And I don't mean just that we had to code it manually, I mean we had to punch out the little holes in the punch cards with our own hands! No machines to punch them out for us, not even a pencil to punch out the holes. You little whipper-snappers. I have so many paper cuts on my pinky finger, it aches every time it rains!
Damn that is a kick ass work machine, wish I had something similar like that =)
What can I say? We have to spend VC money somehow... (Actually, the vid card I bought with my own money. I just spend more time at work than at home, so I put it in my work machine. And, no, the procs aren't SUPPOSED to be 1GHz, they are 'officially' clocked at 750.)
I am an idiot? Because I don't keep up on the latest rumors of a box I barely have any interest in? I never claimed to be an authority on it, in fact, I said to check elsewhere for more detailed info... Man. Chill out.
Actually, it is really hard to go to xbox.com since it seems to be down.....
Yes. You can expect a letter from my lawyer concerning the emotional trauma you caused me by subjecting me to your so-called 'signature'. The unexpected thought of that evil individual has caused me much emotional distress, and has affected my work performance.
The hardware stats have already been decided. 600MHz processor (Either Athlon or Pentium III, I've seen rumors of both, and forget which one was finally decided on,) 32MB of RAM (really,) and a next-generation nVidia card.
Of course, the 600MHz proc can already be found for $150 (Pentium III) or $90 (Athlon), so we can assume that by the time this is ready to come out (Fall 2001) the proc will be in the $30 range. The 'next generation' video card will be a generation OLD in Fall '01, so it'll be maybe $100. 32MB of RAM is cheap, even now. And a small hard drive (it doesn't need much, even a 1G drive would be overkill) is cheap too.
As for running Win2k? Yeah, it will run a 'version' of Windows 2000. Without the user interface. (Sorry, I don't have a link to where I read it, search/.) It will be the kernel of Win2k, tweaked to run single-user, single-task. That will be plenty fast, and won't require much memory.
As for game play speed? With the dedicated video hardware, it will be more than fast enough for TV resolution. (My 600MHz/GeForce 256 setup gets over 60fps at 640x480 in most games, which is TV quality.) But... MS claims it will output HDTV resolution. I haven't seen which standard, but if they mean the highest resolution (1920x1080) then it will take more than just a 600MHz chip and a 'next gen' video card. My 'other' machine, a dual 1GHz machine with a 64MB GeForce 2 and 512MB of RDRAM is lucky to keep playable at 1600x1200. (It's a work machine, we just have occasional games of Unreal Tournament or Quake 3.)
So, draw your own conclusions as to its viability. But, on the lighter side, sticking Linux on it souldn't be too difficult assuming that their BIOS allows it to boot from something other than it's default setup.
Yes, my wirelessness is more due to a hatred of the local utility providers. I used to live in US West (now Qwest, like they'll be any different) territory, and thought that US West was as bad as it could get... Then I moved into GTE land. (Now Verizon, again, like it'll make a difference.)
My major dispute actually arose with GTE's installation of DSL in my place. After having to wait 2 weeks (after the scheduled date) for installation, they had the gall to bill me for installation (I ordered during a 'free installation' period, but it had expired before it was installed, and apparently that means it's not free anymore...) So, after three months of arguing, I finally just flat refused to pay my bill, told them to shove off, and that I would be perfectly happy to never deal with them again. (They think I still owe them the $30 installation fee, plus a $30 late fee, but good luck getting it out of me.) I have since complained to the local Public Utility Commission about them, and was told "I know what you mean, get in line" by a very sympathetic official...
So, I have been happily wireless. Until now. I really want a TiVo and a DirecTV system, but until they have a way to send their data that doesn't include an RJ-11 jack, they're missing out on my business.
Hmmm, anyone know of an adapter for a Samsung SCH-3500 cell phone that lets you plug a normal modem into it, so the modem thinks it's a POTS line?
is exactly the reason. Remember, the i-Opener fiasco? The reason those things are so cheap, is the hardware is sold at a loss, and they make it up on the service. Same with TiVo. The TiVo company actually pays Sony, Panasonic, et al, to sell their hardware at a loss, so TiVo can make it back in subscription fees (and kickback some of it to the hardware companies.) The reason most don't have Ethernet is because they can control the service better if you dial directly in to them, instead of going through such an odd medium as the internet.
I recently ran into that dilemma. I signed up for a wireless internet access (long-range derivative of 802.11b) and cancelled my home phone service, leaving only my cell phone as my telephone. Now, on a sunny day (solar panels on my house,) I am drawing absolutely nothing from the local grid. No power, no water (well,) no phone (cell,) no TV (old-fasioned antenna,) and no internet... But, I decided that while I may get a great reception of the broadcast networks, I wanted some better TV (I miss the Discovery Channel.) So, I went off to my local A/V store, and looked around.
We've got DirecTV, Dish, Primestar, and a few others. They all sounded good (Dish has my local channels, DirecTV gets them at the end of this month, so my search focused on those two,) except that they require a POTS line to dial in to their server. Not only once on initial configuration, but also if I ever want to watch pay-per-view. Darn.
Then, there's TiVo. GREAT idea. I went out to pick up the Sony model as soon as it came out. But... That darned modem again. I could still use the hardware as an overpriced VCR, but I'd lose all scheduling capabilities, plus the (in my opinion) best feature, taste matching. Come on, how hard would it have been to ALSO include a $10 NIC chip on there, add on a $0.25 RJ-45 port, and let those of us with broadband connections use them!
But, that brings us back to control... Do you know that TiVo collects the info on every show you watch? I'm sure you've thought about it, but read your contract. It says that they have the right to use any information they collect for aggregate statistical analysis, and targeted promotions. This means that sooner or later, you'll start getting ads that are being sent not by the network, or the cable provider, but by TiVo. TiVo will have such good tracking of your taste (after all, you've been telling them exactly what you do and don't like...) that every ad will be tailor-made for you. So, of course they want to keep control of the transfer medium. They don't want that pesky internet getting in the way of their data mining...
Or, I could be wrong, and they're just too cheap to put $15 of extra hardware on there....
Okay, I have owned the original American Picturebook (C1X) for over a year now, dropped it, abused it, stepped on it, (hey, nobody can tell me Windows computer's aren't stable until they've used one as a step ladder) and so on. It has been verbally and physically abused on many occasions (as has a coworker's XG-29) and it still works great.
Hell, this poor notebook has been tossed, unprotected, into a backpack filled with other hard, sharp objects, and the only part that's worse for wear is the exterior covering. The monitor port flap doesn't stay shut, but aside from some major scuffing (and a heathy dent) it's fine. The screen side of the case has a large scratch, a noticable dent, and lots of scuffed off paint, and both the screen and the camera work flawlessly.
The only company I've seen overbuild electronics better than Sony was the old-time HP calculator division. (My 48SX was indestructable...)
As for Dells? The Inspirons I have ordered for work are pieces of $#!&. They may hold up to a pounding, but out of the box, they won't go to sleep! (Or, more specifically, they won't wake up once you put them to sleep.) Now, I may be a bit picky, but is it too much to ask that the 'Sleep' function works, on a notebook???
After reading that obnoxiously long document, I have come to two possible conclusions:
Judge Kaplan truly is frutier than a bowl of Froot Loops, or...
He is setting himself up to be sucessfully appealed.
Now stay with me here.... During the trial (especially toward the end) his comments were pro-MPAA, but with a hint of pro-constitution thrown in. It's like he wants the MPAA to win, but realizes that that outcome would be very bad for free speech. So, what does he do? He sets himself up for a dive. I mean, that now-well-quoted comment about the defendants beliefs is so obviously inflammitory, that the whole thing could easily be thrown out on that comment alone. So, I have to conclude that he is either smart, and wanted to protect the constitution, while keeping his career alive; or he really is dumb as a brick...
Plaintiffs overwhelmingly demonstrated the substantial threat to the value of their copyrighted material that can, likely has, and certainly will continue to, occur as a result of the circumvention of CSS. Plaintiffs have shown:
that DeCSS can be used with ease to make flawless, unencrypted copies of DVD movies;
that hard drive storage capacity on consumer PCs has been increasing at a rapid rate;
that compression utilities such as DivX can be used to reduce the size of decrypted movie files for transmission over the Internet or to make CD-ROM or VCD copies of the movies. Plaintiffs further established that, once a file is compressed by DivX, digital copies of that file can be transferred again and again to anyone connected to the Internet, without the need for the file to ever be compressed again;
that both the compression utility known as DivX and the instructions for utilizing DivX in connection with DeCSS to create transferable movie files are freely available over the Internet; and
the speed and ease of transfer of such files is increasing as high-speed Internet connections become available to rapidly increasing numbers of people.
Uh-huh... So, this means that furnace heating oil should be made illegal... Who cares if it's primary purpose is to heat a house. You can:
combine it with fertilizer to make an explosive
Instructions for how to make the explosive are readily available
someone might use said explosive in an illegal way.
You cannot take judicial remedies for crimes that have not yet been committed. Just as equipment with legal purposes cannot be outlawed because they can ALSO be used illegally... (Lockpicks, for example.)
The MPAA doesn't have a leg to stand on. If by some miracle they win this round, this will most certainly be struck down by a court of appeals (or the supreme court, if it gets that far.)
In the Q&A you did soon after "Triumph of the Nerds", (Q&A dated June 1996,) someone asked:
I loved you show. You mentioned at the end that a company is going to be changing the future of personal gaming. I was wondering what the name of the company. Sincerely, Anonymous
To which you responded:
Sorry, that's a secret until September.
So... Now is it safe to tell us who this miracle company was? (And if they succeeded?;-)
I fully agree with Mr. Moore's implied statements. I'm still planning to vote for Gore (as he assumed) but now, at least, I will be sure to vote. (Before, it was going to be just 'if I have time'...) While some of the moderators believe that your comment is a troll (I *DO* have to agree with the two that think it offtopic, even if it *IS* good...) I found it very enlightening.
The FBI can not, wait, let me emphasize that... The FBI CAN NOT order a carnivore system installed. Only a federal court could do that. The FBI is a law enforcement, or 'police' agency, and has no power on its own to order wiretaps. A court order is required for any wiretap. And, the courts can stipulate exactly HOW the wiretap is to be done. So, a judge with a bent for privacy could order the FBI to NOT use Carnivore to tap an email system, even while approving the wiretap.
Originally, Gnutella *WAS* GPL. But, the authors (who worked for Nullsoft, which is owned by AOL,) were told (by AOL) to stop it. Since I'm guessing their contracts (as most programmers contracts do nowawadays) said that their employer (AOL) owns their code, they were forced to comply.
But, someone leaked the code to someone OUTSIDE AOL, and it's slowly being maintained. If you check their homepage, you will see that they plan on re-releasing the code, fully under the GPL, when they hit version 1.0. So, Even the "official" Gnutella isn't "official", since the only "official" source was closed by their "official" employer...
And, as was argued when it first happened... Since AOL owns the original code, they can change the (distrubution) license at will. Even on GPL-ed software. If I write a piece of software, and release it under the GPL, then for you to use it, you must agree to my chosen license. If, at a later date, I decide to charge for it, and change the license to a more restrictive one (such as Microsoft's,) I am fully within my rights to do so. And, if you were using my software, I can revoke your license, because I'm the copyright holder. Even if you made (and released under the GPL) modifications, since your original license was revoked, all your derivatives are illegal now. It's a REALLY slippery slope, which is why the FSF recommends that if you release under the GPL, you should also sign over your rights (copyrights, that is) to the FSF. Then, no one can force you to change your license, only the FSF could change the license. But, (again due to legal intricacies) if your software is really owned by your employer (like the original Gnutella) then THEY legally own the copyright, so you never had legal authority to choose the license, or sign your rights to the FSF... Ah, what a tangled web we weave...
The main reason I think RMS doesn't go after Gnutella is because he knows that they WANTED to GPL it (the authors even thought they did) but couldn't. Legally, AOL could stop the whole "official" Gnutella project anytime they choose to by sicking their lawyers on the current maintainers. But, since the important part of Gnutella is the protocol, it's too late to stop it. With the already-released (under the GPL) clones, there is nothing AOL (or anyone else) can do about it..
Reference URLs:
The current Gnutella home page. These guys are not affiliated with Nullsoft or AOL in any way. They just acquired the source code, and are updating it.
Nullsoft, Inc. The home of the original authors of Gnutella. There is no Gnutella info here.
But, if you get a really environmentally-friendly system, you can produce the Hydrogen at a plant powered by solar, wind, hydroelectric, or other 'alternative' electricity-generating plant.
I'm lucky enough to live in Portland, OR, which is one of (and hopefully soon, THE) most environmentally friendly cities in the US. IIRC, we get a larger percentage of our electricity from 'environmentally-friendly' sources than any other US metropolis (metro area with >1M people.) Yeah, there are smaller cities and towns (most notably in California) that get larger percentages (up to 100%) of their electricity from friendly sources (IIRC, 1000 Palms gets 100% from wind.) But, Portland is a large city, thus it needs alot more power. We get our power from hydroelectric (dams on the Columbia river,) wind (just added in the Columbia River Gorge, one of the most predicably windy locations in the US, which has great windsurfing, BTW,) and unfortunately, coal. Ten years ago, we had a nuclear reactor running, too, but it had so many problems we voted to shut it down. (Aah, gotta love Oregon. The closest to a 'true democracy' of any state in the union. Any one citizen can start a petition to get an initiative on the state-wide ballot for absolutely anything he/she wants.) Personally, I'm happy that Portland is very bicycle-friendly (in large part due to Portland's Bicycle Transportation Alliance) and have chosen that as my primary mode of transportation. With a bike (and a bike-friendly city,) a good public transit system (also bike-friendly,) and a cheap, fuel-efficient car, I can go anywhere I want. Plus, when my company goes public, I'm going to convert my car to CNG, electric, or some other friendly technology.
As for fuel cells? They still have a few years before they mature for proper use in cars. Right now they don't produce enough power for their size to be practical in regular sedan-sized cars. Companies could probably make it work in either a large vehicle (pickup/van) or in a small vehicle with no storage (a la the Toyota Prius,) but not in a 'normal' car without sacrificing storage space.
Yes. You just have Linux redirect system control to another object (such as a hard drive's boot sector, or a network resource, or a floppy disk, or even a serial port) and you can boot to any device, just like a normal BIOS, only more flexible. And, yes, they would have to impliment almost an entire BIOS to boot into Win95/98, but, it wouldn't have to be as powerful, because once the 32-bit part of Win9x loads, it ignores the BIOS, just like Linux.
Yes, but that is a truly evil, hard to impliment, specification. Most cards require a boot rom, and even those that don't, are difficult to set up correctly. With this, they can set it up ANY WAY they want. (Or, you could set your systems up any way you want.) The main benefit of getting this to work is flexibility...
Re:Explain to stupid: Why faster?
on
Linux BIOS
·
· Score: 1
Actually, it REPLACES the BIOS with the Linux kernel... So it essentially reduces BIOS boot time to 0, and greatly speeds up the Linux kernel boot time as well... Of course, you should also check out some of the other comments for the less-obvious, and possibly more significant, benefits.
Re:Explain to stupid: Why faster?
on
Linux BIOS
·
· Score: 1
Yes, and, because it isn't booting from a hard drive, even the existing boot time is cut down. Plus, I'm sure they're not loading a complete system, only the absolute basics, since they only have 1MB to work in...
Yeah, I lived in AZ for awhile (right when they started that program) and thought it was hilarious... In Oregon, we still don't use your SSN (it isn't even a choice, like it was in Arizona back then.) Which I like...
Of course, Oregon is one of the most freedom-oriented anti-federal-government states...
Re:Explain to stupid: Why faster?
on
Linux BIOS
·
· Score: 1
Well, if they impliment it that way, sure... But, I mean a "login:" prompt, where you can log into Linux. Yeah, two seconds may be a BIT optomistic, but on their page, they say that one of the problems is that the IDE bus is too slow, so it errs out on a cold-boot because it can't mount the IDE drives yet. But, if you have no IDE drives, you can get to a Linux "login:" prompt in nothing flat. (This is Linux loading BEFORE the LILO. They could impliment loading the LILO later if they wanted, I'm sure, but for now, according to their page, they haven't.)
Again, this is a replacement for your BIOS, it works with no drives in the system! It's similar to the way a Palm (or other ROM-based device) loads. Only on a full-sized system. This means that if currently, when you turn on your computer, you see a fancy "Phoenix ROM BIOS" with that "Energy Star" logo, installing Linux BIOS would make that go away. It REPLACES the very first thing your computer does with Linux.
Re:Explain to stupid: Why faster?
on
Linux BIOS
·
· Score: 5
Quite simply: The OS loads without the normal 'POST' routine present on a standard PC.
In detail: When your PC starts up, the very first thing it does is go to the ROM (or PROM, or EEPROM, or FlashROM...) for the BIOS, and run the Power On Self Test. This is the routine that tests the processor(s) and memory, then initializes the PCI bus, initializes your IDE bus, and runs any Option ROMs on any add-in cards. On my home computer, this process (with memory test DISabled) takes about 2 minutes. (Yes, I have lots of OpROMs.) Unfortunately, most modern OSes (Linux included) do not use the BIOS. They access hardware directly, without ever speaking to the BIOS. So, once the BIOS has done it's job, your OS loads, and pushes the BIOS out of the way.
What Linux BIOS does: It completely does away with your old BIOS and goes immediately to the OS (Linux.) This means no POST, no PCI initialization, no OpROM scan. Because Linux doesn't talk to the BIOS anyway, it isn't needed. Now, the difficulty lies in the fact that you have this miniscule space (1MB on an Intel L440GX+) to hold the system. Plus, they are having difficulties getting some of the onboard hardware to function properly. (Linux DOES like to have the PCI bus initialized for it beforehand, which isn't happening with the old BIOS gone.)
Some of the benefits include:
Of course, boot speed. You can be at your login prompt less than two seconds after applying power to the system.
Compatibility. Once they get all the bugs worked out, you don't have to worry about BIOS incompatibility anymore. Since Linux is controlling the system from power-on, you have full Linux stability at all times.
Boot options. Because you could use this to boot to another OS rather than just running Linux, you can choose any device on the system to boot from. Want to boot from that third network card? You can. Want to boot from a SCSI tape drive on the third SCSI bus? You can. You can boot from absolutely any I/O device you want, including the serial port if you felt like it...
Hopefully this gives you a little more info on why this is much better than just being able to skip the memory test...;-)
And this is all a good reason for the law that states that a Social Security Number cannot be used by the government as a universal identifier! (Hmm, then why is my SSN my ID# for my drivers license, my school, and about a thousand other things?)
Slashdot Mirror
Really? Did you click his links first? That most certainly is *NOT* a mirror of what you think it is...
Although, I think a moderation of 'Off-topic' is more appropriate than 'Troll'...
We had to code the 3d graphics by hand.
And I don't mean just that we had to code it manually, I mean we had to punch out the little holes in the punch cards with our own hands! No machines to punch them out for us, not even a pencil to punch out the holes. You little whipper-snappers. I have so many paper cuts on my pinky finger, it aches every time it rains!
You and your 'limited resources.....'
</sarcasm>What can I say? We have to spend VC money somehow... (Actually, the vid card I bought with my own money. I just spend more time at work than at home, so I put it in my work machine. And, no, the procs aren't SUPPOSED to be 1GHz, they are 'officially' clocked at 750.)
I am an idiot? Because I don't keep up on the latest rumors of a box I barely have any interest in? I never claimed to be an authority on it, in fact, I said to check elsewhere for more detailed info... Man. Chill out.
Actually, it is really hard to go to xbox.com since it seems to be down.....
Yes. You can expect a letter from my lawyer concerning the emotional trauma you caused me by subjecting me to your so-called 'signature'. The unexpected thought of that evil individual has caused me much emotional distress, and has affected my work performance.
And I'm not a fan of Hitler, either.
The hardware stats have already been decided. 600MHz processor (Either Athlon or Pentium III, I've seen rumors of both, and forget which one was finally decided on,) 32MB of RAM (really,) and a next-generation nVidia card.
Of course, the 600MHz proc can already be found for $150 (Pentium III) or $90 (Athlon), so we can assume that by the time this is ready to come out (Fall 2001) the proc will be in the $30 range. The 'next generation' video card will be a generation OLD in Fall '01, so it'll be maybe $100. 32MB of RAM is cheap, even now. And a small hard drive (it doesn't need much, even a 1G drive would be overkill) is cheap too.
As for running Win2k? Yeah, it will run a 'version' of Windows 2000. Without the user interface. (Sorry, I don't have a link to where I read it, search /.) It will be the kernel of Win2k, tweaked to run single-user, single-task. That will be plenty fast, and won't require much memory.
As for game play speed? With the dedicated video hardware, it will be more than fast enough for TV resolution. (My 600MHz/GeForce 256 setup gets over 60fps at 640x480 in most games, which is TV quality.) But... MS claims it will output HDTV resolution. I haven't seen which standard, but if they mean the highest resolution (1920x1080) then it will take more than just a 600MHz chip and a 'next gen' video card. My 'other' machine, a dual 1GHz machine with a 64MB GeForce 2 and 512MB of RDRAM is lucky to keep playable at 1600x1200. (It's a work machine, we just have occasional games of Unreal Tournament or Quake 3.)
So, draw your own conclusions as to its viability. But, on the lighter side, sticking Linux on it souldn't be too difficult assuming that their BIOS allows it to boot from something other than it's default setup.
Yes, my wirelessness is more due to a hatred of the local utility providers. I used to live in US West (now Qwest, like they'll be any different) territory, and thought that US West was as bad as it could get... Then I moved into GTE land. (Now Verizon, again, like it'll make a difference.)
My major dispute actually arose with GTE's installation of DSL in my place. After having to wait 2 weeks (after the scheduled date) for installation, they had the gall to bill me for installation (I ordered during a 'free installation' period, but it had expired before it was installed, and apparently that means it's not free anymore...) So, after three months of arguing, I finally just flat refused to pay my bill, told them to shove off, and that I would be perfectly happy to never deal with them again. (They think I still owe them the $30 installation fee, plus a $30 late fee, but good luck getting it out of me.) I have since complained to the local Public Utility Commission about them, and was told "I know what you mean, get in line" by a very sympathetic official...
So, I have been happily wireless. Until now. I really want a TiVo and a DirecTV system, but until they have a way to send their data that doesn't include an RJ-11 jack, they're missing out on my business.
Hmmm, anyone know of an adapter for a Samsung SCH-3500 cell phone that lets you plug a normal modem into it, so the modem thinks it's a POTS line?
is exactly the reason. Remember, the i-Opener fiasco? The reason those things are so cheap, is the hardware is sold at a loss, and they make it up on the service. Same with TiVo. The TiVo company actually pays Sony, Panasonic, et al, to sell their hardware at a loss, so TiVo can make it back in subscription fees (and kickback some of it to the hardware companies.) The reason most don't have Ethernet is because they can control the service better if you dial directly in to them, instead of going through such an odd medium as the internet.
I recently ran into that dilemma. I signed up for a wireless internet access (long-range derivative of 802.11b) and cancelled my home phone service, leaving only my cell phone as my telephone. Now, on a sunny day (solar panels on my house,) I am drawing absolutely nothing from the local grid. No power, no water (well,) no phone (cell,) no TV (old-fasioned antenna,) and no internet... But, I decided that while I may get a great reception of the broadcast networks, I wanted some better TV (I miss the Discovery Channel.) So, I went off to my local A/V store, and looked around.
We've got DirecTV, Dish, Primestar, and a few others. They all sounded good (Dish has my local channels, DirecTV gets them at the end of this month, so my search focused on those two,) except that they require a POTS line to dial in to their server. Not only once on initial configuration, but also if I ever want to watch pay-per-view. Darn.
Then, there's TiVo. GREAT idea. I went out to pick up the Sony model as soon as it came out. But... That darned modem again. I could still use the hardware as an overpriced VCR, but I'd lose all scheduling capabilities, plus the (in my opinion) best feature, taste matching. Come on, how hard would it have been to ALSO include a $10 NIC chip on there, add on a $0.25 RJ-45 port, and let those of us with broadband connections use them!
But, that brings us back to control... Do you know that TiVo collects the info on every show you watch? I'm sure you've thought about it, but read your contract. It says that they have the right to use any information they collect for aggregate statistical analysis, and targeted promotions. This means that sooner or later, you'll start getting ads that are being sent not by the network, or the cable provider, but by TiVo. TiVo will have such good tracking of your taste (after all, you've been telling them exactly what you do and don't like...) that every ad will be tailor-made for you. So, of course they want to keep control of the transfer medium. They don't want that pesky internet getting in the way of their data mining...
Or, I could be wrong, and they're just too cheap to put $15 of extra hardware on there....
Okay, I have owned the original American Picturebook (C1X) for over a year now, dropped it, abused it, stepped on it, (hey, nobody can tell me Windows computer's aren't stable until they've used one as a step ladder) and so on. It has been verbally and physically abused on many occasions (as has a coworker's XG-29) and it still works great.
Hell, this poor notebook has been tossed, unprotected, into a backpack filled with other hard, sharp objects, and the only part that's worse for wear is the exterior covering. The monitor port flap doesn't stay shut, but aside from some major scuffing (and a heathy dent) it's fine. The screen side of the case has a large scratch, a noticable dent, and lots of scuffed off paint, and both the screen and the camera work flawlessly.
The only company I've seen overbuild electronics better than Sony was the old-time HP calculator division. (My 48SX was indestructable...)
As for Dells? The Inspirons I have ordered for work are pieces of $#!&. They may hold up to a pounding, but out of the box, they won't go to sleep! (Or, more specifically, they won't wake up once you put them to sleep.) Now, I may be a bit picky, but is it too much to ask that the 'Sleep' function works, on a notebook???
After reading that obnoxiously long document, I have come to two possible conclusions:
Now stay with me here.... During the trial (especially toward the end) his comments were pro-MPAA, but with a hint of pro-constitution thrown in. It's like he wants the MPAA to win, but realizes that that outcome would be very bad for free speech. So, what does he do? He sets himself up for a dive. I mean, that now-well-quoted comment about the defendants beliefs is so obviously inflammitory, that the whole thing could easily be thrown out on that comment alone. So, I have to conclude that he is either smart, and wanted to protect the constitution, while keeping his career alive; or he really is dumb as a brick...
Uh-huh... So, this means that furnace heating oil should be made illegal... Who cares if it's primary purpose is to heat a house. You can:
You cannot take judicial remedies for crimes that have not yet been committed. Just as equipment with legal purposes cannot be outlawed because they can ALSO be used illegally... (Lockpicks, for example.)
The MPAA doesn't have a leg to stand on. If by some miracle they win this round, this will most certainly be struck down by a court of appeals (or the supreme court, if it gets that far.)
In the Q&A you did soon after "Triumph of the Nerds", (Q&A dated June 1996,) someone asked:
To which you responded:
So... Now is it safe to tell us who this miracle company was? (And if they succeeded? ;-)
So....
Is anyone sharing this mp3 on Napster so I can download it? ;-)
Amen, brother Lethargy!
I fully agree with Mr. Moore's implied statements. I'm still planning to vote for Gore (as he assumed) but now, at least, I will be sure to vote. (Before, it was going to be just 'if I have time'...) While some of the moderators believe that your comment is a troll (I *DO* have to agree with the two that think it offtopic, even if it *IS* good...) I found it very enlightening.
Hey, not all trolls are bad trolls... ;-)
For the record:
The FBI can not, wait, let me emphasize that... The FBI CAN NOT order a carnivore system installed. Only a federal court could do that. The FBI is a law enforcement, or 'police' agency, and has no power on its own to order wiretaps. A court order is required for any wiretap. And, the courts can stipulate exactly HOW the wiretap is to be done. So, a judge with a bent for privacy could order the FBI to NOT use Carnivore to tap an email system, even while approving the wiretap.
Originally, Gnutella *WAS* GPL. But, the authors (who worked for Nullsoft, which is owned by AOL,) were told (by AOL) to stop it. Since I'm guessing their contracts (as most programmers contracts do nowawadays) said that their employer (AOL) owns their code, they were forced to comply.
But, someone leaked the code to someone OUTSIDE AOL, and it's slowly being maintained. If you check their homepage, you will see that they plan on re-releasing the code, fully under the GPL, when they hit version 1.0. So, Even the "official" Gnutella isn't "official", since the only "official" source was closed by their "official" employer...
And, as was argued when it first happened... Since AOL owns the original code, they can change the (distrubution) license at will. Even on GPL-ed software. If I write a piece of software, and release it under the GPL, then for you to use it, you must agree to my chosen license. If, at a later date, I decide to charge for it, and change the license to a more restrictive one (such as Microsoft's,) I am fully within my rights to do so. And, if you were using my software, I can revoke your license, because I'm the copyright holder. Even if you made (and released under the GPL) modifications, since your original license was revoked, all your derivatives are illegal now. It's a REALLY slippery slope, which is why the FSF recommends that if you release under the GPL, you should also sign over your rights (copyrights, that is) to the FSF. Then, no one can force you to change your license, only the FSF could change the license. But, (again due to legal intricacies) if your software is really owned by your employer (like the original Gnutella) then THEY legally own the copyright, so you never had legal authority to choose the license, or sign your rights to the FSF... Ah, what a tangled web we weave...
The main reason I think RMS doesn't go after Gnutella is because he knows that they WANTED to GPL it (the authors even thought they did) but couldn't. Legally, AOL could stop the whole "official" Gnutella project anytime they choose to by sicking their lawyers on the current maintainers. But, since the important part of Gnutella is the protocol, it's too late to stop it. With the already-released (under the GPL) clones, there is nothing AOL (or anyone else) can do about it..
Reference URLs:
But, if you get a really environmentally-friendly system, you can produce the Hydrogen at a plant powered by solar, wind, hydroelectric, or other 'alternative' electricity-generating plant.
I'm lucky enough to live in Portland, OR, which is one of (and hopefully soon, THE) most environmentally friendly cities in the US. IIRC, we get a larger percentage of our electricity from 'environmentally-friendly' sources than any other US metropolis (metro area with >1M people.) Yeah, there are smaller cities and towns (most notably in California) that get larger percentages (up to 100%) of their electricity from friendly sources (IIRC, 1000 Palms gets 100% from wind.) But, Portland is a large city, thus it needs alot more power. We get our power from hydroelectric (dams on the Columbia river,) wind (just added in the Columbia River Gorge, one of the most predicably windy locations in the US, which has great windsurfing, BTW,) and unfortunately, coal. Ten years ago, we had a nuclear reactor running, too, but it had so many problems we voted to shut it down. (Aah, gotta love Oregon. The closest to a 'true democracy' of any state in the union. Any one citizen can start a petition to get an initiative on the state-wide ballot for absolutely anything he/she wants.) Personally, I'm happy that Portland is very bicycle-friendly (in large part due to Portland's Bicycle Transportation Alliance) and have chosen that as my primary mode of transportation. With a bike (and a bike-friendly city,) a good public transit system (also bike-friendly,) and a cheap, fuel-efficient car, I can go anywhere I want. Plus, when my company goes public, I'm going to convert my car to CNG, electric, or some other friendly technology.
As for fuel cells? They still have a few years before they mature for proper use in cars. Right now they don't produce enough power for their size to be practical in regular sedan-sized cars. Companies could probably make it work in either a large vehicle (pickup/van) or in a small vehicle with no storage (a la the Toyota Prius,) but not in a 'normal' car without sacrificing storage space.
Yes. You just have Linux redirect system control to another object (such as a hard drive's boot sector, or a network resource, or a floppy disk, or even a serial port) and you can boot to any device, just like a normal BIOS, only more flexible. And, yes, they would have to impliment almost an entire BIOS to boot into Win95/98, but, it wouldn't have to be as powerful, because once the 32-bit part of Win9x loads, it ignores the BIOS, just like Linux.
Yes, but that is a truly evil, hard to impliment, specification. Most cards require a boot rom, and even those that don't, are difficult to set up correctly. With this, they can set it up ANY WAY they want. (Or, you could set your systems up any way you want.) The main benefit of getting this to work is flexibility...
Actually, it REPLACES the BIOS with the Linux kernel... So it essentially reduces BIOS boot time to 0, and greatly speeds up the Linux kernel boot time as well... Of course, you should also check out some of the other comments for the less-obvious, and possibly more significant, benefits.
Yes, and, because it isn't booting from a hard drive, even the existing boot time is cut down. Plus, I'm sure they're not loading a complete system, only the absolute basics, since they only have 1MB to work in...
Yeah, I lived in AZ for awhile (right when they started that program) and thought it was hilarious... In Oregon, we still don't use your SSN (it isn't even a choice, like it was in Arizona back then.) Which I like...
Of course, Oregon is one of the most freedom-oriented anti-federal-government states...
Well, if they impliment it that way, sure... But, I mean a "login:" prompt, where you can log into Linux. Yeah, two seconds may be a BIT optomistic, but on their page, they say that one of the problems is that the IDE bus is too slow, so it errs out on a cold-boot because it can't mount the IDE drives yet. But, if you have no IDE drives, you can get to a Linux "login:" prompt in nothing flat. (This is Linux loading BEFORE the LILO. They could impliment loading the LILO later if they wanted, I'm sure, but for now, according to their page, they haven't.)
Again, this is a replacement for your BIOS, it works with no drives in the system! It's similar to the way a Palm (or other ROM-based device) loads. Only on a full-sized system. This means that if currently, when you turn on your computer, you see a fancy "Phoenix ROM BIOS" with that "Energy Star" logo, installing Linux BIOS would make that go away. It REPLACES the very first thing your computer does with Linux.
Quite simply: The OS loads without the normal 'POST' routine present on a standard PC.
In detail: When your PC starts up, the very first thing it does is go to the ROM (or PROM, or EEPROM, or FlashROM...) for the BIOS, and run the Power On Self Test. This is the routine that tests the processor(s) and memory, then initializes the PCI bus, initializes your IDE bus, and runs any Option ROMs on any add-in cards. On my home computer, this process (with memory test DISabled) takes about 2 minutes. (Yes, I have lots of OpROMs.) Unfortunately, most modern OSes (Linux included) do not use the BIOS. They access hardware directly, without ever speaking to the BIOS. So, once the BIOS has done it's job, your OS loads, and pushes the BIOS out of the way.
What Linux BIOS does: It completely does away with your old BIOS and goes immediately to the OS (Linux.) This means no POST, no PCI initialization, no OpROM scan. Because Linux doesn't talk to the BIOS anyway, it isn't needed. Now, the difficulty lies in the fact that you have this miniscule space (1MB on an Intel L440GX+) to hold the system. Plus, they are having difficulties getting some of the onboard hardware to function properly. (Linux DOES like to have the PCI bus initialized for it beforehand, which isn't happening with the old BIOS gone.)
Some of the benefits include:
Hopefully this gives you a little more info on why this is much better than just being able to skip the memory test... ;-)
And this is all a good reason for the law that states that a Social Security Number cannot be used by the government as a universal identifier! (Hmm, then why is my SSN my ID# for my drivers license, my school, and about a thousand other things?)