Ah, ok, maybe you're right. I thought they had until 2004, not until end-of-2004. It'd be pretty stupid to launch late on purpose, unless they're after a consolation prize:-)
Yeah, I know, you're all going to mod me down for being critical, but honestly, where else in the world would the question of a lawsuit be even asked, should the thing blow up ?
It's a bloody dangerous thing to do. Accept that. Take responsibility for accepting that and "either do, or do not, there is no 'try it and sue'", to horribly paraphrase Yoda.
... then with the X-prize candidates just about to really go for it (2 weeks left for them to claim the prize), they may cut you a deal, of course it's a bit more of a gamble...:-)
... to have SQL server running on a pocket-sized device. Now MySQL (lean & mean:-) or even Posgresql, loads of embedded DB's available, but SQL SERVER ??
Seems like I have some reading to do. if this is how it's gonna be...
I'm not an expert on these things, but I'm not exactly clueless about the PS2.
The MIPS R5900 is a 32-bit chip, but that's not where the heavy lifting happens anyway - it's just there for game logic and overall control. Trying to define "the CPU" of a PS2 is an exercise for drunken engineers, anyway:-)
All the real work goes on in the vector units (vu0 & vu1) which are decidedly 128-bit. They can pack 4 32-bit floats into a single register, and process those registers in one clock cycle (with a 4 clock-cycle latency within the pipeline).
I'm also not sure why it should take longer to access a 64-bit value in RAM than a 32-bit one, assuming a commensurate increase in data-bus size for the new processor... Unless you mean that you could fill the L2/L3 cache with 2 32-bit values within the same time-frame as a single 64-bit value, now that you've got a larger bus width...
I reckon there might be a gunshot wedding again (with Billy G wielding the gun) if the separation of the parties results in longer delivery times, harder work for "interoperation" etc...
Simon.
Would love to see this on a freeway
on
Smart Billboards
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I hope the media catch hold of it and hype it to hell and beyond. Get some high-flying politico commentators saying how they should have been informed.
Understanding about fire being hot often comes after one has been burnt. Perhaps they'll feel that they shouldn't be "spied on" without their knowledge. Perhaps it might influence decisions they make in future...
... assuming the deliverer of the presentation is the author, anyway...
It seems the art of delivering a coherent "story" for a message has been lost in this modern day of 10-second soundbites, and flashy presentations, but it's not the medium's fault that the message is confusing, it's the creator of the message.
There are rules for imparting highly-technical information to others who may not be as "up on it" as yourself...
Take time to lay the foundations of your main point, build slowly and incrementally towards it.
Deliver summaries on a regular basis so people can checkpoint their way through the technical ideas.
Use graphics if they convey the message better than words, or if appropriate for humour. Understanding often arrives with a chuckle.
Sound effects are (almost) always useless.
Don't over-complicate, make it as detailed as it needs to be and no more.
This is hardly an exhaustive list, but I've found them useful guidelines...
"A pigeon can fly at a cruising speed of 65km/h, 100km/h when pushed," said Mr Andreef. "But native falcons fly at up to 250km/h."
Wow. I realise they won't be going at 250kph for very long (presumably during a swoop down from above) but that's a fantastically fast speed for something of flesh and blood...
"The terminal velocity of a falling human being with arms and legs outstretched is about 120 miles per hour (192 km per hour) - slower than a lead balloon, but a good deal faster than a feather!" (from falling feather)
So I guess until someone straps a jetpack on their back and power-dives, no human will ever experience it...
So, assuming I get hold of one of these AMD 64-bit boxes, how hard/easy is it to get Linux compiled for 64-bit. What are the pitfalls with gcc (is an int 64 bit in 64-bit mode ?)
The only reviews I've seen are on Windows OS's running in 32 bit mode (why, for crying out loud, if linux runs on them cleanly...) I think I saw that RH and Suse have 64-bit offerings, but RH is expensive... never tried Suse....
Just curious. Pointers to informative articles would be welcome:-)
I know large companies have multiple objectives, sometimes competing, but does it seem to anyone else that Sun isn't *that* large... You can't port Java. You can port Java. Linux is dead. Our new desktop is Linux (oh, +Java). Solaris x86 is not free...... (wait for it, it took a while)... Oh, yes it is, actually....
I guess there are Sun-only places where this might be a big deal. I'm also guessing that they're in a minority, so what does Sun see in it all ? It must be a reasonably large cost to maintain another OS for a company, so there has to be an upside... Answers on a postcard, please:-)
... like glib, gnet, gtk+ (hah! little!) but you know what I mean - these were things that people needed, so they wrote. We all benefit, and so does linux and unix.
I guess one of the strengths of the unix development model is that my SGI and Sun boxes have all the linux libraries on them, and I don't think that's at all strange...
Unix (before linux became mainstream) didn't have as much work in the class libraries (which like it or loath it, VC++ provided quite well).... Now it does.
or at least, not necessarily, so the fact that the FTP server is up is not necessarily a pointer to the fact that SCO are lying through their teeth. (They may still be, but...)
The thing that's odd is that they think it disrupted their intranet - who in their right mind merges the public internet server and internal intranet server ???
[grin] It's always been a big waxy black crayon-type pencil so far. Could just be my area though. There ain't no way you're going to rub it off the paper though...
for electronic voting. Sure, it's "modern" to have a computer-driven thing, but the old-fashioned way seems to have far less problems in theory. I'll grant that the implementations have sometimes been poor (I now have a new phrase 'hanging chads', which sounds rather unfortunate), but if you're going to spend this much money, why not simply make a good implementation of a normal system ?
In the UK (about 1/6th the population stuffed into 1/50th the area, so our voter-density is far higher, and hence counts will be higher) there has never been much of a problem. Sure, it takes 12 hours or so for the tallies to come in from all around the country, but how else to deploy the 'swingometer':-)
Simple system. Pencil. Anonymous paper. big dirty cross in the box for the candidate you want. Big separation between the candidates. 2 crosses or ambiguity means a spoiled vote (effectively "none of the above"). Count them all (done by volunteers) and you're done.
Sure, we get some recounts, but the system is so simple it's hard to justify flipping a vote from one candidate to another.
Just seems like it's a mountain out of a molehill...
The setup screens are a bit more techy-orientated, but the in-use ones are reasonably friendly, imho. Besides, it's themeable and modular, so feel free to improve it:-)
Actually at the moment, I'm spending more time on the hostip stuff, though that's peaked now (as far as demands on my time go), and the PVR stuff will start to take over after Xmas.
1. If Tivo has commercially-sensitive proprietary kernel modules, they are not obliged to distribute them, and AFAIK, the Tivo filesystem code falls into this category
2. They're bound to get a lot of people jumping on them "you must distribute", etc. See (1).
3. They're walking a fine line. I'm setting up a Mini-ITX/Hauppage 350 PVR with MythTV as a front-end. It looks cool, and it'll have a lot more features (like: burn a DVD as well as the normal PVR stuff:-) If I can do it, a lot of others can too...
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, ok, maybe you're right. I thought they had until 2004, not until end-of-2004. It'd be pretty stupid to launch late on purpose, unless they're after a consolation prize :-)
Simon
Yeah, I know, you're all going to mod me down for being critical, but honestly, where else in the world would the question of a lawsuit be even asked, should the thing blow up ?
It's a bloody dangerous thing to do. Accept that. Take responsibility for accepting that and "either do, or do not, there is no 'try it and sue'", to horribly paraphrase Yoda.
Simon.
... then with the X-prize candidates just about to really go for it (2 weeks left for them to claim the prize), they may cut you a deal, of course it's a bit more of a gamble... :-)
Simon
... to have SQL server running on a pocket-sized device. Now MySQL (lean & mean :-) or even Posgresql, loads of embedded DB's available, but SQL SERVER ??
...
Seems like I have some reading to do. if this is how it's gonna be
Simon
I'm not an expert on these things, but I'm not exactly clueless about the PS2.
:-)
The MIPS R5900 is a 32-bit chip, but that's not where the heavy lifting happens anyway - it's just there for game logic and overall control. Trying to define "the CPU" of a PS2 is an exercise for drunken engineers, anyway
All the real work goes on in the vector units (vu0 & vu1) which are decidedly 128-bit. They can pack 4 32-bit floats into a single register, and process those registers in one clock cycle (with a 4 clock-cycle latency within the pipeline).
I'm also not sure why it should take longer to access a 64-bit value in RAM than a 32-bit one, assuming a commensurate increase in data-bus size for the new processor... Unless you mean that you could fill the L2/L3 cache with 2 32-bit values within the same time-frame as a single 64-bit value, now that you've got a larger bus width...
Simon.
proposed a bandwidth cap on "abusers" of their system, but the subsequent outcry made them reconsider...
IIRC, the amount of data allocated would have been exceeded by downloading (for example) the Redhat CD's as ISO's...
Simon
I reckon there might be a gunshot wedding again (with Billy G wielding the gun) if the separation of the parties results in longer delivery times, harder work for "interoperation" etc...
Simon.
Talk about blipverts...
Simon
I hope the media catch hold of it and hype it to hell and beyond. Get some high-flying politico commentators saying how they should have been informed.
Understanding about fire being hot often comes after one has been burnt. Perhaps they'll feel that they shouldn't be "spied on" without their knowledge. Perhaps it might influence decisions they make in future...
Simon.
It seems the art of delivering a coherent "story" for a message has been lost in this modern day of 10-second soundbites, and flashy presentations, but it's not the medium's fault that the message is confusing, it's the creator of the message.
There are rules for imparting highly-technical information to others who may not be as "up on it" as yourself...
This is hardly an exhaustive list, but I've found them useful guidelines...
Simon.
*That's* why SCO didn't use SYN cookies - they didn't fancy 50,000 pigeons "delivering the payload" from on high :-)
Simon
"A pigeon can fly at a cruising speed of 65km/h, 100km/h when pushed," said Mr Andreef. "But native falcons fly at up to 250km/h."
Wow. I realise they won't be going at 250kph for very long (presumably during a swoop down from above) but that's a fantastically fast speed for something of flesh and blood...
"The terminal velocity of a falling human being with arms and legs outstretched is about 120 miles per hour (192 km per hour) - slower than a lead balloon, but a good deal faster than a feather!" (from falling feather)
So I guess until someone straps a jetpack on their back and power-dives, no human will ever experience it...
Simon.
So, assuming I get hold of one of these AMD 64-bit boxes, how hard/easy is it to get Linux compiled for 64-bit. What are the pitfalls with gcc (is an int 64 bit in 64-bit mode ?)
....
:-)
The only reviews I've seen are on Windows OS's running in 32 bit mode (why, for crying out loud, if linux runs on them cleanly...) I think I saw that RH and Suse have 64-bit offerings, but RH is expensive... never tried Suse
Just curious. Pointers to informative articles would be welcome
Simon
Yep, that'd be the hydrogen
Simon.
... like in France, for example...
Simon
Blowing that is.
... ... (wait for it, it took a while) ... Oh, yes it is, actually....
:-)
I know large companies have multiple objectives, sometimes competing, but does it seem to anyone else that Sun isn't *that* large... You can't port Java. You can port Java. Linux is dead. Our new desktop is Linux (oh, +Java). Solaris x86 is not free
I guess there are Sun-only places where this might be a big deal. I'm also guessing that they're in a minority, so what does Sun see in it all ? It must be a reasonably large cost to maintain another OS for a company, so there has to be an upside... Answers on a postcard, please
Simon.
Simon.
... like glib, gnet, gtk+ (hah! little!) but you know what I mean - these were things that people needed, so they wrote. We all benefit, and so does linux and unix.
I guess one of the strengths of the unix development model is that my SGI and Sun boxes have all the linux libraries on them, and I don't think that's at all strange...
Unix (before linux became mainstream) didn't have as much work in the class libraries (which like it or loath it, VC++ provided quite well).... Now it does.
Simon
or at least, not necessarily, so the fact that the FTP server is up is not necessarily a pointer to the fact that SCO are lying through their teeth. (They may still be, but ...)
The thing that's odd is that they think it disrupted their intranet - who in their right mind merges the public internet server and internal intranet server ???
Simon
[grin] It's always been a big waxy black crayon-type pencil so far. Could just be my area though. There ain't no way you're going to rub it off the paper though...
Simon
for electronic voting. Sure, it's "modern" to have a computer-driven thing, but the old-fashioned way seems to have far less problems in theory. I'll grant that the implementations have sometimes been poor (I now have a new phrase 'hanging chads', which sounds rather unfortunate), but if you're going to spend this much money, why not simply make a good implementation of a normal system ?
:-)
...
:-)
In the UK (about 1/6th the population stuffed into 1/50th the area, so our voter-density is far higher, and hence counts will be higher) there has never been much of a problem. Sure, it takes 12 hours or so for the tallies to come in from all around the country, but how else to deploy the 'swingometer'
Simple system. Pencil. Anonymous paper. big dirty cross in the box for the candidate you want. Big separation between the candidates. 2 crosses or ambiguity means a spoiled vote (effectively "none of the above"). Count them all (done by volunteers) and you're done.
Sure, we get some recounts, but the system is so simple it's hard to justify flipping a vote from one candidate to another.
Just seems like it's a mountain out of a molehill
Simon. (dons flameproof suit
Sounds like you could use it similar to the initial version of electronic memory (sort of a digital delay line), if it could be harnessed.
:-)
A few hundred-thousandths of a second is an eternity(*) for a photon. That's actually pretty impressive
Simon.
(*) Yes, for the pedants amongst us, I realise it's not actually an eternity. It's a figure of speech, for chrissake!
Damn! Just pipped to the post :-)
Simon.
PIIIIIIIIIIGGGSSS IIIINNN SPAAAaaaccccceeeeee.....
Come on, did *no-one* else think of that muppets sketch ?
Simon
The setup screens are a bit more techy-orientated, but the in-use ones are reasonably friendly, imho. Besides, it's themeable and modular, so feel free to improve it :-)
Actually at the moment, I'm spending more time on the hostip stuff, though that's peaked now (as far as demands on my time go), and the PVR stuff will start to take over after Xmas.
Simon.
1. If Tivo has commercially-sensitive proprietary kernel modules, they are not obliged to distribute them, and AFAIK, the Tivo filesystem code falls into this category
:-) If I can do it, a lot of others can too...
2. They're bound to get a lot of people jumping on them "you must distribute", etc. See (1).
3. They're walking a fine line. I'm setting up a Mini-ITX/Hauppage 350 PVR with MythTV as a front-end. It looks cool, and it'll have a lot more features (like: burn a DVD as well as the normal PVR stuff
Simon