PC/104 is great, but it's very expensive! The platform doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of Price/Performance ratio.
For example: Advantech's PCM-3350 PC/104 module with an optional PCMCIA PC/104 adapter and RAM is nearly $400. That's without a case or power supply. That's a lot of money for a GX1-300 processor (about the speed of a Intel Celeron 300). Then you have to get a notebook hard disk drive or a CF card for the data storage, as well as SO-DIMM RAM (i.e. notebook style RAM). That's big bucks for not a lot of bang.
Additionally, with PC/104, you only have 16-Bit I/O (similar to an ISA bus). With PC/104 Plus you can get 32-Bit I/O (similar to a PCI bus), but it is often hard to find PC/104 Plus devices to work with. Most PC/104 devices are just 16-Bit devices, which makes them unsuitable for a number of high-performance and/or intensive applications. And availability is often an issue. If memory serves, for our last set of PC/104 modules, it was over a month between when we ordered and when we received the delivery of the modules. That's a long time to wait.
For development for my clients that I have been working on, we have moved from PC/104 to using a Mini Micro ATX (similar to ITX) form factor. Elitegroup's EVEm mainboard has an 733MHZ VIA C3 processor. With optional TV-out capability and a PCI-bus interface, there's a lot of room to grow and expand without the limitations of the PC/104 platform. Plus, I can get the Mini Micro ATX system built for about half the price of the PC/104 system...
For the type of system that Tom's Hardware is interested in putting together and testing (home, office computer workstations, etc.) the PC/104 platform just isn't going to meet their needs. There are a number of legacy PC/104 devices that are used in embedded hardware applications and that keeps the suppliers in business, but for the most part, it seems that PC/104 platform is unsuitable for all but a very select group of customers.
Locally, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, the folks at N.E.W.S. Consulting at http://www.best4money.com are able to carry them, as well as Bestek PC at http://www.bestekpc.ca. Both are small local computer stores in the area.
Other sources are available elsewhere. I will talk to my suppliers and post them as I am able to find them.
I've been doing a bit of development (for one of my clients) using the Mini Micro ATX Mainboard-based systems from Elitegroup (ECS). The mainboard that I've been using is the EVEm mainboard in the ECS IN22 system (the "U-Buddie" system as they call it).
The system that I have been using features a C3 processor at 733Mhz (the "1GigaPro" as they call it) and it has the VIA PLE133 chipset and it works great... I have had no stability or reliability issues so far, and we have purchased 10 of them over the past month or so.
The best news is that the system, which comes as a package in a sleek black and silver case, is cheap. Very cheap. The whole system with mainboard, case, power supply, 10 GB notebook hard disk drive, 24X CD-ROM, 56K modem riser, on-board 10/100 NIC and 128MB RAM is only about USD $199. Compared with the Mini ITX equiped systems, there is a nearly 33% savings for the exact same specifications. They both even use the same PLE133 chipset that is mentioned in the Tom's Hardware article for the EPIA C3 mainboard.
Slashdot users may also be please to note that the system comes pre-loaded with a Linux distribution called ThizLinux that is quite user-friendly and easy to configure.
Mini-ITX systems are great, but I think the Mini Micro ATX systems, like the ones based on the EVEm from ECS are a better value, giving nearly identical performance at a lower price.
I started running OpenBSD on my some of my servers about two years ago, and I like the fact that I don't have to go around hunting for patches all the time to continue securing the systems.
This is, of course, directly contrary to the experience I am now having Windows 2000-based systems (which are running SQL Server 2000) that I help manage, where over the last few weeks I had more patches to put on the system then I could remember, with the associated reboots and downtime as well.
I look forward to the increased stability and security the new stack protection offers, and hope that the OpenBSD team will continue to make the system better and better, and more and more secure. Keep up the good work.. you have my support!
I think the key to enjoying work is to love what you do. I work for a startup and absolutely enjoy what I do, which includes creating, designing and documenting wireless communications systems. Sure, the pay could be better, and sometimes I wish that the company was better funded, but I think what I get from work is more than just a paycheque. I get to do things that I want to do, and work on special projects where I see I can make an impact. And that has made all the difference.
So what can employees do to make their working experience beter? How abou finding opportunities in your own position where you can make a contribution. How about finding a different job that you like and where you can do what you want to do? If there aren't any positions around, find new opportunities for your skills and experience and start your own business. Everyone has special skills and knowledge that are applicable to the marketplace. The important step is finding and indentifying these opportunities.
I figure I've been quite lucky in the grand scheme of things to be where I am, and I acknowledge that. However, I think that we all can do our part to find work that is stimulating and rewarding.
Kahil Gibran in his piece "The Prophet" wrote that "Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."
Gibran continues, "For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine."
The key to enjoyment at work is to find a place where you can do what you love to do. And that in turn will enhance your morale.
I am currently using GSM/GPRS for my wireless connectivity needs on my handheld (a PalmOS deice) and it's certainly enough for what I need on this sort of platform. Since this device only has 8MB of RAM a 2Gbps connection to the Internet using 1xEvDO won't do me a lot of good. Even on my Notebook computer, I don't need this much connectivity. This is especially the case if I have to pay a premium price of it.
Part of the problem for Sprint and Verizon is that they have put out a lot of money for data networks that are not being used. Current 1xRTT usage is nowhere near the levels that were once forecast. The truth of the matter is that msot mobile wireless users are using PDAs and other handheld devices don't need these "high speed" data services yet. Until there is such a demand, I see little reason for these carriers to put in the capital required to roll out these services.
I think there is a big difference in the transmitting power of Mobile phones vs. 802.1b (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth. Mobile phones transmit at a much higher power (600 mW to 3000 mW) compared with 802.11b (Wi-Fi) at 100mW, and Bluetooth, which with a lower-powered radio, transmits at only 10mW. These lower-powered wireles data transmissions have a reduced ability to wreak havoc with other wireless data transmissions. This is one of the key difference between Mobile phone technologies and Wireless LAN or Wireless PAN technologies.
Also, unlike mobile phones, both 802.11b (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth technologies are operating in the unlicensed (ISM band) frequencies. These frequencies are free for everyone, even consumers, to use for wireless communication, without licenses. Mobile phones, on the other hand, use the frequency spectrum licensed by the mobile phone network (carrier).
I remember trying to send a few e-mails from the in-seat phone on a plane once (it was a long trip, from Toronto to Vancouver, a few years ago, and I was bored). The message took forever to send, the connection was so slow, and it was such a pain to set up. And the phone bill was huge at the end of it! I remember writing that it was costing me more per minute to send this e-mail message than it was to talk on one of those "Telephone Psychic" lines.
This sounds like a great idea... I'd love ot try it. This sure would make flights (especially long flights) more productive for me and less boring.
Floppy drives are still useful for most users. I know for myself, there's nothing simpler than copying files to a floppy and bringing them over to another computer. There's no messing around with CD burners, and no problems with not being able to install drivers for USB devices on older computers.
As a medium for customizable boot disks and as a medium for other emergency recovery tasks, I have found there is no better method than the floppy.
I had a customer that just bought a new notebook with no included floppy (it was from HP). This customer purchased an external USB floppy disk drive for it within a week.
I guess as long as other computer manufacturers and "white box" computer makers keep including floppy drives in their computers, Dell will be at a disadvantage in the marketplace.
I think the idea behind DIBS is sound, and it's something askin to what I have done with my own networks with PCAnywhere and VNC to acess remote computers to create backup copies of sensitive data off-site.
However, the problem that I have seen with this method is bandwidth. Even standard DSL/Cable broadband (what most businesses that I am involved with use for Internet connectivity) doesn't have enough bandwidth to transfer multi-gigabyte backups in a reasonable amount of time (not to mention in the era of bandwidth caps and overuse surcharges, I am not sure if it's even worthwhile). With dial-up Internet access, it would be even worse.
Plus, in the end, taking a copy of the data off-site on a regular basis isn't that terribly hard to do, is it? It's cheap insurance.
This is wonderful news. I think this is what I wanted all along: good songs for a decent price. Seems like the record industry is finally coming to the point of realizing that people aren't out to rip the artists or the music labels off... just have a good deal for their music.
I've had ATI's video cards in the computers I've built for myself, and I must say that they are great. I love the All-in-Wonder series in particular. It's nice to be able to watch cable television on one's computer. Looks like ATI has another winner on its hands, and that's good news for all of us.
I remember when I started out in computer networking (and it didn't seem like it was that long ago), I was told this by one of the other technical members of our team, something that I haven't forgotten: redundancy in a system is necessary not only in the hardware and software in that system, but also in the resources that are used to keep that system running (that includes of, course human resources, as well as power HVAC, and so on).
Too often, the human part of the redundancy equation isn't totally factored in. When you don't put all of the human factors into the redundancy equation, you have a redundant system isn't really redundant.
Of course, it helps if you have a vendor that will work with you (and those of you who remember working with Novell servers in "the old days" know what I'm talking about, too).
Slashdot Mirror
This may interest you: there are a number of USB to MIDI interfaces available here for PC systems...
PC/104 is great, but it's very expensive! The platform doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of Price/Performance ratio.
For example: Advantech's PCM-3350 PC/104 module with an optional PCMCIA PC/104 adapter and RAM is nearly $400. That's without a case or power supply. That's a lot of money for a GX1-300 processor (about the speed of a Intel Celeron 300). Then you have to get a notebook hard disk drive or a CF card for the data storage, as well as SO-DIMM RAM (i.e. notebook style RAM). That's big bucks for not a lot of bang.
Additionally, with PC/104, you only have 16-Bit I/O (similar to an ISA bus). With PC/104 Plus you can get 32-Bit I/O (similar to a PCI bus), but it is often hard to find PC/104 Plus devices to work with. Most PC/104 devices are just 16-Bit devices, which makes them unsuitable for a number of high-performance and/or intensive applications. And availability is often an issue. If memory serves, for our last set of PC/104 modules, it was over a month between when we ordered and when we received the delivery of the modules. That's a long time to wait.
For development for my clients that I have been working on, we have moved from PC/104 to using a Mini Micro ATX (similar to ITX) form factor. Elitegroup's EVEm mainboard has an 733MHZ VIA C3 processor. With optional TV-out capability and a PCI-bus interface, there's a lot of room to grow and expand without the limitations of the PC/104 platform. Plus, I can get the Mini Micro ATX system built for about half the price of the PC/104 system...
For the type of system that Tom's Hardware is interested in putting together and testing (home, office computer workstations, etc.) the PC/104 platform just isn't going to meet their needs. There are a number of legacy PC/104 devices that are used in embedded hardware applications and that keeps the suppliers in business, but for the most part, it seems that PC/104 platform is unsuitable for all but a very select group of customers.
Locally, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, the folks at N.E.W.S. Consulting at http://www.best4money.com are able to carry them, as well as Bestek PC at http://www.bestekpc.ca. Both are small local computer stores in the area.
Other sources are available elsewhere. I will talk to my suppliers and post them as I am able to find them.
I've been doing a bit of development (for one of my clients) using the Mini Micro ATX Mainboard-based systems from Elitegroup (ECS). The mainboard that I've been using is the EVEm mainboard in the ECS IN22 system (the "U-Buddie" system as they call it).
The system that I have been using features a C3 processor at 733Mhz (the "1GigaPro" as they call it) and it has the VIA PLE133 chipset and it works great... I have had no stability or reliability issues so far, and we have purchased 10 of them over the past month or so.
The best news is that the system, which comes as a package in a sleek black and silver case, is cheap. Very cheap. The whole system with mainboard, case, power supply, 10 GB notebook hard disk drive, 24X CD-ROM, 56K modem riser, on-board 10/100 NIC and 128MB RAM is only about USD $199. Compared with the Mini ITX equiped systems, there is a nearly 33% savings for the exact same specifications. They both even use the same PLE133 chipset that is mentioned in the Tom's Hardware article for the EPIA C3 mainboard.
Slashdot users may also be please to note that the system comes pre-loaded with a Linux distribution called ThizLinux that is quite user-friendly and easy to configure.
Mini-ITX systems are great, but I think the Mini Micro ATX systems, like the ones based on the EVEm from ECS are a better value, giving nearly identical performance at a lower price.
I started running OpenBSD on my some of my servers about two years ago, and I like the fact that I don't have to go around hunting for patches all the time to continue securing the systems.
This is, of course, directly contrary to the experience I am now having Windows 2000-based systems (which are running SQL Server 2000) that I help manage, where over the last few weeks I had more patches to put on the system then I could remember, with the associated reboots and downtime as well.
I look forward to the increased stability and security the new stack protection offers, and hope that the OpenBSD team will continue to make the system better and better, and more and more secure. Keep up the good work.. you have my support!
I think the key to enjoying work is to love what you do. I work for a startup and absolutely enjoy what I do, which includes creating, designing and documenting wireless communications systems. Sure, the pay could be better, and sometimes I wish that the company was better funded, but I think what I get from work is more than just a paycheque. I get to do things that I want to do, and work on special projects where I see I can make an impact. And that has made all the difference.
So what can employees do to make their working experience beter? How abou finding opportunities in your own position where you can make a contribution. How about finding a different job that you like and where you can do what you want to do? If there aren't any positions around, find new opportunities for your skills and experience and start your own business. Everyone has special skills and knowledge that are applicable to the marketplace. The important step is finding and indentifying these opportunities.
I figure I've been quite lucky in the grand scheme of things to be where I am, and I acknowledge that. However, I think that we all can do our part to find work that is stimulating and rewarding.
Kahil Gibran in his piece "The Prophet" wrote that "Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."
Gibran continues, "For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine."
The key to enjoyment at work is to find a place where you can do what you love to do. And that in turn will enhance your morale.
I am currently using GSM/GPRS for my wireless connectivity needs on my handheld (a PalmOS deice) and it's certainly enough for what I need on this sort of platform. Since this device only has 8MB of RAM a 2Gbps connection to the Internet using 1xEvDO won't do me a lot of good. Even on my Notebook computer, I don't need this much connectivity. This is especially the case if I have to pay a premium price of it.
Part of the problem for Sprint and Verizon is that they have put out a lot of money for data networks that are not being used. Current 1xRTT usage is nowhere near the levels that were once forecast. The truth of the matter is that msot mobile wireless users are using PDAs and other handheld devices don't need these "high speed" data services yet. Until there is such a demand, I see little reason for these carriers to put in the capital required to roll out these services.
I think there is a big difference in the transmitting power of Mobile phones vs. 802.1b (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth. Mobile phones transmit at a much higher power (600 mW to 3000 mW) compared with 802.11b (Wi-Fi) at 100mW, and Bluetooth, which with a lower-powered radio, transmits at only 10mW. These lower-powered wireles data transmissions have a reduced ability to wreak havoc with other wireless data transmissions. This is one of the key difference between Mobile phone technologies and Wireless LAN or Wireless PAN technologies.
Also, unlike mobile phones, both 802.11b (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth technologies are operating in the unlicensed (ISM band) frequencies. These frequencies are free for everyone, even consumers, to use for wireless communication, without licenses. Mobile phones, on the other hand, use the frequency spectrum licensed by the mobile phone network (carrier).
I remember trying to send a few e-mails from the in-seat phone on a plane once (it was a long trip, from Toronto to Vancouver, a few years ago, and I was bored). The message took forever to send, the connection was so slow, and it was such a pain to set up. And the phone bill was huge at the end of it! I remember writing that it was costing me more per minute to send this e-mail message than it was to talk on one of those "Telephone Psychic" lines.
This sounds like a great idea... I'd love ot try it. This sure would make flights (especially long flights) more productive for me and less boring.
Floppy drives are still useful for most users. I know for myself, there's nothing simpler than copying files to a floppy and bringing them over to another computer. There's no messing around with CD burners, and no problems with not being able to install drivers for USB devices on older computers.
As a medium for customizable boot disks and as a medium for other emergency recovery tasks, I have found there is no better method than the floppy.
I had a customer that just bought a new notebook with no included floppy (it was from HP). This customer purchased an external USB floppy disk drive for it within a week.
I guess as long as other computer manufacturers and "white box" computer makers keep including floppy drives in their computers, Dell will be at a disadvantage in the marketplace.
I think the idea behind DIBS is sound, and it's something askin to what I have done with my own networks with PCAnywhere and VNC to acess remote computers to create backup copies of sensitive data off-site.
However, the problem that I have seen with this method is bandwidth. Even standard DSL/Cable broadband (what most businesses that I am involved with use for Internet connectivity) doesn't have enough bandwidth to transfer multi-gigabyte backups in a reasonable amount of time (not to mention in the era of bandwidth caps and overuse surcharges, I am not sure if it's even worthwhile). With dial-up Internet access, it would be even worse.
Plus, in the end, taking a copy of the data off-site on a regular basis isn't that terribly hard to do, is it? It's cheap insurance.
This is wonderful news. I think this is what I wanted all along: good songs for a decent price. Seems like the record industry is finally coming to the point of realizing that people aren't out to rip the artists or the music labels off... just have a good deal for their music.
I've had ATI's video cards in the computers I've built for myself, and I must say that they are great. I love the All-in-Wonder series in particular. It's nice to be able to watch cable television on one's computer. Looks like ATI has another winner on its hands, and that's good news for all of us.
I'm doing it now with my ISP's commercial connection and there seems to be no complaints on their part...
I remember when I started out in computer networking (and it didn't seem like it was that long ago), I was told this by one of the other technical members of our team, something that I haven't forgotten: redundancy in a system is necessary not only in the hardware and software in that system, but also in the resources that are used to keep that system running (that includes of, course human resources, as well as power HVAC, and so on).
Too often, the human part of the redundancy equation isn't totally factored in. When you don't put all of the human factors into the redundancy equation, you have a redundant system isn't really redundant.
Of course, it helps if you have a vendor that will work with you (and those of you who remember working with Novell servers in "the old days" know what I'm talking about, too).