Yes, although it took me a while to figure that automatic card switching stunt out. As far as I remember the Intel card was crap too, so I switched to the ATI card in the BIOS. Maybe I should go back to Intel.
I am also typing this from a T500 -- I am running Ubuntu 9.04 on it and I keep having problems with the graphics. The laptop comes with an ATI Mobility Radeon and the default driver doesnt deliver proper 3D performance and the proprieatry driver causes problems and X crashes. The keyboard is ok, but not the good quality any more that oler Thinkpads had to offer. Also, Lenovo does not offer to sell the laptop without a forced Windows license. Another problem at least in my country is that Lenovo does not offer alternative keyboard layout options or any other configuration option -- one has to go with one of the available models. Finally, Lenovo support sucks bigtime.
Most papers contain graphs, mathematical formulas or symbols, and practical none of these papers are available in any other format. So although I can see your points, I am pretty much stuck with that format. I would not mind a device that has the size of an A4 page. And ah, yes, I forgot one requirement: the device would have to be available in Europe. As far as I can see there is no plan to sell the Kindle outside of US in the near future.
I have a couple of 100 academic papers and books which I should read sitting on my laptop, none of them DRM protected. Does anyone have experience with how to read that stuff with some device similar to the Kindle? So far I tend to print out the papers and take them with me to read them in the park, coffeeshop, on the train etc, but using a single device would make it easier to take more papers and save some trees.
So -- are there any devices that are actually already useful and usable for this? Being able to make handwritten notes easily and being independent from power supply for a longer time would be two very essential features.
Lots of comments and ranting in here but is there any factual evidence that and how this could work or evidence against the possibility that it could ever work?
Eumelanin can be used as an organic semiconductor, but the images in the article with individual haris attached to a grid look quite phoney to me. Individual hairs basically consist primarily of Keratin which I believe is an insulator.
How is it not totally idiotic to patent a simplistic and trivial "design" like this... and how is it not totally idiotic to then fight over whether some similar "design" is too similar? There is not IP in this because no intellect whatsoever is necessary to come up with it.
or anyone else who files absurd, trivial or stupid patents. I still blame idiotic laws and an insane patent office. And a game where the rule is to accumulate as many patents as possible to guard against being bombarded by patent lawyers first.
Do ATM cards in the US really still not use a security chip? In my country, reading the magnetic information and knowing the code is useless for getting money since all ATMs check the security chip too.
Sure its easiest to mark a multiple choice test, but to see if or what a student understands and where her problems are, the first approach is to judge the contribution in class. Make them do and explain projects. If a written test has to be at all, make them explain why a certain problem has a certain result or make them prove or explain something. WolframAlpha won't help with any of that simple because then WolframAlpha would have to *understand* math.
or on some other non-Windows OS? This is a serious question... what is the amount of exploits and similar with regard to non Windows computers. Is it known?
It seems there are few to none 3D games for Linux that are not just multiplayer arenas but have a story or at least can be played alone with artificial enemies.
English is not my mother language, but the advantage of having one lingua franca for everyone is just overwhelming. This becomes obvious when one looks at the scientific literature, where English already has become the de-facto standard language. I never document programs in my native language and I never write scientific papers in my native language. Everyone who wants to be a programmer or scientist should know English or shut the fuck up as far as I am concerned.
Looks definitely like interesting science to me. I wonder why funding agencies are not throwing more money at this -- especially when compared to the money that is thrown to some other, high tech, high prestige projects (need I mention hot fusion) where the outcome for the money so far is somewhat... disappointing.
Can somebody explain all the discussion and discrepancies here? After all, that kind of effect does not seem to require too much effort to reproduce, compared with hot fusion or particle physics. So -- is there some disagreement about whether the effect is there and measurable or is the disagreement just about how to explain the effect? Is there some agreement on what the energy source *could* be? Obviously if there is an effect but you reject the hypothesis that cold fusion is the cause, something else must cause the effect -- and some material must chemically react or similar.
It is a bit weird in my opinion that there is still so much disagreement about this after 20 years.
Keys so I dont need to stare on the screen to type, compatibility with standard headphones, a FM radio receiver, user replacable battery, MMS, decent camera, camera for video calls, freedom to use the provider I want,... Oh wait, there are dozens of other mobile phones that have all that for less cost.
I have been using Linux for many years nearly exclusively now and everything I need an OS to do is done quite well by Linux. The problem is that hardware companies still do not provide support and drivers. And that really pisses me off, increasingly so, since the number of gadgets, devices, peripherals one would like to attach to one's computer has been increasing. I am sick and tired of getting "sorry, Linux not supported" canned text responses to my inquiries. Developers do a great job to provide what these companies should provide, but Linux users should really show these guys a bit better that they need to do their homework.
I am planning to buy a Laptop and a mobile phone soon: the laptop company will force me to buy Windows and make no statements about hardware support and the mobile phone company explicitly told me that "sorry Linux is not supported" and not even was able to inform me if I could mount the memory card as an USB drive.
These companies suck but they won't change until a really big number of Linux users lets them know how much they suck.
Of course no one would censor "motherfucker" or "fuck your mother" in the west on a website or in public television. Must be pure chance that everytime somebody says "cock" or "fuck" on TV in the US there is a beep sound.
when it comes to new ideas how to get grant money for allegedly saving humankind. I expect a whole new era of "stop the climate catastrophe" arguments in all areas of science. The possibilities are endless.
Thats true but not quite the point. In some cases you can simply ignore the laws. However in cases like this, the consequences will, in my opinion, be quite harmful for the broader acceptance of Linux. Unlike with DVDs I do not see an easy "grey" solution. That is what worries me, because I know that I will only get more special hardware support for Linux if it will achieve broader acceptance, which will depend on more special hardware support etc.
I am raising this issue here because I do not have an idea how to deal with this. I wonder if other people have constructive ideas what to do. Because one thing is sure: ignoring these issues will not make them go away.
Buy stuff with Linux support and quit your bitching.
I think I was not bitching but asking a question. The problem is that I would love to buy (yes buy) stuff with Linux support - problem is, that it often simply does not even exist. My original question was exactly about one of the things I would consider to be of major importance: the ability to play blue-ray movies on the desktop. As far as I can see there is no legal way whatsoever to do this on Linux and there is no legal way in sight either. I can assure you that I do check for Linux support, but the harsh reality is that, especially in Europe, where the selection of goods is probably a lot smaller than in the US, it is very often simply impossible to get anything decent that also works with Linux. Apart from blue-ray movie playing -- there simply is no decent GPS device that allows me to transfer map data to the device on Linux. I guess my point is that these are serious problems for making Linux more common for a broader user-base and I would love to see constructive ideas how to deal with them instead of ignoring the problem, routinely putting the blame on hardware companies and disregarding anyone who raises the issue as a troll.
will there ever be a way to watch blue-ray movies legally on a Linux computer? I have been using Linux on my desktop for years now, but I am getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of drivers for all the things that get more and more "normal" in the Windows world: synchronizing mobile phones, loading maps into a GPS device, playing Blue-ray disks, operating TV-cards, security devices (e.g. chip-card readers) and other special hardware. So it is not only a lack of game playing software or professional graphics software like Photoshop... it is simlply a major *effort* for the average user to ignore or work around all these problems. And it seems for some of these problems there are major legal or other obstacles which I cannot see getting solved in the future. Opinions?
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Yes, although it took me a while to figure that automatic card switching stunt out. As far as I remember the Intel card was crap too, so I switched to the ATI card in the BIOS. Maybe I should go back to Intel.
I am also typing this from a T500 -- I am running Ubuntu 9.04 on it and I keep having problems with the graphics. The laptop comes with an ATI Mobility Radeon and the default driver doesnt deliver proper 3D performance and the proprieatry driver causes problems and X crashes.
The keyboard is ok, but not the good quality any more that oler Thinkpads had to offer.
Also, Lenovo does not offer to sell the laptop without a forced Windows license.
Another problem at least in my country is that Lenovo does not offer alternative keyboard layout options or any other configuration option -- one has to go with one of the available models.
Finally, Lenovo support sucks bigtime.
Most papers contain graphs, mathematical formulas or symbols, and practical none of these papers are available in any other format. So although I can see your points, I am pretty much stuck with that format.
I would not mind a device that has the size of an A4 page. And ah, yes, I forgot one requirement: the device would have to be available in Europe. As far as I can see there is no plan to sell the Kindle outside of US in the near future.
I have a couple of 100 academic papers and books which I should read sitting on my laptop, none of them DRM protected.
Does anyone have experience with how to read that stuff with some device similar to the Kindle? So far I tend to print out the papers and take them with me to read them in the park, coffeeshop, on the train etc, but using a single device would make it easier to take more papers and save some trees.
So -- are there any devices that are actually already useful and usable for this? Being able to make handwritten notes easily and being independent from power supply for a longer time would be two very essential features.
Thank you for clearing that up!
Still curious about how exactly this works even with a mat of hair though.
Lots of comments and ranting in here but is there any factual evidence that and how this could work or evidence against the possibility that it could ever work?
Eumelanin can be used as an organic semiconductor, but the images in the article with individual haris attached to a grid look quite phoney to me. Individual hairs basically consist primarily of Keratin which I believe is an insulator.
How is it not totally idiotic to patent a simplistic and trivial "design" like this ... and how is it not totally idiotic to then fight over whether some similar "design" is too similar?
There is not IP in this because no intellect whatsoever is necessary to come up with it.
or anyone else who files absurd, trivial or stupid patents. I still blame idiotic laws and an insane patent office. And a game where the rule is to accumulate as many patents as possible to guard against being bombarded by patent lawyers first.
Do ATM cards in the US really still not use a security chip? In my country, reading the magnetic information and knowing the code is useless for getting money since all ATMs check the security chip too.
Sure its easiest to mark a multiple choice test, but to see if or what a student understands and where her problems are, the first approach is to judge the contribution in class. Make them do and explain projects. If a written test has to be at all, make them explain why a certain problem has a certain result or make them prove or explain something.
WolframAlpha won't help with any of that simple because then WolframAlpha would have to *understand* math.
or on some other non-Windows OS? This is a serious question ... what is the amount of exploits and similar with regard to non Windows computers. Is it known?
It seems there are few to none 3D games for Linux that are not just multiplayer arenas but have a story or at least can be played alone with artificial enemies.
English is not my mother language, but the advantage of having one lingua franca for everyone is just overwhelming. This becomes obvious when one looks at the scientific literature, where English already has become the de-facto standard language.
I never document programs in my native language and I never write scientific papers in my native language. Everyone who wants to be a programmer or scientist should know English or shut the fuck up as far as I am concerned.
Looks definitely like interesting science to me. ... disappointing.
I wonder why funding agencies are not throwing more money at this -- especially when compared to the money that is thrown to some other, high tech, high prestige projects (need I mention hot fusion) where the outcome for the money so far is somewhat
Can somebody explain all the discussion and discrepancies here? After all, that kind of effect does not seem to require too much effort to reproduce, compared with hot fusion or particle physics.
So -- is there some disagreement about whether the effect is there and measurable or is the disagreement just about how to explain the effect? Is there some agreement on what the energy source *could* be? Obviously if there is an effect but you reject the hypothesis that cold fusion is the cause, something else must cause the effect -- and some material must chemically react or similar.
It is a bit weird in my opinion that there is still so much disagreement about this after 20 years.
Laptop: Lenovo T500 NK13AGE
Phone: Sony-Ericsson W902
Keys so I dont need to stare on the screen to type, compatibility with standard headphones, a FM radio receiver, user replacable battery, MMS, decent camera, camera for video calls, freedom to use the provider I want, ...
Oh wait, there are dozens of other mobile phones that have all that for less cost.
Nevermind then.
I have been using Linux for many years nearly exclusively now and everything I need an OS to do is done quite well by Linux.
The problem is that hardware companies still do not provide support and drivers. And that really pisses me off, increasingly so, since the number of gadgets, devices, peripherals one would like to attach to one's computer has been increasing.
I am sick and tired of getting "sorry, Linux not supported" canned text responses to my inquiries.
Developers do a great job to provide what these companies should provide, but Linux users should really show these guys a bit better that they need to do their homework.
I am planning to buy a Laptop and a mobile phone soon: the laptop company will force me to buy Windows and make no statements about hardware support and the mobile phone company explicitly told me that "sorry Linux is not supported" and not even was able to inform me if I could mount the memory card as an USB drive.
These companies suck but they won't change until a really big number of Linux users lets them know how much they suck.
Of course no one would censor "motherfucker" or "fuck your mother" in the west on a website or in public television. Must be pure chance that everytime somebody says "cock" or "fuck" on TV in the US there is a beep sound.
why do I have to boot at all? Why not just make suspend to disk and resume faster? Why has suspend/resume to be so damned slow?
Booting looks like a totally archaic concept to me.
when it comes to new ideas how to get grant money for allegedly saving humankind.
I expect a whole new era of "stop the climate catastrophe" arguments in all areas of science. The possibilities are endless.
that might be true but Linux is actually used, and used more frequently, outside of the US, where totally different laws are in effect.
Thats true but not quite the point. In some cases you can simply ignore the laws. However in cases like this, the consequences will, in my opinion, be quite harmful for the broader acceptance of Linux. Unlike with DVDs I do not see an easy "grey" solution.
That is what worries me, because I know that I will only get more special hardware support for Linux if it will achieve broader acceptance, which will depend on more special hardware support etc.
I am raising this issue here because I do not have an idea how to deal with this. I wonder if other people have constructive ideas what to do. Because one thing is sure: ignoring these issues will not make them go away.
Buy stuff with Linux support and quit your bitching.
I think I was not bitching but asking a question. The problem is that I would love to buy (yes buy) stuff with Linux support - problem is, that it often simply does not even exist.
My original question was exactly about one of the things I would consider to be of major importance: the ability to play blue-ray movies on the desktop. As far as I can see there is no legal way whatsoever to do this on Linux and there is no legal way in sight either.
I can assure you that I do check for Linux support, but the harsh reality is that, especially in Europe, where the selection of goods is probably a lot smaller than in the US, it is very often simply impossible to get anything decent that also works with Linux. Apart from blue-ray movie playing -- there simply is no decent GPS device that allows me to transfer map data to the device on Linux.
I guess my point is that these are serious problems for making Linux more common for a broader user-base and I would love to see constructive ideas how to deal with them instead of ignoring the problem, routinely putting the blame on hardware companies and disregarding anyone who raises the issue as a troll.
will there ever be a way to watch blue-ray movies legally on a Linux computer? ... it is simlply a major *effort* for the average user to ignore or work around all these problems.
I have been using Linux on my desktop for years now, but I am getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of drivers for all the things that get more and more "normal" in the Windows world: synchronizing mobile phones, loading maps into a GPS device, playing Blue-ray disks, operating TV-cards, security devices (e.g. chip-card readers) and other special hardware.
So it is not only a lack of game playing software or professional graphics software like Photoshop
And it seems for some of these problems there are major legal or other obstacles which I cannot see getting solved in the future.
Opinions?