Moderate use of computer resources and good net citizenship both are issues which are close to my heart. I recently started to worry that, quite inevitably, I have become one among the culprits. At the time of writing, I use about 30 Pentium 4′s, some of which will run computer vision experiments for 24 hours. This is done due to urgency (a near deadline), but my general advice is to always set the priority of your tasks as low as possible so that the scheduler prioritises other users.

I typically connect to remote computers via SSH. I have made my ‘hogging’ scripts public in case somebody is interested in modifying them for personal purposes.

Remote sessions, shaded on the left monitor (click to enlarge)

Bill Gates arrested in his younger days (photo in public domain)

President of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, writes in CNET:

…Thanks to Mr. Gates, we now know that an open Internet with protocols anyone can implement is communism…
 
…Mr. Gates’ secret is out now–he too was a “communist;” he, too, recognized that software patents were harmful–until Microsoft became one of these giants…

Wal-Mart break a barrier by selling a Linux-based laptop for under $500. According to CNET:

The computer, dubbed Balance, comes loaded with the Linspire operating system and the OpenOffice.org office suite, the companies said.

The companies said Balance is the lowest-priced laptop currently available with an operating system and an office suite. It features a VIA C3 1-GHz processor, 128MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and a 14.1-inch liquid crystal display…

The experience of choosing a Web host is very baffling. One has to rely on word of mouth and the features provided by the host are rarely understood. I have had bad experiences with slow hosts that offer little or no support, but my current hosts, catalyst2, have been impeccable. Their service scope is global and I warmly recommend them.

Questions:

• Which MP3 players are available for the Palm platform?
• Which one is best to choose? (a question I will not answer)

Objective Answer:

• AeroPlayer (left in image below) – Cons: No auto-sync with iTunes. Pros: Use of Ogg files instead of MP3 files makes the application 100% free! (hint: don’t tell anyone)
• PocketTunes (middle) – Cons: Pricy; Windows is recommended. Pros: High-resolution support; Large variety of options.
• RealPlayer (right) – Cons: Forces installation of additional (unnecessary) software upon PRC installation; Rather simple. Pros: Reliable; Easy to use.

Cited by: PalmAddict

My game/program Othello Master has just been moved to its independent new domain. You can now find it at othellomaster.com.

When it comes to blogging spam, I consider myself lucky. I spot attempts to submit spam and they all fail because my Linux server is — as should be — case-sensitive. If anyone is experiencing spam issues on a Linux host, maybe that’s a slack solution. Make sure your path contains at least one uppercase letter.