"However I would recommend on restrincting access to the internet, so they can't accidently download malware."
Or better yet, set up a transparent proxy on the net connection to send all net access trhough squid and squidguard. Log all traffic (yes, I know, no freedom for the kid etc...) and set up squidguard to return a detailed error when the kids try accessing anywhere you don't want them to go. Yeah, they may find a way around it, but if they do, congratulate them - they're actually learning something useful.
But a proxied, filtered setup like that will give you control over where they can go without killing all net access completely.
Oh, and for $DEITY's sake, keep an eye on what they're up to rather than just letting them mess around unsupervised..
"There's no reason why a R1 and and R2 disc can't be released on the same day"
Far be it from me to defend the DVD producers here, but it depends.. R1 DVDs only need to carry English audio, subtitles and menus while R2 DVDs theoretically have to have English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and usually other languages. The producers will want the R1 disc out ASAP, following up with the R2/other regions as the translations are done. Sure, in some cases those translations will already be mostly complete (for the actual film/series anyway) and the DVD may not really need them, but that's the usual reason given for the delay between R1 and R2 releases. How true this is, I don't know - I'm not in the DVD business, thankfully.
"Would I be eligible for prosecution under this law? Would they actually arrest me?"
You probably would be and it's very unlkely, unless you send it several times and cause a nuisance. In the UK we don't tend to be quite as trigger happy with the lawyers - unless you're sending many repeated emails to the same HR department, I would be very surprised if they did anything about it. However, I've never met anyone who got a job in the UK by flinging CVs at firms, IME the opposite is generally true: usually they only want to hear from people when they have a post advertised, and then you should be requesting an application form before sending them any infomation.
Well done! You've just earned yourself a perpetual place in the Corporate Shafting Room! Please bend over and a representative will be along to service you soon.
Maybe if you realised that these "rules" are unilateral, non-negotiable attepmpted modifications of previously completed contracts (the initial sale) implemented against the spirit, and sometimes the word, of law by corporations intent on providing the least entertainment and utility for the most inconvenience, you'd start to understand that it's people saying "okay, sure, whatever" that encourages these idiots to keep coming up with increasingly rediculous crap copy protection mechanisms.
The less you kick and scream, the more you'll get screwed over.
If the code that does all the work is in userland then all they are required to do is allow people to get at the kernel source, they don't have to release anything that runs on top of the kernel as a normal process.
But if they've added drivers for TiVo specific hardware (don't know if there is any, don't have a TiVo) then it's down to the old binary modules argument, and if they've modified the kernel in any way then they need to release those modifications.
Check out US patent 3693731 - using a nuclear subterrene tunneler like the one Los Alomos scientists suggestd, you could tunnel out a large enough area for habitation in far less time. Of course, the chances of it happening are miniscule.. but can't fault a guy for dreaming...
One thing that would helps is to only build the minimum necessary on the surface. Build the rest deep underground. Not great shielding, but better than sticking tin cans on the surface.
The problem with using jouranling filesystems on removable media like CF is that it takes more processor power and space than normal filesystems (for example, resiserfs partitions allocate 30Mb for journal space by default). That journal always takes some space, and the less space you allocate, the less effective the journal is for handling problems.
"I got sick of finding out I'd have to download huge patches to make a game playable, or need to update to fix a horrid glitch and invalidate my save games in the process."
As opposed to consoles, where there can still be huge bugs get through and you can't patch them?
Yeah, the quality control barrier is a bit higher, but then you're stuck there. You get the quality they ship with, and if you can't get past some bit because of a bohr bug, you are buggered - you either need to start again or use an earlier save and hope like hell it doesn't happen again (this has happened to me on several console games).
Personally, I'd rather have patch-happy PC games: they're cheaper and more likely to end up fixed.
Just give me some warning so I can get the hell off the planet first okay? I'd rather not be here when we start advertising to some unknown entity, probably with significantly better technology than ours, that "yes we're here and can detect your signals. Yes, we really are dumb enough to respond!"
Although, on second thoughts, any alien race will probably decide that any race stupid enough to reply isn't worth wiping out because it'll probably wipe itself out sooner or later.
"I think I'm the only person on the freaking planet who actually considers paying taxes a civic duty"
No, and yes. I pay my taxes because I know it does good, but I also object to the fact that a good portion of the 400+ that is taken from my monthly wage ends up beind spent on administration, political lunches and pointless, counterproductive rubbish by a government that stopped paying any attention to the elctorate a long time ago and now even goes as far as fiddling public consultations. (I'm in the UK, in case you couldn't tell)
Standard disclaimer applies, but I believe that even if they didn't download anything, they could be found guilty of "contributory copyright infringement" - they were providing the facilities through which the infringement took place, so they are responsible. It's something along those lines anyway.
"And if they don't have a computer or think of upgrading for gods sake get them to fork out the extra cash for a mac; you and they so won't regret it. ".. right up until the point when they try running a windows game on it...
Slashdot Mirror
"However I would recommend on restrincting access to the internet, so they can't accidently download malware."
Or better yet, set up a transparent proxy on the net connection to send all net access trhough squid and squidguard. Log all traffic (yes, I know, no freedom for the kid etc...) and set up squidguard to return a detailed error when the kids try accessing anywhere you don't want them to go. Yeah, they may find a way around it, but if they do, congratulate them - they're actually learning something useful.
But a proxied, filtered setup like that will give you control over where they can go without killing all net access completely.
Oh, and for $DEITY's sake, keep an eye on what they're up to rather than just letting them mess around unsupervised..
"There's no reason why a R1 and and R2 disc can't be released on the same day"
Far be it from me to defend the DVD producers here, but it depends.. R1 DVDs only need to carry English audio, subtitles and menus while R2 DVDs theoretically have to have English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and usually other languages. The producers will want the R1 disc out ASAP, following up with the R2/other regions as the translations are done. Sure, in some cases those translations will already be mostly complete (for the actual film/series anyway) and the DVD may not really need them, but that's the usual reason given for the delay between R1 and R2 releases. How true this is, I don't know - I'm not in the DVD business, thankfully.
Damn right, sensible people use ISO 8601 ;)
Mandrake hasn't been RedHat based since the 7.x series - the only "RedHat based" aspect of 8.x and 9.x is that it uses rpms.
Which bit of "exam week" implies fun? ;)
Logitech Cordless Trackman Optical is the closest you'll probably get ATM - different styling than the FX and it is radio, rather than IR, cordless.
"Would I be eligible for prosecution under this law? Would they actually arrest me?"
You probably would be and it's very unlkely, unless you send it several times and cause a nuisance. In the UK we don't tend to be quite as trigger happy with the lawyers - unless you're sending many repeated emails to the same HR department, I would be very surprised if they did anything about it. However, I've never met anyone who got a job in the UK by flinging CVs at firms, IME the opposite is generally true: usually they only want to hear from people when they have a post advertised, and then you should be requesting an application form before sending them any infomation.
Or just give John F Hickory a digger and let him build his river..... ;)
Well done! You've just earned yourself a perpetual place in the Corporate Shafting Room! Please bend over and a representative will be along to service you soon.
Maybe if you realised that these "rules" are unilateral, non-negotiable attepmpted modifications of previously completed contracts (the initial sale) implemented against the spirit, and sometimes the word, of law by corporations intent on providing the least entertainment and utility for the most inconvenience, you'd start to understand that it's people saying "okay, sure, whatever" that encourages these idiots to keep coming up with increasingly rediculous crap copy protection mechanisms.
The less you kick and scream, the more you'll get screwed over.
If the code that does all the work is in userland then all they are required to do is allow people to get at the kernel source, they don't have to release anything that runs on top of the kernel as a normal process.
But if they've added drivers for TiVo specific hardware (don't know if there is any, don't have a TiVo) then it's down to the old binary modules argument, and if they've modified the kernel in any way then they need to release those modifications.
Though not, judging by the grandparent's moderation, a sense of humour...
Check out US patent 3693731 - using a nuclear subterrene tunneler like the one Los Alomos scientists suggestd, you could tunnel out a large enough area for habitation in far less time. Of course, the chances of it happening are miniscule.. but can't fault a guy for dreaming...
One thing that would helps is to only build the minimum necessary on the surface. Build the rest deep underground. Not great shielding, but better than sticking tin cans on the surface.
And how much he got from Microsoft...
But not quite as effective as tying them up underneath a rocket engine.
The problem with using jouranling filesystems on removable media like CF is that it takes more processor power and space than normal filesystems (for example, resiserfs partitions allocate 30Mb for journal space by default). That journal always takes some space, and the less space you allocate, the less effective the journal is for handling problems.
ext2 on its own though....
"And you know what will happen if you are too slow on the computer. Dinosaurs will eat you alive!"
Damn good excuse to get that dual opteron system though!
"I got sick of finding out I'd have to download huge patches to make a game playable, or need to update to fix a horrid glitch and invalidate my save games in the process."
As opposed to consoles, where there can still be huge bugs get through and you can't patch them?
Yeah, the quality control barrier is a bit higher, but then you're stuck there. You get the quality they ship with, and if you can't get past some bit because of a bohr bug, you are buggered - you either need to start again or use an earlier save and hope like hell it doesn't happen again (this has happened to me on several console games).
Personally, I'd rather have patch-happy PC games: they're cheaper and more likely to end up fixed.
Yeah, great idea.
Just give me some warning so I can get the hell off the planet first okay? I'd rather not be here when we start advertising to some unknown entity, probably with significantly better technology than ours, that "yes we're here and can detect your signals. Yes, we really are dumb enough to respond!"
Although, on second thoughts, any alien race will probably decide that any race stupid enough to reply isn't worth wiping out because it'll probably wipe itself out sooner or later.
So now we know what lazed-dazed did with those 120 laser pointers....
"I think I'm the only person on the freaking planet who actually considers paying taxes a civic duty"
No, and yes. I pay my taxes because I know it does good, but I also object to the fact that a good portion of the 400+ that is taken from my monthly wage ends up beind spent on administration, political lunches and pointless, counterproductive rubbish by a government that stopped paying any attention to the elctorate a long time ago and now even goes as far as fiddling public consultations.
(I'm in the UK, in case you couldn't tell)
Damn dyslexic fingers....
Yeah, and I bet you had to wark miles to school every day. Uphill. Both ways. In the rain.
Standard disclaimer applies, but I believe that even if they didn't download anything, they could be found guilty of "contributory copyright infringement" - they were providing the facilities through which the infringement took place, so they are responsible. It's something along those lines anyway.
"And if they don't have a computer or think of upgrading for gods sake get them to fork out the extra cash for a mac; you and they so won't regret it. " .. right up until the point when they try running a windows game on it...