User: MbM

Re:Only in America...

On: Is Law Copyrighted?

I'm sorry, but by posting this you've broken a law owned by my firm.

"I didn't see anything saying I couldn't do that!"
It wasn't posted. You need to obtain an official copy.

"Well what law did I break?"
I'm sorry, you'll need to purchase an official printed and bound copy for $350 for that answer.

"Wait a minute, how do I know this isn't a scam?"
Legal fees If you're wrong will run in ecess of $550. Printed copies of our law are only $350. Are you willing to take that chance?

"Hey! nothing in here says I can't do that. I'm calling my lawyer."
Has he purchased an official copy?
- MbM

Re:What happened to -T?

On: PDP-10 Revival

So it's not ^T in linux? sowhat

Try ctrl-scrolllock. No, you can't pipe it through more - try using shift-pageup.

(there's also a shift-scrollock for memory info)
- MbM

Re:Even the source isn't a 100% guarantee

On: Ex-NSA Analyst Warns Of NSA Security Backdoors

You can't expect to add a bug to the source and not have people notice so assuming you don't already have a trojan in your compiler you're relitively safe but if it's done right there's no way to know if there's a bug in your existing compiler apart from reading the binary opcodes it produces.

The effect is somewhat like scanning for a virus when your virus scan has been infected with the twist that gcc is used to compile later versions of itself. Once infected the only way to uninfect yourself would be to use a clean compiler binary and recompile all infected programs. Now at some point you're likely to have installed your system using atleast a precompiled binary of the compiler, the question is do you trust the person that made that compiler? the one used to make that compiler? .. and so on, there in lies the problem.
- MbM

Re:Even opensource can have backdoors

On: Ex-NSA Analyst Warns Of NSA Security Backdoors

The problem is mostly limited to compiling tools and prebuild binaries, when you install linux you're installing a set of prebuilt binaries trusting all the sources that it passed through on the way to your desktop.

Most people assume that if you can see the source to the program that the program is somehow secure, that may be the case but what about the compiler? If your compiler adds a few bytes of trojan code to everything you compile then even building another compiler won't make much of a difference, and no ammount of checking the new compilers source will tell you there's a trojan in the old compiler. The trojan may even have been inserted several versions back, can you trust the compiler used to create the compiler? what about the one before that?

This is not to say that opensource doesn't have it's virtues or shouldn't be used, you can learn alot by reading sources, you can even modify programs to suit your needs - but please don't try to say anything is 100% secure.

- MbM

Even opensource can have backdoors

On: Ex-NSA Analyst Warns Of NSA Security Backdoors

You can audit the C sources all you want. Unless you've built the compiler and it's supporting libraries from the ground up there's always that possibility that someone has inserted a trojan along the way. The famous article dealing with this problem and self replicating trojans is Ken Thompsons's Relflections on Trusting Trust.

"The moral is obvious. You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself. (Especially code from companies that employ people like me.) No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code. In demonstrating the possibility of this kind of attack, I picked on the C compiler. I could have picked on any program-handling program such as an assembler, a loader, or even hardware microcode. As the level of program gets lower, these bugs will be harder and harder to detect. A well installed microcode bug will be almost impossible to detect. " http://www.acm.org/classics/sep95/

- MbM

Re:Your Linux box offering the same services.

On: Hacking The Tivo

Thanks, I was looking for such information.

Another good url is: ccdecoder which is my decoder for information stored in the vertical blanking interval of a standard cable system -- use this and you can pull channel info, program info and webtv urls (assuming you have a bttv tuner card in your computer capable of capturing the vbi). Also, check out FAME which an mpeg2 encoder (needs work though).

I'll be very interested in helping out any project to create a free tivo clone.
- MbM

This is new?

On: Using Bandwidth Of HDTV

This may be a first for hdtv but the practice of using extra channel bandwidth for data is nothing new. WebTV sends urls of webpages in the extra lines of the closed caption data, Intercast is a technology that allows web pages to be sent in the actual tv signal. WaveTop is trying to be a portal by sending webpages, news and software durring PBS broadcasts.

Chances are your local cable system is already sending out out this extra content, all you'd need to recieve it is a pc with a $50 tv card and some windows software (wavetop is proprietary and there are no good specs on how to decode intercast) or some linux software.
- MbM

Re:RIAA will have a hart attack

On: Linux Drivers For Hollywood Plus DVD Card

The dxr2 card actually does have a software based firmware that's stored in binary form on your harddrive I'm not entirely certain taht this is related to css decoding though. Now how is it that a card that does hardware based css decoding and stores the resulting mpeg in memory is legal but we can't allow software to do the same thing. It can't be any more secure in hardware when the dxr2 sources even tell you which line controls the macrovision.

As for the dxr3 They probably moved to more generic chips in an effort to make the cards cheaper to manufacture (ala winmodem). The move to software based dvd decoding isn't atall suprising considering that alot of people are buying pIII500's as their first comptuer and barely even using the cpu power, why should you make them pay extra and get hardware to decode the dvds?

It sounds strange to think that XING's mistake is the reason we have dvd in linux now, but I'm sure if it hadn't have had an easy css scheme someone would have cracked one of the harder ones. (Wonder what happened to the XING employee that wrote the code..)

All I can say is that I'm happy with my dxr2 card that works in linux for all sorts of mpeg related decoding, such a shame they discontinued the card.. hopefully this driver works out for those not fortunate enough to get a dxr2.
- MbM

Re:Corel Tries Hard

On: Corel Buys MetaCreations' Graphical Tools

I agree. When I do IRC tech support the last thing I want is some user that thinks I'm the repairman and will go and fix it for them myself. I love helping out new people whenever I can but it's more a matter of point them in the right direction and give them some tips as to what things to avoid. It's only when they're really in deep that I really take the time to hold their hand.

While I like the idea that the installs are now much simpler and cleaner I also notice the fact that we're starting to get distribution specific tools such as redhat's soundconf program which makes it so
a) the user doesn't really understand what's going on
b) the user is totally lost when they try to install a version of linux that lacks these tools

- MbM

opensource closed caption language filter

On: Quickielanche

Awhile back I wrote a closed caption decoder for the video4linux drivers because I couldn't find any good NTSC caption readers for generating transcripts.

Anyways.. goto http://download.linux.com/multimedia/cc.c and download the closed caption reader, it has builtin keyword beep but if you change line 424 to run a system() call you have it run something like 'xawtv-remote mute' and get the same effect as that hardware gizmo..

I think it would be more fun to have it search for words that are obviously censored and play an audio clip of the appropriate word.
- MbM

interesting..

On: Microsoft's X-Box Specs Revealed

I'm really not sure why this has got everyone up in arms, apart from the obvious microsoft reference. The specs are impressive but nobody buys a fancy new system to play pong, the real selling point is what games it can play,

..that being said I think that the killer app for this thing would most likely be a linux port ;)
- MbM

Re:Call me paranoid,but the octal was disturbing

On: Obfuscated C Code Contest Begins

Yeah, it's based on self replication. I rewrote part of the code to use octal before I posted it just to mess with people, instead it caused a bug in the program after a few iterations. Email me if you want the corrected version (I see no need to repost it again)
- MbM

Re:One of my favorites...

On: Obfuscated C Code Contest Begins

correction to above example,
5th line after the #defines is

(!Q(s,"\"")){U("",'#');U("=",'!');}d=B;while(*F=*s ){*s=='"'&&j

after that it should compile with a few warnings
reminder to use uppercase, most of the computers that ran this stuff didn't have working shift keys
- MbM

obscufiated enough?

On: Obfuscated C Code Contest Begins

example obscufiated program
--cut here--
char s[]={0060,0175,0073,0040,0155,0141,0151,0156,0050, 0151,0156,0164,0040,0141,0162,0147,0143, 0054,0143,0150,0141,0162,0052,0052,0141,0162,0147, 0166,0051,0173,0151,0156,0164,0040,0170, 0075,0060,0073,0151,0146,0050,0141,0162,0147,0143, 0076,0061,0051,0173,0151,0146,0050,0041, 0163,0164,0162,0143,0155,0160,0050,0141,0162,0147, 0166,0133,0061,0135,0054,0042,0141,0163, 0144,0146,0042,0051,0051,0173,0160,0162,0151,0156, 0164,0146,0050,0042,0151,0156,0164,0040, 0171,0075,0045,0144,0073,0134,0156,0143,0150,0141, 0162,0052,0141,0133,0135,0075,0173,0042, 0054,0171,0053,0061,0051,0073,0146,0157,0162,0050, 0073,0170,0074,0050,0171,0052,0062,0051, 0073,0170,0053,0053,0051,0160,0162,0151,0156,0164, 0146,0050,0042,0134,0042,0045,0163,0134, 0042,0054,0042,0054,0141,0133,0170,0135,0051,0073, 0160,0162,0151,0156,0164,0146,0050,0042, 0134,0042,0045,0163,0134,0042,0054,0134,0042,0045, 0163,0134,0042,0175,0073,0134,0156,0143, 0150,0141,0162,0040,0163,0133,0135,0075,0173,0042, 0054,0141,0162,0147,0166,0133,0062,0135, 0054,0141,0162,0147,0166,0133,0063,0135,0051,0073, 0146,0157,0162,0050,0170,0075,0060,0073, 0163,0133,0170,0135,0073,0170,0053,0053,0051,0160, 0162,0151,0156,0164,0146,0050,0042,0045, 0060,0063,0157,0054,0042,0054,0163,0133,0170,0135, 0051,0073,0160,0162,0151,0156,0164,0146, 0050,0042,0045,0163,0134,0156,0042,0054,0163,0051, 0073,0175,0145,0154,0163,0145,0173,0151, 0146,0050,0141,0162,0147,0143,0076,0062,0051,0173, 0052,0163,0075,0155,0141,0154,0154,0157, 0143,0050,0070,0061,0071,0062,0060,0051,0073,0163, 0160,0162,0151,0156,0164,0146,0050,0163, 0054,0042,0045,0163,0040,0141,0163,0144,0146,0040, 0134,0042,0045,0163,0134,0042,0040,0134, 0042,0045,0163,0134,0042,0076,0045,0163,0056,0143, 0073,0147,0143,0143,0040,0045,0163,0056, 0143,0040,0055,0157,0040,0045,0163,0073,0162,0155, 0040,0045,0163,0056,0143,0042,0054,0141, 0162,0147,0166,0133,0060,0135,0054,0141,0162,0147, 0166,0133,0061,0135,0054,0141,0162,0147, 0166,0133,0062,0135,0054,0141,0162,0147,0166,0133, 0060,0135,0054,0141,0162,0147,0166,0133, 0060,0135,0054,0141,0162,0147,0166,0133,0060,0135, 0054,0141,0162,0147,0166,0133,0060,0135, 0051,0073,0163,0171,0163,0164,0145,0155,0050,0163, 0051,0073,0175,0040,0145,0154,0163,0145, 0173,0146,0157,0162,0050,0073,0170,0074,0171,0073, 0170,0053,0053,0051,0151,0146,0050,0041, 0163,0164,0162,0143,0155,0160,0050,0141,0133,0170, 0052,0062,0135,0054,0141,0162,0147,0166, 0133,0061,0135,0051,0051,0040,0160,0162,0151,0156, 0164,0146,0050,0042,0133,0045,0163,0135, 0040,0045,0163,0134,0156,0042,0054,0141,0133,0170, 0052,0062,0135,0054,0141,0133,0170,0052, 0062,0053,0061,0135,0051,0073,0175,0175,0175,0145, 0154,0163,0145,0040,0160,0162,0151,0156, 0164,0146,0050,0042,0045,0163,0040,0153,0145,0171, 0167,0157,0162,0144,0040,0133,0134,0042, 0144,0145,0146,0151,0156,0151,0164,0151,0157,0156, 0134,0042,0135,0134,0156,0155,0142,0155, 0100,0154,0151,0156,0165,0170,0056,0143,0157,0155, 0134,0156,0042,0054,0141,0162,0147,0166, 0133,0060,0135,0051,0073,0175,0000,0045,0163,0040, 0164,0145,0163,0164,0040,0134,0042,0045, 0163,0134,0042,0040,0134,0042,0045,0163,0134,0042, 0076,0045,0163,0056,0143,0073,0147,0143, 0143,0040,0045,0163,0056,0143,0040,0055,0157,0040, 0045,0163,0073,0162,0155,0040,0045,0163, 0056,0143,0000};
main (int argc, char ** argv) {
char *y=s;
if(argc>1) {
if (!strcmp(argv[1],"test")) {
printf("int y=1;\nchar*a[]={\"email\",\"mbm@linux.com\"};\ncha r s[]={");
while(y[0]) printf("%03o,",*y++);
printf("%s\n",s);
}
} else {
*s=malloc(512);
sprintf(s,s+582,argv[0],argv[0],argv[0],argv[0],ar gv[0],argv[0],argv[0]);
system(s);
}
}
--cut--
*hint* run this program atleast twice
- MbM

Question though

On: Encryption Debate at Mitnick Trial

What if the magic decoding sequence he turns over to the government is really just a glorified rm -rf *. He did think far enough ahead to encrypt the files what's to make us think he didn't have an escape plan?
- MbM

Re:Open Source is not the problem

On: Open Source Quake Causes Cheating?

You're on the right track the way to stop such cheating is done through the server, but there's no need to go to great lengths to encrypt the data, all you need to do is keep tabs on the clients and their vital stats and kick the client when it tries to do something impossible.
In such a scheme you really don't even need to be transmitting these statistics contantly, just have a thread on the server that keeps track of what it thinks they should be and if the server thinks health is at -25 but the client is still alive and shooting people you know they've been cheating and yuo can kick them.
This still leaves the problem that the server has to be trusted but I don't think there's any way to avoid that.
- MbM

Re:...

On: XFree86 Release Update: 4.0 in Q12000

dga has been around for awhile now. Programs like wine, vmware and xawtv make good use of it.
- MbM

Re:It's time to fork the internet

On: Live Streaming Network TV Online - in Canada

the problem isn't the streams, but the fact that the same stream is being borodcasted several times to the indivdual clients that wastes the bandwidth, that's what multicast aims to fix unfortunately multicast isn't available in most areas and the protocols are still being established.

Basically though you're sending one stream to a 224.0.0.0 netmask and any client that wishes to retrive the stream simply adds that to it's multicast (or older cards go into promiscuous mode and use software to filter packets).

Yes, you're still wasting bandwidth, but you're wasting less bandwidth.
- MbM

Re:What I want is cooling in my whole case

On: Tom's Reviews Kryotech's 1000MHz PC

Simply adding fans to the case doesn't really do much for cooling the system, the idea is to get the air flowing through the case (usually with a fan in the front sucking in air and a fan in the back blowing out the now hot air). Running with the case off doesn't really help cooling much, the forced air from the fans dissipates heat alot faster than whatever breeze happens to be blowing through your computer room.

The idea of cooling the whole case could be done quite easily by putting a coil on the intake fan, ofcourse this will only cool a few degrees and nowhere near the cooling power of the kyrotech unit. Once you start cooling the case more than than you need to worry about condensation building up -- not only could you short your system you could also rust it. (most people avoid this by having the cooling assembly well insulated from the rest of the machine and no air gaps for condensation to occur.) ofcourse you could always submerse your computer in non conductive mineral oil.
- MbM

I don't get it

On: DVD Situation Takes New Turn

From what I understand there's no copyright on css, it's simply a trade secret so you can't sue for copyright infringement just because the author wrote DeCSS (this is one of those guns don't kill people people kill people screwed up things). Yeah I suppose someone could use this technology to copy a dvd but the prices of rewritable dvd media tends to be higher than the cost of the original movie and the dvd recorders are even higher so there's no way you could make enough of a profit off selling dvd movies to pay off the proce of the recorder.

I applaud creative labs for taking the initative and releasing source code for the dxr2 cards, this is the first smart thing anyone in the industry has done. Rather than get everyone angry and start a media field day the recording industry should just make dvd an open standard, they'd get alot more respect that way.

So what will happen to dvd now?
Will it go the way of betamax as a new standard comes in the door? You can't just ignore everyone who's bought a dvd player. It's not as if now all of a sudden dvd is insecure, we're talking about 8 gig disks here it's not as if you can open a geocities account and start trading them over the net.

Bottom line is that the recording industry can make alot more money by selling dvd products to those that have been without (ie linux and other "alternative" oses) and I think as soon as they relaize that they've got the choice between suing one person and making abit of money allowing it to pass and making them alot of money they'll choose to let it pass.

(Supposing it does pass this leaves the dorr open for alot of interesting legal arguments based on it though.)
- MbM

Re:Right on!

On: OpenBSD review at linux.com

One of the first things you have to overcome when installing a unix system for the first time is the belief that your former system rather it be dos or windows was somehow better. There is an established standard (FSSTND) that dictates where files should be placed but more importantly dictates where files can be found which is critical for any system administrator; Instead of wading through "/programs" you can be reasonably assured that if it's a userlevel binary it's somewhere in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin (there are exceptions to the rule where categories are made such as /usr/X11R6/.) This also makes it much easier to migrate from different versions of unix since the structure is generally the same.

what's the difference between /usr and /usr/local and why can't i just link /usr/local to /usr?

Well technically there's nothing wrong with that, (/usr/local/ is meant for if you have a nfs /usr you can mount a /usr/local with binaries relevent to only the local machine). I find however that it serves a more useful purpose in separating out the files that came with my distribution/or the files i installed as packages from the files i've compiled on the system. If i ever have to clean up my system all i have to do is wade through abit of /usr/local.

So in answer to your post there is a predictable placement to where the files are located it jsut takes abit of getting used to.

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
- MbM

Re:...

On: The Do-It-All Remote?

omniremote for the palmpilot -
http://pacificneoteck.com
- MbM

Re:Dxr2

On: Creative Labs GPLs dxr2 DVD Decoder Drivers

No, he has a valid point, the picture from that card isn't the greatest due to their methood of overlay using a loopback cable. It's possible to do overlay from a pci busmaster slot using push to store into the video cards memory -- assuming that the creative card stores the frames in memory it might be possible to snag them that way and give a much better picture.

This is the methood done by most tv cards and also similar to the trick that allows you to use a voodoo card to render in a window, I would appreciate hearing from someone with abit more technical knowledge of the dxr cards if this is possible.
- MbM

But what if i forgoet both my user and admin pass?

On: MSN Lists 10 Dumb Things NT Users Do

Imho it's much better to take the win95/98 route and give all your users full admin privledges, if you're concerned about security don't worry, the login box will prevent anyone from clicking cancel and getting into your account.

As for hardware issues you should have known you couldn't put a pII in a socket7 motherboard (oh wait, what's this slot labeled "bank 0".. it might fit there..)

These tend to be the same epople that argue linux is too complicated.
- MbM

Tweaking the linux system

On: Microsoft Clarifies Linux Myths

Many of these attacks are based on benchmarks from companies that clearly have no idea how to tune linux. Linux.com has created a section known as tuneup that aims to collect ideas on how to tune your system or just make it run better. I'd welcome any help to make this a one stop site for for all preformance related tweaks, maybe then we won't have to deal with these attacks.

I apologize for plugging a site I'm responsibe for, but I do think something needs to be done.
- MbM