asciilifeform: i mention this in the hope of making it clear how pervasive the architectural problem mentioned in MP's piece is.

asciilifeform: to understand 'burst', see any sdram datasheet, e.g. http://download.micron.com/pdf/datasheets/dram/sdram/512MbSDRAM.pdf

asciilifeform: since a 'von-neumann style' cpu cannot guarantee 'paying attention' for a sufficiently-large N of cycles, we get dma.

asciilifeform: that is, addr is clocked in, and auto-incremented for N cycles

asciilifeform: DMA is also not really confined to PC arch; there's the fact that all recent (20 yrs. or so) DRAM works best in 'burst mode'

asciilifeform: re: DMA: it, in itself, is not the problem. the problem, as always, is in the 'mouse-breeding kitchen' of the PC arch. in general.

asciilifeform: right.

asciilifeform: ('in the birdlessness, my arse is a nightingale')

asciilifeform: although at the time i asked this question, i was not fully aware of the 'birdlessness' of the field.

asciilifeform: question should've been more specific: 'what if' a 'soviet clone' of mpex, that is, one which bows in agreement to all of the technical decisions.

asciilifeform: true.

asciilifeform: or wrong link?

asciilifeform: 'a "good enough" clone that meets the basic criterion of "not being an outright scam'...

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: ever happened?

asciilifeform: nah, they'll just say 'wreckers' (or some suitably anglicised equivalent) and be done with it.

asciilifeform: solves the problem of 'how do i throw bits out (say,) the DAC, at X kHZ, regardless of what load OS is grunting under.'

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: re: 'strategic...' piece: DMA is an artifact from single-cpu days.

asciilifeform: and do it right.

asciilifeform: at some point these folks will grow brains

asciilifeform: http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/01/05/bank-zachodni-wbk-cashing-out-bitcoin-through-prepaid-visa-cards/

asciilifeform: seacoin.

asciilifeform: or so i recall

asciilifeform: pankkake: I'd have the lights follow the cycle of day << submarine?

asciilifeform: hg arc is typically found in high-end microscopes, etc

asciilifeform: you can get pretty much any spectrum you want (other than blackbody) - just buy the right rare earths.

asciilifeform: FL isn't a hg arc lamp, the 'fluorescent' refers to the inner coating of the bulb, well, fluorescing.

asciilifeform: of envirowhinerism.

asciilifeform: holy trio, 'expensive/shoddy/deadly'

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: you're thinking of 'fluorescent' tube, rather than halogen

asciilifeform: (actual scene from that dreadful show)

asciilifeform: this only works against 'natural' bias.

asciilifeform: sort of like if a casino let the crowd piss on the roulette wheel.

asciilifeform: any rng where a planet full of bozos contributes to the state is arguably questionable

asciilifeform: when using a trng, there is no way to mechanically prove that you are doing so

asciilifeform: well, the whole concept, as i understand, is based on using a prng and disclosing seeds periodically.

asciilifeform: that is, you're stuck with prng.

asciilifeform: always seemed to be like 'provably fair' dice is inherently at odds with sane rng.

asciilifeform: see 'The Eudaemonic Pie.'

asciilifeform: well, taking the whole piggy home is a kind of 'publish.'

asciilifeform: to the victor go the spoils.

asciilifeform: haha, anybody run 'dieharder' on JD/SD/etc. ?

asciilifeform: they lifted some turd from my site a while ago, too

asciilifeform: laptops are not used 'from a good life.'

asciilifeform: also among the last laptops without built-in wireless or ethernet.

asciilifeform: afaik, among the last laptops made in japan

asciilifeform: one you learn to type with 8 fingers, it's among the best laptop kbds.

asciilifeform: it's brick-solid.

asciilifeform: (not mine, but same)

asciilifeform: http://rche.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~hayashi/syumi/lib110s.jpg

asciilifeform: got a 16 yr. old lappy here.

asciilifeform: Li cell is a scam on the consumer, really. more or less worthless after 2 yrs. or so.

asciilifeform: that's NiCD

asciilifeform: hates cycling; full discharge, even more.

asciilifeform: Li cell wants to be kept ~70% full at all times, if i recall

asciilifeform: depends on the cell chemistry

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: barely anything comes with removable batteries now.

asciilifeform: not me. but people with certain odd habits (working in cafes, on the shitter, etc)

asciilifeform: the 'tablet terminal' crap would probably vanish if <1kg laptops with 12+hr batteries were available.

asciilifeform: takes standard 'bluetooth' kbd

asciilifeform: (with keyboards plugged in)

asciilifeform: some people use tablets as 'dumb terminals.'

asciilifeform: if there's a widget other than phone/tablet that runs ios, this is news.

asciilifeform: (wtf does a NIC need a dual-core MIPS?)

asciilifeform: those 'willing to open their third eye' will see the market for deliberately-minimal HW - e.g. NICs without general-purpose CPUs, etc.

asciilifeform: fun for the whole family

asciilifeform: tldr ver.: drive bus DMA over NIC with diddled ROM.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: from the Fun With Widgets dept.: http://cryptome.org/2014/02/nic-ssh-rootkit.htm

asciilifeform: gift from the spam gods?

asciilifeform: http://cryptome.org/2014/02/nic-ssh-rootkit.htm

asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: devise, then... elephant routing. i'm off to bed.

asciilifeform: '...but the pig will enjoy it.'

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: tricky to forkbomb where you haven't a 'fork'!

asciilifeform: (i.e. serious mathematical advance)

asciilifeform: asics make it hard to flee to a new workfunction if the old one is somehow borked.

asciilifeform: herbijudlestoids: there are rational arguments against 'asicability' that don't reduce to 'one meat puppet, one vote damnit'

asciilifeform: (vizier promises to put one grain on a square, two on the next, four...)

asciilifeform: that must be one fellow who never read the chessboard-rice tale as a boy.

asciilifeform: 'The True Bitcoin, Discovered!1!!'

asciilifeform: beautiful. now all they need is a media loudspeaker

asciilifeform: i mean, if we're going to collide names...

asciilifeform: still waiting for the first altturd called 'bitcoin'.

asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: some ex-soviet badlands still use exchanges with mechanical Strowger switches. and in-band. bluebox there.

asciilifeform: eh, the way earthlings roll, that's several 'Year Zero's away.

asciilifeform: "Bitcoin interests me as an obvious example of a technological jewel tossed around aimlessly by the brutal hands of cave men. I can’t help but picture a flashlight or a radio set, left behind in the wilderness by geologists, to be picked up later by some Stone Age aboriginals; to be fought over and worshiped. Until the batteries run out. But the batteries have not yet run out!" -- old turd of mine

asciilifeform: not so much colonized as dropped straight into their hands at birth, and slowly wrestled out, with partial success so far

asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: they would if they could.

asciilifeform: that's precisely the thing. warm body rights.

asciilifeform: or their phriends

asciilifeform: i.e. they want to parcel out new coin to warm bodies

asciilifeform: the essence is, some people have a fundamental but unspoken disagreement with the basic premise behind mining.

asciilifeform: no crapartist seems to resist those

asciilifeform: pankkake: what's with the obligatory faux-gold-coin pics, anyway

asciilifeform: i'll take a raincheck. about to fall asleep.

asciilifeform: can't guarantee a loss

asciilifeform: certainly.

asciilifeform: i'm one of those bozos who 'graduated' to Go.

asciilifeform: on occasion.

asciilifeform: etc

asciilifeform: http://www.c-integration.com/blog/showpost.php/82-windows-fork-bomb-crash-windows-in-5-seconds

asciilifeform: he probably meant fork bomb