In shopping around, I too was thinking "Man, I could buy a righteous iMac and a bunch of wireless gear.".
So I made an epic journey to The Diamond District and had enough left over to buy some righteous gear.
OBtopic: Has anyone done any SMP speed comparisons of various distros (they all patch their kernels with tons of various patches)? I'd also be interested in seeing if all these patches make any difference compared to Linus' default kernel.
I have never ever bought a system. I have always (since the '80s) built systems myself. Some of the advantages are as follows:
More bang for your buck - you get superior parts than the run-of-the-mill system
Choice - there are A LOT of good parts to choose from
Get what you want - since you're picking and choosing, you can get features you really want and not get features you don't want.
Cheaper - the systems i've built have been comparable to one's sold by dell, etc but at a fraction of the cost
Cheaper - i can scavange / salvage old parts from old systems for new systems. Video card still decent? Use it! Network card still state-of-the-art? Use it! Harddrive still going strong? Use it!
No floppy drive -:-) i haven't used stupid floppies in YEARS. just relatively recently have systems made floppy drives optional.
Quiet - i'm able to build quiet / silent systems because i can pick my parts
Intimacy - NO, not THAT kind! since i built the system, i am intimately familiar with it. i know what to try/fix if something goes wrong.
Linux/OpenBSD - since i'm picking parts, i can ensure that they'll work out-of-the-box with my OSes of choice
No Microsoft Tax - i have been 100% microsoft free for, geez, like 8 years now... (see Cheaper)
Others - i'm sure there are other reasons, but those are the ones i can think of off the top of my sleep deprived head
sure there are lots of downs to building your own (support, warranty, whatever), but i've found that the reasons above more than outweight the downs.
he wants to know how to apply for a domain while maintaining his privacy, so i posted a link to google on "fake id" (as in how to make / obtain fake identification documents). the implication being that he could make / obtain a fake id then apply for a domain.
let my post serve as a lesson for others:
never mix sleep deprivation and attempts at subtle humor
Dude, I'm thinkin' that if I were staring down the barrel of $97.8 TRILLION dollar lawsuit, I'd be tempted to find a country without extradition treaties. Preferably a friendly, inexpensive country with a tropical climate and lots of nude beaches.
What's the statute of limitations for copyright violations?
Brought to you by:
The United States of America(R) (A Wholely Owned Subsidiary of A Consortium of Multinational Corporations)
First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
A sign I recently saw at JFK airport after returning from a trip abroad:
Welcome to the United Police States of Amerika
All fruits, vegetables, meat products, and inalienable rights must be declared to the Customers officer. In order to gain adminttance to the United Police States of Amerika, these products must be surrendered. Failure to comply will result in civil or criminal action.
You want to hear a story about confidence in your system?
I ran an internal OpenBSD web server / CVS repository / Slashdot-like chat area. It was on an old Sparc20 I scrounged up.
I got the opportunity to travel, for four months, to literally the exact opposite side of the planet earth from where I live. What did I do with my server?
I didn't do anything! I packed my bags and took off! Did I give anyone root? Nope. Did I give anyone instructions on what to do? Nope. Did I get a backup sysadmin? Nope.
Why not?
Confidence. I didn't worry about leaving my server for four months while I took off for the opposite side of the planet.
When I came back four months later, the system was still running perfectly. No problems at all. None. In fact, I left it running for a few months more (until I did an upgrade).
OpenBSD rocks.
Check it out. It will rock your world. OpenBSD reminds me of the simpler days of Linux (5-8yrs ago), but has all the latest features and apps.
After a few months of you still unsuccessfully job searching, everyone at the company will feel really appreciative that they still have their jobs. This will vastly improve morale!
Also you can return periodically to regale them with hilarious job interview anecdotes.
I would like to sincerely thank you. For quite some time now, I've wanted to hone my reverse engineering skills to a very fine edge. Lately, though, I have lacked motivation.
For a while, I dabbled in reverse engineering on-line gambling software. However, depositing money in some shady off-shore bank first really put a wet blanket on my enthusiasm.
This announcement has rekindled my desire to expand my reverse engineering capabilities. I look forward to practicing on your software.
Personally, I use KVim. I set the font to something san-serif, big, and very readable, repeatedly use the 'j' and 'k' keys (for ease of scrolling), and use marks ("m[a-zA-Z]" and "m'"). I also make the KVim window really big, but not full-screen; I keep the title bar on the screen.
I do this on my monsterous LCD monitor, and this helps.
Web services is currently held up--in my opinion--by things like security and reliability.
So what he's saying is that secure and reliable systems are slowing down the web??
Ever seen an ISS server, dude? Not secure and not reliable! Oh yeah... that's why Internet Explorer/ISS combos as so fast. So I guess he's right after all... sorry for the misunderstanding.
Second, it's "Firewire Drive". That's a good suggestion.
Third, the poster should investigate gigabit ethernet. Gigabit ethernet can be achieved over copper. Although I believe gigabit ethernet hubs/switches are still awefully expensive. However two inexpensive gigabit ethernet cards can be directly connected (i.e. no hub/switch needed) together with a crossover cable.
Fourth, if the systems are capable of hot-swapping drives, the poster could plug a drive into the Linux box, load up the data, yank the drive and stick it in the Windoze box.
Fifth, when writing the data out to a drive initially on the Linux box, use Raid-1 (mirroring) to write to two drives simultaneously. Then yank one drive out of the Linux box and stick it in the Windoze box. No waiting for copying.
Last time I was climbing K2 there were these freakin' Black Helicopters following me! I'm positive they were tracking me via my avalanche beacon!
No matter how high I climbed, they were right there behind me! So on the down climb I took a risk and tossed the beacon off a cliff. The dumbasses followed it as it fell down the 1000m cliff! I think they think I'm dead. So now I can have a fresh start. I've changed my name, changed my Slashdot nick and everything's cool.
I wouldn't touch one of these ultra-tracking beacons with an avalache probe, let alone actually wear one!
I dunno dude, but it sounds to me like you're the victim of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. If I were you I would document each and every single occurance (time, size, IP addresses, etc) and attach a dollar value to each occurance (time spent, harddrive space filled up, bandwidth filled up, down time, new equipment bought to counter the threat, etc).
Note that each of these organizations has a dollar amount threshold. If the crime doesn't break the threshold (e.g. over $10k or something (I don't know the actual numbers, but I'm sure they can be found here)), then they won't investigate the crime.
Slashdot Mirror
Dude, I feel your pain.
In shopping around, I too was thinking "Man, I could buy a righteous iMac and a bunch of wireless gear.".
So I made an epic journey to The Diamond District and had enough left over to buy some righteous gear.
OBtopic: Has anyone done any SMP speed comparisons of various distros (they all patch their kernels with tons of various patches)? I'd also be interested in seeing if all these patches make any difference compared to Linus' default kernel.
I have never ever bought a system. I have always (since the '80s) built systems myself. Some of the advantages are as follows:
More bang for your buck - you get superior parts than the run-of-the-mill system
Choice - there are A LOT of good parts to choose from
Get what you want - since you're picking and choosing, you can get features you really want and not get features you don't want.
Cheaper - the systems i've built have been comparable to one's sold by dell, etc but at a fraction of the cost
Cheaper - i can scavange / salvage old parts from old systems for new systems. Video card still decent? Use it! Network card still state-of-the-art? Use it! Harddrive still going strong? Use it!
No floppy drive - :-) i haven't used stupid floppies in YEARS. just relatively recently have systems made floppy drives optional.
Quiet - i'm able to build quiet / silent systems because i can pick my parts
Intimacy - NO, not THAT kind! since i built the system, i am intimately familiar with it. i know what to try/fix if something goes wrong.
Linux/OpenBSD - since i'm picking parts, i can ensure that they'll work out-of-the-box with my OSes of choice
No Microsoft Tax - i have been 100% microsoft free for, geez, like 8 years now... (see Cheaper)
Others - i'm sure there are other reasons, but those are the ones i can think of off the top of my sleep deprived head
sure there are lots of downs to building your own (support, warranty, whatever), but i've found that the reasons above more than outweight the downs.
yeah, yeah, okay...
he wants to know how to apply for a domain while maintaining his privacy, so i posted a link to google on "fake id" (as in how to make / obtain fake identification documents). the implication being that he could make / obtain a fake id then apply for a domain.
let my post serve as a lesson for others:
never mix sleep deprivation and attempts at subtle humor
Why is it that most Ask Slashdot questions these days can be answered by a simple Google query?
And you mustn't forget the physics classic:
It's not the fall that kills you, it's the rapid deceleration.
Dude, I'm thinkin' that if I were staring down the barrel of $97.8 TRILLION dollar lawsuit, I'd be tempted to find a country without extradition treaties. Preferably a friendly, inexpensive country with a tropical climate and lots of nude beaches.
What's the statute of limitations for copyright violations?
Brought to you by:
The United States of America(R) (A Wholely Owned Subsidiary of A Consortium of Multinational Corporations)
Rev. Martin Niemoeller on the Holocaust:
A sign I recently saw at JFK airport after returning from a trip abroad:
Welcome to the United Police States of Amerika
All fruits, vegetables, meat products, and inalienable rights must be declared to the Customers officer. In order to gain adminttance to the United Police States of Amerika, these products must be surrendered. Failure to comply will result in civil or criminal action.
You want to hear a story about confidence in your system?
I ran an internal OpenBSD web server / CVS repository / Slashdot-like chat area. It was on an old Sparc20 I scrounged up.
I got the opportunity to travel, for four months, to literally the exact opposite side of the planet earth from where I live. What did I do with my server?
I didn't do anything! I packed my bags and took off! Did I give anyone root? Nope. Did I give anyone instructions on what to do? Nope. Did I get a backup sysadmin? Nope.
Why not?
Confidence. I didn't worry about leaving my server for four months while I took off for the opposite side of the planet.
When I came back four months later, the system was still running perfectly. No problems at all. None. In fact, I left it running for a few months more (until I did an upgrade).
OpenBSD rocks.
Check it out. It will rock your world. OpenBSD reminds me of the simpler days of Linux (5-8yrs ago), but has all the latest features and apps.
Best thing for morale?
How about you quit?
After a few months of you still unsuccessfully job searching, everyone at the company will feel really appreciative that they still have their jobs. This will vastly improve morale!
Also you can return periodically to regale them with hilarious job interview anecdotes.
What would happen if M$ went Open Source?
I'm pretty sure these would form in this place.
I've already explained to my wife that Freshmeat isn't a pr0n site. Now I would have to explain that to someone else too? Great...
(As a side note: my wife's actual comment was "Freshmeat? A porn site? Cool! Let's see!")
Geez... whatever happened to truth in advertising?
What's next? A "Mobius Corridor" that dead-ends?
Dear Connecticut State Lottery,
I would like to sincerely thank you. For quite some time now, I've wanted to hone my reverse engineering skills to a very fine edge. Lately, though, I have lacked motivation.
For a while, I dabbled in reverse engineering on-line gambling software. However, depositing money in some shady off-shore bank first really put a wet blanket on my enthusiasm.
This announcement has rekindled my desire to expand my reverse engineering capabilities. I look forward to practicing on your software.
Thank you.
-spoonist
Okay. So let me get a couple of things straight. LOC = Library of Congress, right? And they're moving 64,000 of these around PER DAY?
THAT'S ASTOUNDING!!! Have you ever been to their main building, the Thomas Jefferson Building? It's freakin' HUGE!
Where'd they find 64,000 of these buildings and just how exactly are they moving them around??
Maybe I should've posted this as a question to Ask Slashdot.
Here are some more spam tarpits:
TarProxy
ChuckMail
OpenBSD's spamd (tarball)
Google Search Results
Personally, I use KVim. I set the font to something san-serif, big, and very readable, repeatedly use the 'j' and 'k' keys (for ease of scrolling), and use marks ("m[a-zA-Z]" and "m'"). I also make the KVim window really big, but not full-screen; I keep the title bar on the screen.
I do this on my monsterous LCD monitor, and this helps.
Usually, I prefer to save a tree.
In Soviet Union, computer gesture at you.
So what he's saying is that secure and reliable systems are slowing down the web??
Ever seen an ISS server, dude? Not secure and not reliable! Oh yeah... that's why Internet Explorer/ISS combos as so fast. So I guess he's right after all... sorry for the misunderstanding.
... send it to me in parallel all you want, dude. My crappy 14.4k modem is still gonna gimme a crappy 14.4k.
> Three Words: Firewise Drive
First, "Firewise Drive" is two words.
Second, it's "Firewire Drive". That's a good suggestion.
Third, the poster should investigate gigabit ethernet. Gigabit ethernet can be achieved over copper. Although I believe gigabit ethernet hubs/switches are still awefully expensive. However two inexpensive gigabit ethernet cards can be directly connected (i.e. no hub/switch needed) together with a crossover cable.
Fourth, if the systems are capable of hot-swapping drives, the poster could plug a drive into the Linux box, load up the data, yank the drive and stick it in the Windoze box.
Fifth, when writing the data out to a drive initially on the Linux box, use Raid-1 (mirroring) to write to two drives simultaneously. Then yank one drive out of the Linux box and stick it in the Windoze box. No waiting for copying.
The slashdot crowd likes to blow up (and/or take down) web servers.
fp
"Think of a cluster of 4 PCs..."
A Beowulf Cluster of PVRs? Sweet!
Word Up, Dude!
I hear ya!
Last time I was climbing K2 there were these freakin' Black Helicopters following me! I'm positive they were tracking me via my avalanche beacon!
No matter how high I climbed, they were right there behind me! So on the down climb I took a risk and tossed the beacon off a cliff. The dumbasses followed it as it fell down the 1000m cliff! I think they think I'm dead. So now I can have a fresh start. I've changed my name, changed my Slashdot nick and everything's cool.
I wouldn't touch one of these ultra-tracking beacons with an avalache probe, let alone actually wear one!
I dunno dude, but it sounds to me like you're the victim of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. If I were you I would document each and every single occurance (time, size, IP addresses, etc) and attach a dollar value to each occurance (time spent, harddrive space filled up, bandwidth filled up, down time, new equipment bought to counter the threat, etc).
Then give a call to the U. S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Branch or the FBI National Computer Crime Squad or the National Infrastructure Protection Center.
Note that each of these organizations has a dollar amount threshold. If the crime doesn't break the threshold (e.g. over $10k or something (I don't know the actual numbers, but I'm sure they can be found here)), then they won't investigate the crime.