What I don't understand is that we don't start off with some high velocity to start with. The idea of shooting something into space like a (controlled) bullet isn't that weird, isn't it?
I know this isn't "ask slashdot" but what's against using lots of earthbound fuel to shoot something into space? Is it simply the length of the required rail/tunnel/whatever or is it something different? Obviously you would want to keep the acceleration within certain levels...
I saw the idea with the baloon, but I think that only reached 25% of the required height. That's lots less fuel, but you would like to go higher, and get some velocity to go with it.
Oh, no there we go again. According to what seems like 70% of the/.ees you should just walk out of your job and look for a better one. You can just wait for these kind of answers if you state something like that.
Let's see, there is already one of those, yes.
Doesn't anybody think this is just plain stupid? What if you're 55 years old? What if you have build up a nice career? What if there _are_ no other jobs? What even if you like your job?
You weren't under the impression that those hijackers magically appeared here from Afghanistan right before their flights, were you?
I can see why you should have satelites spying the USA to catch muslim fundamentalists taking flying lessons. Not that I agree fully with the parents post. US citizen != terrorist? I can think of at least one big bombing where this was not the case...
Re:Didn't they have a flying car.....
on
NYT On Flying Cars
·
· Score: 1
Oh, thank you very much, now that song won't get out of my head until I get some sleep....chitty chitty bang bang I love you...
I agree. Instead of configuring a huge rocket motor of somekind, we could just *fall* towards the nearest solar system. Neat. When we are in the middle, we just reverse gravity. Problem solved.
That's very idealistic of you. But you might have noticed that putting trade bans on countries only have negative results. The ban on trade did nothing to change the situation in Iran, Irak or - for instance - Cuba (the list is a lot longer). If anything, they strengtened their current leadership.
Currently the world takes a different stance towards China. It is too big to overthrow or block anyway (never mind the nuclear potential). And the China government seems to very carefully relinguish control somewhat. The guestion is if you really would want to see a revolution in a country with well over 1 billion people anyway.
However, the decission of Google directly helps the Chinese government keep control over information. Openness of information is a must for any person that wants to live in any kind of freedom (note that a lot of capitalist countries do not fare that well in this respect either). So I do not support the choice of Google in this regard.
He/she can't read the link since it is blocked by the Chinese government in the first place. He/she can't read the Google cache because that's blocked as well. So the only thing provided to the user is a link and a rather sparse piece of information about the article.
So google would not put these people in jail. And the user is responsible for the search terms, and he/she is therefore responsible for that. Maybe not for the results, but that's another matter. It is therefore unlikely that the user will be put in jail because of Google.
Xscale is not compatible with any normal motherboard afaik. It is also not x86 compatible. Yes, you can run linux on it, but that does not turn it into a desktop machine.
Besides that, it seems that 1 GHz is not available, let alone at 1 W. See also:
Xscale processor line-up.
These parts are not that expensive probably, they are manufactured with a.18 process, not.13 or.9 (which are less expensive in the long run).
...Internet users feel confident, secure and empowered...
With all that information at your fingertips, the possibility to contact about anybody (that wants to be contacted) this is a small wonder. Internet users ARE confident, secure*1 and empowered.
*1 If you equal the small chance of being run over by a truck at home as secure...
We already have another version of Java called J# in.NET. Since Sun and MS have voted not to go against each other this will probably remain so. It seems to be _mostly_ compatible with Java if you look at the language itself though (.net exceptions do not have "Throwable" as base class e.g..)
The Java API's are partially implemented at the 1.4 level (no swing etc, but java.lang, java.util, java.io, java.awt are all there). These have been compiled to the.net platform using their own VM obviously, so once compiled it will be incompatible.
Furthermore, you can access all the.NET api's. These are quite indistinquishable from the true Java API's. It's therefore pretty easy to end up with an application that is incompatible with Java. I haven't looked at advanced stuff like virtualization and the like.
If you check out the recent enhancements in C# you can see why it is easy for MS to support java. New features are more or less the same as those introduced with Java 5. Basically the whole system is Java like (the implementation seems to be okish though).
Having one number obviously is a rather stupid mechanism to measure performance and/or expandabitity. But sometimes I wonder if a bit more information on the system would change things for the better.
Lets say we use just the raw performance (triangles per second for a video card, mb/sec for a hard disk, mb/sec for ethernet and MIPS for processors (maybe some FIPS as well). Games and other applications can look for those numbers at install time and try to optimize their performance according to those numbers. Or advise the user to upgrade.
Take for instance Nero. There is a utility in there to check the hard disk performance. It does that by reading from the mentioned hard disk and hoping that the indexing function is not running at the same time. I mean, I *KNOW* I've got a fast hard disk, and so should the computer.
If we want to make smarter, more intuitive, computers, lets start with making the computer more self aware first.
ANY popups requiring user input are interuptive. Please create another way to handle errors or notifications (user choices are a different matter I suppose). A specialized event side-bar or a non-disruptive popup would really enhance my experience of mozilla or firefox. This is especially true for things like "chinese language support", script errors and the like.
Also, the notification that sending information over the unsecure internet should go away. Put it on the welcome page or something, for most users this is obvious. Or put it on some notification area, just like entering secure sites etc., and show some certifice information on that as well.
Most of these things seem to be copies from Netscape and IE. Lets make this browser better than those two.
I've build one in a small wine box, together with a 250 GB 3,5 " HDD. The reason for the hard drive is that it doubles as a Media Server for multiple computers. There were some issues with USB boot devices on my board, but I suppose VIA will have those fixed by now.
This runs fine on a 53W external power supply. If you remember that you can spin down the HDD, the power requirements will be pretty low. I can not give you an exact figure, but it booted fine with several devices attached, including a DVD-ROM drive, so it will only use a small portion of the 53W supplied.
Even then it generates a bit of heat (I've, unfortunately, one with an active CPU fan; the fanless parts were out of stock), so make sure it has got some form of ventilation. Otherwise, buy one with fan but put it into somewhere.
CPU speed is fine for a server running either Linux (!) or Windows. Unless you are the pirating kind, for home use a linux solution is preferable. It also comes with more features out of the box for servers.
Other advantages: - MM support including audio output (digital even) - put in a relatively big block of memory and run internet/java/whatever servers - USB 2.0/firewire support (take your MP3's with you, share a printer) - PCI support for second or third ethernet port - HW temperature support (S.M.A.R.T. harddisks mostly have a temperature sensor as well!) - relatively large support, including different kind of cool cases if you don't wanna build your own
I am not so sure I want light emitting window curtains. Same for table tops really. eInk is probably a better solution for that (eInk does does not emit light, it works just like regular ink).
1024 bit encryption? If that's PKI, then it is not very strong (but still strong enough for most things I presume). If it is symetrical, depending on the cipher, it is ridiculously strong.
Or, if you use an implementation like those used by Lexar in its Jumpdrive, it's use is 0.0.
Not completely true. If you look at the techniques of hash functions you'll understand why. They are very much like symetric encryption. You can even encrypt something by starting off with a "key", hash that, then hash the result of that, etc. etc. Now you have basically a stream cipher.
It also works for small data units, like e.g. keys. Hash a (sufficiently difficult) password and xor the result of the hash with the (symetric) key and presto.
Yeah, I just found out (overlooked an icon there) and got it installed correctly. Thanks for the answer. The problem here is probably that we are talking about a higher level API, but not a common higher level API. Which is the next best thing I suppose.
I still haven't got everything working the way it should (e.g.: tv tuner card with saa7134 driver not pickecd up automatically) but I am slowly getting there. All my relatives would have quit ages ago though. Even the ones that are really computer literate.
Terminals did not have their own CPU to do things. Here everything is kept local, except the OS install which can easily be managed. Since Linux can work without rebooting for driver installs (which is a necesity in this case) you can even run different kind of hardware on a single install. Basically you now have a flexible, cheap network computer.
And since we cannot do without networking anyway, and since storage devices are easy to make high available, this would seem like a blessing to me.
Please refrain from calling names, would you? From the article on CNN, on which you provide a link:
The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, Johnson said. "There was no way they could really defend themselves."
Nuff said. And in most western states it IS illegal to bear arms, let alone use one against burglars. Fortunately. Such extreme violence as mentioned in the article is pretty rare in europe as well (look at the stats).
I don't have to post anything since I've never said that violence does not solve anything. I don't mind being flagged as a troll or flame-bait, but please read the article before commenting. All the examples you mention are conflicts of war; not violence against burglars or anything (ok, that might be difficult to give a well known example of, but still).
In the article the ABI was mentioned as the interface of the drivers to the kernel. Maybe it could be possible to create a higher level driver API on top of that? This API could then be ported to newer linux versions?
Dunno, but as a computer developer I'm having serious trouble setting up my computer for linux. I've seen a few full crashes already, which are probably due to flaky drivers. Not all my devices have been picked up automatically either. Currently my HP deskjet printer is not working, even though it should be supported by the kernel, and is USB, so it should be plug and play.
The way v4l and scanners are working on linux are great examples, I would like to see higher levels and even user space processes dedicated for this kind of hardware. Let the disk IO, memory etc. be left to the kernel, but try to lift all non-critical drivers to a higher level. A common API for that would look to me as a great idea.
Slashdot Mirror
Dunno. That would be a bit like Schroedinger's cat...
What I don't understand is that we don't start off with some high velocity to start with. The idea of shooting something into space like a (controlled) bullet isn't that weird, isn't it?
I know this isn't "ask slashdot" but what's against using lots of earthbound fuel to shoot something into space? Is it simply the length of the required rail/tunnel/whatever or is it something different? Obviously you would want to keep the acceleration within certain levels...
I saw the idea with the baloon, but I think that only reached 25% of the required height. That's lots less fuel, but you would like to go higher, and get some velocity to go with it.
Oh, no there we go again. According to what seems like 70% of the /.ees you should just walk out of your job and look for a better one. You can just wait for these kind of answers if you state something like that.
Let's see, there is already one of those, yes.
Doesn't anybody think this is just plain stupid? What if you're 55 years old? What if you have build up a nice career? What if there _are_ no other jobs? What even if you like your job?
An employee should have rights as well.
You weren't under the impression that those hijackers magically appeared here from Afghanistan right before their flights, were you?
I can see why you should have satelites spying the USA to catch muslim fundamentalists taking flying lessons. Not that I agree fully with the parents post. US citizen != terrorist? I can think of at least one big bombing where this was not the case...
Oh, thank you very much, now that song won't get out of my head until I get some sleep. ...chitty chitty bang bang I love you...
Yuk!
I agree. Instead of configuring a huge rocket motor of somekind, we could just *fall* towards the nearest solar system. Neat. When we are in the middle, we just reverse gravity. Problem solved.
That's very idealistic of you. But you might have noticed that putting trade bans on countries only have negative results. The ban on trade did nothing to change the situation in Iran, Irak or - for instance - Cuba (the list is a lot longer). If anything, they strengtened their current leadership.
Currently the world takes a different stance towards China. It is too big to overthrow or block anyway (never mind the nuclear potential). And the China government seems to very carefully relinguish control somewhat. The guestion is if you really would want to see a revolution in a country with well over 1 billion people anyway.
However, the decission of Google directly helps the Chinese government keep control over information. Openness of information is a must for any person that wants to live in any kind of freedom (note that a lot of capitalist countries do not fare that well in this respect either). So I do not support the choice of Google in this regard.
He/she can't read the link since it is blocked by the Chinese government in the first place. He/she can't read the Google cache because that's blocked as well. So the only thing provided to the user is a link and a rather sparse piece of information about the article.
So google would not put these people in jail. And the user is responsible for the search terms, and he/she is therefore responsible for that. Maybe not for the results, but that's another matter. It is therefore unlikely that the user will be put in jail because of Google.
Xscale is not compatible with any normal motherboard afaik. It is also not x86 compatible. Yes, you can run linux on it, but that does not turn it into a desktop machine.
.18 process, not .13 or .9 (which are less expensive in the long run).
Besides that, it seems that 1 GHz is not available, let alone at 1 W. See also: Xscale processor line-up.
These parts are not that expensive probably, they are manufactured with a
...Internet users feel confident, secure and empowered...
With all that information at your fingertips, the possibility to contact about anybody (that wants to be contacted) this is a small wonder. Internet users ARE confident, secure*1 and empowered.
*1 If you equal the small chance of being run over by a truck at home as secure...
We already have another version of Java called J# in .NET. Since Sun and MS have voted not to go against each other this will probably remain so. It seems to be _mostly_ compatible with Java if you look at the language itself though (.net exceptions do not have "Throwable" as base class e.g..)
.net platform using their own VM obviously, so once compiled it will be incompatible.
.NET api's. These are quite indistinquishable from the true Java API's. It's therefore pretty easy to end up with an application that is incompatible with Java. I haven't looked at advanced stuff like virtualization and the like.
The Java API's are partially implemented at the 1.4 level (no swing etc, but java.lang, java.util, java.io, java.awt are all there). These have been compiled to the
Furthermore, you can access all the
If you check out the recent enhancements in C# you can see why it is easy for MS to support java. New features are more or less the same as those introduced with Java 5. Basically the whole system is Java like (the implementation seems to be okish though).
Having one number obviously is a rather stupid mechanism to measure performance and/or expandabitity. But sometimes I wonder if a bit more information on the system would change things for the better.
Lets say we use just the raw performance (triangles per second for a video card, mb/sec for a hard disk, mb/sec for ethernet and MIPS for processors (maybe some FIPS as well). Games and other applications can look for those numbers at install time and try to optimize their performance according to those numbers. Or advise the user to upgrade.
Take for instance Nero. There is a utility in there to check the hard disk performance. It does that by reading from the mentioned hard disk and hoping that the indexing function is not running at the same time. I mean, I *KNOW* I've got a fast hard disk, and so should the computer.
If we want to make smarter, more intuitive, computers, lets start with making the computer more self aware first.
ANY popups requiring user input are interuptive. Please create another way to handle errors or notifications (user choices are a different matter I suppose). A specialized event side-bar or a non-disruptive popup would really enhance my experience of mozilla or firefox. This is especially true for things like "chinese language support", script errors and the like.
Also, the notification that sending information over the unsecure internet should go away. Put it on the welcome page or something, for most users this is obvious. Or put it on some notification area, just like entering secure sites etc., and show some certifice information on that as well.
Most of these things seem to be copies from Netscape and IE. Lets make this browser better than those two.
I've build one in a small wine box, together with a 250 GB 3,5 " HDD. The reason for the hard drive is that it doubles as a Media Server for multiple computers. There were some issues with USB boot devices on my board, but I suppose VIA will have those fixed by now.
This runs fine on a 53W external power supply. If you remember that you can spin down the HDD, the power requirements will be pretty low. I can not give you an exact figure, but it booted fine with several devices attached, including a DVD-ROM drive, so it will only use a small portion of the 53W supplied.
Even then it generates a bit of heat (I've, unfortunately, one with an active CPU fan; the fanless parts were out of stock), so make sure it has got some form of ventilation. Otherwise, buy one with fan but put it into somewhere.
CPU speed is fine for a server running either Linux (!) or Windows. Unless you are the pirating kind, for home use a linux solution is preferable. It also comes with more features out of the box for servers.
Other advantages:
- MM support including audio output (digital even)
- put in a relatively big block of memory and run internet/java/whatever servers
- USB 2.0/firewire support (take your MP3's with you, share a printer)
- PCI support for second or third ethernet port
- HW temperature support (S.M.A.R.T. harddisks mostly have a temperature sensor as well!)
- relatively large support, including different kind of cool cases if you don't wanna build your own
http://www.viaembedded.com/indexN.jsp
I am not so sure I want light emitting window curtains. Same for table tops really. eInk is probably a better solution for that (eInk does does not emit light, it works just like regular ink).
PlEaSeDoNtHaCkMe xor ${PASSWORD}?
Sounds awfully like a head-in-the-sand approach to security to me.
If you would try that long enough it would probably work. Any data that was in the brain is probably irrecoverable.
1024 bit encryption? If that's PKI, then it is not very strong (but still strong enough for most things I presume). If it is symetrical, depending on the cipher, it is ridiculously strong.
Or, if you use an implementation like those used by Lexar in its Jumpdrive, it's use is 0.0.
Not completely true. If you look at the techniques of hash functions you'll understand why. They are very much like symetric encryption. You can even encrypt something by starting off with a "key", hash that, then hash the result of that, etc. etc. Now you have basically a stream cipher.
It also works for small data units, like e.g. keys. Hash a (sufficiently difficult) password and xor the result of the hash with the (symetric) key and presto.
Yeah, I just found out (overlooked an icon there) and got it installed correctly. Thanks for the answer. The problem here is probably that we are talking about a higher level API, but not a common higher level API. Which is the next best thing I suppose.
I still haven't got everything working the way it should (e.g.: tv tuner card with saa7134 driver not pickecd up automatically) but I am slowly getting there. All my relatives would have quit ages ago though. Even the ones that are really computer literate.
Terminals did not have their own CPU to do things. Here everything is kept local, except the OS install which can easily be managed. Since Linux can work without rebooting for driver installs (which is a necesity in this case) you can even run different kind of hardware on a single install. Basically you now have a flexible, cheap network computer.
And since we cannot do without networking anyway, and since storage devices are easy to make high available, this would seem like a blessing to me.
Please refrain from calling names, would you? From the article on CNN, on which you provide a link:
The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, Johnson said. "There was no way they could really defend themselves."
Nuff said. And in most western states it IS illegal to bear arms, let alone use one against burglars. Fortunately. Such extreme violence as mentioned in the article is pretty rare in europe as well (look at the stats).
I don't have to post anything since I've never said that violence does not solve anything. I don't mind being flagged as a troll or flame-bait, but please read the article before commenting. All the examples you mention are conflicts of war; not violence against burglars or anything (ok, that might be difficult to give a well known example of, but still).
In the article the ABI was mentioned as the interface of the drivers to the kernel. Maybe it could be possible to create a higher level driver API on top of that? This API could then be ported to newer linux versions?
Dunno, but as a computer developer I'm having serious trouble setting up my computer for linux. I've seen a few full crashes already, which are probably due to flaky drivers. Not all my devices have been picked up automatically either. Currently my HP deskjet printer is not working, even though it should be supported by the kernel, and is USB, so it should be plug and play.
The way v4l and scanners are working on linux are great examples, I would like to see higher levels and even user space processes dedicated for this kind of hardware. Let the disk IO, memory etc. be left to the kernel, but try to lift all non-critical drivers to a higher level. A common API for that would look to me as a great idea.
And when you tell them to "touch nothing" they invariably do.