Even developers who aren't writing games have some idea about the hardware spec their product will run on. If you narrow the scope of your request to a particular program, I think the trick is to find a version of a particular product that has enough features for you and to leave it alone. Then, as you upgrade your hardware, that program really flies.
For a sort of weak example, I have a P3 866 Linux box where I used to sometimes run Netscape 3.04, which always seemed very snappy compared to the 4.77 that came with that distribution. I say the example is weak because there aren't that many sites that'll work very well with 3.04 anymore and I've also gotten so used to certain features of my current browser (Mozilla) that the performance hit is worth it to me to be able to use them.
For an extreme example of this, I have a DOS-based game that came out around the early '90s. It would push the 486s of the day, and has options to reduce the scene complexity for slower hardware. I more recently tried it on what was then a reasonable box - Celeron 333 or so - with an accelerated video card. Even with all the features turned on, it was unplayable because the machine was too fast! I think I could just about play it when I put an old ISA video card in the box.
Since no software is bug-free, this strategy of picking an old, but usable, version would really work best with an open source product where it was relatively easy to find and apply bug fixes to your own, personal source tree. Even better is when there is a community maintaining an older branch, like the 2.2 series Linux kernel.
On a (hopefully) related topic, over at HobbesNet, they're offering free hobbyist accounts on VMS systems. The site has pictures of the boxes and they're definitely not dim-the-lights-at-startup mainframes.
How the hell will you play your archived media if you don't have a player? And, not just a player, but support equipment as well -- a display that can connect to the player, a power supply that is the right voltage, amperage, and number of cycles, compatible cabling, etc.
Very good question. Here's what I'd suggest: include in your time capsule not just all that media, playback equipment and connectors, but a bicycle-powered generator and inverter that powers the whole thing.
That way, when you have a hankering to watch "Back to the Future" in 2037, you can get your grandkids to turn the pedals for you and get a little exercise.
Tap water in SoCal tastes horrible and leaves mineral deposits in my pans.
A combination of my fuzzy anti-aliased font and the power of association from just having seen a Conan O'Brien rerun made me think you were complaining about mineral deposits in your pants. I was going to say that bottled water won't help that problem.
I have an idea for using one of these phones to simulate a much bigger screen. Use this virtual deskspace to create a grid of, say 640x480 cells, with the initial cell at the top left.
Then, holding your phone at arms length, wave your arm from left to right. When you hit the 640th virtual cell, quickly move the phone back to the left and down one cell. Repeat until you get to the end of the bottom row, when you return to the top row. Oh, and do all that in about 1/60 second for a flicker-free experience.
I won't even patent this, so it's in the public domain.
My always-on (*) box (http, ftp, smtp, pop3, telnet, ssh, local print server) is an Epson 660 Notebook with a 486 running at something like 66 MHz and 20 MB RAM. It has no problems (**) providing those services and it's quiet - I don't recall it having a fan - and not particularly hot, which is probably why it doesn't have a fan.
Geez, it seems like every story that shows up under the "Your Rights Online" should really be under the category of "No Rights Online." (And the "Online" part is really moot, except that it makes a way to connect the topics to the tech-news theme.)
I demand that all 4608 combinations be explored... Not that I'm willing to waste my time doing it.
Hey, that's funny, but if a bunch of people did a handful of tests each, and someone was able to figure out the right statistical tools to compare those results, this might not be so far-fetched.
"Peppercorn rental"... means exactly what it sounds like.
I couldn't imagine what this sounds like, so for the benefit of other underachievers of the American public high-school system, I took to Google and the OED. It means a token rent. In actual use, it may refer to the rent paid on an object whose lease term has expired, so that the rent just reflects the decreased value of the object, and is typically about 2-3% of the original cost, or one month's payment per year.
The OED had some charming quotes about people who paid annual rent of a peppercorn.
Let's see, the article says they have "10 mainframes, a 40-year-old Bailey analog machine, 60 minicomputers and 50 microcomputers... some early IBM personal computers, along with a collection of Apples from the IIe and IIc through to the early Macintoshes."
I'd bet they could have comparable computing power with something like 10 or 20 modern desktop computers. That ought to solve their storage problem.
But more seriously, is there anyone out there who speaks Australian? What is a "peppercorn rental"?
Seeing wrist-gadgets like this always makes me think of Seiko's Ruputer, which never seemed to make it to these shores. They never even bothered to make English web pages (or at least I never found them.) I noticed that Seiko has upgraded it to the Pro4 model, with a whopping 4MB RAM. Then again, the copyright notice (one of the only things I can read on that page) says 2000, so that doesn't sound so bad for then.
Whenever I think I have a tough time in my relationship, I check out Things my girlfriend and I have argued about. This couple would make a good test case for Gottman et al's model, particularly in the sarcasm factor.
This makes me wonder if the creators of feckfeck, as referenced in Anger as a Software Design Philosophy were thinking of implementing security through obscenity, though it sounds like this fellow is looking for security for obscenity.
You had to manually change the cell you were in with a switch on the front of the CB-like unit. The units came with a map to tell you where you should switch cells.... it was half duplex and had a push-to-talk switch
And people think just talking on a modern cell phone is dangerous!
Seeing some of the dopey ideas posted here reminds me of an idea I had as a small child. I noticed that my bicycle pump got warm as I pumped my tires. I think I thought it would be possible to use heat that came from compressing air to power a steam engine or something like that. I thought I'd discovered something really useful, too, and swore my mother to secrecy before I told her about it.
This article... is more like a pointless press release from Dr. Seuss than actual info.
Here's Dr. Seuss' explanation of how self-assembling networks handle errors:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
Slashdot Mirror
From some of the complaints, it sounds like a "Royal PDA" can be a "Royal Pain in D Ass."
I use porn in a dimly-lit room to produce the seed. To each his own.
Even developers who aren't writing games have some idea about the hardware spec their product will run on. If you narrow the scope of your request to a particular program, I think the trick is to find a version of a particular product that has enough features for you and to leave it alone. Then, as you upgrade your hardware, that program really flies.
For a sort of weak example, I have a P3 866 Linux box where I used to sometimes run Netscape 3.04, which always seemed very snappy compared to the 4.77 that came with that distribution. I say the example is weak because there aren't that many sites that'll work very well with 3.04 anymore and I've also gotten so used to certain features of my current browser (Mozilla) that the performance hit is worth it to me to be able to use them.
For an extreme example of this, I have a DOS-based game that came out around the early '90s. It would push the 486s of the day, and has options to reduce the scene complexity for slower hardware. I more recently tried it on what was then a reasonable box - Celeron 333 or so - with an accelerated video card. Even with all the features turned on, it was unplayable because the machine was too fast! I think I could just about play it when I put an old ISA video card in the box.
Since no software is bug-free, this strategy of picking an old, but usable, version would really work best with an open source product where it was relatively easy to find and apply bug fixes to your own, personal source tree. Even better is when there is a community maintaining an older branch, like the 2.2 series Linux kernel.
On a (hopefully) related topic, over at HobbesNet, they're offering free hobbyist accounts on VMS systems. The site has pictures of the boxes and they're definitely not dim-the-lights-at-startup mainframes.
Very good question. Here's what I'd suggest: include in your time capsule not just all that media, playback equipment and connectors, but a bicycle-powered generator and inverter that powers the whole thing.
That way, when you have a hankering to watch "Back to the Future" in 2037, you can get your grandkids to turn the pedals for you and get a little exercise.
Didn't we learn anything from Y2K? How am I going to tell the difference betwen code written to the C++ 2005 standard and the C++ 1905 standard?
A combination of my fuzzy anti-aliased font and the power of association from just having seen a Conan O'Brien rerun made me think you were complaining about mineral deposits in your pants. I was going to say that bottled water won't help that problem.
Ho-hum. Wake me up when we get Linux on Bill Gates. Should make a challenging port.
Then, holding your phone at arms length, wave your arm from left to right. When you hit the 640th virtual cell, quickly move the phone back to the left and down one cell. Repeat until you get to the end of the bottom row, when you return to the top row. Oh, and do all that in about 1/60 second for a flicker-free experience.
I won't even patent this, so it's in the public domain.
Background here and demo here.
I'm not sure, but I think they're referring to the reign ofAkhnaten
As Emo Philips put it, I thank the gods for monotheism.
* Except when it's not.
** Except when it does.
Q: Why are divorces so expensive?
A: Because they're worth it.
Geez, it seems like every story that shows up under the "Your Rights Online" should really be under the category of "No Rights Online." (And the "Online" part is really moot, except that it makes a way to connect the topics to the tech-news theme.)
Hey, that's funny, but if a bunch of people did a handful of tests each, and someone was able to figure out the right statistical tools to compare those results, this might not be so far-fetched.
I couldn't imagine what this sounds like, so for the benefit of other underachievers of the American public high-school system, I took to Google and the OED. It means a token rent. In actual use, it may refer to the rent paid on an object whose lease term has expired, so that the rent just reflects the decreased value of the object, and is typically about 2-3% of the original cost, or one month's payment per year.
The OED had some charming quotes about people who paid annual rent of a peppercorn.
Good luck to the museum!
I'd bet they could have comparable computing power with something like 10 or 20 modern desktop computers. That ought to solve their storage problem.
But more seriously, is there anyone out there who speaks Australian? What is a "peppercorn rental"?
Seeing wrist-gadgets like this always makes me think of Seiko's Ruputer, which never seemed to make it to these shores. They never even bothered to make English web pages (or at least I never found them.) I noticed that Seiko has upgraded it to the Pro4 model, with a whopping 4MB RAM. Then again, the copyright notice (one of the only things I can read on that page) says 2000, so that doesn't sound so bad for then.
Whenever I think I have a tough time in my relationship, I check out Things my girlfriend and I have argued about. This couple would make a good test case for Gottman et al's model, particularly in the sarcasm factor.
I don't know about you, but when it comes to the silicone goddesses, grunts and shifts are about all I can do.
Or get her one of those Sonys with the built in camera so you can spy on her. Yeah, that's a good way to establish trust in a relationship.
This makes me wonder if the creators of feckfeck, as referenced in Anger as a Software Design Philosophy were thinking of implementing security through obscenity, though it sounds like this fellow is looking for security for obscenity.
And people think just talking on a modern cell phone is dangerous!
Seeing some of the dopey ideas posted here reminds me of an idea I had as a small child. I noticed that my bicycle pump got warm as I pumped my tires. I think I thought it would be possible to use heat that came from compressing air to power a steam engine or something like that. I thought I'd discovered something really useful, too, and swore my mother to secrecy before I told her about it.
Here's Dr. Seuss' explanation of how self-assembling networks handle errors:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
From here.