Every once in a while, something comes along in the computer industry that really surprises me. The first time this happened was in the early 1980s, when the first personal computing stores showed up in shopping malls. The second time was when I took the first Internet browser out for a spin and found a new universe of Web sites. The third occasion was using Altavista. I'm still amazed by how well search engines work.
A new "surprise" has been gradually creeping up on me, and I don't know whether to admire it or heap scorn on it. So I'll do both, by turns. It's called overclocking--driving your computer faster than its specifications allow. HOT RODS, MUSCLE CARS, INSANITY
In the 1950s and 1960s, one cool thing for high school or college students to do was to "soup up" their automobiles. While I wasn't personally afflicted with this particular malady, it was part of the general culture, at least in the US. The symptoms included an oversized, overpowered American car, an air scoop for the engine, a new hood with a hole for the air scoop, a wing-like deflector on the back (to keep the back end pushed against the ground while driving at supersonic speeds), replacement of the muffler with chrome pipes that resonated most alarmingly, a metallic green or blue paint job, reverb springs on the AM radio and 8-track tape player, and some kind of cheesy fire motif adorning the fenders.
In an era when pollution and fuel economy were blithely ignored, my crazy neighbor even put a nitro engine in his car so that he could leave even more rubber on the pavement than a normal overpowered V-8 allowed. If the crazy part isn't obvious yet, consider this: This beast burned fuel like a brush fire, fuel that cost three times as much as gasoline and was available from only one station in the entire city. To the extent that this assemblage was intended as a babe magnet, there is some question about the wisdom of limiting its range to a one-mile radius around a single filling station.
Why would people do this? Too much time and money on their hands is one plausible explanation, and it's at least a prerequisite for any other explanations. But there is also something to admire here--people who modify their vehicles this extensively are obviously not afraid of technology. They get their hands dirty. They want to know how things really work. They're not content to treat technology as a closed black box; in fact, they don't really trust technology that must be approached in that way. Except for their lack of parsimony, and their willingness to take naive, unjustified chances with technology, they sound like engineers. PC TWEAKING
Overclocking has been around since the early 1990s, but it seems to be gaining popularity. I recently saw a magazine called PC Modder in my local supermarket. (Yes, not a specialty bookstore, not the local PC repair shop--the supermarket.) It has step-by-step tutorials on everything from CPU, chipset, DRAM, and video card overclocking techniques to special cooling arrangements (yes, including compressor-based refrigerators) to painting orange and red flames on the sides of the computer skins that any 1950s hot-rodder would immediately recognize. One person even installed the dashboard of a car into his PC and wired the gauges to reflect machine temperature, CPU load, and memory activity. There is actually a company that will help you perform such a tachometer modification on your PC.
Just as with hot rods, there is a community here. Hot-rodders liked the idea that they not only could rebel against what the big companies were foisting on them, they could improve on it. As they say in PC Modder, "The allure of modding is pretty elementary. If some power is good, then more power must be even better. And if you look good in the process, well, that doesn't hurt, either . [A] strong sense of community is one of the reasons modding is so much fun."
A current TV commercial starts with one guy showing off the engine of his car t
It's encouraging to see unemployeed techs finally taking advantage of all that time they spent fixing friends computers for free. I know I'm usually the first one several of my friends and family call when their computer starts acting weird, and all they want to do is send email.
Now if somebody was really smart, they'd find a way to get partnered with the local Best Buy and could probably turn it into a full time job. You'd be amazed at how much people are willing to pay if you can bring some sanity to their assorted home electronics. My mom loves the 3 page FAQ I made for her that goes step by step how to do everything with the home theatre system my Dad has. She used to not watch any DVDs just because she was scared to touch anything.
I was deeply concerned about it when I was watching this Monday's WWE Raw. For a few seconds there I was wondering why I was getting that ticker when I was getting that channel through a cable company.
No, the general quality of entertainers (notice I did not say "musicians" or "artists") on MTV (a channel you watch) has decreased.
STOP COMPLAINING! Who cares what MTV has to offer!
Artists on MTV / ClearChannel radio might constitute the majority of music industry sales but it's only because of people like you perpetuating these idiots. DON'T BUY CRAP MUSIC. That's the best way for music to improve.
I've spent plenty of money on Radiohead, Coldplay, Kronos Quarter, Placebo, John Coltrane, DJ Shadow, Turin Brakes, Goldfrapp, Money Mark, Yo La Tengo, Spiritualized, Royksopp, MC Paul Barman, and countless others. Why? Because I haven't allowed myself to be marketed to by the major labels or Viacom's television network or magazines, and I pick up stuff based on what I like, not what I am told to like.
Now, this might be a revolutionary way of thinking, but I'm sick and tired of people complaining they don't like artists that are being marketed to them. Go get yourself some taste in music and free will and discover artists on your own and stop complaining about the newest Creed album.
Slashdot Mirror
/dev/lp0: Printer on fire!
crap post
suck it
The Zen of Overclocking
Bob Colwell
Every once in a while, something comes along in the computer industry that really surprises me. The first time this happened was in the early 1980s, when the first personal computing stores showed up in shopping malls. The second time was when I took the first Internet browser out for a spin and found a new universe of Web sites. The third occasion was using Altavista. I'm still amazed by how well search engines work.
A new "surprise" has been gradually creeping up on me, and I don't know whether to admire it or heap scorn on it. So I'll do both, by turns. It's called overclocking--driving your computer faster than its specifications allow.
HOT RODS, MUSCLE CARS, INSANITY
In the 1950s and 1960s, one cool thing for high school or college students to do was to "soup up" their automobiles. While I wasn't personally afflicted with this particular malady, it was part of the general culture, at least in the US. The symptoms included an oversized, overpowered American car, an air scoop for the engine, a new hood with a hole for the air scoop, a wing-like deflector on the back (to keep the back end pushed against the ground while driving at supersonic speeds), replacement of the muffler with chrome pipes that resonated most alarmingly, a metallic green or blue paint job, reverb springs on the AM radio and 8-track tape player, and some kind of cheesy fire motif adorning the fenders.
In an era when pollution and fuel economy were blithely ignored, my crazy neighbor even put a nitro engine in his car so that he could leave even more rubber on the pavement than a normal overpowered V-8 allowed. If the crazy part isn't obvious yet, consider this: This beast burned fuel like a brush fire, fuel that cost three times as much as gasoline and was available from only one station in the entire city. To the extent that this assemblage was intended as a babe magnet, there is some question about the wisdom of limiting its range to a one-mile radius around a single filling station.
Why would people do this? Too much time and money on their hands is one plausible explanation, and it's at least a prerequisite for any other explanations. But there is also something to admire here--people who modify their vehicles this extensively are obviously not afraid of technology. They get their hands dirty. They want to know how things really work. They're not content to treat technology as a closed black box; in fact, they don't really trust technology that must be approached in that way. Except for their lack of parsimony, and their willingness to take naive, unjustified chances with technology, they sound like engineers.
PC TWEAKING
Overclocking has been around since the early 1990s, but it seems to be gaining popularity. I recently saw a magazine called PC Modder in my local supermarket. (Yes, not a specialty bookstore, not the local PC repair shop--the supermarket.) It has step-by-step tutorials on everything from CPU, chipset, DRAM, and video card overclocking techniques to special cooling arrangements (yes, including compressor-based refrigerators) to painting orange and red flames on the sides of the computer skins that any 1950s hot-rodder would immediately recognize. One person even installed the dashboard of a car into his PC and wired the gauges to reflect machine temperature, CPU load, and memory activity. There is actually a company that will help you perform such a tachometer modification on your PC.
Just as with hot rods, there is a community here. Hot-rodders liked the idea that they not only could rebel against what the big companies were foisting on them, they could improve on it. As they say in PC Modder, "The allure of modding is pretty elementary. If some power is good, then more power must be even better. And if you look good in the process, well, that doesn't hurt, either . [A] strong sense of community is one of the reasons modding is so much fun."
A current TV commercial starts with one guy showing off the engine of his car t
It's encouraging to see unemployeed techs finally taking advantage of all that time they spent fixing friends computers for free. I know I'm usually the first one several of my friends and family call when their computer starts acting weird, and all they want to do is send email.
Now if somebody was really smart, they'd find a way to get partnered with the local Best Buy and could probably turn it into a full time job. You'd be amazed at how much people are willing to pay if you can bring some sanity to their assorted home electronics. My mom loves the 3 page FAQ I made for her that goes step by step how to do everything with the home theatre system my Dad has. She used to not watch any DVDs just because she was scared to touch anything.
did you let him know that his job is cheaper outsourced as well?
Just imagine if they try to outsource the plumbing in your house...
Do it on TV and maybe I'll take it seriously.
-FCC employee
Whack, it's just another form of cheap labor; a John Kerry two-faced issue.
LNG is Not GNU
Long live Ogg and all of her open source glory!
Dear AC,
Stop your anonymous trolling.
Fuck you,
-Webtre
Here are some more benchmarks
AMDzone
AnandTech
XbitLabs
Ace Hardware
There are even more at AMDZones main page.
I can't find that sign anywhere anymore. I guess it went away like the Hitler toilet paper. People liked it too much, and there wasn't enough supply.
Gore Lieberman -- 2000
laugh all you want but that would be the scariest day of my life (other than SCO winning litigation)
think welchia but downloads from other "infected" machines other than one central location
sorry microsoft
I was deeply concerned about it when I was watching this Monday's WWE Raw. For a few seconds there I was wondering why I was getting that ticker when I was getting that channel through a cable company.
No, the general quality of entertainers (notice I did not say "musicians" or "artists") on MTV (a channel you watch) has decreased.
STOP COMPLAINING! Who cares what MTV has to offer!
Artists on MTV / ClearChannel radio might constitute the majority of music industry sales but it's only because of people like you perpetuating these idiots. DON'T BUY CRAP MUSIC. That's the best way for music to improve.
I've spent plenty of money on Radiohead, Coldplay, Kronos Quarter, Placebo, John Coltrane, DJ Shadow, Turin Brakes, Goldfrapp, Money Mark, Yo La Tengo, Spiritualized, Royksopp, MC Paul Barman, and countless others. Why? Because I haven't allowed myself to be marketed to by the major labels or Viacom's television network or magazines, and I pick up stuff based on what I like, not what I am told to like.
Now, this might be a revolutionary way of thinking, but I'm sick and tired of people complaining they don't like artists that are being marketed to them. Go get yourself some taste in music and free will and discover artists on your own and stop complaining about the newest Creed album.
Some people use TV to watch the Discovery Channel; some use it for MTV.
Some people use the Internet for research, discussion, and news; others use it for warez and porn.
Hey, I could take a screwdriver and deside to poke myself in the eye with it... does that mean we don't need screwdrivers?
<mode=SCO>
We just hate the license.
</mode>
as a side question:
Is there a 1337 5p33k plugin for open office?
Sorry, you are wrong. This is the one:
/dev/null
cat SCOX >
01101010001100000011000001010010001000000011100001 10100101001110001101000111001000110011001100110010 00000110100100110101001000000011011100110011011010 00001000000011010101110101010110000011000001010010 00110101
"We have been set up" could easily translate to "We have support"
not that hard of a stretch
01101010001100000011000000100000001101110011001101 10100000100000001101010111010101011000001100000101 00100110100100110101001101110010000001101101001100 000110011000110000