Python users may be interested in PyPerSyst, a project that began as a Prevayler port to Python, but is quickly turning into a very "Pythonic" OODBMS with a full-featured object management system on top of the core transaction manager, which is also improving rapidly. The PyPerSyst Sourceforge page and the PyPerSyst Wiki are where to go to get the skinny.
As far as having the whole database in memory, there seem to be plenty of situations and application domains where it is very feasible to do so and is thus not a concern.
I've been a DJ at a dance/techno club for a year and a half now, and have absolutely no vinyl:-)
While I don't use an MP3 solution directly, I use Pioneer CDJ-500's. Most of my CDs are made from well-encoded MP3's, and occasionally my own tracks.
No, you can't scratch with the old CDJ-500's, but the style of music I spin (mostly house and techno) doesn't necessitate scratching to get a good enough sound for people to have a good time and even cheer!:-) Also, I've found that people are more often intrigued by the use of pro CD players and want to find out how they work, rather than being put off by them because they "aren't vinyl".
Club DJing is NOT all about scratching, it's about providing a great set of tunes, mixed well and mixed appropriately, that your audience that evening will enjoy... no matter what method you use to get that.
Now turntablism -- that is about scratching:-)
Speaking of turntables and scratching, there are products out there that do a fine job of bridging the gap between traditional vinyl and the "digital DJ" world.
One is Pioneer's CDJ-1000, which allows you to scratch audio CDs with its touch sensitive jog dial. I've had the chance to play around with these, and they're awesome!! While there is obviously SOME sort of latency, it's definitely not noticeable by humans, and approaches zero:-)
Also, Pioneer now has a professional CD player that can play MP3 CDs. I'm sure before too long they will merge the two together into a unit that will play MP3 CDs and let you scratch them intuitively like the 1000.
Perhaps the best example yet is Final Scratch. Some well-known DJs use this, including some that've used it back when it ran on BeOS. Now it runs on Linux though!:-)
It consists of specially-encoded vinyl that you play on standard turntables, which are hooked up to a controller, which is in turn hooked up to your laptop which is presumably filled with MP3 and WAV files.
Essentially, you are able to play MP3 files WITH VINYL. I believe there is a slightly more perceptible latency than the CDJ-1000 but not so much that it's frustrating to work with.
Right now I'm happy, but if I upgrade my setup I will more than likely go with the Final Scratch solution...
So since lots of people have the DeCSS source code, why not start a project to create a patch to it much the same way as LAME did with the Fraunhaufer MP3 encoder?
I'm not into the type of programming required for this but the way LAME morphed from being a patch to being a full fledged independent program was pretty interesting to say the least.
Perhaps this would be a way to develop and open source DVD player for Linux - while legal battles are happening, people still code. When it all blows over you'll either still have the patch that lets you play DVDs, or (hopefully) be able to turn the patch into an independent program.
Color is something that is much more immediately visible and discernable than words or numbers. Consider, for instance, someone that regularly uses the task list. Perhaps this person prefers to prioritize their list by importance. With a black and white screen, she would have to look carefully at the numbers to the left to determine what priority certain items were, even if the list were sorted by priority. (Perhaps she has them sorted alphabetically, with a certain code at the beginning to categorize them differently)
In this case, color -- even 16 colors, would be very useful. She'd press her todo key on her pilot, notice that there were two red items above several blue ones, and know that those red items were of high importance immediately. She'd be able to read them quicker if they were colorized than if she had to look at the priority number assigned to each item.
Something similar could be done with categories. Assign different colors to categories in your addressbook, and now you could view your entire address book but still be able to rapidly discern between different types of contacts. This would make it easier to use your Palm's address book quickly. Instead of using two hands and tapping the corner twice to get to the right category, you can leave it set on "All". Just use one hand to press the address book button and then use the hardware buttons to scroll through your list. Green for clients, red for suppliers, purple for personal contacts.
Color web browsing on a Palm would be neatonifty, but remember, the Palm is supposed to be simple. The examples above show why adding color will keep it simple, and perhaps make it even simpler, at least for data-retrieval tasks, which is what I (and the people I know who use Palms) mainly use them for after the "wow" factor wears off.
Re:Isn't this kind of hypocritical?
on
LinModems?
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· Score: 1
"Even TCP/IP telephony would be more attractive with a real phone."
I was thinking along your lines of answering machines, PBX systems, etc. as interesting applications for this type of "modem", essentially a cheap RJ-11 based sound card:-)
But your idea of TCP/IP telephony using a phone as an interface is right on!
As in another post I just made, I contend that this would be a pretty neat device in your cheap-o $200 all-in-one solutions, not just as a modem.
A pipe dream:
Imagine having a machine that would not only be your answering machine and Internet "appliance" (or even firewall/router), but also as a unified telephone interface.
Hook up a telephone to the "modem". When you pick it up, you're greeted with a familiar dial tone. Or perhaps some instructions, or some custom sound file. Either speak the name of who you want to call (voice recognition would dial it for you) or dial the number. Program your billing info into the box and you could get an estimate of your next phone bill right away.
Have a friend across the nation that has the same kind of box? (or even a compatible one) Call them up, tell 'em who you are, and then press a button. Your boxes communicate some identification info directly, then disconnect and proceed to dial your respective ISPs, or perhaps if one or both of you have DSL connection you just wait for it to connect that way. Meanwhile, you're listening to one of your favorite MP3s while this stuff is going on behind the scenes.
The song fades out, and then you're talking to your friend using TCP/IP instead, and you haven't even hung up the phone.:-)
This is a ways off and of course there are flaws in every fantasy. I'd also never use anything but a hardware modem in a traditional-use computer. But for all-in-one boxes, the potential (especially if the driver is open) is wonderful.
Modem Prices and DSPvsHSP - also voice mail?
on
LinModems?
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· Score: 2
I believe Rendus was referring to $50 being the cost of a hardware-driven DSP modem, thus being a very high percentage of the total $200 of these cheap computers they want to build.
Those $20 modems you saw are the software-driven "Host Signal Processing" modems, which is what is being debated here (DSP vs. HSP).
I know this because I bought one the other day, and promptly returned it. I had not bought a modem for a couple of years, and had no idea that HSP == WinModem. I just saw that it was cheap, and ISA (it was intended for a 486/33).
The box described hardware requirements as being at least a 200MHz machine running Windows 95/98 or NT. I dismissed this because I frequently see "requirements" on products that are not necessarily true, but rather just there to comfort folks that don't "know better". "Hmm, I have Windows 95, I wonder if it will work with my computer. Yes! It says requires Windows 95, so it must work!"
Needless to say, I'm the one that "didn't know better" this time, regarding WinModems.:-) I've generally had very nice "good enough" success with cheap hardware, but modems are definitely not something I'll cheap out on again.
An interesting thought with the LinModem though -- if the driver and specifications are sufficiently open-sourced and stable, the $200 Linux box used for net surfing could have lots more potential as well, as software for voice mail could be written as well and integrated with the user interface.
Even if the user had a DSL or Cable Modem connection, a cheap "LinModem", given a stable enough driver, could still be used to provide said answering machine capabilities.
And what about a Linux "telephone server" in a wired home, where your conversation is transmitted digitally to the server before sent out over the phone line? Whoa, I'm starting to get some scary privacy-related issues here, I better stop writing...
Slashdot Mirror
Internap animated site status
Editors - please fix the non-closed italic tag in the entry so the front page of the site doesn't show up in all italics. Thanks :)
Python users may be interested in PyPerSyst, a project that began as a Prevayler port to Python, but is quickly turning into a very "Pythonic" OODBMS with a full-featured object management system on top of the core transaction manager, which is also improving rapidly. The PyPerSyst Sourceforge page and the PyPerSyst Wiki are where to go to get the skinny. As far as having the whole database in memory, there seem to be plenty of situations and application domains where it is very feasible to do so and is thus not a concern.
Sager has a 17" notebook that has been on powernotebooks.com for a little while now:
http://www.powernotebooks.com/products.php3?displa y_size=17
Boy am I glad I hadn't taken out the recycling and gotten rid of more than 1000 old business cards yet.
:)
I have a new-found idle-time project thanks to finding out how to build business card cubes via this story
I've been a DJ at a dance/techno club for a year and a half now, and have absolutely no vinyl :-)
:-) Also, I've found that people are more often intrigued by the use of pro CD players and want to find out how they work, rather than being put off by them because they "aren't vinyl".
:-)
:-)
:-)
While I don't use an MP3 solution directly, I use Pioneer CDJ-500's. Most of my CDs are made from well-encoded MP3's, and occasionally my own tracks.
No, you can't scratch with the old CDJ-500's, but the style of music I spin (mostly house and techno) doesn't necessitate scratching to get a good enough sound for people to have a good time and even cheer!
Club DJing is NOT all about scratching, it's about providing a great set of tunes, mixed well and mixed appropriately, that your audience that evening will enjoy... no matter what method you use to get that.
Now turntablism -- that is about scratching
Speaking of turntables and scratching, there are products out there that do a fine job of bridging the gap between traditional vinyl and the "digital DJ" world.
One is Pioneer's CDJ-1000, which allows you to scratch audio CDs with its touch sensitive jog dial. I've had the chance to play around with these, and they're awesome!! While there is obviously SOME sort of latency, it's definitely not noticeable by humans, and approaches zero
Also, Pioneer now has a professional CD player that can play MP3 CDs. I'm sure before too long they will merge the two together into a unit that will play MP3 CDs and let you scratch them intuitively like the 1000.
Perhaps the best example yet is Final Scratch. Some well-known DJs use this, including some that've used it back when it ran on BeOS. Now it runs on Linux though!
It consists of specially-encoded vinyl that you play on standard turntables, which are hooked up to a controller, which is in turn hooked up to your laptop which is presumably filled with MP3 and WAV files.
Essentially, you are able to play MP3 files WITH VINYL. I believe there is a slightly more perceptible latency than the CDJ-1000 but not so much that it's frustrating to work with.
Right now I'm happy, but if I upgrade my setup I will more than likely go with the Final Scratch solution...
So since lots of people have the DeCSS source code, why not start a project to create a patch to it much the same way as LAME did with the Fraunhaufer MP3 encoder?
I'm not into the type of programming required for this but the way LAME morphed from being a patch to being a full fledged independent program was pretty interesting to say the least.
Perhaps this would be a way to develop and open source DVD player for Linux - while legal battles are happening, people still code. When it all blows over you'll either still have the patch that lets you play DVDs, or (hopefully) be able to turn the patch into an independent program.
Color is something that is much more immediately visible and discernable than words or numbers. Consider, for instance, someone that regularly uses the task list. Perhaps this person prefers to prioritize their list by importance. With a black and white screen, she would have to look carefully at the numbers to the left to determine what priority certain items were, even if the list were sorted by priority. (Perhaps she has them sorted alphabetically, with a certain code at the beginning to categorize them differently)
In this case, color -- even 16 colors, would be very useful. She'd press her todo key on her pilot, notice that there were two red items above several blue ones, and know that those red items were of high importance immediately. She'd be able to read them quicker if they were colorized than if she had to look at the priority number assigned to each item.
Something similar could be done with categories. Assign different colors to categories in your addressbook, and now you could view your entire address book but still be able to rapidly discern between different types of contacts. This would make it easier to use your Palm's address book quickly. Instead of using two hands and tapping the corner twice to get to the right category, you can leave it set on "All". Just use one hand to press the address book button and then use the hardware buttons to scroll through your list. Green for clients, red for suppliers, purple for personal contacts.
Color web browsing on a Palm would be neatonifty, but remember, the Palm is supposed to be simple. The examples above show why adding color will keep it simple, and perhaps make it even simpler, at least for data-retrieval tasks, which is what I (and the people I know who use Palms) mainly use them for after the "wow" factor wears off.
"Even TCP/IP telephony would be more attractive with a real phone."
:-)
:-)
I was thinking along your lines of answering machines, PBX systems, etc. as interesting applications for this type of "modem", essentially a cheap RJ-11 based sound card
But your idea of TCP/IP telephony using a phone as an interface is right on!
As in another post I just made, I contend that this would be a pretty neat device in your cheap-o $200 all-in-one solutions, not just as a modem.
A pipe dream:
Imagine having a machine that would not only be your answering machine and Internet "appliance" (or even firewall/router), but also as a unified telephone interface.
Hook up a telephone to the "modem". When you pick it up, you're greeted with a familiar dial tone. Or perhaps some instructions, or some custom sound file. Either speak the name of who you want to call (voice recognition would dial it for you) or dial the number. Program your billing info into the box and you could get an estimate of your next phone bill right away.
Have a friend across the nation that has the same kind of box? (or even a compatible one) Call them up, tell 'em who you are, and then press a button. Your boxes communicate some identification info directly, then disconnect and proceed to dial your respective ISPs, or perhaps if one or both of you have DSL connection you just wait for it to connect that way. Meanwhile, you're listening to one of your favorite MP3s while this stuff is going on behind the scenes.
The song fades out, and then you're talking to your friend using TCP/IP instead, and you haven't even hung up the phone.
This is a ways off and of course there are flaws in every fantasy. I'd also never use anything but a hardware modem in a traditional-use computer. But for all-in-one boxes, the potential (especially if the driver is open) is wonderful.
I believe Rendus was referring to $50 being the cost of a hardware-driven DSP modem, thus being a very high percentage of the total $200 of these cheap computers they want to build.
:-) I've generally had very nice "good enough" success with cheap hardware, but modems are definitely not something I'll cheap out on again.
Those $20 modems you saw are the software-driven "Host Signal Processing" modems, which is what is being debated here (DSP vs. HSP).
I know this because I bought one the other day, and promptly returned it. I had not bought a modem for a couple of years, and had no idea that HSP == WinModem. I just saw that it was cheap, and ISA (it was intended for a 486/33).
The box described hardware requirements as being at least a 200MHz machine running Windows 95/98 or NT. I dismissed this because I frequently see "requirements" on products that are not necessarily true, but rather just there to comfort folks that don't "know better". "Hmm, I have Windows 95, I wonder if it will work with my computer. Yes! It says requires Windows 95, so it must work!"
Needless to say, I'm the one that "didn't know better" this time, regarding WinModems.
An interesting thought with the LinModem though -- if the driver and specifications are sufficiently open-sourced and stable, the $200 Linux box used for net surfing could have lots more potential as well, as software for voice mail could be written as well and integrated with the user interface.
Even if the user had a DSL or Cable Modem connection, a cheap "LinModem", given a stable enough driver, could still be used to provide said answering machine capabilities.
And what about a Linux "telephone server" in a wired home, where your conversation is transmitted digitally to the server before sent out over the phone line? Whoa, I'm starting to get some scary privacy-related issues here, I better stop writing...