Ohh, yeah. Once they get it working it works fine, while cable tends to break every time your neighbors hook up another TV. At least in my own experience. Dealing with VZ DSL is also trivial and easy, as long as what you want to do is trivial. I figure, if my friend:
1. disconnected his account; 2. waited for the above transaction to clear; 3. signed up for another account at his new place.
everything would be just hunky-dory. But she did something non-trivial - placed a move order. That's what broke Verizon's ability to cope:-)
Hmm. Pencil is more expressive, sure. But how are you going to e-mail your notes to people? I mean, you could e-mail graphics, but nothing beats plain text. And how are you going to intersperse your math with text? You don't propose actually writing text with the pencil, do you?
A friend of mine moved on September 1st. Verizon took almost 2 months to fuck around with his move order, finally getting his DSL up on October 24th. There were no technical problems. The customer service people at Verizon were corteous, smart and full of energy, and desire to help. They apologized every time she called. They has an explanation ready (the best of which was "your order seems to have fallen through the cracks"). They promised to fix everything by the end of the next week. At which point she got another e-mail from Verizon saying "Your service ready date has been moved. Your new service ready date is...". This happened 4 times, until finally they hooked her up, almost 2 month after her move. Now, from what I understand, hooking up a DSL service involves swapping a line card at the central office (unless your line has a DSL line card already), and pressing a few keys on a computer. So, WTF?
Now, lets get back on topic. I don't quite believe that you will actually see your fiber working for a year or two. Verizon is bound to fuck up your order. You will be using dial-up the whole time. In other words, you will be better off staying on your DSL until some other provider than Verizon offers fiber, and save yourself the trouble. In any case, best of luck to you:-).
First, it's TeX, not Tex. Secondly, TeX goes through email, and most people who care to read it unrendered very easily, so they don't need to install any dopy software just to read teo little formulas in my e-mail. Plus, TeX math notation is fast to type, and you only need to learn a page or so from the TeX manual in order to be able to use it for math. So, how is this Dasher thing better?
For math notation, no matter how good this might be, TeX is better. First, it goes through e-mail, and it's easy to read unrendered. I.e., people I send TeX notation to are guaranteed to be able to read it, without having to install software that doesn't necessarily exist for their favorite OS. Unless they are too lazy to learn the two pages of TeX documentation that list the math notation:-). Secondly, it's fast to type, and you don't need to take your hands off the keyboard. I doubt that there is any input system for math notation that's better than TeX.
Anyone who's ever written (or tried to write) USB interface code knows that's Hell to work with.
From personal experience, serial interface code is even usually more of a hell to work with than USB. The personal experience I'm talking about includes about 20 of each of USB and serial interfaced devices, both firmware and drivers.
You see, USB has some structure to it, control and data channels (called "pipes"). Control channels define a standard format for messages. Both control and data channels support error control by retransmission, and some other nifty features. You don't have to re-invent anything, the whole protocol has been designed for you, OSI layers 1 through 6 for custom devices. Standard device classes that have a device class defined for them effectively have application layer defined too. You can use your valuable design time to concentrate on functionality. Implementation is non-trivial, but you can easily lift most of it from some sample code that the USB chip vendor gives you with their SDK.
With serial ports, on the other hand, you have to design and write the whole darn thing, layers 2 through 7, every time over again. The first time you do it, it's fun, almost like a class project from school. Then it grows old quickly. For a data channel, you basically need a simplified version of TCP/IP. For control you need guaranteed delivery of command packets. Not rocket science, but consider that USB does it all for you right off the bat.
Besides, you rs232 geeks should know that you can by a USB-to-serial adapter chip for, like, 50 cents. Stick it on your board, hook up to USB, and voila - you got yourslf a serial interface on both the host OS and the firmware ends, only much faster. Highly recommend:-). Can't give you a reference off the bat, but I think TI makes one of these.
So you want to miss the point entirely so that you can pretend you've won the argument?
No. I want to miss the argument entirely. I want a different argument - hardware comparison only. So take that OSX and stuff it (preferably with the X side facing up:-) I don't care. I know it's "better". I just don't give a flying fuck.
Check out any recent IBM thinkpad. They also have a full port complement, and nice battery life. The thing is, you just can't get a thinkpad with the same specs, as this iBook. Even the low-end thinkpads are are much more powerfull (and more expensive). You'd have to find a 2-yr-old used one to get a machine with the same specs, and it would cost you $700 or so. So, what's the deal?
I call BS. Usability is usability and speed is part of it. You can't always replace speed with convinient menus and nifty icons. The only thing I care about while waiting for photoshop to run a filter over a 200MB graphics file is how long it's going to take. Seriously - a computer is not a palm pilot, and "the zen of palm" doesn't apply.
...or is this machine really seem like the thing from last year? Now I'm a PC person, never used a mac before for anything serious. So now I'm looking at these there specs and I see 1.3GHz clock, 133MHz FSB, 256MB RAM, 512 MB cache. New PC laptops with these specs were hot, what, at least 2 years ago. So what's the deal? Are the PowerPC cpus that much faster clock per clock? Is memory used that much more efficiently?
Sooo.... people who can't defend themselves in court are free to break the law from a moral standpoint?
I didn't say that. What I said was it's not okay for a large company to sue individuals. Now, assuming that you have any ability at all to invoke the power of logic, you should be able to realize that these two things are not the same. Learn to read before taking up writing.
I really need to be reachable at all times, and I won't go to a movie theater that jams calls. It's bad enough they make you turn the thing off on airplanes and in hospitals. I never let my phone ring in the theater, though. I set it to vibrate, and, if the call is really important, go out of the theater to talk. If it's less important I let it go to voice mail, and maybe text back.
So, instead of jamming, why not allow the cell to automatically set the phone on vibrate? Or, at least, not jam text messaging.
It's okay to sue large well-budgeted entities, like companies, because they have money to defend themselves.
It's not okay for a large company to sue individuals, because it's like shooting fish in the bucket.
It's not okay to strengthen laws against technology that has any legal use whatsoever, because, well, it has legal use. That said, I can't think about a technology that doesn't have a legal use.
It's not okay to pass laws that increase IP protection, because there is more than enough already, and it really gets in the way of progress as it is.
Now, RIAA behaviour is despicable because they sue people who can't defend themselves, not because the illegal filesharers are right.
I hope that at a minimum, China is putting some serious resources into educating their population about how HIV/AIDS works...
No. They just shoot prostitutes. The last time I checked, prostitution was a capital offence, or close the that. So, you'd think with this attitude towards sex, China would be immune to AIDS, but, unfortunately, AIDS is not only transmitted by sex. The Chinese had a blood drive, to acquire volunteers' blood for transfusions, and they didn't sterilize the equipment enough... I think they paid the volunteers, so lots of poor peasants participated. So they got a large portion of the population infected; people that you'd never think would be at risk.
Slashdot Mirror
..Soylent Green
But like Picasso's ..., sometimes it takes a different era to appreciate them, especially when the person's dead.
Talk about Necromania:-)
..ehr, wait..
Ohh, yeah. Once they get it working it works fine, while cable tends to break every time your neighbors hook up another TV. At least in my own experience. Dealing with VZ DSL is also trivial and easy, as long as what you want to do is trivial. I figure, if my friend:
1. disconnected his account;
2. waited for the above transaction to clear;
3. signed up for another account at his new place.
everything would be just hunky-dory. But she did something non-trivial - placed a move order. That's what broke Verizon's ability to cope:-)
I want to do some research into, hmm, well... you know... pr0n.
Hmm. Pencil is more expressive, sure. But how are you going to e-mail your notes to people? I mean, you could e-mail graphics, but nothing beats plain text. And how are you going to intersperse your math with text? You don't propose actually writing text with the pencil, do you?
A friend of mine moved on September 1st. Verizon took almost 2 months to fuck around with his move order, finally getting his DSL up on October 24th. There were no technical problems. The customer service people at Verizon were corteous, smart and full of energy, and desire to help. They apologized every time she called. They has an explanation ready (the best of which was "your order seems to have fallen through the cracks"). They promised to fix everything by the end of the next week. At which point she got another e-mail from Verizon saying "Your service ready date has been moved. Your new service ready date is...". This happened 4 times, until finally they hooked her up, almost 2 month after her move. Now, from what I understand, hooking up a DSL service involves swapping a line card at the central office (unless your line has a DSL line card already), and pressing a few keys on a computer. So, WTF?
Now, lets get back on topic. I don't quite believe that you will actually see your fiber working for a year or two. Verizon is bound to fuck up your order. You will be using dial-up the whole time. In other words, you will be better off staying on your DSL until some other provider than Verizon offers fiber, and save yourself the trouble. In any case, best of luck to you:-).
I'm so sick of *Tex
First, it's TeX, not Tex. Secondly, TeX goes through email, and most people who care to read it unrendered very easily, so they don't need to install any dopy software just to read teo little formulas in my e-mail. Plus, TeX math notation is fast to type, and you only need to learn a page or so from the TeX manual in order to be able to use it for math. So, how is this Dasher thing better?
For math notation, no matter how good this might be, TeX is better. First, it goes through e-mail, and it's easy to read unrendered. I.e., people I send TeX notation to are guaranteed to be able to read it, without having to install software that doesn't necessarily exist for their favorite OS. Unless they are too lazy to learn the two pages of TeX documentation that list the math notation:-). Secondly, it's fast to type, and you don't need to take your hands off the keyboard. I doubt that there is any input system for math notation that's better than TeX.
He's Romanian:
o t+ frate+belea&btnG=Google+Search
.ro? He must be Romanian.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=inca+un+ro
See how most of the results are in
Should work just fine, and plenty of games would fit on a CD.
Anyone who's ever written (or tried to write) USB interface code knows that's Hell to work with.
From personal experience, serial interface code is even usually more of a hell to work with than USB. The personal experience I'm talking about includes about 20 of each of USB and serial interfaced devices, both firmware and drivers.
You see, USB has some structure to it, control and data channels (called "pipes"). Control channels define a standard format for messages. Both control and data channels support error control by retransmission, and some other nifty features. You don't have to re-invent anything, the whole protocol has been designed for you, OSI layers 1 through 6 for custom devices. Standard device classes that have a device class defined for them effectively have application layer defined too. You can use your valuable design time to concentrate on functionality. Implementation is non-trivial, but you can easily lift most of it from some sample code that the USB chip vendor gives you with their SDK.
With serial ports, on the other hand, you have to design and write the whole darn thing, layers 2 through 7, every time over again. The first time you do it, it's fun, almost like a class project from school. Then it grows old quickly. For a data channel, you basically need a simplified version of TCP/IP. For control you need guaranteed delivery of command packets. Not rocket science, but consider that USB does it all for you right off the bat.
Besides, you rs232 geeks should know that you can by a USB-to-serial adapter chip for, like, 50 cents. Stick it on your board, hook up to USB, and voila - you got yourslf a serial interface on both the host OS and the firmware ends, only much faster. Highly recommend:-). Can't give you a reference off the bat, but I think TI makes one of these.
I mean, there is just one ON/OFF button on the remote?
So you want to miss the point entirely so that you can pretend you've won the argument?
No. I want to miss the argument entirely. I want a different argument - hardware comparison only. So take that OSX and stuff it (preferably with the X side facing up:-) I don't care. I know it's "better". I just don't give a flying fuck.
Check out any recent IBM thinkpad. They also have a full port complement, and nice battery life. The thing is, you just can't get a thinkpad with the same specs, as this iBook. Even the low-end thinkpads are are much more powerfull (and more expensive). You'd have to find a 2-yr-old used one to get a machine with the same specs, and it would cost you $700 or so. So, what's the deal?
I call BS. Usability is usability and speed is part of it. You can't always replace speed with convinient menus and nifty icons. The only thing I care about while waiting for photoshop to run a filter over a 200MB graphics file is how long it's going to take. Seriously - a computer is not a palm pilot, and "the zen of palm" doesn't apply.
You are ignoring the most important part of the computer: the software.
Exactly. Thats the idea. I want to compare hardware only.
Plus you won't get pwn3d in your first five minutes online.
Heard of linux? "PC" doesn't necessarily equal "Windows".
...or is this machine really seem like the thing from last year? Now I'm a PC person, never used a mac before for anything serious. So now I'm looking at these there specs and I see 1.3GHz clock, 133MHz FSB, 256MB RAM, 512 MB cache. New PC laptops with these specs were hot, what, at least 2 years ago. So what's the deal? Are the PowerPC cpus that much faster clock per clock? Is memory used that much more efficiently?
You haven't tried their spam filter, have you? It sucks stones, really.
Sooo.... people who can't defend themselves in court are free to break the law from a moral standpoint?
I didn't say that. What I said was it's not okay for a large company to sue individuals. Now, assuming that you have any ability at all to invoke the power of logic, you should be able to realize that these two things are not the same. Learn to read before taking up writing.
I really need to be reachable at all times, and I won't go to a movie theater that jams calls. It's bad enough they make you turn the thing off on airplanes and in hospitals. I never let my phone ring in the theater, though. I set it to vibrate, and, if the call is really important, go out of the theater to talk. If it's less important I let it go to voice mail, and maybe text back.
So, instead of jamming, why not allow the cell to automatically set the phone on vibrate? Or, at least, not jam text messaging.
It's okay to sue large well-budgeted entities, like companies, because they have money to defend themselves.
It's not okay for a large company to sue individuals, because it's like shooting fish in the bucket.
It's not okay to strengthen laws against technology that has any legal use whatsoever, because, well, it has legal use. That said, I can't think about a technology that doesn't have a legal use.
It's not okay to pass laws that increase IP protection, because there is more than enough already, and it really gets in the way of progress as it is.
Now, RIAA behaviour is despicable because they sue people who can't defend themselves, not because the illegal filesharers are right.
I hope that at a minimum, China is putting some serious resources into educating their population about how HIV/AIDS works...
No. They just shoot prostitutes. The last time I checked, prostitution was a capital offence, or close the that. So, you'd think with this attitude towards sex, China would be immune to AIDS, but, unfortunately, AIDS is not only transmitted by sex. The Chinese had a blood drive, to acquire volunteers' blood for transfusions, and they didn't sterilize the equipment enough... I think they paid the volunteers, so lots of poor peasants participated. So they got a large portion of the population infected; people that you'd never think would be at risk.
Because of the elections, you insensitive clod!