Socket 940 is for Opterons, not Athlon64-FX chips. It allows additional HyperTransport links (IIRC 3 more than Socket 939) for connection to other CPUs. Thus, only the Socket 940 is suitable for multiprocessor machines. This comes at the expense of requiring a more expensive six-layer mainboard, while a four-layer mainboard will do for Socket 939.
Other differences are in supported memory. Socket 940 systems require registered RAM and will support ECC. Socket 939 systems use "normal" RAM and will not support ECC.
Bottom line: Socket 940 systems are more expensive, but only Socket 940 will give you access to certain "high end" features.
This might depend on how fast Intel can deliver its dual-core Pentium M in 65 nm (Codename Yonah). If it is available in early 2006 as promised, Apple will have no reason to switch to AMD. If it is, however, vaporware, you might be right.
OK, remove the 30% of hispanic, black, and asian from your study, and you have a population whose genetic makeup is quite close to the EU. In terms of diets and exercise habits, I think the differences are small enough - both EU and USA are industrial countries with similar culture (lots of mutual influences). I guess doing such a study is easier than you suggest.
Heh. I guess grandparent was not concerned about winning wars in Iraq, but more about undesirable characters removing themselves from the gene pool through stupid wars. Considering the 'devoutly and unquestioningly religous' aka religious crackpots, I actually agree with him.
First, speak for yorself. I am an european and would prefer a Federal Europe over the current mess.
Second, the EU council is not directly elected. Its members are delegates of the governments, who are usually indirectly elected. In Germany, for instance, parliament is elected directly but then the strongest faction elects a chancellor, who will then put together a cabinet, usually from members of his party. Some of these cabinet members do then represent the government in the EU council. That is pretty indirect;-)
Third, if you study the process in detail, you will find that the EU Council has a stronger position than EU Parliament. First, only the Council can initiate new directives. Second, if council and parliament disagree, the EU Council version goes through unless the parliament rejects it with an absolute majority of its members. Which means EU Parliament is not totally powerless, but it can only block Council proposals and these only with difficulty. This falls far short of an adaequate balance of powers.
The EU is NOT a federal country. It has very little power over member states. The parliament has a consultative function but no real authority over member states. The Commission is just an administrative body and has no real power either. The EU Council has the power, it's basically a board room where EU countries negociate stuff. States are represented in the Council by the Heads of States not by anonymous European civil servants as you imply.
This is a correct but incomplete description of the status quo. The rub is that member states are obliged by EU contract to adjust their laws to the content of EU directives. This implies a transfer of legislative powers to the government-controlled EU Council, which undermines the checks and balances a democracy should have. To continue your US analogy without federal government: Imagine a council of State Governors could create directives that have to be integrated into state law, unless the states want to break the US constitution.
An acceptable way of fixing this would be to give more power to the EU parliament. This would turn the EU parliament into a body with powers similar to Congress, and restore a proper balance between government and parliament.
From what I've read about this technology, it is not very good at fast switching or fine color resolution. You might, however, have better luck with OLED displays. Prototypes of those already exist, but the lifetimes are still to short for an economically viable product. When that is sufficiently improved: Hello, new generation of PC displays!
In my experience, XP doesn't survive a complete-machine-swap very well anyway - it's safest to do a clean re-install. Neither does Win2000. We tried with two similar but not identical Dell workstations. Ended up reinstalling anyway.
Yes, DOD is still going strong. Exclusively on Steam, however (you can open the necessary Steam account with the CD key from Half-Life 1). WON has been shut down.
A good point for standard parts, but it does not apply to hardware that is only available from one vendor. Assume, for instance, that ATI opens the specs for their Radeon 9600/9800 products. In this case, the Nvidia products with similar performance would hardly be "wire compatible". I bet that reengineering their chips to be ATI compatible at register level would cost Nvidia more than releasing their own specs.
While it is not an MMORPG, the WW2 shooter Day Of Defeat has classes without being unbalanced overall. Each of the classes is superior in some situations and inferior in others. Actually, the game would lose in variety and tactical depth without classes. As it is, the Scissor-Paper-Stone character enhances gameplay. A little, simplified overview over DOD classes: -Rifleman: A good allround class, best at medium range combat -Sniper: superior at long ranges. A must have on maps like "Charlie" (D-Day) with its wide beach, but even there other classes are necessary for the assault too. Really weak in close combat. -Machine gunner: Devastating when deployed, but highly vulnerable on the move and while setting up his gun. At long range, frequently picked off by snipers. At short range, he has difficulties in runnning from hand grenades because picking up the gun takes more time for him. -Submachine gunner: the best class for storming buildings, but has difficulty hitting things at a distance.
When it comes to PvP that is terrible. In PvP, the healing classes are almost always terrible in every game. The alternative is that you get priests that are Shadow Specced (WoW) or Smite Priests (DAoC) and they are nearly useless when you need a healer on a raid.
Heh. Neocron managed to do this the other way round. The PPU aka "passive psi user" is OK in solo play. He does not do much offensive damage but is very hard to kill because he can cast his protective spells on himself.
As healer on a raid, however, he boosts the efficience of the other classes to a point where a group without PPU has no chances in PvP. This has led to lots of angry discussions on the forum, with language like "PPU butt plug" not being uncommon.
The biggest challenge is ditching preconceptions of what can and can't be accomplished with the current technology, and learning to work with the available materials. Bring on the plexiglass, cardboard, wood and PCBs. And machining wax, for making molds. Sounds like a major limitation. For parts that have to take high mechanical stress, having the option to use steel would be a major advantage. Let alone exotic stuff like making your own semiconductors...
Good point, but the availability of halfway cheap home manufacturing would at least cut down on the ridiculous prices frequently charged for spare parts and acessoirs. Like a $300 new lid for your laptop (without display!) because the hinges broke off.
No, they shouldn't be. We don't expect our cars, sophisticated pieces of engineering that they are, to just sit and work like TVs and VCRs do. We all internally know that every once in a while we've gotta get the oil changed and check the fluid levels.
Even if we don't do it ourselves (ie, we take it to a shop), we know that it needs to be serviced and we have the appropriate work done.
PCs are the same thing. They require periodic maintenance to get rid of viruses and spyware and the like, as well as uninstalling grandma beatrices crapware program that she insisted on installing because Yahoo! told her it was a good idea.
In terms of viruses and spyware, sloppy default security (hello Microsoft!) is responsible for a lot of the trouble. Maybe things will improve with MS paying more attention to security. At least they seem to try now, SP2 for WinXP indicates that MS is even willing to accept some application breakage in order to get security cleaned up.
Considering crapware programs a user insisted to install, an appliance-like computer could force programs to limit their installation to an application directory which could simply be deleted later. No changes to system files, no unannounced upgrade to the latest DirectX version. In terms of flexibility, such a system would be halfwy between a PC as we know it and a game console like the XBox.
Of course, this would be an even bigger step than SP2 for WinXP, and people like you and me might dislike such a restricted system. But for people who only want to use their PC, it might be attractive.
This is so true. I've noticed how many of my friends (I'm 27) took so long to get moved out of their parents houses. Even then, they live like bachelor slobs in Condos, not even a real house. So houses are cheap to rent where you live? In the Munich area where I live, I would be barely able to afford the rent for an entire house, let alone buy one. Never mind that I do not need that much room as a single. So I'd rather save the money to spend it later - maybe on raising a family. People who rent or buy expensive stuff just to create a "grown up" image are stupid and immature in my opinion.
Maybe because there are not many regimes in history who have openly advocated racial superiority. So if someone "finds it pleasant if everybody looks the same", thinking of the Nazis and their ideas of the master race is close at hand. It was the first thing I was reminded of too.
2.) Nausea - Several girls I know had this, there is talk of spacial awaareness. Claiming a weak stomach doesn't get your gender off the hook. WE WANT TO FRAG YOU COME ONLINE!.
I know a guy who has this problem too and dislikes FPS for that reason. As far as I understand him, the problem comes from his eyes and his inner ear giving him conflictig data about his movement.
Eyes: We're reunning and twisting through this maze Inner ear: I'm sitting in a chair and going nowhere
For some people, this causes motion sickness, and it is not limited to girls.
It can be done under certain circumstances: 1)The application is not too complex. 2)The project leader is good at designing on the fly AND has experience with similar applications, so he knows what works. 3)The team is small enough to work together closely, so the lack of careful pre-planning can be compensated by detecting mis-developments early. Usually goes hand in hand with 1)
Ignore one or more of these conditions, and disaster is likely.
Heh. Our management regularly violates 3) and 4), usually with 3) happening first and 4) going on after that. Without that kind of stupidity, even the occasional work on saturday I mentioned a few posts above would be unnecessary.
Ever considered working in another area of software development? I'm working for a big corp in the medical technology sector (control software for our devices and the like), and we have pretty regular hours. Occasionally, we work on Saturday to keep a deadline, but it is nothing compared to what I read about games development.
However, so long as there is no constraint against converting RAW images to another lossless format I'm not sure that this is a battle in which the camera companies can be accused of trying to pull a fast one on consumers RAW format seems the best starting format for achieving best results in image manipulation (at least that was the message of an earlier/. discussion). So the following comparison would not be unreasonable in a review: -For cameras whose RAW format is publicly available, start image processing from RAW. -For cameras with undocumented RAW formats, convert to something like.bmp first and work from that. -Compare the results. If the cameras with undocumented RAW formats loses review points from the extra format conversion - tough luck.
Considering the money a sucessful consultant brings home, turning contractor is indeed quite tempting. An important disadvantage, however, is that you have to be your own marketing department all of the time. This is not easy for everybody, and for me this is the main reason I have not jumped ship yet.
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Socket 940 is for Opterons, not Athlon64-FX chips. It allows additional HyperTransport links (IIRC 3 more than Socket 939) for connection to other CPUs. Thus, only the Socket 940 is suitable for multiprocessor machines. This comes at the expense of requiring a more expensive six-layer mainboard, while a four-layer mainboard will do for Socket 939.
Other differences are in supported memory. Socket 940 systems require registered RAM and will support ECC. Socket 939 systems use "normal" RAM and will not support ECC.
Bottom line:
Socket 940 systems are more expensive, but only Socket 940 will give you access to certain "high end" features.
This might depend on how fast Intel can deliver its dual-core Pentium M in 65 nm (Codename Yonah). If it is available in early 2006 as promised, Apple will have no reason to switch to AMD.
If it is, however, vaporware, you might be right.
OK, remove the 30% of hispanic, black, and asian from your study, and you have a population whose genetic makeup is quite close to the EU.
In terms of diets and exercise habits, I think the differences are small enough - both EU and USA are industrial countries with similar culture (lots of mutual influences).
I guess doing such a study is easier than you suggest.
Heh. I guess grandparent was not concerned about winning wars in Iraq, but more about undesirable characters removing themselves from the gene pool through stupid wars.
Considering the 'devoutly and unquestioningly religous' aka religious crackpots, I actually agree with him.
First, speak for yorself. I am an european and would prefer a Federal Europe over the current mess.
;-)
Second, the EU council is not directly elected. Its members are delegates of the governments, who are usually indirectly elected. In Germany, for instance, parliament is elected directly but then the strongest faction elects a chancellor, who will then put together a cabinet, usually from members of his party. Some of these cabinet members do then represent the government in the EU council. That is pretty indirect
Third, if you study the process in detail, you will find that the EU Council has a stronger position than EU Parliament. First, only the Council can initiate new directives. Second, if council and parliament disagree, the EU Council version goes through unless the parliament rejects it with an absolute majority of its members.
Which means EU Parliament is not totally powerless, but it can only block Council proposals and these only with difficulty. This falls far short of an adaequate balance of powers.
The EU is NOT a federal country. It has very little power over member states. The parliament has a consultative function but no real authority over member states. The Commission is just an administrative body and has no real power either. The EU Council has the power, it's basically a board room where EU countries negociate stuff. States are represented in the Council by the Heads of States not by anonymous European civil servants as you imply.
This is a correct but incomplete description of the status quo. The rub is that member states are obliged by EU contract to adjust their laws to the content of EU directives.
This implies a transfer of legislative powers to the government-controlled EU Council, which undermines the checks and balances a democracy should have. To continue your US analogy without federal government:
Imagine a council of State Governors could create directives that have to be integrated into state law, unless the states want to break the US constitution.
An acceptable way of fixing this would be to give more power to the EU parliament. This would turn the EU parliament into a body with powers similar to Congress, and restore a proper balance between government and parliament.
From what I've read about this technology, it is not very good at fast switching or fine color resolution.
You might, however, have better luck with OLED displays. Prototypes of those already exist, but the lifetimes are still to short for an economically viable product. When that is sufficiently improved:
Hello, new generation of PC displays!
I think it would be an awsome invention, and it might be called "cardboard"
In my experience, XP doesn't survive a complete-machine-swap very well anyway - it's safest to do a clean re-install.
Neither does Win2000. We tried with two similar but not identical Dell workstations. Ended up reinstalling anyway.
Yes, DOD is still going strong. Exclusively on Steam, however (you can open the necessary Steam account with the CD key from Half-Life 1). WON has been shut down.
A good point for standard parts, but it does not apply to hardware that is only available from one vendor.
Assume, for instance, that ATI opens the specs for their Radeon 9600/9800 products. In this case, the Nvidia products with similar performance would hardly be "wire compatible". I bet that reengineering their chips to be ATI compatible at register level would cost Nvidia more than releasing their own specs.
My comment to 6) and 8):
While it is not an MMORPG, the WW2 shooter Day Of Defeat has classes without being unbalanced overall. Each of the classes is superior in some situations and inferior in others. Actually, the game would lose in variety and tactical depth without classes. As it is, the Scissor-Paper-Stone character enhances gameplay.
A little, simplified overview over DOD classes:
-Rifleman: A good allround class, best at medium range combat
-Sniper: superior at long ranges. A must have on maps like "Charlie" (D-Day) with its wide beach, but even there other classes are necessary for the assault too. Really weak in close combat.
-Machine gunner: Devastating when deployed, but highly vulnerable on the move and while setting up his gun. At long range, frequently picked off by snipers. At short range, he has difficulties in runnning from hand grenades because picking up the gun takes more time for him.
-Submachine gunner: the best class for storming buildings, but has difficulty hitting things at a distance.
When it comes to PvP that is terrible. In PvP, the healing classes are almost always terrible in every game. The alternative is that you get priests that are Shadow Specced (WoW) or Smite Priests (DAoC) and they are nearly useless when you need a healer on a raid.
Heh. Neocron managed to do this the other way round. The PPU aka "passive psi user" is OK in solo play. He does not do much offensive damage but is very hard to kill because he can cast his protective spells on himself.
As healer on a raid, however, he boosts the efficience of the other classes to a point where a group without PPU has no chances in PvP. This has led to lots of angry discussions on the forum, with language like "PPU butt plug" not being uncommon.
The biggest challenge is ditching preconceptions of what can and can't be accomplished with the current technology, and learning to work with the available materials. Bring on the plexiglass, cardboard, wood and PCBs. And machining wax, for making molds.
Sounds like a major limitation. For parts that have to take high mechanical stress, having the option to use steel would be a major advantage.
Let alone exotic stuff like making your own semiconductors...
Good point, but the availability of halfway cheap home manufacturing would at least cut down on the ridiculous prices frequently charged for spare parts and acessoirs.
Like a $300 new lid for your laptop (without display!) because the hinges broke off.
No, they shouldn't be. We don't expect our cars, sophisticated pieces of engineering that they are, to just sit and work like TVs and VCRs do. We all internally know that every once in a while we've gotta get the oil changed and check the fluid levels.
Even if we don't do it ourselves (ie, we take it to a shop), we know that it needs to be serviced and we have the appropriate work done.
PCs are the same thing. They require periodic maintenance to get rid of viruses and spyware and the like, as well as uninstalling grandma beatrices crapware program that she insisted on installing because Yahoo! told her it was a good idea.
In terms of viruses and spyware, sloppy default security (hello Microsoft!) is responsible for a lot of the trouble. Maybe things will improve with MS paying more attention to security. At least they seem to try now, SP2 for WinXP indicates that MS is even willing to accept some application breakage in order to get security cleaned up.
Considering crapware programs a user insisted to install, an appliance-like computer could force programs to limit their installation to an application directory which could simply be deleted later. No changes to system files, no unannounced upgrade to the latest DirectX version. In terms of flexibility, such a system would be halfwy between a PC as we know it and a game console like the XBox.
Of course, this would be an even bigger step than SP2 for WinXP, and people like you and me might dislike such a restricted system. But for people who only want to use their PC, it might be attractive.
This is so true. I've noticed how many of my friends (I'm 27) took so long to get moved out of their parents houses. Even then, they live like bachelor slobs in Condos, not even a real house.
So houses are cheap to rent where you live? In the Munich area where I live, I would be barely able to afford the rent for an entire house, let alone buy one.
Never mind that I do not need that much room as a single. So I'd rather save the money to spend it later - maybe on raising a family.
People who rent or buy expensive stuff just to create a "grown up" image are stupid and immature in my opinion.
Maybe because there are not many regimes in history who have openly advocated racial superiority.
So if someone "finds it pleasant if everybody looks the same", thinking of the Nazis and their ideas of the master race is close at hand. It was the first thing I was reminded of too.
2.) Nausea - Several girls I know had this, there is talk of spacial awaareness. Claiming a weak stomach doesn't get your gender off the hook. WE WANT TO FRAG YOU COME ONLINE!.
I know a guy who has this problem too and dislikes FPS for that reason. As far as I understand him, the problem comes from his eyes and his inner ear giving him conflictig data about his movement.
Eyes: We're reunning and twisting through this maze
Inner ear: I'm sitting in a chair and going nowhere
For some people, this causes motion sickness, and it is not limited to girls.
It can be done under certain circumstances:
1)The application is not too complex.
2)The project leader is good at designing on the fly AND has experience with similar applications, so he knows what works.
3)The team is small enough to work together closely, so the lack of careful pre-planning can be compensated by detecting mis-developments early. Usually goes hand in hand with 1)
Ignore one or more of these conditions, and disaster is likely.
Heh. Our management regularly violates 3) and 4), usually with 3) happening first and 4) going on after that. Without that kind of stupidity, even the occasional work on saturday I mentioned a few posts above would be unnecessary.
Ever considered working in another area of software development?
I'm working for a big corp in the medical technology sector (control software for our devices and the like), and we have pretty regular hours. Occasionally, we work on Saturday to keep a deadline, but it is nothing compared to what I read about games development.
Or will the hardware support remain limited to Apple-specific hardware? An X86 CPU does not automatically mean support for the average PC.
However, so long as there is no constraint against converting RAW images to another lossless format I'm not sure that this is a battle in which the camera companies can be accused of trying to pull a fast one on consumers /. discussion). .bmp first and work from that.
RAW format seems the best starting format for achieving best results in image manipulation (at least that was the message of an earlier
So the following comparison would not be unreasonable in a review:
-For cameras whose RAW format is publicly available, start image processing from RAW.
-For cameras with undocumented RAW formats, convert to something like
-Compare the results. If the cameras with undocumented RAW formats loses review points from the extra format conversion - tough luck.
Considering the money a sucessful consultant brings home, turning contractor is indeed quite tempting.
An important disadvantage, however, is that you have to be your own marketing department all of the time. This is not easy for everybody, and for me this is the main reason I have not jumped ship yet.