FWIW, The Tivo Series II boxes use signature checking code in the PROM to make sure the kernel is signed then they check each file in the root filesystem from an initrd before / is mounted. This has not yet been broken and the only modification for the Series 2 to date is a disk space upgrade. While Tivo has been tolerant of hackers in the past, it looks as if those days are over.
Actually, I'd like to see the TiVo become a programming platform with more services. For example, to be able to integrate a local radar picture and forecast (or even one of those neat radar/satellite looking forecasts) INTO the menu system.
Not quite a radar picture (yet) but TCS will display weather forcasts, stock quotes, sports scores and more on your TV screen using your Tivo. It is activated by keypresses on the remote (or through a network connection, linux client included). It is a nice app, and is only getting better.
There are a lot of cool things that could be done if you consider the TiVo as a television computing appliance.
Although the Tivo is proprietary hardware, since it is based on Linux it is pretty easy to develop applications for it. Tivo released the mods for the kernel, and also a cross-compiler and toolchain, so it is pretty easy to set up a cross-compilation environment and build a variety of applications. For example, recently I released WebPHP, which is a PHP environment for the Tivo. You can develop anything you want for the Tivo, although the latest series of boxes are locked down and have yet to be cracked. Perhaps some of the Linux gurus around here will take a crack at it (Firmware checks sig on kernel, initrd checks sig on all files in root filesystem).
FWIW, it is not the life of the company, or your life either, it is the life of the hardware. If you get a new Tivo, you have to get a new 'lifetime' subscription.
Certainly it would have to be under some tension, but even with the tension in the line I doubt the base station being destroyed would be catastrophic. The ribbon might have some backlash from the sudden release, but it should stay intact.
Are you 100% garanteed to detect and destroy a submarine?
Maybe, but who cares? You destroy the base station and the ribbon is still just hanging there. The presence or absence of a tether to Earth makes no difference to the ribbon, it is still balanced. If you destroy the counterweight on the other end, then you have problems. I think the most risk lies with somebody getting an explosive device onboard one of the climbers as cargo (probably not very hard to do if this thing is carrying satellites to orbit) and detonating it as it nears GEO. This could very well destroy the ribbon.
Of course we can't completely protect a space elevator. But we can't completely protect airplanes, buildings or bunkers either. But that should not prevent us from building it. If the Wright Brothers had known that one day some people would get killed from airplanes crashing into buildings do you think it would have stopped them from building planes? Terrorists are just the demon du jour, it was nuclear weapons in the 80s and in the 2020s maybe it will be germ weapons or orbiting death platforms. It seems people want to be scared of something. Why is it that when anything is proposed it all comes down to "How would the terrorists use it/blow it up?". Not everything in the world is related to terrorism. Of course I believe that structures like a space elevator should be protected as much as possible, but if someone is determined enough, they could certainly damage or destroy it. When someone hates your country enough that they are willing to kill themselves and many other people just to hurt your country, I don't think the answer is to attack their countries and make them hate you even more. A better solution would be to quit acting like such a jackass and maybe they wouldn't hate you so much.
OK, I got off onto a tangent there, but my point is that we shouldn't let the fact that terrorists could possibly destroy something prevent us from building it.
In other annoying news, President Bush mispronounced the word "nuclear" 473 times during his speech the other night.
And he must have said "September the 11th" at least that many times as well. AFAIK, "September 11th" and "The 11th of September" are correct, but I don't think that phrases like "On September the 11th, 2001, America felt its vulnerability" or "The attacks of September the 11th showed our country that vast oceans no longer protect us from danger." are proper grammer. And even if they are, they still grate on me like sandpaper on skin. I hope that Bush will eventually learn to speak the language, but he seems to do just fine making up his own words and phrases so I suppose that my hopes will go unfulfilled.
Next time, save yourself 18 minutes and go look up the beep-codes on the MB mfg's website;)
Heh, I knew someone would pop up with that. The problem with that is I know the common BIOS beep codes (at least for award) and it didn't sound like any of them. If it's not Video, Memory or CPU if you are able to find a description of the beep code it will most likely be something like "Failed to initialize FD21h at 0xF010". Just for kicks, I checked BIOS Central for the code and the closest match I could find indicates a memory error and suggests reseating or replacing the memory. I fail to see how that would help me diagnose a failed power supply. Also, keep in mind that 10 of the 20 minutes was finding a new power supply and installing it. I would have to do that anyway.
>Instead of having to load and configure software manually, they tell N1 to set up a computer system for them--which, assuming it actually works, takes hours rather than weeks.
Well, well where to begin?
# Is this like ghosting [symantec.com] an existing configuration? If so I have never seen a ghost image take weeks.
Actually, Sun has had this for quite some time, it is called Jumpstart. You can easily script the whole installation process. I believe Win2k/XP also have network installation services. It is not very hard to do and most operating systems can do it. But you still need someone to set up the initial configs. I guess that someone will be Sun. How are they going to know every piece of software the company is going to use?
Computer management of cars has changed mechanics' job from "figure out what is wrong with the engine and fix it" to "plug in the OBD-II reader, get told what's wrong with the engine, and fix it."
Yeah, and that's a big fucking problem.
For example, I am having engine problems with my new car. The mechanics at the dealership plug in the diagnostic computer, it has no error codes, therefore they have no idea what is wrong with it. They are the MCSE's of the auto world. They have no concept of how the underlying system works. All they know is what the computer tells them. They certainly agree that I have a problem, but they have no skills at determining what the problem is. That is the essence of a good mechanic (doctor, sysadmin, etc.): diagnosis. And in this day and age of user-friendly interfaces, diagnosis skills are sadly on the decline.
For example, recently I needed to fix a computer for the CEO of my company. The computer was not POSTing, and was giving a steady series of beeps. First the task was assigned to my boss, who fiddled with it the entire day and was unable to get it to post. I got dumped on me the next day-"see if there is anything you can do with it, but it is probably dead". Here are the steps I followed:
1. Pulled all cards except video, disconnected all drives. Machine still failed to POST.
2. Cleared CMOS. Machine still failed to POST.
3. Put in all cards and hooked up all drives.
4. Put another computer alongside the first one. Snaked the MB and HD power connectors over to the malfunctioning machine. Machine powered and booted.
5. Replaced power supply. Machine repaired.
Total time: 20 minutes.
My point is that you must understand how the system works before you can hope to diagnose it. Since I understand that new processors (and associated cooling fans) can take significantly more power than past processors, I suspected a power problem (the machine had been recently upgraded). Many mechanics today don't understand how the engine and the computer interact, therfore if there is a problem that is not logged by the computer, they are clueless on how to proceed. Just like many a windows admin I have known. If there is a problem they don't have the skills to diagnose, the prescription is always "reformat and reinstall".
It's worth pointing out that producers of documentaries probably aren't subsidizing 50 documentaries that fail for every one that makes money.
Perhaps not 50, but there are certainly documentaries that do better than others, pulling in more viewers and ad revenue. The difference is that when you are making a documentary you don't just produce a load of crap, throw it at the wall and note which part of the crap sticks. You actually produce a good product. If the record companies would be more discriminating in what they choose to promote, they wouldn't lose so much money backing losers. I don't see why I should have to pay for their incompetence in signing bands. If only one out of 50 of my programs worked, I would be fired immediately. Maybe these people are jsut in the wrong business.
Even better are satellite internet options (no new ground infrastructure required).
Satellite is no good because of the latency. It makes interactive activities (SSH sessions, VNC, Online Games, etc.) intolerably slow.
Say, that triggers a memory...
"This high speed modem is intolerably slow."
"Internet King, Eh? Perhaps he can provide me with faster nudity"
"I would like to upgrade my 14.4 kilobaud modem to a 1.5 Megabit T1 line. Can you provide the appropriate routers to accomodate my token ring LAN configuration?"
-Comic Book Store Guy
Their, they're. There just mad cause your good at spelling alot of words. Theirs alot of./ers that arent virsed in contractshuns, hahmonihms and grammer to.
Here, Here!
But I consider ICANN's conflict-of-interest policy to be a minimum standard
Is this likely to improve now that democracy has been successfully removed from ICANN? I would think that conflicts are likely to run even deeper once there are no elected members on the board. Thanks for giving the little guy a voice(at least for now), Karl. I voted for you:-)
Re:Impact on the environment (and the ground)
on
Going Up?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
the power source is a laser shot from the platform, aimed at collectors on the bottom of the car. There, it's converted to electricity, and drives motors with wheels on the cable.
That is an idiotic design. If you use conventional conductors in the cable, then we can also use the cable as a big powerline from space. We can have a large solar array in space and get the power back to earth via the elevator cable. Proposals in the past for powering earth from space have suggested using microwave transmission, the elevator cable would be a much safer alternative. In addition, if you have a powered cable you can use energy return brakes on the climber, so when it comes back down the motors function as generators, returning power to the system. With the aforementioned solar array, the elevator can be an energy producer rather than an energy consumer. Not to mention the fact that it is terribly inefficient to convert the electricity to light (laser) then back to electricity on the climber. It would be much more efficient to run power in the cable itself.
I was just making a point that he used more bandwidth than many people, yet he complains about "bandwidth hogs". I wasn't saying/. discussions are particularly large pages compared to some of the graphics-heavy sites.
I think theyt relized they can't stop anybody for hacking there own modem.
Sure they can, it's called theft of services and AT&T can and will prosecute you for it. Even though the modem is yours, you are connecting it to their service. I believe AT&T has gotten laws passed that make it an even bigger crime than simple theft to steal cable services.
*do* know that my IP address hasn't changed in a couple of years
Your ip didn't change when they transitioned from the @Home network to the ATTBI network? I have no idea how you accomplished that but certainly would like to know. I was down for 4 days and had to DHCP a new IP when I came back up. The new IP was in a different class A than the previous @home IP.
While the price of the modem may be part of it, and there are other technical reasons, I think the real reason is that AT&T wants it's internet-connected upstream bandwidth for itself. They are in the business of selling web hosting, and also provide home pages for their customers. These services take upstream bandwidth. They make a better margin on web hosting than on consumer broadband, so they will logically devote the needed bandwidth to it. An ISP generally has the same if not more upstream traffic than downstream traffic.
Ditto, why should I have to pay for bandwidth hogs? I do extensive browsing but rarely download anything except for RedHat's latest ISO's. I don't do the filesharing thing and my mp3's are ripped from CD's I own. No, I won't share them.
Gee, how much bandwidth do you use (download huge ISOs, big slashdot discussions, etc.) in comparison to the users the ISPs love? I'm talking about the users that log in once a week to download their mail, or once a month to do their banking. The ones that occasionally browse the web, but never newsgroups. There are lots of those users out there (most of them with AOL) but AT&T is looking to get more of them. Why should THEY have to pay for your excessive (compared to them) bandwidth consumption? You are just going to have to face the fact that if it is a flat-rate service, there is always going to be people who download more (and less) than you do.
Be careful of the difference between a bridge and a router. A bridge is simply an interface between two physical media: Ethernet on one side, and cable on the other side.
Very true
All traffic coming in one side of a bridge will be sent out the other side.
This is only true for a simple bridge. I don't think any vendors currently provide simple bridges, since it is quite easy to incorporate the logic necessary to not forward every packet. From a bridge FAQ I found:
# Learning Bridges
The simple bridges described above re-transmit every packet whether this is necessary or not. A learning bridge examines the source field of every packet it sees on each port and builds up a picture of which addresses are connected to which ports. This means that it will NOT re-transmit a packet if it knows that the destination address is connected to the same port as the bridge saw the
packet on.
AFAIK, my cable modem (and all DOCSIS compliant cable modems) act in this manner.
But, all that applies to normal bridges. Your cable modem may actually be a router,
It is not a router, it does not use layer 3 (ip) addressing, it uses layer 2 (MAC) addressing. From the DOCSIS specification for external modems (section 2.1): "The cable modem MUST be capable of filtering all broadcast traffic from the local LAN, with the exception of DHCP" And from section 3.1.1.2.1: "The cable modem MUST perform MAC bridging in accordance with ISO/IEC 10038 (ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1D)"
From the 802.1d specification section 7.1:: "The principal elements of bridge operation are: a) Relay and filtering of frames (emphasis mine)
It would seem all DOCSIS 1.1 compliant cable modems are in fact learning bridges, and do not forward LAN traffic to the RF side of the modem. DSL "routers" often can act as a bridge or a router (or a combination 'brouter'), but I have never seen a cable modem that had those capabilites, all the equipment I encountered in @Home tech support was layer 2 bridging equipment. Of course, I certainly have not seen all possible equipment so YMMV.
Slashdot Mirror
FWIW, The Tivo Series II boxes use signature checking code in the PROM to make sure the kernel is signed then they check each file in the root filesystem from an initrd before / is mounted. This has not yet been broken and the only modification for the Series 2 to date is a disk space upgrade. While Tivo has been tolerant of hackers in the past, it looks as if those days are over.
Not quite a radar picture (yet) but TCS will display weather forcasts, stock quotes, sports scores and more on your TV screen using your Tivo. It is activated by keypresses on the remote (or through a network connection, linux client included). It is a nice app, and is only getting better.
There are a lot of cool things that could be done if you consider the TiVo as a television computing appliance.
Although the Tivo is proprietary hardware, since it is based on Linux it is pretty easy to develop applications for it. Tivo released the mods for the kernel, and also a cross-compiler and toolchain, so it is pretty easy to set up a cross-compilation environment and build a variety of applications. For example, recently I released WebPHP, which is a PHP environment for the Tivo. You can develop anything you want for the Tivo, although the latest series of boxes are locked down and have yet to be cracked. Perhaps some of the Linux gurus around here will take a crack at it (Firmware checks sig on kernel, initrd checks sig on all files in root filesystem).
FWIW, it is not the life of the company, or your life either, it is the life of the hardware. If you get a new Tivo, you have to get a new 'lifetime' subscription.
Certainly it would have to be under some tension, but even with the tension in the line I doubt the base station being destroyed would be catastrophic. The ribbon might have some backlash from the sudden release, but it should stay intact.
Maybe, but who cares? You destroy the base station and the ribbon is still just hanging there. The presence or absence of a tether to Earth makes no difference to the ribbon, it is still balanced. If you destroy the counterweight on the other end, then you have problems. I think the most risk lies with somebody getting an explosive device onboard one of the climbers as cargo (probably not very hard to do if this thing is carrying satellites to orbit) and detonating it as it nears GEO. This could very well destroy the ribbon.
Of course we can't completely protect a space elevator. But we can't completely protect airplanes, buildings or bunkers either. But that should not prevent us from building it. If the Wright Brothers had known that one day some people would get killed from airplanes crashing into buildings do you think it would have stopped them from building planes? Terrorists are just the demon du jour, it was nuclear weapons in the 80s and in the 2020s maybe it will be germ weapons or orbiting death platforms. It seems people want to be scared of something. Why is it that when anything is proposed it all comes down to "How would the terrorists use it/blow it up?". Not everything in the world is related to terrorism. Of course I believe that structures like a space elevator should be protected as much as possible, but if someone is determined enough, they could certainly damage or destroy it. When someone hates your country enough that they are willing to kill themselves and many other people just to hurt your country, I don't think the answer is to attack their countries and make them hate you even more. A better solution would be to quit acting like such a jackass and maybe they wouldn't hate you so much.
OK, I got off onto a tangent there, but my point is that we shouldn't let the fact that terrorists could possibly destroy something prevent us from building it.
And he must have said "September the 11th" at least that many times as well. AFAIK, "September 11th" and "The 11th of September" are correct, but I don't think that phrases like "On September the 11th, 2001, America felt its vulnerability" or "The attacks of September the 11th showed our country that vast oceans no longer protect us from danger." are proper grammer. And even if they are, they still grate on me like sandpaper on skin. I hope that Bush will eventually learn to speak the language, but he seems to do just fine making up his own words and phrases so I suppose that my hopes will go unfulfilled.
Heh, I knew someone would pop up with that. The problem with that is I know the common BIOS beep codes (at least for award) and it didn't sound like any of them. If it's not Video, Memory or CPU if you are able to find a description of the beep code it will most likely be something like "Failed to initialize FD21h at 0xF010". Just for kicks, I checked BIOS Central for the code and the closest match I could find indicates a memory error and suggests reseating or replacing the memory. I fail to see how that would help me diagnose a failed power supply. Also, keep in mind that 10 of the 20 minutes was finding a new power supply and installing it. I would have to do that anyway.
Well, well where to begin? # Is this like ghosting [symantec.com] an existing configuration? If so I have never seen a ghost image take weeks.
Actually, Sun has had this for quite some time, it is called Jumpstart. You can easily script the whole installation process. I believe Win2k/XP also have network installation services. It is not very hard to do and most operating systems can do it. But you still need someone to set up the initial configs. I guess that someone will be Sun. How are they going to know every piece of software the company is going to use?
Yeah, and that's a big fucking problem.
For example, I am having engine problems with my new car. The mechanics at the dealership plug in the diagnostic computer, it has no error codes, therefore they have no idea what is wrong with it. They are the MCSE's of the auto world. They have no concept of how the underlying system works. All they know is what the computer tells them. They certainly agree that I have a problem, but they have no skills at determining what the problem is. That is the essence of a good mechanic (doctor, sysadmin, etc.): diagnosis. And in this day and age of user-friendly interfaces, diagnosis skills are sadly on the decline.
For example, recently I needed to fix a computer for the CEO of my company. The computer was not POSTing, and was giving a steady series of beeps. First the task was assigned to my boss, who fiddled with it the entire day and was unable to get it to post. I got dumped on me the next day-"see if there is anything you can do with it, but it is probably dead". Here are the steps I followed:
1. Pulled all cards except video, disconnected all drives. Machine still failed to POST.
2. Cleared CMOS. Machine still failed to POST.
3. Put in all cards and hooked up all drives.
4. Put another computer alongside the first one. Snaked the MB and HD power connectors over to the malfunctioning machine. Machine powered and booted.
5. Replaced power supply. Machine repaired.
Total time: 20 minutes.
My point is that you must understand how the system works before you can hope to diagnose it. Since I understand that new processors (and associated cooling fans) can take significantly more power than past processors, I suspected a power problem (the machine had been recently upgraded). Many mechanics today don't understand how the engine and the computer interact, therfore if there is a problem that is not logged by the computer, they are clueless on how to proceed. Just like many a windows admin I have known. If there is a problem they don't have the skills to diagnose, the prescription is always "reformat and reinstall".
Perhaps not 50, but there are certainly documentaries that do better than others, pulling in more viewers and ad revenue. The difference is that when you are making a documentary you don't just produce a load of crap, throw it at the wall and note which part of the crap sticks. You actually produce a good product. If the record companies would be more discriminating in what they choose to promote, they wouldn't lose so much money backing losers. I don't see why I should have to pay for their incompetence in signing bands. If only one out of 50 of my programs worked, I would be fired immediately. Maybe these people are jsut in the wrong business.
Satellite is no good because of the latency. It makes interactive activities (SSH sessions, VNC, Online Games, etc.) intolerably slow.
Say, that triggers a memory...
"This high speed modem is intolerably slow."
"Internet King, Eh? Perhaps he can provide me with faster nudity"
"I would like to upgrade my 14.4 kilobaud modem to a 1.5 Megabit T1 line. Can you provide the appropriate routers to accomodate my token ring LAN configuration?"
-Comic Book Store Guy
Their, they're. There just mad cause your good at spelling alot of words. Theirs alot of ./ers that arent virsed in contractshuns, hahmonihms and grammer to.
Here, Here!
Is this likely to improve now that democracy has been successfully removed from ICANN? I would think that conflicts are likely to run even deeper once there are no elected members on the board. Thanks for giving the little guy a voice(at least for now), Karl. I voted for you :-)
That is an idiotic design. If you use conventional conductors in the cable, then we can also use the cable as a big powerline from space. We can have a large solar array in space and get the power back to earth via the elevator cable. Proposals in the past for powering earth from space have suggested using microwave transmission, the elevator cable would be a much safer alternative. In addition, if you have a powered cable you can use energy return brakes on the climber, so when it comes back down the motors function as generators, returning power to the system. With the aforementioned solar array, the elevator can be an energy producer rather than an energy consumer. Not to mention the fact that it is terribly inefficient to convert the electricity to light (laser) then back to electricity on the climber. It would be much more efficient to run power in the cable itself.
I think you mean 'Skinemax'
I believe it is "Disparaging the boot is a bootable offense". http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F13.html
You forgot
3) Profit
It had to be said...
But if they had lost the revolutionary war, today we would be calling them terrorists. The winners write the history.
I was just making a point that he used more bandwidth than many people, yet he complains about "bandwidth hogs". I wasn't saying /. discussions are particularly large pages compared to some of the graphics-heavy sites.
Sure they can, it's called theft of services and AT&T can and will prosecute you for it. Even though the modem is yours, you are connecting it to their service. I believe AT&T has gotten laws passed that make it an even bigger crime than simple theft to steal cable services.
Try reading the linked article and you will see it:
Later this year, the company plans to test a lower-speed tier of Internet service for consumers who merely want to upgrade from dial-up access.
Try reading before posting, it really makes a difference!
Your ip didn't change when they transitioned from the @Home network to the ATTBI network? I have no idea how you accomplished that but certainly would like to know. I was down for 4 days and had to DHCP a new IP when I came back up. The new IP was in a different class A than the previous @home IP.
While the price of the modem may be part of it, and there are other technical reasons, I think the real reason is that AT&T wants it's internet-connected upstream bandwidth for itself. They are in the business of selling web hosting, and also provide home pages for their customers. These services take upstream bandwidth. They make a better margin on web hosting than on consumer broadband, so they will logically devote the needed bandwidth to it. An ISP generally has the same if not more upstream traffic than downstream traffic.
Gee, how much bandwidth do you use (download huge ISOs, big slashdot discussions, etc.) in comparison to the users the ISPs love? I'm talking about the users that log in once a week to download their mail, or once a month to do their banking. The ones that occasionally browse the web, but never newsgroups. There are lots of those users out there (most of them with AOL) but AT&T is looking to get more of them. Why should THEY have to pay for your excessive (compared to them) bandwidth consumption? You are just going to have to face the fact that if it is a flat-rate service, there is always going to be people who download more (and less) than you do.
Very true
All traffic coming in one side of a bridge will be sent out the other side.
This is only true for a simple bridge. I don't think any vendors currently provide simple bridges, since it is quite easy to incorporate the logic necessary to not forward every packet. From a bridge FAQ I found:
# Learning Bridges The simple bridges described above re-transmit every packet whether this is necessary or not. A learning bridge examines the source field of every packet it sees on each port and builds up a picture of which addresses are connected to which ports. This means that it will NOT re-transmit a packet if it knows that the destination address is connected to the same port as the bridge saw the packet on.
AFAIK, my cable modem (and all DOCSIS compliant cable modems) act in this manner.
But, all that applies to normal bridges. Your cable modem may actually be a router,
It is not a router, it does not use layer 3 (ip) addressing, it uses layer 2 (MAC) addressing. From the DOCSIS specification for external modems (section 2.1):
"The cable modem MUST be capable of filtering all broadcast traffic from the local LAN, with the exception of DHCP"
And from section 3.1.1.2.1:
"The cable modem MUST perform MAC bridging in accordance with ISO/IEC 10038 (ANSI/IEEE Std 802.1D)"
From the 802.1d specification section 7.1::
"The principal elements of bridge operation are:
a) Relay and filtering of frames (emphasis mine)
It would seem all DOCSIS 1.1 compliant cable modems are in fact learning bridges, and do not forward LAN traffic to the RF side of the modem. DSL "routers" often can act as a bridge or a router (or a combination 'brouter'), but I have never seen a cable modem that had those capabilites, all the equipment I encountered in @Home tech support was layer 2 bridging equipment. Of course, I certainly have not seen all possible equipment so YMMV.