The fact that it's incompatible with games like Guitar Hero, and Guitar Hero becoming the next fad in gaming, I really don't think they were kidding.
I see it more like what the gameboy micro turned out to be (as intended it was pretty cool) than anything else; just a device with DS compatibility as an unintended plus.
And hey, not all of us are photogenic.;)
(I've only been a suscriber to NP since last Februrary's edition, so I don't quite know what you meant...)
Thanks for helping me justify the cost of an 8400GS though.;)
I just hope quickly enough linux GPU-based video playback will become standardised. One API per vendor is no good; we definately need VA-API supported by AMD and nVidia. (from what I can understand it was actually finished up a few days ago!)
I'd definately second letting the DSi slide. According to Nintendo Power it's not intended to replace the DS lite. I'm wondering if Nintendo is trying to use this to "test the waters" on a UMPC console?
They didn't before. A friend of mine went through three xbox 360s before getting his Elite that has yet to break down on him now. I don't think he's alone.
The Gamecube WAS THE bleeding edge in its day. And it still managed to turn a profit. But I think it was 300$ at launch; I can't remember what the PS2 and Xbox were like.
Rather, what I meant, is that you can't go out and nab something crazy like bluray and put it in your designs. You have to put careful consideration and make sure everything works perfectly and won't cost too much, that way you can keep profits up.
That said I think the Nintendo model makes a lot more sense.
The Nintendo model is good sportsmanship, to say the least.
But it's difficult to get into this market at a high level. So the media companies (Sony, MS) jump right in without thinking it through. The PS1 and PS2 somehow "won" their generations, I guess because they used bigger optical media? Maybe ease of downloading? Maybe the games were just better (I like the N64 and GCN's libraries better, but to each their own).
The Sony/MS strategy of eating the costs for now is terrible. What happens when Nintendo is out and your competitors are all doing the same thing? Do you drop the price again, do you raise, do you keep it steady?
Whereas the Nintendo strategy tries to remain profitable at all costs. But that has its down, too; less "bleeding edge". Then again, the games are fun. So pick your poison.:)
The US outmanufactures everyone else, producing 2.5 times (either the next guy or the top markets combined; I can't remember, it was a very informative slashdot post). Look hard and you will find.
Just because the US and other G8 members don't produce cheap, unreliable, dangerous and synthetic crap doesn't mean they don't produce anything. I don't really have stuff that says "MADE IN CANADA" on the bottom... and yet we produce enough to be considered a G8 member. That money has to come from somewhere, and I really doubt all the G8 GDP comes from petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and software...
Printers are too low-margin to be made in industrialised nations. But then again, CPUs are often made in Singapore and Germany, so you never know.
(I think it's more of a question of US-engineered.)
I'm tired of hearing the whole "Compiz+video doesn't work bawww fix it AMD!" crap, so here's the downlow: it seems until DRI2 is implemented you're not going to be able to fix this problem. Right now only one thing can be GPU-bound at a time, and for that reason it seems you run into a whole slew of nastyness when you try to run a video while compiz is on or something similar.
The way nVidia "solves the problem" is by more or less bypassing Xorg, so they don't have to deal with this. Intel and ATI, on the other hand, use the normal Xorg infrastructure and so are stuck with this problem.
I think DRI2 has been accepted into the latest kernel, or will be in the upcoming one, so these sort of problems will hopefully be a distant nightmare in about six-month's time (if you're lucky, in time for Ubuntu 9.04).
(Sorry, I didn't mean to target you at all; I just get unnerved sometimes and wanted to add this in for the lurkers)
The thing is, by the time you get it implemented and working properly, CPUs will be able to decode h.264 and VC-1 in software just fine.
I'd prefer to see OpenCL implementations. I don't mind having my CPU sit at 80%, if it's the right CPU (like a miniITX-integrated one).
CoreAVC can let you playback bluray-quality h.264 on an Atom 330 without too much stress (I assume a 230 and the Nano can handle it just fine too). I'm guessing VC-1 is that easy to work on too. Do we really need an XvMC for h.264/VC1/etc.? What happens when they're "old shit" like MPEG2?
I could see VIA and nVidia getting very closer together in the very near future.
It's not like nVidia and Intel are nothing but sour grapes either. nVidia wants the GeForce chipset with the Atom; hardly Intel being the bitch it could be (and it's very strange considering they didn't want to "canabalise celeron sales").
nVidia definately has a future for a fair lenght of time. If ever AMD and Intel move to turn the GPU into a CPU component like the math co-processor, at worst nVidia will be working on PMPs, cellphones, consoles, etc, where it's all ARM+GeForce. At best they'll be doing that and have nicely done miniITX deals with VIA (Nano+GeForce anyone? what about in the HP2133?) and the console makers.
If you believe that, you don't understand the history of science. The exact *opposite* has been happening since the scientific method was established. Every new discovery pushes back the boundaries of what we consider "religion". Remember, before germ theory, there was a time when people thought illnesses were curses sent down by angry gods.
I think you misunderstood me here. I meant the further we go on the further we realise there are... "cosmic balances" out there. Things happen for a reason. Explinations for those reasons are up to you. Personally I like to believe that there is some sort of collective intelligence, delicately moving things forward. The composition of atoms themselves, I guess.
I'm sorry, what's your point? Just because we don't have an explanation, doesn't meant that an invisible Man in the Sky is the answer. In fact, given the history of religion as a theoretical and explanatory framework, I'd argue we should be avoiding these kinds of appeals to the supernatural, as they've invariably turned out to be wrong.
For people who should never be pessimists, for people who must always remember it can be done, you're fairly angry and hateful when it comes to things like this.
I especially love the "Inivisible Man in the Sky". Since when was "God" an "Invisible Man in the Sky"?
I love how we have no explanation for the creation of the universe other than either:
- Everything suddenly appeared from an explosion triggered by nothing in a world of nothing - "A wizard did it"
And yet you quickly jump to discredit anything but your own theory. That is not science; you've entered politics. Science would not rage and rage at it like some bible-thumping baptist. Real scientists would provide a reasonable theory or provide nothing at all and simply try to figure things out. Neither theory makes sense. Don't pretend that yours is any different.
Except, here's the thing: There's really no biblical source of "God piled some stuff on a rock and called it Earth, and then shit happened, and then the universe was there. Bam!". If anything the bible is a guide to philosophy that just didn't quite turn out right.
By accepting that there is no random, that things happen for a reason (pressures of whatever sort)... Then you are effectively agreeing with me. That was my point. A fish doesn't start to grow wings and fly, unless it has some reason to. I'm not saying the fish only grows wings and starts to fly because "God wills it!", but rather that there is some form of "intelligence" (likely the fish itself) pushing it to grow wings.
Remember, before germ theory, there was a time when people thought illnesses were curses sent down by angry gods.
Remember kids, the people who rushed half-baked theories to create sterile environments for you. Isn't life grand?
Of course, who the hell am I kidding. Modern science has become politics, and it's especially depressing when you've got the media thinking they know something.
(I am a skeptic, of everything, and always will be.)
My two favourite keyboards at this point though have been my old '99 Dell QuietKey, and a Keytronics keyboard I have sitting around... Loud, but they feel right when I'm typing. It's not like some other keyboards I have where you have to really hit it to get an action, or worse yet you just have to tap lightly on some and hard on others...
Of course I have no idea where to find keyboards like that, or even what kind of keyboard it is.
Sadly Atom has no PCIE slots (unless you find a rarer DTX board) and the only 8400GS I found for PCI was really expensive (100$? yeah right). But it's x86 so it should support the nVidia drivers just fine... Was that what you meant? it's not ARM, just trying to push x86 into ARM's market (and not doing too well at it...)
Unless there's something else I'm not aware of?
Of course, Nano is my platform of choice, especially in a mythbox. That way I can actually play games and stuff.
There are too many coincidences to make it seem like this all happened randomly without any sort of intelligence.
I don't doubt that there is no "God" as seen by man. But you are deluded, to be honest, if you believe everything happened randomly without reason.
The further we get in science the closer we get to believing there is certainly some intelligence in the system. It is not very likely some old bearded man threw some objects together to form the universe, but rather that the organisation of everything... that all matter itself... forms a sort of "planetthink", that everything somehow knows how to work together to form things.
If there was no intelligence whatsoever, and note that intelligence is used loosely here, how did we end up here?
Things change, that's true. But to base your arguments on nothing but hatred for people who are not your enemies (radicals might discount evolution, but whales are some evidence to a form of evolution, and what goes on in isolated human communities is also somewhat evolution, just not in the right direction)...
After breaking the remote on one of my DVD players I'd have to agree.
Can't skip through anything, you can't access any "special material", and did I mention you can't skip through anything like those annoying ads? For some reason DVD players don't come with "fast forward/rewind" buttons on the player... just start, stop, eject.
Or maybe just a Nano/Atom with a GeForce 9-series chipset, running linux with mythtv (or something based on ffmpeg). It seems with the lowliest of the new Semprons (2600+ Sparta?) and an 8400GS you can use VDPAU to play h.264 videos barely hitting the CPU. (just at start and end)
Tegra would be better, though, being ARM and all. Too bad nVidia is full of shit and won't help linux developpers on it.
I am more or less only here because of state-run healthcare, so it's certain I'm quite fond of it... But the 25% sales tax, the high income tax offput me a lot... Not to mention just noticing prices of things, talking to Swedes about their lifestyle and again more prices and stuff, it seems like it's easy to get off good, but then gets incredibly hard to make a high income.
But then again, if I go as a student I'll likely not be making much money now will I?;P
(and don't fret, I'll certainly try to "do my part" for the swedish economy I'd be mooching off of)
(Shameless plug: studying at swedish universities is totally free, except for a nominal 40$ students union fee =)
I thought that was only if you were a swedish citizen?
Last time I was in Sweden (this summer actually) I was told by one of my uncles that you'd have to pay your tuition like in a north american school unless you were a citizen, and citizenship takes 5 years and student years don't count.
I wouldn't mind Sweden though if it weren't for the welfare state politics... Then again, a student should be happy in a world of government assistance. I thought about the Royal Institute of Technology (somebody told me it was also called "Cote Haute"?...) but not knowing Swedish, and being a "francophile" isn't very helpful in Sweden. I was able to understand almost all the Swedish I read (not so much heard, just lightly) but not able to reply back, so unless it's as English as you say it wouldn't be very enjoyable.
An option is an option though. It's not like I'm too decided on Canadian universities either.
Or maybe computer engineering with it? I figure then you'd have the "I understand" (CS) and the "I know how to do it" (CE) degrees.
Or you could go business, but business is for for gifted genetically-engineered monkeys whose brains don't work at maximum capacity. Of course, it pays the bills, and hey he still makes more than Fry.
Is it even worth going up to component for the Wii? I mean, the cable is only like 3$-4$, but will the progressive scan mode help out or just smooth things out that I didn't see in the first place?
which is why it doesn't play DVD movies even though it has a DVD drive.
Which is nice in a way, to be honest; the Wii's DVD drive goes at a steady pace and so should have a longer life time (not to mention the flash storage).
It really makes me rage though that VC titles won't run off SD cards. I know they're worried about AverageDick loading his piratebay ROMs on an SD card into his Wii, but geez you'd think at this point they could figure out some form of minor-to-moderate encryption/checksum system to only allow Wii-bought games to run and let everyone go home happy...
h.264 is a pig of a format, on playback at least. Dirac scales better, xvid plays better. What the heck is up with the h.264 hype?
I don't think the Wii will have a problem if this is properly coded, and it might even be done in assembly code to push it even further. I'm sure you could also use the GPU for this sort of thing, don't think OpenCL would be hard even on a GPU like that.
Slashdot Mirror
The fact that it's incompatible with games like Guitar Hero, and Guitar Hero becoming the next fad in gaming, I really don't think they were kidding.
I see it more like what the gameboy micro turned out to be (as intended it was pretty cool) than anything else; just a device with DS compatibility as an unintended plus.
And hey, not all of us are photogenic. ;)
(I've only been a suscriber to NP since last Februrary's edition, so I don't quite know what you meant...)
Sorry then, I guess I was misinformed.
Thanks for helping me justify the cost of an 8400GS though. ;)
I just hope quickly enough linux GPU-based video playback will become standardised. One API per vendor is no good; we definately need VA-API supported by AMD and nVidia. (from what I can understand it was actually finished up a few days ago!)
I'd definately second letting the DSi slide. According to Nintendo Power it's not intended to replace the DS lite. I'm wondering if Nintendo is trying to use this to "test the waters" on a UMPC console?
They didn't before. A friend of mine went through three xbox 360s before getting his Elite that has yet to break down on him now. I don't think he's alone.
Actually, forget that.
The Gamecube WAS THE bleeding edge in its day. And it still managed to turn a profit. But I think it was 300$ at launch; I can't remember what the PS2 and Xbox were like.
Rather, what I meant, is that you can't go out and nab something crazy like bluray and put it in your designs. You have to put careful consideration and make sure everything works perfectly and won't cost too much, that way you can keep profits up.
That said I think the Nintendo model makes a lot more sense.
The Nintendo model is good sportsmanship, to say the least.
But it's difficult to get into this market at a high level. So the media companies (Sony, MS) jump right in without thinking it through. The PS1 and PS2 somehow "won" their generations, I guess because they used bigger optical media? Maybe ease of downloading? Maybe the games were just better (I like the N64 and GCN's libraries better, but to each their own).
The Sony/MS strategy of eating the costs for now is terrible. What happens when Nintendo is out and your competitors are all doing the same thing? Do you drop the price again, do you raise, do you keep it steady?
Whereas the Nintendo strategy tries to remain profitable at all costs. But that has its down, too; less "bleeding edge". Then again, the games are fun. So pick your poison. :)
The US outmanufactures everyone else, producing 2.5 times (either the next guy or the top markets combined; I can't remember, it was a very informative slashdot post). Look hard and you will find.
Just because the US and other G8 members don't produce cheap, unreliable, dangerous and synthetic crap doesn't mean they don't produce anything. I don't really have stuff that says "MADE IN CANADA" on the bottom... and yet we produce enough to be considered a G8 member. That money has to come from somewhere, and I really doubt all the G8 GDP comes from petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and software...
Printers are too low-margin to be made in industrialised nations. But then again, CPUs are often made in Singapore and Germany, so you never know.
(I think it's more of a question of US-engineered.)
I'm tired of hearing the whole "Compiz+video doesn't work bawww fix it AMD!" crap, so here's the downlow: it seems until DRI2 is implemented you're not going to be able to fix this problem. Right now only one thing can be GPU-bound at a time, and for that reason it seems you run into a whole slew of nastyness when you try to run a video while compiz is on or something similar.
The way nVidia "solves the problem" is by more or less bypassing Xorg, so they don't have to deal with this. Intel and ATI, on the other hand, use the normal Xorg infrastructure and so are stuck with this problem.
I think DRI2 has been accepted into the latest kernel, or will be in the upcoming one, so these sort of problems will hopefully be a distant nightmare in about six-month's time (if you're lucky, in time for Ubuntu 9.04).
(Sorry, I didn't mean to target you at all; I just get unnerved sometimes and wanted to add this in for the lurkers)
The thing is, by the time you get it implemented and working properly, CPUs will be able to decode h.264 and VC-1 in software just fine.
I'd prefer to see OpenCL implementations. I don't mind having my CPU sit at 80%, if it's the right CPU (like a miniITX-integrated one).
CoreAVC can let you playback bluray-quality h.264 on an Atom 330 without too much stress (I assume a 230 and the Nano can handle it just fine too). I'm guessing VC-1 is that easy to work on too. Do we really need an XvMC for h.264/VC1/etc.? What happens when they're "old shit" like MPEG2?
I could see VIA and nVidia getting very closer together in the very near future.
It's not like nVidia and Intel are nothing but sour grapes either. nVidia wants the GeForce chipset with the Atom; hardly Intel being the bitch it could be (and it's very strange considering they didn't want to "canabalise celeron sales").
nVidia definately has a future for a fair lenght of time. If ever AMD and Intel move to turn the GPU into a CPU component like the math co-processor, at worst nVidia will be working on PMPs, cellphones, consoles, etc, where it's all ARM+GeForce. At best they'll be doing that and have nicely done miniITX deals with VIA (Nano+GeForce anyone? what about in the HP2133?) and the console makers.
And that's more than enough to keep them alive.
32-bit Playstation wiped the floor with the Nintendo 64
I wouldn't
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quite call
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it wiping
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the floor with...
If you believe that, you don't understand the history of science. The exact *opposite* has been happening since the scientific method was established. Every new discovery pushes back the boundaries of what we consider "religion". Remember, before germ theory, there was a time when people thought illnesses were curses sent down by angry gods.
I think you misunderstood me here. I meant the further we go on the further we realise there are... "cosmic balances" out there. Things happen for a reason. Explinations for those reasons are up to you. Personally I like to believe that there is some sort of collective intelligence, delicately moving things forward. The composition of atoms themselves, I guess.
I'm sorry, what's your point? Just because we don't have an explanation, doesn't meant that an invisible Man in the Sky is the answer. In fact, given the history of religion as a theoretical and explanatory framework, I'd argue we should be avoiding these kinds of appeals to the supernatural, as they've invariably turned out to be wrong.
For people who should never be pessimists, for people who must always remember it can be done, you're fairly angry and hateful when it comes to things like this.
I especially love the "Inivisible Man in the Sky". Since when was "God" an "Invisible Man in the Sky"?
I love how we have no explanation for the creation of the universe other than either:
- Everything suddenly appeared from an explosion triggered by nothing in a world of nothing
- "A wizard did it"
And yet you quickly jump to discredit anything but your own theory. That is not science; you've entered politics. Science would not rage and rage at it like some bible-thumping baptist. Real scientists would provide a reasonable theory or provide nothing at all and simply try to figure things out. Neither theory makes sense. Don't pretend that yours is any different.
Except, here's the thing: There's really no biblical source of "God piled some stuff on a rock and called it Earth, and then shit happened, and then the universe was there. Bam!". If anything the bible is a guide to philosophy that just didn't quite turn out right.
By accepting that there is no random, that things happen for a reason (pressures of whatever sort)... Then you are effectively agreeing with me. That was my point. A fish doesn't start to grow wings and fly, unless it has some reason to. I'm not saying the fish only grows wings and starts to fly because "God wills it!", but rather that there is some form of "intelligence" (likely the fish itself) pushing it to grow wings.
Remember, before germ theory, there was a time when people thought illnesses were curses sent down by angry gods.
Remember kids, the people who rushed half-baked theories to create sterile environments for you. Isn't life grand?
Of course, who the hell am I kidding. Modern science has become politics, and it's especially depressing when you've got the media thinking they know something.
(I am a skeptic, of everything, and always will be.)
The increased tension does not sound like fun.
My two favourite keyboards at this point though have been my old '99 Dell QuietKey, and a Keytronics keyboard I have sitting around... Loud, but they feel right when I'm typing. It's not like some other keyboards I have where you have to really hit it to get an action, or worse yet you just have to tap lightly on some and hard on others...
Of course I have no idea where to find keyboards like that, or even what kind of keyboard it is.
Yeah, I hear they sink ships.
Why would it not work on Atom?
Sadly Atom has no PCIE slots (unless you find a rarer DTX board) and the only 8400GS I found for PCI was really expensive (100$? yeah right). But it's x86 so it should support the nVidia drivers just fine... Was that what you meant? it's not ARM, just trying to push x86 into ARM's market (and not doing too well at it...)
Unless there's something else I'm not aware of?
Of course, Nano is my platform of choice, especially in a mythbox. That way I can actually play games and stuff.
There are too many coincidences to make it seem like this all happened randomly without any sort of intelligence.
I don't doubt that there is no "God" as seen by man. But you are deluded, to be honest, if you believe everything happened randomly without reason.
The further we get in science the closer we get to believing there is certainly some intelligence in the system. It is not very likely some old bearded man threw some objects together to form the universe, but rather that the organisation of everything... that all matter itself... forms a sort of "planetthink", that everything somehow knows how to work together to form things.
If there was no intelligence whatsoever, and note that intelligence is used loosely here, how did we end up here?
Things change, that's true. But to base your arguments on nothing but hatred for people who are not your enemies (radicals might discount evolution, but whales are some evidence to a form of evolution, and what goes on in isolated human communities is also somewhat evolution, just not in the right direction)...
No John, you are the zombies.
After breaking the remote on one of my DVD players I'd have to agree.
Can't skip through anything, you can't access any "special material", and did I mention you can't skip through anything like those annoying ads? For some reason DVD players don't come with "fast forward/rewind" buttons on the player... just start, stop, eject.
Or maybe just a Nano/Atom with a GeForce 9-series chipset, running linux with mythtv (or something based on ffmpeg). It seems with the lowliest of the new Semprons (2600+ Sparta?) and an 8400GS you can use VDPAU to play h.264 videos barely hitting the CPU. (just at start and end)
Tegra would be better, though, being ARM and all. Too bad nVidia is full of shit and won't help linux developpers on it.
I am more or less only here because of state-run healthcare, so it's certain I'm quite fond of it... But the 25% sales tax, the high income tax offput me a lot... Not to mention just noticing prices of things, talking to Swedes about their lifestyle and again more prices and stuff, it seems like it's easy to get off good, but then gets incredibly hard to make a high income.
But then again, if I go as a student I'll likely not be making much money now will I? ;P
(and don't fret, I'll certainly try to "do my part" for the swedish economy I'd be mooching off of)
(Shameless plug: studying at swedish universities is totally free, except for a nominal 40$ students union fee =)
I thought that was only if you were a swedish citizen?
Last time I was in Sweden (this summer actually) I was told by one of my uncles that you'd have to pay your tuition like in a north american school unless you were a citizen, and citizenship takes 5 years and student years don't count.
I wouldn't mind Sweden though if it weren't for the welfare state politics... Then again, a student should be happy in a world of government assistance. I thought about the Royal Institute of Technology (somebody told me it was also called "Cote Haute"?...) but not knowing Swedish, and being a "francophile" isn't very helpful in Sweden. I was able to understand almost all the Swedish I read (not so much heard, just lightly) but not able to reply back, so unless it's as English as you say it wouldn't be very enjoyable.
An option is an option though. It's not like I'm too decided on Canadian universities either.
Or maybe computer engineering with it? I figure then you'd have the "I understand" (CS) and the "I know how to do it" (CE) degrees.
Or you could go business, but business is for for gifted genetically-engineered monkeys whose brains don't work at maximum capacity. Of course, it pays the bills, and hey he still makes more than Fry.
The cost is incredible, though. Yes, it's awesome, I love it. It's a pig though, when compared to other formats.
I guess it's an inherit tradeoff, that when space and bitrate drop, to keep the same quality you need to up intensity.
Is it even worth going up to component for the Wii? I mean, the cable is only like 3$-4$, but will the progressive scan mode help out or just smooth things out that I didn't see in the first place?
(720p TV here)
which is why it doesn't play DVD movies even though it has a DVD drive.
Which is nice in a way, to be honest; the Wii's DVD drive goes at a steady pace and so should have a longer life time (not to mention the flash storage).
It really makes me rage though that VC titles won't run off SD cards. I know they're worried about AverageDick loading his piratebay ROMs on an SD card into his Wii, but geez you'd think at this point they could figure out some form of minor-to-moderate encryption/checksum system to only allow Wii-bought games to run and let everyone go home happy...
h.264 is a pig of a format, on playback at least. Dirac scales better, xvid plays better. What the heck is up with the h.264 hype?
I don't think the Wii will have a problem if this is properly coded, and it might even be done in assembly code to push it even further. I'm sure you could also use the GPU for this sort of thing, don't think OpenCL would be hard even on a GPU like that.