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User: Zarquon

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Comments · 357

  1. Re:No s**t, Sherlock on Crappy Passwords Very Common · · Score: 1

    HELMET So the combination is one, two, three, four, five. (lifts mask) That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life. That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage.

    [fast forward] [Fast Forwarding, Sir!]

    SKROOB Great. Now we can take every last breath fresh air from planet Druidia. What's the combination?

    SANDURZ One, two, three, four, five.

    SKROOB One, two, three, four, five?

    SANDURZ That's amazing. I've got the same combination on my luggage. Prepare Spaceball 1 for immediate departure.

    SANDURZ Yes, sir.

    SKROOB, SANDURZ, and HELMET start walking out the door.

    SKROOB And change the combination on my luggage.

  2. Re:Unique ID's.. oh JOY on Industry Agrees On Next Gen Unified DVD Standard · · Score: 1

    This'll never get read, but.. The issue is probably not _all_ data gets watermarked. Applications would not work well if their binary data is suddenly pseudo-randomly corrupted. This implies that there is some way to turn the chip off, and _this_ is usually a function of the embedded processor and it's (don't blink) firmware.

    As for the actual algorithm.. who cares? If you really want to, you can reverse engineer most chips. It does take a determined adversary and some fairly pricey (100k+) equipment, though.

  3. Re:What about security??? on Understanding NFS · · Score: 1

    I've found VTUN works pretty well, and runs on most anything pppd runs on.

  4. Re:Unique ID's.. oh JOY on Industry Agrees On Next Gen Unified DVD Standard · · Score: 1
    Assuming you are right, one way it could work is thus. The content is not watermarked, as recorded on the disk. The bits on each disk are identical. But the hardware that plays it will only extract, even at some low level, watermarked data. That is, as the data comes off the disk, the drive watermarks it, even before it ever leaves the drive mechanism and hits your ide cable.


    Oh goody.. not only is their watermarking algorithm available in every $100 device, it is vulnerable to a simple firmware patch :)
  5. Re:CIA modified full text !!! on CIA & KGB Gadgets On Display · · Score: 1
    The full text should read: They must be mistaken, the US doesn't spy on other countries... See now isn't it funny :)
    Or perhaps: They must be mistaken, the US doesn't spy on other countries... successfully.

    Given our recent (publicized) track record?

  6. Re:802.11b Network on O'Reilly's Antenna Shootout · · Score: 1

    Makes you wonder.. which uplink is LAWN using? Considering Resnet/Eastnet's is HOSED, it's possible that LAWN is on the academic feed :)

    Internal bandwidth is not an issue, here (small house, eastnet). I can pull 900K to/from unloaded internal sources.

  7. Re:Emissions? on Cringely's Bank Shot · · Score: 2, Informative


    FCC Rules part 15.247 is the reference here. The reason we use DSSS encoding is that FHSS is limited to 0.125 watts in the 2.4 ghz band. 15.246(b)(2). The 5.725 ghz band allows 1 watt in most spread spectrum modes (802.11a/g?)

    15.247 (b)(3)(i) allows high-gain directional point-point links. For every 3 db above 6 db gain, you have to reduce your peak output power by 1 db.

    Of course, if you get a basic ham license, you can increase this quite a bit. However, you then cannot encrypt your traffic, IIRC.

  8. Re:Microsoft just don't get it. on Microsoft Stops New Work To Fix Bugs · · Score: 1

    IIRC, NT started as a split of the code base of OS/2. Originally IBM and Microsoft were collaborating on the project, but then MS took their ball and went home. And besides.. They couldn't name it with a smaller number than their older Win16 software :)

    (Win2k's (or XPs?) splash always strikes me as strange.. "Powered by Windows NT Technology" or some such when NT stands for New Technology)

  9. Re:The paradox of government secrets... on Censoring Australian Censors' Blacklist · · Score: 1

    Apollo mission.. It is likely that moon rock has a better thermal conductivity than vacuum, thus heat loss through contact with surface. You also have to figure in radiant losses. I can see heating elements being required in some cases..

  10. Re:Linux + Kernel Premption = AmigaOS 2002 on Robert Love, Preemptible Kernel Maintainer Interviewed · · Score: 1

    Ah yes.. I remember our first computer. A Commodore PC 10; 20 MB harddrive, 640k of ram, CGA graphics, and a single 5.25". 4.77 Mhz 8088, IIRC. Only thing we had for 7 years until the hard drive gave out..

  11. Re:What is it like? on Business Software Alliance "Grace Period" · · Score: 1

    Well.. they _were_ struggling with the DoJ, but now everyone knows it was just a big misunderstanding...

  12. Re:Another... how many are left? on SF Great Poul Anderson, 1926-2001 · · Score: 2

    I have some of the same issues, but I've found a few contemporary authors writing some excellent sci-fi: (you'll notice I'm fond of military sci-fi, especially ones with a real sense of tactics, as well as long on-going series)

    David Weber, especially the Honor Harrington books. The first book in the series, On Basilisk Station, is available free from: http://www.baen.com/library/default.htm

    I am also fond of Oath of Swords, a well-written Fantasy with real characters that doesn't quite fit into the normal fantasy sterotypes established by Papa Tolkien :) This is also available from Baen Free library.

    S.M. Stirling and David Drake co-wrote the excellent "The General" series, a 5-book series with a related sequal. The Hammer series by Drake (Mercenaries) is good, but not up to The General, IMHO.

    The first 3 Star Wars novelizations by Timothy Zahn are excellent too, with a well-defined plot arc and human (well, alien) characters.
    On the well-written fantasy side, I enjoyed The Videssos Cycle by Harry Turtledove. This doesn't seem to have the well-defined plot arc of some of the other series, but the combination of Roman Legions and magic is intriguing.

    The disc-world series by Terry Pratchett is generally a fun read, if you have a high tolerance for puns.

    _A Company of Stars_ by Christopher Stasheff is well-written with engaging characters, and appropriate subject matter for slashdot; it deals with censorship and politics. Some of the reviews of the sequels are not as promising, but I haven't found any yet, so I can't give a personal opinion. This book is out of print, and the series is incomplete.

    Of course, there is always the voluminous Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. There have been many other reviews here and elsewhere, so I will leave this one to others.

  13. Re:Is better TV definition needed ? on The Joys of HDTV · · Score: 1

    I admit PAL has slightly better resolution, and better color rendition (ob. NTSC- Never Twice Same Color) (which doesn't bother me much; I'm moderately R-G color blind). What does bother me about PAL is the refresh rate.. 50 hz is just nasty. 60 is a much better; 24 (film) often gives me headaches, especially with stupid directors that like strobe effects..

  14. Re:indifferent on PS2 Hard Drive Announced · · Score: 2

    How about:
    Randomly generated maps / items / whatever
    Opponent position
    AI state data (depends on engine)
    Past information (Wait, can't open this door until I flip switch C in room 32 5 levels back..)

    Also, you are mixing Flash memory (non-volatile) with SDRAM (requires power to store information). Flash is a _lot_ more expensive.

  15. Re:It's not X-box on PS2 Hard Drive Announced · · Score: 1

    Except that Zaphod starts with a 'Z'...

  16. Re:your .sig on C Styled Script - C-like Scripting Language · · Score: 1

    Feeding trolls, but some crack moderator modded you up.. Blame slashdot and the 120 char, it's at 112 already.

  17. Re:PDA on On the Question of Handhelds: iPaq Best? · · Score: 1

    That's wierd.. maybe they changed the policy since I was last there, but after a fair delay (but no signatures / mailing) I had access to many ROMs (including their brand new (at the time) 3.5 color roms).

  18. Re:Hope you're ready for the "fun" to begin... on Capture MPEG From TiVo · · Score: 3

    Well, if the damage is already done, and your tools are so much better than Nick Hull's, why don't you release yours (well, tridge's) now?

  19. Re:Same for Digital Cable? on Capture MPEG From TiVo · · Score: 1

    Why try to send _decoded_ video over a USB port? It makes much more sense to keep the existing MPEG encoding and then dump it for editing.. (much like this tivo hack is for.. so you don't have to go analog->mpeg->analog->computer->endformat).

  20. Re:this is not napster on Capture MPEG From TiVo · · Score: 3

    Well, there is one major restriction for now: IO. Tivos don't have any fancy IO ports on them by default, just a serial port. That leaves three options: Building the ethernet card hack (or buying it) which isn't cheap, physically removing the hard drive and reading it on a computer (no mfs drivers yet, AFAIK), or streaming the sucker over a low-grade serial port (think weeks).
    Also, except for a few boxes where you can get a bash prompt without opening it, all these methods void your warranty.

  21. Re:Solution - Everybody use Euro-English! on Why Unicode Won't Work on the Internet · · Score: 1

    Mark Twain wasn't the only one with a story like this.. There was a similar one I ran across in a
    Astounding anthology.

  22. Re:Speaking of recycling old computers.. on 101 Uses for an Old Server · · Score: 1

    I have (IIRC) a PS/2 Model 70 386 w/12 M of ram and a 150M HD. Microchannel piece of junk. I did, however, get bored, and run Win95 across an SMB share (HD way too small). I recall it taking about 12 minutes to finish booting.. :) It's not _too_ bad running Win31, though. I gave it away a year ago to replace someone's 8086.

  23. Re:getting into space on Slashback: VIP, Makers, RMS · · Score: 2

    Oh, you mean Reagan went over there personally and embezzeled the Russian Treasury? Reagan went out of his way to bankrupt the US, and the USSR, lemming like, followed, then passed us on the way to the sea. We may have slowed down slightly, but we haven't stopped.

    You may wish to check your math; Reducing our population will INCREASE the ratio of pollution the US puts out (assuming pollution stays fairly constant). The problem is reducing pollution per person, or increasing our birth rate without increasing pollution much :) I also fail to see why it (directly) relates to the human-rights committee.

  24. Re:Um, it's called a PC on The Borg Box and Convergence Fantasies · · Score: 1

    Under windows (Sort of. Under Win2K, the software is better than usual for ATI, but it still is fairly unstable). Under linux, well, 3d is getting there, TV-in is working fairly well (no capture support; the proper API is lacking in X). TV-out has been reported to work with a framebuffer, the proper modeline settings, and an appropriate ritualistic sacrifice.

    Motion compensation and other DVD-acceleration techniques, well, don't hold your breath. Not only is an appropriate API lacking, but ATI doesn't seem to want to release specs. (Not suprising; considering how long motion compensation has been out there, it took a remarkably long time for _any_ vendor to release info on their motion compensation units.)

  25. Re:Other limitations overshadow this on Sprint Testing 2.4Mbs Wireless Cellphone · · Score: 1

    You have your math wrong. 1 byte usually equals 8 bits. 2.4 Mbit/s = 300 KBytes/s, equivalent to a 2x CDROM.