Lets assume Apple has donated the QuickTime file format to the good of all man kind in MPEG4.
Great... of course, that makes Apple a tonne of cash down the road:) but thats fair:)
---
Next, I suppose you could say that that peeved MS a bit. After all, they did submit AVI or was it ASF (I lose track of these things;) ) to be the file format... but Apple's QuickTime was chosen...
---
Well another 'minor' part of MPEG4 is how to compress the 2D Video Streams:)
This has traditionally been where all the focus has been in other MPEG standards, but MPEG4 is more about multimedia than compression.
But of course, compression is an essential part of this.
Anyway, way it works is MPEG defines it, and some MPEG related group usually implements an implemention to test the methodologies. Once EVERYTHING has been finalised, things are accepted and made public... Including at least one implementation to assist the hardware and software implementers. Of course, there are always patents invovled... so you pay the licensing fees and all that jive.
MPEG4 has TWO official code implementers,
There is, I believe an italian, group doing the C implementation. And there is Microsoft.
Microsoft is doing the C++ implmentation.
Now. You can bet your bottom dollar microsoft won't be giving away their code when its time to open up one of the implementations:)
In fact, I'd bet the OTHER groups, specific purpose is to write the implementation for others to follow.
---
What does this mean?
MPEG4 files/streams are quicktime.
Microsoft is developing a version of the MPEG4 standard.
Apple already has MPEG4 and are just missing a few codecs:)
They will be made open, and then Apple can start selling Final Cut Pro and pals as an MPEG4 authoring system, and PowerMac G4x4 systems as the supreme MPEG4 authoring system.
Of course, MPEG4 is everything, so Linux can just use the free implementation, after all patents never seem to bother opensource coders;) (see LAME)
---
What's interesting at the moment, is microsoft seems to be trying to use their advanced access to the MPEG4 coding systems to try and rest dominance in the current internet streaming field... Does this mean they're trying to embrace and extend MPEG4?
Hmmm...
Perhaps they're trying to make it irrelevant.
You see...
MS-MPEG4.3 which is a great codec... some say, "The MP3 of Video" only works inside a microsoft active streaming format file.
You can't use it inside an AVI file (which is just a way of interleaving audio and video streams after all) or inside a quicktime file (similar to AVI but all embracing;) )
(aside: QuickTime is like the Borg of Media:), Your decompressors, mediahandlers, datahanders and stream handlers WILL be assimilated;) )
[hmmm I think I've gotten lost, I did have a point:)]
Anywho...
It is possible to hack MS-MPEG4.3 implementation and turn it into a legitimate Win32 AVI CoDec:) and then you can embed MPEG4 streams into AVI containers, and use it just like another format;)
Heh... Sortof defeats the whole posturing MS seems to be doing with the ASF format.
MPEG4 is a multimedia architechture whose file format happens to be based on Apple's QuickTime.
--- Live Long & Prosper \\//_ CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
If you've ever seen Virtual PC or one of the other PC emulators running on a mac, you can't help but be at least a little bit impressed. Now you run one of those with 128MB of ram for it... and the emulation simply flies.
Now... In some ways you could consider this to be a Red Box (The typical codename used for a mythical pc emulation box on macos's blue code base;) )
Anywho... a Red Box... which is half decent for things you can't get native apps for... such as that silly Access database you've been using since the mid 90's.
Now Apple had a problem with the PowerPC. Namely their OS and ALL apps were written in 68k code! So they implemented a emulator at the lowest level of the system... Later version cached code, dynamically recompiled and all that juicy stuff.... And eventually native apps were released... and speed reigned... Life was good.
Then Apps got bigger. And things broke more often.
A Modern Core was required.
So the Rhapsody project was started...
Take OpenStep 4.2 (I think) which is a BSD based OS with NeXT object extensions running on x86... and port it to the PPC.
Great. But it doesn't run Mac Apps...
So make a Blue Box... its not an emulator as such... well it is... but it doesn't emulate the CPU... it emulates everything else;) sorta...
The point is you get native speed...
And because its running on top of a unix, it gets some nice features, like memory protection & a GOOD virtual memory system (relatively;) )
So you just make the Classic MacOS think its running on a NICE piece of hardware with 1 gig of ram.
Add a few tweaks to the OS, so that when it goes into a delay spin it just sleeps.
And there you go. Working bluebox. But its very separate, just like Virtual PC.
Oh Well.
Enter MacOS X.
I won't go into Carbon... but carbon is cool:)
Basically means you can run the MacApps OUTSIDE of their little blue box;)
Its another API to the Unix... You have the Darwin API (BSD), You have the NeXT API (YellowBox/Cocoa) and you have the Carbon API (Cleaned up MacOS)
Cocoa is the nifty one btw.
Anywho... transparent blue box.
Basically you make the finder in the BlueBox (your desktop manager) invisible... so that the mac's windows float in MacOS X... almost like a real macos X app...
even tho they're being 'emulated' (we have to find a better term for that! Is 'Runtime Environment' it?)
Anywho...
This brings me to the next bit;)
Apple has all the technology required to make emulators and these Runtime Environments...
And in fact... Other companies offer VERY good PC emulators for traditional macos.
I think you would have to be insane to not believe that Connectix was currently working on a Carbonized version of Virtual PC.
And what would be really amazing is if they managed to turn Virtual PC (the Red Box) into a Transparent Red Box which is certainly possible.
This would give you your modern hardware which runs windows/macos/osx/bsd apps.
Of course, you could also run linux apps on their with sufficient development work;)
Oh yeah, Java too.
In fact, you might actually be able to run LinuxPPC as a separate Mach Process!
BTW, Aqua is even better in person!;)
--- Live Long & Prosper \\//_ CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Complete with its on paragraph/chapter in the Big Book O' SCSI.
It just happens to send data 1 bit at a time, and have auto-ID negotiation...... actually it uses a unique ID for every single device ever manufactured;)
--- Live Long & Prosper \\//_ CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
"Approved USB Device Class Specifications Building on top of the USB specifications, there are Approved Device Class Specifications by the Device Working Group. These specifications recommend design targets for classes of devices. "
But dyslexia seems to have bitten me;)
http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass.html
--- Live Long & Prosper \\//_ CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Universal Serial Bus Revision 1.1 specification (.zip file format, size 1,779 Kbytes) provides the technical details to understand USB requirements and design USB compatible products (Updated 11/23/1999). Modifications to the USB specification are made through Engineering Change Notices (ECNs).
This link requires NO password?
And leads to 14M of documents, which look an awfull lot like the USB Specs... I mean... I was panic-ing since I actually write USB drivers, and have come to depend on the availability of the documentation...
But it all still seems to be there... Just in case... I've grabbed everything I could find... 15+ M so far;)
Hehe
--- Live Long & Prosper \\//_ CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
After seeing the matrix 3 times in the cinemas I hope you understand why I would watch it instead of going again to the cinemas... I mean... They are expensive,
Yes I will buy the DVD the moment it comes out, in fact I'll get a DVD drive for it. But until then the VCD will just do:(
Instead of battling over how to get their files from the lab and home... THey just upload their documents from the harddrive to imacfloppy at the end of the session. And they can download them from home.
It works. Its as simply as you can get it. A lot simpler than ftp, or sendmail, or setting up ftpd etc etc etc.
Try it and see what they're on about.
It is to replace the floppy disk which normal people keep in the coat pocket on their way from school or work to home!
NOT for you or me!
BUT I've found a use for it;)
I use it to keep the few files I sometimes need... such as my sig file. So I can work anywhere:)
So combined with my virtual floppy and my pilot what more do I need?
Slashdot Mirror
Lemme see...
:)
Its about the usual matrix type stuff... but soooooo much better...
Its your typical anime trip.
Akira is another must see.
I actually like macross too
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Hehehe
;), and webpages with PNG files, and webbrowser which support QT have no problem!)
:)
If you didn't know GIFs were/are patent encumbered.
That's what all the fuss about PNG format is.
Of course, no one REALLY uses PNG... (but of course QuickTime does
Anywho, it comes down to the LZiff compression used in GIFs.
PNG doesn't use it
Same as Z and GZip compression on unix systems.
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Lets assume Apple has donated the QuickTime file format to the good of all man kind in MPEG4.
:) but thats fair :)
;) ) to be the file format... but Apple's QuickTime was chosen...
:)
:)
:)
;) (see LAME)
;) )
:), Your decompressors, mediahandlers, datahanders and stream handlers WILL be assimilated ;) )
:)]
:) and then you can embed MPEG4 streams into AVI containers, and use it just like another format ;)
Great... of course, that makes Apple a tonne of cash down the road
---
Next, I suppose you could say that that peeved MS a bit. After all, they did submit AVI or was it ASF (I lose track of these things
---
Well another 'minor' part of MPEG4 is how to compress the 2D Video Streams
This has traditionally been where all the focus has been in other MPEG standards, but MPEG4 is more about multimedia than compression.
But of course, compression is an essential part of this.
Anyway, way it works is MPEG defines it, and some MPEG related group usually implements an implemention to test the methodologies. Once EVERYTHING has been finalised, things are accepted and made public... Including at least one implementation to assist the hardware and software implementers. Of course, there are always patents invovled... so you pay the licensing fees and all that jive.
MPEG4 has TWO official code implementers,
There is, I believe an italian, group doing the C implementation. And there is Microsoft.
Microsoft is doing the C++ implmentation.
Now. You can bet your bottom dollar microsoft won't be giving away their code when its time to open up one of the implementations
In fact, I'd bet the OTHER groups, specific purpose is to write the implementation for others to follow.
---
What does this mean?
MPEG4 files/streams are quicktime.
Microsoft is developing a version of the MPEG4 standard.
Apple already has MPEG4 and are just missing a few codecs
They will be made open, and then Apple can start selling Final Cut Pro and pals as an MPEG4 authoring system, and PowerMac G4x4 systems as the supreme MPEG4 authoring system.
Of course, MPEG4 is everything, so Linux can just use the free implementation, after all patents never seem to bother opensource coders
---
What's interesting at the moment, is microsoft seems to be trying to use their advanced access to the MPEG4 coding systems to try and rest dominance in the current internet streaming field... Does this mean they're trying to embrace and extend MPEG4?
Hmmm...
Perhaps they're trying to make it irrelevant.
You see...
MS-MPEG4.3 which is a great codec... some say, "The MP3 of Video" only works inside a microsoft active streaming format file.
You can't use it inside an AVI file (which is just a way of interleaving audio and video streams after all) or inside a quicktime file (similar to AVI but all embracing
(aside: QuickTime is like the Borg of Media
[hmmm I think I've gotten lost, I did have a point
Anywho...
It is possible to hack MS-MPEG4.3 implementation and turn it into a legitimate Win32 AVI CoDec
Heh... Sortof defeats the whole posturing MS seems to be doing with the ASF format.
MPEG4 is a multimedia architechture whose file format happens to be based on Apple's QuickTime.
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
I thought it was from the Blue Yellow & Pink cards ;)
:(
Does anyone remember the Pink (PNK) OS? What about taligent?
Kaleida?
Magic Cap?
Copland?
Newtos
Sad, isn't it.
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Lets see
;) )
;) sorta...
;) )
:)
;)
;)
;)
;)
If you've ever seen Virtual PC or one of the other PC emulators running on a mac, you can't help but be at least a little bit impressed. Now you run one of those with 128MB of ram for it... and the emulation simply flies.
Now... In some ways you could consider this to be a Red Box (The typical codename used for a mythical pc emulation box on macos's blue code base
Anywho... a Red Box... which is half decent for things you can't get native apps for... such as that silly Access database you've been using since the mid 90's.
Now Apple had a problem with the PowerPC. Namely their OS and ALL apps were written in 68k code! So they implemented a emulator at the lowest level of the system... Later version cached code, dynamically recompiled and all that juicy stuff.... And eventually native apps were released... and speed reigned... Life was good.
Then Apps got bigger. And things broke more often.
A Modern Core was required.
So the Rhapsody project was started...
Take OpenStep 4.2 (I think) which is a BSD based OS with NeXT object extensions running on x86... and port it to the PPC.
Great. But it doesn't run Mac Apps...
So make a Blue Box... its not an emulator as such... well it is... but it doesn't emulate the CPU... it emulates everything else
The point is you get native speed...
And because its running on top of a unix, it gets some nice features, like memory protection & a GOOD virtual memory system (relatively
So you just make the Classic MacOS think its running on a NICE piece of hardware with 1 gig of ram.
Add a few tweaks to the OS, so that when it goes into a delay spin it just sleeps.
And there you go. Working bluebox. But its very separate, just like Virtual PC.
Oh Well.
Enter MacOS X.
I won't go into Carbon... but carbon is cool
Basically means you can run the MacApps OUTSIDE of their little blue box
Its another API to the Unix... You have the Darwin API (BSD), You have the NeXT API (YellowBox/Cocoa) and you have the Carbon API (Cleaned up MacOS)
Cocoa is the nifty one btw.
Anywho... transparent blue box.
Basically you make the finder in the BlueBox (your desktop manager) invisible... so that the mac's windows float in MacOS X... almost like a real macos X app...
even tho they're being 'emulated' (we have to find a better term for that! Is 'Runtime Environment' it?)
Anywho...
This brings me to the next bit
Apple has all the technology required to make emulators and these Runtime Environments...
And in fact... Other companies offer VERY good PC emulators for traditional macos.
I think you would have to be insane to not believe that Connectix was currently working on a Carbonized version of Virtual PC.
And what would be really amazing is if they managed to turn Virtual PC (the Red Box) into a Transparent Red Box which is certainly possible.
This would give you your modern hardware which runs windows/macos/osx/bsd apps.
Of course, you could also run linux apps on their with sufficient development work
Oh yeah, Java too.
In fact, you might actually be able to run LinuxPPC as a separate Mach Process!
BTW, Aqua is even better in person!
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
FireWire, Ethernet, RS232, ADB, USB, TokenRing(?) are all serial protocols.
;)
;)
They are measured in bps... bits per second... Some have stop bits, start bits etc...
Its not always a simple matter of dividing by 8 to get the byte rate. Sometimes its a simpler matter of dividing by 10
SCSI is really measured in MegaTransfers... and the scsi interface can be either wide or narrow... wide has two bytes per transfer.
UltraSCSI160 does 80MT/second. Its wide. 160MB/s
Lets not also discuss baudrate
Giggle.
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
That's right. Serial scsi.
;)
Complete with its on paragraph/chapter in the Big Book O' SCSI.
It just happens to send data 1 bit at a time, and have auto-ID negotiation...... actually it uses a unique ID for every single device ever manufactured
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Yah, It doesn't make much sense to have USBFirewire... altho FireWireUSB might make a bit more sense ;)
;)
FireWire & USB have always been described as complimentary ports......
A modern architechure needs DIMMS, AGP, PCI, FireWire, USB & 100bT. I spose you have to throw a VGA plug in there as well.
Funny, that sounds a lot like Apple's latest G4s...
Shoot me
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
That the next major revision of Apple's hardware lines will have 800mbps FireWire ports... up to 4 of them...
www.mosr.com
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
well...
;)
Its bound to happen
One wonders if you could go one step behind the voice coil and catch it just before the DAC...
Yummy Digital Signal
I assume you'd have to integrate the decryption into the DAC otherwise you could do what I just said.
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
OOOoooops.
;)
I meant
"Approved USB Device Class Specifications Building on top of the USB specifications, there are Approved Device Class Specifications by the Device Working Group. These specifications recommend design targets for classes of devices. "
But dyslexia seems to have bitten me
http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass.html
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Universal Serial Bus Revision 1.1 specification (.zip file format, size 1,779 Kbytes) provides the technical details to understand USB requirements and design USB compatible products (Updated 11/23/1999). Modifications to the USB specification are made through Engineering Change Notices (ECNs).
;)
This link requires NO password?
And leads to 14M of documents, which look an awfull lot like the USB Specs... I mean... I was panic-ing since I actually write USB drivers, and have come to depend on the availability of the documentation...
But it all still seems to be there... Just in case... I've grabbed everything I could find... 15+ M so far
Hehe
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
It's a 4-port ethernet 10/100 card (only currently supported under OSXS) PLUS the built in 10/100bT port on the motherboard :)
;) no offence.
For a total of 500mbps of switched bandwidth, yummy.
Of course, you could put another 2 of those cards in! Or put gigabit ethernet cards in! (Its a build to order option!)
MOSXS is one very very stable OS.
Only reason I run LinuxPPC, is it won't run on my hardware
Well... soon as what ever encoder takes advantage of it... then you'll be able to encode MP3s/sorrenson/QDesign AUdio at an amazing speed...
:)
Remember, the AltiVec is basically one massive DSP
And this is what DSPs excel at!
:)
www.linuxppc.{org|com}
A worker of magic? ;)
Well...
:(
After seeing the matrix 3 times in the cinemas I hope you understand why I would watch it instead of going again to the cinemas... I mean... They are expensive,
Yes I will buy the DVD the moment it comes out, in fact I'll get a DVD drive for it. But until then the VCD will just do
I think some people here need a clue.
;)
:)
This *IS* a usefull service. TRY IT.
Picture this...
Lab of 32 iMacs.
400 students at a uni use this every day.
Instead of battling over how to get their files from the lab and home... THey just upload their documents from the harddrive to imacfloppy at the end of the session. And they can download them from home.
It works. Its as simply as you can get it. A lot simpler than ftp, or sendmail, or setting up ftpd etc etc etc.
Try it and see what they're on about.
It is to replace the floppy disk which normal people keep in the coat pocket on their way from school or work to home!
NOT for you or me!
BUT I've found a use for it
I use it to keep the few files I sometimes need... such as my sig file. So I can work anywhere
So combined with my virtual floppy and my pilot what more do I need?
Interestingly Connectix first trip down emulation lane was with a PC hardware emulator...
:)
:)
:)
Which is god damn perfect!
And MS tried to decline them a windows license... and lost
Now they have a PSX Hardware Emulator.
A Hardware emulator emulates the hardware... NOT the API...
I don't know if VGS is a hardware emulator... BUT VPC *IS*
.
THey also have a JavaVM they are working on. And this one is a REAL virtual machine
Connectix know how to write virtual machines
Their VPC emulator can run about 9 different PC oses!!!
Hello McFly!
:)
Sony don't make their money on the PSX!
In fact the rumors are that Sony LOSE money on every PSX sold.
Where they make bucketloads is the commision from EVERY game sold for the PSX!!!!
Now, 800,000 imacs...
They'll be buying PSX games! Sony get $$$$ from every game sold! To every VGS owner!
And they don't have to lose money on the PlayStation for it
Its really a win/win situation.
Macs get games,
Sony gets $$$
What's to complain about?