Personally I think this is all rather silly given how little RAM cost now. It would seem more sensible to stick 700MB of consumer
DRAM in the drive and cache to it if you need the speed that badly.
You've forgotten that caching a CD-ROM is illegal under the DMCA.:)
If the government wants to select Microsoft as a vendor for a particular service, I may think it's a bad business decision, but I don't think I can claim my rights are being violated.
I occasionally am involved in government funded projects. I constantly informed of the legal requirements to competetively bid requests for goods and services above a specific dollar amount.
Now the government is considering a huge sole-source contract to Microsoft for a substandard product that could potentially give MS access to just about whatever privledged information it wants.
Don't you find it concerning that an administration that doesn't think laws apply to their actions is contracting with a company that doesn't think laws apply to their actions to handle a lot of stuff that you might want to keep private?
flewp thought it already was illegal to videotape people without their knowledge/consent.
This is generally regulated by state law rather than federal law, as is taping telephone conversations. For example Linda Tripp's taping of conversations with Monica were only illegal because of the state Linda was in at the time. Many states allow recording of conversations so long as one of the involved parties is aware of the recording. Videotaping laws are non-existant in some states and are overly strict in others.
I've wondered whose laws apply when you videotape across state lines.
Obviously, IANAL, otherwise you would have been charged for this.
Right now on a distant planet, someone is writing a book about how life is only possible on a planet that is tidally locked to it's star.
Right now on the moon of a giant planet, someone is writing a book about how life is only possible on moons of giant planets.
As near as I can tell, the author came up with a list of conditions that might (yes, might) have been conducive to the development of intelligent life on earth. Then he jumped to the conclusion that those were the only conditions under which intelligent life is possible.
And if you are a Chronicles fan, stay far away from the Second Chronicles -- they're horrible.
I don't think the Second Chronicles were as bad as you think they were. IMHO, the worst of Zelazny's writings were better than the best writings of many more widely read authors.
I'm reminded of an old review (written by Harlan Ellison, IIRC) of the movie 'Field of Dreams.' In it, Harlan claims that most literature (at least that written by men) is about a man's search for his father. The reasons for this are fairly obvious and I won't bore you with them. By extent, there are portions of such fiction that are autobiographical. It's certainly obvious that this theme is pretty prevalent in both Amber chronicles. Read a little deeper and you just might find that the Second Chronicles is worth your time.
Of course the end of the Chronicles is disappointing. It was meant to be. I think Zelazny made a decision not to tie up all the loose ends. The end of a real story is never wrapped up entirely. Merlin, and Zelazny, get the same ending we all do. We turn and head back to Chaos.
We're working on this. About 1/4 % of linux boxes appear to be having this problem. If you can tell us anything and everything about your system (kernel version, [g]libc version, direct connect or modem, what time was it when you last tried, what net address did you try from).
bugs@setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
SETIGuy
cat > /dev/audio only works with raw data
on
SETI@Home For Linux
·
· Score: 1
You'll be disappointed, but you can figure the sample size from the size of the work unit and the number of samples (given in the header).
They're actually 2 bit samples. We're actually after frequency resolution not amplitude resolution. Unfortunately, I don't think the samples are in time order in the work unit due to limitations of the recording system and its intrinsic word size. Not that it matters, it'll still sound like static.
I've actually got a program that converts these things to ".au" format. I'll ask if I can release the source for that.
Unfortunately, it won't be very exciting. They basically sound like static. (No suprise there.) Even ones with signals 1000 times our detection threshold sound like static. (After all, if we could detect signals by listening to them would we need 350,000 computers to analyze them?)
SETIGuy
then how to stop people sniffing your HTTP link?
on
SETI@Home For Linux
·
· Score: 1
We don't. We do incorporate a small security measure to verify the result. We also have test work units that get sent out occasionally. In order to really fake an extraterrestrial signal the perpetrator would need to understand what we do with the results after we get them.
We're actually more worried that someone will change the signal detection threshold by a factor of two than we are that someone will send us fake results. For the results to be statistically meaningful, all the data need to be analyzed with the same parameter set.
Feel free to start a distributed computing project to map the masses in the solar system. But wait, don'tyou need lots of telescopes to do that? And don't they cost money? Comparatively, SETI@Home is free. The hardware exists, and is available for use. We unobtrusively reside on the Arecibo Radio telescope taking data while other observations are going on. Is there a way this is applicable to finding masses in the solar system and tracking them?
Sorry we dropped off the face of the planet. (Actually I wasn't involved at that point, but am a recent addistion to the team. We plan to have an Xscreensaver module available before too long. The shared memory routines exist in the source tree. I'm hoping the structure of the shared memory segment will be made available at the same time, so alternative views can be created. That's contingent on getting someone to write an understandable explanation of what's in there.
(Actually I pushed to have the SHM segment active in this version, but lost the battle with management. I also tried pushing open source for a while, but that's another story.)
I found your post very amusing. Basically the problem in the early days was lack of management time. We were all volunteers with over full-time comittments elsewhere. By the time we got a decent handle on the management issues we were a few months to the promised delivery date of the Windows client. So yes, we broke down and hired programmers who could give us 80 hours a week for the little time we had left.
As far as NDAs, we don't have NDAs. We have the word of our programmers that they won't let the source out. We're keeping the source because the results are pretty much meaningless unless we know all the data was analyzed using the same method. Enhancements could screw up the science pretty badly.
And as far as commercial software goes, you've got to be kidding! Who the hell would pay to do this? I certainly wouldn't.
Well, the i586 and i686 correspond to the processor and kernel that the code was compiled on. The code is compiled with whatever GCC the developer has. Chances are better than really good that the i686 version will run unaltered on an i386.
This is not true for all firewalls. We're still working out the kinks. There seem to size restrictions in some firewalls to what the client side sends through and http connection. If you can tell us what error message you are seeing, it may help us fix them.
Well, the Win32 Seti@Home client by default runs only as a screen saver. It uses about 20 MB RAM and runs under the idle priority class. I wouldn't worry too much about it overwhelming an FTP server on a machine with 64+ Mb. It does take about some swap when it's not running. On a slow machine there is a delay when the screen saver switches off.
If you have a fast machine you have the option of running in the background. Windows priorities being what they are, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with less than a PII 233. I hardly notice it on a PII 400.
Slashdot Mirror
You've forgotten that caching a CD-ROM is illegal under the DMCA. :)
I occasionally am involved in government funded projects. I constantly informed of the legal requirements to competetively bid requests for goods and services above a specific dollar amount.
Now the government is considering a huge sole-source contract to Microsoft for a substandard product that could potentially give MS access to just about whatever privledged information it wants.
Don't you find it concerning that an administration that doesn't think laws apply to their actions is contracting with a company that doesn't think laws apply to their actions to handle a lot of stuff that you might want to keep private?
Now we need a law to remove the 'p' key from keyboards that could be used by children.
flewp thought it already was illegal to videotape people without their knowledge/consent.
This is generally regulated by state law rather than federal law, as is taping telephone conversations. For example Linda Tripp's taping of conversations with Monica were only illegal because of the state Linda was in at the time. Many states allow recording of conversations so long as one of the involved parties is aware of the recording. Videotaping laws are non-existant in some states and are overly strict in others.
I've wondered whose laws apply when you videotape across state lines.
Obviously, IANAL, otherwise you would have been charged for this.
Right now on a distant planet, someone is writing a book about how life is only possible on a planet that is tidally locked to it's star.
Right now on the moon of a giant planet, someone is writing a book about how life is only possible on moons of giant planets.
As near as I can tell, the author came up with a list of conditions that might (yes, might) have been conducive to the development of intelligent life on earth. Then he jumped to the conclusion that those were the only conditions under which intelligent life is possible.
Seems a bit of a stretch to me.
I don't think the Second Chronicles were as bad as you think they were. IMHO, the worst of Zelazny's writings were better than the best writings of many more widely read authors.
I'm reminded of an old review (written by Harlan Ellison, IIRC) of the movie 'Field of Dreams.' In it, Harlan claims that most literature (at least that written by men) is about a man's search for his father. The reasons for this are fairly obvious and I won't bore you with them. By extent, there are portions of such fiction that are autobiographical. It's certainly obvious that this theme is pretty prevalent in both Amber chronicles. Read a little deeper and you just might find that the Second Chronicles is worth your time.
Of course the end of the Chronicles is disappointing. It was meant to be. I think Zelazny made a decision not to tie up all the loose ends. The end of a real story is never wrapped up entirely. Merlin, and Zelazny, get the same ending we all do. We turn and head back to Chaos.
We're working on this. About 1/4 % of linux boxes appear to be having this problem. If you can tell us anything and everything about your system (kernel version, [g]libc version, direct connect or modem, what time was it when you last tried, what net address did you try from).
bugs@setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
SETIGuy
You'll be disappointed, but you can figure the
sample size from the size of the work unit and
the number of samples (given in the header).
They're actually 2 bit samples. We're actually after frequency resolution not amplitude resolution. Unfortunately, I don't think the samples are in time order in the work unit due to limitations of the recording system and its intrinsic word size. Not that it matters, it'll still sound like static.
SETIGuy
I've actually got a program that converts these
things to ".au" format. I'll ask if I can release
the source for that.
Unfortunately, it won't be very exciting. They basically sound like static. (No suprise there.) Even ones with signals 1000 times our detection threshold sound like static. (After all, if we could detect signals by listening to them would we need 350,000 computers to analyze them?)
SETIGuy
We don't. We do incorporate a small security measure to verify the result. We also have test
work units that get sent out occasionally. In order to really fake an extraterrestrial signal the perpetrator would need to understand what we do with the results after we get them.
We're actually more worried that someone will change the signal detection threshold by a factor of two than we are that someone will send us fake results. For the results to be statistically meaningful, all the data need to be analyzed with the same parameter set.
SETIGuy
Feel free to start a distributed computing project to map the masses in the solar system. But wait, don'tyou need lots of telescopes to do that? And don't they cost money? Comparatively, SETI@Home is
free. The hardware exists, and is available for use. We unobtrusively reside on the Arecibo Radio telescope taking data while other observations are going on. Is there a way this is applicable to finding masses in the solar system and tracking them?
SETIGuy
(Also a CSICOP supporter)
Sorry we dropped off the face of the planet. (Actually I wasn't involved at that point, but am a recent addistion to the team. We plan to have an Xscreensaver module available before too long. The shared memory routines exist in the source tree. I'm hoping the structure of the shared memory segment will be made available at the same time, so alternative views can be created. That's contingent on getting someone to write an understandable explanation of what's in there.
(Actually I pushed to have the SHM segment active in this version, but lost the battle with management. I also tried pushing open source for a while, but that's another story.)
SETIGuy
I found your post very amusing. Basically the problem in the early days was lack of management time. We were all volunteers with over full-time comittments elsewhere. By the time we got a decent handle on the management issues we were a few months to the promised delivery date of the Windows client. So yes, we broke down and hired programmers who could give us 80 hours a week for the little time we had left.
As far as NDAs, we don't have NDAs. We have the word of our programmers that they won't let the source out. We're keeping the source because the results are pretty much meaningless unless we know all the data was analyzed using the same method. Enhancements could screw up the science pretty badly.
And as far as commercial software goes, you've got to be kidding! Who the hell would pay to do this? I certainly wouldn't.
SETIGuy
Well, the i586 and i686 correspond to the processor and kernel that the code was compiled on. The code is compiled with whatever GCC the developer has. Chances are better than really good that the i686 version will run unaltered on an i386.
SETIGuy
This is not true for all firewalls. We're still
working out the kinks. There seem to size restrictions in some firewalls to what the client
side sends through and http connection. If you
can tell us what error message you are seeing,
it may help us fix them.
bugs@setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
SETIGuy
Well, the Win32 Seti@Home client by default runs only as a screen saver. It uses about 20 MB RAM
and runs under the idle priority class. I wouldn't worry too much about it overwhelming an
FTP server on a machine with 64+ Mb. It does take about some swap when it's not running. On a slow machine there is a delay when the screen saver switches off.
If you have a fast machine you have the option of running in the background. Windows priorities being what they are, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with less than a PII 233. I hardly notice it on a PII 400.
--
SETIGuy