I have a StereoLink 1200 that I use as my sound card (output only) that plugs into USB. The sound quality is better then you will ever get with any standard PC sound device since the D/A convertion is electrically decoupled from the PC's power supply.
There's 650MBytes of space on a 74 minute CD. That's 8.8MBytes per minute of data, or.15MB of data per second.USB is 12Mbit/second which is 1.5MBytes per second. I would say that there is more then enough bandwidth for stereo audio on USB. USB is a syncronous bus, just as PCI is. Just because the device is external doesn't mean the latency is going to be significantly higher. If your USB controller is a PCI device, you'll get at most a few clock cycles of additional latency. Considering how your bus cycles will be shared with the incoming compressed data, and the outgoing video too, the average latency won't change measurably. You won't be able to tell.
Yes, but did they loose because the market wasn't there, or because they placed unnecicary and unacceptable restrictions on their service. We will never know.
Sorry, but Theif was selling and Diakatana wasn't done. Someone inside could have looked at Diakatana and seen it wasn't going anywhere. Instead Looking Glass and Theif died and the world was blessed with Diakatana that looked like ass, wasn't fun, and was in the bargain bin in weeks... Sure funding Ion was a good idea in the begining, but when Ion had blown the initial cash, and still hadn't produced they should have dropped the Dallas office and canned Diakatana instead of dropping Looking Glass and flushing their money down the toilet.
Then again, Looking Glass should have been able to get funding elsewhere....
Damnit, I had a nice long reply, and IE crashed and I lost it... Here's a summary of the main points, as I don't want to re-write it at 3:20 AM. It probably won't make any sense at all...
It's not just you're post that ticked me off, it built up slowly as I read all the prior comments.
I'm not saying that you would even need to write your own database front end there. I'm just saying that writing one does not a computer scientist make. It only makes you a computer programmer, even if you "design" the whole thing yourself (On top of someone else's database engine with nice libraries...). While you in particular didn't mention a database front end, it seems to me that most people who think that they know everything they need to get a CS degree without having actually done it tend to be people who "designed" a database front end.
Physicists and Mech. engineers are just as likely to be good programmers as Computer Scientist these days, since computer science has nothing to do with programming, but the theories and mathamatics behind algorithms. The programming is just a tool for expressing ideas and proving concepts, and with the proliferation of computers programming has become a readily avilable and useful tool in other fields as well as CS.
People who are only good programmers without having a good foundation in CS concepts and discreet math will not be as productive, unless the complete design is spelled out for them. Most self proclaimed computer scientists spend most of their time reinventing the wheel, and having a hard time communicating with other people in the field.
It's mighty presumptious to assume that because something seems to be working for you that it is representitive of what the rest of the world needs. Even if you're right, you don't know that's the case without an outside frame of reference. I'm not being hostile towards you, just towards the general attitude that people seem to have that what you learn getting a CS degree is not all that important. Dispite what many people seem to think, there is a point to all that stuff they teach you.
For some reason, most managers and freshman don't seem to understand the difference between a computer scientist and a programmer, and will go out hiring computer scientists when they want programmers, or go to a university for a CS degree when they want the knowledge you get at a 2 year techincal school. Itis probably because when people first started getting computer science degrees, they were the only people learning to program along with learning the theory. Even though that's not the case anymore, the precident is set in the minds of those doing the hiring or the advising of students.
You must be using some strange definition of "real world" that I was previously unaware of. When did "real world" come to mean "the place where you work"? Here's a hint: Not all computer programs are a bunch of fancy buttons for updating a database. Some programs are actually used to do calculations.
Being strong in syntax and coding style is not enough. You need to know the math and theory behind the algorithms. Otherwise you will forever be a programmer at the bottom of the corporate food chain.
--
Writing database front ends is not software engineering.
First off, Ignore all the people saying it would cook the fish. Obviously, you'd include the same sort of radiator setup you would in a PC watercooling situation, otherwise the water would continue to heat up until it was as hot as the CPU and you wouldn't have any cooling anymore. You could use temperature controlled fans on the radiator to control the tank temperature.
Secondly, and more importantly, how would you keep crap from growing in your hoses and radiator? Your radiator would be clogged with green hairy crap in no time. Then you'd get horrible flow and inefficient cooling. There is no need for such a large resivoir for your PC water cooling unless you want few fans. You definatly want some horibly toxic life killing chemicals in your coolant though.
I don't think I can swear in my reply as many times as you did, but I'm going to give it a shot, because I want to be like you.
Sony breaks even on the PS2 as of a few months ago. Microsoft is taking a huge hit. Sony has the luxury of being able to lower their prices due to a years worth of cost reductions, Microsoft doesn't. Not that I think it matters since, as it said in my previous post, I think the PS2 and the GameCube have a better chance since they have (and will continue to have) the better games. If anything good ever does come out for the X-Box it'll just come out for the PC in a few months anyway.
I'm sorry if I offended you by suggesting that something other then the device you blew $300+ on might prevail. I can understand how that would be worrisome to you on a twelve year old's salary.
I'm going to start by saying that in no way was I advocating giving up Windows for Linux, I was simply criticising the article for being, in my opinion, redundant. Just because 'linux' is in my domain name doesn't mean I am saying more then I actually said. I'd also like to congratulate you on finding the subtle undertext of my message and clearly pointing it out in the first line of your comment.
That being said, what I'm about to say is in no way realted to my initial comment or your opinions of my initial comment. It is completely directed at what you said while you weren't looking at "the big picture".
Your arguments are only valid in the case of a user who already uses Windows, and finds no substantial faults in it's operation or feature set. Such a user gains no benifit from switching to linux other then cash in pocket next upgrade round. In fact they loose the time it requires them to learn a new system, and that can easily offset that small stack of cash.
Let's assume a typical word processing, internet browsing user, as when you start talking about specialty tasks the arguments change. A person not familliar with computers will have a roughly equal time learning how to operate either a Linux system or a Windows system. In the case of a new user Windows does not "offer the end user substantially more", in fact it will offer the user less. The new user will have to pay for the OS in the Windows case and not in the Linux case. There are other advantages to choosing Linux initially over windows that I won't enumerate here because the mere cost point is enough to satisfy my argument. I have been both a Windows and Linux administrator and developer, and I am currently both a Windows and Linux user, so I'm aware of the tradeoffs. Working in support has been evidence enough to me that you get basically the same questions and issues from new users starting on the Linux or Windows platform. Unfortunatly, there is no way to turn the "Linux is only free..." quote around on Windows people, because Windows is not free in the first place otherwise the same argument would apply.
Nothing is straghtforward with either Linux or Windows to a new user sitting down at a machine for the first time. Paying for a Microsoft license is only worth it when you factor in the costs of switching away from Microsoft. It is not worth it if you have no current dependance or attachment to the Windows platform.
Why I click on the "Start" button? Haven't I already started? - My Mom
The person using Linux produces the same document as the Windows person but had to have more training and specialized knowledge
How do you figure? Maybe if you mean "knowledge that the person doesn't already possess" when you say "more specialized knowledge". Both systems require the "special pen, eraser, etc". Let me turn your argument around on you. With linux the "special pen, eraser, etc" come in the box, but with Windows you have to go out and buy it on your own in a seperate box for more money. After that, with Windows, when the "special pen" runs out (New version of office comes out and you can't read other peoples documents anymore) you have to go get another one.
And if you've never touched a computer before, you can probably write that document faster on a piece of paper. Same old story about people not wanting a new learning curve, just written with different words...
Assuming a level playing field, you have a 1 in 3 chance of being right. But there isn't a level playing field. Two of the participants have prior experience in the console market. One of those two has better third party games then X-Box, and the other has better first party games then X-Box. The good sports games and such will be on all three. As we've all seen, It's the console with the best games that wins, not the one with the 'better' specs. So which console are people going to buy? GameCube, or PS2?
Oh, for a little twist, soon X-Box will be the most expensive option...
Do you have a WonderSwan yet? Is the FF2 port to that in english?
Hopefully Ban-Dai will release their handheld in the US so we can finally have a handheld that's supported by Square in the US again. Besides, it looks way cooler then GBA.
You need to start shopping at EB. If decide you don't like a game and you still have the reciept, you can bring it back. Even if you've already opened it and played it. Works great when you find out that a game only takes 2 hours to play and has no replay value.
The concept is obvious, sure, but are the details of how to design a device that performs the functions of a Tivo or Replay box that obvious? Even if the major functionality is obvious, the details are probably still patent worthy. Who knows what problems they had to solve that you can't even think of.
You'd be surprised. If all you want is data storage the cards are very inexpensive.
A quick check on google shows that mag strips cards average around $0.30 each in quantities of 100. Smartcards that hold 1k of data are the same price.
If cheap is your main requirement, you'll likely be better off with smart cards. Mag stripe readers have a mechanical component (to determine what speed you're running the card through at) Where a passive smart card reader is basically a cable with a fancy socket.You can get fully capable smart card readers for under $30. I found this link on google in seconds: http://www.danaco.net. They even have unassembled readers that you can put together yourself to save extra bucks.
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I have a StereoLink 1200 that I use as my sound card (output only) that plugs into USB. The sound quality is better then you will ever get with any standard PC sound device since the D/A convertion is electrically decoupled from the PC's power supply.
.15MB of data per second.USB is 12Mbit/second which is 1.5MBytes per second. I would say that there is more then enough bandwidth for stereo audio on USB. USB is a syncronous bus, just as PCI is. Just because the device is external doesn't mean the latency is going to be significantly higher. If your USB controller is a PCI device, you'll get at most a few clock cycles of additional latency. Considering how your bus cycles will be shared with the incoming compressed data, and the outgoing video too, the average latency won't change measurably. You won't be able to tell.
There's 650MBytes of space on a 74 minute CD. That's 8.8MBytes per minute of data, or
Yes, but did they loose because the market wasn't there, or because they placed unnecicary and unacceptable restrictions on their service. We will never know.
Sorry, but Theif was selling and Diakatana wasn't done. Someone inside could have looked at Diakatana and seen it wasn't going anywhere. Instead Looking Glass and Theif died and the world was blessed with Diakatana that looked like ass, wasn't fun, and was in the bargain bin in weeks... Sure funding Ion was a good idea in the begining, but when Ion had blown the initial cash, and still hadn't produced they should have dropped the Dallas office and canned Diakatana instead of dropping Looking Glass and flushing their money down the toilet.
Then again, Looking Glass should have been able to get funding elsewhere....
No, but technically putting DVD video on a CD still requires a license. How did you encode the video in the first place?
FMV in many games is stored as DVD video.
Damnit, I had a nice long reply, and IE crashed and I lost it... Here's a summary of the main points, as I don't want to re-write it at 3:20 AM. It probably won't make any sense at all...
It's not just you're post that ticked me off, it built up slowly as I read all the prior comments.
I'm not saying that you would even need to write your own database front end there. I'm just saying that writing one does not a computer scientist make. It only makes you a computer programmer, even if you "design" the whole thing yourself (On top of someone else's database engine with nice libraries...). While you in particular didn't mention a database front end, it seems to me that most people who think that they know everything they need to get a CS degree without having actually done it tend to be people who "designed" a database front end.
Physicists and Mech. engineers are just as likely to be good programmers as Computer Scientist these days, since computer science has nothing to do with programming, but the theories and mathamatics behind algorithms. The programming is just a tool for expressing ideas and proving concepts, and with the proliferation of computers programming has become a readily avilable and useful tool in other fields as well as CS.
People who are only good programmers without having a good foundation in CS concepts and discreet math will not be as productive, unless the complete design is spelled out for them. Most self proclaimed computer scientists spend most of their time reinventing the wheel, and having a hard time communicating with other people in the field.
It's mighty presumptious to assume that because something seems to be working for you that it is representitive of what the rest of the world needs. Even if you're right, you don't know that's the case without an outside frame of reference. I'm not being hostile towards you, just towards the general attitude that people seem to have that what you learn getting a CS degree is not all that important. Dispite what many people seem to think, there is a point to all that stuff they teach you.
For some reason, most managers and freshman don't seem to understand the difference between a computer scientist and a programmer, and will go out hiring computer scientists when they want programmers, or go to a university for a CS degree when they want the knowledge you get at a 2 year techincal school. Itis probably because when people first started getting computer science degrees, they were the only people learning to program along with learning the theory. Even though that's not the case anymore, the precident is set in the minds of those doing the hiring or the advising of students.
You must be using some strange definition of "real world" that I was previously unaware of. When did "real world" come to mean "the place where you work"? Here's a hint: Not all computer programs are a bunch of fancy buttons for updating a database. Some programs are actually used to do calculations.
Being strong in syntax and coding style is not enough. You need to know the math and theory behind the algorithms. Otherwise you will forever be a programmer at the bottom of the corporate food chain.
--
Writing database front ends is not software engineering.
First off, Ignore all the people saying it would cook the fish. Obviously, you'd include the same sort of radiator setup you would in a PC watercooling situation, otherwise the water would continue to heat up until it was as hot as the CPU and you wouldn't have any cooling anymore. You could use temperature controlled fans on the radiator to control the tank temperature.
Secondly, and more importantly, how would you keep crap from growing in your hoses and radiator? Your radiator would be clogged with green hairy crap in no time. Then you'd get horrible flow and inefficient cooling. There is no need for such a large resivoir for your PC water cooling unless you want few fans. You definatly want some horibly toxic life killing chemicals in your coolant though.
I don't think I can swear in my reply as many times as you did, but I'm going to give it a shot, because I want to be like you.
Sony breaks even on the PS2 as of a few months ago. Microsoft is taking a huge hit. Sony has the luxury of being able to lower their prices due to a years worth of cost reductions, Microsoft doesn't. Not that I think it matters since, as it said in my previous post, I think the PS2 and the GameCube have a better chance since they have (and will continue to have) the better games. If anything good ever does come out for the X-Box it'll just come out for the PC in a few months anyway.
I'm sorry if I offended you by suggesting that something other then the device you blew $300+ on might prevail. I can understand how that would be worrisome to you on a twelve year old's salary.
Oh, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck... There.
Subscribing to a list doesn't get you spam, posting does. If you want to participate, you get spam.
Posting to usenet will get you spam too.
They must have averaged in people with no e-mail address.
The same way they know to send it to your sister :)
I'm going to start by saying that in no way was I advocating giving up Windows for Linux, I was simply criticising the article for being, in my opinion, redundant. Just because 'linux' is in my domain name doesn't mean I am saying more then I actually said. I'd also like to congratulate you on finding the subtle undertext of my message and clearly pointing it out in the first line of your comment.
That being said, what I'm about to say is in no way realted to my initial comment or your opinions of my initial comment. It is completely directed at what you said while you weren't looking at "the big picture".
Your arguments are only valid in the case of a user who already uses Windows, and finds no substantial faults in it's operation or feature set. Such a user gains no benifit from switching to linux other then cash in pocket next upgrade round. In fact they loose the time it requires them to learn a new system, and that can easily offset that small stack of cash.
Let's assume a typical word processing, internet browsing user, as when you start talking about specialty tasks the arguments change. A person not familliar with computers will have a roughly equal time learning how to operate either a Linux system or a Windows system. In the case of a new user Windows does not "offer the end user substantially more", in fact it will offer the user less. The new user will have to pay for the OS in the Windows case and not in the Linux case. There are other advantages to choosing Linux initially over windows that I won't enumerate here because the mere cost point is enough to satisfy my argument. I have been both a Windows and Linux administrator and developer, and I am currently both a Windows and Linux user, so I'm aware of the tradeoffs. Working in support has been evidence enough to me that you get basically the same questions and issues from new users starting on the Linux or Windows platform. Unfortunatly, there is no way to turn the "Linux is only free..." quote around on Windows people, because Windows is not free in the first place otherwise the same argument would apply.
Nothing is straghtforward with either Linux or Windows to a new user sitting down at a machine for the first time. Paying for a Microsoft license is only worth it when you factor in the costs of switching away from Microsoft. It is not worth it if you have no current dependance or attachment to the Windows platform.
Why I click on the "Start" button? Haven't I already started? - My Mom
The person using Linux produces the same document as the Windows person but had to have more training and specialized knowledge
How do you figure? Maybe if you mean "knowledge that the person doesn't already possess" when you say "more specialized knowledge". Both systems require the "special pen, eraser, etc". Let me turn your argument around on you. With linux the "special pen, eraser, etc" come in the box, but with Windows you have to go out and buy it on your own in a seperate box for more money. After that, with Windows, when the "special pen" runs out (New version of office comes out and you can't read other peoples documents anymore) you have to go get another one.
Mmm. I was very careful not to take sides on the issue. I think I'll continue lest a flame war follow.
And if you've never touched a computer before, you can probably write that document faster on a piece of paper. Same old story about people not wanting a new learning curve, just written with different words...
Try and buy a GameCube, and then tell us that the two numbers aren't the same.
What will we all do with your right arm?
Assuming a level playing field, you have a 1 in 3 chance of being right. But there isn't a level playing field. Two of the participants have prior experience in the console market. One of those two has better third party games then X-Box, and the other has better first party games then X-Box. The good sports games and such will be on all three. As we've all seen, It's the console with the best games that wins, not the one with the 'better' specs. So which console are people going to buy? GameCube, or PS2?
Oh, for a little twist, soon X-Box will be the most expensive option...
Do you have a WonderSwan yet? Is the FF2 port to that in english?
Hopefully Ban-Dai will release their handheld in the US so we can finally have a handheld that's supported by Square in the US again. Besides, it looks way cooler then GBA.
10% of your cpu? What do you have a P133? More likely it's the whiz bang GUI on your MP3 app that's using up all that CPU...
/me uses 3% of his MPC750 @ 333 Mhz w/mpg123...
You can play through the entire game in 7 minutes!
You need to start shopping at EB. If decide you don't like a game and you still have the reciept, you can bring it back. Even if you've already opened it and played it. Works great when you find out that a game only takes 2 hours to play and has no replay value.
The concept is obvious, sure, but are the details of how to design a device that performs the functions of a Tivo or Replay box that obvious? Even if the major functionality is obvious, the details are probably still patent worthy. Who knows what problems they had to solve that you can't even think of.
You'd be surprised. If all you want is data storage the cards are very inexpensive.
A quick check on google shows that mag strips cards average around $0.30 each in quantities of 100. Smartcards that hold 1k of data are the same price.
If cheap is your main requirement, you'll likely be better off with smart cards. Mag stripe readers have a mechanical component (to determine what speed you're running the card through at) Where a passive smart card reader is basically a cable with a fancy socket.You can get fully capable smart card readers for under $30. I found this link on google in seconds: http://www.danaco.net. They even have unassembled readers that you can put together yourself to save extra bucks.