Writing kernel extensions for Windows(which in most situations is pretty much like changing the kernel, at least from a hackers perspective) isn't really that much different than writing them for Linux.
So what is the definition of a "kernel extension" then? I was under the impression that modifying the kernel in Windows is pretty much a no-no these days. I don't really know much about it, but I understood that antivirus apps used to operate by hooking the Windows kernel and post Vista SP2(?) that's not allowed anymore.
Is a kernel extension the same concept, or are you speaking of kernel modifications that explicitly require recompiling the kernel itself? Aren't device drivers kernel extensions in this context?
most people use Linux because it does what they need an OS to do
Very true. I find Windows to be the best (and most aesthetically appealing -- aero is some good stuff:P) environment for the majority of tasks that I do. For manipulating raw disk images though, the tools available for Windows pale in comparison to those on Linux. I keep that Ubuntu VM around for the inverse of the reasons that the Linux zealots keep the XP VM on their desktops;-)
While it is not impossible to learn and implement good data management/database development practices using Microsoft tools, such a result is seldom seen in the wild.
I've got a funny story that might give you a heart attack.
I peeked at the helpdesk one afternoon to see that there was a ticket from one of the programmers. One of the web pages they built was throwing a script error and it was likely a "permissions issue." I noticed the browser had a UNC path in it (to the web server, no less) and figured that had to be the problem. So I hop on the web server and drill down to the folder and find the URL for it, pop it in my browser... still not working. I crack the HTML file and get no help there, so I start tracing through it with Chrome... where I find the SQL connection string in the included javascript file and nearly have an aneurysm.
After the programmers assured me that "that's just how it's done there" and not knowing enough VB/ASP nor it being my job, I hopped on the SQL server and added the user group to the stored procedures necessary to get the pages to work.
At least it was using Windows Authentication and not "sa" right in the javascript file:-P
I don't actually have an X-Box 360, haven't figured out what I would need one for.
The XBox 360 is the best *and* the most cost effective Media Center Extender available on the market.
Slap it together with Windows 7 and a Cablecard tuner, and you've got a networked DVR that can play 1080p h264 MKV's as well. Neat thing is that Windows Media Center on the host PC does the hardware accelerated decoding and ships it to the extender. It's very neat stuff.
I imagine that the kernel is upgraded without ever actually stopping. Kexec actually switches the CPU from long or protected mode back down to real mode and then invokes your new kernel. It's a particularly neat trick for acquiring or manipulating any BIOS based x86 system with a Linux kernel prior to invoking NTLDR or the Windows Boot Manager.
A fellow named John Stumpo wrote a Windows driver called WinKexec for doing a Kexec from Windows. I compiled it but never did get it to work. Something about the INT10(?) calls seemed to make my test systems hate life:P
No one "learns" to type in the span of a lesson provided by a classroom environment.
True. You can, however, learn the fundamentals of typing that way. Then, as you use them both in the classroom and at home (or work) you gradually become a good typist on your own.
Right right. What I'm saying is that, considering all that there is to learn, wasting these kids' time with "typing classes" is akin to academic malfeasance.
Knowing how to type never prevented someone from falling for a phishing scam. Nor has it prevented the typist from butchering the alignment on her resume. It might have taken her less time to type it though, of course!
You're right on that, actually. I was being a little over the top just to make a point:D
Though when I said "password policy," I was thinking more along the lines of "at least X digits long, at least Y unique characters, at least blah blah blah." I'm assuming that 'password policy' in the way that you mention above would simply be enforced through habit of any password management scheme that they choose.
Language -- written and spoken -- should be taught in language classes, IMHO.
People should really be taught a few things that relate specifically to using computers in business. The day when I no longer see a Word document that uses multiple, non-aligned TABs to put words on the right side of a page that are supposed to (but definitely do not) align with text a few lines above instead of using a hanging indent (or whatever they're called), the day when I don't go to fill out the underlined portions of a document and find that all I do create a separation in the underscores that were used to create it, the day when I don't royally fuck a spreadsheet because someone didn't lock a cell..... well the point is that such a day can never come soon enough.
Teach people how to read domain names. Pretty much all the non-IT folks I know wouldn't understand that "google.images.com" isn't owned by Google.
Teach them what a certificate error really means.
Teach them how to identify when someone's trying to steal their shit.
Don't teach good password policy; they won't remember their passwords. Teach them how to use a password manager instead. It could be a password manager that uses dictionary words and still be a gazillion times more secure than what they'd do otherwise.
DO NOT TEACH TYPING. It is a waste of time. Typing is best as an acquired skill or one that is self taught. No one "learns" to type in the span of a lesson provided by a classroom environment.
There's a multitude of items that could be added to this litany, but I'm sure anyone here could get the point.
To say the least, kids won't acquire anything exclusively through the classroom if you teach them how to open up Word and write a letter. They already know how to do that shit. What will be useful to them is if you teach them about the features of the program that exist but that they'll forget how to use. Seriously. If they at least know that they can use hanging indents or track changes, then at least they'll know when to go hunting for how to do it again when they find a need for the feature at a future point.
I've found that, over time, someone who knows what tools he could use to accomplish a task tends to be more adept at getting things done rather than the person who uses the same tool for everything just because he knows how to use it so well.
While I agree with you in principle, as the Indian government said, they do things differently there.
Sorry, but the Indian gov't needs to go fuck itself.
With respect to Blackberry, the India doesn't do things differently. India wants to do things differently, and quite frankly everyone at RIM is a bunch of fucktards for giving in to the first country that decided to publicly swing its cock in their direction.
I quite personally don't give a flying fuck whether or not any government listens in on what it chooses. But I'll say for damned certain that if something is touted as "secure" and "encrypted," having a man in the middle makes that statement 100% bullshit. RIM can go die in a fire or simply remove their encryption altogether. If anyone other than the sender and recipient can read an "encrypted" message, then the shit's not encrypted by the understood sense of the term. End of story.
Wait WTF? Here in.au no company would be able to avoid their warranty responsibilities in this way.
If you have a receipt you have warranty. Registration would have no effect under Aus consumer law, no sale contract can allow you to avoid warranty claims. Something tells me you are from the US, where it seems consumer protection is a bit lax.
They are lax. I'm jealous of the warranty policies in nearly every other country where the same products are marketed.
As an example, while not upset because at the very least it was an informed purchase, I think it's crap that Apple gives a 12 month warranty on their 2000+ dollar computers, and make you pay nearly $400 more for a 24 month extension to that warranty, which, unlike most other warranties that are %20 of the product's price, doesn't cover "accidental damage."
Consumers regularly get screwed on product reliability in the US, which is likely why the "extended warranty" business is such a profitable one. It's sad that it's become standard for companies to reduce their warranties to a period so short that there's no way you could expect a well made product to fail for nearly any reason within that time frame, and then require something else, be it registration or monetary compensation, to simply guarantee that your purchase won't be something you'll wind up considering a mistake within a reasonable amount of time.
...but I digress. I think it'd be especially nice if we could do away with the "extended warranty" crap and simply pay a deductible or small fee to cover costs after a "full" warranty ends. Verizon offered a $50 "out of warranty" replacement for defective phones..... That was mighty convenient.
The BBC just pronounces things the way their primary audience (i.e. the British public that funds them) speak and expect them to speak.
Well.... I've always thought that the fun thing about the differences in pronunciation make for fun cross cultural flirting, which admittedly is more convenient when you speak the same language.
A friend of mine spent a month in London, and I asked him, "You know that whole thing about how Americans love hearing people with British accents talk? Does the reverse hold true as well?"
"Oh yes," he told me. "One of the first things they asked me was, 'to say the name of that metal.' I wasn't sure what they were talking about. 'Oh it's really light. It starts with an A. You know, they build aircraft out of it!'...You mean aluminum? 'Yes! Aluminium!'" He said there was much giggling by the females, he explained, and I can assure you it wasn't because he's a fellow that frequently makes ladies giggle...:D
That said, I suppose the point is that pronunciation is what it is. The way people say things, when they're the public norm, is generally the way that things are supposed to be said. The best example I can think of is with the word "forte." If you use the "correct" pronunciation by saying "fort," people are going to look at you like you're an idiot once they figure out that you meant "for-tay."
Of course, that's not to say I excuse any morons who may have held public office while misleading the public and saying "nucular" into TV cameras for 8 years straight.
@martin-boundary naw dude. it's a gazillion times moar convenient to click thru a gazillion pages to read the whole conversation rather than seeing a threaded view. And the character limit is good cau
I had considered that, when the second card failed not long after the first. It was when the third card, purchased some 4 months later (albeit from the same reseller, Newegg) failed that I got more upset.
maybe there was a thermal design issue -- either the board layout's interaction with reflow process, or runtime thermal management.
That's quite possible.
If a card like yours is failing, there's no way to digitally re-manufacture it....please refrain from making up conspiracy hypotheses (they ain't theories, damnit) when you have little clue about the involved technology.
That was the point. In lieu of my fabled conspiracy theory being accurate, I feel that, as the customer, I'm getting fucked. Specifically because I was sold hardware that, unless I'm incredibly unlucky, would have been known by the manufacturer to have a high failure rate. In spite of them likely knowing that I had been sold faulty products for which they were eager to take my money for, they didn't deem it fit to ensure that I stay a happy customer. I won't buy or recommend their shit ever again.
Sad to see, but it happens. Had the same deal with a motherboard once. Couldn't get upset about it.
At least they offer a lifetime warranty. The only warranty I ever truly care about is one that lasts long enough to where going through an RMA just isn't worth the time or expense anymore. Lifetime or not, that point (about 3-4 years for graphics cards and maybe 2-3 for motherboards) is warranty enough.
However, I wish that EVGA would go out of business instead. You see, for some reason EVGA's products actually become less reliable if you don't ensure they have your name and product serial number matched together in a database. I learned the extra-hard way that for some reason my 3 identical 6800GT cards from them, which all failed within their "claimed" warranty period, must have been expected to fail as I did not register them on the EVGA website when I bought them. I reasoned that the only explanation was that the cards are somehow become less robust of a product after they're sold and must need to be digitally re-manufactured through the product registration process. Either that or the company enjoys fucking the customer. I never did get a straight answer as to which was actually the case.
money would be better spent helping all of you coders out there in creating a language/compiler programing paradigm that can use 12 threads efficiently for something beyond rendering GTA.
From what I've heard, the number of cores you throw at GTA doesn't matter, it still runs like crap.;)
The cease-and-desist will claim some intellectual property violation and it will be up to you to give in to the intimidation or resist by contacting your host to get your site back online.
Back when the first AACS decoder was released on Doom9, it was called BackupHDDVD and made use of a key obtained from PowerDVD (IIRC) for Windows.
The programmer, however, implemented AACS decryption by following the specification as posted directly on the AACS Licensing Authority's website.
Ah, the old BBS days.... One of the guys on the BBS I was a member of back then (via "Mom can I have a subscription to this BBS for my birthday?" X-D) used to make maps with custom sound tracks taken from NIN CD's he had laying around. And the first time I finally got Doom up and running via Telix (I think?), thinking it was especially neat that I was running more than one program at a time, everything loaded and I had a hell of a time trying to move. The lag was unbearable. So we get out of the game and back into the chat and I tell them that I've got a 9600 baud modem...
A couple months later, a friend of the family who worked for US Robotics at the time and was actually involved with the development of X2 and later V.90 heard about my 9600 baud plight and sent us one of the very first 56k modems on the market. I piped 5 gigs through that modem one summer... ah the memories:D
I dislike multi readers like that because every card slot shows up as a drive letter in windows.
That only happens when you're using a nearly-decade-old operating system. Come join us in the modern world and behold the "Hide Empty Drives" option;-)
I have two of those 5-in-3 SATA enclosures in my desktop. It's a Lian-Li tower, about $200. Newegg doesn't stock it anymore else I'd link you, but those combined with the case's internal storage gave me 22 3.5" slots, which is enough for me. Not sure if $200 is what you consider "stupidly expensive," but if you look around, Lian-Li still makes some.
Also, I think the Coolermaster Stacker cases come with up to 9 5.25 bays, so that could work too.
Slashdot Mirror
Writing kernel extensions for Windows(which in most situations is pretty much like changing the kernel, at least from a hackers perspective) isn't really that much different than writing them for Linux.
So what is the definition of a "kernel extension" then? I was under the impression that modifying the kernel in Windows is pretty much a no-no these days. I don't really know much about it, but I understood that antivirus apps used to operate by hooking the Windows kernel and post Vista SP2(?) that's not allowed anymore.
Is a kernel extension the same concept, or are you speaking of kernel modifications that explicitly require recompiling the kernel itself? Aren't device drivers kernel extensions in this context?
most people use Linux because it does what they need an OS to do
Very true. I find Windows to be the best (and most aesthetically appealing -- aero is some good stuff :P) environment for the majority of tasks that I do. For manipulating raw disk images though, the tools available for Windows pale in comparison to those on Linux. I keep that Ubuntu VM around for the inverse of the reasons that the Linux zealots keep the XP VM on their desktops ;-)
While it is not impossible to learn and implement good data management/database development practices using Microsoft tools, such a result is seldom seen in the wild.
I've got a funny story that might give you a heart attack.
:-P
I peeked at the helpdesk one afternoon to see that there was a ticket from one of the programmers. One of the web pages they built was throwing a script error and it was likely a "permissions issue." I noticed the browser had a UNC path in it (to the web server, no less) and figured that had to be the problem. So I hop on the web server and drill down to the folder and find the URL for it, pop it in my browser... still not working. I crack the HTML file and get no help there, so I start tracing through it with Chrome... where I find the SQL connection string in the included javascript file and nearly have an aneurysm.
After the programmers assured me that "that's just how it's done there" and not knowing enough VB/ASP nor it being my job, I hopped on the SQL server and added the user group to the stored procedures necessary to get the pages to work.
At least it was using Windows Authentication and not "sa" right in the javascript file
I don't actually have an X-Box 360, haven't figured out what I would need one for.
The XBox 360 is the best *and* the most cost effective Media Center Extender available on the market.
:-D
Slap it together with Windows 7 and a Cablecard tuner, and you've got a networked DVR that can play 1080p h264 MKV's as well. Neat thing is that Windows Media Center on the host PC does the hardware accelerated decoding and ships it to the extender. It's very neat stuff.
I've never actually played a game on my 360
I imagine that the kernel is upgraded without ever actually stopping. Kexec actually switches the CPU from long or protected mode back down to real mode and then invokes your new kernel. It's a particularly neat trick for acquiring or manipulating any BIOS based x86 system with a Linux kernel prior to invoking NTLDR or the Windows Boot Manager.
:P
A fellow named John Stumpo wrote a Windows driver called WinKexec for doing a Kexec from Windows. I compiled it but never did get it to work. Something about the INT10(?) calls seemed to make my test systems hate life
No one "learns" to type in the span of a lesson provided by a classroom environment.
True. You can, however, learn the fundamentals of typing that way. Then, as you use them both in the classroom and at home (or work) you gradually become a good typist on your own.
Right right. What I'm saying is that, considering all that there is to learn, wasting these kids' time with "typing classes" is akin to academic malfeasance.
Knowing how to type never prevented someone from falling for a phishing scam. Nor has it prevented the typist from butchering the alignment on her resume. It might have taken her less time to type it though, of course!
You're right on that, actually. I was being a little over the top just to make a point :D
Though when I said "password policy," I was thinking more along the lines of "at least X digits long, at least Y unique characters, at least blah blah blah." I'm assuming that 'password policy' in the way that you mention above would simply be enforced through habit of any password management scheme that they choose.
People should really be taught a few things that relate specifically to using computers in business. The day when I no longer see a Word document that uses multiple, non-aligned TABs to put words on the right side of a page that are supposed to (but definitely do not) align with text a few lines above instead of using a hanging indent (or whatever they're called), the day when I don't go to fill out the underlined portions of a document and find that all I do create a separation in the underscores that were used to create it, the day when I don't royally fuck a spreadsheet because someone didn't lock a cell..... well the point is that such a day can never come soon enough.
There's a multitude of items that could be added to this litany, but I'm sure anyone here could get the point.
To say the least, kids won't acquire anything exclusively through the classroom if you teach them how to open up Word and write a letter. They already know how to do that shit. What will be useful to them is if you teach them about the features of the program that exist but that they'll forget how to use. Seriously. If they at least know that they can use hanging indents or track changes, then at least they'll know when to go hunting for how to do it again when they find a need for the feature at a future point.
I've found that, over time, someone who knows what tools he could use to accomplish a task tends to be more adept at getting things done rather than the person who uses the same tool for everything just because he knows how to use it so well.
While I agree with you in principle, as the Indian government said, they do things differently there.
Sorry, but the Indian gov't needs to go fuck itself.
With respect to Blackberry, the India doesn't do things differently. India wants to do things differently, and quite frankly everyone at RIM is a bunch of fucktards for giving in to the first country that decided to publicly swing its cock in their direction.
I quite personally don't give a flying fuck whether or not any government listens in on what it chooses. But I'll say for damned certain that if something is touted as "secure" and "encrypted," having a man in the middle makes that statement 100% bullshit. RIM can go die in a fire or simply remove their encryption altogether. If anyone other than the sender and recipient can read an "encrypted" message, then the shit's not encrypted by the understood sense of the term. End of story.
Wait WTF? Here in .au no company would be able to avoid their warranty responsibilities in this way.
If you have a receipt you have warranty. Registration would have no effect under Aus consumer law, no sale contract can allow you to avoid warranty claims. Something tells me you are from the US, where it seems consumer protection is a bit lax.
They are lax. I'm jealous of the warranty policies in nearly every other country where the same products are marketed.
As an example, while not upset because at the very least it was an informed purchase, I think it's crap that Apple gives a 12 month warranty on their 2000+ dollar computers, and make you pay nearly $400 more for a 24 month extension to that warranty, which, unlike most other warranties that are %20 of the product's price, doesn't cover "accidental damage."
Consumers regularly get screwed on product reliability in the US, which is likely why the "extended warranty" business is such a profitable one. It's sad that it's become standard for companies to reduce their warranties to a period so short that there's no way you could expect a well made product to fail for nearly any reason within that time frame, and then require something else, be it registration or monetary compensation, to simply guarantee that your purchase won't be something you'll wind up considering a mistake within a reasonable amount of time.
...but I digress. I think it'd be especially nice if we could do away with the "extended warranty" crap and simply pay a deductible or small fee to cover costs after a "full" warranty ends. Verizon offered a $50 "out of warranty" replacement for defective phones..... That was mighty convenient.
The BBC just pronounces things the way their primary audience (i.e. the British public that funds them) speak and expect them to speak.
Well.... I've always thought that the fun thing about the differences in pronunciation make for fun cross cultural flirting, which admittedly is more convenient when you speak the same language.
...You mean aluminum? 'Yes! Aluminium!'" He said there was much giggling by the females, he explained, and I can assure you it wasn't because he's a fellow that frequently makes ladies giggle... :D
A friend of mine spent a month in London, and I asked him, "You know that whole thing about how Americans love hearing people with British accents talk? Does the reverse hold true as well?"
"Oh yes," he told me. "One of the first things they asked me was, 'to say the name of that metal.' I wasn't sure what they were talking about. 'Oh it's really light. It starts with an A. You know, they build aircraft out of it!'
That said, I suppose the point is that pronunciation is what it is. The way people say things, when they're the public norm, is generally the way that things are supposed to be said. The best example I can think of is with the word "forte." If you use the "correct" pronunciation by saying "fort," people are going to look at you like you're an idiot once they figure out that you meant "for-tay."
Of course, that's not to say I excuse any morons who may have held public office while misleading the public and saying "nucular" into TV cameras for 8 years straight.
@martin-boundary naw dude. it's a gazillion times moar convenient to click thru a gazillion pages to read the whole conversation rather than seeing a threaded view. And the character limit is good cau
===SORRY!===
Confused at line 1, near "d0 57upid "
You need to get the lastest nightly build. That code starts a loop that churns out nonstop images from memegenerator.net.
i swear the incesant "llOOOOooL"(verbatim) nearly drove me to wtfpwn 'em.
Fixed that for ya ;)
My uncle and I were talking once and he wanted to be discreet, so he said "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot."
....which kinda made me LOL.
You likely had cards from a bad batch.
I had considered that, when the second card failed not long after the first. It was when the third card, purchased some 4 months later (albeit from the same reseller, Newegg) failed that I got more upset.
maybe there was a thermal design issue -- either the board layout's interaction with reflow process, or runtime thermal management.
That's quite possible.
If a card like yours is failing, there's no way to digitally re-manufacture it. ...please refrain from making up conspiracy hypotheses (they ain't theories, damnit) when you have little clue about the involved technology.
That was the point. In lieu of my fabled conspiracy theory being accurate, I feel that, as the customer, I'm getting fucked. Specifically because I was sold hardware that, unless I'm incredibly unlucky, would have been known by the manufacturer to have a high failure rate. In spite of them likely knowing that I had been sold faulty products for which they were eager to take my money for, they didn't deem it fit to ensure that I stay a happy customer. I won't buy or recommend their shit ever again.
:-P
Also, woosh.
Interesting rest of your post, though
Sad to see, but it happens. Had the same deal with a motherboard once. Couldn't get upset about it.
At least they offer a lifetime warranty. The only warranty I ever truly care about is one that lasts long enough to where going through an RMA just isn't worth the time or expense anymore. Lifetime or not, that point (about 3-4 years for graphics cards and maybe 2-3 for motherboards) is warranty enough.
However, I wish that EVGA would go out of business instead. You see, for some reason EVGA's products actually become less reliable if you don't ensure they have your name and product serial number matched together in a database. I learned the extra-hard way that for some reason my 3 identical 6800GT cards from them, which all failed within their "claimed" warranty period, must have been expected to fail as I did not register them on the EVGA website when I bought them. I reasoned that the only explanation was that the cards are somehow become less robust of a product after they're sold and must need to be digitally re-manufactured through the product registration process. Either that or the company enjoys fucking the customer. I never did get a straight answer as to which was actually the case.
money would be better spent helping all of you coders out there in creating a language/compiler programing paradigm that can use 12 threads efficiently for something beyond rendering GTA.
From what I've heard, the number of cores you throw at GTA doesn't matter, it still runs like crap. ;)
The cease-and-desist will claim some intellectual property violation and it will be up to you to give in to the intimidation or resist by contacting your host to get your site back online.
Back when the first AACS decoder was released on Doom9, it was called BackupHDDVD and made use of a key obtained from PowerDVD (IIRC) for Windows.
;)
The programmer, however, implemented AACS decryption by following the specification as posted directly on the AACS Licensing Authority's website.
Food for thought
Heck most of us won't trust our collection to anything short of RAID6!
My porn collection, along with all my other documents and media is on a RAID-6 array.
...Along with my massive collection of confiscated geek cards.
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
On behalf of everyone here at Slashdot, I would like to personally thank you for putting Yoda and masturbation into one line of text.
:-(
This awful image in my head.. MAKE IT STOP!
Ah, the old BBS days.... One of the guys on the BBS I was a member of back then (via "Mom can I have a subscription to this BBS for my birthday?" X-D) used to make maps with custom sound tracks taken from NIN CD's he had laying around. And the first time I finally got Doom up and running via Telix (I think?), thinking it was especially neat that I was running more than one program at a time, everything loaded and I had a hell of a time trying to move. The lag was unbearable. So we get out of the game and back into the chat and I tell them that I've got a 9600 baud modem...
:D
A couple months later, a friend of the family who worked for US Robotics at the time and was actually involved with the development of X2 and later V.90 heard about my 9600 baud plight and sent us one of the very first 56k modems on the market. I piped 5 gigs through that modem one summer... ah the memories
I dislike multi readers like that because every card slot shows up as a drive letter in windows.
That only happens when you're using a nearly-decade-old operating system. Come join us in the modern world and behold the "Hide Empty Drives" option ;-)
put SSD's in front of the hard drives, with ZFS or bcache type technology
Got any links to example setups or guides as to how or how well that works?
I have two of those 5-in-3 SATA enclosures in my desktop. It's a Lian-Li tower, about $200. Newegg doesn't stock it anymore else I'd link you, but those combined with the case's internal storage gave me 22 3.5" slots, which is enough for me. Not sure if $200 is what you consider "stupidly expensive," but if you look around, Lian-Li still makes some.
Also, I think the Coolermaster Stacker cases come with up to 9 5.25 bays, so that could work too.