That thing you are looking at is a FAKE, not a real red flower. It is kind of hard to tell, mainly because there is so much unidentified techno-garbage in the foreground.
I talked to the PR people and a hardcore tech from the company at Comdex. I bitched them out about the MS only, and used the usual arguements. One of the things they said was that linux support was on the list, and more importantly, the next version of Adobe products would support thier tech. I know Acrobat was on the list, but I don't remember if the rest of their programs were.
I guess it is time to start writing all those people I got cards from at Comdex and write an article on this:).
There are lots of 4GB Dimms floating, but as of yet, no standards body has approved them, and probably none will, they will be supplanted by DDR2 before they are needed by the mainstream.
OK, you want roadmaps, read the Inq. The roadmaps come in 2 flavors, Opteron and A64. The one Anand gets might have similar numbers to the A64, but it seems way way off. Some things are just not right there.
Before you jump down my throat, I write for the Inq, and I can say I have seen both roadmaps, and the Anand one seems, well, lets just say a tad off. Well, lets not be as polite, flat #&%^# wrong. The anand crew is under NDA to the eyeballs, so if they had a real roadmap, they couldn't publish it.
If they did, they get sued and cut off. If not, it means it is a deliberate leak from AMD, or they made stuff. I believe it is a little of both, and personally expect more from AMD this year. Hell, I would put money on it after the chats I had at CES with them.
Actually, you can get 32 into any dualy board, 64 into the one you linked. I was asking some of the AMD memory people at the Opteron launch some questions, and one thing they said was it supports 4GB dimms. They don't promote this fact because there is no standard 4GB dimm out. That said, any decent dualy board will support 32GB.
"*Why in the world introduce an AthlonFX based on Socket 940, especially at the outrageous price, when you're moving to socket 939 imminently?"
S939 was designed for 2 purposes, to allow for 4 layer mobos and to use non-registered DDR400. This saves you money, and gives you better performance. I don't tend to complain about either scenario much.
One of the slickest things about the OQO is the cable. There is a thick cable on it that you can barely see in my pic: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13578 I t is wrapped around the guys neck like a bandolier. It has a bump every 8 inches or so, and each bump is a port. One is for a pop-up ethernet plug, another USB, etc etc. You get all the ports in a beautifully efficient way, no clunky dock or block. I should have put it in the article, maybe for a followup. One thing for sure, transmeta had a ton of cool stuff at the show.
At the Transmeta booth, they also had a stand, and the people there were talking tech, not shiny happy MS PR speak. If you were nice, or you happened to have a press badge, they would go into great detail for you. I was one of the two:)
I played with one at CES, and I must say you are dead wrong here. Try building a mini-ITX box with the size that this thing has, not to mention the sheer slickness of the device. Oh yeah, there is that 5 hour battery life also.
Look at the size of the thing: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13578 I spent a lot of time talking to the OQO guys, this is done right. I have not played with the cappuccino, so I can't comment there, but OQO is slick as shit.
I wouldn't worry about the Linux issues, or hardcore DRM for that matter. Both companies, VIA and Apex are not exactly know for their dogged pursuit of DRM and like technologies. Apex in particular has been slapped down abunch of times for violating DVD 'standards', anyone rememeber the region free DVDs sold everywhere?
There are a bunch of interesting things this console will bring. First is that VIA is really hot for it. They made sure to pester people to be at the press conference, something they are usually more laid back about. They are going to push this thing, trust me.
THe next thing is that I expect it more to be a 'digital convergence' box than a game console. It won't threaten the PS2 or XBox, that is for certain. If you look at the specs of the chip, it is packs a rather modest amount of horsepower, especially in the areas where 3D games need it most, FP. The GPU isn't exactly anything to make people forget about the NV40/R420 either.
What it will do is play DVDs well, most likely PVR functions, and play a lot of slightly modefied PC games more than adequately. If you take a TVs rez into acount, it should more than do the job. Overall, a lot of functionality for the money, but precious little bleeding edge.
I have two hopes for this box, first is reasonably priced games. Second, and more importantly is that VIA makes this a reference design, and Apex is the first of many to come out with a box. Others will follow, some with bigger HDs, other with better video out etc etc.
One thing for sure is that I will be at the press conference. VIA has always done some good things, and if you look at the stuff they showed me at Comdex, there are some really really cool geek toys there. They are all based on the EPIA platform which is small, fanless, and cheap, but more than powerfull enough to do most everything.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=12853
All the people at VIAs show (they were next door to comdex) had really innovative things. If you are into neat devices, I recommend you keep an eye on VIA, the platforms that they spent years creating are just starting to take off. Also, FWIW, I plan to do a full write up as soon as I can after the press conference.
You don't need a depenguinator to do this. If you want to keep the pesky little critters from crapping on your lawn, just use a shotgun. If you are good, you can do it from your second floor window, that way you don't have to put on pants for the day.
Most of what I meant is that EFI can allow software to own the boot process. It was strongly hinted to me, without evidence, but by people in a position to know, is that this is how MS was going to deal with Linux. Installing anything after and MS OS was put on could be considered DMCA violations. How many PCs are shipped without MS? This would make installing Linux a nightmare to say the least.
"Even.Net, the new secure infrastructure, and built with security in mind, lets you have access to the 'old ways'. Yes, you are not supposed to, but people somehow do, and hackers will."
If you want a little more detail on that, it was meant to be a private e-mail to a bunch of friends. One, my roommate in fact, posted it to Indymedia without my permission, and pissed me off greatly. The reason I was annoyed is that I wrote a piece calling our local cops 'fascist bullyboys' in a humorous vein.
Cops don't tend to take that with the same humor that you or I might, and I didn't want to be known for that. As a matter of fact, I like the local cops a lot, and think they do a good job.
That is when I learned what a bunch of half assed twits with no organizational skills the indymedia crew are. When asked to pull a story, they all wrote a long introspective series of questions, debated the subject, and went on. No one bothered to write me an e-mail or call me to verify what was asked. Tools.
That said, I like the piece a lot, hope you did too.
Ok, so you flame me for writing opinion, and not backing up my story, and then you go on to point out in the next paragraph that two of my main points are right? Time to work on your debate skills there guy.
If you would like more specifics, just ask. If I think there is any merit to posting more detail, I will write a followup, or maybe edit the origional. Of all the letters I got so far today, none pointed out any wrong facts, and if I screw up, and I do, they come out of the woodwork to point things out.
I wrote that piece because I wanted to. I have a bunch more to write, and some that I have already written. One got slashdotted yesterday in fact. I am under no pressure, deadlines, or quotas, and as far as I know, the Inq doesn't do that. I just happened to have free time, and no news to report, so I did a lot of the stories that I have not had time to do recently.
Damn, if that year old piece, 6000+ articles ago is the best evidence you can find to justify our hate for MS, you are not going to win many debates. 1/6000 would bring our total anti-MS articles to 2 or 3. Yup, there is bias for you.
"Now that Phoenix has signed on to "Trusted Computing" we are facing the very real possibility that the next generation of hardware (and MS OS) will have a very difficult to break content lock in. I doubt they'd do anything as blatient as making Linux impossible to run, but it'd have to run in "Non-Trusted" mode, MS webservers wouldn't serve to a non-trusted computer, movies, sounds, and images built with "trusted" packages won't open on non-trusted OSes.
Its likely that a group of hackers would crack it, and allow Linux to open the "secure" content, but that would be illegal, which kinda kills the idea of Linux as an OS for the masses... "
Ok, a bit of background. I wrote that story on the Inq that is the topic here, and as part of my job, I have been following the Trusted Computing/Palladium/whatever very closely. It isn't that bad. The technology is not evil, and it won't lock you out. The technology simply is.
Before you go blathering on and on about how linux won't run on it, or it will be a bitch for the average user to port, I hate to tell you, but Linux was up and running on a 'trusted' platform at IDF this fall. Intel wants it, IBM wants it, and so does everyone else. It is already there, don't lose any sleep over this any more.
That said, the whole idea is stupid, unworkable and won't achieve anything that they are aiming for, but that is for a totally different reason. If you want a great example of how people don't get it, go watch the fall '03 IDF keynote, it is probably on the Intel web site somewhere. You will understand how they missed the mark (A big wet kiss to the first person to link it in a comment).
Now, if you want evil, and I do mean evil, that IS meant to lock you out, look to EFI and the new bootloaders. That is where MS is going to try to cut linux off at the knees, or maybe already has. I am working on this story, but it is slow going. Be very afraid of EFI people.....
I didn't attempt to attach anything, that was the person who submitted the articles idea, not mine. You DID read the original before you commented, right?
Ok, I am faced with a dilema. I have 5 moderator points, and I wrote the article on the Inq. Do I mod people up who like what I did, or mod down the people who trash me? Do I just say 'screw it' and post flames? The moderator guidelines don't help one bit in this situation, I guess they should be updated:).
Oh well, I guess this post answers my own question, kind of GNUish in it's own recursive self defeating way.
Slashdot Mirror
That thing you are looking at is a FAKE, not a real red flower. It is kind of hard to tell, mainly because there is so much unidentified techno-garbage in the foreground.
-Charlie
I talked to the PR people and a hardcore tech from the company at Comdex. I bitched them out about the MS only, and used the usual arguements. One of the things they said was that linux support was on the list, and more importantly, the next version of Adobe products would support thier tech. I know Acrobat was on the list, but I don't remember if the rest of their programs were.
:).
I guess it is time to start writing all those people I got cards from at Comdex and write an article on this
-Charlie
There are lots of 4GB Dimms floating, but as of yet, no standards body has approved them, and probably none will, they will be supplanted by DDR2 before they are needed by the mainstream.
-Charlie
OK, you want roadmaps, read the Inq. The roadmaps come in 2 flavors, Opteron and A64. The one Anand gets might have similar numbers to the A64, but it seems way way off. Some things are just not right there.
Before you jump down my throat, I write for the Inq, and I can say I have seen both roadmaps, and the Anand one seems, well, lets just say a tad off. Well, lets not be as polite, flat #&%^# wrong. The anand crew is under NDA to the eyeballs, so if they had a real roadmap, they couldn't publish it.
If they did, they get sued and cut off. If not, it means it is a deliberate leak from AMD, or they made stuff. I believe it is a little of both, and personally expect more from AMD this year. Hell, I would put money on it after the chats I had at CES with them.
-Charlie
Actually, you can get 32 into any dualy board, 64 into the one you linked. I was asking some of the AMD memory people at the Opteron launch some questions, and one thing they said was it supports 4GB dimms. They don't promote this fact because there is no standard 4GB dimm out. That said, any decent dualy board will support 32GB.
-Charlie
"*Why in the world introduce an AthlonFX based on Socket 940, especially at the outrageous price, when you're moving to socket 939 imminently?"
S939 was designed for 2 purposes, to allow for 4 layer mobos and to use non-registered DDR400. This saves you money, and gives you better performance. I don't tend to complain about either scenario much.
-Charlie
One of the slickest things about the OQO is the cable. There is a thick cable on it that you can barely see in my pic:
I t is wrapped around the guys neck like a bandolier. It has a bump every 8 inches or so, and each bump is a port. One is for a pop-up ethernet plug, another USB, etc etc. You get all the ports in a beautifully efficient way, no clunky dock or block. I should have put it in the article, maybe for a followup. One thing for sure, transmeta had a ton of cool stuff at the show.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13578
-Charlie
At the Transmeta booth, they also had a stand, and the people there were talking tech, not shiny happy MS PR speak. If you were nice, or you happened to have a press badge, they would go into great detail for you. I was one of the two :)
-Charlie
I played with one at CES, and I must say you are dead wrong here. Try building a mini-ITX box with the size that this thing has, not to mention the sheer slickness of the device. Oh yeah, there is that 5 hour battery life also.
Look at the size of the thing:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13578
I spent a lot of time talking to the OQO guys, this is done right. I have not played with the cappuccino, so I can't comment there, but OQO is slick as shit.
-Charlie
I wouldn't worry about the Linux issues, or hardcore DRM for that matter. Both companies, VIA and Apex are not exactly know for their dogged pursuit of DRM and like technologies. Apex in particular has been slapped down abunch of times for violating DVD 'standards', anyone rememeber the region free DVDs sold everywhere?
There are a bunch of interesting things this console will bring. First is that VIA is really hot for it. They made sure to pester people to be at the press conference, something they are usually more laid back about. They are going to push this thing, trust me.
THe next thing is that I expect it more to be a 'digital convergence' box than a game console. It won't threaten the PS2 or XBox, that is for certain. If you look at the specs of the chip, it is packs a rather modest amount of horsepower, especially in the areas where 3D games need it most, FP. The GPU isn't exactly anything to make people forget about the NV40/R420 either.
What it will do is play DVDs well, most likely PVR functions, and play a lot of slightly modefied PC games more than adequately. If you take a TVs rez into acount, it should more than do the job. Overall, a lot of functionality for the money, but precious little bleeding edge.
I have two hopes for this box, first is reasonably priced games. Second, and more importantly is that VIA makes this a reference design, and Apex is the first of many to come out with a box. Others will follow, some with bigger HDs, other with better video out etc etc.
One thing for sure is that I will be at the press conference. VIA has always done some good things, and if you look at the stuff they showed me at Comdex, there are some really really cool geek toys there. They are all based on the EPIA platform which is small, fanless, and cheap, but more than powerfull enough to do most everything.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=12853
All the people at VIAs show (they were next door to comdex) had really innovative things. If you are into neat devices, I recommend you keep an eye on VIA, the platforms that they spent years creating are just starting to take off. Also, FWIW, I plan to do a full write up as soon as I can after the press conference.
-Charlie
You don't need a depenguinator to do this. If you want to keep the pesky little critters from crapping on your lawn, just use a shotgun. If you are good, you can do it from your second floor window, that way you don't have to put on pants for the day.
-Charlie
Most of what I meant is that EFI can allow software to own the boot process. It was strongly hinted to me, without evidence, but by people in a position to know, is that this is how MS was going to deal with Linux. Installing anything after and MS OS was put on could be considered DMCA violations. How many PCs are shipped without MS? This would make installing Linux a nightmare to say the least.
-Charlie
"Can you say ".NET" ?"
.Net, the new secure infrastructure, and built with security in mind, lets you have access to the 'old ways'. Yes, you are not supposed to, but people somehow do, and hackers will."
I thought I did.....
"Even
-Charlie
So, write a rebuttal, and I'll have Mike post it.
-Charlie
If you want a little more detail on that, it was meant to be a private e-mail to a bunch of friends. One, my roommate in fact, posted it to Indymedia without my permission, and pissed me off greatly. The reason I was annoyed is that I wrote a piece calling our local cops 'fascist bullyboys' in a humorous vein.
Cops don't tend to take that with the same humor that you or I might, and I didn't want to be known for that. As a matter of fact, I like the local cops a lot, and think they do a good job.
That is when I learned what a bunch of half assed twits with no organizational skills the indymedia crew are. When asked to pull a story, they all wrote a long introspective series of questions, debated the subject, and went on. No one bothered to write me an e-mail or call me to verify what was asked. Tools.
That said, I like the piece a lot, hope you did too.
-Charlie
P.S. Teargas truly does suck.
Ok, so you flame me for writing opinion, and not backing up my story, and then you go on to point out in the next paragraph that two of my main points are right? Time to work on your debate skills there guy.
-Charlei
If you would like more specifics, just ask. If I think there is any merit to posting more detail, I will write a followup, or maybe edit the origional. Of all the letters I got so far today, none pointed out any wrong facts, and if I screw up, and I do, they come out of the woodwork to point things out.
-Charlie
"the article was a little ruthless if you ask me"
Gee thanks. That was in fact the nicest compliment I got for the piece, either here or in e-mail. It was a compliment, right?
-Charlie (the article's author)
I wrote that piece because I wanted to. I have a bunch more to write, and some that I have already written. One got slashdotted yesterday in fact. I am under no pressure, deadlines, or quotas, and as far as I know, the Inq doesn't do that. I just happened to have free time, and no news to report, so I did a lot of the stories that I have not had time to do recently.
-Charlie
Damn, if that year old piece, 6000+ articles ago is the best evidence you can find to justify our hate for MS, you are not going to win many debates. 1/6000 would bring our total anti-MS articles to 2 or 3. Yup, there is bias for you.
-Charlie (the author of the Inq story above)
"Now that Phoenix has signed on to "Trusted Computing" we are facing the very real possibility that the next generation of hardware (and MS OS) will have a very difficult to break content lock in. I doubt they'd do anything as blatient as making Linux impossible to run, but it'd have to run in "Non-Trusted" mode, MS webservers wouldn't serve to a non-trusted computer, movies, sounds, and images built with "trusted" packages won't open on non-trusted OSes.
Its likely that a group of hackers would crack it, and allow Linux to open the "secure" content, but that would be illegal, which kinda kills the idea of Linux as an OS for the masses... "
Ok, a bit of background. I wrote that story on the Inq that is the topic here, and as part of my job, I have been following the Trusted Computing/Palladium/whatever very closely. It isn't that bad. The technology is not evil, and it won't lock you out. The technology simply is.
Before you go blathering on and on about how linux won't run on it, or it will be a bitch for the average user to port, I hate to tell you, but Linux was up and running on a 'trusted' platform at IDF this fall. Intel wants it, IBM wants it, and so does everyone else. It is already there, don't lose any sleep over this any more.
That said, the whole idea is stupid, unworkable and won't achieve anything that they are aiming for, but that is for a totally different reason. If you want a great example of how people don't get it, go watch the fall '03 IDF keynote, it is probably on the Intel web site somewhere. You will understand how they missed the mark (A big wet kiss to the first person to link it in a comment).
Now, if you want evil, and I do mean evil, that IS meant to lock you out, look to EFI and the new bootloaders. That is where MS is going to try to cut linux off at the knees, or maybe already has. I am working on this story, but it is slow going. Be very afraid of EFI people.....
-Charlie
"Are you a girl or a boy?"
Last time I checked, boy, unless you are filthy rich, then it is negotiable.
-Charlie
Actually, they do. The surveys they conducted proved that the average Fox viewer could not understand words as long and complictaed as 'balanced'.
-Charlie
I didn't attempt to attach anything, that was the person who submitted the articles idea, not mine. You DID read the original before you commented, right?
-Charlie
Ok, I am faced with a dilema. I have 5 moderator points, and I wrote the article on the Inq. Do I mod people up who like what I did, or mod down the people who trash me? Do I just say 'screw it' and post flames? The moderator guidelines don't help one bit in this situation, I guess they should be updated :).
Oh well, I guess this post answers my own question, kind of GNUish in it's own recursive self defeating way.
-Charlie