Bull. It ran fine on a 386-25 with 2 MB of RAM. You had to shrink the screen a little bit to get the framerate up, and it would definitely dog it when more than 5-6 monsters were being drawn at the same time (not that common in the original Doom), but it was completely runnable. And on a 486-66, it was perfect in full screen mode - not just "adequate."
Come to think of it, that 386 ran Prince of Persia, Civilization, and Wing Commander. Why did I need to upgrade again?
So who remembers what spispopd stood for? No google now - that's cheating...
What in god's name compelled you to see Exit Wounds, instead of an actually interesting new movie like Memento? You had another movie review due and the only movie you had seen was one that you had taken your 11 year old son to? And then you have to fit technology in somewhere, even though it had nothing to do with the movie and, in fact, the existence of the movie and its popularity discredits your statements?
I had to read that over a couple of times, trying to see if there was some sort of ironic connection between the two paragraphs that I hadn't been able to catch. Then I remembered that Jon is an idiot who doesn't even bother to read his own goddamn article once over (i.e. "what farmers") before slapping it up. Is this "Open Media", Jon? Because if it is, I'll take literate and coherent "Closed Media" any day.
And while I'm on the topic, who thinks that Slashdot should hire a proofreader/editor for about $30K a year to make sure that they don't look like subliterates? Alternatively, a copy of Strunk and White is about $6.95. Hey, it's not like I'm asking for a factchecker or anything.
Each operator at a particular frequency gets access only to their frequency "block." They can basically run whatever standard they want to over that block, or even mix it up if they want to.
At the 800MHz level, there are two operators per region (the "cellular" operators) with 30MHz each. Originally they used only AMPS, but most have moved to D-AMPS (analog, but digital carrier signal for caller ID, etc.) or full fledged digital technology (in the US, TDMA or CDMA, but not GSM). These frequencies are definitely still in operation.
At the 1900MHz level ("PCS") there are 6 operators per region, with frequency blocks broken into 3 chunks of 30MHz and 3 chunks of 10MHz. Since these were auctioned in 1997 (and were specifically for digital technology), they all use one of the digital standards- TDMA, CDMA, or GSM. GSM is definitely the least common - I don't think there's more than 1 GSM player in any market (generally Voicestream, Powertel, BellSouth, or PacBell).
That's all the frequencies currently used for cellular/PCS phones in the US (except for Nextel, which got a bunch of old 2-way radio spectrum at the bottom of the 800MHz spectrum). The next auctions are going to be at 700MHz, in the region previously reserved for UHF channels 60-69. After that, they're going to auction off some spectrum at the 1.9GHz held by organizations that went bankrupt (greatly simplified). Sometime in 02 I think they'll finally sell the 2.5GHz spectrum.
As for Europe, my knowledge is hazier, but I'm pretty sure that they originally licensed at 900MHz (analog, later GSM) and then later at 1800MHz (pure GSM).
Your comment on the cellular infrastructure consolidation is beginning to come true- approximately 40% of the towers in the US are now held by large independent "tower consolidators" that rent space on the tower to anyone who wants to pay for it. You still need to provide your own radios and backbone, but the important part, the tower position, is becoming more of a commodity.
I don't know about the employing 6-year-olds part, but I'm sick of everyone slamming corporations for "underpaying" foreign workers. What people don't realize is that these corporations are often paying 3-4x typical local wages. People don't line up to get these jobs because they're dumb, or want to be exploited- they're the best jobs you can get in these areas.
Come to think of it, if you're wicked poor and get one of these jobs, and your supervisor says your kid can get a job there too along with you, you bet you'll bring him in there. He probably wouldn't be in school anyways...
Re: Roll Your Own Geosyncronous Comms Satellites
on
Iridium Saved?
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· Score: 1
Our apologies. Obviously, we should have realized that you were planning to launch the satellites with your own hot air. Using parts that you had pulled from your ass.
FYI, that "vile place" actually produces a lot more tax money than it takes up and supports upstate's declining industrial base. If you weren't associated with New York City, you'd just be another broke-ass New England state somewhere north of rural Pennsylvania and west of Vermont.
In terms of the actual coverage size of a single network, it's a toss-up between AT&T and the new Bell Atlantic/Vodaphone joint venture, Verizon. SBC/Bell South are also merging their wireless networks, but I don't think they have the same nationwide coverage that the other two ventures do. Sprint does have the largest _all-digital_ network but their digital network is not the largest- it's a little disingenuous, considering that there's really only one other all digital nationwide network (Voicestream/Omnipoint/Aerial). The digital networks of AT&T and Verizon are still larger than Sprint's, but they still have analog coverage in some areas. As for who will really give you the most seamless coverage across the country, AT&T's 1-rate plan will let you roam into all sorts of crappy little local providers' (i.e. companies that resell as Cellular One) areas with no roaming charges, although Verizon will also apparently do this now (they've started quite recently).
Cellular networks really are owned by the provider, or at least the radios on the towers and the spectrum rights. There's a trend in the industry towards tower consolidation, where independent companies buy the towers from cellular providers and then resell tower space to other providers in the area.
No cellular company uses satellites. There is at least one satellite company (Globalstar) that sells phones that use terrestrial networks as long as you're in range and then switch to satellite service when you're not. These services are often resold under a local provider's name, but the cellular company does not own or operate the satellites.
You know, most of those locations that people are talking about are at approximately the same latitude as North Africa. Does that seem a little hotter than "just open a window and dress lightly?" Even in Spain & Italy, which is approximately the same latitude as New Jersey, towns shut down from 11-2 because it's too hot to work without air conditioning. Don't think Americans are too attached to their creature comforts (in this case anyways)- industry in Copenhagen is just as dependent on heating in the winter as Phoenix, AZ is on cooling in the summer.
I don't have moderator privileges now, so I've just got to respond and say that that was one of the few times that I've laughed out loud while reading Slashdot.
That is an even better idea than what I thought of. Even if this isn't done on the main page, they should run this as a parallel service. Or someone should take the Slashdot source code and implement it on a new site. What's more, people could post article summaries and have them moderated up or down, so that we avoid the reading comprehension problems that some of the editors have.
This is an excellent idea, and one that should have been brought up a long time ago. It shouldn't be as sensitive as moderating user comments, so some loser with a bad attitude can't moderate everything down one day, but it should be able to mark down stories that are repetitive or inaccurate. Why can't this be done, Taco?
They could grep it with their own friggin' eyes on the main page in the "Older Stuff" section. It's apparent that the "editors" of Slashdot don't read Slashdot.
Uh, that was CNET's standard week-in-review piece, which would naturally contain a bunch of stories that Slashdot links to throughout the week. Which brings me to another point- that wasn't an "in-depth" piece on the story, it was a five paragraph summary at the beginning of a series of review pieces. Not that this is a major error, but wouldn't you think that the major portion of a $50 million (in (anticipated) market cap, anyways) business could bother to read the actual article.
Apropos of nothing, Mitsubishi actually did manufacture a Plymouth for a time, the Dodge/Plymouth Colt, which I was privileged to drive for two years. IIRC, Mitsubishi still makes the Eagle Talon (except they don't make Eagles anymore) or whatever they call it when it's a Dodge.
Re:CPU gurus very disappointing
on
Quickie Sunday
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· Score: 1
I agree. People shouldn't put out pointers to their sites until they're complete!
seconded. Also allow an option to toggle breaking up long comments. Now that we have nested mode, I'm used to just opening a page all at once and scrolling down at my leisure.
No amount of scanning for typos will get someone who doesn't know the difference between "your" and "you're" to correct it. And on top of that, it's really disheartening to see that Taco doesn't have the time/inclination/energy to read fully and comprehend a piece that short. He seems particularly susceptible to this sort of deception with regard to hard drives- remember the 30Gb removable hard drive a few months ago that turned out to be a tape drive?
"Misinformation for Nerds. Stuff that sounded too good to be true, so I posted it without looking and tossed on a rambling, semicoherent comment filled with misspellings and punctuation errors."
Slashdot Mirror
Bull. It ran fine on a 386-25 with 2 MB of RAM. You had to shrink the screen a little bit to get the framerate up, and it would definitely dog it when more than 5-6 monsters were being drawn at the same time (not that common in the original Doom), but it was completely runnable. And on a 486-66, it was perfect in full screen mode - not just "adequate."
Come to think of it, that 386 ran Prince of Persia, Civilization, and Wing Commander. Why did I need to upgrade again?
So who remembers what spispopd stood for? No google now - that's cheating...
What in god's name compelled you to see Exit Wounds, instead of an actually interesting new movie like Memento? You had another movie review due and the only movie you had seen was one that you had taken your 11 year old son to? And then you have to fit technology in somewhere, even though it had nothing to do with the movie and, in fact, the existence of the movie and its popularity discredits your statements?
I had to read that over a couple of times, trying to see if there was some sort of ironic connection between the two paragraphs that I hadn't been able to catch. Then I remembered that Jon is an idiot who doesn't even bother to read his own goddamn article once over (i.e. "what farmers") before slapping it up. Is this "Open Media", Jon? Because if it is, I'll take literate and coherent "Closed Media" any day.
And while I'm on the topic, who thinks that Slashdot should hire a proofreader/editor for about $30K a year to make sure that they don't look like subliterates? Alternatively, a copy of Strunk and White is about $6.95. Hey, it's not like I'm asking for a factchecker or anything.
To sum up (in the US, anyways)
Each operator at a particular frequency gets access only to their frequency "block." They can basically run whatever standard they want to over that block, or even mix it up if they want to.
At the 800MHz level, there are two operators per region (the "cellular" operators) with 30MHz each. Originally they used only AMPS, but most have moved to D-AMPS (analog, but digital carrier signal for caller ID, etc.) or full fledged digital technology (in the US, TDMA or CDMA, but not GSM). These frequencies are definitely still in operation.
At the 1900MHz level ("PCS") there are 6 operators per region, with frequency blocks broken into 3 chunks of 30MHz and 3 chunks of 10MHz. Since these were auctioned in 1997 (and were specifically for digital technology), they all use one of the digital standards- TDMA, CDMA, or GSM. GSM is definitely the least common - I don't think there's more than 1 GSM player in any market (generally Voicestream, Powertel, BellSouth, or PacBell).
That's all the frequencies currently used for cellular/PCS phones in the US (except for Nextel, which got a bunch of old 2-way radio spectrum at the bottom of the 800MHz spectrum). The next auctions are going to be at 700MHz, in the region previously reserved for UHF channels 60-69. After that, they're going to auction off some spectrum at the 1.9GHz held by organizations that went bankrupt (greatly simplified). Sometime in 02 I think they'll finally sell the 2.5GHz spectrum.
As for Europe, my knowledge is hazier, but I'm pretty sure that they originally licensed at 900MHz (analog, later GSM) and then later at 1800MHz (pure GSM).
Your comment on the cellular infrastructure consolidation is beginning to come true- approximately 40% of the towers in the US are now held by large independent "tower consolidators" that rent space on the tower to anyone who wants to pay for it. You still need to provide your own radios and backbone, but the important part, the tower position, is becoming more of a commodity.
I don't know about the employing 6-year-olds part, but I'm sick of everyone slamming corporations for "underpaying" foreign workers. What people don't realize is that these corporations are often paying 3-4x typical local wages. People don't line up to get these jobs because they're dumb, or want to be exploited- they're the best jobs you can get in these areas.
Come to think of it, if you're wicked poor and get one of these jobs, and your supervisor says your kid can get a job there too along with you, you bet you'll bring him in there. He probably wouldn't be in school anyways...
Our apologies. Obviously, we should have realized that you were planning to launch the satellites with your own hot air. Using parts that you had pulled from your ass.
FYI, that "vile place" actually produces a lot more tax money than it takes up and supports upstate's declining industrial base. If you weren't associated with New York City, you'd just be another broke-ass New England state somewhere north of rural Pennsylvania and west of Vermont.
In terms of the actual coverage size of a single network, it's a toss-up between AT&T and the new Bell Atlantic/Vodaphone joint venture, Verizon. SBC/Bell South are also merging their wireless networks, but I don't think they have the same nationwide coverage that the other two ventures do. Sprint does have the largest _all-digital_ network but their digital network is not the largest- it's a little disingenuous, considering that there's really only one other all digital nationwide network (Voicestream/Omnipoint/Aerial). The digital networks of AT&T and Verizon are still larger than Sprint's, but they still have analog coverage in some areas. As for who will really give you the most seamless coverage across the country, AT&T's 1-rate plan will let you roam into all sorts of crappy little local providers' (i.e. companies that resell as Cellular One) areas with no roaming charges, although Verizon will also apparently do this now (they've started quite recently).
Cellular networks really are owned by the provider, or at least the radios on the towers and the spectrum rights. There's a trend in the industry towards tower consolidation, where independent companies buy the towers from cellular providers and then resell tower space to other providers in the area.
No cellular company uses satellites. There is at least one satellite company (Globalstar) that sells phones that use terrestrial networks as long as you're in range and then switch to satellite service when you're not. These services are often resold under a local provider's name, but the cellular company does not own or operate the satellites.
You should be glad you're not in finance, because you would be laughed out of it with your "(price-cost)/cost" bullshit. Try an accounting text.
You know, most of those locations that people are talking about are at approximately the same latitude as North Africa. Does that seem a little hotter than "just open a window and dress lightly?" Even in Spain & Italy, which is approximately the same latitude as New Jersey, towns shut down from 11-2 because it's too hot to work without air conditioning. Don't think Americans are too attached to their creature comforts (in this case anyways)- industry in Copenhagen is just as dependent on heating in the winter as Phoenix, AZ is on cooling in the summer.
A noble goal. Society will achieve this as soon as we all become Vulcans like you.
i understand it's EE-ben YAY-lay
I don't have moderator privileges now, so I've just got to respond and say that that was one of the few times that I've laughed out loud while reading Slashdot.
I didn't know John Rocker was on Slashdot!
That is an even better idea than what I thought of. Even if this isn't done on the main page, they should run this as a parallel service. Or someone should take the Slashdot source code and implement it on a new site. What's more, people could post article summaries and have them moderated up or down, so that we avoid the reading comprehension problems that some of the editors have.
This is an excellent idea, and one that should have been brought up a long time ago. It shouldn't be as sensitive as moderating user comments, so some loser with a bad attitude can't moderate everything down one day, but it should be able to mark down stories that are repetitive or inaccurate. Why can't this be done, Taco?
They could grep it with their own friggin' eyes on the main page in the "Older Stuff" section. It's apparent that the "editors" of Slashdot don't read Slashdot.
Uh, that was CNET's standard week-in-review piece, which would naturally contain a bunch of stories that Slashdot links to throughout the week. Which brings me to another point- that wasn't an "in-depth" piece on the story, it was a five paragraph summary at the beginning of a series of review pieces. Not that this is a major error, but wouldn't you think that the major portion of a $50 million (in (anticipated) market cap, anyways) business could bother to read the actual article.
Can you say: free nights and weekends?
Apropos of nothing, Mitsubishi actually did manufacture a Plymouth for a time, the Dodge/Plymouth Colt, which I was privileged to drive for two years. IIRC, Mitsubishi still makes the Eagle Talon (except they don't make Eagles anymore) or whatever they call it when it's a Dodge.
I agree. People shouldn't put out pointers to their sites until they're complete!
Well, there goes the flood of crack biologists that we were seeing coming out of Kansas!
seconded. Also allow an option to toggle breaking up long comments. Now that we have nested mode, I'm used to just opening a page all at once and scrolling down at my leisure.
This will probably get moderated down as "redundant" or something, but that was one of the funniest things I have read on Slashdot.
No amount of scanning for typos will get someone who doesn't know the difference between "your" and "you're" to correct it. And on top of that, it's really disheartening to see that Taco doesn't have the time/inclination/energy to read fully and comprehend a piece that short. He seems particularly susceptible to this sort of deception with regard to hard drives- remember the 30Gb removable hard drive a few months ago that turned out to be a tape drive?
"Misinformation for Nerds. Stuff that sounded too good to be true, so I posted it without looking and tossed on a rambling, semicoherent comment filled with misspellings and punctuation errors."