>Why use a cheezy microcontroller that you program in BASIC?
Simplicity.
The Cirrus ARM SoC has 208 pins. It's in a TQFP (smallish surface-mount) package. Have you ever tried to design and print a board (Let alone hand-assemble) for a processor of that complexity on a hobbist budget?
On the other hand the PIC-based Stamp is a very simple 28(4?) pin DIP, requires no external memory, no PROM burner (just a serial link), and is very prevalent in the hobbist community.
I think the PIC is a good choice for a low-cost, easy to build, easy to program robotics project. Granted, the ARM SoC looks/damn/ cool, but most hobbists can't afford the tools to design with something that complex.
Anyways, does a little 'Turtle' style 'bot really need to have a system that powerful, let alone need to run Linux?
Circuit City also appears to be 'sharing' credit card numbers. Name and address I can/almost/ dismiss, but giving out CC numbers is deplorable, and probably illegal. There's more here: http://www.i-opener-linux.net/index.php3?date=20 000418
I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from CC again, I now consider them on the same level of trust as J. Random skr1p7k1ddi3.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck- You're a junkie and you're proud!"
In case you missed the 50 comments that say virtually the same thing, let's restate the bitching: 1. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3! 2. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3! 3. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3! 4. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3! 5. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3!
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck- You're a junkie and you're proud!"
>of the corporations >by the corporations >for the corporations
to be frighteningly accurate. It seems that only 'The People' that have fantastic amounts of money actually have any influence anymore in America. Oh, excuse me, knee-jerk, for-the-children whiners also seem to have a lot of influence.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck- You're a junkie and you're proud!"
IIRC, WebTV uses an embedded MIPS R46xx series processor at around 100 MHz. Not an x86, but hardly shit. (My Indy has an older, non-embedded version of the R4600-100...I'd say it beats a P100 by a little bit, but being an SGI arch box prolly makes a large difference.) I think the biggest problem with hacking WebTV is memory and storage - You'd prolly need a PROM burner to do anyting interesting.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck- You're a junkie and you're proud!"
>but by no stretch of the imagination is Linux developed to professional standards.
Hehehe...I'm willing to bet that a lot of professional code isn't developed to 'professional standards'. The difference is that very few people get to see any of it...
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck- You're a junkie and you're proud!"
The 'secret menu' is hardly unique to the Apex, I've seen a list of instructions for 'hacking' prolly 30 different brands of player, including some of the big names.
The Apex just happens to be the most well publicised because of it's MP3 capability and the nerds that feature attracts.:)
--Kevin (Happy Apex owner)
=-=-=-=-=-= "Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck- You're a junkie and you're proud!"
Macrovision dosn't stop the signal from passing through VCRs, it only stops it from being recorded to a VHS tape. If your going to rant, you should at least get your facts straight.
Perhaps you should take your own advice.
Macrovision works by mangling a component of the video signal - TVs happily ignore this for the most part, but VCRs try and correct for the errors in the signal, leading to all sorts of visual artifacts, from color-shifts, to blank 'no signal' screens.
My DVD player is connected thru my VCR, and MV makes the video completely unviewable. Luckily, I can disable MV, otherwise, I'd need a new TV...
I tend to be a bit on the paranoid side, so here's my two cents:
I don't WANT people to know in detail about my relationships. I don't WANT my boss to know exactly what I was up to last friday night. I don't WANT to be considered a 'stranger' when I visit somewhere. I LIKE the idea of being able to leave non-legal problems behind.
Thank you, Henry Ford (and all the rest), for rendering this sort of 'community' obsolete.
I very strongly value freedom, and anonymity helps me have as much as I can under law. Last thing I want is enforcement of unwritten social laws.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
LCD displays can be had on the surplus market pretty cheaply... I'm pretty sure I've picked up more than one graphic module for under $15 from local dealers alone.
FWIW EIO has a few modules: http://www.eio.com/lcdprodt.htm
=-=-=-=-=-= "...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
>Recently I read that even the fastest processors out (at the time of the writing) aren't quick enough for Quake III >when you turn on all of the graphics features.
I dunno...I play on a PIII-550/TNT2 Ultra box fairly regularly, and/I/ don't notice any slowdowns, even with high quality and 1024x768 res.
Of course this is Demo only, and I'm not really a hardcore gamer either, so I might be missing something...
=-=-=-=-=-= "...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
Why not just index a fraction of your collection per Napster session? Not the optimal file-sharing solution, but seems reasonable until file info cacheing[sp?] is included...
=-=-=-=-=-= "...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
I'm pretty sure I saw a Mac magazine with exactly that on the front cover...No idea which magazine, but I think it was a month or a two after the iWack introduction...
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-= "...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
>I've talked to people who've done both, and the consensus is that WinCE >is a nicer platform to develop for than Palm.
It may be a nicer environment, but AFAIK, it's not as accessable (cheap:) to would-be developers.
IIRC, Palm development uses free GNU tools, while Wince requires $500+ worth of compilers and tools[1] (Not to mention NT, if you want to use the emulator)...
I have an older Wince device and I'd love to play around with it, but being a broke college student, I just can't afford the 'MS Tax'.
But I might be wrong about all this... (And if I am, tell me! I'd like to hack on these things!)
[1] Visual C++ 6.x ($300?), WinCE Dev Kit ($200?)
=-=-=-=-=-= "...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
Slashdot Mirror
>Either that, or hope the record companies are generous enough to loosen the rules of "what you can do with that $13 CD".
;)
I'm wondering where you found a $13 CD from a major record label...
--Kevin
=-=-=
Well said!
/., which I find both boring and disappointing.
I was dismayed when I saw the 'why bother' responses
to what is IMHO one of the coolest projects I've seen lately.
Seems like lately money and market share, rather
than hacking, has ruled
--Kevin
=-=-=
>Why use a cheezy microcontroller that you program in BASIC?
/damn/ cool, but most
Simplicity.
The Cirrus ARM SoC has 208 pins. It's in a TQFP (smallish surface-mount) package.
Have you ever tried to design and print a board
(Let alone hand-assemble) for a processor of that complexity on a hobbist budget?
On the other hand the PIC-based Stamp is a very
simple 28(4?) pin DIP, requires no external
memory, no PROM burner (just a serial link), and is very prevalent in the hobbist community.
I think the PIC is a good choice for a low-cost,
easy to build, easy to program robotics project.
Granted, the ARM SoC looks
hobbists can't afford the tools to design with something that complex.
Anyways, does a little 'Turtle' style 'bot really
need to have a system that powerful, let alone need to run Linux?
SoC datasheet: http://www.cirrus.com/ftp/pubs/ps7111db.pdf
--Kevin
=-=-=
Isn't 'Duron' a brand of condom?
--KMM
=-=-=
Circuit City also appears to be 'sharing' credit card numbers. /almost/ dismiss, but giving 0 000418
Name and address I can
out CC numbers is deplorable, and probably illegal.
There's more here:
http://www.i-opener-linux.net/index.php3?date=2
I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from CC again,
I now consider them on the same level of trust as J. Random skr1p7k1ddi3.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
According to a comment on Advogato from the author,
this can run from 16 to 128k PER CHANNEL -
in other words, 32 to 256k stereo.
Remember, a 128k MP3 stream is actually two 64k channels.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
In case you missed the 50 comments that say virtually the same thing,
let's restate the bitching:
1. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3!
2. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3!
3. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3!
4. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3!
5. Why do we need another CODEC? We have mp3!
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
Yeah, he is just a troll, but I find
>This is a government
>of the corporations
>by the corporations
>for the corporations
to be frighteningly accurate. It seems that only
'The People' that have fantastic amounts of money
actually have any influence anymore in America.
Oh, excuse me, knee-jerk, for-the-children whiners
also seem to have a lot of influence.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
IIRC, WebTV uses an embedded MIPS R46xx series processor at around 100 MHz.
Not an x86, but hardly shit.
(My Indy has an older, non-embedded version of the R4600-100...I'd say it beats a P100 by a little bit,
but being an SGI arch box prolly makes a large difference.)
I think the biggest problem with hacking WebTV is memory and storage - You'd prolly need a PROM burner to do anyting interesting.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
>but by no stretch of the imagination is Linux developed to professional standards.
Hehehe...I'm willing to bet that a lot of professional
code isn't developed to 'professional standards'.
The difference is that very few people get to see any of it...
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
Here's one of the lists I mentioned:
http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/multiregion/
(This covers only software (menu) hacks.)
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
The 'secret menu' is hardly unique to the Apex,
:)
I've seen a list of instructions for 'hacking' prolly 30 different brands of player,
including some of the big names.
The Apex just happens to be the most well
publicised because of it's MP3 capability and
the nerds that feature attracts.
--Kevin
(Happy Apex owner)
=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just take another hit 'cause you don't give a f*ck-
You're a junkie and you're proud!"
Where do you live?!
:(
I just tried to pick one up, and there are none to
be found, at least in Colorado...
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
Yup, had my Apex for a month or so now.
Works really well, considering how much it cost!
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
Macrovision dosn't stop the signal from passing through VCRs, it only stops it from being recorded to a VHS tape. If your going to rant, you should at least get your facts straight.
Perhaps you should take your own advice.
Macrovision works by mangling a component of the video signal - TVs happily ignore this for the
most part, but VCRs try and correct for the errors in the signal, leading to all sorts of visual
artifacts, from color-shifts, to blank 'no signal' screens.
My DVD player is connected thru my VCR, and MV makes the video completely unviewable.
Luckily, I can disable MV, otherwise, I'd need a new TV...
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
I tend to be a bit on the paranoid side, so here's my two cents:
I don't WANT people to know in detail about my relationships.
I don't WANT my boss to know exactly what I was
up to last friday night.
I don't WANT to be considered a 'stranger' when I visit somewhere.
I LIKE the idea of being able to leave non-legal problems behind.
Thank you, Henry Ford (and all the rest), for
rendering this sort of 'community' obsolete.
I very strongly value freedom, and anonymity helps me have as much as I can under law.
Last thing I want is enforcement of unwritten social laws.
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
> I mean, that really proves how cowardly americans are..
Jeeze man.
You talk about how Americans generalize Canadians,
and then you go and generalize in the *exact* same way about Americans.
--Kevin
(Remember, I *could* have written 'aboot' just to be a dick. But I didn't.)
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
LCD displays can be had on the surplus market pretty cheaply...
I'm pretty sure I've picked up more than one graphic module
for under $15 from local dealers alone.
FWIW EIO has a few modules:
http://www.eio.com/lcdprodt.htm
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
>Recently I read that even the fastest processors out (at the time of the writing) aren't quick enough for Quake III
/I/ don't notice any slowdowns, even
>when you turn on all of the graphics features.
I dunno...I play on a PIII-550/TNT2 Ultra box fairly
regularly, and
with high quality and 1024x768 res.
Of course this is Demo only, and I'm not really a
hardcore gamer either, so I might be missing something...
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
Yup, Troll Tech.
Why do you think so many flamewars erupt around KDE?
--Kevin
(-1, Offtopic)
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
Why not just index a fraction of your collection per Napster session?
Not the optimal file-sharing solution, but seems
reasonable until file info cacheing[sp?] is included...
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
I'm pretty sure I saw a Mac magazine with exactly that on the
front cover...No idea which magazine, but I think it was a month or a two after the iWack introduction...
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
Not Palm devices, but there are some wicked
customized PowerBook G3 pics here:
http://www.powerbook.org/soberay/Gallery.html
(Mostly in Japanese, but the pix are cool)
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
>I've talked to people who've done both, and the consensus is that WinCE
:) to would-be developers.
>is a nicer platform to develop for than Palm.
It may be a nicer environment, but AFAIK, it's not as
accessable (cheap
IIRC, Palm development uses free GNU tools, while
Wince requires $500+ worth of compilers and tools[1]
(Not to mention NT, if you want to use the emulator)...
I have an older Wince device and I'd love to play
around with it, but being a broke college student,
I just can't afford the 'MS Tax'.
But I might be wrong about all this...
(And if I am, tell me! I'd like to hack on these things!)
[1] Visual C++ 6.x ($300?), WinCE Dev Kit ($200?)
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."
>Well, I don't agree with you about Slackware, but FreeBSD is, admittedly, a truly masochistic experience.
What was so hard about it?
(I've never even heard of any keyboard/mouse conflicts...You did configure your kernel, right?)
--Kevin
=-=-=-=-=-=
"...You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/
so let's do it like they do on the Discovery channel..."