So why not use this to create a distro that installs itself onto Windows PCs? I'd use Linux if I didn't have to repartition. Everyone would use Linux if you could install it from inside Windows. Heck, I'm sure someone could come up with an ActiveX applet to install Linux on millions of PCs like spyware does - the user would just click 'yes' because they don't know any better and then their PC could download and install it in the back ground.
The cost of the $13 million, four-year project will be shared among NIST, GE and ECD Ovonics. The program goal is to create a cost-effective system for the mass production of products such as flexible electronic paper displays, portable TV screens the size of posters, embedded sensors, solar powered cells and high-efficiency lighting devices.
It isn't because it can't be done. It is because the Veruca Salt money managers on Wall Street can't tolerate a four year return on investment. GE's stock went down when they announced this.
I think that schools would just use a network bootable image, since they have a network already. Where is the network bootable Linux, anyway?
In any event, a bootable CD is good for security purposes. Add some marketing spin... like, call it "SBL" for "Secure Bootable Linux". Banks and institutions that are worried about keystroke loggers and other spyware could require this for VPN'ing or other stuff. Where I work now, we use Lotus Notes for email and other stuff but we don't allow installations on home PCs for obvious reasons. If we could send a bootable CD to the employees, this would be a no-brainer...
-Intel (and ST to a minor factor) are the only companies investing into this, all competitors have different technologies.
Not true - Lockheed Martin is also a developer. I should also note that there are many private developers that won't ever need a license if they ultimately can't create a working/profitable device.
-A demonstration of reliable high density operation has still to follow. Handling local temperature differences of several hundrend kelvins within a sold state device poses many problems. Thermal stress will contribute to wear out, characteristics drift etc etc..
Intel has already demonstrated a cycle life of 10^12 and expects data retention of 10 years at 120dC.
-How about process compatibility.. no mention about this, yet
Google for this. Intel is throwing the weight of their R&D to OUM because it is so process-friendly. They are currently running OUM alongside the Pentium 3.0Ghz line (not commercially viable / internal R&D use only).
Ovonyx non-volatile memory technology offers significantly faster write and erase speeds and higher cycling endurance than conventional Flash memory. It also has the advantage of a simple fabrication process, which allows the design of semiconductor chips with embedded non-volatile memory using only a few additional mask steps.
Interesting comments from the horse's mouth.
-Intel is also investing in competing technologies
Yes - but they are on record (see original EBN link from parent post) stating that OUM shows the most promise. But, as I did state earlier, I see this as extremely speculative. I would not be here if I was not a whore for the technology. I fully expect to do one of two things with my investment:
...analogous to CD-R (recordable) as opposed to CD-RW (rewritable). How will common file systems and OS designs have to change to accommodate WORM media? Or is this not intended to displace hard disk drives?
Interesting analogy considering the state of the industry at the moment. Intel is working on a replacement for flash that utilizes chalcogenide - the material used in rewritable disks like CDRW and DVDRW.
The idea is the same as what we have here except, instead of the "blown fuse" technique, the chalcogenide material stores data as a level of resistance (which can be set/reset trillions of times). Intel believes that this is a successor to flash, which is expected to hit the scalable wall at 45nm (2007-8ish). Because the chalcogenide material can be "programmed" to hundreds of unique levels of resistance, it is expected that Intel will get as much as 8 bits per cell, which will put density into or above that of conventional hard drives.
So there you have it - DRAM and hard drive replacement in one.
If you are looking for an investment that leverages this technology, consider Energy Conversion Devices out of Rochester, Michigan. The CEO is Stanford Ovshinsky of "Ovshinsky Effect" fame. They invented this technology back in the 60s and Gordon Moore even wrote a paper on it in 1970, I believe. But material technology is only just now beginning to develop to the point that this can become feasible.
Disclaimer - I am an investor in this company and I consider it EXTREMELY high-risk. The company is currently teetering on the edge of solvency.
As I see it, the project is more like building an 8 lane bridge when a 4 lane will do just fine.
That analogy is not a good one to use because roads and bandwidth don't compare well. Network bandwidth can be used for more than one purpose while the roads are pretty much pigeon-holed.
There are lots of applications that "could be" if only the bandwidth was there to support them.
Now, if anyone has an easy DIY screen I can get rid of this bed sheet nailed to the ceiling in my basement....
Get yourself a large piece of MDO board with a nice finish. You may want to contact a sign supply shop to see if they have something pre-finished. The stuff from a sign shop is generally of better quality than that of the typical lumber yard. You should be able to get a primed piece as well.
Once you've got your board cut to size, you'll need to get some glossy white paint (or silver for the extra contrast) and some fine glass bead. They use glass bead at industrial places for bead blasting. Stop by your local engine shop to see if you can pick some up. Make sure that it is relatively free of impurities.
Experiment with mixing the glass bead in with the paint. You'll reach a point where everything is homegenous and the glass is pretty well saturated into the paint. At this point, you simply paint your wood. You'll also need to experiment with application technique since the glass bead adds a twist to the normal procedure. I have found that a liberal application followed by a dry rolling works well.
Let dry and you've got the basis for a nice DIY glass-beaded screen. Put some edges on and perhaps build a frame to keep is straight/help with mounting and you'll be a couch potatoe with the best of 'em.
I tried but I couldn't figure out how to download and install simple things. Tarballs, extract, no instructions, RTFM... I fiddled with it for a few hours to get some sort of media player up and running and it was just too much work. Windows is much more familiar.
The people pushing open source on the desktop need to realize that it needs to be familiar. If it can do this and then address most (or everything) that is wrong with Windows, then it will win.
Windows XP is difficult to support because it can be configured to any number of different interfaces (standard XP, Windows "Classic", or any combination in between). Do you honestly expect some headset-fast-food-phone-jockey to figure out what beta version of KDE has been installed? I couldn't do it...
Redhat has been criticized for "dumbing down" their distro but I applaud them for it. Only when there is one standard, non-configurable interface should open-source be thrown to the desktop wolves. Open source (I refrain from using the term "Linux" because it doesn't include the GUI) has the opportunity to target what is so very wrong with Windows because it doesn't have to worry about the backward compatibility that makes Windows such crap in so many respects. But nobody seems to care about that right now so we have more crap to come. Everyone seems to love having a choice in crap but I digress.
Short and sweet: wish list
1) Get rid of the application execution shortcuts and put them in one, easy to use location. Windows has the desktop, the start menu (directly off of the start button), the programs submenu off of the start button, the quick-launch and the system tray. Most programs make use of this and flood the user with shortcuts mainly for the sake of advertising. Susie won't forget to run AOL if we give her 6 different locations from which to start it.
There's also no reason that entire submenus need to be created off of the start menu. Applications should simply load a single shortcut to themselves instead of putting readme's, uninstallers and other crap in the start menu. It just adds to the clutter and will eventually require scrolling start menus ala Windows. Create some standards - programs could be grouped. Instead of a game creating gratuitous advertising in the start menu (who cares if the game was made by Sierra?), it should simply install a shortcut into the standard "GAMES" submenu. Utilities, Office, etc. One could probably come up with 6 or so default submenus that programs could utilitize.
2) Use the desktop for something other than the aforementioned annoyance. Maybe build in a tabbed desktop with a control panel on one tab, an extensible calendaring tab on another (I use Palm Desktop and I don't even have a Palm device - calendaring is needed!). Perhaps another "default" tab could be a combination of email, most recently used applications and the calendar. Stick a log-off/shutdown tab in there and maybe a media player, too. Make some freakin' use of this space (besides the pretty wallpaper). Make it all extensible so third parties can make use of it (i.e. - Palm can create a plug-in for the system calendar, third-party media players can embed themselves into the media tab, etc).
3) User data management - give the users ONE FREAKING PLACE to put data. Sure - Windows might *try* to do this but, ultimately, it does nothing to stop uneducated users from doing the wrong thing. If you've ever had to explain to someone that they shouldn't save their Microsoft Office documents in \PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\, then you might know what I am talking about. ONE PLACE... certainly, make it flexible (allow users to share, etc) but for crying out loud.
4) Program installation - Joe Users don't need to see the intricate details of the files on a program installation (either hard or soft media). Program installations should be ONE file. Joe Users don't need to see everything inside. Additionally, the programs should only have ONE FREAKING LOCATION to which they can install (i.e. - PROGRAM FILES). Once installed, Joe Users should *never* be able to go into this folder and poke around. There's no need for it (but certainly provide the functionality for an advanced user to do so).
Argh... I'll be here all day of I go on. Ultimately, if someone can point me to someone who cares, I'd be happy to spend a few hours suggesting improvements. Does anyone need a GUI designer?
Why don't they do it right - make a system-on-a-video-card and then create a Knoppix-like bootable layer for their games? This way, they'd have a piece of the PC, console and hand-held markets. If successful, they could license the PC boot layer to other hardware vendors and we'd have an easy-to-use alternative to Windows/DirectX.
Windows autorun was supposed to enable "console-like usability" but it hasn't even come close. Isn't it about time that someone took advantage?
They are actually working on something with the chalcogenide material used in CD-RWs. Its call OUM or Ovonic Unified Memory. Intel is supposedly ahead in the research on this stuff but STMicro and Lockheed Martin are in on it, too.
Google for it to get more info. The cool stuff is that, if this stuff comes to fruition, is that it will eventually replace hard drives - solid state storage with DRAM access speeds. *That* is the future. DISCLAIMER - Gordon Moore wrote a paper on this stuff in the 60s. So it really *is* the future.
The problem here is not of the elephant magnatude: even after SCO's stock running up, they are still a puny company that could easily be assimilated by IBM or any other blue chip company (which is exactly what they want and the only reason that I haven't shorted the stock).
It is more like a fly bothering an elephant. If it would just sit still for a second, the elephant would crush it.
The advances are there but people aren't willing to pay for them. Err, rather, the manufacturers don't offer the advanced batteries because they don't believe that people will pay for them.
Most laptops use Li-Ion - a technology that brings the term "suck" to the title of this article. Li-Ion sucks. Not the other technologies out there. They aren't offfered.
NiMH is a decidedly better technology. Matsushita (who, BTW, is currently in arbitration with Ovonic Battery over a patent dispute) has brought the new Toyota Prius battery up to some astounding levels of power and energy density. And the batteries are proven to last for the vehicles lifetime - not this puny 500 cycles like Li-Ion that we get with laptop batteries. Didja ever wonder why your laptop's 2-year warranty didn't include the battery?
Because margins are already too thin. They can't afford real battery technology. We'll have true wireless only when the electronics downsize their power requirements.
As a side note, engineers *never* use the term "self-destruct" in a technical report. The same goes for "explode" and other synonyms. The correct term is:
"Spontaneously Disassemble"
If your laughing, make note that I am being completely serious. I've seen this term on paper too many times.
Many local land-based phone companies are now providing 911 services for people without actual land line services. This is for the people who simply can't afford a phone, period.
On a side note, I'd like a cell phone docking station that would connect my cell phone to my house wiring - much like the ATA adapters that come with popular VoIP services like vonage or packet8.net.
Slashdot Mirror
So why not use this to create a distro that installs itself onto Windows PCs? I'd use Linux if I didn't have to repartition. Everyone would use Linux if you could install it from inside Windows. Heck, I'm sure someone could come up with an ActiveX applet to install Linux on millions of PCs like spyware does - the user would just click 'yes' because they don't know any better and then their PC could download and install it in the back ground.
Check this out. Highlights (emphasis mine):
The cost of the $13 million, four-year project will be shared among NIST, GE and ECD Ovonics. The program goal is to create a cost-effective system for the mass production of products such as flexible electronic paper displays, portable TV screens the size of posters, embedded sensors, solar powered cells and high-efficiency lighting devices.
It isn't because it can't be done. It is because the Veruca Salt money managers on Wall Street can't tolerate a four year return on investment. GE's stock went down when they announced this.
Great for schools
I think that schools would just use a network bootable image, since they have a network already. Where is the network bootable Linux, anyway?
In any event, a bootable CD is good for security purposes. Add some marketing spin... like, call it "SBL" for "Secure Bootable Linux". Banks and institutions that are worried about keystroke loggers and other spyware could require this for VPN'ing or other stuff. Where I work now, we use Lotus Notes for email and other stuff but we don't allow installations on home PCs for obvious reasons. If we could send a bootable CD to the employees, this would be a no-brainer...
-Intel (and ST to a minor factor) are the only companies investing into this, all competitors have different technologies.
Not true - Lockheed Martin is also a developer. I should also note that there are many private developers that won't ever need a license if they ultimately can't create a working/profitable device.
-A demonstration of reliable high density operation has still to follow. Handling local temperature differences of several hundrend kelvins within a sold state device poses many problems. Thermal stress will contribute to wear out, characteristics drift etc etc..
Intel has already demonstrated a cycle life of 10^12 and expects data retention of 10 years at 120dC.
-How about process compatibility.. no mention about this, yet
Google for this. Intel is throwing the weight of their R&D to OUM because it is so process-friendly. They are currently running OUM alongside the Pentium 3.0Ghz line (not commercially viable / internal R&D use only).
A brief here...
Ovonyx non-volatile memory technology offers significantly faster write and erase speeds and higher cycling endurance than conventional Flash memory. It also has the advantage of a simple fabrication process, which allows the design of semiconductor chips with embedded non-volatile memory using only a few additional mask steps.
Interesting comments from the horse's mouth.
-Intel is also investing in competing technologies
Yes - but they are on record (see original EBN link from parent post) stating that OUM shows the most promise. But, as I did state earlier, I see this as extremely speculative. I would not be here if I was not a whore for the technology. I fully expect to do one of two things with my investment:
1) 100 fold return by 2010
2) lose it all
That is what speculation is all about.
...analogous to CD-R (recordable) as opposed to CD-RW (rewritable). How will common file systems and OS designs have to change to accommodate WORM media? Or is this not intended to displace hard disk drives?
Interesting analogy considering the state of the industry at the moment. Intel is working on a replacement for flash that utilizes chalcogenide - the material used in rewritable disks like CDRW and DVDRW.
The idea is the same as what we have here except, instead of the "blown fuse" technique, the chalcogenide material stores data as a level of resistance (which can be set/reset trillions of times). Intel believes that this is a successor to flash, which is expected to hit the scalable wall at 45nm (2007-8ish). Because the chalcogenide material can be "programmed" to hundreds of unique levels of resistance, it is expected that Intel will get as much as 8 bits per cell, which will put density into or above that of conventional hard drives.
So there you have it - DRAM and hard drive replacement in one.
If you are looking for an investment that leverages this technology, consider Energy Conversion Devices out of Rochester, Michigan. The CEO is Stanford Ovshinsky of "Ovshinsky Effect" fame. They invented this technology back in the 60s and Gordon Moore even wrote a paper on it in 1970, I believe. But material technology is only just now beginning to develop to the point that this can become feasible.
Disclaimer - I am an investor in this company and I consider it EXTREMELY high-risk. The company is currently teetering on the edge of solvency.
Every time one of the prophetic things come to pass
Correction - that should read:
Every time one of the prophetic things come to Speedpass
It really sounds like you are looking for AOL.
Ya know, now that the Matrix hype vanished into nowhere,
I don't think that it just vanished... it turned into something.
Like so many other things in life, this situation can be summarized by a Simpson's sound byte.
As I see it, the project is more like building an 8 lane bridge when a 4 lane will do just fine.
That analogy is not a good one to use because roads and bandwidth don't compare well. Network bandwidth can be used for more than one purpose while the roads are pretty much pigeon-holed.
There are lots of applications that "could be" if only the bandwidth was there to support them.
If you haven't seen the End of the World, then have a look at what you are missing.
Several maps of the internet right here
Now, if anyone has an easy DIY screen I can get rid of this bed sheet nailed to the ceiling in my basement....
Get yourself a large piece of MDO board with a nice finish. You may want to contact a sign supply shop to see if they have something pre-finished. The stuff from a sign shop is generally of better quality than that of the typical lumber yard. You should be able to get a primed piece as well.
Once you've got your board cut to size, you'll need to get some glossy white paint (or silver for the extra contrast) and some fine glass bead. They use glass bead at industrial places for bead blasting. Stop by your local engine shop to see if you can pick some up. Make sure that it is relatively free of impurities.
Experiment with mixing the glass bead in with the paint. You'll reach a point where everything is homegenous and the glass is pretty well saturated into the paint. At this point, you simply paint your wood. You'll also need to experiment with application technique since the glass bead adds a twist to the normal procedure. I have found that a liberal application followed by a dry rolling works well.
Let dry and you've got the basis for a nice DIY glass-beaded screen. Put some edges on and perhaps build a frame to keep is straight/help with mounting and you'll be a couch potatoe with the best of 'em.
Cheers...
One thing mp3.com has proven is that nobody buys such alternatives consistently.
Dude,
I buy alternative music all the time. It is also known as "Top 40".
Love,
America's Public
So why aren't you running Linux now, again?
I tried but I couldn't figure out how to download and install simple things. Tarballs, extract, no instructions, RTFM... I fiddled with it for a few hours to get some sort of media player up and running and it was just too much work. Windows is much more familiar.
The people pushing open source on the desktop need to realize that it needs to be familiar. If it can do this and then address most (or everything) that is wrong with Windows, then it will win.
Support by the mainstream computers' builders.
Therein lies the rub.
Windows XP is difficult to support because it can be configured to any number of different interfaces (standard XP, Windows "Classic", or any combination in between). Do you honestly expect some headset-fast-food-phone-jockey to figure out what beta version of KDE has been installed? I couldn't do it...
Redhat has been criticized for "dumbing down" their distro but I applaud them for it. Only when there is one standard, non-configurable interface should open-source be thrown to the desktop wolves. Open source (I refrain from using the term "Linux" because it doesn't include the GUI) has the opportunity to target what is so very wrong with Windows because it doesn't have to worry about the backward compatibility that makes Windows such crap in so many respects. But nobody seems to care about that right now so we have more crap to come. Everyone seems to love having a choice in crap but I digress.
Short and sweet: wish list
1) Get rid of the application execution shortcuts and put them in one, easy to use location. Windows has the desktop, the start menu (directly off of the start button), the programs submenu off of the start button, the quick-launch and the system tray. Most programs make use of this and flood the user with shortcuts mainly for the sake of advertising. Susie won't forget to run AOL if we give her 6 different locations from which to start it.
There's also no reason that entire submenus need to be created off of the start menu. Applications should simply load a single shortcut to themselves instead of putting readme's, uninstallers and other crap in the start menu. It just adds to the clutter and will eventually require scrolling start menus ala Windows. Create some standards - programs could be grouped. Instead of a game creating gratuitous advertising in the start menu (who cares if the game was made by Sierra?), it should simply install a shortcut into the standard "GAMES" submenu. Utilities, Office, etc. One could probably come up with 6 or so default submenus that programs could utilitize.
2) Use the desktop for something other than the aforementioned annoyance. Maybe build in a tabbed desktop with a control panel on one tab, an extensible calendaring tab on another (I use Palm Desktop and I don't even have a Palm device - calendaring is needed!). Perhaps another "default" tab could be a combination of email, most recently used applications and the calendar. Stick a log-off/shutdown tab in there and maybe a media player, too. Make some freakin' use of this space (besides the pretty wallpaper). Make it all extensible so third parties can make use of it (i.e. - Palm can create a plug-in for the system calendar, third-party media players can embed themselves into the media tab, etc).
3) User data management - give the users ONE FREAKING PLACE to put data. Sure - Windows might *try* to do this but, ultimately, it does nothing to stop uneducated users from doing the wrong thing. If you've ever had to explain to someone that they shouldn't save their Microsoft Office documents in \PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\, then you might know what I am talking about. ONE PLACE... certainly, make it flexible (allow users to share, etc) but for crying out loud.
4) Program installation - Joe Users don't need to see the intricate details of the files on a program installation (either hard or soft media). Program installations should be ONE file. Joe Users don't need to see everything inside. Additionally, the programs should only have ONE FREAKING LOCATION to which they can install (i.e. - PROGRAM FILES). Once installed, Joe Users should *never* be able to go into this folder and poke around. There's no need for it (but certainly provide the functionality for an advanced user to do so).
Argh... I'll be here all day of I go on. Ultimately, if someone can point me to someone who cares, I'd be happy to spend a few hours suggesting improvements. Does anyone need a GUI designer?
This isn't surprising considering that they just dropped AOL from the "AOL Time Warner name.
Why don't they do it right - make a system-on-a-video-card and then create a Knoppix-like bootable layer for their games? This way, they'd have a piece of the PC, console and hand-held markets. If successful, they could license the PC boot layer to other hardware vendors and we'd have an easy-to-use alternative to Windows/DirectX.
Windows autorun was supposed to enable "console-like usability" but it hasn't even come close. Isn't it about time that someone took advantage?
Ritz will probably use the DMCA to stop it.
Exactly - just like the MPAA used it to stop people from downloading DeCSS. The most that they can do now is simply to come up with a better design.
Real memory is rewritable, like CD-RWs
They are actually working on something with the chalcogenide material used in CD-RWs. Its call OUM or Ovonic Unified Memory. Intel is supposedly ahead in the research on this stuff but STMicro and Lockheed Martin are in on it, too.
Google for it to get more info. The cool stuff is that, if this stuff comes to fruition, is that it will eventually replace hard drives - solid state storage with DRAM access speeds. *That* is the future. DISCLAIMER - Gordon Moore wrote a paper on this stuff in the 60s. So it really *is* the future.
The problem here is not of the elephant magnatude: even after SCO's stock running up, they are still a puny company that could easily be assimilated by IBM or any other blue chip company (which is exactly what they want and the only reason that I haven't shorted the stock).
It is more like a fly bothering an elephant. If it would just sit still for a second, the elephant would crush it.
The advances are there but people aren't willing to pay for them. Err, rather, the manufacturers don't offer the advanced batteries because they don't believe that people will pay for them.
Most laptops use Li-Ion - a technology that brings the term "suck" to the title of this article. Li-Ion sucks. Not the other technologies out there. They aren't offfered.
NiMH is a decidedly better technology. Matsushita (who, BTW, is currently in arbitration with Ovonic Battery over a patent dispute) has brought the new Toyota Prius battery up to some astounding levels of power and energy density. And the batteries are proven to last for the vehicles lifetime - not this puny 500 cycles like Li-Ion that we get with laptop batteries. Didja ever wonder why your laptop's 2-year warranty didn't include the battery?
Because margins are already too thin. They can't afford real battery technology. We'll have true wireless only when the electronics downsize their power requirements.
As a side note, engineers *never* use the term "self-destruct" in a technical report. The same goes for "explode" and other synonyms. The correct term is:
"Spontaneously Disassemble"
If your laughing, make note that I am being completely serious. I've seen this term on paper too many times.
Many local land-based phone companies are now providing 911 services for people without actual land line services. This is for the people who simply can't afford a phone, period.
On a side note, I'd like a cell phone docking station that would connect my cell phone to my house wiring - much like the ATA adapters that come with popular VoIP services like vonage or packet8.net.
I've stopped buying copy-protected CD's since none of them plays properly on my discman.
Dude... This is SLASHDOT! Do you *realize* what you've done? Your discman probably doesn't even play ogg, does it?
Poseur...