By the way, what would have happened if he did launched a batch file like this (say it's called a.bat)
net send foo Hey!
call a.bat
? That IS annoying...;-P
You're right, that is annoying. You'd run out of call space and the batch file would stop running (error out to the command line after a few dozen sends). Try this instead:
:loop
net send foo Hey!
if exist a.bat goto loop
Then you could stop it by deleting the batch file remotely (assuming it's run from a networked drive).
It's not that I don't get enough sleep (I go to bed at night when I get sleepy), but my body tends to want a day longer than 24 hours, and I have to use an alarm to keep myself on a constant schedule with the rest of the world; otherwise, I get up a little later each day and pretty soon I'm sleeping till noon.
Logically only one of the following two things can be true given your description above:
1) If you hold your bedtime constant, you sleep later and later each day until you are sleeping 24/7
2) If you sleep later and later each day and the above is not true, then how late you wake up is a function that partially depends on the time you go to bed.
For the vast majority of humans, 2) is true. If the time you wake up is mostly or completely independant of the time you go to bed then you should see a sleep clinic immediately. An easy way to check is to go to bed within 30 minutes of a set time consistantly for a few weeks, at least 8 hours before you need to awake for whatever your daily tasks require, and set your alarm for 8 hours after that time.
If, after two weeks of 8 solid hours of sleep a night, you still have a problem waking up to the average alarm clock then get checked. You may also need to have your hearing checked.
The upshot is that it is unlikely that you are simply a heavy sleeper. It is more likely that you are simply not allowing yourself enough time to sleep at night. If you wait until you feel too tired to continue doing what you are doing, then you are stretching the hours past the time your body should be asleep.
After you get on a sleeping schedule, you'll feel better, recover from illness and injury faster, and generally have better/more level hormones which will often increase your happiness and general well being.
It's worth the effort, and believe me - you aren't missing out on anything by turning off the tv, computer, etc and sleeping.
Where do you shoot it down that doesn't do more damage to the surrounding populace?
My guess is that the majority of the damage happens when the fuel ignites, regardless of the location of the plane when it does so. If it explodes in air, the only damage to the ground is where a few million pieces of shrapnel hit the ground. While all the shrapnel together weigh many tons, seperately they are small. They will slow to terminal velocity if they are more than few hundred feet from the ground. The chances of human life on the ground being lost depends on the location, but they are very small - humans present at most a 10 foot square target, and the vast majority are covered by buildings which would stop all but the largest pieces of plane.
If the plane explodes near or at the ground or a building the blast radius alone is going to be larger than the combined area of ground that is damaged by falling pieces from an air explosion. It is, however, more concentrated to one area. It is also more able to take out the building it crashes into as well as any building within 100 feet. I think you know that this is more fatal damage than an air explosion with falling debris.
But, as always, it depends on a variety of circumstances. There are certianly cases in which the former could cause more casualties.
I'm glad BSD is dying. Just think about all those lost developers, making/porting programs for a terminal OS. Soon they will be free to pursue more enriching activities, such as weaving and pinochle
"Core Team" Development models are out-dated and sound more M$'ish than Open Source'ish.
While several projects continue to use the "Core Team" model, like FreeBSD, in my opinion, the politics involved ain't worth it.
Uh, say again? Are you saying that open source software favors one political structure over another?
So if a core team is bad, what about Linux with essentially a technical dictator^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hdirector? And do you believe the MS uses a core team to direct development of their software? They have a simple hierarchy, like most succesful businesses.
While it may be warm and fuzzy to say that open source == no core team, the simple fact is that different political structures are good for different projects during different phases of their life. Linux has gotten too large to be developed by a single developer, so Linus has changed the political structure to fit his needs.
Furthermore, this doesn't mean the end of the core team for XFree, only the end of a core team. They haven't spelled out a change in structure, only a change in personel.
The only problem with a copany that went broke is getting in contact with a former manager who knew the individual in question and their work abilities/habits.
Perhaps for others it's difficult to not be cynical, but I doubt manager's care too much who you previously worked for, as long as they can see that you did good (ethical) work there, and you are a good fit for the new position.
This is a little like assuming that all French hate Americans. That's not true. Many hate the things the USA does, but they are able to (and do) divorce being American from the actions of the USA. Once they get to know a specific American, then they'll hate him (or her) for what he is, and not from where he came.
There is no full GPS unit inside the phone. Instead it takes the GPS signal, does some limited processing, and sends the information to the cell tower it's in contact with. The cell tower has the remainder of the equipment to finish the processing (including knowledge about its own location and the signal it's receiving) and can locate the phone to within the usual resolution of GPS (several meters on a good day)
To use the phone as a GPS unit, one would have to write an app that used airtime to connect to the tower and get the coordinates to display on the phone itself.
I suspect that for the next few years we will barely see more than location based spam and perhaps a few games that will ultimately fail in which location plays a role in gameplay.
In short, the only cool use so far is calling 911 and knowing that in two years they should be able to locate you...if the GPS signal is good enough.
verbosity asks: "I often park in valet parking, and I got a nice car for Christmas. This is great because I can get to where I need to go in style, but never have to park my own car. The problem is that the valets always seem to be wearing illegal and distracting headphones while driving my car. Could anyone recommend some cheap yet effective EMP devices that I can install and use to 'disable' music players, without damaging any car components?"
Say you spend an hour each saturday dealing with bills. Each file represents the saturday you need to pay a bill by in order to make the due date. Each saturday you clean out the contents of one file. Pay the bills, sort them into whatever filing system you use (I like phone, gas/electric, city services, other - you don't need a file for each company/service combination - it makes it harder to go back, in fact).
Keep these filed according to their due date. Each year take those four or more bill folders and place them all in a large manilla envelope and keep them for however long you need to (2-7 years). Do NOT keep them for any longer then legally necessary. The current year and the previous tax year is a good minimum, and generally few service bills need to be kept any longer than that.
12 bills from many sources takes up very little space. Remove the envelopes after paying, staple them, and highlight or underline the due date. Make sure they are all laying flat so they take up as little space as possible, and are easy to flip through from the stapled corner.
Honestly you shouldn't be spending more than 5 minutes a day to sort into "To be paid" folders, and then maybe 20 minutes actually paying them, stapling them, removing unnecessary bits of paper, and filing them each saturday. If you want to spend less time, make "To be paid" folders that are only paid every other week. Wait long than that and you'll usually have issues with bills that come due before the next 'to be paid' day, and the workload on that day will seem daunting, even though it'll still take less than an hour or so.
Besides, shouldn't you have all of your fixed payments, and most of your regular services on an automatic bill pay service? If not, get with the program. No need to spend more than a few minutes a month keeping your finances in order once you get them in order.
I don't think the tip jar will pay for the setup, but I suspect customers may come and drink more coffee, so it'll be worthwhile even as a learning experience.
Go with 802.11b. Your internet connection isn't nearly fast enough to saturate 11Mb/s. Use an access point that goes to an ethernet card on the computer, which has another card that goes to the internet. If you want to run a wired or private network as well, hang a third card off the computer and make sure no one can go from the public network to the private one, only to the internet.
Then go wild with the linux. Be aware that the more programs you run, the more vulnerable you are to attacks. You'll be ssh'ing in every month to update the software if you use any new software that hasn't undergone the rigors of years of public internet testing.
Alternately, use an AP/Router combination. Make sure you don't skimp. Many have ability to block ports, limit usage, etc. You won't be able to prevent spammers as easily, but your ISP will tell you if that' becoming an issue. If so, put in a box later.
For all those wailing "Like, WTF?" and "This isn't worth it!" I'll say this once:
Well duh. Do you think we don't understand the value of time, space, and money and can't do an investment/return calculation?
This is cool because they can do it. It's on Slashdot because lots of us think it's nifty to turn a 2.2GHz processor into a 4+GHz processor.
Yes, it does cost more, take more space, and more time to set up than two 3GHz machines, or even a dual processor 3GHz.
But it's like my high school instructor telling me 10 years ago that making a microcontroller controlled light dimmer is non-trivial. I did it then, and it requires fewer than 25 lines of assembly code on a simple microcontoller. Was I geeked when I finished? You bet.
People are constantly trying to break records, and this is no exception. The higher the record is set, the more effort and resources must be put in to beat it.
-Adam
Why is it becoming harder to post on slashdot? 4/5 of the time I get an incomplete page when I press submit or preview.
Initially one might suppose that by keeping the code secret, they are saying, in effect, "Linux has our code, we want it fixed, but we won't tell you what's wrong." and therefore getting linux users in a catch-22
However, what they are likely trying to establish is this, "Linux has had our code in it for the past x revisions. The following entities have made a profit off Linux, either by use or sales or support, and have thereby profited illegally from our code."
However, the instant the code is out it will be very difficult indeed to prove that some corporations did use the kernels or modules in question as they will upgrade and destroy any trail or proof of use. "No sir, we used linux 2.1 for the last x years, and only recently upgraded to the latest, sco free, release a week after some patches were released..."
They need time and a court order to seek out infringing use evidence before the code can be released. They need to win against IBM in order to get the court orders they need, and then it'll take a year or longer to vet out the targets of further lawsuits and try to get them to pay.
This is NOT about co-opting linux, or even getting it 'fixed.' This is about getting money for their investors by licensing IP which has been allegedly mishandled and used by many profitable organizations.
If it does work (unlikely) then it will have a chilling effect on the usage of Linux as other comapnies use the SCO case as precedence to license code they feel is an infringement on their IP. For instance, many developers of Linux, even on their free time, are beholden to their companies through various state laws and contracts they may have signed without careful reading.
BSD, having been through its litigation phase, may catch up during this time. But I doubt much will come of the whole affair. IBM will settle with no further suits from SCO to endusers, SCO will be sold, the lawyers will be paid, and the court documents will be sealed according to the terms of settlement.
We may never have full knowledge of the IP allegedly being infringed.
Thing is, I think he was talking about his sister, not his SO.
Well, let's see...
"My mouse, on the other hand, makes a very audible *click* each time I use it, and while providing a pleasant tactile feedback, it keeps my girlfriend awake during my late-night work sessions."
Hmm. If you're from a redneck community I could see you interpretting "girlfriend" as "sister," but I like to avoid that kind of assumption until I see more evidence...
Try this, it works great for me: Go to bed when your SO goes to bed. No, really, it works great. And there are other benefits as well.
If you cannot pull yourself away from the computer, then you can either get a touchpad (like a laptop), or you can hack your mouse.
The clicking device in the mouse is a microswitch, which has a very distinct switchover feeling and sound. If you wrap the switch and some of the circuitboard in yarn, you can deaden the sound somewhat. You can also replace it with something else of your own invention - two wires on the circuitboard, and a piece of tin foil on the button for instance.
You'll have reliability issues unless it's well designed (spring steel instead of tin foil, for instance), but it'll be quiet.
Another option is to hack some optical gates inside there. It would require much more engineering, but a simple optical gate, resister, and an epoxied piece of plastic on the button to break the beam when pressed should do very nicely. It'll take up little more room than the microswitch.
Send me a mouse and $90 and I'll do it for you.
-Adam
They couldn't put it on the beatle because of GPL.
on
Linux Goes to Mars
·
· Score: 4, Funny
They couldn't put it on the beatle because of GPL. This is because they don't have the space on it to store the source code, and by sending it to mars they'd be 'distributing' it, and must provide a way to get the source code for anyone there to get the source code for only the cost of duplication and delivery.
HyperText Markup Language is indeed a programming language.
HyperText Markup Language is *not* a programming language. The basic definition of a programming language, IMHO, is one that is turing complete, ie, it can solve any np complete problem given infinite time and resources.
HTML can't even add, nevermind bootstrapping itself (ie, writing an HTML interpreter/compiler in HTML which can interpret/compile itself)
Just make sure that they don't force you to keep your current site layout and colors for the duration of the hosting - remember, green can go out of style...
Oh, wait, you aren't talking about slashdot? Nevermind then...
500 DVD-R disks - $258, total of 2.4TB of information
400 disk DVD changer - ideally $492, total of 1.9TB of information available
Total cost for a 2TB, near line storage device: $750. (probably ought to include the cost of a dvd+-r/rw, but it's still under $1000)
Can you even get 1TB for under $1000? Almost - a 200GB drive is around $150, so you can get 1TB for $1000.
There are good reasons to consider this sort of storage. Especially if you want to trade off power consumption for access time, to mention one aspect.
At any rate, to answer the original poster's question:
NO. No such "consumer" or "prosumer" device is going to be made now or in the near future. Such a device is intended to have sales exceeding 1,000 units, as a minimum, at a much higher price point. There aren't nearly enough people who want such a device to make it practical to sell at your price point. I remember the old CD-ROM changers that were meant for prosumers, and they died a quick death, though in theory you could change the CD-rom used for a DVD drive, but IIRC they didn't hold many discs, 50 or so. I think they came out before the carousel kind became common, and it was linear - took up lots of room for few discs.
If by 'Voice mail' you mean, "My phone company's voice mail service" then no, there is NO way for ANY home connected device to see if there's a fax machine on the other end of the line without actually answering the call - you have to use distinctive ring, or a seperate line.
If by 'Voice mail' you mean 'Answering machine on the same line' then any intelligent faxing application will listen to the line after it's been answered for the telltale beeps and take over if necessary. This means that if you or voice mail picks up, the fax machine should recognize the beeps. The answering machine may or may not record the conversation depending on how smart it is.
Your best bet is to use distinctive ring, OR use panther as your answering machine/fax machine, and it should take care of all of it for you.
Slashdot Mirror
By the way, what would have happened if he did launched a batch file like this (say it's called a.bat) ;-P
:loop
net send foo Hey!
call a.bat
? That IS annoying...
You're right, that is annoying. You'd run out of call space and the batch file would stop running (error out to the command line after a few dozen sends). Try this instead:
net send foo Hey!
if exist a.bat goto loop
Then you could stop it by deleting the batch file remotely (assuming it's run from a networked drive).
-Adam
It's not that I don't get enough sleep (I go to bed at night when I get sleepy), but my body tends to want a day longer than 24 hours, and I have to use an alarm to keep myself on a constant schedule with the rest of the world; otherwise, I get up a little later each day and pretty soon I'm sleeping till noon.
Logically only one of the following two things can be true given your description above:
1) If you hold your bedtime constant, you sleep later and later each day until you are sleeping 24/7
2) If you sleep later and later each day and the above is not true, then how late you wake up is a function that partially depends on the time you go to bed.
For the vast majority of humans, 2) is true. If the time you wake up is mostly or completely independant of the time you go to bed then you should see a sleep clinic immediately. An easy way to check is to go to bed within 30 minutes of a set time consistantly for a few weeks, at least 8 hours before you need to awake for whatever your daily tasks require, and set your alarm for 8 hours after that time.
If, after two weeks of 8 solid hours of sleep a night, you still have a problem waking up to the average alarm clock then get checked. You may also need to have your hearing checked.
The upshot is that it is unlikely that you are simply a heavy sleeper. It is more likely that you are simply not allowing yourself enough time to sleep at night. If you wait until you feel too tired to continue doing what you are doing, then you are stretching the hours past the time your body should be asleep.
After you get on a sleeping schedule, you'll feel better, recover from illness and injury faster, and generally have better/more level hormones which will often increase your happiness and general well being.
It's worth the effort, and believe me - you aren't missing out on anything by turning off the tv, computer, etc and sleeping.
-Adam
Where do you shoot it down that doesn't do more damage to the surrounding populace?
My guess is that the majority of the damage happens when the fuel ignites, regardless of the location of the plane when it does so. If it explodes in air, the only damage to the ground is where a few million pieces of shrapnel hit the ground. While all the shrapnel together weigh many tons, seperately they are small. They will slow to terminal velocity if they are more than few hundred feet from the ground. The chances of human life on the ground being lost depends on the location, but they are very small - humans present at most a 10 foot square target, and the vast majority are covered by buildings which would stop all but the largest pieces of plane.
If the plane explodes near or at the ground or a building the blast radius alone is going to be larger than the combined area of ground that is damaged by falling pieces from an air explosion. It is, however, more concentrated to one area. It is also more able to take out the building it crashes into as well as any building within 100 feet. I think you know that this is more fatal damage than an air explosion with falling debris.
But, as always, it depends on a variety of circumstances. There are certianly cases in which the former could cause more casualties.
-Adam
I'm glad BSD is dying. Just think about all those lost developers, making/porting programs for a terminal OS. Soon they will be free to pursue more enriching activities, such as weaving and pinochle
-Adam
"Core Team" Development models are out-dated and sound more M$'ish than Open Source'ish.
While several projects continue to use the "Core Team" model, like FreeBSD, in my opinion, the politics involved ain't worth it.
Uh, say again? Are you saying that open source software favors one political structure over another?
So if a core team is bad, what about Linux with essentially a technical dictator^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hdirector? And do you believe the MS uses a core team to direct development of their software? They have a simple hierarchy, like most succesful businesses.
While it may be warm and fuzzy to say that open source == no core team, the simple fact is that different political structures are good for different projects during different phases of their life. Linux has gotten too large to be developed by a single developer, so Linus has changed the political structure to fit his needs.
Furthermore, this doesn't mean the end of the core team for XFree, only the end of a core team. They haven't spelled out a change in structure, only a change in personel.
-Adam
"Are you speaking the english?"
"I speak to the English, it's the Americans I won't talk to..."
-Adam
The only problem with a copany that went broke is getting in contact with a former manager who knew the individual in question and their work abilities/habits.
Perhaps for others it's difficult to not be cynical, but I doubt manager's care too much who you previously worked for, as long as they can see that you did good (ethical) work there, and you are a good fit for the new position.
This is a little like assuming that all French hate Americans. That's not true. Many hate the things the USA does, but they are able to (and do) divorce being American from the actions of the USA. Once they get to know a specific American, then they'll hate him (or her) for what he is, and not from where he came.
-Adam
There is no full GPS unit inside the phone. Instead it takes the GPS signal, does some limited processing, and sends the information to the cell tower it's in contact with. The cell tower has the remainder of the equipment to finish the processing (including knowledge about its own location and the signal it's receiving) and can locate the phone to within the usual resolution of GPS (several meters on a good day)
To use the phone as a GPS unit, one would have to write an app that used airtime to connect to the tower and get the coordinates to display on the phone itself.
I suspect that for the next few years we will barely see more than location based spam and perhaps a few games that will ultimately fail in which location plays a role in gameplay.
In short, the only cool use so far is calling 911 and knowing that in two years they should be able to locate you...if the GPS signal is good enough.
-Adam
verbosity asks: "I often park in valet parking, and I got a nice car for Christmas. This is great because I can get to where I need to go in style, but never have to park my own car. The problem is that the valets always seem to be wearing illegal and distracting headphones while driving my car. Could anyone recommend some cheap yet effective EMP devices that I can install and use to 'disable' music players, without damaging any car components?"
-Adam
You need 4-6 files for this:
Say you spend an hour each saturday dealing with bills. Each file represents the saturday you need to pay a bill by in order to make the due date. Each saturday you clean out the contents of one file. Pay the bills, sort them into whatever filing system you use (I like phone, gas/electric, city services, other - you don't need a file for each company/service combination - it makes it harder to go back, in fact).
Keep these filed according to their due date. Each year take those four or more bill folders and place them all in a large manilla envelope and keep them for however long you need to (2-7 years). Do NOT keep them for any longer then legally necessary. The current year and the previous tax year is a good minimum, and generally few service bills need to be kept any longer than that.
12 bills from many sources takes up very little space. Remove the envelopes after paying, staple them, and highlight or underline the due date. Make sure they are all laying flat so they take up as little space as possible, and are easy to flip through from the stapled corner.
Honestly you shouldn't be spending more than 5 minutes a day to sort into "To be paid" folders, and then maybe 20 minutes actually paying them, stapling them, removing unnecessary bits of paper, and filing them each saturday. If you want to spend less time, make "To be paid" folders that are only paid every other week. Wait long than that and you'll usually have issues with bills that come due before the next 'to be paid' day, and the workload on that day will seem daunting, even though it'll still take less than an hour or so.
Besides, shouldn't you have all of your fixed payments, and most of your regular services on an automatic bill pay service? If not, get with the program. No need to spend more than a few minutes a month keeping your finances in order once you get them in order.
-Adam
I don't think the tip jar will pay for the setup, but I suspect customers may come and drink more coffee, so it'll be worthwhile even as a learning experience.
Go with 802.11b. Your internet connection isn't nearly fast enough to saturate 11Mb/s. Use an access point that goes to an ethernet card on the computer, which has another card that goes to the internet. If you want to run a wired or private network as well, hang a third card off the computer and make sure no one can go from the public network to the private one, only to the internet.
Then go wild with the linux. Be aware that the more programs you run, the more vulnerable you are to attacks. You'll be ssh'ing in every month to update the software if you use any new software that hasn't undergone the rigors of years of public internet testing.
Alternately, use an AP/Router combination. Make sure you don't skimp. Many have ability to block ports, limit usage, etc. You won't be able to prevent spammers as easily, but your ISP will tell you if that' becoming an issue. If so, put in a box later.
-Adam
Lego Creator race to build it board game.
I can be a geek, give a geeky gift, and get my geek on with my non geek family.
What could be better?
-Adam
"I would knife someone to get a hold of that."
And I went into programming because it was such a safe job...
-Adam
For all those wailing "Like, WTF?" and "This isn't worth it!" I'll say this once:
Well duh. Do you think we don't understand the value of time, space, and money and can't do an investment/return calculation?
This is cool because they can do it. It's on Slashdot because lots of us think it's nifty to turn a 2.2GHz processor into a 4+GHz processor.
Yes, it does cost more, take more space, and more time to set up than two 3GHz machines, or even a dual processor 3GHz.
But it's like my high school instructor telling me 10 years ago that making a microcontroller controlled light dimmer is non-trivial. I did it then, and it requires fewer than 25 lines of assembly code on a simple microcontoller. Was I geeked when I finished? You bet.
People are constantly trying to break records, and this is no exception. The higher the record is set, the more effort and resources must be put in to beat it.
-Adam
Why is it becoming harder to post on slashdot? 4/5 of the time I get an incomplete page when I press submit or preview.
"Those things go down to -80 to -100C and can maintain* the temperature."
* Except under heavy slashdotting
-Adam
Initially one might suppose that by keeping the code secret, they are saying, in effect, "Linux has our code, we want it fixed, but we won't tell you what's wrong." and therefore getting linux users in a catch-22
However, what they are likely trying to establish is this, "Linux has had our code in it for the past x revisions. The following entities have made a profit off Linux, either by use or sales or support, and have thereby profited illegally from our code."
However, the instant the code is out it will be very difficult indeed to prove that some corporations did use the kernels or modules in question as they will upgrade and destroy any trail or proof of use. "No sir, we used linux 2.1 for the last x years, and only recently upgraded to the latest, sco free, release a week after some patches were released..."
They need time and a court order to seek out infringing use evidence before the code can be released. They need to win against IBM in order to get the court orders they need, and then it'll take a year or longer to vet out the targets of further lawsuits and try to get them to pay.
This is NOT about co-opting linux, or even getting it 'fixed.' This is about getting money for their investors by licensing IP which has been allegedly mishandled and used by many profitable organizations.
If it does work (unlikely) then it will have a chilling effect on the usage of Linux as other comapnies use the SCO case as precedence to license code they feel is an infringement on their IP. For instance, many developers of Linux, even on their free time, are beholden to their companies through various state laws and contracts they may have signed without careful reading.
BSD, having been through its litigation phase, may catch up during this time. But I doubt much will come of the whole affair. IBM will settle with no further suits from SCO to endusers, SCO will be sold, the lawyers will be paid, and the court documents will be sealed according to the terms of settlement.
We may never have full knowledge of the IP allegedly being infringed.
-Adam
Teachers and test proxies want the capabilities of calculators to be limited and easy to verify.
-Adam
You need the latest service pack. If that doesn't work, I hope she's under warranty...
-Adam
Thing is, I think he was talking about his sister, not his SO.
Well, let's see...
"My mouse, on the other hand, makes a very audible *click* each time I use it, and while providing a pleasant tactile feedback, it keeps my girlfriend awake during my late-night work sessions."
Hmm. If you're from a redneck community I could see you interpretting "girlfriend" as "sister," but I like to avoid that kind of assumption until I see more evidence...
-Adam
Try this, it works great for me: Go to bed when your SO goes to bed. No, really, it works great. And there are other benefits as well.
If you cannot pull yourself away from the computer, then you can either get a touchpad (like a laptop), or you can hack your mouse.
The clicking device in the mouse is a microswitch, which has a very distinct switchover feeling and sound. If you wrap the switch and some of the circuitboard in yarn, you can deaden the sound somewhat. You can also replace it with something else of your own invention - two wires on the circuitboard, and a piece of tin foil on the button for instance.
You'll have reliability issues unless it's well designed (spring steel instead of tin foil, for instance), but it'll be quiet.
Another option is to hack some optical gates inside there. It would require much more engineering, but a simple optical gate, resister, and an epoxied piece of plastic on the button to break the beam when pressed should do very nicely. It'll take up little more room than the microswitch.
Send me a mouse and $90 and I'll do it for you.
-Adam
They couldn't put it on the beatle because of GPL. This is because they don't have the space on it to store the source code, and by sending it to mars they'd be 'distributing' it, and must provide a way to get the source code for anyone there to get the source code for only the cost of duplication and delivery.
-Adam
HyperText Markup Language is indeed a programming language.
HyperText Markup Language is *not* a programming language. The basic definition of a programming language, IMHO, is one that is turing complete, ie, it can solve any np complete problem given infinite time and resources.
HTML can't even add, nevermind bootstrapping itself (ie, writing an HTML interpreter/compiler in HTML which can interpret/compile itself)
-Adam
Just make sure that they don't force you to keep your current site layout and colors for the duration of the hosting - remember, green can go out of style...
Oh, wait, you aren't talking about slashdot? Nevermind then...
-Adam
Well, let's see here...
500 DVD-R disks - $258, total of 2.4TB of information
400 disk DVD changer - ideally $492, total of 1.9TB of information available
Total cost for a 2TB, near line storage device: $750. (probably ought to include the cost of a dvd+-r/rw, but it's still under $1000)
Can you even get 1TB for under $1000? Almost - a 200GB drive is around $150, so you can get 1TB for $1000.
There are good reasons to consider this sort of storage. Especially if you want to trade off power consumption for access time, to mention one aspect.
At any rate, to answer the original poster's question:
NO. No such "consumer" or "prosumer" device is going to be made now or in the near future. Such a device is intended to have sales exceeding 1,000 units, as a minimum, at a much higher price point. There aren't nearly enough people who want such a device to make it practical to sell at your price point. I remember the old CD-ROM changers that were meant for prosumers, and they died a quick death, though in theory you could change the CD-rom used for a DVD drive, but IIRC they didn't hold many discs, 50 or so. I think they came out before the carousel kind became common, and it was linear - took up lots of room for few discs.
-Adam
If by 'Voice mail' you mean, "My phone company's voice mail service" then no, there is NO way for ANY home connected device to see if there's a fax machine on the other end of the line without actually answering the call - you have to use distinctive ring, or a seperate line.
If by 'Voice mail' you mean 'Answering machine on the same line' then any intelligent faxing application will listen to the line after it's been answered for the telltale beeps and take over if necessary. This means that if you or voice mail picks up, the fax machine should recognize the beeps. The answering machine may or may not record the conversation depending on how smart it is.
Your best bet is to use distinctive ring, OR use panther as your answering machine/fax machine, and it should take care of all of it for you.
-Adam