It's not just a music player...
on
Empeg Shipping
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· Score: 2
I have not seen anyone comment on the fact that this is not just a MP3 player, its a Linux System for your vehicle. It's open! That means you can add new software, or use it in ways other than it's original designers intended. It has a USB port and a Serial port as wel as IRDA ports. What kind of peripherals can you connect? I think you'll be seeing car control boxes that will interface to the Empeg soon. Or home use, have the Empeg control your entire Audio/Video stack using it's IR port. It's about time that Audio and Video gear became Open, I'd love to be able to get into the embedded processors in my VCR and home Stereo, I could change the operating modes, fix annoying user interface bugs and do other cool hacks. I'd like to get into my DSS box, not to steal service, but to redo the user interface, store an entire weeks worth of show descriptions and times so I dont have to wait for the next download. Improve the search engine, add multiple timers, etc.
I think they dont want the hassle of some clueless Linux user calling and bitching about their support. There are people in the world like that... Its the same type of person who buys a new lawnmower and sticks his hand in the blade and then sues the manufacturer for negligence. they just dont want to deal with it in any way. On the other hand, probably 1/2 of the Windows users are clueless, but they can handhold a monkey through most of the Windows config issues. Not to mention the fact that MSCEs are a dime a dozen, and they are grossely over qualified to do ADSL support work.
Your passwd file.. No I dont see any use for MS to get that, but.. How about a list of all the Apps you run, Marketing would love that.. The Serial numbers of all your MS software, or any other SPA protected code on your machine... Yepp, I see Legal slavering over that.. How about the top 10 websites you visit, mmmm good for market research and popup ads targetted at you via your GUID cookie. MS does own one of the biggest banner ad sites now, you dont think they let all those demographics in the server logs go to waste? Compared to the security holes created by Java and Javascript, ActiveX is a canyon. Having that on my system would be like allowing people to upload Perl scripts and then run them as CGIs, sandboxing that sort of thing is very difficult. My concern with MS directly snooping is for my privacy. The rest of the net using the MS 'features' as exploits is the real risk, remember 'Back Orifice' ? With Closed Source API's, there's all sorts of holes waiting to be exploited with only a few eyes looking over the code to make sure its secure.
Oh, I dont know... Microsoft does seem to have a disregard for privacy. Remember the GUID's that all their apps tack into documents. Then there's the infamous 'registration' data dumps that send a list of all your apps back to MS to 'help with compatability problems'. Then there's the forced internet registration of Office 2K or else the program shuts down after 30 days. Of course they had the 'no-DRDOS' code inserted into Windows so it would crash if run ontop of DR-DOS.
Microsoft has a very well documented history of inserting Trojan Horse code in their programs.
So I think that any MS code on my machine will never run with anything near root privilege. Actually, given my experience with MS code on my Mac, I'll never let a byte of it on my Linux machine. MS can write acceptable code for their own platform, but anything they do for other platforms really has been sub-standard in my experience.
Who really cards if some PHB chooses NT for their IT, if it work for them its fine. But, if their competition chooses Linux and they succeed in the market because they have lower costs of operation then they have a market advantage. Companies base decisions on cost and profit, if Linux is the way to profit, the smart companies will choose it, the dumb ones will choose something else. Think of it as evolution in action. If you have a business advantage, you will be the stronger company. The dinosaurs will die out, Linux will continue to evolve. I run a w3 hosting business, I run it on NT, 3 years ago NT was the best thing to run with, today, things are changing. I'm migrating my systems to Linux, NT has become too unstable and expensive to upgrade to W2K. Linux has stabilized and the tools I need are becoming more polished and plentiful. I have to switch to Linux to keep up with the market, or I will become un-competitive and fold eventually. I'm sure a lot of smart IT managers at doing the same, the dumb ones aren't, too bad for them... I'll still keep a few NT boxes around, I have a Mac also. Some clients will still use legacy systems and I'll support them. It's business, not religion...
I'd suspect that the chip vendors dont want to release design details because it would open the door to patent infringement lawsuits. I'm sure they all use each others designs to some extent, keeping the details under wraps is the best way to keep the other guys guessing.
Note that the NSA 'suggestions' to DES turned out to be fixes to protect against an attack that was not discoered and described openly for more than 10 years after the DES was released. If this new RSA attack is out today, I'd have to assume that the NSA has had this sort of technology for at least 10 years.
Hmm, I wonder when K.T. last tried Linux? Kernel 0.99 maybe? Linux has a ways to go before it's to the 'ease of use' level of MSWin or MacOS, but it's stability is solid now. He does have a point about it being more a response to MS than something orthagonal like Plan9. People like KT live for orthagonal ideas and originality, the Linux scene is more Postmodern.
Now that compression he talked about, I can believe it's a lot better than MP3, the Telcos live for squeezing a few bits out of a phone conversation. I'd think most of their algorithms are optimized for voice, not music. I'm sure it's patented to hell and back, little chance for the opensource crowd getting a look under the hood. On the other hand, patents do expire, and the Telcos have been into digital compression for a long time, maybe there's something in the archives worth using...
I've always wanted a front panel for my PC, like my Altair's With the address bus and maybe the IRQ's and other status signals brought out to one of the 5 1/4 drive bays. Maybe put a few switches up there, reset, run/stop, NMI come to mind..
One cool thing I did see once, someone built a resistor ladder D/A converter with the address bus, put the top 1/2 to Horz and the bottom 1/2 to Vert on an old monitor deflection yoke, the patterns while executing code were pretty neat. You could see subroutines and OS calls run when different areas of the CRT lit up.
The one problem I have with leaving PC cases open is that the RF emissions will kill my radio and TV reception. I also wonder what the FCC thinks about these cases?
I have a DSS for most of my TV, but the local stuff, especially StarTrek and the other shows on UPN are not on the DSS.
I like the idea of 'Sandbenders' mentioned in one of Neal Shephenson's books. They took laptops and put them in fancy wood and metal cases. When the machine became obsolete, they'd take it back and update the innards as the case was more valuable than the electronics. Every machine was a unique piece of art custom made for the owner.
Yeah, sure, blame the parents, someone's got to be crucified, it's the American way..
If these kids were as smart as the reports, they kept the stuff hidden till the last minute, after that, why bother hiding it. Probably explains the stuff left out in the homes. They had planned this for a year, probably had caches of stuff hidden all over waiting for the big day. I had my stash in the house when I was a kid, there way no way anyone would have found it without using dogs or metal detectors. Even then, they'd have had to unscrew panels and take things apart to get to my hiding places. I could have kept guns, even rifles, hidden in the air ducts in the house. Its a good thing these two were smarter, it sounds like they were on the way to building Fuel-Air Explosives, those pack more punch than mere pipebombs. The SWAT team found Propane tanks in the school, if they had worked, they would have made the school look like OKC.
The unrelenting stress placed on them slowly made them go insane, the most deadly killers are made this way. Their peers are the ones who bear most of the blame for this.
Temp cycling or chip-board differential is what'll kill your CPU As long as you keep the board and CPU both at the same temperature and dont turn the coolers off more than once a day, you'll be OK. Otherwise the thermal expansion difference between the chip and the board will build up stress in the solderballs that attach the chip to the board and eventually crack them. We did that as part of chip Package Qualification. 1000 cycles and no failures were necessary to pass Qual. Your other problem is that commercial chips are not characterized to run below 0C, so you may work ok, maybe not, the usual overclocking problems apply. Not all parts of the chip may work correctly below 0C. The other thing is, the package may be at -50C, but the die really is at the ThetaJC*PowerDissipation. A good package is about 1/2 Deg/Watt, a 600MHZ PIII is probably burning about 40 watts, so If the case is at -50C, the die is at -30C. -55C is what Military parts are tested at. They are also constructed differently than commercial grade parts to deal with the Mil Temps -55/125C.
Dont forget to add $10 - $20 shipping on every item. Lo ball prices on Pricewatch also have the highest shipping costs, go to the website of the company and work through the shopping cart to get the real price. Also consider that you will get no support on that system other than the individual component maker's web pages. Not what a consumer buyer wants to deal with, hardware hackers may not mind this lack of support.
PS, find a 10/100 card for $15 that has any sort of driver support... good luck, even used cards go for more than $15. Same for your $40 modem, that's a WinModem.. Feh.. IR pins may be on the MB, but the transceiver is not, its about $25. $5 for a keyboard? maybe a used one. Also the iMac has a 15".26DP, multiscan Trinitron, you're not going to get anything like that for $100.
Face it, for what you get, the iMac is the best deal for the market segment that would buy such a machine, no PC can touch it as an integrated, complete system.
Shouldnt ESR have gone to BP and RMS first with the APSL and asked 'What do you think?' From all that I have read, he didnt do this, it was announced publicly 'yea verily this is Open Source' and that was that. BP and RMS didnt agree and they said so.
You know what is really funny... If Katz had made even a single spelling or punctuation error, the AC's would be all over him. Now if Taco makes a dozen, it's 'oh, but he isn't a writer, accuracy isn't necessary' 'scuze me? He's a coder, accuracy is EVERYTHING.. A single transposed digit can make a rocket crash, this has happened more than once.
Are what make the Simpsons still worth watching... On the list of '10 codes' the one below 'Blabber mouth telling secrets' was a 10-39 'I love you gay buddy'
Please, for your own sake, find an Anime club that still has the subtitled version and watch THAT.. Disney will butcher the sound and voices. Probably have some stupid moralistic song as the theme Also, look for Laputa - Castle in the Sky, it's excellent, as are all Miyazaki films.
The students also said that the equipment didnt work and that the instructors were unprepared. That is what they were paying for after all, working computers and instructors. I've had to go to the Dean before to complain about incompetant profs before, one of which was a department head. If more students did this, schools would weed out incompetant faculty and education would improve.
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I have not seen anyone comment on the fact that this is not just a MP3 player, its a Linux System for your vehicle. It's open! That means you can add new software, or use it in ways other than it's original designers intended. It has a USB port and a Serial port as wel as IRDA ports. What kind of peripherals can you connect? I think you'll be seeing car control boxes that will interface to the Empeg soon. Or home use, have the Empeg control your entire Audio/Video stack using it's IR port.
It's about time that Audio and Video gear became Open, I'd love to be able to get into the embedded processors in my VCR and home Stereo, I could change the operating modes, fix annoying user interface bugs and do other cool hacks.
I'd like to get into my DSS box, not to steal service, but to redo the user interface, store an entire weeks worth of show descriptions and times so I dont have to wait for the next download. Improve the search engine, add multiple timers, etc.
I think they dont want the hassle of some clueless Linux user calling and bitching about their support. There are people in the world like that... Its the same type of person who buys a new lawnmower and sticks his hand in the blade and then sues the manufacturer for negligence. they just dont want to deal with it in any way. On the other hand, probably 1/2 of the Windows users are clueless, but they can handhold a monkey through most of the Windows config issues. Not to mention the fact that MSCEs are a dime a dozen, and they are grossely over qualified to do ADSL support work.
Your passwd file.. No I dont see any use for MS to get that, but..
How about a list of all the Apps you run, Marketing would love that..
The Serial numbers of all your MS software, or any other SPA protected code on your machine... Yepp, I see Legal slavering over that..
How about the top 10 websites you visit, mmmm good for market research and popup ads targetted at you via your GUID cookie. MS does own one of the biggest banner ad sites now, you dont think they let all those demographics in the server logs go to waste?
Compared to the security holes created by Java and Javascript, ActiveX is a canyon. Having that on my system would be like allowing people to upload Perl scripts and then run them as CGIs, sandboxing that sort of thing is very difficult.
My concern with MS directly snooping is for my privacy. The rest of the net using the MS 'features' as exploits is the real risk, remember 'Back Orifice' ?
With Closed Source API's, there's all sorts of holes waiting to be exploited with only a few eyes looking over the code to make sure its secure.
Oh, I dont know... Microsoft does seem to have a disregard for privacy. Remember the GUID's that all their apps tack into documents. Then there's the infamous 'registration' data dumps that send a list of all your apps back to MS to 'help with compatability problems'. Then there's the forced internet registration of Office 2K or else the program shuts down after 30 days. Of course they had the 'no-DRDOS' code inserted into Windows so it would crash if run ontop of DR-DOS.
Microsoft has a very well documented history of inserting Trojan Horse code in their programs.
So I think that any MS code on my machine will never run with anything near root privilege.
Actually, given my experience with MS code on my Mac, I'll never let a byte of it on my Linux machine. MS can write acceptable code for their own platform, but anything they do for other platforms really has been sub-standard in my experience.
Who really cards if some PHB chooses NT for their IT, if it work for them its fine. But, if their competition chooses Linux and they succeed in the market because they have lower costs of operation then they have a market advantage. Companies base decisions on cost and profit, if Linux is the way to profit, the smart companies will choose it, the dumb ones will choose something else. Think of it as evolution in action. If you have a business advantage, you will be the stronger company. The dinosaurs will die out, Linux will continue to evolve.
I run a w3 hosting business, I run it on NT, 3 years ago NT was the best thing to run with, today, things are changing. I'm migrating my systems to Linux, NT has become too unstable and expensive to upgrade to W2K. Linux has stabilized and the tools I need are becoming more polished and plentiful. I have to switch to Linux to keep up with the market, or I will become un-competitive and fold eventually. I'm sure a lot of smart IT managers at doing the same, the dumb ones aren't, too bad for them...
I'll still keep a few NT boxes around, I have a Mac also. Some clients will still use legacy systems and I'll support them. It's business, not religion...
I'd suspect that the chip vendors dont want to release design details because it would open the door to patent infringement lawsuits. I'm sure they all use each others designs to some extent, keeping the details under wraps is the best way to keep the other guys guessing.
Note that the NSA 'suggestions' to DES turned out to be fixes to protect against an attack that was not discoered and described openly for more than 10 years after the DES was released. If this new RSA attack is out today, I'd have to assume that the NSA has had this sort of technology for at least 10 years.
4096 bit keys anyone???
Hmm, I wonder when K.T. last tried Linux? Kernel 0.99 maybe? Linux has a ways to go before it's to the 'ease of use' level of MSWin or MacOS, but it's stability is solid now. He does have a point about it being more a response to MS than something orthagonal like Plan9. People like KT live for orthagonal ideas and originality, the Linux scene is more Postmodern.
Now that compression he talked about, I can believe it's a lot better than MP3, the Telcos live for squeezing a few bits out of a phone conversation. I'd think most of their algorithms are optimized for voice, not music. I'm sure it's patented to hell and back, little chance for the opensource crowd getting a look under the hood.
On the other hand, patents do expire, and the Telcos have been into digital compression for a long time, maybe there's something in the archives worth using...
I've always wanted a front panel for my PC, like my Altair's With the address bus and maybe the IRQ's and other status signals brought out to one of the 5 1/4 drive bays. Maybe put a few switches up there, reset, run/stop, NMI come to mind..
One cool thing I did see once, someone built a resistor ladder D/A converter with the address bus, put the top 1/2 to Horz and the bottom 1/2 to Vert on an old monitor deflection yoke, the patterns while executing code were pretty neat. You could see subroutines and OS calls run when different areas of the CRT lit up.
The one problem I have with leaving PC cases open is that the RF emissions will kill my radio and TV reception. I also wonder what the FCC thinks about these cases?
I have a DSS for most of my TV, but the local stuff, especially StarTrek and the other shows on UPN are not on the DSS.
I like the idea of 'Sandbenders' mentioned in one of Neal Shephenson's books. They took laptops and put them in fancy wood and metal cases. When the machine became obsolete, they'd take it back and update the innards as the case was more valuable than the electronics. Every machine was a unique piece of art custom made for the owner.
Yeah, sure, blame the parents, someone's got to be crucified, it's the American way..
If these kids were as smart as the reports, they kept the stuff hidden till the last minute, after that, why bother hiding it. Probably explains the stuff left out in the homes. They had planned this for a year, probably had caches of stuff hidden all over waiting for the big day.
I had my stash in the house when I was a kid, there way no way anyone would have found it without using dogs or metal detectors. Even then, they'd have had to unscrew panels and take things apart to get to my hiding places. I could have kept guns, even rifles, hidden in the air ducts in the house. Its a good thing these two were smarter, it sounds like they were on the way to building Fuel-Air Explosives, those pack more punch than mere pipebombs. The SWAT team found Propane tanks in the school, if they had worked, they would have made the school look like OKC.
The unrelenting stress placed on them slowly made them go insane, the most deadly killers are made this way. Their peers are the ones who bear most of the blame for this.
Temp cycling or chip-board differential is what'll kill your CPU
As long as you keep the board and CPU both at the same temperature and dont turn the coolers off more than once a day, you'll be OK.
Otherwise the thermal expansion difference between the chip and the board will build up stress in the solderballs that attach the chip to the board and eventually crack them. We did that as part of chip Package Qualification. 1000 cycles and no failures were necessary to pass Qual.
Your other problem is that commercial chips are not characterized to run below 0C, so you may work ok, maybe not, the usual overclocking problems apply. Not all parts of the chip may work correctly below 0C.
The other thing is, the package may be at -50C, but the die really is at the ThetaJC*PowerDissipation. A good package is about 1/2 Deg/Watt, a 600MHZ PIII is probably burning about 40 watts, so If the case is at -50C, the die is at -30C.
-55C is what Military parts are tested at. They are also constructed differently than commercial grade parts to deal with the Mil Temps -55/125C.
Dont forget to add $10 - $20 shipping on every item. Lo ball prices on Pricewatch also have the highest shipping costs, go to the website of the company and work through the shopping cart to get the real price.
.26DP, multiscan Trinitron, you're not going to get anything like that for $100.
Also consider that you will get no support on that system other than the individual component maker's web pages. Not what a consumer buyer wants to deal with, hardware hackers may not mind this lack of support.
PS, find a 10/100 card for $15 that has any sort of driver support... good luck, even used cards go for more than $15. Same for your $40 modem, that's a WinModem.. Feh..
IR pins may be on the MB, but the transceiver is not, its about $25.
$5 for a keyboard? maybe a used one.
Also the iMac has a 15"
Face it, for what you get, the iMac is the best deal for the market segment that would buy such a machine, no PC can touch it as an integrated, complete system.
I like the DISFUNCTIONAL Family Circus...
Look it up, it's a real hoot...
Shouldnt ESR have gone to BP and RMS first with the APSL and asked 'What do you think?'
From all that I have read, he didnt do this, it was announced publicly 'yea verily this is Open Source' and that was that. BP and RMS didnt agree and they said so.
You know what is really funny... If Katz had made even a single spelling or punctuation error, the AC's would be all over him. Now if Taco makes a dozen, it's 'oh, but he isn't a writer, accuracy isn't necessary' 'scuze me? He's a coder, accuracy is EVERYTHING.. A single transposed digit can make a rocket crash, this has happened more than once.
Are what make the Simpsons still worth watching...
On the list of '10 codes' the one below 'Blabber mouth telling secrets' was a 10-39 'I love you gay buddy'
Please, for your own sake, find an Anime club
that still has the subtitled version and watch THAT.. Disney will butcher the sound and voices. Probably have some stupid moralistic song as the theme
Also, look for Laputa - Castle in the Sky, it's excellent, as are all Miyazaki films.
OK, so I'm Otaku....
The students also said that the equipment didnt work and that the instructors were unprepared. That is what they were paying for after all, working computers and instructors. I've had to go to the Dean before to complain about incompetant profs before, one of which was a department head. If more students did this, schools would weed out incompetant faculty and education would improve.