I thought that was a bug in a VIA chipset? I'm pretty sure the Athlon optimization stuff is pretty rock solid and definitely not experimental. I'd hate for them to start slapping the (EXPERIMENTAL) label on anything which might cause problems or conflicts on some specific platforms. (Although that's what MS did with their latest OS, didn't they...)
I notice that OpenCyc allows free access to its knowledge base, but that submitted additions would have to pass through a review board. Wouldn't it be great to have a truly open Cyc, which everyone could talk to and "teach"? It might very well end up a ConfusedCyc, but the result would interesting nonetheless.
But since OpenSyc only seems to contain about 10% of the full knowledge base, maybe a better goal would be to make the entire thing available for public access.
How would a public access Cyc be fincanced? I don't know, but I'd hate to see the AI equivalent to ad banners..
If you read some of the comments to that article, in particular the responses from the article's author, you'll notice he seems extremly partial to Postgres, much more so than he did in the article.
A benchmark is inherently flawed if it isn't made by an impartial entity.
An other point entirely, which was also made in the comments, is the known flaw in glibc which causes severe MySQL performance problems on SMP systems. Running the same benchmark on a single processor machine would probably have shown quite different results, as would a patched glibc.
I wouldn't worry too much about them. If they ever happen to find themselves on an airplane, they'll be too freaked out by the light and the people to be able to do anything. Script kiddies are used to the apparent comfort and protection of their dark and lonely rooms.
I'm pretty sure he's referring to the CPlant machine, which is the cluster of commodity boxes running the CPlant software which has just been released. All the boxes making up CPlant are running Linux. From the FAQ:
What version of Linux is being used? We are using Red Hat 5.1 and Linux-AXP v2.0.34.
Looks like these things have been available for a little while now, so I'm curious if anyone here actually has one?
I'd be particularly interested in the noise levels; does it run as silent as you might expect from a box this small, or is it noisy? I've seen (heard) many examples of horribly noisy laptops (especially the CD-ROM is often bad). With the CPU fan obviously being mounted under the grille at the top there, I'd think this one has the potential for being even noisier. Anyone?
Anyone who's read Cryptonomicon will find this scenario familiar:
The FBI agent has the data copied to his hard drive. Now, he can't view it legally, but he still wants to know what it contains. What does "viewing" constitute?
The easiest approach might be grepping the data for interesting bits. But in this case he actually views parts of the data, so I guess that's out.
How about a more sophisticated program which analyzes the data and prints a summarized version of what the interesting bits contain? Given that the FBI agent probably has some idea what sort of data he's dealing with, such a program shouldn't be too hard to write.
Finally, straight from the book, the agent could write a script which greps and/or analyzes the data, converts the output to morse code, and beeps it out from the PC speaker. No viewing involved at all:)
The point is not that he doesn't allow the OpenBSD guys to change the code. The point is that OpenBSD won't allow ipf to be a part of their distribution unless *anyone* can legally modify and use the code.
In Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy, they make antimatter in small space stations located very close to the sun. Lots of energy there:)
Ok maybe "easy" is overstating it, but anyway..
A much more interesting part of those books is that antimatter is outlawed, due to its potential for mass destruction. I'm no expert on this, but isn't that essentially correct? If larger quantities than a few nanograms are produced, aren't we dealing with something extremely dangerous here?
While I agree with you that we need some good alternatives to the plain old beige cases, I don't see what that has to do with this.
You're saying the point of those Compaq designs are to be visually pleasing, but it seems fairly obvious that their main goal is in the portability department. The word you may be looking for is "novelty", not "design". Compaq is trying to be unique, and they've probably succeeded (at least for now), but unique in itself is pointless.
If you want interesting designs, look to Apple. I'm seriously considering getting a G4 Cube; with those looks, that size, and the virtually silent operation, it'll make a perfect 24-hour Linux box for my room. But now we're getting off topic..:)
I don't see the point of the two first designs on that page at all. I mean, fine, the screen elevates a bit, and the keyboard comes loose, but looking like a desktop doesn't make it a desktop. It'll still have all the problems normally associated with laptops; low performance, cramped keyboard, and a low-contrast low-brightness screen. The added mechanics of those designs will just add to the price and complexity of the product.
One thing that may be of use is what looks like a detachable mouse; I for one don't like having the mouse or equivalent centered in front of me. But the result looks like a tiny little thing which wouldn't be any better. If that's the alternative, I don't mind having to carry around an extra mouse with my laptop at all.
Slashdot is looking more and more like those automated news feed portals where you'll see the same story repeated over and over because it was posted at several different *real* news sites...
That's the story submitter, silly. Nothing new there, the submitter is always listed in the related links area if they have a homepage or an email address registered.
Slashdot Mirror
..someone's realized who's the most intelligent species on the planet.
(Please don't tell me you didn't get *that* cultural reference...)
Is that Sendmail bit really so important we have to read it twice? In a row?
I'm guessing that's a new anti-goatse feature in the slashdot engine. Good idea.
I thought that was a bug in a VIA chipset? I'm pretty sure the Athlon optimization stuff is pretty rock solid and definitely not experimental. I'd hate for them to start slapping the (EXPERIMENTAL) label on anything which might cause problems or conflicts on some specific platforms. (Although that's what MS did with their latest OS, didn't they...)
.. Foundation for Software Flerbage
..right?
I notice that OpenCyc allows free access to its knowledge base, but that submitted additions would have to pass through a review board. Wouldn't it be great to have a truly open Cyc, which everyone could talk to and "teach"? It might very well end up a ConfusedCyc, but the result would interesting nonetheless.
But since OpenSyc only seems to contain about 10% of the full knowledge base, maybe a better goal would be to make the entire thing available for public access.
How would a public access Cyc be fincanced? I don't know, but I'd hate to see the AI equivalent to ad banners..
If you read some of the comments to that article, in particular the responses from the article's author, you'll notice he seems extremly partial to Postgres, much more so than he did in the article.
A benchmark is inherently flawed if it isn't made by an impartial entity.
An other point entirely, which was also made in the comments, is the known flaw in glibc which causes severe MySQL performance problems on SMP systems. Running the same benchmark on a single processor machine would probably have shown quite different results, as would a patched glibc.
I wouldn't worry too much about them. If they ever happen to find themselves on an airplane, they'll be too freaked out by the light and the people to be able to do anything. Script kiddies are used to the apparent comfort and protection of their dark and lonely rooms.
That's funny; you're trying to argue that Tyan isn't too expensive by comparing a Tyan board with... another Tyan board?
Hmm..
Looks like these things have been available for a little while now, so I'm curious if anyone here actually has one?
I'd be particularly interested in the noise levels; does it run as silent as you might expect from a box this small, or is it noisy? I've seen (heard) many examples of horribly noisy laptops (especially the CD-ROM is often bad). With the CPU fan obviously being mounted under the grille at the top there, I'd think this one has the potential for being even noisier. Anyone?
Anyone who's read Cryptonomicon will find this scenario familiar:
The FBI agent has the data copied to his hard drive. Now, he can't view it legally, but he still wants to know what it contains. What does "viewing" constitute?
The easiest approach might be grepping the data for interesting bits. But in this case he actually views parts of the data, so I guess that's out.
How about a more sophisticated program which analyzes the data and prints a summarized version of what the interesting bits contain? Given that the FBI agent probably has some idea what sort of data he's dealing with, such a program shouldn't be too hard to write.
Finally, straight from the book, the agent could write a script which greps and/or analyzes the data, converts the output to morse code, and beeps it out from the PC speaker. No viewing involved at all :)
The point is not that he doesn't allow the OpenBSD guys to change the code. The point is that OpenBSD won't allow ipf to be a part of their distribution unless *anyone* can legally modify and use the code.
Yes, I've found that verbal abuse helps a great deal in stopping those bad little packets...
#1: Start every day by picking on someone weaker than you.
In Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy, they make antimatter in small space stations located very close to the sun. Lots of energy there :)
Ok maybe "easy" is overstating it, but anyway..
A much more interesting part of those books is that antimatter is outlawed, due to its potential for mass destruction. I'm no expert on this, but isn't that essentially correct? If larger quantities than a few nanograms are produced, aren't we dealing with something extremely dangerous here?
While I agree with you that we need some good alternatives to the plain old beige cases, I don't see what that has to do with this.
You're saying the point of those Compaq designs are to be visually pleasing, but it seems fairly obvious that their main goal is in the portability department. The word you may be looking for is "novelty", not "design". Compaq is trying to be unique, and they've probably succeeded (at least for now), but unique in itself is pointless.
If you want interesting designs, look to Apple. I'm seriously considering getting a G4 Cube; with those looks, that size, and the virtually silent operation, it'll make a perfect 24-hour Linux box for my room. But now we're getting off topic.. :)
I'd like to see laptops with VGA-in ports.
I like that idea. If the new Powerbook had a VGA-in port, I might very well get one and use that as my only screen :)
At the moment this looks like pure hype.
..I think that's more or less the definiton of "Visioneering".
I don't see the point of the two first designs on that page at all. I mean, fine, the screen elevates a bit, and the keyboard comes loose, but looking like a desktop doesn't make it a desktop. It'll still have all the problems normally associated with laptops; low performance, cramped keyboard, and a low-contrast low-brightness screen. The added mechanics of those designs will just add to the price and complexity of the product.
One thing that may be of use is what looks like a detachable mouse; I for one don't like having the mouse or equivalent centered in front of me. But the result looks like a tiny little thing which wouldn't be any better. If that's the alternative, I don't mind having to carry around an extra mouse with my laptop at all.
/(www\.)?[\w\-\.]+sucks\.(com|net|org)/i
Tsk tsk... be a good geek, use Perl regex:
/\w+sucks/i
..would be to get a clear case for your computer, so you can at least keep an eye out and know when the fungus appears :)
Gotta love the moderation line on that one:
Offtopic=2, Flamebait=4, Troll=11, Insightful=5, Interesting=4, Informative=4, Funny=2, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=34
That's 33 points efficiently wasted.
Slashdot is looking more and more like those automated news feed portals where you'll see the same story repeated over and over because it was posted at several different *real* news sites...
That's the story submitter, silly. Nothing new there, the submitter is always listed in the related links area if they have a homepage or an email address registered.