Messages

176

General Software Discussion / Re: To Vista or not to Vista that is the ?

« on: May 02, 2007, 02:07 PM »

my personal decision: "no"

177

Mircryption / Re: Mircryption/XChat 0.4.0-alpha w/ DH1080 Key Exchange !

« on: May 02, 2007, 02:06 PM »

you may know that i added a cbc mode of key exchange for mircryption mirc,[...]

-mouser (May 01, 2007, 05:02 PM)

i'd have to take a look at it first, but it sounds nice.
i'll add it to my todo for future features

178

Living Room / Map of online communities (xkcd)

« on: May 02, 2007, 02:02 PM »

xkcd
A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language

This comic is one of my daily stops, the humor is so nerdy it almost hurts.
I just love it. Especially since for quite some of those jokes you have to have quite some education to get them.

This is the latest comic, a map of online communities.
And there went quite some thought into it too. Note the compass rose and all the little details.
Map Of Online Communities
Even "your base" is there ;-)

http://imgs.xkcd.com...line_communities.png

from http://www.xkcd.com/

179

Mircryption / Mircryption/XChat 0.4.0-alpha w/ DH1080 Key Exchange !

« on: May 01, 2007, 10:05 AM »

Yes, you read correctly.
It's been done.

grab the changed code from http://mein-bowl.de/oss/mcpsx
or directly from http://mein-bowl.de/..._0.4.0-alpha.tar.bz2

this is by NO MEANS an official new mcps/xchat version!
this code is alpha, probably has bugs, might be insecure, blow up in your face.
it also depends on the OpenSSL library for doing the diffie-helman key agreement

i'm posting this here because i need your input and support.
if you're using mircryption with xchat and you feel confident enough to do so, please go ahead and test this code.

if you find any bugs or have suggestions, please contact me.

known bugs:
- doesn't use the name of the current query window if no parameter to /keyx is given (workaround: use /keyx NICKNAME)

known issues:
- there are some return values, mostly from the OpenSSL functions that aren't being checked yet. this has to be done.
- makefile for windows needs to be modified
- only tested on linux x86_64
- doesn't compile on intel macs (known issue with all versions of mircryption/xchat)

UPDATE
i should note a few things that are different in the way i implemented DH1080

- there can only be one key exchange at the same time (to prevent mix ups of public keys)
- there is a 7 second timeout in which B has to answer to A's request to exchange keys
- there is a new command "DH1080_ABORT <reason>" to ignore requests with an optional reason

that's it, this doesn't break compatibility with either fish or mcps/mirc

UPDATE! 2009-01-10
thanks to dev00 (http://dev00.pytalhost.com/) there's now a windows build of the (latest) inofficial mircryption version.
this enables windows users to use the DH1080 keyexchange!
since I don't run windows, I haven't had a chance to test it yet myself.

There's a binary as well as source code with a working visual studio project available from http://voobar.follvalsch.de/mcpsx
The binary version is dynamically linked against OpenSSL 0.8.9i from http://www.slproweb....ts/Win32OpenSSL.html which you'd have to install.

180

General Software Discussion / Re: Free text/file comparison tool?

« on: April 30, 2007, 12:11 AM »

just to point out the obvious ;-)
diff

181

General Software Discussion / Re: What fonts do I actually need?

« on: April 29, 2007, 11:36 AM »

Yes, those fonts are professionally designed...

- and, by God: they are professionally priced!   

Helvetica
Futura
Frutiger
Palatino Family

-Curt (April 29, 2007, 04:26 AM)

good design has it's price ;-)
after all it's a work of art and skill

182

General Software Discussion / Re: What fonts do I actually need?

« on: April 29, 2007, 02:45 AM »

3) I have a few 'vector' fonts in my windows directory (Modern, Roman, Script etc) - what are they?

-Ampa (April 04, 2007, 02:07 PM)

all your TTF fonts are 'vector' based, can you be more specific?

i recommend everyone to get their hands on some proper fonts like helvetica, futura, frutiger, palatino linotype, bitstream vera....
the differences might be in the details (ye, arial is a blatant helvetica rip off ;-) ) but those fonts are professionally designed for readability.

comic sans ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww
that font is almost offensive :p

183

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista

« on: April 29, 2007, 02:36 AM »

@gjehle - You *can* sell GPL software for profit. While it isn't popular, it is done. Search eBay for audio editors and you'll see Audacity being sold there.

-Renegade (April 28, 2007, 08:38 PM)

just admit that you're running out of stuff to blame on <X>
i'm not talking about the fishy practice of selling re-branded audacity copies on ebay..
i'm talking of the copyright holders selling their own proprietary software.
not the GPL part.

Here's a quick one? When was the last time that anyone ran World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto on Ubuntu? The gamers drive a lot of the computing industry, e.g. Hardware production, etc. Again, Ubuntu is lacking software options and is pretty much out of the market for games. OSX has a enough time there.

-Renegade (April 28, 2007, 08:38 PM)

fyi, you can run WOW on linux without much difficulty, two years ago.
not native, but it works. and it runs fast.

and if you really start to get bitchy about this...
wine/winex/cedega/xen/vmware ... there's plenty of virtual machines and emulators...
yes, you read correctly, there's a vmware version for linux.. you can install windows on it..

and back to your mass market BS
who holds the major share if it comes to webservers and web tech backends in general ? - yes open source.
there are people getting payed to setup/maintain that stuff ... you can make money with it, it's called service and support.

come on... just give up :p


last but not least, some _personal_ thoughts about linux
keep the mass market stupid users away, they are too annoying to deal with because lots of them expect everything to be like windows, expect the same kind of support you can get from MS just for free, etc etc.
i'd be more than happy with linux not making prime time. honestly.


i don't care about how many people use linux or will use linux in the future, right now it's already more than enough of them.
ubuntu has no commercial interests, they are giving it away for free, you can even order batches of CDs online that get shipped to you for free, as in beer.
there is not need for a "mass market" or "prime time"

prime time... mass market... geee, capitalism...
maybe the whole mindset behind open source doesn't go that well with ... capitalism.. ever thought of it?
and yet.. it works, superbly, for millions of people.

and i think this might be one of the reasons so many folks are "offended" by linux.
> look at those hippies, sharing everything with no money to gain! they are stupid!
> oh wait! they have a huge community and userbase, and the development is going on, stuff is getting better
> omgomg they are stealing minimal amounts of marketshare from us, they are a threat! go kill em!

184

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista

« on: April 28, 2007, 03:55 PM »

renegade, if you would actually care about what you say you wouldn't talk like you have to spread propaganda

yes, there is a term called GPL-infection
it happens if you rip off other people's code! code they made public so you could use it NON PROFIT
while you're always argue with "commercial interests" written to your forehead.

maybe it's not about who sells more or less
maybe it's not about "prime time"

also, let me give you some insight into GPL and what it is.

GPL / GNU Public License
you can use code or libraries free of charge if you in return make available:
all changes to the code
your code that is directly linked against a GPLed library

LGPL / Lesser/Library GNU Public License
same as GPL except that you can LINK against LGPLed libraries without making your code public
some people think the wording is not 110% so they add another clause that clarifies this

MIT
is kinda: do whatever you want, i think MPL is similar
BSD is also part of that family

now here's the catchy part that a LOT of folks don't get.
even for GPLed code, there is still a COPYRIGHT holder.
the coder who wrote the code.

said coder decided to offer his code to the public under the terms of said LICENSE.
the coder is free to do whatever else he wants to do with his code.
one thing he could do would be to sell it to you if you wanted to use it in your commercial software.
or he could even give you a "i allow you to commercially use this piece of code if you tattoo 'omgwtf' onto your left arm"-license.

do you come to a realization?
i sure hope so.
GPL may be infective, but if you get infected you did it either out of ignorance, or willingly by violating the rules.
in both cases, your fault, not the GPL's fault, nor the coders, not anyone else's, except for you.

don't blame someone for sharing something he/she created for free that you, oh so sadly, can't use in a commercial product from which you would gain money (at least partially) based on work done by others.

i did my deal of research on this topic, i too work at a company that sells software or hardware on which software runs. and yes, there are products that are based on linux, and YES, we can sell them. while there is still proprietary code running on them. it works. legally perfectly ok.

some facts:
the linux kernel is GPL
a damn lot of the user space libraries are LGPL
if (as i think you do) like to click on buttons, trolltech's Qt is dual-licensed as GPL and QTLICENSE.
yes, they sell it, you can buy it, awesome, isn't it?

even if something is GPL.
if you really care about it, go contact the original author and give him some frickin' credit and he might actually think about other ways to offer a personal license to you.

185

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista

« on: April 28, 2007, 10:54 AM »

BTW - Windows NT systems [2000/2003/XP] are UNIX because they are POSIX compliant - I use UNIX in the common manner of "not Windows" though

aside from all you said, that makes me cringe.

i wont argue the posix compliancy, but that doesn't _make_ them UNIX.
for that it would have to fulfill SUS

dunno why i'm even bothering.....

186

General Software Discussion / Re: Whats the best program to learn typing?

« on: April 28, 2007, 08:43 AM »

hmm, it kinda comes automatically ;-)
you just have to replace "learn typing in 24h" with "learn typing in Xyears" ;-)
never used any software to learn, dunno, i guess i developed my own rules of what key to hit with which finger ;-)

187

Living Room / Re: How AMD plans to take over the market by adding DRM directly to CPU

« on: April 28, 2007, 07:47 AM »

there is also an 64bit version of xp that will only run on intel
for some crappy reason you have to have different serial numbers for amd64 and intel64
talk about inconvenience

188

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista

« on: April 28, 2007, 07:43 AM »

@ renegade
don't want it? don't use it.
nobody's forcing anybody.
but if you really prefer to be a hater, get some better arguments going.
so far i haven't seen any argument of yours that wasn't based on some kind of assumption like
"if you want to do this special tasks..."
"if you deal with 'normal' users..."
if if if if whatever

nobody really cares what OS you use or prefer, or maybe someone does, then just tell em, don't try to be a hater and brag about how much better your preference is over someone else's.
it sounds an awful lot like: "meh... look how much cooler my toy is! you suck!"

and this goes for everyone who's doing this crappy comparison/evangelizing BS out there.
get a life. honestly.
if you wanna make it your life, enroll for some debate club or get into politics, you can do stuff like that there all day long....

189

General Software Discussion / Re: Parsing email into a delimited file to import into a database

« on: April 28, 2007, 07:32 AM »

try perl ;-)

190

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista

« on: April 27, 2007, 05:47 PM »

In the future, there will be OS religions. Their mandates will include evangelism in order to save the souls of the non-believers.

-db90h (April 27, 2007, 05:12 PM)

dunno where you've been living but that religion thingy's been going on for quite some years already.
stupid.

This evangelism will yield a world war.

-db90h (April 27, 2007, 05:12 PM)

not quite there yet.

191

Living Room / Re: Are Optical Computers as PCs on the horizon?

« on: April 27, 2007, 12:01 PM »

Iirc intel is down to 40nm now - that's pretty frigging small.

I wonder what the smallest scale we can reach are... I recall something about the laws of quantum mechanics setting some limits

-f0dder (April 26, 2007, 10:17 AM)

the (most) limiting factor right now is the photo process used to transfer the masks onto the waver.
structures are already starting to get smaller than the wavelength of visible light, which is countered by using shorter wavelength light (like UV) and special optical systems.

there have been experiments using electron rays or instead of light to transfer the masks several years ago.
it works, the structures are superbly sharp, but the process takes several hours for one layer.
not feasible.

another problem caused by getting the structures smaller and smaller is the fact that you use acid to get rid of the stuff you don't want.
acid doesn't know what sharp 90 degree turns are, everything starts getting rounded and blurred.
you also have to deal with acid not going straight down, but also sideways, basically eating away everything underneath the pathways you wanted to get by removing stuff around them.

192

General Software Discussion / Re: File container / file type translators

« on: April 27, 2007, 11:51 AM »

Ah thank you for that very informative explanation! So I guess at the most something like that could work if all the formats were propretiary to one company, in case they probably have made their software compatbile with one another already.

-justice (April 27, 2007, 02:53 AM)

no, proprietary formats have nothing to do with that.
it would work if you only have one target domain (display file on screen as color bitmap).
it would not work if you want to translate between several domains back and forth (as in bitmap to vector to text... etc)

193

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista

« on: April 27, 2007, 11:48 AM »

people should stop evangelizing and start using different kinds of operating systems for what they are good for and needed.
please, stop comparing

194

Living Room / Re: Are Optical Computers as PCs on the horizon?

« on: April 26, 2007, 10:09 AM »

i'm lazy, i stick to moore ;-)

i don't see optical or biological computers in the _consumer_ market any time soon.
even tho you hear that researchers have "slowed down" or even "stopped" (aka stored) light the technology is no where near anything you could use.
it's still huge lab benches of high precision equipment in a controlled environment.

having an optical logic gate is only a very very very small step.
if you can't efficiently store the information for a prolonged time (think: registers, cache, ram, peripheral storage) you're nowhere near anything you could call 'computer'.

and yes, the "signal has to be converted to electricity at some point" bottle neck will be there.
there's no way you'll snap your fingers and have optical-everything just like that ;-)

i think the silicon based integrated circuit technology will go on for a bit longer, maybe not silicon based (some other mineral) but same concept.
as you might have already noticed for some time now, development took the direction of (massive) parallelism rather than higher clock speeds.

one speed limiting factor with the way logic gates work is capacity. every transistor has a capacity, every bus has a capacity, _everything_ has a capacity. what you need to do in order to "do" something is basically "fill it up", that's what you call "drive".
by decreasing the capacity (making the transistor smaller) you can get [ higher speed, less power consumption, more elements per inch, ... ].
actually, the little nano-meter value (structural width) that defines the 'technology' (as in: 65nm process, etc) is really the width of the poly-silicon stripe that is the 'gate' of the transistor.
making this smaller, you automatically decrease the capacity of said transistor.

well, silicon based computers aren't dead yet ;-)

195

General Software Discussion / Re: File container / file type translators

« on: April 26, 2007, 09:51 AM »

the one-fits-all paradigm sounds nice but fails for non trivial tasks.

just take your svg to png problem
svg is a standard that supports a _lot_ of stuff, there's hardly a svg implementation to date (afaik) that supports all details in the way it was thought out by the w3c. same goes for html, css and all other public standards.

what the translator kit does is build an abstraction layer "file" or "displayable file".
nice idea, but limited.
eg. for svg you have vector information, you can do all kinds of transformations (rotate, skew, resize, ...) without loss of data.
for png you have discrete pixel values, doesn't work that nice :p

there is no parameter-less transformation from one of those domains into the other nor do i know of any superset that could represent both file formats in a way that would be useable and feasible to implement at the same time.

since you lack this superset you can't have that "_any_ program handles _any_ format" thing.

if you only have trivial cases like "load <file> scale to <size> and display <here>" you can use translators, since it's one-way.
that's perfect, and it's nice to have a translator.
the only reason this works is because you already do it _everywhere_. take a file and transform it to a _known_ size with the target format being a bitmap. every program does it do display everything it wants to your screen.

but for everything else, like editing files, forget about it ;-)
since this is a whole different paradigm, it's unlikely that windows will implement this on OS level. (too much work)

the reason you implement a specialized file format is:
you have z specialized data set that has special access functions and supports a special set of operations.
(note the word "special")

196

General Software Discussion / Re: How do you backup your files?

« on: April 26, 2007, 09:37 AM »

What if... You house burns ? 

-Armando (April 25, 2007, 08:10 PM)

if my house burns i have lost more important stuff than a handful of data

197

Living Room / Re: What's your pet's favorite toy?

« on: April 25, 2007, 02:34 PM »

Every other toy:
--------------------->

Laser pointer:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>

-nosh (April 24, 2007, 07:45 AM)

i can second that

198

General Software Discussion / Re: How do you backup your files?

« on: April 25, 2007, 02:33 PM »

raid1 or none

(i'm serious)

199

Living Room / Re: Gizmodo has gone too far...

« on: April 23, 2007, 05:02 PM »

Haha, cute.

Google for realhamster if you haven't already seen it, btw.

-f0dder (April 23, 2007, 04:47 PM)

dude
realhamster is the shit
ever since i got mi... no wait, i think i should stop 

200

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« on: April 23, 2007, 03:25 PM »

uhm, hi there.
it's been quite a while since i signed up here (over a year already) and i've never found the time (*cough*) to write something here.
most of you only know me for the crap i post in the living room or my sarcastic comments here and there (or my contributions to mircryption/xchat)
there's some more info in my profile (yes, i'm lazy)

as to where i live, check this:

(yes, it's a frickin' island )