Actually, it's because of thermodynamics that H2 has some promise. Take natural gas as a fuel source: if you burn it in a heat engine (car engine), you are limited to a maximum heat engine efficiency of around 20-30%. That is, 20% of the energy moves your car, the other 80% goes out the radiator. Heat engines are limited in output by something called Carnot efficiency. For a car, it might be 30%.
But, fuel cell are NOT Carnot limited. It is still bound by thermodynamic rules of course, but it is a chemical reaction which has an upper efficiency much higher, like around 60-70%. So, the promise is to take a fossil fuel like natural gas, extract the hydrogen with an efficient process (like steam methane reforming) and then use it in an efficient fuel cell.
That's the promise. Personally, as the previsous author, I have my doubts about future of fuel cells. Just too damn expensive.
In my case, when I reinstalled XP about a month ago, my computer was compromised 5 minutes after XP was running. That was not enough time to get SP1 downloaded (over a cable modem). Some mystery process was running that kept popping up dialogs.
totally agree. Many/. posters wear me down sometimes with the over-the-top, non-objective windows bashing. No wonder some people have a hard time taking open source seriously. time to act professional.
I think the commenter was referring to the small time service provider, like 5 people. For these small companies it is unlikely that they will be setting up a build system and modifying code.
"With linux, you can implement that change. You can make the product you give away perform as they need, and keep supplying service from then on"
I really don't think that most service providers will have the time to crack open the source code and make custom changes. Very unrealistic IMO.
Most industrial motors are used to drive steady-state processes, and are always on. Examples, are drive motors used in pulp mills and refineries. I don't see how any amount of mesh network monitoring is going to drastically save electricity for these always-on motors. A small savings might be found by looking for inefficiencies in the way the motor operates (i.e. it needs maintenance). However, I find the claims of 10-20 percent savings by monitoring somewhat questionable.
For discrestionary motors, like tank filling pumps, there could be some savings found by using the mesh network to control the asset during off-peak hours, where often the electricity rates are lower.
The author holds up ASICs as an example of an automated production process that could be used in software.
The analogy may be somewhat unfortunate, as ASICs are rapidly being replaced by FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). FPGAs are generic silicon devices that are given functionality by loading a binary image on device startup. This binary image is designed using a high-level language called VHDL, that is, hmmm... much like writing software.
Why are FPGAs winning over ASICs? FPGAs are much more flexible and are not tied to a rigid object definition as ASICs are. The functionality can be fixed in the field, whereas an ASIC is fixed in functionality.
I am personally co-author of several patents where we took competitor patents as prior-art and created new patents with claims that anticipate competitor direction. You end up just expanding the independent claims to make them novel (the part you add is the anticipatory part). Of course, you can't use the invention yourself, because you'd be infringing the competitors patent. However, the competitor cannot practice the new patent either, potentially blocking their advance. They may need to licence from you in order to advance their art. Or, trade off licencing with other patents in their portfolio/ That's how it works.
It's all legit, and a good way to maintain/gain/protect a competitive advantage.
You can slag patents all you want, and yes there are BIG problems in the system, but, you need to play the game to not get squashed.
the author is right, for desktop use, Linux is no threat so far. I tried out Fedora Core 2 last week as a desktop replacement to XP. I just uninstalled Fedora last night. Still a joke of a desktop system compared to XP. I'm just not sold on the whole FSF/OS thing. No solid project mgmnt in sight - looks like to me anyhow.
I'm not surprized. Just installed Fedora Core 2. As installed it is way slower than XP. Also, the sound card was not properly detected = no sound. Hey, this is a 2yr old Dell Dimension - it should be a putz setup for Linux. Sure I'll tweak it out and make it better. But, the average person can't be bothered to do this. Maybe the 2% who left it on the desktop are all slashdot type operators!?
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Actually, it's because of thermodynamics that H2 has some promise. Take natural gas as a fuel source: if you burn it in a heat engine (car engine), you are limited to a maximum heat engine efficiency of around 20-30%. That is, 20% of the energy moves your car, the other 80% goes out the radiator. Heat engines are limited in output by something called Carnot efficiency. For a car, it might be 30%. But, fuel cell are NOT Carnot limited. It is still bound by thermodynamic rules of course, but it is a chemical reaction which has an upper efficiency much higher, like around 60-70%. So, the promise is to take a fossil fuel like natural gas, extract the hydrogen with an efficient process (like steam methane reforming) and then use it in an efficient fuel cell. That's the promise. Personally, as the previsous author, I have my doubts about future of fuel cells. Just too damn expensive.
In my case, when I reinstalled XP about a month ago, my computer was compromised 5 minutes after XP was running. That was not enough time to get SP1 downloaded (over a cable modem). Some mystery process was running that kept popping up dialogs.
totally agree. Many /. posters wear me down sometimes with the over-the-top, non-objective windows bashing. No wonder some people have a hard time taking open source seriously. time to act professional.
I think the commenter was referring to the small time service provider, like 5 people. For these small companies it is unlikely that they will be setting up a build system and modifying code.
"With linux, you can implement that change. You can make the product you give away perform as they need, and keep supplying service from then on" I really don't think that most service providers will have the time to crack open the source code and make custom changes. Very unrealistic IMO.
Most industrial motors are used to drive steady-state processes, and are always on. Examples, are drive motors used in pulp mills and refineries. I don't see how any amount of mesh network monitoring is going to drastically save electricity for these always-on motors. A small savings might be found by looking for inefficiencies in the way the motor operates (i.e. it needs maintenance). However, I find the claims of 10-20 percent savings by monitoring somewhat questionable.
For discrestionary motors, like tank filling pumps, there could be some savings found by using the mesh network to control the asset during off-peak hours, where often the electricity rates are lower.
The author holds up ASICs as an example of an automated production process that could be used in software. The analogy may be somewhat unfortunate, as ASICs are rapidly being replaced by FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). FPGAs are generic silicon devices that are given functionality by loading a binary image on device startup. This binary image is designed using a high-level language called VHDL, that is, hmmm... much like writing software. Why are FPGAs winning over ASICs? FPGAs are much more flexible and are not tied to a rigid object definition as ASICs are. The functionality can be fixed in the field, whereas an ASIC is fixed in functionality.
I am personally co-author of several patents where we took competitor patents as prior-art and created new patents with claims that anticipate competitor direction. You end up just expanding the independent claims to make them novel (the part you add is the anticipatory part). Of course, you can't use the invention yourself, because you'd be infringing the competitors patent. However, the competitor cannot practice the new patent either, potentially blocking their advance. They may need to licence from you in order to advance their art. Or, trade off licencing with other patents in their portfolio/ That's how it works. It's all legit, and a good way to maintain/gain/protect a competitive advantage. You can slag patents all you want, and yes there are BIG problems in the system, but, you need to play the game to not get squashed.
You've got a point. I have only used linux for about 24hrs total. I agree, not a fair trial. I should give it another go with a different distro.
You're likely right that I should try another distro. FC2 is my only linux experience.
the author is right, for desktop use, Linux is no threat so far. I tried out Fedora Core 2 last week as a desktop replacement to XP. I just uninstalled Fedora last night. Still a joke of a desktop system compared to XP. I'm just not sold on the whole FSF/OS thing. No solid project mgmnt in sight - looks like to me anyhow.
I'm not surprized. Just installed Fedora Core 2. As installed it is way slower than XP. Also, the sound card was not properly detected = no sound. Hey, this is a 2yr old Dell Dimension - it should be a putz setup for Linux. Sure I'll tweak it out and make it better. But, the average person can't be bothered to do this. Maybe the 2% who left it on the desktop are all slashdot type operators!?