I currently run a SuSE 6.3 system with a 2.2.14 patched kernel (from standard 6.3 2.2.13 kernel). I have whatever version of X was included (3 something, probably), and use KDE 1.3.
I have thought about going to X 4.x, and KDE 2.x - but as I am still shakey about breaking my system (it was a bitch doing the kernel patch - just to get the ZIP drive working, only then breaking the sound, having to install and configure ALSA, etc) - everything runs OK on it right now. I just would like to get some of the extra features.
Has anybody done anything like this, and what was your experiences? How difficult would such a major upgrade be? Would I have to patch the kernel again (one thing I have wondered is if I could just grab the latest patch for the kernel and apply it against my source, or if you have to do the patches incrementally - or if I would just have to grab the whole source, etc)?
Or, should I do what I am thinking of doing - scrap it all, get a reasonably late distro, install that and move my data over?
I will probably be modded down heavily for saying this...
There is a reason why BASIC is called BASIC - it stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
Originally designed at Dartmouth College as a teaching language in the 1960's, it is still a language that can truely teach the fundamentals of coding.
I am not talking about QBasic, or QuickBasic, or even VB - but standard ANSI Basic. For a course, I would recommend using Bywater BASIC.
Don't teach line numbers, or GOTO, but do teach how to handle possible errors, and good code formating, as well as proper commenting and code documentation. Most programming concepts can be taught using such a BASIC implementation.
Later, after students have caught on, you can go back a little and tell them about GOTO, and why it is bad - as well as why it can be good (very few people know examples of good uses of GOTO - I have seen only a few myself - but yeah, I know it is possible to write code without ever using a GOTO).
After that, teach a more structured language - Pascal comes to mind. Then move to C, then C++, then Java...
But the EV1 sucks as far as being safe, at least in my book.
Think about it - it uses lead-acid batteries - they are stacked nearly everywhere there is a bit of room - a line even runs down the center of the vehicle.
So, if you don't mind being splashed with sulpheric acid in an accident...
Furthermore, these batteries (all rechargable batteries) have to vent gases. Many times (esp in the case of lead acid batteries), these fumes are corrosive, and smell real bad. If proper venting to the air isn't done right, those fumes are going to end up in the cab of the car...
I have heard that the EV1 has this problem. I don't believe the EV1 uses gel-cells either, but regular style car batteries (they may be deep-cycle as well, but pretty much liquid based).
There are many better examples of electric cars out there other than the EV1...
That I was born when I was born, and had my computer when I did...
I mean, my parents didn't know anything about it. My dad tried to learn programming with me - but I eventually outpaced him in a few weeks (I do remember playing video games with him - oh the days of going one on one with pops)...
Anyhow, when I was 13 I got my first modem, and started making connections with other people - full on strangers, most of them adults! Also connections with other machines as well...
As I grew older, I learned to download various images - which were - ahem - not exactly the cleanest of material. I remember gaining access to various hacker and bomb making texts, and reading them - even to the point of taking them with me to school to read over more. I remember coding as soon as I got home from school, and doing so until I fell asleep at night...
On the weekend, more time on the computer. My parents were nearly oblivious, though they encouraged me to go outside more, they never physically barred me access to my machine, unless I got bad grades (talk about withdrawal!). If I wasn't on the computer, I was reading, or doing something equally "geeky".
Oh, I almost forgot - the people and machines? BBS's... Images - Mac PICT files and Atari ST images, among others... Programming in BASIC, playin' Asteroids and Missle Command on my Atari 2600 with dad... Hacker and Bomb texts courtesy of MetalShop BBS (among others)... My computer - a TRS-80 Color Computer 2 with 64K and a 300 baud modem - ah, the 80's...
The question in my mind is - where would I be today if my parents were as worried about me then (about "online" activity) as parents are worried today. I am not saying it is the same, but I wonder how this is affecting kids...
I noticed that he redesigned the whole thing too, recently - after getting a lot of email from "rocket scientists". I know I sent him at least a couple of emails, and I am sure others did as well. BTW - IANARS!!!
But, perhaps what this shows is that we can have an effect on the Rocket Guy's plans - so maybe we should start sending him other ideas as well - maybe it can be a "group guided" effort, hmm?
I, like most others, use "improper form" when typing. From what I remember of my typing class from hell in 7th grade, "proper form" consisted of raising the wrists/forearms above the level of the keyboard, so that you fingers pushed down from above, rather than "stretching" to the keys.
This does seem ideal, however, it is tiring - and we are all lazy here. It is tiring holding your arms up at that position. Building a wrist rest to that height wouldn't help matters any, because more pressure would be placed on the carpal region.
What if, instead of that, the keyboard was angled more sharply at the rear, so that the "pushing" of the keys came back and the "stretching" to the keys was lessoned - a wrist rest could still be used, but the stretching would be minimized - maybe that would help more?
$20.00? Go on eBay - you can regularly find them on there going for $10.00 and less. Aura also used to make chair "pads" that had the bass shakers in them - used the same amp as the Interactor, but was a pad shaped thing that could be moved from chair to chair, so it was less something to wear, and more for PC game playing.
Want something more? Look into Aura Bass Shakers - these were devices that you would bolt to whatever you wanted to shake (underside of chair, floor, etc), to get ultra low sub-sonic shaking. They made two models, one a low cost 25 watt device (and believe me, they put out a lot of force!), the other could handle much more (75 or 100 watts). These kind of things you bolt to the concrete of your home theater room, so that when an earthquake hits on-screen, things really start to fall.
Other companies manufacture bass shakers - most are bought by movie theater chains for the rumble system (in addition to large subs for sonic level frequencies), and tend to be expensive. Aura made ones that were affordable by the average folk...
Why does everyone put down VB programmers? I thought the lot of you were open minded individuals? Have any of you actually used VB? I am not saying it is a be-all/end-all of languages - it isn't. I am not saying Microsoft is the god of computers - they aren't (now, the demon). However, they have taken a language, and made it very easy to develop powerful applications in a fraction of the time it would normally take to develop such programs. Full drag-and-drop GUI building. Nothing anywhere else (ok, actually there are a few - I will get to those later) comes close. Drop in some Visual C and a decent database via ODBC, and some serious shit can be built - provided it is done methodically and planned.
Any language can be bastardized - any program can be a crock of shit when looked at underneath - no matter the language used. It is the programmers and team that determine how well the system is put together. I have no doubt that well built systems can come out of using VB, give competent developers.
With that out of the way, what are your options?
Well, if you have to have an IDE, and you want the ease of BASIC, you might look into XBasic. If you are willing to give Java a go, get one helluva powerful computer and download the SDK and a copy of Forte CE - you will be pleasantly surprised (I liked it, except the machine I tried it out on at the time was too slow, and didn't have enough RAM, so it kept paging to disk for simple tasks, like opening up menus and such - blame that on Swing? - I dunno for sure if that was it, but something made it really slow - but the fastjavac compiler is great - Forte is VB for Java, certainly).
If you really want to try something, give up on an IDE - grab a copy of NEdit, and start playing with Perl or Python (and if game coding is something you enjoy, PyGame looks real inviting). As another poster said, *nix is the IDE - a lot of neat things can come from the command line - a few term sessions, a copy of NEdit, and you are good to go. Actually, even using Java sans IDE (like Forte) isn't that bad - it actually makes you think about the GUI you are designing when you can't see it, when using Swing (and please, use Swing if you can, and not straight AWT).
Instead of sending these subs filled with humans (big insurance risk, plus as others have noted, the subs can't get close, and visibility is limited), what if you set up "simulator" pods, that look like the interior of a sub, with "infinite distance" projection systems, and place small remote-controlled subs with video cameras feeding the image back to the projector. Add proper lights, etc to keep the tourist entertained, maybe even pipe in sound. Make the subs wired back to a support raft/barge (using some communication cable/link system - 100baseT ethernet would work fine), not radio (doesn't work that well under water).
Heck, this could be done as cheap or as expensive as you want - on the cheap end you could build these machines out of sewer pipe and such (don't believe me? Look up "radio controlled submarine howto" on google), or as expensive as using one of the various underwater exploration systems out there...
You go get yourself a ProntoMail address right now, and set up a few hotmail, and yahoo mail address (and any other free addresses), using that ProntoMail address as a mailback address (if the other services need it). Then, keep checking those new anon mail accounts every now and then to keep them active.
Right now, I have about six of these accounts, and when I feel like it, I create others. I don't do this because I need them today - I don't. I do this in case I need them tommorow...
AFAIK, study and implementation of a patented device is legal, provided one doesn't try to distribute the resulting device. This is because in order to improve upon a patented device, if the device doesn't exist in a distributed form, you, as an inventor or researcher seeking to improve upon the prior art, must be able to build a device upon which to study and improve. That is what a patent is for, anyhow - to give away the details so that someone can build the device from the patent in order to study and improve upon it, furthering the pursuit (and possibly even gaining a patent in the quest)...
OK, first off, I want to make it clear that I am talkin' out my ass...
I didn't read the article - but from the comments, I understand that there isn't fiber optics in the cable, and that it is fiber reinforcment, blah blah - and maybe fiber alongside in some installations.
However...
Upon seeing the blurb on/. - I first thought - sending power down fiber optic cable (ie, using a multi megawatt laser pumping the fiber), and modulating the beam with data packets.
At the home end - you would need some kind of light to electric converter (like a solar cell, only able to stand the load), and then tap the datastream off the modulated beam.
Ok, so this isn't what is going on - but do any of you see the idea? Would this even be possible? Something tells me that currently it wouldn't be at all practical, if it is possible to some degree. But the idea seems like a fantastic (if unworkable) use of fiber optics - to "carry" electricity and data at the same time...
First off, ditch the idea of using one of those "water cooling" kits - while it sounds good at first glance, they are only meant to move heat away from the CPU, and drop the CPU temp to ambient (as other posters have noted). More experienced (and brave) OC'ers have used them to move the heat away quickly from a TEC cooler (thermoelectric peltier module) - to really drop the temperature - and this is what you want to do, really. So...
First off, get a TEC heatsink system - cheap. I am going to be a nice guy and do your research for you, since you are a photo geek, and not an electronics one, probably (maybe you are - some photo geeks are greatly into the electronics side of things as well). So, first - purchase one of these - All Electronics is a good company and I have never had a problem with an order through them.
Now, the heat sink would go on the outside of your holding tank of water (for a holding tank, use a large plastic drink cooler or something similar - or some kind of larger metal container - if metal, though, insulate it after attaching the TEC). The heatsink on this device that All Electronics sells is on the hot side. The smaller metal side is the cold side of the TEC. These units were originally meant for refrigerator coolers (in fact, if you wanted to spend a little money, you could go this route as well). You might want to mount a heatsink on the cold side (AKA a coldsink) as well, to increase the surface area of it to the water. Remember to seal the area around the holes on the tank with a good amount of silicone glue (aquarium sealant) to prevent leaks.
Now, you might find you can do without a thermostat - how? The TEC runs on about 5 to 14 VDC - and it should be pre-wired correctly for hot/cold side (call All Electronics and ask - they might even give you a data sheet or something - back of napkin type drawing) as shown in the photo - hot side on the heatsink, cold on the bare plate - but who knows, it may be reversed...
If you use a metal container for the water, you could make the metal container be the coldsink side, instead of a seperate heatsink. Now, since the voltage can be varied to run the cooler, you can select a temperature range (actually, you would be varying the input/output of the TEC) to run at. If you mount the TEC near the bottom of the container, convection may help you - or get a circulation pump (like a small fountain pump). Also, add a couple of fans to the hot side heatsink, to increase the amount of heat it can pump away - you may want to vector this heat to the outside of your darkroom (don't want your darkroom to get hot and raise the ambient temp). Or, if fans aren't enough, use a water block and water cooling through a radiator (in effect, doing partially what you originally intended, with the added addition of the peltier - however, it might be more trouble than it is worth)...
Put a thermometer in the tank, turn on the TEC to max voltage (hook it up to 12 volts, through a potentiometer or rheostat, to vary the voltage) (and optionally the circulation pump), and wait a few hours. Check the temperature - too cold? Lower the voltage of the TEC, check the temp again. Keep doing this until the needed temp is arrived at. You should be able to achieve up to a 20 degree drop in temp on the water this way. After you have gotten the temperature of the water where you want it, then leave the potentiometer/rheostat at that setting and check it again every day over a week, and note what the fluctuation is - if there is any. There may or may not be - and if there is, it may be fluctuating with the room temp, etc - but if you keep that constant, the water temp should be pretty constant as well.
If you need a thermostat, I believe Radio Shack (and others) sells an electronic one (RS Cat #910-4922 and temp probe 910-4917) that can switch a relay on and off at a set temperature. You can then use this relay to control the TEC.
I hope this helps - you should be able to do it all for less than $100.00 if you shop smart. If you need help with the electronics, ask around - maybe a friend or someone else can get it hooked up...
Anyhow, I love the show - I cringe at the thought of an American version, and it sucks that it doesn't run anymore. I can only imagine it will end up being something like "Ready...Set...Cook!" - which sucked, but they did kinda the same deal - give a couple of good chefs a funky item to cook with, and off they go - but the set was very cheesy, and the announcer - well, she sucked (and not in a good way).
Anyone know what the Iron Chef theme music is, and where (or if) you can purchase/download the theme?
AGE is the parent of Essential Reality, and is a licensee of the VPL idea of a glove input device - and thus no violations have occurred because Essential Reality is in essence AGE, correct?
If that is correct, then it answers my question...
I am not talking today, or even 10 years out. I think the convergence will happen farther out - 25 to 50 years. I hope I am wrong. I realize the massive amount of power that it would take to do even a semi-realistic movie in real time isn't there yet. But one thing is driving the movie studios toward it:
Right now they have to pay big bucks for the "stars", and they don't have any real control over them.
Studios would rather pocket that money, or use it for the film - imagine a film that grosses 100 mil - would a studio rather pay 25 mil to make it today with live actors, or pay only 5 mil for a machinima type film that looks just as good, and pocket the rest as profit?
No, it isn't possible today, and it will be a long time coming - but someday it will happen. We can already do very realistic films using computer animation non-realtime. It is only a matter of time before we can do them real-time. 15 years ago I would have laughed at you had you said in 15 years we would be able to play games that look as good or better than the graphics of "The Last Starfighter" or "Tron" - on home computers no less. Yet today, here we are!
As far as voice generation - where have you been? I had a voice synthesizer on my TRS-80 CoCo back in 1985, with a voice recognizable, even though it was machine-like, in real time.
The Kurzweil Reading Machine has a better voice, and it has been around for 20 years or so. The Sound Blaster use to have voice synth software that wasn't that bad. The best I have heard from today has been Festival - which is quite natural sounding (but still not perfect).
When you say the voices for a movie takes 2 days - you mean for an animated film - for an actual movie, it takes as long as it takes to get each scene right, meaning numerous takes and cuts for each scene. With a machinima type film, you would just lay the words down from the script, and only have to worry about how the actor agents are moving the 3D models, etc - this could make for films that look as good as todays, to only take a few months for production, rather than many months or years for most mega-buck films...
Movie studios don't send out projectors right now - what makes you think they would for this kind of thing? Each theater would simply have a high end digital projector and massive (by todays standards, if it could be done) computer in the projection room (heck, maybe by the time this comes about there won't be such things as projectors, the screen might simply be a large OLED display).
As far as identifying with "stars" - I see your point. The sad part is so many people believe the stars are the people they play - when in reality the "stars" aren't much different from you or me, and many times are nothing like the characters they play... Pathetic, really...
Think about it - what would the movie studios like more than anything?
Um - how about talent they control - and that they don't have to pay?
Certainly, the tech isn't there today - I don't have any trends (actually, even Machinima hasn't caught on greatly) - I am envisioning something happening many years into the future - I am thinking around 25-50 years away, not next year, or five years from now.
The whole thing about it being real time is that it could be manipulated in real time for the market - instead of sending out a ton of reels, you send out data files, and the data would say how to move the mouth and such, voices, sound, etc - for whatever language you need for the market - no dubbing, reprinting, anything needed - just select the language and go.
For those that don't know, VPL made the VPL DataGlove, back in the early 90's. They also worked with Mattel to create the Nintendo PowerGlove. Unfortunately, their patent on using a glove-type input device kinda locked everything up - very few ways around the patent have ever been found. Most alternative glove input methods have been either klunky (one is a very intricate mechanical waldo like device that is fitted to the hand and uses hall-effect sensors to gauge the angle of the joints - very accurrate, but also hard to put on and take off, and expensive - not that the VPL DataGlove was cheap), or focused on other methods (such as detecting fingers touching together, rather than finger angles).
The only thing I can figure is that they either bought the patent rights, or are licensing them. Either way, I would much rather see a glove based on the fiber optic technology of VPL, rather than the flexible stress sensors the PowerGlove uses (and it does look like that is what they are using)...
If anyone wants more info on glove devices, etc for VR and such (PowerGlove interfacing to PC, etc), check out my website...
Because HTTP is a stateless protocol. When using CGI, there are only a few ways you can maintain state information about a user on a site, in order to allow login tracking, etc - cookies are one way (/. and k5 use this - many, many other sites do as well), URL decoration is another (though less "secure" - but both can be made more secure using HTTPS if needed). There is a third - can't think of it offhand.
Anyhow, the fact is that for interactive sites, we have to be able to preserve state information, if for nothing else the ability to know which user is which, when they last logged in (and to prompt them to relogin if needed), etc. This in and of itself isn't a problem, IMO - I don't mind if a site knows how often I visit them or when.
The problem is when those sites start sharing info about where the users are going (ie, sharing info you don't want shared without telling you, or allowing you a way to opt-in/out of that plan), or tracking via ad banner cookies (same thing, except it is one company doing it, via their ads). Another possible issue is cookie stealing - that is, one company looking into the contents of another company's cookie - without the company or the user's knowledge.
What we need is either a state-based HTTP type protocol (ie, move away from stateless), or another manner of handling cookies. The first idea probably isn't possible or realistic - there are probably too many reasons not to do it (performance and bandwidth usage being the primary ones). The second is possible, at least for new browsers.
Cookies could set by IP, or something, and only other servers with that same IP (or by a masked range, set by the user?) could access that cookie. It is almost like that now. Other mods could be made to allow easy user management of cookies, as well. Perhaps force the setting and reading of cookies via https, so that only the issuing source can read the cookies? There are probably a ton of other changes to the system, probably even a few legalistic ones (or apply current laws the way they should be, if they apply).
Web Bugs (1x1 GIFs) are harder to stop - but a browser could be made to identify "possible" web bugs, and allow the user to set the browser to eliminate, expand or highlight possible web bugs on the page - even allow the user to click on a possible bug to see the code or CGI query behind it. While this wouldn't eliminate the problem, it would go a long way toward helping...
Machinima, projected real-time via a backroom server (using datafiles d/l'd or streamed from the net) onto the screen by an HDTV projection system, will take their place - it is even possible that such movies might take over the roles conventional movies fill.
Square has shown the level of realism a computer generated movie can take on - but what happens when you can generate it real-time, rather than pre-rendered?
Sure, you still need the voice actors - but with speech synthesis rapidly becoming very realistic - I can imagine a time when voice acting will go away for these type movies, and that dubbing will be a thing of the past - voice synthesis would just use another data file, after all.
Would voice acting transition to "phoeneme" (sp?) acting?
It isn't here now (outside of amateur efforts), but when it hits - it will be like the transition from silent films to talkies...
Interesting - combining tile based games with a 3D engine to render the map. At one time I was pretty heavy into game coding, then I stopped - hopefully one day I will try my hand at it again.
BTW, what engine are you guys using for the 3D - licensed, free (and/or open source) or homebrew?
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I currently run a SuSE 6.3 system with a 2.2.14 patched kernel (from standard 6.3 2.2.13 kernel). I have whatever version of X was included (3 something, probably), and use KDE 1.3.
I have thought about going to X 4.x, and KDE 2.x - but as I am still shakey about breaking my system (it was a bitch doing the kernel patch - just to get the ZIP drive working, only then breaking the sound, having to install and configure ALSA, etc) - everything runs OK on it right now. I just would like to get some of the extra features.
Has anybody done anything like this, and what was your experiences? How difficult would such a major upgrade be? Would I have to patch the kernel again (one thing I have wondered is if I could just grab the latest patch for the kernel and apply it against my source, or if you have to do the patches incrementally - or if I would just have to grab the whole source, etc)?
Or, should I do what I am thinking of doing - scrap it all, get a reasonably late distro, install that and move my data over?
Any recommendations?
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I will probably be modded down heavily for saying this...
There is a reason why BASIC is called BASIC - it stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
Originally designed at Dartmouth College as a teaching language in the 1960's, it is still a language that can truely teach the fundamentals of coding.
I am not talking about QBasic, or QuickBasic, or even VB - but standard ANSI Basic. For a course, I would recommend using Bywater BASIC.
Don't teach line numbers, or GOTO, but do teach how to handle possible errors, and good code formating, as well as proper commenting and code documentation. Most programming concepts can be taught using such a BASIC implementation.
Later, after students have caught on, you can go back a little and tell them about GOTO, and why it is bad - as well as why it can be good (very few people know examples of good uses of GOTO - I have seen only a few myself - but yeah, I know it is possible to write code without ever using a GOTO).
After that, teach a more structured language - Pascal comes to mind. Then move to C, then C++, then Java...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
But the EV1 sucks as far as being safe, at least in my book.
Think about it - it uses lead-acid batteries - they are stacked nearly everywhere there is a bit of room - a line even runs down the center of the vehicle.
So, if you don't mind being splashed with sulpheric acid in an accident...
Furthermore, these batteries (all rechargable batteries) have to vent gases. Many times (esp in the case of lead acid batteries), these fumes are corrosive, and smell real bad. If proper venting to the air isn't done right, those fumes are going to end up in the cab of the car...
I have heard that the EV1 has this problem. I don't believe the EV1 uses gel-cells either, but regular style car batteries (they may be deep-cycle as well, but pretty much liquid based).
There are many better examples of electric cars out there other than the EV1...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
That I was born when I was born, and had my computer when I did...
I mean, my parents didn't know anything about it. My dad tried to learn programming with me - but I eventually outpaced him in a few weeks (I do remember playing video games with him - oh the days of going one on one with pops)...
Anyhow, when I was 13 I got my first modem, and started making connections with other people - full on strangers, most of them adults! Also connections with other machines as well...
As I grew older, I learned to download various images - which were - ahem - not exactly the cleanest of material. I remember gaining access to various hacker and bomb making texts, and reading them - even to the point of taking them with me to school to read over more. I remember coding as soon as I got home from school, and doing so until I fell asleep at night...
On the weekend, more time on the computer. My parents were nearly oblivious, though they encouraged me to go outside more, they never physically barred me access to my machine, unless I got bad grades (talk about withdrawal!). If I wasn't on the computer, I was reading, or doing something equally "geeky".
Oh, I almost forgot - the people and machines? BBS's... Images - Mac PICT files and Atari ST images, among others... Programming in BASIC, playin' Asteroids and Missle Command on my Atari 2600 with dad... Hacker and Bomb texts courtesy of MetalShop BBS (among others)... My computer - a TRS-80 Color Computer 2 with 64K and a 300 baud modem - ah, the 80's...
The question in my mind is - where would I be today if my parents were as worried about me then (about "online" activity) as parents are worried today. I am not saying it is the same, but I wonder how this is affecting kids...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I noticed that he redesigned the whole thing too, recently - after getting a lot of email from "rocket scientists". I know I sent him at least a couple of emails, and I am sure others did as well. BTW - IANARS!!!
But, perhaps what this shows is that we can have an effect on the Rocket Guy's plans - so maybe we should start sending him other ideas as well - maybe it can be a "group guided" effort, hmm?
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I, like most others, use "improper form" when typing. From what I remember of my typing class from hell in 7th grade, "proper form" consisted of raising the wrists/forearms above the level of the keyboard, so that you fingers pushed down from above, rather than "stretching" to the keys.
This does seem ideal, however, it is tiring - and we are all lazy here. It is tiring holding your arms up at that position. Building a wrist rest to that height wouldn't help matters any, because more pressure would be placed on the carpal region.
What if, instead of that, the keyboard was angled more sharply at the rear, so that the "pushing" of the keys came back and the "stretching" to the keys was lessoned - a wrist rest could still be used, but the stretching would be minimized - maybe that would help more?
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
This seems relevant to this discussion, so I am putting it out, taking a risk that I might be modded down, but who cares, right?
Check out Thumbscript, an alternative to Grafitti and possibbly twiddlers, as well...
Oh, and BTW, if this (talking about Thumbscript) becomes a story in a few days, I am going to be REALLY pissed at whoever rejected my submission!
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
$20.00? Go on eBay - you can regularly find them on there going for $10.00 and less. Aura also used to make chair "pads" that had the bass shakers in them - used the same amp as the Interactor, but was a pad shaped thing that could be moved from chair to chair, so it was less something to wear, and more for PC game playing.
Want something more? Look into Aura Bass Shakers - these were devices that you would bolt to whatever you wanted to shake (underside of chair, floor, etc), to get ultra low sub-sonic shaking. They made two models, one a low cost 25 watt device (and believe me, they put out a lot of force!), the other could handle much more (75 or 100 watts). These kind of things you bolt to the concrete of your home theater room, so that when an earthquake hits on-screen, things really start to fall.
Other companies manufacture bass shakers - most are bought by movie theater chains for the rumble system (in addition to large subs for sonic level frequencies), and tend to be expensive. Aura made ones that were affordable by the average folk...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Why does everyone put down VB programmers? I thought the lot of you were open minded individuals? Have any of you actually used VB? I am not saying it is a be-all/end-all of languages - it isn't. I am not saying Microsoft is the god of computers - they aren't (now, the demon). However, they have taken a language, and made it very easy to develop powerful applications in a fraction of the time it would normally take to develop such programs. Full drag-and-drop GUI building. Nothing anywhere else (ok, actually there are a few - I will get to those later) comes close. Drop in some Visual C and a decent database via ODBC, and some serious shit can be built - provided it is done methodically and planned.
Any language can be bastardized - any program can be a crock of shit when looked at underneath - no matter the language used. It is the programmers and team that determine how well the system is put together. I have no doubt that well built systems can come out of using VB, give competent developers.
With that out of the way, what are your options?
Well, if you have to have an IDE, and you want the ease of BASIC, you might look into XBasic. If you are willing to give Java a go, get one helluva powerful computer and download the SDK and a copy of Forte CE - you will be pleasantly surprised (I liked it, except the machine I tried it out on at the time was too slow, and didn't have enough RAM, so it kept paging to disk for simple tasks, like opening up menus and such - blame that on Swing? - I dunno for sure if that was it, but something made it really slow - but the fastjavac compiler is great - Forte is VB for Java, certainly).
If you really want to try something, give up on an IDE - grab a copy of NEdit, and start playing with Perl or Python (and if game coding is something you enjoy, PyGame looks real inviting). As another poster said, *nix is the IDE - a lot of neat things can come from the command line - a few term sessions, a copy of NEdit, and you are good to go. Actually, even using Java sans IDE (like Forte) isn't that bad - it actually makes you think about the GUI you are designing when you can't see it, when using Swing (and please, use Swing if you can, and not straight AWT).
Anyhow, that is my recommendations...
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How about "Programmer Extradordinaire of Networks" - PEON for short?
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Instead of sending these subs filled with humans (big insurance risk, plus as others have noted, the subs can't get close, and visibility is limited), what if you set up "simulator" pods, that look like the interior of a sub, with "infinite distance" projection systems, and place small remote-controlled subs with video cameras feeding the image back to the projector. Add proper lights, etc to keep the tourist entertained, maybe even pipe in sound. Make the subs wired back to a support raft/barge (using some communication cable/link system - 100baseT ethernet would work fine), not radio (doesn't work that well under water).
Heck, this could be done as cheap or as expensive as you want - on the cheap end you could build these machines out of sewer pipe and such (don't believe me? Look up "radio controlled submarine howto" on google), or as expensive as using one of the various underwater exploration systems out there...
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You go get yourself a ProntoMail address right now, and set up a few hotmail, and yahoo mail address (and any other free addresses), using that ProntoMail address as a mailback address (if the other services need it). Then, keep checking those new anon mail accounts every now and then to keep them active.
Right now, I have about six of these accounts, and when I feel like it, I create others. I don't do this because I need them today - I don't. I do this in case I need them tommorow...
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AFAIK, study and implementation of a patented device is legal, provided one doesn't try to distribute the resulting device. This is because in order to improve upon a patented device, if the device doesn't exist in a distributed form, you, as an inventor or researcher seeking to improve upon the prior art, must be able to build a device upon which to study and improve. That is what a patent is for, anyhow - to give away the details so that someone can build the device from the patent in order to study and improve upon it, furthering the pursuit (and possibly even gaining a patent in the quest)...
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OK, first off, I want to make it clear that I am talkin' out my ass...
/. - I first thought - sending power down fiber optic cable (ie, using a multi megawatt laser pumping the fiber), and modulating the beam with data packets.
I didn't read the article - but from the comments, I understand that there isn't fiber optics in the cable, and that it is fiber reinforcment, blah blah - and maybe fiber alongside in some installations.
However...
Upon seeing the blurb on
At the home end - you would need some kind of light to electric converter (like a solar cell, only able to stand the load), and then tap the datastream off the modulated beam.
Ok, so this isn't what is going on - but do any of you see the idea? Would this even be possible? Something tells me that currently it wouldn't be at all practical, if it is possible to some degree. But the idea seems like a fantastic (if unworkable) use of fiber optics - to "carry" electricity and data at the same time...
Ok, I'll stop toking now...
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First off, ditch the idea of using one of those "water cooling" kits - while it sounds good at first glance, they are only meant to move heat away from the CPU, and drop the CPU temp to ambient (as other posters have noted). More experienced (and brave) OC'ers have used them to move the heat away quickly from a TEC cooler (thermoelectric peltier module) - to really drop the temperature - and this is what you want to do, really. So...
First off, get a TEC heatsink system - cheap. I am going to be a nice guy and do your research for you, since you are a photo geek, and not an electronics one, probably (maybe you are - some photo geeks are greatly into the electronics side of things as well). So, first - purchase one of these - All Electronics is a good company and I have never had a problem with an order through them.
Now, the heat sink would go on the outside of your holding tank of water (for a holding tank, use a large plastic drink cooler or something similar - or some kind of larger metal container - if metal, though, insulate it after attaching the TEC). The heatsink on this device that All Electronics sells is on the hot side. The smaller metal side is the cold side of the TEC. These units were originally meant for refrigerator coolers (in fact, if you wanted to spend a little money, you could go this route as well). You might want to mount a heatsink on the cold side (AKA a coldsink) as well, to increase the surface area of it to the water. Remember to seal the area around the holes on the tank with a good amount of silicone glue (aquarium sealant) to prevent leaks.
Now, you might find you can do without a thermostat - how? The TEC runs on about 5 to 14 VDC - and it should be pre-wired correctly for hot/cold side (call All Electronics and ask - they might even give you a data sheet or something - back of napkin type drawing) as shown in the photo - hot side on the heatsink, cold on the bare plate - but who knows, it may be reversed...
If you use a metal container for the water, you could make the metal container be the coldsink side, instead of a seperate heatsink. Now, since the voltage can be varied to run the cooler, you can select a temperature range (actually, you would be varying the input/output of the TEC) to run at. If you mount the TEC near the bottom of the container, convection may help you - or get a circulation pump (like a small fountain pump). Also, add a couple of fans to the hot side heatsink, to increase the amount of heat it can pump away - you may want to vector this heat to the outside of your darkroom (don't want your darkroom to get hot and raise the ambient temp). Or, if fans aren't enough, use a water block and water cooling through a radiator (in effect, doing partially what you originally intended, with the added addition of the peltier - however, it might be more trouble than it is worth)...
Put a thermometer in the tank, turn on the TEC to max voltage (hook it up to 12 volts, through a potentiometer or rheostat, to vary the voltage) (and optionally the circulation pump), and wait a few hours. Check the temperature - too cold? Lower the voltage of the TEC, check the temp again. Keep doing this until the needed temp is arrived at. You should be able to achieve up to a 20 degree drop in temp on the water this way. After you have gotten the temperature of the water where you want it, then leave the potentiometer/rheostat at that setting and check it again every day over a week, and note what the fluctuation is - if there is any. There may or may not be - and if there is, it may be fluctuating with the room temp, etc - but if you keep that constant, the water temp should be pretty constant as well.
If you need a thermostat, I believe Radio Shack (and others) sells an electronic one (RS Cat #910-4922 and temp probe 910-4917) that can switch a relay on and off at a set temperature. You can then use this relay to control the TEC.
I hope this helps - you should be able to do it all for less than $100.00 if you shop smart. If you need help with the electronics, ask around - maybe a friend or someone else can get it hooked up...
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Despite the shit Fuji has pulled on fan sites...
Anyhow, I love the show - I cringe at the thought of an American version, and it sucks that it doesn't run anymore. I can only imagine it will end up being something like "Ready...Set...Cook!" - which sucked, but they did kinda the same deal - give a couple of good chefs a funky item to cook with, and off they go - but the set was very cheesy, and the announcer - well, she sucked (and not in a good way).
Anyone know what the Iron Chef theme music is, and where (or if) you can purchase/download the theme?
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AGE is the parent of Essential Reality, and is a licensee of the VPL idea of a glove input device - and thus no violations have occurred because Essential Reality is in essence AGE, correct?
If that is correct, then it answers my question...
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Want to know more about homebrew VR (and in turn, hooking up the Powerglove, and building your own glove device) than you can stand?
Click here...
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I am not talking today, or even 10 years out. I think the convergence will happen farther out - 25 to 50 years. I hope I am wrong. I realize the massive amount of power that it would take to do even a semi-realistic movie in real time isn't there yet. But one thing is driving the movie studios toward it:
Right now they have to pay big bucks for the "stars", and they don't have any real control over them.
Studios would rather pocket that money, or use it for the film - imagine a film that grosses 100 mil - would a studio rather pay 25 mil to make it today with live actors, or pay only 5 mil for a machinima type film that looks just as good, and pocket the rest as profit?
No, it isn't possible today, and it will be a long time coming - but someday it will happen. We can already do very realistic films using computer animation non-realtime. It is only a matter of time before we can do them real-time. 15 years ago I would have laughed at you had you said in 15 years we would be able to play games that look as good or better than the graphics of "The Last Starfighter" or "Tron" - on home computers no less. Yet today, here we are!
As far as voice generation - where have you been? I had a voice synthesizer on my TRS-80 CoCo back in 1985, with a voice recognizable, even though it was machine-like, in real time.
The Kurzweil Reading Machine has a better voice, and it has been around for 20 years or so. The Sound Blaster use to have voice synth software that wasn't that bad. The best I have heard from today has been Festival - which is quite natural sounding (but still not perfect).
When you say the voices for a movie takes 2 days - you mean for an animated film - for an actual movie, it takes as long as it takes to get each scene right, meaning numerous takes and cuts for each scene. With a machinima type film, you would just lay the words down from the script, and only have to worry about how the actor agents are moving the 3D models, etc - this could make for films that look as good as todays, to only take a few months for production, rather than many months or years for most mega-buck films...
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Huh?
Movie studios don't send out projectors right now - what makes you think they would for this kind of thing? Each theater would simply have a high end digital projector and massive (by todays standards, if it could be done) computer in the projection room (heck, maybe by the time this comes about there won't be such things as projectors, the screen might simply be a large OLED display).
As far as identifying with "stars" - I see your point. The sad part is so many people believe the stars are the people they play - when in reality the "stars" aren't much different from you or me, and many times are nothing like the characters they play... Pathetic, really...
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Think about it - what would the movie studios like more than anything?
Um - how about talent they control - and that they don't have to pay?
Certainly, the tech isn't there today - I don't have any trends (actually, even Machinima hasn't caught on greatly) - I am envisioning something happening many years into the future - I am thinking around 25-50 years away, not next year, or five years from now.
The whole thing about it being real time is that it could be manipulated in real time for the market - instead of sending out a ton of reels, you send out data files, and the data would say how to move the mouth and such, voices, sound, etc - for whatever language you need for the market - no dubbing, reprinting, anything needed - just select the language and go.
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How did they get around the VPL/Mattell patents?
For those that don't know, VPL made the VPL DataGlove, back in the early 90's. They also worked with Mattel to create the Nintendo PowerGlove. Unfortunately, their patent on using a glove-type input device kinda locked everything up - very few ways around the patent have ever been found. Most alternative glove input methods have been either klunky (one is a very intricate mechanical waldo like device that is fitted to the hand and uses hall-effect sensors to gauge the angle of the joints - very accurrate, but also hard to put on and take off, and expensive - not that the VPL DataGlove was cheap), or focused on other methods (such as detecting fingers touching together, rather than finger angles).
The only thing I can figure is that they either bought the patent rights, or are licensing them. Either way, I would much rather see a glove based on the fiber optic technology of VPL, rather than the flexible stress sensors the PowerGlove uses (and it does look like that is what they are using)...
If anyone wants more info on glove devices, etc for VR and such (PowerGlove interfacing to PC, etc), check out my website...
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Because HTTP is a stateless protocol. When using CGI, there are only a few ways you can maintain state information about a user on a site, in order to allow login tracking, etc - cookies are one way (/. and k5 use this - many, many other sites do as well), URL decoration is another (though less "secure" - but both can be made more secure using HTTPS if needed). There is a third - can't think of it offhand.
Anyhow, the fact is that for interactive sites, we have to be able to preserve state information, if for nothing else the ability to know which user is which, when they last logged in (and to prompt them to relogin if needed), etc. This in and of itself isn't a problem, IMO - I don't mind if a site knows how often I visit them or when.
The problem is when those sites start sharing info about where the users are going (ie, sharing info you don't want shared without telling you, or allowing you a way to opt-in/out of that plan), or tracking via ad banner cookies (same thing, except it is one company doing it, via their ads). Another possible issue is cookie stealing - that is, one company looking into the contents of another company's cookie - without the company or the user's knowledge.
What we need is either a state-based HTTP type protocol (ie, move away from stateless), or another manner of handling cookies. The first idea probably isn't possible or realistic - there are probably too many reasons not to do it (performance and bandwidth usage being the primary ones). The second is possible, at least for new browsers.
Cookies could set by IP, or something, and only other servers with that same IP (or by a masked range, set by the user?) could access that cookie. It is almost like that now. Other mods could be made to allow easy user management of cookies, as well. Perhaps force the setting and reading of cookies via https, so that only the issuing source can read the cookies? There are probably a ton of other changes to the system, probably even a few legalistic ones (or apply current laws the way they should be, if they apply).
Web Bugs (1x1 GIFs) are harder to stop - but a browser could be made to identify "possible" web bugs, and allow the user to set the browser to eliminate, expand or highlight possible web bugs on the page - even allow the user to click on a possible bug to see the code or CGI query behind it. While this wouldn't eliminate the problem, it would go a long way toward helping...
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Pre-rendered movies are on their way out...
Machinima, projected real-time via a backroom server (using datafiles d/l'd or streamed from the net) onto the screen by an HDTV projection system, will take their place - it is even possible that such movies might take over the roles conventional movies fill.
Square has shown the level of realism a computer generated movie can take on - but what happens when you can generate it real-time, rather than pre-rendered?
Sure, you still need the voice actors - but with speech synthesis rapidly becoming very realistic - I can imagine a time when voice acting will go away for these type movies, and that dubbing will be a thing of the past - voice synthesis would just use another data file, after all.
Would voice acting transition to "phoeneme" (sp?) acting?
It isn't here now (outside of amateur efforts), but when it hits - it will be like the transition from silent films to talkies...
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Interesting - combining tile based games with a 3D engine to render the map. At one time I was pretty heavy into game coding, then I stopped - hopefully one day I will try my hand at it again.
BTW, what engine are you guys using for the 3D - licensed, free (and/or open source) or homebrew?
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