Posts by bombastic bob

Re: Passport madness

Although many bristle at the thought of vaccine passports, regarding them as inherently coercive, they look set to become an inevitable part of our post-COVID-19 life.

NOT "inevitable" if we RESIST it HARD ENOUGH. Remember the MAGNA CHARTA? And, other 'resistance' kinds of things? Like the Declaration of Independence for the U.S.? Or resisting Nazi occupation forces during WW2 in France? Yeah a perfect thing to post about on 5-july. Basically, it is NOT inevitable unless we the people ALLOW it to happen. Just sayin'.

And this is ALSO a continuation of why I don't plan on carrying a smart phone around with me, EVAR. A slab computer to read my e-mail (and stuff like that) is ok as long as I secure the connection properly, when using someone else's wifi (like at a customer site). But NO location tracking, contact tracing, or anything even REMOTELY similar, EVAR. I *RESIST*.

(I own a dumb phone. it works. as a phone. For emergency use only. It's nearly always OFF. And that's all I want/need)

Google conforms too much to the desires of the Communist government in China. The *FREE* world does *NOT* need to "go there".

the target... it's _MOVING_ ...

Another day another UI framework.

Micros~1 "Moving Target" (their new product)

From article: will not be reassuring to UWP developers

All 14 of them

Also from article: Another way of looking at this is that Microsoft tried to get Windows developers to adopt its UWP model but too many of them refused

Yeah Lucy can only move the football so many times before MOST of us realize we're just getting jerked around and then we won't try kicking it any more.

Re: Horses for courses, but twins

not disagreeing. maybe if the two distros collaborate closely (along with others forking from RH and/or CentOS), assuming they are not already, the community will be the biggest winner.

but at least Linux (and FOSS in general) offers choice.

Re: just curious

Maybe there are just too many PHBs and not enough PFYs and BOFHs

Re: just curious

I wouldn't mind being hired to FIX a b0rked e-mail system

you made me think of something: ultrasonics

(a transducer below the solar panel, start the noise to vibrate particles loose)

that and my earlier idea of anti-static conductive coating and alternating the electrostatic potential to repel particles.

Re: Learning point.

if it's electrostatic attraction, would a sudden electrostatic jolt of opposite polarity make the dust fall?

Not much, just alternating capacitive discharge on a mildly conductive surface while inverted...

(you'd have to make the surface out of conductive plastic though, like ESD bags)

Re: How much longer will we have to endure this ?

how often do you NEED a kernel update for Linux? (my experience - not at all, for many years)

Nearly all of the security patches are for userland stuff. I don't even remember a security vuln being in the kernel, and unless there's a serious instability in the kernel itself, you might be able to just do a driver update with a new driver [rare as it is], by removing the old one, and doing 'modprobe' [or similar] on the new one, and just keep going without rebooting.

[I was using modprobe and similar utilities to do that sort of thing back in the day, working on kernel drivers for wifi routers, when the kernel was 2.4something]

and last I checked the 'dpkg' and 'apt' systems will shutdown and re-start daemons after installing an upgraded package and dependent libraries. That should pretty much refresh things, without that reboot.

but Tom Hanks looks NOTHING like Bill Gates, unless you want Anthony Micheal Hall to play Gates again... (yeah that might work). So who'd play SatNad? Or the BOFH for that matter? (I'm thinking Simon Pegg)

"Uh, Redmond. We have a problem..."

Re: How much longer will we have to endure this ?

Although Linux or FreeBSD would be a good choice, I would actually expect them to go with an RTOS which might be better suited to signage.

VxWorks (commercial OS) or FreeRTOS (FOSS) would be good choices.

Both would certainly have a lighter hardware requirement and may even support legacy things that Linux distros might not...

(Linksys and others have used VxWorks for a lot of their wifi router firmware, though i haven't specifically worked with it in over a decade)

If the game is big sign with lightweight network-connected display that "just works", the RTOS could be the best choice overall.

Re: "Rounded geometry is a design element that traverses every corner of Windows 11"

In another language his last name 'Baca' sounds like the word for "idiot". Yes, it's the first thing that entered my head.

Then again, in yet another language from the same region of the world, my IRL first name sounds like the word for "simple" which COULD mean 'idiot'...

Ill be the judge of that... (apostrophe left out for effect)

Re: New here

thanks for quoting me. But I think you missed the point. Linux is STILL a "desktop OS" because of how it's used. Windows is what it is because Micros~1 MADE it that way. And Micros~1 *STILL* does NOT respect what CUSTOMERS want, which is to have their OS be what THEY want it to be, and *NOT* what Micros~1 wants them to HAVE (by force, if necessary).

Those complaints would disappear if Micros~1 would just STOP being so TYRANNICAL (one size fits all users, no exceptions), and *ALLOW* *USER* *CUSTOMIZATION* *AGAIN*, including the COMPLETE removal of spyware, NOT being forced to update, the Windows 7/XP/2000/9x appearance, "control panel only" vs Schizoid-Settings, and, my favorite, 3D SKEUOMORPHIC (or for the FLATTY fans, all 12 of them, that too. as an option, NOT default).

Micros~1 lost touch with what sold Windows "as a desktop" back in the 90's. It had been available since the mid 80's, but nobody really wanted it. It wasn't until it went 3D SKEUOMORPHIC and had built-in games like Solitaire that people jammed the stores wanting to buy it. Micros~1 forgot that.

At first, they EMBRACED what the public wanted.

Then, they EXTENDED it to become 2k and XP, F'd up with Vista, but restored most of that in 7.

Then they EXTINGUISHED the best parts, until it became 10.

Whereas with OSS desktops, you have absolute FREEDOM as to how you want it to look and behave... by forking your own version, if there's not already enough to choose from.

And, worth mentioning, I get MORE work done using FreeBSD or Linux than I've ever been able to do with Windows, even though I nearly always install Cygwin, which WSL has tried to compete with for some reason, I might add... ANYWAY, I somewhat-recently brought a ~17 year old laptop into a new contract where they had no Linux machines available, even though I had a W10 machine available to me, and was able to work FASTER and GET MORE DONE even though it only had 500mb of RAM and a 1Ghz processor - so 2 days later I was handed a spare W10 CPU box and I took it home and put Linux on it for them (installer running while I played games), brought it back the next day, and used it for on-site dev work for months, and it is still running at the moment for remote-in things. WSL on the W10 box did not help much at all.

Yes. Linux _IS_ a "desktop OS" when it is used that way. And more.

Re: I'm impressed .... NOT !!!

but if they hype the marketing for LONG ENOUGH, they can announce something new+shiny (that's really just trivial) with great fanfare like it's truly an epic event, with shock and awe and hordes of newly converted fanboi customers stampeding to the local retailer to purchase it...

(Or so it MIGHT be if they MADE IT LOOK LIKE WINDOWS 7 and got rid of "SETTINGS" and the SPYING and the ADS, though keeping the 'rounded corners' would be allowable)

icon, because, facepalm

Re: The world has plenty of plastic

Unless I'm horribly mistaken, the USA and most western nations do NOT dump plastic into the oceans, at least not deliberately. This has been the case for DECADES as I understand it, starting with things like THIS.

I wonder who DOES dump all of that plastic?

If it's collecting in mats in the ocean on its own, so much the easier to dredge it. I wonder how much money you'd make recovering it... (or maybe just a worth-while charity that cleans the oceans up)

In any case, I'm of the opinion that when recycling is free and easy, EVERYONE will do it. I put the blue can out every other week, and rarely need to put the other one out. The fast majority of household trash (for me) is of the 'recyclable' variety - cardboard, plastics, etc. and that all goes into the blue can.

Re: Shift left? shift right?

Rocky Horror - and now you reminded me of the funniest thing the audience says:

"Meatloaf again? We had Meatloaf LAST week!"

(back in the 80's when midnight showings of RHPS were 'a thing')

I can think of a few examples where shipping something "with a vulnerability" might be just fine. Here's one that I think epitomizes what I mean:

Let's say you ship embedded devices with Raspberry Pi and RPi OS on them, running your software and a touch screen interface. This is pretty popular from my observation.

You don't allow ssh or listening network services (except by using a special maintenance feature from the UI that end-users normally do not know about) but since the device DOES need to phone home to a server on the network, it has access to one. And the user/password is well known (say the default RPi user/password). because the screen logs in automatically on boot. Is THIS insecure? Or, because there are no listening services (and no way to add them via the UI) it's "secure enough" ?

Then you think about whether the latest polkit zero-day is worth LOTS OF EFFORT to patch right now because oh-my-god-it-can-be-exploited, or whether it can wait for the next round of maintenance updates several months from now... because there are NO listening ports! And, you have thousnds of pre-imaged SD cards on order, and you're shipping right now, and you STILL have SD cards that have not yet been delivered (in the pipeline), and you JUST heard of this vulnerability LAST WEEK.

and because of the nature of the devices, you don't want them using automatic package updates and ending up with the kinds of problems you see when a windows system failed to boot after doing this sort of thing... and the screen displays the error instead of the user interface. And so on. [controlled updates with a USB or download or by replacing the SD are acceptable because they've been tested]

Anyway, that throws a wrench into the works ("shipping with a vulnerability"), but in the case I outline, the system config already mitigates the vulnerabilities you need to patch at some point. If you can't ssh in, and can only view a UI that consists of pages written by the manufacturer [no external links], and it's not listening to incoming network traffic, nearly every possible vulnerability has been "dealt with". And exploiting a zero day (like with polkit) would require physical access. Might as well take the SD card out and muck with it from a laptop.

(yeah I'm kinda working on something similar to this)

Re: Limited compatibility

remember the worldwide RAM shortage when Windows '95 released?

graphics cards and TPM modules. Oh, joy.

Re: So if it needs TPM 2.0

will we be able to run it in a VM?

VMWare appears to have TPM virtualization. VirtualBox does NOT, as far as I can tell.

In my search on this subject I have run across one or two TPM software solutions, particularly one on github.

I would expect VirtualBox to support this eventually, but it could end up being a PAYED ENHANCEMENT of some kind (and may not be supported on Linux, and PROBABLY NOT on FreeBSD). But we shall see. If the tech needs ilcensing, money will end up changing hands.

needless to say, if TPM 2 is required, and I can't run it in a virtualbox VM, I will NOT be testing it.

can't understand why things have to change.

"have to change" - WHY is that exactly?

the 'end all'/'be all' is NOT the OS, but rather getting your work done and/or having fun.

Any "have to change" that GETS IN THE WAY OF THAT is COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY and should NEVER happen.

Re: So, SatNad...

oh do they want a CELL PHONE NUMBER now JUST to use a computer? As WELL as a cloudy login? Yeah no TRACKING there... no linking your cell phone to online (and offline) activities or anything.

Re: TPM

so they don't want anyone running it in a VM, then? At least, not with VirtualBox...

(as far as I can tell VBox does not support TPM emulation, though it appears that VMWare _DOES_)

I guess this means I will NOT be trying out their new OS. Not like I *really* wanted to, though... (the last time around was JUST! TOO! DISAPPOINTING!!!)

Re: Sometimes, I just can't believe the gullibility of some people.

*facepalm*

Re: How untraceable, exactly?

a dodgy character regardless of where your money really came from

A quicky online search shows that there are a number of Swiss bitcoin exchanges. I expect it would be possible to trade the $2b or so in (de-valued) bitcoin for something a bit more "depositable" in a Swiss bank account, and hide your money the same way that "a dodgy character" would have done it over the last century or so.

I'm not saying that Swiss authorities could not somehow trace that it was done, or where the perps were when they did it, but once it becomes hard cash and gets deposited in a bank in Switzerland, it may become extremely difficult to trace.

Similarly for Caiman Islands and other "hide your money" places around the world.

However, like many have already mentioned, crooks make mistakes and that's how they get caught.

Any global bounty hunters out there looking for a reward to catch them? I'm sure the investors wouldn't mind forking over a percentage to get the rest of their money back.