There is only one, maybe two, things I'd disagree with you on. Or maybe three, as you don't make mention of it:
1) Don't waste your money, at all, on a cheap case. Throw down the hundred fifty dollars now for something which is of high quality construction, and it will not only last through multiple computers, but you'll have a quality case through multiple computers. How about something like this Coolmaster Cosmos case? 2) Do not skimp on a shit power supply. By "shit" I mean one which is not explicitly advertised as quiet: this also likely means it's one of the newer 90%+ efficiency ones. Also, a good power supply brand is well worth the money in reliability and consistency, in case you didn't know already. Antec is pretty good about that. 3) Shit RAM is one of the surest ways short of a power supply failure to get irritating and indeterminable errors. Don't go for "cheap" RAM, it's not worth the hastle 3 months down the road when it fails.
While $1,000+ is a bit extreme, and $2,000 is obscene these days (those fools have been using the same exact price points for entry/gaming/extreme computer creation since 1996! I doubt they know what they're talking about), when you pay a little bit more up front the first time, you don't have to throw everything away when you build a new system - and you get a degree of increased reliability and longevity.
If I were to arrange such an event, this is what I'd do...
First, I'd rent out a hotel conference room. They're going to have a more suitable power infrastructure (and room to host) than anything you're likely to have.
The rules should be short and clear: no alcohol, theft, or violence will be permitted whatsoever. Everyone is responsible for their own gear. Nobody underage will be allowed (or look into how you'd have to handle the 'underage' angle legally and allow underage people - but I'd say the immaturity level would be too high to make it even worth it). Also, people with money are less likely to steal, and as kids typically don't have any moment of their own, they're more likely to be culprit.
Importantly, I'd contact a bonded/insured security company and contract for a security guard to be at the door (and/or to police the area). He'd be responsible for checking people in and out - verifying their age, having them register themselves (and their gear), and so on and so forth. The presence alone will deter casual theft, and along with the "you're responsible for your own stuff" should cause people to be cautious enough for you to not worry about it.
The other thing I'd suggest is that you organize the LAN party so that it's planned, not just a bunch of people at the same place playing their computers. 8-11p is CS:S and WoW, 11p-2a is (whatever, I don't game), and so on and so forth.
Finally, see if you can't lease out a gaming center nearby. I know of a couple in very small towns, and I can't imagine any reasonably sized town doesn't have one these days. They can take care of the specifics for you, and you'd likely not need people to lug their shit then.
You're correct, that's been the trend (with all OSes): the new version runs slower than the old system.
What's the problem with Vista? Well, it's not just slower, but it's unuseable on a lot of hardware released a year after the OS started shipping commercially, and it doesn't offer a single thing over XP. XP was received with a luke warm reception, with adoption not taking place right away, either: there were a lot of hardcore gamers who didn't switch to XP for a couple years, many until SP2.
Unlike the 2k -> XP migration, though, Vista has one major thing going against it which XP didn't, and XP had one thing going for it which Vista does not. XP was substantially more stable than 2k, and Vista is substantially and innately (not just marginally and circumstantially, like XP was to 2k) slower than XP due to the DRM bolted onto audio/video - the two main things which demand the most from hardware, and which are the most highly demanded to perform by users.
As far as device compatibility is concerned... it has nothing to do with 10-year-old+ hardware, it has to do with modern devices like USB dongles, "Vista Ready" internal hardware, and pretty-much-new (and often still being sold) commercial devices not being compatible years after Vista has been released. Granted, part of this falls on the shoulders of the hw (and sw) vendors, but a lot also falls on MS for changing too much, too soon, and offering nothing quantifiable to either the users or the vendors for changing but added cost.
A better analogy would be if Saab were to release a car which runs on hydrogen, and they were to say it's the next great thing, and you'll get superior performance, yadda yadda to gasoline, and then when the infrastructure is finally in place for the car to run (on hydrogen) years after the car is released, the car gets inferior performance ot other hydrogen cars released in the meantime.... what would you call that?
Compare the specs of one of these against something like a 6-year-old NEC MobilePro 900 (short version: the MobilePro is better in almost every way), which now sells on ebay for a scant $50 or so, and quite a lot less than $130.
In my humble opinion, it'd be better to just try to go find old clamshell PDAs.
Hell, you can get the iPhone for only slightly more than this.
I find it supremely ironic that you're lecturing me about 486s, when the likelihood that I recall them better than you do is fairly high.
Tell you what: if you want to run software from 1995, go right ahead. I'd much rather not, because what we've got right now is leaps and bounds better. Unfortunately, it also requires a lot more computing power to run in a manner which does not evoke the pulling of hair and screams of an anguishing wait.
This thing is substantially more expensive than the hardware in it is justified as being (it's basically got the specs of a 2001 clamshell PDA which would've sold for $700ish), and I imagine the "must buy 100 at a time" limitation has people thinking, for whatever reason, that this thing is some sort of bargain/wholesale pricing as a result.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. Yes, DSL will "run" on such a system. It will not "run" to a level even remotely satisfactory for general use, even if it's on a 'casual' basis, on rare occasions. Why? Simply, when you've got an ultra-portable, you want the damn thing to be available, now. DSL is painfully slow, even when loading from disk, on such an old system.
This isn't 1992, and a 486 doesn't cost 10k. We have things like wireless - integrated - and the software we use now - hell, the software we used 8 years ago - was substantiative enough that 128Mb was "not enough".
From what I can tell, this PDA-with-a-keyboard does not provide one iota of functionality over something like an NEC MobilePro 900, which is so old that you will sometimes not find parts available on Ebay for them. Refresher: 400Mhz Xscale, 64Mb RAM, something like 128Mb flash. Touchscreen. 10 hour battery life. Only marginally larger than a TI8x graphing calculator. Their commercial value was under $50 a fair time ago, as that's about as much as they go for on Ebay. And yet, still more built-in functionality than this hideous thing.
The only reason this thing is appealing to anyone here on Slashdot is because it so drastically undercuts the Eee, and since that's the most readily available thing they have to compare it with, they drool over the price. Bah. They should be comparing it to systems of its class: 8-year-old clamshell PDAs selling for around $600-800(at the time).
It probably has something to do with the fact that Firefox eats the ass out of my laptop with 512Mb that I'm biased. That, and the linux kernel schedulers aren't as preferential to desktop applications (and near-instant user responsiveness) as they were in the hayday - pre-2000, which means linux as a whole feels a lot slower.
Used to be that on a 233Mhz with 128Mb you could run E16 while compiling in the background and still have Mozilla responsive enough to be functional. Now, a flash player will drag the system to a crawl, requiring you to wait for it to "finish" loading, as will the start of an application or any number of things which used to be trivial.
Well, sure, it still has utility - for about 5% of 2% of computer users, at best. Again, where are you going to find enough people to buy these in "bulk" to get one, though?
And they're $130 - that's only $170 less than an Eee, which is easily 4 times as capable as this thing, on the simple basis that a) it's got built in wireless, b) it's got enough RAM to run modern software, c) it's got enough overall power to perform more than simple MP3 playback, and d) it's hardware is capable of more than one thing at a time, using modern software!
I've got old laptops that can do all that this thing can. I've got several, and I know quite a few people who, likewise, have several. They make great routers/gateways and other unobtrusive systems that don't have to do a whole lot. You can find similar laptops on ebay for less than $130. People don't not use them anymore because they suck for running functional software and their hardware is limited (usually slow and/or lacking wireless).
And you really think there's a statistically significant percentage of the population that'd be satisfied playing nethack, using lynx, and running in text mode on console? I'd wager you'd be hard pressed to find one in a thousand die-hard linux users who fit that categorization - and I know CLI fiends who play nethack who wouldn't waste their time/money on something like this, because their only-slightly-larger laptop can do that, and a lot more!
Sure, the thing would probably make a decent remote admin tool, but consider that you're already likely going to be lugging a laptop, and carrying around an extra couple pounds just for ssh, nethack, and CLI is stupid unless the device is custom tailored for, say, intrusion detection, or some other specialized role.
Again, no way in hell any single person could find 100 people to buy these. I'd wager there might be a market for 800 or so of these at best, right now. Give it just a couple months, when the next-generation ultra-portables come out, and the Eee and similar models drop in price (or rather, beefier/more efficient/prettier ones come out at the old price mark) and I'd wager there'd be a close-to-zero market.
The only things that appeal about these suckers is that a) they use an ARM CPU, and b) they've got an interesting marketing gimmick to draw attention to them (because there's no way in hell you'd spend $130 on 10-year-old performance when you can get 2-year-old hardware performance for only $170 more).
I find that hard to believe. Linux is pretty obscenely easy to set up and administer these days for most conditions, and RedHat has been there for a long time - but then, I cut my teeth doing things with samba long before they were supported.
Have you even tried to use any 'modern software' on a system with similar specs and a Linux distro in the last couple years?
The processor isn't going to be the limiting factor here, it's the RAM. You won't be able to use two applications concurrently without touching deep into swap - which, I assume, is going to then eat up your flash memory like a banshee.
Running Linux as a 'desktop' on hardware like this hasn't been short of painless since 2002 or so.
Just look at those specs, man. 128Mb of RAM, 400Mhz CPU. There's a shitload a person [b]can't[/b] reasonably do with that machine without obscene amounts of disk thrashing (assuming it even has a disk):
- Use KDE, GNOME, or anything else approaching a modern DE (XFCE is even questionable) - Use Firefox - Use Konqueror - -Maybe- use Opera - Run Open Office and anything else
128Mb of RAM was constraining and tight in Linux as early as 2002 or so, even with Debian. Today, I think you'd be pretty much restrained to using an embedded linux platform - and even then, you'd still not be able to get 'mainstream' versions of popular applications to run fully due to the RAm limitations.
If they'd charged $30 more and put 512Mb in there, it'd be a LOT more reasonable, and still the cheapest thing available, anywhere.
Probably because he was good, and because he's a known quantity, in parts.
Also, who would have been better, now that Jackman has had is face associated with Wolverine? Seriously: what actor out there even looks remotely like Wolverine?
As far as I know, no decision on cannibis has reached the Supreme Court yet, so you're really not being all that fair to the "Federal courts", as you call them.
It's not the Federal courts making statements about interstate commerce, it's the damn executive branch and its octopus of bureaucratic and law enforcement agencies/entities which operate with impunity, making laws willy-nilly - the only oversight being, essentially, funding decisions and oversight committees when someone fucks up, big time, in a very noticeable manner.
As far as I know, the FBI, IRS, ATF, CIA, et cetera, are all unconstitutional. But then I'm a fairly simple man (ie, not a lawyer) - I may have missed where the Presidency has the authority to do more than act as one part of the three-part administrative body of the United States and serve as our Commander in Chief. I probably also missed where Congress put forth motions to amend the Constitution to allow for these agencies.
Well, it actually depends on which laws we're talking about, as I understand it. For instance, I believe the Bill of Rights was always intended to be a corpus-binding document/law, but didn't get considered as such until after incorporation after the Civil War.
As far as I know, incorporation holds pretty much the entire US Bill of Rights to be sanctum nationally, to the exception of the 2nd Amendment which hasn't had sufficient court cases to clarify the topic for states yet (many of which have laws on the books which are subtractive).
Other than that, it's always been a struggle of state rights vs. federalism. For instance, the Militia Act (of 1812 IIRC) had federal precedence, and pretty major things have always been pushed to the top, whereas regional and local laws can remain on the books indefinately, even if they're stupid (it's still technically legal to shoot and kill Native Americans in SD, if they're traveling in a group of three or more, for instance).
Ultimately, what we need to have happen is have the federal restrictions to be challenged constitutionally, a bit at a time, on the basis of local law taking precidence. Push it up the court system far enough, and it'll reach the Supreme Court, where their job is to decide, essentially yay or nay, on the basis of the United States Constitution (and Bill of Rights). I'll bring note to:
Article the eleventh [Amendment IX]
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article the twelfth [Amendment X]
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
As far as I know, the Federal gov't really has no business fucking with anything at a local level, but they do, and have since after the Civil War. (With the good of slave liberty came the bad, in many more ways than just national application of federal laws.)
Either that, or your life is permanently hindered by some bullshit charge filed on a technicality and/or that officer's interpretation of the law. That kind of nonsense can impede employment in a serious way!
Granted, not all cops are the same - and this largely depends on where in the country you live - but it's pretty much a given that getting even so much as a ticket from a cop can really put a crimp in your life, both short and long-term (and largely due to money).
However, this would likely be untrue, if being perpetually stupid was considered a danger and not the status quo.
I've seen so many normal/mediocre people smoke themselves to perpetual stupidity - even after they quit - it's not even funny. And quite a few bright people toast their brain to the point of "life withdrawal", where societal and social things just go by them, and they lose all initiative and drive/desire. That's sad.
Alcohol makes one forget their responsibilities, cannabis does not.
Surely you jest. I'd much rather work with a hung-over person than someone who's still stoned from the night before. Hell, I'd rather work with an alcoholic who's mildly drunk than with someone who's a stoner, who hasn't had anything to smoke in a day. I guarantee you the drunk is more able to perform his duties than the stoner.
I agreed with you up until you said "pictures". I sincerely it is culturally and morally wrong to punish people for 'being' - particularly when no harm comes from it - instead of punishing people for acting, especially when there is absolutely no correlation between the two.
But, pictures... You do realize that the creation of said pictures (I'm assuming you mean child porn, as I can think of nothing else which might qualify) is likely to be harmful to children, and absolutely is harmful to children if it involves sexual acts?
By viewing said pictures you not only create demand, but you're increasing the likelihood that you yourself (or someone eles who views said pictures) will cause direct harm to a child. Unlike something like, say, meth, where you're most likely to harm yourself through continued (escalated) use, with child porn, you'll be hurting a child when you get into "harder stuff".
There is a lot of "admin" work you can't do with SSH - specifically, anything involving the GUI. And lackluster protocols like VNC don't cut it.
Windows also has a nice 'remote admin' protocol called RDP (via Remote Assistance). IMO it's the bee's knees, and probably one of the best/only half decent things about the Windows GUI system.
Sometimes, email really is the best way to track things, especially when your email client is being used as an information "portal" by people other than yourself. For instance, feature requests, bug reporting, and project discussions. Each department, and sometimes even people within a department, use their email differently due to the different roles they hold.
Such a policy can be very disruptive for people such as, say, front end support, employee satisfaction, HR, and so forth which need to have a cohesive record of correspondence, often going beyond 180 days prior, and they've got no other alternative to track these things. It does NOT work to simply change the policy and remove that functionality from the users; they need to have a substantiate issue/document/content/etc. tracking system and repository to take the place of the old system without reduced functionality.
[quote]1. Any network guy who refuses to give his supervisors the passwords to the equipment should at least be fired forthwith and blacklisted from ever working as a network administrator ever again, no matter how incompetent he thinks his managers are.[/quote]
As far as I know, there is no actual evidence (I've seen none provided) that he actually denied the passwords to his managers. He prevented his coworkers (who shouldn't have had access, more than likely) yes, though that does not mean his superiors were likewise denied.
Given their demonstrated level of incompetence, I'd say it's highly likely that they simply didn't think to ask for them, and after firing him, got told by someone else "hey, he had all the passwords and didn't share them with us" - and they went "oops".
3. The DA is introducing into evidence as examples of "bad dealing" things that are part and parcel of being a network engineer. You network engineers out there need to be very worried.
You can say that again! This has me really nervous, and any/all of my future contracts will have explicit stipulations to cover this kind of thing.
I went out of my way to try to make sure my fellow workers and also managers knew what was up.
Absolutely the best practice, bar none. However, when you're overworked and explaining particle physics to people who likely don't understand high school physics is going to be problematic, if not impossible. There are times when you just have to say "oh well" and do your job to the best of your ability, and try to mitigate and prevent problems - unfortunately, by treating your coworkers like the rest of the users to a large degree.
Slashdot Mirror
Nevermind the idiots only put 4G of RAM in a $10k system. Say, what?
There is only one, maybe two, things I'd disagree with you on. Or maybe three, as you don't make mention of it:
1) Don't waste your money, at all, on a cheap case. Throw down the hundred fifty dollars now for something which is of high quality construction, and it will not only last through multiple computers, but you'll have a quality case through multiple computers. How about something like this Coolmaster Cosmos case?
2) Do not skimp on a shit power supply. By "shit" I mean one which is not explicitly advertised as quiet: this also likely means it's one of the newer 90%+ efficiency ones. Also, a good power supply brand is well worth the money in reliability and consistency, in case you didn't know already. Antec is pretty good about that.
3) Shit RAM is one of the surest ways short of a power supply failure to get irritating and indeterminable errors. Don't go for "cheap" RAM, it's not worth the hastle 3 months down the road when it fails.
While $1,000+ is a bit extreme, and $2,000 is obscene these days (those fools have been using the same exact price points for entry/gaming/extreme computer creation since 1996! I doubt they know what they're talking about), when you pay a little bit more up front the first time, you don't have to throw everything away when you build a new system - and you get a degree of increased reliability and longevity.
If I were to arrange such an event, this is what I'd do...
First, I'd rent out a hotel conference room. They're going to have a more suitable power infrastructure (and room to host) than anything you're likely to have.
The rules should be short and clear: no alcohol, theft, or violence will be permitted whatsoever. Everyone is responsible for their own gear. Nobody underage will be allowed (or look into how you'd have to handle the 'underage' angle legally and allow underage people - but I'd say the immaturity level would be too high to make it even worth it). Also, people with money are less likely to steal, and as kids typically don't have any moment of their own, they're more likely to be culprit.
Importantly, I'd contact a bonded/insured security company and contract for a security guard to be at the door (and/or to police the area). He'd be responsible for checking people in and out - verifying their age, having them register themselves (and their gear), and so on and so forth. The presence alone will deter casual theft, and along with the "you're responsible for your own stuff" should cause people to be cautious enough for you to not worry about it.
The other thing I'd suggest is that you organize the LAN party so that it's planned, not just a bunch of people at the same place playing their computers. 8-11p is CS:S and WoW, 11p-2a is (whatever, I don't game), and so on and so forth.
Finally, see if you can't lease out a gaming center nearby. I know of a couple in very small towns, and I can't imagine any reasonably sized town doesn't have one these days. They can take care of the specifics for you, and you'd likely not need people to lug their shit then.
You're correct, that's been the trend (with all OSes): the new version runs slower than the old system.
What's the problem with Vista? Well, it's not just slower, but it's unuseable on a lot of hardware released a year after the OS started shipping commercially, and it doesn't offer a single thing over XP. XP was received with a luke warm reception, with adoption not taking place right away, either: there were a lot of hardcore gamers who didn't switch to XP for a couple years, many until SP2.
Unlike the 2k -> XP migration, though, Vista has one major thing going against it which XP didn't, and XP had one thing going for it which Vista does not. XP was substantially more stable than 2k, and Vista is substantially and innately (not just marginally and circumstantially, like XP was to 2k) slower than XP due to the DRM bolted onto audio/video - the two main things which demand the most from hardware, and which are the most highly demanded to perform by users.
As far as device compatibility is concerned... it has nothing to do with 10-year-old+ hardware, it has to do with modern devices like USB dongles, "Vista Ready" internal hardware, and pretty-much-new (and often still being sold) commercial devices not being compatible years after Vista has been released. Granted, part of this falls on the shoulders of the hw (and sw) vendors, but a lot also falls on MS for changing too much, too soon, and offering nothing quantifiable to either the users or the vendors for changing but added cost.
You're right.
A better analogy would be if Saab were to release a car which runs on hydrogen, and they were to say it's the next great thing, and you'll get superior performance, yadda yadda to gasoline, and then when the infrastructure is finally in place for the car to run (on hydrogen) years after the car is released, the car gets inferior performance ot other hydrogen cars released in the meantime.... what would you call that?
Compare the specs of one of these against something like a 6-year-old NEC MobilePro 900 (short version: the MobilePro is better in almost every way), which now sells on ebay for a scant $50 or so, and quite a lot less than $130.
In my humble opinion, it'd be better to just try to go find old clamshell PDAs.
Hell, you can get the iPhone for only slightly more than this.
I find it supremely ironic that you're lecturing me about 486s, when the likelihood that I recall them better than you do is fairly high.
Tell you what: if you want to run software from 1995, go right ahead. I'd much rather not, because what we've got right now is leaps and bounds better. Unfortunately, it also requires a lot more computing power to run in a manner which does not evoke the pulling of hair and screams of an anguishing wait.
This thing is substantially more expensive than the hardware in it is justified as being (it's basically got the specs of a 2001 clamshell PDA which would've sold for $700ish), and I imagine the "must buy 100 at a time" limitation has people thinking, for whatever reason, that this thing is some sort of bargain/wholesale pricing as a result.
I'm not sure what you're getting at. Yes, DSL will "run" on such a system. It will not "run" to a level even remotely satisfactory for general use, even if it's on a 'casual' basis, on rare occasions. Why? Simply, when you've got an ultra-portable, you want the damn thing to be available, now. DSL is painfully slow, even when loading from disk, on such an old system.
This isn't 1992, and a 486 doesn't cost 10k. We have things like wireless - integrated - and the software we use now - hell, the software we used 8 years ago - was substantiative enough that 128Mb was "not enough".
From what I can tell, this PDA-with-a-keyboard does not provide one iota of functionality over something like an NEC MobilePro 900, which is so old that you will sometimes not find parts available on Ebay for them. Refresher: 400Mhz Xscale, 64Mb RAM, something like 128Mb flash. Touchscreen. 10 hour battery life. Only marginally larger than a TI8x graphing calculator. Their commercial value was under $50 a fair time ago, as that's about as much as they go for on Ebay. And yet, still more built-in functionality than this hideous thing.
The only reason this thing is appealing to anyone here on Slashdot is because it so drastically undercuts the Eee, and since that's the most readily available thing they have to compare it with, they drool over the price. Bah. They should be comparing it to systems of its class: 8-year-old clamshell PDAs selling for around $600-800(at the time).
It probably has something to do with the fact that Firefox eats the ass out of my laptop with 512Mb that I'm biased. That, and the linux kernel schedulers aren't as preferential to desktop applications (and near-instant user responsiveness) as they were in the hayday - pre-2000, which means linux as a whole feels a lot slower.
Used to be that on a 233Mhz with 128Mb you could run E16 while compiling in the background and still have Mozilla responsive enough to be functional. Now, a flash player will drag the system to a crawl, requiring you to wait for it to "finish" loading, as will the start of an application or any number of things which used to be trivial.
Well, sure, it still has utility - for about 5% of 2% of computer users, at best. Again, where are you going to find enough people to buy these in "bulk" to get one, though?
And they're $130 - that's only $170 less than an Eee, which is easily 4 times as capable as this thing, on the simple basis that a) it's got built in wireless, b) it's got enough RAM to run modern software, c) it's got enough overall power to perform more than simple MP3 playback, and d) it's hardware is capable of more than one thing at a time, using modern software!
I've got old laptops that can do all that this thing can. I've got several, and I know quite a few people who, likewise, have several. They make great routers/gateways and other unobtrusive systems that don't have to do a whole lot. You can find similar laptops on ebay for less than $130. People don't not use them anymore because they suck for running functional software and their hardware is limited (usually slow and/or lacking wireless).
And you really think there's a statistically significant percentage of the population that'd be satisfied playing nethack, using lynx, and running in text mode on console? I'd wager you'd be hard pressed to find one in a thousand die-hard linux users who fit that categorization - and I know CLI fiends who play nethack who wouldn't waste their time/money on something like this, because their only-slightly-larger laptop can do that, and a lot more!
Sure, the thing would probably make a decent remote admin tool, but consider that you're already likely going to be lugging a laptop, and carrying around an extra couple pounds just for ssh, nethack, and CLI is stupid unless the device is custom tailored for, say, intrusion detection, or some other specialized role.
Again, no way in hell any single person could find 100 people to buy these. I'd wager there might be a market for 800 or so of these at best, right now. Give it just a couple months, when the next-generation ultra-portables come out, and the Eee and similar models drop in price (or rather, beefier/more efficient/prettier ones come out at the old price mark) and I'd wager there'd be a close-to-zero market.
The only things that appeal about these suckers is that a) they use an ARM CPU, and b) they've got an interesting marketing gimmick to draw attention to them (because there's no way in hell you'd spend $130 on 10-year-old performance when you can get 2-year-old hardware performance for only $170 more).
Or, they're waiting to fix it in the next version, which you will have to pay for, but will have fuzzy little pink rabbits that come with it, free.
I find that hard to believe. Linux is pretty obscenely easy to set up and administer these days for most conditions, and RedHat has been there for a long time - but then, I cut my teeth doing things with samba long before they were supported.
Have you even tried to use any 'modern software' on a system with similar specs and a Linux distro in the last couple years?
The processor isn't going to be the limiting factor here, it's the RAM. You won't be able to use two applications concurrently without touching deep into swap - which, I assume, is going to then eat up your flash memory like a banshee.
Running Linux as a 'desktop' on hardware like this hasn't been short of painless since 2002 or so.
FPS video games?
Just look at those specs, man. 128Mb of RAM, 400Mhz CPU. There's a shitload a person [b]can't[/b] reasonably do with that machine without obscene amounts of disk thrashing (assuming it even has a disk):
- Use KDE, GNOME, or anything else approaching a modern DE (XFCE is even questionable)
- Use Firefox
- Use Konqueror
- -Maybe- use Opera
- Run Open Office and anything else
128Mb of RAM was constraining and tight in Linux as early as 2002 or so, even with Debian. Today, I think you'd be pretty much restrained to using an embedded linux platform - and even then, you'd still not be able to get 'mainstream' versions of popular applications to run fully due to the RAm limitations.
If they'd charged $30 more and put 512Mb in there, it'd be a LOT more reasonable, and still the cheapest thing available, anywhere.
Probably because he was good, and because he's a known quantity, in parts.
Also, who would have been better, now that Jackman has had is face associated with Wolverine? Seriously: what actor out there even looks remotely like Wolverine?
As far as I know, no decision on cannibis has reached the Supreme Court yet, so you're really not being all that fair to the "Federal courts", as you call them.
It's not the Federal courts making statements about interstate commerce, it's the damn executive branch and its octopus of bureaucratic and law enforcement agencies/entities which operate with impunity, making laws willy-nilly - the only oversight being, essentially, funding decisions and oversight committees when someone fucks up, big time, in a very noticeable manner.
As far as I know, the FBI, IRS, ATF, CIA, et cetera, are all unconstitutional. But then I'm a fairly simple man (ie, not a lawyer) - I may have missed where the Presidency has the authority to do more than act as one part of the three-part administrative body of the United States and serve as our Commander in Chief. I probably also missed where Congress put forth motions to amend the Constitution to allow for these agencies.
Well, it actually depends on which laws we're talking about, as I understand it. For instance, I believe the Bill of Rights was always intended to be a corpus-binding document/law, but didn't get considered as such until after incorporation after the Civil War.
As far as I know, incorporation holds pretty much the entire US Bill of Rights to be sanctum nationally, to the exception of the 2nd Amendment which hasn't had sufficient court cases to clarify the topic for states yet (many of which have laws on the books which are subtractive).
Other than that, it's always been a struggle of state rights vs. federalism. For instance, the Militia Act (of 1812 IIRC) had federal precedence, and pretty major things have always been pushed to the top, whereas regional and local laws can remain on the books indefinately, even if they're stupid (it's still technically legal to shoot and kill Native Americans in SD, if they're traveling in a group of three or more, for instance).
Ultimately, what we need to have happen is have the federal restrictions to be challenged constitutionally, a bit at a time, on the basis of local law taking precidence. Push it up the court system far enough, and it'll reach the Supreme Court, where their job is to decide, essentially yay or nay, on the basis of the United States Constitution (and Bill of Rights). I'll bring note to:
Article the eleventh [Amendment IX]
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article the twelfth [Amendment X]
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
As far as I know, the Federal gov't really has no business fucking with anything at a local level, but they do, and have since after the Civil War. (With the good of slave liberty came the bad, in many more ways than just national application of federal laws.)
Either that, or your life is permanently hindered by some bullshit charge filed on a technicality and/or that officer's interpretation of the law. That kind of nonsense can impede employment in a serious way!
Granted, not all cops are the same - and this largely depends on where in the country you live - but it's pretty much a given that getting even so much as a ticket from a cop can really put a crimp in your life, both short and long-term (and largely due to money).
However, this would likely be untrue, if being perpetually stupid was considered a danger and not the status quo.
I've seen so many normal/mediocre people smoke themselves to perpetual stupidity - even after they quit - it's not even funny. And quite a few bright people toast their brain to the point of "life withdrawal", where societal and social things just go by them, and they lose all initiative and drive/desire. That's sad.
Alcohol makes one forget their responsibilities, cannabis does not.
Surely you jest. I'd much rather work with a hung-over person than someone who's still stoned from the night before. Hell, I'd rather work with an alcoholic who's mildly drunk than with someone who's a stoner, who hasn't had anything to smoke in a day. I guarantee you the drunk is more able to perform his duties than the stoner.
I agreed with you up until you said "pictures". I sincerely it is culturally and morally wrong to punish people for 'being' - particularly when no harm comes from it - instead of punishing people for acting, especially when there is absolutely no correlation between the two.
But, pictures... You do realize that the creation of said pictures (I'm assuming you mean child porn, as I can think of nothing else which might qualify) is likely to be harmful to children, and absolutely is harmful to children if it involves sexual acts?
By viewing said pictures you not only create demand, but you're increasing the likelihood that you yourself (or someone eles who views said pictures) will cause direct harm to a child.
Unlike something like, say, meth, where you're most likely to harm yourself through continued (escalated) use, with child porn, you'll be hurting a child when you get into "harder stuff".
Now I'm going to go puke.
Pot is only evil by association, given that dirty hippies grow it, and dirty hippies are evil.
There is a lot of "admin" work you can't do with SSH - specifically, anything involving the GUI. And lackluster protocols like VNC don't cut it.
Windows also has a nice 'remote admin' protocol called RDP (via Remote Assistance). IMO it's the bee's knees, and probably one of the best/only half decent things about the Windows GUI system.
I agree with you, but...
Sometimes, email really is the best way to track things, especially when your email client is being used as an information "portal" by people other than yourself. For instance, feature requests, bug reporting, and project discussions. Each department, and sometimes even people within a department, use their email differently due to the different roles they hold.
Such a policy can be very disruptive for people such as, say, front end support, employee satisfaction, HR, and so forth which need to have a cohesive record of correspondence, often going beyond 180 days prior, and they've got no other alternative to track these things. It does NOT work to simply change the policy and remove that functionality from the users; they need to have a substantiate issue/document/content/etc. tracking system and repository to take the place of the old system without reduced functionality.
[quote]1. Any network guy who refuses to give his supervisors the passwords to the equipment should at least be fired forthwith and blacklisted from ever working as a network administrator ever again, no matter how incompetent he thinks his managers are.[/quote]
As far as I know, there is no actual evidence (I've seen none provided) that he actually denied the passwords to his managers. He prevented his coworkers (who shouldn't have had access, more than likely) yes, though that does not mean his superiors were likewise denied.
Given their demonstrated level of incompetence, I'd say it's highly likely that they simply didn't think to ask for them, and after firing him, got told by someone else "hey, he had all the passwords and didn't share them with us" - and they went "oops".
3. The DA is introducing into evidence as examples of "bad dealing" things that are part and parcel of being a network engineer. You network engineers out there need to be very worried.
You can say that again! This has me really nervous, and any/all of my future contracts will have explicit stipulations to cover this kind of thing.
I went out of my way to try to make sure my fellow workers and also managers knew what was up.
Absolutely the best practice, bar none. However, when you're overworked and explaining particle physics to people who likely don't understand high school physics is going to be problematic, if not impossible. There are times when you just have to say "oh well" and do your job to the best of your ability, and try to mitigate and prevent problems - unfortunately, by treating your coworkers like the rest of the users to a large degree.