hehe yeah my submission was really too vague. I added a 'summary' post at the end of the discussion saying as much, but I doubt many people will see it. I basically have a ton of old hardware and was just thinking about the different uses for all this crap, and a "universal" media reader popped into mind.
It sounds like I'd either need to focus on more modern (physical) formats if I wanted a single compact machine, or dedicate a few tables and a portion of a room to the project if I wanted to get anywhere close to comprehensive. I'll probably start by throwing everything that'll fit into a box and work from there, plus ordering a Catweasel card as a few of the ppl mentioned. I really hoped that someone would have an elegant solution to the power consumption issue, but it gets cold here in the winter and I guess a little extra heat won't go to waste;)
Anyhow, thanks for your reply and I hope no hard feelings for my snarky post.
Ok, thanks for all of your comments! I'm not sure that anyone will ever see this post since the story is now off the front page, but I wanted to recap the lessons identified (by me at least).
1) Find a Catweasel.
2) If you're concerned about power consumption you're going to have to hack some hardware.
3) There's data recovery and then there's data recovery.
4) Tape in any form is not going to be fun to work with.
5) Any setup that's remotely interesting will grow to consume as much space as possible, however this can pay for itself if you let it.
6) Some people, posting on/., are baffled when confronted with a computer hobbyist.
7) Some people will troll any damn thing. Others will mod them insightful.
Overall, I'd have to say that 'asking slashdot' was a bit of a disappointment. Most of the helpful posts were of an obvious nature (get usb devices!) or ended by stating that the parts of this project I had identified as interesting (size, power consumption) were hard to accomplish. Thanks, but I knew that. I think most of the blame rests on myself, and I should have been more explicit about the areas I was having problems with. In general I'd say that I was too general.
I'd like to end this by stating that, as god is my witness, I never thought I'd have someone on Slashdot ask me why I wanted to build.
Definitely say good-bye to single, power efficient machine and say hi to couple of hard to maintain dinosaurs.
Yeah that was pretty much the point of my post. It's why I asked Slashdot instead of Google. It's an interesting problem, especially for a hobbyist without any external funding.
hardly a word in their backstory is true, and all the brain sweat and long detailed posts written to attempt to help the poster are wasted.
A few points...
1) there was no backstory, it was a thought I'd had kicking around for a bit.
2) the long detailed posts full of "brain sweat" must have all been modded -1 at this point. I see a few posts on tape drives that might come in handy though.
3) my submitted story was (needlessly, IMHO) edited and reworded, but still enclosed in quotes as if it came directly from me.
4) As a computer hobbyist I'd like to cordially invite you to GTFO of slashdot for even thinking I wouldn't want 'such a frankenstein jobby one at home'. Are you insane?
However, I was lightly gratified to see you call my hobby a provocative topic. I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing here, but please don't disabuse me.
are there really that many Democrats out there who have the intention of banning all guns?
No, it's just a wedge topic. Just like there are plenty of democrats in the military (...now. thanks GW!) there are also plenty of democrat gun owners.
This whole issue really highlights the total inability of the two parties in power to sit down and have a reasonable discussion. There are plenty of areas in this topic to find common ground, there are a few areas (fully automatic weapons, cheap handguns in cities) that actually need to be discussed and debated intelligently and in a public forum. Instead of doing this the hard way, it's much easier to demonize the opposing viewpoint and try to rally as many voters to your perspective as fast as you can.
This leads me to a Slashdot Analogy(c*): I just realized I'd been playing Risk all wrong. I've always tried to build up a power base and slowly expand to grab continents. After getting clobbered repeatedly I now see that the way to play is to mass together one huge army. The idea is that you'll roll over as much area as possible and hope that you get more bonus armies at the start of your next term than the other guys. After trying a few games I've come to the conclusion that I can't win unless I adopt the same strategy. The analogy should be pretty clear, but in my mind the key point is that, as a citizen, I don't want to "play the game" I want to build a decent society to live in.
Ugh, another pedantophile. If two people agree on the definition of a word then that's what it means, bitch. Dictionaries provide a snapshot of a language at a given point in time, they do NOT define them.
This was James Wharram in the 1950s, before sailing carts were even believed in at all [obviously the Micronesians didn't count. Obviously].
OT, but this caught my attention since I have Micronesian current chart on my wall (cowrie and wood, neat!). What do you mean by sailing charts not being believed in pre-50s?
Yeah I'm especially doubtful about the claim to have broken 'pick-the-cat'. Either they're using a tiny and generic sample pool, they're the most brilliant software authors of all time, or they're full of shit.
The brilliance of the cat idea is that any series of images can be used as long as they can be divided into either Cat or NotCat by a reasonable human. Think car with giant cat ears, person w/ (shudder) fursuit, letterhead of the California Attorney's Tennis league... you'd need to code the entire human concept of the "cat" gestalt and it's simply not possible right now.
This also raises the question of WHY pick-the-cat isn't implemented in more systems, but I'm guessing it's mainly a matter of captcha programmers being too enamored with their own work.
from TFA: private information from 14 employees and contractors who worked at the laboratory from 1998 to 2002 had been found on CDs or zip drives (emphasis mine)
the military is notorious for replacing things that don't really need replacing so they can spend their budget rather than give it back and possibly get a smaller budget next year.
That's not a phenomenon unique to the military. Any organization of a decent size will use this approach to budget management. Everyone knows how this works, everyone spends tons of cash on random crap at the end of their fiscal year (or what have you), and everyone sees this as inherently detrimental. You are (IMHO) an adult when you finally realize that everyone's a damn idiot. ((you are wise when you include yourself))
There's nothing dishonest about anonymity. It's just anonymous. I can see that it puts a burr under your saddle and a bee in your bonnet, but everyone's different (and really, really weird). I'd be interested to know why you consider it lying, assuming of course we're NOT talking about forged email headers here.
Don't be dense, Gordonjcp (if that is your real name).
A quick google would clear that one up.
That whooshing sound was the joke going over your head =(
Don't be dense, Gordonjcp (if that is your real name). It surely can't strain your imagination to consider a situation where the consequences of speaking your mind might prevent you from doing so.
It's easy to be ballsy when you don't have anything on the line, but I wonder how brave (read, stupid) you'd be if your family were in danger.
Bots are old news in FPS. Some of the earlier games used them to fill out multiplayer matches. Their skill level can be anywhere from brain-dead to totally unbeatable, but you have to keep in mind that any time a bot misses you it's basically done on purpose.
Here's the abstract to the report that A.N.C. refers to above. I'm not sure it's saying what he thinks it's saying, but you be the judge...
Effects of Raising and Lowering Speed Limits on Selected Roadway Sections
Introduction
All too often, speed limits are considered as a cure-all for a community's traffic ills. Citizens frequently demand speed zoning changes in an effort to develop a quick solution to a complicated traffic problem. There is a need, therefore, to determine the effects of changing speed limits on traffic operations and safety for surface (non-freeway) rural and urban roadways.
Data Collection
Speed and accident data were collected in 22 States at 100 sites before and after speed limits were altered. The speed limits were lowered at 59 sites and raised at 41 sites. The sites included 63 rural sites, 22 small urban sites, and 15 urban sites. The section lengths varied from 0.3 mi to 12.6 mi (0.5 km to 20.3 km, with an average of 1.7 mi [2.7 km] ). Speed and accident data were collected at 83 similar comparison sites (where the speed limits were not altered) to control for time trends and other factors.
The researcher was notified about sites where speed limits were to be changed by State traffic engineers. Traffic data were collected before and after the speed limits were changed for 24-h periods using automated roadside units connected to inductive loop mats to record speeds, headways, and types of vehicle. Data were collected for more than 1.6 million vehicles.
Accident data included more than 6,000 reported accidents. For most sections, accident data were collected for a 3-yr period before and a 2-yr period after the speed limits were changed. Data were coded for accident type, severity, and light and surface conditions.
Data Analysis
The free-flow speeds (vehicles with headways of 4 s or greater) were used for the speed analyses. mean speed, standard deviation of the speed distribution, percentile speeds, and percentage of vehicles exceeding the posted speed limits by 5, 10, 15, and 20 mi/h (8, 16, 24, and 32 km/h) were computed for all sites.
Comparisons were made for groups of sites where the speed limits were lowered by 5, 10, 15, and 15 mi/h (8, 16, and 24 km/h).
A variety of statistical tests were applied to the accident data. The analyses included a check for comparability, paired comparison ratios, cross-product ratios or odd ratios, an empirical Bayes method, and the weighted average logit method. Because the sample sizes were small when divided up by the increments to limits that were raised or lowered, the main analyses combined all the sites where the speed limits were raised, and all the sites where the speed limits were lowered.
Results
Neither raising nor lowering the speed limit had much effect on vehicle speeds. The mean speeds and the 85th percentile speeds did not change more than 1 or 2 mi/h (1.6 or 3.2 km/h), even for speed limit changes based on the amount the posted speed limit was altered.
The percent compliance with the posted speed limits improved when the speed limits were raised. When the speed limits were lowered, the compliance decreased.
Lowering the speed limit below the 85th percentile or raising the limit to the 85th percentile speed also had little effect on drivers' speeds.
the changes in accidents at the study sites are shown in figure 2. These changes were not statistically significant at the 95th percentile confidence level.
And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.
Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger -- and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims -- led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.
Tuwaitha and an adjacent research facility were well known for decades as the centerpiece of Saddam's nuclear efforts.
Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.
Could someone who was politically aware when Bush the First was in power please explain why belonging to the ACLU was such a dig back then? The whole "if you're a red-blooded American you don't need civil liberties" position is a big WTF to me.
Slashdot Mirror
hehe yeah my submission was really too vague. I added a 'summary' post at the end of the discussion saying as much, but I doubt many people will see it. I basically have a ton of old hardware and was just thinking about the different uses for all this crap, and a "universal" media reader popped into mind.
It sounds like I'd either need to focus on more modern (physical) formats if I wanted a single compact machine, or dedicate a few tables and a portion of a room to the project if I wanted to get anywhere close to comprehensive. I'll probably start by throwing everything that'll fit into a box and work from there, plus ordering a Catweasel card as a few of the ppl mentioned. I really hoped that someone would have an elegant solution to the power consumption issue, but it gets cold here in the winter and I guess a little extra heat won't go to waste ;)
Anyhow, thanks for your reply and I hope no hard feelings for my snarky post.
The problem is that playing minor characters in world where the heroes get all the action sucks. You don't get to be familiar.
Two words for you:
Leeeeeeeroy Jenkins!
Ok, thanks for all of your comments! I'm not sure that anyone will ever see this post since the story is now off the front page, but I wanted to recap the lessons identified (by me at least).
/., are baffled when confronted with a computer hobbyist.
1) Find a Catweasel.
2) If you're concerned about power consumption you're going to have to hack some hardware.
3) There's data recovery and then there's data recovery.
4) Tape in any form is not going to be fun to work with.
5) Any setup that's remotely interesting will grow to consume as much space as possible, however this can pay for itself if you let it.
6) Some people, posting on
7) Some people will troll any damn thing. Others will mod them insightful.
Overall, I'd have to say that 'asking slashdot' was a bit of a disappointment. Most of the helpful posts were of an obvious nature (get usb devices!) or ended by stating that the parts of this project I had identified as interesting (size, power consumption) were hard to accomplish. Thanks, but I knew that. I think most of the blame rests on myself, and I should have been more explicit about the areas I was having problems with. In general I'd say that I was too general.
I'd like to end this by stating that, as god is my witness, I never thought I'd have someone on Slashdot ask me why I wanted to build.
Definitely say good-bye to single, power efficient machine and say hi to couple of hard to maintain dinosaurs.
Yeah that was pretty much the point of my post. It's why I asked Slashdot instead of Google. It's an interesting problem, especially for a hobbyist without any external funding.
You'll also need data recovery software, since a lot of the old magnetic media will have decayed into unusability.
Aha, that was an area I had not considered and an interesting subject in itself. Thanks!
hardly a word in their backstory is true, and all the brain sweat and long detailed posts written to attempt to help the poster are wasted.
A few points...
1) there was no backstory, it was a thought I'd had kicking around for a bit.
2) the long detailed posts full of "brain sweat" must have all been modded -1 at this point. I see a few posts on tape drives that might come in handy though.
3) my submitted story was (needlessly, IMHO) edited and reworded, but still enclosed in quotes as if it came directly from me.
4) As a computer hobbyist I'd like to cordially invite you to GTFO of slashdot for even thinking I wouldn't want 'such a frankenstein jobby one at home'. Are you insane?
However, I was lightly gratified to see you call my hobby a provocative topic. I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing here, but please don't disabuse me.
are there really that many Democrats out there who have the intention of banning all guns?
No, it's just a wedge topic. Just like there are plenty of democrats in the military (...now. thanks GW!) there are also plenty of democrat gun owners.
This whole issue really highlights the total inability of the two parties in power to sit down and have a reasonable discussion. There are plenty of areas in this topic to find common ground, there are a few areas (fully automatic weapons, cheap handguns in cities) that actually need to be discussed and debated intelligently and in a public forum. Instead of doing this the hard way, it's much easier to demonize the opposing viewpoint and try to rally as many voters to your perspective as fast as you can.
This leads me to a Slashdot Analogy(c*): I just realized I'd been playing Risk all wrong. I've always tried to build up a power base and slowly expand to grab continents. After getting clobbered repeatedly I now see that the way to play is to mass together one huge army. The idea is that you'll roll over as much area as possible and hope that you get more bonus armies at the start of your next term than the other guys. After trying a few games I've come to the conclusion that I can't win unless I adopt the same strategy. The analogy should be pretty clear, but in my mind the key point is that, as a citizen, I don't want to "play the game" I want to build a decent society to live in.
Google bnetd. Worst decision Blizzard ever made, and the only truly evil one.
In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.(emphasis mine)
Ahahahaha. Hahahahah. Ph.D. in Georgia. Hahahaha. This shows you what an education in Georgia is worth.
You seem to be saying that under a truly free market system anyone can use public easements for anything they want.
Ugh, another pedantophile. If two people agree on the definition of a word then that's what it means, bitch. Dictionaries provide a snapshot of a language at a given point in time, they do NOT define them.
Where did you get that idea?
This was James Wharram in the 1950s, before sailing carts were even believed in at all [obviously the Micronesians didn't count. Obviously].
OT, but this caught my attention since I have Micronesian current chart on my wall (cowrie and wood, neat!). What do you mean by sailing charts not being believed in pre-50s?
Your tears are like milk.
Yeah I'm especially doubtful about the claim to have broken 'pick-the-cat'. Either they're using a tiny and generic sample pool, they're the most brilliant software authors of all time, or they're full of shit.
The brilliance of the cat idea is that any series of images can be used as long as they can be divided into either Cat or NotCat by a reasonable human. Think car with giant cat ears, person w/ (shudder) fursuit, letterhead of the California Attorney's Tennis league... you'd need to code the entire human concept of the "cat" gestalt and it's simply not possible right now.
This also raises the question of WHY pick-the-cat isn't implemented in more systems, but I'm guessing it's mainly a matter of captcha programmers being too enamored with their own work.
from TFA: private information from 14 employees and contractors who worked at the laboratory from 1998 to 2002 had been found on CDs or zip drives (emphasis mine)
Cutting edge military hardware.
the military is notorious for replacing things that don't really need replacing so they can spend their budget rather than give it back and possibly get a smaller budget next year.
That's not a phenomenon unique to the military. Any organization of a decent size will use this approach to budget management. Everyone knows how this works, everyone spends tons of cash on random crap at the end of their fiscal year (or what have you), and everyone sees this as inherently detrimental. You are (IMHO) an adult when you finally realize that everyone's a damn idiot. ((you are wise when you include yourself))
There's nothing dishonest about anonymity. It's just anonymous. I can see that it puts a burr under your saddle and a bee in your bonnet, but everyone's different (and really, really weird). I'd be interested to know why you consider it lying, assuming of course we're NOT talking about forged email headers here.
Don't be dense, Gordonjcp (if that is your real name).
A quick google would clear that one up.
That whooshing sound was the joke going over your head =(
Don't be dense, Gordonjcp (if that is your real name). It surely can't strain your imagination to consider a situation where the consequences of speaking your mind might prevent you from doing so.
It's easy to be ballsy when you don't have anything on the line, but I wonder how brave (read, stupid) you'd be if your family were in danger.
Bots are old news in FPS. Some of the earlier games used them to fill out multiplayer matches. Their skill level can be anywhere from brain-dead to totally unbeatable, but you have to keep in mind that any time a bot misses you it's basically done on purpose.
Self-righteous? Check.
Humorless? Check.
Car analogy? Check.
The slashdot anti-pirate trifecta!
Because it's a foolish argument. "Why are we concerned with my attack robot when there are bears and sharks in the wild?" I mean come on.
Could someone who was politically aware when Bush the First was in power please explain why belonging to the ACLU was such a dig back then? The whole "if you're a red-blooded American you don't need civil liberties" position is a big WTF to me.