My only problem is trying to find an applicable small diesel engine to use as I am not in Europe and can not just go out and easily buy a diesel motorcycle.
While I don't encourage theft of copyrighted material (as copyrights are the only thing that makes my industry viable), most university libraries do keep at least one copy of the current textbooks on hand, and I remember one case mentioned on slashdot where the differences in the "new" version of the textbook were that the 1000 words of introduction was replaced with a picture of the author. If/when I go back to school, I will do my homework before I purchase any textbooks.
It takes about 1 second for the camera to "boot up" after I turn it on and take the lens cap off, then it takes about 1 second to focus and take a picture.
Additional pictures are between 1/4 second and 1 second depending on focus time.
It works well enough that I can even take readable pictures (after a couple tries) of transit passes for our vanpool reporting while sitting in the van as I zips down the freeway.:)
Since purchasing a Canon G2 (4 megapixel) digital camera, I have discovered that it works pretty well for producing readable quality duplications of 8.5"x11" sheets of paper and whiteboard notes.
This camera can be controlled programatically. Automation would be needed to make it practical for a large scale, but it is much quicker than most flat-bed scanners and the quality would be okay for hand-written notes. It would be easy to take multiple overlapping pictures and leave it to software to re-assemble the images.
(Yes, it is a goofy solution, but I works well for me as I normally have my camera handy.)
Until a couple weeks ago, I still had set of working HP9000 model 300 systems complete with fixed frequency monitors - where's my prize?;)...I think I might even have a TRS-80 Model 100 in the back of the closet somewhere.
I am writing this post on my 600mhz daily workstation, also a silent system.
My server, which I still telnet into and read my email using pine, that I share with several others is a P-75 with 48 MB ram and an 8GB HD.
I re-use my desktops as servers. My only real problem is that once I finish using a computer, nobody else wants it.
I have turned a couple HP9000-300 rack cabinets into cute little 2-drawer file cabinets, and I was using a couple servers as nice plant stands for a while
I can go vote for someone new and it doesn't have to be Kerry, and the person I choose doesn't even need to win to make a difference. There are more choices than just Bush and Kerry! Take a look at this list of the political parties! We have the American Reform Party, the American Nazi Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, the U.S Pacifist Party, and many more. On top of all of that, you can write-in "Micky Mouse" as thousands of Americans do each year to send the message the even Micky would be better than the major party choices.
No matter who is elected, if the Green Party gets 20% of the vote and the Libertarian Party gets 20% of the vote, then the group in office have a very large incentive to focus on the environment and shrink the size of government. Even if the Pacifist Party grows by 10,000 votes, that sends a message! On top of the initial message, once a "fringe" party gets enough of a percentage of the votes, they start to qualify for federal matching funds and can spread their message further. You don't need to change the person to send a message.
Speaking to US Citizens: If you don't like the choices, VOTE and PARTICIPATE, the critical component of our political system is the ownership of the individual citizens. This government works on our behalf, if it isn't doing your will, vote and talk to other citizens about your concerns and ask them to vote too!
No, I'll admit, the last time I delt with teenage girls was about 10 years ago when my sister was that age, and the internet wasn't mainsteam at that time.
Might I suggest helping them find non-malware alternatives that do the cute little thing that they want and help them understand why that is a better choice?
Heck, maybe you have a jackpot new market writing cutsie little apps for teenage girls that are guaranteed to not be malware.
They have a task that they want to perform, you may think it is cutsie and stupid, but it is important to them. If you are configuring their computer, you should figure out how to make their system do what they want. That is the whole point behind the idea of a PERSONAL computer.
I wouldn't try to do software development on my mother's computer because it doesn't have the tools that I need, and I wouldn't ask my accountant to use my lawyer's computer for the same reason.
Computers should ENABLE people to do what they want. If you are configuring a new computer for someone, find out what THEY want and customize it for THEIR needs. Trying to prevent them from doing what they want just makes them hate you or their computer.
Now, if they asked for spyware to be installed, I wouldn't install it, but I would explain the problem and help them find an alternative that did what they wanted.
Why do you blame the user? She explicitly said that she lost all of the programs that she likes...it is the fault of the person installing and configuring the computer.
Either FULLY configure it, or don't complain when your user makes a mess trying to customize it to their needs.
I have the fanless EPIA mini-itx board, I am posting from a computer running on it in fact, and overall, it works pretty well but there are a few drawbacks:
1) It isn't 100% silent when you add in the hard drives. 2) If you want a fanless system, you are limiting the speed at which you can run.
That said, I traded a dual celeron 400mhz setup for a single proc 600mhz fanless setup and I don't notice the speed difference.
One other up-side is that I was able to mount it all in a set-top box case and it sits in my stereo cabinet right next to my audio equipment and the only noise is from the hard drives. It is so quiet that I am highly considering swapping my other 4 systems over to mini-itx fan-less boards.
If you would like to learn more about Walmart, and why people don't like them, I have a blog entry on Wal-Mart at http://out-of-idaho.blogspot.com that you might want to read. Look under April 8th.
Ah, yes, these countries are self sufficient...except that these big multi-national companies want to dominate every corner of the world so badly that they push into places that don't make sense.
For example, I remember reading about coke and pepsi pushing into a number of tiny, impovrished countries where the cost of single can of soda ended up being about a week worth of work.
Re:Does adding every ingredient make it better?
on
C# 2.0 Spec Released
·
· Score: 1
Then why are the "moronic" standard c libraries still standard?
We have known that they are "moronic" for decades.
If it is all insanely easy to avoid, why do so many people continually fall into the same traps over and over, even after months of training in how to avoid security problems?
Why do universities still teach students to use the standard libraries, and why has the buffer overflow been a huge source of security problems for the past couple decades (probably longer) if it is so easy to avoid?
It is stupid that languages force programmers to routinely manage tasks that they should be able to safely ignore. That is why we have high level languages and don't use assembler for everything anymore.
Re:Does adding every ingredient make it better?
on
C# 2.0 Spec Released
·
· Score: 1
Yes, the programmer ultimately must bear responsibility, as they *could* write it correctly.
My point is that even though a language may have the feature equivalent of a cross-cut saw, you wouldn't want to use that for finish work, and even though a language may have the feature equivalent of a dental probe, you wouldn't want to use that to cut down a tree.
Use the right tools for the right problems.
Sure, bad code can be written in any language, but the barriers can be lowered for writing good code.
C is a great language for low level operating system code, I just wish people would stop writing end-user applications in it!
C++ is an interesting language too, but I see too many people doing too many stupid things with it too.
Frankly, the features of these lanuages are handy when you need them, but most programmers don't need most of the features most of the time. I still don't know if.NET helps keep the toys in the language from getting in the way of the work, but it can't be worse than some of the alternatives.
Re:Does adding every ingredient make it better?
on
C# 2.0 Spec Released
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Personally, a "broken" language is a language that requires so much work to do things right that programmers that use them frequently do things wrong. For example, my all time favorite security flaw: the buffer overflow.
A good language should support the development of code that doesn't contain common flaws. In my opinion, C and C++ are directly responsible for security flaws that cost trillions.
Large companies mostly. Some of that old bare metal is rapidly reaching end of life. Hard drives are starting to fail, power consumption is pretty high for the performance compared to other systems, and people are looking for ways to reduce the space used in their data centers.
Personally, I am having a hard time finding new hardware that is compatible with NT4 drivers. Virtual PC solves that problem, lets me increase the performance without messing with the configuration much, and lets me put consolidate multiple legacy systems.
It also lets me use one machine to test configurations that normally need 3 or 4 machines. I can develop and test n-tier applications on my laptop while sitting on the bus if I want.:)
You forget about the people using Virtual PC to split their new 2ghz machine into 4-8 virtual systems running seperate NT4 applications that they can't afford to port or reconfigure.
I'll start writing test plans and automated tests for linux as soon as someone is willing to pay me a professional wage to do it.
Until then, I'll continue to join the 1200+ testers that work on windows, and probably around 8000 testers that work at Microsoft.
I use linux at home, but it isn't worth enough for me to contribute to. In fact, I love many aspects of unix design and have many flavors of unix in my home network and linux is fun to work with. Testing requires significant thought and work, as much or more than the development of the application itself!
Just my $.02 - My personal thoughts, which have little to do with what my employeer says.
Re:Keep putting it off. Please !
on
Longhorn in 2006
·
· Score: 1
That is why linux is going to be a niche OS. You need to learn that everyone has a valid opinion, even if you are not listening or if they are frequently silent.
I get paid to critically analyze a product, point out the flaws, and argue on the behalf of the customer. I do not get paid to spout the party line or defend Microsoft...that is the job of the top execs.
For the record, at home I have three windows machines, four linux machines, two HPUX machines, a sun OS box, a couple ancient macs, a SGI, a BSD box, and probably a few others that I am forgetting about at the moment. I really like a lot of things about all flavors of Unix and I enjoy using them in my personal time.
That said, I hope that you discover the real world someday.
Slashdot Mirror
If you really want sustainable, low impact transportation, you should go for a bio-diesel motorcycle.
Diesel Motorbikes
My only problem is trying to find an applicable small diesel engine to use as I am not in Europe and can not just go out and easily buy a diesel motorcycle.
While I don't encourage theft of copyrighted material (as copyrights are the only thing that makes my industry viable), most university libraries do keep at least one copy of the current textbooks on hand, and I remember one case mentioned on slashdot where the differences in the "new" version of the textbook were that the 1000 words of introduction was replaced with a picture of the author. If/when I go back to school, I will do my homework before I purchase any textbooks.
It takes about 1 second for the camera to "boot up" after I turn it on and take the lens cap off, then it takes about 1 second to focus and take a picture.
:)
Additional pictures are between 1/4 second and 1 second depending on focus time.
It works well enough that I can even take readable pictures (after a couple tries) of transit passes for our vanpool reporting while sitting in the van as I zips down the freeway.
I knew there was a reason why I still use pine to read my email. :)
Keep software simple!
Since purchasing a Canon G2 (4 megapixel) digital camera, I have discovered that it works pretty well for producing readable quality duplications of 8.5"x11" sheets of paper and whiteboard notes.
This camera can be controlled programatically. Automation would be needed to make it practical for a large scale, but it is much quicker than most flat-bed scanners and the quality would be okay for hand-written notes. It would be easy to take multiple overlapping pictures and leave it to software to re-assemble the images.
(Yes, it is a goofy solution, but I works well for me as I normally have my camera handy.)
Until a couple weeks ago, I still had set of working HP9000 model 300 systems complete with fixed frequency monitors - where's my prize? ;) ...I think I might even have a TRS-80 Model 100 in the back of the closet somewhere.
Funny, my setup is a bit reversed from yours:
I am writing this post on my 600mhz daily workstation, also a silent system.
My server, which I still telnet into and read my email using pine, that I share with several others is a P-75 with 48 MB ram and an 8GB HD.
I re-use my desktops as servers. My only real problem is that once I finish using a computer, nobody else wants it.
I have turned a couple HP9000-300 rack cabinets into cute little 2-drawer file cabinets, and I was using a couple servers as nice plant stands for a while
I can go vote for someone new and it doesn't have to be Kerry, and the person I choose doesn't even need to win to make a difference. There are more choices than just Bush and Kerry! Take a look at this list of the political parties! We have the American Reform Party, the American Nazi Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, the U.S Pacifist Party, and many more. On top of all of that, you can write-in "Micky Mouse" as thousands of Americans do each year to send the message the even Micky would be better than the major party choices.
No matter who is elected, if the Green Party gets 20% of the vote and the Libertarian Party gets 20% of the vote, then the group in office have a very large incentive to focus on the environment and shrink the size of government. Even if the Pacifist Party grows by 10,000 votes, that sends a message! On top of the initial message, once a "fringe" party gets enough of a percentage of the votes, they start to qualify for federal matching funds and can spread their message further. You don't need to change the person to send a message.
Speaking to US Citizens: If you don't like the choices, VOTE and PARTICIPATE, the critical component of our political system is the ownership of the individual citizens. This government works on our behalf, if it isn't doing your will, vote and talk to other citizens about your concerns and ask them to vote too!
No, I'll admit, the last time I delt with teenage girls was about 10 years ago when my sister was that age, and the internet wasn't mainsteam at that time.
Might I suggest helping them find non-malware alternatives that do the cute little thing that they want and help them understand why that is a better choice?
Heck, maybe you have a jackpot new market writing cutsie little apps for teenage girls that are guaranteed to not be malware.
They have a task that they want to perform, you may think it is cutsie and stupid, but it is important to them. If you are configuring their computer, you should figure out how to make their system do what they want. That is the whole point behind the idea of a PERSONAL computer.
Sure - Find the equivalent that isn't crap-ware.
I wouldn't try to do software development on my mother's computer because it doesn't have the tools that I need, and I wouldn't ask my accountant to use my lawyer's computer for the same reason.
Computers should ENABLE people to do what they want. If you are configuring a new computer for someone, find out what THEY want and customize it for THEIR needs. Trying to prevent them from doing what they want just makes them hate you or their computer.
Now, if they asked for spyware to be installed, I wouldn't install it, but I would explain the problem and help them find an alternative that did what they wanted.
Why do you blame the user? She explicitly said that she lost all of the programs that she likes...it is the fault of the person installing and configuring the computer.
Either FULLY configure it, or don't complain when your user makes a mess trying to customize it to their needs.
I am using a gutted set-top-box case. It has no fan and is about the same footprint and half as tall as a series 1 TiVo box.
I am not doing anything high-intensity on these boxes, just email, web surfing, MP3s, word processing, light software development, etc.
My dual 400 mhz celeron system was a very early one with a cheap motherboard, so it may have had abnormally slow performance.
I have the fanless EPIA mini-itx board, I am posting from a computer running on it in fact, and overall, it works pretty well but there are a few drawbacks:
1) It isn't 100% silent when you add in the hard drives.
2) If you want a fanless system, you are limiting the speed at which you can run.
That said, I traded a dual celeron 400mhz setup for a single proc 600mhz fanless setup and I don't notice the speed difference.
One other up-side is that I was able to mount it all in a set-top box case and it sits in my stereo cabinet right next to my audio equipment and the only noise is from the hard drives. It is so quiet that I am highly considering swapping my other 4 systems over to mini-itx fan-less boards.
If you would like to learn more about Walmart, and why people don't like them, I have a blog entry on Wal-Mart at http://out-of-idaho.blogspot.com that you might want to read. Look under April 8th.
I really enjoy my Beyond TV version 3 setup:
:)
WinPVR card, 200 GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and Beyond TV.
It saves the shows in a standard file format, and I can use other software to convert to a more compressed format and archive to DVD.
At one point, I had problems with it frequently crashing, but downloading the newest update solved that problem.
I still use my TiVo, but I am slowly switching my TV viewing to the Beyond TV system.
more importantly, this may help make inroads against the "ibm mindset"... you know, "nobody ever got fired for buying ibm".
:)
Funny how things change, with IBM supporting linux, technically this would be "nobody ever got fired for buying ibm" making inroads again.
Ah, yes, these countries are self sufficient...except that these big multi-national companies want to dominate every corner of the world so badly that they push into places that don't make sense.
For example, I remember reading about coke and pepsi pushing into a number of tiny, impovrished countries where the cost of single can of soda ended up being about a week worth of work.
Then why are the "moronic" standard c libraries still standard?
We have known that they are "moronic" for decades.
If it is all insanely easy to avoid, why do so many people continually fall into the same traps over and over, even after months of training in how to avoid security problems?
Why do universities still teach students to use the standard libraries, and why has the buffer overflow been a huge source of security problems for the past couple decades (probably longer) if it is so easy to avoid?
It is stupid that languages force programmers to routinely manage tasks that they should be able to safely ignore. That is why we have high level languages and don't use assembler for everything anymore.
Yes, the programmer ultimately must bear responsibility, as they *could* write it correctly.
.NET helps keep the toys in the language from getting in the way of the work, but it can't be worse than some of the alternatives.
My point is that even though a language may have the feature equivalent of a cross-cut saw, you wouldn't want to use that for finish work, and even though a language may have the feature equivalent of a dental probe, you wouldn't want to use that to cut down a tree.
Use the right tools for the right problems.
Sure, bad code can be written in any language, but the barriers can be lowered for writing good code.
C is a great language for low level operating system code, I just wish people would stop writing end-user applications in it!
C++ is an interesting language too, but I see too many people doing too many stupid things with it too.
Frankly, the features of these lanuages are handy when you need them, but most programmers don't need most of the features most of the time. I still don't know if
Personally, a "broken" language is a language that requires so much work to do things right that programmers that use them frequently do things wrong. For example, my all time favorite security flaw: the buffer overflow.
A good language should support the development of code that doesn't contain common flaws. In my opinion, C and C++ are directly responsible for security flaws that cost trillions.
Large companies mostly. Some of that old bare metal is rapidly reaching end of life. Hard drives are starting to fail, power consumption is pretty high for the performance compared to other systems, and people are looking for ways to reduce the space used in their data centers.
:)
Personally, I am having a hard time finding new hardware that is compatible with NT4 drivers. Virtual PC solves that problem, lets me increase the performance without messing with the configuration much, and lets me put consolidate multiple legacy systems.
It also lets me use one machine to test configurations that normally need 3 or 4 machines. I can develop and test n-tier applications on my laptop while sitting on the bus if I want.
You forget about the people using Virtual PC to split their new 2ghz machine into 4-8 virtual systems running seperate NT4 applications that they can't afford to port or reconfigure.
I'll start writing test plans and automated tests for linux as soon as someone is willing to pay me a professional wage to do it.
Until then, I'll continue to join the 1200+ testers that work on windows, and probably around 8000 testers that work at Microsoft.
I use linux at home, but it isn't worth enough for me to contribute to. In fact, I love many aspects of unix design and have many flavors of unix in my home network and linux is fun to work with. Testing requires significant thought and work, as much or more than the development of the application itself!
Just my $.02 - My personal thoughts, which have little to do with what my employeer says.
That is why linux is going to be a niche OS. You need to learn that everyone has a valid opinion, even if you are not listening or if they are frequently silent.
I get paid to critically analyze a product, point out the flaws, and argue on the behalf of the customer. I do not get paid to spout the party line or defend Microsoft...that is the job of the top execs.
For the record, at home I have three windows machines, four linux machines, two HPUX machines, a sun OS box, a couple ancient macs, a SGI, a BSD box, and probably a few others that I am forgetting about at the moment. I really like a lot of things about all flavors of Unix and I enjoy using them in my personal time.
That said, I hope that you discover the real world someday.