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Art Or Spam?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 May '16

03 May '16

A bot has been hanging around 3D-printing site Thingiverse, generating random and bizarre/surreal remixes of objects posted to the site by others <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/that-time-a-bot-invaded-thingiverse-…>. The creators of the bot recently showed some of the results at an exhibition. Is “confrontational art” just another term for “trolling”? Opinions about the bot’s contribution to the community seem mixed...

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Tauranga ISPs
by Chris McClimans 03 May '16

03 May '16

Any suggestions for fast, good, unlimited broadband? Maybe with a chance for static IPs?

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Ubuntu Quietly Raises Install Image Size to 2GB
by Peter Reutemann 02 May '16

02 May '16

'You can expect to see a larger Ubuntu desktop installation image by the time the Yakkety Yak yips out. Developers are currently debating the exact size limits that official flavours will adhere to, with some favouring a 2GB hard limit while others are looking to go full-DVD size at 4.7GB+. Canonical's Steven Langasek explains the plans for Ubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak: "I've finally gone ahead and bumped the limit on Ubuntu desktop images to 2GB for a minimally-sized USB stick; this gives us a new limit that I think we will care about, while also leaving us headroom so we're not constantly fighting it back down to the line." The Ubuntu ISO is supposed to be around the 1GB mark but has creeped past this in recent releases. The current Ubuntu 16.04 LTS desktop .iso is 1.4GB.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/05/02/1035248 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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From Paintbox to PC: How London became the home of Hollywood VFX
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 01 May '16

01 May '16

Nice article about the video-effects business, from the Quantel Paintbox to present-day CGI <http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2016/05/how-london-became-the-home-of…>, from Ars Technica UK. Betting on Moore’s Law: Framestore tried to predict when technology would allow them to charge what their clients were willing to pay, and adjust the business accordingly. It was a risky, yet incredibly shrewd plan—and it paid off. This same company went on to make “Walking With Dinosaurs”. Moving away from the legendary SGI workstations of the early 1990s, towards more commodity hardware nowadays: Today, VFX studios are powered by Intel processors, Nvidia graphics cards (all the VFX studios I spoke to used Nvidia graphics cards, citing reasons of driver stability), and Linux operating systems. These parts are just as accessible to consumers as they are to businesses: one only need look at the rise of YouTube and high-quality homemade videos to see just how far the commoditisation of VFX technology has come. But those Nvidia cards are mainly used for on-screen previews, not the final renders: Like the rest of the VFX industry, Pixar is yet to introduce GPUs into its render farms, preferring instead to use them in local or farm-based workstations for quick and dirty lighting previews. It faces the same issue as everyone else: GPUs simply don't have enough memory. Each frame in a final render requires as much 64GB of system memory, with films like Avatar pushing 128GB. The highest-end Nvidia graphics card comes equipped with just 12GB of memory. The article has a strange reluctance to use the term “renderer”. It describes Arnold as “a cutting edge lighting program” and Renderman as “a way to flesh out an existing 3D model or animation with interactive lighting and shading”. One quote I found revealing: At most VFX studios the final render is done at around 2K resolution. It doesn’t qualify this by saying this is for TV work, not for film work. So is 2K enough even for film work? And just like when they moved from TV to film, studios like MPC, Framestore, and Pixar are waiting for technology to catch up with their creative ambitions, even if they're not all convinced 4K is the answer. Meanwhile, some people are managing 4K renders <https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blender+foundation+4k> just fine...

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Re: [wlug] Intel?s Atom Chips Circling The Plughole (Lawrence D'Oliveiro)
by rowan schischka 01 May '16

01 May '16

>I wondered--still wonder--why Intel doesn?t just make ARM chips. It?s got to be more profitable than the billions it has wasted on developing Atom processors that nobody seems to want. I believe the Atom was Intel's competition to the AMD geode which is I think is still available. I wouldnt say no one wants them. Microsoft has been keen on them since Windows RT failed. Arm is an old competitor to Intel; remember Acorn computers? I dont think they would attract investors if they were buying licenses from ARM. Seems logical they are dropping the Atom in favour of their new IoT chips. Im more interested in what Samsung is doing with its Artik 12x12mm SOC, an arm you can fit in your undies! -- Rowan Schischka

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Intel’s Atom Chips Circling The Plughole
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Apr '16

30 Apr '16

The next, “Broxton”, generation of Intel’s Atom chips have been cancelled, along with future SoCs incorporating Atom cores <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/30/intel_atoms_cancelled/>. I can remember when the first generation of Atom chips were announced, back in 2008 or so with the debut of “netbooks”--remember them? (/me glances at an old Asus Eee 701 sitting within arm’s reach.) Intel claimed it was two years ahead of ARM at that point, and able to offer the “full Internet experience” (which was code for “can run Flash videos”). That “two years ahead” claim went quiet after a few months... I wondered--still wonder--why Intel doesn’t just make ARM chips. It’s got to be more profitable than the billions it has wasted on developing Atom processors that nobody seems to want.

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Intel’s Clear Linux Is Making Waves
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Apr '16

26 Apr '16

Intel has brought out “Clear Linux”, incorporating many optimizations for speed. Now the Fedora folks are looking into these speedups, with a view to making them more mainstream <http://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-Looks-At-Clear>.

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Cinnamon 3.0 Desktop Environment Tagged for Linux Mint 18, Here's What's New
by Peter Reutemann 25 Apr '16

25 Apr '16

"With updated dependencies on board and numerous bug fixes, Cinnamon 3.0 comes with multiple new features, among which we can mention an option that lets users display or hide the favbox in the Menu applet, the addition of new default application buttons, as well as support for displaying the panel-launchers actions. The Sound settings have been rewritten in Python, and there's a custom page that shows users when there's no input devices available or if any apps are now playing. Additionally, the Sound panel received a custom settings box that should prevent the sound effects dialog to be opened in a very tall window." -- source: http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/cinnamon-3.0-desktop-environment-tagged… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mozilla Seeks New Home For Email Client Thunderbird
by Peter Reutemann 25 Apr '16

25 Apr '16

"In a report commissioned by Mozilla to explore the next home for Thunderbird, two potential new hosts have been offered: the Software Freedom Conservancy (host to git, boost, QEMU, and a host of other projects) and The Document Foundation (home of LibreOffice). At the same time, the report discusses completely uncoupling Thunderbird from the rest of the Mozilla codebase and bringing in a dedicated technical architect to chart the software's roadmap. Given that the two named organizations are already on board with taking Thunderbird under their wing, is this a new lease on life for the email program Mozilla put out to pasture four years ago?" -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/04/25/1949239 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Still On For Tonight?
by Chris McClimans 25 Apr '16

25 Apr '16

I noted that we seem to be scheduled, even though it is a public holiday today. I was planning to attend, but wanted to make sure it was still on. I have some fun org-babel-async stuff I use that might be fun to share. (vim users might enjoy looking at spacemacs.org as well) Cheers, -chris

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