Posts by Troy Peterson 65 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2007
These are not x86 derived cores. Consider that they are designed specifically for the task at hand and probably only have a small handful of instructions... If they are just emulating neurons then op-amps wired as comparators with configurable biases are a close approximation to a neuron... However I suspect that these are digital cores which only have to run a very small 'program' at extreme parallelism like the shader units in a GPU... So if you consider a processor core that is dead simple without all of the fancy pipelining and out-of-order execution of modern CPUs that has only a handful of instructions and cascade-switches instead of being clocked... then 70mw is very reasonable...
I don't think so... I've not tried yet to be honest, but given the whole 2nd GPU thing and X11's general inability to deal with unusual configurations it's highly unlikely that it will work - at least not fully. I've had mine since November (got it in North America) and I love it.. It's the only Windows machine I have, with Mint on all of my others... and I'd _love_ to put Mint on it... but I'm putting up with Windows because it generally works and the machine is simply fantastic... I doubt you'd be able to separate the keyboard with Linux so that makes it kinda pointless.
I was watching one of those adverts just yesterday thinking the same thing... Correlation does not equal causality. Do they really have proof that playing these games results in clear benefits or is it just that those people who already have sharper minds and are looking to test them tend to enjoy and buy into these things. I was looking at the advert wondering if there were clinical studies to back up the claims.
From a logical point of view it does make sense to me that it may work. Their claims may be accurate. There certainly is some circumstantial evidence that logic games improve cognitive abilities... But anyone claiming real measurable benefits must show irrefutable proof.
I've been using Jetbrains IntelliJ Idea for Java for a few years now and would never go back to Eclipse or any other IDE. It's a real eye-opener just how much better it is than anything else out there. I have not done C++ in years but I used to use Code::Blocks for C++. Recently when I had to look at some old C++ code at work I fired up Eclipse CDT - which is the standard here... and immediatly shut it down again (well as fast as I could... Eclipse takes forever to start up and shut down...). So I grabbed Code::Blocks and did my work in there... but compared to InelliJ Idea Code::Blocks felt really primitve. Not much of a step up from Notepad. I never realized how wonderful the tools in IntelliJ were until I didn't have them at my disposal.
A little while after that experience I gave an early Alpha build of CLion a spin... and it was pretty awesome. Glad to see it finally released into the wild.
I miss the Radio shack of hte 80's and early 90s... Our first computer was a Tandy 1000... Quite a good computer actually... if only software supported the Tandy Graphics Adapter and Tandy 3-voice sound... 99% of the time it fell back on EGA and PC-speaker... but still a good machine.
In the town I lived in (less than 2000 people) the local Radio Shack was the only place within a 6 hour drive where you could buy any computer stuff... or any electronic components. Sure they were outrageously over-priced... but at least you could buy components. When I was a young nerd-ling (around 10ish) and into electronics it was like a candy store. I begged my parrents to buy me oen of the 50-in-1 electronics kits... and eventually had quite a few of those over the years.... but by 1995 or so RadioShack just took a sharp turn downhill... I can't believe they are still in business too....
Now I live in the UK and Maplin here is great. Everytime I go into Maplin it's like a little bit of nostalgia for what Radio Shack used to be like... but as someone else said, I don't think they'll be around forever either...
For some reason which I have never been able to determine Samsung doesn't seem to like to release their 3g/4g tablets in the UK. My previous Galaxy Tab 7.7 I bought in The Netherlands... And I've just (actaully waiting for delivery today) ordered the Galaxy TAb Pro 8.4 LTE from Germany.
I have the first generation of these - the BT-100s... Which are shockingly useless... They display is good actually, but the CPU can't even manage to play a standard low-def video at better than 10fps... and there is no bluetooth, gps, gyroscopes... er.. nothing. Which makes them utterly useless...
Howwever, they have (supposedly) addressed all of these issues for the BT-200... I had a pair on pre-order.... then on the day before it was supposed to ship my order was suddenly cancelled... and I didn't get an explanation why until I emailed them.. Apparently they've decided not to ship outside of the US for pre-orders.... Nice of them to tell me that now.
Supposedly they'll be available in the UK in June... but we'll see.
For the true 'HUD' experience, terminator style, try out Epson's BT-200 glasses coming soon. I have the BT-100's and they are unbearably cool, but utterly useless. They view is really great of a hud overlay but the processor in the BT-100 is crap and can't even play low res video... The OS is old... and without any gyro sensors or even simple bluetooth it's utility as a practical device is limited. About all you can do with the BT-100 is view photos.
However, it looks like they've addressed most of these issues with the BT-200.. Can't wait for mine to arrive.
Cheers,
Troy.
I work for a bank.. We're still using Java 5 and 6 mostly with some brand new bleeding edge code being deployed with Java 7... but that's not standard and not properly approved... Our server builds are all Java 6 by default. But hey, we also still have lots of Windows XP around too. I don't think we'll see any Java 8 until 2020 at least.
My Roomba 650 recently gave up... Though I cleaned it regularly it got so much hair in the brushes that the plastic housing that the brush bushings sit in actually broke... I managed to repair it once, but it's dislodged again and is done for good...
The 880 has been out for a couple of months in the US... so I asked customer support when it would be here in the UK and I was told that it's coming in May... so it's back to the old fashioned hoover until then.. ugh...
I had an old (original) Roomba for many years, then the 650... Even though the 650 only lasted 3 years I still loved it so I'll be buying the 880 when it's available.
I know I'm in the minority and have more cash than sense... but I'm thinking of getting one. I already have an HMZ-T1 and I love it. I also have an Occulus rift. They are very different products. I love watching movies on my T1, and playing the occasional 2d /3d game. It's not as immersive as the OR, but it's a lot higher quality image and it works for all for games whereas the OR is just good for first person shooters. I also use it for MS Flight Simulator which I still cannot get to work on my OR. The T1 works to play PS3 games or watch a movie when my other half is using the main telly. The only problem with my T1 is it's weight and lack of comfort... The reviewer here seems to think this one is uncomfortable, but I hear the T2 is much, much improved over the T1 in that area so this should be even better I would hope. Plus, the forehead support on my T1 has broken...
Cheers,
Troy.
I have to echo Dominic's comments here... I work in an investment bank and a lot of what I do is porting poorly written VB / VBA code to Java and C++. We have traders that fancy themselves as programmers downloading Microsoft's free version of Visual Studio and trying to write algo trading apps... And there are an unbelievable number of VBA macros floating around. I've been in some places where entire trading systems are written in Excel macros. I once saw a Repo / Sec Finance trading system entirely done in Excel / VBA....
I actually just finished porting a server side transaction processing system from VB6 to Java... I'm not sure how it ended up being written in VB to begin with... This is an application for taking trade data from multiple sources, determining settlement details and enriching the messages and then routing them to the appropriate back-office system. It should have been written as a Unix daemon or a Windows service... but it was an actual GUI application that had to be started up on the server - even though all it had was an empty window.
In reference to the article.. I've noticed an up-tick in the number of headhunters calling me. A couple of years ago I was getting 2-3 calls a week... Over the past year it's dropped to less than one a month... But in the last few months I've had a handful of calls averaging maybe 2 a month. They're all offering low contract rates though... We recently went through a 10% rate cut for all contractors here, but the new jobs tend be offering lower rates than what I'm currently on even after the rate cut.
Cheers,
Troy.
I'm glad the reviewer noted the issue with Linux installation. I'm looking for a device just like this.... My requirements are an 11.6" convertible tablet/laptop with an Intel i5 or better chip that can run Linux.... I need occasionally code on the go and I haven't touched a windows PC (other than at the office) since windows XP was the big news. Even at work I use my Windows pc just to remotely connect to Linux boxes.... As soon as a reviewer confirms that one of these new devices actually works with Linux I'll be all over it.
Troy.
It's hard not to feel like we're doomed as a species to a future of boring mediocrity and sameness... The movie Idiocracy is a chilling preview of where we are heading...
How many adult scientists and engineers today didn't blow the occasional thing up as a kid? I doubt there are any. I used to experiment with a lot of things as a kid and had a few incidents... But it was worth it. I'm only 30, but now looking back at building rockets and tesla coils when I was 12 I think that today a kid today with a passion for science has a better chance of being accused as a radical terrorist rather than the potential Einstein that they may be.
http://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab.htm
Can you imagine seeing something like this today? It's a shame that I missed the 50s.
Cheers,
Troy.
I really wish people would stop comparing this to the Rasp-Pi... It's a completely different beast. It's not a mini single board computer, but an embedded controller that runs Linux... Like an Arduino, but different in many ways... It's also not correct to call it a beefed up Arduino or an Arduino on steroids... It's much, much more. I have 3 Beaglebones embedded in various projects that I've built... A 3d printer, and a couple of robots...
The BeagleBone is not a general purpose computer! It's not ever intended to be hooked up to a display/keyboard/mouse and be operated as a computer other than during development or debugging, it's meant to form the guts of some larger device as it's controller... I only ever communicate with mine over ethernet. It does not need and should not have a GPU of any sort...
Cheers,
Troy.
My favourite editor by far on Windows is Crimson Editor (Also known as Emerald editor). Sadly, it's no longer developed... But still available. I use it extensively at work. It is a little bit slow at starting up, but not too horrendous.. It's still faster than any of my IDEs by far. Out of any editor I've ever used it has the best macros, block editing, and regex functionality. Block Editing is a godsend... I guess that's what you call multiple cursors here. Crimson is the first editor I ever saw that implemented it and it's still the best. A sizeable amount of my daily work consists of 'TARDEP' tasks... A lot of converting lists of data into SQL inserts and such... and the Block editing is the only way to go.
http://www.crimsoneditor.com/english/home.html
Pity that the best hobbiest 3d printer isn't listed.... The Ultimaker (www.ultimaker.com). I print on mine at 0.08mm layer height and have gone down as low as 0.04.... I've compared directly with prints from most of the printers on this list and the Ultimaker blows them all away. As a plywood contraption it doesn't look as good as some of these,but it excels where it counts.
Also, I just have to toss in my 2p on the Replicator.... Makerbot are going the way of Apple... they had a great hacker community but now they've evolved into a corporate environment and have close-sourced everything and are moving towards a closed non hacker-friendly eco-system. They've taken work done by the community and have built proprietary work on it without giving anything back.
Cheers,
Troy.
I've been looking for something like this... I agree the price is a little high... but I want a tablet / laptop combo (I've been considering the Asus Tranformer Prime). The CPU is a little weak, but enough for my purposes.... But, for me it has to run a proper distro of Linux (Mint). I use only Linux on my PC's and haven't touched Windows at all since about 2008. I want to use it for on-the-go Linux C++ and Java development and I need to run my Linux apps...
So the question is... Will this thing work with Linux? Touchscreen support in Linux is iffy at the moment.... but that aside would I be able to install Mint on this? With these new Windows 8 machines I'm mostly concerned about the boot loader being locked down somehow. I don't know anything about how Windows 8 machines operate, but I remember reading something about the new machines encrypting the bios and only running signed software. Is this the case?
Cheers,
Troy.
I'm so glad the reviewer tested it with Linux. I am looking for a device just like this, but I don't do Windows. I've been exclusively Linux now for nearly 10 years. To be honest, I just want a slim 11-12ish laptop that's slightly better performing than your average netbook. I'm not doing anything intensive so an i3 or similar is more than enough... This sounds right up my ally. I do not not really need the touchsceen, but I would hate to have it and not be able to use it.
Touchscreen support in Linux seems to be sorely lacking. I have a touchscreen monitor on my desktop that will not work in Linux, but I briefly tested it in Windows and it works fine there. I'm really hoping that this situation improves soon.
Troy.
Honestly, there are a zillion review sites out there... When I read El Reg I look for an interesting read with only a kernel of factuality to it. Your reviews should be the same. I like the toungue-in-cheek style of your writing, but that rarely comes out in the reviews...
If I want a real review of a digital camera I'll go to dpreviews, etc, etc. When I read The Register I want to be entertained. It would be great to see your reviews as the Top Gear of technology.... Take the most outrageously expensive pieces of computer gear and review how well they work underwater.. Look at the product claims and verify them to the extreme.
However, one thing that nobody seems to do which I would find useful is pictures of the box that something comes in. When I order something I often have to decide whether it's convenient to have it delivered to my office and take it home on the tube/train or if I need to take a day off and wait at home for delivery.... Sometimes it's just impossible to guess what sort of box something will be delivered in...
I love my Ultimaker. In the year and a half that I've had it I've printed hundreds of novelty items... and a couple of useful ones. I have also repaired digital cameras, high-chairs, and TV remotes for friends. My desk here at work is covered with an army of yoda busts..... Including a glow-in-the-dark yoda... the force is truly with that one.
I'd go with an Ultimaker (www.ultimaker.com) over the MakerBot Replicator any day... Even the newly released Replicator 2 will not match the quality I get from my Ultimaker. I've printed at as low as 40 microns resolution... It's still the best amatuer grade 3d printer out there. It will easily out-perform the much more expensive comercial grade printers with the draw-backs simply being it's less sturdy construction and more maintenance / care / calibration being required.
Also, the ReplicatorG software is pretty limited... Most people these days use Cura, Slic3r or the commercial NetFabb... and there are a few others.
Nor can I, but I want one.
I like this idea... And I like the price. I already have 2 android tablets... I keep one handy in a dock beside my sofa for the random IMDB and Wikipedia lookups when the fancy strikes me.... I'd also like to have one at my bedside... I can see myself sitting on the sofa, watching tv, and surfing the web with this on my lap.... an actual laptop surface style computer... I think it's a freakin' awesome idea.
Cheers,
Troy.
I second that about native adventure games... That used to be my favourite genre of games back in the 90's... And I've actually been playing some of the original sierra adventure games on my tablet in DosBox... Space quest ]|[, Space Quest V.... Police quest 1-3.... Conquests of Camelot.... They're all great. For the old fashioned text ones I just use a bluetooth keyboard.
I also recently played Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in Dosbox... that's based on the Scumm engine. I'll need to try it in ScummVM. The Monkey Island games would be awesome on my tablet. Star Trek 25th Anniversary Edition works great in Dosbox too.
What about some good RTS games? I think the form is perfect for the classics like Dune2.
Here are some more classic games I'd like to see ported to android or new variations created:
Warcraft 2
Starcraft
Dune 2
Space Quest 1-6
Police Quest 1-3
Myst
Cheers,
Troy.
I see a great potential for the tablet style controller, if they use it right... My first thought was good old fashioned RPGs. It used to be a PITA to switch to your inventory, map, spellbook, etc... Now you can have all of that on the tablet and keep the gameplay on the screen... Think of Fallout 3 with your pip-boy on the controller all the time...
Also possible are social multiplayer games that couldn't previously be done on a console.. Like Texas-Holdem... I think it's kinda pointless on a console, but none-the-less you could have your hand on the controller and the community cards on the TV.... Now a creative sort could come up with all sorts of fun games where there is a private element and a shared public element like this that could take advantage of the tablet.
It'll still never appeal to hardcore gamers... and so what? The market is casual gamers like myself who love to play simple mario mini games with friends and family and have never 'fragged' anything in my life... The truth is, we outnumber the gamers in the big wide world and make Nintendo a lot of money, which is the objective of business.
Am I to understand then that Windows 8 will not support windows? I don't understand why the UI creators these days think the desktop paradigm is broken. It isn't. I have to use Windows 7 at work and I can't stand it.. I've been a long time Linux user at home and have recently switched to KDE after the demise of Gnome 2... Now I'm looking at Cinnamon or MATE as potentials for my primary desktop...
I know I may be old-fashioned, but I _HATE_ tabbed browsing. I have three 24" monitors and I use them. I detest maximized windows and believe that windows should be sized to hold their content and no more. I never maximize a window to full screen... I have lots of screen real-estate and I use it like a desktop. How many people have a large desktop but keep everything in a single neat stack in the middle? Do you just move papers from the stack to the top to look at them and then shuffle them down the stack? Maybe you do... but I tend to spread them out over my desk so I can scan across them with my eyes.
When I browse the web and something catches my attention I open it in a new window somewhere else on the screen.... When I'm ready to read it then I just have to move my eyes to that window's location. I don't even need to focus it until I'm ready to scroll. At the moment I have 12 windows open - 5 different consoles connected to various servers, a Java IDE, my email client, and a couple of browsers. I like to always keep my email client visible taking up about 1/3rd of one of my 3 monitors. My consoles are spread variously around the screen so I can see what's on them and refer to them. I also need to copy data between them - How can you drag and drop if you can only see one at a time?
To me, a minimalist GUI is ideal. I like a task bar to display a clock, and events tray and a task list is nice... A launcher menu needs to be easily accessible somehow... But mostly I want a big empty desk space with pretty wallpaper.
If I had time and inclination to write my own gui it would not have maximize buttons.
</rant>
Troy.
I have a Squeezebox radio from Logitech and I love it. The sound quality is fantastic and the features are good... and although the server side is proprietary it is small/lightweight and runs fine on my Linux server.
This looks like a nice alternative to the Squeezebox. I like the idea of having Android on such a device. The only other thing I can think of that would be a nice addition would be hdmi out so you can also use it to stream media to a TV (or in my case, the projector that I have pointed at the ceiling above my bed).
For anyone interested in 3d printing there are a lot of options out there now...
I have an ultimaker printer that I love (www.ultimaker.com). Also there's reprap (reprap.org), UP (pp3dp.com), various options from Makerbot (www.makerbot.com), SUMPOD (http://www.indiegogo.com/SUMPOD-1), and a zillion others...
Or, if you don't want to buy your own you can get SLS, or FDM 3d printing (or CNC and Laser cutting ) done at either Shapeways (shapeways.com), or Ponoko (www.ponoko.com), or a zillion others.
Cheers!
I've built some incredibly thin and light things on my ultimaker (www.ultimaker.com). Also, as you can see on the homepage it has been used to print indoor RC helicopter blades - if it can do that then it can do just about anything required for this project. I might just have to try printing a whole flyable airplane and see what happens.
The quality of MakerBot printers is atrocious... But the quality of the Ultimaker is stunning. I don't have any pictures of stuff I've printed on my Ultimaker, but it easily rivals shapeways. Take a look at these:
http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/ultimaker-faq-but-what-about-the-quality-of-prints/
I've printed a whole army of multi-coloured yodas now at 0.02mm layer height.
Cheers,
Troy.
I can't wait to see these. As a 3d affectionado and someone who has been wanting to get my hands on a decent hmd since I saw The Lawnmower Man in 1992 I think I will probably buy these, even at that price. I've been looking at HMDs for years and the cheap ones are all way too low in the specs, where as the decently spec'd ones are £10k+... These are still on the low side for resolution though... 1080p would have been nice. My question is, what do they look like to a computer? I want to play flight sims with these (plus head tracker!), but many modern flight sims do not support anything less than 1920x1080 resolution at all.. If these look like a 1280x720 display to the computer then it may refuse to play.... I'm hoping there is a way to present them as a 1080p display and have them scale to their native resolution.
In any case, I _love_ 3d... Bought my first pair of shutter glasses for the computer about 7 years ago or so. Although I'm not a 'gamer', games in 3d are amazing. My favorite is still Doom 3 played with my edimenaion 3d shutter glasses. Back in the 90's I seriously thought everyone would have sunglasses sized full immersion hmds by this time...
Honestly, I've been dissapointed with these 'doner kebabs' that you have in this country ever since I moved here.. They just don't hold a candle to a real proper Canadian Donair. We really need to introduce proper Donairs to this country - I think you'd like them. Much better than the half-arsed dry attempts that your kebob shops make now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donair
And of course you need real, proper poutine here. FYI, poutine is made from _Chedder Curds_, not curdled milk!!! There is a significant difference. Adding Lomon juice to milk just curdles it... That is just discusting. Chedder curds are more similar to something like say... paneer. Fresh chedder curds are delicious by themselves and when added to a poutine they are simply divine.
Hmm, not sure what pressure you are looking to achieve but creating a vaccuum chamber of this nature is not as simple as it seems... For one thing, using copper tubing into your steel or aluminium vessel witll be difficult to plumb and may have tempurature expansion issues. Your tube and bottom cover will need to be welded on and that will require a very good internal tig weld. Any other type of weld will produce virtual leaks. You also need to be very careful when working with it since a fingerprint or any sort of contamination inside will outgass severely when the pressure drops and could require hours (or days) of pumping to get the pressure down unless you have a large capacity (expensive) vaccuum pump.
Mind you, my vacuum experience comes from working with my Fusor, so I'm thinking in the high vacuum range under 1 micron of pressure... That would test your rocket for ignition in outer space... Your vaccuum requirements are probably not quite so stringent.
Not so,
Any meteor strike powerful enough to vaporise the entire surface of the planet would likely destroy it completely. The theory is not that the meteor strike itself caused the mass extinction, but rather the dust cloud that it ejected into the atmosphere blocked the sun and reduced the tempurature so that the plants died, and the herbavores that fed on them, and the carnivores that fed on those. That's why microbes and some other lifeforms that can survive with little food or moss / fungus managed to live through it.
It's like the 'nuclear winter' that was so much talked of during the cold war.
"The Archos tablet has gone for a spin, being the world's first tablet computer to use a disk drive instead of flash memory. Seagate's single platter Momentus Thin is the lucky spinner."
I disagree.
My Kalador tablet (386 DX) from about 1994 has a 20meg hard drive.
My Fujitsu Stylus 1000 has a 340 meg hard drive (http://gigaom.com/mobile/the_first_8_inc/)
My Compaq concerto has a 40meg hard drive (I think...)
My Viera TV has Acetrax built in. I love it. Service is fast and the quality is superb. Even during peak times on my crappy Central London 2mbit BT line I still see no artifacts or glitches when streaming high def. The catalog is... not bad.... but far from good. The only downside of Acetrax is the limited catelog...
Steve Jobs:
"Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of tablets in this country. The Apple Ipad was the tablet to own. Then the other guy came out with a two core tablet. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the Ipad 2. That's two cores and an aloe strip. For moisture. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened--the bastards went to four cores. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling two cores and a strip. Moisture or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five cores."
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