A great Scientific American home experiment
on
Build Your Own Cyclotron
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· Score: 4, Informative
I have an old 1950's Scientific American book of experiments. It features reprints of articles from the magazine.
They have a lengthy article on how to build a 1 MEV particle accelerator. It generates a "spray" of alpha products if I remember correctly. Since this is from the 1950's I just love how in light of recent discoveries, the author recommends leaving the room if you plan to operate it for more than a couple of hours.
Similar warnings are given that a home made X-ray machine may have some risks.
Articles also include: Build a steel rocket with launch girder assembly that reaches a 1 mile altitude. They recommend having a desert for launching. Build a telescope, hand grinding the mirrors. Build the 1MEV Van de Graff generator to power the accelerator.
I have 3, full height 19" racks in my appartment
on
Rackmounting at Home?
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· Score: 1
I got them new for $40 each.
The problem is shelving and accesories. I made plywood shelves with metal L-brackets to screw into the rack. A new single metal rack mount shelf costs more than I paid for the entire rack.
I do find the racks very useful. I have found racks easy to find at good prices but shelving very rare on the gray market and after market.
IBM is doing some interesting research and I expect some if it will be successful. I always like seeing articles describing research being done to investigate more fundamental technologies as opposed to specific product development. It is also to push their products, but that's OK - they have to pay their bills.
I think the research is exciting, but I wonder if it will product anything or anybody else would want to use? I've been interested in home automation since I owned an Apple IIe in the 80's. I had friends that did automate the windows of their home with motors in the 80's.
That said I see some problems. Looking at the buttons and screen of the car and the user interface of the virtual laboratory control makes one thing clear: IBM needs to get some "normal people" to augment their team of engineers. Wives, mothers, and daughters are a great source of input.
The Virtual Laboratory control interface is really slick looking. It just strikes me that from the screen shot I can't intuitively tell how to control things. I can't help but think of VCR's with the flashing 12:00 display J. It reminds me of some of the beautiful user interfaces for software MP3 players in the PC market. Some people get excited about the beautiful skins available for MP3 players. I use plain Winamp with the default skin. At a glance I can see the controls. I've tried other players, and several dozen Winamp skins. I still like to be able to find the stop, pause and play buttons. I did spend 4 hours making my desktop wallpaper though.
The technology is great, the research is great, but will anything come out of this that I want? I want products that perform functions I want, products that I find useful and do not need a course to understand.
This person's comments are up to a rating of 4 - informative?
When did the slashdot moderators become such a bunch of uninformed ludites? Next they'll be wanting to protects us from computers and other evils of technology;-)
I don't think you have it right. The article means traditional vacuum tubes - which are found in old radios and old TV's (pre-transistor electronics). They have not been common for a long time.
A CRT tube is a vacuum tube, but it is not what is needed for this project.
Disposable cell phones are a perfect example of resource consumption out of control. Isn't this a rather frivolous use of resources? With all the environmental issues facing the world, this type of product development is as ridiculous as it is disturbing.
What is the cost of disposing of the cell phone and all its internernal components in an environmentally sound way? I would love to see that added to the cost.
Actually, there is not much of a market for it - when talking about home users and hackers (old school)
Go out on the web and price it out. It is quite easy to put together a system with those specs. It will almost definitely run you over $1,500 dollars - unless you know of some great gray/after market deals. There are many, many vendors that make the integrated motherboards - a nice P2/Celeron class board will probably be over $400. A nice, touch screen active matrix color LCD will be well over $1000. Netpliance used a proprietary board, cheap screen, and slow processor to reduce price, and still failed.
In the current day market place these products are only targeted at industrial, POS terminal, and other niche markets due to cost.
I think you are mistaken when you say there is a market - few slashdot readers are going to fork over $1500 to $2000 to browse while taking a dump. Besides, my appartments foyer is to small for a 42" gas plasma display...
You are completely correct about NDS being a mature and proven product (not perfect! but nothing is!). Those facts are not given enough credit. To many MCSE's incapable of independent thought, all jumping on the AD bandwagong because MS says it is good.
However, Netware 3 did not have a directory. It was somewhat analagous to MS' domain model. When NDS first came out on Netware 4 it was very rough. By the time Netware 4.10 came out it was quite stable.
Equally important to the underlying technology, NDS has a well developed suite of management tools. Microsoft's MMC plugins for AD pale in comparison.
I think if Linux had NDS, it would be a very powerful combination and open a lot of doors for Linux.
Netware is not the problem at your college. The problem is the server is mis-configured. It sounds like they are talented bunch of individuals capable of bringing any network to its knees. The problems you describe are about human incompetence, not product capabilities.
If your college sets up a BSD or Win2k server as badly as the Novell box you describe, you will not see improvements.
I don't think the keyboard is that big a deal. Use the hall effect sensors, or other non-physical sensor systems. That way the keys of the keyboard can be open and exposed to the water - no pressure differential.
Finally my aibo will have something to hump besides my leg!
And no, I don't really have one. I'm holding out for something along the lines of Hand Maid May or Canal Vorfeed. Of course, May will have firewire by then;-)
(The references are to Hand Maid May and Lost Universe anime series. May is a 12" tall USB equipped robotic person. Canal Vorfeed is a very powerful ships computer.)
I agree with many of your comments and issues with IP, but I do not agree with the way you have sliced up Mr. Davis' document.
It would have been nice if you had done something constructive. Sending some questions to Mr. Davis would have been a good start. Having him clarify some issues. Explaining to him that his positions need further clarification or he will be ostricized by the Linux community. This was an oppurtunity to start a dialogue with Mr. Davis.
Instead you have filled his poorly done response with childish taunts.
I wish you had done something constructive. This was an oppurtunity to gain insight into a corporate mentality and perhaps to enlighten a corporation. I truly doubt Mr. Davis will listen to you or anyone else in the Linux community now.
I am not sure it matters when - or if - it is finalized.
The world is moving on. Internet appliances are getting in bed with IE, Opera, Netscape or other browsers. These alliances will not shift because Mozilla is finally released.
If web sites continue to support standards sufficiently to be viewed on all modern browsers, Mozilla can be used - the question then is who will use it.
If more and more web sites decide to cater to 90% of the market - that 90% that has IE, then Mozilla is truly dead. Nobody wants a browser that cannot be used to view many sites.
That said... I am writing this on my main PC running Win2k. I am using Opera 4. I hate IE. I hate sites that only work with IE. I complained to news.bbc.co.uk when they changed their site format and it had problems with Opera (me and others). The BBC corrected their site.
I've been doing some reading/research on 802.11B. A couple of times I've read that Bluetooth and 802.11B use the same frequencies and the technologies may not co-exist.
Has anyone heard any additional info? Is anything being done to resolve this issue? Am I misinformed?
I really wish people would do their research instead of passing on questionable information.
The dealer that dvdfile links to is www.inc-tech.com. The "about us" portion of their web site is laughable.
INC Technologies states their "technicians have over 25 years of experience In CD-R technology". I'll bet the writers at Slashdot have hundreds of years experience with Linux! Woohoo!!!
They claim their "Customer's database is enormus" - spelling error is theirs. They provide fifty "comments" that they say are provided by customers. They claim that for legal reasons they cannot give any customer names, so it is simply a list of 50 one-liner comments.
Read the list of comments and you get the impression that they were written buy one person, in one sitting. The writing style has some remarkable consistencies.
Does the dvdfile site have any integrity? The review ends saying "the Infinity is a great deal." Directly below that is a link that says "click here to purchase the Infinity DVD player."
Any site that posts a positive "review" followed by a link to a dealer's site has no integrity - and should not be trusted!
I think Slashdot should not be posting any such stories. I go to Slashdot looking for quality information. This reeks of marketing.
Maybe there should be a story on paid DVD player reviews!
I had a friend that was in the Air Force, working in computer systems. He said that at the facility he was at, there were 2 secure doors with armed guards before getting to the computer room, which was physically isolated.
In case of imminent security breach, the room featured axes, as well as special magnesium based devices at the tops of the computer racks. The magnesium, once ignited, was supposed to burn through the computers in the racks.
That was at least 5 years ago. Sounds like the old methods are still best;-)
I think everyone wins in this scenario. I am not about to pay $25 for a two episode subbed tape. I just can't do it.
At $20 - $25 for a 7 episode DVD I know perceive a good value. I will make purchases. In fact I will start building a library. Animeigo will make a lot of sales they would never had made. I will amass a library. It seems like a win-win situation. (I mean linux-linux)
For God's sake stop giving the MPAA ideas! They'd love to do this.
Go down to Best Buy, pick up a new DVD player, and find out you have to replace all of your existing DVDs. The DVD's you own are only licensed to be used on the first DVD drive you play them on.
Slashdot Mirror
I have an old 1950's Scientific American book of experiments. It features reprints of articles from the magazine.
They have a lengthy article on how to build a 1 MEV particle accelerator. It generates a "spray" of alpha products if I remember correctly. Since this is from the 1950's I just love how in light of recent discoveries, the author recommends leaving the room if you plan to operate it for more than a couple of hours.
Similar warnings are given that a home made X-ray machine may have some risks.
Articles also include:
Build a steel rocket with launch girder assembly that reaches a 1 mile altitude. They recommend having a desert for launching.
Build a telescope, hand grinding the mirrors.
Build the 1MEV Van de Graff generator to power the accelerator.
I got them new for $40 each.
The problem is shelving and accesories. I made plywood shelves with metal L-brackets to screw into the rack. A new single metal rack mount shelf costs more than I paid for the entire rack.
I do find the racks very useful. I have found racks easy to find at good prices but shelving very rare on the gray market and after market.
IBM is doing some interesting research and I expect some if it will be successful. I always like seeing articles describing research being done to investigate more fundamental technologies as opposed to specific product development. It is also to push their products, but that's OK - they have to pay their bills.
I think the research is exciting, but I wonder if it will product anything or anybody else would want to use? I've been interested in home automation since I owned an Apple IIe in the 80's. I had friends that did automate the windows of their home with motors in the 80's.
That said I see some problems. Looking at the buttons and screen of the car and the user interface of the virtual laboratory control makes one thing clear: IBM needs to get some "normal people" to augment their team of engineers. Wives, mothers, and daughters are a great source of input.
The Virtual Laboratory control interface is really slick looking. It just strikes me that from the screen shot I can't intuitively tell how to control things. I can't help but think of VCR's with the flashing 12:00 display J. It reminds me of some of the beautiful user interfaces for software MP3 players in the PC market. Some people get excited about the beautiful skins available for MP3 players. I use plain Winamp with the default skin. At a glance I can see the controls. I've tried other players, and several dozen Winamp skins. I still like to be able to find the stop, pause and play buttons. I did spend 4 hours making my desktop wallpaper though.
The technology is great, the research is great, but will anything come out of this that I want? I want products that perform functions I want, products that I find useful and do not need a course to understand.
I think it is really wonderful that you have come far enough along in your recovery to admit you had 4 Gateways.
I applaud your courage to stand up and share your story with us!
(Michael Dell, in the back of the meeting room, has been brought to tears by this beautiful life affirming moment).
This person's comments are up to a rating of 4 - informative?
;-)
When did the slashdot moderators become such a bunch of uninformed ludites? Next they'll be wanting to protects us from computers and other evils of technology
I don't think you have it right. The article means traditional vacuum tubes - which are found in old radios and old TV's (pre-transistor electronics). They have not been common for a long time. A CRT tube is a vacuum tube, but it is not what is needed for this project.
Disposable cell phones are a perfect example of resource consumption out of control. Isn't this a rather frivolous use of resources? With all the environmental issues facing the world, this type of product development is as ridiculous as it is disturbing.
What is the cost of disposing of the cell phone and all its internernal components in an environmentally sound way? I would love to see that added to the cost.
One things for sure:
The Killer Rabbit has been replaced by the Killer Mouse.
Where's my holy hand grenade?
Connections really was wonderful - I enjoyed it much more than Cosmos and I would guess that it ages much more gracefully.
Cosmos was very broad and forward looking, relying on scientific beliefs which may have changed.
Connections was rooted in historical facts, the majority of which have not changed. It was a fantastic history lesson - everybody should see it!
And in a really bad situation, I would much rather have printed material than a computer.
All those pins on circuit boards are really rough on the skin.
I always go with 3 ply paper over 6 layer circuit board.
Actually, there is not much of a market for it - when talking about home users and hackers (old school)
Go out on the web and price it out. It is quite easy to put together a system with those specs. It will almost definitely run you over $1,500 dollars - unless you know of some great gray/after market deals. There are many, many vendors that make the integrated motherboards - a nice P2/Celeron class board will probably be over $400. A nice, touch screen active matrix color LCD will be well over $1000. Netpliance used a proprietary board, cheap screen, and slow processor to reduce price, and still failed.
In the current day market place these products are only targeted at industrial, POS terminal, and other niche markets due to cost.
I think you are mistaken when you say there is a market - few slashdot readers are going to fork over $1500 to $2000 to browse while taking a dump. Besides, my appartments foyer is to small for a 42" gas plasma display...
You are completely correct about NDS being a mature and proven product (not perfect! but nothing is!). Those facts are not given enough credit. To many MCSE's incapable of independent thought, all jumping on the AD bandwagong because MS says it is good.
However, Netware 3 did not have a directory. It was somewhat analagous to MS' domain model. When NDS first came out on Netware 4 it was very rough. By the time Netware 4.10 came out it was quite stable.
Equally important to the underlying technology, NDS has a well developed suite of management tools. Microsoft's MMC plugins for AD pale in comparison.
I think if Linux had NDS, it would be a very powerful combination and open a lot of doors for Linux.
Netware is not the problem at your college. The problem is the server is mis-configured. It sounds like they are talented bunch of individuals capable of bringing any network to its knees. The problems you describe are about human incompetence, not product capabilities.
If your college sets up a BSD or Win2k server as badly as the Novell box you describe, you will not see improvements.
I don't think the keyboard is that big a deal. Use the hall effect sensors, or other non-physical sensor systems. That way the keys of the keyboard can be open and exposed to the water - no pressure differential.
Finally my aibo will have something to hump besides my leg!
;-)
And no, I don't really have one. I'm holding out for something along the lines of Hand Maid May or Canal Vorfeed. Of course, May will have firewire by then
(The references are to Hand Maid May and Lost Universe anime series. May is a 12" tall USB equipped robotic person. Canal Vorfeed is a very powerful ships computer.)
I agree with many of your comments and issues with IP, but I do not agree with the way you have sliced up Mr. Davis' document.
It would have been nice if you had done something constructive. Sending some questions to Mr. Davis would have been a good start. Having him clarify some issues. Explaining to him that his positions need further clarification or he will be ostricized by the Linux community. This was an oppurtunity to start a dialogue with Mr. Davis.
Instead you have filled his poorly done response with childish taunts.
I wish you had done something constructive. This was an oppurtunity to gain insight into a corporate mentality and perhaps to enlighten a corporation. I truly doubt Mr. Davis will listen to you or anyone else in the Linux community now.
A shame. A waste.
I think this is great! It gives people the opportunity to directly participate in a fantasy world where the reality has no basis!
Oh wait. Did you say online voiting? I thought you said online gaming. They need more sax and violins in online gaming.
I am not sure it matters when - or if - it is finalized.
The world is moving on. Internet appliances are getting in bed with IE, Opera, Netscape or other browsers. These alliances will not shift because Mozilla is finally released.
If web sites continue to support standards sufficiently to be viewed on all modern browsers, Mozilla can be used - the question then is who will use it.
If more and more web sites decide to cater to 90% of the market - that 90% that has IE, then Mozilla is truly dead. Nobody wants a browser that cannot be used to view many sites.
That said... I am writing this on my main PC running Win2k. I am using Opera 4. I hate IE. I hate sites that only work with IE. I complained to news.bbc.co.uk when they changed their site format and it had problems with Opera (me and others). The BBC corrected their site.
Thanks!
I've been doing some reading/research on 802.11B. A couple of times I've read that Bluetooth and 802.11B use the same frequencies and the technologies may not co-exist.
Has anyone heard any additional info? Is anything being done to resolve this issue? Am I misinformed?
I really wish people would do their research instead of passing on questionable information.
The dealer that dvdfile links to is www.inc-tech.com. The "about us" portion of their web site is laughable.
INC Technologies states their "technicians have over 25 years of experience In CD-R technology". I'll bet the writers at Slashdot have hundreds of years experience with Linux! Woohoo!!!
They claim their "Customer's database is enormus" - spelling error is theirs. They provide fifty "comments" that they say are provided by customers. They claim that for legal reasons they cannot give any customer names, so it is simply a list of 50 one-liner comments.
Read the list of comments and you get the impression that they were written buy one person, in one sitting. The writing style has some remarkable consistencies.
This DVD "review" is bunk!
Does the dvdfile site have any integrity? The review ends saying "the Infinity is a great deal." Directly below that is a link that says "click here to purchase the Infinity DVD player."
Any site that posts a positive "review" followed by a link to a dealer's site has no integrity - and should not be trusted!
I think Slashdot should not be posting any such stories. I go to Slashdot looking for quality information. This reeks of marketing.
Maybe there should be a story on paid DVD player reviews!
I had a friend that was in the Air Force, working in computer systems. He said that at the facility he was at, there were 2 secure doors with armed guards before getting to the computer room, which was physically isolated.
;-)
In case of imminent security breach, the room featured axes, as well as special magnesium based devices at the tops of the computer racks. The magnesium, once ignited, was supposed to burn through the computers in the racks.
That was at least 5 years ago. Sounds like the old methods are still best
I think everyone wins in this scenario. I am not about to pay $25 for a two episode subbed tape. I just can't do it.
At $20 - $25 for a 7 episode DVD I know perceive a good value. I will make purchases. In fact I will start building a library. Animeigo will make a lot of sales they would never had made. I will amass a library. It seems like a win-win situation. (I mean linux-linux)
For God's sake stop giving the MPAA ideas! They'd love to do this.
Go down to Best Buy, pick up a new DVD player, and find out you have to replace all of your existing DVDs. The DVD's you own are only licensed to be used on the first DVD drive you play them on.