Not to mention the unfairness of comparing raw specs between two vastly different processor architectures, let alone two pieces of technology with vastly different goals.
In the beginning of electronic computing, we had huge radio valve-driven heat monsters crunching numbers for governments and institutes of technology. When individual people got to work on computers (students, some professions) it was along with dozens of other people, working on the same mainframe computer using terminals connected with serial ports. Technology marched on, and we got individual computers doing all the computing locally. Individual computers became even stronger, even smaller, even cheaper. Instead of having multiple users using a single mainframe, there suddenly appeared projects using the distributed computing power of personal computers (SETI@home and the like). From there it was a small step to cloud computing and cloud storage. And now we have dual-core processors in our pockets and no one uses them for anything but vengeful avians and other nonsense. We could have our personal computer on our cell phones, just plugging it into a standardised docking por t at a modern-age internet café and instantly start working in our own computing environment while charging our phone as an added bonus. The only reason this hasn't happened yet is because companies such as Microsoft is pulling us backwards with closed-source technology exclusive to a now practically obsolete architecture. I complained about the x86 architecture being a hindrance to modern development back in -99 already. Personal computing is dead; mobile computing is the natural progression from here, especially if we extrapolate from history. Curiously, the World Wide Web has developed in a similar fashion in itself. Originally, there were "web portals" with information, and the few personal pages available were hosted through a university or the individual's ISP. Now we have tonnes of individual pages hosted independently on either private hosting farms or co-located servers. We now have decentralised file distribution through Bittorrent. Facebook did set us back a bit, but with Diaspora social networking will too become decentralised. It's hard to see into the future, but I'm guessing that in the future, we host all our personal home pages in our pockets, off our ever-connected statically-IPv6-assigned phones. Simon Vass <[email protected]> wrote: I love how people online keep asking if the RaspberryPi can run Windows, the answer is always nope! A few people have been panning it's lack of horsepower making comparisons with the OLPC. Complaining that it does not come with a keyboard/mouse/monitor so isn't that cheap etc. Personally I think it is a neat bit of kit, and as a teaching tool for programming and hobbying looks perfect. Seems that a few others now exist as well such as the beagleboard. What interests me is the idea I saw some time back of running hundreds of ARM based servers using something like OpenStack to provide a low-cost,low-power clound/cluster/vm etc. It looks like someone is working on a XBMC build for the Pi http://www.raspbmc.com/ Simon Vass Managing Director E-Tech Uganda Ltd http://www.etech.ug Tel: +256 (0) 312260620 or (0) 312260621 email: [email protected] skype: e-techservicedesk ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: "Uganda Linux User Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 6 March, 2012 10:57:17 AM Subject: Re: [LUG] Ubuntu launches TV True, true. Ubuntu on a TV set is an interesting thought, although Ubuntu on smartphones appeal more to me. Are there any TV sets capable of running Ubuntu today? Many—if not most—"smart" TVs do run some kind of Linux today, so reflashing with a different distro isn't too unfeasible. In theory. I suppose one could effectively "build" a Ubuntu TV by opening up a regular TV and find a way to mount a Raspberry Pi or similar inside. It would still require some firmware modifications if one is adamant about the system being absolutely seamless in operation, but still a totally possible thing to do. Simon Vass <[email protected]> wrote: But what is not OT is http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/tv Simon Vass Managing Director E-Tech Uganda Ltd http://www.etech.ug Tel: +256 (0) 312260620 or (0) 312260621 email: [email protected] skype: e-techservicedesk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kyle Spencer" <[email protected]> To: "Uganda Linux User Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 6 March, 2012 10:43:35 AM Subject: Re: [LUG] Apple launches TV This is pretty off-topic. On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 5:17 AM, Grace T < [email protected] > wrote: Apple is set to release a new product soon (Google is not my friend especially when am using a dumb android ) Speculators ha ve pointed to an ipad 3, iPhone 5 My money is on Apple tv (and I stand to lose $50 - but after learning a few things from wall street I did hedge my bet with a game of billiards, and golf - where my chances of losing are close to nil) Ofcourse I might be wrong ( like on Saturday when I lost $80 to a fake arsenal team) The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] / Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug / The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way. The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] / Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug / The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (in cluding attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way. The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] / Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug / The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way. _____________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way. _____________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
_______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
