--I'll agree with you there. Had Dish Network for about 2 years, and the only reason I cancelled it was because of moving back in with parents (bad economy.)
--I was quite happy with the service while I had it; but this channel-pulling BS just sucks. I blame Viacom however, not DN.
--Those kids really need some SERIOUS discipline changes, as well as professional counselling - and SOON... Otherwise that idiot mom has a good chance of ending up physically abused -- or even perished -- by her own children's hands someday.
--You gotta teach them respect, or they will absolutely walk all over you - to your detriment (and theirs.)
--You got it.:) In addition, I don't use DHCP - all my boxes have Class A fixed IP's (10.0.x.x); and with a couple of simple Iptables rules, no "spoofed" addresses can get in over the PPP link. Plus, no box is allowed to access anything on the network unless it's listed in my etc/hosts file. All this, along with Zonealarm, has kept things pretty stable so far.
--The downside is, I can't ping (or ssh to) anywhere in the outside world without logging in and doing so directly from the Internet-connected box; the upside is, in my experience the setup is pretty well secured against outside attacks. (And the only "internal" user is me.;-) Wget, most browsers, apt-get, and gaim all work thru the proxy with the addition of a couple of environment vars and/or menu settings.
--I'm also not running any servers (except for the occasional BitTorrent, which has pretty much ceased after being forced to switch back to dialup) so the way I have things configged might not work for everyone; but then again, I haven't had any problems with being hax0red inside of 2 minutes, either.;-) YMMV.
--I agree with you though; the OS itself should not be so blatantly vulnerable "out of the box."
--Nope. All my boxes use the proxy server for their Internet connection. Never had problems with Win-based attacks, even when I wasn't running *any* firewall (iptables.) My friend is running Squid and nothing else (no firewall at all) with most ports closed, and he has reported "no problems."
--If you're behind a proxy cache server like Squid, they can't see you. (At least, AFAIK. knockwood) Viruses are indeed a slightly different matter, but much less of a problem when you don't use IE or click on $random-attachment-that-you-weren't-expecting.
--Switch insurance companies. Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago, and State Farm went to bat for me. Actually got some money out of the stupid idiot that totalled my car.
--Be thankful you're not a Mainframe admin - back in my day, (at least up to Y2000) we had to IPL those suckers every weekend. 'Struth. Very rarely did a particular MF box last more than 2 weeks w/o being IPL'ed.
--If I were you, I'd look into setting up a Linux-based Squid (or $other) proxy/cache server for your Internet connection. I've had no problems with viruses or the like, and also run Zonealarm on the Win boxen. (Altho it must be admitted I'm still running W98.) Squid works over dialup and broadband, BTW.
--My friend is also running a Squid server (I helped him set it up) and AFAIK he doesn't have problems with people trying to own his Win-XP boxes.
--If you're interested, you can email me and I'll send you a sample squid.conf file. Just put "Request for squid.conf" in the Subject line.
--There is a "Windows Corporate" update link for individual updates (at least for 98:) http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads /corpo rate.asp
--Also see (check bottom of page for link): http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/do wnloads/ default.asp
--Guess what happens when apt-get upgrade (or dist-upgrade) breaks the system? You get two choices:
1. Restore from backup (if you're lucky)
2. Reinstall
--At least for home users, it's much easier to start over with a fresh install (especially if, like me, you're running off a Knoppix or Mepis live-cd install) than try to figure out what went wrong and why -- THAT process can take hours (or days!)
--True story: I recently did apt-get update/upgrade on my Knoppix boxes, and WVDIAL broke on *both.* I didn't know this until after a reboot/hangup however. Kppp was also acting flaky and wouldn't connect. Lucky for me, I had a Vmware Knoppix DVD install that hadn't been touched for a while; got wvdial and squid running in there, so I was able to downgrade wvdial to stable on the regular boxes (apt-get install wvdial/stable).
--I still have to figure out how to put wvdial on "Hold" w/o using Aptitude though. Anybody got a command-line equivalent for that?
> (1) there are more good guys than bad guys, or otherwise society as we know it wouldn't exist; and (2) good guys are smarter than bad guys, because our current social organization tends to favor being honest. Good guys get good salaries, bad guys are sent to jail.
--(1) is demonstrably false. If you think "people are basically good", you're not living in the Real World. "Good people" are the EXCEPTION. It's *very* nice when you find them and can interact with them, because it's such a welcome relief from the norm. I do try to be as good as possible to other people (Golden Rule) but even I know I'm *not* basically "good at heart." I have to continually fight the temptation to "take the easy way out" - because being scrupulously honest is HARD. Making a conscious effort to be "nice" to other people *all the time* is HARD.
--(2) is true for the most part (check current jail population) although I dunno if I would use the term "smarter." Except for the ones that haven't been caught (yet.)
--From what little I know about power lines, they're not "clean" - this is why you should have a surge-protector / UPS powering your computer, to clean up the sine wave.
My questions are:
o How SECURE is this tech? Broadband over powerlines sounds like it could be *very* easily tapped / sniffed. [conspiracy-theory]
o How many dropped packets / xmission errors are to be commonly expected with this tech? (How reliable is it)
o Is it going to affect the power to my household appliances at all? (will it make lights flicker)
o Does it support IPV6? (Not that *I'm* worried about it, just a question)
o Can you have a choice of static / dynamic IPs with it?
o What happens when THOUSANDS / millions of ppl are sending data over the powerlines? Does the end-user incoming data rate eventually drop, like with shared cable access?
--Having not had a job for a long time, I won't pay for Winzip either. Why should I, when "zip" and "unzip" comes free with Linux? The only problem with Zip currently is the pathetic 2GB filesize limit. This should have been fixed (at least on the Linux side) circa 1999 or so.
--However, I *would like to* support Rar, as I perceive it to be a superior archiver. I could see my way to donating $10-$15 to help the guy make a living, but the current price is too much.
(I hardly ever use Windoze for anything but games - and certain websites that don't render properly with Linux browsers - anymore. Most of my time is spent in Linux, and I much prefer using the commandline to GUI.)
--You know, if he would lower the registration price to ~$15 or so I bet he'd get a lot more incoming money. The economy SUCKS, and $29-30 is just way too much for what basically amounts to a zip-competitor, even though RAR is a good archiver.
--I experimented with afio a couple of years ago, but the problem I ran into was twofold:
o Passing a list of files to afio, by default, is a PITA; I much prefer tar / zip / rar for their convenience here, you can pass a wildcard at the command line *or* send them a list.
o I couldn't find a way to do a *partial* restore of a subset of files.
--Anyone got some tips on this? I did write a set of scripts for handling volume changes and the like; if anyone's interested in them, email me.
--Just curious, but what kind of "better methods" did you show them? I'm thinking "DD with bs=1M |netcat" type-stuff here, but am always open to new optimizations...
Slashdot Mirror
--You had TAPE DRIVES?! Luxury!!!
--I believe that's Tom's Root Boot:
http://www.toms.net/rb/
"125 channels, and there's STILL nothing on worth watching!!"
--I'll agree with you there. Had Dish Network for about 2 years, and the only reason I cancelled it was because of moving back in with parents (bad economy.)
--I was quite happy with the service while I had it; but this channel-pulling BS just sucks. I blame Viacom however, not DN.
--Those kids really need some SERIOUS discipline changes, as well as professional counselling - and SOON... Otherwise that idiot mom has a good chance of ending up physically abused -- or even perished -- by her own children's hands someday.
--You gotta teach them respect, or they will absolutely walk all over you - to your detriment (and theirs.)
--You got it. :) In addition, I don't use DHCP - all my boxes have Class A fixed IP's (10.0.x.x); and with a couple of simple Iptables rules, no "spoofed" addresses can get in over the PPP link. Plus, no box is allowed to access anything on the network unless it's listed in my etc/hosts file. All this, along with Zonealarm, has kept things pretty stable so far.
;-) Wget, most browsers, apt-get, and gaim all work thru the proxy with the addition of a couple of environment vars and/or menu settings.
;-) YMMV.
--The downside is, I can't ping (or ssh to) anywhere in the outside world without logging in and doing so directly from the Internet-connected box; the upside is, in my experience the setup is pretty well secured against outside attacks. (And the only "internal" user is me.
--I'm also not running any servers (except for the occasional BitTorrent, which has pretty much ceased after being forced to switch back to dialup) so the way I have things configged might not work for everyone; but then again, I haven't had any problems with being hax0red inside of 2 minutes, either.
--I agree with you though; the OS itself should not be so blatantly vulnerable "out of the box."
--Nope. All my boxes use the proxy server for their Internet connection. Never had problems with Win-based attacks, even when I wasn't running *any* firewall (iptables.) My friend is running Squid and nothing else (no firewall at all) with most ports closed, and he has reported "no problems."
--If you're behind a proxy cache server like Squid, they can't see you. (At least, AFAIK. knockwood) Viruses are indeed a slightly different matter, but much less of a problem when you don't use IE or click on $random-attachment-that-you-weren't-expecting.
--In terms of computer storage, that "4.7GB" is actually only ~4480MB (or a few meg less.)
o pic/2572 3-1.html
See:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/archive/t
--The space is Slashdot's fault, not his. The following should be an unbroken line of random words and characters, but will not be:
k ey odelinbotspewinCRAPHAMMERschlong
ishtivurgenmogendavengoovenballenspoomchewinmon
--Switch insurance companies. Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago, and State Farm went to bat for me. Actually got some money out of the stupid idiot that totalled my car.
--Be thankful you're not a Mainframe admin - back in my day, (at least up to Y2000) we had to IPL those suckers every weekend. 'Struth. Very rarely did a particular MF box last more than 2 weeks w/o being IPL'ed.
--If I were you, I'd look into setting up a Linux-based Squid (or $other) proxy/cache server for your Internet connection. I've had no problems with viruses or the like, and also run Zonealarm on the Win boxen. (Altho it must be admitted I'm still running W98.) Squid works over dialup and broadband, BTW.
s /corpo rate.asp
o wnloads/ default.asp
--My friend is also running a Squid server (I helped him set it up) and AFAIK he doesn't have problems with people trying to own his Win-XP boxes.
--If you're interested, you can email me and I'll send you a sample squid.conf file. Just put "Request for squid.conf" in the Subject line.
--There is a "Windows Corporate" update link for individual updates (at least for 98:)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/download
--Also see (check bottom of page for link):
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/d
--Guess what happens when apt-get upgrade (or dist-upgrade) breaks the system? You get two choices:
1. Restore from backup (if you're lucky)
2. Reinstall
--At least for home users, it's much easier to start over with a fresh install (especially if, like me, you're running off a Knoppix or Mepis live-cd install) than try to figure out what went wrong and why -- THAT process can take hours (or days!)
--True story: I recently did apt-get update/upgrade on my Knoppix boxes, and WVDIAL broke on *both.* I didn't know this until after a reboot/hangup however. Kppp was also acting flaky and wouldn't connect. Lucky for me, I had a Vmware Knoppix DVD install that hadn't been touched for a while; got wvdial and squid running in there, so I was able to downgrade wvdial to stable on the regular boxes (apt-get install wvdial/stable).
--I still have to figure out how to put wvdial on "Hold" w/o using Aptitude though. Anybody got a command-line equivalent for that?
> (1) there are more good guys than bad guys, or otherwise society as we know it wouldn't exist; and (2) good guys are smarter than bad guys, because our current social organization tends to favor being honest. Good guys get good salaries, bad guys are sent to jail.
--(1) is demonstrably false. If you think "people are basically good", you're not living in the Real World. "Good people" are the EXCEPTION. It's *very* nice when you find them and can interact with them, because it's such a welcome relief from the norm. I do try to be as good as possible to other people (Golden Rule) but even I know I'm *not* basically "good at heart." I have to continually fight the temptation to "take the easy way out" - because being scrupulously honest is HARD. Making a conscious effort to be "nice" to other people *all the time* is HARD.
--(2) is true for the most part (check current jail population) although I dunno if I would use the term "smarter." Except for the ones that haven't been caught (yet.)
"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed..." [/Imperial March]
--I googled for "spybot search destroy" and found it:
f er-networking.org/index.php?page=dow nload
http://www.safer-networking.org/
http://www.sa
+1 True BOFH
"That's the kind of combination an IDIOT would have on his luggage!"
http://imdb.com/title/tt0094012/
--I'm with you; IMHO Alien 3 is the worst, and I liked A4 so much, I bought it on DVD.
--From what little I know about power lines, they're not "clean" - this is why you should have a surge-protector / UPS powering your computer, to clean up the sine wave.
My questions are:
o How SECURE is this tech? Broadband over powerlines sounds like it could be *very* easily tapped / sniffed. [conspiracy-theory]
o How many dropped packets / xmission errors are to be commonly expected with this tech? (How reliable is it)
o Is it going to affect the power to my household appliances at all? (will it make lights flicker)
o Does it support IPV6? (Not that *I'm* worried about it, just a question)
o Can you have a choice of static / dynamic IPs with it?
o What happens when THOUSANDS / millions of ppl are sending data over the powerlines? Does the end-user incoming data rate eventually drop, like with shared cable access?
o Does it increase cancer probability??
--Having not had a job for a long time, I won't pay for Winzip either. Why should I, when "zip" and "unzip" comes free with Linux? The only problem with Zip currently is the pathetic 2GB filesize limit. This should have been fixed (at least on the Linux side) circa 1999 or so.
--However, I *would like to* support Rar, as I perceive it to be a superior archiver. I could see my way to donating $10-$15 to help the guy make a living, but the current price is too much.
(I hardly ever use Windoze for anything but games - and certain websites that don't render properly with Linux browsers - anymore. Most of my time is spent in Linux, and I much prefer using the commandline to GUI.)
--You know, if he would lower the registration price to ~$15 or so I bet he'd get a lot more incoming money. The economy SUCKS, and $29-30 is just way too much for what basically amounts to a zip-competitor, even though RAR is a good archiver.
1. Upgrade your tar
;-)
2. Ditch the old *nix box and switch to Linux / OS/X / *BSD
3. Switch to GNU tar or Joerg Schilling's "star"
4. ???
5. PROFIT!
--I experimented with afio a couple of years ago, but the problem I ran into was twofold:
o Passing a list of files to afio, by default, is a PITA; I much prefer tar / zip / rar for their convenience here, you can pass a wildcard at the command line *or* send them a list.
o I couldn't find a way to do a *partial* restore of a subset of files.
--Anyone got some tips on this? I did write a set of scripts for handling volume changes and the like; if anyone's interested in them, email me.
--Just curious, but what kind of "better methods" did you show them? I'm thinking "DD with bs=1M |netcat" type-stuff here, but am always open to new optimizations...