The interesting bit is that this doesn't affect just Apple or even just the iBook--the new desktop G4s can also take the AirPort card. (Makes for an easy home LAN.) AirPort is based on IEE 802.11, no Apple-NIH syndrome here. I think Lucent had a hand in developing the product, and I know that several PC implementations are on the way, including at least one product which is contained on a PC Card
IEEE 802.11 is a standard developed by the same organization that set standards for Ethernet networking, which is commonly used in offices. 802.11 is a worldwide standard, so companies that build products conforming to this standard can have their products work together. Schools often find it beneficial to use standardized equipment so that they can combine hardware from different vendors. Home users who buy a standardized product are assured that it will work with products from other companies.
This paper on IEEE 802.11 I turned up might also be of interest. It contains the "Idiot's Guide to IEEE 802.11 Networking"
So... now everyone using IEEE 802.11 is screwed in France...But what about Quebec? (j/k)
Yes, you can have multiple base stations. What's also ginchy is that any Mac with an airport card in it can act as a base station. Also cool, you can create a "spread" of AirPort receivers, placing them about 275 feet apart. As you move around the spread, the AirPort card will automatically switch between base stations. (Kinda' like cell phones.)
I think you're wrong, though, with the numbers... I want to say one AirPort base station can support ten or fifteen devices
Move to North Dakota... we respect individual choice so much that there is no voter registration. At all. Once you get into the voting booth, you can vote for damn well whoever you please.
Recently, I managed to get LinuxPPC running on my PowerMac. Now you all are thinking, "Big flippin' deal." Well it is for me... prior to my LinuxPPC endeavour, I knew a bit of *nix command line, mainly simple file commands (chmod, cd, etc.) and grep. (BBEdit on the Mac lets you search/replace with grep patterns. It's godly.) Now I know a lot more.
I don't think we'll see Linux shipping on small-home, small-office machines for quite some time. Why? It's not a MomOS. Just think: Put Linux on your mom's computer. Scary? Yup... unless your Linus' mom.
Windows and the MacOS are still the only viable MomOSes. Linux has a long way to go before I turn my mother loose on it.
Hmmm... methinks I shall trademark the phrase "frivolous lawsuit" as well as patent the concept of a frivolous suit and sue anyone who files such a suit:-)
"The copyright law also protects those who create parodies of well known works, as long as the creator has altered the message so as to create their own work" -- David Siegel, Secrets of Successful Web Sites
Now, neither myself nor Mr. Siegel are lawyers, so take the above at its screen worth.
Finally the Linux community is being exposed to the kind of baiting Dvorak is famous for. In an earlier post, someone mentioned Dvorak's opinion on Apple, the company being dead at least three times if I'm not mistaken. (It's not--And remember, Mac are just as disgusted with Windows as Linux people are disgusted with Windows.)
Dig through Dvorak's column archives. What do you find? Constant baiting of Apple-loyalists, calling them (us? names, mocking our choice of platform simply because the Mac doesn't run Windows.
Oh... so that's what happened to Captain Nemo. Seriously though, that's a decent engineering accomplishment. Working under that much water could be considered more difficult than working in space.
Working closely with our friends at Appleinsider, MOSR has confirmed two very positive developments in the ongoing effort to discern Apple's willingness to keep its professional computers upgradable:
Very importantly, it has been confirmed by reliable Apple sources that the company is planning to include fix for the G4 upgrade block installed with the latest Blue G3 Firmware. Apparently, the decision to develop the block code was extremely controversial within Apple, and even its proponents generally stated that their intentions were only to provide insurance that Apple was not "surprise attacked" by third parties shipping G4 upgrades before Apple was able to ship their own G4 machine.
Secondly, MOSR has confirmed that the recent confusion over whether the new Sawtooth-based G4s were processor-upgradable was caused by outdated diagrams of the board. Once more recent versions were uncovered, it was clear that the Boot ROM continues to reside on the main board, and there are no obvious barriers in hardware nor software for the new G4s to be upgraded for years to come.
In a related note, we were surprised to hear from several third party developers that not only had they succesfully used prototype multiple-G4 upgrade boards on Beige and Blue G3s...at least one has also completed a proof-of-concept test for a multi-G4 card that would support the use of the 128-bit, enhanced-performance MaxBus as a "backplane" bus for the processors and cache chips to use for incredibly efficient inter-processor communication -- but would still be compatible with all upgradable PowerPC Macs and their 64-bit "60x" bus protocol. MaxBus, which many insiders had previously not expected to be applied to the Mac until mid to late 2000, could offer dramatic benefits even in this only partial implementation.
Admittedly Apple has that "Oh Shit!" look of kindergartner caught with both hands in the cookie jar, but it does represent a positive thing for any computer company: Listening to your pissed off end users.
Working closely with our friends at Appleinsider, MOSR has confirmed two very positive developments in the ongoing effort to discern Apple's willingness to keep its professional computers upgradable:
Very importantly, it has been confirmed by reliable Apple sources that the company is planning to include fix for the G4 upgrade block installed with the latest Blue G3 Firmware. Apparently, the decision to develop the block code was extremely controversial within Apple, and even its proponents generally stated that their intentions were only to provide insurance that Apple was not "surprise attacked" by third parties shipping G4 upgrades before Apple was able to ship their own G4 machine.
Secondly, MOSR has confirmed that the recent confusion over whether the new Sawtooth-based G4s were processor-upgradable was caused by outdated diagrams of the board. Once more recent versions were uncovered, it was clear that the Boot ROM continues to reside on the main board, and there are no obvious barriers in hardware nor software for the new G4s to be upgraded for years to come. In a related note, we were surprised to hear from several third party developers that not only had they succesfully used prototype multiple-G4 upgrade boards on Beige and Blue G3s...at least one has also completed a proof-of-concept test for a multi-G4 card that would support the use of the 128-bit, enhanced-performance MaxBus as a "backplane" bus for the processors and cache chips to use for incredibly efficient inter-processor communication -- but would still be compatible with all upgradable PowerPC Macs and their 64-bit "60x" bus protocol. MaxBus, which many insiders had previously not expected to be applied to the Mac until mid to late 2000, could offer dramatic benefits even in this only partial implementation.
Yes, Linux PPC runs fine on all shipping Apple dekstops, powerbooks, and iMac-en. At most, the guys over at LinuxPPC will have to make a few accomodations to get AirPort and FireWire working properly. The new iMacs should be based on Apple's universal motherboard architecture, making it relatively easy. One motherboard across the whole line, with machine specific identity plugged-in via daughtercards.
Apple's been outsourcing production like mad. Last I heard, the Cork Ireland plant was running at low capacity, making it a likely source for European iMacs and iBooks.
Okay, this is a bit off-topic and flamebaitish, but anyways: Outside of Apple's latest boxes and the iBook, what are everyones' favorite OEM cases? I've gotta vote for anything NeXT made and Apple's 20th Anniversary Macintosh.
I really don't consider moderation of any posts to be a violation of someone's free speech. Slashdot is, after all, run by Rob not some government entity. Rob can censor if he wants--his box, his code, his bandwidth, etc. Besides, you can always set a -1 threshhold and get everything including the utter piles of excrement.
Apple was talking about the Mac market, o' uninformed Anonymous Coward. The new Cinema Display and the new Rage AGP cards are the first digital-digital LCD interface on the Mac.
IBM recently released specs on motherboards capable of handling a G4. G4 + Linux = Cray kicker?
BTW, MacOS Rumors quotes Steve Jobs from his keynote, mentioning that a G4 machine running a CD fresh copy of MacOS 9 can process a block of SETI data in 6 hours. That's a lot of power in a US$1500 machine.
PNG in and of itself does not suck--the implementation of PNG sucks. Netscape and Microsoft can't even make their browsers render CSS competently so I don't expect them to do any better with a graphic format. (OT: Anybody remember IE3's CSS support? Sure... an em is equal to a px.)
BTW, you should be able to convert your Web site on the fly. Use Debabelizer or the GIMP (I think) to convert your images to png. Now use grep and change all instances of.gif to.png. Simple.
Am I doing this? Nope. Why? The market support for PNG is not present. I will not alienate 80-90% of web users just because Unisys is throwing a tantrum. I honestly want PNG, if not just for the 8-bit alpha channel.... it's just that the support is not there.
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The interesting bit is that this doesn't affect just Apple or even just the iBook--the new desktop G4s can also take the AirPort card. (Makes for an easy home LAN.) AirPort is based on IEE 802.11, no Apple-NIH syndrome here. I think Lucent had a hand in developing the product, and I know that several PC implementations are on the way, including at least one product which is contained on a PC Card
Here's the skinny from one of Apple's AirPort FAQs:
This paper on IEEE 802.11 I turned up might also be of interest. It contains the "Idiot's Guide to IEEE 802.11 Networking"
So... now everyone using IEEE 802.11 is screwed in France...But what about Quebec? (j/k)
Yes, you can have multiple base stations. What's also ginchy is that any Mac with an airport card in it can act as a base station. Also cool, you can create a "spread" of AirPort receivers, placing them about 275 feet apart. As you move around the spread, the AirPort card will automatically switch between base stations. (Kinda' like cell phones.)
I think you're wrong, though, with the numbers... I want to say one AirPort base station can support ten or fifteen devices
Move to North Dakota... we respect individual choice so much that there is no voter registration. At all. Once you get into the voting booth, you can vote for damn well whoever you please.
Recently, I managed to get LinuxPPC running on my PowerMac. Now you all are thinking, "Big flippin' deal." Well it is for me... prior to my LinuxPPC endeavour, I knew a bit of *nix command line, mainly simple file commands (chmod, cd, etc.) and grep. (BBEdit on the Mac lets you search/replace with grep patterns. It's godly.) Now I know a lot more.
I don't think we'll see Linux shipping on small-home, small-office machines for quite some time. Why? It's not a MomOS. Just think: Put Linux on your mom's computer. Scary? Yup... unless your Linus' mom.
Windows and the MacOS are still the only viable MomOSes. Linux has a long way to go before I turn my mother loose on it.
Hmmm... methinks I shall trademark the phrase "frivolous lawsuit" as well as patent the concept of a frivolous suit and sue anyone who files such a suit :-)
(j/k everyone)
"The copyright law also protects those who create parodies of well known works, as long as the creator has altered the message so as to create their own work"
-- David Siegel, Secrets of Successful Web Sites
Now, neither myself nor Mr. Siegel are lawyers, so take the above at its screen worth.
Finally the Linux community is being exposed to the kind of baiting Dvorak is famous for. In an earlier post, someone mentioned Dvorak's opinion on Apple, the company being dead at least three times if I'm not mistaken. (It's not--And remember, Mac are just as disgusted with Windows as Linux people are disgusted with Windows.)
Dig through Dvorak's column archives. What do you find? Constant baiting of Apple-loyalists, calling them (us? names, mocking our choice of platform simply because the Mac doesn't run Windows.
So my Linux brethren, welcome to the fray.
Oh... so that's what happened to Captain Nemo. Seriously though, that's a decent engineering accomplishment. Working under that much water could be considered more difficult than working in space.
Ever seen an ad for potatos?
Ummm...yes... I go to college in eastern North Dakota, potato central next to Idaho. We have ads for potatoes.
I haven't seen anything recently. The W3C never really said much either.
http://www.w3.org/Style/1999/02/Pa tent-Statement
In their day, they had plenty of kick and the built in Bose system justified at least $500 of the price. AND they can run Linux. Ooooh... Linux.
Quoted directly from MacOS Rumors:
Working closely with our friends at Appleinsider, MOSR has confirmed two very positive developments in the ongoing effort to discern Apple's willingness to keep its professional computers upgradable:
Very importantly, it has been confirmed by reliable Apple sources that the company is planning to include fix for the G4 upgrade block installed with the latest Blue G3 Firmware. Apparently, the decision to develop the block code was extremely controversial within Apple, and even its proponents generally stated that their intentions were only to provide insurance that Apple was not "surprise attacked" by third parties shipping G4 upgrades before Apple was able to ship their own G4 machine.
Secondly, MOSR has confirmed that the recent confusion over whether the new Sawtooth-based G4s were processor-upgradable was caused by outdated diagrams of the board. Once more recent versions were uncovered, it was clear that the Boot ROM continues to reside on the main board, and there are no obvious barriers in hardware nor software for the new G4s to be upgraded for years to come.
In a related note, we were surprised to hear from several third party developers that not only had they succesfully used prototype multiple-G4 upgrade boards on Beige and Blue G3s...at least one has also completed a proof-of-concept test for a multi-G4 card that would support the use of the 128-bit, enhanced-performance MaxBus as a "backplane" bus for the processors and cache chips to use for incredibly efficient inter-processor communication -- but would still be compatible with all upgradable PowerPC Macs and their 64-bit "60x" bus protocol. MaxBus, which many insiders had previously not expected to be applied to the Mac until mid to late 2000, could offer dramatic benefits even in this only partial implementation.
Admittedly Apple has that "Oh Shit!" look of kindergartner caught with both hands in the cookie jar, but it does represent a positive thing for any computer company: Listening to your pissed off end users.
Straight from MacOS Rumors:
Working closely with our friends at Appleinsider, MOSR has confirmed two very positive developments in the ongoing effort to discern Apple's willingness to keep its professional computers upgradable:
Very importantly, it has been confirmed by reliable Apple sources that the company is planning to include fix for the G4 upgrade block installed with the latest Blue G3 Firmware. Apparently, the decision to develop the block code was extremely controversial within Apple, and even its proponents generally stated that their intentions were only to provide insurance that Apple was not "surprise attacked" by third parties shipping G4 upgrades before Apple was able to ship their own G4 machine.
Secondly, MOSR has confirmed that the recent confusion over whether the new Sawtooth-based G4s were processor-upgradable was caused by outdated diagrams of the board. Once more recent versions were uncovered, it was clear that the Boot ROM continues to reside on the main board, and there are no obvious barriers in hardware nor software for the new G4s to be upgraded for years to come. In a related note, we were surprised to hear from several third party developers that not only had they succesfully used prototype multiple-G4 upgrade boards on Beige and Blue G3s...at least one has also completed a proof-of-concept test for a multi-G4 card that would support the use of the 128-bit, enhanced-performance MaxBus as a "backplane" bus for the processors and cache chips to use for incredibly efficient inter-processor communication -- but would still be compatible with all upgradable PowerPC Macs and their 64-bit "60x" bus protocol. MaxBus, which many insiders had previously not expected to be applied to the Mac until mid to late 2000, could offer dramatic benefits even in this only partial implementation.
Yes, Linux PPC runs fine on all shipping Apple dekstops, powerbooks, and iMac-en. At most, the guys over at LinuxPPC will have to make a few accomodations to get AirPort and FireWire working properly. The new iMacs should be based on Apple's universal motherboard architecture, making it relatively easy. One motherboard across the whole line, with machine specific identity plugged-in via daughtercards.
Apple's been outsourcing production like mad. Last I heard, the Cork Ireland plant was running at low capacity, making it a likely source for European iMacs and iBooks.
Exactly... but the TAM was awfully expensive in its day, but a very sexy looking machine, nonetheless.
I really don't consider moderation of any posts to be a violation of someone's free speech. Slashdot is, after all, run by Rob not some government entity. Rob can censor if he wants--his box, his code, his bandwidth, etc. Besides, you can always set a -1 threshhold and get everything including the utter piles of excrement.
That's the system bundle. By itself, the LCD is US$4000.
I've heard rumors that Apple is already running an 8 CPU G4 box under MacOS X. Of course, these are just rumors. ;-)
Apple was talking about the Mac market, o' uninformed Anonymous Coward. The new Cinema Display and the new Rage AGP cards are the first digital-digital LCD interface on the Mac.
Pretty sure the Mach Kernel can address the full 2GB. If I'm wrong, I know someone will tell me so :-)
IBM recently released specs on motherboards capable of handling a G4. G4 + Linux = Cray kicker?
BTW, MacOS Rumors quotes Steve Jobs from his keynote, mentioning that a G4 machine running a CD fresh copy of MacOS 9 can process a block of SETI data in 6 hours. That's a lot of power in a US$1500 machine.I don't know the export regs, but I do know the new G4s start-out at 1 gigaflop and go up to if not exceed 4 gigaflops!
PNG in and of itself does not suck--the implementation of PNG sucks. Netscape and Microsoft can't even make their browsers render CSS competently so I don't expect them to do any better with a graphic format. (OT: Anybody remember IE3's CSS support? Sure... an em is equal to a px.)
BTW, you should be able to convert your Web site on the fly. Use Debabelizer or the GIMP (I think) to convert your images to png. Now use grep and change all instances of .gif to .png. Simple.
Am I doing this? Nope. Why? The market support for PNG is not present. I will not alienate 80-90% of web users just because Unisys is throwing a tantrum. I honestly want PNG, if not just for the 8-bit alpha channel.... it's just that the support is not there.