My experience with linux (since about 1994) has been the same - rock solid. I've never needed to run stress testing on all the various distros/kernels used in that time because it's always worked (good HW too). Similar experience with XP: The only BSODs/crashes are due to bad drivers or flakey hardware.
Recently a machine (XP) was locking up all the time. No reset, no BSOD, just a hard lock. I also noticed the harddisk was "revving" up and down. After dup'ing the disk on another box, I measured voltages on the XP machine. The +12V rail was 12.05 and the +5V started at +4.6V. After a few minutes, it would drop down to +4.35. Swapping power supplies fixed it, and the machine has been running for several days straight now.
They try hard to be the first with a fully craptastic review, and to recoup the cost of espresso consumed in the 30 minutes it took to test the machines and write the review, they spread their 200 word "review" over ten ad-laden pages.
You are exactly right -- the hardware review sites are notorious for this.
I think it's the "scoop" mentality that drives such horrible reviews and site designs.
I remember one year where the youngling at our table kept casting Magic Missile! Ha, what a riot! But wait, it gets better.
We had just started the campaign when he wanted to do this -- in an empty room -- and when we asked what he was attacking, he said... "I'm attacking the darkness"
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ROFL HA HA HA HA HA etc
I read your entire writeup and I think the problem Blizzard has is with automation of any sort. Bot programs are only one way; programmable macro keys could serve the same purpose. The difference between the two being a programmable keyboard needs repeat pressing while a program just runs. Just different colors of the same automation, really.
The cancellation sucks, though. Just trying to remove some of the tedium of the game and you get shitcanned.
Please do try it. Undo does work, and Blender has really improved during the 2.3x releases. I've not tried 2.40 yet.
To other Slashdotters who've mentioned UI difficulty: The interface in blender is designed around having the right hand on the mouse, and the left hand on the keyboard. UI actions are very terse, and therefore slow to learn and easy to forget. Find, read, and do the available tutorials! There is plenty of info to get going, and once you get over the initial hump you'll find Blender *fast* to use.
I guess this is the main difference between Pandora and other services, such as Audiogalaxy. Pandora recommends based on an analysis of the music itself. Audiogalaxy associates songs/artists by user recommendations.
I can see value in both techniques. Pandora's technique will ignore "fashionable" boundaries since it's looking at a song's essence. Hence recommending Def Leppard as a previous poster mentioned.
This is exactly it. An end user is supposed to be bound by the license for sereptitious software, whose existence on a given machine is intended to be secret? What kind of a swirling illogical universe did these clowns emerge from?
Since the whole point is that the end user doesn't know the software is installed, how can they adhere to the ridiculous conditions of the EULA? They can't, and therefore, the EULA is pointless.
But analyzing or reverse engineering the software can be done. Somebody else needs to download install it, and given the end user can't be bound to a EULA for software that s/he doesn't know about, s/he can commence a systematic dissection of the machine, disassembling any bits found that are suspicious.
If you look at the download page and the download agreement itself, you'll find that it only excludes people working for antispyware or antivirus companies from downloading it.
The software could still be classified by: * Basing the classification on the software company's claims of what the SW does -or- * Having a friend download and install it who meets the above criteria. Then you can poke around on their machine to see what it does and classify it accordingly. The EULA and PDA are never violated by the person who agreed to them prior to download and installation.
Spoken like someone who doesn't have a inflated mortgage, two cars, floating credit-card debt and 2.5 kids who'll need braces and college tuition in a few years.
You're right on some of this. I refinanced my inflated mortgage a few years ago and reduced it by $400/month, my cars are paid off (one was purchased outright when the stock market was low back in 2001), and I have no CC debt because I hate owing anybody anything. I live within my means -- there's a principle for ya. I have one child with another on the way. Next!
Maybe when you're 15 and going to high school you can worry about your morals, but when you have kids to feed, a mortgage and credit card payments lets see how loyal you are to your principles.
See above. BTW, class of '87. Next!
...True statement, however, last time I checked, principles weren't all that filling around dinner time.
Reasonable people will recognize the difference between survival and living with no regard to any principles. If it comes down to survival (need income for food now!) then yes, that will trump being some paragon of virtue. You'd be foolish not to! You gotta live, even if that means resorting to....gonzo telemarketing.
But in the mundane daily exercise of life, you (the nonspecific you) owe it to yourself to stand for something.
I remember MGR. I ran it on my hacked 68010-based AT&T 3b1. The hack was disconnecting the A20(?) address pin on the 68010 to allow MGR to access the framebuffer memory space, if I remember correctly. MGR was pretty cool but underutilized.
At the high school level, students that are otherwise served by buses should be forced to use them instead of driving their own cars to school. Too many drive themselves around here.
Slashdot Mirror
My experience with linux (since about 1994) has been the same - rock solid. I've never needed to run stress testing on all the various distros/kernels used in that time because it's always worked (good HW too). Similar experience with XP: The only BSODs/crashes are due to bad drivers or flakey hardware.
Recently a machine (XP) was locking up all the time. No reset, no BSOD, just a hard lock. I also noticed the harddisk was "revving" up and down. After dup'ing the disk on another box, I measured voltages on the XP machine. The +12V rail was 12.05 and the +5V started at +4.6V. After a few minutes, it would drop down to +4.35. Swapping power supplies fixed it, and the machine has been running for several days straight now.
Not when my questionably elected, somewhat appointed, congressional representatives get done with them!
They try hard to be the first with a fully craptastic review, and to recoup the cost of espresso consumed in the 30 minutes it took to test the machines and write the review, they spread their 200 word "review" over ten ad-laden pages.
You are exactly right -- the hardware review sites are notorious for this.
I think it's the "scoop" mentality that drives such horrible reviews and site designs.
<lafftrack>ha ha ha ha cough ha ha ha ha</lafftrack>
Ha! Give it a week or two, and it'll all seem brand-new again.
I remember one year where the youngling at our table kept casting Magic Missile!
Ha, what a riot! But wait, it gets better.
We had just started the campaign when he wanted to do this -- in an empty room -- and when we asked what he was attacking, he said...
"I'm attacking the darkness"
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
ROFL
HA HA HA HA HA etc
(That's a great video, btw)
I'm partial to double-plus unfud.
Thanks for posting the link to Freemind. I hadn't heard of "mind mapping" per se but this particular technique may help with some current projects.
NTFS is one of the most useful techs they could "open", but I doubt they ever will.
... a beowulf cluster of virtualization servers running beowulf clusters of VPSes!
When they outlaw laptops, only outlaws will have laptops.
You entirely missed my point. It was about *any* level of *automation*. How smart the device is that is doing the automating is irrelevant.
I read your entire writeup and I think the problem Blizzard has is with automation of any sort. Bot programs are only one way; programmable macro keys could serve the same purpose. The difference between the two being a programmable keyboard needs repeat pressing while a program just runs. Just different colors of the same automation, really.
The cancellation sucks, though. Just trying to remove some of the tedium of the game and you get shitcanned.
I haven't seen it for US$50 anywhere. Maybe $80 on sale, but $100/Gb is still the norm for *good* memory.
No, I'm reading Slashdot about five hundred eight time servers. As of 2200GMT.
Sigh.
"Natalie Portman in a tree with hot grits!!! Aiiiieeeeee!"
Please do try it. Undo does work, and Blender has really improved during the 2.3x releases. I've not tried 2.40 yet.
To other Slashdotters who've mentioned UI difficulty:
The interface in blender is designed around having the right hand on the mouse, and the left hand on the keyboard. UI actions are very terse, and therefore slow to learn and easy to forget. Find, read, and do the available tutorials! There is plenty of info to get going, and once you get over the initial hump you'll find Blender *fast* to use.
I guess this is the main difference between Pandora and other services, such as Audiogalaxy. Pandora recommends based on an analysis of the music itself. Audiogalaxy associates songs/artists by user recommendations.
I can see value in both techniques. Pandora's technique will ignore "fashionable" boundaries since it's looking at a song's essence. Hence recommending Def Leppard as a previous poster mentioned.
Pandora is certainly worth testing out.
Since the whole point is that the end user doesn't know the software is installed, how can they adhere to the ridiculous conditions of the EULA? They can't, and therefore, the EULA is pointless.
But analyzing or reverse engineering the software can be done. Somebody else needs to download install it, and given the end user can't be bound to a EULA for software that s/he doesn't know about, s/he can commence a systematic dissection of the machine, disassembling any bits found that are suspicious.
If you look at the download page and the download agreement itself, you'll find that it only excludes people working for antispyware or antivirus companies from downloading it.
The software could still be classified by:
* Basing the classification on the software company's claims of what the SW does
-or-
* Having a friend download and install it who meets the above criteria. Then you can poke around on their machine to see what it does and classify it accordingly. The EULA and PDA are never violated by the person who agreed to them prior to download and installation.
But looking at the following numerous AC posts:
You're right on some of this. I refinanced my inflated mortgage a few years ago and reduced it by $400/month, my cars are paid off (one was purchased outright when the stock market was low back in 2001), and I have no CC debt because I hate owing anybody anything. I live within my means -- there's a principle for ya. I have one child with another on the way. Next!
See above. BTW, class of '87. Next!
Reasonable people will recognize the difference between survival and living with no regard to any principles. If it comes down to survival (need income for food now!) then yes, that will trump being some paragon of virtue. You'd be foolish not to! You gotta live, even if that means resorting to....gonzo telemarketing.
But in the mundane daily exercise of life, you (the nonspecific you) owe it to yourself to stand for something.
It's too bad Dexter Gordon's work has been crapped up with this. He plays a mean tenor sax, BTW.
No, you don't wait to get fired.
If a task is against your principles, ask for a different task. If none exist, ask for a transfer. If impossible, then quit.
Principles are greater than profits.
Or you can be spineless and sell out.
I remember MGR.
I ran it on my hacked 68010-based AT&T 3b1. The hack was disconnecting the A20(?) address pin on the 68010 to allow MGR to access the framebuffer memory space, if I remember correctly. MGR was pretty cool but underutilized.
At the high school level, students that are otherwise served by buses should be forced to use them instead of driving their own cars to school. Too many drive themselves around here.