Actually, the first PowerMacs used Nubus, not PCI. I know, I have 3 of them. The 6100, 7100 and 8100 (and workgroup servers, etc on such variations) as well as the 9150 all shipped with Nubus slots. I don't believe it was until the 603 and 604 chips appeared in PowerMacs that they came with PCI.
I'm not sure how you boot another operating system while the computer is in a suspended state (even if it is powered off). When you switch OSes now don't you have to specify what to boot from? If not, it shouldn't be hard to program the firmware to only allow operating system switches from cold boot. I think a greater problem is having someone actually steal the RAM chip with data cached on it.
However, that problem can be solved by making the RAM locking mechanism on the motherboard have a locking spring. The spring will generate a charge when it is released making enough energy to initialize the RAM on the chip, protecting it from data theft.
I've played a lot of shareware games on the Mac, and a lot of them are good. To my understanding shareware on the PC side always had a bad connotation, like it was worthless. It will take a really good game to overcome this stigma. However, I've played almost all of Ambrosia's games and they are the best shareware has to offer. While the graphics aren't always the best, they definately succeed in the fun department. If anyone can make it porting shareware from the Mac to PC, it's Ambrosia.
I'd be more interested in units sold...
on
LCD Overtaking CRT
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· Score: 0, Redundant
While LCDs are gaining popularity, the cost of an LCD is still much greater than a CRT. Therefore, while the revenue from LCDs might be higher, the number of units is still lower.
A valid comparison would be a 21" monitor. The LCD version would probably cost at least $1200, whereas a CRT could be as low as $600. The same number of units are sold in this case, but the revenue is different by a factor of 2.
Another interesting thought is how much of this growth is accounted for by the growth in laptop sales. You don't see many CRT toting laptops anymore...
Perhaps now that people realize Apple has stopped selling fruit colored computers we can see the end of all the pink and purple translucent plastic office products...
Everyone knows that people will violate copy protection algorithms anyway, whether it is legal or not. And, the people who break the protection are not (in most cases) the average Joe. What I see this law doing is allowing enterprising individuals, who are the ones most commonly blocked by the DMCA's restriction of fair use, to continue to go about their business, in a legal fashion. This legislation just strips off the layer of rules that prevented currently legal activities from continuing, without weakening any of the rules for violation of copyrights.
It depends on the game. Some games (like Quake3) allow you to set custom widescreen resolutions. Others just stick the largest 4:3 ratio box in the middle of the screen and have black bars on the sides.
That's true with all programming languages, not just some. Floating point accuracy is an inherited limitation of using a computer, you can partly work your way around it, but it never really goes away.
One way of getting around it is making your own method for storing a floating point number, not using a built-in type with so many bits (like using more than 32-bits). Now, you can keep adding "bits" in your interpretation of a floating point number until you reach the desired accuracy.
I can make a list of booleans to represent a floating point number and have the list longer or shorter depending on how precise I want the number to be. Then I use my own addition, multiplication, etc. algorithms on this number to get my result. This makes the process slower since you are basically rewriting the functionality of a chip to accomodate a higher number of bits than which it was designed, but it's possible.
As for mathematical tools dealing with the issue for you, I think you can specify the precision you would like, and it adjusts the answer accordingly. (At least I believe it is the case with Mathematica.)
Perhaps a better reason is so that once you've given away all your personal information just to register to the site you don't get surprised by the fact that it won't work on your Mac or Linux box.
And seriously, Flash has been able to do 3D representations with 3rd party rendering software a long time.
Perhaps someone else has made this analogy before, but I've never seen it.
I was just thinking of the similarities of today's copyright infrigement and corporate behemoths exploting the working class with the old day's mills and bosses controlling labor. Basically in both instances people became fed up with the situation. Back then, people started to protest and organize unions, while at the same time the corporations and bosses would pass out black-lists of violators and make a fuss when people wanted fair pay. Today we have file-swapping and MP3s becuase we are sick of paying too much money for something; things (MP3s in particular) where the original author doesn't profit so much as the recording label. Again, the corporations are making a fuss, and instead of black-lists, they are suing the pants off anyone they can find.
Now, I doubt that the government will legalize file-sharing like they protected unions, but I hope something just as amiable is devised for our current situation. Anyone new that decides to fight is a step in the right direction.
As clerification to anyone who is confused by my use of the word even, I used it in context of the original post, which you may or may not have read (it's been modded down, so you might not have seen it.) I use it in the context of even number being a number that is nicely rounded, as the original poster refered to 1000 as a nicely rounded, even, number. I also would like to point out that I put in quotes, to suggest that although it isn't the correct definintion of even, it is the definition used in context of the original post. OK? Now get off my back, I know the difference between even and odd numbers.
Whether or not 64-bit processing has any practical use for the average individual, it is the future purely because it has a nice marketing edge to it. It just sounds better.
As such, Intel will eventually need to move their laptop processors to 64-bits. It's obvious that the Itanium wasn't designed with this in mind, so we'll have to wait and see what Intel cooks up (ooh, a horrid pun!) for us in their mobile division. Since the Itanium was designed as a purely desktop chip, they'll have to create an entirely new design for a mobile class processor. This is why I said their plan has backfired, as IBM already has a laptop chip directly from their high-end server class processors.
I think Intel made this change. With the emphasis on speed speed speed, MHz is everything, Intel spent all of its money on clock-cycles and lost sight of efficiency.
Now this is partially coming back to bite them. They can't market the Itanium 1 successfully at 800 MHz, even if it compares with a 2 GHz chip because of the perceived differential. The Itanium 2 fares better, but it's still a power hog. The companies that focuses on a balance between clock-cycles and efficient design are the only winners (namely IBM) because their chips have a wider application. You won't see an Itanium 2 in a laptop, but you might see a PPC 970.
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Actually, the first PowerMacs used Nubus, not PCI. I know, I have 3 of them. The 6100, 7100 and 8100 (and workgroup servers, etc on such variations) as well as the 9150 all shipped with Nubus slots. I don't believe it was until the 603 and 604 chips appeared in PowerMacs that they came with PCI.
I'm not sure how you boot another operating system while the computer is in a suspended state (even if it is powered off). When you switch OSes now don't you have to specify what to boot from? If not, it shouldn't be hard to program the firmware to only allow operating system switches from cold boot. I think a greater problem is having someone actually steal the RAM chip with data cached on it.
However, that problem can be solved by making the RAM locking mechanism on the motherboard have a locking spring. The spring will generate a charge when it is released making enough energy to initialize the RAM on the chip, protecting it from data theft.
...needs to mark Taco's new articles with the Evil Bit to cut down on dupes...
I've played a lot of shareware games on the Mac, and a lot of them are good. To my understanding shareware on the PC side always had a bad connotation, like it was worthless. It will take a really good game to overcome this stigma. However, I've played almost all of Ambrosia's games and they are the best shareware has to offer. While the graphics aren't always the best, they definately succeed in the fun department. If anyone can make it porting shareware from the Mac to PC, it's Ambrosia.
While LCDs are gaining popularity, the cost of an LCD is still much greater than a CRT. Therefore, while the revenue from LCDs might be higher, the number of units is still lower.
A valid comparison would be a 21" monitor. The LCD version would probably cost at least $1200, whereas a CRT could be as low as $600. The same number of units are sold in this case, but the revenue is different by a factor of 2.
Another interesting thought is how much of this growth is accounted for by the growth in laptop sales. You don't see many CRT toting laptops anymore...
Perhaps now that people realize Apple has stopped selling fruit colored computers we can see the end of all the pink and purple translucent plastic office products...
Everyone knows that people will violate copy protection algorithms anyway, whether it is legal or not. And, the people who break the protection are not (in most cases) the average Joe. What I see this law doing is allowing enterprising individuals, who are the ones most commonly blocked by the DMCA's restriction of fair use, to continue to go about their business, in a legal fashion. This legislation just strips off the layer of rules that prevented currently legal activities from continuing, without weakening any of the rules for violation of copyrights.
It depends on the game. Some games (like Quake3) allow you to set custom widescreen resolutions. Others just stick the largest 4:3 ratio box in the middle of the screen and have black bars on the sides.
That's true with all programming languages, not just some. Floating point accuracy is an inherited limitation of using a computer, you can partly work your way around it, but it never really goes away.
One way of getting around it is making your own method for storing a floating point number, not using a built-in type with so many bits (like using more than 32-bits). Now, you can keep adding "bits" in your interpretation of a floating point number until you reach the desired accuracy.
I can make a list of booleans to represent a floating point number and have the list longer or shorter depending on how precise I want the number to be. Then I use my own addition, multiplication, etc. algorithms on this number to get my result. This makes the process slower since you are basically rewriting the functionality of a chip to accomodate a higher number of bits than which it was designed, but it's possible.
As for mathematical tools dealing with the issue for you, I think you can specify the precision you would like, and it adjusts the answer accordingly. (At least I believe it is the case with Mathematica.)
Perhaps a better reason is so that once you've given away all your personal information just to register to the site you don't get surprised by the fact that it won't work on your Mac or Linux box. And seriously, Flash has been able to do 3D representations with 3rd party rendering software a long time.
Brings new meaning to the term "Kill active process."
Perhaps someone else has made this analogy before, but I've never seen it.
I was just thinking of the similarities of today's copyright infrigement and corporate behemoths exploting the working class with the old day's mills and bosses controlling labor. Basically in both instances people became fed up with the situation. Back then, people started to protest and organize unions, while at the same time the corporations and bosses would pass out black-lists of violators and make a fuss when people wanted fair pay. Today we have file-swapping and MP3s becuase we are sick of paying too much money for something; things (MP3s in particular) where the original author doesn't profit so much as the recording label. Again, the corporations are making a fuss, and instead of black-lists, they are suing the pants off anyone they can find.
Now, I doubt that the government will legalize file-sharing like they protected unions, but I hope something just as amiable is devised for our current situation. Anyone new that decides to fight is a step in the right direction.
As clerification to anyone who is confused by my use of the word even, I used it in context of the original post, which you may or may not have read (it's been modded down, so you might not have seen it.) I use it in the context of even number being a number that is nicely rounded, as the original poster refered to 1000 as a nicely rounded, even, number. I also would like to point out that I put in quotes, to suggest that although it isn't the correct definintion of even, it is the definition used in context of the original post. OK? Now get off my back, I know the difference between even and odd numbers.
1024 is 2^10. Computers operate in binary, and 1024 is an "even" number when you consider binary.
It might not have been Morse who invented it, but I bet if we wait long enough SBC will come out saying they have a patent on it.
Whether or not 64-bit processing has any practical use for the average individual, it is the future purely because it has a nice marketing edge to it. It just sounds better.
As such, Intel will eventually need to move their laptop processors to 64-bits. It's obvious that the Itanium wasn't designed with this in mind, so we'll have to wait and see what Intel cooks up (ooh, a horrid pun!) for us in their mobile division. Since the Itanium was designed as a purely desktop chip, they'll have to create an entirely new design for a mobile class processor. This is why I said their plan has backfired, as IBM already has a laptop chip directly from their high-end server class processors.
I think Intel made this change. With the emphasis on speed speed speed, MHz is everything, Intel spent all of its money on clock-cycles and lost sight of efficiency.
Now this is partially coming back to bite them. They can't market the Itanium 1 successfully at 800 MHz, even if it compares with a 2 GHz chip because of the perceived differential. The Itanium 2 fares better, but it's still a power hog. The companies that focuses on a balance between clock-cycles and efficient design are the only winners (namely IBM) because their chips have a wider application. You won't see an Itanium 2 in a laptop, but you might see a PPC 970.
If you go to pippen.apple.com it says the server hosting that page has been replaced to better serve you. I'm inclined to believe them. :)