There are things that would have taken me hours to figure out how to get all the syntaxial (is that a word?) details straight are a no-brainer in SMIT. Best thing about it is that once you have the command you want to execute, SMIT will show you exactly what you are about to execute, and write same to a logfile so you can keep track of what you've done!
It's an X application, so most Linux users should be familiar with how it looks and feels.
To get closer to topic, JFS absolutely rocks as well. This is important stuff IMO. Can't wait to start making use of it.
I think one solution that has been overlooked in this discussion is that there are ways of (at least somewhat) validating people's identities for the purpose of corresponding on email with a congressional staff.
If it is the goal of the office to cut down on the spam they recieve, why not set up a system where you can fill out a form, and the rep will send a snailmail letter to the address (obviously in the rep's district) with a user/pass for a web-based email system or something similar. I suggest this not because I think it is the most efficient or even what I would prefer, but congresscritters seem to have a desire to attach identity to a meatspace address.
Similar, systems could be created using PGP and the associated 'web of trust' that can be assigned to key signatures. (This is extremely unlikely to happen until I'm old and gray(er) as it is a bit too technical for the average critter's staff to deal with.)
To illustrate this, the last time my congressional rep (Sam Johnson) came to town for a 'town hall' meeting, I queried his aide that was supposed to be 'point' on tech issues and he had no idea what PGP is. Considering the legislation that has been submitted ojn the topic, one would think he would at least know about the most popular encryption program outside of DES
Some congrescritters have something similar to this set up off of their house/senate webpages. I actually got what appeared to not be a form letter from a query I made to one of these systems. Admittedly, such a system is a hell of a lot more trouble to use than regular email, but I suspect this is considered by the office as it weeds out those not willing to take the time to set up an account with them. I have a couple of these set up, but it's been so long since I used them I forgot how I signed in:( This is where a program I recently started using would have come in handy. Hope I won't get slammed for this, but I'd like to recommend 'gpasman' as a linux program that will help you to keep track of user/pass combos for websites or other systems. You can find it at http://gpasman.nl.linux.org/. It is similar to a (win) tool offered by Counterpane Systems called Password Safe (binaries and source). I use them both. Too damn many accounts and passwords to keep up with these days!
That's my biggest beef with Linuxconf - when I resort to using it because I don't know how to do it by hand, I would*really* like to have it tell me which file it's editing, at the very least - this would make it a good learning tool, as well as a good config tool.
Indeed! That's a big problem I find with many of the gui-based configuration tools. I like the way that IBM handled it in the tool they provide wiuth AIX. You have a 'preview' button that lets you see the exact command it was going to execute before you actually commit to it. It also keeps track of everything that has been done in a file that you can look at later. This also helps when you do a Bad Thing(tm) and screw things up. You can go back and see exactly what happened and hopefully figure out where you went wrong.
I've used it many times just to check out syntax for a procedure I'm writing that someone else will be performing during scheduled maintennance. It's easier than remembering command-line switches, and has even clued me in to some that I wasn't previously aware of - sending me off to the Isle of Man to determine why it was used and why I should include it in my memory banks.
With IBM beginning to support Linux, hopefully they'll port it! Also, the 'info' program that is used to handle documentation is pretty gnifty. I used to spend time during 2rd shift browsing it for hidden kernels of information not easily found elsewhere.
The MPAA is trying to protect their industry. An open-source DVD player means that a player that *copies* DVD's is trivial. This is what the MPAA doesn't want. I don't think any of us really want that, because if everyone goes and gets pirated DVD's, the movie industry takes a serious blow.
While I would have to agree with your use of terminology in that any player does have to read the disk (obviously) in order to play it, and said reading could be considered a copy if you leaned hard on your dictionary, it's not really the point of the project to crack the DVD for the sole purpose of copying DVD disks. From what I've read, the folks who hacked the format were trying to build an OS player. Of course, it is possible to make use of the information gained for nefarious purposes, but I fail to see how anyone is harmed by my gaining the ability to play The Matrix on my *nix box. (Not that I have a DVD player yet.)
It seems to me that the movie industry is attempting to tar all of with a broad brush of criminality. They see the hits taken by the record industry from MP3s and the thought sends shivers down their jelly-like spines. What they don't seem to take into account is the evidence that mp3s have actually spurred many people who haven't bought a CD in ages to purchase CDs based on songs that they've downloaded doesn't seem to register anywhere. I know several people who generally don't purchase CDs who have done exactly that. (The market for audio recording is heavily skewed towards the younger audience as they apparently have the disposable ca$h for such things and don't have to generally worry about such things as Food, Rent, and Clothing.) I own a sh!tload (a technical term) of CDs and albums. Most of them were purchased a decade ago, with sporadic purchases since.
Sorry to wander over to the audio industry when I'm actually concerned with the attempts at controlling the video market. The fact that there is a huge difference in file size between a 4MB mp3 and a 2GB or so movie doesn't seem to phase them either. I sure as hell am not going to download a 2GB file to watch a movie. Blockbuster rents the things, why do I need to waste my time when I can have it to watch quicker by running down the street and plunking down a couple of buck$?
Finally, their notion that copying DVDs is inherrantly evil is specious anyway. Most of my LPs have only been played once or twice. I generally have taped them so I could listen to them without having to worry about damaging the origionals. If the tape wears or breaks, I cut a new one. Right now I'm doing the same thing with MP3s. It saves wear and tear on my investment, and I appreciate this. Right now I've got 4GB or so of my CDs on my hard disk. Not a single one is pirated. I own it all. If there is anything wrong with this, I'd like to know what it is.
Indeed. I have about 4.5GB of MP3s on my PC at the moment. Every single track is completely legal, as I took the time to ripenc them and organize everything in a logical format. Now, when I get home from work, I fire up XMMS and let random play create Radio Zeugma all evening while I sit and read/.
Creating this on-disk library took a bit of time. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone out there thinks there would be a market for creating custom hard disks for people too busy/lazy to cut their own. If done in the manner that mp3.com is doing, it would be legal it seems.
Slashdot Mirror
Absolutely agree on the SMIT comment
There are things that would have taken me hours to figure out how to get all the syntaxial (is that a word?) details straight are a no-brainer in SMIT. Best thing about it is that once you have the command you want to execute, SMIT will show you exactly what you are about to execute, and write same to a logfile so you can keep track of what you've done!
It's an X application, so most Linux users should be familiar with how it looks and feels.
To get closer to topic, JFS absolutely rocks as well. This is important stuff IMO. Can't wait to start making use of it.
Z
I think one solution that has been overlooked in this discussion is that there are ways of (at least somewhat) validating people's identities for the purpose of corresponding on email with a congressional staff.
If it is the goal of the office to cut down on the spam they recieve, why not set up a system where you can fill out a form, and the rep will send a snailmail letter to the address (obviously in the rep's district) with a user/pass for a web-based email system or something similar. I suggest this not because I think it is the most efficient or even what I would prefer, but congresscritters seem to have a desire to attach identity to a meatspace address.
Similar, systems could be created using PGP and the associated 'web of trust' that can be assigned to key signatures. (This is extremely unlikely to happen until I'm old and gray(er) as it is a bit too technical for the average critter's staff to deal with.)
To illustrate this, the last time my congressional rep (Sam Johnson) came to town for a 'town hall' meeting, I queried his aide that was supposed to be 'point' on tech issues and he had no idea what PGP is. Considering the legislation that has been submitted ojn the topic, one would think he would at least know about the most popular encryption program outside of DES
Some congrescritters have something similar to this set up off of their house/senate webpages. I actually got what appeared to not be a form letter from a query I made to one of these systems. Admittedly, such a system is a hell of a lot more trouble to use than regular email, but I suspect this is considered by the office as it weeds out those not willing to take the time to set up an account with them. I have a couple of these set up, but it's been so long since I used them I forgot how I signed in :( This is where a program I recently started using would have come in handy. Hope I won't get slammed for this, but I'd like to recommend 'gpasman' as a linux program that will help you to keep track of user/pass combos for websites or other systems. You can find it at http://gpasman.nl.linux.org/. It is similar to a (win) tool offered by Counterpane Systems called Password Safe (binaries and source). I use them both. Too damn many accounts and passwords to keep up with these days!
Z
It would have impressed me more if there had been a version that I could actually use... no linux version
That's my biggest beef with Linuxconf - when I resort to using it because I don't know how to do it by hand, I would*really* like to have it tell me which file it's editing, at the very least - this would make it a good learning tool, as well as a good config tool.
Indeed! That's a big problem I find with many of the gui-based configuration tools. I like the way that IBM handled it in the tool they provide wiuth AIX. You have a 'preview' button that lets you see the exact command it was going to execute before you actually commit to it. It also keeps track of everything that has been done in a file that you can look at later. This also helps when you do a Bad Thing(tm) and screw things up. You can go back and see exactly what happened and hopefully figure out where you went wrong.
I've used it many times just to check out syntax for a procedure I'm writing that someone else will be performing during scheduled maintennance. It's easier than remembering command-line switches, and has even clued me in to some that I wasn't previously aware of - sending me off to the Isle of Man to determine why it was used and why I should include it in my memory banks.
With IBM beginning to support Linux, hopefully they'll port it! Also, the 'info' program that is used to handle documentation is pretty gnifty. I used to spend time during 2rd shift browsing it for hidden kernels of information not easily found elsewhere.
zeugma
The MPAA is trying to protect their industry. An open-source DVD player means that a player that *copies* DVD's is trivial. This is what the MPAA doesn't want. I don't think any of us really want that, because if everyone goes and gets pirated DVD's, the movie industry takes a serious blow.
While I would have to agree with your use of terminology in that any player does have to read the disk (obviously) in order to play it, and said reading could be considered a copy if you leaned hard on your dictionary, it's not really the point of the project to crack the DVD for the sole purpose of copying DVD disks. From what I've read, the folks who hacked the format were trying to build an OS player. Of course, it is possible to make use of the information gained for nefarious purposes, but I fail to see how anyone is harmed by my gaining the ability to play The Matrix on my *nix box. (Not that I have a DVD player yet.)
It seems to me that the movie industry is attempting to tar all of with a broad brush of criminality. They see the hits taken by the record industry from MP3s and the thought sends shivers down their jelly-like spines. What they don't seem to take into account is the evidence that mp3s have actually spurred many people who haven't bought a CD in ages to purchase CDs based on songs that they've downloaded doesn't seem to register anywhere. I know several people who generally don't purchase CDs who have done exactly that. (The market for audio recording is heavily skewed towards the younger audience as they apparently have the disposable ca$h for such things and don't have to generally worry about such things as Food, Rent, and Clothing.) I own a sh!tload (a technical term) of CDs and albums. Most of them were purchased a decade ago, with sporadic purchases since.
Sorry to wander over to the audio industry when I'm actually concerned with the attempts at controlling the video market. The fact that there is a huge difference in file size between a 4MB mp3 and a 2GB or so movie doesn't seem to phase them either. I sure as hell am not going to download a 2GB file to watch a movie. Blockbuster rents the things, why do I need to waste my time when I can have it to watch quicker by running down the street and plunking down a couple of buck$?
Finally, their notion that copying DVDs is inherrantly evil is specious anyway. Most of my LPs have only been played once or twice. I generally have taped them so I could listen to them without having to worry about damaging the origionals. If the tape wears or breaks, I cut a new one. Right now I'm doing the same thing with MP3s. It saves wear and tear on my investment, and I appreciate this. Right now I've got 4GB or so of my CDs on my hard disk. Not a single one is pirated. I own it all. If there is anything wrong with this, I'd like to know what it is.
Zeugma rambles on...
Indeed. I have about 4.5GB of MP3s on my PC at the moment. Every single track is completely legal, as I took the time to ripenc them and organize everything in a logical format. Now, when I get home from work, I fire up XMMS and let random play create Radio Zeugma all evening while I sit and read /.
Creating this on-disk library took a bit of time. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone out there thinks there would be a market for creating custom hard disks for people too busy/lazy to cut their own. If done in the manner that mp3.com is doing, it would be legal it seems.