Isn't matter and energy the same thing? E=m*c^2? So shouldn't energy have turned back into matter at some point? Or is this a discussion similar to why life on earth has the chemistry it does when the "lightning in a bottle experiment" develops equal amounts of "left" and "right" handed molecules? Or could the universe have a preference, and condense out matter instead of anti-matter?
BTW, I AM NOT A PHYSICIST. (If it isn't aparent already.)
I did something like this in the one quarter of electronics I took freshman year in high school! (the other quarters were mechanical drawing (drafting), woodshop, and small engine repair) OK, it was a pre-worked lab project and silly easy. IT WAS STILL EASY! I have done similar stuff as needed in college and at home. Just find out what you have at both ends and build a black box to make them match. Chances are that someone else already did the work and published it on the web. I'll admit that I have just followed those directions and have been successful on all projects, though not always on the first try. Phil
However a simple automated parts inventory robot does exist. Previous mentions of "cake trays" means that the robot can store/retrive a cake tray, then the user can sort the disk out of this small quantity. Yes, manual labling would be necessary, but I remember these things on all the items in the grocery store...Oh yea! Bar Codes! Automated labling - just peel and stick! I am sure a numerical code is used to keep track of clients, so it makes sense! Phil
Resin is chock full of VOC and will probably set the sensor off as well. It is also porous and will still let VOC's out over time. Incidently if I was fresh from either of two hobbies I would set this detector off quite admirably. Boat building and resin, or the shooting range and gunpowder smoke residue. I'd have to shower AND make sure that I was not wearing any article of clothing that I wore or handled during earlier activity. Fall and hunting season are going to cause a shock with this one! Phil
I find that the location of the CAPS key is clumsy being next to the A key. Why not just move it up by the function keys so it is out of the way. This might be an acceptable compromise for most people involved. It will make typing in all caps a more deliberate act. Phil
If you ever noticed, searching for a web address usually returns the website in question. If you enter the website in question, say your favorite p()rn site, then the dropdown bar shows what you entered. This is very bad if your computer is also used by your partner, who may have issues with said site. Even worse is if underage occupants of the household also use the computer without full supervision (quite different from unsupervised). If the sites are held in history, then it will take an active look-see to find these questionable sites, where if the dropdown has the site that may be offending on it one click shows the crime.
Keep this in mind when checking up on the delinquints - check history if they are suspicious. Chances are they did not think to clear it out.
On another note, where I work has a hellish proxy system (and old software that gets re-ghosted nightly) that blocks even legitimate, work related entries because many manufacurers home-pages have tags that are blocked. If you can skip the highly graphic entryway your problem is solved!
About 2 years ago West Marine started selling a wireless version of a cell repeater meant for RV's and boats, now available through West Marine for about $500. No connection to the phone required, no license required either. WM Model #:5903380 Phil
I am often working at a stand-up workstation where the keyboard hight is acceptable, but the mousing surface is not, even though both surfaces are the same height. This does cause severe wrist/thumb pain when I cannot avoid the rodent, usually due to web-based apps. I have learned that elevating the mousing surface helped, but positioning the mousing surface on an incline is better. In my case the incline is away from me, but it could be in any direction. The only downside is that the mouse ends up settling to the lowest point. Since I am unable to set up a permanent arrangement, nor do I need one, I attach a mousepad to a clipboard and place this on a stack of store catalogues.
My wife has a similar issue at her home workstation. She requires a slight slope towards her body, and also uses a similar trick of a book and clipboard. I plan to build an adjustable device out of some masonite(pressboard) but have not had time to do woodworking type stuff....basement flooding keeps all other problems and pleasures at bay. Phil
I have the password on my wireless router written on the router, the password to my Linux box written on the box, and several other passwords to devices written on the device.
The general idea is that I don't care if physical access is obtained-I have other thing to worry about then, but I want remote access to be limited.
If the device is accessed physically, then I have someone in my house who ought not be there. I will either be away or more worried about my personal safety, and the safety on my handgun, than having my system turned into a zombie box or having my high speed internet access stolen!
If closing dors is a problem then I must assume that you live in a rental thatdoes not allow wiring to be pulled. Take a tri to your local home improvement store and look at what networking hardware is avaliable. For about US $100 I was able to pull 2 phone lines and 2 network drops to 3 bedrooms and the kitchen(8 new lines of both).
Then only special tool I required was a fishtape. I already had the utility knife, drill with 3/4" spade bit, and screwdriver.
The RJ-45 connectors that go into the wall do not require special tools to assemble. I still went to Radio Shack for patch cables. Home Depot charges 2x as much. I COULD have bought the connector tool and gone blind reciting "Orangewhite orange greenwhite blue bluewhite..." but the tool is almost US$50 for the cheep one!
Since I am only using 2 of the drops I pulled (now at least) Getting the tool to make my own patch cables is too expensive. If I get more than 3 network devices at the same time I will probably get the tool and break even vs premade cables. That would be 6 new cables of various length.
In any hoot, I'll have to upgrade way beyond my 4 port 10-base hub before that happens. The point is I'll be done, and never need to pull new cables again.
Oh, per my eletrician consultant leave about a foot of slack in the wall at each end so you can replace the ends several times when they go bad without pulling new wire.
The last sentence was the only REALLY important one.
But again, medicine is a calling, not a backup plan.
The sentence before that was also really informative.
And with medicine becoming more and more computerized, someone with a strong background in comp sci and medicine/nursing could probably find some pretty good work in hospital IT.
The rest, well, your head blew off for a reason. That's a heavy laundry list of hoops. Phil
Medical Doctor? That's 8 REALLY EXPENSIVE years of your life. Better make sure it is your calling. Don't just look at the MD degree though, Investigate the DO degree as well.
Now Law you say? Well that is an expensive 2 to 4 years of your life that will teach you quite a lot about the world. Again, Not for everyone.
The MBA is good, but a general MBA isn't much. Try seeing what sub-specialties are available. There may be something that is more focused that YOU may be able to use. Knowing WHY your manager is a prick is useful too.
Grain of salt: This is from a person in retail sales with a Mechanical Engineering degree.
Getting the store manager involved is an extra step in getting different parts to play against each other in your benefit. I am an assistant manager at a store and have had this happen to me. As a part of management I then try to NOT replace the part by going through channels available to me to have service done on the item.
I *WILL* contact the manufacturer, the Warranty Department, MY upline (Store manager, district manager, Store operations, etc...) as appropriate. Since MY Store and my company do not want to pay, OR loose a customer we will do what is possible to get the warranty vender, or manufacturer to fulfill the contract.
BTW I have had good success with product that is out of warranty by a short period of time (as much as a year) being serviced by the MANUFACTURER simply because I am the store (represent the store) that sold the product. While this does not provide INSTANT service, it resolves situations nicely.
Keep in mind too that I deal with products that are out of service for 3-6 months of the year. Boats are not used when the lakes are frozen. With a laptop that is used daily this can be further trouble.
Most people will never have use of an EPIRB. Having that feature available would be cool, but I can hardly imagine the fallout of multiple accidental activations of the device. Activation of an EPIRB causes a serious response.
The WAAS enabled GPS would be most beneficial because it WILL help with getting directions and emergency response times. Through use of tower tracking the precision and accuracy is much enhanced with existing infrastructure.
I am still on the lookout for a waterproof compact flip phone. I go fishing in rivers and have drowned my phone a few times( it has survived every try though, after a week of drying!) I don't even need fully waterproof or JIS-7, even though I would appreciate that as a standard.
Just think for everybody else: You are outside and have a rain shower, or what I call a "Sun Shower" where the cloud that is raining is not blocking the beautiful summer day. Now that conference you didn't go to the office for is ruined, and your boss is pissed, AND you are out your nice phone!
I have also heard many people state that they spilled some drink across their desk/table/lap and got enough coffee/tea/juice into their phone to cause it to quit. I have told these people to take out the battery and open every cover or shield it has. Get a bottle of the strongest rubbing alcohol they can, and go to town flushing out the phone. Let the phone sit in pieces for a week, and give it a go. I have had most of these people tell me that their phone survived the experience, and that funny problem or sticky button it had went away too!
Now, about Linux on a phone... It WOULD be nice to have a shell function available to run some type of software. I am sure that the hooks for the games functions are going to be published, but people might find it strange to have some productivity something under "games".
I think that Linux on a phone is important because of the stability the system offers. Since Joe Sixpack is going to be the normal user there really is no worry about the additional features that COULD be included. Even the highest Linux Guru will probably not care in the end as long as the phone performs properly.
Then again phones are going to act more like PDA's, and are already well on their way. It will be important to have stability and the ability to handle broken software without disturbing the "basic" functions of the device such as telecommunication, address and date book functions.
I hope that my $0.02 is at least worth rubbing together Phil
MAC is supposed to natively talk to palm devices. I do not have first had knowledge, but Mom is the Technology coordinator at her gradeschool where everything is Macintosh. She has an older Symbol scanner/palm like they use in hospitals to help keep track of hardware. I know she didn't have to load any new software to get the palm and the Mac to talk.
I am using Windows and Linux, but I gave up trying to use a palm a while ago. I have a Garmin IQue that I really need to get working again, especially since I have a new job that puts me on the road a bit.
I hope someone has first hand information out there.
I am running Slackware on my own machine. I am not a guru administrator. I have found that the documentation for software installation and upgrades use a different structure than Slackware uses. This causes much confusion on my part.
I tried SuSE and Red Hat in College, but was not impressed by the limitations that the installation software created. I like booting to a command line, even though my first command is usually "startx".
I have not had the opportunity to try *BSD. While I feel that wiping my computer is a normal thing, I enjoy it much less than I used to. In fact I have been actively trying to learn how to fix problems without resorting to a format.
I want to be able to administer my own machine reliably, but probably will not have privileges on machines I do not own. Where (or what) are good sources of reference to learn from?
I purchased O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell a few months ago and have found it helpful, but assuming too much knowhow from the start. I am no longer a helpdesk employee, so I have limited resources to draw assistance from.
I do not find ANY distro I have used to be KISS, but have had the best success with Slackware. I still have problems with LILO so I haven't upgraded the kernel because the 2.6 kernel will not boot from a floppy.
I require dual boot with Windows because some software I run for work are windows only. Also the support center won't talk to me unless I am in windows.(happily I don't talk to them much) I find that the web applications run better in Konquer spoofing Explorer 5.5 than in Windows running Explorer!
I have a hasp built into my case to lock the computer shut. I even had a padlock on it for a while at school. The hasp is so flimsy that a friend with the same case twisted the lock off with his bare hands because the key got jammed.
Locks on cases are not very useful. The metal that the case is made of is not adequate. The lock is so much stronger than the case, the lock will break the case.
This is like the apartment that had the reinforced steel door. The thieves cut a hole in the drywall 32 inches over with a utility knife and got everything they wanted. Yes, many if not most apartments are this insecure. (The really good ones have 1/4 or 1/2 inch plywood below the drywall in the halls. Not much better.)
End result is physical security must be adequate: if you can touch the box, you can get access.
On another note, the case is usually OFF my box, and was ALWAYS off at school (Steam heat is WONDERFUL!). The lock went to a cable so the box wouldn't walk. This is an example of apparent security. The item was secured against casual theft, nothing else.
On a similar note, my wife uses her fancy Athalon based laptop to rip the CD collection (over 20 GB on a 40 GB drive, BTW how much is a laptop HDD?) and her work logs (probably around 20MB now) and I happily let her use the performance machine while I am learning to program C in Linux on my dual PPro and playing Nethack!
I can't afford a new computer, even though I will need one soon. I am quite content in truth. The only time she want me to touch her computer is when XP does something wrong. I usually end up having her call Tech support because it's paid for.
I remember tweaking boot disks. I never got all my games running properly though. I had a few that would address memory at specific registers, so you had to load everything around the game! Some of my friends got them working so I let them keep the disks.
All fixed-mount marine VHF radios produced are now DSC enabled. This means that when you want to equip your boat, dingy, log raft, canoe, yacht....Whatever...the radio you purchase will either be an old design (West Marine has a large backstock of Standard Horizon's Eclipse+ radio) or DSC enabled. You will still need a GPS unit to feed data to the radio.
End result is that most individuals involved in boating will have a DSC radio and GPS in the very near future. This will save lives.
There will still be some die-hards I feel should be commended for relying on tried and true seamanship skills instead of gadgets. I know more than a few people, and several classes of racing boats that go so far as to BAN electronics on the boats (Ok, usually due to lack of batteries). For the racing classes, look up Highlander, Y-flyer, and J-21. The boats may be little more than dingy's to many people, and definitly daysailers to all, but they still have an ethic of not using electronics to alter how the boats are raced.
Starting in 2000 all vessels over 300 tons were required to upgrade to Digital Selective Calling (DSC) radio equipment. This allows for better distress monitoring among other uses. At the same time all new marine VHF radio designs were required to be DSC enabled. There was a grandfather clause that allowed old designs to be produced until yesterday (Dec 31, 2004).
This means that when you go boating and (god forbid) something happens, very little knowhow is required to start an emergency response You just push a little button on your radio and your GPS coordinates are transmitted to all vessels around you, including the Coast Guard and all vessels over 300 tons.
You do need to register to obtain an MMSI number which will request your boat and personal information. This information is to be used in case of a Search and RESCUE which will hopefully not turn into a Search and RECOVERY. (the basic difference is if you need a medic or a coroner)
The use of weather monitoring buoys as transmition monitors is a logical step to help coordinate rescue efforts. Yes it is also "Big Brother" watching us. This does not mean that it will restrict the rights of how commerce occurs, and may even expedite trade by making customs less intense. The cargo will already be partially identified, so when the government officials show up they know what to expect.
As a final note, private not-for-hire vessels are not required to carry ANY electronic OR electrical devices by any government. Yes, running lights are required on most vessels at night, but oil lamps have worked for centuries.
Unlike this post I LIKE time zones. It is less confusing to have a standardized time with just an offset for your region than to learn when the sun comes up every day as you travel. If having coordination is important be like the military and talk "Zulu" or GMT time. Memorize your offset is all cases because it really does help with people in other cities/countries.
Now on Daylight Saving Time. It is a nice concept that was invented for economic reasons that daylight is used more efficiently. While I support it, it is a PAIN! I live in a daylight saving time zone, but am sometimes working in a NON-daylight saving time zone. End result is I am usually slightly early when I am at that site(it is west of me) and then have a habit of showing up before the doors are unlocked! I'm glad I am not at that site very often!
On the other hand, I can enjoy the evening during the summer. Go out sailing in the evening winds and still have time to get back before dark.
Daylight savings is a good thing for most people. It is a difficult thing for IT professionals who are never seeing the light of day in the first place.
Then again never seeing daylight is a bad thing too.
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Isn't matter and energy the same thing? E=m*c^2? So shouldn't energy have turned back into matter at some point? Or is this a discussion similar to why life on earth has the chemistry it does when the "lightning in a bottle experiment" develops equal amounts of "left" and "right" handed molecules? Or could the universe have a preference, and condense out matter instead of anti-matter?
BTW, I AM NOT A PHYSICIST. (If it isn't aparent already.)
Phil
I did something like this in the one quarter of electronics I took freshman year in high school! (the other quarters were mechanical drawing (drafting), woodshop, and small engine repair)
OK, it was a pre-worked lab project and silly easy.
IT WAS STILL EASY! I have done similar stuff as needed in college and at home. Just find out what you have at both ends and build a black box to make them match. Chances are that someone else already did the work and published it on the web. I'll admit that I have just followed those directions and have been successful on all projects, though not always on the first try.
Phil
However a simple automated parts inventory robot does exist. Previous mentions of "cake trays" means that the robot can store/retrive a cake tray, then the user can sort the disk out of this small quantity. Yes, manual labling would be necessary, but I remember these things on all the items in the grocery store...Oh yea! Bar Codes! Automated labling - just peel and stick! I am sure a numerical code is used to keep track of clients, so it makes sense!
Phil
Resin is chock full of VOC and will probably set the sensor off as well. It is also porous and will still let VOC's out over time.
Incidently if I was fresh from either of two hobbies I would set this detector off quite admirably. Boat building and resin, or the shooting range and gunpowder smoke residue. I'd have to shower AND make sure that I was not wearing any article of clothing that I wore or handled during earlier activity.
Fall and hunting season are going to cause a shock with this one!
Phil
I find that the location of the CAPS key is clumsy being next to the A key. Why not just move it up by the function keys so it is out of the way. This might be an acceptable compromise for most people involved. It will make typing in all caps a more deliberate act.
Phil
If you ever noticed, searching for a web address usually returns the website in question. If you enter the website in question, say your favorite p()rn site, then the dropdown bar shows what you entered. This is very bad if your computer is also used by your partner, who may have issues with said site. Even worse is if underage occupants of the household also use the computer without full supervision (quite different from unsupervised). If the sites are held in history, then it will take an active look-see to find these questionable sites, where if the dropdown has the site that may be offending on it one click shows the crime.
Keep this in mind when checking up on the delinquints - check history if they are suspicious. Chances are they did not think to clear it out.
On another note, where I work has a hellish proxy system (and old software that gets re-ghosted nightly) that blocks even legitimate, work related entries because many manufacurers home-pages have tags that are blocked. If you can skip the highly graphic entryway your problem is solved!
Phil
About 2 years ago West Marine started selling a wireless version of a cell repeater meant for RV's and boats, now available through West Marine for about $500. No connection to the phone required, no license required either.
WM Model #:5903380
Phil
You know, I rarely use my thumb for mousing on my 3 button mouse...Really should do a poll on that...
Phil
I am often working at a stand-up workstation where the keyboard hight is acceptable, but the mousing surface is not, even though both surfaces are the same height. This does cause severe wrist/thumb pain when I cannot avoid the rodent, usually due to web-based apps. I have learned that elevating the mousing surface helped, but positioning the mousing surface on an incline is better. In my case the incline is away from me, but it could be in any direction. The only downside is that the mouse ends up settling to the lowest point. Since I am unable to set up a permanent arrangement, nor do I need one, I attach a mousepad to a clipboard and place this on a stack of store catalogues.
My wife has a similar issue at her home workstation. She requires a slight slope towards her body, and also uses a similar trick of a book and clipboard. I plan to build an adjustable device out of some masonite(pressboard) but have not had time to do woodworking type stuff....basement flooding keeps all other problems and pleasures at bay.
Phil
I have the password on my wireless router written on the router, the password to my Linux box written on the box, and several other passwords to devices written on the device.
The general idea is that I don't care if physical access is obtained-I have other thing to worry about then, but I want remote access to be limited.
If the device is accessed physically, then I have someone in my house who ought not be there. I will either be away or more worried about my personal safety, and the safety on my handgun, than having my system turned into a zombie box or having my high speed internet access stolen!
Phil
If closing dors is a problem then I must assume that you live in a rental thatdoes not allow wiring to be pulled. Take a tri to your local home improvement store and look at what networking hardware is avaliable. For about US $100 I was able to pull 2 phone lines and 2 network drops to 3 bedrooms and the kitchen(8 new lines of both).
Then only special tool I required was a fishtape. I already had the utility knife, drill with 3/4" spade bit, and screwdriver.
The RJ-45 connectors that go into the wall do not require special tools to assemble. I still went to Radio Shack for patch cables. Home Depot charges 2x as much. I COULD have bought the connector tool and gone blind reciting "Orangewhite orange greenwhite blue bluewhite..." but the tool is almost US$50 for the cheep one!
Since I am only using 2 of the drops I pulled (now at least) Getting the tool to make my own patch cables is too expensive. If I get more than 3 network devices at the same time I will probably get the tool and break even vs premade cables. That would be 6 new cables of various length.
In any hoot, I'll have to upgrade way beyond my 4 port 10-base hub before that happens. The point is I'll be done, and never need to pull new cables again.
Oh, per my eletrician consultant leave about a foot of slack in the wall at each end so you can replace the ends several times when they go bad without pulling new wire.
Have fun!
Phil
The sentence before that was also really informative.
The rest, well, your head blew off for a reason. That's a heavy laundry list of hoops.
Phil
Medical Doctor? That's 8 REALLY EXPENSIVE years of your life. Better make sure it is your calling. Don't just look at the MD degree though, Investigate the DO degree as well.
Now Law you say? Well that is an expensive 2 to 4 years of your life that will teach you quite a lot about the world. Again, Not for everyone.
The MBA is good, but a general MBA isn't much. Try seeing what sub-specialties are available. There may be something that is more focused that YOU may be able to use. Knowing WHY your manager is a prick is useful too.
Grain of salt: This is from a person in retail sales with a Mechanical Engineering degree.
Have fun
Phil
Are we talking seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks or Months? Computing hasn't been around long enough for triple digit uptime in years.
Phil
I miss my apple][ too
Phil
Getting the store manager involved is an extra step in getting different parts to play against each other in your benefit. I am an assistant manager at a store and have had this happen to me. As a part of management I then try to NOT replace the part by going through channels available to me to have service done on the item.
I *WILL* contact the manufacturer, the Warranty Department, MY upline (Store manager, district manager, Store operations, etc...) as appropriate. Since MY Store and my company do not want to pay, OR loose a customer we will do what is possible to get the warranty vender, or manufacturer to fulfill the contract.
BTW I have had good success with product that is out of warranty by a short period of time (as much as a year) being serviced by the MANUFACTURER simply because I am the store (represent the store) that sold the product. While this does not provide INSTANT service, it resolves situations nicely.
Keep in mind too that I deal with products that are out of service for 3-6 months of the year. Boats are not used when the lakes are frozen. With a laptop that is used daily this can be further trouble.
Phil
Most people will never have use of an EPIRB. Having that feature available would be cool, but I can hardly imagine the fallout of multiple accidental activations of the device. Activation of an EPIRB causes a serious response.
The WAAS enabled GPS would be most beneficial because it WILL help with getting directions and emergency response times. Through use of tower tracking the precision and accuracy is much enhanced with existing infrastructure.
I am still on the lookout for a waterproof compact flip phone. I go fishing in rivers and have drowned my phone a few times( it has survived every try though, after a week of drying!) I don't even need fully waterproof or JIS-7, even though I would appreciate that as a standard.
Just think for everybody else: You are outside and have a rain shower, or what I call a "Sun Shower" where the cloud that is raining is not blocking the beautiful summer day. Now that conference you didn't go to the office for is ruined, and your boss is pissed, AND you are out your nice phone!
I have also heard many people state that they spilled some drink across their desk/table/lap and got enough coffee/tea/juice into their phone to cause it to quit. I have told these people to take out the battery and open every cover or shield it has. Get a bottle of the strongest rubbing alcohol they can, and go to town flushing out the phone. Let the phone sit in pieces for a week, and give it a go. I have had most of these people tell me that their phone survived the experience, and that funny problem or sticky button it had went away too!
Now, about Linux on a phone... It WOULD be nice to have a shell function available to run some type of software. I am sure that the hooks for the games functions are going to be published, but people might find it strange to have some productivity something under "games".
I think that Linux on a phone is important because of the stability the system offers. Since Joe Sixpack is going to be the normal user there really is no worry about the additional features that COULD be included. Even the highest Linux Guru will probably not care in the end as long as the phone performs properly.
Then again phones are going to act more like PDA's, and are already well on their way. It will be important to have stability and the ability to handle broken software without disturbing the "basic" functions of the device such as telecommunication, address and date book functions.
I hope that my $0.02 is at least worth rubbing together
Phil
MAC is supposed to natively talk to palm devices. I do not have first had knowledge, but Mom is the Technology coordinator at her gradeschool where everything is Macintosh. She has an older Symbol scanner/palm like they use in hospitals to help keep track of hardware. I know she didn't have to load any new software to get the palm and the Mac to talk.
I am using Windows and Linux, but I gave up trying to use a palm a while ago. I have a Garmin IQue that I really need to get working again, especially since I have a new job that puts me on the road a bit.
I hope someone has first hand information out there.
Phil
RC hands down.
Then I think one of the generic colas, but I like ALL cola that ain't diet so it don't matter!
Phil
I am running Slackware on my own machine. I am not a guru administrator. I have found that the documentation for software installation and upgrades use a different structure than Slackware uses. This causes much confusion on my part.
I tried SuSE and Red Hat in College, but was not impressed by the limitations that the installation software created. I like booting to a command line, even though my first command is usually "startx".
I have not had the opportunity to try *BSD. While I feel that wiping my computer is a normal thing, I enjoy it much less than I used to. In fact I have been actively trying to learn how to fix problems without resorting to a format.
I want to be able to administer my own machine reliably, but probably will not have privileges on machines I do not own. Where (or what) are good sources of reference to learn from?
I purchased O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell a few months ago and have found it helpful, but assuming too much knowhow from the start. I am no longer a helpdesk employee, so I have limited resources to draw assistance from.
I do not find ANY distro I have used to be KISS, but have had the best success with Slackware. I still have problems with LILO so I haven't upgraded the kernel because the 2.6 kernel will not boot from a floppy.
I require dual boot with Windows because some software I run for work are windows only. Also the support center won't talk to me unless I am in windows.(happily I don't talk to them much) I find that the web applications run better in Konquer spoofing Explorer 5.5 than in Windows running Explorer!
Phil
I have a hasp built into my case to lock the computer shut. I even had a padlock on it for a while at school. The hasp is so flimsy that a friend with the same case twisted the lock off with his bare hands because the key got jammed.
Locks on cases are not very useful. The metal that the case is made of is not adequate. The lock is so much stronger than the case, the lock will break the case.
This is like the apartment that had the reinforced steel door. The thieves cut a hole in the drywall 32 inches over with a utility knife and got everything they wanted. Yes, many if not most apartments are this insecure. (The really good ones have 1/4 or 1/2 inch plywood below the drywall in the halls. Not much better.)
End result is physical security must be adequate: if you can touch the box, you can get access.
On another note, the case is usually OFF my box, and was ALWAYS off at school (Steam heat is WONDERFUL!). The lock went to a cable so the box wouldn't walk. This is an example of apparent security. The item was secured against casual theft, nothing else.
Phil
On a similar note, my wife uses her fancy Athalon based laptop to rip the CD collection (over 20 GB on a 40 GB drive, BTW how much is a laptop HDD?) and her work logs (probably around 20MB now) and I happily let her use the performance machine while I am learning to program C in Linux on my dual PPro and playing Nethack!
I can't afford a new computer, even though I will need one soon. I am quite content in truth. The only time she want me to touch her computer is when XP does something wrong. I usually end up having her call Tech support because it's paid for.
I remember tweaking boot disks. I never got all my games running properly though. I had a few that would address memory at specific registers, so you had to load everything around the game! Some of my friends got them working so I let them keep the disks.
Phil
Good comment, I did make an inaccurate funny!
All fixed-mount marine VHF radios produced are now DSC enabled. This means that when you want to equip your boat, dingy, log raft, canoe, yacht....Whatever...the radio you purchase will either be an old design (West Marine has a large backstock of Standard Horizon's Eclipse+ radio) or DSC enabled. You will still need a GPS unit to feed data to the radio.
End result is that most individuals involved in boating will have a DSC radio and GPS in the very near future. This will save lives.
There will still be some die-hards I feel should be commended for relying on tried and true seamanship skills instead of gadgets. I know more than a few people, and several classes of racing boats that go so far as to BAN electronics on the boats (Ok, usually due to lack of batteries). For the racing classes, look up Highlander, Y-flyer, and J-21. The boats may be little more than dingy's to many people, and definitly daysailers to all, but they still have an ethic of not using electronics to alter how the boats are raced.
Phil
Starting in 2000 all vessels over 300 tons were required to upgrade to Digital Selective Calling (DSC) radio equipment. This allows for better distress monitoring among other uses. At the same time all new marine VHF radio designs were required to be DSC enabled. There was a grandfather clause that allowed old designs to be produced until yesterday (Dec 31, 2004).
This means that when you go boating and (god forbid) something happens, very little knowhow is required to start an emergency response You just push a little button on your radio and your GPS coordinates are transmitted to all vessels around you, including the Coast Guard and all vessels over 300 tons.
You do need to register to obtain an MMSI number which will request your boat and personal information. This information is to be used in case of a Search and RESCUE which will hopefully not turn into a Search and RECOVERY. (the basic difference is if you need a medic or a coroner)
Yes there is a system that is similar using Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon or EPIRB
The use of weather monitoring buoys as transmition monitors is a logical step to help coordinate rescue efforts. Yes it is also "Big Brother" watching us. This does not mean that it will restrict the rights of how commerce occurs, and may even expedite trade by making customs less intense. The cargo will already be partially identified, so when the government officials show up they know what to expect.
As a final note, private not-for-hire vessels are not required to carry ANY electronic OR electrical devices by any government. Yes, running lights are required on most vessels at night, but oil lamps have worked for centuries.
Just my $.02
Phil
Unlike this post I LIKE time zones. It is less confusing to have a standardized time with just an offset for your region than to learn when the sun comes up every day as you travel. If having coordination is important be like the military and talk "Zulu" or GMT time. Memorize your offset is all cases because it really does help with people in other cities/countries.
Now on Daylight Saving Time. It is a nice concept that was invented for economic reasons that daylight is used more efficiently. While I support it, it is a PAIN! I live in a daylight saving time zone, but am sometimes working in a NON-daylight saving time zone. End result is I am usually slightly early when I am at that site(it is west of me) and then have a habit of showing up before the doors are unlocked! I'm glad I am not at that site very often!
On the other hand, I can enjoy the evening during the summer. Go out sailing in the evening winds and still have time to get back before dark.
Daylight savings is a good thing for most people. It is a difficult thing for IT professionals who are never seeing the light of day in the first place.
Then again never seeing daylight is a bad thing too.
Phil