If you are writing a reply comment, (as I am, and I hope that everybody will!) please check out comment #100. (Not mine-- mine is #17 if you care) The comment is by a gentleman who runs a video-editing business with Linux machines, and who is losing business as a direct result of DeCSS becoming illegal. This is an excellent comment to quote in your reply, along with those listed in the article summary from the "big boys" of industry.
This comment helps us make the point that the encryption restrictions hurt not only the honest end user who wishes to play DVDs from another region, connect their DVD player to a coax-only TV, make a backup of a DVD, or play a DVD in their Linux machine, but also honest businesspeople.
Please take the time to write a reply comment-- it doesn't have to be long, just make your point concisely and with references to actual facts. Please feel free to cannibalize my comment if you need a place to start. (it probably isn't the most beautiful of comments, but I tried)
Don't ask me why, but the comments were required to be sent as email *attachments*, rather than just email. In fact, they were not accepting text-based email comments. One more hoop to jump through, but that was minor compared to the time I spent putting my comment together.
We are using NACHOS at Purdue University, and it beats the pants off of starting with something as complex and "finished" as Linux. NACHOS is a simple OS that is designed to allow students to implement VM, Scheduling, Mutual Exclusion, Filesystems, etc... It is easy enough to undertand that we just dove right in and started coding, rather than working on little isolated examples first. I highly recommend it.
I'm not nearly as worried by media decay as I am about content just disappearing altogether. The internet saves us from media decay-- if I keep my files on a network-capable machine, then transfer to the next generation machine is easy. Every time I get a new PC, I plug it into the hub, and let the file copying begin! On the other hand, "disappearing info" on the web may result in all sorts of archival losses! Magazines and Newspapers are archived and kept in libraries for years. What about news web sites? I'm sure most large sites keep their own archives, but will anyone ever have access to this data again? Once it is replaced by newer info on a site, is it gone forever? I'm afraid that the popularity of the web may result in the loss of good data archives in libraries for the future.
Assuming media continues to get bigger, the snowball effect is mitigated significantly. If, in 10 years, I take the mp3's (on CDROM) from my entire music collection and move it to some new super-high-density media, it will probably fit on a single disk. Thus, next time around, copying all the older stuff requires me to copy only one disk. Every 10-20 years, when I have to re-archive everything, I will have only a TINY fraction of data from the previous cycle, because it will be so small compared to the new data.
If I buy an old book that someone has taped shut for some reason, I am allowed to cut the tape and read the book I have purchased. If the book is in Japanese, I am allowed to read it if I know Japanese even if I am in America. Cutting the tape to open the book is not the same as stealing the book! Breaking CSS to play a legally owned DVD on my PC is not the same as stealing a DVD from the store!
I'll be in the UK for a month later this year, and was pondering this exact question in reverse. What ISPs should I look at? Odds are I won't be buying a UK phone. Do hotels have phone jacks? What is the electrical power standard in the UK? Do I need a wacky adapter for my laptop? Are phone jacks the same? (Forgive my ignorance-- Canada's about as far as I've managed to get) Do modems use the same dialtone, ringing, etc... as they do in the states? What size area do ISPs cover in the country? Can I get one that will work in France as well? Is any of the above different in France?
Most of the larger ISPs provide access in every state. Even netzero (free ISP) has a zillion dialup numbers! I'm sure that the ISPs would be happy to sign you up-- just don't mention the whole 1-month thing until your trip is over. No problem.
As to wireless connections, a cheap analog cell phone and a compatible modem will give you approx. 9600bps. There are some digital phones that allow connections as well, but I'm not sure about nationwide coverage and have never used one myself.
Finally, I don't know about the rest of the country, but I don't think there's a cybercafe anywhere in the lovely state of Indiana. I wouldn't rely on them, especially if you're staying off the highway and away from big cities.
I think that a testing situation like this produces an unfair environment for those who still have to take the traditional exams. I wholeheartedly agree with giving people who have had limited or poor exposure to the traditionally tested topics the opportunity to learn more in college, but if some people are to be tested this way, than everyone should be. Since the test is designed to be racially unbiased, it should not be any easier for the groups who are currently not taking the lego test than for those who are currently taking the lego test. This way, testing is done in a fair and even-handed manner, with no bias to people whose background gives them an unfair advantage in specific topics, and no handicap to those without such a background.
I know it may sound silly to most of you, but isn't it possible that some people really don't have access to a way to teach themselves these things? There are free libraries, but what if you are far away and do not have a car? There is the internet, but what if you cannot afford a computer and an ISP? Unbiased methods are necessary for fairness, but unbiased use of such methods is necessary also.
If I understand correctly, the reason DeCSS was originally written for windows was because there was no DVD playback software for Linux, and you have to have SOME way to test. So you write for a platform where there is a player, and test the decryption by playing the decrypted video back. Once you know that works, you begin writing the player code for the OS in question.
Just got mine from Circuit City, and on both the Matrix and Run Lola Run the player plays the movies correctly (these are the only two movies we have to test with) but the brightness goes up and down in cycles of about 3 seconds. It is REALLY annoying and is absolutely unacceptable. Is anyone else having this problem?
When chevrolet marketed the old Nova in Mexico, they neglected to note that the spanish translation of "No va" means literally "It doesn't go". A hell of a name for a car.
Well... I apparently don't know my behind from the "submit" button here. Watch as the brilliant raygundan posts comments twice in the same place, and thinks they're different!
Oh, so close. kWh/h isn't a delta... kW/h is. As in "The power usage is increasing by 5 kW/h." It is VERY simple to see how the hours cancel out of kWh/h-- how can it be a delta with no time in it? *sigh*. That is precisely why kW/h is wrong in this situation. They are using a delta to describe a constant. My apologies to the other comment I accidentally posted this under-- I believe he has the right idea.
Oh, so close. kWh/h isn't a delta... kW/h is. As in "The power usage is increasing by 5 kW/h." It is VERY simple to see how the hours cancel out of kWh/h-- how can it be a delta with no time in it? *sigh*. That is precisely why kW/h is wrong in this situation. They are using a delta to describe a constant.
The comment above this one finally hits the nail on the head, with one small caveat. Saying either kWh/h or kW/h is silly. But kW/h is wrong, and kWh/h is ACTUALLY CORRECT, as silly as it may seem. Look at your electric bill. Mine gives my energy usage in kWh/day, which is the same d@mn thing as kWh/h, with a time conversion. It is also correct to say that the machine uses 30kW. This is akin to saying that it uses an average power (or, less likely, a perfectly constant power) of 30kW.
Apparently this guy is just not creative or technically-minded enough to pull this off. I use the net to make about 3/4 of my phone calls (net to normal phone via a gateway provider is mucho cheaper than normal long distance). A camera could have provided him with video. If he had thought to order his groceries via the net a few days before he started, they would have been fair game. The minor troubles he experienced were only "getting started" delays. Once he has some food in stock, I'll bet he could go for quite a while.
He gets some points for finding a deli that takes internet orders, though...
A buffer overrun works because nothing is checking to see if the buffer is full. In that case, data written past the end of buffer will be in some other segment of memory, and *possibly* executable. However, if you write your code to keep an eye on the buffer, you can handle the overflow safely. (Increase the buffer size, stop accepting more data, etc...)
The program here at Purdue (where I know the poster of this article, Deepak, spent some time) uses both books. CLD is a good book for getting yourself up to speed with the basics, but CO&D was in-depth enough to get a 16-bit pipelined RISC processor up and running in simulation. (Which we had to do last year)
Software Suite for Ancient PCs
on
High Tech Junk
·
· Score: 1
At www.newdealinc.com you can download an all-assembly software suite that will run on both old and new versions of MS-DOS. It contains a GUI similar to win95, an office suite, and a web browser, and it runs quickly even on a 286! It requires only a few Mb of HDD space, and will run with only 640K RAM. If you can run DOS on the machine, you can run this suite. For setting up old machines for word processing, generic web browsing, etc... this is a great way to salvage 286s. It'll run under win95, so you can test it out on your real machine first, too.
I'm a software engineer. I'm vegan. I like to try new things. I ride my bike to work to cut pollution. I replaced all my lightbulbs with low-power flourescents to save power. I like to backpack in the mountains. I'm not too sure about religion, but if you believe then I'm happy for you (i really mean that). I don't own a gun, but if you've got a stockpile in your basement, that's your right. I'd probably shoot my eye out. I used to play bass in a punk band. I was awake for nearly 4 straight days finishing the design of a simple 16-bit RISC chip in college. I have more calculators than I can count without the assitance of one of the calculators.
My apologies. Somehow this isn't the geek stereotype i've picked up, though...
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If you are writing a reply comment, (as I am, and I hope that everybody will!) please check out comment #100. (Not mine-- mine is #17 if you care) The comment is by a gentleman who runs a video-editing business with Linux machines, and who is losing business as a direct result of DeCSS becoming illegal. This is an excellent comment to quote in your reply, along with those listed in the article summary from the "big boys" of industry.
This comment helps us make the point that the encryption restrictions hurt not only the honest end user who wishes to play DVDs from another region, connect their DVD player to a coax-only TV, make a backup of a DVD, or play a DVD in their Linux machine, but also honest businesspeople.
Please take the time to write a reply comment-- it doesn't have to be long, just make your point concisely and with references to actual facts. Please feel free to cannibalize my comment if you need a place to start. (it probably isn't the most beautiful of comments, but I tried)
Don't ask me why, but the comments were required to be sent as email *attachments*, rather than just email. In fact, they were not accepting text-based email comments. One more hoop to jump through, but that was minor compared to the time I spent putting my comment together.
We are using NACHOS at Purdue University, and it beats the pants off of starting with something as complex and "finished" as Linux. NACHOS is a simple OS that is designed to allow students to implement VM, Scheduling, Mutual Exclusion, Filesystems, etc... It is easy enough to undertand that we just dove right in and started coding, rather than working on little isolated examples first. I highly recommend it.
I'm not nearly as worried by media decay as I am about content just disappearing altogether. The internet saves us from media decay-- if I keep my files on a network-capable machine, then transfer to the next generation machine is easy. Every time I get a new PC, I plug it into the hub, and let the file copying begin! On the other hand, "disappearing info" on the web may result in all sorts of archival losses! Magazines and Newspapers are archived and kept in libraries for years. What about news web sites? I'm sure most large sites keep their own archives, but will anyone ever have access to this data again? Once it is replaced by newer info on a site, is it gone forever? I'm afraid that the popularity of the web may result in the loss of good data archives in libraries for the future.
Assuming media continues to get bigger, the snowball effect is mitigated significantly. If, in 10 years, I take the mp3's (on CDROM) from my entire music collection and move it to some new super-high-density media, it will probably fit on a single disk. Thus, next time around, copying all the older stuff requires me to copy only one disk. Every 10-20 years, when I have to re-archive everything, I will have only a TINY fraction of data from the previous cycle, because it will be so small compared to the new data.
If I buy an old book that someone has taped shut for some reason, I am allowed to cut the tape and read the book I have purchased. If the book is in Japanese, I am allowed to read it if I know Japanese even if I am in America. Cutting the tape to open the book is not the same as stealing the book! Breaking CSS to play a legally owned DVD on my PC is not the same as stealing a DVD from the store!
I'll be in the UK for a month later this year, and was pondering this exact question in reverse. What ISPs should I look at? Odds are I won't be buying a UK phone. Do hotels have phone jacks? What is the electrical power standard in the UK? Do I need a wacky adapter for my laptop? Are phone jacks the same? (Forgive my ignorance-- Canada's about as far as I've managed to get) Do modems use the same dialtone, ringing, etc... as they do in the states? What size area do ISPs cover in the country? Can I get one that will work in France as well? Is any of the above different in France?
Most of the larger ISPs provide access in every state. Even netzero (free ISP) has a zillion dialup numbers! I'm sure that the ISPs would be happy to sign you up-- just don't mention the whole 1-month thing until your trip is over. No problem.
As to wireless connections, a cheap analog cell phone and a compatible modem will give you approx. 9600bps. There are some digital phones that allow connections as well, but I'm not sure about nationwide coverage and have never used one myself.
Finally, I don't know about the rest of the country, but I don't think there's a cybercafe anywhere in the lovely state of Indiana. I wouldn't rely on them, especially if you're staying off the highway and away from big cities.
I think that a testing situation like this produces an unfair environment for those who still have to take the traditional exams. I wholeheartedly agree with giving people who have had limited or poor exposure to the traditionally tested topics the opportunity to learn more in college, but if some people are to be tested this way, than everyone should be. Since the test is designed to be racially unbiased, it should not be any easier for the groups who are currently not taking the lego test than for those who are currently taking the lego test. This way, testing is done in a fair and even-handed manner, with no bias to people whose background gives them an unfair advantage in specific topics, and no handicap to those without such a background.
I know it may sound silly to most of you, but isn't it possible that some people really don't have access to a way to teach themselves these things? There are free libraries, but what if you are far away and do not have a car? There is the internet, but what if you cannot afford a computer and an ISP? Unbiased methods are necessary for fairness, but unbiased use of such methods is necessary also.
If I understand correctly, the reason DeCSS was originally written for windows was because there was no DVD playback software for Linux, and you have to have SOME way to test. So you write for a platform where there is a player, and test the decryption by playing the decrypted video back. Once you know that works, you begin writing the player code for the OS in question.
I'm an idiot. I knew you couldn't copy DVD's to videotape because of macrovision... why did I think I could hook it up through the VCR? *doh!*
Just got mine from Circuit City, and on both the
Matrix and Run Lola Run the player plays the movies correctly (these are the only two movies we have to test with) but the brightness goes up and down in cycles of about 3 seconds. It is REALLY annoying and is absolutely unacceptable. Is anyone else having this problem?
When chevrolet marketed the old Nova in Mexico, they neglected to note that the spanish translation of "No va" means literally "It doesn't go". A hell of a name for a car.
Well... I apparently don't know my behind from the "submit" button here. Watch as the brilliant raygundan posts comments twice in the same place, and thinks they're different!
Oh, so close. kWh/h isn't a delta... kW/h is. As in "The power usage is increasing by 5 kW/h." It is VERY simple to see how the hours cancel out of kWh/h-- how can it be a delta with no time in it? *sigh*. That is precisely why kW/h is wrong in this situation. They are using a delta to describe a constant. My apologies to the other comment I accidentally posted this under-- I believe he has the right idea.
Oh, so close. kWh/h isn't a delta... kW/h is. As in "The power usage is increasing by 5 kW/h." It is VERY simple to see how the hours cancel out of kWh/h-- how can it be a delta with no time in it? *sigh*. That is precisely why kW/h is wrong in this situation. They are using a delta to describe a constant.
The comment above this one finally hits the nail on the head, with one small caveat. Saying either kWh/h or kW/h is silly. But kW/h is wrong, and kWh/h is ACTUALLY CORRECT, as silly as it may seem. Look at your electric bill. Mine gives my energy usage in kWh/day, which is the same d@mn thing as kWh/h, with a time conversion. It is also correct to say that the machine uses 30kW. This is akin to saying that it uses an average power (or, less likely, a perfectly constant power) of 30kW.
Apparently this guy is just not creative or technically-minded enough to pull this off. I use the net to make about 3/4 of my phone calls (net to normal phone via a gateway provider is mucho cheaper than normal long distance). A camera could have provided him with video. If he had thought to order his groceries via the net a few days before he started, they would have been fair game. The minor troubles he experienced were only "getting started" delays. Once he has some food in stock, I'll bet he could go for quite a while.
He gets some points for finding a deli that takes internet orders, though...
Yep... the gunner gets it also in the
lasgun/shield interaction.
Uh oh. Now you have a virus.
A buffer overrun works because nothing is checking to see if the buffer is full. In that case, data written past the end of buffer will be in some other segment of memory, and *possibly* executable. However, if you write your code to keep an eye on the buffer, you can handle the overflow safely. (Increase the buffer size, stop accepting more data, etc...)
The program here at Purdue (where I know the poster of this article, Deepak, spent some time) uses both books. CLD is a good book for getting yourself up to speed with the basics, but CO&D was in-depth enough to get a 16-bit pipelined RISC processor up and running in simulation.
(Which we had to do last year)
At www.newdealinc.com you can download an all-assembly software suite that will run on both old and new versions of MS-DOS. It contains a GUI similar to win95, an office suite, and a web browser, and it runs quickly even on a 286! It requires only a few Mb of HDD space, and will run with only 640K RAM. If you can run DOS on the machine, you can run this suite. For setting up old machines for word processing, generic web browsing, etc... this is a great way to salvage 286s. It'll run under win95, so you can test it out on your real machine first, too.
I'm a software engineer. I'm vegan. I like to
try new things. I ride my bike to work to cut pollution. I replaced all my lightbulbs with low-power flourescents to save power. I like to backpack in the mountains. I'm not too sure about religion, but if you believe then I'm happy for you (i really mean that). I don't own a gun, but if you've got a stockpile in your basement, that's your right. I'd probably shoot my eye out. I used to play bass in a punk band. I was awake for nearly 4 straight days finishing the design of a simple 16-bit RISC chip in college. I have more calculators than I can count without the assitance of one of the calculators.
My apologies. Somehow this isn't the geek stereotype i've picked up, though...
Isn't this *exactly* what the HAL machines being produced by Starbridge Systems are doing?