Zaurus has competition from Windows?!?

[ScottYelich]

I just have a moral and ideological objection to anything Windows.

Without walls, nobody would need windows.

Without fences, nobody would need Gates.


I find it interesting that QDOS, which Gates & Co bought from Seattle Computing, was a blatent piracy of CPM-86. So blatent that Digital was even still included in parts of the code.

Gates has been a bully, a cheat and a liar from the very beginning. But I have no problem at all with people *using* Micro$oft products .... just so long as they don\'t PAY for them.

I agree 100%.  Have you ever seen the study where it shows that it\'s nearly impossible to be legal with all the ms licensing ... and on top of that, most pcs have 2 or 3 licenses purchsed for them simply because of all the confusing and forced feeding of the ms system?

ms is awesome.... when it\'s free.  

oh, and I\'m not talking \"free\" where universities have been forced into buying licenses for all students and where that cost is passed on to the students.

I\'m talking about if someone sends you some ms crap format, and you can\'t read it -- and your work buys some ms product so you can ... maybe one day companies will wake up and see just how much money they\'re wasting.

Scott

[padishah_emperor]

I\'m feeling bitter ;-)

[TonyOlsen]

Actually flash has a finite number of ops before it starts going, its gone 2AM here and I am too knackered to remember the exact details, it\'s about 100,000 erase/write cycles I think. If like me your\'re into heavy use and compiling, swap etc it\'s an issue if you want 10 years from the machine.  

That sounds contrary to what I remember reading on the subject.  Do you have any links or documentation on that

When is the next episode of the Linux League coming?  

  I\'ll have to put one together sometime soon.   It will likely be in the new ZUG newsletter coming out in a few weeks.    fun fun...

If you continuously log one line of text every second to file on a flash storage device without wear levelling it will die in a matter of days (or hours if it\'s a s*nd*sk). Microdrives don\'t have this problem.

Has the whole world gone mad?  Microchips die faster than harddrives with moving parts?!?  Does anyone have a link to a recent reputable source on this subject?  (It needs to be something recent... because the witch doctor scientists from 10 years ago said many things that we now know just aren\'t true).  One of my friends used to work at a Microchip plant in North Carolina, USA, and he knew all of the ins and outs in regards to these chips.  He had never heard about microchips (flash or otherwise) dying out over time.

Has anyone actually had their Flash memory die on them (after it was working fine for a while), without the presence of smoke?  On the other hand, how many people have had their harddrives die?  My harddrives usually die about 3-4 years after I buy them.  ...my flash cards date back to 6+ years ago without any problems...

Without walls, nobody would need windows.  

Without fences, nobody would need Gates.  

Wow!  You should sell posters with that on it!

Someone once told me that the biggest problem with Micro$oft was their address.  

One Micro$oft Way.

Ha Ha Ha!! That\'s true.   \"Microsoft Campus\" is actually on a street called \"Microsoft Way\".  Bill Gates works in building 8, or \"8 Microsoft Way\".  \"1 Microsoft Way\" IS one of the 10 main buildings, but I don\'t remember what it does.

[padishah_emperor]

Ha Ha Ha!! That\'s true.   \"Microsoft Campus\" is actually on a street called \"Microsoft Way\".  Bill Gates works in building 8, or \"8 Microsoft Way\".  \"1 Microsoft Way\" IS one of the 10 main buildings, but I don\'t remember what it does.

It\'s probably used for hatching plans on world domination or something foul, I\'ve heard they worship a calf and do blood sacrifices there.

As for the flash thing, there are some threads or mentions within threads on this site, I\'ve asked about it before, or do a Google on it, I was just working from memory.  But I\'ve heard something similar to what Zazz says. I\'ve had a 16MB MMC die, don\'t know what from but I used it soley for swap on my old 5500 for about a year with severely heavy use.

[TonyOlsen]

TonyOlsen wrote:
Ha Ha Ha!! That\'s true.  \"Microsoft Campus\" is actually on a street called \"Microsoft Way\". Bill Gates works in building 8, or \"8 Microsoft Way\". \"1 Microsoft Way\" IS one of the 10 main buildings, but I don\'t remember what it does.

It\'s probably used for hatching plans on world domination or something foul, I\'ve heard they worship a calf and do blood sacrifices there.  

No no no... you\'re thinking about building 3... Building 1 was where they kidnapped and tortured prominant members of competing companies.

[Miami_Bob]

That sounds contrary to what I remember reading on the subject.  Do you have any links or documentation on that

Has the whole world gone mad?  Microchips die faster than harddrives with moving parts?!?  Does anyone have a link to a recent reputable source on this subject?  (It needs to be something recent... because the witch doctor scientists from 10 years ago said many things that we now know just aren\'t true)..

Google \"flash memory life\" english & in past 3 months got 1,480,000 hits and about 2nd was:

Using Flash Memory in Embedded Applications - Life-time

http://www.esacademy.com/faq/docs/flash/lifetime.htm

\"Flash Life-Time

Most Flash memories only guarantee a limited number of erase and re-write cycles. Typical values are guaranteed cycles of 10,000 times. Most parts will work far longer - it\'s just not guaranteed. So if your application counts on it - don\'t design it to do more than the maximum numbers of erase cycles over the entire lifetime of the product.\"

Lots of other refs to same info more or less.

[ccrandal]

I\'ve also been told be a few people that have worked a lot with flash memory that CF cards, in particular, are good for about 100,000 write cycles.  Of course, that was 3 or 4 years ago and CF cards could be much better now.

Concerning the OQO device, I did contact them about 2yrs ago when I first saw the thing advertised and asked if it would run Linux.  They said they were very interested in hiring Linux driver developers or would be open to offering NDA\'s to people willing to develop drivers.
If I could run Linux on it, I might be willing to buy one off eBay about a year after they are released.  No way would I pay $1500-$2000 for a handheld computer... not unless it came with a decent docking station so it could truly replace my desktop.

I\'m hoping Apple comes through and comes out with a PDA.  Since all my machines now run Mac OS X, it would be great to have something the size of the C series Zaurus with builtin firewire/USB, wifi/bt, mini-iPod HDD, and pocket versions of iPhoto, Quicktime, iTunes, addressbook, calendar, etc.  While on my recent vacation to Florida, I would\'ve killed for such a device so we could unload photos from our digital camera and even movies from our camcorder and preview the contents.

But, I\'m not holding my breath for a true Apple PDA (most likely, the 4th Gen iPod will just add a few more PDA-like features).  Instead, I plan on working on some Zaurus-model-indifferent software for syncing with OS X\'s PIM software and I\'ll save my pennies for a clamshell Zaurus to-be-released with builtin wifi/bluetooth.

[sdchew]

The OQO prototype has appeared at WinHEC and it can be attached to a docking station and docked to be used as a standard desktop. I\'m pretty impressed with their cable with dongles for firewire, USB 1.1 and a standard VGA output for hookup to projectors

Now if someone ports the entire thing to Linux, I\'ll drop my C760 and buy one immidiately man! 256 Meg of RAM might not be enough to give a good Win XP experience but I\'m sure that a properly setup Linux machine would run really sweet on it. Already Debian and pdaXrom runs so well on the C760 and thats with lower specs.

Check it out!
http://www.oqo.com
http://news.com.com/1606-2-5222650.html

Concerning the OQO device, I did contact them about 2yrs ago when I first saw the thing advertised and asked if it would run Linux.  They said they were very interested in hiring Linux driver developers or would be open to offering NDA\'s to people willing to develop drivers.
If I could run Linux on it, I might be willing to buy one off eBay about a year after they are released.  No way would I pay $1500-$2000 for a handheld computer... not unless it came with a decent docking station so it could truly replace my desktop.

[Miami_Bob]

Hey Scott, P_E & all you other folks who love to hate the Gates! A little bit stale news but still, *this* should be worth watching the reactions (G).

Check out

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/12/04/1318...2.shtml?tid=109

 \"Microsoft to Charge for FAT File System\"

 << pario writes \"According to Microsoft, the Redmond company is going to charge a license fee for any product that is formatted in FAT by the manufacturer. Any manufacturer of compact flash memory cards or digital cameras may end up paying Microsoft as much as $250,000 for the use of the file format. The FAT File System is covered by several US patents.\" >>

hehehehehe Let the GAMES *begin*!

[waalkman]

Where did you hear that?  Flash memory won\'t die any faster than the CPU of your computer.  It\'s a microchip.  No moving parts = No wear.  Theoretically the movement of the electrons will eventually eat away at inidividual atoms, but I doubt you\'ll notice any problems for a thousand years or so...

It took me a bit, but here is an explanation on *why* the cells go bad:

\"SD Memory Card like most of semiconductor cards stores information in a flash memory. The flash memory has memory cells (small rooms) corresponding to each unit (bit) of the information. Each memory cell has an electrode covered by delicate glass (container), where the information is recorded by choosing either to store an electron or not to store. As it is covered by glass with superior insulation performance, no electron stored there should escape under normal conditions, and the information usually remains intact for over 10 years.
 
 Because the electrode storing an electron is covered by glass, it is necessary to put sufficient energy on an electron to enable it to pass through the glass. Similarly, higher voltage is required to take out the electron through the glass, thus causing damage to the glass. This could cause the electron to escape from the container, and eventually the electron could fail to remain within the glass. The service life is said to terminate when re-writing for 100,0000 to 1 million times has been executed. But at this level, an error might occur in the order of one bit of information, and this can be considered to be normal for recording for practical purposes. Such trouble can be prevented by applying a method called error correction technology. Execution of 100,000 times of re-writing is more than enough to re-write daily 25 times for 10 years, so in a practical sense it would be safe to say it is trouble-free for such duration.\"

 http://www.sdcard.com/b2b/TextPage.asp?Page=8

The 100,000 number is for NOR technology. NAND gets 1 to 2 million erase cycles before it dies.


How\'s that for off-topic?    


John

[padishah_emperor]

Hey Scott, P_E & all you other folks who love to hate the Gates! A little bit stale news but still, *this* should be worth watching the reactions (G).

Check out

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/12/04/1318...2.shtml?tid=109

 \"Microsoft to Charge for FAT File System\"

 << pario writes \"According to Microsoft, the Redmond company is going to charge a license fee for any product that is formatted in FAT by the manufacturer. Any manufacturer of compact flash memory cards or digital cameras may end up paying Microsoft as much as $250,000 for the use of the file format. The FAT File System is covered by several US patents.\" >>

hehehehehe Let the GAMES *begin*!

grrrrr...
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Foul abominations, the b*stard son of a thousand devils!!
I flob from on high over all MS products, they are evil, evil!  I\'d have ol\' Billy Boy Gates, flayed alive and use his skin as a standard to be paraded during war!  Everyone who ever bought a MS product should be given an apology and his money given to the poor. I\'m gonna go and lay down.... It\'s a hot day and my temper has gone.
 :evil:

[Zazz]

:twisted: Microsoft Purchases Evil From Satan  :twisted:

[padishah_emperor]

Microsoft IS shaitan! Whispering sweet tempatations, I\'m glad that this thread which was a pro-XP device one has turned into MS bashing, not enough of it! Time for Flame Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope.

[Miami_Bob]

I\'m glad that this thread which was a pro-XP device one has turned into MS bashing, not enough of it! Time for Flame Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope.

\"My work here is done.\"

Zauriini are once more united! Cry \"Havoc\" & let loose the dogs of jihad!

[TonyOlsen]

http://www.sdcard.com/b2b/TextPage.asp?Page=8  

Wow!  After reading that article I now know to avoid SD Audio player like the plague!!  YIKES!

waalkman, Thanks for the explanation.  It makes more sense now!

I\'m glad that this thread which was a pro-XP device one has turned into MS bashing, not enough of it!

I don\'t think this thread was ever about the good in WindowsXP... the main point was \"Wow!  Look at this new hardware!\"... I\'m sure most (if not all) were think \"Wow!  Look at this new (Linux enabled) hardware!\"

Time for Flame Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope.

LOL!    I agree!

OpenSource is the only real friend.  (Almost) everything else serves money and hence will eventually betray you.