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User Journal

Journal Journal: [avr] Annoyances

Journal by Alioth

Well, gcc-avr has been trying hard to annoy me all day: firstly, the optimizer seems to be rather over-zealous, optimizing away entire code blocks it thinks does nothing (but which in fact has a profound effect on a routine driven by a timer interrupt). Declaring the variables as 'volatile' as suggested by the documentation had no effect. Putting a useless function call into the code block made it work, or turning optimization off made it work. There are probably some subtleties that I'm miss
Supercomputing

Submission + - NASA to build largest Supercomputer ever (linuxworld.com.au) 1

Submitted by Onlyodin
Onlyodin writes: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has given the green light to a project that will build the largest ever supercomputer based on Silicon Graphics' (SGI) 512-processor Altix computers.

Called Project Columbia and costing around $160-million, the 10,240-processor system will be used by researchers at the Advanced Supercomputing Facility at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

What makes Project Columbia unique is the size of the multiprocessor Linux systems, or nodes, that it clusters together. It is common for supercomputers to be built of thousands of two-processor nodes, but the Ames system uses SGI's NUMAlink switching technology and ProPack Linux operating system enhancements to connect 512-processor nodes, each of which will have more than 1,000G bytes of memory.

Full Story at Linuxworld
NASA

Submission + - Shooting at NASA

Submitted by pvt_medic
pvt_medic writes: News reports are coming in that there has been a shooting at NASA Building 44 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Building 44 is a communications and tracking development laboratory on a remote part of Johnson Space Center's sprawling campus, some distance from the Mission Control buildings.
The Internet

Submission + - how to stay anonymous online?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: With recent news about certain industries giving people problems for even legal use of torrent clients and various instances of government snooping etc, I'm wondering how one can stay anonymous and still (without being a jerk abusing the TOR system) being able to download/upload large files?
Space

Submission + - Engineering shortage in US Aerospace and Defense?

Submitted by braindrainbahrain
braindrainbahrain writes: Yet another story about an engineering shortage, this time in Aerospace and Defense. The AIAA is claiming there will be huge shortages in those industries due to an aging and retiring workforce. Buried deep within TFA , there is talk about outsourcing design services overseas. Will the next (US) moon rocket or fighter plane be designed overseas, or by people holding H1-B visas?
Media

Submission + - Interview with Mark Shuttleworth: Questions needed

Submitted by
Jonathan Roberts
Jonathan Roberts writes: "Mark Shuttleworth is to be interviewed on the Questions Please... podcast on the 26th February. The idea is that the host asks the guest questions sent in by YOU. So this is a great chance for you to put a question straight to Mark Shuttleworth and get an answer. If it's anything like past episodes it should be a really interesting listen and release is likely to be either the 27th or 28th February. You can find more information by visiting the site, including contact details for sending in your question. Alternatively you could just send an e-mail straight to yourquestions@questionsplease.org."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Are Sysadmins Really that Bad?

Submitted by
tgbrittai
tgbrittai writes: "According to Paul Boutin they are merely an obstacle to be manipulated or outmaneuvered. According to Steve Wozniak they are a lower form of life than a pimp. I've known my share of good and bad sysadmins, programmers and every other professional role out there. But seriously, are sysadmins THAT bad?"
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Boeing Cuts 787 Wireless System-Goes Wired

Submitted by
K7DAN
K7DAN writes: "It appears that state-of-the-art connectivity in Boeing's newest aircraft means a wired, not wireless network. The Seattle Times reports that Boeing has abandoned plans to bring entertainment and information to passengers through a wireless system in its 787 Dreamliner due to possible production delays and potential conflicts with other radios services. A side benefit is an actual reduction in weight using the wired system. Amazingly, the LAN cables needed to connect every seat in the aircraft weigh 150lbs less than all the wireless antennae, access points and thickened ceiling panels required to accommodate a wireless network."
Security

Submission + - Don't fall victim to the 'Free Wi-Fi' scam

Submitted by DeadlyBattleRobot
DeadlyBattleRobot writes: Quote: "The next time you're at an airport looking for a wireless hot spot, and you see one called "Free Wi-Fi" or a similar name, beware — you may end up being victimized by the latest hot-spot scam hitting airports across the country."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?com mand=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9008399&pageNumber =1
Television

Submission + - Who has the best US high definition broadcast

Submitted by mhollis
mhollis writes: Gizmodo is featuring a subjective HDTV quality test from the five networks that were sending an HD signal of the President's State of the Union speech. This speech was broadcast using a pool feed, so everyone was deriving their signal from exactly the same source.

According to Gizmodo, CBS won the contest with the highest quality signal. Fox lost, as they did not have an HD feed at all — just widescreen — so their picture looked fuzzy as compared to the other networks. Also judged was sound quality.

And you thought NTSC standard definition television stood for Never Twice the Same Color!
The Internet

Submission + - How Digg Combats Cheaters

Submitted by
Aryabhata
Aryabhata writes: "This article disucsses how Digg uses visualization tools to identify illegitimate use of the system, especially people who are try "game" the system to try to increase a story's chance of getting into the main page. Certain data-visualization tools can be used to detect suspicious activity easier. "By representing user activity graphically, we can start to see patterns that wouldn't be normally apparent by other means," says Eric Rodenbeck, founder of Stamen, the design firm that provides visualization tools for Digg Labs."
United States

Submission + - U.S. Pennies to be Worth Five Cents?

Submitted by Z-MaxX
Z-MaxX writes: As a result of the sky-high copper prices, the U.S. one-cent coin can be worth more when melted down and sold as copper metal. New regulations against the melting down and exporting of coins have recently been passed, but Francois Velde, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, thinks these measures will not be enough. He suggests "rebasing" the penny to be worth five cents.
User Journal

Submission + - Where to go after a lifetime in the IT field?

Submitted by
Pikoro
Pikoro writes: "I have been working in the IT field for the past 20 years or so, and after getting hired by the largest financial company in the world, I thought I might have finally found a place to retire from.

However, after working here for about 6 months, I find myself, not exactly burnt out, but longing for a complete career field change.

It's not that doing IT related tasks aren't fun anymore, but they have become more "work" than "play" over the last few years.

Since all of my experience has been IT related, I'm not sure where I could go from here.

What would slashdot readers consider doing for a living after being in a single field for so long?"

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