I'm sorry, I can't find a all in one 64 bit LCD desktop computer at Dell? What one are you looking at? You need to compare Apples to apples, not Apples to cans of soda.
I don't know if you know this but batteries don't last forever. A year is very good for a battery being discharged and charged over and over. If you always keep it above 80% it will last much longer. But heck, after a year why not buy a new battery?
First: don't fix it if it isn't broken. Never upgrade the firmware unless your having problems.
That's like saying that you should never install OS security patches until someone has broken into your PC and that you should never update your anti-virus software unless your computer has become infected with a virus.
Umm. No. If your OS has a security problem (IE: A Bug) then you need to update it because it's broken. Downloading Anti-Virus Definition Lists is not updating, it's keeping your virus definitions current. Totally different than updating the firmware on a piece of hardware.
Now if there was a problem with the hardware, then updating the firmware is fine. I didn't say that you should not update if there isn't a problem. But you should not update for the sake of updating is all I'm saying.
Setting up IPTables is not trivial. I'm still trying to figure it out on my Linux routers. I've been put on two DNS block lists already because of it. I guess I'm just going to have to make time to learn IPTables now... As if I don't have enough to do.
I have been using web standards for a long time. I have a few computers to test with here in my office. The only problems I ever run into is on MSIE. All the other major browsers display the standards web pages just fine.
What I do to fix the MSIE problems is not use the code that causes the problems. I stick with XHTML 1.0 and CSS 1.0. I have some CSS 2.0 elements that work in MSIE. There are a lot of others that don't.
The tools that I use for testing are:
One old Windows 98 laptop running MSIE.
One Mac OS X system running MSIE, Safari, Mozilla, and Omniweb (default browser).
One Linux system running Mozilla and Konqueror.
Heavy use of the W3C's validator application.
I do all my work on my Mac using Omniweb, SubEthaEdit, and the W3C Validator.
So far no problems with compatibility. All sites seem to render fine across all browsers.
IPv6 for a small WISP, yes/no?
on
IPv6 is Here
·
· Score: 1
I have a small ISP and I'm thinking about switching to IPv6.
I'm running FreeBSD servers, Linux access points, D-Link bridges (CPE), and most of my customers are using MS Windows 98/XP. I assign IP's via DHCP. I'm using NoCatAuth for logins. I'm thinking about installing IPSec, PPTP, and PPPoE at some point.
How much work is it to switch to IPv6? Will all my hardware support it? Will it work on WiFi? Any problems with NoCat? Any problems with MS Windows?
Installing Software.
In FreeBSD: Type: "portinstall SOFTWARE", wait...done.
In MacOSX: Drag application to Applications folder (or where ever you want). Done.
Changing settings.
In FreeBSD: Find config file, edit it, restart App.
In MacOSX: Preferences, change settings, done.
Installing Drivers:
In FreeBSD: Recompile Kernel or just the driver. make install.
In MacOSX: If you actually need a driver, double click on the driver package.
The thing about MacOSX is that it IS FreeBSD and it also has a good GUI. Hands down better than MS Windows. Not to mention it's standards compliant...mostly.
What! why? You have a perfectly good running Un*x on your Mac already. You don't need Linux on it. BSD is better anyway.
Run Mac OS, get iTerm, SSHKeyChain, OmniWeb 5, NetNewsWire, SubEthaEdit, Photoshop Elements, TigerLaunch, Desktop Manager, WClock, WeatherMenu, and Konfabulator.
There is a ton more. There is a lot of freeware for the Mac. And you can run your Linux and BSD apps on it too. As you see above; Fink, BSD ports, and many others.
Oh yeah. Curtains are fine, if you live in a cave with one window. Some of us have large homes with lots of windows and lots of ambient light. Even with the shades closed my house is not dark enough for my projector.
Next step... Build a theater in the back yard or basement.
Yeah, I think that the best solution is to have a NoCat login that uses a database to tell what times the login is valid. You can do the same with VPN. Query the DB like "where $current_time > start_time and $current_time end_time". Use that query when validating logins.
You know... Web sites really suck at 1920x1600 resolution. I hate those sites the resize my browser to full screen, then I get this little tiny site in the center. Luckily I have a smart browser that I can turn that off with (Omniweb).
My preferred browser size is 900x1024. Yes, that's 900 wide by 1024 tall. This is not too wide for sites where I get lost from line to line, or not too wide for sites to render correctly. And it's almost a full page high so I can see the whole picture without scrolling.
I also hate sites that don't render correctly because some "webmaster" does not know how to program to the W3C specs. You can't be a "webmaster" if you can't correctly build a site.
Too bad the best overall sites on the net are personal blogs. Even Slashdot needs to be fixed, but I doubt it ever will.
XHTML, XML, CSS, RSS, and PNG images... That's all that's needed for a good site.
1) You have to reboot your Windows system anyway or it becomes corrupted.
2) Linux will support all the hardware you though at it. No need for the game developers to have to support it. Plus, if you have ever worked in the game industry, you would know they have to support all the hardware anyway. I used to work in compatibility at Microprose.
3) Why would saving game data to the hard drive be "awkward"? That's how it's done now days. And I'm not really saying to use a "LiveCD". I'm saying, boot linux from CD to play the games. So your saying it's ok to play the game from CD on a windows system, but not boot Linux from it to play a game?
4) Yeah, LiveCD's are slow, when your loading X and everything else under the sun. I'm just talking about loading the Linux Kernel, a few drivers, and the game. Totally different thing here.
Actually, I'm talking about turning your PC into a Console using Linux on CD to boot it. You can either play the game from CD (slow) or copy it to the HDD (faster) using a option on the game, but you still boot Linux. This way the game developers are not restricted to the Windows Platform. They don't have to pay the MS tax. They have total control over the OS. There is no bloated crap running in the background of your game. You get the best game performance because there is basically nothing running in the background. DOS games were the best, just because of this reason.
To me it just does not make sense to run a game on top of Windows. No sense at all.
I have been telling game makers for years to do this. Why bloat out your games making them run on Windows? Windows uses too many resources, making game play slower. Why not make a Linux based game that you boot from the CD? It could install the data files to your hard drive to make game play faster, but it would not have to rely on Windows running in the background to play the game. When I worked at Microprose I suggested this to the programmers. Nobody really liked Linux back in that day.
I don't know why this hasn't been done before. I don't know why this isn't mainstream now. It makes a whole lot of sense to me.
Does anyone know if hostap is fixed? I don't see anything about it in the change log. The 4.9 is driving me nuts with it's constant hostap crashing. It's simple to bring the interface down then back up, but it's like twice a day. (See "Power Save Mode" Bug).
It's the other way around for me. I'm Migrating from Debian to FreeBSD. Mostly because Debian is so unstable/outdated. I have found that everything in FreeBSD just works. I'm running FreeBSD stable with the latest server packages. I can't do that in Debian, unless I want to configure and compile everything manually. The Ports system makes it so easy that I don't think I'll every switch back.
Yeah, I totally blew it on my math. Dropped a few zeros off. I should have came up with $9 to $25 thousand depending on the size and price of each song. My actual formula is:
Wow, that's a lot of money. I'd be pissed too if someone stole that much from me. Then multiply that by millions and you've got a problem.
Since I run a small ISP, I know a few things about people steeling music. Just about every customer on my server is doing it. Now with p2p programs like Kazaa, it's almost impossible to block them from doing it. I could terminate their accounts for using my system for illegal activities, but then I would go out of business.
One good thing about Kazaa and like programs is, all the spyware is trashing their systems. That solves my problems right there. They can't download music if their computers won't even boot up.
But what is your point? It does not matter what the cost of the songs are. All that matters is the this hypothetical gray-hat hacker is steeling the songs.
Do you think it's OK for people to steel candy from stores because stores charge too much for candy?
It only costs that much because people pay for it. If you and everyone else quits buying it, then the price will either go down, or they will go out of business.
Why can't people get that in their heads! If you think it costs too much, don't buy it.
But I guess that's the same as MS Windows. It's awful, but people still buy it.
I for one am all for it. Not only are people steeling the music, they are making a mess of the bandwidth while doing it. Those file sharing programs just kill the bandwidth at most ISP's as they connect to 100's of clients at the same time.
Plus, it will push more artists to offer free music, or cheaper music by selling direct instead of using labels to market their music. Also if people quit buying from the Labels, it will eventually either put them out of business, or make them change their ways.
Re:Its like.... magic hardware.
on
Open Source Hotspots
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Yeah, don't buy a $900 Cisco AP. Just use an old Linux system with some WIFI cards in it. Then watch it as it crashes and burns when some Windows XP user put their wifi card into Power Save Mode.
I even switched to FreeBSD, and it also has the bug. I have read that FreeBSD 5.x has a fix for it. But still, I would have saved a bunch of head aches if I just spend $300/ea more and bought Cisco equipment, but I wanted to save $900 total and went with Linux/FBSD on Soekris boxes.
(HostAP mode only. PTP works fine because it does not use the Power Save Mode stuff)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sorry, I can't find a all in one 64 bit LCD desktop computer at Dell? What one are you looking at? You need to compare Apples to apples, not Apples to cans of soda.
I don't know if you know this but batteries don't last forever. A year is very good for a battery being discharged and charged over and over. If you always keep it above 80% it will last much longer. But heck, after a year why not buy a new battery?
First: don't fix it if it isn't broken. Never upgrade the firmware unless your having problems.
That's like saying that you should never install OS security patches until someone has broken into your PC and that you should never update your anti-virus software unless your computer has become infected with a virus.
Umm. No. If your OS has a security problem (IE: A Bug) then you need to update it because it's broken. Downloading Anti-Virus Definition Lists is not updating, it's keeping your virus definitions current. Totally different than updating the firmware on a piece of hardware.
Now if there was a problem with the hardware, then updating the firmware is fine. I didn't say that you should not update if there isn't a problem. But you should not update for the sake of updating is all I'm saying.
First: don't fix it if it isn't broken. Never upgrade the firmware unless your having problems. Never upgrade the firmware over a wireless link.
Next: Did you know that D-Link has a three year warranty on their stuff? I just found out today while RMA'ing a few 810+ bridges.
Setting up IPTables is not trivial. I'm still trying to figure it out on my Linux routers. I've been put on two DNS block lists already because of it. I guess I'm just going to have to make time to learn IPTables now... As if I don't have enough to do.
I have been using web standards for a long time. I have a few computers to test with here in my office. The only problems I ever run into is on MSIE. All the other major browsers display the standards web pages just fine.
What I do to fix the MSIE problems is not use the code that causes the problems. I stick with XHTML 1.0 and CSS 1.0. I have some CSS 2.0 elements that work in MSIE. There are a lot of others that don't.
The tools that I use for testing are:
One old Windows 98 laptop running MSIE.
One Mac OS X system running MSIE, Safari, Mozilla, and Omniweb (default browser).
One Linux system running Mozilla and Konqueror.
Heavy use of the W3C's validator application.
I do all my work on my Mac using Omniweb, SubEthaEdit, and the W3C Validator.
So far no problems with compatibility. All sites seem to render fine across all browsers.
I have a small ISP and I'm thinking about switching to IPv6.
I'm running FreeBSD servers, Linux access points, D-Link bridges (CPE), and most of my customers are using MS Windows 98/XP. I assign IP's via DHCP. I'm using NoCatAuth for logins. I'm thinking about installing IPSec, PPTP, and PPPoE at some point.
How much work is it to switch to IPv6? Will all my hardware support it? Will it work on WiFi? Any problems with NoCat? Any problems with MS Windows?
Installing Software.
In FreeBSD: Type: "portinstall SOFTWARE", wait...done.
In MacOSX: Drag application to Applications folder (or where ever you want). Done.
Changing settings.
In FreeBSD: Find config file, edit it, restart App.
In MacOSX: Preferences, change settings, done.
Installing Drivers:
In FreeBSD: Recompile Kernel or just the driver. make install.
In MacOSX: If you actually need a driver, double click on the driver package.
The thing about MacOSX is that it IS FreeBSD and it also has a good GUI. Hands down better than MS Windows. Not to mention it's standards compliant...mostly.
What! why? You have a perfectly good running Un*x on your Mac already. You don't need Linux on it. BSD is better anyway.
Run Mac OS, get iTerm, SSHKeyChain, OmniWeb 5, NetNewsWire, SubEthaEdit, Photoshop Elements, TigerLaunch, Desktop Manager, WClock, WeatherMenu, and Konfabulator.
There is a ton more. There is a lot of freeware for the Mac. And you can run your Linux and BSD apps on it too. As you see above; Fink, BSD ports, and many others.
I 2nd this.
Why use Yahoo at all? Yahoo just spams you to death anyway. One more thing about Jabber is that it has encryption.
Of course, it's always fun to watch Yahoo sessions on my ISP to see what people are talking about.
Oh yeah. Curtains are fine, if you live in a cave with one window. Some of us have large homes with lots of windows and lots of ambient light. Even with the shades closed my house is not dark enough for my projector.
Next step... Build a theater in the back yard or basement.
Yeah, I think that the best solution is to have a NoCat login that uses a database to tell what times the login is valid. You can do the same with VPN. Query the DB like "where $current_time > start_time and $current_time end_time". Use that query when validating logins.
You know... Web sites really suck at 1920x1600 resolution. I hate those sites the resize my browser to full screen, then I get this little tiny site in the center. Luckily I have a smart browser that I can turn that off with (Omniweb).
My preferred browser size is 900x1024. Yes, that's 900 wide by 1024 tall. This is not too wide for sites where I get lost from line to line, or not too wide for sites to render correctly. And it's almost a full page high so I can see the whole picture without scrolling.
I also hate sites that don't render correctly because some "webmaster" does not know how to program to the W3C specs. You can't be a "webmaster" if you can't correctly build a site.
Too bad the best overall sites on the net are personal blogs. Even Slashdot needs to be fixed, but I doubt it ever will.
XHTML, XML, CSS, RSS, and PNG images... That's all that's needed for a good site.
Yeah, that's why I made the comment. I use the Carbon GUI now and it's great, but lacking in all the cool Cocoa features...IE Fonts and Services.
This sounds great! Finally I can have a Cocoa GUI for VIM!
1) You have to reboot your Windows system anyway or it becomes corrupted.
2) Linux will support all the hardware you though at it. No need for the game developers to have to support it. Plus, if you have ever worked in the game industry, you would know they have to support all the hardware anyway. I used to work in compatibility at Microprose.
3) Why would saving game data to the hard drive be "awkward"? That's how it's done now days. And I'm not really saying to use a "LiveCD". I'm saying, boot linux from CD to play the games. So your saying it's ok to play the game from CD on a windows system, but not boot Linux from it to play a game?
4) Yeah, LiveCD's are slow, when your loading X and everything else under the sun. I'm just talking about loading the Linux Kernel, a few drivers, and the game. Totally different thing here.
Actually, I'm talking about turning your PC into a Console using Linux on CD to boot it. You can either play the game from CD (slow) or copy it to the HDD (faster) using a option on the game, but you still boot Linux. This way the game developers are not restricted to the Windows Platform. They don't have to pay the MS tax. They have total control over the OS. There is no bloated crap running in the background of your game. You get the best game performance because there is basically nothing running in the background. DOS games were the best, just because of this reason.
To me it just does not make sense to run a game on top of Windows. No sense at all.
I have been telling game makers for years to do this. Why bloat out your games making them run on Windows? Windows uses too many resources, making game play slower. Why not make a Linux based game that you boot from the CD? It could install the data files to your hard drive to make game play faster, but it would not have to rely on Windows running in the background to play the game. When I worked at Microprose I suggested this to the programmers. Nobody really liked Linux back in that day.
I don't know why this hasn't been done before. I don't know why this isn't mainstream now. It makes a whole lot of sense to me.
Does anyone know if hostap is fixed? I don't see anything about it in the change log. The 4.9 is driving me nuts with it's constant hostap crashing. It's simple to bring the interface down then back up, but it's like twice a day. (See "Power Save Mode" Bug).
It's the other way around for me. I'm Migrating from Debian to FreeBSD. Mostly because Debian is so unstable/outdated. I have found that everything in FreeBSD just works. I'm running FreeBSD stable with the latest server packages. I can't do that in Debian, unless I want to configure and compile everything manually. The Ports system makes it so easy that I don't think I'll every switch back.
Yeah, I totally blew it on my math. Dropped a few zeros off. I should have came up with $9 to $25 thousand depending on the size and price of each song. My actual formula is:
100,000MB / 4MB * $.99 = $24,750
100,000MB / 10MB * $.99 = $9,900
Wow, that's a lot of money. I'd be pissed too if someone stole that much from me. Then multiply that by millions and you've got a problem.
Since I run a small ISP, I know a few things about people steeling music. Just about every customer on my server is doing it. Now with p2p programs like Kazaa, it's almost impossible to block them from doing it. I could terminate their accounts for using my system for illegal activities, but then I would go out of business.
One good thing about Kazaa and like programs is, all the spyware is trashing their systems. That solves my problems right there. They can't download music if their computers won't even boot up.
That's about $400 worth of songs.
But what is your point? It does not matter what the cost of the songs are. All that matters is the this hypothetical gray-hat hacker is steeling the songs.
Do you think it's OK for people to steel candy from stores because stores charge too much for candy?
It only costs that much because people pay for it. If you and everyone else quits buying it, then the price will either go down, or they will go out of business.
Why can't people get that in their heads! If you think it costs too much, don't buy it.
But I guess that's the same as MS Windows. It's awful, but people still buy it.
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
If you can't pay, don't play.
I for one am all for it. Not only are people steeling the music, they are making a mess of the bandwidth while doing it. Those file sharing programs just kill the bandwidth at most ISP's as they connect to 100's of clients at the same time.
Plus, it will push more artists to offer free music, or cheaper music by selling direct instead of using labels to market their music. Also if people quit buying from the Labels, it will eventually either put them out of business, or make them change their ways.
Yeah, don't buy a $900 Cisco AP. Just use an old Linux system with some WIFI cards in it. Then watch it as it crashes and burns when some Windows XP user put their wifi card into Power Save Mode.
I even switched to FreeBSD, and it also has the bug. I have read that FreeBSD 5.x has a fix for it. But still, I would have saved a bunch of head aches if I just spend $300/ea more and bought Cisco equipment, but I wanted to save $900 total and went with Linux/FBSD on Soekris boxes.
(HostAP mode only. PTP works fine because it does not use the Power Save Mode stuff)
Rule number two in my book of rules...
"No good deed goes unpunished."
For reference:
Rule #1 is, "Never leave without a backup."