I asked an IBM rep about how their customers feel about having to switch to water cooling (for Power 6,) and he said most of them don't care, because they've already got the infrastructure in place from their old computers that were water cooled (> 20 years ago.) In most cases, all they have to do is take the caps off the pipes.
Indeed, MIPS are a bad indicator of processing power. Where these chips really shine is in the supercomputing market: (as heard at an IBM presentation to a Unix Users Group) - Interconnect run at half the core frequency - More silicon is dedicated to error correction and recovery than the new Sun chips (disclaimer: blatant penis waving on IBM's part) - When a CPU instruction output fails the error check, the instruction is sent to another physical CPU, retried, and if the output is different (and OK) the first CPU is marked as bad, and is not used any more
I asked an IBM Western Canada rep last month what the application areas are; he replied: - Many applications are top-secret - Besides that: Financial, oil&gas, university research, and weather forecasting
I also asked if I could have one, and he said sure, for $10000 I could get a workstation with one of these chips in it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most of the algorithms for scientific simulations run just as well on parallel processors? If this is the case, it makes more sense to have cheaper processors (both to manufacture and run) so that the cap on the IPS is raised just as well (the cap being the ratio of the amount of funds an organization can allocate to these emulators versus the cost of the emulators). Though I'm no computer expert, it seems that making one sequential processor run faster isn't as efficient as making that same processor cost a fraction of the price to get more power from your dollar.
Many cheap processors are great, until your definition of "Many" expands to over 200000 and you still need them to be very reliable, accurate, and play well with others (Power6 interconnects run at half clock speed.)
I've written code for SCADA (just the DA part, and mainly for substations) in electrical utility industry. In the customer sites I've had to deal with, the data goes through one of two channels: 1) Dialup modems straight to the substations 2) Leased lines + VPN, so only people inside the utility have access, even though it is on the Internet In this case, it appears that either of those could have been breached, since it was a computer inside the utility that had been compromised. Physically disconnecting the boxes from the Internet would do no good, since you can't use them when you need to! Different lines at substations need to be connected/disconnected all the time, and it is not feasible or any more secure to have someone physically go out to the sites to deal with it. Not only that, but when something goes wrong, you need to have instant notification that there is a problem, as some of the sites may involve a 4 hour drive.
Considering the context of the article (roofnet,) I find it hard to believe that only one postal code is applicable to the entire area referred to in the article as "Canada's poorest neighbourhood." My neighbourhood in Calgary has at least a dozen postal codes. Even the block I live on has at least 8 postal codes (one for every major building, 7 apartment buildings and one mall.) The article summary looks like a poor translation made by someone who does not live in a Canadian urban area.
Why get an underpowered ultraportable when a normal laptop costs just as much?
Maybe because "normal" notebooks are overpowered, overheating beasts? They aren't "laptops" because of that heat, they seem to feel like they burn through jeans when used for longer than 15 minutes on a lap, even on max power saving mode. I think that's a lot of why the marketing literature almost always calls them "notebooks".
IBM prefers the terms "notebook" or "portable computer" rather than "laptop." Users are reminded not leave your computer, AC adapter, or accessories in contact with your lap or any part of your body for an extended period when the products are functioning or when the battery is charging.
The new version of Absolute FreeBSD just came out. I picked up a copy and thought: "I wish I read something like this when I was learning FreeBSD... it would have saved a lot of headaches"
http://www.absolutefreebsd.com/
I play quite a few games and usually all the way through.
Futurama defeated me with it's frustrating gameplay and just general crapitude.
I LOVE futurama, but even the odd quote didn't stop me giving up after the millionth time bender fell off something and died.
I hear that. I couldn't get past the part where you had to spend several minutes getting bender to a part where you had to jump from girder to girder, only to have the crappy controls kill you in seconds. I love Futurama, but the only thing I like about the game is the fact that it exists on my shelf.
I can enable Linux compatibility and run the Linux build of Firefox with the Linux build of Flash plugin under OpenBSD.
This is not so effective on FreeBSD, at least on 7.0 (and I hear it's the same on other versions as well.) Even with nspluginwrapper, the flash content is replaced with a grey box after a seemingly random number of seconds.
Sadly, with DRM'd ebooks, I don't know if you can own the book. If you could, maybe you wouldn't need to rent the book in the traditional sense. If you "owned" the ebook, you could buy it used, or sell it to someone else when you are done reading it. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure that is possible right now, or even feasible in the near future.
Yes, besides the plethora of stupid responses to your question, DC power transmission has a major advantage of not losing as much power into its surroundings when submerged underwater (long lines = high capacitance, which causes the AC power loss.)
Adding some of my own experiences...
[ ] I'm selfish and hate others
[ ] I like big monopolies
[X] I'm Canadian and not represented by the EFF in any which way shape or form
[ ] The EFF tried to kill my daddy
[ ] I'm paid by the EFF so donating to the EFF is like donating to myself
[ ] Hey look!
However,
[ ] I've started an equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Joined the equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Bought an EFF hat at Defcon
[ ] I Lost said hat at Toorcon the same year
[ ] I Bought another hat off their website
[ ] I Regret dealing with the EFF
[X] I donated money to the EFF while promoting nude dunk-tanking (at Defcon, twice)
[X] I donated money to the EFF while getting someone to freestyle rap about binary blobs (at Defcon)
I knew the Hilbert curve could fill the space by replacing each segment with a copy of itself (a basic concept in fractal theory, self similarity). But I didn't know that the curve had this interesting property: Similar addresses had nearby locations in two-dimensional space. The XKCD guy is a genius.
Anyway, here's more info on the Hilbert Curve. Enjoy. News bulletin: two points that are close to each other on a line are close to each other when the line is curved.
One more tube vs. solid-state item to add to the fire: Soft clipping, which, of course you can design into a solid-state amp, but it is not normally done.
I think it would be nice if the chip makers could agree on some kind of general performance benchmark number that could be used in names to make processors more easily comparable.
You mean like BogoMIPS? That reminds me of my favorite lines from the Linux 2.4 source code: arch/i386/kernel/smpboot.c
/*
* Allow the user to impress friends.
*/
After which is the calculation for bogomips.
I could imagine using this as an OS drive. No sooner do you let your finger off the power button than the login screen appears. Good luck with that. Unless it's on an embedded device with no BIOS, you're stuck waiting for at least several seconds. Without a PC BIOS, there are some OSes that will boot sub-second if tuned properly. Get into remote monitoring equipment, and OS boot times are smaller still (measured in microseconds, usually.) It helps when you need every microwatt of battery power you can get.
Ahem...On my calendar, January 1 to June 30 is SIX months, not five. It was a bad summary, TFA says January 31, not January 1. Not that I expect anyone to read the article or anything... It would have been nice if the article linked to a source.
Slashdot Mirror
I asked an IBM rep about how their customers feel about having to switch to water cooling (for Power 6,) and he said most of them don't care, because they've already got the infrastructure in place from their old computers that were water cooled (> 20 years ago.) In most cases, all they have to do is take the caps off the pipes.
Indeed, MIPS are a bad indicator of processing power. Where these chips really shine is in the supercomputing market: (as heard at an IBM presentation to a Unix Users Group)
- Interconnect run at half the core frequency
- More silicon is dedicated to error correction and recovery than the new Sun chips (disclaimer: blatant penis waving on IBM's part)
- When a CPU instruction output fails the error check, the instruction is sent to another physical CPU, retried, and if the output is different (and OK) the first CPU is marked as bad, and is not used any more
These chips are heavily used in supercomputing.
I asked an IBM Western Canada rep last month what the application areas are; he replied:
- Many applications are top-secret
- Besides that: Financial, oil&gas, university research, and weather forecasting
I also asked if I could have one, and he said sure, for $10000 I could get a workstation with one of these chips in it.
Many cheap processors are great, until your definition of "Many" expands to over 200000 and you still need them to be very reliable, accurate, and play well with others (Power6 interconnects run at half clock speed.)
I've written code for SCADA (just the DA part, and mainly for substations) in electrical utility industry. In the customer sites I've had to deal with, the data goes through one of two channels:
1) Dialup modems straight to the substations
2) Leased lines + VPN, so only people inside the utility have access, even though it is on the Internet
In this case, it appears that either of those could have been breached, since it was a computer inside the utility that had been compromised. Physically disconnecting the boxes from the Internet would do no good, since you can't use them when you need to! Different lines at substations need to be connected/disconnected all the time, and it is not feasible or any more secure to have someone physically go out to the sites to deal with it. Not only that, but when something goes wrong, you need to have instant notification that there is a problem, as some of the sites may involve a 4 hour drive.
Considering the context of the article (roofnet,) I find it hard to believe that only one postal code is applicable to the entire area referred to in the article as "Canada's poorest neighbourhood." My neighbourhood in Calgary has at least a dozen postal codes. Even the block I live on has at least 8 postal codes (one for every major building, 7 apartment buildings and one mall.) The article summary looks like a poor translation made by someone who does not live in a Canadian urban area.
Maybe because "normal" notebooks are overpowered, overheating beasts? They aren't "laptops" because of that heat, they seem to feel like they burn through jeans when used for longer than 15 minutes on a lap, even on max power saving mode. I think that's a lot of why the marketing literature almost always calls them "notebooks".
No need to think about that any more. In the fine print:
IBM prefers the terms "notebook" or "portable computer" rather than "laptop." Users are reminded not leave your computer, AC adapter, or accessories in contact with your lap or any part of your body for an extended period when the products are functioning or when the battery is charging.
Not if the flash drive is comprised of 5 or 10 of these or something similar: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5845259932.html
Sure, it may be convenient for chips/modules to be powers of 2, but not necessary in the case of flash.
Farnsworth: "53 years old?! Aww, now I'll need a fake ID to rent ultra-porn."
The new version of Absolute FreeBSD just came out. I picked up a copy and thought: "I wish I read something like this when I was learning FreeBSD... it would have saved a lot of headaches" http://www.absolutefreebsd.com/
Futurama defeated me with it's frustrating gameplay and just general crapitude.
I LOVE futurama, but even the odd quote didn't stop me giving up after the millionth time bender fell off something and died.
I hear that. I couldn't get past the part where you had to spend several minutes getting bender to a part where you had to jump from girder to girder, only to have the crappy controls kill you in seconds. I love Futurama, but the only thing I like about the game is the fact that it exists on my shelf.
This is not so effective on FreeBSD, at least on 7.0 (and I hear it's the same on other versions as well.) Even with nspluginwrapper, the flash content is replaced with a grey box after a seemingly random number of seconds.
When the software gets really bad: SoftICE
Locking down workstations: Deep Freeze
Don't forget to shop at Polar GPS before heading out!
Sadly, with DRM'd ebooks, I don't know if you can own the book. If you could, maybe you wouldn't need to rent the book in the traditional sense. If you "owned" the ebook, you could buy it used, or sell it to someone else when you are done reading it. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure that is possible right now, or even feasible in the near future.
Yes, besides the plethora of stupid responses to your question, DC power transmission has a major advantage of not losing as much power into its surroundings when submerged underwater (long lines = high capacitance, which causes the AC power loss.)
Some reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC (Several more advantages listed under heading: 'Advantages of HVDC over AC transmission')
http://w1.siemens.com/en/whats_new/features/expert_feature_new_york.htm
http://www.electricalportal.co.uk/electrical_article292.html
Adding some of my own experiences... [ ] I'm selfish and hate others
[ ] I like big monopolies
[X] I'm Canadian and not represented by the EFF in any which way shape or form
[ ] The EFF tried to kill my daddy
[ ] I'm paid by the EFF so donating to the EFF is like donating to myself
[ ] Hey look!
However,
[ ] I've started an equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Joined the equivalent EFF in Canada
[ ] I Bought an EFF hat at Defcon
[ ] I Lost said hat at Toorcon the same year
[ ] I Bought another hat off their website
[ ] I Regret dealing with the EFF
[X] I donated money to the EFF while promoting nude dunk-tanking (at Defcon, twice)
[X] I donated money to the EFF while getting someone to freestyle rap about binary blobs (at Defcon)
Apparently you didn't hear... it ended February 9, 2005.
Anyway, here's more info on the Hilbert Curve. Enjoy. News bulletin: two points that are close to each other on a line are close to each other when the line is curved.
One more tube vs. solid-state item to add to the fire: Soft clipping, which, of course you can design into a solid-state amp, but it is not normally done.
Both people went blind. You really shouldn't be etching their eyes without telling them first...
You mean like BogoMIPS? That reminds me of my favorite lines from the Linux 2.4 source code: arch/i386/kernel/smpboot.c
* Allow the user to impress friends.
*/
After which is the calculation for bogomips.
http://xkcd.com/285/