Comment Read "On the Bottom", by Edward Ellsberg (Score 1) 239
Great book about salvaging the S-51, in 1926.
Comment If i remember my computing history class correctly (Score 2, Interesting) 152
It wasn't caused by two characters, it was caused by the automatic command recognition on the receiving host - typing "LO" listed all the commands that started with those letters, and that caused the overflow.
Comment Still using a 20-year-old LaserJet IIIsi (Score 1) 557
It's got something like 900,000 pages on the clock. It works with Linux, except for the duplexer. Toner is $40 for a aftermarket cartridge, and the last one I bought lasted three years. My printing habits have changed drastically though, and it's so big and uses so much power that I am probably going to sell it soon. but i feel I've kept about a thousand inkjet cartridges and ten or fifteen printers out of a landfill.
Comment I stream what I own (Score 3, Insightful) 175
I use Ampache to stream my CD collection. The fact that I own it, and can choose what I want to listen to, beats streaming where the right to listen at any given time can be revoked.
Comment I'm back up as of now (Score 1) 408
It always worked on my iphone too, through Beejive.
Comment What about public domain music? (Score 3, Insightful) 270
Just theoretically, what if a station played only music in the public domain? Would they have to cough up the minimum payment? I'm curious whether the fee is for playing music over the internet, or for playing copyrighted music over the internet.
Comment Can it be viewed through a telescope? (Score 2, Interesting) 376
Will it be possible to watch through binoculars or a telescope?
Comment Re:What to do with old stuff? (Score 1) 622
Maybe Slashdot should start a used tech market...like Ebay used to be in 1998 or so. God knows this place would be a gold mine of cool junk.
Comment I just repaired my Western Digital phone (Score 1) 622
Black rotary phone, 1952, still works on pulse dial (if you time it right, you can dial it with the switchhook). Didn't ring, but figured how to rewire it thanks to the Internet, now it RIIINNNGGSS when I get a call.
I also have a Powerbook 140, with a working modem...i need to find a SCSI ethernet adapter and it will surf the net with Netscape 1.1.
I have a Newton, too, I heard those were networkable.
I have a TI-99/4a, I think it has a modem packed with it. I need to dig that out and see what it can do.
Last but not least, Commodore VIC-20, and I know modems were made for those because it says so on the box but I haven't been able to track one down yet.
Comment It sounds reasonable to me. (Score 4, Insightful) 250
I never looked into the Blockbuster plan, but if you were able to exchange mailers for movies in the store AND get the next mailers, it kinda sounds like double-dipping. Someone probably overlooked that little detail when writing up the procedure.
Comment crystal radio (Score 1) 109
There is a nifty-gadget aspect of placing devices on a table and having them charge auto-magically, but for the most part wireless power is a waste.
Nifty, gadgety, and USEFUL. Charging is not the only option here.
Comment Re:RIP Mr. Crichton (Score 1) 388
I agree, it was a pretty good movie.
Submission + - Historians Recreate Source Code of First 4004 App
mcpublic writes: "The team of 'digital archeologists' who developed the technology behind the Intel Museum's 4004 microprocessor exhibit have done it again. 36 years after Intel introduced their first microprocessor on November 15, 1971, these computer historians have turned the spotlight on the first application software ever written for a general-purpose microprocessor: the Busicom 141-PF calculator. At the team's web site you can download and play with an authentic calculator simulator that sports a cool animated flowchart. Want to find out how Busicom's Masatoshi Shima compressed an entire four-function, printing calculator into only 1,024 bytes of ROM? Check out the newly recreated assembly language "source code," extensively analyzed, documented, and commented by the team's newest member: Hungary's Lajos Kintli. 'He is an amazing reverse-engineer,' recounts team leader Tim McNerney, 'We understood the disassembled calculator code well enough to simulate it, but Lajos really turned it into "source code" of the highest standards.'"
Submission + - openSUSE Turns Two
krgallagher writes: CNN reports:
On the second anniversary of the creation of the openSUSE(TM) project, the community program this week marked two new milestones — the availability of the first beta of openSUSE 10.3 and the continued growth of the openSUSE Build Service. The openSUSE Build Service is an innovative framework that provides an infrastructure for software developers to easily create and compile packages for multiple Linux* distributions. The development team today released the first version of the end-user interface for the build service, with which users of any openSUSE, SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu or Mandriva distribution can easily search and browse new software for their distribution. Users of the upcoming openSUSE 10.3 can install their software with one click directly from the Web interface. In the past four months, more than 13 million packages have been downloaded from the openSUSE Build Service as developers build packages for various distributions using the tool.
On the second anniversary of the creation of the openSUSE(TM) project, the community program this week marked two new milestones — the availability of the first beta of openSUSE 10.3 and the continued growth of the openSUSE Build Service. The openSUSE Build Service is an innovative framework that provides an infrastructure for software developers to easily create and compile packages for multiple Linux* distributions. The development team today released the first version of the end-user interface for the build service, with which users of any openSUSE, SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu or Mandriva distribution can easily search and browse new software for their distribution. Users of the upcoming openSUSE 10.3 can install their software with one click directly from the Web interface. In the past four months, more than 13 million packages have been downloaded from the openSUSE Build Service as developers build packages for various distributions using the tool.
Submission + - NASA to Launch Magentic Storm Probes
eldavojohn writes: "The aurora borealis (also known as the Northern Lights) has long been known to be an effect resulting from the Sun's solar wind pushing particles into the earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. In light of the possible danger that these substorms could pose to astronauts & equipment, NASA is now planning a mission to track down these magnetic storms and disturbances. The program's not so catchy name of Time History of Events and Macroscale Interaction during Substorms has a slightly catchier acronym of THEMIS. From the article, "In order to scan the Earth's magnetic field and pinpoint the origin of substorms, THEMIS researchers plan to stagger their spacecraft in different orbits that range in altitude from 10 to 30 times the radius of the Earth (the planet's radius is about 3,962 miles, or 6,378 kilometers).""
