you'd probably find that your game copy-protection wouldn't work
I didn't. I never played copy-protected games. I played free(beer) games from BBSes such as America Online (back when it was a BBS and not a wannabe ISP). Floppy disk copy protection is a conspiracy to destroy floppy drives so that floppy drive manufacturers can sell more units and make more money.
Some of the FTP sites are still carrying Stormix ISO's, so if you're looking for an easy way to install Debian on a machine, better get them while you can
A tool that adds 0.5 seconds of silence will totally screw Relatable's algorithm
Such an algorithm is easy to modify or replace if the beta testers can get around it so easily (Hack SDMI anyone?). The most advanced algorithms attempt to discover the actual notes, which allows for enforcement not only of phonorecord rights in sound recordings but also of derivative work and performance rights in the underlying musical composition. BMI and ASSCRAP will like this aspect, as it lets them track unauthorized covers.
Of course, client side could mean easily fucked with
OpenNap has a list of clients. I see eleven unofficial nap clients for Win32, not counting the numerous clients for Perl, Tcl/Tk, and Java platforms. If Napster Inc. breaks these clients, older versions of official Napster MusicShare for Win32 will also likely break.
Wow, I didn't realize people were still using the official Napster service. I thought they had all long gone to OpenNap, like I have, to get around all that annoying filtering stuff.
The strength of B&W is that it went for a completely noddy decision system
Why not a big-ears decision system? Or a plod decision system? Or any of the other characters from Blyton's Toyland? And wouldn't Enid Blyton Ltd. be after their ass if they actually implemented a noddy decision system?
QT/Free for Win: Taking away Trolltech's cash cow?
on
Eazel On The Ropes
·
· Score: 2
In fact some of the more fanatic anti-KDE crowd may have a point in continuously bringing up Qt's licensing issues (although the real pain is past now, with Qt/Linux being GPL).
Except what you call "Qt/Linux" will (with trivial tweaking) compile and run on Windows, thanks to Cygwin XFree86 (think DirectX11), which has recently been patched to run properly on Windows 9x and ME (which are not as 32-bit clean as Microsoft would have you think).
How does this work? Qt Free Edition is intended to run on any POSIX environment with an X11 server. Cygwin creates a POSIX conforming environment with a complete GNU userland inside Win32; Cygwin/XFree86 handles requests from Xlib clients and calls GDI and DirectX on their behalf.
And pay $200,000 to move to a town with broadband?
on
Eazel On The Ropes
·
· Score: 2
The impatient can always install their own stuff on the day it comes out from the source code. If you don't have GNOME 1.4 running on your system at this point in time, that really is a result of the choices you have made.
Or a result of choices that others have made, such as telcos not providing broadband in the area where your family lives and making it hard to download the latest GNOME releases every single day. Quite a bit of software written for GNOME required GNOME 1.4 components before GNOME 1.4 was even released.
What if I'm not running on a system that supports Flash? Am I blocked from seeing your site? Or do I get to go straight on in, avoiding the ad?
If you're not running on a system that supports the latest version of Macromedia Flash technology, NY Times Digital would be happy to sell you a new Duron-based PC for $1500, including a FREE LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION to ad-free NYTimes.com.
How does it "create" the DLLs? By compiling them on the spot? (I think you'll find that the DLLs already exist in the installer archive.)
Is the archive a standard.tar.gz archive? A standard.zip archive? Probably not. The installer creates the DLLs by descrambling and decompressing the archive, something you would need to have a descrambler and decompressor to be able to do. And those are available only as x86 binaries as part of the installer.
Is not viable. The Xbox will have anti-piracy measures. Anti-piracy in the console sense means anti-third-party-software, with copyrighted boot loaders that must match a copy in ROM bit-for-bit or "no boot for you." Would-be Linux developers would need to buy expen$$$ive SDKs in order to develop for the beast. And the console model is incompatible with the GPL, as there is no way to load end-user-compiled software onto the machine.
hey I can get this one with 30 games or an Xbox or PS2 with maybe 1 if your lucky or pay an extra $1000 for that many games. Such a system might not need as much marketing...
Then the soccer mom comes to her senses: "Thirty games, but none of them is Pokemon. My kids want Pokemon. They love the TV show (even though it doesn't follow the games at all) and the toys (which match the TV show rather than the games). Which system has Pokemon?" and eventually walks out with a Game Boy Advance and a GAMECUBE console. That's how Nintendo takes your POcKEt MONey.
Yes, I know they're not out yet, but GBA and GC will definitely beat (Tu)xBox to the shelf.
Is there any logical reason for the date to be using a signed number as opposed to unsigned?
I assume that the architects of the system wanted to represent their date of birth. It's the same thing that motivated the Mac OS designers to choose 1904 as the Mac's (unsigned) epoch.
I think the best solution to the year 2038 bug is simply to roll everybody's clock back to the year 1970
There's a simpler solution: typedef unsigned long time_t; should take us into the 22nd century before we have a problem. (The DJGPP C library already does this.) Another solution is typedef long long time_t; which is on nearly the same order of magnitude as the best estimates for the age of this universe.
We seem to forget that there is are an unlimited number of possibilities for potential checksums requested by the AIM server.
Not unlimited. For one thing, the hash cannot request memory outside of AIM's address space; otherwise, the client will segfault. For another thing, it is just as tough for the server to compute and cache correct answers as it would be for the AIM proxy to compute and cache them.
2. Use a different IM, like Jabber and leave your friends behind. Unfortunatly IMing yourself isn't very fun, and this turns out to be like option 1.
4. Use a different IM, like Jabber and bring your friends along. Send your buddies messages using SMTP (email, duh) that they should run Jabber alongside AIM (from now on, they'll need exactly two realtime messaging clients: Jabber and AIM), that you will be running Jabber, that your JID is foo@jabber.com, and that Jabber clients for a variety of platforms are available here (give a URI).
While it would incur having users go to aim.aol.com and download the binary
It doesn't checksum aimsetup.exe. It checksums aim.exe and/or several AIM DLLs which are created when you execute aimsetup.exe on an x86 machine running 32-bit Windows. Short of emulating Windows in a Bochs (and paying USD $320 for a single Windows license), there is no way to turn aimsetup.exe into aim.exe on non-x86 machines.
When Jabber has the same users on it as AIM, then we'll talk.
Only you can make this happen, by using SMTP to send a message telling your Buddies about Jabber and giving them your JID. Once Jabber is more widespread, you will need exactly two realtime messaging clients: Jabber (for Y!, MSN, ICQ, IRC) and AIM.exe.
If you download Winamp or the free software from Nullsoft, you're an AOL customer. If you use a branded (Netscape 4.x or 6.x) version of Mozilla, you're an AOL customer. If your local cable monopoly is Time Warner, and you have cable TV or a cable modem, you're an AOL customer. If you watch CNN, TBS, TNT, TCM, or Cartoon Network, you're an AOL customer.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to use the tool of boycott against media conglomerates.
Many web sites do not allow the user to right-click, in an attempt to "protect" their "content" by using EcmaScript to disable the contextual menu that accesses "Save Image As..." and "View Source." This is a Bad Thing, as if even the Back button is moved to the right mouse button, the webmaster has complete control over your browsing. It's also annoying for those with disabilities such as dial-up connection.
(Read More...)
Tip: IE doesn't completely disable right-click. When the dialog pops up, keep holding the right mouse button and press Enter. Release to get your contextual menu.
�Definition of "production machine"
on
QT Mozilla Port
·
· Score: 1
What on Earth are you doing running a web browser on a production machine?
production != server. AFAIK, workstations can also be considered "production" machines.
Except Microsoft doesn't make IE for my computer. Now I have to go out and buy a $1000 PeeCee to run a web browser? Thank you, but at that price, I could site-license Opera.
dumbass. get squid, and block direct access to port 80 at the firewall.
This would disallow all access to the World Wide Web. "So use a proxy." Users would just POST their files to Geocities through the local web proxy. "So disable POST on the proxy." And disable the dynamic Web entirely. Bad idea.
Slashdot Mirror
you'd probably find that your game copy-protection wouldn't work
I didn't. I never played copy-protected games. I played free(beer) games from BBSes such as America Online (back when it was a BBS and not a wannabe ISP). Floppy disk copy protection is a conspiracy to destroy floppy drives so that floppy drive manufacturers can sell more units and make more money.
There's also the basic reason that almost nothing besides gfx cards -need- the huge bandwidth and bus speed of AGP. :)
gfx cards, plural. Media creation often uses multiple displays, one for the document being worked on and the others for palettes, etc.
Some of the FTP sites are still carrying Stormix ISO's, so if you're looking for an easy way to install Debian on a machine, better get them while you can
Anyone tried both Stormix and Debian?
A tool that adds 0.5 seconds of silence will totally screw Relatable's algorithm
Such an algorithm is easy to modify or replace if the beta testers can get around it so easily (Hack SDMI anyone?). The most advanced algorithms attempt to discover the actual notes, which allows for enforcement not only of phonorecord rights in sound recordings but also of derivative work and performance rights in the underlying musical composition. BMI and ASSCRAP will like this aspect, as it lets them track unauthorized covers.
Of course, client side could mean easily fucked with
OpenNap has a list of clients. I see eleven unofficial nap clients for Win32, not counting the numerous clients for Perl, Tcl/Tk, and Java platforms. If Napster Inc. breaks these clients, older versions of official Napster MusicShare for Win32 will also likely break.
Wow, I didn't realize people were still using the official Napster service. I thought they had all long gone to OpenNap, like I have, to get around all that annoying filtering stuff.
Not if the most popular OpenNap network gives busy signals ("The server is full!") constantly.
The Creature uses a noddy state machine
So that's why my character acts so wooden.
The strength of B&W is that it went for a completely noddy decision system
Why not a big-ears decision system? Or a plod decision system? Or any of the other characters from Blyton's Toyland? And wouldn't Enid Blyton Ltd. be after their ass if they actually implemented a noddy decision system?
In fact some of the more fanatic anti-KDE crowd may have a point in continuously bringing up Qt's licensing issues (although the real pain is past now, with Qt/Linux being GPL).
Except what you call "Qt/Linux" will (with trivial tweaking) compile and run on Windows, thanks to Cygwin XFree86 (think DirectX11), which has recently been patched to run properly on Windows 9x and ME (which are not as 32-bit clean as Microsoft would have you think).
How does this work? Qt Free Edition is intended to run on any POSIX environment with an X11 server. Cygwin creates a POSIX conforming environment with a complete GNU userland inside Win32; Cygwin/XFree86 handles requests from Xlib clients and calls GDI and DirectX on their behalf.
Of course, Mac OS X can run X11 programs too.
The impatient can always install their own stuff on the day it comes out from the source code. If you don't have GNOME 1.4 running on your system at this point in time, that really is a result of the choices you have made.
Or a result of choices that others have made, such as telcos not providing broadband in the area where your family lives and making it hard to download the latest GNOME releases every single day. Quite a bit of software written for GNOME required GNOME 1.4 components before GNOME 1.4 was even released.
What if I'm not running on a system that supports Flash? Am I blocked from seeing your site? Or do I get to go straight on in, avoiding the ad?
If you're not running on a system that supports the latest version of Macromedia Flash technology, NY Times Digital would be happy to sell you a new Duron-based PC for $1500, including a FREE LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION to ad-free NYTimes.com.
How does it "create" the DLLs? By compiling them on the spot? (I think you'll find that the DLLs already exist in the installer archive.)
Is the archive a standard .tar.gz archive? A standard .zip archive? Probably not. The installer creates the DLLs by descrambling and decompressing the archive, something you would need to have a descrambler and decompressor to be able to do. And those are available only as x86 binaries as part of the installer.
porting linux to the X-Box
Is not viable. The Xbox will have anti-piracy measures. Anti-piracy in the console sense means anti-third-party-software, with copyrighted boot loaders that must match a copy in ROM bit-for-bit or "no boot for you." Would-be Linux developers would need to buy expen$$$ive SDKs in order to develop for the beast. And the console model is incompatible with the GPL, as there is no way to load end-user-compiled software onto the machine.
hey I can get this one with 30 games or an Xbox or PS2 with maybe 1 if your lucky or pay an extra $1000 for that many games. Such a system might not need as much marketing...
Then the soccer mom comes to her senses: "Thirty games, but none of them is Pokemon. My kids want Pokemon. They love the TV show (even though it doesn't follow the games at all) and the toys (which match the TV show rather than the games). Which system has Pokemon?" and eventually walks out with a Game Boy Advance and a GAMECUBE console. That's how Nintendo takes your POcKEt MONey.
Yes, I know they're not out yet, but GBA and GC will definitely beat (Tu)xBox to the shelf.
Is there any logical reason for the date to be using a signed number as opposed to unsigned?
I assume that the architects of the system wanted to represent their date of birth. It's the same thing that motivated the Mac OS designers to choose 1904 as the Mac's (unsigned) epoch.
I think the best solution to the year 2038 bug is simply to roll everybody's clock back to the year 1970
There's a simpler solution: typedef unsigned long time_t; should take us into the 22nd century before we have a problem. (The DJGPP C library already does this.) Another solution is typedef long long time_t; which is on nearly the same order of magnitude as the best estimates for the age of this universe.
We seem to forget that there is are an unlimited number of possibilities for potential checksums requested by the AIM server.
Not unlimited. For one thing, the hash cannot request memory outside of AIM's address space; otherwise, the client will segfault. For another thing, it is just as tough for the server to compute and cache correct answers as it would be for the AIM proxy to compute and cache them.
2. Use a different IM, like Jabber and leave your friends behind. Unfortunatly IMing yourself isn't very fun, and this turns out to be like option 1.
4. Use a different IM, like Jabber and bring your friends along. Send your buddies messages using SMTP (email, duh) that they should run Jabber alongside AIM (from now on, they'll need exactly two realtime messaging clients: Jabber and AIM), that you will be running Jabber, that your JID is foo@jabber.com, and that Jabber clients for a variety of platforms are available here (give a URI).
5. Or just use email.
While it would incur having users go to aim.aol.com and download the binary
It doesn't checksum aimsetup.exe. It checksums aim.exe and/or several AIM DLLs which are created when you execute aimsetup.exe on an x86 machine running 32-bit Windows. Short of emulating Windows in a Bochs (and paying USD $320 for a single Windows license), there is no way to turn aimsetup.exe into aim.exe on non-x86 machines.
When Jabber has the same users on it as AIM, then we'll talk.
Only you can make this happen, by using SMTP to send a message telling your Buddies about Jabber and giving them your JID. Once Jabber is more widespread, you will need exactly two realtime messaging clients: Jabber (for Y!, MSN, ICQ, IRC) and AIM.exe.
"After all, hackers are AOL customers, too."
If you download Winamp or the free software from Nullsoft, you're an AOL customer. If you use a branded (Netscape 4.x or 6.x) version of Mozilla, you're an AOL customer. If your local cable monopoly is Time Warner, and you have cable TV or a cable modem, you're an AOL customer. If you watch CNN, TBS, TNT, TCM, or Cartoon Network, you're an AOL customer.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to use the tool of boycott against media conglomerates.
Many web sites do not allow the user to right-click, in an attempt to "protect" their "content" by using EcmaScript to disable the contextual menu that accesses "Save Image As..." and "View Source." This is a Bad Thing, as if even the Back button is moved to the right mouse button, the webmaster has complete control over your browsing. It's also annoying for those with disabilities such as dial-up connection.
(Read More...)
Tip: IE doesn't completely disable right-click. When the dialog pops up, keep holding the right mouse button and press Enter. Release to get your contextual menu.
What on Earth are you doing running a web browser on a production machine?
production != server. AFAIK, workstations can also be considered "production" machines.
Ah, but there is: IE
Except Microsoft doesn't make IE for my computer. Now I have to go out and buy a $1000 PeeCee to run a web browser? Thank you, but at that price, I could site-license Opera.
dumbass. get squid, and block direct access to port 80 at the firewall.
This would disallow all access to the World Wide Web. "So use a proxy." Users would just POST their files to Geocities through the local web proxy. "So disable POST on the proxy." And disable the dynamic Web entirely. Bad idea.