...and I can tell you that the implementation is very, very poor.
Not only do they not provide connectivity via a true AP, DHCP is still unable to dish out addresses - I've been getting 169.254.* since they turned it on...
Oh, and it's only available in 3 of the 12 carriages of the train, and only on one train so far...
The premis of de-orbiting HST seems to be that it costs too much to fix it where it is, and is too dangerous to leave where it is.
What I want to know is, why de-orbit into an ocean? Why not just use the self-same de-orbit technology to lower to to a point where it becomes cheaper and easier to fix, fix it easily and cheaply, then kick it back out?
Maybe *I* should become a rocket scientist?
Re:Ivy is still a big bonus! (big deal)
on
Who Needs Harvard?
·
· Score: 1
What you need to consider is how often an Ivy League grad is going to hire another Ivy League grad over an otherwise-equivalent grad from elsewhere.
Also, consider how often a new IL-grad will be offered a job by a previous-generation ILer based on having been in the same dorm/fraternity/drunk-tank as new grad's parent.
Most of the posts I've seen to far have presumed that this is going to be a 3-site TV gameshow style event, with 2-way video streams and buzzer-sync issues. This is almost certainly not the case, and the below is based on the usual style of UK pub quiz... which means each team writing answers on a piece of paper, and marking each others answers when read out at the end. So...
Also, I'm not going to mention specific software, rather the infrastructure approach to doing this successfully...
First, each site has a technician. At the remote sites, they're responsible for feeding the video and audio to the projector, and for using some sort of low-bandwidth instant messenger or dedicated IRC to chat with the host site technician for things like question repeat requests and so forth. At the host end, the tech feeds messages to the quizmaster and runs the outbound video/audio feed.
Second, remember that the 512kb link is downstream only - the upstream is going to be half that for basic UK ADSL, which means much less bandwidth for the video/audio as most ISPs don't support multicast. It'd probably be worth contacting the ISP - if all three venues us the same one - to try and get some dedicated/increased bandwidth for the event, or at least some "preferred" routing for the video.
Next, the host site server needs to be the most powerful you have, in order to compress the video as much as possible in as close to real-time as possible. Hardware encoding is a big plus at this point. Also, forget about webcams for the video source - beg/borrow/whatever a decent video camera, capture card and lighting.
Also, have a backup plan. For example, feed the ear-piece output of a cellphone to the remote site PA, and have the host-site microphone also feed the mic input of two cellphones as an alternate feed. Return feeds would come from/go to the techs.
Finally, test everything off-site well before the event to make sure it all works, then test it all extensively on the day. It might sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how often it doesn't happen.
Oh, and if you're running this somewhere in the south-east of England, drop me a line if you want a tech for one of the sites...
Rival chip maker AMD says they have the capability to produce dual-core chips and will introduce the technology when they "feel there is a market need."
Didn't Intel say that about 64bit CPUs right up until AMD release the Opteron and AMD64 CPUs... then had to play catch-up and eat a whole load of humble pie?
Yes, Python and a host of other languages can be downloaded for no cost, BUT none of them are provided ready-installed along with the OS on 99.8% of all new desktop/laptop computers today, and with 90%+ of desktop/laptop computers sold over the last 5 years.
With this book and a computer running Win98 or later (can't remember if IE on 95 has JS), or OS X (dunno about earlier versions), the user has all they need to start writing code of their own. No downloads required - hell, they don;t even have to be on-line!
Never mind the 12-13 age group - I'll be giving this to a few 7-8 year olds for birthday and/or christmas prezzies...
This is not rocket science, and I had presumed this rule had been learned a long time ago... but here it is again:
"To ensure scalability, host each server-component of an application on it's own hardware - optimsed for the specific task assigned."
In other words, DO NOT deploy everything onto one machine. Remember the old adage "Jack of all trades, master of none".
So, put the database server on its own box, with dual cpu, loads of memory and RAID-mirrored drives.
Put IIS, the ASP.Net app (and the web services if you're feeling cheap) onto a fast, single cpu box, enough memory to turn off paging and a single drive - GHOST'd onto CD for backup.
Install an extra net card in both, and set it up soley as the route for traffic between them.
Implimenting this hardware for less than 20K should be trivial.
If you can't comfortably support 200 concurrent users with this, you need professional help - my consulting rates are quite reasonable...
A DVD or VHS used for rental typically costs six times more than a retail copy.
At (for example) GBP60 for a new movie on VHS (as Rainman was on it's release), the tape has to be rented 120 times at GBP2 just to break even on the purchase price - that's every night for 3 months - to say nothing of the store overhead.
Now add to this the fact that you can never have just *one* copy of a new release on the shelf, or your customers will go elsewhere.
This is why your corner video store HAS to charge late fees, and sell off pre-rental tapes... and why they get annoyed at customers who complain about paying a GBP10 late fee and then won't return the tape, saying "That's what the tape costs, why shouldn't I keep it?"...
The economics of a single video rental shop are marginal (pardon the pun) - the bread and butter is made not from A-list movie releases, but B-list and back catalogue material, as well as actual "retail" meterial like snacks and drinks.
Now, consider instead the disposable DVD scenario: the economics change from the rental to pure retail model.
Instead of having to buy 5 copies at GBP60 each and rent them 600 times at GBP2 a time to break even, they can buy 200 disposables at GBP1.50 each and make a guaranteed GBP0.5 on each sale.
Even better, if 50 customers want to see the new Vin Diesel exploderama on the day it is released, they can, and they don't need to go to your competitor.
Plus, the opportunity of "sale or return" on stock arises, so the video store can hold a thousand copies of "Things Exploding" on the day of release, and send back any used copies for credit.
Finally, expect this "disposable format" to only be used for A-list titles in the first 3 months or so of their release, and subsequently revert to standard "long life" format.
In fact, it's a shame that this didn't/couldn't happen a long time ago, as Blockbuster would never have got a foothold in the market.
The process is about how to organise and homogenise the arrangement of magnetic particles on the disc surface.
Reading and writing is still done the way it is today (mangentically) but, with a more regular magnetic matrix, greater storage densities can be acheived...
Slashdot Mirror
until your engine siezes up?
Drop me a line if you fancy some Ridge Racer action...
...and I can tell you that the implementation is very, very poor.
Not only do they not provide connectivity via a true AP, DHCP is still unable to dish out addresses - I've been getting 169.254.* since they turned it on...
Oh, and it's only available in 3 of the 12 carriages of the train, and only on one train so far...
The premis of de-orbiting HST seems to be that it costs too much to fix it where it is, and is too dangerous to leave where it is.
What I want to know is, why de-orbit into an ocean? Why not just use the self-same de-orbit technology to lower to to a point where it becomes cheaper and easier to fix, fix it easily and cheaply, then kick it back out?
Maybe *I* should become a rocket scientist?
What you need to consider is how often an Ivy League grad is going to hire another Ivy League grad over an otherwise-equivalent grad from elsewhere.
Also, consider how often a new IL-grad will be offered a job by a previous-generation ILer based on having been in the same dorm/fraternity/drunk-tank as new grad's parent.
Most of the posts I've seen to far have presumed that this is going to be a 3-site TV gameshow style event, with 2-way video streams and buzzer-sync issues. This is almost certainly not the case, and the below is based on the usual style of UK pub quiz... which means each team writing answers on a piece of paper, and marking each others answers when read out at the end. So...
Also, I'm not going to mention specific software, rather the infrastructure approach to doing this successfully...
First, each site has a technician. At the remote sites, they're responsible for feeding the video and audio to the projector, and for using some sort of low-bandwidth instant messenger or dedicated IRC to chat with the host site technician for things like question repeat requests and so forth. At the host end, the tech feeds messages to the quizmaster and runs the outbound video/audio feed.
Second, remember that the 512kb link is downstream only - the upstream is going to be half that for basic UK ADSL, which means much less bandwidth for the video/audio as most ISPs don't support multicast. It'd probably be worth contacting the ISP - if all three venues us the same one - to try and get some dedicated/increased bandwidth for the event, or at least some "preferred" routing for the video.
Next, the host site server needs to be the most powerful you have, in order to compress the video as much as possible in as close to real-time as possible. Hardware encoding is a big plus at this point. Also, forget about webcams for the video source - beg/borrow/whatever a decent video camera, capture card and lighting.
Also, have a backup plan. For example, feed the ear-piece output of a cellphone to the remote site PA, and have the host-site microphone also feed the mic input of two cellphones as an alternate feed. Return feeds would come from/go to the techs.
Finally, test everything off-site well before the event to make sure it all works, then test it all extensively on the day. It might sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how often it doesn't happen.
Oh, and if you're running this somewhere in the south-east of England, drop me a line if you want a tech for one of the sites...
Four digit wife, ID, jar for the cats and a case... er, half-a-case of beer...
None of the above!
Guess what...
...but what kind of upgrade path is there?
Get a low-paying IT job in a big corporate, then impress with your skills(z), and you can earn huge bucks in almost no time flat...
Earn slightly more as a waiter, and you'll stay a waiter for the rest of your life...
I've been on both sides... trust me, the waiting-on-tables path sucks...
Just great... now we're going to get product placement in video games.
Yes, Python and a host of other languages can be downloaded for no cost, BUT none of them are provided ready-installed along with the OS on 99.8% of all new desktop/laptop computers today, and with 90%+ of desktop/laptop computers sold over the last 5 years.
With this book and a computer running Win98 or later (can't remember if IE on 95 has JS), or OS X (dunno about earlier versions), the user has all they need to start writing code of their own. No downloads required - hell, they don;t even have to be on-line!
Never mind the 12-13 age group - I'll be giving this to a few 7-8 year olds for birthday and/or christmas prezzies...
...before someone at IBM notices their use of 'MicroChannel'?
Without an NDA, what's to stop the VC going to another startup, and saying 'Your idea sucks, but here's a better one, and i want 60%'?
A handshake?
I find that a wench and rack does it for me...
The 1981 Harry Harrison" book 'Starworld' (book three of the 'To The Stars' trilogy) features a pendant computer with a holographic keyboard...
I wonder if the Patent Office will accept SF as prior art..?
This is not rocket science, and I had presumed this rule had been learned a long time ago... but here it is again:
"To ensure scalability, host each server-component of an application on it's own hardware - optimsed for the specific task assigned."
In other words, DO NOT deploy everything onto one machine. Remember the old adage "Jack of all trades, master of none".
So, put the database server on its own box, with dual cpu, loads of memory and RAID-mirrored drives.
Put IIS, the ASP.Net app (and the web services if you're feeling cheap) onto a fast, single cpu box, enough memory to turn off paging and a single drive - GHOST'd onto CD for backup.
Install an extra net card in both, and set it up soley as the route for traffic between them.
Implimenting this hardware for less than 20K should be trivial.
If you can't comfortably support 200 concurrent users with this, you need professional help - my consulting rates are quite reasonable...
I've got a Transmeta-based tablet Pc here running Linux...
Current Transmeta CPUs run an emulated x86 instruction set, so you can run your favourite distro as long as it supports the surrounding hardware...
I never even knew than LAN parties happened down here...
A DVD or VHS used for rental typically costs six times more than a retail copy.
At (for example) GBP60 for a new movie on VHS (as Rainman was on it's release), the tape has to be rented 120 times at GBP2 just to break even on the purchase price - that's every night for 3 months - to say nothing of the store overhead.
Now add to this the fact that you can never have just *one* copy of a new release on the shelf, or your customers will go elsewhere.
This is why your corner video store HAS to charge late fees, and sell off pre-rental tapes... and why they get annoyed at customers who complain about paying a GBP10 late fee and then won't return the tape, saying "That's what the tape costs, why shouldn't I keep it?"...
The economics of a single video rental shop are marginal (pardon the pun) - the bread and butter is made not from A-list movie releases, but B-list and back catalogue material, as well as actual "retail" meterial like snacks and drinks.
Now, consider instead the disposable DVD scenario: the economics change from the rental to pure retail model.
Instead of having to buy 5 copies at GBP60 each and rent them 600 times at GBP2 a time to break even, they can buy 200 disposables at GBP1.50 each and make a guaranteed GBP0.5 on each sale.
Even better, if 50 customers want to see the new Vin Diesel exploderama on the day it is released, they can, and they don't need to go to your competitor.
Plus, the opportunity of "sale or return" on stock arises, so the video store can hold a thousand copies of "Things Exploding" on the day of release, and send back any used copies for credit.
Finally, expect this "disposable format" to only be used for A-list titles in the first 3 months or so of their release, and subsequently revert to standard "long life" format.
In fact, it's a shame that this didn't/couldn't happen a long time ago, as Blockbuster would never have got a foothold in the market.
The process is about how to organise and homogenise the arrangement of magnetic particles on the disc surface.
Reading and writing is still done the way it is today (mangentically) but, with a more regular magnetic matrix, greater storage densities can be acheived...
Well, if the abbreviated form of duplicate is "dupe", that must make this story... tripe!
You can get many Ealing comedies from play.com, as 4-disc sets here and here.