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4251

Living Room / Re: PirateBox - Portable FLOSS file sharing network

« Last post by 40hz on January 15, 2013, 12:39 PM »

^I do. But the BlueBox was used to generate operator tones that would allow you place calls or access long distance without going through a "Ma Bell" operator and paying for a call. There were also other colored boxes (including the much feared by telco security Vermilion+Gold box combination punch) that did "other" things too. Please don't ask how I know that.

This is a little more like the Fido BBS system in that it allows communications and file sharing between users without the communications being mediated or provided by a 3rd party since they're basically built into an automated host device.

I'm waiting to see if they eventually create a mechanism to mesh all these little babies together (very doable btw) and effectively create a localized broadband channel that doesn't use the telephone system or state/corporate sponsored internet/WAN backbone.

Now that would be a true 'pirate' network. Tom Jennings (self-proclaimed anarchist and FidoNet's creator) would have loved it.
 

4252

Living Room / Re: PirateBox - Portable FLOSS file sharing network

« Last post by 40hz on January 15, 2013, 11:11 AM »

^Top is the punk journalist character Spider Jerusalem from Warren Ellis's cyberpunk graphic novel Transmetropolitan. A good read if you like dystopian cyberpunk.







Below is uncropped and full size. Check out the detail!




 

4253

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on January 15, 2013, 10:18 AM »

Since I trace most of my musical roots back to the Boston punk scene back in the 70s  I'm always happy when I hear somebody carrying on the tradition in backstreet clubs of "The Hub." So here's something from an unusual (and sadly defunct) group from Boston called Morphine. Very unique blend of jazz and rock elements in a group featuring vocals, percussion, tenor and baritone saxophones, 2-string slide electric bass(!) - and no guitars. If the early Lou Reed met up with Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) and Tom Waits, a couple of 'old school jazz' sax players, a carton of cigarettes - and a big bottle or two of Wild Turkey bourbon - it would sound like this.

If you like your music mostly dark and smoky- often conjuring up images of dark rainy nights in a big city -  this is the band for you.  

Here's a couple of favs of mine. First is You Look Like Rain

Candy

All Wrong

And next there Buena

 

4254

Living Room / Re: PirateBox - Portable FLOSS file sharing network

« Last post by 40hz on January 15, 2013, 08:45 AM »

The perfect use for all those old "underpowered" laptops gathering dust in closets. Plug it in, turn it on, walk away...



Stealthing it as a WAP is brilliant. They're so ubiquitous these days. How many people would ever notice that there's suddenly one additional WAP in the room they're sitting in?

I'd personally prefer mine, however, with a slice of Raspberry Pi. Boxed up and glued to some out of the way surface (ideally looking like it belonged there  ) - and preferably with access to a solar power source. It would be the ultimate manifestation of an affordable "set & abandon in place" communications network! "Green" too.




And as an extra bonus, it would provide hours of additional entertainment value for people who get to watch the "find the unauthorized router/file server" folks show up and look for it. Hee-hee!


------

Note: Just for the record, I don't condone nor excuse people using this technology in order to "share" digital assets for which they don't have a legal right. I do, however, object to the notion (in some quarters) that digital communications are somehow 'different' from every other form of human communication - and are therefor not entitled to protection under existing constitutional rules of free speech. Technology like this is a small bit of insurance when it comes to that.

4255

Living Room / Re: The Free Videos Thread

« Last post by 40hz on January 15, 2013, 07:53 AM »

@Tomos - if it's any consolation, I'm running into a lot of that lately with many things I'm interested in watching. Maybe someday they'll get all this ridiculous licensing and copyright bickering straightened out.

Somebody I know (who works in television as a producer) said that that restriction is most likely because of trademark concerns. A lot of US sci-fi movies are discovering you can't create a storybook company, technology, or product without somebody claiming to already "own" the name or term. Unfortunately, these people only come forward once a show is making money or under contract for a season, at which time it becomes a toss-up for a network or the producers whether to fight or settle on the claim.

Since most take the short term tactical strategy of settling this has become a fairly common headache in the movie and TV world. They actually budget for it now.

Small wonder there's so many "reality television" programs blighting the airwaves these days.

4256

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on January 14, 2013, 08:42 PM »

From the early days of punk - Graham Parker and The Rumor with their 1979 release of Protection.

 

4257

Living Room / Re: The Free Videos Thread

« Last post by 40hz on January 14, 2013, 08:08 PM »

I've been following the web series H+ The Digital Series and have found it quite enjoyable.

H+ posits a near future "transhuman" scenario where a nanotech implant called H+ has been introduced that allows a person to be connected to an enhanced reality internet 24/7. All looks good until the system (and implantees) get hit with a cyber virus.

The story gets told in a non-linear fashion as the episodes in the series (46 to date, each running 3-10 minutes) move back and forth to moments before, during and after the infection leaving the viewer with clues in order to piece out exactly what happened. (Note: each episode has annotations which provide clues and point out various themes in the series. I suggest you watch each major chapter (about 6 episodes per) once with the annotations initially left off for maximum fun. Then re-watch them with the annotations on to see how close your conclusions and observations match up with those of the writers.)

Very well done. Recommended.

Episode 1 - Driving Under follows. 6 entertainment minutes well spent IMHO:

(Wikipedia entry here.)
 

4258

General Software Discussion / Re: UEFI and Linux in 2013 - the list so far

« Last post by 40hz on January 13, 2013, 02:01 PM »

what makes them special compared to other people?

-f0dder (January 13, 2013, 12:37 PM)

The Linux Foundation is attempting to work with Microsoft and its implementation of SecureBoot rather than hack around it. The shim is a hack - and potentially open to misuse and mischief.

What makes the Linux Foundation different from many in the Linux community is that, rather than declare war, they have opted to take Microsoft up on its supposed offer to provide a path for peaceful coexistence when it comes to UEFI/SecureBoot. One in which all modern PC operating systems can take advantage of - and equally benefit from - the purported increases in security it provides.

Please remember that Linux got burned over the so-called ACPI "standard." Most distros chose to ignore the broken power management implementation Microsoft was championing since APM worked fine just as it was. Unfortunately, the gravity well created by Microsoft's share of the market had most hardware manufacturers migrate over to Microsoft's own implementation of "standard" ACPI and abandon APM thereby forcing Linux kernal maintainers to switch over to not only ACPI - but Microsoft's own take on it in order for it to work with most laptops. As was noted in The Linux Action show above, this is still a problem in the Linux world. And many there feel UEFI  threatens to become a similar issue down the road since Microsoft is effectively making all the calls in this particular game.

I think, in all fairness, that the UEFI/SecureBoot initiative has more to do with business strategy and less to do with enhancing security than is being admitted. At least so far as the way it is currently being administrated by Microsoft. Because if the real goal was to further enhance security, it would be in everyone's best interest if it be adopted and deployed as quickly as possible industry-wide.

The simple fact that Microsoft is inserting technical hurdles and gotchas into the mix smacks a little of the old strategy of making sure Lotus 1-2-3 got broken with each new version of DOS since Microsoft had a competing spreadsheet (Multiplan/Excel) they were trying to gain traction with.

And insisting on not allowing GPL licensing or its equivalents on a so-called "open" standard they're pioneering seems to be more than a little disingenuous. Especially since Microsoft has (to date) refused to go on record as saying exactly what their objections to that would be. Likely they don't want to because Microsoft's insinuation that the provisions of GPL could be used to force manufacturers and Microsoft to reveal signing keys is totally bogus. And they know it. Something which has been repeatedly addressed by The Linux Foundation itself, which has clearly explained why it would not.

Microsoft is in the same fix as Sun Microsystems is with Java. Both want to have something they can call an "open standard" but still have full control and the last word over.

Last I heard, "open" doesn't work that way.  

4259

General Software Discussion / Re: UEFI and Linux in 2013 - the list so far

« Last post by 40hz on January 13, 2013, 12:05 PM »

Yes, I am worried that SB might be used to lock down x86 hardware in the future, but claiming that's it's only point is FUD.

-f0dder (January 13, 2013, 11:53 AM)

I think categorizing that purely as FUD risks being guilty of being it's own piece of FUD.

In case anybody has any doubts of Microsoft's attitude and intentions when it comes to UEFI (despite Redmond's promises of an easy process for those who wish to obtain a validly signed pre-boot loader) take a look at this article over at ZDnet.

Linux Foundation UEFI Secure Boot key for Windows 8 PCs delays explained

Thanks to Microsoft, the Linux Foundation's program for booting Linux easily on Windows 8 PCs protected with Secure Boot is still stuck in neutral.

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for Linux and Open Source | November 23, 2012 -- 18:43 GMT (10:43 PST)
Follow @sjvn


The Linux Foundation is sorry to report that its project for making Linux easy to boot with Windows 8 Secure Boot still isn't finished.

James Bottomley, Parallels' CTO of server virtualization, well-known Linux kernel maintainer, and the man behind the Linux Foundation's efforts to create an easy way to install and boot Linux on Windows 8 PCs with UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) Secure Boot enabled is sorry to report that "We’re still waiting for Microsoft to give the Linux Foundation a validly signed pre-bootloader."

Despite the best efforts of Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, and the Linux Foundation, booting Linux on UEFI Secure Boot Windows 8 PCs continues to be a problem . The easiest way to avoid Windows 8 lock-in is to disable UEFI Secure Boot from your system before it starts to boot. However, this option may not be available on all motherboard; isn't available at all on Windows RT devices, such as the Surface; and is still troublesome even with Secure Boot disabled. So, it is that the struggle—and struggle it is—to create an easy to use, universal install and boot Secure Boot Linux installer continues on.

<more here>

It's gotten so ridiculous and obvious that even The Linux Action Show (which argued for a "wait & see" approach to UEFI and suggested Microsoft be given the benefit of the doubt) are finally getting frustrated. Fast forward to the 16:55 mark in the below video to hear what's been going on with the Linux Foundation's attempt to work Microsoft on this.

 

4260

Living Room / Re: Name 1 Technological Feature That You Think Is Good

« Last post by 40hz on January 13, 2013, 10:40 AM »

One technology - but in three separate areas.  

1) Non-invasive medical scanning (PET, CAT, MRI, ultrasound, etc.) which eliminated unnecessary guesswork and dangerous, expensive, and painful "exploratory" surgeries.  

2) The CPU chip. It changed *everything* for the better and worse. Mostly for the better.

3) The IF statement in programming. That simple insight, which allowed a program to test and branch in response to the state of a condition, opened up the world for machine behaviors. Thank you Lady Ada Lovelace.

 

4261

Living Room / Re: Electric shock from USB cable

« Last post by 40hz on January 12, 2013, 05:47 PM »

Fluke does indeed charge through the nose for their products. But I am still of the opinion that you do get what you pay for. These things can take a serious beating before they give up and last forever when used normally.

-Shades (January 12, 2013, 03:37 PM)

When it comes to electronic test and maintenance equipment I agree 100%,   Fluke, Tektronix , Xcelite, Jensen, BlackBox, etc. charge what they do because those who work with this stuff for a living know that, if properly cared for, most things purchased from these sources will last them throughout their career - and still be serviceable enough to give to their grandchildren once they retire.

I don't know if you always get what you pay for. But my experience is that you almost never get more than you pay for when it comes to this type of product.
 

4262

Living Room / Re: You Know John Searle? Watson Loves Bull****! - Artificial Intelligence

« Last post by 40hz on January 12, 2013, 02:07 PM »

The best criteria I ever heard for determining if a system was 'intelligent' was if it could enter into a husband-wife dialog with it's human user.

Example:

     Human: Where did you put that file?

     System: Where do you think?

     Human. Oh!

 

Maybe if they'd just stop trying to get fancy find a way around the Halting Problem first, that would give them the key insight needed?

4263

Living Room / Re: Electric shock from USB cable

« Last post by 40hz on January 12, 2013, 01:53 PM »

tracing out a large ball of (evil elf macramé) wiring

-Stoic Joker (January 12, 2013, 09:42 AM)

That is one of the worst things I have to routinely deal with.

Fortunately, there's something you can get that lessens the chance of you bumping into AC current when it's buried in with a mass of cable. It's an inexpensive device that goes by a variety of names such as VoltAlert - but its generic term is a non-contact AC Voltage probe or detector.

They come in a variety of shapes and colors, but the most common type is a pen-like probe that clips in your pocket for safekeeping. When it's placed in close proximity to  an AC voltage source, it blinks and emits a chirpy beep warning you there's AC voltage present.

I have a model made by Fluke which looks something like this.



Fluke charges a premium (About $25) because of their name. You can get less expensive ones ($8-$15 USD) that work equally well (it's a pretty simple circuit inside these devices) from other makers. GBC and Klein are good choices. And they can be found in most large home improvement stores like HomeDepot.

Any time I'm poking around in a mass of wires or sticking my head up in a drop ceiling to do something, I poke one of these little guys around a bit before I touch anything just to be sure I don't connect with something that can kill me.

4264

Living Room / Re: Electric shock from USB cable

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 08:18 PM »

Never really grokked what ratio between the two you needed before it was dangerous,

-f0dder (January 11, 2013, 05:16 PM)

The formula is Ohm's Law:

Current in amps = Voltage in volts/Resistance in ohms

Clearest explanation I ever saw is here. Check out the VIR triangle at the link. That's the easiest way to remember the formula variations.

General rule of thumb: once you hit 1/10 of an amp (i.e. 100 milliamps) you're at risk with house current levels and frequencies.

4265

Living Room / Re: A Gift for the Hackers - Documentary

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 04:23 PM »

Bah, DNS and active directory. That took hours to figure out the first time, now I know exactly what to check and can have it corrected in 2 minutes- the time it takes to enter the change and replicate it to the slaves.

-SeraphimLabs (January 11, 2013, 04:00 PM)

Awesome! Next time something comes up with AD that even has Microsoft's priority support team stumped for a bit I'll call you in.

(P.S.  I used AD/DNS resolution purely for illustrative purposes. I didn't feel like getting into writing up a real AD quagmire as an example. )

4266

Living Room / Re: Electric shock from USB cable

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 04:12 PM »

^True. The current is a function of voltage and resistance and is continuously variable. Besides. the human body's resistance can run from 1K ohms to around 120K ohms depending on how much body mass is in the circuit path. So it's not easy to estimate an individual's true electrical resistance in an actual situation with any degree of accuracy. The critical factor is if the circuit path crosses the heart area.

Interestingly each type of current (DC and AC) presents its own dangers. DC makes you more likely to "stick" to a load since it paralyzes muscles including the heart. AC's back and forth keeps you from locking up as hard, so (theoretically) it's easier to pull free. But the alternating current makes your heart to go haywire since it confuses the electrical signals and causes fibrillation, whereas with DC there's a good chance the heart may 'auto-reset' after the DC jolt and resume beating normally. This is why medical defibrillators use DC current.

Although both forms of electrical current are dangerous, serious AC shocks are considered (by many medical people) to pose a greater threat since the human heart can remain confused even after the person is disconnected from the circuit. Often with fatal results.

4267

Living Room / Re: Lego goes Linux !

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 03:43 PM »

^Hear ya on the $$$ for the Lego stuff.

If I were going to get into robotics I'd probably start with an Arduino plus this book plus some plans, shield kits, or components from these people.

The book is by the people at Make who I have quite a bit of respect for. I keep looking at it every time I'm in our local bookstore. So far I've been able to resist the temptation and not get sidetracked by yet another bit of technology I find really interesting.

Addendum: Make sells a "maker" general purpose prototyping shield for $17 that looks worth getting.
 

4268

Living Room / Re: Electric shock from USB cable

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 12:20 PM »

 FYI

This chart is based on an AC line in the USA.
 

So if I=V/R and we estimate the resistance of your  finger is about 2k Ohms and guess that one of the 5V rails is supplying the voltage then: 5/2000 = 0.0025 or 2.5 milliamps. More than enough to feel a tingle. And potentially more dangerous as the voltage goes up if it's not being driven by a 5 volt line. (Considering it's visibly sparking I'm guessing it's more likely to be closer to the 19 or so volts actually coming off the power brick since you usually need around 10 volts minimum to see visible sparking with DC. However, if it's somehow bleeding directly from the AC mains it's already at lethal potential. And the fact that it has a bite at such low voltages makes me think there is some AC bleeding in there. Not good!)

 

4269

Living Room / Re: Lego goes Linux !

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 12:06 PM »

I think GPL may be getting in the way since Lego probably doesn't want to open its kimono too much as far as the underlying Mindstorm controller goes.

There are, however, funtional Raspberry Pi implementations already in the works or available as this project shows.

Supposedly the new Mindstorms is also planning iOS and other mobile support. Hard to really find much out since most of the Google pages discussing the new EV3 no longer go anywhere (possibly because Lego requested they be taken down?)

Unfortunately, with reduced school budgets and a renewed emphasis on "teaching the basics," the cost of EV3 may be prohibitive for many school systems (24 student starter pack goes for $4700 USD. A single EV3 core set is $340 without software, which shows as being a separate purchase. Couldn't find the pricing on just the software. The only page I did find about that merely provided a form to "request a quote.")

Be interesting to read Lego's license terms for EV3. From what I can see it requires a site license if a school wants to load it on more than on PC! (Doesn't that imply they offer more than one set of license terms to schools?) I tried to find a copy of the license on their website. No joy I'm afraid.
 

4270

Living Room / Re: New Desktop parts list (RFC)

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 11:04 AM »

it squawks about the Creative applet that starts when I boot, and shuts it down. I'm not sure what to make of that.

-TaoPhoenix (January 11, 2013, 09:43 AM)

The EMET notifier is part of Microsoft's extended mitigation experience toolkit. It's designed to detect exploitable and hack-vulnerable code on your system. Which is not the same thing as malware. It's just code that has the potential to be compromised by something or somebody else.

It's probably complaining about CTLTask.exe



CTLTask.exe lets you ditz with your EAX effects on the soundcard. It's not something you need to have running at startup (or probably any other time ) so I'd just disable it from autostarting with msconfig or a similar utility. You can always launch it later if you ever do want to play with it.

Onward!

4271

Living Room / Re: New Desktop parts list (RFC)

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 09:08 AM »

^The Audigy/SB line were great sounding soundcards. Nothing wrong with having one of those in your rig IMO. I think they sound noticeably better than the onboard audio chips found on most modern mobos. Sad to see they're tomb-stoning all support for all of them with Windows 7. (An EE I know said there's no reason why they couldn't continue to work with just about anything. They're extremely well-designed devices.)
 
Too bad Creative made such great hardware and such problematic drivers and software. If they had gotten their act together on that score I don't think you'd have seen onboard audio take off the way it did on desktop PCs.
 

4272

Living Room / Re: Electric shock from USB cable

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 08:55 AM »

It still works fine, and I haven't died yet, but I will be wary in case it gets worse (will try to refrain from sucking it.....).

-Fred Nerd (January 11, 2013, 04:13 AM)

I'd... replace it before then.  That's just me.  I don't do sparks.  And I don't take a chance with electricity.  For me or my devices.

-wraith808 (January 11, 2013, 08:44 AM)

Agree. Edison Roulette is not a game you want to play.

4273

Living Room / Re: A Gift for the Hackers - Documentary

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 08:52 AM »

That's a people issue, not a technology issue.

-Stoic Joker (January 11, 2013, 06:56 AM)

+1.  

There's a saying in the tech world that goes: In the end it always comes down to a "people problem." And anytime you find something that isn't, you'd better look again.

4274

Living Room / Re: A Gift for the Hackers - Documentary

« Last post by 40hz on January 11, 2013, 08:38 AM »

Your system probably works in a very specific situation, obviously has for you, but as a general premise, it's not very successful

-barney (January 10, 2013, 11:01 PM)

I have to disagree. At least within the context of systems administration and support. One of the requisite skills of being "successful" (or just keeping your job) is developing the ability to remain effective even when you don't really know what you're doing. And although that statement may sound paradoxical, anybody involved in networked systems will immediately grok the essential truth beneath the gallows humor.

As Stoic discussed above, the way to get there is to hit the basics really hard - and understand them to the point of where it borders on intuition. After that, it's mostly a matter of filling in the details. And 95% of systems work lies in the details.

Really good systems admins and engineers are often characterized as being "weird" or "spooky" when they're fixing something. I know I go into this strange and silent "space" when I'm doing what I get paid for. Sometimes I'll fix or do something and somebody asks me about it afterwards. That's when I have to think and slow my brain down to "explain" how I figured it out. And for the record, I'm not always completely sure how I figured out half the things I do while I'm doing it. It's sort of a Zen-Sherlock Holmes moment. I just know. Or at least strongly suspect. And there's no guesswork involved when that happens. Like Washburn Hoban said in the movie Serenity: I am a leaf on the wind, Watch how I soar! And I'm far from being alone in operating like that.

If anything, the only niggle for me is identifying the specific detail that's causing the issue. Because I already know what the actual problem is. So at this point it's just finding the correct resource or specific setting that's needed to fix or do something. (And that part of the solution can take some time to locate depending on what you're working with.) This is where knowing the basics cold (ex: from the symptoms, I know it's an AD "name resolution" problem) and remembering details (ex: hmm...last time I saw that it was caused by a DNS resolution error because some idiot messed with the DNS forwarding settings...now where the heck was the panel where you can change that...) comes into play.

And here's the key point: it should work in a similar manner on any other network. The details and terminology may be different - but the underlying basics and likely resolutions will remain the same. As long as you really understand what DNS is, and how it works, you can extrapolate.

And if, in the process, you discover something completely foreign or new to you, then it's once again time to ferret something out and get up to speed on yet another detail. But that usually gets easier with time since most "new" things you'll encounter will build on what you already know. That's because, in the systems world, the inertia generated by the trillions of dollars already locked up in existing infrastructure effectively blocks most radical departures from the way things are currently done. Major changes, even if they're necessary and for the better (IPv6 anybody?  ) will take years before they finally see major deployment.

So there's almost always adequate time to get up to speed on major shifts in the technical landscape. Even for somebody as Luddite as me when it comes to Windows 8. (I may bitch. But I will master it regardless of how I currently feel about it.)

So Stoic Joker's approach is not a specific or single instance sort of thing. It's pretty much the day to day reality - and way it works - for most of us in the network and systems field.
 

4275

Living Room / Re: New Desktop parts list (RFC)

« Last post by 40hz on January 10, 2013, 05:56 PM »

I forget exactly what it was called, but I think I had my buddy put in a second special purpose data processing chip of some kind especially for media conversion.

-TaoPhoenix (January 08, 2013, 11:37 PM)

I'd be very interested in learning more about that. Any possibility of getting additional details?

-40hz (January 09, 2013, 08:53 AM)

Not quite so easily - I'm no techie and I'm not going to open the case myself, and 1-chance in 5 I could even be a deluded old git! : )   But if you know of a "hardware listing" program that lists all hardware installed in a machine, I can run that and you guys can poke at the results.  :  )

-TaoPhoenix (January 10, 2013, 05:37 PM)

LookInMyPC is free, easy to use, and doesn't need an airline pilot's license to figure it out. It can create a comprehensive hardware profile report. It does a lot more too.  It's a nice utility to keep on hand.