With Microsoft Windows nearly unavoidable on a PC purchase, it's more like worrying about a "car" tax and going to a car dealer. The big deal here is that a major retailer is offering computers without Microsoft pre-installed.
You're a major stud for building your own PC. This isn't about that.
I'm not sure I agree about HP providing good support. I had a 4100C also, and when they told me that the chipset in my USB controller card didn't work, I asked for an upgrade. They said they couldn't do that, I should just go out and look for another USB card with an OPTi chipset or some such nonsense. Why should I have to buy a $40 card when it's a problem with HP's scanner?
Their method of obtaining support was difficult. Forget calling. THey have e-mail forums which, depending on the product line, might be frequented by postings from an HP tech support person. If you're ever thinking of buying an HP printer/scanner/computer, read some of these forums first. My aunt has a Pavilion laptop, apparently there were some BIOS upgrades that turned it into an Omnibook accidently which in some cases would turn the laptop into a paperweight.
After a couple of these experiences, my conditioned response is to avoid HP. So maybe that's another area of improvement... consistency. Why does Sivar get an upgrade to a 6100Cse scanner and I have to go change my hardware?
His specialties are software development, system building, performance tuning, parallel distributed computing, system programming, X11 configuration and software development, web development and System Administration.
Wait for it...
Building humaniform robots is one of his many hobbies. Pat's interests include sentient robot life forms, theoretical physics, gravity, electricity, magnetism, dimensions, complexity, astronomy, weather, chaos...
Almost there...
Pat can be reached at (protected)@aol.com
I never thought I'd see a parallel-distributed computing, X11-hacking, web-developing sys admin that uses AOL. I suppose with all those complicated hobbies he just wants a nice, relaxing, online experience.
That's really interesting. Where did you get that? I've been hearing many poster's ideas about fair use, but you sound like you know something that others don't. Have a source for that? Because I agree, it WOULD be nice to settle fair use on Slashdot once and for all.
Although, if 'fair use' isn't what most Slashdotters want it to be, then we'll just have tirades about that instead...
at least 2 products seem to object strongly to the 2.96 gcc (I remember reiserfs having a fit about 2.96; and I forget the other thing that didn't like 2.96, sorry)..
Maybe that would be Mplayer. See here and here. From these links you'd think there's a little friction between the Mplayer guys and the Red Hat crew. Can't we all get along?:)
...a 128Kbit DSL connection should cost four times as much as a 32Kbit dialup connection...
Most $20 dialup services these days are going to be 56k, don't you think? And I can get 256k DSL for $40. Over 4x the bandwidth for double the price. For an extra $10 the take the reins off and I get what I can up to 768k (600k in my case).
So I pay 2.5x dialup for about 11x the speed. And that's dedicated. Remember that cable modems are pooled bandwidth, and pricing should reflect the difference. The economy of a pooled system would lead me to expect generally lower pricing, or higher peak bandwidth, which seems to be the case.
Ouch. You sound like a guy who needs to prove something. Good luck with that.
Anyway, I didn't think this story was much different from the average Star Wars submission. If you're not into the milieu, then opt out of the Star Wars coverage. I suppose it can seem a bit banal to a non-fan. But maybe you should take a good look at the Slashdot stories under the Star Wars topic in the past year before you berate this one.
And if it's such a "fucking lame" story... why were you reading it?;)
Hmm, the story wasn't good enough when I posted it last week. Well, in all fairness to the editors, it's probably because I linked to an online music store that happens to be running a contest where someone will win one of these guitars. They're retailing for $1000, so I guess that's something, although I wouldn't want to be seen playing one.
Anyway, at the risk of giving a decent online business a vicious Slashdotting, check out the link after reading this: The contest is only open to US and Canadian residents age 18 and over, so if you're not eligible, do the site a favor and don't even bother! the contest
I am not affiliated with Music123. I didn't enter the contest.
No chairlifts sounds nice. If you out-ski the turntable you just pull off to the side and ride to the top, then hit the trail again.
But chairlifts also meter traffic. I'm talking out my butt here, but I'm sure that ski slopes do some kind of calculations involving skiers/hour and trail capacity. Without a traffic limiter, the turntable could get 'too busy' on heavy days.
I've had IRQ problems with my Abit BP6. With all five PCI slots filled (an Adaptec 29160N controller, FireWire card, Soundblaster 128, 3Com NIC and nVidia PCI card) I couldn't get things to work right. I went back to the Voodoo3 AGP (different bus, apparently) and had no problems.
I guess in theory they should share IRQ's; maybe one of the cards didn't play nice. And with five slots and four lines (INTA-INTD) you know there's going to be some sharing, even if there are 24 APICs... right? Plus there's motherboard USB that shares with one of those slots.
Good point about the MPX chipset. I've been waiting patiently for the Asus A7M266-D and now that it's out, the USB is busted! Plus the boards I've seen have built-in audio, which I'd actually rather *not* have. And what's the deal with that little daughter-card looking thing where the power comes in? Looks kludgey. But the PCI USB 2.0 card is supposed to work in the 64-bit slot, no? So maybe 'losing' a PCI slot isn't that bad. I'm assuming the two 64-bit PCI slots are on a separate bus from the 32-bit slots... would this mean less IRQ conflicts?
So the Tyan Tiger MPX was starting to look good, but then I hear the USB card Tyan is shipping is NOT a USB 2.0 card. So now it seems like you're really losing a PCI slot, since there don't seem to be that many 64-bit PCI cards out there now (or you buy a new 64-bit USB card and junk the free one). Built-in LAN sounds great, and the board looks a lot cleaner, especially the standard hard drive power connector by the ATX power connector for more current. Tyan probably learned a lot from their first SMP Athlon boards.
Anyone else have any experience with SMP Athlons? Oh, and did you use Athlon MP's or did you cheat and use the XP's?
And the funny thing about the "evil MPAA corporations" is that they're probably spinning the MP3 thing in their favor when they pitch to unsigned artists.
I imagine it goes something like this: "We're the only ones with enough resources ($$$) to develop digital anti-theft technology to protect your recordings from unauthorized distribution. If you went out on your own you'd never make a dime because of all the file sharing."
I keep clinging to the dream of a site like mp3.com or Emusic that will eventually allow artists to publish themselves. Forget $15 CD's, think of PayPal minipayments. Even with minipayments I'll bet the artists could make more money in the long run. Yeah, they lose the promotion and up-front production money, but they retain some control and put their music at a price point where even Pentagram might pay for it.
Now if only they could filter out the total home-brew crap... sigh, now I'm getting into double-standards. Okay, at least set up the "Aspiring Amateur Musician" section.:)
I'd think they'd still go by the 'outside the womb' criterium. It's a twisty semantic argument that says "this embryo is living outside its GENETIC mother's womb..."
I wonder what the right-to-lifers thought about the termination of this test embryo. Some seem to regard *any* abortion as wrong. Would they have lobbied for this embryo, fighting to see it grow up?
Is there any telling what patches are used in the Red Hat kernel releases? Or is that a trade secret? I know the source is there, but when you start talking about multiple patches, it seems like it would be a tough one to figure out.
It seems like this may be the key source of competitive advantage for a Linux distribution vendor: the know-how to optimize the kernel and other software to make a fast, stable system.
Maybe she's not ready yet... more accurately, maybe Linux isn't ready for her yet. But my god, look how far things have come in a few years.
When I first downloaded Linux, there were no CD-Recordable drives; I had to go out and buy 50 floppies and crash a university computer lab (no DSL or cable-modems, either) to download Slackware. I was thrilled to get it working, and decided that olvwm was king.
Now Red Hat is huge, IBM is running Linux on mainframes, and KDE/GNOME have made the desktop much friendlier. Seems like most distributions have graphical installers that autodetect and configure most of the popular hardware. I remember the labor-intensive process of configuring my X server for Slackware about 7 years ago. Times have changed.
So I hate to hear people bad-mouth Linux because it's not good enough for grandma yet. Because in a few years, I think it will be there. And that's what Microsoft is afraid of.
Am I anti-Microsoft? Maybe a little. I'm cool with the "use what works for the application" argument, but I also think that Microsoft as a business is sleazy and evil. Sure, they're job is to make money, but what happened to dealing fairly with consumers and, well, ethics? And the Linux community feels much more like that: a community. There must be countless Linux developers working for free, for the cause, for the fun of it, whatever. I'd rather align with them.
So hopefully in a few years, Linux WILL be ready for Joe Sixpack. And if you can't get your mom to double-click, maybe you should get her an iMac in the interim.:)
Not vaporware? It looks like vaporware to me. They grab existing pieces of software, do some pre-configuring and write an inflexible installer... it's plagiarism that doesn't deliver what it promises.
Yeah, yeah, "It's a prerelease, give him a break," you say. You think they can take CVS Wine, polish it up and make it run any Windows application you can dream up in the span of a few months?
It sounds more like a get rich quick scheme cobbled together by someone who knows how to exploit licensing loopholes. The non-GPL licensing of Wine makes it legal to improve and not release source (just what the Linux community needs: not!) and otherwise, 95% of the distribution is unchanged GPL code.
Slashdot Mirror
You must be trolling.
With Microsoft Windows nearly unavoidable on a PC purchase, it's more like worrying about a "car" tax and going to a car dealer. The big deal here is that a major retailer is offering computers without Microsoft pre-installed.
You're a major stud for building your own PC. This isn't about that.
I'm not sure I agree about HP providing good support. I had a 4100C also, and when they told me that the chipset in my USB controller card didn't work, I asked for an upgrade. They said they couldn't do that, I should just go out and look for another USB card with an OPTi chipset or some such nonsense. Why should I have to buy a $40 card when it's a problem with HP's scanner?
Their method of obtaining support was difficult. Forget calling. THey have e-mail forums which, depending on the product line, might be frequented by postings from an HP tech support person. If you're ever thinking of buying an HP printer/scanner/computer, read some of these forums first. My aunt has a Pavilion laptop, apparently there were some BIOS upgrades that turned it into an Omnibook accidently which in some cases would turn the laptop into a paperweight.
After a couple of these experiences, my conditioned response is to avoid HP. So maybe that's another area of improvement... consistency. Why does Sivar get an upgrade to a 6100Cse scanner and I have to go change my hardware?
I didn't want to repost his e-mail address for fear of Slashdot-trolling spambots. Just a little respect.
Hey, I didn't say the head didn't rock!
I thought my jealousy was obvious. Maybe his mom uses AOL or something, and it's just easier that way...
Wait for it...
Building humaniform robots is one of his many hobbies. Pat's interests include sentient robot life forms, theoretical physics, gravity, electricity, magnetism, dimensions, complexity, astronomy, weather, chaos...
Almost there...
Pat can be reached at (protected)@aol.com
I never thought I'd see a parallel-distributed computing, X11-hacking, web-developing sys admin that uses AOL. I suppose with all those complicated hobbies he just wants a nice, relaxing, online experience.
Yeah, good thing he didn't code his project in JavaScript.
The siliCONE guys might help to shave a couple seconds off your time. It's the siliCON guys who do the computer thing.
Or around 100, depending on your math skills.
That's really interesting. Where did you get that? I've been hearing many poster's ideas about fair use, but you sound like you know something that others don't. Have a source for that? Because I agree, it WOULD be nice to settle fair use on Slashdot once and for all.
Although, if 'fair use' isn't what most Slashdotters want it to be, then we'll just have tirades about that instead...
at least 2 products seem to object strongly to the 2.96 gcc (I remember reiserfs having a fit about 2.96; and I forget the other thing that didn't like 2.96, sorry)..
:)
Maybe that would be Mplayer. See here and here. From these links you'd think there's a little friction between the Mplayer guys and the Red Hat crew. Can't we all get along?
...a 128Kbit DSL connection should cost four times as much as a 32Kbit dialup connection...
Most $20 dialup services these days are going to be 56k, don't you think? And I can get 256k DSL for $40. Over 4x the bandwidth for double the price. For an extra $10 the take the reins off and I get what I can up to 768k (600k in my case).
So I pay 2.5x dialup for about 11x the speed. And that's dedicated. Remember that cable modems are pooled bandwidth, and pricing should reflect the difference. The economy of a pooled system would lead me to expect generally lower pricing, or higher peak bandwidth, which seems to be the case.
Right... Take Your Money Everywhere was the slogan. I still call them that, but it really confuses people out of this area.
Ouch. You sound like a guy who needs to prove something. Good luck with that.
;)
Anyway, I didn't think this story was much different from the average Star Wars submission. If you're not into the milieu, then opt out of the Star Wars coverage. I suppose it can seem a bit banal to a non-fan. But maybe you should take a good look at the Slashdot stories under the Star Wars topic in the past year before you berate this one.
And if it's such a "fucking lame" story... why were you reading it?
Hmm, the story wasn't good enough when I posted it last week. Well, in all fairness to the editors, it's probably because I linked to an online music store that happens to be running a contest where someone will win one of these guitars. They're retailing for $1000, so I guess that's something, although I wouldn't want to be seen playing one.
Anyway, at the risk of giving a decent online business a vicious Slashdotting, check out the link after reading this: The contest is only open to US and Canadian residents age 18 and over, so if you're not eligible, do the site a favor and don't even bother! the contest
I am not affiliated with Music123. I didn't enter the contest.
No chairlifts sounds nice. If you out-ski the turntable you just pull off to the side and ride to the top, then hit the trail again.
But chairlifts also meter traffic. I'm talking out my butt here, but I'm sure that ski slopes do some kind of calculations involving skiers/hour and trail capacity. Without a traffic limiter, the turntable could get 'too busy' on heavy days.
I've had IRQ problems with my Abit BP6. With all five PCI slots filled (an Adaptec 29160N controller, FireWire card, Soundblaster 128, 3Com NIC and nVidia PCI card) I couldn't get things to work right. I went back to the Voodoo3 AGP (different bus, apparently) and had no problems.
I guess in theory they should share IRQ's; maybe one of the cards didn't play nice. And with five slots and four lines (INTA-INTD) you know there's going to be some sharing, even if there are 24 APICs... right? Plus there's motherboard USB that shares with one of those slots.
Thanks for the tips.
Good point about the MPX chipset. I've been waiting patiently for the Asus A7M266-D and now that it's out, the USB is busted! Plus the boards I've seen have built-in audio, which I'd actually rather *not* have. And what's the deal with that little daughter-card looking thing where the power comes in? Looks kludgey. But the PCI USB 2.0 card is supposed to work in the 64-bit slot, no? So maybe 'losing' a PCI slot isn't that bad. I'm assuming the two 64-bit PCI slots are on a separate bus from the 32-bit slots... would this mean less IRQ conflicts?
So the Tyan Tiger MPX was starting to look good, but then I hear the USB card Tyan is shipping is NOT a USB 2.0 card. So now it seems like you're really losing a PCI slot, since there don't seem to be that many 64-bit PCI cards out there now (or you buy a new 64-bit USB card and junk the free one). Built-in LAN sounds great, and the board looks a lot cleaner, especially the standard hard drive power connector by the ATX power connector for more current. Tyan probably learned a lot from their first SMP Athlon boards.
Anyone else have any experience with SMP Athlons? Oh, and did you use Athlon MP's or did you cheat and use the XP's?
You got 640 kB of RAM in that, Billy?
(kidding!)
And the funny thing about the "evil MPAA corporations" is that they're probably spinning the MP3 thing in their favor when they pitch to unsigned artists.
:)
I imagine it goes something like this: "We're the only ones with enough resources ($$$) to develop digital anti-theft technology to protect your recordings from unauthorized distribution. If you went out on your own you'd never make a dime because of all the file sharing."
I keep clinging to the dream of a site like mp3.com or Emusic that will eventually allow artists to publish themselves. Forget $15 CD's, think of PayPal minipayments. Even with minipayments I'll bet the artists could make more money in the long run. Yeah, they lose the promotion and up-front production money, but they retain some control and put their music at a price point where even Pentagram might pay for it.
Now if only they could filter out the total home-brew crap... sigh, now I'm getting into double-standards. Okay, at least set up the "Aspiring Amateur Musician" section.
How would this push the viability date back?
I'd think they'd still go by the 'outside the womb' criterium. It's a twisty semantic argument that says "this embryo is living outside its GENETIC mother's womb..."
I wonder what the right-to-lifers thought about the termination of this test embryo. Some seem to regard *any* abortion as wrong. Would they have lobbied for this embryo, fighting to see it grow up?
Is there any telling what patches are used in the Red Hat kernel releases? Or is that a trade secret? I know the source is there, but when you start talking about multiple patches, it seems like it would be a tough one to figure out.
It seems like this may be the key source of competitive advantage for a Linux distribution vendor: the know-how to optimize the kernel and other software to make a fast, stable system.
Maybe she's not ready yet... more accurately, maybe Linux isn't ready for her yet. But my god, look how far things have come in a few years.
:)
When I first downloaded Linux, there were no CD-Recordable drives; I had to go out and buy 50 floppies and crash a university computer lab (no DSL or cable-modems, either) to download Slackware. I was thrilled to get it working, and decided that olvwm was king.
Now Red Hat is huge, IBM is running Linux on mainframes, and KDE/GNOME have made the desktop much friendlier. Seems like most distributions have graphical installers that autodetect and configure most of the popular hardware. I remember the labor-intensive process of configuring my X server for Slackware about 7 years ago. Times have changed.
So I hate to hear people bad-mouth Linux because it's not good enough for grandma yet. Because in a few years, I think it will be there. And that's what Microsoft is afraid of.
Am I anti-Microsoft? Maybe a little. I'm cool with the "use what works for the application" argument, but I also think that Microsoft as a business is sleazy and evil. Sure, they're job is to make money, but what happened to dealing fairly with consumers and, well, ethics? And the Linux community feels much more like that: a community. There must be countless Linux developers working for free, for the cause, for the fun of it, whatever. I'd rather align with them.
So hopefully in a few years, Linux WILL be ready for Joe Sixpack. And if you can't get your mom to double-click, maybe you should get her an iMac in the interim.
I guess I'm not that surprised that the corporation that designed the CPU would produce a more optimized compiler.
The interesting thing is that the Intel compiler's code ran at 'virtually identical' speeds on an Athlon.
Not vaporware? It looks like vaporware to me. They grab existing pieces of software, do some pre-configuring and write an inflexible installer... it's plagiarism that doesn't deliver what it promises.
Yeah, yeah, "It's a prerelease, give him a break," you say. You think they can take CVS Wine, polish it up and make it run any Windows application you can dream up in the span of a few months?
It sounds more like a get rich quick scheme cobbled together by someone who knows how to exploit licensing loopholes. The non-GPL licensing of Wine makes it legal to improve and not release source (just what the Linux community needs: not!) and otherwise, 95% of the distribution is unchanged GPL code.
So if you're spending $5 million for a mainframe installation you'll just piss away $350k on the mainframe? Money is money.
Besides, as others are pointing out, the real savings is in consolidating scores of PC-based servers.