I bought this book over three and a half years ago at a bookstore in the city (Melbourne) because I had read about the book on the web at the time and figured that I'd take a read. I loved it.
Still, I can't imagine reading it electronically. I read the book on the train travelling to and frm work at the time. I don't think I can see myself doing the same with a laptop although I have done so on few occasions to read issues of phrack and such. It's inconvenient. Not everyone has PDA's they can whip out on the train to read. Batteries die as well.
Anyway, for anyone who has a bit of spare time on their hands, I'd highly suggest taking a read. It's one of my favorite books of this type:)
I want one with eight G4 processors to boost my dnetc keyrate. I can't possibly work out why anyone would want a multiprocessor type parallel computer for anythhing else.
I find it uber cool that they've got Java support with it. Not only does this mean that people can write their own software for it but it also means the phone can be used to do more practical things.
For example, a telnet/ssh client? an IRC client? ICQ perhaps? Now there'll be NO escape from that "Uh Oh!" sound I'm already sick to death of hearing. I just want it to read Slashdot and make postings in case I ever need to go *outside* (not that anyone would do such a thing).
How can such a device currently compete with the existing array of PDAs (both WinCE and PalmOS) and communicator-style phones such as the Accompli?
Another thought - why is the USA GSM network so different? Why didn't they deploy the same standard everywhere? Does something in the USA already run on one of our frequencies? I always find it rather interesting that us Aussies seem to get our hands on newer phone technology than the USA does.
ANd finally, the multi-million dollar question:
How much does the sucker COST? If it's anything like the 9110, I'd rather an 8210 and a decent PDA. Guess it comes down to the fact that anybody can sell me anything that has an IRC client...
Locally, yes. We currently have a few peering exchnages/networks in most states but not every ISP, especially the large ones who want a slice of the money for their bandwidth, wishes to be on them...
It's unfortunate that large carriers are monopolistic over bandwidth. This time last year, there were no unlimited broadband solutions and unlimited dialup ISPs were far and few between. They still are.
A lot of people are saying that yes, Telstra has ONLY lost 60% of their international connectivity.
Let's put it into perspective.
Telstra currently have 980Mbps of international connectivity. They have lost their largest link, 622Mbps worth, so they need to route around the problem.
It's not that simple.
The moment the link died, it wrecked havoc with BGP routes everywhere. I couldn't get outside my ISPs own network (optus) to Telstra for around one and a half hours. Yes, true, other ISPs here also have int'l bandwidth, but it hardly compares to the near gigabit that Telstra have.
Any southern-cross delivered bandwidth has yet to be utilized since customers (i.e. the ISPs) are either waiting for their connection or are still playing around with the configuration (read: playing Quake III with sub-150msec latency before the cable is loaded). Optus/CW, MCI and NZ Telecom are *shareholders* basically. They still have to purchase their own bandwidth (and line their pockets with money after a while). Telstra has got Southern Cross cable capacity too but just like the smaller ISPs who might only have a few megabits, they don't *own* the cable.
Thankfully, I'm on the optus@home cable modem service so I don't need to touch Telstra int'l bandwidth but connectivity to local sites is still erratic.
In my past five years of experience on IRC, I've seen many networks begin, grow and die. I've seen the split of the Australian body of servers from Undernet to form their own IRC network (OzOrg), the beginnings of now the largest Australian IRC network AUSTnet, and of course, the IRCnet/EFnet split.
Why does everybody think that EFnet is dying? As I write this, over 44,000 unique clients are connected to EFnet distributed over 35 servers. That's roughly 1.2k clients per server - not exactly what I'd call dying. EFnet is also largely dominated by warez and pornography due to the pure size of the network. Many of the servers are constantly subjected to Denial of Service attacks such as smurf attacks, involving a large flood of traffic, costing ISPs a considerable amount of money and downtime. Typical efnet servers need to sustain traffic rates of around 50 kilobytes per second on average, just in IRC traffic, excluding the DoS.
Many ISPs decide to delink their IRC server. It's a large target to the "leet haxor" community saying "hey there! attack me!"
There are no registered channels or nicknames, meaning that if you run a channel there, it's your responsibility. It's a very old network, and lacks many of the nice services that most newer IRC users would expect (eg. channel/nick registration, help services etc) from networks such as DALnet and AUSTnet.
Different networks suit different people, and as long as the EFnet community remains around, the network will still exist in some shape or form.
-zardoz
You know, I'm quite surprised that finally we have a decent IT/technology thing in my home town. We've been robbed of a lot of nice technological exhibitions and trade shows (only Sydney has been getting them recently), and even out current trade show is a little lacking (www.interact2000.com.au), which is on right now.
In fact, I'm heading in there tomorrow, and might check out RoboCup while I'm at it.
DAMNIT! clicked the "post" button instead of "preview", only to realise that the topic I had written was unrelated to the topic... I was going to say something about the fact that how any joe bloggs can write a webpage using MS BackPage 2000 or something, and make it *look* like a legitamate news source, and people might start believing it...and bingo. Instant evidence. *watches slashdot karma drop a few notches*
I don't really have a favorite module out of these (since I use a mix of DEC Tulip and various 3com cards in my boxen), but I'd have to say that the tulip code is blahdi excellent.
1. I contacted Optus and they claimed that it WILL be unlimited data transfer both from within the cable network and externally, and the pricing will be "affordable".
2. Optus@home uses a separate date network to the Optus Spinnaker Internet backbone here in Australia - traceroute www.optushome.com.au from any optus connected host, and you'll notice it fly past few a few @home routers in the states). Keep this in mind - @home can afford to bring a cable over here and route cable traffic through it. It's not like they are going to go broke anytime soon.
3. You honestly think telstra is concerned about their cable service? It'll cost them too much money to move to the DOCSIS standard, and they want to phase out the network to replace it with ADSL later next year. Of course, they can't do this with a million cable users relying on the network. You'll get this answer if you ask a cluebie at Telstra (those things are rare) as to why cable hasn't been rolled out in Perth yet. -zardoz
For those who failed Geography, Australia is a fair distance from the states, and trans-pacific fibre aint cheap, and since there is a slight lack of spare fibre, Telstra seems to have most of the monopoly and they can charge whatever the hell they want.
So get this. Very few ISPs in Australia even offer an unlimited time+date modem account (I happen to be one of the fortunate few who signed up with Microplex, an ISP which was recently aquired by C&W Optus, and managed to get on an unlimited account while it still existed). Not many ISPs can afford it when Telstra charge like wounded bulls (don't believe me? - http://www.telstra.net has more info than you need). If one ISP decides to offer unlimited time and data (OzEmail, Telstra with their BigPond home dialup service, corplink/ozramp have done so in the past), all the users flock to the service, clogging dialin lines and incoming bandwidth, forcing the ISP to close the service. The only three ISPs who offer unlimited time+data that I am aware of are iHug (http://www.ihug.com.au) who use satellite for externally routed traffic (laggy), Dingoblue (http://www.dingoblue.com.au - $45/month, basically resold microplex accounts under a dealership arrangement or something) and EISA (http://www.eisa.net.au) who offer unlimited time and data, and are quite reasonable (they run a nice games server network) but they kick you off every four hours to stop abuse. This is a pain when on IRC, playing a good game of Quake, or doing a "make world" on a FreeBSD box.
Okay, we can allow for that. Till the southern cross cable network (http://www.southercrosscables.com) comes in, international bandwidth will remain scarce, and yes, Telstra does deserve a little money to cover costs. But charging for a network which costs them pretty much nothing to operate in terms of whether it's 20% or 80% utilised is just beyond the joke. I was really considering Telstra BigPond Advance for a VPN, but I guess I've missed out. Thank god I didn't sign up with them these holidays.
So now everyone's hanging out for Optus@home (http://www.optushome.com.au), the cable service we've been promised for the last three and a half years by Optus. According to a phone call I made to their information centre, it *WILL* be unlimited data (yes folks!), and it will use standard DOCSIS cable modems (the telstra BPA network does not - so the market will be flooded with useless cable modems now), and it will be limited to a 128Kbit/sec uplink, so using the network for servers won't prove to be successful. IPs are also dynamically assigned (like Telstra), and running proxy servers/NAT gateways is against the Access User Policy (anyone know if they can actually detect a NAT gateway being used?). So if you want to run a server, you can either wait for optus@work (which will be bandwidth metred, but I've heard that it will have static IP addresses, IP address blocks, reverse lookup DNS records, that sorta stuff), or we can sign up with Telstra's ISDN service (around $270/month for OnRamp express, allowing you to have a perm virtual "circuit" which allows you to call the one number you need for net access) plus internet access charges (typically AU$990/month for unlimited transfer). They are prices for a 64K ISDN link. anything above usually has utilisation costs and excess bandwidth charges.
You know, I think that Australia is the only countery with a national bandwidth enquiry.
I've got a few friends of mine who are cable users. Both of them are jumping ship to optus@home as soon as they can, and one of them gets "smurfed" (flooded with data) every so often. A few months ago, he was smurfed a few GB (I think it was 3.something, meaning around AU$810 for data that wasnt used).
well in closing, I'd like to say that if Optus@home pulls off an unlimited data cable network and charges *reasonably* for it, it has the potential to change the Australian internet market.
Well, I've had these nice combo for over a year now, and I still love them. Cost me AU$320 all up, too. But if you're looking at getting a set now, I know of (but can't remember the model number) of a sub + satellite set Yamaha have, with two standard inputs and one USB input (great for playing CD audio on a system that supports it..). The main advantage is that the sub goes down to 32hz, whereas the MSW10 only goes down to 35hz. Not much of a difference, but I could pick it. They go for AU$399. Alternatively, the M100 speakers for AU$199 simply kick ass, again by Yamaha. Then again, I suppose it's personal preference. Some people prefer their $40 sets to mine. It's best to listen to them all and then make a decision. No, I don't work for yamaha, but their stuff rocks in my opinion. Heck, I'd get a set of those vs. BOSE computer speakers anyday. But if you had a few grand for a BOSE lifestyle system....
Okay, I think it's about time someone expanded on the relationship/love theme and included the friendship issues as well. There are people who spend the better part of their lives on IRC, their friends, their SO's, everyone special and close to them is on IRC. To people like that, IRC is a way of life. They get up, say hi on IRC, go to work, perhaps IRC from work (if it's not firewalled), they come home, they IRC, they eat, they IRC, and they sleep. And then the cycle repeats.
I've seen this happen to a few friends of mine. Everyone they know is on IRC much like themselves. Sometimes, an online relationship can bring you closer to IRC, and spend more time on IRC, and when your SO isn't around, you talk to other people, get to know them etc. IRC sucks in that way, because you do NTO get that "in real life" contact, you don't have tone of voice, expressions of face, body language etc - vital things to any sort of friendship or relationship. You can use emotacons (those little smiley faces:)) or action messges (*hugz*) but they are no substitute for the real thing.
I'll also mention that I've seen countless stories on the web about how IRC has changed peoples' lives, generally for the worst. My story really started out from a keypal site on the world wide web, when I first got my very own email address (wow! - and it was a REAL POP ACCOUNT, back when hotmail things didnt exist), and e-mailed a few people there. I e-mailed those people for a few months, but one girl by the name of Jess had the unfortunate experience of getting to know me better. She was in Singapore, I was in Australia. She came to board in a boarding school down here the following year, and well..once we met...things just fell apart. God only knows...and I dont have an explanation to this very day. No, she wasn't a geek either...just a very good friend.
Then I met someone else..someone I still love today on a small new IRC network called AUSTnet (irc.austnet.org) in a small channel called #antara. Her and I were good friends, and well..we would have been going out if it wasn't for a few mistakes I had made with regards to making up my mind with feelings and so on.
TO cut a long story short, IRC is no place for a relationship. The whole expression of feelings thing, in my opinion, is just not possible. - zardoz@wonk.net
Slashdot Mirror
I bought this book over three and a half years ago at a bookstore in the city (Melbourne) because I had read about the book on the web at the time and figured that I'd take a read. I loved it. Still, I can't imagine reading it electronically. I read the book on the train travelling to and frm work at the time. I don't think I can see myself doing the same with a laptop although I have done so on few occasions to read issues of phrack and such. It's inconvenient. Not everyone has PDA's they can whip out on the train to read. Batteries die as well. Anyway, for anyone who has a bit of spare time on their hands, I'd highly suggest taking a read. It's one of my favorite books of this type :)
I want one with eight G4 processors to boost my dnetc keyrate. I can't possibly work out why anyone would want a multiprocessor type parallel computer for anythhing else.
The Ego Has Landed.
I find it uber cool that they've got Java support with it. Not only does this mean that people can write their own software for it but it also means the phone can be used to do more practical things.
For example, a telnet/ssh client? an IRC client? ICQ perhaps? Now there'll be NO escape from that "Uh Oh!" sound I'm already sick to death of hearing. I just want it to read Slashdot and make postings in case I ever need to go *outside* (not that anyone would do such a thing).
How can such a device currently compete with the existing array of PDAs (both WinCE and PalmOS) and communicator-style phones such as the Accompli?
Another thought - why is the USA GSM network so different? Why didn't they deploy the same standard everywhere? Does something in the USA already run on one of our frequencies? I always find it rather interesting that us Aussies seem to get our hands on newer phone technology than the USA does.
ANd finally, the multi-million dollar question:
How much does the sucker COST? If it's anything like the 9110, I'd rather an 8210 and a decent PDA. Guess it comes down to the fact that anybody can sell me anything that has an IRC client...
Locally, yes. We currently have a few peering exchnages/networks in most states but not every ISP, especially the large ones who want a slice of the money for their bandwidth, wishes to be on them...
It's unfortunate that large carriers are monopolistic over bandwidth. This time last year, there were no unlimited broadband solutions and unlimited dialup ISPs were far and few between. They still are.
It's killing the industry here.
A lot of people are saying that yes, Telstra has ONLY lost 60% of their international connectivity.
Let's put it into perspective.
Telstra currently have 980Mbps of international connectivity. They have lost their largest link, 622Mbps worth, so they need to route around the problem.
It's not that simple.
The moment the link died, it wrecked havoc with BGP routes everywhere. I couldn't get outside my ISPs own network (optus) to Telstra for around one and a half hours. Yes, true, other ISPs here also have int'l bandwidth, but it hardly compares to the near gigabit that Telstra have.
Any southern-cross delivered bandwidth has yet to be utilized since customers (i.e. the ISPs) are either waiting for their connection or are still playing around with the configuration (read: playing Quake III with sub-150msec latency before the cable is loaded). Optus/CW, MCI and NZ Telecom are *shareholders* basically. They still have to purchase their own bandwidth (and line their pockets with money after a while). Telstra has got Southern Cross cable capacity too but just like the smaller ISPs who might only have a few megabits, they don't *own* the cable.
Thankfully, I'm on the optus@home cable modem service so I don't need to touch Telstra int'l bandwidth but connectivity to local sites is still erratic.
Now, stop slashdotting our link -
11 FastEthernet0-0-0.pad18.Sydney.telstra.net (139.130.249.239) * 376/383/401 (6.78) ms 9/10 pkts (10% loss)
12 * * * * * 0/5 pkts (100% loss)
13 * * * * * 0/5 pkts (100% loss)
-tsg
In my past five years of experience on IRC, I've seen many networks begin, grow and die. I've seen the split of the Australian body of servers from Undernet to form their own IRC network (OzOrg), the beginnings of now the largest Australian IRC network AUSTnet, and of course, the IRCnet/EFnet split. Why does everybody think that EFnet is dying? As I write this, over 44,000 unique clients are connected to EFnet distributed over 35 servers. That's roughly 1.2k clients per server - not exactly what I'd call dying. EFnet is also largely dominated by warez and pornography due to the pure size of the network. Many of the servers are constantly subjected to Denial of Service attacks such as smurf attacks, involving a large flood of traffic, costing ISPs a considerable amount of money and downtime. Typical efnet servers need to sustain traffic rates of around 50 kilobytes per second on average, just in IRC traffic, excluding the DoS. Many ISPs decide to delink their IRC server. It's a large target to the "leet haxor" community saying "hey there! attack me!" There are no registered channels or nicknames, meaning that if you run a channel there, it's your responsibility. It's a very old network, and lacks many of the nice services that most newer IRC users would expect (eg. channel/nick registration, help services etc) from networks such as DALnet and AUSTnet. Different networks suit different people, and as long as the EFnet community remains around, the network will still exist in some shape or form. -zardoz
You know, I'm quite surprised that finally we have a decent IT/technology thing in my home town. We've been robbed of a lot of nice technological exhibitions and trade shows (only Sydney has been getting them recently), and even out current trade show is a little lacking (www.interact2000.com.au), which is on right now.
In fact, I'm heading in there tomorrow, and might check out RoboCup while I'm at it.
-tsg
DAMNIT! clicked the "post" button instead of "preview", only to realise that the topic I had written was unrelated to the topic... I was going to say something about the fact that how any joe bloggs can write a webpage using MS BackPage 2000 or something, and make it *look* like a legitamate news source, and people might start believing it...and bingo. Instant evidence. *watches slashdot karma drop a few notches*
Read the article on the train this morning (gotta love people who let me look over their shoulders - never have to pay for a newspaper myself..)
Well, if no members of the jury had seen the article, then why did they dismiss them? Unless we take jurors without internet access..
I'll remember that next time I decide to kill someone.
bah. Melbourne is a weird place.
-tsg
I don't really have a favorite module out of these (since I use a mix of DEC Tulip and various 3com cards in my boxen), but I'd have to say that the tulip code is blahdi excellent.
A few points to make:
1. I contacted Optus and they claimed that it WILL be unlimited data transfer both from within the cable network and externally, and the pricing will be "affordable".
2. Optus@home uses a separate date network to the Optus Spinnaker Internet backbone here in Australia - traceroute www.optushome.com.au from any optus connected host, and you'll notice it fly past few a few @home routers in the states). Keep this in mind - @home can afford to bring a cable over here and route cable traffic through it. It's not like they are going to go broke anytime soon.
3. You honestly think telstra is concerned about their cable service? It'll cost them too much money to move to the DOCSIS standard, and they want to phase out the network to replace it with ADSL later next year. Of course, they can't do this with a million cable users relying on the network. You'll get this answer if you ask a cluebie at Telstra (those things are rare) as to why cable hasn't been rolled out in Perth yet.
-zardoz
For those who failed Geography, Australia is a fair distance from the states, and trans-pacific fibre aint cheap, and since there is a slight lack of spare fibre, Telstra seems to have most of the monopoly and they can charge whatever the hell they want.
So get this. Very few ISPs in Australia even offer an unlimited time+date modem account (I happen to be one of the fortunate few who signed up with Microplex, an ISP which was recently aquired by C&W Optus, and managed to get on an unlimited account while it still existed). Not many ISPs can afford it when Telstra charge like wounded bulls (don't believe me? - http://www.telstra.net has more info than you need). If one ISP decides to offer unlimited time and data (OzEmail, Telstra with their BigPond home dialup service, corplink/ozramp have done so in the past), all the users flock to the service, clogging dialin lines and incoming bandwidth, forcing the ISP to close the service. The only three ISPs who offer unlimited time+data that I am aware of are iHug (http://www.ihug.com.au) who use satellite for externally routed traffic (laggy), Dingoblue (http://www.dingoblue.com.au - $45/month, basically resold microplex accounts under a dealership arrangement or something) and EISA (http://www.eisa.net.au) who offer unlimited time and data, and are quite reasonable (they run a nice games server network) but they kick you off every four hours to stop abuse. This is a pain when on IRC, playing a good game of Quake, or doing a "make world" on a FreeBSD box.
Okay, we can allow for that. Till the southern cross cable network (http://www.southercrosscables.com) comes in, international bandwidth will remain scarce, and yes, Telstra does deserve a little money to cover costs. But charging for a network which costs them pretty much nothing to operate in terms of whether it's 20% or 80% utilised is just beyond the joke. I was really considering Telstra BigPond Advance for a VPN, but I guess I've missed out. Thank god I didn't sign up with them these holidays.
So now everyone's hanging out for Optus@home (http://www.optushome.com.au), the cable service we've been promised for the last three and a half years by Optus. According to a phone call I made to their information centre, it *WILL* be unlimited data (yes folks!), and it will use standard DOCSIS cable modems (the telstra BPA network does not - so the market will be flooded with useless cable modems now), and it will be limited to a 128Kbit/sec uplink, so using the network for servers won't prove to be successful. IPs are also dynamically assigned (like Telstra), and running proxy servers/NAT gateways is against the Access User Policy (anyone know if they can actually detect a NAT gateway being used?). So if you want to run a server, you can either wait for optus@work (which will be bandwidth metred, but I've heard that it will have static IP addresses, IP address blocks, reverse lookup DNS records, that sorta stuff), or we can sign up with Telstra's ISDN service (around $270/month for OnRamp express, allowing you to have a perm virtual "circuit" which allows you to call the one number you need for net access) plus internet access charges (typically AU$990/month for unlimited transfer). They are prices for a 64K ISDN link. anything above usually has utilisation costs and excess bandwidth charges.
You know, I think that Australia is the only countery with a national bandwidth enquiry.
I've got a few friends of mine who are cable users. Both of them are jumping ship to optus@home as soon as they can, and one of them gets "smurfed" (flooded with data) every so often. A few months ago, he was smurfed a few GB (I think it was 3.something, meaning around AU$810 for data that wasnt used).
well in closing, I'd like to say that if Optus@home pulls off an unlimited data cable network and charges *reasonably* for it, it has the potential to change the Australian internet market.
Well, I've had these nice combo for over a year now, and I still love them. Cost me AU$320 all up, too. But if you're looking at getting a set now, I know of (but can't remember the model number) of a sub + satellite set Yamaha have, with two standard inputs and one USB input (great for playing CD audio on a system that supports it..). The main advantage is that the sub goes down to 32hz, whereas the MSW10 only goes down to 35hz. Not much of a difference, but I could pick it. They go for AU$399. Alternatively, the M100 speakers for AU$199 simply kick ass, again by Yamaha. Then again, I suppose it's personal preference. Some people prefer their $40 sets to mine. It's best to listen to them all and then make a decision. No, I don't work for yamaha, but their stuff rocks in my opinion. Heck, I'd get a set of those vs. BOSE computer speakers anyday. But if you had a few grand for a BOSE lifestyle system ....
Okay, I think it's about time someone expanded on the relationship/love theme and included the friendship issues as well. There are people who spend the better part of their lives on IRC, their friends, their SO's, everyone special and close to them is on IRC. To people like that, IRC is a way of life. They get up, say hi on IRC, go to work, perhaps IRC from work (if it's not firewalled), they come home, they IRC, they eat, they IRC, and they sleep. And then the cycle repeats.
:)) or action messges (*hugz*) but they are no substitute for the real thing.
I've seen this happen to a few friends of mine. Everyone they know is on IRC much like themselves. Sometimes, an online relationship can bring you closer to IRC, and spend more time on IRC, and when your SO isn't around, you talk to other people, get to know them etc. IRC sucks in that way, because you do NTO get that "in real life" contact, you don't have tone of voice, expressions of face, body language etc - vital things to any sort of friendship or relationship. You can use emotacons (those little smiley faces
I'll also mention that I've seen countless stories on the web about how IRC has changed peoples' lives, generally for the worst. My story really started out from a keypal site on the world wide web, when I first got my very own email address (wow! - and it was a REAL POP ACCOUNT, back when hotmail things didnt exist), and e-mailed a few people there. I e-mailed those people for a few months, but one girl by the name of Jess had the unfortunate experience of getting to know me better. She was in Singapore, I was in Australia. She came to board in a boarding school down here the following year, and well..once we met...things just fell apart. God only knows...and I dont have an explanation to this very day. No, she wasn't a geek either...just a very good friend.
Then I met someone else..someone I still love today on a small new IRC network called AUSTnet (irc.austnet.org) in a small channel called #antara. Her and I were good friends, and well..we would have been going out if it wasn't for a few mistakes I had made with regards to making up my mind with feelings and so on.
TO cut a long story short, IRC is no place for a relationship. The whole expression of feelings thing, in my opinion, is just not possible.
- zardoz@wonk.net