That will be a great day for all the technology industry and herald a massive price crash in processor power. I don't see it working out that way. In terms of laptop/desktop/server CPUs the established big player has a huge advantage. Despite failling to kill most of the clone vendors through lawsuits intel still killed most of them off by being able to choose the direction of the market having the best fabs and being able to spread thier fixed costs over more processors than anything else.
and now they have Intel DESIGNING chips for them. Do they really? I know apple got some exclusives but afaict they were just higher spec versions of existing processors and were later release on the open market but I hadn't heard of anything designed specifically for apple.
maybe so, but afaict x64 implies some intel originated features (e.g. sse)that were present in both intel and amd processors at the time they added 64 bit.
Without those features you would not have a chip that was compatible with exiting x64 code.
it's likely the next version of Windows will be 64bit only Maybe the next but one version will. Windows 7 is almost certain to come out in a 32 bit version.
while still working perfectly fine with (99.9% of) 32bit Apps do you have a source for that percentage? it seems improbablly high to me.
Fridges can guzzle quite a lot while they are cooling but they shouldn't be spending much time doing that and afaict should be averaging less than 100W. If they are averaging much more than that then there is probablly something wrong with them (or they keep getting left open)
CD-RW will only last for 100 writes. Have you ever seen a failed CD-RW? I didn't. I used packet writing quite a bit for a while and I think I killed a few CDRWs with it over the years when I used it.
However the vendors fucked up on thier software. Adaptec and ahead came up with incompatible packet writing software and even if they had been compatible bundled copies of nero didn't generally come with incd. So as the burner vendors switched to bundling nero packet writing died out at least among those of us too tight to buy burning software retail (and who wouldn't or couldn't pirate it)
IMO USB won because of the actions of two companies, intel and apple.
Afaict intel introduced USB and made it a standard feature of their chipsets. Since the chipset already had the feature wiring up a couple of sockets was trivial and it was another feature to advertise so motherboard manufacturers generally put the ports on but there were few devices.
Then apple released the imac forcing device manufacturers to adopt USB or lose support for the mac.
Not true. Early PS3s had the complete PS2 chipset included, so in those cases the PS2 games were being run natively Unfortunately we europeans never got that model. (grey importing is an option but region locking means if you grey import a console you will have to grey import many games and media as well).
Later model PS3s had only the GS in hardware, and used software emulation for the EE Yeah, and at least for playing ratchet and clank it's barely usable. Dunno about other games (it was a friends PS3, I got mine too late to get one with backwards compatibility)
That digital camera too complicated? Use our sleek (if poorly engineered) alternative, In what way are they poorly engineered?
they also use Memory Sticks (which you can only buy from us). meh, I guess that is annoying if you either take insane numbers of pictures or insist on using RAW. For the more normal user the cost of a memory card with a capacity equivilent to several rolls of film (on when using the camer on highest JPEG) is negligable compared to the cost of the camera.
For many projects that would involve major work on the build setup and due to the different compiler would increase the chance of bugs specific to the wine version.
When you say unfair to usa, you forget that those pirated softwares are exported using US prices, being charged to india/china/russia/brazil salaries. For home or learning use I would generally agree with you.
For business however it is increasing their unfair advantage (which is already large due to the fact that labour is cheaper and environmental regulations much laxer) in the market place.
hell i'm pretty sure that some (perhaps all) 386 models didn't need one.
Afaict it was the 486 era where heatsinks started to become required and they kept growing up until about the P4 era. Now (at least in desktops) they seem to have stabalised at a size similar to those used on P4 chips.
It takes out one category of attacks certainly. On the other hand all this digital equipment which is almost certainly networked probablly introduces some new attack methods.
It depends on your definition of knowing maths really. Maths is a tool that engineers need to be able to understand well enough to use it. Generllly that means a bit beyond A-level (british system, I dunno what the american equivilent is).
They do not generally know maths to anything like the level a mathematics or theoretical physics batchelor would.
Although the need for mathematicians in a large engineering project is probablly less than it used to be due to the availibility of powerfull computers that can take a brute force numeric approach to solving problems.
It seems in a few months time HP will be releasing a machine which IMO solves most of the issues with current netbooks. Namely the HP mininote 2140 with the higher resoloution screen option (the mininote 2140 is already availible but only with the crappy screen resoloution)
* roughly the same size as a EEE 900 * proper 2.5 inch hard drive (SSD option availible though it doubles the price, may be better to get your SSD elsewhere and fit it yourself) * 10.1 inch 1366x768 display (thats right, a display that doesn't have problems with apps whose designers assume you have at least a 1024x768 screen)
Nah. They licensed ARM instead, like everyone else. As it turns out, many of us seem to want to keep x86 compatibility, for a wide variety of reasons but usually centered around Windows:( Even on linux I think x86 is still nicer.
On an x86 I can install a generic distro and be sure that flash, java, and apps that use floating point will all be availible and will perform at a decent speed.
On arm if I install debian (the only generic distro i'm aware of with long standing support for arm) I will get no flash, an interpreter only JVM (iirc sun and arm won't release details on the java extentions supported by some arm chips each blaming contracts with the other) and software (or worse emulated) floating point (since there is no one standard FPU for the arm family)
That basically means I would be stuck with the manufacturers distro which is very likely to stop getting updates a few years after the device is released and is very likely to be difficult to find software for.
I keep reading how the x86 instruction set is a limiting factor on efficiency when compared to others such as ARM and MIPS. I keep seeing it claimed on/. but I haven't seen anyone post benchmarks that support the claim they are a good choice for netbooks (my guess is they are lower power but also much lower performance).
Also I belive for a machine used primerally as an internet terminal and possiblly to run some other apps as well linux on x86 will give a better user experiance and more longevity for reasons I elaborate in http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1105799&cid=26627981
HDTVs (at least the ones i've tried) still suck as monitors for general computer use (they are fine for 3D games, watching video etc), sure they are much better than SDTVs and maybe prefferable to a small laptop screen but they seem to blur a bit even in thier native resoloution, they seem to be crap at locking to VGA signals and sometimes it's not even possible to get them into thier native resoloution.
although there really are some functioning jet-packs For sufficiantly small values of functioning. Having to jump out of a plane to launch and use a parachute to land kinda makes them pretty useless. The scifi concept of a jetpack or jet boots that lets the user take off, fly arround, hover and land at will is still a pipe dream.
Similar things can be said of flying cars, people have made vehircles that can both fly and drive and there is at least one firm currently trying to bring one to market commercially but they are a long way off the scifi idea of flying cars.
One key difference is that in windows almost everyone INCLUDING GEEKS uses the gui. They only tend to turn to the command line, config files or registry editor when the normal GUI fails them.
On linux most geeks tend to use the command line and config files since that is the easiest way for them. Unfortunately it means when they are asked for help by someone who is scared of the command line and config files it puts them in an awkward position.
which is worth more, your time to get support for a particular peice of hardware or being stuck with a dongle that is prone to breakage and you have to remove every time you put your laptop away in it's bag.
I find it somewhat amusing that wine can run win16 apps on 64 bit linux (I dunno how it does it, documentation on wines win16 support seems virtually nonexistant but it certainly does it) while 64 bit windows can't run them.
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That will be a great day for all the technology industry and herald a massive price crash in processor power.
I don't see it working out that way. In terms of laptop/desktop/server CPUs the established big player has a huge advantage. Despite failling to kill most of the clone vendors through lawsuits intel still killed most of them off by being able to choose the direction of the market having the best fabs and being able to spread thier fixed costs over more processors than anything else.
and now they have Intel DESIGNING chips for them.
Do they really? I know apple got some exclusives but afaict they were just higher spec versions of existing processors and were later release on the open market but I hadn't heard of anything designed specifically for apple.
maybe so, but afaict x64 implies some intel originated features (e.g. sse)that were present in both intel and amd processors at the time they added 64 bit.
Without those features you would not have a chip that was compatible with exiting x64 code.
it's likely the next version of Windows will be 64bit only
Maybe the next but one version will. Windows 7 is almost certain to come out in a 32 bit version.
while still working perfectly fine with (99.9% of) 32bit Apps
do you have a source for that percentage? it seems improbablly high to me.
Fridges can guzzle quite a lot while they are cooling but they shouldn't be spending much time doing that and afaict should be averaging less than 100W. If they are averaging much more than that then there is probablly something wrong with them (or they keep getting left open)
CD-RW will only last for 100 writes. Have you ever seen a failed CD-RW? I didn't.
I used packet writing quite a bit for a while and I think I killed a few CDRWs with it over the years when I used it.
However the vendors fucked up on thier software. Adaptec and ahead came up with incompatible packet writing software and even if they had been compatible bundled copies of nero didn't generally come with incd. So as the burner vendors switched to bundling nero packet writing died out at least among those of us too tight to buy burning software retail (and who wouldn't or couldn't pirate it)
IMO USB won because of the actions of two companies, intel and apple.
Afaict intel introduced USB and made it a standard feature of their chipsets. Since the chipset already had the feature wiring up a couple of sockets was trivial and it was another feature to advertise so motherboard manufacturers generally put the ports on but there were few devices.
Then apple released the imac forcing device manufacturers to adopt USB or lose support for the mac.
Not true. Early PS3s had the complete PS2 chipset included, so in those cases the PS2 games were being run natively
Unfortunately we europeans never got that model. (grey importing is an option but region locking means if you grey import a console you will have to grey import many games and media as well).
Later model PS3s had only the GS in hardware, and used software emulation for the EE
Yeah, and at least for playing ratchet and clank it's barely usable. Dunno about other games (it was a friends PS3, I got mine too late to get one with backwards compatibility)
That digital camera too complicated? Use our sleek (if poorly engineered) alternative,
In what way are they poorly engineered?
they also use Memory Sticks (which you can only buy from us).
meh, I guess that is annoying if you either take insane numbers of pictures or insist on using RAW. For the more normal user the cost of a memory card with a capacity equivilent to several rolls of film (on when using the camer on highest JPEG) is negligable compared to the cost of the camera.
For many projects that would involve major work on the build setup and due to the different compiler would increase the chance of bugs specific to the wine version.
And for what gain? I don't see any.
When you say unfair to usa, you forget that those pirated softwares are exported using US prices, being charged to india/china/russia/brazil salaries.
For home or learning use I would generally agree with you.
For business however it is increasing their unfair advantage (which is already large due to the fact that labour is cheaper and environmental regulations much laxer) in the market place.
hell i'm pretty sure that some (perhaps all) 386 models didn't need one.
Afaict it was the 486 era where heatsinks started to become required and they kept growing up until about the P4 era. Now (at least in desktops) they seem to have stabalised at a size similar to those used on P4 chips.
It takes out one category of attacks certainly. On the other hand all this digital equipment which is almost certainly networked probablly introduces some new attack methods.
It depends on your definition of knowing maths really. Maths is a tool that engineers need to be able to understand well enough to use it. Generllly that means a bit beyond A-level (british system, I dunno what the american equivilent is).
They do not generally know maths to anything like the level a mathematics or theoretical physics batchelor would.
Although the need for mathematicians in a large engineering project is probablly less than it used to be due to the availibility of powerfull computers that can take a brute force numeric approach to solving problems.
looks like they even managed to squeeze in an expresscard slot!
It seems in a few months time HP will be releasing a machine which IMO solves most of the issues with current netbooks. Namely the HP mininote 2140 with the higher resoloution screen option (the mininote 2140 is already availible but only with the crappy screen resoloution)
* roughly the same size as a EEE 900
* proper 2.5 inch hard drive (SSD option availible though it doubles the price, may be better to get your SSD elsewhere and fit it yourself)
* 10.1 inch 1366x768 display (thats right, a display that doesn't have problems with apps whose designers assume you have at least a 1024x768 screen)
Nah. They licensed ARM instead, like everyone else. As it turns out, many of us seem to want to keep x86 compatibility, for a wide variety of reasons but usually centered around Windows :(
Even on linux I think x86 is still nicer.
On an x86 I can install a generic distro and be sure that flash, java, and apps that use floating point will all be availible and will perform at a decent speed.
On arm if I install debian (the only generic distro i'm aware of with long standing support for arm) I will get no flash, an interpreter only JVM (iirc sun and arm won't release details on the java extentions supported by some arm chips each blaming contracts with the other) and software (or worse emulated) floating point (since there is no one standard FPU for the arm family)
That basically means I would be stuck with the manufacturers distro which is very likely to stop getting updates a few years after the device is released and is very likely to be difficult to find software for.
I keep reading how the x86 instruction set is a limiting factor on efficiency when compared to others such as ARM and MIPS. /. but I haven't seen anyone post benchmarks that support the claim they are a good choice for netbooks (my guess is they are lower power but also much lower performance).
I keep seeing it claimed on
Also I belive for a machine used primerally as an internet terminal and possiblly to run some other apps as well linux on x86 will give a better user experiance and more longevity for reasons I elaborate in
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1105799&cid=26627981
HDTVs (at least the ones i've tried) still suck as monitors for general computer use (they are fine for 3D games, watching video etc), sure they are much better than SDTVs and maybe prefferable to a small laptop screen but they seem to blur a bit even in thier native resoloution, they seem to be crap at locking to VGA signals and sometimes it's not even possible to get them into thier native resoloution.
The HP 2140 offers a 10.1" 720p (1366x768)
According to wikipedia it will offer one but doesn't yet. HP's website apears to confirm this.
BTW model M style keyboards are still produced though the rights have been sold off to a smaller company. Furthermore they now do a USB model!
http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/cus101usenon.html
although there really are some functioning jet-packs
For sufficiantly small values of functioning. Having to jump out of a plane to launch and use a parachute to land kinda makes them pretty useless. The scifi concept of a jetpack or jet boots that lets the user take off, fly arround, hover and land at will is still a pipe dream.
Similar things can be said of flying cars, people have made vehircles that can both fly and drive and there is at least one firm currently trying to bring one to market commercially but they are a long way off the scifi idea of flying cars.
One key difference is that in windows almost everyone INCLUDING GEEKS uses the gui. They only tend to turn to the command line, config files or registry editor when the normal GUI fails them.
On linux most geeks tend to use the command line and config files since that is the easiest way for them. Unfortunately it means when they are asked for help by someone who is scared of the command line and config files it puts them in an awkward position.
which is worth more, your time to get support for a particular peice of hardware or being stuck with a dongle that is prone to breakage and you have to remove every time you put your laptop away in it's bag.
I find it somewhat amusing that wine can run win16 apps on 64 bit linux (I dunno how it does it, documentation on wines win16 support seems virtually nonexistant but it certainly does it) while 64 bit windows can't run them.