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  pre
                                                                                                                  

The letter A

If you were to spell out numbers,
how far would you have to go
until you would find the letter "A"?

(scroll down to bottom of page to find the solution to this riddle).

  quote
                                                                                                                  

"Somebody watching on the Internet! Do something useful for once in your crap lives!"
  - Dead Famous, Ben Elton

  esoteric
                                                                                                                  

Repeat behaviour will help to build what Joseph describes as a "habit algorithm", taking data from a variety of sources to build a real-world model of what's actually a habit as opposed to one-off or coincidental behaviour. "You volunteer some information, but the system maps what you enter, with what it picks up sources, ...so it becomes predictive, evolving over time, in tune with the way you live your life."
- Bulletin, 17 July 2002.

  computer
                                                                                                                  

Processor Defs
  - PC Authority, July 2002.
ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit):
The part of the processor that performs basic integer operations, which make u p a majority of most computing tasks.

Backside Bus:
A dedicated pathway between the CPU and the Level 2 cache. Only applies in CPUs where the cache is located on the CPU itself. These days the BSB runs at the same speed of the CPU, but in older processors it runs at a fraction of this.

Boolean Logic:
An algebraic format that reduces values to either TRUE or FALSE based on logic operators such as AND, OR and NOT. This forms the basis for just about all computing based on binary processes.

Cache:
Sits between the main RAM in a system and the CPU. It is considerably faster than system RAM and allows frequently used data to be processed at a higher speed. Level 1 cache is located on the processor itself and is usually broken up into a cache for instructions, and a cache for data. The larger Level 2 cache is a secondary store that can be located on the chip itself, on a separate chip on a backside bus or on the mother board.

CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing):
At every clock cycle, data is processed according to a set of instruction. A CISC processor uses complex instructions, which take longer to process but perform work per cycle, Intel's x86 processors are CISC-based.

Clock Cycle:
The number of times that a processor 'ticks' per second. A 2 Ghz processor wil l perform 2 billion cycles per second, although many processors can perform more than one operatoin per cycle.

Clock Speed:
The raw speed of the processor. Typically measured in MHz or GHz, a 250MHz CPU will perform internal operation at half the speed of a 500MHz CPU of the same type. This is not neccessarily an indicator of overall system speed, which is affected by other factors such as cache, memory and architecture.

CPU (Central Processing Unit):
A term given to the main microprocessor in a computer.

DSP (Digital Signal Processor):
A special type of processor that is dedicated to improving the quality of a digital or analog signal. Commonly found in sound cards, mobile phones and digital TVs, especially to reduce noise.

FPU (Floating Point Unit):
A part of a processor that handles mathematical processing that involves either extremely large numbers or decimal numbers, and works alongside the ALU, or integer unit. Scientific and 3D graphical applications are examples of FPU-intensive tasks.

FSB (Front Side Bus):
The main path between the CPU and the system RAM. It is commonly 64 bits wide for SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) with a typical clock speed between 66 and 133MHz. RDRAM (Rambus Direct Random Access Memory) operates at a smaller bus width of 16-bit but focuses on pumping data through at a more rapid rate. While fast, the FSB is usually not as quick as the backside bus.

Pipeline:
An architectural technique where data is loaded into a 'pipeline' to be processed in small chunks while more data is constantly being fed through. This allows for more instructions to be executed per clock cycle but means the CPU must accurately predict what instructions and data will be needed before they are loaded, and if there's a misprediction, the whole pipe needs to be 'flushed', or cleared out allowing new instructions to be loaded. The Pentium 4 uses a very long 20 stage pipeline, compared to the 12 stage pipeline of the Pentium III.

RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer):
Sometimes thought of as an economic processor, RISC based processors work faster and use simpler instructions to generate outpu, although each operation performs less work than a CISC processor. The old Motorola 68000-series processor commonly found in older Apple and Amiga computers is an example of a typical RISC-based CPU.

SIMD (Single Instruction, Muliple Data):
Processing technique that allows one instruction to be performed simultaneously on multiple data sets. This dramatically speeds up tasks that require repetitive processing such as graphics or audio. All current CPUs possess some form of SIMD capability through MMX, 3DNow! or SSE.

SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessing):
A system that allows multiple CPUs to share the processing workload in certain applications. In order to take advantage of multiple processors, a software application and the operating sytem need to support multithreading, which allows task to be separately loaded onto each processor.

  centrefold
                                                                                                                  

Carmen Electra, FHM

  tips
                                                                                                                  

How to suppress the 'read only' Attribute when Copying from CDrom
  - PC Authority, July 2002.

There isn't a switch in Windows Explorer to do this, but there are several in the good old MS-DOS command XCOPY. There are around two-dozen possible switches you can use with XCOPY, but don't let that scare you off, because one of them lets you unset the read only attribute while copying data from a CD-ROM to a hard drive.

The trick when using XCOPY is to make sure it gathers all the data you want and, as that can sometimes include hidden or even system files, it's best to use a belt-and-braces approach. To copy a CD-ROM in the F drive, including all files located in subfolders and any hidden or system files, I'd employ the following command line to put them into a folder called MyStore on the C drive:

xcopy f:\*.* C:\mystore /e /h.

To move files with XCOPY and leave their read-only attribute set, simply include the /k switch in the command line.

  links
                                                                                                                  

Fugazi

  • Fugazi Live
  • Fugazi
  • Fugazi Conpic
  • Fugazi 2
  • Official Fugazi Page

    Tom Waits

  • The Official Tom Waits Home Page
  • Tom Waits @ rogers.com
  • go.to Tom Waits
  • Tom Waits @ geocities
  • The Danish Tom Waits Society

    Music

  • Christine's Cake Page Lyrics, pix
  • Dillinger Escape Plan
  • NIN Lyrics
  • NIN Tab

    Literature

  • The Internet Classics Archive
  • Lao Tzu - Th Art of War
  • Lao Tzu - Th Art of War
  • Project Gutenberg

    • Strata

  • Strata Stuff rendering tutes
  • FAQ info
  • Tutes @ 3dlinks.com
  • Strata Community
  • Official Online Manual

    Gimp

  • Gimp FAQ
  • Gimp FAQ 2
  • Gimp info includes details of where to dld gif and tiff plugins.

    Misc

  • fugazi.net web services, unusual sites
  • 3Dcafe.com free tutes and dld models
  • Triple J
  • �tzi - Iceman of the Alps
      • NB: Some interesting filters in Gimp:
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Blur -> Radial Mosaic
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Twirl 90
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Radial Eversion
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Pond
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Slice Wave
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Jitter
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Fisheye
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Distorts -> Inverse Lambert Azimuthal Projection
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Map -> Make Seamless
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Map -> Sphere
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Render -> Darts
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Render -> Moire 2
    • Generic -> MathMap -> Render -> Spiral

      post
                                                                                                                      

    Answer to riddle: One thousand.

    Image 12
    Image 12

    		  

                                                                                                                      
    "something worth reading"
    20 september 2002
    #7