1. Buy two Android devices. 2. Root one. 3. Install controller drivers on the rooted one. 4. Install Netflix app on the unrooted one.
It's like the Wii console: Nintendo didn't include DVD Video support because it figured that people who were about to buy a Wii already owned several DVD Video players.
Do you carry your laptop everywhere you go? If not, you might be in a restaurant or whatever with Wi-Fi but no laptop. (If so, you're probably like me.)
and I'm sure as hell not going to watch Netflix using mobile data.
T-Mobile USA has a promotion called Binge On, which lets video stream providers apply at no charge to have their SD streams exempted from the cap. Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Sling are among the participating video providers.
The best code for malware is code that when disassembled sends the researcher (copyright violator) mad.
What copyright violator? Intermediate copies created in the course of reverse engineering to discover a computer program's method of operation are not infringing. Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc., 977 F.2d 1510 (9th Cir. 1992).
The U.S. DMCA has explicit exceptions for law enforcement and security testing. Title 17, United States Code, section 1201, subsections (e) and (j).
An ISP has no business blocking ANYTHING (other than excessive traffic) without an explicit request from the recipient.
An ISP would claim that blocking "excessive traffic" includes blocking traffic meeting patterns that closely resemble those associated with propagation of malware that causes "excessive traffic".
The GPLv2, the version of the licence used by the Linux kernel, was written before software patents were such a problem, and doesn't have soecific requirements regarding patent licensing that the GPLv3 has.
Though the patent provisions the GPLv2 are less "soecific" than those in the GPLv3, they still exist. GPLv2 section 7 bans licensees of Linux from adding patented code under a royalty-bearing license and then distributing the result:
If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
GPLv2 section 8 even had a geographic limit option that appears to have been dropped from GPLv3:
If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
The law, specifically around automobiles, stipulates that manufacturers must allow aftermarket parts to be manufactured and sold, so there are still parts available and plenty of places to have a vehicle serviced even after the manufacturer shuts down the lines.
"cellular radio standards are subject to royalty-bearing software patents", aren't those just part of the base band processor ?
First, baseband firmware is a "binary blob" that would likely get a device disqualified from Free Software Foundation's "Respects Your Freedom" certification program.
Second, I was under the impression that at least back in the Java ME and BREW days, some devices ran the baseband and the applications under a real-time OS in subsets of the same memory space. Is this organization obsolete nowadays?
Third, my prior comment was incomplete. The cellular radio isn't the only part of a communication standards suite subject to software patents; audio and video codecs are as well. Or would all codec responsibilities be part of the baseband blob as well, with the application processor seeing only uncompressed audio and video?
That would not impact anything of the rest of the phone.
Depending on how a court distinguishes "aggregation" from "combining modules into one larger work". The GPLv2 intentionally leaves this vague.
Also it's not only the patents, also the laws and regulations which restrict what you can do.
As far as I'm aware, from a manufacturer's perspective, the regulation states "do not emit spurious RF energy, and interoperate with the networks of incumbent carriers." Interoperability requires following the privately agreed-upon specification, and said spec requires patented processes. That's why I felt that mentioning patents was enough.
the entire lot of us stick it to the manufacturers, who refused to provide updates, in the form of a series of class action suits
Under what legal theory would a remedy be available at law? My first guess is the implied warranty of merchantability, that Internet-connected computers without security updates are not "fit for the purposes such goods are ordinarily used." But if you plan to sue on grounds of failure to honor the implied warranty, I thought it was common practice for manufacturers to disclaim implied warranties after a product's express warranty has expired.
If it depends on the jurisdiction, use the United States as an example. It's the home country of Alphabet and Slashdot Media.
Probably because the cellular radio standards are subject to royalty-bearing software patents, and one of the GPL's reasons for existence in the first place is to prevent royalty-bearing software patents from harming the Free World.
The least effort way to do this is look at lappys that are sold with Linux on them eg system76, some clevo system builders , some Dell boxes.
As I wrote above: "A System76 or ZaReason laptop, which is warranted to run GNU/Linux, costs more than an entry-level Staples special that is warranted to run Windows." This price difference is in fact greater than the $50 to register Windows 10 S, which ships on the Surface Laptop and could be considered a reduced-functionality trial of Windows 10.
Of the three most recent AC replies, this appears the most civil and most useful.
Go to your local computer showroom and ask them that question.
I was hoping that other Slashdot users had recently purchased a laptop in a store and were willing to share their experiences.
What is a "local computer showroom"?
For many in the United States, this is Walmart, Best Buy, or Staples. Usually, the display model computers are not associated to any wireless network. I generally trust public Wi-Fi when accessing HTTPS sites because the only things an eavesdropper can see are hostnames and sizes, but I remember Walmart and Best Buy not offering in-store Wi-Fi. (The only Wi-Fi in the Walmart near me is the hotspot in the adjacent Subway restaurant, which is too far from the laptop section for consistent reception.) I admit that this gives Staples an advantage over Walmart and Best Buy. Though I will make a note to update my original research within the next couple weeks and ask a sales associate specifically about Linux, I don't expect much out of it because I imagine that sales associates are trained to remain silent about issues like this in order to avoid making an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
I own a smartphone running Android OS, which came with a one-month trial of cellular data on T-Mobile. But this trial has long since expired. it lacks a cellular data plan. I also own a Wi-Fi only tablet. So the advantage of Windows is that the user doesn't have to first pay for a cellular data plan to find a compatible laptop to try. Even the upgrade from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro is cheaper than a couple month of cellular data in the U.S. market.
I'm asking for a way to search the inventory of local computer showrooms by the property "does Linux work" without having to look it up individually for each of several dozen models.
If the laptops in a particular showroom are not labeled as compatible with GNU/Linux, how should one determine which laptops in the showroom are compatible without having to make one trip to the showroom to write down model numbers, a trip home to look them up, and a second trip to the showroom to try the display and keyboard of the compatible ones?
One problem Sandstorm has is that it needs a wildcard TLS certificate because it generates a unique hostname per session. Let's Encrypt had no plans to issue those last I checked.
But if you put Ubuntu on a Chromebook, the Chromebook firmware asks the user at every boot to put it out of its misery. The suggested call to action in developer mode ("Press SPACE" then "Press ENTER") leads to data loss.
How many real Linux developers are on Windows and have trouble with running a VM, or a separate box?
"Separate box" is not practical on a laptop, and last I checked, subnotebooks maxed out at a paltry 4 GB of RAM.
Wouldn't someone developing for Linux want the real Linux kernel?
Not for someone who targets GNU in general, caring little whether it's GNU/Linux, GNU/Windows, or GNU/kFreeBSD for that matter. A developer might work with three environments: a production server, a desktop PC at the office configured to resemble production as closely as possible, and a laptop on which to work on a reasonably close replica while riding the bus or train to and from the office.
Surely Microsoft would introduce some "extra" features that are addictively sweet into it's Linux ABI.
Would it release source code for said features, or at least enough of the spec to allow independent reimplementation within Linux proper? If not, I'd need to see examples of such "extra" features to see exactly how they could be kept proprietary.
If the case was that Linux costs a lot of money to run
On a laptop, it does. A System76 or ZaReason laptop, which is warranted to run GNU/Linux, costs more than an entry-level Staples special that is warranted to run Windows.
Slashdot Mirror
Workaround:
1. Buy two Android devices.
2. Root one.
3. Install controller drivers on the rooted one.
4. Install Netflix app on the unrooted one.
It's like the Wii console: Nintendo didn't include DVD Video support because it figured that people who were about to buy a Wii already owned several DVD Video players.
if I have WiFi, I'm watching on my laptop screen
Do you carry your laptop everywhere you go? If not, you might be in a restaurant or whatever with Wi-Fi but no laptop. (If so, you're probably like me.)
and I'm sure as hell not going to watch Netflix using mobile data.
T-Mobile USA has a promotion called Binge On, which lets video stream providers apply at no charge to have their SD streams exempted from the cap. Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Sling are among the participating video providers.
they really believe people are going to use smartphones to rip shows?
Even if Netflix doesn't believe this, one or more publishers licensing motion pictures to Netflix is likely to believe this.
The best code for malware is code that when disassembled sends the researcher (copyright violator) mad.
What copyright violator? Intermediate copies created in the course of reverse engineering to discover a computer program's method of operation are not infringing. Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc., 977 F.2d 1510 (9th Cir. 1992).
The U.S. DMCA has explicit exceptions for law enforcement and security testing. Title 17, United States Code, section 1201, subsections (e) and (j).
An ISP has no business blocking ANYTHING (other than excessive traffic) without an explicit request from the recipient.
An ISP would claim that blocking "excessive traffic" includes blocking traffic meeting patterns that closely resemble those associated with propagation of malware that causes "excessive traffic".
Maybe you mean the GPLv3.
I meant GPLv2.
The GPLv2, the version of the licence used by the Linux kernel, was written before software patents were such a problem, and doesn't have soecific requirements regarding patent licensing that the GPLv3 has.
Though the patent provisions the GPLv2 are less "soecific" than those in the GPLv3, they still exist. GPLv2 section 7 bans licensees of Linux from adding patented code under a royalty-bearing license and then distributing the result:
GPLv2 section 8 even had a geographic limit option that appears to have been dropped from GPLv3:
it probably doesn't hurt that she married the most famous author on earth
Since when did J. K. Rowling get gay married?
Is music always produced in a factory and delivered to "consumers"? If not, "industry" might not be the ideal term.
The law, specifically around automobiles, stipulates that manufacturers must allow aftermarket parts to be manufactured and sold, so there are still parts available and plenty of places to have a vehicle serviced even after the manufacturer shuts down the lines.
Not so for phones.
Are John Deere tractors more like automobiles or more like phones? See "American Farmers Are Still Fighting Tractor Software Locks".
"cellular radio standards are subject to royalty-bearing software patents", aren't those just part of the base band processor ?
First, baseband firmware is a "binary blob" that would likely get a device disqualified from Free Software Foundation's "Respects Your Freedom" certification program.
Second, I was under the impression that at least back in the Java ME and BREW days, some devices ran the baseband and the applications under a real-time OS in subsets of the same memory space. Is this organization obsolete nowadays?
Third, my prior comment was incomplete. The cellular radio isn't the only part of a communication standards suite subject to software patents; audio and video codecs are as well. Or would all codec responsibilities be part of the baseband blob as well, with the application processor seeing only uncompressed audio and video?
That would not impact anything of the rest of the phone.
Depending on how a court distinguishes "aggregation" from "combining modules into one larger work". The GPLv2 intentionally leaves this vague.
Also it's not only the patents, also the laws and regulations which restrict what you can do.
As far as I'm aware, from a manufacturer's perspective, the regulation states "do not emit spurious RF energy, and interoperate with the networks of incumbent carriers." Interoperability requires following the privately agreed-upon specification, and said spec requires patented processes. That's why I felt that mentioning patents was enough.
the entire lot of us stick it to the manufacturers, who refused to provide updates, in the form of a series of class action suits
Under what legal theory would a remedy be available at law? My first guess is the implied warranty of merchantability, that Internet-connected computers without security updates are not "fit for the purposes such goods are ordinarily used." But if you plan to sue on grounds of failure to honor the implied warranty, I thought it was common practice for manufacturers to disclaim implied warranties after a product's express warranty has expired.
If it depends on the jurisdiction, use the United States as an example. It's the home country of Alphabet and Slashdot Media.
Probably because the cellular radio standards are subject to royalty-bearing software patents, and one of the GPL's reasons for existence in the first place is to prevent royalty-bearing software patents from harming the Free World.
What needs to happen is to remove step 3 from the picture. Take control of Android devices away from carriers
That might not do much, as Wi-Fi-only tablets routinely get stuck at a particular version of Android even though they skip step 3.
The least effort way to do this is look at lappys that are sold with Linux on them eg system76, some clevo system builders , some Dell boxes.
As I wrote above: "A System76 or ZaReason laptop, which is warranted to run GNU/Linux, costs more than an entry-level Staples special that is warranted to run Windows." This price difference is in fact greater than the $50 to register Windows 10 S, which ships on the Surface Laptop and could be considered a reduced-functionality trial of Windows 10.
Of the three most recent AC replies, this appears the most civil and most useful.
Go to your local computer showroom and ask them that question.
I was hoping that other Slashdot users had recently purchased a laptop in a store and were willing to share their experiences.
What is a "local computer showroom"?
For many in the United States, this is Walmart, Best Buy, or Staples. Usually, the display model computers are not associated to any wireless network. I generally trust public Wi-Fi when accessing HTTPS sites because the only things an eavesdropper can see are hostnames and sizes, but I remember Walmart and Best Buy not offering in-store Wi-Fi. (The only Wi-Fi in the Walmart near me is the hotspot in the adjacent Subway restaurant, which is too far from the laptop section for consistent reception.) I admit that this gives Staples an advantage over Walmart and Best Buy. Though I will make a note to update my original research within the next couple weeks and ask a sales associate specifically about Linux, I don't expect much out of it because I imagine that sales associates are trained to remain silent about issues like this in order to avoid making an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
I own a smartphone running Android OS, which came with a one-month trial of cellular data on T-Mobile. But this trial has long since expired. it lacks a cellular data plan. I also own a Wi-Fi only tablet. So the advantage of Windows is that the user doesn't have to first pay for a cellular data plan to find a compatible laptop to try. Even the upgrade from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro is cheaper than a couple month of cellular data in the U.S. market.
I'm asking for a way to search the inventory of local computer showrooms by the property "does Linux work" without having to look it up individually for each of several dozen models.
Please describe the steps of "the work" so that others reading this discussion can determine how much effort you deem appropriate.
An impossibility of using sensitive JavaScript APIs that are restricted to secure contexts.
If the laptops in a particular showroom are not labeled as compatible with GNU/Linux, how should one determine which laptops in the showroom are compatible without having to make one trip to the showroom to write down model numbers, a trip home to look them up, and a second trip to the showroom to try the display and keyboard of the compatible ones?
If American Standard went under, more people would buy Kohler toilets.
One problem Sandstorm has is that it needs a wildcard TLS certificate because it generates a unique hostname per session. Let's Encrypt had no plans to issue those last I checked.
But if you put Ubuntu on a Chromebook, the Chromebook firmware asks the user at every boot to put it out of its misery. The suggested call to action in developer mode ("Press SPACE" then "Press ENTER") leads to data loss.
How many real Linux developers are on Windows and have trouble with running a VM, or a separate box?
"Separate box" is not practical on a laptop, and last I checked, subnotebooks maxed out at a paltry 4 GB of RAM.
Wouldn't someone developing for Linux want the real Linux kernel?
Not for someone who targets GNU in general, caring little whether it's GNU/Linux, GNU/Windows, or GNU/kFreeBSD for that matter. A developer might work with three environments: a production server, a desktop PC at the office configured to resemble production as closely as possible, and a laptop on which to work on a reasonably close replica while riding the bus or train to and from the office.
Surely Microsoft would introduce some "extra" features that are addictively sweet into it's Linux ABI.
Would it release source code for said features, or at least enough of the spec to allow independent reimplementation within Linux proper? If not, I'd need to see examples of such "extra" features to see exactly how they could be kept proprietary.
even old farts using a laptop some of them with 8GB RAM max
RAM is cheap. Cheap. I use 32 GB on my workstation at home, and on each of two workstations at work.
How much RAM is in the workstation that you use while riding the bus between home and work?
If the case was that Linux costs a lot of money to run
On a laptop, it does. A System76 or ZaReason laptop, which is warranted to run GNU/Linux, costs more than an entry-level Staples special that is warranted to run Windows.