i disagree. Most asteroids dont have the gravity problems of the moon (1/6th earth gravity is still significant), are much richer in minerals and can be mined and destroyed with little consequence. The moon *cant* be used as a waste dump since enviro-weenies will always protest (youre spoiling the view - stop!) and has a gravity which will impact operations. manufacturing and mining is always better in open space with no grav and plenty of asteroids to mine/destroy. Personally i think chemical rockets arent going to get us anywhere - nuclear rockets are the only ones with sufficient thrust/weight ratios (think 10000:1 more efficient than chemical rockets) and nukes are too dangerous/have too much bad PR to go anywhere...its a chicken and egg situation.
i have BTW. I've also looked at the lilo source. have you ? Note that lilo protection can be bypassed pretty easily..simply boot with a slackware boot disk and see how well yur secured lilo holds up.
note that its not that easy to get around. The software could easily be loaded via a patch to some other perfectly harmless software i.e. explorer. Alternatively some sort of company wide virus monitoring software could also be trojanised. Its not that difficult - viruses already do this. windows is full of holes, making it impossible to control.
any of the keyboard monitoring hacks for windows or dos can do the same thing. and theyre all free and mainly used for grabbing passwords..everyones been doing it for a while..nothing new. The only real problem is that script kiddies used to do it - now employers will start doing it. IMHO, different agenda but same sort of mentality - we want control and we dont have the knowledge to get it, so we use scripts. personally, as a sysadmin i find this disgusting.
yeah. i'll second this one. If i had any moderator points left i prolly would have marked it up too. He's set the standard for document formatting and its installed on virtually every unix system.
better make sure it has a DES encrypted filesystem. Any sysadmin can simply type linux single at the lilo prompt and bootup as root without a password. He can then add a cloaked backdoor into your box. Alternatively he can just boot into your system from a slackware boot floppy and get root privs.
you can kill the process..simply install back orifice, get admin privs and kill the software. Note that most of these programs hide by "cloaking" themselves as an explorer task. Similar things are possible on unix systems by destroying argv[0] process args..but any program that uses a SysV call which doesnt report argv[0] (i.e. any non BSD ps or top) can easily see it.
The real point of this excercise is not that its still a long way from the turing test but that its inching ever closer to the turing test. As humans become more machine like, machines will become more human. Its just the way jet fighter cockpits are fast becoming similar to video game simulations, or TV fed teenagers are blurring the line between reality and an illusion.
video cards are dirt cheap. you get tridents for $30 max. its not that big a deal to get a box under $600. i have a box which cost $560 sitting under my desk with 2 celerys.
For an abit BP6 motherboard + 2 celeron processors youre looking at : mobo = $130 celeron (2 @ 450Mhz) = $ 90 x 2 Add a box ($50) and a few RAM chips, hard drive etc, should not go beyond $600-700. A new developer or beta tester on the other hand..
Just wondering why everyone considers OS/2 to be so important....The last time i tried it i gathered the following impressions about it (OS/2 Warp..thats ver.3 i think?) : [1] It seems to use the same type of shell as NT..i.e. a command shell. [2] It seems to have a DOS-like command set. [3] It has a windows like GUI..more Win95/NT like than 98 but nothing like X. [4] does it even have remote administration ? I saw no such thing. [5] Its interface leaves much to be desired (kludgy win/dos hack were the first impression i got..followed by...what the heck do these weird buttons do?) Im not trying to troll here..i'd like some informed opinion by poeple who've used it - why is it so great ? how is it better than UNIX ?
The main problem i have is mandrake is bleeding edge..too bleeding. RedHat is bad enough with the bleeding edge stuff but at least they dont release 2.2.13pre4 kernels or cutting edge gnome stuff. I was also disappointed with some incompatibilities between mandrake and redhat in 6.0..the setup programs seem to be slightly different..the sound+network configs seem to have changed (does PPP come with mandrake 6?)..and mandrake has begun to fork a lot off redhat without any real backup..im not too sure you can upgrade a redhat to mandrake and vice versa or use the same rpm packages anymore..Anyway, i think that mandrake is basically a redhat knockoff which has lost sight of its original goal - to be a better redhat than redhat.
yeah but do we really want to change the standard ? I mean X has been around longer than even I can remember. X has been standard on virtually *every* UNIX desktop..even PC's running doze support it. Berlin has no published open standards, is built on a lot of high level vapour, no published reference documentation endorsed by a reasonable group of companies...im not sure reference documentation even exists. UNIX has POSIX compliance. X as X/Open Group compliance. Berlin has pretty much nothing at this point of time...
The real problem I have with berlin is that it basically relies on a lot of high level semi-vaporware. For example has anyone seen all the technologies talked about (CORBA, OpenGL etc) actually working well together on any normal unix box ? I mean i have to install mesaGL if i want opengl on linux, install an accelerated X server (the soon-to-be-out-but-not-yet-ready Xfree 4), install something corba compatible (ORBit (?) - is it even alpha yet ?) etc etc. why not simply stick with X ? it seems to be good enough.
I saw something like this at DARPA, but it was for optical work. A sort of MEMS device with mirrors on board a single silicon chip to experiment with light. Optical lab on a chip.
dont suppose you could land me an SGI job ? I'd love to work for SGI (its been my favourite company) before it falls apart completely..based on the current status..looks like it might float for another year or two...hopefully more.
5 points are way too little. give at least 20 and reduce the no. of people getting points. Also randomise it. Out of the huge pool of moderators nominate say 20 on any given article and then revoke their points after 24 hrs. Meta moderation can keep the moderators in check. I also dont like the concept of banning poeple from posting..let them post at -2 or whatever.
thats because redhat is becoming the standard whether you like it or not. Promote the LSB more agressively and/or join them. This will help make more stuff Linux LSB certified instead of RedHat certified. What really bugs me is most linux developers dont want to work together - witness the KDE/Gnome incompatibilities, no standard way for applications to add themselves to the menus of the wm at install time, no standard package management, no standard help system. its all bullshit.
and since when do applications have to be distribution specific ? I want a standard method of doing it - distro/architecture/wm independent. If windoze apps followed this policy every single version of windoze 95/95/SE/NT would need a seperate way to install every app. so we would have 10 different apps for 10 different versions of doze. This is crazy -- we dont do it for doze progs..why should be do it for linux progs ? After all linux is supposed to be **better** is it not ?
ok. i'll reply to this one. [a] fine. i agree RPM is not a standard..but you have to start somewhere. i'll be fine if it works with deb/rpm/tgz whatever as long as the damn thing WORKS. [b] if every windows program asked you to pick an icon and drop it on the menu would you do it ? I want A STANDARD WAY FOR THE **APP** TO DO IT AT INSTALL TIME. Its unbelievably frustrating when there is no way of doing this. [c] From what i understand/saw in redhat 6.1 there was no standard way. i'll check on this. [d] Fine it has a help viewer -- SO WHAT ? what use is a help viewer if it doesnt have hooks to the application to add it's help pages to the help system ? I want A STANDARD WAY FOR AN APP TO ADD ITS HELP TO THE HELP VIEWER. And that means any desktop period. gnome/kde whatever.
As a developer i'd like to see the following : [a] PUH-LEASE PLAY BETTER WITH GNOME !! At least have a standard way to communicate with gnome or something. and the same goes for you gnome guys. [b] Have a standard method we can use to add an app to kde menus (NO, the stupid.kdesktop file (or in the case of gnome the.desktop file is NOT the answer DAMMIT.)...something like a shell script call from an RPM will be nice -- work with redhat. the same goes for gnome. Note that RPM is probably going to be the standard for the LSB. [c] Standard way of switching between desktops (gnome/kde/afterstep). usekde scripts are NOT THE ANSWER. Use the control panel thing to switch if possible...allow the user to do it without editing.xinitrc. [d] STANDARDISE THE HELP. Including the documentation which RPM automatically makes the devloper put in %doc in the specfile is nice. A nice text/html/sgml integrated help viewer is nice too.
BTW, you get florescent lights..mainly used in portable lamp things which run on DC (battery) power. Only problem is that theyre compact since theyre used in small portable stuff.
yeah. charlie rose also came out with an interview a while back in which scott mcnealy gets to bash m$..which was really good *fun* to watch.:) BTW, linuxcare also maintains kernel traffic kt.opensrc.org(?) if im not mistaken..thats the weekly write up on the messages in kernel mailing list..real good stuff.
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i disagree. Most asteroids dont have the gravity problems of the moon (1/6th earth gravity is still significant), are much richer in minerals and can be mined and destroyed with little consequence. The moon *cant* be used as a waste dump since enviro-weenies will always protest (youre spoiling the view - stop!) and has a gravity which will impact operations. manufacturing and mining is always better in open space with no grav and plenty of asteroids to mine/destroy. Personally i think chemical rockets arent going to get us anywhere - nuclear rockets are the only ones with sufficient thrust/weight ratios (think 10000:1 more efficient than chemical rockets) and nukes are too dangerous/have too much bad PR to go anywhere...its a chicken and egg situation.
i have BTW. I've also looked at the lilo source. have you ? Note that lilo protection can be bypassed pretty easily..simply boot with a slackware boot disk and see how well yur secured lilo holds up.
note that its not that easy to get around. The software could easily be loaded via a patch to some other perfectly harmless software i.e. explorer. Alternatively some sort of company wide virus monitoring software could also be trojanised. Its not that difficult - viruses already do this. windows is full of holes, making it impossible to control.
any of the keyboard monitoring hacks for windows or dos can do the same thing. and theyre all free and mainly used for grabbing passwords..everyones been doing it for a while..nothing new. The only real problem is that script kiddies used to do it - now employers will start doing it. IMHO, different agenda but same sort of mentality - we want control and we dont have the knowledge to get it, so we use scripts. personally, as a sysadmin i find this disgusting.
yeah. i'll second this one. If i had any moderator points left i prolly would have marked it up too. He's set the standard for document formatting and its installed on virtually every unix system.
better make sure it has a DES encrypted filesystem. Any sysadmin can simply type linux single at the lilo prompt and bootup as root without a password. He can then add a cloaked backdoor into your box. Alternatively he can just boot into your system from a slackware boot floppy and get root privs.
you can kill the process..simply install back orifice, get admin privs and kill the software. Note that most of these programs hide by "cloaking" themselves as an explorer task. Similar things are possible on unix systems by destroying argv[0] process args..but any program that uses a SysV call which doesnt report argv[0] (i.e. any non BSD ps or top) can easily see it.
The real point of this excercise is not that its still a long way from the turing test but that its inching ever closer to the turing test. As humans become more machine like, machines will become more human. Its just the way jet fighter cockpits are fast becoming similar to video game simulations, or TV fed teenagers are blurring the line between reality and an illusion.
video cards are dirt cheap. you get tridents for $30 max. its not that big a deal to get a box under $600. i have a box which cost $560 sitting under my desk with 2 celerys.
in linux cdrecord does it fine. i made the lorax cd (redhat 6.1) and it worked great.
For an abit BP6 motherboard + 2 celeron processors youre looking at :
mobo = $130
celeron (2 @ 450Mhz) = $ 90 x 2
Add a box ($50) and a few RAM chips, hard drive etc, should not go beyond $600-700.
A new developer or beta tester on the other hand..
Just wondering why everyone considers OS/2 to be so important....The last time i tried it i gathered the following impressions about it (OS/2 Warp ..thats ver.3 i think?) :
[1] It seems to use the same type of shell as NT..i.e. a command shell.
[2] It seems to have a DOS-like command set.
[3] It has a windows like GUI..more Win95/NT like than 98 but nothing like X.
[4] does it even have remote administration ? I saw no such thing.
[5] Its interface leaves much to be desired (kludgy win/dos hack were the first impression i got..followed by...what the heck do these weird buttons do?)
Im not trying to troll here..i'd like some informed opinion by poeple who've used it - why is it so great ? how is it better than UNIX ?
The main problem i have is mandrake is bleeding edge..too bleeding. RedHat is bad enough with the bleeding edge stuff but at least they dont release 2.2.13pre4 kernels or cutting edge gnome stuff. I was also disappointed with some incompatibilities between mandrake and redhat in 6.0..the setup programs seem to be slightly different..the sound+network configs seem to have changed (does PPP come with mandrake 6?)..and mandrake has begun to fork a lot off redhat without any real backup..im not too sure you can upgrade a redhat to mandrake and vice versa or use the same rpm packages anymore..Anyway, i think that mandrake is basically a redhat knockoff which has lost sight of its original goal - to be a better redhat than redhat.
yeah but do we really want to change the standard ? I mean X has been around longer than even I can remember. X has been standard on virtually *every* UNIX desktop..even PC's running doze support it. Berlin has no published open standards, is built on a lot of high level vapour, no published reference documentation endorsed by a reasonable group of companies...im not sure reference documentation even exists. UNIX has POSIX compliance. X as X/Open Group compliance. Berlin has pretty much nothing at this point of time...
The real problem I have with berlin is that it basically relies on a lot of high level semi-vaporware. For example has anyone seen all the technologies talked about (CORBA, OpenGL etc) actually working well together on any normal unix box ? I mean i have to install mesaGL if i want opengl on linux, install an accelerated X server (the soon-to-be-out-but-not-yet-ready Xfree 4), install something corba compatible (ORBit (?) - is it even alpha yet ?) etc etc. why not simply stick with X ? it seems to be good enough.
I saw something like this at DARPA, but it was for optical work. A sort of MEMS device with mirrors on board a single silicon chip to experiment with light. Optical lab on a chip.
dont suppose you could land me an SGI job ? I'd love to work for SGI (its been my favourite company) before it falls apart completely..based on the current status..looks like it might float for another year or two...hopefully more.
5 points are way too little. give at least 20 and reduce the no. of people getting points. Also randomise it. Out of the huge pool of moderators nominate say 20 on any given article and then revoke their points after 24 hrs. Meta moderation can keep the moderators in check. I also dont like the concept of banning poeple from posting..let them post at -2 or whatever.
thats because redhat is becoming the standard whether you like it or not. Promote the LSB more agressively and/or join them. This will help make more stuff Linux LSB certified instead of RedHat certified. What really bugs me is most linux developers dont want to work together - witness the KDE/Gnome incompatibilities, no standard way for applications to add themselves to the menus of the wm at install time, no standard package management, no standard help system. its all bullshit.
and since when do applications have to be distribution specific ? I want a standard method of doing it - distro/architecture/wm independent. If windoze apps followed this policy every single version of windoze 95/95/SE/NT would need a seperate way to install every app. so we would have 10 different apps for 10 different versions of doze. This is crazy -- we dont do it for doze progs..why should be do it for linux progs ? After all linux is supposed to be **better** is it not ?
ok. i'll reply to this one.
[a] fine. i agree RPM is not a standard..but you have to start somewhere. i'll be fine if it works with deb/rpm/tgz whatever as long as the damn thing WORKS.
[b] if every windows program asked you to pick an icon and drop it on the menu would you do it ? I want A STANDARD WAY FOR THE **APP** TO DO IT AT INSTALL TIME. Its unbelievably frustrating when there is no way of doing this.
[c] From what i understand/saw in redhat 6.1 there was no standard way. i'll check on this.
[d] Fine it has a help viewer -- SO WHAT ? what use is a help viewer if it doesnt have hooks to the application to add it's help pages to the help system ? I want A STANDARD WAY FOR AN APP TO ADD ITS HELP TO THE HELP VIEWER. And that means any desktop period. gnome/kde whatever.
As a developer i'd like to see the following : .kdesktop file (or in the case of gnome the .desktop file is NOT the answer DAMMIT.)...something like a shell script call from an RPM will be nice -- work with redhat. the same goes for gnome. Note that RPM is probably going to be the standard for the LSB. .xinitrc.
[a] PUH-LEASE PLAY BETTER WITH GNOME !! At least have a standard way to communicate with gnome or something. and the same goes for you gnome guys.
[b] Have a standard method we can use to add an app to kde menus (NO, the stupid
[c] Standard way of switching between desktops (gnome/kde/afterstep). usekde scripts are NOT THE ANSWER. Use the control panel thing to switch if possible...allow the user to do it without editing
[d] STANDARDISE THE HELP. Including the documentation which RPM automatically makes the devloper put in %doc in the specfile is nice. A nice text/html/sgml integrated help viewer is nice too.
i think the FAQ is at junkbusters.com..gives you tips to deal with this situation.
BTW, you get florescent lights..mainly used in portable lamp things which run on DC (battery) power. Only problem is that theyre compact since theyre used in small portable stuff.
yeah. charlie rose also came out with an interview a while back in which scott mcnealy gets to bash m$..which was really good *fun* to watch. :)
BTW, linuxcare also maintains kernel traffic kt.opensrc.org(?) if im not mistaken..thats the weekly write up on the messages in kernel mailing list..real good stuff.