I'm too lazy to look for an "expert" quoting anything, myself.
Sharpie (as an example) is easy to find though. Consider the composition of your average Sharpie's ink. I'm feeling really lazy, so let's just pick the first one off the top of the list - the "Sharpie Fine":
Sorry, but there's nothing there that leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling (expect perhaps as a result of a mild chemical burn). Based on that "ingredients" list alone, in my opinion (note the emphasis, because that's what this argument is about when you get right down to it), you're the one with the burden of proof on this one. Prove to me that a Sharpie (again, as an example) will have no affect on a CD-R after 20 years, and I'll send you a donut via UPS.
It's about risk and value. For me, it's usually a case of, "If it's worth writing to a CD-R, why the hell take the risk?" Same with you? Fine, then go out and buy a $3 water-based marker. No? That's fine too. Go right ahead and keep using your xylene-based markers. Either way, let's put this lame argument to rest.
They are the curtains from your local Starbucks - the ones that you manage to escape with after your friend creates a diversion to keep the staff distracted.
Re:So ... who's sister-in-law is it REALLY?
on
Microwave Fun
·
· Score: 1
Damn you, orangepeel, you beat me to posting the link to the previous post by seconds.:)
Hah... sorry!:-)
I was typing away like a madman because I was sure someone else was going to beat me to it.:-)
So ... who's sister-in-law is it REALLY?
on
Microwave Fun
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The above Anonymous Coward is correct. We have read the parent post before. The story was the Worst Jobs In Science article, and the specific post was here.
Thanks! That was a perfect link. (Someone give that man a mod point!) From the link:
A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.
What if the USA were to detonate one of their biggest nuclear bombs in the eye of this hurricane (or in its wall)?
What are the comparative energies here? Would a nuclear blast have any effect on a hurricane?
Then again, could it make it worse? I remember reading about a theory that large meteorite impacts in the ocean could trigger "hypercanes" (think really brutal hurricane) due to the superheating that would occur.
Eeek all CGA, EGA, and VGA+ adapters use B800-BFFF for text mode
Either that is incorrect, or the parent poster has specified the wrong memory range. I can't remember the correct range for certain.
This trick worked on scores of systems with a variety of VGA adapters, so I presume we're talking about different memory ranges. The ability to force inclusion of particular memory ranges (/I switch) was a documented feature of EMM386. The MS DOS help file for EMM386 actually mentioned the specific address range used by monochrome adapters in the extended detail "Notes" section.
Years and years ago I made the mistake of trying that trick to increase the memory available on a laptop. That memory range isn't just reserved for monochrome display adapters... some laptops used/use it too for their displays.
I'll always remember booting that Gateway Colorbook 2 laptop up, only to see the screen go completely blank as EMM386 loaded. It had me really worried until I realized what was happening. Thank god for that floppy boot disk.:-)
Hmm... yes, I noticed that link (hint, hint;-)... HTML is your friend).
I also noticed some detailed information about the giant rock itself.
And, in the pretty graphics department, you can bring up a Java orbit simulation. It's interesting to see that the plane of this thing is almost perpendicular to the Earth's.
You started by asking about a USB flashdisk, which I interpretted as meaning a USB "memory key" of some type.
But then you started talking about flash cards, so... umm... basically I have no idea if this post is even on topic.
If you went with, for example, Compact Flash, you'll have the advantage of being able to use a PC Card adapter. I have little experience with laptops, but I suspect that while you may find the ability to boot off a USB-connected flash card is rare, the ability to boot off a PC Card of some type (or a device connected through a PC Card adapter) is more common. (At about $15 with little effort searching, PC Card adapters are also very cheap.)
Case in point, I have an ancient IBM ThinkPad 560. It's 7 years old I believe... it runs on an original Pentium 100 MHz CPU (floating point bug included at no extra charge). I was overjoyed when I realized that this older (yet very well designed laptop) could boot off a "new" technology Compact Flash card simply by using a PCMCIA PC Card adapter. That ability breathed even more life into an old laptop.
Re:Words change in meaning over time
on
Isn't It Ironic?
·
· Score: 1
The guardians of language are often the biggest opponents of it's development and modernization. Isn't that ironic?
Snap frog, spanking monkey twats! Parts of cow speaking frontal only.
I feel so... dirty... for having admitted that in public.
I started working with Visual Basic back in 1997. I was working part-time while going to school part-time. The job was awful, and so was the pay. In order to improve conditions, I needed a language that would allow me to get small applications up and running in a hurry. Visual Basic allowed me to do that, and thus allowed me to tame some of the insanity that had been present at work by automating tasks that should've been dealt with a decade earlier.
Of course, you can guess where that led... to more and more complex applications. On occasion I would bump into VB's glass ceiling. I'd also been reading a lot over those years too, so I'd been noticing all the things that I'd been missing out on by having started working with VB instead of a different language.
I really, really wish that I'd started with Borland Delphi. But back in 1997, MS was offering VB at a ridiculous discount for academic users, and I was dirt poor. Yeah, I hear you mockingly saying, "the first one if always free (or at least cheap)."
Things have changed somewhat now. About a year and a half ago, I decided to switch exclusively to Linux and *BSD (RedHat and OpenBSD specifically) at home. I love them both and don't intend to use Windows anymore than I have to from now on.
The problem is, there's that programming issue.
I don't have the same job anymore, so the pressure's off, but there's still software that I want to write.
It's ironic this article was posted, because I've just come from the "The Peon's Guide To Secure System Development" article on Slashdot's main page. Before I can completely drop Windows, I need to find a language that offers the following:
1) If I'm going to switch from the Windows world, it's got to be worth it to the best extent: it's got to work on both *BSD and Linux systems. 2) Compiled, not interpretted. 3) Provides some way of creating a solid GUI. 4) Offers some type of event-driven functionality, or a method to provide an equivalent. 5) And it's got to be SAFE for a pseudo/wannabe programmer such as myself.
Point number 5 is critical. I'm a good enough programmer to know that I'd be as dangerous as hell if I were to produce entire applications using C++. Because of that, so far I've limited myself to producing a few simple C++ DLLs that are used by my VB apps.
At this point I have to say I've been incredibly impressed with Ruby. With the FXRuby library, it provides a slick connection to the FOX toolkit, so GUIs are a snap. And all three of those components work flawlessly on both Linux and *BSD. Furthermore, while it's not something I need, work on the "FreeRIDE" Integrated Development Environment is beginning to look really impressive. However, Ruby is an interpreted language. I'm going to continue using it whenever I can, but I still need a language I can compile once in a while.
I haven't found an option that can do all that, so for now, I can't afford a complete switch from Microsoft. Visual Basic makes it too easy to work on their platform. Unless someone knows of an alternative under Linux/BSD....
That sucks about the GUI options... I hate to turn this into a mini-AskSlashdot, but I need to find a language safer than C++ that can provide the basics Visual Basic used to under Windows. Any suggestions?
I need something that can be compiled, can offer some type of event-driven operation, will work with a GUI toolkit of some sort, and is "safer" than C++ (because, coming from a mostly VB background, I'd be even more concerned about my ability to produce solid software with something like C++). I don't need the candy-coated interface, but I do need a language that will provide those things in a reliable fashion.
Ruby looked really, really great with its option to link in with the FOX toolkit (and the fact that it works seamlessly on both Linux and *BSD)... but it's an interpreted language.
Depending on your spam-related needs, another effective method of not transmitting a, "hey, I just read that piece of spam you sent me" message is to click on the little plug-and-socket icon at the bottom right corner of the Mozilla window. That will put you in "Work Offline" mode. Once you've done that, you can handle spammy messages with more security. Any links to images in the email that go back to the evil spammer's website will be ignored.
Just click on the plug-and-socket icon when you're finished checking out possible spam in order to resume normal Mozilla operations.
If you're one of the last three people on the planet who hasn't seen the famous "zefrank" site, then take a look at it now, and notice the three small, colored squares at the top left (a blue one, a white one, and an orange one) next to the advertising. The white one is an attempt - in keeping with the hilarity of the rest of the site - at providing a, "the boss is coming, hide this site!" button. You can take a look directly if you prefer.
By the way, it's worth installing Flash in order to tour his site.
I can appreciate your point of view (although I have more doubts about the likelihood you could easily be held responsible for any data stored on your Freenet node).
At the same time, I'm torn by the other arguments posted in this discussion.
Forced to make a decision, I'd fall back to the "self-policing" stance: people enter banks by the millions each day - by far the majority of them choose to follow their own ethical guidelines and avoid robbing the bank. They'd do that even if there weren't penalties in place for those who might consider doing otherwise.
Those are the type of people who have recognized that, at least at the current time in their society, the rules are there for a reason they agree with.
What if the Freenet project were forked into various "distributions" of sorts? Each one would form a distinct network from the others. Say a NoKiddiePornButOtherwiseFreenet fork was created... one in which you were required to agree to a license agreement before installing the software - one in which you state you are not going to upload kiddie porn onto the NoKiddiePornButOtherwiseFreenet system.
It would be just a token gesture of course - anyone could lie and upload such material anyway. But I for one would be much more inclined to run a sort of forked Freenet node if I knew that the other users on the system had said they agreed to the same license I did. It'd be sort of like walking into a bank, understanding that, chances are, the majority of the people around me have the same idea of what's reasonable and what isn't.
Of course, others would find "terrorist" communication disagreeable, others would find the distribution of copyrighted material disagreeable, and yet others would find pictures of people with their ankles showing disagreeable. I immediately recongnize how ridiculous that could get. Personally, in that situation, I find myself trying to balance that possibility with what (I feel) are the noble goals of the Freenet project. As a result, I have to ask myself, what's the worst that this system could be used for? Kiddie porn is what I would answer - so in an effort to maintain some balance, I'd say that's the one thing that must be barred from distribution on the system.
Others would disagree, and would thus have to create their own forks of the Freenet project. In the end, you'd probably have 7 or 8 different networks all running under the Freenet principle, but each one with some "bottom line" about what was acceptable at the bare minimum.
Anyway, I've only just started thinking about that possibility, so there's undoubtedly a lot of good points that I'm missing. Something to think about though.
Q: How quiet is your computer?
A: My computer is soooo quiet that I need to find a quieter monitor.
Hah hah.
Except I'm serious! I have a fully functional x-terminal set up... and it really is so completely silent that the faint, high voltage hum/sizzle from my 19 inch monitor actually bothers me. I never even knew it was making a sound until the masking noise provided by the computer was gone.
If anyone here wishes they had a quieter computer, I wholeheartedly recommend setting up your own x-terminal system. It's such a great setup! I still get to have all the fun related to having a massive full tower case - one with screaming 10K SCSI drives, ancient chainsaw-grade SCSI II drives, a tape drive, optical drives, etc - but with all of that noise isolated in another room on the other side of my apartment!
That's the basic idea. You keep a server somewhere in your house, and then connect a basic "x-terminal" (just an old PC) to it via a long network cable (or whole network if you're lucky enough to have one). The x-terminal is typically very simple - it doesn't even need a hard disk. It's also typically ancient enough that it requires little or no active cooling (no fans).
My x-terminal is a mixture of old stuff I had lying around, and a few strategically purchased - yet cheap - new items.
It's built around a Pentium 75 (heatsink only; no fan required) with 64 Mb of RAM (consisting of ancient FPM SIMMS). No hard disk required - it boots off a floppy disk, and then over to the server via the network. As for other components, to make my life easier I decided to get some new, brand-name items just so that everything had a good chance at being autodetected. If you have some extra money, I really recommend doing that. You get improved performance for very little money, and you don't have to go through configuration hell. With that in mind, I installed a $25 ATI 8Mb PCI video card, a $30 Intel 100Mbs network card, and a $20 SB sound card. That's all. There are so few components to draw power in my x-terminal, that I decided to risk removing the power supply fan and just leave the power supply cover off instead (an attempt at enhancing convection which seems to be effective). I still use the exterior computer case so there's little threat of collateral damage (i.e. electrocution). Be sure you really understand the risks before you try doing that though. For most tasks, the speed of the setup is so good that I CANNOT tell that what I'm looking at right now is NOT hooked up directly to the originating computer.
For any task (such as an intensive game) that exceeds what the networked/x-terminal setup can provide, I just walk over to the room with my server in it, endure the noise, and work directly off the server. I lose nothing with this arrangement.
This is PERFECTION! I cannot convey how happy this setup makes me. I'd always hated the noise my computer made, but now that I have total silence, I can fully appreciate it. I just have to take care of this monitor somehow...
The LTSP packages are extra cool because with them, I've been able to hook-up both my laser printer and scanner to the x-terminal. I've also got the CD-ROM and floppy drove working locally too. So the occasional complaint about x-terminal systems forcing you to go back to the server to do some hardware-related stuff just don't apply here.
Presumably the two missing letters here are for his floppy and CD-ROM.
Close. The two missing letters will be A and B... which are BOTH reserved for floppy drives.
Then again, with the DOS "subst" command (which Windows 9x respects), it might be possible to find a sneaky way of adding two more drives to his system (and assigning them as A: and B:).
Take a look at Corporate Time. A quick search on Google shows all links on the first page of results lead to universities that are using it (with the exception of the company that produces the software of course).
There are clients available for PC, Mac, and UNIX systems (Solaris I think). Plus it provides a web interface for any oddball environments, or those who are travelling. Palm support is available too I believe.
"Mounted on her body are several gizmos, including a laser range finder, sonar equipment, voice-recognition technology and speech generation machinery."
Translation:
"Mounted on her body are several gizmos, including a laser range finder, sonar equipment, voice-recognition technology and an 89-cent speaker from Radio Shack."
Slashdot Mirror
I'm too lazy to look for an "expert" quoting anything, myself.
Sharpie (as an example) is easy to find though. Consider the composition of your average Sharpie's ink. I'm feeling really lazy, so let's just pick the first one off the top of the list - the "Sharpie Fine":
Dyes, n-propanol (71-23-8), n-butanol (71-36-3), diacetone alcohol (123-42-2)
Sorry, but there's nothing there that leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling (expect perhaps as a result of a mild chemical burn). Based on that "ingredients" list alone, in my opinion (note the emphasis, because that's what this argument is about when you get right down to it), you're the one with the burden of proof on this one. Prove to me that a Sharpie (again, as an example) will have no affect on a CD-R after 20 years, and I'll send you a donut via UPS.
It's about risk and value. For me, it's usually a case of, "If it's worth writing to a CD-R, why the hell take the risk?" Same with you? Fine, then go out and buy a $3 water-based marker. No? That's fine too. Go right ahead and keep using your xylene-based markers. Either way, let's put this lame argument to rest.
What are "cafe curtains"? Thanks.
They are the curtains from your local Starbucks - the ones that you manage to escape with after your friend creates a diversion to keep the staff distracted.
He did say it was a cheap solution.
body temperature of 40C or greater
So you're searching for SARS victims?
Damn you, orangepeel, you beat me to posting the link to the previous post by seconds. :)
... sorry! :-)
:-)
Hah
I was typing away like a madman because I was sure someone else was going to beat me to it.
The above Anonymous Coward is correct. We have read the parent post before. The story was the Worst Jobs In Science article, and the specific post was here.
So who's the imposter?
Turns out it was here on Slashdot more than a year ago.
;-)
Here is the article at the BBC site, and here's the Slashdot story. Cut and paste for some quick karma!
Thanks! That was a perfect link. (Someone give that man a mod point!) From the link:
A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.
That is quite stunning.
Yeah, kinda dorky, but...
What if the USA were to detonate one of their biggest nuclear bombs in the eye of this hurricane (or in its wall)?
What are the comparative energies here? Would a nuclear blast have any effect on a hurricane?
Then again, could it make it worse? I remember reading about a theory that large meteorite impacts in the ocean could trigger "hypercanes" (think really brutal hurricane) due to the superheating that would occur.
Eeek all CGA, EGA, and VGA+ adapters use B800-BFFF for text mode
Either that is incorrect, or the parent poster has specified the wrong memory range. I can't remember the correct range for certain.
This trick worked on scores of systems with a variety of VGA adapters, so I presume we're talking about different memory ranges. The ability to force inclusion of particular memory ranges (/I switch) was a documented feature of EMM386. The MS DOS help file for EMM386 actually mentioned the specific address range used by monochrome adapters in the extended detail "Notes" section.
Years and years ago I made the mistake of trying that trick to increase the memory available on a laptop. That memory range isn't just reserved for monochrome display adapters ... some laptops used/use it too for their displays.
:-)
I'll always remember booting that Gateway Colorbook 2 laptop up, only to see the screen go completely blank as EMM386 loaded. It had me really worried until I realized what was happening. Thank god for that floppy boot disk.
Hmm ... yes, I noticed that link (hint, hint ;-) ... HTML is your friend).
I also noticed some detailed information about the giant rock itself.
And, in the pretty graphics department, you can bring up a Java orbit simulation. It's interesting to see that the plane of this thing is almost perpendicular to the Earth's.
You started by asking about a USB flashdisk, which I interpretted as meaning a USB "memory key" of some type.
... umm ... basically I have no idea if this post is even on topic.
... it runs on an original Pentium 100 MHz CPU (floating point bug included at no extra charge). I was overjoyed when I realized that this older (yet very well designed laptop) could boot off a "new" technology Compact Flash card simply by using a PCMCIA PC Card adapter. That ability breathed even more life into an old laptop.
But then you started talking about flash cards, so
If you went with, for example, Compact Flash, you'll have the advantage of being able to use a PC Card adapter. I have little experience with laptops, but I suspect that while you may find the ability to boot off a USB-connected flash card is rare, the ability to boot off a PC Card of some type (or a device connected through a PC Card adapter) is more common. (At about $15 with little effort searching, PC Card adapters are also very cheap.)
Case in point, I have an ancient IBM ThinkPad 560. It's 7 years old I believe
The guardians of language are often the biggest opponents of it's development and modernization. Isn't that ironic?
Snap frog, spanking monkey twats! Parts of cow speaking frontal only.
Crouton?
I feel so ... dirty ... for having admitted that in public.
... to more and more complex applications. On occasion I would bump into VB's glass ceiling. I'd also been reading a lot over those years too, so I'd been noticing all the things that I'd been missing out on by having started working with VB instead of a different language.
I started working with Visual Basic back in 1997. I was working part-time while going to school part-time. The job was awful, and so was the pay. In order to improve conditions, I needed a language that would allow me to get small applications up and running in a hurry. Visual Basic allowed me to do that, and thus allowed me to tame some of the insanity that had been present at work by automating tasks that should've been dealt with a decade earlier.
Of course, you can guess where that led
I really, really wish that I'd started with Borland Delphi. But back in 1997, MS was offering VB at a ridiculous discount for academic users, and I was dirt poor. Yeah, I hear you mockingly saying, "the first one if always free (or at least cheap)."
Things have changed somewhat now. About a year and a half ago, I decided to switch exclusively to Linux and *BSD (RedHat and OpenBSD specifically) at home. I love them both and don't intend to use Windows anymore than I have to from now on.
The problem is, there's that programming issue.
I don't have the same job anymore, so the pressure's off, but there's still software that I want to write.
It's ironic this article was posted, because I've just come from the "The Peon's Guide To Secure System Development" article on Slashdot's main page. Before I can completely drop Windows, I need to find a language that offers the following:
1) If I'm going to switch from the Windows world, it's got to be worth it to the best extent: it's got to work on both *BSD and Linux systems.
2) Compiled, not interpretted.
3) Provides some way of creating a solid GUI.
4) Offers some type of event-driven functionality, or a method to provide an equivalent.
5) And it's got to be SAFE for a pseudo/wannabe programmer such as myself.
Point number 5 is critical. I'm a good enough programmer to know that I'd be as dangerous as hell if I were to produce entire applications using C++. Because of that, so far I've limited myself to producing a few simple C++ DLLs that are used by my VB apps.
At this point I have to say I've been incredibly impressed with Ruby. With the FXRuby library, it provides a slick connection to the FOX toolkit, so GUIs are a snap. And all three of those components work flawlessly on both Linux and *BSD. Furthermore, while it's not something I need, work on the "FreeRIDE" Integrated Development Environment is beginning to look really impressive. However, Ruby is an interpreted language. I'm going to continue using it whenever I can, but I still need a language I can compile once in a while.
I haven't found an option that can do all that, so for now, I can't afford a complete switch from Microsoft. Visual Basic makes it too easy to work on their platform. Unless someone knows of an alternative under Linux/BSD....
Thanks!
... I hate to turn this into a mini-AskSlashdot, but I need to find a language safer than C++ that can provide the basics Visual Basic used to under Windows. Any suggestions?
That sucks about the GUI options
I need something that can be compiled, can offer some type of event-driven operation, will work with a GUI toolkit of some sort, and is "safer" than C++ (because, coming from a mostly VB background, I'd be even more concerned about my ability to produce solid software with something like C++). I don't need the candy-coated interface, but I do need a language that will provide those things in a reliable fashion.
Ruby looked really, really great with its option to link in with the FOX toolkit (and the fact that it works seamlessly on both Linux and *BSD)... but it's an interpreted language.
What options are there (if any) for building a GUI for an O'caml program?
... what the heck's the difference between O'caml and Caml?
And while I'm here
Depending on your spam-related needs, another effective method of not transmitting a, "hey, I just read that piece of spam you sent me" message is to click on the little plug-and-socket icon at the bottom right corner of the Mozilla window. That will put you in "Work Offline" mode. Once you've done that, you can handle spammy messages with more security. Any links to images in the email that go back to the evil spammer's website will be ignored.
Just click on the plug-and-socket icon when you're finished checking out possible spam in order to resume normal Mozilla operations.
If you're one of the last three people on the planet who hasn't seen the famous "zefrank" site, then take a look at it now, and notice the three small, colored squares at the top left (a blue one, a white one, and an orange one) next to the advertising. The white one is an attempt - in keeping with the hilarity of the rest of the site - at providing a, "the boss is coming, hide this site!" button. You can take a look directly if you prefer.
By the way, it's worth installing Flash in order to tour his site.
GNULIX!
I can appreciate your point of view (although I have more doubts about the likelihood you could easily be held responsible for any data stored on your Freenet node).
... one in which you were required to agree to a license agreement before installing the software - one in which you state you are not going to upload kiddie porn onto the NoKiddiePornButOtherwiseFreenet system.
At the same time, I'm torn by the other arguments posted in this discussion.
Forced to make a decision, I'd fall back to the "self-policing" stance: people enter banks by the millions each day - by far the majority of them choose to follow their own ethical guidelines and avoid robbing the bank. They'd do that even if there weren't penalties in place for those who might consider doing otherwise.
Those are the type of people who have recognized that, at least at the current time in their society, the rules are there for a reason they agree with.
What if the Freenet project were forked into various "distributions" of sorts? Each one would form a distinct network from the others. Say a NoKiddiePornButOtherwiseFreenet fork was created
It would be just a token gesture of course - anyone could lie and upload such material anyway. But I for one would be much more inclined to run a sort of forked Freenet node if I knew that the other users on the system had said they agreed to the same license I did. It'd be sort of like walking into a bank, understanding that, chances are, the majority of the people around me have the same idea of what's reasonable and what isn't.
Of course, others would find "terrorist" communication disagreeable, others would find the distribution of copyrighted material disagreeable, and yet others would find pictures of people with their ankles showing disagreeable. I immediately recongnize how ridiculous that could get. Personally, in that situation, I find myself trying to balance that possibility with what (I feel) are the noble goals of the Freenet project. As a result, I have to ask myself, what's the worst that this system could be used for? Kiddie porn is what I would answer - so in an effort to maintain some balance, I'd say that's the one thing that must be barred from distribution on the system.
Others would disagree, and would thus have to create their own forks of the Freenet project. In the end, you'd probably have 7 or 8 different networks all running under the Freenet principle, but each one with some "bottom line" about what was acceptable at the bare minimum.
Anyway, I've only just started thinking about that possibility, so there's undoubtedly a lot of good points that I'm missing. Something to think about though.
I know this sounds like a joke, but...
... and it really is so completely silent that the faint, high voltage hum/sizzle from my 19 inch monitor actually bothers me. I never even knew it was making a sound until the masking noise provided by the computer was gone.
...
... check out the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP).
:-)
Q: How quiet is your computer?
A: My computer is soooo quiet that I need to find a quieter monitor.
Hah hah.
Except I'm serious! I have a fully functional x-terminal set up
If anyone here wishes they had a quieter computer, I wholeheartedly recommend setting up your own x-terminal system. It's such a great setup! I still get to have all the fun related to having a massive full tower case - one with screaming 10K SCSI drives, ancient chainsaw-grade SCSI II drives, a tape drive, optical drives, etc - but with all of that noise isolated in another room on the other side of my apartment!
That's the basic idea. You keep a server somewhere in your house, and then connect a basic "x-terminal" (just an old PC) to it via a long network cable (or whole network if you're lucky enough to have one). The x-terminal is typically very simple - it doesn't even need a hard disk. It's also typically ancient enough that it requires little or no active cooling (no fans).
My x-terminal is a mixture of old stuff I had lying around, and a few strategically purchased - yet cheap - new items.
It's built around a Pentium 75 (heatsink only; no fan required) with 64 Mb of RAM (consisting of ancient FPM SIMMS). No hard disk required - it boots off a floppy disk, and then over to the server via the network. As for other components, to make my life easier I decided to get some new, brand-name items just so that everything had a good chance at being autodetected. If you have some extra money, I really recommend doing that. You get improved performance for very little money, and you don't have to go through configuration hell. With that in mind, I installed a $25 ATI 8Mb PCI video card, a $30 Intel 100Mbs network card, and a $20 SB sound card. That's all. There are so few components to draw power in my x-terminal, that I decided to risk removing the power supply fan and just leave the power supply cover off instead (an attempt at enhancing convection which seems to be effective). I still use the exterior computer case so there's little threat of collateral damage (i.e. electrocution). Be sure you really understand the risks before you try doing that though. For most tasks, the speed of the setup is so good that I CANNOT tell that what I'm looking at right now is NOT hooked up directly to the originating computer. For any task (such as an intensive game) that exceeds what the networked/x-terminal setup can provide, I just walk over to the room with my server in it, endure the noise, and work directly off the server. I lose nothing with this arrangement.
This is PERFECTION! I cannot convey how happy this setup makes me. I'd always hated the noise my computer made, but now that I have total silence, I can fully appreciate it. I just have to take care of this monitor somehow
How do you set up something like this? It's pretty easy
The LTSP packages are extra cool because with them, I've been able to hook-up both my laser printer and scanner to the x-terminal. I've also got the CD-ROM and floppy drove working locally too. So the occasional complaint about x-terminal systems forcing you to go back to the server to do some hardware-related stuff just don't apply here.
Have I mentioned how great this is?
*drooling* Mmm ... donut!
Presumably the two missing letters here are for his floppy and CD-ROM.
... which are BOTH reserved for floppy drives.
Close. The two missing letters will be A and B
Then again, with the DOS "subst" command (which Windows 9x respects), it might be possible to find a sneaky way of adding two more drives to his system (and assigning them as A: and B:).
Take a look at Corporate Time. A quick search on Google shows all links on the first page of results lead to universities that are using it (with the exception of the company that produces the software of course).
There are clients available for PC, Mac, and UNIX systems (Solaris I think). Plus it provides a web interface for any oddball environments, or those who are travelling. Palm support is available too I believe.
"Mounted on her body are several gizmos, including a laser range finder, sonar equipment, voice-recognition technology and speech generation machinery."
Translation:
"Mounted on her body are several gizmos, including a laser range finder, sonar equipment, voice-recognition technology and an 89-cent speaker from Radio Shack."