I was told by a professional projectionist that the resolution was actually something like 1310 pixels wide. In any case, it is certainly less than the 1900 or so pixels wide that is HDTV. 5000 pixels sounds more like what you would need to match 35mm film resolution.
By the way, you don't need to use square pixels. So you could easily stretch 1280x1024 to a 2.51:1 ratio cinema screen. Also, the advantage for digital projection is you get zero "frame jitter" (i.e., the film image bouncing up and down on the screen becuase of mechanical resonances).
Overrated? Do people rate it enough for it to be considered overrated?
The film is interesting because it is a very "heady" sci-film. It is a film in which takes place far into the future and in futuristic settings, but portrays its characters as being conventional humans. There were no special effects at all used in the making of the film. But it still captures all of the confusion and complexity associated with sci-fi.
The only other film I can think of right now with a similar feel is Jean-Luc Godard's "Alphaville". Wait, that's not true, there is also David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ", another excellent heady sci-fi film.
That's not really the point either. The kit doesn't require you to use Linux. The boot disc they provide will execute any code that is stored on the memory card. It should even be relatively easy to set up a PC or another device as a "memory card emulator", so you could load program data onto the memory card and have the boot disc execute that program instead of a Linux kernel.
Linux is useful in that it provides a lot of features such as memory allocation, multiple processes/threads, networking, filesystem access, interprocess communication, etc. And there are also thousands of free programs for Linux that you can recompile to run on any Linux system.
But, of course, you don't have to use it if you don't want to. You can always reinvent the wheel if you want it to be a different shape.
...on that page actually wasn't part of the article. It was a comment by "mrbrown".
One of the most surprising features about the kit is how the Linux kernel is loaded into RAM and executed: the kernel ELF file (a common executable format that's also used on the PS2) is stored to the memory card, and the PS2/Linux bootloader loads it into RAM and executes it. However Sony allows you to place _any_ ELF executable on the memory card to be loaded. This means that any native PS2 program, even those written by PS2DEV enthusiasts, can be loaded without a swap trick or modchip. This is how the NetBSD and eCos teams were able to port their respective operating systems to the PS2.
Because of this, the number of uses for the kit are actually limitless as long as the boot CD doesn't put the PS2 into some "limited" mode. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
How about TiVo. TiVo is a great example of a "black box" application for Linux. They release their kernel changes. Their application(s) stay proprietary. TiVo gets to use Linux. The Linux community gets the changes/bug fixes. The world gets a cool innovative product.
The licencing fees are a big selling point. You have a $400 (retail) product. It can't cost you more than $150 to build (in large quantities). A $10 per unit WinCE or VxWorks licence (plus development costs) is a considerable amount to spend on a product at that price point.
Practically every one of those "internet DSL/cable modem router gateway" boxes is running some version of BSD. They wouldn't be able to sell those things for $100 if they had to pay $10 per box for VxWorks or WinCE. And BSD doesn't force you to give out the source code to your changes like the GPL does, so it's an even easier sell.
Developers also love Linux since all the operating system interfaces are the same whether you're running on a dual-1GHz desktop workstation with 512MB of ram or a 70 MHz embedded processor with 8MB ram, some boot rom and no disk. The point is that you can develop all your applications on a desktop machine. Then with a minimum amount of work (ideally), you can cross-compile them and get them running on another device.
An application running under the Linux operating system isn't considered a "derivative work" under the GPL. So you can still make a custom kernel for your device and force the Linux kernel boot your custom application (by passing init=/bin/myapp or similar). The only thing you need release is the kernel changes.
It is interesting that you mention Sony. Sony is actually releasing a hardware and software kit for running Linux on the Playstation 2. Sony's development kit licenced to official Playstation 2 developers also is reported to have been a Linux-based system. If I recall correctly, it was an x86 based Linux system with a cross-compiler and a modified PS2 hardware to run applications.
Even better, sell other people's software, like what EA and Activision do. Activision was on the verge of bankruptcy back in the days of Mechwarrior 2 and Pitfall: the Mayan Adventure. The games they made either took too long and cost too much money to develop (MW2) or sucked (Pitfall). They realized that their strength was in their brand name. And if they couldn't make software, they could still use their brand name as a publisher to sell other people's software.
Microsoft has been wanting to get into the game publishing for a long time. But I think they hate the idea of paying licencing fees to Sony or Nintendo to release games on their platform. That's one of the reasons why they made the XBox, I think.
In driver's ed you don't learn to build a car, you learn to drive it. Likewise, in junior high/high school computer class you learn to operate a computer, not program it.
This is a bad analogy. The user interface to automobiles hasn't changed much in the last 70 years. Computer user interfaces have changed dramatically in the last 10.
Schools should teach kids history, how to read and write, how to do mathematics, and how to type. Those are the core things that schools need to teach people. The other things that schools teach are "societal requirements", things like health class, PE, Local National History and Government, et cetera. Added on to this category should be computer familiarization. Kids shouldn't be afraid of computers, or of any machine.
That's great. Except no one should have adopted it without a specification. And no one did adopt it, except for personal use. No corporations adopted it for use in commercial hardware products.
My prediction is that either Ogg Vorbis will "go away" since no one will be able to use it with a portable device, or Xiph will release a specification and the world will discover that their techniques are in fact infringing on Fraunhofer's patents.
Ogg Vorbis is NOT an open standard. There is no standards document for Ogg Vorbis bitstreams beyond the framing layer. The only "standard" is the Xiph source code, which is hardly readable and is controlled by Xiph. At least with MPEG you can buy the standards documents and independantly implement your own compatible code. With Ogg Vorbis, you have to emulate their code, bug for bug.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I betcha it's the only laptop you can buy with Unix not only factory-installed, but as the primary OS.
You're wrong. Tadpole Technology makes portable SPARC servers and laptop SPARC workstations. They have horrible battery life and they cost a fortune, but they're the only way to natively run Solaris/SPARC binary (proprietary) applications on a laptop computer. The new Tadpole laptops cost something like $20,000 or more, just for reference. You won't be buying one of them unless you really need it for something really specific.
They come preinstalled with some version of Solaris. The other OS's you could run on them would be either Linux or NetBSD. But you wouldn't buy one for that. You'd buy one to run binary only Solaris applications that only run on the SPARC version of Solaris and not Solaris x86.
The reason Vivendi/Blizzard is trying to shut down Bnetd is because Blizzard has been planning on charging fees for using Battle.net. They can't have a free alternative available, or no one will pay for a Battle.net subscription.
By saying that the emulator, Bnetd, is using stolen source code, Blizzard will try to get them shut down for distributing copyrighted material. However, for material to be copyrighted, doesn't it have to be published? If it is a legitimately reverse engineered trade secret, and not a copyrighted work, then Bnetd should be in the clear. Surely Blizzard realizes this and is hoping that the Bnetd will crumble under the costs of defending themselves in court.
It is also my theory that God's Love approaches zero asympotically as velocity of the soul approaches the Speed of Light c. The reasoning for this is that there's nothing like the Light that God provides the Universe. And if there were (such as a soul travelling at a velocity approaching c), then he wouldn't be too pleased about it. See Genesis and Exodus for examples of God's Anger.
Since God is omnipotent and not bound by the laws of physics, that answer is L
Omnipotence doesn't affect anything. God loves rapidly moving humans less, because they die more often (e.g., plane crashes, car crashes, falling out of buildings, et cetera). How much less? Unfortunately, I can't tell you because I'm not a theophysicist.
Trying to find something in a store is a pain in the ass. And for something digital, there's no reason it should be. I drove to 4 different stores to find a copy of Grand Theft Auto 3 for Playstation 2. If I could have downloaded it, I would have. Forget the money part, it's just more convenient.
Then there's the fact that games, movies and music should be cheaper once you cut out the plastic disc duplicators, booklet printing machines, plastic jewel cases, retail markup, and distributor markup. I really think it's those people who are opposed to digital distribution more than the actual "content producers".
However, the piracy of Windows and Microsoft software has definately contributed to their dominance of the computer industry. If they made their products more difficult to pirate, the pirates (probably a good 50% of home/hobbyist users) would look for an alternative.
It's just like if you're planning on filing a lawsuit against someone. You go after the people with money.
Popular "mass market" cars are often stolen because the parts are easy to get rid of. There are millions of people with cars that can use the parts. There are also lots of unscrupulous people who will buy an engine or a transmission or wheels or seats from a stolen car, not caring that they are supporting auto thievery.
A rare car which is stolen would be of little use, since the only places that service those cars are specialty shops and dealers. Neither those businesses nor their customers would be inclined to get involved in illegal activity such as receiving stolen parts.
The only exception to this would be cars which are stolen "to order". Perhaps a mob boss wants a new Bentley, but doesn't want to go to a dealer and buy it. He could hire someone to steal it for him and then pay him in dirty unlaundered money. He would of course need his own mechanic who can repair the car for him, since he would be unable to take a stolen car to a dealer for service. So this scenario isn't very likely.
Cars aren't stolen randomly, they are stolen for a profit. The only cases of random car theft would be for joyrides, and because of the risk involved for no financial gain, most criminals wouldn't be inclined to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, but does it project onto a 50 foot screen?
By the way, it's really easy to see the individual pixels when they're projected onto something that big. Each pixel is almost 1 square inch.
I was told by a professional projectionist that the resolution was actually something like 1310 pixels wide. In any case, it is certainly less than the 1900 or so pixels wide that is HDTV. 5000 pixels sounds more like what you would need to match 35mm film resolution.
By the way, you don't need to use square pixels. So you could easily stretch 1280x1024 to a 2.51:1 ratio cinema screen. Also, the advantage for digital projection is you get zero "frame jitter" (i.e., the film image bouncing up and down on the screen becuase of mechanical resonances).
The film is interesting because it is a very "heady" sci-film. It is a film in which takes place far into the future and in futuristic settings, but portrays its characters as being conventional humans. There were no special effects at all used in the making of the film. But it still captures all of the confusion and complexity associated with sci-fi.
The only other film I can think of right now with a similar feel is Jean-Luc Godard's "Alphaville". Wait, that's not true, there is also David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ", another excellent heady sci-fi film.
I still don't understand the appeal of a universe where a queen is elected, but a senator is appointed.
Okay, I have been corrected. Someone mod my other post down for being wrong.
That's not really the point either. The kit doesn't require you to use Linux. The boot disc they provide will execute any code that is stored on the memory card. It should even be relatively easy to set up a PC or another device as a "memory card emulator", so you could load program data onto the memory card and have the boot disc execute that program instead of a Linux kernel.
Linux is useful in that it provides a lot of features such as memory allocation, multiple processes/threads, networking, filesystem access, interprocess communication, etc. And there are also thousands of free programs for Linux that you can recompile to run on any Linux system.
But, of course, you don't have to use it if you don't want to. You can always reinvent the wheel if you want it to be a different shape.
There was no PS/2 model 56. There was a Model 50 and a Model 60, but no Model 56.
Because of this, the number of uses for the kit are actually limitless as long as the boot CD doesn't put the PS2 into some "limited" mode. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
How about TiVo. TiVo is a great example of a "black box" application for Linux. They release their kernel changes. Their application(s) stay proprietary. TiVo gets to use Linux. The Linux community gets the changes/bug fixes. The world gets a cool innovative product.
The licencing fees are a big selling point. You have a $400 (retail) product. It can't cost you more than $150 to build (in large quantities). A $10 per unit WinCE or VxWorks licence (plus development costs) is a considerable amount to spend on a product at that price point.
Practically every one of those "internet DSL/cable modem router gateway" boxes is running some version of BSD. They wouldn't be able to sell those things for $100 if they had to pay $10 per box for VxWorks or WinCE. And BSD doesn't force you to give out the source code to your changes like the GPL does, so it's an even easier sell.
Developers also love Linux since all the operating system interfaces are the same whether you're running on a dual-1GHz desktop workstation with 512MB of ram or a 70 MHz embedded processor with 8MB ram, some boot rom and no disk. The point is that you can develop all your applications on a desktop machine. Then with a minimum amount of work (ideally), you can cross-compile them and get them running on another device.
Why am I bothering to type all of this?
An application running under the Linux operating system isn't considered a "derivative work" under the GPL. So you can still make a custom kernel for your device and force the Linux kernel boot your custom application (by passing init=/bin/myapp or similar). The only thing you need release is the kernel changes.
It is interesting that you mention Sony. Sony is actually releasing a hardware and software kit for running Linux on the Playstation 2.
Sony's development kit licenced to official Playstation 2 developers also is reported to have been a Linux-based system. If I recall correctly, it was an x86 based Linux system with a cross-compiler and a modified PS2 hardware to run applications.
http://playstation2-linux.com/
The influence affects not only what the politicians do, but who the politicians are. We still vote, but the system decides who the candidates are.
Cryptnotic
Even better, sell other people's software, like what EA and Activision do. Activision was on the verge of bankruptcy back in the days of Mechwarrior 2 and Pitfall: the Mayan Adventure. The games they made either took too long and cost too much money to develop (MW2) or sucked (Pitfall). They realized that their strength was in their brand name. And if they couldn't make software, they could still use their brand name as a publisher to sell other people's software.
Microsoft has been wanting to get into the game publishing for a long time. But I think they hate the idea of paying licencing fees to Sony or Nintendo to release games on their platform. That's one of the reasons why they made the XBox, I think.
Cryptnotic
It's not your job to enforce the law, so don't.
This is a bad analogy. The user interface to automobiles hasn't changed much in the last 70 years. Computer user interfaces have changed dramatically in the last 10.
Schools should teach kids history, how to read and write, how to do mathematics, and how to type. Those are the core things that schools need to teach people. The other things that schools teach are "societal requirements", things like health class, PE, Local National History and Government, et cetera. Added on to this category should be computer familiarization. Kids shouldn't be afraid of computers, or of any machine.
That's great. Except no one should have adopted it without a specification. And no one did adopt it, except for personal use. No corporations adopted it for use in commercial hardware products.
My prediction is that either Ogg Vorbis will "go away" since no one will be able to use it with a portable device, or Xiph will release a specification and the world will discover that their techniques are in fact infringing on Fraunhofer's patents.
Ogg Vorbis is NOT an open standard. There is no standards document for Ogg Vorbis bitstreams beyond the framing layer. The only "standard" is the Xiph source code, which is hardly readable and is controlled by Xiph. At least with MPEG you can buy the standards documents and independantly implement your own compatible code. With Ogg Vorbis, you have to emulate their code, bug for bug.
x86 is only x86 because it was shorter than writing 8086/80286/80386/80486/...
You're wrong. Tadpole Technology makes portable SPARC servers and laptop SPARC workstations. They have horrible battery life and they cost a fortune, but they're the only way to natively run Solaris/SPARC binary (proprietary) applications on a laptop computer. The new Tadpole laptops cost something like $20,000 or more, just for reference. You won't be buying one of them unless you really need it for something really specific.
They come preinstalled with some version of Solaris. The other OS's you could run on them would be either Linux or NetBSD. But you wouldn't buy one for that. You'd buy one to run binary only Solaris applications that only run on the SPARC version of Solaris and not Solaris x86.
Cryptnotic
By saying that the emulator, Bnetd, is using stolen source code, Blizzard will try to get them shut down for distributing copyrighted material. However, for material to be copyrighted, doesn't it have to be published? If it is a legitimately reverse engineered trade secret, and not a copyrighted work, then Bnetd should be in the clear. Surely Blizzard realizes this and is hoping that the Bnetd will crumble under the costs of defending themselves in court.
Cryptnotic
Omnipotence doesn't affect anything. God loves rapidly moving humans less, because they die more often (e.g., plane crashes, car crashes, falling out of buildings, et cetera). How much less? Unfortunately, I can't tell you because I'm not a theophysicist.
Trying to find something in a store is a pain in the ass. And for something digital, there's no reason it should be. I drove to 4 different stores to find a copy of Grand Theft Auto 3 for Playstation 2. If I could have downloaded it, I would have. Forget the money part, it's just more convenient.
Then there's the fact that games, movies and music should be cheaper once you cut out the plastic disc duplicators, booklet printing machines, plastic jewel cases, retail markup, and distributor markup. I really think it's those people who are opposed to digital distribution more than the actual "content producers".
However, the piracy of Windows and Microsoft software has definately contributed to their dominance of the computer industry. If they made their products more difficult to pirate, the pirates (probably a good 50% of home/hobbyist users) would look for an alternative.
It's just like if you're planning on filing a lawsuit against someone. You go after the people with money.
Cryptnotic
Popular "mass market" cars are often stolen because the parts are easy to get rid of. There are millions of people with cars that can use the parts. There are also lots of unscrupulous people who will buy an engine or a transmission or wheels or seats from a stolen car, not caring that they are supporting auto thievery.
A rare car which is stolen would be of little use, since the only places that service those cars are specialty shops and dealers. Neither those businesses nor their customers would be inclined to get involved in illegal activity such as receiving stolen parts.
The only exception to this would be cars which are stolen "to order". Perhaps a mob boss wants a new Bentley, but doesn't want to go to a dealer and buy it. He could hire someone to steal it for him and then pay him in dirty unlaundered money. He would of course need his own mechanic who can repair the car for him, since he would be unable to take a stolen car to a dealer for service. So this scenario isn't very likely.
Cars aren't stolen randomly, they are stolen for a profit. The only cases of random car theft would be for joyrides, and because of the risk involved for no financial gain, most criminals wouldn't be inclined to do it.
Cryptnotic