Back in the good old PC days of Windows 3.11 and OS/2, programs like 'doublespace' were a popular way to get more storage out of expensive 50megabyte drives. They used a single large file in C:\ as a virtual drive D:
Was I the only person to try to copy the c:\ volume image into the D: compressed volume?
Solaris had the concept of 'tmpfs' long ago, all of my Ultra-250 servers have this line in/etc/vfstab:
swap -/tmp tmpfs - yes size=1536m
This means/tmp is handled by the swap partition, but cannot grow to more than 1.5Gb of storage (half of all the swap space). Works like a charm.
Don't ask why I have 3Gb of swap, it's not a pretty story.
I've only really come up with one good use- cataloging a book collection, assuming the majority of your books are recent enough to have ISBN numbers in bar codes.
Other than that, it's free, why not get one just in case you find an application for it someday in the future.
There's a huge gulf between "law enforcement" and "domestic surveillance", and Carnivore is a four-lane suspension bridge across the chasm.
When the government gets a wiretap order, agents must demonstrate to a judge that a crime is being committed by the specific target of the tap, and tapping their phone is the only way to get the evidence needed. They don't tap every phone in the neighborhood.
Carnivore taps every phone in the neighborhood, and has the potential to collect the envelope and body of every message by every user.
There is no reason for us to believe the government has any intention not to use Carnivore to it's full potential.
We need SMTP+SSL, to encrypt the entire SMTP conversation between servers.
Encrypting the body of your email message is not sufficient. Traffic analysis (knowing which parties are exchanging mail) can be almost as valuable as extracting message bodies, and is most likely the real purpose of Carnivore.
In order to perform the stated purpose of Carnivore, the software must check the SMTP sender and recipient of every single email crossing your network. Are we honestly going to believe that after logging all of this valuable information, the FBI is simply going to throw it away?
There's precedent to claim that no search warrant is needed to extract the 'envelope information' from every single message.
I'd say that if the original Linux drivers are freely available, and the 'tool' Sun wrote to convert them to Solaris is freely available, then there should be no problem with Sun distributing the Linux drivers as Solaris binaries.
As long as the tools to do the conversion are available for free so I can recompile the driver when a newer version is released, the authors have no cause for complaint.
As a Sun Microsystems shareholder (Today's high $118.12), if they didn't want to help themselves and make money, I would be screaming bloody murder.
I'm more committed to paying my bills than I am to open source, if Sun's "loophole" is a legitimate exception to the viral nature of the GPL, I say more power to them!
They take programs, they use it, the MODIFY it and they don't even think about realesing the modifications to the original author.
And if they do not choose to redistribute the compiled binaries of their modified code, they are not required to release the modifications to the original offer.
Read the details of the license before you accuse people of violating it!
Specifically I refer to this sentence in the GPL " the intent is to exercise
the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program".
I have a pile of old Sun LX boxes (shoebox style Sparc 2 units), I'll be attempting to turn these into network-booting MP3 players using something like Amanda to access a central store of music files.
These old Sun machines can take 96Mb of RAM and include 16-bit stereo sound cards. They should have (barely) enough CPU to decode and play MP3.
Actually, due to the hardware overhead of uncompressing MP3, I may end up running MP3-to-WAV on a central server with some real CPU power and FastEthernet in it, then streaming the WAV data over switched 10Mb ether to the players.
If you are interested in working on this project, feel free to contact me.
Memory FileSystems are pretty standard stuff,
one very popular application is to mount a MFS as/var/tmp- modern Solaris defaults to using 'tmpfs' if you do not explicitly create a/tmp filesystem.
The point of MFS is fast read/write (especially write) access to data where you don't care that it will not survive a reboot. In the case of/tmp, you don't want the contents to persist between boots.
Caller-ID blocking does nothing to block delivery of the calling number when calling toll-free lines.
The initial setup call the TiVo makes dials a toll-free number, from there it downloads a list of your local numbers based on the zip code you enter as part of the setup.
I'm not suggesting that TiVo is using the information available from your call to the toll-free line, but it is available to them.
Actually, every TiVo shipped has hardware-based Blowfish encryption on board. I doubt the hardware is tuned to handle realtime encryption/decryption of the MPEG-2 video stream, but I haven't looked at the details of the chip and it's interface to the mainboard.
TiVo does use "locked" drives in some of the product line, the IDE drive is seen as having a tiny fraction of it's actual size if you pull it from the unit and pop it into your PC.
Speculation has been that the primary purpose of this is to keep people from buying cheap TiVo units ($99 for a 14hour unit with rebates) and stripping them for parts.
The work-around to the locked drive involves moving the IDE connection from the TiVo to the PC with the drive powered up. Not for the faint of heart.
As to extracting the MPEG data, it's actively being worked on. To actually be useful, first we need some interface faster than the 115Kbps non-flow-control serial port on the TiVo.
Toshiba makes a number of laptops with embedded hardware decoders, and S-Video output. They even have AC-3 optical digital output.
Details are on their web site.
There are no exceptions that make spam acceptable- to think otherwise is to invite everybody to make their own exception.
DeCSS may be the exception for you, spreading the word of god is the exception for your neighbor, announcing the birth of their daughter is the exception for your boss, and soon we are completely overrun by spam.
The American first amendment (Freedom of the press) gets the best protection when an actual printing press is involved.
The DeCSS issue is slightly more complex, since it's not a 'pure' free speech case, but historically, the US Supreme Court is reluctant to allow any restrictions on words on paper- pictures and streams of electrons are a different story.
SSH uses RSA for the public/private keys and authentication, but other algorithms for the actual stream ciphers when the connection is open.
Some ciphers are free but weak, some are free, strong, and slow (Triple DES), while IDEA is faster, strong, but covered by it's own patent (Patent 5,214,703), no connection to RSA...
So the answer to your question is, NO, not if you include IDEA. Details (in german).
Most places where I go, I run the proxy server, built it or at least have root on it.
This is a double-edged sword, in that I am effectively exempt from any restrictions placed on web browsing (as I post this at 4PM CST), but I am also to some extent responsible for creating and enforcing those restrictions.
Personally, I reserve my potentially objectionable web activities to my personally owned machine, be that a laptop tunneling to an external proxy, a ssh connection to a box with Lynx, or just waiting until I get home to download MP3s and pr0n.
What would they do if I had a hardened concrete and steel bunker instead of a house? What if that
started proliferating and became the defacto standard. Do you think law enforcement agencies would stand for that? Would they make you build weaker buildings or give them a key?
Many cities and states already have a criminal act known as "illegal fortification". For example, Washington State Code.
Comparing this to the classic UK "Robot Wars", the Comedy Central show could be much better if they would just get rid of the stupid "sports announcer" guys on the cast. We don't want to see guys with too much hairspray talking like it is a football game, we want to see machines tear each other to shreds!
I noticed right off that there is one major improvement in "Battle Bots" - weapons that actually work!
The 'bots in "Robot Wars" tend to have wimpy little weapons and never do any real damage- saws that stop spinning the moment they come into contact with anything of real substance. Meanwhile, the first "Battle Bot" exhibition match has one robot literally tearing the other to pieces!
Something that is seldom mentioned, under the BSD license, the various *BSD groups can take code from each other, and the various Linux groups can take BSD code and add it to their OS, however...
BSD Cannot take Linux GNU-licensed code
There is no GNU code in the BSD kernel, and any cool code that Linus comes up with and releases under the GNU license cannot be directly used in BSD.
In that respect, the BSD license slows development of the *BSDs, especially drivers for new hardware. This is not always a bad thing.
Theo is definitely "one person with a vision", though it may not be a vision many people share.
The various BSD flavors (Open,Free,Net,BSDI) do compete against each other in some respects, but generally each has a well-defined niche, with minimal overlap between them.
There are some applications for which even I, ardent OpenBSD proponent that I am, choose another OS.
I had a nice debate with TQBF on this subject about a year ago.
Take a look at the BSD-derived OS shipped with the Sidewinder firewall, which they call SecureOSTM.
Secure Computing has compartmentalization implemented in what they call Type Enforcement.
The device uses the PS/2 keyboard port, something not commonly found on a PalmPilot.
It probably draws it's power from the port as well, making it even less likely to be successfully used with a Pilot.
OTOH, there are barcode scanners available for PalmOS.
We are a not-for-profit ISP in Chicago, offering true (dedicated, not oversold) bandwidth to members. Our service is not cheaper than other ISPs.
Right now I am pricing the options to offer DSL service to members, and having a difficult time finding DSL circuit providers that are not overselling their own internal (ATM/FR) bandwidth from the central offices themselves.
Unfortunately, real bandwidth costs real money, a true T1 connection without any artificial restrictions will run you around $1,500.00 in most major US cities, not counting the cost of the circuit itself. When you pay a DSL provider $49.95 a month, you aren't going to be getting dedicated access to $1,500 worth of bandwidth!
A for-profit ISP has to keep their average customer happy (Slashdot readers are not their average customer), pay the monthly recurring cost for the support personnel, rent, DSL and T1/T3 circuits and bandwidth to the Internet, pay off the initial capital expense, and eventually turn a profit. They have no choice but to cut corners and oversell bandwidth.
Slashdot Mirror
Was I the only person to try to copy the c:\ volume image into the D: compressed volume?
Solaris had the concept of 'tmpfs' long ago, all of my Ultra-250 servers have this line in /etc/vfstab:
swap - /tmp tmpfs - yes size=1536m
This means /tmp is handled by the swap partition, but cannot grow to more than 1.5Gb of storage (half of all the swap space). Works like a charm.
Don't ask why I have 3Gb of swap, it's not a pretty story.
Other than that, it's free, why not get one just in case you find an application for it someday in the future.
When the government gets a wiretap order, agents must demonstrate to a judge that a crime is being committed by the specific target of the tap, and tapping their phone is the only way to get the evidence needed. They don't tap every phone in the neighborhood.
Carnivore taps every phone in the neighborhood, and has the potential to collect the envelope and body of every message by every user.
There is no reason for us to believe the government has any intention not to use Carnivore to it's full potential.
Encrypting the body of your email message is not sufficient. Traffic analysis (knowing which parties are exchanging mail) can be almost as valuable as extracting message bodies, and is most likely the real purpose of Carnivore.
In order to perform the stated purpose of Carnivore, the software must check the SMTP sender and recipient of every single email crossing your network. Are we honestly going to believe that after logging all of this valuable information, the FBI is simply going to throw it away?
There's precedent to claim that no search warrant is needed to extract the 'envelope information' from every single message.
As long as the tools to do the conversion are available for free so I can recompile the driver when a newer version is released, the authors have no cause for complaint.
I'm more committed to paying my bills than I am to open source, if Sun's "loophole" is a legitimate exception to the viral nature of the GPL, I say more power to them!
And if they do not choose to redistribute the compiled binaries of their modified code, they are not required to release the modifications to the original offer.
Read the details of the license before you accuse people of violating it!
Specifically I refer to this sentence in the GPL " the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program".
These old Sun machines can take 96Mb of RAM and include 16-bit stereo sound cards. They should have (barely) enough CPU to decode and play MP3.
Actually, due to the hardware overhead of uncompressing MP3, I may end up running MP3-to-WAV on a central server with some real CPU power and FastEthernet in it, then streaming the WAV data over switched 10Mb ether to the players.
If you are interested in working on this project, feel free to contact me.
The point of MFS is fast read/write (especially write) access to data where you don't care that it will not survive a reboot. In the case of /tmp, you don't want the contents to persist between boots.
The initial setup call the TiVo makes dials a toll-free number, from there it downloads a list of your local numbers based on the zip code you enter as part of the setup.
I'm not suggesting that TiVo is using the information available from your call to the toll-free line, but it is available to them.
Actually, every TiVo shipped has hardware-based Blowfish encryption on board. I doubt the hardware is tuned to handle realtime encryption/decryption of the MPEG-2 video stream, but I haven't looked at the details of the chip and it's interface to the mainboard.
Speculation has been that the primary purpose of this is to keep people from buying cheap TiVo units ($99 for a 14hour unit with rebates) and stripping them for parts.
The work-around to the locked drive involves moving the IDE connection from the TiVo to the PC with the drive powered up. Not for the faint of heart.
As to extracting the MPEG data, it's actively being worked on. To actually be useful, first we need some interface faster than the 115Kbps non-flow-control serial port on the TiVo.
Toshiba makes a number of laptops with embedded hardware decoders, and S-Video output. They even have AC-3 optical digital output. Details are on their web site.
There are no exceptions that make spam acceptable- to think otherwise is to invite everybody to make their own exception. DeCSS may be the exception for you, spreading the word of god is the exception for your neighbor, announcing the birth of their daughter is the exception for your boss, and soon we are completely overrun by spam.
The DeCSS issue is slightly more complex, since it's not a 'pure' free speech case, but historically, the US Supreme Court is reluctant to allow any restrictions on words on paper- pictures and streams of electrons are a different story.
Some ciphers are free but weak, some are free, strong, and slow (Triple DES), while IDEA is faster, strong, but covered by it's own patent (Patent 5,214,703), no connection to RSA...
So the answer to your question is, NO, not if you include IDEA. Details (in german).
This is a double-edged sword, in that I am effectively exempt from any restrictions placed on web browsing (as I post this at 4PM CST), but I am also to some extent responsible for creating and enforcing those restrictions.
Personally, I reserve my potentially objectionable web activities to my personally owned machine, be that a laptop tunneling to an external proxy, a ssh connection to a box with Lynx, or just waiting until I get home to download MP3s and pr0n.
Many cities and states already have a criminal act known as "illegal fortification". For example, Washington State Code.
So yes, they would.
I noticed right off that there is one major improvement in "Battle Bots" - weapons that actually work!
The 'bots in "Robot Wars" tend to have wimpy little weapons and never do any real damage- saws that stop spinning the moment they come into contact with anything of real substance. Meanwhile, the first "Battle Bot" exhibition match has one robot literally tearing the other to pieces!
That's what we like to see, total carnage!
"Robot Wars" is a great show, "Battle Bots" has all of the earmarks of American-TV... crap.
USA has a very bad track record for adaptations of BBC shows.
BSD Cannot take Linux GNU-licensed code
There is no GNU code in the BSD kernel, and any cool code that Linus comes up with and releases under the GNU license cannot be directly used in BSD.
In that respect, the BSD license slows development of the *BSDs, especially drivers for new hardware. This is not always a bad thing.
The various BSD flavors (Open,Free,Net,BSDI) do compete against each other in some respects, but generally each has a well-defined niche, with minimal overlap between them.
There are some applications for which even I, ardent OpenBSD proponent that I am, choose another OS.
Take a look at the BSD-derived OS shipped with the Sidewinder firewall, which they call SecureOSTM. Secure Computing has compartmentalization implemented in what they call Type Enforcement.
The device uses the PS/2 keyboard port, something not commonly found on a PalmPilot. It probably draws it's power from the port as well, making it even less likely to be successfully used with a Pilot. OTOH, there are barcode scanners available for PalmOS.
Right now I am pricing the options to offer DSL service to members, and having a difficult time finding DSL circuit providers that are not overselling their own internal (ATM/FR) bandwidth from the central offices themselves.
Unfortunately, real bandwidth costs real money, a true T1 connection without any artificial restrictions will run you around $1,500.00 in most major US cities, not counting the cost of the circuit itself. When you pay a DSL provider $49.95 a month, you aren't going to be getting dedicated access to $1,500 worth of bandwidth!
A for-profit ISP has to keep their average customer happy (Slashdot readers are not their average customer), pay the monthly recurring cost for the support personnel, rent, DSL and T1/T3 circuits and bandwidth to the Internet, pay off the initial capital expense, and eventually turn a profit. They have no choice but to cut corners and oversell bandwidth.
At most, you get what you pay for.