Yeah, I was using playing Doom as an example. Replace Doom with just about any other application that isn't a total resource hog. The specific application I'm using for my example isn't part of the point.
I am a developer and I know what developers want. I'm not saying I don't see an advantage to using all cores some of the time, but what I took from the description (no, I didn't RTFA, this is/. after all) is that Apple is trying to make it easier for developers to do something that is typically considered difficult to "get right": multithreading. The point I'm trying to make is that I don't want everything to be multi-threaded. I see why this is useful for some applications, but I don't want this to be a widespread practice.
Let me go at this from two angles. First, as a developer, in my specific job, while I can write multithreaded apps, I typically don't for two reasons: first, it's more complex to write and to understand, not just for me but for anyone else maintaining my code, and second because we tend to write many small components that do little bits of work and run them on the same machine, so we're making good use of all of our processors/cores anyway. I'm not talking about GUIs (these apps are non-interactive services/daemons), and my apps tend to lend themselves to a single-threaded frame of mind anyway, but what I'm trying to say is that here is a case where I'm getting the most out of our hardware without unnecessarily complicating things. This leads me to my second angle, which is that of a user. I already covered this above... I like multi-tasking, and I generally prefer lots of tasks that only use a single thread to having a single process run a little bit faster.
So yes, sometimes developers want the ability to use all cores for a long-running non-interactive task, and that's fine and it does lend itself to some situations. But I don't know that I want this to become the standard, which is, perhaps, what Apple is trying to push towards.
Alright guys, I know the advantages (and challenges) of multi-threading. With almost all new processors coming with > 1 core, I can tell there's now a huge desire to start making apps that can take advantage of all cores. But my question is why? One thing I love about my quad-core Q6600 is the fact that I can be doing so many things at once. I can be streaming HD video to my TV while simultaneously playing DOOM, for example. However, when I fire up a multithreaded app that takes all 4 of my cores and I start doing something heavy, like video encoding for example, everything tends to slow down like it did back when I only had one core to play with. Yeah, my encoding gets done a lot faster, but honestly I'd rather it take longer than make my computer difficult to use for any period of time...
I realize I can throttle the video encoding to a single core, but I'm just using that as an example... if all apps start using all cores, aren't we right back where we started, just going a little faster? I love being able to do so much at once...
Dude, this is slashdot. Didn't you know that you should be able to run everything you'll ever need on that old-ass Pentium II with 64MB RAM in your basement? I mean, Linux runs fine on there, so why shouldn't everything else ever made? Graphical enhancements are entirely unnecessary. And any "improved feature set" provided by Microsoft is clearly going to be inferior to the way some ancient system did it 15 years ago.
You should have continued reading. When did I say that Vista does a ton of stuff that XP can't? First off, by buying a new system, I'm getting a lot of advantages, not just a new OS. Even with the "horrible failure" of Vista, things go A LOT faster. Video encoding, for example, used to clobber my machine for hours at a time... now I can use my machine while it is encoding, and it still goes at least 4 times faster. For a more definite comparison, SuperPI 32M used to take over a minute... now it finishes in less than 20 seconds. If you are fine with your old machine, it's capabilities and speed, then stick with it. But I did see a significant performance advantage from the hardware upgrade, and this advantage is for the better. Secondly, for me, Vista DOES do stuff that my version of XP didn't. I had XP Pro, and I wanted to use Media Center. My options were to either buy XP Media Center or buy a 3rd party product that wouldn't work with my XBOX 360. With Vista Home Premium, Media Center is part of the package, and I use it all the time. Not to say I wasn't pissed about losing Remote Desktop... but I never implied there weren't tradeoffs or that Vista was perfect.
While I recognize that I am far from using my computer to do everything it is capable of, I really can't understand all the Vista bashing and I suspect that a large amount of the bashing I do see is from those who have either already made up their mind that they hate Vista, or those that haven't really given it a fair chance.
I run Vista on a powerful machine -- it's a Quad Core with 4GB of RAM and a decent video card. I knew when Vista came out that, if I wanted to run it, my 2001 P4 2GHz wasn't going to cut it. Was I upset about that? No. Try running Mac OS 10.5 on a 800 MHz PPC from that same era. Yeah, it'll work, but it won't be a fun experience. So I bought a new machine for less than $1000, the first major PC purchase I made since I purchased the previous machine in 2001. I expect to buy a new computer every 4 or 5 years.
While my experience with Vista hasn't been flawless, I fail to see any of these things that make Vista a "horrible mistake". In fact, it runs great for me. It's very fast, and I can multitask quite well. I have a Media Center PC that records HD video frequently, often when I'm using the machine, and aside from a Systray icon telling me it's recording, I never notice. I also run Linux via VMWare in the background all the time as a test bed for web development, and again this has never caused me problems or slowdowns. Nearly all of the applications that worked on my old XP box transferred over fine. I've never seen a Blue Screen of Death in Vista, and I've been running it now for over a year and a half.
I'd say I use my computer to do more than the average user, and I've had nothing but good experiences with Vista. I'm sorry to hear that others haven't had the same experience, but please, can we stop calling it a "horrible failure"?
I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason he downloaded it is that the released version of the album is widely known to sound like a total piece of garbage due to mixing problems. Fortunately, the Guitar Hero version didn't suffer from these issues, so some kid did their own home-mastering of the album and posted a torrent.
Yeah, I actually bought the album. I noticed immediately that no matter what stereo I played it on, it sounded like it was coming out of blown out speakers from 1974. So it appears now that Metallica has turned the tables and is now stealing from their fans by releasing trash for full price.
I guess what I don't understand is why the government feels like it needs to censor what it's citizens see.
Are they afraid children are going to see inappropriate content? What ever happened to responsible parenting, then? There's plenty of COTS apps you can get to block your children from sites they shouldn't see. Why can't the government sponsor one of those, and distribute it for free to concerned parents? And mandate that public terminals install it? I'm not even a fan of that, but it's still better than a total ban at a national level...
I have no idea, I can't speak from experience, except that I know that AAC can have DRM and MP3 doesn't. So I'm guessing that, while you might be able to get AAC files off an iPod, if they're DRM'd you won't necessarily be able to play them everywhere.
You could always buy a used 5th Gen iPod. I have a 5.5 Gen and I don't have a single AAC file, but I've still got over 30 GB of music on it. I can plug my iPod into any Windows or Mac and copy any music off of it whenever I want with no restrictions (admittedly with the help of some freeware which reads the iTunes index files). The iPod is just a hard drive that stores it's MP3s with a funky naming scheme in a hidden folder.
This "lockdown" is relatively new if you use plain old MP3s instead of AAC. And part of the reason I bought an iPod was because every audio device made in the last 5 years seems to have a nifty direct interface...
Again, assuming you subscribe to a GSM service in the US (AT&T, T-Mobile) you are free to roam just about anywhere in the world with GSM, including, of course, the UK. Additionally, I know AT&T at least offers a "World Traveler" program which provides roaming discounts in various countries. It's still expensive to roam, but entirely possible.
I subscribe to Verizon because CDMA is better all-around than GSM. I purchased a cheap pre-paid GSM AT&T phone that I fill when I need to go overseas.
Wow. Of everything that's been happening in this state, this is the thing that "seals the deal"? I've been a Marylander all my life as well, and, while I've been here less time than you, I am a professional software engineer. It sucks, yes, but this is your reason?
How about the sales tax increase? The ever-increasing income and property taxes? The fact that Annapolis is more concerned with playing party politics than passing through the slots bill that will actually help alleviate the new tax burdens while keeping money within the state?
Have you driven the state stretch of 95 recently? What's the tolls now, $10 each way? For what? Have you driven the streets of Baltimore? You could park an 18-wheeler in some of the potholes. Hell, I live in Montgomery County now, and some of the roads are almost as bad here!
The state and local governments here have problems, particularly with taxation. Whenever there's a tax increase, I usually don't see anything come of it. But what can we expect when we vote in as governor a mayor who did nothing but make empty promises for an ailing city?
I love this state, if for no other reason than it is my home. And I've come to realize that I'd better be prepared for the stupidest excuses for tax hikes if I do decide to stay. Yeah, I'm mad too, and yeah, this is going to be a punch in the wallet both for me and the company for which I work, but I'll live. And start making big purchases in VA and PA.
Before you continue to defend RealPlayer, there's something else you should know. To quote Wikipedia:
[Morgan Webb] is married to Rob Reid who founded listen.com, and was involved in the creation of the RealNetworks music service Rhapsody. Yes, the guy who married Morgan Webb is, in some way, associated with RealNetworks.
Clearly you did not get the/. memo:
Anything and everything wrong in the United States is in some way tied to President George W. Bush. The President is the root of all conspiracies in the world, including, but not limited to, all technical conspiracies. From this date forward, there shall be NO Slashdot article related to a conspiracy theory without mention of The President.
In addition, those posting about said conspiracies are required to mention The President's "apparent lack of I.Q.", but may in no way tie this to the paradox created by assuming that someone with such an "apparent lack of I.Q." is smart enough to be the root of all conspiracies. I hope that clears things up for you.
Re:FC5 should have been supported for 2 years!
on
Fedora 7 Released
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· Score: 1
Thank you for pointing this out, and very well. I've had a similar complaint, and I noticed that some select versions of Ubuntu server are supported far far into the future. I've always been a RedHat/Fedora user, but that's really attracting me in the Ubuntu direction...
I predict this will be big in the USA among the yuppies (like myself) for about a year when something even more groundbreaking is released CDMA-only. I think users of the iPhone will like it until they realize that it sucks as a phone thanks to it's GSM-ness. Although, I guess since it'll be used mostly by yuppies in an urban environment, it probably won't be so bad... just don't try to leave any major city on a GSM service and expect to get a half way decent signal.
I know people hate on the Sega CD, but honestly it's my favorite console of all time. It had lots of problems, and lots of people say the live-action games were crap (and many were), but it had 2 great things going for it.
1. The Genesis was a great system with lots of great games. Most didn't take hours to learn how to play like many of today's games, and you could just pick them up, play them for a bit, then stop playing. Many Sega CD games were just Genesis games with better music and much more storage for cool extras. I didn't see Sega CD as a seperate system as much as truly an extension of the Genesis.
2. Crappy as those live-action games may have been, the short-lived genre was innovative, especially for it's time.
I know most people don't see it my way, but that's my take on it.
Why would anyone want to download music from MySpace? It sounds like ass. Seriously, what is it, 32kbps?
I realize that some bands post music on MySpace before they release it (like Weird Al), but I think I'd rather chop off my ears with a rusty knife than listen to those songs on anything other than some crappy CompUSA speakers.
When reached for comment, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated "Carlos Armando Amado is a fucking pussy. I've done it before and I'll do it again... I'm going to Fucking Kill(TM) Carlos Armando Amado!" He then hurled a chair in the general direction of Guatemala.
I feel the need to reply, although I cannot comment directly on Dragon's Lair, I'm a fan of both Laserdisc technology *dodges tomatoes* and classic arcade games. I own a number of full-sized arcade machines, and I own a number of still-working laserdisc players, and I have to say, I can't imagine this game was that great in its original form. First off, LDs are pretty slow to scan, so the "load time" must have been somewhat obtrusive. How about the loading screens? Was it that ugly blue that most Pioneer players have when switching tracks?
I've long been a fan of Pioneer equipment (especially the Pioneer Elite line) and I'm sure what the Wikipedia article on Dragon's Lair says is true... the equiptment was good, but it broke a lot under the strain of constant scanning. I've had a few players die from just normal use... the discs are so heavy and have to spin so fast that the motors break easily, but I've seen more of a problem with the sensors than the motors. For example, I had one Pioneer player that refused to acknowledge that there was a disc in the player. Another would pick up the disc, partially spin it, then put it down and eject it. Today's players wouldn't suffer from nearly as many problems... DVDs aren't heavy and can scan a lot, relatively quickly, without breaking.
As far as duplicating the "arcade experience", any new version of the game certainly could not do that without the lights and the big-ass clunky machine. However, the Wikipedia entry states it has a joystick and one button, so it couldn't be too hard to get a similar experience in the controls with even a DVD remote or $2 joystick. Also, you could hook it up to a larger screen than the arcade likely had, and the remastered "cartoon" would look much better.
So, in conclusion, perhaps this really WILL give the effect the creators of the game originally intended... more seamless game-play and the possibility of a more immersive environment... still... why?
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Yeah, I was using playing Doom as an example. Replace Doom with just about any other application that isn't a total resource hog. The specific application I'm using for my example isn't part of the point.
/. after all) is that Apple is trying to make it easier for developers to do something that is typically considered difficult to "get right": multithreading. The point I'm trying to make is that I don't want everything to be multi-threaded. I see why this is useful for some applications, but I don't want this to be a widespread practice.
I am a developer and I know what developers want. I'm not saying I don't see an advantage to using all cores some of the time, but what I took from the description (no, I didn't RTFA, this is
Let me go at this from two angles. First, as a developer, in my specific job, while I can write multithreaded apps, I typically don't for two reasons: first, it's more complex to write and to understand, not just for me but for anyone else maintaining my code, and second because we tend to write many small components that do little bits of work and run them on the same machine, so we're making good use of all of our processors/cores anyway. I'm not talking about GUIs (these apps are non-interactive services/daemons), and my apps tend to lend themselves to a single-threaded frame of mind anyway, but what I'm trying to say is that here is a case where I'm getting the most out of our hardware without unnecessarily complicating things. This leads me to my second angle, which is that of a user. I already covered this above... I like multi-tasking, and I generally prefer lots of tasks that only use a single thread to having a single process run a little bit faster.
So yes, sometimes developers want the ability to use all cores for a long-running non-interactive task, and that's fine and it does lend itself to some situations. But I don't know that I want this to become the standard, which is, perhaps, what Apple is trying to push towards.
Alright guys, I know the advantages (and challenges) of multi-threading. With almost all new processors coming with > 1 core, I can tell there's now a huge desire to start making apps that can take advantage of all cores. But my question is why? One thing I love about my quad-core Q6600 is the fact that I can be doing so many things at once. I can be streaming HD video to my TV while simultaneously playing DOOM, for example. However, when I fire up a multithreaded app that takes all 4 of my cores and I start doing something heavy, like video encoding for example, everything tends to slow down like it did back when I only had one core to play with. Yeah, my encoding gets done a lot faster, but honestly I'd rather it take longer than make my computer difficult to use for any period of time...
I realize I can throttle the video encoding to a single core, but I'm just using that as an example... if all apps start using all cores, aren't we right back where we started, just going a little faster? I love being able to do so much at once...
Dude, this is slashdot. Didn't you know that you should be able to run everything you'll ever need on that old-ass Pentium II with 64MB RAM in your basement? I mean, Linux runs fine on there, so why shouldn't everything else ever made? Graphical enhancements are entirely unnecessary. And any "improved feature set" provided by Microsoft is clearly going to be inferior to the way some ancient system did it 15 years ago.
Yes. I'm being sarcastic.
You should have continued reading. When did I say that Vista does a ton of stuff that XP can't? First off, by buying a new system, I'm getting a lot of advantages, not just a new OS. Even with the "horrible failure" of Vista, things go A LOT faster. Video encoding, for example, used to clobber my machine for hours at a time... now I can use my machine while it is encoding, and it still goes at least 4 times faster. For a more definite comparison, SuperPI 32M used to take over a minute... now it finishes in less than 20 seconds. If you are fine with your old machine, it's capabilities and speed, then stick with it. But I did see a significant performance advantage from the hardware upgrade, and this advantage is for the better. Secondly, for me, Vista DOES do stuff that my version of XP didn't. I had XP Pro, and I wanted to use Media Center. My options were to either buy XP Media Center or buy a 3rd party product that wouldn't work with my XBOX 360. With Vista Home Premium, Media Center is part of the package, and I use it all the time. Not to say I wasn't pissed about losing Remote Desktop... but I never implied there weren't tradeoffs or that Vista was perfect.
While I recognize that I am far from using my computer to do everything it is capable of, I really can't understand all the Vista bashing and I suspect that a large amount of the bashing I do see is from those who have either already made up their mind that they hate Vista, or those that haven't really given it a fair chance.
I run Vista on a powerful machine -- it's a Quad Core with 4GB of RAM and a decent video card. I knew when Vista came out that, if I wanted to run it, my 2001 P4 2GHz wasn't going to cut it. Was I upset about that? No. Try running Mac OS 10.5 on a 800 MHz PPC from that same era. Yeah, it'll work, but it won't be a fun experience. So I bought a new machine for less than $1000, the first major PC purchase I made since I purchased the previous machine in 2001. I expect to buy a new computer every 4 or 5 years.
While my experience with Vista hasn't been flawless, I fail to see any of these things that make Vista a "horrible mistake". In fact, it runs great for me. It's very fast, and I can multitask quite well. I have a Media Center PC that records HD video frequently, often when I'm using the machine, and aside from a Systray icon telling me it's recording, I never notice. I also run Linux via VMWare in the background all the time as a test bed for web development, and again this has never caused me problems or slowdowns. Nearly all of the applications that worked on my old XP box transferred over fine. I've never seen a Blue Screen of Death in Vista, and I've been running it now for over a year and a half.
I'd say I use my computer to do more than the average user, and I've had nothing but good experiences with Vista. I'm sorry to hear that others haven't had the same experience, but please, can we stop calling it a "horrible failure"?
I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason he downloaded it is that the released version of the album is widely known to sound like a total piece of garbage due to mixing problems. Fortunately, the Guitar Hero version didn't suffer from these issues, so some kid did their own home-mastering of the album and posted a torrent. Yeah, I actually bought the album. I noticed immediately that no matter what stereo I played it on, it sounded like it was coming out of blown out speakers from 1974. So it appears now that Metallica has turned the tables and is now stealing from their fans by releasing trash for full price.
I guess what I don't understand is why the government feels like it needs to censor what it's citizens see.
Are they afraid children are going to see inappropriate content? What ever happened to responsible parenting, then? There's plenty of COTS apps you can get to block your children from sites they shouldn't see. Why can't the government sponsor one of those, and distribute it for free to concerned parents? And mandate that public terminals install it? I'm not even a fan of that, but it's still better than a total ban at a national level...
Theaters could coat the theater walls with aluminum to lagally block signals. I wish they would.
I don't... I'd much rather they just block all together than give me a laggy data or voice connection!
;-)
I have no idea, I can't speak from experience, except that I know that AAC can have DRM and MP3 doesn't. So I'm guessing that, while you might be able to get AAC files off an iPod, if they're DRM'd you won't necessarily be able to play them everywhere.
You could always buy a used 5th Gen iPod. I have a 5.5 Gen and I don't have a single AAC file, but I've still got over 30 GB of music on it. I can plug my iPod into any Windows or Mac and copy any music off of it whenever I want with no restrictions (admittedly with the help of some freeware which reads the iTunes index files). The iPod is just a hard drive that stores it's MP3s with a funky naming scheme in a hidden folder.
This "lockdown" is relatively new if you use plain old MP3s instead of AAC. And part of the reason I bought an iPod was because every audio device made in the last 5 years seems to have a nifty direct interface...
Again, assuming you subscribe to a GSM service in the US (AT&T, T-Mobile) you are free to roam just about anywhere in the world with GSM, including, of course, the UK. Additionally, I know AT&T at least offers a "World Traveler" program which provides roaming discounts in various countries. It's still expensive to roam, but entirely possible.
I subscribe to Verizon because CDMA is better all-around than GSM. I purchased a cheap pre-paid GSM AT&T phone that I fill when I need to go overseas.
Wow. Of everything that's been happening in this state, this is the thing that "seals the deal"? I've been a Marylander all my life as well, and, while I've been here less time than you, I am a professional software engineer. It sucks, yes, but this is your reason?
How about the sales tax increase? The ever-increasing income and property taxes? The fact that Annapolis is more concerned with playing party politics than passing through the slots bill that will actually help alleviate the new tax burdens while keeping money within the state?
Have you driven the state stretch of 95 recently? What's the tolls now, $10 each way? For what? Have you driven the streets of Baltimore? You could park an 18-wheeler in some of the potholes. Hell, I live in Montgomery County now, and some of the roads are almost as bad here!
The state and local governments here have problems, particularly with taxation. Whenever there's a tax increase, I usually don't see anything come of it. But what can we expect when we vote in as governor a mayor who did nothing but make empty promises for an ailing city?
I love this state, if for no other reason than it is my home. And I've come to realize that I'd better be prepared for the stupidest excuses for tax hikes if I do decide to stay. Yeah, I'm mad too, and yeah, this is going to be a punch in the wallet both for me and the company for which I work, but I'll live. And start making big purchases in VA and PA.
It's like the nail in the coffin.
In addition, those posting about said conspiracies are required to mention The President's "apparent lack of I.Q.", but may in no way tie this to the paradox created by assuming that someone with such an "apparent lack of I.Q." is smart enough to be the root of all conspiracies. I hope that clears things up for you.
Thank you for pointing this out, and very well. I've had a similar complaint, and I noticed that some select versions of Ubuntu server are supported far far into the future. I've always been a RedHat/Fedora user, but that's really attracting me in the Ubuntu direction...
Wow, I can recite 42 digits and I thought that was a lot. Guess I'd better lock myself in a dark room for a couple years...
See, there's your problem right there... writing about Microsoft conspiracies with Word...
I predict this will be big in the USA among the yuppies (like myself) for about a year when something even more groundbreaking is released CDMA-only. I think users of the iPhone will like it until they realize that it sucks as a phone thanks to it's GSM-ness. Although, I guess since it'll be used mostly by yuppies in an urban environment, it probably won't be so bad... just don't try to leave any major city on a GSM service and expect to get a half way decent signal.
I know people hate on the Sega CD, but honestly it's my favorite console of all time. It had lots of problems, and lots of people say the live-action games were crap (and many were), but it had 2 great things going for it.
1. The Genesis was a great system with lots of great games. Most didn't take hours to learn how to play like many of today's games, and you could just pick them up, play them for a bit, then stop playing. Many Sega CD games were just Genesis games with better music and much more storage for cool extras. I didn't see Sega CD as a seperate system as much as truly an extension of the Genesis.
2. Crappy as those live-action games may have been, the short-lived genre was innovative, especially for it's time.
I know most people don't see it my way, but that's my take on it.
Why would anyone want to download music from MySpace? It sounds like ass. Seriously, what is it, 32kbps? I realize that some bands post music on MySpace before they release it (like Weird Al), but I think I'd rather chop off my ears with a rusty knife than listen to those songs on anything other than some crappy CompUSA speakers.
But, if you didn't own (so to speak) the memory beyond the end of the destination string and you try to write to it, wouldn't it seg fault?
Can someone explain to me why strcpy is insecure? No sarcasm here, I really would like to know.
It runs linux too? Perfect, FINALLY my Apache server can get me a beer!
When reached for comment, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated "Carlos Armando Amado is a fucking pussy. I've done it before and I'll do it again... I'm going to Fucking Kill(TM) Carlos Armando Amado!" He then hurled a chair in the general direction of Guatemala.
I feel the need to reply, although I cannot comment directly on Dragon's Lair, I'm a fan of both Laserdisc technology *dodges tomatoes* and classic arcade games. I own a number of full-sized arcade machines, and I own a number of still-working laserdisc players, and I have to say, I can't imagine this game was that great in its original form. First off, LDs are pretty slow to scan, so the "load time" must have been somewhat obtrusive. How about the loading screens? Was it that ugly blue that most Pioneer players have when switching tracks?
I've long been a fan of Pioneer equipment (especially the Pioneer Elite line) and I'm sure what the Wikipedia article on Dragon's Lair says is true... the equiptment was good, but it broke a lot under the strain of constant scanning. I've had a few players die from just normal use... the discs are so heavy and have to spin so fast that the motors break easily, but I've seen more of a problem with the sensors than the motors. For example, I had one Pioneer player that refused to acknowledge that there was a disc in the player. Another would pick up the disc, partially spin it, then put it down and eject it. Today's players wouldn't suffer from nearly as many problems... DVDs aren't heavy and can scan a lot, relatively quickly, without breaking.
As far as duplicating the "arcade experience", any new version of the game certainly could not do that without the lights and the big-ass clunky machine. However, the Wikipedia entry states it has a joystick and one button, so it couldn't be too hard to get a similar experience in the controls with even a DVD remote or $2 joystick. Also, you could hook it up to a larger screen than the arcade likely had, and the remastered "cartoon" would look much better.
So, in conclusion, perhaps this really WILL give the effect the creators of the game originally intended... more seamless game-play and the possibility of a more immersive environment... still... why?