Robot wars is more fun (good oldfashioned family
fun) than Battle Bots. But don't expect anything
like Scrapheep from it. Robotwars doesn't get
mechanical. At least not on BBC. The bright side
is that they're not pretending it is a sport like
on Battle bots.
Personally I like scrapheep better but I still
enjy watching it. When I saw Battlebots I felt
sorry for America.:)
I've been using RAMdisks on Linux for some time and still think its a good idea. The sad thing is
that it doesn't help you much and that the caveats
are quite large. The only reason why you'd want to
write things to a RAMdisk is when you are pretty
sure you want to read it again, and probably more than once. The thing is that databases have their own caching mechanisms as well as most other smart programs. You think you want a fast netscape cache ? Use squid on your local box and set the netscape
cache off. I still think RAMdisks are cool, but still am looking for something to use them for.
IMHO compaq makes the same mistake as digital to promote the alpha chip. Alpha means Unix, and in the consumer market there is no demand for Unix. There is a demand for an system that uses smp, dsp, video, connectivity and real expansion options (not just another slot/bus system like pci,agp but like VME)with an new desktop(real time, object technology, and themes)for $1000 to $2000. The pc cannot deliver this. And compaq is not in the position to create yet another niche. It would be a better choice to go the way as Elbrus (http://www.elbrus.ru) and transmeta and let the Alpha run all intel like software, In the mean while the new AMD K7 is an opportunity as it uses the same bus protocol as the Alpha. No need to develop motherboards for the consumer market Give Be $20 mln and make an native alpha port available. Amiga inc. might be interested in the hardware combination. As demand rises compaq can introduce more options for the alpha like dsp, dvd hardware en/decoders on chip, which can be used by consumer software. This way there is an future for alpha
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Robot wars is more fun (good oldfashioned family :)
fun) than Battle Bots. But don't expect anything
like Scrapheep from it. Robotwars doesn't get
mechanical. At least not on BBC. The bright side
is that they're not pretending it is a sport like
on Battle bots.
Personally I like scrapheep better but I still
enjy watching it. When I saw Battlebots I felt
sorry for America.
As serveral of the posters have the feeling this
new toy will be the end of civilisation the name
has to be Prodigy.
I've been using RAMdisks on Linux for some time and still think its a good idea. The sad thing is
that it doesn't help you much and that the caveats
are quite large. The only reason why you'd want to
write things to a RAMdisk is when you are pretty
sure you want to read it again, and probably more than once. The thing is that databases have their own caching mechanisms as well as most other smart programs. You think you want a fast netscape cache ? Use squid on your local box and set the netscape
cache off. I still think RAMdisks are cool, but still am looking for something to use them for.
IMHO compaq makes the same mistake as digital to
promote the alpha chip. Alpha means Unix, and in the consumer market there is no demand for Unix. There is a demand for an system that uses smp, dsp, video, connectivity and real expansion options (not just another slot/bus system like pci,agp but like VME)with an new desktop(real time, object technology, and themes)for $1000 to $2000. The pc cannot deliver this.
And compaq is not in the position to create yet another niche.
It would be a better choice to go the way as Elbrus (http://www.elbrus.ru) and transmeta and
let the Alpha run all intel like software,
In the mean while the new AMD K7 is an opportunity as it uses the same bus protocol as the Alpha. No need to develop motherboards for the consumer market Give Be $20 mln and make an native alpha port available. Amiga inc. might be interested in the hardware combination.
As demand rises compaq can introduce more options
for the alpha like dsp, dvd hardware en/decoders on chip, which can be used by consumer software.
This way there is an future for alpha
Unix and alpha will not succeed on the long term.