That's exactly what I was thinking -- get a converter from ODB(1 or 2) to serial. You could then poll for any data you would want... (play Nelly's "hot in heere" if the engine coolant is low, etc) It would make for a heck of a fun project, if you're in to tearing apart stuff.
Aside from that, however, if you wanted to tinker and not spend any money, why not just put a switch either under the gas pedal ( but not impeding travel) or near the intake (where the TPS is anyways) so you don't drag down any of the on-board sensors.... wouldn't want to skew any of the information sent back to Master Control (the ECM...)
What are you trying to do with the "extra" monitors?
I know that when I enable dualhead on my machine, you specify a "primary" monitor for games and overlays (on an nVidia card) and the secondary just blanks on these...
If you want all 4 monitors to have 3d displays on them, then MAYBE the pci bus would be slow for that. However, for what I'd use 4 monitors for (more code windows, more windows of slashdot, more terminals up at once, monitoring networks etc) PCI would be just happy.
Now, finding a deal on monitors and a new desk......
In addition, I'm noticing a "slowdown" trend within CPU and Video cards. They seem to remain "higher priced" for longer, it seems.
I've got a spare mobo and would like to get some pieces and parts to complete another machine. Of course, this means mildly upgrading my current machine, and then throwing most of the parts I'm currently using (amd2100+xp, GF4ti4200, memory) to the currently unused mobo.
My problem is that I could buy the same parts I bought when I first built my primary machine, and only pay about 50-100$ less than what I did 1 year ago. I'd really like to have the secondary machine up and running, but I look at the numbers and it's just not worth it to me.
Maybe I'm just getting older, too. Seeing the value in keeping a computer around for 3-4 years instead of looking once a year at upgrades or revamping.....
The amazing thing about any technology, though, is that it's always seemingly pushed to it's limits. While I don't doubt we're near our limit on current storage technologies, something will come along to either:
1. Replace hard drive technology as we see it today... as in not a rotating mass with magnetism being the storage transfer medium.
2. Make them a bit bigger. Why not make the ultra-high-storage drive fit in a full size 5"+ drive bay? We all have em (well, except for the tivo application possibly, as well as small form factor PC's.... and servers... ok.. you got me there.) I would think that if it's massive home or business storage that is driving the need, most could accept a different form factor.
As well, with the TIVO scenario in mind, you could also implement new encoding algorithms (sp?) to compress the data further, with similar quality ratings. There would be no trouble in doing this since hardware always gets faster it seems, and technically, the TIVO was designed to store data for itself only; not necessarily to "archive"...
I had my girlfriend order Gradius V (it's actually coming to the states!!!... unlike gradius gaiden, which I had to mod-chip my ps1 for....) before Christmas so that I would have something to play over the vacation....
Turns out, their original 4Q estimate got pushed back... In fact, Amazon.com had an original ship date of December 18th... but, when we went to order (a little late) on the 22nd, there was a new delivery date of 01/08...???
Checked out the Konami page. Hmm, 1q04 now. darnit.
I guess 2d scrollers just don't have the same pull they used to. I am glad that they're making this one, however, but I will lament the day that I can't fire up a game on (insert console here) and pilot Vic Viper to victory!
With older vehicles that only used limited slip differentials, essentially you're only being pushed (more or less) by one wheel.... try doing a burnout sometime in one without a locking or true posi differential. One burn mark. Car stays in a fairly straight line (unless inertia or gravity takes over)....:)
I'm thinking of 2 things:
1. More weight in the back of a rear wheel car = good. Obviously, you have a point of diminishing returns, but typically in the winter months here, it's nice to throw some 50lb bags of sand in the trunk/bed of your chosen vehicle.
2. Unsprung weight -- a lot of people have been discussing this in these threads... Why not mount the motors closer to the center of the car, with axleshafts and cv joints.... or, if you're feeling like doing a 2wd car (rear), you could put the diesel up front, and the 2 motors in the rear, with a solidly linked axle. Independent suspension could come later, but for trial, you could make it solid...
I have a question. Why would somebody download a movie they already own?
Not meant to start a flame, just curious... If I've ever wanted to use a copy of a movie I have, I could make a copy on my server (divx or what not) and I could trust the quality. It seems with computers as fast as they are now, it's not worth it to suck the cable modem dry getting a movie you already own.
Actually, I haven't tested lately, but I can definitely tell between one that was downloaded *cough* and one I ripped personally...
But you're right -- that introduces more "factors" into the mix other than just bitrate -- someone could have taped it off the radio (why would you do this?) or just not verified the rip, etc.
I recently bought a Grand Marquis (no, I'm not that old, but I enjoy a nice ride with a V8) and also have a 78 Cougar. What I've found, if you have a garbage (or washy) sound from a low rate encoded mp3, if I crank it (and I do like music loud from time to time...) the ones encoded lower either have encoding artifacts or they just plain sound like crap. The originals off of cd however, tend to do much better in this respect (I usually buy a cd if I listen to it for more than a week....)
I would have a real problem with that, though, since it's probably music that I'd like to listen to. 128kbps in stereo is not really enough to satisfy my critical ear. 192kbps and up -- then we're talking...
Of course, I can usually pick out 160kbps too, but only if I have listened to the song "original"...
Re:You know... things just don't amaze me.
on
Message in a Battle
·
· Score: 1
I think that in the FF movie, Sid was probably the best "looking" character of them all. His face showed expression well, and the textures used on his face were very convincing that he could have been "real".
On the other hand, most of the other characters faces lacked.... emotion. You could slightly tell when they were happy, or angry... but there faces just seemed to static....
If someone happens to get ahold of your sensitive data, it's nice for the bigwigs to have someone to blame other than themselves....
Think about it. Someone forgets to shred some confidential documents in their own personal shredder, and they get into the dumpster intact. That would be a whole lotta egg on the company. But, if the shredding company acidentally let a document "leak", then they'd probably lose more than just face... they'd probably lose a lotta money!
The man wanted to know how to solve a problem. Granted, you give him a few good "alternatives", but that doesn't solve the problem.
It'd be like me saying "My car is old and doesn't run well -- what do I do to ensure it won't leave me stranded?" and you telling me "Ride a bike. It doesn't pollute and it's always ready to roll...."
Then what you would probably need are good "replays" of the match.
Let's say there's a tournament and someone wins the big prize. You could walk through with each of the opponents and asked them about the game, and reference it with clips from their point of view, a 3rd person angle, or the prey....:)
I think that would be an easy way to do that kind of sport. It could never be realtime, however...
I recently purchased a new (to me) car, and was amazed that a 1999 model car would come factory with a cassette deck.
I fumbled around with an old FM transmitter I have to play from my minidisc player to it, but was very unhappy with the quality. So I sprung for a Clarion head unit, with MP3 playing capability. Awesome!
Even more recently, my girlfriend bought me a DVD recorder for our anniversary... so now I'm thinking to myself "Instead of having these 7 cd's burnt with mp3's in my car, I could have one DVD!".....
Maybe in 2 years or so they'll have the DVD readers that will play mp3's in cars.... to be honest, it's an awesome idea, but I doubt a lot of people would buy them -- probably less so than even the people who buy the mp3 players for the car (and use the mp3 capibilities, instead of springing for the headunit because of the "pretty lights".... grrrr.)
Yes, you're right -- Apple is more likely to lose out the "average people". However, in all fairness, BMW is likely to lose out on that market as well.
I don't think Apple's too worried about the most common people out there. They're etching themselves into the pages of history as a company who can provide functionality and appearance... for a price. Seems to be working (much like BMW.)
Slashdot Mirror
That's exactly what I was thinking -- get a converter from ODB(1 or 2) to serial. You could then poll for any data you would want... (play Nelly's "hot in heere" if the engine coolant is low, etc) It would make for a heck of a fun project, if you're in to tearing apart stuff.
Aside from that, however, if you wanted to tinker and not spend any money, why not just put a switch either under the gas pedal ( but not impeding travel) or near the intake (where the TPS is anyways) so you don't drag down any of the on-board sensors.... wouldn't want to skew any of the information sent back to Master Control (the ECM...)
What are you trying to do with the "extra" monitors?
I know that when I enable dualhead on my machine, you specify a "primary" monitor for games and overlays (on an nVidia card) and the secondary just blanks on these...
If you want all 4 monitors to have 3d displays on them, then MAYBE the pci bus would be slow for that. However, for what I'd use 4 monitors for (more code windows, more windows of slashdot, more terminals up at once, monitoring networks etc) PCI would be just happy.
Now, finding a deal on monitors and a new desk......
In addition, I'm noticing a "slowdown" trend within CPU and Video cards. They seem to remain "higher priced" for longer, it seems.
I've got a spare mobo and would like to get some pieces and parts to complete another machine. Of course, this means mildly upgrading my current machine, and then throwing most of the parts I'm currently using (amd2100+xp, GF4ti4200, memory) to the currently unused mobo.
My problem is that I could buy the same parts I bought when I first built my primary machine, and only pay about 50-100$ less than what I did 1 year ago. I'd really like to have the secondary machine up and running, but I look at the numbers and it's just not worth it to me.
Maybe I'm just getting older, too. Seeing the value in keeping a computer around for 3-4 years instead of looking once a year at upgrades or revamping.....
The amazing thing about any technology, though, is that it's always seemingly pushed to it's limits. While I don't doubt we're near our limit on current storage technologies, something will come along to either:
1. Replace hard drive technology as we see it today... as in not a rotating mass with magnetism being the storage transfer medium.
2. Make them a bit bigger. Why not make the ultra-high-storage drive fit in a full size 5"+ drive bay? We all have em (well, except for the tivo application possibly, as well as small form factor PC's.... and servers... ok.. you got me there.) I would think that if it's massive home or business storage that is driving the need, most could accept a different form factor.
As well, with the TIVO scenario in mind, you could also implement new encoding algorithms (sp?) to compress the data further, with similar quality ratings. There would be no trouble in doing this since hardware always gets faster it seems, and technically, the TIVO was designed to store data for itself only; not necessarily to "archive"...
Amen brother.
I had my girlfriend order Gradius V (it's actually coming to the states!!!... unlike gradius gaiden, which I had to mod-chip my ps1 for....) before Christmas so that I would have something to play over the vacation....
Turns out, their original 4Q estimate got pushed back... In fact, Amazon.com had an original ship date of December 18th... but, when we went to order (a little late) on the 22nd, there was a new delivery date of 01/08...???
Checked out the Konami page. Hmm, 1q04 now. darnit.
I guess 2d scrollers just don't have the same pull they used to. I am glad that they're making this one, however, but I will lament the day that I can't fire up a game on (insert console here) and pilot Vic Viper to victory!
So if Square-Enix got a hold of it, would the next incarnation be "PSten-two"?
haahaahaa
Since we're sort of offtopic, what are you using for a screen? What distance are you using for how many diagonal inches??
Want to get a good idea of how one will look. It's on my budget for the upcoming year....
Yea, but look at a typical rear wheel drive car.
:)
.... or, if you're feeling like doing a 2wd car (rear), you could put the diesel up front, and the 2 motors in the rear, with a solidly linked axle. Independent suspension could come later, but for trial, you could make it solid...
With older vehicles that only used limited slip differentials, essentially you're only being pushed (more or less) by one wheel.... try doing a burnout sometime in one without a locking or true posi differential. One burn mark. Car stays in a fairly straight line (unless inertia or gravity takes over)....
I'm thinking of 2 things:
1. More weight in the back of a rear wheel car = good. Obviously, you have a point of diminishing returns, but typically in the winter months here, it's nice to throw some 50lb bags of sand in the trunk/bed of your chosen vehicle.
2. Unsprung weight -- a lot of people have been discussing this in these threads... Why not mount the motors closer to the center of the car, with axleshafts and cv joints
You misspelled "copyright infringement."
I have a question. Why would somebody download a movie they already own?
Not meant to start a flame, just curious... If I've ever wanted to use a copy of a movie I have, I could make a copy on my server (divx or what not) and I could trust the quality. It seems with computers as fast as they are now, it's not worth it to suck the cable modem dry getting a movie you already own.
Wouldn't that be 0x0c? :)
Actually, I haven't tested lately, but I can definitely tell between one that was downloaded *cough* and one I ripped personally...
But you're right -- that introduces more "factors" into the mix other than just bitrate -- someone could have taped it off the radio (why would you do this?) or just not verified the rip, etc.
I recently bought a Grand Marquis (no, I'm not that old, but I enjoy a nice ride with a V8) and also have a 78 Cougar. What I've found, if you have a garbage (or washy) sound from a low rate encoded mp3, if I crank it (and I do like music loud from time to time...) the ones encoded lower either have encoding artifacts or they just plain sound like crap. The originals off of cd however, tend to do much better in this respect (I usually buy a cd if I listen to it for more than a week....)
I would have a real problem with that, though, since it's probably music that I'd like to listen to. 128kbps in stereo is not really enough to satisfy my critical ear. 192kbps and up -- then we're talking...
Of course, I can usually pick out 160kbps too, but only if I have listened to the song "original"...
Isn't Saab owned by GM now?
I think that in the FF movie, Sid was probably the best "looking" character of them all. His face showed expression well, and the textures used on his face were very convincing that he could have been "real".
On the other hand, most of the other characters faces lacked.... emotion. You could slightly tell when they were happy, or angry... but there faces just seemed to static....
In addition, there's the "liability" factor.
If someone happens to get ahold of your sensitive data, it's nice for the bigwigs to have someone to blame other than themselves....
Think about it. Someone forgets to shred some confidential documents in their own personal shredder, and they get into the dumpster intact. That would be a whole lotta egg on the company. But, if the shredding company acidentally let a document "leak", then they'd probably lose more than just face... they'd probably lose a lotta money!
I wish I had mod points....
"I can sodomize my children again!!!"
Why is this insightful?
The man wanted to know how to solve a problem. Granted, you give him a few good "alternatives", but that doesn't solve the problem.
It'd be like me saying "My car is old and doesn't run well -- what do I do to ensure it won't leave me stranded?" and you telling me "Ride a bike. It doesn't pollute and it's always ready to roll...."
Never stuck my head in one to look around. Kinda doubt it'd have the wires and pressure sensitive pads...
Call me crazy...
"It's the A2D converter kiddies..."
:)
Actually, it's the D2A converter, or for us non leet speakers, the DA converter.
Wouldn't get very far with an mp3 "player" if you had only an AD converter, although you could record a lot...
Then what you would probably need are good "replays" of the match.
:)
Let's say there's a tournament and someone wins the big prize. You could walk through with each of the opponents and asked them about the game, and reference it with clips from their point of view, a 3rd person angle, or the prey....
I think that would be an easy way to do that kind of sport. It could never be realtime, however...
Or, perhaps someone will come up with the bright idea to let you shoot packets whilst in the 3d game...
"Oops, sorry about that boss. That was a nasty zombie.... whaddya mean that was my raise paperwork????!!!"
Offtopic, but your sig...
Stuck in my head...
A Perfect Circle, Thirteenth Step - The Package...
one of the 3-4 albums I've been stuck on of late...
I recently purchased a new (to me) car, and was amazed that a 1999 model car would come factory with a cassette deck.
I fumbled around with an old FM transmitter I have to play from my minidisc player to it, but was very unhappy with the quality. So I sprung for a Clarion head unit, with MP3 playing capability. Awesome!
Even more recently, my girlfriend bought me a DVD recorder for our anniversary... so now I'm thinking to myself "Instead of having these 7 cd's burnt with mp3's in my car, I could have one DVD!".....
Maybe in 2 years or so they'll have the DVD readers that will play mp3's in cars.... to be honest, it's an awesome idea, but I doubt a lot of people would buy them -- probably less so than even the people who buy the mp3 players for the car (and use the mp3 capibilities, instead of springing for the headunit because of the "pretty lights".... grrrr.)
Yes, you're right -- Apple is more likely to lose out the "average people". However, in all fairness, BMW is likely to lose out on that market as well.
I don't think Apple's too worried about the most common people out there. They're etching themselves into the pages of history as a company who can provide functionality and appearance... for a price. Seems to be working (much like BMW.)