Hate to tell you this, but that sounds like an AT connector.
It should be larger then a PS/2 connector, with five robust pins, in a half-circle. Assuming that the center of the circle is the center of a clock, pins will be at 3, 4:30, 6, 7:30 and 9.
The PS/2 connector has 6 pins, but one of the pins is N/C (not connected). Otherwise, its just a mechanical conversion from the larger AT style to the smaller PS/2 style.
Of course, there is a lot of computer styles out there, and what appears to be a normal AT-style connector could be some weird proprietary or non-pc connection.
Google for a bit, and if you're stumped, take a picture of the keyboards, and the connectors, make a simple webpage with the ability for users to add comments, and link the page to your sig. You should get an answer.:)
I hate to say this...
on
E ~ mc^2
·
· Score: 4, Funny
But why do you think that your brain is capable of understanding the basic forces of the universe?
Your brain evolved to keep you away from things that want to eat you, find things you want to eat, and basically preserve you until you could insure that you have spread your genes. Last time I checked, understanding the basic rules of reality wasn't needed to ensure that you live long enough to breed.
Hell, we'er just lucky that the same math that works on our scale also seems to work when we look at how the universe works.
Even now, logic has begun to fail us when we ask the deep questions. Consider this: What made this reality? Oh sure, I know the theories that suggest that this universe might have been created by another universe, and at this level, cause and effect goes out the window, leading to the possibility that this universe can create the ancestor of the universe that created it, but what allowed this gestalt to exist?
There's an Heinleinian phrase that occasionally gets said on slashdot: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL). Too bad that its wrong, since the universe is the biggest example of a free lunch in action.
[ Don't feel so bad - my brain also seems hellbent to make me survive long enough to ensure my genes are passed on. Damn thing is that my body agrees with it and is planning to expire in half a century in order to free up resources for my future offspring. Its a comspiracy, I tell you... ]
I'm sure someone can cite a reference for this one way or another: Was a naval blockade of the home islands ever considered at the end of WWII?
Consider this: Japan is an island, with nowhere near the gas, oil, or metals to support a war effort. Hell, we had broken some of the Japanese codes near the end of WWII, and we were capturing their defenses - we knew that the Japanese were hurting for supplies by the end of WWII.
The reason I recommend the Linux Cookbook is that it tells what programs can do what things. As a newbie, I don't know how to use a scanner, or how to record a CD. (OTOH, the Linux Cookbook does tend to lean heavily towards Debian).
Unix Power Tools is a must read because it is a thick collection of simple tricks of the trade. Plus, its a good example how to think like Unix. I'm not sure about you, but the reason why I run Linux on two of my computers is that it can get things done quickly and easily.
Speaking of quickly and easily, I'd also have to strongly recommend Learning Perl as a primer to perl and the Perl Cookbook as a collection of perl snippets. Perl is a damn useful language to know, as Learning Perl says : "Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible".
Anyways, my choices tend to be more 'how to do things' rather then 'how the current version or distro works'. Heck, other then for the Linux Cookbook, the rest are good reading for *BSD and other unix users. I prefer advocating the unix mentality instead of one specific distro or kernel.
To be fair, I haven't read Running Linux in awhile. Perhaps my memory is cloudy. There is also the Linux Problem Solver, which I find a tad too simple and shallow, but might be helpful to a few people out there.
Btw, I know book budgets tend to suck. (And O'Reilly books [or any technical book really]) tend to be budget breakers. However, at least one book chain that I know of (Barnes & Nobles) marks down O'Reilly books into the $10-or-so range when a new edition comes out, and for a few of the technical books, Ebay can offer a fraction of the cover price. Be wise though - I tend to avoid older editions if they were published pre-1998 or so unless I know the book is still relevant - the linux world is changing pretty fast.
Just my $.02
Hmmmm.... I wonder if I should have recommended a good book on LaTeX. For those unix users who have to type a lot of papers, LaTeX is worth taking a look at. Then again, I haven't found a good LaTeX book yet myself.:)
I think some of the quibbles the poster was having was the left exaggerating some figures for personal gain. Global warming states, extinction rates, smoking deaths, etc, all fall under that catagory.
As for nuclear power, it *is* safer then coal if done right. Although I don't have the statistics in front of me, I bet that I could find more deaths in the US due to coal power generation then nuclear power generation. Hell, I'd rather smoke a pack a day then be a coal miner, and I'm not that fond of the idea of living next to a coal power plant either. (During the coal electricity generation process, the coal is turned into a fine black powder, which becomes easily airborn.) I don't care about the miniscule effects of radiation from a nuclear plant either - I'd recieve more radiation moving to Denver.
Now I agree with you that animals have rights, but that's *not* a science decision. It never has been, and it never will be. Its a philosophical decision. Just because we will be hurting alot when a large percentage of animals go extinct does not mean that they have rights - Does the air have rights as well then? After all, if we pollute that, we screw ourselves as well.
Lets bring up cigarette smoking again, since its a good example. Cigarettes aren't healthy. However, there is good evidence that the effects of second hand smoke isn't as severe as most of us believe. Plus, we have some of the most unintelligent cigarette commercials in the US, which are only surpassed by the anti-drug commercials in the US (Nick and Norm has taught me that if you buy gasoline and diamonds [as well as a lot of other goods] you are EVIL).
Cigarette smoking does end up costing the public money. So does obesity. So does not wearing your seatbelt. Hell, not brushing your teeth for 5 minutes a day costs the public money.
Don't misunderstand me, I lean towards the liberal side of politics. However, I can't justify faulty logic no matter which side of the fence you are on. It benefits nobody.
You seem pretty knowledgeable with your post. So let me ask you a question.
As far as I understand, normal human cells have a certain number of divisions before they 'die'. So, if I make a clone from a cell in my little pinky, it might remember it has divided n times, and thus my 'clone' might end up aging faster. This seems to be based on some of the 'junk' DNA at the end of the strand gettting shorter with each division - the evolutionary reason behind this might be a way of aborting precancerous rapidly dividing cells.
On the other hand, children made the old fashioned, fun way, have an hour clock with all the sand in the top - unlike their parents, who might be half way through their cellular clocks.
Now I'm told that women are born with all the eggs that they will ever have. Since the eggs only have half the DNA needed, they aren't a viable source of DNA for cloning. Men are supposed to continually produce sperm throughout their lives. So, somewhere in men, their is a cell with no memory of how many times it has divided. Can we hijack the DNA in these cells before they produce sperm? If so, why hasn't it been tried?
I remember hearing an interview with one of the war gamers for the United State's Department of Defense. She was told that part of the reason why some of the US military uses retina scanners is that they don't work after death. Fingerprint scanners do, but retina scanners do not.
Unfortunately, a quick google search isn't returning any information about this. Perhaps someone can illuminate us further on this topic
I'm probably adding fuel to the fire here, but AutoCAD has command line drafting for 2 and 3D models. Damn useful, btw. The mouse might be useful for a few things, but if you aren't using the keyboard for the majority of actions, you're not using autocad efficiently.
Papasul writes
That is funny but seriously a VCR records analog which is legal to use for time
shifting/sharing purposes. Digital copies are currently illegal.
Please cite this law. Because right now, I don't believe Tivos are illegal, and they time shift by recording a digital copy. Backup copies of CD's aren't illegal, and those are digital copie as well.
For small satelites, why doesn't someone pioneer a magnetic slingshot type of launcher? You know, the typical SF type where there is a track of alternating magnetic fields that push a cargo to escape velocity. With the smaller mass of satelites, it would mean a less powerful slingshot.
Or is this not still no doable with today's technology?
Lumpy write:
Please tell me where I can get a US robotics V.everything modem that is USB or PCI...
Right now, I'm using a
USR 56K FaxModem with a 5610 Chipset, which is a PnP PCI Hardware modem. Newegg sells it for $70 about. But wait! There is the OEM version, which NewEgg used to have but is out of stock. It runs about $45 dollars, and goes by the name of a USR Robotics 2977 Modem. I own the OEM version, which does identify itself as a 5610 under lspci. Its a solid modem, purely hardware based - just needs a basic serial driver.
I'm quite fond of external modems, since they are easy to debug and setup, but my server is relatively free of cord tangle - only power, network, printer and phone. (Printer sits on top of it.) I didn't want to go to the hassle of finding a spot for an external modem.
Now serial and parallel ports rock for home electronics - The kits to develope on USB can be rather pricey. And I have been burned enough with USB in the past (back when it was new) to realize that some OSes and hardware start to have problems as soon as you have a half dozen USB devices.
An AC writes:
It makes no sense.. how can a peice of circuit board make it into her meal?
Not sure about China, but here in North Dakota, the local landfill for the city of Fargo is right next to some farmland. (Yes, it does disturb me). So I could see a peice of circuit board blowing over to the farmland, and a harvestor picking it up. If its a crop like corn, nothing is stopping a small bit from surviving the cleaning process. If I remember correctly, a lot of Chinese agriculture is local, where the food grown in the fields is used by nearby towns. Since they aren't that concerned with public image and health codes, I don't see what's stopping this from happening.
A lot of the *speed* of new computers is the faster hard drives and more memory.
Take that older PII/K6 era machine, throw 256M of memory into it, and give it a fast [IDE] hard drive. Congrats, you have a faster machine. Buy a nicer video card off ebay for $20 (someone recently recommended 8 Meg PCI Matrox Millenium II's for the 2D support), and you got a big enough vid card for a 17" or 19" monitor at 1024x768. Assuming it has around a PII 300 mhz or K6-2 400mhz processor, its fine for Mozilla, Open Office, and a few old games. For a lot of users, they don't need more.
I see a lot of griping about fixing computer problems here. Sure, I can understand politely saying "I'm sorry, its Xmas, I'll help you another day", but I don't understand saying "Go away, I'll never help you!"
I will admit, I have fixed computers for family and friends. I have even given away low cost parts for cheap. In return, I have called on the same members of my family and friends for help moving, for advice on vehicle problems, to borrow items, or just to dig their brains for a specific kernel of knowledge.
Help your family and friends. The only calls you should be turning down (or charging for) are from aquaintances that only contact you when they need computer help. Being friendly isn't an excuse to be walked on.
Just my $.02
This might not be what you are looking for...
on
Starting a Cable Company?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
But have you considered wireless?
From what I know, you need a deal with the cable company for cable modems. Same with the phone company for DSL. But consider wireless....
You need a T1, and the wireless hardware. You also need access points, but considering the topography of the area, you might be able to get by if you offer free service to certain businesses/homes if they allow you to keep a WAP there. Seems cheaper and easier then cable or DSL... Of course, you need to keep a small variety of wireless pci/pcmia NICs on hand, but you'll be able to sell those at a fat profit and charge more for setup.
Sure, there are security concerns. You could *try* to limit it to mac address, and ppp-over-ethernet. Just pay close attention to the logs.:)
Just think of the benefits : internet access anywhere as long as you are in range. Great selling point.
However, I'm not a networking or wireless guru. So double check all of this and run the numbers, get permission, etc. Look for 'success stories' with wireless in the non-profit or commercial sectors. Not sure if latency is better/worse or the same compared to cable or DSL. However, for bandwidth, assuming each sector is tied to a T1, that's a max of 1.54 mbps, so I believe that the cheaper (older, slower) wireless standard should be able to take that speed. Else (depending on the size), tie the backbone together with a private high-speed ethernet connection (say encrypted to protect this tempted target) between the region WAP and the main office. Then the WAP can convert from the new fast expensive standard of your choice to the old slow inexpensive standard of your choice.
Oh, and do you have the knowledge? Maybe you should try to get a job at an ISP first, learn the ropes, then move to littletown, USA, pop 10k, and setup your broadband service.
Cygwin. Or try this collection of natively compiled GNU utilies.
"Hell, why is it that the registry is so incomprehensible? I wish I had a manpage or a README describing this crap."
The registry is a big PITA. Can't help you there. There is a readme describing the structure here, but a lot of programs break that. OTOH, if you don't mind spammy logfiles, regmon can help you find what program is accessing what keys in the registry.
"Stupid spam. I'd love to have procmail running here. Ah well, I guess I'll wait until I reboot to Linux to read my non-web email."
There is a variety of client-side plugins for spam. The next release of Mozilla will also have spam-blocking capabilities.
"It's so great that I've got tabs in Mozilla. Why can't I have them on my windows too like I do in Linux?"
Its just a few sheets of paper. Costs a few cents to make a copy on a printer. Less then $10 to print 100 pages. So print off a ton of resumes, make a few custom cover sheets, and hand them out everywhere. Its only your time. You might not have a good chance of getting a job at Bobs Ubercoding Palace, but you have no chance if they don't have your resume.
Deliver your resume to the places you want to work first. Then deliver your resume to the places you don't mind working at. Then at everywhere else.
If you have do get an interview, and don't get a job, ask what skills you are lacking. Then try to fix that. Also, donate some time to a good opensource project. Its resume padding. Dunno if it helps, but it can't hurt.
(Btw, by 'everywhere else', I have handed out over 60 resumes so far, and will probably be to 100 resumes in my job hunt when I'm done.)
RomikQ asks:
Do you find information on how to build a nuclear device in your library?
I do! Its in a section called 'physics'. Another section called 'history' details the Manhatten project. Still another section called 'chemistry' gives me more knowledge on how to refine it. (The chemistry section is helpful for building explosives as well.) Yet another section called 'metalurgy and metalworking' helps me with the manufacturing skills.
Since you say 'nuclear device', I believe a nuclear pile or dirty bomb would fit in that definition, and the knowledge to build one of those is found in any local library. A true fission bomb needs some information that is not available at the library, but the library gives me one heck of a headstart on a project. For a vehicle bomb with conventional explosives, the library gives more then enough knowledge.
Ignore the anarchist cookbook, its full of half truths and downright lies. Go to the local university and grab copies of all their science textboks, its a lot more dangerous.
My machine is up to date with patches. It also runs a real-time antivirus scanner at all times. To break the windows-iexplorer-outlook trio, I use mozilla and mozilla mail. The whole thing is behind a debian woody NAT machine which has no incoming ports open, and the smb shares that the NAT offers is periodically scanned for viruses by a linux port of an antivirus program. The windows 98 machine runs its own firewall program (tinyfirewall), not to close ports, but to prevent rogue programs from phoning home.
Under such a situation, I expect a reasonable level of security. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm still going to set up an email-virus scanner (for my own knowledge), and I know that there are ways around my security (most of them require ignorance on my part though), but I feel safe.
What seems to be semi-sucessful for me to do is to go to an internet phone directory (currently using www.qwest.com for the area I'm in), search for the fields I want to work in (I do PC repair & service, as well as small lan networking, etc), then make a list with phone numbers, names, and addresses.
Then I sort the list by location, so I don't have to zip all over the place, and then I visit each of the places in person, always keeping the list in the car so I can jot down the name of the places and if they are hiring. If I feel the place is fancy enough, I will use generic or custom coversheets, depending on the position. Then I dress up and visit these companies to personally hand out resumes. I try to meet whoever will be hiring me, and I try to make a great impression. If the place is out of my league (and I know it), I ask about what skills they are looking for in employees and what they recommend. If I find a job opening I am not qualified for, I note why not. (What certs/schooling am I missing? Or is it experience?).
Right now, I'm averaging about 1 interview for every 30 resumes.:( But hey, its only time and I'm unemployed. The only other thing that I'm doing is trying to beef up a few of my skills, and donating time to OS issues.
Of course, I'm a tech monkey and you're a programmer, so it might be different for you. But if you have time on your hand, then think about this: No matter how much you think a place is out of your league, they can't hire you if they don't have your resume. What can it hurt?
(For location, I'm in the Fargo/Moorhead region of North Dakota and Minnesota).
Slashdot Mirror
Hate to tell you this, but that sounds like an AT connector.
It should be larger then a PS/2 connector, with five robust pins, in a half-circle. Assuming that the center of the circle is the center of a clock, pins will be at 3, 4:30, 6, 7:30 and 9.
The PS/2 connector has 6 pins, but one of the pins is N/C (not connected). Otherwise, its just a mechanical conversion from the larger AT style to the smaller PS/2 style.
Of course, there is a lot of computer styles out there, and what appears to be a normal AT-style connector could be some weird proprietary or non-pc connection.
Google for a bit, and if you're stumped, take a picture of the keyboards, and the connectors, make a simple webpage with the ability for users to add comments, and link the page to your sig. You should get an answer. :)
But why do you think that your brain is capable of understanding the basic forces of the universe?
Your brain evolved to keep you away from things that want to eat you, find things you want to eat, and basically preserve you until you could insure that you have spread your genes. Last time I checked, understanding the basic rules of reality wasn't needed to ensure that you live long enough to breed.
Hell, we'er just lucky that the same math that works on our scale also seems to work when we look at how the universe works.
Even now, logic has begun to fail us when we ask the deep questions. Consider this: What made this reality? Oh sure, I know the theories that suggest that this universe might have been created by another universe, and at this level, cause and effect goes out the window, leading to the possibility that this universe can create the ancestor of the universe that created it, but what allowed this gestalt to exist?
There's an Heinleinian phrase that occasionally gets said on slashdot: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL). Too bad that its wrong, since the universe is the biggest example of a free lunch in action.
[ Don't feel so bad - my brain also seems hellbent to make me survive long enough to ensure my genes are passed on. Damn thing is that my body agrees with it and is planning to expire in half a century in order to free up resources for my future offspring. Its a comspiracy, I tell you... ]
Just my $.02
It was on the moon. Growing meat came first, then milk came second, IIRC.
[ And dammit, this is slashdot, someone will catch the reference. ]
I'm sure someone can cite a reference for this one way or another: Was a naval blockade of the home islands ever considered at the end of WWII?
Consider this: Japan is an island, with nowhere near the gas, oil, or metals to support a war effort. Hell, we had broken some of the Japanese codes near the end of WWII, and we were capturing their defenses - we knew that the Japanese were hurting for supplies by the end of WWII.
I have a copy of Running Linux, which I read as a newbie, and to say the truth, its not the first book I'd recommend to a linux newbie. I'd suggest Unix Power Tools and The Linux Cookbook. But don't take my word for it: there is a sample chapter of Unix Power Tools and the full text of the Linux Cookbook online.
The reason I recommend the Linux Cookbook is that it tells what programs can do what things. As a newbie, I don't know how to use a scanner, or how to record a CD. (OTOH, the Linux Cookbook does tend to lean heavily towards Debian).
Unix Power Tools is a must read because it is a thick collection of simple tricks of the trade. Plus, its a good example how to think like Unix. I'm not sure about you, but the reason why I run Linux on two of my computers is that it can get things done quickly and easily.
Speaking of quickly and easily, I'd also have to strongly recommend Learning Perl as a primer to perl and the Perl Cookbook as a collection of perl snippets. Perl is a damn useful language to know, as Learning Perl says : "Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible".
Anyways, my choices tend to be more 'how to do things' rather then 'how the current version or distro works'. Heck, other then for the Linux Cookbook, the rest are good reading for *BSD and other unix users. I prefer advocating the unix mentality instead of one specific distro or kernel.
To be fair, I haven't read Running Linux in awhile. Perhaps my memory is cloudy. There is also the Linux Problem Solver, which I find a tad too simple and shallow, but might be helpful to a few people out there.
Btw, I know book budgets tend to suck. (And O'Reilly books [or any technical book really]) tend to be budget breakers. However, at least one book chain that I know of (Barnes & Nobles) marks down O'Reilly books into the $10-or-so range when a new edition comes out, and for a few of the technical books, Ebay can offer a fraction of the cover price. Be wise though - I tend to avoid older editions if they were published pre-1998 or so unless I know the book is still relevant - the linux world is changing pretty fast.
Just my $.02Hmmmm.... I wonder if I should have recommended a good book on LaTeX. For those unix users who have to type a lot of papers, LaTeX is worth taking a look at. Then again, I haven't found a good LaTeX book yet myself. :)
I think some of the quibbles the poster was having was the left exaggerating some figures for personal gain. Global warming states, extinction rates, smoking deaths, etc, all fall under that catagory.
As for nuclear power, it *is* safer then coal if done right. Although I don't have the statistics in front of me, I bet that I could find more deaths in the US due to coal power generation then nuclear power generation. Hell, I'd rather smoke a pack a day then be a coal miner, and I'm not that fond of the idea of living next to a coal power plant either. (During the coal electricity generation process, the coal is turned into a fine black powder, which becomes easily airborn.) I don't care about the miniscule effects of radiation from a nuclear plant either - I'd recieve more radiation moving to Denver.
Now I agree with you that animals have rights, but that's *not* a science decision. It never has been, and it never will be. Its a philosophical decision. Just because we will be hurting alot when a large percentage of animals go extinct does not mean that they have rights - Does the air have rights as well then? After all, if we pollute that, we screw ourselves as well.
Lets bring up cigarette smoking again, since its a good example. Cigarettes aren't healthy. However, there is good evidence that the effects of second hand smoke isn't as severe as most of us believe. Plus, we have some of the most unintelligent cigarette commercials in the US, which are only surpassed by the anti-drug commercials in the US (Nick and Norm has taught me that if you buy gasoline and diamonds [as well as a lot of other goods] you are EVIL).
Cigarette smoking does end up costing the public money. So does obesity. So does not wearing your seatbelt. Hell, not brushing your teeth for 5 minutes a day costs the public money.
Don't misunderstand me, I lean towards the liberal side of politics. However, I can't justify faulty logic no matter which side of the fence you are on. It benefits nobody.
You seem pretty knowledgeable with your post. So let me ask you a question.
As far as I understand, normal human cells have a certain number of divisions before they 'die'. So, if I make a clone from a cell in my little pinky, it might remember it has divided n times, and thus my 'clone' might end up aging faster. This seems to be based on some of the 'junk' DNA at the end of the strand gettting shorter with each division - the evolutionary reason behind this might be a way of aborting precancerous rapidly dividing cells.
On the other hand, children made the old fashioned, fun way, have an hour clock with all the sand in the top - unlike their parents, who might be half way through their cellular clocks.
Now I'm told that women are born with all the eggs that they will ever have. Since the eggs only have half the DNA needed, they aren't a viable source of DNA for cloning. Men are supposed to continually produce sperm throughout their lives. So, somewhere in men, their is a cell with no memory of how many times it has divided. Can we hijack the DNA in these cells before they produce sperm? If so, why hasn't it been tried?
I remember hearing an interview with one of the war gamers for the United State's Department of Defense. She was told that part of the reason why some of the US military uses retina scanners is that they don't work after death. Fingerprint scanners do, but retina scanners do not.
Unfortunately, a quick google search isn't returning any information about this. Perhaps someone can illuminate us further on this topic
I'm probably adding fuel to the fire here, but AutoCAD has command line drafting for 2 and 3D models. Damn useful, btw. The mouse might be useful for a few things, but if you aren't using the keyboard for the majority of actions, you're not using autocad efficiently.
Papasul writes
That is funny but seriously a VCR records analog which is legal to use for time shifting/sharing purposes. Digital copies are currently illegal.
Please cite this law. Because right now, I don't believe Tivos are illegal, and they time shift by recording a digital copy. Backup copies of CD's aren't illegal, and those are digital copie as well.
There are better Spike quotes out there. Such as:
Spike: I like people. They're like Happy Meals with legs.
(And note, that is an on-topic quote with regards to the article.)
For small satelites, why doesn't someone pioneer a magnetic slingshot type of launcher? You know, the typical SF type where there is a track of alternating magnetic fields that push a cargo to escape velocity. With the smaller mass of satelites, it would mean a less powerful slingshot.
Or is this not still no doable with today's technology?
May I modify your question?
If you could only change one thing to make Slashdot more accessable, what would it be? Why?
My weakest spec machine I regularly use is a P75 laptop. 16M memory, 750M disk.
OS is Debian Woody.
Desktop is XFree86/Ratpoison.
Primary programs are ssh, w3m, centericq, and dillo. (Although I'm moving more towards 'View' in w3m, as well as email and newsgroups in mutt).
Why? Because its nice to have a cheap sturdy laptop I can take anywhere without worrying too much about it.
I also use a P166 at home for a fileserver/mailserver/newserver/sambaserver/firewa ll/dialoutserver.
Lumpy write:
Please tell me where I can get a US robotics V.everything modem that is USB or PCI...
Right now, I'm using a USR 56K FaxModem with a 5610 Chipset, which is a PnP PCI Hardware modem. Newegg sells it for $70 about. But wait! There is the OEM version, which NewEgg used to have but is out of stock. It runs about $45 dollars, and goes by the name of a USR Robotics 2977 Modem. I own the OEM version, which does identify itself as a 5610 under lspci. Its a solid modem, purely hardware based - just needs a basic serial driver.
I'm quite fond of external modems, since they are easy to debug and setup, but my server is relatively free of cord tangle - only power, network, printer and phone. (Printer sits on top of it.) I didn't want to go to the hassle of finding a spot for an external modem.
Now serial and parallel ports rock for home electronics - The kits to develope on USB can be rather pricey. And I have been burned enough with USB in the past (back when it was new) to realize that some OSes and hardware start to have problems as soon as you have a half dozen USB devices.
It's astounding;
Time is fleeting;
Madness takes its toll.
But listen closely...
Not for very much longer.
I've got to keep control.
I remember doing the time-warp
Drinking those moments when
The Blackness would hit me
And the void would be calling...
Let's do the time-warp again.
An AC writes: .. how can a peice of circuit board make it into her meal?
It makes no sense
Not sure about China, but here in North Dakota, the local landfill for the city of Fargo is right next to some farmland. (Yes, it does disturb me). So I could see a peice of circuit board blowing over to the farmland, and a harvestor picking it up. If its a crop like corn, nothing is stopping a small bit from surviving the cleaning process. If I remember correctly, a lot of Chinese agriculture is local, where the food grown in the fields is used by nearby towns. Since they aren't that concerned with public image and health codes, I don't see what's stopping this from happening.
A lot of the *speed* of new computers is the faster hard drives and more memory.
Take that older PII/K6 era machine, throw 256M of memory into it, and give it a fast [IDE] hard drive. Congrats, you have a faster machine. Buy a nicer video card off ebay for $20 (someone recently recommended 8 Meg PCI Matrox Millenium II's for the 2D support), and you got a big enough vid card for a 17" or 19" monitor at 1024x768. Assuming it has around a PII 300 mhz or K6-2 400mhz processor, its fine for Mozilla, Open Office, and a few old games. For a lot of users, they don't need more.
I see a lot of griping about fixing computer problems here. Sure, I can understand politely saying "I'm sorry, its Xmas, I'll help you another day", but I don't understand saying "Go away, I'll never help you!"
I will admit, I have fixed computers for family and friends. I have even given away low cost parts for cheap. In return, I have called on the same members of my family and friends for help moving, for advice on vehicle problems, to borrow items, or just to dig their brains for a specific kernel of knowledge.
Help your family and friends. The only calls you should be turning down (or charging for) are from aquaintances that only contact you when they need computer help. Being friendly isn't an excuse to be walked on.
Just my $.02
But have you considered wireless?
From what I know, you need a deal with the cable company for cable modems. Same with the phone company for DSL. But consider wireless....
You need a T1, and the wireless hardware. You also need access points, but considering the topography of the area, you might be able to get by if you offer free service to certain businesses/homes if they allow you to keep a WAP there. Seems cheaper and easier then cable or DSL... Of course, you need to keep a small variety of wireless pci/pcmia NICs on hand, but you'll be able to sell those at a fat profit and charge more for setup.
Sure, there are security concerns. You could *try* to limit it to mac address, and ppp-over-ethernet. Just pay close attention to the logs. :)
Just think of the benefits : internet access anywhere as long as you are in range. Great selling point.
However, I'm not a networking or wireless guru. So double check all of this and run the numbers, get permission, etc. Look for 'success stories' with wireless in the non-profit or commercial sectors. Not sure if latency is better/worse or the same compared to cable or DSL. However, for bandwidth, assuming each sector is tied to a T1, that's a max of 1.54 mbps, so I believe that the cheaper (older, slower) wireless standard should be able to take that speed. Else (depending on the size), tie the backbone together with a private high-speed ethernet connection (say encrypted to protect this tempted target) between the region WAP and the main office. Then the WAP can convert from the new fast expensive standard of your choice to the old slow inexpensive standard of your choice.
Oh, and do you have the knowledge? Maybe you should try to get a job at an ISP first, learn the ropes, then move to littletown, USA, pop 10k, and setup your broadband service.
krmt writes
"Man, if I only had a bunch of virtual desktops so I could have an uncluttered screen."
Virtual Win.
"Wow, what I wouldn't give for grep right now."
Cygwin. Or try this collection of natively compiled GNU utilies.
"Hell, why is it that the registry is so incomprehensible? I wish I had a manpage or a README describing this crap."The registry is a big PITA. Can't help you there. There is a readme describing the structure here, but a lot of programs break that. OTOH, if you don't mind spammy logfiles, regmon can help you find what program is accessing what keys in the registry.
"Stupid spam. I'd love to have procmail running here. Ah well, I guess I'll wait until I reboot to Linux to read my non-web email."
There is a variety of client-side plugins for spam. The next release of Mozilla will also have spam-blocking capabilities.
"It's so great that I've got tabs in Mozilla. Why can't I have them on my windows too like I do in Linux?"
Too bad they don't make a mozilla windows port. Tabbed browsing works great.
I agree, linux is better. But not for most of the reasons you list. :)
Its just a few sheets of paper. Costs a few cents to make a copy on a printer. Less then $10 to print 100 pages. So print off a ton of resumes, make a few custom cover sheets, and hand them out everywhere. Its only your time. You might not have a good chance of getting a job at Bobs Ubercoding Palace, but you have no chance if they don't have your resume.
Deliver your resume to the places you want to work first. Then deliver your resume to the places you don't mind working at. Then at everywhere else.
If you have do get an interview, and don't get a job, ask what skills you are lacking. Then try to fix that. Also, donate some time to a good opensource project. Its resume padding. Dunno if it helps, but it can't hurt.
(Btw, by 'everywhere else', I have handed out over 60 resumes so far, and will probably be to 100 resumes in my job hunt when I'm done.)
RomikQ asks:
Do you find information on how to build a nuclear device in your library?
I do! Its in a section called 'physics'. Another section called 'history' details the Manhatten project. Still another section called 'chemistry' gives me more knowledge on how to refine it. (The chemistry section is helpful for building explosives as well.) Yet another section called 'metalurgy and metalworking' helps me with the manufacturing skills.
Since you say 'nuclear device', I believe a nuclear pile or dirty bomb would fit in that definition, and the knowledge to build one of those is found in any local library. A true fission bomb needs some information that is not available at the library, but the library gives me one heck of a headstart on a project. For a vehicle bomb with conventional explosives, the library gives more then enough knowledge.
Ignore the anarchist cookbook, its full of half truths and downright lies. Go to the local university and grab copies of all their science textboks, its a lot more dangerous.
Just my $.02
My machine is up to date with patches. It also runs a real-time antivirus scanner at all times. To break the windows-iexplorer-outlook trio, I use mozilla and mozilla mail. The whole thing is behind a debian woody NAT machine which has no incoming ports open, and the smb shares that the NAT offers is periodically scanned for viruses by a linux port of an antivirus program. The windows 98 machine runs its own firewall program (tinyfirewall), not to close ports, but to prevent rogue programs from phoning home.
Under such a situation, I expect a reasonable level of security. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm still going to set up an email-virus scanner (for my own knowledge), and I know that there are ways around my security (most of them require ignorance on my part though), but I feel safe.
What seems to be semi-sucessful for me to do is to go to an internet phone directory (currently using www.qwest.com for the area I'm in), search for the fields I want to work in (I do PC repair & service, as well as small lan networking, etc), then make a list with phone numbers, names, and addresses.
Then I sort the list by location, so I don't have to zip all over the place, and then I visit each of the places in person, always keeping the list in the car so I can jot down the name of the places and if they are hiring. If I feel the place is fancy enough, I will use generic or custom coversheets, depending on the position. Then I dress up and visit these companies to personally hand out resumes. I try to meet whoever will be hiring me, and I try to make a great impression. If the place is out of my league (and I know it), I ask about what skills they are looking for in employees and what they recommend. If I find a job opening I am not qualified for, I note why not. (What certs/schooling am I missing? Or is it experience?).
Right now, I'm averaging about 1 interview for every 30 resumes. :( But hey, its only time and I'm unemployed. The only other thing that I'm doing is trying to beef up a few of my skills, and donating time to OS issues.
Of course, I'm a tech monkey and you're a programmer, so it might be different for you. But if you have time on your hand, then think about this: No matter how much you think a place is out of your league, they can't hire you if they don't have your resume. What can it hurt?
(For location, I'm in the Fargo/Moorhead region of North Dakota and Minnesota).