"Face it, Grandma doesnt want to run linux and have to find someone that can do local tech support on her laptop wireless driver when Grandson moves away to college."
Actually, my 74 year old mom is quite happy running Linux (Slackware of all distros), *especially* since I moved to the other end of the continent, because ever since I switched her from Windows to Linux, she hasn't needed support, no new strange (or pornographic) pop-ups, no malware, no unexplained degradation of performance, it just works (TM).
You're getting close, but even discounting the minor problem of an OTP (One Time Programmable) device REprogramming itself with a new checksum which, arguably, can easily be worked around, you still have the problem of how to get a Yes/No answer from the user without having a live BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), where, presumably, the code to read a keyboard resides.
I wish there was a way to mod TFA itself so we wouldn't have to read all the way down to here before realizing this whole FA thread is just a waste of time.
OK, a few naive questions I have long wondered about:
What will happen to a computer running a reasonnably recent Linux distro -- say Slackware 10.2 installed fresh out of the box -- no security patch added, no firewall enabled, just sitting there, hanging off the Internet, with no web server, no dns server, no nfs share, etc and with nobody surfing the net or downloading and installing anything on it? If it just sits there, basically ONLY answering pings, if any comes, will it get infected ? How ? By what ?
What if it is sitting on a 192.168.x.y network behind a dumb router (not a firewall, just a simple router) would that make a difference ? How would that computer get infected, just sitting there with an address that cannot be routed to from the Internet ? What difference would a firewall make ?
I've been a long time Slackware user and decided to subscribe to support Pat too last year when he got really sick (that, and also because I only have dialup from home ). I bought a couple of t-shirts too, you might want to consider doing that rather than ordering CDs that you won't use.
I agree totaly, there is nothing new here. We've had motherboards with multiple CPUs for years. The fact that the two CPUs are on the same chip doesn't change much from the OS's or user's points of view.
You can actually already run uCLinux on a NIOS II soft processor implemented in even the smallest Altera Cyclone II FPGA but you do need external memory.
I don't think even the largest FPGA in the world with its 9 megabits of internal memory has quite enough internal memory to run Linux yet.
You are indeed wrong, there are no special legal restrictions on burning DVDs. It's reading and decoding them than is regulated.
DVD burning just involves creating an iso9660 file system with whatever you want in there.
If what you want to do is copying copyrighted material, then it's a altogether different ball game, but depending on the use you make of the copy, it is not necessarilly illegal either and BTW making a copy, doesn't require decoding the files so there are no DVD specific issues there.
It's about time we get extensible languages as we have had extensible processors for a couple of years already e.g. Altera's NIOS : http://www.altera.com/niosii
I installed Slackware on my 72 years old mom's computer and she just loves it.(No, that is not the computer's age). And I don't need to worry that it'll be all screwed up each time I go see her as her Windows box used to.
Why Slackware of all distros ? It's the one I use and know. (They all come with KDE and Mozilla (soon to be replaced by Firefox) so what does it matter which distro, once it's installed, they all look the same to a casual user.)
Slashdot Mirror
Strange, they should only have gotten negative results if they had multiplied.
"Face it, Grandma doesnt want to run linux and have to find someone that can do local tech support on her laptop wireless driver when Grandson moves away to college."
Actually, my 74 year old mom is quite happy running Linux (Slackware of all distros), *especially* since I moved to the other end of the continent, because ever since I switched her from Windows to Linux, she hasn't needed support, no new strange (or pornographic) pop-ups, no malware, no unexplained degradation of performance, it just works (TM).
You're getting close, but even discounting the minor problem of an OTP (One Time Programmable) device REprogramming itself with a new checksum which, arguably, can easily be worked around, you still have the problem of how to get a Yes/No answer from the user without having a live BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), where, presumably, the code to read a keyboard resides.
I wish there was a way to mod TFA itself so we wouldn't have to read all the way down to here before realizing this whole FA thread is just a waste of time.
"Any respectable /. user should have most of this suite installed already"
/. user" ? I think not.
Ahem, this is for Windows XP users only.
"respectable
OK, a few naive questions I have long wondered about:
What will happen to a computer running a reasonnably recent Linux distro -- say Slackware 10.2 installed fresh out of the box -- no security patch added, no firewall enabled, just sitting there, hanging off the Internet, with no web server, no dns server, no nfs share, etc and with nobody surfing the net or downloading and installing anything on it?
If it just sits there, basically ONLY answering pings, if any comes, will it get infected ?
How ? By what ?
What if it is sitting on a 192.168.x.y network behind a dumb router (not a firewall, just a simple router) would that make a difference ?
How would that computer get infected, just sitting there with an address that cannot be routed to from the Internet ?
What difference would a firewall make ?
Rule #1: Don't take security advice from an Anonymous Coward.
Rule #2: Don't follow links posted by Anonymous Cowards.
I know nobody ever listens to me, but
the restaurant is at the other end of the universe.
No, seriously.
Oh, and one other thing:
the telescope won't be "about the size of a football field",
it'll be *exacly* the size of a hockey rink.
French one:
....)
Si six scies scient six cigares, six cent six scies scient six cent six cigares.
(The x is silent and the "scies" and "scient" are also pronounced exactly the same as "si", so it sounds like : si si si si si si gare,
I've been a long time Slackware user and decided to subscribe to support Pat too last year when he got really sick (that, and also because I only have dialup from home ).
I bought a couple of t-shirts too, you might want to consider doing that rather than ordering CDs that you won't use.
> > True that it is the oldest Linux distro?
> No.
Which Linux distro is older than Slackware ?
I know Slackware is an American distro, but... ... ... shouldn't that be "120 boxen" ?
There is no way it is a troll.
It is a humorous comment on the "moronitude" of the grand-parent.
I agree totaly, there is nothing new here. We've had motherboards with multiple CPUs for years. The fact that the two CPUs are on the same chip doesn't change much from the OS's or user's points of view.
Or not.
Anyways, I found it funny.
You can actually already run uCLinux on a NIOS II soft processor implemented in even the smallest Altera Cyclone II FPGA but you do need external memory.
I don't think even the largest FPGA in the world with its 9 megabits of internal memory has quite enough internal memory to run Linux yet.
You are indeed wrong, there are no special legal restrictions on burning DVDs. It's reading and decoding them than is regulated.
DVD burning just involves creating an iso9660 file system with whatever you want in there.
If what you want to do is copying copyrighted material, then it's a altogether different ball game, but depending on the use you make of the copy, it is not necessarilly illegal either and BTW making a copy, doesn't require decoding the files so there are no DVD specific issues there.
It's about time we get extensible languages as we have had extensible processors for a couple of years already e.g. Altera's NIOS : http://www.altera.com/niosii
...all these "I install Linux" are modded funny.
I installed Slackware on my 72 years old mom's computer and she just loves it.(No, that is not the computer's age). And I don't need to worry that it'll be all screwed up each time I go see her as her Windows box used to.
Why Slackware of all distros ?
It's the one I use and know.
(They all come with KDE and Mozilla (soon to be replaced by Firefox) so what does it matter which distro, once it's installed, they all look the same to a casual user.)