I already found em. And theres still no real information. Just a bunch of marketing buzzwords.
From the pictures (real? mockup?) the screen looks wayyy to small to be a real gaming machine. Looks like the screen from the Dreamcast's VMU (in color)
I'm the first to get stoked about a new gaming console, but this sounds like more of a cheesy cel-phone cash grab.
And all from Sega. Puyo Puyo, Tennis and Sega Rally.
I cant find any specs, but this sounds like a cellular phone with a lame-o processor in it that will play very weak game-n-watch type stuff, like the T-Mobile, and not a serious competitor for GBA.
I'm assuming I cant find specs because they're thoroughly unimpressive.
I mean I might choose it over another cell-phone, but I doubt it will compete seriously with nintendo in the handheld gaming arena.
>> won't that make it appear as if you have hundreds of users connected?
Either that or you're running a properly configured IP stack like BSD uses.
If everyones connection looked like that (which it probably should), are they going to disconnect everyone?
This whole thing is based around a quirk of 'half-assed' IP implementations. (half-assed is perhaps too harsh a term, but all I can think of)
Potheads worry that cops are scanning their house with heat detectors looking for grow lamps. If they did (they dont, its unreasonable search), do they know the heat/light source is for growing plants, or a pet iguana?
So what if two far-off servers are sending data to my node? Or one far-off server sending two streams? What does that mean? I have a machine capable of multitasking? They can already count how many different IP's I'm talking to.
Perhaps I'm missing something, and please explain if I am, but I thought the point was;
if i have box A sending id's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
and box B sending 45, 46, 47, 48
and it's all intermixed like this on the outbound stream
1, 45, 2, 46,...
Then they graph that, interpolate two lines, which represent my two machines.
It basically assumes that my machines are going to play by the 'rules' and count the same way they do.
The article does state that BSD's cant be tracked with this method because they randomize their ip ids.
"you're going to need to do some serious work on iptables "
Another user already posted that there's already a patch (or kernel option) for linux to do random ipid's just like BSD does.
This is more an admin utility than a policing tool. Just kick back, get yourself a beer and watch the knee-jerk reactions and paranoid theories from all the nerds who think the man is out the get 'em.
And how long until someone comes up with something to basically make nonsense out of the ipid fields?
Sequential order is what you want it to be. Maybe I'll teach my ip stack to count 54, 2, 87, 456, 112.
Or easier just to teach my linux router to touch the ipid field of every packet going out of it, so it looks like one sequentially incrementing chain.
This pretty much requires that all machines play by its rules, and it is thus holier than jeebus. If it was used for Dark Purposes (tm) it'll be bypassed in a jiffy.
BIOS flashers dont do so on the fly, they load the image into RAM, compare checksums, then go to town. You're much likely to have windows go modal on you, or have one of its patented BSOD's in the middle of a flash. Then what? I'll tell you.
Floppies are useful because the code to control them is so simple that it can be embedded into the boot block, so if your BIOS flash goes south, you can still boot from a floppy and recover. I did this on my gigabyte board not too long ago.
Of course, Dell customers dont do such things. If their computer doesnt work, they pay 2.99 a minute on hold for tech support, then pay shipping both ways to have a tech fix it for them.
If that HD diagnostic util is going to scan the IDE bus, you better not be booting off of it.
Guess what else?
If you're going to flash your BIOS, you arent going to do that from an El Torito CD. Because the code to 'emulate' the floppy is in the BIOS.
Guess what else?
If you flash your BIOS from windows/HDD (wherever) and screw it up, most boot blocks will only allow you to recover from a flesh and blood FDC floppy drive.
And guess what else?
You aren't allowed to do any of that shit to a Dell machine without voiding your warranty.
So it doesn't matter. It's not like they outlawed the floppy drive or anything. 3 of my personal machines have no floppy, I just keep one on the shelf just in case I need to perform some emergency hyjinx on one of 'em.
But boxed customers dont need floppies or any self support tools:
I just RMA's one. The RMA procedure requires you supply an error code given to you by PowerMax, their diagnostic utility. Powermax runs from (wait for it) a floppy!!!
Of course you could probably burn a bootable cd with the powermax image, if you needed to. I dont know if it checks to see if it's running from a flesh and blood floppy or not (though it might just fudge up the IDE bus scan)
And the whole issue is moot. We're talking about Dell. You aren't allowed to upgrade your Dell without voiding the warranty anyways.
People who buy boxed PCs probably dont need floppies. When something breaks they take it back to the store.
People who build their own will find them useful in a pinch. I hardly use it, but it saved my ass about a month ago when the power cycled right in the middle of a BIOS flash!
Luckily the bootblock on my gigabyte board lets me boot from a floppy to recover a corrupted bios. This is the only situation I can think of where a true-blue FDC ribbon cable (not usb) floppy drive is absolutely nescessary.
That, and I need it to backup my SNES games with my SuperUFO32
You must not understand the difference between civil law and criminal law. Let me summarize.
Copyright infringement is a TORT. A tort is a civil wrong. You can be SUED by the person/persons on the other end of the tort. The other party brings the lawsuit, the goverment merely acts as an arbitrator to settle the lawsuit.
Theft is a crime. You are charged with a crime, and prosecuted by the state or federal government.
Theft, more accurately, is the act of depriving someone of real physical property. If you take a DVD from blockbuster, blockbuster has 1 less DVD to sell/rent.
If you rent the dvd and copy it and return it, no real property has been lost. But you have broken the rental agreement, and committed a civil wrong. Both blockbuster and the copyright holder could sue you. You may be liable for damages, but you have not comitted a crime, and are not a criminal.
So, the MPAA is in the position of having to sue everyone they think might have copied a movie. This isn't feasible.
Lo and behold, the DMCA makes it a CRIME to circumvent a technological measure put in place to limit your access to digital media. Copying a DVD is still perfectly legal, but decrypting the CSS to be able to do so is a crime.
So no more wasting their own money to protect their copyrights. They get to waste taxpayer money sending the feds out doing their dirty work for them.
But my point is that most people I know (with all the skills and access to broadband and DVD burners etc) that could pirate all their movies, dont. They have no problem paying a few bucks to see a movie.
There's always a huge line out the door at blockbuster on the weekends, and when I finally saw LOTR:TT two weeks ago, the theatre was packed even after a month. I had no problem paying to see a movie. I have no problem paying to own one either. But I should be able to do what I please with it once I own it.
Ahh, but they claim that the license for the music is tied to the medium. You have a license to listen to the music on *this particular CD*.
They want to have the cake and eat it too. They want to sell it as a product, including the benefit of reselling the product if yours breaks or wears out. But they want your ability to resell, trade, borrow or lend it to be governed by licenses.
Basically they want a legal climate that says "Anything the MPAA can profit from is legal, everything else is not". And it's not news. The digital crap is just another page in a very long and boring book.
"What is not fair use is making a copy of an encrypted DVD, because once you're able to break the encryption, you've undermined the encryption itself."
So what if I've 'undermined the encryption'?
I do know what the DMCA says about it. But it's absurd and wrong that they can wrap a patent around something that copyright law won't let them accomplish.
Through their own legal battles against used sales and mom & pop rental places, they've made the point that I'm purchasing a liscense to the content. Where is the liscense (if there is a standard one)? Is there a term anywhere that says the liscense is tied to the medium and the encryption somehow?
Also I take issue to this quote:
"We're breeding a new group of young students who wouldn't dream of going into a Blockbuster and putting a DVD under their coat. But they have no compunction about bringing down a movie on the Internet. That isn't wrong to them. Why? I don't know."
This is bullshit. 'Young students' surely do know right from wrong. They know getting a movie (or video game or album) they haven't paid for is wrong. They also know it isn't theft, but a copyright infringement. I just hate his insinuation that we're not only criminals, but stupid.
Blockbuster, and ONLY blockbuster would exist. (We have that now through special deals with BB/Hollywood video, the mom & pops are dead)
They werent opposed to selling you movies to watch in your own home, they were opposed to a free market distributing those movies.
Thats where the whole crap about they sell 'liscenses' to the movies come about. Legally you can lend, trade, give away, or sell a videotape, but since the movie it contains is only liscensed to you for a particular purpose (personal viewing or rental) you cant.
But in the digital age, apparently he feels we should not be able to protect those 'liscenses' we bought. Or he maybe thinks our liscense is only valid so long as the medium the movie came on is in working order?
Is anyone stupid enough to believe a DVD is indestructable? My 8 year old single-handedly destroyed 2 of them this weekend alone. Does she no longer posess the liscense to view 'Shrek' because she stepped on the DVD, or can she watch the backup I made of it?
The way I see it the people that would be even slightly interested are already hooked on Everquest and other MMORPGs. If that stuff is already eating 80 hours of their time a week, I doubt they'd break away to take a gamble on this (not to mention pay another monthly fee)
It's like asking a crackhead to toke a joint with you. Chances are he's too busy smoking crack, and will blow you off.
Re:dead before it was online
on
Sim-Dud?
·
· Score: 1
I tried it when it came out and never saw the point. I mean you simulate a guy making toast, taking a leak, and all the other boring minutae of our everyday lives.
They dont go on crazy adventures, fight dinosaurs with shoulder launch missles, get in swordfights, nothing. None of the escapism of gaming here. It just reminded me how boring and pathetic day-to-day life can be.
Slashdot Mirror
I already found em. And theres still no real information. Just a bunch of marketing buzzwords.
From the pictures (real? mockup?) the screen looks wayyy to small to be a real gaming machine. Looks like the screen from the Dreamcast's VMU (in color)
I'm the first to get stoked about a new gaming console, but this sounds like more of a cheesy cel-phone cash grab.
Ok, I found the 'Tech Spex'. I hate misspelled hipster talk.
Anyways.
Still no meat.. Just a vague "High performance mobile interactive gaming" line and some more marketing type buzzwords.
Is "Stereo FM radio" still technically impressive?
Oh yeah, no mention of OGG and "Requires Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000 professional, Windows XP"
And all from Sega. Puyo Puyo, Tennis and Sega Rally.
I cant find any specs, but this sounds like a cellular phone with a lame-o processor in it that will play very weak game-n-watch type stuff, like the T-Mobile, and not a serious competitor for GBA.
I'm assuming I cant find specs because they're thoroughly unimpressive.
I mean I might choose it over another cell-phone, but I doubt it will compete seriously with nintendo in the handheld gaming arena.
>> And how many watts are you using for ample reading light?
Mother sun!
>> But a book is only ever a book
That big blue bin marked paper is for recycling. That obsolete tech manual can be a Playboy magazine within a few weeks!
>> won't that make it appear as if you have hundreds of users connected?
Either that or you're running a properly configured IP stack like BSD uses.
If everyones connection looked like that (which it probably should), are they going to disconnect everyone?
This whole thing is based around a quirk of 'half-assed' IP implementations. (half-assed is perhaps too harsh a term, but all I can think of)
Potheads worry that cops are scanning their house with heat detectors looking for grow lamps. If they did (they dont, its unreasonable search), do they know the heat/light source is for growing plants, or a pet iguana?
>> Fragments coming back aren't going to be in your "private counting" order, but rather 1,2,3,4...
But why would the fragment order of packets from the servers coming back give away how many boxes are behind the wall?
Why would that look any different from two simultaneous connections from the same box?
Tell him I'll trade for an advance copy of Doom 3 and a Radeon 9700 Pro.
It's kind of ironic the author of Quake is going to try and rocket-jump to outer space.
The problem is with my box sending packets out.
...
So what if two far-off servers are sending data to my node? Or one far-off server sending two streams? What does that mean? I have a machine capable of multitasking? They can already count how many different IP's I'm talking to.
Perhaps I'm missing something, and please explain if I am, but I thought the point was;
if i have box A sending id's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
and box B sending 45, 46, 47, 48
and it's all intermixed like this on the outbound stream
1, 45, 2, 46,
Then they graph that, interpolate two lines, which represent my two machines.
It basically assumes that my machines are going to play by the 'rules' and count the same way they do.
The article does state that BSD's cant be tracked with this method because they randomize their ip ids.
"you're going to need to do some serious work on iptables "
Another user already posted that there's already a patch (or kernel option) for linux to do random ipid's just like BSD does.
This is more an admin utility than a policing tool. Just kick back, get yourself a beer and watch the knee-jerk reactions and paranoid theories from all the nerds who think the man is out the get 'em.
>>what's the ISP gonna do? Cut off the line without real evidence?
Have you read your ISP's AUP (Acceptable Usage Policy)? Is there anything in there about them needing evidence?
I bet it's more to the effect of 'at our discretion', like the fudgy way they define how you use 'too much bandwidth' on your 'unlimited' connection.
And how long until someone comes up with something to basically make nonsense out of the ipid fields?
Sequential order is what you want it to be. Maybe I'll teach my ip stack to count 54, 2, 87, 456, 112.
Or easier just to teach my linux router to touch the ipid field of every packet going out of it, so it looks like one sequentially incrementing chain.
This pretty much requires that all machines play by its rules, and it is thus holier than jeebus. If it was used for Dark Purposes (tm) it'll be bypassed in a jiffy.
Yep.
Dell's going to pass the savings straight on down to you!
*snicker*
no wait I'm not
*guffaw*
laughing
*titter*
Just like Apple did.
*BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*
BIOS flashers dont do so on the fly, they load the image into RAM, compare checksums, then go to town. You're much likely to have windows go modal on you, or have one of its patented BSOD's in the middle of a flash. Then what? I'll tell you.
Floppies are useful because the code to control them is so simple that it can be embedded into the boot block, so if your BIOS flash goes south, you can still boot from a floppy and recover. I did this on my gigabyte board not too long ago.
Of course, Dell customers dont do such things. If their computer doesnt work, they pay 2.99 a minute on hold for tech support, then pay shipping both ways to have a tech fix it for them.
Guess what?
If that HD diagnostic util is going to scan the IDE bus, you better not be booting off of it.
Guess what else?
If you're going to flash your BIOS, you arent going to do that from an El Torito CD. Because the code to 'emulate' the floppy is in the BIOS.
Guess what else?
If you flash your BIOS from windows/HDD (wherever) and screw it up, most boot blocks will only allow you to recover from a flesh and blood FDC floppy drive.
And guess what else?
You aren't allowed to do any of that shit to a Dell machine without voiding your warranty.
So it doesn't matter. It's not like they outlawed the floppy drive or anything. 3 of my personal machines have no floppy, I just keep one on the shelf just in case I need to perform some emergency hyjinx on one of 'em.
But boxed customers dont need floppies or any self support tools:
Dude, you're getting a Bill(tm)
Funny you should mention Maxtor drives!
I just RMA's one. The RMA procedure requires you supply an error code given to you by PowerMax, their diagnostic utility. Powermax runs from (wait for it) a floppy!!!
Of course you could probably burn a bootable cd with the powermax image, if you needed to. I dont know if it checks to see if it's running from a flesh and blood floppy or not (though it might just fudge up the IDE bus scan)
And the whole issue is moot. We're talking about Dell. You aren't allowed to upgrade your Dell without voiding the warranty anyways.
People who buy boxed PCs probably dont need floppies. When something breaks they take it back to the store.
People who build their own will find them useful in a pinch. I hardly use it, but it saved my ass about a month ago when the power cycled right in the middle of a BIOS flash!
Luckily the bootblock on my gigabyte board lets me boot from a floppy to recover a corrupted bios. This is the only situation I can think of where a true-blue FDC ribbon cable (not usb) floppy drive is absolutely nescessary.
That, and I need it to backup my SNES games with my SuperUFO32
For the record, NT, 2k and XP have no issues multitasking with a floppy either.
You must not understand the difference between civil law and criminal law. Let me summarize.
Copyright infringement is a TORT. A tort is a civil wrong. You can be SUED by the person/persons on the other end of the tort. The other party brings the lawsuit, the goverment merely acts as an arbitrator to settle the lawsuit.
Theft is a crime. You are charged with a crime, and prosecuted by the state or federal government.
Theft, more accurately, is the act of depriving someone of real physical property. If you take a DVD from blockbuster, blockbuster has 1 less DVD to sell/rent.
If you rent the dvd and copy it and return it, no real property has been lost. But you have broken the rental agreement, and committed a civil wrong. Both blockbuster and the copyright holder could sue you. You may be liable for damages, but you have not comitted a crime, and are not a criminal.
So, the MPAA is in the position of having to sue everyone they think might have copied a movie. This isn't feasible.
Lo and behold, the DMCA makes it a CRIME to circumvent a technological measure put in place to limit your access to digital media. Copying a DVD is still perfectly legal, but decrypting the CSS to be able to do so is a crime.
So no more wasting their own money to protect their copyrights. They get to waste taxpayer money sending the feds out doing their dirty work for them.
But my point is that most people I know (with all the skills and access to broadband and DVD burners etc) that could pirate all their movies, dont. They have no problem paying a few bucks to see a movie.
There's always a huge line out the door at blockbuster on the weekends, and when I finally saw LOTR:TT two weeks ago, the theatre was packed even after a month. I had no problem paying to see a movie. I have no problem paying to own one either. But I should be able to do what I please with it once I own it.
Ahh, but they claim that the license for the music is tied to the medium. You have a license to listen to the music on *this particular CD*.
They want to have the cake and eat it too. They want to sell it as a product, including the benefit of reselling the product if yours breaks or wears out. But they want your ability to resell, trade, borrow or lend it to be governed by licenses.
Basically they want a legal climate that says "Anything the MPAA can profit from is legal, everything else is not". And it's not news. The digital crap is just another page in a very long and boring book.
What's his point here?
"What is not fair use is making a copy of an encrypted DVD, because once you're able to break the encryption, you've undermined the encryption itself."
So what if I've 'undermined the encryption'?
I do know what the DMCA says about it. But it's absurd and wrong that they can wrap a patent around something that copyright law won't let them accomplish.
Through their own legal battles against used sales and mom & pop rental places, they've made the point that I'm purchasing a liscense to the content. Where is the liscense (if there is a standard one)? Is there a term anywhere that says the liscense is tied to the medium and the encryption somehow?
Also I take issue to this quote:
"We're breeding a new group of young students who wouldn't dream of going into a Blockbuster and putting a DVD under their coat. But they have no compunction about bringing down a movie on the Internet. That isn't wrong to them. Why? I don't know."
This is bullshit. 'Young students' surely do know right from wrong. They know getting a movie (or video game or album) they haven't paid for is wrong. They also know it isn't theft, but a copyright infringement. I just hate his insinuation that we're not only criminals, but stupid.
Blockbuster, and ONLY blockbuster would exist. (We have that now through special deals with BB/Hollywood video, the mom & pops are dead)
They werent opposed to selling you movies to watch in your own home, they were opposed to a free market distributing those movies.
Thats where the whole crap about they sell 'liscenses' to the movies come about. Legally you can lend, trade, give away, or sell a videotape, but since the movie it contains is only liscensed to you for a particular purpose (personal viewing or rental) you cant.
But in the digital age, apparently he feels we should not be able to protect those 'liscenses' we bought. Or he maybe thinks our liscense is only valid so long as the medium the movie came on is in working order?
Is anyone stupid enough to believe a DVD is indestructable? My 8 year old single-handedly destroyed 2 of them this weekend alone. Does she no longer posess the liscense to view 'Shrek' because she stepped on the DVD, or can she watch the backup I made of it?
How dare you remind me of that terrible, awful, wasteful use of my beloved Commie?
Begone with you.
No, it was Conan O'Brian.
The way I see it the people that would be even slightly interested are already hooked on Everquest and other MMORPGs. If that stuff is already eating 80 hours of their time a week, I doubt they'd break away to take a gamble on this (not to mention pay another monthly fee)
It's like asking a crackhead to toke a joint with you. Chances are he's too busy smoking crack, and will blow you off.
I tried it when it came out and never saw the point. I mean you simulate a guy making toast, taking a leak, and all the other boring minutae of our everyday lives.
They dont go on crazy adventures, fight dinosaurs with shoulder launch missles, get in swordfights, nothing. None of the escapism of gaming here. It just reminded me how boring and pathetic day-to-day life can be.