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User: tuxicle

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  1. Re:Apps on What's Keeping You On Windows? · · Score: 1

    Agreed, this is my reason for having a Windows box and a Linux box at work. I use, on a fairly regular basis, Solidworks and Altium Designer. Both are DiretX/3D heavy, and don't work well under emulation. Most of the software dev work, though, is under Linux. At home, I normally have a Linux box, and a Windows laptop.

  2. Electrification studies with radar on Strange Video of Dancing Cloud Explained By Electric Discharge · · Score: 2

    There was a rather large field campaign called The Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation Study (STEPS) to study electrification done around the year 2000 that involved the use of polarimetric weather radar to observe electrified storms, in conjunction with the New Mexico Tech Lightning Monitoring Array (LMA).

    One of the nice things about polarimetric radar is the ability to measure the aggregate orientation of particles, including ice crystals. When scanning active electrified storms, the radars observed polarimetric signatures indicating increased vertical orientation of particles aloft (ice crystals), which then suddenly snapped back to roughly random orientation. This event corresponded well with measurements from the LMA. In other words, they could, using radar, predict lightning strikes. I love science!

  3. Re:Why is there still microwave oven interference? on Wi-Fi Cards Can Now Detect Microwave Ovens · · Score: 1

    You must be referring to the foam absorbers used in an anechoic chamber, these are used for absorption. I was referring to finger stock that's used to minimize leakage out (or into) an enclosure with a door.

  4. Re:If only all wifi devices could work cooperative on Wi-Fi Cards Can Now Detect Microwave Ovens · · Score: 3, Informative

    802.11a devices (operating at 5.45 GHz) are already supposed to detect radar signals and switch channels if one is found. This is particularly a problem in Europe, where most weather monitoring radars are C-band, and share the same frequency band as 802.11a.

  5. Re:Why is there still microwave oven interference? on Wi-Fi Cards Can Now Detect Microwave Ovens · · Score: 1

    Perfect anything is impossible to achieve when dealing with microwave devices, in my opinion. Particularly shielding - you can reduce it down to a point, and it gets expensive the lower you go. For instance, "quiet chambers" used when testing for EMI compliance typically have doors with beryllium-copper fingers that try to create a faraday shield to keep out external interference. I've never seen any commercial microwave oven that uses these - for good reason too, since they're expensive and won't last very long in a kitchen environment.

    Most microwaves would try to ensure that the gap between the metal door and the body is small enough that the waveguide thus formed would have significant attenuation at 2.45 GHz. Any waveguide has a "cutoff" frequency, below which propagation can only occur through evanescent waves, which decay very rapidly. However, the relative power levels involved (microwaves generate 1 kW, or about 60 dBm, while WiFi receivers are sensitive down to about -90 dBm, or 1 picowatt) means that evanescent waves that escape can cause interference.

  6. Re:And still after four years... on The Letter That Started AMD's Open-Source Strategy · · Score: 1

    A winmodem is basically a sound card with an analog telephone line interface. This means all the modulation and channel coding that needs to be done to send/receive data is done in software. Real modems use a DSP to implement the modulation, and have the firmware for the DSP in a Flash chip. The only cost-cutting involved would be to do away with the Flash chip and have the device driver download the firmware each time the modem is power-cycled. Nobody did this with any modems I'm aware of, partly because being external from the PC case, it's hard to say if the modem DSP has already booted and is running firmware or not. With an expansion card, this is not an issue. Back in '98, I was able to update the firmware on a Zyxel 28.8k modem and have it support 56k, since it used a programmable DSP and allowed Flash reprogramming. Greedy marketers would usually prevent this from happening so I'd spend more $$$ to buy the 56k modem - somehow Zyxel were different at the time.

  7. Re:Outrageous SSIDs are everywhere on Accused Teen Bomber Finds FBI Surveillance Team's Wireless Network · · Score: 1

    Some of the better APs will let you set the signal strength. I set mine down to -10 dBm (lowest available), but I can still get a signal from several hundred feet away.

  8. Gnome3 and RHEL on Interview With GNOME 3 Designer Jon McCann · · Score: 1

    What I'd like to see is what Red Hat will do when it has to release RHEL 7 - will it go with Gnome3 or stick with something sensible? I can't imagine running a workstation on which one is expected to do actual work with Gnome3.

  9. Re:wise guy on Analog Designer Bob Pease Dies In Car Crash · · Score: 1

    He would also write about defensive driving on occasion in Pease Porridge, his column.

  10. Re:Who? on Analog Designer Bob Pease Dies In Car Crash · · Score: 1

    What? Jim Williams too??? Who will write our humorous app notes with the doodles on the last page? :( A dark day indeed. Williams' application notes (and his tales of learning from fixing broken test equipment) are one of the reasons I'm a EE today.

  11. Re:throw away car? on Integrating Capacitors Into Car Frames · · Score: 1

    Sure, because a nuclear engine is so much more easier to fix, right?

  12. Re:By coincidence... on Germany To End Nuclear Power By 2022 · · Score: 1

    Windmills do not work that way! /morbo

  13. Cue up... on NASA Sets Final Space Shuttle Flight For July · · Score: 1
  14. TSA on Brothers Build World's Largest Model Airport · · Score: 1

    How many model TSA agents does it have, autonomously groping passengers?

  15. Re:I thought Apple and Samsung were friends on The Real Reason Apple Is Suing Samsung · · Score: 1

    They also manufacture the A4 (ie, Samsung S5L8930) ARM SoC that powers the iPhone 4, and the various other SoCs that power the older iPhones. At least with Flash chips, you have alternate vendors you can go to. Not so with an SoC - doing the technology transfer to a different semiconductor fab would be expensive (remember that Apple designed the A4, not Samsung).

    Having said that, the conspiracy theorist in me wants to believe that maybe Apple might jump ship from ARM to Power Architecture, especially since they acquired P.A. Semi.

  16. Re:So Let Me Get This Straight on Apple Logging Locations of All iPhone Users · · Score: 1

    ...but has the side effect of allowing anyone with access to the system to know where you phone is.

    Well that right there is the kicker. When the phone itself logs location information in an insecure way, it opens up the information to anyone who has access to your phone and/or backups to a desktop. This can also include authors of malicious apps.

  17. Re:High version numbers on Firefox 5 Scheduled For June 21 Release · · Score: 1

    They dropped it now - it's just Altium Designer 10. Their old version system confused me at times, since the Winter 09 edition was older than Summer 09 - seasons are flipped in Oz.

  18. Re:Higher prices? on Texas Instruments Buys National Semiconductor For $6.5B · · Score: 1

    Is this based on Digikey? I think that Digikey has lower prices for TI chips in general (relative to other retailers). Probably worked out some kind of deal.

  19. Fixed memory usage? I wish on Firefox 4 Released! · · Score: 1

    I've been using FF4 betas since Beta 9, and memory usage has shot up from 3.x (on WinXP). I figured, hey, it's a beta, they'll fix it in release, it probably has a bunch of debug stuff in it. So today I got my spanking new workstation, put Win7 on it, and here's the memory usage as reported by Windows Task Manager (top 2 lines):

    SLDWORKS.exe - 364,348k
    firefox.exe *32 - 327,484k

    Solidworks, for those who don't know, is a rather large 3D CAD program, it has a relatively small assembly with about 100 parts loaded. FF has been running for about 2 hours, on a mix of websites, with a total of 7 tabs open across 3 windows. Fresh install, with Firefox Sync as the only add-in. What in the world is FF doing with all that memory?

    *sigh*

  20. Re:Yeah right on DirectX 'Getting In the Way' of PC Game Graphics, Says AMD · · Score: 1

    Funny, "Elevated" (the 4k intro) uses D3D...

  21. Re:Weird diffraction spikes on How To Build a Telescope That Trumps Hubble · · Score: 1

    Actually, they'd look like a six-pointed pattern, since the diffraction pattern would always be symmetric. This would be similar to sidelobe patterns on center-fed reflector antennas - the more common three-strut antennas have six cuts where sidelobe levels are higher, four-strut antennas have four cuts. However, the sidelobe levels are higher for four-strut antennas, one way of thinking about it is the energy gets spread out into more cuts. Assuming optical telescopes work in a similar manner, the diffraction spikes from the JWST should not be as bright as those from HST or other reflectors, but there'd be more of them.

  22. Re:That's not a Commodore 64 on Greed, Zealotry, and the Commodore 64 · · Score: 1

    Can't do those kinds of things with modern PC's.

    Sure you can

  23. Re:Get Off My Lawn, Astro Division on What's the Oldest File You Can Restore? · · Score: 1

    We removed the last Kennedy 9-track from our equipment rack two years ago. It's still sitting by the dumpster, since it was federally funded, and university policy to surplus federally-sourced equipment is quite involved. There's still some 9-track tapes in the storage room, although it's questionable if they have any useful (or usable) data on them.

  24. Re:On average, programmers write on Does Typing Speed Really Matter For Programmers? · · Score: 1

    But then, that's on average. Some days, we need to get a lot done, and being a faster typist can help. I think being able to experiment, and throw away many lines of code because something didn't work would be easier for someone who doesn't struggle to type.

  25. Re:Where is my Android powered headunit? on The DIY Car Computer vs. the iPad · · Score: 1

    It may make sense to buy a chassis similar to the one in TFA, but install a TI OMAP evaluation board (or a BeagleBoard) inside, and figure out a way to get it running Android. Throw in a set of class-D amplifier modules and you'd have a rocking car audio system that beats the pants off any of the "big guys". Heck, screw the $$$s I sank on a Kenwood head unit last year, I might try this soon!