Times have changed. IBM is no longer the monolithic giant that dominates and overtakes everything - they're at the size where either significant growth or significant growth loss is fairly difficult without catastrophic catalyst. They're no longer a significant threat to the 'little guy' either, as they used to be - and as MS is now.
Think about it. IBM has quite thoroughly embraced linux, and is moving in more of that direction every day. Linux's very core philosophy is that of openess and unrestriction - the very philosophies that monopolies fight against.
The only thing (at least from the business perspective) IBM gains by embracing linux is to move the power away from MS. From that point, where does the power go?
Well, obviously, it draws power from AMD and Intel and more towards IBM for PPC processors, since linux works just fine on PPC processors, but in terms of software, they gain nothing. You can't 'take' something that is given away, as linux is.
Instead of power migrating from MS to IBM in the rise of linux, power migrates to the people - the populace and citizens. That's democracy.
While I agree with your basic premise of philosophy, your base of perspective is way off.
A comparable (though not identical in any means) event in history that I can think of is the American Revolution. England was unjustly taxing the colonies, when they didn't rightly have any excuse to do so other than the fact that they "owned" the colonies - a fact that was debateable.
Would the American Revolution have been a success for the US if the founding fathers had not taken up arms, since that is "acting like those they disliked"? Would it have been a success if they had been humble and simply paid the tax? Would it have been a success if they had "taken the high road" (or the 'morally' correct route) and fought in a 'dignified' manner instead of using "indian tactics"? No on all accounts.
Our world is (unfortunately) not so black and white that we can roam the earth with our heads in the clouds, unaware of the reality around us; if we do, we'll be slaughtered.
That random punctuation stuff is more difficult to read than 1337speak, and will continue to be: leetspeak, at least, has a fairly broad group of people that -want- to understand it and use it conversationally, and thus its more understood.
At any rate, I doubt such punctuation will be a problem. I've already seen a good deal of it get killed with bayesian filters anyway.
The other things though - very interesting. It's not like we can't predict these things ourselves, though - it's only a mattre of time before they happen, what with the increasingly dense levels of tech in our society.
Being the thrill-seeking geek that I am, the prospect alone of bluetooth hacking (wartoothing?:P) sends an adrenaline rush through me. I look forward to dealing with such attacks (either preventatively, directly, or for clients, etc.) - seriously. It's exciting stuff.
I can see there being a definate increase in the need for serious, intelligent, and knowledgeable computer security staff; they'll likely start supplanting what's left of IT staff, as well as replacing some of the positions that were dumped in the last several years. After IS? Who knows. Maybe we'll be batteries by then, or maybe fighting the machines.
You took what he was saying, and ran 180 degrees in the other direction right into a wall.
He wasn't saying that KDE should replace GNOME, or vice versa. He was simply saying that it should be possible to have a unified look and feel.
Personally, I think that having a 'pluggable' toolkit design with universal hooks would be nice. A wrapper of sorts that stands between the guts of the TK and interacts with userland applications. That way, it'd be relatively simple to switch an entire desktop from one toolkit to another with the changing of a config file.
What about the computers many cops have in their vehicles nowadays to do ID lookups, vehicle checks, as well as check GPS traffic?
Such things will be (are?) illigal for a civilian to use. YOu can bet your damned life on the fact that they won't be illigal for cops. How's that for freedom.
Yeah, what of it? Maybe my logic is flawed but calling a troll a fool doesn't necessitate me a troll as well (that is what you're implying, isn't it?)
Hold on, many people here habitually abuse MS for making the "browser the OS" and certainly can spot feature-creep a mile away, but when it comes to KDE's browser its suddenly okay? I like having a whole seperate browser for web and use Nautilus for file browsing. Keeping WAN and Local/LAN seperate is a big plus in mine, and many other's books.
Am I 'many people'? No, I am a single person with a mind an opinion of my own. Is konqueror being made "the OS"? No, it is simply a browser for a desktop environment that runs on X, which just happens to run on an operating system.
As far as "keeping the browser seperate", it still does that. Don't want fish, ftp, smb, etc. built into your browser? Disable them - they're just I/O slaves. (That's something like a plugin, fyi.) The problem with IE in this respect is that it's fully integrated - a single cancerous component - that can't be removed and has a plethora of security problems that are frequently exploited. Konqueror isn't plagued by any of these things.
Why do you have to be so negative? I was simply pointing out what I personally like about konq.
I imagine it would be relatively easy to modify the source of debootstrap (the tool used in the process) so as to run on a BSD box - if it even requires any modification. It's basically just a frontend to wget, I hear.
I scripted the entire process for myself, so I could do remote upgrades, but I can't seem to find the scripts. Hope they didn't get wiped.
Expect to see MS antiquing their 'old' operating systems (Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server, etc.) once this comes out "because the hardware is incompatable" or for some other reason: this way they can essentially require anyone that wants to buy new hardware for gaming to upgrade to their new Longhorn/OS/Trusted Computing Platform, and not allow them to use an older OS version - even if the OS itself is fundamentally identical.
That, and expect every other x86 OS to lag behind MS by many months in being able to support this new hardware interface. Linux won't run on your spiff new servers? Noooo problem! Install Windows Fuckme 2005!
You sound like a troll (nobody mentioned anything about a full-tilt KDE port on OS X, fool), but...
If you noticed, this makes konq native. I don't know if you've ever used konq before yourself, but let me tell you: it's a very good browser.
I now use it primarily - and occasionally fire up mozilla/galeon/firebird to do various other things. What makes konqueror good?
- it's fast and stable - all the 'modern' features you'd expect in a browser are available (popup blocking, password manager, thorough history, tabs, etc.) - it uses little memory - it doesn't require a very fast machine to run - it has more/better features than mozilla (fish://, file://, ftp:// smtp://, etc. etc.) - it has native support for importing and exporting mozilla, IE, opera, netscape, etc. bookmarks. - it is incredibly configurable in how you are able to arrange your buttons, layout, etc. - it has a slew of other well-designed features, with modularity in mind - it was designed from the ground up and is conceptually sound, unlike mozilla which was a hack job on top of netscape's browser - unlike other browsers (mozilla, IE), it was designed using 'mature' technology (HTML4, CSS, etc.) and does not have nearly as many compatibility woes as IE, nor as many add-on hacks, as the other browsers had, due to changing stnadards over the years (in other words: it's a newer, fresher code base) - unlike mozilla/firebird, I can use it for hours/days with many pages open (15+) without the entire affair slowing to a crawl and/or dying
The list goes on, but these are the main benefits in my mind of konq over mozilla or firebird. firebird is getting better, but it's still a far cry from konq. There's a reason why safari uses khtml, you know - it's good. (Or didn't you know? khtml is the render engine for konqueror, and it was used by the apple folks to make safari.
Hrm, i'd forgotten about that 'had kids' clause in the book.
I agree with you on that point. Though my supposition remains on the other items. It's not like we can know for certain until we get home, anyway.
I often chuckle over how people can say, with a straight face, and with all certainty of validity, "the earth has been around xx years, and we're sure our methods of validating this are accurate" or when someone says something along the lines of "X or Y isn't possible, because of Z". It's great fun.
This may be so, but I think it's interesting postulation, at least. A lot of the theological conclusions that are reached (such as saying that Mary was Christ's wife) bring a different perspective than is contemorarily taught throughout Christianity/Catholicism. It seems to me to put more emphasis and importance on the sacred bond of marriage, the inter-dependence of men and women in a healthy relationship, and the human side of Christ's diety: he was both man and God, afterall.
I don't claim to know these things as fact, or anything like that. I do think it interesting, though, and I don't personally see it contradicting anything in the Bible.
The original poster didn't say anything about it being a perminant habitation. Neither did I. He's going to a cabin out in the real boonies, where there is no AC current via powerlines.
"The sack lunch thing" - what is this? It doesn't make any sense, and doesn't seem to apply to the topic; post in the wrong forum, maybe?
Please tell me why this matters. Maybe 4, 3, or 2 years ago, this would have been news. Today? Not really.
First off: there is very, very little that is currently constrained by raw processor speed nowadays. The main hardware limitations are elsewhere: memory and bus speeds, mainly.
Second off: There are precious few tasks that can actually use a full 3GHz of processing power optimally. Games don't need that kind of speed now. Video, audio, or photo editing benefit only marginally more so, and for at least 90% of that small demographic, the need simply isn't there. Some high-end servers will certainly benefit from this kind of hardware; however, I doubt that many such purchase decisions are based on value-per-MHz benchmarks, but on purchase viability and what software they need to do the job.
We "nerds" realize that "faster, more powerful, higher numbers" isn't where it's at anymore in terms of processors. We realize that the future is in low-power, high-efficiency processors, since easily 95% of all computer use needs less than a GHz of power (and we can assume this will be the case for a long time, unless basic UI design and use practices change drastically, or we see an obscene amount of general OS bloat; the second is a possibility, knowing MS, but not likely to catch on where it matters, I feel).
I've got two younger (11 and 12) brother-in-laws. They're into collectable playing cards (such as Magic: The Gathering). One of them is quite the selfish type and quite conscious of other peoples' opinions of him; the other one is a bit more geeky and off in his own world.
I got them each a Core Set deck. The one more fitting for the geeky b-in-l (Sky Slam/blue) I wrapped simply - just put it in a small box slightly larger than the deck - I also put a $5 bill in. The other one (Burn/red), I put in a large box with heavy objects (several rocks wrapped in paper). I didn't put any names on the packages.
I then let the older/less geeky b-in-l pick the present that he wanted. Being selfish, he picked the larger one. The result: a lesson hopefully learned - and if not, hopeful progress made on that lesson.
I love playing mind games with influential youngsters.:P
Consider: 1700$ for a really nice laptop (Such as an IBM Thinkpad X31) which has good battery life (5ish hours) and meets your requirements, has APM/ACPI support, has the ability to down-clock the processor per your need, and draws -much- less power than a small system/LCD combination even without any real management, and no/few power cells needed (depending on how frequently you plan to join civilization, and how much you plan to use the computer).
Or: 600$ for the desktop/LCD combo, with no APM/ACPI, with minimal/no real power management, vs. a compact and portable laptop that can have function outside of the woods in real life in addition to its getaway use, and a shitload of solar panels (or just a few and a large number of car batteries to store the power over time - still a large expense).
I'd personally suggest, that, given your desires and requirements, that you go with a low-power laptop (such as a Fujitsu or IBM thinkpad X31 - I love my X30) and one or two solar power cells: however many it would take to continually charge a 12V car battery or two. That way it can charge while you're gone, and you'll slowly wear down the charge while you're there over a period of a weekend or so. If you go there less frequently, but for longer periods, just get one or two cells, and half a 12V batteries - it'll provide power for a desktop for a day or so, your laptop will be set (especially if you come with a 5hr charged battery at the onset, and you run off the batteries after the laptop battery is used).
Personally, though, I think you're bloody nuts. You've got a nice cabin out in the woods, away from modernization and electronics - what in the world are you thinking, bringing a laptop with you to compute while there? What about spending the time to let your soul relax, to do something different? Why not go out back and chop wood for relaxation? Why not read a book by the fireplace at night? Why not go hiking with a sack lunch, with no descriminate plans for the day?
To behave in such a way as you're considering, in such an environment, is a shame. It's no small wonder that our rainforests are being destroyed, the environment is being poluted, and people still don't give a damn.
(keep in mind that I have an IBM X30, currently - a fairly small (8.5"x9.5"x1") laptop)
The store-bought solution:
I'm a big fan of solid things that don't break. Thus, the item that fits the bill is a small aluminum briefcase. The briefcase I got was a bit big for what I need: 14x12x3 inches - a bit too big for my laptop (I foolishly didn't pay attention to what I was ordering). For a larger laptop it would work quite nicely - and in my case, it will fit the bill for a general carry-all, being as there's enough room for course books and a laptop side by side, as well as an envelope for things like pads of paper. There's also a sturdy synthetic fiber strap. It's maybe 3 or so pounds.
Additionally, I saw an iBook (more in your line of interest, it appears) at the local ibook shop in a similar case - only it was about 1.5" deep, and seemably just big enough for an iBook. (This briefcase was what I was looking for; alas, I never found it online)
Now, for the inventive geeky solution:
Another option I've found that might work nicely is a nice homemade bag. buy some 1cm rubber foam (or some other sort of impact-insulative of your choice) and some canvas of your choice. grab an old packing box (ofthe cardboard variety) as well. Then, wrap the foam around the laptop and cut it so that it would be a fairly snug fit around all but one edge - so it would cover 5 of the 6 surfaces - and cut it appropriately; secure with duct tape. then take the cardboard and fold it to fit over the rubber foam, and duct tape it so it makes a nice little sleeve for the laptop. tape over the edge of the foam/cardboard to form a 'single' glove. I wrapped ductape all around the cardboard on mine, so as to provide water/liquid resistence. This alone makes a nice carrying device if you use a backpack or briefcase to carry things around, as it's quite protective (I wrapped a palm pilot pro in such a manner - minus the foam - years ago, and it's been used since then, with many an encounter with the ground. no such encounters with the laptop thus far).
Then, if you're interested in actually having a 'laptop bag' take the canvas and stitch it together to form a fairly form-fitting sleeve for the cardboard/foam sleeve.
I'd recommend getting a plastic-fiber strap of some sort and sowing each end to the bottom of this bag, securely - then stitch it up the sides so as to prevent your little laptop falling incident. if you need a shoulder pad, sheep hide/fleece works quite well - just wrap a piece of canvas around it and sow it up. Use a nylon strap from an old backpack w/ the clasps to provide a nice closeable pocket for the laptop. I put a smaller pouch on the outside of mine for the AC adapter and some cookies.:P The end result here is a nice, durable laptop bag that's inexpensive, looks nifty, and is washable.
I've toyed with the idea of using tanned deer hide (quite soft and very strong) for a "professional" cover for my sheath.;)
It's obvious why people would think that nowadays. Quite simply, it's not so much of a science fiction element any more.
Look around you. Many, many of the things Asimov talks about would seem quant in comparision to the technology we have today.
Not only that, but we have robots now that walk. Honda advertised their robot in Time magazine, and for all practical purposes, the ad for the robot (I forget the name) made it come across as a fully autonomous device. The abido (Sony's dog, whatever it's called) has been out for, what, 2, 3 years now? It is not inconceiveable that someone would invent such a device.
While I love Asimov's books, and his Three Laws of Robotics (I think that's what they were called), as well as the positronic brains, were very interesting and creative fictionalizations. However, if you contrast them to today's environment, it's only a little more drastic than someone releasing a car in the next few years that runs on a hydrogen/solar cell combination. We see robotics, AI, and other such breakthroughs in research all the time in the likes of Popular Mechanics.
As unknowledgeable as most people are about their computers, electronics, and science in general (to say nothing of their literary pedigree), why is this surprising? It's not.
If this is indeed real, it simply shows how out of touch MS is with the realities behind why OSS is being adopted by so many people.
Questions that say things like, "What is the importance of finding qualified help?" in terms of why chose linux, are absurd. They're basically assuming things, such as that finding experienced linux folks is less expensive than finding experienced windows folks, ad nausium. Their just trolls.
I'm guessing George Lucas has routine fits of rage nowadays, now that his ILM studio has been so profoundly outdone, and his personal dream of realistic computer-generated characters/environments have been dashed against the rocks - at least for him, personally.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Posting to slashdot, explaining the internet piracy schene?
Next thing you know, the preacher will be sermonizing the choir.
Oh wait. Did I miss something?
Times have changed. IBM is no longer the monolithic giant that dominates and overtakes everything - they're at the size where either significant growth or significant growth loss is fairly difficult without catastrophic catalyst. They're no longer a significant threat to the 'little guy' either, as they used to be - and as MS is now.
Think about it. IBM has quite thoroughly embraced linux, and is moving in more of that direction every day. Linux's very core philosophy is that of openess and unrestriction - the very philosophies that monopolies fight against.
The only thing (at least from the business perspective) IBM gains by embracing linux is to move the power away from MS. From that point, where does the power go?
Well, obviously, it draws power from AMD and Intel and more towards IBM for PPC processors, since linux works just fine on PPC processors, but in terms of software, they gain nothing. You can't 'take' something that is given away, as linux is.
Instead of power migrating from MS to IBM in the rise of linux, power migrates to the people - the populace and citizens. That's democracy.
While I agree with your basic premise of philosophy, your base of perspective is way off.
A comparable (though not identical in any means) event in history that I can think of is the American Revolution. England was unjustly taxing the colonies, when they didn't rightly have any excuse to do so other than the fact that they "owned" the colonies - a fact that was debateable.
Would the American Revolution have been a success for the US if the founding fathers had not taken up arms, since that is "acting like those they disliked"? Would it have been a success if they had been humble and simply paid the tax? Would it have been a success if they had "taken the high road" (or the 'morally' correct route) and fought in a 'dignified' manner instead of using "indian tactics"? No on all accounts.
Our world is (unfortunately) not so black and white that we can roam the earth with our heads in the clouds, unaware of the reality around us; if we do, we'll be slaughtered.
That random punctuation stuff is more difficult to read than 1337speak, and will continue to be: leetspeak, at least, has a fairly broad group of people that -want- to understand it and use it conversationally, and thus its more understood.
:P) sends an adrenaline rush through me. I look forward to dealing with such attacks (either preventatively, directly, or for clients, etc.) - seriously. It's exciting stuff.
At any rate, I doubt such punctuation will be a problem. I've already seen a good deal of it get killed with bayesian filters anyway.
The other things though - very interesting. It's not like we can't predict these things ourselves, though - it's only a mattre of time before they happen, what with the increasingly dense levels of tech in our society.
Being the thrill-seeking geek that I am, the prospect alone of bluetooth hacking (wartoothing?
I can see there being a definate increase in the need for serious, intelligent, and knowledgeable computer security staff; they'll likely start supplanting what's left of IT staff, as well as replacing some of the positions that were dumped in the last several years. After IS? Who knows. Maybe we'll be batteries by then, or maybe fighting the machines.
You took what he was saying, and ran 180 degrees in the other direction right into a wall.
He wasn't saying that KDE should replace GNOME, or vice versa. He was simply saying that it should be possible to have a unified look and feel.
Personally, I think that having a 'pluggable' toolkit design with universal hooks would be nice. A wrapper of sorts that stands between the guts of the TK and interacts with userland applications. That way, it'd be relatively simple to switch an entire desktop from one toolkit to another with the changing of a config file.
They should make this spam readily available for everyone to use that wants it
:)
That'd make for one hell of a bayesian filter.
What about the computers many cops have in their vehicles nowadays to do ID lookups, vehicle checks, as well as check GPS traffic?
Such things will be (are?) illigal for a civilian to use. YOu can bet your damned life on the fact that they won't be illigal for cops. How's that for freedom.
You call him a troll, yet you're name-calling?
Yeah, what of it? Maybe my logic is flawed but calling a troll a fool doesn't necessitate me a troll as well (that is what you're implying, isn't it?)
Hold on, many people here habitually abuse MS for making the "browser the OS" and certainly can spot feature-creep a mile away, but when it comes to KDE's browser its suddenly okay? I like having a whole seperate browser for web and use Nautilus for file browsing. Keeping WAN and Local/LAN seperate is a big plus in mine, and many other's books.
Am I 'many people'? No, I am a single person with a mind an opinion of my own. Is konqueror being made "the OS"? No, it is simply a browser for a desktop environment that runs on X, which just happens to run on an operating system.
As far as "keeping the browser seperate", it still does that. Don't want fish, ftp, smb, etc. built into your browser? Disable them - they're just I/O slaves. (That's something like a plugin, fyi.) The problem with IE in this respect is that it's fully integrated - a single cancerous component - that can't be removed and has a plethora of security problems that are frequently exploited. Konqueror isn't plagued by any of these things.
Why do you have to be so negative? I was simply pointing out what I personally like about konq.
HOWTO - Install Debian Onto a Remote Linux System
I imagine it would be relatively easy to modify the source of debootstrap (the tool used in the process) so as to run on a BSD box - if it even requires any modification. It's basically just a frontend to wget, I hear.
I scripted the entire process for myself, so I could do remote upgrades, but I can't seem to find the scripts. Hope they didn't get wiped.
Expect to see MS antiquing their 'old' operating systems (Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server, etc.) once this comes out "because the hardware is incompatable" or for some other reason: this way they can essentially require anyone that wants to buy new hardware for gaming to upgrade to their new Longhorn/OS/Trusted Computing Platform, and not allow them to use an older OS version - even if the OS itself is fundamentally identical.
That, and expect every other x86 OS to lag behind MS by many months in being able to support this new hardware interface. Linux won't run on your spiff new servers? Noooo problem! Install Windows Fuckme 2005!
You sound like a troll (nobody mentioned anything about a full-tilt KDE port on OS X, fool), but...
If you noticed, this makes konq native. I don't know if you've ever used konq before yourself, but let me tell you: it's a very good browser.
I now use it primarily - and occasionally fire up mozilla/galeon/firebird to do various other things. What makes konqueror good?
- it's fast and stable
- all the 'modern' features you'd expect in a browser are available (popup blocking, password manager, thorough history, tabs, etc.)
- it uses little memory
- it doesn't require a very fast machine to run
- it has more/better features than mozilla (fish://, file://, ftp:// smtp://, etc. etc.)
- it has native support for importing and exporting mozilla, IE, opera, netscape, etc. bookmarks.
- it is incredibly configurable in how you are able to arrange your buttons, layout, etc.
- it has a slew of other well-designed features, with modularity in mind
- it was designed from the ground up and is conceptually sound, unlike mozilla which was a hack job on top of netscape's browser
- unlike other browsers (mozilla, IE), it was designed using 'mature' technology (HTML4, CSS, etc.) and does not have nearly as many compatibility woes as IE, nor as many add-on hacks, as the other browsers had, due to changing stnadards over the years (in other words: it's a newer, fresher code base)
- unlike mozilla/firebird, I can use it for hours/days with many pages open (15+) without the entire affair slowing to a crawl and/or dying
The list goes on, but these are the main benefits in my mind of konq over mozilla or firebird. firebird is getting better, but it's still a far cry from konq. There's a reason why safari uses khtml, you know - it's good. (Or didn't you know? khtml is the render engine for konqueror, and it was used by the apple folks to make safari.
Hrm, i'd forgotten about that 'had kids' clause in the book.
I agree with you on that point. Though my supposition remains on the other items. It's not like we can know for certain until we get home, anyway.
I often chuckle over how people can say, with a straight face, and with all certainty of validity, "the earth has been around xx years, and we're sure our methods of validating this are accurate" or when someone says something along the lines of "X or Y isn't possible, because of Z". It's great fun.
This may be so, but I think it's interesting postulation, at least. A lot of the theological conclusions that are reached (such as saying that Mary was Christ's wife) bring a different perspective than is contemorarily taught throughout Christianity/Catholicism. It seems to me to put more emphasis and importance on the sacred bond of marriage, the inter-dependence of men and women in a healthy relationship, and the human side of Christ's diety: he was both man and God, afterall.
I don't claim to know these things as fact, or anything like that. I do think it interesting, though, and I don't personally see it contradicting anything in the Bible.
Fool, go back and learn how to read.
The original poster didn't say anything about it being a perminant habitation. Neither did I. He's going to a cabin out in the real boonies, where there is no AC current via powerlines.
"The sack lunch thing" - what is this? It doesn't make any sense, and doesn't seem to apply to the topic; post in the wrong forum, maybe?
DC was simply poorly designed. Lots of bloat. It probably didn't need to be nearly as greedy.
Also consider the bandwidth needed to play the game - it has horrible netcode.
Fun game, just the same, though.
Please tell me why this matters. Maybe 4, 3, or 2 years ago, this would have been news. Today? Not really.
First off: there is very, very little that is currently constrained by raw processor speed nowadays. The main hardware limitations are elsewhere: memory and bus speeds, mainly.
Second off: There are precious few tasks that can actually use a full 3GHz of processing power optimally. Games don't need that kind of speed now. Video, audio, or photo editing benefit only marginally more so, and for at least 90% of that small demographic, the need simply isn't there. Some high-end servers will certainly benefit from this kind of hardware; however, I doubt that many such purchase decisions are based on value-per-MHz benchmarks, but on purchase viability and what software they need to do the job.
We "nerds" realize that "faster, more powerful, higher numbers" isn't where it's at anymore in terms of processors. We realize that the future is in low-power, high-efficiency processors, since easily 95% of all computer use needs less than a GHz of power (and we can assume this will be the case for a long time, unless basic UI design and use practices change drastically, or we see an obscene amount of general OS bloat; the second is a possibility, knowing MS, but not likely to catch on where it matters, I feel).
I've got two younger (11 and 12) brother-in-laws. They're into collectable playing cards (such as Magic: The Gathering). One of them is quite the selfish type and quite conscious of other peoples' opinions of him; the other one is a bit more geeky and off in his own world.
:P
I got them each a Core Set deck. The one more fitting for the geeky b-in-l (Sky Slam/blue) I wrapped simply - just put it in a small box slightly larger than the deck - I also put a $5 bill in. The other one (Burn/red), I put in a large box with heavy objects (several rocks wrapped in paper). I didn't put any names on the packages.
I then let the older/less geeky b-in-l pick the present that he wanted. Being selfish, he picked the larger one. The result: a lesson hopefully learned - and if not, hopeful progress made on that lesson.
I love playing mind games with influential youngsters.
A 4 hour UPS is a complete waste of money. They're obscenely expensive.
Instead, get a half dozen car batteries for the same price. You'll get about a day's worth of power (IE, 24 hours).
Consider: 1700$ for a really nice laptop (Such as an IBM Thinkpad X31) which has good battery life (5ish hours) and meets your requirements, has APM/ACPI support, has the ability to down-clock the processor per your need, and draws -much- less power than a small system/LCD combination even without any real management, and no/few power cells needed (depending on how frequently you plan to join civilization, and how much you plan to use the computer).
Or: 600$ for the desktop/LCD combo, with no APM/ACPI, with minimal/no real power management, vs. a compact and portable laptop that can have function outside of the woods in real life in addition to its getaway use, and a shitload of solar panels (or just a few and a large number of car batteries to store the power over time - still a large expense).
I'd personally suggest, that, given your desires and requirements, that you go with a low-power laptop (such as a Fujitsu or IBM thinkpad X31 - I love my X30) and one or two solar power cells: however many it would take to continually charge a 12V car battery or two. That way it can charge while you're gone, and you'll slowly wear down the charge while you're there over a period of a weekend or so. If you go there less frequently, but for longer periods, just get one or two cells, and half a 12V batteries - it'll provide power for a desktop for a day or so, your laptop will be set (especially if you come with a 5hr charged battery at the onset, and you run off the batteries after the laptop battery is used).
Personally, though, I think you're bloody nuts. You've got a nice cabin out in the woods, away from modernization and electronics - what in the world are you thinking, bringing a laptop with you to compute while there? What about spending the time to let your soul relax, to do something different? Why not go out back and chop wood for relaxation? Why not read a book by the fireplace at night? Why not go hiking with a sack lunch, with no descriminate plans for the day?
To behave in such a way as you're considering, in such an environment, is a shame. It's no small wonder that our rainforests are being destroyed, the environment is being poluted, and people still don't give a damn.
Hrm. Their site is designed using flash. That's a demerit.
BUT!
THe "error" page telling me I don't have flash freaking ROCKS. I'm being pulled both ways!
Nooooo.....! *rippppppp*
(keep in mind that I have an IBM X30, currently - a fairly small (8.5"x9.5"x1") laptop)
:P The end result here is a nice, durable laptop bag that's inexpensive, looks nifty, and is washable.
;)
The store-bought solution:
I'm a big fan of solid things that don't break. Thus, the item that fits the bill is a small aluminum briefcase. The briefcase I got was a bit big for what I need: 14x12x3 inches - a bit too big for my laptop (I foolishly didn't pay attention to what I was ordering). For a larger laptop it would work quite nicely - and in my case, it will fit the bill for a general carry-all, being as there's enough room for course books and a laptop side by side, as well as an envelope for things like pads of paper. There's also a sturdy synthetic fiber strap. It's maybe 3 or so pounds.
Additionally, I saw an iBook (more in your line of interest, it appears) at the local ibook shop in a similar case - only it was about 1.5" deep, and seemably just big enough for an iBook. (This briefcase was what I was looking for; alas, I never found it online)
Now, for the inventive geeky solution:
Another option I've found that might work nicely is a nice homemade bag. buy some 1cm rubber foam (or some other sort of impact-insulative of your choice) and some canvas of your choice. grab an old packing box (ofthe cardboard variety) as well. Then, wrap the foam around the laptop and cut it so that it would be a fairly snug fit around all but one edge - so it would cover 5 of the 6 surfaces - and cut it appropriately; secure with duct tape. then take the cardboard and fold it to fit over the rubber foam, and duct tape it so it makes a nice little sleeve for the laptop. tape over the edge of the foam/cardboard to form a 'single' glove. I wrapped ductape all around the cardboard on mine, so as to provide water/liquid resistence. This alone makes a nice carrying device if you use a backpack or briefcase to carry things around, as it's quite protective (I wrapped a palm pilot pro in such a manner - minus the foam - years ago, and it's been used since then, with many an encounter with the ground. no such encounters with the laptop thus far).
Then, if you're interested in actually having a 'laptop bag' take the canvas and stitch it together to form a fairly form-fitting sleeve for the cardboard/foam sleeve.
I'd recommend getting a plastic-fiber strap of some sort and sowing each end to the bottom of this bag, securely - then stitch it up the sides so as to prevent your little laptop falling incident. if you need a shoulder pad, sheep hide/fleece works quite well - just wrap a piece of canvas around it and sow it up. Use a nylon strap from an old backpack w/ the clasps to provide a nice closeable pocket for the laptop. I put a smaller pouch on the outside of mine for the AC adapter and some cookies.
I've toyed with the idea of using tanned deer hide (quite soft and very strong) for a "professional" cover for my sheath.
It's obvious why people would think that nowadays. Quite simply, it's not so much of a science fiction element any more.
Look around you. Many, many of the things Asimov talks about would seem quant in comparision to the technology we have today.
Not only that, but we have robots now that walk. Honda advertised their robot in Time magazine, and for all practical purposes, the ad for the robot (I forget the name) made it come across as a fully autonomous device. The abido (Sony's dog, whatever it's called) has been out for, what, 2, 3 years now? It is not inconceiveable that someone would invent such a device.
While I love Asimov's books, and his Three Laws of Robotics (I think that's what they were called), as well as the positronic brains, were very interesting and creative fictionalizations. However, if you contrast them to today's environment, it's only a little more drastic than someone releasing a car in the next few years that runs on a hydrogen/solar cell combination. We see robotics, AI, and other such breakthroughs in research all the time in the likes of Popular Mechanics.
As unknowledgeable as most people are about their computers, electronics, and science in general (to say nothing of their literary pedigree), why is this surprising? It's not.
any idea where this supposed quote of the minix designer can be found?
I'm interested in seeing how linux is poorly designed, being as I've never heard anything of the sort before said seriously.
If this is indeed real, it simply shows how out of touch MS is with the realities behind why OSS is being adopted by so many people.
Questions that say things like, "What is the importance of finding qualified help?" in terms of why chose linux, are absurd. They're basically assuming things, such as that finding experienced linux folks is less expensive than finding experienced windows folks, ad nausium. Their just trolls.
I'm guessing George Lucas has routine fits of rage nowadays, now that his ILM studio has been so profoundly outdone, and his personal dream of realistic computer-generated characters/environments have been dashed against the rocks - at least for him, personally. :)