Bad taste to reply to oneself, I know, but I didn't realize TrueCrypt was a real, live cross platform project. I thought it was a corporate offering. Not that I dislike corporate offerings, but I just don't trust them. VMWare is a great closed source (and cross platform) product, but it just seems like so many of the others just aren't very high quality in their ports to Linux. I still maintain that it's better to use programs that are thoroughly tested, but my allegations against TrueCrypt seem to be unfounded after reading about it a little. Somebody mod parent down.
ZFS sounds great, but I don't think it's fair to compare TrueCrypt (which is not included with the kernel, and doesn't have too many users testing it) with ZFS (which is one of Solaris 10's most valuable features). Why would you put 320 GB of data at the mercy of TrueCrypt? A few hundred megabytes of sensitive files, sure... but 320 GB? I agree. Linux has well-tested encryption schemes. I use LUKS with cryptsetup. This is a little newer and less tested than some other mechanisms, but it works well (and I think it's fairly popular). Why would you use something that's so untested for something that's so important?
One of my friends always rants about how cool TrueCrypt is, and it always sounded to me like a death trap waiting to implode and eat your data when you make some obscure mistake. Furthermore, I would never *ever* trust my data to one of those "Windows apps grafted onto Linux." Those applications usually suck, and are not of comparable quality with the original version. Look at RealPlayer or Winamp. Look at Nero (I just looked it up, and it seems that NeroLinux has gotten a lot better since I last read about it, but it's on version 3.0). These programs seldom work well or have the full range of functionality on Linux. So even if I liked the way TrueCrypt worked, I wouldn't feel safe using the Linux version for a few years.
I agree, what EEBaum said is pretty much what I meant. I would add that when you are playing or singing a piece, every pitch sounds relative--the only thing that matters is its (logarithmic) distance from the notes around it. Except the first note. Or the node that is tuned to. These stand out, and musicians are more likely to remember them.
The article summary leaves out the important part. The summary:
the use of A as the universal tuning frequency has made our ears less discerning of the notes immediately around it. It's not the use of A that distorts perfect pitch, it's the use of "alternate A's". A is accepted to be 440Hz. Some orchestras use other pitches, sometimes for a more Baroque feel--the pitch of the accepted A has changed over time (don't ask me how we know that), and on some instruments, it may sound more authentic to use the pitch a piece was originally composed for. So when people use different pitches for A (specifically, when the orchestra tunes), it messes up the perfect pitch that some people have just a little bit.
I'm reading that book, and I enjoy it. But she must not intend it to be an argument for objectivism, because all the bad guys are obvious straw men--unrealistically incompetent and corrupt, usually Communists.
Telling me I can do something and then rebuking me for doing it is kind of a shitty practice, isn't it? I'm a little more of a libertarian than most, but I believe people should have rights to do some things that I, personally, believe are wrong. If I'm the only person that can give those rights, I'll do so.
Microsoft and Real won't contribute back, either. Said Theo de Raadt on the Linux kernel mailing list (yesterday?): When companies have taken our wireless device drivers, many many of them have given changes and fixes back. Some maybe didn't, but that is OK.
So, perhaps not Microsoft and Real, but maybe more than you would expect.
I've read Theo's rant, and I found the section about not sharing code back to be pretty humorous, considering that's the way the BSD license is written. If you wanted to ensure that code be shared back into your projects, you'd use a copyleft-style license instead of a BSD/MIT-style license, wouldn't you?
Say I just don't like the GPL. Say I don't like the idea of giving a legal ultimatum about how they can use my code--the code that I wrote and want to share. Say I want Microsoft to be able to use it in an operating system, Real to be able to use it in an audio player, etc.
It is still good manners for people that make improvements in my code to send me changes. I helped them, and good people return favors when they can. So why didn't I use the LGPL? Well, that license is just a bit more of a pain, and I want to make people's lives easier. After all, what if the person using my code just needs to make a small change? They shouldn't have to go through the trouble of packaging the source and putting a LGPL notice somewhere in their product where users can see it.
My giving you legal rights to be selfish does not mean you should, and it does not mean I won't rebuke you for it.
If you can read/etc/shadow you're root.. which means you aren't gaining anything by it. Perhaps I don't trust my sysadmin not to try to get my password as a prank (but don't think he's malicious enough to configure/change the login scripts to log the password).
Yes, I'm a student, and no, I'm not paying for access to said system. And yes, I use that password in other places.
This collusion you describe, would that be like the FBI, the CIA, and the local police office sharing information and pooling resources to catch the bad guys? It sounds like nothing more than that to me. Oh, but it's different because those are real law enforcement agencies. Perhaps a neighborhood watch, then? How about the Free Software Foundation? The bottom line is that it's okay for people/corporations to band together to protect their interests. Is it okay for these groups to act reprehensibly? No, but it's not any less okay than if it were done by individuals.
Imagine if you will Microsoft, Sun, and Apple were to get together and begin prosecuting those who infringe on their copyrights (ISOs of Windows, Solaris and OSX). However, it is *not* MS, Apple or Sun prosecuting, it is a thirdparty that was created as an industry group. Well, suppose I have a copy of each operating system that I gained illegally. Normally, each company would have to get a warrant, seach my computer and prosecute me on the findings of such a warrant. This ensures checks and balances. However with an industry group, they can prosecute for all of them, far outstripping my ability to defend myself (imagine this industry group gets a certain judge that they know would be favorable to them to preside over the case. This is far simpler then getting 3 different judges who are sympathetic to their plight). Your logic doesn't follow. By similar reasoning: if you are sued by 3 groups, it is 3 times as likely that one of the groups will be able to get a judge that is similar to their plight... contradiction.
I still think that the music industry isn't significantly different than most others when it comes to barriers to entry, but instead of arguing that, I'll bid you good evening.
I disagree. If Microsoft and Apple pooled patents, it would be conceivable that one could not build any sort of complex computer program without violating them. However, there is nothing preventing me from making and selling a million albums, besides lack of talent. These large record companies are not locking the little guys out of the business. There are simply barriers to entry that exist in any arena.
Rudeness isn't helpful on either side. If someone told me that slackware didn't do a good job of teaching people about the internals of Linux, I would laugh at them and go elsewhere. But gentoo? It has a somewhat bad reputation, and it's propagated by people that misguidedly attempt to use gentoo for a speed benefit (not its main strength).
Here is what gentoo will teach you: -you will learn about the interdependencies of Linux programs and functionality that they provide. -you will see (at a somewhat abstract level) that when building programs, you can turn certain functionalities on or off. -it will teach you to be comfortable with the command line, because most (all?) of the system administration tools are command line based, unlike Debian or Ubuntu, you cannot easily search for and install the software you need without using the command line. I miss stage3 installations though, because they really walked you through the setup of a basic Linux system in a way that the new installers don't.
But it's not slackware (and sorry, I'm prejudiced, Slackware was the first distro I used for more than a month). If you want to learn a lot of what you would need to become a professional sysadmin (except multi-machine networking), you might try slackware for a while. Try installing software that doesn't come with the distribution. Try compiling a new kernel with support for more hardware. Try editing many of the core system files in/etc by hand. Learn to use vi.
If you don't agree but haven't tried gentoo or slackware for more than a week, maybe you should.
Looking back, it may have been naive of me to respond to what may have been a troll. It was a pretty good troll, if so, because it just didn't seem like a troll. However, of you, Grayskull, I'm curious, are you also a prick to people that are naive or that bore you, in real life?
I would focus developers on integrating a GUI into the kernel. It makes the OS more stable, right? Think of the kernel as some sort of Giant Robotic Overlord that does everything. It knows everything. It is everywhere. And it does all this very, very quickly.
The gui is more like a sleeping cow that gets woken up every five years (in cow years) when a user clicks it or types a key.
If the Robotic Overlord had the cow tied to it all the time, it couldn't efficiently perform its other duties.
If I could refocus Linux Development... I would try to pool all the development into 1 distro to reduce duplication of so much effort. Linux is about choice. If Linux distros were combined into a one size fits all environment, guess what would happen? It would fork, because there would be people that didn't like it. Combining the distros is an idea that would never get off the ground. The users just wouldn't stand for it.
Downside of knives: The world would be controlled by physical strength, scientists and engineers (especially computer geeks) would be at a sever disadvantage
Damn right, I don't want to get severed by some sports player that's stronger than me!
In interests of making linux more accessible, more configuration utilities that don't require specific knowledge and in-errant editing of configuration text files. Good point, or better yet, make these files standard across distros so the same configuration utilities works as well on Gentoo as Ubuntu. No way! A big part of the reason that influences someone to pick a given distro is the configuration style. Slackware and Gentoo are known for how much they teach you about a general Linux system. SuSE is known for YaST, the configuration utility that does everything. Ubuntu is known for being configured very well by default (and it is, compared to some other distros). There is no one-size-fits-all configurator that everyone would like. Windows has a style that seems good enough for everybody, but who actually likes Control Panel? I preferred YaST.
If you'd read the article you'd see the monkeys were actually grabbing the women's breasts AND making additional lewd gestures.
Actually, I read that as "the [female] monkeys were grabbing their [own] breasts." I find it implausible that a monkey would grab a human's breasts. They are too short to do it without climbing up the human, and that would open them to being struck.
When I check out at my local grocery store, I've consistently received coupons for "similar products that I might like" since the 80s. Buy Ben n Jerry's ice cream? Get a coupon for Breyers. Something is predicting I might like another brand of ice cream.
I've been getting these coupons since the early 90s.
Yeah, those sure are annoying. Good thing prediction has been patented. Maybe spammers will have to stop predicting that I want "my sexual life more different and easier!", or I'll "impress my girl with a WonderCum!"
How is me getting bombarded by ad popups when i go normal 'legit' news sites *my* fault? Well, you initiated a request for those web sites, and your browser proceeded to issue requests for ads. If you don't want that, then you need to think of a new way to browse the web. The current paradigm allows content providers to push content to you. Unless you use NoScript or an evil popup blocker. These are new paradigms.
How is me getting hit with a DoS *my* fault? How is me getting hit with 10000's of spam email's a day *my* fault? First of all, I never said *I* was infected. We all feel the pain of others that are infected. I get a reasonable amount of spam--my university makes my e-mail address available without any authentication. The biggest spam message I have gotten in the last 6 months is 44KB. That's pretty big. It's 1-2% of an mp3, though. 90% of my spam is less than 10KB, with the mode being around 3KB. If that puts you oven your bandwidth quota (probably doesn't, yet), we need a new paradigm for e-mail. This might mean a client that performs probabilistic reasoning (guessing) on just the message headers, and does not download a message unless it is determined not to be spam, or if you attempt to open the message.
As for DoS attacks, I don't have a pretty solution. Extortion and this type of crime is terrible. I see a business opportunity here, though. Some sort of union / insurance that would pay for essentially unlimited elastic storage for anyone that's currently being DDoS attacked?
If my car comes with a fundamental technical defect beyond my understanding, is it my fault the manufacturer sold me a broken car? How is that different then a PC? This is a similar situation with 99% of the users out there and their PC. They cant be expected to understand the technical risks, the vendor should prevent the problem from the beginning. Can't be expected to understand the technical risks my ass. Many don't understand the technical risks of credit cards. They still pay the price. Here's a hint: if they had to pay for their lack of understanding sometimes, they would understand it fast.
Do you want to pay per use on top of your access charge like we all did in the early days of dialup? ( or are you not old enough to remember CompuServe or Genie ? )
Personaly, i dont. Especially when spam/popups/worms/DoS, etc are all so common these days. I wouldn't want to get hit with a charge because of others. You should have to pay for that. In every other arena, if you are careless with your property and someone else takes control of it, you will be stuck with the bill. Credit cards seem to be an exception, but only because the bank finds it profitable to agree to sometimes eat a fraudulent charge. There is no reason why computers are an exception.
Slashdot Mirror
Bad taste to reply to oneself, I know, but I didn't realize TrueCrypt was a real, live cross platform project. I thought it was a corporate offering. Not that I dislike corporate offerings, but I just don't trust them. VMWare is a great closed source (and cross platform) product, but it just seems like so many of the others just aren't very high quality in their ports to Linux. I still maintain that it's better to use programs that are thoroughly tested, but my allegations against TrueCrypt seem to be unfounded after reading about it a little. Somebody mod parent down.
One of my friends always rants about how cool TrueCrypt is, and it always sounded to me like a death trap waiting to implode and eat your data when you make some obscure mistake. Furthermore, I would never *ever* trust my data to one of those "Windows apps grafted onto Linux." Those applications usually suck, and are not of comparable quality with the original version. Look at RealPlayer or Winamp. Look at Nero (I just looked it up, and it seems that NeroLinux has gotten a lot better since I last read about it, but it's on version 3.0). These programs seldom work well or have the full range of functionality on Linux. So even if I liked the way TrueCrypt worked, I wouldn't feel safe using the Linux version for a few years.
I agree, what EEBaum said is pretty much what I meant. I would add that when you are playing or singing a piece, every pitch sounds relative--the only thing that matters is its (logarithmic) distance from the notes around it. Except the first note. Or the node that is tuned to. These stand out, and musicians are more likely to remember them.
I'm reading that book, and I enjoy it. But she must not intend it to be an argument for objectivism, because all the bad guys are obvious straw men--unrealistically incompetent and corrupt, usually Communists.
So, perhaps not Microsoft and Real, but maybe more than you would expect.
Say I just don't like the GPL. Say I don't like the idea of giving a legal ultimatum about how they can use my code--the code that I wrote and want to share. Say I want Microsoft to be able to use it in an operating system, Real to be able to use it in an audio player, etc.
It is still good manners for people that make improvements in my code to send me changes. I helped them, and good people return favors when they can. So why didn't I use the LGPL? Well, that license is just a bit more of a pain, and I want to make people's lives easier. After all, what if the person using my code just needs to make a small change? They shouldn't have to go through the trouble of packaging the source and putting a LGPL notice somewhere in their product where users can see it.
My giving you legal rights to be selfish does not mean you should, and it does not mean I won't rebuke you for it.
Yes, I'm a student, and no, I'm not paying for access to said system. And yes, I use that password in other places.
I still think that the music industry isn't significantly different than most others when it comes to barriers to entry, but instead of arguing that, I'll bid you good evening.
I disagree. If Microsoft and Apple pooled patents, it would be conceivable that one could not build any sort of complex computer program without violating them. However, there is nothing preventing me from making and selling a million albums, besides lack of talent. These large record companies are not locking the little guys out of the business. There are simply barriers to entry that exist in any arena.
That was very well said.
Rudeness isn't helpful on either side. If someone told me that slackware didn't do a good job of teaching people about the internals of Linux, I would laugh at them and go elsewhere. But gentoo? It has a somewhat bad reputation, and it's propagated by people that misguidedly attempt to use gentoo for a speed benefit (not its main strength).
/etc by hand. Learn to use vi.
Here is what gentoo will teach you:
-you will learn about the interdependencies of Linux programs and functionality that they provide.
-you will see (at a somewhat abstract level) that when building programs, you can turn certain functionalities on or off.
-it will teach you to be comfortable with the command line, because most (all?) of the system administration tools are command line based, unlike Debian or Ubuntu, you cannot easily search for and install the software you need without using the command line.
I miss stage3 installations though, because they really walked you through the setup of a basic Linux system in a way that the new installers don't.
But it's not slackware (and sorry, I'm prejudiced, Slackware was the first distro I used for more than a month). If you want to learn a lot of what you would need to become a professional sysadmin (except multi-machine networking), you might try slackware for a while. Try installing software that doesn't come with the distribution. Try compiling a new kernel with support for more hardware. Try editing many of the core system files in
If you don't agree but haven't tried gentoo or slackware for more than a week, maybe you should.
Looking back, it may have been naive of me to respond to what may have been a troll. It was a pretty good troll, if so, because it just didn't seem like a troll. However, of you, Grayskull, I'm curious, are you also a prick to people that are naive or that bore you, in real life?
The gui is more like a sleeping cow that gets woken up every five years (in cow years) when a user clicks it or types a key.
If the Robotic Overlord had the cow tied to it all the time, it couldn't efficiently perform its other duties.
Damn right, I don't want to get severed by some sports player that's stronger than me!
Actually, I read that as "the [female] monkeys were grabbing their [own] breasts." I find it implausible that a monkey would grab a human's breasts. They are too short to do it without climbing up the human, and that would open them to being struck.
I've been getting these coupons since the early 90s.
Yeah, those sure are annoying. Good thing prediction has been patented. Maybe spammers will have to stop predicting that I want "my sexual life more different and easier!", or I'll "impress my girl with a WonderCum!"
mod parent funny
As for DoS attacks, I don't have a pretty solution. Extortion and this type of crime is terrible. I see a business opportunity here, though. Some sort of union / insurance that would pay for essentially unlimited elastic storage for anyone that's currently being DDoS attacked? If my car comes with a fundamental technical defect beyond my understanding, is it my fault the manufacturer sold me a broken car? How is that different then a PC? This is a similar situation with 99% of the users out there and their PC. They cant be expected to understand the technical risks, the vendor should prevent the problem from the beginning. Can't be expected to understand the technical risks my ass. Many don't understand the technical risks of credit cards. They still pay the price. Here's a hint: if they had to pay for their lack of understanding sometimes, they would understand it fast.
Personaly, i dont. Especially when spam/popups/worms/DoS, etc are all so common these days. I wouldn't want to get hit with a charge because of others. You should have to pay for that. In every other arena, if you are careless with your property and someone else takes control of it, you will be stuck with the bill. Credit cards seem to be an exception, but only because the bank finds it profitable to agree to sometimes eat a fraudulent charge. There is no reason why computers are an exception.
It's a bit more like a cross between dd and rsync with a gui.