Single-chip TCP/IP stacks aren't far off, and I was at a workshop not too long ago showing some of the R&D going into millimeter-wave (GHz frequency range) antennas integrated into a single chip.
Half the battle lies with the tools. Getting the electrical (digital/analog/RF) talking to the mechanical, to the thermal design tools and data is a major challenge. Holistic design is what it's called.
Sun stands to make quite a bit on the Java hardware side of things in much the same way...
On one hand it's great because it means anyone can get a hold of the processor core and design embedded systems around it - fantastic in an Academic environment. Sun benefits from up-and-coming design community penetration and familiarity.
But then all those designers have become "tainted" through their exposure; good luck trying to do a clean-room version of the core...
I'm pretty much neutral on this; Sun stands to gain a lot, but so does academia...
more about: I've heard Slashdot called a form of journalism, which seems a bit of a stretch apart from its homegrown essays. But I'm not willing to say it isn't journalism, either.
A few points:
Slashdot keeps the pseudo-tech journalists in check. Facts, terminology, etc.
The forum aspect adds to the original articles in the form of related links. Some article don't even link to the companies and/or individuals mentioned, let alone the topic. (a mild peeve of mine; Slashdot fills that gap quite nicely.:-)
Moderation validates both the original and forum content. A good link or comment gets boosted, while the crap maps to null-space. It's one big brainstorm session!:-)
I second the don't vote unless you use, however what reason could anyone have to vote no?
The only thing I can come up with is that it might "dilute" support for the other versions, but they already seem to have Unix support, so it's almost a non-issue...
XFree86 4.0 is starting to look a lot more feasable as a platform for me to develop my ideas as I had originally wanted - as an extension of the window manager's functionality, not a (self) modified X server. My most likely plan of attack will be to add a second, active icon mode/state, where the the window contents become texture-mapped onto objects in the root. The I/O will be a bit tricky, but I have a couple of texture-based solutions in mind...
Thanks for all the feedback! (didn't expect that one comment to trigger such a large thread:-)
I've never used GGI, so my question to you has to be, can I at least do the same thing with an Xfree 4.0 server? i.e. Is it possible to map an active Xterm session window onto, say, the surface of a tilted square?
The Precision Insight solution mentions direct 3D rendering into a window; direct rendering of a window into a 3D environment isn't mentioned...
Maybe all that's required is extending the capabilities of a traditional (2D) window manager (that was my original idea, but the hardware-direct path in X wasn't there) to support 3D "rooms" and rewrite the basic apps to texture-map onto room-object surfaces...
I'm open to suggestions, and I'd rather not re-invent the wheel; I definitely prefer OpenGL-based solutions. Maybe I'll should take another stab at my original train-of-thought.
Sweet! That's close to what I had in mind. What I have in mind is more a hybrid X-server/window-manager where the individual windows are mapped/rendered into the 3D landscape. From what's shown at that site, it might just be possible.:-)
Just so there's no confusion (I saw my original comment get moderated down to -1, then go up to 2), the donation to Mesa is great, the direct-to-3d hardware support is a good solution for existing X11 platforms. My beef's with being stuck with the 2D mindset of yesteryears.
My own little pet-peeve is that X is still stuck in/with the 2D-window metaphor.
IMHO, direct 3D rendering into multiple X11 windows is too limiting. I want to be able to do it the other way as well; render X11 windows into/onto 3D objects.
I'm tired of looking through windows; I want to be in that room on the other side!
This particular article looks like a hoax, but I did experience a similar problem after months of using my Newton MP2K.
I managed to narrow it down to a change in my hand position; I've never used Graffiti, so that couldn't have been the cause. I had slid my hand closer to the tip of the stylus/pen which, from what I experienced, caused my hand to cramp up when using the same position on "traditional" media. By consciously sliding my hand back up the stem, my style returned (mostly) to normal.
Unfortunately, I have little opportunity or reason to write lengthy prose on paper anymore, so I haven't completely succeeded in making the position an unconscious one again.
Here's one article (April 9, 1999) announcing the 700MHz spec. It exists, just not in desktop quantities; AFAIK, it's only just reaching the OEMs for server integration...
Just so there's no confusion, Direct Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) is a completely different memory architecture from the stuff in a regular PC. That's why the speeds are orders of magnitude faster
There are enough other magazines out there putting free demos of games and the like with their paper product, why doesn't a magazine like Linux Journal do the same?
I buy CMJ New Music every month just for the included mix CD; I'd do the same for something like Linux Journal.
I like this! Not only could you run it mobile/wearable, you could literally use it right over the phone. "Ask" your home system for a piece of information, or tie it into the mail-server at work through the voice-mail system. Lots of potential.
Now, if only I could find that Linux link mentioned in the article... If someone finds it, please post a link.
Regardless of whether "suits" get anything out of the survey, it certainly does answer the questions: who uses free-source and why are people involved in free-source.
That's the only thing which concerns me about RedHat's success. It's the momentum thing, what with all the big (moneyed) players entering the game, mediahype, antitrust cases, et al.
Fortunately, the diversity doesn't seem to have been lost: IBM (PowerPC), Intel (x86, StrongArm), Compaq (Alpha), to name a few.
RedHat's building a concert hall for us. As long as we keep writing the music and rehersing the orchestra, we don't need no stinkin' piper.;-)
Third-last paragraph sez: Cowpland stressed that it was a full-featured package, and not a scaled-down offering produced cheaply....
...So it looks like it could be the full version (parallel to the regular UNIX version - Server version perhaps?), not the downloadable "Personal Edition". There's plenty of room for interpretation from the wording of the article though. YMMV.
Funny, but I was under the impression that was exactly how my Logitech TrackMan Marble worked. Same principal at least.
The ball is patterned (default is a spotted ball), and the sensor tracks the shifting pattern as it moves. Best trackball I've ever used; can't stand mice for long-term activity.
They both still need a surface though; should have used accelerometers instead.
Following up on this one. Maybe what's in order is a simple installation server module (based on Apache?) using Lynx as the non-CLI interface. You wouldn't HAVE to be configured and connected to a network to use it, but once you are, the sky's the limit.
Everyone worth their weight knows how to code in HTML, and command-line configurations are easy enough to embed in cgi scripts, so it wouldn't be hard for the developers involved to take the extra step.
Best part would be scalability - server doesn't care which browser you use, so use Lynx in text-mode and GUI-browser in X-mode. Or if you don't use graphical anything (say, braille or morse-code-thru-speaker), you're still on familiar ground.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Single-chip TCP/IP stacks aren't far off, and I was at a workshop not too long ago showing some of the R&D going into millimeter-wave (GHz frequency range) antennas integrated into a single chip.
:-)
Half the battle lies with the tools. Getting the electrical (digital/analog/RF) talking to the mechanical, to the thermal design tools and data is a major challenge. Holistic design is what it's called.
Very neat stuff; I'm glad I'm in the industry.
Personally, I prefer the ball semiconductor approach for microelectronics on curved surfaces. :-)
Or for antenna-type structures, go for EFAB.
...and then there's that microphone reported a while back.
Off topic, I know, but...
"About Face; The Essentials of User Interface Design", by Alan Cooper
ISBN 1-56884-332-4
I strongly recommend this particular book for anyone looking at doing some serious UI design.
Somewhat off-topic: Remember this little bit of news?
Sun stands to make quite a bit on the Java hardware side of things in much the same way...
On one hand it's great because it means anyone can get a hold of the processor core and design embedded systems around it - fantastic in an Academic environment. Sun benefits from up-and-coming design community penetration and familiarity.
But then all those designers have become "tainted" through their exposure; good luck trying to do a clean-room version of the core...
I'm pretty much neutral on this; Sun stands to gain a lot, but so does academia...
more about: I've heard Slashdot called a form of journalism, which seems a bit of a stretch apart from its homegrown essays. But I'm not willing to say it isn't journalism, either.
A few points:
I second the don't vote unless you use, however what reason could anyone have to vote no?
The only thing I can come up with is that it might "dilute" support for the other versions, but they already seem to have Unix support, so it's almost a non-issue...
Yup, it mentions the 3D support and the like.
:-)
XFree86 4.0 is starting to look a lot more feasable as a platform for me to develop my ideas as I had originally wanted - as an extension of the window manager's functionality, not a (self) modified X server. My most likely plan of attack will be to add a second, active icon mode/state, where the the window contents become texture-mapped onto objects in the root. The I/O will be a bit tricky, but I have a couple of texture-based solutions in mind...
Thanks for all the feedback! (didn't expect that one comment to trigger such a large thread
I've never used GGI, so my question to you has to be, can I at least do the same thing with an Xfree 4.0 server? i.e. Is it possible to map an active Xterm session window onto, say, the surface of a tilted square?
The Precision Insight solution mentions direct 3D rendering into a window; direct rendering of a window into a 3D environment isn't mentioned...
Maybe all that's required is extending the capabilities of a traditional (2D) window manager (that was my original idea, but the hardware-direct path in X wasn't there) to support 3D "rooms" and rewrite the basic apps to texture-map onto room-object surfaces...
I'm open to suggestions, and I'd rather not re-invent the wheel; I definitely prefer OpenGL-based solutions. Maybe I'll should take another stab at my original train-of-thought.
Sweet! That's close to what I had in mind. What I have in mind is more a hybrid X-server/window-manager where the individual windows are mapped/rendered into the 3D landscape. From what's shown at that site, it might just be possible. :-)
Just so there's no confusion (I saw my original comment get moderated down to -1, then go up to 2), the donation to Mesa is great, the direct-to-3d hardware support is a good solution for existing X11 platforms. My beef's with being stuck with the 2D mindset of yesteryears.
My own little pet-peeve is that X is still stuck in/with the 2D-window metaphor.
IMHO, direct 3D rendering into multiple X11 windows is too limiting. I want to be able to do it the other way as well; render X11 windows into/onto 3D objects.
I'm tired of looking through windows; I want to be in that room on the other side!
This particular article looks like a hoax, but I did experience a similar problem after months of using my Newton MP2K.
I managed to narrow it down to a change in my hand position; I've never used Graffiti, so that couldn't have been the cause. I had slid my hand closer to the tip of the stylus/pen which, from what I experienced, caused my hand to cramp up when using the same position on "traditional" media. By consciously sliding my hand back up the stem, my style returned (mostly) to normal.
Unfortunately, I have little opportunity or reason to write lengthy prose on paper anymore, so I haven't completely succeeded in making the position an unconscious one again.
Here's one article (April 9, 1999) announcing the 700MHz spec. It exists, just not in desktop quantities; AFAIK, it's only just reaching the OEMs for server integration...
Just so there's no confusion, Direct Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) is a completely different memory architecture from the stuff in a regular PC. That's why the speeds are orders of magnitude faster
There are enough other magazines out there putting free demos of games and the like with their paper product, why doesn't a magazine like Linux Journal do the same?
I buy CMJ New Music every month just for the included mix CD; I'd do the same for something like Linux Journal.
Thoughts?
Reading through all the crap these kids are having to put up with, it sounds like the script from "Pump Up The Volume", only on a national scale.
http://www.software.ibm.com /is/voicetype/dev_linux.html
I like this! Not only could you run it mobile/wearable, you could literally use it right over the phone. "Ask" your home system for a piece of information, or tie it into the mail-server at work through the voice-mail system. Lots of potential.
Now, if only I could find that Linux link mentioned in the article... If someone finds it, please post a link.
Regardless of whether "suits" get anything out of the survey, it certainly does answer the questions: who uses free-source and why are people involved in free-source.
:-)
It's neat reading through the responses, too.
Good show!
Thad's the one you're thinking of.
That's the only thing which concerns me about RedHat's success. It's the momentum thing, what with all the big (moneyed) players entering the game, mediahype, antitrust cases, et al.
;-)
Fortunately, the diversity doesn't seem to have been lost: IBM (PowerPC), Intel (x86, StrongArm), Compaq (Alpha), to name a few.
RedHat's building a concert hall for us. As long as we keep writing the music and rehersing the orchestra, we don't need no stinkin' piper.
Third-last paragraph sez: Cowpland stressed that it was a full-featured package, and not a scaled-down offering produced cheaply....
...So it looks like it could be the full version (parallel to the regular UNIX version - Server version perhaps?), not the downloadable "Personal Edition". There's plenty of room for interpretation from the wording of the article though. YMMV.
Funny, but I was under the impression that was exactly how my Logitech TrackMan Marble worked. Same principal at least.
The ball is patterned (default is a spotted ball), and the sensor tracks the shifting pattern as it moves. Best trackball I've ever used; can't stand mice for long-term activity.
They both still need a surface though; should have used accelerometers instead.
Finally! I can make full use of my Extreme Digital; support under NT... sucks.
:-)
Now, if only I could trade in my Win-version of Unreal for an OpenGL-Linux version, it'd be bliss.
Following up on this one. Maybe what's in order is a simple installation server module (based on Apache?) using Lynx as the non-CLI interface. You wouldn't HAVE to be configured and connected to a network to use it, but once you are, the sky's the limit.
:-)
Everyone worth their weight knows how to code in HTML, and command-line configurations are easy enough to embed in cgi scripts, so it wouldn't be hard for the developers involved to take the extra step.
Best part would be scalability - server doesn't care which browser you use, so use Lynx in text-mode and GUI-browser in X-mode. Or if you don't use graphical anything (say, braille or morse-code-thru-speaker), you're still on familiar ground.
Thoughts?
Here are some I found:
TeraLogic
Hauppauge Computer Works
BTTV page
I'd be more inclined to throw out the stove than the fridge. :-)