Posts by jake 28824 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007
Peter: It's fairly easy to make Slackware look & act SysV-ish.
I suspect the actual old Bell/AT&T code would be extremely difficult to bring up to modern standards (even if you could pry it out of the cold, clammy hands of the lawyers) ... i mean, how long has it been since anyone did any dev work on it?
To add to Marcelo Rodrigues' commentary ... IMO, S.u.S.E. split from Slackware so long ago that SUSE is it's own entity these days, and no longer exactly what I would call a "derivative"..
I've been using Slack from release 1.0 (I fiddled about with it prior to that ... I was looking for a replacement for Mark Williams Company's "Coherent" when it became obvious that they were going to close their doors). In my mind, after all these years, Slackware still works like a un*x ought to work ... but then I came from the BSD world. If you haven't tried Slackware recently, give Slack 14.0 a spin. You might like it.
I don't "loath" the voting. I just think it's bloody useless. It was developed "because we can", not "because it is a benefit to the overall continuity of the site". It's an example of featching creaperism at it's very finest, as are the "badges" and "icons" (and, for the most part, "Hardware"). Hopefully someone, somewhere, suckered ElReg's manglement out of a pay rise for the "good ideas".
While I'm at it, who cares how "long term" a luser has been here, #32560? Does it really matter in the great scheme of things? I certainly don't think so.
How about, instead, ElReg does away with the bloody useless, utterly meaningless badges entirely? I haven't been in the scouts for about 40 years, and put .mil behind me over 30 years ago ... And while we're at it, get rid of the equally useless, meaningless "thumbs".
"Though apparently, in your cod science corner, you don't understand UV's reluctance to pass through glass."
Ever seen a "tanning booth"? What, exactly, are the light bulbs made out of?
During the meanwhile, my Spring Veggies are quite happily started in my potting sheds & greenhouses. All comfortably encased in your so-called "UV-proof" glass.
The mind boggles ... How can it be? Greenhouses are a figment of the imagination of growers, word-wide! There's no fucking way that plants can live behind glass!
I guess the only answer is "idiots abound" ...
I compile my own kernel, based on the kernel source released by Slackware.
Even if PV were to buy into RedHat's reasoning, and jump on the bandwagon & try to get into bed with MS (ain't gonna happen) ... My personal version of the kernel won't work alongside MS, because there is no way I'm paying MS to sign my own, personal kernel that I intentionally modified, with my eyes wide open, to suit my own needs.
THAT is what the issue is. FOSS is about the ability to use the hardware as the user sees fit, not how $BigCo sees fit. The whole concept is anti-FOSS.
"Skunk" is considered a good flavo(u)r in beer amongst hoi poloi here in the US. Sad, but true.
It's a holdover from shipping beer from England to the colonies. Bottled beer wasn't considered all that important in the great scheme of things, so it was stowed on-deck, in sunlight. UV skunks beer. Try it ... Split a tasty brew between two glasses. Park one in the fridge, in the dark. The other in full sunlight, but in an ice-bath to keep the temperatures similar. Taste after 15 minutes. Then after 30. Then after 45 ...
It's also the reason they try to make Corona taste good by stuffing a wedge of lime into the bottle ... Clear glass isn't conducive to good beer on a beach. I won't comment on that narsty "Fosters" crap ...
On the bright side, IPAs were begot from this horror-show ...
Beer, because some of us actually understand it :-)
::Furiously uploading Lagunitas Brewing `Maximus` & Mendocino Brewing `Red Tail Ale`::
(Note to the Euros in the audience: Most European beer sold in the USofA (including the varietals that are actually brewed here in the lower 48) are intentionally infected with Methyl Mercaptin, aka "skunked". Not a nice thing, at all. Thankfully, we have some pretty decent brews of our own on this side of the pond.)
I'd go with no inline commentardary at all. Save some bandwidth for the folks who don't give a rat's arse about comment threads that are obviously going to degenerate into the same old tired fanboi vs fanboi rant fest. How hard is it click on a "comments" button if you have a mind to do so?
I used the foil-lined stuff in the guest house. (Purchased at 1% of retail from a failed building project ... I figured "what the hey, it's only for guests ... how long, exactly, do I want 'em to stay, anyway?")
None of my guests complain about lack of signal. Not even ifad users.
They also don't complain about indoor ambiance ... might be the GSHP ;-)
... steel wall studs where they are not needed ... and not cost-effective, either.
Suggesting it's the insulation causing lack of signal borders on stupidity ... I suspect I have better insulation than any of the campuses involved. Pull all insulation & take the same readings. In fact, pull the interior & exterior walls, and all the windows & doors, & take the readings at "framed, ready for plumbing & wiring" stage. I'll bet you a nickle it's the metal framing that's the cause of the issue.
There is a reason I built this place using proper doug-fir framing ...
I'm in my 50s, and PQed. The sawbones say I'm good to go. I've done Winter on the North Slope attached to the USGS a couple-three times. I have my multi-engine "arctic pilot" ticket, even (fun one, that. Not.). Being ethnic Sami, the cold doesn't seem to bother me much & knowing how to work with it comes naturally. I guess I just haven't drawn the short-straw.
Yet. He says, hopefully :-)
Colo(u)r me green. Congrats :-)
Ta for the advice. I already consult for Lockheed (including PAE, from before when Lockheed bought 'em), the NSF in general, and OPP specifically. Gut feeling is that they think I'm too long in the tooth for Antarctic duty, alas. Wont keep me from putting my name into the hat every year until they tell me to stop, though ;-)
Beer again, because ... It's Sunday afternoon!
I've been trying to pull the same gig at Mc Murdo and/or Amundsen–Scott for around the last fifteen years. Hard as it may be to believe, there is quite a waiting list of pre-qualified personnel for winter duty.
Beer, because it's a long way to the nearest cold one down there ...
At least a decade, AC 19:22? Try over half a century.
CPU, memory, disc & LAN are fucking cheap these days. Operating systems are free. WAN is decidedly neither of the above. Mainframes, and their entire business model, are dinosaurs[1]. Keep it in house, keep it simple, avoid several more layers of security issues. I've never seen a better example of where the KISS principle applies than avoiding anything with a "cloud" label.
[1] Outside of specialty needs, of course. Weather modeling, earthquake prediction, (breaking) strong encryption, molecular research, atomic research, etc.
That's one of the places the "cloud" term originated. The other is the ISO OSI Model. For both, everything below the "presentation layer" was depicted as a cloud for non-techie manglement types "taking a course". It started in the mid-late 1980s. I've been using the term "cloud" as applied to networking as an idiot filter for nearly a quarter century.
For "wad" read "handful", probably.
For "pop" read "snap", probably (I suppose it could mean "pop-rivet", which I use regularly, but almost never on my clothing[1]).
For "Adams" read ... uh, I don't know. Obscure Banknote? Local condom brand?
[1] The Levis 501s come with 'em already installed ... I repaired my favorite old half-chaps using standard leather stitching techniques, and then added rivets where the old thread failed ...
Thing is, AC, that it doesn't really matter if it freaks 'em out. It's the truth. Simply installing *buntu, or OS X Server, or a Windows Server, doesn't make you a sysadmin. Even though, technically, you are the admin of that particular box.
If a scholar wishes to become an actual, real-life Systems Administrator, s/he has to understand & use the CLI (and what run levels are, the difference between scripting, compiling and assembling ... etc., etc., etc.). This is true of every major server system that I'm aware of. Yes, including those from Cupertino & Redmond.
The bottom line is that if you can't handle the CLI as a day-to-day desktop, you're not cut-out to be an actual SysAdmin. Yet. But it's always possible to learn. There are no short-cuts, no "magic fix it pills". It takes time, hard work, sweat & tears ... and the occasional embarrassing gaffe, some of which are firing offenses. Just like any other profession worthy of calling one's own.
Network the boxen together (freely available Celeron boxes with built in 10baseT will work nicely for this exercise, or 10base2 "thin net" if you don't have a spare hub). Use the Slackware boxen as "users", and the BSD box as "server". Create several user logins on each box. Along with whatever GUI you use on the main screen, hang a dumb terminal off a serial port on each box, and send it a login prompt. Handy when the GUI goes tits-up.
Then find a copy of the Coherent Lexicon, from Mark Williams Company (try used book stores in University towns). Read it, cover to cover. Yes, including the rather excellent Taylor UUCP tutorial[1]. Try the examples on the Slackware box as a user. Become root, if needed. When you break a Slackware box, learn to repair it in situ, without re-installing the OS.
When you're done with that, get a copy of UNIX Power Tools (O'Reilly). Do the same as the above.
If/when you get stuck, read the man pages; "apropos" and "whatis" can help. Do not ask questions on user forums (Usenet, etc) until you have done a thorough search online ... somebody, somewhere, has already asked & had the exact same problem answered.
Concurrent with this, enroll in "un*x sysadmin 101" (or equivalent) at a local JC/Poly.
Sound old-school? Absofuckinglutely. But you can't run before you can crawl.
[0] If you don't already know vi & sh inside out, start with those. See "run" and "crawl", above.
[1] I still use UUCP on internal links for a Usenet system I consult for. I also use it to move email between departments at a couple of Fortune 150s. I'll leave the "why?" as an exercise for the reader.
"1st sentence. irrelevant. Your job .. Such that it is .."
That's the second sentence. Try reading for comprehension.
"Does not provide any special qualification for judging porn."
I know what porn is when I see it. So do you. So does everyone reading this commentardary. So drop the pretension before everyone upvotes you, proving how stupid ElReg's readership is rapidly becoming.
"2nd sentence is opinion so that's OK .."
Oh, gee, thanks. I'm so happy that you approve. And that's the third, for the math(s) impaired. I'll stop counting now, seeing as you never attempted.
"Thing is, it really is just an opinion and you don't provide a single shred of supporting evidence. That renders it, dare I say, a waste of bandwidth."
And your reply is ... What. exactly? All I can say is that if you have access to a teenage/collage age boy's computer, or the computer of a man in an executive position who thinks he's beyond reprimand, there will be traces of porn of all kinds on it. Trust me. I've seen it. On all of them. For decades. Part of my "job" (such that it is), is fixing systems after users get in over their heads. Often (usually?) because of browsing "free porn" sites. Being a conslutant is a bitch.
My point was that porn is porn, in all it's various boring iterations. Trying to pinpoint perfect "ideals" for the porn industry is an exercise in stupidity. I feel very, very sorry for Jon Millward's .sig Other(s) ... I mean, seriously, six months of hs life for this? What a monumental waste of time.
Yes, stanimir, jpeg existed in the late 1980s. ISO TC 97 became ISO/IEC JTC1 in 1987. I was part of the working group.
I am mildly amused at all the wankers that seem to be pro-porn, but don't like being called wankers. Methinks your inferiority complex is showing ... Either find a MOTAS, or admit to enjoying masturbation instead of socialization. It's not exactly rocket science.
Whatever.
As a dude who has been in charge of finding workplace (and .edu) bandwidth wasters, porn is porn. From my perspective, as long as there's explicit sex involving at least one warm body, nobody seems to care about the physical details of the "actor(s)".
Sex is completely normal. Wasting institution bandwidth is a firing offense.
Beer. Because sometimes its necessary after reviewing a CEO's network access log ...
Sure changing your tune, there, Mr. Pott. You used to claim (under a year ago) that MS was the only software available that worked properly in RealWorld[tm] offices.
You also used to claim to dislike innocent civilians being killed by random acts. Do you know how many people, world-wide, would die as a result of you shooting off your mouth & bringing down a Chicxulub event, targeting the Microsoft licensing department? Neither do I, but it would probably be far more humans dead than all the wars in history combined. That would be far fewer than the zero dead or wounded as a result of my legally owned & operated fully automatic weapons ...
You also used to claim that you, as a Canadian, were more civilized than those of us in the Southern half of the North American Continent. I mean, seriously, forcing people to eat a sack of wiggling, severed dicks JUST because they offer a bit of code that you have grown to hate? Even though nobody has ever forced you to use it, much less purchase it? Very civilized, Mr. Pott.
I dislike MS products along with the rest of all y'all, but *that* outburst was just plain ridiculous. I didn't even bother giving it a "thumbs down", because I can't be arsed to do something so utterly useless.
(signed) A. Savage ... who knows that the cowardly Mr. Pott has me ::plonked::, thanks to the gawd/ess-like powers of the flashy gold-badge thingie.
I don't personally have a facebook account, and probably never will. I've visited the site maybe eight times, total, for birth/graduation/marriage related pictures. So I thought "how hard can this info be to find?" ... www.metacrawler.com ... search on "Facebook Harrassment", sans quotes.
http://www.facebook.com/help/434138713297607/
Or simply email the time hono(u)red "abuse@" address. @facebook.com, in this case, of course ;-)
Took all of about ten seconds. Including typing this.
Around a quarter century ago, Network General's Sniffer was a product I used often. It just plain worked, right out of the box. If you prefered FOSS, a promiscuous ethernet card and tcpdump worked quite nicely, and still is quite useful in the right hands, with some scripting (there were alternatives for token ring, arcnet, starnet, etc.).
Marketards and manglement need to stop trying to be engineers ...
10 miles of reservoir?[1] This keeps you and yours going for "a bit"[2] ... how, exactly? And is it open to the atmosphere, and thus subject to contamination by <thingy>?
[1] Is "one mile of reservoir" an ElReg unit of volume I'm unaware of?
[2] What's a bit? In my world, it's either a one or a zero. Or 12.5 cents.
Roughly four times a year, we go completely "self contained", nothing but wood & steam and Clydesdales (and my personal hot-rod Percheron & buckboard), for a week or ten days. It's part of our "at risk kids" camp. It's amazing how fast attitudes change when you teach a kid something as basic as milking a cow, and then turning the milk into cheese. Milling wheat and running down to the coop to get eggs to make pasta is another big one :-)
Beer. We make that, too. But for the adults. Proper Rootbeer for the kids, though ;-)
... random. I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
It did, however, remind me to check & rotate the emergency supplies (including water) that I keep around for when the Rogers Creek Fault, probable home of The Bay Area's "next big one", reminds us all that we're really not all that important in the Cosmic scheme of things.
Serious question, kids ... How many days worth of food & water do you have on hand for all the critters that depend on you for same (including spouse, kids, pets & livestock), in the event of disaster?
I can go about three months, with no losses to the livestock, which should be enough time to fall back & regroup and start living off the land. I think. Not looking forward to testing it, mind ;-)
I'm not "too occupied" with much of anything. I'm a minimalist. I do what works. Glitter need not apply.
I am NOT a so-called "survivalist". Unlike those nutters, I'll likely make it through the next major state-wide $DISASTER without shooting anything[1], using my own resources. Most so-called "survivalists" will be amongst the first to whine about "da gubmint" not helping fast enough.
In total numbers, the swine are under 0.1% of the livestock on the ranch. And they pretty much take care of themselves. Out of curiosity, why do you, personally, DAM, seem to think that keeping pigs is a bad idea? Don't like pork? Can't stand bacon? Ham gives you hives? Can't pronounce "prosciutto"? Trotters not worthy of your stew/soup? Natural casings for sausage un-natural in your world? Scrapple alien to you? I assume that you find offal awful. Frankly, I feel very, very sorry for you.
[1] Except maybe an improperly prepared "survivalist" nutter, trying to steal our stuff after said disaster. Hint to the nutters: Ask first. If you truly need it, we'll happily share.[2]
[2] http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/1226592
Speaking as an engineer ... Are you seriously expecting me to choose between a marketard & a journalist, without being allowed to pull the untouched, virgin logs from the hardware in question, immediately after the test run, & evaluate them for myself ... you actually want me believe the marketard's so-called "logs" without a believable audit trail?
Will, Will, Will. I used to think more highly of you.
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