Well, sorta. About fifteen years ago, I thought of making a toaster that had sides made out of pyrex, not metal. That way, you could stop the toaster if you saw the toast was getting too dark.
I always thought someone else would think of that idea and build it long before I'd ever be able to get the funding and patents...
I have a 160 GB drive on my new Compaq, but that entire drive was a single partition. The restore DVD that comes with the computer won't allow me to create multiple partitions, either. I wanted to make multiple partitions without hurting the existing data.
Rather than buying a copy of Partition Magic to use one time, I Googled and found that the Knoppix includes QtParted, which is easy to use and fairly reliable for resizing partitions. The key with the (Compaq) restore disk is that it puts all the data (OS and numerous apps) on the drive and then has to reboot. When it reboots, it stretches the partition out to the size of the entire drive - I guess so the same restore disk can be used on models with drives that are different sizes.
I simply slipped the Knoppix CD in before rebooting from the restore disk. I used QtParted to stretch the initial partion out a little bit, and added two more partitions for the rest of the drive. It worked like a charm!
Of course, I put another drive in the computer for Linux. I'm a longtime Debian user, but decided to give Ubuntu a try. It's great so far!
Is the eMac the Apple equivalent to an eMachine? If so, $799 is way too much...
No. The eMac line was originally targetted (and packaged) for eductional institutions and for students' parents to buy for at home. eMac == educational Macintosh.
I saw on the MacWorld report over at MacInTouch.com that Apple has a $59 device for people switching from Windows to Mac. It is a USB device that sucks preferences from a user's Windows machine, and transfers them to their new Mac.
Has anyone thought about a hardware solution for moving users from Windows to Linux?
Because it's part of the Windows OS. When grandma goes out to buy herself a nice Dell computer, it comes with Windows preinstalled, and hence has IE installed by default. She would have to take extra steps to download and install a different browser. But why, when IE seems perfectly fine, and it's integrated so nicely into the desktop? And it's hard to argue that. Think of the average home user that isn't as aware of these issues as we are.
But don't you see? This security hole is the solution. The exploit can be used to install another browser. This bug should remain unpatched as part of the settlement in the Microsoft case.
No noise, other than the music and sounds the OS makes. There are no moving parts (other than the knob and buttons, of course), so operation is silent.
I just got mine two days ago from TigerDirect, and it's very cool. If you get one, be sure to follow the links in another "3Com Audrey" post to update the OS while available. The final update includes a console/telnet client, so you can get to the command line of the machine and look around. It even has vi!
"Of all the possible arrangements in 'keyboard space', qwerty is one of the worst. A prime example of backwards compatibility gone wrong. In leiu of this, surely it would be better to arrange a new keyboard that might help speed things up a little..."
Nice article. I thought Microsoft's spokesperson made a nice rebuttal, too:
We provide unparalleled support in the area of security.
Re:The worst problem with computerized voting is..
on
eLection '04
·
· Score: 1
I made a comment about votehere.net elsewhere, but one of their solutions is an encrypted server with a distributed key. This would ideally protect the data, and also ensure that only "qualified" people have the keys which must be inserted to activate the counting process.
There are a lot of laws and requirements for voting that the company claims they have solved. Some of them include verifying that each voter only voted once - which requires knowing something about the voter, but when the counting is done, the ballot must not show whose ballot it was.
Another thing they claim to have solved is how to ensure safe transfer of the ballot while never storing or seeing unencrypted data (as SSL might do), yet not requiring everyone to download and install special software or versions of web browsers. We'll see if they can really pull that off...
I didn't see anyone comment about this, but votehere.net already has a plan in place that would phase in the process of electronic voting. It can work for home voting as well as at precincts (allowing people to go to the precinct of their choice), which could help eliminate traffic problems as well as not require people to have internet connectivity. They did some testing for this election.
Slashdot Mirror
Someone please mod this one up!
Better yet, add a search plugin for those about:config options at the mozillazine.org knowledge base.
Well, sorta. About fifteen years ago, I thought of making a toaster that had sides made out of pyrex, not metal. That way, you could stop the toaster if you saw the toast was getting too dark.
I always thought someone else would think of that idea and build it long before I'd ever be able to get the funding and patents...
...was LAST month. This story is a little late, methinks.
I have a 160 GB drive on my new Compaq, but that entire drive was a single partition. The restore DVD that comes with the computer won't allow me to create multiple partitions, either. I wanted to make multiple partitions without hurting the existing data.
Rather than buying a copy of Partition Magic to use one time, I Googled and found that the Knoppix includes QtParted, which is easy to use and fairly reliable for resizing partitions. The key with the (Compaq) restore disk is that it puts all the data (OS and numerous apps) on the drive and then has to reboot. When it reboots, it stretches the partition out to the size of the entire drive - I guess so the same restore disk can be used on models with drives that are different sizes.
I simply slipped the Knoppix CD in before rebooting from the restore disk. I used QtParted to stretch the initial partion out a little bit, and added two more partitions for the rest of the drive. It worked like a charm!
Of course, I put another drive in the computer for Linux. I'm a longtime Debian user, but decided to give Ubuntu a try. It's great so far!
Is the eMac the Apple equivalent to an eMachine? If so, $799 is way too much...
No. The eMac line was originally targetted (and packaged) for eductional institutions and for students' parents to buy for at home. eMac == educational Macintosh.
Abisource competitor Microsoft finds extra cash for its political lobbying fund.
I saw on the MacWorld report over at MacInTouch.com that Apple has a $59 device for people switching from Windows to Mac. It is a USB device that sucks preferences from a user's Windows machine, and transfers them to their new Mac.
Has anyone thought about a hardware solution for moving users from Windows to Linux?
Thanks for the reference!
I remember seeing Salvage 1 as a kid, but couldn't for the life of me remember its title or any of the actors from it.
Microsoft chooses names for products reflecting attributes they wish they had:
I wonder what they were thinking when they chose the words micro and soft?
Another story today already made me think of Fahrenheit 451. Once they know which books we are reading, they know where to start burning...
Because it's part of the Windows OS. When grandma goes out to buy herself a nice Dell computer, it comes with Windows preinstalled, and hence has IE installed by default. She would have to take extra steps to download and install a different browser. But why, when IE seems perfectly fine, and it's integrated so nicely into the desktop? And it's hard to argue that. Think of the average home user that isn't as aware of these issues as we are.
But don't you see? This security hole is the solution. The exploit can be used to install another browser. This bug should remain unpatched as part of the settlement in the Microsoft case.
No noise, other than the music and sounds the OS makes. There are no moving parts (other than the knob and buttons, of course), so operation is silent.
I just got mine two days ago from TigerDirect, and it's very cool. If you get one, be sure to follow the links in another "3Com Audrey" post to update the OS while available. The final update includes a console/telnet client, so you can get to the command line of the machine and look around. It even has vi!
For a massive list of XML links, check out xml.startkabel.nl.
He died on July 6th, not June 6th.
Oh, and you were 30 years too late, AC.There is a better design. It's called Dvorak.
I made a comment about votehere.net elsewhere, but one of their solutions is an encrypted server with a distributed key. This would ideally protect the data, and also ensure that only "qualified" people have the keys which must be inserted to activate the counting process.
There are a lot of laws and requirements for voting that the company claims they have solved. Some of them include verifying that each voter only voted once - which requires knowing something about the voter, but when the counting is done, the ballot must not show whose ballot it was.
Another thing they claim to have solved is how to ensure safe transfer of the ballot while never storing or seeing unencrypted data (as SSL might do), yet not requiring everyone to download and install special software or versions of web browsers. We'll see if they can really pull that off...
I didn't see anyone comment about this, but votehere.net already has a plan in place that would phase in the process of electronic voting. It can work for home voting as well as at precincts (allowing people to go to the precinct of their choice), which could help eliminate traffic problems as well as not require people to have internet connectivity. They did some testing for this election.