Intel processors have this ability because of their higher clock speed, meaning they can do more number crunching in the same time (not always the fastest option however). This isnt always a good outcome because of the absurd amounts of heat generated by the Intel processors.
This is horribly incorrect. The P4 had a higher clock rate but often took LONGER to complete the same task [be it crypto, compiling, etc] than an AMD64 core at much lower clock rate.
This is emphasized moreso by looking at the current Core lineup [and next years MCW series] of Intel processors. They're moving away from the "super clock rate" and back into the realm of "parallel process" work.
As for the others... well "contributed to" is better than "invented".
If I find a way to make a better tasting sugar then someone takes that and makes a completely new drink. Did I invent the drink?
The government through it's research may have helped but I'd like to think it's the millions of people all over the world who have individually contributed to various projects.
But that's typically American. take credit for everything regardless of the contribution.
Just because your printer handles PS doesn't mean you can just dump a PS file to it and have it print. Many use proprietary encodings of the PS data as it's sent to the printer.
As for installation...
emerge -uD cups cd samsung-driver./install.sh
[I think it was called install or setup...]
The installation is GUI DRIVEN, you pick your printer and how it's hooked up and it installs the driver for CUPS.
From opening the box to printing [locally] you're looking at all of about 5 mins of work at most. Getting remote printers is a bit tricky [mostly figuring out CUPS] but still not that hard.
My old job has two Samsung LPs hooked up to CUPS in round-robin fashion. Not exactly super hard.
Just because HP, Canon and the others can't figure shit out doesn't mean "Linux ain't ready". The technology support in Linux is there, has been there for a long time.
This is the same as the game debate. Linux has long supported video drivers such as those from ATI and Nvidia. It also supports sound, keyboards and mice.
The only reason there are not a lot of good FPS games for Linux is because nobody is writing OpenGL engines. They're all too gung-ho on DX.
Let's see... SDL + OpenGL == portable game engine which handles keyboard, mouse, timers, graphics, network, fonts, etc and would be portable [even work in Windows].
Dunno about you. The man pages I read are usually POSIX or glibc functions and they are just fine. As for the various other random commands it depends. Most of the coreutils are well documented [e.g. "cp", "ls", etc].
The thing that is least documented would have to be/etc/conf.d/ entries. But mostly a quick google is all you need.
You have to keep in mind the "man-pages" package is actually a separate project on its own. It's not strictly part of the Linux realm.
The installation guide for Gentoo explains "emerge" and why you use it. As for the rest of the options "man emerge".
Oh, you're incapable of reading a 30 page document... oh ok. Glad to know you're a TOTAL FUCKING RETARD.
I mean even if Gentoo bound their user manual in gold and gave it out for free they'd still have people like you saying "where is this guide you are speaking of?".
I'm a gentoo user too, but this isn't trivial to the n00b.
It's a lot better. I moved to Gentoo ~2003 or so when the user manuals were still like "it works, trust us". You can't tell me you're not better off now with Gentoo though. So the user has to actually learn a little about how the software on their computer works. I think that is a good thing.
As someone who has seen a lot of computer users [OSS or Windows] stuck on the trivialest of issues because they can't use a shell to patch a shared object or startup script or something and have to wait for "official support" I say knowing something is a good idea.
The fact is you shouldn't need a multi-hundred page manual for anything with a GUI.
Um with screenshots covering all aspect of the OS from how to run apps, install devices, setup networks, wifi, printers, install and remove software, etc. I can easily see that being ~100 pages.
In fact what do you get with a legit copy of Windows? A little pamphlet trying to sell MS addons...
I can't find the material right now. But if you try to run [iirc] Synopsis tools on Gentoo they'll crash. The trick was one of the __ functions was renamed. Apparently renaming it back in the ELF file is enough to get the program to work again.
If I had access to a Redhat box I could tell you.
I don't think it's huge problem but it is problematic.
So are the kernel patches [even Gentoo does]. I run vanilla kernels [always have] and I update when appropriate [or given the time]. But I mean what exactly is gentoo-sources-2.6.16-r3 in terms of a Redhat kernel anyways?
In essence all the right tools for good standardization are there. Just people abuse them to get "an edge".
Where I work onsite [let's just say they like chess] they are using the latest and greatest C++ features of a "blue" compiler. Turns out porting to GNU and other toolchains is doable but not without some minor pains here and there. Do they need these features? Maybe, Maybe not.
My point wasn't to blame C++ but to say using the bleeding edge of compilers is not always smart. Similarly with other tools and libs that are fresh new.
You're right most OSS tools target GCC 3.2 or 3.4 in terms of "expected functionality" which is nice. But various commercial apps [like verilog tools] often use C++ and are built on platforms like Redhat where there are hidden renamed symbols. There is no reason why a userspace program like those of Synopsis can't run in Gentoo [or Debian or...]. They don't because the C++ stdlibs are incompatible.
I dunno. I don't subscribe to the dumificiation of humanity. I agree that things shouldn't be harder than they need to be. But it isn't like "emerge -uD firefox" is so fucking hard to type. I mean look at how many people can hardly use Windows as it is. I think the trend should move towards "let's document our system and stick to standards".
Remember the days of the 200-page MS-DOS 5.0 user manual showing off all the commands with examples? What happened to that? For $300 [full XP pro] you think they could include a 100-page primer on using Windows. I mean it isn't like the CD cost them $300 and when they fully admit they're making money hand over fist you think customers have a right to demand more.
It isn't like there are not Linux books though. So if the user has to learn how to user their computer is that really so bad? It means they get better use of it and are not at someone elses mercy as to what they can run and how. I think that's a good thing. I could be wrong...
As for the distros, yes there is redundancy. It's annoying. I tried to tell Redhat and SUSE to merge but they refused. For the most part outwardly they're all the same. You get some un-optimized heavily modified Kernel that you can't trace back to the vanilla and a plethora of pre-built tools with whacky --enable-* flags set. It's annoying and highly unproductive.
As for the options, keep in mind unlike [say] Windows a Linux based distro can target a variety of actual real world "work scenarios". This is why there are many projects out there that can "confuse" the landscape.
As for being complicated to choose between... use Gentoo. It handles 99% of all dependency problems while letting you use the latest and greatest built with the options you want enabled. How many packages do I have installed? Around 400 to 500. Can I name half of them? Not even close. Can I easily add a new package or remove an old one? Yes.
And then to those who claim bloat... I'm using ~3.1GB of space for what I consider a fairly well equipped workstation (many tools such as GNU CC chain, GDB, various mem checkers, tetex, X11, Gnome, openoffice, etc).
I can get a basic workstation (with devel tools, X11, openoffice, etc) in around 2GB which is much better compared to Windows which on its own is 2GB. Then you have to install 6GB of MSVC, another GB of Office, another GB of Miktek [to get real work done], etc,etc, etc. A complete Windows workstation takes ~15GB of disk or so.
Part of the reason why Linux distros [specially Gentoo] can be so small is the use of shared libs. Which is odd because Windows is largely based on DLLs.
You're saying because your printer manufacturer hasn't followed the 25 year old PS standard that Linux is broken? Why not buy "Linux ready printers" [some Samsung laser printers for instance].
After that driver install is easy and you basically print through CUPS.
But again, this is totally a manufacturer problem not Linux. It isn't like Linus can force manufacturers to include Linux drivers for their non-standard proprietary shit.
What are these dependency problems of which you speak....... uses gentoo...
Biggest problem with some commercial apps is they insist on using C++ and all the bleeding edge features of GCC 4.x.y. That's why they have "portability" issues. Specially on platforms where the C++ internal symbols have slightly different names (re: Redhat, try running Synopsis tools in Gentoo).
It's true there is a few too many OSS libs out there where some could be joined into one larger lib (or just even one package with various shared objects) but that's also the flexibility of the system.
But in general there are standards for development as you've said. So really and problem working cross-platform is usually of their own doing.
You can easily "install/remove" apps in Linux. Gentoo is already there with the end user application. It just needs rollback capabilities and a shiny GUI wrapper.
I dunno about delta, but united, air canada and AA all have their own "reward programs". Each of them equally annoying in my books.
I don't see why people fall for that shit. They just raise the price to cover it. Just like air-miles and other point clubs.
People then say "well if they're giving them out anyways" but the point is they only do it because people fall for it. Then they raise the price. So after spending two trillion dollars you get a $10 gift certificate you actually paid a 10% markup on all purchases to get it.
Which brings me to another question. Why do first class people board first? I'd rather minimize the time spent on the plane, not maximize. So for me it should be all the poor saps on first then first class.
Just makes sense to me...
Oh yeah I get it... part of the "me first" self-esteem boosters...
Well fortunately I make sure I "accidentally" knock into at least one first class'er on every flight.
people say RAID-5 is silly for three drives too. It seems to work just fine:-)
The problem with a raid-1s that are striped is as you say, if you lose two adjacent drives you're dead.
RAID-6 with 4 drives makes sense if you're budget, power, space and/or heat limited. It allows any two drives to fail instead of just two non-adjacent drives. Gets you striping and 50% redundancy which is good for lab work and businesses.
I mean really. In the land $100 200GB drives a 400GB RAID-6 only costs $460 in Canada. That lets your business store upto 400GB of data without risking a lot [obviously backups are still in order]. At the same store 300GB drives are 135$ so a 600GB setup would cost 621$.
Having read the intro slides to one too many defense contractor presentations [ya I snoop, big whoop, what wanna fight about it?] I'd say it's a mix.
The amount of cells and crackberries though...
I whip out my cell phone if I'm late or change of plans. They whip it out because they think that acting all busy like that shows off how good a worker they are. Like things have changed that fucking much.
I work amongst companies that do billions of dollars a year in sales. I know for a fact that shit all happens in short order let alone in the time it takes to fly from one corner of the US to another.
That's why I call them self-important. They figure if they can whip out a fancy looking cell in public and start yammering about Q3 sales projections that everyone will be impressed. That was cool in the 80s. Now even the fucking mexican gardeners at my Holiday Inn have fancier cell phones than I do.
Besides, gameboys [the SP kind] are much better for traveling. Specially with flash carts. I fly around the world with an SP and four 256Mbit flash carts [two loaded with NES and GB games]. It's not only smaller and cheaper but the batteries last four times longer.
But no, you should power on your 1500$ laptop to play solitaire. I mean you're rich and powerful... you can waste things like that [e.g. wear on the device, battery, etc]. There is a difference between having cool gadgets and swag, the actual need or use of them and the flaunting them. I too have a fancy laptop but you don't see me turning it on to play solitaire. I too have a fancy cell phone but I don't make yammering idiot calls from inside the cabin, etc, etc, etc.
More ranting...
I dunno I just have traveling. Not because of the planes. I don't really care for them but they're not the biggest annoyance. It's the "my shit don't think look at me" bullshit. Like you're cramped in and the guy in front insists on pushing the seat back even after he knows it digs into your knees. Then he takes his sweet ass time getting out, even though you checked your bags. He's the type who has "elite double gold status" just so he can butt in front of you after waiting 25 mins to get a fucking eticket, etc, etc, etc.
At the point where you have to act like a snob for your self-esteem because being thrown around the world like a puppet is demoralizing... you've been owned.
I'd much rather not have to falsely prop up my status and just have a self-respecting employment.
These "self-important" folk who put off everyone else for their own selfish needs... well if they were so important the meetings would wait for them. Or if they were so professional they'd be smart enough to book flights with enough time to get where they need on time.
I like that while I fly I don't need to be replying to emails or that I can take a 20 minute "tom time" break between events and shit.
And really, I don't dress up and talk all MBA'ish but I still work at the same fancy offices the "self importants" work at. I also make roughly the same amount of money too. So really who's doing well? Those who have talents to sell or those who have to impostor talent?
Oh don't get me wrong. I largely think security is moot. I just don't think this test will cause problems.
For instance, I flew to Ottawa [from Toronto] a few weeks back. I had a motherboard with me. I told the security guy "please don't open that box it's static sensitive". So he didn't.
That right there should be a red flag.
Often I carry dozens of adapters and cables and boxes and such in my knapsack. Sometimes they actually take their time looking at the mess [occasionally sending it through a 2nd time] but most of the time they do a cursory glance at it and let it through.
The real trick for better security is to stop letting people take so much fucking carry-on. I always check my clothing and I never wait more than 20 mins to get it from the pickup point.
Oh big whoop. I have to wait 20 mins... NO WAY!!!
I use that time to make calls, get shit setup and also just stretch. Usually it's plane => car => meeting so even just 20 mins to wander around and stretch is a good thing.
Not to forget to mention that also the less carry-on the quicker we'd get underway as everyone takes their SWEET FUCKING TIME packing stuff overhead. They bitch the flights are late but then have no problem taking 10 mins to get seated and then spend another 15 mins standing up on the plane while the attendants are trying to get everyone seated./rant
My "hit or miss" comment was with nvidia RAID and Promise controllers.
Given that my CPU can give me 6GiB/sec of RAID-5 "xor-ing" I'll just assume the bottleneck is the HDs.
To my 3x RAID-5 I can sustain a read/write rate of ~30MiB/sec continuously. Which is a lot more than the average 1x IDE or SATA drive on their own.
16 drives in a 3U? Good lord that's densely packed! That has to be one hell of a power hog too. At ~25W each that's 400W of power just for the drives!!!
I agree that *working* with audio [or video] requires higher precision. But not because you can perceive it but [as you alluded to] calculation errors.
Cut recordings though should just be 16-bit 44Khz.
I think many people just assume "crappy sound" is a function of not having enough bits. That's not true. It's a function of your amplifier, the filters, speaker design, speaker cable gauge, length [they have to match], room accoustics, etc...
That's right up there with the Monster cable displays...
Yeah cuz you need 2000dB of S/N to listen to a movie soundtrack... Oh but come on, 30$ per foot of copper is worth it!
Some people are just highly stupid.
At best I can see the drive for 20-bits [and 24 just because it's a nicer multiple of 8] but 32-bits would imply 192 dB of dynamic range which is FAR FAR FAR beyond the average hearing range. Given that the "noise polution" in the average house sits at a constant 30dB or so... the finer range isn't noticeable even with the best ears.
Just like pixels the human eye fuzzes out around 10 to 12-bits per channel [depending on the eye and channel, for instance most people are more sensitive to green than red or blue]. Just like the audio case there are masking effects with light. After 12-bits or so of range it's just academic.
I have friends who have multi-TB raids at their homes using a mix of IDE/Sata/USB in one RAID...
While hardware RAID support in Linux is a bit hit or miss the software kernel support works properly and is fairly quick. Certainly the bottleneck for most setups will always be the drives themselves.
That's just dumb. We won't throw out compression just because we have big drives.
I mean if I install a 750GB drive does that make my network any faster?
And besides, 16-bit is 96dB of dynamic range. Anyone who says that's not enough is just an ass. They're the sort who claim they can see noise at 200fps and the like [especially on 75Hz monitors]...
One good use for this is a relatively cheap huge store. 4x750 in RAID-6 gets you 1.3TiB of storage for $2700 [with tax]. It allows upto any two drives to die simulatenously without losing data. If you're a software shop who needs to have access to large amounts of data and code at once without fear of it dying one day this is an idea solution.
For my personal use I got 3x250GB last year for about $600. It gets me ~465GiB of usable space [RAID-5] and any one drive can die and I won't lose my data. Typically if drives do die they don't die all at once. So for personal use it's an acceptable risk. Currently I have ~50GB of music and 200GB of movies on it. As well a 20GB Windows virtual drive [for QEMU] and copies of my CVS [archived]. Suprisingly it's 62% used considering when I bought it I thought I would never go over 10% use.
Anyways, I can see these being used for small to medium businesses which need large file stores for cheap.
You wouldn't buy these to be just plomped in. Unless you are doing lab work and just need bulk short-term storage.
Any home user/developer will need reliability and will need at least RAID-1 if not RAID-5 or RAID-6.
Of course the retail price is $600 CDN here in Canada. So at a minimum you need 3x drives to make it worthwhile. That's like $1800 plus tax or roughly two grand. Though it is like 1.3TiB of storage.
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Intel processors have this ability because of their higher clock speed, meaning they can do more number crunching in the same time (not always the fastest option however). This isnt always a good outcome because of the absurd amounts of heat generated by the Intel processors.
This is horribly incorrect. The P4 had a higher clock rate but often took LONGER to complete the same task [be it crypto, compiling, etc] than an AMD64 core at much lower clock rate.
This is emphasized moreso by looking at the current Core lineup [and next years MCW series] of Intel processors. They're moving away from the "super clock rate" and back into the realm of "parallel process" work.
Tom
The US government invented the FFT?
Hehehehe, that's cute.
As for the others... well "contributed to" is better than "invented".
If I find a way to make a better tasting sugar then someone takes that and makes a completely new drink. Did I invent the drink?
The government through it's research may have helped but I'd like to think it's the millions of people all over the world who have individually contributed to various projects.
But that's typically American. take credit for everything regardless of the contribution.
Tom
Again wrong wrong wrong.
...
./install.sh
Just because your printer handles PS doesn't mean you can just dump a PS file to it and have it print. Many use proprietary encodings of the PS data as it's sent to the printer.
As for installation
emerge -uD cups
cd samsung-driver
[I think it was called install or setup...]
The installation is GUI DRIVEN, you pick your printer and how it's hooked up and it installs the driver for CUPS.
From opening the box to printing [locally] you're looking at all of about 5 mins of work at most. Getting remote printers is a bit tricky [mostly figuring out CUPS] but still not that hard.
My old job has two Samsung LPs hooked up to CUPS in round-robin fashion. Not exactly super hard.
Just because HP, Canon and the others can't figure shit out doesn't mean "Linux ain't ready". The technology support in Linux is there, has been there for a long time.
This is the same as the game debate. Linux has long supported video drivers such as those from ATI and Nvidia. It also supports sound, keyboards and mice.
The only reason there are not a lot of good FPS games for Linux is because nobody is writing OpenGL engines. They're all too gung-ho on DX.
Let's see... SDL + OpenGL == portable game engine which handles keyboard, mouse, timers, graphics, network, fonts, etc and would be portable [even work in Windows].
Tom
Dunno about you. The man pages I read are usually POSIX or glibc functions and they are just fine. As for the various other random commands it depends. Most of the coreutils are well documented [e.g. "cp", "ls", etc].
/etc/conf.d/ entries. But mostly a quick google is all you need.
The thing that is least documented would have to be
You have to keep in mind the "man-pages" package is actually a separate project on its own. It's not strictly part of the Linux realm.
Tom
STFUN. [stfu + newb]
The installation guide for Gentoo explains "emerge" and why you use it. As for the rest of the options "man emerge".
Oh, you're incapable of reading a 30 page document... oh ok. Glad to know you're a TOTAL FUCKING RETARD.
I mean even if Gentoo bound their user manual in gold and gave it out for free they'd still have people like you saying "where is this guide you are speaking of?".
I'm a gentoo user too, but this isn't trivial to the n00b.
It's a lot better. I moved to Gentoo ~2003 or so when the user manuals were still like "it works, trust us". You can't tell me you're not better off now with Gentoo though. So the user has to actually learn a little about how the software on their computer works. I think that is a good thing.
As someone who has seen a lot of computer users [OSS or Windows] stuck on the trivialest of issues because they can't use a shell to patch a shared object or startup script or something and have to wait for "official support" I say knowing something is a good idea.
The fact is you shouldn't need a multi-hundred page manual for anything with a GUI.
Um with screenshots covering all aspect of the OS from how to run apps, install devices, setup networks, wifi, printers, install and remove software, etc. I can easily see that being ~100 pages.
In fact what do you get with a legit copy of Windows? A little pamphlet trying to sell MS addons...
Tom
I can't find the material right now. But if you try to run [iirc] Synopsis tools on Gentoo they'll crash. The trick was one of the __ functions was renamed. Apparently renaming it back in the ELF file is enough to get the program to work again.
If I had access to a Redhat box I could tell you.
I don't think it's huge problem but it is problematic.
So are the kernel patches [even Gentoo does]. I run vanilla kernels [always have] and I update when appropriate [or given the time]. But I mean what exactly is gentoo-sources-2.6.16-r3 in terms of a Redhat kernel anyways?
In essence all the right tools for good standardization are there. Just people abuse them to get "an edge".
Tom
Where I work onsite [let's just say they like chess] they are using the latest and greatest C++ features of a "blue" compiler. Turns out porting to GNU and other toolchains is doable but not without some minor pains here and there. Do they need these features? Maybe, Maybe not.
...]. They don't because the C++ stdlibs are incompatible.
My point wasn't to blame C++ but to say using the bleeding edge of compilers is not always smart. Similarly with other tools and libs that are fresh new.
You're right most OSS tools target GCC 3.2 or 3.4 in terms of "expected functionality" which is nice. But various commercial apps [like verilog tools] often use C++ and are built on platforms like Redhat where there are hidden renamed symbols. There is no reason why a userspace program like those of Synopsis can't run in Gentoo [or Debian or
Tom
I dunno. I don't subscribe to the dumificiation of humanity. I agree that things shouldn't be harder than they need to be. But it isn't like "emerge -uD firefox" is so fucking hard to type. I mean look at how many people can hardly use Windows as it is. I think the trend should move towards "let's document our system and stick to standards".
Remember the days of the 200-page MS-DOS 5.0 user manual showing off all the commands with examples? What happened to that? For $300 [full XP pro] you think they could include a 100-page primer on using Windows. I mean it isn't like the CD cost them $300 and when they fully admit they're making money hand over fist you think customers have a right to demand more.
It isn't like there are not Linux books though. So if the user has to learn how to user their computer is that really so bad? It means they get better use of it and are not at someone elses mercy as to what they can run and how. I think that's a good thing. I could be wrong...
Tom
First off Linux is a kernel.
... I'm using ~3.1GB of space for what I consider a fairly well equipped workstation (many tools such as GNU CC chain, GDB, various mem checkers, tetex, X11, Gnome, openoffice, etc).
,etc, etc. A complete Windows workstation takes ~15GB of disk or so.
As for the distros, yes there is redundancy. It's annoying. I tried to tell Redhat and SUSE to merge but they refused. For the most part outwardly they're all the same. You get some un-optimized heavily modified Kernel that you can't trace back to the vanilla and a plethora of pre-built tools with whacky --enable-* flags set. It's annoying and highly unproductive.
As for the options, keep in mind unlike [say] Windows a Linux based distro can target a variety of actual real world "work scenarios". This is why there are many projects out there that can "confuse" the landscape.
As for being complicated to choose between... use Gentoo. It handles 99% of all dependency problems while letting you use the latest and greatest built with the options you want enabled. How many packages do I have installed? Around 400 to 500. Can I name half of them? Not even close. Can I easily add a new package or remove an old one? Yes.
And then to those who claim bloat
I can get a basic workstation (with devel tools, X11, openoffice, etc) in around 2GB which is much better compared to Windows which on its own is 2GB. Then you have to install 6GB of MSVC, another GB of Office, another GB of Miktek [to get real work done], etc
Part of the reason why Linux distros [specially Gentoo] can be so small is the use of shared libs. Which is odd because Windows is largely based on DLLs.
Tom
Again this is an example of faulty logic.
You're saying because your printer manufacturer hasn't followed the 25 year old PS standard that Linux is broken? Why not buy "Linux ready printers" [some Samsung laser printers for instance].
After that driver install is easy and you basically print through CUPS.
But again, this is totally a manufacturer problem not Linux. It isn't like Linus can force manufacturers to include Linux drivers for their non-standard proprietary shit.
Tom
What are these dependency problems of which you speak ... .... uses gentoo ...
Biggest problem with some commercial apps is they insist on using C++ and all the bleeding edge features of GCC 4.x.y. That's why they have "portability" issues. Specially on platforms where the C++ internal symbols have slightly different names (re: Redhat, try running Synopsis tools in Gentoo).
It's true there is a few too many OSS libs out there where some could be joined into one larger lib (or just even one package with various shared objects) but that's also the flexibility of the system.
But in general there are standards for development as you've said. So really and problem working cross-platform is usually of their own doing.
You can easily "install/remove" apps in Linux. Gentoo is already there with the end user application. It just needs rollback capabilities and a shiny GUI wrapper.
Tom
You don't say ...
Totally foreign concept of people having asinine hidden motives...
The trick is to just realize that people are capable of revolts. So when oil hits a stable 9 dollars a gallon you'll start seeing heads role.
And I'll be glued to CNN to see every moment of it.
Tom
Yeah meals on planes suck. They're no cheaper in airports though.
:-)
Though I'd rather have a salad or sub than some crap on a plane...
I remember the days of "bistro meals" on the cross-continent flights. Now it's like "consider yourself lucky the pilot is bipedal!".
Tom
I dunno about delta, but united, air canada and AA all have their own "reward programs". Each of them equally annoying in my books.
I don't see why people fall for that shit. They just raise the price to cover it. Just like air-miles and other point clubs.
People then say "well if they're giving them out anyways" but the point is they only do it because people fall for it. Then they raise the price. So after spending two trillion dollars you get a $10 gift certificate you actually paid a 10% markup on all purchases to get it.
Which brings me to another question. Why do first class people board first? I'd rather minimize the time spent on the plane, not maximize. So for me it should be all the poor saps on first then first class.
Just makes sense to me...
Oh yeah I get it... part of the "me first" self-esteem boosters...
Well fortunately I make sure I "accidentally" knock into at least one first class'er on every flight.
Tom
people say RAID-5 is silly for three drives too. It seems to work just fine :-)
The problem with a raid-1s that are striped is as you say, if you lose two adjacent drives you're dead.
RAID-6 with 4 drives makes sense if you're budget, power, space and/or heat limited. It allows any two drives to fail instead of just two non-adjacent drives. Gets you striping and 50% redundancy which is good for lab work and businesses.
I mean really. In the land $100 200GB drives a 400GB RAID-6 only costs $460 in Canada. That lets your business store upto 400GB of data without risking a lot [obviously backups are still in order]. At the same store 300GB drives are 135$ so a 600GB setup would cost 621$.
Tom
Having read the intro slides to one too many defense contractor presentations [ya I snoop, big whoop, what wanna fight about it?] I'd say it's a mix.
...
... you've been owned.
The amount of cells and crackberries though...
I whip out my cell phone if I'm late or change of plans. They whip it out because they think that acting all busy like that shows off how good a worker they are. Like things have changed that fucking much.
I work amongst companies that do billions of dollars a year in sales. I know for a fact that shit all happens in short order let alone in the time it takes to fly from one corner of the US to another.
That's why I call them self-important. They figure if they can whip out a fancy looking cell in public and start yammering about Q3 sales projections that everyone will be impressed. That was cool in the 80s. Now even the fucking mexican gardeners at my Holiday Inn have fancier cell phones than I do.
Besides, gameboys [the SP kind] are much better for traveling. Specially with flash carts. I fly around the world with an SP and four 256Mbit flash carts [two loaded with NES and GB games]. It's not only smaller and cheaper but the batteries last four times longer.
But no, you should power on your 1500$ laptop to play solitaire. I mean you're rich and powerful... you can waste things like that [e.g. wear on the device, battery, etc]. There is a difference between having cool gadgets and swag, the actual need or use of them and the flaunting them. I too have a fancy laptop but you don't see me turning it on to play solitaire. I too have a fancy cell phone but I don't make yammering idiot calls from inside the cabin, etc, etc, etc.
More ranting
I dunno I just have traveling. Not because of the planes. I don't really care for them but they're not the biggest annoyance. It's the "my shit don't think look at me" bullshit. Like you're cramped in and the guy in front insists on pushing the seat back even after he knows it digs into your knees. Then he takes his sweet ass time getting out, even though you checked your bags. He's the type who has "elite double gold status" just so he can butt in front of you after waiting 25 mins to get a fucking eticket, etc, etc, etc.
At the point where you have to act like a snob for your self-esteem because being thrown around the world like a puppet is demoralizing
I'd much rather not have to falsely prop up my status and just have a self-respecting employment.
Tom
The way I look at it is like this.
These "self-important" folk who put off everyone else for their own selfish needs... well if they were so important the meetings would wait for them. Or if they were so professional they'd be smart enough to book flights with enough time to get where they need on time.
I like that while I fly I don't need to be replying to emails or that I can take a 20 minute "tom time" break between events and shit.
And really, I don't dress up and talk all MBA'ish but I still work at the same fancy offices the "self importants" work at. I also make roughly the same amount of money too. So really who's doing well? Those who have talents to sell or those who have to impostor talent?
Tom
Oh don't get me wrong. I largely think security is moot. I just don't think this test will cause problems.
/rant
For instance, I flew to Ottawa [from Toronto] a few weeks back. I had a motherboard with me. I told the security guy "please don't open that box it's static sensitive". So he didn't.
That right there should be a red flag.
Often I carry dozens of adapters and cables and boxes and such in my knapsack. Sometimes they actually take their time looking at the mess [occasionally sending it through a 2nd time] but most of the time they do a cursory glance at it and let it through.
The real trick for better security is to stop letting people take so much fucking carry-on. I always check my clothing and I never wait more than 20 mins to get it from the pickup point.
Oh big whoop. I have to wait 20 mins... NO WAY!!!
I use that time to make calls, get shit setup and also just stretch. Usually it's plane => car => meeting so even just 20 mins to wander around and stretch is a good thing.
Not to forget to mention that also the less carry-on the quicker we'd get underway as everyone takes their SWEET FUCKING TIME packing stuff overhead. They bitch the flights are late but then have no problem taking 10 mins to get seated and then spend another 15 mins standing up on the plane while the attendants are trying to get everyone seated.
Tom
Good to know.
My "hit or miss" comment was with nvidia RAID and Promise controllers.
Given that my CPU can give me 6GiB/sec of RAID-5 "xor-ing" I'll just assume the bottleneck is the HDs.
To my 3x RAID-5 I can sustain a read/write rate of ~30MiB/sec continuously. Which is a lot more than the average 1x IDE or SATA drive on their own.
16 drives in a 3U? Good lord that's densely packed! That has to be one hell of a power hog too. At ~25W each that's 400W of power just for the drives!!!
Tom
Cool results.
I agree that *working* with audio [or video] requires higher precision. But not because you can perceive it but [as you alluded to] calculation errors.
Cut recordings though should just be 16-bit 44Khz.
I think many people just assume "crappy sound" is a function of not having enough bits. That's not true. It's a function of your amplifier, the filters, speaker design, speaker cable gauge, length [they have to match], room accoustics, etc...
Tom
They're supposed to report all incidents to the higher ups.
So if they become jaded and just let anything pass assuming it's a "test" then they would fail the test.
So I don't think this will result in them letting bombs and weapons through because they assume it's a test.
That's right up there with the Monster cable displays...
... the finer range isn't noticeable even with the best ears.
Yeah cuz you need 2000dB of S/N to listen to a movie soundtrack... Oh but come on, 30$ per foot of copper is worth it!
Some people are just highly stupid.
At best I can see the drive for 20-bits [and 24 just because it's a nicer multiple of 8] but 32-bits would imply 192 dB of dynamic range which is FAR FAR FAR beyond the average hearing range. Given that the "noise polution" in the average house sits at a constant 30dB or so
Just like pixels the human eye fuzzes out around 10 to 12-bits per channel [depending on the eye and channel, for instance most people are more sensitive to green than red or blue]. Just like the audio case there are masking effects with light. After 12-bits or so of range it's just academic.
Tom
Will Linux support it... hehehe that's cute.
...
I have friends who have multi-TB raids at their homes using a mix of IDE/Sata/USB in one RAID
While hardware RAID support in Linux is a bit hit or miss the software kernel support works properly and is fairly quick. Certainly the bottleneck for most setups will always be the drives themselves.
Tom
That's just dumb. We won't throw out compression just because we have big drives.
I mean if I install a 750GB drive does that make my network any faster?
And besides, 16-bit is 96dB of dynamic range. Anyone who says that's not enough is just an ass. They're the sort who claim they can see noise at 200fps and the like [especially on 75Hz monitors]...
One good use for this is a relatively cheap huge store. 4x750 in RAID-6 gets you 1.3TiB of storage for $2700 [with tax]. It allows upto any two drives to die simulatenously without losing data. If you're a software shop who needs to have access to large amounts of data and code at once without fear of it dying one day this is an idea solution.
For my personal use I got 3x250GB last year for about $600. It gets me ~465GiB of usable space [RAID-5] and any one drive can die and I won't lose my data. Typically if drives do die they don't die all at once. So for personal use it's an acceptable risk. Currently I have ~50GB of music and 200GB of movies on it. As well a 20GB Windows virtual drive [for QEMU] and copies of my CVS [archived]. Suprisingly it's 62% used considering when I bought it I thought I would never go over 10% use.
Anyways, I can see these being used for small to medium businesses which need large file stores for cheap.
Tom
RAID-5 ?
You wouldn't buy these to be just plomped in. Unless you are doing lab work and just need bulk short-term storage.
Any home user/developer will need reliability and will need at least RAID-1 if not RAID-5 or RAID-6.
Of course the retail price is $600 CDN here in Canada. So at a minimum you need 3x drives to make it worthwhile. That's like $1800 plus tax or roughly two grand. Though it is like 1.3TiB of storage.
Tom