Science Addiction

A dormant blog by Devanshu Mehta

Tag: Computers

July 8, 2005

The $100 Computer

According to CNet , a $100 Linux-based computer may not be too far in the future. An Indian company called Novatium has stripped-down home computers in the pipeline that look to take PCs to the remaining 5 billion people on the planet. From the article:

Using Linux applications and software from Jain’s Netcore Solutions, these machines will be tweaked so that multiple people can use them. This would reduce the cost of memory in the server that does the bulk of the computing work for the Novatium thin clients on its network.

The article has ideas for 3 articles worth; it talks about Linux-based computers, cheap/thin computers, networked/grid applications, single-purpose computers and the problem of reaching the less-affording sections of the population.

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June 18, 2005

The Commandments of the EE

This just came up in my fortune on my Mac:

The Commandments of the EE:

(5) Take care that thou useth the proper method when thou takest the measures of high-voltage circuits too, that thou dost not incinerate both thee and thy test meter, for verily, though thou has no company property number and can be easily surveyed, the test meter has one and, as a consequence, bringeth much woe unto a purchasing agent.
(6) Take care that thou tamperest not with interlocks and safety devices, for this incurreth the wrath of the chief electrician and bring the fury of the engineers on his head.
(7) Work thou not on energized equipment for if thou doest so, thy friends will surely be buying beers for thy widow and consoling her in certain ways not generally acceptable to thee.
(8) Verily, verily I say unto thee, never service equipment alone, for electrical cooking is a slow process and thou might sizzle in thy own fat upon a hot circuit for hours on end before thy maker sees fit to end thy misery and drag thee into his fold.

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