Check again. I believe that all PCjrs came with a keyboard that could either use batteries with IR or a cable. Most people used the cable, since it meant not having to buy batteries.
As I understand it, traditional systems use a clock signal to let each stage of the pipeline know when the previous stage has completed. Each stage is designed to have few enough transisters that a signal has to pass through to guarantee that it will be done by the time the next clock signal arrives. Clockless systems instead design the processor such that at each step in the processing, the difference between a partial result and a completed result is self-evident. This requires more work, both in the design of the processor and in terms of transisters, but at the benefit of eliminating the clock (and many associated transisters) and any waiting between when the processor has completed a step and when the clock signal arrives.
Since dealing with the clock signal has become increasingly complex, instead dealing with not having one is becoming a more reasonable solution.
If you have a cable modem or DSL, then TCP/IP is all you need, but if you're using a modem, then you need to deal with PPP, and if your ISP uses something non-standard, then you either have to be able to deal with it, or switch ISPs.
While most people here probably don't use AOL, this is probably the most important change. Sure, they upped the encryption to 128-bit, increased the number of client computers it will support, and added a LAN ethernet port, but what really makes this a big deal is that it is the first time I've heard of a home router product supporting AOL. It's not too shocking to have one that will handle standard PPP connections, but to have it handle AOL's proprietary protocol is very noteworthy.
This was probably done with AOL's support; Apple wouldn't want to risk problems with AOL tweaking its protocol to block AirPorts. So what sort of terms were involved in the deal? Did AOL do it in their own interest (it seems to me that they benefit), or did Apple pay them (they also benefit)?
For most consumer and single-user environments, IDE is plenty fast enough. Even in the small server market, IDE is adequate. In the high-end server market, people are moving away from SCSI in favor of Fibre Channel.
IDE is squeezing SCSI out of the low end, while Firbre Channel is doing the same to SCSI in the high end. SCSI won't be around as a serious disk option for much longer, I suspect.
(Not to mention that USB has killed SCSI for things like scanners.)
Of course, there is still FreeDOS. If I were distributing a BIOS upgrade, I would distribute a bootable disk image using FreeDOS. Then there are no licensing issues to work out with Microsoft, and you don't have to worry about what OS people are running.
VNC does not limit you to one connection at a time. Of course, in most applications, having two people at different computers moving the same mouse and typing into the same window doesn't do much good.
I'm still waiting for the option to recalculate the point value for articles based on my own preferences. I want funny to count as +0.
Add sub-categories to main page
on
Slash 2.2.0 Released
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I want to be able to set my preferences to include stories that only appear in certain sub-categories (Science and Ask Slashdot) on the main page as if they were full-fledged main stories.
It may at first seem odd that a chipset company would buy a processor company. But if you keep in mind that Transmeta is more than just a processor company, it does make sense. On thing that Transmeta has been doing besides producing extremely low-power chips is integrating motherboard chipset functionallity into their processors. Transmeta has a lot of experience with the same issues that Via deals with. In fact, if Transmeta stays independent and gets enough funding, I wouldn't be surprised if they went into the chipset market themselves.
Is this really any different from the other mangling of the shows that networks have been doing? They've been talking over the credits for years, often totally destroying the tone set by a dramatic ending. More recently, they've squished the credits to the side, making them impossible to read, so they can show ads for upcoming shows. Personally, I would just as soon they not bother showing the credits; I suspect the only reasons they do are that one, they are required by contract to do so, and two they then don't have to count the time as advertising.
This mangling the programming attitude has been taken much further by CNN and copied by its clones. First, they put financial tickers on. Then sports tickers. Now news tickers, even during live coverage of a major Presidential speach. Headline News is virtually unwatchable--it's like watching RealPlayer in the corner of a web page--ick.
What is needed is a broad-based opposition to program mangling, be it logos, tickers, credits, or whatnot.
The problem from the TV station's perspective is that you really do need to be reminded that you're watching their network. With many cable and satellite systems having over a hundred channels, they're afraid of getting lost in the mix. If you watch and enjoy one show that they air, they want you to think of them the next time you channel surf to find something else to watch.
Personally, I think that it's all a bunch of bunk. They may get a few more viewers here and there, but nothing that would be statistically relevant in the ratings.
Now what would be really cool is to get my ReplayTV to detect the "bugs" and digitally remove them. (If you think they're annoyed with the current round of lawsuits...) Of course, there are technical problems in that the bugs actually remove information--you could mostly compensate on the transluctent ones, but even then not entirely.
It is a half solution. I have ReplayTV and a DCT2xxx box. I have never even looked to see what the DCT program listings look like. If you have ReplayTV or TiVo, you won't care about the DCT's display, so it does solve the channel guide issue.
Now there are other issues. The serial port on the DCT box should be enabled so as to allow external devices to send channel change commands instead of using the less-than-100%-reliable IR cable that is connected to my ReplayTV.
It would be nice to eliminate the pop-up that says what channel you're watching and what's on every time you change channels. You can cut it down to two seconds from the default five, but it is still annoying having that at the start of each show on my hard drive. I've thought about taking apart the DCT, finding the flash chip, downloading the contents, then changing the pop-up time, repeating the process, and then comparing the difference so as to set the time to zero.
As a member of the SCA, I always have plenty of medieval clothing to wear. I admit that I'm being a bit lame--it's much like a Civil War re-enactor dressing up as an Confederate soldier; it's a great outfit, but it's not something I had to go out of my way to get ahold of.
Netscape advantages over Mozilla?
on
Netscape 6.2
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Everyone keeps pointing out that you're better off downloading the latest Mozilla instead. And while I tend to agree (I'm using the latest nightly build right now), my understanding is that the Netscape release adds in commercial features that aren't in Mozilla.
Does anyone care to comment on what features Netscape 6.2 offers that aren't in Mozilla?
I don't particularly need to have it read to me, but it is fun. Of course, one detail that I didn't mention is that most of the reading occurs when we're in the car, and while I do live in Massachusetts, I still don't think it would be appropriate to read it myself while driving.
And while I don't have footy pajamas, I do have gorilla slippers.:)
My wife has been reading the Harry Potter series out loud to me. She really should do books on tape--she does all the different voices. Anyway, while the books are written at a level that makes them accessible to kids, the stories certainly hold interest for adults.
The Harry Potter books are the story of a kid growing up, a series of mystery-adventure stories, and a story of fantasy magic.
Well, it isn't really news, but this is a clear sign of what audience the movie is targeted at. These are both children's movies. Sure, as far as children's movies go, they have a lot of adult interest; that's what usually makes for a successful children's movie.
Now if they were targeting a more adult crowd, they would be trying to connect to Lord of the Rings.
Of course, it may just be a matter of what big movies are coming out at the right time.
What exactly indicates that it was made by EMC? Could it be that you are seeing a corporate inventory sticker indicating that it was owned by EMC? I'm particularly curious about this, as I work at EMC in Hopkinton, MA.
FYI, you get 764 results on Google with "TV Elite," mostly people selling the product, such as: http://www.cfriends.com/tvelite.html. If you search on "TV Elite" and "EMC," you don't get anything.
It is important to note that this is really about fiber, not fibre. So it really is about optics, not the fibre channel storage interface.
For reference, fibre channel is a high end storage interconnect which is replacing SCSI in corporate data centers. While fibre channel was designed with optical transport in mind, it also runs over copper. While I would not be surprised to hear about high-end server motherboards with fibre channel on the motherboard (instead of IDE or SCSI), that would be a far less interesting story than having actual optical transmission on the motherboard.
Are there any charities out there that are in the business of accepting donated computer equipment, refurbishing it, and then re-donating them to schools (and selling them to cover expenses)?
Slashdot Mirror
Check again. I believe that all PCjrs came with a keyboard that could either use batteries with IR or a cable. Most people used the cable, since it meant not having to buy batteries.
As I understand it, traditional systems use a clock signal to let each stage of the pipeline know when the previous stage has completed. Each stage is designed to have few enough transisters that a signal has to pass through to guarantee that it will be done by the time the next clock signal arrives. Clockless systems instead design the processor such that at each step in the processing, the difference between a partial result and a completed result is self-evident. This requires more work, both in the design of the processor and in terms of transisters, but at the benefit of eliminating the clock (and many associated transisters) and any waiting between when the processor has completed a step and when the clock signal arrives.
Since dealing with the clock signal has become increasingly complex, instead dealing with not having one is becoming a more reasonable solution.
If you have a cable modem or DSL, then TCP/IP is all you need, but if you're using a modem, then you need to deal with PPP, and if your ISP uses something non-standard, then you either have to be able to deal with it, or switch ISPs.
While most people here probably don't use AOL, this is probably the most important change. Sure, they upped the encryption to 128-bit, increased the number of client computers it will support, and added a LAN ethernet port, but what really makes this a big deal is that it is the first time I've heard of a home router product supporting AOL. It's not too shocking to have one that will handle standard PPP connections, but to have it handle AOL's proprietary protocol is very noteworthy.
This was probably done with AOL's support; Apple wouldn't want to risk problems with AOL tweaking its protocol to block AirPorts. So what sort of terms were involved in the deal? Did AOL do it in their own interest (it seems to me that they benefit), or did Apple pay them (they also benefit)?
SCSI is dead.
For most consumer and single-user environments, IDE is plenty fast enough. Even in the small server market, IDE is adequate. In the high-end server market, people are moving away from SCSI in favor of Fibre Channel.
IDE is squeezing SCSI out of the low end, while Firbre Channel is doing the same to SCSI in the high end. SCSI won't be around as a serious disk option for much longer, I suspect.
(Not to mention that USB has killed SCSI for things like scanners.)
A former coworker of mine is involved with a new company that is doing just this. Essentially, it's a mail filtering/forwarding system.
Not surprisingly, they're at www.monstermail.com.
Of course, there is still FreeDOS. If I were distributing a BIOS upgrade, I would distribute a bootable disk image using FreeDOS. Then there are no licensing issues to work out with Microsoft, and you don't have to worry about what OS people are running.
Oh, and don't forget about OpenDOS, the now-free version of Dr-DOS.
VNC does not limit you to one connection at a time. Of course, in most applications, having two people at different computers moving the same mouse and typing into the same window doesn't do much good.
This seems to be an issue with Mozilla. I was running build 2001110610 for Linux. It was apparently ignoring the check boxes when submitting the form.
That's a nasty bug.
I hope posting anonymously still works. We'll see real soon.
The option to not add +1 to your posts is broken. I've used it on another post, and it still came in as a score of 2 without moderation.
I'm still waiting for the option to recalculate the point value for articles based on my own preferences. I want funny to count as +0.
I want to be able to set my preferences to include stories that only appear in certain sub-categories (Science and Ask Slashdot) on the main page as if they were full-fledged main stories.
It may at first seem odd that a chipset company would buy a processor company. But if you keep in mind that Transmeta is more than just a processor company, it does make sense. On thing that Transmeta has been doing besides producing extremely low-power chips is integrating motherboard chipset functionallity into their processors. Transmeta has a lot of experience with the same issues that Via deals with. In fact, if Transmeta stays independent and gets enough funding, I wouldn't be surprised if they went into the chipset market themselves.
Is this really any different from the other mangling of the shows that networks have been doing? They've been talking over the credits for years, often totally destroying the tone set by a dramatic ending. More recently, they've squished the credits to the side, making them impossible to read, so they can show ads for upcoming shows. Personally, I would just as soon they not bother showing the credits; I suspect the only reasons they do are that one, they are required by contract to do so, and two they then don't have to count the time as advertising.
This mangling the programming attitude has been taken much further by CNN and copied by its clones. First, they put financial tickers on. Then sports tickers. Now news tickers, even during live coverage of a major Presidential speach. Headline News is virtually unwatchable--it's like watching RealPlayer in the corner of a web page--ick.
What is needed is a broad-based opposition to program mangling, be it logos, tickers, credits, or whatnot.
The problem from the TV station's perspective is that you really do need to be reminded that you're watching their network. With many cable and satellite systems having over a hundred channels, they're afraid of getting lost in the mix. If you watch and enjoy one show that they air, they want you to think of them the next time you channel surf to find something else to watch.
Personally, I think that it's all a bunch of bunk. They may get a few more viewers here and there, but nothing that would be statistically relevant in the ratings.
Now what would be really cool is to get my ReplayTV to detect the "bugs" and digitally remove them. (If you think they're annoyed with the current round of lawsuits...) Of course, there are technical problems in that the bugs actually remove information--you could mostly compensate on the transluctent ones, but even then not entirely.
It is a half solution. I have ReplayTV and a DCT2xxx box. I have never even looked to see what the DCT program listings look like. If you have ReplayTV or TiVo, you won't care about the DCT's display, so it does solve the channel guide issue.
Now there are other issues. The serial port on the DCT box should be enabled so as to allow external devices to send channel change commands instead of using the less-than-100%-reliable IR cable that is connected to my ReplayTV.
It would be nice to eliminate the pop-up that says what channel you're watching and what's on every time you change channels. You can cut it down to two seconds from the default five, but it is still annoying having that at the start of each show on my hard drive. I've thought about taking apart the DCT, finding the flash chip, downloading the contents, then changing the pop-up time, repeating the process, and then comparing the difference so as to set the time to zero.
As a member of the SCA, I always have plenty of medieval clothing to wear. I admit that I'm being a bit lame--it's much like a Civil War re-enactor dressing up as an Confederate soldier; it's a great outfit, but it's not something I had to go out of my way to get ahold of.
Everyone keeps pointing out that you're better off downloading the latest Mozilla instead. And while I tend to agree (I'm using the latest nightly build right now), my understanding is that the Netscape release adds in commercial features that aren't in Mozilla.
Does anyone care to comment on what features Netscape 6.2 offers that aren't in Mozilla?
I don't particularly need to have it read to me, but it is fun. Of course, one detail that I didn't mention is that most of the reading occurs when we're in the car, and while I do live in Massachusetts, I still don't think it would be appropriate to read it myself while driving.
:)
And while I don't have footy pajamas, I do have gorilla slippers.
My wife has been reading the Harry Potter series out loud to me. She really should do books on tape--she does all the different voices. Anyway, while the books are written at a level that makes them accessible to kids, the stories certainly hold interest for adults.
The Harry Potter books are the story of a kid growing up, a series of mystery-adventure stories, and a story of fantasy magic.
Well, it isn't really news, but this is a clear sign of what audience the movie is targeted at. These are both children's movies. Sure, as far as children's movies go, they have a lot of adult interest; that's what usually makes for a successful children's movie.
Now if they were targeting a more adult crowd, they would be trying to connect to Lord of the Rings.
Of course, it may just be a matter of what big movies are coming out at the right time.
FYI, you get 764 results on Google with "TV Elite," mostly people selling the product, such as: http://www.cfriends.com/tvelite.html. If you search on "TV Elite" and "EMC," you don't get anything.
It is important to note that this is really about fiber, not fibre. So it really is about optics, not the fibre channel storage interface.
For reference, fibre channel is a high end storage interconnect which is replacing SCSI in corporate data centers. While fibre channel was designed with optical transport in mind, it also runs over copper. While I would not be surprised to hear about high-end server motherboards with fibre channel on the motherboard (instead of IDE or SCSI), that would be a far less interesting story than having actual optical transmission on the motherboard.
Cool.
Are there any charities out there that are in the business of accepting donated computer equipment, refurbishing it, and then re-donating them to schools (and selling them to cover expenses)?