Really niche question: to tweak my monitors in MacOS whatever, i have to use a software control panel. Apple monitors have no controls, or minimal stuffs - its all done over USB these days.
Does YDL have utilities for this? Would be a nice thing for those making a permanent change.
Funny that no one mentions that these things let out all emissions from the electronics, which is a Bad Thing. I'm sure that the manufacturers have the standard disclaimers about only using the cases for display purposes, wink, nod.
The review even mentions a problem with one case's "EMI Shield". Um, no, that thing isn't stopping any EMI, sorry.
So I'm sure that at least a few modder kiddies have had to stop using their case to stop messing with Mom and Dad's TV, wireless phone, 802.11b setup, etc (especially those running 2.4ghz processors).
How about a case that has some kind of metal mesh embedded or sandwiched in the material, ala safety glass? It'd probably look better, too.
OK, let's say that my figures are OK for the 70's, and you have the current figures correct.
Now, take your figures, and divide by two. You haven't addressed the fact that the current, roughly equivalent standard of living now requires two salaries, not one.
Yeah, its easier to make cheaper steel (or airplanes, or agricultural goods) when the Governments subsidize industries like those to such a heavy extent.
Keep on laughing - until the Chinese start pumping out steel almost as good at a fraction of the cost. We'll see just how well steelworkers are doing then in the EU.
Prosperity went down in the 80's and 90's
on
U.S. Jobs Jumping Ship
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Let's see...
In the early 70's, you could:
Buy an average car for 1/4 to 1/3 of a yearly average household income.
Buy a house for 2x-5x of a yearly average household income.
Today, its more like:
Buy an average car for 1/2 or more of a yearly average household income.
Houses start at 5x yearly average household income.
But here's the kicker: in the early 70's, there was almost always ONE breadwinner making up the average household income. Now, its almost always TWO.
When I was a kid living in Brooklyn, taxi drivers routinely owned homes and cars, and mom didn't work. Today, Mom and Dad work in some service drone job, and can't make ends meet. And that was true 10 and 20 years ago.
We're dealing with countries that have no regulations about the health and well being of employees.
We're dealing with countries that have no regulations about the environment.
We're dealing with countries where the economies are still centrally planned enough such that the cost of labor doesn't rise with demand.
When there is truly a level playing field, sign me up. But stop tooting about how the siphoning off of jobs is somehow related to the holy grail of Free Trade.
I had an Indian Dell Encounter... BAD!
on
U.S. Jobs Jumping Ship
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I had a real problem with a Dell box I got a few months ago - the sound card just didn't work under Win2k (it only supported WinXP drivers... whole 'nother story).
Trying to make anyone on their phone or email support understand was equivalent to banging my head against the wall, at least when they had a foreign accent. It went like this:
ME: " I have this problem" DELL: "Here's a suggestion that is irrelevant to your problem" - something along the lines of, put in your System Recover disk. ME: "No, you don't understand...blah blah blah" DELL: "Here's the same suggestion, verbatim, that is still irrelevant to your problem" ME: "You're not listening!" DELL: *Repeats same scripted response again*
Finally, after doing this about 6 times, they finally broke down and handed me to an American supervisor. Once they did:
ME: "I have a problem..." DELL: " OK, we have this solution, OK?"
And with that, a new Linux/Win2k compatible sound card was sent out. What should have taken 10 minutes instead ate up a full day. I guess a full day of 800 phone charges is cheaper than 10 minutes of American salary.
The lesson I learned: it may be cheaper to buy a Dell than building it yourself, but it is just not worth the aggro. Which means that I'd buy or recommend Dell if the support were actually an added value, and probably pay more than they're charging now.
Yeah, I'd say that this free trade thing ain't working out.
Why not just use hydrogen for internal combustion? Seems that adding the complexity of fuel cells into the mix is just making life more difficult.
Fuel cells are insanely expensive, currently, while many/most existing automobiles could be converted to burning hydrogen instead of gas. It'd certainly be doable for the auto makers to produce hydrogen burning autos now, perhaps even a vehicle that could burn both old style and new style fuels. Volkswagen actually had something like this not too long ago, if I'm not mistaken.
I mean, think about a vehicle that costs _less_, since there's no need for emissions control equipment anymore (or at least isn't much more expensive). The tech for storing hydrogen safely has existed for years - I remember, as a child, reading about hydrogen gas tanks that wouldn't explode even when incendiary bullets were shot into them.
Why not remove one huge obstacle now? Fuel cells just obfuscate the real issue: we need to get off oil NOW. We need to find the energy source of the new century NOW.
I can't play one game under Windows across two monitors - no games recognize either true dual head, or the "single" workspace hack that most video card makers provide these days. Dual monitors, properly supported, would rock for most RTS games. I have two 15" LCDs, but all games refuse to go beyond 1024x768 on my setup. No custom resolutions available.
Of course, this isn't an issue under Linux. UT2003 works just fine across two monitors, although things are centered where the bezels meet, which isn't that great:( But at least the underlying mechanics are OK.
I have a 14" Viewsonic monitor that has a Windows 3.1 UPGRADE sticker on it that I placed there about 12 years ago. It's been reduced to being the orphan monitor hanging off a KVM switch.
It's been in operation almost every day of those 12 years. It starts right away, syncs to different VGA/SVGA resolutions without fail, has its colors intact, the whole thing - functions like new.
The fact that anyone considers a monitor from '97 to be ancient, useless and presumed dead really indicates that they really don't build 'em like they used to.
See, the printer makers sell their printers at a very small margin, or at no margin. Like video game console makers, and razor blade handle manufacturers, the idea is to get you to keep on buying the consumables/content, and make fat profit on that.
In fact, Xerox has taken this so far that they actually offer a program where you can get high-end color laser printers for free in exchange for agreeing to a monthly minimum purchase of consumables.
I subvert Lexmark's plans by refilling my old toner carts with stuff from this vendor. While it's somewhat more difficult a process than just installing a new cart, I save over $150 with each refill.
Not affiliated with TonerRefillKits.com, just a happy customer. Don't be put off by their crappy website - the stuff ships out quick, is fairly priced, and works as advertised.
My girlfriend's Thinkpad 600 has the dead battery syndrome. The machine can now last for perhaps 15 minutes on battery power before crapping out.
My Dell Inspiron 3700, roughly the same age, gets almost 8 hours on its two batteries. But it has a different problem - the cooling fan bearings are dying, and the machine is LOUD. So much so that I can't use it in public without.
jonathan
The VIS: Microsoft's first console
on
The 1991 "X-Box"
·
· Score: 1
I can't believe that no one remembers these, the VIS.
Radio Shack sold a Microsoft powered console n 1992 - it was a 286 pc, in a console format, powered by a very stripped down version of Windows. It was made by Memorex, and it just generally sucked. The article at the link above mentions a 32-bit system, but I'm very sure it had a 286 inside (a 286 is 32-bit, kind of, right?)
The funny thing was that the system had a lot of software, but it was all straight ports of PC software at the time. Which meant that it was usually impossible to read text in the games, since PC games makers of the time never had to deal with NTSC issues much.
I used one for a day, and it was just aweful. The CD-ROM drive was single speed, and just terribly slow, and the software was not optimized for it anyway - you'd wait a long time for anything to apppear on screen. The 286 in the box was just overwhelmed by the software, and stuff ran poorly.
This thing might be forgotten now, but Microsoft was big enough at the time that people in related industries were really scared that this thing would wipe out CD-I, Amiga, 3DO, whatever. Once it failed, however, they just dropped it - they didn't have the total monopoly and $40 billion in the bank just yet.
I wanted two DVI monitors, great 3D support in Windows and Linux, and I wanted to do it on the cheap. My solution:
Find two Apple Studio M7613 displays on the used market, or on eBay. You can find them for well under $200 these days. The quality is great, an the two specimens I found had no dead pixels or other defects. They are made very solidly.
Manual Here.
Next, find a Gainward Dual DVI Nvidia 4600 card. Product Info Here. The Gainward card is the only "cheap" video card that supports two DVI monitors under Windows and Linux AND has good 3D performance if you require that.
My combo of two used monitors and the card
should go for under $700 these days with some careful shopping. I'll wait until larger DVI panels are under $250 to think about upgrading.
The Sonic Cruiser was just a sham announcement to divert attention from the A380. Now that sham is revealed - I seriously doubt that Boeing is going to be competitive with Airbus again.
Slashdot Mirror
Really niche question: to tweak my monitors in MacOS whatever, i have to use a software control panel. Apple monitors have no controls, or minimal stuffs - its all done over USB these days.
Does YDL have utilities for this? Would be a nice thing for those making a permanent change.
Funny that no one mentions that these things let out all emissions from the electronics, which is a Bad Thing. I'm sure that the manufacturers have the standard disclaimers about only using the cases for display purposes, wink, nod.
The review even mentions a problem with one case's "EMI Shield". Um, no, that thing isn't stopping any EMI, sorry.
So I'm sure that at least a few modder kiddies have had to stop using their case to stop messing with Mom and Dad's TV, wireless phone, 802.11b setup, etc (especially those running 2.4ghz processors).
How about a case that has some kind of metal mesh embedded or sandwiched in the material, ala safety glass? It'd probably look better, too.
OK, let's say that my figures are OK for the 70's, and you have the current figures correct.
Now, take your figures, and divide by two. You haven't addressed the fact that the current, roughly equivalent standard of living now requires two salaries, not one.
I'd say that things have regressed, no?
I thought that this was obvious - it took about 6 times to get to a supervisor. Oh well.
Yeah, its easier to make cheaper steel (or airplanes, or agricultural goods) when the Governments subsidize industries like those to such a heavy extent.
Keep on laughing - until the Chinese start pumping out steel almost as good at a fraction of the cost. We'll see just how well steelworkers are doing then in the EU.
Let's see...
In the early 70's, you could:
Buy an average car for 1/4 to 1/3 of a yearly average household income.
Buy a house for 2x-5x of a yearly average household income.
Today, its more like:
Buy an average car for 1/2 or more of a yearly average household income.
Houses start at 5x yearly average household income.
But here's the kicker: in the early 70's, there was almost always ONE breadwinner making up the average household income. Now, its almost always TWO.
When I was a kid living in Brooklyn, taxi drivers routinely owned homes and cars, and mom didn't work. Today, Mom and Dad work in some service drone job, and can't make ends meet. And that was true 10 and 20 years ago.
Things have gotten a lot worse.
Sorry, but there is no free trade going on here.
We're dealing with countries that have no regulations about the health and well being of employees.
We're dealing with countries that have no regulations about the environment.
We're dealing with countries where the economies are still centrally planned enough such that the cost of labor doesn't rise with demand.
When there is truly a level playing field, sign me up. But stop tooting about how the siphoning off of jobs is somehow related to the holy grail of Free Trade.
I had a real problem with a Dell box I got a few months ago - the sound card just didn't work under Win2k (it only supported WinXP drivers... whole 'nother story).
Trying to make anyone on their phone or email support understand was equivalent to banging my head against the wall, at least when they had a foreign accent. It went like this:
ME: " I have this problem"
DELL: "Here's a suggestion that is irrelevant to your problem" - something along the lines of, put in your System Recover disk.
ME: "No, you don't understand...blah blah blah"
DELL: "Here's the same suggestion, verbatim, that is still irrelevant to your problem"
ME: "You're not listening!"
DELL: *Repeats same scripted response again*
Finally, after doing this about 6 times, they finally broke down and handed me to an American supervisor. Once they did:
ME: "I have a problem..."
DELL: " OK, we have this solution, OK?"
And with that, a new Linux/Win2k compatible sound card was sent out. What should have taken 10 minutes instead ate up a full day. I guess a full day of 800 phone charges is cheaper than 10 minutes of American salary.
The lesson I learned: it may be cheaper to buy a Dell than building it yourself, but it is just not worth the aggro. Which means that I'd buy or recommend Dell if the support were actually an added value, and probably pay more than they're charging now.
Yeah, I'd say that this free trade thing ain't working out.
Why not just use hydrogen for internal combustion? Seems that adding the complexity of fuel cells into the mix is just making life more difficult.
Fuel cells are insanely expensive, currently, while many/most existing automobiles could be converted to burning hydrogen instead of gas. It'd certainly be doable for the auto makers to produce hydrogen burning autos now, perhaps even a vehicle that could burn both old style and new style fuels. Volkswagen actually had something like this not too long ago, if I'm not mistaken.
I mean, think about a vehicle that costs _less_, since there's no need for emissions control equipment anymore (or at least isn't much more expensive). The tech for storing hydrogen safely has existed for years - I remember, as a child, reading about hydrogen gas tanks that wouldn't explode even when incendiary bullets were shot into them.
Why not remove one huge obstacle now? Fuel cells just obfuscate the real issue: we need to get off oil NOW. We need to find the energy source of the new century NOW.
This article has a bit more information about who is likely to start selling stuff with this chip. FYI.
Outside of the one that SGI released a few years ago, there have been no widescreen tubes or panels for the PC (perhaps some very high-end models).
Widescreen is nice. The Mac world proves that.
So, why aren't the PC makers and monitor vendors come out with 16:9 displays and give everyone a reason to upgrade?
jonathan
Sorry, but it is useful now. Sharper, better.
The real reason why they don't put them in is because the port takes up more space, and they'd need to spend an additiona $.50 for an adapter.
jonathan
For games, that is :) Under Windows, for sure.
:( But at least the underlying mechanics are OK.
I can't play one game under Windows across two monitors - no games recognize either true dual head, or the "single" workspace hack that most video card makers provide these days. Dual monitors, properly supported, would rock for most RTS games. I have two 15" LCDs, but all games refuse to go beyond 1024x768 on my setup. No custom resolutions available.
Of course, this isn't an issue under Linux. UT2003 works just fine across two monitors, although things are centered where the bezels meet, which isn't that great
jonathan
I have a 14" Viewsonic monitor that has a Windows 3.1 UPGRADE sticker on it that I placed there about 12 years ago. It's been reduced to being the orphan monitor hanging off a KVM switch.
It's been in operation almost every day of those 12 years. It starts right away, syncs to different VGA/SVGA resolutions without fail, has its colors intact, the whole thing - functions like new.
The fact that anyone considers a monitor from '97 to be ancient, useless and presumed dead really indicates that they really don't build 'em like they used to.
See, the printer makers sell their printers at a very small margin, or at no margin. Like video game console makers, and razor blade handle manufacturers, the idea is to get you to keep on buying the consumables/content, and make fat profit on that.
In fact, Xerox has taken this so far that they actually offer a program where you can get high-end color laser printers for free in exchange for agreeing to a monthly minimum purchase of consumables.
I subvert Lexmark's plans by refilling my old toner carts with stuff from this vendor. While it's somewhat more difficult a process than just installing a new cart, I save over $150 with each refill.
Not affiliated with TonerRefillKits.com, just a happy customer. Don't be put off by their crappy website - the stuff ships out quick, is fairly priced, and works as advertised.
Anyone know what the battery life on this little guy is? If it exceeds 3 hours, I'd be interested. If it can go 5 hours, I'll buy one.
It'd be nice to have a utility machine that you can just throw into your bag, with a disposable price.
I think that you should serf the internet over to dictionary.com :)
Nice that they are putting out a reference platform for others, but will they take the risk of putting one out themselves?
My girlfriend's Thinkpad 600 has the dead battery syndrome. The machine can now last for perhaps 15 minutes on battery power before crapping out.
My Dell Inspiron 3700, roughly the same age, gets almost 8 hours on its two batteries. But it has a different problem - the cooling fan bearings are dying, and the machine is LOUD. So much so that I can't use it in public without.
jonathan
I can't believe that no one remembers these, the VIS.
Radio Shack sold a Microsoft powered console n 1992 - it was a 286 pc, in a console format, powered by a very stripped down version of Windows. It was made by Memorex, and it just generally sucked. The article at the link above mentions a 32-bit system, but I'm very sure it had a 286 inside (a 286 is 32-bit, kind of, right?)
The funny thing was that the system had a lot of software, but it was all straight ports of PC software at the time. Which meant that it was usually impossible to read text in the games, since PC games makers of the time never had to deal with NTSC issues much.
I used one for a day, and it was just aweful. The CD-ROM drive was single speed, and just terribly slow, and the software was not optimized for it anyway - you'd wait a long time for anything to apppear on screen. The 286 in the box was just overwhelmed by the software, and stuff ran poorly.
This thing might be forgotten now, but Microsoft was big enough at the time that people in related industries were really scared that this thing would wipe out CD-I, Amiga, 3DO, whatever. Once it failed, however, they just dropped it - they didn't have the total monopoly and $40 billion in the bank just yet.
The Gainward rocks, and yes, you can do X across two monitors with OpenGL in both (or accross both). FYI.
I wanted two DVI monitors, great 3D support in Windows and Linux, and I wanted to do it on the cheap. My solution:
Find two Apple Studio M7613 displays on the used market, or on eBay. You can find them for well under $200 these days. The quality is great, an the two specimens I found had no dead pixels or other defects. They are made very solidly. Manual Here.
Next, find a Gainward Dual DVI Nvidia 4600 card. Product Info Here. The Gainward card is the only "cheap" video card that supports two DVI monitors under Windows and Linux AND has good 3D performance if you require that.
My combo of two used monitors and the card should go for under $700 these days with some careful shopping. I'll wait until larger DVI panels are under $250 to think about upgrading.
The Sonic Cruiser was just a sham announcement to divert attention from the A380. Now that sham is revealed - I seriously doubt that Boeing is going to be competitive with Airbus again.
Last few Nvidia revs have been super stable on my machines. Now using it for TwinView across two monitors, and that works great, too.
It may not be the fastest thing anymore,but I'll only use Nvidia on my x86 boxes for now on - it just works.