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User: oscarcar

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  1. What to expect on What You Should Know When Taking a University Job? · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Expect the most beauracratic administration you'll ever see. With University systems, the administration ppl are the ones who stay forever and gain more power/control everytime a faculty person leaves and they fill the power void. And the new person to fill the faculty position just accepts that that's the way things work.

    Likely you'll have good job security, but the pay will suck.

    If you are competent and they find you indespensible, then tell them you are doing contract work for other companies and that you need to move to a contract position.

    The contractors generally don't have to follow the crappy pay-scale of other positions. And if you settle for a pre-defined position, then it will have to fit in a heirarchy that the admins will make certain that you are as low on the rung as possible. Be a contractor, and they will think they are blessed to have you spending time there.

    Trust me, I was a full-timer getting paid crap and no voice. They made a royal stink when I wanted a minor promotion. Now I contract w/ University and make the same amount but work 1/4 the hours, and they feel lucky for having me. lol, cause i'm basically doing the same job.

  2. Re:Swing on OpenGL on Have a Nice Steaming Cup of Java 5 · · Score: 1

    There's also a problem with the nvidia 6106 drivers. I think the latest 6111 drivers probably fix the problem. I was using 5336 and they seemed to work but now that I've done just a little testing, I don't see much difference. Resizing the window seems to be a bit more responsive but nothing else seems to have changed much, at least in simple line drawing. When line drawing in Swing you have the option of turning on levels of Anti-aliasing. I use that option and haven't noticed much difference with opengl acceleration turned on.

  3. Re:Swing on OpenGL on Have a Nice Steaming Cup of Java 5 · · Score: 1

    Make sure to have your depth set to 24bit or higher, for TrueColor. Or else it won't work. Use the capital "T" in "True", to see if it is enabled or not. I have been working on porting my app from Swing to SWT because I wanted better line drawing speed. But now that I ran it with the new OpenGL acceleration that may be enough speed boost for me. It was definitely a little snappier but how much is hard to tell. Would be interesting to profile my app again with the OpenGL on the Swing app.

    BTW, it worked for me on RedHat9 w/GeForce FX5900 and
    NVRM version: NVIDIA Linux x86 NVIDIA Kernel Module 1.0-5336 Wed Jan 14 18:29:26 PST 2004
    GCC version: gcc version 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)

    Use this to get some info about your OpenGL settings: glxinfo | more

    From the Java2D page
    --
    Support for Hardware-Accelerated Rendering Using OpenGL

    The bug reports that correspond to this change are: 4607536 and 5008045.

    J2SE 5.0 includes a new OpenGL-based pipeline for Java 2D. This pipeline provides hardware acceleration for simple rendering operations (text, images, lines, and filled primitives) as well as those that involve complex transforms, paints, composites, and clips. This pipeline is available on all platforms (Solaris, Linux, and Microsoft Windows) and is currently disabled by default.

    To silently enable the OpenGL-based pipeline, specify the following system property on the command line:

    -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true

    To receive verbose console output about whether the OpenGL-based pipeline is initialized successfully for a particular screen, specify "True" (note the uppercase T):

    -Dsun.java2d.opengl=True

    Minimum requirements for Solaris/Linux:

    * Hardware accelerated OpenGL/GLX libraries installed and configured properly
    * OpenGL version 1.2 or higher
    * GLX version 1.3 or higher
    * At least one TrueColor visual with an available stencil buffer

    Minimum requirements for Microsoft Windows:

    * Hardware accelerated drivers supporting the WGL_ARB_pbuffer, WGL_ARB_render_texture, and WGL_ARB_pixel_format extensions
    * OpenGL version 1.2 or higher
    * At least one pixel format with an available stencil buffer
    --

  4. Re:Impromptu "Ask SlashMath" on Everything and More · · Score: 1

    From memory (which is not reliable BTW), was that zero came first.

    Zero is a must when doing basic math such as for business like inventories, trade, etc.

    Infinity and Zero are compliments and one does not exists without the other.

    The Arabs came up with Zero, and then I believe it travelled to the Far East and then made it to Greece. I know Italy was first to use zero in banking and that was a big boon for them.

  5. Re:Readers might also enjoy on Everything and More · · Score: 1

    I concur this was a very good read.

  6. Still no fix for file corruption with VIA chipset on Meet Linux Kernel 2.6.2, 'Feisty Dunnart' · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ugh.

    Bug entry #1842

    Both IDE and SATA Via chipset 8237 give file corruption.

    http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1842

  7. Re:Satellite has one big advantage on Cable TV Versus Satellite TV? · · Score: 1

    If you cover your dish you won't lose signal.

    I have mine on my balcony, and whenever we lose signal due to rain, I just go out and wipe the receiver with a towel. What happens is, once it gets drenched in water, the water dripping over the receiver causes interference. It can be raining ferociously outside, but if I reach out and wipe it clean, we'll get reception again until it gets wet again.

    The wiping is no real solution, but if you covered the dish ( so that it's covered on all sides except where it's pointing, it would negate this problem. It would also negate the other problem that causes bad reception: the wind.

  8. Re:Is this a two way system? on Experiences with DirecWay Satellite Internet · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't the latencies be better managed if one ran their own DNS server, so that the DNS resolutions would be cached. DNS resolution has to do a roundtrip before your browser even asks the server for the web page.

    It speeds up my web browsing noticeably, and I'm on DSL.

  9. Re:gaming on linux: on Cheap, Rugged, Multiplayer Gamepads for Linux · · Score: 1

    BTW, framerate is equivalent to Windows, with framerate between 100 - 200 fps.

  10. Re:gaming on linux: on Cheap, Rugged, Multiplayer Gamepads for Linux · · Score: 1

    A lot of games work. Download the latest CVS from transgaming.com, and compile/install. It's pretty easy.

    Also, sometimes you have to install games in Windows, then copy over the directory.

    Here's a screen capture of me playing the best FPS online multiplayer game:
    http://daydream.stanford.edu/goredownloads/ gore_in _linux.png

    I'm installing Call of Duty next.

  11. Re:Boot CD's with 2.6? on Fedora Core 2 Schedule Up · · Score: 1

    Well, because the pre-2.6 kernels have been out for awhile. But I think the reason is probably because 2.6 doesn't quite support as much hardware as 2.4 yet. And ppl expect Knoppix to just work, so I'm figuring that's why.

  12. Re:Bayes Wars on Google Blocks 'Optimized' Pages · · Score: 1

    Hmmmm,

    Makes me think that SearchKing could be the next $CO purchase. They could link to your site and bring down your google rating. Then they could extort money from you for them to remove the link.

  13. Re:mirror of KDE on 24 link on KDE 3.2 'Rudi' Beta Released · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a suspicion my old "C Programming Teacher" is behind this.

    I had a teacher by the name of "Michael Loceff". That's the same name of the guy who's the producer/writer of the show.

    When I took an online class from him years ago, he said he did screen-writing on his spare time. He even let his class know when a show aired on "Le Femme Nikita" that he wrote. Kudos to him for bringing real tech to the screen.

  14. Re: Spelling error, but Faux News truly misleads on Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons" · · Score: 1

    LMAO.

    Too bad I ran out of moderation points yesterday.

    This post can't really be insightful, because this fact should be obvious to anyone, unless you watch too much Fox News :)

    It is very funny though, as it points out the hillarity of the parent post.

  15. Re:More than 1/2 their money is being wasted here. on fMRI + Marketing = Consumer Control? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is my general take on the technology too, and I've done some work with it also.

    I see it as much like the mapping of the genome. It gets at the basics but we still don't know much about how the basic building blocks interact. The basic building blocks are the easy part. The interactivity, and non-linear relationship between things is where we don't even have a clue. And that's far more complex than the scratching of the surface we're doing right now.

  16. Re:Doh. on Windows 2003 takes 5% away from Linux · · Score: 1

    Do we know how many new Linux users migrated from Windows?

    Something tells me it was more than 5%. Which makes it a likely net gain!

    It's silly to only look on one half of the equation.

  17. Re:When will PostgreSQL have a Windows version? on PostgreSQL Beta Testers Needed · · Score: 1

    You install cygwin first, then you can install Postgresql.

    It's nice if you have to use Windows, but I like that it's focused on unix variant OS's. Who wants a big old GUI desktop running when all you want is to access data. At least the ability to turn off the GUI, which you never really can with Windows.

  18. Re:MS search won't work on Microsoft Works on Search Capabilities · · Score: 5, Funny

    Type this search into MSN and what do you get?

    search: why msn search sucks
    result: CNN WebSearch: Search Results for 'google sucks'

    WTF!?

  19. Re:Built in failsafes? on Windows ATMs by 2005 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but I'd hate for the ATMs to go offline once per week.

    No one seems to remember a few years ago when all the ATMs went offline in parts of the country. I know in California they were all down. That was a PITA. I'd hate for them to go down on a semi-regular basis, which I'd expect with Windows.

    You ever notice that when you go the bank at least one of the ATMs is non-functional. Makes you think maybe it's not the best engineering feat.

  20. Re:CD based MP3 players on Samsung Yepp YP-55V Review · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was going to say the same thing. Who wants a couple of pounds slamming against your side when you are exercising? Do you really take your ipod with you when you go jogging, or what have you.

    Then I thought... Oh wait, this is slashdot. Never mind.

  21. Re:Wrong on Slashback: Bouncing, Taxing, Releasing · · Score: 1

    Yes taxes should be used to raise revenue.

    But they should also be used to reflect the "true" cost of things, externalities if you will. So you tax roads and gas, so that you can maintain highways, clean the air, etc. Then people pay for what they costs society. If the costs to deal with these things reduces, then the taxes on them need to be reduced too.

    The problem is the money shuffling that happens in government. They take revenue from one place to address problems in a completely different area. Before you know it, the system gets completely out of whack.

  22. Re:Well.Actual benchmark on VIA K8T800 Chipset Preview - Dual Opteron in Action · · Score: 1

    So... that sounds roughly what a dual Athlon MP 2800+ would perform at.

    How does the cost compare to a dual Athlon MP 2800+

  23. Re:SQLCourse on SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide · · Score: 1

    Mod parent up. That's a pretty cool site.

    A worthy bookmark if you deal with SQL at all.

  24. Re: delayed phase on How Do You Get Work Done? · · Score: 2, Informative

    The first thing to do is practice good "sleep hygeine".

    Here's a starter:
    http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/howto.ht ml

  25. Re:I would recommend some exercise on How Do You Get Work Done? · · Score: 1

    Didn't mean to imply that at all. I am one of these people like you that has adapted.

    But I suspected also a problem with him that I didn't mention specifically.

    We all have circadian rhythms, tuned to about 23 - 27 hours. If you're longer than 24, your delayed-phase, shorter and you're advanced-phase.

    Even if you are delayed-phase, you can't really just let yourself get up later every morning:
    9am 11am 1pm 3pm 5pm 7pm 9pm 11pm ...

    So we're forced to entrain that rhythm. The thing with humans is that you can at best move your set point 2 to 3 hours. That's why you can't overcome jetlag in one day if you travel more than a few timezones.

    And, if you don't try to entrain close to a 24 hour rhythm you will likely have a dampened circadian rhythm which will mean you have less energy during the day, and it will be harder to sleep at night.

    But in many cultures you do have a bias toward advanced-phase, such as "The early bird gets the worm". We delayed-phasers get a bad rap.