One thing to remember, is that alot of operating systems allow you to adjust the display DPI setting. Windows by default uses 96DPI, but you can easily bump it to 120 (even in xp). Also , windows 7 supports changing the display settings from "smaller" to "medium" (125%) and large (150%), though i've never tried them myself
on the 'large display' side, one of my colleagues just picked up a sony 32" lcd tv for $399 USD from amazon, that's 720p (i assume 1280x720 or 1366x768) for his home, second tv, but this would easily work for those the desiring large screens with higher resolutions. Also consider the low end/off brand LCD tv's too, as those are getting even cheaper.
I agree with chk6 - rather than try to bring it back to earth (i assume it they are not going to attempt to actually bring it back intact), can it not be sent to the moon? The lesser gravity to minimize impact and lack of atmosphere to avoid entry burnup, might allow it to land in somewhat of a useful state. Not that I want to see humanity start littering the moon, but I would think having -some- sort of spare parts on the moon would be more beneficial than just crashing it back to earth.
i actually thought that the portal travel method seemed more like wormhole travel, something liek stargates in Stargate, than teleportation, as we are accustomed to in the startrek generation (geek reference).
Wormholes create a direction connection between two points in space/time that allow energy and matter to pass through directly. In the case of the portal game, you can actually see through the wormhole in both directions (rather than what looks like a 'water' event horizon", even to the point of looking at your self in both sides of the event horizon.
As I understand the physics of teleportation, the device would deconstruct the matter into energy, sends it from point a to point b along a 'path', and recontructs it at point b.
I would assume most of the users on here are quite linux savy (if not, ask a friend, they may be able to help, but prepared to supply beer and pizza).
Rather than a dedicated cheap nas device, i decided to go with a DIY linux software raid array. The current linux software raid is pretty reliable. if your doing mission critical data, i recommend hardware raid instead however. To estimate this, try to attempt to guage the cost associated with re-gathering all your data, and spend at least 1/4 that much for your storage.
My solution was 4 200gb ata seagate baracuda drives in sw raid 5. the cost was about: - 4 drives @ $125 cdn - case & powersupply @ $100 cdn - board, cpu, 512mb ram @ $200 cdn total cost - 900$ cdn
i used the onboard ide controller for a 80gb os disk, and a separate 2channel pci ide controller for the 4 disks, in raid 5, giving about.6tb of storage: achilles:/storage 559G 474G 86G 85%/storage
i've been using this volume for about 1.5 years now with no problems *knock wood*. I've also rebuilt a sw raid 5 array at work, so i know that part of it works (for the most part).
A few benefits i find using linux rather than a hardware device: - i can ssh/winscp in and get any of my files, anytime, from anywhere - i can run apache, mounting my/store/picturelibrary/ directory, and share my pictures with family - nfs or smb mount the volumes to any other linux/windows machines - the geek satisfaction of having my own.6tb volume.
my next step from this is to purchase 4-8 SATA drives, a 8channel sata controller, and go with that. One thing to consider, is the location of your system. With this many drives, it can generate substantial heat (and noise), so you probably dont' want it sitting in a warm location in your home, where you have to listen to it droning away (4 cudas make some noise:) ). Mine is in my basement, also has a cdrw on it (for quick doc backups), a 2gb orb drive (for quicker backups) and a shared printer.
One other thing. you can also use the mdadm tools to monitor the volume for any issues, and if/when they arrise, you can have it email you a message. This way you can pick up a spare 200gb drive on your way home from work to replace the failed one:). The linux md device also supports a hot spare, which i recommend you consider if the data is important enough to you.
Slashdot Mirror
One thing to remember, is that alot of operating systems allow you to adjust the display DPI setting. Windows by default uses 96DPI, but you can easily bump it to 120 (even in xp). Also , windows 7 supports changing the display settings from "smaller" to "medium" (125%) and large (150%), though i've never tried them myself
on the 'large display' side, one of my colleagues just picked up a sony 32" lcd tv for $399 USD from amazon, that's 720p (i assume 1280x720 or 1366x768) for his home, second tv, but this would easily work for those the desiring large screens with higher resolutions. Also consider the low end/off brand LCD tv's too, as those are getting even cheaper.
dw.
I agree with chk6 - rather than try to bring it back to earth (i assume it they are not going to attempt to actually bring it back intact), can it not be sent to the moon? The lesser gravity to minimize impact and lack of atmosphere to avoid entry burnup, might allow it to land in somewhat of a useful state. Not that I want to see humanity start littering the moon, but I would think having -some- sort of spare parts on the moon would be more beneficial than just crashing it back to earth.
i actually thought that the portal travel method seemed more like wormhole travel, something liek stargates in Stargate, than teleportation, as we are accustomed to in the startrek generation (geek reference).
Wormholes create a direction connection between two points in space/time that allow energy and matter to pass through directly. In the case of the portal game, you can actually see through the wormhole in both directions (rather than what looks like a 'water' event horizon", even to the point of looking at your self in both sides of the event horizon.
As I understand the physics of teleportation, the device would deconstruct the matter into energy, sends it from point a to point b along a 'path', and recontructs it at point b.
thoughts? :)
dwight.
I would assume most of the users on here are quite linux savy (if not, ask a friend, they may be able to help, but prepared to supply beer and pizza).
.6tb of storage: /storage
/store/picturelibrary/ directory, and share my pictures with family .6tb volume.
:) ). Mine is in my basement, also has a cdrw on it (for quick doc backups), a 2gb orb drive (for quicker backups) and a shared printer.
l
:). The linux md device also supports a hot spare, which i recommend you consider if the data is important enough to you.
Rather than a dedicated cheap nas device, i decided to go with a DIY linux software raid array. The current linux software raid is pretty reliable. if your doing mission critical data, i recommend hardware raid instead however. To estimate this, try to attempt to guage the cost associated with re-gathering all your data, and spend at least 1/4 that much for your storage.
My solution was 4 200gb ata seagate baracuda drives in sw raid 5. the cost was about:
- 4 drives @ $125 cdn
- case & powersupply @ $100 cdn
- board, cpu, 512mb ram @ $200 cdn
total cost - 900$ cdn
i used the onboard ide controller for a 80gb os disk, and a separate 2channel pci ide controller for the 4 disks, in raid 5, giving about
achilles:/storage 559G 474G 86G 85%
i've been using this volume for about 1.5 years now with no problems *knock wood*. I've also rebuilt a sw raid 5 array at work, so i know that part of it works (for the most part).
A few benefits i find using linux rather than a hardware device:
- i can ssh/winscp in and get any of my files, anytime, from anywhere
- i can run apache, mounting my
- nfs or smb mount the volumes to any other linux/windows machines
- the geek satisfaction of having my own
my next step from this is to purchase 4-8 SATA drives, a 8channel sata controller, and go with that. One thing to consider, is the location of your system. With this many drives, it can generate substantial heat (and noise), so you probably dont' want it sitting in a warm location in your home, where you have to listen to it droning away (4 cudas make some noise
hope this helps! a good linux sw raid howto is at:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.htm
One other thing. you can also use the mdadm tools to monitor the volume for any issues, and if/when they arrise, you can have it email you a message. This way you can pick up a spare 200gb drive on your way home from work to replace the failed one
dwight s.