Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in technology.
Marvell has announced a new ARM chip. This one has 3 processors. What is different is a powerful graphics processor in addition. This thing can run a gaming console, or a PC. It is like a motherboard on a chip. This may not go into an ATX case but it could or it could go into a compact form like the PC in your monitor (look Ma, fewer cables!) or keyboard.
There is a good analysis on Ars Technica. That’s not just for a smart-phone. It’s a smart-thingy that could be running your next PC. At 200 MT/s (Mega Triangles/s) it could redraw a desktop at full speed or do HD video. Wouldn’t it be cute if the monitor were the largest consumer of power in your system? It could be cooler and quieter, too.
Marvell says it’s for smartphones…”Marvell Raises Technology Bar Again with World’s First 1.5 GHz Tri-Core Processor Delivering Dual Stream 1080p 3D Video for Smartphones and Tablets” but they are distributing samples now and I want one for my next PC. Anyone want my old hair-drier?
The spec that jumps out: 1080P for 10 hours on a charge of a smart-phone. Intel is getting close to being able to do that with the battery in a netbook… I think ARM is ahead and pulling away. Did I mention USB3 in a smart-thingy??? How is that not going to end up in a PC, desktop, notebook or netbook? Everyone will want one.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in technology.
I shake my head over this story of Glyn Moody shopping at Dell in the UK. He was forced to spend considerable time to be told repeatedly in various ways that Dell-UK does not sell PCs with Ubuntu even though they have a page for Ubuntu. He even tried a telephone. No deal. Dell has shipped tons of PCs with GNU/Linux but like a dinosaur some parts of the corporation do not seem connected to the intelligence running the whole thing. Dell, Wake UP!.
According to Google:
Is there any intelligent life at Dell.co.uk? Have they been abducted by space-aliens?
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in technology.
Here’s a story about a guy who wanted to go to “7″ badly enough to try it several ways and even talked with M$ about the process. No luck. “7″ isn’t an OS designed to migrate towards. It’s an OS designed to sell new hardware so the partners keep supporting that other OS…
The takeaway should be that if you want to migrate from one OS to another you should give serious consideration to going to GNU/Linux. It is an OS designed to migrate towards on almost any hardware old or new and any architecture. You could have some problems with drivers on occasion, sometimes for old hardware and sometimes for new hardware but usually everything works. I have only a few machines in my school out of 80 that have a driver issue currently and I fix it by installing the latest kernel so all 80 machines work and they range in age from 1 to 8 years. I have one machine 15 years old on which I had little problem installing an old version of GNU/Linux. The problems with going to “7″ are so numerous that half the XP machines that ever existed are still running XP. Users will not migrate to “7″ until the hardware dies. If they want modern software, though, they go to GNU/Linux and they can keep their old hardware for years longer.
Now there are many people who have bought new machines with “7″ installed or who have migrated from Vista to “7″ and a few who went from XP to “7″ but the vast majority obtained “7″ on new machines. If you like your old machine and it is reliable, migrate to GNU/Linux to get new software. It is a better way to do IT. see http://www.debian.org
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in technology.
The Chinese value economical IT and they are selling it to the world. Here is an example, a thin client that will run at 1280 pixels and do remote USB for $43. It will work for either that other OS or GNU/Linux and it will allow many users to use a single modern PC. I love it.
Thin clients have become acceptable again. They are the best way to have lots of IT seats for the least cost and they are very reliable because they have few moving parts, the way IT should be done.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in technology.
The world is full of dual communities who barely understand each other. Here is a story of advice for ladies. My life would have been quite different if ladies had come gunning for me when I was a young geek… The blogger describes me to a tee. I don’t care what I look like and I spend hours glued to my monitor besides eating wild mushrooms. My wife bumped into me at the Dairy Queen by the University of Manitoba or I might be single still.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in technology.
For small guys like us IT is pretty simple. Give the users reliable access to the network and data. GNU/Linux and FLOSS do that wonderfully well. I have long advocated modularity in IT, that is make all IT look like a bunch of small guys. The government of the UK now is seeing the light. They plan to distribute a lot of their IT to small businesses who may well implement solutions based on FLOSS. It will all work if everyone uses open standards and the problem of solving a bunch of smallish problems costs much less than trying to fit one overly-complicated solution on the whole thing. Amen. Small is beautiful.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson September 24th, 2010
in Uncategorized.
I hate bears. They are naturally the king of the forest. They wander around unchallenged all their lives finding food with their noses and claws. They are omnivorous and naturally eat roots, shoots, berries and carrion. Our community like most in the North is built close to a body of water that provided fish, transportation, drinking water and cool breezes. Unlike most, ours is easy for a bear to find but hard to escape. It is built like a giant bear trap, miles across but with only a narrow approach from the land. Bear are great at following their noses but they don’t bring maps. Once in a bear finds an abundance of food and people. It does not know what to make of people. A bear may never have seen one before because people are sparsley distributed as are bears. People have garbage that stinks and attracts bears from many miles away.
Last night just as I fixed an instability problem on one PC in the lab with a change of kernel (it had different video from the others) someone tapped at my window. It was the maintenance guy who had seen a bear on my doorstep moments before. He warned me and I asked him to escort me home a few minutes away. The truck stopped near my doorstep and there was the bear about 100 feet away. It was lapping up water from a puddle at the edge of the school yard. Another man had a shotgun (a short-range firearm) but was not close enough. In the time it took the man with the shotgun to get close, the bear ambled off. I went to bed and still have not heard the outcome. Even though the community is small, the cover is sparse and the bear will sooner or later be found and killed. There is no way here to capture the animal safely and transport it. Besides, these guys hunt for food and it just walks in sometimes.
I hate bears because they are very dangerous. They ignore us, charge us or kill us randomly and we have few defenses except homes, vehicles and firearms. Bear-spray is not reliable. Do we open school with a bear in the neighbourhood? Most bears are nocturnal around here so it is probably OK but under the circumstances the bear is quite unpredictable. We also have some construction going on that is a danger to kids. My bet is that there will be no school today. Bear are wonderful creatures, giant eating machines, kings of their domain. I hate them because a close encounter can be deadly. In Canada many people die each year because they and a bear wandered close.
Update
As I expected the bear was killed the next day a couple of hundred yards from my place, a sad end to a magnificent creature.
- Robert Pogson
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