Although I can see that it has the same pinouts, how do you connect it exactly? I mean, the connector on the CF card is smaller than the connector on a regular IDE cable and I am not sure where should the power go and what voltage.
But connecting my CFs to the IDE bus sounds cool, so I would be glad if you could give some details:)
Use one of these to connect it to a spare IDE connector. The adaptor also needs power.
Unfortunately, I have not seen any similar adaptors that connect to a laptop style connector (with power) because if there where it would make a cool direct HD replacement for an older laptop.
My girlfriend (who is perfectly competent with computers) took the exams at her office for internal reasons.
As other posters have said, there are various modules on office applications, the web, e-mail etc, which would be perfectly straight forward, except for the fact the pass mark is around 80%.
The theory module is different though. Firstly, it had a much lower pass mark at about 60%.
Secondly, It has a lot of hardware theory. To help her with that, I took the cover off my computer and pointed out various components explaining their function. As I expected, her course book talked about the CPU, memory, hard drive and optical drives. I was surprised though when the course book mentioned the north and south bridge chips, the AGP and PCI busses, the fans and CPU cooler and the PSU.
Reading through the Syllabus for that module (see page 11), I also see that students are expected to know about mainframes, minicomputers (has anyone used them since the late 70s?), network terminals etc.
In summary the theory module contains a surprisingly large amount of stuff, compared with the basics in the other modules, but there is less need for the student to memorise it all.
When I was driving to the office this moring, I was passing through a small village with a 50mph speed limit. The cops had setup a device with an iluminated sign that read as I passed "A123BCD - 47mph"
I am assuming that it was only there as a deterent, and that the cops would not be sending out speeding tickets to those that where, but it sill bothers me that my licene plate was recorded when I was not speeding.
I wrote my own (Perl) script, that copies all my "important" files (basically stuff in my home directory that can't be reconstructed by other means and all the system config files) to a new directory tree (using cpio) it then burns the copied tree to CD-RW and verifies the CD against the copied tree.
That's what I used to do, (wrappering tar) but the matanence of the script became a pain and I needed to add support for incremental backups, and exclusion lists.
After some web searching, I on google, freshmeat etc, I came across dobackup.pl, which is very similar in functionality to what I would have written myself. It wrappers AFIO, it supports full, incremental and differential backups to fixed and removable media.
One of its best features is support for exclusion lists. Users can put in any directory they like a.nobackup file, which contains a list of expressions for filenames that should not be backed up, making it easy to exclude all the mp3 of mpeg files from user home directories.
A downside is that the perl source code is a mess. It looks like it was written by someone who is used to programming in shell, but had very little experience in perl. Just reading through the code, I saw a number of potential bugs, where global variables where being trampled. In short it is a good program, but it needs a re-write.
A4. The route will be similar to a desert off-road race. For example, it will be possible for a skilled driver in a commercial four-wheel drive vehicle to traverse the route, although not necessarily at the speeds necessary to qualify for the award.
I was about to make that point, but Chagrin made it first.
This point in the rules, implies that simply taking a standard 4x4 vehicle, and modifying it with electronics and actuators will not work as the result will not be fast enough. Instead it will be necessary to build a new and faster design of off road vehicle, making this challenge one of mechanical engineering as well as electronics and software.
I guess this means that if us geeks want to enter, we will have to lean how to use a torque wrench
As impressive and respectable as bringing a 10,000 RPM drive to
the Serial ATA market is, the Western Digital Raptor, in its current state,
does not cut it. The drive exhibits all of the characteristics of a 10,000 RPM
SCSI drive, including the high pitched whine (arguably more annoying than either
of the SCSI drives in this roundup) and very low access times, but without the
overall performance of the 10,000 RPM SCSI drives we're used to.
According to Western Digital's initial press release, the Raptor
is supposed to already be shipping, indicating that there's not much room left
for serious design changes; this obviously limits the amount we can expect performance
to improve with the Raptor by the time it hits retail.
Even with significantly improved performance, we'd say that for
those looking for a new desktop hard drive, the Raptor will most likely not
be the best option; Western Digital's Caviar line equipped with 8MB buffers
will continue to be the highest performing solutions for desktop users. For
the enterprise world, we'll have to wait and see what the final version of the
Raptor can deliver, but if Western Digital is serious about offering a cheap
alternative to the server market, then performance must improve.
The page was slow to load when I reached it, so I guess it will be slashdoted anytime soon.
1.Google's immortal cookie:
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038.
This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using
persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies
are commonplace among search engines; Google set the standard because
no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on
your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page, you get a Google cookie
if you don't already have one. If you have one, they read and record your
unique ID number.
2.Google records everything they can:
For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address,
the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration.
Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This
is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."
3.Google retains all data indefinitely:
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are
able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.
4.Google won't say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the
New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google
ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.
5.Google hires spooks:
Matt Cutts, a key Google engineer, used to work for the National Security
Agency. Google wants to hire more people with security clearances, so that
they can peddle their corporate assets to the spooks in Washington.
6.Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer
phones home with every page you surf. Yes, it reads your cookie too, and
sends along the last search terms you used in the toolbar. Their privacy
policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action
lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy
failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new
versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the
toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard
disk every time you phone home. Most software vendors, and even Microsoft,
ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google.
7.Google's cache copy is illegal:
Judging from Ninth Circuit precedent on the application of U.S. copyright
laws to the Internet, Google's cache copy appears to be illegal. The only
way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a
"noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like
the cache, but webmasters don't. Many webmasters have deleted questionable
material from their sites, only to discover later that the problem pages
live merrily on in Google's cache. The cache copy should be "opt-in" for
webmasters, not "opt-out."
8.Google is not your friend:
Young, stupid script kiddies and many bloggers still think Google is "way
kool," so by now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external
referrals to most websites. No webmaster can avoid seeking Google's
approval these days, assuming he wants to increase traffic to his site. If
he tries to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Google's
semi-secret algorithms, he may find himself penalized by Google, and his
traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by
Google, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is
completely unaccountable. Most of the time they don't even answer email
from webmasters.
9.Google is a privacy time bomb:
With 150 million searches per day, most from outside the U.S., Google
amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned
data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of
slick efficiency that Google has already achieved. Google deserves
your nomination
for corporate Big Brother of the Year.
I read somewhere that many Israelis use their GSM mobile phones to tell each other that they are OK when there is a terrorist outrage. The article said that they would usually make very short calls as soon as possible after the incident before the network jams, or send text messages.
Seeing as Israel suffers more emergencies of this type in an average month, than most countries do in a decade I would think that would be a good place to seek advice or experiences.
The Economist have published an article on the subject today. They conclude that while the TiVo company may be struggling, they revolution they started will continue, as the technology is licensed into a broad range of set top boxes and TVs.
They also predict that TV advertising will not be killed in the revolution, just the bad advertisements.
From the photos, it looks like a Mini-ITX based system, and the story is linked from the home page of min-itx.com
Mini-ITX boards are produced by VIA, and generally have one of their low speed C3 CPUs. Many don't need active cooling. The motherboard also features the usual RAM, IDE, USB, and PCI slots, and will run most x86 operating systems. They are also substantially cheaper than conventional setups, because everything is integrated and they lack a CPU socket or expensive CPU.
There appear to be a great number of Mini-ITX based case moding projects out there, many linked from mini-itx.com. Enthusiasts have housed their systems in Toasters, bakerlite radios, Sun Boxen, Playstations, etc. The sphere was only a matter of time.
As others have said, there are ISPs in the UK that don't require a subscription, but instead are funded through the cost of the local call to connect. I have used such ISPs myself, and I can confirm that they are quite convenient and don't require a credit card or suchlike.
The thing you need to be aware of is the cost of those local calls. The price varies from 1p/minute at weekends, to 3p/minute during office hours. The cost will add up. I have received phone bills for £60 for one months internet usage like that.
If you plan to be online for any length of time, you might want to look into the alternatives.
The other thing to be aware of is Caller ID. Many free ISPs, in order to reduce spam, will deny you access to e-mail if you block caller ID. Not just to their servers, but anywhere. Port 25, 110 and 143 will be blocked unless they can tell where you are calling from.
Wagamama is a chain of Japanese restaurants in London and other places.
The waitresses use iPaqs fitted with wireless cards to take your order. (Very efficiently I might add).
The was a rumour circulating a few months ago, that a group of costumers saw this, and hacked their network using a laptop they had, the proceeded to order and eat a three course meal for each of them, while only paying for a soda each.
I don't know if it is true, but considering the usual record for corporate deployment of wireless technology, it sounds plausible.
Rack mounted equipment will be designed to work horizontally, and often on the limits of heat dissipation (because everything is packed in tight).
If you turn things sideways, the convection currents that the manufacturer allowed for in the design will flow the wrong way and may not provide enough cooling.
For most things you can probably fix this by adding another fan or three, but if you have a CPU that is cooled by a heat pipe setup, it will not work at all. Heat pipes must be the correct way round to work at all, otherwise you will kill your expensive server CPU quite quickly.
Also, consider things like tray loading CD-ROM drives, which may be inconvenient to use the wrong way round, though you probably don't plan on using it very much.
Moshe Bar (Of open Mosix fame) recetly wrote a byte column on how he got his GPRS phone talking to his laptop while on his honeymoon in the Italian alps.
What his new wife thought about it was not recorded.
1. What do you think the legal (or appropriate) uses of MP3 technology should be?
As others have pointed out, Fraufenhofer holds patents that cover MP3, so they are entitled to control what is done with that file format. Your real question is about the uses of audio compression technology.
Audio compression technology makes it possible it possible to distribute music and other audio data very cheaply on the internet. Compared with the old method for distributing audio (pressing, transporting and selling plastic discs), it is faster, better and cheaper.
A reason some people resent record companies, is that music is expensive, but the artist get very little of the retail price. In the past the record companies could reasonably argue that making, distributing and marketing CDs is expensive, and that the artist's cut is fair, after their costs have been taken into account.
This argument evaporates with the introduction electronic distribution and marketing of music (MP3+Websites). The few (record company) proposals for the electronic distribution of music are just as expensive to the consumer, and pay no more royalties to the artist. It looks like the record companies are profiteering because they have reduced their costs without giving anything back.
(A similar, criticism can also be levelled at movie studios over the move to DVD from VHS. They more expensive, but obviously cost less to make as they contain no moving parts.)
Many in the slashdot crowd would argue that the business model used by record companies is outdated (like buggy whip manufacturers), and that they should be forced to adapt or die. They should not be entitled to buy legislation to protect their outdated business model.
Instead many would suggest a system where music is brought directly from the Band's website, on a track by track basis. Each track would be much cheaper for the consumer because there is no middle man, but the band would still get the $0.10 or so per track that they got under the old system.
Seriously, this is very good advice. I have worked in a company that produced a multi platform product for embedded devices, and that is exactly what we did.
(6 CPU architectures, 5 operating systems, and every available permutation of the two, about 20 in total, It was especially hard in our case, because as our product was for embedded systems, we could not use any complex client-server architectures, or make use of cross platform interpreted languages like Java.)
The other thing I would say is that if the product is for visualisation, it may not be possible to separate the GUI from the back-end, as the main work will be in rendering and visualisation.
Another company I worked for sold visualisation software for medical data (CAT or MRI scans, ultrasound images etc). Most of the work the software did was in rendering a huge 3D dataset for the screen, It would not have been possible to put than in a Java back end, as the performance would not have been available. The software had to use every (non portable) trick available to get the performance needed. If this is your situation, you will probably end up writing the same inner loop optimised for each of the targets you are using. The trick is to use a build system that means that is all you have to re-write for each platform.
Slashdot Mirror
That was informative. Moderators, please give him one of your mod points. Thanks.
Use one of these to connect it to a spare IDE connector. The adaptor also needs power.
Unfortunately, I have not seen any similar adaptors that connect to a laptop style connector (with power) because if there where it would make a cool direct HD replacement for an older laptop.
Mod parent up as insightfull. Wait 20 seconds....Done!
There is an unusual amount of theory.
My girlfriend (who is perfectly competent with computers) took the exams at her office for internal reasons.
As other posters have said, there are various modules on office applications, the web, e-mail etc, which would be perfectly straight forward, except for the fact the pass mark is around 80%.
The theory module is different though. Firstly, it had a much lower pass mark at about 60%.
Secondly, It has a lot of hardware theory. To help her with that, I took the cover off my computer and pointed out various components explaining their function. As I expected, her course book talked about the CPU, memory, hard drive and optical drives. I was surprised though when the course book mentioned the north and south bridge chips, the AGP and PCI busses, the fans and CPU cooler and the PSU.
Reading through the Syllabus for that module (see page 11), I also see that students are expected to know about mainframes, minicomputers (has anyone used them since the late 70s?), network terminals etc.
In summary the theory module contains a surprisingly large amount of stuff, compared with the basics in the other modules, but there is less need for the student to memorise it all.
When I was driving to the office this moring, I was passing through a small village with a 50mph speed limit. The cops had setup a device with an iluminated sign that read as I passed "A123BCD - 47mph"
I am assuming that it was only there as a deterent, and that the cops would not be sending out speeding tickets to those that where, but it sill bothers me that my licene plate was recorded when I was not speeding.
I live in the UK BTW.
* Not my real licence plate.
That's what I used to do, (wrappering tar) but the matanence of the script became a pain and I needed to add support for incremental backups, and exclusion lists.
After some web searching, I on google, freshmeat etc, I came across dobackup.pl, which is very similar in functionality to what I would have written myself. It wrappers AFIO, it supports full, incremental and differential backups to fixed and removable media.
One of its best features is support for exclusion lists. Users can put in any directory they like a .nobackup file, which contains a list of expressions for filenames that should not be backed up, making it easy to exclude all the mp3 of mpeg files from user home directories.
A downside is that the perl source code is a mess. It looks like it was written by someone who is used to programming in shell, but had very little experience in perl. Just reading through the code, I saw a number of potential bugs, where global variables where being trampled. In short it is a good program, but it needs a re-write.
Mod parent up.
I was about to make that point, but Chagrin made it first.
This point in the rules, implies that simply taking a standard 4x4 vehicle, and modifying it with electronics and actuators will not work as the result will not be fast enough. Instead it will be necessary to build a new and faster design of off road vehicle, making this challenge one of mechanical engineering as well as electronics and software.
I guess this means that if us geeks want to enter, we will have to lean how to use a torque wrench
Single page link here
Their conclusion:
Single page link here
Great post, informative, insightfull
The page was slow to load when I reached it, so I guess it will be slashdoted anytime soon.
Darn, fresh out of mod points, mod parent up as informative please. Thanks.
I read somewhere that many Israelis use their GSM mobile phones to tell each other that they are OK when there is a terrorist outrage. The article said that they would usually make very short calls as soon as possible after the incident before the network jams, or send text messages.
Seeing as Israel suffers more emergencies of this type in an average month, than most countries do in a decade I would think that would be a good place to seek advice or experiences.
I hope this helps
Don't click on the link, the picuture is hardcore pr0n, which make me feel like throwing up.
The Economist have published an article on the subject today. They conclude that while the TiVo company may be struggling, they revolution they started will continue, as the technology is licensed into a broad range of set top boxes and TVs.
They also predict that TV advertising will not be killed in the revolution, just the bad advertisements.
From the photos, it looks like a Mini-ITX based system, and the story is linked from the home page of min-itx.com
Mini-ITX boards are produced by VIA, and generally have one of their low speed C3 CPUs. Many don't need active cooling. The motherboard also features the usual RAM, IDE, USB, and PCI slots, and will run most x86 operating systems. They are also substantially cheaper than conventional setups, because everything is integrated and they lack a CPU socket or expensive CPU.
There appear to be a great number of Mini-ITX based case moding projects out there, many linked from mini-itx.com. Enthusiasts have housed their systems in Toasters, bakerlite radios, Sun Boxen, Playstations, etc. The sphere was only a matter of time.
Acording to Netcraft, the site runs Microsoft-IIS (v5). I guess those guys did not read their own study
As others have said, there are ISPs in the UK that don't require a subscription, but instead are funded through the cost of the local call to connect. I have used such ISPs myself, and I can confirm that they are quite convenient and don't require a credit card or suchlike.
The thing you need to be aware of is the cost of those local calls. The price varies from 1p/minute at weekends, to 3p/minute during office hours. The cost will add up. I have received phone bills for £60 for one months internet usage like that.
If you plan to be online for any length of time, you might want to look into the alternatives.
The other thing to be aware of is Caller ID. Many free ISPs, in order to reduce spam, will deny you access to e-mail if you block caller ID. Not just to their servers, but anywhere. Port 25, 110 and 143 will be blocked unless they can tell where you are calling from.
I hope this is useful
Wagamama is a chain of Japanese restaurants in London and other places.
The waitresses use iPaqs fitted with wireless cards to take your order. (Very efficiently I might add).
The was a rumour circulating a few months ago, that a group of costumers saw this, and hacked their network using a laptop they had, the proceeded to order and eat a three course meal for each of them, while only paying for a soda each.
I don't know if it is true, but considering the usual record for corporate deployment of wireless technology, it sounds plausible.
Rack mounted equipment will be designed to work horizontally, and often on the limits of heat dissipation (because everything is packed in tight).
If you turn things sideways, the convection currents that the manufacturer allowed for in the design will flow the wrong way and may not provide enough cooling.
For most things you can probably fix this by adding another fan or three, but if you have a CPU that is cooled by a heat pipe setup, it will not work at all. Heat pipes must be the correct way round to work at all, otherwise you will kill your expensive server CPU quite quickly.
Also, consider things like tray loading CD-ROM drives, which may be inconvenient to use the wrong way round, though you probably don't plan on using it very much.
Hope this helps.
There is also an American version called the D311.
http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,5184,2022,00.html
It works on american GPRS frequences, but is otherwise very similar.
Probably not.
Moshe Bar (Of open Mosix fame) recetly wrote a byte column on how he got his GPRS phone talking to his laptop while on his honeymoon in the Italian alps.
What his new wife thought about it was not recorded.
I hope this helps.
Check out the D211t ml
http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,4879,1449,00.h
It is a wireless PCMCIA conectivity card, which supports both GPRS and 802.11b
There are even linux drivers avalabe to to download. (I don't know if they work)
It has been out for a couple of months.
The main downside is that it only supports dual band opperation, so I guess american readers are out of luck.
The other downside is that switching between GPRS and 802.11 is not automatic, though you could probably put together a script to make it so.
I dare say it is rather expensive as well.
As others have pointed out, Fraufenhofer holds patents that cover MP3, so they are entitled to control what is done with that file format. Your real question is about the uses of audio compression technology.
Audio compression technology makes it possible it possible to distribute music and other audio data very cheaply on the internet. Compared with the old method for distributing audio (pressing, transporting and selling plastic discs), it is faster, better and cheaper.
A reason some people resent record companies, is that music is expensive, but the artist get very little of the retail price. In the past the record companies could reasonably argue that making, distributing and marketing CDs is expensive, and that the artist's cut is fair, after their costs have been taken into account.
This argument evaporates with the introduction electronic distribution and marketing of music (MP3+Websites). The few (record company) proposals for the electronic distribution of music are just as expensive to the consumer, and pay no more royalties to the artist. It looks like the record companies are profiteering because they have reduced their costs without giving anything back.
(A similar, criticism can also be levelled at movie studios over the move to DVD from VHS. They more expensive, but obviously cost less to make as they contain no moving parts.)
Many in the slashdot crowd would argue that the business model used by record companies is outdated (like buggy whip manufacturers), and that they should be forced to adapt or die. They should not be entitled to buy legislation to protect their outdated business model.
Instead many would suggest a system where music is brought directly from the Band's website, on a track by track basis. Each track would be much cheaper for the consumer because there is no middle man, but the band would still get the $0.10 or so per track that they got under the old system.
I hope this helps.
Mod parent up (...Oh it is +5 already)
Seriously, this is very good advice. I have worked in a company that produced a multi platform product for embedded devices, and that is exactly what we did.
(6 CPU architectures, 5 operating systems, and every available permutation of the two, about 20 in total, It was especially hard in our case, because as our product was for embedded systems, we could not use any complex client-server architectures, or make use of cross platform interpreted languages like Java.)
The other thing I would say is that if the product is for visualisation, it may not be possible to separate the GUI from the back-end, as the main work will be in rendering and visualisation.
Another company I worked for sold visualisation software for medical data (CAT or MRI scans, ultrasound images etc). Most of the work the software did was in rendering a huge 3D dataset for the screen, It would not have been possible to put than in a Java back end, as the performance would not have been available. The software had to use every (non portable) trick available to get the performance needed. If this is your situation, you will probably end up writing the same inner loop optimised for each of the targets you are using. The trick is to use a build system that means that is all you have to re-write for each platform.
Oops, More and better pictures of glove boxes can be found here on google image search.
This one is especialy clear.