This is NOT 1984! They are installing extreme security measures in preparation for the DNC because of what the DHS tells them is a considerable threat from terrorists. Then, once the DNC is over, they don't want to just throw everything away. If this were 1984, they'd be installing the cameras in your house and Micheal Moore would vaporize.
If nothing else, we've seen that (on the whole) it's morbidly inefficient for a single authority to try and use cameras to monitor a large area for an extended period of time.
So far, every attempt at installing cameras to monitor the public by the government has been a huge FUBAR because people destroy the cameras, and the software that tries to automate the surveylance process sucks. So take off your tinfoil hat and stop hassling the local food store to order more spam for the compound.
This is NOT a evil gubmint attempt to take over your life, it's an attempt to stop a potential attack on the DNC.
Dilbert: Do you see what's happening with our attempt at outsourcing?
PHB: Yes, we sent all the work to India.
Dilbert: Who outsourced it to Korea, who outsourced it to Vietnam, who outsourced it to Chile, who outsourced it to US! Don't you realize we're charging ourselves to screw ourselves?
PHB: We should raise our prices.
Sounds like something from a certain episode of Star Trek: Voyager...
Queen: "It's a new mode of assimilation, designed for highly resistant species."
Seven: "You intend to detonate a biogenic charge in Earth's atmosphere?"
Queen: "Yes. By the time they realized what was happening, half their population would be drones."
The desktop distro should be able to do (and do well) everything that a windows box can do from a default install.
When I installed Mandrake 10.0, I got a complete OS + 700-something programs. Plus, I didn't have to do ANY dicking around with hardware setup.
Workalike interface
I've never had any problem understanding the default KDE 3.2 that came with Mandrake 10.0.
SMB networking
LiNeighborhood will locate and browse any local SMB shares; came with default install.
browsing, mail, music
Konqueror/Mozilla, Evolution, XMMS (I use mp3blaster, but that's just me) - Check.
and video
Now here's an oddity - Zapping and XawTV both worked perfectly under Mandrake 9.2. But 10.0 moved the streaming v4l device from/dev/ to/dev/video/ and didn't tell zapping; it refuses to work at all. XawTV works if you tell it "-c/dev/video/v4l". But the card itself (BTTV 848) works perfectly. Anyone from MandrakeSoft who reads this: Why the change?
brainless hardware detection and configuration
All (as in 100%) of my hardware worked flawlessly from the start. If I plug in my Flash/xD USB memory card drive, it will detect it, autoconfigure it, and link to/mnt/removable on the desktop without me having to do anything.
printing
My Panasonic KX-P2023 works perfectly over the parallel port and remote printing works with CUPS, without problem.
and IM.
GAIM comes in the default install, just enter username and passwd and be on your way.
Out of the box, default install.
It was a bit of a trick to get the video capture card working due to a MandrakeSoft change, and the NVidia drivers were (as usual) a PITA (Most users wouldn't have been able to dig through the helpfile and then edit XF86Config-4 - that's what geeks are for). But except for those two roadbumps, it was smooth sailing. All of the functions you describe were present in a default Mandrake 10 install. (FWIW, this is on a custom-assembled box with a VIA motherboard, GeForceFX 5200 vid card, Athlon 1800XP processor, and PCTV capture card)
While we're on the topic of network security, I was wondering if anyone had some advice to help me secure my current gateway a little more.
I'm currently connecting to the internet through a Mandrake Linux box. It's got two NIC's (One to modem, one to switch). To initially get things working, I did the sinful thing and clicked the "Enable transparent network connection sharing" button from drakconf. So in short, it will act as a gateway to anyone on eth1.
To secure the box:
I set security to "higher" to generally make the box a little more paranoid.
It doesn't run any services it can live without, period.
I installed Shorewall to block most of the crapflood coming from the Internet; It accepts local (over eth1) connections for http, https, ftp, ssh, and a couple others that don't immediately come to mind. Except for exactly two IPs belonging to my friend, it silently drops every incoming packet except for HTTP and FTP.
For what it's worth, I wrote a primitive script that uses openssl dgst -md5 to watch for any changes in/etc,/usr/sbin,/usr/bin, and/var/log (beyond normal entries, of course).
Well, that's what I've done to secure my gateway. The whole reason we started using this box as a gateway is because it's predecessor, a D-Link hardware gateway/router, wouldn't work with the new DSL modem. Thus, it's unfortunately directly connected to the internet for the moment. The IP changes constantly, so it isn't going to be pinned down. I have looked at/var/log/messages (among others) and seen a lot of attempted pings dropped, but no evidence of having been 0wn3d yet (Except for exactly two IPs, it looks as if nothing is there).
Anyone got suggestions for further securing the gateway? BTW, on my end, I ssh into it frequently and check for bandwidth use, users online, file changes, etc.
"... it sounds like someone complaining that their wallet gets stolen every time they leave it on the roof of their car in the supermarket parking lot!" - If one wants to continue that analogy, you might represent the Microsoft vehicle as one that (by default) has all windows, the sunroof, and the hood open to the world by default.
That's got to be right near the top of the list of great oxymorons... The company that produces what is arguably the most insecure operating system, most insecure web browser, and most insecure E-Mail client of all time is going to produce *antivirus software.* Oh, man... If you think it's bad with people using Nortons and McAfee, think what happens when it's your MS-Antivirus that gets 0wn3d by the latest virus/worm/trojan/ping-of-death.
We'll have 3/4 of a million slash-sheep get all riled and tell eachother what a bunch of bullshit the USPTO is and how EVIL Microsoft is for abusing it. At the same time, none of them will actually do anything about it.
Do you hear me? Don't preach to the choir! Go out and tell *other people!!!*
Concerns about stability. Security. Dislike of Microsoft's business practices.
Yeah, that about covers it. Windows is about as stable as drunk in an earthquake, a secure as a prostitute's vagina, and produced by a company whose business practices make me sick.
With Linux, I get a system that has crashed on me as many times in 3 years as Windows used to crash in one day. All the code is peer-reviewed, and Mandrakesoft is not a conviced abusive monopolist.
Why not use holographic film in a normal camera to record ultra-high definition images? The holographic film I've looked at has a resolution of 3000 to 5000 lines per millimeter. You could duplicate the resolution of this UHDV system with a piece of holographic film that's 3 by 2 millimeters. The only problem is how to funnel the amount of light needed to form a big picture through it without melting the film.
If you want the ultimate of resolution, put a holographic plate in an 8X10 large format camera. Then, you'll have 1.4 TRILLION "pixels"! Beat that
"I'm in college and I don't know that it's wrong to plagarize." Yeah right. This worm is suing the university because he was ignorant of something he should have known since 4th grade?
In other news today, military private wounded in Iraq sues Pentagon: Should have been told being there is dangerous.
Making a real-world analogy, that'd be like me getting caught stealing and then claiming that no one told me not to: All the cops would fall over laughing.
Finding the download is elegantly simple, as I discovered. Google is your friend: search for "mandrake linux download." The first result is to their download page.
Compared to silicon solar cells, biological processes are ultimately morbidly inefficient: "The primary reactions have close to 100% quantum efficiency (i.e., one quantum of light leads to one electron transfer); and under most ideal conditions, the overall energy efficiency can reach 35%. Due to losses at all steps in biochemistry, one has been able to get only about 1 to 2% energy efficiency in most crop plants. Sugarcane is an exception as it can have almost 8% efficiency. However, many plants in Nature often have only 0.1 % energy efficiency." - From
Here
However, unlike solar cells, the algae produce no nasty by-products during manufacture, regenerate themselves if damaged, and eat up human waste on the side. Plus, the algae are quite simply far cheaper:
Assuming the algae are 4% efficient. Solar cells are roughly 5X as efficient, and therefore would need cover only 10 thousand square kilometers. At $400/M^2, covering ~10,000 square kilometers would cost 4.14 trillion dollars, compared to the stated cost in the article of 169 billion for algae farms. Algae win with a 30:1 cost advantage.
If you are more realistic and assume that the algae are more like 1% efficient, the solar cells will need to cover 2500 square kilometers, costing an even trillion dollars: The algae maintain a 6:1 cost advantage.
Note that I'm not taking into account here what the economy of scale would do for the cost of the solar cells, but I'm imagining that the lower cost to maintain algae would still make them the preferred choice.
You're right. I was thinking about a connection that goes to one and only one page that it about removing malware from your system.
However, I do not agree that a signed trust system would stop spam. As long as there are idiots on the 'net who will fall for it, spammers WILL find a way to spam. The problem with the secure trust system, from my view, is the apparent requirement of a central database to track who is and is not trustworthy. Such a database would be too big a target for Big Brother not to muscle in on. And if nothing else, we've seen how well databases that try to track so much data do in terms of data integrity and accuracy.
If we can get the real idiots (people who respond to spam) off the net, it won't be possible to find them via spamming. In short, take all the hosts for the parasite and quarantine them. Without anyone to parasitize, spamming would go away.
Spam people with ads for viagra. If someone is stupid enough to buy, send them a cyanide capsule:)
Joking aside, it boils down to economics. Spam is profitable. If something is profitable, people will do it. Selling drugs is profitable, and the war on some drugs hasn't changed that. The answer to spam (and drugs) is not to try and stop them, but to make doing them unprofitable.
What makes spam profitable is the presence of people on the internet who are SO incredibly stupid that they fall for it. (See Junkie loves his spam) Remove them, and you shoot spam through it's purtid heart. I can think of several methods of doing do:
If you respond to spam, you've probably got shitloads of viruses on your computer. Beyond any shadow of a doubt some of them are spamming people. If you ISP detects lots of mystery traffic from you on known virus ports, you're given one warning. Then you get kicked off without ceremony and not allowed to reconnect until you can prove to them that all computers using your connection are malware-free. No more malware, no more spam zombies.
(You, the ISP) Send test-spams. Specify in the header that it is NOT a real spam so you don't get blacklisted. Anyone who responds to them loses all services except port 80 until you prove to a professional who visits your house that you know enough not to buy from spam. Do it again and you will never be allowed to use your ISP's mail servers again.
Neither of these can possibly be routed around or hacked by spammers, because they are not involved in any part of the process. If you are not in the habit of perpetuating malware with your computer, you needn't worry of getting caught up in it all. Neither of these requires a major invasion of your privacy
"Guess what folks. There's no law that says you have to let a megacorp run your e-mail. With a fixed IP and a 24/7 server, you can run your own server."
Except that getting the same connection speed with a static IP vs dynamic goes from $30 to $60+ per month, just for the static IP. Plus exposing yourself to the flood of digital diharrea on the internet.
Slashdot Mirror
If you want to read books about that, I'd suggest reading the "Grand Tour" books written by Ben Bova, starting with Moonrise and Moonwar.
Youse better pay da protection money. You wouldn't want somethin to *happen* to ya little school, would you? Now, that's betta...
This is NOT 1984! They are installing extreme security measures in preparation for the DNC because of what the DHS tells them is a considerable threat from terrorists. Then, once the DNC is over, they don't want to just throw everything away. If this were 1984, they'd be installing the cameras in your house and Micheal Moore would vaporize.
If nothing else, we've seen that (on the whole) it's morbidly inefficient for a single authority to try and use cameras to monitor a large area for an extended period of time.
So far, every attempt at installing cameras to monitor the public by the government has been a huge FUBAR because people destroy the cameras, and the software that tries to automate the surveylance process sucks. So take off your tinfoil hat and stop hassling the local food store to order more spam for the compound.
This is NOT a evil gubmint attempt to take over your life, it's an attempt to stop a potential attack on the DNC.
Dilbert: Do you see what's happening with our attempt at outsourcing?
PHB: Yes, we sent all the work to India.
Dilbert: Who outsourced it to Korea, who outsourced it to Vietnam, who outsourced it to Chile, who outsourced it to US! Don't you realize we're charging ourselves to screw ourselves?
PHB: We should raise our prices.
Sounds like something from a certain episode of Star Trek: Voyager...
Queen: "It's a new mode of assimilation, designed for highly resistant species."
Seven: "You intend to detonate a biogenic charge in Earth's atmosphere?"
Queen: "Yes. By the time they realized what was happening, half their population would be drones."
- When I installed Mandrake 10.0, I got a complete OS + 700-something programs. Plus, I didn't have to do ANY dicking around with hardware setup.
Workalike interface- I've never had any problem understanding the default KDE 3.2 that came with Mandrake 10.0.
SMB networking- LiNeighborhood will locate and browse any local SMB shares; came with default install.
browsing, mail, music- Konqueror/Mozilla, Evolution, XMMS (I use mp3blaster, but that's just me) - Check.
and video- Now here's an oddity - Zapping and XawTV both worked perfectly under Mandrake 9.2. But 10.0 moved the streaming v4l device from
/dev/ to /dev/video/ and didn't tell zapping; it refuses to work at all. XawTV works if you tell it "-c /dev/video/v4l". But the card itself (BTTV 848) works perfectly. Anyone from MandrakeSoft who reads this: Why the change?
brainless hardware detection and configuration- All (as in 100%) of my hardware worked flawlessly from the start. If I plug in my Flash/xD USB memory card drive, it will detect it, autoconfigure it, and link to
/mnt/removable on the desktop without me having to do anything.
printing- My Panasonic KX-P2023 works perfectly over the parallel port and remote printing works with CUPS, without problem.
and IM.- GAIM comes in the default install, just enter username and passwd and be on your way.
Out of the box, default install.I just want to know where on earth you got porno pictures at 9 megapixels.
I'm currently connecting to the internet through a Mandrake Linux box. It's got two NIC's (One to modem, one to switch). To initially get things working, I did the sinful thing and clicked the "Enable transparent network connection sharing" button from drakconf. So in short, it will act as a gateway to anyone on eth1.
To secure the box:
- I set security to "higher" to generally make the box a little more paranoid.
- It doesn't run any services it can live without, period.
- I installed Shorewall to block most of the crapflood coming from the Internet; It accepts local (over eth1) connections for http, https, ftp, ssh, and a couple others that don't immediately come to mind. Except for exactly two IPs belonging to my friend, it silently drops every incoming packet except for HTTP and FTP.
- For what it's worth, I wrote a primitive script that uses openssl dgst -md5 to watch for any changes in
/etc, /usr/sbin, /usr/bin, and /var/log (beyond normal entries, of course).
Well, that's what I've done to secure my gateway. The whole reason we started using this box as a gateway is because it's predecessor, a D-Link hardware gateway/router, wouldn't work with the new DSL modem. Thus, it's unfortunately directly connected to the internet for the moment. The IP changes constantly, so it isn't going to be pinned down. I have looked atAnyone got suggestions for further securing the gateway? BTW, on my end, I ssh into it frequently and check for bandwidth use, users online, file changes, etc.
"... it sounds like someone complaining that their wallet gets stolen every time they leave it on the roof of their car in the supermarket parking lot!" - If one wants to continue that analogy, you might represent the Microsoft vehicle as one that (by default) has all windows, the sunroof, and the hood open to the world by default.
But how can you... Umm... Wuh... *Shakes head*
That's got to be right near the top of the list of great oxymorons... The company that produces what is arguably the most insecure operating system, most insecure web browser, and most insecure E-Mail client of all time is going to produce *antivirus software.* Oh, man... If you think it's bad with people using Nortons and McAfee, think what happens when it's your MS-Antivirus that gets 0wn3d by the latest virus/worm/trojan/ping-of-death.
We'll have 3/4 of a million slash-sheep get all riled and tell eachother what a bunch of bullshit the USPTO is and how EVIL Microsoft is for abusing it. At the same time, none of them will actually do anything about it.
Do you hear me? Don't preach to the choir! Go out and tell *other people!!!*
I think we've got a Bong Here.
Concerns about stability. Security. Dislike of Microsoft's business practices.
Yeah, that about covers it. Windows is about as stable as drunk in an earthquake, a secure as a prostitute's vagina, and produced by a company whose business practices make me sick.
With Linux, I get a system that has crashed on me as many times in 3 years as Windows used to crash in one day. All the code is peer-reviewed, and Mandrakesoft is not a conviced abusive monopolist.
Why not use holographic film in a normal camera to record ultra-high definition images? The holographic film I've looked at has a resolution of 3000 to 5000 lines per millimeter. You could duplicate the resolution of this UHDV system with a piece of holographic film that's 3 by 2 millimeters. The only problem is how to funnel the amount of light needed to form a big picture through it without melting the film.
If you want the ultimate of resolution, put a holographic plate in an 8X10 large format camera. Then, you'll have 1.4 TRILLION "pixels"! Beat that
And with an atitude like that, you'd never figure out why.
Dateline 1969: Military announces "ArpaNET" system to connect universities across continent."
Who knows where THIS one will be in 35 years.
No, if this were a real global thermonuclear war, the WOPR would have extr... [NO SIGNAL]
"I'm in college and I don't know that it's wrong to plagarize." Yeah right. This worm is suing the university because he was ignorant of something he should have known since 4th grade?
In other news today, military private wounded in Iraq sues Pentagon: Should have been told being there is dangerous.
Making a real-world analogy, that'd be like me getting caught stealing and then claiming that no one told me not to: All the cops would fall over laughing.
Well then... I don't suppose I could find thier service in Southern California? Who are they?
Finding the download is elegantly simple, as I discovered. Google is your friend: search for "mandrake linux download." The first result is to their download page.
However, unlike solar cells, the algae produce no nasty by-products during manufacture, regenerate themselves if damaged, and eat up human waste on the side. Plus, the algae are quite simply far cheaper:
Note that I'm not taking into account here what the economy of scale would do for the cost of the solar cells, but I'm imagining that the lower cost to maintain algae would still make them the preferred choice.
You're right. I was thinking about a connection that goes to one and only one page that it about removing malware from your system.
However, I do not agree that a signed trust system would stop spam. As long as there are idiots on the 'net who will fall for it, spammers WILL find a way to spam. The problem with the secure trust system, from my view, is the apparent requirement of a central database to track who is and is not trustworthy. Such a database would be too big a target for Big Brother not to muscle in on. And if nothing else, we've seen how well databases that try to track so much data do in terms of data integrity and accuracy.
If we can get the real idiots (people who respond to spam) off the net, it won't be possible to find them via spamming. In short, take all the hosts for the parasite and quarantine them. Without anyone to parasitize, spamming would go away.
Joking aside, it boils down to economics. Spam is profitable. If something is profitable, people will do it. Selling drugs is profitable, and the war on some drugs hasn't changed that. The answer to spam (and drugs) is not to try and stop them, but to make doing them unprofitable.
What makes spam profitable is the presence of people on the internet who are SO incredibly stupid that they fall for it. (See Junkie loves his spam) Remove them, and you shoot spam through it's purtid heart. I can think of several methods of doing do:
- If you respond to spam, you've probably got shitloads of viruses on your computer. Beyond any shadow of a doubt some of them are spamming people. If you ISP detects lots of mystery traffic from you on known virus ports, you're given one warning. Then you get kicked off without ceremony and not allowed to reconnect until you can prove to them that all computers using your connection are malware-free. No more malware, no more spam zombies.
- (You, the ISP) Send test-spams. Specify in the header that it is NOT a real spam so you don't get blacklisted. Anyone who responds to them loses all services except port 80 until you prove to a professional who visits your house that you know enough not to buy from spam. Do it again and you will never be allowed to use your ISP's mail servers again.
Neither of these can possibly be routed around or hacked by spammers, because they are not involved in any part of the process. If you are not in the habit of perpetuating malware with your computer, you needn't worry of getting caught up in it all. Neither of these requires a major invasion of your privacy"Guess what folks. There's no law that says you have to let a megacorp run your e-mail. With a fixed IP and a 24/7 server, you can run your own server."
Except that getting the same connection speed with a static IP vs dynamic goes from $30 to $60+ per month, just for the static IP. Plus exposing yourself to the flood of digital diharrea on the internet.