I disagree, I don't think application-level multithreading is the right way to exploit many cores.
Some people suggest, for instance, that games should be written with AI in one thread, physics in another, and graphics in a third. I say this is wrong, and a poor way to utilize multiple cores. There's no reason to think different threads doing different things will have equal processing needs.
Instead, paralellize the lower-level calls, such as math, graphics, and encryption libraries. These SIMD situations are much easier to paralellize - you divide up a big homogenous block of work into N parts, and they all take the same amount of time to complete.
Some algorithms don't have paralell implementations, but how many of those don't run well enough in a single core already? It's not easy to churn out enough straight-line code to even notice. For the most part it's the big, highly repetive calculations that still take a while.
Heck if static partitioning of processing resources were a good idea, they'd build it into the OS - "allocate this process at most 50% cpu time." But there's no advantage to that approach over process prioritization.
I do wonder if we'd be better off (after 2 cores) with simply adding a ton more cache.
They already did - the P4 "Extreme Edition". Turns out it's a waste of silicon.
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A remote database query every time you stop typing momentarily? I think that's the most gratuitous waste of computing power I've ever seen.... I like it:)
I've seen WebTV and products alike and it looks likes crap on a normal television.
If HDTVs become more commmon, then maybe I guess
More common where, here in the US? Surely Sony has some interest in Japan:
"Japan had the earliest working HDTV system, with design efforts going back to 1979. Japan began broadcasting analog HDTV signals in the early 1990s using an interlaced resolution of 1035 lines (1035i)."
"Japan had pioneered HDTV for decades with an analog implementation... Japan terrestrial broadcast of HD via ISDB-T started in December 2003. It is reported that two million HD receivers have been sold in Japan already."
I don't suppose you would even need an HD receiver to plug your PS3 into your 1035i television.
GCC for what I have seen is not very good at vectors. For a lot of Cell development a compiler the can generate vector code will be extermly useful if not vital.
I don't know; plain old sequential gcc-generated code with help from hand-vectorized OpenGL (for games) and LAPACK (for math) libraries might keep a lot of people happy without radical changes to gcc.
Then again, if Intel and AMD processors are headed towards exponentially increasing numbers of cores over the next decade, perhaps a Cell revamp of gcc would just be a head start.
Sony's actions could, depending on how they do this, hurt Linux if stuff won't run like it does on Windows or OSX.
I think releasing it on the sly, i.e. not next to Linspire on the shelves at WalMart, is the best imaginable way to avoid criticism for non-polished "product" while fostering the development of a PS3-as-computer community and gauging user and developer response.
Why? Did you have an actual problem with 2.2? Or did you ditch Debian because it was making your e-penis feel small?
I wonder if you have even tried to use Linux on the desktop. Living in the land that time forgot is all well and good until you need drivers for new hardware, or less buggy drivers for old hardware, or want to boot off a cylinder above 1024, or use advanced network routing and QoS, etc etc.
Debian is "stable" in the sense that packages play well together, and don't change much. But that doesn't mean the software inside the packages works correcly and doesn't crash. Does anybody really believe OpenOffice or Mozilla from a couple years ago is more stable than a recent version? I don't.
What you want in an OS, is a method for determining the precise core upon which you can base your applications on. Such a core would effectively be an immutable set of system APIs that cannot be changed. The upshot to this situation is that the given system is verifyable. i.e. I can have a script go through and ensure that everything that should exist does exist. From that information, I can then do a delta to find out what exists that shouldn't exist.
This amounts to wishing the problem away. Sure, it would be nice to have a good implementation of a complete specification for everything, with no version incompatibilities. It would be nice if money grew on trees also.
The point is, the world constantly changes and progresses. You cannot isolate a large system of interest from external developments, so stop trying. It would be nice if all package installations went smoothly, but not nice enough to justify using Gnome 0.6 for all eternity.
For small, safety-critical systems, where it makes sense to have lots of feature and version freezes, that's exactly what people already do.
He also has trouble distinguishing what he would do from something that a company like Apple would do.
Does it even matter what Apple would do? Intel is the much larger company of the two, and Intel's main business (before, during, or after Apple switches to Intel) is pumping out chips to run Windows. For Intel to attempt in one fell swoop to convert the whole industry to OSX and exclude Microsoft would be a ridiculous stunt.
Still, the joke about zombies in courtrooms is good, eh? eh?;)
Yes, except it is very close to the truth. Copyright protection is now so long, it extends far beyond the life of the creator. Who are we trying to reward here?
(I realize this story is about a patent and not a copyright, but I'm sure glad patents haven't become perpetual like copyright has... and I hope it's not just a matter of time until patents are extended!)
I don't think there is anything wrong for a listed company to protect its interest, control its IPs and maximize its profit
Google's demeanor aside, this is the real question.
Google is in somewhat of a special position, because virtually 100% of their content comes from other websites! While issuing takedown notices, Google must remember it's only a matter of time until somebody challenges the google cache, or even of including textual context on the search results page.
For now, I'm sure google is happy to honor any requests from people who don't want to be in their results, and such requests are rare. But what we must avoid is a cultural shift on the Internet, where companies feel it's irresponsible to "give away" anything besides advertising. I *can* imagine images.google.com becoming useless from opt-outs, and I can imagine companies trying to control who can link into their websites. It's the culture of sharing I worry about more than the legalities.
It would be nice if google would allow use of the maps so long as there were an accompanying link and logo, or something.
Besides, if you want multiple heads, you can already get them... use RAID. You get the reduced seek time and parallel data transfers you're after, and redundancy to boot.
Look at it this way - the print heads aren't moving over the paper much faster than in a traditional ink jet! Watch how fast your printhead shoots left to right. Now imagine it was covering a whole page with every swipe! That's what this baby does.
What impresses me is the form factor of the prototype - it looks like a pretty normal SOHO printer. I assumed it would be more like IBM's commercial printers, which are the size of refrigerators and are fed by 4 foot rolls of paper.
Wouldn't it be odd if Intel isn't planning more cores on a chip too? If you can't increase clock speed, and are seeing diminishing returns from throwing more transistors at a core, what else can you do but add more cores?
Right now the American internet is censored to protect corporations
This is, of course, total bullshit.
Is it? A company could have a website taken down immediately by alleging intellectual property violations, without even independent confirmation they're right.
Anyways, punishing people who distribute certain information (that which is copyrighted) is censorship. But it's a form that seems to do more good than harm.
Still, the larger charge that the US Internet is as censored as the Chinese is ridiculous, especially with this new licensing scheme.
Licensing is insidious. When the govt started requiring drivers' licenses, they said it wouldn't become a national ID. Now they're arguing that we should have national IDs because they wouldn't be much worse than drivers' licenses.
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Try scheduling a meeting for a dozen people from different departments that way.
Some people suggest, for instance, that games should be written with AI in one thread, physics in another, and graphics in a third. I say this is wrong, and a poor way to utilize multiple cores. There's no reason to think different threads doing different things will have equal processing needs.
Instead, paralellize the lower-level calls, such as math, graphics, and encryption libraries. These SIMD situations are much easier to paralellize - you divide up a big homogenous block of work into N parts, and they all take the same amount of time to complete.
Some algorithms don't have paralell implementations, but how many of those don't run well enough in a single core already? It's not easy to churn out enough straight-line code to even notice. For the most part it's the big, highly repetive calculations that still take a while.
Heck if static partitioning of processing resources were a good idea, they'd build it into the OS - "allocate this process at most 50% cpu time." But there's no advantage to that approach over process prioritization.
A remote database query every time you stop typing momentarily? I think that's the most gratuitous waste of computing power I've ever seen.... I like it :)
"Japan had the earliest working HDTV system, with design efforts going back to 1979. Japan began broadcasting analog HDTV signals in the early 1990s using an interlaced resolution of 1035 lines (1035i)."
"Japan had pioneered HDTV for decades with an analog implementation... Japan terrestrial broadcast of HD via ISDB-T started in December 2003. It is reported that two million HD receivers have been sold in Japan already."
I don't suppose you would even need an HD receiver to plug your PS3 into your 1035i television.
But when they say, "just plug in a keyboard for email and web browsing," that people will notice.
Then again, if Intel and AMD processors are headed towards exponentially increasing numbers of cores over the next decade, perhaps a Cell revamp of gcc would just be a head start.
What you say is true and may even seem obvious, but for a bigwig at Sony to see it that way? That's not only surprising, but outright bizarre.
Debian is "stable" in the sense that packages play well together, and don't change much. But that doesn't mean the software inside the packages works correcly and doesn't crash. Does anybody really believe OpenOffice or Mozilla from a couple years ago is more stable than a recent version? I don't.
The point is, the world constantly changes and progresses. You cannot isolate a large system of interest from external developments, so stop trying. It would be nice if all package installations went smoothly, but not nice enough to justify using Gnome 0.6 for all eternity.
For small, safety-critical systems, where it makes sense to have lots of feature and version freezes, that's exactly what people already do.
(I realize this story is about a patent and not a copyright, but I'm sure glad patents haven't become perpetual like copyright has... and I hope it's not just a matter of time until patents are extended!)
Every invention builds on others. I'm just glad Tesla doesn't come suing every time a patent involves electricity.
What people do with google's map images may be quite similar to what google does to others' images and web content.
Google is in somewhat of a special position, because virtually 100% of their content comes from other websites! While issuing takedown notices, Google must remember it's only a matter of time until somebody challenges the google cache, or even of including textual context on the search results page.
For now, I'm sure google is happy to honor any requests from people who don't want to be in their results, and such requests are rare. But what we must avoid is a cultural shift on the Internet, where companies feel it's irresponsible to "give away" anything besides advertising. I *can* imagine images.google.com becoming useless from opt-outs, and I can imagine companies trying to control who can link into their websites. It's the culture of sharing I worry about more than the legalities.
It would be nice if google would allow use of the maps so long as there were an accompanying link and logo, or something.
Besides, if you want multiple heads, you can already get them... use RAID. You get the reduced seek time and parallel data transfers you're after, and redundancy to boot.
What impresses me is the form factor of the prototype - it looks like a pretty normal SOHO printer. I assumed it would be more like IBM's commercial printers, which are the size of refrigerators and are fed by 4 foot rolls of paper.
keep it in your glove box in case of who-knows-what (Rodney King II?)
take it mountain biking to get clips of your buddies
on vacation when you forget your real camcorder
as a kids' toy
set them out on the tables at a wedding party for the guests to film each other and leave you advice
Wouldn't it be odd if Intel isn't planning more cores on a chip too? If you can't increase clock speed, and are seeing diminishing returns from throwing more transistors at a core, what else can you do but add more cores?
Anyways, punishing people who distribute certain information (that which is copyrighted) is censorship. But it's a form that seems to do more good than harm.
Still, the larger charge that the US Internet is as censored as the Chinese is ridiculous, especially with this new licensing scheme.
Licensing is insidious. When the govt started requiring drivers' licenses, they said it wouldn't become a national ID. Now they're arguing that we should have national IDs because they wouldn't be much worse than drivers' licenses.