These changelogs are getting too long... They need to be put in a database so you can click on a hardware device and get a list of patches applied with other query parameters for example.
Or a simple script to match against your old.config and only report relevant changes.
Do the developers of SpeakFreely plan to make any improvements in that program?
I seem to remeber seeing a post about the author switching to the same multi-platform library that the Audacity sound editor uses, so they only have to maintain one set of code for Windows, UNIXes, and Mac OS/X native. Can't recall where I saw that, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming. So my guess would be yes, they are currently doing a large code rewrite. The UNIX page was last updated 5 days ago, so I assume it is still alive.
Linux version is not user friendly at all.
I agree. Though- you just type "sflaunch other.machine.org", and then hit Space to talk. It really isn't that bad at all.
The xspeakfree GUI (Tcl/Tk) front end makes it simple to use- almost identical to the windows version. Grab it out of the 7.5 release for UNIX's CONTRIB directory.
o Make sure you have read/write permissions for/dev/dsp and/dev/audio.
o Try "sflaunch echo.fourmilab.ch" for the 10-second-echo server..
DO they want to make it possible to use Ogg Vorbis compression?
Once again, I can only guess, but if they did, I'd suppose that they'd use the new Ogg Speex codec, not the vorbis one.
Speex is specially designed for voice encoding at ultra-low bitrates. Vorbis is for excellent sounding music at bitrates higher than what you can pull with a modem in real time. Speex has recently joined with Ogg, and is currently in Beta 2. see http://www.speex.org/
So I hope they do include support for Ogg Speex in the future, but what they have already works very well.
On my opinion SpeakFreely is stuck on the level of 1998 year technology...
I'd agree that there doesn't seem to be that much development lately, but none of the other internet phone programs I used a couple of years ago still exist or are totally free anymore. I don't know of another which is cross platform either (program- not VoIP codec).
Word Processing seems to be stuck on the level of 1992 year technology... so what. It works.
Just a little plug for the GPL'd Free internet phone, Speak-Freely.
It uses UDP ports 2074 - 2076. From the article these are not blocked.
Works quite well (I've had better trans-pacific quality with it versus the expensive telephone connection [talking both connections to same party at the same time]). Loads of features, including VOX and PGP encryption. Very good help section.
There's both a basic UNIX cli version (use the xspeakfree tcl/tk frontend in CONTRIB or sflaunch) & a fully developed windows version.
http://speakfreely.org/
(I'm just Happy User)
It's in Debian as speak-freely, but the.deb is rather old.
It is well documented that 52% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Re:Missing the most important feature...
on
Phoenix 0.4 Released
·
· Score: 3, Informative
If you are of the linux persuasion, try the googlizer.
Utility to search Google via your GNOME menu/panel
This is a very simple and very handy utility that just spawns the configured GNOME browser with a Google search on whatever you have in the X clipboard (whatever you last selected). It's not even an applet, just a program with a launcher that's nice to put on the panel - drag it there from the menu. It also includes support for a command line option -u/--url, to specify an alternative URL to which the search should be appended before opening.
(c) Copyright 2000-2002 Alan Cox, Robert McQueen
apt-get install googlizer or http://packages.debian.org/googlize r for the.tar.gz
Slight modification to make it work for everything2 compliments it well.
Hardware autodetection. Fewer questions asked. It's not just a graphical version of the standard Debian install, it's something a great deal closer to the Red Hat or Mandrake installers.
Why does it have to use pretty graphics to ask less questions? Auto detecting hardware requires the mouse?
I understand that your point is that the new installer isn't just pretty pictures, and this is not meant to replace the text based (and not really that bad, third time around) installer.
So we have a pretty, easy to use installer, as well as a down and dirty/ work anywhere/ power installer to choose from. This is good.
I've got a nagging feeling we should all go get ourselves a nice cup of somthing though..;)
I take it one of these could be used to recieve weather fax signals- does anyone know of any open source software/hardware projects that can re-build the weather maps from the A/D signal??
A laptop solution would be a quite useful for remote sites.
A simple search on freshmeat & sourceforge doesn't turn up anything.
* TV setup. My television, amplifier, and Tivo alone took up 1.6 Amps = 185 watts, while they were completely idle. [Tivo at 0.00 load...] Does it really require 1.6 amps just to spin a hard drive and wait for a 10mW infrared signal??
Um, no, but your television and amplifier only have one whopping big power supply each, which has to be kept on to monitor their IR ports, and the TV most likely keeps the tube warmed up for fast turn-ons. I expect if you test each individually, the Tivo comes out as the cheapest.
Take home point: get a beefy power-strip and turn everything off there to save cash.
"The main problem is that we actually get so much wind-generated electricity during a storm that we cannot get rid of it, this unbalances the power-grid and results in voltage and frequency instabilities."
Fly-wheels! BIG Fly-wheels! (or many) OR pump water uphill at nearby hydro-dams.
I just re-read the Greenpeace co-Founder's quote mentioned in Brian Ellenberger's parent post, and though I should add to it:
I love this quote from Dr. Moore: "Many factors including a lack of science education, a need to perpetuate themselves and "means justifies the end" thinking. The worst aspect is what I describe as the environmental movement has been hijacked by political activists who are using green rhetoric to cloak agendas that have more to do with anti-corporatism and class warfare than with ecology or the environment."
So basically he's upset about people subverting and misrepresenting in the name of the 'environmental' cause, in order to push their own agendas. Huh. Just like in the two newspaper articles you (Brian Ellenberger) cited.
No, just guilty of misrepresentation and demagoguery. I'll let the many/. students of logical thinking tear the holes in your arguments, but I'll just recap for those who don't follow your links.
From the articles:
NYTimes: Cherry Valley, NY
"The newest manifestation of Nimby, or not in my backyard, requires a different acronym: not in my viewshed."
"Why should we give our commodity -- wind -- to the first low-ball bid we receive?"
"Opponents say the windmills make too much noise, can fling ice in winter and are dangerous to migrating birds. Supporters say these complaints are exaggerated."
On the last bit: Noise- problem overcome by the late 80's (better blade design and auto-gearing to keep rpm low). Ice- I doubt these things stop spinning long enough for much to form, but planes have delt with the de-iceing problem for a long time (and what happens to the ice that falls), and quite a bit of waste heat is generated in the generator and could easily be routed to keep the blades unfrozen. Birds- see below.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Moosic Mountain Ridge
"Other environmentalists question whether the local objections are less about being green and more about crying: 'Not in my backyard.'"
The third article makes no mention of wind power, and has zero to do with the discussion. As such, I'll add my own discongruous agenda-pushing comment for you to ponder: 'Conservatives against conservation'.
Synopsis: Some folks are afraid of big windmills popping up in the farm next door, and think they are an eyesore which will lower their property values. Big woop. Personally I think they're quite nice to see.
For a mostly intelligent look at some of the issues retaining to wind turbines and their impacts on the environment (here endagered Bird strikes in Cali), I'd recommend this article from Home Power magazine: http://homepower.com/files/birds.pdf
It's a good read, even though gets a bit thin at the end.
"Efficiency is the only energy resource that is 100 percent efficient."
I was involved in the construction of solar boat in college
Wow, me too. Our design worked pretty well weather the sun was shining or not (get it? huh?)- the solar power was stored in the atmosphere, by way of a heat differential between the equator and the poles. This drove the 'wind' engine which directly powered the boat's 'sails', which we used to harness the solar power. It was lots of fun and I learnt heaps.
Seriously though--> if you travel out to way offshore islands (Bermuda for example), the only fossil fuel powered boats you'll see there are large displacement-hulled ships which store many thousands of galons of diesel. All the big expensive sports-fishers and the like are tied to the gas pumps and never get too far off the coast with their limited range..
Oh yeah, and there'll be a bunch of 30' rag-tag sailboats belonging to regualar folk.. which is kind of a special club for the non-rich sailor types to be a part of.
point is, harnessing 'alternative energy' doesn't really require super high-tech composites, mega-bucks, and the like. Some of the really really old 'solar' power derivatives have been around for yonks and actually work pretty well. No better way to get a boat across the ocean on a budget than a good old sail.
I guess I just can't figure out the reason to build a solar boat (aside from it being an exercise for the hydrodynamics students). Would a sailboat be technically illegal in such a race??
Oh, and I'd like to see a race between one of those skateboard come windsurfer thingies and a trans-oz solar car..
Although solar cars will never be sold to consumers
So sure are we? What I'd really like to see is a couple of flexible solar panels molded into the roofs of a hybrid car or electric golf cart. Wouldn't fully power the thing, but would certainly help increase efficency a little bit, and would increase the coolness factor a large bit.
Might actually extend the recharge interval considerably for the occasional use golf cart parked/driven in the sun.
You could always send them an email asking for the source . . . from the RealMagic codec page
As I understand it, the GPL only requires them to give out the source (with original GPL copyright intact) to their customers to whom they have already given a binary copy to, and who request it. They may charge a nominal fee for the cost of the media.
I'm just watching the NASDAQ daily chart (SIGM) for how their stock does in the morning. May be more effective than any C&D letter XviD could write with pro bono help..
Hot tip: Could be a good time to invest in the Pitch forks and torch co. *Note- guilt has not yet been proven, even if it smells really really bad*
The bit of your story that doesn't sit well with me is if it was a problem with one contractor- well rip out that code. If it's too deep to make that practicable, start from scrach. The NSA has the budget and enough smart people working for them that if the political will for this thing to happen was there, it would happen. Buy off the friggin patent. Buy the company. Make them pray the deal doesn't get changed further.
No project goes through without hickups. If there was a 'party' who weaseled a patent in, I don't really see this as a show stopper. A convenient excuse for gracefully canceling something that was causing friction from the higher-ups? A combination of all these things?
So what are the political reasons for stopping (or closing) public crypto projects?
The whole question of how bomb-proof do you make something that your adversaries will have free access to may figure. Don't want to give the enemy the tools they don't already have so as to keep you out when you really want in. But-
The US stands to lose way more than any other country in the world from a massive digital attack. It is much more important to the economic well being of the country (and thus tax money for proxy bombs) that Wall Street's (and main street's, taken in a cumulative sense) main computer systems can be trusted, than taking out an foreign intelligence server. We're way to dependent to go take that on the chin.
The other thing to remember, is that MS, and others who stand lose from Open Source work have cash and access. Microsoft has lobbyists who can make noise in Washington and put the seeds of semi-reasonable sounding ideas into lawmaker's heads. Open source has slashdot where there's a lot of loud (but nonetheless silent) arguing and self-righteousness and preaching to the choir. -which maybe gets through to one or a few of the hipper congress-peoples, but not much further.
So get out there and write to John McCain explaining the good that a secure private national computer grid will do for the greater national security! He's our man!
One thing's for sure, sitting around evangelizing on slashdot won't do shit for any of the good ideas that pop up here from out of the muck from time to time. No more than yelling at the TV or newspaper every day would.
It's all about political will, and it's all about controlling and feeding ideas to lawmakers. And I don't think the slashdot/stallman digest is delivered to all the guests at the fundrasing weekend each morning.
After all - if the computers are the same cost - where's the extra money going?
Into the lawyer kitty to help fund future 'negotiations' with MS.
[off-topic] XFree86_4.2.0-0pre1v1.deb is out !!
on
Is RPM Doomed?
·
· Score: 1
Re. Debian..
This has drawbacks of course, like the lack of the latest-and-greatest software (notably XFree86 4.2
Thought some of you might like to know:
Branden has just released the first -pre version of the XFree86 4.2 Debian packages on his personal site, and on several mirrors. (NOT official debs yet; NOT in sid yet)
See the anouncement and obligitory flame war at: http://debianplanet.org/article.php?sid=696 Happy breakage!
No one says you have to use high output white LEDs. 1,000 amber LEDs from DigiKey: $122.23, p/n P365-ND. Or about $85 for 700 if you can move the other 300.
It the real world, you have to pay (directly) for power. If you spent five months putting the skyline together, I'd assume you would be in it for the longer term; recurrent power bill negates higher initial layout.
> And 700 xmas lights are hardly hazardous
700 hand wired bulbs on a 110v line (solder*1400 chances to fuck up) vs. the 5v line off an old PC power supply...
well, the main danger with xmas lights of course is when they are bunched up over dried out xmas trees. Ask your local fire dept how many family homes go poof! every mid-jan. Of course this doesn't apply, and it is outside with lots of ventalation, but a munching squirrel could conceivably burn down the city in a raging holocaust.
Not to mention the 3 year upgrade cycle the bulbs introduce into the TCO..;)
Also see FlightGear for linux, SGI, Mac, and Windows.
"The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. Source code for the entire project is available and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
The goal of the FlightGear project is to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for use in research or academic environments, for the development and pursuit of other interesting flight simulation ideas, and as an end-user application. We are developing a sophisticated, open simulation framework that can be expanded and improved upon by anyone interested in contributing.
There are many exciting possibilties for an open, free flight sim. We hope that this project will be interesting and useful to many people in many areas."
The key thing is that you can monitor, control, scrub, install multi-million dollar efficiency sytems, run at much higher temperatures, and at a steady rate (no need to compromise so as to produce usable power at both 800rpm and 4000) in a central power plant. You can be orders of magnitude more efficient than a small portable internal combustion engine. It's in the power companys' best interest to run their plant at maximum efficiency- maximize profits!
In a car, you just have to make sure that the thing runs and the smoke coming out of the tail pipe doesn't choke the guy doing the annual inspection.
Even with transmission line losses, a 'dirty' coal electricity plant is a point source of pollution that you can control/upgrade/know without too much hassle. It then becomes a political matter to clean things up, but at least the ability to do it would actually exist.
Not to mention the huge volume of oils and antifreezes that leak out on to the roads and beyond which I.C.E.s require. Still might need tranny fluid, and some eth-glycol, but you can cut out a big chunk of the nasty vital fluids required in a normal car.
> This removes a major annoyance. One down, 99 to go.
Try here for a couple more: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/categor y03
Annoyances.org has left the useful-info website biz and joined the "buy our book of useful info" biz, so the goods aren't as easy to find as they used to be, but I think pretty much everything's still up on their site. You just have to dig. Their heart is still in the right place though.:)
Don't forget to check out the speak-freely internet telephone. It's audio only, but is availible for both Unix and Windows. The unix version is via a command-line interface, but there are java and Tcl/Tk front ends. (I gave up and stuck with the CLI)
Not a polished product to wow the boss, but it works. well.
Slashdot Mirror
Or a simple script to match against your old
What's the command to use the CD as a bootdisk ??
I tried 'vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1' and 'knoppix root=/dev/hda1' at the boot: prompt as I would with a normal boot floppy, but without any luck.
I know it should be trivial, but I haven't guessed it yet.
I seem to remeber seeing a post about the author switching to the same multi-platform library that the Audacity sound editor uses, so they only have to maintain one set of code for Windows, UNIXes, and Mac OS/X native. Can't recall where I saw that, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming. So my guess would be yes, they are currently doing a large code rewrite. The UNIX page was last updated 5 days ago, so I assume it is still alive.
I agree.
Though- you just type "sflaunch other.machine.org", and then hit Space to talk. It really isn't that bad at all.
The xspeakfree GUI (Tcl/Tk) front end makes it simple to use- almost identical to the windows version. Grab it out of the 7.5 release for UNIX's CONTRIB directory.
o Make sure you have read/write permissions for
o Try "sflaunch echo.fourmilab.ch" for the 10-second-echo server..
Once again, I can only guess, but if they did, I'd suppose that they'd use the new Ogg Speex codec, not the vorbis one.
Speex is specially designed for voice encoding at ultra-low bitrates. Vorbis is for excellent sounding music at bitrates higher than what you can pull with a modem in real time. Speex has recently joined with Ogg, and is currently in Beta 2. see http://www.speex.org/
So I hope they do include support for Ogg Speex in the future, but what they have already works very well.
I'd agree that there doesn't seem to be that much development lately, but none of the other internet phone programs I used a couple of years ago still exist or are totally free anymore. I don't know of another which is cross platform either (program- not VoIP codec).
Word Processing seems to be stuck on the level of 1992 year technology... so what. It works.
Just a little plug for the GPL'd Free internet phone, Speak-Freely.
.deb is rather old.
It uses UDP ports 2074 - 2076. From the article these are not blocked.
Works quite well (I've had better trans-pacific quality with it versus the expensive telephone connection [talking both connections to same party at the same time]). Loads of features, including VOX and PGP encryption. Very good help section.
There's both a basic UNIX cli version (use the xspeakfree tcl/tk frontend in CONTRIB or sflaunch) & a fully developed windows version.
http://speakfreely.org/
(I'm just Happy User)
It's in Debian as speak-freely, but the
It is well documented that 52% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
apt-get install googlizer
or
http://packages.debian.org/googliz
Slight modification to make it work for everything2 compliments it well.
find the themes here:
http://themes.mozdev.org/phoenix
Why does it have to use pretty graphics to ask less questions? Auto detecting hardware requires the mouse?
I understand that your point is that the new installer isn't just pretty pictures, and this is not meant to replace the text based (and not really that bad, third time around) installer.
So we have a pretty, easy to use installer, as well as a down and dirty/ work anywhere/ power installer to choose from. This is good.
I've got a nagging feeling we should all go get ourselves a nice cup of somthing though..
I take it one of these could be used to recieve weather fax signals- does anyone know of any open source software/hardware projects that can re-build the weather maps from the A/D signal??
A laptop solution would be a quite useful for remote sites.
A simple search on freshmeat & sourceforge doesn't turn up anything.
What's weather fax?
Once again, I urge you to read this article in regards to Bird Shredding:
http://homepower.com/files/birds.pdf
It's not an issue.
But I do think a blade-guard would introduce enough turbulence to significantly reduce efficiency.
They look quite futuristic and X-Filish.
Even more so in the fog or at twilight.
* TV setup. My television, amplifier, and Tivo alone took up 1.6 Amps = 185 watts, while they were completely idle. [Tivo at 0.00 load...] Does it really require 1.6 amps just to spin a hard drive and wait for a 10mW infrared signal??
Um, no, but your television and amplifier only have one whopping big power supply each, which has to be kept on to monitor their IR ports, and the TV most likely keeps the tube warmed up for fast turn-ons. I expect if you test each individually, the Tivo comes out as the cheapest.
Take home point: get a beefy power-strip and turn everything off there to save cash.
Fly-wheels! BIG Fly-wheels! (or many) OR pump water uphill at nearby hydro-dams.
See this previous Slashdot article.
So basically he's upset about people subverting and misrepresenting in the name of the 'environmental' cause, in order to push their own agendas. Huh. Just like in the two newspaper articles you (Brian Ellenberger) cited.
So you disprove your own point. I don't get it.
No, just guilty of misrepresentation and demagoguery. I'll let the many
From the articles:
NYTimes: Cherry Valley, NY
On the last bit:
Noise- problem overcome by the late 80's (better blade design and auto-gearing to keep rpm low).
Ice- I doubt these things stop spinning long enough for much to form, but planes have delt with the de-iceing problem for a long time (and what happens to the ice that falls), and quite a bit of waste heat is generated in the generator and could easily be routed to keep the blades unfrozen.
Birds- see below.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Moosic Mountain Ridge
The third article makes no mention of wind power, and has zero to do with the discussion. As such, I'll add my own discongruous agenda-pushing comment for you to ponder: 'Conservatives against conservation'.
Synopsis:
Some folks are afraid of big windmills popping up in the farm next door, and think they are an eyesore which will lower their property values.
Big woop.
Personally I think they're quite nice to see.
For a mostly intelligent look at some of the issues retaining to wind turbines and their impacts on the environment (here endagered Bird strikes in Cali), I'd recommend this article from Home Power magazine:
http://homepower.com/files/birds.pdf
It's a good read, even though gets a bit thin at the end.
"Efficiency is the only energy resource that is 100 percent efficient."
Wow, me too. Our design worked pretty well weather the sun was shining or not (get it? huh?)- the solar power was stored in the atmosphere, by way of a heat differential between the equator and the poles. This drove the 'wind' engine which directly powered the boat's 'sails', which we used to harness the solar power. It was lots of fun and I learnt heaps.
Seriously though--> if you travel out to way offshore islands (Bermuda for example), the only fossil fuel powered boats you'll see there are large displacement-hulled ships which store many thousands of galons of diesel. All the big expensive sports-fishers and the like are tied to the gas pumps and never get too far off the coast with their limited range..
Oh yeah, and there'll be a bunch of 30' rag-tag sailboats belonging to regualar folk.. which is kind of a special club for the non-rich sailor types to be a part of.
point is, harnessing 'alternative energy' doesn't really require super high-tech composites, mega-bucks, and the like. Some of the really really old 'solar' power derivatives have been around for yonks and actually work pretty well. No better way to get a boat across the ocean on a budget than a good old sail.
I guess I just can't figure out the reason to build a solar boat (aside from it being an exercise for the hydrodynamics students). Would a sailboat be technically illegal in such a race??
Oh, and I'd like to see a race between one of those skateboard come windsurfer thingies and a trans-oz solar car..
So sure are we?
What I'd really like to see is a couple of flexible solar panels molded into the roofs of a hybrid car or electric golf cart. Wouldn't fully power the thing, but would certainly help increase efficency a little bit, and would increase the coolness factor a large bit.
Might actually extend the recharge interval considerably for the occasional use golf cart parked/driven in the sun.
{/dream}
As I understand it, the GPL only requires them to give out the source (with original GPL copyright intact) to their customers to whom they have already given a binary copy to, and who request it. They may charge a nominal fee for the cost of the media.
I'm just watching the NASDAQ daily chart (SIGM) for how their stock does in the morning. May be more effective than any C&D letter XviD could write with pro bono help..
Hot tip:
Could be a good time to invest in the Pitch forks and torch co.
*Note- guilt has not yet been proven, even if it smells really really bad*
tee hee. burn baby burn!
The bit of your story that doesn't sit well with me is if it was a problem with one contractor- well rip out that code. If it's too deep to make that practicable, start from scrach. The NSA has the budget and enough smart people working for them that if the political will for this thing to happen was there, it would happen. Buy off the friggin patent. Buy the company. Make them pray the deal doesn't get changed further.
No project goes through without hickups. If there was a 'party' who weaseled a patent in, I don't really see this as a show stopper. A convenient excuse for gracefully canceling something that was causing friction from the higher-ups? A combination of all these things?
So what are the political reasons for stopping (or closing) public crypto projects?
The whole question of how bomb-proof do you make something that your adversaries will have free access to may figure. Don't want to give the enemy the tools they don't already have so as to keep you out when you really want in. But-
The US stands to lose way more than any other country in the world from a massive digital attack. It is much more important to the economic well being of the country (and thus tax money for proxy bombs) that Wall Street's (and main street's, taken in a cumulative sense) main computer systems can be trusted, than taking out an foreign intelligence server. We're way to dependent to go take that on the chin.
The other thing to remember, is that MS, and others who stand lose from Open Source work have cash and access. Microsoft has lobbyists who can make noise in Washington and put the seeds of semi-reasonable sounding ideas into lawmaker's heads. Open source has slashdot where there's a lot of loud (but nonetheless silent) arguing and self-righteousness and preaching to the choir. -which maybe gets through to one or a few of the hipper congress-peoples, but not much further.
So get out there and write to John McCain explaining the good that a secure private national computer grid will do for the greater national security! He's our man!
One thing's for sure, sitting around evangelizing on slashdot won't do shit for any of the good ideas that pop up here from out of the muck from time to time. No more than yelling at the TV or newspaper every day would.
It's all about political will, and it's all about controlling and feeding ideas to lawmakers. And I don't think the slashdot/stallman digest is delivered to all the guests at the fundrasing weekend each morning.
food for thought I hope.
go team!
After all - if the computers are the same cost - where's the extra money going?
Into the lawyer kitty to help fund future 'negotiations' with MS.
Thought some of you might like to know:
Branden has just released the first -pre version of the XFree86 4.2 Debian packages on his personal site, and on several mirrors. (NOT official debs yet; NOT in sid yet)
See the anouncement and obligitory flame war at:
http://debianplanet.org/article.php?sid=696
Happy breakage!
> 700 white LED's: about $2100
;)
No one says you have to use high output white LEDs.
1,000 amber LEDs from DigiKey: $122.23, p/n P365-ND. Or about $85 for 700 if you can move the other 300.
> we had over 1500 of them in our dorm room.
overly simplified:
60mW * 700 LEDs => 42 watts.
5w * 700 bulbs => 3,500 watts. (if only 1/2w bulbs, still 350w)
It the real world, you have to pay (directly) for power. If you spent five months putting the skyline together, I'd assume you would be in it for the longer term; recurrent power bill negates higher initial layout.
> And 700 xmas lights are hardly hazardous
700 hand wired bulbs on a 110v line (solder*1400 chances to fuck up) vs. the 5v line off an old PC power supply...
well, the main danger with xmas lights of course is when they are bunched up over dried out xmas trees. Ask your local fire dept how many family homes go poof! every mid-jan. Of course this doesn't apply, and it is outside with lots of ventalation, but a munching squirrel could conceivably burn down the city in a raging holocaust.
Not to mention the 3 year upgrade cycle the bulbs introduce into the TCO..
Seems wasteful, expensive, hazardous to do all of this with 700 Xmas lights. Why not use LEDs?
mA on the dollar.
Also see FlightGear for linux, SGI, Mac, and Windows.
"The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. Source code for the entire project is available and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
The goal of the FlightGear project is to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for use in research or academic environments, for the development and pursuit of other interesting flight simulation ideas, and as an end-user application. We are developing a sophisticated, open simulation framework that can be expanded and improved upon by anyone interested in contributing.
There are many exciting possibilties for an open, free flight sim. We hope that this project will be interesting and useful to many people in many areas."
The key thing is that you can monitor, control, scrub, install multi-million dollar efficiency sytems, run at much higher temperatures, and at a steady rate (no need to compromise so as to produce usable power at both 800rpm and 4000) in a central power plant. You can be orders of magnitude more efficient than a small portable internal combustion engine. It's in the power companys' best interest to run their plant at maximum efficiency- maximize profits!
In a car, you just have to make sure that the thing runs and the smoke coming out of the tail pipe doesn't choke the guy doing the annual inspection.
Even with transmission line losses, a 'dirty' coal electricity plant is a point source of pollution that you can control/upgrade/know without too much hassle. It then becomes a political matter to clean things up, but at least the ability to do it would actually exist.
Not to mention the huge volume of oils and antifreezes that leak out on to the roads and beyond which I.C.E.s require. Still might need tranny fluid, and some eth-glycol, but you can cut out a big chunk of the nasty vital fluids required in a normal car.
> This removes a major annoyance. One down, 99 to go.
r y03
:)
Try here for a couple more:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/catego
Annoyances.org has left the useful-info website biz and joined the "buy our book of useful info" biz, so the goods aren't as easy to find as they used to be, but I think pretty much everything's still up on their site. You just have to dig.
Their heart is still in the right place though.
TweakUI is your friend (Win95/98 only???)!
Don't forget to check out the speak-freely internet telephone. It's audio only, but is availible for both Unix and Windows. The unix version is via a command-line interface, but there are java and Tcl/Tk front ends. (I gave up and stuck with the CLI)
Not a polished product to wow the boss, but it works. well.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/
apt-get install speak-freely