Slashdot Mirror


User: Unit3

Unit3's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
63
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 63

  1. Re:Counter-Productive on Software SSD Cache Implementation For Linux? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Define "unnecessarily". Given current SSD costs and depletion rates, it's probably completely acceptable to replace an SSD used as an intermediary cache in front of a large spindle-based array every couple of years.

    Just because it's not useful to you, doesn't mean it's not useful.

  2. Re:Holy fuck, just use partitions. on Software SSD Cache Implementation For Linux? · · Score: 1

    Err, no you don't. That's not caching at all, and doesn't help with datasets that don't fit on the SSD.

    This is a shortsighted kludge with limited uses, and not at all the elegant solution the poster was asking for.

  3. Re:isn't 40 GB enough for applications? on Software SSD Cache Implementation For Linux? · · Score: 4, Informative

    They are huge for larger applications. Database servers, for instance, can see performance increases in the magnitude of 10-20x the number of transactions per second when using a scheme like this for datasets that are too large to fit in RAM.

  4. Re:I don't get it on Software SSD Cache Implementation For Linux? · · Score: 1, Informative

    No. Swap is not a cache. Swap holds things that don't fit in RAM. I/O cache will never hit swap, it limits itself to physical RAM.

  5. Sounds good. on Environmental Chemicals Are Feminizing Boys · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who thinks this is probably a really good thing for society in the long run?

  6. Endangered Business Models on New Bill Proposes Open Source Requirement for Publicly Funded Books · · Score: 1

    "Will a bill such as this endanger publishing companies in the same way Internet journalism endangers traditional journalism?"

    We can only hope so. Let's face the facts, this is one of many industries that is a leech on a helpless, target audience. They deserve the painful death that is coming to them.

  7. Re:Can someone explain this more clearly? on NVidia Cripples PhysX "Open" API · · Score: 4, Informative

    No. The framework would only run on their GPUs. However, you could have one of their cards in the system to do purely physics calculations, and then use a competitor's card to do the actual display and 3d rendering. They've now disabled this, so if your monitors are connected to, say, and ATI card, you can no longer use the Nvidia card in your system for physics processing.

    Before you discount this as an unlikely scenario, consider motherboards with onboard NVidia chipsets. These are usually underpowered for full time duty, but are perfectly suited to being used for physics calculations while a more powerful ATI card in the PCI-E slot does the graphics rendering. This is actually a fairly likely setup these days, and NVidia has just said they're going to block it.

    Personally, I agree with others who have pointed out this must be an anti-trust issue. Intel and Microsoft have both been fined heavily recently for doing exactly this kind of anti-competitive behaviour.

  8. Re:Oh come on. on Should Undergraduates Be Taught Fortran? · · Score: 1

    AGREED.

    Seriously. Fortran? FFS.

  9. Underwhelmed on DIY Hybrid Car Kit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Great idea, too bad it's fugly, more expensive than Honda's new hybrid at $25k, and basically just a motorcycle.

    Call me when they make a Prius kit, or a drop in electric engine replacement for the Civic. ;)

  10. Re:I have no idea what they're talking about on Why Is the Internet So Infuriatingly Slow? · · Score: 1

    I agree. I'm in Canada. I've lived in multiple provinces and used multiple ISPs (using different technology to provide bandwidth), and I haven't seen these kinds of issues in 5+ years.

    Hell, around here Granny doesn't even use dialup because most areas no longer offer it. It's far more common to see less knowledgeable users on some sort of "DSL-lite" offering (128kbps) for around $16 / month.

    I always hear about how bad the availability and options for high speed service are in the US, perhaps these complaints are more a symptom of that than anything else?

  11. avidemux on Which Open Source Video Apps Use SMP Effectively? · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've noticed a lot of talk about commandline options, but not the nice guis that use them. Avidemux is open source, cross-platform, gives you a decent interface, and uses multithreaded libraries like ffmpeg and x264 on the backend to do the encoding, so it generally makes optimal use of your multicore system.

  12. Bugs? on Rush Limbaugh Begs Steve Jobs For Bug Fixes · · Score: 1

    Sorry Rush, you may think those are the problems, but in reality, you problem isn't OS X. It's karma.

  13. Wikipedia article on 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 on Censoring a Number · · Score: 1

    Note that there's also the article deletion discussion page about it here at wikipedia. I strongly encourage all Slashdot posters to post their comments on this article deletion for review by the Wikipedia editors. ;)

  14. mod parent up on GPL Code Found In OpenBSD Wireless Driver · · Score: 1, Troll

    Even if it's not nice to say, it's absolutely true. Reading the whole thread through, I have no doubt as to the good faith of the original BCM driver developers in their original e-mail, and then Theo just tears into them on some sort of crusade, and refuses to respond politely even when others attempt to be polite with him.

    I know I'll be dropping OpenBSD from my the list of OSes I'm willing to maintain, because I don't want to deal with an organization that has a person like this as its head.

  15. mod up on Ask Sony's Phil Harrison About PS3 and Games · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I second the request to mod this up. I'd like a straight, non marketting response to the ridiculous showboating Sony's been doing lately. This remark especially emphasizes the idea that Sony thinks consumers are a bunch of morons.

  16. Re:Good job UCPD on Students Put UCLA Taser Video On YouTube · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "sworn police officers acting totally appropriately."

    So you think multiple uses of a taser even after the person is handcuffed is appropriate use of force for someone forgetting their student ID? And threatening to taser bistanders who ask for the cop's badge number?

    Wow. Just wow. And you wonder why all of us outside the US look at you like you're monsters. BECAUSE YOU ARE!

  17. Re:benchmarking on Surprises in Microsoft Vista's EULA · · Score: 1

    umm... and you don't see a problem with disallowing .NET benchmarking, given the existence of Mono to compare benchmarks to? Or do you think it's already to ban benchmarking as long as it's only for specific software components?

  18. Re:This is great news. on More Voting Shenanigans in Florida · · Score: 1

    No, we're talking about a large conspiracy, not a brilliant one; this is the Republicans, after all. Intelligence is not their strong point.

    However, just because it's stupid, doesn't mean it's not happening. See: war in Iraq.

  19. So MS people are priests now? on 64-Bit Vista Kernel Will Be a "Black Box" · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This actually kind of makes sense, considering their technical decisions seem to be made without any logic or reason, and considering the ass raping they've been giving consumers for years now. ;)

  20. flamefest on Novell Doubts Microsoft Latest "Linux Facts" · · Score: 1

    Wow, that's a *massive* flame. I mean, saying you're a lead programmer, and then revealing that you don't actually do any programming whatsoever? Then, you go on to say you'd be lost without Bryce? I think we know which member of your dev team is dead weight! ;)

    Don't get me wrong, your "pretentious asshole" tone and writing style will certainly carry a lot of weight with practically no-one who reads this site. But don't let that stop you from reaching new found heights of mediocrity! 600MB per PowerPoint page? Yes, this is definitely the sign of a well-trained professional who knows how to properly do their job. ;P

    It was a good laugh on a slow monday though, so thanks. :)

  21. Re:nice try on Munich Court Again Enforces GPL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    haha I love how you classify a "real" court as being a "US one". I mean, never mind that the US legal system is the worldwide example of "what not to do", and has no bearing whatsoever on any country that is *not* the US (ie, the majority of the world population, and these days, the places where most of the OSS development is taking place).

  22. Re:Still no PATA Support? on Linux Kernel 2.6.11 Released · · Score: 1

    It's very unclear what your problem is here. Exactly what PATA hardware are you having problems with? I've been using PATA connected to SATA just fine since about 2.6.4, so your problem description seems very strange.

  23. Re:An HDTV that isn't HDTV... on Dell Enters HDTV Market with Plasma Display · · Score: 1

    Good luck with that. Most commercial sets on the market don't even do 720p period, let alone the widescreen 1280x720 mode. Take a look at most "HDTVs", and they list 480p, (sometimes) 540p and 1080i as the only resolutions they support. Plus, within the scope of those two, they make no guarantees about horizontal resolution. At least you know this TV can do 1024x768, which is quite a bit better than most of the sets being marketed as HDTV that are already on the market.

    Plus, does it really matter? I don't know of any 720p content that's even available yet! Hell, 540p is even higher res than what you'll get from almost any source claiming HDTV content, so you'll need some nice interpolation to do anything with it anyway.

    Bottom line, don't lose sleep over what it does and doesn't support if you don't have any content to display on it at that resolution anyway. ;)

  24. Canadian Hosting? on Tecmo Sues Game Hackers Under DMCA · · Score: 1

    I'm suprised nobody's mentioned this, but why don't they start hosting the data from a Canadian server? I mean, we don't have the DMCA or any equivelant, and our federal courts have a recent history of finding in favour of consumers in these cases. It seems like a dead-easy solution, although maybe a little too late for this specific site.

  25. ASDI Phones? on Start Your Own Open Source-Based Telecom · · Score: 2, Informative

    IIRC, doesn't Asterisk let you use any ASDI phone? As such, there should be lots of nice cheap phones you can use (such as the ones specifically recommended by Digium). You need to make sure you can get the programming codes for the phones you buy, but that isn't as difficult as it once was.