I have worked for companies who were hourly rate based - they are too havily focused on time, almost anal about it. Now I am salaried based on a 42.5 hour week - although I usually make it about a 45 - 47 hour week. If I go over 50 hours I get bits of free time, and occasionally when things go above 80 hours I get a free holiday. Don't get me wrong, overtime pay would be nice, but they pay me well enough to pay my bills, mortgage etc so I don't really need much more.
I really don't think you understand how this works. An R12k SGI Mips processor running at 250MHz on a typical O2 will absolutely blow away a 1 GHz PC. Even the older R10k at 180MHz is much faster than a 500MHz PC. One reason is that they don't use a bus. All memory is shared instead, which gives you over 2.1Gb per second data transfer!!!! And then we go up to 1000+ processor machines with over 1 Terabyte of RAM (That's 1000 Gigabytes - roughly) We like the Cray T3E There is no contest. Believe me! PC's are currently baby food.
On the super PC note, you must have seen Slashdot's article about SGI's new Linux Supercluster. Should be the fastest machine in the world.
Although Bluetooth has its place - albeit not very useful for real WLANS - it's the one which will be hacked. Real WLANS's using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum technology have an RF signal level typically below ambient noise level. So first you have to find the signal. Then you need to rebuild the signal - which is built using up to 51bit encryption. Then you need to have an SSID which is relevant and an IP address which hasn't been denied. Hacking that way is tricky.
Trying to drain battery life is also very difficult - the only sensible way is to take interference levels so high that nothing gets through. You've got to really try hard to do this!!
Always use BladeEnc - always use a high bit rate - never copy from CD's. These rules mean you will have great sounding music. If you like the way CD's sound (God knows why!!) then 128bit mp3 is easily sufficient to store them.
Penguin eggs - like large chicken eggs, but with a bright red yolk...mmmm
Penguins are also very susceptible to fleas and ticks and are so noisy even with triple glazing we couldn't shut out the noise when we lived in the Falklands!!
I have a Lan at home with 5 SG servers (2 on 100baseT, 3 on 10base2) and a Telxon/Aironet 2Mb/sec radio Access Point so my laptop (with PCMCIA Aironet card can log on to the network. In my Technical Consultant role at work I also use Symbol wireless kit, which is good but as yet they have no plans to port to Linux -
Telxon are working on the Linux port now!!!
You can limit their kit down to 802.11 if you want, but it currently runs at 11Mb/sec although due to the protocols used 2Mb/s on the rf side gives you greater throughput than 10Mb ethernet, and in the UK, where total output power is restricted to 100mW I have set up reliable distance tests over 1/2 mile outdoors (running Quake 2 happily), although indoors it is reduced a lot. My whole house and garden is served by 1 AP (and I can connect from a neighbour 5 houses away!!)
Price is coming way down - admittedly not down far enough in the UK, and we still have very restrictive rf guidelines over here...still never mind.
All the technology exists - We've had RDS in the UK for a decade, the hardware is simple, even the EMPEG player has RDS. It lets a station broadcast in many areas on different frequencies, sending an ID code with the signal, and the RDS stereo just searches for that ID. This also allows local traffic news to cut in if you want.
Sorry - Notes DOES just suck big time. We run AS/400, NT, Linux quite happily in the same environment and they all work beautifully except for the Notes bit crashing our whole company at least once a week. The email side of it is so poor I removed Notes from my laptop altogether and have a separate email address on a 486 running Linux (along with most of the other pissed off techies) which I can access through POP/IMAP.
The rest of it follows the Microsoft ethic - build it like a whale and people won't be able to tell what's wrong - slow, cumbersome and impossible to work with at a sensible level.
Some of our staff have gone BACK to green screen 5250 terminals because they can at least work more effectively this way.
Slashdot Mirror
I have worked for companies who were hourly rate based - they are too havily focused on time, almost anal about it. Now I am salaried based on a 42.5 hour week - although I usually make it about a 45 - 47 hour week. If I go over 50 hours I get bits of free time, and occasionally when things go above 80 hours I get a free holiday.
Don't get me wrong, overtime pay would be nice, but they pay me well enough to pay my bills, mortgage etc so I don't really need much more.
Well, I've got my Classic and Edinburgh versions of the game - why the hell not go for a real one of these.
D'ya think the pic is copyrighted?:)
I really don't think you understand how this works. An R12k SGI Mips processor running at 250MHz on a typical O2 will absolutely blow away a 1 GHz PC. Even the older R10k at 180MHz is much faster than a 500MHz PC. One reason is that they don't use a bus. All memory is shared instead, which gives you over 2.1Gb per second data transfer!!!! And then we go up to 1000+ processor machines with over 1 Terabyte of RAM (That's 1000 Gigabytes - roughly)
We like the Cray T3E
There is no contest. Believe me! PC's are currently baby food.
On the super PC note, you must have seen Slashdot's article about SGI's new Linux Supercluster. Should be the fastest machine in the world.
In my house
Server Brie
Camembert, Gouda, Edam, Gruyere, Cheddar, Jarlsberg and Emmental.
At work
Ekki, Ftang, Ni, Five, Zoot and Bastard
Although Bluetooth has its place - albeit not very useful for real WLANS - it's the one which will be hacked.
Real WLANS's using Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum technology have an RF signal level typically below ambient noise level. So first you have to find the signal. Then you need to rebuild the signal - which is built using up to 51bit encryption. Then you need to have an SSID which is relevant and an IP address which hasn't been denied.
Hacking that way is tricky.
Trying to drain battery life is also very difficult - the only sensible way is to take interference levels so high that nothing gets through. You've got to really try hard to do this!!
I don't think we have much to worry about.
Symbol have a current version of the Pilot with a laser barcode scanner and 2.4Ghz RF connectivity. Now we might see a colour one!
Yippeee - Toys!!
Do they reckon they'll cope with the slashdot effect? :)
First Post!?
Well - somebody up there could have designed our genitals better...or is it just me?
First post? My first!!!
Always use BladeEnc - always use a high bit rate - never copy from CD's. These rules mean you will have great sounding music. If you like the way CD's sound (God knows why!!) then 128bit mp3 is easily sufficient to store them.
We have had these for ages in the UK - and they're just as bad as ordinary ATM's.
Excitement over...
Frog51
Penguin eggs - like large chicken eggs, but with a bright red yolk...mmmm
Penguins are also very susceptible to fleas and ticks and are so noisy even with triple glazing we couldn't shut out the noise when we lived in the Falklands!!
I have a Lan at home with 5 SG servers (2 on 100baseT, 3 on 10base2) and a Telxon/Aironet 2Mb/sec radio Access Point so my laptop (with PCMCIA Aironet card can log on to the network. In my Technical Consultant role at work I also use Symbol wireless kit, which is good but as yet they have no plans to port to Linux -
Telxon are working on the Linux port now!!!
You can limit their kit down to 802.11 if you want, but it currently runs at 11Mb/sec although due to the protocols used 2Mb/s on the rf side gives you greater throughput than 10Mb ethernet, and in the UK, where total output power is restricted to 100mW I have set up reliable distance tests over 1/2 mile outdoors (running Quake 2 happily), although indoors it is reduced a lot. My whole house and garden is served by 1 AP (and I can connect from a neighbour 5 houses away!!)
Price is coming way down - admittedly not down far enough in the UK, and we still have very restrictive rf guidelines over here...still never mind.
All the technology exists - We've had RDS in the UK for a decade, the hardware is simple, even the EMPEG player has RDS.
It lets a station broadcast in many areas on different frequencies, sending an ID code with the signal, and the RDS stereo just searches for that ID. This also allows local traffic news to cut in if you want.
Sorry - Notes DOES just suck big time. We run AS/400, NT, Linux quite happily in the same environment and they all work beautifully except for the Notes bit crashing our whole company at least once a week. The email side of it is so poor I removed Notes from my laptop altogether and have a separate email address on a 486 running Linux (along with most of the other pissed off techies) which I can access through POP/IMAP.
The rest of it follows the Microsoft ethic - build it like a whale and people won't be able to tell what's wrong - slow, cumbersome and impossible to work with at a sensible level.
Some of our staff have gone BACK to green screen 5250 terminals because they can at least work more effectively this way.