Slashdot Mirror


User: TeknoHog

TeknoHog's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
5,448
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 5,448

  1. Re:*BSD = Elitism on Are the BSDs Dying? Some Security Researchers Think So (csoonline.com) · · Score: 1

    I switched to Linux cuz it worked with my legacy hardware and never looked back.

    Funny how the BSDs were once known to run on any toaster, but it's been ages since Linux took over in the number of hardware architectures, not to mention the countless device drivers. Linux might be lacking in some traditional Unix purity, but for practical purposes it is much more useful, and it's not at the expense of openness. If you use a grown-up distro like Gentoo that doesn't have training wheels or atrocities like systemd, you can get the best of both worlds.

  2. Re:If true, it's a shame on Are the BSDs Dying? Some Security Researchers Think So (csoonline.com) · · Score: 2

    BSDs have a superior architecture in many respects. This is especially true since the systemd takeover.

    1000 distros sure, but you can completely ignore 990 of them. The other Of the remaining 10, probably 6 are copies of the major 4, Debian, RedHat, Gentoo, Arch.

    Gentoo doesn't use systemd by default. I don't know about the others. There's nothing wrong with GNU/Linux itself just because some distros decide to ruin themselves by including systemd.

    I remember trying NetBSD back around 2002, and I really liked some aspects of it compared to the Linux distros I knew back then. Hardware support was pretty bad, though. Fortunately, I soon discovered Gentoo whose package management is derived from the BSDs, but having the hardware support of Linux and the nicer (IMHO) GNU userland.

  3. Re:"Physics-based attacks"? on Researchers Warn of Physics-Based Attacks On Sensors (securityledger.com) · · Score: 1

    What if the attack is based on moving electrons around in conductors? If electrons are not physical, then please go to your nearest physics department and tell the people to start hitting things with hammers instead. Although using this logic, I guess Rowhammer would count as physical.

    See also: digital music vs. CDs.

  4. Re:Apple compatibility is a joke on Apple Prepares MacOS Users For Discontinuation of 32-Bit App Support (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Apple has handled 68k -> PPC -> PPC64 -> x86 -> x64 -> arm -> arm64 fairly well.

    IMHO, it was idiotic for Apple to go x86, because x86-64 was already available at the time. Soon after their first x86 machines, they moved on to Core 2, but the performance was crippled for a long time due to compatibility. And now they need this final transition stage to clean it all up.

  5. almost by definition. Film at 11.

  6. Re: The obligatory XKCD on Donald Knuth Turns 80, Seeks Problem-Solvers For TAOCP (stanford.edu) · · Score: 1

    Too bad you can't actually live longer that way. In fact, by making the day longer, you'll have fewer of them left.

  7. Re:So I keep hearing about Slack on Slack Now Available As a Snap For Linux (betanews.com) · · Score: 2

    Does anyone here have actual evidence - even a specific anecdote - that using Slack or another chat program helps them work better?

    I only have some analogies: using chat programs for work is

    • (a) the online version of open plan office spaces
    • (b) like trying to get work done during meetings
  8. Re:wordy on France Says 'Au Revoir' to the Word 'Smartphone' (smithsonianmag.com) · · Score: 1

    Also..... the Phone/VOICE function is not used that often these days.

    So what are they used for? They have much fewer keys than the talk-only phones of yore, so obviously they are not used for typing text.

  9. Re:All french everywhere on France Says 'Au Revoir' to the Word 'Smartphone' (smithsonianmag.com) · · Score: 1

    4-20 sounds much more fun than 80. Just sayin'.

  10. Re:speculative execution of web content? on Mozilla Tests Firefox 'Tab Warming' (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 1

    There's a "whoosh" playing in my other tab, but fortunately I've disabled the sound on hidden tabs.

  11. Re:speculative execution of web content? on Mozilla Tests Firefox 'Tab Warming' (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 1

    I only use AMD, so nothing's going wrong here. My internets are a bit slower, but at least they are safe!

  12. Re:Ok. Fine. Whatever. on Intel Unveils 'Breakthrough' 49 Qubit Quantum Computer (extremetech.com) · · Score: 1

    Meltdown itself reflects a form of quantum computing within Intel CPUs. It performs multiple fetches at once and tunnels through permission barriers using spooky action at a distance. It used to be rather limited -- imagine what they can do when the entire CPU works the same way!

  13. Re:Quantum computing on Intel Unveils 'Breakthrough' 49 Qubit Quantum Computer (extremetech.com) · · Score: 1

    Nice. In case you buy into some of the crappy analogies, a little common sense might help too. Suppose you worked out a problem with all possible inputs at once in parallel. The output would have all the possible results in parallel, so how would you pick the one you need?

    It's been a while since I studied Shor's algorithm in detail, but the gist of it would be that it's a lot more elaborate than elementary factorization by trial and error using primes. Simply running sha256 on a quantum computer won't magically invert the hash function.

  14. Re:I hate to disclose this but... on Cryptocurrency Exchange Kraken Suddenly Goes Dark For Two Days (sfchronicle.com) · · Score: 1

    You take a look at my electric bill and call it free money.

    By "free money" I was referring to the glitch where they paid you twice for a single transaction. I'm sorry if I've misunderstood the situation.

    Anyway, I have accounts at Poloniex and Coinbase and Bittrex and local wallets because I'm not exactly new to this.

    I remember when Satoshi was on bitcointalk.org, and I co-developed the first opensource FPGA miners. But whatever.

  15. Re:I hate to disclose this but... on Cryptocurrency Exchange Kraken Suddenly Goes Dark For Two Days (sfchronicle.com) · · Score: 1

    they paid me around $400 twice. I told them about it and offered to reimburse them but their support staff never got back to me about how to do so and basically just locked one of my latest deposits and most of my accounts.

    Lesson: don't complain if you get free money. Of course, be ready to return it later if you're asked to. As the general principle goes, it's easier to ask forgiveness later than get permission up front.

    I assume you have enough cryptocurrencies locked up in the account to care. That's the topic for another lesson (don't trust exchanges for any substantial storage) though I understand issues like high withdrawal fees making small withdrawals infeasible.

  16. Re:Mobile is good enough for most. on PC Market Still Showing Few Signs of Life (axios.com) · · Score: 1

    Desktop computers are still useful. Having a large screen and keyboard is still the way to go for performing tasks. But they can stop trying to be the digital switchboard for your life. Nobody who has a smartphone needs all those bells and whistles. I never, ever need my desktop to notify me of anything anymore.

    Wait, did you actually use your desktop computer as a source of constant annoyance back in the day? I remember playing around with Gnome panel sometime in 2000 when I was new to Linux, but I soon settled for minimal window managers like Blackbox and Fluxbox, which I continue to use.

    I also like performing tasks instead of hanging around in a constant flood of distractions. I do use things like Facebook for coordinating tasks with groups of people, and it's bad enough if I accidentally leave the browser page open to play those annoying "ding"s with every fscking message. Like email, I think all textual messages are something you go and check occasionally, not something that is pushed onto you every time they come. (Don't get me started on phone calls.)

    I also remember lusting after some kind of a wearable computer to have with me all the time, but seeing today's "smart"phone culture I'm not so sure any more. Simply being connected all the time would be too much for my concentration, no matter what the hardware/software.

  17. Re:And in the middle ... on Why the World Only Has Two Words For Tea (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    To me, "tsai" sounds like the Russian version of "cha". In Finland, the mainstream word is "tee" but some Eastern dialects use something like "tsaju" via Russian influences.

  18. Re:Note they only go back to 6th generation on Intel Says Chip-Security Fixes Leave PCs No More Than 10% Slower (axios.com) · · Score: 2

    I wish I'd bought AMD stock two years ago...

    Neither AMD nor Intel stock price has moved much after the Meltdown/Spectre news. It looks like Intel's propaganda machine is running on AMD.

  19. Re:Fast second language on The Invented Language That Found a Second Life Online (bbc.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Interesting. In Finland, Swedish is a minority language that everyone must learn, which is a cause for an ongoing debate. Proponents argue that Swedish is a gateway language, having a shared cultural logic with Finnish while being a Germanic language. Knowing English and German better than Swedish, I don't consider it that familiar in a deeper sense -- there's some familiarity in the vocabulary, but the grammar is quite different across all three. This is despite having some linguistic tendencies; for those without, Swedish just gets in the way of learning English and other world languages adequately.

  20. Re:Bricked!!?!?! Oh wow! on Meltdown and Spectre Patches Bricking Ubuntu 16.04 Computers (bleepingcomputer.com) · · Score: 1

    Most people wouldn't know about JTAG. Bricking could mean different things to different people. I don't usually throw entire devices away because there are always some working components you can salvage. Still, I think it's safe to say that if you can reinstall the OS the usual way, it's definitely not bricked.

  21. What about the market cap of gold? on A Crypto Website Changes Its Data, and $100 Billion in Market Value Vanishes (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    Cryptocurrency valuations are criticized for the simple math of point price times total supply. What about more traditional commodities such as gold or crude oil? Surely the price of gold will plummet if someone starts selling huge amounts?

    As a friend pointed out recently, the simple math for market caps makes sense assuming it's the same for everything. It's a tool for comparing things against each other, not a measure of absolute worth. Most of the "money" in the world is locked up outside active circulation and doesn't represent any tangible worth, and cryptocurrencies are just a tiny portion of it all.

    Slightly OT, my two standard replies to any /. cryptocurrency story:

    • For a site of "news for nerds", the amount of unsubstantiated whine and sarcasm towards a world-changing cryptographic P2P tech is astounding. You might as well whine about not investing in Apple, Google, Microsoft etc. in their early days.
    • If you think cryptocurrencies are pyramid schemes or any other kinds of scam, please try and learn how fiat currency works, and then come back to compare the two worlds. (Hint: in one system, those in power can create money out of thin air by putting numbers on a computer without any basis in reality. The other system has built-in limitations.)
  22. Re:Why Meldown? on Microsoft Pauses Rollout of Spectre and Meltdown Patches To AMD Systems (betanews.com) · · Score: 4, Informative

    In the latest Linux releases, the Meltdown fix has a runtime detection of AMD CPUs, in which case the fix is not activated. I'm sure MS could do something similar if they wanted.

  23. Re:How does it compare? on Wireless Charging Nears Unification As Powermat Cedes To Qi (engadget.com) · · Score: 1

    It's more or less inefficient.

  24. Prominent Bitcoin entrepreneurs in Finland agree that cryptocurrencies are in a Dotcom-like bubble. That means there's a lot of worthless fluff, but there's also some that you'll all be using in a few years. Or did you seriously quit using the Internet altogether after the Dotcom crash?

  25. Re: It's not only Intel on Intel Hit With Three Class-Action Lawsuits Over Meltdown and Spectre Bugs (theguardian.com) · · Score: 1

    Citation needed for SPARC and ibm power professors.

    Ditto for AMD.

    Let's recap: Meltdown is Intel only. There's another attack called Spectre that affects a wider class of CPUs, including AMD, but that doesn't mean all CPUs are equally bad. Meltdown is the embarrassing one where software fixes cause slowdowns, and did I mention it's Intel only?

    (Apparently, there are some non-Intel processors also affected by Meltdown, but I'm mainly talking about Intel vs. AMD as a whole.)