Hopefully, the LSB people will make sure we do have a standardized interface for plugging in digital still cameras through USB ports and digital camcorders through IEEE-1394 ports on all commercial distributions of Linux soon. That would finally make Linux "user friendly" with the rapid growth of digital still cameras and digital camcorders out there.
Further, I wouldn't exactly call Linux the most user friendly of environments, its geared toward people who want a lot of functionality and have the time to mess with every little detail.
This, in my humble opinion, is one the big limitation of Linux even with the current SuSE and Mandrake distributions. Configuring Linux to work for each user is definitely not a job for computer newbies.
But there is also another big limitation: Linux currently does not support the full functionality of many hardware peripherals out there, not to mention true automated configuration of any new installed hardware. Think about it: does Linux support the full functionality of the Sound Blaster Audigy card? Can you plug in a digital still camera through the USB ports and Linux will recognize the data on the memory card in the camera and "mount" the memory card with a new disk drive designation?
Hopefully, the people who maintain the Linux Standards Base will work with computer hardware companies and consumer electronics companies to settle these issues so Linux will become a truly viable alternative to Windows soon.
If I were TiVo I would try to partner with Comcast, perhaps the largest cable TV provider in the USA. That way, Comcast users get the benefits of TiVo (including dual-tuner operation), and Comcast could allocate one of its cable channels to send TiVo programming and software update data in the middle of the night at near-broadband speeds, which means updates only need a few minutes to complete. =)
There's a good reason why they will do another servicing missing to the Hubble Space Telescope: they can install next-generation sensors that are far more advanced than what is now installed on the HST. This means improved resolution, better color resolution and/or correction, and so on.
Besides, even after the Shuttle is phased out the HST can still be maintained: a service crew can fly up on a small spaceship and the parts could be brought up on the next generation of unmanned launch vehicles, which means HST could serviced for many years to come.
What if their communication is completely different. Like, something we haven't even considered to be a possibility yet, even in SciFi.. In a transmission media we don't even realize, we may be receiving communications from them, but we simply don't have the equipment to hear it.. We can't even decipher what any other creature on this planet is trying to communicate, why should we even be so egotistical to thing that not only would we know how to receive their communication, but have the vaugest idea of what they're saying.
Remember Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Outside of the obvious Hollywood licenses:-), both movies do point out the very issues you mentioned--how do you communicate with an alien civilization when their idea about communcations and our idea of communications may not be the same?
I think if we do see an Internet Explorer 7.0 (which will probably come out the spring of 2005), you will likely see the following changes compare to IE 6.01 Service Pack 1:
1. An all-new, faster HTML rendering engine than the one currently being used.
2. Incorporate all the security default changes that is part of the IE 6.01 SP1 from Windows XP Service Pack 2.
3. Incorporate a number of changes to the toolbars. We will see a collapsible sidebar (which was on the beta versions of IE 6.0 but was dropped from the final release).
4. Tabbed browsing will be incorporated, but with an additional twist: you can configure the browser so when you click on a link that requires opening a new page, you open a new tabbed window instead of another full instance of the browser itself.
5. In addition to pop-up window blocking, it will incorporate the ability to block Macromedia Flash and Shockwave animations (or at least warn the user and give a choice on if they want to see that animation).
6. The minimum OS that IE 7.0 will run is Windows 2000 Professional.
I also think we may see an IE 6.5 for Windows 98/Me users that will incorporate some of the changes I mentioned above.
There's a good reason why I don't mention monitors: each user has their own preference for what they want in a monitor.
The very latest LCD displays have very little (if any) of the motion-blurring artifacts that has plagued LCD panels in the past--and they use WAY less power than a 17 to 21 inch CRT display.
Yes, I do agree that Sony CRT monitors are superb, though I would recommend seeing if the customer is willing to put up with the two very thin lines on the display that is especially visible on a white background.
Every gamer I know (and indeed, myself) builds their own system for the fraction of the cost of buying an Alienware or a Dell that has the same specs.
Usually, a homebuilt gamer's computer for those with big bank accounts comes down to this:
1. High-quality system case with a 400-450 watt dual-fan power supply and at least 2-3 system case fans.
2. Top-quality motherboard running Athlon 64 FX or high-end Pentium 4 CPU's. Motherboard will have multiple USB 2.0 ports and at least one IEEE-1394 port along with the oligatory 10/100Base-T RJ-45 Ethernet connector.
5. Graphics card using AGP 8x (and soon PCI Express) connections with at least Radeon 9700 Pro or GeForce FX 5900 level chipsets.
6. 120 GB or larger hard drives using Serial ATA connections. If possible run two identical drives in RAID 0 fashion. Operating system installed will most likely be Windows XP Home/Professional (preferably with Service Pack 2) in dual-boot fashion with the current distribution of Mandrake or SuSE Linux.
7. 8x DVD+/-R/RW burner drive.
8. Decent quality keyboard.
9. High-quality mouse pointer such as the Logitech MX510 or the latest Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer with its new side-scrolling ability.
10. Good-quality speakers, going to 5.1 configuration if possible.
11. Top-quality game controllers plugged into USB ports.
We're talking something that will cost between US$1,500 to US$2,200.
That's what the Beowulf project has created (besides way too many/. jokes =) ).
Imagine clustering hundreds to thousands of identical computers together to do heavy-duty computational work at a cost far below that of a dedicated supercomputer--that's what Beowulf clustering has made possible. Why do you think a lot of biotech companies are using large-scale Beowulf cluster setups to do DNA simulation?
Also, it has created a market for rack-mounted small server machines called blade servers where you can put hundreds to thousands of them in a relatively small space, all synched together using Beowulf clustering code.
I think we will see a Windows 2000 Service Pack 5 probably some time this fall, which may slipstream in the installation of the IE 6.01 SP1 that comes with WinXP SP2 and possibly even update Windows Media Player to an updated Version 9 release.
After all, the Mozilla web browser went from 1.7 to 1.7.1 to 1.7.2 pretty quickly, and of course many other components in Linux commercial distributions do need to be updated as security vulnerabilites are found and/or improved versions of the Linux components are released.
I have this feeling that with Northrop's validation of the research that shows reshaping a plane's profile CAN dramatically reduce the effects of the sonic boom, Boeing may be seriously looking at the possibility of a supersonic airliner again.
Imagine something derived from the shelved Sonic Cruiser design, but carefully shaped to eliminate the pressure wave buildup that causes the sonic boom in the first place. The result could be a Mach 1.7 airliner that could:
1. Fly at 55,000 feet with just about no sonic booms audiable to observers below on the flight path.
2. Fly at least 6,500 to 7,000 nautical miles nonstop.
3. Carry around 200 passengers in two-class seating.
4. Be able use make extensive use of composite materials because at Mach 1.7 the heating effects of supersonic flight will be less than that Mach 2.0 speed of Concorde. This means lower weight for the whole airframe itself.
5. Use variable-cycle engines that will allow the plane to meet today's stringent jet engine noise and exhaust emission standards on takeoff and landing but still allow for efficient supersonic cruise.
If you look at the Sonic Cruiser design, it appears that Boeing has some ideas already in place about reducing that pressure wave buildup to start with. Why not take those concepts and build a truly "green" SST that could carry twice the number of passengers as the Concorde and be able to fly most transpacific routes nonstop?
Actually, jet engine manufacturers have done a very commendable job reducing engine noise, thanks to high-bypass turbofan engines that use mostly the front fan to generate thrust and the use of acoustically-treated and tuned jet engine nacelles.
A less-known problem is that of the noise rushing around the airframe at flight speeds, which can also generate a lot of noise that could be heard from the ground. Fortunately, modern computational fluid dynamic research has reduced this problem, even on the upcoming Airbus A380 super jumbo airliner.
It would be a truly daunting and very expensive task to retro-fit the US with South Korean-like broadbrand. Especially with all the bureaucracy in telecommunications. The point is we should look to them and try to learn from their experiences and mistakes.
I think the biggest problems with trying to get broadband to the entire USA are:
1. You have competing interests with the telco's and the cable companies.
2. The sheer geography of the USA mitigates against wired broadband in rural areas.
#2 is especially daunting, given the good number of US citizens that still live in rural areas.
Here in the USA, universal broadband will probably arrive with WiMax and its related mobile version that can operate on a moving vehicle up to 155 mph (250 km/h). Essentially an extension of Wi-Fi, WiMax can support thousands of users per antenna, and the transfer speeds can be up to 54 megabits/second! (Though I think for capacity reasons, they'll probably cap it in real world use at around 10 mbps). The biggest advantage for WiMax is that it's vastly cheaper to put up antennas than to put up wired connections to every household and business, essentially eliminating the so-called last mile connection problem for broadband Internet access even in rural and mountainous areas.
It's very likely that WiMax antennas will use the same towers now used for cellphone antennas, so infrastructure costs may not be as steep as some people think.
Microsoft has to hunt down every pointer in their windows code, which is vast. Even with Microsoft's resources it's going to take them a while before they have a fully 64bit version of Windows.
I think Microsoft will delay the release of the x86-64 version of Windows XP so 1) they can get true 64-bit driver support and 2) they can recode all the programs that come with WinXP to true 64-bit versions (Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and so on). It also gives more time for third-party software vendors to complete development of true 64-bit versions of their software, too.
Think of Burt Rutan as the Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of the 21st Century--an aerospace engineer that with relatively minimal resources have come up with a LOT of extremely innovative developments in the aerospace industry. It was Rutan's company (Scaled Composites) that showed the way for low-cost wide use of composite materials in airplanes, starting with the ground-breaking Vari-Eze homebuilt plane.
Mostly because the White Knight/SpaceShipOne combination has demonstrated it can fly to 100 km altitude, even though the last flight wasn't perfect.
Meanwhile, the da Vinci project has yet to prove it can fly to 100 km altitude with its final flight hardware; they probably need to do a couple of test flights before attempting to win the X-Prize.
I think there are too many people out there who think that we should stop all technological development and spend more time solving current human problems by various means.
Alas, that will NOT work well, as we've seen in hunter-gatherer societies, the feudal society of Middle Age Europe, the highly-regimented social class system of China up until the Chinese Revolution of 1911, and the old caste system of the Indian subcontinent.
When you look at the height of Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Islamic states up until 1100 AD, the Rennaissance, and the rise of modern science since the 1500's, the very fact they allowed human inquisitiveness to prosper resulted in enormous advances in science and other general knowledge.
I think the first thing you want to do before you get a checking or savings account at a bank that offers ATM/debit cards is to find out their fraudulent use policy.
At Bank of America in California (where I bank), they're pretty good at reversing fraudulent charges against your debit card. That's why you MUST remember the toll-free number on the back of the card, because that number is your means to protect yourself in case the card gets lost or stolen.
I wouldn't be surprised that within a few months of Doom 3's release there will be a Version 1.1 of Doom 3 with internal code changes that will fully take advantage of the registers of ATI's R300 and newer graphics chipsets.
Personally, I think that once Mariner 9 showed what is very likely former riverbeds on Mars, it's obvious that in the distant past, Mars had water and very likely some form of lower-level lifeforms.
In my opinion, here's what happened on Mars:
1. In the distant past when there was flowing water on the plant, life did evolve, with the likely chance that we had fairly advanced plants lifeforms and lower level animal lifeforms.
2. Alas, when the atmosphere thinned, the surface water evaporated, essentially killing all lifeforms except for (at best) forms of bacteria and possibly algae that could survive in today's extremely severe Mars climate, living off the water trapped under the surface of the planet.
3. I think when the Mars Science Laboratory lander/rover reachers Mars in 2009, it will find that life does exist on the planet today in the form of bacteria or something related to it.
Given how many PDA's and combo PDA/cellphones out there run PalmOS, I'm surprised that someone malevolent "cracker" hasn't created a virus that will cause problem with PalmOS-based units already.
And when that happens and it spreads in the wild, the results will be ugly. =(
From what I read from nVidia's web site, the current ForceWare display driver can drive 1280x720 output necessary for DLP, LCD and LCOS rear-projection TV's with DVI inputs, but in order for it to work you need a graphics card designed for this purpose.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for the informational updates.
Hopefully, the LSB people will make sure we do have a standardized interface for plugging in digital still cameras through USB ports and digital camcorders through IEEE-1394 ports on all commercial distributions of Linux soon. That would finally make Linux "user friendly" with the rapid growth of digital still cameras and digital camcorders out there.
Further, I wouldn't exactly call Linux the most user friendly of environments, its geared toward people who want a lot of functionality and have the time to mess with every little detail.
This, in my humble opinion, is one the big limitation of Linux even with the current SuSE and Mandrake distributions. Configuring Linux to work for each user is definitely not a job for computer newbies.
But there is also another big limitation: Linux currently does not support the full functionality of many hardware peripherals out there, not to mention true automated configuration of any new installed hardware. Think about it: does Linux support the full functionality of the Sound Blaster Audigy card? Can you plug in a digital still camera through the USB ports and Linux will recognize the data on the memory card in the camera and "mount" the memory card with a new disk drive designation?
Hopefully, the people who maintain the Linux Standards Base will work with computer hardware companies and consumer electronics companies to settle these issues so Linux will become a truly viable alternative to Windows soon.
If I were TiVo I would try to partner with Comcast, perhaps the largest cable TV provider in the USA. That way, Comcast users get the benefits of TiVo (including dual-tuner operation), and Comcast could allocate one of its cable channels to send TiVo programming and software update data in the middle of the night at near-broadband speeds, which means updates only need a few minutes to complete. =)
There's a good reason why they will do another servicing missing to the Hubble Space Telescope: they can install next-generation sensors that are far more advanced than what is now installed on the HST. This means improved resolution, better color resolution and/or correction, and so on.
Besides, even after the Shuttle is phased out the HST can still be maintained: a service crew can fly up on a small spaceship and the parts could be brought up on the next generation of unmanned launch vehicles, which means HST could serviced for many years to come.
What if their communication is completely different. Like, something we haven't even considered to be a possibility yet, even in SciFi.. In a transmission media we don't even realize, we may be receiving communications from them, but we simply don't have the equipment to hear it.. We can't even decipher what any other creature on this planet is trying to communicate, why should we even be so egotistical to thing that not only would we know how to receive their communication, but have the vaugest idea of what they're saying.
:-), both movies do point out the very issues you mentioned--how do you communicate with an alien civilization when their idea about communcations and our idea of communications may not be the same?
Remember Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Outside of the obvious Hollywood licenses
I think if we do see an Internet Explorer 7.0 (which will probably come out the spring of 2005), you will likely see the following changes compare to IE 6.01 Service Pack 1:
1. An all-new, faster HTML rendering engine than the one currently being used.
2. Incorporate all the security default changes that is part of the IE 6.01 SP1 from Windows XP Service Pack 2.
3. Incorporate a number of changes to the toolbars. We will see a collapsible sidebar (which was on the beta versions of IE 6.0 but was dropped from the final release).
4. Tabbed browsing will be incorporated, but with an additional twist: you can configure the browser so when you click on a link that requires opening a new page, you open a new tabbed window instead of another full instance of the browser itself.
5. In addition to pop-up window blocking, it will incorporate the ability to block Macromedia Flash and Shockwave animations (or at least warn the user and give a choice on if they want to see that animation).
6. The minimum OS that IE 7.0 will run is Windows 2000 Professional.
I also think we may see an IE 6.5 for Windows 98/Me users that will incorporate some of the changes I mentioned above.
There's a good reason why I don't mention monitors: each user has their own preference for what they want in a monitor.
The very latest LCD displays have very little (if any) of the motion-blurring artifacts that has plagued LCD panels in the past--and they use WAY less power than a 17 to 21 inch CRT display.
Yes, I do agree that Sony CRT monitors are superb, though I would recommend seeing if the customer is willing to put up with the two very thin lines on the display that is especially visible on a white background.
Every gamer I know (and indeed, myself) builds their own system for the fraction of the cost of buying an Alienware or a Dell that has the same specs.
Usually, a homebuilt gamer's computer for those with big bank accounts comes down to this:
1. High-quality system case with a 400-450 watt dual-fan power supply and at least 2-3 system case fans.
2. Top-quality motherboard running Athlon 64 FX or high-end Pentium 4 CPU's. Motherboard will have multiple USB 2.0 ports and at least one IEEE-1394 port along with the oligatory 10/100Base-T RJ-45 Ethernet connector.
3. 1 GB of RAM installed.
4. Sound Blaster Audigy (or equivalent sound card) installed.
5. Graphics card using AGP 8x (and soon PCI Express) connections with at least Radeon 9700 Pro or GeForce FX 5900 level chipsets.
6. 120 GB or larger hard drives using Serial ATA connections. If possible run two identical drives in RAID 0 fashion. Operating system installed will most likely be Windows XP Home/Professional (preferably with Service Pack 2) in dual-boot fashion with the current distribution of Mandrake or SuSE Linux.
7. 8x DVD+/-R/RW burner drive.
8. Decent quality keyboard.
9. High-quality mouse pointer such as the Logitech MX510 or the latest Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer with its new side-scrolling ability.
10. Good-quality speakers, going to 5.1 configuration if possible.
11. Top-quality game controllers plugged into USB ports.
We're talking something that will cost between US$1,500 to US$2,200.
That's what the Beowulf project has created (besides way too many /. jokes =) ).
Imagine clustering hundreds to thousands of identical computers together to do heavy-duty computational work at a cost far below that of a dedicated supercomputer--that's what Beowulf clustering has made possible. Why do you think a lot of biotech companies are using large-scale Beowulf cluster setups to do DNA simulation?
Also, it has created a market for rack-mounted small server machines called blade servers where you can put hundreds to thousands of them in a relatively small space, all synched together using Beowulf clustering code.
Well, it's high time for WHOI to phase out the Alvin and donate it to a museum.
That submersible pioneered a lot of deep-sea research, to say the least.
I think we will see a Windows 2000 Service Pack 5 probably some time this fall, which may slipstream in the installation of the IE 6.01 SP1 that comes with WinXP SP2 and possibly even update Windows Media Player to an updated Version 9 release.
I diagree with your comments.
After all, the Mozilla web browser went from 1.7 to 1.7.1 to 1.7.2 pretty quickly, and of course many other components in Linux commercial distributions do need to be updated as security vulnerabilites are found and/or improved versions of the Linux components are released.
I still remember when a 20 MB Seagate ST225 hard drive with controller was something like US$500 back in 1985! =:-O
Today, you can get three 200 GB Serial ATA hard drives for that same price--and still have pocket change left.
I have this feeling that with Northrop's validation of the research that shows reshaping a plane's profile CAN dramatically reduce the effects of the sonic boom, Boeing may be seriously looking at the possibility of a supersonic airliner again.
Imagine something derived from the shelved Sonic Cruiser design, but carefully shaped to eliminate the pressure wave buildup that causes the sonic boom in the first place. The result could be a Mach 1.7 airliner that could:
1. Fly at 55,000 feet with just about no sonic booms audiable to observers below on the flight path.
2. Fly at least 6,500 to 7,000 nautical miles nonstop.
3. Carry around 200 passengers in two-class seating.
4. Be able use make extensive use of composite materials because at Mach 1.7 the heating effects of supersonic flight will be less than that Mach 2.0 speed of Concorde. This means lower weight for the whole airframe itself.
5. Use variable-cycle engines that will allow the plane to meet today's stringent jet engine noise and exhaust emission standards on takeoff and landing but still allow for efficient supersonic cruise.
If you look at the Sonic Cruiser design, it appears that Boeing has some ideas already in place about reducing that pressure wave buildup to start with. Why not take those concepts and build a truly "green" SST that could carry twice the number of passengers as the Concorde and be able to fly most transpacific routes nonstop?
Actually, jet engine manufacturers have done a very commendable job reducing engine noise, thanks to high-bypass turbofan engines that use mostly the front fan to generate thrust and the use of acoustically-treated and tuned jet engine nacelles.
A less-known problem is that of the noise rushing around the airframe at flight speeds, which can also generate a lot of noise that could be heard from the ground. Fortunately, modern computational fluid dynamic research has reduced this problem, even on the upcoming Airbus A380 super jumbo airliner.
It would be a truly daunting and very expensive task to retro-fit the US with South Korean-like broadbrand. Especially with all the bureaucracy in telecommunications. The point is we should look to them and try to learn from their experiences and mistakes.
I think the biggest problems with trying to get broadband to the entire USA are:
1. You have competing interests with the telco's and the cable companies.
2. The sheer geography of the USA mitigates against wired broadband in rural areas.
#2 is especially daunting, given the good number of US citizens that still live in rural areas.
Here in the USA, universal broadband will probably arrive with WiMax and its related mobile version that can operate on a moving vehicle up to 155 mph (250 km/h). Essentially an extension of Wi-Fi, WiMax can support thousands of users per antenna, and the transfer speeds can be up to 54 megabits/second! (Though I think for capacity reasons, they'll probably cap it in real world use at around 10 mbps). The biggest advantage for WiMax is that it's vastly cheaper to put up antennas than to put up wired connections to every household and business, essentially eliminating the so-called last mile connection problem for broadband Internet access even in rural and mountainous areas.
It's very likely that WiMax antennas will use the same towers now used for cellphone antennas, so infrastructure costs may not be as steep as some people think.
Microsoft has to hunt down every pointer in their windows code, which is vast. Even with Microsoft's resources it's going to take them a while before they have a fully 64bit version of Windows.
I think Microsoft will delay the release of the x86-64 version of Windows XP so 1) they can get true 64-bit driver support and 2) they can recode all the programs that come with WinXP to true 64-bit versions (Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and so on). It also gives more time for third-party software vendors to complete development of true 64-bit versions of their software, too.
He's like a one-man aerospace industry!
Think of Burt Rutan as the Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of the 21st Century--an aerospace engineer that with relatively minimal resources have come up with a LOT of extremely innovative developments in the aerospace industry. It was Rutan's company (Scaled Composites) that showed the way for low-cost wide use of composite materials in airplanes, starting with the ground-breaking Vari-Eze homebuilt plane.
Mostly because the White Knight/SpaceShipOne combination has demonstrated it can fly to 100 km altitude, even though the last flight wasn't perfect.
Meanwhile, the da Vinci project has yet to prove it can fly to 100 km altitude with its final flight hardware; they probably need to do a couple of test flights before attempting to win the X-Prize.
I think there are too many people out there who think that we should stop all technological development and spend more time solving current human problems by various means.
Alas, that will NOT work well, as we've seen in hunter-gatherer societies, the feudal society of Middle Age Europe, the highly-regimented social class system of China up until the Chinese Revolution of 1911, and the old caste system of the Indian subcontinent.
When you look at the height of Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Islamic states up until 1100 AD, the Rennaissance, and the rise of modern science since the 1500's, the very fact they allowed human inquisitiveness to prosper resulted in enormous advances in science and other general knowledge.
I think the first thing you want to do before you get a checking or savings account at a bank that offers ATM/debit cards is to find out their fraudulent use policy.
At Bank of America in California (where I bank), they're pretty good at reversing fraudulent charges against your debit card. That's why you MUST remember the toll-free number on the back of the card, because that number is your means to protect yourself in case the card gets lost or stolen.
I wouldn't be surprised that within a few months of Doom 3's release there will be a Version 1.1 of Doom 3 with internal code changes that will fully take advantage of the registers of ATI's R300 and newer graphics chipsets.
Personally, I think that once Mariner 9 showed what is very likely former riverbeds on Mars, it's obvious that in the distant past, Mars had water and very likely some form of lower-level lifeforms.
In my opinion, here's what happened on Mars:
1. In the distant past when there was flowing water on the plant, life did evolve, with the likely chance that we had fairly advanced plants lifeforms and lower level animal lifeforms.
2. Alas, when the atmosphere thinned, the surface water evaporated, essentially killing all lifeforms except for (at best) forms of bacteria and possibly algae that could survive in today's extremely severe Mars climate, living off the water trapped under the surface of the planet.
3. I think when the Mars Science Laboratory lander/rover reachers Mars in 2009, it will find that life does exist on the planet today in the form of bacteria or something related to it.
Given how many PDA's and combo PDA/cellphones out there run PalmOS, I'm surprised that someone malevolent "cracker" hasn't created a virus that will cause problem with PalmOS-based units already.
And when that happens and it spreads in the wild, the results will be ugly. =(
From what I read from nVidia's web site, the current ForceWare display driver can drive 1280x720 output necessary for DLP, LCD and LCOS rear-projection TV's with DVI inputs, but in order for it to work you need a graphics card designed for this purpose.