If it is just that card that needs it, and you know which pin it is on the ISA card, you might be able to do it yourself, with a little work:
The power supply should have a -12 volt line (or even a -5V line, which is easier) - find the pin(s) on the ISA card that need the voltage, trace each one back to a solder pad (or you might have to scrape the trace). Cut the trace with an xacto knife to keep voltage flowing into the motherboard (unless you know that it is routed properly - better safe than sorry). If you need to scrape the trace, do it with the knife as well. Apply some solder, add the wires you need, bring 'em together at one point, and hook up the -5V if you have it from the PS, or if you only have -12V, used a -5V regulator (sorta like the 7805, which is a +5V regulator - they make the opposite, can't remember the part number).
Of course, this invalidates all warranties, and it could cause other problems - it is a hack, plain and simple, I am just offering it to you as a possibility and learning advice - don't blame me if your motherboard/fax card/power supply blows up...
Most of the apps for Beowulf clusters tend to be scientifically oriented apps. It really comes down to there being only certain kinds of problems that can be broken down into parallel processes that can be executed concurently, then the answers "recombined" at the end to get the result.
IIRC, Mosix allows for using the machine as one large machine, essentially allowing each process (or groups of processes) a single CPU, but funneling the result back to the main controller, so to the user, it looks like one large machine. This is different from a standard parallel processing Beowulf cluster, which behave like classical parallel processing machines.
For that domain (parallel processing), aside from coding your own stuff (hard to due, even if you are a master coder, from what I understand - due to having to understand what classes of problems can be broken down into parallel tasks, and then actually applying that knowledge to real tasks), there is one application that would prove to be "fun" - Ray Tracing.
Fortunately, POVRay has a paralleled version available, for Beowulf clusters. I don't have a link, but I know it exists (heck, you can probably get it at the POVRay site).
One other disclaimer: Everything I have said should be interpreted as "coming out my ass", simply because I have no experience at building or using Beowulf clusters or any other parallel processing architectures. Most of what I know about them have come from/. discussions, various web sites of Beowulf cluster projects, books, and magazine articles (as well as one funky book I picked up at the library detailing programming in Fortran for a Connection Machine - eeepp!). The POVRay stuff is true, though...
All I can say is go out, buy the book, and read it. It will answer any questions and concerns you may have. The link discusses the book, and has a sample chapter online (not, IMHO, the best chapter they should have picked).
The fact is that these databases do not match anything to people - they only match to information, which can be altered, and in many cases, those in the database have _no_ recourse to know they are in the DBs, or any ways to change the DB (just look at the amount of crap one has to go through to correct a problem on a credit report - if you get to see in in the first place!).
What isn't usually stated well is why FR systems tend to be a poor choice. Such systems are brought out, touted as the "solution to the problem". They are anything but...
These systems do not match a face to a person, but rather they match a face to information about a person.
Information stored in a database. Information that can be altered. Information that can be wrong.
This is the problem with all of these systems that match biometric data to information in a database (whether it be a signature or a face). Because these systems match certain characteristics (biometrics) of a person, with possibly erroneous information in the database, such systems can ultimately be used to persecute innocent people.
This persecution may be innocent due to bad data (a case of "garbage in, garbage out"), or malicious, due to purposefully changed data. Those using the system may or may not be aware of such changes, and because of the attitude of "it is in the computer, and the computer can't be wrong, right?", they don't tend to question the issue.
Such "mis-identifications" occur regularly with credit reports and credit bureau databases, and these don't even utilize biometrics! What will happen when they do?
Maybe - you may be able to remove it. What I would do is try it, and monitor the temp for a few days - if it is going up rapidly, you will know.
I run a Freesco router too - great stuff. My PS fan was actually going out before I got around to fixing it - it was probably moving half capacity, and it was still fine, and not too warm.
They do make "fanless" power supplies - small things - I used one on a small homemade MP3 box. You should be able to find such PS's with PC connectors on various electronic surplus sites (like allelectronics.com). Some of these need no fans, others need only a 486 type fan or something.
I dropped a small four port hub on my box, cause I needed to support a machine that was near it. I have been thinking about extending the LEDs to the front for status, as well as making a custom box... I love Freesco!
But you wouldn't want mace (or pepper spray) used in a flight.
Why?
Let me relate a personal incident: My GF (at the time) had a keychain style pepper spray device. We loaded it with the inert spray, practiced a while, then loaded it with the real stuff. When we loaded the real thing, the safety accidentally got released, and as it was being loaded, a very small squirt of the pepper spray occurred in our apartment kitchen (I am talking maybe a.25 sec burst).
We gagged, we sneezed, we choked. Nowhere in the apartment was "safe" from that little bit of pepper spray. We ended up going outside and drove to one of her relative's house, waiting for the pepper spray to go away.
However, in an airplane cabin, with recycled air - there is no "other place" to go to...
And forwarded them on to your nearest FBI office - you may have something, maybe, maybe not - but by your fuzzy recolection of the address on the WHOIS record, it sounds like you don't...
Part of me is outright angry at those who did this. Part of me wonders why there can't be peace on this earth. Part of me cries at the loss suffered by the families. Part of me is callous, and knows it was going to happen some day. Part of me stayed home this morning. Part of me went to work this afternoon. Part of me says "Go home now". Part of me says "Go hide under a rock".
The whole of me is split - and I really don't know what to say...
Grab your dremel (may or may not be needed), pop the case open, and cut away any intervening bay metal on the three extra bays. Slot the drives in vertically to get your five-in-three, possibly a lot more if you use laptop drives. You could even machine a couple of pieces of metal to slide in horizontally, add a couple of extra fans up front for cooling.
You don't need to buy anything really to do this - you might even get away with an old bay cage from another case, mounted vertically in the same way.
You didn't specify if you wanted such a thing for work machines or home system, so I am figuring on a home box here - I know this kind of hack wouldn't fly with the suits. But it is easily done on the home front.
I have one of the six foot tables I bought, and they are great for everything I got, though a second one would be nice. One thing I did:
I got some dual sided terminal strips, with about six connectors - about 4 or 5 should do. Then, I got some heavy gauge automotive wire, and a Sun power supply. I mounted the power supply on the bottom of the table, hooked an LED to one of the 5v leads, and ran it to the front metal lip, drilled the hole and mounted it. Then, I ran the wires from the 12 and 5 volt lines along different paths on the terminal strips, so I have this "ladder" arrangement of take off points for 12, 7, and 5 volts, to power most devices, like my Zip drive, my phone (office style phone with power), scanner, and a couple of cooling fans. Eliminates the need for all of those wall warts!!!
And for shelves, I have used several el-cheapo steel shelving units. They were 4 foot tall units, so I bolted two atop one another, to make 8 foot units, bolted them to the wall, and next to each other, and bolted them all together, for a wall of bookshelf space, and other things. Impressive as hell.
Oh yeah, my desk is in the center of the room, chair facing door (hey, I am paranoid). I routed power with extension cords from plugs on the wall, across the ceiling and down to the table, and covered them with plastic cable wrap. By having everything out in the middle of the floor, it makes it super, ultra easy to pull a box out, pop the top, and fiddle with it, which I tend to be very prone to doing...
Here in Phoenix, out on Buckeye and BFE (it is held at the B & B Auctioneering School), there is an auction that runs every once in a while. Early on a Saturday morning (like 4 or 5 am), you get up, go out there, and bid on hardware of all sorts. They typically have a bunch of PC hardware. You have to go early because this is what goes first. Every once in a while, you will see a bunch of Sun equipment, including a few Sparcs.
Well, most of the locals don't know a Sparc if it came out their ass, and one model of the Sparc line (IPC? IPX?) looks like a monitor, which typically go real cheap - but it is a full workstation to the knowledgable!
Anyhow, you can bid on this stuff - and get it cheap - most of the time, memory is parted out, so you might have to scrounge that on another bid, or you might have to buy it from the high bidder, if he will let you. But here is where it gets really hard.
Keyboards and mice.
You see, these boxes used special keyboards and mice, especially the mice - pray you get one of the special mousepads for the optical mice. Anyhow, this auction parts the keyboard and mice to seperate items, and hence, auctions - so, after you have got your IPX/IPC, you then need to pay attention and bid on a box of keyboards and mice, in the hopes of getting a keyboard and mouse for the box, plus maybe a mousepad - if it is one of the special optical mice.
It may be cheaper to buy those parts from Sun. But anyhow, you can walk away from one of those auctions spending $25-50 and get a whole office full of workstations, simply because most people at the auction want PeeCee's...
I will have to check out the newsgroup later, but I tried out Galatea, and I must say it was pretty nice - more like interacting with a real individual. I will have to check out some of the IF you mentioned later by Short and Cadre.
I don't believe that all games need stories, nor should all stories be games - but I do believe there is a middle ground, and some games and IF's have come close to perfect. I don't believe that graphics are absolutely necessary for a game to be good, or necessary for the person playing to imagine or believe they are interacting with another sentience - note, I have never met Scott Adams. I know he exists as a real person, but all conversations I have had with him have been text only - I don't even know what he sounds like (his voice).
In a similar vein, back when I messed around with BBS systems (1987-1991), I had a female friend who I chatted with a _lot_ - she was sysop of a particular board in the town I lived in. This individual I supposedly met, but didn't know it was her (I never heard her say her name, which I knew), and only several days later did she tell me in a chat that she had seen me - but to this day I don't know what she looks like. We conversed via chat for several years - but all I know her from (in my mind) is via text. In a way, a totally virtual existance. If I didn't know better, she could have been a script executing on the BBS.
Anyhow, it should be possible to come close to making a game that engaging, with a very detailed world to wander about in, acting in, changing, while a story and game unfolds. It would be difficult to code and design, but in my mind, that is half the fun. It would also be possible to display engines show the same story as text, low graphics, high graphics, VR - whatever - given a proper format for the scene description system.
Even so, I think that text-only can be one of the best mediums for expression of these style games. Unfortunately, I think we are hindered by the display mechanism - that of a monitor and a computer - and perhaps a different device (maybe a rocketbook, or a future device using e-ink type pages) will be more palatable to the reading public...
I am not sure how "Open" Great Bridge was/is - something is telling me that they weren't Free (aka GPL).
If they were, no one would or should care - because the software could continue on - which is the ONE thing that makes the GPL truely shine: no more worries about losing support on a product (at least if you can continue to roll-it on your own).
Looking at their dev site (www.greatbridge.org) - it seems like they didn't do the GPL thing...
I had another poster email me about this - I want you, Scott (and everyone else reading this), to understand that I don't hold any kind of grudge or anything toward you about your feelings toward adventure games.
I also want to let you know that I still have that code, and I have abided by the agreement we made regarding it. Someday I really do want to convert it, and it pains me that I stopped, but it was paining me to continue (though I still consider it amazing that you managed to shoehorn that kind of code into VB and get it to work). I would like to make it as portable as possible - but it would be a massive effort.
Eye candy is good, but I enjoy a good story more than anything else, and being able to interact with that story would make it even better. One thing I was thinking about is what if you took a grid based approach to adventure games, where each cell in the game is a portion of a room, and is described via some form of XML in the cell. Done carefully, and elaborately, you would have the world of the game described in nice detail, and could move through it like a text adventure (imagine being able to say "Look North" - and getting "You see off in the distance a row of trees, possibly the beginnings of a forest. In front of the trees a deer is standing, drinking from stream. A glint can be seen in the grass nearby, a few paces away. At your feet is a small rock." - you could then respond with "Walk North to Deer" or similar). If you wanted, the same XML would describe tiles or whatnot to render the world in more detail, like Ultima style (and could also serve for an automapping feature, perhaps). The XML could further be used in some kind of portal or world style 3D engine, to describe the area. Make the cells "cubes" (ie, a 3D structure), and very nice 3D engines could be used to render the world, or a Diablo-esque iso engine could be used, or the world could be described based on your "gaze" in the text world.
Conversing with characters, as well as having "moving" characters, could rely on state machine engines, as well as possibly Eliza-like parsing engines, to carry on a conversation, within the "knowledge" of the NPC being talked to. If the logic was advanced enough, the characters could each be assigned various attributes to determine how good they are at remembering things, etc - and as they wandered about by the state machine code, they could remember what they saw (have them "gaze" around), then when questioned by the player, the character could say, like "Just north of the main road is a stream, I think I saw a deer drinking there - now, where did I put my glasses" - leading an astute player to investigate, getting the description I described before, seeing the glint in the grass (the glasses?) - maybe finding the NPC again, who would then be able to read a book detailing further info for the intrepid adventurer.
Man - I am wanting to write this myself! The idea that this could be done - and I honestly believe it can - real interactive fiction, with a real 3D world described in words - is exhilerating.
But what happens when the "ebook" goes out of "print" - or what happens when your 1st edition dies? Do you get the upgraded second edition (and yes, sometimes second edition paper books are MASSIVE upgrades - look at the diff between Gordon McComb's '99 Inexpensive Robotics Projects', 1st edition vs. 2nd Ed. - 1st Ed was done in TAB book style, 2nd in some funky style, but had a ton more info)?
What happens when the publisher goes out of business - how do you get your backup then?
Guess what - that game, as it exists today - would not look like it does now had it not been for my direct input.
You see, during the development of RTPI2, I was a beta tester for Scott, for this game. I, among other people, signed up on a mailing list, got copies of the game engine and data modules (an Windows EXE and various DAT files) to play around with - to note what was right, what was wrong, what should be improved.
I noticed right off things to be improved - the descriptions of rooms and objects were very primitive - I asked him to change it, so that it would be more story-like. I gave him the suggestion of adding sound effects to help liven the game up a bit. It was strange, once I started making the various requests, there was a small hiatus in postings to the group from Scott, then he announced that he was going to completely revamp the engine based on my suggestions! I was floored!
I had gotten onto the list, and became a beta tester, because I see him as an influence on my early computer life - I got into computers and programming because of the early games, especially text adventures. As a kid, I looked up to him in those early days as a notion of someone who had "made it" - there were others (you don't hear much from them - like Bill Budge, etc) - but to actually get this kind of chance, well - couldn't pass it up.
But never did I expect to cause him to totally alter the game play of that new adventure. But I did, somehow.
Anyhow, he finished up the game, thanked all of the volunteers, mailed each of us an autographed piece of the game script code, and gave each of us a copy of the finished game. The list went on for a while, then was shut down (not too many months ago, actually).
But one thing he gave me (though I can't give it to anyone - at least not yet), is something that very few beta testers get - actual game code. You see, I knew what he was using for RTPI2 - Visual Basic. I offered to convert the system back to standard console mode, by first doing whatever cleanup to the VB code, then downconverting that to C, and making it portable (with a Linux port in mind for the future). Well, I got the code (and no, I will NOT give it to anyone, so don't even THINK about emailing me), and (sorry to say) - it was crap. Basically it was a VB wrapper around the old hacked up IBM BASICA source from the original game of RTPI (or was it GWBASIC?) - anyhow, it was ugly - damn ugly. I started a conversion, trying to straighten out the GOTOs and whatnot into more standard VB (and let's not turn this into a VB flame fest, alright?), but I stopped after a few days - it was horrible.
But, I still have the code, and I might still convert it, someday...
So - I can't understand why Scott says he hates text adventures - I think he might be bitter about the way things have gone with RTPI2 - as far as sales, etc - he just isn't making money there. Maybe he is also bitter about the fact that it is nearly impossible for a person to "go it alone" as far as making a game is concerned, and marketing it, and selling it.
No, I don't think RTPI2 is the be all and end all of text adventures. Infocom has already proven what really can be done. I just can't understand why it is possible for fantasy fiction authors to make a bundle, but as soon as you try to make a text adventure game, no one seems will to buy the thing for "reading pleasure" - I tend to wonder if an ebook-type system, where you could actually read and adventure, would be more of the style (think of it as "choose-your-own-adventure" or "twist-a-plot", but on steroids). Would anybody buy such an interactive book (I am also thinking of Diamond Age here, as well)?
My SO and I were out pricing houses - something we have been doing lately on the weekend as we save (and scrimp and more) for the down payment to get our mortgage - fun, fun, FUN!
Anyhow, we went to this one open house that was really funny. Looking around, and asking the seller, they wanted $205,000 (US) for it (way out of our price range, but we decided to continue to look around, for politeness sake). We went upstairs, and started looking around - one area that was funny was a closet we opened - and behind the sliding door was wall!
It turns out that when the builder built the house, this room and the adjacent room had "side-by-side" closets - well, the second room had a larger closet than the one we were in, but the doors were the same size, so it was a really botched job.
We left wondering what other "funkiness" was in that house...
You see, long ago (actually, not that long ago), before forest fire fighting was a "big" issue, forest fires occurred in their natural cycles, some big, some small - but most not radically devestating.
As people moved into the forested areas, along with a lot of hype by who knows who (someone with an axe to grind), people bagan to see these natural fires as "bad" - and something should be done (for the children!!!) - so, the fires got fought, and...
and...
The cycle was destroyed, leading the the forests gathering more "underbrush", that should have burned off long ago, but now continues to grow, where once it was just low stuff close to the ground...
When it does catch and burn, these huge conflagerations are "contained" (heh, there's a word - most of the time they burn themselves out after a lot of work has been done to get ahead, risk lives, cool them down with water, etc) - allowing the underbrush to continue to collect, until the next big fire.
I suppose they could just allow them to burn, but the problem is that they would burn the whole forest, and not just the undergrowth, which would be a bad thing.
What the USFS does today is controlled burns (which I would imaging sometimes get out of hand, and hence become forest fires - not sure how often, though) to kill off this underbrush, but really this isn't enough, because the areas covered by forest are HUGE, and they can't do controlled burns on all of it...
There really aren't any good answers to any of this, not without letting nature take its course, and risking an anhilation of an entire forested region (which may be what it takes - who knows?)...
Those boards can go up to a PII 366 - heck, you might be able to oc the current CPUs to that, given a large enough heatsink. I would offer to buy the parts myself, but I am on a budget for a house, so that nixes that.
One thing you can do in the "selling on ebay" dept is to sell them as "bare bones" starter systems - drop the boards into the boxes, CPUs, and memory, and a video card each, there you go.
Over the weekend, I picked up an old copier that was sitting out in the desert - shattered beyond belief. Plenty of parts, though:
I haven't got much use for this stuff, but I am thinking about cleaning it all up, testing it, then selling it as robot construction parts on Ebay - many of the gears, sprockets and belts are "matched", so would make great driver parts.
My biggest problem right now is staying as clean as I can from the toner!
Well, using a tank along with a compressor is basically what I was driving at, but I didn't express it right, so I apologize. Using the tank in this way (along with a sensor) forms a more regulated system, from what I understand...
They will expand the number of sensors and motors you can connect at one time.
I am aware of a number of "hacks" to allow you to attach more sensors and motors (my favorite involves a system whereby a circuit senses when a sensor is toggled between two certain modes, in that there is a current drop or something involved in the switch, and can activate a multiplexing system to select a different set of three outputs), but these systems all are custom, and require a bit of hardware skill and modeling skill to build - plus, no one else can replicate your machine unless they build that same system.
I would like to see the "Ultimate Accessory" pack added as a standard part to the system - to let you get a rotation sensor, and a remote, as well as other good parts.
It would also be nice to get some more "funkier" sensors or devices - like a laser pointer, one or two of the mini-motors, a wireless camera (something like the lego cam, but wireless), maybe an outboard battery pack, maybe high-power motors, a usb or network interface on-board the RCX (adding the extra sensors and motors onto the box will make it big enough to add this), so you can communicate directly, or network multiple RCXs together (Beowu... ah, nevermind).
How about solenoid valves for the pneumatics - by the way, why can't we get the pneumatic systems anymore, huh? Walking machines would get sooo much easier, to an extent. Pitsco sells the parts, for most of it, so it is available still, but only if you know about them - still, it is nearly impossible to get the blue air tank to power your pneumatic system - check Ebay and pay through the nose, IF you are lucky.
One other part I would like to see added as standard - a ball and socket joint. Lego introduced a part nearly like this with those cheesy Robot fling kits, but the arm that had the ball was made out of this flexible plastic - you can cut the ball off, which leaves you with a ball and a small cross peg, to attach to, but it is still hard to work with, and the ball is too tight in the socket - it needs loosening up (maybe some sandpaper and oil applied would help) to be useful, for things like very flexible arms and legs on experimental bots.
I would also like to see the return of the huge tires that came with the old Expert Builder car kit, these things are near impossible to find (once again, Ebay it). Plus, make it easy to get the old jointed track (Pitsco sells this) for treads. Plus the geared large turntables - must have parts for robotic arm devices!
With five motors and five sensor inputs, a real industrial-style robot arm built from lego (along the lines of a Rhino arm, or a Micromover arm) could easily be built, and teach a lot of principles of design, programming and control. Right now, to build such a thing, you need two RCX units, and a few motors, and it is still a pain to build (most work is in getting the two RCXs talking to each other properly).
Add more memory to the RCXs, as well - for much, much larger programs - heck, drop 128K in - more than enough!
For such an upgrade, I would be willing to pay $100.00 to trade in my old RCX for the new one, or something along those lines...
First off a disclaimer - I still consider myself a relative Linux newbie, and not a sysadmin - I have a Linux box here at home (what I am using right now), and a Linux based firewall/router I built, plus I do a bit of my own admin on these boxes, but take what I say with a grain of salt, because I might be wrong.
Basically, what you want to do is have them do the whole contract thing, where the contract states that they know the system is running properly right now, and that you are turning root rights over to them in full, and that anything that happens after the fact is their responsibility, and that should they wish to use your services in the future, you will bill at your normal rate x (1.5, 2.0, 3.0?). Plus, the contract should state that they acknowledge that they are the _only_ ones with root access, and they know it.
Then, with the head of IT, or whoever understands enough and is "at-the-top" IT wise, show them that you are removing all (or as many as possible) root level account logins, and show that there are only a few remaining (or "root" alone). Then log in as root, and have the "head dude" change the password on each and every one of them - while you are outside the room. Tell him to pick good passwords (or obscure ones to write down in a log or something - whatever _they_ want - so that you can't guess them). If he is really willing, tell him to try to let you log in, if you can't, then it shows that you _really_ don't know the root passwords (ok, kinda juvenile, but this company sounds that way).
Then ask for your check and leave - hopefully you won't hear back from them, and if you do, it is with the knowledge that while it will be hell to fix whatever they screwed up, at least you will be getting your what it is worth...
Two things prevent most people and businesses from moving from Microsoft products to other products:
1. Application Lock-In, and 2. FUD
1. Application Lock-In
Everybody and their brother, nearly every business, and all of their strategic partners, not to mention schools and government - all of them use to some extent Microsoft tools, day in, and day out. People have had YEARS to learn the nuances and problems, how to get around them, and what the applications can do. All of them know that they can email a.DOC or.XLS file to a business partner's secretary, and s/he will be able to load it effortlessly, and it will look the same.
A Linux Office suite? How are these people to be certain that it will work - plus how are they to cope with the differences that are sure to be in place between the Linux Office Suite and the MS Office Suite? How do they know they will be able to send this exported XLS file to their friend, and it will open in MS Excel properly?
2. FUD
Which leads us to the second issue, that of FUD - if they don't know, they will be full of fear, uncertainty, and doubt as to whether to use the office suite for Linux, because these files they are trading down the hall or across the city may represent a potential deal - if the presentation software doesn't go a smoothly as Microsoft's, it may mean loss of money - maybe a job! If the XLS or DOC file is mangled (either by the Linux Office Suite, or by the MS Office Suite reading the Linux version), time and money will be lost trying to figure out what happened, or at least getting it loaded and converted using "standard" MS Office.
These are the two problems a Linux Office Suite has to overcome (actually, two problems any MS Office competitor has to overcome). Because MS has such a huge lock-in, and the FUD is raging - companies won't switch - because their partners aren't switching (and their partner's partners aren't, etc).
It is a tough situation, and will be hard to overcome. Education to override the FUD will help, but even if you had perfect compatibility, all MS would have to do is introduce a "new" format that Office would default to, and you will end up holding up and vindicating the FUD. People will then be doubly uncertain to try the Linux stuff, even though it would be MS who broke the compatibility! I don't know what the answer to this is, but if Linux is ever to really gain on the desktop, those two issues will have to be addressed...
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure if this will work or not...
If it is just that card that needs it, and you know which pin it is on the ISA card, you might be able to do it yourself, with a little work:
The power supply should have a -12 volt line (or even a -5V line, which is easier) - find the pin(s) on the ISA card that need the voltage, trace each one back to a solder pad (or you might have to scrape the trace). Cut the trace with an xacto knife to keep voltage flowing into the motherboard (unless you know that it is routed properly - better safe than sorry). If you need to scrape the trace, do it with the knife as well. Apply some solder, add the wires you need, bring 'em together at one point, and hook up the -5V if you have it from the PS, or if you only have -12V, used a -5V regulator (sorta like the 7805, which is a +5V regulator - they make the opposite, can't remember the part number).
Of course, this invalidates all warranties, and it could cause other problems - it is a hack, plain and simple, I am just offering it to you as a possibility and learning advice - don't blame me if your motherboard/fax card/power supply blows up...
I hope this helps... Good luck!
Most of the apps for Beowulf clusters tend to be scientifically oriented apps. It really comes down to there being only certain kinds of problems that can be broken down into parallel processes that can be executed concurently, then the answers "recombined" at the end to get the result.
/. discussions, various web sites of Beowulf cluster projects, books, and magazine articles (as well as one funky book I picked up at the library detailing programming in Fortran for a Connection Machine - eeepp!). The POVRay stuff is true, though...
IIRC, Mosix allows for using the machine as one large machine, essentially allowing each process (or groups of processes) a single CPU, but funneling the result back to the main controller, so to the user, it looks like one large machine. This is different from a standard parallel processing Beowulf cluster, which behave like classical parallel processing machines.
For that domain (parallel processing), aside from coding your own stuff (hard to due, even if you are a master coder, from what I understand - due to having to understand what classes of problems can be broken down into parallel tasks, and then actually applying that knowledge to real tasks), there is one application that would prove to be "fun" - Ray Tracing.
Fortunately, POVRay has a paralleled version available, for Beowulf clusters. I don't have a link, but I know it exists (heck, you can probably get it at the POVRay site).
One other disclaimer: Everything I have said should be interpreted as "coming out my ass", simply because I have no experience at building or using Beowulf clusters or any other parallel processing architectures. Most of what I know about them have come from
All I can say is go out, buy the book, and read it. It will answer any questions and concerns you may have. The link discusses the book, and has a sample chapter online (not, IMHO, the best chapter they should have picked).
The fact is that these databases do not match anything to people - they only match to information, which can be altered, and in many cases, those in the database have _no_ recourse to know they are in the DBs, or any ways to change the DB (just look at the amount of crap one has to go through to correct a problem on a credit report - if you get to see in in the first place!).
What isn't usually stated well is why FR systems tend to be a poor choice. Such systems are brought out, touted as the "solution to the problem". They are anything but...
These systems do not match a face to a person, but rather they match a face to information about a person.
Information stored in a database.
Information that can be altered.
Information that can be wrong.
This is the problem with all of these systems that match biometric data to information in a database (whether it be a signature or a face). Because these systems match certain characteristics (biometrics) of a person, with possibly erroneous information in the database, such systems can ultimately be used to persecute innocent people.
This persecution may be innocent due to bad data (a case of "garbage in, garbage out"), or malicious, due to purposefully changed data. Those using the system may or may not be aware of such changes, and because of the attitude of "it is in the computer, and the computer can't be wrong, right?", they don't tend to question the issue.
Such "mis-identifications" occur regularly with credit reports and credit bureau databases, and these don't even utilize biometrics! What will happen when they do?
Want to know more? Check out the book Database Nation...
Maybe - you may be able to remove it. What I would do is try it, and monitor the temp for a few days - if it is going up rapidly, you will know.
I run a Freesco router too - great stuff. My PS fan was actually going out before I got around to fixing it - it was probably moving half capacity, and it was still fine, and not too warm.
They do make "fanless" power supplies - small things - I used one on a small homemade MP3 box. You should be able to find such PS's with PC connectors on various electronic surplus sites (like allelectronics.com). Some of these need no fans, others need only a 486 type fan or something.
I dropped a small four port hub on my box, cause I needed to support a machine that was near it. I have been thinking about extending the LEDs to the front for status, as well as making a custom box... I love Freesco!
But you wouldn't want mace (or pepper spray) used in a flight.
.25 sec burst).
Why?
Let me relate a personal incident: My GF (at the time) had a keychain style pepper spray device. We loaded it with the inert spray, practiced a while, then loaded it with the real stuff. When we loaded the real thing, the safety accidentally got released, and as it was being loaded, a very small squirt of the pepper spray occurred in our apartment kitchen (I am talking maybe a
We gagged, we sneezed, we choked. Nowhere in the apartment was "safe" from that little bit of pepper spray. We ended up going outside and drove to one of her relative's house, waiting for the pepper spray to go away.
However, in an airplane cabin, with recycled air - there is no "other place" to go to...
And forwarded them on to your nearest FBI office - you may have something, maybe, maybe not - but by your fuzzy recolection of the address on the WHOIS record, it sounds like you don't...
:(
Part of me is outright angry at those who did this.
Part of me wonders why there can't be peace on this earth.
Part of me cries at the loss suffered by the families.
Part of me is callous, and knows it was going to happen some day.
Part of me stayed home this morning.
Part of me went to work this afternoon.
Part of me says "Go home now".
Part of me says "Go hide under a rock".
The whole of me is split - and I really don't know what to say...
Are you a hacker, or are you a HACKER?
Grab your dremel (may or may not be needed), pop the case open, and cut away any intervening bay metal on the three extra bays. Slot the drives in vertically to get your five-in-three, possibly a lot more if you use laptop drives. You could even machine a couple of pieces of metal to slide in horizontally, add a couple of extra fans up front for cooling.
You don't need to buy anything really to do this - you might even get away with an old bay cage from another case, mounted vertically in the same way.
You didn't specify if you wanted such a thing for work machines or home system, so I am figuring on a home box here - I know this kind of hack wouldn't fly with the suits. But it is easily done on the home front.
I have one of the six foot tables I bought, and they are great for everything I got, though a second one would be nice. One thing I did:
I got some dual sided terminal strips, with about six connectors - about 4 or 5 should do. Then, I got some heavy gauge automotive wire, and a Sun power supply. I mounted the power supply on the bottom of the table, hooked an LED to one of the 5v leads, and ran it to the front metal lip, drilled the hole and mounted it. Then, I ran the wires from the 12 and 5 volt lines along different paths on the terminal strips, so I have this "ladder" arrangement of take off points for 12, 7, and 5 volts, to power most devices, like my Zip drive, my phone (office style phone with power), scanner, and a couple of cooling fans. Eliminates the need for all of those wall warts!!!
And for shelves, I have used several el-cheapo steel shelving units. They were 4 foot tall units, so I bolted two atop one another, to make 8 foot units, bolted them to the wall, and next to each other, and bolted them all together, for a wall of bookshelf space, and other things. Impressive as hell.
Oh yeah, my desk is in the center of the room, chair facing door (hey, I am paranoid). I routed power with extension cords from plugs on the wall, across the ceiling and down to the table, and covered them with plastic cable wrap. By having everything out in the middle of the floor, it makes it super, ultra easy to pull a box out, pop the top, and fiddle with it, which I tend to be very prone to doing...
Here in Phoenix, out on Buckeye and BFE (it is held at the B & B Auctioneering School), there is an auction that runs every once in a while. Early on a Saturday morning (like 4 or 5 am), you get up, go out there, and bid on hardware of all sorts. They typically have a bunch of PC hardware. You have to go early because this is what goes first. Every once in a while, you will see a bunch of Sun equipment, including a few Sparcs.
Well, most of the locals don't know a Sparc if it came out their ass, and one model of the Sparc line (IPC? IPX?) looks like a monitor, which typically go real cheap - but it is a full workstation to the knowledgable!
Anyhow, you can bid on this stuff - and get it cheap - most of the time, memory is parted out, so you might have to scrounge that on another bid, or you might have to buy it from the high bidder, if he will let you. But here is where it gets really hard.
Keyboards and mice.
You see, these boxes used special keyboards and mice, especially the mice - pray you get one of the special mousepads for the optical mice. Anyhow, this auction parts the keyboard and mice to seperate items, and hence, auctions - so, after you have got your IPX/IPC, you then need to pay attention and bid on a box of keyboards and mice, in the hopes of getting a keyboard and mouse for the box, plus maybe a mousepad - if it is one of the special optical mice.
It may be cheaper to buy those parts from Sun. But anyhow, you can walk away from one of those auctions spending $25-50 and get a whole office full of workstations, simply because most people at the auction want PeeCee's...
I will have to check out the newsgroup later, but I tried out Galatea, and I must say it was pretty nice - more like interacting with a real individual. I will have to check out some of the IF you mentioned later by Short and Cadre.
I don't believe that all games need stories, nor should all stories be games - but I do believe there is a middle ground, and some games and IF's have come close to perfect. I don't believe that graphics are absolutely necessary for a game to be good, or necessary for the person playing to imagine or believe they are interacting with another sentience - note, I have never met Scott Adams. I know he exists as a real person, but all conversations I have had with him have been text only - I don't even know what he sounds like (his voice).
In a similar vein, back when I messed around with BBS systems (1987-1991), I had a female friend who I chatted with a _lot_ - she was sysop of a particular board in the town I lived in. This individual I supposedly met, but didn't know it was her (I never heard her say her name, which I knew), and only several days later did she tell me in a chat that she had seen me - but to this day I don't know what she looks like. We conversed via chat for several years - but all I know her from (in my mind) is via text. In a way, a totally virtual existance. If I didn't know better, she could have been a script executing on the BBS.
Anyhow, it should be possible to come close to making a game that engaging, with a very detailed world to wander about in, acting in, changing, while a story and game unfolds. It would be difficult to code and design, but in my mind, that is half the fun. It would also be possible to display engines show the same story as text, low graphics, high graphics, VR - whatever - given a proper format for the scene description system.
Even so, I think that text-only can be one of the best mediums for expression of these style games. Unfortunately, I think we are hindered by the display mechanism - that of a monitor and a computer - and perhaps a different device (maybe a rocketbook, or a future device using e-ink type pages) will be more palatable to the reading public...
Free reg required? Not when you supplied the archives link...
Heh...
I am not sure how "Open" Great Bridge was/is - something is telling me that they weren't Free (aka GPL).
If they were, no one would or should care - because the software could continue on - which is the ONE thing that makes the GPL truely shine: no more worries about losing support on a product (at least if you can continue to roll-it on your own).
Looking at their dev site (www.greatbridge.org) - it seems like they didn't do the GPL thing...
Anybody know more?
I had another poster email me about this - I want you, Scott (and everyone else reading this), to understand that I don't hold any kind of grudge or anything toward you about your feelings toward adventure games.
I also want to let you know that I still have that code, and I have abided by the agreement we made regarding it. Someday I really do want to convert it, and it pains me that I stopped, but it was paining me to continue (though I still consider it amazing that you managed to shoehorn that kind of code into VB and get it to work). I would like to make it as portable as possible - but it would be a massive effort.
Eye candy is good, but I enjoy a good story more than anything else, and being able to interact with that story would make it even better. One thing I was thinking about is what if you took a grid based approach to adventure games, where each cell in the game is a portion of a room, and is described via some form of XML in the cell. Done carefully, and elaborately, you would have the world of the game described in nice detail, and could move through it like a text adventure (imagine being able to say "Look North" - and getting "You see off in the distance a row of trees, possibly the beginnings of a forest. In front of the trees a deer is standing, drinking from stream. A glint can be seen in the grass nearby, a few paces away. At your feet is a small rock." - you could then respond with "Walk North to Deer" or similar). If you wanted, the same XML would describe tiles or whatnot to render the world in more detail, like Ultima style (and could also serve for an automapping feature, perhaps). The XML could further be used in some kind of portal or world style 3D engine, to describe the area. Make the cells "cubes" (ie, a 3D structure), and very nice 3D engines could be used to render the world, or a Diablo-esque iso engine could be used, or the world could be described based on your "gaze" in the text world.
Conversing with characters, as well as having "moving" characters, could rely on state machine engines, as well as possibly Eliza-like parsing engines, to carry on a conversation, within the "knowledge" of the NPC being talked to. If the logic was advanced enough, the characters could each be assigned various attributes to determine how good they are at remembering things, etc - and as they wandered about by the state machine code, they could remember what they saw (have them "gaze" around), then when questioned by the player, the character could say, like "Just north of the main road is a stream, I think I saw a deer drinking there - now, where did I put my glasses" - leading an astute player to investigate, getting the description I described before, seeing the glint in the grass (the glasses?) - maybe finding the NPC again, who would then be able to read a book detailing further info for the intrepid adventurer.
Man - I am wanting to write this myself! The idea that this could be done - and I honestly believe it can - real interactive fiction, with a real 3D world described in words - is exhilerating.
Text-based virtual reality, anyone?
For the short term, it might be OK.
But what happens when the "ebook" goes out of "print" - or what happens when your 1st edition dies? Do you get the upgraded second edition (and yes, sometimes second edition paper books are MASSIVE upgrades - look at the diff between Gordon McComb's '99 Inexpensive Robotics Projects', 1st edition vs. 2nd Ed. - 1st Ed was done in TAB book style, 2nd in some funky style, but had a ton more info)?
What happens when the publisher goes out of business - how do you get your backup then?
...is that Scott Adams finds text adventures boring...
Why does this upset me so much?
I will tell you why:
Go to the bottom of that page, and notice that he gave away copies of Return to Pirate's Island 2...
Guess what - that game, as it exists today - would not look like it does now had it not been for my direct input.
You see, during the development of RTPI2, I was a beta tester for Scott, for this game. I, among other people, signed up on a mailing list, got copies of the game engine and data modules (an Windows EXE and various DAT files) to play around with - to note what was right, what was wrong, what should be improved.
I noticed right off things to be improved - the descriptions of rooms and objects were very primitive - I asked him to change it, so that it would be more story-like. I gave him the suggestion of adding sound effects to help liven the game up a bit. It was strange, once I started making the various requests, there was a small hiatus in postings to the group from Scott, then he announced that he was going to completely revamp the engine based on my suggestions! I was floored!
I had gotten onto the list, and became a beta tester, because I see him as an influence on my early computer life - I got into computers and programming because of the early games, especially text adventures. As a kid, I looked up to him in those early days as a notion of someone who had "made it" - there were others (you don't hear much from them - like Bill Budge, etc) - but to actually get this kind of chance, well - couldn't pass it up.
But never did I expect to cause him to totally alter the game play of that new adventure. But I did, somehow.
Anyhow, he finished up the game, thanked all of the volunteers, mailed each of us an autographed piece of the game script code, and gave each of us a copy of the finished game. The list went on for a while, then was shut down (not too many months ago, actually).
But one thing he gave me (though I can't give it to anyone - at least not yet), is something that very few beta testers get - actual game code. You see, I knew what he was using for RTPI2 - Visual Basic. I offered to convert the system back to standard console mode, by first doing whatever cleanup to the VB code, then downconverting that to C, and making it portable (with a Linux port in mind for the future). Well, I got the code (and no, I will NOT give it to anyone, so don't even THINK about emailing me), and (sorry to say) - it was crap. Basically it was a VB wrapper around the old hacked up IBM BASICA source from the original game of RTPI (or was it GWBASIC?) - anyhow, it was ugly - damn ugly. I started a conversion, trying to straighten out the GOTOs and whatnot into more standard VB (and let's not turn this into a VB flame fest, alright?), but I stopped after a few days - it was horrible.
But, I still have the code, and I might still convert it, someday...
So - I can't understand why Scott says he hates text adventures - I think he might be bitter about the way things have gone with RTPI2 - as far as sales, etc - he just isn't making money there. Maybe he is also bitter about the fact that it is nearly impossible for a person to "go it alone" as far as making a game is concerned, and marketing it, and selling it.
No, I don't think RTPI2 is the be all and end all of text adventures. Infocom has already proven what really can be done. I just can't understand why it is possible for fantasy fiction authors to make a bundle, but as soon as you try to make a text adventure game, no one seems will to buy the thing for "reading pleasure" - I tend to wonder if an ebook-type system, where you could actually read and adventure, would be more of the style (think of it as "choose-your-own-adventure" or "twist-a-plot", but on steroids). Would anybody buy such an interactive book (I am also thinking of Diamond Age here, as well)?
Just this past weekend...
My SO and I were out pricing houses - something we have been doing lately on the weekend as we save (and scrimp and more) for the down payment to get our mortgage - fun, fun, FUN!
Anyhow, we went to this one open house that was really funny. Looking around, and asking the seller, they wanted $205,000 (US) for it (way out of our price range, but we decided to continue to look around, for politeness sake). We went upstairs, and started looking around - one area that was funny was a closet we opened - and behind the sliding door was wall!
It turns out that when the builder built the house, this room and the adjacent room had "side-by-side" closets - well, the second room had a larger closet than the one we were in, but the doors were the same size, so it was a really botched job.
We left wondering what other "funkiness" was in that house...
Reminds me of code I have seen...
It has now become a sort of "death spiral".
You see, long ago (actually, not that long ago), before forest fire fighting was a "big" issue, forest fires occurred in their natural cycles, some big, some small - but most not radically devestating.
As people moved into the forested areas, along with a lot of hype by who knows who (someone with an axe to grind), people bagan to see these natural fires as "bad" - and something should be done (for the children!!!) - so, the fires got fought, and...
and...
The cycle was destroyed, leading the the forests gathering more "underbrush", that should have burned off long ago, but now continues to grow, where once it was just low stuff close to the ground...
When it does catch and burn, these huge conflagerations are "contained" (heh, there's a word - most of the time they burn themselves out after a lot of work has been done to get ahead, risk lives, cool them down with water, etc) - allowing the underbrush to continue to collect, until the next big fire.
I suppose they could just allow them to burn, but the problem is that they would burn the whole forest, and not just the undergrowth, which would be a bad thing.
What the USFS does today is controlled burns (which I would imaging sometimes get out of hand, and hence become forest fires - not sure how often, though) to kill off this underbrush, but really this isn't enough, because the areas covered by forest are HUGE, and they can't do controlled burns on all of it...
There really aren't any good answers to any of this, not without letting nature take its course, and risking an anhilation of an entire forested region (which may be what it takes - who knows?)...
Those boards can go up to a PII 366 - heck, you might be able to oc the current CPUs to that, given a large enough heatsink. I would offer to buy the parts myself, but I am on a budget for a house, so that nixes that.
One thing you can do in the "selling on ebay" dept is to sell them as "bare bones" starter systems - drop the boards into the boxes, CPUs, and memory, and a video card each, there you go.
Over the weekend, I picked up an old copier that was sitting out in the desert - shattered beyond belief. Plenty of parts, though:
Nylon Gears
Magnetic Clutches
Solenoids
Toothed Belts
Nylon Sprockets
Stepper Motors
I haven't got much use for this stuff, but I am thinking about cleaning it all up, testing it, then selling it as robot construction parts on Ebay - many of the gears, sprockets and belts are "matched", so would make great driver parts.
My biggest problem right now is staying as clean as I can from the toner!
Well, using a tank along with a compressor is basically what I was driving at, but I didn't express it right, so I apologize. Using the tank in this way (along with a sensor) forms a more regulated system, from what I understand...
I will have to look for this - I have bought this stuff in the past through pitscolegodacta, but they didn't have the blue tank...
They will expand the number of sensors and motors you can connect at one time.
I am aware of a number of "hacks" to allow you to attach more sensors and motors (my favorite involves a system whereby a circuit senses when a sensor is toggled between two certain modes, in that there is a current drop or something involved in the switch, and can activate a multiplexing system to select a different set of three outputs), but these systems all are custom, and require a bit of hardware skill and modeling skill to build - plus, no one else can replicate your machine unless they build that same system.
I would like to see the "Ultimate Accessory" pack added as a standard part to the system - to let you get a rotation sensor, and a remote, as well as other good parts.
It would also be nice to get some more "funkier" sensors or devices - like a laser pointer, one or two of the mini-motors, a wireless camera (something like the lego cam, but wireless), maybe an outboard battery pack, maybe high-power motors, a usb or network interface on-board the RCX (adding the extra sensors and motors onto the box will make it big enough to add this), so you can communicate directly, or network multiple RCXs together (Beowu... ah, nevermind).
How about solenoid valves for the pneumatics - by the way, why can't we get the pneumatic systems anymore, huh? Walking machines would get sooo much easier, to an extent. Pitsco sells the parts, for most of it, so it is available still, but only if you know about them - still, it is nearly impossible to get the blue air tank to power your pneumatic system - check Ebay and pay through the nose, IF you are lucky.
One other part I would like to see added as standard - a ball and socket joint. Lego introduced a part nearly like this with those cheesy Robot fling kits, but the arm that had the ball was made out of this flexible plastic - you can cut the ball off, which leaves you with a ball and a small cross peg, to attach to, but it is still hard to work with, and the ball is too tight in the socket - it needs loosening up (maybe some sandpaper and oil applied would help) to be useful, for things like very flexible arms and legs on experimental bots.
I would also like to see the return of the huge tires that came with the old Expert Builder car kit, these things are near impossible to find (once again, Ebay it). Plus, make it easy to get the old jointed track (Pitsco sells this) for treads. Plus the geared large turntables - must have parts for robotic arm devices!
With five motors and five sensor inputs, a real industrial-style robot arm built from lego (along the lines of a Rhino arm, or a Micromover arm) could easily be built, and teach a lot of principles of design, programming and control. Right now, to build such a thing, you need two RCX units, and a few motors, and it is still a pain to build (most work is in getting the two RCXs talking to each other properly).
Add more memory to the RCXs, as well - for much, much larger programs - heck, drop 128K in - more than enough!
For such an upgrade, I would be willing to pay $100.00 to trade in my old RCX for the new one, or something along those lines...
...let them have it.
But let them have it in a proper way.
First off a disclaimer - I still consider myself a relative Linux newbie, and not a sysadmin - I have a Linux box here at home (what I am using right now), and a Linux based firewall/router I built, plus I do a bit of my own admin on these boxes, but take what I say with a grain of salt, because I might be wrong.
Basically, what you want to do is have them do the whole contract thing, where the contract states that they know the system is running properly right now, and that you are turning root rights over to them in full, and that anything that happens after the fact is their responsibility, and that should they wish to use your services in the future, you will bill at your normal rate x (1.5, 2.0, 3.0?). Plus, the contract should state that they acknowledge that they are the _only_ ones with root access, and they know it.
Then, with the head of IT, or whoever understands enough and is "at-the-top" IT wise, show them that you are removing all (or as many as possible) root level account logins, and show that there are only a few remaining (or "root" alone). Then log in as root, and have the "head dude" change the password on each and every one of them - while you are outside the room. Tell him to pick good passwords (or obscure ones to write down in a log or something - whatever _they_ want - so that you can't guess them). If he is really willing, tell him to try to let you log in, if you can't, then it shows that you _really_ don't know the root passwords (ok, kinda juvenile, but this company sounds that way).
Then ask for your check and leave - hopefully you won't hear back from them, and if you do, it is with the knowledge that while it will be hell to fix whatever they screwed up, at least you will be getting your what it is worth...
Two things prevent most people and businesses from moving from Microsoft products to other products:
.DOC or .XLS file to a business partner's secretary, and s/he will be able to load it effortlessly, and it will look the same.
1. Application Lock-In, and
2. FUD
1. Application Lock-In
Everybody and their brother, nearly every business, and all of their strategic partners, not to mention schools and government - all of them use to some extent Microsoft tools, day in, and day out. People have had YEARS to learn the nuances and problems, how to get around them, and what the applications can do. All of them know that they can email a
A Linux Office suite? How are these people to be certain that it will work - plus how are they to cope with the differences that are sure to be in place between the Linux Office Suite and the MS Office Suite? How do they know they will be able to send this exported XLS file to their friend, and it will open in MS Excel properly?
2. FUD
Which leads us to the second issue, that of FUD - if they don't know, they will be full of fear, uncertainty, and doubt as to whether to use the office suite for Linux, because these files they are trading down the hall or across the city may represent a potential deal - if the presentation software doesn't go a smoothly as Microsoft's, it may mean loss of money - maybe a job! If the XLS or DOC file is mangled (either by the Linux Office Suite, or by the MS Office Suite reading the Linux version), time and money will be lost trying to figure out what happened, or at least getting it loaded and converted using "standard" MS Office.
These are the two problems a Linux Office Suite has to overcome (actually, two problems any MS Office competitor has to overcome). Because MS has such a huge lock-in, and the FUD is raging - companies won't switch - because their partners aren't switching (and their partner's partners aren't, etc).
It is a tough situation, and will be hard to overcome. Education to override the FUD will help, but even if you had perfect compatibility, all MS would have to do is introduce a "new" format that Office would default to, and you will end up holding up and vindicating the FUD. People will then be doubly uncertain to try the Linux stuff, even though it would be MS who broke the compatibility! I don't know what the answer to this is, but if Linux is ever to really gain on the desktop, those two issues will have to be addressed...