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User: scharkalvin

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  1. Re:What are Vacuum tubes? on THG Looks at ClawHammer Mobo · · Score: 2

    Tubes are voltage amplifiers, transistors are current amplifiers.
    Tubes and transistors produce different orders of harmonic distortion with the result that a transistor amp must opererate at a very low level of distortion to sound as good as a tube amp with a much higher distortion level. Transistor amps clip and go into distortion at very low levels of overload, tube amps enter this non linear region on a lower slope. Tube amps can be easier to listen to than transistor amps as a result of all of the above. However this mostly applies to bipolar transistors. Field effect transistors have transfer functions very much like pentode tubes and can mimic the sound of a tube amp, but most reference solid state amps have been bipolar.

    I think most of the hype about tube amplifiers is greatly overrated. However the price of audio tubes and tube equipment on ebay proves how crazy some people are. We call them AudioPhools.

  2. Re:Am I wrong here? on Lucky Green vs. Palladium · · Score: 2

    No this won't kill linux. Whatever the hardware does, it is configured and controled by the OS. So once you have Windows running on the hardware you might not be able to run Linux on top of it, or perhaps install Linux using windows to boot Linux. However you could slip a bootable CD into the computer, power cycle it and then have your way with the hardware. I can't see the bios having anything to do with Palladium, its too low level. Now think of this, once you have Linux running it could reconfigure the Palladium hardware and lock out any software made by Microsoft, or any non-GPL'ed software!

  3. Re:Compare & Contrast... on Philip's SFFO 3cm 4Gig Optical Discs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But you can't fit a dvd in your cellphone, or in (most) digicams.
    A 3cm format optical disk will give the IBM microdrive a run for its' money. DVD+-rw won't go away, but the smaller format will have its applications.

  4. What crack are they smoking? on Star Wars Producer Says Box Office is Doomed · · Score: 2

    First of all who is making the movies that are going on to DVD's? The same people that are making them for the theatres. So maybe the theatres could go under, but not Hollywood. They would just be selling to a new market. But you might see a return to having rental DVD's come out before the ones you can buy.

    But the idea that the home theatre experience is better than the movie experience is crazy. Unless you can afford a 200" screen projection set, subwoofers that go down to 10 hz, 7 channel sound systems driven by 200 watt amps, etc: I don't think you have the same thing at home. It's true that some theatres plain suck, but a good theatre with a real THX sound system is something that few people are going to emulate at home. I will continue to patronize my local theatres when a movie worth seeing comes out. I will also buy or rent DVD's that are worth seeing again (or for the first time if I missed the flick in the theatre). I will wait for the turkeys to come on cable.....hmm, Scobie Doo should be on showtime or hbo real soon now.

  5. Hoping for third party mb's on IBM PowerPC 970 Architecture · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Since I won't be buying a pc from Apple with this chip on it, I hope some third party such as Tyan decides to make an ATX format MB for us pc builders. There WILL be Linux ports for this chip, and existing PPC ports would probably work with it in 32 bit mode at first. Even IBM might offer an ATX evaluation board, though it would probably cost too much.

  6. Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 55 on Interview with SONICblue's CEO · · Score: 2

    This bullshit keeps showing up on slashdot. Ignore it!
    S.K. is alive and well, but has said he wants to retire and has written his last book. (Never say never again).

  7. Look at the footnote.... on DRM in Real-Time and Embedded Systems · · Score: 2


    Footnotes:
    3.TPCA says that the hardware device that stores and handles encryption can be turned off locally. However, what this will mean in practice is that any DRM sofware will detect failure and refuse to operate.

    So if I am running Linux (which doesn't give a rats ass about DRM) turning off the hardware won't matter to me as NONE of the software I run expects any DRM hardware to be in place. Same thing with an embedded real time OS running in a medical instrument or in my car, etc.

  8. Re:NOT a planet on New Frozen World Found Beyond Pluto · · Score: 2

    Pluto is probably a Kuiper Belt object. But it does have one thing going for it as far as planet status goes, it has a moon. If any other kuiper belt objects also are found to have satelites then maybe Pluto should be demoted. But Pluto does seem to have its own orbit (weird as it is) and a moon, so for now its a planet.

  9. Re:Issue is deeper than quality alone on Digital Camera Quality Passing Film? · · Score: 2

    My 2 mpixel olympus d490z is smaller and lighter than my Nikon SLR. I am more likely to carry it and have it ready for use than the Nikon (which won't fit in my pocket). Olympus now has two new 5 mpixel cameras in the same size range as the 490z, the price on these will come down to earth in 6 months. Film may be superior in quality, but for my needs the digicams are now the equal in quality. The best camera is one that I will carry and use. So the digi cams win.

  10. A little history on Linux Kernel 3.0? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The change from 1.x to 2.0 was made at the time that the a.out format was dropped in favor of elf. But wasn't this just a library change? Anyway after 2.8 they could go to 2.10, no reason the second number can't be two digits. Still the changes to vm, and /dev alone might be enough to jump it to 3.0, especially if the changes for SMT with kernel pre-emption are added.

  11. what is it like working form M$ on Microsoft's Vision Of Future Workplaces · · Score: 2

    Where I used to work some of the more nerdy types devoted their lunch hours to Doom death matches over the network. (For a while I wondered what the "AHHH SHIT!" from a few qubes away was all about). I can just imagine what goes on at M$ during lunch hour (or after hours for that matter). And I can almost see Bill getting a face full of BFG2000.

  12. Video games != violent behavior. on Violent Games Good for Kids · · Score: 2

    After the High School shootings in where the kids involved said they had been playing 'Doom' there was a backlash against such video games. Now the studies say it didn't matter. Well I have to believe that those kids were screwed up to begin with and the video games had nothing to do with it. They also claimed that playing doom sharpened their killing skills. Since when does a keyboard, mouse, or joystick handle like a shotgun?

  13. Re:Competition from Linux forced M$ to do a 180 on Why Software Piracy is Good for Microsoft · · Score: 2

    If M$ starts dumping product in asia it is going to show up as gray market goods in the US. What are they going to do about that? Guess we will be buying M$ products at 47th Street Photo in NYC.

  14. Re:24th Century OSes on More Switching Stories · · Score: 2, Funny

    FYI: Klingons run Linux 3.5.7 kernel.
    Makes sense. A true Klingon would NEVER run a stable version of the kernel! The Ferani are running a bootleg copy of Mac OS XX that they stole from the Romulans.

  15. Re:Don't confuse DTV with HDTV, or cable on HDTV and Its Impending Problems? · · Score: 1

    From what I've read there is no mandate that the cable companies have to switch anything. They will have to receive DTV signals, since analog will go away, but they don't have to DELIVER them. Smaller cable companies may just choose to continue to deliver NTSC quality signals derived from the DTV ones, inother words they perform the set top box function. If their customers demand more they might get it, at a higher cost. I've heard nothing from my cable company of their plans, but since AT&T broadband does have a digital cable signal (as well as the existing analog one) I suspect we will have a choice to upgrade. BTW their digital signal is NOT compatible with DTV, isn't HDTV, and you need THEIR converter box.

  16. Palladium support? on AMD Opteron to support Palladium · · Score: 1

    Just what kind of support does a system such as palladium require in the cpu anyway? Pehaps extra registers for caching data? Special instructions for encryption/decription? Another operating privilage ring? And just what is palladium supposed to do anyway? The term 'trusted computing' seems to me to work in two directions. It 'protects' users from bad software, it protects software from 'bad' users. In one direction it is a virus shield by allowing only authorized software and data to be run. In the other direction it locks out access to data, the so called DRM system. DRM is nothing new, copy protected software in new clothing, only this time the copy protection is built into the OS perhaps with some hardware support. We all know what happened to copy protected software....user revolt. Seems like those that cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

  17. Re:Article is old and incorrect on AMD Opteron to support Palladium · · Score: 1

    You can bet that the Linux Kernel will run just fine on this cpu, and the DRM shit will be locked OFF in the kernel code.

  18. Re:Fix the problem on WorldCom Forced To Block Questionable Sites · · Score: 1

    Ever hear of not being allowed to cry fire in a crowded theatre? Try it, you will be arrested (unless there actually WAS a fire). When your freedom of speech could harm someone else it can be limited. And yes this HAS been tested in court. You CAN be arrested for kiddie porn, so you have NO right of free speech in this area. But adult porn is another matter. I think any state trying to control adult porn over the internet would have their effort declared unconstitutional since there isn't any federal law banning it. Of course depending on the makeup of the Supreme court at any given moment, this can change.

  19. Re:Not the first time on High-Speed Burning Could Harm Pioneer Combo Drives · · Score: 1

    Ya well did you every manage to open a 14" disk drive with the pack still spinning and try to remove it? Those old 'washing machine' disk drives could be FUN!!!.

  20. Re:Philo T. Farnsworth? on 75th Anniversary of Television · · Score: 1

    Like most Urban Legends, this one dies hard. Farnsworth DID invent a television system and his image disector tube was one of the first TV camera tubes. However it was a poor performer, requiring LOT's of light (so much it was blinding on stage). The tube was sensitive to a narrow spectrum of light, requiring actors to wear colored makeup to be seen on TV. The RCA developed iconoscope tube (which operated on a much different principle than Farnsworth's tube) was a much better performer, and later RCA camera tubes (the image iconoscope, the orthocon and image orthocon tubes) were better still. Farnsworth was the first to use a sawtooth scanning waveform, and this may have been the key patent that RCA had to obtain. The fact is that RCA developed a better system, and mostly on their own. The sawtooth scan and Armstrong's FM system for the audio carrier were the bones of contention in their system. I'd have to say that TV was Co-invented by RCA and Farnsworth.

  21. Re:You'll only screw yourselves... on The Two Towers Hits the Net · · Score: 1

    If your viewing experience in a theatre is less than you payed for go to the manager and DEMAND a refund. Do it loudly so your fellow patrons can hear so maybe they will also DEMAND a refund. There are enough theatres in my neck of the woods that I can choose where I go and most will take pains to see that their customers are happy (they want them to return) Like the sign says "crying babies should be take to the lobby!"

  22. The things people do to cars.... on Ever Wanted Your Own Land Speeder? · · Score: 1

    Why not? Have you seen some of the things people do to cars? Remember the Cougar XR14? (that was an XR7 with TWO front ends, you couldn't tell if it was comming or going) How about the Dickmobile? (if you have to ask...just do a search on google for the pix. And I think there was a Pussymobile too. Maybe it had a headon with the Dickmobile?). I wonder who ended up with the TV Batmobile by the way? How about the Black Beauty? One more...Do you remember the Forchevamchrysvagon? That was the "anycar" made for a bank car loan tv ad.

  23. Re:AIDS, mortality, and timing. on Chimps, AIDS, And Immunity · · Score: 1

    He didn't say how his uncle contracted AIDS. Quite possibly it didn't just happen to him, in your sense of the meaning. How about those who received tainted blood during a transfusion? How about those that received tainted cloting factor (hemapilia treatment). There were many aids victims who never had unprotected sex with an infected partner. And some of those who did get it that way, had a partner who DIDN'T (maybe a spouse who had a blood transfusion). You don't have to be gay to get AIDS. Did I mention heath care workers who took all reasonable precautions and were exposed by accident?

  24. Thompson is probably realistic about this on Thomson: MP3 Licensing Same As It Ever Was · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Any of the desktop player software written for Linux and licensed under the GPL or other free license were never intented for sale, they were given away. Just because Red Hat shoveled them onto a CD and charges for that CD doesn't mean that they are selling the software. Redhat is selling their support of the software on the CD, more specificly they are selling support for the system they have created using GPL'ed software. Since the software is distributed under the GPL it is still free, Thompson can consider that Redhat isn't selling the free player, they are selling the CD, the buyer is paying Redhat for the distribution of the software, the service of downloading and copying to the CD and the support of installation and use of the software.

    So Redhat isn't under the gun. But anyone who wants to sell a hardware device containing the software (car mp3 players) probably IS running afowl of the patent.

    IANAL, but the above is my common sense opinion.
    Since Thompson hasn't "said boo" in so many years they may have even lost the right to do so.

  25. Re:Just Use Linux on Hotmail: Not Safe For Work? · · Score: 1

    Doesn't have a functional web browser? What do you call Mozilla? Galleon? Konquest? Netscape?
    Opera? The only browser it doesn't run is IE (you call that functional?) and there are some reports of IE running on Linux under wine!

    BTW I did set up a Linux box running Debian at one place I worked. The machine was made out of parts salvaged from several junked computers so it cost the company nothing. My excuse was I wanted to evaluate Linux as a platform for a future internal project.

    It took a little while to figure out how to set up proxies so I could reach the internet over the company network (MS friendly firewall) but it worked fine. I doubt that any spy ware intended for windows machines would work on Linux (and I could have just set up an internal firewall to try and lock any out).