So why do BMW and Toyota use their own controls and switchgear, rather than just standardizing on GM stuff? Sure, the GM stuff is ugly and crappy, but wouldn't it be better if every car had the same way of turning on the headlights and wipers?
But no one's designs (or specifications, for that matter) are "open" -- Each manufacturer has to design their own equipment, and in the long run, they're all starting to operate the same way as they continue to copy each other.
Sorry, but I happen to like the way my car's controls are arranged, and the quality they have. I'd be really pissed off if everyone just standardized on crappy GM (or whatever) equipment in their cars, and all had a GM look-and-feel. If some moron can't quickly adapt to the headlights being on a stalk instead of a switch, then maybe they shouldn't be operating a motor vehicle.
With all due respect, you seem to be contradicting yourself. On one hand you like your vehicle's environment, but on the other hand you're saying that if there was a standard vehicle environment that wasn't like the one you're used to, people that can't easily adapt are morons.
>Too much is taking what everyone else has done and trying to do it better. . .
>>And this is called "Good Engineering," kinda like what's happened with wheels.
While you may learn a thing or two about new wheel design by looking at what your competitors are doing, their changes are not "open". If a company comes up with a novel new manufacturing or durability improvement, that company's competitors will have to reverse engineer the new product, scrambling to catch up.
This is commonplace in the automotive world. The big three will purchase "competitive benchmark vehicles", instrument the hell out of them, and try to figure out why BMW is the "Ultimate Driving Machine".
The beauty of OSS, in my opinion, is that you can see how everything works... Want to see how Mozilla classifies junkmail? Go ahead and look at the code. Use this code in your own project if you wish. Find a bug and suggest a fix. Suggest new features using community tools like Bugzilla and track development progress. It's amazing.
The downfall, at least as I see it, is the "competition" among projects. KDE v. Gnome, vi v. emacs, Gentoo v. Slackware, etc. etc.
Developers end up working on solving the SAME problems in different projects. Another complaint is the lack of a consistent "look and feel" of GUI applications -- everyone does things their own way, not necessarily gaining anything from the past experience of other projects.
Example: Why does the KDE team invest in their own browser and office suite, instead of concentrating those efforts on Mozilla and OpenOffice.org? It seems that most any OSS "peg" could be modified to fit into any hole, round or square, while capatializing on the continued free development of the peg.
when i first called kryptonite on monday of last week, a customer service guy returned my call that afternoon and assured me that they were working on the situation, but that their locks are high quality products, testing against smashing and picking of all sorts.
"they're obviously not tested well enough," i told him.
In any industry (I'm speaking from automotive), there are three types of failures:
Things you know that you know (legacy failures -- you've already designed your product around these failures)
Things you know that you don't know (and will test before production)
Things you don't know that you don't know (and therefore how can you test for these failures?)
ok, get rid of those trade aggreements, free trade is needed there, oh crap that just flooded our markets with cheap goods, why, oh because of our minimum wage laws and closed borders we can't compete with 3rd world manufacturering, ok, lets open up the borders
There's no reason why the libertanian candidate can't win - but saying "Pot should be legal" and "there should be no regulation with no middle ground" (which is what that party is perceived to stand for) won't win it. They need to do better.
This is so true.
After signing up for the electronic LP newsletter over a year ago, I started receiving information from my state's (Michigan) LP. One suck newsletter I received contained several misspellings and grammatical errors, which IMHO discredits the information within.
Reading further, the newsletter invited readers to go to the Michigan LP convention. In was no coincidence that the convention was taking place in on the same day as Ann Arbor's famous "hash bash", and starting at "high" noon. (quotes around 'high' were included in the article) I got the joke, but found myself not taking the LP very seriously afterward.
I agree with most of the party's views, including marijuana law, however putting it [very liberal drug policy] at the forefront will definitely keep most conservatives from casting their ballots for the LP candidate.
Wouldn't a satellite image be an aerial photograph?
Secondly, as I found this post by searching for "terra" (I knew someone would've asked about this already!)... What can be done to stop what's in motion already?
I love being able to access such photos for use with programs like Viking.
Is there something that we can do to stop the process, or should we sit around and bitch about it?
Runner's high is caused by endorphins, not adrenaline (I run distance too, so I'm quite familiar with the sensation). It's much more serene...
Oops.:) Is it also endorphins that are released when you feel pain? (i.e., don't spicy food lovers enjoy the endorphine rush?)
The rest of your comment was very well-spoken -- I think you're right that when you're riding on a competitive level, you probably are much more focused. I think you initially came off a bit dismissive/cynical with this:
> Maybe there's no incentive to play paintball without someone getting their
> organs shredded by hot, flesh-piercing projectiles. Roar!
The poster's intial point was that Laser Tag was just not as much fun as paintball, since when you're being shot at, there's no feedback to the players except a "beep" when you're out. You can't even adjust your aim with the "weapon", as you can't see your own "shots". For an outdoor battle game, there's too much simulation involved with the whole deal. It's too sterile.
"...adrenaline is not strictly neccessary for enjoyment."
But it certainly helps. After paragliding (tandem) in NZ last summer, I found my hands shaking and I could barely stand when we hit the ground again. The pilot just laughed and with his kiwi accent said, "That's just adrenaline, mate! That's the best drug there is."
It seems that you base your enjoyment on how much you use your skills, think, or even test your equipment... I'm guessing that's highly atypical. Most runners will tell you that they get a "runner's high" in addition to getting a great workout. And most experienced mountain bikers will take the steeper, faster downhill route because they over-stimulate their senses, casuing an adrenaline rush. The steeper route is just... more fun.
Paintballs zinging over your head (especially from strangers!) while you're ducked down trying to avoid the painful splat add a dimension to the game that LaserTag players just won't experience. This dimension (the adrenaline rush) is what keeps most people coming back.
- "browse-ahead" -- baess - Opera-like hotkey acc - Prefbar (waiting for t - Annotate Mode -- chan - Related to Annotate Mode: allowhe port; i - Thumbnail an entire site, the w - Optionally, play a sound w - Intelligent form fill in. Mozilla curren - Related to intelligent form fill in, add a "keystroke recorder" - Ship a few exemplary themes with th - Multi-line bookmark button bar. When - Word wrapping in the browse - Intelligent typo interpretation. Some
This was a call for new features that included machine learning -- not a sounding board for all new feature requests (although you have some good ones).
1) Who gets the bill when the system screws up and slams the nice $200K car instead of parking neatly next to it?
An interesting question. People familiar with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which will automatically slow your car down when the cruise is set to maintain a preset following distance from the slower-moving car in front of you, might ask the same question. The answer in the ACC case is the you as the driver must always have your car under control. In this case, it sounds as though the driver is completely removed from the loop, as the system uses hydraulic actuators to steer each front wheel. I doubt that in this configuration you could ever sell this system to the public...
2) How does the system deal with engine/linkage issues. Cars don't provide smooth power/steering at all times. If the engine is out of tune or has a catchy throttle, can the system deal with that as well as/better than a human?
This is handled the same way that traction control will handle it -- by using the car's electronic throttle. The S60 (and most new cars) does not have a conventional cable-actuated throttle... It uses a sensor at the throttle pedal and a servo at the throttle itself. By requesting an engine ouptut torque of "x", the engine computer will automatically select the position of the throttle. My guess is that this team did get a little help from Volvo in Sweden to make this happen. They'd need to know what CAN messages to send out in order to get the engine computer to listen to them. (normally this right is reserved for the ABS/traction control controller)
3) How is it told where to park? It would have been nice if it was clear in the video what the driver did to tell it that. The article alludes to some sort of analysis system for this, but I like pretty pictures.;)
There is another link that give a little more insight. It seems that the driver initiates a "scan" as he approaches a vacant parking space. As the car passes the space, the system determines whether or not the space is large enough. If so, the system alerts the driver and the driver brings the car to a stop. He activates the "park" command and the system takes over.
I am at pains to think of any way in which this rather pedestrian thing has any serious disadvantages over a real PDA. Anything of unlosable importance I copy into my personal wiki or addressbook.yahoo.com. Sure, I've thought about buying a real PDA! I settled on this because I didn't want to get some $300 device lost or stolen on a trip I was taking across Europe (that's what my iPod is for).
Things you shouldn't do with a paper notebook, or things that the paper notebook CAN'T do:
I just got a Palm Zire71 after living with my Danger Sidekick for the past nine months and I couldn't think of any practicle use for the Palm. While the surface area of the screen may be larger, I can't: [list of three things that you can only do with a connected device]
You were aware that the Zire couldn't do these things when you bought it, weren't you? The Sidekick is sold by TMobile as a phone with e-mail and IM services, plus it doubles as an organizer. The Zire has no wireless connectivity other than Bluetooth. Your complaints above don't seem to be valid. Further, why would you buy the Zire if you're perfectly happy with the organizing functions of the Sidekick?
But honestly, why would anyone carry two devices (mobile phone, organizer) when the Sidekick (or another similar device) offers the functionality of both?
One of the big limitations of most phones that have PDA functionality is the UI. I don't want to enter appointments with the tiny little keyboard on my phone. I prefer the pen input of the Palm when I'm in a meeting. The touch screen gets me to my datebook month or week view in a few taps.
Move to something like the Sidekick or the Treo, and you get a phone with PDA functionality, but you give up size. PDA phones are huge. I keep my standard, no-frills GSM phone in my pocket at all times, and at about 3 oz and a smaller footprint (4.0 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches) I don't even know it's there. (This is a cheap Siemens GSM M46 phone, has a calendar/AIM/e-mail capability w/ T-Mobile). As I mentioned, I don't use the calendar functions with the phone as the interface is too cumbersome.
T-Mobile (Danger) Sidekick
Size: 4.6 x 2.6 x 1.1 inches Weight: 6.0 ounces Included battery: Lithium ion Talk time: 3.5 hours Standby time: 2.5 days MSRP: $399 US
Source: T-Mobile.com
PalmOne Treo 600
Size: 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches Weight: 5.9 ounces (GSM model) Included battery: Lithium ion Talk time: 6 hours (GSM model) Standby time: 10 days (GSM model) MSRP: $449 US
Source: PalmOne.com
At any rate, if you're going to go with the larger PDA/phone solution, why not go with the Palm unit? An open API and thousands of available applications seems like a better route to me...
This is trivial beyond belief with an outstanding application called "USA Photomaps". I won't provide a link so only the truly interested will track it down.
I'm still using a dial-up.
I signed up for DSL about two years ago and received a call from EarthLink saying that it was not available in my area.
"Huh? I checked my number on your webpage and it said that it *was* available!"
"Sorry sir, that lookup isn't always accurate."
"Damn."
So, what to do now? I've been with EarthLink for almost six years now; changing my e-mail address now is a horror that I don't want to deal with.
I feel like I'm "forced" to be satisfied w/ dial-up.
I saw this line and immediately su'ed and tried to run "genlop". Nope, not there.
emerge -p genlop
Waiting... Yup, there is such a package!
So I emerged it. Actually, it's building right now while my KDE build is going on in the bg. (Still going after 9 hours) Okay, genlop is finished building, only took like a minute or two.
I know that kdelibs is done so I'm curious how long it took...
Tue Mar 30 14:06:19 2004 --> kde-base/kdelibs-3.2.1 merge time: 2 hours, 57 minutes, and 40 seconds.
Tue Mar 30 18:31:49 2004 --> kde-base/kdebase-3.2.1 merge time: 4 hours, 9 minutes, and 56 seconds.
Maybe that old box I've got taking up space in the basement would be a good distcc box after all...
You're being a bit overdramatic here. Yes an automaker can spend a year developing an engine calibration trying to get everthing PERFECT, but that doesn't mean you have to spend that much time or it's going to flat out suck. If that has the case companies like Haltech and Motec would die off pretty quickly.
We're not talking about whether it "sucks" or "doesn't suck". We're talking about maturity. Whether or not the calibration is "SALEable" to the general public. This means that the vehicle must run in all conditions and at all altitudes. Haltech makes ECUs that customers can reprogram themselves. Is your mom going to do this? Further, the type of person who reprograms their own ECU won't care if the car idles too fast, stalls when it shouldn't, or runs rich when it's cold. If you purchase a brand-new vehicle and it smokes like crazy, you'll bring it to the dealer.
As a matter of fact, if the "Check Engine" lamp (or any other lamp, for that matter) pops on for any reason during the warranty period, the customer usually takes the vehicle straight to the dealer. The dealer's mechanics get paid an hourly wage (on the OEMs dime -- the dealership bills warranty work to the OEM) and if necessary will replace the ECU. This is becoming more common as the software gets more complicated. The tech can't figure out the problem and will just replace the ECU. These units aren't cheap.
No, it's not overdramatic to say that it truly takes around 2 years to put a new engine or new hardware into series production. If a fleet of 20 durability vehicles has one "check engine" lamp appear during their 100,000 mile durability cycle, this is a HUGE problem to the OEM. 1/20 is not a good sign for a production run of 250,000 vehicles per year. (One of the larger SUVs has production numbers like this)
In fact, it actually takes a mere afternoon to build the calibration data. It takes a fair bit of equipment (diag station, dynamo, etc.), but the process is rather simple. (that is, for those that know how to do it.)
I work in vehicle development -- electronic braking systems.
Our module interfaces directly with the engine controller, as we request a torque reduction during traction control events.
It is entirely untrue that it takes a "mere afternoon" to build the calibration data. Testing is required at different altitudes and in different climates. You'll find auto testing going on everywhere from Wanaka, New Zealand (for wintery conditions in the middle of Michigan's summer) to Borrego Springs, California... Or up in Arvidsjaur, Sweden when it's -40.
A dyno and a diagnostic tool won't do much to simulate these climates and altitude variations. Throw a trailer on the vehicle and you'd never sell a car that you validated using the method you describe.
Depending on the maturity of the engine and the system as a whole (including sensors, fuel delivery systems, etc.) it takes at least a year, probably more like two years, to develop an engine calibration.
Because the implementation is new and safety-critical.
RTFA. There are still several open issues and this technology is hardly ready for production use. The FAQ gives up a lot of the more interesting and controversial issues:
Doesn't the crew need an override? (Currently there is no way for the crew to override this system once it becomes active!)
Isn't GPS vulnerable to attacks?
Can't the database [specifying no-fly zones] be hacked?
...why isn't this a major requirement for all new planes?
For the same reason that airbags should never have been mandated by the government until all safety implications were fully understood by their manufacturers. Now manufacturers are developing new airbags with variable inflation forces (depending on occupancy sensors) that hopefully won't blow grandma's head off because she sits "too close" to the steering wheel.
Such a question, "Why hasn't this been in use for a decade? After all, the technology is a decade old!" is foolish.
People who use free software are NOT getting screwed, they are running software the commercial world fails to deliver at any cost.
This must be sarcasm.
Most Linux GUI apps (especially the office apps) are attempting to clone the MS interface and functionality. KOffice is a perfect example -- the menu strcture is almost identical to MS Office!
Do me a favor and Google for "Linux database Access clone" and see how many people are looking for such a beast. Keep looking, you'll find discussion groups where people people proclaim that MS Access is not a "real" database application -- it is just a "toy".
Next do a search for "Kexi" and see the KOffice equivalent, in development. If you've ever used Access, you'll find that it looks like an exact clone, although it will use MySQL as a back-end.
Does anyone see the irony here? How annoying to think that commercial software is all crap when most OSS efforts are just clones of the commercial stuff... Linux itself is a "UNIX-like" OS.
I don't ever recall using an open source solid modeling or FEA package while I was getting my engineering degree, nor do I ever recall hearing about such a package being used in the auto industry. You won't find OSS packages that perform these very specialized tasks *better* than their commercial counterparts.
I am a Linux user. Like other Linux users, when I've got problems, I have no one to call or complain to... I just get to troll the forums, maybe post a questionm, hoping to get an answer or some help from the community. Most casual computer users (such as those in my family) won't do this.
Damn it... My mouth was open when I posted that last comment. Sorry about that.
At any rate, my only explanation for your dashboard problem in the nightmare 'Vette is possibly noise on the vehicle bus. The 'Vette was one of the first multiplexed vehicles that GM offered. The dash and all of the warning lamps, spedometer, etc. were all controlled by data packets on a serial bus.
I have seen EM fields wreak havoc on these sorts of systems... As this was an earlier one it probably wasn't as robust as those today.
Unfortunately, unless your '86 911 was heavily modified, it's not generating anything north of 300 horsepower. Certainly not over 400 horsepower, which would put it's output well above the current M3.
Slashdot Mirror
But no one's designs (or specifications, for that matter) are "open" -- Each manufacturer has to design their own equipment, and in the long run, they're all starting to operate the same way as they continue to copy each other.
Sorry, but I happen to like the way my car's controls are arranged, and the quality they have. I'd be really pissed off if everyone just standardized on crappy GM (or whatever) equipment in their cars, and all had a GM look-and-feel. If some moron can't quickly adapt to the headlights being on a stalk instead of a switch, then maybe they shouldn't be operating a motor vehicle.
With all due respect, you seem to be contradicting yourself. On one hand you like your vehicle's environment, but on the other hand you're saying that if there was a standard vehicle environment that wasn't like the one you're used to, people that can't easily adapt are morons.
>>And this is called "Good Engineering," kinda like what's happened with wheels.
While you may learn a thing or two about new wheel design by looking at what your competitors are doing, their changes are not "open". If a company comes up with a novel new manufacturing or durability improvement, that company's competitors will have to reverse engineer the new product, scrambling to catch up.
This is commonplace in the automotive world. The big three will purchase "competitive benchmark vehicles", instrument the hell out of them, and try to figure out why BMW is the "Ultimate Driving Machine".
The beauty of OSS, in my opinion, is that you can see how everything works... Want to see how Mozilla classifies junkmail? Go ahead and look at the code. Use this code in your own project if you wish. Find a bug and suggest a fix. Suggest new features using community tools like Bugzilla and track development progress. It's amazing.
The downfall, at least as I see it, is the "competition" among projects. KDE v. Gnome, vi v. emacs, Gentoo v. Slackware, etc. etc.
Developers end up working on solving the SAME problems in different projects. Another complaint is the lack of a consistent "look and feel" of GUI applications -- everyone does things their own way, not necessarily gaining anything from the past experience of other projects.
Example: Why does the KDE team invest in their own browser and office suite, instead of concentrating those efforts on Mozilla and OpenOffice.org? It seems that most any OSS "peg" could be modified to fit into any hole, round or square, while capatializing on the continued free development of the peg.
"they're obviously not tested well enough," i told him.
In any industry (I'm speaking from automotive), there are three types of failures:
Things you know that you know (legacy failures -- you've already designed your product around these failures)
Things you know that you don't know (and will test before production)
Things you don't know that you don't know (and therefore how can you test for these failures?)
FYI: The LP also opposses the minimum wage.
This is so true.
After signing up for the electronic LP newsletter over a year ago, I started receiving information from my state's (Michigan) LP. One suck newsletter I received contained several misspellings and grammatical errors, which IMHO discredits the information within.
Reading further, the newsletter invited readers to go to the Michigan LP convention. In was no coincidence that the convention was taking place in on the same day as Ann Arbor's famous "hash bash", and starting at "high" noon. (quotes around 'high' were included in the article) I got the joke, but found myself not taking the LP very seriously afterward.
I agree with most of the party's views, including marijuana law, however putting it [very liberal drug policy] at the forefront will definitely keep most conservatives from casting their ballots for the LP candidate.
Secondly, as I found this post by searching for "terra" (I knew someone would've asked about this already!)... What can be done to stop what's in motion already?
I love being able to access such photos for use with programs like Viking.
Is there something that we can do to stop the process, or should we sit around and bitch about it?
Written by Stephan Kulow.
Did he use RTAI?
How did he interface with the hardware?
What language was the software coded in?
In fact, I see no mention at all about the carwash being Linux powered... Arguably in the title?
Can anyone point the way to more info about the carwash?
If he did manage to do this, it would IMO be a better pursuit than the store.
Oops. :) Is it also endorphins that are released when you feel pain? (i.e., don't spicy food lovers enjoy the endorphine rush?)
The rest of your comment was very well-spoken -- I think you're right that when you're riding on a competitive level, you probably are much more focused. I think you initially came off a bit dismissive/cynical with this:
> Maybe there's no incentive to play paintball without someone getting their
> organs shredded by hot, flesh-piercing projectiles. Roar!
The poster's intial point was that Laser Tag was just not as much fun as paintball, since when you're being shot at, there's no feedback to the players except a "beep" when you're out. You can't even adjust your aim with the "weapon", as you can't see your own "shots". For an outdoor battle game, there's too much simulation involved with the whole deal. It's too sterile.
But it certainly helps. After paragliding (tandem) in NZ last summer, I found my hands shaking and I could barely stand when we hit the ground again. The pilot just laughed and with his kiwi accent said, "That's just adrenaline, mate! That's the best drug there is."
It seems that you base your enjoyment on how much you use your skills, think, or even test your equipment... I'm guessing that's highly atypical. Most runners will tell you that they get a "runner's high" in addition to getting a great workout. And most experienced mountain bikers will take the steeper, faster downhill route because they over-stimulate their senses, casuing an adrenaline rush. The steeper route is just... more fun.
Paintballs zinging over your head (especially from strangers!) while you're ducked down trying to avoid the painful splat add a dimension to the game that LaserTag players just won't experience. This dimension (the adrenaline rush) is what keeps most people coming back.
An interesting question. People familiar with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which will automatically slow your car down when the cruise is set to maintain a preset following distance from the slower-moving car in front of you, might ask the same question. The answer in the ACC case is the you as the driver must always have your car under control. In this case, it sounds as though the driver is completely removed from the loop, as the system uses hydraulic actuators to steer each front wheel. I doubt that in this configuration you could ever sell this system to the public...
2) How does the system deal with engine/linkage issues. Cars don't provide smooth power/steering at all times. If the engine is out of tune or has a catchy throttle, can the system deal with that as well as/better than a human?
This is handled the same way that traction control will handle it -- by using the car's electronic throttle. The S60 (and most new cars) does not have a conventional cable-actuated throttle... It uses a sensor at the throttle pedal and a servo at the throttle itself. By requesting an engine ouptut torque of "x", the engine computer will automatically select the position of the throttle. My guess is that this team did get a little help from Volvo in Sweden to make this happen. They'd need to know what CAN messages to send out in order to get the engine computer to listen to them. (normally this right is reserved for the ABS/traction control controller)
3) How is it told where to park? It would have been nice if it was clear in the video what the driver did to tell it that. The article alludes to some sort of analysis system for this, but I like pretty pictures. ;)
There is another link that give a little more insight. It seems that the driver initiates a "scan" as he approaches a vacant parking space. As the car passes the space, the system determines whether or not the space is large enough. If so, the system alerts the driver and the driver brings the car to a stop. He activates the "park" command and the system takes over.
Things you shouldn't do with a paper notebook, or things that the paper notebook CAN'T do:
Store sensitive information
Backup data
Remind you of appointments or tasks (x days in advance, every year, every month, etc.)
Function as an alarm clock
Function as an MP3 player
Perform unit conversions
Search through entire contents instantly
Automate expense reports
Record voice memos
etc
You were aware that the Zire couldn't do these things when you bought it, weren't you? The Sidekick is sold by TMobile as a phone with e-mail and IM services, plus it doubles as an organizer. The Zire has no wireless connectivity other than Bluetooth. Your complaints above don't seem to be valid. Further, why would you buy the Zire if you're perfectly happy with the organizing functions of the Sidekick?
But honestly, why would anyone carry two devices (mobile phone, organizer) when the Sidekick (or another similar device) offers the functionality of both?
One of the big limitations of most phones that have PDA functionality is the UI. I don't want to enter appointments with the tiny little keyboard on my phone. I prefer the pen input of the Palm when I'm in a meeting. The touch screen gets me to my datebook month or week view in a few taps.
Move to something like the Sidekick or the Treo, and you get a phone with PDA functionality, but you give up size. PDA phones are huge. I keep my standard, no-frills GSM phone in my pocket at all times, and at about 3 oz and a smaller footprint (4.0 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches) I don't even know it's there. (This is a cheap Siemens GSM M46 phone, has a calendar/AIM/e-mail capability w/ T-Mobile). As I mentioned, I don't use the calendar functions with the phone as the interface is too cumbersome.
T-Mobile (Danger) Sidekick
Source: T-Mobile.comPalmOne Treo 600
Source: PalmOne.comAt any rate, if you're going to go with the larger PDA/phone solution, why not go with the Palm unit? An open API and thousands of available applications seems like a better route to me...
RTFA and you won't need to provide a link.
GTK-based program that will overlay tracks and waypoints onto TerraServer images. Development has been coming along nicely...
I'm still using a dial-up. I signed up for DSL about two years ago and received a call from EarthLink saying that it was not available in my area. "Huh? I checked my number on your webpage and it said that it *was* available!" "Sorry sir, that lookup isn't always accurate." "Damn." So, what to do now? I've been with EarthLink for almost six years now; changing my e-mail address now is a horror that I don't want to deal with. I feel like I'm "forced" to be satisfied w/ dial-up.
I saw this line and immediately su'ed and tried to run "genlop". Nope, not there.
emerge -p genlop
Waiting... Yup, there is such a package!
So I emerged it. Actually, it's building right now while my KDE build is going on in the bg. (Still going after 9 hours) Okay, genlop is finished building, only took like a minute or two.
I know that kdelibs is done so I'm curious how long it took...
Maybe that old box I've got taking up space in the basement would be a good distcc box after all...
We're not talking about whether it "sucks" or "doesn't suck". We're talking about maturity. Whether or not the calibration is "SALEable" to the general public. This means that the vehicle must run in all conditions and at all altitudes. Haltech makes ECUs that customers can reprogram themselves. Is your mom going to do this? Further, the type of person who reprograms their own ECU won't care if the car idles too fast, stalls when it shouldn't, or runs rich when it's cold. If you purchase a brand-new vehicle and it smokes like crazy, you'll bring it to the dealer.
As a matter of fact, if the "Check Engine" lamp (or any other lamp, for that matter) pops on for any reason during the warranty period, the customer usually takes the vehicle straight to the dealer. The dealer's mechanics get paid an hourly wage (on the OEMs dime -- the dealership bills warranty work to the OEM) and if necessary will replace the ECU. This is becoming more common as the software gets more complicated. The tech can't figure out the problem and will just replace the ECU. These units aren't cheap.
No, it's not overdramatic to say that it truly takes around 2 years to put a new engine or new hardware into series production. If a fleet of 20 durability vehicles has one "check engine" lamp appear during their 100,000 mile durability cycle, this is a HUGE problem to the OEM. 1/20 is not a good sign for a production run of 250,000 vehicles per year. (One of the larger SUVs has production numbers like this)
I work in vehicle development -- electronic braking systems.
Our module interfaces directly with the engine controller, as we request a torque reduction during traction control events.
It is entirely untrue that it takes a "mere afternoon" to build the calibration data. Testing is required at different altitudes and in different climates. You'll find auto testing going on everywhere from Wanaka, New Zealand (for wintery conditions in the middle of Michigan's summer) to Borrego Springs, California... Or up in Arvidsjaur, Sweden when it's -40. A dyno and a diagnostic tool won't do much to simulate these climates and altitude variations. Throw a trailer on the vehicle and you'd never sell a car that you validated using the method you describe. Depending on the maturity of the engine and the system as a whole (including sensors, fuel delivery systems, etc.) it takes at least a year, probably more like two years, to develop an engine calibration.
Because the implementation is new and safety-critical.
RTFA. There are still several open issues and this technology is hardly ready for production use. The FAQ gives up a lot of the more interesting and controversial issues:
Doesn't the crew need an override? (Currently there is no way for the crew to override this system once it becomes active!)
Isn't GPS vulnerable to attacks?
Can't the database [specifying no-fly zones] be hacked?
SoftWalls FAQ
For the same reason that airbags should never have been mandated by the government until all safety implications were fully understood by their manufacturers. Now manufacturers are developing new airbags with variable inflation forces (depending on occupancy sensors) that hopefully won't blow grandma's head off because she sits "too close" to the steering wheel.
Such a question, "Why hasn't this been in use for a decade? After all, the technology is a decade old!" is foolish.
This must be sarcasm.
Most Linux GUI apps (especially the office apps) are attempting to clone the MS interface and functionality. KOffice is a perfect example -- the menu strcture is almost identical to MS Office!
Do me a favor and Google for "Linux database Access clone" and see how many people are looking for such a beast. Keep looking, you'll find discussion groups where people people proclaim that MS Access is not a "real" database application -- it is just a "toy".
Next do a search for "Kexi" and see the KOffice equivalent, in development. If you've ever used Access, you'll find that it looks like an exact clone, although it will use MySQL as a back-end.
Does anyone see the irony here? How annoying to think that commercial software is all crap when most OSS efforts are just clones of the commercial stuff... Linux itself is a "UNIX-like" OS.
I don't ever recall using an open source solid modeling or FEA package while I was getting my engineering degree, nor do I ever recall hearing about such a package being used in the auto industry. You won't find OSS packages that perform these very specialized tasks *better* than their commercial counterparts.
I am a Linux user. Like other Linux users, when I've got problems, I have no one to call or complain to... I just get to troll the forums, maybe post a questionm, hoping to get an answer or some help from the community. Most casual computer users (such as those in my family) won't do this.
"Are they even SELLing that machine anymore? Or are they just being ***s?"
"(But I do hope that Roland can't come up with the required evidence -- free beer is fine by me ;-))"
"When [Roland] say they are sorry, then we can begin to think about being nice to them again."
If this were the other way around, the same users (likely not innovators themselves) would be outraged.
Mind-boggling.
At any rate, my only explanation for your dashboard problem in the nightmare 'Vette is possibly noise on the vehicle bus. The 'Vette was one of the first multiplexed vehicles that GM offered. The dash and all of the warning lamps, spedometer, etc. were all controlled by data packets on a serial bus.
I have seen EM fields wreak havoc on these sorts of systems... As this was an earlier one it probably wasn't as robust as those today.
Is your 911 Turbo modified?
Unfortunately, unless your '86 911 was heavily modified, it's not generating anything north of 300 horsepower. Certainly not over 400 horsepower, which would put it's output well above the current M3.
My only explanation for your dashboard prob