The Glade partition control system has been doing this and more for ages. It's used in mission critical military applications. And, oh yes, it's free. Check out http://www.act-europe.fr/ and click on the Glade link.
Although he does quit a bit of complaining about the installation and configuration process, he did have some nice things to say about the memory system and the way it handles resources in general.
At times even I've found *BSD to be a bear to configure correctly. Yet even when it's not configured correctly, it continues to chug along without so much as a wimper. Whenever I'm setting up a workstation or server to handle a service that I just cant afford to have die, I use FreeBSD. It's that simple. My other choice is QNX, for those specialty applications.
Yeah, so maybe he picked up a version that wasn't quite suited to a *BSD newbie. Even then he came to realize that the system is more than just the sum of it's config files. Heh.
It would seem to me that companies like UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc... would find the ability to ship from New York to Hong Kong in a couple hours a significant incentive to start investing in this field.
Is it possible, say within the next ten years, to develop a suborbital shipping vehicle that can carry enough payload to make it worth thier while?
The idea is that as the companies compete to build systems that can handle even heavier payloads, out of this should emerge a system that can also handle orbital flights with a bit lighter payload.
The truth is, I'm totally fucking tired of groveling for the scraps from some IT Companies table.
I've got the tools, I've got the plan, and I'm %90 certain that I've got the talent.
I dont mean to sound like a fruitcake, but I've got a business plan that's simple, actually takes advantage of a down economy, and depending on how it's executed could really wipe the floor with my competition.
Oh, I plan on supporting the Free Software movement in my little endeavour, rather than acting like a parasite.
Alright. Time to shut up. Just keep watching Slashdot or Freshmeat for a little announcement.
I dont know how many times I've stopped leaving the front bumper of my car hanging just over the crosswalk line.(Yes, I do check for pedestrians.)
But the way I hear British drivers rip on other British drivers over at drivers.com, maybe things are worse there.
And old principle is at work here. If a society refuses to restrain itself(in this case, behind the wheel), someone else will come in and do the job for it.
If driving in Britain is really that bad, there still has to be a better way of fixing the problem than this.
It seems that with todays VPN and Proxy technologies it would be a simple matter to start setting up virtual X.400 mail relays acrosss the Internet. There are already plenty of pay services for this, but it would seem a coordinated group of people could provide a similiar service for free, or a much reduced cost. By cutting out the 45 minute garaunteed delivery time, it would become even easier. And I dont suppose some of the bigger service providers would mind letting secure virtual X.400 services connect with thier "real" X.400 services.
X.400 is an old technology, but a reliable one. One that could be used give spammers a really hard time. Or perhaps X.400 needs a facelift?
As to why they picked "GPS", you'd have to ask them.
They could have used GNU Ada Programming Environment too I suppose. I suppose theres a dozen other combinations they could have went with also. Maybe GPS is quicker to type. Heh.
I beleive Ada Core Technologies does provide tools for some aspects of VHDL design. I think thier commercial GPS offering has tools that support this. I'm not certain though. You'd have to e-mail them for specifics.
GPS does offer extensive support for controlling the details of the compile/link process, which I assume is important for the VHDL arena.
As far as a graphical desktop... I figured getting a mature E17 (not E16) Enlightenment(www.enlightenment.org) environment with Scalable Vector Graphics would go a long way towards this goal.
Of course the packaging systems still have a lot of evolving to do.
Of course there are plenty of other rough edges that need to be honed out, but in relation to Apple, these are the first two issues that come to mind.
Came from the steel toes of my Chief Petty Officers Boondockers.
I still have 4 to 5 trains of thought going at once, but now they all come through crystal clear. Now I can take notes in class, plot my next batch of source code, and check out the chick sitting down the aisle from me. I guess the Navy forced my brain to adapt. Now I'm multithreaded!
Yes, it's true, the Linux and the OSS communities do occasionally take that approach, poor though it is. It's usually the result of poor planning or a simple rush get a feature running, regardless of whether or not it's been implemented correctly. Yet that's not the primary focus of OSS/Free Software.
A good idea will usually find it's way into the OSS arena simply because it's a good idea. Not necessarily always, but usually. The implementation may suck, but a lot of things suck.
Plan9 has a lot of good ideas. Perhaps these ideas will be "morphed" into better ideas. Hopefully these ideas will see more widespread use in the fields of Computer Science and Engineering. And hopefully they wont just be "glommed" on like wallpaper.
I'm a geek. I program network apps. I'm an "apprentice" Unix admin. I sit in front of the computer 16+ hours a day. But then again, sometimes I just stay there for a few days working ahead of the curve.
But before I got here I use to pour concrete and shuffle packages at UPS. I'm tired of listening to a bunch of piss ant nerds whine about how sore thier ass is from sitting on it all day. Ergonomics my ass! Lay bricks for a few days then come back to the office and tell me how much those keyboards make your fingers hurt.
Yeah, I know, this post is slightly off topic, but this article seemed like a good place to blow off some steam.
Next time I hear one of the network guys complain about how hard changing a network cable is on his back, I'm gonna stuff his fat ass into one of those UPS receptacles.
It would seem to me that it would make sense to have both trade certs(Technician, Journeyman, Master Technician/Programmer) and Academic Certs/Degrees(Engineer, Scientist, Analyst, etc...) depending on the individual person/tasks involved. No doubt an Engineer working with a couple Master Programmers would be more effective than the endless wrangling one might get with an Engineer/Scientist pair. Dont know if it's feasible, but it seems sensible.
Great for various civilian purposes as well.
on
Military Grade Laptops
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Think about it...this isnt just for the military.
A student in one of my classes works as a foreman at a local construction company. They just happen to be testing these things out for use in place of blueprints. i.e. He and the onsite Engineer look at the actual CAD designs of the architect, and are able to hook up a live "point by point" discussion with the Architect moving the CAD design around and highlighting things in real time.
Mariners and Campers should find this useful. Mechanics maybe.
They make it in large quantities for etching glass and flouridating water supplies. It's all over the place. Shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on some.
That people (and suppliers) wont start taking these teams and start up companies seriously until they have some major sponsors.(UPS and FedEx come to mind.)
I'm curious what kind of Public Relations would a large shipping company like UPS or FedEx would get from sponsoring such a thing. It would at least be a great marketing gimmick.
If things keep moving the way they are as far as information control, it might get to the point that we'll have to actively take up breaking the law in terms of hacking in order to maintain at least a few channels open for dissenting opinions.
I dont like that idea, but if things keep on track as far as Money=Legislation, then that might be the only recourse. Sure, we could go the wireless route with all our networking, until the corporate owned FCC decides to regulate that also.
I write my congressman. I write my local legislators. Hell, I even write the local newspaper. It doesnt do any good. If you cant give the politician a kickback, they arent interested. What else is left?
I hope the non-Americans dont have it this screwy.
Probably gather data and do your own analysis. That's what I do on hot-button issues.
Check with your local and state agencies and get thier data. Maybe some sociology journals. Also pick up some math books dealing with statistics.
Going with someone elses analysis on a subject like this usually(although not necessarily always) leads to finding data that has been skewed in one direction or another, depending on the persons pre-disposition.
This is a classic case of where we need to learn to ply our own reasoning skills rather than relying on what are often hyped or marginalized numbers.
"The only power any one of us has is the power to make up our own mind. Use that power, decide for yourself."(Starship Troopers. Ah the irony.)
Ummm...Hello. It was Ada that practically invented generics back in 95. I've been using both Ada and Eiffel(and C++) for the last five years. In the case of Generics, Ada's is the best yet. Why? Because it doesnt dictate an OO paradigm in the design of the package specification. Ada generics are much more flexible in that I can use them in a strictly procedural way if I want to. Dont get me wrong, Eiffel generics are great too. And for some people they are in fact perfect. But they do have some deliberately defined restrictions(which is a good thing by the way.)
Of course, I find C++ templates to be a poor replacement for either.
I agree on the subject of static buffers. Static buffers arent always wrong. Rather the problem is that coders are usually too frustrated or impatient to take the time to use them properly. Thus giving an opening for viruses and other "sploits". Theres really nothing esoteric about this at all.
For example, a bit of Ada code that would have totally hosed my application had the compiler not caught it...
type Buffer is array(Positive range 1..Size) of Integer;
and then I do this...
type Return_Buffer is array(1..Read_Length) of Integer; Foo_Ints: Buffer; Bar_Ints : Return_Buffer;
Bar_Ints:= Foo_Ints(Base.. Base + Read_Length);
Had the compiler and runtime not caught this, I would have ended up creating a massive security hole. Virus, Trojan, and spoit heaven. All because I was too impatient to use Static buffers appropriatley.
In a nutshell, it's all a matter of who has the most critical eye.
McDoobie
p.s. Can you leet haxors spot the fuck up in this code?
Or rather I should say Simplyfying PARTS of the Securing process.
Two simple rules I follow during initial installation. Dont install anything more(as far as network software) than you absolutely need. I dont even have Portmap installed. Secondly, any software that you do install should be of a stable version unless you explicitly want it otherwise.
Generally following these two steps will eliminate alot of vulnerabilities to your system right out of the gate. It certainly wont garauntee security, but it will help with any additional post-installation securing procedures(firewalls, Intrusion Detection, Crypto, etc..) that one undertakes.
Am I being redundant here? Probably. But alot of people really should pay more attention to the K.I.S.S. philosophy. Saved me alot of headaches anyways.
Seems possible I suppose.
on
Life on Pluto?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I would figure that an ocean on any planet would still get a little energy, at least towards the bottom from perhaps geo-thermal radiation or even the shifting of land masses. Sort of like putting a bucket of water outside in the winter time, and regularly shaking it to keep the amount of ice crystals in it to a minimum. Likewise, you could mix the water with certain other chemicals I suspect to at least lower the temperature required for the whole bucket to freeze over, or keep it from freezing altogether. Of course, this is just speculation.
Slashdot Mirror
The Glade partition control system has been doing this and more for ages. It's used in mission critical military applications. And, oh yes, it's free.
Check out http://www.act-europe.fr/ and click on the Glade link.
Maybe, maybe not.
Although he does quit a bit of complaining about the installation and configuration process, he did have some nice things to say about the memory system and the way it handles resources in general.
At times even I've found *BSD to be a bear to configure correctly. Yet even when it's not configured correctly, it continues to chug along without so much as a wimper.
Whenever I'm setting up a workstation or server to handle a service that I just cant afford to have die, I use FreeBSD. It's that simple. My other choice is QNX, for those specialty applications.
Yeah, so maybe he picked up a version that wasn't quite suited to a *BSD newbie. Even then he came to realize that the system is more than just the sum of it's config files. Heh.
It would seem to me that companies like UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc... would find the ability to ship from New York to Hong Kong in a couple hours a significant incentive to start investing in this field.
Is it possible, say within the next ten years, to develop a suborbital shipping vehicle that can carry enough payload to make it worth thier while?
The idea is that as the companies compete to build systems that can handle even heavier payloads, out of this should emerge a system that can also handle orbital flights with a bit lighter payload.
Is this a reasonable assumption?
McDoobie
The truth is, I'm totally fucking tired of groveling for the scraps from some IT Companies table.
I've got the tools, I've got the plan, and I'm %90 certain that I've got the talent.
I dont mean to sound like a fruitcake, but I've got a business plan that's simple, actually takes advantage of a down economy, and depending on how it's executed could really wipe the floor with my competition.
Oh, I plan on supporting the Free Software movement in my little endeavour, rather than acting like a parasite.
Alright. Time to shut up. Just keep watching Slashdot or Freshmeat for a little announcement.
McDoobie
This proposal sounds just plain silly.
I dont know how many times I've stopped leaving the front bumper of my car hanging just over the crosswalk line.(Yes, I do check for pedestrians.)
But the way I hear British drivers rip on other British drivers over at drivers.com, maybe things are worse there.
And old principle is at work here. If a society refuses to restrain itself(in this case, behind the wheel), someone else will come in and do the job for it.
If driving in Britain is really that bad, there still has to be a better way of fixing the problem than this.
McDoobie
It seems that with todays VPN and Proxy technologies it would be a simple matter to start setting up virtual X.400 mail relays acrosss the Internet. There are already plenty of pay services for this, but it would seem a coordinated group of people could provide a similiar service for free, or a much reduced cost. By cutting out the 45 minute garaunteed delivery time, it would become even easier.
And I dont suppose some of the bigger service providers would mind letting secure virtual X.400 services connect with thier "real" X.400 services.
X.400 is an old technology, but a reliable one. One that could be used give spammers a really hard time.
Or perhaps X.400 needs a facelift?
McDoobie
I think you mean "GNAT Programming System."
Yes I do. Sorry. Was in a bit of a rush.
As to why they picked "GPS", you'd have to ask them.
They could have used GNU Ada Programming Environment too I suppose. I suppose theres a dozen other combinations they could have went with also. Maybe GPS is quicker to type. Heh.
McDoobie
Ummm....It's an acronym for "GNAT Compilation System" .
It's more than just an IDE.
I beleive Ada Core Technologies does provide tools for some aspects of VHDL design. I think thier commercial GPS offering has tools that support this. I'm not certain though. You'd have to e-mail them for specifics.
GPS does offer extensive support for controlling the details of the compile/link process, which I assume is important for the VHDL arena.
McDoobie
This is what Linux needs to do.
As far as a graphical desktop...
I figured getting a mature E17 (not E16) Enlightenment(www.enlightenment.org) environment with Scalable Vector Graphics would go a long way towards this goal.
Of course the packaging systems still have a lot of evolving to do.
Of course there are plenty of other rough edges that need to be honed out, but in relation to Apple, these are the first two issues that come to mind.
McDoobie
Came from the steel toes of my Chief Petty Officers Boondockers.
I still have 4 to 5 trains of thought going at once, but now they all come through crystal clear. Now I can take notes in class, plot my next batch of source code, and check out the chick sitting down the aisle from me.
I guess the Navy forced my brain to adapt. Now I'm multithreaded!
McDoobie
No, not really.
Yes, it's true, the Linux and the OSS communities do occasionally take that approach, poor though it is. It's usually the result of poor planning or a simple rush get a feature running, regardless of whether or not it's been implemented correctly. Yet that's not the primary focus of OSS/Free Software.
A good idea will usually find it's way into the OSS arena simply because it's a good idea. Not necessarily always, but usually. The implementation may suck, but a lot of things suck.
Plan9 has a lot of good ideas. Perhaps these ideas will be "morphed" into better ideas. Hopefully these ideas will see more widespread use in the fields of Computer Science and Engineering. And hopefully they wont just be "glommed" on like wallpaper.
McDoobie
I'm a geek. I program network apps. I'm an "apprentice" Unix admin. I sit in front of the computer 16+ hours a day. But then again, sometimes I just stay there for a few days working ahead of the curve.
But before I got here I use to pour concrete and shuffle packages at UPS. I'm tired of listening to a bunch of piss ant nerds whine about how sore thier ass is from sitting on it all day. Ergonomics my ass! Lay bricks for a few days then come back to the office and tell me how much those keyboards make your fingers hurt.
Yeah, I know, this post is slightly off topic, but this article seemed like a good place to blow off some steam.
Next time I hear one of the network guys complain about how hard changing a network cable is on his back, I'm gonna stuff his fat ass into one of those UPS receptacles.
Okay, back your regularly scheduled Slashdoting.
McDoobie
It would seem to me that it would make sense to have both trade certs(Technician, Journeyman, Master Technician/Programmer) and Academic Certs/Degrees(Engineer, Scientist, Analyst, etc...) depending on the individual person/tasks involved. No doubt an Engineer working with a couple Master Programmers would be more effective than the endless wrangling one might get with an Engineer/Scientist pair.
Dont know if it's feasible, but it seems sensible.
Think about it...this isnt just for the military.
A student in one of my classes works as a foreman at a local construction company. They just happen to be testing these things out for use in place of blueprints. i.e. He and the onsite Engineer look at the actual CAD designs of the architect, and are able to hook up a live "point by point" discussion with the Architect moving the CAD design around and highlighting things in real time.
Mariners and Campers should find this useful. Mechanics maybe.
All kinds of places.
McDoobie
Have you considered Flourine?
They make it in large quantities for etching glass and flouridating water supplies. It's all over the place. Shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on some.
That people (and suppliers) wont start taking these teams and start up companies seriously until they have some major sponsors.(UPS and FedEx come to mind.)
I'm curious what kind of Public Relations would a large shipping company like UPS or FedEx would get from sponsoring such a thing. It would at least be a great marketing gimmick.
If things keep moving the way they are as far as information control, it might get to the point that we'll have to actively take up breaking the law in terms of hacking in order to maintain at least a few channels open for dissenting opinions.
I dont like that idea, but if things keep on track as far as Money=Legislation, then that might be the only recourse.
Sure, we could go the wireless route with all our networking, until the corporate owned FCC decides to regulate that also.
I write my congressman. I write my local legislators. Hell, I even write the local newspaper. It doesnt do any good. If you cant give the politician a kickback, they arent interested. What else is left?
I hope the non-Americans dont have it this screwy.
McDoobie
Probably gather data and do your own analysis. That's what I do on hot-button issues.
Check with your local and state agencies and get thier data. Maybe some sociology journals. Also pick up some math books dealing with statistics.
Going with someone elses analysis on a subject like this usually(although not necessarily always) leads to finding data that has been skewed in one direction or another, depending on the persons pre-disposition.
This is a classic case of where we need to learn to ply our own reasoning skills rather than relying on what are often hyped or marginalized numbers.
"The only power any one of us has is the power to make up our own mind. Use that power, decide for yourself."(Starship Troopers. Ah the irony.)
McDoobie
(Ada can do it, but it's a lot more work.)
Ummm...Hello. It was Ada that practically invented generics back in 95. I've been using both Ada and Eiffel(and C++) for the last five years. In the case of Generics, Ada's is the best yet. Why? Because it doesnt dictate an OO paradigm in the design of the package specification. Ada generics are much more flexible in that I can use them in a strictly procedural way if I want to.
Dont get me wrong, Eiffel generics are great too. And for some people they are in fact perfect. But they do have some deliberately defined restrictions(which is a good thing by the way.)
Of course, I find C++ templates to be a poor replacement for either.
McDoobie
I agree on the subject of static buffers. Static buffers arent always wrong. Rather the problem is that coders are usually too frustrated or impatient to take the time to use them properly. Thus giving an opening for viruses and other "sploits". Theres really nothing esoteric about this at all.
:= Foo_Ints(Base .. Base + Read_Length);
For example, a bit of Ada code that would have totally hosed my application had the compiler not caught it...
type Buffer is array(Positive range 1..Size) of Integer;
and then I do this...
type Return_Buffer is array(1..Read_Length) of Integer;
Foo_Ints: Buffer;
Bar_Ints : Return_Buffer;
Bar_Ints
Had the compiler and runtime not caught this, I would have ended up creating a massive security hole. Virus, Trojan, and spoit heaven. All because I was too impatient to use Static buffers appropriatley.
In a nutshell, it's all a matter of who has the most critical eye.
McDoobie
p.s. Can you leet haxors spot the fuck up in this code?
A combination of maybe Sourceforge with Bonzai and the Mozilla development tools have been considered.
I dont think theres an all in one solution out there, but by combining a couple of tools, one could get all that desired functionality plus more.
Just an idea.
McDoobie
Or rather I should say Simplyfying PARTS of the Securing process.
Two simple rules I follow during initial installation. Dont install anything more(as far as network software) than you absolutely need. I dont even have Portmap installed.
Secondly, any software that you do install should be of a stable version unless you explicitly want it otherwise.
Generally following these two steps will eliminate alot of vulnerabilities to your system right out of the gate. It certainly wont garauntee security, but it will help with any additional post-installation securing procedures(firewalls, Intrusion Detection, Crypto, etc..) that one undertakes.
Am I being redundant here? Probably. But alot of people really should pay more attention to the K.I.S.S. philosophy. Saved me alot of headaches anyways.
I would figure that an ocean on any planet would still get a little energy, at least towards the bottom from perhaps geo-thermal radiation or even the shifting of land masses. Sort of like putting a bucket of water outside in the winter time, and regularly shaking it to keep the amount of ice crystals in it to a minimum. Likewise, you could mix the water with certain other chemicals I suspect to at least lower the temperature required for the whole bucket to freeze over, or keep it from freezing altogether.
Of course, this is just speculation.
Does it sound outlandish?
McDoobie
If you wanna mail me some cash, I'd be glad to get everyone I know on a Mac with OS X Jaguar.
Unfortunately a Mac is way out of my price range at the moment. I think a nice user friendly Linux distro will fill in nicely.