Interesting... Testing comes after the Hypothesis, not before. A hypothesis is valid, even without a test to prove it. A hypothesis is a statement that fits the observations. It is science's responsibility to try and come up with a valid test.
Secondly, science needs to be large enough to handle any concept that might be true. This includes things like living in "The Matrix", or being in a glass ball (called a universe) on someone's (God's) desk. Science is strong enough to show these things.
If you discount a hypothesis because you haven't figured out how to test it yet, then you are the one being closed minded.
The larger discussion is one about bandwidth. It is the bandwidth from the computer to the user that ultimately matters to being productive. More screen realestate (larger monitors and more of them), fast accurate mice, touch typing, and special input devices are all part of increasing this bandwidth. Other areas include speed of the computer (needs to be responsive), and design of the application and windowing system.
The design of the windowing system is incredibly important, and the place where Linux really shines. MS Windows/Office have things in the system that slows the user down: Delays and slow animation when opening menus, delays after opening up applications, non-resizable windows, lack of good virtual desktops, no resistance when moving windows, and lack of focus follows mouse. While on this topic, it is depressing to see KDE and GNOME heading in this direction. Linux diversity helps me solve this problem. Thank you Enlightenment.
For the record, my work setup consists of 2 24" flat screens 1920x1200 connected to a Linux box using e17 and an additional 24" monitor connected to a MS Windows machine that uses synergy to make the entire display feel like a single computer. Each linux monitor is also using 5 virtual desktops.
While not all projects are included in Linux distributions, they could all claim to be R+D for future inclusion. Lets guess an average of 1 developer per project. (Some projects have more, some developers have more then one project.) That gives us almost 100,000 developers just at SourceForge.
The evidence is in a field of study called apologetics. It is dominated by atheists who are now Christians. It is the logical study of God without an emotional or religious base. Some of the best works are "The Evidence That Demands a Verdict" and "More Than A Carpenter" by Josh McDowell, "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel, and "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Norman Geisler. McDowell was an Atheist who attempted to prove there was no God based on all available evidence. Lewis was also an Atheist. All 5 of these books` are available at Amazon.
Ok, I'm serious. No one has ever proved it without taking "God is a myth" as a base statement. So I challenge you. Prove it. Do a detailed, complete and honest search. Look diligently through all known information, look at every side. Prove it, completely.
You will be rich and famous if you suceed and a changed person if you fail.
Expect the next generation games to be multi-threaded. You can break games into multiple sections of AI, prepressessing graphics, input controls, graphics rendering, etc. I think the CPU will still be fully bound with no extra cycles when playing a game.:-)
Create a small launch script, if you must, that sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH. You can also compile the search path into the executable. If you are fine with the library in a global place you can sim link it to/usr/lib or/usr/local/lib. Some flavors of Unix (notable linux) allows you to expand the global search directories.
In Unix, and more so in Linux, there are always ways to make it happen.
Unix is bleeding, it is unlikely that it will stop. Linux gains are coming primarily from Unix boxes, and Intel/AMD (basically the same thing in the big picture) is eating everyone for lunch. These are the facts, over and over again.
The big picture is that Unix systems traditionally had faster processors but slower performance growth curves. Intel/AMD had slower processors/faster growth curves. Some place around 2002 they crossed. Several firms (notably HP and SGI) saw this coming and made large efforts to move away from Unix systems. (HP developed, with Intel, the IA64) (SGI is back on top of Super computing peddling masive IA64/Linux systems.) HP has killed off two major Unix processor lines. SGI has put MIPS in maintenance, and Sun is not far behind. It is not that going Wintel has killed them, it was the only choice they had left.
The goal now for dedicated Unix vendors is to design, build and support wonderful Intel/AMD boxes with an operating system (probably Linux) and sell them to top tier companies at a premium because of the quality of the components and support. (Yes, Linux over Solaris. I can't prove it now, but Solaris going open source is probably so that they can inject Linux technology to update the OS.)
I welcome this change, it means cheaper computers with excellent service with machines that keep up with the el-cheep-o purchased for the secretary.
(BTW: SGI started down hill in 1997 when they decided that development wasn't important. Until last year they were selling the same graphics card! What was impressive is it took five years for anyone else to catch up. They also had top of the line Wintel machines, they just never upgraded the hardware or dropped the price. You could do that in the Unix world, not in Wintel.)
Yes, I work with all of these vendors. Yes, I develop the same applications on all of them. Yes, I have been following them for years. And yes, I have heard some of this from the companies themselves.
These kind of people have been making these kinds of claims forever. You hear about seeing your 2D Photographs or Movies in Stereo Vision from time to time. It is always fun to bring up why the technology won't work to the salesmen and get them to admit that "well, it doesn't work well, to get it to work well you will need [n] images, but don't worry, we hacked OpenGL..., oh wait let me get a tech."
You forget about Microsoft pushing to produce applications for Mac OS X. Without this push for Office and IE, OS X would not be were it is today. The only reason for this push was to make sure that Microsoft had a competitor in the Eyes of the DOJ and the courts. (Don't ever think it was about a few percent points of Office, IE users.) As this is no longer an issue, support for OS X is faltering. Expect Apple to be squarely in Microsofts gun sites in the next few years. They know how to kill the Apples of this world, they don't know how to bring down Open Source.
I went to a small private high school. In 1990, typing was taught on Electric Typewriters and a majority of the class were males. We learned how to center things and format text, etc, knowing that we would never use it. We all saw touch typing as a required skill in the new computer age and only one student was interested in becoming a secretary. It is a decision that I have never regretted, not even once.
I understand that the person buying the product didn't want a tuner or speakers. I wouldn't either. But you can't claim that they are a simular product. For about %7 more, you get a simple plug in the Cable, plug in the power and go solution. Even if someone knew about both product, the cheaper one may not be the better buy.
The point here is that if performance continues to grow like it is today, they will be selling these machines for $1,000 at Walmart in just 14 years. It will be about the same size as the computer you own now.
The problem with 1024CPU is much more then just the operating system. It is a mess of communication hardware needed to wire everything together. It is about special power feeds and air conditioning, and sometimes floor loading requirements.
Take a quick look at the end of this PDF. It talks about heat output and the need for 3 phase 240V power coming into this computer. It is not unusual to hire both an electricial and a cooling expert when you talk about installing one of these babies. Not for the Home user, and never will be, however, idential compute power comming in just 14 years, so get ready...
NVidia's is behind in the speed war, but far ahead in drivers. The Linux drivers from NVidia have been historically been just as fast as their MS counter parts, where ATI haven't been. This means that NVidia is the faster cards under Linux. NVidia drivers also work for all cards. If you have a bad graphics card, you simple replace it with an older NVidia graphics card, no configuration changes required. This is a big SysAdm win.
The larger deal for me is the "Enginnering Desktop". Linux is a great fit because the interface was built by Geeks for Geeks. However, fast stable graphics are a requirement.
These drivers have been overdue for a long time as well, this always makes them valuable. For me it means my applications run on x86_64 in 32bit mode, and when the process is using > 2GB of memory. (Bugs fixed sense the last driver release.)
Many of us are not interesed as much in Open Source as we are is using the best tool for the job. In my opinion that tool is Linux. (If you don't believe me, why are we woried about Linux users leaving and using OS X?) We do not see using good propritary drivers as "throwing out all our precious principles", we see it as using the best tool.
I also am not so sure that we need to fear propritary drivers. The reason Windows is so well support is "market share". Linux is gaining market share, enough market share in fact that the Graphics Card companies must respect us. The more market share we have, the more respect we will get. One day we may get the first drivers and Microsoft users will have to wait on theirs...(A boy can dream.)
It seems it happens to the best of them. How sad. The job of the IT person is to free the mind of the employee -> allowing them to be productive -> so the company can make money. That is unless you are working in an Electronic Sweat Shop where the cost of the brain power is less then the cost of the computer. If the brain power is not doing the work they should be shown the door. It is that simple.
IT people have a large amount of power, and some of the correct use is making sure idiots (usally those outside the company) can't do bad thing to the company. The correct focus of the IT person should be the productivity of the employees, not your ability to make life easier on yourself.
New rant: This is someplace were Unix/Linux is wonderful. With Linux I can cheaply install more software on every machine then almost anyone would use. Very few applications are ever missing. Costomizations stay in the users own directory. If you have a problem expect me to restore yesterdays configuration. If your machine has a software problem, it's going to get wiped. In this world the User gets all the power and the admin gets a consistent easy to install system. Everyone wins.
Yes, I'm both the admin and the user. I have worn both hats often at the same time.
Lets see 1024x768? No mention of a graphics chip. That should consern you. I have demoed simular screens. They are great conversation pieces, but I don't know of anyone who wants to look at one for any length of time. The image quality is generially bad compaired to Stereo Graphics or Nuvision.
BTW: If you are looking for a linux graphics workstation in a laptop...take a look at Dell M60 with the Nvidia quadro 700 Go. My company has purchaced several of these work horses and the only compaint we have is the wide screen when used with a projector. 1920x1200 is a great work environment however.
I will agree, but this is not because of Windows. This is because of Windows market share. As linux continues to grow this will slowly shift. It used to be Macs that had this advantage, it has now shifted to Windows. If Linux continues on its current path, it will one day shift there. Videography may be one of the first on your list. Special Effects/Computer Animation groups are already leaning that direction. And at least one major video software provider has started serious work on a port.
The user interface argument is the main reason I'm not using Windows. Windows User Interface cannot handle anything but the most basic tasks. It is the reason they require a mammoth IDE just to write a small application. Sure it's fine for writting email, casual net surfing (Mozilla, etc are now way ahead of IE), and doing some minor word process. This is all that buisness use computer for. Every other home user has a computer *and* a Game Console. (Which states Windows can't handle games!)
For advanced work, you require an advanced User Interface. My favorite, for the moment, is Enlightenment. Gnome (and KDE) are moving towards the unusable lowest common denominator of Windows. That's fine. Linux has choice.:-)
That's minor. Think about how many bugs the extreamly complex propritary editors are going to insert into your code. You might have to be fluent in multiple languages just to find a view of your "data" that shows up the problem.
This reminds me of a friend who told me the Coal Mines would be shut down by Y2K because the air supply fan were run by computer and would turn off and couldn't be turned on the months it would take to get the computer running? (She was working as a Y2K consultant.)
I scratch my head going: but can't you just connect the fan directly to the power?
There is a new generation that forgot that people lived and lived well without computers. It is simply that many tasks can be handled better with them.
Are you saying the only reason to use Linux is that it is open source???
I personally would use Linux even if it was closed source. We can argue that it wouldn't be as good if it was closed source, and there is alot of truth to that statement, but I would also make the statement that if Microsoft wasn't so big then other closed source software would exist that would fulfill most of my needs.
I use linux because it increases the bandwidth between the screen/keyboard and me. This is the greatest problem with Windows, and a growing problem with Gnome and KDE. Linux is a power users dream, not because it is Open Source, but because it was designed by Power Users for Power Users, not by Usablity Specialist for my Grandmother and pointed hair boss. (Both of which haven't even figured out Windows yet.)
(A note on Window Managers. I liked Gnome 1.x, and am currently using Enlightenment. They provide a great amounts of power, while staying out the way enough to focus on work.)
Some AMD CPU's had issues with memory transfers. The issues usally showed up only when doing high CPU loads and high AGP loads. This happens anytime you are running a graphics intensive application. AMD quietly published a patch for Windows, but never bothered to inform Linux users.:-(
It is simply fixed by adding mem=nopentium to the kernel launch in lilo.conf, etc. Do a search of the NVidia readme file for the informaion. We have one AMD box that was very unstable until this flag was attached. Afterwards, we had no additional problems.
Now that we are in Iraq...what do we do about it? I'm guessing that you want us to get out of the contry and let the chips fall where they may. Do you remember why the average Iraq hates us? Do you know why they distrust us? Because we left them high and dry the first time around. Many of them died because we left. The hatred from us leaving this time will be twice as bad. We have no choice but to try and form a stable government and back away slowly. This is what we are doing.
I don't even what to think about what will happen if we simply leave now.
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting...
Testing comes after the Hypothesis, not before. A hypothesis is valid, even without a test to prove it. A hypothesis is a statement that fits the observations. It is science's responsibility to try and come up with a valid test.
Secondly, science needs to be large enough to handle any concept that might be true. This includes things like living in "The Matrix", or being in a glass ball (called a universe) on someone's (God's) desk. Science is strong enough to show these things.
If you discount a hypothesis because you haven't figured out how to test it yet, then you are the one being closed minded.
The larger discussion is one about bandwidth. It is the bandwidth from the computer to the user that ultimately matters to being productive. More screen realestate (larger monitors and more of them), fast accurate mice, touch typing, and special input devices are all part of increasing this bandwidth. Other areas include speed of the computer (needs to be responsive), and design of the application and windowing system.
The design of the windowing system is incredibly important, and the place where Linux really shines. MS Windows/Office have things in the system that slows the user down: Delays and slow animation when opening menus, delays after opening up applications, non-resizable windows, lack of good virtual desktops, no resistance when moving windows, and lack of focus follows mouse. While on this topic, it is depressing to see KDE and GNOME heading in this direction. Linux diversity helps me solve this problem. Thank you Enlightenment.
For the record, my work setup consists of 2 24" flat screens 1920x1200 connected to a Linux box using e17 and an additional 24" monitor connected to a MS Windows machine that uses synergy to make the entire display feel like a single computer. Each linux monitor is also using 5 virtual desktops.
Registered Projects: 95,460
Registered Users: 1,011,412
While not all projects are included in Linux distributions, they could all claim to be R+D for future inclusion. Lets guess an average of 1 developer per project. (Some projects have more, some developers have more then one project.) That gives us almost 100,000 developers just at SourceForge.
The evidence is in a field of study called apologetics. It is dominated by atheists who are now Christians. It is the logical study of God without an emotional or religious base. Some of the best works are "The Evidence That Demands a Verdict" and "More Than A Carpenter" by Josh McDowell, "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel, and "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Norman Geisler. McDowell was an Atheist who attempted to prove there was no God based on all available evidence. Lewis was also an Atheist. All 5 of these books` are available at Amazon.
Ok, I'm serious. No one has ever proved it without taking "God is a myth" as a base statement. So I challenge you. Prove it. Do a detailed, complete and honest search. Look diligently through all known information, look at every side. Prove it, completely.
You will be rich and famous if you suceed and a changed person if you fail.
Expect the next generation games to be multi-threaded. You can break games into multiple sections of AI, prepressessing graphics, input controls, graphics rendering, etc. I think the CPU will still be fully bound with no extra cycles when playing a game. :-)
Create a small launch script, if you must, that sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH. You can also compile the search path into the executable. If you are fine with the library in a global place you can sim link it to /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib. Some flavors of Unix (notable linux) allows you to expand the global search directories.
In Unix, and more so in Linux, there are always ways to make it happen.
But...I can't use MS Windows without resorting to profanity. Usally in just a few minutes.
(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
WOW! So much for technical savvy tonight!
Unix is bleeding, it is unlikely that it will stop. Linux gains are coming primarily from Unix boxes, and Intel/AMD (basically the same thing in the big picture) is eating everyone for lunch. These are the facts, over and over again.
The big picture is that Unix systems traditionally had faster processors but slower performance growth curves. Intel/AMD had slower processors/faster growth curves. Some place around 2002 they crossed. Several firms (notably HP and SGI) saw this coming and made large efforts to move away from Unix systems. (HP developed, with Intel, the IA64) (SGI is back on top of Super computing peddling masive IA64/Linux systems.) HP has killed off two major Unix processor lines. SGI has put MIPS in maintenance, and Sun is not far behind. It is not that going Wintel has killed them, it was the only choice they had left.
The goal now for dedicated Unix vendors is to design, build and support wonderful Intel/AMD boxes with an operating system (probably Linux) and sell them to top tier companies at a premium because of the quality of the components and support. (Yes, Linux over Solaris. I can't prove it now, but Solaris going open source is probably so that they can inject Linux technology to update the OS.)
I welcome this change, it means cheaper computers with excellent service with machines that keep up with the el-cheep-o purchased for the secretary.
(BTW: SGI started down hill in 1997 when they decided that development wasn't important. Until last year they were selling the same graphics card! What was impressive is it took five years for anyone else to catch up. They also had top of the line Wintel machines, they just never upgraded the hardware or dropped the price. You could do that in the Unix world, not in Wintel.)
Yes, I work with all of these vendors. Yes, I develop the same applications on all of them. Yes, I have been following them for years. And yes, I have heard some of this from the companies themselves.
These kind of people have been making these kinds of claims forever. You hear about seeing your 2D Photographs or Movies in Stereo Vision from time to time. It is always fun to bring up why the technology won't work to the salesmen and get them to admit that "well, it doesn't work well, to get it to work well you will need [n] images, but don't worry, we hacked OpenGL..., oh wait let me get a tech."
You forget about Microsoft pushing to produce applications for Mac OS X. Without this push for Office and IE, OS X would not be were it is today. The only reason for this push was to make sure that Microsoft had a competitor in the Eyes of the DOJ and the courts. (Don't ever think it was about a few percent points of Office, IE users.) As this is no longer an issue, support for OS X is faltering. Expect Apple to be squarely in Microsofts gun sites in the next few years. They know how to kill the Apples of this world, they don't know how to bring down Open Source.
I went to a small private high school. In 1990, typing was taught on Electric Typewriters and a majority of the class were males. We learned how to center things and format text, etc, knowing that we would never use it. We all saw touch typing as a required skill in the new computer age and only one student was interested in becoming a secretary. It is a decision that I have never regretted, not even once.
I understand that the person buying the product didn't want a tuner or speakers. I wouldn't either. But you can't claim that they are a simular product. For about %7 more, you get a simple plug in the Cable, plug in the power and go solution. Even if someone knew about both product, the cheaper one may not be the better buy.
I don't get the argument.
The point here is that if performance continues to grow like it is today, they will be selling these machines for $1,000 at Walmart in just 14 years. It will be about the same size as the computer you own now.
The problem with 1024CPU is much more then just the operating system. It is a mess of communication hardware needed to wire everything together. It is about special power feeds and air conditioning, and sometimes floor loading requirements.
Take a quick look at the end of this PDF. It talks about heat output and the need for 3 phase 240V power coming into this computer. It is not unusual to hire both an electricial and a cooling expert when you talk about installing one of these babies. Not for the Home user, and never will be, however, idential compute power comming in just 14 years, so get ready...
I often use .[a-zA-Z]* when restoring configuration files.
NVidia's is behind in the speed war, but far ahead in drivers. The Linux drivers from NVidia have been historically been just as fast as their MS counter parts, where ATI haven't been. This means that NVidia is the faster cards under Linux. NVidia drivers also work for all cards. If you have a bad graphics card, you simple replace it with an older NVidia graphics card, no configuration changes required. This is a big SysAdm win.
The larger deal for me is the "Enginnering Desktop". Linux is a great fit because the interface was built by Geeks for Geeks. However, fast stable graphics are a requirement.
These drivers have been overdue for a long time as well, this always makes them valuable. For me it means my applications run on x86_64 in 32bit mode, and when the process is using > 2GB of memory. (Bugs fixed sense the last driver release.)
Many of us are not interesed as much in Open Source as we are is using the best tool for the job. In my opinion that tool is Linux. (If you don't believe me, why are we woried about Linux users leaving and using OS X?) We do not see using good propritary drivers as "throwing out all our precious principles", we see it as using the best tool.
I also am not so sure that we need to fear propritary drivers. The reason Windows is so well support is "market share". Linux is gaining market share, enough market share in fact that the Graphics Card companies must respect us. The more market share we have, the more respect we will get. One day we may get the first drivers and Microsoft users will have to wait on theirs...(A boy can dream.)
It seems it happens to the best of them. How sad. The job of the IT person is to free the mind of the employee -> allowing them to be productive -> so the company can make money. That is unless you are working in an Electronic Sweat Shop where the cost of the brain power is less then the cost of the computer. If the brain power is not doing the work they should be shown the door. It is that simple.
IT people have a large amount of power, and some of the correct use is making sure idiots (usally those outside the company) can't do bad thing to the company. The correct focus of the IT person should be the productivity of the employees, not your ability to make life easier on yourself.
New rant: This is someplace were Unix/Linux is wonderful. With Linux I can cheaply install more software on every machine then almost anyone would use. Very few applications are ever missing. Costomizations stay in the users own directory. If you have a problem expect me to restore yesterdays configuration. If your machine has a software problem, it's going to get wiped. In this world the User gets all the power and the admin gets a consistent easy to install system. Everyone wins.
Yes, I'm both the admin and the user. I have worn both hats often at the same time.
Lets see 1024x768? No mention of a graphics chip. That should consern you. I have demoed simular screens. They are great conversation pieces, but I don't know of anyone who wants to look at one for any length of time. The image quality is generially bad compaired to Stereo Graphics or Nuvision.
BTW: If you are looking for a linux graphics workstation in a laptop...take a look at Dell M60 with the Nvidia quadro 700 Go. My company has purchaced several of these work horses and the only compaint we have is the wide screen when used with a projector. 1920x1200 is a great work environment however.
I will agree, but this is not because of Windows. This is because of Windows market share. As linux continues to grow this will slowly shift. It used to be Macs that had this advantage, it has now shifted to Windows. If Linux continues on its current path, it will one day shift there. Videography may be one of the first on your list. Special Effects/Computer Animation groups are already leaning that direction. And at least one major video software provider has started serious work on a port.
The user interface argument is the main reason I'm not using Windows. Windows User Interface cannot handle anything but the most basic tasks. It is the reason they require a mammoth IDE just to write a small application. Sure it's fine for writting email, casual net surfing (Mozilla, etc are now way ahead of IE), and doing some minor word process. This is all that buisness use computer for. Every other home user has a computer *and* a Game Console. (Which states Windows can't handle games!)
:-)
For advanced work, you require an advanced User Interface. My favorite, for the moment, is Enlightenment. Gnome (and KDE) are moving towards the unusable lowest common denominator of Windows. That's fine. Linux has choice.
That's minor. Think about how many bugs the extreamly complex propritary editors are going to insert into your code. You might have to be fluent in multiple languages just to find a view of your "data" that shows up the problem.
This reminds me of a friend who told me the Coal Mines would be shut down by Y2K because the air supply fan were run by computer and would turn off and couldn't be turned on the months it would take to get the computer running? (She was working as a Y2K consultant.)
I scratch my head going: but can't you just connect the fan directly to the power?
There is a new generation that forgot that people lived and lived well without computers. It is simply that many tasks can be handled better with them.
Are you saying the only reason to use Linux is that it is open source???
I personally would use Linux even if it was closed source. We can argue that it wouldn't be as good if it was closed source, and there is alot of truth to that statement, but I would also make the statement that if Microsoft wasn't so big then other closed source software would exist that would fulfill most of my needs.
I use linux because it increases the bandwidth between the screen/keyboard and me. This is the greatest problem with Windows, and a growing problem with Gnome and KDE. Linux is a power users dream, not because it is Open Source, but because it was designed by Power Users for Power Users, not by Usablity Specialist for my Grandmother and pointed hair boss. (Both of which haven't even figured out Windows yet.)
(A note on Window Managers. I liked Gnome 1.x, and am currently using Enlightenment. They provide a great amounts of power, while staying out the way enough to focus on work.)
Seeing both the replies mentioned AMD chips...
:-(
Some AMD CPU's had issues with memory transfers. The issues usally showed up only when doing high CPU loads and high AGP loads. This happens anytime you are running a graphics intensive application. AMD quietly published a patch for Windows, but never bothered to inform Linux users.
It is simply fixed by adding mem=nopentium to the kernel launch in lilo.conf, etc. Do a search of the NVidia readme file for the informaion. We have one AMD box that was very unstable until this flag was attached. Afterwards, we had no additional problems.
Now that we are in Iraq...what do we do about it? I'm guessing that you want us to get out of the contry and let the chips fall where they may. Do you remember why the average Iraq hates us? Do you know why they distrust us? Because we left them high and dry the first time around. Many of them died because we left. The hatred from us leaving this time will be twice as bad. We have no choice but to try and form a stable government and back away slowly. This is what we are doing.
I don't even what to think about what will happen if we simply leave now.