They have. They write all sorts of shit calling it the "analog hole" and talking about what they'd like to do to plug it. But of course it doesn't happen because everyone would have to dump all of their current kit, right down to the loudspeakers, and everything would have to be redesigned from ground up with encrypted digital links. It'd cost them millions to set up, and they would lose customers in the process.
And then some bright spark would crack the encryption and they'd be back to square 1.
The warning messages (theoretically) are still sent in order to guard against false positives (which do happen, occasionally).
What annoys me is when you get a message that suggests that you might have a virus and you ought to get a scanner to check it. I often send those back with a complaint.
Most common use for modchips in cars: circumvention of emissions/rev limiter/speed governor limitations. Many of these will make the cars illegal in some areas. Car mod chips are not illegal.
1. The parent wasn't talking about modchips for cars. He was talking about getting access to car engine control system interface information in order to build systems compatible with systems that are usually only supplied to 'authorised dealers'.
2. A substantial non-infringing use of engine controller replacements, one that sells thousands of units per year (at least here in the UK), is chips that improve engine economy. Not everyone wants their car to go faster. Manufacturers install engine control software that is at some point on the economy/performance line. You can take it either way, if you like.
And, after all, a password is just another form of security through obscurity.
I'm fed up of hearing this. A password is _not_ "security through obscurity". Security through obscurity is the use of unknown _methods_ to provide security.
The key difference between this and using a password are that it is possible to change your password. At a moment's notice, if necessary. But changing the method of security you use is usually substantially more difficult.
If you don't accept the distinction, then what is the difference between 'security through obscurity' and using a 128 bit block cipher. 256 bit? I mean, if you know the key, you can break it, right? Hint: this is true of _all_ security mechanisms other than those that use an automatic key exchange before sending data. And those don't provide any way of proving identity.
No, you're missing the point. Justice is supposed to be blind. The DMCA forbids reverse-engineering copyrighted and encrypted code OF ANY KIND
I think you're missing the point. The DMCA doesn't apply here, because it only applies to copyright protection measures. The diagnostic codes produced (and control codes understood, going in the opposite direction) by a car aren't kept obscure in order to protect copyright, because they aren't original works that can have copyright applied to them. They're kept obscure in order to maintain a (possibly unfair) market monopoly on performing maintenance on the vehicles.
The code on XBox, as mentioned in the post text, that people want to reverse engineer is explicitly a copyright protection mechanism... it attempts to use cryptography to ensure that games you want to load are the genuine item, and not a ripped off & hacked copy. Hence the DMCA does apply. Like it or not, XBox hacks to load unsigned software can be used as a circumvention tool to load hacked copies of commercial games, and that is probably what they're most commonly used for.
Games are a case where, usually, there is a 'fast enough' point, beyond which nobody really cares; that is, all the graphics run smoothly enough that you don't see flicker, there aren't noticeable stutters or other delays, and the game isn't scaling anything back (e.g. detail levels, or a.i. capability) in order to compensate.
If you've got fast enough, then maybe optimising the swap-back-in stage afterwards is the best thing to do.
Re:Swap nessisary in low mem (128M) systems
on
Is Swap Necessary?
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· Score: 1
Yes but, then there's latency in the server process to consider as well. I'm not sure about modern systems (my file server is getting fairly ancient), but latency on file accesses over network are typically about 2-3x the equivalent for local accesses. (100Mbit hub-based network with 3 workstations accessing infrequently, file server is samba on linux 2.4 with ext3 fs running on P166MMX + 128Mb RAM, local file access is ntfs on win2k with a 350MHz PII and 256Mb RAM)
Linux does, and has done for a long time - look at the stats displayed by 'top'. You'll see information on memory used, free, buffered and swap used, free and cached. Cached is the number of pages that have been swapped out but not reused yet. (Buffered is the size of your disk cache.)
It just does other things as well. Setting swappiness low controls how likely file cache is to replace application data, which is probably the problem you're encountering.
Too bad you can't achieve the same effect in Windows 2000
Damned straight. I was doing some intensive I/O stuff on my Win2K workstation the other day, and it popped up a 'your system is running low on virtual memory' warning box. I had a look at the usage - about 35Mb of application data, 30Mb of kernel data and the other ~200Mb was disk cache!
Re:Use a swapfile instead of a partition
on
Is Swap Necessary?
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· Score: 1
Pardon my ignorace, but I've never known that Linux could utilize a swap file rather than a swap partition.
It's mainly only folks who've been around for a few years that know about this. Back in the early 90s, it used to be quite common for people 'trying out linux' to use a umsdos file system, and have swap set up to use the same space as your Windows 3 swap file. That was around the same time that I installed slackware from floppies.:)
An English university is allowed by law to charge no more than GBP 3,000, and that's only because the limit was recently raised. We aren't talking a huge pile of cash here.
This limit only applies to EU citizens. The article doesn't make it clear whether this applied to the student in question or not; if he was from outside the EU, he was probably paying substantially more to be there - in fact, according to UKC's web site, GBP 8,250 per annum.
I am forced to either (a) take a failing grade on the paper (and potentially the class), or (b) give up what intellectual property rights I have over my paper. That really irks me
My university had a clause in their terms and conditions of offering the course that copyright on any work produced for the course was assigned to them. I can't say it really bothered me, and they were willing to negotiate (i.e. assign the work immediately back to you) if you specifically asked them about it.
This was 10 years ago now. I'm pretty sure most universities have similar policies, even ones that don't use plagiarism checking services.
BTW: the checking service needs at least a license grant in order to operate correctly, as they will cross-check between papers, and would need to quote the original text back if they found a match.
Re:CD's are really a bargain when you put it this
on
The Way the Music Died
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· Score: 1
Between 1983 and 1996, the average price of a CD fell by more than 40%
Of course, in 83, CD prices were artificially high because sales volumes were substantially lower than vinyl, and as the 'alternative' format shops wanted a premium for stocking them. Also, manufacturing processes weren't available then that are now... a substantial amount of that extra price was actually extra cost.
Read the patent. They've patented an apparatus that allows them to edit the gig as its performed and record multiple CDs quickly enough to sell them out.
Now you could say that its an (the only?) obvious solution to a fairly obvious problem, and if you presented that argument in court you'd have a chance of having the patent declared invalid. But then again, you might not...
Good grief. Somebody linked a site with nude photographs from a highly rated article near the top of a recent slashdot cover story, and the site hasn't even slowed down, let alone be slashdotted. That's impressive.
Damn it! Does this mean this situation is impossible to get an 802.11 signal through?
- Two houses, separated by a distance of roughly 50 metres - One intervening house in the direct route seems to completely block any signal - There is line of sight from the garden of one to the garden of the other, but:
- there are intervening trees
- approximately 5m of cable would be required on one end of the signal
- approximately 1m of cable would be required on the other
I've tried experimenting with directional antennae (of the traditional pringles-tube design) with no luck, but so far haven't invested in any low-attenuation cable for the project (was using old 10Base-2 ethernet cable as a proof-of-concept).
I don't mind what the reception quality's like, as long as it works (1Mb/s is more than adequate for the application I had in mind).
Any suggestions? Would bouncing the signal off the row of houses opposite (adding about 60m to the signal path, but substantially reducing the volume of tree involved) help? Would passing traffic cause packet loss? Is there another way?
I recently switched from drinking water exclusively to 3+ liters/day of Dr. Pepper, Vanilla Coke and Mountain Dew (all diet). I've found my concentration and memory improved, my food intake cut by a third and my sleep requirements have gone from over eight hours a day to under six.
Something tells me you're on a short term caffeine high. Give it a while, you'll stop feeling so good...
Their biggest arguments for not drinking diet coke are: doesn't taste well, aspartam is dangerous for your health.
Urban legend alert -- aspartame is _not_ dangerous, unless you suffer from one or two well known and easily diagnosed conditions that cause a phenylalanine intolerance. And you'll probably know about it if you do.
But, c'mon guys, it's just sex. It's been happening since the beginning. If it were somehow the root of all evil, don't you think we'd have found out by now?
You are aware that the whole forbidden fruit thing is a metaphor for sex, aren't you? And that, therefore, fundamental Christians really _do_ believe that sex is the root of all evil, in a pretty literal sense?
Nothing K lite does can prevent the RIAA from tracking you. The only way of achieving this would be to prevent your IP address ever being associated with a file... to do this you would either have to use an anonymising proxy server, or not upload the file to start with. I don't think it does the former, I'm fairly certain it doesn't do the latter.
Slashdot Mirror
They have. They write all sorts of shit calling it the "analog hole" and talking about what they'd like to do to plug it. But of course it doesn't happen because everyone would have to dump all of their current kit, right down to the loudspeakers, and everything would have to be redesigned from ground up with encrypted digital links. It'd cost them millions to set up, and they would lose customers in the process.
And then some bright spark would crack the encryption and they'd be back to square 1.
The warning messages (theoretically) are still sent in order to guard against false positives (which do happen, occasionally).
What annoys me is when you get a message that suggests that you might have a virus and you ought to get a scanner to check it. I often send those back with a complaint.
I believe most plants extract the majority of the CO2 they use from the atmosphere.
Most common use for modchips in cars: circumvention of emissions/rev limiter/speed governor limitations. Many of these will make the cars illegal in some areas. Car mod chips are not illegal.
1. The parent wasn't talking about modchips for cars. He was talking about getting access to car engine control system interface information in order to build systems compatible with systems that are usually only supplied to 'authorised dealers'.
2. A substantial non-infringing use of engine controller replacements, one that sells thousands of units per year (at least here in the UK), is chips that improve engine economy. Not everyone wants their car to go faster. Manufacturers install engine control software that is at some point on the economy/performance line. You can take it either way, if you like.
And, after all, a password is just another form of security through obscurity.
I'm fed up of hearing this. A password is _not_ "security through obscurity". Security through obscurity is the use of unknown _methods_ to provide security.
The key difference between this and using a password are that it is possible to change your password. At a moment's notice, if necessary. But changing the method of security you use is usually substantially more difficult.
If you don't accept the distinction, then what is the difference between 'security through obscurity' and using a 128 bit block cipher. 256 bit? I mean, if you know the key, you can break it, right? Hint: this is true of _all_ security mechanisms other than those that use an automatic key exchange before sending data. And those don't provide any way of proving identity.
No, you're missing the point. Justice is supposed to be blind. The DMCA forbids reverse-engineering copyrighted and encrypted code OF ANY KIND
I think you're missing the point. The DMCA doesn't apply here, because it only applies to copyright protection measures. The diagnostic codes produced (and control codes understood, going in the opposite direction) by a car aren't kept obscure in order to protect copyright, because they aren't original works that can have copyright applied to them. They're kept obscure in order to maintain a (possibly unfair) market monopoly on performing maintenance on the vehicles.
The code on XBox, as mentioned in the post text, that people want to reverse engineer is explicitly a copyright protection mechanism... it attempts to use cryptography to ensure that games you want to load are the genuine item, and not a ripped off & hacked copy. Hence the DMCA does apply. Like it or not, XBox hacks to load unsigned software can be used as a circumvention tool to load hacked copies of commercial games, and that is probably what they're most commonly used for.
Games are a case where, usually, there is a 'fast enough' point, beyond which nobody really cares; that is, all the graphics run smoothly enough that you don't see flicker, there aren't noticeable stutters or other delays, and the game isn't scaling anything back (e.g. detail levels, or a.i. capability) in order to compensate.
If you've got fast enough, then maybe optimising the swap-back-in stage afterwards is the best thing to do.
Yes but, then there's latency in the server process to consider as well. I'm not sure about modern systems (my file server is getting fairly ancient), but latency on file accesses over network are typically about 2-3x the equivalent for local accesses. (100Mbit hub-based network with 3 workstations accessing infrequently, file server is samba on linux 2.4 with ext3 fs running on P166MMX + 128Mb RAM, local file access is ntfs on win2k with a 350MHz PII and 256Mb RAM)
They may, but Linux doesn't
Linux does, and has done for a long time - look at the stats displayed by 'top'. You'll see information on memory used, free, buffered and swap used, free and cached. Cached is the number of pages that have been swapped out but not reused yet. (Buffered is the size of your disk cache.)
It just does other things as well. Setting swappiness low controls how likely file cache is to replace application data, which is probably the problem you're encountering.
Too bad you can't achieve the same effect in Windows 2000
Damned straight. I was doing some intensive I/O stuff on my Win2K workstation the other day, and it popped up a 'your system is running low on virtual memory' warning box. I had a look at the usage - about 35Mb of application data, 30Mb of kernel data and the other ~200Mb was disk cache!
Pardon my ignorace, but I've never known that Linux could utilize a swap file rather than a swap partition.
:)
It's mainly only folks who've been around for a few years that know about this. Back in the early 90s, it used to be quite common for people 'trying out linux' to use a umsdos file system, and have swap set up to use the same space as your Windows 3 swap file. That was around the same time that I installed slackware from floppies.
It could actually work, if you have a compressed ramdisk implementation.
An English university is allowed by law to charge no more than GBP 3,000, and that's only because the limit was recently raised. We aren't talking a huge pile of cash here.
This limit only applies to EU citizens. The article doesn't make it clear whether this applied to the student in question or not; if he was from outside the EU, he was probably paying substantially more to be there - in fact, according to UKC's web site, GBP 8,250 per annum.
I am forced to either (a) take a failing grade on the paper (and potentially the class), or (b) give up what intellectual property rights I have over my paper. That really irks me
My university had a clause in their terms and conditions of offering the course that copyright on any work produced for the course was assigned to them. I can't say it really bothered me, and they were willing to negotiate (i.e. assign the work immediately back to you) if you specifically asked them about it.
This was 10 years ago now. I'm pretty sure most universities have similar policies, even ones that don't use plagiarism checking services.
BTW: the checking service needs at least a license grant in order to operate correctly, as they will cross-check between papers, and would need to quote the original text back if they found a match.
Between 1983 and 1996, the average price of a CD fell by more than 40%
Of course, in 83, CD prices were artificially high because sales volumes were substantially lower than vinyl, and as the 'alternative' format shops wanted a premium for stocking them. Also, manufacturing processes weren't available then that are now... a substantial amount of that extra price was actually extra cost.
Read the patent. They've patented an apparatus that allows them to edit the gig as its performed and record multiple CDs quickly enough to sell them out.
Now you could say that its an (the only?) obvious solution to a fairly obvious problem, and if you presented that argument in court you'd have a chance of having the patent declared invalid. But then again, you might not...
n/t
Good grief. Somebody linked a site with nude photographs from a highly rated article near the top of a recent slashdot cover story, and the site hasn't even slowed down, let alone be slashdotted. That's impressive.
Damn it! Does this mean this situation is impossible to get an 802.11 signal through?
:)
- Two houses, separated by a distance of roughly 50 metres
- One intervening house in the direct route seems to completely block any signal
- There is line of sight from the garden of one to the garden of the other, but:
- there are intervening trees
- approximately 5m of cable would be required on one end of the signal
- approximately 1m of cable would be required on the other
I've tried experimenting with directional antennae (of the traditional pringles-tube design) with no luck, but so far haven't invested in any low-attenuation cable for the project (was using old 10Base-2 ethernet cable as a proof-of-concept).
I don't mind what the reception quality's like, as long as it works (1Mb/s is more than adequate for the application I had in mind).
Any suggestions? Would bouncing the signal off the row of houses opposite (adding about 60m to the signal path, but substantially reducing the volume of tree involved) help? Would passing traffic cause packet loss? Is there another way?
Would really appreciate any help offered
I recently switched from drinking water exclusively to 3+ liters/day of Dr. Pepper, Vanilla Coke and Mountain Dew (all diet). I've found my concentration and memory improved, my food intake cut by a third and my sleep requirements have gone from over eight hours a day to under six.
Something tells me you're on a short term caffeine high. Give it a while, you'll stop feeling so good...
Their biggest arguments for not drinking diet coke are: doesn't taste well, aspartam is dangerous for your health.
Urban legend alert -- aspartame is _not_ dangerous, unless you suffer from one or two well known and easily diagnosed conditions that cause a phenylalanine intolerance. And you'll probably know about it if you do.
But, c'mon guys, it's just sex. It's been happening since the beginning. If it were somehow the root of all evil, don't you think we'd have found out by now?
You are aware that the whole forbidden fruit thing is a metaphor for sex, aren't you? And that, therefore, fundamental Christians really _do_ believe that sex is the root of all evil, in a pretty literal sense?
GPLed programs never demand the End User to Agree to a License before using the software.
You haven't used much Windows based GPL software, have you? A lot of them have installers that force you to agree to the GPL before it will install.
Rather pointless, if you ask me...
Nothing K lite does can prevent the RIAA from tracking you. The only way of achieving this would be to prevent your IP address ever being associated with a file... to do this you would either have to use an anonymising proxy server, or not upload the file to start with. I don't think it does the former, I'm fairly certain it doesn't do the latter.
No adware in LimeWire, either, if you know what you're doing with it.
I prefer shareaza though -- the user interface is much nicer and it has some useful features that limewire lacks.