Re: OLPC nearly doubles in cost, runs Windows, avail in USA
On Apr 28, 2007, at 20:46, Ben Scott wrote: While the reason for the 75% price increase isn't fully explained yet, the popular conspiracy theory is that Windows needed more computrons. There was talk a while back about OLPC being able to shed the shackles of traditional PC design and get much more efficient by not having to worry about running MS-DOS and its ilk. It was reported that the OLPC was doing new, innovative things that might make it into PC's one day. Maybe the Gates Foundation is going to buy a container ship of them for Africa. -Bill - Bill McGonigle, Owner Work: 603.448.4440 BFC Computing, LLC Home: 603.448.1668 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 603.252.2606 http://www.bfccomputing.com/Page: 603.442.1833 Blog: http://blog.bfccomputing.com/ VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: dual-core vs. HyperThreading
Thomas Charron writes: > On 4/25/07, Michael ODonnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I can definitely confirm that my core 2 quad system has no HT > > > available to turn on in the bios (but does show ht in the cpuflags, > > > which aligns with other comments in the thread). > > I've heard it suggested several times now that features > > like HyperThreading can be enabled or disabled "in the BIOS" > > and I don't understand how that can be possible. AFAIK a CPU > > either does or doesn't have a given feature and there's nothing > > (short of modifying the CPU's microcode) that any BIOS can do > > to "disable" it, at least not in any way that would prevent a > > capable OS from doing as it pleased once it was booted. So, > > what's the story? > > I don't know the specifics, but the BIOS has to 'turn the bits on'. > There are thousands of Toshiba laptop owners who wished Toshiba would > enable the VT bit in their damned BIOS screens for their Intel Core 2 > Duo chips. Unfortunately this is a feature. CPUs, Chipsets, etc.. usually have things like this in Write-Once or Write-Lock registers. After reset, the register can we written exactly once or can be set to lock in the values until the next reset. BIOS code makes sure to write all of these registers once to enable/disable features as it sees fit. This is usually good as typically they are uses for board-specific enable/disables. It makes no sense to enable a PCI device or bridge if there is nothing connected to it on the board as an example. Another use is for features that can only be enabled or modified early in the boot process before memory is configured or IO devices setup, making changes afterwards would give unpredictable results. Locking these down makes sense as any changes could lock up the system. Turning HT on/off on the fly seems unlikely to work at the OS level as I'm sure there is some initializations needed that aren't trivial or likely known to the OS. Same goes for VT. -- Dave ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
OLPC nearly doubles in cost, runs Windows, avail in USA
(H. List's been quiet lately.) According to a Yahoo News story linked to from Slashdot, the OLPC Laptop (http://www.laptop.org) is going to increase in price from $100 to $175, and will be able to run Microsoft Windows in addition to Linux. While the reason for the 75% price increase isn't fully explained yet, the popular conspiracy theory is that Windows needed more computrons. It will also be made available in the USA. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070426/ap_on_hi_te/hundred_dollar_laptop http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/28/0658206&mode=nocomment So I guess it's really going to be One Laptop Per Every 1.75 Children, eh? -- Ben DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in the above are the personal opinions of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views or policy of GNHLUG, the author's employer, or any other person or organization. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: is Vista falling flat?
On Apr 27, 2007, at 13:40, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: John Quarterman (you may remember he worked on ARPANET software at BBN and was co-author of The Design and Implementation of the 4.2BSD UNIX Operating System) thinks so: riskman.typepad.com/perilocity/2007/04/abandoning_the_.html> food for thought... I picked up a NFR copy of Windows Vista Business at a WUG meeting yesterday and installed it on VMWare during the meeting, and, while not being a Windows fan, it's a damn sight better than XP from a user's perspective. No noticeable pregnant pauses while opening windows without feedback, the control panel is more useful for frequent tasks, update seems to work more intelligently, I understand the wireless setup is less maddening. I configured my VM for 512MB of RAM and 1 CPU (C2D laptop) and performance was acceptable running Open Office 2.1, using the Windows Classic theme. I installed AVG Free easily (with an API now, so there should be less nastiness in AV), and as I understand it the sandbox is slightly better, and the stack is harder to smash (address randomization). Apparently it has symlinks now too and upgrades between 'editions' can be done with just a new ($) license key. I also have W2K3 in another VM on the machine and that performs much more poorly. Now, it did give me three copies of the dialog to restart after software update, I found it blindly sends your password to any drive share without asking, and the annoying security box is just going to habituate folks to click 'yes'. This was just in an hour of playing - I expect the defect list would continue to grow at that rate as I tried other things, but I have more fun things to play with at home. It's still Windows - it's amazing how little polish five years of development resulted in. I find Gnome, KDE, Mac OS X, and WindowMaker much better UI's than Vista, but I can't understand why somebody buying a new Windows machine would favor XP over Vista, especially if they're getting new peripherals and are running mainstream hardware. Upgraders and Enterprise integration clients have a different set of concerns, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some who are on W2K skip XP altogether, if they can get by for another year or so. -Bill - Bill McGonigle, Owner Work: 603.448.4440 BFC Computing, LLC Home: 603.448.1668 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cell: 603.252.2606 http://www.bfccomputing.com/Page: 603.442.1833 Blog: http://blog.bfccomputing.com/ VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
LUG discount for TrixBox training in Boston
Forwarded on behalf of: Andrew Gillis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I wanted to extend a special offer to LUG members for our upcoming trixbox training in Boston. Anyone who's a system integrator or IT pro who will be setting up and administering asterisk-based phone systems would get a lot out of the training. More information below. Entering the code LNXUG gives you 10% off the registration price. - Andrew Gillis, trixbox founder * trixbox training in Boston :: June 3-6 Fonality trixbox Open Communication Certification (FtOCC, pronounced "F-talk") is a three day course designed to teach the basics of trixbox administration. Taught by Kerry Garrison, trixbox Senior Product Manager, with support from Andrew Gillis, trixbox Founder, and others, FtOCC is a great opportunity to roll-up your sleeves and learn the ins-and-outs of trixbox. Designed for those who wish to install trixbox systems for their company or clients, persons tasked with maintaining a trixbox installation or users relatively new to trixbox that want a better understanding of it's capabilities. FtOCC focuses on the core operations that an administrator would need to handle on a regular basis. Where? Hyatt Regency Boston @ One Avenue de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111 When? June 3 - 6 For more information, please visit http://www.trixbox.org/ftocc ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: The end of NTSC analog TV
> but there is still a ton of money to be made selling and > reselling that spectrum. > > You can bet the networks aren't doing this just out of a desire to > improve the American TV viewer's experience. ;-) > Not only that, but think of all the money they will save in electricity costs. The same spectrum, but more channels, more data, more things to advertise, same (or less) electric bill. If they were out to improve the American TV viewer's experience, they would probably just shut down 99% of the "programming". md ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
