There are some inaccuracies I'd like to point out, if you don't mind:
Somewhere I also read that Linksys will not support any turbo modes in their AP/Routers Linksys is supporting a "turbo" mode, thanks to Broadcom's "Afterburner" technology, which is implemented as Linksys's "SpeedBooster" technology. Afterburner requires a new revision of Broadcom's 802.11g chipset, however, so previous G products can't be enhanced, only new products.
Atheros already had 108mb/s A support in turbo, allowing 45mb/sec throughput by using multiple channels
Atheros and Broadcom are taking 2 different approaches to "turbo" here; while SuperG uses multiple channels(and is proven to degrade other networks, albeit mostly Broadcom's, oddly enough) along with compression and other effeciency boosting technologies, Broadcom's Afterburner will not be using any sort of channel bonding, just effeciency boosting. This is an important distinction, since Atheros' implementation will be faster(more raw physical bandwidth), but Broadcom's implementation will be a "good neighbor" to other devices. Of course, if you even have to deal with other devices, you're screwed anyhow; just having a B device in the same sphere will require G devices to slow down to warn the B device, so all your fancy effeciency boosting tricks also get disabled.
Anyhow, check out Tom's Networking's review of Linksys's WRT54GS router; it is loaded with information on SuperG, Afterburner, incompatibilities, and performance.
If I had mod points, I'd give them to you, as I can't re-iterate this point enough. 3dfx moved to a vertical integration system(everything from chip design to boxes was done by the same company) right when Nvidia was hitting their stride by stressing the capabilities and benefits of their parters(price competitive, high end & low end versions of the same products, etc). Had 3dfx stayed with a partner system, they still might not be around today, but they would have survived another generation.
So the existing process is 95nm? But the article said 38nm was an "order of magnitude higher", which would imply the existing process is 380nm.
The current top of the line practical process is the 90nm process which Intel and IBM use, and AMD is soon moving to. 65nm is already in full swing as far as design and testing go(large-scale introduction in 2006, maybe 2007), but I believe 65nm is the smallest process currently designed yet; everything else past that(up until now) was theoretical.
This makes me wonder how much NVidia got bribed to enforce this stuff.
The real question is if it was a bribe, or a threat? Certainly, Macrovision and the DVD-forum wouldn't be too happy about a product not supporting Macrovision, so how likely would it be that they could/would attack Nvidia over their cards not supporting Macrovision? There's certainly a decent case for claiming that non-compliant cards are copyright removal device, setting Nvidia up for a DMCA suit.
And if you want to go one step further, get laser engraving on your iPod when you order it. This way, it's blatently obvious if it's your iPod or not, without needing to check the settings for the S/N.
While it's probably premature to guess on how long it would take to "fix" the problem(i.e. make it so most people can use their land-lines again), do any one of our amateur POTS jockies want to take a shot at this? I don't know very much about the UK phone network, so I'm curious as to just how catastrophic this is.
But what abour forward compatibility? DirectX is forward compatible, so that if you write something today, it will work tomorrow, and the day after that. Without forward compatibility(an offshoot of binary compatibility), everyone would have to install their own libraries, and possibly overwrite someone else's newer libraries, breaking anything requiring that newer library. Including the libraries is great, as long as you aren't likely to break something by installing them, and you know when and when not to install them(older DX games won't try to install over newer DX versions, for example).
Ryan Gordon(of Epic fame) made a really interesting comment I think it worth repeating
It'd be lovely if the glibc maintainers would stop breaking binary compatibility, too. Not that they are particularly sympathetic to those shipping binary-only products.
While we tend to blame the problem on Linux's small marketshare, I think Ryan is right here in that binary compatibility has as much, if not more to do with it. Compared to Windows, it would seem that things get broken more often in Linux, both application and driver wise, and that no one from the glibc guys to Linus himself want to really support this kind of compatibility in fear that it will undermine the OSS movement. How is an industry that needs binary compatibility for games and drivers alike supposed to survive without it?
But if you remember, there used to be a market for things like browsers and video playback software
I remember those days, and good riddence to them. Sites that were Netscape optimized, IE preferred, 5 different streaming video players(each crappier than the next). Compared to those days, today is many times better - for everything to just work is a godsend. Maybe you like those days, and I can't blame you, but some of us just want to get stuff done.
Yes, we got the Master System(twice in fact, once as the ill-fated console, and again as the ill-fated Game Gear), but that's not the point; the Genesis was the genesis of 16bit consoles, to which it was the first.
Just on a small side-note while we're on the subject of PayPal, PayPalDamon, the CSR hired to specifically work on online relations, has quit as of last week. For those who don't visit any of the forums where PPD visited, PPD was PayPal's public face for those forums, offering PPD as a first contact for forum-goers who encountered any sort of problem(ripoffs, technical issues, etc), and generally kept the geek user base in touch with what was going on at PayPal. At this point, there are no annouced plans to replace him, and he will be missed.
While I applaud any efforts to get more software running natively on Linux, I have to ask: why Flash? I mean as far as most of us are concerned, it's the scourge of the internet, responsible for a slew of poorly designed sites, bad flash movies, and anoying advertisements. If Macromedia wants to go after the Linux crowd, wouldn't a more appreciable tool like Dreamweaver be a better choice?
Oh! Oh! Can I be Anakin Skywalker? Even if I have to lose a hand, it'll be worth it to kiss Nataile Portman. I promiss to even do a bit of improvising, and work in the hot grits.
Seriously guys, who moderated this up? The latest round of worms take advantage of exactly 0 security exploits in Windows or assorted applications; they're all social engineering. Even if Microsoft is loaded with cash, you can't seriously expect them to pay out for what is fundamentally a problem with the users. Your second idea(go after the users) makes sense, but you can't sue someone just because their users are morons, it makes no sense.
Agreed on X-Wing Alliance; it wasn't even that great of a game story-wise(they botched the ending with Anton), but it was a solid game none the less. These days, no one is even bothering with space sims, let alone arcade style space sims. Demand for Freespace 2 was so high that Interplay had to do a re-print of it earlier this year, some 5 years after the game was released, but still no one has bothered to even try to put out a similar game in the last 5 years. It's sad to think that we may have already seen the peak of the space sim genre, and from here on, it's dead.
Ya, the ban thing really is anoying, especially when you considering the website itself has no equivilent. I ended up banning myself once when I updated the refresh time on Slashdot to 30 minutes; it took me forever to figure out what the heck was wrong with it. Frankly, I'd just like to see the ban go unless there's some reason why it should stay.
That's definitely something we're going to have to keep in mind. Even if you take a look at the GBA ports of SNES games(say the Mario series), you'll notice that they had to make changes to compensate for the smaller screen size. HUDs are the primary problem, since they need to be text readable, so as a result, games like Super Mario Bros. 3 for the GBA shipped with a HUD that was both relatively larger, and had some things cut.
The net effect of this is that you're losing more screen real estate on top of the already smaller screen, since things drawn under the HUD can't really be played. Precision is also going to be a PITA, since with such little real estate as far as pixels go, you flat out don't have a lot of pixels to draw things with, and that will cost image definition in the end, something you can only cut so far.
This isn't to say that it's impossible to get a 3D game working on such a small space, but I have to agree with the parent here that Sony is going to face some fundamental spatial issues here that might not bode too well for them.
By this time(2004), is there even any point to opening up small stations like this? Check your FM dial in the larger metropolises, places like NYC and such; there isn't an open slice of the airwaves left to broadcast on. The cynic in me says that this is the only reason a rule like this is being considered in the first place: there isn't any airspace to broadcast in, so it might as well be legal to make the FCC look good. One can't compete against ClearChannel if ClearChannel owns the entire spectrum.
Never, and that's the point; the MPAA doesn't want you to be able to burn CSS, and has 1million + 1 failsafes in place to keep it that way(member patents, trade secrets, etc). The only semi-consumer drives that can burn CSS are those that follow the DVD-A standard(DVD-Authoring), and those aren't even in a price-range where we can begin talking about reasonable.
Slashdot Mirror
There are some inaccuracies I'd like to point out, if you don't mind:
Somewhere I also read that Linksys will not support any turbo modes in their AP/Routers
Linksys is supporting a "turbo" mode, thanks to Broadcom's "Afterburner" technology, which is implemented as Linksys's "SpeedBooster" technology. Afterburner requires a new revision of Broadcom's 802.11g chipset, however, so previous G products can't be enhanced, only new products.
Atheros already had 108mb/s A support in turbo, allowing 45mb/sec throughput by using multiple channels
Atheros and Broadcom are taking 2 different approaches to "turbo" here; while SuperG uses multiple channels(and is proven to degrade other networks, albeit mostly Broadcom's, oddly enough) along with compression and other effeciency boosting technologies, Broadcom's Afterburner will not be using any sort of channel bonding, just effeciency boosting. This is an important distinction, since Atheros' implementation will be faster(more raw physical bandwidth), but Broadcom's implementation will be a "good neighbor" to other devices. Of course, if you even have to deal with other devices, you're screwed anyhow; just having a B device in the same sphere will require G devices to slow down to warn the B device, so all your fancy effeciency boosting tricks also get disabled.
Anyhow, check out Tom's Networking's review of Linksys's WRT54GS router; it is loaded with information on SuperG, Afterburner, incompatibilities, and performance.
If I had mod points, I'd give them to you, as I can't re-iterate this point enough. 3dfx moved to a vertical integration system(everything from chip design to boxes was done by the same company) right when Nvidia was hitting their stride by stressing the capabilities and benefits of their parters(price competitive, high end & low end versions of the same products, etc). Had 3dfx stayed with a partner system, they still might not be around today, but they would have survived another generation.
Call me thick-skulled, but what's wrong with that? Sure, 1 week is hell, but you then only work 20 hours a week; it's basically a mini-vacation.
So the existing process is 95nm? But the article said 38nm was an "order of magnitude higher", which would imply the existing process is 380nm.
The current top of the line practical process is the 90nm process which Intel and IBM use, and AMD is soon moving to. 65nm is already in full swing as far as design and testing go(large-scale introduction in 2006, maybe 2007), but I believe 65nm is the smallest process currently designed yet; everything else past that(up until now) was theoretical.
This makes me wonder how much NVidia got bribed to enforce this stuff.
The real question is if it was a bribe, or a threat? Certainly, Macrovision and the DVD-forum wouldn't be too happy about a product not supporting Macrovision, so how likely would it be that they could/would attack Nvidia over their cards not supporting Macrovision? There's certainly a decent case for claiming that non-compliant cards are copyright removal device, setting Nvidia up for a DMCA suit.
And if you want to go one step further, get laser engraving on your iPod when you order it. This way, it's blatently obvious if it's your iPod or not, without needing to check the settings for the S/N.
While it's probably premature to guess on how long it would take to "fix" the problem(i.e. make it so most people can use their land-lines again), do any one of our amateur POTS jockies want to take a shot at this? I don't know very much about the UK phone network, so I'm curious as to just how catastrophic this is.
Halo was originally done for the PC, before the XBox even existed.
Correction: Halo was originally done for the Mac; Bungie was a Mac company first and foremost.
But what abour forward compatibility? DirectX is forward compatible, so that if you write something today, it will work tomorrow, and the day after that. Without forward compatibility(an offshoot of binary compatibility), everyone would have to install their own libraries, and possibly overwrite someone else's newer libraries, breaking anything requiring that newer library. Including the libraries is great, as long as you aren't likely to break something by installing them, and you know when and when not to install them(older DX games won't try to install over newer DX versions, for example).
While we tend to blame the problem on Linux's small marketshare, I think Ryan is right here in that binary compatibility has as much, if not more to do with it. Compared to Windows, it would seem that things get broken more often in Linux, both application and driver wise, and that no one from the glibc guys to Linus himself want to really support this kind of compatibility in fear that it will undermine the OSS movement. How is an industry that needs binary compatibility for games and drivers alike supposed to survive without it?
But if you remember, there used to be a market for things like browsers and video playback software
I remember those days, and good riddence to them. Sites that were Netscape optimized, IE preferred, 5 different streaming video players(each crappier than the next). Compared to those days, today is many times better - for everything to just work is a godsend. Maybe you like those days, and I can't blame you, but some of us just want to get stuff done.
At least someone made it 7 miles on the course; it's progress, if just at 1 bit at a time.
FYI, Ecco 32X was never released, so the whole discussion is really academic.
Yes, we got the Master System(twice in fact, once as the ill-fated console, and again as the ill-fated Game Gear), but that's not the point; the Genesis was the genesis of 16bit consoles, to which it was the first.
Just on a small side-note while we're on the subject of PayPal, PayPalDamon, the CSR hired to specifically work on online relations, has quit as of last week. For those who don't visit any of the forums where PPD visited, PPD was PayPal's public face for those forums, offering PPD as a first contact for forum-goers who encountered any sort of problem(ripoffs, technical issues, etc), and generally kept the geek user base in touch with what was going on at PayPal. At this point, there are no annouced plans to replace him, and he will be missed.
While I applaud any efforts to get more software running natively on Linux, I have to ask: why Flash? I mean as far as most of us are concerned, it's the scourge of the internet, responsible for a slew of poorly designed sites, bad flash movies, and anoying advertisements. If Macromedia wants to go after the Linux crowd, wouldn't a more appreciable tool like Dreamweaver be a better choice?
Oh! Oh! Can I be Anakin Skywalker? Even if I have to lose a hand, it'll be worth it to kiss Nataile Portman. I promiss to even do a bit of improvising, and work in the hot grits.
Seriously guys, who moderated this up? The latest round of worms take advantage of exactly 0 security exploits in Windows or assorted applications; they're all social engineering. Even if Microsoft is loaded with cash, you can't seriously expect them to pay out for what is fundamentally a problem with the users. Your second idea(go after the users) makes sense, but you can't sue someone just because their users are morons, it makes no sense.
Agreed on X-Wing Alliance; it wasn't even that great of a game story-wise(they botched the ending with Anton), but it was a solid game none the less. These days, no one is even bothering with space sims, let alone arcade style space sims. Demand for Freespace 2 was so high that Interplay had to do a re-print of it earlier this year, some 5 years after the game was released, but still no one has bothered to even try to put out a similar game in the last 5 years. It's sad to think that we may have already seen the peak of the space sim genre, and from here on, it's dead.
Well, at least this finally fills that ugly hole on Wednesday in the Slashdot weekly schedule:
Monday: Patch Windows
Tuesday: Stop SCO's latest plan
Wednesday: Invent Fusion
Thursday: Patch Linux
Friday: Watch LoTR while patching Windows
Since they got Fusion out of the way early today, I think I have a little time to go bash Infinium Labs some more. Tally ho!
Just out of curiosity, what feed was this? A normal OTA analog feed, a cable analog feed, a cable/DSS digital feed, or the HDTV feed?
Ya, the ban thing really is anoying, especially when you considering the website itself has no equivilent. I ended up banning myself once when I updated the refresh time on Slashdot to 30 minutes; it took me forever to figure out what the heck was wrong with it. Frankly, I'd just like to see the ban go unless there's some reason why it should stay.
That's definitely something we're going to have to keep in mind. Even if you take a look at the GBA ports of SNES games(say the Mario series), you'll notice that they had to make changes to compensate for the smaller screen size. HUDs are the primary problem, since they need to be text readable, so as a result, games like Super Mario Bros. 3 for the GBA shipped with a HUD that was both relatively larger, and had some things cut.
The net effect of this is that you're losing more screen real estate on top of the already smaller screen, since things drawn under the HUD can't really be played. Precision is also going to be a PITA, since with such little real estate as far as pixels go, you flat out don't have a lot of pixels to draw things with, and that will cost image definition in the end, something you can only cut so far.
This isn't to say that it's impossible to get a 3D game working on such a small space, but I have to agree with the parent here that Sony is going to face some fundamental spatial issues here that might not bode too well for them.
By this time(2004), is there even any point to opening up small stations like this? Check your FM dial in the larger metropolises, places like NYC and such; there isn't an open slice of the airwaves left to broadcast on. The cynic in me says that this is the only reason a rule like this is being considered in the first place: there isn't any airspace to broadcast in, so it might as well be legal to make the FCC look good. One can't compete against ClearChannel if ClearChannel owns the entire spectrum.
Never, and that's the point; the MPAA doesn't want you to be able to burn CSS, and has 1million + 1 failsafes in place to keep it that way(member patents, trade secrets, etc). The only semi-consumer drives that can burn CSS are those that follow the DVD-A standard(DVD-Authoring), and those aren't even in a price-range where we can begin talking about reasonable.