Posts by Bob H 593 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Sep 2007
The bigger question is when do we get the a position where we no longer make the distinction of working memory vs storage. Some micro-controllers could be heading this way with FRAM replacing Flash. Currently a computer loads code and data into RAM to be worked on, but with a hybrid model you can do away with such distinctions before the OS.
For a while I have been planning to turn my garage into a workshop, with benches, racking, bench tools, 3d printing, small CNC, test equipment, servers, etc. I am getting quotes to make it waterproof (it currently leaks rain badly) and then I will build out the lab.
My wife came home this week and actually said these words:
"the penny dropped today, you need to build your workshop so that you can progress and make your millions."
I love my wife...
Thinking back to the days when I needed to do things like working on frames like those I would much rather have a phone than a tablet. The main reason being that I would generally have a tool or some test equipment in the one hand and the reference information in the other hand. You can then check the appropriate connections with confidence and if you need a second hand you can just put the phone in your pocket.
As for the comments about Windows 8, the article didn't give me any confidence that there was an advantage to it over Windows 7 and having tried it several times I can say with confidence that I won't be using it unless I am brutally forced to. Other than that I didn't see it as a shill article; it was an interesting review of a difficult deployment to replace a complex legacy system.
I listened to the last SDN podcast that was on El Reg because I wanted to better understand what Software Defined Networking was, even if I had to skip through minutes of mutual appreciation and holiday stories there were some real gems in there.
The main take away that I got from the last podcast was that Software Defined Networking is being over complicated. In its first phase it should just be about unifying management in the same way that so many products are already managed, it shouldn't be about dynamic real-time packet routing as much as it should be about avoiding console management and proprietary tools. I despair that the network industry is taking ages to deploy this type of management on traditional "managed" workgroup switches, it is hardly a challenge. Instead the big boys are promoting advanced data centre solutions which just gratify those with deep pockets. Until the likes of TP-Link, D-Link and Netgear start doing stuff this won't be attractive to my eyes.
Typical imagineering bull, 1000fps in five years? Does this man even know that TVs evolve on an 18 month cycle? Does he know that frame capture at super high frame rates creates massive quantum-level problems for image sensors?
I could set myself up as an institute and spout crap but it won't mean that anything I say will become reality. Instead I just work with my R&D teams to make it happen...
If the RAID controller isn't aware of TRIM and other operating system commands for managing SSDs then they may not run in an optimised way and may even fail earlier than a non-RAIDed SSD.
I believe Linux now mostly supports TRIM in most RAID and LVM modes, but I don't know about hardware RAID controllers and Windows.
I haven't yet seen an indication (from Intel) that they intend to do much beyond design a platform. There are indications that they've licensed RDK, but so has practically everyone else in the CE market and they might be packaging a technical solution (instead of offering a bare chip) but I doubt they will get into the content rights game.
I am waiting to see what point-to-point networking is like with Thunderbolt, the ability to connect to the server under my desk at bus speeds would be great. Does anyone have any idea how this would be achieved given that Thunderbolt is an extension of PCI-e? Would it need an intermediate device in the middle to pretend to be a 10GbE network card?
Much of the 'idle' capacity of satellites is allocated on what is called a "pre-emptive basis", satellites are known to fail, rarely but it does happen. So most satellite companies keep a little capacity in reserve so that when one does fail others can pick up the slack. Most of this "spare" capacity isn't idle all of the time, in fact the TV industry uses it extensively for news gathering, relaying sports events, big corporates use them for product launches and internal communication, there are many "occasional use" business cases.
It might be possible to rent this idle capacity on a parasitic basis, you could keep the transponders lit when they are idle and taken them down before they are needed. But your receivers would have to work on the basis that they expected the connection to fail and sometimes be totally unavailable. Plus I would be nervous about allowing these terminals to transmit back because although they should only transmit when the spectrum is available they could possibly contribute to unintentional jamming of commercial traffic. So it would be easy to deliver high bandwidth data on a unidirectional basis using just spare hardware and spare capacity, getting bi-directional access is way more challenging and would require significant investment.
(Bio: I spent enough years doing satellite comms into weird and wonderful parts of the world for a two large organisations).
@Arrrggghh-otron
The problem with Google's proof of concept is just that, it is a proof of concept that it is possible to deliver gigabit fibre, not that it is economical to do so on a nationwide basis. Already there are problems with the Google project for example: not enough people in deprived areas have signed up even for the most basic package.
Woe is me, *only* DOCSIS 3.0! A mere 400 Mbit/sec downstream and 100 Mbit/sec upstream...
</sarcasm>
I have no problem with coax for the last meters because I am not operating a data centre. Yes, virgin shouldn't talk about their offering like it is FTTP, but their system is theoretically fast enough that that the distinction is moot.
VM offer BTNet if they can't service you with their own service and they don't tell you initially that it isn't VM providing the connectivity, there is a massive difference in cost between their own service and the BT Openreach version.
As for VM reliability, I've had them for two years and hardly had a problem at all (excluding the slightly questionable router software). I'll never depend on just one method connectivity for our office anyway.
Agreed, our local cabinet has been skipped by FTTC, I assume because the rest of the road has Virgin. Unfortunately my building doesn't have Virgin so I can't get any next generation services. We had a BTNet fibre line but I got an EFM about 30% cheaper for a 5x faster service. So if they would provide FTTP on my old fibre then I would get very excited.
I keep hearing about FTTP but as yet I haven't seen an ISP offering it.
Coincidently the nice lady at VM Business who called me the other day to explain why our building couldn't be connected (even if it is over the road from a cabinet) said that the order from on high is that no new lines are to be dragged in to connect new sites, but in the new year that policy is likely to change. So Virgin may yet start new installations for business customers like me.
17:04 confirmation came through and the order says 1-2 weeks for 16GB
& For those who say 16GB isn't enough: I would have liked an SD card slot, I probably would have been satisfied with an 8GB model with microSD, but for me I find that my tablet with 16GB is sufficient. I can't put my music on there because that weighs down a NAS, my photos are over 30GB, so I just have some pragmatism or find a 1TB microSD card.
The earth was destroyed after the result, but before the melancholy girl had a chance to tell anyone about it. There is a scene where the girl in the cafe has the revelation, while drinking tea, she gets up walks to the pay phone and at that moment the world is destroyed.
The line "Five minutes later" comes from the idea that if she had actually been able to tell anyone about it then it wouldn't have been a problem.
Forget that however: why was Hitch-hikers referenced to the appalling 2005 remake which I need to scrub from my mind instead of the TV series or books?
Worth noting that a significant portion of Ziilabs is in the UK.
Also I would recommend looking at what implications Ziilabs' technology has for Intel, both in their Atom range and their CE range. I am quite excited by this sale, it could be a real innovation for Intel if they don't smother Ziilabs.
Adding DVB-T would be cheap, but as the UK HD system uses T2 it would cost much more, but it isn't just about the silicon
Handling two different sets of processing for service information, which use two different data structures, isn't trivial. In addition companies pay to be on the Freesat EPG, so there would be a conflict between the two different businesses.
People always complain about the cost of products, so adding another £20 to the cost as well as adding to the complexity, would reduce the number of products purchased and thus reduce the commercial viability of the product.
I was heading towards "The Sunny Side Down" and then I encountered "The Improbable Horn Of Plenty"
I must vote for the Horn because it reminds me of the bacon, sausage, egg & cheese on French bread cholesterol fuelled lunches (with the odd pint to dilute the forming arterial clot) that we had when working at a certain TV station some years ago.
Honourable mention for The Sunny Side Down for being a purists heaven though, but I'll get the horn thanks!
Mines the one sponsored by Bupa.
My boss sited the best reason for 4G after going to Nevada on business earlier this year. He was in a meeting room with a group of colleagues and they needed connectivity, so one of them pulled out a 4G access point, everyone was now able to use high speed internet (meeting productivity probably nosedived).
Personally I am looking at 4G from a mobile internet perspective rather than a mobile phone service. I already turn off 3G on my phone if I don't need it, my battery life usually doubles as a result. I am debating getting myself a dongle or phone, both seem good for my travelling nature.
There is a wagon located at BBC Television Centre (FSM rest its soul), behind the scenery block, which opens for breakfast until about 11s'es. They do one of the finest bacon and egg rolls on the whole FSM planet.
Being that I don't work there anymore there is also the Boston Cafe on Boston Manor Road, they probably should be shut down by environmental health, or NATO, but they do a mean bacon roll.
Personally I am a roll man more than a sarnie man, sarnies are more prone to flop around the place. Although you could tempt me with some thick sliced crusty white. Oh, and brown more than red, fried egg is a bonus.
If mast sharing was required then you would get consolidation of the mast management (ala EE), however eventually coverage would become a non-competing factor and a price war would ensue. The price war would reduce margins for the operators and they would stop investing in improving the infrastructure. Thus coverage might get a bit improved but performance in the network would not and could even fall back in some areas.
I cite as evidence: rural broadband
Paris: because she knows all about sparse coverage
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