Correction, all services. And the point I beleive was being made is that someone's idea of fun made life difficult for 1500 students.
No, it's not quite as bad as the network of a business being brought down, but it is almost. I'm not sure of the exact setup of the network at the university, but I know that most of the computers I use, and all of the ones in my department, would be made useless by the lack of DNS. This would mean I am unable to do work. I know, students working is a bit of a novel concept, but despite popular belief we do, and one night's lost work can make a big difference!
He described it as one of today's modern window managers. Not the only, or most modern, but simply as one of them. Probably he assumed that not listing every WM created in the last n years would be okay.
...has taken all their systems down. They were turned off early on the 31st, and will be back on the 4th, and are expected to actually work on the 5th.
On the other hand, the university doesn't exactly go for 24x7 uptimes. Problems appearing during a weekend are never fixed until the staff turn up again on Monday. The servers, AFAIK, don't have UPSes. Actually the main reason it's all being taken down is to allow someone to be there when it all goes wrong!
This should not be taken as a comment on the IT services department of the university of St. Andrews; they do what they are paid to do, very well. I just wish they were paid to keep the servers up all the time.
Agreed, although unfortunately none of the group has enough backbone to get rid of him, we're contractually stuck living with him until May, and and he is improving, even if slowly.
On the other hand, he's generally fine. Okay, he has a tendency to bounce, literally, and shows obsessive tendencies (about Tekken 3), but getting wound up over games is about the worst thing he does. In some ways, it seems that mostly he gets far too attached to the characters he's playing.
Yes, I know I'm making a lot of excuses for him, and am interested to know if people think maybe I'm making too many excuses for him?
I'm currently working on CommerceServ, another open-source e-commerce system. It's a little on hold right at the moment because of coursework, but I hope to get back to it within a few days.
Just for comparison; I take it that the ratings are just recommendations in the USA?
It's just that here in the UK, films are rated U, PG, 12, 15 or 18, and the ones that are ages, it is actually illegal to sell to anyone below that age.
Even more so for UK students. We have to pay the BBC for a TV license, if we have a TV (or any other way of receiving TV signals). If I watch just DVDs, and not VHS videos, and so don't have a TV around, I can save myself about $160 a year!
PhotoCD has been around for ages, but is drastically overpriced. Quality is good (I have one lying around), though. And now, there's FlashPix, which nothing supports...
Well, nothing have access to, anyway... I think the problem with both formats is that they require a licensing fee to be paid by anyone using the technology.
You're right, cameras, as they are, will probably never be completely replaced. COMPLETELY.
However, for what most people look for in a camera; something to take simple photos with, I think digitial camearas will replace analogue, if they can get the cost right.
In particular, digital cameras are great for people like me who need a cheap way of making mistakes, and an easy way of destroying the evidence:)
I would suggest that, once they become more popular, there may be far more user interaction with digital cameras; that you will be able to change the lens, for example. Admittadely, I don't think thats what you're are looking for, but the point stays.
I doubt they'll be making hardware designed for current tech digital cameras, but I very much doubt that people couldn't have transferred the image onto hard disk at some point, and then possibly onto whatever we're using in the future.
And software to view the image? Of course there will be, even if you have to run it under emulation.
AFAIK a genetic duplicate wouldn't be sufficient to dupliate the retina.
And, how many thieves do you know with access to cutting edge laboratory equipment, reseachers, and could be bothered waiting several months for the results?
Heck, I think it would cost more to clone most people than they have in their accounts!
Even worse are the extreme technophobes, who stand there, reading each tiny screen of text for at least a minute before trying to decide which button to press.
*tries to get rid of the image of a publishing company being blown apart as information "self destructs"*
The UK has the data protection act, which at least has some guidelines about how you acquire information, and all comapanies must give you a complete copy of any information they hold on you, possibly for a small admin fee, on request.
Better idea! Subdermal data chips with small radios and antennas, which store all the information about you that the shops/ATM/whoever want.
Yeeah...
What scares me most is the number of friends that liked that idea. At least one thought it was only a good idea in everyone else, although perhaps that's worse.
Iris scanning sounds like a good primary identification method, but I think having PIN numbers to type in aswell would be good. But that's just me.
Also,the idea of discussing finances with a machine in the middle of the street is amongst the stupidest I've heard so far. Please let them keep keypads and displays on these things.
I'm also pretty sure that most muggers couldn't manage to remove your eyeballs in suitable condition, let alone in the middle of the street without someone discovering what was happening.
Well, the PPC Amigas have more "sensible" specs. I beleive the PPC in mine runs at 240mhz, and has a staggering 42mb!!! of RAM. Okay, now stop laughing. I mean it, as someone said, 6mb is comfortable.
And it runs Linux quite nicely too, thankyouvermuch.
Erm. I think BOOPSI code may be quite easy to port over, but the older stuff, no way. Don't quote me on this, though.
On the other hand, the site seems to imply that they are going for a UNIX-style API. Maybe they'll have both Amiga-style and UNIX-style APIs. Who knows...
It had memory fragmentation problems (hey, the base A1200, the latest model, came with 2mb as standard, and with that little it's a problem), but I don't remember much about memory leaks.
Although AmigaOS was a nightmare to debug under, mostly because there was no memory protection in the OS, and you were lucky if your bug didn't reboot the computer for you.
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Correction, all services. And the point I beleive was being made is that someone's idea of fun made life difficult for 1500 students.
No, it's not quite as bad as the network of a business being brought down, but it is almost. I'm not sure of the exact setup of the network at the university, but I know that most of the computers I use, and all of the ones in my department, would be made useless by the lack of DNS. This would mean I am unable to do work. I know, students working is a bit of a novel concept, but despite popular belief we do, and one night's lost work can make a big difference!
He described it as one of today's modern window managers. Not the only, or most modern, but simply as one of them. Probably he assumed that not listing every WM created in the last n years would be okay.
...has taken all their systems down. They were turned off early on the 31st, and will be back on the 4th, and are expected to actually work on the 5th.
On the other hand, the university doesn't exactly go for 24x7 uptimes. Problems appearing during a weekend are never fixed until the staff turn up again on Monday. The servers, AFAIK, don't have UPSes. Actually the main reason it's all being taken down is to allow someone to be there when it all goes wrong!
This should not be taken as a comment on the IT services department of the university of St. Andrews; they do what they are paid to do, very well. I just wish they were paid to keep the servers up all the time.
Agreed, although unfortunately none of the group has enough backbone to get rid of him, we're contractually stuck living with him until May, and and he is improving, even if slowly.
On the other hand, he's generally fine. Okay, he has a tendency to bounce, literally, and shows obsessive tendencies (about Tekken 3), but getting wound up over games is about the worst thing he does. In some ways, it seems that mostly he gets far too attached to the characters he's playing.
Yes, I know I'm making a lot of excuses for him, and am interested to know if people think maybe I'm making too many excuses for him?
Scan are selling 133mhz RAM currently.
Yes, I know they're in the UK, but I'm sure there are places selling it in the US too.
I'm currently working on CommerceServ, another open-source e-commerce system. It's a little on hold right at the moment because of coursework, but I hope to get back to it within a few days.
More info at:
http://wired.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/ ~rnicoll/commerceserv/.
Enjoy!
The ISP upstream of them may be a good idea? In the case of PsiNet, I beleive that's Sprintlink. They have an acceptable use policy up at:
http://www.sprintlink.net/acceptableuse.htm
The terminally bored amongst you can now check thier own y2k status at:
http://wired.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~rni coll/humany2k/
It'll be better soon, honest, I've only just written it!
Just for comparison; I take it that the ratings are just recommendations in the USA?
It's just that here in the UK, films are rated U, PG, 12, 15 or 18, and the ones that are ages, it is actually illegal to sell to anyone below that age.
Even more so for UK students. We have to pay the BBC for a TV license, if we have a TV (or any other way of receiving TV signals). If I watch just DVDs, and not VHS videos, and so don't have a TV around, I can save myself about $160 a year!
PhotoCD has been around for ages, but is drastically overpriced. Quality is good (I have one lying around), though. And now, there's FlashPix, which nothing supports...
Well, nothing have access to, anyway... I think the problem with both formats is that they require a licensing fee to be paid by anyone using the technology.
You're right, cameras, as they are, will probably never be completely replaced. COMPLETELY.
However, for what most people look for in a camera; something to take simple photos with, I think digitial camearas will replace analogue, if they can get the cost right.
In particular, digital cameras are great for people like me who need a cheap way of making mistakes, and an easy way of destroying the evidence :)
I would suggest that, once they become more popular, there may be far more user interaction with digital cameras; that you will be able to change the lens, for example. Admittadely, I don't think thats what you're are looking for, but the point stays.
I doubt they'll be making hardware designed for current tech digital cameras, but I very much doubt that people couldn't have transferred the image onto hard disk at some point, and then possibly onto whatever we're using in the future.
And software to view the image? Of course there will be, even if you have to run it under emulation.
AFAIK a genetic duplicate wouldn't be sufficient to dupliate the retina.
And, how many thieves do you know with access to cutting edge laboratory equipment, reseachers, and could be bothered waiting several months for the results?
Heck, I think it would cost more to clone most people than they have in their accounts!
If I remember correctly, the database stores enough to verify the person, but not enough to create a lens that will match the profile. I think.
I can see there being a few cases, but I think they'll learn fast enough.
Even worse are the extreme technophobes, who stand there, reading each tiny screen of text for at least a minute before trying to decide which button to press.
AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!
Thankyou, I feel better for that.
*tries to get rid of the image of a publishing company being blown apart as information "self destructs"*
The UK has the data protection act, which at least has some guidelines about how you acquire information, and all comapanies must give you a complete copy of any information they hold on you, possibly for a small admin fee, on request.
Better idea! Subdermal data chips with small radios and antennas, which store all the information about you that the shops/ATM/whoever want.
Yeeah...
What scares me most is the number of friends that liked that idea. At least one thought it was only a good idea in everyone else, although perhaps that's worse.
Iris scanning sounds like a good primary identification method, but I think having PIN numbers to type in aswell would be good. But that's just me.
Also,the idea of discussing finances with a machine in the middle of the street is amongst the stupidest I've heard so far. Please let them keep keypads and displays on these things.
I'm also pretty sure that most muggers couldn't manage to remove your eyeballs in suitable condition, let alone in the middle of the street without someone discovering what was happening.
Well, the PPC Amigas have more "sensible" specs. I beleive the PPC in mine runs at 240mhz, and has a staggering 42mb!!! of RAM. Okay, now stop laughing. I mean it, as someone said, 6mb is comfortable.
And it runs Linux quite nicely too, thankyouvermuch.
Erm. I think BOOPSI code may be quite easy to port over, but the older stuff, no way. Don't quote me on this, though.
On the other hand, the site seems to imply that they are going for a UNIX-style API. Maybe they'll have both Amiga-style and UNIX-style APIs. Who knows...
It had memory fragmentation problems (hey, the base A1200, the latest model, came with 2mb as standard, and with that little it's a problem), but I don't remember much about memory leaks.
Although AmigaOS was a nightmare to debug under, mostly because there was no memory protection in the OS, and you were lucky if your bug didn't reboot the computer for you.