It's even worse than that. The fork of the Mississippi that runs into Chicago used to flow into Lake Michigan. Chicagoans got tired of their filth, however, and set up some explosive charges to reverse the direction of the river. Thankfully, a court order was obtained to stop the procedure at the last minute.
Only one problem. Being typical Chicagoans, some unknown entity detonated the explosives in the middle of the night. The river's flow was reversed, and all of Chicago's crap now flows into the Mississippi.
An H2O molecule is an H2O molecule, is an H2O molecule. If the water is truly purified (A chemical/spectral/whatever analysis can find that out) it really doesn't matter. Should I remind people that the water they drink is pumped from rivers, lakes, and wells where animals (submarine and above ground) piss in it all the time? With a well, nature filters it out using the soil. Other methods require us to perform filtering to clean the water and remove any pollutants we added.
I'm not even going to go into closed system water recycling...:-)
In other news, does the name mean "NEW Water" or "Any Water"? Both names seem somehow appropriate. Perhaps it was an intentional double-pun?
Agreed. With budget Linux OEM machines slowly becoming more of a big deal, this company may be able to find a niche in supplying cards to those machines. If they can manufacture enough of them at low cost, then they've got something going, and might even corner an early market.
The real issue is getting enough people to buy it just to break even. I don't think you're going to get enough linux geeks to lay down the cash.
Here's the catch. The article says they would use off-the-shelf FPGA chips to build the video card. That means that the manufacturing costs are extremely low, and that the development is primarily software. The poster suggests that he could easily sell low quantities at $100 per card. As a result, they're primarily looking at recouping their estimated $100,000 in development, plus a small profit. That may be doable with "just geeks" buying the card.
Are common 2D drawing functions accelerated (that is, VBE/AF)?
You just answered your own question. VBE stands for "VESA BIOS Extension", and the AF functions are supported by most VBE 3.0 cards. (With nVidia leading the pack.)
Can it do TV-out on cards that support it?
I believe you only need to query the EDID packet for the right output device and capabilties.
Then plug into the Protected Mode VESA driver. There's your 100% supported, Open Source driver right there. (Supports almost ALL video cards, I might add.)
Personally I'd pay up to $250USD for the type of card they're suggesting if it had fast (ie: usable with UT2004) 3D OpenGL acceleration.
I can second that. I'm currently sticking with NVidia cards simply because they support FreeBSD, Linux, and other OSes. ATI might have a slight performance lead (although things have gotten pretty blurry with the recent batch of cards), but that isn't enough for me to leave a company that I know I can trust.
You still have to be competitive. My point is that having a 3D card that can't even keep up with a three year old Elite3D is not competitive. If they can get within reasonable percentages (both in performance and features) of existing cards, then these cards would be viable.
I like the idea. My only thought is, are they going to have enough pull to make this happen? Graphics cards are much more than just throwing a few hundred million transistors on a chip. You have to worry about pipeline architecture, parallel texturing units, and (most importantly) well optimized driver software.
Can this company create a card that's competitive? And if they can, will they get pushed out of business through patent litigation?
Are they writing them or maintaining them? That's right, they're maintaining old Java Applets. Truth be told, they could do everything they do in Applets in DHTML. It would be more flexible, portable, and easier to support. Applets are dead. Long live Applets.
You know, I'm kind of pissed off at Limewire. Once upon a time there was this great GNUTella client called Furi. Furi seriously kicked everyone else's asses (especially the original client) and was praise was shouted about it from the rooftops. Then Limewire came along and killed Furi with its inferior knock-off GUI.:-(
Unless the OS uses a single, preloaded VM. That's why Symbolics machines used to take so long to boot in comparison to Unix. With the time it takes today's machines to boot, I don't think anyone would notice if a VM was pre-loaded.
1. TV is a tangible object. You "own" your TV. 2. Cable boxes are not really tangible, they are part of the Cable "service". (People do pay for services. Just not as much as hardware they pay for.) 3. You "own" your phone. 4. Cable and Phone service provide a constant stream of "new" information. New programs, new phone calls, etc. Software is an individual purchase.
My overall point is not that people won't pay for services and/or software. It's simply that they won't value software at the same level as hardware.
I've been speaking with Slava lately. Honestly, the guy is jaded. I've just stopped listening to what he says, because it's all about how Python will rule the world. At this rate, he's going to become worse than Serge.
Sorry, I generally agree with what you're saying, but you tweaked my feathers on one point:
Compare a nicely-fleshed-out Windows application, with automatic visual styles and Direct3D and OpenFileDialog boxes, with wonky Java applets that might run in a browser, and might just break.
NOBODY and I do mean NOBODY writes Java Applets any more. Java Applications are what have been working to displace Windows dominance. A few examples:
Starving Microsoft programmers. Yep. They'll start printing ads of programmers out on the street with signs that say "Will program for food!". Never mind that Microsoft programmers are some of the most handsomely paid in the business. They're starving because you won't pay more for software!
It's not an accident. Microsoft has been trying for a long time now to convince consumers that software is more valuable than hardware. The problem is that I don't think Microsoft understands the issue of tangibility. Even the greenest user understands that hardware is tangible (they can touch it, see it, pitch it out the window, etc.) while software is intangible (can't do much other that look at it and interact with it).
When you take into account how natural it is to place more value on a physical object vs. an intangible (e.g. a service rendered such as plumbing), is it any wonder why consumers are ignoring Microsoft's mind-bender campaign?
He's really grasping at straws, isn't he? Anecdotal evidence suggests the exact opposite. When the price of hardware goes down, the market generally demands that software costs go down as well. That's why there's so much griping about Windows being large chunk of computer costs these days. I've even heard people use that as justification for pirating software! ("My computer only cost $500, so why should I pay Microsoft $250 for Windows?")
In addition, many people seem to be particularly upset that they're forced to pay Microsoft enormous sums again, and again, even if they don't want to. In other words, people feel like they've already payed Microsoft their dues, so why should they pay it all over again? This has the effect of delaying upgrades until new computers are purchased, with businesses being the primary exception.
Because of Microsoft's stranglehold on the market, they are able to rope companies into upgrade contracts that extort payment for new versions. Under these contracts, failure to upgrade results in higher costs for later upgrades. So much higher that it makes more sense to upgrade now rather than later. Could any other company pull these sorts of strong-arm tactics? Of course not! In any other business, you'd find a competitor and switch to them (or at least use it as a negotiation tactic).
Let's hope that the rise of Mac OS X, Linux, Novell, and Sun as desktop competitors will finally provide a viable choice for both home and business.
I don't think you understand how serious of an issue this is. For every other database the SQL I listed works. EVERY other database. Why? Because it's the minimal part of the ANSI spec that everyone supports. Now thanks to MySQL, tool vendors like myself have to write special SQL just to select from a table. What that means is that either you code for MySQL, you code for the standard, or you write ugly "if(mysql())" statements everywhere.
BTW, the equivalent code is the ugliness you see below:
Slashdot Mirror
It's even worse than that. The fork of the Mississippi that runs into Chicago used to flow into Lake Michigan. Chicagoans got tired of their filth, however, and set up some explosive charges to reverse the direction of the river. Thankfully, a court order was obtained to stop the procedure at the last minute.
:-)
Only one problem. Being typical Chicagoans, some unknown entity detonated the explosives in the middle of the night. The river's flow was reversed, and all of Chicago's crap now flows into the Mississippi.
You're welcome.
An H2O molecule is an H2O molecule, is an H2O molecule. If the water is truly purified (A chemical/spectral/whatever analysis can find that out) it really doesn't matter. Should I remind people that the water they drink is pumped from rivers, lakes, and wells where animals (submarine and above ground) piss in it all the time? With a well, nature filters it out using the soil. Other methods require us to perform filtering to clean the water and remove any pollutants we added.
:-)
I'm not even going to go into closed system water recycling...
In other news, does the name mean "NEW Water" or "Any Water"? Both names seem somehow appropriate. Perhaps it was an intentional double-pun?
No, that was G-l-o-b-a-l thermo nuclear war.
It seems the only way to win, is not to play the game.
Would you like to play a nice game of chess? (y/n)
Agreed. With budget Linux OEM machines slowly becoming more of a big deal, this company may be able to find a niche in supplying cards to those machines. If they can manufacture enough of them at low cost, then they've got something going, and might even corner an early market.
The real issue is getting enough people to buy it just to break even. I don't think you're going to get enough linux geeks to lay down the cash.
Here's the catch. The article says they would use off-the-shelf FPGA chips to build the video card. That means that the manufacturing costs are extremely low, and that the development is primarily software. The poster suggests that he could easily sell low quantities at $100 per card. As a result, they're primarily looking at recouping their estimated $100,000 in development, plus a small profit. That may be doable with "just geeks" buying the card.
Are common 2D drawing functions accelerated (that is, VBE/AF)?
You just answered your own question. VBE stands for "VESA BIOS Extension", and the AF functions are supported by most VBE 3.0 cards. (With nVidia leading the pack.)
Can it do TV-out on cards that support it?
I believe you only need to query the EDID packet for the right output device and capabilties.
Then plug into the Protected Mode VESA driver. There's your 100% supported, Open Source driver right there. (Supports almost ALL video cards, I might add.)
Personally I'd pay up to $250USD for the type of card they're suggesting if it had fast (ie: usable with UT2004) 3D OpenGL acceleration.
I can second that. I'm currently sticking with NVidia cards simply because they support FreeBSD, Linux, and other OSes. ATI might have a slight performance lead (although things have gotten pretty blurry with the recent batch of cards), but that isn't enough for me to leave a company that I know I can trust.
You still have to be competitive. My point is that having a 3D card that can't even keep up with a three year old Elite3D is not competitive. If they can get within reasonable percentages (both in performance and features) of existing cards, then these cards would be viable.
I like the idea. My only thought is, are they going to have enough pull to make this happen? Graphics cards are much more than just throwing a few hundred million transistors on a chip. You have to worry about pipeline architecture, parallel texturing units, and (most importantly) well optimized driver software.
Can this company create a card that's competitive? And if they can, will they get pushed out of business through patent litigation?
Are they writing them or maintaining them? That's right, they're maintaining old Java Applets. Truth be told, they could do everything they do in Applets in DHTML. It would be more flexible, portable, and easier to support. Applets are dead. Long live Applets.
You know, I'm kind of pissed off at Limewire. Once upon a time there was this great GNUTella client called Furi. Furi seriously kicked everyone else's asses (especially the original client) and was praise was shouted about it from the rooftops. Then Limewire came along and killed Furi with its inferior knock-off GUI. :-(
Unless the OS uses a single, preloaded VM. That's why Symbolics machines used to take so long to boot in comparison to Unix. With the time it takes today's machines to boot, I don't think anyone would notice if a VM was pre-loaded.
Yes, actually. Go into your preferences and set "Funny" mod to -6. Anyone and everyone marked "Funny" will completely disappear from your threshold.
I hope QNX fights them tooth and nail.
Is that all you wanted to say?
That's all.
1. TV is a tangible object. You "own" your TV.
2. Cable boxes are not really tangible, they are part of the Cable "service". (People do pay for services. Just not as much as hardware they pay for.)
3. You "own" your phone.
4. Cable and Phone service provide a constant stream of "new" information. New programs, new phone calls, etc. Software is an individual purchase.
My overall point is not that people won't pay for services and/or software. It's simply that they won't value software at the same level as hardware.
I've been speaking with Slava lately. Honestly, the guy is jaded. I've just stopped listening to what he says, because it's all about how Python will rule the world. At this rate, he's going to become worse than Serge.
...but it does nothing to help with cold fingers. And when my fingers get cold, they get stiff. When my fingers get stiff, I can't type as well.
Common sense, really.
Sorry, I generally agree with what you're saying, but you tweaked my feathers on one point:
Compare a nicely-fleshed-out Windows application, with automatic visual styles and Direct3D and OpenFileDialog boxes, with wonky Java applets that might run in a browser, and might just break.
NOBODY and I do mean NOBODY writes Java Applets any more. Java Applications are what have been working to displace Windows dominance. A few examples:
Azureus Bit Torrent Client
Thinkfree Office Suite
DataDino Database Explorer
Disk Analyzer
Games too:
Wurm Online
My 4K games
Big game list
So PLEASE don't mention Java Applets. You're likely to get stoned for it.
how can ANY microsoft employee show their face in public knowing that is the idiot at the wheel?
Because they know he's a puppet? And they know the puppet-master well? (Insert ominous music here)
Starving Microsoft programmers. Yep. They'll start printing ads of programmers out on the street with signs that say "Will program for food!". Never mind that Microsoft programmers are some of the most handsomely paid in the business. They're starving because you won't pay more for software!
It's not an accident. Microsoft has been trying for a long time now to convince consumers that software is more valuable than hardware. The problem is that I don't think Microsoft understands the issue of tangibility. Even the greenest user understands that hardware is tangible (they can touch it, see it, pitch it out the window, etc.) while software is intangible (can't do much other that look at it and interact with it).
When you take into account how natural it is to place more value on a physical object vs. an intangible (e.g. a service rendered such as plumbing), is it any wonder why consumers are ignoring Microsoft's mind-bender campaign?
He's really grasping at straws, isn't he? Anecdotal evidence suggests the exact opposite. When the price of hardware goes down, the market generally demands that software costs go down as well. That's why there's so much griping about Windows being large chunk of computer costs these days. I've even heard people use that as justification for pirating software! ("My computer only cost $500, so why should I pay Microsoft $250 for Windows?")
In addition, many people seem to be particularly upset that they're forced to pay Microsoft enormous sums again, and again, even if they don't want to. In other words, people feel like they've already payed Microsoft their dues, so why should they pay it all over again? This has the effect of delaying upgrades until new computers are purchased, with businesses being the primary exception.
Because of Microsoft's stranglehold on the market, they are able to rope companies into upgrade contracts that extort payment for new versions. Under these contracts, failure to upgrade results in higher costs for later upgrades. So much higher that it makes more sense to upgrade now rather than later. Could any other company pull these sorts of strong-arm tactics? Of course not! In any other business, you'd find a competitor and switch to them (or at least use it as a negotiation tactic).
Let's hope that the rise of Mac OS X, Linux, Novell, and Sun as desktop competitors will finally provide a viable choice for both home and business.
BTW, the equivalent code is the ugliness you see below:
Good catch! Thanks for reminding me. :-)