Well, I guess this story submission's bias offsets the "superior WMA format" bias of that earlier story. Heh. Leave it to slashdot editors to pick the dumbest sounding submissions when posting a story!
Your first mistake was looking at Dell. That stuff is pricey, and anyway they don't sell Opterons.
I can't figure out the pricing in that review anyway, I just went to the xicomputer.com website and configured the same system and came up with $3236, not $4107. I'm not sure if I missed an option or something, but maybe they just bought their system a long time ago before prices dropped (maybe before AMD released the Opteron 248, the 246 which was tested isn't even their fastest chip anymore.
Well, I will admit that I'm a bit of an AMD fanboy, but let me point out a few things here that I think should be agreeable by all parties.
First, lets examine the statement The G5 spanks the Opteron in many of the non-gaming tests, except for the Photoshop tests. I see five tests in this review, and there are two wins for G5, two wins for Opteron, and one tie. So I really don't see either chip spanking the other. On the second page Opteron wins two, G5 wins one.
Second, the configuration notes section was pathetic. It doesn't really give a very good description of the real configuration of the systems. Anyone that views benchmarks regularly knows that the devil is in the details. Still, this is equally a problem for Opteron and G5.
Third, I wonder what kind of comparison is really valid. Anyone familiar with the AMD/Intel world knows that you can't just grab two 2Ghz chips and run them head to head. The architectures are not the same, it wouldn't be a valid comparison. So with two entirely different ISAs, what chips should be run head to head? The only obvious comparison would be each manufacturer's fastest...in this case I believe the 2GHz G5 is Apple's current fastest, but AMD does have a 2.2Ghz part that is available (see pricewatch) and that wasn't tested.
Lastly, let me address the importance of compilation. I can't speak for G5, but you would get a substantial boost in performance on most applications just with a recompile for AMD64 chips. This is because Opterons have 32 GPRs instead of 16, which can make a big difference (especially in multimedia apps like photoshop). Obviously these products aren't commercially available, but people should be aware that a substantial performance boost for AMD64 could come just from optimized releases of software once it reaches a wide enough audience to make it worthwhile for software vendors.
I guess this has turned more into a "notes about AMD64 architecture" post than anything else. It looks to me like this review is interesting but doesn't really settle much. Both Opteron and G5 performed well.
Just the processor-fan alone in an AMD system can blow just about aything away - I use my old Athlon system as a leaf blower now and then.
This will always be a good joke, but people should be aware now that AMD's processors run cooler than Intel's. The thermal diode in the 64-bit chips also supposedly works well. So you should be saving heat and power with AMD over Intel now believe it or not!
Uhhh, dude? Optimizing for P4 does not optimize for Athlon64 any more than optimizing for G4 optimizes for G5. They are different architectures.
For A64 there would be an additional performance boost with an optimizes compiler even on 32-bit applications due to the doubled number of GPRs. I don't know enough about G5 to know if there is an equivalent benefit as compared to G4, but this is huge in multimedia heavy applications on x86 architectures.
I am normally somewhat dismissive of the argument that a license fee for windows is not worth the price...but only in the case of workstations and servers where the human and other costs are so much higher as to dwarf the software cost.
However, I can't for the life of me figure out why they would use Windows in a voting machine. When you sell a hardware solution where the buyers probably don't care either way you are just reducing profit by using a piece of software you need to license. UNIX is easy to develop for, you can pick a distro that is stripped down to provide only the necessary services to support your software, and it will be nice and stable and secure.
Why on earth would they choose Windows in the first place? Even as a windows user I can't understand it.
Ok, the first desktop. Except for any desktops which used Opteron! Yes, there were places that made desktops with Opterons. As for the fastest processor, I doubt there is any class where it is the fastest except for PowerPC architecture which is meaningless.
They were obviously referring to desktop chips. AMD has a separate division for embedded devices. And incidentally, the opterons are cooler than Athlons I believe.
But is this stuff actually being MADE anymore? I'm pretty sure AMD hasn't made any Durons in a fair while. This is just the channel clearing itself out.
I question the choice of benchmarks on Apple's performance page. They have completely missed any processor based on AMD64 architecture, which is currently beating Pentium 4s. It is about even with Intel's EE part, but that part is vaporware so it hardly matters. Apple has also chosen to highlight benchmarks involving multimedia applications, which are the kind of apps that benefit the most from the extra GPR's in AMD64. One could argue that an Opteron is not meant to be in a personal computer, but if you had an Apple priced PC it certainely could be. At the very least they need to be benchmarking against Athlon 64 FX-51 based systems.
Apple has already been claiming that the G5 was the first 64 bit processor, forgetting about the Opteron, Alpha, etc. Now they're claiming it is the fastest processor. Apple has a great product in the G5, why do they need to lie about its capabilities when there are so many truthful claims they could make?
I can't speak to the specific circumstances here, but maybe they needed additional network connections and thought that it would be easier to install a few wireless access points instead of tearing apart the concrete block walls to run new cables (by highly paid union contractors of course). Or maybe this is one of those places where they gave teachers laptops.
And anyway, just because they aren't hurting for money doesn't me you shouldn't be outraged when parents sue over something like this. It is YOUR money they're wasting, you and your neighbors fully fund that school district with your taxes.
What is up with this guy? He is anti-consumer in every possible way it seems. Hopefully congress will give him another legislative smackdown like they did with the radio ownership rules.
The funny thing here is that Internet Explorer already suggested alternatives for mistyped domains on their special 404 page. And their suggestions, based on my use, were usually spot on.
In contrast, sitefinder's suggestions were never even close and it broke protocols to boot. Amazing here that Microsoft could actually have come up with the right solution. I never liked their error pages, but it was only because the error number wasn't immediately obvious. If they had just added "404" or "505" in big letters I would have been happy with them.
Someone ought to tell Verisign that they didn't innovate anything. Microsoft already had this idea, and they did it way better.
I don't understand how people have the time, energy, and money to do stuff like this. I have about half the time I need as a student, I can't imagine it gets much easier when you get a job. And even if I did have lots of free time, I can't imagine wanting to do THIS of all things.
I now expect to get inundated with responses telling me that I don't understand the real world, that companies have too much invested in their Windows infrastructure to just switch everything over to Linux on a whim, etc. To which I say: bullshit. Lots of people had a great deal invested in the horse-and-carriage infrastructure. Changing over to automobiles required throwing away a lot of existing technology. But the overall benefit was well worth it.
This may be the dumbest thing I've ever read on Slashdot. I use PCs, SUNs, and Macs on a daily basis and all three have advantages and disadvantages. To say that SUSE is so amazingly superior to windows, the operating system that 95% of the computing public chooses to use, is ludicrous. Linux has a lot of great advantages, but all types of machines on a network should be able to play together.
Case in point is my university's network. We have SUNs, HPs, Linux boxes, Windows machines, and Macs all on the same network. They all rely on machines running various OSes for file servers, etc. It all has to play nicely together.
You think its bullshit that systems should be interoperable? Well guess what, thats why Linux will be a second class OS for years to come. It isn't the top dog now, and unless it is pleasant to switch to it isn't ever going to happen.
According to the Bill of Rights, and the intentions of those who wrote it, the average citizen DOES have the right to own an assault rifle, even if assault rifles aren't mentioned directly
I think you've made a bit of a leap here. The meaning of the second amendment is certainely up for debate, but it refers to the right to bear arms at part of a militia. I also doubt the founding fathers intended for it to cover assault rifles given the fact that they were still using single shot muskets back then. Who knows, maybe they would have wanted us to all carry AK-47s, but that isn't clear at ALL.
I generally don't favor gun control, I'm just saying that as they go the 2nd amendment is "weak" and the correct interpretation for today is unclear.
Actually, netflix is now working with 1.4. So that is good news. I guess I should have tested before posting...the other bugs are intermittent for me, so I'll have to see in the coming week or two how things pan out.
But I'm glad to see this, because now I can stop the two-browser dance.
None are listed as fixed. I just tried the netflix page which is fixed. All I can do is report instances of problems, they may well fix the root cause without knowing which reports are the result of that bug, which is I guess what happened here. Anyway, thats one bug to close out.
Why don't you file the bugs in Bugzilla rather than complain about them here?
I have. All I'm doing is explaining what I still see as problems from one user's view of things. Its one way that the Mozilla developers can understand what people are thinking about their product.
Problems I have with Mozilla 1.3
on
Mozilla 1.4 Released
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Hopefully these things will be addressed in Mozilla 1.4. I have been trying to transition from Internet Explorer, but it has been a bit rough because Mozilla is still missing some of the polish that IE has.
1) I still find an occasional page that renders incorrectly. Or maybe what its actually doing is rendering correctly due to spec compliance. But I don't really care what the problem is, I just want them to always render like other browsers.
2) There are weird problems with keyboard keys not working right sometimes. For example, occasionally if I click in the document that has been displayed, the arrow keys will not move the page. Or in forms the home/end keys, etc. dont work. It seems like these events aren't being captured, although I can't find any consistent way to cause it.
3) When I view my rental queue in Netflix, Mozilla crashes completely. This is the biggest problem...other things are just irritating, but I can't get rid of IE while this still happens. Again, maybe Netflix is using improper javascript or something. But, my perspective as a user is only "does it work." In any case, the browser should be able to handle nasty code in a way that doesn't cause a complete crash even if it infinite loops or something.
Despite these kinds of annoyances, I am going to stick with Mozilla. I love tabbed browsing, and I really like being able to bookmark a set of tabs that I may want open for reference while working on a project. 1.3 was the first version I started using regularly because my form filler/password manager finally supported Mozilla, and with googlebar all my needs are met.
I guess I'll go see now if 1.4 has addressed any of these issues...
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I guess this story submission's bias offsets the "superior WMA format" bias of that earlier story. Heh. Leave it to slashdot editors to pick the dumbest sounding submissions when posting a story!
I can't figure out the pricing in that review anyway, I just went to the xicomputer.com website and configured the same system and came up with $3236, not $4107. I'm not sure if I missed an option or something, but maybe they just bought their system a long time ago before prices dropped (maybe before AMD released the Opteron 248, the 246 which was tested isn't even their fastest chip anymore.
First, lets examine the statement The G5 spanks the Opteron in many of the non-gaming tests, except for the Photoshop tests. I see five tests in this review, and there are two wins for G5, two wins for Opteron, and one tie. So I really don't see either chip spanking the other. On the second page Opteron wins two, G5 wins one.
Second, the configuration notes section was pathetic. It doesn't really give a very good description of the real configuration of the systems. Anyone that views benchmarks regularly knows that the devil is in the details. Still, this is equally a problem for Opteron and G5.
Third, I wonder what kind of comparison is really valid. Anyone familiar with the AMD/Intel world knows that you can't just grab two 2Ghz chips and run them head to head. The architectures are not the same, it wouldn't be a valid comparison. So with two entirely different ISAs, what chips should be run head to head? The only obvious comparison would be each manufacturer's fastest...in this case I believe the 2GHz G5 is Apple's current fastest, but AMD does have a 2.2Ghz part that is available (see pricewatch) and that wasn't tested.
Lastly, let me address the importance of compilation. I can't speak for G5, but you would get a substantial boost in performance on most applications just with a recompile for AMD64 chips. This is because Opterons have 32 GPRs instead of 16, which can make a big difference (especially in multimedia apps like photoshop). Obviously these products aren't commercially available, but people should be aware that a substantial performance boost for AMD64 could come just from optimized releases of software once it reaches a wide enough audience to make it worthwhile for software vendors.
I guess this has turned more into a "notes about AMD64 architecture" post than anything else. It looks to me like this review is interesting but doesn't really settle much. Both Opteron and G5 performed well.
This will always be a good joke, but people should be aware now that AMD's processors run cooler than Intel's. The thermal diode in the 64-bit chips also supposedly works well. So you should be saving heat and power with AMD over Intel now believe it or not!
For A64 there would be an additional performance boost with an optimizes compiler even on 32-bit applications due to the doubled number of GPRs. I don't know enough about G5 to know if there is an equivalent benefit as compared to G4, but this is huge in multimedia heavy applications on x86 architectures.
However, I can't for the life of me figure out why they would use Windows in a voting machine. When you sell a hardware solution where the buyers probably don't care either way you are just reducing profit by using a piece of software you need to license. UNIX is easy to develop for, you can pick a distro that is stripped down to provide only the necessary services to support your software, and it will be nice and stable and secure.
Why on earth would they choose Windows in the first place? Even as a windows user I can't understand it.
Ok, the first desktop. Except for any desktops which used Opteron! Yes, there were places that made desktops with Opterons. As for the fastest processor, I doubt there is any class where it is the fastest except for PowerPC architecture which is meaningless.
They were obviously referring to desktop chips. AMD has a separate division for embedded devices. And incidentally, the opterons are cooler than Athlons I believe.
But is this stuff actually being MADE anymore? I'm pretty sure AMD hasn't made any Durons in a fair while. This is just the channel clearing itself out.
I hope you tell them about condoms and birth control pills.
Apple has already been claiming that the G5 was the first 64 bit processor, forgetting about the Opteron, Alpha, etc. Now they're claiming it is the fastest processor. Apple has a great product in the G5, why do they need to lie about its capabilities when there are so many truthful claims they could make?
I bought my PS2 for $299 two weeks before the price dropped to $199. Personally, it would annoy me if I didn't intentionally avoid thinking about it!
And anyway, just because they aren't hurting for money doesn't me you shouldn't be outraged when parents sue over something like this. It is YOUR money they're wasting, you and your neighbors fully fund that school district with your taxes.
What is up with this guy? He is anti-consumer in every possible way it seems. Hopefully congress will give him another legislative smackdown like they did with the radio ownership rules.
In contrast, sitefinder's suggestions were never even close and it broke protocols to boot. Amazing here that Microsoft could actually have come up with the right solution. I never liked their error pages, but it was only because the error number wasn't immediately obvious. If they had just added "404" or "505" in big letters I would have been happy with them.
Someone ought to tell Verisign that they didn't innovate anything. Microsoft already had this idea, and they did it way better.
The gamecube is only $99....I don't see how this can possibly be profitable.
I don't understand how people have the time, energy, and money to do stuff like this. I have about half the time I need as a student, I can't imagine it gets much easier when you get a job. And even if I did have lots of free time, I can't imagine wanting to do THIS of all things.
This may be the dumbest thing I've ever read on Slashdot. I use PCs, SUNs, and Macs on a daily basis and all three have advantages and disadvantages. To say that SUSE is so amazingly superior to windows, the operating system that 95% of the computing public chooses to use, is ludicrous. Linux has a lot of great advantages, but all types of machines on a network should be able to play together.
Case in point is my university's network. We have SUNs, HPs, Linux boxes, Windows machines, and Macs all on the same network. They all rely on machines running various OSes for file servers, etc. It all has to play nicely together.
You think its bullshit that systems should be interoperable? Well guess what, thats why Linux will be a second class OS for years to come. It isn't the top dog now, and unless it is pleasant to switch to it isn't ever going to happen.
Broadcom's website is lame, but here is a card that is based off it:
http://www.silicom.co.il/pxg2f.htm
I think you've made a bit of a leap here. The meaning of the second amendment is certainely up for debate, but it refers to the right to bear arms at part of a militia. I also doubt the founding fathers intended for it to cover assault rifles given the fact that they were still using single shot muskets back then. Who knows, maybe they would have wanted us to all carry AK-47s, but that isn't clear at ALL.
I generally don't favor gun control, I'm just saying that as they go the 2nd amendment is "weak" and the correct interpretation for today is unclear.
But I'm glad to see this, because now I can stop the two-browser dance.
None are listed as fixed. I just tried the netflix page which is fixed. All I can do is report instances of problems, they may well fix the root cause without knowing which reports are the result of that bug, which is I guess what happened here. Anyway, thats one bug to close out.
I have. All I'm doing is explaining what I still see as problems from one user's view of things. Its one way that the Mozilla developers can understand what people are thinking about their product.
1) I still find an occasional page that renders incorrectly. Or maybe what its actually doing is rendering correctly due to spec compliance. But I don't really care what the problem is, I just want them to always render like other browsers.
2) There are weird problems with keyboard keys not working right sometimes. For example, occasionally if I click in the document that has been displayed, the arrow keys will not move the page. Or in forms the home/end keys, etc. dont work. It seems like these events aren't being captured, although I can't find any consistent way to cause it.
3) When I view my rental queue in Netflix, Mozilla crashes completely. This is the biggest problem...other things are just irritating, but I can't get rid of IE while this still happens. Again, maybe Netflix is using improper javascript or something. But, my perspective as a user is only "does it work." In any case, the browser should be able to handle nasty code in a way that doesn't cause a complete crash even if it infinite loops or something.
Despite these kinds of annoyances, I am going to stick with Mozilla. I love tabbed browsing, and I really like being able to bookmark a set of tabs that I may want open for reference while working on a project. 1.3 was the first version I started using regularly because my form filler/password manager finally supported Mozilla, and with googlebar all my needs are met.
I guess I'll go see now if 1.4 has addressed any of these issues...
You might consider reading a work of literature in addition to the latest greatest hacker book. Yes, there are non-computer books!