Slashdot Mirror


User: klossner

klossner's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
135
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 135

  1. Re:Not quite on ITunes 8 a Real Killer App; Taking Down Vista · · Score: 1

    That's not how it works. Each USB port on a motherboard has its own independent 2.5-watt power supply. Power distribution has nothing to do with the USB topology on the board.

    If you use an external hub and don't hook up its external power supply (so it's a "bus-powered" hub instead of a "self-powered" hub), then there are only 2.5 watts for the hub and all downstream devices and power starvation can be a problem.

  2. Re:More for white, windows kickbacks on Dell Begins Selling Inspiron Mini 9 · · Score: 1

    Linux is only sold on the smallest machine.

    You've got that just backwards. Linux is sold on any size machine -- click "Build Yours" and you can increase disk and memory. However, Windows is available only on the machines with larger disk.

  3. Re:Option to turn it off.. on Firefox To Get a Nag Screen For Upgrades · · Score: 1

    I turned updates completely off in Firefox 2. It wasn't even supposed to check whether an update exists.

    It still forced a security update down my throat. I started Firefox to take a quick look at a web site, and it hijacked my computer and downloaded the update.

    I'm back to Seamonkey, which doesn't treat me like an irresponsible child.

  4. Re:free on OMG Did U C What U R Paying 4 Texting? · · Score: 1

    Even better, Sprint will let you have unlimited text messages and internet data and 500 voice minutes for $30+tax a month. No charges for roaming or long distance within the U.S., but no family plan or minute roll-over. SERO plan

  5. Re:They need to open their platform. on What Happened To Palm? · · Score: 2, Informative

    You're confusing Palm with some other PDA. The platform is wide open -- here are the documents. The Internet is lousy with Palm software, some commercial and some free. My Treo has applications from ten different sources, including an excellent free HP-42 emulator.

  6. Re:My story... on What Happened To Palm? · · Score: 3, Informative

    You don't buy phones from Palm, you buy them from the cell phone provider, who provides the service. I'm very happy with my Treo 755p. It needed service -- dust somehow get between the glass and the LCD. The Sprint store five miles from my house swapped in a new screen while I waited.

    500 voice minutes, unlimited text and internet data, $30/month with the SERO plan.

  7. Max file size favors PDF on Multi-page PDF To Multi-page TIFF and Archiving? · · Score: 2, Informative

    TIFF files have a maximum size of 4GB. (The "value offset" field of an IFD entry is a 32-bit value.) You can exceed this with 50 noisy pages. PDF files have a maximum size of 10 to the tenth power bytes. (The byte offset in a cross-reference table entry is a ten-digit decimal number.) That's 2.3 times the maximum TIFF file size.

    I have written software to create both TIFF and PDF files. I would use PDF for archiving. Even today, it's tricky to find a TIFF reader that will run on all the important platforms and handle the variety of compression flavors (e.g., JBIG2.)

  8. Re:Education from a young age on How To Teach a Healthy Dose of Skepticism? · · Score: 1

    I took this one step further. I lied to my kids. A lot. Then I would watch to see if they caught the lie. If they didn't, I would explain it to them. Today, their BS detectors are likewise excellent.

  9. For CRT, it's green and black on What Font Color Is Best For Eyes? · · Score: 1

    If you're using a CRT, consider convergence issues. You're dealing with separate electron beams to stimulate red, green, and blue phosphors. It's common for the beams not to align perfectly, resulting in fuzzy outlines of small-font symbols if you're using a color that requires more than one beam.

    So then it's down to a selection among these three primaries. The human eyeball has more receptors for green than for red or blue, so green is your choice: either black text on a green background (my standard) or green text on a black background.

  10. easily cracked? on State Agency to Destroy Unauthorized USB Drives · · Score: 1

    Is there any reason to think these don't use the Windows-based encryption that is trivially defeated?

  11. Talk Like A Physicist Day on Happy Pi Day · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In addition to being Pi Day, today is Einstein's Birthday and Talk Like A Physicist Day:

    Never say "I didn't sleep enough" - the correct way to say it is "It was observed that my sleep duration was less than average." Or (In Plank units), "I have a sleep deficiency of about ten to the power 47, which is about half an hour."
  12. Bogus headline on Facebook A Black Hole For Personal Info · · Score: 1

    The Slashdot headline is completely wrong. A black hole destroys all information that it receives; it never releases it.

  13. Not VxWorks on The Great Microkernel Debate Continues · · Score: 1

    VxWorks is exactly the opposite of a microkernel. Everything, including application code, runs in kernel mode (unless you turn on the expensive RTP mechanism.) You link the OS into your application. OS calls are just subroutine jumps. This lack of overhead lets you run very fast, but if your application uses a bad pointer to trash something in an OS data structure, it can take weeks to find the bug.

  14. Obligatory SERO post on The True Cost of SMS Messages · · Score: 1

    Here in the U.S., I spend $32/month for unlimited SMS and MMS, unlimited web browsing, and 500 prime-time voice minutes. It's CDMA and EVDO, not GSM, through Sprint's not-well-publicized SERO plan.

  15. Re:On USB hubs on Apple Announces MacBook Air · · Score: 1

    The USB spec (page 178) specifies 500 milliamps of current. At 5VDC, that's 2.5 watts of power.

  16. On USB hubs on Apple Announces MacBook Air · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The reason a USB hub isn't as reliable is that it can't supply full power to each port because you don't plug in its external power supply. The hub then divides up 2.5 watts among all its ports. Devices have to get by with a fraction of full power, and some of them can't.

  17. Re:Ok, but... on An Acerbic Look At the Future of Reading · · Score: 1

    At least with a printed book there is a recognizable investment in printing plant, paper, ink, and distribution. With an ebook there's just distribution. You left out the costs of content creation (the author and editors must be paid) and marketing (nobody knows the book exists if you don't publicize it.)

    Amazon has a significant infrastructure for distribution already in place so adding ebook distribution is really only maximizing use of their existing assets. No, they have a new major expense, the payments to Sprint to use their EVDO network.

    So the marginal cost isn't pennies, but I still wouldn't pay $10 for a DRM book.

  18. Just remove the DRM on MLB Fans Who Bought DRM Videos Get Hosed · · Score: 2, Informative

    Use FairUse4WM to remove the DRM. Problem solved.

  19. Google Maps works on CDMA on Verizon Might Deliver Google Phone · · Score: 1

    Google maps mobile doesn't work on CDMA phones because none of the carriers (Verizon specifically) Yes, Verizon sucks, so I bought my CDMA Treo 755p from Sprint. Google maps is included and integrated with the phone's other applications.
  20. Re:What is a "slashdot sticker"?? on Subterranean Slashdot Email Blues · · Score: 1

    It's sticky on the back and has /. on the front: photo

  21. Hiking and Wi-Fi on Nokia Takes Third Swing at Internet Tablet · · Score: 1

    when I'm out hiking, call up a satellite photograph of the area Only if you go hiking where there's 802.11b/g coverage. Or carry a separate cell phone and pair with it via Bluetooth. But if you've carrying the cell phone, you might as well let it display the satellite maps (my Treo does this) and forgo the extra weight.
  22. Re:So how does this affect us? on Time Dimension To Become Space-like · · Score: 1

    That's also The Universe Between by Alan E. Hourse.

  23. Summary changed quotes to make them false on Inside the Third Gen iPod Nano · · Score: 5, Informative
    The comments about how parts pricing != cost to build are all correct. TFA got this right, but then the Slashdot summary changed their wording to make it wrong.

    Business Week:

    After taking apart the nano, iSuppli estimates that all the parts inside cost Apple $58.85 for the $149 model ... Slashdot:

    BusinessWeek reports that a teardown analysis by iSuppli finds that it costs Apple only $58.85 to build the 4-gig iPod nano Business Week reported nothing of the sort.
  24. GPS for a lunar lander? on Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace Rocket Crashes and Burns · · Score: 2, Interesting
    But the touchdown did have a big enough effect to jostle the onboard GPS unit that Texel relied on to track its motion.

    Why would a candidate for a mock lunar lander be designed to depend on GPS? There won't be GPS service on the moon in the foreseeable future.

  25. Re:for always and eternity on No OLPCs for Cuba, Ever · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yet China is our most favored nation trading partner. No, they are nothing of the sort. Most favored nation trading status is a misnomer; it actually means normal trading status. The U.S. stopped using the term altogether in 1998; we now call it normal trade relations.