On the first few models of Apple ]['s the spring on the reset key was the same strength as all the other keys on the keyboard. I believe they switched to the stronger spring when the 48k Apple ][ came out.
Some of my programs would occasionally trap the reset key (errant pointer), so you'd have to use the power-off switch on the back of the computer. I hated to do that, as it was well known that flipping the power switch too often would cause power supply failure.
It has long been accepted and promoted by internationally minded people within the electrical utilities that power could be shared internationally in a global HVDC grid that would be both technically and economically superior to the primitive, isolated systems that predominate today.
One of the misconceptions about electricity is that it flows instantaneously and without delay from point A to point B. Don't forget that there are many transformers in between A and B, and for each transformer, you have to wait for the magnetic field to expand/contract as the demand changes.
There may also be several paths from A to B via separate transmission lines, or through distant switching stations, then the problem then becomes one of balancing one circuit's load against the other with the transformers acting as "springs" that make your job harder. Adjust one line and maybe the circuits settle down into equilibrium (BOUNCY Bouncy bouncy). But maybe they enter a harmonic (bouncy Bouncy BOUNCY) and the circuits begin to resonate destructively.
Add in the changes in demand during the day, plus seasonal changes, and the difficulty in keeping all the lines running at 60Hz (50Hz for you Europeans) so that clocks run correctly and motors spin at the correct RPM, it's a tough job, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with it.
Stringing additional line across national boundaries has it's own dangers. Suppose your electricity is supplied from two countries away. But last week, the People's Liberation Front took over the intervening country of Moronica and cut you off. What do you do now? Your industries are at a standstill. Your ports are closed because no one can load the container ships. Your electrified railway is parked in between the stations, and your population is sitting outside while the daylight lasts. Having enough electricity to supply your own country's needs is a national priority.
At first, I just stood directly on the aluminum plate. When I went through some wet grass and then I tipped the handle fairly far forward to accelerate, I nearly slid off and had it run over my heels. So you definitely need some grippy coating. Masking tape works OK, but I'm looking for some nice adhesive-backed rubber.
The AS/400 has been doing this for years. It's (technically) a 65-bit system, as it reserves one bit to differentiate between user-mode and OS-mode memory. All hard drives (DASD in IBM-speak) are mapped into this memory address space, and the memory caching subsystem is responsible for making real the address you requested. Maybe it's in memory, maybe it's on disk, but to you, it's always going to be 0x0034a4b37cff0801.
You can think of the work as an excellent example of steganography, as applied to a piece of modern art. You've just shown that no one looks at the crap, so why not use it to hide secret messages?
So, what was Alexander Calder really saying with his colorful mobiles? Hint: it wasn't any garbage about "Expressing the social dynamic of Man's inhumanity to Man using organically reclaimed steel" -- it was "secret nuclear missle base is located at 34.4N 75.7W"
Chip H.
Re:NEw Geek bumper sticker.
on
Quicksilver
·
· Score: 1
W.W.S.D?
"What Would Satan Do?"
Might get you some unanticipated attention while waiting at the stoplight, especially in Mississippi and South Carolina.
They *have* spent time & money on their standards, and deserve to get something for their effort. I don't mind paying a one-time fee to use their codes -- much like you have to buy a copy of the X.12 spec, or buy a dictionary or encyclopedia.
Royalties, OTOH, imply that the rate schedule can be changed at a later date -- You could call it the "drug dealer" revenue plan. Give them a little taste for free, then raise the rates when they've gotten "hooked" by writing software around their list and have little alternative but to continue to pay.
So, will the new models finally have the Windows(tm) keys on them? As a.NET developer, I use them all the time, especially the pop-up menu one. When I switch from my desktop to my Thinkpad, it's like I have cut off my pinky finger -- I know something is missing, but I'm not sure what -- only that things aren't right.
North Carolina is third in the nation in number of hurricanes that make landfall (behind Florida and Texas). Our power grid is much more resiliant than the one in the Northeast because we *do* get these storms every few years.
Sure, you'll have neighborhoods without power (last news report I heard was 160,000 homes without power), but that's the last-mile effect as applied to 60Hz AC.
The newer neighborhoods are all going to underground utilities (mainly for aesthetic reasons), so if their feeder circuit goes down, a lot of homes drop off at once. By the same token, when the feeder is restored, you get all those homes back on the grid (and a hell of a power surge!)
So far I've been lucky -- my UPS has kicked in a few times, but since about 5pm the lights have been pretty stable. A few neighbors have lost window screens, a couple of trees have snapped, and I've seen a few roof shingles go by, but no major damage.
Judging from what I've seen on these US reality COP TV shows the average European car has better braking, handling and acceleration than the US equivalent. The narrators express horror at vehicles travelling at speeds which are normal in Europe.
That's just John Walsh. He's one of those "law & order" personality types. It gets a little irritating sometimes, to where I've got to turn the volume down.
Does it improve the quality of support? Arguably no.
I can agree with this (no, it doesn't improve the quality of support) after my recent experience with Dell support. It took four long phone calls to order two fans, a case door, and some panel fillers. I had to exchange one of the fans for the correct one, and return all of the panel fillers because the people did not speak or understand English. I can't help but wonder at how much money they saved on my transaction with them -- given that I'm now not disposed to buy anything from them in the future.
Re:Build a Saturn VI to go with it?
on
The Return of Apollo?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Found my own answer (Google is Great)
6.6 meters in diameter. Don't know the length (still looking for it). The reason why the diameter is important is making sure the payloads for the shuttle still fit.
Atlas, etc. are good rockets, but they can't beat the sheer power and relatively low G forces of the Saturn V. Since they'll (mostly) be going to LEO, as well as building a capsule that is 5-8% larger to accomodate a 4th passenger, why not take another look at the Saturn series of rockets?
They could use the upper stage as a cargo hold -- arrive in orbit and unlock/unbolt the sides (can't use explosive bolts that close to the ISS) to remove your stuff. Anyone know the diameter of the Saturn V third stage compared to the shuttle's cargo bay?
A half a page? How likely will this be picked up by papers if it's half a freaking page? I'd love to see it, but that may be asking too much from papers.
If my paper wants to keep my subscription, they will.
Man, I used to sit and read the Heathkit catalog for *hours*, planning the ultimate computer system that I would build myself. I ended up getting a summer job at a supermarket and buying a 48k Apple ][+. I eventually added an 80-column card so I could run UCSD Pascal and a memory card to bring it up to 64k. I remember that you had to pull one of the RAM chips and transfer it to the board, plugging a ribbon cable in to where the chip used to be. The memory card was available in kit form, so I soldered it up myself (which taught me a lot about the consequences of solder bridges!)
How about for micro-material transportation? You'd have a sheet of the stuff, and the mini piezo "bridges" would flex to move stuff like silicon wafers around.
Or, how about a micro-car with the piezo material on the bottom instead of wheels? Not a "serious" application, sure. But it would be pretty cool to see it scoot around, left, right, backwards, forwards, without any rotating parts. Battery life would probably be longer, too.
Sure, having a top-5 supercomputer is cool, and the bragging rights will garner the school some additional funding and scholarships, but at the end of the day after the benchmarks are run and the empty Jolt(tm) cans are recycled, what will they *do* with it?
In case people don't know, Dell off-shored their phone desk people a while ago.
I had to order some parts for a Precision Workstation I bought from a friend the other week. I spoke with "Andrea", who was obviously not from Texas. I had some obvious difficulties making myself understood to her, but thought I had it right. 10 days later my parts show up, most of which matched what I ordered, but a couple of items had been gotten wrong - a duplicate fan, a missing case fan, and some filler panels that didn't fit the case.
So, I call back to their spare-parts number, getting "Jack" this time. He wasn't from Texas either. Jack couldn't understand why the parts didn't fit (they were obviously for another machine), and transferred me to "Rich" at tech support. Rich spoke pretty decent English, I figured he had at least visited Texas at some point. He was able to get me the correct part numbers, and transferred me back to parts.
This time it was "John", who seemed to not be able to identify what part of North America Texas is in. He took my order for (what I hope turns out to be) the correct parts, and gave me the address to return the incorrect parts. The more he spoke, the less I understood. By the time he got to the ZIP code I didn't understand a word. I took down the address he gave me. Within a few minutes I got an email from them explaining how to return the parts. It didn't have the address on it, but it did say how to call Airborne Express and get them to pick up the package.
But today at work, I had a sneaking suspicion that I didn't get the address right, so I called Customer Service back. Sure enough, I had it wrong. I feel fairly confident that I have the correct address now. But I'm tempted to call back a third time, and take a vote on which address is most likely correct.
Am I cheesed off? Yes.
Am I likely to order a Dell in the future? The chances just got a lot slimmer. I have no problems ordering off their website. But the risk of something going wrong, and having to talk to a tech support person who only speaks English as a 2nd language is a big caution. Dad is getting ready to buy a new PC. I can just imagine how frustrated he would get with these people - he's starting to get hard of hearing, and listening to someone with a New Delhi accent is not the easiest thing to do.
Off-shoring their customer support people has got to be costing Michael Dell more than what he saved when they fired their English-speaking staff. After all, I spent over 2.5 hours on the phone using their toll-free number. They now also have the extra expense of restocking the parts that they shipped me by mistake because their person didn't have a good command of the language. Much more of that and it will start cutting into their profits (they'll probably close the parts division rather than fix the real problem of poor English ).
Since the wings are only needed at the very end of the shuttle's flight, why not cut them off and use parachutes like for Gemini and Apollo? No more fragile ceramic tiles to be hit (or fewer, anyway), and the payload is increased by reducing the weight of the orbiter itself.
Slashdot Mirror
On the first few models of Apple ]['s the spring on the reset key was the same strength as all the other keys on the keyboard. I believe they switched to the stronger spring when the 48k Apple ][ came out.
Some of my programs would occasionally trap the reset key (errant pointer), so you'd have to use the power-off switch on the back of the computer. I hated to do that, as it was well known that flipping the power switch too often would cause power supply failure.
Chip H.
It has long been accepted and promoted by internationally minded people within the electrical utilities that power could be shared internationally in a global HVDC grid that would be both technically and economically superior to the primitive, isolated systems that predominate today.
One of the misconceptions about electricity is that it flows instantaneously and without delay from point A to point B. Don't forget that there are many transformers in between A and B, and for each transformer, you have to wait for the magnetic field to expand/contract as the demand changes.
There may also be several paths from A to B via separate transmission lines, or through distant switching stations, then the problem then becomes one of balancing one circuit's load against the other with the transformers acting as "springs" that make your job harder. Adjust one line and maybe the circuits settle down into equilibrium (BOUNCY Bouncy bouncy). But maybe they enter a harmonic (bouncy Bouncy BOUNCY) and the circuits begin to resonate destructively.
Add in the changes in demand during the day, plus seasonal changes, and the difficulty in keeping all the lines running at 60Hz (50Hz for you Europeans) so that clocks run correctly and motors spin at the correct RPM, it's a tough job, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with it.
Stringing additional line across national boundaries has it's own dangers. Suppose your electricity is supplied from two countries away. But last week, the People's Liberation Front took over the intervening country of Moronica and cut you off. What do you do now? Your industries are at a standstill. Your ports are closed because no one can load the container ships. Your electrified railway is parked in between the stations, and your population is sitting outside while the daylight lasts. Having enough electricity to supply your own country's needs is a national priority.
Chip H.
At first, I just stood directly on the aluminum plate. When I went through some wet grass and then I tipped the handle fairly far forward to accelerate, I nearly slid off and had it run over my heels. So you definitely need some grippy coating. Masking tape works OK, but I'm looking for some nice adhesive-backed rubber.
Skateboard grip tape would be good for this.
Chip H.
The AS/400 has been doing this for years. It's (technically) a 65-bit system, as it reserves one bit to differentiate between user-mode and OS-mode memory. All hard drives (DASD in IBM-speak) are mapped into this memory address space, and the memory caching subsystem is responsible for making real the address you requested. Maybe it's in memory, maybe it's on disk, but to you, it's always going to be 0x0034a4b37cff0801.
Chip H.
...to a competitor releasing a faster chip -- increase the amount of on-die cache.
Chip H.
You can think of the work as an excellent example of steganography, as applied to a piece of modern art. You've just shown that no one looks at the crap, so why not use it to hide secret messages?
So, what was Alexander Calder really saying with his colorful mobiles? Hint: it wasn't any garbage about "Expressing the social dynamic of Man's inhumanity to Man using organically reclaimed steel" -- it was "secret nuclear missle base is located at 34.4N 75.7W"
Chip H.
W.W.S.D?
"What Would Satan Do?"
Might get you some unanticipated attention while waiting at the stoplight, especially in Mississippi and South Carolina.
Chip H.
They *have* spent time & money on their standards, and deserve to get something for their effort. I don't mind paying a one-time fee to use their codes -- much like you have to buy a copy of the X.12 spec, or buy a dictionary or encyclopedia.
Royalties, OTOH, imply that the rate schedule can be changed at a later date -- You could call it the "drug dealer" revenue plan. Give them a little taste for free, then raise the rates when they've gotten "hooked" by writing software around their list and have little alternative but to continue to pay.
Chip H.
So, will the new models finally have the Windows(tm) keys on them? As a .NET developer, I use them all the time, especially the pop-up menu one. When I switch from my desktop to my Thinkpad, it's like I have cut off my pinky finger -- I know something is missing, but I'm not sure what -- only that things aren't right.
Chip H.
North Carolina is third in the nation in number of hurricanes that make landfall (behind Florida and Texas). Our power grid is much more resiliant than the one in the Northeast because we *do* get these storms every few years.
Sure, you'll have neighborhoods without power (last news report I heard was 160,000 homes without power), but that's the last-mile effect as applied to 60Hz AC.
The newer neighborhoods are all going to underground utilities (mainly for aesthetic reasons), so if their feeder circuit goes down, a lot of homes drop off at once. By the same token, when the feeder is restored, you get all those homes back on the grid (and a hell of a power surge!)
So far I've been lucky -- my UPS has kicked in a few times, but since about 5pm the lights have been pretty stable. A few neighbors have lost window screens, a couple of trees have snapped, and I've seen a few roof shingles go by, but no major damage.
Chip H.
Judging from what I've seen on these US reality COP TV shows the average European car has better braking, handling and acceleration than the US equivalent. The narrators express horror at vehicles travelling at speeds which are normal in Europe.
That's just John Walsh. He's one of those "law & order" personality types. It gets a little irritating sometimes, to where I've got to turn the volume down.
Chip H.
Does it improve the quality of support? Arguably no.
I can agree with this (no, it doesn't improve the quality of support) after my recent experience with Dell support. It took four long phone calls to order two fans, a case door, and some panel fillers. I had to exchange one of the fans for the correct one, and return all of the panel fillers because the people did not speak or understand English. I can't help but wonder at how much money they saved on my transaction with them -- given that I'm now not disposed to buy anything from them in the future.
Chip H.
You're really Bill Gates posting as AC, aren't you?
Chip H.
Moderation: +1 Unintelligible Rant
What about their investment in ATM?
Can you run IP over ATM reliably?
Chip H.
Wings on space craft are essentially a burden.
A certain flightless waterfowl might agree.
Chip H.
Found my own answer (Google is Great)
6.6 meters in diameter. Don't know the length (still looking for it). The reason why the diameter is important is making sure the payloads for the shuttle still fit.
Chip H.
Atlas, etc. are good rockets, but they can't beat the sheer power and relatively low G forces of the Saturn V. Since they'll (mostly) be going to LEO, as well as building a capsule that is 5-8% larger to accomodate a 4th passenger, why not take another look at the Saturn series of rockets?
They could use the upper stage as a cargo hold -- arrive in orbit and unlock/unbolt the sides (can't use explosive bolts that close to the ISS) to remove your stuff. Anyone know the diameter of the Saturn V third stage compared to the shuttle's cargo bay?
Chip H.
A half a page? How likely will this be picked up by papers if it's half a freaking page? I'd love to see it, but that may be asking too much from papers.
If my paper wants to keep my subscription, they will.
Chip H.
Man, I used to sit and read the Heathkit catalog for *hours*, planning the ultimate computer system that I would build myself. I ended up getting a summer job at a supermarket and buying a 48k Apple ][+. I eventually added an 80-column card so I could run UCSD Pascal and a memory card to bring it up to 64k. I remember that you had to pull one of the RAM chips and transfer it to the board, plugging a ribbon cable in to where the chip used to be. The memory card was available in kit form, so I soldered it up myself (which taught me a lot about the consequences of solder bridges!)
Chip H.
About damn time.
How about for micro-material transportation? You'd have a sheet of the stuff, and the mini piezo "bridges" would flex to move stuff like silicon wafers around.
Or, how about a micro-car with the piezo material on the bottom instead of wheels? Not a "serious" application, sure. But it would be pretty cool to see it scoot around, left, right, backwards, forwards, without any rotating parts. Battery life would probably be longer, too.
Chip H.
Sure, having a top-5 supercomputer is cool, and the bragging rights will garner the school some additional funding and scholarships, but at the end of the day after the benchmarks are run and the empty Jolt(tm) cans are recycled, what will they *do* with it?
Chip H.
In case people don't know, Dell off-shored their phone desk people a while ago.
I had to order some parts for a Precision Workstation I bought from a friend the other week. I spoke with "Andrea", who was obviously not from Texas. I had some obvious difficulties making myself understood to her, but thought I had it right. 10 days later my parts show up, most of which matched what I ordered, but a couple of items had been gotten wrong - a duplicate fan, a missing case fan, and some filler panels that didn't fit the case.
So, I call back to their spare-parts number, getting "Jack" this time. He wasn't from Texas either. Jack couldn't understand why the parts didn't fit (they were obviously for another machine), and transferred me to "Rich" at tech support. Rich spoke pretty decent English, I figured he had at least visited Texas at some point. He was able to get me the correct part numbers, and transferred me back to parts.
This time it was "John", who seemed to not be able to identify what part of North America Texas is in. He took my order for (what I hope turns out to be) the correct parts, and gave me the address to return the incorrect parts. The more he spoke, the less I understood. By the time he got to the ZIP code I didn't understand a word. I took down the address he gave me. Within a few minutes I got an email from them explaining how to return the parts. It didn't have the address on it, but it did say how to call Airborne Express and get them to pick up the package.
But today at work, I had a sneaking suspicion that I didn't get the address right, so I called Customer Service back. Sure enough, I had it wrong. I feel fairly confident that I have the correct address now. But I'm tempted to call back a third time, and take a vote on which address is most likely correct.
Am I cheesed off? Yes.
Am I likely to order a Dell in the future? The chances just got a lot slimmer. I have no problems ordering off their website. But the risk of something going wrong, and having to talk to a tech support person who only speaks English as a 2nd language is a big caution. Dad is getting ready to buy a new PC. I can just imagine how frustrated he would get with these people - he's starting to get hard of hearing, and listening to someone with a New Delhi accent is not the easiest thing to do.
Off-shoring their customer support people has got to be costing Michael Dell more than what he saved when they fired their English-speaking staff. After all, I spent over 2.5 hours on the phone using their toll-free number. They now also have the extra expense of restocking the parts that they shipped me by mistake because their person didn't have a good command of the language. Much more of that and it will start cutting into their profits (they'll probably close the parts division rather than fix the real problem of poor English ).
Chip H.
Since the wings are only needed at the very end of the shuttle's flight, why not cut them off and use parachutes like for Gemini and Apollo? No more fragile ceramic tiles to be hit (or fewer, anyway), and the payload is increased by reducing the weight of the orbiter itself.
Chip H.