Check out uClinux.com and
uClinux.org. I don't know too much about embedded development, but I know that Lineo used to sell a student/geek kit with a chip (Dragonball Something or other:) and dev software for about $100. I don't know if they still sell it, but I'm pretty sure they still have some in their warehouse (don't ask me how I know).
Also, there is a bunch of Free and not-Free software available from the.org site.
boot with one or two HD's, then continue to plug them in as needed, letting them spin up. Soft reboot, and presto, you're ready to go. Hopefully you won't blow a drive ; )
A couple years ago (when I was a computershop tech)my JackAss manager was trying to "help" me build a PC faster so he could impress his customer. He took the liberty to plug a CD-RW in while I was installing some software.
Long-Story-Short... he blew up the CDRW (~$250) and powersupply (~$30) AND shocked the hell out of himself. I always liked the smell of burnt flesh and electricity in the air when I was a HW rat.:)
but wouldn't the BIOS need to be aware of whatever delay is introduced?
Some motherboards settings (including a crappy Gateway i was messing with yesterday) have a "harddisk predelay" that you can adjust a time period before it polls for harddrives.
If this device only has a battery life of 6 (or fewer hours) *I don't want it*. I expect my watch to continue telling time for serveral months without replacing the battery. I don't want another charger to clutter up my house either. (Let's see palm cradle, laptop cord & docking station, three cell phone chargers...Too many already).
Hell, I sleep with my watch on. If it's on the charger, I can't tell time.
Hmmmmm, maybe i'm just in a bad mood, but the geek factor doesn't overweigh the stupidity of this.
Consider the time/money/effort put into this mod vs the actual time-savings from better performance. I'd dare bet that after spending 5-10 hours doing this mod, that the better performance won't even save > 10 hours over the life of the box.
I have this idea too. You take a mat, and put two feet in the middle. Then you write a bunch of _conclusions_ all around the mat. When you have a question that you need answered, you stand on the two feet and JUMP. What ever you land on, is your CONCLUSION.
Get it? *Jump to Conclusions!*
errrr...I think somebody else must have thought this up before....
I thought to myself, "If they had a paypal account, I could send 'em ten bucks. That would be easier than running to the local computer store and buying cd's and sending them in the mail. Also, they could prolly make that ten bucks stretch further by making bulk purchases."
SO, I did some research and found
http://www.freelinuxcd.org/donate.php
I disagree. I love Konqy, *but* one of the goals of the Konqy project is to be as standards compliant as possible. If it renders botched html, then they are falling short of their goal. Web authors will never code to a standard if the browsers are too forgiving. I look forward to a day when every browser conforms to a tight standard and most web authors write to that spec.
Yahoo has been doing something (fairly) similar for several weeks. Check out buzz.yahoo.com. They break it down into catagories that are more "pop-centric" like TV, Music, Sports, Movies, and Actors, but it is still interesting. It also helps me keep up on all of the "cool stuff" (sarcasm) that I'm missing in the world.
a good route for linux to go. With the massive amounts of data that a DVD can hold, you can present a typical desktop user with one single 'cd' they just pop in their drive, and give them a whole linux distro, a X desktop suite of your choice (gnome or whatever, not trying to start a religious war), and a full suite of applications (staroffice, mozilla, etc etc.).
They can take it for a spin as long or as little as they like, and if they want to, install it on next boot. Keep their settings and everything in a UMSDOS (sp?) partition or something, or some sort of big fat file that sits on their windows drive....
i really should keep these ideas to myself...
Check out www.demolinux.com for a distro that does just what you are saying...too bad it hasn't been updated in over a year.
Out west (Nevada, rural California, Idaho, Utah etc.) they have stretches of freeway that are marked. (Usually where it says "Speed limit enforced by aircraft".) I have measured my speed using these markings; my car speedo was off by 5%. My GPS was dead on. (I'm such a geek.)
Ahah! I didn't consider that (although I have done that myself on a trip or two). Just keepin' ya honest.:)
>>Bluetooth -- do I really need wireless connectivity other than REAL, true, wireless Internet? No.
Yes, you want bluetooth. How about doing a hotsync without any wires, totally automatic, and transparently?
>>Show me ethernet, fast wireless Internet (REAL Internet) and I will be impressed.
Ethernet AND wireless? Hopefully not at the same time. Read up on Ethernet and 802.11 and you'll find out that you can't run Ethernet (CSMA/CD) on a wireless network.
The benefit of course, as this points out, is that you only load what you need, and the rest is pure gaming power. Perhaps MS could even follow suit with some sort of boot-cd interface to use your configuration, but only put into memory what needs to be there (er... well I guess I doubt MS would ever get that mindset, but hey...)
It is my understanding that the Xbox does exactly what you are suggesting. Sure the Hardware doesn't vary, BUT it boots an OS from the CD, loads the libraries needed to run the game, and goes from there.
Maybe MS does get the point?
In my business class we watched an old Charlie Chaplin movie call Modern Times. His boss brought in a machine that would dish the food into his mouth so he could keep working on the assembly line.
Although it was pretty comical, it was also very critical of scientific management principles.
mr.
Slashdot Mirror
mr.
Also, there is a bunch of Free and not-Free software available from the .org site.
Later, mr.
BTW...
crafty use of the marquee tag on their site
A couple years ago (when I was a computershop tech)my JackAss manager was trying to "help" me build a PC faster so he could impress his customer. He took the liberty to plug a CD-RW in while I was installing some software.
Long-Story-Short... he blew up the CDRW (~$250) and powersupply (~$30) AND shocked the hell out of himself. I always liked the smell of burnt flesh and electricity in the air when I was a HW rat.
I don't hot plug IDE devices...
Some motherboards settings (including a crappy Gateway i was messing with yesterday) have a "harddisk predelay" that you can adjust a time period before it polls for harddrives.
Adjusting that setting higher would address that.
If this device only has a battery life of 6 (or fewer hours) *I don't want it*. I expect my watch to continue telling time for serveral months without replacing the battery. I don't want another charger to clutter up my house either. (Let's see palm cradle, laptop cord & docking station, three cell phone chargers...Too many already).
Hell, I sleep with my watch on. If it's on the charger, I can't tell time.
Hmmmmm, maybe i'm just in a bad mood, but the geek factor doesn't overweigh the stupidity of this.
mr.
Try "make oldconfig" instead of "make menuconfig". That should work :)
mr.
Consider the time/money/effort put into this mod vs the actual time-savings from better performance. I'd dare bet that after spending 5-10 hours doing this mod, that the better performance won't even save > 10 hours over the life of the box.
any takers?
mr.
I have this idea too. You take a mat, and put two feet in the middle. Then you write a bunch of _conclusions_ all around the mat. When you have a question that you need answered, you stand on the two feet and JUMP. What ever you land on, is your CONCLUSION.
Get it? *Jump to Conclusions!*
errrr...I think somebody else must have thought this up before....
mr.
Errr....did illusion mean Linux, MacOS & _DOS_ all at once? The screen dump has Win98 right in the middle.
Too quick on the keyboard I guess.
mr.
I thought to myself, "If they had a paypal account, I could send 'em ten bucks. That would be easier than running to the local computer store and buying cd's and sending them in the mail. Also, they could prolly make that ten bucks stretch further by making bulk purchases."
SO, I did some research and found
http://www.freelinuxcd.org/donate.php
I'll send my ten bucks and you can too.
Thanks,
mr.
Soft Porn? I finally have a reason to watch this schlock.
BTW,
Trekies was on Showtime yesterday. I laughed my ass off.
mr.
What's up with summing the processor's speeds? 2 processors at 2.2Ghz != 4.4Ghz.
mr
I disagree. I love Konqy, *but* one of the goals of the Konqy project is to be as standards compliant as possible. If it renders botched html, then they are falling short of their goal. Web authors will never code to a standard if the browsers are too forgiving. I look forward to a day when every browser conforms to a tight standard and most web authors write to that spec.
mr
You already can set your own price for Mandrake :)
Go to Mandrake's Donation Page and give them a buck or two. You can even specify a project you'd like to help fund.
my $.02
mr
Yahoo has been doing something (fairly) similar for several weeks. Check out buzz.yahoo.com. They break it down into catagories that are more "pop-centric" like TV, Music, Sports, Movies, and Actors, but it is still interesting. It also helps me keep up on all of the "cool stuff" (sarcasm) that I'm missing in the world.
mrCheck out www.demolinux.com for a distro that does just what you are saying...too bad it hasn't been updated in over a year.
mr.Ahah! I didn't consider that (although I have done that myself on a trip or two). Just keepin' ya honest. :)
mrI've actually found that it's more accurate than the speedometer in my car at high speeds.
Compared to what? How do you know which is more accurate? Just wondering?
mrThe same idiot that is making a fraction of a dollar from those damn anoying ads on his sight.
pop-ups suck.
mr.
IBM already has with the thinkpad... mr.
An even more recent study shows that *several* hours a day by hackers wasted on /.
go figure?
mr.
>>Bluetooth -- do I really need wireless connectivity other than REAL, true, wireless Internet? No.
Yes, you want bluetooth. How about doing a hotsync without any wires, totally automatic, and transparently?
>>Show me ethernet, fast wireless Internet (REAL Internet) and I will be impressed.
Ethernet AND wireless? Hopefully not at the same time. Read up on Ethernet and 802.11 and you'll find out that you can't run Ethernet (CSMA/CD) on a wireless network.
The benefit of course, as this points out, is that you only load what you need, and the rest is pure gaming power. Perhaps MS could even follow suit with some sort of boot-cd interface to use your configuration, but only put into memory what needs to be there (er... well I guess I doubt MS would ever get that mindset, but hey...)
It is my understanding that the Xbox does exactly what you are suggesting. Sure the Hardware doesn't vary, BUT it boots an OS from the CD, loads the libraries needed to run the game, and goes from there.
Maybe MS does get the point?
mr.
In my business class we watched an old Charlie Chaplin movie call Modern Times. His boss brought in a machine that would dish the food into his mouth so he could keep working on the assembly line. Although it was pretty comical, it was also very critical of scientific management principles. mr.