Ti-83's while useful they are only really good for 11th grade-12th grade students. Once you go to college they normally require the higher end calculators (If they still do so, I would except they may be using Matlab or Maple)
I'm an EE, and they never let us use any kind of graphic calculator on any exams. My go-to since 1996 has been a Sharp EL-546.
"Nobody poor should ever get to enjoy themselves."
Look, I understand prioroty spending and budgeting, but you have to look at the costs and the humanitarian factor here.
A DS will cost what, $150? Maybe it's a birthday present. I know that a fair number of the families at my kids' school don't get breakfast every day, and at Gift Day time, it gets worse. Why? The families can afford food and clothing to get by, but then when you add in $X for presents, it doesn't work out so well. That's where hampers can come in. They don't have to splurge on the food for the feast, it takes the pressure off the food bill for a couple of weeks, and suddenly they've got a couple hundred for presents.
Maybe the kid's got a paper route and works their butt off to pay their phone bill / buy DS games. I had a paper route when I was a kid.
Now, let's look at the cost of lunches. It's going to run, let's say, $2.50 for a lunch for the kids. If the parents are below the poverty level (which you would if you're making min. wage) that lets you take that $2.50 a day and spend it on other things. Clothes. Bling. That's about 3 months worth of subsidized lunches for a DS. (I know, you're all like "THATS MY TAX MONEY I DONT USE GOVT MONEY AT ALL" when you're drinking EPA-approved water, driving on DOT roads approved by a PE, in a car regulated by the NHTSA, and all while you're protected by the police, fire department, and military. But other than that, no tax dollars, right?)
And bling is fucking important when you're in high school.
How about if there was a problem with the documentation for a certain microprocessor, where the mfg changed the location of the fuses, and this info didn't propagate to the compiler writers or the burners? Originally planned for location 0x1FFF, it was put into 0x3FFF. (Or the other way around, it's been uh... years, let's just say years)
Four emails later, I had a new version of the compiler and the programming software. That's how it's done.
If you've ever used a 10F20X series chip with CCS or Quickwriter, you're welcome.
It was more the infighting. The UI group said "it's a kernel issue, so we can't fix it." The kernel dev team thought they couldn't possibly have made a mistake.
It turned out to be that when the kernel knocked, the touchpad would respond with a value not on the list, so it would reply as Generic PS/2 mouse. Despite several people (including the UI group) pointing out with lineouts, debug info, and patches that the problem was with the kernel, it kept getting switched to "solved" because one guy had a non-reproducable workaround on a totally different touchpad.
There are so many different configurations for computers and new and emerging tech, and the testing and documentation so spotty, that you've got to run through dozens of websites to get your computer to work. It took me a YEAR to get support for an Elan touchpad. Someone else decided that the ath9k driver should fill with a random number after sleep or hibernation. What the fuck is wrong with that person? Oh sure, I could fix it by bringing up a window, rmmod / modprobe ath9k, but that was seriously every time I closed the lid.
Other problems were solved with one of the following: "LOL get a new computer." "It's not a problem with this part, it's a problem with THIS part. Report it to them." "Sorry, my part is perfect, so you must be a crazy person. You could try this patch though."
YOU ASSHOLE I JUST WANT TO CHECK FACEBOOK NOT RECOMPILE A FUCKING OS.
And I'm not a slouch here, the post where you figure out how to add my particular computer to the specific commands to allow Fn functionality was mine. (Someone else did the heavy lifting, I put the last pieces together.)
So what would you do to fix it? The easiest thing to do would be check the hardware during the install process or as part of the Live CD. "This touchpad is giving a weird answer to the magic knock, support may be limited."
Then actually allow for easy tweaks to the UI. How do you change the login screen? What about sounds? Your average user wants to be able to do this. It's a motherfucking nightmare to do this in the Super-Friendly distro.
If you have to get anyone anywhere to press CTRL-ALT-T to install a repository, then you've fucked it up. End of story.
Not just image, but even an easy distro like Ubuntu requires command-line tweaking to get it to work properly.
The problem is, and XKCD nailed this, was that the OS doesn't matter. Everyone's using the Interwebs for Facebook, LOLCats, YouTube, and porn. So you want the computer that'll deliver the goods with the least amount of fucking around.
The cheap solution is Windows. That's the default OS on most computers sold. Reboots are acceptable for 99% of users.
The heavily-marketed "just works" solution is Apple's walled garden. Most people don't care about the open or closed nature, "wait, I can get the stuff on the list and it won't break if I've installed an new program? Yeah, I can afford the Mac Tax, gimmie." I know, it only works on their special parts, and nothing else. Their users don't care about DRM, or the shift of computers from creative to consumptive devices.
Any flavour of Linux requires a lot of tinkering. That's great if the tinkering is part of your hobby, or if you want to actually own your machine. (I've had the touchpad break when installing SMPlayer, FFS.) Linux is a pain in the ass to use, end of story. Once it's working, it's great, but to get it to that point requires a massive amount of patience.
Yeah, I bought Astro, it's quite magnificent for transferring files from my NAS. It's also got a BT module, it worked great for grabbing all the photos from my dad's old phone.
I'm sorry, I only have my own experience to draw from, from real life. I really wanted to get the Lumia, but I had had enough of missing features with my Walkman, and I didn't want to play that game again.
If I was hallucinating at the time, I apologize. My dream-state, which looked surprisingly like a Best Buy, was unable to mount a Nokia Lumia 610 Windows 7.5 phone to an Ubuntu installation. Now, I was only there for about an hour, dreaming, but the phone and my computer together made it impossible to mount.
Perhaps there are instructions for how to do that. If there are, they aren't online anywhere.
Slashdot Mirror
It's whatever colour Apple wants it to be.
I've been shaving since 2004.
You forgot "can burn parts of it during a CF emergency".
That's why good survival books have a foreword and a couple of blank pages at the end.
Oh no, which ones?
Ti-83's while useful they are only really good for 11th grade-12th grade students. Once you go to college they normally require the higher end calculators (If they still do so, I would except they may be using Matlab or Maple)
I'm an EE, and they never let us use any kind of graphic calculator on any exams. My go-to since 1996 has been a Sharp EL-546.
It's juust to the left of my keyboard.
"Nobody poor should ever get to enjoy themselves."
Look, I understand prioroty spending and budgeting, but you have to look at the costs and the humanitarian factor here.
A DS will cost what, $150? Maybe it's a birthday present. I know that a fair number of the families at my kids' school don't get breakfast every day, and at Gift Day time, it gets worse. Why? The families can afford food and clothing to get by, but then when you add in $X for presents, it doesn't work out so well. That's where hampers can come in. They don't have to splurge on the food for the feast, it takes the pressure off the food bill for a couple of weeks, and suddenly they've got a couple hundred for presents.
Maybe the kid's got a paper route and works their butt off to pay their phone bill / buy DS games. I had a paper route when I was a kid.
Now, let's look at the cost of lunches. It's going to run, let's say, $2.50 for a lunch for the kids. If the parents are below the poverty level (which you would if you're making min. wage) that lets you take that $2.50 a day and spend it on other things. Clothes. Bling. That's about 3 months worth of subsidized lunches for a DS. (I know, you're all like "THATS MY TAX MONEY I DONT USE GOVT MONEY AT ALL" when you're drinking EPA-approved water, driving on DOT roads approved by a PE, in a car regulated by the NHTSA, and all while you're protected by the police, fire department, and military. But other than that, no tax dollars, right?)
And bling is fucking important when you're in high school.
Meaning I've had to work with a handful of different manufacturers to resolve a mutually-inclusive bug.
Touché
How about if there was a problem with the documentation for a certain microprocessor, where the mfg changed the location of the fuses, and this info didn't propagate to the compiler writers or the burners? Originally planned for location 0x1FFF, it was put into 0x3FFF. (Or the other way around, it's been uh... years, let's just say years)
Four emails later, I had a new version of the compiler and the programming software. That's how it's done.
If you've ever used a 10F20X series chip with CCS or Quickwriter, you're welcome.
And documented just as well here as in the rest of the Linux documentation.
And calling someone a moron for not knowing exactly what files, commands, and packages are required. I guess you didn't have a first day, did you?
It was more the infighting. The UI group said "it's a kernel issue, so we can't fix it." The kernel dev team thought they couldn't possibly have made a mistake.
It turned out to be that when the kernel knocked, the touchpad would respond with a value not on the list, so it would reply as Generic PS/2 mouse. Despite several people (including the UI group) pointing out with lineouts, debug info, and patches that the problem was with the kernel, it kept getting switched to "solved" because one guy had a non-reproducable workaround on a totally different touchpad.
Samsung netbook, without the voria ppa It would be pretty borked.
See, here you go: "LOL get a new computer" You're a type 1 Ubuntu "expert".
Generic Windows generally works better than preinstalled, and I've put it on dozens of personal and business machines with few problems.
And that right there is the problem.
Works on My Machine.
There are so many different configurations for computers and new and emerging tech, and the testing and documentation so spotty, that you've got to run through dozens of websites to get your computer to work. It took me a YEAR to get support for an Elan touchpad. Someone else decided that the ath9k driver should fill with a random number after sleep or hibernation. What the fuck is wrong with that person? Oh sure, I could fix it by bringing up a window, rmmod / modprobe ath9k, but that was seriously every time I closed the lid.
Other problems were solved with one of the following:
"LOL get a new computer."
"It's not a problem with this part, it's a problem with THIS part. Report it to them."
"Sorry, my part is perfect, so you must be a crazy person. You could try this patch though."
YOU ASSHOLE I JUST WANT TO CHECK FACEBOOK NOT RECOMPILE A FUCKING OS.
And I'm not a slouch here, the post where you figure out how to add my particular computer to the specific commands to allow Fn functionality was mine. (Someone else did the heavy lifting, I put the last pieces together.)
So what would you do to fix it? The easiest thing to do would be check the hardware during the install process or as part of the Live CD. "This touchpad is giving a weird answer to the magic knock, support may be limited."
Then actually allow for easy tweaks to the UI. How do you change the login screen? What about sounds? Your average user wants to be able to do this. It's a motherfucking nightmare to do this in the Super-Friendly distro.
If you have to get anyone anywhere to press CTRL-ALT-T to install a repository, then you've fucked it up. End of story.
Because work forces IE8 on everyone and forces Flash install. I'd love to have AdBlock, it's so weird here compared to home.
If I could, I'd use something safer, but it's not my department.
Hell, I was using IE6 up until last year. But then, I can actually look at Slashdot at work, so there's that.
(First world problems.)
Aww, I've had a vasectomy.
RAPE RAPE RAPE
[picture of lincoln]
Did you take the time to calibrate your TV?
Makes an INCREDIBLE difference in the picture quality.
Yep, first day with my new phone, I bought a 32G uSD card. My dad bought the same phone, and on the way out the store he bought a 32G uSD card.
They're meant to stay in the phone. I think they just wanted to have no removable / serviceable ports.
Not just image, but even an easy distro like Ubuntu requires command-line tweaking to get it to work properly.
The problem is, and XKCD nailed this, was that the OS doesn't matter. Everyone's using the Interwebs for Facebook, LOLCats, YouTube, and porn. So you want the computer that'll deliver the goods with the least amount of fucking around.
The cheap solution is Windows. That's the default OS on most computers sold. Reboots are acceptable for 99% of users.
The heavily-marketed "just works" solution is Apple's walled garden. Most people don't care about the open or closed nature, "wait, I can get the stuff on the list and it won't break if I've installed an new program? Yeah, I can afford the Mac Tax, gimmie." I know, it only works on their special parts, and nothing else. Their users don't care about DRM, or the shift of computers from creative to consumptive devices.
Any flavour of Linux requires a lot of tinkering. That's great if the tinkering is part of your hobby, or if you want to actually own your machine. (I've had the touchpad break when installing SMPlayer, FFS.) Linux is a pain in the ass to use, end of story. Once it's working, it's great, but to get it to that point requires a massive amount of patience.
In the US, they just use a handgun. Don't be a pussy.
A fifth minus 3 hundredths of a penny saved is...
According to homeopathy, approximately equivalent to the USA defence budget.
Yeah, I bought Astro, it's quite magnificent for transferring files from my NAS. It's also got a BT module, it worked great for grabbing all the photos from my dad's old phone.
No, I saw that, but I figured he was calling me a retard for not knowing the command for zune adaptability.
Poe's Law, sorry.
Oh, thank you, I didn't know that it would work with Mac. Not that it matters in my case, but good to know.
I'm sorry, I only have my own experience to draw from, from real life. I really wanted to get the Lumia, but I had had enough of missing features with my Walkman, and I didn't want to play that game again.
If I was hallucinating at the time, I apologize. My dream-state, which looked surprisingly like a Best Buy, was unable to mount a Nokia Lumia 610 Windows 7.5 phone to an Ubuntu installation. Now, I was only there for about an hour, dreaming, but the phone and my computer together made it impossible to mount.
Perhaps there are instructions for how to do that. If there are, they aren't online anywhere.