Seems as if this might be shared bandwith like cable modems (boy they are fast.... as long as there aren't 500 other people all using up your speed). If this were to work, and work well enough that lots of people started to use it (though I have serious issues with it - see below), everybody slows down again. Not good.
As for my concerns about the actual technology - I have enough problems keeping the power clean in my house without there being lots of extra noise intentionally placed on the line. I'm one of those people who hates every power deviation that introduces noise into my stereo or video equipment. I'd liketo put a lot of effort into making sure that my 120vrms 60Hz signal is nice and clean, without a lot of spurious crap.
With that in mind - the isolation transformers, surge protectors, backup supplies (some which constantly filter the line), and other cute little wall warts which filter line noise would be detrimental to the aforementioned product - but a nice power spike from a vaccuum cleaner, fan starting/stopping or a garage door opener would probably not be in the best interests of the rx/tx section of this technology. There are many ways you can filter out the lower frequencies, but the spikes are inherently high frequency, with broad enough scope to disrupt the high-freq signal to the power-line modem (or whatever you might call it). Sure, you won't notice a brief.25 second delay in your service every now and then, but if somebody turns on a blender or coffee grinder, you're pretty much SOL... Not to mention repeated spikes just aren't good for electronics equipment...
>He has figured out how to use the same technique with the earths magnetic field, to communicate over the whole world. Yes, it actually says this.
I have, too - and I'll give the secret away for free 8^)
Ever see that amateur radio support area in the Linux kernel? That's right! You too can manipulate the Earths electro-magnetic field for long range communications!!!
Spark-gap transmitters (while highly frowned upon), are also quite effective;^)
Re:American notes don't go out of circulation
on
IDs in Color Copies
·
· Score: 1
Banks often return old bills to the Treasury in exchange for new ones - it gets the older bills out of circulation, and keeps the money a little cleaner. THe old bills are shredded and you can buy those little bags of $100 (shredded $1/$5s) for a buck or two - they even make money off selling non-legal tender;-)
Daewoo... people who have no right trying to manufacture cars... they should stick to the fourth-rate TVs that they give away free with any car purchase.
Athlon *does* sorta inspire thoughts of fleetness (for me, at least) - sorta that Athlete thing in the back of my mind... Athens... gods... it's all good...
GeForce 256... I've never heard anyone say the 256 out loud, only in type... I mean, really - there's no GeForce 128... and I'm one of those poor people who still thinks that G-Forces are cool - maybe I've watched too much Top Gun, and still hope to be in a plane, but if you want a 3D accelerator, don't you want it to "throw you back into your seat" (I always picture those Maxell commercials...
Itanium stands out a a particularly bad one - let's choose the next one in the line... hmmm Pentium... Sexium... d-OH! um, how's ITANIUM catch ya. Sounds like a metal, with a vague flavor of silicon (I hate that FDIV aftertaste, though)...
Well, there is LinuxPPC and I believe an older port for 68ks, and OpenBSD runs on just about anything more powerful than a Casio wristwatch 8^)
An industry-standard PCI QPU-card could be used with either platform (and let's not forget Alphas, either). The card itself doesn't usually care about the OS / host CPU, as long as the appropriate drivers / access methods are used.
>I wouldn't be surprised at that point if supercomputers were to become classed as munitions,like strong crypto is now.
Actually, it wasn't that long ago that it was illegal to export any computer that rated over 500MIPS out of the US... Of course, once everday desktops hit these barriers, it seemed kinda silly, but when only the massive machines could rate that high (on an admittedly semi-bogus scale), it almost made sense. With computing power still scaling near Moore's law, it's tough to put a reasonable limit on it, seeing that by the time it gets through Congress, it will already be as outdated as the hardware it was trying to protect...
Well, the PCI bus is divided to run at 33.33... MHz if you are running at one of the standard CPU/Memory bus speeds (defined by Intel to be 66 or 100, and now 133). Some boards have separate clock generators so that the PCI bus can always maintain the correct speed even if you are playing with your FSB at 75, 83, 112, 124, or anywhere in between. ISA is slower (8-12MHz) and nowhere near as fun, but PC PCI is still chugging along at a good old 33.3 MHz.
Star Office does import most all Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents pretty well, and the macro scripting langue is ~Visual Basic (they just call it BASIC, though). It is quite functional, and is really easy for Office users to pick up...
(rehash similar argument for Wordperfect on Linux, but not with as much vigor)...
I personally don't care much what I use, since i don't exchange docs with many others,and most of them use.rtf anyway 8^)
Recent College Grad Speaks...
on
NetSlaves
·
· Score: 1
I just recently graduated with a degree in Computer & Systems engineering (from RPI), and had a few different sysadmin / 'IT' jobs before I left school. After reviewing my job choices, I went with a position doing hardware design and microcode (at Big Blue), rather than an IT position with a Fortune 500 company (GE, Paine Webber, etc...). The opportunities were there (and paid well), but you just have to look at what you are going to be doing, and whether or not that is going to be satisfying.
Sysadmin roles aren't always firefighting, but there is certainly far too much of that for my liking, and it tends to wear on a person pretty quickly. It's fun for a while, and you get satisfaction from it... but eventually you can get fed up if you aren't doing as much new stuff as you are fighting problems... It takes different personalities, and the motivation is a big factor. They've even started a neww IT major at RPI (damn them to hell) for those who are looking for easy money and don't know what they are getting into. A less technical curriculum with more interdisciplinary courses... CS/CSE is still more valuable on an overall level - I think the larger background and deeper understanding of the systems you are working with is a big help (a little CS never hurts for automating tasks, or trying to patch security holes...).
I still don't quite understand the rationale for the region lockouts... If I'm on vacation in, let say France, and I find a DVD that is all sorts of neat, but will never be released in the States, why shouldn't I be allowed to view something that I've purchased??? What is to be gained here? I would think that the regions only restrict your market. Maybe I think Independant aussie films on DVD is the Greatest Thing(TM) since sliced bread - but I'm punished for this by having to physically alter my DVD player or get a second one!? My computer's software decoder doesn't care much for regions, but the one in my home theater system sure does... bah!
Hmmm, I'll have to remember not stop at any gas stations where a kid is wearing those blinking shoes, either... even more dangereous, since the gas fumes are heavier than air, and all that blinking has got to cause an explosion, right 8^)
I still advocate the use of ground-ground missiles for resolving traffic issues caused by cell-phones... causes a little mess, but we'd all be better off in the long run - (I tried to extend this argument to any vehicles with simulated wood paneling, but I got outvoted there) 8^)
Unlike cigarettes, I can't tell if the person in the room next to me ate a Twinkie or a Big Mac the next day (aside from poor waste management), but I can smell that burnt crap for the rest of the week in the carpet, furniture, etc...
I suppose cellphones don't quite qualify for the 'health of innocent bystanders' part, unless you count all the morons who try to drive when talking on a cell phone. They make hands-free models, people!!! Get one or don't talk!!!
Yes, more of the Neo's character is good, as long as he doesn't open his mouth too often. I still think that this was his best role (with the possible exception of Devil's advocate), since all he had to do was wander around lost and confused for most of the movie;-)
I've run Starcraft w/ Brood war under WINE, as have many others. Pretty easy to do, no noticeable speed hit (it *is* a strategy game), and it's pretty stable.
Unfortunately, some of the best comments crawl along at a 1 (by a real person, not moderated up), or by an AC upped only once (not usually, but hey, it happens). Plus, I get that nagging feeling that I've missed something important in those 50 or so comments that are below my threshhold... It gets rid of the first post issue, but limits a lot of good stuff, too.
I suggest a slashdot preference option: Hide all First Post comments x (this would, of course, incude all variations and other dumb arse first post variants)... in fact, it would filter out *this* post, due to the FIRST POST in the subject and the comment. I'd be thrilled at this option... of course people would start first posting things like "Floof!" and "Nanotubule" instead, and soon we'd just have to decapitate them all......
My point was more of the fact that people will buy things based on the premise of havng support, even if they never use it...
I am certainly *not* calling M$ tech supprort good/functional/enviable, but the fact that help might be there in some official capacity is enough to allay the fears of some people, and let them buy something they otherwise might have steered clear of. "Wow, I heard there's companies that support Linux apps for users, not just buisnesses" is about the best thing to help spread the use of Linux and BSD right now. The reports in the media have raised the awareness quite a bit, but there are some mental hurdles that some people need to get over first. I've been using Linux (one distro or another for several years now), and I have had some friends (even CS majors, mind you), that were unwilling to try it because "what if I can't get a hold of you if something goes wrong".
It's like weak encryption, it may not help out a lot, but it does make you feel better...
Who needs hard drives;-) we can store all of those cracked DVD's in memory now (of our BSD laptops), and with ultra-high-speed-broadband-or-whatever transmission, we can send 6GB of data in no time flat. In fact, Echelon would have even more infinite stores, and would be able to capture all of this, and (as long as our quantum encryption is successful) be the worlds largest holder of junk mail. Now if they could only combine the robofly with VanEck phreaking, that'd be cool...
The free support offered by Applix for those who buy this package. It doesn't make much of a difference for many of us, who are used to downloading everything, toying around with it at our own risk and enjoyment. It does make more of a statement for the more widespread acceptance of BSD/Linux on laptops (aand desktops). Redhat's free install support for those who buy the box may not seem like a big deal to some, but it really goes a long way.
Joe Q Random: "Why would I try this - there's not even anyone to call if I have a problem" John Q Hacker: Joe: "But I wan't get to them - it's not working..."
Support is a major selling point for many people - even for those who are somewhat technically competant, but just want it to work *now*, and can't get a hold of the info in any other way but the phone...
The increase in the number of companies that are selling pre-loaded Linux/BSD boxen is definitely a step in the right direction - sometimes you just want the right tool for the job, and you want it working, without having to worry about hardware / partitioning issues... You can always play with the other stuff later, but let's get up and running.
Best to hide behind the "we don't regulate the content; we're simply in the business of providing the wire" defense.
Yup - if they removed at the request of Lockheed or the Airforce, that would seem to be OK under their own 'no responsibility' clause, but the fact that they did it without anyone asking them to is a little too much... A more furtive way around it could have been found - how 'bout contacting somebody at LM and getting the ball rolling. "Hey somebody just did this over here (blah blah blah)" While not all that much different in intent, it does provide a little more of a legal blanket (though IANAL)...
Whatever - I just hope this doesn't lead to the downfall of all civilization as we know it... I'll leave that to "Y2K: The Movie"
Slashdot Mirror
Seems as if this might be shared bandwith like cable modems (boy they are fast.... as long as there aren't 500 other people all using up your speed). If this were to work, and work well enough that lots of people started to use it (though I have serious issues with it - see below), everybody slows down again. Not good.
.25 second delay in your service every now and then, but if somebody turns on a blender or coffee grinder, you're pretty much SOL...
As for my concerns about the actual technology - I have enough problems keeping the power clean in my house without there being lots of extra noise intentionally placed on the line. I'm one of those people who hates every power deviation that introduces noise into my stereo or video equipment. I'd liketo put a lot of effort into making sure that my 120vrms 60Hz signal is nice and clean, without a lot of spurious crap.
With that in mind - the isolation transformers, surge protectors, backup supplies (some which constantly filter the line), and other cute little wall warts which filter line noise would be detrimental to the aforementioned product - but a nice power spike from a vaccuum cleaner, fan starting/stopping or a garage door opener would probably not be in the best interests of the rx/tx section of this technology. There are many ways you can filter out the lower frequencies, but the spikes are inherently high frequency, with broad enough scope to disrupt the high-freq signal to the power-line modem (or whatever you might call it). Sure, you won't notice a brief
Not to mention repeated spikes just aren't good for electronics equipment...
>He has figured out how to use the same technique with the earths magnetic field, to communicate over the whole world. Yes, it actually says this.
;^)
I have, too - and I'll give the secret away for free 8^)
Ever see that amateur radio support area in the Linux kernel? That's right! You too can manipulate the Earths electro-magnetic field for long range communications!!!
Spark-gap transmitters (while highly frowned upon), are also quite effective
Banks often return old bills to the Treasury in exchange for new ones - it gets the older bills out of circulation, and keeps the money a little cleaner. THe old bills are shredded and you can buy those little bags of $100 (shredded $1/$5s) for a buck or two - they even make money off selling non-legal tender ;-)
Daewoo... people who have no right trying to manufacture cars... they should stick to the fourth-rate TVs that they give away free with any car purchase.
Blech!
Yes, sorta, and yeah, ok...
Athlon *does* sorta inspire thoughts of fleetness (for me, at least) - sorta that Athlete thing in the back of my mind... Athens... gods... it's all good...
GeForce 256... I've never heard anyone say the 256 out loud, only in type... I mean, really - there's no GeForce 128... and I'm one of those poor people who still thinks that G-Forces are cool - maybe I've watched too much Top Gun, and still hope to be in a plane, but if you want a 3D accelerator, don't you want it to "throw you back into your seat" (I always picture those Maxell commercials...
hmmm.... Maxell... Teac...
just my $.02...
Itanium stands out a a particularly bad one -
let's choose the next one in the line... hmmm Pentium... Sexium... d-OH! um, how's ITANIUM catch ya. Sounds like a metal, with a vague flavor of silicon (I hate that FDIV aftertaste, though)...
Troy... it was Troy...
Well, there is LinuxPPC and I believe an older port for 68ks, and OpenBSD runs on just about anything more powerful than a Casio wristwatch 8^)
An industry-standard PCI QPU-card could be used with either platform (and let's not forget Alphas, either). The card itself doesn't usually care about the OS / host CPU, as long as the appropriate drivers / access methods are used.
Just my $(0.0004)^.5
>I wouldn't be surprised at that point if supercomputers were to become classed as munitions,like strong crypto is now.
Actually, it wasn't that long ago that it was illegal to export any computer that rated over 500MIPS out of the US... Of course, once everday desktops hit these barriers, it seemed kinda silly, but when only the massive machines could rate that high (on an admittedly semi-bogus scale), it almost made sense. With computing power still scaling near Moore's law, it's tough to put a reasonable limit on it, seeing that by the time it gets through Congress, it will already be as outdated as the hardware it was trying to protect...
Well, the PCI bus is divided to run at 33.33... MHz if you are running at one of the standard CPU/Memory bus speeds (defined by Intel to be 66 or 100, and now 133). Some boards have separate clock generators so that the PCI bus can always maintain the correct speed even if you are playing with your FSB at 75, 83, 112, 124, or anywhere in between. ISA is slower (8-12MHz) and nowhere near as fun, but PC PCI is still chugging along at a good old 33.3 MHz.
Just my $(.004)^.5
Star Office does import most all Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents pretty well, and the macro scripting langue is ~Visual Basic (they just call it BASIC, though). It is quite functional, and is really easy for Office users to pick up...
.rtf anyway 8^)
(rehash similar argument for Wordperfect on Linux, but not with as much vigor)...
I personally don't care much what I use, since i don't exchange docs with many others,and most of them use
I just recently graduated with a degree in Computer & Systems engineering (from RPI), and had a few different sysadmin / 'IT' jobs before I left school. After reviewing my job choices, I went with a position doing hardware design and microcode (at Big Blue), rather than an IT position with a Fortune 500 company (GE, Paine Webber, etc...). The opportunities were there (and paid well), but you just have to look at what you are going to be doing, and whether or not that is going to be satisfying.
Sysadmin roles aren't always firefighting, but there is certainly far too much of that for my liking, and it tends to wear on a person pretty quickly. It's fun for a while, and you get satisfaction from it... but eventually you can get fed up if you aren't doing as much new stuff as you are fighting problems... It takes different personalities, and the motivation is a big factor. They've even started a neww IT major at RPI (damn them to hell) for those who are looking for easy money and don't know what they are getting into. A less technical curriculum with more interdisciplinary courses... CS/CSE is still more valuable on an overall level - I think the larger background and deeper understanding of the systems you are working with is a big help (a little CS never hurts for automating tasks, or trying to patch security holes...).
Just my $.0004^.5
I still don't quite understand the rationale for the region lockouts... If I'm on vacation in, let say France, and I find a DVD that is all sorts of neat, but will never be released in the States, why shouldn't I be allowed to view something that I've purchased??? What is to be gained here? I would think that the regions only restrict your market. Maybe I think Independant aussie films on DVD is the Greatest Thing(TM) since sliced bread - but I'm punished for this by having to physically alter my DVD player or get a second one!? My computer's software decoder doesn't care much for regions, but the one in my home theater system sure does... bah!
Hmmm, I'll have to remember not stop at any gas stations where a kid is wearing those blinking shoes, either... even more dangereous, since the gas fumes are heavier than air, and all that blinking has got to cause an explosion, right 8^)
I still advocate the use of ground-ground missiles for resolving traffic issues caused by cell-phones... causes a little mess, but we'd all be better off in the long run - (I tried to extend this argument to any vehicles with simulated wood paneling, but I got outvoted there) 8^)
Unlike cigarettes, I can't tell if the person in the room next to me ate a Twinkie or a Big Mac the next day (aside from poor waste management), but I can smell that burnt crap for the rest of the week in the carpet, furniture, etc...
I suppose cellphones don't quite qualify for the 'health of innocent bystanders' part, unless you count all the morons who try to drive when talking on a cell phone. They make hands-free models, people!!! Get one or don't talk!!!
oh well... just had to vent...
Yes, more of the Neo's character is good, as long as he doesn't open his mouth too often. I still think that this was his best role (with the possible exception of Devil's advocate), since all he had to do was wander around lost and confused for most of the movie ;-)
I've run Starcraft w/ Brood war under WINE, as have many others. Pretty easy to do, no noticeable speed hit (it *is* a strategy game), and it's pretty stable.
Just my $(.14142135624)^2
Unfortunately, some of the best comments crawl along at a 1 (by a real person, not moderated up), or by an AC upped only once (not usually, but hey, it happens). Plus, I get that nagging feeling that I've missed something important in those 50 or so comments that are below my threshhold... It gets rid of the first post issue, but limits a lot of good stuff, too.
I suggest a slashdot preference option:
Hide all First Post comments x (this would, of course, incude all variations and other dumb arse first post variants)... in fact, it would filter out *this* post, due to the FIRST POST in the subject and the comment. I'd be thrilled at this option... of course people would start first posting things like "Floof!" and "Nanotubule" instead, and soon we'd just have to decapitate them all......
My point was more of the fact that people will buy things based on the premise of havng support, even if they never use it...
I am certainly *not* calling M$ tech supprort good/functional/enviable, but the fact that help might be there in some official capacity is enough to allay the fears of some people, and let them buy something they otherwise might have steered clear of. "Wow, I heard there's companies that support Linux apps for users, not just buisnesses" is about the best thing to help spread the use of Linux and BSD right now. The reports in the media have raised the awareness quite a bit, but there are some mental hurdles that some people need to get over first. I've been using Linux (one distro or another for several years now), and I have had some friends (even CS majors, mind you), that were unwilling to try it because "what if I can't get a hold of you if something goes wrong".
It's like weak encryption, it may not help out a lot, but it does make you feel better...
Who needs hard drives ;-) we can store all of those cracked DVD's in memory now (of our BSD laptops), and with ultra-high-speed-broadband-or-whatever transmission, we can send 6GB of data in no time flat. In fact, Echelon would have even more infinite stores, and would be able to capture all of this, and (as long as our quantum encryption is successful) be the worlds largest holder of junk mail. Now if they could only combine the robofly with VanEck phreaking, that'd be cool...
I hate it when preview doesn't work right...
just for reference, John Q Hacker decided to mention the newsgroups and the other on-line help...
The free support offered by Applix for those who buy this package. It doesn't make much of a difference for many of us, who are used to downloading everything, toying around with it at our own risk and enjoyment. It does make more of a statement for the more widespread acceptance of BSD/Linux on laptops (aand desktops). Redhat's free install support for those who buy the box may not seem like a big deal to some, but it really goes a long way.
Joe Q Random: "Why would I try this - there's not even anyone to call if I have a problem"
John Q Hacker:
Joe: "But I wan't get to them - it's not working..."
Support is a major selling point for many people - even for those who are somewhat technically competant, but just want it to work *now*, and can't get a hold of the info in any other way but the phone...
The increase in the number of companies that are selling pre-loaded Linux/BSD boxen is definitely a step in the right direction - sometimes you just want the right tool for the job, and you want it working, without having to worry about hardware / partitioning issues... You can always play with the other stuff later, but let's get up and running.
Just my $ 1/50
There isn't any Echelon, there couldn't be. If they actually had one, then I'm sure we'd...
Hey... who are those guys over there by the elevator...
They found me.... I don't know how, but they've found me! Run for it Marty!!!
Best to hide behind the "we don't regulate the content; we're simply in the business of providing the wire" defense.
Yup - if they removed at the request of Lockheed or the Airforce, that would seem to be OK under their own 'no responsibility' clause, but the fact that they did it without anyone asking them to is a little too much... A more furtive way around it could have been found - how 'bout contacting somebody at LM and getting the ball rolling. "Hey somebody just did this over here (blah blah blah)" While not all that much different in intent, it does provide a little more of a legal blanket (though IANAL)...
Whatever - I just hope this doesn't lead to the downfall of all civilization as we know it... I'll leave that to "Y2K: The Movie"