Thank you for balancing the parentheses. Cosmic order has been restored.

Solar panels are not "backup" power when there is no battery. They can't any any base load under many, many conditions. And even with a very expensive battery system, many are still mediocre for "backup" power.

If you want power backup, you can spend $60,000 or whatever for panels and a battery system that might last a day or something. Or you can buy an ICE generator (gas/diesel/natgas) at a fraction of the cost and have it working as long as you need, under any conditions.

What I see with solar stuff in my area is a total scam. People are spending $30K+ for just panels/install/connect and a "loan" for it, with the hopes that it MIGHT pay for itself in 20+ years (don't forget the interest), at which time the panels might be too old, or the support stuff breaks, or you have to rip them off anyway to re-roof the house, etc. The only ones actually making money is the solar panel company/installer. I think many people are doing this just to "feel good" and without much economic sense.

I can see it working out well, but only if the panels/batteries/controller/install costs are low enough AND reliable enough AND last long enough AND you can use the power yourself AND sell the excess at reasonable rates AND nothing bad happens. But that is a lot of presumptions. I ran through that just a few years ago and it was way, way in the red and with a lot of risk.

>"Not free, paid for by large corporations."

Which then it is immediately passed into higher consumer prices. And, thus, is a tax on consumers (all of us), again. Kinda like inflation is also a tax on everything, although even worse.

I have at least half a brain, so here it is:

1. Kansas City's Subtropolis and nearby areas are host to a large number of data centers. The next closest data centers of comparable size are in Chicago, Dallas and Colorado, quite some distance away. And it's not clear that Kansas City isn't bigger.

But while the area is dense with data centers, it's not dense with communications pathways. The customers aren't in Kansas City.

2. It is notoriously difficult to assess whether two network services you wish to buy will ever use the same physical path. Not only are there too many levels in the supply chain, the paths change as companies at each level renegotiate contracts and reconfigure their networks.

Site says it is under development. So that implies the screen will be capable of supporting it.

It is likely based on an already-created reference design that is ready to go, and they are mostly focused on the software/OS, loading, docs, packaging, distribution, etc. It is pretty common.

They don't say what type of screen; so that, unfortunately, probably means it is LCD and not LED. Also says "2G/3G/4G" in an era when there is no 2G or 3G anymore, and lacks 5G (of course if you are using WiFi, it doesn't matter... but they don't say which WiFi). Also, no mention of SD card or headphone jack.

Still, looks interesting.

>"The main thing is that itâ(TM)s more of a US problem than a world wide problem."

Culture varies. Priorities vary. We live a life in the US of higher standards of living, which also means people are MORE free to pursue their actual interests vs. forcing themselves to enter fields that just pay more in which they may have less interest or ability. This pattern has been noted in many European countries, where as standards of living increased, the differences in fields men and women chose separated even MORE, which blew people's minds. But it does make sense.

>"it needs to be fair and equitable for all that exist"

In almost all cases I know, "fair" and "equitable" are essentially diametrically opposed terms, at least by the current/modern definition of "equitable" (forced equal outcomes, which always comes via discrimination and quotas, or rewarding supposed "victimhood" level, at the expense/opportunity of other people). As long as women are given equal opportunity, that is fairness (and what is meant by "equality"). Anything after that would be attributed to things like personal choices, capabilities, background, interests, etc.

The answer is that this is somewhat misleading; there are plenty of Z80 compatible chips still being manufactured. The TI-84 uses the eZ80, which is four times faster and will still be around. There are also many (many) clones that are closer to cycle-exact.

And if the Chinese government tells Apple: Sell to Chinese buyers or be banned?
Same for Tesla. Microsoft. Boeing. Etc.
All these companies collect massive amounts of data inside China.

Unless there were some type of strange quota, or unrealistic expectations, why was is a "problem"? It is a problem that there are very few male nurses, interior decorators, florists, payroll mangers, hairdressers, speech pathologists, or daycare workers?

>"GOP turned that into a dog whistle for white supremacy and/or troglodytism."

Um, no. Perhaps people like you are TRYING to turn it into that, and that would be most unfortunate. The 99.9+% of people flying an American flag are doing what they have done all along, for generations- believing in, supporting, and celebraing the principles of America... Things like freedom, equality, prosperity, the Constitution, etc. And that is most certainly not a message about "white supremacy and/or troglodytism."

>"The CCP has a more equitable distribution of salary and benefits than GB does."

Equity = trying to force equal outcomes. So, um, yeah, I imagine the CCP does (except for their ruling class, of course). And it is not usually a good thing, because that is done by taking from the productive and rewarding the unproductive with that which was taken. Or by lowering standards, which hurts most everyone as well. We can all argue how much of that is needed or acceptable, but wearing it as a badge of honor or supposed automatic goodness is disingenuous.

>"we have to get up to date with the increasing authoritarianism of the West"

It is authoritarianism, literally, that is used by the CCP/Socialists to have control over everything and maintain their power.

>"People don't know better" is a honestly bit insulting"

It wasn't meant to be insulting. But we (on Slashdot) are not the typical user, either. I deal with users of all types, all the time. And I can tell you that the majority don't know what an OS is, or that they even have a choice of OS on what they own.

>" If I am a customer for a $8K a year software license is a $100 Windows license really that big an ask for the customer?"

No, but it isn't just about price, it is about platform choice and everything that comes with it.

>"why open a whole new compatibility problem for a 3% market share that none of my customers are asking for?"

Which came first- the chicken or the egg? The age-old conundrum.

>"Also there the issue of let's say I want to port my giant CAD app to Linux? Which distro? Which installer package? There's a lot of variables with that."

Yes, but it is not that difficult to overcome. Porting/coding it is mostly a single investment/code base and will essentially work on any Linux. The packaging of it is easy, in comparison. You just have to follow some reasonable practices of using conservatively-available libraries, or include your own. Probably target a generic deb and rpm for the major distros, and also flatpak. I have used numerous commercial Linux packages for decades and they figured it out :)