Don't get me wrong. If you are into amateur radio and/or electronics, they can be a lot of fun. On the other hand, if you just want to dump your tubes, you will likely get a lot of "ones and twos" being purchased, but you will likely go home with at least half of your collection, if not most of it. Hams are also notoriously cheap (I know that I am) - so expect some hagglilng and low-ball offers.
So, the bottom line is that if you want to spend a day or two selling these, and would enjoy the atmosphere of a Hamfest, then by all means go for it. If, on the other hand, you just want to dispose of the property as quickly as possible, then you have better alternatives (see my other post above).
I second this. Amateur radio operators LOVE tubes. Some people specialize in the collection and restoration of "boat anchors," which is another name for an old tube-operated radio. The problem is that many tubes are not being made any more, so finding them might be a bit of a chore. So, by not trashing your tubes, you will make others happy, and might even make some coin.
Try THIS google list, or THIS amateur radio list. One of the vendors might give you a good lot price. It would get you less than eBay, but at a fraction of the time and effort.
But PLEASE do not throw them away. Let somebody get some use out of them.
Seriously though, I have found XP to be rather stable. And XP can be insecure, if you do not know what you are doing. Put XP in the hands of a geek, and it can be incrediby secure. If you add a hardwar NAT protection, a software firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware, you can sleep well at night.
I do admit that some of the software costs a bit, and it takes time to install/maintain this stuff. Those are negative points. Macs are definately better in this regard, no doubt about it. But Windows machines are not as bad as you make them out to be if you know what you are doing.
Now, WPA and the general behavior of Microsoft is a much better reason to switch to Mac. But as a side note, M$ wants to control all software (and maybe the world). Apple wants to control software and hardware. The ONLY hardware that can run an Apple OS has is made by Apple. They booted the 3rd party hardware comanies years ago. Except for the occasional mouse, keyboard, and wireless networking stuff, Microsoft is not in the PC hardware business.
buy a 30GB iPod a week before the 40GB appeared for the same price.
This type of thing can piss off customers and cause a serious case of buyer's remorse.
Apple (and other companies) should adopt a linear pricing strategy. Product X come out now for $500. Drop the price by 3% this month. Another 3% in another month, and so on. By the time a new model comes out for $500, the old one is going for $400 or so, and you don't feel so bad for missing out on the new model, because you spent less money. Obviously the 3% might need to be 2% or 2.5% or something else. Apple could work the numbers so that they still make a good profit.
There are only two problems with this: 1) You can annoy the retailers who keep a sizable amount of stock on hand. 2) You can loose revenue if you are late shipping a product.
But here are the bonuses: 1) You do not annoy customers by making them wish that they had waited. 2) You get constant sales. When a product gets long-in-the-tooth now, people hold off. If the price were to drop, customers might choose to just go ahead and buy, figureing that they are getting a little bit of a bargain.
The flow of negative ions is good for purifying the air. Just like those purifiers at Sharper Image. But, why keep those good ions trapped inside the battery compartment?
But, IAAEE (I am an electrical engineer). I have a MSEE. Complete BS.
I must admit that/. is slipping by posting nonsense such as this.
Well, Pizza Hut has a million stores. It is the economies of scale. They are big, and they can afford to do it themselves.
Now, if a little mom'n'pop pizza joint decides to computerize, what are their choices:
1) Ask Pizza Hut very nicely for their source code. 2) Wait for an open-source pizza ordering system. 3) Buy commercial software (which means windows).
One ain't gonna happen, becuase Pizza Hut is not going to help their competition.
Two will only happen when a critical mass of geeks opens pizza joints.
We have "bling bling" and "ain't" in dictionaries. Marijuana is legally classified as a "narcotic", when in pharmacology only opiates can be narcotics.
The language changes. It may suck, but it's reality.
Yo buss dis. You be correct. We has "blin blin" an' "ain't" in dictionaries. Marijuana be legally classified as a "narcotic", when in pharmacology only opiates can be narcotics. De language changes. It may suck, but it's reality. Sheeit!
Yer co'reck. We haf "blin' blin'" an' "ain't" in dickshunaries. Marijuana is legally classified as a "narcotic", when in pharmacology only opiates kin be narcotics. Th' language changes. It may suck, but it's reality.
u ar correct... we have bling blinga nd "aint" in dicionareis.. MRAIJUAN Si L3GALLY CLaSS1FED AS A "NARCOTIC", WHEN IN PHRMACOLOGY 0NLY OPI8S CAN BE NARCOTICZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111~~~~ the language changes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111~~~~~~~ it may suX0r, but its rea7ity. YOU ARE LAME becausey ou suX0r
Bummer. I only have XP pro. I was hoping that I could have myself and my wife work at the same time on the same computer (me on the machine, my wife on a thin client)
Does anybody know the cheapest way to accomplish this (preferably free)?
Forgive me for asking a complete noob question, but here goes...
Does Terminal Services allow two separate users to run two separate sessions, or are the local and remote users stuck staring at the same screen?
If the local and remote sessions are different, is the client and server both free, or do you have to pay M$ some $$$?
If the local and remote sessions are the same, what is the cheapest (preferably free) alternative to allow local and remote users to work separately? Does VNC do this (I suspect not, but my experience with VNC is limited).
Once again, sorry for the noob quesions, but I have a new beefy XP box at home, and an old Win98 box. It would be nice to have the 98 box be a thin client for the XP machine.
And, yes. I know that this sort of thing is trivial in Linux.
I do not own a Mac, and I do not own an iPod. But if I did have $300 or so to spend on an MP3 player, I would give the iPod a serious look.
And *look* is the key word here. I have seen a lot of MP3 players on the net and in stores. None of them has the same look of an iPod. Some have little goofy switches on the back, and a strange button arrangement. One look at the iPod tells you that they spent a lot of time coming up with the user interface. It is simple. The average joe does not feel that they have to have a Master's degree just to use the thing. It just looks --- friendly. And that matters --- and Apple has the sales figures as proof.
The Creative Zen looks pretty good, but it still looks more cumbersome than the iPod.
It is more than than just money. This is a very smart move on Apple's part. I see two separate advantages.
1) Geeks are more likely to try Apple. I have never owned one. I have not even used one in almost ten years. But now, I am very tempted. It is small, cute, and cheap. If I buy and like, then maybe I might drop $1500 on an Apple in a few years.
2) This increases the market share. More minis = more customers for commercial software. More software = less reasons not to buy a Mac.
HP and Dell do not have these advantages. Selling a boatload of mini-clones will not likely make a person any more or less likely to buy a full-sized Dell or HP. Also, Windows already has a 90+% market share, so software availability is not a concern at all.
To summarize: Making the Mini is a strategic decision for Apple. Making a mini-clone is simply a chance to ship boxes for PC manufacturers.
Web browser, e-mail, word processor, spreadsheet, music/movie player, photo editing/management. Apple has its own alternatives for all of these. This covers 90% of what people do. So, for the "joe six-pack", this is a good deal.
Many people DO have to run specific software (usually related to specific work/hobby needs). For this person, the mini would not make a good primary computer. But just about anybody could use the mini as a good, small, cheap 2nd computer.
I have never owned a Mac, and I have never even touched a BSD-based Mac. But the mini has me tempted. If only I had the money.
We've already had 'end of the internet' panics from them in the last year about spam, virii, child porn, spyware, and lack of bandwidth.
And don't forget "badly written laws will criminalize browsers, telnet, and FTP."
Although there may be some truth to this. After all, smart people are working to combat virii, spyware, etc. But I have never heard of a smart person making a law;)
This is the key. Instead of publishing an image, you just offer a script. Then, the guys at NASA can run your script on their hardware with their software.
Slashdot Mirror
One small comment about hamfests -- avoid.
Don't get me wrong. If you are into amateur radio and/or electronics, they can be a lot of fun. On the other hand, if you just want to dump your tubes, you will likely get a lot of "ones and twos" being purchased, but you will likely go home with at least half of your collection, if not most of it. Hams are also notoriously cheap (I know that I am) - so expect some hagglilng and low-ball offers.
So, the bottom line is that if you want to spend a day or two selling these, and would enjoy the atmosphere of a Hamfest, then by all means go for it. If, on the other hand, you just want to dispose of the property as quickly as possible, then you have better alternatives (see my other post above).
I second this. Amateur radio operators LOVE tubes. Some people specialize in the collection and restoration of "boat anchors," which is another name for an old tube-operated radio. The problem is that many tubes are not being made any more, so finding them might be a bit of a chore. So, by not trashing your tubes, you will make others happy, and might even make some coin.
Try THIS google list, or THIS amateur radio list. One of the vendors might give you a good lot price. It would get you less than eBay, but at a fraction of the time and effort.
But PLEASE do not throw them away. Let somebody get some use out of them.
A simple BB gun and a vacuum cleaner would make short work of balloons.
Comparing a mac to a Windows box:
Mac: Add sidetrack for $15
Windows: Add anti-virus for $50 or so.
Hmmmmmm.
Ok. You are a Mac zealog. Boooo Hisssssss.
Seriously though, I have found XP to be rather stable. And XP can be insecure, if you do not know what you are doing. Put XP in the hands of a geek, and it can be incrediby secure. If you add a hardwar NAT protection, a software firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware, you can sleep well at night.
I do admit that some of the software costs a bit, and it takes time to install/maintain this stuff. Those are negative points. Macs are definately better in this regard, no doubt about it. But Windows machines are not as bad as you make them out to be if you know what you are doing.
Now, WPA and the general behavior of Microsoft is a much better reason to switch to Mac. But as a side note, M$ wants to control all software (and maybe the world). Apple wants to control software and hardware. The ONLY hardware that can run an Apple OS has is made by Apple. They booted the 3rd party hardware comanies years ago. Except for the occasional mouse, keyboard, and wireless networking stuff, Microsoft is not in the PC hardware business.
Apple (and other companies) should adopt a linear pricing strategy. Product X come out now for $500. Drop the price by 3% this month. Another 3% in another month, and so on. By the time a new model comes out for $500, the old one is going for $400 or so, and you don't feel so bad for missing out on the new model, because you spent less money. Obviously the 3% might need to be 2% or 2.5% or something else. Apple could work the numbers so that they still make a good profit.
There are only two problems with this:
1) You can annoy the retailers who keep a sizable amount of stock on hand.
2) You can loose revenue if you are late shipping a product.
But here are the bonuses:
1) You do not annoy customers by making them wish that they had waited.
2) You get constant sales. When a product gets long-in-the-tooth now, people hold off. If the price were to drop, customers might choose to just go ahead and buy, figureing that they are getting a little bit of a bargain.
Just my $0.02. Feel free to shoot me down.
Master of Science, Electrical Engineering -- one step up from a bachelors degree.
The flow of negative ions is good for purifying the air. Just like those purifiers at Sharper Image. But, why keep those good ions trapped inside the battery compartment?
/. is slipping by posting nonsense such as this.
But, IAAEE (I am an electrical engineer). I have a MSEE. Complete BS.
I must admit that
Cowby Neal: would you like to buy a bridge?
Well, Pizza Hut has a million stores. It is the economies of scale. They are big, and they can afford to do it themselves.
Now, if a little mom'n'pop pizza joint decides to computerize, what are their choices:
1) Ask Pizza Hut very nicely for their source code.
2) Wait for an open-source pizza ordering system.
3) Buy commercial software (which means windows).
One ain't gonna happen, becuase Pizza Hut is not going to help their competition.
Two will only happen when a critical mass of geeks opens pizza joints.
Three is the most likely.
Wine is an emulator. But the running hardware just happens to look a lot like the emulated hardware, and they took advantage of that fact...
Thanks for the info. But that version is $299. I might as well get an eMachine for that type of money.
I am surprised that nobody makes one for $49.99 (plus the free Ginsu knives and bamboo steamer).
Hint: Great business opportunity for one very skilled coder with too much time!
Yup. And the market demand for Windows Product Activation will cause that to go away too.
This is just another case of somebody else deciding what's good for us. BOHICA!
Bummer. I only have XP pro. I was hoping that I could have myself and my wife work at the same time on the same computer (me on the machine, my wife on a thin client)
Does anybody know the cheapest way to accomplish this (preferably free)?
Forgive me for asking a complete noob question, but here goes...
Does Terminal Services allow two separate users to run two separate sessions, or are the local and remote users stuck staring at the same screen?
If the local and remote sessions are different, is the client and server both free, or do you have to pay M$ some $$$?
If the local and remote sessions are the same, what is the cheapest (preferably free) alternative to allow local and remote users to work separately? Does VNC do this (I suspect not, but my experience with VNC is limited).
Once again, sorry for the noob quesions, but I have a new beefy XP box at home, and an old Win98 box. It would be nice to have the 98 box be a thin client for the XP machine.
And, yes. I know that this sort of thing is trivial in Linux.
Perhaps if we eliminated the court system entirely, and tore down the prisons, then theft and murder would disappear entirely!
You got it.
I do not own a Mac, and I do not own an iPod. But if I did have $300 or so to spend on an MP3 player, I would give the iPod a serious look.
And *look* is the key word here. I have seen a lot of MP3 players on the net and in stores. None of them has the same look of an iPod. Some have little goofy switches on the back, and a strange button arrangement. One look at the iPod tells you that they spent a lot of time coming up with the user interface. It is simple. The average joe does not feel that they have to have a Master's degree just to use the thing. It just looks --- friendly. And that matters --- and Apple has the sales figures as proof.
The Creative Zen looks pretty good, but it still looks more cumbersome than the iPod.
Is it April 1st already?
Sooo, how large of a stack of green-bar paper would this 900 million lines require?
It is more than than just money. This is a very smart move on Apple's part. I see two separate advantages.
1) Geeks are more likely to try Apple. I have never owned one. I have not even used one in almost ten years. But now, I am very tempted. It is small, cute, and cheap. If I buy and like, then maybe I might drop $1500 on an Apple in a few years.
2) This increases the market share. More minis = more customers for commercial software. More software = less reasons not to buy a Mac.
HP and Dell do not have these advantages. Selling a boatload of mini-clones will not likely make a person any more or less likely to buy a full-sized Dell or HP. Also, Windows already has a 90+% market share, so software availability is not a concern at all.
To summarize: Making the Mini is a strategic decision for Apple. Making a mini-clone is simply a chance to ship boxes for PC manufacturers.
You, sir, are in the minority then.
The average person needs only a few programs:
Web browser, e-mail, word processor, spreadsheet, music/movie player, photo editing/management. Apple has its own alternatives for all of these. This covers 90% of what people do. So, for the "joe six-pack", this is a good deal.
Many people DO have to run specific software (usually related to specific work/hobby needs). For this person, the mini would not make a good primary computer. But just about anybody could use the mini as a good, small, cheap 2nd computer.
I have never owned a Mac, and I have never even touched a BSD-based Mac. But the mini has me tempted. If only I had the money.
Although there may be some truth to this. After all, smart people are working to combat virii, spyware, etc. But I have never heard of a smart person making a law
This is the key. Instead of publishing an image, you just offer a script. Then, the guys at NASA can run your script on their hardware with their software.