That's why I don't participate with the hardware I have. A PS3 is 10-20x the speed of my system in those calculations, while using about 1.5x the electricity (~200W vs. ~125W for my desktop.) Those with certain graphics cards can use a GPU client and also get 10-20x the performance, for only slightly more power consumption than my desktop.
Hopefully they get a multi-GPU client polished soon. Then I would consider buying two or three supported GPUs and running a megaclient, but only when I need the heat anyway (i.e. wintertime or cold nights.) Right now, running a desktop client in my office would be even worse--I would need A/C to remove the extra heat.
How about a hiring policy that prohibits ownership of an SUV?
Or prohibits those who rent, not own, their home?
Or prohibits those who play video games?
Or own a boat, or drink at all, or who do not turn in a signed timesheet for 10 hours per week at the gym, or who eat fast food...
If a company actually cared about these things, they'd mandate breaks, reduce work stress, offer healthy food in the cafeteria, free gym memberships, etc. But that costs money. It's easier to just meddle into my personal time.
I run a Latitude C610 (PM 1.2GHz), which, when idle with the disk spinning and screen off, draws 13 watts. This is about half a watt more than what it replaced, a Tecra 8100 (PM 866MHz I believe?), which fluctuated between 12 and 13 watts when idle. Even when scaled down, I imagine a dual core processor uses more than that when idle.
I don't know of any desktops that come near that unless they're also running laptop components.
An ISDN BRI is also an option. Faster than dialup, much less latency than satellite, and cheaper than a T1. Also, check around locally. My dad found a local wireless carrier in his rural area that gives him satellite-like speeds with copper-like latency for around $60 a month. Check dslreports.com to see what's available in the area.
Your problem is you use too much power. I had the same problem and just unplugged or rplaced everything that was overconsumptive. 700W desktop tower goes away in favouir of 45W laptop. Cordless drill that takes hours to recharge is replaced by a fast charginbh lithium ionh one. etc.
I cut my power to 1/4 doing this. THEN went solar. Your 30K cost is now 7K.
Better efficiency can be the cheapest alternative energy source. I recently bought a $40 used mountain bike to start riding with the co-workers. One co-worker, who spent $1,800 on his (and also crashed it three times in one month), kept bugging me to buy a lighter seat, lighter wheels, lighter pedals, lose the kickstand, etc. My answer? I'll start by losing the extra 20 pounds of fat I'm carrying around, which costs me nothing, and then we can talk about the bike.
I bought a DeWalt 12V drill a couple of years ago, and the gear stripped out, so it only goes on low speed now. My dad is an electrical contractor, and has moved away from DeWalt due to problems he's found. DeWalt used to make great stuff, but since they were bought by Black & Decker, I think the quality has gone downhill.
This is similar to advice I've given to my sister who is just starting college. People always say "do what you love", but I have a different mantra. Most things that people love to do they love to do ON THEIR OWN SCHEDULE. When you HAVE to do it, eventually you come to hate it. I used to be the typical little happy computer geek when I was a teenager. Built computers, programmed, hung out on the net doing endless things. I loved it. Now, having spent 7 years in the IT industry, 99% of my home computer use is just to get from point A to point B. I play music, watch movies, etc, but I don't really "tinker" as much as I used to because frankly, when I make it home from work the last thing I want to do is just work on a computer for it's own sake.
In short, my opinion is that most people are going to come to loathe whatever they do for a living. Might not happen as fast if you pick something you like, but EVENTUALLY, you will hate it. Therefore instead of picking your hobby as a means to make a living (and thereby destroying your hobby), pick something that you are good at but don't really like a lot, but that makes good money. Then at least you're pulling in a good check for your misery, and your hobby will remain enjoyable.
Personally, looking back, I totally wish I'd studied law.
I haven't agreed with a Slashdot post this much in a long time. I used to love computers and technology. Now, I'm like the car mechanic with the rusty shitbox car--I spend so much time working on other people's computers, that I can't be arsed with working on my own when I get home.
Actually, I was referring to the $80 throwaway lasers you sometimes find, but inkjets are a whole class of problems in themselves. My father is a contractor and switched to laser after a particularly rainy day on the jobsite--when his inkjet-printed invoices were so smeared as to be useless.
"Why did you buy a $1,500 laser printer, when Costco has $80 printers on sale?"
"Uh, because the $80 printer uses $55 cartridges that last 2,500 pages, while the $1,500 printer uses $175 cartridges that last 20,000 pages, and don't need scheduled maintenance for 400,000 pages? Oh, and the $1,500 printer prints 50+ pages per minute?"
HP has started to move that way with their servers. Currently you can get hotplug 2.5" SAS drives in 36GB and 72GB sizes at 15,000 RPM, and larger at 10,000 RPM.
If you can't move the drives to an identical unit and have them recognized and working immediately, it will remain nothing more than a curiosity. Drives are not the only things that can fail.
I found a cheap 1.7GHz Pentium-M Dell laptop with a broken screen on eBay. I put in a larger drive (5400 RPM, since I didn't need the extra noise or heat), and now I have a nice Linux box that draws 13-14 watts at idle, cranks up to 1.7GHz when needed, and has a built-in 2 hour UPS. It runs a completely stock x86 version of CentOS, so no worries about recompiling anything. Since it only actually does work for 4-5 hours a day, I set noatime so the drive would spin down when not in use, leaving the machine nearly silent.
Depending on how the drive is used. If you have a flash drive 95% full and unchanging, won't the other 1% get killed pretty quickly, even with wear levelling?
Re:There's no winning with some people
on
Verizon, Fiber Or Die?
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Check your DSL TOS; Verizon has the option to force you over to FIOS in areas where they offer it. You'll probably have to switch sooner or later.
It doesn't help that some CS-granting universities are now pushing the "everybody who joins the Air Force can be a pilot" mentality.
At my community college, representatives from California State University, Fullerton and Microsoft came into my C++ programming class to talk about their exciting new Bachelor's in Computer Science degree with the Game Design "specialization." Apparently this new sub-field is revolutionizing their degree program by attracting the same people who think going to DeVry is going to allow them to design robots like the people in the commercials.
During the "demonstration", the Microsoft rep showed us how we could use their revolutionary new Visual Studio 2008 to "build the game of Pong in under 15 minutes." Yeah, he built it in 15 minutes all right--by copying and pasting the code out of Notepad.
Meanwhile, my questions about the other degree tracks I was interested in, such as Scientific Computing, we basically glossed over.
If this was actually done ("all" the evidence), then no one would have the slightest doubt about evolution, anymore than someone looking at the Earth from space would still question a flat earth. The problem is that most people don't want to look at the all the facts, because reality would conflict with their world view. Therefore, they ignore the facts.
Quite true. I'm attending a community college, and in two science classes now (Physical Anthropology and Biology), when the teacher has even mentioned evolution, I see several students immediately sighing or rolling their eyes.
Which means that the solution, as I've often maintained, is to ban all carry-on luggage with the exception of purses and one briefcase or small backpack per person. Everything else goes through as checked backage. No garment bags. No wheelies. Nothing else.
Or at least enforce the damn rules that are there. One piece of luggage that fits in the basket, and a smaller purse or backpack. If they'd enforce the size limit for carry-ons, it would make a huge difference. Hell, I was on a Southwest flight a few months ago, and they let some dumbass on with a full-sized Army duffle, completely stuffed full. It took an entire overhead bin by itself, and it took him two minutes of shoving to get it to fit, while the line backed up behind him, and then two minutes of yanking at the destination to get it out of the bin, again with everybody else waiting.
But why wait until you are "offered" a chance to metamoderate? You can do this any time you want [slashdot.org] and there is always a backlog that needs metamodding.
Right, but I think you can only metamod once a day; that's what I was referring to.
I agree on the cost of negative moderation--and that includes overrated (the "coward's mod".)
That's why I metamoderate every time I am offered it on Slashdot. I often find posts that are improperly modded down (i.e., an "Offtopic" on an on-topic post about a heated subject), and have metamodded appropriately.
I almost never moderate, but I'm fanatical about metamoderating, because abusive moderation happens all the time.
Yup. Part of the construction at one airport a couple of years ago (I think Oakland) put a couple of hundred people waiting at the baggage claim in a relatively small room with a hundred people waiting to get through security. I told my wife, "If these people are smart, they won't bother with the planes; there's a 747-load right here."
Slashdot Mirror
Hopefully they get a multi-GPU client polished soon. Then I would consider buying two or three supported GPUs and running a megaclient, but only when I need the heat anyway (i.e. wintertime or cold nights.) Right now, running a desktop client in my office would be even worse--I would need A/C to remove the extra heat.
Yes, it's ridiculous.
Or prohibits those who rent, not own, their home?
Or prohibits those who play video games?
Or own a boat, or drink at all, or who do not turn in a signed timesheet for 10 hours per week at the gym, or who eat fast food...
If a company actually cared about these things, they'd mandate breaks, reduce work stress, offer healthy food in the cafeteria, free gym memberships, etc. But that costs money. It's easier to just meddle into my personal time.
I don't know of any desktops that come near that unless they're also running laptop components.
I worked for EDS for 5 years. They leased Dell laptops for their employees, and generally support whatever their customers choose for equipment.
An ISDN BRI is also an option. Faster than dialup, much less latency than satellite, and cheaper than a T1. Also, check around locally. My dad found a local wireless carrier in his rural area that gives him satellite-like speeds with copper-like latency for around $60 a month. Check dslreports.com to see what's available in the area.
I cut my power to 1/4 doing this. THEN went solar. Your 30K cost is now 7K.
Better efficiency can be the cheapest alternative energy source. I recently bought a $40 used mountain bike to start riding with the co-workers. One co-worker, who spent $1,800 on his (and also crashed it three times in one month), kept bugging me to buy a lighter seat, lighter wheels, lighter pedals, lose the kickstand, etc. My answer? I'll start by losing the extra 20 pounds of fat I'm carrying around, which costs me nothing, and then we can talk about the bike.
I bought a DeWalt 12V drill a couple of years ago, and the gear stripped out, so it only goes on low speed now. My dad is an electrical contractor, and has moved away from DeWalt due to problems he's found. DeWalt used to make great stuff, but since they were bought by Black & Decker, I think the quality has gone downhill.
Not only that, but imagine when the printer keeps jamming because there's a stack of paper in there that has already been run through 50 times.
In short, my opinion is that most people are going to come to loathe whatever they do for a living. Might not happen as fast if you pick something you like, but EVENTUALLY, you will hate it. Therefore instead of picking your hobby as a means to make a living (and thereby destroying your hobby), pick something that you are good at but don't really like a lot, but that makes good money. Then at least you're pulling in a good check for your misery, and your hobby will remain enjoyable.
Personally, looking back, I totally wish I'd studied law.
I haven't agreed with a Slashdot post this much in a long time. I used to love computers and technology. Now, I'm like the car mechanic with the rusty shitbox car--I spend so much time working on other people's computers, that I can't be arsed with working on my own when I get home.
Actually, I was referring to the $80 throwaway lasers you sometimes find, but inkjets are a whole class of problems in themselves. My father is a contractor and switched to laser after a particularly rainy day on the jobsite--when his inkjet-printed invoices were so smeared as to be useless.
"Why did you buy a $1,500 laser printer, when Costco has $80 printers on sale?"
"Uh, because the $80 printer uses $55 cartridges that last 2,500 pages, while the $1,500 printer uses $175 cartridges that last 20,000 pages, and don't need scheduled maintenance for 400,000 pages? Oh, and the $1,500 printer prints 50+ pages per minute?"
"Oh. Okay, I guess."
HP has started to move that way with their servers. Currently you can get hotplug 2.5" SAS drives in 36GB and 72GB sizes at 15,000 RPM, and larger at 10,000 RPM.
If you can't move the drives to an identical unit and have them recognized and working immediately, it will remain nothing more than a curiosity. Drives are not the only things that can fail.
I found a cheap 1.7GHz Pentium-M Dell laptop with a broken screen on eBay. I put in a larger drive (5400 RPM, since I didn't need the extra noise or heat), and now I have a nice Linux box that draws 13-14 watts at idle, cranks up to 1.7GHz when needed, and has a built-in 2 hour UPS. It runs a completely stock x86 version of CentOS, so no worries about recompiling anything. Since it only actually does work for 4-5 hours a day, I set noatime so the drive would spin down when not in use, leaving the machine nearly silent.
My dozens of recent model servers, tape drives and disk arrays with VHDCI connectors would like to disagree.
Depending on how the drive is used. If you have a flash drive 95% full and unchanging, won't the other 1% get killed pretty quickly, even with wear levelling?
Check your DSL TOS; Verizon has the option to force you over to FIOS in areas where they offer it. You'll probably have to switch sooner or later.
Now can we go after the scumbags that charge eight bucks a minute for collect calls without warning about it?
At my community college, representatives from California State University, Fullerton and Microsoft came into my C++ programming class to talk about their exciting new Bachelor's in Computer Science degree with the Game Design "specialization." Apparently this new sub-field is revolutionizing their degree program by attracting the same people who think going to DeVry is going to allow them to design robots like the people in the commercials.
During the "demonstration", the Microsoft rep showed us how we could use their revolutionary new Visual Studio 2008 to "build the game of Pong in under 15 minutes." Yeah, he built it in 15 minutes all right--by copying and pasting the code out of Notepad.
Meanwhile, my questions about the other degree tracks I was interested in, such as Scientific Computing, we basically glossed over.
Quite true. I'm attending a community college, and in two science classes now (Physical Anthropology and Biology), when the teacher has even mentioned evolution, I see several students immediately sighing or rolling their eyes.
Or at least enforce the damn rules that are there. One piece of luggage that fits in the basket, and a smaller purse or backpack. If they'd enforce the size limit for carry-ons, it would make a huge difference. Hell, I was on a Southwest flight a few months ago, and they let some dumbass on with a full-sized Army duffle, completely stuffed full. It took an entire overhead bin by itself, and it took him two minutes of shoving to get it to fit, while the line backed up behind him, and then two minutes of yanking at the destination to get it out of the bin, again with everybody else waiting.
Right, but I think you can only metamod once a day; that's what I was referring to.
I agree on the cost of negative moderation--and that includes overrated (the "coward's mod".)
I almost never moderate, but I'm fanatical about metamoderating, because abusive moderation happens all the time.
Yup. Part of the construction at one airport a couple of years ago (I think Oakland) put a couple of hundred people waiting at the baggage claim in a relatively small room with a hundred people waiting to get through security. I told my wife, "If these people are smart, they won't bother with the planes; there's a 747-load right here."