Not really. You would need that if you were transferring a file from one computer to another. But Bittorrent scrapes together little bits of file from lots of other computers. If a packet is lost here and there, that bit of file is naturally requested again, probably from a different machine. That's just a consequence of the way Bittorrent works.
That behavior needs to be driven by some timing and retry logic. Also, hosts need to determine how fast they can fire these UDP packets at each other. Those are the most basic fundamentals of transmitting bulk data over a packet network. You really would be reinventing some subset of TCP.
I think what he's trying to say is the TCP connection often gets dropped completely, for example the host just goes offline, or is bogus and transmitting false data. Bittorrent needs to account for this anyway by re-requesting packets from the network, so they have implement the retry logic differently that TCP anyway.
To have complete and accurate pre-computed models of all steps in the protein folding process for all possible mutations of the AIDS virus
1. Each trajectory would be several terabytes (possibly verging on petabypes).
2. The largest simulation I know of is this one: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/STMV/ they simulated for 50ns and it's 10 times smaller than HIV. Protein folding takes milliseconds, not nanoseconds... it's not really tractable right now. I don't know how much cpu time the simulation took but it would have been a lot.
3. Clusters like these are rarely idle, jobs are queued up to run when the cpus become available.
I find it useful to fire up vim with vi myprog.c +20 where 20 is a line number. Takes you straight to that line number, useful when fixing compilation errors.
Replace all occurrences in the next 20 lines from the current line only. Great when your editing code and you've realised you used the wrong variable name in that method for example.
I've used it as a quick and dirty hack to create the reverse strand of a DNA sequence before. You replace A with T and G with C (with whatever) and then run the resulting sequence through rev. Reverse stand!
The thing is, that Dell laptop really isn't the equivalent of a MacBook. Dell's real equivalent of a really nicely equipped, beautiful machine is the XPS m1330, which is the same price as the MacBook.
I'm typing this on a m1330 running Ubuntu. It runs Ubuntu well but I find the build quality of the Macbook better, nicer keyboard, solid etc.
Example: I dropped both the Dell and the Macbook a couple of days ago (bag collapsed), "bits" fell off the Dell. The Macbook is bashed in a corner but otherwise fine. Anecdotal I know...
My understanding is that custom hardware supercomputers like BlueGene are generally moving away from operating systems and more toward compiling code that runs pretty much directly on the metal. The IO/head nodes runs Linux, the compute nodes run a minimal OS.
$4 per day with a 3 gigabyte cap per month. I'm not sure which part of the world you live in where you are ok with throwing away $100 USD per month for internet on your phone - in real world terms it costs the network provider a tiny fraction of that to support you - so this is a crazy amount of money for such a small return.
In Asia I pay a little over $30 USD per month for unlimited data on my phone (3.5g) I run bittorrent on my N95 and regularly fill up the 8 gigabyte memory stick. Starbucks has free internet in this part of the world.
This is a rip off even in the UK, I don't know how it got on the front page of slashdot (yea, I must be new here). You can get "unlimited" mobile data for 10GBP a month here (3G) with O2 on pay and go.
Assuming you check your webmail once a day on your phone, the daily rate will run you 60lbs a month.
The only package that really makes any sense is the 30 day plan:
30 DayFor customers that will use mobile broadband regularly but do not want to commit to a year-long contract, Mobile Broadband 30 Day is the option. Mobile Broadband for thirty days offers unlimited broadband access for only £20.
Still, you're living in the UK, so it's not all wine and roses.
This is a rip off... O2 offer "unlimited" data and wifi for 10GBP a month on Pay and Go ("excessive usage" limit applies. 3 Mobile do mobile broadband at 10GBP for 1 Gig of transfer a month. 2GBP a day seems insane to me.
The NAMD license has a similar clause. It might be worth looking into.
Personally I think this is silly/stupid. If this was the only game in town for the work I was doing I'd hire a student to reverse engineer the algorithms and release it under BSD/GPL.
(Of course you're entitled to release the stuff you wrote under whatever license you want, but that doesn't make it a smart choice.)
The irony is that in many ways NAMD is a very poor product (it's a hideous mess of slowly evolved C) but it does work and it is very fast. It's a nightmare to modify though. Protomol is a similar MD code, it's much slower and doesn't have the same features but it's well written.
I'd avoid the GPL for academic work. One of my supervisor's former students released a library under the GPL, and it was completely ignored in terms of attributed use. At least one company has produced (successful) products violating the license (bugs and symbols match). but the university doesn't intend to sue them and the former student doesn't have the funds to do so personally.
He could have assigned the copyright to the EFF and they would have fought the case for him. In addition to this please name and shame them, if I knew who this company was I'd be sure to avoid their software.
If he had released it under a more permissive license, then they would have had no reason not to credit him. There are now a number of independent implementations of the same algorithms, and people use derivatives of those and cite them instead of his work.
If they are so morally corrupt as to appropriate GPL code I don't see why they would credit BSD code. There's still the "if people knew they could get it for free why would they buy it" argument.
There are now a number of independent implementations of the same algorithms, and people use derivatives of those and cite them instead of his work.
I would imagine there is something about these tools which makes them more attractive than his software, I don't see how the license is relevant.
Personally I think the GPL is an extremely good license for academic work, it insures that people can continue building on your work and stops companies exploiting you as free labour (if enforced).
You are in academia. Your value as an academic is measured by your reputation. The more people use (or are aware of) your work, the greater this reputation will be. Any clause in a license which limits distribution or use is going to harm your reputation in the long run.
As an academic I for one would find this clause obnoxious and avoid using your software if at all possible.
The poster should also be aware that most academic institutions assign copyright to the author of the software (as long as the software is not of commercial value) you are therefore free to make your software available under any license you please. To avoid a dispute with your supervisor you could dual license it (GPL and BSD with a citation clause for example).
Slashdot Mirror
I don't want this, get rid of it.
Not really. You would need that if you were transferring a file from one computer to another. But Bittorrent scrapes together little bits of file from lots of other computers. If a packet is lost here and there, that bit of file is naturally requested again, probably from a different machine. That's just a consequence of the way Bittorrent works.
That behavior needs to be driven by some timing and retry logic. Also, hosts need to determine how fast they can fire these UDP packets at each other. Those are the most basic fundamentals of transmitting bulk data over a packet network. You really would be reinventing some subset of TCP.
I think what he's trying to say is the TCP connection often gets dropped completely, for example the host just goes offline, or is bogus and transmitting false data. Bittorrent needs to account for this anyway by re-requesting packets from the network, so they have implement the retry logic differently that TCP anyway.
I know this is old news... Acorn stopped trading in 2000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Computers
Scott Adam's (the Dilbert guy) take's it and did a write up on his blog a while back: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/who-will-kill-a.html entertaining if nothing else.
You should join the anti-phorm league. http://www.antiphormleague.com/ I chose my present ISP because they were a member.
I'm keep thinking about Opensolaris and that I should try it out. Perhaps someone here would be kind enough the highlight it's key advantages?
To have complete and accurate pre-computed models of all steps in the protein folding process for all possible mutations of the AIDS virus
1. Each trajectory would be several terabytes (possibly verging on petabypes).
2. The largest simulation I know of is this one: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/STMV/ they simulated for 50ns and it's 10 times smaller than HIV. Protein folding takes milliseconds, not nanoseconds... it's not really tractable right now. I don't know how much cpu time the simulation took but it would have been a lot.
3. Clusters like these are rarely idle, jobs are queued up to run when the cpus become available.
Yes, actually the only advantage here is corporate support Ubuntu has already been ported to the ARM: http://mojo.handhelds.org/
I find it useful to fire up vim with vi myprog.c +20 where 20 is a line number. Takes you straight to that line number, useful when fixing compilation errors.
How's 200 bottles of Tequila going to look on my next grant application?
The one I find really useful is .,+20s/foo/bar/g
Replace all occurrences in the next 20 lines from the current line only. Great when your editing code and you've realised you used the wrong variable name in that method for example.
I've used it as a quick and dirty hack to create the reverse strand of a DNA sequence before. You replace A with T and G with C (with whatever) and then run the resulting sequence through rev. Reverse stand!
The thing is, that Dell laptop really isn't the equivalent of a MacBook. Dell's real equivalent of a really nicely equipped, beautiful machine is the XPS m1330, which is the same price as the MacBook.
I'm typing this on a m1330 running Ubuntu. It runs Ubuntu well but I find the build quality of the Macbook better, nicer keyboard, solid etc.
Example: I dropped both the Dell and the Macbook a couple of days ago (bag collapsed), "bits" fell off the Dell. The Macbook is bashed in a corner but otherwise fine. Anecdotal I know...
Pah, the Internet is just a fad it'll never last.
My understanding is that custom hardware supercomputers like BlueGene are generally moving away from operating systems and more toward compiling code that runs pretty much directly on the metal. The IO/head nodes runs Linux, the compute nodes run a minimal OS.
You probably want something more modern like Links or w3m: www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~hsaka/w3m/nec.png
I have WANTED an app that can download podcasts straight to my iPod Touch.
I want this too. Is there an app to do this on Installer or Cydia? I had a quick look but I could not find.
I think the Wifi deal if for the iPhone only, the Edge/3G deal for any phone: http://www.o2.co.uk/mobilestariffs/tariffs/paygo/o2webbolton I've used it with a standard O2 SIM before. The EDGE/3G deal is only 7.50
O2 have a better plan, 10GBP a month flat rate for mobile internet on pay and go.
$4 per day with a 3 gigabyte cap per month. I'm not sure which part of the world you live in where you are ok with throwing away $100 USD per month for internet on your phone - in real world terms it costs the network provider a tiny fraction of that to support you - so this is a crazy amount of money for such a small return.
In Asia I pay a little over $30 USD per month for unlimited data on my phone (3.5g) I run bittorrent on my N95 and regularly fill up the 8 gigabyte memory stick. Starbucks has free internet in this part of the world.
This is a rip off even in the UK, I don't know how it got on the front page of slashdot (yea, I must be new here). You can get "unlimited" mobile data for 10GBP a month here (3G) with O2 on pay and go.
Assuming you check your webmail once a day on your phone, the daily rate will run you 60lbs a month.
The only package that really makes any sense is the 30 day plan:
30 Day For customers that will use mobile broadband regularly but do not want to commit to a year-long contract, Mobile Broadband 30 Day is the option. Mobile Broadband for thirty days offers unlimited broadband access for only £20.
Still, you're living in the UK, so it's not all wine and roses.
This is a rip off... O2 offer "unlimited" data and wifi for 10GBP a month on Pay and Go ("excessive usage" limit applies. 3 Mobile do mobile broadband at 10GBP for 1 Gig of transfer a month. 2GBP a day seems insane to me.
The NAMD license has a similar clause. It might be worth looking into.
Personally I think this is silly/stupid. If this was the only game in town for the work I was doing I'd hire a student to reverse engineer the algorithms and release it under BSD/GPL.
(Of course you're entitled to release the stuff you wrote under whatever license you want, but that doesn't make it a smart choice.)
The irony is that in many ways NAMD is a very poor product (it's a hideous mess of slowly evolved C) but it does work and it is very fast. It's a nightmare to modify though. Protomol is a similar MD code, it's much slower and doesn't have the same features but it's well written.
I'd avoid the GPL for academic work. One of my supervisor's former students released a library under the GPL, and it was completely ignored in terms of attributed use. At least one company has produced (successful) products violating the license (bugs and symbols match). but the university doesn't intend to sue them and the former student doesn't have the funds to do so personally.
He could have assigned the copyright to the EFF and they would have fought the case for him. In addition to this please name and shame them, if I knew who this company was I'd be sure to avoid their software.
If he had released it under a more permissive license, then they would have had no reason not to credit him. There are now a number of independent implementations of the same algorithms, and people use derivatives of those and cite them instead of his work.
If they are so morally corrupt as to appropriate GPL code I don't see why they would credit BSD code. There's still the "if people knew they could get it for free why would they buy it" argument.
There are now a number of independent implementations of the same algorithms, and people use derivatives of those and cite them instead of his work.
I would imagine there is something about these tools which makes them more attractive than his software, I don't see how the license is relevant.
Personally I think the GPL is an extremely good license for academic work, it insures that people can continue building on your work and stops companies exploiting you as free labour (if enforced).
To be honest, I think your best option is: "Ask nicely."
Agreed, including a citation requirement is more likely to get my back up and make me reconsidering using your code than anything else.
You are in academia. Your value as an academic is measured by your reputation. The more people use (or are aware of) your work, the greater this reputation will be. Any clause in a license which limits distribution or use is going to harm your reputation in the long run.
As an academic I for one would find this clause obnoxious and avoid using your software if at all possible.
The poster should also be aware that most academic institutions assign copyright to the author of the software (as long as the software is not of commercial value) you are therefore free to make your software available under any license you please. To avoid a dispute with your supervisor you could dual license it (GPL and BSD with a citation clause for example).