I second this. I used to teach and admin at a junior high school (12-16 year olds) and we taught everyone both Linux and Windows. It was great to be able to teach general computing concepts like word processing. We did use OpenOffice on all machines though.
Ogg Vorbis is a LOSSY format. It doesn't matter WHAT bitrate you encode at or what your variable bitrate range is. It is LOSSY meaning that it LOSES (sic). Vorbis is akin to the old wire recorders of the 60s that were the scourge of audiophiles like myself.
It's funny that people these days are interested in expanded audio capabilities like 5.1 channel systems, while accepting the reduced audio quality that comes with lossy compression. In a way, it seems that gimmicks are more desirable than quality, which is not really surprising.
As a technology trend, however, it is weird because technology tends to evolve by improvement. Lossy compression is a step backward from CD quality, no matter how small the perceived difference actually is.
Another way in which technology evolves backwards is DRM: the kind of technology that works against its own progress. It took so much effort to create a technological utopia where everyone could access any information freely -- and then the media industries are working hard with new technologies that effectively reverse this development.
Better equipment I'll grant you, but "more experienced ears"? What does that even mean? Unless you're fifteen years old, your hearing is only going to get worse, not better.
Even though hearing gets worse with age, you can learn to use your hearing better. When you listen to a song many many times, you learn to discern new details about it. This kind of musical ability also affects your way of listening to new music. It helps a lot if you play some music yourself.
For example, a lot of classical music is considered indecipherable if you're not familiar with classical music in general. But once you get into some classical music, it's easier to get into the rest of the genre. I'm sure the same applies to most other genres and artforms.
What support do FLAC and Ogg Vorbis have for surround?
Higher number of channels. IIRC, Vorbis has a limit of 256 channels and FLAC has 8. If you need more channels, you can multiplex several Vorbis/FLAC streams in a single Ogg container file.
IMHO, one great thing about these formats is that they don't assume too much. Today's consumer level surround means 5.1 but these formats don't get stuck on it, they just give you channels without assigning them to anything particular (like front, rear, subwoofer). Therefore they can be used for future formats as well.
For a similar reason I encode everything to FLAC these days. It doesn't assume anything about psychoacoustics, which is different for each individual listener. Plus I'll probably have much better equipment and more experienced ears in the future.
The tool speaks of out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming, "clear thought", and even more, so this would be like a free software solution of some nifty drug if true, but I kind of doubt it works to 100% for everyone.:-p
I don't know about the other examples, but in my opinion there's nothing mystical about lucid dreaming. It's simply the kind of dream where you know you're dreaming. I'm sure some people can point out some mystical ideas related to lucid dreaming, but they are not part of the basic definition.
In order to run a mobile Pentium you have to aggressively control its frequency. Otherwise it will fry itself.
I call bollocks. There's no point in designing a system that cannot run at its maximum power. The maximum has to be limited so that it will never fry itself under ordinary circmustances.
I use my Pentium M laptop for a lot of processor-heavy work, so I really want it to handle the load. On the other hand, I want it to stay cool and quiet when I'm not doing something intensive, and therefore I also like good power management.
Mach is a microkernel that doesn't work by itself. The kernel of OS X, Darwin, is a BSD-derived kernel running on top of Mach. There are a bunch of other kernels, such as GNU HURD, that run on Mach.
when you get a centrino laptop you get the intel wifi card, which is pretty much supported. you also get an intel video card, which AFAIK runs 3d with open source drivers (can someone confirm this?).
Centrino defines the CPU, the chipset and the WLAN chip. AFAIK it's possible to have a Centrino laptop with a different video card. My Centrino laptop has an Intel card though, and it has a working OpenGL acceleration with opensource Xorg drivers. In fact most of the chips, such as sound card, are made by Intel, which is a good thing for Linux. As much as I like to support the underdog, I've found that a thoroughly Intel-based laptop was the best for Linux compatibility.
So, if you're buying a Centrino laptop for Linux use, make sure there are drivers for other components as well. There's a lot of it besides the parts that make up Centrino.
So true. All of the power consumed by the CPU is converted into heat. Overheating, though, depends on how well the cooling system works. But even then, higher power requires more cooling, which usually means more noise and bigger size.
This is why the the Turion's higher power under maximum load concerns me; I often leave my laptop doing something CPU intensive for hours. The system should of course cope with maximum CPU load for extended periods, but I don't want a huge cooling system in my laptop. I'd prefer something small and quiet, even if it means a little slower CPU.
Anyone else used these? I got mine in 1987, you could compare it to something like Commodore 16, though it used a Z80. I wrote a little page about my computing timeline for occasions like this, so I don't have to repeat everything here:)
I was depressed by how many of the people in the article listed an IBM PC as their first computer. There was a magic about the early 8-bit micros that captured the imagination, and that was just completely missing on the PC.
I agree. I started with a Triumph-Adler Alphatronic PC, a Z80 machine that booted into BASIC. However, for me Linux has brought back the fun of computing pretty well.
Why should an operating system's default install include games in the first place? Especially a professional edition? Besides, isn't it unfair competition against other game vendors?-)
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I second this. I used to teach and admin at a junior high school (12-16 year olds) and we taught everyone both Linux and Windows. It was great to be able to teach general computing concepts like word processing. We did use OpenOffice on all machines though.
I too would beat the shit out of my machines if I saw any one of them running Windows.
How about "only white" earbuds on mp3 players...
So this is what the cup holder in my Pee Cee is for!
Is that like an i3.14159...86? ;)
Ogg Vorbis is a LOSSY format. It doesn't matter WHAT bitrate you encode at or what your variable bitrate range is. It is LOSSY meaning that it LOSES (sic). Vorbis is akin to the old wire recorders of the 60s that were the scourge of audiophiles like myself.
Well, for starters, Steve Ballmer f*cking kills Google, and if that isn't enough, then there's Chuck Norris...
I'm going to f*cking kill Apple Open Source Efforts *throws chair*
No shit, Maxwell!
As a technology trend, however, it is weird because technology tends to evolve by improvement. Lossy compression is a step backward from CD quality, no matter how small the perceived difference actually is.
Another way in which technology evolves backwards is DRM: the kind of technology that works against its own progress. It took so much effort to create a technological utopia where everyone could access any information freely -- and then the media industries are working hard with new technologies that effectively reverse this development.
Even though hearing gets worse with age, you can learn to use your hearing better. When you listen to a song many many times, you learn to discern new details about it. This kind of musical ability also affects your way of listening to new music. It helps a lot if you play some music yourself.
For example, a lot of classical music is considered indecipherable if you're not familiar with classical music in general. But once you get into some classical music, it's easier to get into the rest of the genre. I'm sure the same applies to most other genres and artforms.
Higher number of channels. IIRC, Vorbis has a limit of 256 channels and FLAC has 8. If you need more channels, you can multiplex several Vorbis/FLAC streams in a single Ogg container file.
IMHO, one great thing about these formats is that they don't assume too much. Today's consumer level surround means 5.1 but these formats don't get stuck on it, they just give you channels without assigning them to anything particular (like front, rear, subwoofer). Therefore they can be used for future formats as well.
For a similar reason I encode everything to FLAC these days. It doesn't assume anything about psychoacoustics, which is different for each individual listener. Plus I'll probably have much better equipment and more experienced ears in the future.
I don't know about the other examples, but in my opinion there's nothing mystical about lucid dreaming. It's simply the kind of dream where you know you're dreaming. I'm sure some people can point out some mystical ideas related to lucid dreaming, but they are not part of the basic definition.
0 dB is defined by the hearing threshold of the average human ear. While 0 dB might be quiet but audible to you, it may be inaudible to someone else.
I call bollocks. There's no point in designing a system that cannot run at its maximum power. The maximum has to be limited so that it will never fry itself under ordinary circmustances.
I use my Pentium M laptop for a lot of processor-heavy work, so I really want it to handle the load. On the other hand, I want it to stay cool and quiet when I'm not doing something intensive, and therefore I also like good power management.
Mach is a microkernel that doesn't work by itself. The kernel of OS X, Darwin, is a BSD-derived kernel running on top of Mach. There are a bunch of other kernels, such as GNU HURD, that run on Mach.
- Thus solving the problem once and for all!
- But...
- ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Centrino defines the CPU, the chipset and the WLAN chip. AFAIK it's possible to have a Centrino laptop with a different video card. My Centrino laptop has an Intel card though, and it has a working OpenGL acceleration with opensource Xorg drivers. In fact most of the chips, such as sound card, are made by Intel, which is a good thing for Linux. As much as I like to support the underdog, I've found that a thoroughly Intel-based laptop was the best for Linux compatibility.
So, if you're buying a Centrino laptop for Linux use, make sure there are drivers for other components as well. There's a lot of it besides the parts that make up Centrino.
So true. All of the power consumed by the CPU is converted into heat. Overheating, though, depends on how well the cooling system works. But even then, higher power requires more cooling, which usually means more noise and bigger size.
This is why the the Turion's higher power under maximum load concerns me; I often leave my laptop doing something CPU intensive for hours. The system should of course cope with maximum CPU load for extended periods, but I don't want a huge cooling system in my laptop. I'd prefer something small and quiet, even if it means a little slower CPU.
Anyone else used these? I got mine in 1987, you could compare it to something like Commodore 16, though it used a Z80. I wrote a little page about my computing timeline for occasions like this, so I don't have to repeat everything here :)
I agree. I started with a Triumph-Adler Alphatronic PC, a Z80 machine that booted into BASIC. However, for me Linux has brought back the fun of computing pretty well.
Why should an operating system's default install include games in the first place? Especially a professional edition? Besides, isn't it unfair competition against other game vendors?-)
You mean Chuck Norris is a muslim?
If this were the case, why did he choose GPL instead of the BSD license?