Ah those old printers. I remeber I think I had a 2650 which took about 5 minute to print a page a letter quality. THe bumps of the back were a good replacement for brail
Problem is that once a company like HP sets a presidence like this others will think they can follow. These leave the cheaper refill type cartridges or 3rd party both of which invalidate your warranty. However TBH after 2 years you warranty will most likely of expiered anyway
I haven't tried it but I know that my main machine can boot from a CF Reader. I might try putting Linux on a CF see if I could boot the system off it. If that works might give Windows a try. Drop me a mail to rghf@65535.net and I will let you know how I get on:)
Possibly the area of greatest interest in the Computing world at present is the Small Form Factor (SFF) PC. They are perfect for a multitude of uses from a replacement for your main pc all the way to a Home Theater PC (HTPC). They have great flexibility due to their size, allowing many new designs to be considered. New to this market are Hush Technologies and they have approached the SFF with one thing in mind, total silence.
They have created a completely passively cooled MiniITX based PC which does away with most of the sources of noise in a normal system and encloses it in a beautifullooking aluminium case. Let's have a look at how good it is in the flesh.
What are the specifications of this PC?
* Via Epia-M 9000: Featuring a 933Mhz VIA C3 CPU
* 256MB of Crucial PC2100 DDR RAM
* 80Gb Seagate Barracuda Hard Disk
* TEAC DVD/CDRW Combo drive
* Morex 55w Power Supply (PSU)
* Dimensions: 37 x36 x 6cm (w,d,h)
* Case material: Aluminium * Form Factor: MiniITX
The specifications of the system are interesting, the inclusion of the TEAC combo drive is great and the large hard disk allows plenty of storage. I'd prefer 512MB of RAM but 256MB is adequate for the majority of its intended uses. The hard disc itself is renowned for its low noise. It's not totally silent but a lot better than many fixed disks out there. It sacrifices some performance for this but is generally no slouch. Hush provides plenty of options so you can specify the right system for your needs.
I think I should start this review by explaining just what MiniITX form factor motherboards are. The form factor was originally proposed by VIA to be an ultra small form factor, smaller than the FlexATX and MicroATX form factors that were the smallest at the time. The original MiniITX boards were feature rich boards with a CPU soldered onto the board. This was cheap to produce as there was no discrete packaging cost for the integrated processor.
The specifications of the MiniITX form factor state that the board may not be bigger than 170mm x 170mm. As you can see this is tiny when compared to the normal ATX standard.
VIA also aimed to have very low heat output from the MiniITX so it would be more suitable in systems like the Hush. Some of the VIA EPIA series models are passively cooled but unfortunately these are the less powerful models. The higher powered boards require a small heatsink with a 40mm fan and these fans can often be quite noisy so Hush set out to combine the faster EPIA models with a passive cooling system.
Thats an idea. Just wondered though it they have TV out as what I would like is to use the box as a DivX/MP3/Streaming box. Thats what I'm using my current box for.
Looking over the specs this would be really quite however apart from the hard disk/CD Rom access. As such me being a geek would like to see a versions that could boot over the network and run everything from Ram. OK prehaps its over kill but if you remove all the mechanical bits then your should have somethnig truly quite and very reliable.
I know for a fact that the Via MB are good. I bought one from Mini-ITX and have had it running solidly for about 2 months. No crashes. Nothing. Very Impressed
I live where I can't get broadband. The only delivery system I could have is satellite with an dialup back link. Now taking this it means that to get VOD I have to use up the bandwidth of the satallite which means that I will have to indirectly pay for it. Then it would cost me to watch it each time. Now taking Sky they charge about £4 a time for a PPV so I would expect similar for VOD
So if I only want to watch a film once if might be worth it. Twice maybe not. Also taking I would lose DB5.1, Extras, Out Takes and all those things that can make DVD cool. I think I know where I will stick
The way I read it is that they are using a free service legally. If I put an MP3 on I recoreded other people can download it without problem. Its only when they start downloading things they don't have copyright ownership on are they breaking the law
Insert CD Autoruns Type in ID number Wait.. Click Icon play Game
Under Linux
Insert CD Start Wine Load Binary Crashes Load Again Goes a bit further Move you mouse X11 Locks up Download lastest CVS version Rebuild Try Again Crashes Give up and do something else
Now I really like Linux. Honestly I do, but this is one of those times Windows just wins
Debian is all about stability. The main branch, Woody, had old packages but they are know to work. You don't get a lot of crashes, things just work. You will find debian people put a lot of work into configs and such like, make sure things interact with each other.
For example say I install a new Apache Modules there are scripts that will automatically update my httpd.conf rather than just writing over it. To get a Debian system up and running is quick and easy as 99% of the tweaking has been done.
Even though things are old they do make sure they are secure. If there is an exploit you can upgrade your system by just doing
apt-get update apt-get upgrade.
Thats it. Auto download and patch of affected programs
However there is also another unstable branch, Sarge IIRC, which has cutting edge stuff. Latest version of everything. However as implied by its name it could just get up and crash at any moment.
NetBSD can run on more platforms than you can shake a stick at. Also with the ability to run IRIX binaries as well gives it a bit more depth/reach. Just shows what portable code can do. Anyway time to boot my Dreamcast:)
I would love to be able to pantent something. Unfortunatly all my ideas such suck. I mean who would ever need things like a solar powered torch? No actually wait thats a good idea. Damn its already been done.
In a similar vain. In a previous life I worked as a helpdesk monkey and one day customer rang up and said they wanted to cancel. After doing the normal why thay said they wanted to leave as "They had surfed our internet and wanted to find another one".
It turns out that they had just been browsing of the ISP homepage and not realising they could just type in a URL into the address bar. Once show yahoo (which was the best search engine at the time) they went off happy.
Plain and simple spammers are scum. They steal, in terms of using open relay servers and other peoples bandwidth. The lie in that 99.9% of the things they sell don't work. They cheat in trying to hide information. Also taking the amount of spam I get can make it really hard to filter the good from the bad even with filtering each and every message
Slashdot Mirror
Ah those old printers. I remeber I think I had a 2650 which took about 5 minute to print a page a letter quality. THe bumps of the back were a good replacement for brail
Rus
Problem is that once a company like HP sets a presidence like this others will think they can follow. These leave the cheaper refill type cartridges or 3rd party both of which invalidate your warranty. However TBH after 2 years you warranty will most likely of expiered anyway
Rus
Looks like the site is back :)
Rus
I haven't tried it but I know that my main machine can boot from a CF Reader. I might try putting Linux on a CF see if I could boot the system off it. If that works might give Windows a try. Drop me a mail to rghf@65535.net and I will let you know how I get on :)
Rus
I was just talking to the guy who hosts http://www.hushtechnologies.co.uk/. He's looking worried as well :)
Rus
Managed to get this before the site disspeared
ntroduction
Possibly the area of greatest interest in the Computing world at present is the Small Form Factor (SFF) PC. They are perfect for a multitude of uses from a replacement for your main pc all the way to a Home Theater PC (HTPC). They have great flexibility due to their size, allowing many new designs to be considered. New to this market are Hush Technologies and they have approached the SFF with one thing in mind, total silence.
They have created a completely passively cooled MiniITX based PC which does away with most of the sources of noise in a normal system and encloses it in a beautifullooking aluminium case. Let's have a look at how good it is in the flesh.
What are the specifications of this PC?
* Via Epia-M 9000: Featuring a 933Mhz VIA C3 CPU
* 256MB of Crucial PC2100 DDR RAM
* 80Gb Seagate Barracuda Hard Disk
* TEAC DVD/CDRW Combo drive
* Morex 55w Power Supply (PSU)
* Dimensions: 37 x36 x 6cm (w,d,h)
* Case material: Aluminium
* Form Factor: MiniITX
The specifications of the system are interesting, the inclusion of the TEAC combo drive is great and the large hard disk allows plenty of storage. I'd prefer 512MB of RAM but 256MB is adequate for the majority of its intended uses. The hard disc itself is renowned for its low noise. It's not totally silent but a lot better than many fixed disks out there. It sacrifices some performance for this but is generally no slouch. Hush provides plenty of options so you can specify the right system for your needs.
I think I should start this review by explaining just what MiniITX form factor motherboards are. The form factor was originally proposed by VIA to be an ultra small form factor, smaller than the FlexATX and MicroATX form factors that were the smallest at the time. The original MiniITX boards were feature rich boards with a CPU soldered onto the board. This was cheap to produce as there was no discrete packaging cost for the integrated processor.
The specifications of the MiniITX form factor state that the board may not be bigger than 170mm x 170mm. As you can see this is tiny when compared to the normal ATX standard.
VIA also aimed to have very low heat output from the MiniITX so it would be more suitable in systems like the Hush. Some of the VIA EPIA series models are passively cooled but unfortunately these are the less powerful models. The higher powered boards require a small heatsink with a 40mm fan and these fans can often be quite noisy so Hush set out to combine the faster EPIA models with a passive cooling system.
Also worth saying that the VIA board can also do 5.1 but its either that or the video out. Nice boards though
Rus
Thats an idea. Just wondered though it they have TV out as what I would like is to use the box as a DivX/MP3/Streaming box. Thats what I'm using my current box for.
Rus
Looking over the specs this would be really quite however apart from the hard disk/CD Rom access. As such me being a geek would like to see a versions that could boot over the network and run everything from Ram. OK prehaps its over kill but if you remove all the mechanical bits then your should have somethnig truly quite and very reliable.
I know for a fact that the Via MB are good. I bought one from Mini-ITX and have had it running solidly for about 2 months. No crashes. Nothing. Very Impressed
Rus
Just because its not cutting edge doesn't mean that you can't get apps that won't do what you want
Rus
I live where I can't get broadband. The only delivery system I could have is satellite with an dialup back link. Now taking this it means that to get VOD I have to use up the bandwidth of the satallite which means that I will have to indirectly pay for it. Then it would cost me to watch it each time. Now taking Sky they charge about £4 a time for a PPV so I would expect similar for VOD
So if I only want to watch a film once if might be worth it. Twice maybe not. Also taking I would lose DB5.1, Extras, Out Takes and all those things that can make DVD cool. I think I know where I will stick
Rus
The way I read it is that they are using a free service legally. If I put an MP3 on I recoreded other people can download it without problem. Its only when they start downloading things they don't have copyright ownership on are they breaking the law
Rus
Well out of my webcam you can just see a quiet street. Oh you mean that sort of webcam? You got any URL's :P
Rus
One good thing is mailing list -> usenet converters. It means we get all the mailing lists + the power of google. Killer combination
Rus
I was actually trying for funny though it ain;t that funny I will admit
Rus
Under Windows
Insert CD
Autoruns
Type in ID number
Wait..
Click Icon
play Game
Under Linux
Insert CD
Start Wine
Load Binary
Crashes
Load Again
Goes a bit further
Move you mouse X11 Locks up
Download lastest CVS version
Rebuild
Try Again
Crashes
Give up and do something else
Now I really like Linux. Honestly I do, but this is one of those times Windows just wins
Rus
Debian is all about stability. The main branch, Woody, had old packages but they are know to work. You don't get a lot of crashes, things just work. You will find debian people put a lot of work into configs and such like, make sure things interact with each other.
For example say I install a new Apache Modules there are scripts that will automatically update my httpd.conf rather than just writing over it. To get a Debian system up and running is quick and easy as 99% of the tweaking has been done.
Even though things are old they do make sure they are secure. If there is an exploit you can upgrade your system by just doing
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade.
Thats it. Auto download and patch of affected programs
However there is also another unstable branch, Sarge IIRC, which has cutting edge stuff. Latest version of everything. However as implied by its name it could just get up and crash at any moment.
Hope that helps
Rus
NetBSD can run on more platforms than you can shake a stick at. Also with the ability to run IRIX binaries as well gives it a bit more depth/reach. Just shows what portable code can do. Anyway time to boot my Dreamcast :)
Rus
A section which I can waste more time on and go blind. No wait should this be pr0n.slashdot.org then :P
Rus
Its nice to see robotoics coming along and finally making good on all the sci-fi book
Rus
I would love to be able to pantent something. Unfortunatly all my ideas such suck. I mean who would ever need things like a solar powered torch? No actually wait thats a good idea. Damn its already been done.
rus
That is probably the most distubing thing I've read today. Good on ya :)
Rus
In a similar vain. In a previous life I worked as a helpdesk monkey and one day customer rang up and said they wanted to cancel. After doing the normal why thay said they wanted to leave as "They had surfed our internet and wanted to find another one".
It turns out that they had just been browsing of the ISP homepage and not realising they could just type in a URL into the address bar. Once show yahoo (which was the best search engine at the time) they went off happy.
Rus
Now I can dive bomb my missus out of bed when she refuses to get up in the morning? :)
Rus
Plain and simple spammers are scum. They steal, in terms of using open relay servers and other peoples bandwidth. The lie in that 99.9% of the things they sell don't work. They cheat in trying to hide information. Also taking the amount of spam I get can make it really hard to filter the good from the bad even with filtering each and every message
Rus