Plasma dynamics are very complex and there are a large variety of "wave modes". When it comes to Alven waves, one way to think about it is to consider the magnetic field lines as strings of tension and the ionized particles as the mass along the strings. Since the particles are constrained to spiral along the magenetic field lines if you induce large scale wiggles (larger than the gyro orbits of the particles) of the magenetic field lines the particles will be pulled with the field and those large scale wiggles will propogate down the field lines.
If the plasma has a thermal distribution then some fraction of the particles will spiral down the field lines at speeds that doppler-shift the effective frequency of the Alven to be close to the gyro orbit. The particles can then be accelerated as they follow the magnetic field lines -- riding the wave much like a surfer rides an ocean wave.
So if you can wiggle the magnetic field of a stream of plasma you can heat up some of the ions and get them moving very fast. It is believed that this is how the solar corona is heated to millions of degrees while the sun's surface is a cool 5000 Celsius: collapsing magnetic structures at the surface may be kicking Alven waves along the tangled loops of field lines which couple with the particles and heat them up.
The way to make a plasma nozzle efficient is to figure out how to get only the hottest particles escaping the field lines and in the right direction. The cooler particles would have to bounce within a magnetic bottle until they picked up enough energy to escape.
There have times where I wished I had some older memory to fill out an old liquidated machine I was resurrecting, but I've always had spares of the smaller sized memory cards while wishing I had the larger capacity cards. That is and abundance of 128 MB cards that I would like to trade ALL for just one 256 MB card. The low end stuff of any generation of memory cards is basically useless in my experience.
Its security is as good as a fingerprint and SSH encryption. You can even use it on a host machine with a keyboard logger as long as you are accessing stuff that accepts your SSH key -- you wouldn't want to ever have to type in your password for a remote service.
Knoppix is a linux distribution that comes on a bootable CDROM. It can be used to repair Windoze boxen, test hardware, and install a fully working linux server or workstation.
Buy the book "Knoppix Hacks" from O'Reilly. It is an book about Knoppix, but it serves as an excellent recipie book for linux in general.
This is what I can say about measles after I contracted it at Siggraph 2001 (Los Angeles).
(1) It sucks! The body ache that comes with it really hurts. It also comes with symptoms of a very bad cold.
(2) Your vaccine can expire. Mine was 15 years old. You're supposed to get a booster vaccine every 10 years. Get your boosters.
(3) U.S. doctors are not very good at diagnosing measles correctly because they've seen so few real cases. Mine told me I had a "virus from hell", and did not think it was measles even after I suggested it as a possibility.
(4) Measles hurts more than chicken-pox as an adult (yes, I got that three years later, for the second time in my life), but chicken-pox also sucks a great deal.
(5) Your resistance to chicken-pox (probably measles too) can fail if you contracted them as a small infant (as in my case with chicken-pox) so get your boosters.
Physics is the best rounded technical discipline to study IMHO. Typically, it is not as difficult for a physicst to migrate into engineering (mechanical or electrical), or even computer science rather than the other way around.
I'm biased of course, being an experimental physicist by training, but I've also witnessed my physicist colleagues have no trouble shifting careers like I have.
I too spoke with a representative at LW about this.
The thumb-print sensor allows you to authenticate yourself without typing in your password, so it is possible (as long as what you're doing doesn't require you to type in any passwords anywhere) to safely operate the device on a host with a keystroke logger. All of the network traffic between the BlackDog and its daemon running on the host is encrypted with SSH.
One of the niches they are hoping to full with the device is a "dongle" with licenced software installed. The licencee of the proprietary-ware could then access it on any computer as long as he/she carries the dongle with them. It also would prevent password/keycode sharing between colleagues.
One of my co-workes pointed out that this is similar to the "SoulPad" concept:
Oh ok. I didn't know that Sony already had a hero MMOG in the works. Yeah, looks like the Marvel game is the XBox equivalent in an attempt to grab a share of the potential market. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.
It's great to see that MicroSoft is back on track with that "innovation" thing.
How many hero-centric MMO's can the gaming market support? Certainly at least two good ones, especially if one were to capture some console-only marketshare.
However, Sony could commision a port of COH to the PS3 console (I dunno if that is even possible... I haven't played COH). That would take a big chunk out of Marvel-COH's potential market, expecially since I would expect the PS3-COH implementation to be completed first.
I'm a GNU/linux user (8 years, currently using Debian sarg via Knoppix) and have been recommending GNU/linux to friends and colleagues for years. I recenlty set my mom up with BeatrIX so she could do spreadsheet stuff.
She went ahead and bought a printer... but she couldn't set it up, so I drove three hours just to set up her printer (an HP OfficeJet 4215 connected via USB)... and failed miserably. The GUI wizard was able to detect the printer model string, but beyond that there was no evidence that it could reach the printer at all. Although the model string had the make and model the wizard couldn't use that information to select the make and model and thereby pick the right CUPS configuration. When I manually picked the make and model nothing happened. I searched all over for something wrong, but didn't know enough to figure it out (I've only successfully set up one or two printers on GNU/linux in my entire career, the most recent success was using CUPS to connect to a SAMBA shareed printer... that just worked and was easier than doing it on Windows 2000).
Not only did BeatrIX fail but so did Knoppix-V_3.8! I was rather demoralized. Meanwhile my step father (a WindowsXP user) chuckled at the botched attempts.
Granted, if she had a broadband connection I probably could have searched the internet for tips and tricks and eventually figured it out, however the conclusion I had to make was that my favorite distribution wasn't ready for the vast majority of regular computer users out there.
My solution will be to buy a !@#$%^&*() OfficeJet 4215 for myself just so I can figure out how to make the stupid thing work, and then make that 3 hour trip again.
But for Christmas she'll probably get a digital camera and a new struggle will begin. Notice, I'm not optimisitc anymore.
I LOVE GNU/linux as my desktop, but it sure isn't ready for the masses.
I think Linux on the DS is cool. I can think of a few neat applications and I'm sure the creative hackers out there can think up some fun projects for LinuxDS.
There is a company called Charmed Labs that makes a programmable robot cartridge for the old GBA. They're probably working on a similar add on for the DS right now. But with Linux on the DS you don't even need to robot cartridge to have fun, or you could probably by the cartridge for extras like easily accessible ADC/DAC lines. You could make a little hand-held oscilliscope or something.
GBA's were being used as information accessories for some car races. The cartridges that you could rent had wireless units that would get realtime info from the race.
Someone else was using GBA's as little hand-held real-time engine information units. You could tap into your car's microprocessor and get some info out.
Stuff like that would just be easier to do with Linux on the DS. It's all good.
I'd buy a DS just to get Linux running on it. Now if I could only find the time to play with a project like that -- I already work too hard:-(
I also recommend the "Designing Embedded Hardware" book.
Also probably already mentioned: the AVR microcontrollers from Atmel are a good platform to start on (the book above has a chapter on them). A good online resource for AVR is : http://www.avrfreaks.net/
Actually, I've been smelling the stench of MicroSoft since 1997, but when GNU/linux didn't take over the world by 2001 I had to conclude that I had only been smelling the crap MicroSoft calls software. The borg was alive and well.
That said, the stench has definitely been turning toward rancid over the years. A data point I've noticed is that it is no longer "cool" to be a MicroSoft employee. We interviewed a potential new employee about six months ago and the general opinion was that he was a possible hire, but the fact that he was a MicroSoft employee definitely counted against him. He suffered half-serious ridicule behind his back.
We didn't hold it against him too much -- he would have been taking a pay cut and would have had to leave his newly purchased and remodeled mansion to come to work for us. In the end he stayed with MicroSoft rather than jump onboard a fun startup! 8-0 Nevertheless, I caught the faint hit of rot from his reception here.
It may be dying, but it will be a nice long death. There's plenty of time for it to thrash out its death throws.
Meanwhile... I distribute Knoppix CD's as a hobby.
Since MiroSoft is planning on incorporating this new-fangled AV (anti virus) engine into their operating system it appears that they are not planning on securing their interfaces and API's so much as running constant scans of what is being fed to the system. This sounds like more process overhead, something which already makes Windows servers top-heavy ==> more streamlined OS's will continue to have the advantage of being able to do more on the same hardware.
Go MircoSoft! Yeah, keep running in that direction... *whispers* Ok guys, lets ditch'm!
Some good news... I just handed out three copies of KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08 today to co-workers and its still only 8:03 in the morning.
One of them just had his hard drive (or something) fail to boot (could not find OS). It's not clear yet what whether the drive is any good, but if is just corrupted OS files ==> Knoppix to the rescue!
Another was complaining that Linux doesn't like his older laptop with one of the first GeForce-2Go chipsets ==> GamesKnoppix-3.7-0.1-EN will prompt you about loading load the proprietary nVidia drivers on boot. Hey, it might work! You just have to remember when you're trying to type "yes" at the prompt that although it is the "English" version it still thinks you've got a German keyboard at boot so the Y and the Z buttons are swapped.
Finally, there's a fellow who has been thinking about trying GNU/Linux on his old Windoze hardware. So I burnt another copy of Knoppix and handed it to him.
Ahh... I've got a warm fuzzy feeling.
Now if I could just get back that copy of _Knoppix_Hacks_ that I lent to my neighbor so I could lend it out to someone else.
The FingerWorks Touch-Stream keyboard is actually just two touch pads and also works as a mouse and will interpret hand gestures for certain operations, such as mouse scrolling. It is dust-proof and probably water resistant (or could probably be made water-proof with a bit of work).
Here's the link:
http://fingerworks.com/lp_product.html
Unfortunately it is difficult to type on it without looking at the keys. It took me about a week to get comfortable with it and six months to approach my old typing speed. On the other hand, it would probably work well for somone who types with hunt and peck style, or who constantly looks at the keyboard when they type.
This keyboard has saved me from RSI in the fingers (my wrists were fine).
When it comes to installing X workstations I prefer to install debian testing using Knoppix which has a very nice graphical installer. It also provides the benefit of letting you know that debian will actually run X on your hardware.
I've worked 60 and 70 hour weeks in the game industry. It was fun, challenging, and rewarding. However I wasn't working for EA and I didn't have to deal with antagonistic, lying, demanding bosses.
Within the game developer's community it is well known that EA is Evil Co. I haven't worked there but I've talked to people who have. I'm glad to see their reputation catching up with them.
I hope the class action lawsuit goes through and EA has to pay out.
Clearly this guy has never experienced all of the wonderful automatic dependency checking, rebootless, ease of configuration goodness that is a well made linux distribution. It doesn't even sound like he's tried it.
Knoppix is a monolithic distribution that just works.
The slopes below Mt. Rainier are known to have been covered over the centuries with huge mud slides when the volcano blows and melts its snow cap.
If you're living in one of those towns between Rainier and Tacoma you're basically living in a flood plain that gets a mud avalanche every few centuries.
Slashdot Mirror
Plasma dynamics are very complex and there are a large variety of "wave modes". When it comes to Alven waves, one way to think about it is to consider the magnetic field lines as strings of tension and the ionized particles as the mass along the strings. Since the particles are constrained to spiral along the magenetic field lines if you induce large scale wiggles (larger than the gyro orbits of the particles) of the magenetic field lines the particles will be pulled with the field and those large scale wiggles will propogate down the field lines.
If the plasma has a thermal distribution then some fraction of the particles will spiral down the field lines at speeds that doppler-shift the effective frequency of the Alven to be close to the gyro orbit. The particles can then be accelerated as they follow the magnetic field lines -- riding the wave much like a surfer rides an ocean wave.
So if you can wiggle the magnetic field of a stream of plasma you can heat up some of the ions and get them moving very fast. It is believed that this is how the solar corona is heated to millions of degrees while the sun's surface is a cool 5000 Celsius: collapsing magnetic structures at the surface may be kicking Alven waves along the tangled loops of field lines which couple with the particles and heat them up.
The way to make a plasma nozzle efficient is to figure out how to get only the hottest particles escaping the field lines and in the right direction. The cooler particles would have to bounce within a magnetic bottle until they picked up enough energy to escape.
http://www.freecycle.org/ -- basically a local free exchange of stuff that you would otherwise throw away
I found that via an old entry on http://www.makezine.org/blog/.
There have times where I wished I had some older memory to fill out an old liquidated machine I was resurrecting, but I've always had spares of the smaller sized memory cards while wishing I had the larger capacity cards. That is and abundance of 128 MB cards that I would like to trade ALL for just one 256 MB card. The low end stuff of any generation of memory cards is basically useless in my experience.
Anybody want some 128 MB PC100 cards?
The blackdog USB computer solves this problem.
http://www.projectblackdog.com/product.html
Its security is as good as a fingerprint and SSH encryption.
You can even use it on a host machine with a keyboard logger
as long as you are accessing stuff that accepts your SSH key
-- you wouldn't want to ever have to type in your password
for a remote service.
Knoppix is a linux distribution that comes on a bootable CDROM. It can be used to repair Windoze boxen, test hardware, and install a fully working linux server or workstation.
Buy the book "Knoppix Hacks" from O'Reilly. It is an book about Knoppix, but it serves as an excellent recipie book for linux in general.
For more info visit http://www.knoppix.org/
From what I can tell Gartner is full of idiots.
Does anyone remember back in 1999 or 2000 when they gave linux a 1 in 10 chance of making it out of the niche market?
Since then I've seen dozens of stupid or obvious Gartner predictions go by.
This is what I can say about measles after I contracted it at Siggraph 2001 (Los Angeles).
(1) It sucks! The body ache that comes with it really hurts. It also comes with symptoms of a very bad cold.
(2) Your vaccine can expire. Mine was 15 years old. You're supposed to get a booster vaccine every 10 years. Get your boosters.
(3) U.S. doctors are not very good at diagnosing measles correctly because they've seen so few real cases. Mine told me I had a "virus from hell", and did not think it was measles even after I suggested it as a possibility.
(4) Measles hurts more than chicken-pox as an adult (yes, I got that three years later, for the second time in my life), but chicken-pox also sucks a great deal.
(5) Your resistance to chicken-pox (probably measles too) can fail if you contracted them as a small infant (as in my case with chicken-pox) so get your boosters.
Physics is the best rounded technical discipline to study IMHO. Typically, it is not as difficult for a physicst to migrate into engineering (mechanical or electrical), or even computer science rather than the other way around.
I'm biased of course, being an experimental physicist by training, but I've also witnessed my physicist colleagues have no trouble shifting careers like I have.
I too spoke with a representative at LW about this.
The thumb-print sensor allows you to authenticate yourself without typing in your password, so it is possible (as long as what you're doing doesn't require you to type in any passwords anywhere) to safely operate the device on a host with a keystroke logger. All of the network traffic between the BlackDog and its daemon running on the host is encrypted with SSH.
One of the niches they are hoping to full with the device is a "dongle" with licenced software installed. The licencee of the proprietary-ware could then access it on any computer as long as he/she carries the dongle with them. It also would prevent password/keycode sharing between colleagues.
One of my co-workes pointed out that this is similar to the "SoulPad" concept:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000383053938/
except without the host boot/shutdown steps.
Oh ok. I didn't know that Sony already had a hero MMOG in the works. Yeah, looks like the Marvel game is the XBox equivalent in an attempt to grab a share of the potential market. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.
Hey, where did my end-sarcasm tag go? Hrm... "plain old text" formatting must strip anything that looks like an HTML tag. Oh well.
It's great to see that MicroSoft is back on track with that "innovation" thing.
How many hero-centric MMO's can the gaming market support? Certainly at least two good ones, especially if one were to capture some console-only marketshare.
However, Sony could commision a port of COH to the PS3 console (I dunno if that is even possible... I haven't played COH). That would take a big chunk out of Marvel-COH's potential market, expecially since I would expect the PS3-COH implementation to be completed first.
I think it's all good for the world of gaming.
I'm a GNU/linux user (8 years, currently using Debian sarg via Knoppix) and have been recommending GNU/linux to friends and colleagues for years. I recenlty set my mom up with BeatrIX so she could do spreadsheet stuff.
She went ahead and bought a printer... but she couldn't set it up, so I drove three hours just to set up her printer (an HP OfficeJet 4215 connected via USB)... and failed miserably. The GUI wizard was able to detect the printer model string, but beyond that there was no evidence that it could reach the printer at all. Although the model string had the make and model the wizard couldn't use that information to select the make and model and thereby pick the right CUPS configuration. When I manually picked the make and model nothing happened. I searched all over for something wrong, but didn't know enough to figure it out (I've only successfully set up one or two printers on GNU/linux in my entire career, the most recent success was using CUPS to connect to a SAMBA shareed printer... that just worked and was easier than doing it on Windows 2000).
Not only did BeatrIX fail but so did Knoppix-V_3.8! I was rather demoralized. Meanwhile my step father (a WindowsXP user) chuckled at the botched attempts.
Granted, if she had a broadband connection I probably could have searched the internet for tips and tricks and eventually figured it out, however the conclusion I had to make was that my favorite distribution wasn't ready for the vast majority of regular computer users out there.
My solution will be to buy a !@#$%^&*() OfficeJet 4215 for myself just so I can figure out how to make the stupid thing work, and then make that 3 hour trip again.
But for Christmas she'll probably get a digital camera and a new struggle will begin. Notice, I'm not optimisitc anymore.
I LOVE GNU/linux as my desktop, but it sure isn't ready for the masses.
This reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw today...
Don't drink and park...
accidents cause people.
There could be an answer here for your mysterious step 3.
I think Linux on the DS is cool. I can think of a few neat applications and I'm sure the creative hackers out there can think up some fun projects for LinuxDS.
:-(
There is a company called Charmed Labs that makes a programmable robot cartridge for the old GBA. They're probably working on a similar add on for the DS right now. But with Linux on the DS you don't even need to robot cartridge to have fun, or you could probably by the cartridge for extras like easily accessible ADC/DAC lines. You could make a little hand-held oscilliscope or something.
GBA's were being used as information accessories for some car races. The cartridges that you could rent had wireless units that would get realtime info from the race.
Someone else was using GBA's as little hand-held real-time engine information units. You could tap into your car's microprocessor and get some info out.
Stuff like that would just be easier to do with Linux on the DS. It's all good.
I'd buy a DS just to get Linux running on it. Now if I could only find the time to play with a project like that -- I already work too hard
I also recommend the "Designing Embedded Hardware" book. Also probably already mentioned: the AVR microcontrollers from Atmel are a good platform to start on (the book above has a chapter on them). A good online resource for AVR is : http://www.avrfreaks.net/
Actually, I've been smelling the stench of MicroSoft since 1997, but when GNU/linux didn't take over the world by 2001 I had to conclude that I had only been smelling the crap MicroSoft calls software. The borg was alive and well.
That said, the stench has definitely been turning toward rancid over the years. A data point I've noticed is that it is no longer "cool" to be a MicroSoft employee. We interviewed a potential new employee about six months ago and the general opinion was that he was a possible hire, but the fact that he was a MicroSoft employee definitely counted against him. He suffered half-serious ridicule behind his back.
We didn't hold it against him too much -- he would have been taking a pay cut and would have had to leave his newly purchased and remodeled mansion to come to work for us. In the end he stayed with MicroSoft rather than jump onboard a fun startup! 8-0 Nevertheless, I caught the faint hit of rot from his reception here.
It may be dying, but it will be a nice long death. There's plenty of time for it to thrash out its death throws.
Meanwhile... I distribute Knoppix CD's as a hobby.
Since MiroSoft is planning on incorporating this new-fangled AV (anti virus) engine into their operating system it appears that they are not planning on securing their interfaces and API's so much as running constant scans of what is being fed to the system. This sounds like more process overhead, something which already makes Windows servers top-heavy ==> more streamlined OS's will continue to have the advantage of being able to do more on the same hardware.
Go MircoSoft! Yeah, keep running in that direction... *whispers* Ok guys, lets ditch'm!
Some good news... I just handed out three copies of KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08 today to co-workers and its still only 8:03 in the morning.
One of them just had his hard drive (or something) fail to boot (could not find OS). It's not clear yet what whether the drive is any good, but if is just corrupted OS files ==> Knoppix to the rescue!
Another was complaining that Linux doesn't like his older laptop with one of the first GeForce-2Go chipsets ==> GamesKnoppix-3.7-0.1-EN will prompt you about loading load the proprietary nVidia drivers on boot. Hey, it might work! You just have to remember when you're trying to type "yes" at the prompt that although it is the "English" version it still thinks you've got a German keyboard at boot so the Y and the Z buttons are swapped.
Finally, there's a fellow who has been thinking about trying GNU/Linux on his old Windoze hardware. So I burnt another copy of Knoppix and handed it to him.
Ahh... I've got a warm fuzzy feeling.
Now if I could just get back that copy of _Knoppix_Hacks_ that I lent to my neighbor so I could lend it out to someone else.
The FingerWorks Touch-Stream keyboard is actually just two touch pads and also works as a mouse and will interpret hand gestures for certain operations, such as mouse scrolling. It is dust-proof and probably water resistant (or could probably be made water-proof with a bit of work).
Here's the link:
http://fingerworks.com/lp_product.html
Unfortunately it is difficult to type on it without looking at the keys. It took me about a week to get comfortable with it and six months to approach my old typing speed. On the other hand, it would probably work well for somone who types with hunt and peck style, or who constantly looks at the keyboard when they type.
This keyboard has saved me from RSI in the fingers (my wrists were fine).
It costs about $350.
There are several books about CVS. Oreilly publishes a nice one.
My advice is to buy a book and read it.
When it comes to installing X workstations I prefer to install debian testing using Knoppix which has a very nice graphical installer. It also provides the benefit of letting you know that debian will actually run X on your hardware.
To install Knoppix:
boot with the Knoppix CD
Open a terminal and:
$ su root
# knoppix-installer
and away you go.
I've worked 60 and 70 hour weeks in the game industry. It was fun, challenging, and rewarding. However I wasn't working for EA and I didn't have to deal with antagonistic, lying, demanding bosses.
Within the game developer's community it is well known that EA is Evil Co. I haven't worked there but I've talked to people who have. I'm glad to see their reputation catching up with them.
I hope the class action lawsuit goes through and EA has to pay out.
You'd think the slashdot crew would have figured out how to automate dupe supression by now. Aren't they supposed to be perl wizards or something?
Clearly this guy has never experienced all of the wonderful automatic dependency checking, rebootless, ease of configuration goodness that is a well made linux distribution. It doesn't even sound like he's tried it.
Knoppix is a monolithic distribution that just works.
Go ahead, try it: knoppix.org
Because the land is cheap!
The slopes below Mt. Rainier are known to have been covered over the centuries with huge mud slides when the volcano blows and melts its snow cap.
If you're living in one of those towns between Rainier and Tacoma you're basically living in a flood plain that gets a mud avalanche every few centuries.