Linux-Misc Digest #14, Volume #20 Sat, 1 May 99 23:13:08 EDT
Contents:
Re: Timezone problems on Slackware (Bob Martin)
Re: Microsoft is the Communist!!! (imagine_me)
Re: Networking Linux (Bob Martin)
Re: Microsoft is the Communist!!! (Christopher B. Browne)
Re: Computer virus threat to Linux? (Keven R. Pittsinger)
Re: Timezone problems on Slackware (brian moore)
Re: [SURVEY] Who has an internal modem in his linux box ? ("rob")
Re: Extract from Tar ("marc*")
Re: Linux Journal May issue ? (David E. Fox)
Re: Computer virus threat to Linux? (Tom Christiansen)
X Broken - Error 111 (rob)
Re: GNU reeks of Communism (returning to %252522GNU Communism%252522) (Peter Seebach)
Re: SB AWE64 & audio CDs - solved ("William B. Cattell")
Re: GNU reeks of Communism (returning to %252522GNU Communism%252522) (Peter Seebach)
Re: Computer virus threat to Linux? ([EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul E. Larson))
Re: Microsoft is the Communist!!! (Christopher B. Browne)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 20:12:51 -0500
From: Bob Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Timezone problems on Slackware
I don't think libc6 is backwards compatible with the libc5. programs you
have linked with libc5 may break or do odd things. Try getting the
sources for the programs you are having problems with and compile them
with the new lib.
Donn Miller wrote:
>
> When I upgraded my Slackware system from libc5 to libc6, all
> kinds of strange sh-, er, stuff happened.
>
> 1.) /etc/rc.d/rc.6 won't unmount /usr at shutdown like it used
> to before upgrading to libc6.
>
> 2.) xclock shows the wrong time, or my timezones are all screwed
> up. Again, my timezones were fine before upgrading to libc6.
> Basically, since I'm running Windows 98 and FreeBSD also, I
> had/have my clock set to localtime, and not UTC. I used tzselect
> to set my timezone to Eastern time, and now `date' gives this:
>
> Sat May 1 10:23:31 EDT 1999
>
> Right now, xclock and xdaliclock both say 2:23.
>
> This is in my startup files:
>
> /etc/rc.d/rc.S: /sbin/clock -s
>
> I used clock -a and clock -w to update my system clock, so my
> clock should be set to localtime and not UTC. Apparently,
> there's a kernel bug somewhere which is causing "date" and
> [whatever lib function is responsible for time()] to be
> inconsistent.
>
> My kernel version is Linux 2.2.3. I'm also running glibc-2.0.6
> (libc-6.0.6).
>
> If there's something I'm missing here, please let me know. Also
> let me know if you know the solution to the `umount /usr' dilemma
> going on with /etc/rc.d/rc.6.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Donn
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: imagine_me <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Microsoft is the Communist!!!
Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 08:23:01 -0500
Wanting to buy and control every-fucking thing...
"... They spend billions(?) in research" Come fucking on... research of
what? Fucking win9x is not billions worth to develop... it's a piece of
shit!
Now if they spend those billions in research of how to control fucking
idiot-stupid-sheeps (win9x loozers how you doing?), lawyers, steal
technology from other companies, etc... I believe it.
Linux is not a commi, nor is the GNU, FSF, and family.... They give you
CHOICES!
The key word here is control.... MS wants it!
Linux frees your fucking spirit!
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 20:05:53 -0500
From: Bob Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Networking Linux
I have a network between linux, an NT box and a win95 laptop. basically
all you need is some NICs, cables and a hub. Check the how guide for
INTRANET, it describes how to setup a local network.
Julia Cristina Varela de Montoya wrote:
>
> I am fairly new to linux. I have an old Pentium with linux and Oracle 8
> running. I would like to create a network in my home using it and my
> current Windows machine. The purpose is mainly to learn networking, and
> perhaps gain some functionality. Does anyone have any suggestions as to
> configurations, hardware, software, etc?
>
> Thank you.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher B. Browne)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Microsoft is the Communist!!!
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 01:41:38 GMT
On Sat, 1 May 1999 16:51:34 -0700, Martin Ozolins
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> posted:
>Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The degradation of
>the Dictatorship of the Proletariat into just Dictatorship proved that
>old saw into an axiom.
I'd have no problem agreeing that Lord Aston's observation nicely
summarizes this, one of the most significant effects, that resulted in
the "corruption" of attempts at "communist utopia."
--
Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
-- Henry Spencer <http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - "What have you contributed to free software today?..."
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Keven R. Pittsinger)
Subject: Re: Computer virus threat to Linux?
Date: 2 May 1999 02:03:51 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In article <7gf6kh$5dp$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Matthew B. Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Tom Christiansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>> [courtesy cc of this posting sent to cited author via email]
>>
>> In comp.os.linux.misc, "Matthew B. Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>> :Are there any threats to Linux systems from computer virii?
>>
>> There is no word "virii", since there is no rule that takes "-us" to
>> "-ii". There is a rule that takes "-us" to "-uses", and I suggest you
>> use it by default, including for such words as virus and hippopotamus.
>> Classically, there are also rules that take "-us" to "-i" as in radius or
>> alumnus, to "-era" as in genus and opus, to "-ora" as in corpus, and to
>> "-Us" with a macron over the long "u" as in the ancient forms of status,
>> hiatus, apparatus, and prospectus. But there is simply no rule that takes
>> "-us" to "-ii".
>>
>> The incomplete but simple answer to your simple question is a simple
>> "no". The best form a virus protection is to install Unix, whether it
>> be BSD, Linux, or some other flavor, all of which happily provide this
>> wonderful thing called access control and protection. In other words,
>> an operating system.
>>
>> That being said, computer folklore suggests that historically there have
>> been two viruses to which Linux may have been vulnerable, but I don't
>> have any details. One cannot but imagine that they were running as the
>> superuser in order to circumvent the operating system's enforcements of
>> separation of powers.
>>
>> You might also do some research into the Robert Morris worm, which
>> targetted only the Sun and Vax platforms. Exploits against setuid
>> programs are a well-known issue, particularly now that we have executable
>> stack pages, arguably not the cleverest of "innovations".
>>
>> Binary intrusions are of limited effect in an environment populated
>> with diverse combinations of hardware and software platforms. If you
>> try to insinuate a bit of Wintel DNA into a Sparc running BSD, you will
>> quickly find yourself barking up the wrong tree with the wrong dog.
>>
>> That's why it's a highly significant matter of National Security that
>> we *not* all run identical platforms, particularly in government work.
>> You wouldn't expect us to fill all of our wheat fields with clones of
>> each other, lest one particular virus destroy them all. In computing,
>> the same principle applies, and for the same reason.
>>
>> Hybrid vigor is a good thing.
>
> At my place of work, there are constant worries about .DOC files (Word
> files) being infected with macro viruses (thanks Tom, for the grammer
> correction). In theory, this type of virus is not limited to platform.
>
> Let's just hope Word is never ported to Linux then!
Why would this matter? The *only* time you'd have to worry about a Word
macro trojan horse (which Word macro 'viruses' really are) is if you're
running as root. As long as you run them under just your normal 'mortal'
user account, they *CANNOT* destroy your entire system, but at *worst*
only erase everything in your home directory.
Keven
--
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
==============================================================================
Science-Fiction Adventure
In Reavers' Deep
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (brian moore)
Subject: Re: Timezone problems on Slackware
Date: 2 May 1999 02:12:27 GMT
On Sat, 01 May 1999 20:12:51 -0500,
Bob Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I don't think libc6 is backwards compatible with the libc5. programs you
> have linked with libc5 may break or do odd things. Try getting the
> sources for the programs you are having problems with and compile them
> with the new lib.
It's not, but that's not relevant: there's a reason libraries have
version numbers. You can still run a.out binaries (libc4) for that
reason.
> Donn Miller wrote:
> >
> > When I upgraded my Slackware system from libc5 to libc6, all
> > kinds of strange sh-, er, stuff happened.
> >
> > 1.) /etc/rc.d/rc.6 won't unmount /usr at shutdown like it used
> > to before upgrading to libc6.
This is a misfeature of ld.so. See /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Changes:
| GNU libc (libc6)
| ================
|
| Older versions of GNU libc (libc6) have a bug in the dynamic linker.
| /etc/ld.so.cache gets mapped into memory and is never unmapped. If one
| of your boot scripts calls ldconfig, /etc/ld.so.cache is deleted. Init,
| however, still references that file; as of 2.1.122, the kernel will
| consequently not be able to remount the root file system r/o at system
| shutdown. To fix this, upgrade to at least the pre6 release of GNU
| libc 2.0.7. As a temporary workaround, modify your boot scripts to do
| the following before calling ldconfig:
|
| ln -f /etc/ld.so.cache /etc/ld.so.cache.old
> > 2.) xclock shows the wrong time, or my timezones are all screwed
> > up. Again, my timezones were fine before upgrading to libc6.
> > Basically, since I'm running Windows 98 and FreeBSD also, I
> > had/have my clock set to localtime, and not UTC. I used tzselect
> > to set my timezone to Eastern time, and now `date' gives this:
Yes, libc6 and libc5 differ on where the zoneinfo files are.
> > I used clock -a and clock -w to update my system clock, so my
> > clock should be set to localtime and not UTC. Apparently,
> > there's a kernel bug somewhere which is causing "date" and
> > [whatever lib function is responsible for time()] to be
> > inconsistent.
Nope, it's got nothing to do with the kernel: the kernel doesn't give a
whit about timezones. The kernel -always- keeps time in UTC regardless
of where you are. (Unless of course, you lie to it about the time: it
always THINKS it's UTC anyway.)
Try: ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo /usr/lib/zoneinfo
--
Brian Moore | "The Zen nature of a spammer resembles
Sysadmin, C/Perl Hacker | a cockroach, except that the cockroach
Usenet Vandal | is higher up on the evolutionary chain."
Netscum, Bane of Elves. Peter Olson, Delphi Postmaster
------------------------------
From: "rob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: [SURVEY] Who has an internal modem in his linux box ?
Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 20:02:17 -0600
I have a USR Sportster 28.8 internal. No problems. Of
course you don't want to buy a 28.8 modem these days.
As for whether and external would be better, I've never
owned one so maybe I just don't know any better. But I
wouldn't want another little box and bundle of wires lying
around.
rob.
David Guyon Martin wrote in message
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>Do you have an internal modem working with linux ?
>
>Is there any trouble or dissadvantage ?
>
>What kind of modem is it: constructor, series, ... ?
>
>( I am about to buy one )
>
>Thanks,
>
>David
>
>( remove .nospam.please to reply by e-mail )
>
>
------------------------------
From: "marc*" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Extract from Tar
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 20:11:20 +0200
i dunno if this is possible. however tar extracts recursively. -z is for
zipped tarballs so don't use it if you have no .tar.gz or .tgz
so tar -xvf myarchive.tar should extract recursively your archive in current
dir.
marc.
Stephane POMATTO a �crit dans le message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>Hi all,
>
>How can I extract a complete directory (in recursive mode) from a Tar
>archive ?
>
>I have an archive called usr.tar wihch is a complete archive of my /usr.
>I want to extract /X11R6 only from this archive
>
>I typed tar xvzf /root/backup/usr.tar X11R6 but it didn't work
>
>Any idea ?
>
>Thanks.
>
------------------------------
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David E. Fox)
Subject: Re: Linux Journal May issue ?
Date: 02 May 1999 02:11:32 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Mongo) writes:
>
> No locals carry it and I rely on the US mail to get it to me.
> Anybody see it in their newsstands or has gotten theirs in the
> mails?
I got mine a few days ago. I"m in Sunnyvale, CA, by the
way.
Still, that's a bit late for a magazine.
>
--
========================================================================
David E. Fox Tax Thanks for letting me
[EMAIL PROTECTED] the change magnetic patterns
[EMAIL PROTECTED] churches on your hard disk.
=======================================================================
------------------------------
From: Tom Christiansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Computer virus threat to Linux?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tom Christiansen)
Date: 1 May 1999 20:35:47 -0700
[courtesy cc of this posting sent to cited author via email]
In comp.os.linux.misc, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Alan Curry) writes:
:I find nothing unpleasant about it. It only accepts the "set" command. It's
:not like you could make it send mail or anything.
Does it not then work like traditional modelines?
--tom
--
Real programmers don't produce results, they return exit codes.
------------------------------
From: rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: X Broken - Error 111
Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 20:41:55 -0600
Wanting to learn CORBA, I got Mico. It wouldn't
compile so I downloaded, compiled, and installed
the latest egcs. Mico then compiled and installed
cleanly. Life was good. Then I wanted to get my
sound card working. I recompiled the kernel, and
the sound does work now. But XFree86 will not
start. It simply turns the screen black. X _does_ work
if I load the old kernel. I'll paste the errors I get
below. (Error 111 apparently means very little,
but I don't see any other errors.)
Please tell me I don't have to reinstall X. I just had
to do that a few weeks ago to get my TNT card
working and it was a pain.
XFree86 Version 3.3.3.1 / X Window System
(protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6300)
Release Date: December 29 1998
If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
newer
than the above date, look for a newer version before reporting
problems. (see http://www.XFree86.Org/FAQ)
Operating System: Linux 2.0.35 i686 [ELF]
Configured drivers:
SVGA: server for SVGA graphics adaptors (Patchlevel 0):
NV1, STG2000, RIVA128, RIVATNT, ET4000, ET4000W32, ET4000W32i,
ET4000W32i_rev_b, ET4000W32i_rev_c, ET4000W32p, ET4000W32p_rev_a,
ET4000W32p_rev_b, ET4000W32p_rev_c, ET4000W32p_rev_d, ET6000,
ET6100,
et3000, pvga1, wd90c00, wd90c10, wd90c30, wd90c24, wd90c31,
wd90c33,
gvga, ati, sis86c201, sis86c202, sis86c205, sis86c215, sis86c225,
sis5597, sis5598, sis6326, tvga8200lx, tvga8800cs, tvga8900b,
tvga8900c, tvga8900cl, tvga8900d, tvga9000, tvga9000i, tvga9100b,
tvga9200cxr, tgui9400cxi, tgui9420, tgui9420dgi, tgui9430dgi,
tgui9440agi, cyber9320, tgui9660, tgui9680, tgui9682, tgui9685,
cyber9382, cyber9385, cyber9388, cyber9397, cyber9520, 3dimage975,
3dimage985, clgd5420, clgd5422, clgd5424, clgd5426, clgd5428,
clgd5429, clgd5430, clgd5434, clgd5436, clgd5446, clgd5480,
clgd5462,
clgd5464, clgd5465, clgd6205, clgd6215, clgd6225, clgd6235,
clgd7541,
clgd7542, clgd7543, clgd7548, clgd7555, clgd7556, ncr77c22,
ncr77c22e,
cpq_avga, mga2064w, mga1064sg, mga2164w, mga2164w AGP, mgag200,
mgag100, oti067, oti077, oti087, oti037c, al2101, ali2228,
ali2301,
ali2302, ali2308, ali2401, cl6410, cl6412, cl6420, cl6440, video7,
ark1000vl, ark1000pv, ark2000pv, ark2000mt, mx, realtek, s3_virge,
AP6422, AT24, AT3D, s3_svga, NM2070, NM2090, NM2093, NM2097,
NM2160,
NM2200, ct65520, ct65525, ct65530, ct65535, ct65540, ct65545,
ct65546,
ct65548, ct65550, ct65554, ct65555, ct68554, ct69000, ct64200,
ct64300, mediagx, V1000, V2x00, p9100, spc8110, generic
(using VT number 7)
XF86Config: /etc/XF86Config
(**) stands for supplied, (--) stands for probed/default values
(**) XKB: keycodes: "xfree86"
(**) XKB: types: "default"
(**) XKB: compat: "default"
(**) XKB: symbols: "us(pc101)"
(**) XKB: geometry: "pc"
(**) XKB: rules: "xfree86"
(**) XKB: model: "pc101"
(**) XKB: layout: "us"
(**) Mouse: type: PS/2, device: /dev/psaux, resolution: 100
(**) Mouse: buttons: 3, 3 button emulation (timeout: 110ms)
(**) SVGA: Graphics device ID: "Primary Card"
(**) SVGA: Monitor ID: "Primary Monitor"
(**) FontPath set to
"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
_X11TransSocketUNIXConnect: Can't connect: errno = 111
giving up.
xinit: Connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: GNU reeks of Communism (returning to %252522GNU Communism%252522)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Seebach)
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 02:41:03 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Prins Olivier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Your argument on the ftp and the world we live in etc...is very correct
>i am wrong
>there ( hey , it's the story of my life),...but the support you say ms and other
>companies give on their software packages it is not real support....is
>saying: "just
>install the program again", or : "wait for the upgrade" real support?? I
>dont think
>so.
Many companies offer truly atrocious support, yes. That said, a lot of
"support" means "I can just read the printed documentation, put a CD in a
drive, and expect something to happen, and if it doesn't, I can call someone
and ask for help".
RedHat is now offering this; that's their market. I think it's a good one to
be in.
>now you can get real support on linux problems, albeit no "official"
>support, the
>problem is of course finding the right place to get it, often not easy
>for normal
>end-users, but it is there ( on IRC or news-net)...
I think there's still some holes; I also think there's a lot of money to
be made filling those holes.
-s
--
Copyright 1999, All rights reserved. Peter Seebach / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
C/Unix wizard, Pro-commerce radical, Spam fighter. Boycott Spamazon!
Will work for interesting hardware. http://www.plethora.net/~seebs/
Visit my new ISP <URL:http://www.plethora.net/> --- More Net, Less Spam!
------------------------------
From: "William B. Cattell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: SB AWE64 & audio CDs - solved
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 02:38:55 GMT
Brian - again, thanks. You hit it right on. I replaced the Memorex 40x
CD with a BCP 40x and I can now listen to audio CDs using XMCD and the
like. I had the BCP in another machine where it worked fine. What
confused me was that the Memorex worked fine as a data drive and would
play audio CDs fine under NT - I figured that it was a no-brainer to get
it going under Linux.
The first hint I got was that on POST the BIOS would see the Memorex
only as an ATAPI 40x CD... it sees the BCP as a BCP 40x. It turns out
that I've had the SB AWE64 configed correctly - it was a (cheap)
hardware issue.
Thanks to Brian Moore who put me on the right track.
Bill
brian moore wrote:
>
> On Fri, 30 Apr 1999 21:40:57 GMT,
> William B. Cattell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Yo all;
> >
> > I've finally gotten my kernel recompiled (2.2.6) and can 'cat' .au and
> > .wav files to /dev/xxxx. If I try to play an audio CD I get an error
> > message on the console of;
> >
> > CD audio: ioctl error on /dev/cdrom cmd:=CDROMPLAYMSF errno=5
> >
> > If I do 'cat /dev/sndstat' I get nothing listed under 'Installed
> > Drivers:' or 'Card config:' but I do have 'Sound Blaster 16' under
> > 'Audio devices:', 'AWE32-0.4.3' in 'Synth devices', etc - see the
> > attached snd.txt file.
>
> icky --- usenet doesn't like MIME.
>
> > I've re-run the install/setup process to get this far but I'm at a loss
> > as to what I've missed. TIA.
>
> You're looking in the wrong place.
>
> The sound from your CDROM is sorta special: it's not controlled really
> by the kernel sound drivers except for volume (and that's
> just-another-mixer-channel).
>
> You're not even that far, you're getting hit when you try to start
> playing. Errno 5 = 'I/O error', which in this case means that your
> CDROM driver (not your sound driver) didn't like the command.
>
> Are you sure you have the right CD-ROM driver installed?
>
> --
> Brian Moore | "The Zen nature of a spammer resembles
> Sysadmin, C/Perl Hacker | a cockroach, except that the cockroach
> Usenet Vandal | is higher up on the evolutionary chain."
> Netscum, Bane of Elves. Peter Olson, Delphi Postmaster
--
==============================================================
http://members.home.com/wcattell
==============================================================
Park not thy Harley in the darkness of thine garage, that it
may collect dust for want of being oft ridden. Ride thy Harley
with thy brethren, and rejoice in the spirit of the road.
==============================================================
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: GNU reeks of Communism (returning to %252522GNU Communism%252522)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Seebach)
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 02:44:40 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
brian moore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>It's higher than the sales tax in most (all?) states in the US.
True. We only pay around 7% where I am...
>Something that costs less than 50c to make is higher than the margin
>the manufacturer gets? I'd say that's high.
Hmm. I'm not sure about margins; I know Apple used to brag about several
hundred dollar margins on some boxes.
That said, yes, it's high - but it's not *that* high.
I do think it'll change; it's not expensive to make copies of windows, but
it's very expensive to develop it. This is why free software is more
economically viable - you charge for the scarce resources, not the common
ones.
>And most is crappy.
Well, 90% of everything is crud. Certainly, most of the free packages I used
to download for Unix sucked too. ;)
>> However, his argument was about *cost* of software, not freedom.
>But the mere existence of some shoddy zero-cost software doesn't make a
>system useful.
I never claimed it was especially useful. Just that there are tradeoffs,
and Windows is ahead on some of them.
>None of my statements were untrue: you may differ on whether 10% is a
>significant portion of the cost, but consider it in comparison to the
>manufacturer's margin on the machine and it is significant. Don't you
>find it ironic that whilst Compaq, Dell, and others are complaining of
>lower earnings due to the current hardware price wars, that MS is
>proclaiming the PC industry is alive and well because they have record
>profits?
This is traditional behavior for the tail end of a monopoly - milk it for
all you can, raise prices, and pray that no one catches on.
>Microsoft has a higher per-unit profit on sub-$1000 machines than the
>manufacturers, and they have far less risk and capital on the line.
>Pretty neat trick, eh?
In general, yes - but if the house of cards falls, the manufacturers can
ship Linux, and MS is in a lot of trouble. They have a lot more long-term
risk.
-s
--
Copyright 1999, All rights reserved. Peter Seebach / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
C/Unix wizard, Pro-commerce radical, Spam fighter. Boycott Spamazon!
Will work for interesting hardware. http://www.plethora.net/~seebs/
Visit my new ISP <URL:http://www.plethora.net/> --- More Net, Less Spam!
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From: whistler<blahblah>@twcny.rr.com (Paul E. Larson)
Subject: Re: Computer virus threat to Linux?
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 02:20:19 GMT
In article <7gg4tr$8q1$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Cameron Hutchison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>>In his obvious haste, Matthew B. Kennedy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> babbled thusly:
>>: Are there any threats to Linux systems from computer virii?
>
>>If there ARE any linux Virii, the only real risk is if they're executed by
>>root.
>
>You dont consider it a risk to lose all your data?
>
Interesting to note that the magazine "Internet Security Advisor" in the
current Summer 1999 is asks and delves into the question "Is Linux Secure?".
Paul
Get rid of the blahs to email me :}
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher B. Browne)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Microsoft is the Communist!!!
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 17:22:21 GMT
On 1 May 1999 13:45:46 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> posted:
>As for Communism, I doubt M$ could EVER be considered that.
>Learn what it means before spouting off.
I suggest that you take a look at RMS' essays at
<http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/>; there is a quite coherent argument
that reasonably suggests that the behaviour proprietary software
vendors like Microsoft may be quite readily compared with the
behaviour of communist nations.
>If anything, they are the OPPOSITE of communism...
You seem to be believing the common misapprehension that there is a
single axis that is the "political spectrum," where there is a "left
end," and a "right end."
Jerry Pournelle did an essay (and he tends to be considered on the
"right wing of the bird") where he provided two axes, and did a
taxonomy of various political positions based on those axes. He
seemed to do a reasonably honest job, and the classifications were
fairly good.
[His axes: [rational <----> nonrational], [authoritarian <-----> libertine])
My tendancy is to think that there are probably *at least* two axes,
and probably more.
Under such, "communism" and "fascism" might very well turn out to be
very nearly adjacent to one another.
Generally speaking, both kinds of states have turned out to be
extremely authoritarian, establishing and using "secret police" to
control their populaces. There certainly are differences in rhetoric,
but on some practical matters, the differences are small...
>(In the political spectrum, that tents to be Fascism, which is FAAAAR
>worse)
Fascism (and you at least spelled it right; so many call it "facism")
is the great "demon" of the 20th century; the fact that Godwin's Law
exists establishes that it's a great conversation-stopper.
It is less clear, difficult to prove, and *impossible* to (due to
things like Godwin's Law) usefully debate whether communism could have
caused FAAAAR worse results than fascism has.
There probably have been more deaths resulting from actions of
putatively communist states than from the actions of fascist states,
but it's not useful to debate this, because [flodA reltiH] (reverse
it!) tends to quickly come up, and peoples' prejudices and other
immensely strong feelings squelch the communication of ideas.
--
Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
-- Henry Spencer <http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - "What have you contributed to free software today?..."
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