"This is not a flaw....its a 'feature' that allows you to anonymously share all your secret info with people without being able to track it." -- Bill Gates
I figure with as chilly as it is keeping my processor and the fact that my hard drives seem to be my main points of failure now (since I am running a raid-0) that the computer will still be chilly.....just dead.
I went to school at JMU and the NSA actually has a small office there. I know more than a 'few' people who have been recruited directly out of there into the black world. They funded some of the CS and ISAT dept. there and had some core curriculum additions made. I certainly dont remember there being two Algorithim Development classes being required there before they showed up.
This may be the first time that Microsoft has funded a school but it is definitely not the first time that a gov't entity or corporation has.
Well, we are a 100% linux shop running a modified version of RH7.2 that I built. I also have hand built about 80% of the PC's used in the office. Essentiall what goes into each one is a nice AMD processor/mobo with a network card and a GeForce4 MX 440 (not a bad $130 graphics card). We do visualization software and everyone compiles their own code on their box (so a new fast processor really saves time in that respect). But along with these computers I put out nice monitors that dont strain the eyes and ergonomic keyboards and mice (I actually had to convince the management that this was better than the 12 dollar keyboards and mice out there).
When I started here there were lots of complaints from programmers about how bad the computers/ergonomics of everything were and how uncomfortable everyone was. With the new solution that situation has been completely turned around and they are far more comfortable. Does that explain things a little better?
I would definitley stay away from the Lyra series from RCA. They are great players but require you to use a MusicMatch or RealPlayer plugin to encode the mp3 into another format which is not playable by computers. This formatting also makes it near impossible (unless there is a hack out there I havent found yet) to pull the files off onto the hard drive an play them. They sound all garbled.
I think if I were to get a player today I would make sure it would store the mp3s AS mp3's and that it used compact flash for the storage media. With USB 2.0 support out now for compact flash these things HAUL when copying to them and are much better than their serial (im so slow I wave to the snails as they pass me) counterparts.
Yeah...but considering how awful windows is, how many of those people have had to go rooting around in that box-O-disks that came with said computer so that they can do a format/reinstall. Oddly enough...I have never had to do that with my linux installs.
Here is the list of reasons why Serial ATA is good
on
The Coming of Serial ATA
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I've been reading through the postings and I read that article on Tom's this morning. I've been following Serial ATA for a while now and there is some information that is apparently obscure that most people dont understand...so...I will try to create a list of the good qualities of Serial ATA to help you guys sort through the crap:
1) It is backwards compatible with your current drives.
Now most of you might not care about this but it actually saves alot of money for motherboard makers when it comes to designing a board to support it. Less pins means less tracings which means lower development and production costs which means cheaper motherboards. Not to mention, manufacturers of drives dont have to seriously retool their lines and redesign their drives...which means no elevated hard drive cost when you buy new drives. Also there are adapters out there for current drives (as demonstrated in the article) so that you dont have to format and reinstall when you upgrade your motherboard.
2) It is built with the future in mind.
Much like original ATA, Serial ATA was designed with room to grow. Sure, it supports up to 150MB/s right now with no drives to go along with it...but when those drives come along (in 5+ years) it will be there to support it....and faster. The standard can ramp up in speeds.
3) Chipsets will now be easier to design.
With less pins to worry about in the design of the bridge chipset that serves as the interface for the drives, these interfaces become simpler to design...and you will be able to add more drives to the machine than ever before. You shalt no longer be limited to 4 drives in your box requiring a slow PCI adapter to connect them to (whoever thought that was a good idea anyways?).
4) Lower power requirements.
I shouldnt have to elaborate on that....I have to have a 450watt PSU in my current box just to handle the load. It will be nice when I can step that down to a 400watt. Nuff said.
5) HOT PLUGGABLE DRIVES!!!
You have no idea how long I have waited for this. Put a second drive in a removable slot....copy my 40GBs of 'files' onto it...take it over to a friends place...put the drive in...give him a copy of the 'files'. Oooooh....and backups to hard drives that you can easily remove and take to a safe deposit box. I don't really need to explain how beneficial this is.
6) Thin thin thin thin cables.
I have to run a water cooling kit in my PC because the airflow is so atrocious in my mid-tower with my RAID 0+1 system and 4 drives. 80 pin connectors have really needed to go for a long time. Rolled cables helped a bit but they are still thick and cumbersome. Of course now I stand the chance of confusing my CDROM audio connector with my ATA connector...but thats a small price to pay when i get another 30 CFM's through my box just by changing some cables around.
These are just a few of the reasons that serial ATA is a good good goooooooood thing.
Just to let you know... FireWire would have been a bad choice. One of the restrictions on the standards body that developed Serial ATA was that the new standard had to be backwards compatible with current ATA technologies. I mean...whats the point of upgrading to the latest motherboard if you have to turn around and buy a new hard drive or two just to get it to work?
I run the IT dept. at my company. I am the IT Director, the Systems Admin, and the Network Engineer. It is a small company of 30-35 people. We spend more money on IT than anything else except salary compensation for our employees. When I have to justify something like a computer or peripherals...I usually do it by simply explaining that we are spending 100k on an employee in salary and benefits and that he has to have an effective working environment in order to be productive. We can't just give a programmer some 3 year old used PC and expect the same level of productivity from them as one with a new PC and an ergonomic mouse/keyboard with a nice monitor. Now I'm not talking top of the line stuff like an Aeron chair and a computer with a Geforce4 Ti4600 card...thats just plain ridiculous. But actually investing in hardware and infrastructure that can VISUALLY be seen benefiting the users.
On another note, due to the fact that I am the only person in our IT dept. at the current time I have been able to keep costs down in other areas of my dept. I don't have to pay for training for any other IT employees or for more computers for them. The fact that I have kept my dept. streamlined and directly on task for what it's purposes are has garnered me alot of faith and responsibility from the higher ups, which means more freedom with the budget.
IT shops that just spend and show poor price/performance and hence have trouble getting things done is a symptom that there are some really ineffective people in the IT field. I'm sorry, but a degree from DeVry's is not going to get you a job working for me (I am looking to hire someone soon to allieviate some of the upcoming strain on my time). I have been in this field since I was 15 and working for Ericsson during high school as an asst. network admin. I did this because I loved the work not just because it paid well. If an IT person can't show me that they not only know computers but that they understand the underlying purpose of an IT dept. (which is generally to help the company get its work done) then they will be ushered right out of my office and back on the street.
Actually, there has been alot of speculation that Sun will be shipping servers based on the new AMD Opteron (x86-64) platform and that this port of Solaris x86 will be specifically engineered to run in the same manner as Sparc Solaris (either in 32 bit or 64 bit mode depending on what boot flag you throw it in OpenBoot).
This move is interesting because there hasn't been much more than speculation on the x86-64 thing. This kinda puts some weight behind that. I've been saying for a while that it is time for the Sparc to finally die away. It is a great processor but it is aged and is finally not scaling well at all. Given Sun's current financial woes, I think it would be costly for them to come up with a new processor design. Why not go for something that has already been designed and doesnt come from the arch-enemy (Intel). AMD fits that solution perfectly.
Actually, they had this great rant about that same exact topic not to long ago posted on the inquirer. Essentially the writer called for a laptop standard somewhere along the lines of the ATX standard for PC Cases and motherboards.
Personally I think this is a great idea. It would allieviate costs to the laptop manufacturers in that they could settle on a single standard and not have to spend so much in R&D on every new model of laptop they build. It would also enable the DIY people out there (myself included) to build their own the exact way they want it.
True, the extensions have worked really well up until and through DirectX 8.1. Where the problem is really going to occur is when DirectX 9.0 comes out in a month or so and has built in Shader support (commonly referred to as HLSL). I read (I believe on either Tom's Hardware or Reactor Critical that the OpenGL spec will not work with just an extension for this, but that OpenGL 2.0 will solve this problem (due to the fact that it will have its own built in shader language [which is something an extension alone wont solve] and wont have to require HLSL or Cg).
Now, don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a unified standard (the failed Farenheit from SGI anyone?), but unless (and you have no idea how much I want this to happen) game developers start making OpenGL games instead of DirectX games (and Carmack alone can't change that) then OpenGL will be dropped from the gaming arena.
Version 2.0 depends on hardware that does not yet exist...
The ATI 9700 is a DirectX 9 compliant card, which means that the hardware now does exist and is being sold to users. None of the new features are being utilized yet in games but there is something to be said about being first to market (and MS will be the first to market with an API that supports the new features with DirectX 9).
I agree that all hardware manufacturers have to support OpenGL due to the 'Carmack Factor'. But have you ever noticed that on most newer cards OpenGL performance is far behind that of DirectX. I'm not talking about pure FPS here, you can no longer judge a card by that alone (example: Matrox's new Parheilia card). But OpenGL's current running spec does not support alot of the features that game programmers are currently turning to. OpenGL 2.0 should fix this but the spec will constantly have to be updated to contain all the new features.
Believe me when I say I would love to see OpenGL become the universal specification (if for no other reason than to be able to play my games in linux and finally trash my windows installation)...but all I am saying is that with MS's work with the hardware manufacturers and the OpenGL group's lack thereof...this will never happen unless there is some sort of drastic change.
I think it would be a wonderful thing if OpenGL would become the API of choice for all gaming AND digital effects rendering. Unfortunately this will not happen. How long has it taken the OpenGL group just to come out with a new standard....not to mention that it isn't even here yet.
The truth of the matter is that Microsoft is going to win this battle, not because DirectX is better, but because they update it more often and work closer with the hardware companies in order to make sure that the latest features are included in the API so that they can be used by programmers. It truly is a sad state of affairs, but standards boards are unfortunately alot like government entities....very slow to act and agree.
It seems to me that the guy was trying to do right by his company. You'd think that the investors would be a little agitated with his firing seeing as how it's exactly these kinds of shady loans that led the Enrons and Worldcoms of corporate America to massive downfalls.
Question 1: As a shareholder how would one go about trying to prevent board actions like this?
Question 2: Wouldn't you think he could file a wrongful termination lawsuit? Apparently he was trying to do his job and pull the company in line with the new corporate fraud laws that were just signed in. Sounds like a lawsuit to me.
It is exactly this kind of crap that is preventing a turnaround in the business world. Large corporations and the people who run them think they can do and get away with anything. I'd love to see them capitalize corporate fraud like they have computer hacking. Fraud is far more far reaching and damaging (not that I am advocating illegal hacking or anything) and I think a 1 strike and you are out life sentence policy with strict enforcement would make people think twice about doing it in the first place.
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"This is not a flaw....its a 'feature' that allows you to anonymously share all your secret info with people without being able to track it." -- Bill Gates
I figure with as chilly as it is keeping my processor and the fact that my hard drives seem to be my main points of failure now (since I am running a raid-0) that the computer will still be chilly.....just dead.
I went to school at JMU and the NSA actually has a small office there. I know more than a 'few' people who have been recruited directly out of there into the black world. They funded some of the CS and ISAT dept. there and had some core curriculum additions made. I certainly dont remember there being two Algorithim Development classes being required there before they showed up.
This may be the first time that Microsoft has funded a school but it is definitely not the first time that a gov't entity or corporation has.
Well, we are a 100% linux shop running a modified version of RH7.2 that I built. I also have hand built about 80% of the PC's used in the office. Essentiall what goes into each one is a nice AMD processor/mobo with a network card and a GeForce4 MX 440 (not a bad $130 graphics card). We do visualization software and everyone compiles their own code on their box (so a new fast processor really saves time in that respect). But along with these computers I put out nice monitors that dont strain the eyes and ergonomic keyboards and mice (I actually had to convince the management that this was better than the 12 dollar keyboards and mice out there).
When I started here there were lots of complaints from programmers about how bad the computers/ergonomics of everything were and how uncomfortable everyone was. With the new solution that situation has been completely turned around and they are far more comfortable. Does that explain things a little better?
I would definitley stay away from the Lyra series from RCA. They are great players but require you to use a MusicMatch or RealPlayer plugin to encode the mp3 into another format which is not playable by computers. This formatting also makes it near impossible (unless there is a hack out there I havent found yet) to pull the files off onto the hard drive an play them. They sound all garbled.
I think if I were to get a player today I would make sure it would store the mp3s AS mp3's and that it used compact flash for the storage media. With USB 2.0 support out now for compact flash these things HAUL when copying to them and are much better than their serial (im so slow I wave to the snails as they pass me) counterparts.
Yeah...but considering how awful windows is, how many of those people have had to go rooting around in that box-O-disks that came with said computer so that they can do a format/reinstall. Oddly enough...I have never had to do that with my linux installs.
I've been reading through the postings and I read that article on Tom's this morning. I've been following Serial ATA for a while now and there is some information that is apparently obscure that most people dont understand...so...I will try to create a list of the good qualities of Serial ATA to help you guys sort through the crap:
1) It is backwards compatible with your current drives.
Now most of you might not care about this but it actually saves alot of money for motherboard makers when it comes to designing a board to support it. Less pins means less tracings which means lower development and production costs which means cheaper motherboards. Not to mention, manufacturers of drives dont have to seriously retool their lines and redesign their drives...which means no elevated hard drive cost when you buy new drives. Also there are adapters out there for current drives (as demonstrated in the article) so that you dont have to format and reinstall when you upgrade your motherboard.
2) It is built with the future in mind.
Much like original ATA, Serial ATA was designed with room to grow. Sure, it supports up to 150MB/s right now with no drives to go along with it...but when those drives come along (in 5+ years) it will be there to support it....and faster. The standard can ramp up in speeds.
3) Chipsets will now be easier to design.
With less pins to worry about in the design of the bridge chipset that serves as the interface for the drives, these interfaces become simpler to design...and you will be able to add more drives to the machine than ever before. You shalt no longer be limited to 4 drives in your box requiring a slow PCI adapter to connect them to (whoever thought that was a good idea anyways?).
4) Lower power requirements.
I shouldnt have to elaborate on that....I have to have a 450watt PSU in my current box just to handle the load. It will be nice when I can step that down to a 400watt. Nuff said.
5) HOT PLUGGABLE DRIVES!!!
You have no idea how long I have waited for this. Put a second drive in a removable slot....copy my 40GBs of 'files' onto it...take it over to a friends place...put the drive in...give him a copy of the 'files'. Oooooh....and backups to hard drives that you can easily remove and take to a safe deposit box. I don't really need to explain how beneficial this is.
6) Thin thin thin thin cables.
I have to run a water cooling kit in my PC because the airflow is so atrocious in my mid-tower with my RAID 0+1 system and 4 drives. 80 pin connectors have really needed to go for a long time. Rolled cables helped a bit but they are still thick and cumbersome. Of course now I stand the chance of confusing my CDROM audio connector with my ATA connector...but thats a small price to pay when i get another 30 CFM's through my box just by changing some cables around.
These are just a few of the reasons that serial ATA is a good good goooooooood thing.
Stop slamming what you dont understand.
Just to let you know... FireWire would have been a bad choice. One of the restrictions on the standards body that developed Serial ATA was that the new standard had to be backwards compatible with current ATA technologies. I mean...whats the point of upgrading to the latest motherboard if you have to turn around and buy a new hard drive or two just to get it to work?
I run the IT dept. at my company. I am the IT Director, the Systems Admin, and the Network Engineer. It is a small company of 30-35 people. We spend more money on IT than anything else except salary compensation for our employees. When I have to justify something like a computer or peripherals...I usually do it by simply explaining that we are spending 100k on an employee in salary and benefits and that he has to have an effective working environment in order to be productive. We can't just give a programmer some 3 year old used PC and expect the same level of productivity from them as one with a new PC and an ergonomic mouse/keyboard with a nice monitor. Now I'm not talking top of the line stuff like an Aeron chair and a computer with a Geforce4 Ti4600 card...thats just plain ridiculous. But actually investing in hardware and infrastructure that can VISUALLY be seen benefiting the users.
On another note, due to the fact that I am the only person in our IT dept. at the current time I have been able to keep costs down in other areas of my dept. I don't have to pay for training for any other IT employees or for more computers for them. The fact that I have kept my dept. streamlined and directly on task for what it's purposes are has garnered me alot of faith and responsibility from the higher ups, which means more freedom with the budget.
IT shops that just spend and show poor price/performance and hence have trouble getting things done is a symptom that there are some really ineffective people in the IT field. I'm sorry, but a degree from DeVry's is not going to get you a job working for me (I am looking to hire someone soon to allieviate some of the upcoming strain on my time). I have been in this field since I was 15 and working for Ericsson during high school as an asst. network admin. I did this because I loved the work not just because it paid well. If an IT person can't show me that they not only know computers but that they understand the underlying purpose of an IT dept. (which is generally to help the company get its work done) then they will be ushered right out of my office and back on the street.
Actually, there has been alot of speculation that Sun will be shipping servers based on the new AMD Opteron (x86-64) platform and that this port of Solaris x86 will be specifically engineered to run in the same manner as Sparc Solaris (either in 32 bit or 64 bit mode depending on what boot flag you throw it in OpenBoot).
This move is interesting because there hasn't been much more than speculation on the x86-64 thing. This kinda puts some weight behind that. I've been saying for a while that it is time for the Sparc to finally die away. It is a great processor but it is aged and is finally not scaling well at all. Given Sun's current financial woes, I think it would be costly for them to come up with a new processor design. Why not go for something that has already been designed and doesnt come from the arch-enemy (Intel). AMD fits that solution perfectly.
Actually, they had this great rant about that same exact topic not to long ago posted on the inquirer. Essentially the writer called for a laptop standard somewhere along the lines of the ATX standard for PC Cases and motherboards.
Personally I think this is a great idea. It would allieviate costs to the laptop manufacturers in that they could settle on a single standard and not have to spend so much in R&D on every new model of laptop they build. It would also enable the DIY people out there (myself included) to build their own the exact way they want it.
Ahh....maybe one day. We can all dream cant we?
Question: Where can you buy the GPU chip to put in it? I didn't see that anywhere in the article.
True, the extensions have worked really well up until and through DirectX 8.1. Where the problem is really going to occur is when DirectX 9.0 comes out in a month or so and has built in Shader support (commonly referred to as HLSL). I read (I believe on either Tom's Hardware or Reactor Critical that the OpenGL spec will not work with just an extension for this, but that OpenGL 2.0 will solve this problem (due to the fact that it will have its own built in shader language [which is something an extension alone wont solve] and wont have to require HLSL or Cg).
Now, don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a unified standard (the failed Farenheit from SGI anyone?), but unless (and you have no idea how much I want this to happen) game developers start making OpenGL games instead of DirectX games (and Carmack alone can't change that) then OpenGL will be dropped from the gaming arena.
Version 2.0 depends on hardware that does not yet exist...
The ATI 9700 is a DirectX 9 compliant card, which means that the hardware now does exist and is being sold to users. None of the new features are being utilized yet in games but there is something to be said about being first to market (and MS will be the first to market with an API that supports the new features with DirectX 9).
Now people can efficiently tab and scroll through their pr0n collections with one hand while keeping their other hand free for 'other uses'.
That fact alone makes me wonder if this guy is single, lives in an apartment, and has a screaming fast broadband connection.
I agree that all hardware manufacturers have to support OpenGL due to the 'Carmack Factor'. But have you ever noticed that on most newer cards OpenGL performance is far behind that of DirectX. I'm not talking about pure FPS here, you can no longer judge a card by that alone (example: Matrox's new Parheilia card). But OpenGL's current running spec does not support alot of the features that game programmers are currently turning to. OpenGL 2.0 should fix this but the spec will constantly have to be updated to contain all the new features.
Believe me when I say I would love to see OpenGL become the universal specification (if for no other reason than to be able to play my games in linux and finally trash my windows installation)...but all I am saying is that with MS's work with the hardware manufacturers and the OpenGL group's lack thereof...this will never happen unless there is some sort of drastic change.
I think it would be a wonderful thing if OpenGL would become the API of choice for all gaming AND digital effects rendering. Unfortunately this will not happen. How long has it taken the OpenGL group just to come out with a new standard....not to mention that it isn't even here yet.
The truth of the matter is that Microsoft is going to win this battle, not because DirectX is better, but because they update it more often and work closer with the hardware companies in order to make sure that the latest features are included in the API so that they can be used by programmers. It truly is a sad state of affairs, but standards boards are unfortunately alot like government entities....very slow to act and agree.
It seems to me that the guy was trying to do right by his company. You'd think that the investors would be a little agitated with his firing seeing as how it's exactly these kinds of shady loans that led the Enrons and Worldcoms of corporate America to massive downfalls. Question 1: As a shareholder how would one go about trying to prevent board actions like this? Question 2: Wouldn't you think he could file a wrongful termination lawsuit? Apparently he was trying to do his job and pull the company in line with the new corporate fraud laws that were just signed in. Sounds like a lawsuit to me. It is exactly this kind of crap that is preventing a turnaround in the business world. Large corporations and the people who run them think they can do and get away with anything. I'd love to see them capitalize corporate fraud like they have computer hacking. Fraud is far more far reaching and damaging (not that I am advocating illegal hacking or anything) and I think a 1 strike and you are out life sentence policy with strict enforcement would make people think twice about doing it in the first place.
As in "Open Maternity Gown" X.
Suck it. Suck it long and suck it hard Trebek.
That sounds like a shopping list from either the movie Boxing Helena or Seven.
Yeah, then he could go after Ballentine in court and nail them for trillions in licensing fees for all the books they have printed.
Thats one of the more hateful things Ive ever read. Prick.