Loans are allowed in Islam - taking interest from a loan is not.
However, there are islamic banks that take no interest (taxes a loan in different ways), so even in the most islamic country you could take a loan from the most islamic bank
One idea would be to get a bigger battery for the OLPC (I'm sure these things will be soon available when the OLPC will be sold in first world). You could end up with a 4kg laptop able to work for days (the OLPC has a 28Wh battery, I think)
An example: Li-ion battery, 3.7V, 850mAh, 18 grams - it has 1.8 Wh capacity, so using a 1kg battery you could quadruple the run time of the OLPC. You won't find something similar anywhere else - as an old cheap used laptop will still use much more energy
BTX is much better at cooling the CPU, but cooling the GPU was not considered a priority. As such, with new GPU (and dual GPU) generating more heat than the CPU, the BTX cases appear to have lost their main selling point
The XBox had the great advantage of being able to run lots of the games created for the PC. Is the XBox360 better than the old XBox? Probably it is, but the XBox had a pretty good library of games on its own.
I use the 2.0 something version of Firefox. However, I still keep on my computer the older 0.6.2 version of Firebird (the same program, if you know what I mean).
Is the 2.0 version of Firefox better than Firebird? Sure, but Firebird in its own rights is a very competent browser, and extremely usable for almost all I need a web browser to do.
Why don't computers use NASA-quality hardware, ready for space? Why don't all computers use just a single configuration (peripherals, cards, interfaces)?
The purpose of an operating system is so much wider than what the Mars Global Surveyor had to do.
Don't worry, IBM will buy everything there is to be bought, when the company will be totally liquidated. If, as a result of the legal battle, there will be something left (the most attractive parts - IP in Unix - will hopefully be invalidated)
EBay would take care of distributing the PS3s from areas where there is excess to areas where there is a shortage. Also, there are other methods (using people you might know there, ordering directly from there,...)
By looking at someone while at shopping, you can find in which pocket he stores money. I wouldn't be surprised to find a coin in the pocket where I keep my wallet - as coins sometimes fall on their own from the wallet in that pocket.
There are limits in performance imposed by the physical size of the object (microphones and lenses are two examples). However, I think they use the best microphones possibles inside that envelope
I don't know about the seed corn efficiency when producing ethanol - however, when using fruits, you could get about 10% of the quantity of fruits in 50% ethanol (drinkable) in small distilleries. His process might double that yield, so you will ship 10x as much weight you could by using ethanol/diesel fuel/gasoline
Even doctors can not use NormalSpeak - and their medical tradition comes from the imperial Rome time (just look at all the names there, most of them are in Latin).
Also, you could be hard forced to explain what you do at work to your grandmother, or so.
I'm in Romania - and yesterday evening I took a long walk. Instead of the traditional freezing cold of this period (the Baptism of Christ), it was a very nice autumn evening. It isn't freezing even at night - and I've got in other years temperatures of 10 Celsius below freezing at day
You are so wrong with that - as long as both locomotives pull in the same direction, one of them will pull harder. That's no problem at all - the speed of the train is based on what the two locomotives can pull the entire train, not on what each locomotive could do with half the train.
Have you ever pulled a cart with someone else weaker (or stronger) than you? Have you seen tandem bicycles? When there is just one rider, the chain should snap because one rider will pull forward, but the lack of the other will force zero speed?
One of the last commercial passenger aircrafts using 4 piston engines and propellers had its engines so perfectly reliable it was known as "the most reliable three engined aircraft ever"
You might get some "energy capture" efficiency of 100% from solar energy into water - however, keep in mind that any thermal engine is restricted by the Carnot efficiency (1-Tcool/Thot, with temperatures in Kelvin). For a not-so-dangerous temperature differences (using a frozen pond in winter) of freezing-point - to boiling-point (273Kelvin to 373Kelvin), efficiency (max, theoretical, when using a gas) would be about 25%. This is where you start
Photovoltaics have extraordinary efficiency, coupled with zero (close to zero) maintenance. They might cost (both in dollars and environmental impact), but are better than thermal anything in small scale electricity generation
Slashdot Mirror
Loans are allowed in Islam - taking interest from a loan is not.
However, there are islamic banks that take no interest (taxes a loan in different ways), so even in the most islamic country you could take a loan from the most islamic bank
Sun gave away free downloadable for the same Sun Studio and Solaris - giving away DVDs is not so much of a stretch.
What about that:
One mile-oz=one Joule?
One Newton multiplied by one meter is one Joule - one meter-kilogram would depend (but on vertical with zero friction, would be some 9.8 J)
One idea would be to get a bigger battery for the OLPC (I'm sure these things will be soon available when the OLPC will be sold in first world). You could end up with a 4kg laptop able to work for days (the OLPC has a 28Wh battery, I think)
An example: Li-ion battery, 3.7V, 850mAh, 18 grams - it has 1.8 Wh capacity, so using a 1kg battery you could quadruple the run time of the OLPC. You won't find something similar anywhere else - as an old cheap used laptop will still use much more energy
What if your laptop dies an untimely death?
BTX is much better at cooling the CPU, but cooling the GPU was not considered a priority. As such, with new GPU (and dual GPU) generating more heat than the CPU, the BTX cases appear to have lost their main selling point
The XBox had the great advantage of being able to run lots of the games created for the PC. Is the XBox360 better than the old XBox? Probably it is, but the XBox had a pretty good library of games on its own.
I use the 2.0 something version of Firefox. However, I still keep on my computer the older 0.6.2 version of Firebird (the same program, if you know what I mean).
Is the 2.0 version of Firefox better than Firebird? Sure, but Firebird in its own rights is a very competent browser, and extremely usable for almost all I need a web browser to do.
To answer, Firebird 0.6.2 is trustworthy.
Why don't computers use NASA-quality hardware, ready for space?
Why don't all computers use just a single configuration (peripherals, cards, interfaces)?
The purpose of an operating system is so much wider than what the Mars Global Surveyor had to do.
Don't worry, IBM will buy everything there is to be bought, when the company will be totally liquidated. If, as a result of the legal battle, there will be something left (the most attractive parts - IP in Unix - will hopefully be invalidated)
EBay would take care of distributing the PS3s from areas where there is excess to areas where there is a shortage. Also, there are other methods (using people you might know there, ordering directly from there, ...)
By looking at someone while at shopping, you can find in which pocket he stores money. I wouldn't be surprised to find a coin in the pocket where I keep my wallet - as coins sometimes fall on their own from the wallet in that pocket.
There are limits in performance imposed by the physical size of the object (microphones and lenses are two examples). However, I think they use the best microphones possibles inside that envelope
I don't know about the seed corn efficiency when producing ethanol - however, when using fruits, you could get about 10% of the quantity of fruits in 50% ethanol (drinkable) in small distilleries. His process might double that yield, so you will ship 10x as much weight you could by using ethanol/diesel fuel/gasoline
Very interesting idea, and I would like to applaud you for that
Yes, I've heard of computers where the byte had 9 bits.
Other countries (Romania) still use in plumbing some strange measurements (like 1/2, 3/4 pipes and connections).
As one of my coworkers used to say:
"Exchanging A4 paper for Audi same model"
Even doctors can not use NormalSpeak - and their medical tradition comes from the imperial Rome time (just look at all the names there, most of them are in Latin).
Also, you could be hard forced to explain what you do at work to your grandmother, or so.
You should welcome global warming in summer, when continental, hot summer will hit you with 40 degrees
I'm in Romania - and yesterday evening I took a long walk. Instead of the traditional freezing cold of this period (the Baptism of Christ), it was a very nice autumn evening. It isn't freezing even at night - and I've got in other years temperatures of 10 Celsius below freezing at day
You are so wrong with that - as long as both locomotives pull in the same direction, one of them will pull harder. That's no problem at all - the speed of the train is based on what the two locomotives can pull the entire train, not on what each locomotive could do with half the train.
Have you ever pulled a cart with someone else weaker (or stronger) than you? Have you seen tandem bicycles? When there is just one rider, the chain should snap because one rider will pull forward, but the lack of the other will force zero speed?
One of the last commercial passenger aircrafts using 4 piston engines and propellers had its engines so perfectly reliable it was known as "the most reliable three engined aircraft ever"
You might get some "energy capture" efficiency of 100% from solar energy into water - however, keep in mind that any thermal engine is restricted by the Carnot efficiency (1-Tcool/Thot, with temperatures in Kelvin). For a not-so-dangerous temperature differences (using a frozen pond in winter) of freezing-point - to boiling-point (273Kelvin to 373Kelvin), efficiency (max, theoretical, when using a gas) would be about 25%. This is where you start
Photovoltaics have extraordinary efficiency, coupled with zero (close to zero) maintenance. They might cost (both in dollars and environmental impact), but are better than thermal anything in small scale electricity generation
Mod parent up - this is too true, and too sad