Dell, HP, Panasonic, and Sony all make crappy PC's compared to an Apple product. Apple is super stable and hold their resale value in ways that even a gold plated Alineware laptop can only dream of.
i've been running windows xp pro on an old 733mhz pentium 3 with 128mb ram for a while now without any kind of issues. sure its slower than my normal desktop, but its easily able to handle xp without struggling. i can't play games and other intensive applications, but for a word processing, internet use, web server/ftp server machine, it does just fine.
well CPU's are modular, you can put a new one in so long as its compatable. i have a socket 939 motherboard and have many upgrade options as my needs change. sure socket 939 will be phased out when a better format comes along, but by the time i run out of 939 options, i'll want something new to begin with. computers are very modular and upgradable, its just that new upgrade options are coming out so frequently. i still use my 166MHz thinkpad laptop everyday because it works great for what i use it for (web browsing and word processing do not need a powerful computer).
while i agree when things are modular it makes things easier, i think computers have done a good job so far of making things interchangable. today you can buy any kind of PCI card and not have major hardware issues (software is another thing), where as in the 80's and early 90's, everything was hardware specific. take a look at an old windows 95 era compaq or similar and try to see how many standard parts are in it... basically none.
currenty, things can be improved somewhat, but for the most part, i'm happy with the level of upgradeability offered. many companies realized that propriatary formats for hardware are a bad idea... if only software companies would realize the same thing.
while you have an interesting idea, i don't think anything like that will be made in the near future for amyn reasons. first off, it would go against an industry form factor (PCI type expansion slots) that has been in place for a lomg time, and companies like nvidia and ATI would not want to risk making a venture outside such a long standing form.
another problem with changing the form for graphics units is comaptibility, as i for one do not have a free 5.25" bay in which to put something (i already have 3 5.25" hard drive bays and a DVD drive, as i ran out of 3.5" slots). this is also link to the fact the the current pci type clot is a long running standard. making a cable from an external device would be tricky, but would probally work if heavily shielded.
a video card interfacing through the memory bus? highly unlikely, as there are significant differences between the memory bus and a video bus. you would have to create a hybrid bus that could handle both data types, which would complicate things and just make everything slower. the GPU fetches a lot of data from the main memory, but placing the entire GPU on that memory bus is a bad idea.
currently, video cards are not at the point where such measures need to be taken, and i hope that time does not come. as i'm sure other people have said on here, i think there should be more work on making cards run cooler and use less power. everything has been a chase for performance without much concern for heat and power use. when it reaches the point where the cards are just getting too hot, i think they will making more of an effort for make the more efficent. the new geforce 7900 cards did this by performing better with LESS transistors than the previous generation. i think once heat and power use become too much of a factor for the cards to sell, the companies will start to make them cooler and more efficent.
I feel the same way about employer's rights... I'm sick hearing about "affirmative action" and such to "balance" a workplace. Race/gender/etc should not be a factor in getting a job, only job related functions should have any kind of impact.
However, I have had the misfortune of being a co-worker of more than one drug user, and that experience has influenced me so that I will not work at a company that does not have a zero-tolerance drug policy. While you may choose what companies to support, I find a strictly drug-free workplace a necessity. If that said drug use does not impact the workplace in any way I could understand a company neglecting the issue, but in my experience a person's use of such drugs has a very negative impact on working conditions. If a person shows up to work stoned/drunk or otherwise impared, they should be reprimanded, and should it happen again, they should be fired. Having to deal with people in such a state is counterproductive, and in my case, very dangerious to everyone on the job site. Perhaps where you work the situation might not be directly dangerious to others, but when working with dangerious equipment such as is frequently done at my workplace, it becomes a severe danger to everyone.
"All men are created equal" does indeed imply the meaning you suggested, but also says that all people have the same natural rights, and those natural rights are the right to life, liberity, and properity (the declaration of independance changed this to "the persuit of happiness")
as an electrical engineering student with experience in processor design and many programming languages (including assembly), I think programming in assembly is far superior to any higher level language. only with assembly can the code directly interact with the hardware and take advantage of every design feature of the hardware. when designing a chip, the designer is THINKING in assembly, thus it is only logical for the programmer to also be thinking in assembly. as chips become more and more complex, such as the Cell processor, there will need to be more and more specialized code, not generic code produced by compilers.
yes, programming in assembly is much more difficult, however it will run with fewer problems, and much faster than complier produced assembly code. high level languages may be fine for some programs, however, i feel that assembly is far more vital than what it has been made out to be... the mysterious language that only computer architects need to know and implement.
or you can just ask a college student who can get a copy of windows xp pro for $4.50, like i can at my universitys bookstore. thats how i got copies for my family when they needed them.
doesn't Michael Jackson own the publishing rights to the Beatles lyrics? so its not just Paul McCartney that has a stake in trying to extend the copyrights
perhaps a university with a fab would be willing to let you make a run or two of your chip, although they might want to charge you a hefty price. maybe as a lab project or something a few students could use your design and make the chips. i know the university i attend (RIT) has a fab that can manufacture 6 inch wafers.
The continuing use of "infinite energy" in the article is false and a misunderstanding of what is happening in the reactor. It should be something along the lines of "uncomprehensibly large amounts of energy".
A penny is a zinc coin with a thin copper coating. If you cut a small notch in the penny to expose a little zinc, and place the penny in hydrochloric acid (HCl), the acid will eat away all of the zinc but leave the thin copper coating intact.
Slashdot Mirror
although my computer is named HAL9000, i don't think i want it to start acting like HAL9000...
how could you forget DC++? usually faster than torrents, plus there are a LOT of hubs.
Dell, HP, Panasonic, and Sony all make crappy PC's compared to an Apple product. Apple is super stable and hold their resale value in ways that even a gold plated Alineware laptop can only dream of.
obviously you have never used a Panasonic Toughbook
i have a CDMA phone (verizon) and i get this type of interference frequently on my computer speakers when my phone is nearby.
i've been running windows xp pro on an old 733mhz pentium 3 with 128mb ram for a while now without any kind of issues. sure its slower than my normal desktop, but its easily able to handle xp without struggling. i can't play games and other intensive applications, but for a word processing, internet use, web server/ftp server machine, it does just fine.
well CPU's are modular, you can put a new one in so long as its compatable. i have a socket 939 motherboard and have many upgrade options as my needs change. sure socket 939 will be phased out when a better format comes along, but by the time i run out of 939 options, i'll want something new to begin with. computers are very modular and upgradable, its just that new upgrade options are coming out so frequently. i still use my 166MHz thinkpad laptop everyday because it works great for what i use it for (web browsing and word processing do not need a powerful computer).
while i agree when things are modular it makes things easier, i think computers have done a good job so far of making things interchangable. today you can buy any kind of PCI card and not have major hardware issues (software is another thing), where as in the 80's and early 90's, everything was hardware specific. take a look at an old windows 95 era compaq or similar and try to see how many standard parts are in it... basically none.
currenty, things can be improved somewhat, but for the most part, i'm happy with the level of upgradeability offered. many companies realized that propriatary formats for hardware are a bad idea... if only software companies would realize the same thing.
while you have an interesting idea, i don't think anything like that will be made in the near future for amyn reasons. first off, it would go against an industry form factor (PCI type expansion slots) that has been in place for a lomg time, and companies like nvidia and ATI would not want to risk making a venture outside such a long standing form.
another problem with changing the form for graphics units is comaptibility, as i for one do not have a free 5.25" bay in which to put something (i already have 3 5.25" hard drive bays and a DVD drive, as i ran out of 3.5" slots). this is also link to the fact the the current pci type clot is a long running standard. making a cable from an external device would be tricky, but would probally work if heavily shielded.
a video card interfacing through the memory bus? highly unlikely, as there are significant differences between the memory bus and a video bus. you would have to create a hybrid bus that could handle both data types, which would complicate things and just make everything slower. the GPU fetches a lot of data from the main memory, but placing the entire GPU on that memory bus is a bad idea.
currently, video cards are not at the point where such measures need to be taken, and i hope that time does not come. as i'm sure other people have said on here, i think there should be more work on making cards run cooler and use less power. everything has been a chase for performance without much concern for heat and power use. when it reaches the point where the cards are just getting too hot, i think they will making more of an effort for make the more efficent. the new geforce 7900 cards did this by performing better with LESS transistors than the previous generation. i think once heat and power use become too much of a factor for the cards to sell, the companies will start to make them cooler and more efficent.
easy, pay with cash
I feel the same way about employer's rights... I'm sick hearing about "affirmative action" and such to "balance" a workplace. Race/gender/etc should not be a factor in getting a job, only job related functions should have any kind of impact.
However, I have had the misfortune of being a co-worker of more than one drug user, and that experience has influenced me so that I will not work at a company that does not have a zero-tolerance drug policy. While you may choose what companies to support, I find a strictly drug-free workplace a necessity. If that said drug use does not impact the workplace in any way I could understand a company neglecting the issue, but in my experience a person's use of such drugs has a very negative impact on working conditions. If a person shows up to work stoned/drunk or otherwise impared, they should be reprimanded, and should it happen again, they should be fired. Having to deal with people in such a state is counterproductive, and in my case, very dangerious to everyone on the job site. Perhaps where you work the situation might not be directly dangerious to others, but when working with dangerious equipment such as is frequently done at my workplace, it becomes a severe danger to everyone.
"All men are created equal" does indeed imply the meaning you suggested, but also says that all people have the same natural rights, and those natural rights are the right to life, liberity, and properity (the declaration of independance changed this to "the persuit of happiness")
as an electrical engineering student with experience in processor design and many programming languages (including assembly), I think programming in assembly is far superior to any higher level language. only with assembly can the code directly interact with the hardware and take advantage of every design feature of the hardware. when designing a chip, the designer is THINKING in assembly, thus it is only logical for the programmer to also be thinking in assembly. as chips become more and more complex, such as the Cell processor, there will need to be more and more specialized code, not generic code produced by compilers. yes, programming in assembly is much more difficult, however it will run with fewer problems, and much faster than complier produced assembly code. high level languages may be fine for some programs, however, i feel that assembly is far more vital than what it has been made out to be... the mysterious language that only computer architects need to know and implement.
or you can just ask a college student who can get a copy of windows xp pro for $4.50, like i can at my universitys bookstore. thats how i got copies for my family when they needed them.
it appears that Michael Jackson owns the publishing rights to the lyrics, not the entire songs. assuming this page is still accurate 10 years later: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a951027.html/
doesn't Michael Jackson own the publishing rights to the Beatles lyrics? so its not just Paul McCartney that has a stake in trying to extend the copyrights
perhaps a university with a fab would be willing to let you make a run or two of your chip, although they might want to charge you a hefty price. maybe as a lab project or something a few students could use your design and make the chips. i know the university i attend (RIT) has a fab that can manufacture 6 inch wafers.
The continuing use of "infinite energy" in the article is false and a misunderstanding of what is happening in the reactor. It should be something along the lines of "uncomprehensibly large amounts of energy".
i used to play disc world for hours... wow, and i still never beat the freakin game...
A penny is a zinc coin with a thin copper coating. If you cut a small notch in the penny to expose a little zinc, and place the penny in hydrochloric acid (HCl), the acid will eat away all of the zinc but leave the thin copper coating intact.