Linux-Advocacy Digest #615, Volume #29 Thu, 12 Oct 00 09:13:05 EDT
Contents:
Re: Legal issues - Re: Linux DVD player! (Andres Soolo)
Funny Story! (LFessen106)
Re: The Power of the Future! (Chris Sherlock)
Office DLL hole (Chris Sherlock)
Re: I'd rather switch than fight. (Roberto Alsina)
Re: Off-topic Idiots (Was Bush v. Gore on taxes) ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Off-topic Idiots (Was Bush v. Gore on taxes) ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Why is MS copying Sun??? (John Lockwood)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Andres Soolo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Legal issues - Re: Linux DVD player!
Date: 12 Oct 2000 11:06:59 GMT
R.E.Ballard ( Rex Ballard ) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In fact, the source code to DeCSS was published in full text, in the
> court records (making the source code itself public domain), but the
> DVD-CCA claims that it has the right to enforce it's licenses based
> on the fact that the media being played was licensed, making it illegal
> to decode the licensed content.
I'm not a lawyer, but in background of the recent CueCat case, whom the
encrypted media is licensed to? If the original purchaser, what happens
if a company purchases a bunch of DVDs (thus becoming the licensee) and
spams them out to a few thousand people, who, therefore, get the media
as gift--with no license restrictions? Of course, the copyright is
still there, so unauthorized duplication is out of question, but I'd
guess it effectively nullifies any strange provisions of the license.
--
Andres Soolo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Are you sure the back door is locked?
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (LFessen106)
Subject: Funny Story!
Date: 12 Oct 2000 11:53:02 GMT
A Tale of 2 Suns - October 2000
.....Anyone who has ever wrestled with fixing a computer should really enjoy
this story.
It was a cool autumn day and I was off for an adventure.... Little did I know
that it was soon to turn into a nightmare!
I was traveling from PA to NY to pick up my first HP server and my first
attempt at administering an HPUX box. It was really an uneventful trip there
and I picked up my HP machine and some media for what I consider a very
reasonable price. After the "transaction" I was offered 3 old Sun
Sparcstations in various stages of disrepair. A SPARCstation 1+ and 2
SPARCstation 1's. Since I have two other Sparcs at home, which I really enjoy
using, I gleefully accepted. This is where the nightmare begins...
I grabbed up (almost) everything offered me (what reasonable computer junkie
wouldn't) and settled in for the three and a half hour trip back to PA. Once
home I put together my new HP box (getting this running is another story
alltogether) and put the Sparcs on the workbench. The Sparcs seemed to be in
pretty decent shape considering they came from a University where I am sure
they got some pretty heavy usage so I cracked them open to find out if I could
frankenstein one or two into a working system. The first on the bench was the
1+, which was the one I was really hoping I could get working because of their
relative rarity. It's motherboard was intact, and it had 8 megs of ram already
in it (bonus!). I plugged it in only to discover that the prom was dead. Sun
Prom's are something akin to a PeeCee's CMOS except it is stored in an EPROM
chip. In other words, without a lot of hassle, buying a new EPROM (if I could
even find one) and learning how to reprogram it, I was outa luck. So, I turned
to the next Sparc, a SPARCstation 1. This was also a bust as it had NO prom at
all and no ram, however it did have a floppy drive and a video card
(motherboard looked ok otherwise). Onward I went, to the last Sun, another a
SPARCstation 1. This was the ringer of the bunch. It had a clean motherboard,
16 megs of ram and a hard drive.
Well, figuring this was the best shot I had at a working system, I cleaned it
up a little, put the video card, and the floppy drive in it and took it for a
spin. Sheesh! The power supply made more noise than a jet engine - providing
you could hear it over the rattle of the obviously abused 400 meg scsi hard
drive. Consequently, I swapped the power supply with the only other one I had
- which just happened to be in better shape then rebooted again.
I finally had a working system! All the components seemed to be functioning
correctly, and the PROM was in excellent shape. The next venture would be
trying to put Linux on this thing. Well, it was either Linux or Slowaris
(Solaris) and I (of course) chose Linux.
I happen to have a Sun bootable external cdrom drive and a handy copy of Redhat
6.2 for Sparc, so I went to town. Got everything hooked up and started only to
find that for some reason, the SPARCstation 1 would not boot from the cdrom
drive and no amount of coaxing seemed to help. Bummer! The first thing I
thought of was possibly there was a scratch on the media covering the boot
sector info. Well, knowing Redhat, I simply went upstairs to my P200 Linux box
and created a boot disk - why not, the Sparc has a floppy drive! I get
everything ready again; pop in the floppy, and boot up the Sparc (which does
take some time) and the Sparc won't read the floppy drive. This is getting
irritating.
About that time I had a brain storm (read fart) that maybe it was the floppy
drive in the P200 that was messing up the floppy image or overwriting sectors
since I *never* use OR clean the floppy drive. Well, that's OK, I would just
bring my Sparc 2 out (which needed a hard drive transplant) to the bench and
boot it carefully into Linux and create a boot disk there on an actual Sparc
floppy drive. I hooked up the monitor and the external cdrom drive to the
Sparc 2, and booted it up only to find it wouldn't boot because it's hard drive
has finally died (I did mention I knew the HDD was bad didn't I :-). OK, so
now I have 2 broken Sparcs without operating systems.
Having both Suns with their guts hanging out on my bench, I decided to try a
quick fix, and quickly placed the Sparc 2's Floppy drive in the Sparc 1,
rescued my boot disk from the garbage can, spun it up and VIOLLA! It breathed
LIFE!..... Well, a little at least. I was finally able to run the install
program, access the cdrom drive, but found out not so quickly that the old 400
meg hard drive was in too rough of shape to reliably hold any information. My
solution was to put an old 8 gig scsi drive that was obviously too large for
the case into the system just to see if I could get it to actually run Linux.
No problem... I put the drive in (kind of) and hooked everything back up
again, and started the install. The install would only work in text mode (GUI
needs 32 megs of ram and I only have 16). It took 3 hours to format the drive
(old slow SPARCstation 1 formatting an 8 gig HDD!) and another hour and a half
to install the packages, but, by golly, it was workin'! After the install, I
was prompted to insert a blank floppy to create a system disk. Obligingly I
grabbed up a blank floppy only to notice and remind myself that SPARCstations
use floppy drives which have no eject button - you have to eject the drive from
software (which was not running on the machine yet). So, while the computer
was still running and asking me for a floppy, I carefully took apart the face
of the floppy drive and discovered a hidden mechanical eject/release button. I
though I was home free at last! Boy was I wrong!
I put in the blank floppy and told the installation program to go ahead and
finally make my system/boot disk and it happily complied, chugging and clicking
away. Well, about an hour later it was still chugging and clicking, so I
checked things out only to find the drive couldn't find any of the sectoring on
the disk and wasn't writing anything to it. Thinking it was merely a bad disk
I put in another ---- and then 4 more. None of them worked. I figured either
the installation program was toying with me or I had inadvertently broken the
FDD. OK, so I skip the boot/system disk. The installation completes and
gleefully advises me that everything is wonderful in the world and I can reboot
into the warm glow of a new Linux installation. So I do, and it doesn't. For
some reason, the text install version of Redhat 6.2 for Sparc does not write
SILO (Sun's version of LILO) to the Master Boot Record of the drive - neither
does it tell the PROM to boot the disk and you can't run a GUI install with
less than 32 megs of ram and I have 16. ARRGH!
At this point it has been 2 days and I figure I need a break from that machine
so I will work on the Sparc 2. These is really no problem at all- just install
a new(er) scsi HDD and reinstall Linux. This all happens quickly and
painlessly restoring my faith in computer repair. So, I jump back to the Sparc
1 again, but this time I have a true brainstorm. Just for kicks I place the
working hard drive from the Sparc 2 into the Sparc 1. I adjust the PROM
settings to get it to try to boot the new drive, reset it, and WHOOPIE! It
works! This may be sort of an anti-climactic ending to the story, but this is
the point I am currently at. It just goes to show that darn near anything is
possible and you can actually just swap hard drives (in some instances) and
have Linux, with Redhat's wonderful automatic hardware detection, run
perfectly. What is the moral of the story? If you ask me to get Linux running
on your old SPARCstation 1, I may hurt you.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 23:06:07 +1000
From: Chris Sherlock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
Subject: Re: The Power of the Future!
Funny you should say this. I haven't seen any Windows advocates urge a
rabid one of *their* midst to back off, either!
Try
http://x57.deja.com/[ST_rn=ap]/threadmsg_ct.xp?AN=673841498.1&mhitnum=14&CONTEXT=971351951.928120973
I think that it's daft to have to post something like this, though.
Chris
Mike Byrns wrote:
>
> Chris Sherlock wrote:
>
> > > Then start being a little more temperate. It pains me to see Windows folks come
> > > across just as wacko as the rabid Mac and Linux fanatics. Think about it --
> > > there's really no reason to do so. Windows is the best mix of all they have to
> > > offer -- there's no reason to get bent when rebutting these folks. Don't sink
> > > to their losing methods. You obviously know your stuff. Why not beat them with
> > > facts and logic. It's not any more difficult than getting emotional and quite a
> > > bit more satisfying at least for me!
> >
> > Funny, I say the same thing about Linux.
>
> I've never seen you or any other Linux advocate urge a rabid one of their midst to
> back off. Perhaps you could post an example? I'm not trying to be difficult -- I
> just don't remember seeing it :-)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 23:24:00 +1000
From: Chris Sherlock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Office DLL hole
Does anyone know if MS have fixed up the hole in Office documented at
http://www.guninski.com/officedll.html?
Chris
------------------------------
From: Roberto Alsina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: I'd rather switch than fight.
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 09:47:09 -0300
El jue, 12 oct 2000, 2:1 escribi�:
>> If you were to see the simplicity that it used in slackware you
>> would probably NEVER go back to RH. I admit I like sysV but I
>> don't like the way readhat uses it.
>
>Could you give me a link to some description of the system used in
>Slackware: I'm interested. I might convert my linux system to that (my
>system is gatting less like the default RH system as the days go by...)
It was the classic (more or less) BSD init, last time I checked.
One monster script and some smaller ones for specific purposes, followed by a
rc.local.
--
Roberto Alsina
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: Off-topic Idiots (Was Bush v. Gore on taxes)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 12:31:28 +0000
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On Wed, 11 Oct 2000 09:07:51 -0400, "David T. Johnson"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in comp.sys.mac.advocacy wrote:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, 10 Oct 2000 06:12:22 -0400, "David T. Johnson"
>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in comp.sys.mac.advocacy wrote:
>>
>> >[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, 09 Oct 2000 16:43:18 -0400, "David T. Johnson"
>> >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in comp.sys.mac.advocacy wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >Marty wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "David T. Johnson" wrote:
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Marty wrote:
>> >> >> > >
>> >> >> > > "David T. Johnson" wrote:
>> >> >> > > >
>> >> >> > > > Marty wrote:
>> >> >> > > > >
>> >> >> > > > [repetitive comments snipped]
>> >> >> > >
>> >> >> > > Sorry David, you lose.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Well, I have certainly lost in the name-calling category.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Not even close. I lost too many points in that category for supporting my
>> >> >> claims with examples and facts.
>> >> >
>> >> >Typical nonsensical, illogical gibberish. 'Not even close' has no
>> >> >meaning in the context used. No indication of what 'losing points'
>> >> >refers to and why 'losing points' is relevant to the discussion. No
>> >> >indication of why your alleged supporting of claims with examples and
>> >> >facts is relevant to the name-calling you have repeatedly indulged in.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > Congratulations.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> To you.
>> >> >
>> >> >Illogical as the congratulations were for you for winning the
>> >> >name-calling competition. You have called me a "hypocrite," "liar,"
>> >> >"mime," "troll," "club president," and "Net Cop" while also also
>> >> >accusing me of "mudslinging" and claiming that I had a "hard-on" for
>> >> >Wenham. In contrast, I have only called you a 'liar' and a
>> >> >'hypocrite.' Clearly, you win and are deserving of the
>> >> >congratulations.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > > Stop being a hypocrite and grow up.
>> >> >> > >
>> >> >> > > "[repetitive comments snipped]"
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Note: no response, and the hypocrisy continues.
>> >> >
>> >> >Interesting that you expect to see a response to your imperative.
>> >> >Apparently, even you realize the absurdity of the comment that your
>> >> >statement makes. No surprise there.
>> >>
>> >> David, fetch me a beer, please.
>> >
>> >Precisely now?
>>
>> Yes, of course.
>
>Yes. You have changed my words from 'Precisely the point' to 'Precisely
>now?'
Liar, prove it.
>If you are willing to make up words and falsely attribute them to
>others, you don't even need to bother posting to real people about real
>issues. You can just make up imaginary people to have little
>make-believe online dialogues with. And you can use cute little online
>monikers like '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Have fun playing with
>yourself...
Why play with myself when I have you?
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: Off-topic Idiots (Was Bush v. Gore on taxes)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 12:31:30 +0000
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On Wed, 11 Oct 2000 14:42:04 -0400, "David T. Johnson"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> in comp.sys.mac.advocacy wrote:
>
>
>Marty wrote:
>>
>> "David T. Johnson" wrote:
>> >
>> > Marty wrote:
>> > >
>> > > "David T. Johnson" wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > > Marty wrote:
>> > > > >
>> > > > > "David T. Johnson" wrote:
>> > > > > >
>> > > > > > Marty wrote:
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > [repetitive comments snipped]
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Sorry David, you lose.
>> > > >
>> > > > Well, I have certainly lost in the name-calling category.
>> > >
>> > > Not even close. I lost too many points in that category for supporting my
>> > > claims with examples and facts.
>> >
>> > Typical nonsensical, illogical gibberish.
>>
>> More repetition of your inappropriate catch-phrase, but at least you offer an
>> explanation this time...
>>
>> > 'Not even close' has no meaning in the context used.
>>
>> The context was a loss on your part (presumably in an infantile game of some
>> sort). "Not even close" refers to your call on who "lost" this "game". It
>> applies perfectly well, as I go on to explain how such a game, had it existed,
>> would have been won by yourself.
>
>The context was your post in which you said 'Sorry David, you lose' to
>which I replied 'Well, I have certainly lost in the name-calling
>category.' The infantile game was your creation and thought. You did
>not explain what the game was or how the winner was determined. I
>defined the name-calling category and supported my claim that you won
>(which you seem unable to accept).
>
>>
>> > No indication of what 'losing points' refers to and why 'losing points'
>> > is relevant to the discussion.
>>
>> Take that up with the person who brought it up. Here's the relevant quote:
>> DTJ] Well, I have certainly lost in the name-calling category.
>
>I did not define a point system that you continue to refer to.
>
>>
>> > No indication of why your alleged supporting of claims with examples
>>
>> Nothing "alleged" about them. I've reproduced them more than once, in fact.
>> Would you like me to reproduce them again so you can feel more comfortable
>> with and certain of their existence?
>
>You are changing the subject to 'alleged supporting' rather than the
>'relevance of your alleged supporting of claims to the name-calling that
>you have done.'
>>
>> > and facts is relevant to the name-calling you have repeatedly indulged in.
>>
>> "Namecalling" implies that this is all that was done. I have applied labels
>> to your behavior appropriately and explained how such labels were appropriate,
>> in much the same way as a scientist classifies a new life form based on its
>> traits.
>
>Your scientific work would not meet the tests applied to such efforts,
>Doctor. You have called me a "hypocrite," "liar," "mime," "troll,"
>"club president," and "Net Cop" while also also accusing me of
>"mudslinging" and claiming that I had a "hard-on" for Wenham. The only
>one of these insulting names which you have ever even bothered to
>reference with a specific example that I could defend myself against was
>"troll" for which the example you used was this comment I made:
>
>"Probably Wenham will be hugely impressed by the capabilities of this
>OS/2 software and will soon post here with his new enthusiasm. Heh,
>heh."
>
>This would not meet any normal person's definition of a troll comment,
>even if they were unfamiliar with the context which supported my usage.
>>
>
>
>>
>> > > > Congratulations.
>> > >
>> > > To you.
>> >
>> > Illogical as the congratulations were for you for winning the
>> > name-calling competition.
>>
>> This from the person who just said:
>> DTJ] No indication of what 'losing points' refers to and why 'losing
>> DTJ] points' is relevant to the discussion.
>
>The point system is your creation and you have not defined it as I
>mentioned.
>
>>
>> > You have called me a "hypocrite,"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>Without any evidence, however.
>
>>
>> > "liar,"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>With a further lack of evidence
>
>>
>> > "mime,"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>
>With not only a complete lack of evidence but also without even a
>rudimentary explanation other than to say your were especially proud of
>your usage of the term.
>
>>
>> > "troll,"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>Your evidence and explanation did not support your conclusion but this
>was clearly your best effort.
>
>>
>> > "club president,"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>You used the term without an explanation, example, or meaning as I
>pointed out.
>
>
>>
>> > and "Net Cop"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>You used the term without an explanation, example, or meaning as I
>pointed out. Your reply to me was nothing but a sneer.
>
>>
>> And all of this explanation was removed by you without a single response to
>> it.
>
>There was nothing of substance to remove.
>
>
>>
>> > while also also accusing me
>>
>> "Typical nonsensical, illogical gibberish."
>
>This expression was only used with specific examples provided. In most
>cases, I attempted to describe the nonsensical nature of the comment.
>
>>
>> How ironic.
>>
>> > of "mudslinging"
>>
>> And I explained why.
>
>You failed to provide an explanation, only to accuse me of 'widening' my
>net of 'mudslinging' in response to a comment that did not even include
>'mud.'
>
>>
>> > and claiming that I had a "hard-on" for Wenham.
>>
>> And I explained how the metaphor applied.
>
>Not that you ever bothered to post.
>
>>
>> > In contrast, I have only called you a 'liar' and a 'hypocrite.'
>>
>> Without any justification.
>
>Actually, I provided specific examples of each of these with an
>explanation of how each applied.
>
>>
>> > Clearly, you win and are deserving of the congratulations.
>>
>> Thanks for admitting that I've won the argument. Now move on with your life.
>
>There was no argument for you to win. All there are are your repeated
>insults and name-calling directed to me by you in response to posts that
>I made to other people that you disagreed with. Your posts fall into a
>typical pattern of combining name-calling and insults with weak or
>nonexistent logic incorporated in claims of "evidence" for your
>name-calling. Other than your name-calling and insults, I have yet to
>actually see you express an opinion regarding any of the topics you have
>posted on: 1) the thread falsely claiming that Dr. Tholen was insane,
>2) the Wenham pattern of inflammatory posts, and 3) the extended threads
>on non-COOA topics such as politics and economics. The entire thrust of
>your posts over the last week seems to be personal attacks. The only
>contest that existed that could be "won" that I can see was one of
>name-calling for which I have awarded you the victory as I mentioned.
>It is puzzling that you are so reluctant to claim the crown for an
>activity that you have pursued so vigorously for over a week.
>
>>
>> > > > > Stop being a hypocrite and grow up.
>> > > > >
>> > > > > "[repetitive comments snipped]"
>> > >
>> > > Note: no response, and the hypocrisy continues.
>> >
>> > Interesting that you expect to see a response to your imperative.
>>
>> It was wishful thinking, admittedly. I could not have realisitically expected
>> you to stop being a hypocrite nor grow up on my command. Point taken.
>
>Actually, you apparently miss the point. If I told you to:
>
>Stop beating your wife
>
>that statement would include implications (that you have a wife and that
>you are beating her) that may not be true and that you could therefore
>not comply with, assuming that you even wished to.
>
>>
>> > Apparently, even you realize the absurdity of the comment that your
>> > statement makes.
>>
>> Apparently you're suffering from reading comprehension problems again.
>
>Your comment contradicts the comment you made a few lines earlier in
>which you said 'point taken' (erroneously, however, as I noted.)
>
>>
>> > No surprise there.
>>
>> Likewise.
>
>Likewise.
I would be more likely to read your whining pontifications, Dave, had
you not been variously referred by others as a hypocrite, liar, mime,
troll, club president, Net Cop, and mudslinger.
------------------------------
From: John Lockwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.arch,alt.conspiracy.area51,comp.os.netware.misc,comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.lang.java.advocacy
Subject: Re: Why is MS copying Sun???
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 06:01:43 -0700
On Thu, 12 Oct 2000 01:50:57 -0500, "Erik Funkenbusch"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>Why should I concern myself with the content of the text file, when Notepad
>itself doesn't?
That was a mistake for "help file", but leave it to you to pounce on
it.
Everyone who had a two minute estimate for notepad ignored the fact
that they'd have to write and compile the help file, and they ignored
the WM_SETFONT, albeit trivial, the word wrap, again trivial but
nevertheless part of the spec, parts of the printing work they'd have
to do, error handling, testing, and they also ignored the fact that I
said "one or two weeks", preferring the latter estimate and ripping it
apart like the hungry hyenas they turned out to be.
>
>> Anything you need to do to make yourself decent programmers is fine by
>> me. I prefer not to make myself one at the expense of someone else's
>> off the cuff remarks. Your mileage may vary.
>
>Well, I guess if you'd rather live in a fantasy world, be my guest.
No, I prefer to live in a world where the estimate includes the whole
task, and good fellowship and mutual respect dictate that it not be
minutely shredded -- when it wasn't even relevant to the original
argument to begin with -- by insensitive dorks whose only motivation
is to promote such modest wits as they imagine themselves to possess.
Unfortunately, to the contrary, THAT world is a fantasy -- the real
world, peopled as it is with the likes of you, is a poor substitute.
------------------------------
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