PC General Discussion Thread

[Dutch guy]

Technical talk makes my brain hurt.

100th post.

[Darth Alec]

Originally Posted by Gnu

Oh, according to your profile, you're 15, I get it..

That does influence my opinion a lot.

Had I had the skillz Power had, I would have no social life.

Other then here.


Dutch, 101th post, not 100th.

[E6600]

Originally Posted by Power666

Nope, my job is pretty mundane. Though I do get to play around on IBM mainframes and AS/400 systems.




What's COE?

I don't really see automata or algorithms as that bad.

COE is Computer Engineering. Maybe I should of written CoE.

Automata and Algorithms aren't bad, I did very good in them, they are enjoyable, involve a lot of thinking but very abstract, I want something I can put my hand on.

[E6600]

Originally Posted by Power666

Cell is in there for its bulk performance. It is set up as a coprocessor for an AMD Opteron. Note that this version of Cell is not the same that is used in the PS3. Double precision performance is greatly improved. The XDR memory controller has been replaced with a DDR2 one. There are a few other tweaks that haven't been disclosed yet.

The AMD Opteron doesn't need to do much. It handles IO like hard drive and network traffic. Price, space, cooling also factor in for its role.

If IBM wanted to use POWER6 for RoadRunner, I'd replace Cell. POWER5 and POWER6 chips support a virtual vector mode that'd be ideal here.


I think IBM does have Cell based workstations. I know for certain that they have Cell based blade servers.

Cell + Linux won't take off for two reasons: 1) Cell, 2) Linux. Cell is an architectural dead end. Code optimized for SPE's will only work on SPE's. The life span of Cell is relatively short as traditional CPU designs continue to gain in the multicore era. Software compatibility and portability is something Cell just doesn't offer. Linux, as great of an OS as it is for data centers and nerds, isn't going to be adopted by the average Joe. While Winodws is not simple, Linux has its own complexities in comparison. Commercial grade software for Linux is lacking. Open source alternatives exist but are often lacking in one way or another.

An architectural dead end! Can't they merge Power6 with Cell to simplify migration to a more flexible architecture?
It seems odd when an architecture like x86, once thought of as dead in the late 80s, was adapted to new technologies while the Cell can't be. What does this say of Sony, Toshiba and IBM's investment on the Cell.
Running Windows on Cell doesn't seem like an issue to me, they can offer a Virtual Machine that fix this, or can't they?

It's even more odd that IBM had to modify the Cell for Roadrunner!
Was the Cell a mistake? A step in the wrong direction or ahead of its time?


Trying to change topic again, so Microsoft says there's a new Windows coming in 2009, one more reason for me to not to switch to Vista, I'm currently running xp and Ubuntu, but next time for sure I'll get me a Mac. I wonder if Apple is thinking of a replacement to OS X, they went through 5 versions now, how long do they plan on keeping OS X around?

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by E6600

An architectural dead end! Can't they merge Power6 with Cell to simplify migration to a more flexible architecture?
It seems odd when an architecture like x86, once thought of as dead in the late 80s, was adapted to new technologies while the Cell can't be. What does this say of Sony, Toshiba and IBM's investment on the Cell.
Running Windows on Cell doesn't seem like an issue to me, they can offer a Virtual Machine that fix this, or can't they?

It's even more odd that IBM had to modify the Cell for Roadrunner!
Was the Cell a mistake? A step in the wrong direction or ahead of its time?


Trying to change topic again, so Microsoft says there's a new Windows coming in 2009, one more reason for me to not to switch to Vista, I'm currently running xp and Ubuntu, but next time for sure I'll get me a Mac. I wonder if Apple is thinking of a replacement to OS X, they went through 5 versions now, how long do they plan on keeping OS X around?

Some very well engineered products fail.. For an example, look at the Amiga.

[E6600]

Originally Posted by Gnu

Some very well engineered products fail.. For an example, look at the Amiga.

That's because people are afraid of change.
Programmers who for years programmed for Windows and the x86, don't want to take a risk and program for something different, even I find it hard to switch totally to Linux, I'm still running Windows xp on my machine.
Apple with the Mac OS X, a much better product than any Windows, is still nothing but a niche in the market.

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by E6600

That's because people are afraid of change.
Programmers who for years programmed for Windows and the x86, don't want to take a risk and program for something different, even I find it hard to switch totally to Linux, I'm still running Windows xp on my machine.
Apple with the Mac OS X, a much better product than any Windows, is still nothing but a niche in the market.

If I could reasonably run KDE on OSX instead of using Apple's crappy GUI, I would think about switching to Mac.. OSX is pretty cool aside from that..

[E6600]

Originally Posted by Gnu

If I could reasonably run KDE on OSX instead of using Apple's crappy GUI, I would think about switching to Mac.. OSX is pretty cool aside from that..

How's OS X GUI crappy?
I find it easier and cleaner than both KDE and GNOME, and Windows GUI.

[Gnu]

Originally Posted by E6600

How's OS X GUI crappy?
I find it easier and cleaner than both KDE and GNOME, and Windows GUI.

Not me, I can't stand it..

[E6600]

Switching topic again, I've installed Ubuntu 7.10, then reinstalled Windows xp and the boot menu is gone, can I return it without having to reinstall Ubuntu?

That and installing programs on Ubuntu is a nightmare if you are on a slow Internet connection, is there a way to download programs before installing them?
Something other than using:

sudo apt-get install whatever

Or using the Add/Remove, cause it does the same thing, online installation.