SpeedStep runs at the lower speed WHENEVER you are on battery. (at least according to Dell) It is not dependent on the processes going on. It only runs at the higher speed when plugged in. imo, this is idiotic. But I can see how it would reduce OS problems.
SpeedStep is configurable. From what I understand of SpeedStep, software has to initate the change. With Windows, a control panel applet watches the power source with APM, and when it changes, it has the option of changing the speed. With the Windows applet, it allows you to configure SpeedStep to run at full speed all the time, only when on AC power, or never. Likewise, it lets you configure the lower speed all the time, only on battery, or never.
The system will also switch on-the-fly. While configured to run slow on battery and fast on AC, use a program to measure CPU speed on both and it will change as the power source changes.
Transmeta's processor does a much swifter thing; it changes dynamically based roughly on usage... so when you aren't using it, it just slows down.
This is better than SpeedStep, but the Intel CPUs do have a nice feature called the HLT instruction, which actually halts the CPU until an external interrupt occurs. If Windows 9x would actually use it, laptop batteries would last ALOT longer.
This is better, but I'm not sure how much, than those programs which simply send the least-power-using instruction for a cycle to reduce heat load. [snip] I suspect that actually slowing down the number of operations is much more efficient than the lowest op, because I bet there's a bunch of overhead even on the lowest-power operation. So Transmeta's is definitely better.
This is better when used unaided with Windows 9x/Me. But...
Like I mentioned above, the HLT instruction will actually stop ALL instruction processing within the CPU until an external interrupt occurs, ie. the timer interrupt fires so the OS can schedule the next process. So, once the HLT instruction is issued, the CPU remains halted for the remainder of the processes timeslice. HLT is used within the idle process of Linux, the BSDs, and Win NT/2000, so they all benefit. For Win9x, there are programs like Rain, that will consume all of the idle CPU time and issue HLT instructions as if it was the idle process.
If Transmeta's chip can halt itself when it detects an idle loop, then cool. It should work quite a bit better with Win9x than other x86 CPUs.
Oh, that's ridiculous. They may be selling these as 'loss leaders' and they may want you to use their service after you purchase one, but if you pay what they're asking to purchase an i-Opener then you OWN it.
Look at the cellphone market. Cell phone companies sell their phones at a loss with the hope that they will make the money back throught monthly service charges. To enforce this, they protect the ability of reprogramming the phones through a subsidy lock. Only the phone company knows the lock code, and without it you can't reprogram the phone.
Now look at this. They are selling you hardware at a loss with the hope that they will make the money back through the monthly service fees for their internet services. In this case, they are making the hardware unmodifiable so you can't use it with someone else's services.
In both cases the respective companies are protecting the hardware they took a loss on to sell to you.
It's not a lease. It's not rental. It's a purchase. Opening it up and modifying it to make it do something else is no more stealing than buying a Playstation and letting it sit in a closet.
What you are purchasing is a license to legally use that hardware, similar to a software license. When you purchase a piece of software, you don't own that software. You can't disassemble the software and modify it to do something else, and still expect the company who wrote it to be ok with what you've done. Most license agreements specifically forbid modifications of any kind.
...if police trace you back to your ISP they will bend over backwards to tell the cops who you are. ...If you have lost your anonymity on the 'Net these days, it's not the government that did it to you
Most users of the internet enjoy the mostly unknown priviledge of having an ever chaning IP address. Each time you log in, you get a different IP. Because of this fact, websites don't know who you are unless you explicitly tell them who you are, or they use permanent cookies to keep track. Cookies can be turned off though, for those of use who are truly paranoid and don't want to leak a single bit of information to anyone.
Then there are those who have a static IP address. If the website took the time to analyze their logs, they could determine your viewing habits on their website, and link those habits to your IP address. Then if you ever happen to supply them with information, even one time, about who you are, then now have personal information to apply to those habits. Since your IP has been the same, they can apply all of your past habits with your info too.
Personally this doesn't bother me, but I know there are plenty of people out there that this would bother.
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SpeedStep runs at the lower speed WHENEVER you are on battery. (at least according to Dell) It is not dependent on the processes going on. It only runs at the higher speed when plugged in. imo, this is idiotic. But I can see how it would reduce OS problems.
SpeedStep is configurable. From what I understand of SpeedStep, software has to initate the change. With Windows, a control panel applet watches the power source with APM, and when it changes, it has the option of changing the speed. With the Windows applet, it allows you to configure SpeedStep to run at full speed all the time, only when on AC power, or never. Likewise, it lets you configure the lower speed all the time, only on battery, or never.
The system will also switch on-the-fly. While configured to run slow on battery and fast on AC, use a program to measure CPU speed on both and it will change as the power source changes.
Transmeta's processor does a much swifter thing; it changes dynamically based roughly on usage... so when you aren't using it, it just slows down.
This is better than SpeedStep, but the Intel CPUs do have a nice feature called the HLT instruction, which actually halts the CPU until an external interrupt occurs. If Windows 9x would actually use it, laptop batteries would last ALOT longer.
This is better, but I'm not sure how much, than those programs which simply send the least-power-using instruction for a cycle to reduce heat load. [snip] I suspect that actually slowing down the number of operations is much more efficient than the lowest op, because I bet there's a bunch of overhead even on the lowest-power operation. So Transmeta's is definitely better.
This is better when used unaided with Windows 9x/Me. But...
Like I mentioned above, the HLT instruction will actually stop ALL instruction processing within the CPU until an external interrupt occurs, ie. the timer interrupt fires so the OS can schedule the next process. So, once the HLT instruction is issued, the CPU remains halted for the remainder of the processes timeslice. HLT is used within the idle process of Linux, the BSDs, and Win NT/2000, so they all benefit. For Win9x, there are programs like Rain, that will consume all of the idle CPU time and issue HLT instructions as if it was the idle process.
If Transmeta's chip can halt itself when it detects an idle loop, then cool. It should work quite a bit better with Win9x than other x86 CPUs.
Oh, that's ridiculous. They may be selling these as 'loss leaders' and they may want you to use their service after you purchase one, but if you pay what they're asking to purchase an i-Opener then you OWN it.
Look at the cellphone market. Cell phone companies sell their phones at a loss with the hope that they will make the money back throught monthly service charges. To enforce this, they protect the ability of reprogramming the phones through a subsidy lock. Only the phone company knows the lock code, and without it you can't reprogram the phone.
Now look at this. They are selling you hardware at a loss with the hope that they will make the money back through the monthly service fees for their internet services. In this case, they are making the hardware unmodifiable so you can't use it with someone else's services.
In both cases the respective companies are protecting the hardware they took a loss on to sell to you.
It's not a lease. It's not rental. It's a purchase. Opening it up and modifying it to make it do something else is no more stealing than buying a Playstation and letting it sit in a closet.
What you are purchasing is a license to legally use that hardware, similar to a software license. When you purchase a piece of software, you don't own that software. You can't disassemble the software and modify it to do something else, and still expect the company who wrote it to be ok with what you've done. Most license agreements specifically forbid modifications of any kind.
...if police trace you back to your ISP they will bend over backwards to tell the cops who you are.
...If you have lost your anonymity on the 'Net these days, it's not the government that did it to you
Most users of the internet enjoy the mostly unknown priviledge of having an ever chaning IP address. Each time you log in, you get a different IP. Because of this fact, websites don't know who you are unless you explicitly tell them who you are, or they use permanent cookies to keep track. Cookies can be turned off though, for those of use who are truly paranoid and don't want to leak a single bit of information to anyone.
Then there are those who have a static IP address. If the website took the time to analyze their logs, they could determine your viewing habits on their website, and link those habits to your IP address. Then if you ever happen to supply them with information, even one time, about who you are, then now have personal information to apply to those habits. Since your IP has been the same, they can apply all of your past habits with your info too.
Personally this doesn't bother me, but I know there are plenty of people out there that this would bother.