Actually, the Ultra 10 has a UltraSparc IIi processor with 2meg cache (same as the Ultra 5). The only workstation with an Ultra III is the Blade 1000 (with 8meg cache). The Blade 100 has a wimpy UltraSparc IIe w/256k cache. My Ultra 10 "feels" about twice as fast as my friend's Blade 100 when it comes to java compiles, but his Blade 100 is faster at graphics (my 10 has a Creator 3d, his Blade has an Elite 3d).
Anyway, good luck with the Blade 1000 (wink, wink)
And I have to say that it is the first PDA that I like better than my aging Pilot (original U.S Robotics Palm, upgraded to a 3). I use linux on my laptop and my home machine and I am a professional java developer. This thing is exactly what I have been looking for. Now I can easily write custom software for my PDA. I could never get into the whole palm development mess. Just to mac-ish for my tastes.
Also, this thing uses the same Li-ion batteries as my Canon S100 camera, so I can carry around a spare and use it in either (the Canon really, really likes batteries...).
Maybe I'm out of touch, but this thing is fast. I mean, there is this 3d java applet that was packed on it and it just flew. The guy who owned it told me that there is supposed to be a 802.11b option coming out for it. Must... control... urge... to spend... money...
(p.s. The keyboard rocks. Noodling around in the terminal was great)
I had an HP-41CV back in '82 but some punk stole it in '84, so I replaced it with an HP-16C (didn't like that one as much).
Over the years I've bought a 35, 28C, 42C, 48SX, 48GX and, finally, another 41CV. I found the 41CV at a used electronics store for $25, with case. They even had the extended functions module, time module, and navigation pac. Ah, just like old times.
Of them all I use the 41 the most. It just feels right. I keep the 48GX in my laptop bag, the 42C over by the checkbook/bills, and the 41CV right here by my main computer.
The 35 still works (it will be 30 years old next year! I'm only 7 years older).
I hope someone else decides to crank out some RPN calcs in the future, but it's at least nice to know that there will be plenty of these around in the used market. They just never seem to break.
CPU load? That's the reason I switched to LimeWire. GTK-Gnutella was a complete CPU hog and fairly unstable (but, to be fair, I run debian Sid, so I may have som eunstable libs).
* There is a new preference for choosing between Windows and Linux scrollbar behaviour when the mouse strays off the scrollbar when you're in the process of scrolling. (Bug 90985)
Could someone who uses windows explain to me why you would ever want the assinine scrollbar "feature" of having to accurately track the scrollbar to keep scrolling? This is one of the things that annoys me the most when I use someone's windows box. It's like some kind of chinese water torture.
Actually, OS-9 only ran on the Color Computer from Tandy, not the rest of the TRS-80s.
I used to have 3 floppy drives and a Heath H-19 terminal hooked up to mine. One drive was for the OS, one for the C compiler and one was for data (programs that I wrote). It was always very amusing to have two people using my computer at once; one on the terminal and one at the "console". All this at a time when the PC was still running DOS 2.x. Not bad for Tandy's little toy computer!:-)
Actually, the original Amiga only had 12bit (4096)
color and that was only in a special HAM (Hold and
Modify) mode. No fancy animation or anything else
while in that mode.
At last! I've been waiting for P3D to go up for years. Does anyone know what the Oscar designation will be. IIRC, P3D should receive an Oscar number after it successfully reaches orbit.
Switzerland has a shortage of IT types (especially people with Java skills) and is a very beautiful country. Here in Zurich everybody speaks three or more languages, with at least one being english. It's easy to get 2 Mbs cable modem connections with unlimited (rather than metered) bandwidth.
If you're interested in seeing Europe, Zurich is 30 minutes from Germany, 1 hour from France, 1 hour from Austria, 2.5 hours from Italy and 45 minutes from Lichtenstein. It also doesn't hurt that it's only half an hour some skiing.
The cost of living here is pretty high, but the pay is higher too.
I still have a KIM-1 from 1977. Built by Commodore, it had a 1Mhz 6502, 1k ram, 6 digit 7 segment display and a hex keypad. What was amazing was that there was a chess program called MicroChess written by Peter Jennings (not that one) that actually played an okay game (considering the hardware). He used all available ram AND the extra 32 bytes available in some of the I/O chips.
I don't know about others, but I've never had to reboot my BeOS system because of a crash. That being said, what exactly is uptime? I mean, I have had the network server crash on Be, but, because of the micro kernel design, I just restarted the network server. No reboot. Is my machine still "up"?
Also, I imagine most people running Be also dual or triple boot. This might explain the short uptimes listed. I'll usually leave my system in BeOS unless I'm banging out some Java or playing some games with a friend.
Fun, interesting articles. It doesn't matter if it's digital or dead trees. It's the content. The best computer magazine, by far, was "Micro Cornucopia". I still have most of the 53 issues. It covered transputers, writing Mandelbrot programs in Postscript, robotics, SOGs (Semi Official Get togethers, sort of an annual fly-in, pancake breakfast, hack fest). Ah, the good 'ol days, sniff...
Java is being used very heavily within large corporations for their own vertical systems. I worked at FedEx on their internal weather system and also for their ramp dispatch systems (fueling, deicing, maintenence). These systems have equipment that range in size from Sun Enterprise 6000s to various RF enabled handhelds and interface to all sorts of equipment (GOES Weather satellite ground stations, time clocks, GPS, mainframes, etc.). All in java.
Currently I'm working at a large European airline where we're developing all kinds of bleeding edge stuff, including e-commerce on mobile phones. Java gets used heavily for this type of stuff, it's just not very visible to the end user.
There are programming contests, such as the ICFP contest that are based on writing a certain competitive program within a set amout of time. These things are almost more fun than should be allowed!
BTW, does anyone know the final results of the ICFP contest? I had an entry that was in the running for the judges prize.
That's exactly why I became a contractor. I realised that, at previous jobs, I'd get bored after about two years and move on. So, I decided to become a contractor. Since I've been contracting I've worked at five different jobs with an average contracting time of two years. At the end of the project I'm usually one of the more senior team members, since most of the employees have moved on to greener pastures. Most of this work has been using bleeding edge technology in small teams (2-8 team members), with my primary responsibility being design. I never do shoddy, half-assed work since it directly affects my career and reputation. I've witnessed many employees that just "get by", doing as little work as they can get away with. You just can't do that as a contractor and expect to get away with it (at least, not in the long run).
From my experience I find contracting just as stable and secure as being an employee. Usually I'm the one that says it's time for me to move on, not the employer. I've seen a few turkeys get hired (both contractors and employees), but that's usually because they weren't put through a decent tech interview. The employees get a few perks that I don't (insurance, 401k, discounts, fitness center, etc.), but I'm getting paid roughly twice (or more) their salary. I've had my own SEP-IRA for eight years, which, with the extra income, more than makes up for a lack of a 401k. All the rest (insurance, discounts, etc.) really don't add to the difference in pay.
Oh well, maybe contractings not for everyone, but it sure works for me.
Ciao, Mike T. Miller (Currently working in Switzerland on a two year contract with my wife and kids.)
Slashdot Mirror
I would have marked you "+1 funny" or, maybe, "-1 troll" but then I realized that hardly anyone bit.
I especially liked the bit about the brain magically hearing "inaudible overtones" and the harmonic resonance degrading speaker systems. Classic.
You can find it here .
The promotional video is pretty funny too (in an MST3K, bad movie kinda way...).
You can find a real shot here.
Plain 'ol LCD stuff. Still pretty cool for the price though.
Actually, the Ultra 10 has a UltraSparc IIi processor with 2meg cache (same as the Ultra 5). The only workstation with an Ultra III is the Blade 1000 (with 8meg cache). The Blade 100 has a wimpy UltraSparc IIe w/256k cache. My Ultra 10 "feels" about twice as fast as my friend's Blade 100 when it comes to java compiles, but his Blade 100 is faster at graphics (my 10 has a Creator 3d, his Blade has an Elite 3d).
Anyway, good luck with the Blade 1000 (wink, wink)
... with Joel or Mike. That's what I'd like to see.
Perhaps not as forgotten as some, but it is included with every Sun and most modern Macs in the form of OpenFirmware.
I used to have a blast messing around with FORTH on my old Kaypro II, Vic 20, Apple II, CoCo, Amiga, etc. A really fun language to hack around in.
And I have to say that it is the first PDA that I like better than my aging Pilot (original U.S Robotics Palm, upgraded to a 3). I use linux on my laptop and my home machine and I am a professional java developer. This thing is exactly what I have been looking for. Now I can easily write custom software for my PDA. I could never get into the whole palm development mess. Just to mac-ish for my tastes.
Also, this thing uses the same Li-ion batteries as my Canon S100 camera, so I can carry around a spare and use it in either (the Canon really, really likes batteries...).
Maybe I'm out of touch, but this thing is fast. I mean, there is this 3d java applet that was packed on it and it just flew. The guy who owned it told me that there is supposed to be a 802.11b option coming out for it. Must... control... urge... to spend... money...
(p.s. The keyboard rocks. Noodling around in the terminal was great)
I had an HP-41CV back in '82 but some punk stole it in '84, so I replaced it with an HP-16C (didn't like that one as much).
Over the years I've bought a 35, 28C, 42C, 48SX, 48GX and, finally, another 41CV. I found the 41CV at a used electronics store for $25, with case. They even had the extended functions module, time module, and navigation pac. Ah, just like old times.
Of them all I use the 41 the most. It just feels right. I keep the 48GX in my laptop bag, the 42C over by the checkbook/bills, and the 41CV right here by my main computer.
The 35 still works (it will be 30 years old next year! I'm only 7 years older).
I hope someone else decides to crank out some RPN calcs in the future, but it's at least nice to know that there will be plenty of these around in the used market. They just never seem to break.
Sounds weird to me to here OS X 10.1.
Reminds me of ATM machines and FAT testing.
CPU load? That's the reason I switched to LimeWire. GTK-Gnutella was a complete CPU hog and fairly unstable (but, to be fair, I run debian Sid, so I may have som eunstable libs).
LimeWire has been stable and hardly uses any CPU.
From the new feature list:
* There is a new preference for choosing between Windows and Linux scrollbar behaviour when the mouse strays off the scrollbar when you're in the process of scrolling. (Bug 90985)
Could someone who uses windows explain to me why you would ever want the assinine scrollbar "feature" of having to accurately track the scrollbar to keep scrolling? This is one of the things that annoys me the most when I use someone's windows box. It's like some kind of chinese water torture.
Actually, OS-9 only ran on the Color Computer from Tandy, not the rest of the TRS-80s.
:-)
I used to have 3 floppy drives and a Heath H-19 terminal hooked up to mine. One drive was for the OS, one for the C compiler and one was for data (programs that I wrote). It was always very amusing to have two people using my computer at once; one on the terminal and one at the "console". All this at a time when the PC was still running DOS 2.x. Not bad for Tandy's little toy computer!
Sky Net
The Blade 100 uses a Sparc IIe, not a Mips.
Given that he said "Gort!" I'd have to say
"The Day the Earth Stood Still"
Actually, the original Amiga only had 12bit (4096)
color and that was only in a special HAM (Hold and
Modify) mode. No fancy animation or anything else
while in that mode.
At last! I've been waiting for P3D to go up for years. Does anyone know what the Oscar designation will be. IIRC, P3D should receive an Oscar number after it successfully reaches orbit.
Mike
KE4ZAF, hanging out in Switzerland
Switzerland has a shortage of IT types (especially people with Java skills) and is a very beautiful country. Here in Zurich everybody speaks three or more languages, with at least one being english. It's easy to get 2 Mbs cable modem connections with unlimited (rather than metered) bandwidth.
If you're interested in seeing Europe, Zurich is 30 minutes from Germany, 1 hour from France, 1 hour from Austria, 2.5 hours from Italy and 45 minutes from Lichtenstein. It also doesn't hurt
that it's only half an hour some skiing.
The cost of living here is pretty high, but the
pay is higher too.
Ciao,
Mike
I still have a KIM-1 from 1977. Built by Commodore, it had a 1Mhz 6502, 1k ram, 6 digit 7 segment display and a hex keypad. What was amazing was that there was a chess program called MicroChess written by Peter Jennings (not that one) that actually played an okay game (considering the hardware). He used all available ram AND the extra 32 bytes available in some of the I/O chips.
Ah, the good ol' days of hand assembly code.
mike
I don't know about others, but I've never had to reboot my BeOS system because of a crash. That being said, what exactly is uptime? I mean, I have had the network server crash on Be, but, because of the micro kernel design, I just restarted the network server. No reboot. Is my machine still "up"?
Also, I imagine most people running Be also dual or triple boot. This might explain the short uptimes listed. I'll usually leave my system in BeOS unless I'm banging out some Java or playing some games with a friend.
Fun, interesting articles. It doesn't matter if it's digital or dead trees. It's the content. The best computer magazine, by far, was "Micro Cornucopia". I still have most of the 53 issues. It covered transputers, writing Mandelbrot programs in Postscript, robotics, SOGs (Semi Official Get togethers, sort of an annual fly-in, pancake breakfast, hack fest). Ah, the good 'ol days, sniff...
Mike
Java is being used very heavily within large corporations for their own vertical systems. I worked at FedEx on their internal weather system and also for their ramp dispatch systems (fueling, deicing, maintenence). These systems have equipment that range in size from Sun Enterprise 6000s to various RF enabled handhelds and interface to all sorts of equipment (GOES Weather satellite ground stations, time clocks, GPS, mainframes, etc.). All in java.
Currently I'm working at a large European airline
where we're developing all kinds of bleeding edge stuff, including e-commerce on mobile phones. Java gets used heavily for this type of stuff, it's just not very visible to the end user.
Ciao,
Mike
There are programming contests, such as the ICFP contest that are based on writing a certain competitive program within a set amout of time. These things are almost more fun than should be allowed!
BTW, does anyone know the final results of the ICFP contest? I had an entry that was in the running for the judges prize.
later,
mike
That's exactly why I became a contractor. I realised that, at previous jobs, I'd get bored after about two years and move on. So, I decided to become a contractor. Since I've been contracting I've worked at five different jobs with an average contracting time of two years. At the end of the project I'm usually one of the more senior team members, since most of the employees have moved on to greener pastures. Most of this work has been using bleeding edge technology in small teams (2-8 team members), with my primary responsibility being design. I never do shoddy, half-assed work since it directly affects my career and reputation. I've witnessed many employees that just "get by", doing as little work as they can get away with. You just can't do that as a contractor and expect to get away with it (at least, not in the long run).
From my experience I find contracting just as stable and secure as being an employee. Usually I'm the one that says it's time for me to move on, not the employer. I've seen a few turkeys get hired (both contractors and employees), but that's usually because they weren't put through a decent tech interview. The employees get a few perks that I don't (insurance, 401k, discounts, fitness center, etc.), but I'm getting paid roughly twice (or more) their salary. I've had my own SEP-IRA for eight years, which, with the extra income, more than makes up for a lack of a 401k. All the rest (insurance, discounts, etc.) really don't add to the difference in pay.
Oh well, maybe contractings not for everyone, but it sure works for me.
Ciao,
Mike T. Miller
(Currently working in Switzerland on a two year contract with my wife and kids.)
Or, can I have a "gaggle" of computers? Or, maybe, a "brace"? A "cluster" of computers just doesn't seem to convey the right meaning in this case.