Posts by Scott 30 publicly visible posts • joined 7 May 2008
According to
http://sm3a.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/sm3a_fact_sheets/advanced_computer.pdf
the 486-based "Advanced Computer" was installed as an upgrade in 1999 as part of Servicing Mission 3A. It appears this is a separate system to the SIC&DH system which contains the failed SDF module.
Mozilla's licensing terms do seem very restrictive by open-source standards - I can't think of another project that is so paranoid about its "branding". In fact AIUI, *anybody* building Firefox from source can't actually use its name/logo, unless you sweet-talk the Mozilla folks into making an exception for you (like FreeBSD did)... which does seem pretty antithetical to the open source ethos. Does it really help Mozilla's cause if users end up running "Iceweasel" or "Bon Echo" or "Gran Paradiso" or whatever instead of "Firefox"?
If only Tannenbaum *had* "inspired and influenced" Linus, then the Linux kernel might not be the big messy heap of Unix-reinvented-badly it is today - some trivial details of Linux (plus its early use of a Minix-compatible filesystem format) were "inspired" by Minix, but the architecture of the kernel certainly wasn't!
Wrong again! it's the one near the junction with Liberton Road. The one in the centre of this map:
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=55.920315,-3.168011&spn=0.002191,0.004651&t=h&z=18
IMHO, it looks pretty smart for a bodyshop. A touch of art deco in the architecture there!
The Tornado F3 production run of 170 wasn't particularly excessive for the number of squadrons expected to use it - it was only after the downsizing of the RAF in the 1990s that they started ending up in storage in large numbers. As previously mentioned, both the Tornado and Typhoon were/are international collaborations, in which BAe/BAE Warton played a major part in both design and manufacturing, so I'm not sure what point Lewis is trying to make here.
The current plan for the Typhoon is to rotate the surplus planes through the squadrons to prolong the life of the fleet.... but given that the RAF's Tornado GR4 fleet are around 25 years old now with no replacement programme in place, a bit of engineering work to produce a 2-seat strike-optimised Typhoon variant for Tranche 3 might avoid the GR4s having to soldier on for another 25...
...and anyway, isn't the Cold War starting again???
RAF Harriers with guns? Doubt it. The Harrier GR.5 was intended to carry a new 25mm Aden gun, but (to summarise) it never worked properly and eventually they gave up trying to make it work... In theory the old Harrier GR.3 30mm pods or the AV-8B's GAU-12 guns could possibly be used instead but don't think there's been any attempt to do that operationally.
Eurofighter/Typhoon was always intended to be a multi-role (air-to-air and air-to-ground) combat aircraft. In fact, the original RAF requirement (AST.414) was for a Jaguar (ground attack) replacement - replacing the Tornado F3 fighters as well came later. For some strange reason the air-to-air role was prioritised, despite the Jaguar squadrons being disbanded ahead of schedule...
And it's worth remembering that the Typhoon is the only RAF fast jet currently in service that wasn't originally designed in the 1960s...
NetBSD and FreeBSD (not sure about the other *BSDs) have a policy of keeping GPL code out of the kernel (specifically, GENERIC kernels for FreeBSD).
The BSD licence does *not* allow you to "cage up" someone else's hard work - it allows you to "cage up" your *own* hard work, if you so desire, when that work has been built on top of someone else's. What's suspicious about that?
The CVFs *will* be proper carriers, big enough for catapult-assisted aircraft, but the RN still opted for the F-35B and ski jumps. According to the MoD:
...while configured to operate STOVL aircraft, can be altered later in its projected 40-50 year service life to accommodate catapults and arrestor gear to fly conventional CV (Carrier Variant) aircraft.
Also, the F-35B is unlikely to be in service when the CVFs are commissioned - they will probably be flying Harriers for the first few years at least.
Or you could do what I did - buy an old Pentium laptop off eBay for a few quid, slap in a new hard disk and a CardBus Ethernet card (also from eBay) and install your favourite Real Operating System (NetBSD in my case). A mobile Pentium MMX will run fanless (5.5W TDP for a 233MHz Tillamook). Plus you get an integrated console device (ie. screen and keyboard) and UPS (ie. battery, if there's any life left in it at all) for free :-)
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