I feel obliged to post this, sharing info and all that.
Just had a great spring break vacation in Cozumel. My first, or maybe second, in a warm place.
Stayed at Melia Cozumel Resort, north end, west coast. Pleasant, all inclusive.
Nice swimming off Melia beach, although many rocks to stub feet on. 1 lobster, 1 crab, under said rocks.
Nicest aspect of the Melia, for me, was that it was next to the El Cozumeleno resort. A pier or jetty in front of the El Cozumeleno created a sheltered area of clear water with great snorkeling, whereas the water in front of the Melia was cloudy, caused by small surf on beach.
Net: if you like beach, Melia is fine. If you like snorkeling, El Cozumeleno better. But the short distance between the two resorts makes it almsot moot - just a few houses.
A similar note for people who, like me, like snorkeling and SCUBA: the Hotel Park Royal, at the south end of the island, is right across the street from the Aqua World dive outfit.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Ruby Lee of HP did NOT inspire my work on P6 SIMD / MMX
Minor annoyance.
I was clicking around Ruby Lee's website, looking for graduate students to hire for a summer internship, when I saw this:
(1) This could be interpreted as saying that Ruby Lee takes credit for inventing SIMD instruction sets, leading to _I_n_t_e_l_ implementing MMX. Or (2) that she was one of many pioneers in that field.
Statement (2) is probably true.
Statement (1) is false. I was there, at the start of MMX, and earlier, when we were calling it P6 SIMD. I have several personal claims to fame in this regards: (a) I am responsible for MMX being 64 bits rather than 32 bits; (b) I am responsible for MMX being placed in the floating point register file, as a way to get around OS context switch issues; (c) I was told to destroy the slides for P6 SIMD, after P6 decided not to do it, but instead I sent the data to Israel, which helped kick off MMX; (d) after the i750 video chip was cancelled, driving back in a car with Bob Dreyer, we decided that we had to do something like P6 SIMD or MMX, because the special video chip was gone. This led to the FP register state. (e) I handed out pieces of swiss cheese at the wrapup dinner for MMX, protesting the irregularity of the ISA. I should have had those pieces of cheese bronzed.
With 100% certainty, I can say that I was never aware of anything Ruby Lee or HP were doing during the development of MMX.
HP was so far out of my field of vision that I don't know when HP shipped multimedia. I vaguely remember email from Konrad Lai about it about a year before MMX shipped - as P6 was being wrapped up (without MMX), as P55C was locked and loaded(with MMX), and as P6C (with MMX) was ready to follow P6 swiftly out the door.
Why were we later, when I suspect that we actually started first? Mainly, the usual: the company is a big slow dinosaur (although capable of reacting really quickly when under threat).
Fred Pollack was the manager who encouraged me to work on P6 SIMD. If Fred knew about HP's work, maybe HP deserves credit. However, Ruby's NSF bio says she worked on it 1992-1996 - P6 SIMD may actually have started earlier than HP's work on SIMD multimedia.
I personally credit the i750 video processor guys for the SIMD instruction set architecture. All I did was show how to integrate it into a general purpose out-of-order processor. And protest the stupid restrictions that were placed on it - we should have had all combinations of {8,16,32,64} {unsigned saturation, saturation, no saturation} {+,-,*,<<,>>}, etc. as well as less regular combinations such as unsigned+signed giving unsigned, unsigned+signed giving signed.
---
This isn't intended to be a criticism of Ruby. Puffery is to be expected in university brag letters, etc.
I was clicking around Ruby Lee's website, looking for graduate students to hire for a summer internship, when I saw this:
- But that's not to mention a third innovation that Lee brought to the industry. She also led the way in creating a set of multimedia instructions that build directly into the core native language of the computer the ability to handle multimedia of all types -- images, voice, animation. _I_n_t_e_l_ later adopted the idea, which consumers saw when the company began advertising that its chips had multimedia-accelerating "MMX" technology. Now essentially all computers use the technique, allowing multimedia to be an everyday part of computing.
(1) This could be interpreted as saying that Ruby Lee takes credit for inventing SIMD instruction sets, leading to _I_n_t_e_l_ implementing MMX. Or (2) that she was one of many pioneers in that field.
Statement (2) is probably true.
Statement (1) is false. I was there, at the start of MMX, and earlier, when we were calling it P6 SIMD. I have several personal claims to fame in this regards: (a) I am responsible for MMX being 64 bits rather than 32 bits; (b) I am responsible for MMX being placed in the floating point register file, as a way to get around OS context switch issues; (c) I was told to destroy the slides for P6 SIMD, after P6 decided not to do it, but instead I sent the data to Israel, which helped kick off MMX; (d) after the i750 video chip was cancelled, driving back in a car with Bob Dreyer, we decided that we had to do something like P6 SIMD or MMX, because the special video chip was gone. This led to the FP register state. (e) I handed out pieces of swiss cheese at the wrapup dinner for MMX, protesting the irregularity of the ISA. I should have had those pieces of cheese bronzed.
With 100% certainty, I can say that I was never aware of anything Ruby Lee or HP were doing during the development of MMX.
HP was so far out of my field of vision that I don't know when HP shipped multimedia. I vaguely remember email from Konrad Lai about it about a year before MMX shipped - as P6 was being wrapped up (without MMX), as P55C was locked and loaded(with MMX), and as P6C (with MMX) was ready to follow P6 swiftly out the door.
Why were we later, when I suspect that we actually started first? Mainly, the usual: the company is a big slow dinosaur (although capable of reacting really quickly when under threat).
Fred Pollack was the manager who encouraged me to work on P6 SIMD. If Fred knew about HP's work, maybe HP deserves credit. However, Ruby's NSF bio says she worked on it 1992-1996 - P6 SIMD may actually have started earlier than HP's work on SIMD multimedia.
I personally credit the i750 video processor guys for the SIMD instruction set architecture. All I did was show how to integrate it into a general purpose out-of-order processor. And protest the stupid restrictions that were placed on it - we should have had all combinations of {8,16,32,64} {unsigned saturation, saturation, no saturation} {+,-,*,<<,>>}, etc. as well as less regular combinations such as unsigned+signed giving unsigned, unsigned+signed giving signed.
---
This isn't intended to be a criticism of Ruby. Puffery is to be expected in university brag letters, etc.
Am I paranoid, or do I just have a REALLY slow PC at work?
For quite some time now I have been complaining about the slowness of my laptop PC at work - especially when compared to similar computers I use outside work.
The slowness often manifests itself when I power up from standby, hibernate, or completely off.
I often blame the slowness on virus scanners, etc.
But I wonder: could my laptop be occupied by a rootkit?
Note that I don't say "malware such as a rootkit". Possibly it could be a rootkit placed by bad guys.
But possibly also it could be a rootkit or other monitoring software placed by my employer's IT Security people. This comes to mind because of patent applications 20070083739 Processor with branch predictor and 20070083735 Hierarchical processor, invented by me, assigned to and prepared by Centaurus Data LLC and related companies.
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=11&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=glew.IN.&OS=IN/glew&RS=IN/glew
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=12&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=glew.IN.&OS=IN/glew&RS=IN/glew
Am I paranoid? Or do I just have a really slow system? And are virus scanners and other cruft really wasting as much time on other people's conputers as they seem to be on mine?
The slowness often manifests itself when I power up from standby, hibernate, or completely off.
I often blame the slowness on virus scanners, etc.
But I wonder: could my laptop be occupied by a rootkit?
Note that I don't say "malware such as a rootkit". Possibly it could be a rootkit placed by bad guys.
But possibly also it could be a rootkit or other monitoring software placed by my employer's IT Security people. This comes to mind because of patent applications 20070083739 Processor with branch predictor and 20070083735 Hierarchical processor, invented by me, assigned to and prepared by Centaurus Data LLC and related companies.
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=11&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=glew.IN.&OS=IN/glew&RS=IN/glew
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=12&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=glew.IN.&OS=IN/glew&RS=IN/glew
Am I paranoid? Or do I just have a really slow system? And are virus scanners and other cruft really wasting as much time on other people's conputers as they seem to be on mine?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
SmartPhone blog disappears?
I was about to post about how happy I am with my new SmartPhone - and, indeed, I am very happy. It does everything I bought it for:
Evetually my post evaporated. So much for it being saved automatically.
So, not everything is hunk dory. But I am still happier with my SmartPhone, my AT&T Tilt (HTC 8925) than I am with any laptop or tablet PC I have bought or used recently.
- phone
- synchronze with my calendar, so I don't have to use my PC to figure out what meeting I ned to go to.
- Slow PC. Bad virusscanner
- E.g. my SmartPhone beeps me awake at 6am, I roll over, and look at whether I have a 7am, 8m, 9am, or whatever meeting. I.e. my SmartPhone has made it safe to sleep in?
- pen input with Transcriber
- wifi web browsing a bonus
Evetually my post evaporated. So much for it being saved automatically.
So, not everything is hunk dory. But I am still happier with my SmartPhone, my AT&T Tilt (HTC 8925) than I am with any laptop or tablet PC I have bought or used recently.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
More Toshiba TabletPC woes
Monday, sitting at my desk, programing with Rajeev, I powered on my Toshiba. Hallelujah!!! The beeping problem occurred - Rajeev is my witness. Now I have two witnesses, my wife and Rajeev.
I even managed to video the password dialog box behavior: as if a key were stuck. Select all, empty, and it keeps being pressed. (Unfortunately, I just disabled the phone that has the video recorded - now I'm not sure how to transfer the video. Ah, maybe I can switch SIM cards.)
The beeping was at a low frequency - say 2 per second. When I opened windows, such as the password dialog box, the frequency increased - say 4 per second. (These estimates are approximate and relative, not accurate and absolute.)
After beeping for 5 minutes or so - during which I video'ed the effect, and clicked around - eventually it stopped all on its own.
Prior to this episode, the TabletPC had been connected to power but idle and/or in standby for perhaps 4 hours. This is frequently the case: I rarely have the problem when I boot fresh or power on. (Rarely - but I have had it in these circumstances.)
Possible new observation: the problems always start recurring after plugging in to my Toshiba doc. However, once started, they persist, intermittently, even though using my non-dock power supply.
So far NWCS Toshiba support has replaced my keyboard, fan, and motherboard. What's left? Power supply - the frequency shifting according to activity level of PC suggests this could be a problem.
I even managed to video the password dialog box behavior: as if a key were stuck. Select all, empty, and it keeps being pressed. (Unfortunately, I just disabled the phone that has the video recorded - now I'm not sure how to transfer the video. Ah, maybe I can switch SIM cards.)
The beeping was at a low frequency - say 2 per second. When I opened windows, such as the password dialog box, the frequency increased - say 4 per second. (These estimates are approximate and relative, not accurate and absolute.)
After beeping for 5 minutes or so - during which I video'ed the effect, and clicked around - eventually it stopped all on its own.
Prior to this episode, the TabletPC had been connected to power but idle and/or in standby for perhaps 4 hours. This is frequently the case: I rarely have the problem when I boot fresh or power on. (Rarely - but I have had it in these circumstances.)
Possible new observation: the problems always start recurring after plugging in to my Toshiba doc. However, once started, they persist, intermittently, even though using my non-dock power supply.
So far NWCS Toshiba support has replaced my keyboard, fan, and motherboard. What's left? Power supply - the frequency shifting according to activity level of PC suggests this could be a problem.
Open Letter to AT&T about Pay-per-Use Charges
I recently purchased an AT&T Tilt, and am happy on this first day. I have requested a voice plan, but no data plan.
I am told that I should ensure that AT&T *not* provision the data plan, to prevent expensive pay per use fees. Apparently certain WM6 applications connect to the data wireless network by default. I have disabled such defaults as much as I know how to do, but I still wish to give AT&T this directive: I do NOT wish to use data, even as pay per use.
I *do* wish to use voice, according to my plan.
I *do* wish to use SMS text messaging.
But I do *not* want to use any data facility - no web browsing, no email access - using AT&T's data wireless network.
AT&T customer support assures me that there is no such pay-per-use data access; but other users tell me there is. I wish to make my desires 100% clear. I will protest such charges if they occur.
I am communicating this to AT&T every way I can imagine:
a) through AT&T's web page based "email"
b) by phone to AT&T customer representatives
c) by paper mail
I am blogging this at http://andyglew.blogspot.com/2008/03/open-letter-to-at-and-pay-per-use.html for reference.
I am also preserving this email on my blog because AT&T's &^&^#!!@!!@@ web based email can only accept 1000 characters. I editted out words to make it fit on AT&T's site, but am providing the full reference here. I suppose this is my new BKM for customer service sites that do not give you enough room to write a full question: fill in their webform, and provide a link to a website where they can see more details. I would not put detals such as account numbers on blogger; I wonder if a sufficiently secure mechanism could be created.
I am told that I should ensure that AT&T *not* provision the data plan, to prevent expensive pay per use fees. Apparently certain WM6 applications connect to the data wireless network by default. I have disabled such defaults as much as I know how to do, but I still wish to give AT&T this directive: I do NOT wish to use data, even as pay per use.
I *do* wish to use voice, according to my plan.
I *do* wish to use SMS text messaging.
But I do *not* want to use any data facility - no web browsing, no email access - using AT&T's data wireless network.
AT&T customer support assures me that there is no such pay-per-use data access; but other users tell me there is. I wish to make my desires 100% clear. I will protest such charges if they occur.
I am communicating this to AT&T every way I can imagine:
a) through AT&T's web page based "email"
b) by phone to AT&T customer representatives
c) by paper mail
I am blogging this at http://andyglew.blogspot.com/2008/03/open-letter-to-at-and-pay-per-use.html for reference.
I am also preserving this email on my blog because AT&T's &^&^#!!@!!@@ web based email can only accept 1000 characters. I editted out words to make it fit on AT&T's site, but am providing the full reference here. I suppose this is my new BKM for customer service sites that do not give you enough room to write a full question: fill in their webform, and provide a link to a website where they can see more details. I would not put detals such as account numbers on blogger; I wonder if a sufficiently secure mechanism could be created.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Toshiba Portege M400 TabletPC Issue - Vista activation problem / reinstall
I was mailing the below to myself, using Gmail as a log, when I realized that maybe other folks with Toshiba problems might like to learn what I have learned - e.g. the Reboot-Tap 0 sequence to get to the Toshiba Recovery Partition - and I think there is nothing sensitive here.
---
At 6:30 pm, just before supper, keyboard problems:
a) when rebooting (restarting) the machine beeped for circa 20 seconds - circa 45 beeps. (it hasn't done this for a while - still haven't figured out pattern).
b) having logged in, I tried to use first FireFox, then Internet Explorer, to go to http://www.barkzone.com/.
"www." typed in ok
but everytime I typed "b" it acted as if a weird control key had been typed. nothing more went into the URL. by the time I got to "r" it was as if I had typed the windows key followed by "r" - bringing me to the "Run" menu.
now this gives me a theory - it is as if the Windows key was stuck. which is a bit of a surprise, given the Toshiba's keyboard, where the Windows key is at the top next to the function keys.
I powercycled, hoping to clear up the above problem, and got a new problem:
c) Rebooting got me to the login screen. When I tried to login, first on my usual account "glew", then on "glew-admin", I got a dialog box with the following error:
"The Windows Vista Ultimate Product key you typed is invalid for activation"
with options such as to buy a new product key.
Well, I never entered a product key, since Vista was preinstalled. But I have heard rumours that the product key may be needed again if the computer is changed, e.g. if the motherboard is swapped as my motherboard was, in attempting to fix the keyboard problems that have plagued me since I got the computer.
---
I contacted Toshiba support at (800) 457-7777.
After the usual questions - their records of what repairs have been done is inaccurate, I corrected them but I doubt that my corrections were recorded - they told me to reinstall from scratch. I had no particular need to preserve anything on the laptop - thank goodness for Gmail - although it will be annoying to have to reinstall patches, FireFox, etc., which took me the best part of a day when I first received my computer.
Here's the "magic" to reinstall:
Reboot (power cycle)
Tap "0" (zero)
This will show the "booting Windows" progress bar, but will get to the Toshiba Recovery Wizard (running out of the hidden recovery partition). Answer the questions, ad you can reinstall the OS.
The recovery partition also has utilities to repartition the drive, etc.
So now this reinstallation from scratch is in progress.
---
Summing up my rather annoying experience with this Toshiba Portege M400 so far:
I received it before Xmas.
Unfortunately, I didn't actually start using it until the New Year. This was unfortunate because the 15 day return policy had expired; if I had powered it on immediately, I would have returned it immediately, along with all the accessories (dock, etc.) I bought.
MORAL: start using immediately, to test in the return window
MORAL: don't buy accessories until you are happy with a device. Returning them is just additional hassle if the P is unsatisfactory.
When I finally powered it on, there were two big problems
a) the fan was the loudest I have ever heard in a laptop
b) the machine beeped loudly for several minutes while booting.
Later, various attempts to type at the keyboard showed that the 5 or 7 keys were stuck. 555555555555555....
I believe that the keyboard being stuck is what caused the beeping.
My first calls to Toshiba service resulted in On-Site Warranty Service being sent to me (I paid extra for that). This is how I learned that On-Site Warranty Service is rather useless for a non-business:
a) they would not come out on the weekend to my home
b) I cannot stay home all day to await them
c) they cannot come into my place of work.
I suppose they could park in the company parking lot, and I bring my PC out to them.
Instead, I got Toshiba to put me in touch with the off-site service center in Portland, NorthWest Computer Support. They are "only" a half hour's drive away.
I dropped off my tablet PC at NWCS. They kept it for a week, and replaced keyboard and fan.
After a week or so, I picked up my repaired computer. It seemed to work fine. However, once again I did not use it intensely for a week or so. When I started trying to use it - installing FireFox, etc. - I realized the keyboard problem was still occurring.
A few days later I brought it back to NWCS (after phoning Toshiba). This time they kept the machine for 2 weeks, replacing the motherboard.
When I received the machine repaired for the second time, I tried using it immediately. I noticed that the keyboard problems and/lor beeping during boot still occurred sporadically, but could be tolerated - e.g. it beeped for 20 seconds, not 20 minutes. I am also just resigned to the fan noise.
This was the state until today, when I got the Vista activation error, and when Toshiba told me to reinstall. Which I am doing.
---
Sigh - it isn't so much the reinstall that sucks, as the follow-up. For example, I really need to make new recovery disks for the reinstall, since I think the activation code may be different. Reconfigure network, etc.
If I could return this Toshiba, exchanging it for a different model, I would. I suspect that some of the problems may be due to having gotten a relatively maxed out machine:
Toshiba
Portege
M400
_I_n_t_e_l_(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7600 @ 2.33 GHz, 2.33 GHz
Memory (RAM): 2039 MB
Windows Vista Ultimate (32 bit)
Product ID: 89580-OEM-7332132-00182
104GB disk (at least on main partition)89.8GB free
7200rpm.
---
At 6:30 pm, just before supper, keyboard problems:
a) when rebooting (restarting) the machine beeped for circa 20 seconds - circa 45 beeps. (it hasn't done this for a while - still haven't figured out pattern).
b) having logged in, I tried to use first FireFox, then Internet Explorer, to go to http://www.barkzone.com/.
"www." typed in ok
but everytime I typed "b" it acted as if a weird control key had been typed. nothing more went into the URL. by the time I got to "r" it was as if I had typed the windows key followed by "r" - bringing me to the "Run" menu.
now this gives me a theory - it is as if the Windows key was stuck. which is a bit of a surprise, given the Toshiba's keyboard, where the Windows key is at the top next to the function keys.
I powercycled, hoping to clear up the above problem, and got a new problem:
c) Rebooting got me to the login screen. When I tried to login, first on my usual account "glew", then on "glew-admin", I got a dialog box with the following error:
"The Windows Vista Ultimate Product key you typed is invalid for activation"
with options such as to buy a new product key.
Well, I never entered a product key, since Vista was preinstalled. But I have heard rumours that the product key may be needed again if the computer is changed, e.g. if the motherboard is swapped as my motherboard was, in attempting to fix the keyboard problems that have plagued me since I got the computer.
---
I contacted Toshiba support at (800) 457-7777.
After the usual questions - their records of what repairs have been done is inaccurate, I corrected them but I doubt that my corrections were recorded - they told me to reinstall from scratch. I had no particular need to preserve anything on the laptop - thank goodness for Gmail - although it will be annoying to have to reinstall patches, FireFox, etc., which took me the best part of a day when I first received my computer.
Here's the "magic" to reinstall:
Reboot (power cycle)
Tap "0" (zero)
This will show the "booting Windows" progress bar, but will get to the Toshiba Recovery Wizard (running out of the hidden recovery partition). Answer the questions, ad you can reinstall the OS.
The recovery partition also has utilities to repartition the drive, etc.
So now this reinstallation from scratch is in progress.
---
Summing up my rather annoying experience with this Toshiba Portege M400 so far:
I received it before Xmas.
Unfortunately, I didn't actually start using it until the New Year. This was unfortunate because the 15 day return policy had expired; if I had powered it on immediately, I would have returned it immediately, along with all the accessories (dock, etc.) I bought.
MORAL: start using immediately, to test in the return window
MORAL: don't buy accessories until you are happy with a device. Returning them is just additional hassle if the P is unsatisfactory.
When I finally powered it on, there were two big problems
a) the fan was the loudest I have ever heard in a laptop
b) the machine beeped loudly for several minutes while booting.
Later, various attempts to type at the keyboard showed that the 5 or 7 keys were stuck. 555555555555555....
I believe that the keyboard being stuck is what caused the beeping.
My first calls to Toshiba service resulted in On-Site Warranty Service being sent to me (I paid extra for that). This is how I learned that On-Site Warranty Service is rather useless for a non-business:
a) they would not come out on the weekend to my home
b) I cannot stay home all day to await them
c) they cannot come into my place of work.
I suppose they could park in the company parking lot, and I bring my PC out to them.
Instead, I got Toshiba to put me in touch with the off-site service center in Portland, NorthWest Computer Support. They are "only" a half hour's drive away.
I dropped off my tablet PC at NWCS. They kept it for a week, and replaced keyboard and fan.
After a week or so, I picked up my repaired computer. It seemed to work fine. However, once again I did not use it intensely for a week or so. When I started trying to use it - installing FireFox, etc. - I realized the keyboard problem was still occurring.
A few days later I brought it back to NWCS (after phoning Toshiba). This time they kept the machine for 2 weeks, replacing the motherboard.
When I received the machine repaired for the second time, I tried using it immediately. I noticed that the keyboard problems and/lor beeping during boot still occurred sporadically, but could be tolerated - e.g. it beeped for 20 seconds, not 20 minutes. I am also just resigned to the fan noise.
This was the state until today, when I got the Vista activation error, and when Toshiba told me to reinstall. Which I am doing.
---
Sigh - it isn't so much the reinstall that sucks, as the follow-up. For example, I really need to make new recovery disks for the reinstall, since I think the activation code may be different. Reconfigure network, etc.
If I could return this Toshiba, exchanging it for a different model, I would. I suspect that some of the problems may be due to having gotten a relatively maxed out machine:
Toshiba
Portege
M400
_I_n_t_e_l_(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7600 @ 2.33 GHz, 2.33 GHz
Memory (RAM): 2039 MB
Windows Vista Ultimate (32 bit)
Product ID: 89580-OEM-7332132-00182
104GB disk (at least on main partition)89.8GB free
7200rpm.
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