From the btrfs wiki:

Btrfs is under heavy development, but every effort is being made to keep the filesystem stable and fast. As of 2.6.31, we only plan to make forward compatible disk format changes, and many users have been experimenting with Btrfs on their systems with good results. Please email the Btrfs mailing list if you have any problems or questions while using Btrfs.

OK, I guess the word "finalized" was a bit premature. It's "forwards-compatible", lol. I run 2.6.32 btw.

I agree. BTRFS is definitely not ready for production or for storage of anything important that is not backed up elsewhere. It has known bugs, like for example the reported free space on a raid 1 will show the total disk size and not the actual free space, so it may be dangerous to fill the array too close to 100% (shown as 50% in df). It is unclear when (or if) it will be ready, but it is being worked on -- I've seen updates for the userland tools in Debian testing, and the newer kernels have updates for the fs driver. The bug I mentioned is fixed in 2.6.33, I believe. I was only countering the argument that it is too unstable even to test it out. That is untrue. Heck, even Linus Torvalds reportedly uses BTRFS as the root filesystem on one of his laptops.

BTRFS is not that unstable really.. I have been running for a few months now, since the on-disk file structure was finalized. it's in a raid 1 configuration across 2 300gig drives on one of my home servers and it hasn't had a hiccup yet, even with lots of file i/o. i think it would like more than the CPU and RAM I gave it, but its still less resource intensive than ZFS. AFAIK ZFS would not even run on that machine due to the 32 bit processor and only 512mb of RAM. Some of the features are not implemented yet but it is certainly stable enough to test..

I paid about $80 for a brand new Samsung ML-2510 monochrome laser printer. This printer can be found for even less if you get it on sale. I buy the (non-OEM) cartridges on Monoprice for about $20 apiece. One cartridge will last me FOREVER. At least 1000 pages I am sure. Oh, the cartridges are also easily refillable with a $6 bottle of standard copier toner. There is a removable plug on the cartridge that allows direct access to the toner chamber. It's not really worth my time, though, because the cartridges are so cheap. I have been using this printer for about 3 years and have only used up two cartridges.

I haven't been interested enough in color printing to buy a color laser, but I am sure that cheap, good ones do exist.

This is the sort of thing that will cause the US to start taking space seriously again.

I predict the space race will heat up real nice again real soon, but with multiple participants, this time.

It should be very exciting.  Just because we're sitting on our laurels, doesn't mean the other guys are.

(But we do have a very nice private industry starting).

Wrong again.. Nextel is actually iDEN, which is yet another different technology that happens to use a SIM card. Having a SIM card does not make it GSM.

PS3 may not have RRoD but it does have YLoD. Same thing, really. The graphics chip de-solders itself from the motherboard due to heat buildup and inadequate cooling. If you read up on it, you will find that essentially all of the original 60gb models are dropping like flies now. The 60gb was the best PS3 version that had full hardware-based backward compatibility and memory card readers and "install other os" feature. I wanted this version and I actually went as far as buying a used one but it died within minutes of turning it on. And remember -- this piece of crap cost $600 at release, and barely lasted 2-3 years. I don't think Sony is any better than Microsoft.. Even worse when you consider Sony did not extend any warranties past one year like MS did. Hardware reliability for consoles really took a nosedive this generation.

This interests me a lot. I am a WM user and I have never owned an Android phone (yet) but at this rate it looks like my next phone will have to run Android or Meego. In the Android case, I certainly plan to run a rooted phone with a hacked ROM like Cyanogen. Isn't it possible to block carrier OTA updates? That's a *serious* downside to Android if not.. The whole purpose of a hacked ROM is to have total control over my own hardware. If the carrier can screw it all up on a whim, then I'm not really in control, am I? I certainly had no idea that could ever be possible. On WM, there was never any such thing as an OTA update, and I like it that way..

Absolutely, any decent smartphone made in the last few years has an actual GPS receiver that communicates with GPS satellites. My point was that it also requires an active internet connection because it does not cache the maps. What good is knowing your latitude/longitude if you still don't know what is around you? If you drive out in the boonies somewhere and you lose cell signal then you also lose your maps and navigation. Maybe Google will improve this with smart caching or something, but right now if you want to store the maps on your device you still need to purchase an app or a standalone GPS from a company like Garmin, TomTom, etc..

Sprint did this before Google did. If you purchased any smartphone recently from Sprint, (i.e. Touch Pro 2 or Palm Pre), then you already have Sprint Navigation on your phone. It has no additional fees, provides turn-by-turn navigation with text-to-speech (reads the street names to you), and requires an internet connection. I'm sure this didn't have much of an impact on standalone GPS and neither will Google Maps Nav.

They both have the fundamental limitation that they require an active internet connection. If you are out in the boonies somewhere and cannot get a cell signal then you have no navigation ability. You will still need a standalone GPS or a Garmin or TomTom app for your phone that stores the maps on the memory of the device.

I recently switched phones and providers, and I could have had my pick of basically any smart phone out there. I could have stuck with AT&T and got an iPhone, but I went with Windows Mobile-- specifically the Sprint (HTC) Touch Pro 2.

I was using AT&T and I decided that their network sucked and my "high-speed" data phone really did not achieve any kind of usable speed when I wanted to use it most. I remembered how Verizon always had great signal with their CDMA network, but they were way too expensive and their phones all sucked. So I went with Sprint (and what an awesome decision that was!). Sprint's network is leaps and bounds better than AT&T where I live-- I get EVDO speed in places I never even got an EDGE connection before. I actually have usable RDP over wireless now 3

Anyway, back to the phones. Sprint has Blackberries, WM phones, and the Palm Pre, among others. My wife went with the Pre and she loves it, and I sprung for the more mature hardware on the Touch Pro 2. Compared to the Pre, the keyboard and screen are simply amazing, not to mention the speaker is louder and clearer and the signal strength is better than the Pre. From a hardware perspective, the HTC TP2 stomps the Pre, the iPhone, the blackberries, and maybe even Nokia. This really is the finest piece of pocket-sized hardware I've ever used, bar none. The software may not be quite as slick as the competitors, and the app store doesn't exist yet, but overall I am VERY happy with this phone (with a bit of app envy).

Actually if they made this exact hardware configuration with Android OS on it, I would try it and probably like it even more. This phone is good IN SPITE OF Microsoft. HTC made the hardware, and HTC customized the software to make it tolerable, and Opera made a sick web browser for it. But I wouldn't count out the Windows Mobile platform just yet... I think MS is going to wise up soon. The app store is coming. They better get with the times, because if they don't, we will all be welcoming our HTC/Android overlords with open arms.

hell, *I* would like to buy one, for my own personal use! $8000 seems very cheap for 67 terabytes of storage in a neat little package. My 4TB raid was quite expensive compared to this (on a $ per TB basis) and it's almost full now. I can definitely see something like this in my future. running ZFS for error detection, of course. And probably 2 redundant PSUs instead of standard consumer-grade ones. Wouldn't want one of those to go out and take half of my drives with it!

Online storage is way too expensive and internet connection speeds here in the USA will suck too badly for too long to even consider it..

less time wasted staring at an hourglass cursor, of course.. atom is dog-slow and it might be fine for these netbook toy-laptops but I would never buy something resembling a full-sized laptop with a dinky atom processor in it. it's barely tolerable with firefox and xp.

if you aren't seriously bothered by the speed of atom processors then i will assume you run linux/fluxbox (or the equivalent) and a very lightweight web browser. and if that's the case (you're already running an OS that is not restricted to x86) then why wouldn't you prefer the more-power-efficient ARM processor over an atom?

i already have an eeepc and i considered purchasing another one but i just don't see the point until they can make a better processor for it that still gets decent battery life. although i dislike apple, the poster above has a point about the new macbook pro with regards to the battery life and speed. still too expensive, though.

Thanks. Part of the reason I posted was to see if someone could confirm that problem with the trackpad. I may give the Macbook Pro 13 another look when they go on sale again, but I still think I could get more hardware for the money buying something else. Maybe not a Thinkpad because their screens seem to suck. If I went with a 15", it would be a damn shame to buy a MBP when I could have this beast from ASUS for the same price. And people try to claim Macs are not overpriced...

Looks fine to me.. This is meant to go in an entertainment center, so you should be comparing it to your DVD player or your A/V receiver. That's the reason for the horizontal case. Also, that keyboard has been around a while and it's actually very ergonomic for non-desk use. It also has good battery life and quite long range. It has a trackball that you use with your thumb and the mouse click is on the index finger of the right hand. Left and right mouse buttons are also found on the left side. My only complaint about it is that it's not bluetooth.

If your only complaint about this PC is that it's not shiny and awesome-looking, then maybe you deserve an Apple. The rest of us would rather spend less money on technically superior hardware.

This thing actually looks like it uses completely standard hardware that I could pick up at Fry's. I might be able to build it for under $250 (it's a stretch), but then I wouldn't have a corporation supporting it with a warranty and such...