No, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this worm target unpatched windows servers?
So, you are thus expecting that poorly patched linux servers will be better then poorly patched windows servers?
Tried the exploit of the *.eml under Win2k with service pack 2 installed (thus running IE5.50.x) Didn't work. Call me foolish, but if you can't be bothered to do a start->windows update, and grab the latest patches available, I'm guessing that you're too lazy to patch a *nix box.
What this worm exploits is old holes in the most common operating system. There isn't any reason why a *nix worm couldn't me made on the same principles.
T-Bird 1.133 Ghz with OEM heatsink, running Windows 98SE - 58C, browsing slashdot, a few other windows open.
CPU fan works, the heatsink is seated on the processor correctly, the P/S fan is blowing air into the case (a mid-tower) and there is an older case fan in the machine.
Now, time to stress the CPU - 62C. Mind you, win98 doesn't have the halt command in the idle loop, and due to the lack of freeware apps out there that recognize an athlon, it looks like halt will never be heard on this system. Win2k, and Linux does, which would probably give difference results for the idle temp. The work machines that run win2k on a simular setup run about 5 - 10C less.
Woot, 63C. Mind you, this is in a room with an air temp of slightly cooler then pleasent. I've seen this machine break 75C when its hot out (and that's when it shuts itself down automatically. I don't care if AMD thinks this machine is good to 95C, I'm playing it safe)
Removing the sides of the case drops the temp about 1 to 2 degrees celsius. Not a huge drop at all.
The numbers:
Idle : 58C (136F)
Load : 63C (145F)
Air Temp : 18C (65F)
80C sounds a little high, but realize, this is a faster processor. I'd doublecheck how the heatsink is sitting, but if it remained high, it wouldn't surprize me. Moral of this lesson is : shop for a better heatsink.
It seems that the idea here is that the network is different from other, more traditional communication networks (telephone, fax, mail, newspapers, etc). I don't see that much of a difference, and I would like our legislature to tell us why the net should be treated differently. Not that they will, but its a nice thought.
Which brings me to the next idea. Could a constitutional defense be brought up against this law? If you need a warrent to tap phones, and a warrent to open someone's mail, why should the networks be any different? While our lawmakers might not ask this question, a good lawyer might be able to make a judge ask them.
Until then, PGP and SSH. Encryption will save the day. The only problem is with protocols that don't have encryption (a lot of the IM's I use since that's what the majority of the people I communicate use, IRC (with some exceptions), simple webbrowsing, etc. There are hacks for some of these, but not all of them. The net is insecure, and the bullies out there include our government. What can we do to harden our defenses?
Okay, sorry, I advocated the quiet, cheap solution that can be made out of spare parts, for a low cost, doesn't have any moving parts save for the floppy drive, and is endlessly upgradeable and configurable(LRP).
I must apologize, I guess the commercial solution was better. When I posted, I didn't think that this guy needed some more information about a PC-router solution, that maybe he didn't know they could be run fanless and without a hard disk. I didn't think that he might not have known that there was specific distros for this purpose. What I did think was "This guy wants hardware, lets piss him off." This guy mentioned $$$, this solution was cheaper then he wanted, but that is obviously a drawback. He also mentioned wattage, which the solution I gave used little. But I suppose your reading skills aren't the best either, are they?
I wouldn't condemn others so easily, if I was you. There was redundant posts, I agree. But a PC-hardware based solution is just as competitive as the low-end custom router solution, if not more so.
Since a lot of the replies has been about the power supply fan, here's some additional info about building a machine running LRP.
Old Apple Performa's power supplies don't have fans, several other apple machines are simular. With a bit of splicing, they can be easily converted into an AT power supply (you just need to change the connector and either ground or add a voltage source to one wire, since the Performa's had soft poweroff/on). Sure, its not going to fit into a machine without drilling a few holes, but since this is a router that consists of a floppy drive, two NICs, and a motherboard/cpu/memory, there's gonna be plenty of room for the power supply.
Of course, for this solution, you go with a 486/low end pentium and a large, passive (fanless) heatsink. Don't disconnect a fan from a smaller heatsink, just find a larger heatsink that was made to run fanless.
You don't need a hard drive for a firewall/router made from an old machine. Check out the LRP for a solution that fits on a single 1.44 mbyte floppy that can be write-protected and just needs to be power-cycled to be reboot.
Since the original poster didn't elaborate, I am assuming there are a few ways of dealing with the power. First thing is, how much? To find this out, either you can play around with our friend, Mr. Multimeter, or you can hunt down the specs, or, (and I'm guessing on this one since I have never taken a laptop apart) it might be possible to see if the LCD is fed directly from the powersupply, and then check the specs on the power supply itself.
To power it, an AC adapter might have enough power to do it (I'm hesitant though, most wallwarts output a fraction on an amp, and I just checked the flatpanel display here, and it's p/s is outputting 4 amps), or, the uber-robust solution is to grab an old AT (or a modified ATX) powersupply, and either convert, or (if your lucky) be able to use the 5 and 12 volt leads to power the LCD (remember, test the power first with Mr. Multimeter). A more eligant solution involves hunting down old laptop powersupplies on Ebay and ending up with a power solution not held together by ductape and comes complete with its own cooling fan.
Automotive carpet is an ideal way to cover up plywood creations. At work, there is a bunch of deep (24") benches running around the shop, with 2x4's on the edge for support, and angled 2x4's that run diagonally towards the wall for additional bracing. It has been covered in off-gray automotive carpeting. Looks wonderful. The automotive carpet isn't plush, and static hasn't been a problem at all (I've built many computers on one of the benches). The only thing I might mention is that if you tend to spill things, this might not be the ideal solution.
PS - File cabinets are wonderful to reduce clutter. As well as shelves that are a higher height then normal, and runs around the room. A bookshelf is often useful. Also, try to arrange the work area in a U-shape, its more efficient. And throw ethernet connections EVERYWHERE. If you have a lot of computers, consider investing in a rack, its worth it.
Lets consider the cost. Assume an old 200 Watt powersupply. Now, you probably are going to only use 100 watts of that. In one day, that's 2.4 kw/hrs. In a month, thats 73 kw/hrs (2.4 * 30.5). Assume $.10 a kw/h for electicity, that's $7.30 a month. About $87/year.
So, why pay $500 - $1000 for a new server, which will still need to use electricity, when you can take an old 486 or two and use them as a cheap file/print server and a mail/internet server? You don't need the additional speed, so why pay the additional cost?
Here's what might be happening. The site is intercepted by the proxy, which checks for "naughty" words, then rejects/forwards the request to the computer.
Unfortunately, a lot of spam would trigger a rejection of the request. For example, I have a throwaway email account at hotmail that I use when I need a valid email address and don't trust the person/site. Each day, I get around 10 - 15 spam emails, divided equally between financial schemes ("Get out of DEBT... Consolidate") and porn ("Wet & Wild!! Cum See Us, Honey Bunch!!!"), using some subjects from todays load of spam. The porn spam is going to lead to a lot of denials, which means that a lot of web-based email is no longer accessable.
Okay, I'm the first type, except I don't do it off a usenet feed. I like my collection to be complete. I know, I'm odd, I don't even play most of the games, other then to make sure they are working. I'm not a threat. Hell, its probably people like me that will be the reason why in 75 years (or forever, thanks Mr. Bono) that the roms will be in existance to be put in the public domain.
Have you ever thought that the emulation scene is PRESERVING the art? If it wasn't for the emulation scene, many of these games would be lost forever, and I know, its just a video game, and a lot of them are crappy, but I still wouldn't want to see anything that took many hours of work, and can be considered a working example of the state of the arcade/console/computer industry at X time to be lost. In a way, the emulation scene is a less-glorified version of medievil monks copying by hand important manuscripts which would otherwise be unknown to us. (Greek philosophy, Datsun 280 Zzzap, it all has the same cultural standing, y'know. *grin*)
The collector is beneficial. Unlike warez pirates, whose collectors only help spread a game that has legit copies easily available, the emulation scene (and the abandonware scene, by the same token), is spreading and preserving a product of our civilization that would otherwise be unavailable. Of all my games, I probably only play a half-dozen regularly. Before I got into emulation, as well as after, I bought a few games, and usually rented most from a cheap video store. (I am cheap though, if I buy, I'll wait until the price is reduced to $10-20, or else buy it used if I can't wait.)
Also, the emulation scene can and will pay money to increase their enjoyment of the gaming experience. Although only one company seems nice enough to release a rom-set, the emulation scene will pay money for faster computers, better vid cards, and toys like TV out, or arcade parts to build their own arcade machine. I don't think "cheap" can be used to describe the serious emu players. They need to put more money into hardware to play an older game just to support the overhead of emulation.
Just my $.02
P.S. Copyprotection is getting really annoying. Every new game I buy, it seems like I spend a few hours trying to search for a hack to play it CD-less. Why do every game company out there decide that I want to always have their CD in my one CD drive? I have the hard drive space, I don't mind a "full" option on install. Just gimme back my cd drive!
Yes, it does. I just passed up buying Final Fantasy II legit (the Japanese NES version fan translated into english), even though the local Walmart has plenty of older NES cartridges that have been magically translated into English.
Don't whine and moan about the emulation scene. Its not taking away revenues from the gaming machine, these are the same people who would be playing their old consoles if there was no emu scene. Not everyone loves FPSs and MMORPGs. If it makes people happy, and it has yet to be proven that emulation has reduced sales of computer games, then what's the problem?
Not totally transparent, since you have to "mount" the drives (actual partitions or just a virtual drive saved in a file), but E4M is a wonderful (free, OS) encryption scheme that works across all windows versions (although win98 has a shutdown bug).
Price is right, and it works fine for me. Although NTFS has a built-in encryption on its filesystem that is truly transparent, but since I can't see the code behind it, I don't trust it.
Xerox copies are imperfect, and making copies of copies will result in a degraded copy. The way to do it is to convert it to a digital form, then make copies. An Adobe PDF file is very capable of this.
Actually, lets look at this analogy. Pick-guns, which, when they work, allows you to pick a lock in a few seconds, are legal to sell. Lock-picking knowledge is legal to distribute. Slimjims are legal to sell. Drill bits that can cut through hardened steel are legal.
So, in a way, we have a few "keys", that although imperfect, will unlock most cars. They are legal to sell in the US. In a simular light, its legal for me to get the keycode off a lock cylinder of a car, go down to the locksmith, and get him to make me a key for that lock, without me ever showing proof that I own that vehicle or even have it in my possession. Its also legal for me to have someone travel to a specific location and have them unlock a vehicle for me with their knowledge and tools, and for them to bill me for their efforts.
Final Fantasy 2 (the Japanese version, the one that was for the famicom/NES, not released in the US, but rom & translation patch is available on the net) had a nice system. Instead of characters gaining levels, each attribute of a character and each spell would gain level, based on usage. So, if I used fire enough, it would turn into fire2. If I got hit enough, my hps would go up. If I hit enough times with my bow, my bow skill would go up to the next level. Stats would also drop if you didn't exercize them, fighters would get dumber, mages would become weaker.
Of course, this was abusable, since you could target yourself in battle. So, while your enemy looked in confusion at you, you'd hit your party with fire, then with cure, and attack your weakest characters to bring up your weapon ability and to raise their hitpoints.
The encryption algorithms are secure. You can find more then a few solid encryption schemes available on the net if you look. Others that I trust say the mathmatics behind them are sound, and that by today's standards, breaking them would be difficult, if not impossible, even with the resources the feds have.
So, if you never keep your key on the hard drive, and instead only keep it in ram, having to manually retype it every time you want something, there is no possibility of anyone rebooting and having easy access to your encrypted data (if you disclude the possibility of unencrypted stuff showing up in swap, and with memory prices the way they are, I'd just throw a gig of ram at the problem and turn swap off.) If I had such a setup (and I don't, I'm a windows luser that is content with E4M), that actual encryption scheme and the way it was carried out would be secure to my heart's content.
Now, if this data is very important to you, I would only decrypt it when nessessary. That way, if the feds come, the chance of you having the data accessable is small. If you need to remotely access the data and it has to be up all the time, then you are in more trouble. However, it seems that when the feds do seize your equipment, they remove it, with removal, the power is turned off, and the memory is thus cleared. If you are really paranoid, just setup something in the door that as soon as its opened, it resets the power of the computer. Actually, it would be trivial for a skilled person to setup a nice motion sensor hooked up to the computer that can be remotely turned on/off, and if turned on, would reset the computer if it detects motion.
First, I like to admit I know nothing about transmition of sound. Nada. Zip. Nothing.
However, I do think. I also look at things. Combined, this leads to some interesting conclusions.
My stereo mini-plugs extension cable (20', Radio Shack special) that connect my VCR to my computer are presumably two signal wires (left and right stereo channel) encased in a ground. The old phono jack cords and stereo mini-jack to Y-phono jack adapter also uses the shield cable. AHA! So shielding is inportant, you think. Even my cheap $10 computer speakers have shielded cords. But not so fast. My connection between my stereo and my speakers are unshielded cable, ya know, the cheap cable with two wires side-by-side that you can find at Walmart. Now I've run this sort of cable 50' without a problem, and I've known of people with farther runs. Now the only difference between the speaker connection and the other connections is that the speaker connection only carries one channel (not 2) and is amplified. So maybe the amplified signal is strong enough to resist interference but the unamplified is not. However, the amplified cable is bundled in a rats-nest behind the stereo, and the amplified signals in each cable seem not to be interfering with each other.
So, I can only conclude that interference may or may not be a problem. However, if I want to run a Cat5 cable and, say, transmit unamplified stereo signals to the radio, I can deduct several things. Ring voltage in telephone lines seem to be higher then the sound signal voltage, so the data connections that can happily coexist with voice lines without getting interference should coexist with sound. Ethernet is also twisted to limit cross-talk in the wire. Probably not as good as shielded cables, but good ne'er-the-less. So, could I take an old ethernet line I had laying around and transmit the stereo signal on two wires (one for left and one for right channel) and then ground the paired wire without degrading the signal quality? I haven't tried it, but for a reasonable distance, I would guess yes. The wires are not think enough to carry the higher strength speaker out signal, but for just base audio in, I don't see a problem.
Just my $.02
Re:In car talk, this would be called a "Sleeper".
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Neat IBM 5150 Case Mod
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· Score: 1
That reminds me. The older Datsun F10's and 510's could take either a Ford or Chevy V8 without that much trouble. I had an old 1978 Datsun 510 that was suffering from an advanced case of salt-rot (rust due to salt on the roads in winter). It would have been fun to rip out that 4 cylinder for a nice V8, but I ended up junking it in the end. Fun POS to drive though.:)
Re:Other resources for cheap WANs?
on
Make Your Own DSL
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· Score: 1
Sorry to all those who replied, but not line of site.:( Several big buildings in the way, actually. Plus trees and other nice gunk.
I think this is probably a pipe dream, unless I throw more money then I want at it.
My problem (which a roll-your-own DSL would solve, but with a cost I don't want to absorb) is how to do a wan over an area of about 3 miles radius, with at least one connection having to span 2.5 miles. The roll-your-own DSL would require too many connections, wireless won't broadcast over 1 mile (AFAIK) and everything else is a pain. I'll I'm looking for is something cheap, easily changed (moving nodes - wireless is preferred), and is capable of about 1 - 10 mbps.
Any ideas? I'm happy to fish ebay for parts to lower costs.;)
If it worked for the NeoGeo...
on
$1200 Cheap!
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· Score: 3, Funny
Oh wait, it didn't.
Although, OTOH, the NeoGeo is living a new, vibrant life in the wonderful land of Emulation.
Slashdot Mirror
No, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this worm target unpatched windows servers?
So, you are thus expecting that poorly patched linux servers will be better then poorly patched windows servers?
Tried the exploit of the *.eml under Win2k with service pack 2 installed (thus running IE5.50.x) Didn't work. Call me foolish, but if you can't be bothered to do a start->windows update, and grab the latest patches available, I'm guessing that you're too lazy to patch a *nix box.
What this worm exploits is old holes in the most common operating system. There isn't any reason why a *nix worm couldn't me made on the same principles.
Just my $.02
T-Bird 1.133 Ghz with OEM heatsink, running Windows 98SE - 58C, browsing slashdot, a few other windows open.
CPU fan works, the heatsink is seated on the processor correctly, the P/S fan is blowing air into the case (a mid-tower) and there is an older case fan in the machine.
Now, time to stress the CPU - 62C. Mind you, win98 doesn't have the halt command in the idle loop, and due to the lack of freeware apps out there that recognize an athlon, it looks like halt will never be heard on this system. Win2k, and Linux does, which would probably give difference results for the idle temp. The work machines that run win2k on a simular setup run about 5 - 10C less.
Woot, 63C. Mind you, this is in a room with an air temp of slightly cooler then pleasent. I've seen this machine break 75C when its hot out (and that's when it shuts itself down automatically. I don't care if AMD thinks this machine is good to 95C, I'm playing it safe)
Removing the sides of the case drops the temp about 1 to 2 degrees celsius. Not a huge drop at all.
The numbers:
Idle : 58C (136F)
Load : 63C (145F)
Air Temp : 18C (65F)
80C sounds a little high, but realize, this is a faster processor. I'd doublecheck how the heatsink is sitting, but if it remained high, it wouldn't surprize me. Moral of this lesson is : shop for a better heatsink.
It seems that the idea here is that the network is different from other, more traditional communication networks (telephone, fax, mail, newspapers, etc). I don't see that much of a difference, and I would like our legislature to tell us why the net should be treated differently. Not that they will, but its a nice thought.
Which brings me to the next idea. Could a constitutional defense be brought up against this law? If you need a warrent to tap phones, and a warrent to open someone's mail, why should the networks be any different? While our lawmakers might not ask this question, a good lawyer might be able to make a judge ask them.
Until then, PGP and SSH. Encryption will save the day. The only problem is with protocols that don't have encryption (a lot of the IM's I use since that's what the majority of the people I communicate use, IRC (with some exceptions), simple webbrowsing, etc. There are hacks for some of these, but not all of them. The net is insecure, and the bullies out there include our government. What can we do to harden our defenses?
Okay, sorry, I advocated the quiet, cheap solution that can be made out of spare parts, for a low cost, doesn't have any moving parts save for the floppy drive, and is endlessly upgradeable and configurable(LRP).
I must apologize, I guess the commercial solution was better. When I posted, I didn't think that this guy needed some more information about a PC-router solution, that maybe he didn't know they could be run fanless and without a hard disk. I didn't think that he might not have known that there was specific distros for this purpose. What I did think was "This guy wants hardware, lets piss him off." This guy mentioned $$$, this solution was cheaper then he wanted, but that is obviously a drawback. He also mentioned wattage, which the solution I gave used little. But I suppose your reading skills aren't the best either, are they?
I wouldn't condemn others so easily, if I was you. There was redundant posts, I agree. But a PC-hardware based solution is just as competitive as the low-end custom router solution, if not more so.
Old Apple Performa's power supplies don't have fans, several other apple machines are simular. With a bit of splicing, they can be easily converted into an AT power supply (you just need to change the connector and either ground or add a voltage source to one wire, since the Performa's had soft poweroff/on). Sure, its not going to fit into a machine without drilling a few holes, but since this is a router that consists of a floppy drive, two NICs, and a motherboard/cpu/memory, there's gonna be plenty of room for the power supply.
Of course, for this solution, you go with a 486/low end pentium and a large, passive (fanless) heatsink. Don't disconnect a fan from a smaller heatsink, just find a larger heatsink that was made to run fanless.
Just my $.02
You don't need a hard drive for a firewall/router made from an old machine. Check out the LRP for a solution that fits on a single 1.44 mbyte floppy that can be write-protected and just needs to be power-cycled to be reboot.
Since the original poster didn't elaborate, I am assuming there are a few ways of dealing with the power. First thing is, how much? To find this out, either you can play around with our friend, Mr. Multimeter, or you can hunt down the specs, or, (and I'm guessing on this one since I have never taken a laptop apart) it might be possible to see if the LCD is fed directly from the powersupply, and then check the specs on the power supply itself.
To power it, an AC adapter might have enough power to do it (I'm hesitant though, most wallwarts output a fraction on an amp, and I just checked the flatpanel display here, and it's p/s is outputting 4 amps), or, the uber-robust solution is to grab an old AT (or a modified ATX) powersupply, and either convert, or (if your lucky) be able to use the 5 and 12 volt leads to power the LCD (remember, test the power first with Mr. Multimeter). A more eligant solution involves hunting down old laptop powersupplies on Ebay and ending up with a power solution not held together by ductape and comes complete with its own cooling fan.
Oh well, just my $.02
Automotive carpet is an ideal way to cover up plywood creations. At work, there is a bunch of deep (24") benches running around the shop, with 2x4's on the edge for support, and angled 2x4's that run diagonally towards the wall for additional bracing. It has been covered in off-gray automotive carpeting. Looks wonderful. The automotive carpet isn't plush, and static hasn't been a problem at all (I've built many computers on one of the benches). The only thing I might mention is that if you tend to spill things, this might not be the ideal solution.
PS - File cabinets are wonderful to reduce clutter. As well as shelves that are a higher height then normal, and runs around the room. A bookshelf is often useful. Also, try to arrange the work area in a U-shape, its more efficient. And throw ethernet connections EVERYWHERE. If you have a lot of computers, consider investing in a rack, its worth it.
Lets consider the cost. Assume an old 200 Watt powersupply. Now, you probably are going to only use 100 watts of that. In one day, that's 2.4 kw/hrs. In a month, thats 73 kw/hrs (2.4 * 30.5). Assume $.10 a kw/h for electicity, that's $7.30 a month. About $87/year.
So, why pay $500 - $1000 for a new server, which will still need to use electricity, when you can take an old 486 or two and use them as a cheap file/print server and a mail/internet server? You don't need the additional speed, so why pay the additional cost?
So, Ender's Game was written for children under 10? Ender was young in the novels, and most of the other characters were of simular age.
Just a question.
Here's what might be happening. The site is intercepted by the proxy, which checks for "naughty" words, then rejects/forwards the request to the computer.
Unfortunately, a lot of spam would trigger a rejection of the request. For example, I have a throwaway email account at hotmail that I use when I need a valid email address and don't trust the person/site. Each day, I get around 10 - 15 spam emails, divided equally between financial schemes ("Get out of DEBT... Consolidate") and porn ("Wet & Wild!! Cum See Us, Honey Bunch!!!"), using some subjects from todays load of spam. The porn spam is going to lead to a lot of denials, which means that a lot of web-based email is no longer accessable.
Just a theory.
Okay, I'm the first type, except I don't do it off a usenet feed. I like my collection to be complete. I know, I'm odd, I don't even play most of the games, other then to make sure they are working. I'm not a threat. Hell, its probably people like me that will be the reason why in 75 years (or forever, thanks Mr. Bono) that the roms will be in existance to be put in the public domain.
Have you ever thought that the emulation scene is PRESERVING the art? If it wasn't for the emulation scene, many of these games would be lost forever, and I know, its just a video game, and a lot of them are crappy, but I still wouldn't want to see anything that took many hours of work, and can be considered a working example of the state of the arcade/console/computer industry at X time to be lost. In a way, the emulation scene is a less-glorified version of medievil monks copying by hand important manuscripts which would otherwise be unknown to us. (Greek philosophy, Datsun 280 Zzzap, it all has the same cultural standing, y'know. *grin*)
The collector is beneficial. Unlike warez pirates, whose collectors only help spread a game that has legit copies easily available, the emulation scene (and the abandonware scene, by the same token), is spreading and preserving a product of our civilization that would otherwise be unavailable. Of all my games, I probably only play a half-dozen regularly. Before I got into emulation, as well as after, I bought a few games, and usually rented most from a cheap video store. (I am cheap though, if I buy, I'll wait until the price is reduced to $10-20, or else buy it used if I can't wait.)
Also, the emulation scene can and will pay money to increase their enjoyment of the gaming experience. Although only one company seems nice enough to release a rom-set, the emulation scene will pay money for faster computers, better vid cards, and toys like TV out, or arcade parts to build their own arcade machine. I don't think "cheap" can be used to describe the serious emu players. They need to put more money into hardware to play an older game just to support the overhead of emulation.
Just my $.02
P.S. Copyprotection is getting really annoying. Every new game I buy, it seems like I spend a few hours trying to search for a hack to play it CD-less. Why do every game company out there decide that I want to always have their CD in my one CD drive? I have the hard drive space, I don't mind a "full" option on install. Just gimme back my cd drive!
Yes, it does. I just passed up buying Final Fantasy II legit (the Japanese NES version fan translated into english), even though the local Walmart has plenty of older NES cartridges that have been magically translated into English.
Don't whine and moan about the emulation scene. Its not taking away revenues from the gaming machine, these are the same people who would be playing their old consoles if there was no emu scene. Not everyone loves FPSs and MMORPGs. If it makes people happy, and it has yet to be proven that emulation has reduced sales of computer games, then what's the problem?
Just my $.02
Not totally transparent, since you have to "mount" the drives (actual partitions or just a virtual drive saved in a file), but E4M is a wonderful (free, OS) encryption scheme that works across all windows versions (although win98 has a shutdown bug).
Price is right, and it works fine for me. Although NTFS has a built-in encryption on its filesystem that is truly transparent, but since I can't see the code behind it, I don't trust it.
Ironic thought.
Xerox copies are imperfect, and making copies of copies will result in a degraded copy. The way to do it is to convert it to a digital form, then make copies. An Adobe PDF file is very capable of this.
Actually, I'm lame, I use windows.
Actually, lets look at this analogy. Pick-guns, which, when they work, allows you to pick a lock in a few seconds, are legal to sell. Lock-picking knowledge is legal to distribute. Slimjims are legal to sell. Drill bits that can cut through hardened steel are legal.
So, in a way, we have a few "keys", that although imperfect, will unlock most cars. They are legal to sell in the US. In a simular light, its legal for me to get the keycode off a lock cylinder of a car, go down to the locksmith, and get him to make me a key for that lock, without me ever showing proof that I own that vehicle or even have it in my possession. Its also legal for me to have someone travel to a specific location and have them unlock a vehicle for me with their knowledge and tools, and for them to bill me for their efforts.
In short, the analogy stinks. Sorry.
Final Fantasy 2 (the Japanese version, the one that was for the famicom/NES, not released in the US, but rom & translation patch is available on the net) had a nice system. Instead of characters gaining levels, each attribute of a character and each spell would gain level, based on usage. So, if I used fire enough, it would turn into fire2. If I got hit enough, my hps would go up. If I hit enough times with my bow, my bow skill would go up to the next level. Stats would also drop if you didn't exercize them, fighters would get dumber, mages would become weaker.
Of course, this was abusable, since you could target yourself in battle. So, while your enemy looked in confusion at you, you'd hit your party with fire, then with cure, and attack your weakest characters to bring up your weapon ability and to raise their hitpoints.
It was a unique game.
From the article - "Unless you are in a military installation, the most demanding application on any computer will be a game."
Naive bastard. On my system, the things that spank my processor aren't the games.
The encryption algorithms are secure. You can find more then a few solid encryption schemes available on the net if you look. Others that I trust say the mathmatics behind them are sound, and that by today's standards, breaking them would be difficult, if not impossible, even with the resources the feds have.
So, if you never keep your key on the hard drive, and instead only keep it in ram, having to manually retype it every time you want something, there is no possibility of anyone rebooting and having easy access to your encrypted data (if you disclude the possibility of unencrypted stuff showing up in swap, and with memory prices the way they are, I'd just throw a gig of ram at the problem and turn swap off.) If I had such a setup (and I don't, I'm a windows luser that is content with E4M), that actual encryption scheme and the way it was carried out would be secure to my heart's content.
Now, if this data is very important to you, I would only decrypt it when nessessary. That way, if the feds come, the chance of you having the data accessable is small. If you need to remotely access the data and it has to be up all the time, then you are in more trouble. However, it seems that when the feds do seize your equipment, they remove it, with removal, the power is turned off, and the memory is thus cleared. If you are really paranoid, just setup something in the door that as soon as its opened, it resets the power of the computer. Actually, it would be trivial for a skilled person to setup a nice motion sensor hooked up to the computer that can be remotely turned on/off, and if turned on, would reset the computer if it detects motion.
Just my $.02
First, I like to admit I know nothing about transmition of sound. Nada. Zip. Nothing.
However, I do think. I also look at things. Combined, this leads to some interesting conclusions.
My stereo mini-plugs extension cable (20', Radio Shack special) that connect my VCR to my computer are presumably two signal wires (left and right stereo channel) encased in a ground. The old phono jack cords and stereo mini-jack to Y-phono jack adapter also uses the shield cable. AHA! So shielding is inportant, you think. Even my cheap $10 computer speakers have shielded cords. But not so fast. My connection between my stereo and my speakers are unshielded cable, ya know, the cheap cable with two wires side-by-side that you can find at Walmart. Now I've run this sort of cable 50' without a problem, and I've known of people with farther runs. Now the only difference between the speaker connection and the other connections is that the speaker connection only carries one channel (not 2) and is amplified. So maybe the amplified signal is strong enough to resist interference but the unamplified is not. However, the amplified cable is bundled in a rats-nest behind the stereo, and the amplified signals in each cable seem not to be interfering with each other.
So, I can only conclude that interference may or may not be a problem. However, if I want to run a Cat5 cable and, say, transmit unamplified stereo signals to the radio, I can deduct several things. Ring voltage in telephone lines seem to be higher then the sound signal voltage, so the data connections that can happily coexist with voice lines without getting interference should coexist with sound. Ethernet is also twisted to limit cross-talk in the wire. Probably not as good as shielded cables, but good ne'er-the-less. So, could I take an old ethernet line I had laying around and transmit the stereo signal on two wires (one for left and one for right channel) and then ground the paired wire without degrading the signal quality? I haven't tried it, but for a reasonable distance, I would guess yes. The wires are not think enough to carry the higher strength speaker out signal, but for just base audio in, I don't see a problem.
Just my $.02
That reminds me. The older Datsun F10's and 510's could take either a Ford or Chevy V8 without that much trouble. I had an old 1978 Datsun 510 that was suffering from an advanced case of salt-rot (rust due to salt on the roads in winter). It would have been fun to rip out that 4 cylinder for a nice V8, but I ended up junking it in the end. Fun POS to drive though.
Sorry to all those who replied, but not line of site.
I think this is probably a pipe dream, unless I throw more money then I want at it.
My problem (which a roll-your-own DSL would solve, but with a cost I don't want to absorb) is how to do a wan over an area of about 3 miles radius, with at least one connection having to span 2.5 miles. The roll-your-own DSL would require too many connections, wireless won't broadcast over 1 mile (AFAIK) and everything else is a pain. I'll I'm looking for is something cheap, easily changed (moving nodes - wireless is preferred), and is capable of about 1 - 10 mbps.
Any ideas? I'm happy to fish ebay for parts to lower costs.
Oh wait, it didn't.
Although, OTOH, the NeoGeo is living a new, vibrant life in the wonderful land of Emulation.