I seem to remember reading that Google prefers RAM drives to Hard disks? Personally, I can't wait to see the end of the hard disk - it is the weakest link in the hardware chain...
The point was to make the Atari 2600 easy to program, not to produce the ultimate programming language. BASIC is a good choice for this as it corresponds closely to the underlying machine instructions, but is much easier to comprehend. This is also why BASIC was bundled with most 8-bit home micros. Furthermore, as the resulting programs can be no larger than 4KB (not MB!) in size, and 1MHz in speed, any OO mechanisms would impose far too much overhead.
The 2600 has an active and friendly homebrewing scene. However, there is a steep learning curve for anyone wanting to start. This tool will be very useful for beginners who want to try their hand at 2600 programming, before learning the full details of 6507 and TIA programming. Also it will be useful as a prototyping tool for experienced developers who want to try out a game concept before investing a lot of effort in designing a custom display kernel.
The bomb at Edgware Road Station is an anomaly. This area of London probably has the highest Arab population, and it is the furthest from the other blast scenes. If it was Islamic Terrorists (lets keep an open mind), then perhaps this one went off too early, or someone screwed up. If I were investigating, I would look at this one first.
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that Ceefax at one time was used to distribute computer software, as a kind of poor-man's Internet/BBS (download only). The primary use was to freely distribute software associated with the educational programs on the BBC to schools around the country.
A Teletext adapter was available for the BBC micro computer (Acorn) that would allow software to be downloaded from the Ceefax service. The concept was called Telesoftware, although the inherent limitations of teletext meant that it never really caught on.
The article states that the colour images were obtained by placing filters over the lens and then combining the results in software. The sensor on a regular digital camera has a pattern of pixels which capture either red, gree, or blue information. This difference alone would account for the 3x quality of the images, as the sensor is essentially just greyscale.
This is getting tedious. There is a patent article on Slashdot nearly every day now. Linux was absolutely right when he said that we should just ignore software patent issues. The vast majority of patents are never enforced or are overturned in any case.
The region encoding debate probably isn't much of an issue for Region 1 users, since the majority of disks are released in R1 format. However, for users in other regions, the restrictions are a real pain. Many R1 DVD disks (particularly back-catalogue films) are simply not released in other region encodings, and often when they are eventually released they are of inferior quality (e.g. non-anamorphic or missing the extras). If there were some phased-release scheme which ensured that all disks where eventually released in all regions then I would have far less desire to circumvent the system.
The article didn't mention anything about the master and slave situation. This is one of the biggest gripes I have about IDE. For example, when you have an IDE raid setup and the master drive dies it knocks the slave out also. I hope they have fixed this in the new standard.
I see a lot of postings here complaining that it is simply a hack on the old x86 architecture. However, history shows that it really has to be this way to succeed.
Many people will remember when the Alpha and PowerPC were released (at roughly the same time). Both offered a clean new architecture and both could emulate x86 legacy code. Indeed, Windows was also ported to both of these architectures, and yet they still failed to make a dent in the x86 userbase! There are various reasons for this (e.g. high costs, the PREP/CHRP fiaso, lack of native apps, and more) but primarily the "buyer in the street" is not willing to give up any x86 performance regardless of how clean they are told that the underlying architecture.
Therefore, it seems that the only way to succeed is to offer fast native execution of x86 code while providing something new. Initially I was scheptical of the AMD approach, but they have addressed the two main problems with the x86 architecture (lack of registers and 2-bit limitations) yet retained full (and native) backward compatibility and performance.
This message is really meant to be an internal Debian deleloper message! The threat of dropping Apache etc. is really just to get the developers to fix those last few bugs. This
happened last time when Potato was frozen. A few packages were dropped, but nothing that could be considered serious. As an aside, dropping gdb probably would be a good idea. It always seems to cause hassles with the mouse under X.
While I hate to side with the large drug companies
on such a sensitive issue:
It is a fact of life that if the drug companies do not get paid for their R&D, then they will not bother to produce new drugs for combating AIDS and similar diseases.
As proof of this, consider how many new Malaria drugs are produced? Basically, there is no profit in R&D for malaria, so drug companies simply don't bother.
So, in the short-term this may seem like a good idea, but in the long term it could do serious damage to the search for an AIDS cure.
I installed FreeBSD 4.0 some time ago, and I
like it a lot. However, I'm not sure how
to upgrade to 4.2. I'm accustomed to Debian Linux with the fantastic APT tool.
Is there anything equivalent for FreeBSD?
Open Source is the ultimate intermediate format!
on
Is The x86 Obsolete?
·
· Score: 1
Seems that most people are missing the point here. We only need x86 translation because so much software exists in binary-only form. If all software were Open Source, then the issue wuld be moot. With a bit of recomiling, I can run the same Linux software on x86, Alpha, Sun, PPC etc. with only a few minor issues. The only incompatibilities are those inherent in C/C++. Sould the question then be "Is C obsolete?".
What really gets me with consoles is that the next generation of a console is always incompatible with the previous generation. If I buy a Dreamcast it would be great if it ran my Megadrive and Saturn games, but of course it wont, so I would be forced to throw out my old games or keep a load of consoles. Thanks goodness games are now appearing for Linux.
Hmm, Perl or PHP would be fine for the forms side of things, but wouldn't be much use for generating reports without a significant effort. Are there any report-generating packages for Linux?
I hate web pages like this that require you to have Javascript enabled. If you examine the document source for this site it is clear that Javascript is only used to determine what browser you are using, and only Netscape and IE are supported. If you have Javascript disabled you get nothing at all. They really should have a default for people without Javascript or with Javascript disabled. Personally I never have Javascript enabled as it is a huge security risk. Unlike Java which tries to be secure, Javascript doesn't have any security model at all!
I too have an MS Access database that I would like to convert to Linux. However, the problem is not converting the data, but converting the MS Application part of it. How do I do a front end for my datatbase in Linux? I basically need forms and reports? Any suggestions welcomed!
Something like this would be great for making rugged laptop screens. At present, most laptop screens are made of glass - this makes them very vulnerable! I know several people who have managed to smash their screen.
Slashdot Mirror
The TWL codename stands for TWeLve, as it is the 12th Nintendo Hardware platform. Can you name them all?
Chris
The United States beat the Soviet Union in developing multiple-use Space Shuttle rockets, which form its current fleet of manned spacecraft.
I seem to remember reading that Google prefers RAM drives to Hard disks? Personally, I can't wait to see the end of the hard disk - it is the weakest link in the hardware chain ...
Chris
The point was to make the Atari 2600 easy to program, not to produce the ultimate programming language. BASIC is a good choice for this as it corresponds closely to the underlying machine instructions, but is much easier to comprehend.
This is also why BASIC was bundled with most 8-bit home micros. Furthermore, as the resulting programs can be no larger than 4KB (not MB!) in size, and 1MHz in speed, any OO mechanisms would impose far too much overhead.
The 2600 has an active and friendly homebrewing scene. However, there is a steep learning curve for anyone wanting to start. This tool will be very useful for beginners who want to try their hand at 2600 programming, before learning the full details of 6507 and TIA programming. Also it will be useful as a prototyping tool for experienced developers who want to try out a game concept before investing a lot of effort in designing a custom display kernel.
The bomb at Edgware Road Station is an anomaly. This area of London probably has the highest Arab population, and it is the furthest from the other blast scenes. If it was Islamic Terrorists (lets keep an open mind), then perhaps this one went off too early, or someone screwed up. If I were investigating, I would look at this one first.
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that Ceefax at one time was used to distribute computer software, as a kind of poor-man's Internet/BBS (download only). The primary use was to freely distribute software associated with the educational programs on the BBC to schools around the country.
A Teletext adapter was available for the BBC micro computer (Acorn) that would allow software to be downloaded from the Ceefax service. The concept was called Telesoftware, although the inherent limitations of teletext meant that it never really caught on.
For that money you could have bought 5 of the cheap ones and kept pace with more recent developments (nicam, widescreen, etc.)
The article states that the colour images were obtained by placing filters over the lens and then combining the results in software. The sensor on a regular digital camera has a pattern of pixels which capture either red, gree, or blue information.
This difference alone would account for the 3x quality of the images, as the sensor is essentially just greyscale.
This is getting tedious. There is a patent article on Slashdot nearly every day now. Linux was absolutely right when he said that we should just ignore software patent issues. The vast majority of patents are never enforced or are overturned in any case.
The region encoding debate probably isn't much of an issue for Region 1 users, since the majority of disks are released in R1 format. However, for users in other regions, the restrictions are a real pain. Many R1 DVD disks (particularly back-catalogue films) are simply not released in other region encodings, and often when they are eventually released they are of inferior quality (e.g. non-anamorphic or missing the extras). If there were some phased-release scheme which ensured that all disks where eventually released in all regions then I would have far less desire to circumvent the system.
The article didn't mention anything about the master and slave situation. This is one of the biggest gripes I have about IDE. For example, when you have an IDE raid setup and the master drive dies it knocks the slave out also. I hope they have fixed this in the new standard.
I see a lot of postings here complaining that it is simply a hack on the old x86 architecture. However, history shows that it really has to be this way to succeed.
Many people will remember when the Alpha and PowerPC were released (at roughly the same time). Both offered a clean new architecture and both could emulate x86 legacy code. Indeed, Windows was also ported to both of these architectures, and yet they still failed to make a dent in the x86 userbase! There are various reasons for this (e.g. high costs, the PREP/CHRP fiaso, lack of native apps, and more) but primarily the "buyer in the street" is not willing to give up any x86 performance regardless of how clean they are told that the underlying architecture.
Therefore, it seems that the only way to succeed is to offer fast native execution of x86 code while providing something new. Initially I was scheptical of the AMD approach, but they have addressed the two main problems with the x86 architecture (lack of registers and 2-bit limitations) yet retained full (and native) backward compatibility and performance.
Best way would be to get a slot loading CD-RW drive - then it would be just a case of sliding the CD into the drive, and gripping it on the way out.
Good grief - the story has only been on Slashdot 5 minutes, and http://red-carpet.ximian.com is
not accepting connections!
This message is really meant to be an internal Debian deleloper message! The threat of dropping Apache etc. is really just to get the developers to fix those last few bugs. This
happened last time when Potato was frozen. A few packages were dropped, but nothing that could be considered serious. As an aside, dropping gdb probably would be a good idea. It always seems to cause hassles with the mouse under X.
While I hate to side with the large drug companies on such a sensitive issue:
It is a fact of life that if the drug companies do not get paid for their R&D, then they will not bother to produce new drugs for combating AIDS and similar diseases.
As proof of this, consider how many new Malaria drugs are produced? Basically, there is no profit in R&D for malaria, so drug companies simply don't bother.
So, in the short-term this may seem like a good idea, but in the long term it could do serious damage to the search for an AIDS cure.
I installed FreeBSD 4.0 some time ago, and I
like it a lot. However, I'm not sure how
to upgrade to 4.2. I'm accustomed to Debian Linux with the fantastic APT tool.
Is there anything equivalent for FreeBSD?
Seems that most people are missing the point here.
We only need x86 translation because so much software exists in binary-only form. If all software were Open Source, then the issue wuld be moot. With a bit of recomiling, I can run the same Linux software on x86, Alpha, Sun, PPC etc. with only a few minor issues. The only incompatibilities are those inherent in C/C++.
Sould the question then be "Is C obsolete?".
The insane computer in Demon Seed was constructed using RNA! Anyone remember its name?
Anyone else notice the striking similarity between these action figures and the Microsoft Black Ops featured in this User-Friendly cartoon!!
What really gets me with consoles is that the next generation of a console is always incompatible with the previous generation. If I buy a Dreamcast it would be great if it ran my Megadrive and Saturn games, but of course it wont, so I would be forced to throw out my old games or keep a load of consoles. Thanks goodness games are now appearing for Linux.
Hmm, Perl or PHP would be fine for the forms side of things, but wouldn't be much use for generating reports without a significant effort. Are there any report-generating packages for Linux?
I hate web pages like this that require you to have Javascript enabled. If you examine the document source for this site it is clear that Javascript is only used to determine what browser you are using, and only Netscape and IE are supported. If you have Javascript disabled you get nothing at all. They really should have a default for people without Javascript or with Javascript disabled. Personally I never have Javascript enabled as it is a huge security risk. Unlike Java which tries to be secure, Javascript doesn't have any security model at all!
I too have an MS Access database that I would like to convert to Linux. However, the problem is not converting the data, but converting the MS Application part of it. How do I do a front end for my datatbase in Linux? I basically need forms and reports? Any suggestions welcomed!
Chris
Something like this would be great for making rugged laptop screens. At present, most laptop screens are made of glass - this makes them very vulnerable! I know several people who have managed to smash their screen.