Darwin is Open Source and runs on both PPC and i386. You mean that IF Apple releases Mac OS X for i386, it will not be based on Darwin? Or they will close source for i386 darwin? Or they will build something into AQUA/the proprietory parts of OS X that wont run on standard i386 hardware, while Darwin still will?
I too doubt Apple will produce AMD based systems. But if they do, I doubt they will seriously try to lock people out from it. (The can see how successful MS was trying to stop people from running Linux on XBox, OS X on Dell is probably even more interesting for hackers).
I pick scripting/programming language based on what datatypes and datastructures I need. Script languages (Perl, VB) usually have no strict typing which is a good thing as long as you do not care. When I know that I will/might use things like byte-arrays, linked lists, multi-dimensional arrays etc I go for C/Java/C#.
Some things are fundamentally easier to write if you got full control (like with c), given that you are competent enough to handle the task and needed tools;)
First consider Perl: if in doubt consider Java: if still in doubt consider C. In the MS world I think it is slightly different: Only consider C#;)
I really should start using Python, right?
Harder tasks can be solved in real programming languages than in script languages, thus programmers solve harder problems than scripters... And scripters solving hard tasks using scripts (or worse: Excel) are obviously stupid.
Maybe because for "most" old work there is no one caring for the copyright anyways. That means, if I find a GREAT work from 1850, I can publish it, spread it to the masses, and whatever, for everyones pleasure. If copyrights never expire there could always show up someone who claims his grand-grand-grand-grandfather made this work, and that he is the copyright owner today. Put shortly: old lost work would not be safe to publish. Maybe a reason?
And frankly, what sense does it make that a Company should hold the copyright for something an artist created who died generations ago? Who really benefits from that. The artists? Hardly. Remember, copyright was invented to protect createurs and artists, not companies.
This Link explains somewhat what MS ambition with XML is.
In short (assuming they do not lie), MS has realised that its bad (for users) to lock DATA into proprietary file formats. Their idea is to enable XML-tags in Word files. This way, standard XML-tools should be able to extraxt TAGGED data, but not necessarily other data and especially not formatting.
Actually Dell monitors (fairly new 17-inch CRTs that I have been using) do not use standard VGA-wiring.
However, sometimes things work nonetheless.
We had Dell (Optiplex GX110) computers connected to Dell Displays, via an extra standard VGA cable: the computer froze. Changing the extra cable for a "DELL extra cable" fixed the problem...
I have got a Pentium 200 MMX with 128 Mb of ECC EDO, no free memory slots. It sounds quite fair to buy a 64 Mb PCI graphics card for less than $100, if I could use like 60 Mb for fast swap.
BUT: What if I put 60 MB swap on this fast VRAM-swap, and another 256 MB swap on an old, rotten and slow IDE drive? Will Linux detect that the first swap is faster and make extensive use of it, or will the slow 256 MB swap ruin my performance anyways?
I used gprof quite much during my Master Thesis work this spring. gprof tells what functions consumes most cputime, and those functions could be optimised. Usually very small parts of the code consumes most of the cpu-time.
This program was parallellised on network level - all clients were singlethreaded. If someone has multithreaded for performance (to utilize more than one cpu) I suppose gprof will still work well on a single cpu machine with just one thread.
For programs that consumes lots of cpu time for well-defined computations it should not be hard to profile a single threaded version (a single threaded version is needed for debugging anyway).
More complex applications (for example a web browser) I imagine are more dependant on multi-threading, and should pose a larger problem.
gprof, is probably not dead - if you need it you can adapt the program...
Ok, Q is rated at 30 teraops at 5 MW. Green Destiny is capable of 160 gigaflops at 5 kW.
This means that the power efficiency difference is just a mere factor of 5. The problem with supercomputing is of course scaling and interconnecting the cpu... The author argues that the Green Destiny is "not so picky", and "hums away contentedly next to piles of cardboard boxes and computer parts" while Q requires special buildings and monstrous cooling installations. Yeah, so what, it is a much smaller machine.
Of course it is easier to build a smaller machine than a large machine. I would say that despite the fact that Green Destiny is 0.5% as fast as Q and is designed with power consumption in mind it is just 5 times as efficient.
Can anyone tell me (or point to a resource) how CPU power consumption depends on transistor size and clock frequency. Will a chip with a given size operating at a given clock frequency require the same amount of power, regardless of the number of transistors in it?
Eric S Raymond says in The Cathedral and the Bazaar that probably more than 90% of all software will never be sold. Most software sits in embedded systems, drivers that comes with hardware or are used for in-house solutions. It serves no need, or favors none, that such software is kept proprietary. Microsofts' current business model does not exactly encourage sharing such source, or such programs. When companies build systems that they do not intend to sell, why should they close source it, and why should they not take advantage of all free software out there?
For example, IBMs new G3 cpu (that you find in Apple iBooks) runs at 800MHz consuming less than 10W.
The i386 instruction set forces Intel/AMD to put lots of reasearch an silicon into on-the-fly-compiling of i386-code to something RISC core can handle. This means more expensive research, more heat, higher production costs etc.
When people realise they prefer a silent and cool machine running at 1 GHz to a noisy machine running at 3 GHz the performance advantage of todays i386 cpus may turn into a simplicity/heat disadvantage.
MIPS R14000 at 600 MHz are shipping in SGI workstations (at prices I cant pay), those CPUs are pretty fast when it comes to floating operations (and they are native 64 bit, which means if you need like 64Gb of RAM i386 is not an option anyway). Also, you can put like 512 of those in a single machine: define high-performance;)
Apple ships PowerPCs at 1GHz. Hopefully something significantly faster will be presented during the summer.
Actually, when I first installed Linux in 1998 i considered lots of distros (Debian, Caldera, RH, Slackware, and probably some more). Finally I installed Slackware because that was the only distribution that had an installation procedure that felt... solid (and worked from floppies). I had never used Linux, and had only little experience of Solaris from University. In a month I had Slackware 3.6 running on a Compaq LTE 5300 laptop. The PCMCIA modem worked. The TFT-display worked. I downloaded tarballs and recompiled my kernel.
I dont think I would have made it with another distribution. Whats so good with Slackware is that if something does not work, then you know it is your fault. There is always something you have done wrong, or something you dont know or understand. I'm a pretty experience Windows user, and when things dont work in Windows, its always Windows fault (Its true!). Its never slackwares' fault! I find it much more reassuring to know that solving a problem is just a matter of gaining more insight into it, not a matter of luck. It is always possible to understand what is wrong when using Slackware.
Nowadays I use OS X for daily work, and Debian for other needs (unfortunately OS X can do most things I ever wanted with Linux. so I hardly need Linux).
If I wanted a Linux desktop today chances are I would finally give Suse, Mandrake or Redhat a chance - they seem to be pretty good nowadays.
If I was to set up a server I would stick to Slackware or Debian.
If I wanted to learn or explore I would try Solaris/x86 or BSD, preferably on some odd hardware...
So what did I want to say? Hmm. Start with Slackware, dont give up - there is always a solution (and it is a great feeling to solve problems by really understanding them). When you know Slackware you can use any other Linux-distro you want - if it suits a particular need well. After running slackware you also have a good feeling of what UNIX is, and you feel like you basically can use any BSD or UNIX system.
...I wonder how many people currently running a pirated version of XP will reconsider and actually BUY XP to be able to apply the service pack.
My guess: probably fewer than those who will switch to a free OS;)
The idea with those select versions of the OS is that no key should be required anywhere. Large organisations cannot call Microsoft every time the upgrade or reinstall a computer.
And for those who didnt read the article and runs a pirated version of XP: M$ says 90% of you wont be able to upgrade to SP1...
In american law the fines are set not only to compensate for damage, but also to have a frightening effect on companies.
This is not the case in many european countries (I dont know exactly about France). I Sweden for example you can at best be compensated for what you have suffered, no more. On the other hand, we have lots of authorities who make sure rules are followed and that the citizens are being protected (many times doing a not so very good job). Its just a matter of taste...
Sorry to say it, but I cannot use it on my iPod and with iTunes. I ripped my 125+ audio-cds to MP3 as when I got my iPod.
I hate it when people comes up with this kind of reasons for not switching to a free format and making the world a better place... but now I do it myself. It is a pity. It is a shame.
But maybe I am wrong? Has anyone installed Ogg in iTunes, and is there any chans to hack the iPod?
Since the slowest CPUs today cost less than $100 from a price perspective it does not matter very much they are way more powerful than needed for many tasks.
What I find annoying is that is still hard/impossible to buy a SMALL, SILENT and CHEAP system. My iPod has probably enough hardware resources to replace my Dual P90 Firewall, if it had two network cards...
There are small (5 1/4 inch) systems available, but they cost more than $1000, and they are not silent.
Cyrix C3 runs at 700MHz+, costs less than $100 and fits in a standard Socket 370 MB. That is more or less the first i386 processor you can run without much cooling since the early pentiums. Why cant someone put such a processor, 256Mb of ram, a silent slow disk, vga, nic and ethernet into a small box (no extreme design, just something slightly smaller than a minitower).
Of course the coolest thing would be if Apple put a G3 in such a box (like a budget cube), but that will of course never happen.
I find it very likely that the computer industry and consumers would suffer (slightly) if MS is required to [your favourite punishment].
After freeing up a monopilised market it always takes time for the market to stabilize, and during this time customers may suffer. This is however no reason not to kill off the monopoly.
Of course MS supplies the "best" OS out there if you need to use applications requireing windows. This is no reason to protect the monopoly! The government regulated monopoly (in my country) for selling anything with alcohol is of course harmful to costumers the same way the microsoft monopoly is. And of course killing off the monopoly would lead to confusion and possibly worse customer service - until the market has stabilized.
How the f*ck could there be two applications named Explorer if they wanted to make it easy? "Open Explorer, no, not the browser - not the WEB browser, I mean the file handler..."
Slashdot Mirror
Darwin is Open Source and runs on both PPC and i386. You mean that IF Apple releases Mac OS X for i386, it will not be based on Darwin? Or they will close source for i386 darwin? Or they will build something into AQUA/the proprietory parts of OS X that wont run on standard i386 hardware, while Darwin still will?
I too doubt Apple will produce AMD based systems. But if they do, I doubt they will seriously try to lock people out from it. (The can see how successful MS was trying to stop people from running Linux on XBox, OS X on Dell is probably even more interesting for hackers).
Time to buy one? I have tried buying one since the beginning of January. Out of stock... new upcoming models not yet relesased...
That is for the 5Gb PC iPod (for a friend of mine), of course I have had my own Mac iPod for more than a year now.
I pick scripting/programming language based on what datatypes and datastructures I need. Script languages (Perl, VB) usually have no strict typing which is a good thing as long as you do not care. When I know that I will/might use things like byte-arrays, linked lists, multi-dimensional arrays etc I go for C/Java/C#.
;)
;)
Some things are fundamentally easier to write if you got full control (like with c), given that you are competent enough to handle the task and needed tools
First consider Perl: if in doubt consider Java: if still in doubt consider C. In the MS world I think it is slightly different: Only consider C#
I really should start using Python, right?
Harder tasks can be solved in real programming languages than in script languages, thus programmers solve harder problems than scripters... And scripters solving hard tasks using scripts (or worse: Excel) are obviously stupid.
Maybe because for "most" old work there is no one caring for the copyright anyways. That means, if I find a GREAT work from 1850, I can publish it, spread it to the masses, and whatever, for everyones pleasure. If copyrights never expire there could always show up someone who claims his grand-grand-grand-grandfather made this work, and that he is the copyright owner today. Put shortly: old lost work would not be safe to publish. Maybe a reason?
And frankly, what sense does it make that a Company should hold the copyright for something an artist created who died generations ago? Who really benefits from that. The artists? Hardly. Remember, copyright was invented to protect createurs and artists, not companies.
In short (assuming they do not lie), MS has realised that its bad (for users) to lock DATA into proprietary file formats. Their idea is to enable XML-tags in Word files. This way, standard XML-tools should be able to extraxt TAGGED data, but not necessarily other data and especially not formatting.
Actually Dell monitors (fairly new 17-inch CRTs that I have been using) do not use standard VGA-wiring.
However, sometimes things work nonetheless.
We had Dell (Optiplex GX110) computers connected to Dell Displays, via an extra standard VGA cable: the computer froze. Changing the extra cable for a "DELL extra cable" fixed the problem...
We were as surprised as you man...
I have got a Pentium 200 MMX with 128 Mb of ECC EDO, no free memory slots. It sounds quite fair to buy a 64 Mb PCI graphics card for less than $100, if I could use like 60 Mb for fast swap.
BUT: What if I put 60 MB swap on this fast VRAM-swap, and another 256 MB swap on an old, rotten and slow IDE drive? Will Linux detect that the first swap is faster and make extensive use of it, or will the slow 256 MB swap ruin my performance anyways?
I used gprof quite much during my Master Thesis work this spring. gprof tells what functions consumes most cputime, and those functions could be optimised. Usually very small parts of the code consumes most of the cpu-time.
This program was parallellised on network level - all clients were singlethreaded. If someone has multithreaded for performance (to utilize more than one cpu) I suppose gprof will still work well on a single cpu machine with just one thread.
For programs that consumes lots of cpu time for well-defined computations it should not be hard to profile a single threaded version (a single threaded version is needed for debugging anyway).
More complex applications (for example a web browser) I imagine are more dependant on multi-threading, and should pose a larger problem.
gprof, is probably not dead - if you need it you can adapt the program...
Ok, Q is rated at 30 teraops at 5 MW. Green Destiny is capable of 160 gigaflops at 5 kW.
This means that the power efficiency difference is just a mere factor of 5. The problem with supercomputing is of course scaling and interconnecting the cpu... The author argues that the Green Destiny is "not so picky", and "hums away contentedly next to piles of cardboard boxes and computer parts" while Q requires special buildings and monstrous cooling installations. Yeah, so what, it is a much smaller machine.
Of course it is easier to build a smaller machine than a large machine. I would say that despite the fact that Green Destiny is 0.5% as fast as Q and is designed with power consumption in mind it is just 5 times as efficient.
Can anyone tell me (or point to a resource) how CPU power consumption depends on transistor size and clock frequency. Will a chip with a given size operating at a given clock frequency require the same amount of power, regardless of the number of transistors in it?
Eric S Raymond says in The Cathedral and the Bazaar that probably more than 90% of all software will never be sold. Most software sits in embedded systems, drivers that comes with hardware or are used for in-house solutions. It serves no need, or favors none, that such software is kept proprietary. Microsofts' current business model does not exactly encourage sharing such source, or such programs. When companies build systems that they do not intend to sell, why should they close source it, and why should they not take advantage of all free software out there?
The others may be coming... just a little slower.
;)
For example, IBMs new G3 cpu (that you find in Apple iBooks) runs at 800MHz consuming less than 10W.
The i386 instruction set forces Intel/AMD to put lots of reasearch an silicon into on-the-fly-compiling of i386-code to something RISC core can handle. This means more expensive research, more heat, higher production costs etc.
When people realise they prefer a silent and cool machine running at 1 GHz to a noisy machine running at 3 GHz the performance advantage of todays i386 cpus may turn into a simplicity/heat disadvantage.
MIPS R14000 at 600 MHz are shipping in SGI workstations (at prices I cant pay), those CPUs are pretty fast when it comes to floating operations (and they are native 64 bit, which means if you need like 64Gb of RAM i386 is not an option anyway). Also, you can put like 512 of those in a single machine: define high-performance
Apple ships PowerPCs at 1GHz. Hopefully something significantly faster will be presented during the summer.
Actually, when I first installed Linux in 1998 i considered lots of distros (Debian, Caldera, RH, Slackware, and probably some more). Finally I installed Slackware because that was the only distribution that had an installation procedure that felt... solid (and worked from floppies). I had never used Linux, and had only little experience of Solaris from University. In a month I had Slackware 3.6 running on a Compaq LTE 5300 laptop. The PCMCIA modem worked. The TFT-display worked. I downloaded tarballs and recompiled my kernel.
I dont think I would have made it with another distribution. Whats so good with Slackware is that if something does not work, then you know it is your fault. There is always something you have done wrong, or something you dont know or understand. I'm a pretty experience Windows user, and when things dont work in Windows, its always Windows fault (Its true!). Its never slackwares' fault! I find it much more reassuring to know that solving a problem is just a matter of gaining more insight into it, not a matter of luck. It is always possible to understand what is wrong when using Slackware.
Nowadays I use OS X for daily work, and Debian for other needs (unfortunately OS X can do most things I ever wanted with Linux. so I hardly need Linux).
If I wanted a Linux desktop today chances are I would finally give Suse, Mandrake or Redhat a chance - they seem to be pretty good nowadays.
If I was to set up a server I would stick to Slackware or Debian.
If I wanted to learn or explore I would try Solaris/x86 or BSD, preferably on some odd hardware...
So what did I want to say? Hmm. Start with Slackware, dont give up - there is always a solution (and it is a great feeling to solve problems by really understanding them). When you know Slackware you can use any other Linux-distro you want - if it suits a particular need well. After running slackware you also have a good feeling of what UNIX is, and you feel like you basically can use any BSD or UNIX system.
In Sweden I have seen: hand in 10 old macs, buy 10 new macs for a reduced price, and get one new mac for free.
...I wonder how many people currently running a pirated version of XP will reconsider and actually BUY XP to be able to apply the service pack.
;)
My guess: probably fewer than those who will switch to a free OS
The idea with those select versions of the OS is that no key should be required anywhere. Large organisations cannot call Microsoft every time the upgrade or reinstall a computer.
And for those who didnt read the article and runs a pirated version of XP: M$ says 90% of you wont be able to upgrade to SP1...
Ok, this is off-topic, but I cant help to ask:
Does anyone know (or think or hope or guess) anything about the (possibly not) upcoming G5 processor (aka 8500)?
Most information I find on the net is at least a few months old, and last months it has been dead quiet.
On a swedish vendor page (www.macforum.se) it says the old machines are being recycled.
[IBM technology strategist Irving] Wladawsky-Berger says: "Open-source is bigger than IBM".
:)
Such things make me happy for the entire day
In american law the fines are set not only to compensate for damage, but also to have a frightening effect on companies.
This is not the case in many european countries (I dont know exactly about France). I Sweden for example you can at best be compensated for what you have suffered, no more. On the other hand, we have lots of authorities who make sure rules are followed and that the citizens are being protected (many times doing a not so very good job). Its just a matter of taste...
Sorry to say it, but I cannot use it on my iPod and with iTunes. I ripped my 125+ audio-cds to MP3 as when I got my iPod.
I hate it when people comes up with this kind of reasons for not switching to a free format and making the world a better place... but now I do it myself. It is a pity. It is a shame.
But maybe I am wrong? Has anyone installed Ogg in iTunes, and is there any chans to hack the iPod?
Since the slowest CPUs today cost less than $100 from a price perspective it does not matter very much they are way more powerful than needed for many tasks.
What I find annoying is that is still hard/impossible to buy a SMALL, SILENT and CHEAP system. My iPod has probably enough hardware resources to replace my Dual P90 Firewall, if it had two network cards...
There are small (5 1/4 inch) systems available, but they cost more than $1000, and they are not silent.
Cyrix C3 runs at 700MHz+, costs less than $100 and fits in a standard Socket 370 MB. That is more or less the first i386 processor you can run without much cooling since the early pentiums. Why cant someone put such a processor, 256Mb of ram, a silent slow disk, vga, nic and ethernet into a small box (no extreme design, just something slightly smaller than a minitower).
Of course the coolest thing would be if Apple put a G3 in such a box (like a budget cube), but that will of course never happen.
After freeing up a monopilised market it always takes time for the market to stabilize, and during this time customers may suffer. This is however no reason not to kill off the monopoly.
Of course MS supplies the "best" OS out there if you need to use applications requireing windows. This is no reason to protect the monopoly! The government regulated monopoly (in my country) for selling anything with alcohol is of course harmful to costumers the same way the microsoft monopoly is. And of course killing off the monopoly would lead to confusion and possibly worse customer service - until the market has stabilized.
They have also a 23 inch TFT display at 1920x1200. Yummi ;)
LOL
Very good idea - hope someone mods you up.
It affects any license REQUIRING you to
- distribute in source
- redistribute at no charge
...it shouldnt be to hard to not require these things... am I wrong? The BSD license has no such restrictions, right?
How the f*ck could there be two applications named Explorer if they wanted to make it easy? "Open Explorer, no, not the browser - not the WEB browser, I mean the file handler..."