Obviously right now this is much more expensive than SRAM because it's not being mass-produced. But let's face it, computers would be faster and cheaper (because of reduced circuitry from lack of refresh stuff) if we could use SRAM, but because it's so much more expensive than DRAM, we don't. My question is this: at the same size (capacity and size in micrometers) how much more/less will this cost than SRAM? Does the price become comparable to DRAM? if it is comparable to SRAM, we will definalty see improvements, but the majop improvements will come if it becomes near DRAM (even if a little more expensive) we could see drastic increases in performance. My 2 cents.
After a quick search on google, I found this link. It's an adaptor to let you attach a Compact Flash card to a standard IDE cable (they also have one for 2.5" IDE cables. From my understanding, this should appear as a perfectly normal hard drive to your PC, so you don't need anything odd to boot off it or use it in any other was (as opposed to what you'd have to go through to use a USB Compact Flash adaptor to boot from). This one is about $20, and I know there are others.
Why do flash drives cost so much more? Most likely because they aren't easily found. They're not used much, and I'd assume that most of them have very fast access times (which is what you're paying the most for. Faster chips can be expensive as hell, but I bet there is nothing like being able to saturate your IDE channel with just one drive that you can't even hear). Of course this doesn't make a ton of sense, because to put a gig in a little CF card, the chips have to be incredibly small and dense. To put a gig of memory into something the size of a hard drive wouldn't need very dense or small chips (relitivly) and they could use more chips of lower densities so they should be able to get a decent discount.
My last comment for you is this: the ATA specification is very well documented, and RAM is cheap. If people can interface PIC chips, HC11s, FPGAs, and other things to IDE, they someone could too. I wouldn't be terribly suprised if there was a project out there somewhere (shouldn't be TOO hard to do anyway) to basically turn a bunch of RAM into an IDE drive. Then all you'd need is some sort of battery to keep it going when the PC is off. Plus it'd be easily upgradeable.
I think you should follow the example of the Drew Carey Show. Get your fiancee a Diamondelle (r). They're very common, so they don't cost much. In fact, chances are that the window in the room you're in now is just a giant Diamondelle (r). He he he.
"...Dell Inspiron 8100 laptops were the first to be equipped with the GF2go."
Not true. I am sitting here typing on my Dell Inspiron 8000 that has a GF2go. Close, but no cigar apex.
It's going to be more complicated than that
on
Wireless PS/2?
·
· Score: 2
I'm sorry to say that, but it's true. Now that the PS2s broadband adapter is comming out, that's what all games will support. You will not be able to use USB network gear. This leaves you with 3 options. The first is to use the modem, but what self respecting geek would use a modem? The second is to run an ethernet cable from your router. The third (and most geeky) would be to have a computer (like a Linux box) next to your PS2. You'd have the PS2 get it's internet from the Linux box, and the Linux box would have a wireless card to get it's internet from the router. Your last option is to find out if anyone makes small ethernet->wireless converters.
Of course, if you know your history you know that these things stopped being used because it was thoutght that the sound made the players go insane. This was actually somewhat true because many players did go insane. It was only later that it was figured out that it was the lead in the things that caused this. I don't know if anyone has ever heard one of these, but they sould really cool and kinda haunting.
It shouldn't be too hard to make a simple little light beam on a stick type thing. It would simply shine into a small opening (I'd use IR light) and have a small buzzer go off when the light beam is broken. You could make it so you had to keep the beam broken for a second or two to avoid accidental tripping. This was, as long as she is able to move some part of her (other than her eyes), you can use this device to alert her husband.
Of course, you'd need a second one to signal when the first one's batteries go out.
And and third to do that for the second.
And a fourth to do that for the third.
She has an infinite number of fingers right? That will solve this. If not, I guess you should just build one.
I use it off and on, and it's not going to change any time soon. First I'll just gloss over all my old computers running Linux that either lack a CD or can't boot from it without a floppy (this is not going to be an issue for grandpa, grandma, and aunt tillie who just want to go by a PC for e-mail).
First and formost, I hate the floppy drive with a pashion. It's not that it's so bad, it's just been around for so long, you'd think they'd find a way to make it write a full disk in under a minute or two. Have you ever written disk images? God it takes a long time. They are (for many people) a pointless expense on their computers. Now that the internet is so prevalent, many people give things to other people as e-mail attachments or on CD-Rs because they are so common. And of course, even though you can usually go to a local computer store and buy 100 unformatted cheapo floppies for $1 (what a deal that would have been 5 years ago, huh?) they just aren't worth it. My laptop has a builtin CD-RW/DVD drive. I have a floppy and a battery that I can put in the removeable drive slot (3 spindle, woot). I have had the floppy in there 5 times in the year I've owned it.
So why won't I be ditching all my floppy drives soon? First, I have a large investment in old software. I still play X-Wing and some other things. But the main reason is that so many things still come on floppies. If you buy hardware, you often still get a floppy with software. My EEPROM programmer that I bought 2 months ago came this way. Many things still come with floppies, because they are a lowest common denominator. Now you'll never find Warcraft III on floppies in a store, but for little tiny things, they're still good. And they do make one hell of a boot disk.
What has replaced the floppy? Well, there have been some attempts. I think that MiniDiscs might have had a chance if they were pushed. CD-R is replacing it, sorta, but it's still too expensive compared to the $10 floppy drive. And it's only recently that CD-R(W)s become common and cheap. DataPlay discs might have had a chance, but they still haven't arrived, and have missed their window of opportunity (IMHO). There were also HiFDs which seemed nice, but they were expensive and didn't get far.
Zip drives have come the closest, but they were not in enough PCs. That and a 100 meg disk is still quite expensive (compared to a CD-R). If Iomega had made a deal with most of the major manufactures selling the drives at cost to the consumer or even below, then they could have made a ton of money on disks. Now Zip is disapearing because CD-R(W) drives are cheap and they media holds more, and is more common, and is cheaper.
So what will replace the floppy? I think that it's CD-RWs. This hasn't happened yet because (among other things) you need special software (like DirectCD) to use it like a floppy drive. So it's not easily readable. Also, while you can boot off a CD-RW, you can't write to it like you can with a floppy. CD-RW prices are dropping, so it's becomming viable. The true thing that will do it though is the new Mt. Ranier initive that many manfacturers are shipping drives for now. These have firware that handles all of the details for you, like how a floppy drive doesn't need software to tell it how to write a sector to the disk, it just knows. THIS is what will make them common.
This is all opinion, blah blah blah, but I predict the floppy won't dissapear for a while now. But it is initives like this that lead to it's death. One manufacturer can't do it alone (case in point: Apple), but if most of the major manufacturers do it together, then they have a good chance.
If this succedes too well, it could start a dangerous prescident. Now I like blender, and I hope they open source it, but I hope that companies don't get the idea that this is an easy way to make a quick buck off software you don't want to deal with any more. For example I'd love to see Windows 3.1 (or even 1.0) opensourced, or other software that no money is made on any more (like Mac OS 7). And I wouldn't mind if MS or Apple did that and said "Look, we'll open it up, GPL, do whatever you want with it, but pay us $5k." But I think we can all agree that while it'd be nice to have alot of old software opened up, we shouldn't have to rase $100,000 to do it for each piece of software (assuming 1 euro == 1 USD like it did a few days ago). Now blender is all that company made correct? And they went out of business and they saw this as a way to pay off their debts right? In this curcumstance, I can see them doing this and asking for so much, but let's not start a president.
PS: If I'm wrong about the circumstances of this, my point is still intact. I wanna see the windows source code, but not if I have to help pay $100,000. ID software has the right idea. Open it up, but say you can't make money off it.
Ignoring all the obvious "woot" stuff, I'm glad that this will finally get all the magazines in line. Most of the major magazines (non-linux) such as PC World, etc. have been comparing Linux distros lately. They always compare the latest RH, Suse, Mandrake, etc, and version 2.2 of Debian. They always mark it down (because it's so old), but never mention that "Woody" was right around the corner. Now maybe they'll do some fair comparisons.
And as we all know (except for the magazines) the branches of debian are like this compared to other distros:
Stable - The version 2 versions ago, that all the bugs are out of, and it's rock solid
Testing - The current version of every other distro. Currest software, current bugs, still great.
Unstable - The beta version of other distro, it's buggy, bug it rocks.
Now all that's left to say is, I wonder what they'll do when then run out of Toy Story characters to name the releases after? Or if they switch, what they'll switch to?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I would love to see OS X on Intel processors for a variety of reasons. First of all, it's not Microsoft, so that means it's competition. My brother runs it on his Mac and it's great. It looks great, runs great, stable as a rock, and a unix core. I'd put it on my PCs in a heartbeat. Even if it failed, it would make MS push some features taht I think are smart like using 3D hardware to render the desktop to let you do all those cool window transitions and stuff. Also, OS X runs great on Macs, but Intel and AMD are up to nearly 3x times the speed of Macs, so think of what they could do. They could fund Wine for windows compatablility which would be a HUGE boost to open source. Plus software from the Mac could be easily ported, probably just a recompile like most unix software. And all the PC apps that might (and hopefully WOULD) get ported to OS X would easily go back over to the Mac, giving the existing userbase a major reason to want this. Plus the ease of a Mac on a PC would give Apple a reason to lower prices. At this point I'm close to rambeling so I guess I'll end this. I would LOVE to see OS X on PCs. I'd definatly dual boot it, no question. I'd pay $150, $200. And I'd love to be able to access the stuff on my Macs on my PCs without having to pay for some 3rd party program (my Macs are older and can't run OS X, so having an OS that could connect to them would be great). Plus it would probably FINALLY push MS to put in Mac compatibility stuff like Apple's had for years.
Yes, this could save time, make doctors lives easier, lower your HMO bills, etc. But everythings NOT comming up roses. There is a negitive to this kind of thing:
It's not at all uncommon for people to stop taking prescription drugs when they feel better. And to give the rest to friends or family members with similar symptoms, despite the fact that doing both of these can be very dangerous. Why? Because people "know what they're doing". If someone has the same symptoms as you, they must have the same illness, right?
Isn't it common for medical students, at the very start, to go looking for zebras when they hear hoofbeats? Well when you hear hoofbeats, chances are it just a horse, and doctors know that. But many times the students at the start go looking for odd diseases. All we need is for normal people to type "headache, sneezing, aches, tiredness" into a computer and see things like Bubonic Plague, Ebola, Haunta Virus, and other such things. Nothing spreads panic and fear like a little knowledge.
As the saying goes: "A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing"
Get computers to the point where 3D is a possiblity - Done
Get computers to the point where 3D is common - Done
Notice a competitor/3rd party owns the dominant 3D standard - Done
Develop your own standard (Direct3D maybe?) - Done
Refine it to the point where it's actually useable - Done
Help make many of the important features of modern 3D and get it in competitor/3rd party's standard - Done
Point out that you have patents/etc on those parts of the standard and that you will charge large licensing fees on using that standard - In Progress
Use fee to strangle the competing standard - To Be Done
Now everyone is forced to use your software for 3D if they don't want to pay tons of license fees - To Be Done
Watch as competing platforms (let's call them Fruit Computers, and Penguindynamics) die under licensing fees becase you refuse to put your royalty-free API on their platforms - To Be Done
I see a Quake III icon on the desktop. Is your framerate tied to your RPM? Does your stickshift work as a joystick? How many cars have you hit so far? He he he. Will you make me one? Cool.
Have you ever wondered if Jeeves is gay? You should ask him! Now it takes you to a little page but it used to take you to an error page (like 404) except the error was "None of your business". He he he.
I recently got sick of Windows 9x. But unlike the author, I didn't switch to Linux. While I am a geek, and I keep Linux running on a few boxes, I agree with the author in that it's just not a desktop OS for me right now. I agree COMPLETELY with his gripes about X. So I switched to an OS with stability and games. Windows 2000. I haven't had any problems with playing games on it, and it's very solid. It's no linux, but then I don't like having to wait 6/12/28/infinity months for a game to come on on Linux. I have avoid XP because I don't need it and because of the DRM spyware type stuff. Just my opinion.
That's neat, but it should at least be cable ready! Or have RCA jacks so I can run linux on my xbox, keep it in my backpack powered by a fuel cell, and use X on my wrist-watch TV during commercials. Best of all, by the time all of the above is available, I might be able to afford it within only a few lifetimes.
This would be cool, because I would assume that by now they could get it alot smaller (electronics part, not the screen because why would you want it?)
The metric system is fine, but metric time was introduced back then. There is a REASON most people have never even heard of metric time and that's becase it FAILED MISSERABLY. You need to remember that we don't have controll over time. A day is as long as it is because of the spinning of the earth. A year is 365 days because that's how many times the earth spins around once in one orbit. To try to change that would be changing something as fundamental as the length of a day. People are WAY to attached to time. If you've seen how hard it is to switch Americans to the metric system, image that only 100 fold (he he he) for the rest of the world.
"... The Metric System is the tool of the Devil! My car get's twelve rods to the hogs head and that's the way I likes it!" -- Abe Simpsons
Would you rather pay $20+ for a half hour of music (when was the last time you bought a CD that was actually near 74 mins?) or pay that same $20 or so to buy a 2 hour DVD that also has extras? That's what I thought. DVDs are actually worth the money they cost, while CDs are grossly inflated. IMHO of course.
If PI remember correctly, the first demos of the PS2 were made on Linux, and the PS2 was made to run Linux for some development/testing. Therefor, many of the man hours were there, they just had to box the thing and polish it.
You're dreamcast point is well taken, but that was a custom hardware design. The xbox is just a version of a PC, and a decently powerfull one at that. If I remember correctly, the controller ports are just USB ports with some extra power for rumbling controllers, so you wouldn't have to pay $50 for a keyboard or such.
So far I've seen comments suggesting Larry Ellison and such, but what about this: could M$ themselves be behind this? Here's my theory:
Item: xbox sales have been falling and M$ is losing something like $125 per box (ouch).
Significance: There are alot of people out there who would like to help with this and now with this prize, they are probably more likely. This could spurr xbox sales (a little bit). Even if they don't succede, they may now buy games.
Item: It's not in the interest of MS to have modchipped xboxes become popular, because that would allow piracy easier. And the people who would want to run Linux on their xbox are some of the most likely to have many of the tools they'd need (DVD-R drive, broadband, etc).
Significance: Note that to get the full money, you have to make a copy of Linux that will run on an UNMODIFIED BOX. This would spurr sales, and give them a bigger installed base, but would still MAKR PIRACY HARD because there is no modchip. If Linux was put on the xbox, this would probably be the ideal case for MS.
Item: Now with a prize, this likely won't take terribly long, it will definatly speed things up. That's free press for MS if it get's hacked (and they don't act like idiots about this which they wouldn't if they are posting the prize $$$).
Significance: While chalenging hackers to port Linux to the PS/2 would have been very hard because of it's architecture, the xbox is made of mostly PC innards. Compilers and such are easily available. Hackers would already know about the CPU, hard drive, etc. inside out, and the grpahics chip/etc couldn't be too far from an nForce, etc.
Item: Even if many xboxes get sold to put Linux on, it's still a good thing for MS.
Significance: Not only would MS be able to claim a more significant install base to potential developers, but it would also allow them to buy the parts for the xbox cheaper and therefor lower their cost, improving their profitability (or as things are now, CREATING profitability).
This is just some speculation on my part. But let's face it, it does make a little sense.
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I realize it's SRAM, I just meant compared to "normal" SRAM.
Obviously right now this is much more expensive than SRAM because it's not being mass-produced. But let's face it, computers would be faster and cheaper (because of reduced circuitry from lack of refresh stuff) if we could use SRAM, but because it's so much more expensive than DRAM, we don't. My question is this: at the same size (capacity and size in micrometers) how much more/less will this cost than SRAM? Does the price become comparable to DRAM? if it is comparable to SRAM, we will definalty see improvements, but the majop improvements will come if it becomes near DRAM (even if a little more expensive) we could see drastic increases in performance. My 2 cents.
Why do flash drives cost so much more? Most likely because they aren't easily found. They're not used much, and I'd assume that most of them have very fast access times (which is what you're paying the most for. Faster chips can be expensive as hell, but I bet there is nothing like being able to saturate your IDE channel with just one drive that you can't even hear). Of course this doesn't make a ton of sense, because to put a gig in a little CF card, the chips have to be incredibly small and dense. To put a gig of memory into something the size of a hard drive wouldn't need very dense or small chips (relitivly) and they could use more chips of lower densities so they should be able to get a decent discount.
My last comment for you is this: the ATA specification is very well documented, and RAM is cheap. If people can interface PIC chips, HC11s, FPGAs, and other things to IDE, they someone could too. I wouldn't be terribly suprised if there was a project out there somewhere (shouldn't be TOO hard to do anyway) to basically turn a bunch of RAM into an IDE drive. Then all you'd need is some sort of battery to keep it going when the PC is off. Plus it'd be easily upgradeable.
I think you should follow the example of the Drew Carey Show. Get your fiancee a Diamondelle (r). They're very common, so they don't cost much. In fact, chances are that the window in the room you're in now is just a giant Diamondelle (r). He he he.
Not true. I am sitting here typing on my Dell Inspiron 8000 that has a GF2go. Close, but no cigar apex.
I'm sorry to say that, but it's true. Now that the PS2s broadband adapter is comming out, that's what all games will support. You will not be able to use USB network gear. This leaves you with 3 options. The first is to use the modem, but what self respecting geek would use a modem? The second is to run an ethernet cable from your router. The third (and most geeky) would be to have a computer (like a Linux box) next to your PS2. You'd have the PS2 get it's internet from the Linux box, and the Linux box would have a wireless card to get it's internet from the router. Your last option is to find out if anyone makes small ethernet->wireless converters.
Of course, if you know your history you know that these things stopped being used because it was thoutght that the sound made the players go insane. This was actually somewhat true because many players did go insane. It was only later that it was figured out that it was the lead in the things that caused this. I don't know if anyone has ever heard one of these, but they sould really cool and kinda haunting.
Of course, you'd need a second one to signal when the first one's batteries go out.
And and third to do that for the second.
And a fourth to do that for the third.
She has an infinite number of fingers right? That will solve this. If not, I guess you should just build one.
I use it off and on, and it's not going to change any time soon. First I'll just gloss over all my old computers running Linux that either lack a CD or can't boot from it without a floppy (this is not going to be an issue for grandpa, grandma, and aunt tillie who just want to go by a PC for e-mail).
First and formost, I hate the floppy drive with a pashion. It's not that it's so bad, it's just been around for so long, you'd think they'd find a way to make it write a full disk in under a minute or two. Have you ever written disk images? God it takes a long time. They are (for many people) a pointless expense on their computers. Now that the internet is so prevalent, many people give things to other people as e-mail attachments or on CD-Rs because they are so common. And of course, even though you can usually go to a local computer store and buy 100 unformatted cheapo floppies for $1 (what a deal that would have been 5 years ago, huh?) they just aren't worth it. My laptop has a builtin CD-RW/DVD drive. I have a floppy and a battery that I can put in the removeable drive slot (3 spindle, woot). I have had the floppy in there 5 times in the year I've owned it.
So why won't I be ditching all my floppy drives soon? First, I have a large investment in old software. I still play X-Wing and some other things. But the main reason is that so many things still come on floppies. If you buy hardware, you often still get a floppy with software. My EEPROM programmer that I bought 2 months ago came this way. Many things still come with floppies, because they are a lowest common denominator. Now you'll never find Warcraft III on floppies in a store, but for little tiny things, they're still good. And they do make one hell of a boot disk.
What has replaced the floppy? Well, there have been some attempts. I think that MiniDiscs might have had a chance if they were pushed. CD-R is replacing it, sorta, but it's still too expensive compared to the $10 floppy drive. And it's only recently that CD-R(W)s become common and cheap. DataPlay discs might have had a chance, but they still haven't arrived, and have missed their window of opportunity (IMHO). There were also HiFDs which seemed nice, but they were expensive and didn't get far.
Zip drives have come the closest, but they were not in enough PCs. That and a 100 meg disk is still quite expensive (compared to a CD-R). If Iomega had made a deal with most of the major manufactures selling the drives at cost to the consumer or even below, then they could have made a ton of money on disks. Now Zip is disapearing because CD-R(W) drives are cheap and they media holds more, and is more common, and is cheaper.
So what will replace the floppy? I think that it's CD-RWs. This hasn't happened yet because (among other things) you need special software (like DirectCD) to use it like a floppy drive. So it's not easily readable. Also, while you can boot off a CD-RW, you can't write to it like you can with a floppy. CD-RW prices are dropping, so it's becomming viable. The true thing that will do it though is the new Mt. Ranier initive that many manfacturers are shipping drives for now. These have firware that handles all of the details for you, like how a floppy drive doesn't need software to tell it how to write a sector to the disk, it just knows. THIS is what will make them common.
This is all opinion, blah blah blah, but I predict the floppy won't dissapear for a while now. But it is initives like this that lead to it's death. One manufacturer can't do it alone (case in point: Apple), but if most of the major manufacturers do it together, then they have a good chance.
PS: If I'm wrong about the circumstances of this, my point is still intact. I wanna see the windows source code, but not if I have to help pay $100,000. ID software has the right idea. Open it up, but say you can't make money off it.
And as we all know (except for the magazines) the branches of debian are like this compared to other distros:
Now all that's left to say is, I wonder what they'll do when then run out of Toy Story characters to name the releases after? Or if they switch, what they'll switch to?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I would love to see OS X on Intel processors for a variety of reasons. First of all, it's not Microsoft, so that means it's competition. My brother runs it on his Mac and it's great. It looks great, runs great, stable as a rock, and a unix core. I'd put it on my PCs in a heartbeat. Even if it failed, it would make MS push some features taht I think are smart like using 3D hardware to render the desktop to let you do all those cool window transitions and stuff. Also, OS X runs great on Macs, but Intel and AMD are up to nearly 3x times the speed of Macs, so think of what they could do. They could fund Wine for windows compatablility which would be a HUGE boost to open source. Plus software from the Mac could be easily ported, probably just a recompile like most unix software. And all the PC apps that might (and hopefully WOULD) get ported to OS X would easily go back over to the Mac, giving the existing userbase a major reason to want this. Plus the ease of a Mac on a PC would give Apple a reason to lower prices. At this point I'm close to rambeling so I guess I'll end this. I would LOVE to see OS X on PCs. I'd definatly dual boot it, no question. I'd pay $150, $200. And I'd love to be able to access the stuff on my Macs on my PCs without having to pay for some 3rd party program (my Macs are older and can't run OS X, so having an OS that could connect to them would be great). Plus it would probably FINALLY push MS to put in Mac compatibility stuff like Apple's had for years.
It's not at all uncommon for people to stop taking prescription drugs when they feel better. And to give the rest to friends or family members with similar symptoms, despite the fact that doing both of these can be very dangerous. Why? Because people "know what they're doing". If someone has the same symptoms as you, they must have the same illness, right?
Isn't it common for medical students, at the very start, to go looking for zebras when they hear hoofbeats? Well when you hear hoofbeats, chances are it just a horse, and doctors know that. But many times the students at the start go looking for odd diseases. All we need is for normal people to type "headache, sneezing, aches, tiredness" into a computer and see things like Bubonic Plague, Ebola, Haunta Virus, and other such things. Nothing spreads panic and fear like a little knowledge.
As the saying goes: "A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing"
- Get computers to the point where 3D is a possiblity - Done
- Get computers to the point where 3D is common - Done
- Notice a competitor/3rd party owns the dominant 3D standard - Done
- Develop your own standard (Direct3D maybe?) - Done
- Refine it to the point where it's actually useable - Done
- Help make many of the important features of modern 3D and get it in competitor/3rd party's standard - Done
- Point out that you have patents/etc on those parts of the standard and that you will charge large licensing fees on using that standard - In Progress
- Use fee to strangle the competing standard - To Be Done
- Now everyone is forced to use your software for 3D if they don't want to pay tons of license fees - To Be Done
- Watch as competing platforms (let's call them Fruit Computers, and Penguindynamics) die under licensing fees becase you refuse to put your royalty-free API on their platforms - To Be Done
- Have a good maniacle laugh - To Be Done
See how simple that was?I see a Quake III icon on the desktop. Is your framerate tied to your RPM? Does your stickshift work as a joystick? How many cars have you hit so far? He he he. Will you make me one? Cool.
Have you ever wondered if Jeeves is gay? You should ask him! Now it takes you to a little page but it used to take you to an error page (like 404) except the error was "None of your business". He he he.
I recently got sick of Windows 9x. But unlike the author, I didn't switch to Linux. While I am a geek, and I keep Linux running on a few boxes, I agree with the author in that it's just not a desktop OS for me right now. I agree COMPLETELY with his gripes about X. So I switched to an OS with stability and games. Windows 2000. I haven't had any problems with playing games on it, and it's very solid. It's no linux, but then I don't like having to wait 6/12/28/infinity months for a game to come on on Linux. I have avoid XP because I don't need it and because of the DRM spyware type stuff. Just my opinion.
I think a Simpsons quote would be appropriate here:
"Damn TV. It's ruined my ability to remember what I'm just like it's..... uh.....(turn on TV to Itchy and Scratchy)... Ha ha ha ha ha"!
That's neat, but it should at least be cable ready! Or have RCA jacks so I can run linux on my xbox, keep it in my backpack powered by a fuel cell, and use X on my wrist-watch TV during commercials. Best of all, by the time all of the above is available, I might be able to afford it within only a few lifetimes.
This would be cool, because I would assume that by now they could get it alot smaller (electronics part, not the screen because why would you want it?)
Would you rather pay $20+ for a half hour of music (when was the last time you bought a CD that was actually near 74 mins?) or pay that same $20 or so to buy a 2 hour DVD that also has extras? That's what I thought. DVDs are actually worth the money they cost, while CDs are grossly inflated. IMHO of course.
If PI remember correctly, the first demos of the PS2 were made on Linux, and the PS2 was made to run Linux for some development/testing. Therefor, many of the man hours were there, they just had to box the thing and polish it.
You're dreamcast point is well taken, but that was a custom hardware design. The xbox is just a version of a PC, and a decently powerfull one at that. If I remember correctly, the controller ports are just USB ports with some extra power for rumbling controllers, so you wouldn't have to pay $50 for a keyboard or such.
This is just some speculation on my part. But let's face it, it does make a little sense.