for what it's worth, the CBC coverage of the Olympics in Canada was, and always is, excellent. it's not delayed for primetime, and it gives pretty fair coverage to all events.
and heck, it's even in English, so you won't have to learn Italian;)..
my question would be "why x86?" it sickens me to see people praising the x86 architecture (Crusoe included) in embedded devices. why are we still hanging onto this dated instruction set? we don't need to support this antiquated technology in new embedded devices.
as someone involved in the embedded market, i'm really annoyed by ill-informed comments like this. there are people at my company actively working on keeping MIPS ports of Linux software up-to-date so our customers can use a decent architecture in their embedded devices (ie. "internet appliances") instead of supporting x86 cruft.
but to answer your question, the MIPS core is so popular because it's an excellent architecture (as noted by others) but also because the core can be licensed and included in custom ASICs. you'll notice that the Sony PS2 CPU is a custom Sony chip with various other blocks on it, but that the MIPS core is also included in that. you can't buy a Pentium core.
Seeing letters as being different colors may not be the most exciting thing, but there seem to be so many others, "seeing" sounds, "hearing" textures, and the like, that seem like they'd enrich the world.
could somebody knowledgeable please explain to me what the deal is with PDF? why isn't this format available in more applications? i was under the impression that PDF was an open standard. if this is the case, why isn't it a more standard "export" option in many programs? it's an excellent file format, especially when print-quality documents are concerned.
so could somebody who knows this format please enlighten us? and i'd prefer somebody who knows what they're talking about, not just some linux zealot that's whining about big software companies not bending over backwards to support thier favourite platform.
Offhand, I really don't know how big StrongARM processors are physically
144-TQFP if i remember correctly. as you probably know, that's a hell of a lot smaller than a 474-PGA. do PGAs even come in 474 pins? i thought you could only get that many pins in a BGA.
anyhow yeah, the StrongARM is much better suited to Palm-sized applications. what has surprised me however, is how very few devices with MIPS processors have been on Slashdot. i guess MIPS isn't as "cool" as Crusoe, but MIPS already has plenty of market share in the embedded market, and you've be suprised to see how many "Internet Appliances" are built around the MIPS processor (usually with Embedded Linux as well) such as the ATI Set-top Wonder reference design.
personally i'm quite a big fan of the small QWERTY keyboard on the RIM Blackberry Pager. this keyboard looks ludicriously small and awkward until you realize that you're meant to use it with your thumbs it makes a lot of sense. i see no reason why thumb keyboards couldn't work for these very small devices. it beats graffiti too as you can use it with just one hand if necessary.
'it hasn't worked on a few projects in the past so, let's just give up now'
great attitude.
i see no reason why this project can't succeed in most small-medium businesses. sure they won't implement every single feature of O2K's calendars, but if it impliments the important ones for most small companies, and it's stable, it'll get a good chunk of market share.
and oh, the best part? if a particular company must have a feature they can ADD it themselves instead of trying to squeeze into a proprietary solution. and in fact, they even have to share that code so everybody is better off! what a novel concept!
so sure, it may not fit in YOUR company, but if it fits in the majority of the thousands of small companies out there, it'll be worth it. so tell me why they should stop developing this again?
So, er, it's not possible for people to lose limbs/extremities in accidents? And if they do, it's wrong to replace them?
What if it's, say, a faulty heart valve or something? Is it wrong to fix it?
All things happen for a reason: the will of God. Man should not challenge that will.
Re:the only real Power chips are not in Apples
on
No Love For Darwin?
·
· Score: 1
Apple needs to ditch this Motorola PPC crap and switch to the real Power chips.
are you kidding me? have you seen the price on those IBM Power-series chips? there's no way they're priced for the retail market, not yet anyways. they're for a totally different purpose -- intense supercomputing applications.
We have, but since we don't make Intel/AMD branded hardware, we won't be selling the software. We would get millions in sales, as a secure, stable, BSD based Intel-platform OS, without any sales of hardware(currently), which means the only revenue model we could pursue would be updates and upgrades to the OS... Therefore shortchanging the R&D and development innovations of a floppy-less iMac, the FireWire enabled devices, the Airport capable systems, the long-battery life portables, the fanless designs, etc.
actually in most Apple-geek circles this isn't believe to be what's in the minds of the people at Apple.
sure Apple is never going to make OS X run on generic Intel-based boxen, but that doesn't rule out Apple selling its own x86-based hardware
now it isn't going to please any slashdot geeks, but if/when Apple does move to x86, MacOS X will probably only run on Apple-made hardware. the design could then be based around 'cheap' PC components, including AMD/Intel chips, but the computers could be well-designed and controlled by Apple to a certain extent to avoid the plethora of support issues in supporting every x86 box ever created.
this all makes a lot more business sense when you realise that Motorola has very little interest in the desktop processor market. the PowerPC has been and probably always will be designed for the embedded market. and in embedded boxes, 500Mhz is plenty. as Intel and AMD hit 2Ghz in the near future, it will actually become faster to run "Classic" (MacOS 9) applications under PowerPC emulation on a fast x86 than on a 500Mhz G4 for programs that aren't Altivec enhanced.
it would be a shame to see Apple move away from the PowerPC, as it is a nice architecture (especially Altivec!), but with Motorola's lack of commitment to the desktop market it's become increasingly difficult to justify keeping it.
on a somewhat related note, i just noticed today that Dilbert is running a series of strips about musicians being paid with "digital tips." it's one of the funnier Dilberts in a very long while (and here i thought Scott Adams ran out of ideas long ago!)
no kidding! SF has gone downhill noticably even in the couple of years that i lived there. i used to attend a lot of great underground raves there, but now the fun stuff is just drying up.
that's why i moved to Toronto. it's not the old San Francisco, but it's not a bad substitute (apart from the weather!:) it's a shame to see that happen to such a great city. i love(d) SF.:I
it's funny after all this hype about Crusoe and the magical software-driven microprocessor all they end up producing is a low-power x86 clone. big deal.
as someone who works in the semiconductor biz, there are a hundred ways of lowering power requirements, and most of them are much easier than Crusoe's solution.
let's face it, if Intel puts a team on it, they could easily match Crusoe's power curve. hell, they could even take an existing mobile pentium and purposely UNDER-clock it, sell the chip as a loss-leader (or near loss-leader) for a short while and drive Transmeta completely out of the market.
when it comes down to it, if Linus didn't work there, nobody would give a damn about Transmeta.
well i just watched the preview and i'd have to agree -- it looks pretty bad.
honestly, i figure this is target to the "Harry Potter" audiance more than those who actually played D&D (or even know what it is). i figure D&D was just a good name out of which to make a Fantasy movie.
Hollywood has become painfully formulaic -- are people really that stupid that they don't notice? or do they just not care?
- j
Re:I pulled the plug on my Cue Cat
on
X On OSX Now Free
·
· Score: 1
offtopic, but how do you get a CueCat anyhow? is this just an american thing? i was at a RadioShack here in Toronto (Canada) and they didn't know anything about the CueCat (..;;?:Cue:;Cat:?::.. whatever).
i'd like to get my hands on one just to play around.
you want this too? then go buy a PowerPC -- that's what i did. and don't start complaining about Apple: the G3 is exactly what you want.
it's a much smaller chip, considerably lower power (as my PowerBook without a fan can attest to), and if purchased used, it's a damn good deal. i've got a Powerbook G3/266 now, and i'm picking up a 400Mhz Blue&White G3 tower for my desktop. runs MacOS X/MacOS 9 well, runs Linux even better.
what have you got up your ass, anyhow? i've been seeing your posts all over the place as of late, and you've alwasy got some over-the-top extremist post to every topic. it boggles my mind to think that you have the time to post all these messages to slashdot.
but don't read me wrong, i'm not criticizing you: in fact, it's quite the opposite. i've been reading slashdot for at least two years, and in that time i have never seen a troll (in the classic sense of the word) nearly as effective as you. congradulations, keep up the good work.
for what it's worth though, the Universe is beautiful: it's the people down here that are messing things up. don't blame the Universe for the Human race's problems.
and to stay on topic, i'm a geek, and i'd be more willing to believe John Lilly's beliefs over that of any of the Bishops i know. so the stereotype fits here, at least.:)
Thoughts flow easily to keyboards that might not to voice. Maybe that's conditioning, but writing down thoughts is something that goes back for all of recorded history and I think it's more than just me.
you said it -- it's just you. or i should rephrase that, just us. a lot of people on slashdot (well actually people in general) have a hard time seeing the world from other people's perspectives. i know i have the same problem myself sometimes, despite how hard i try.
words flow more easily for you and i because we're geeks. that's why. many of us are just plain good at putting our thoughts down in writing. that's why many of us are coders instead of public speakers.
the truth is however, that there's an awful lot of people out there who do think better in words, and guess what? these are also the same type of people who can't type 100 words per minute. go figure
voice control? it would be interesting for some things to avoid moving from keyboard to mouse so often, but it isn't for me. however it is for a lot of people, so all the power to 'em. not everything has to be made for every one of us, and we have to start to take other sides into account. i mean, i wouldn't buy an iMac either, but that doesn't mean they're not perfect for some people i know:)
if this site is actually hosted in Thailand, then it wouldn't surprise me that it was slashdotted so quickly.
when i was at a meeting in Bangkok with Loxley Public Company, i was told during a presentation that the outbound Internet pipe in Thailand is only a 2.1MB/s link. i didn't think this was possible, so i double and triple checked it with people in the know, and they all said it was correct. apparently a faster pipe is not needed, as very few Thai people surf sites outside of Thailand, and very few people outside of Thailand care to read Thai (approximately 80% of Thai-based Internet sites are written in Thai i was told).
i'm still not sure if i believe that the entire country could have only a 2.1MB/s link to the rest of the world, but it would explain the painfully slow server!:)
Slashdot Mirror
for what it's worth, the CBC coverage of the Olympics in Canada was, and always is, excellent. it's not delayed for primetime, and it gives pretty fair coverage to all events.
;) ..
and heck, it's even in English, so you won't have to learn Italian
- j
MacOS X 2.0 i would bet.
Apple wants it pronounced "OS ten" but just about EVERYBODY calls it "O S X." OSX 2 works.
- j
my question would be "why x86?" it sickens me to see people praising the x86 architecture (Crusoe included) in embedded devices. why are we still hanging onto this dated instruction set? we don't need to support this antiquated technology in new embedded devices.
as someone involved in the embedded market, i'm really annoyed by ill-informed comments like this. there are people at my company actively working on keeping MIPS ports of Linux software up-to-date so our customers can use a decent architecture in their embedded devices (ie. "internet appliances") instead of supporting x86 cruft.
but to answer your question, the MIPS core is so popular because it's an excellent architecture (as noted by others) but also because the core can be licensed and included in custom ASICs. you'll notice that the Sony PS2 CPU is a custom Sony chip with various other blocks on it, but that the MIPS core is also included in that. you can't buy a Pentium core.
- j
Seeing letters as being different colors may not be the most exciting thing, but there seem to be so many others, "seeing" sounds, "hearing" textures, and the like, that seem like they'd enrich the world.
this is already possible today with DMT.
- j
Repeat after me: PDF is bad.
could somebody knowledgeable please explain to me what the deal is with PDF? why isn't this format available in more applications? i was under the impression that PDF was an open standard. if this is the case, why isn't it a more standard "export" option in many programs? it's an excellent file format, especially when print-quality documents are concerned.
so could somebody who knows this format please enlighten us? and i'd prefer somebody who knows what they're talking about, not just some linux zealot that's whining about big software companies not bending over backwards to support thier favourite platform.
- j
Offhand, I really don't know how big StrongARM processors are physically
144-TQFP if i remember correctly. as you probably know, that's a hell of a lot smaller than a 474-PGA. do PGAs even come in 474 pins? i thought you could only get that many pins in a BGA.
anyhow yeah, the StrongARM is much better suited to Palm-sized applications. what has surprised me however, is how very few devices with MIPS processors have been on Slashdot. i guess MIPS isn't as "cool" as Crusoe, but MIPS already has plenty of market share in the embedded market, and you've be suprised to see how many "Internet Appliances" are built around the MIPS processor (usually with Embedded Linux as well) such as the ATI Set-top Wonder reference design.
- j
personally i'm quite a big fan of the small QWERTY keyboard on the RIM Blackberry Pager. this keyboard looks ludicriously small and awkward until you realize that you're meant to use it with your thumbs it makes a lot of sense. i see no reason why thumb keyboards couldn't work for these very small devices. it beats graffiti too as you can use it with just one hand if necessary.
- j
'it hasn't worked on a few projects in the past so, let's just give up now'
great attitude.
i see no reason why this project can't succeed in most small-medium businesses. sure they won't implement every single feature of O2K's calendars, but if it impliments the important ones for most small companies, and it's stable, it'll get a good chunk of market share.
and oh, the best part? if a particular company must have a feature they can ADD it themselves instead of trying to squeeze into a proprietary solution. and in fact, they even have to share that code so everybody is better off! what a novel concept!
so sure, it may not fit in YOUR company, but if it fits in the majority of the thousands of small companies out there, it'll be worth it. so tell me why they should stop developing this again?
- j
sorry, i meant to put a big bahahahahaha at the end of that last one ;) .. gotta quit being so trigger happy on the "submit" ..
- j
So, er, it's not possible for people to lose limbs/extremities in accidents? And if they do, it's wrong to replace them? What if it's, say, a faulty heart valve or something? Is it wrong to fix it?
All things happen for a reason: the will of God. Man should not challenge that will.
Apple needs to ditch this Motorola PPC crap and switch to the real Power chips.
are you kidding me? have you seen the price on those IBM Power-series chips? there's no way they're priced for the retail market, not yet anyways. they're for a totally different purpose -- intense supercomputing applications.
- j
We have, but since we don't make Intel/AMD branded hardware, we won't be selling the software. We would get millions in sales, as a secure, stable, BSD based Intel-platform OS, without any sales of hardware(currently), which means the only revenue model we could pursue would be updates and upgrades to the OS... Therefore shortchanging the R&D and development innovations of a floppy-less iMac, the FireWire enabled devices, the Airport capable systems, the long-battery life portables, the fanless designs, etc.
actually in most Apple-geek circles this isn't believe to be what's in the minds of the people at Apple.
sure Apple is never going to make OS X run on generic Intel-based boxen, but that doesn't rule out Apple selling its own x86-based hardware
now it isn't going to please any slashdot geeks, but if/when Apple does move to x86, MacOS X will probably only run on Apple-made hardware. the design could then be based around 'cheap' PC components, including AMD/Intel chips, but the computers could be well-designed and controlled by Apple to a certain extent to avoid the plethora of support issues in supporting every x86 box ever created.
this all makes a lot more business sense when you realise that Motorola has very little interest in the desktop processor market. the PowerPC has been and probably always will be designed for the embedded market. and in embedded boxes, 500Mhz is plenty. as Intel and AMD hit 2Ghz in the near future, it will actually become faster to run "Classic" (MacOS 9) applications under PowerPC emulation on a fast x86 than on a 500Mhz G4 for programs that aren't Altivec enhanced.
it would be a shame to see Apple move away from the PowerPC, as it is a nice architecture (especially Altivec!), but with Motorola's lack of commitment to the desktop market it's become increasingly difficult to justify keeping it.
but anyhow, only time will tell
- j
on a somewhat related note, i just noticed today that Dilbert is running a series of strips about musicians being paid with "digital tips." it's one of the funnier Dilberts in a very long while (and here i thought Scott Adams ran out of ideas long ago!)
- j
no kidding! SF has gone downhill noticably even in the couple of years that i lived there. i used to attend a lot of great underground raves there, but now the fun stuff is just drying up.
that's why i moved to Toronto. it's not the old San Francisco, but it's not a bad substitute (apart from the weather! :) it's a shame to see that happen to such a great city. i love(d) SF. :I
- j
it's funny after all this hype about Crusoe and the magical software-driven microprocessor all they end up producing is a low-power x86 clone. big deal.
as someone who works in the semiconductor biz, there are a hundred ways of lowering power requirements, and most of them are much easier than Crusoe's solution.
let's face it, if Intel puts a team on it, they could easily match Crusoe's power curve. hell, they could even take an existing mobile pentium and purposely UNDER-clock it, sell the chip as a loss-leader (or near loss-leader) for a short while and drive Transmeta completely out of the market.
when it comes down to it, if Linus didn't work there, nobody would give a damn about Transmeta.
- j
well i just watched the preview and i'd have to agree -- it looks pretty bad.
honestly, i figure this is target to the "Harry Potter" audiance more than those who actually played D&D (or even know what it is). i figure D&D was just a good name out of which to make a Fantasy movie.
Hollywood has become painfully formulaic -- are people really that stupid that they don't notice? or do they just not care?
- j
offtopic, but how do you get a CueCat anyhow? is this just an american thing? i was at a RadioShack here in Toronto (Canada) and they didn't know anything about the CueCat (.. ;;?:Cue:;Cat:?:: .. whatever).
i'd like to get my hands on one just to play around.
- j
you want this too? then go buy a PowerPC -- that's what i did. and don't start complaining about Apple: the G3 is exactly what you want.
it's a much smaller chip, considerably lower power (as my PowerBook without a fan can attest to), and if purchased used, it's a damn good deal. i've got a Powerbook G3/266 now, and i'm picking up a 400Mhz Blue&White G3 tower for my desktop. runs MacOS X/MacOS 9 well, runs Linux even better.
so quit your bitching and go buy a G3.
- j
hear hear. this story is interesting and all, but where do the self-transforming machine elves fit into all this?
- j
what have you got up your ass, anyhow? i've been seeing your posts all over the place as of late, and you've alwasy got some over-the-top extremist post to every topic. it boggles my mind to think that you have the time to post all these messages to slashdot.
but don't read me wrong, i'm not criticizing you: in fact, it's quite the opposite. i've been reading slashdot for at least two years, and in that time i have never seen a troll (in the classic sense of the word) nearly as effective as you. congradulations, keep up the good work.
for what it's worth though, the Universe is beautiful: it's the people down here that are messing things up. don't blame the Universe for the Human race's problems.
- j
i saw that once, during an acid trip. i always wondered what that was.
total Ego loss and sucked into a black hole. it's a hell of a way to go.
- j
dude, take some strong hallucinogens. seriously.
- j
ala John C. Lilly's Programming and Metaprogramming the Human Bio-Computer.
and to stay on topic, i'm a geek, and i'd be more willing to believe John Lilly's beliefs over that of any of the Bishops i know. so the stereotype fits here, at least. :)
- j
Thoughts flow easily to keyboards that might not to voice. Maybe that's conditioning, but writing down thoughts is something that goes back for all of recorded history and I think it's more than just me.
you said it -- it's just you. or i should rephrase that, just us. a lot of people on slashdot (well actually people in general) have a hard time seeing the world from other people's perspectives. i know i have the same problem myself sometimes, despite how hard i try.
words flow more easily for you and i because we're geeks. that's why. many of us are just plain good at putting our thoughts down in writing. that's why many of us are coders instead of public speakers.
the truth is however, that there's an awful lot of people out there who do think better in words, and guess what? these are also the same type of people who can't type 100 words per minute. go figure
voice control? it would be interesting for some things to avoid moving from keyboard to mouse so often, but it isn't for me. however it is for a lot of people, so all the power to 'em. not everything has to be made for every one of us, and we have to start to take other sides into account. i mean, i wouldn't buy an iMac either, but that doesn't mean they're not perfect for some people i know :)
- j
if this site is actually hosted in Thailand, then it wouldn't surprise me that it was slashdotted so quickly.
:)
when i was at a meeting in Bangkok with Loxley Public Company, i was told during a presentation that the outbound Internet pipe in Thailand is only a 2.1MB/s link. i didn't think this was possible, so i double and triple checked it with people in the know, and they all said it was correct. apparently a faster pipe is not needed, as very few Thai people surf sites outside of Thailand, and very few people outside of Thailand care to read Thai (approximately 80% of Thai-based Internet sites are written in Thai i was told).
i'm still not sure if i believe that the entire country could have only a 2.1MB/s link to the rest of the world, but it would explain the painfully slow server!
- j