Chris, why did ESR leave the VA board? You of all people will answer this question. You still have your compass pointed true. I think this ontopic since he was not in atttendance at the summit. Hell, he has laid very low. What happened?
Me: Hey Joe, got that file?
Joe: Yeah, it's on a floppy.
Me: Toss it here.
Joe: Frisbee's the Floppy across the room (20 ft. [6.1 meters]).
Me: Catches floppy (Sure it was aimed at my head).
Me: Thanks.
Joe: Make sure it gets to Mike tomorrow.
Me: Ok. (uses sneaker net)
Look familiar?:)
This is bringing small groups together...
on
Field Day 2002
·
· Score: 1
At the Disney Front Page, if you look up in the right hand corner you see the "Powered by HP" Ad.
HP is a Disney Technology partner, and
as stated in the NYTIMES article"Disney's animation division is announcing today that it plans to use Hewlett-Packard workstations and data-serving computers running Linux for digital animation work in the future"
Historically, animation has been a Unix environment," said Al Gillen, an analyst at the International Data Corporation. "And what's happening in Hollywood is that another piece of the Unix market is moving into the Linux space."
Indeed, Mr. Carey observed that adopting Linux for part of its animation was part of its migration strategy to move away from its previous "homogeneous technology environment," revolving around SGI's Irix.
The Disney commitment is the second agreement in recent months for Hewlett-Packard systems running Linux in Hollywood. In January, Hewlett-Packard announced a three-year partnership with DreamWorks involving the purchase of Hewlett computers and some joint development of technology.
Hewlett-Packard, to be sure, has a heritage of doing business with Hollywood and Disney. The first product the founders William Hewlett and David Packard sold in 1938 was to Disney, an oscillator used to help produce the rich, textured soundtrack for the animated movie "Fantasia."
This is a deal brokered by Martin Fink, general manager for Hewlett-Packard's Linux systems division.
Disney is moving from Unix to Linux. Quite a smooth move, not only does this appease one of their most voiciferous antagonists, they get mucho positive P.R.
"Yamaha developed a wide range of products, having started from FM sound generators in the background of its musical instruments manufacturing technology, while expanding them to wavetable sound generators and multimedia CODECs supporting standard PC functions.
Conforming to the Microsoft PCX standard, and including Windows drivers, these products provide a complete and standardized PC audio environment.
Additionally they specs the chips that make this possible.
In an article titled No second chance: can Earth explode as a result of Global Warming? by Dr Tom J. Chalko, MSc, PhD,
Head of Geophysics Division, Scientific E Research P/L, Melbourne, Australia writes
"It is a well established fact, verified by decades of seismic measurements, that the Earth's inner core is a nearly spherical solid of about 1220 km radius that occupies the central position of our planet. The generally accepted view today is that this solid grew slowly to its current size as a result of the "crystallization" of the surrounding liquid. The "latent heat" of this "crystallization" allegedly explains how the inner core generates heat.
This article considers global hydro-gravitational equilibrium conditions for the Earth's inner core and presents a rigorous and compelling scientific proof that the solid core of our planet could never be smaller or lighter than a certain minimum, otherwise the core would not be able to remain in the center of the planet.
Since the inner core could have only been larger and heavier in the past than it is today - it cannot be the result of any "crystallization". This simple conclusion has astonishing consequences.
Imagine a gigantic object of 1220 km radius that slowly becomes smaller, lighter and gives off heat for millions of years. What could it be? It can only be an object that generates heat by nuclear decay.
The main consequence of the above is that all heat generated inside Earth is of radionic origin. In other words, Earth in its entirety can be considered a nuclear reactor fuelled by spontaneous fission of various isotopes in the super-heavy inner core, as well as their daughter products of decay in the mantle and in the crust.
Life on Earth is possible only because of the efficient cooling of this reactor - a process that is controlled primarily by the atmosphere. Currently this cooling is responsible for a fine thermal balance between the heat from the core reactor, the heat from the Sun and the radiation of heat into space, so that the average temperature on Earth is about 13 deg C.
Since the radionic heat is generated in the entire volume of nuclear fuel (the entire Earth) and cooling can occur only at the surface, the hottest point of the planet should be in its very center.
This article examines the possibility of the "meltdown" of the central part of the inner core due to the reduced cooling capacity of the atmosphere, which traps progressively more solar heat due to the so-called greenhouse effect. Factors that can accelerate the meltdown process, such as an increased solar activity coinciding with increased emissions of greenhouse gasses are discussed.
The most serious consequence of such a "meltdown" could be a gravity-buoyancy based segregation of unstable isotopes in the molten inner core. Such a segregation can "enrich" the nuclear fuel in the core to the point of creating conditions for a chain reaction and a gigantic atomic explosion. Can Earth become another "asteroid belt" in the Solar system?
It is a common knowledge (experiencing seasons) that solar heat is the dominant factor that determines temperatures on the surface of Earth. In the polar regions however, the contribution of solar heat is minimal and this is where the contribution of the heat from the inside of our planet can be seen best. Raising polar ocean temperatures and melting of polar caps should therefore be the first symptoms of overheating of the inner core reactor.
While politicians and businessmen still debate the need for reducing greenhouse emissions and take pride to evade accepting any responsibility, the process of overheating of the inner core reactor has already begun - polar oceans have become warmer and polar caps have begun to melt. Do we have enough imagination, intelligence and integrity to comprehend the danger before the situation becomes irreversible?
Audiogalaxysite shows: "Message board : General Discussion
06/17/02 ape2man71 - AG is completely over!
All the songs on AG are now blocked. It means the most fast,stable and reliable file share program finally came to an end. What shall we do from now on?"
That is a question only the folks at AG can answer.
As Dan Briklin says "With ever changing technology, in order to preserve many works we will need to constantly move them ahead, copying them to each new media form before the previous one becomes obsolete. Also, as we create new media, we need to preserve the knowledge of the methods of converting from one media to another, so we can still access the old works that have not yet been moved ahead. This is crucial. Without this information, even preserved works could be unreadable.
The most famous example of that type of translation information was an inscribed slab of rock from 196 BC found in 1799. It contained a decree written in Greek that was also written in two forms of Egyptian. It's called the Rosetta Stone. It let scholars finally read ancient works in hieroglyphics that they had physical possession of but whose language had been a mystery for 1,400 years (despite being common for the 3,500 years before being superseded). Cuneiform, a form of writing used by many ancient civilizations, was similarly opaque to scholars until they found a text in multiple languages carved into a cliff -- the Behistun inscription."
From their site:" Meanwhile, the impact of the U.S. patent system on innovation is being studied by the National Academy of Science. The academy is expected to issue a report shortly."
Additionally from the National Academy" The question arises whether in some respects the extension of IPRs has proceeded too far. "
Guess I won't patent my perpetual motion device today.
According to the Article, it appears that "Microsoft's flagship developer tools picked up the digital pest when a third-party company translated the program into Korean...".
Ultimately it was MS's responsibility to verify they did not shit in their own bed, but how many of us look at every line of code in a distibuted or outsourced project.
Here is older German link with additional information.
"Microsofts recruiting rate gene could do to a wrong, because they purge in view of shrinking customer connection so obviously into panic. There as prestigious customers change as Pixar ("Toy Story") and Industrial Light & Magic ("Jurassic park ", "Shrek") its systems over course around course from Windows or SGI to Linux , and the Unterschleissheimer Dependance of the gate company breaks in nothing different one to take in than the middle class. Really pfiffig."
Family and Early Childhood
On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.
First computing Experience
In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. However, Lakeside had drastically underestimated the allure this machine would have for a hand full of young students.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and anything else they could to learn about computing. Soon Gates and the others started running into problems with the faculty. Their homework was being turned in late (if at all), they were skipping classes to be in the computer room and worst of all, they had used up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. [Wallace, 1992, p. 24]
In the fall of 1968, Computer Center Corporation opened for business in Seattle. It was offering computing time at good rates, and one of the chief programmers working for the corporation had a child attending Lakeside. A deal was struck between Lakeside Prep School and the Computer Center Corporation that allowed the school to continue providing it's students with computer time. [Wallace, 1992, p. 27] Gates and his comrades immediately began exploring the contents of this new machine. It was not long before the young hackers started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of computer time they were using. They were caught and the Computer Center Corporation banned them from the system for several weeks.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen and, two other hackers from Lakeside formed the Lakeside Programmers Group in late 1968. They were determined to find a way to apply their computer skills in the real world. The first opportunity to do this was a direct result of their mischievous activity with the school's computer time. The Computer Center Corporation's business was beginning to suffer due to the systems weak security and the frequency that it crashed. Impressed with Gates and the other Lakeside computer addicts' previous assaults on their computer, the Computer Center Corporation decided to hire the students to find bugs and expose weaknesses in the computer system. In return for the Lakeside Programming Group's help, the Computer Center Corporation would give them unlimited computer time [Wallace, 1992, p. 27]. The boys could not refuse. Gates is quoted as saying "It was when we got free time at C-cubed (Computer Center Corporation) that we really got into computers. I mean, then I became hardcore. It was day and night" [Wallace, 1992, p. 30]. Although the group was hired just to find bugs, they also read any computer related material that the day shift had left behind. The young hackers would even pick employees for new information. It was here that Gates and Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.
Roots of Business Career
Computer Center Corporation began to experience financial problems late in 1969. The company finally went out of business in March of 1970. The Lakeside Programmers Group had to find a new way to get computer time. Eventually they found a few computers on the University of Washington's campus where Allen's dad worked. The Lakeside Programmers Group began searching for new chances to apply their computer skills. Their first opportunity came early the next year when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to program a payroll program. Once again the group was given free computer time and for the first time, a source of income. ISI had agreed to give them royalties whenever it made money from any of the groups programs. As a result of the business deal signed with Information Sciences Inc., the group also had to become a legal business [Wallace, 1992, p. 42-43]. Gates and Allen's next project involved starting another company entirely on their own, Traf-O-Data. They produced a small computer which was used to help measure traffic flow. From the project they grossed around $20,000. The Traf-O-Data company lasted until Gates left for college. During Bill Gates' junior year at Lakeside, the administration offered him a job computerizing the school's scheduling system. Gates asked Allen to help with the project. He agreed and the following summer, they wrote the program. In his senior year, Gates and Allen continued looking for opportunities to use their skills and make some money. It was not long until they found this opportunity. The defense contractor TRW was having trouble with a bug infested computer similar to the one at Computer Center Corporation. TRW had learned of the experience the two had working on the Computer Center Corporation's system and offered Gates and Allen jobs. However thing would be different at TRW they would not be finding the bugs they would be in charge of fixing them. "It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programer," and it was there that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about forming their own software company [Wallace, 1992, p. 49-51].
In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. He had no idea what he wanted to study, so he enrolled as prelaw. Gates took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of Harvard's toughest math courses. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not in his studies. After locating the school's computer center, he lost himself in the world of computers once again. Gates would spend many long nights in front of the school's computer and the next days asleep in class. Paul Allen and Gates remained in close contact even with Bill away at school. They would often discuss ideas for future projects and the possibility of one day starting a business. At the end of Gates's first year at Harvard, the two decided that Allen should move closer to him so that they may be able to follow up on some of their ideas. That summer they both got jobs working for Honeywell [Wallace, 1992, p. 59]. As the summer dragged on, Allen began to push Bill harder with the idea that they should open a software company. Gates was still not sure enough to drop out of school. The following year, however, that would all change.
The Birth of Microsoft
In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.
ANSYS, Inc.'s New ANSYS 6.0 Simulation Software Suite Compatible with the LINUX RED HAT 7.1 Operating System
ANSYS 6.0 Coupled with the 32-bit Linux OS Provides Cost Efficiency and Enhanced Speed-to-Market
Canonsburg, PA - October 31, 2001 - ANSYS®, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS), the global innovator of simulation software and technologies aimed at optimizing the customers' product development process, today announced that the new ANSYS® 6.0 simulation software suite is fully compatible with the Linux Red Hat 7.1 Operating System that features the Intel® Processor Family (IPF).
The Linux OS provides ANSYS 6.0 users with a powerful, flexible and open-architecture platform that can use clustering technology to handle the super-computing loads required for simulation engineering applications. Linux provides ANSYS 6.0 users a reliable cost-effective, multiple-user support tool that provides engineers with a platform to share development efforts early in the process, decreasing the number of design iterations. Because the Linux system updates occur quickly and openly, users do not have to wait for new vendor updates or releases, saving ANSYS 6.0 users time and money.
ANSYS 6.0 marks the first formal release for the Linux 32-bit OS. Future updates to ANSYS 6.0 are also expected to support the Linux 64-bit OS.
"Our goal is to continuously provide ANSYS customers with state-of-the-art software solutions that are compatible with a variety of operating systems. Linux has quickly become a standard in many engineering environments and can provide ANSYS 6.0 users with the open architecture they need to complete their tasks in timely and cost-effective manner," stated Michael Wheeler, vice president of marketing for ANSYS, Inc.
About LINUX OS
Linux is a modern operating system that runs on 32-bit architecture, uses preemptive multitasking, protected memory, supports multiple users, and has rich support for networking, including TCP/IP networking. Linux runs all the applications a Unix server system should run, including web servers like Apache, mail serving software like Sendmail, and database servers like Oracle, Informix, or more open applications like MySQL and Postgres. Linux supports a wide range of file system types, and through programs like Samba can even seamlessly replace NT as a Windows file server. Through the use of clustering technology, Linux can scale up to handle the super computing loads required by many scientific/engineering applications, and required in high availability environments.
About ANSYS, Inc.
ANSYS, Inc., founded in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc., develops and globally markets engineering simulation software and technologies widely used by engineers and designers across a broad spectrum of industries, including aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, electronics and biomedical. Headquartered at Southpointe in Canonsburg, PA, ANSYS, Inc. employs 400 people and focuses on the development of open and flexible solutions that enable users to analyze designs directly on the desktop, providing a common platform for fast, efficient and cost-conscious product development, from design concept to final-stage testing and validation. ANSYS, Inc. distributes its ANSYS®, DesignSpace®, AI* Solutions(TM) and ICEM-CFD Engineering products through a network of channel partners in 37 countries, in addition to its own direct sales offices in 18 strategic locations throughout the world. To address the latest in Web-based solutions, ANSYS, Inc. provides e-CAE, a solution designed specifically to address the need for "surge capacity" often required during the design verification phase, as well as providing a low-cost entry point for consultants and occasional users.
CONTACT:
Dawn Tappy
ANSYS, Inc.
PR Manager
globalpr@ansys.com
Note to editors: ANSYS is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The problem with trying to pipe both input and output to an arbitrary slave process is that deadlock can occur, if both processes are waiting for not-yet-generated input at the same time. Deadlock can be avoided only by having BOTH sides follow a strict deadlock-free protocol, but since that requires cooperation from the processes it is inappropriate for a popen()-like library function.
The 'expect' distribution includes a library of functions that a C programmer can call directly. One of the functions does the equivalent of a popen for both reading and writing. It uses ptys rather than pipes, and has no deadlock problem. It's portable to both BSD and SV. See the next answer for more about 'expect'.
There are a few different ways you can do this, although none
of them is perfect:
* kibitz allows two (or more) people to interact with a shell
(or any arbitary program). Uses include:
- watching or aiding another person's terminal session;
- recording a conversation while retaining the ability to
scroll backwards, save the conversation, or even edit it
while in progress;
- teaming up on games, document editing, or other cooperative
tasks where each person has strengths and weakness that
complement one another. For example:
1) kibitz comes as part of the expect distribution.
2) kibitz requires permission from the person to be spyed upon.
To
spy without permission requires less pleasant approaches:
* You can write a program that grovels through Kernel structures
and watches the output buffer for the terminal in question,
displaying characters as they are output. This, obviously, is
not something that should be attempted by anyone who does not
have experience working with the Unix kernel. Furthermore,
whatever method you come up with will probably be quite
non-portable.
* If you want to do this to a particular hard-wired terminal all
the time (e.g. if you want operators to be able to check the
console terminal of a machine from other machines), you can
actually splice a monitor into the cable for the terminal. For
example, plug the monitor output into another machine's serial
port, and run a program on that port that stores its input
somewhere and then transmits it out *another* port, this one
really going to the physical terminal. If you do this, you have
to make sure that any output from the terminal is transmitted
back over the wire, although if you splice only into the
computer->terminal wires, this isn't much of a problem. This is
not something that should be attempted by anyone who is not very
familiar with terminal wiring and such.
Quite an Oxmoron (MS-Security)...but additionally:
Microsoft Purchases Evil From Satan
Redmond, WA - Microsoft in a recent all cash deal has purchased evil from Satan for $2.7 billion. "We've been after Satan for some time," said CEO Steve Ballmer. "Negotiations were tough but I think both Microsoft and the Prince of Darkness are happy with this deal."
Before the purchase, Microsoft already had 15% of the evil market, now that number is closer to 100%. The Department of Justice has voiced concerns over one corporation controlling so much evil, and has begun investigations into the deal.
"We feel that there are real opportunities with evil, and that when evil is integrated it into our next generation of Windows products consumers will appreciate evil on their desktop," said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. "Businesses haven't been able to fully realize their evil potential. With evil integrated into Office 2001, corporations big and small will begin to see enhanced evil productivity."
"Evil is a real growing market," market strategist Frank Dresgan of Merrill Lynch said today. "Microsoft is a little late in the game, but even when they enter a market late they still tend to dominate. I think we'll see the same with evil."
"I've been dealing with Microsoft for some time," Lucifer said. "I've been at this evil thing for millions of years, and wanted a way out. I considered an IPO, but then Steve-O and Billy came along and told me about their "Evil Everywhere" plan and that was an offer I couldn't refuse."
Evil was founded by Satan close to the beginning of time. It has been growing steadily ever since, although most of the growth has come in the past five years with the development of the internet. Satan plans to retire to a small island in the Bahamas and write a column for the local newpaper.
Go to Mozillazineand put your money where your mouth is. Oh, what is that? You don't want to use evil Pay Pal? Then write a damn check. I am sure someone will take it.
How about showing that you support the cause. Not only will you pay for your beer, you will add a your voice for support. Only by rigidly supporting these guys will you ensure sucess. Sure everyone will bitch about the time it took to finally make it this far. But I as, how many browsers have you developed lately? That's what I thought. Now, get behind these guys and give a push. Oh, and BTW, how many reviewers assisted in this. Exactly!
Manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamond. If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a few other trace elements) we can make computer chips. If we rearrange the atoms in dirt, water and air we can make potatoes.
Todays manufacturing methods are very crude at the molecular level. Casting, grinding, milling and even lithography move atoms in great thundering statistical herds. It's like trying to make things out of LEGO blocks with boxing gloves on your hands. Yes, you can push the LEGO blocks into great heaps and pile them up, but you can't really snap them together the way you'd like.
In the future, nanotechnology will let us take off the boxing gloves. We'll be able to snap together the fundamental building blocks of nature easily, inexpensively and in almost any arrangement that we desire. This will be essential if we are to continue the revolution in computer hardware beyond about the next decade, and will also let us fabricate an entire new generation of products that are cleaner, stronger, lighter, and more precise.
It's worth pointing out that the word "nanotechnology" has become very popular and is used to describe many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are less than about 1,000 nanometers. For example, continued improvements in lithography have resulted in line widths that are less than one micron: this work is often called "nanotechnology." Sub-micron lithography is clearly very valuable (ask anyone who uses a computer!) but it is equally clear that lithography will not let us build semiconductor devices in which individual dopant atoms are located at specific lattice sites. Many of the exponentially improving trends in computer hardware capability have remained steady for the last 50 years. There is fairly widespread confidence that these trends are likely to continue for at least another ten years, but then lithography starts to reach its fundamental limits.
If we are to continue these trends we will have to develop a new "post-lithographic" manufacturing technology which will let us inexpensively build computer systems with mole quantities of logic elements that are molecular in both size and precision and are interconnected in complex and highly idiosyncratic patterns. Nanotechnology will let us do this.
When it's unclear from the context whether we're using the specific definition of "nanotechnology" (given here) or the broader and more inclusive definition (often used in the literature), we'll use the terms "molecular nanotechnology" or "molecular manufacturing."
Whatever we call it, it should let us
Get essentially every atom in the right place.
Make almost any structure consistent with the laws of physics and chemistry that we can specify in atomic detail.
Have manufacturing costs not greatly exceeding the cost of the required raw materials and energy.
There are two more concepts commonly associated with nanotechnology:
Positional assembly.
Self replication.
Clearly, we would be happy with any method that simultaneously achieved the first three objectives. However, this seems difficult without using some form of positional assembly (to get the right molecular parts in the right places) and some form of self replication (to keep the costs down).
The need for positional assembly implies an interest in molecular robotics, e.g., robotic devices that are molecular both in their size and precision. These molecular scale positional devices are likely to resemble very small versions of their everyday macroscopic counterparts. Positional assembly is frequently used in normal macroscopic manufacturing today, and provides tremendous advantages. Imagine trying to build a bicycle with both hands tied behind your back! The idea of manipulating and positioning individual atoms and molecules is still new and takes some getting used to. However, as Feynman said in a classic talk in 1959: "The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom." We need to apply at the molecular scale the concept that has demonstrated its effectiveness at the macroscopic scale: making parts go where we want by putting them where we want!
The requirement for low cost creates an interest in self replicating manufacturing systems, studied by von Neumann in the 1940's. These systems are able both to make copies of themselves and to manufacture useful products. If we can design and build one such system the manufacturing costs for more such systems and the products they make (assuming they can make copies of themselves in some reasonably inexpensive environment) will be very low.
Look Jon, rather than sitting there and counting down to the Delisting of LNUX from NASDAQ, why not do something about it. I mean, why not got out and buy some stock in VA? Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is and invest in this company. You can trade in LNUX stock right now for only $0.82. Unless you cannot even spend a buck to save the company. BTW That is lees than that Fat Ass Sally Struthers begs for to feed the children. Exactly! VA is down to only 205 employees, and planning to cut more jobs before the end of this quarter.Understand?
So, what is it going to be? Are you going to support this company and invest. Shit, look at the ads on the OSDN network. 90% of them understandably promote other OSDN sites. We need to get those big pocketinvestors in here to buy adspace. Contact the VA National Sales Director
Eric Kazanjian
eric.kazanjian@osdn.com,
Voice: 650-551-0175,
Fax: 650-551-0195, Mr.
Kazanjian can also be mailed at
eric.kazanjian@osdn.com. Call and see what you can do, buy a banner stating YOU HELPED! So, in conclusion:o), Another 2 cheeseburgers at Burger King, or supporting a great company? You Cockeater.
END RANT
Mod me down as Off topic but I needed to clear that up!
Slashdot Mirror
Man, it was THE bug. Armageddon and the end of computing as we knew it. Wait a minute...ummm... :)
Chris, why did ESR leave the VA board? You of all people will answer this question. You still have your compass pointed true. I think this ontopic since he was not in atttendance at the summit. Hell, he has laid very low. What happened?
Here are some details.
Jam this!
Me: Hey Joe, got that file?
:)
Joe: Yeah, it's on a floppy.
Me: Toss it here.
Joe: Frisbee's the Floppy across the room (20 ft. [6.1 meters]).
Me: Catches floppy (Sure it was aimed at my head).
Me: Thanks.
Joe: Make sure it gets to Mike tomorrow.
Me: Ok. (uses sneaker net)
Look familiar?
Like these people.
Back and Forth, Back and Forth...Commercialization...Disputes...Greed. Once again, the road to Hell is paved with Good intentions.
I'm taking my internet and going home.
At the Disney Front Page, if you look up in the right hand corner you see the "Powered by HP" Ad.
HP is a Disney Technology partner, and as stated in the NYTIMES article"Disney's animation division is announcing today that it plans to use Hewlett-Packard workstations and data-serving computers running Linux for digital animation work in the future"
Historically, animation has been a Unix environment," said Al Gillen, an analyst at the International Data Corporation. "And what's happening in Hollywood is that another piece of the Unix market is moving into the Linux space."
Indeed, Mr. Carey observed that adopting Linux for part of its animation was part of its migration strategy to move away from its previous "homogeneous technology environment," revolving around SGI's Irix.
The Disney commitment is the second agreement in recent months for Hewlett-Packard systems running Linux in Hollywood. In January, Hewlett-Packard announced a three-year partnership with DreamWorks involving the purchase of Hewlett computers and some joint development of technology.
Hewlett-Packard, to be sure, has a heritage of doing business with Hollywood and Disney. The first product the founders William Hewlett and David Packard sold in 1938 was to Disney, an oscillator used to help produce the rich, textured soundtrack for the animated movie "Fantasia."
This is a deal brokered by Martin Fink, general manager for Hewlett-Packard's Linux systems division.
Disney is moving from Unix to Linux. Quite a smooth move, not only does this appease one of their most voiciferous antagonists, they get mucho positive P.R.
From their site Yamaha says:
"Yamaha developed a wide range of products, having started from FM sound generators in the background of its musical instruments manufacturing technology, while expanding them to wavetable sound generators and multimedia CODECs supporting standard PC functions.
Conforming to the Microsoft PCX standard, and including Windows drivers, these products provide a complete and standardized PC audio environment.
Additionally they specs the chips that make this possible.
In an article titled No second chance: can Earth explode as a result of Global Warming? by Dr Tom J. Chalko, MSc, PhD, Head of Geophysics Division, Scientific E Research P/L, Melbourne, Australia writes
"It is a well established fact, verified by decades of seismic measurements, that the Earth's inner core is a nearly spherical solid of about 1220 km radius that occupies the central position of our planet. The generally accepted view today is that this solid grew slowly to its current size as a result of the "crystallization" of the surrounding liquid. The "latent heat" of this "crystallization" allegedly explains how the inner core generates heat.
This article considers global hydro-gravitational equilibrium conditions for the Earth's inner core and presents a rigorous and compelling scientific proof that the solid core of our planet could never be smaller or lighter than a certain minimum, otherwise the core would not be able to remain in the center of the planet.
Since the inner core could have only been larger and heavier in the past than it is today - it cannot be the result of any "crystallization". This simple conclusion has astonishing consequences.
Imagine a gigantic object of 1220 km radius that slowly becomes smaller, lighter and gives off heat for millions of years. What could it be? It can only be an object that generates heat by nuclear decay.
The main consequence of the above is that all heat generated inside Earth is of radionic origin. In other words, Earth in its entirety can be considered a nuclear reactor fuelled by spontaneous fission of various isotopes in the super-heavy inner core, as well as their daughter products of decay in the mantle and in the crust.
Life on Earth is possible only because of the efficient cooling of this reactor - a process that is controlled primarily by the atmosphere. Currently this cooling is responsible for a fine thermal balance between the heat from the core reactor, the heat from the Sun and the radiation of heat into space, so that the average temperature on Earth is about 13 deg C.
Since the radionic heat is generated in the entire volume of nuclear fuel (the entire Earth) and cooling can occur only at the surface, the hottest point of the planet should be in its very center.
This article examines the possibility of the "meltdown" of the central part of the inner core due to the reduced cooling capacity of the atmosphere, which traps progressively more solar heat due to the so-called greenhouse effect. Factors that can accelerate the meltdown process, such as an increased solar activity coinciding with increased emissions of greenhouse gasses are discussed.
The most serious consequence of such a "meltdown" could be a gravity-buoyancy based segregation of unstable isotopes in the molten inner core. Such a segregation can "enrich" the nuclear fuel in the core to the point of creating conditions for a chain reaction and a gigantic atomic explosion. Can Earth become another "asteroid belt" in the Solar system?
It is a common knowledge (experiencing seasons) that solar heat is the dominant factor that determines temperatures on the surface of Earth. In the polar regions however, the contribution of solar heat is minimal and this is where the contribution of the heat from the inside of our planet can be seen best. Raising polar ocean temperatures and melting of polar caps should therefore be the first symptoms of overheating of the inner core reactor.
While politicians and businessmen still debate the need for reducing greenhouse emissions and take pride to evade accepting any responsibility, the process of overheating of the inner core reactor has already begun - polar oceans have become warmer and polar caps have begun to melt. Do we have enough imagination, intelligence and integrity to comprehend the danger before the situation becomes irreversible?
Those crazy Aussies ahead of their time!
But do I REALLY want to meet some of the people here...I think not :)
:)
Stay on your side of the net and I'll stay on mine
The link is the RIAA site PR.
Audiogalaxysite shows:
"Message board : General Discussion
06/17/02 ape2man71 - AG is completely over!
All the songs on AG are now blocked. It means
the most fast,stable and reliable file share
program finally came to an end. What shall we do from now on?"
That is a question only the folks at AG can answer.
Remember last April when Andreessen said "If a computer can see it, display it and play it -- it can copy it,..."
Article found here.
As Dan Briklin says "With ever changing technology, in order to preserve many works we will need to constantly move them ahead, copying them to each new media form before the previous one becomes obsolete. Also, as we create new media, we need to preserve the knowledge of the methods of converting from one media to another, so we can still access the old works that have not yet been moved ahead. This is crucial. Without this information, even preserved works could be unreadable.
The most famous example of that type of translation information was an inscribed slab of rock from 196 BC found in 1799. It contained a decree written in Greek that was also written in two forms of Egyptian. It's called the Rosetta Stone. It let scholars finally read ancient works in hieroglyphics that they had physical possession of but whose language had been a mystery for 1,400 years (despite being common for the 3,500 years before being superseded). Cuneiform, a form of writing used by many ancient civilizations, was similarly opaque to scholars until they found a text in multiple languages carved into a cliff -- the Behistun inscription."
From their site:" Meanwhile, the impact of the U.S. patent system on innovation is being studied by the National Academy of Science. The academy is expected to issue a report shortly."
Additionally from the National Academy" The question arises whether in some respects the extension of IPRs has proceeded too far. "
Guess I won't patent my perpetual motion device today.
According to the Article, it appears that "Microsoft's flagship developer tools picked up the digital pest when a third-party company translated the program into Korean...".
Ultimately it was MS's responsibility to verify they did not shit in their own bed, but how many of us look at every line of code in a distibuted or outsourced project.
Just my $.0199999
You Matt, are a Moron.
Please consider consulting here before your next post.
And I so loved the Matt Dance , you broke my heart.
Not the official ILM site but has good insight and has been following the ILM ports.
Here is older German link with additional information.
"Microsofts recruiting rate gene could do to a wrong, because they purge in view of shrinking customer connection so obviously into panic. There as prestigious customers change as Pixar ("Toy Story") and Industrial Light & Magic ("Jurassic park ", "Shrek") its systems over course around course from Windows or SGI to Linux , and the Unterschleissheimer Dependance of the gate company breaks in nothing different one to take in than the middle class. Really pfiffig."
Bill Gates Before Microsoft
Family and Early Childhood
On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.
First computing Experience
In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. However, Lakeside had drastically underestimated the allure this machine would have for a hand full of young students.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and anything else they could to learn about computing. Soon Gates and the others started running into problems with the faculty. Their homework was being turned in late (if at all), they were skipping classes to be in the computer room and worst of all, they had used up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. [Wallace, 1992, p. 24]
In the fall of 1968, Computer Center Corporation opened for business in Seattle. It was offering computing time at good rates, and one of the chief programmers working for the corporation had a child attending Lakeside. A deal was struck between Lakeside Prep School and the Computer Center Corporation that allowed the school to continue providing it's students with computer time. [Wallace, 1992, p. 27] Gates and his comrades immediately began exploring the contents of this new machine. It was not long before the young hackers started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of computer time they were using. They were caught and the Computer Center Corporation banned them from the system for several weeks.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen and, two other hackers from Lakeside formed the Lakeside Programmers Group in late 1968. They were determined to find a way to apply their computer skills in the real world. The first opportunity to do this was a direct result of their mischievous activity with the school's computer time. The Computer Center Corporation's business was beginning to suffer due to the systems weak security and the frequency that it crashed. Impressed with Gates and the other Lakeside computer addicts' previous assaults on their computer, the Computer Center Corporation decided to hire the students to find bugs and expose weaknesses in the computer system. In return for the Lakeside Programming Group's help, the Computer Center Corporation would give them unlimited computer time [Wallace, 1992, p. 27]. The boys could not refuse. Gates is quoted as saying "It was when we got free time at C-cubed (Computer Center Corporation) that we really got into computers. I mean, then I became hardcore. It was day and night" [Wallace, 1992, p. 30]. Although the group was hired just to find bugs, they also read any computer related material that the day shift had left behind. The young hackers would even pick employees for new information. It was here that Gates and Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.
Roots of Business Career
Computer Center Corporation began to experience financial problems late in 1969. The company finally went out of business in March of 1970. The Lakeside Programmers Group had to find a new way to get computer time. Eventually they found a few computers on the University of Washington's campus where Allen's dad worked. The Lakeside Programmers Group began searching for new chances to apply their computer skills. Their first opportunity came early the next year when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to program a payroll program. Once again the group was given free computer time and for the first time, a source of income. ISI had agreed to give them royalties whenever it made money from any of the groups programs. As a result of the business deal signed with Information Sciences Inc., the group also had to become a legal business [Wallace, 1992, p. 42-43]. Gates and Allen's next project involved starting another company entirely on their own, Traf-O-Data. They produced a small computer which was used to help measure traffic flow. From the project they grossed around $20,000. The Traf-O-Data company lasted until Gates left for college. During Bill Gates' junior year at Lakeside, the administration offered him a job computerizing the school's scheduling system. Gates asked Allen to help with the project. He agreed and the following summer, they wrote the program. In his senior year, Gates and Allen continued looking for opportunities to use their skills and make some money. It was not long until they found this opportunity. The defense contractor TRW was having trouble with a bug infested computer similar to the one at Computer Center Corporation. TRW had learned of the experience the two had working on the Computer Center Corporation's system and offered Gates and Allen jobs. However thing would be different at TRW they would not be finding the bugs they would be in charge of fixing them. "It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programer," and it was there that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about forming their own software company [Wallace, 1992, p. 49-51].
In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. He had no idea what he wanted to study, so he enrolled as prelaw. Gates took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of Harvard's toughest math courses. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not in his studies. After locating the school's computer center, he lost himself in the world of computers once again. Gates would spend many long nights in front of the school's computer and the next days asleep in class. Paul Allen and Gates remained in close contact even with Bill away at school. They would often discuss ideas for future projects and the possibility of one day starting a business. At the end of Gates's first year at Harvard, the two decided that Allen should move closer to him so that they may be able to follow up on some of their ideas. That summer they both got jobs working for Honeywell [Wallace, 1992, p. 59]. As the summer dragged on, Allen began to push Bill harder with the idea that they should open a software company. Gates was still not sure enough to drop out of school. The following year, however, that would all change.
The Birth of Microsoft
In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.
ANSYS, Inc.'s New ANSYS 6.0 Simulation Software Suite Compatible with the LINUX RED HAT 7.1 Operating System
ANSYS 6.0 Coupled with the 32-bit Linux OS Provides Cost Efficiency and Enhanced Speed-to-Market
Canonsburg, PA - October 31, 2001 - ANSYS®, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS), the global innovator of simulation software and technologies aimed at optimizing the customers' product development process, today announced that the new ANSYS® 6.0 simulation software suite is fully compatible with the Linux Red Hat 7.1 Operating System that features the Intel® Processor Family (IPF).
The Linux OS provides ANSYS 6.0 users with a powerful, flexible and open-architecture platform that can use clustering technology to handle the super-computing loads required for simulation engineering applications. Linux provides ANSYS 6.0 users a reliable cost-effective, multiple-user support tool that provides engineers with a platform to share development efforts early in the process, decreasing the number of design iterations. Because the Linux system updates occur quickly and openly, users do not have to wait for new vendor updates or releases, saving ANSYS 6.0 users time and money.
ANSYS 6.0 marks the first formal release for the Linux 32-bit OS. Future updates to ANSYS 6.0 are also expected to support the Linux 64-bit OS.
"Our goal is to continuously provide ANSYS customers with state-of-the-art software solutions that are compatible with a variety of operating systems. Linux has quickly become a standard in many engineering environments and can provide ANSYS 6.0 users with the open architecture they need to complete their tasks in timely and cost-effective manner," stated Michael Wheeler, vice president of marketing for ANSYS, Inc.
About LINUX OS
Linux is a modern operating system that runs on 32-bit architecture, uses preemptive multitasking, protected memory, supports multiple users, and has rich support for networking, including TCP/IP networking. Linux runs all the applications a Unix server system should run, including web servers like Apache, mail serving software like Sendmail, and database servers like Oracle, Informix, or more open applications like MySQL and Postgres. Linux supports a wide range of file system types, and through programs like Samba can even seamlessly replace NT as a Windows file server. Through the use of clustering technology, Linux can scale up to handle the super computing loads required by many scientific/engineering applications, and required in high availability environments.
About ANSYS, Inc.
ANSYS, Inc., founded in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc., develops and globally markets engineering simulation software and technologies widely used by engineers and designers across a broad spectrum of industries, including aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, electronics and biomedical. Headquartered at Southpointe in Canonsburg, PA, ANSYS, Inc. employs 400 people and focuses on the development of open and flexible solutions that enable users to analyze designs directly on the desktop, providing a common platform for fast, efficient and cost-conscious product development, from design concept to final-stage testing and validation. ANSYS, Inc. distributes its ANSYS®, DesignSpace®, AI* Solutions(TM) and ICEM-CFD Engineering products through a network of channel partners in 37 countries, in addition to its own direct sales offices in 18 strategic locations throughout the world. To address the latest in Web-based solutions, ANSYS, Inc. provides e-CAE, a solution designed specifically to address the need for "surge capacity" often required during the design verification phase, as well as providing a low-cost entry point for consultants and occasional users.
CONTACT:
Dawn Tappy
ANSYS, Inc.
PR Manager
globalpr@ansys.com
Note to editors: ANSYS is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The problem with trying to pipe both input and output to an arbitrary slave process is that deadlock can occur, if both processes are waiting for not-yet-generated input at the same time. Deadlock can be avoided only by having BOTH sides follow a strict deadlock-free protocol, but since that requires cooperation from the processes it is inappropriate for a popen()-like library function.
The 'expect' distribution includes a library of functions that a C programmer can call directly. One of the functions does the equivalent of a popen for both reading and writing. It uses ptys rather than pipes, and has no deadlock problem. It's portable to both BSD and SV. See the next answer for more about 'expect'.
There are a few different ways you can do this, although none of them is perfect:
* kibitz allows two (or more) people to interact with a shell (or any arbitary program). Uses include:
- watching or aiding another person's terminal session;
- recording a conversation while retaining the ability to scroll backwards, save the conversation, or even edit it while in progress;
- teaming up on games, document editing, or other cooperative tasks where each person has strengths and weakness that complement one another. For example:
1) kibitz comes as part of the expect distribution.
2) kibitz requires permission from the person to be spyed upon.
To spy without permission requires less pleasant approaches:
* You can write a program that grovels through Kernel structures and watches the output buffer for the terminal in question,
displaying characters as they are output. This, obviously, is not something that should be attempted by anyone who does not
have experience working with the Unix kernel. Furthermore, whatever method you come up with will probably be quite non-portable.
* If you want to do this to a particular hard-wired terminal all the time (e.g. if you want operators to be able to check the console terminal of a machine from other machines), you can actually splice a monitor into the cable for the terminal. For example, plug the monitor output into another machine's serial port, and run a program on that port that stores its input somewhere and then transmits it out
*another* port, this one really going to the physical terminal. If you do this, you have to make sure that any output from the terminal is transmitted back over the wire, although if you splice only into the computer->terminal wires, this isn't much of a problem. This is not something that should be attempted by anyone who is not very familiar with terminal wiring and such.
Late night TV Like David Letterman, Jay Leno, and
Conan O'Brian. Not an original idea, but
nice to see it in practice.
Quite an Oxmoron (MS-Security)...but additionally:
Microsoft Purchases Evil From Satan
Redmond, WA -
Microsoft in a recent all cash deal has purchased evil from Satan for $2.7 billion. "We've been after Satan for some time," said CEO Steve Ballmer. "Negotiations were tough but I think both Microsoft and the Prince of Darkness are happy with this deal." Before the purchase, Microsoft already had 15% of the evil market, now that number is closer to 100%. The Department of Justice has voiced concerns over one corporation controlling so much evil, and has begun investigations into the deal.
"We feel that there are real opportunities with evil, and that when evil is integrated it into our next generation of Windows products consumers will appreciate evil on their desktop," said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. "Businesses haven't been able to fully realize their evil potential. With evil integrated into Office 2001, corporations big and small will begin to see enhanced evil productivity."
"Evil is a real growing market," market strategist Frank Dresgan of Merrill Lynch said today. "Microsoft is a little late in the game, but even when they enter a market late they still tend to dominate. I think we'll see the same with evil."
"I've been dealing with Microsoft for some time," Lucifer said. "I've been at this evil thing for millions of years, and wanted a way out. I considered an IPO, but then Steve-O and Billy came along and told me about their "Evil Everywhere" plan and that was an offer I couldn't refuse."
Evil was founded by Satan close to the beginning of time. It has been growing steadily ever since, although most of the growth has come in the past five years with the development of the internet. Satan plans to retire to a small island in the Bahamas and write a column for the local newpaper.
just my $0.0199999
Go to Mozillazineand put your money where your mouth is.
Oh, what is that? You don't want to use evil Pay Pal? Then write a damn check. I am sure someone will take it.
How about showing that you support the cause. Not only will you pay for your beer, you will add a your voice for support.
Only by rigidly supporting these guys will you ensure sucess. Sure everyone will bitch about the time it took to finally
make it this far. But I as, how many browsers have you developed lately? That's what I thought. Now, get behind these guys and give a push.
Oh, and BTW, how many reviewers assisted in this. Exactly!
Manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamond. If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a few other trace elements) we can make computer chips. If we rearrange the atoms in dirt, water and air we can make potatoes. Todays manufacturing methods are very crude at the molecular level. Casting, grinding, milling and even lithography move atoms in great thundering statistical herds. It's like trying to make things out of LEGO blocks with boxing gloves on your hands. Yes, you can push the LEGO blocks into great heaps and pile them up, but you can't really snap them together the way you'd like.
In the future, nanotechnology will let us take off the boxing gloves. We'll be able to snap together the fundamental building blocks of nature easily, inexpensively and in almost any arrangement that we desire. This will be essential if we are to continue the revolution in computer hardware beyond about the next decade, and will also let us fabricate an entire new generation of products that are cleaner, stronger, lighter, and more precise.
It's worth pointing out that the word "nanotechnology" has become very popular and is used to describe many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are less than about 1,000 nanometers. For example, continued improvements in lithography have resulted in line widths that are less than one micron: this work is often called "nanotechnology." Sub-micron lithography is clearly very valuable (ask anyone who uses a computer!) but it is equally clear that lithography will not let us build semiconductor devices in which individual dopant atoms are located at specific lattice sites. Many of the exponentially improving trends in computer hardware capability have remained steady for the last 50 years. There is fairly widespread confidence that these trends are likely to continue for at least another ten years, but then lithography starts to reach its fundamental limits.
If we are to continue these trends we will have to develop a new "post-lithographic" manufacturing technology which will let us inexpensively build computer systems with mole quantities of logic elements that are molecular in both size and precision and are interconnected in complex and highly idiosyncratic patterns. Nanotechnology will let us do this.
When it's unclear from the context whether we're using the specific definition of "nanotechnology" (given here) or the broader and more inclusive definition (often used in the literature), we'll use the terms "molecular nanotechnology" or "molecular manufacturing."
Whatever we call it, it should let us
Get essentially every atom in the right place. Make almost any structure consistent with the laws of physics and chemistry that we can specify in atomic detail. Have manufacturing costs not greatly exceeding the cost of the required raw materials and energy. There are two more concepts commonly associated with nanotechnology: Positional assembly. Self replication. Clearly, we would be happy with any method that simultaneously achieved the first three objectives. However, this seems difficult without using some form of positional assembly (to get the right molecular parts in the right places) and some form of self replication (to keep the costs down).
The need for positional assembly implies an interest in molecular robotics, e.g., robotic devices that are molecular both in their size and precision. These molecular scale positional devices are likely to resemble very small versions of their everyday macroscopic counterparts. Positional assembly is frequently used in normal macroscopic manufacturing today, and provides tremendous advantages. Imagine trying to build a bicycle with both hands tied behind your back! The idea of manipulating and positioning individual atoms and molecules is still new and takes some getting used to. However, as Feynman said in a classic talk in 1959: "The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom." We need to apply at the molecular scale the concept that has demonstrated its effectiveness at the macroscopic scale: making parts go where we want by putting them where we want!
The requirement for low cost creates an interest in self replicating manufacturing systems, studied by von Neumann in the 1940's. These systems are able both to make copies of themselves and to manufacture useful products. If we can design and build one such system the manufacturing costs for more such systems and the products they make (assuming they can make copies of themselves in some reasonably inexpensive environment) will be very low.
BEGIN RANT
:o), Another 2 cheeseburgers at Burger King, or supporting a great company? You Cockeater.
Look Jon, rather than sitting there and counting down to the Delisting of LNUX from NASDAQ, why not do something about
it. I mean, why not got out and buy some stock in VA?
Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is and invest in this company. You can trade in LNUX stock right now for only $0.82.
Unless you cannot even spend a buck to save the company. BTW That is lees than that Fat Ass Sally Struthers begs for to feed the children.
Exactly! VA is down to only 205 employees, and planning to cut more jobs before the end of this quarter.Understand?
So, what is it going to be? Are you going to support this company and invest. Shit, look at the ads on the OSDN network. 90% of them
understandably promote other OSDN sites. We need to get those big pocket investors in here to buy adspace.
Contact the VA National Sales Director Eric Kazanjian eric.kazanjian@osdn.com, Voice: 650-551-0175, Fax: 650-551-0195, Mr.
Kazanjian can also be mailed at eric.kazanjian@osdn.com. Call and see what you can do, buy a banner stating YOU HELPED!
So, in conclusion
END RANT
Mod me down as Off topic but I needed to clear that up!