I wouldn't call it "weak" support, at all. Rather, it's a challenge to keep Linux abreast of the rapid pace of ARM development. Both on the CPU side, and on the platform side.
Linux is an incredibly strong OS for ARM. If you want support for the bleeding edge CPUs and SoCs, it can be pretty painful--- but if you step back even a little from that edge, Linux is solid.
You think it's gnarly now? You should have seen it a couple of years ago! Things have improved by light-years since then.
It's true that ARM isn't as cleanly supported as, say, x86. But the simple explanation is that there is significantly more diversity in the ARM world than in the x86 world, so comparisons between the two are a bit like comparing apples to orangutans.
There are limits to what can be done to address the problem. I prefer having a diversity of ARM chips to having a BIOS--- and that would be the only way to tame this beast long-term. I think most platform developers (those who do both hardware and software) would agree with me: it's easier to port Linux to a good chip for your end application, than it is to use a less-than-ideal chip in the platform just because it has a mature Linux port. So while we should continue refactoring Linux on ARM, we should also accept that things will never be as clean as they are on x86. It isn't in anyone's best interest to even strive for that goal.
In parallel with all of this, we must be careful not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. ARM is the singular reason why Linux owns the embedded space for 32-bit CPUs that run OSes. Nobody else is even close. So despite all of Linux's warts for ARM, it still works really, really, REALLY well. Vendors of ARM SoC's should recognize this, and pony up some funding to clean up the mess as an investment in their futures.
While it is certainly possible to write C code that is endian-dependent, I consider such code to be broken--- as would any sane, professional C programmer.
To wit, the eleventy-million lines of C code in the Linux kernel are fully endian-agnostic. And largely independent of integer representation size, too!
C appears to be in decline only because of the explosive growth in the number of applications produced in higher-level languages. Total annual C output is increasing year-on-year--- mostly to implement systems that themselves support the aforementioned applications.
Put another way, none of the growth in Java, C#, Python, Ruby, etc. etc. etc. would be possible without growth in C output as well. C won't ever go away, because every higher-level language in existence depends on it.
So you can have your Java. I know you'll come crying back to me when you want a platform to run it on.:)
Most USA domestic flights are so short, there isn't any time to serve food. On top of that, it's really, really disruptive when I'm sitting there trying to get work done and having to pass trays back and forth. I think eliminating food is one of the positive things that the USA domestic carriers have done over the years.
As for American being a terrible airline, I have to disagree with you. Perhaps they're not a nice as some of the international carriers due to the cut-throat market in the US, but I have been quite happy with my experiences flying them for domestic and international purposes.
Agreed. I have flown 600K miles with American over the years, and a few 100K's more with other USA airlines. I have found American to have consistently the best service of the USA carriers (I have flown them all). In particular, every time I fly a budget-priced alternative (I'm looking at you, Southwest), I always end up regretting it. A big part of this is the professionalism of the American flight crews, and another big part is that American's prices are generally a little higher than competitors, which seems to draw a slightly more professional clientele. I'm ok with that.
None of the USA carriers can compete with the the international carriers for comfort on the long-haul, overwater flights, however. Singapore Air and Quantas are in leagues of their own--- and have the ticket prices to match. But if all you do is fly between Chicago and Singapore, you can really optimize for that experience--- including use of aircraft that are so highly optimized for that route that they aren't cost-effective to use elsewhere (747-400ER). None of the USA domestic carriers have that advantage.
And besides, no domestic flight in the USA is longer than about five hours--- which really isn't all that long (this comes from someone who has done Chicago-Beijing and Chicago-Hong Kong, both of which can take upwards of 16 hours or more). Just deal with it. .
According to my calulations, that's a total of about 68KB, or small potatoes compared to today's microprocessors. We probably could perform all functions with one of today's boards and still have room for solid state data storage and much more fault detection software.
In fact, some of the lowest-end embedded processors have more than 68KB of *cache* memory alone. There are $5 parts available that can, at least electrically, perform all that would be needed of a Voyager computer in a single chip.
But the teeny tiny process geometries of today's hardware wouldn't survive such a 30+-year deployment, even if it wasn't in deep space.
Southwest and their kind pretty much suck unless you're in the mood to be treated as best-effort cattle. They're the UDP of the airline world. American, Delta and United are the TCP's.:)
If you are shopping for price, you probably aren't American's prime customer. Their specialty is in handling business travel, where passengers value perks like the ability to board early enough to be reasonably assured there will be overhead bin space for their carry-ons, regardless of when they actually arrive at the airport.
I'm one of those people, in fact. I often can't get to the airport until a few minutes before boarding actually begins due to external time pressures and schedule conflicts, and I usually have to carry-on my bags due to time pressures at the arrival terminal as well (like not being able to arrive earlier than 30 minutes before the rental car counter closes for the night). American knows how to deal with people like me, where the price of the ticket is less important than a reasonable assurance that you'll actually arrive when and how the ticket says you will.
Expedia is a great resource for price-conscious customers. But for a huge cross-section of airline travelers, the price of the ticket isn't the foremost concern. For us, Expedia and the like are a waste of time.
Aside, I quit traveling Southwest years ago, when they stranded me three flights in a row. The carriers might all be selling airline seat miles, but how they package them is remarkably different--- and critically important to some people.
If you think life with patents is bad, you should try life without them. In my opinion, China's complete disregard for the concepts of "intellectual property", "fairness", and "competitiveness" do more to kill innovation than the USPTO ever does.
Excuse me, but who are you? Have you done any breaking of DRM? Ever? I have, and I'm telling you that products based on open source stuff are a LOT easier to crack than proprietary stuff. I'm baffled that you'd even argue with me about this.
I don't think his term "breaking DRM" means the same thing as yours. Or mine. Or that the term is even all that applicable here. Regardless, I don't subscribe to your generalization. I've seen insecure proprietary systems, and insecure open source systems. And relatively secure examples of each.
The effort required to get code into a machine that wasn't intended to accept said code isn't so much an exercise in "DRM breaking" (whatever that term means), it's privilege escalation. And the amount of effort involved is affected by who the designers believed the attacker(s) would be, and what was in it for them.
Some systems are trivially "repurpose-able" but their target users don't care; other, truly fixed platforms can be a pain in everyone's ass. Cell phones come down somewhere in the middle, though Android has at least the _potential_ for helping carriers see the benefits of a more adaptable platform.
And yes, I've successfully circumvented the protections of some pretty seriously implemented digital encryption systems. In a professional capacity.
Nah. The carriers still own the network, after all. So unless you're prepared to break out your JTAG adapter, Android is as locked down as T-Mobile wants it to be.
Yes, quite. It can't handle the substantial inrush current needed by the laser printer.
The "click" you hear in the UPS when the laser printer warms up is the UPS noting the drops on the power mains, which gives you some idea just how much current that printer needs.
I have a Samsung ML2150, and have noticed the same thing. Lights flicker, etc. whenever I submit a print job and the printer transitions from standby to active. The various UPSes in my office sense that, and respond with clicks and beeps.
Take the laser printer off the UPS. If you really need printer capability during a power failure, switch to an ink jet.
Let's say someone borrows money to purchase a PV system. If the monthly expense of their PV debt plus their new monthly electricity bill is lower than their previous electricity bill, how exactly is that "losing" money?
Skip the objections around "still keeping the principal", "debt is bad", etc. etc. etc., which are considerations only for those who already have that kind of cash sitting around.
Of course, it might not be possible to get financing that will yield a net lower monthly expense. Per Slashdot conventions, I haven't RTFA or run the numbers myself.:)... Alright, I couldn't resist actually running some numbers, compliments of some random mortgage calculator website...
A 10-year, $36K note at 7% is a monthly payment of $418. At 10%, the payment jumps to $476. Given that a PV system depreciates in value, that low of a rate is probably unrealistic.
If the PV system you financed "saves $3300/yr in electricity payments", you're in the hole $476-$275=$201 each month for the 10% note. Ouch.
So for the time being, looks like the PV route is financially viable only for those who have the funds on hand already.
I assume it is the typical 2-3 cuttings a year like with hay though so some bailing and repeated cutting passes would probable make up for the plowing and seeding and it would probably be equal in fuel usage because fuel rate is calculated by PTO work.
I don't think that assumption works.
What is important is "PTO energy", but you appear to be using "PTO hours" as your definition instead. This error doesn't totally wreck your point, but it tips the scales a little further over towards switchgrass.
Plowing, particularly the subsoiling type often done in drier climates, requires considerably more energy input than baling, mowing and seeding put together. Consider the quantity of diesel fuel required to plow and otherwise prepare a plot for seeding vs. mowing and bailing. There's a large difference, you notice it right away if your diesel storage tank features only a hand pump.:)
It's true that corn silage provides tons of energy, all of which is wasted in our current approach to ethanol production. But once you've extracted that, you have to plow and plant again to restart the process. Large output, but a large input required to get it.
With switchgrass, you don't get the huge yields all-at-once the way you would with corn silage, but what you would get would come with (I think--- I haven't run the numbers) a better return-on-investment. The heavy energy consumption happens only once to get the stand established, after that there's only maintenance input during the periodic harvesting.
I bet that corn silage wins easily in total net energy yield per unit of land planted, but switchgrass comes out ahead in cost per unit of energy yield. You don't get as much out of a plot of land with switchgrass, but you put even less in.
Let's go on. Switchgrass is a perennial, so the heavy equipment needed to establish a plot isn't needed long-term (e.g. rent it vs. buy it). The maintenance equipment (mower, cutter, baler) is much cheaper, perhaps placing it within the budget of farmers that couldn't farm otherwise. Some of those wanna-be farmers might also be in regions that corn silage just won't grow in, whether you have the equipment or not.
Finally, since you only plow for switchgrass once, you don't have an annual release of large quantities of CO2 that might undo some of the gains made by switching away from a fossil fuel in the first place. I know that's not a part of this discussion, but I think it's worth mentioning anyway.
Overall, I really like your analysis and its approach. Some of the foundation might not be quite right, but the critical thinking is what this whole debate needs much more of. Kudos.
The idea of eating summer fruits when there's snow on the ground might be novel, but hardly appropriate, or interesting. I'll grant you the "novel" and "interesting" parts, but not "appropriate". I don't see the point in limiting variety in my diet, particularly in the midwestern USA in the wintertime--- when the only locally-grown produce is snow!
I hate a produce monoculture as much as the next guy, and I've even owned shares in a few local farmer's co-ops (and yes, their food does taste better when in season). But I'll take that along with my summer-fruits-in-wintertime disease anytime!
Two-way satellite works great except for the latency. You could always have the dish on the ground out in the garden if the house or shrubs etc. don't shadow the signal. Indeed, satellite is a great option here unless you're a user of interactive, gaming-type protocols. Shrubs, etc. *do* block the signal, but the allowable distance between the LNB (a.k.a. "antenna") and receiver/decoder (a.k.a. "box") can be pretty generous, so put the antenna behind a tree. Just be absolutely sure to use a very sturdy pole set in concrete, otherwise wind, etc. will move the dish enough to take down your link on environmentally-challenged days. A nearby shed that blocks the wind, snow, etc. is ideal.
You could also consider a mesh 802.11 network, but that would (a) probably be as high-latency as satellite, albeit with similar bandwidth, and (b) require cooperation from neighbors, so that your packets could hop to somewhere that connected to the 'tubes.
If you have Edge et. al, give them a try, especially with Sprint's new all-you-can-eat plan. I know that when my Treo can get that kind of signal, it's pretty impressive. Not ADSL-impressive, but definitely a step up from dialup. And a whole lot easier to install (USB modem)...
Yes and no. If it cuts the cost of the battery by 50%, then the chip could be considerably more expensive without affecting the overall product cost. Batteries and their related circuitry are expensive!
> The FBI need only press a button to start wiretapping.
That may be true. But that doesn't mean the Courts will allow them to use that evidence in a prosecution.
Data taken via wiretap might provide conclusive evidence that a crime was committed. But if that wiretap wasn't legal--- a determination made solely by the Court--- then a jury will never know the data even existed. And if that data is the sole evidence that a crime was committed, then there is no evidence.
THAT's the checks-and-balances part of our government. The Executive branch can attempt to do all the wiretapping it likes, but only the Judicial branch can send someone to jail (Gitmo notwithstanding).
"In relatively recent history, IO scheduling has been painful on the desktop..."
It doesn't help that a lot of desktop I/O hardware is really, really crappy, and bogs the CPU down doing nothing more than disk platter baby-sitting and checksum calculations. But not until after literally starving for memory and disk bandwidth.
The minute you invest in decent hardware, a lot of the I/O scheduling problems go away.
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Apart from that, they are one of the least worse vendors.
Point is, any differences between the top-tier vendors where open source is concerned is mostly splitting hairs. :)
Anyone who thinks Intel "gets" open source has never worked with them on a technical level. I'm looking at you, Poulsbo.
I wouldn't call it "weak" support, at all. Rather, it's a challenge to keep Linux abreast of the rapid pace of ARM development. Both on the CPU side, and on the platform side.
Linux is an incredibly strong OS for ARM. If you want support for the bleeding edge CPUs and SoCs, it can be pretty painful--- but if you step back even a little from that edge, Linux is solid.
You think it's gnarly now? You should have seen it a couple of years ago! Things have improved by light-years since then.
It's true that ARM isn't as cleanly supported as, say, x86. But the simple explanation is that there is significantly more diversity in the ARM world than in the x86 world, so comparisons between the two are a bit like comparing apples to orangutans.
There are limits to what can be done to address the problem. I prefer having a diversity of ARM chips to having a BIOS--- and that would be the only way to tame this beast long-term. I think most platform developers (those who do both hardware and software) would agree with me: it's easier to port Linux to a good chip for your end application, than it is to use a less-than-ideal chip in the platform just because it has a mature Linux port. So while we should continue refactoring Linux on ARM, we should also accept that things will never be as clean as they are on x86. It isn't in anyone's best interest to even strive for that goal.
In parallel with all of this, we must be careful not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. ARM is the singular reason why Linux owns the embedded space for 32-bit CPUs that run OSes. Nobody else is even close. So despite all of Linux's warts for ARM, it still works really, really, REALLY well. Vendors of ARM SoC's should recognize this, and pony up some funding to clean up the mess as an investment in their futures.
While it is certainly possible to write C code that is endian-dependent, I consider such code to be broken--- as would any sane, professional C programmer.
To wit, the eleventy-million lines of C code in the Linux kernel are fully endian-agnostic. And largely independent of integer representation size, too!
C appears to be in decline only because of the explosive growth in the number of applications produced in higher-level languages. Total annual C output is increasing year-on-year--- mostly to implement systems that themselves support the aforementioned applications.
Put another way, none of the growth in Java, C#, Python, Ruby, etc. etc. etc. would be possible without growth in C output as well. C won't ever go away, because every higher-level language in existence depends on it.
So you can have your Java. I know you'll come crying back to me when you want a platform to run it on. :)
Most USA domestic flights are so short, there isn't any time to serve food. On top of that, it's really, really disruptive when I'm sitting there trying to get work done and having to pass trays back and forth. I think eliminating food is one of the positive things that the USA domestic carriers have done over the years.
As for American being a terrible airline, I have to disagree with you. Perhaps they're not a nice as some of the international carriers due to the cut-throat market in the US, but I have been quite happy with my experiences flying them for domestic and international purposes.
Agreed. I have flown 600K miles with American over the years, and a few 100K's more with other USA airlines. I have found American to have consistently the best service of the USA carriers (I have flown them all). In particular, every time I fly a budget-priced alternative (I'm looking at you, Southwest), I always end up regretting it. A big part of this is the professionalism of the American flight crews, and another big part is that American's prices are generally a little higher than competitors, which seems to draw a slightly more professional clientele. I'm ok with that.
None of the USA carriers can compete with the the international carriers for comfort on the long-haul, overwater flights, however. Singapore Air and Quantas are in leagues of their own--- and have the ticket prices to match. But if all you do is fly between Chicago and Singapore, you can really optimize for that experience--- including use of aircraft that are so highly optimized for that route that they aren't cost-effective to use elsewhere (747-400ER). None of the USA domestic carriers have that advantage.
And besides, no domestic flight in the USA is longer than about five hours--- which really isn't all that long (this comes from someone who has done Chicago-Beijing and Chicago-Hong Kong, both of which can take upwards of 16 hours or more). Just deal with it.
.
According to my calulations, that's a total of about 68KB, or small potatoes compared to today's microprocessors. We probably could perform all functions with one of today's boards and still have room for solid state data storage and much more fault detection software.
In fact, some of the lowest-end embedded processors have more than 68KB of *cache* memory alone. There are $5 parts available that can, at least electrically, perform all that would be needed of a Voyager computer in a single chip.
But the teeny tiny process geometries of today's hardware wouldn't survive such a 30+-year deployment, even if it wasn't in deep space.
That's an excellent analogy. Makes me wonder what went on in the courtroom that prevented the jury from seeing just how obvious this patent was!
Southwest and their kind pretty much suck unless you're in the mood to be treated as best-effort cattle. They're the UDP of the airline world. American, Delta and United are the TCP's. :)
If you are shopping for price, you probably aren't American's prime customer. Their specialty is in handling business travel, where passengers value perks like the ability to board early enough to be reasonably assured there will be overhead bin space for their carry-ons, regardless of when they actually arrive at the airport.
I'm one of those people, in fact. I often can't get to the airport until a few minutes before boarding actually begins due to external time pressures and schedule conflicts, and I usually have to carry-on my bags due to time pressures at the arrival terminal as well (like not being able to arrive earlier than 30 minutes before the rental car counter closes for the night). American knows how to deal with people like me, where the price of the ticket is less important than a reasonable assurance that you'll actually arrive when and how the ticket says you will.
Expedia is a great resource for price-conscious customers. But for a huge cross-section of airline travelers, the price of the ticket isn't the foremost concern. For us, Expedia and the like are a waste of time.
Aside, I quit traveling Southwest years ago, when they stranded me three flights in a row. The carriers might all be selling airline seat miles, but how they package them is remarkably different--- and critically important to some people.
If you think life with patents is bad, you should try life without them. In my opinion, China's complete disregard for the concepts of "intellectual property", "fairness", and "competitiveness" do more to kill innovation than the USPTO ever does.
Excuse me, but who are you? Have you done any breaking of DRM? Ever? I have, and I'm telling you that products based on open source stuff are a LOT easier to crack than proprietary stuff. I'm baffled that you'd even argue with me about this.
I don't think his term "breaking DRM" means the same thing as yours. Or mine. Or that the term is even all that applicable here. Regardless, I don't subscribe to your generalization. I've seen insecure proprietary systems, and insecure open source systems. And relatively secure examples of each.
The effort required to get code into a machine that wasn't intended to accept said code isn't so much an exercise in "DRM breaking" (whatever that term means), it's privilege escalation. And the amount of effort involved is affected by who the designers believed the attacker(s) would be, and what was in it for them.
Some systems are trivially "repurpose-able" but their target users don't care; other, truly fixed platforms can be a pain in everyone's ass. Cell phones come down somewhere in the middle, though Android has at least the _potential_ for helping carriers see the benefits of a more adaptable platform.
And yes, I've successfully circumvented the protections of some pretty seriously implemented digital encryption systems. In a professional capacity.
Nah. The carriers still own the network, after all. So unless you're prepared to break out your JTAG adapter, Android is as locked down as T-Mobile wants it to be.
Yes, quite. It can't handle the substantial inrush current needed by the laser printer.
The "click" you hear in the UPS when the laser printer warms up is the UPS noting the drops on the power mains, which gives you some idea just how much current that printer needs.
I have a Samsung ML2150, and have noticed the same thing. Lights flicker, etc. whenever I submit a print job and the printer transitions from standby to active. The various UPSes in my office sense that, and respond with clicks and beeps.
Take the laser printer off the UPS. If you really need printer capability during a power failure, switch to an ink jet.
Help me understand something.
Let's say someone borrows money to purchase a PV system. If the monthly expense of their PV debt plus their new monthly electricity bill is lower than their previous electricity bill, how exactly is that "losing" money?
Skip the objections around "still keeping the principal", "debt is bad", etc. etc. etc., which are considerations only for those who already have that kind of cash sitting around.
Of course, it might not be possible to get financing that will yield a net lower monthly expense. Per Slashdot conventions, I haven't RTFA or run the numbers myself. :) ... Alright, I couldn't resist actually running some numbers, compliments of some random mortgage calculator website...
A 10-year, $36K note at 7% is a monthly payment of $418. At 10%, the payment jumps to $476. Given that a PV system depreciates in value, that low of a rate is probably unrealistic.
If the PV system you financed "saves $3300/yr in electricity payments", you're in the hole $476-$275=$201 each month for the 10% note. Ouch.
So for the time being, looks like the PV route is financially viable only for those who have the funds on hand already.
Why should I give away my work?
You don't.
And after reading your rant, I urge you not to.
I don't think that assumption works.
What is important is "PTO energy", but you appear to be using "PTO hours" as your definition instead. This error doesn't totally wreck your point, but it tips the scales a little further over towards switchgrass.
Plowing, particularly the subsoiling type often done in drier climates, requires considerably more energy input than baling, mowing and seeding put together. Consider the quantity of diesel fuel required to plow and otherwise prepare a plot for seeding vs. mowing and bailing. There's a large difference, you notice it right away if your diesel storage tank features only a hand pump.
It's true that corn silage provides tons of energy, all of which is wasted in our current approach to ethanol production. But once you've extracted that, you have to plow and plant again to restart the process. Large output, but a large input required to get it.
With switchgrass, you don't get the huge yields all-at-once the way you would with corn silage, but what you would get would come with (I think--- I haven't run the numbers) a better return-on-investment. The heavy energy consumption happens only once to get the stand established, after that there's only maintenance input during the periodic harvesting.
I bet that corn silage wins easily in total net energy yield per unit of land planted, but switchgrass comes out ahead in cost per unit of energy yield. You don't get as much out of a plot of land with switchgrass, but you put even less in.
Let's go on. Switchgrass is a perennial, so the heavy equipment needed to establish a plot isn't needed long-term (e.g. rent it vs. buy it). The maintenance equipment (mower, cutter, baler) is much cheaper, perhaps placing it within the budget of farmers that couldn't farm otherwise. Some of those wanna-be farmers might also be in regions that corn silage just won't grow in, whether you have the equipment or not.
Finally, since you only plow for switchgrass once, you don't have an annual release of large quantities of CO2 that might undo some of the gains made by switching away from a fossil fuel in the first place. I know that's not a part of this discussion, but I think it's worth mentioning anyway.
Overall, I really like your analysis and its approach. Some of the foundation might not be quite right, but the critical thinking is what this whole debate needs much more of. Kudos.
I hate a produce monoculture as much as the next guy, and I've even owned shares in a few local farmer's co-ops (and yes, their food does taste better when in season). But I'll take that along with my summer-fruits-in-wintertime disease anytime!
You could also consider a mesh 802.11 network, but that would (a) probably be as high-latency as satellite, albeit with similar bandwidth, and (b) require cooperation from neighbors, so that your packets could hop to somewhere that connected to the 'tubes.
If you have Edge et. al, give them a try, especially with Sprint's new all-you-can-eat plan. I know that when my Treo can get that kind of signal, it's pretty impressive. Not ADSL-impressive, but definitely a step up from dialup. And a whole lot easier to install (USB modem)...
Yes and no. If it cuts the cost of the battery by 50%, then the chip could be considerably more expensive without affecting the overall product cost. Batteries and their related circuitry are expensive!
> The FBI need only press a button to start wiretapping.
That may be true. But that doesn't mean the Courts will allow them to use that evidence in a prosecution.
Data taken via wiretap might provide conclusive evidence that a crime was committed. But if that wiretap wasn't legal--- a determination made solely by the Court--- then a jury will never know the data even existed. And if that data is the sole evidence that a crime was committed, then there is no evidence.
THAT's the checks-and-balances part of our government. The Executive branch can attempt to do all the wiretapping it likes, but only the Judicial branch can send someone to jail (Gitmo notwithstanding).
"In relatively recent history, IO scheduling has been painful on the desktop..."
It doesn't help that a lot of desktop I/O hardware is really, really crappy, and bogs the CPU down doing nothing more than disk platter baby-sitting and checksum calculations. But not until after literally starving for memory and disk bandwidth.
The minute you invest in decent hardware, a lot of the I/O scheduling problems go away.