about Jack-in-the-box). The result is an explosion of fast-food restaurants of all types that have spread around the world and a change in mass eating habits in which a visit to a restaurant is a frequent occurrence rather than a very rare event.
Yes, there are 100s of thousands of low-wage fast food jobs that were created but there were also tens of thousands of higher-wage jobs created for people who design, program, build, install, and maintain all of the new machines. Automation increases productivity and raises overall living standards based on 100 years of history. Countries without automation usually have the most impoverished citizens.
Methanol is a very potent neurotoxin, is relatively volatile, and has a much lower energy storage density than ethanol. Ethanol is relatively non-toxic by comparison (unless you imbibe very heavily), is less volatile, contains much more energy per mass or volume unit, and can be made and distilled to an acceptable grade by just about anyone, anywhere.
Most sites currently use.jpg or.png formats that are generally much bigger than.gif. Now that the patent has expired, the use of.gif will become much more widespread and the bandwidth requirements will be decreased. This will speed up the perceived speed, reduce the traffic volume, and probably also reduce electrical consumption. A win-win for everyone!
"I triple guarantee you there are NO PROBLEMS with Windows Update! They are not even within 100 miles of Redmond. That is an illusion. I must now inform you that you are too far from reality."
Most consumer software releasd under the Microsoft EULA (or similar) tends to be supported for only a short time and then withdrawn from sale, after which it disappears forever. Most software released under the GNU public license is available for many years and usually disappears only when it is replaced by an update. Even after this, the older versions are often still available.
Today, there are thousands of examples of software companies that follow the typical pattern where they release a product, collect a few bucks, and then they and their software disappear forever. The EULA license they typically released their product under prevents their surviving customers from modifying or updating the software or from distributing it to others or copying it for an expanded number of users. This 'EULA' approach is very wasteful of the human time and creativity that was expended in the development and it fails to provide a long-term software solution for the original application requirement meaning that other developers must then step in and redo the work creating further waste.
In contrast, the GPL avoids this massive waste and increases the productivity of society at large. The net effect of these two different models is that the quantity of GPL software is exploding while the quantity of EULA software is severely constrained. In the longer term, GPL will predominate and the EULA will be relegated to history's dustbin.
Okay, we develop the technology to "improve" people in utero by eliminating "genetic defects." Some of these defects are obvious but others are a matter of opinion. For example, is a short stature a genetic defect? What about red hair? Regarding intelligence, most probably think that more is better. But...there are different kinds of intelligence and we have yet to find a way to measure or quantify reliably what intelligence is, though we all recognize its absence.:) A pulitzer prize-winning author may be mathematically inept while a brilliant mathematician may be unable to chain three sentences together in a conversation.
Among all species in the natural world, evolutionary success derives from a diverse gene pool that gives the species increased ability to adapt quickly to changed circumstances. Developing GM people is likely to reduce diversity by catering to our very human tendency to want to eliminate traits that we find undesirable now but which may be essential for our very survival in the future.
-"With its new system, SCO is a little late to the Linux on Itanium 2 market."
Yeah, the Itanium 2 gravy train has left the station with those tens of thousands of happy customers (okay, 'tens' of customers then) and SCO wasn't on board...Sounds like that Computerworld Itanium 2 bandwagon needs riders.
<laugh>
This ZDNet story says that Intel has stopped shipping the 3 Gig P4 with the 800 mhz FSB due to "anomalies."
Legacy-free is just Intel/MS proprietary
on
Legacy-Free PCs
·
· Score: 0
The overused term legacy-free looks like nothing but a PC that is specifically designed to require a specific Intel/Microsoft combination of hardware and software by implementing specific proprietary features. The article claims that a 'legacy-free' design will allow new 'innovation' but does not provide any examples of innovations that are being prevented by current architecture. The original 1981 IBM PC utilized many 'legacy' features borrowed from earlier platforms including the design of the 'centronics' parallel printer port and serial data ports, ASCII text characters, floppy disk drives, POST power on, memory error-checking, etc. The design of any complex device, be it a computer, a car, an airplane, or a home, is an evolutionary process in which the best 'legacy' features from prior designs are utilized along with new design features based on new materials and technologies. We even have some special terms for the 'legacy' design features such as "knowledge", "experience", "SAE Standards," and "building codes."
...it would probably exist as single-celled forms such as bacteria, cyanobacteria, and fungi found on Earth. The most interesting thing, though, is that the origin of such a Mars life form could probably not be Mars-based. On Earth, we have mightily strained to hypothesize an origin of life in primordial ocean soups and atmospheres in the presence of electric sparks and self-assembling molecules. These theories have been severely weakened in recent years with the discovery of fossilized life forms on Earth with an apparent age of 3.5+ billion years which, given the estimated age of the Earth, would imply a much more rapid creation of life than the hypothesized mechanisms would allow. If life is present on Mars, the Earth-origin theories of life are weakened even further, in the absence of evidence for the necessary atmospheres and oceans on Mars, and theories for extraterrestrial origins of life would gain traction.
Tollbooth? That just collects a small fee to provide unlimited access. No, in a Microsoft victorian, every light switch would have a coin slot, your phone would call up MS every hour to report your activities, upgrades to the appliances would be mandatory, and Bob Kruger of the BSA would visit to check your licenses for your dinner recipes.
This will make the bloodletting even worse. The Opteron/server market is a tiny volume in comparison to the desktop market. Almost all of AMD's processor sales are in the desktop market and AMD is literally getting pounded to pieces there by Pentium 4 and Intel price-cutting. Even assuming the Barton performance is competitive with the Pentium 4, Intel will be certain to make the profit margin on processor sales razor thin where the P4 competes head-to-head with Barton. Intel will still make money, though, because AMD does not compete with Intel in the Tier 1 computers (Read Dell, IBM) and those margins will remain healthy. AMD should have gotten the Athlon 64 to market in 2002. September, 2003 will be waaaaayyyy too late. AMD had a real opportunity to hammer Intel but they have blown it with the delays. Microsoft is a huge supporter of the Itanium architecture for the desktop because it runs 32-bit software poorly and will trigger mass upgrades to '64-bit' versions. Microsoft wants to see Athlon 64 die a quiet death when AMD slips beneath the waves and AMD seems clueless about that.
A story in the inquirer says AMD is "waiting for the introduction of a suitable 64-bit operating system. This, The INQUIRER believes, is the Windows 64 bit version specifically for the Athlon64."
How many companies have died while waiting for Microsoft to do something? (Note to AMD: Microsoft is *not* your friend.)
The antisocial terrorist could cruise around below the local shipping and naval vessels in the harbor while attaching little bomblets here, there, and everywhere. Maybe the inventor should keep his garage locked or something.
---...working to improve my karma from terrible to bad...
"...Fab 30 was nothing short of impressive; much more impressive than we had imagined before ever setting foot on the campus of AMD Saxony. The technology and engineering talent at Fab 30 can rival even that of Intel, but obviously on a smaller scale."
Here's hoping that AMD survives and prospers with their Athlon XP64. The future would look a little gloomy if the only choices for us were Intel's Pentium 4 or Itanium.
Slashdot Mirror
All of the motherboards that I've purchased in the last 5 years have had either Award or AMI BIOSs. Phoenix has just purchased Award so that leaves only AMI and Phoenix and AMI has got to be feeling some heat along about now...
This is a BIG deal. Microsoft has been pushing their 'directx' stuff as a way to get a high-quality gaming experience while still running Windows and is up to 'Directx 9' I think. Those of us who have struggled to get cranky directx Windows games to run know what a miserable kludge the directx thing is and will immediately embrace the idea of the bootable linux CD as an alternative gaming platform. Even Windows users will become big Linux fans if they can just boot from a CD-ROM and run a high-quality game. Microsoft has pushed Directx as a replacement for DOS as a gaming platform but no one has ever loved (or even liked) directx and now it looks as if Linux has skewered it right through its gizzard.
There are some major weaknesses in the Prescott approach, even if it really does include 64-bit extensions of some sort. For example, the AMD design includes hypertransport and the integrated memory controller while Prescott does not.
As a result, the AMD design scales amazingly well while none of the Intel designs do. The scalability of the AMD 64-bit design has allowed it to obtain some absolutely amazing wins for supercomputers recently, for example.
Finally, AMD has plowed the field for its 64-bit extensions by providing first, emulators, then demo silicon, and now, finally, a shipping product. Intel's Prescott extensions are not even confirmed by Intel and are a LOOONG way from being supported in GCC or any current software. Intel can paste on some sort of unknown and undocumented 64-bit instructions in Prescott but they will be way too little and way too late. The only real significance of the Intel Prescott 64-bit stuff (assuming it is even real) is for its potential 'vaporware' effect on AMD's initiatives; i.e. it could cause people to delay getting an x86-64 CPU if they think that Intel will be releasing something 'real soon now.'
...why don't they just give each of their customers a shoebox full of $20s and a CD-ROM with an "ATM" app on it. Then, when the customer wanted cash, he could run the ATM app and then take some $20s out of the shoebox. I know I would much prefer using the ATM in the comfort of my home rather than standing in the rain and wind in front of an ATM downtown.
There can't be a worse choice than Windows to run something like an ATM. Current versions of Windows are designed to run a wide variety of applications containing lots of active content sending information here, there, and everywhere, which is hardly desirable in an ATM. Windows is designed to be updated via a network connection which is exactly the opposite of what an ATM owner would want. 'Windows' is a very complex and relatively unstable pile of bytes that is extremely vulnerable to hardware failure, power surges, memory corruption, other applications, operator error, and just about every calamity that one can imagine. It is likely that some of those existing Windows ATMs have crashed just because the user pressed the "5" key too quickly too many times or something. The entire design of Windows is aimed at displaying a complex bitmapped windowing interface as rapidly as possible which is something that is not even required or desirable in an ATM. If someone actually did a design evaluation between current OSs, including various embedded OSs, Windows, even stripped down, would come in last by a long ways. What could possibly cause some otherwise wise engineer to select "Windows" as the operating system to run a device like an ATM machine? Temporary insanity perhaps? I predict that the reliability of the machines will turn sharply downwards as more Windows machines make their way into the mix and losses will sharply escalate. A lot of those ATMs communicate with their host over a simple dial-up connection that thieves will quickly find ways to penetrate when it is under the control of anything 'Windows'. The rest of the ATMs are connected with networks that are likely to be vulnerable to the 'virus du jour.' It's only a matter of time until someone undertakes some attack that will have the ATMs kicking out annonymous serious cash to anyone who keys in the PIN code '1234a' or something like that. Of course, the bankers will keep it quiet when it happens (for obvious reasons) so we'll never hear about it, unfortunately.
...there are only five new security warnings.
People have been claiming that automation is eliminating their job for the last 100 years. In fact, though, more people are working than ever before and the standard of living has increased dramatically in that time. What really happens is that automation increases productivity, reduces labor costs, and makes things much less expensive for consumers. The number of jobs actually increases, though, because the lower costs increase demand that requires that production increase by 1000x or so.
Fast food restaurants are a good example of this. The very idea of 'fast food restaurant' was made possible by automation that allows a handful of people with relatively little training to produce thousands of meals in a day that are clean and safe to eat (okay, okay, forget about Jack-in-the-box). The result is an explosion of fast-food restaurants of all types that have spread around the world and a change in mass eating habits in which a visit to a restaurant is a frequent occurrence rather than a very rare event.
Yes, there are 100s of thousands of low-wage fast food jobs that were created but there were also tens of thousands of higher-wage jobs created for people who design, program, build, install, and maintain all of the new machines. Automation increases productivity and raises overall living standards based on 100 years of history. Countries without automation usually have the most impoverished citizens.
Windows seems to have some security issues. Well, I'm sure that Microsoft fixed it.
Nevermind v4, v5, or the new v6, just use v3. According to vulnwatch, only v4+ are vulnerable:
Systems and configurations that are vulnerable:
Software:
Adobe Acrobat 4.x
Adobe Acrobat 5.x
Adobe Acrobat 6.0
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.x
Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.x
Adobe Reader 6.0
Methanol is a very potent neurotoxin, is relatively volatile, and has a much lower energy storage density than ethanol. Ethanol is relatively non-toxic by comparison (unless you imbibe very heavily), is less volatile, contains much more energy per mass or volume unit, and can be made and distilled to an acceptable grade by just about anyone, anywhere.
Either Jim is about 12 years old or age has been creeping up here...
Most sites currently use .jpg or .png formats that are generally much bigger than .gif. Now that the patent has expired, the use of .gif will become much more widespread and the bandwidth requirements will be decreased. This will speed up the perceived speed, reduce the traffic volume, and probably also reduce electrical consumption. A win-win for everyone!
"I triple guarantee you there are NO PROBLEMS with Windows Update! They are not even within 100 miles of Redmond. That is an illusion. I must now inform you that you are too far from reality."
Most consumer software releasd under the Microsoft EULA (or similar) tends to be supported for only a short time and then withdrawn from sale, after which it disappears forever. Most software released under the GNU public license is available for many years and usually disappears only when it is replaced by an update. Even after this, the older versions are often still available.
Today, there are thousands of examples of software companies that follow the typical pattern where they release a product, collect a few bucks, and then they and their software disappear forever. The EULA license they typically released their product under prevents their surviving customers from modifying or updating the software or from distributing it to others or copying it for an expanded number of users. This 'EULA' approach is very wasteful of the human time and creativity that was expended in the development and it fails to provide a long-term software solution for the original application requirement meaning that other developers must then step in and redo the work creating further waste.
In contrast, the GPL avoids this massive waste and increases the productivity of society at large. The net effect of these two different models is that the quantity of GPL software is exploding while the quantity of EULA software is severely constrained. In the longer term, GPL will predominate and the EULA will be relegated to history's dustbin.
Okay, we develop the technology to "improve" people in utero by eliminating "genetic defects." Some of these defects are obvious but others are a matter of opinion. For example, is a short stature a genetic defect? What about red hair? Regarding intelligence, most probably think that more is better. But...there are different kinds of intelligence and we have yet to find a way to measure or quantify reliably what intelligence is, though we all recognize its absence. :) A pulitzer prize-winning author may be mathematically inept while a brilliant mathematician may be unable to chain three sentences together in a conversation.
Among all species in the natural world, evolutionary success derives from a diverse gene pool that gives the species increased ability to adapt quickly to changed circumstances. Developing GM people is likely to reduce diversity by catering to our very human tendency to want to eliminate traits that we find undesirable now but which may be essential for our very survival in the future.
-"With its new system, SCO is a little late to the Linux on Itanium
2 market."
Yeah, the Itanium 2 gravy train has left the station with those tens of
thousands of happy customers (okay, 'tens' of customers then) and SCO wasn't
on board...Sounds like that Computerworld Itanium 2 bandwagon needs riders.
<laugh>
This ZDNet story
says that Intel has stopped shipping the 3 Gig P4 with the 800 mhz FSB due
to "anomalies."
The overused term legacy-free looks like nothing but a PC that is specifically designed to require a specific Intel/Microsoft combination of hardware and software by implementing specific proprietary features. The article claims that a 'legacy-free' design will allow new 'innovation' but does not provide any examples of innovations that are being prevented by current architecture. The original 1981 IBM PC utilized many 'legacy' features borrowed from earlier platforms including the design of the 'centronics' parallel printer port and serial data ports, ASCII text characters, floppy disk drives, POST power on, memory error-checking, etc. The design of any complex device, be it a computer, a car, an airplane, or a home, is an evolutionary process in which the best 'legacy' features from prior designs are utilized along with new design features based on new materials and technologies. We even have some special terms for the 'legacy' design features such as "knowledge", "experience", "SAE Standards," and "building codes."
and fungi found on Earth. The most interesting thing, though, is that the
origin of such a Mars life form could probably not be Mars-based. On
Earth, we have mightily strained to hypothesize an origin of life in primordial
ocean soups and atmospheres
in the presence of electric sparks and self-assembling
molecules. These theories have been severely weakened
in recent years with the discovery of fossilized life forms on Earth with
an apparent age of 3.5+ billion years which, given the estimated age of the
Earth, would imply a much more rapid creation of life than the hypothesized
mechanisms would allow. If life is present on Mars, the Earth-origin
theories of life are weakened even further, in the absence of evidence for
the necessary atmospheres and oceans on Mars, and theories for extraterrestrial
origins of life would gain traction.
Tollbooth? That just collects a small fee to provide unlimited access. No, in a Microsoft victorian, every light switch would have a coin slot, your phone would call up MS every hour to report your activities, upgrades to the appliances would be mandatory, and Bob Kruger of the BSA would visit to check your licenses for your dinner recipes.
AMD must think that performance is more than just clock speed or something.
This will make the bloodletting even worse. The Opteron/server market is a tiny volume in comparison to the desktop market. Almost all of AMD's processor sales are in the desktop market and AMD is literally getting pounded to pieces there by Pentium 4 and Intel price-cutting. Even assuming the Barton performance is competitive with the Pentium 4, Intel will be certain to make the profit margin on processor sales razor thin where the P4 competes head-to-head with Barton. Intel will still make money, though, because AMD does not compete with Intel in the Tier 1 computers (Read Dell, IBM) and those margins will remain healthy. AMD should have gotten the Athlon 64 to market in 2002. September, 2003 will be waaaaayyyy too late. AMD had a real opportunity to hammer Intel but they have blown it with the delays. Microsoft is a huge supporter of the Itanium architecture for the desktop because it runs 32-bit software poorly and will trigger mass upgrades to '64-bit' versions. Microsoft wants to see Athlon 64 die a quiet death when AMD slips beneath the waves and AMD seems clueless about that.
A story in the inquirer
says AMD is "waiting for the introduction of a suitable 64-bit operating
system. This, The INQUIRER believes, is the Windows 64 bit version specifically
for the Athlon64."
How many companies have died while waiting for Microsoft
to do something? (Note to AMD: Microsoft is *not* your friend.)
The antisocial terrorist could cruise around below the local shipping and naval vessels in the harbor while attaching little bomblets here, there, and everywhere. Maybe the inventor should keep his garage locked or something.
...working to improve my karma from terrible to bad...
---
"...Fab 30 was nothing short of impressive; much more impressive than we had imagined before ever setting foot on the campus of AMD Saxony. The technology and engineering talent at Fab 30 can rival even that of Intel, but obviously on a smaller scale."
Here's hoping that AMD survives and prospers with their Athlon XP64. The future would look a little gloomy if the only choices for us were Intel's Pentium 4 or Itanium.