It's pretty eye-opening if you think digital photography is getting close to film.
Depends on what you're calling 'film photography.' If you mean professionally prepared, then scanned 35mm slides, then no, digital cameras aren't quite there yet. But, if you're talking the average person who uses an automatic 35mm camera with average 35mm film and then takes it to the nearest 1-hour developer at the cost of $0.75 per picture, then yes, digital cameras have already far surpassed film in both quality and economics. Not to mention the fact that digital cameras, while not capturing quite as large a colorspace, are quite linear. IMO, color rendition is far superior to film with regards to capturing what our eyes see compared to the exaggerated colors that film often portrays. Yes, I know our eyes are logarithmic in color sensitivity, but that doesn't mean you want to compound this with non-linearities in film!
In one form or another, speech recognition is going to be used more and more in the future, perhaps especially with handheld devices and tablet PC's. So, in light of this, who is working on Open Source speech recognition. I'm aware of CMU's Sphinx project, but last I saw it was quite obsolete technologically compared to commercial offerings. Is there any other Open Source'd work being done with cutting edge SR techniques?
How about a company where the coders ARE the 'bosses.' Obviously this only works for smaller companies. But small is beautiful, especially with Open Source development. Get a really tight team together and provide a unique service in your area.
If I had my own company, I would make certain that we ran things properly, which would involve, among other things, not pirating software.
You're obviously not familiar with the hastle and expense of keeping track of client licenses for all of M$'s nonsense. And by the way, not paying for proprietary software is not stealing, it's non-compliance with a license agreement on copyrighted software. For it to be stealing, someone would have to be missing that which you took. Perhaps you could call it cheating, but not stealing.
What I'm against - and TOTALLY against, is creating an atmosphere where even criticising the current regime and it's methods is considered an act of treason (or terrorism). Which is exactly what is wrong with the fascist ideology espoused by Bush
I'd be against that too.. except that it isn't happening. Lots of people are speaking their mind about US foreign policy these days. Nobody's bashing down doors and hauling them away. No, that script kiddie luser who was advocating people to overthrow the gov't and establish anarchy doesn't count.
As for the European countries that are playing cool and criticizing the US stance, that's not surprising. By officially taking sides, they would potentially become targets of terrorists as well.
The government should start buying things that have already been produced and put them in the public domain. And in the more egregious cases, it could use its power of eminent domain to buy the source whether the company wants to sell it or not.
For starters, they should buy Hancom Office and turn it loose unto the world.
stating that Microsoft is not a threat to democratic values
What part of public funds going to support a private industry is democratic? If a government is going to spend tax dollars on software, it should use and develop software that will directly benefit taxpayers.
If they need Open Source software, then surely they can help us develop it as well. I'm sure there are folks in the US who would pay SA's for their services of furthering various projects. Then, that's money into their economy which can be used for further improvements.
This is an interesting mod, but keep in mind that the people doing it are using OLD hard disks of little value. Sure, it would be interesting for a lan-party box. If it fails after a few months, who cares.
Now lets look at a more practical scenario: you have a drive which failed and want to recover data by swapping platters with another drive. No, you won't want to rely on the drive after the surgery, but it might just work long enough for you to recover you data. Additionally, there is a small chance that you'd be able to fix the original drive if there was an obvious mechanical problem. Some of the techniques mentioned in these articles have valid tips for performing this crude recovery work.
Here's another thought: has anyone tried constructing a miniature cleanroom? Like those plexiglass boxes biologists use where they put their hands into the rubber gloves to isolate themselves from the contents.. I wonder what sort of clean-room equivalency one could obtain from such a device. If it was well sealed, you could vacuum some of the air, use an ion generator to collect dust, etc.
Re:Speck of dust, speck of dust, like a broken rec
on
Clear Hard Drive Mods
·
· Score: 2
I have personally swapped the platters on two 2.5" HDD's (from one with a broken arm to one with a hard ass password lock stored on the platter). Both drives were effectively write-offs, so I didn't even bother with the bathroom trick and had them open for about an hour at work, during lunch, with greasy fingers and food crumbs everywhere. To my great surprise, the result was one working HDD, no bad sectors, six months and counting. I trust it exactly as much as I trust new sealed drives, which is to say: not at all.
Your experience interests me. I have a drive which failed (IBM 75GXP!) but has data on it which I would like to recover. However, I can't afford those ridiculously overpriced data recovery services. I assume you swapped platters of identical models. After you did, did you run into any trouble? Did you have to low-level format the drive before it would work or was the existing data immediately accessible?
I'd like to see a book on everything a geek needs to know to turn their valuable talents and ideas into a profitable and sustainable business. Keep it short and precise and lucid. Cover every aspect of running a small business, from advertising to budgets to insurance to legal guidelines. Skip the unnecessary business-speak and get right to the point. Offer insights and shortcuts on minimizing gruntwork.
I prefer e-books but ONLY if they're on CD in plaintext. (Such as the O'Reilly Perl CD Bookshelf, which is in HTML) One of the biggest advantages of plaintext e-books is publishers can offer a diff against the original to fix errata, although I'm not sure how many have started doing this. Another reason for e-books is that there will come a time when paper is truly obsoleted by ultra-high resolution displays. Right now, it's easier on the eyes to look at crisp printed text. However, once LCD or OLED displays of 200dpi or higher become commonplace, the advantage of paper will become moot. Some would argue that today's LCD's combined with RGB decimation have already reached this point. I would tend to agree in some cases.
In the meantime, it is still cheaper to buy an e-book and print it yourself than to spend twice as much for the publisher's hard copy. A ream of laser paper is what? $3. Toner is dirt cheap if you buy bulk and recycle your cartridges. Just print duplex with two pages per side landscape at a reasonable font size. Buy yourself a motorized 3-hole punch and you'll have it in a binder in minutes. IMO, it's easier to read a nice flat sheet rather than a book which must be held open.
Inspired authors among you: publish on the web and ditch the dead-tree-producing middleman! Most of us, by the honor system, will actually pay you for quality plaintext e-books if the price is right.
The richest nation in the world is bombing the poorest nation in the world out of retaliation and fear. What's wrong with this picture?
The richest nation in the world is killing off a handful of asshole militants that are harassing it. These same asshole militants have turned a country that once had a vibrant culture and burgeoning intelligentsia into the poorest nation in the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture.
I assume that was meant as a sarcastic statement referring to some Bush quote about other nations' stance on terrorism. So, smart ass, what do you propose we should do? Let these people just walk around killing us while we look the other way? You realize these radicals (whatever their race or religion or cause) are swearing their lives on our destruction, don't you? They're not going to stop if we just sit around smoking pot while proclaiming peace to all. There is no passive stance in which everybody just magically gets along. Wake up or go start you own country if you think you can do a better job. But just remember, you'll have to defend yourself too.
The real problem is that the next generation of programmers is the clueless, GenX, bottom feeder, "I saw in USN&WR that there's big money in computers" types with no passion for the art. They're in college now or recently graduated in the last 5 years. They've been brought up with Windows and flashy GUI's. They view their home computer as primarily an entertainment device and their work as just a way to get paid. If they're interested in Linux, it's more for the trendiness, and they just talk/complain and don't act. (Slashdot'ers, most university LUG's). So do you expect these people to turn out some good code for the community?!
Somehow, these people need reached and inspired in the way that their predecessors were. Inspired about the technology itself: as a toy as well as a tool. Open Source is a great opportunity because it largely sets business aside.
And--let's face it--Free Software is not exactly the most practical course to follow. It appeals to the idealistic adolescent male mindset, the sort which dreams of dying for some girl, of fighting the good fight, of generally being a bloody nuisance
For some, perhaps. For the practical folks, it just makes economic sense to pool resources instead of throwing them at a big company and hoping something good comes back.
The economy is in a slump and we need our resources here at home. I don't have any problem with deep-space exploration missions being cut right now. Frankly, they are of little value to begin with (other than providing us with pretty images and giving theorists some data to play with.) On the other hand, technology focused research, which is the primary goal of shuttle missions and also the side-benefit of military research, is of immediate practical value.
And then there are the idiot Dem's (not that all Dem's are idiots), that believe every piece of propaganda and Bush consipiracy theory they hear is naked truth. These are the people who go spreading around nonsense like "Bush just wants to make a giant military to blow everybody up" or "Bush just wants more Nukes." Check your facts, folks. Bush has thus far made drastic cuts in our nuclear arsenal, attempting instead to focus on defensive technologies. And no, a "missile defense system" doesn't mean Reagan's hair-brained StarWars being resurrected. (although then again, who are we to judge what the latest military satellite technology is?) As for the rest of the military, there seems to be a general trend towards precision and tactical weaponry, which from the perspective of maintaining peace with minimal collateral damage, is a very good thing.
Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that sometimes peace requires war. US participation in WW2 is a perfect example. The only alternative to war would be to turn the whole world into a one-government surveillance police state. And we all know that would not work, nor would we want it.
I don't think one of the primary goals of Linux should be to replace Windows on the Desktop, but rather to offer an alternative Operating System to individuals and corporations who can't (or don't want to) afford the licensing fees and the cost of upgrades.
Where do you people get this lousy FUD? That's exactly what Microsoft wants us to believe so that Linux will stay a niche market and not truly threaten them. The only thing holding the Open Source movement back from 'total world domination' is that so many coders share this passive, wishy-washy, political viewpoint. Thank goodness there are intelligent people like ESR and RMS who have the balls to believe in themselves and the community, thereby actually getting something done.
What Young is doing is trying to get Red Hat into those markets where there either isn't consumer inertia toward a product or where the market is unsettled. If he can gain acceptance, then his end goal (making money through pushing Linux) is achieved. All in all it is a pretty smart move.
If that is the case, he should have stated so more clearly. Instead of saying "Linux will never rule the desktop" (which is not true), he should have said, "RedHat is focusing primarily on the server and UNIX workstation markets." IMO, what he said is almost a means of trying to make RedHat look better by cutting down Linux overall.
Of course this isn't really about Linux anyhow. It's about desktop environments that run on Linux. I don't think the hard-working KDE folk would share his pessimism.
I would disagree on the point about transfering our minds away from our bodies. (Or at least in the sense of 'out of our physical, human brains') If our brain functions do in fact involve the realm of quantum mechanical physics, as Roger Penrose proposes, then by such properties we will never be able accurately observe and/or transfer the quantum states and entanglements from our brains into a machine. Note that this could perhaps also provide explanation for how our souls are interfaced to our gray matter. But that's just a wild theological conjecture..
Eventually, humans whose only abilities are found in their bodies will be put to use by those more intelligent either for manual labor or gladiatorial exhibitions. Oh wait..
The DivX;-) people getting involved with Fahnhofer can only mean patent cross-licensing and competitive positioning. Didn't you people read the prior article about MPEG4 licensing? It's not a good situation.
Don't limit your ideas to devices for P2P filesharing via wireless. Instead, think of some technology that every student in the US will want or need. (Sorta like graphing calculators in high school). But imagine this device is a 'tablet PC' that replaces all textbooks, notes, etc. and allows various interaction during class with the same automated ad-hoc P2P networking that would be handy for filesharing. But this device must be general purpose, just like an ordinary desktop PC. And of course most everyone else will have such a device in various form factors, simply because there are so many useful applications that will develop. Once enough people are using these devices, it will become possible to not only share files P2P, but establish community networks that automatically route out to other larger networks and Internet backbones. Combine this with wide-band technologies and both the communications and content industries could be in for some real change. As long as the SSSCA doesn't go through.. *shudder*
Slashdot Mirror
It's pretty eye-opening if you think digital photography is getting close to film.
Depends on what you're calling 'film photography.' If you mean professionally prepared, then scanned 35mm slides, then no, digital cameras aren't quite there yet. But, if you're talking the average person who uses an automatic 35mm camera with average 35mm film and then takes it to the nearest 1-hour developer at the cost of $0.75 per picture, then yes, digital cameras have already far surpassed film in both quality and economics. Not to mention the fact that digital cameras, while not capturing quite as large a colorspace, are quite linear. IMO, color rendition is far superior to film with regards to capturing what our eyes see compared to the exaggerated colors that film often portrays. Yes, I know our eyes are logarithmic in color sensitivity, but that doesn't mean you want to compound this with non-linearities in film!
In one form or another, speech recognition is going to be used more and more in the future, perhaps especially with handheld devices and tablet PC's. So, in light of this, who is working on Open Source speech recognition. I'm aware of CMU's Sphinx project, but last I saw it was quite obsolete technologically compared to commercial offerings. Is there any other Open Source'd work being done with cutting edge SR techniques?
We call it riding the gravy train.
"Have a Cigar," Pink Floyd
How about a company where the coders ARE the 'bosses.' Obviously this only works for smaller companies. But small is beautiful, especially with Open Source development. Get a really tight team together and provide a unique service in your area.
never said it wasn't wrong. but you're right. It makes no difference since proprietary software will be completely gone in 10-15 years.
If I had my own company, I would make certain that we ran things properly, which would involve, among other things, not pirating software.
You're obviously not familiar with the hastle and expense of keeping track of client licenses for all of M$'s nonsense. And by the way, not paying for proprietary software is not stealing, it's non-compliance with a license agreement on copyrighted software. For it to be stealing, someone would have to be missing that which you took. Perhaps you could call it cheating, but not stealing.
What I'm against - and TOTALLY against, is creating an atmosphere where even criticising the current regime and it's methods is considered an act of treason (or terrorism). Which is exactly what is wrong with the fascist ideology espoused by Bush
I'd be against that too.. except that it isn't happening. Lots of people are speaking their mind about US foreign policy these days. Nobody's bashing down doors and hauling them away. No, that script kiddie luser who was advocating people to overthrow the gov't and establish anarchy doesn't count.
As for the European countries that are playing cool and criticizing the US stance, that's not surprising. By officially taking sides, they would potentially become targets of terrorists as well.
The government should start buying things that have already been produced and put them in the public domain. And in the more egregious cases, it could use its power of eminent domain to buy the source whether the company wants to sell it or not.
For starters, they should buy Hancom Office and turn it loose unto the world.
stating that Microsoft is not a threat to democratic values
What part of public funds going to support a private industry is democratic? If a government is going to spend tax dollars on software, it should use and develop software that will directly benefit taxpayers.
If they need Open Source software, then surely they can help us develop it as well. I'm sure there are folks in the US who would pay SA's for their services of furthering various projects. Then, that's money into their economy which can be used for further improvements.
This is an interesting mod, but keep in mind that the people doing it are using OLD hard disks of little value. Sure, it would be interesting for a lan-party box. If it fails after a few months, who cares.
Now lets look at a more practical scenario: you have a drive which failed and want to recover data by swapping platters with another drive. No, you won't want to rely on the drive after the surgery, but it might just work long enough for you to recover you data. Additionally, there is a small chance that you'd be able to fix the original drive if there was an obvious mechanical problem. Some of the techniques mentioned in these articles have valid tips for performing this crude recovery work.
Here's another thought: has anyone tried constructing a miniature cleanroom? Like those plexiglass boxes biologists use where they put their hands into the rubber gloves to isolate themselves from the contents.. I wonder what sort of clean-room equivalency one could obtain from such a device. If it was well sealed, you could vacuum some of the air, use an ion generator to collect dust, etc.
I have personally swapped the platters on two 2.5" HDD's (from one with a broken arm to one with a hard ass password lock stored on the platter). Both drives were effectively write-offs, so I didn't even bother with the bathroom trick and had them open for about an hour at work, during lunch, with greasy fingers and food crumbs everywhere. To my great surprise, the result was one working HDD, no bad sectors, six months and counting. I trust it exactly as much as I trust new sealed drives, which is to say: not at all.
Your experience interests me. I have a drive which failed (IBM 75GXP!) but has data on it which I would like to recover. However, I can't afford those ridiculously overpriced data recovery services. I assume you swapped platters of identical models. After you did, did you run into any trouble? Did you have to low-level format the drive before it would work or was the existing data immediately accessible?
I'd like to see a book on everything a geek needs to know to turn their valuable talents and ideas into a profitable and sustainable business. Keep it short and precise and lucid. Cover every aspect of running a small business, from advertising to budgets to insurance to legal guidelines. Skip the unnecessary business-speak and get right to the point. Offer insights and shortcuts on minimizing gruntwork.
I prefer e-books but ONLY if they're on CD in plaintext. (Such as the O'Reilly Perl CD Bookshelf, which is in HTML) One of the biggest advantages of plaintext e-books is publishers can offer a diff against the original to fix errata, although I'm not sure how many have started doing this. Another reason for e-books is that there will come a time when paper is truly obsoleted by ultra-high resolution displays. Right now, it's easier on the eyes to look at crisp printed text. However, once LCD or OLED displays of 200dpi or higher become commonplace, the advantage of paper will become moot. Some would argue that today's LCD's combined with RGB decimation have already reached this point. I would tend to agree in some cases.
In the meantime, it is still cheaper to buy an e-book and print it yourself than to spend twice as much for the publisher's hard copy. A ream of laser paper is what? $3. Toner is dirt cheap if you buy bulk and recycle your cartridges. Just print duplex with two pages per side landscape at a reasonable font size. Buy yourself a motorized 3-hole punch and you'll have it in a binder in minutes. IMO, it's easier to read a nice flat sheet rather than a book which must be held open.
Inspired authors among you: publish on the web and ditch the dead-tree-producing middleman! Most of us, by the honor system, will actually pay you for quality plaintext e-books if the price is right.
The richest nation in the world is bombing the poorest nation in the world out of retaliation and fear. What's wrong with this picture?
The richest nation in the world is killing off a handful of asshole militants that are harassing it. These same asshole militants have turned a country that once had a vibrant culture and burgeoning intelligentsia into the poorest nation in the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture.
And you're either with us, or against us.
I assume that was meant as a sarcastic statement referring to some Bush quote about other nations' stance on terrorism. So, smart ass, what do you propose we should do? Let these people just walk around killing us while we look the other way? You realize these radicals (whatever their race or religion or cause) are swearing their lives on our destruction, don't you? They're not going to stop if we just sit around smoking pot while proclaiming peace to all. There is no passive stance in which everybody just magically gets along. Wake up or go start you own country if you think you can do a better job. But just remember, you'll have to defend yourself too.
The real problem is that the next generation of programmers is the clueless, GenX, bottom feeder, "I saw in USN&WR that there's big money in computers" types with no passion for the art. They're in college now or recently graduated in the last 5 years. They've been brought up with Windows and flashy GUI's. They view their home computer as primarily an entertainment device and their work as just a way to get paid. If they're interested in Linux, it's more for the trendiness, and they just talk/complain and don't act. (Slashdot'ers, most university LUG's). So do you expect these people to turn out some good code for the community?!
Somehow, these people need reached and inspired in the way that their predecessors were. Inspired about the technology itself: as a toy as well as a tool. Open Source is a great opportunity because it largely sets business aside.
And--let's face it--Free Software is not exactly the most practical course to follow. It appeals to the idealistic adolescent male mindset, the sort which dreams of dying for some girl, of fighting the good fight, of generally being a bloody nuisance
For some, perhaps. For the practical folks, it just makes economic sense to pool resources instead of throwing them at a big company and hoping something good comes back.
The economy is in a slump and we need our resources here at home. I don't have any problem with deep-space exploration missions being cut right now. Frankly, they are of little value to begin with (other than providing us with pretty images and giving theorists some data to play with.) On the other hand, technology focused research, which is the primary goal of shuttle missions and also the side-benefit of military research, is of immediate practical value.
And then there are the idiot Dem's (not that all Dem's are idiots), that believe every piece of propaganda and Bush consipiracy theory they hear is naked truth. These are the people who go spreading around nonsense like "Bush just wants to make a giant military to blow everybody up" or "Bush just wants more Nukes." Check your facts, folks. Bush has thus far made drastic cuts in our nuclear arsenal, attempting instead to focus on defensive technologies. And no, a "missile defense system" doesn't mean Reagan's hair-brained StarWars being resurrected. (although then again, who are we to judge what the latest military satellite technology is?) As for the rest of the military, there seems to be a general trend towards precision and tactical weaponry, which from the perspective of maintaining peace with minimal collateral damage, is a very good thing.
Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that sometimes peace requires war. US participation in WW2 is a perfect example. The only alternative to war would be to turn the whole world into a one-government surveillance police state. And we all know that would not work, nor would we want it.
I don't think one of the primary goals of Linux should be to replace Windows on the Desktop, but rather to offer an alternative Operating System to individuals and corporations who can't (or don't want to) afford the licensing fees and the cost of upgrades.
Where do you people get this lousy FUD? That's exactly what Microsoft wants us to believe so that Linux will stay a niche market and not truly threaten them. The only thing holding the Open Source movement back from 'total world domination' is that so many coders share this passive, wishy-washy, political viewpoint. Thank goodness there are intelligent people like ESR and RMS who have the balls to believe in themselves and the community, thereby actually getting something done.
What Young is doing is trying to get Red Hat into those markets where there either isn't consumer inertia toward a product or where the market is unsettled. If he can gain acceptance, then his end goal (making money through pushing Linux) is achieved. All in all it is a pretty smart move.
If that is the case, he should have stated so more clearly. Instead of saying "Linux will never rule the desktop" (which is not true), he should have said, "RedHat is focusing primarily on the server and UNIX workstation markets." IMO, what he said is almost a means of trying to make RedHat look better by cutting down Linux overall.
Of course this isn't really about Linux anyhow. It's about desktop environments that run on Linux. I don't think the hard-working KDE folk would share his pessimism.
I would disagree on the point about transfering our minds away from our bodies. (Or at least in the sense of 'out of our physical, human brains') If our brain functions do in fact involve the realm of quantum mechanical physics, as Roger Penrose proposes, then by such properties we will never be able accurately observe and/or transfer the quantum states and entanglements from our brains into a machine. Note that this could perhaps also provide explanation for how our souls are interfaced to our gray matter. But that's just a wild theological conjecture..
Eventually, humans whose only abilities are found in their bodies will be put to use by those more intelligent either for manual labor or gladiatorial exhibitions. Oh wait..
The DivX ;-) people getting involved with Fahnhofer can only mean patent cross-licensing and competitive positioning. Didn't you people read the prior article about MPEG4 licensing? It's not a good situation.
Don't limit your ideas to devices for P2P filesharing via wireless. Instead, think of some technology that every student in the US will want or need. (Sorta like graphing calculators in high school). But imagine this device is a 'tablet PC' that replaces all textbooks, notes, etc. and allows various interaction during class with the same automated ad-hoc P2P networking that would be handy for filesharing. But this device must be general purpose, just like an ordinary desktop PC. And of course most everyone else will have such a device in various form factors, simply because there are so many useful applications that will develop. Once enough people are using these devices, it will become possible to not only share files P2P, but establish community networks that automatically route out to other larger networks and Internet backbones. Combine this with wide-band technologies and both the communications and content industries could be in for some real change. As long as the SSSCA doesn't go through.. *shudder*