Linked by Howard Fosdick on Sat 24th Nov 2012 17:52 UTC
Do you depend on your computer for your living? If so, I'm sure you've thought long and hard about which hardware and software to use. I'd like to explain why I use generic "white boxes" running open source software. These give me a platform I rely on for 100% availability. They also provide a low-cost solution with excellent security and privacy.
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RE: On the hardware side...
by Luke McCarthy on Sun 25th Nov 2012 12:05
in reply to "On the hardware side..."
Member since:2005-07-06
RE[2]: On the hardware side...
by Tim Locke on Sun 25th Nov 2012 15:49
in reply to "RE: On the hardware side..."
Member since:2006-03-23
RE: On the hardware side...
by Alfman on Sun 25th Nov 2012 17:15
in reply to "On the hardware side..."
Member since:2011-01-28
Kichise,
I bought a Jetway mini PC for my parents due to the incredibly small form factor. Wouldn't have bought it for myself due to not having enough usb ports or expansion slots, but gave them a shot.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856107081
It's slower than I would have liked, but not unexpected for a device in it's class. The thing that I'm finding is that the little thing runs very hot all the time and the fan's are very loud. It might be a lemon, but many of the reviews are similar.
This was obviously a bundle with a stock jetway case, do you use something else?
I might give them a try again if I knew they solved the fan/heat problem, but given that the one I bought was speced as having a "silent fan", I'd have alot of trouble trusting what they say in the future.
RE[2]: On the hardware side...
by Kochise on Tue 27th Nov 2012 08:33
in reply to "RE: On the hardware side..."
Member since:2006-03-03
That's the kind of computer I'm now looking for. Sure, not powerful as a Core i7, but for what usage ? I bet that the box heat a little because it's still a dual core 525 plus Ion 2. Even though low power, still the TDP is about 20W or so. I think you cannot make great things to that extend, my mini-ITX baord are not cased at all, and the fan is a little noisy.
That's why I'm looking for AMD APU (like the E450) with passive cooling. Strong enough for desktop usage (LibreOffice) and can decode Full HD streams, play DX11 games (with medium details) etc... Far enough, from my point of with according to my usage.
Kochise
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.More News »
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Member since:
2006-03-03
I'm using Jetway's industrial mini-ITX form factored factored with included CPU and GPU (one with VIA C7 and one with Intel Atom 330) that can be switched in-place at very little cost. If ever one gets out of order.
See there :
http://www.jetwaycomputer.com/J7F2.html (VIA C7)
http://www.jetwaycomputer.com/NC92.html (Atom 330)
Both accept daughter boards for easy expansion. You cen get them from there :
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=34¤cy=1
Very high quality manufacture, long life capacitor are used. Not strong horse power, but very stable working and reliable hardware.
Next incarnation will be a cluster composed of AMD Fusion APU with OpenCL GPGPU processing shared amongst the whole system. Of course, I bet it'll be composed of Jetway motherboard due to their reliability :
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=69
I've no stock into Jetway, it's just an honest testimony.
Kochise