From the second link: And at the heart of the project is Linux, or at least the Ubuntu variant of the open source operating system coupled with a desktop designed by Alex's own developers.
True, but it is clear that these were the directors of the project and not the techs. Windows, at least in the XP and before incantations, the assumption was "User=Administrator" and that did cause badly written software. I'm pretty sure they mean that... or better said, they were told by their engineers that "Windows allows badly written programs" by their engineers who actually meant "No practical user separation".
In all fairness: it is entirely possible to run WinXP as a Limited User. It just takes a certain amount of work when you encounter "badly behaved programs". I even prefer the message "Access Denied" over the UAC message of "Cancel/Allow" in Vista or 7. (Yes, I know you can set it up the way I like it, it's just not default any more).
My parents server is a P-III 800MHz with 768Meg RAM. It used to be my desktop 10 years ago. When I bought it it only had 128Meg RAM. It does run OpenBSD, though.... It's really overkill for what it does: load averages: 0.17, 0.16, 0.18
Admins should start to notice that it is better to update to latest stable version of used software and we should drive all developers as well to understand that.
Yes, but contrary to popular belief: this is not in our hands. (Also, I'm a firm believer in "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" -which doesn't apply to IE6- but upgrade to the latest greatest every point release isn't a good idea) Do realise that many companies use internal web applications made inhouse or by a third-party (think stuff like EMC Documentum, SAP, etc...) that simply work best on IE6.
I expect a netbook to be more expensive than a bare motherboard+CPU, there are batteries,PSU, screen, disk/ssd, ram, charging circuit etc...., all built in, and all of which cost extra. I don't expect to find a netbook that cheap
I grant you that. I just thought you implied you could get netbooks that cheap, but not the bare hardware.
That Atom motherboard sounds good, but what is it's power draw like? I heard that it's chipset draws loads of power. Would it really provide a benefit to a PIII motherboard? How does it compare?
To be frank. I do not know. I still have one P-III server running at my parents and we never measured the power draw. A quick Google gave me a review for the linked Atom board reporting 45W for the whole system. Most likely the Atom will be more powerful than a P-III system, but I won't really vouch for it. As said, I have an Atom 330 ION board, but under Ubuntu it performed horribly. I still need to try Windows XP to see if it's due to the software (drivers) or the hardware. Power draw seems better too.
Anyway, you might want to look around on this site a bit. I've never bought anything on it because the shipping cost are not in my favour. Since you're talking about pounds, it might be interesting for you.
I picked £100 because that is 3 times the cost of the current motherboard (were I to buy a PIII board+CPU new from storage stock) at my local.
Why would anyone do that? Take any cheap chip/motherboard combo and underclock the hell out of it. I did that with an AMD64 chip taken from a dumpster. Underclocked it to the lowest I could and the fan could be removed. Instant fanless system.
In geek circles surely... Ask your dad,he won't know... In Germany it is really common to refer to the HQ cities to refer to car companies. A german non-geek dad would know.;-) Most German people will know what you're takling about.
Munich = BMW
Stuttgart = Mercedes
Wolfsburg = Volkswagen
Did we cover them all? I would rather have a Stuttgart too, but my Audi TT is very nice too:-)
I prefer the products of another innovative German company based in Stuttgart.
I wonder how many Americans actually understood what you were saying. I'm an Ingolstadt driver by the way:-) I always found it a bit of a weird thing that Germans use city names to refer to car brands. First time I saw it I was wondering what exactly they were talking about.
Problem is almost all the cheap computers are in netbook format.
Huh? What are you talking about? My favourite hardware online store has an Atom-based motherboard for a whopping 58.90€. Add in a 1GB stick (if you don't already have some lying around, like I do... from dumpster diven machines) for a 23.99€. You can most likely reuse your cases and power supplies (I have an Atom ION 330 motherboard living of a 300W powersupply and that overkill). That's your base system for less than 85€! Matches your "below £100" no?
If I just want the motherboard, or a box without a screen, they assume you're in the embedded/industrial market, with prices to match
Ever heard of Soekris? Sure, they are not *that* cheap and not that high-performance but you were talking "home servers". I have a net5501-70 and it handles pretty much anything I throw at it for home server usage. Of course, that's not in your given budget range...
Now, I admit that these are all x86 machines but currently your machines are too.
Perhaps you can base something on this. Based on XScale processors, but they seem to be out-of-budget too.
Perhaps you might start reavaluate your £100 requirement. I haven't seen any netbook at that price either. £100 ~= 115€. Cheapest netbook I have seen was 199€ and was Linux based. So, I ask you the reverse question; Where can I find a £100 netbook?
I had this on a coworkers Vista machine... He gave it to me in order to get his data back. Put the HD in an Ubuntu machine, took all data and gave it him on a USB disk. I tried to fix it for a while, but I couldn't manage. Guess a reinstall was in order. To me it looked like a recovery procedure gone terribly, terribly wrong.
I'm like him:-) Personally, I rarely buy new computers anymore. Anything I need, I find in a dumpster. I was just saying so because this way of thinking often seems to be alien to slashdot users. My current desktop? 6 years old... Good enough for me.
May be, but you do not know what his priorities were. One of them was high screen resolution (that P-III had 1600x1200!) The cheapo-o laptops usually don't get really good resolution. Besides, there is the whole "migration" part, copying over data, installing the applications he needs/wants... That's a real hassle.
Don't misunderstand me... I took the stance of my dad too. I'm a tech dumpster diver, you know. My wifes P-IV 2.6GHz machine blew some caps, and I replaced it with an AMD 2600+ which I got from a dumpster. I used a P-III 600MHz up until January 2007, when I replace it with a Turion X2, but only because it was on sale because they couldn't sell it with Vista... (Back then Vista was the big promise)
By now, I just have Linux file server and my data isn't local anymore. I simply access it by sftp. I don't buy new PC's... At least not high performance ones. I don't need the performance. Last new PC I bought was an Atom 330 ION. Been disappointed with it, but that's probably because I ran Ubuntu on it.
Dumpster diving is an awesome hobby. My server is an AMD64, which I got for free. I give away PC's running Linux and people are happy to get them.:-)
My old desktop is still waiting for getting back in service..... It's a 2400+ AMD MP, and the only reason it just sits there is because it's louder than a starting jet;-)
Hmmm.... Have you tried using an update version? I don't see a reason that it wouldn't work. Besides, you're running beta software, you should realise that it comes with sacrifices. Besides, as far as I know Steam allows backups. Do that, set them aside on a USB HD and reimport them on your freshly installed legal 7.
What surprises me more is that people are still using the RC. Why would anyone do that? I've seen 7 on my dads alienware(*) laptop. Frankly, I wasn't impressed. Feels like Vista, but a bit faster. XP is not an option since he wants to use the full memory instead of being limited to 3.5Gig. At least it doesn't feel sluggish, but on an i7 I wouldn't expect that.
(*) My dad is a strange creature.... He buys the highest end laptop he can get/pay and then uses it for years.... The laptop the i7 replaced was a P-III 733MHz bought around 2000 or so... 10 years for a laptop.... Never seen anyone do that except my dad;-)
I also have MidpSSH running and it doesn't stop when I switch to another application. Yes, they are full screen. Google Maps updates my current location... etc... Yes, I know it sounds a bit like task switching but since MidpSSH doesn't drop the connection, I do think it's multitasking.
An SSH connection can't just be left there to keep "state"
I was under the impression that the "majority of people" don't even have such an option on their smart phones
I have a standard run of the mill cellphone: a Sony Ericsson C702i. It does multitasking just fine (well, or at least task switching). Right now it's running Opera Mini at the same time as Google Maps.
This is a fairly common unspectacular phone. I must admit, that I didn't completely get how to do this in the beginning, but it was just one button;-)
An iPhone might be able to do the same. I never used one.
What about on-die memory controllers for serial RAM? Thought that far? Just saying.... The heat would be then part of the CPU and more centrally dissipated.
Yes, the terminators are just like in SCSI (which is parallel, I know). Technology has advanced, the heat problems, the latency problems and the terminator issue might be resolved with new insights. I remember opening that RD-Ram machine and finding the terminators and wondering what they were. Do remember that SCSI interfaces also needed terminators back in the day, but auto-terminating devices were invented later on.
No.... I don't imagine seeing Rambus being welcomed either. BUT Samsung might. It all depends on their intentions. Personally, I've been buying Samsung gear for a long time because both their memory and harddisk technology have not given me any trouble. I might just have been lucky, but at this point in time I'll buy Samsung most of the time because the price/quality seems okay.
Slashdot Mirror
From the second link: And at the heart of the project is Linux, or at least the Ubuntu variant of the open source operating system coupled with a desktop designed by Alex's own developers.
True, but it is clear that these were the directors of the project and not the techs. Windows, at least in the XP and before incantations, the assumption was "User=Administrator" and that did cause badly written software. I'm pretty sure they mean that... or better said, they were told by their engineers that "Windows allows badly written programs" by their engineers who actually meant "No practical user separation".
In all fairness: it is entirely possible to run WinXP as a Limited User. It just takes a certain amount of work when you encounter "badly behaved programs". I even prefer the message "Access Denied" over the UAC message of "Cancel/Allow" in Vista or 7. (Yes, I know you can set it up the way I like it, it's just not default any more).
My parents server is a P-III 800MHz with 768Meg RAM. It used to be my desktop 10 years ago. When I bought it it only had 128Meg RAM. It does run OpenBSD, though.... It's really overkill for what it does: load averages: 0.17, 0.16, 0.18
Yes, but contrary to popular belief: this is not in our hands. (Also, I'm a firm believer in "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" -which doesn't apply to IE6- but upgrade to the latest greatest every point release isn't a good idea) Do realise that many companies use internal web applications made inhouse or by a third-party (think stuff like EMC Documentum, SAP, etc...) that simply work best on IE6.
I grant you that. I just thought you implied you could get netbooks that cheap, but not the bare hardware.
To be frank. I do not know. I still have one P-III server running at my parents and we never measured the power draw. A quick Google gave me a review for the linked Atom board reporting 45W for the whole system. Most likely the Atom will be more powerful than a P-III system, but I won't really vouch for it. As said, I have an Atom 330 ION board, but under Ubuntu it performed horribly. I still need to try Windows XP to see if it's due to the software (drivers) or the hardware. Power draw seems better too.
Anyway, you might want to look around on this site a bit. I've never bought anything on it because the shipping cost are not in my favour. Since you're talking about pounds, it might be interesting for you.
Why would anyone do that? Take any cheap chip/motherboard combo and underclock the hell out of it. I did that with an AMD64 chip taken from a dumpster. Underclocked it to the lowest I could and the fan could be removed. Instant fanless system.
In geek circles surely... Ask your dad,he won't know... In Germany it is really common to refer to the HQ cities to refer to car companies. A german non-geek dad would know. ;-) Most German people will know what you're takling about.
Munich = BMW :-)
Stuttgart = Mercedes
Wolfsburg = Volkswagen
Did we cover them all? I would rather have a Stuttgart too, but my Audi TT is very nice too
Look the cities up in wikipedia... It's documented there.
I wonder how many Americans actually understood what you were saying. I'm an Ingolstadt driver by the way :-) I always found it a bit of a weird thing that Germans use city names to refer to car brands. First time I saw it I was wondering what exactly they were talking about.
Huh? What are you talking about? My favourite hardware online store has an Atom-based motherboard for a whopping 58.90€. Add in a 1GB stick (if you don't already have some lying around, like I do... from dumpster diven machines) for a 23.99€. You can most likely reuse your cases and power supplies (I have an Atom ION 330 motherboard living of a 300W powersupply and that overkill). That's your base system for less than 85€! Matches your "below £100" no?
Ever heard of Soekris? Sure, they are not *that* cheap and not that high-performance but you were talking "home servers". I have a net5501-70 and it handles pretty much anything I throw at it for home server usage. Of course, that's not in your given budget range...
Now, I admit that these are all x86 machines but currently your machines are too.
Perhaps you can base something on this. Based on XScale processors, but they seem to be out-of-budget too.
Perhaps you might start reavaluate your £100 requirement. I haven't seen any netbook at that price either. £100 ~= 115€. Cheapest netbook I have seen was 199€ and was Linux based. So, I ask you the reverse question; Where can I find a £100 netbook?
Of course... After all, we know Steve Jobs exists.
I had this on a coworkers Vista machine... He gave it to me in order to get his data back. Put the HD in an Ubuntu machine, took all data and gave it him on a USB disk. I tried to fix it for a while, but I couldn't manage. Guess a reinstall was in order. To me it looked like a recovery procedure gone terribly, terribly wrong.
That machine is SCSI based. Find me cheap SCSI disks and I'll upgrade it.
That is exactly the problem. It simply takes a lot of time. It is not a "problem" per say, but if you change machines often, it's wasted time.
We do have a server, but it only got a 20Gig HD and the consensus is to keep only extremely important files on them.
I'm like him :-) Personally, I rarely buy new computers anymore. Anything I need, I find in a dumpster. I was just saying so because this way of thinking often seems to be alien to slashdot users. My current desktop? 6 years old... Good enough for me.
May be, but you do not know what his priorities were. One of them was high screen resolution (that P-III had 1600x1200!) The cheapo-o laptops usually don't get really good resolution. Besides, there is the whole "migration" part, copying over data, installing the applications he needs/wants... That's a real hassle.
Don't misunderstand me... I took the stance of my dad too. I'm a tech dumpster diver, you know. My wifes P-IV 2.6GHz machine blew some caps, and I replaced it with an AMD 2600+ which I got from a dumpster. I used a P-III 600MHz up until January 2007, when I replace it with a Turion X2, but only because it was on sale because they couldn't sell it with Vista... (Back then Vista was the big promise)
By now, I just have Linux file server and my data isn't local anymore. I simply access it by sftp. I don't buy new PC's... At least not high performance ones. I don't need the performance. Last new PC I bought was an Atom 330 ION. Been disappointed with it, but that's probably because I ran Ubuntu on it.
Dumpster diving is an awesome hobby. My server is an AMD64, which I got for free. I give away PC's running Linux and people are happy to get them. :-)
My old desktop is still waiting for getting back in service..... It's a 2400+ AMD MP, and the only reason it just sits there is because it's louder than a starting jet ;-)
Good luck finding drivers... That's the whole problem.
Hmmm.... Have you tried using an update version? I don't see a reason that it wouldn't work. Besides, you're running beta software, you should realise that it comes with sacrifices. Besides, as far as I know Steam allows backups. Do that, set them aside on a USB HD and reimport them on your freshly installed legal 7.
What surprises me more is that people are still using the RC. Why would anyone do that? I've seen 7 on my dads alienware(*) laptop. Frankly, I wasn't impressed. Feels like Vista, but a bit faster. XP is not an option since he wants to use the full memory instead of being limited to 3.5Gig. At least it doesn't feel sluggish, but on an i7 I wouldn't expect that.
(*) My dad is a strange creature.... He buys the highest end laptop he can get/pay and then uses it for years.... The laptop the i7 replaced was a P-III 733MHz bought around 2000 or so... 10 years for a laptop.... Never seen anyone do that except my dad ;-)
I also have MidpSSH running and it doesn't stop when I switch to another application. Yes, they are full screen. Google Maps updates my current location... etc... Yes, I know it sounds a bit like task switching but since MidpSSH doesn't drop the connection, I do think it's multitasking.
An SSH connection can't just be left there to keep "state"
I have a standard run of the mill cellphone: a Sony Ericsson C702i. It does multitasking just fine (well, or at least task switching). Right now it's running Opera Mini at the same time as Google Maps.
This is a fairly common unspectacular phone. I must admit, that I didn't completely get how to do this in the beginning, but it was just one button ;-)
An iPhone might be able to do the same. I never used one.
What about on-die memory controllers for serial RAM? Thought that far? Just saying.... The heat would be then part of the CPU and more centrally dissipated.
Yes, the terminators are just like in SCSI (which is parallel, I know). Technology has advanced, the heat problems, the latency problems and the terminator issue might be resolved with new insights. I remember opening that RD-Ram machine and finding the terminators and wondering what they were. Do remember that SCSI interfaces also needed terminators back in the day, but auto-terminating devices were invented later on.
No.... I don't imagine seeing Rambus being welcomed either. BUT Samsung might. It all depends on their intentions. Personally, I've been buying Samsung gear for a long time because both their memory and harddisk technology have not given me any trouble. I might just have been lucky, but at this point in time I'll buy Samsung most of the time because the price/quality seems okay.