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| 2000/6/21-22 [Computer/Domains, Computer/SW] UID:18503 Activity:moderate |
6/20 What's the best way to un-ROT13 a file?
\_ "rot13 filename", but you knew that, right?
\_ http://soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU% which rot13
rot13: Command not found.
\_ % locate rot13
...
/usr/games/rot13 |
| 2000/6/21 [Computer/Networking, Computer/HW, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:18504 Activity:high |
6/20 Any suggestions for SSH that would work under Win NT/2000 with
a proxy server? Thanks.
\_ What kind of proxy server? |
| 2000/6/21-22 [Science/GlobalWarming, Science/Electric] UID:18505 Activity:high |
6/20 It costs less for a gas dryer to dry one load of clothes than for an
electric dryer, or for a gas heater to heat up a room than for an
electric heater. But does gas dryer/heater actually use less natural
resource than the electric one to get the job done?
\_ depends where you get your electricity from
\_ PG&E for both gas and electricity, in the Bay Area.
\_ I think better question to ask is rather natual gas dryer/heater
is more "efficient" than electronic one. And the answer is "YES."
electricity is typically coming from some sort of hydrocarbon
(in U.S., chances are, it's coming from burning coal). And during
the process of convert hydrocarbon to electricity, you typically
will only get 65-70% efficiency on a good day. So, in that
sense, gas dryer/heater use "less" natural resources to achieve
same effect.
\_ So what's the efficiency of burning gas in a gas dryer? Close
to 100%?
\_ Not coal. That's China. A tremendous amount of US electricity
is coming from nuclear power plants and hydro. Most of the rest
is petro. Coal? Not in the last 50 years in this country. Once
the rest of the world runs out of oil, we can tap the alaskan oil
fields and a few other places and use more nuclear before we have
to touch the coal reserves in a serious way.
\_ 40% of US power still comes from coal. The Mid-Atlantic
states are full of it. 60 Minutes showed mining companies
flattening the hills of Tennessee and Virginia with
nitroglycerin and bulldozers bigger than a Ford Expedition.
\_ Check out :http://www.ucsusa.org/energy/brief.coal.html
it details the amount of crap a coal plant makes. --PM
\_ Someone tell the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power that
the billions they've spent building coal-fired power plants
over the last twenty years is a waste of money since you
refuse to admit their existence.
\_ Want to try real numbers instead of making up your own?
Check out http://www.energy.ca.gov/reports/2000-04-14_300-00-004.PDF
Some numbers:
1994: Southwestern US - 74% coal, 26% natural gas
1999: California - 20% coal, 20% hydro, 31% gas,
16% nuclear, 12% "renewable" (solar, wind,
biomass, geothermal, etc.)
\_ My error in being unclear. I did not intend to state that
coal use in this country is zero but simply that it isn't
at the levels of use in less developed countries like China.
I certainly don't refuse to admit the existence of coal
derived power in this country.
\_ in the summer PG&E generates quite a bit of power in its
gas turbine plants around the edges of the bay (those noisy little
blue buildings with the smokestacks). it is more efficient for
you to generate heat by burning gas than for PG&E to turn into
electricity (with loss) so you can turn electricy into heat
(with more loss). |
| 2000/6/21-22 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus] UID:18506 Activity:very high |
6/20 I have a variable inside a struct. I want to be able to initialize
that variable ONCE and not write to it again. Any subsequent writes
should not be permitted. Is there a way to do that in C? I know
about "const int foo = 5;" but the value I need to pass in is dynamic
and happens at runtime. Declaring a variable as const doesn't let
me assign anything to it at all. Thanks.
\_ No. -pld
\_ There is but it involves changing the variable to a pointer. You
make the pointer point to a big array of these variables that are
all alocated from a section of memory that you have mprotect()ed
to disallow writes. Then you have to worry about the exception
that happens when you get the write...Who are you trying to stop,
anyway? Plugins? Your program has a lot of power over its own
address space. Are you trying to prevent mistakes or what? I hate
these questions where people pose some narrow problem instead of
their goal. --aaron
\_ Uh... since you're coding it why not just not write to the var
again?
\_ you are a fucking moron. "gee, if you're writing the code,
why bother with abstraction and documentation?" -ali
\_ Still waiting for your answer, asshole. "you are a fucking
moron but I don't have a working solution any better than
yours!" I'd rather be a fucking moron than an asshole
*and* a fucking moron like you.
\_ i'd rather be an asshole than say things like "uh...
i don't know what i'm talking about, but i'll tell
you that your question is irrelevant anyways." -ali
\_ Yup. You're an asshole *and* a moron. Thanks for
clarifying this.
\_ ali is the asshole supreme my friend. the egomanic
of all egomaniacs. and, oh yeah, a moron. if you're
going to post on the motd you have to expect some
flames like that. don't let it bother you.
-- bitter alum who loathes ali and wishes him ill
\_ dude. you are pathetic. -ali
\_ uhm. ali has clue, and enough spine to give technical
advice on the motd. you haven't proven shit -- so
siddown and shaddup.
\_ uhm. ali does not have clue. why? because I
said so! -logician extraordinaire
\_ Still waiting to see ali's fantastic technical
advice on this matter. "you are a moron" isn't
technical advice, even on the motd.
\_ please see below. i'm offering two solutions.
one of which seems to be under dispute, though
the antagonist's position isn't clear. -ali
\_ My position is clear and I think it doubly
funny that *you* would call anyone else an
antagonist after starting off by calling
someone else a moron. Seek help.
\_ Use ML or prolog. All variables behave like that by default in
these languages.
\_ cast it to mutable for the initialization. cast it to const
for the routines that shouldn't change it. as close as you
can get to "not permitted" in C for anything...
\_ just declare it const and when you initialize it, cast the
constness away. i can't think of any way a machine could
magically put ONE field in a struct in read-only memory. -ali
\_ it could optimize the const and eliminate the field.
\_ you are a fucking moron. "im too dumb to know about compilier
optimization so ill just ignore it!" -!ali
\_ look dumbshit, i forgive you this one time but please don't
make adhominem comments unless you know what you're talking
about. to the fellow who replied first, try writing:
struct S { const int field = 45; };
in C. you will notice that this is not valid C. in fact
until a few years ago, it wasn't even legal C++. now, if
i declare
struct S { const int field; };
there is NO WAY for the compiler to know at compile time
what the value of "field" is. hence the field cannot be
optimized away.
to the dipshit who replied second: i can teach you C if
you like. i'm very patient. -ali
\_ coulda fooled me!
\_ i'm just saying.
\_ Duh, you're wrong *again*. Just give it up, ali.
\_ what's wrong with what i'm saying? is
struct S {const int field; } not valid C? -ali
\_ Depends.
\_ another disgusting thing you can do:
struct S {
/* int X */
# define X x_setter*1
/* private */
int x_setter;
} s;
func(s.X);
s.X = 3 /* doesn't work because s.X => s.x_setter*1 */ is an
rvalue. there are of coruse problems with the precedence of
*. -ali
\_ This falls miles outside the bounds of "good coding
practice". I hope you don't write code like this for real
world use.
\_ All this argument is grating. C/C++ can get disgusting,
fast. Why bother with the horrid details? If you're not writing
something that is very dependent on super optimiziation,
just make a bool and switch it once you write to the value,
and check the bool after all writes.
\_ The idea is to catch this at compile-time. Otherwise, you can
just as well say "well don't write to it more than once"
\_ And there's nothing wrong with that.
\_ man, i wish more poeple who are wrong would at least display
a certain level of uncertainty in their argumentation so that
the rest of the world doesn't feel like they have to retort
with all their might. start your arguments with something like
\_ summary: suggestion from aaron, an anonymous person, ali, and pld..
moron motd dumbshit say "it won't work" without explainign why.
idiot flames grammar.
\_ Shutup ali. Nobody cares about you or your hairy scrotum,
if you even had one to begin with.
"i don't know much about good programming, but..." and you
WILL get a good answer from someone who does, and it will be
polite and pleasant one. Aver shit like "THIS IS USELESS JUST
FORGET IT" and you'll get the kinds of answer you deserve and
you encourage harshness on yourself.
\_ Huh? English? Some speaking Engrish goodly on motd!
\_ what part of the above don't you understand? i'm sure
people can teach you english as well as C.
\_ me think you not know article part of engrish and
need help much on using pROPER cAPS aND use,,, of,,
a c,om,ma,, or two and me wonder whats word phrase
"Aver shit like" mean and general bad grammar from
coming is. hypocrite bad speaking you telling
other people me needing engrish resson. |
| 2000/6/21 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX] UID:18507 Activity:high |
6/19 What's the difference between the names "Coca Cola" and "Coke"? Pepsi
Cola only has one name.
\_ Do you know anyone who calls it "Pepsi-Cola"? Everyone I know just
says "Pepsi". Many products have formal names and nicknames, look
at Mac/Macintosh, VW Beetle/Bug, etc.
\_ Coca-Cola, Inc., trademarked "Coke" (tm) before Pepsi-Cola, Inc.,
even existed
\_ Coca-Cola is caffeinated carbonated water with high-fructose
corn syrup that you drink to get high.
Coke is a C17H21NO4, a great drug that you can sniff or smoke
to get high.
Both come from the same place.
\_ cocaine.
\_ wow you are brilliant aren't you
\_ STOP BEING SO RANDOM!!! WHO THE HELL CARES!! |
| 2000/6/21 [Consumer/TV, Recreation/Media] UID:18508 Activity:nil |
6/19 Where can I get previous episodes of older tv shows?
\_ UPN
\_ I think the subtlety of this reply might be overlooked. Bravo.
\_ It was clever but not subtle.
\_ Columbia House Video or Cable TV (esp. Nick-at-Nite, TV Land, A&E,
BET, & F/X) |
| 2000/6/21-24 [Computer/HW/Soundcard] UID:18509 Activity:kinda low |
6/20 I'm confused about AC-97. I know it's a PC-audio spec, but
what does it really mean to someone buying a mainboard? Does it
just provide a couple input/output ports? Does it require / allow
the use of a seperate sound card?
\_It really doesnt mean anything to the average purchaser
of a main board, yes it does allow but does not require
the use of a separate sound card.:wq
\_ {vi,motdedit} user was here
\_ Sharp boy!
\_ Fuck you asshole. Just
because it's on soda
motd, it doesn't mean
the author is male.
-original [female] poster
\_ Might as well. Although
only some club wielding
butch Berkeley dyke
would get so wild eyed
droolingly upset as to
start off with "Fuck you
asshole" for the mild
assumption of gender in
a 95% male organization.
I don't think you count
as female, dude. |
| 2000/6/21-24 [Computer/HW/CPU] UID:18510 Activity:high |
6/20 For the purposes of user apps, what would the approximate performance
equivalents be for Sun's SPARC{5,10,20,Ultra10} on the Intel scale,
assuming same specs on everything but CPU? (user apps is meant to
refer to non-realtime, non-graphics/DSP intensive, non-float intensive;
just, say, an office suite)
\_ you are a stupid idiot with poor critical thinking skills.
\_ http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu95/results/res99q4/cpu95-19991206-03938.html
As far as user apps, you're going to have a hard time finding
the equivalents of Office 97 or PhotoShop on Solaris systems.
\_ Doh, staroffice, what a bloated piece of junk. My P166
runs MS Office apps faster all at once than a brand new
Ultra5 runs StarOffice.
\_ StarOffice or Applix, PhotoShop or Gimp, not that hard.
\_ don't start this holy war; that was meant as a hypothetical
situation. thanks for the spec95 link
\_ Most of the machines you list are 7-8 years old, around the time
\_ I realize that. It's not an issue of whether Sun or Intel
r00L3z more. These are the machines I have available
unfortunately, so I just wanted to see where they fit in.
\_ Ultra10 is Ok desktop box. SS5/10/20 are fine as long as
they have decent CPUs (+100Mhz), 128MB RAM, and decent
disks (2GB or larger).
\_ basically Intel is cheaper and faster CPU, but SPARC
workstations are used more often to do real work
because Sun offers a complete performance package.
\_ Would you call Ultra5 or Ultra10 a "performance package"?
of the 486 and very early (very hot) Pentiums (60-90Mhz).
\_ For me, one SETI@home work unit usually takes 26-27 hours on a
Sparc20 with a 150MHz "Ross RT626" CPU (whatever that is), while it
usually takes 11-12 hours on a PII 350MHz. Both are running text
versions. So maybe a PII 350MHz is more than twice as fast as a
Sparc20. But then this is floating-point intensive, so maybe it
doesn't count. --- yuen
\_ Did they do a lot of optimizing? I was doing 26.5 hours per
\_ I don't know, but on the PII it has been roughly the same
speed for me since v1.2. -- yuen
unit on a p2-450 6 months ago.
\_ Times were A LOT shorter if you disabled the graphics.
\_ Linux is 3-4 times faster at setiathome than
\_ Aw, it's just a fancy Qume terminal.
\_ Uh, i dont think that sunray is a workstation...do me
a favor: Type "/usr/platform/sun4u/sbin/prtdiag" and
"uptime" tell us the machine model, the amount of RAM,
the number of CPUs, and the amount of cache on each CPU,
the memory banks size and intrlv.
\_ caught by the troll, hook line & sinker.
\_ If anyone is curious: Sun Enterprise E4500
159 users, 10240 MB RAM, 8 CPUs(each with
8MB cache running at 400Mhz).
Never seen anything so fast.
\_ Except an E10000 that I had to myself for awhile :)
Windows 9x on identical hardware. -tom
\_ I was using NT. I don't think it had an option to
disable graphics. I got bored and uninstalled it
after they started feeding the same packets for
three days.
\_ A co-worker set up some seti stuff on my workstation.
It produced 5871 WU today. What does that mean?
I dont know what kind of CPU it has, but my computer is about
3/4th the size of a laptop and has "SunRay" written on it.
\_ You're using an old model SunRay - the new ones are much
faster and look just like a monitor or flat panel display.
SETI WU's fly through them. |
| 2000/6/21-22 [Uncategorized] UID:18511 Activity:low |
6/20 Can anyone recommend a brand for dry-erase whiteboards (3'x4' and
larger in size)? I've seen the Quartets, but most of them have
fold-up hangers, which look ugly. Anyone know any economy-priced
mobile whiteboards (on casters)? Most of those are > $200.
\_ "Average" price is $600 in the business world. If you want
to spend $100 or so, just go to OfficeDepot/Max.
\_ Yeah, the porcelain on steel boards are $200-400. Can you
suggest a brand name?
\_ Steelcase, Herman Miller, Hon.
\_ Herman Miller and Hon don't have white boards on their
web sites, and Steelcase doesn't have a price. Thanks
anyway. |