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            <title>How the StackOverflow Podcast is produced - Joel on Software</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/podcasting/del.icio.us+tag%2Fpodcasting/How+the+StackOverflow+Podcast+is+produced+-+Joel+on+Software/chfmc</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:53:10 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>On-line Linux and Open Source Technology Books and How To Guides</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/Xen/http%3A%2F%2Fdel.icio.us%2Frss%2Ftag%2Fxen/On-line+Linux+and+Open+Source+Technology+Books+and+How+To+Guides/chfkm</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:05:08 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>LinVDR</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/MythTV/del.icio.us%2Ftag%2Fmythtv/LinVDR/chfgu</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:49:42 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Slashdot | Linux-PVR Distribution LinVDR 0.7 Released</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/MythTV/del.icio.us%2Ftag%2Fmythtv/Slashdot+%7C+Linux-PVR+Distribution+LinVDR+0.7+Released/chfgt</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:49:39 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Apogee Duet: Quick review - Mac Forums</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/podcasting/del.icio.us+tag%2Fpodcasting/Apogee+Duet%3A+Quick+review+-+Mac+Forums/chejq</link>
            <description>Highly-touted firewire AD/DA box; well-integrated w/Mac</description>
            
            <pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:49:23 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>La Fonera 2.0 (Liberator) is finally here!!! (DEVELOPERS ONLY Edition)</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/opensource/del.icio.us+tag%2Fopensource/La+Fonera+2.0+%28Liberator%29+is+finally+here%21%21%21+%28DEVELOPERS+ONLY+Edition%29/chebz</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:52:04 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>How the StackOverflow Podcast is produced - Joel on Software</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/podcasting/del.icio.us+tag%2Fpodcasting/How+the+StackOverflow+Podcast+is+produced+-+Joel+on+Software/chdly</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:35:11 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>RjDj</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/iphone/deli.cio.us%2Ftags%2Fiphone/RjDj/chdbs</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:43:35 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>HarryD: FreeNAS 0.7 and ZFS snapshots</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/zfs/del.icio.us%2Ftag%2Fzfs/HarryD%3A+FreeNAS+0.7+and+ZFS+snapshots/chcj9</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:04:30 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>HarryD: Tuning FreeNAS &amp; ZFS</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/zfs/del.icio.us%2Ftag%2Fzfs/HarryD%3A+Tuning+FreeNAS+%26+ZFS/chcj7</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:04:25 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>2N Telekomunikace</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/SIP/del.icio.us+tag%2FSIP/2N+Telekomunikace/chcjw</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:04:17 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>SourceForge.net: S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring Tools</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/opensource/del.icio.us+tag%2Fopensource/SourceForge.net%3A+S.M.A.R.T.+Monitoring+Tools/chcgo</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:04:13 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Apple’s Laptop Event Causes a Lot of Buzz</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/geeksaresexy/Geeks+are+Sexy+blog/Apple%E2%80%99s+Laptop+Event+Causes+a+Lot+of+Buzz/chb7m</link>
            <description>&lt;p&gt;By &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://masontechbeat.blogspot.com/&quot;&gt;Jimmy Rogers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Contributing Writer, [GAS]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On Tuesday, October 14 at 10AM, Apple will be having a keynote to show off some new innovations for their notebook line.  The question is: what will those innovations be?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/notebookad1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;/&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If the internet can be believed, the keynote will debut Apple&amp;#8217;s next big bomb, a notebook that ranges from between 800 and 1000 dollars.  With the economy crashing, the tech industry has been feeling the slow-down as much as any other sector.  One of the possible life preservers for Apple and other PC manufacturers is the &amp;#8220;sub-notebook&amp;#8221; computer.  These are typically smaller notebooks good for checking email, word processing, and surfing the web.  Apple&amp;#8217;s &amp;#8220;Air&amp;#8221; notebook is sort of a sub-notebook, but it&amp;#8217;s far too expensive and too light on actual features.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There has also been a rumor going around about something called the &amp;#8220;Brick,&amp;#8221; which may or may not be a metaphore for what they hope to do to &amp;#8220;Windows.&amp;#8221;  Supposedly it&amp;#8217;s a computer that has been machined out of a single block of Aluminum.  While this sounds trendy and chic, I&amp;#8217;m not sure how something like this would really fit into Apple&amp;#8217;s game-plan.  The Brick would probably look fantastic, but the costs of production would be very high initially and there is no reason to believe it will boost otherwise flagging sales.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Overall, I hope that &lt;em&gt;something&lt;/em&gt; comes out of this keynote, for all of the rumors online in the last few days.  I&amp;#8217;m adopting a personal wait-and-see policy until Tuesday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;[Via &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/apple-to-host-s.html&quot;&gt;Wired&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disclaimer:&lt;/strong&gt; This blogger has minor financial holdings in Apple, Inc.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=0IOCZe&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=0IOCZe&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;feedflare&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=D6cvM&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=D6cvM&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=D429M&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=D429M&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=kgDXm&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=kgDXm&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=k76vm&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=k76vm&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=1270m&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=1270m&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=5ldgM&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=5ldgM&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?a=lxLUm&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews?i=lxLUm&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/geeksAreSexyTechnologyNews/~4/417348474&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; width=&quot;1&quot;/&gt;</description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:04:50 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Minimal Linux distros - OLPC</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/open-source/del.icio.us+tag%2Fopen-source/Minimal+Linux+distros+-+OLPC/chb2u</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:04:41 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>davidbau.com: World&#039;s best Computer Keyboard</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/User:daveg/del.icio.us%2Fdaveg/davidbau.com%3A+World%27s+best+Computer+Keyboard/chbhi</link>
            <description>IBM Space Saver II</description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:03:42 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Compilers and More: Programming GPUs Today</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/technology/dzone.com%3A+tech+links/Compilers+and+More%3A+Programming+GPUs+Today/charl</link>
            <description>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dzone.com/links/rss/compilers_and_more_programming_gpus_today.html&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://cdn.dzone.com/images/thumbs/120x90/124428.jpg&quot; style=&quot;width:120;height:90;float:left;vertical-align:top;border:1px solid #ccc;&quot;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;margin-left: 130px;&quot;&gt;In the not-too-distant past, ENIAC was programmed with switches and a plugboard. Stored program computers soon followed that allowed one to write a program, load it into the computer memory, and run it. Initially, those programs had to be written in or manually translated into binary machine code, but soon assembly languages and assemblers were developed to simplify the process.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dzone.com/links/rss/compilers_and_more_programming_gpus_today.html&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.dzone.com/links/voteCountImage?linkId=124428&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.dzone.com/~r/dzone/frontpage/~4/416881842&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; width=&quot;1&quot;/&gt;</description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:12:06 -0700</pubDate>
        </item>
            
        <item>
            <title>[from bushwald] Apple to detail latest laptops on 14 October</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/User:jeyrb/jey%27s+network%27s+del.icio.us+bookmarks/%5Bfrom+bushwald%5D+Apple+to+detail+latest+laptops+on+14+October/cg965</link>
            <description>MacBook laptop announcement rumor wrap-up.</description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:04:18 -0700</pubDate>
        </item>
            
        <item>
            <title>Linux Robot, more hardware ideas</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/User:davidapnic/Linux+Robot%2C+more+hardware+ideas</link>
            <description>&lt;p&gt;http://www.adamsinfo.com/linux-robot-more-hardware-ideas/&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Follow on from: http://www.adamsinfo.com/linux-robot-watch-this-space/&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;I’ve been giving the layout and hardware of the device some thought. Hardware should be split up as follows:&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Main board
At minimum, &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;CPU&lt;/span&gt;, IO pin out, &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;RAM&lt;/span&gt;, CF/SD, and &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;USB&lt;/span&gt; controller. Wifi and/or ethernet would be nice. It will need to be linux friendly of course.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Custom IO board
Connect to Main board via 16 bit bus. The custom IO board will have some logic gate chips and maybe some memory. It will then connect child boards for LEDs, the ultrasonic sensors, switches and relays. The relays will then be connected to the wheels. I’ll consider adding other sensors for temperature, light, etc.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;[ &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;FILL IN INFO&lt;/span&gt;: I&amp;#8217;m currently struggling to find a set of eyes for the device. It could contain some kind of laser scanner underneath which it can scan over the ground as it moves, trying to find something better and define a purpose for the eyes]&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Each of the 4 wheels need to be at least 3 speed but 4 or 5 would be better.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;[ &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;FILL IN INFO&lt;/span&gt;: I need research and some good ideas on protocol and flow for the main board and custom IO board to communicate]&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;The wheels would ideally be ‘balls’ such as from mice. Need to research if this is practical/doable. For the battery, ideally it would be at least 6v and preferably 12 for the motors however this needs to be &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;USB&lt;/span&gt; friendly and as such I’m considering a 4.2-4.7v Li-ION battery that will last a good few hours at full 350mA draw. Minimum might be around 180mA from initial research, but I may need more.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;If I do need more which I’m considering a reasonable possibility, I might be able to step up 5v/60mA from the &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;USB&lt;/span&gt; port to 12v/25mA and trickle charge an 11.2v battery. I don’t like the idea much though and the heavier the battery, the more power the device will end up using having to haul it around all day.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;The radio at first was going to be an FM based setup. The &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;USB&lt;/span&gt; base would contain a FM oscillator transmitter and the device would contain a receiver. It would use this receiver to locate the base station. I’m thinking that this is going to become a limitation and so I’m open to better ways of the devices maintaining simple communication.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;The system will present all hardware inputs and outputs as available to software, including battery level.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;All settings and fine tunes will be available on the device as variable resistors and can be hand tweaked. Ideally and in future, this would be software[automatic] controlled.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Short of a pair of wings or some kind of weapon, I think that’s about all the hardware we’ll need. I’m going to make sure that the IO card is mapped out in a way that allows for even more expansion. I will want to add an FM transmitter/receiver, some kind of sound device, possibly an &lt;span class=&quot;caps&quot;&gt;LCD&lt;/span&gt; and definitely a camera and mic.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Thanks to Reader Phil, although I was looking at the beagleboard originally I’m thinking that this:
Proposed Board&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;Proposed Board&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;http://foxlx.acmesystems.it/?id=4&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;I’m sure that there’s more hardware out there but I’m having a hard time tracking it down.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;The board isn’t available for order until the 13th October [08] so unless I can find anything more suitable, I’ll plan on working with this one.&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;At this point if anyone is interested in contribute any expertise or assistance, any extra help would be appreciated!&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;If anyone has any thoughts on this to now, please share in the forums&lt;/p&gt;


	&lt;p&gt;I’m going to keep researching boards but plan on using this one for the moment. I then need to start looking at the IO board and components.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
                        <category>linux</category>
            <category>io</category>
            <category>sensor</category>
            <category>custom</category>
            <category>temperature</category>
            <category>robot</category>
            <category>relay</category>
            <category>Switch</category>
            <category>Hardware</category>
            <category>ultrasonic</category>

            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:21:21 -0700</pubDate>
        </item>
            
        <item>
            <title>Arduino - HomePage</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/opensource/del.icio.us+tag%2Fopensource/Arduino+-+HomePage/cg9ln</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:06:13 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>The World Famous Index of Arduino &amp; Freeduino Knowledge</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/opensource/del.icio.us+tag%2Fopensource/The+World+Famous+Index+of+Arduino+%26+Freeduino+Knowledge/cg89l</link>
            <description></description>
            
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:01:54 -0700</pubDate>
        </item>
            
        <item>
            <title>Online Service Assistant</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/iphone/deli.cio.us%2Ftags%2Fiphone/Online+Service+Assistant/cg8pl</link>
            <description>Here&amp;#039;s a handy page where you can check the warranty status of your Apple products.</description>
            
            <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:57:43 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Intel SSD</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/MySQL/Planet+MySQL/Intel+SSD/cg8co</link>
            <description>&lt;p&gt;So Yves knowing my affinity for all things solid state forwarded me this link, http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2008/10/so-i-got-one-of-new-intel-ssds.html , it seems Linus Torvalds picked up one of the new Intel SSD drives ( if anyone wants to send me one to test that would be cool ).  Whats interesting is he says the thing just rocks.  But how will this perfom in a database environment?  Not 100% sure, but I think it&amp;#8217;s going to perform worse then the mtron or memoright drvies I have tested.  Why?  Well the drive is&lt;a href=&quot;http://http://www.supertalent.com/datasheets/SLC_vs_MLC whitepaper.pdf&quot;&gt; MLC not SLC&lt;/a&gt;.  Anandtech has a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&amp;amp;p=1&quot;&gt;great review &lt;/a&gt;the Intel SSD, with an awesome explination with accompaning benchmarks on SLC -vs- MLC.  Most of these tests are performed in a windows environment, and I have seen much different performance in Linux.  Realistically we need to benchmark the drive with dbt2 and sysbench to see how much better or worse the performance is.  But if your thinking about SSD, be careful of the MLC until someone posts database specific benchmarks.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
            
            <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:13:26 -0700</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Been too long in coming, more MySQL SSD benchmarks!!!</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/MySQL/Planet+MySQL/Been+too+long+in+coming%2C+more+MySQL+SSD+benchmarks%21%21%21/cg8cb</link>
            <description>&lt;p&gt;I presented these at an internal MySQL professional services meeting about a month ago&amp;#8230;  its mostly a hodge podge of various benchmarks&amp;#8230; but enjoy!  The big difference in these benchmarks vs the other benchmarks is I am testing on the memoright GT drive, which is supposed to be one of the fastest SLC drives out their currently.  Lets get right too it:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Looking at sysbench Random read/write iops:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;R/W&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;1 Raptor&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;1 Mtron&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;1 Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;5000/5000&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;172&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;200&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;284&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;6670/3330&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;164&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;282&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;412&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;7500/2500&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;159&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;388&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;512&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;8000/2000&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;165&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;516&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;607&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;8333/1777&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;176&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;518&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;741&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;10000/0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;161&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5263&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3844&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;0/10000&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;200&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;100&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;160&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Memoright drive is noticeably faster then the Mtron drive in the synthetic random read/write tests.  But the 100% write tests are substantially lower then the mtron drive which is just weird.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the sysbench OLTP test, the memoright was slower then the mtron I tested earlier:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;OLTP TRANS PS:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;352&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;Raptor&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;Mtron&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;trans ps&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;25&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;132&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;88&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The generic sysbench #&amp;#8217;s would make me think that the memoright should perform better, but its not.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;DBT2 tests are a bit more realistic (sysbench&amp;#8217;s oltp uses a single table), here are the numbers for DBT2:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;DBT2 NEW ORDER TPM:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;Raptor&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;MTRON&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;DBT2 Score&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;625&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4900&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4407&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Memoright is still a tad slower&amp;#8230; which is puzzling&amp;#8230;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So Lets look at the Orion Numbers and see if anything shakes out:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ORION IOPS:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;157&quot;&gt;Threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor ( 16K 100% rd)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;140&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;139&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;138&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;139&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;143&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 100% rd)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4555&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4883&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4886&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4886&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4881&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3449&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3641&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3642&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3640&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3639&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 50/50 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;214&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;207&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;206&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;206&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;205&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor (16K 50/50 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;173&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;171&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;174&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;174&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;178&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;372&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;366&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;366&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;367&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;365&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor (16K 80/20 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;153&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;149&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;152&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;155&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;155&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 80/20 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;546&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;524&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;518&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;516&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;515&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;823&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;828&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;824&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;828&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;828&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor (16K 90/10 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;148&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;147&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;149&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;152&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;152&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 90/10 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1028&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;989&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;987&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;980&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;976&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1489&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1475&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1473&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1484&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1482&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here the memoright once again faster&amp;#8230; so far the generic tests show the memoright clearly with the performance lead, but the &amp;#8220;real world&amp;#8221;  type tests say something differently.  This may have to do with the workload, or maybe the concurrency of the generic tests -vs- the database tests.  Or maybe it has more to do with the mtron being faster on reads:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ORION Disk latency (MS) :&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;157&quot;&gt;# threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;7&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;9&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;145&quot;&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 100% rd)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.22&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.41&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.61&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.82&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.02&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.23&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.43&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.64&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.84&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.05&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.29&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.55&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.82&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.37&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.65&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.92&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.48&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.75&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor ( 16K 100% rd)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;7.11&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;14.34&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;21.62&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;28.71&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;34.96&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;40.96&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;46.04&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;51.21&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;57.12&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;62.75&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Not really sure&amp;#8230; one theory is this could have to do with skewed r/w #&amp;#8217;s in the database tests.  The generic tests are pure read/write from disk.  An update has to perform multiple read/write requests.  Its possible IO stat would should this.  I will try and look at the read/write % in iostat next time I run benchmarks instead of relying on insert/update or transaction #&amp;#8217;s&amp;#8230;  remember just a theory.  It could also be some other oddity in my tests I did not account for&amp;#8230; it was 6 months between the mtron tests and the memoright tests and I did not have an mtron to rerun the tests with&amp;#8230;  but I am getting off topic&amp;#8230;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;More Orion #&amp;#8217;s take a look at the latency on the drives:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;ORION Disk latency (MS) :&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; width=&quot;157&quot;&gt;# threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 50/50 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4.65&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;9.62&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;14.53&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;19.4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;24.34&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.68&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5.46&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;8.19&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;10.87&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;13.66&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor (16K 50/50 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5.78&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;11.64&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;17.21&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;22.98&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;28&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;# threads&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Mtron (16K 90/10 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.97&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.02&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3.04&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4.08&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;5.12&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;0.67&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1.35&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.03&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;2.69&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;3.37&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Raptor (16K 90/10 rd/wr)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;6.72&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;13.55&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;20.07&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;26.24&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;32.72&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So what does this all mean?  Well both the Memoright and Mtron drives are fast!  Depending on the workload one drive maybe faster then another.  None of my tests were particularly write Intesive, which is where the Memoright&amp;#8217;s advantage lies.    These drives will not replace memory anytime soon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A really nice way to sum this up take a look here, just for grins I had another consultant ( Yoshinori Thanks! ) run the same DB2 tests on a server he was testing on.  Their was no comparison in hardware, my little crappy 4 core ancient intel server with a single SSD, versus a nice 8 core machine with 8 disks&amp;#8230;  mysql versions, configurations, memory allocations, etc were all the same.  Its still not scientific, so don&amp;#8217;t flame me with I should have tested with the same hardware&amp;#8230; I know!  Basically we took a server you would buy today, and put it against a server that is unfit for anyone but me:)  We were trying to make a mostly &amp;#8220;IO&amp;#8221;  bound workload, but still you would think a brand new shiney server with good disk, should kill my server.   Here are the dbt2 results:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;DBT2 New Order TPM:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;112&quot;&gt;Raid 5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;112&quot;&gt;Raid 10&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;86&quot;&gt;Matt&amp;#8217;s Mtron&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;115&quot;&gt;Matt&amp;#8217;s Memoright&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4579&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;6139&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4900&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;4156&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;8-disks&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;8-disks&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1 disk&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;1 disk&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;WOW! Depending on the drive the SSD actually out performed 8 (10K SAS) drives in RAID 5.  This is one test mind you&amp;#8230; I am not saying that SSD can beat 8 disks in a RAID 5 all the time, just in our one set of tests.  In fact if you start allocating more memory to the database, our shiney new box kicks the crap out of my old box.  I wonder how the shiney new box would perfom if I put the SSD drive in it?  Thats for another time.  Also to be fair I did compare RAID 10 numbers from the shiney new box used above, to another vendors shiney new box&amp;#8230;  the one above was slightly faster then the other vendors shiney new box&amp;#8230;  so this is not the case of getting a lemon either.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just wish I had more time to play!  This stuff is sooooo  much fun:)&lt;/p&gt;</description>
            
            <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:13:25 -0700</pubDate>
        </item>
            
        <item>
            <title>Aluminum: Canary in the Tech Mine</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/Technology-News/GigaOm/Aluminum%3A+Canary+in+the+Tech+Mine/cg7sv</link>
            <description>&lt;div class=&quot;snap_preview&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://gigaom.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/alumniumproducts1.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;alignleft size-full wp-image-24103&quot; title=&quot;alumniumproducts1&quot; src=&quot;http://gigaom.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/alumniumproducts1.jpg?w=200&amp;#038;h=95&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;95&quot;/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Many of us who live in Silicon Valley pay no heed to decidedly unsexy materials such as aluminum. Of course, they&amp;#8217;ve long been integral to our economy &amp;#8212; just look at the world’s largest aluminum company, Alcoa. It turned 120 years old on Oct. 1.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A week later, however, the Pittsburgh-based company &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&amp;amp;sid=aFpskG7F2tKk&amp;amp;refer=home&quot;&gt;slashed its growth forecast and suspended its stock repurchasing program&lt;/a&gt;, battening down the hatches as the global credit crunch continues to hurt demand. As CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Given the sharp decline in metal prices and increasingly soft demand in our key markets, we are stopping all non-critical capital projects, making targeted reductions to match market conditions, and are adjusting our manufacturing capacity to meet demand in rapidly changing upstream and downstream markets. We are halting production at our smelter in Rockdale, Texas, adjusting alumina capacity accordingly, and are continually reviewing under-performing assets throughout our portfolio. And, we are suspending our share buy-back program.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Why does this matter to Silicon Valley? After all, aluminum is used to make things like airplanes and cars. True, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/innovation/consumer_electronics/overview.asp&quot;&gt;that&amp;#8217;s not all&lt;/a&gt;. As a quick visit to Alcoa&amp;#8217;s web site will reveal, aluminum is also used to make displays, mobile phones, notebook computers and whole slew of tech-related things. Alcoa even sets up a booth at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And now the company says demand in North America is going to decline 10 percent this year. Meanwhile, it expects growth in China to only rise 15 percent compared with an earlier forecast for a 22-percent rise.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And guess where major electronics items are made? China, after which they are sold in North America. My feeling is that aluminum is the canary in the coal mine and is foretelling tough times ahead for both the consumer electronics and computer hardware sectors. We&amp;#8217;re already seeing a &lt;a href=&quot;http://gigaom.com/2008/09/04/housing-downturn-catches-up-with-corning&quot;&gt;slowdown in the sales of LCDs TVs&lt;/a&gt; &amp;#8212; the makers of which are big buyers of aluminum.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is a good chance the tech malaise is going to spread to the likes of Apple, which uses a ton of aluminum to make their products. Aluminum is also a key ingredient in mobile phones, another area where demand for devices is going to slump, especially for the more profitable, high-end devices. Keep an eye on Nokia and listen for its forecasts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The automobile industry – a major consumer of aluminum – is already in a deep abyss, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/weak-economy-takes-heavy-toll/story.aspx?guid={3B381CCF-53F4-452C-ADC0-E481B7EBDE1B}&amp;amp;dist=FSQ&quot;&gt;with monthly sales plummeting&lt;/a&gt;. Automakers are big consumers of technology and have put a whole lot of electronics (including chips) &amp;#8212; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.isuppli.com/marketwatch/default.asp?id=248&quot;&gt;$113 billion in 2008&lt;/a&gt; &amp;#8212; from companies that include chip makers like Freescale, Infineon and STMicroelectronics into cars to power everything from the GPS to the powertrain.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Any slowdown there is going to eventually move up the food chain and hurt these chipmakers. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=ReportAbstractViewer&amp;amp;a0=4203&quot;&gt;Strategy Analytics recently forecast&lt;/a&gt; a $1.1 billion decline in sales of automotive chips for engines in the U.S. alone.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Whichever way you look at it, the credit crunch is going to crimp consumer demand, which will in turn lead to a clampdown on ad spending, including on the web.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And you thought aluminum was boring!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=gigaom.com&amp;blog=1149864&amp;post=24097&amp;subd=gigaom&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1&quot;/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/OmMalik?a=thJiEq&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/OmMalik?i=thJiEq&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;feedflare&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?a=eXj1M&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?i=eXj1M&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?a=KtD2m&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?i=KtD2m&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?a=XjX4m&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?i=XjX4m&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?a=QGPiM&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?i=QGPiM&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?a=0A5Fm&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/OmMalik?i=0A5Fm&quot; border=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OmMalik/~4/415211450&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; width=&quot;1&quot;/&gt;</description>
            
            <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:00:41 -0700</pubDate>
        </item>
            
        <item>
            <title>Review: Epson WorkForce 600 Wireless All-In-One Printer</title>
            <link>http://swik.net/geeksaresexy/Geeks+are+Sexy+blog/Review%3A+Epson+WorkForce+600+Wireless+All-In-One+Printer/cg7se</link>
            <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/1workforce600.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.chipsquips.com&quot;&gt;Sterling &amp;#8220;Chip&amp;#8221; Camden&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Contributing Writer, [GAS]&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today I&amp;#8217;m trying out the new Epson WorkForce 600 printer/copier/scanner/fax combo.  To make a long story short: at less than $200 (about $160 at some outlets) it delivers a lot of printer for the money.  But not everything in this review is rosy.  Read on for the full story and pictures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;more-6067&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#8217;ll start by unboxing everything.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;518&quot; height=&quot;385&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Printer, full set of ink cartridges, Ethernet, USB, and power cables, paper samples, instructions, and CD.  Nice and tidy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;OK, after we clear a space on the desk and plug it in, time to insert ink cartridges.  The top flips up in two places &amp;#8212; the very top cover lifts to reveal the scanner glass, and another layer below that lifts to get at the guts of this beast.  Ink cartridges go in a compartment that flips open on the right.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/3.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;492&quot; height=&quot;369&quot;/&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Which cartridge goes in what hole is clearly indicated by the color strip across the back of the compartment.  The cartridges slide in easily and click into place.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/4.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;492&quot; height=&quot;316&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Paper feeds vertically from the back, held in place by this guide that slides up from a rear compartment.  You can load up to 100 sheets in this feeder, they say.  I didn&amp;#8217;t take the time to count.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/5.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;492&quot; height=&quot;369&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When they mention a footprint depth of 13.6 inches, they weren&amp;#8217;t counting the output tray.  This extends outward in the front, bringing the total depth required for this printer to about 21 inches.  Likewise, the documented height of 9.3 inches is fine as long as you don&amp;#8217;t need to load paper.  But it does stick to its 18.1 inch width.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/6.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;492&quot; height=&quot;369&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I really like the arrangement of ports &amp;#8212; from top to bottom: phone line, phone handset, Ethernet, and USB 2.0.  Easily accessible, clearly labeled, facing straight back but about two inches in front of the back of the printer, so you don&amp;#8217;t get the cables mashed against the wall behind.  Smart design.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/7.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;492&quot; height=&quot;369&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#8217;s what she looks like all set up with paper loaded.  Pay no attention to that old power-hogging CRT monitor to the right.  That and the printer on the left (an HP OfficeJet 7310) are shown here for scale (and because I couldn&amp;#8217;t find anywhere else to put them).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That opening in the lid (in front of the paper) is an automatic document feeder for the scanner/copier.  It flips closed to give the printer a smooth top, if you prefer that look or want to keep the dust bunnies out.  The front control panel can also fold in flush with the side.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now to hook this baby up and do some printing.  We have three options:  connect directly to a single computer via USB 2.0, networked via Ethernet cable, or wireless.  Let&amp;#8217;s go wireless, because I have enough cables tangled up on the desk behind it already.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We can install the Epson software on Windows Vista, XP, or Mac OS X.  Sadly, no option for Linux or FreeBSD.  I did the first install on Vista Ultimate x64.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/8.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;313&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The main point in all this verbiage is to have you click &amp;#8220;Install&amp;#8221;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On the next panel, select &amp;#8220;Install driver for a network connection&amp;#8221;.  Click Next, and go get a cup of coffee.  Heck, make a new pot.  This phase installs a lot of different pieces, each with their own little pop up or progress bar.  You don&amp;#8217;t really get a choice about installing these, either, unless perhaps you Cancel the few interactive dialogs along the way.  But who knows what havoc that might cause?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/9.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;210&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lucky I have Internet Explorer set to prompt for cookies, or I never would have known about this one.  I really hate that they have the nerve to spin up IE on my precious system without even asking.  Block Cookie &amp;#8212; so there! &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Somewhere along this long software installation process, one of the installation programs actually reset my Display characteristics.  I have two monitors, and they switched which one was primary, as well as which one was on which side!  For a few seconds, I couldn&amp;#8217;t figure out how to use the mouse.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;People, lesson number one for installations:  don&amp;#8217;t be obnoxious.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Finally, we get to the next dialog in the primary installation process:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/10.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;390&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Clicking &amp;#8220;Next&amp;#8221; launches yet another separate installation process, with a whole new look:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/11.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;364&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This seemed like a lot of space to dedicate to a warning about your firewall software, especially when later on in the process you&amp;#8217;ll be greeted by a pop-up message box that tells you the same thing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The remaining 7 &amp;#8220;steps&amp;#8221; each involve several dialogs.  You&amp;#8217;ll get tired of clicking &amp;#8220;Next&amp;#8221;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What you need to know:  your SSID (wireless network name) and your security passphrase/key for either WEP or WPA.  If your access point broadcasts its SSID, the printer should pick it up.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In order to program the printer for wireless, you have to temporarily hook it up to your network with the supplied Ethernet cable.  The installation dialogs prompt you (twice) when you need to do this (once).  The printer will acquire an IP using DHCP if that&amp;#8217;s available on your network.  If not, you&amp;#8217;ll need to set that up through the Setup/Networking options on the printer&amp;#8217;s control panel.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At one point, you&amp;#8217;re asked about allowing network access to memory cards in the printer.  I elected to disable access, but this could be a useful feature for grabbing photos right off your camera&amp;#8217;s memory stick/chip, instead of having to plug your camera into a USB port on your computer.  Slots for several types of memory cards are available on the front left of the printer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A couple of dialogs later, you get the opportunity to assign a local printer name, and whether you want it to be the default &amp;#8212; followed by one to print a test page.  I selected &amp;#8220;Yes&amp;#8221;, clicked &amp;#8220;Next&amp;#8221;, and the test page was printed.  Just that fast.  I did a double-take.  I thought it had spit out a  blank page or something &amp;#8212; but there it was, in living color.  This is one fast printer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then out of nowhere, this pops up:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/12.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;381&quot; height=&quot;306&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you decide to decline, make sure you check the box, or it will ask you again (frequently).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Next, you&amp;#8217;re asked to remove the ethernet cable (for wireless setup) and click Finish.  Are we finally done?  Let&amp;#8217;s click Finish!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No, we&amp;#8217;re not done yet &amp;#8212; we forgot completely about the special offers!   Hey, this one looked pretty good, until I read the third paragraph:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/13.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;390&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8230; it requires Internet Explorer?!  Not even version 7.  Forget that!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/14.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;390&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Uh, no, I don&amp;#8217;t want yet another icon on my desktop &amp;#8212; thanks for asking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We&amp;#8217;re still not done &amp;#8212; we need to register our product!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/15.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;405&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We can be in the USA or Canada.  Kiltak will be glad to know that all the docs come in French as well as English, and you can overlay the buttons on the front panel with French text as well.  No Spanish option, so I guess they don&amp;#8217;t sell to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, or Florida.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &amp;#8220;Help me find my Serial Number&amp;#8221; link was actually pretty helpful:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/16.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;409&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#8217;s easy in any language.  Damned Internet Explorer again, though. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/17.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;405&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They still want to send me more information.  But thankfully, this is THE END of the installation process. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now lets go see what this printer has to say for itself.  Here&amp;#8217;s the printer&amp;#8217;s preferences dialog:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/18.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;588&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Note the different quality options.  Printing straight text is really fast, even in color (up to 38 ppm, they claim).  And the quality at that setting is quite good.  It compares favorably with my HP inkjet printer.  Best of all, you can do anything with it right away &amp;#8212; the ink won&amp;#8217;t smudge.  You can run a highlighter over it, and the text stays intact.  In fact, you can even run water over it.  I drenched a fully printed sheet, and not one letter was seriously mangled &amp;#8212; just a little fuzz on a few characters.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &amp;#8220;Photo&amp;#8221; option prints tolerably quickly, and the quality isn&amp;#8217;t bad.  &amp;#8220;Best photo&amp;#8221; takes a bit more time (more like an HP 5610 prints in draft mode) but the quality is well worth it, especially if you use a photo quality paper.  Max resolution is a generous 5760 x 1440 dpi.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Notice the &amp;#8220;Fix Photo&amp;#8221; and &amp;#8220;Fix Red-Eye&amp;#8221; checkboxes.  They really work!  I checked both and printed a photo that had bad color and serious, call-in-the-priest-for-an-exorcism red-eye, and both conditions were cured.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#8217;ll probably want to have &amp;#8220;Reverse order&amp;#8221; checked permanently.  Because the finals are output face up, your document gets reversed by default.  Printing in reverse order fixes that.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;How do you like those little ink level indicators?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/19.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;588&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lots of good diagnostic tools here on the &amp;#8220;Maintenance&amp;#8221; tab.  Unfortunately, clicking &amp;#8220;Driver Update&amp;#8221; eventually timed out and gave me an &amp;#8220;Update service not available&amp;#8221; message.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &amp;#8220;Page Layout&amp;#8221; tab allows you to select (among other things) two-sided printing.  Cool, I thought, until after it printed the first side:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.geeksaresexy.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/20.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;520&quot; height=&quot;418&quot;/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Two-sided printing means that you have to turn the paper over yourself.  Not impressive.  Quite a few other two-sided printers know how to feed the paper back through all on their own.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Epson provides a nice little utility for scanning images, imaginatively named &amp;#8220;EPSON Scan&amp;#8221;.  It works quite well for scanning in up to legal size images (via the automatic feeder) or A4 (on the glass).  The scanner is also available to Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office Document Scanning.  It worked right out of the box much better than the HP All-in-Ones.  The scanned images are very crisp, with an optical resolution of up to 2400 dpi.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The copying function is serviceable, but nothing to write home about.  The document feeder in the hood makes it easier to copy a stack of documents, but the copies come out in reverse order because they&amp;#8217;re laid face up.  Again, the scanner glass will hold up to a size A4 document.  You can also feed legal sized documents through the automatic document feeder.  The input bin can take legal sized paper as well, or you have the option in the Copy settings to shrink legal to letter size.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I didn&amp;#8217;t bother trying out the fax options.  Who faxes any more?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I did install the software on another system running XP.  That process was just a subset of the full installation described above.  It worked first time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m tempted to replace my HP OfficeJet 7310 with this fast little fellow.  While the HP has a legal-size scanner glass, holds up to 250 sheets of paper, and does automatic 2-sided printing and copying, the Epson WorkForce 600 is smaller, faster, has a marginally better print quality, and the ink won&amp;#8217;t smudge.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#8217;ve tried out this printer, what do you think of it?  Did I miss any important features or failures?  How does this printer compare with others you&amp;#8217;ve seen?&lt;/p&gt;

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