What's your current computer? A modern processor can be cooled just peachy with a heatsink/fan combo... which is the way it has been since the Pentium days. Consumption also extends beyond the processor (which are power hogs) - drives, harddisks, perhiperials, etc.
Don't take my word for it. Open your old 486 and almost surely you'll find a 200/250w PSU. Open your modern one, and you'll find one rated similarly.
Actually it's even simpler - the female conector for the monitor is hooked directly to the AC input in those old PSUs. It's exactly the same as plugging the monitor directly to the mains.
Which, for electrical power supplies, is actually fairly good compaing the alternatives. Switching PSUs are very failure prone and usually have awfully noisy outputs, but they can be made small, relatively cool and efficient.
You never needed more than 200-300w for a desktop computer, since the birth of the PC, and trust me, you never will. In fact, modern computers require less power than they used to.
Compared to, say, disk storage, power consumption on PCs always stood fairly constant (in the neighbour of 200w). If anything, computers consume less power with each new technology generation.
And i don't mean overkill like in a piece of hardware too expensive for what it delivers: this is literally overkill, as a regular desktop PC will never ever approach that kind of power consumption. More does not always equals to "better than" - you could power three computers with that thing! It seems to be a quality product though, but $500 is too much to spend in something you don't need and probably never will.
If you really need that kind of power, you don't have a "regular" PC, and there's better alternatives - several power supplies or an external one, like the ones used for large servers.
The power supply does not deliver 1000w all the time. 1000w with 1100w peak means that the PSU is rated to deliver up to 1Kw constantly and up to 1,1Kw for brief periods; but the PSU will deliver only the power that it's requested from them.
Switching PSUs waste some power, of course, but are among the most efficient types of electrical power supplies available - that's what make them so well suited for computers.
Sorry, i know it's all about tastes, but for me, they are. 24 was entertaining for exactly one season, which was the first. The rehashing of the same old formula over and over got boring pretty fast after that.
As for Lost, dunno... it's one of those shows that get overhyped and you think that it could have great potential, but after a few episodes they fall apart. It was the same for me with John Doe and Prision Break, to name a few.
IIRC, the motivation was to write a complete MSN Messenger clone that would run outside Windows - i've tried it a few times on Linux, and while i like GAIM much better, it really feels and behaves like the official client. It might help non-techincal users that need MSN to switch easier.
You know, i might actually get one. Of all consoles of the, say, last 5 years, the DS and the Revolution are the only things that interested me, being a PC person. They're still kinda expensive down here (Argentina), but i might get one once they drop the price.
And I really wish I could get a modern update of X-Com UFO defense (or another great turn-based strategy+tactics game), Autoduel, or Starflight.
Man, that's two of us. I've waiting for a new X-COM game as much as the sequel for System Shock 2. That, and new Lucasarts games (the regretably canned sequels for Sam & Max, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango would be nice to have).
As for updating the concept, of course i'm all for it. I think you are underrating Doom - i loved, LOVED Wolfenstein 3D, but Doom blew it off the water. Incredible graphics at that time, great level design, the first use of positional sound i can remember of (you could tell where your enemies were just by the sound) and, of course, deathmatch. I still remember my first 1-on-1 session of Doom with a friend over dialup. And Co-Op... what a blast.
Then came Quake/Quakeworld and modern deathmatch as we know it. And then... things just stalled. We're rehashing the same concepts from 8 years ago with prettier graphics; not that i can't appreciate it, but i've already played those games. Open-ended world games, like GTA III are very nice, but, again, we now have a hundred of those. I'd love to see an online version of GTA, with players interacting with each other in realtime for example.
I hope there's something new arround the corner that, like i said earlier, will shake the foundations a bit.
They probably have a set number of hours per day to work on Slashdot, and do not have enough time to properly wade through the huge flow of incoming stories, and no, OSTG probably cannot hire more "editors".
I think it's actually worse now, in music atleast. The "filter" effect is true, and specially true with games. There was a lot of crap released in games back then, along with the ocassional gems. It's just that we had more gems back then than we do now, i feel.
As for music, it's even worse. Take grunge, for example: you had 5 or 6 excellent bands in the genre that made some real good music in the period. Today? I'm hard pressed to tell apart tunes from Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Travis and the like. The Strokes sound exactly the same as The Vines & co. Nu-metal bands are a dime a dozen and none of them is doing anything remotely interesting these days. Hip-hop? Hiphop has a lasting appeal of a couple of months, after all we get our next hit single that sounds just like the one before. Hell, even the "old" greats are releasing rather weak material - The Stones, U2, Audioslave (if they can be called old), etc.
I don't know, maybe the next big thing is about to appear and shake the foundations a bit. In games too - i'm getting a bit tired of the same ole' FPS & MMORPG monopolizing the market. Or maybe i'm just getting old and grumpy:)
T.S. Quint: But they're engaged. Brodie: Doesn't matter, can't happen. T.S. Quint: Why not? It's bound to come up. Brodie: It's impossible, Lois could never have Superman's baby. Do you think her fallopian tubes could handle the sperm? I guarantee you he blows a load like a shotgun right through her back. What about her womb? Do you think it's strong enough to carry her child? T.S. Quint: Sure, why not? Brodie: He's an alien, for Christ sake. His Kyrptonian biological makeup is enhanced by earth's yellow sun. If Lois gets a tan the kid could kick right through her stomach. Only someone like Wonder Woman has a strong enough uterus to carry his kid. The only way he could bang regular chicks is with a kryptonite condom. That would kill him!
I once presented a weird problem i had with GAIM to one of its developers, via Jabber (no need to mention him here). GAIM would work just peachy with one version of X.Org, but would die with another!
Since i'm a Gentoo user, he proceeded to, basically, tell me to piss off and seek for help among the Gentoo package mantainers. I was pissed, but after a while he (we) cooled down and actually managed to have a very nice conversation. And yes, i managed to solve the problem:)
Thing is, they have a point; they get flooded by requests/questions/bogus bugreports by people that bitch to the developers for any minor problem, problems that most of the time are well covered in the FAQs. On the other hand, yes, the GAIM developers seem to be particularly jumpy (and even borderline assholes, sorry). Perhaps big proyects like GAIM could find some sort of middle-ground solution, like a group of people willing to help people with problems, a-la-helpdesk, which could in turn deffer questions to the actual developers if they feel they're merited.
I don't know if such thing would be possible (or another solution, for that matter), but you have to keep in mind the GAIM developers receive the complaints directly. It can wear one off in no time.
No matter how much EA spends on promoting it's latest FPS - it's just like the original with extra antialiasing. Woopittie doo. My money is spent much better elsewhere.
My music purchases lately, except for a few notable exceptions, are all of artists from the 80s/90s. Not that it was a particularly magic period in music history by any strecth (even though i'm quite fond of grunge), but atleast composing and playing your own tunes was still marketeable. People took risks. Nowadays, i listen to radio, and in a same genre i have a hard time telling one band from another.
Sadly, it's the same with games. The ones i've enjoyed more lately i've picked up on the discount bin.
Just wait for the Revolution; if anything, so the console fanboys shut up for once:) Hell, i don't even like consoles, and i'm really looking forward to it.
The energy is absobed by the coil, "stored" for a moment as potential energy then released (much more slowly, but still fast enough) partially into the frame of the gun, which of course gets stressed. When the H&K USP (a handgun which uses a system of opposing springs to help reduce recoil) came out it made a big fuzz about this. Also, the momentum of the bullet must equal the momentum of the displacement of the gun (which has quite more mass) and, to a degree, the shooter, if he experiences recoil. The fact that the bullet flies at (X * 100) mts/s doesn't mean the shooter will do as well.
The shooter still experiences recoil, but it is contollable. Otherwise guns would be impossible.
for a number of reasons, the principal being that most guns firing "big" calibers (and several handguns aswell) implement a spring system solely to absorb recoil and improve accuracy. floating barrels (barrels that move back after each shot) are also common, like in the Barret.50bmg. those gun can shot through ammo and yet they can be shoulder-fired with relative comfort.
it's the same mechanism that avoids you hitting your ass when you drive your car and go over a bump. now, is that enough physics for you?
Slashdot Mirror
What's your current computer? A modern processor can be cooled just peachy with a heatsink/fan combo... which is the way it has been since the Pentium days. Consumption also extends beyond the processor (which are power hogs) - drives, harddisks, perhiperials, etc.
Don't take my word for it. Open your old 486 and almost surely you'll find a 200/250w PSU. Open your modern one, and you'll find one rated similarly.
Actually it's even simpler - the female conector for the monitor is hooked directly to the AC input in those old PSUs. It's exactly the same as plugging the monitor directly to the mains.
Which, for electrical power supplies, is actually fairly good compaing the alternatives. Switching PSUs are very failure prone and usually have awfully noisy outputs, but they can be made small, relatively cool and efficient.
You never needed more than 200-300w for a desktop computer, since the birth of the PC, and trust me, you never will. In fact, modern computers require less power than they used to.
Compared to, say, disk storage, power consumption on PCs always stood fairly constant (in the neighbour of 200w). If anything, computers consume less power with each new technology generation.
And i don't mean overkill like in a piece of hardware too expensive for what it delivers: this is literally overkill, as a regular desktop PC will never ever approach that kind of power consumption. More does not always equals to "better than" - you could power three computers with that thing! It seems to be a quality product though, but $500 is too much to spend in something you don't need and probably never will.
If you really need that kind of power, you don't have a "regular" PC, and there's better alternatives - several power supplies or an external one, like the ones used for large servers.
The power supply does not deliver 1000w all the time. 1000w with 1100w peak means that the PSU is rated to deliver up to 1Kw constantly and up to 1,1Kw for brief periods; but the PSU will deliver only the power that it's requested from them.
Switching PSUs waste some power, of course, but are among the most efficient types of electrical power supplies available - that's what make them so well suited for computers.
Sorry, i know it's all about tastes, but for me, they are. 24 was entertaining for exactly one season, which was the first. The rehashing of the same old formula over and over got boring pretty fast after that.
As for Lost, dunno... it's one of those shows that get overhyped and you think that it could have great potential, but after a few episodes they fall apart. It was the same for me with John Doe and Prision Break, to name a few.
Much agreed. The shield and BSG are the only shows nowadays i bother to watch regularly. Lost? 24? Gimme a break...
IIRC, the motivation was to write a complete MSN Messenger clone that would run outside Windows - i've tried it a few times on Linux, and while i like GAIM much better, it really feels and behaves like the official client. It might help non-techincal users that need MSN to switch easier.
MSN is also disgustingly popular here in Argentina, as i hear it's all over Latin America.
Future research in this topic is assumed to be finding a material that exists in a superfluid state at room temperature.
They will get right on that after they're done creating a room temperature superconductor, don't worry about it.
America isn't a baseball team; you don't cheer for it no matter what.
Thank you. I almost thought everyone up there had gone insane.
You know, i might actually get one. Of all consoles of the, say, last 5 years, the DS and the Revolution are the only things that interested me, being a PC person. They're still kinda expensive down here (Argentina), but i might get one once they drop the price.
What would be the life expectancy of such constructions? IIRC, DNA are pretty "fragile" molecules.
And I really wish I could get a modern update of X-Com UFO defense (or another great turn-based strategy+tactics game), Autoduel, or Starflight.
Man, that's two of us. I've waiting for a new X-COM game as much as the sequel for System Shock 2. That, and new Lucasarts games (the regretably canned sequels for Sam & Max, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango would be nice to have).
As for updating the concept, of course i'm all for it. I think you are underrating Doom - i loved, LOVED Wolfenstein 3D, but Doom blew it off the water. Incredible graphics at that time, great level design, the first use of positional sound i can remember of (you could tell where your enemies were just by the sound) and, of course, deathmatch. I still remember my first 1-on-1 session of Doom with a friend over dialup. And Co-Op... what a blast.
Then came Quake/Quakeworld and modern deathmatch as we know it. And then... things just stalled. We're rehashing the same concepts from 8 years ago with prettier graphics; not that i can't appreciate it, but i've already played those games. Open-ended world games, like GTA III are very nice, but, again, we now have a hundred of those. I'd love to see an online version of GTA, with players interacting with each other in realtime for example.
I hope there's something new arround the corner that, like i said earlier, will shake the foundations a bit.
They probably have a set number of hours per day to work on Slashdot, and do not have enough time to properly wade through the huge flow of incoming stories, and no, OSTG probably cannot hire more "editors".
So, you're saying they'll get a promotion?
I think it's actually worse now, in music atleast. The "filter" effect is true, and specially true with games. There was a lot of crap released in games back then, along with the ocassional gems. It's just that we had more gems back then than we do now, i feel.
:)
As for music, it's even worse. Take grunge, for example: you had 5 or 6 excellent bands in the genre that made some real good music in the period. Today? I'm hard pressed to tell apart tunes from Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Travis and the like. The Strokes sound exactly the same as The Vines & co. Nu-metal bands are a dime a dozen and none of them is doing anything remotely interesting these days. Hip-hop? Hiphop has a lasting appeal of a couple of months, after all we get our next hit single that sounds just like the one before. Hell, even the "old" greats are releasing rather weak material - The Stones, U2, Audioslave (if they can be called old), etc.
I don't know, maybe the next big thing is about to appear and shake the foundations a bit. In games too - i'm getting a bit tired of the same ole' FPS & MMORPG monopolizing the market. Or maybe i'm just getting old and grumpy
Mallrats. I knew Larry Niven discussed the same earlier, but i found Kevin Smiths' dialog funnier and more "to the point" :)
T.S. Quint: But they're engaged.
Brodie: Doesn't matter, can't happen.
T.S. Quint: Why not? It's bound to come up.
Brodie: It's impossible, Lois could never have Superman's baby. Do you think her fallopian tubes could handle the sperm? I guarantee you he blows a load like a shotgun right through her back. What about her womb? Do you think it's strong enough to carry her child?
T.S. Quint: Sure, why not?
Brodie: He's an alien, for Christ sake. His Kyrptonian biological makeup is enhanced by earth's yellow sun. If Lois gets a tan the kid could kick right through her stomach. Only someone like Wonder Woman has a strong enough uterus to carry his kid. The only way he could bang regular chicks is with a kryptonite condom. That would kill him!
I once presented a weird problem i had with GAIM to one of its developers, via Jabber (no need to mention him here). GAIM would work just peachy with one version of X.Org, but would die with another! :)
Since i'm a Gentoo user, he proceeded to, basically, tell me to piss off and seek for help among the Gentoo package mantainers. I was pissed, but after a while he (we) cooled down and actually managed to have a very nice conversation. And yes, i managed to solve the problem
Thing is, they have a point; they get flooded by requests/questions/bogus bugreports by people that bitch to the developers for any minor problem, problems that most of the time are well covered in the FAQs. On the other hand, yes, the GAIM developers seem to be particularly jumpy (and even borderline assholes, sorry). Perhaps big proyects like GAIM could find some sort of middle-ground solution, like a group of people willing to help people with problems, a-la-helpdesk, which could in turn deffer questions to the actual developers if they feel they're merited.
I don't know if such thing would be possible (or another solution, for that matter), but you have to keep in mind the GAIM developers receive the complaints directly. It can wear one off in no time.
No matter how much EA spends on promoting it's latest FPS - it's just like the original with extra antialiasing. Woopittie doo. My money is spent much better elsewhere.
My music purchases lately, except for a few notable exceptions, are all of artists from the 80s/90s. Not that it was a particularly magic period in music history by any strecth (even though i'm quite fond of grunge), but atleast composing and playing your own tunes was still marketeable. People took risks. Nowadays, i listen to radio, and in a same genre i have a hard time telling one band from another.
Sadly, it's the same with games. The ones i've enjoyed more lately i've picked up on the discount bin.
Just wait for the Revolution; if anything, so the console fanboys shut up for once :) Hell, i don't even like consoles, and i'm really looking forward to it.
The energy is absobed by the coil, "stored" for a moment as potential energy then released (much more slowly, but still fast enough) partially into the frame of the gun, which of course gets stressed. When the H&K USP (a handgun which uses a system of opposing springs to help reduce recoil) came out it made a big fuzz about this. Also, the momentum of the bullet must equal the momentum of the displacement of the gun (which has quite more mass) and, to a degree, the shooter, if he experiences recoil. The fact that the bullet flies at (X * 100) mts/s doesn't mean the shooter will do as well.
The shooter still experiences recoil, but it is contollable. Otherwise guns would be impossible.
for a number of reasons, the principal being that most guns firing "big" calibers (and several handguns aswell) implement a spring system solely to absorb recoil and improve accuracy. floating barrels (barrels that move back after each shot) are also common, like in the Barret .50bmg. those gun can shot through ammo and yet they can be shoulder-fired with relative comfort.
it's the same mechanism that avoids you hitting your ass when you drive your car and go over a bump. now, is that enough physics for you?