Sorry I missed the call for questions. I was out-of-town.
I still have a simple question of FreeDOS: Is it designed to be fully re-entrant? Or does it have/need an "in-DOS" flag?
If it is re-entrant, then multi-tasking becomes considerably simplified.
-- Robert
Re:Norway was never in alliance with Nazi Germany.
on
DeCSS Author Arrested
·
· Score: 1
Yes, I realize it was Quisling's alliance. The real problem is when he took over, the adminstration, police, etc, just obeyed his orders. Even when it came to things that violated human rights. Of all the occupied countries, Norway and Austria probably have the worst collaborative records.
Now I know the concept of human rights was not particularly strong in those days, and there are limits to passive resistance (resignations, work slow). But something must have felt wrong/unfair to the police and clerks.
It is failing to act on that feeling that is shameful, and continues to be a source of guilt. Worse is not learning the lesson that authority must be mistrusted.
A black period in Norwegian history, to be sure. Blacker still if the key lessons have not been learnt.
No offense to Norwegian readers, but don't the Norwegian authorities regret their collaboration/alliance with Nazi Germany?
Haven't they learnt from history that individuals are not supposed to be supressed? The UN & EC (member?) Charter of Rights, an probably the Norwegian constitution all guarantee freedom of speech.
It is highly contentious that anti-cracking laws (if they even apply) could override freedom-of-speech. And dangerous too.
I will hope the Norwegian authorities treat him decently (after a 6 hour interrogation?) and release him on his own recognizance. Charitably, I will hope they are just doing this for a test-case.
Melissa is an interesting and very virulent virus.
But one highly unlikely to infect *nix boxen because all the key executables are unwritable by the user.
The same goes for *nix office suites _unless_ they allow execution of user binaries, or have dangerous macro commands. The latter is quite likely because some people want to do bulk mailings so Melissa workalikes could thrive.
There is also the diversity safeguard. It is easy for viruses to spread in the MS-Windows world because there is basically one OS run on a great number of machines. Monoculture. *nix is fragmented, and hence more difficult to attack.
But I rather think a trojan/virus maker is unlikely to leave his source lying around. It is too easily traced. So you're probably quite safe compile unscanned source.
Of course viruses exist for Linux. Except they're called Trojans, and there are relatively easy ways to keep them out: check source, compile source especially for anything suid root. Or trust your distro.
Viruses/trojans are much less of a problim in *nix simply because most running should be done from unpriviliged users accounts. That greatly confines the damage possible. Unfortunately, MS has yet to understand this concept.
If the students _host_ an ftp site with pirated software (warez), they'd be shut down pretty quickly. They might, or might not, get away with downloading warez ISOs.
But nothing legally stops them from downloading ISOs from open-source software, or even hosting an open-source mirror of those ISOs.
I can use up an aweful lot of bandwidth downloading Linux/*BSD isos to burn. Similarly, a big grab of JPEGs or other big files will eat bandwidth. Do the Universities want to stop this too? Maybe any graphics-intensive website should be blocked.
Or is bandwidth the scapegoat, and they are really worried about the RIAA and copyright issues?
In modern life, computers are _everywhere_. Even a digital watch has a 4bit computer, probably more powerful than an IBM 1130.
Telephones, TVs, elevators, cars, ATMs, POS, VCRs, CD players and the list goes on. Even fastfood joints use computerised cooking equipment. Oddly, an old reel-to-reel tape recorder has no computer, so Kevin could use one to reprogram credit card magnetic strips. So maybe he shouldn't use credit cards either. If he could even get one.
Now the Judge probably didn't mean to prohibit these devices, or even know that they could be considered computers. But Parole Officers have a bad reputation for capriciousness, especially with high-profile parolees they want to take down a peg-or-two. So Kevin will have to watch is back, perhaps worse than in prison.
What I find interesting is the turn of phrase "it's just too hostile." It seems like the engineer always expects people to be nice.
Why does s/he have that expectation? Is he just using it as an excuse for his techno-ignorance? Has he swallowed mass media images whole? Why would he think people will be polite? Does he never get angry?
Note that he didn't say "it's not polite [friendly] enough."
Yes,./ is asymptotically tending towards USENET. That's why I used the term. And I really don't find it difficult to stomache at all.
It boils down to expectations. I do not expect to find information quickly, in nice summaries on USENET or anywhere else on- or off- the web. I'm looking for raw data, and I know I'll have to sort out alot of chaff to get the wheat. I don't particularly like the chaff, but I _don't_ resent it. Better some chaff than no wheat. So I tolerate abysmal S/N (USENET has improved over the past couple of years, at least in some places).
Put it this way: I was trained in research with card catalogs, abstract indicies, and ordering articles. The `net is a _whole_ lot better!
I'm getting tired with people complaining that things aren't they way they want them, so everyone else should change.
Yes, there is plenty of rudeness and flamefests online. Yes, most people find it unpleasant. And yes, it will deter people who don't think the information is worth sifting through the unpleasantness.
But others (the disparaged young white males) find the information very valuable, worth the sifting. And they may be less sensitive to unpleasantness as their wives have been trying to "fix" for years.
So USENET survives in spite of flamefests, trolls, and many other ills like spam, clueless posters who don't check DejaNews, and incorrect answers. When in Rome...
I'm frankly disappointed that people who pretend to be diversity- and culture-conscious don't respect the USENET culture, and try to meddle with it.
Interesting. But I'd bet that whomever got the code from the errant employee wouldn't have ANY licence to use/distribute it, especially not the mods. They'd be in the position of receiving stolen goods. GPL warez:)
NSA wouldn't be giving out any licences, even though if they did, it would have to abide by GPL. But they aren't compelled to licence it at all, and so wouldn't. So nobody could distribute it legally.
"The club cannot (under GPL) restrict anyone from doing so."
Not quite. NSA employees are bound by secrecy laws and most certainly will be prosecuted for revealing secrets. Modified Linux would be one of them.
Outside the govt/military sphere, employees can be sued for disclosing their employers secrets. Unless the company authorizes publication, it can fire and sue people.
Yes, it's quite likely the NSA is _behind_ the curve here, and wants to use Linux to catch up.
There is a cost for protection and worry. So it is very possible to be over secure. I doubt the NSA understands this. They didn't 10-15 years ago with the Soviet Union.
IANAL but yes, contractors working on GPL have to release source code, but only to those to whom they've sent binaries. And they can't encumber the NSA from further copying/publishing it. But NSA might not want to.
But nothing in the GPL says the contractor has to release it to anyone else. The GPL is privacy-friendly: no-one is obligated to publish modifications. But once they are published, source must accompany it, and copying cannot be restricted.
Good for the NSA. I'd much rather see them try to hide any backdoors in open, human readable source than inside unfathomable MS-Windows. Or do they plan on having some "binary only" bits?
Perhaps the NSA realizes that making US computers more secure is better than trying to weaken everybody to help their spying.
Others have touched on important issues, and I will add some: Quebec doesn't use common law, it uses civil code (moreso than Louisiana). Furthermore, it has restrictive (and highly controversial) language laws. I'm surprised the letter was in english. Must be from Toronto lawyers.
IANAL, but I don't see why the "Cease and Desist" letter shouldn't be ignored completely. It's written in english to an obviously french-language site. I don't believe anyone in quebec is legally presumed to be able to read english unless they have given indications they can.
Beyond the protection offered parody (and it is obviously such), the fact that Yahoo doesn't have a Quebec site (it does have a section for french language in.ca) dilutes their claim of trademark infringement.
If this went to court, it would probably have to be in Quebec civil court. There civil code applies, the chief difference being the judge is not bound by precedents. AFAIK, defendants have choice of language anywhere in Canada, and certainly in Quebec. I doubt an action would succeed and better[worse], Yahoo could well be ordered to pay the defandants legal costs.
For a polar landing, all approach vectors repeat every Martian day, ie 24.6 hours. So you have to time your orbital insertion inside that period to give the desired vector. No big delays, or massive fuel increase.
I don't think I know better than NASA, but I would like that proven! They have made an unadvertised gamble with my money, and need to account for it.
Certainly there are risks/imponderables/luck. But these really should be discussed frankly to avoid disappointments. Had NASA said: "It's going to be hell to land there", no-one would have been surprised when it was lost. OTOH, it might never have been launched. Either would have been better than the blackeye NASA received.
I'm concerned that the mission planners may have neglected to consider approach route, preferring to minimize fuel. I'd like to know if this is a case of "penny wise & pound foolish".
Finally, a reasonable explanation. But it begs the question: Why would anyone chose a trajectory with serious hazards (mountains/canyons) on it? Did they not have good maps, or wasn't there a better approach route?
With spaceshots or other artillery, you can control direction much better than distance. Thrusters keep direction true, but how are you going to adjust re-entry when the atmosphere is more/less dense/windy than expected? So you've got to expect some short- or long-fall.
-- Robert
Batch Y2K may still be a problem
on
Apocalypse Not
·
· Score: 2
Realtime Y2K was fine. And that should have been expected, since most realtime systems aren't very date-dependant. Furthermore, many are layered with fall-through defaults.
But the real worry about Y2K has always been those legacy COBOL batch processing systems. There may still be some erronious statements sent out in the mail over the next months that will take wrangling with customer service to straighten out. Nothing life threatening, but a pain nonetheless, and perhaps aggravated by "we didn't have any Y2K problems."
Why do you assume that I do not read articles? That isn't very charitable. Read it I have. Agree with it I do not.:)
Magnetism and electricity are inseparable. You cannot manipulate one without changing the other. More to the point, electrical noise begets magnetic noise. Or put it is way, if they can separate electricity and magnetism, it's Nobel-prize winning, almost Unified Field Theory stuff. I'm highly suspicious.
Now, they may want to use the runner (steel support cable on mid-voltage lines) to carry signal to rural areas. If it isn't grounded, that may work at 1 Mbps but will have lots of induced noise from electrical transients. 10baseT ethernet will reputedly run over barbed wire!
It sounds wonderful until you start thinking about it. Communications all boils down to signal-to-noise ratio. The 60 Hz (50 Hz in Europe) power wave is no problem, but what about all the switching noise, corona discharge, insulation arcing, etc? Then you have to get past [around] transformers.
Also, over long transmission lines signal tends to get spread out (smeared) as the velocity-of-propagation varies. AFAIK, Power lines were not designed with any consideration of Vp.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry I missed the call for questions. I was out-of-town.
I still have a simple question of FreeDOS: Is it designed to be fully re-entrant? Or does it have/need an "in-DOS" flag?
If it is re-entrant, then multi-tasking becomes considerably simplified.
-- Robert
Yes, I realize it was Quisling's alliance. The real problem is when he took over, the adminstration, police, etc, just obeyed his orders. Even when it came to things that violated human rights. Of all the occupied countries, Norway and Austria probably have the worst collaborative records.
Now I know the concept of human rights was not particularly strong in those days, and there are limits to passive resistance (resignations, work slow). But something must have felt wrong/unfair to the police and clerks.
It is failing to act on that feeling that is shameful, and continues to be a source of guilt. Worse is not learning the lesson that authority must be mistrusted.
A black period in Norwegian history, to be sure. Blacker still if the key lessons have not been learnt.
-- Robert
No offense to Norwegian readers, but don't the Norwegian authorities regret their collaboration/alliance with Nazi Germany?
Haven't they learnt from history that individuals are not supposed to be supressed? The UN & EC (member?) Charter of Rights, an probably the Norwegian constitution all guarantee freedom of speech.
It is highly contentious that anti-cracking laws (if they even apply) could override freedom-of-speech. And dangerous too.
I will hope the Norwegian authorities treat him decently (after a 6 hour interrogation?) and release him on his own recognizance. Charitably, I will hope they are just doing this for a test-case.
-- Robert
Melissa is an interesting and very virulent virus.
But one highly unlikely to infect *nix boxen because all the key executables are unwritable by the user.
The same goes for *nix office suites _unless_ they allow execution of user binaries, or have dangerous macro commands. The latter is quite likely because some people want to do bulk mailings so Melissa workalikes could thrive.
There is also the diversity safeguard. It is easy for viruses to spread in the MS-Windows world because there is basically one OS run on a great number of machines. Monoculture. *nix is fragmented, and hence more difficult to attack.
-- Robert
Of course scanning the entire kernel is unlikely.
But I rather think a trojan/virus maker is unlikely to leave his source lying around.
It is too easily traced. So you're probably
quite safe compile unscanned source.
-- Robert
Of course viruses exist for Linux. Except they're called Trojans, and there are relatively easy ways to keep them out: check source, compile source especially for anything suid root. Or trust your distro.
Viruses/trojans are much less of a problim in *nix simply because most running should be done from unpriviliged users accounts. That greatly confines the damage possible. Unfortunately, MS has yet to understand this concept.
-- Robert
If the students _host_ an ftp site with pirated software (warez), they'd be shut down pretty quickly. They might, or might not, get away with downloading warez ISOs.
But nothing legally stops them from downloading ISOs from open-source software, or even hosting an open-source mirror of those ISOs.
-- Robert
I can use up an aweful lot of bandwidth downloading Linux/*BSD isos to burn. Similarly, a big grab of JPEGs or other big files will eat bandwidth. Do the Universities want to stop this too? Maybe any graphics-intensive website should be blocked.
Or is bandwidth the scapegoat, and they are really worried about the RIAA and copyright issues?
In modern life, computers are _everywhere_. Even a digital watch has a 4bit computer, probably more powerful than an IBM 1130.
Telephones, TVs, elevators, cars, ATMs, POS, VCRs, CD players and the list goes on. Even fastfood joints use computerised cooking equipment. Oddly, an old reel-to-reel tape recorder has no computer, so Kevin could use one to reprogram credit card magnetic strips. So maybe he shouldn't use credit cards either. If he could even get one.
Now the Judge probably didn't mean to prohibit these devices, or even know that they could be considered computers. But Parole Officers have a bad reputation for capriciousness, especially with high-profile parolees they want to take down a peg-or-two. So Kevin will have to watch is back, perhaps worse than in prison.
-- Robert
OK, no need to prove his point! :)
What I find interesting is the turn of phrase "it's just too hostile." It seems like the engineer always expects people to be nice.
Why does s/he have that expectation? Is he just using it as an excuse for his techno-ignorance? Has he swallowed mass media images whole? Why would he think people will be polite? Does he never get angry?
Note that he didn't say "it's not polite [friendly] enough."
-- Robert
Yes, ./ is asymptotically tending towards USENET. That's why I used the term. And I really don't find it difficult to stomache at all.
It boils down to expectations. I do not expect to find information quickly, in nice summaries on USENET or anywhere else on- or off- the web. I'm looking for raw data, and I know I'll have to sort out alot of chaff to get the wheat. I don't particularly like the chaff, but I _don't_ resent it. Better some chaff than no wheat. So I tolerate abysmal S/N (USENET has improved over the past couple of years, at least in some places).
Put it this way: I was trained in research with card catalogs, abstract indicies, and ordering articles. The `net is a _whole_ lot better!
-- Robert
I'm getting tired with people complaining that things aren't they way they want them, so everyone else should change.
...
Yes, there is plenty of rudeness and flamefests online. Yes, most people find it unpleasant. And yes, it will deter people who don't think the information is worth sifting through the unpleasantness.
But others (the disparaged young white males) find the information very valuable, worth the sifting. And they may be less sensitive to unpleasantness as their wives have been trying to "fix" for years.
So USENET survives in spite of flamefests, trolls, and many other ills like spam, clueless posters who don't check DejaNews, and incorrect answers. When in Rome
I'm frankly disappointed that people who pretend to be diversity- and culture-conscious don't respect the USENET culture, and try to meddle with it.
-- Robert
Most interesting. I stand corrected. But don't defendants/respondants have choice of language?
-- Robert
Interesting. But I'd bet that whomever got the code from the errant employee wouldn't have ANY licence to use/distribute it, especially not the mods. They'd be in the position of receiving stolen goods. GPL warez :)
NSA wouldn't be giving out any licences, even though if they did, it would have to abide by GPL. But they aren't compelled to licence it at all, and so wouldn't. So nobody could distribute it legally.
-- Robert
"The club cannot (under GPL) restrict anyone from doing so."
Not quite. NSA employees are bound by secrecy laws and most certainly will be prosecuted for revealing secrets. Modified Linux would be one of them.
Outside the govt/military sphere, employees can be sued for disclosing their employers secrets. Unless the company authorizes publication, it can fire and sue people.
-- Robert
Yes, it's quite likely the NSA is _behind_ the curve here, and wants to use Linux to catch up.
There is a cost for protection and worry. So it is very possible to be over secure. I doubt the NSA understands this. They didn't 10-15 years ago with the Soviet Union.
-- Robert
IANAL but yes, contractors working on GPL have to release source code, but only to those to whom they've sent binaries. And they can't encumber the NSA from further copying/publishing it. But NSA might not want to.
But nothing in the GPL says the contractor has to release it to anyone else. The GPL is privacy-friendly: no-one is obligated to publish modifications. But once they are published, source must accompany it, and copying cannot be restricted.
-- Robert
Good for the NSA. I'd much rather see them try to hide any backdoors in open, human readable source than inside unfathomable MS-Windows. Or do they plan on having some "binary only" bits?
Perhaps the NSA realizes that making US computers more secure is better than trying to weaken everybody to help their spying.
-- Robert
Others have touched on important issues, and I will add some: Quebec doesn't use common law, it uses civil code (moreso than Louisiana). Furthermore, it has restrictive (and highly controversial) language laws. I'm surprised the letter was in english. Must be from Toronto lawyers.
IANAL, but I don't see why the "Cease and Desist" letter shouldn't be ignored completely. It's written in english to an obviously french-language site. I don't believe anyone in quebec is legally presumed to be able to read english unless they have given indications they can.
Beyond the protection offered parody (and it is obviously such), the fact that Yahoo doesn't have a Quebec site (it does have a section for french language in
If this went to court, it would probably have to be in Quebec civil court. There civil code applies, the chief difference being the judge is not bound by precedents. AFAIK, defendants have choice of language anywhere in Canada, and certainly in Quebec. I doubt an action would succeed and better[worse], Yahoo could well be ordered to pay the defandants legal costs.
-- Robert
For a polar landing, all approach vectors repeat every Martian day, ie 24.6 hours. So you have to time your orbital insertion inside that period to give the desired vector. No big delays, or massive fuel increase.
I don't think I know better than NASA, but I would like that proven! They have made an unadvertised gamble with my money, and need to account for it.
-- Robert
Certainly there are risks/imponderables/luck. But these really should be discussed frankly to avoid disappointments. Had NASA said: "It's going to be hell to land there", no-one would have been surprised when it was lost. OTOH, it might never have been launched. Either would have been better than the blackeye NASA received.
I'm concerned that the mission planners may have neglected to consider approach route, preferring to minimize fuel. I'd like to know if this is a case of "penny wise & pound foolish".
-- Robert
Finally, a reasonable explanation. But it begs the question: Why would anyone chose a trajectory with serious hazards (mountains/canyons) on it? Did they not have good maps, or wasn't there a better approach route?
With spaceshots or other artillery, you can control direction much better than distance. Thrusters keep direction true, but how are you going to adjust re-entry when the atmosphere is more/less dense/windy than expected? So you've got to expect some short- or long-fall.
-- Robert
Realtime Y2K was fine. And that should have been expected, since most realtime systems aren't very date-dependant. Furthermore, many are layered with fall-through defaults.
But the real worry about Y2K has always been those legacy COBOL batch processing systems. There may still be some erronious statements sent out in the mail over the next months that will take wrangling with customer service to straighten out. Nothing life threatening, but a pain nonetheless, and perhaps aggravated by "we didn't have any Y2K problems."
-- Robert
Why do you assume that I do not read articles? That isn't very charitable. Read it I have. Agree with it I do not. :)
Magnetism and electricity are inseparable. You cannot manipulate one without changing the other. More to the point, electrical noise begets magnetic noise. Or put it is way, if they can separate electricity and magnetism, it's Nobel-prize winning, almost Unified Field Theory stuff. I'm highly suspicious.
Now, they may want to use the runner (steel support cable on mid-voltage lines) to carry signal to rural areas. If it isn't grounded, that may work at 1 Mbps but will have lots of induced noise from electrical transients. 10baseT ethernet will reputedly run over barbed wire!
-- Robert
It sounds wonderful until you start thinking about it. Communications all boils down to signal-to-noise ratio. The 60 Hz (50 Hz in Europe) power wave is no problem, but what about all the switching noise, corona discharge, insulation arcing, etc? Then you have to get past [around] transformers.
Also, over long transmission lines signal tends to get spread out (smeared) as the velocity-of-propagation varies. AFAIK, Power lines were not designed with any consideration of Vp.
Patents do NOT impress me.
-- Robert