I thought Troll was a bit strong too, but hey, that's just me. And BTW, about your leadership program; I fear it may eventually conflict with my in-process effort. However, I like many of your ideas and think that you could definitely rise in the ranks in my organization - in fact, I am still looking for someone to handle Africa or Asia. Interested?
The ONLY place where I expect the digital bit stream to have any problem is in the DAC (or when the sampling for the ADC). The BER (bit error rate) in a standard digital link at 192KHz audio is going to be on the order of 10^-10, which means 1error in every 18minutes of audio. I doubt even trained ears can notice a 1bit error over that interval. And heck, the interface is probably even better - 10^-12 BER isn't out of reach.
As for jitter: if you have a 30KHz signal, which only your audiophile dog can hear, a 10ps jitter RMS (which can be considered around 70ps pk-pk jitter) would be translated by the DAC into >115dB SNR; and it would not introduce distortion, only noise ( a good chunk of it would be then filtered out by the system lowpass filters in the audio stream). If you are dealing with a 3KHz tone, then the SNR would be >135dB.
I've had to fight jitter problems on high speed ADCs (100+MSPS) in the past; you have to do BPF and clock divider techniques there; audio systems don't need that. To me, 192KHz is DC. The wavelength of the ~10Mbit/s interface clock is around 100ft - and for a digital system you would only close the eye by 1% with a 1foot mismatch.
My understanding is that the GPU teams are much less rigorous than the CPU teams, in terms of design and test. Right now, ATI is becoming much more disciplined than NVidia due to AMD's influence. The GPU guys historically could get away with being sloppy, since it really meant video artifacts and somebody dying in a game. For CPUs, a mistake could cost a lot of money possibly someone dying in reality; as a result, Intel and AMD were much more thorough in there methodologies. Now, with CPU and GPU melding and critical processing being run on the GPU portion, sloppiness is not acceptable.
I really think that AMD has a good head start here - I don't think that Intel can make a good GPU, and NVidia has a long road ahead in making a CPU (x86 or x64).
This affects the CPU market, where it is pretty much accepted that Intel has a dominant position. If you can't see how a compiler can affect a CPU's performance, then you may be on the wrong website.
The point is that this is ONE ASPECT of Intel's anti-competitive practices, all of which were focused on controlling the CPU marketplace.
Optimizing cross platform is not an easy thing to do, its doable, but why should Intel have to develop optimizations for AMD?
Right, but if a CPU supports a given optimization that Intel already has and uses, it is wrong to simply disable that optimization solely because the CPU is not an Intel chip. That is what is happening.
So basically, Intel made an extra effort to ensure that the compiler would work worse with competitor's CPUs. The code to check the supported extensions was already in the compiler and AMD's chips respond in a compliant manner to indicate which ones they support.
If the AMD chip was changed only in that it would respond that it is a GenuineINTEL, code compiled on Intel's compiler would produce a significant improvement in performance. While AMD is far from perfect, their CPUs are price competitive with equivalent Intel chips. If it weren't for AMD, we would still be paying >$1000 for a Pentium 4. That's why I generally avoid buying Intel chips - they're the top dog, yet they don't play fair.
NVidia hasn't let ATI do anything. Actually, NVidia is dealing with a series of problems - from serious packaging problems last year to TSMC yield issues now. ATI/AMD has been really effective lately; NVidia historically had a dominant position, but definitely not a monopoly, and I'll say that they have slipped a lot recently. Things change fast in the GPU race, so NVidia may recover quickly. But ATI/AMD have a solid amount of momentum, and the only real execution problem I've seen them make in the last few months in GPUs has been to rely on TSMC.
Take a look at the Dell Zino HD - it combines AMD's 'just enough CPU' with top end GPU to make a very compelling system. Intel has cut NVidia out of the chipsets, so they don't get the synergy that AMD has with ATI.
AMD is definitely better situated for the long haul than NVidia, and actually may be better off than Intel for complete systems.
There is a significant difference between political censorship and child pornography/gay marriage. And too bad if a democracy wants to censor itself. I'm pretty sure that the US government would like searches for My Lai, tuskegee airmen, japanese internment camps to look better, but they don't censor that. While Germans aren't proud of the Nazi era atrocities, they are not suppressing the past. A democracy which suppresses its history is one on a fast track to tyranny.
I also found the MSI wind barebones to be great - quiet, low power (30W with a normal, not a "green", 500G HD), and cheap. For 2GB RAM, 500G HD, it was less than $220. I installed Ubuntu Server, and it works like an appliance.
I like it better than some of the other cheap alternatives, such as the Linksys NSLU2 because you also get Gigabit ethernet on it.
Actually, FPS games, while using a keyboard and mouse, use a different interface than Windows. How many applications and windows are you managing while playing a game? For FPS, 90% is just one window.
The NSLU2 is too slow - no gigabit, processor too slow, too little memory. I recently dumped my NSLU2 and went with an MSI Wind nettop - only $140 for the box and $25 for 2Gig of memory. Add $90 for a 1TB drive, and you completely blow away a NSLU2 in performance. Ubuntu Server with webmin. Solid and quiet print server/NAS. Set it up and I haven't needed to look at it for months.
I've had nothing but bad luck with HP multi-functions. The last one I tried couldn't send a fax, but could receive a fax. So I've gone to Canons. Cheaper to buy, ink is cheaper, and they work great.
Having to jailbreak your own phone is a big deal. Jailbreaking undercuts any argument of "It just works on Apple..." The main thing is I do not like Apple (and/or AT&T?) being able to restrict what app I can run on my phone. If the situation were reversed (i.e. the iPhone didn't need to be jailbreaked but the Palm did), then there would be no end of derision on the Palm Pre for that from the Apple fanbois.
Now, that said, there is a possibility that Palm will be restrictive on which apps it allows into the store. But Palm does have a history of openness that the iPhone does not, so it is not that likely.
I really wish they had chosen some other word - searching for "C++ concepts" gets a lot of introduction to c++ programming websites (yes, I know the trick is to search for "C+0x concepts"). When you pick a word to describe what you are doing, either pick a more accurate description that is unambiguous. Maybe they could have gone with something like "Formalized Templates".
Check out Capilano's Designworks. There is both Mac & Windows (no Linux) versions. I have used several different schematic capture packages, and Designworks is really very good. In all honesty, I have found Orcad to crash way too often. In fact I've had Orcad crash so bad that a reinstall was necessary. Thankfully, this was an older version (11 I think).
Actually, it seems that merely being able to use divide on a calculator makes a lot of slashdotters think they are so smart. You think 1/11M reported incidents is the rate at which incidents occur. However, what is the ratio of reported to unreported incidents? I would bet that it is maybe even 10x higher. Quite realistically, the number of failures could be 150.
How many people with Firestone tires on Ford Explorers wound up replacing them instead of having accidents?
Well, then your answer speaks for itself. Apple had to actively disable the compatibility. Your example of Windows cruft does not apply, since Apple has no obligation to ensure that the Pre can sync, but the explicit action of finding out how the Pre faked being an Ipod and then disabling it shows an active hostility to users.
So you should let your neighbor's kid break all of your windows now, since there is a chance one day he might accidentally break some of them playing baseball...
The D+/D- wires are differential, in which the signal is coupled, and so it will radiate and affect the ground current much less - probably by 2+ orders of magnitude, compared to single-ended signals.
I had to move from win2000 to vista recently on my homebuilt (the ATI video cards don't support 2000 anymore!). Because it is a pretty high end machine, it is pretty good most of the time. 2000 would respond instantly, while vista typically still gives a small lag. However, the biggest pain with vista is that it will occasionally ignore my input for several seconds! I think that Win7 simply tweaked the user responsiveness while not improving overall throughput. That is probably enough.
I thought Troll was a bit strong too, but hey, that's just me. And BTW, about your leadership program; I fear it may eventually conflict with my in-process effort. However, I like many of your ideas and think that you could definitely rise in the ranks in my organization - in fact, I am still looking for someone to handle Africa or Asia. Interested?
The ONLY place where I expect the digital bit stream to have any problem is in the DAC (or when the sampling for the ADC). The BER (bit error rate) in a standard digital link at 192KHz audio is going to be on the order of 10^-10, which means 1error in every 18minutes of audio. I doubt even trained ears can notice a 1bit error over that interval. And heck, the interface is probably even better - 10^-12 BER isn't out of reach.
As for jitter: if you have a 30KHz signal, which only your audiophile dog can hear, a 10ps jitter RMS (which can be considered around 70ps pk-pk jitter) would be translated by the DAC into >115dB SNR; and it would not introduce distortion, only noise ( a good chunk of it would be then filtered out by the system lowpass filters in the audio stream). If you are dealing with a 3KHz tone, then the SNR would be >135dB.
I've had to fight jitter problems on high speed ADCs (100+MSPS) in the past; you have to do BPF and clock divider techniques there; audio systems don't need that. To me, 192KHz is DC. The wavelength of the ~10Mbit/s interface clock is around 100ft - and for a digital system you would only close the eye by 1% with a 1foot mismatch.
Actually, no - the companies pay fines when they are caught. Besides - you don't want to have laws enforced in this country?
My understanding is that the GPU teams are much less rigorous than the CPU teams, in terms of design and test. Right now, ATI is becoming much more disciplined than NVidia due to AMD's influence. The GPU guys historically could get away with being sloppy, since it really meant video artifacts and somebody dying in a game. For CPUs, a mistake could cost a lot of money possibly someone dying in reality; as a result, Intel and AMD were much more thorough in there methodologies. Now, with CPU and GPU melding and critical processing being run on the GPU portion, sloppiness is not acceptable.
I really think that AMD has a good head start here - I don't think that Intel can make a good GPU, and NVidia has a long road ahead in making a CPU (x86 or x64).
This affects the CPU market, where it is pretty much accepted that Intel has a dominant position. If you can't see how a compiler can affect a CPU's performance, then you may be on the wrong website.
The point is that this is ONE ASPECT of Intel's anti-competitive practices, all of which were focused on controlling the CPU marketplace.
Optimizing cross platform is not an easy thing to do, its doable, but why should Intel have to develop optimizations for AMD?
Right, but if a CPU supports a given optimization that Intel already has and uses, it is wrong to simply disable that optimization solely because the CPU is not an Intel chip. That is what is happening.
So basically, Intel made an extra effort to ensure that the compiler would work worse with competitor's CPUs. The code to check the supported extensions was already in the compiler and AMD's chips respond in a compliant manner to indicate which ones they support.
If the AMD chip was changed only in that it would respond that it is a GenuineINTEL, code compiled on Intel's compiler would produce a significant improvement in performance. While AMD is far from perfect, their CPUs are price competitive with equivalent Intel chips. If it weren't for AMD, we would still be paying >$1000 for a Pentium 4. That's why I generally avoid buying Intel chips - they're the top dog, yet they don't play fair.
NVidia hasn't let ATI do anything. Actually, NVidia is dealing with a series of problems - from serious packaging problems last year to TSMC yield issues now. ATI/AMD has been really effective lately; NVidia historically had a dominant position, but definitely not a monopoly, and I'll say that they have slipped a lot recently. Things change fast in the GPU race, so NVidia may recover quickly. But ATI/AMD have a solid amount of momentum, and the only real execution problem I've seen them make in the last few months in GPUs has been to rely on TSMC.
Take a look at the Dell Zino HD - it combines AMD's 'just enough CPU' with top end GPU to make a very compelling system. Intel has cut NVidia out of the chipsets, so they don't get the synergy that AMD has with ATI.
AMD is definitely better situated for the long haul than NVidia, and actually may be better off than Intel for complete systems.
The simple truth is Intel can't do anything but CPUs (and maybe chipsets). Anytime they go outside of their comfort zone, they get smacked around.
Errr - since the phone company gets paid every time they provide the data, I doubt they put any roadblocks in the process.
There is a significant difference between political censorship and child pornography/gay marriage. And too bad if a democracy wants to censor itself. I'm pretty sure that the US government would like searches for My Lai, tuskegee airmen, japanese internment camps to look better, but they don't censor that. While Germans aren't proud of the Nazi era atrocities, they are not suppressing the past. A democracy which suppresses its history is one on a fast track to tyranny.
I also found the MSI wind barebones to be great - quiet, low power (30W with a normal, not a "green", 500G HD), and cheap. For 2GB RAM, 500G HD, it was less than $220. I installed Ubuntu Server, and it works like an appliance.
I like it better than some of the other cheap alternatives, such as the Linksys NSLU2 because you also get Gigabit ethernet on it.
Actually, FPS games, while using a keyboard and mouse, use a different interface than Windows. How many applications and windows are you managing while playing a game? For FPS, 90% is just one window.
The NSLU2 is too slow - no gigabit, processor too slow, too little memory. I recently dumped my NSLU2 and went with an MSI Wind nettop - only $140 for the box and $25 for 2Gig of memory. Add $90 for a 1TB drive, and you completely blow away a NSLU2 in performance.
Ubuntu Server with webmin. Solid and quiet print server/NAS. Set it up and I haven't needed to look at it for months.
I've had nothing but bad luck with HP multi-functions. The last one I tried couldn't send a fax, but could receive a fax. So I've gone to Canons. Cheaper to buy, ink is cheaper, and they work great.
Maybe they are coming out with a Apple ][ emulator, and it represents too much competition...
Having to jailbreak your own phone is a big deal. Jailbreaking undercuts any argument of "It just works on Apple..." The main thing is I do not like Apple (and/or AT&T?) being able to restrict what app I can run on my phone. If the situation were reversed (i.e. the iPhone didn't need to be jailbreaked but the Palm did), then there would be no end of derision on the Palm Pre for that from the Apple fanbois.
Now, that said, there is a possibility that Palm will be restrictive on which apps it allows into the store. But Palm does have a history of openness that the iPhone does not, so it is not that likely.
I really wish they had chosen some other word - searching for "C++ concepts" gets a lot of introduction to c++ programming websites (yes, I know the trick is to search for "C+0x concepts"). When you pick a word to describe what you are doing, either pick a more accurate description that is unambiguous. Maybe they could have gone with something like "Formalized Templates".
Check out Capilano's Designworks. There is both Mac & Windows (no Linux) versions. I have used several different schematic capture packages, and Designworks is really very good. In all honesty, I have found Orcad to crash way too often. In fact I've had Orcad crash so bad that a reinstall was necessary. Thankfully, this was an older version (11 I think).
Actually, it seems that merely being able to use divide on a calculator makes a lot of slashdotters think they are so smart. You think 1/11M reported incidents is the rate at which incidents occur. However, what is the ratio of reported to unreported incidents? I would bet that it is maybe even 10x higher. Quite realistically, the number of failures could be 150.
How many people with Firestone tires on Ford Explorers wound up replacing them instead of having accidents?
Well, then your answer speaks for itself. Apple had to actively disable the compatibility. Your example of Windows cruft does not apply, since Apple has no obligation to ensure that the Pre can sync, but the explicit action of finding out how the Pre faked being an Ipod and then disabling it shows an active hostility to users.
So you should let your neighbor's kid break all of your windows now, since there is a chance one day he might accidentally break some of them playing baseball...
The D+/D- wires are differential, in which the signal is coupled, and so it will radiate and affect the ground current much less - probably by 2+ orders of magnitude, compared to single-ended signals.
If you want to count Doctors of Medicine and Dentists as experts in climate science, sure, there are 31000 scientists.
In what way is this better than GNUPlot?
I had to move from win2000 to vista recently on my homebuilt (the ATI video cards don't support 2000 anymore!). Because it is a pretty high end machine, it is pretty good most of the time. 2000 would respond instantly, while vista typically still gives a small lag. However, the biggest pain with vista is that it will occasionally ignore my input for several seconds! I think that Win7 simply tweaked the user responsiveness while not improving overall throughput. That is probably enough.