In addition to the MacOS X specific sites, this might be useful: Open Kiosk.
There are no PowerPC binaries at that site. The images are from a computer that is using a theme on Linux that looks like Mac OS X's Aqua interface. Even if the Open Kiosk stuff could just be re-compiled for Mac OS X it would still probably take a lot more work than any person would do for a single computer.
If you -really- get a kernel panic once a week and aren't just trolling, there's something wrong with your girlfriend's hardware---probably bad RAM.
Yep, absolutely. There must be something wrong with that machine. I have used Mac OS X heavily since it came out and I've had a grand total of TWO kernel panics. This includes the four PowerMac G4s, 20 iMacs, 3 eMacs, and a 15" Ti PowerBook that I administrate at work as well as my home PowerMac G5.
TWO kernel panics. 29 Macintoshes. Four years.
I'd say that's a pretty good record.
I have also had some total lockups and instabilities, those were a bit more frequent but I'd estimate they come out to no more than once a month per machine. Most of those problems were quickly solved by a simple reboot. Some of these machines have uptimes of a couple of months so an occasional reboot is to be expected. I have one machine that has only been down in the past 3 years for the occasional security update.
RAM is the number one reason for kernel panics without a doubt. Lockups and other annoying little problems are usually a bad preference file, misset file or folder privileges, or a corrupted disk. Most of these problems are fixed easily with a few simple troubleshooting steps.
Overall Mac OS X is very stable. I hear that Windows XP is also, but I have little experience with it. Mac OS X works just fine for me and I have no need for Windows.
the ipod combo has horrid transfer speeds and user interface. Better to get a dedicated solution!
Hmm, it does look like the solution is not as good as I assumed. I don't personally have the Belkin devices but they sounded like a good deal on paper.
I do know from personal experience that the iPod itself is wonderful but according to some of the user reports I just Googled for it looks like the Belkin devices fall short. Oh well, it was an idea...
My wife is a freelance photographer. On any given shoot, She'll go through at least 5 GB of pitcures and this is just for shots of homes that people are looking to sell. ... In order to resolve this lack of space problem, she carries her laptop with her so she can clear the cards by dropping the pics on the laptop.
She should get the 40 GB iPod and one of the Belkin accessories that allow you to transfer photos to an iPod without a computer. There's a media reader and one that connects through USB.
This combination would be much less bulky and awkward than having to lug around a laptop and overall it will save you money that you would normally spend on a ton of flash cards. Not to mention that juggling a laptop and a camera is just asking for something to fall and get damaged. Another benefit is that you can keep 5 MB or so of music on the iPod to use it as a music player and still have plenty of room for photos.
Microsoft Optical Mice are a weird breed of mice. In OS X they require a mouse driver.
The "driver" you are talking about is a System Preferences prefpane which launches an application that enables some extras like different mouse accelerations, extra scroll wheel functionality, re-mapping mouse clicks, and application-specific mouse preferences.
Pretty much any mouse (or trackpad or track ball or similar pointing devices) with up to 2 buttons and a scroll wheel work fine without any drivers under all flavors of Mac OS X. Even a mouse with more buttons only needs a driver to do some special set-up for the 3rd, 4th, and so on buttons.
With buffer cache you're always going to have to touch the disk at some point and that point wastes billions of CPU cycles.
Most systems nowadays use a DMA-type system (Direct Memory Access) which streams data directly from disk to memory without involving the CPU much at all. The real slowdown is not the CPU cycles getting wasted, it's that the CPU can't work on the particular data you need until it is loaded. During the DMA loading process your CPU could be using tons of cycles on other tasks that are not waiting on data.
Smart read-ahead precaching and buffering attempts to ensure that your processes will not be data-starved. Yes, buffering can fall behind but overall it does considerably speed up a system.
Better to have PCI-X than plain old PCI, right? Besides I was just mentioning it because someone had said that there were no consumer level motherboards with PCI-X and I used Apple as an example of one that did have it.
the Mac slots are the "Hi-Speed" PCI type, whereas these MB have PCI Express, which is the "new tech" which of course leaves the New Mac with Old-Style PCI.
Right, like I said - PowerMac G5s have PCI-X. I didn't say they had PCI Express...
I'd like to keep using my PRINTER when I next upgrade my computer: heck, my old laserjet 4L is still alive and kicking after 10 years of valuable service.
Just get a Ethernet <-> parallel print server. Then you can still use the printer with any computer that has Ethernet. Plus you can use it with any computer on your LAN without needed an active computer to share the printer
It's unlikely PCI-X will make it onto the average consumer level motherboard, but PCI-Express certainly will.
The PowerMac G5s have 3 PCI-X slots on their motherboards. So there are at least some consumer-level motherboards being produced with them, even if PCI-X isn't being adopted wholesale by the computer industry.
Sterling's objections seemed pretty incoherent to me.
Heh, when reading this part of the article:
"Opposition to nuclear energy is based on irrational fear fed by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies and the media. (((No it isn't.))) These fears are unjustified, (((oh no they're not)))
M: An argument isn't just contradiction. A: It can be. M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition. A: No it isn't. M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction. A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position. M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.' A: Yes it is! M: No it isn't! M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes. (short pause) A: No it isn't.
"Microsoft stated that they will not be manufactoring such a device" (..) Someone else will manufacture it for them.
What's the difference?
The difference is that it won't be one device that is as small as, has the capacity of, looks better than, works as well as, and is less expensive than the iPod. What the statement actually said was that there would be a range of devices, some smaller, some less expensive, some color screen, and so on.
So there is not going to be one device to beat the iPod in all areas, rather there will be several that may beat the iPod in one or two areas each even though the iPod may or may not be better overall.
I don't know anyone personally who owns an iPod, so I was a little in the dark about the wide variety of practical uses for them. Most people I know still just have the "standard" MP3 players with probably at the most 512MB of storage space.
Remember that the iPod is not just a music player. It's also a hard drive that I use all the time to transfer large files from one computer to another and also to hold some of the projects I'm working on.
The iPod also can accept any standard vCard file (produced by most address book programs) and then display all of your contacts - names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, postal addresses, notes, etc. It can do this on its very readable screen wherever you are, it doesn't need to be hooked up to a computer to display them.
You can also put standard.ics calander files into the iPod (also generated by most calander programs) and view your upcoming schedule and events on the iPod, just like your contacts.
The iPod can also store "note" text files and display them on its screen. For a few bucks more you can get and connect a sound recorder to record voice notes or a flash card reader to read images off of flash cards. This last feature is great for digital photographers who now have up to 40 gigs of space to put their photos so they only need 1 or 2 flash cards instead of a ton.
All of these features synch up with the free iApps that Apple has. You just plug in the iPod to your computer and it will get your contacts, calanders, photos, and sound notes automatically.
The iPod is so much more than a simple mp3 player...
I burned *ALL* of my albums (and I thought I had quite a few) to my computer and I came up with about 30GB worth of music - and that includes the stuff that I'll never listen to again
The beauty of iTunes is that you can set it to load up your iPod with only your good songs if you want it to. Just rate your songs in iTunes and then set up a smart playlist to randomly select a certain amount of songs above a certain rating. If you have a 15 gig iPod set the playlist to select 15 gigs of good songs and then synch that to the iPod. Every time you plug the iPod in it will synch 15 gigs of random songs. You can also set up several playlists, some with random stuff and some with pre-picked songs. No need to carry all of your music really, just carry the stuff you need to have and then fill the iPod with other random songs.
I know this was intended as a joke, but an exercise machine/slot machine actually exists (not a treadmill, but an exercise bike).
Yeah, I had heard about them and that's why I put it in the fake news story I wrote up. I should have thought to get a link to it but whatever. Hey it gives someone else a shot at some karma!:-)
I think I remember something about a bike rental service for commuters getting from train stations to work but I'm too lazy to chase it down and link to it. Go for it for more karma if you want.
In the news today, teenagers have discovered that moving around alot helps you to lose weight.
"I tried the pizza dieet, the deep-fried pork diet, and the ice cream diet. Nothing worked until I spent hundreds of dollars a week playing Dance Dance Revolution!" said one formerly husky girl
Adults were a bit confused by the whole affair. One fit mother exclaimed "You mean they pay to dance? I've been doing that for years without paying a dime!"
This phenominon has already spawned a whole new industry. Entrepenurs have in the works a dollar bill treadmill/slot machine combination for gambling adults as well as a bicycle that takes credit cards and which commuters can rent by the day in order to get fit on their way to work.
I don't think this is a good idea. It reached the end of the 5-year story arc and ended.
Honestly they don't have to bring back Babylon 5 per se, they just need to create another show that had the same sort of far-reaching vision. They could use a part of the Bablyon 5 universe that hasn't been focused on or they could create a new universe, as long as they have an ACTUAL STORY!
I think the absolute best Babylon 5 moment was the one where the show started and you saw 2 of the male characters (Garabaldi and Sheridan I think) from the shoulders up and they were standing facing a wall and talking. They both straightened and bounced a bit and moved away from the wall. At that moment you realized that they were in a restroom and they had just used a urinal!
I don't think that such an understated moment was ever used on any of the Star Trek episodes. That moment conveyed the utter normality and reality of the Bablyon 5 universe. Everything is so sterile and perfect in Star Trek that by contrast that one moment of humanity set Babylon 5 far apart from Trek. We need more science fiction with this kind of simple realism.
Q is not a real character. He's a personification of a plot device -- deus ex machina. Whenever the writers get stumped about how to connect up a plot, they can always throw in Q and get a usable script.
Yes, Q definitely was a deus ex machina.
...and so was the Holodeck ...and also time travel ...and Kirk seducing women ...and reversing the polarity of anything ...and Data ...and wormholes ...and Wesley Crusher ...and Janeway's ability to know everything about everything ...and...and...and...
Dammit Jim! The whole franchise is about creating a problem and then solving it in 10 minutes through any of the dozen spare deus ex machina they might have lying around.
grumble...grumble...bring back Babylon 5...grumble...
It's just like ignoramouses who claim that something has "no chemicals" in it.
"B-b-b-but chemicals are bad!"
Yeah, those deadly chemicals like O2, H20, NaCl, C2H5OH, C6H12O6. Better not ingest any of those, they are sure killers...
Oh, you can have NATURAL chemicals - those are safe? Hmm, go right ahead and eat some green potatoes - they contain the same poison found in deadly nightshade and henbane. Too many almonds can kill you also, they contain significant amounts of cyanide. Check out this web site for just a starter list of dangerous natural chemicals.
Slashdot Mirror
I thought it was a daemon to manage?
Are you certain about that?
The author himself has said he hasn't ported it over to Mac OS X yet:
There are no PowerPC binaries at that site. The images are from a computer that is using a theme on Linux that looks like Mac OS X's Aqua interface. Even if the Open Kiosk stuff could just be re-compiled for Mac OS X it would still probably take a lot more work than any person would do for a single computer.
Now if you had a lab full of computers...
That's just simple repetition. Recursion would be more like:
Er...yeah actually they do!
Actually, with the grid on the front of the case and the clear interior side panel the G5 makes even modding your mac simple!
Yep, absolutely. There must be something wrong with that machine. I have used Mac OS X heavily since it came out and I've had a grand total of TWO kernel panics. This includes the four PowerMac G4s, 20 iMacs, 3 eMacs, and a 15" Ti PowerBook that I administrate at work as well as my home PowerMac G5.
TWO kernel panics. 29 Macintoshes. Four years.
I'd say that's a pretty good record.
I have also had some total lockups and instabilities, those were a bit more frequent but I'd estimate they come out to no more than once a month per machine. Most of those problems were quickly solved by a simple reboot. Some of these machines have uptimes of a couple of months so an occasional reboot is to be expected. I have one machine that has only been down in the past 3 years for the occasional security update.
RAM is the number one reason for kernel panics without a doubt. Lockups and other annoying little problems are usually a bad preference file, misset file or folder privileges, or a corrupted disk. Most of these problems are fixed easily with a few simple troubleshooting steps.
Overall Mac OS X is very stable. I hear that Windows XP is also, but I have little experience with it. Mac OS X works just fine for me and I have no need for Windows.
Hmm, it does look like the solution is not as good as I assumed. I don't personally have the Belkin devices but they sounded like a good deal on paper.
I do know from personal experience that the iPod itself is wonderful but according to some of the user reports I just Googled for it looks like the Belkin devices fall short. Oh well, it was an idea...
She should get the 40 GB iPod and one of the Belkin accessories that allow you to transfer photos to an iPod without a computer. There's a media reader and one that connects through USB.
This combination would be much less bulky and awkward than having to lug around a laptop and overall it will save you money that you would normally spend on a ton of flash cards. Not to mention that juggling a laptop and a camera is just asking for something to fall and get damaged. Another benefit is that you can keep 5 MB or so of music on the iPod to use it as a music player and still have plenty of room for photos.
The "driver" you are talking about is a System Preferences prefpane which launches an application that enables some extras like different mouse accelerations, extra scroll wheel functionality, re-mapping mouse clicks, and application-specific mouse preferences.
Pretty much any mouse (or trackpad or track ball or similar pointing devices) with up to 2 buttons and a scroll wheel work fine without any drivers under all flavors of Mac OS X. Even a mouse with more buttons only needs a driver to do some special set-up for the 3rd, 4th, and so on buttons.
Most systems nowadays use a DMA-type system (Direct Memory Access) which streams data directly from disk to memory without involving the CPU much at all. The real slowdown is not the CPU cycles getting wasted, it's that the CPU can't work on the particular data you need until it is loaded. During the DMA loading process your CPU could be using tons of cycles on other tasks that are not waiting on data.
Smart read-ahead precaching and buffering attempts to ensure that your processes will not be data-starved. Yes, buffering can fall behind but overall it does considerably speed up a system.
It looks like it's the rows of a qwerty keyboard, alternated.
So 1 then down to q then up to 2 then down to w, etc. When you get to p start back at q and then down to a, and so forth.
Organized gibberish basically!
Better to have PCI-X than plain old PCI, right? Besides I was just mentioning it because someone had said that there were no consumer level motherboards with PCI-X and I used Apple as an example of one that did have it.
Here's one that does both: TRENDnet's TEW-P1U1P. I'm sure a Google search will turn up more.
Right, like I said - PowerMac G5s have PCI-X. I didn't say they had PCI Express...
Just get a Ethernet <-> parallel print server. Then you can still use the printer with any computer that has Ethernet. Plus you can use it with any computer on your LAN without needed an active computer to share the printer
The PowerMac G5s have 3 PCI-X slots on their motherboards. So there are at least some consumer-level motherboards being produced with them, even if PCI-X isn't being adopted wholesale by the computer industry.
Heh, when reading this part of the article:
I immediately thought of the Monty Python argument skit:
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!
M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.
(short pause)
A: No it isn't.
The difference is that it won't be one device that is as small as, has the capacity of, looks better than, works as well as, and is less expensive than the iPod. What the statement actually said was that there would be a range of devices, some smaller, some less expensive, some color screen, and so on.
So there is not going to be one device to beat the iPod in all areas, rather there will be several that may beat the iPod in one or two areas each even though the iPod may or may not be better overall.
Big difference there...
Remember that the iPod is not just a music player. It's also a hard drive that I use all the time to transfer large files from one computer to another and also to hold some of the projects I'm working on.
The iPod also can accept any standard vCard file (produced by most address book programs) and then display all of your contacts - names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, postal addresses, notes, etc. It can do this on its very readable screen wherever you are, it doesn't need to be hooked up to a computer to display them.
You can also put standard
The iPod can also store "note" text files and display them on its screen. For a few bucks more you can get and connect a sound recorder to record voice notes or a flash card reader to read images off of flash cards. This last feature is great for digital photographers who now have up to 40 gigs of space to put their photos so they only need 1 or 2 flash cards instead of a ton.
All of these features synch up with the free iApps that Apple has. You just plug in the iPod to your computer and it will get your contacts, calanders, photos, and sound notes automatically.
The iPod is so much more than a simple mp3 player...
The beauty of iTunes is that you can set it to load up your iPod with only your good songs if you want it to. Just rate your songs in iTunes and then set up a smart playlist to randomly select a certain amount of songs above a certain rating. If you have a 15 gig iPod set the playlist to select 15 gigs of good songs and then synch that to the iPod. Every time you plug the iPod in it will synch 15 gigs of random songs. You can also set up several playlists, some with random stuff and some with pre-picked songs. No need to carry all of your music really, just carry the stuff you need to have and then fill the iPod with other random songs.
Yeah, I had heard about them and that's why I put it in the fake news story I wrote up. I should have thought to get a link to it but whatever. Hey it gives someone else a shot at some karma!
I think I remember something about a bike rental service for commuters getting from train stations to work but I'm too lazy to chase it down and link to it. Go for it for more karma if you want.
Bull Smith
BS Newswire
In the news today, teenagers have discovered that moving around alot helps you to lose weight.
"I tried the pizza dieet, the deep-fried pork diet, and the ice cream diet. Nothing worked until I spent hundreds of dollars a week playing Dance Dance Revolution!" said one formerly husky girl
Adults were a bit confused by the whole affair. One fit mother exclaimed "You mean they pay to dance? I've been doing that for years without paying a dime!"
This phenominon has already spawned a whole new industry. Entrepenurs have in the works a dollar bill treadmill/slot machine combination for gambling adults as well as a bicycle that takes credit cards and which commuters can rent by the day in order to get fit on their way to work.
Honestly they don't have to bring back Babylon 5 per se, they just need to create another show that had the same sort of far-reaching vision. They could use a part of the Bablyon 5 universe that hasn't been focused on or they could create a new universe, as long as they have an ACTUAL STORY!
I think the absolute best Babylon 5 moment was the one where the show started and you saw 2 of the male characters (Garabaldi and Sheridan I think) from the shoulders up and they were standing facing a wall and talking. They both straightened and bounced a bit and moved away from the wall. At that moment you realized that they were in a restroom and they had just used a urinal!
I don't think that such an understated moment was ever used on any of the Star Trek episodes. That moment conveyed the utter normality and reality of the Bablyon 5 universe. Everything is so sterile and perfect in Star Trek that by contrast that one moment of humanity set Babylon 5 far apart from Trek. We need more science fiction with this kind of simple realism.
Yes, Q definitely was a deus ex machina.
Dammit Jim! The whole franchise is about creating a problem and then solving it in 10 minutes through any of the dozen spare deus ex machina they might have lying around.
grumble...grumble...bring back Babylon 5...grumble...
"B-b-b-but chemicals are bad!"
Yeah, those deadly chemicals like O2, H20, NaCl, C2H5OH, C6H12O6. Better not ingest any of those, they are sure killers...
Oh, you can have NATURAL chemicals - those are safe? Hmm, go right ahead and eat some green potatoes - they contain the same poison found in deadly nightshade and henbane. Too many almonds can kill you also, they contain significant amounts of cyanide. Check out this web site for just a starter list of dangerous natural chemicals.
Yep. no such problems here. The install went smoothly and it now says I'm up to date.