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User: ecalkin

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  1. Re:thank God I live in California on AMD: No Grease For You! · · Score: 1

    my favorate part of Caliornia and warranties is from several years ago (10+) and may have changed since then:

    apparently, back then in california, warranty periods did not 'age' while your product was being worked on. i think it was full days only. if your car needed service and was in the shop for 3 days, your warranty gained an extra day at the end. if you got a computer with a 90 day warranty and it spent a week in the shop, the warranty became 95 days or something like that.

    sometimes people wonder how state laws affect people in other states?

    i was working at a regional computer dealership in central kentucky. good ole' ibm had a shortage of floppy drives for parts replacement. and guess what: california got dibs because ibm needed the warranties to expire when they were supposed to! we had ibm ps/2s waiting for weeks for floppy drives. again, this was 10+ years ago.

    just my 2 cents.

  2. starting all over from scratch... on The Case for Rebuilding The Internet From Scratch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    here's my list:

    1) let's clean up ftp. real security options, performance options, etc.
    2) smtp. as in the article, smtp needs work, at the protocol level and implementation of mail programs and their handing of information. i really believe that a little key management at the isp level (if enough isp participated) could really make a difference.
    3) dns. i would drop .com, .org, maybe even .edu and .net. use the ccTLD with other localizations below that.
    4) more ip addresses. ip6 would be nice, but if i'm starting over from scratch, just increasing the ip address from 32 to 48 or to 64 would help.
    5) the ability to do a number of things in a slow, throttled-back fashion to run nicely in the background.
    6) better printing protocols. lpd is a mess and the other printing protocols seem to problematic.
    7) snmp. this seems to be getting better via v3. the real problem seems to be the software, not the protocol.

    just my $0.02

    eric

  3. Re:Bad engineering, bad commerce. on Are Bad RAM Chips Common? · · Score: 1

    parity checked memory that was 8 bits data one bit parity was common when memory was not quite the quality that it is today. even back them people complained that ibm made things *more* likely to fail because of the extra bit.

    as memory become better, most errors were detected at post and the extra bit really wasn't needed.

    it not only makes the memory cheaper, but also the memory management stuff of the system board gets cheaper and simpler.

    eric

  4. don't forget... on Novell to Make Linux Robust and Reliable · · Score: 1

    two other points for novell:
    a) novell also has an outstanding educational program that promoted general purpose technical education. the Networking Tech class was a pain in the arse, but when you were done you knew the 7 layers in and out and up and down. Service and Support made you understand hardware in such a way that you could use this knowledge even in non-netware environment. and finally, they taught troubleshooting, regular patching, and that a network manager was responsable for managing non-technical things such as users and password management.
    b) Novell plays well with others. lots of opportunities there and you can believe that novell will probably not turn around and stab you in the back as a developer.

    you would not believe how much time i've spent in the last 4 years telling poeple items and concepts from the above post, just to hear someone say: 'but ms says....'

    arghhhh!

    eric

  5. History! on Cheap New 1 Inch HDD Holds 1.5GB · · Score: 1

    you might point out that the rp04s were 18inch packs! someone above mentioned a 1.8inch drive introduced a couple of years ago. i never made the comparison... 18>1.8.

    you might also point out that the rp04s were a whopping 88MB!

    i used to hold up a platter from one of those puppies and tell a class: 5 (or six or so) of these and you still have less storage than this and hold up a zip disk in the other hand.

    eric

  6. Re:What is the point? on Linux On Unmodded Xbox, Improved · · Score: 1

    if the game companies find out/see/determine that some/many/lots xbox units are being made into linux machines it might make them reluctant to support games on xboxen. this could be quite funny...

    e

  7. two that i highly recommend... on What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit? · · Score: 1

    1) a disk imaging tool. ghost or drive-image.
    2) an antiviral of some sort. hopefully one that easy to update via multiple ways (online, cd, floppy disk, etc)

    e

  8. business address vs. home address on Spammers, Privacy, Anti-Spam, and Lawsuits · · Score: 5, Interesting

    firstly, whatever you feel about spamming, using your home as a business address in this kind of endeavor is just stupid. it's hard to feel sorry for him on that point.

    secondly, i believe that *any* business that doesn't want/hasn't had real person (not voicemail, answering machine, po box) contact info published should be investigated for fraud.

    e

  9. infomation brokering... on Don't Worry, We're Not From The Government · · Score: 2, Insightful

    it's always amazed me that people will complain bitterly about the us govmint collecting/extracting/stealing/whatever personal data for whatever reason *THEN* they turn around and sell it major corps for pennies (store discount cards).

    there are other corp data collection systems that don't even pay, but that's another story? poeple worry about the dept of homeland defense knowing what you watch, but the satalite companies know and (i suspect) will sell it to whoever wants to be a business partner.

    e

  10. other limitations.... on AOL will launch TiVo-like Mystro service · · Score: 2, Insightful

    i realize that disk space is cheap, but this could be interesting! if a user (viewer?) is allowed 6 hours (i say six because you have 6hr miniseries) and this takes (a guess!) 10G and you have 10,000 viewers.... thats's 100TB! damn.

    it seems like the tivo model is a wonderful example of distributed computing here!

    eric

  11. Re:and this will help how? on Shuttle Missions Will Be Monitored From Space · · Score: 5, Interesting

    a *long* time ago (20+ years), when the shuttle was first going up, they had a lot of worries about the tiles. i remember someone stating worry about the 'nauts not have eva suits because they had some sort of 'temporary liquid tile replacement' stuff. an ablative (like the apollo capsules) that would protect a missing tile by burning away (and taking heat with it).

    even if this was myth or no longer viable, it's amazing what kinda tools and solutions you have *if* you don't stick you head in the sand and say 'i don't want to know about it'

    eric

  12. Re:Is this really a big deal? on Dying Languages, Fading Formats · · Score: 1

    i live in the united states and like this plan.

    i remember about 20 years ago there was a push to move to metric. there were some signs on some interstate highways that had distances in km in addition to miles. then they stopped that project.

    and i think: if they had continued the program we would probably be on the metric system by now and that would have been a good thing....

  13. Re:Encouraging on Sendmail Bug Tests US Dept Homeland Security · · Score: 5, Insightful

    sadly, i don't see the 'force people to fix security holes' where we need it.

    we have (mostly) good timing getting patches out (even ms gets patches out), but getting end users to *apply* the patches has been a problem. lack of knowledge, time, technical skills, etc.

    at this point, this does seem to be addressed.

    how do we (ahum) fix the end user? my belief is that it should be required that end users have staff/contractors that are certified on their stuff *and* that hey maintain a maintenance log that documents actions or lack of them. if you look at radio stations and the requirements they include licensed radio engineers and logs and other must-dos and must-haves.

    it's time people understood that being connected to everyone else requires a little bit more work.

    eric

  14. Re:Ignorant American? on Venezuela Falling Behind · · Score: 1

    ** NO **

    the idiots can't admit that they are ignorant! this person has the brass to admit that he doesn't know everything! amen!

    eric

  15. Re:Never mind the roots... on Lead Scientist Responds to Questions on Root Server Queries · · Score: 1

    damn. i'm not the only that does that?

  16. Re:Hard Drive Destroyed on Slashback: Compromise, Bugs, Slag · · Score: 1

    i worked with a gentleman that was working for a military contractor. he said that they did drive disposal via halftrack. when they had enough that were ready to be 'de-classified', they would line them up in the parking lot and drive a a heavy halftrack over them. almost-instant twisted metal.

  17. back in the old days... on What is Your Best Tech Joke? · · Score: 1

    what do you get when you cross Lee Iacocca with a vampire?

    Autoexec.bat!

    i know, arghhhh!

    eric

  18. Re:Worldwide or local outcomes? on New Antitrust Complaint Filed Against Microsoft · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the sun part is easy. ms and sun are both american companies and that case was about breach of contract. i would suspect that the remedy of that would cover the same scope as the original contract which was probably world-wide.

    if something happens in euro-land, well that's different. take what ever the eu people decree and then wonder: the legal system(s) in the us (fed and states) could use it as a template if they have the stones. the court of public opinion could be devestating if ms gives more 'stuff' to the eu'ers then to americans! this could be the extra-large size can of worms...

    eric

  19. Re:NWLink on Slashback: NWLink, Vivendi, Gatherings · · Score: 1

    don't forget you gotta lsl first!

  20. a missed point - the salesmen... on Microsoft Blasted For Lax Security · · Score: 2, Interesting

    there is a missing issue here: ms bent over backward over the last 7-10 years to sell their products to poeple based on *Ease of Use*. you don't have to be a rocket scientist (or unix guru) to do 'big things' with computers if you bought ms products. one of the key selling points was you didn't have to have these expense engineers to maintain the systems.

    so between the 'it's easy' part and 'you don't need smart responsible people to manage it', is it any wonder that we have an epidemic of poorly maintained ms systems out there?

  21. Re:US Military Intelligence? on MS SQL Server Worm Wreaking Havoc · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If it hadn't been for a last minute scud that hit a barracks and killed a bunch of US servicemen, the united states would have killed more of its own soldiers than iraq did. friendly fire may be an oxymoron, but it happens...

  22. Re:The only safe web server... on Top 10 Vulnerabilities in Web Applications · · Score: 1

    well, that's not entirely true. i've found that a good physical layer firewall (not connected) is also pretty safe!

    not plugged in works well also...

    ecalkin

  23. Re:Last question first... on Mandated Regulation/Certification for Computer Repair? · · Score: 1

    for me, the hardest part of this is at what level you start. generally in a lot places i can help you do wiring on your house (or maybe even business) without licensing or certification. i just can't do it commercially, which means that i can't really charge anyone for it. i do electrical (or plumbing) for my friends. at the point you are collecting money i think that cert/license becomes important. especially since the average buyer has not nearly enough knowledge to beware.

    the part-time reference above kinda bothers me. would you (if you could) call a someone to do extermination if they were an accountant by day and just spayed poison on the weekends?

    i think that the who point of manditory licensing is the ability to cut corners by getting someone who really isn't up to snuff on what they do.

    maybe i've rambled here a little but i've seen too many problems created by people with no oversight.

    one of the benefits of a license system is that you can de-license people for outragous behavior and keep them from competing with the honest, knowledgable, and hardworking.

    eric

  24. Re:A+ certified people are the dumbest of the fiel on Mandated Regulation/Certification for Computer Repair? · · Score: 1

    A+ didn't use to be a useless cert. when it first came out about 10 years ago it was pretty funny. i worked for a regional computer dealership that employed about 50 technical people. about half didn't pass the A+ on the first try and most of the rest were scoring in the 70s. we had people that got less than %50 on the *Customer Service* section (which was pretty much don't call the custumer an idiot...)

    having achieved novell and ms and and cisco certs (several certs over several years) it's worth saying that the issuer has to want the cert to have value. novell *really* put a lot of effort into to classes and *tests* to make the netware 3 and 4 certs very meaningful. they kinda dropped the ball on netware 5. i think that the first batch of mcses (3.5x) were stronger than the 4.0 mcses because of the classes and tests and the 2000 mcse program appears to me to be very weak. ms at one point stated that they wanted a bunch of mcses in the field. haven't done enough cisco to rate them, except that i've heard that the CCIE is a strong cert.

    the point of any certifcation is that you've learned enough to understand foundational materials. you can't learn it all when you go to that class but you can learn enough so that you are sound to build upon. novell was excellent on that concept!

    eric

  25. Re:Bad for gaming? on New Display Technology to Compete with LCDs? · · Score: 1

    i believe that tv (north american) framerate is 30fps.

    eric