Romanian Bitcoin Entrepreneur Steps In To Pay OpenBSD Shortfall

If he's a real billionaire... by Neo-Rio-101 · 2014-01-19 17:48 · Score: 2

.... he's not going to want the attention, lest he get kidnapped.

--
READY.
PRINT ""+-0

Re:If he's a real billionaire... by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 17:55 · Score: 1

He's got his harem to protect him.
Re:If he's a real billionaire... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2014-01-19 18:05 · Score: 2

Have you seen the history of leu? It probably explains why he got into Bitcoin - he wanted to convert his savings into a more stable currency. ;-)

--
Ezekiel 23:20
Re:If he's a real billionaire... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-20 03:11 · Score: 1

Mod parent up.
For those not in the know. The Monopoly Guy paid OpenBSD's electric bill with Monopoly Money last year. Back then, one unit of the Monopoly currency was worth about $800.

Re:Perhaps... by Taco+Cowboy · 2014-01-19 17:51 · Score: 3, Informative

It's still better than someone who gave nothing but cheap hot air.

--
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !

Hmmmm by cold+fjord · 2014-01-19 17:51 · Score: 4, Interesting

Interesting....

I hope it works out for OpenBSD, but the proof is in the pudding.... or the check clearing.

--
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell

Re:Hmmmm by l0n3s0m3phr34k · 2014-01-20 00:29 · Score: 2

I have, but my theory was mashed Twinkies tasted better in butterscotch pudding. After my experimentation resulting in a tasty combo - my proof WAS in the pudding. Science never tasted so good...
Re:Hmmmm by pankkake · 2014-01-20 05:07 · Score: 1

http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/contributors.html MPEx is now listed.

--
Kill all hipsters.
Re:Hmmmm by EETech1 · 2014-01-20 05:17 · Score: 1

I'll see your pudding dipped twinkies, and raise you Mandarin oranges in chocolate pudding FTW!

Re:Perhaps... by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 17:55 · Score: 2

In Canada that actually should be rather easy.

Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 17:59 · Score: 2, Interesting

He sells futures, which he refuses to honor if he loses.

He steals from people.

OpenBSD should refuse his donation, the funds are the proceeds of crime.

Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 18:02 · Score: 1

He honors his losses. Links please?
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Immerman · 2014-01-19 18:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

Assume everything you say is true, it seems to me there are two outcomes possible:
(1) Donation accepted:
criminal has less money
OpenBSD safe for another year (or whatever)
(2) Donation refused:
criminal has more money to perpetuate further crimes
OpenBSD remains in danger of shutting down
In what universe is (2) a better outcome?
Now if Popescu is attempting to buy considerations that might change things, but being a criminal doesn't automatically mean you can't be an honest philanthropist, just look at Bill Gates. (Okay, so maybe not the worlds best possible example of honest philanthropy, but still)

--
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 18:25 · Score: 1

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=350103.0
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by ChunderDownunder · 2014-01-19 18:40 · Score: 4, Funny

Perhaps Obama could chip in some of the bitcoin seized from Silk Road to keep OpenBSD afloat. :)
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 18:52 · Score: 1

Pretty much retards trying to dirty Mircea while pumping their scams. Bitcointalk is the worst place for BTC news.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by r.freeman · 2014-01-19 19:29 · Score: 2

If that is how "wire fraud" works then you need to change your law. But isn't it like that in biggest police state (the USA), but less so in Canada?
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by r.freeman · 2014-01-19 19:30 · Score: 1

Or we could be like civilized people and demand some evidence instead of believing random black pr.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by jones_supa · 2014-01-19 19:52 · Score: 1

Links? Go an read bitcointalk. This guy is a real scum.
From https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=64962.0:
As to your last point: there do seem to be a significant number of scammers floating about, so I can easily understand the "assume everyone's a scammer" attitude, I imagine it works well in a majority of cases. However Mircea Popescu is both well known and well respected in the bitcoin community and beyond, so this'd be one case of the minority.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 22:02 · Score: 1

Slashdot, where the most charitable man in world history by amount given can be lower than a known criminal because he invented Windows. I mean, even Hitler didn't invent windows right guys?
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by l0n3s0m3phr34k · 2014-01-20 00:36 · Score: 1

Hitler does influence my mistrust of crappy artists...I'm always now suspecting any failed artists will attempt to implement a world-wide genocidal fascist regime!
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-20 02:08 · Score: 1

Actually Hitler did invent Windows. However since back then, almost nobody (including himself) had ever heard of a computer, nobody (including himself) could make sense of it, so he considered the idea worthless and threw it away. However it happened that he missed the rubbish bin, and the paper went behind some cupboard where nobody considered it worth getting it out to throw it away.
After the war, some American soldier found the paper with the notes, did not know what it was, and so it got forwarded up along the command chain until it went to General Failure. He couldn't make sense of it either, but took it home for further study in his off-time.
However his little son, who had no idea about what it was, took the paper to make his children's drawings on them. He put those drawings into a drawer, where he forgot about them. His father never found out what happened to it. However his career was ended by losing those notes. It was at that time that "Failure" became synonymous with "no success", and that the term "Failure is not an option" was coined, initially used when looking for candidates for high positions.
Many years later, when going to Harvard, the son found his old drawings, and noticed the notes on the paper. He also couldn't make sense of them, but thought they looked interesting, so he took the paper with him to Harvard. Later, when he had learned about Computers, he finally could understand those notes. He concluded that nobody would want to use such crap anyway and threw it into the next paper basket.
Then Bill Gates came along, looking in the paper basket to see whether there's something interesting in it. He found the notes, saw the marketing potential, and took the papers with him. Years later, he implemented it and sold it under the name "Windows".
Captcha: tyranny ;-)
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Luthair · 2014-01-20 02:29 · Score: 3, Insightful

I have no idea who any of these posters are but the PR person's posts certainly have all the hallmarks of a scammer.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Immerman · 2014-01-20 04:00 · Score: 1

Who said anything about lower? Do you disagree with either of the following statements?
* Bill Gates, as CEO of Microsoft, is guilty of repeatedly engaging in criminal monopolistic behavior.
* Bill Gates, as a philanthropist, has a reputation for engaging in a lot of "philanthropy" that seems to have more to do with expanding the power of his philanthropic empire than actually helping people. (Note that I am NOT denying that he also does a lot of good)
That makes Bill Gate an excellent well-known example of a criminal who is also a philanthropist, but not necessarily the best example of an "honest" philanthropist.

--
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by Immerman · 2014-01-20 05:33 · Score: 1

Was he not he at the helm of a company repeatedly convicted for engaging in criminal monopolistic practices under his guidance? That he was a criminal is difficult to deny, regardless of the personal immunity afforded him by the corporate veil.

--
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by iggymanz · 2014-01-20 06:50 · Score: 1

do you have any real proof to your assertions other than you unfounded opinions. it is trivial to slander anyone posting as AC. Do you have links to arrests, investigations, complaints to law enforcement or any such?
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by evilviper · 2014-01-20 08:27 · Score: 1

Theo long ago burned his bridges with the US government, back when they were giving OpenBSD money. That's a big reason why they are perpetually under funded.

--
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Re:Mircea Popescu is a criminal... nothing more by tender-matser · 2014-01-22 11:43 · Score: 1

Assume everything you say is true, it seems to me there are two outcomes possible:
[...]

It's not that simple.
OpenBSD already has an image problem; it has been already viciously attacked by various trolls, using means that border on criminal (like creating a fake deraadt twitter account). Unfortunately, most of shit thrown at it has stuck.
At this point, being publicly associated with such a primitive, obvious con-man like this "Mircea Popescu" may very well be the death-knell for them.
It's not only sad, it's ridiculous.

Re:Hey - NSFW by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 18:04 · Score: 1

It's the right link.

Re:Perhaps... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2014-01-19 18:06 · Score: 5, Funny

Cheap hot air is actually great if you have a gas turbine and a generator and can sell the resulting electricity.

--
Ezekiel 23:20

Re:Perhaps... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 18:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

How is this modded +2?

Coinbase.com makes it trivially easy. For people who are willing to put in some legwork, there's localbitcoins.com

I haven't tried bitpay.com but I understand that it works just as well as coinbase. Stop spreading FUD and educate yourself.

Re:Hey - NSFW by Frosty+Piss · 2014-01-19 18:08 · Score: 1, Interesting

In Canada that actually should be rather easy.

1. What's NSFW about the Twitter page? A guy with an open shirt?
2. It's after 9pm PST on the MLK weekend. Where do you work?
3. What are you doing surfing Slashdot at work for anyway?

--
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.

HERE I AM TO SAVE THE DAY !! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 18:11 · Score: 1

A bitcoin story with .. ah, who cares with what - IT IS BITCOIN AND IT HAS SAVED THE DAY !!

Re: Hey - NSFW by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 18:15 · Score: 2, Insightful

Twitter is NEVER the right link

Re:Perhaps... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 18:18 · Score: 2, Interesting

From personal experience, I've had no trouble converting ten times that to Euros.

Re:Perhaps... by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 18:32 · Score: 1

it has been done in more difficult locales before.

Re:Hey - NSFW by ChunderDownunder · 2014-01-19 18:37 · Score: 2

It's Monday evening east of the international date line. Slashdot has an international readership...

Where I'm from, NSFW stands for New South F'ing Wales, Australia. Yet this article is about Romania, not Sydney. :)

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by _merlin · 2014-01-19 18:44 · Score: 1

And you sir are way too shovinistic.. do you also have problems with jews and everything that is not your kind?

The word you're looking for is "xenophobic". Also, you should learn to spell "chauvinistic" in case it actually is the word you need at some point.

Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by hackus · 2014-01-19 18:58 · Score: 4, Insightful

That sort of an electrical bill is a crap explanation in my opinion to support the development and deployment of OpenBSD developers and users.

Poor management is more likely the explanation.

I mean, for example to not watch the cash flow, and all of a sudden require a huge cash intake is something I don't understand.

This sort of problem should have been apparent YEARS AGO, anyone managing the infrastructure could have seen coming and there should have been PLENTY of time to correct the issue.

Am I missing something here people if so please do explain.

-Hack

--
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.

Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 19:07 · Score: 4, Informative

This electricity bill was explained last Slashdot post. OpenBSD builds for VAX. OpenBSD builds for 68K. I for one am happy someone builds modern software to let the Vaxen run.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Pinhedd · 2014-01-19 19:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's purely poor management. From what I understand, the build servers are absolutely archaic beasts that had they been replaced long ago would not have led to such astronomically high bills. It also doesn't help that they seem to be located in Theo de Raadt's basement.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Narcocide · 2014-01-19 21:02 · Score: 2

The point is that OpenBSD (along with the myriad softwares packaged with it and available through ports) is useful enough on its own. Not everyone's idea of useless is "doesn't play World of Warcraft."
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 21:37 · Score: 1

There's a lot of fun to be had running OpenGenera. Don't knock it until you try it.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by labawi · 2014-01-20 02:53 · Score: 1

According to the messages on OpenBSD mailing list, running on old and vastly different hardware means they can test software on different architectures and find bugs more easily. So running on the old architectures among other things helps fix software on all architectures, even other operating systems.
AFAIK most new (and more efficient) hardware is vastly more similar than the older architectures.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Nimey · 2014-01-20 03:29 · Score: 1

Because some OpenBSD neckbeard or another thinks it's cool to keep compatibility with '80s hardware and probably has such a computer or three at home.
IMO it's nice in a "hey, your code has great platform independence" way, but I don't see much point in it either.

--
Hail Eris, full of mischief...

E pluribus sanguinem
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Nimey · 2014-01-20 03:32 · Score: 1

One wonders if simply compiling and running on a SimH virtual machine might be a better use of electricity, especially considering that even an Atom-powered server is going to be much faster than a real VAX.

--
Hail Eris, full of mischief...

E pluribus sanguinem
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Bite+The+Pillow · 2014-01-20 05:05 · Score: 1

You can't correct a lack of donations without some sort of crisis. Typically, that crisis is advertising a lack of funding.
Years ago they identified the same problem and worked to fix it. Obviously it was not permanent.
So no, in your sense, management is not the problem.
But management refuses to use donated rack space and insists on testing on real hardware for obscure platforms.
Some say that's poor management, some say it is needed.
Still others say if it were needed it would be funded, yet more others say corporate freeloaders use the code but don't give back, and if they did there would be no funding problem.
Where you stand depends on your preconceptions mostly, and whether you read about previous shortfall announcements.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by unixisc · 2014-01-20 05:07 · Score: 1

Yeah, platform independence was nice in the early 90s when there were something like 5 RISC platforms competing for dominance, and both Unix and NT were vying for control of all platforms - x86 and RISC. Today, all the RISC platforms are fringe platforms as far as general computing goes (ARM tablets or phones or PPC consoles or MIPS routers not included here), and so it makes sense to develop the most optimal solutions for those, and then freeze it at that.
So yeah, it would make more sense if they would look at either the R-Pis or Arduinos or something actively manufactured today - including Chinese or Taiwanese boxes. Rather than something that ever owner has either retired already, or is looking @ retiring soon.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by unixisc · 2014-01-20 05:24 · Score: 1
There are good points above, but the points raised by people making the suggestions are also valid.
It's true that there are diverse developers developing this on now dead machines. But that's one of the things contributing to the excessive power consumption in Theo's basement. If his devs have it in theirs, it's one thing, but for what he has, he should consider the options:
- - Try get hold of modern equivalents to some of the machines. Like instead of Power MACs, get hold of some IBM P series boxes - obviously 2nd hand. Similarly, instead of SPARCstation 20s, get current boxes that Oracle sells.
- - For the others, like the SGIs, VAX/Alphas, Motorola 68k, have no more than 1 box of any architecture.
Once this is done, look at streamlining some of the architectures. You don't need 5 RISC platforms to optimize your OS for RISC. Similarly, 1 little endian - x64 - and 1 big endian - say current SPARC - should be adequate. Things like superscalar vs superpipelined architectures won't matter as far as instruction sets go. But given that power consumption is high, having Alphas or Vaxes downstairs is a luxury.
He is welcome to ignore these suggestions, but then, they don't have too much of a case when they refuse to do anything to sensibly bring down their costs.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by iggymanz · 2014-01-20 06:13 · Score: 1

wrong. one machine per architecture? you speak out of ignorance of how the OpenBSD build and test process is done.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by iggymanz · 2014-01-20 06:21 · Score: 2

not poor management at all, the varying architectures with their alignment issues expose bugs, many of them. Did you know projects like Linux have huge alignment bugs that cause major security holes that crop up again and again because they mainly build and test only on x86-32 and x86-64? If you follow the CVE you'd know this.
The power requirements are not astronomical at all, those of us in the business of caring for racked servers in HVAC controlled areas know this.
here's a post from Theo about the power:
"It is not a lot of power; that is a myth.
The power bill is around $1500/month, to run 2.5 racks of equipment
with really good air conditioning. Relative to this, 1 full rack in a
Calgary datacenter is over $1000/month. Considering this is 2.5 racks
the current operation is VERY COST EFFECTIVE RELATIVE TO THE
ALTERNATIVES."
-- quoted from here
List: openbsd-misc
Subject: Re: Request for Funding our Electricity
From: Theo de Raadt
Date: 2014-01-18 3:38:05
Message-ID: 201401180338.s0I3c5jF003813 () cvs ! openbsd ! org
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by iggymanz · 2014-01-20 06:32 · Score: 1

if you would look at actual market share stats, plenty of other architecture than x86 or x86-64 still have significant chunks.
openbsd exposes bugs when compiling on various architectures, one of the big reasons they do so. Linux continually has alignment security holes (look at the CVE) because it focuses on x86 and x86-64
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by rubycodez · 2014-01-20 07:18 · Score: 1

The last Vax were produced in 2005, not the 1980s.
UltarSparc, PPC, various MIPS, even Itanium still account for billions in system sales per year.
You only know what your PC has, I take it.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by rubycodez · 2014-01-20 07:29 · Score: 1

no software? there are a couple thousand binary packages and even more in the ports tree for OpenBSD on Vax to run.
Re: Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by ralphsiegler · 2014-01-20 08:51 · Score: 1

They have found emulators aren't perfect. They'd be in the emulator debugging business. And the devs who do alternative architecture for openbsd are familiar with various pipular emulators as those of us who follow obsd newsgroups know. Those project machines get heavy use for test/build
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by ralphsiegler · 2014-01-20 09:13 · Score: 1

Similarly, 1 little endian - x64 - and 1 big endian - say current SPARC - should be adequate No, there are also alignment issue variations, not just endian ones. Current Sparc is bi-endian, by the way. You aren't into OS development or systems programming, I take it.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Nimey · 2014-01-20 09:57 · Score: 1

There's plenty of ARM and MIPS machines out there, yes, but today generally in the embedded space (although this may change), and the remaining architectures are statistical noise. IA64 is dead, SuperH is dead, Power is irrelevant for OpenBSD's use cases, Sparc is nearly irrelevant period outside of Oracle servers.
The picture changes when you consider older machines like Sparcstations, PPC Macs, etc., that aren't supported by their mfrs anymore, yes, but there's a world of difference, performance and utility-wise, between a Power Mac G5 and a MicroVAX.
On the gripping hand, it's their hobby and it's not hurting anyone besides their ability to pay for electricity.

--
Hail Eris, full of mischief...

E pluribus sanguinem
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by Pinhedd · 2014-01-20 10:01 · Score: 1

I made no comment about the varying architectures, I made a comment about the build servers themselves.
2.5 racks of ancient equipment is too much equipment. Modernizing those servers would cut the physical and electrical load down by at least 80%. Moving it to a more effective location would go even further. There are some places in the states that rent out a full 42u rack with a 20 amp supply and an unmetered gigabit link for around $700 a month. Colocation in Canada is more expensive across the board but there are comparable services in the GTA.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by shutdown+-p+now · 2014-01-20 13:57 · Score: 1

Then drop support for them, unless people who actually use them in real world foot the bill.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by ralphsiegler · 2014-01-20 15:38 · Score: 1

Two of openbsd newer supported architectures are octeon MIPS64 and beagle ARMV7.

Don't know why you seem to imply embedded space is different than openbsd space. You do realize openbsd is used in the embedded space, even in some commercial elevator controllers (and plenty of other embedded system)? Some of their ports are for embedded devices

Still plenty of 64 bit sparc around, used for more than Oracle if we're just talking major uses. MRP, EPR, statistics packages, project management/scheduling, engineering, insurance all still markets for that iron. note #4 supercomputer in the world is sparc based. so still around and still relevant for things other than oracle. As for what openbsd will support, all the way up to Fujitsu Sparc64-VII with the 64 bit port.

Itanium not my favorite chip, but sales of servers based on it still over 4 billion USD a year. FreeBSD, Linux support some of those and NetBSD has port in the works. not an OpenBSD port but you seemed to think it was "dead". not yet, and intel will make new models until 2020 at least as per contract.

sure it's the developers hobby, but their wares are everywhere, from elevator controllers to routers to printers to servers.
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by ralphsiegler · 2014-01-20 15:50 · Score: 1

USA would be worst place possible for hosting project with focus of openbsd, that's a country that claimed encryption was a munition in the past, and still restricts it now. Modernizing? some platforms don't have any current system to modernize to, it's a question of getting used systems. the openbsd project does have a list of desired donation equipment: http://www.openbsd.org/want.ht...
Re:Serious Questions about OpenBSD infrastructure by hackus · 2014-01-21 08:11 · Score: 1

Ok well than that is fine.
I am not arguing about how the implementation of the development should proceed. If they truly need specific older models of hardware to do on point engineering of the OS kernel that demonstrates superior debug outcomes, fine.
BUT PLAN THE BUDGET TO DO SO.
Don't hold everyone on all architectures hostage because a 1989 Vax system chews up 90% of the electrical bill.
If people want that sort of support it has to be paid for SOMEHOW.
-Hack

--
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.

Re:Perhaps... by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 19:04 · Score: 1

Well, Canada is an easy locale to turn a lot of BTC into local cash. An example of a hard locale would be Somalia.

Re:Before you accept anything from this criminal by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 19:12 · Score: 1

What, the place where MPOE-PR has been one of the few consistent voices of reason since the olden times.

Re:Perhaps... by r.freeman · 2014-01-19 19:16 · Score: 3, Informative

Daily 12.000.000 usd worth of bitcoin is converted on biggest exchange ( http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/btceUSD.html ) Converting 20.000 usd is triviall.

Re:Perhaps... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 19:17 · Score: 1

Great! You can use that electricity to generate Bitcoins, then you can sell those to get actual money!

Re:Perhaps... by r.freeman · 2014-01-19 19:19 · Score: 2

Even local bitcoins would do it: https://localbitcoins.com/buy-bitcoins-online/cad/ Or just set up account with mtgox, btc-e or any of various other exchanges, and get money wired to your bank account, what is the problem?

Re:Perhaps... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-19 19:25 · Score: 1

I sold 25 Bitcoin for $23,000 with CaVirtex. It took me a couple of weeks to get my account verified, but I did get the money out.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by r.freeman · 2014-01-19 19:28 · Score: 1, Insightful

Mircea Popescu is very nice person, thank you for saving OpenBSD. Now, why are some a-holes here bouthmouthing one person that did something to help OpenBSD's problem?! And jumping to conclusions and all. Jesus Christ that will teach any future milionares to sponsor FOSS.

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by vikingpower · 2014-01-19 19:30 · Score: 1

The article under the link makes a good point. So do you. Truth is, I am betting hard that next summer, when I will celebrate 20 years without interruption on the server side of the IT business ( programming & design ), I have never, never ever seen a production system relying / running on any BSD. Theo de Raadt was saved by the bell. This time.

There, 'nuff said.

--
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by Moridineas · 2014-01-19 19:53 · Score: 5, Informative

Romanian != Roma.

Romania is a country whose inhabitants are called, in English, Romanians. The name of the country (and therefore the people) comes from Rome. The Roman Empire. THAT Rome. Romanian--like French, Spanish, and Italian--is a romance language descended directly from Latin. Some even argue that it's the Romance language that today most closely resembles Latin!

Roma, on the other hand, is a name for a minority population of people that most probably emigrated from South Asia over a thousand years ago. AKA gypsies. The word Roma comes from some Roma dialect and has no connection to Romania or Roman other than as homonyms. Good example of a false congate--they sound alike, but there is no connection.

Admittedly, the conflation is a common mistake to make, especially since there is a very large (comparatively speaking) Roma population in Romania.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 20:01 · Score: 2, Interesting

Here, here. Where was Tim Cook? Where was Steve Wozniak? WHere was the Oracle douche Ellison? Missing. What was here for the Open Source Movement? An mysterious Bitcoin Billionaire who likes young women nude in public.

Re:Perhaps... by Savage-Rabbit · 2014-01-19 20:17 · Score: 1

Cheap hot air is actually great if you have a gas turbine and a generator and can sell the resulting electricity.

So can we fit one to the capitol building? Lots of cheap hot air is going to waste there at the moment.

--
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow

Re:Hey - NSFW by symbolset · 2014-01-19 20:22 · Score: 1

Not really. For some monitoring and influencing social media - including /. - is their work.

--
Help stamp out iliturcy.

Welcome to 'new submitter' MrBingoBoingo by Hal_Porter · 2014-01-19 20:29 · Score: 1

I'm sure you'll fit in here just fine. Has anyone told you what happened to John Katz yet? Oh, yeah. We Don't Talk About That.

--
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;

Re:Welcome to 'new submitter' MrBingoBoingo by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 21:39 · Score: 1

John or Joel Katz. Entrepreneurs are curious.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by r.freeman · 2014-01-19 20:33 · Score: 1, Offtopic

You know most man like young women. More NEWS AT 11: most man like sex and many like beer. But keep on being hater, instead appreciating donations.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-19 20:37 · Score: 1

I never meant that as a negative.

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by Renegade88 · 2014-01-19 20:52 · Score: 1

That's a well-known troll site, which should be obvious even to the uninitiated after reading 20 lines in. So either you're gullible or you are perpetuating that guy's troll intentionally. Neither option looks good for you, sorry.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by flyingfsck · 2014-01-19 21:16 · Score: 1

You hear with your ears. The exclamation is 'Hear, hear!"

--
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by zazzel · 2014-01-19 22:38 · Score: 1, Redundant

Romanian--like French, Spanish, and Italian--is a romance language descended directly from Latin. Some even argue that it's the Romance language that today most closely resembles Latin!

I'd say it's the language that most closely resembles Italian. You can really confuse them, at least with your eyes closed. Of course, if you open your eyes again, you will easily spot the Italian: It's the one constantly using his/her hands to make gestures. Italian is probably the only language that doesn't leave out deaf people. You can essentially *see* everything that's being said. And of course, even if your hearing is somewhat impaired, you can also still hear it. At the other end of town.

Re:Perhaps... by pantaril · 2014-01-19 23:17 · Score: 4, Informative

This assumes that 20,000$ worth of bitcoins can be converted to real money.

This assumption is correct.

Re:Perhaps... by pantaril · 2014-01-19 23:19 · Score: 4, Informative

The point is, there are no BUYERS. It will not happen. No one is going to pay $20k of REAL money for bitcoins.

I don't know WTF are you talking about but converting bitcoins to 20k USD is non-issue on most existing exchanges like coinbase, bitstamp, mtgox or btc-e. Just go and see their daily trade volume.

Re:Hey - NSFW by el+momia · 2014-01-19 23:54 · Score: 1

3. What are you doing surfing Slashdot at work for anyway?

I surf slashdot like 60% of my working hours

Re:Perhaps... by dreamchaser · 2014-01-19 23:59 · Score: 1

Cheap hot air is actually great if you have a gas turbine and a generator and can sell the resulting electricity.

So can we fit one to the capitol building? Lots of cheap hot air is going to waste there at the moment.

Hell, just strap a mask onto Al Gore and collect his hot air. Maybe that + Congress would solve all of our energy needs!

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by Alioth · 2014-01-20 00:17 · Score: 1

You are a data point of one. I can ssh into about half a dozen production OpenBSD boxes right now.

You've also likely used OpenSSH which comes from the OpenBSD project (unless you're a Windows only admin).

--
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by l0n3s0m3phr34k · 2014-01-20 00:27 · Score: 1

He is the "MP" in MPEx, the major bitcoin exchange. Unfortunately, it's not a completely unique name and there is a few others with the same name...

Re:Hey - NSFW by l0n3s0m3phr34k · 2014-01-20 00:32 · Score: 1

I'm in Tulsa, ok - so I live under the buckle of the Bible belt. I've gotten "in trouble" at corps from these tiny icons that show skin, for some reason the people walking by my cube being nosy claimed "it looked like they where naked" from a 1 inch pic as they quickly glanced over. Very annoying, but some of us have to be careful for certain things...totally insane but my only solution is to move out of the state.

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by vikingpower · 2014-01-20 00:35 · Score: 1

Granted for the first point. Second point: true, I use openSSH every day, in production. But that is quite different from an entire OS.

--
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace

Re:Perhaps... by gox · 2014-01-20 00:51 · Score: 3, Informative

OpenBSD already accepts Bitcoin donations:

http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/donations.html

Just sent 50 CAD worth, easy peasy. They get converted on the fly to the local currency by BitPay.

Are you from 2010?

So near and yet so far by Eunuchswear · 2014-01-20 00:56 · Score: 1

Wouldn't it have been so much better if it were "A Bulgarian Bitcoin Billionaire"

--
Watch this Heartland Institute video

Re:So near and yet so far by Eunuchswear · 2014-01-20 03:37 · Score: 1

Don't get it.
If it's DogeCoin shouldn't it be Venetian?

--
Watch this Heartland Institute video

Re:Perhaps... by Eunuchswear · 2014-01-20 00:58 · Score: 1

So can we fit one to the capitol building? Lots of cheap hot air is going to waste there at the moment.

Cheap!

--
Watch this Heartland Institute video

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by Eunuchswear · 2014-01-20 01:11 · Score: 1

Here, here.

Where was Tim Cook? Where was Steve Wozniak? WHere was the Oracle douche Ellison? .

Fuck that, where was Steve Jobs!

--
Watch this Heartland Institute video

Re:Perhaps... by Keerok · 2014-01-20 01:12 · Score: 2

Some languages reverse tje use of the period instead and the comma. The French definitely do it. Makes it a bit confusing I suppose, but the the groupings of 3 0s is a good indicator.

Re:Perhaps... by Tynin · 2014-01-20 01:31 · Score: 1

Yup, if you look at the 3 big exchanges that deal with USD, you'll see $1.4 BILLION USD changing hands in the last month for bitcoins. It isn't rare to see a couple million $$$ change hands in small handful of trades.

Very cool of him by ikhider · 2014-01-20 02:40 · Score: 1

I am very glad to see these projects funded. I like a diverse ecosystem of operating systems and ideas as opposed to a homogeneous realm of only one flavor of GNU/Linux or BSD. The more things being tried, the better. Despite the bitterness expressed here with the OpenBSD team and the way they run things, I admire their dedication. They produce some lovely stuff like OpenSSH. I am not a fan of Godaddy, but was pleased even they sent a cheque for development of OpenSSH. It is a worthwhile goal. The more operating operating systems out there, the better. Especially ones focused on security. My understanding is some hospital and other critical infrastructure use OpenBSD.

--
"SO we bide our time, waiting for a purer kick to bloom and the future is still bleak, uncertain and beautiful" -GSYBE

Re:Perhaps... by shaitand · 2014-01-20 03:09 · Score: 1

How can you get to a bank account in 15mins? I can convert instantly but two business days are required to get it to my bank.

keeping developers honest by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-20 03:38 · Score: 2, Informative

From what I understand, the build servers are absolutely archaic beasts that had they been replaced long ago would not have led to such astronomically high bills. /p>

There are a variety of of build serves. There are ones for SPARC (and SPARC64), MacPPC, SGI/MIPS, VAX, etc.:

http://openbsd.org/plat.html

One of the reasons why this is done is help expose bugs. Some issues are only exposed on non-mainstream architectures, and if everyone only uses certain CPUs, then they won't be found (as easily). Back in the early 1990s, not many people used DEC Alpha, but by supporting it (both in the BSD and Linux world), it kept kernel developers "honest" when it came to supporting things besides 32-bit Intel. When AMD64 came along (and then Intel's uptake of it), the code was a lot cleaner and able to better support it with a minimal of fuss (Linus has himself so stated).

Similarly if you supported RISC-y processors like 68K, MIPS, and SPARC, you would be better prepared for when ARM came along in the mainstream. Similarly support for big- and little-endian CPUs, and CPUs that are bi-endian, keeps kernel folks honest for things like alignment issues.

This is why I also think that userland developers should developers should try running their software on non-Linux systems in at least a perfunctory fashion. When Debian made the switch from Bash to dash for /bin/sh it broken a lot of things. If developers had tried some simply tests of their software on (say) a BSD, they would have learned quite quickly that they had used Bash-ism and needed to either change their code, or simply explicitly used a shebang of /bin/bash.

The computer world is not homegenous, and any developer (kernel or userland) who thinks otherwise limits themselves unnecessary and is asking for pain when their assumptions are proven false when reality changes (like the rise of amd64 and ARM, and with Debian's change of /bin/sh).

Re:Ignoramus by ThatsDrDangerToYou · 2014-01-20 03:42 · Score: 1

Yeah, well I think Chauvin was an asshole, but hell, if you'd been badly wounded in a war, you might be pretty cranky yourself.

Re:Perhaps... by PRMan · 2014-01-20 03:49 · Score: 1

Well, since you can donate the bitcoins directly, it really doesn't matter.

--
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...

Re:Perhaps... by ttucker · 2014-01-20 05:05 · Score: 1

I am SUPER CEREAL GUYS MAN BEAR PIG we have to fill the cave with MOLTEN LEAD.

Re:Perhaps... by killkillkill · 2014-01-20 05:16 · Score: 1

No one is going to pay $20k of REAL money for bitcoins

Right, but many people will pay $20k of the "money" issued by the Federal Reserve.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by Immerman · 2014-01-20 05:28 · Score: 1

Your sentiment is quite correct. I should have made it more explicit that I know nothing of Popescu except that he has made this generous donation to a worthy project, and my assumption was purely for the sake of argument.

That said I should also say I know absolutely nothing about his "niceness" either, the quality appears to have no particular correlation with either generosity or alleged criminal behavior.

--
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by Immerman · 2014-01-20 05:30 · Score: 1

But then wouldn't it be " 'ear, 'ear", or should that be " 'ere, 'ere"?

--
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.

Proof? by iggymanz · 2014-01-20 05:30 · Score: 1

any proof that this isn't just someone typing into IRC?

where is the announcement from Theo?

Rumour by martinschrder · 2014-01-20 05:53 · Score: 1

Till this is confirmed by Theo, this is nothing more than rumour, which might actually harm the project.

Re:Rumour by ConstantineM · 2014-01-20 07:28 · Score: 1

It has been confirmed:

The MPEx Bitcoin stock exchange (run by Mircea Popescu) is listed on the significant contributors page.
Also, according to Bob Beck, director of OpenBSD Foundation, 100k has been raised so far; their target goal for 2014 fundraising is 150k:
http://www.openbsdfoundation.org/campaign2014.html

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by Kremmy · 2014-01-20 06:40 · Score: 1

There are an awful lot of appliance-oriented BSD systems, like pfSense and FreeNAS. Are you sure you've never encountered one in a production environment?

Re:lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by uvajed_ekil · 2014-01-20 07:33 · Score: 1

Racist. Not all Romanians are gypsies, and "gypsy" is a term with negative connotations anyway. I don't think they even self-iedntify as Romanian. Way to post anonymously, coward. And I wouldn't worry about OpenBSD being tainted by bitcoins. Bitcoins are fine, and OpenBSD is better alive than dead, no?

--
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.

Re:Before you accept anything from this criminal by uvajed_ekil · 2014-01-20 07:36 · Score: 2

Before you accept anything from bitcointalk, make sure you punch yourself in the face (and maybe read news ANYWHERE else when you are done). That site is a joke, still, is it always has been.

--
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.

wow! by cripkd · 2014-01-20 08:00 · Score: 1

I'm in this branch for about 10 years and until last year I did support a FreeBSD running Apache and being used to host a site. So I was that lucky?

--
Curiously yours, crip.

Let it die by simon1tan · 2014-01-20 08:59 · Score: 1

Please just let it die so those programmers can focus their efforts on something more relevant.

Re:Let it die by ralphsiegler · 2014-01-20 09:22 · Score: 1

Are you sure it's not relevant to you? Softwares from the OpenBSD project are in commercial controllers and appliances, in Linux distributions, in Mac OSX....

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by cmdrbuzz · 2014-01-20 09:03 · Score: 1

Then you'd be wrong.

Ever seen a Juniper switch, router, firewall?
How about a Citrix NetScaler?
Or maybe a NetApp filer?

BSD is inside a hell of a lot of kit, unless you work inside your mothers basement then chances are, you've seen BSD production systems.

Re:Perhaps... by TheRealMindChild · 2014-01-20 09:22 · Score: 1

only mtgox

--

"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson

Re:Perhaps... by shaitand · 2014-01-20 13:13 · Score: 1

It matters to those of us who use bitcoin regularly. Also, the plural of bitcoin should be bitcoin not bitcoins. Whole units have no significance when handling bitcoin since there are no physical bits and you rarely hold or exchange even whole units.

Re:Perhaps... by shutdown+-p+now · 2014-01-20 13:43 · Score: 1

Admittedly I'm not dealing with sums anywhere near this magnitude, but so far I was able to withdraw every single cent of my proceeds from VirWoX (for a total of something approaching $1.5k over the last couple months). I'm using it because it was the easiest to set up, as they withdraw directly to your PayPal account, so all you need is to have one.

Re:Perhaps... by shutdown+-p+now · 2014-01-20 13:44 · Score: 1

I don't know about instantly getting it into the bank account, but I can instantly have it in my PayPal account. From there to the bank then takes the usual 2 days, but I can spend it immediately in places which accept PayPal, which is quite a lot of them.

Re:There is always that *one* guy... by vikingpower · 2014-01-21 02:23 · Score: 1

Must be because I never get inside switches, routers or firewalls. I should have precised "production servers.

--
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by gr8dude · 2014-01-21 03:50 · Score: 1

> Romanian (i.e. gypsy)

These are different things. Perhaps you are confusing 'Rroma' with 'Romanian'?

--
The saddest poem

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by noh8rz10 · 2014-01-21 09:32 · Score: 1

> Romanian (i.e. gypsy)

These are different things. Perhaps you are confusing 'Rroma' with 'Romanian'?

did you read my post? obv not. btdubs the plural of roma is Romanian. it's different than the country! pay attention!

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by gr8dude · 2014-01-23 22:41 · Score: 1

I did read your post, and as a guy who speaks Romanian and has been to Romania and lives in a neighbor country - I am pretty confident in the fact that I understand this matter.

The plural of 'Rroma' (also spelled as 'Roma') is 'Romani', not 'Romanian'.

--
The saddest poem

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by noh8rz10 · 2014-01-24 03:32 · Score: 1

Romanian isn't a language. It's called Cyrillic. No stars!

Re: lol @ Romanian "btc billionaire" by gr8dude · 2014-01-24 05:47 · Score: 1

At this point I'm not sure if you're fooling around or are just misinformed, I will assume the latter.

Romanian is a language, and Cyrillic is a form of writing. You can write Romanian using a Cyrillic alphabet if you really want to, but that's not how Romanians themselves do it.

If you read the first paragraph of Wikipedias's articles on {Rroma, Romanian, Cyrillic} - you'll figure it out.

--
The saddest poem

Re:Mircea Popescu is very nice person by MrBingoBoingo · 2014-01-25 20:23 · Score: 1

Lol

Useful products for entrepreneurs by sashidharan_b · 2014-02-03 05:31 · Score: 1

I practice Business solutions. You can find some useful products for entrepreneurs here - https://www.instamojo.com/prac... You can also go through some articles related to entrepreneurship from the links below. Links: http://www.selfgrowth.com/expe... http://in.linkedin.com/in/sash... (Rated 'Expert' for profile strength) http://www.zintro.com/expert/s... ISSME Global SME Expert (www.issme.org) http://ezinearticles.com/?expe... Practice Website: http://sashidharanb.wix.com/bu... Products from practice: https://www.instamojo.com/prac...

Slashdot Mirror

Romanian Bitcoin Entrepreneur Steps In To Pay OpenBSD Shortfall

127 of 209 comments (clear)