Hopefully, AMD can pick up the ball and have the dual chipset rock.
I think consumers (eventually) will go for SMP. I know I have been wating for SMP for some time. I would rather buy a new AMD system than an Intel. Mind you, I am thinking about waiting even a little longer... The Sledgehammer looks quite good, with its x86 compatibility and 64 forward looking ideas I think its going to come out strong. Since I only use Linux/BSD now (Ok, I use Windows whenever Warren Spector releases a new game...) SMP has become a big issue for me.
I don't think AMD will drop the ball on this one, they are moving cautiously, the Sledgehammer is their "Xeon", and what a chip it is! They have also just released their "celeron" chips as it were (thunderbird) and are spreading themselves slowly across the market.
The dual processor will come soon, I think Chipzilla is in for a beating (at least I hope so!)
This looks like the Cyrix Jalapeno (Which I thought was cancelled...)
Still, by the time this hits mass production it will be incredibly out of date. Standard for the recent Cyrix processors (Ironic really, because back in the 486 days they were bigger than AMD).
It seems obvious that VIA is going after the "low cost market", but it seems that they are doing it in an unusual market... Perhaps to appease Intel so they can keep compatiblites with their Motherboard chipsets?
In any case, if it works out, it could create a brand loalty in those areas, after all, with the amount that Intel chips are overpriced, a "discount" chip like this could really bring computers in a ubiquidous fashion to all these areas. VIA sure seems to think so. They look to be going for volume in a new market. I hope that they can pull it off.
I would say that the odds are good though, with a weak FPU I cannot see the chip gaining any popularity in Western Europe, Taiwan or North America.
Still, never mind anything else, competition is a good thing!
A few months ago (when I last had windows installed) I tried Mozilla under windows, and I had exactly the same problems. I did not submit bug reports, I was just pissed off that fundamental features like that (and filename expansion) were non-functional.
I still use Netscape. I can see myself using Mozilla when functional (read basic) features are built in.
Well, they read outside the thread and marked my post down, like I expected. Which is funny because the moderators did NOT mark down the obvious troll post above mine.
Its not like the moderators actually took the time to properly READ my post.....
Mmmm The good 'ol MPAA You have to love quotes like this:
"This lawsuit is about stealing," MPAA president Jack Valenti said in a press conference this morning. "Technology may make stealing easier, but it doesn't make it right."
I find it funny just how vocal he can be... In the press that is. Get him into a courtroom and you hear things like this and (real audio version) like this.
Nevermind the megacorporation influence. Anyone this evasive is IMO extremely untrustworthy...
Wait... He heads the MPAA you say??? WELL I NEVER!!!
looks like it was designed by an engineer Well, I don't know about you, but I will take a Dilbert Palm over a Calvin Klein Palm any day! (Palms are mainly about function, not form.)
I do agree that the Palm V is smaller (thinner). And that is one of its benifits.
I contrast the devices like this:
Palm III: Upgradable Palm V: Sealed, upgradable if you void warranty Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Hard Plastic Cover, offers excellent protection Palm V: Cute leather cover that turns the unit on when in your pocked due to bad design! Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Long Life on 2 AAA batteries Palm V: Rechargable Winner: Palm V (Unless on long trip away from base)
Palm III: Flash upgradable Palm V: Nope Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Ugly, but does not slide out of my hand Palm V: Digs into the edge of my hand and has a habit of sliding out of my hand and plummeting to the floor. Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Has large number of PDA accessories avalible Palm V has large number of PDA accessories avalible (pretty much) only from palm.
Palm III: Original Hot Sync contacts, compatible with nice toys like digital compasses and GPS'es Palm V: Hot Sync contacts not compatible (won't even sync on an old Palm/Palm III cradle!!!!!) Winner: Palm III
And the winner of this bout by completley biased judges is: THE PALM III SERIES AND FORM FACTOR!!!
I can see the influence of the visor (which IMO is a better product) the colors are very visor like.
I don't know what they are thinking with the bulbous bottom of that thing, The palm III series (I myself own a IIIx) tapers downwards at the bottom and thus it makes it comfortable in your hand.
The V series (which I truly dislike) has this stupid outward taper to the bottom, that digs a little edge into your hand. It also makes the thing harder to hold on to.
Palm makes good organizers, but they are going to be up against some stiff competition with the Visor, its just better designed. (Jeff Hawkins has still got it I guess...) Of course, we all know that the better product does not always win.
It either case it seems that the OS (palm) has already won, its just a debate over the form factor and the peripherals. (The Visor cartiges kick ass over the upgrade slots in a Palm.)
When I was younger I saw the original pong for sale for $300 Canadian. I had the money to by it at the time, but thought "what the fuck do I want PONG for???" I wish I had bought it now... That was in the late 80's.
I now have the opportunity to buy an Atari game that I loved in the 80's (I won't name it, lest someone else find it and beat me to it, but it was not that popular anyhow...) I am not going to miss this chance again.
Amazingly this system is in ok shape, and only $600 Canadian. I say "only" because I spent more in quarters on the damn thing when it was in my local arcade.
I don't know if I like the trend of throwing arcade machines off of buildings as funny as it may seem... I just found out about an AS 400 that was thrown away at work. (There is a second one about to be turfed, but I managed to get dibs on it...)
What will eventually happen to these machines is what happend to pong. In the late 80's I thought pong sucked (I still do), but its a collectors item now. A very rare game indeed. So, I will preserve the atari coin-op and the AS 400. Maybe they will go up in value? Maybe not... Still, I will enjoy hanging on to them, and keeping them on the ground floor.
I don't think that its a hoax. A sugar molecule is a resonably simple CHO compound and given the amount of Carbod Hydrogen and Oxygen around in the universe I would say that its a safe bet that there is sugar out there.
What *IS* a surprise is that there is sugar in large enough quantites to be detected.
As for how they were detected, the article says:
The discovery was made by detecting faint radio emission from the sugar molecules in the interstellar cloud. Molecules rotate end-for-end, and as they change from one rotational energy state to another, they emit radio waves at precise frequencies. The "family" of radio frequencies emitted by a particular molecule forms a unique "fingerprint" that scientists can use to identify that molecule. The scientists identified glycolaldehyde by detecting six frequencies of radio emission in what is termed the millimeter-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum -- a region between more-familiar microwaves and infrared radiation.
So, as the article says, they used a bit of spectrography (or radio spec as the case is). Its the same way that Helium was discovered in the sun before it was discovered on earth. (Helios --> meaning "sun" hence Helium.)
According to the article and the information presented therin I would find it unlikely that it is a hoax. The beauty of a thing like this (and science in general) is that anyone else with a telescope capable of detecting this and a radio spectrometer can verify the results. Now, I don't have one. Still, I do know people who work at the Dominion Radio Astronomical Obseratory here in central B.C.
Now, I am not going to go ask my friends to verify this - its just not worth my time. It does however show a good point: Good science can be replicated. You can bet that there are other scientists that upon seeing this result will point their telescopes at this portion of the sky and check.
Myself, I would put money on this being good science and not bad science from the general tone of the article. It seems that the scientific method was followed, and a discovery was unvelied.
In the end, even bad science turns into good science. It just takes time.
we can walk into a public library, or the occasional coffee shop and use any one of the 'free' web based mail services...
Good point! As a Canadian as well I had forgotten about that. I have cable at home, so why use the internet anywhere else?
I read an interesting statistic the other day, I forget the exact figures, but the U.S. is the number one wired country in the world, followed by Canada. Canada however, has more broadband access than the U.S. per capita.
Still, as per your point, the internet is avalible to anyone who wants to use it here, but not every one uses it, nor, as I mentioned in my other post, can everyone read...
Very interesting. Its a good idea: Free access to information. The problem that I see is the overall lack of computers in South America. Sure, rich families will have them, but most people will not. Still as the article says, terminals will be installed in public areas.
Again, though, how many people will use them? Here in Canada the level of literacy is (IIRC) about 80%. What is it like in South America? You cannot use the internet without a functional ability to read.
With the spread of this idea it gives all the more reason to donated your used systems to South American countries, its better than sending them to landfill. I know that there was an organization here in Canada that was sending used systems to Cuba (yes, its Central America...)
If "free" (donated) PC's begin to become common, I wonder what OS they will use? I sure hope its a free one. Competition would still be good too.
If you read the Jargon file, and specifically this link you will see that under physical activity and sports martial arts is mentioned, so I would have to agree that many slashdotters have Martial Arts experience. Myself I have 9 years experience (started martial arts because of some Jon Katz "hellmouth" experiences, but that is another story.)
What I think would be really cool is to have DUAL weapons. I would much rather wield two swords than one. to differenciate I would guess that they would have to be different colors, but I wonder how you would model them so that they did not collide on the screen?
The best power supply I can think of is Nuclear. Everyone would freak out at this, but then again the waste would be on MARS and not Earth. For Space and Weight / Power ratio's Nuclear is it. Lest of course someone perfects fusion any time soon.
Nuclear power is not as bad as it is made out to be, it is unfortunatly abused in many areas by many people. I think that it certaly has a place in space exploration. To quote Carl Sagan: [Using] Atomic devices in space is the best use of nuclear power I can think of.
Unfortunatly there is a treaty which prevents weapon grade materials from being placed in orbit or higher. This is good from a security perspective (as in not getting nuked!) but bad from a scientific one.
*Sigh*
If not for that treaty the proposed NASA ship the Orion could be built, which using Nuclear propusion could reach 1/10 the speed of light with current technology.
I have said this before on Slashdot and I will say it again. YOU CANNOT KNOW WHAT MIRACLES SCIENCE WILL BRING. Sorry for the shouting, but I seem to say this for every "science" article I post in.
The primary reason we should go to mars is for knowlege. The secondary reason is that when you need to explore a new area (and the sea is one of these areas) of science you must construct new ways of studying these things. A HUGE amount of R&D would be involved. Many new inventions would come about, as well as new materials etc.
Remember when Faraday (discoverer of electricity) showed his discovery to the Queen of England she said to him:
"This electricity is amusing, but of what use is it?" To which Faraday replied:
The article shows that it would make breathable air for a few people out of the thin CO2 atmosphere. It would I think have to be compressed after conversion however. I believe that mars has a very thin atmosphere, and even if you were breathing pure O2 at that density, I think you would still pass out and die.
Some people are posting regarding terraforming and clearly this device is not it. Even if it could convert the entire atmosphere to O2 there would still be a lack of atmospheric pressure. I think that large volumes of surface matter would have to be converted to gas to provide enough pressure to make the surface livable outside of a biodome.
Heh, never mind the lack of water: Mars --> Arrakis --> Dune, desert planet. Not one drop of rain on Arrakis...
Does Vice President Al Gore have an unfair advantage in the online campaign of the presidency since he invented the Internet? Will the FEC step in to level the playing field for G.W. Bush so he can compete online against Al Gore?
Absolutely. Since Gore wrote the specs on TCP/IP and was the main instigator of all the RFC's in existance he has a major advantage. Bush is probably going out and secretly hiring all the "SkR1p7 K1DDi3z" once he has them on their side he will have a more level playing field.
Bush probably wants the L0pht on his side as well being as they are top notch, and of course they wrote the one book that prevents the one father of the internet from sleeping at night.
Its an interesting point though. There is an old 286 next to me that has a case strong enough that I bet I could drive my car over. My current 400 Mhz machine has a case so flimsy I could not sit on it.
It would be fun to test hardware like this against ESD. Anyone have a Taser???
--------------------------- On another note about this sig, I showed it to a friend (who knows little about networking, he is a MCSE...) He sees the sig and says:
"Oh my god, your posting your firewall IP on slashdot? Good god man, if you do shit like that groups like the L0pht will *GET* you!"
I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair. He was SERIOUS.
On another note its sad when we have to mention things like: (btw, if anyone didn't get it, that was a joke...) Just to let the moderators know.
Slashdot Mirror
Hopefully, AMD can pick up the ball and have the dual chipset rock.
I think consumers (eventually) will go for SMP. I know I have been wating for SMP for some time. I would rather buy a new AMD system than an Intel. Mind you, I am thinking about waiting even a little longer... The Sledgehammer looks quite good, with its x86 compatibility and 64 forward looking ideas I think its going to come out strong. Since I only use Linux/BSD now (Ok, I use Windows whenever Warren Spector releases a new game...) SMP has become a big issue for me.
I don't think AMD will drop the ball on this one, they are moving cautiously, the Sledgehammer is their "Xeon", and what a chip it is! They have also just released their "celeron" chips as it were (thunderbird) and are spreading themselves slowly across the market.
The dual processor will come soon, I think Chipzilla is in for a beating (at least I hope so!)
This looks like the Cyrix Jalapeno (Which I thought was cancelled...)
Still, by the time this hits mass production it will be incredibly out of date. Standard for the recent Cyrix processors (Ironic really, because back in the 486 days they were bigger than AMD).
It seems obvious that VIA is going after the "low cost market", but it seems that they are doing it in an unusual market... Perhaps to appease Intel so they can keep compatiblites with their Motherboard chipsets?
In any case, if it works out, it could create a brand loalty in those areas, after all, with the amount that Intel chips are overpriced, a "discount" chip like this could really bring computers in a ubiquidous fashion to all these areas. VIA sure seems to think so. They look to be going for volume in a new market. I hope that they can pull it off.
I would say that the odds are good though, with a weak FPU I cannot see the chip gaining any popularity in Western Europe, Taiwan or North America.
Still, never mind anything else, competition is a good thing!
Heh, that would just be my "plain" firewall, not my 31337 firewall :)
I think he is just too used to "forgetting" everything in court.
A few months ago (when I last had windows installed) I tried Mozilla under windows, and I had exactly the same problems. I did not submit bug reports, I was just pissed off that fundamental features like that (and filename expansion) were non-functional.
I still use Netscape. I can see myself using Mozilla when functional (read basic) features are built in.
Well yes, that is what it was, but what can you catagorize it as under the bounds of ./ ???
Well, they read outside the thread and marked my post down, like I expected. Which is funny because the moderators did NOT mark down the obvious troll post above mine.
Its not like the moderators actually took the time to properly READ my post.....
Probably, yet I have moderator status right now.
(Not on this story natch)
I have been whacked down -4 on threads like this before though, hence the disclaimer.
(When moderating I browse at -1, actually, I always do...)
Mmmm The good 'ol MPAA
You have to love quotes like this:
"This lawsuit is about stealing," MPAA president Jack Valenti said in a press conference this morning. "Technology may make stealing easier, but it doesn't make it right."
I find it funny just how vocal he can be... In the press that is.
Get him into a courtroom and you hear things like this and (real audio version) like this.
Nevermind the megacorporation influence. Anyone this evasive is IMO extremely untrustworthy...
Wait... He heads the MPAA you say??? WELL I NEVER!!!
looks like it was designed by an engineer
Well, I don't know about you, but I will take a Dilbert Palm over a Calvin Klein Palm any day! (Palms are mainly about function, not form.)
I do agree that the Palm V is smaller (thinner). And that is one of its benifits.
I contrast the devices like this:
Palm III: Upgradable
Palm V: Sealed, upgradable if you void warranty
Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Hard Plastic Cover, offers excellent protection
Palm V: Cute leather cover that turns the unit on when in your pocked due to bad design!
Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Long Life on 2 AAA batteries
Palm V: Rechargable
Winner: Palm V (Unless on long trip away from base)
Palm III: Flash upgradable
Palm V: Nope
Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Ugly, but does not slide out of my hand
Palm V: Digs into the edge of my hand and has a habit of sliding out of my hand and plummeting to the floor.
Winner: Palm III
Palm III: Has large number of PDA accessories avalible
Palm V has large number of PDA accessories avalible (pretty much) only from palm.
Palm III: Original Hot Sync contacts, compatible with nice toys like digital compasses and GPS'es
Palm V: Hot Sync contacts not compatible (won't even sync on an old Palm/Palm III cradle!!!!!)
Winner: Palm III
And the winner of this bout by completley biased judges is:
THE PALM III SERIES AND FORM FACTOR!!!
I can see the influence of the visor (which IMO is a better product) the colors are very visor like.
I don't know what they are thinking with the bulbous bottom of that thing, The palm III series (I myself own a IIIx) tapers downwards at the bottom and thus it makes it comfortable in your hand.
The V series (which I truly dislike) has this stupid outward taper to the bottom, that digs a little edge into your hand. It also makes the thing harder to hold on to.
Palm makes good organizers, but they are going to be up against some stiff competition with the Visor, its just better designed. (Jeff Hawkins has still got it I guess...) Of course, we all know that the better product does not always win.
It either case it seems that the OS (palm) has already won, its just a debate over the form factor and the peripherals. (The Visor cartiges kick ass over the upgrade slots in a Palm.)
When I was younger I saw the original pong for sale for $300 Canadian. I had the money to by it at the time, but thought "what the fuck do I want PONG for???" I wish I had bought it now... That was in the late 80's.
I now have the opportunity to buy an Atari game that I loved in the 80's (I won't name it, lest someone else find it and beat me to it, but it was not that popular anyhow...) I am not going to miss this chance again.
Amazingly this system is in ok shape, and only $600 Canadian. I say "only" because I spent more in quarters on the damn thing when it was in my local arcade.
I don't know if I like the trend of throwing arcade machines off of buildings as funny as it may seem... I just found out about an AS 400 that was thrown away at work. (There is a second one about to be turfed, but I managed to get dibs on it...)
What will eventually happen to these machines is what happend to pong. In the late 80's I thought pong sucked (I still do), but its a collectors item now. A very rare game indeed. So, I will preserve the atari coin-op and the AS 400. Maybe they will go up in value? Maybe not... Still, I will enjoy hanging on to them, and keeping them on the ground floor.
I don't think that its a hoax. A sugar molecule is a resonably simple CHO compound and given the amount of Carbod Hydrogen and Oxygen around in the universe I would say that its a safe bet that there is sugar out there.
What *IS* a surprise is that there is sugar in large enough quantites to be detected.
As for how they were detected, the article says:
The discovery was made by detecting faint radio emission from the sugar molecules in the interstellar cloud. Molecules rotate end-for-end, and as they change from one rotational energy state to another, they emit radio waves at precise frequencies. The "family" of radio frequencies emitted by a particular molecule forms a unique "fingerprint" that scientists can use to identify that molecule. The scientists identified glycolaldehyde by detecting six frequencies of radio emission in what is termed the millimeter-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum -- a region between more-familiar microwaves and infrared radiation.
So, as the article says, they used a bit of spectrography (or radio spec as the case is). Its the same way that Helium was discovered in the sun before it was discovered on earth. (Helios --> meaning "sun" hence Helium.)
According to the article and the information presented therin I would find it unlikely that it is a hoax. The beauty of a thing like this (and science in general) is that anyone else with a telescope capable of detecting this and a radio spectrometer can verify the results. Now, I don't have one. Still, I do know people who work at the Dominion Radio Astronomical Obseratory here in central B.C.
Now, I am not going to go ask my friends to verify this - its just not worth my time. It does however show a good point: Good science can be replicated. You can bet that there are other scientists that upon seeing this result will point their telescopes at this portion of the sky and check.
Myself, I would put money on this being good science and not bad science from the general tone of the article. It seems that the scientific method was followed, and a discovery was unvelied.
In the end, even bad science turns into good science. It just takes time.
Thats why I added (IIRC)
IIRC == If I Remember Correctly.
we can walk into a public library, or the occasional coffee shop and use any one of the 'free' web based mail services...
Good point! As a Canadian as well I had forgotten about that. I have cable at home, so why use the internet anywhere else?
I read an interesting statistic the other day, I forget the exact figures, but the U.S. is the number one wired country in the world, followed by Canada. Canada however, has more broadband access than the U.S. per capita.
Still, as per your point, the internet is avalible to anyone who wants to use it here, but not every one uses it, nor, as I mentioned in my other post, can everyone read...
Very interesting. Its a good idea: Free access to information. The problem that I see is the overall lack of computers in South America. Sure, rich families will have them, but most people will not. Still as the article says, terminals will be installed in public areas.
Again, though, how many people will use them? Here in Canada the level of literacy is (IIRC) about 80%. What is it like in South America? You cannot use the internet without a functional ability to read.
With the spread of this idea it gives all the more reason to donated your used systems to South American countries, its better than sending them to landfill. I know that there was an organization here in Canada that was sending used systems to Cuba (yes, its Central America...)
If "free" (donated) PC's begin to become common, I wonder what OS they will use? I sure hope its a free one. Competition would still be good too.
If you read the Jargon file, and specifically this link you will see that under physical activity and sports martial arts is mentioned, so I would have to agree that many slashdotters have Martial Arts experience. Myself I have 9 years experience (started martial arts because of some Jon Katz "hellmouth" experiences, but that is another story.)
What I think would be really cool is to have DUAL weapons. I would much rather wield two swords than one. to differenciate I would guess that they would have to be different colors, but I wonder how you would model them so that they did not collide on the screen?
The best power supply I can think of is Nuclear.
Everyone would freak out at this, but then again the waste would be on MARS and not Earth. For Space and Weight / Power ratio's Nuclear is it.
Lest of course someone perfects fusion any time soon.
Nuclear power is not as bad as it is made out to be, it is unfortunatly abused in many areas by many people. I think that it certaly has a place in space exploration. To quote Carl Sagan: [Using] Atomic devices in space is the best use of nuclear power I can think of.
Unfortunatly there is a treaty which prevents weapon grade materials from being placed in orbit or higher. This is good from a security perspective (as in not getting nuked!) but bad from a scientific one.
*Sigh*
If not for that treaty the proposed NASA ship the Orion could be built, which using Nuclear propusion could reach 1/10 the speed of light with current technology.
Politics and science do not mix well I guess.
I have said this before on Slashdot and I will say it again. YOU CANNOT KNOW WHAT MIRACLES SCIENCE WILL BRING. Sorry for the shouting, but I seem to say this for every "science" article I post in.
The primary reason we should go to mars is for knowlege. The secondary reason is that when you need to explore a new area (and the sea is one of these areas) of science you must construct new ways of studying these things. A HUGE amount of R&D would be involved. Many new inventions would come about, as well as new materials etc.
Remember when Faraday (discoverer of electricity) showed his discovery to the Queen of England she said to him:
"This electricity is amusing, but of what use is it?"
To which Faraday replied:
"Madam, of what use is a baby?"
The article shows that it would make breathable air for a few people out of the thin CO2 atmosphere. It would I think have to be compressed after conversion however. I believe that mars has a very thin atmosphere, and even if you were breathing pure O2 at that density, I think you would still pass out and die.
Some people are posting regarding terraforming and clearly this device is not it. Even if it could convert the entire atmosphere to O2 there would still be a lack of atmospheric pressure. I think that large volumes of surface matter would have to be converted to gas to provide enough pressure to make the surface livable outside of a biodome.
Heh, never mind the lack of water: Mars --> Arrakis --> Dune, desert planet. Not one drop of rain on Arrakis...
Does Vice President Al Gore have an unfair advantage in the online campaign of the presidency since he invented the Internet? Will the FEC step in to level the playing field for G.W. Bush so he can compete online against Al Gore?
Absolutely. Since Gore wrote the specs on TCP/IP and was the main instigator of all the RFC's in existance he has a major advantage. Bush is probably going out and secretly hiring all the "SkR1p7 K1DDi3z" once he has them on their side he will have a more level playing field.
Bush probably wants the L0pht on his side as well being as they are top notch, and of course they wrote the one book that prevents the one father of the internet from sleeping at night.
;)
He is storming down the hall to thank you for being so 31337!!!
|-|3 \/\/4nTz 2 H1R3 j00!!!
;)
This is what they mean by a bullet-proof server?
Its an interesting point though. There is an old 286 next to me that has a case strong enough that I bet I could drive my car over. My current 400 Mhz machine has a case so flimsy I could not sit on it.
It would be fun to test hardware like this against ESD. Anyone have a Taser???
Heh, thanks for that. You just gave me one hell of a laugh.
Heh, just you TRY to take it down!
:)
Go ahead and do your worst!
---------------------------
On another note about this sig, I showed it to a friend (who knows little about networking, he is a MCSE...) He sees the sig and says:
"Oh my god, your posting your firewall IP on slashdot? Good god man, if you do shit like that groups like the L0pht will *GET* you!"
I laughed so hard I fell out of my chair.
He was SERIOUS.
On another note its sad when we have to mention things like:
(btw, if anyone didn't get it, that was a joke...)
Just to let the moderators know.