To be fair, your AMD analogy would only work if AMD printed "Intel Pentium MMX" on their K6s, and they were packaged in the same PPGA package as a real Pentium MMX.
The chips that FTDI is disabling really are counterfeit - they look identical on the outside to a real FTDI chip, it's not just matching FTDI's VID/PID to use the same drivers.
It got panned for not running Windows software, and Linux netbooks had something like a 25% return rate, when their Windows counterparts were much lower.
My VW's system is supposed to do that, but because it doesn't sense the door unlocking or opening properly, the alarm stays armed, and you then get the alarm going off when you try to start the car.
My frankenpad began as a T60p (15.0" 4:3, by the way, I forgot to mention that), with just the LCD swap, maxed out RAM, and a 2 GHz Core Duo, and I stuck with Windows 7 on that build (my experience on OS X being subpar, having used it extensively on an iBook G4, and being frustrated with the speed).
Then after a while, things were failing, the chassis was damaged, and I was getting sick of the RAM limitations, so I got a nice refurb T60 15.0" 4:3 cheaply, ripped out all the T60 bits, put T61p bits in (which is what required filing part of the chassis away), swapped my LCD over, and ran with it for a while.
Then, the screen started failing right before the MBPR was announced, so I jumped ship to OS X, and I'm liking it now that I have a fast machine.
It's not your only choice, it's just your only choice that's currently available.
Plenty of 1920x1200 options if you go back to Core 2, a few at Nehalem, and a couple at Sandy Bridge. (Some of those in the Core 2 and Nehalem days are even 15".)
Also, if you go back to Core 2, and don't mind some frankensteining, you can get an IDTech IAQX10, IAQX10N, or IAQX10S panel, a ThinkPad T60 or T60p, and a T61p 14.1" 4:3 motherboard, heatsink, Socket P CPU, and PCMCIA slot assembly, and put them all together. Need to reflash the panel's EDID ROM, and file some stuff away from the chassis, but the end result is up to the following:
2048x1536 IPS display 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo Penryn Quadro FX 570M (but crippled, and 128 MiB VRAM only) 8 GiB RAM Whatever SSD you want, but IIRC it's constrained to SATA 2 speeds (maybe SATA 1, actually)
With less frankensteining, you can run the T60p board, and get up to the following:
2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo Merom FireGL V5250 3 GiB RAM Whatever SSD you want at SATA 1 speeds
And, with zero frankensteining, you can find an ultra-rare config of the ThinkPad R50p, which means up to (I think):
1.7 GHz Pentium M Radeon 9200 or so IIRC I think 2 GiB RAM? Whatever PATA SSD you can find
The T61p/T60p frankenstein is what I ran before getting a MacBook Pro Retina, I'm a bit of a pixel whore.
There were certainly attempts at copy protection, though, largely relating to either weird disk track stepping mechanisms, disk defects that copying software didn't properly copy, and the like. I think there was the odd dongle, too.
Of course, Bumpgate hit all the x86 business laptops with discrete graphics, too. ATI didn't have anything competitive performance-wise at the time, so everyone went with 8000 series Nvidia stuff.
Basically, 2007-2008 was a bad time to buy a new laptop with discrete graphics.
Metal wheels on metal rail have significantly lower rolling resistance than rubber tires on asphalt or concrete, though. And, the infrastructure for rail is better suited to providing electricity to a train (partially because there's already metal to metal contact) than the infrastructure for roads.
There's actually another way to do it, that GEOS and webOS's Enyo framework did. Actually, even Windows Mobile's implementation of.NET did this to an extent, IIRC. Android half-asses it, but it at least tries - there's separate phone and tablet UIs in the same application.
Don't let programs draw their UI, make them give a list of tasks to the OS, and make the OS draw the UI that's appropriate for the device you're on. (GEOS, at least, had hinting of sorts, IIRC, to note the priority of tasks.)
Use the same binary across all devices.
So, on a phone, you get a simple UI that lets you do stuff that's appropriate for doing on a phone.
On a tablet, you get a more fully fleshed UI, but still touch-friendly.
On a desktop, you get a full desktop UI.
The added benefit of this is, the UI can never be inconsistent with system standards.
And, there were consumption device-class tablets back then, too.
They were basically the "internet appliances", shoved into a resistive tablet form. And they all failed miserably. Part of it because of performance, part of it because there wasn't a strong software ecosystem, part of it because they didn't have a strong premium consumer electronics brand attached to them (that is, part of the reason why Apple is so good at launching products is because they're Apple, and people will buy Apple stuff, and due to network effects, a platform needs to be successful to be successful (it also didn't hurt that Apple started with a phone OS that was already successful)).
And the comment you linked to runs contrary to my experience.
The real business grade laptops - not just from a manufacturer's business line, but the ones that are considered high-end - tend to be built from more durable materials, tend to be designed for easier service, tend to be documented better, and tend to have better support.
Workstation-class, and one step down as far as position in the model range (which often shares hardware with the workstation class, but often with a dual-core and either integrated graphics or a low-end GPU), tend to count as those.
The emissions in question are particulates and nitrogen oxides.
Diesels tend to emit physically large particulates that are visible, when inhaled don't go far into the lungs, and fall out of the air quickly.
Gasoline engines tend to emit small particulates, and a lot of them, that are not visible, when inhaled go far deeper into the lungs, are more likely to cause cancer, and stay in the air a lot longer. But, their particulate mass is low, so until recently, nobody's cared. (New emissions standards will restrict the particulate number, as well.)
Any engine that runs lean tends to emit high amounts of nitrogen oxides, and diesels have to run lean or they start smoking. Of course, lean burn also reduces fuel consumption, improving energy independence and all... Nitrogen oxides are a smog precursor in certain situations... but those situations are all in areas where volatile organic compounds are low. In a high VOC environment, which is essentially any area with a lot of plant or modern human life, nitrogen oxides actually destroy smog... and all of the areas that have smog problems are high VOC. Yeah, I'm gonna say that that one's completely misguided.
So, modern diesels tend to run high amounts of cooled EGR, and particulate traps and NOx neutralization technology (either traps, or spraying urea into the exhaust stream). The traps require that fuel be sent into them to burn things off, too. Yes, this is ridiculous, and seriously hurts fuel economy.
Performance, NVH, emissions, and reliability (for GM, anyway) in the 1980s Cost and perception in the 1990s and early 2000s (when gas is cheap, why spend a lot of money on a diesel?) Cost and emissions in the late 2000s Cost, reliability, fuel quality, and efficiency (which are all severely worsened by the emissions control systems used now on diesels - so emissions are no longer a problem, but in exchange, you get a much more expensive engine that hydrolocks in a freeze/thaw cycle (although the Passat has worked around that by being even MORE expensive) and has $8000 fuel system failures, and it gets barely any better fuel economy than direct injection small displacement turbo gas engines) in the 2010s
Honestly, the only advantages that a modern US-spec diesel has over the best gas engines, unless you violate federal law and make the emissions control devices go missing, is torque delivery, and slightly better fuel economy that's absorbed by the fuel price difference.
Rip off the $3000-5000 of emissions controls, and suddenly you get a lot more power, a lot more torque, and go from 45 to 50-55 mpg. Then it makes sense.
Actually, that's not it at all. 18-wheelers are HEAVILY subsidized, even with the slightly higher fuel taxes on diesel.
To break even on road tax, the taxes on 18-wheelers would be based on weight and mileage, and would be so much higher than car road tax, that it would literally cost more to tax the cars than the revenue from taxing the cars.
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To be fair, your AMD analogy would only work if AMD printed "Intel Pentium MMX" on their K6s, and they were packaged in the same PPGA package as a real Pentium MMX.
The chips that FTDI is disabling really are counterfeit - they look identical on the outside to a real FTDI chip, it's not just matching FTDI's VID/PID to use the same drivers.
No, it didn't. Well, maybe by Linux fans.
It got panned for not running Windows software, and Linux netbooks had something like a 25% return rate, when their Windows counterparts were much lower.
Assuming it's working properly.
My VW's system is supposed to do that, but because it doesn't sense the door unlocking or opening properly, the alarm stays armed, and you then get the alarm going off when you try to start the car.
GP also mentioned that nobody is making anything better than 1080p, which is what I was refuting.
My frankenpad began as a T60p (15.0" 4:3, by the way, I forgot to mention that), with just the LCD swap, maxed out RAM, and a 2 GHz Core Duo, and I stuck with Windows 7 on that build (my experience on OS X being subpar, having used it extensively on an iBook G4, and being frustrated with the speed).
Then after a while, things were failing, the chassis was damaged, and I was getting sick of the RAM limitations, so I got a nice refurb T60 15.0" 4:3 cheaply, ripped out all the T60 bits, put T61p bits in (which is what required filing part of the chassis away), swapped my LCD over, and ran with it for a while.
Then, the screen started failing right before the MBPR was announced, so I jumped ship to OS X, and I'm liking it now that I have a fast machine.
It's not your only choice, it's just your only choice that's currently available.
Plenty of 1920x1200 options if you go back to Core 2, a few at Nehalem, and a couple at Sandy Bridge. (Some of those in the Core 2 and Nehalem days are even 15".)
Also, if you go back to Core 2, and don't mind some frankensteining, you can get an IDTech IAQX10, IAQX10N, or IAQX10S panel, a ThinkPad T60 or T60p, and a T61p 14.1" 4:3 motherboard, heatsink, Socket P CPU, and PCMCIA slot assembly, and put them all together. Need to reflash the panel's EDID ROM, and file some stuff away from the chassis, but the end result is up to the following:
2048x1536 IPS display
2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo Penryn
Quadro FX 570M (but crippled, and 128 MiB VRAM only)
8 GiB RAM
Whatever SSD you want, but IIRC it's constrained to SATA 2 speeds (maybe SATA 1, actually)
With less frankensteining, you can run the T60p board, and get up to the following:
2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo Merom
FireGL V5250
3 GiB RAM
Whatever SSD you want at SATA 1 speeds
And, with zero frankensteining, you can find an ultra-rare config of the ThinkPad R50p, which means up to (I think):
1.7 GHz Pentium M
Radeon 9200 or so IIRC
I think 2 GiB RAM?
Whatever PATA SSD you can find
The T61p/T60p frankenstein is what I ran before getting a MacBook Pro Retina, I'm a bit of a pixel whore.
There were certainly attempts at copy protection, though, largely relating to either weird disk track stepping mechanisms, disk defects that copying software didn't properly copy, and the like. I think there was the odd dongle, too.
Of course, Bumpgate hit all the x86 business laptops with discrete graphics, too. ATI didn't have anything competitive performance-wise at the time, so everyone went with 8000 series Nvidia stuff.
Basically, 2007-2008 was a bad time to buy a new laptop with discrete graphics.
Metal wheels on metal rail have significantly lower rolling resistance than rubber tires on asphalt or concrete, though. And, the infrastructure for rail is better suited to providing electricity to a train (partially because there's already metal to metal contact) than the infrastructure for roads.
The Republicans here in the US are often approaching Europe's right-wing terrorists, actually.
Literally, a lot of the right-wing rhetoric that gets spewed wouldn't look out of place in Breivik's manifesto.
The clerk actually prevented HIMSELF from violating the law, too, as he would be personally liable, knowing that she was going to export it.
Of course, he opened Apple up to a civil suit for discrimination, most likely. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.
Or you die.
Wonder how long before there's mass suicide to discharge student loans.
There's actually another way to do it, that GEOS and webOS's Enyo framework did. Actually, even Windows Mobile's implementation of .NET did this to an extent, IIRC. Android half-asses it, but it at least tries - there's separate phone and tablet UIs in the same application.
Don't let programs draw their UI, make them give a list of tasks to the OS, and make the OS draw the UI that's appropriate for the device you're on. (GEOS, at least, had hinting of sorts, IIRC, to note the priority of tasks.)
Use the same binary across all devices.
So, on a phone, you get a simple UI that lets you do stuff that's appropriate for doing on a phone.
On a tablet, you get a more fully fleshed UI, but still touch-friendly.
On a desktop, you get a full desktop UI.
The added benefit of this is, the UI can never be inconsistent with system standards.
And, there were consumption device-class tablets back then, too.
They were basically the "internet appliances", shoved into a resistive tablet form. And they all failed miserably. Part of it because of performance, part of it because there wasn't a strong software ecosystem, part of it because they didn't have a strong premium consumer electronics brand attached to them (that is, part of the reason why Apple is so good at launching products is because they're Apple, and people will buy Apple stuff, and due to network effects, a platform needs to be successful to be successful (it also didn't hurt that Apple started with a phone OS that was already successful)).
Although Catleap et. al. shows that there is a market for defective displays.
(That's how they get their panels so cheap, FWIW.)
IME, the thing that Diaspora needs more than anything is massive optimization.
When it's taking 30-60 seconds per page load from a 1.1 GHz P3, and it's not due to swapping, but rather sheer CPU load...
The irony is, what is a BBS if not a social network of sorts, that you can play door games on, and chat with your friends?
(Granted, very few people are setting up their own social networks...)
Because they pay the tax authorities and auditors to look the other way.
Are you posting from a 20 year old computer, then?
And the comment you linked to runs contrary to my experience.
The real business grade laptops - not just from a manufacturer's business line, but the ones that are considered high-end - tend to be built from more durable materials, tend to be designed for easier service, tend to be documented better, and tend to have better support.
Workstation-class, and one step down as far as position in the model range (which often shares hardware with the workstation class, but often with a dual-core and either integrated graphics or a low-end GPU), tend to count as those.
Which is why you leave a trucking infrastructure in place, but leave it idle, and use rail normally.
Ramp up the trucking in an emergency.
Oh, and I almost forgot.
The emissions in question are particulates and nitrogen oxides.
Diesels tend to emit physically large particulates that are visible, when inhaled don't go far into the lungs, and fall out of the air quickly.
Gasoline engines tend to emit small particulates, and a lot of them, that are not visible, when inhaled go far deeper into the lungs, are more likely to cause cancer, and stay in the air a lot longer. But, their particulate mass is low, so until recently, nobody's cared. (New emissions standards will restrict the particulate number, as well.)
Any engine that runs lean tends to emit high amounts of nitrogen oxides, and diesels have to run lean or they start smoking. Of course, lean burn also reduces fuel consumption, improving energy independence and all... Nitrogen oxides are a smog precursor in certain situations... but those situations are all in areas where volatile organic compounds are low. In a high VOC environment, which is essentially any area with a lot of plant or modern human life, nitrogen oxides actually destroy smog... and all of the areas that have smog problems are high VOC. Yeah, I'm gonna say that that one's completely misguided.
So, modern diesels tend to run high amounts of cooled EGR, and particulate traps and NOx neutralization technology (either traps, or spraying urea into the exhaust stream). The traps require that fuel be sent into them to burn things off, too. Yes, this is ridiculous, and seriously hurts fuel economy.
Performance, NVH, emissions, and reliability (for GM, anyway) in the 1980s
Cost and perception in the 1990s and early 2000s (when gas is cheap, why spend a lot of money on a diesel?)
Cost and emissions in the late 2000s
Cost, reliability, fuel quality, and efficiency (which are all severely worsened by the emissions control systems used now on diesels - so emissions are no longer a problem, but in exchange, you get a much more expensive engine that hydrolocks in a freeze/thaw cycle (although the Passat has worked around that by being even MORE expensive) and has $8000 fuel system failures, and it gets barely any better fuel economy than direct injection small displacement turbo gas engines) in the 2010s
Honestly, the only advantages that a modern US-spec diesel has over the best gas engines, unless you violate federal law and make the emissions control devices go missing, is torque delivery, and slightly better fuel economy that's absorbed by the fuel price difference.
Rip off the $3000-5000 of emissions controls, and suddenly you get a lot more power, a lot more torque, and go from 45 to 50-55 mpg. Then it makes sense.
Actually, that's not it at all. 18-wheelers are HEAVILY subsidized, even with the slightly higher fuel taxes on diesel.
To break even on road tax, the taxes on 18-wheelers would be based on weight and mileage, and would be so much higher than car road tax, that it would literally cost more to tax the cars than the revenue from taxing the cars.
I wrote up a blog post about that: http://bhtooefr.org/blog/2012/03/19/why-long-haul-trucking-is-an-awful-idea-and-rail-is-far-better-for-long-distance-transport/
The shiny new phone that will only work on Verizon, non-US carriers after an unlocking, and the crappy regional CDMA carriers after an unlocking.