"2. As networking becoming more and more important, the requirement for a hard real-time operating systems decreases. You can't get deterministic performance out of a TCP/IP, which means that you can't get it out of a networked application. As a result, a number of designs are going in a different direction, combining a hard real-time hardware component coupled with an embedded Linux control/management plane..."
Yeah that was the theory, unfortunately it hasn't been working out so well. The quality of hardware development tools is still to primitive to build complex decision making logic straight into fabric. It's actually turning out to be easier to put a low-complexity cpu in the fabric and use a RTOS on top of that to do the complicated stuff.
Linux isn't suitable for hard-real time control. I could see Linux eventually having a place in robotic systems above the level of actually controlling motors and actuators, but you are still going to need a RTOS running on a dedicated processor to actually control the robot's movements.
The place where WindRiver tools really shine is bringing up an OS on a custom board from scratch. The JTAG ICE based debuggers that WR sells are good for debugging ISRs, bootloaders, etc. I have written device drivers without source-level ICE debugging:{ a good ICE debugger can save you months and months and months of efforts when it comes to doing that type of low-level development.
The task level debuggers are better for application development, profiling, etc.
The Tornado front end to gdb was better than the open-source alternatives several years ago, I am not sure if that is still true or not.
Hope that helps some, like you said it's very project specific.
"If you had something--a person, say--floating in a water column or in space, a straight mechanical arm is likely to push it away," said Thomas McKenna, a project officer at the ONR. "But an arm you could use to gently wrap around an object and retrieve it, that would be useful."
Also, they are real popular with doe-eyed, psuedo-asian, female superheros.
SoCs with a general purpose core attached to special purpose logic are the future of computing. More and more companies are licensing ARM and PPC IP to put in FPGA fabric to control their own custom I/O, DSP logic, etc.
Several things don't bode well for the Cell. It appears to be made to work only with Rambus memory - not a good sign. Size, heat and power consumption are the dominant factors when it comes to choosing a processor for embedded apps and the Cell looks like it's gonna have plenty of all three. Finally, there doesn't seem to have been any parrallel work on compiler technology to support this chip - just the standard "ohhh, we'll fix it in software, later" mindset.
The development tools we use don't work unless you have admin.
I have yet to see a game that will run as a restricted user under any of the NT variants.
By the by, our EEs are expecting to see reference boards for a 4-core 74xx processor early next year from Freescale. Each core is supposed to have it own full-up Altivec unit, cache(with coherency controls between the 4 L1 units), and dedicated bus to memory.
So basically this processor is an attempt to address what this guy calls 'Memory to Execution' latency, for a very specific set of applications - ones with lots of 4-D vector transforms. General purpose code execution is probably going to suck, but it could shine in video games and perhaps some types of robotic and embedded applications, but that will depend upon power-usage and heat. Maybe the programmers will have Super Mario 12 ready for it by 2013.
These are not games like CounterStrike or BF1942. Common cheats like speedhack don't work on most of them. Cheating is much harder on an MMOG because the game mechanics reside on a remote server. The client software is just an interface to the game. Cheating by other players generally doesn't have much impact, especially on the casual player. It's more likely to impact the other hardcore players. The interactions between players are much more complex than just shooting the other guy. They are so complex in fact, that these games evolve their own economies and social structures.
Talk about missing the point
on
Blink
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· Score: 1
Gladwell has developed a process for making intuitive decisions.
I think this is why NASA wants to get rid of Hubble. So they can have a new project to build an observatory on the ISS. I can't see why it would be so expensive to repair Hubble. They already have to go up to it to de-orbit it, but if they keep it operating they won't be able to say, "Ohh we need $15 Billion dollars to build a visible light observatory on ISS to replace Hubble."
JWST is intended to observe the infra-red spectrum. It won't be able to observe in visible light as well as Hubble can. A replacement telescope will cost much more than $2B, especially with NASA doing the lifting. If Hubble goes, we loss our best view into space, and given the condition of our space program JWST may never make it to space.
Re:Apple's Biggest Flop: Losing Nerd Mindshare in
on
Top 10 Apple Flops
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· Score: 1
This is true. It is where they really screwed up. For some reason Apple has never been able to court 3rd-party developers well.
The Newton cost $1000 dollars, it was to large to put in your pocket and the handwriting recognition system didn't work.
Sometimes products fail just because they suck.
If you look at the details of the discovery - the Hobbits lived with real life dragons, hunted minature oliphants and lived in the misty moutains, (plus the locals reputed name for the hobbits is a gaelic word that means trickery) it quickly becomes apparent that the whole thing is a hoax created to make Nature look stupid.
Unfortunately, the editors at Nature weren't up on their Tolkien.
/. should be illegal. It's well know that Bin Laden uses it to circumvent the DMCA all the time.
It can also be used to knock whole websites off the internet by posting a link to the site like this. http://www.perry-tales.com/ (WARNING: Link is about the relationship between lesbianism, anime and Cthulhu and contains disturbing images.)
"Thompson believes that the 5,200-year old event may have been caused by a dramatic fluctuation in solar energy reaching the earth."
It has long been suspected that there is a 5,200 year cycle. We know that there is another, longer cycle that runs at 36,000 years. There is yet a longer cycle that is on the scale of 150,000 years. We also know there is an 11 year cycle.
It is suspected that there are other cycles.
All of these climate cycles are Astronomical.
Slashdot Mirror
"2. As networking becoming more and more important, the requirement for a hard real-time operating systems decreases. You can't get deterministic performance out of a TCP/IP, which means that you can't get it out of a networked application. As a result, a number of designs are going in a different direction, combining a hard real-time hardware component coupled with an embedded Linux control/management plane..." Yeah that was the theory, unfortunately it hasn't been working out so well. The quality of hardware development tools is still to primitive to build complex decision making logic straight into fabric. It's actually turning out to be easier to put a low-complexity cpu in the fabric and use a RTOS on top of that to do the complicated stuff.
Linux isn't suitable for hard-real time control. I could see Linux eventually having a place in robotic systems above the level of actually controlling motors and actuators, but you are still going to need a RTOS running on a dedicated processor to actually control the robot's movements.
The place where WindRiver tools really shine is bringing up an OS on a custom board from scratch. The JTAG ICE based debuggers that WR sells are good for debugging ISRs, bootloaders, etc. I have written device drivers without source-level ICE debugging :{ a good ICE debugger can save you months and months and months of efforts when it comes to doing that type of low-level development.
The task level debuggers are better for application development, profiling, etc.
The Tornado front end to gdb was better than the open-source alternatives several years ago, I am not sure if that is still true or not.
Hope that helps some, like you said it's very project specific.
"If you had something--a person, say--floating in a water column or in space, a straight mechanical arm is likely to push it away," said Thomas McKenna, a project officer at the ONR. "But an arm you could use to gently wrap around an object and retrieve it, that would be useful." Also, they are real popular with doe-eyed, psuedo-asian, female superheros.
SoCs with a general purpose core attached to special purpose logic are the future of computing. More and more companies are licensing ARM and PPC IP to put in FPGA fabric to control their own custom I/O, DSP logic, etc. Several things don't bode well for the Cell. It appears to be made to work only with Rambus memory - not a good sign. Size, heat and power consumption are the dominant factors when it comes to choosing a processor for embedded apps and the Cell looks like it's gonna have plenty of all three. Finally, there doesn't seem to have been any parrallel work on compiler technology to support this chip - just the standard "ohhh, we'll fix it in software, later" mindset.
All I can get from the links in the headers is a page in chinese.
The development tools we use don't work unless you have admin. I have yet to see a game that will run as a restricted user under any of the NT variants.
Oh man, I love your sig! That is a really good ideal.
By the by, our EEs are expecting to see reference boards for a 4-core 74xx processor early next year from Freescale. Each core is supposed to have it own full-up Altivec unit, cache(with coherency controls between the 4 L1 units), and dedicated bus to memory.
So basically this processor is an attempt to address what this guy calls 'Memory to Execution' latency, for a very specific set of applications - ones with lots of 4-D vector transforms. General purpose code execution is probably going to suck, but it could shine in video games and perhaps some types of robotic and embedded applications, but that will depend upon power-usage and heat. Maybe the programmers will have Super Mario 12 ready for it by 2013.
These are not games like CounterStrike or BF1942. Common cheats like speedhack don't work on most of them. Cheating is much harder on an MMOG because the game mechanics reside on a remote server. The client software is just an interface to the game. Cheating by other players generally doesn't have much impact, especially on the casual player. It's more likely to impact the other hardcore players. The interactions between players are much more complex than just shooting the other guy. They are so complex in fact, that these games evolve their own economies and social structures.
Gladwell has developed a process for making intuitive decisions.
Heretic!
"Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha" I am sure the survivors of Nazi concentration camps would agree with Buddha.
I think this is why NASA wants to get rid of Hubble. So they can have a new project to build an observatory on the ISS. I can't see why it would be so expensive to repair Hubble. They already have to go up to it to de-orbit it, but if they keep it operating they won't be able to say, "Ohh we need $15 Billion dollars to build a visible light observatory on ISS to replace Hubble."
JWST is intended to observe the infra-red spectrum. It won't be able to observe in visible light as well as Hubble can. A replacement telescope will cost much more than $2B, especially with NASA doing the lifting. If Hubble goes, we loss our best view into space, and given the condition of our space program JWST may never make it to space.
This is true. It is where they really screwed up. For some reason Apple has never been able to court 3rd-party developers well.
The Newton cost $1000 dollars, it was to large to put in your pocket and the handwriting recognition system didn't work. Sometimes products fail just because they suck.
mod the parent up
If you look at the details of the discovery - the Hobbits lived with real life dragons, hunted minature oliphants and lived in the misty moutains, (plus the locals reputed name for the hobbits is a gaelic word that means trickery) it quickly becomes apparent that the whole thing is a hoax created to make Nature look stupid. Unfortunately, the editors at Nature weren't up on their Tolkien.
/. should be illegal. It's well know that Bin Laden uses it to circumvent the DMCA all the time. It can also be used to knock whole websites off the internet by posting a link to the site like this. http://www.perry-tales.com/ (WARNING: Link is about the relationship between lesbianism, anime and Cthulhu and contains disturbing images.)
Page won't load. So everyone have a Terrifying Cthulhumas and an insane New Year!
LOL! Thanks for the link. Denmark's least wanted is hilarious.
This crap is just resamples of the organ music from the movie "Ghost and Mr. Chicken".
"Thompson believes that the 5,200-year old event may have been caused by a dramatic fluctuation in solar energy reaching the earth." It has long been suspected that there is a 5,200 year cycle. We know that there is another, longer cycle that runs at 36,000 years. There is yet a longer cycle that is on the scale of 150,000 years. We also know there is an 11 year cycle. It is suspected that there are other cycles. All of these climate cycles are Astronomical.