The response you would get from a RE advocate is that your scenario betrays a completely wrong engineering approach, like asking for a skyscraper design using wattle and daub. The first thing you do is minimize your requirements by insulating walls and windows, using infiltration and vapor barriers to keep out humidity, and shading glass to prevent unwanted heat gain. Then you use thermal mass to keep temperature fluctuations down and allow night-time ventilation to keep the building cooler during the day. Only THEN would you use mechanical A/C, and with current systems a least-cost solar chiller would probably not be electric.
Unfortunately this includes the majority of the used housing market. Most of us can't afford a new instalation including a solar solution. Most first time home owners buy used, then after they have enough equity, then they are able to consider options.
In the future, maybe there will be enough energy effecient housing on the market and first time buyers will have the option.
It was like my car purchases for a long time. They were all under 3K dollars and over 80K miles. Green and effecient were not in the mix. In another 10 years it may be possible to pick up sub 3K dollar hybrids. It may be possible to pick up affordable 20 year old homes that are energy effecient. Most sub $100K homes are either tiny, old, or cheap. They don't come with heat pumps, high R value insulation or thermal management by design. You pay extra for these.
The heater is connected in parallel with the running winding.
Not on any of the motors I have serviced. The ones I have serviced use either a thermal or magnetic start contactor. They are connected in series with the run winding. High stall current engauges the start winding on a magnetic starter, and a thermal one has the start winding on for a time delay. Neither system uses line voltage for operation of the heat or magnetic element. It uses the series current to the run winding. The thermal design is usualy a dual stage. The first click kicks off the start winding. The second only trips if the motor overheats or does not start due to being stalled. The second stage disconnects the entire motor for thermal burnout protection. This is the one you hear if a fridge is accidently unplugged while running and plugged right back in. The high system pressure on the compressor may prevent the compressor from restarting and will thermally trip off. After a couple retries when the pressure has bled down, the compressor will again restart and run normally.
Without this protection, either the main breaker will trip due to the overload, or the compressor will fry itself. Start current is typicaly 5X the run current.
The idea is that once the motor has started, a time delay relay disconnects the starter winding. This time delay relay typically uses a simple bimetallic strip and heater coil arrangement; in pre-semiconductor times, this was about the only way to do it, and it just kind of stuck.
Nice try.. Now for the facts. An induction motor has a synchronous speed. It's realated to line frequency. A 2 pole motor has a synchronous speed of 3600 RPM on 60 cycle power. Due to something called slip, it runs slightly below synchronous speed. A two pole induction motor speed is usualy rated at about 2-5% less than the synchronous speed at the rated load. Changing the line voltage does not change the speed much. At a fixed speed and fixed load, the power requirement remains fixed. Lower the voltage and the current goes up. Your theory was the current dropped and that kicked in the start winding. WRONG. Low voltage may keep the motor from reaching speed and trip the overloads. Drop the voltage and the current goes up.. I squared/R losses increase. This is why in brownout situations motors overheat, not run cool. This increasing current at reduced voltages is why a heavy air conditioning load tends to compound a brownout situation.
Try it. Plug a small freezer into a variac and monitor the current with a clamp ampmeter while reducing the voltage.
There was an article in Discover Magazine last year about a company who was making a solar power generator based on a Stirling engine and they were claiming some impressive efficiencies
I keep seeing these claims again and again. The thing I can't help but wonder, is why if these are so effecient, is why there isn't one under the hood? Even the green cars such as the Honda Insite and Toyota Prius use internal combustion engines. I keep thinking there is a reason we don't see sterling engines in transportation.
The best use of solar panels I've ever seen was for AirConditioning... if the sun's not out, the air's cool anyway and if it is solar power kicks in . Don't know if it'll work for a bigger scale , unless we have spray on solar panels for those BIG tinted windows.
For the simple answer to cost of instal is check the power requirement for a simple AC unit. Remember they don't like power sags. Now price a solar system big enough to run the AC. Also price the storage battery or co-gen setup to keep it running when a puffy cloud passes by.
For most people, the required expense to run a high power draw device is beyond a home solar instalation. Most solar instalations are for hot water, and enough electric to run a few small energy effecient appliances. Don't expect to run a regular all electric home of just solar. Expect to use an alternate power source for things like the hot water, heating, cooling and clothes dryer. They won't be solar electric.
Another place to check is your monthly electric bill. Our home of 6 in the summer runs about 35 KWH/day. This is about an order of magnetude above a typical home photo-voltaic instalation. Very deep cuts in electric use are in order to even consider moving off grid. I simply don't have enough money or roof space to supply my current electric demand. Things like the dishwasher, electric dryer, AC, electric heat, and un-effecient refrigeration (fridge and freezer) would have to be replaced.
A high effeciency fridge is a serious chunk of change. I've looked into them.
I know of a few small businesses that are in the boarded up mode. The web page contains nothing except yellow pages type information. It's a hosted site, so no exploitable information is even hackable. Hours of operation, some contact information, and list of products and services are all that's listed.
All in all I think some businesses are too small to be exploited simply because they have too little exposure.
I love that miss-conception. What is the highest frequency that you an record and play back on a red book CD?
The frequency limited analog Vinly was able to embed a subcarrier and 2 more channels back in the day of quad recordings. Just try putting the same frequecies on a redbook CD and getting it to decode... Good luck. The CD doesn't have the bandwidth.
Here's a clip from a quick Google search on Quadraphonic recordings.
As Fig. 15 shows, the sum signal (1 + 2) and (3 + 4) form the audio frequency signals to the Left and Right cutter inputs respectively. This ensures a high degree of compatability with any ordinary stereo record player, which will simply reproduce (LF + LR) as its Left Channel output and (RF + RR) as its Right. In the same way, a mono player would simply add all four origional signals and so reproduce an acceptable mono signal. The difference signals (1 - 2) and (3 - 4) are first modulated onto a 30kHz carrier an ten added to the cutter Left and Right inputs respectively. This upper modulation is tailored to fit into a frequency bandwith from about 20 to 45 kHz. Ordinary stereo pickups will barely respond to these signals and will therefore simply reproduce the left and right sum signals. For quadraphonic reproduction, a new generation of pickup cartridges is being developed with reasonably consistent response up to about 50 kHz. When this full range is passed from the cartridge to a CD-4 demodulator, the four seperate 1, 2, 3, 4 signals are derived for sending to the inputs of a four-channel amplifier (or two two-channel stereo amplifiers).
Last time I checked, there isn't any way to record and reproduce signals in the 20KHZ to 45KHZ range on a compact disk (Redbook). The poor performance of LP's is a myth.
I think the point is too many companies are way too proud of their software. They charge like it's the best thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately most people see software as applications to a computer, much like sprinkles on a doughnut. Some software houses look at their product as the focus of the system and the hardware to run it is just the sprinkles on the doughnut. Users want more than one killer app. They are not willing to pay several times the hardware price for the latest game collection and video, audio, database, internet applications only to expect them to be obsolete in less than a couple years. They are willing to wait fot the final version which they may be willing to invest in if it isn't buggy and overpriced.
As an example, a few years ago I needed to print some simple barcodes. A few outfits seemed to think anyone wanting to use a barcode would be willing to pay anything for the ability. Due to $200 and up (way up) prices for software to print barcodes, I simply trashed the project as unreasonable.
Later, I found a label program for under $20. I picked up a copy. I liked it. I bought a second copy to use at work. I registered both copies. The program is not burdened by a copy protection scheme.
I have two piano tutorials which interact with a MIDI keyboard. The old one (Piano Discovery) is a little dated (prefers set to 256 colors) but has no copy protection.
The other one (Voyetra) is nicer, but gets seldom used because it won't run without the CD in the drive. My laptop has a failing drive. I bought both piano tutorials retail. Needless to say, I feel ripped off by the Voyetra software as it's not very useful as delivered.
Now next time I need an application, where do you think is the first place I'm going to look for an application? Buying it in a box on a retail shelf leaves lots of FUD as to it's usability. This is why console games do so well. Bring it home, put it in, and it works. I wish PC software were this hastle free. Over a console, I do expect the PC to be able to make back-up copies.
For the PC I expect to install a program and have it work. I don't expect it to use my PC as a console. I have a hard drive. Don't bug me for the disk. Don't bug me about lack of an Internet connection. (phone home software)
The anti-piracy fight has greatly reduced my interest in buying retail software, especialy games. There is little recourse if it doesn't work as expected. A high retail price is simply icing on the cake.
If Wind River updates it's barcode software, I won't be interested. If Softkey updates theirs to fix a couple bugs in their Labels Unlimited and add a few features, they may get my repeat business.
PhotoShop is trying to keep it's average selling price high, so I don't use it. I use ArcSoft or the Gimp instead. (Win/Linux) Guess which program is pirated a lot and which one nobody bothers pirating because it came bundled with their camera.
Overburden either the high priced product or the low priced one, (price and/or usability) and I will find an alternative. It's the way the market works.
Now we have some proof that 148 of the world's worst spammers are hosted by a US company will these same people call for a complete block on US emails or is that now a crazy approach?
Like most Americans, I don't have any overseas connections. Blocking all overseas mailservers simply is a spam filter that is effective in stopping much of the flood of SPAM without a single false positive.
It also blocks the spammers who may be in America and are using overseas mail proxies to try to beat US anti-spam laws. Again, blocking these block 100% SPAM and have 0 false positives. I don't blame other countries for having spammers, I blame them for having open proxies and/or spammers that send me unwanted junk. That's why many Americans including myself block overseas mailservers.
2. EVERY BIOS supports booting from a USB key device
Are you kidding? Could you make it more true by eliminating older stuff? None of my Socket 5 and Socket 7 stuff support booting off USB. To use USB, it needs an adaptor, an OS upgrade, and drivers. Booting off the USB before the drivers load is something I don't think I'll see any time soon. It's not a BIOS boot option. (Award and Pheonix BIOS'es)
Is it just me, or does everyone else have like 50% failure rate on floppies?
When drives were die cast metal, they would stay in alignment. They sued to cost over $60. The sub $20 drives now just don't cut it. To make matters worse, they get used infrequently as CD's and USB drives get a workout instead. Then people wonder why they don't work after they have sucked in lint for months that hasn't been disturbed.
A drive that gets moderate regular use tends to work well since the lint gets pushed aside often.
If Longhorn won't play well with the Samba/IMAP solution on the unix servers, they aren't going to upgrade to Longhorn.
Agreed. More important is the browser. If it doesn't work with Apache, then as far as MS is concerned, Longhorn is broken and can't access most of the Internet. Many corporations are using web based solutions. My timecard is web based. So is our internal newsletter, campus maps, HR information, safety guidelines, employeed education courses, polls, etc. If Longhorn breaks the way we do business, we'll probably find something else that works as a client.
I mean, a Linksys WRT54G costs just under $60 street price, a little less for wholesale. Even a bulk licence could nearly double the price.
My point exactly when I said "Windows OS prices and bloat keeps MS products off these embeded OS items"
It's very hard for MS to tell Linksys or Buffalo that Linux has a higher TCO than Win CE. MS never expected these devices to reach these low prices that open software enables. Routers should still be about $300 and have MS software. A sub $100 router probably caught them off guard.
I'm about to buy a Buffalo LinkStation simply because of the unique options provided by it's embeded OS. The owners manual is posted online by the company and can be read without a EULA. It will become my central mass storage for home. As an added bonus, it's starting to become an affordable option for home much like broadband hardware. I expect as more people have home networks with shared Internet connections, the demand for network attached storage will grow and the prices will come down just like home routers and broadband modems (cable & DSL).
In the near future I expect some of the network appliances to include a built in web server that does more than just the configuration page. It would be a nice addition to the SOHO market. With a DB, it could be a great group calander and timecard in addition to file and print services.
I wonder if they count SOHO (small office home office) network appliances in the count. Many of the small easy to manage small network storage and connectivity appliances use Linux or OO software. Examples that come to mind are some of the broadband routers, the ActionTec dual PC modem, and the Buffalo LinkStation net attached storage and print server.
Windows OS prices and bloat keeps MS products off these embeded OS items, even though MS markets their embeded Win CE as a capable product for the embeded devices market.
an article that purports to bemoan the neglect of sound in favor of picture proceeds to rate the audio gear based on how it impacts graphics performance.
I noticed that. In some of the graphs they even included frame rates of the sound cards and without a sound card. What gives? It would be better to note sound lag, pops, noise, hiss, silent pauses, and such against several video cards and without a video card.
I used the Yamaha DB50XG hardware XG synth card. As an added bonus, it unloaded the CPU to make the game run smoothly. The hardware XG synth has some great sounds. If I remember correctly it used a 18 bit DA converter so it's resolution is more than a Compact Disk. Overall, nice sound and light CPU load. This was especialy important on older ISA hardware.
I've since made the synth an external stand alone sound module which I use with a MIDI keyboard.
Calling the 800 number could cause a problem for the hacker.. The contested missing balance was checked by whom? The reciepant of the real card would have little reason to call the number before using the card. Caller ID blocking doesn't work on 800 numbers. It would be interesting to find out if any of the card balances were checked via the 800 number shortly before or after the card purchase.
Own cheap expendable toys, buy them used, and don't waste your too-precious time and energy worrying about them.
I used to work in a car stereo shop. I lived in an apartment. I drove a beater car. Co-workers insisted I get a thumping stereo system and alarm. I let them know I wasn't interested in sweeping up the broken glass from my car.
3 weeks later, one of my co-workers had a sob story about the damage thieves did to his car. Nobody bothered the factory radio in my car.
Now that I have a house with garage, and covered parking with security at work, and have more than just liability insurance, I have a nice car and sound system. I don't leave it parked on city streets at night.
Get a checking account with a debit card that can be used as a visa card, and use this whenever you need a credit card.
And watch your balance very close. My bank soaked me heavy. A $12 purchace at the store, 32.50 charge Ker-ching. ATM cash draw of $40.00, 32.50 charge Ker-ching. What pissed me off what the ATM at the bank. Why didn't they decline it for NSF. Same for the store? The first hint of problems was the negative avaliable balance on my ATM reciept. They will gladly soak you if you let them.
Money is safer in an envelope in a locked closet in the dorm. It doesn't heap on charges when it's empty.
Imposter! A female friend? Surely you can't be a slashdotter! You must be spoofing that user id.
It happens sometimes. I even managed to get married a few years ago. I think I even saw that happened to one of the Slashdot staff. I remember something about a Ask Slashdot on how to propose..
Some Slashdoters even take baths and use soap! Some don't live in their mother's basement.
Slashdot Mirror
The response you would get from a RE advocate is that your scenario betrays a completely wrong engineering approach, like asking for a skyscraper design using wattle and daub. The first thing you do is minimize your requirements by insulating walls and windows, using infiltration and vapor barriers to keep out humidity, and shading glass to prevent unwanted heat gain. Then you use thermal mass to keep temperature fluctuations down and allow night-time ventilation to keep the building cooler during the day. Only THEN would you use mechanical A/C, and with current systems a least-cost solar chiller would probably not be electric.
Unfortunately this includes the majority of the used housing market. Most of us can't afford a new instalation including a solar solution. Most first time home owners buy used, then after they have enough equity, then they are able to consider options.
In the future, maybe there will be enough energy effecient housing on the market and first time buyers will have the option.
It was like my car purchases for a long time. They were all under 3K dollars and over 80K miles. Green and effecient were not in the mix. In another 10 years it may be possible to pick up sub 3K dollar hybrids. It may be possible to pick up affordable 20 year old homes that are energy effecient. Most sub $100K homes are either tiny, old, or cheap. They don't come with heat pumps, high R value insulation or thermal management by design. You pay extra for these.
The heater is connected in parallel with the running winding.
Not on any of the motors I have serviced. The ones I have serviced use either a thermal or magnetic start contactor. They are connected in series with the run winding. High stall current engauges the start winding on a magnetic starter, and a thermal one has the start winding on for a time delay. Neither system uses line voltage for operation of the heat or magnetic element. It uses the series current to the run winding. The thermal design is usualy a dual stage. The first click kicks off the start winding. The second only trips if the motor overheats or does not start due to being stalled. The second stage disconnects the entire motor for thermal burnout protection. This is the one you hear if a fridge is accidently unplugged while running and plugged right back in. The high system pressure on the compressor may prevent the compressor from restarting and will thermally trip off. After a couple retries when the pressure has bled down, the compressor will again restart and run normally.
Without this protection, either the main breaker will trip due to the overload, or the compressor will fry itself. Start current is typicaly 5X the run current.
The idea is that once the motor has started, a time delay relay disconnects the starter winding. This time delay relay typically uses a simple bimetallic strip and heater coil arrangement; in pre-semiconductor times, this was about the only way to do it, and it just kind of stuck.
Nice try.. Now for the facts. An induction motor has a synchronous speed. It's realated to line frequency. A 2 pole motor has a synchronous speed of 3600 RPM on 60 cycle power. Due to something called slip, it runs slightly below synchronous speed. A two pole induction motor speed is usualy rated at about 2-5% less than the synchronous speed at the rated load. Changing the line voltage does not change the speed much. At a fixed speed and fixed load, the power requirement remains fixed. Lower the voltage and the current goes up. Your theory was the current dropped and that kicked in the start winding. WRONG. Low voltage may keep the motor from reaching speed and trip the overloads. Drop the voltage and the current goes up.. I squared/R losses increase. This is why in brownout situations motors overheat, not run cool. This increasing current at reduced voltages is why a heavy air conditioning load tends to compound a brownout situation.
Try it. Plug a small freezer into a variac and monitor the current with a clamp ampmeter while reducing the voltage.
There was an article in Discover Magazine last year about a company who was making a solar power generator based on a Stirling engine and they were claiming some impressive efficiencies
I keep seeing these claims again and again. The thing I can't help but wonder, is why if these are so effecient, is why there isn't one under the hood? Even the green cars such as the Honda Insite and Toyota Prius use internal combustion engines. I keep thinking there is a reason we don't see sterling engines in transportation.
The best use of solar panels I've ever seen was for AirConditioning ... if the sun's not out, the air's cool anyway and if it is solar power kicks in . Don't know if it'll work for a bigger scale , unless we have spray on solar panels for those BIG tinted windows.
For the simple answer to cost of instal is check the power requirement for a simple AC unit. Remember they don't like power sags. Now price a solar system big enough to run the AC. Also price the storage battery or co-gen setup to keep it running when a puffy cloud passes by.
For most people, the required expense to run a high power draw device is beyond a home solar instalation. Most solar instalations are for hot water, and enough electric to run a few small energy effecient appliances. Don't expect to run a regular all electric home of just solar. Expect to use an alternate power source for things like the hot water, heating, cooling and clothes dryer. They won't be solar electric.
Another place to check is your monthly electric bill. Our home of 6 in the summer runs about 35 KWH/day. This is about an order of magnetude above a typical home photo-voltaic instalation. Very deep cuts in electric use are in order to even consider moving off grid. I simply don't have enough money or roof space to supply my current electric demand. Things like the dishwasher, electric dryer, AC, electric heat, and un-effecient refrigeration (fridge and freezer) would have to be replaced.
A high effeciency fridge is a serious chunk of change. I've looked into them.
What are the legal issues? Can the blog continue? Does the blogger face any liabilities?
Who cares? He drives a Taxi. It's not the greatest income in the world. I doubt he has many assets worth trying to win in a judgement.
If I found a memory card and did the same thing, I'd probably claim I was in a low income position to avoid a lawsuit also.
I know of a few small businesses that are in the boarded up mode. The web page contains nothing except yellow pages type information. It's a hosted site, so no exploitable information is even hackable. Hours of operation, some contact information, and list of products and services are all that's listed.
All in all I think some businesses are too small to be exploited simply because they have too little exposure.
5. Write off the small backwards country and not ship our precious product there. Let them hire their own bands, recording studios etc.
;-)
If they want the good stuff, they will have to adopt out standards, like the rest of the world.
(Smile, I am not intending this as flaimbait, although it reads that way to me.)
Seriously, if they started shipping good music on afordable playable CD's, then they may take over the US CD market.
severly limited frequency range, etc.)
I love that miss-conception. What is the highest frequency that you an record and play back on a red book CD?
The frequency limited analog Vinly was able to embed a subcarrier and 2 more channels back in the day of quad recordings. Just try putting the same frequecies on a redbook CD and getting it to decode... Good luck. The CD doesn't have the bandwidth.
Here's a clip from a quick Google search on Quadraphonic recordings.
As Fig. 15 shows, the sum signal (1 + 2) and (3 + 4) form the audio frequency signals to the Left and Right cutter inputs respectively. This ensures a high degree of compatability with any ordinary stereo record player, which will simply reproduce (LF + LR) as its Left Channel output and (RF + RR) as its Right. In the same way, a mono player would simply add all four origional signals and so reproduce an acceptable mono signal. The difference signals (1 - 2) and (3 - 4) are first modulated onto a 30kHz carrier an ten added to the cutter Left and Right inputs respectively. This upper modulation is tailored to fit into a frequency bandwith from about 20 to 45 kHz. Ordinary stereo pickups will barely respond to these signals and will therefore simply reproduce the left and right sum signals. For quadraphonic reproduction, a new generation of pickup cartridges is being developed with reasonably consistent response up to about 50 kHz. When this full range is passed from the cartridge to a CD-4 demodulator, the four seperate 1, 2, 3, 4 signals are derived for sending to the inputs of a four-channel amplifier (or two two-channel stereo amplifiers).
Last time I checked, there isn't any way to record and reproduce signals in the 20KHZ to 45KHZ range on a compact disk (Redbook). The poor performance of LP's is a myth.
I think the point is too many companies are way too proud of their software. They charge like it's the best thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately most people see software as applications to a computer, much like sprinkles on a doughnut. Some software houses look at their product as the focus of the system and the hardware to run it is just the sprinkles on the doughnut. Users want more than one killer app. They are not willing to pay several times the hardware price for the latest game collection and video, audio, database, internet applications only to expect them to be obsolete in less than a couple years. They are willing to wait fot the final version which they may be willing to invest in if it isn't buggy and overpriced.
As an example, a few years ago I needed to print some simple barcodes. A few outfits seemed to think anyone wanting to use a barcode would be willing to pay anything for the ability. Due to $200 and up (way up) prices for software to print barcodes, I simply trashed the project as unreasonable.
Later, I found a label program for under $20. I picked up a copy. I liked it. I bought a second copy to use at work. I registered both copies. The program is not burdened by a copy protection scheme.
I have two piano tutorials which interact with a MIDI keyboard. The old one (Piano Discovery) is a little dated (prefers set to 256 colors) but has no copy protection.
The other one (Voyetra) is nicer, but gets seldom used because it won't run without the CD in the drive. My laptop has a failing drive. I bought both piano tutorials retail. Needless to say, I feel ripped off by the Voyetra software as it's not very useful as delivered.
Now next time I need an application, where do you think is the first place I'm going to look for an application? Buying it in a box on a retail shelf leaves lots of FUD as to it's usability. This is why console games do so well. Bring it home, put it in, and it works. I wish PC software were this hastle free. Over a console, I do expect the PC to be able to make back-up copies.
For the PC I expect to install a program and have it work. I don't expect it to use my PC as a console. I have a hard drive. Don't bug me for the disk. Don't bug me about lack of an Internet connection. (phone home software)
The anti-piracy fight has greatly reduced my interest in buying retail software, especialy games. There is little recourse if it doesn't work as expected. A high retail price is simply icing on the cake.
If Wind River updates it's barcode software, I won't be interested. If Softkey updates theirs to fix a couple bugs in their Labels Unlimited and add a few features, they may get my repeat business.
PhotoShop is trying to keep it's average selling price high, so I don't use it. I use ArcSoft or the Gimp instead. (Win/Linux) Guess which program is pirated a lot and which one nobody bothers pirating because it came bundled with their camera.
Overburden either the high priced product or the low priced one, (price and/or usability) and I will find an alternative. It's the way the market works.
Now we have some proof that 148 of the world's worst spammers are hosted by a US company will these same people call for a complete block on US emails or is that now a crazy approach?
Like most Americans, I don't have any overseas connections. Blocking all overseas mailservers simply is a spam filter that is effective in stopping much of the flood of SPAM without a single false positive.
It also blocks the spammers who may be in America and are using overseas mail proxies to try to beat US anti-spam laws. Again, blocking these block 100% SPAM and have 0 false positives. I don't blame other countries for having spammers, I blame them for having open proxies and/or spammers that send me unwanted junk. That's why many Americans including myself block overseas mailservers.
This only happened after Savvis was told that their entire network was about to be e-mail blocked.
Or they were having to spend too much time fighting DDOS attacks against their border routers.
2. EVERY BIOS supports booting from a USB key device
Are you kidding? Could you make it more true by eliminating older stuff? None of my Socket 5 and Socket 7 stuff support booting off USB. To use USB, it needs an adaptor, an OS upgrade, and drivers. Booting off the USB before the drivers load is something I don't think I'll see any time soon. It's not a BIOS boot option. (Award and Pheonix BIOS'es)
Is it just me, or does everyone else have like 50% failure rate on floppies?
When drives were die cast metal, they would stay in alignment. They sued to cost over $60. The sub $20 drives now just don't cut it. To make matters worse, they get used infrequently as CD's and USB drives get a workout instead. Then people wonder why they don't work after they have sucked in lint for months that hasn't been disturbed.
A drive that gets moderate regular use tends to work well since the lint gets pushed aside often.
If Longhorn won't play well with the Samba/IMAP solution on the unix servers, they aren't going to upgrade to Longhorn.
Agreed. More important is the browser. If it doesn't work with Apache, then as far as MS is concerned, Longhorn is broken and can't access most of the Internet. Many corporations are using web based solutions. My timecard is web based. So is our internal newsletter, campus maps, HR information, safety guidelines, employeed education courses, polls, etc. If Longhorn breaks the way we do business, we'll probably find something else that works as a client.
I mean, a Linksys WRT54G costs just under $60 street price, a little less for wholesale. Even a bulk licence could nearly double the price.
My point exactly when I said "Windows OS prices and bloat keeps MS products off these embeded OS items"
It's very hard for MS to tell Linksys or Buffalo that Linux has a higher TCO than Win CE. MS never expected these devices to reach these low prices that open software enables. Routers should still be about $300 and have MS software. A sub $100 router probably caught them off guard.
I'm about to buy a Buffalo LinkStation simply because of the unique options provided by it's embeded OS. The owners manual is posted online by the company and can be read without a EULA. It will become my central mass storage for home.
As an added bonus, it's starting to become an affordable option for home much like broadband hardware. I expect as more people have home networks with shared Internet connections, the demand for network attached storage will grow and the prices will come down just like home routers and broadband modems (cable & DSL).
In the near future I expect some of the network appliances to include a built in web server that does more than just the configuration page. It would be a nice addition to the SOHO market. With a DB, it could be a great group calander and timecard in addition to file and print services.
I wonder if they count SOHO (small office home office) network appliances in the count. Many of the small easy to manage small network storage and connectivity appliances use Linux or OO software. Examples that come to mind are some of the broadband routers, the ActionTec dual PC modem, and the Buffalo LinkStation net attached storage and print server.
Windows OS prices and bloat keeps MS products off these embeded OS items, even though MS markets their embeded Win CE as a capable product for the embeded devices market.
an article that purports to bemoan the neglect of sound in favor of picture proceeds to rate the audio gear based on how it impacts graphics performance.
I noticed that. In some of the graphs they even included frame rates of the sound cards and without a sound card. What gives? It would be better to note sound lag, pops, noise, hiss, silent pauses, and such against several video cards and without a video card.
I used the Yamaha DB50XG hardware XG synth card. As an added bonus, it unloaded the CPU to make the game run smoothly. The hardware XG synth has some great sounds. If I remember correctly it used a 18 bit DA converter so it's resolution is more than a Compact Disk. Overall, nice sound and light CPU load. This was especialy important on older ISA hardware.
I've since made the synth an external stand alone sound module which I use with a MIDI keyboard.
Hmmm Moderate or comment...
Calling the 800 number could cause a problem for the hacker.. The contested missing balance was checked by whom? The reciepant of the real card would have little reason to call the number before using the card. Caller ID blocking doesn't work on 800 numbers. It would be interesting to find out if any of the card balances were checked via the 800 number shortly before or after the card purchase.
2. What the f*ck does a techie that buys this need a NAIL FILE for?!?!
Cleaning the contacts of the USB drive after it makes through the laundry.
Own cheap expendable toys, buy them used, and don't waste your too-precious time and energy worrying about them.
I used to work in a car stereo shop. I lived in an apartment. I drove a beater car. Co-workers insisted I get a thumping stereo system and alarm. I let them know I wasn't interested in sweeping up the broken glass from my car.
3 weeks later, one of my co-workers had a sob story about the damage thieves did to his car. Nobody bothered the factory radio in my car.
Now that I have a house with garage, and covered parking with security at work, and have more than just liability insurance, I have a nice car and sound system. I don't leave it parked on city streets at night.
Get a checking account with a debit card that can be used as a visa card, and use this whenever you need a credit card.
And watch your balance very close. My bank soaked me heavy. A $12 purchace at the store, 32.50 charge Ker-ching. ATM cash draw of $40.00, 32.50 charge Ker-ching. What pissed me off what the ATM at the bank. Why didn't they decline it for NSF. Same for the store? The first hint of problems was the negative avaliable balance on my ATM reciept. They will gladly soak you if you let them.
Money is safer in an envelope in a locked closet in the dorm. It doesn't heap on charges when it's empty.
So if the RIAA is behind the move to get rid of the XMPCR, what do they expect?
I for one was considering this once I heard about the radio and software. Wow, the ablity to create a custom playlist and leave the junk out.
Oh well, it was an interesting concept.
In a free market, manufactures try to meet the consumers needs.
In a monopoly, the most money is extracted for the least service.
Thank goodness the commercial music isn't a required neccessity like food, water, and shelter.
Imposter! A female friend? Surely you can't be a slashdotter! You must be spoofing that user id.
It happens sometimes. I even managed to get married a few years ago. I think I even saw that happened to one of the Slashdot staff. I remember something about a Ask Slashdot on how to propose..
Some Slashdoters even take baths and use soap! Some don't live in their mother's basement.