I've never quite understood people who don't like letterboxing. With Pan & Scan you loose like 40% of the picture. I'd much rather see movies the way they were filmed than have the edges chopped off. I personally don't buy DVD's that are not animorphic. Right now I watch them letterboxed, because I want to see the whole picture.
If you have beef with those black bars "stealing" your TV's screen real-estate, try this as an alternative to those expensive HDTV's:
1: Buy a bigger TV exclusively for watching widescreen films 2: Cover the top and bottom portions of your screen with something to make it look like your screen has a 16/9 aspect ratio. Something matching the casing of your TV would be ideal.
Voila! Instant Widescreen TV!:) Now, let's be honest here. As elegant as it seems at first glance, there are problems with this. Example: DVD menus are (for obvious reasons) not in widescreen format. Also, Galaxy Quest uses no less than 3 different aspect ratios at various points in the movie.
Well, regardless of that, I worked with the team that makes the proprietary Compaq compiler and it truely is amazing.
But you are right, EGCS is making inroads as far as Alpha optimization goes(working on the Alpha compiler is my pet project(haven't submitted anything yet) now that I'm no longer working on VC for Alpha, which used the same optimizer, "GEM"), but GEM is the only way to go right now.
And since FX32! (Intel x86 emulator) was outlawed (because dynamic recompilation violated software EULA's becuase it automatically reversed engineered the object code), I don't expect the Alpha to ever the viable in the end-consumer marketplace.
Uhhh...I don't know what you're talking about. Two things: AFAIK (I worked on the VC compiler for Alpha) FX32 was never "outlawed". In fact, it was integrated into the Alpha version of Win2000. Second, FX32 is a moot point since Compaq dumped NT as an Alpha OS. Even if FX32 was "outlawed", it wouldn't be why Alpha will never be a consumer platform. It would be because Windows is a dead OS, as far as the Alpha is concerned (boy that's fun to say).
Having said that, I don't think Compaq has any inclination or incentive to price/market the Alpha toward end users.
The response has been to challenge M$'s claim of trade secrecy, which I understand to be a condition mutually exclusive of copyright.
I don't know where everyone keeps getting this silly idea in thier heads. Actually, I do. You are confusing Patents with Copyrights. Something cannot be patented and be a trade secret at the same time. Not because of some specific law, I believe, but because patents are public record. Indeed, patents were designed to discourage trade secrets and give people incentives to release their trade secrets to the public, in exchange for a monopoly on the idea for a period of time.
Uhhh...no. You must be thinking of patents. Something cannot both be patented and be a trade secret (because patents are public record). The minute you write something it is copyrighted by default. It can also be a trade secret if you chose not to show it to anyone else.
Well, you can find the DMCA here, but it won't help in finding this particular aspect of copyright law. The DMCA doesn't really deal with it. Dilution is a thing which exists solely in Trademark law.
We've got WAP here in Seattle as well (Sprint PCS) and I agree, it's nothing to write home about. The only use I've found for it is lining Sprint's pocketbook.
I'm not entirely certain about the specifics but I do know that DEC/Compaq doesn't produce the chips. I also know that Intel is producing some of them, due to some deal worked out a while ago. I seem to remember it involving some patent or trade secret deal they worked out. But I'm hazy on that. Samsung makes Alpha chips as well, I think.
When Compaq absorbed DEC, they spent over a year with a thumb up their ass where the Alpha is concerned. In theory, they should start pushing those high speeds through soon.
Uhhh...Microsoft doesn't even support the Alpha...at all. Geez, leave it to you guys to turn an announcement for a MS-free platform into an excuse to bitch about Microsoft.
(Yes, NT used to be supported on Alpha, but it isn't any more. And 9x NEVER was.)
Why be curious? They tell you exactly which parts: provide open, timely and complete access to the parts of the Windows operating system code used by independent software companies to design their software applications to run on Windows
That means they'll give access to the API header files...but...wait a second! They already do that, don't they? Hmmmm....
One thing to remember is that no matter how good GCC is, Compaq's compiler is *amazingly* good.
--GnrcMan--
Re:Review of "Quantum Project"
on
Quantum Project
·
· Score: 2
Cleese is great, as usual, though I would have liked to see a little more of him.
I got the distinct impression that he was cast simply for the name. He certainly didn't have a major part in it.
Incidentally, the aliasing bothered me much more than you seem to have been bothered. I paid for the hi-res version, and expected it to look a bit better. The thing that really pissed me off, though, (see my other post on the subject) is that they letterboxed a film intended for non-cinema distribution. That's just plain stupid.
Who's stupid idea was it to letterbox a movie designed solely for digital distribution? The only reason that letterboxing exists is because the aspect ratio of the TV is different than the aspect ratio of film typically used to shoot on. So it stands to reason that if they are going to make this revolutionary break from standard formats, maybe they'd shoot it in an aspect ratio commonly used in that format.
Douglas Adams announced some time ago that he was officially retiring from answering questions about the number 42. This is from the alt.fan.douglasadams FAQ: X.42. Number games Yes, six times nine equals fifty-four. Yes, six times nine equals 42 in base thirteen, and we don't want to know about the implications that has on the number of fingers cavemen must have had.
Douglas has himself said:
"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden, and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story."
Cool...I didn't know anything about this until today (don't keep tabs on LinuxPPC developers, I guess), but I just read through all the updates that his wife did. That's some awesome storytelling. I greatly enjoyed reading it.
Anyone know what happened between April 14th and now? He's obviously gotten better now. Did he ever ask for that laptop in the hospital?:)
Slashdot Mirror
I've never quite understood people who don't like letterboxing. With Pan & Scan you loose like 40% of the picture. I'd much rather see movies the way they were filmed than have the edges chopped off. I personally don't buy DVD's that are not animorphic. Right now I watch them letterboxed, because I want to see the whole picture.
:) Now, let's be honest here. As elegant as it seems at first glance, there are problems with this. Example: DVD menus are (for obvious reasons) not in widescreen format. Also, Galaxy Quest uses no less than 3 different aspect ratios at various points in the movie.
If you have beef with those black bars "stealing" your TV's screen real-estate, try this as an alternative to those expensive HDTV's:
1: Buy a bigger TV exclusively for watching widescreen films
2: Cover the top and bottom portions of your screen with something to make it look like your screen has a 16/9 aspect ratio. Something matching the casing of your TV would be ideal.
Voila! Instant Widescreen TV!
--GnrcMan--
Well, regardless of that, I worked with the team that makes the proprietary Compaq compiler and it truely is amazing.
But you are right, EGCS is making inroads as far as Alpha optimization goes(working on the Alpha compiler is my pet project(haven't submitted anything yet) now that I'm no longer working on VC for Alpha, which used the same optimizer, "GEM"), but GEM is the only way to go right now.
--GnrcMan--
And since FX32! (Intel x86 emulator) was outlawed (because dynamic recompilation violated software EULA's becuase it automatically reversed engineered the object code), I don't expect the Alpha to ever the viable in the end-consumer marketplace.
Uhhh...I don't know what you're talking about. Two things:
AFAIK (I worked on the VC compiler for Alpha) FX32 was never "outlawed". In fact, it was integrated into the Alpha version of Win2000.
Second, FX32 is a moot point since Compaq dumped NT as an Alpha OS. Even if FX32 was "outlawed", it wouldn't be why Alpha will never be a consumer platform. It would be because Windows is a dead OS, as far as the Alpha is concerned (boy that's fun to say).
Having said that, I don't think Compaq has any inclination or incentive to price/market the Alpha toward end users.
--GnrcMan--
The response has been to challenge M$'s claim of trade secrecy, which I understand to be a condition mutually exclusive of copyright.
I don't know where everyone keeps getting this silly idea in thier heads. Actually, I do. You are confusing Patents with Copyrights. Something cannot be patented and be a trade secret at the same time. Not because of some specific law, I believe, but because patents are public record. Indeed, patents were designed to discourage trade secrets and give people incentives to release their trade secrets to the public, in exchange for a monopoly on the idea for a period of time.
--GnrcMan--
The two are mutually exclusive.
Uhhh...no. You must be thinking of patents. Something cannot both be patented and be a trade secret (because patents are public record). The minute you write something it is copyrighted by default. It can also be a trade secret if you chose not to show it to anyone else.
--GnrcMan--
only a slight inaccuracy -- copyright notice was not removed (much to the credit of the posters). the licence "agreement" was.
They also inaccurately imply that it was Slashdot staff that posted it when the text was in a comment.
--GnrcMan--
Well, you can find the DMCA here, but it won't help in finding this particular aspect of copyright law. The DMCA doesn't really deal with it. Dilution is a thing which exists solely in Trademark law.
--GnrcMan--
This is true for trademarks, and I believe true for patents
Nope, not true for patents. Trademarks are the only thing with that requirement.
Example: Unisys didn't start enforcing the patent on the compression algorithm used in GIFs until the GIF was an entrenched standard graphics format.
--GnrcMan--
Saws?! Pheh! You're still thinking 20th Century technology. Lasers are the wave of the future.
--GnrcMan--
We've got WAP here in Seattle as well (Sprint PCS) and I agree, it's nothing to write home about. The only use I've found for it is lining Sprint's pocketbook.
--GnrcMan--
Damn, I swear that had me laughing for about 10 minutes.
And meanwhile the other post is at 5. Come on moderators, this post deserves some recognition too!
--GnrcMan--
Obviously, there aren't Alpha binaries on the W2K CD release, as MS has abandoned Alpha
Actually, you've got it backwards, Compaq abandoned MS.
--GnrcMan--
I'm not entirely certain about the specifics but I do know that DEC/Compaq doesn't produce the chips. I also know that Intel is producing some of them, due to some deal worked out a while ago. I seem to remember it involving some patent or trade secret deal they worked out. But I'm hazy on that. Samsung makes Alpha chips as well, I think.
--GnrcMan--
[bash]$So, Linux, how about that SMP support?
bash: So,: command not found
What?! They still haven't intergrated the self-awareness patch into the kernel?
--GnrcMan--
When Compaq absorbed DEC, they spent over a year with a thumb up their ass where the Alpha is concerned. In theory, they should start pushing those high speeds through soon.
--GnrcMan--
Uhhh...Microsoft doesn't even support the Alpha...at all. Geez, leave it to you guys to turn an announcement for a MS-free platform into an excuse to bitch about Microsoft.
(Yes, NT used to be supported on Alpha, but it isn't any more. And 9x NEVER was.)
--GnrcMan--
and then saying "whoa, mr. lawyer, we're just a carrier, all comments are owned by the poster!"
They actually said nothing of the sort. They posted the letter from MS and said, "we're talking to our attorneys"
--GnrcMan--
Many people in Hong Kong end up millionaires
And what exactly is that supposed to prove? Many people in the United States end up millionaires. Your logic astounds.
--GnrcMan--
Why be curious? They tell you exactly which parts:
provide open, timely and complete access to the parts of the Windows operating system code used by independent software companies to design their software applications to run on Windows
That means they'll give access to the API header files...but...wait a second! They already do that, don't they? Hmmmm....
--GnrcMan--
Trying to categorize RNA or DNA or protein sequences using suffix arrays with dynamic programming, including sometimes large datasets.
A substantial portion of the gene sequencing being done now is on the Alpha. This is the sort of thing that the Alpha really excels at.
--GnrcMan--
One thing to remember is that no matter how good GCC is, Compaq's compiler is *amazingly* good.
--GnrcMan--
Cleese is great, as usual, though I would have liked to see a little more of him.
I got the distinct impression that he was cast simply for the name. He certainly didn't have a major part in it.
Incidentally, the aliasing bothered me much more than you seem to have been bothered. I paid for the hi-res version, and expected it to look a bit better. The thing that really pissed me off, though, (see my other post on the subject) is that they letterboxed a film intended for non-cinema distribution. That's just plain stupid.
--GnrcMan--
Who's stupid idea was it to letterbox a movie designed solely for digital distribution? The only reason that letterboxing exists is because the aspect ratio of the TV is different than the aspect ratio of film typically used to shoot on. So it stands to reason that if they are going to make this revolutionary break from standard formats, maybe they'd shoot it in an aspect ratio commonly used in that format.
--GnrcMan--
Douglas Adams announced some time ago that he was officially retiring from answering questions about the number 42. This is from the alt.fan.douglasadams FAQ:
X.42. Number games
Yes, six times nine equals fifty-four. Yes, six times nine equals 42 in base thirteen, and we don't want to know about the implications that has on the number of fingers cavemen must have had.
Douglas has himself said:
"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden, and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story."
--GnrcMan--
Cool...I didn't know anything about this until today (don't keep tabs on LinuxPPC developers, I guess), but I just read through all the updates that his wife did. That's some awesome storytelling. I greatly enjoyed reading it.
:)
Anyone know what happened between April 14th and now? He's obviously gotten better now. Did he ever ask for that laptop in the hospital?
--GnrcMan--