Yeah, I realize I skipped the possibility of developing local busineses using "E-Business" to expand their global reach.
a: If they could afford it, capitalism would have brought them at least a satelite uplink already
b: They need reliable and trustworthy parcel post at a reasonable cost before they can start selling their unique wares into other countries effectively.
People in developing countries don't have home computers. They don't have public libraries with computers, or net cafes, or low cost ISPs.
This won't help the downtrodden join us in the "first world". If anything it will do the opposite.
All this is going to do is allow Exxon to use an existing data trunk to get onto the internet and VPN into the home office instead of using a flaky voice line and international callback to talk to the home office when they show up to exploit the resources.
I don't mean to point a finger at Exxon. Heck, Avon would do the same thing. Or any signifigantly large company with a weasle in middle-managment who thinks it's ok to build success in his market by bending the rules of decency.
Even the usually squeaky clean IBM has had problems with mid-level execs in south america breaking the law.
The internet will get there one way or another. Lets start by teaching them to read.
lmsensors reports core1 voltage at 2.01vdc and core2 voltage at 1.47vdc -- given the likely margin of error with an on-board sensor that hasn't been calibrated by a human, those seem fine. Or maybe they're lower than reported.
The PowerLeap boards have their own regulators onboard, that might help the situation. Or not.
Interesting you should point out AGP as a possible culprit. I tried like heck to use a PCI video card in this system, but for some reason it refused to work. I really, really didn't want to blow $100 on a good AGP video card when i had a perfectly good PCI card already.
With a PCI video card, I couldn't boot multiprocessor, and couldn't start X in uniprocessor mode. Probably a bios or MTRR problem. MTI hasn't been helpful. I don't recommend their products.
Other cards in the system include a pair of RTL-8029 pci nics, an AWE32, an Aztech FM radio card, and an ADS ChannelSurfer TV (similar to Hauppaugge WinTV)
Oh, and there's integrated AIC-7880U on the motherboard. AHA-2740UW for the uninitiated. This, for some reason, always shares it's irq with pci slot 1, which is the nic driving my DSL connection.
Nothing in the box is at all out of the ordinary, and like i said, it crashes at the dumbest times.
If it crashed during hard disk activity, I could point a finger at the SCSI. But the disk is usually idle when it crashes.
It sometimes crashes during MP3 encoding, but I can't point the finger at cpu load because it has never crashed during a heavy compile, which puts far more load on the system in terms of memory i/o and processor use.
The only commonality i can find between the common crashes is floating point operations. Ifs is a fractal animation.
The motherboard is indeed properly mounted. I trust the power supply, but have considered getting a higher quality power supply with a higher volume fan.
Frankly, I'm baffled. The only parts of the system that isn't 100% on the level are the wire jumpers on the slotkets. I suspect cold solder joints. This is why i have ordered new slotkets.
In case you misunderstood, we don't live in a democracy in the US. I'm sorry if I'm the first one to let you know, but this is a republic, and there is a difference.
I built this system with an MTech M668DS LX chipset dual slot 1 motherboard, matrox G200, 128 megs of 6ns ECC SDRAM.
I'm using two celeron 366's on pre-modified MSI MS-6905's. I am not overclocking.
Doesn't work worth a damn. My uptimes range from 3 hours to 2 days. It's like using Windows or something.
If it were a memory problem, I'd see ECC complaints all over my logs. My cpu's have huge heatsinks and lmsensors report that they rarely get over 44c, so it can't be heat.
It usually crashes when the system is doing nothing more complex than animating the "Ifs" xscreensaver module. It never has crashed during a kernel compile, though i recompile every week or so, and use make -j4.
At this point, all I can figure is that the slotkets are defective. I don't expect to get a refund from the place i bought them from. I've ordered (far more expensive) PowerLeap slotkets on the off chance they might work better.
If that doesn't work out, I'm probably tracking down a pair of PII-333's. Which would suck, because this system performs very well when it's not locked up.
Yes, Linux/PPC has run on many RS/6000 boxes for quite a while. But the story is longer than that - it's not just "low end" boxes. Infact, the really low end may never run Linux.
A lot of people don't seem to realize, the PowerPC is more IBM's cost cutting triumph than it is Motorola's technological triumph.
For ages, IBM has been using the Power archetecture in RS/6000 systems. The problem? Too freakin expensive to build systems with several (like 64) processors.
Enter Motorola with an ageing, dead-end CISC design, and tons of experience with low-cost design and manufacture.
Getting Apple to use the new, cheaper version of the Power line, the PowerPC, really made life a lot easier for IBM, who has based their high end workstations and mini's on PPC chips ever since. RS/6000, AS/400, you name it.
I'm frankly not sure what an S/390 like Pacific Blue uses - something else entirely, from all reports. (Or was it S/360? it's late, and I'm watching monstervision)
Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Old Power-1 and Power-2 based boxes will probably never run anything but AIX.
I got mine a few days ago, and it was an enjoyable experience putting the stuff into use.
However, X10 seems to be determined to make sure everything they manufacture is less than ideal.
Take for instance the CM17a "Firecracker" itself. From the outset, it sounds good. Serial port dongle with passthrough means you don't lose a serial port and you don't have to run wires to the wall socket, right?
Unfortunately, it comes without the long thumbscrews usually found on dongles - using the CM17a as a passthrough dongle makes it possible for a formerly tightly secured serial device to fall off the back of your computer at the slightest agitation.
But that doesn't matter much to most of us, because i doubt the passthrough works under linux anyhow - device locking and all.
Also, X10 seems to have an unnatural affinity for little white boxes. Again, this is less than ideal. For a little more plastic and another plug and receptical, they could replace the little white boxes with a box that would seamlessly cover your outlet and stick out about an inch from the wall. Replace the screw in the center of the plate with a longer screw through the device, and make it impossible for a small child to losen the device from the wall. I don't have to explain to anybody how this would be safer.
I Could go on, detailing the sillyness of the way they laid out this remote controll, or the ill concieved nature of the rest of their little toys, but it's just not that interesting.
What's unfortunate is that a company so bent on using the lowest cost materials possible to build these devices has cornered the market.
What you'll find, generally, is that when you try to use X10 devices on more than a casual basis, having several of them in use (like a dozen or so) rather than just a few, that they're disappointingly flaky and unreliable. Aside from having hokey human intefaces all around. A switch plate that velcro's to the wall? geeze . . .
Oh yeah, and the Bottlerocket linux software, tho X10 says they openly support it, is incapable of dimming a unique device - it can only dim an entire room of lamps at once. This is mostly because the CM17a relies on the computer to generate the signal modulation by twiddling the DTR line on the serial port really fast, and the author apparantly hasn't figured out how to dim an individual device.
Buyer beware: X10 Powerhouse drives this market, and drives it poorly.
You're not just whistling dixie! WindowMaker can call me back when they figure out how to make it understand hints. I'm tired of it slapping a titlebar on everything by default. I use ICE for now.
Chances are, just like every other new processor, the majority of them will be ATX.
Theres no technological reason to require one or the other from a motherboard processor & chipset perspective.
I used to be afraid of ATX. I used to think it's too expensive. Then i worked with some ATX systems. I appriciate that i don't have to screw around with a baggie full of connectors on ribbon cables. I will never build another AT system again.
You know, there's a reason nobody's suggested a WWRMSD bracelet. The sooner he figures that out, the sooner he's likely to garner support for the Hurd.
Just a thought. Not that I don't hold his programming ability and ethics in the highest possible regard.
Viva Active Experts can become software entrepreneurs by organizing groups of Viva Developers to write libraries and application software for Viva and be paid, either in compute cycles or money.
As a former OS/2 user I don't trust White Pine Software.
These are the guys who maintain the commercial distribution of CUSeeMe. A couple years ago, despite much interest, they dropped CUSeeMe/2 and more or less gave OS/2 users the finger.
Leaders are an interesting thing, anthropoligically speaking.
They say things, and their followers believe them. They do things, and their followers support them.
OpenSource crusaders, seem to have chosen Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond as their leaders.
All this time, people have generally believed in what they've said about the supposed trademark, and generally supported their actions in defending it.
Now it turns out, these two fellows who've been leading your crusade and protecting your slogan, were a lot more talk than action.
How is it that a couple guys can spend so much time pontificating about their applied-for trademark and never bother to actually verify that they've got a valid, registered trademark?
It's good for people to believe strongly in things. There are a lot of important things out there to care about. Some people, unfortunately, take it too far.
Some times, some people get to the point where caring and believing in something surpasses the need to occasionally commune with reality. This is how we end up with Waco Tx, pseudo-islamic terrorism, you get the picture.
Perens and Raymond are as fanatical about free software as the day is long. It's a good cause, I won't deny that. The concept of licensing intelectual property threatens to do society a great deal of damage. It has already to some extent, but nowhere near what it's capable of. We're just getting started, to tell the truth.
I'm not here to call names. It's easy when people listen to what you say to find yourself believing too much in what you tell them.
When you accept or reject without thought, you do your leader a disservice. There are situations where it is appropriate, but this is not a life or death situation.
True collaboration is a matter of maximizing the potential of a group. If both of us agree, one of us is not necessary. Outside of close friends, family members, children, and spouses, you aren't doing anybody any favors by giving them your unquestioning devotion.
So consider this carefully. I don't think it's appropriate to point a finger at someone else until you've considered whether you should be pointing it at yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I realize I skipped the possibility of developing local busineses using "E-Business" to expand their global reach.
a: If they could afford it, capitalism would have brought them at least a satelite uplink already
b: They need reliable and trustworthy parcel post at a reasonable cost before they can start selling their unique wares into other countries effectively.
People in developing countries don't have home computers. They don't have public libraries with computers, or net cafes, or low cost ISPs.
This won't help the downtrodden join us in the "first world". If anything it will do the opposite.
All this is going to do is allow Exxon to use an existing data trunk to get onto the internet and VPN into the home office instead of using a flaky voice line and international callback to talk to the home office when they show up to exploit the resources.
I don't mean to point a finger at Exxon. Heck, Avon would do the same thing. Or any signifigantly large company with a weasle in middle-managment who thinks it's ok to build success in his market by bending the rules of decency.
Even the usually squeaky clean IBM has had problems with mid-level execs in south america breaking the law.
The internet will get there one way or another. Lets start by teaching them to read.
- Eric
aww geeze, isn't where i ment to say aren't. Man, I feel smart.
lmsensors reports core1 voltage at 2.01vdc and core2 voltage at 1.47vdc -- given the likely margin of error with an on-board sensor that hasn't been calibrated by a human, those seem fine. Or maybe they're lower than reported.
The PowerLeap boards have their own regulators onboard, that might help the situation. Or not.
Interesting you should point out AGP as a possible culprit. I tried like heck to use a PCI video card in this system, but for some reason it refused to work. I really, really didn't want to blow $100 on a good AGP video card when i had a perfectly good PCI card already.
With a PCI video card, I couldn't boot multiprocessor, and couldn't start X in uniprocessor mode. Probably a bios or MTRR problem. MTI hasn't been helpful. I don't recommend their products.
Other cards in the system include a pair of RTL-8029 pci nics, an AWE32, an Aztech FM radio card, and an ADS ChannelSurfer TV (similar to Hauppaugge WinTV)
Oh, and there's integrated AIC-7880U on the motherboard. AHA-2740UW for the uninitiated. This, for some reason, always shares it's irq with pci slot 1, which is the nic driving my DSL connection.
Nothing in the box is at all out of the ordinary, and like i said, it crashes at the dumbest times.
If it crashed during hard disk activity, I could point a finger at the SCSI. But the disk is usually idle when it crashes.
It sometimes crashes during MP3 encoding, but I can't point the finger at cpu load because it has never crashed during a heavy compile, which puts far more load on the system in terms of memory i/o and processor use.
The only commonality i can find between the common crashes is floating point operations. Ifs is a fractal animation.
The motherboard is indeed properly mounted. I trust the power supply, but have considered getting a higher quality power supply with a higher volume fan.
Frankly, I'm baffled. The only parts of the system that isn't 100% on the level are the wire jumpers on the slotkets. I suspect cold solder joints. This is why i have ordered new slotkets.
In case you misunderstood, we don't live in a democracy in the US. I'm sorry if I'm the first one to let you know, but this is a republic, and there is a difference.
It's because Doug Ledford, maintainer of the aic7xxx device driver, works for RedHat.
And, RedHat release a patched boot disk with support for special hardware? They haven't done that in years.
I built this system with an MTech M668DS LX chipset dual slot 1 motherboard, matrox G200, 128 megs of 6ns ECC SDRAM.
I'm using two celeron 366's on pre-modified MSI MS-6905's. I am not overclocking.
Doesn't work worth a damn. My uptimes range from 3 hours to 2 days. It's like using Windows or something.
If it were a memory problem, I'd see ECC complaints all over my logs. My cpu's have huge heatsinks and lmsensors report that they rarely get over 44c, so it can't be heat.
It usually crashes when the system is doing nothing more complex than animating the "Ifs" xscreensaver module. It never has crashed during a kernel compile, though i recompile every week or so, and use make -j4.
At this point, all I can figure is that the slotkets are defective. I don't expect to get a refund from the place i bought them from. I've ordered (far more expensive) PowerLeap slotkets on the off chance they might work better.
If that doesn't work out, I'm probably tracking down a pair of PII-333's. Which would suck, because this system performs very well when it's not locked up.
I don't doubt the sustained transfer rate to a single device is very similar.
But ATA-66 is still IDE, which is still a positively braindead way of interfacing a hard drive.
The point of scsi is not that scsi is fast
The point of scsi is that scsi is a fast interface that doesn't have to bog down your motherboard and cpu resources.
What's more, SCSI can multitask i/o between devices. ATA-66 can't.
Yes, Linux/PPC has run on many RS/6000 boxes for quite a while. But the story is longer than that - it's not just "low end" boxes. Infact, the really low end may never run Linux.
A lot of people don't seem to realize, the PowerPC is more IBM's cost cutting triumph than it is Motorola's technological triumph.
For ages, IBM has been using the Power archetecture in RS/6000 systems. The problem? Too freakin expensive to build systems with several (like 64) processors.
Enter Motorola with an ageing, dead-end CISC design, and tons of experience with low-cost design and manufacture.
Getting Apple to use the new, cheaper version of the Power line, the PowerPC, really made life a lot easier for IBM, who has based their high end workstations and mini's on PPC chips ever since. RS/6000, AS/400, you name it.
I'm frankly not sure what an S/390 like Pacific Blue uses - something else entirely, from all reports. (Or was it S/360? it's late, and I'm watching monstervision)
Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Old Power-1 and Power-2 based boxes will probably never run anything but AIX.
I got mine a few days ago, and it was an enjoyable experience putting the stuff into use.
However, X10 seems to be determined to make sure everything they manufacture is less than ideal.
Take for instance the CM17a "Firecracker" itself. From the outset, it sounds good. Serial port dongle with passthrough means you don't lose a serial port and you don't have to run wires to the wall socket, right?
Unfortunately, it comes without the long thumbscrews usually found on dongles - using the CM17a as a passthrough dongle makes it possible for a formerly tightly secured serial device to fall off the back of your computer at the slightest agitation.
But that doesn't matter much to most of us, because i doubt the passthrough works under linux anyhow - device locking and all.
Also, X10 seems to have an unnatural affinity for little white boxes. Again, this is less than ideal. For a little more plastic and another plug and receptical, they could replace the little white boxes with a box that would seamlessly cover your outlet and stick out about an inch from the wall. Replace the screw in the center of the plate with a longer screw through the device, and make it impossible for a small child to losen the device from the wall. I don't have to explain to anybody how this would be safer.
I Could go on, detailing the sillyness of the way they laid out this remote controll, or the ill concieved nature of the rest of their little toys, but it's just not that interesting.
What's unfortunate is that a company so bent on using the lowest cost materials possible to build these devices has cornered the market.
What you'll find, generally, is that when you try to use X10 devices on more than a casual basis, having several of them in use (like a dozen or so) rather than just a few, that they're disappointingly flaky and unreliable. Aside from having hokey human intefaces all around. A switch plate that velcro's to the wall? geeze . . .
Oh yeah, and the Bottlerocket linux software, tho X10 says they openly support it, is incapable of dimming a unique device - it can only dim an entire room of lamps at once. This is mostly because the CM17a relies on the computer to generate the signal modulation by twiddling the DTR line on the serial port really fast, and the author apparantly hasn't figured out how to dim an individual device.
Buyer beware: X10 Powerhouse drives this market, and drives it poorly.
Possibly, but it was open-sourced, and you were able to fix the code without resorting to vendor harassment :)
There is a daemon out there that will dynamicly allocate swap files as needed. This would be a reasonable solution for casual users.
You're not just whistling dixie! WindowMaker can call me back when they figure out how to make it understand hints. I'm tired of it slapping a titlebar on everything by default. I use ICE for now.
Chances are, just like every other new processor, the majority of them will be ATX.
Theres no technological reason to require one or the other from a motherboard processor & chipset perspective.
I used to be afraid of ATX. I used to think it's too expensive. Then i worked with some ATX systems. I appriciate that i don't have to screw around with a baggie full of connectors on ribbon cables. I will never build another AT system again.
Yes! Yes! Mozilla is our Last, Best Hope for Peace! :)
Oh come on! ATX cases are great . . . . And it's not like they're all that expensive. You can get fairly nice mid towers in the $30 range.
This varies from state to state.
Not even to "first post!" and already the site has been slashdotted.
At least, we can hope it wasn't hacked. Be mature folks. Nobody likes a scriptkiddie.
You must first go HERE to register before you can download it.
You know, there's a reason nobody's suggested a WWRMSD bracelet. The sooner he figures that out, the sooner he's likely to garner support for the Hurd.
Just a thought. Not that I don't hold his programming ability and ethics in the highest possible regard.
Quote:
Viva Active Experts can become software entrepreneurs by
organizing groups of Viva Developers to write libraries and
application software for Viva and be paid, either in compute
cycles or money.
As a former OS/2 user I don't trust White Pine Software.
These are the guys who maintain the commercial distribution of CUSeeMe. A couple years ago, despite much interest, they dropped CUSeeMe/2 and more or less gave OS/2 users the finger.
Leaders are an interesting thing, anthropoligically speaking.
They say things, and their followers believe them. They do things, and their followers support them.
OpenSource crusaders, seem to have chosen Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond as their leaders.
All this time, people have generally believed in what they've said about the supposed trademark, and generally supported their actions in defending it.
Now it turns out, these two fellows who've been leading your crusade and protecting your slogan, were a lot more talk than action.
How is it that a couple guys can spend so much time pontificating about their applied-for trademark and never bother to actually verify that they've got a valid, registered trademark?
It's good for people to believe strongly in things. There are a lot of important things out there to care about. Some people, unfortunately, take it too far.
Some times, some people get to the point where caring and believing in something surpasses the need to occasionally commune with reality. This is how we end up with Waco Tx, pseudo-islamic terrorism, you get the picture.
Perens and Raymond are as fanatical about free software as the day is long. It's a good cause, I won't deny that. The concept of licensing intelectual property threatens to do society a great deal of damage. It has already to some extent, but nowhere near what it's capable of. We're just getting started, to tell the truth.
I'm not here to call names. It's easy when people listen to what you say to find yourself believing too much in what you tell them.
When you accept or reject without thought, you do your leader a disservice. There are situations where it is appropriate, but this is not a life or death situation.
True collaboration is a matter of maximizing the potential of a group. If both of us agree, one of us is not necessary. Outside of close friends, family members, children, and spouses, you aren't doing anybody any favors by giving them your unquestioning devotion.
So consider this carefully. I don't think it's appropriate to point a finger at someone else until you've considered whether you should be pointing it at yourself.
keep in mind, the pen is only mightier than the sword at distances greater than one meter.
Intercal? You've GOT to be kidding.