Yes, but this guy had the sense to install a spare HDD for the experiment, thus "Undo" was fairly easy. I use Cygwin at work for the same reason you just mentioned. Since I'm a Dev I get some liberties on my system (I could install Linux and not get yelled at), but I very well may loose IT support. That is something I would rather not do as even though they are nearly helpless, at least they get yelled at when a patch breaks something. -nB
If, when it is revealed that the fuel pump causes fires and the automaker issues an immediate recall, often they are indemified from any furhter lawsuits (IIRC, you can still sue, but your settlement will be substantionally smaller as case history shows).
Sony has taken the first step in this process, they yanked the disks off the shelf. Now if they issue a notice that they will replace disks with non (or different) DRM tech, then they are going to greatly lower their lawsuit potential.
As someone earlier noted, it would be nice if this really hurt Sony, but that is not likely to happen unless: SysAdmin is going to be spending 5-6 hours in the machine room SysAdmin puts disk in server and plugs speakers/headphones into cd drive (thus not needing a media player) Rootkit installs its self Machine gets owned (by worm, browsing the internet with it, whatever) MegaCorp (or some DOD site) loses a massive chunk of highly sensitive data to theft Sony dies.
"Anyone have plans for a small, vehicle-mounted HERF device?"
No, but in cases like yours I've considered a pickup mounted.50 cal. . . I hate asshats like that, going 10 or 15 under then flooring it as you try to overtake. I ran one such ass into a guardrail because I ran out of dashed stripe and I saw headlights up ahead, when it was clear I wasn't going to make it b/c of his decision to speed up I merged over. Turns out the on-coming was a cop. I got hollered at for failure to yeild (should have slowed back down, let me off after I explained the situation), the other driver got cited for failure to yeild and told he got his just deserts as well:-) -nB
While not dealing with the current limitation of MD5, one could poision an MD5 protected P2P stream as follows: Create rainbow table for a large number of 64K blocks. Sign onto torrent oppourtunistically replace blocks with garbage if/when they match a hash you have a table entry for.
It only takes one block per torrent to invalidate some of the downloads, others may require more blocks. Over time you will be growing your rainbow table and so can provide more poision. -nB
You do realise, however, that it doesn't matter one bit if they get away with it. Thus I see three options: 1) Let them get away with it, causing erosion of the (L)GPL 2) Get someone to sue them (preferably to open their source rather than money as IMHO that will "sting" more) 3) Geeks of the world unite! and storm your local Sony office (Sales/R&D/Corp HQ/Whatever) and pillage, plunder, and toarch everything.
In the case of #1 we all loose and Corp wins, #2 makes the law journals, #3 makes international news. -nB
In fact, IIRC earlier supercomputing apps did away with the OS concept entirly. The application was written for the particular target hardware and ran on the hardware directly, without the abstraction an OS provides. While this would eek out every possible drop of performance, it sure is hell for portability, which is why the current applications expect at least a minimal os to field the basic functionality.
Come to think of it, what most apps want is a souped up BIOS with some smarts and a filesystem. -nB
If I didn't have a list of projects a mile long I would try this as well. One thing I've done before was to take two B&W slides, one with a red filter, the other with green. Two projectors and filtered glasses produces a remarkable result. Either: A) Super-impose the two images and get a color projection B) Filter the projections and offset them, viewers wear R/G glasses and see 3-D -nB
you would need to bend the light via prisms, thus technically no longer being a camera obscura (though in all honesty I would say it was still obscure enough to qualify). -nB
what a lousy attempt to troll, but I'll bite anyway:
RTFcomment In the second line I acknowledge that it is P2P, what I also elaborated on is that AOL is still peering the content as well. They are relying on P2P to make it cheaper (still not free), thus the reduced commercials compared to broadcast. The remaining 2 min commercial break or whatever, pays for that bit of serving + servers nevermind software (DRM) development, etc. -nB
Considering that the stupid sticker _is_ the COA and _has_ the licence key on it, I would tend to assume it is M$'s way of saying the copy of XP on this machine has been paid for and is legit. The disk its self is nothing more tha a pile of bits, the sticker is the key (literally) to making those bits useful. Also as GP asked: yes it's a Dell. The recovery CD won't load unless it detects Dell hardware (BIOS). -nB
Who's going to pay for the delivery bandwith then? I realise it's using P2P to ease distrobution (but is is not _eliminating_ it) Basically that's what the ads are paying for. That's why there are only 2 mins of ads not 8. Don't like it? Tough, it's their content.
As to the GP post about video production, he's spot on. I did a three minute "informertial" for UC Davis (for my wife's class). I sent her group out to do all the video taping, scripting, etc. All I did was post production work: editing, and mastering to DVD. The prof set a hard limit of 3 min and I came in at 2:59.25 (2min, 59sec, 25frames). My wife and her group told the prof in advance that they had someone else do the editing, as the on-campus media center had great gear with absolutly _no_ support. Since no one in the group knew the tools they were dead in the water, thus I did it on my video editing PC. That three min video took 10 hours to edit, sequence, and assemble (plus a few intermediate renders). I'm not a pro, but I can tell you that a pro would still take quite a while. -nB
Shit it would take me a full weeks pay (take home) to buy a copy of WinXP Pro. I realise that is 1/4 of what my indian counterpart would have to spend, relatively speaking, but it's still a big bite from the budget. As it is I have finagled my way into three legitimate copies of XP, and to get it on the fourth computer I just called in and told the monkey on the other side of the phone that I replaced my MB and now windows won't install. Just ghosted the other machine, since I won't be able to re-install on it.
Basically what it comes down to is I _want_ to be legal, but I simply can not afford to do so. Of my three copies of XP pro: One was a promo disk, one was an educational upgrade disk from XP home, and one was a dell recovery CD from my employer who throws them away (and I was rebuilding a dell of the proper vintage that someone pitched, due to spyware). The fourth install is the questionable one. Of these 4 machines three dual boot linux as I slowly migrate over. -nB
I assumed that the current crop of hybrids used something other than PbA, but my CBA was on lead. If I could affort NiMH then I would have looked at it, but the costs were prohibitively high for a homebuilt EV. The benifit is they are lighter, downside is the charging profile is much more involved (to the tune of a grand for the controller). -nB
As far as you batteries comment goes I call bullshit. PbA are 98%+ recycleable, ather techs are even more recycleable. The material in a battery pack is just too expensive to throw away. -nB
In response to you and sibling posts about the lifespan of batteries, the GP post was likely referring to using "maintenance free" PbA batteries in a deep cycle environment. Then the lifespan is rated at ~5 years. Used flooded cell batteries, only distilled water (no matter what), adhering to a proper maintenance cycle, and a calibrated charge curve, you should be able to get substantionally more from the batteries. -nB
5 year life is the norm, those doing better are the exception to the rule. That said I did a full CBA on an EV conversion of a VW (Bus/Beetle/Carmenghia(sp?), they all use the same drivetrain) and found the followig: For an AC drive system with regenerative breaking and 40-100 mile range depending on conditions and vehicle (Bus Vs Bug) the whole system pays for its self in 5 years (at $2.50/gal for gasoline, and 10 miles per gallon, (my current vehicles efficency)). Assuming you replace the batteries at the 5 year point, you are back in the hole, but, since you don't have to replace the entire system the crossover is only 2 years. Thus in the 10 years you would expect to go through 2 battery packs, you got "free gas" for the last 3 of those years. The numbers get even better if you can charge for free (as I can, my employer provides charging stations). Also as parent poster noted: you may get better than 5 years per battery pack if you are nice to the batteries, and traditional lead acid batteries are 98%+ recyclable by weight. (The felt pads and scum that forms from not using distilled water account for most of the un-recycleable content IIRC). -nB
I just wish the two transit groups could get along. I live at the border of two seperate transit companies. For me to take the bus _should_ only be 1/2 hour or so (compared to the 10-15 min drive). Instead, because I'd have to switch off between one bus to another (different companies) bus, then transfer again, the total time is just over an hour. . . unless I miss the transfer, then it's 1.5 hours. Ain't gonna happen. -nB
Sounds simple to me. Make a box with a dual hardware interface: CF card and Cart. If you have old carts, go at it. If not DL them ala iTunes onto a CF card and play them on your console. 99c a game for old games is cheap enough that people might pay it (or if you're scared of piracy, scramble the DL roms and make the CF socket require scrambled roms). Give a fair cut to nintendo as a licencing fee and they likely will go along with you on the venture. In this case playing nice is good, because even if you are legally "in the right" you don't want a long court case (costs $$$) and an injunction (prevents you from getting $$$).
I HATE TMM. -- Somebody has to;-) (Just added him to my friends list). [/offtopic]
Anyway, the idea of a "Dell Linux" (MAC and OSX comes to mind), should be fairly easy. Team up with RedHat, or Debian, and make a custom build for your hardware. If the PC was 100 cheaper for the same stuff it would sell well, and because of the tight integration with the hardware the end user would have a better expeiance. The front end effort is not too much of an issue, and once done the drives are simply cloned anyway.
Roll all that up with auto updates and end users should have quite a nice time with linux. The heavy lifting is done by someone else (dell and debian for example). -nB
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, but this guy had the sense to install a spare HDD for the experiment, thus "Undo" was fairly easy.
I use Cygwin at work for the same reason you just mentioned. Since I'm a Dev I get some liberties on my system (I could install Linux and not get yelled at), but I very well may loose IT support. That is something I would rather not do as even though they are nearly helpless, at least they get yelled at when a patch breaks something.
-nB
If, when it is revealed that the fuel pump causes fires and the automaker issues an immediate recall, often they are indemified from any furhter lawsuits (IIRC, you can still sue, but your settlement will be substantionally smaller as case history shows).
Sony has taken the first step in this process, they yanked the disks off the shelf. Now if they issue a notice that they will replace disks with non (or different) DRM tech, then they are going to greatly lower their lawsuit potential.
As someone earlier noted, it would be nice if this really hurt Sony, but that is not likely to happen unless:
SysAdmin is going to be spending 5-6 hours in the machine room
SysAdmin puts disk in server and plugs speakers/headphones into cd drive (thus not needing a media player)
Rootkit installs its self
Machine gets owned (by worm, browsing the internet with it, whatever)
MegaCorp (or some DOD site) loses a massive chunk of highly sensitive data to theft
Sony dies.
-nB
Stop! or I'll yell Stop again!
wasn't that more flaimbaiting than trolling? /., where you can debate not only whether someone's an ass, but just what kind of ass they are :-)
-nB
"Anyone have plans for a small, vehicle-mounted HERF device?"
.50 cal. . . :-)
No, but in cases like yours I've considered a pickup mounted
I hate asshats like that, going 10 or 15 under then flooring it as you try to overtake. I ran one such ass into a guardrail because I ran out of dashed stripe and I saw headlights up ahead, when it was clear I wasn't going to make it b/c of his decision to speed up I merged over. Turns out the on-coming was a cop.
I got hollered at for failure to yeild (should have slowed back down, let me off after I explained the situation), the other driver got cited for failure to yeild and told he got his just deserts as well
-nB
While not dealing with the current limitation of MD5, one could poision an MD5 protected P2P stream as follows:
Create rainbow table for a large number of 64K blocks.
Sign onto torrent
oppourtunistically replace blocks with garbage if/when they match a hash you have a table entry for.
It only takes one block per torrent to invalidate some of the downloads, others may require more blocks. Over time you will be growing your rainbow table and so can provide more poision.
-nB
You do realise, however, that it doesn't matter one bit if they get away with it.
Thus I see three options:
1) Let them get away with it, causing erosion of the (L)GPL
2) Get someone to sue them (preferably to open their source rather than money as IMHO that will "sting" more)
3) Geeks of the world unite! and storm your local Sony office (Sales/R&D/Corp HQ/Whatever) and pillage, plunder, and toarch everything.
In the case of #1 we all loose and Corp wins, #2 makes the law journals, #3 makes international news.
-nB
In fact, IIRC earlier supercomputing apps did away with the OS concept entirly. The application was written for the particular target hardware and ran on the hardware directly, without the abstraction an OS provides. While this would eek out every possible drop of performance, it sure is hell for portability, which is why the current applications expect at least a minimal os to field the basic functionality.
Come to think of it, what most apps want is a souped up BIOS with some smarts and a filesystem.
-nB
too late, you loose.
/. requires you to wait two minutes between postings...
[simpsons bully voice*]ha ha
-nB
*turning in geek badge, forgot the kids name.
in other news
If I didn't have a list of projects a mile long I would try this as well.
One thing I've done before was to take two B&W slides, one with a red filter, the other with green. Two projectors and filtered glasses produces a remarkable result. Either:
A) Super-impose the two images and get a color projection
B) Filter the projections and offset them, viewers wear R/G glasses and see 3-D
-nB
you would need to bend the light via prisms, thus technically no longer being a camera obscura (though in all honesty I would say it was still obscure enough to qualify).
-nB
what a lousy attempt to troll, but I'll bite anyway:
RTFcomment
In the second line I acknowledge that it is P2P, what I also elaborated on is that AOL is still peering the content as well. They are relying on P2P to make it cheaper (still not free), thus the reduced commercials compared to broadcast. The remaining 2 min commercial break or whatever, pays for that bit of serving + servers nevermind software (DRM) development, etc.
-nB
your sig seems aptly appropriate for this comment ;-)
-nB
Considering that the stupid sticker _is_ the COA and _has_ the licence key on it, I would tend to assume it is M$'s way of saying the copy of XP on this machine has been paid for and is legit. The disk its self is nothing more tha a pile of bits, the sticker is the key (literally) to making those bits useful.
Also as GP asked: yes it's a Dell. The recovery CD won't load unless it detects Dell hardware (BIOS).
-nB
you mean the sticker on the side of the machine? sure :-) where do you think I got the registration number from?
-nB
Who's going to pay for the delivery bandwith then?
I realise it's using P2P to ease distrobution (but is is not _eliminating_ it)
Basically that's what the ads are paying for. That's why there are only 2 mins of ads not 8.
Don't like it? Tough, it's their content.
As to the GP post about video production, he's spot on. I did a three minute "informertial" for UC Davis (for my wife's class). I sent her group out to do all the video taping, scripting, etc. All I did was post production work: editing, and mastering to DVD. The prof set a hard limit of 3 min and I came in at 2:59.25 (2min, 59sec, 25frames).
My wife and her group told the prof in advance that they had someone else do the editing, as the on-campus media center had great gear with absolutly _no_ support. Since no one in the group knew the tools they were dead in the water, thus I did it on my video editing PC. That three min video took 10 hours to edit, sequence, and assemble (plus a few intermediate renders). I'm not a pro, but I can tell you that a pro would still take quite a while.
-nB
Shit it would take me a full weeks pay (take home) to buy a copy of WinXP Pro. I realise that is 1/4 of what my indian counterpart would have to spend, relatively speaking, but it's still a big bite from the budget. As it is I have finagled my way into three legitimate copies of XP, and to get it on the fourth computer I just called in and told the monkey on the other side of the phone that I replaced my MB and now windows won't install. Just ghosted the other machine, since I won't be able to re-install on it.
Basically what it comes down to is I _want_ to be legal, but I simply can not afford to do so. Of my three copies of XP pro: One was a promo disk, one was an educational upgrade disk from XP home, and one was a dell recovery CD from my employer who throws them away (and I was rebuilding a dell of the proper vintage that someone pitched, due to spyware). The fourth install is the questionable one. Of these 4 machines three dual boot linux as I slowly migrate over.
-nB
For some reason I find that stunningly hilarous and insightful at the same time...
Kinda worries me.
-nB
I assumed that the current crop of hybrids used something other than PbA, but my CBA was on lead. If I could affort NiMH then I would have looked at it, but the costs were prohibitively high for a homebuilt EV.
The benifit is they are lighter, downside is the charging profile is much more involved (to the tune of a grand for the controller).
-nB
As far as you batteries comment goes I call bullshit. PbA are 98%+ recycleable, ather techs are even more recycleable. The material in a battery pack is just too expensive to throw away.
-nB
In response to you and sibling posts about the lifespan of batteries, the GP post was likely referring to using "maintenance free" PbA batteries in a deep cycle environment. Then the lifespan is rated at ~5 years.
Used flooded cell batteries, only distilled water (no matter what), adhering to a proper maintenance cycle, and a calibrated charge curve, you should be able to get substantionally more from the batteries.
-nB
5 year life is the norm, those doing better are the exception to the rule. That said I did a full CBA on an EV conversion of a VW (Bus/Beetle/Carmenghia(sp?), they all use the same drivetrain) and found the followig:
For an AC drive system with regenerative breaking and 40-100 mile range depending on conditions and vehicle (Bus Vs Bug) the whole system pays for its self in 5 years (at $2.50/gal for gasoline, and 10 miles per gallon, (my current vehicles efficency)).
Assuming you replace the batteries at the 5 year point, you are back in the hole, but, since you don't have to replace the entire system the crossover is only 2 years. Thus in the 10 years you would expect to go through 2 battery packs, you got "free gas" for the last 3 of those years.
The numbers get even better if you can charge for free (as I can, my employer provides charging stations). Also as parent poster noted: you may get better than 5 years per battery pack if you are nice to the batteries, and traditional lead acid batteries are 98%+ recyclable by weight. (The felt pads and scum that forms from not using distilled water account for most of the un-recycleable content IIRC).
-nB
I just wish the two transit groups could get along. I live at the border of two seperate transit companies. For me to take the bus _should_ only be 1/2 hour or so (compared to the 10-15 min drive). Instead, because I'd have to switch off between one bus to another (different companies) bus, then transfer again, the total time is just over an hour. . . unless I miss the transfer, then it's 1.5 hours. Ain't gonna happen.
-nB
Sounds simple to me. Make a box with a dual hardware interface: CF card and Cart.
If you have old carts, go at it. If not DL them ala iTunes onto a CF card and play them on your console. 99c a game for old games is cheap enough that people might pay it (or if you're scared of piracy, scramble the DL roms and make the CF socket require scrambled roms). Give a fair cut to nintendo as a licencing fee and they likely will go along with you on the venture. In this case playing nice is good, because even if you are legally "in the right" you don't want a long court case (costs $$$) and an injunction (prevents you from getting $$$).
-nB
I HATE TMM. -- Somebody has to ;-)
(Just added him to my friends list).
[/offtopic]
Anyway, the idea of a "Dell Linux" (MAC and OSX comes to mind), should be fairly easy. Team up with RedHat, or Debian, and make a custom build for your hardware. If the PC was 100 cheaper for the same stuff it would sell well, and because of the tight integration with the hardware the end user would have a better expeiance. The front end effort is not too much of an issue, and once done the drives are simply cloned anyway.
Roll all that up with auto updates and end users should have quite a nice time with linux. The heavy lifting is done by someone else (dell and debian for example).
-nB