This talk was great! But, I'd love to have seen some of the other ones Cliff offered (particularly the GC one). A quick search of google video/youtube turns up only his lock free hash table talk, which is great, but I've seen it already.
So, this is just my experience, and I'm sure you won't listen or will have a different experience, but:
I tried taking electronic notes in maybe a half dozen undergrad math classes using a Newton message pad in ink mode. I believe that I did significantly more poorly in those classes than if I would have used pen and paper. It was just too futzy. The Newton worked fine, because it wasn't trying to recognize, but the added layer of technology didn't justify itself in terms of the potential but unrealized benefits of search- or store-ability.
I did homework assignments in LaTeX and got quite fast in it, but not fast enough to take notes with it using a keyboard. (Although I sometimes felt like I got points off because my work was too easy to read!) The classes I did best in I took pen and paper notes and then later transcribed and condensed these into LaTeX study guides.
On the flip side, for less notation-focused classes, like say, literature, it was awesome to be able to search my electronic notes and I think this justified the effort in changing my handwriting so the Newton would read it. I still see the effects of this in my writing today!
I still don't understand how a non-transactional interface such as a filesystem can be used to record what is essentially a transaction: a version. In other words: how does the filesystem know to record a version? Presumably this operates without modifying the application (which would be necessary to provide a true transactional versioning system, such that provided by the "track changes" feature). Does this thing assume that file closes are transactions? Do users get presented with a slew of "versions" of files based on when the file was closed (assuming applications even close the file on "save")? Are these "versions" actually valid files? Can someone explain how this works?
We toyed for a while with implementing something like this in our scientific data management application and decided in the end that it just wasn't possible because the (instrument vendor provided) applications would have to be modified to deliver information about when to create a "version" of a file. Instead, we require users to provide us with this information manually.
I'd like to experiment with ZFS on the cheap. In particular, I'd like to start off with two drives, and slowly add drives as my storage needs increase. Great, but: which controller card(s) to use to maximize my eventual capacity while spending the least on cards. I don't need hardware raid (with cards like the 3ware 9500S-4LP that someone else mentioned starting at $315).
Does it make more sense to use 4 port cards for performance reasons? Or can I use 8 or twelve port cards? I imagine performance will suffer? Or is it more constrained by the total bandwidth of the bus? In which case should I use PCI-Express or PCI-X? I'm wondering where the price/performance sweet spot is in terms of SATA cards; obviously, I'm limited to 3-4 cards total, but if I could get by with only one (eg 12 port) card, I could go with a smaller form-factor case. Can anyone shed some light here? Recommended brands?
I see folks from scandianvia posting here about their banks offering security measures that far exceed what a typical US bank would provide. Are there any US banks that have more extensive security procedures than just a four to six digit pin? Like two factor, or email signing or what have you?
So, last time I looked parallels kept the windows partition in a file on the mac partition. It couldn't read native windows/NTFS partitions. Is this still true?
As someone with an existing install of XP (Bootcamp), it seems like a shame to have to two copies of windows to be able to dual boot (primarily for games).
I got really excited about skypeout a year or so ago. I bought a bluetooth headset, got it working on my mac, installed skype, bought minutes. All of this went pretty smoothly, but I've only used about 10 of those minutes: skypeout had terrible voice quality, signficant echo, and large lag. This was calling US phone numbers from a cable modem connection in the US with > 128kbps upstream. I tried on several occassions but always the people that I called complained about the sound quality and the echo. From my perspective, making this service free does nothing to increase it's value to me; I was willing to pay but was completely dissapointed.
I wonder if it's improved enough to be worth trying again.
The Sysinternals apps for monitoring and understanding windows (particularly Process Explorer) are always the first things I install on a windows machine. After finding these, windows feels less like a black box and more like, well, a bunch of smaller black boxes.
What's the overhead of this in terms of management? Do they maintain separate trees? How automated? The notion of simultaneous releases of two very different source layouts/build systems seems nightmarish to me.
I agree that a tiny (keychain) USB drive would be useful, but I'm a bit worried about that product's lack of metal shield and case: does it stay in? Does it get crudded up?
Not quite as minimalist, but more ergonomic, and probably more durable are these products (which may be simply wrappers around the iDisk.):
I once had a very expensive SGI under my desk; I believe it was a dual processor Onyx, like $30k. One day I came in and I couldn't telnet to it. Hook up the serial console, reboot. The machine basically pointed at the scsi controller and said "You might want to have a look at that." Call up SGI tech support. They have me read them the diagnostic code; within five minutes of getting on the phone they're overnighting a new "logic carrier."
Being green as I was, I asked, "Does that have the SCSI controller on it?"
"Yes," the tech answers, "along with just about everything else."
Now, what arrived by FedEx was indeed basically a new motherboard, complete with processors, etc. Slide the old one out, the new one in, back in business in about a half hour (most of that because the entire lab was watching and I didn't want to screw up). I have to say I was impressed that the machine was able to diagnose itself down to a level lower than what could be replaced in the field.
The moral of the story is that, boot diagnostics are cool because you spend less time on the phone. I've never had such an experience with a PC, where if you're lucky you get a couple LEDs. I guess that's what you get for $30k.
I would really like to see the ability to zoom in by dragging a rectangle on the map. You might toggle between zoom and pan with a toolbar, or use keyboard shortcuts.
Slashdot Mirror
I mean, in the title. Really? The dude's in space. I think the least we can do for him is not space out on the spelling of his name.
This talk was great! But, I'd love to have seen some of the other ones Cliff offered (particularly the GC one). A quick search of google video/youtube turns up only his lock free hash table talk, which is great, but I've seen it already.
Anyone have links to more of this guy?
-c
So, this is just my experience, and I'm sure you won't listen or will have a different experience, but:
I tried taking electronic notes in maybe a half dozen undergrad math classes using a Newton message pad in ink mode. I believe that I did significantly more poorly in those classes than if I would have used pen and paper. It was just too futzy. The Newton worked fine, because it wasn't trying to recognize, but the added layer of technology didn't justify itself in terms of the potential but unrealized benefits of search- or store-ability.
I did homework assignments in LaTeX and got quite fast in it, but not fast enough to take notes with it using a keyboard. (Although I sometimes felt like I got points off because my work was too easy to read!) The classes I did best in I took pen and paper notes and then later transcribed and condensed these into LaTeX study guides.
On the flip side, for less notation-focused classes, like say, literature, it was awesome to be able to search my electronic notes and I think this justified the effort in changing my handwriting so the Newton would read it. I still see the effects of this in my writing today!
Good luck!
-c
Wow, sounds cool, would love to try it, but... uh... can't... due to private beta...
-c
How the hell did they get that past IRB (Institutional Review Board)?
-c
I still haven't found a crossplatform email client that's as featureful as the discontinued Mulberry client.
-c
We toyed for a while with implementing something like this in our scientific data management application and decided in the end that it just wasn't possible because the (instrument vendor provided) applications would have to be modified to deliver information about when to create a "version" of a file. Instead, we require users to provide us with this information manually.
-c
I'd like to experiment with ZFS on the cheap. In particular, I'd like to start off with two drives, and slowly add drives as my storage needs increase. Great, but: which controller card(s) to use to maximize my eventual capacity while spending the least on cards. I don't need hardware raid (with cards like the 3ware 9500S-4LP that someone else mentioned starting at $315). Does it make more sense to use 4 port cards for performance reasons? Or can I use 8 or twelve port cards? I imagine performance will suffer? Or is it more constrained by the total bandwidth of the bus? In which case should I use PCI-Express or PCI-X? I'm wondering where the price/performance sweet spot is in terms of SATA cards; obviously, I'm limited to 3-4 cards total, but if I could get by with only one (eg 12 port) card, I could go with a smaller form-factor case. Can anyone shed some light here? Recommended brands?
-c
As someone with an existing install of XP (Bootcamp), it seems like a shame to have to two copies of windows to be able to dual boot (primarily for games).
-c
-c
-c
I wonder if it's improved enough to be worth trying again.
-c
The Sysinternals apps for monitoring and understanding windows (particularly Process Explorer) are always the first things I install on a windows machine. After finding these, windows feels less like a black box and more like, well, a bunch of smaller black boxes.
Lua the programming language
It's cool to see folks like adobe using nifty languages like Lua. I've never used Lua but have been intrigued by it.
Anyone know how Lua is used in Lightroom?
-c
Cool, thanks. -c
-c
And web developers everywhere rejoice!
Better link for MicroMini. $40/256MB - $110/1GB.
Also available from Dynamism. $79/128MB. But see my other post about possibly better (and cheaper!) options.
Not quite as minimalist, but more ergonomic, and probably more durable are these products (which may be simply wrappers around the iDisk.):
I meant Origin, not Onyx. Origin 1000, maybe? This was ca. 1999.
Being green as I was, I asked, "Does that have the SCSI controller on it?"
"Yes," the tech answers, "along with just about everything else."
Now, what arrived by FedEx was indeed basically a new motherboard, complete with processors, etc. Slide the old one out, the new one in, back in business in about a half hour (most of that because the entire lab was watching and I didn't want to screw up). I have to say I was impressed that the machine was able to diagnose itself down to a level lower than what could be replaced in the field.
The moral of the story is that, boot diagnostics are cool because you spend less time on the phone. I've never had such an experience with a PC, where if you're lucky you get a couple LEDs. I guess that's what you get for $30k.
I would really like to see the ability to zoom in by dragging a rectangle on the map. You might toggle between zoom and pan with a toolbar, or use keyboard shortcuts.