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User: ldspartan

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Comments · 362

  1. old news. on Pentagon Lets You Bid on Terrorism? · · Score: 1

    The news here is that the DoD things this will provide useful intelligence. My boss's old company, TradeSports, has been providing a trading environment for this kind of stuff for years. You can get a futures contract on _anything_.

    --
    lds

  2. Re:Mod down (-1) Flamebait on O'Reilly Article on Spam Defense · · Score: 1

    I'll grant that qmail isn't "really" free software.

    But, what you're saying isn't true, according to my understanding of the license. You can change the source willy-nilly and distribute, you just can't call it 'qmail' anymore.

    You can call it 'dozer-mail' or anything else as much as you like, DJB just maintains qmail as software he wrote.

  3. Re:It really is that simple. on Why Outsource When Workers are Willing to Telecommute? · · Score: 2, Informative

    And the cost of living in Troy, NY is about 10% of that elsewhere in the States.

    No, really. My last apartment's rent was $200/mnth, including all utilities... Troy is relatively arctic, and heat isn't cheap.

    --
    lds

  4. Paid for? [OT] on Questions for DoJ IP Attorneys Asked and Answered · · Score: 2, Interesting
    However, in an effort to give you your money's worth, we have answered two additional questions which you posed in the comments accompanying the original interview, but were not submitted to us by the Slashdot moderators.
    Did anyone else pick up on this? If so, does /. pay for these interviews, or is the interviewee just using a common turn of phrase?

    Not that it matters terribly, but I think it would add to the context of these things if we knew that slashdot paid for interviews. -- lds

  5. Re:Imagine the uses on The Impending IP Crisis · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm not a civil engineer, but for some reason I'd think the sewage system would have a larger capacity (and pipe diameter) than the water system. Seeing as wastewater is more dense (generally) then clean water and all.

    But hell, I'm just a CS nerd. I don't know shit :)

    --
    lds

  6. Re:Imagine the uses on The Impending IP Crisis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Thinking about it a bit, that could actually be a problem.

    Imagine the impact all the toilets in a couple square blocks of New York City flushing simultaneusly would have on the water supply.

    --
    Phil

  7. Re:Ways to get Thinkpads for cheap on Apple-Quality Intel Laptops? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... I get little pamphlets in the mail from IBM every quarter or so, with deals and a URL.

    Maybe thats just me though.

  8. Re:I hope they have some funky shielding on Switch On For Powered Data Networks · · Score: 3, Informative

    umm...
    I'm no EE, but as far as I know PoE is DC, which won't cause interference in UTP or anything else...

    --
    Phil

  9. Re:holy off topic, batman on A Condensed History Of The Keyboard · · Score: 1

    What kind of use did they see? I can understand that kind of failure rate touring, or in a education setting (maybe).

  10. Re:Is it just me on Toshiba Introduces A 17"-Screen Laptop · · Score: 2, Informative
    if all they think people want in a laptop anymore is a DVD/CD player, why not just make and sell them that instead?
    They do.

    --
    lds
  11. holy off topic, batman on A Condensed History Of The Keyboard · · Score: 1

    What consoles were/are these? I've worked with some really old consoles before, and they've all still been operating correctly. (Including an old Kliegl [Performer? I think thats it] that used tape storage and had an embedded monitor).

    --
    lds

  12. Re:Soviet Venera landers were nifty on The Best Of Planetary Explorers · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking oo-see-in.

  13. Re:Wow! Is this really the same guy? on Random Movement Printing Technology · · Score: 1

    Mleh, I found the site linked through mispelling /.; www.salshdot.org redirects you to /. and spawns a new window with the site about censorware.

    It definitely gives you a background to micheal, and it doesn't surprise me now when his editorial comments are so slanted.

    --
    Phil

  14. Re:Michael, You Don't Know Shit... on Random Movement Printing Technology · · Score: 1, Informative

    Hah, you think he's a dick now, have you read about what he did before joining /.?

  15. Re:Never going to happen on Ardour Digital Audio Workstation Now in Beta · · Score: 1

    I couldn't find the info on the Yamaha site that I wanted, but the existence of a general-purpose audio DSP for the PC platform would debunk my claim quite firmly.

    From what you pasted and what I read on the Yamaha site, it doesn't seem like you can run arbitrary code on the DSP on these boards. Hell, a Sound Blaster Live / Audigy has a reasonably powerful DSP onboard, but its not easily accessible to a user application.

    --
    lds

  16. Re:Never going to happen on Ardour Digital Audio Workstation Now in Beta · · Score: 1

    Agreed. I'd love to use it to replace my mildly illegitimate copy of SoundForge. But comparing Ardour to a ProTools TDM rig isn't fair. That was my only real point :).

    BTW, I used to work with you at EWM many years ago :)

    --
    Phil

  17. Re:Never going to happen on Ardour Digital Audio Workstation Now in Beta · · Score: 2, Informative

    Umm...

    The linux kernel requires general purpose computers to work. These were and are plentiful.

    In my humble opinion (and the Ardour folk have some good arguments about this, as sibling posts to the parent have pointed out) a pro-quality DAW requires external general purpose DSP hardware to succeed. To the best of my knowledge, no such product exists right now. Pro quality audio interfaces can be had for PCs now, which solves the largest problem with this breed of software. The last, and largest stumbling block will be DSP hardware, and I doubt that it will exist any time soon.

    Once more, I'm not saying Ardour is useless, or even anything less than great. I'm merely saying you can't compare it to ProTools, at least not yet. ProTools LE, which doesn't use any external DSP hardware, would be a fair comparison.

    --
    Phil

  18. Never going to happen on Ardour Digital Audio Workstation Now in Beta · · Score: 3, Informative

    The de facto standard for this kind of work is ProTools. Despite any grass-roots campaigns against it, it is the most commonly used DAW application out there.

    OSS packages, while great and useful, are not going to be able to compete with ProTools in the near future. ProTools (not LE, not FE, the real version) comes with custom external DSP hardware. The external DSPs and related hardware are used for to process software plugins as well as simple tasks like ADC/DAC of signals. Until the OSS community can provide both equivalent hardware and software support for it, there will be no competition between packages like this one and ProTools, as they are in entirely different classes.

    All that being said, I'm really happy someone is working on it, and that I'll probably use this or similiar package, but not for the same things I'd use ProTools for.

    --
    lds

  19. Re:already slashdotted on National Do Not Call List Opens for Registrations · · Score: 1

    Heh, more like the load from other places killed it before /. had a chance :)

  20. Re:already slashdotted on National Do Not Call List Opens for Registrations · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It was down before the "there will be a story here" tag went up on /., so there's no blaming this site for it.

  21. Re:Cost analysis on US Army Signs $471,000,000 Deal for Microsoft Software · · Score: 2, Informative
    You beat me to it :).

    According to my extensive reading of Tom Clancy non-fiction (no, really... I'm too poor to buy the Jane's reference manuals), submarine ventilation / air purification systems are specifically designed to handle cigarrette smoke. Remember that most sub designs predate concerns about secondhand smoke and so forth.

    Also, see this instruction from the Secretary of the Navy dated August 2002.

    I quote:
    "On Submarines. Smoking spaces shall be designated aboard submarines following the guidance of reference (e). These spaces must be well ventilated, not in the vicinity of stationary watch stations. Berthing spaces, messes, lounges, and exercise areas shall not be designated as smoking areas. The number of smokers authorized to use a smoking area at one time shall be limited by the clearance capacity of the ventilation system."


    Hurrah for /.'s readership.
  22. Re:Take heart, you're on the right track. on Caring, Feeding and Enhancing UPS Battery Systems? · · Score: 1

    NUT!

    Network UPS Tools.

    I use it with my APC SU1400RM, and couldn't love it more. client / server design, nice looking CGI front end, easily extensible. Its great.

    --
    lds

  23. Re:No on (When) Will Linux Pass Apple On The Desktop? · · Score: 1

    Just for clarification, the $700 tag included the two stupidly high end disks.

    Don't ask me... Dell had a weird deal going that week...

  24. Re:No on (When) Will Linux Pass Apple On The Desktop? · · Score: 1

    You've got me on the OS, my machine came with nothing which I neglected to remember.

    The machine is a PowerEdge 1600SC, which is quite clearly not a desktop class machine, and I got it at a considerable discount though Dell's small business site. I bought it directly from the web page, no special connections within the company for me. The optical drive, and lack of AGP bus are not comparable to the Mac in question. My only real goal was to point out that you could get a dual processor x86 machine for a lot less than $3k.

    Also, if I had spec'd the machine at Dell's site to be comparable to the Mac, I'm sure it would come in at the same price point, particularly because Dell charges a gigantic premium for RAM and additional CPUs. I was thinking more about one's ability to add a second CPU and a gig of ram 'aftermarket.'

    Anyway, enough of this.

    --
    lds

  25. Re:No on (When) Will Linux Pass Apple On The Desktop? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ....

    64-bitness aside, I purchased a dual-capable 2.0Ghz xeon machine from Dell a while ago for $700, and it came with 2x 73.4GB U320 SCSI disks, which retail for about $300 a piece. Add another proc and RAM, and you have a comparable machine (based on old technology I might ad) for $1500.

    I think. ...

    --
    Phil