| Apple and Intel |
[Jun. 6th, 2005|12:08 am] |
So everywhere I look, careless forum-lurkers and sloppy journalists are making completely specious assumptions that Apple's switch to Intel implies a switch to x86, x86-64, or IA-64. Now, we may very well be find that to be true eventually (tomorrow), but for now, there simply isn't any evidence yet that Apple has to switch architectures. And I certainly doubt they'd want to at this point. Isn't it more likely that they'd just have Intel manufacture the G5 for them (presumably with all the high clock speed and low heat features that IBM had previously promised), or perhaps design a G6 (or by any other name) that has Altivec and is backwards compatible with PPC software? After all the gcc 4 has done for them, it seems rather silly for them to abandon PPC now. Perhaps, they might even commission Intel to make a completely new, proprietary processor just for the job (though I think that's least likely of all).
Anyway, regardless of the processor, Apple will bend over backwards to build the most insane, proprietary architecture around it. From the end user's perspective, I think this is pretty much non-news with one exception: if the x86 prophets turn out to be right, pearPC might become a good deal faster due to virtualization replacing emulation for 90% of ops. |
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| voyager. ugh. |
[Apr. 2nd, 2005|02:57 pm] |
Periodically, I decide to give ST Voyager a chance again, and watch a few episodes. Having done this for the fourth time in as many years with the exact same results, I have resolved never to do it again.
It is appropriate that TNG contained this quote which so aptly describes its bastard granddaughter:
They could not possibly know the hell they have put me through, for it was such a badly written book, filled with endless cliché and shallow characters. |
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| Now read this. |
[Mar. 21st, 2004|01:27 pm] |
I have noticed a very bad trend among blogs that I read, especially those at Live Journal. Often, when people are faced with a counter-argument or a differing opinion, they choose to respond by flaming, mocking, deleting another's post, or otherwise prematurely ending the debate without graciously responding to the argument. I notice this in others because I have occasionally been guilty of this myself. However, here are a few things to consider before taking a negative action like that.
Do you consider your position so weak that it cannot withstand debate? Certainly, people may use their blog however they wish, but perhaps if one chooses to allow commenting on their blog, they should be prepared to back their opinions.
If you continue doing this, you will notice that people stop disagreeing with you. This could be misinterpreted as respect, but I assure you, it is not. In fact, it is avoidance, and it is the seed that eventually grow to alienate not only your enemies, but also your friends.
So please, if you are going to state a controversial opinion (and I do believe it is often important and necessary to do so), please be prepared to respond to criticism with logic, patience, and decency. |
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| The Friend in the Photograph |
[Mar. 16th, 2004|07:49 am] |
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My good friend David Chen (who created the cover for Simeon's first album) has graciously offered for us use another one of his amazing photographs for our next album cover (forthcoming). We haven't yet decided which one, but there are quite a few that we're excited about. |
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[Mar. 12th, 2004|02:42 am] |
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"You were right. I can do this. I found the edge. Can you live there with me? Can you?" |
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| Java Settlers of Catan |
[Mar. 4th, 2004|11:20 pm] |
So earlier I mentioned Gnocatan, the GTK adaptation of Settlers of Catan. At Raistlin's suggestion, I started coding an all java version of the game. Note that there is also a web-based non-free Java version floating around somewhere. However, I wanted something to code, and having a GPLed Java version of the game is excuse enough.
Settlers of Catan uses hexagonal shapes to make a seamless (and also hexagonal) playing board. Interestingly, my code so far has been independent of the number of sides of each piece. It creates the board from the center outward and stops when the specified number of pieces is reached.
I'm fairly sure that my algorithm creates the board properly with six sides (that is to say, according to the board game specifications). However, I haven't yet figured out what it does for non-six-sided figures. I suspect that it will make multidimensional (>2) shapes with sides>6. I envisioned a recursively bulbous sphere for eight-sided pieces, but I have no way to tell if that's accurate. Maybe somebody with outstanding spacial visualization and an understanding of java can help me.
Also, thanks to albatrosslove for the great new look! I love it. |
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| Self-Referencing Cartoons |
[Feb. 28th, 2004|12:40 pm] |
Penny Arcade is a delightfully crass comic and editorial about video games. In the latest comic, as in many others, they make reference to themselves and their role (or lack thereof) in the industry. It was always so obvious that they did this, but I never really considered it before. In no other comic that I've read has the impact of the comic been discussed in the cartoon itself. Of course, many might find this tacky, but I think that Penny Arcade pulls it off quite tastefully. Another notable example of a self-referencing cartoon at Penny Arcade is the mockery of American Greetings following their being asked to take down a parody comic (if you want to see the original comic, go here).
I suppose this is the functional equivalent to Charlie Kauffman's Adaptation in cinema. For those who have seen it, you know what I'm talking about. For those who haven't, go watch it now (and then you'll also know what I'm talking about). |
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| Free Games |
[Feb. 26th, 2004|10:53 pm] |
Gnocatan, a GTK implementation of the board game Settlers of Catan (this is courtesy of raistlinsb).
Freeciv, a free Civilization 2 knockoff. Very fun, and binary clients for just about any OS.
Arianne, an open source MMORPG. Currently, it is working on a subgame called "Gladiators". The released binaries are Windows-only and very much pre-alpha, so don't expect a great deal of playability at this point. They are currently looking for artists and coders of many types (especially 3d modelers), so if you want a chance to work on a game, here it is.
Planeshift, another free MMORPG. Planeshift has both Windows and GNU/Linux binaries, and is somewhat open-source (details on their unique licensing available at the site).
Tibia, yet another free MMORPG. Tibia is not open source, and has paid accounts available which have certain advantages. |
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| Something Beautiful |
[Feb. 25th, 2004|09:13 am] |
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Just 10 minutes ago, something amazing happened as I created music. "What the Hell" and "Not Crap" combined to form something beautiful. But since it is exquisite to me, I can assume it will be hideous to everyone else. I will, of course, not let this bother me. What kind of musician is toppled from his roof by others' misconceptions of music? |
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| Pro Tools Free |
[Feb. 24th, 2004|10:06 pm] |
For those who don't already know, Pro Tools is the most ubiquitous music production software/hardware system today. It was created by Digidesign originally for Mac-based systems only, but has since been ported to the PC. According to its advocates, the main attraction of the system is the hardware real-time effect expandability. It is claimed that software real-time effects can't keep up. Of course, I disagree with this assessment, as does Paul Davis, author of Ardour (a GNU/Linux DAW application). However, this is all besides the point.
Digidesign released a version of their software which does not require their proprietary hardware. It is distributed free of cost, and was creatively named "Pro Tools Free". I assume its purpose was mostly as a demo product; $10,000 is hefty sum to lay down for a product you're unfamiliar with. Anyway, I wanted to use this software to familiarize myself with the Pro Tools interface. It turns out, it's only available for Windows 98, Windows ME, or OS 9.
My understanding is that PTF was released about 7 months after Windows 2000. My question is this; why even bother with production music software on an operating system as completely unstable as Windows 98? And even if it had been released before W2k, it should have been ported by now. If they felt it was worth the bother to make the free application for Windows, they should have spent the extra time to port it to Windows 2000.
Perhaps in retrospect, they decided it wasn't as helpful as they thought it would as a demo application. But even then, they probably should at least have taken down the downloads; I mean, it's embarrassing. Free downloads for Windows 98, ME, and OS 9. They might as well have an all text site that says in big letters, "THOUGH WE PRETEND TO BE GENEROUS, WE AREN'T WITH THE TIMES. PLEASE FORGIVE US". |
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