If you look at a Model M keyboard, then remove the outer plastic cage, any internal steel plate stuff, then realize the circuitboard size for the keyboard is a good 75% smaller than a laptop keyboard circuitboard, then I think you could cut the weight of this down quite a bit. I'm sure we'll never know, though, because noone will ever do this.:(
I'm gonna guess the steel plate in that is probably the bulk of the internal weight of that keyboard (in addition to the fewer keys, you also wouldn't need the outer plastic case of a normal keyboard). I'm sure it could be made quite a bit lighter than 2 pounds.
I suspect that modern laptops keep their keyboards slim so as to keep the units slim as a whole. But I would gladly sacrifice a the slim profile for a "real" keyboard.
Probably, plus for the fancy looks. I'd love for Lenovo to put a buckling-spring keyboard in the ThinkPads. Hell, you could probably put a little generator in each key and partially power the thing just with your typing!:) Then if they made it cheaper, I could maybe buy one. Someday.
With the new crop of machines like the EEE PC it seems that we're moving back to small, power-efficient machines as opposed to huge hulkers.
With OLED screens coming as the next big thing in the next few years, processors like VIA's Nano (formerly Isiah, I think), Intel's Atom, SSD storage, integrated graphics, things are definitely looking up on this front. Along with fewer moving parts to improve useful life, this is all great news.
I just hope the usability improves as well. Keyboards like on the Model 100 have a *much* better feel than any modern laptop I've used.
I read an article the other day about some big advance coming up for Lithium-Ion batteries, so that'll be nice, too.:)
Laptop makers could learn a thing or two from that keyboard - WAY better feel than those stupid flat keys that so many laptops use today (Apple, Sony, etc.). If you can't do something better than they did 20 years ago, just don't even try, m'kay?
By downloading you mean going to a site, downloading a movie and watching it on your PC? Doesn't sound like something the average consumer is interested in.
I was thinking more along the lines of things like AppleTV or the Netflix Roku.
We're still a few years away from eliminating the discs.
I agree, but what that means in practical terms is that DVD is still the disc to beat. DVD will be around long after BD, cuz BD is going nowhere fast.
It's too bad noone really came out with affordable 480p widescreen TVs - most people never saw what DVD was really capable of before HDTV came out. And really, a large-ish 720p set with source upconverted from DVD is a pretty nice picture, and way more affordable than HD source and 1080 display. The US economy is going to prevent a lot of upgrades, though, so I think DVD is going to be 'the' disc for a few more years, yet, until better more people have true broadband connections, and the infrastructure is upgraded to *feed* those broadband connections. Too many people are paying the cost of a new BD player every month on gas right now to afford new electronic toys.
You can pretty easily compress most movies to 700MB with the right codec, maybe double that for HD, and most people wouldn't know the difference. Most people don't have HDTVs, and most of those don't have 1080p capability either. Also, most people never seem to check out the extras on discs, either (which is *really* strange to me). Considering the state of the economy, I think people will be more open to things which cost less, and no physical media scales to lower costs a lot easier, especially considering all the marketing, packaging, display, transportation costs involved in BluRay, not to mention the cost of the players right now (though that'll obviously come down soon enough). BluRay *really* needs some sub-$100 Korean players on the market, plus they need to chop the price of the discs in half to actually compete with DVD. The problem with all of that though is that most people still can't see anything better than DVD resolution anyway.
After the multi-billion dollar (err... Yen) shellacking that Toshiba just took over HD-DVD, I cannot imagine in their wildest dreams that they would try again.
Yeah, that's what I thought about Bush being reelected in 2004. *sigh*
I know your joking bot the death of HD-DVD was a loss for the consumer.
I disagree - I think the big war between HD-DVD and BluRay was a win for the consumer - it delayed everything long enough that the industry is moving to downloads instead of physical media. BluRay will not take over for DVD - downloads will.
Keep in mind I want to use Emacs via my smart phone
Oh MAN! I don't know where to even BEGIN with this one!
Re:Stalled window bug dealt with yet?
on
Firefox 3 RC1 Out Now
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Is Firefox unresponsive when this problem occurs, or does it just fail to other load pages (from the same site or from other sites) quickly? If it's unresponsive, it might make sense to blame "lack of threading", but if it's just failing to load other pages quickly, it's probably a more specific problem with the networking code or the default max-connections settings.
For me, it becomes completely unresponsive until that tab is done. This has happened on every machine I've used (which is several) in FF for years now.
Re:Stalled window bug dealt with yet?
on
Firefox 3 RC1 Out Now
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
> For the last year, I have consistently seen on the Windows version an annoying bug. If one tab takes forever to load, any other tab will not load a new page either. I find Ebay is one of the worst to bring it out. If you switch to using IE in a tab, that tab will show about:blank.
> I can understand some websites may make a Firefox tab crap out but it shouldn't affect the rest.
Did you file a bug report?
My understanding is that it's not a bug, but an intentional design limitation, ie: "it was too hard to design a multi-threaded UI or its functional equivalent when we started, and it's way too late to go back and change it now". Don't count on this ever being fixed by FF, but by hopefully either by Adobe fixing the Flash plugin, or by someone creating a better open source Flash plug-in replacement (now that all the specs are open), which is the usual culprit from every instance report I've seen.
I actually agree with the OP's feeling about B&N. No matter how gigantic the store is, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of the typical B&N consists of a half-dozen shelves off in a corner next to the Teen Readers section. The books are in order by author, rather than genre, which makes it difficult to find a particular type of book if you don't have an author in mind.
That's really bizarre, and completely opposite to my B&N experiences in the Seattle area. Every B&N store I've been to here (probably 4 or 5 of them) has a very large SFF section, often with books I don't find at Borders or elsewhere. They also vary store to store, so some will have little quirky titles that the others don't. Combine any of the B&N stores here in Seattle with the University of Washington Bookstore, and you can't go wrong. Another good option is Elliott Bay Books, though parking around there is really awful.
I thought he got the artificial heart after he was shot through the heart by Aaron Burr (who was, as Vice Presidents go, a much better marksman than Dick Cheney).
You Burr fans just won't let it go, will you? I'm so tired of the ProtoCon agenda.
Slashdot Mirror
If you look at a Model M keyboard, then remove the outer plastic cage, any internal steel plate stuff, then realize the circuitboard size for the keyboard is a good 75% smaller than a laptop keyboard circuitboard, then I think you could cut the weight of this down quite a bit. I'm sure we'll never know, though, because noone will ever do this. :(
Unless I get rich!
I'm gonna guess the steel plate in that is probably the bulk of the internal weight of that keyboard (in addition to the fewer keys, you also wouldn't need the outer plastic case of a normal keyboard). I'm sure it could be made quite a bit lighter than 2 pounds.
Looks like the same keyboard design to me.
Tell me - have you USED both keyboards? I have, and they feel NOTHING alike.
I suspect that modern laptops keep their keyboards slim so as to keep the units slim as a whole. But I would gladly sacrifice a the slim profile for a "real" keyboard.
:) Then if they made it cheaper, I could maybe buy one. Someday.
Probably, plus for the fancy looks. I'd love for Lenovo to put a buckling-spring keyboard in the ThinkPads. Hell, you could probably put a little generator in each key and partially power the thing just with your typing!
Quick question, have you tried ThinkPad keyboards
:(
I have, and they're easily the best of the laptop lot these days. I shudder to think what Lenovo is going to do to that line, though.
Sadly, I cannot afford a Thinkpad right now.
Your point would be good if a C64 keyboard was actually like the TRS-80 Model 100 keyboard. It isn't, though.
:(
I have a MacBook on my desk next to me at work, and that keyboard blows. All form over function.
Apple is hardly alone in this, though, as Sony proves (and that Optimus keyboard).
With the new crop of machines like the EEE PC it seems that we're moving back to small, power-efficient machines as opposed to huge hulkers.
:)
With OLED screens coming as the next big thing in the next few years, processors like VIA's Nano (formerly Isiah, I think), Intel's Atom, SSD storage, integrated graphics, things are definitely looking up on this front. Along with fewer moving parts to improve useful life, this is all great news.
I just hope the usability improves as well. Keyboards like on the Model 100 have a *much* better feel than any modern laptop I've used.
I read an article the other day about some big advance coming up for Lithium-Ion batteries, so that'll be nice, too.
Laptop makers could learn a thing or two from that keyboard - WAY better feel than those stupid flat keys that so many laptops use today (Apple, Sony, etc.). If you can't do something better than they did 20 years ago, just don't even try, m'kay?
By downloading you mean going to a site, downloading a movie and watching it on your PC? Doesn't sound like something the average consumer is interested in.
I was thinking more along the lines of things like AppleTV or the Netflix Roku.
We're still a few years away from eliminating the discs.
I agree, but what that means in practical terms is that DVD is still the disc to beat. DVD will be around long after BD, cuz BD is going nowhere fast.
It's too bad noone really came out with affordable 480p widescreen TVs - most people never saw what DVD was really capable of before HDTV came out. And really, a large-ish 720p set with source upconverted from DVD is a pretty nice picture, and way more affordable than HD source and 1080 display. The US economy is going to prevent a lot of upgrades, though, so I think DVD is going to be 'the' disc for a few more years, yet, until better more people have true broadband connections, and the infrastructure is upgraded to *feed* those broadband connections. Too many people are paying the cost of a new BD player every month on gas right now to afford new electronic toys.
You can pretty easily compress most movies to 700MB with the right codec, maybe double that for HD, and most people wouldn't know the difference. Most people don't have HDTVs, and most of those don't have 1080p capability either. Also, most people never seem to check out the extras on discs, either (which is *really* strange to me). Considering the state of the economy, I think people will be more open to things which cost less, and no physical media scales to lower costs a lot easier, especially considering all the marketing, packaging, display, transportation costs involved in BluRay, not to mention the cost of the players right now (though that'll obviously come down soon enough). BluRay *really* needs some sub-$100 Korean players on the market, plus they need to chop the price of the discs in half to actually compete with DVD. The problem with all of that though is that most people still can't see anything better than DVD resolution anyway.
After the multi-billion dollar (err... Yen) shellacking that Toshiba just took over HD-DVD, I cannot imagine in their wildest dreams that they would try again.
Yeah, that's what I thought about Bush being reelected in 2004. *sigh*
I know your joking bot the death of HD-DVD was a loss for the consumer.
I disagree - I think the big war between HD-DVD and BluRay was a win for the consumer - it delayed everything long enough that the industry is moving to downloads instead of physical media. BluRay will not take over for DVD - downloads will.
Hard drive? That's obsolete. Everyone's using solid state these days.
Maybe you guys need a refresher course. It's all ball bearings nowadays.
In that can I vote, and then complain about the way I voted?
Don't blame me, I voted for HD-Kodos.
1) Does this help my cereal stay crunchy in milk?
[ ] Yes!
[X] No!
If Yes, congratulations, you have made a valid contribution to society!
If No, fuck off, this has no bearing on real life. Get a haircut and a job, hippie.
It does seem crazy but look at it this way: It's the only app he needs to run.
Doesn't emacs have a built-in SSH client by now?
Keep in mind I want to use Emacs via my smart phone
Oh MAN! I don't know where to even BEGIN with this one!
Is Firefox unresponsive when this problem occurs, or does it just fail to other load pages (from the same site or from other sites) quickly? If it's unresponsive, it might make sense to blame "lack of threading", but if it's just failing to load other pages quickly, it's probably a more specific problem with the networking code or the default max-connections settings.
For me, it becomes completely unresponsive until that tab is done. This has happened on every machine I've used (which is several) in FF for years now.
> For the last year, I have consistently seen on the Windows version an annoying bug. If one tab takes forever to load, any other tab will not load a new page either. I find Ebay is one of the worst to bring it out. If you switch to using IE in a tab, that tab will show about:blank.
> I can understand some websites may make a Firefox tab crap out but it shouldn't affect the rest.
Did you file a bug report?
My understanding is that it's not a bug, but an intentional design limitation, ie: "it was too hard to design a multi-threaded UI or its functional equivalent when we started, and it's way too late to go back and change it now". Don't count on this ever being fixed by FF, but by hopefully either by Adobe fixing the Flash plugin, or by someone creating a better open source Flash plug-in replacement (now that all the specs are open), which is the usual culprit from every instance report I've seen.
I actually agree with the OP's feeling about B&N. No matter how gigantic the store is, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of the typical B&N consists of a half-dozen shelves off in a corner next to the Teen Readers section. The books are in order by author, rather than genre, which makes it difficult to find a particular type of book if you don't have an author in mind.
That's really bizarre, and completely opposite to my B&N experiences in the Seattle area. Every B&N store I've been to here (probably 4 or 5 of them) has a very large SFF section, often with books I don't find at Borders or elsewhere. They also vary store to store, so some will have little quirky titles that the others don't. Combine any of the B&N stores here in Seattle with the University of Washington Bookstore, and you can't go wrong. Another good option is Elliott Bay Books, though parking around there is really awful.
If you're in Portland, just go to Powell's.
Never used a real vt100, eh?
Nah, I was an IBM VM/CMS guy. I think we *had* some DECs around school back then, but not in the department I was in.
80x25 white on black bash, baby.
GREEN on black, you infidel!!!
(in a pinch, 'amber' will do instead of green, but never WHITE!)
Those PaleoCons won't rest until they've restored the monarchy.
I'm scared that if we don't change course from the PaleoCon path soon, there won't be any Wooly Mammoths left to hunt. THEN what will we do?!
I thought he got the artificial heart after he was shot through the heart by Aaron Burr (who was, as Vice Presidents go, a much better marksman than Dick Cheney).
You Burr fans just won't let it go, will you? I'm so tired of the ProtoCon agenda.