I have been going over this entire discussion, and one thing seems to irk me. How is it that so many of you end up with drive failures? Let me elucidate...
I live in New Delhi, India. Anyone who has ever been to India knows how bloody hot it can get here. It is common for the ambient temperature to be around 40C during summers. Winters are much better, but then it is usually the heat that kills electronics, not the lack of it.
So.. my first computer was a 286. Complete with a a 20 GB hard drive, 1 MB RAM (out of which half was extended) etc. This computer lasted me about 7 years. Most of its life, it was kept in a poorly ventilated room which was air-conditioned, but had little else to keep the computer happy. Still it worked flawlessly till I finally convinced my dad to get me a new one.
Next computer was a Celeron 366, 64 MB RAM, 8 GB HDD etc. This computer had it even worse. Another thing about living in India is that you have to cope with LOTS of dust. Leave anything unattended, and it'll end up with a thin coat of dust within 48 hours. By the time this computer arrived, I was actively hacking hardware - pulling out and putting new stuff in. For convenience I never put the top of the case back on, and the computer was fully exposed to the elements. 'Elements', btw, also included direct sunlight a couple of hours a day. As you can probably gather, even that system worked fine for its entire life - about 4 years.
I love my current system. About 2 years old, its a Athlon 900 MHz, GeForce2 MX-400, 384 MB RAM, 80 GB Maxtor + 40 GB Seagate Barracuda ATAIV. Not the latest and the greatest, but it serves my needs rather well. This computer is kept in my room that doesn't have an AC (I'm super sensitive to them). In the last 6 months, the max temp has often gone above 45C. My CPU would usually run at around 60C, with its stock heatsink and fan. The two hard drives are stacked one on top of the other because of lack of space in the cabinet, so they keep each other quite warm as well. This system is never switched off, and serves as a gateway for another computer in the house as well. That is an Ahtlon XP 1700. Want to guess that CPU's usual running temperature? Around 70C. Has a Samsung 40 GB HDD, which has worked flawlessly for about 6 months now.
If you've gotten so far, I'm sure you've got my point. How is it that you people living in clean cities with temperate weather manage to end up with FUBAR'd components? A few days back I pulled off my Athlon's heatsink, and you wouldn't believe the amount of crud that came off it. Must've been blocking a lot of air flow.
All that said, I must admit I've been thinking of RAIDing my drives as well. I have quite a lot of data on these drives that I don't want to lose, and I'm afraid my lack of bad experiences is making me callous. I write reviews for a magazine in India called PCQuest, and have personally seen three IBM DeskStars die while I was working with them. Would hate it if something like that happened to my desktop.
Actually, DVD's do stand for Digital Versatile Disc. They were previously known as Digital Video Disc. Someone apparently later realised that they can be used for lots of other things as well.
Ok, I am shamelessly ripping this of Anandtech's two pictures (on page 10 of the article). They are of posters that are apparently up in the CEO's cabin. Interesting to know that the CEO works in a cubicle just like everyone else, btw.
Top 10 reasons why investors love nvidia
10. Jensen's calm, diplomatic and balanced assessment of the competitive landscape.
9. A little something called XBox.
8. Jensen's refusal to bring more than one suit on roadshows inspires investor confidence in management decision-making.
7. Ability to execute is matched only by ability to generate lawsuits.
6. Entrepreneurial spirit of nvidia employees demonstrated by options purchases before public XBox announcement.
5. Vertical integration really was a no brainer.
4. No other roadshow team brings along a complete computer for investors to play with.
3. There's nobody else left in graphics.
2. Still on track to be the fastest company to $1 billion in revenue.
1. nvidia rocks!
Top Ten Reasons To Invest In NVIDIA
10. 3D graphics is hot!
9. The cool demo was a blowout in Europe.
8. More lawsuits than profitable quarters.
7. With a year long process, plenty of time for investors to review S-1.
6. Stable and dependable customers like STB and Diamond.
5. "Q2 only made us stronger"
4. Endorsement of credible shareholders like 3Dfx.
(Can't make out number 3. There is a chair arm in front of it)
2. H&Q's four different analysts talked me into it.
1. After making a killing in Trident, S3, Cirrus, 3D Labs, and 3Dfx, this is a no brainer.
Heh heh.. this is bloody hilarious. Jensen Huang, just by the way, is the CEO and President of NVIDIA.
You can set up a book mark that takes a parameter and has a shortcut keyword. So now when I type "g keyword" into the urlbar it searches Google for my keyword. Browsing will never be the same:-).
Since I have never used Mozilla myself (always stuck to Konqueror on Linux) I don't know how old this feature is. But I'd like everyone to know that the very same feature has been present in Opera for a long time. You type in 'g' followed by any string in the URL, and it searches google for the string.
There are lots of horrible pieces of software in the Windows world: spyware like the stuff that comes with BearShare and Morpheus.....
What is this spyware you speak of in Morpheus? I ask a honest question, because Morpheus quite prominantly displays a "no spyware" image when you press on its start button.
You can, of course, hunt down the view/folder options/file types dialog and then manually change each extension back to some other app install on your system.
May I suggest a better way of doing the same? Say some rogue app steals some file extension of yours. Instead of going thru folder options et al, just press Shift and right-click on the filename. Windows will give you a 'open with' option. Check the box saying "always use this program to open this file", and select the application from the list that you want to handle the given file extension. The next time you double click on a file with that extension, Windows will fire up the app you selected instead of whatever crap was handling those files before.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.
The Taliban has said that they will declare a Jihad* against the West if attacked. That mean that they've declared a war on YOU.
Pardon me for nitpicking, but it really bothers me how "you" is so easily assumed to mean Americans on Slashdot. Newsflash people: Not everybody on the Internet is an American!!!. Is it really that difficult to alter your statement ever so slightly so that you refer to your country's population explicitly?? It would save people like me who aren't blessed enough to belong to your country from great heartache.
Secondly, Does any one of you have any evidence linking Osama/Taliban directly with the WTC attacks? I have been following the news pretty closely, and I don't see anything like that. No, I am not talking about circumstantial evidence. When you are sending in cruise missiles on a country, I think the public deserves to know better than that. Sure it is very convenient to say "we can't compromise our sources by divulging such information", but then what happens to accountability?? India has enough evidence of Pakistan's support to militants in Kashmir (which claims thousands of lives every year btw), but I don't think any country on this planet will support India if it decides to go on an all-out strike against them.
If the US is going to insist on playing Big Brother everytime and everywhere, it is going to face a backlash. Period.
Is to first of all keep two e-mail addresses. One for work, and one for personal use. Since both of these are on POP3 servers (as undoubtedly most/.er's accounts will be), I have the option of downloading the mail wherever and whenever I want. While this might not sound much like a solution, let me elucidate.
At my workplace, KMail is configured to download mail from both these accounts, but delete only my work e-mail from the server. At home, Eudora again checks both these accounts, but deletes only my personal mail. This gives me a lot of flexibility in how I go through my daily quota of e-mail. Whenever I find some free time at work or at home, I go through the other account's mail and manage as much of it as I can. If anything gets left over, it is simply taken care of at the other location.
Of course, the best solution, IMO, is to simply not subscribe to the dozens of lists that people usually do, and send curt but friendly replies to all those people who insist on nuking your inbox with a dozen jokes everyday. Such simple policies ensure that I don't receive more than 10 mails a day on both my accounts..
Slashdot Mirror
Dude, at least give credit where it's due. Thought I'd read that before! Googling turned up
Link 1
Link 2
Basically a copy-paste job.
I have been going over this entire discussion, and one thing seems to irk me. How is it that so many of you end up with drive failures? Let me elucidate...
I live in New Delhi, India. Anyone who has ever been to India knows how bloody hot it can get here. It is common for the ambient temperature to be around 40C during summers. Winters are much better, but then it is usually the heat that kills electronics, not the lack of it.
So.. my first computer was a 286. Complete with a a 20 GB hard drive, 1 MB RAM (out of which half was extended) etc. This computer lasted me about 7 years. Most of its life, it was kept in a poorly ventilated room which was air-conditioned, but had little else to keep the computer happy. Still it worked flawlessly till I finally convinced my dad to get me a new one.
Next computer was a Celeron 366, 64 MB RAM, 8 GB HDD etc. This computer had it even worse. Another thing about living in India is that you have to cope with LOTS of dust. Leave anything unattended, and it'll end up with a thin coat of dust within 48 hours. By the time this computer arrived, I was actively hacking hardware - pulling out and putting new stuff in. For convenience I never put the top of the case back on, and the computer was fully exposed to the elements. 'Elements', btw, also included direct sunlight a couple of hours a day. As you can probably gather, even that system worked fine for its entire life - about 4 years.
I love my current system. About 2 years old, its a Athlon 900 MHz, GeForce2 MX-400, 384 MB RAM, 80 GB Maxtor + 40 GB Seagate Barracuda ATAIV. Not the latest and the greatest, but it serves my needs rather well. This computer is kept in my room that doesn't have an AC (I'm super sensitive to them). In the last 6 months, the max temp has often gone above 45C. My CPU would usually run at around 60C, with its stock heatsink and fan. The two hard drives are stacked one on top of the other because of lack of space in the cabinet, so they keep each other quite warm as well. This system is never switched off, and serves as a gateway for another computer in the house as well. That is an Ahtlon XP 1700. Want to guess that CPU's usual running temperature? Around 70C. Has a Samsung 40 GB HDD, which has worked flawlessly for about 6 months now.
If you've gotten so far, I'm sure you've got my point. How is it that you people living in clean cities with temperate weather manage to end up with FUBAR'd components? A few days back I pulled off my Athlon's heatsink, and you wouldn't believe the amount of crud that came off it. Must've been blocking a lot of air flow.
All that said, I must admit I've been thinking of RAIDing my drives as well. I have quite a lot of data on these drives that I don't want to lose, and I'm afraid my lack of bad experiences is making me callous. I write reviews for a magazine in India called PCQuest, and have personally seen three IBM DeskStars die while I was working with them. Would hate it if something like that happened to my desktop.
Ok thats it. Mindless rambling mode - off.
DVD originally stood for Digital Versatile Disc.
Actually, DVD's do stand for Digital Versatile Disc. They were previously known as Digital Video Disc. Someone apparently later realised that they can be used for lots of other things as well.
Uh guys.. I hope you all realise that my post above was supposed to be funny. Both the posters are funny.
That is why they call XBox a 'little something'. Its funny; Laugh.
Ok, I am shamelessly ripping this of Anandtech's two pictures (on page 10 of the article). They are of posters that are apparently up in the CEO's cabin. Interesting to know that the CEO works in a cubicle just like everyone else, btw.
Top 10 reasons why investors love nvidia
10. Jensen's calm, diplomatic and balanced assessment of the competitive landscape.
9. A little something called XBox.
8. Jensen's refusal to bring more than one suit on roadshows inspires investor confidence in management decision-making.
7. Ability to execute is matched only by ability to generate lawsuits.
6. Entrepreneurial spirit of nvidia employees demonstrated by options purchases before public XBox announcement.
5. Vertical integration really was a no brainer.
4. No other roadshow team brings along a complete computer for investors to play with.
3. There's nobody else left in graphics.
2. Still on track to be the fastest company to $1 billion in revenue.
1. nvidia rocks!
Top Ten Reasons To Invest In NVIDIA
10. 3D graphics is hot!
9. The cool demo was a blowout in Europe.
8. More lawsuits than profitable quarters.
7. With a year long process, plenty of time for investors to review S-1.
6. Stable and dependable customers like STB and Diamond.
5. "Q2 only made us stronger"
4. Endorsement of credible shareholders like 3Dfx.
(Can't make out number 3. There is a chair arm in front of it)
2. H&Q's four different analysts talked me into it.
1. After making a killing in Trident, S3, Cirrus, 3D Labs, and 3Dfx, this is a no brainer.
Heh heh.. this is bloody hilarious. Jensen Huang, just by the way, is the CEO and President of NVIDIA.
The 8cpu, 64Gb system has been installed at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center for benchmarking and other testing
2847 in Content Creation Winstone.
3000 in Business Winstone.
Ok, pack it up. Next!
You can set up a book mark that takes a parameter and has a shortcut keyword. So now when I type "g keyword" into the urlbar it searches Google for my keyword. Browsing will never be the same :-).
:)
Since I have never used Mozilla myself (always stuck to Konqueror on Linux) I don't know how old this feature is. But I'd like everyone to know that the very same feature has been present in Opera for a long time. You type in 'g' followed by any string in the URL, and it searches google for the string.
Basically, browsing has never been the same!
what kind of heat problemsdoes one deal with when making a mini-turban?
For a sec there, I was wondering why one would want a confidential DVD..
Ah well..
There are lots of horrible pieces of software in the Windows world: spyware like the stuff that comes with BearShare and Morpheus.....
What is this spyware you speak of in Morpheus? I ask a honest question, because Morpheus quite prominantly displays a "no spyware" image when you press on its start button.
You can, of course, hunt down the view/folder options/file types dialog and then manually change each extension back to some other app install on your system.
May I suggest a better way of doing the same? Say some rogue app steals some file extension of yours. Instead of going thru folder options et al, just press Shift and right-click on the filename. Windows will give you a 'open with' option. Check the box saying "always use this program to open this file", and select the application from the list that you want to handle the given file extension. The next time you double click on a file with that extension, Windows will fire up the app you selected instead of whatever crap was handling those files before.
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.
The Taliban has said that they will declare a Jihad* against the West if attacked. That mean that they've declared a war on YOU.
Pardon me for nitpicking, but it really bothers me how "you" is so easily assumed to mean Americans on Slashdot. Newsflash people: Not everybody on the Internet is an American!!!. Is it really that difficult to alter your statement ever so slightly so that you refer to your country's population explicitly?? It would save people like me who aren't blessed enough to belong to your country from great heartache.
Secondly, Does any one of you have any evidence linking Osama/Taliban directly with the WTC attacks? I have been following the news pretty closely, and I don't see anything like that. No, I am not talking about circumstantial evidence. When you are sending in cruise missiles on a country, I think the public deserves to know better than that. Sure it is very convenient to say "we can't compromise our sources by divulging such information", but then what happens to accountability?? India has enough evidence of Pakistan's support to militants in Kashmir (which claims thousands of lives every year btw), but I don't think any country on this planet will support India if it decides to go on an all-out strike against them.
If the US is going to insist on playing Big Brother everytime and everywhere, it is going to face a backlash. Period.
STOP DOWNLOADING THE FRICKIN VIDEOS FOR GODS SAKE!!
/. effect just sucks.
Christ, the
Is to first of all keep two e-mail addresses. One for work, and one for personal use. Since both of these are on POP3 servers (as undoubtedly most /.er's accounts will be), I have the option of downloading the mail wherever and whenever I want. While this might not sound much like a solution, let me elucidate.
At my workplace, KMail is configured to download mail from both these accounts, but delete only my work e-mail from the server. At home, Eudora again checks both these accounts, but deletes only my personal mail. This gives me a lot of flexibility in how I go through my daily quota of e-mail. Whenever I find some free time at work or at home, I go through the other account's mail and manage as much of it as I can. If anything gets left over, it is simply taken care of at the other location.
Of course, the best solution, IMO, is to simply not subscribe to the dozens of lists that people usually do, and send curt but friendly replies to all those people who insist on nuking your inbox with a dozen jokes everyday. Such simple policies ensure that I don't receive more than 10 mails a day on both my accounts..