Let's see, using atomic physics to determine the best place to open a bakery...
Look, if it's a bakery, and makes donuts, cakes, fudge bars, (the kind with walnuts inside, and sugar on the bottom), then there is absolutely no need to use "physics" to determine where to put the store!
Put it anywhere there is a road! Make sure the sign outside says "Bakery". It's going to be a huge success from the very first day!
Don't even need to sell coffee there. Had that already. Just provide friendly staff to stuff our bakery items in a nice paper bag, with paper napkins. Take our money, and be able to say, "Hey, you forgot your change!" as we bolt out the door, eager to devourer our goodies.
Then, as "icing on the cake" as it were, make it "two-for-one" after 11:00AM.
You get two giant cinnamon buns for a dollar!
They are anxious to get rid of them, so they can make more tomorrow!
I figured something like this would come along, and that's why I provide three web browsers in my Knoppix remaster, (see screenshots below). Right now, I am using it with Opera 9.02, but also have Flock and Firefox in the CD. They are keeping me busy updating these browsers, I cannot use the automatic update setup that Firefox uses on Windows machines, mine is a livecd setup. Having said that, I don't see how my machine can be trojaned. This is knoppix, after all. I do have Firefox protected somewhat with the Guarddog Firewall and the NoScript extension, that keeps the user busy clicking on the icon and allowing sites when something does not work on the website. I do use a "knoppix.img" so the system is running a persistent home directory, working somewhat like a hard drive, so the NoScript setting are remembered from session to session. I use MSDOS batch files and a menu to boot the system using the "knoppix.img" or go without it today. Turn the box on, and up comes the menu. My default window manager is IceWM, which provides in the toolbar a visual indicator of cpu and internet connection activity. If my bandwidth were being drained, I would notice it. Anyway, with three browsers, as the winds blow hot and cold on any particular browser, my users can easily use another one. For any of the browsers, nothing is preloaded into/ramdisk for any browser, unless the user starts it up. I like Opera, but I wish they would get busy and spread the icons across the entire toolbar, and not crowd them over on the left. The days of the advertisement area are gone for Opera, and probably won't be back. A livecd setup like mine gives new life to Windows 98 machines, this one I'm on now is a 200 MMX, and it's fine.
I saw something about the rfid tags that Wal-Mart wants added to every case, and each pallet:
These little things can record the temperature and humidity that the case or pallet experienced.
That alone will help Wal-Mart keep quality up, as the rfid scanners will reveal pallets or cases exposed to extremes, outside of guidelines.
I like Wal-Mart, and am sorry to see negative stories coming to light about them. I do save on groceries when I go to Wal-Mart, and get fresher items also.
Somebody has to do the distribution, not everyone can chase down their own cow and milk it. For those who can't, there's Wal-Mart, with milk in gallon jugs at a reasonable price.
I know what I am talking about, I remember Windows 3.1 preinstalled on computers at Office Depot!
At least 20 boxen up and running, with excited patrons playing with Paint, and Solitare, and wondering why Notepad did not have more "word processor" features. I did it, I spray painted with Paint, and never figured out how to print text in Paint.
(yes, I did later, my logo.16 for my knoppix remaster was made with Paint.)
Wait, I'm not through! "Dummies" books are for people that have already wrestled with the technical problem, and now have a few bucks to spend at the bookstore, and these "Dummies" books are just the ticket!
No one needs a "Dummies" book ahead of time! Especially one about an OS that they cannot get their hands on to work the examples in the book, and hence gain an understanding the the thing, in that special way that Dummies books do so well.
I clicked on the Amazon link above, and look, they have 49 new and _used_ copies for sale beginning at $5.34.
Apparently some of the purchasers of the book found out the hard way that:
There is no OS
It's not preinstalled on computers.
(Rapidweather is seen looking through his wallet, pockets and change bowl:)
(lemme see, do I have a spare $5.34 here somewhere?)
He has the vision to know just what is needed to get away from the current energy sources, and also has the proven ability to raise money for good causes like this, and to pick suitable managers for the money funds.
I'm sure something will come of this, Mr. Clinton himself is not doing the research, but those who will be will have grants, jobs and places to work.
Just as Ford Motor Company managed to move from the Model T to the Model A, and is was hard, every part in the Model A was new, many workers were replaced and new ones hired.
The lessons learned helped Ford change over to wartime production when WWII came along.
I'm sure the current auto industry will be up to the task of providing cars and trucks that can run on any new replacement fuel.
As for the people at the "Gas Station" being unemployed when gasoline falls out of favor: One of the strangest things I have witnessed over the past 50 years or so is the change from a gas station where an attendant pumped your gas, to stations that have you do that yourself. Totally ignoring the fact that gasoline is dangerous, and that every person is instantly qualified to pump his/her own gasoline. Now that gasoline prices have gone to $3.00 a gallon and beyond, no gas station allows customers to pump gas without paying in advance. So the clerks in the store do see the customers, anyway, even though it is a brief visit, from someone who says "$30.00 on pump number 8". The credit card customers are not seen at all, if the card reader at the pump is working correctly. Often, the roll of paper used to print a receipt at the pump is out, with no automatic way of notifying the clerks inside the store. Ditto for the windshield washer setup, out of water for weeks, perhaps. Trash bins near the pumps full to overflowing, and dirty to boot. So, the clerks sell cigarettes, candy bars, and beer. Two of which are dangerous around fueling motor vehicles. Let is not forget the pumps that "won't shut off". I have had that happen a few times, and when mentioned to the store clerks, they get a faraway look in their eyes and they mumble something.
So Gas Stations no longer fix flats, or do oil changes.
I for one will not shed a tear for those lost jobs.
I am trying it now using Mozilla Firefox version 2.0b2 running in my knoppix remaster (see screenshots, below).
Here is my brief description for those who have not tried it: The extension shows a bar at the bottom of the browser when one goes to a website, showing the status of the blocker. Then, if it is something like etrade.com, and you want to work with it, you can easily allow it. One can close the bar when on a page, and the NoScript icon remains at the bottom right of the browser window. If you click on it and then "options", you get a nice options dialog that shows the current sites you have worked with. The "S" icon is covered with a red "blocking" cross if the page's scripts have been blocked, at least partially.
It does keep you busy controlling those incoming scripts, especially if a page does not render correctly, and you feel safe in allowing the page's scripts into your system. lots of fun working with it, but this is a serious subject, controlling access to your computer.
...my new laptop still dies after an hour and a half.
Also, there is the replacement cost of a laptop battery, they fail after a few years of use. By that time, the new laptops have increased in power and performance, so I tend to want to weigh the cost of a new battery vs just getting a new laptop. New battery, delivered, perhaps less than 15-20% of the cost of a new laptop, but consider this:
Toshiba T1910CS, 4 MB of RAM, DOS/Windows 3.1, lots of handy Toshiba utilities, such as Windows 3.1 or DOS floppy disk creator, so you can give everyone a set of DOS or Windows 3.1 installer floppies. Upgraded everything, so it has Internet Explorer and can dial up using the PCMCIA modem, and surf the web. Windows 3.1 did not do that unless upgraded (a lot). Cost $999.00, memory upgrade 16MB, total 20 MB, $350.00. Screen now almost gone, very dim, and battery is dead. Will run, and you can see the display if you turn off all the room lights. I can run Arachne on it, and some have installed linux, the link above shows that.
Toshiba 4015CDS, 32 MB RAM standard, upgrade to 160 MB about $50.00 (friend couldn't use the stick). Windows 98, 4 GB hard drive. Will run my livecd linux (see screenshots, below) directly from the hard drive, using loadlin and some menu batch files, completely freeing the CDROM Drive. Battery is dead. New one probably over $120.00 delivered. Laptop when new was (gasp) $2100.00. I buried the receipt in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years (just kidding).
One advantage to the 4015CDS is that it can run linux which is easier on the hard drive (and the battery), than Windows 98, now an unsupported OS. PCMCIA modem gives good dial-up performance, usually 48000 bps or higher. Does 800x600x24, display still works good. Still, considering the cost of the battery, a new laptop might be worth it. Windows XP would be nice to run for music and photo's , but I would not really want to let it out onto the internet. To do that, I'll use my livecd linux, especially when doing online banking and bill paying. I can easily download songs while booted into linux and place them in the XP filesystem, reboot and play them there. I think one can download the Windows Update patches (according to Kyle Rankin) using linux, and then reboot and apply them.
So, new battery technology is long awaited, especially for all kinds of mobile devices, laptops, etc.
I have to cringe when someone wants to go back to Windows...
Do you really want to do online banking using Windows?
We're trying to make linux easy-to-use for the ordinary person that mainly wants to surf the web. Today that means making on-line purchases, and next up is visiting your credit card website, make a payment, or go to your bank's website, and see if those checks cleared.
I have a lot of people tell me they are happy doing that with OSX, they can afford Apple machines and they are easy to use. Still a hard drive installation, however.
I tried Ubuntu, did not like it for a couple of reasons. 1. Would not run on older PC's, and 2. Asks too many questions at bootup.
I have a livecd linux, see the screenshots in signature, below. Having had my say about security, I went out on a limb and put Mozilla Firefox 2.0b2 in the CD yesterday, mainly because they finally fixed the tab close (X) so it's on the tab and not down on the right end. Opera has gotten this right for a while now, Firefox needed to do that, almost all websites look correct in Firefox, not all in Opera 9. (a shame).
What follows, however is not for the average user, but does result in a neat setup for a secure livecd linux:
I get around the need to enter "knoppix cheatcodes" at bootup by using loadlin and a MSDOS batch file with all the necessary cheatcodes for a particular box provided in the loadlin command line. So, I don't run it as a livecd on any particular box that I will be using all the time, I copy the/knoppix folder to a hard drive partition and go from there with the msdos menu/loadlin setup. The menu runs off Windows 98 dos, and gives lots of choices, such as booting into KDE, or Fluxbox and others. I default to IceWM, and pick up a restoration tarball so things like Thunderbird mail settings, dial-up settings are ready to go with no cheatcode to enter by hand. One machine does not have a CDROM drive, so using the CD (livecd) is not an option. Used a "backpack" cdrom drive to get that set up.
None of that is "part of the CD", it has to be custom-configured using files on a floppy, and using the CD to get some of the required components. If one has a CDROM drive, however, using the livecd is easiest and gives immediate results, all the other procedures are on the to-do list for someone booting up the machine every day.
I do target older Windows 98 machines, however, for my livecd linux. 128 MB of RAM is fine, processor speed 266 mhz will do nicely. I run on a 200 MMX every day, plenty fast enough to handle Firefox 2.0b2. The 2.4 kernel does the trick, I'm based on Knoppix 3.4.
Imagine my suprise when I could not connect to usatoday.com via my dial-up ISP GulfPines. Then I tried my Comcast cable modem connection and usatoday.com was there, and perfect. I more or less figured out that the DNS Gulfpines uses did not have usatoday.com, so I got on the phone and called them, told them what I thought was wrong. They fixed it right away, and then called me back to see if I could get usatoday.com via their service. I did not have the actual IP address of usatoday.com, so could not just enter that in the browser address, and get the page. No idea how that happened, but usually I see 130 to 150 user IP addresses on my local GulfPines dial up server, so apparently no one else had a clue as to what might be wrong, and what to tell them when calling. (right now, I am connection number 150, once a few years ago, I got connection number 1.)
Here we have yet another company who's big bosses have gone to the dogs. No suprise, the success of HP depends on those who design and build the products, and market them. The people in the boardroom, that have not resigned, probably don't do any of that. Is it possible for the stockholders to get rid of them?
If not, then HP is screwed.
Imagine the effort required by those HP employees that actually make the company run, and do the work, in the face of having to deal with an embarrassing board like that.
I'll buy another HP if I can afford it. I'll do it for those employees that could use our support about now.
I never had a HP product I didn't like. -- Rapidweather
It is hard to somehow disregard the cost factor when determining the worth of what you are using.
I almost think our brains are hard-wired to think that we "get what we pay for". Perhaps the roots of this idea is that the vendor/seller, creator, etc. really put a lot into the product, and fair is fair, charge what it is worth. So, some of the free products are just as good, because they tell you the creator of the software is on a mission, having been wronged sometime in the foggy, distant past, and is not going to charge for it, lest the poor (who need it the most) be left out. Yes, the poor need it the most, because they cannot be going out and buying a new PC with the same frequency as the rich when their's becomes infected, slows down, locks up, or is not the latest and greatest. Microsoft has put a lot into Vista. I hear today that a ton of beta testers have worked with the OS, and the bug report input to the developers must be tremendous. Microsoft will get a lot of money for each copy of Vista, and that copy will only run on one box, just like XP, apparently. Don't they have a deal where you can call them and have it run on one more, for a fee? Or something like that. Certainly not like any of the linux distros. It will be hard to find real fault with Vista, as it is with XP, since we did pay for it, rather than get it for free. The "you get what you pay for" idea will win in the end.
The main point with any Windows computer is that Microsoft and the hardware makers get together to make sure everything works, and that the machine boots up to a desktop just by turning it on, no questions asked. Sure, XP asks which user account you want, but that's it.
Too bad that XP and now Vista will be targets for worms, trojans, viruses, perhaps like never before. Only time will tell. I still won't go onto the internet to do online purchases with XP, and cringe when I see others do that, and online banking also. Strangely, when I ask "more affluent" computer users about that, they increasingly reply, "I have a Mac". That usually blows a hole in my attempt to get them to try linux. Number one, they have spent a lot on a Mac, and number two, my livecd linux (see screenshots) won't run on a Mac.
Thank goodness for loadlin.exe, I'm getting good a setting up my livecd linux to run from a MSDOS menu via Windows autoexec.bat, with no CD in the tray, and very little hdd activity compared to running '98 itself on a box. Getting into linux before '98 presents the "microsoft sound" and subsequent desktop, keeps the sound card open for the linux driver.
So, we keep trying, even in the face of the impending Vista launch, the day when no one will want to hear about a secure linux system.
Of course the Walt Disney World Monorail System is not pilotless, but can be a thrill to ride on. Late at night, when the Park is closing down, visitors are shuttled back to their parking lots to go to their cars and go home. Aware that everyone wants to go home now, the Pilots really punch the throttle on the monorails to get that accomplished.
Hang on to your hat! They'll show you what these babies can really do!
Everyone here knows there are alternatives to running Windows on PC's.
I use my livecd linux (screenshots below), and lately I have been installing the system on machines allowing booting without a CD, or a boot: prompt, using MSDOS batch files.
I keep Windows 98 on the boxes, sometimes formatting and doing a clean install, but without any internet connection applications (won't be needed, will be going onto the internet using Linux).
Not really necessary to partition the drive for a swap partition, when knoppix boots, it allows creation of a swap folder on hda1. I have it set for >= 128 MB RAM (minimum).
My blog is here, lately I have been rambling along about this topic.
Some machines can have Windows desktop icons for linux, or the msdos menu. The one I am on now can boot linux into KDE, IceWM, Fluxbox or TWM, all custom configured and set up with Guarddog firewall. The user gets a choice either from the MSDOS menu, or from Windows 98 desktop icons.
Today I have set up a Toshiba 4015CDS laptop to run the livecd linux "off the hard drive", and on that one, there is a simple menu batch file that's run by autoexec.bat, allowing a choice between Linux and Windows. Very nice, using vga=788 in the loadlin command line to get framebuffer 800x600 for the linux desktop.
I got off on this track because some users objected to having to enter a knoppix cheatcode at the boot prompt, and to having to use a CD in the drive to run the system. I don't blame them, they might have to enter something like this each time the system is booted:
boot: fb800x600 knoppix acpi=off myconfig=scan
Some are a lot worse than that.
Those cheatcodes are now contained in the linux.bat that runs loadlin.exe, and the rest of the command line. (command.com limited to 128 characters/spaces)
In some cases, linux boots up to a desktop faster than Windows.
Then they get Mozilla Firefox, Flock or Opera to surf with.
My 150+ KB "Getting Started Guide" is here, does not have anything in it yet about these hard drive "installations". I am thinking about packaging up everything needed, instructions, etc. in the CD. May even write an installer script, to make it automatic. None of this works on XP boxes, but is intended to salvage '98 boxes and have them run Linux.
--Rapidweather
I love it when I don't have to do anything to become a member of a group that is doing something like "boycotting Vista".
I can't afford a new PC with that on it when they do come out.
So, I can say I am boycotting, too.
And, I have no idea when my local Office Depot will have HP computers with Vista on them to look at and wish I could somehow get away with buying one.
My source of PC's now are older Windows computers that were discarded when XP came out.
Not thrown out in the trash, mind you, but lovingly gathered up, all the software, manuals and cables, and brought to me by people that can say, "He'll have a good time with this computer". They hate to throw one out that cost them big bucks when new. Some were $2400, some $3000.
"Just think what he will be able to do with it", they say, as they enjoy the "out of box experience" with their new Windows XP computer.
And I do appreciate each and every one.
See the screenshots below to see what one of these boxes could do.
Dual 200 MMX, had Windows 98 on it, wouldn't stay connected to the internet, so I wound up with it.
XP seems so good, really, that so far, I have not had one of these left on my doorstep.
I wonder how long those computer tapes will remain in a "salvagable" condition?
Were they in containers of some sort that may or may not have been cracked open while near the surface of the landfill?
What kind of volume do we have at this landfill, arriving daily. Not much, it was a holiday. Quite a lot, we get 40 trucks per hour here.
Were employees of the landfill, namely garbage pickup drivers, dozer drivers, interviewed to see if they "remember" seeing some sort of container that resembles "this one" (pictures are shown to the dozer drivers and others).
And if any such employee does remember seeing something like that, _where_ in the landfill. Point it out and get a reward if it pans out.
Just how long ago were the computer tapes supposed to have "arrived" at the landfill? Two days ago? A month ago? It might matter in determining how deep the tapes might be below the current surface of the landfill. If too deep, then they cannot be found, and probably won't lead to a leak of the information stored on them. Give us a guess, 15 feet down...28 feet down...What, only 3 feet down?
Is the public allowed to enter the landfill and "hunt for goodies" like they do in South America, where we see images on the news of children looking for food, clothes and shoes in landfills?
Some details need to be presented, so the public can assess the potential for their private information being disclosed.
Also sounds like something that could be "rounded off" by joe sixpack, to say that Vista will "stop up the internet" for the rest of us. Not everyone will go out and buy a machine with Vista on it. The rich already have Mac's, and the poor have old boxen with an easily-infected OS on it. Now we have this "stop up the internet" thing. Any joe sixpacks reading this, nevermind, Oh look, there's a Beer Truck that just overturned on the interstate, and the cops are begging for help in somehow preventing an environmental disaster by carting off all the dented cans of beer.
OK, now that I have said that, and are being watched by Microsoft, I want my free copy of Vista sent to me as soon as it's released, in it's final form. Oh yes, put that in a new computer, so Microsoft gets by cheap rewarding me by just having to pay for a OEM install.
I have hunted all over the place in this thread, can't seem to shake the GWB comments.
All I wanted to say was that "in support of the dude that quit on the spot after having started the HP PC business in the '60's, I am not going to play with my HP Pavilion 6330 tonight, in protest of the spying going on at HP."
But, to show that I really don't mean that, I still favor HP over eMachines.
There are good points and bad points for every operating system. You have to expect that, and do what you can with what you have. I use Windows, MS-DOS, but I mainly use Linux. (see screenshots). I have an Apple Quadra 660 AV, and enjoyed working with it, until the battery went dead. I would like to have a modern Apple system, but I suppose I would soon tire of it if I couldn't hack on the OS. There are Apple camps, Windows camps, and Linux camps. Well, a lot of us sit on the fence, but mainly have our feet on the Linux side, because we can hack it. I doubt we would have all these cheap, powerful computers to play with if there were no Microsoft. And, for every Microsoft, there has to be an Apple.
I believe that installation is one of Linux's biggest stumbling blocks to larger adaption. I run XP on a Dell P4 HT with a gig-o-ram. XP takes longer to get to a useable desktop than my livecd linux on the same box. And, once the knoppix cheatcode you want to use is entered, no further questions are asked by the system, and your desktop is soon ready. I also can beat the time XP takes on the Dell, on a 200 MMX with 256 MB of RAM. All I enter is:
knoppix fromhd=/dev/hdd7 myconfig=scan
I do have the CD "installed" in hdd7, a 7200 rpm 160 GB hard drive. That is done only one time, and that's it. Takes only a few extra minutes. You do nothing but watch, or go fix a cup of coffee. Once you are up and running, the system does not write to it, like a real linux hard drive installation, such as RHL 9. I would imagine that eventually, a lot more people will be using a "livecd linux", when security problems overwhelm Windows.
I have an unusual approach to security in a livecd linux, running web browsers. (I put three in the CD, Firefox, Opera and Flock.) Check out my Getting Started Guide for details. This approach makes encryption unnecessary. And, yes, I do have the Guarddog Firewall, preconfigured, started automatically during bootup.
The thing that's key about computer graphs is that you can vary the parameters and see the results immediately.
The first time I was able to try that out was on an ADAM computer.
I didn't think it was slow at the time. I had one financial problem that I had ADAM work on, and expected it to take almost all night, so I had it ring the bell when done. I went to bed, and 10 minutes later, it went "ding", and was done with the calculations.
I don't mean to imply that it could draw graphs, but it could give you lots of points in a calculation that could be used in a graph. I usually printed the results out to the screen, so I could see what was going on at any time. The ADAM printer was not fast enough to keep up with that if you had to have a printed copy. You wouldn't want one anyway, too many points (perhaps 10's of thousands) in these calculations. You could do all sorts of stuff, finance, geometric shapes calculations, tables of all sorts. Have the program show you the result when it finished. Start it over with another input variable.
Never got tired of entering various variables and seeing the results. The ADAM was a real computer in that sense.
When I first looked over the title story, I thought "why not use a livecd linux with a usb key for personal settings, etc." I have one, see the screenshots link below. It depends on what the user has to do with his/her workstation. I have set up my knoppix remaster to do very specific things, mainly surf the internet, get email, and edit web pages and upload them. I have GIMP in there. But, other applications can be placed in the CD, as I have a fully automatic remastering script, that will prepare an.iso after everything is placed in the master filesystem to suit everyone. Also, I have a fully automatic "master copy" script, that will set up a "master" of the existing CD in a hard drive partition that you select, ready to work on, and receive new additions. You can chroot into the filesystem, but you don't have to in many cases just to add applications. I update Mozilla Firefox all the time without chrooting. This involves the use of EmelFM, the file manager, and of course one can write new scripts to go in there with SciTE. I do that all the time. With Knoppix, and a Knoppix remaster such as mine, one can set up a "persistent home directory" on a USB memory stick, but it is easier to just use a restoration tarball, on the stick, to get the portability desired. My remaster is based on Knoppix 3.4, and will run very well on 400 mhz machines with only 128 mb of ram. An example of that is my HP Pavilion 6330, that been fitted with a 400 mhz AMD K6-2 processor.
With anything like this, it is best to keep it simple, to keep costs of maintaining the system low. Once one gets everything in the CD, then lots of copies can be made, and the work can be done on a variety of machines.
I have a cat that may have evolved from a tiger of some sort. He certainly looks the part. Apparently no one has taken the time to research where domestic cats come from. I've always wondered how they could have evolved from something like the sabre toothed cat. Probably not, considering the smaller teeth that my cat has. Perhaps my cat evolved from another line of cats, here's a page with tons of info on that possibility.
I have not used Notepad since I started using various linux distros to do work on my websites. For a while, I used Gnotepad, then discovered SciTE, which I now include in Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux. No problems whatsoever with SciTE. I include Opera 9.01, build 400, and it is configured to show page source in SciTE. Provides super-fast editing of pages. Check the screenshots page in signature, below.
I do use Blogger, mine is here. Right off the bat I had problems with Blogger handling images, so I have to put them off-site if I want to show one. They do provide a reliable and reasonably easy-to-use service, however.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see, using atomic physics to determine the best place to open a bakery...
Look, if it's a bakery, and makes donuts, cakes, fudge bars, (the kind with walnuts inside, and sugar on the bottom), then there is absolutely no need to use "physics" to determine where to put the store!
Put it anywhere there is a road! Make sure the sign outside says "Bakery".
It's going to be a huge success from the very first day!
Don't even need to sell coffee there. Had that already. Just provide friendly staff to stuff our bakery items in a nice paper bag, with paper napkins. Take our money, and be able to say, "Hey, you forgot your change!" as we bolt out the door, eager to devourer our goodies.
Then, as "icing on the cake" as it were, make it "two-for-one" after 11:00AM.
You get two giant cinnamon buns for a dollar!
They are anxious to get rid of them, so they can make more tomorrow!
-- Rapidweather
I figured something like this would come along, and that's why I provide three web browsers in my Knoppix remaster, (see screenshots below). Right now, I am using it with Opera 9.02, but also have Flock and Firefox in the CD. They are keeping me busy updating these browsers, I cannot use the automatic update setup that Firefox uses on Windows machines, mine is a livecd setup. /ramdisk for any browser, unless the user starts it up. I like Opera, but I wish they would get busy and spread the icons across the entire toolbar, and not crowd them over on the left. The days of the advertisement area are gone for Opera, and probably won't be back.
Having said that, I don't see how my machine can be trojaned. This is knoppix, after all. I do have Firefox protected somewhat with the Guarddog Firewall and the NoScript extension, that keeps the user busy clicking on the icon and allowing sites when something does not work on the website. I do use a "knoppix.img" so the system is running a persistent home directory, working somewhat like a hard drive, so the NoScript setting are remembered from session to session. I use MSDOS batch files and a menu to boot the system using the "knoppix.img" or go without it today. Turn the box on, and up comes the menu.
My default window manager is IceWM, which provides in the toolbar a visual indicator of cpu and internet connection activity. If my bandwidth were being drained, I would notice it.
Anyway, with three browsers, as the winds blow hot and cold on any particular browser, my users can easily use another one. For any of the browsers, nothing is preloaded into
A livecd setup like mine gives new life to Windows 98 machines, this one I'm on now is a 200 MMX, and it's fine.
-- Rapidweather
These little things can record the temperature and humidity that the case or pallet experienced. That alone will help Wal-Mart keep quality up, as the rfid scanners will reveal pallets or cases exposed to extremes, outside of guidelines. I like Wal-Mart, and am sorry to see negative stories coming to light about them. I do save on groceries when I go to Wal-Mart, and get fresher items also.
Somebody has to do the distribution, not everyone can chase down their own cow and milk it. For those who can't, there's Wal-Mart, with milk in gallon jugs at a reasonable price.
Buttermilk, Chocolate Milk, Skim Milk, Fake Milk made from soybeans.
How can you go to bed at night without a nice glass of milk?
Don't forget the endless selection of Potato Chips, available at Wal-Mart, too!
Visited Office Depot last week, and near the checkout counter I saw a "Windows Vista for Dummies" book.
Maybe I was dreaming, but I swear it is true.
Look, there is no OS!
Not preinstalled on computers!
I know what I am talking about, I remember Windows 3.1 preinstalled on computers at Office Depot! At least 20 boxen up and running, with excited patrons playing with Paint, and Solitare, and wondering why Notepad did not have more "word processor" features. I did it, I spray painted with Paint, and never figured out how to print text in Paint.
(yes, I did later, my logo.16 for my knoppix remaster was made with Paint.)
Wait, I'm not through! "Dummies" books are for people that have already wrestled with the technical problem, and now have a few bucks to spend at the bookstore, and these "Dummies" books are just the ticket!
No one needs a "Dummies" book ahead of time! Especially one about an OS that they cannot get their hands on to work the examples in the book, and hence gain an understanding the the thing, in that special way that Dummies books do so well.
I clicked on the Amazon link above, and look, they have 49 new and _used_ copies for sale beginning at $5.34.
Apparently some of the purchasers of the book found out the hard way that:
- There is no OS
- It's not preinstalled on computers.
(Rapidweather is seen looking through his wallet, pockets and change bowl:)(lemme see, do I have a spare $5.34 here somewhere?)
--Rapidweather
I say "good for Bill Clinton".
He has the vision to know just what is needed to get away from the current energy sources, and also has the proven ability to raise money for good causes like this, and to pick suitable managers for the money funds.
I'm sure something will come of this, Mr. Clinton himself is not doing the research, but those who will be will have grants, jobs and places to work.
Just as Ford Motor Company managed to move from the Model T to the Model A, and is was hard, every part in the Model A was new, many workers were replaced and new ones hired.
The lessons learned helped Ford change over to wartime production when WWII came along.
I'm sure the current auto industry will be up to the task of providing cars and trucks that can run on any new replacement fuel.
As for the people at the "Gas Station" being unemployed when gasoline falls out of favor:
One of the strangest things I have witnessed over the past 50 years or so is the change from a
gas station where an attendant pumped your gas, to stations that have you do that yourself.
Totally ignoring the fact that gasoline is dangerous, and that every person is instantly qualified to pump his/her own gasoline.
Now that gasoline prices have gone to $3.00 a gallon and beyond, no gas station allows customers to pump gas without paying in advance. So the clerks in the store do see the customers, anyway, even though it is a brief visit, from someone who says "$30.00 on pump number 8". The credit card customers are not seen at all, if the card reader at the pump is working correctly.
Often, the roll of paper used to print a receipt at the pump is out, with no automatic way of notifying the clerks inside the store. Ditto for the windshield washer setup, out of water for weeks, perhaps.
Trash bins near the pumps full to overflowing, and dirty to boot.
So, the clerks sell cigarettes, candy bars, and beer. Two of which are dangerous around fueling motor vehicles.
Let is not forget the pumps that "won't shut off". I have had that happen a few times, and when mentioned to the store clerks, they get a faraway look in their eyes and they mumble something.
So Gas Stations no longer fix flats, or do oil changes.
I for one will not shed a tear for those lost jobs.
I am trying it now using Mozilla Firefox version 2.0b2 running in my knoppix remaster (see screenshots, below).
Here is my brief description for those who have not tried it:
The extension shows a bar at the bottom of the browser when one goes to a website, showing the status of the blocker. Then, if it is something like etrade.com, and you want to work with it, you can easily allow it. One can close the bar when on a page, and the NoScript icon remains at the bottom right of the browser window. If you click on it and then "options", you get a nice options dialog that shows the current sites you have worked with. The "S" icon is covered with a red "blocking" cross if the page's scripts have been blocked, at least partially.
It does keep you busy controlling those incoming scripts, especially if a page does not render correctly, and you feel safe in allowing the page's scripts into your system. lots of fun working with it, but this is a serious subject, controlling access to your computer.
--Rapidweather
Also, there is the replacement cost of a laptop battery, they fail after a few years of use. By that time, the new laptops have increased in power and performance, so I tend to want to weigh the cost of a new battery vs just getting a new laptop. New battery, delivered, perhaps less than 15-20% of the cost of a new laptop, but consider this:
Cost $999.00, memory upgrade 16MB, total 20 MB, $350.00.
Screen now almost gone, very dim, and battery is dead. Will run, and you can see the display if you turn off all the room lights. I can run Arachne on it, and some have installed linux, the link above shows that.
Windows 98, 4 GB hard drive. Will run my livecd linux (see screenshots, below) directly from the hard drive, using loadlin and some menu batch files, completely freeing the CDROM Drive. Battery is dead. New one probably over $120.00 delivered. Laptop when new was (gasp) $2100.00. I buried the receipt in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years (just kidding).
One advantage to the 4015CDS is that it can run linux which is easier on the hard drive (and the battery), than Windows 98, now an unsupported OS. PCMCIA modem gives good dial-up performance, usually 48000 bps or higher. Does 800x600x24, display still works good.
Still, considering the cost of the battery, a new laptop might be worth it. Windows XP would be nice to run for music and photo's , but I would not really want to let it out onto the internet. To do that, I'll use my livecd linux, especially when doing online banking and bill paying. I can easily download songs while booted into linux and place them in the XP filesystem, reboot and play them there. I think one can download the Windows Update patches (according to Kyle Rankin) using linux, and then reboot and apply them.
So, new battery technology is long awaited, especially for all kinds of mobile devices, laptops, etc.
I have to cringe when someone wants to go back to Windows...
/knoppix folder to a hard drive partition and go from there with the msdos menu/loadlin setup. The menu runs off Windows 98 dos, and gives lots of choices, such as booting into KDE, or Fluxbox and others. I default to IceWM, and pick up a restoration tarball so things like Thunderbird mail settings, dial-up settings are ready to go with no cheatcode to enter by hand. One machine does not have a CDROM drive, so using the CD (livecd) is not an option. Used a "backpack" cdrom drive to get that set up.
Do you really want to do online banking using Windows?
We're trying to make linux easy-to-use for the ordinary person that mainly wants to surf the web.
Today that means making on-line purchases, and next up is visiting your credit card website, make a payment, or go to your bank's website, and see if those checks cleared.
I have a lot of people tell me they are happy doing that with OSX, they can afford Apple machines and they are easy to use. Still a hard drive installation, however.
I tried Ubuntu, did not like it for a couple of reasons. 1. Would not run on older PC's, and 2. Asks too many questions at bootup.
I have a livecd linux, see the screenshots in signature, below. Having had my say about security, I went out on a limb and put Mozilla Firefox 2.0b2 in the CD yesterday, mainly because they finally fixed the tab close (X) so it's on the tab and not down on the right end. Opera has gotten this right for a while now, Firefox needed to do that, almost all websites look correct in Firefox, not all in Opera 9. (a shame).
What follows, however is not for the average user, but does result in a neat setup for a secure livecd linux:
I get around the need to enter "knoppix cheatcodes" at bootup by using loadlin and a MSDOS batch file with all the necessary cheatcodes for a particular box provided in the loadlin command line. So, I don't run it as a livecd on any particular box that I will be using all the time, I copy the
None of that is "part of the CD", it has to be custom-configured using files on a floppy, and using the CD to get some of the required components. If one has a CDROM drive, however, using the livecd is easiest and gives immediate results, all the other procedures are on the to-do list for someone booting up the machine every day.
I do target older Windows 98 machines, however, for my livecd linux. 128 MB of RAM is fine, processor speed 266 mhz will do nicely. I run on a 200 MMX every day, plenty fast enough to handle Firefox 2.0b2.
The 2.4 kernel does the trick, I'm based on Knoppix 3.4.
My blog is here, Getting Started Guide is here.
-- Rapidweather
Imagine my suprise when I could not connect to usatoday.com via my dial-up ISP GulfPines.
Then I tried my Comcast cable modem connection and usatoday.com was there, and perfect.
I more or less figured out that the DNS Gulfpines uses did not have usatoday.com, so I got on the phone and called them, told them what I thought was wrong. They fixed it right away, and then called me back to see if I could get usatoday.com via their service.
I did not have the actual IP address of usatoday.com, so could not just enter that in the browser address, and get the page.
No idea how that happened, but usually I see 130 to 150 user IP addresses on my local GulfPines dial up server, so apparently no one else had a clue as to what might be wrong, and what to tell them when calling.
(right now, I am connection number 150, once a few years ago, I got connection number 1.)
-- Rapidweather
No suprise, the success of HP depends on those who design and build the products, and market them.
The people in the boardroom, that have not resigned, probably don't do any of that.
Is it possible for the stockholders to get rid of them?
If not, then HP is screwed.
Imagine the effort required by those HP employees that actually make the company run, and do the work, in the face of having to deal with an embarrassing board like that.
I'll buy another HP if I can afford it.
I'll do it for those employees that could use our support about now.
I never had a HP product I didn't like.
-- Rapidweather
I almost think our brains are hard-wired to think that we "get what we pay for". Perhaps the roots of this idea is that the vendor/seller, creator, etc. really put a lot into the product, and fair is fair, charge what it is worth.
So, some of the free products are just as good, because they tell you the creator of the software is on a mission, having been wronged sometime in the foggy, distant past, and is not going to charge for it, lest the poor (who need it the most) be left out.
Yes, the poor need it the most, because they cannot be going out and buying a new PC with the same frequency as the rich when their's becomes infected, slows down, locks up, or is not the latest and greatest.
Microsoft has put a lot into Vista. I hear today that a ton of beta testers have worked with the OS, and the bug report input to the developers must be tremendous.
Microsoft will get a lot of money for each copy of Vista, and that copy will only run on one box, just like XP, apparently. Don't they have a deal where you can call them and have it run on one more, for a fee? Or something like that. Certainly not like any of the linux distros.
It will be hard to find real fault with Vista, as it is with XP, since we did pay for it, rather than get it for free. The "you get what you pay for" idea will win in the end.
The main point with any Windows computer is that Microsoft and the hardware makers get together to make sure everything works, and that the machine boots up to a desktop just by turning it on, no questions asked. Sure, XP asks which user account you want, but that's it.
Too bad that XP and now Vista will be targets for worms, trojans, viruses, perhaps like never before. Only time will tell.
I still won't go onto the internet to do online purchases with XP, and cringe when I see others do that, and online banking also.
Strangely, when I ask "more affluent" computer users about that, they increasingly reply, "I have a Mac". That usually blows a hole in my attempt to get them to try linux.
Number one, they have spent a lot on a Mac, and number two, my livecd linux (see screenshots) won't run on a Mac.
Thank goodness for loadlin.exe, I'm getting good a setting up my livecd linux to run from a MSDOS menu via Windows autoexec.bat, with no CD in the tray, and very little hdd activity compared to running '98 itself on a box. Getting into linux before '98 presents the "microsoft sound" and subsequent desktop, keeps the sound card open for the linux driver.
So, we keep trying, even in the face of the impending Vista launch, the day when no one will want to hear about a secure linux system.
--Rapidweather
Late at night, when the Park is closing down, visitors are shuttled back to their parking lots to go to their cars and go home.
Aware that everyone wants to go home now, the Pilots really punch the throttle on the monorails to get that accomplished.
Hang on to your hat! They'll show you what these babies can really do!
Great fun for everyone.
I use my livecd linux (screenshots below), and lately I have been installing the system on machines allowing booting without a CD, or a boot: prompt, using MSDOS batch files.
I keep Windows 98 on the boxes, sometimes formatting and doing a clean install, but without any internet connection applications (won't be needed, will be going onto the internet using Linux).
Not really necessary to partition the drive for a swap partition, when knoppix boots, it allows creation of a swap folder on hda1.
I have it set for >= 128 MB RAM (minimum).
My blog is here, lately I have been rambling along about this topic.
Some machines can have Windows desktop icons for linux, or the msdos menu. The one I am on now can boot linux into KDE, IceWM, Fluxbox or TWM, all custom configured and set up with Guarddog firewall. The user gets a choice either from the MSDOS menu, or from Windows 98 desktop icons.
Today I have set up a Toshiba 4015CDS laptop to run the livecd linux "off the hard drive", and on that one, there is a simple menu batch file that's run by autoexec.bat, allowing a choice between Linux and Windows. Very nice, using vga=788 in the loadlin command line to get framebuffer 800x600 for the linux desktop.
I got off on this track because some users objected to having to enter a knoppix cheatcode at the boot prompt, and to having to use a CD in the drive to run the system. I don't blame them, they might have to enter something like this each time the system is booted:
boot: fb800x600 knoppix acpi=off myconfig=scan
Some are a lot worse than that.
Those cheatcodes are now contained in the linux.bat that runs loadlin.exe, and the rest of the command line. (command.com limited to 128 characters/spaces)
In some cases, linux boots up to a desktop faster than Windows.
Then they get Mozilla Firefox, Flock or Opera to surf with.
My 150+ KB "Getting Started Guide" is here, does not have anything in it yet about these hard drive "installations". I am thinking about packaging up everything needed, instructions, etc. in the CD. May even write an installer script, to make it automatic. None of this works on XP boxes, but is intended to salvage '98 boxes and have them run Linux. --Rapidweather
Some of them had evolved into almost perfect killing machines.
Very scary, and a classic (no pun intended) to be sure.
I love it when I don't have to do anything to become a member of a group that is doing something like "boycotting Vista". I can't afford a new PC with that on it when they do come out. So, I can say I am boycotting, too. And, I have no idea when my local Office Depot will have HP computers with Vista on them to look at and wish I could somehow get away with buying one.
My source of PC's now are older Windows computers that were discarded when XP came out. Not thrown out in the trash, mind you, but lovingly gathered up, all the software, manuals and cables, and brought to me by people that can say, "He'll have a good time with this computer". They hate to throw one out that cost them big bucks when new. Some were $2400, some $3000. "Just think what he will be able to do with it", they say, as they enjoy the "out of box experience" with their new Windows XP computer. And I do appreciate each and every one.
See the screenshots below to see what one of these boxes could do.
Dual 200 MMX, had Windows 98 on it, wouldn't stay connected to the internet, so I wound up with it.
XP seems so good, really, that so far, I have not had one of these left on my doorstep.
I wonder how long those computer tapes will remain in a "salvagable" condition?
Were they in containers of some sort that may or may not have been cracked open while near the surface of the landfill?
What kind of volume do we have at this landfill, arriving daily. Not much, it was a holiday. Quite a lot, we get 40 trucks per hour here.
Were employees of the landfill, namely garbage pickup drivers, dozer drivers, interviewed to see if they "remember" seeing some sort of container that resembles "this one" (pictures are shown to the dozer drivers and others).
And if any such employee does remember seeing something like that, _where_ in the landfill. Point it out and get a reward if it pans out.
Just how long ago were the computer tapes supposed to have "arrived" at the landfill?
Two days ago? A month ago? It might matter in determining how deep the tapes might be below the current surface of the landfill. If too deep, then they cannot be found, and probably won't lead to a leak of the information stored on them. Give us a guess, 15 feet down...28 feet down...What, only 3 feet down?
Is the public allowed to enter the landfill and "hunt for goodies" like they do in South America, where we see images on the news of children looking for food, clothes and shoes in landfills?
Some details need to be presented, so the public can assess the potential for their private information being disclosed.
This is ridiculous too:
Also sounds like something that could be "rounded off" by joe sixpack, to say that Vista will "stop up the internet" for the rest of us. Not everyone will go out and buy a machine with Vista on it. The rich already have Mac's, and the poor have old boxen with an easily-infected OS on it. Now we have this "stop up the internet" thing.
Any joe sixpacks reading this, nevermind, Oh look, there's a Beer Truck that just overturned on the interstate, and the cops are begging for help in somehow preventing an environmental disaster by carting off all the dented cans of beer.
OK, now that I have said that, and are being watched by Microsoft, I want my free copy of Vista sent to me as soon as it's released, in it's final form.
Oh yes, put that in a new computer, so Microsoft gets by cheap rewarding me by just having to pay for a OEM install.
--Rapidweather
I have hunted all over the place in this thread, can't seem to shake the GWB comments.
All I wanted to say was that "in support of the dude that quit on the spot after having started the HP PC business in the '60's, I am not going to play with my HP Pavilion 6330 tonight, in protest of the spying going on at HP."
But, to show that I really don't mean that, I still favor HP over eMachines.
-- Rapidweather
Glad I don't have a soundcard or microphone on this box.
I don't believe Google would try something like that outside of their own labs.
Google does not need something like the AOL surfing-info leak anyway.
-- Rapidweather
There are good points and bad points for every operating system.
You have to expect that, and do what you can with what you have. I use Windows, MS-DOS, but I mainly use Linux. (see screenshots). I have an Apple Quadra 660 AV, and enjoyed working with it, until the battery went dead. I would like to have a modern Apple system, but I suppose I would soon tire of it if I couldn't hack on the OS.
There are Apple camps, Windows camps, and Linux camps. Well, a lot of us sit on the fence, but mainly have our feet on the Linux side, because we can hack it. I doubt we would have all these cheap, powerful computers to play with if there were no Microsoft. And, for every Microsoft, there has to be an Apple.
--Rapidweather
I run XP on a Dell P4 HT with a gig-o-ram.
XP takes longer to get to a useable desktop than my livecd linux on the same box.
And, once the knoppix cheatcode you want to use is entered, no further questions are asked by the system, and your desktop is soon ready.
I also can beat the time XP takes on the Dell, on a 200 MMX with 256 MB of RAM.
All I enter is:
knoppix fromhd=/dev/hdd7 myconfig=scan
I do have the CD "installed" in hdd7, a 7200 rpm 160 GB hard drive.
That is done only one time, and that's it. Takes only a few extra minutes. You do nothing but watch, or go fix a cup of coffee.
Once you are up and running, the system does not write to it, like a real linux hard drive installation, such as RHL 9.
I would imagine that eventually, a lot more people will be using a "livecd linux", when
security problems overwhelm Windows.
I have an unusual approach to security in a livecd linux, running web browsers.
(I put three in the CD, Firefox, Opera and Flock.)
Check out my Getting Started Guide for details. This approach makes encryption unnecessary.
And, yes, I do have the Guarddog Firewall, preconfigured, started automatically during bootup.
--Rapidweather
The first time I was able to try that out was on an ADAM computer.
I didn't think it was slow at the time. I had one financial problem that I had ADAM work on, and expected it to take almost all night, so I had it ring the bell when done.
I went to bed, and 10 minutes later, it went "ding", and was done with the calculations.
I don't mean to imply that it could draw graphs, but it could give you lots of points in a calculation that could be used in a graph. I usually printed the results out to the screen, so I could see what was going on at any time.
The ADAM printer was not fast enough to keep up with that if you had to have a printed copy.
You wouldn't want one anyway, too many points (perhaps 10's of thousands) in these calculations. You could do all sorts of stuff, finance, geometric shapes calculations, tables of all sorts. Have the program show you the result when it finished. Start it over with another input variable.
Never got tired of entering various variables and seeing the results.
The ADAM was a real computer in that sense.
--Rapidweather
When I first looked over the title story, I thought "why not use a livecd linux with a usb key for personal settings, etc." .iso after everything is placed in the master filesystem to suit everyone. Also, I have a fully automatic "master copy" script, that will set up a "master" of the existing CD in a hard drive partition that you select, ready to work on, and receive new additions. You can chroot into the filesystem, but you don't have to in many cases just to add applications. I update Mozilla Firefox all the time without chrooting. This involves the use of EmelFM, the file manager, and of course one can write new scripts to go in there with SciTE. I do that all the time.
I have one, see the screenshots link below.
It depends on what the user has to do with his/her workstation. I have set up my knoppix remaster to do very specific things, mainly surf the internet, get email, and edit web pages and upload them. I have GIMP in there. But, other applications can be placed in the CD, as I have a fully automatic remastering script, that will prepare an
With Knoppix, and a Knoppix remaster such as mine, one can set up a "persistent home directory" on a USB memory stick, but it is easier to just use a restoration tarball, on the stick, to get the portability desired.
My remaster is based on Knoppix 3.4, and will run very well on 400 mhz machines with only 128 mb of ram.
An example of that is my HP Pavilion 6330, that been fitted with a 400 mhz AMD K6-2 processor.
With anything like this, it is best to keep it simple, to keep costs of maintaining the system low.
Once one gets everything in the CD, then lots of copies can be made, and the work can be done on a variety of machines.
My Getting Started Guide is online.
I have a blog here.
--Rapidweather
I have a cat that may have evolved from a tiger of some sort.
He certainly looks the part.
Apparently no one has taken the time to research where domestic cats come from.
I've always wondered how they could have evolved from something like the sabre toothed cat.
Probably not, considering the smaller teeth that my cat has.
Perhaps my cat evolved from another line of cats, here's a page with tons of info on that possibility.
Interesting, isn't it?
I have not used Notepad since I started using various linux distros to do work on my websites.
For a while, I used Gnotepad, then discovered SciTE, which I now include in Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux. No problems whatsoever with SciTE. I include Opera 9.01, build 400, and it is configured to show page source in SciTE. Provides super-fast editing of pages.
Check the screenshots page in signature, below.
I do use Blogger, mine is here. Right off the bat I had problems with Blogger handling images, so I have to put them off-site if I want to show one. They do provide a reliable and reasonably easy-to-use service, however.