Any question answered...

Sprained neck. Anyone know a good physio in the kingston area?

I know there's a guy on here, but they're in north london, and I can't make it up there in my condition.

Are there any tried and tested methods for preventing winter gloves from becoming unbearably fetid inside other than washing them every week? Currently by the end of the week my hands smell like I’ve been tossing off a tramp.
Obviously, this would be fine, if I had actually hand jobbed a homeless, but I haven’t. Not recently anyway. It’s bad enough living with the pain of hobo heartbreak without constantly being reminded of those one has tugged and lost when consuming my morning croissant.

Is there a rack that my copilot baby seat will fit on that will clear disc brakes and works with hub gears.

Tha I know of:
Blackburn ex-1 normal - doesn't clear disc (tried bodging it, but not strong enough to take the weight of my fat child!)
Blackburn ex-1 disc - uses a replacement quick release which is no good with my hub gear (as far as I can tell)?

Ideas?

By the way alternate bikes is not an answer, can't put a rack on the track bike or polo bike, beach bike has an integrated rack that the seat doesn't fit onto... I am considering bike number 5, but it won't be popular!

Can someone give me an idiot friendly summary of what the practical differences between 4 and 8GB of RAM are and 2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 and 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7?

Will you be using a 32-bit or 64-bit OS?

Ideas?
Go custom? I'd be surprised if Ryan couldn't put summat together for you.

Any recommendations for custom bidon / water bottle printing? I'd like a small (50-ish, maybe) run of either Specialized Purist or Camelbak Podium. This is the best I've found so far:

http://www.customprinted.co.uk/product/Podium_Bottle_610ml_Clear_410865

Suggestions?

errr... I don't fully understand the practical difference, but I guess 64-bit. My understanding is that 64 bit allows you to better access the RAM which in turn increases the speed at which the computer can perform calculations?

More access to RAM seems like a good thing and it would certainly be silly to waste it by not having an adequate OS. My problem is that I don't really know how fast is fast enough. I will be using it to perform reasonably complicated spatial statistics (using ArcGIS) at a global scale and I know people who have to leave similar analyses running for days on their computer, I just don't know what it is that limits the speed (eg. number of pixels being processed, the complexity of the statistics etc?)

RAM and CPU are only two parts of the jigsaw. do you already have a pc you think is running slowly or are you looking at something new?

Your 32-bit software will work on 64-bit OS unless it depends on 16-bit libraries. Check the providers website.

I'm considering something new. My default position is one of the 15inch macbook pros as I currently use an old macbook pro, and am already invested in terms of software eg. light-room etc. However some of the software I'll need to run (ArcGIS and associated add on products for example) only run on Windows - I'm not sure whether the software itself is optimised for 32 bit or 64bit but I assume the latter. If I could get away with running the software with Mac and windows in parallel then that would be a bonus, but I'm not averse to using bootcamp if necessary when my analyses get heavy.

My work is to look at spatial conservation planning at a global scale for instance the congruence between factors such as human population, global forest cover, rates of deforestation and anything else I think is interesting. So, I'll be looking at the world as a bunch of several million pixels each with data values for a whole range of attributes. I'll then be looking at how resources can be allocated at a spatial scale to best deliver a range of policy outcomes... in other words there will be quite a lot of data flying around.

I have an as yet un negotiated budget for a new computer but I need to know roughly how much (a) the minimum requirements cost and (b) how much I will benefit from a better system and at what cost.

Obviously all this is too much for an online forum to answer and being almost illiterate on these things means I'm unlikely to be able to adequately describe my requirements, but I'm just not exactly sure what the processor speed(?) contributes to and the RAM contributes to.

I'll obviously go and have a chat with the IT guys too, but the reason for posting is so that when they start talking about different options I have at least a vague idea of what they are on about! :)

Large data sets - if your crunching big data make sure you get a fast processor. I've got an I7 Quad at work and my computer will still white screen now and again. It's no where near as bad as it had been though.

But if your using a software package that runs fine in your current set up upgrading to a new system will make it faster.

More RAM does not speed things up. However, not enough RAM slows things down enormously. Think of it as a bucket. All good until it fills up, then you've suddenly got piss all over the floor.

The speed your computer actually does stuff is largely dependent on the CPU speed, although if a lot of data is being read from or written to the hard drive, that could become the bottleneck.

Without knowing anything about ArcGIS, it's pretty difficult to say one way or another. I would recommend 8GB as a minimum these days though, it's cheap as chips (sorry) and shouldn't be much more expensive than 4.

Will you sponsor me please?

I'm running the Richard House Penguin Dash on the 6th, so after sponsorship from you all please. Great little East London Charity: http://richardhouse.org.uk/penguin-dash

Give me your monies:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/BenBroomfield

Anyone giving me a tenner or more will receive an Origami Penguin made by me in the post. Thanks!

More RAM does not speed things up. However, not enough RAM slows things down enormously. Think of it as a bucket. All good until it fills up, then you've suddenly got piss all over the floor.

The speed your computer actually does stuff is largely dependent on the CPU speed, although if a lot of data is being read from or written to the hard drive, that could become the bottleneck.

Without knowing anything about ArcGIS, it's pretty difficult to say one way or another. I would recommend 8GB as a minimum these days though, it's cheap as chips (sorry) and shouldn't be much more expensive than 4.

Another potential bottle neck is network speeds if your using huge files right?

Depends where the files are.

Get an SSD for your frequently read yet infrequently written files, e.g operating system, apps, reference data (ordinance survey etc). Not that expensive any more and very effective.

I need a bigger main HDD then I'll be buying an SSD, although WDTV/ Media centre may take a priority over both of these.

I have a pair of shoes in Germany that I need help bringing to London. Anyone heading to these shores from there?

Where in germany is an idea.

I'm considering something new. My default position is one of the 15inch macbook pros as I currently use an old macbook pro, and am already invested in terms of software eg. light-room etc. However some of the software I'll need to run (ArcGIS and associated add on products for example) only run on Windows - I'm not sure whether the software itself is optimised for 32 bit or 64bit but I assume the latter. If I could get away with running the software with Mac and windows in parallel then that would be a bonus, but I'm not averse to using bootcamp if necessary when my analyses get heavy.

My work is to look at spatial conservation planning at a global scale for instance the congruence between factors such as human population, global forest cover, rates of deforestation and anything else I think is interesting. So, I'll be looking at the world as a bunch of several million pixels each with data values for a whole range of attributes. I'll then be looking at how resources can be allocated at a spatial scale to best deliver a range of policy outcomes... in other words there will be quite a lot of data flying around.

I have an as yet un negotiated budget for a new computer but I need to know roughly how much (a) the minimum requirements cost and (b) how much I will benefit from a better system and at what cost.

Obviously all this is too much for an online forum to answer and being almost illiterate on these things means I'm unlikely to be able to adequately describe my requirements, but I'm just not exactly sure what the processor speed(?) contributes to and the RAM contributes to.

When I worked for the local authority, we had the fastest PC's in the organisation just to run ArcGIS. Still crashed all the time!

Matters not. I can get them sent anywhere there. Do you know of anyone heading over from there?

Try Winston, he's over from there quite regularly.