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5776

Living Room / Re: Just Had a Baby Girl~!

« Last post by 40hz on June 01, 2012, 04:32 PM »

^ Bet he can.  

(Fatherhood changes everything.)

5777

Living Room / Re: Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by 40hz on June 01, 2012, 04:21 PM »

Last I read, in order to bear the Microsoft Certified tag - and have Windows preinstalled - all PCs and servers must ship with UEFI secure boot enabled. The end user has the option to switch from "standard" to "custom" secure boot mode after the fact. But Microsoft is a little vague about exactly what the ramifications might be for using Windows 8 in that scenario. The big question is whether or not Metro will be available if secure boot is disabled - and more to the point, will access to the Metro store (the only source for installing Metro apps) be allowed if secure boot is turned off?

However, if the machine is ARM based, secure boot (UEFI) must be enabled - and the manufacturers are specifically forbidden by Microsoft to provide or allow any mechanism (hardware, flashing, or software) to disable it.

So no...it's not exactly up to the manufacturer not to implement it if they plan on shipping machines with Windows pre-installed (OEM) - or if they want to even have Windows on an ARM based device.

It's a new business and software model for Microsoft. And (much like Apple) the 'choice' for both the consumers and the manufacturers seems to be to either accept the new terms as dictated - or do without. Or at least as of right now.

Bit of a change from the way things used to be. At least that's my tuppence.

----------

Note: the actual wording Microsoft uses can be found in their Windows 8 Hardware Certification Requirements (file=windows8-hardware-cert-requirements-system.pdf) which you can download from this webpage if you're interested. Information about secure boot starts on page 119.

5778

Living Room / Re: Just Had a Baby Girl~!

« Last post by 40hz on June 01, 2012, 03:45 PM »

Wow! Congratulations Renegade!

Wish you and your two ladies health, happiness, and a few solid weeks worth of sleep before it starts in earnest.



(Glad I took a day off, did a little web browsing, and saw your announcement!  )

5779

Living Room / Re: Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by 40hz on June 01, 2012, 11:34 AM »

That $99 and who pays it is a red herring.

The problem isn't how much or who pays for it. The problem is that UEFI drives a wedge down the middle of what was formerly an open hardware ecosystem. Now there are "Windows PCs" and "non-Windows PCs" on the hardware level. Microsoft has used its numbers to effectively get its own proprietary hardware platform (like Apple) without actually having to manufacture it. Which is the best of all possible worlds in that they can control a huge segment of the mobo/CPU market without having to "own" anything. A very handy argument to make when accused of anticompetitive business practices in the USA.

This could, of course, be easily eliminated as a problem if all the PC manufacturers would include a simple mechanism (a switch on the back of the case or a jumper on the mobo) to turn off UEFI without having to go through heroics. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to see that happen. I'm sure there will be some purely token hand wringing and breast beating on the part of certain manufacturers (Dell et al.) over this. But nothing of substance will emerge from it.

The other problem is that this will effectively eliminate dual-booting to an alternate OS. Unless it's RedHat. If Windows 8 won't run without UEFI - and only RedHat (currently) can run WITH it - then your Linux option is RedHat. A sorry thing in that RedHat (along with Suse and Canonical) have abandoned anything but lip service about platform independence in the interest of cozening up to Microsoft in order to get a share of whatever bones and scraps Redmond deigns to toss them.

Expect Canonical and Suse (and probably Mageia, PCLinuxOS, Vector, and Centos) to follow suit.

As a side benefit this move also creates a rift in the Linux world. And a lot of bad blood. Something Microsoft seems intent on exploiting by playing one faction off against another while maintaining it only wants what's best for the end-user.  

I fully expect Microsoft will start patent trolling in earnest once a few more key Linux distros sign onto Microsoft's notion of a new world order. (Which in case you don't know is: One World with every computer running some version of a Microsoft OS - with all other operating systems running as VMs under it.) They'll start by picking off distros one by one like they have the smartphone vendors, getting gradually larger and larger players to cave in on their demands for blackmail and protection money. Once that's done it's a small matter to engage Debian in a protracted legal battle with the goal of litigating it out of business - but without ever letting it reach a judge or jury for a formal ruling. Especially since the last thing Microsoft could possibly want is for such a case to be decided purely on technical and legal merits.

With Linux dead, or reduced to a satrap in the Microsoft Empire, and no open hardware computing platform available for a "new" alternate OS to emerge on, Microsoft will have achieved a virtual monopoly on the world's mainstream computing environment.

All of which seriously sucks. And will largely mark the end of most of the rapid innovation in computing we've enjoyed for the last 30 years.

It's already working that way in the smartphone and mobile computing world. So why not drag the desktop and server market into it just to be consistent?

Like Joni Mitchell so aptly said: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till its gone?"

 

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Living Room / Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by 40hz on June 01, 2012, 07:48 AM »

One more reason I continue to look forward to the day when I'll never have to look at a PC (any PC) again.

Red Hat users pay up to run Fedora on Windows 8 machines
To bypass Windows 8 Secure Boot, Fedora users would need to go through Microsoft signing service and pay $99
By Ted Samson | InfoWorld

Red Hat users face service fee to run Fedora on Windows 8 machines

Users seeking to run Red Hat Fedora on a Windows 8-certified computer may be forced to shell out $99 to bypass Microsoft's new UEFI Secure Boot feature, according to Red Hat Linux developer Matthew Garrett. That, he said, is the best compromise the company could devise to ensure users could easily load Fedora on new PCs without giving itself an unfair edge over less-influential Linux vendors.

Red Hat's plans, as outlined in Garrett's personal blog, have generated considerable ire from members of the Linux community. In response to Garrett's post, critics have accused Red Hat of "selling out" to Microsoft in forcing users to pay to access the company's signing service if they want to run Fedora.

Article link here.

What Matt Garrett over at RedHat had to say (link):

Getting the machine booted

Most hardware you'll be able to buy towards the end of the year will be Windows 8 certified. That means that it'll be carrying a set of secure boot keys, and if it comes with Windows 8 pre-installed then secure boot will be enabled by default. This set of keys isn't absolutely fixed and will probably vary between manufacturers, but anything with a Windows logo will carry the Microsoft key[1].

We explored the possibility of producing a Fedora key and encouraging hardware vendors to incorporate it, but turned it down for a couple of reasons. First, while we had a surprisingly positive response from the vendors, there was no realistic chance that we could get all of them to carry it. That would mean going back to the bad old days of scouring compatibility lists before buying hardware, and that's fundamentally user-hostile. Secondly, it would put Fedora in a privileged position. As one of the larger distributions, we have more opportunity to talk to hardware manufacturers than most distributions do. Systems with a Fedora key would boot Fedora fine, but would they boot Mandriva? Arch? Mint? Mepis? Adopting a distribution-specific key and encouraging hardware companies to adopt it would have been hostile to other distributions. We want to compete on merit, not because we have better links to OEMs.

An alternative was producing some sort of overall Linux key. It turns out that this is also difficult, since it would mean finding an entity who was willing to take responsibility for managing signing or key distribution. That means having the ability to keep the root key absolutely secure and perform adequate validation of people asking for signing. That's expensive. Like millions of dollars expensive. It would also take a lot of time to set up, and that's not really time we had. And, finally, nobody was jumping at the opportunity to volunteer. So no generic Linux key.

The last option wasn't hugely attractive, but is probably the least worst. Microsoft will be offering signing services through their sysdev portal. It's not entirely free (there's a one-off $99 fee to gain access edit: The $99 goes to Verisign, not Microsoft - further edit: once paid you can sign as many binaries as you want), but it's cheaper than any realistic alternative would have been. It ensures compatibility with as wide a range of hardware as possible and it avoids Fedora having any special privileges over other Linux distributions. If there are better options then we haven't found them. So, in all probability, this is the approach we'll take. Our first stage bootloader will be signed with a Microsoft key...

 

5781

Living Room / Debian Administrators Handbook now available in English (free!)

« Last post by 40hz on May 16, 2012, 07:52 AM »

This is too good not to share.

One of the best books on understanding, installing, and using Debian and Debian-based Linux variants is now available for purchase in hardcopy or free electronic download (PDF, EPUB, MOBI, HTML - contribution requested) here.



from the Foreword of the online edition:

Linux has gathered a fair amount of media coverage, which mostly benefits the distributions supported by a real marketing department — in other words, to company-backed distributions (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Suse, Mandriva, and so on). But Debian is far from being a marginal distribution; according to a German study made in early 2009, Debian is the most widely used distribution on servers (with nearly half of the responding companies having at least one Debian server), and the second most widely deployed on desktops (right behind Ubuntu, which is a Debian derivative).
→ http://www.heise.de/...Produkte-224518.html

The purpose of this book is to help you discover this distribution. We hope to share the experience we've gathered since we joined the project as developers and contributors in 1998 (Raphaël) and 2000 (Roland). With any luck, our enthusiasm will be communicative, and maybe you'll join us sometime…

The first edition of this book (in 2004) served to fill a gaping hole: it was the first French-language book that focused exclusively on Debian. At that time, many other books were written on the topic both for French-speaking and English-speaking readers. Unfortunately almost none of them got updated, and today we again find ourselves in a situation where there are very few good books on Debian. We truly hope that this first English edition will fill this gap and help many users.

The book presents Linux topics using a case study approach. And although based on Debian, most of the subject matter (sans details) applies to other Linux distributions as well.

An excellent resource which can be read online if you prefer.

If you're thinking of taking the Linux plunge - or you've been frustrated after a previous attempt - get a copy of this book and see just how easy it actually can be.

Highly recommended.

5782

General Software Discussion / Lucid enables high-end gaming on low-end systems

« Last post by 40hz on April 11, 2012, 07:34 PM »

Ok...I know I'm currently on hiatus from active web participation. But this bit of tech news was just too interesting not to share with DC.

From the good folks over at TechEye.net

Lucid enables high-end gaming on low-end systems
Giving Intel HD graphics a shake
23 Mar 2012 17:19 | by Paul Taylor in Lisbon

The inventors of the groundbreaking, albeit deceased, mixed-brand multiGPU chip, Hydra Engine, have decided to break the mould once again and enable high-end gaming on low-end graphics cards.

Lucid Logix has over time become a 100 percent software-driven company, releasing several new software apps specifically targeting the optimisation of Intel GPU performance. Virtu technology, for one, is implemented by some motherboard manufacturers and aimed at combining the best features of Intel’s Sandy Bridge GPU with discrete GPUs.

Now the company has launched DynamiX. With this utility the company claims it can get some serious gaming going on, on your Intel HD 2000-based graphics core. This is actually aimed at enabling gaming on mainstream notebooks without having to resort to discrete graphics from Nvidia or AMD. Dynamix is a software utility that gives a computer with Intel HD 2000-class graphics the ability to adjust the in-game graphics settings on the fly by setting a framerate threshold. If the frames fall, the software kicks in and scales back in-game detail, smoothing out your framerate immediately.

“With DynamiX, a single embedded GPU is all you will need to enjoy your favorite high-performance titles on most new notebooks without reducing display resolution or minimizing game performance settings,” said Offir Remez, Lucid co-founder and president.
.
.
.

Interesting....

Read the rest of the article here.

(And now I'm heading back to my monk's cell. Ciao! )

5783

DC Gamer Club / Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 12:04 PM »

Sounds works for me but I don't find the sound terribly inspiring - mainly just roaring noises of the engines.

-Carol Haynes (March 31, 2012, 11:09 AM)

You're very polite about it. Not "terribly inspiring" is a masterpiece of understatement. My GF likens Orbiter's audio to the sound of roaring plumbing in a busy public restroom. 

I usually play it with the sound off and some Strauss playing quietly in the background. Blame that on me being imprinted when I first saw the docking sequence scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was a helpless and impressionable child. In my poor brain, Strauss waltzes have been inextricably linked with space flight visuals ever since.

For those too young to have remembered:

 

5784

Living Room / Re: xPlorer2 vector icon - I done did it!

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 11:35 AM »

Actually, it was the one here:
https://www.donation....msg169548#msg169548
That got used on Brothersoft and softwarecrew.com and a few others.
You know, I didn't bother licensing the thing, so LEGALLY anybody is free to use it unless I make a stink.
Sure, I can prove I made it, just by the posts here and at the Netez forum, but it I can't imagine it would accomplish anything significant.
I'm more careful about these things now... 

-Edvard (March 31, 2012, 03:04 AM)

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers.
  But you learn, my God do you learn.” C.S. Lewis

 
                                                                     

5785

Found Deals and Discounts / Two free books from Microsoft Press - SQL Server 2012 and Office 360

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 11:25 AM »

Microsoft Press currently is providing 'free for the download' PDF/EPub/MOBI (DRM-free!) editions of the following two books:

   


Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 includes 10 chapters:

    PART I   DATABASE ADMINISTRATION (by Ross Mistry)

    1.   SQL Server 2012 Editions and Engine Enhancements

    2.   High-Availability and Disaster-Recovery Enhancements

    3.   Performance and Scalability

    4.   Security Enhancements

    5.   Programmability and Beyond-Relational Enhancements

    PART II   BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT (by Stacia Misner)

    6.   Integration Services

    7.   Data Quality Services

    8.   Master Data Services

    9.   Analysis Services and PowerPivot

    10.   Reporting Services

We are releasing this title to help you learn about the new features and capabilities in SQL Server 2012, which Microsoft released to manufacturing (RTM) on March 6, 2012. You can expect general availability of the product to begin on April 1, 2012.

Please help us share the news about this ebook. And enjoy!

For those interested in some of what Microsoft is getting up to in the cloud, check out:

Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime

Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is all about cloud solutions for small businesses, focusing on the core software services (Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Office Web Apps, and Microsoft Lync), and demonstrating ways you can create, manage, and lead teams effectively using the communications and collaborative online tools.

You’ll find helpful ideas and solutions in Office 365 if you

    · Own or work in a small business and want to be flexible where and when you work.

    · Need to collaborate with others near or far.

    · Want to store and work with files online from any point you have web access.

    · Lead a team online or face to face.

PDF copies can be downloaded from link above. MOBI and ePub versions can be found here.

5786

Living Room / Re: Best USB/Bootable recovery and "utility" tools

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 11:03 AM »

I've had the best luck following the advice and directions put together by Michael Pietroforte which can be found on his most excellent 4Sysops   website.

He did a two part article some time back on creating a bootable USB rescue disk that allowed you to add your own tools to the mix. You can find the articles here and here.

While you're there, take a look at some of Mike's other articles. 4Sysops is one of the most rock solid sources for Microsoft related tech advice currently up on the web. It's one of the very few sites I check up on almost daily. Excellent reading - and a real lifesaver for me on more than one occasion.
 

5787

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free & always will be, get Portable Virtual Operating System, Prayaya V3

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 08:42 AM »

^I was more under the impression that it wouldn't work if the key were plugged into a 64-bit system at all. Also, some of the support discussions about disabling UAC on the guest host defeated the purpose because this would only be a viable product for me if I could just plug it in. Regardless of opinions about how useful UAC is, I can't run around changing systems and security settings on other people's machines. It's just 'not done' most places I'd want to use Prayaya.

If they could find a way to work around that, and add support for 64-bit, I'd happily pay for it.
 

5788

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free & always will be, get Portable Virtual Operating System, Prayaya V3

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 02:57 AM »

Nice to see there's an alternative to the discontinued MojoPac.

There's a review over on the Dedoimedo website that's interesting reading. (Note: this review was written when Prayaya was still a paid product so some comments may no longer be relevant.) Test system used for the review was Windows 7 SP1.

I'd really love to give this product a try. Unfortunately, all my machines are running Windows 7 64-bit - and Prayaya does not support 64-bit systems. So there's a showstopper for me.

5789

General Software Discussion / Re: Poor Planning for Services from Companies - HTC, Apple, MS, etc.

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 02:29 AM »

To a certain extent Microsoft did something similar with Windows and Office.

When they were trying establish both as the de facto business standard, they turned a fairly blind eye towards all the copying that was going on. This had the double benefit of getting their software into places it otherwise not have - and drove out competing products - because Microsoft's titles were essentially "free."

It wasn't until after they were established as the standard that they became serious about enforcing license compliance.

Online services are following a similar strategy. 

5790

Post New Requests Here / Re: PC Time

« Last post by 40hz on March 31, 2012, 02:10 AM »

Thanks 40, I kind of like the Event Log in W7 - it and the Task Scheduler are so much better than previous versions.

-4wd (March 30, 2012, 06:52 PM)

That makes two of us. I especially appreciate the improvements to the task scheduler since I'm big on automation for many systems maintenance tasks. I also try to use embedded utilities within an OS rather than 3rd party tools whenever possible to minimize the opportunity for "bad surprises."
 

5791

General Software Discussion / Re: Poor Planning for Services from Companies - HTC, Apple, MS, etc.

« Last post by 40hz on March 30, 2012, 08:33 AM »

Hear ya!

As I've said many times: never trust any server or network you don't own. 

5792

Living Room / Re: Internet - from the 1990's point of view

« Last post by 40hz on March 29, 2012, 08:17 PM »

I haven't been back in years, had all but forgotten about that beautiful little corner of the web. . .

-allen (March 29, 2012, 07:41 PM)

I'm still there.

In a sea of faux communities, shifting fads, and pointless change for the sake of change, that small island of conviviality and colloquy remains unspoiled by all that has since come to pass on the Internet.



It's still as beautiful. And best of all, you can always come back.

5793

Post New Requests Here / Re: PC Time

« Last post by 40hz on March 29, 2012, 07:40 PM »

@4wd - thanks for putting that together! 

5794

Living Room / Re: Internet - from the 1990's point of view

« Last post by 40hz on March 29, 2012, 05:00 PM »

FTP, Telnet, WAIS, Gopher, Archie, Mosaic, and all the rest were fun and fine.

But to me, it all really began (and will probably end) with The Whole Earth Lectronic Link (aka The WELL).



Still clunky by design, IMO it's the absolute triumph of content over form. And one of the few things that predated (and later transitioned over to) the web that's still worth keeping. Maybe one of the few things worth keeping on the web regardless.

 

5795

Living Room / Re: 800 lb Paper Airplane?

« Last post by 40hz on March 29, 2012, 03:05 PM »

Emery dog has its day...

-cranioscopical (March 29, 2012, 02:20 PM)

That's what it gets for being abrasive.

5796

Post New Requests Here / Re: PC Time

« Last post by 40hz on March 29, 2012, 03:01 PM »

Probably the most reliable way would be to set up a custom view in the event viewer to log and then filter for informational events about going from normal power (S0) to sleep states (S1,S2,S3) and the hibernate state (S4). When you transition from one power state to another Windows broadcasts a system power status change. Those power state changes should show when you 're going in and out of sleep/hibernation.

I'm on the road right now so I can't give specifics, but maybe somebody else at DC could help you from here?

Luck.

5797

Living Room / Re: Censorship in Schools (dancing birthday dinosaur!)

« Last post by 40hz on March 29, 2012, 08:05 AM »

If I were George Orwell's estate, I'd sue the NYC Board of Ed for implimenting Newspeak without first obtaining a license.  

5798

Living Room / Re: JustCloud.com: It's All Lies

« Last post by 40hz on March 28, 2012, 12:39 PM »

Well...as Joni Mitchell so aptly said:

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

And truth is, until we've lived with them a bit longer... neither do we.

5799

General Software Discussion / Re: Goodbye OpenOffice, Hello LibreOffice

« Last post by 40hz on March 28, 2012, 12:28 PM »

Overall, it appears that LibreOffice has OpenOffice beat. However, can somebody please compare LibreOffice with SoftmakerOffice,2008? Thank you.

-tosim (March 28, 2012, 09:49 AM)

To do a feature by feature comparison of Libre vs Softmaker would take a team and fill a book.

The easiest way to see what you think is to either download a free manual from their website, or grab a free copy of the 2008 executable and give it a try. If you like the 2008 version, you'll like the later editions as well since most of the changes have more to do with achieving closer compatibility with MS Office than they do with enhancing Softmaker's already huge feature set.

This is what it looks like:



Grab a copy of the 2008 version here.

If I were to compare it, I'd see Softmaker's wordprocessor more like an earlier version of MS Word. Something like the Office XP or 2003 version. Libre is more like an 800lb gorilla that does just about everything - but has it's own distinctive look and feel. It's definitely heavier feeling than Softmaker. I'm guessing that will change as more and more of the old OpenOffice codebase gets rewritten and replaced by the Libre team. But only time will tell.

FWIW - I pretty much use Softmaker's TextMaker for all my wordprocessing these days. For spreadsheets I still use Excel because I share many of my spreadsheets with clients. So I can't risk glitches or macro/basic hassles when I send files over.

Can't speak about presentation graphics because I hate slides and overheads during presentations. So I'll only use PowerPoint or SM Presentations if there's a gun pointed at my head.

If I do need to create infographics for a talk I'm giving I'm much more likely to use standard illustration apps. I don't need the fancy tray organizers and templates in PowerPoint since I'll seldom ever need more than two or three slides no matter what. I do create handouts however. But they're outlines or notes - not a stack of bullet point charts. I'll usually just do those in a wordprocessor or outliner app.
 

5800

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by 40hz on March 28, 2012, 08:09 AM »

I was going to start a new thread, but I figured I'd just quietly hide it here in case I change my mind.

-superboyac (March 27, 2012, 02:46 PM)

THE GREAT EYE SEES ALL!

-Deozaan (March 27, 2012, 04:27 PM)

And now that you know that, they'll have to kill you.