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Comment: Algorithms instead of languages? (Score 1) 183

by smprather (#42825289) Attached to: Summer Programming Courses Before Heading Off To College?
https://www.coursera.org/course/algo About the Course In this course you will learn several fundamental principles of algorithm design. You'll learn the divide-and-conquer design paradigm, with applications to fast sorting, searching, and multiplication. You'll learn several blazingly fast primitives for computing on graphs, such as how to compute connectivity information and shortest paths. Finally, we'll study how allowing the computer to "flip coins" can lead to elegant and practical algorithms and data structures. Learn the answers to questions such as: How do data structures like heaps, hash tables, bloom filters, and balanced search trees actually work, anyway? How come QuickSort runs so fast? What can graph algorithms tell us about the structure of the Web and social networks? Did my 3rd-grade teacher explain only a suboptimal algorithm for multiplying two numbers?

Comment: Koss PortaPro (Score 1) 448

by smprather (#40305265) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Best Headphones, Earbuds, Earphones?
There's only one answer to this question: Koss PortaPro. I have owned many different over the ear headphones (I have hearing aids). I have $200 Beyerdynaics, I have $80 Grados, I have $90 Sennsheisers (two different kinds), I've had some crappy Pioneers. And more not worth mentioning. The PortaPro's are absolutely incredible for the size and price. And they're highly sensitive so you can get good volume on an airplane from a low powered portable device. The only problem is *zero* noise isolation. But that's good for me since I run 40 miles per week with them. They also have a lifetime warranty. My sweat blows out a phone about every 2 months. I send them, and $9 back to Koss and get a new pair. I have two pair so I can have one working while waiting for the other. I'm a lifetimer for PortaPros. Just get them.

Comment: HTPC, AnyDVD-HD (Score 1) 1880

by smprather (#38025514) Attached to: What's Keeping You On Windows?
My "Desktop" is connected to my TV/HiFi. The only way to rip blu-rays to hard disk and play them back is on a Windows XP/Vista/7 platform. SlySoft has expressly stated that there will never be a Linux version (weird). So I run either Cygwin, or Linux in a VM for the cases where the mood hits me (Ruby scripting, etc).

Comment: Streaming quality is awful compared to BluRay (Score 1) 345

by smprather (#36851360) Attached to: Netflix Killing DVDs Like Apple Killed Floppies?
BluRay has ~40GB of audio/video pleasure. Streaming a movie get you something like 2 or 3GB total audio/video pleasure. I will happily accept 3 day latency for the extra content. Anyone who says you can't tell the difference between Blu and DVD are either blind or under-equipped (1080p or viewing angle too small). And the video quality difference between streaming and Blu, or DVD for that matter, is incomparable. And why aren't people ranting/raving about the horrible 2ch audio? Am I the only person with an awesome 5.1ch system that refuses to not use it? Streaming is great for my kid or anything where I'm 99% interested in intellectual content (documentaries, etc). Or maybe old TV shows with quality lower than the stream.

Comment: Re:Why do we sleep? (Score 2, Interesting) 164

by smprather (#29544483) Attached to: Alzheimer's Disease Possibly Linked To Sleep Deprivation
I have zero proof, but I've always figured sleeping was simply a low power state to go into since we're highly optimized to operate in well lit conditions. Then the body then found some other useful things it could do while sleeping, like imprinting recently learned patterns in the brain.

Comment: Re:Deep hurting: re-install Windows XP (Score 1) 416

by smprather (#29428075) Attached to: Netbooks Have a Huge Impact On the PC Industry
Not true. There's a sticker on the back of the netbook that verifies that I'm a legal owner of a copy of Windows XP. One would have to actually purchase 3rd party headers for their Kia. Re-installing XP is more akin to an oil change which should be supported by the manufacturer.

Comment: Deep hurting: re-install Windows XP (Score 2, Insightful) 416

by smprather (#29419353) Attached to: Netbooks Have a Huge Impact On the PC Industry

I just got my Toshiba NB205-N210. On the whole, I love it. But I borked up the Toshiba utilities installation(s) when I tried to uninstall some of them. That triggered a quest to re-install Windows XP. Whoa Daddy!! Took all night.

Problems:

1. No WinXP disk included.

2. No optical drive.

3. No SATA driver on a WinXP disk (not even on SP3) assuming you have one handy (BSOD when starting the installer).

4. I had a WinXP/SP2 disk from somewhere in my past. Wasn't compatible with the CD key on the back on the Toshiba.

5. Some weird reliance the installer has on whatever may already be on the c: drive was producing a corrupted file error that would prevent the XP installation from proceeding.

5a. Another weird error from the XP installer that wouldn't let me remove the existing c:\ partition. It said it was using temporary files on the C drive.

Solutions:

1a. I had a WinXP/SP2 disk already.

1b. nLite.

1c. **IMPORTANT** Save the C:\WINDOWS\I386 directory from the factory installed XP before you blast it!

1d. Created a hybrid installation between the WinXP/SP2 disk and the I386 directory from the netbook. Worked!

2. There are a few utilities out there that will create a bootable flash drive WinXP installer from a source disk.

3. BIOS setup, AHCI->Compatibility

4. See 1d

5. http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page. Used it (also transferred to a bootable flash drive) to blast the factory created partitions.

At 4:45am, I was successful. Is this really what is required to re-install fresh XP on a netbook? Re-loading their factory installed image defeats my purpose and besides, I broke their tool that does it. I'm not about to ask Toshiba support for XP install media. I pre-assume that to be worse than what I endured.

"Whom are you?" said he, for he had been to night school. -- George Ade

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