One of the prime attratctions of Ubuntu is that it is easy to install and does a pretty good job setting itself up to the hardware that you have.
Well, guess what. The distro this thing uses is already installed and works with the hardware. Once it is installed, does it really matter? If you want to talk Gnome vs. KDE, I will listen. Same for vi vs. emacs vs. kate (my fave).
I would imagine that they spent a lot of time optimizing what is installed. 4GB of drive space just isn't much to throw in the kitchen sink. Even Ubuntu will have a lot of junk that you will never use and don't need.
I would probably be happy with a vanilla machine. Bonus points for being able to install a Z-Machine interpreter on there.
When optimizing for cost (purely), the device would be both larger and have a spinning HD.
Nope. A USB storage device is just a chip. Small, cheap. In fact, you can get a $4GB USB drive for around $30 *retail.* If you are buying raw chips for incorporating into your own product, expect a smaller price tag.
A spinning hard drive, on the other hand, requires mounting hardware, connectors, cables, and the hard drive itself has a lot of moving mechanical parts. Keep in mind that these things are made by the thousands, or more. Buying out the clearance of last-year's model is not really an option.
The big problem with flash drive (IMHO) is that they stick out.
It would be cool if such a device could have an "internal" USB drive bay. Basicly, you open a lid and there is a recess large enough to stick most USB drives. That way you can upgrade the machine without having anything sticking out.
Well, in general, lighters and matches are banned on carry-on luggage, for the obvious unintentional fire hazard. Matches can activate due to friction, and lighters can explode when in an unpressurized compartment. Those compartments are also not manned, so any fires will have a while to burn before they are discovered. This rule makes perfect sense.
Assuming that the smokers might not want to have to constantly re-purchase lighters when they fly, allowing a ligher on-board makes sense. There is only so much that you can do with a lighter, as long as any other explosive materials are not allowed.
The sad truth is that Netscape killed themselves with a horribly bloated and buggy product. IE may not have been the golden standard, but Netscape crashed every hour and ran slow because of the included email/IRC/kitchen sink that were bundled with the product, despite the fact that virtually nobody used or wanted them.
True that.
I used to be a Netscape fan back round 98-99 or so. But I got soooo tired of the constant crashes that I had to switch to IE. And IE it was until Firefox came out.
Fees taken by our authorized partner 2CO are U$6.45 + 5,5% and extra on the price. Some smaller fees might be taken by your bank and varies on what bank and card you have.
I will state that 2Checkout (the service that they use) is definately on the level. They are based out of Ohio, and if you buy the laptop, you are buying from them. They are a "reseller" of products sold by other people.
My wife uses 2Checkout for her business (see signature) and has used them for over a year. They provide credit card transactions, shopping carts, and take care of the whole "https" thing. They might cost a little bit more per transaction, but I feel better knowing that my wife's store never gets a credit card number or customer name. Since there is no customer database, the worst thing a hacker can do to my site than to deface it. You also do not have to set up the whole "HTTPS" thing. This is perfect for small-time do-it-yourselfers.
On the other hand, a larger outfit could easily affort to get a security certificate, set up with a real credit card gateway, install shopping cart software, and take responsibility for their own site security. If your volume becomes large enough, this makes sense. So why didn't they do than rather than 2Checkout?
2Checkout definately strives to take care of the customer. I imagine that if somebody got ripped off, it would be 2Checkout, and the customers could eventually get their money back through usual credit card complaints. After all, the company getting your money is in the USA. But at the same time, I wonder why they bothered with 2Checkout since they probably will gross $100,000 per month, if (bit "if") this is legit.
I have always dreamed of a "complete" Star Wars sim. Imagine flying the Millenium Falcon. Then, your shields fail, so you have to get out of the cockpit (let Chewie drive), and go into FPS mode to go back and fix the engines (move some blocks or something).
Later missions would include space battles, and then landing on planets and going back into FPS mode for a prison-break or theft or something else with lots of shooting. Then back to the cockpit for the escape. Maybe even a Sabbac came thrown in for fun.
I do use fluorescent lighting. Because it saves the environment. It's also cheaper, but I would do it even if it were (not too much) more expensive. And now we're full circle, because the exact same applies to me using VIA hardware, too.:-)
Yup. If you break one, mercury vapor is good for the environment.
Point is, just because you THINK something is better does not automatically make it so. There are trade-offs with almost everything (including Via hardware).
It is not about selling a COMPARABLE product cheaper, it is about selling the SAME product cheaper.
Example: HP cannot set Dell's prices, but HP might want to make sure that nobody sells their HP computer too cheap.
I think that one reason this is a problem is the typical example of going to Best Buy or Comp-USA to look at a product, but then going to Newegg to purchase. Newegg has much lower overhead, better selection, etc. But I don't think that anybody wants all brick-n-mortar stores to go under. Can you imagine a world with no stores?
I am not saying that this decision is right, or even a good idea. I am just pointing out what the manufacturers can & can't do.
I take a snapshot of my sister's desktop, then open it in photoshop and clone all sorts of icon and littering it all over like a mess, then save the file and use it as a desktop background.
That is cute, but it is time to graduate into the world of REAL hacking. Try hacking the computer at 127.0.0.1. I hear that the guy who runs that system knows nothing about security. Break in, download all the warez you want, and wipe his hard drive just to teach him a lesson.
I doubt her secret lutefisk recipe is going to need quite that much bandwidth.
Yes, but instructions for various TREATMENTS needed after eating lutefisk might take up that much bandwidth.
Seriously though, what would you even do with this? It IS a tech demo. Unless you route all data to dev/null, the average PC can't drink from this sort of firehose.
Yes Apple did the smart move from a business viewpoint, but if it should ever consider itself a foe of Linux operating systems, it could pull the rug out from modern printing support (I'm not talking about crusty old lpd) and leave a number of distros high and dry.
Are you sure? My interpretation is that once something is under GPL, it is there forever. We have CUPS. Apple may now have ANOTHER COPY of CUPS that looks the same, but under a different license.
Apple can decide to fork the project and work only on their own proprietary version of CUPS. That means that the Linux community will be solely responsible for updating/maintaining the open-source version, while Apple has the responsibility of updating/maintaining their proprietary version.
So, AFAIK, they cannot take CUPS back. They can just stop helping to maintain it.
There are those here who proclaim support of the Bush Administration's secret wiretapping program, so I'd like to hear their answers to these questions.
Supporters of secret wiretapping aren't the sorts of people to be reading/., so I doubt that you will get a response.
I have honestly not played any RPG's since Neverwinter Knights. But I AM a huge fallout fan (well, FO 1 & 2 -- never got Brotherhood of Steel). What are these "leveling enemies" of which you speak, any why are they so bad?
I also noticed that they did not solve the "traveling salesman" problem. If you add multiple stops, it will happily have you doubling back on your route. I have not yet seen a mapping program what will organize your stops in an optimal patters.
Yes, I know that a solution to the traveling salesman problem would take an extreme amount of procesisng power (maybe years). But there are shortcuts that are "good enough" and can be accomplished a fraction of a scond on a modern processor even with 20 stops. Doing five or so stops should be a piece of cake. You just need to develop reasonable hueristics.
Activision briefly offered free downloads of Zork I as part of the promotion of Zork: Nemesis, and Zork II and Zork III as part of the promotion for Zork Grand Inquisitor, as well as a new adventure: Zork: The Undiscovered Underground. This led many to believe that the games had been released as freeware, even though the included license explicitly prohibited redistribution. Activision's legal department has recently stated that the promotion relating to those games has ended and that it is not legal to distribute the games or make them available for download.
It really annoys me when a company stops manufacturing a product, yet they still legally protect it. Are they trying to protect the sales of one of their non-existent products?
As I recall, they had planned out the game and then at the last minute decided to shoehorn it into a "Zork" box just to increase sales. From the start, it was not designed as a Zork game. And it really isn't Zork, and it shows. There are no flatheads, and the game is too gruesome (no relation to the grue).
The problem we should be asking isn't why it wasn't tested more, but rather, why it was so complex to begin with. There is only one reason for putting anything in silicon and that is for speed. I'm going to guess that a large majority of "features" on today's x86 microprocessors are not speed bottlenecks. Why could these features not be put on a re-programmable firmware? The technology exists.
Nope. Not even close. Moore's law (roughly translated) means that the same die size will both become faster, and give you more transistors (yes, not an exact translation, but close enough). That means that even if you do nothing to your design, you get more speed. Well, it used to mean that. These days, the transistors are not increasing in speed every generation like they used to. Moore's law is breaking down. I built my computer almost three years ago, and the $200 processor runs at 2 GHz. Now, that same price range will get you 2.4 GHz. Three years and the clock speed has gone up 20%. Clearly, the transistors are not getting much faster. BUT... The modern processors are all dual-core, instead of my old single-core monster. So, you are getting a lot more transistors for your money.
It looks like the future involves more transistors, but not a lot of gains as far as transistor speed. So, the $1,000,000 question is how do you use those transistors. Believe me when I tell you that AMD and Intel study how to best use those transistors. If you have some more room to work with, do you make the floating-point unit faster, do you make the processor more "superscalar", or do you just increase the cache? There are trade-offs associated with each one, and each choice will impact certain benchmarks more than others.
Simply stated, if AMD and Intel did not add all this extra stuff, the processors would not be getting faster. The goal is to use the transistors that you have intelligently -- which means some complexity.
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Please explain this....
One of the prime attratctions of Ubuntu is that it is easy to install and does a pretty good job setting itself up to the hardware that you have.
Well, guess what. The distro this thing uses is already installed and works with the hardware. Once it is installed, does it really matter? If you want to talk Gnome vs. KDE, I will listen. Same for vi vs. emacs vs. kate (my fave).
I would imagine that they spent a lot of time optimizing what is installed. 4GB of drive space just isn't much to throw in the kitchen sink. Even Ubuntu will have a lot of junk that you will never use and don't need.
I would probably be happy with a vanilla machine. Bonus points for being able to install a Z-Machine interpreter on there.
A spinning hard drive, on the other hand, requires mounting hardware, connectors, cables, and the hard drive itself has a lot of moving mechanical parts. Keep in mind that these things are made by the thousands, or more. Buying out the clearance of last-year's model is not really an option.
The big problem with flash drive (IMHO) is that they stick out.
It would be cool if such a device could have an "internal" USB drive bay. Basicly, you open a lid and there is a recess large enough to stick most USB drives. That way you can upgrade the machine without having anything sticking out.
Well, in general, lighters and matches are banned on carry-on luggage, for the obvious unintentional fire hazard. Matches can activate due to friction, and lighters can explode when in an unpressurized compartment. Those compartments are also not manned, so any fires will have a while to burn before they are discovered. This rule makes perfect sense.
Assuming that the smokers might not want to have to constantly re-purchase lighters when they fly, allowing a ligher on-board makes sense. There is only so much that you can do with a lighter, as long as any other explosive materials are not allowed.
I used to be a Netscape fan back round 98-99 or so. But I got soooo tired of the constant crashes that I had to switch to IE. And IE it was until Firefox came out.
I will state that 2Checkout (the service that they use) is definately on the level. They are based out of Ohio, and if you buy the laptop, you are buying from them. They are a "reseller" of products sold by other people.
My wife uses 2Checkout for her business (see signature) and has used them for over a year. They provide credit card transactions, shopping carts, and take care of the whole "https" thing. They might cost a little bit more per transaction, but I feel better knowing that my wife's store never gets a credit card number or customer name. Since there is no customer database, the worst thing a hacker can do to my site than to deface it. You also do not have to set up the whole "HTTPS" thing. This is perfect for small-time do-it-yourselfers.
On the other hand, a larger outfit could easily affort to get a security certificate, set up with a real credit card gateway, install shopping cart software, and take responsibility for their own site security. If your volume becomes large enough, this makes sense. So why didn't they do than rather than 2Checkout?
2Checkout definately strives to take care of the customer. I imagine that if somebody got ripped off, it would be 2Checkout, and the customers could eventually get their money back through usual credit card complaints. After all, the company getting your money is in the USA. But at the same time, I wonder why they bothered with 2Checkout since they probably will gross $100,000 per month, if (bit "if") this is legit.
Comments?
I have always dreamed of a "complete" Star Wars sim. Imagine flying the Millenium Falcon. Then, your shields fail, so you have to get out of the cockpit (let Chewie drive), and go into FPS mode to go back and fix the engines (move some blocks or something).
Later missions would include space battles, and then landing on planets and going back into FPS mode for a prison-break or theft or something else with lots of shooting. Then back to the cockpit for the escape. Maybe even a Sabbac came thrown in for fun.
I love space sims. This seems like a good one. Too bad I don't own a 360 and never will.
I can only hope for a PC or a Wii version.
Point is, just because you THINK something is better does not automatically make it so. There are trade-offs with almost everything (including Via hardware).
It is not about selling a COMPARABLE product cheaper, it is about selling the SAME product cheaper.
Example: HP cannot set Dell's prices, but HP might want to make sure that nobody sells their HP computer too cheap.
I think that one reason this is a problem is the typical example of going to Best Buy or Comp-USA to look at a product, but then going to Newegg to purchase. Newegg has much lower overhead, better selection, etc. But I don't think that anybody wants all brick-n-mortar stores to go under. Can you imagine a world with no stores?
I am not saying that this decision is right, or even a good idea. I am just pointing out what the manufacturers can & can't do.
Seriously though, what would you even do with this? It IS a tech demo. Unless you route all data to dev/null, the average PC can't drink from this sort of firehose.
Apple can decide to fork the project and work only on their own proprietary version of CUPS. That means that the Linux community will be solely responsible for updating/maintaining the open-source version, while Apple has the responsibility of updating/maintaining their proprietary version.
So, AFAIK, they cannot take CUPS back. They can just stop helping to maintain it.
And the PVC frame looks large enough to hold a bunch of hidden batteries.
Maybe he needs to mount this to a lawn chair tied to a bunch of weather balloons. Don't forget the BB gun.
Yeah, but shipping all those batteries back and forth on the Space Shuttle is somewhat expensive.
I have honestly not played any RPG's since Neverwinter Knights. But I AM a huge fallout fan (well, FO 1 & 2 -- never got Brotherhood of Steel). What are these "leveling enemies" of which you speak, any why are they so bad?
I also noticed that they did not solve the "traveling salesman" problem. If you add multiple stops, it will happily have you doubling back on your route. I have not yet seen a mapping program what will organize your stops in an optimal patters.
Yes, I know that a solution to the traveling salesman problem would take an extreme amount of procesisng power (maybe years). But there are shortcuts that are "good enough" and can be accomplished a fraction of a scond on a modern processor even with 20 stops. Doing five or so stops should be a piece of cake. You just need to develop reasonable hueristics.
As I recall, something like that was possible in "The Dig."
As I recall, they had planned out the game and then at the last minute decided to shoehorn it into a "Zork" box just to increase sales. From the start, it was not designed as a Zork game. And it really isn't Zork, and it shows. There are no flatheads, and the game is too gruesome (no relation to the grue).
It looks like the future involves more transistors, but not a lot of gains as far as transistor speed. So, the $1,000,000 question is how do you use those transistors. Believe me when I tell you that AMD and Intel study how to best use those transistors. If you have some more room to work with, do you make the floating-point unit faster, do you make the processor more "superscalar", or do you just increase the cache? There are trade-offs associated with each one, and each choice will impact certain benchmarks more than others.
Simply stated, if AMD and Intel did not add all this extra stuff, the processors would not be getting faster. The goal is to use the transistors that you have intelligently -- which means some complexity.