There are too many posts here asking how HT compares with SMP. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't HT quite a lot different:
To simplify greatly, if the CPU has separate units for integer and floating-point math (for example), Hyperthreading means you can use these units in parallel. Therefore, HT will not speed up pure integer or pure FP math, like SMP would. It will only speed up things if you run different kinds of process simultaneously.
Also, many people have noted that HT sometimes slows things down a bit. I don't find this very surprising because the OS needs more work to organize things for HT, but it may not have more CPU resources than a non-HT version.
Personally, I think HT is a good idea because it's using the existing hardware more efficiently in a true hacker spirit. However, it's nowhere near proper SMP.
Laptops usually have small and cool (no fans) power supplies. Why should desktops be much different? I understand desktop drives take a little more oomph, but then again you have more space for the PSU than a tiny laptop adapter, i.e. space for heat sinks.
Makes me wonder if desktops still have huge transformers at 50Hz instead of the modern switching type. We do live in the 2000s, the space age once dreamed of, you know. I fancy getting a mini-itx system some day, but only if I could use a laptop style, totally quiet PSU. I mean, PSUs are supposed to convert energy, not dissipate it, or what?
Then again, fans are not that bad compared to the sound from IBM hard drives...
First of all, I'm not convinced about these new results because they
assume General Relativity in some stages of the proof. So the results
cannot really conflict with the theory.
Some competing theories assume an infinite (instantaneous) speed for
gravitational fields. In that case there cannot be gravitational waves
as we know them. Wave motion by definition has finite speed. Therefore
the detection of gravitational waves would be appropriate for testing
a part of Einstein's theory.
> What we're really looking at in these cases isnt the speed of light/gravity, because those are "instantaneous" [in quotes because of all this talk of what defines time]. What we're really looking at here is the speed of the universe- the maximum divisibility of time.
I sort of agree... because we observe everything via electromagnetic radiation whose speed is limited to c, can we really measure any speeds that exceed c?
I often use tabs to access a section of the "tree structure." That way it's easy to switch between the adjacent pages in the same level, and keep the root page in yet another tab for convenience.
It seems the tree structure and "sideways navigation" are not such new ideas, and there's a nice feature in Phoenix which relates to this: opening all pages of a bookmark folder in tabs.
> If you are very worried about patent problems, there is a very easy
solution: don't use either Mono or Java--there are plenty of other
languages a round, many of them better.
Can you say Python? It has everything expected from Java: cross-platform
(interpreted or bytecode), pure object orientation, lots of great
libraries included. Plus it's Free and the syntax is very intuitive
and powerful, it's arguably the fastest language when it comes to
development time.
I don't exactly agree with the article, but the reasoning is completely different: there is no psychological/neurological algorithm in JPEG compression. It simply rejects the high frequency components and some color/brightness information.
"Possible consequences of intensive consumption of datareduced audio material could therefore include...
a general degradation of the perception of quiet sounds, as well as a worsened timbre perception (a so-called "tin ear"), which would make the human of the cyberage even more insensitive than he already yet has become by the continuous mass media infotrash bombardment he is exposed to."
While I don't buy all of his ideas, it sounds plausible that the "simplified" music may desensitize our hearing. Of course audiophiles and the like will never accept compressed music, but it will be harder to introduce your typical person to classical music and its fine nuances, if their idea of music is dumbed-down thrash. Then again, the pop industry is probably more to blame than audio codecs.
> "Understanding why black text on a white background is easier to read than *white* text on a *black* background."
I don't understand this. Black on white is a historical remnant of ink-on-paper technology, and it has no basis in CRTs or LCDs. In fact I find black on white quite annoying, and irritating to my eyes, particularly on a CRT.
In a reflective LCD (no backlight), black on white might make more sense. In general I think the background (dominant color) should be the "neutral state", which is black on CRTs and white/gray on reflective LCDs.
> The standard view-source and play whatever it lists doesn't work. All trailer's on apples website are now redirects. Add an "m" before the size for the real movie (t3_tlr_480.mov becomes t3_tlr_m480.mov).
MPlayer outputs the redirect links. Which is probably where you got the "m".
Source is the [preferable] form in which software is written and edited. When the
article talks about GPL and distributed development, it should be
mentioned that source can be studied to learn about the program, and
edited to improve the program; not just copied freely.
Performance is another thing, but one million cycles per second is the
same thing in every friggin supercluster. Sorry to burst your bubble
of different MHz measurements, but I guess truth always hertz.
OK, there's no weather in stratosphere, but you're closer to God...:-/
Re:Building on the existing infrastructure
on
DSL Rising
·
· Score: 2
However, coax cable is designed for high bandwidth whereas POTS cable
is not. Looking at the cabling only, I imagine coax has a far longer
range. Unfortunately the cable TV system (with amplifiers etc.) was not designed to be
bidirectional.
A great example of eXtreme overclocking is the 4GHz P4 hack with a jar
of liquid nitrogen, by the Finns at muropaketti.com (muropaketti =
cereal box:). It's not something you can sustain for anything except
quick penis-enhancing benchmarks.
I'd call it moderate overclocking when people make sure the system is
stable, even if they do overclock. This happens quite often, but of
course it doesn't half the hype.
What's really cool about the VapoChill..
on
A Few Hardware Bits
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Heat transfer is proportional to temperature difference. If our
processors were running at 500 degrees, the heat (assuming equal
power) would be dissipated much better. Unfortunately the chips don't
like high temperatures.
I dunno about the details of VapoChill, but in principle a refrigerator could
have its 'hot end' glowing red, thereby increasing heat transfer rate.
Remember that the refrigerator only moves the heat around, it doesn't
eliminate it. The hot end must be cooled somehow. But unlike the
processor, its temperature is not limited by the silicon.
> Common users worldwide: We want one, simple means of installing software
and a standardized GUI.
Then why switch?
Of course you can build a "standard" UI on top of Linux. But that would
miss the point of using it over Windows or Mac. There's a reason why
an airplane has a different UI from a bicycle.
Slashdot Mirror
To simplify greatly, if the CPU has separate units for integer and floating-point math (for example), Hyperthreading means you can use these units in parallel. Therefore, HT will not speed up pure integer or pure FP math, like SMP would. It will only speed up things if you run different kinds of process simultaneously.
Also, many people have noted that HT sometimes slows things down a bit. I don't find this very surprising because the OS needs more work to organize things for HT, but it may not have more CPU resources than a non-HT version.
Personally, I think HT is a good idea because it's using the existing hardware more efficiently in a true hacker spirit. However, it's nowhere near proper SMP.
I bet Alpha still has a larger software base than Itanium.
Nice analogy! Once a businessperson gets a clue about Linux (it's known to have happened), it may well open the floodgates.
Makes me wonder if desktops still have huge transformers at 50Hz instead of the modern switching type. We do live in the 2000s, the space age once dreamed of, you know. I fancy getting a mini-itx system some day, but only if I could use a laptop style, totally quiet PSU. I mean, PSUs are supposed to convert energy, not dissipate it, or what?
Then again, fans are not that bad compared to the sound from IBM hard drives...
Military stimulants.. just what /. coders need to crash into Canadian networks.
Some competing theories assume an infinite (instantaneous) speed for gravitational fields. In that case there cannot be gravitational waves as we know them. Wave motion by definition has finite speed. Therefore the detection of gravitational waves would be appropriate for testing a part of Einstein's theory.
I sort of agree... because we observe everything via electromagnetic radiation whose speed is limited to c, can we really measure any speeds that exceed c?
It seems the tree structure and "sideways navigation" are not such new ideas, and there's a nice feature in Phoenix which relates to this: opening all pages of a bookmark folder in tabs.
Not really surprising from the guy who invented the Smelloscope..
Can you say Python? It has everything expected from Java: cross-platform (interpreted or bytecode), pure object orientation, lots of great libraries included. Plus it's Free and the syntax is very intuitive and powerful, it's arguably the fastest language when it comes to development time.
For those who don't know statistics, RMS is the square Root of the Mean of the Squares in a distribution. It's a great tool for physicists.
It emulates x86 PC hardware. So you can run e.g. Windows 9x inside any OS+hardware where Bocks runs.
It could even DOUBLE our download capacity. So that we'll be able to read all the dupes on /..
I don't exactly agree with the article, but the reasoning is completely different: there is no psychological/neurological algorithm in JPEG compression. It simply rejects the high frequency components and some color/brightness information.
While I don't buy all of his ideas, it sounds plausible that the "simplified" music may desensitize our hearing. Of course audiophiles and the like will never accept compressed music, but it will be harder to introduce your typical person to classical music and its fine nuances, if their idea of music is dumbed-down thrash. Then again, the pop industry is probably more to blame than audio codecs.
I don't understand this. Black on white is a historical remnant of ink-on-paper technology, and it has no basis in CRTs or LCDs. In fact I find black on white quite annoying, and irritating to my eyes, particularly on a CRT.
In a reflective LCD (no backlight), black on white might make more sense. In general I think the background (dominant color) should be the "neutral state", which is black on CRTs and white/gray on reflective LCDs.
MPlayer outputs the redirect links. Which is probably where you got the "m".
Source is the [preferable] form in which software is written and edited. When the article talks about GPL and distributed development, it should be mentioned that source can be studied to learn about the program, and edited to improve the program; not just copied freely.
"Source Code: a computer program describing software algorithm written in source language"
Performance is another thing, but one million cycles per second is the same thing in every friggin supercluster. Sorry to burst your bubble of different MHz measurements, but I guess truth always hertz.
OK, there's no weather in stratosphere, but you're closer to God ... :-/
However, coax cable is designed for high bandwidth whereas POTS cable is not. Looking at the cabling only, I imagine coax has a far longer range. Unfortunately the cable TV system (with amplifiers etc.) was not designed to be bidirectional.
I'd call it moderate overclocking when people make sure the system is stable, even if they do overclock. This happens quite often, but of course it doesn't half the hype.
I dunno about the details of VapoChill, but in principle a refrigerator could have its 'hot end' glowing red, thereby increasing heat transfer rate. Remember that the refrigerator only moves the heat around, it doesn't eliminate it. The hot end must be cooled somehow. But unlike the processor, its temperature is not limited by the silicon.
Then why switch?
Of course you can build a "standard" UI on top of Linux. But that would miss the point of using it over Windows or Mac. There's a reason why an airplane has a different UI from a bicycle.