I will hope you still read this but its a bit after this was posted
I read all replies to my comments. It's a Slashdot messaging feature.
Students each have a disk that they have their source code on (they write the code to the disk). We compile onto the disk and the executable remains on the disk.
Wouldn't the temporary files created by the compiler exceed 1.4 MB, the capacity of a "high-density" 3.5 inch floppy disk? Or is one of the objectives of the course to optimize a compilation job for minimal size of intermediate files and of executable files?
And what does the grader do when he or she receives a disk that has bad sectors on it? Floppies tend to develop them rather quickly.
Sparse files
on
Ghost for Unix
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· Score: 2, Informative
[A file made of all zeroes] should leave us with very compressible freespace, right?
I suggested a repeating pattern rather than zeroes because some UNIX systems represent an all-zero file cluster by not allocating the cluster at all. A file that contains such a cluster is called a "sparse file".
What if there is only one gym within 100 miles? What if all gyms have the same type of contract? Is there a choice?
Setting the record straight
on
Ghost for Unix
·
· Score: 2, Informative
To clear up any misconceptions that the sarcastic parent comment might have created:
GPL gets around this by asking that you give them the copyright and give them all the credit leaving you with none.
Actually, every author of a GPL program gets credit. The GNU GPL, section 2, requires that "You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change." Thus, the credit stays where it belongs, in the source code, documentation, and (for interactive programs) the about box, rather than in possibly unrelated advertising.
store just a URL on the device where drivers can be downloaded from.
URLs are not guaranteed to be stable, even when the company follows the W3C's rules. Even Tim BL admits that "Pretty much the only good reason for a document to disappear from the Web is that the company which owned the domain name went out of business or can no longer afford to keep the server running" or had the domain forcibly taken from them in UDRP arbitration. Personal computer peripheral manufacturers do go out of business.
why not just make standard interfaces for all or most all devices? Like postscript for printers?
Because PostScript printers cost twice as much, part for the added hardware for running the PS interpreter, and part for the interpreter software license (if you choose Adobe's over Aladdin's).
I'd go for a simpler interface where the host sends the printer a PNG of the page, and the printer prints it. The host should also be able to query the printer's paper sizes, hardware pixel densities, color model (black, cmyk, or hexachrome), and dot spread. Then Any Old Rasterizer(tm) would work.
Hmmm...of course we may need to use firewire or USB2 for our mice
XML isn't always the best language framework, especially for streaming events over a low bandwidth link. When I begin to run into more markup than data, I typically switch to a simple text-based encoding, and if that isn't efficient enough, I use binary.
Try it some time, and see if you can read your hard drive.
Somehow I left out the "read-write" in grandparent. Sorry.
Wipe every free block for great compression
on
Ghost for Unix
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I don't understand why reading the raw data is an advantage -- you get images the size of your hard disk or partition instead of the size of the data.
Shouldn't matter. If you have wiped your drive's free space (trivial; use a program that creates thousands of 1 MB files filled with a repeating pattern) first, an "image the size of the hard disk or partition" will compress much smaller.
Ghost 7.5 can understand fat/ntfs/ext2 and ext3.
But does it grok ReiserFS or any of the other more obscure filesystems in use on servers?
Since they are in two entirely seperate categories, linux software and shitty movies, they chance of somebody confusing them is slight.
Then what about GHOST IN THE SHELL brand computer data backup (ghost) software with a command line (shell) interface? Would that clash with GHOST IN THE SHELL® brand video games?
I went to TESS and ran a query for live U.S. trademark registrations matching the word GHOST, and got eyewear, a removable LCD panel, cosmetics, force-feedback joysticks, and loudspeakers.
I'd be worried about a trademark lawsuit from Symantec more than anything.
Low level error correction
on
Ghost for Unix
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
isn't there a big chance that some bits would get corrupted?
Modern storage devices use error correction at a very low level. For instance, CD-ROM has three error-correcting codes: two in the CD layer and one in the sector layer. In addition, a partition could be written to multiple discs in a manner similar to RAID 5, such that every fifth disc stored an xor of the four previous discs.
Make that "old skool BSD license"
on
Ghost for Unix
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· Score: 3, Informative
From the article:
3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement:
This product includes software developed by Hubert Feyrer .
is it really so horrible to fill in some details - you can even put dummy info into the ones you don't want to provide for real.
The NYT Terms of Service document is a contract. Misrepresenting your information is fraud, a felony in all fifty U.S. states.
Besides, what do you think they are going to do? Analyse your reading habits
In theory, a publisher could exploit a loophole in its privacy policy and, when you read an article about a medical issue, notify the insurance companies. Now, when you research information about say AIDS, your insurance rates go up.
it is more useful to keep your Solaris server in the datacenter and ssh into it from your mobile workstation running your preferred OS.
Possible problems: Internet latency. (I've tried ssh from Verizon dial-up Internet access to a SourceForge.net shell account, and it wasn't pretty.) Unavailability or prohibitive expense of wireless networking services in a given area.
I think my trs-80 laptop is 64-bit because it can add two 64-bit numbers.
Which is why I stressed the importance of a clear definition of "64-bit" that excludes processors commonly considered "32-bit" or less. This AC provided the answer.
And I didn't ask that because I found a satisfactory answer in another comment to this article.
It's another thing to try and claim that your 32 bit computer is 64 bit.
I asked that because I did not know the accepted definition of a 64-bit computer. Another reply to my comment pointed me to a HP page claiming that "64-bit" refers to the sizes of pointers and general-purpose integer registers.
But is 32-bit always worse in practice than 64-bit? For instance, the Microsoft Xbox has a 32-bit Pentium III CPU clocked at 700 MHz, but partly because it's clocked higher than the 94 MHz 64-bit MIPS processor in the Nintendo 64 console, the Xbox can generate more detailed graphics. The GameCube also has a 32-bit processor similar to those used in Apple's iMac and TiBook computers.
64bit defined from the mouths of Digital engineers
So HP says that "64-bit" refers to the sizes of integers and pointers. How long do you think it will be before a typical new desktop computer has a processor with 64-bit integer registers?
Troll.
How? Is it now considered "trollish" to ask a question and suggest possible answers?
The Solaris(tm) operating environment runs on Intel microprocessors as well.
Most programs that are available only for SPARC processors are probably heavy computation or database apps, not the sort of apps that you would want to run on a laptop computer.
Slashdot Mirror
I will hope you still read this but its a bit after this was posted
I read all replies to my comments. It's a Slashdot messaging feature.
Students each have a disk that they have their source code on (they write the code to the disk). We compile onto the disk and the executable remains on the disk.
Wouldn't the temporary files created by the compiler exceed 1.4 MB, the capacity of a "high-density" 3.5 inch floppy disk? Or is one of the objectives of the course to optimize a compilation job for minimal size of intermediate files and of executable files?
And what does the grader do when he or she receives a disk that has bad sectors on it? Floppies tend to develop them rather quickly.
[A file made of all zeroes] should leave us with very compressible freespace, right?
I suggested a repeating pattern rather than zeroes because some UNIX systems represent an all-zero file cluster by not allocating the cluster at all. A file that contains such a cluster is called a "sparse file".
You have the right... to go to a different gym.
What if there is only one gym within 100 miles? What if all gyms have the same type of contract? Is there a choice?
To clear up any misconceptions that the sarcastic parent comment might have created:
GPL gets around this by asking that you give them the copyright and give them all the credit leaving you with none.
Actually, every author of a GPL program gets credit. The GNU GPL, section 2, requires that "You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change." Thus, the credit stays where it belongs, in the source code, documentation, and (for interactive programs) the about box, rather than in possibly unrelated advertising.
store just a URL on the device where drivers can be downloaded from.
URLs are not guaranteed to be stable, even when the company follows the W3C's rules. Even Tim BL admits that "Pretty much the only good reason for a document to disappear from the Web is that the company which owned the domain name went out of business or can no longer afford to keep the server running" or had the domain forcibly taken from them in UDRP arbitration. Personal computer peripheral manufacturers do go out of business.
why not just make standard interfaces for all or most all devices? Like postscript for printers?
Because PostScript printers cost twice as much, part for the added hardware for running the PS interpreter, and part for the interpreter software license (if you choose Adobe's over Aladdin's).
I'd go for a simpler interface where the host sends the printer a PNG of the page, and the printer prints it. The host should also be able to query the printer's paper sizes, hardware pixel densities, color model (black, cmyk, or hexachrome), and dot spread. Then Any Old Rasterizer(tm) would work.
In addition, with CDs, you need to order a significant number.
Not anymore.
Hmmm...of course we may need to use firewire or USB2 for our mice
XML isn't always the best language framework, especially for streaming events over a low bandwidth link. When I begin to run into more markup than data, I typically switch to a simple text-based encoding, and if that isn't efficient enough, I use binary.
A single packet ("move x+10 y-7 b1+") shouldn't take too much bandwidth over USB 1.
Try it some time, and see if you can read your hard drive.
Somehow I left out the "read-write" in grandparent. Sorry.
I don't understand why reading the raw data is an advantage -- you get images the size of your hard disk or partition instead of the size of the data.
Shouldn't matter. If you have wiped your drive's free space (trivial; use a program that creates thousands of 1 MB files filled with a repeating pattern) first, an "image the size of the hard disk or partition" will compress much smaller.
Ghost 7.5 can understand fat/ntfs/ext2 and ext3.
But does it grok ReiserFS or any of the other more obscure filesystems in use on servers?
Since they are in two entirely seperate categories, linux software and shitty movies, they chance of somebody confusing them is slight.
Then what about GHOST IN THE SHELL brand computer data backup (ghost) software with a command line (shell) interface? Would that clash with GHOST IN THE SHELL® brand video games?
I went to TESS and ran a query for live U.S. trademark registrations matching the word GHOST, and got eyewear, a removable LCD panel, cosmetics, force-feedback joysticks, and loudspeakers.
I'd be worried about a trademark lawsuit from Symantec more than anything.
isn't there a big chance that some bits would get corrupted?
Modern storage devices use error correction at a very low level. For instance, CD-ROM has three error-correcting codes: two in the CD layer and one in the sector layer. In addition, a partition could be written to multiple discs in a manner similar to RAID 5, such that every fifth disc stored an xor of the four previous discs.
From the article:
This form of the BSD license has a minor problem.
Read the knoppix documentation... it does not, by default, install ANYTHING to ANY hard drive
OK, if Knoppix doesn't mount the hard drive, then how do students save their work to hand it in?
3) NOT allowing students to write (even temporary files) to the hard drive...
You probably just broke that rule by booting Knoppix, which uses a swap file on any machine with less than 128 MB of RAM.
is it really so horrible to fill in some details - you can even put dummy info into the ones you don't want to provide for real.
The NYT Terms of Service document is a contract. Misrepresenting your information is fraud, a felony in all fifty U.S. states.
Besides, what do you think they are going to do? Analyse your reading habits
In theory, a publisher could exploit a loophole in its privacy policy and, when you read an article about a medical issue, notify the insurance companies. Now, when you research information about say AIDS, your insurance rates go up.
it is more useful to keep your Solaris server in the datacenter and ssh into it from your mobile workstation running your preferred OS.
Possible problems: Internet latency. (I've tried ssh from Verizon dial-up Internet access to a SourceForge.net shell account, and it wasn't pretty.) Unavailability or prohibitive expense of wireless networking services in a given area.
And then one day... We'll FUCK THE USA!!!
No, just fuck PoizonBOx.
Just a friendly reminder to keep your SPARC system updated with the latest Solaris operating environment, to keep out crackers with sad minds.
I think my trs-80 laptop is 64-bit because it can add two 64-bit numbers.
Which is why I stressed the importance of a clear definition of "64-bit" that excludes processors commonly considered "32-bit" or less. This AC provided the answer.
Just because the OS runs there, it doesn't mean that the applications run there as well.
Then go to SourceForge.net by OSDN, get the source code for your applications, and recompile it. Easy.
None of what I said in the preceding paragraph applies if your enterprise relies on proprietary application software.
It's one thing to say "What do I need this for."
And I didn't ask that because I found a satisfactory answer in another comment to this article.
It's another thing to try and claim that your 32 bit computer is 64 bit.
I asked that because I did not know the accepted definition of a 64-bit computer. Another reply to my comment pointed me to a HP page claiming that "64-bit" refers to the sizes of pointers and general-purpose integer registers.
But is 32-bit always worse in practice than 64-bit? For instance, the Microsoft Xbox has a 32-bit Pentium III CPU clocked at 700 MHz, but partly because it's clocked higher than the 94 MHz 64-bit MIPS processor in the Nintendo 64 console, the Xbox can generate more detailed graphics. The GameCube also has a 32-bit processor similar to those used in Apple's iMac and TiBook computers.
64bit defined from the mouths of Digital engineers
So HP says that "64-bit" refers to the sizes of integers and pointers. How long do you think it will be before a typical new desktop computer has a processor with 64-bit integer registers?
Troll.
How? Is it now considered "trollish" to ask a question and suggest possible answers?
with all of those horrible viri[sic] out there that attack unix....
The Solaris operating environment has its share of viruses and worms as well:
Or runs production solaris only applications.
The Solaris(tm) operating environment runs on Intel microprocessors as well.
Most programs that are available only for SPARC processors are probably heavy computation or database apps, not the sort of apps that you would want to run on a laptop computer.