Posts by vagabondo
256 posts • joined Friday 1st August 2008 12:53 GMT
Déjà vu
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/21/pet_shop_incident/
From the Guardian:
"The US attorney's office for the District of Columbia confirmed on Monday that subpoenas had been issued for phone records. "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/14/associated-press-phone-records
strangest feature?
"Perhaps its strangest feature is its bone-conduction transducer, which generates sound by sending vibrations through bones in the ear."
Isn't this the normal means of hearing in vertebrates? The bones in the middle ear transmit vibrations to the cochlea, then via hairs to the nerve endings, and the brain.
Re: UK gov is the only reason we have a MS Win machine
@m a d r a
This was about the Companies House "submission of accounts", which is then used by the HMRC for Corporation Tax. Nothing to do with personal tax returns.
When it was done on paper, we used a simple script and ODF (originally StarOffice) template to extract the figures from our accounts and produce the submissions. When CH moved to on-line submission of the Annual Return (details of share-holdings, directors and coof accounts to ?CH. mpany secretary) this just required a browser and saved a lot of repetitive paper-shuffling. The problem came with the introduction of so-called "on-line" submission of accounts to CH. This involved downloading a PDF active form, filling it in off-line, then uploading. The CH help-line would only provide help for MS Windows users and Adobe Reader. We did manage to convert the downloaded form to an ISO compliant PDF and fill in the figures using FOSS software. When uploaded all seemed well, and we were prepared to forget about it until the next year's inevitable changes. Some months later we received notice of an escalating fine for non/late submission. Total lack of help or support from CH or its outsourced IT supplier. The only feasible option was to pay the fine and buy a single-use laptop.
Now there is an integrated Companies House Accounts and HMRC Corporation Tax system, which is unable to retrieve the previous year's figures and requires them to be entered manually. It also tries to collect statistics for BIS, which involves "falsifying" the accounts to satisfy internal checks. Stories of how the government uses computers to create jobs and screw the economy abound on the accountants and bookkeepers' forums. (Warning you will need a strong psyche to withstand the tales of woe and anguish.)
icon -- government anti-tech will drive you to drink.
Re: Copyleft... bullshit
Take away copyright and everything becomes public domain, ergo no requirement for GPL or any other type of licence for creative works.
UK gov is the only reason we have a MS Win machine
We migrated from Unix to Linux in the 90s (save a couple of DRDOS boxes used to program ROMs and FPGAs). Most of our business revolved around network and systems integration, with no no interest in playing games, so there wasn't anything to entice us to MS.
Then HMRC and Companies House "on-line" systems demanded a particular version of Adobe Reader running on MS Windows. One year of being fined (for "late filing") after apparently successfully uploading ISO compatible PDFs, we succumbed an purchased a WinXP laptop purely to satisfy HMG.
For most businesses there is no technical reason not to be totally FOSS. The major exceptions are those whose business is dependent on exploiting the restrictions imposed by closed-source. The decision to impose proprietary lock-in is made for the political and commercial advancement of the few at the expense of the many.
Re: Home Use ??
@AC 07:40
> that was a perfectly ordinary PDF, not a photo of the original
Thanks very much -- it was a browser thing. When I downloaded the pdf I was both able to open it with "less" (which rendered the text readable), and listen to it with "Jovie" (KDE). I will know better next time.
Thanks again.
Re: Home Use ??
> the preparation of a blood sample, spreading it on the DVD and maybe fixing or drying it
I think that this is a cell sorter, rather than a smear analyzer. I woul have used a disc with a channel or chamber, then an e.g. heparinized drop of blood could be applied to to the inner end and spun out by the rotating disc. Heparin, and any immuno-fluorescent marker could be added via the collection pippette.
Re: Home Use ??
This appears to be a scanned image of the article, which unfortunately I cannot read (poor eyesight) and frustrates the text-to speech. I would be grateful if someone could read it an comment. on the methodology.
http://www.rsc.org/images/loc/2012/pdf/W.8.177.pdf
Re: The fault is that caller ID is useless
It is perfectly possible to have a presentation number other than the originating line. The rules just say that the originating and presentation numbers must belong to the same organisation. So there is no technical reason for Hospitals, Tax Offices, Police Stations, etc. not presenting the number for their man reception desk or switchboard.
It is sheer bloodymindedness for organisations that warn the public about scam calls to then withhold their own numbers.
Re: Upgraded. Hoping my NVidia card would still work..
@TheVogon
Enterprise support is after all available for SUSE. It just costs more than to license Windows.
May cost more than the MS licences. Apples and oranges. Compare with the cost of MS support. Then compare the costs of openSUSE licences with MS licences.
Re: @Anonymous Coward Saturday 16th March 2013 22:20 GMT
Or maybe you are the troll, trying to prompt a response to yourself?
Re: Upgraded. Hoping my NVidia card would still work..
@Anonymous Coward Saturday 16th March 2013 22:20 GMT
Why did you do that? It was good to see the troll being totally ignored. I made it about 11hours from the first troll without any response, comment or vote.
Should OpenSUSE have testing/stable branches -- bailey86
The experimental/testing branch of openSUSE is called "Factory". Also prior to version releases ther are months of Milestone, Beta and Release Candidates made available for testing and debugging. As stated before there are "Evergreen" long-term support versions. The latest release even includes the KDE-3.5.10 desktop for those that prefer it.
should OpenSUSE be used for a server OS -- @bailey86
My understanding was that OpenSUSE should be thought of as the Fedora version of ...
Your understanding is so wrong. Fedora is Red Hat's bleeding edge, experimental release. It is to the credit of the underlying 'NIX philosophy that it manages to be at least as resilient and stable as MS's "enterprise ready" releases. Open SUSE is really the descendent of SuSE Professional, and is more staid than Fedora or any of the 'Buntus. It is eminently suited for the workplace, and has its long term support (Evergreen) versions. The installation process has always provided a choice of desktop and server configurations. Unlike Ubuntu et al, who try to take on MS with bling and "user-friendliness", openSUSE's tradition is one of FOSS, stability, and security at the expense of appeal to hobbyist or casual users. SLED and SLES's ancestry is really as Novell's attempt to use GNU/Linux as a replacement for NetWare.
Re: Is this some new Microshill tactic?
This article is about openSUSE-12.3 and has nothin to do with SLES or SLED. The SuSE/openSuSE equivalent of apt is zypper, which is what would be used by an admin. YaST is a graphical interface, used by desktop users.
etckeeper has not reached version 1 yet. However it is available from the Open Build Service for 1-click install. Php5.3, PhpMyAdmin, and Fail2Ban are all part of the openSUSE-12.3 distribution, and can either be selected at installation, or added with e.g. zypper install phpMyAdmin, or if you prefer
phpPgAdmin.
I think bailey86 needs to get the facts and lose the FUD. Is he/she a MS undercover agent?
Re: Balance
But surely the educational advantage is not so much in learning the lyrics, as in learning how to find and learn the lyrics. The latter is akin to learning how to use a library, which is generally regarded as a basic academic skill.
Some would argue that learning popular songs is an entertaining way to exercise memory, much the same as nursery rhymes, poetry, etc. Even if I would masochistically replace these cultural icons with the periodic table, Newton's Laws and Maxwell’s Equations.
Re: The real problem is ...
Metal stud has little effect on mobile signals in a house or smallish building. The real killers for mobile, dect and wi-fi are foil-backed wall-boards (as mentioned above), reinforced concrete, fire-resistant doors, and metallic-coated glazing. Some loft/roof insulation also uses aluminium foil. In a large house with wooden floors, placing the Wi-Fi access point, Dect base station and any Femtocell, etc on the top floor usually helps.
Posted in Firefox to spit out third-party cookies
"Use custom settings for history"
Firefox has had good cookie control for years. But for some time it has required selecting "Use custom settings for history" from the "Privacy" section of "Preferences" in order to access the third-party and expire at end of session cookie controls. I never understood the reason for deciding to hide them behind an obscure heading -- unless trying to be nice to their advertising sponsor, at the expense of their users.
So do they ban breast-feeding unless both parties are over 21?
Posted in Top tools for junior Linux admins
book --Unix Power Tools
This is the "Everything Within" book for Unix and Linux beginner admins. Although 20 years since the first edition, and more than ten years since the last, this book still cuts the mustard. Eminently readable, and crammed with beginner tips, but most importantly an introduction to the 'nix mindset. Just remember that for the details, time has not stood still, and check the man pages for the tools you actually have installed/are using.
Unix Power Tools, Third Edition
By: Jerry Peek; Shelley Powers; Tim O'Reilly; Mike Loukides
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Pub. Date: October 28, 2002
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-00330-2
Pages in Print Edition: 1160
Re: Meanwhile over at ipo.gov.uk...
I just spent a very interesting ...
(Me too, but then I stopped to have my tea.)
The "Monty Python" trademark has expired.
Class 9 covers all goods technical and scientific, while class 42 is for technical and scientific services.
Trademarks exist by being used and commonly recognised; they do not have to be registered. However in the case of a dispute, registration is very useful.
POBox Hosting only filed for their logo NOT the name (text) Python.
The name Python is registered to Seagate in these categories; specifically relating to computers, but not snakes.
The PSF have requested to register the name (text) "Python" for anything related to computer programming or software. Surprisingly they have not asked to register their logo.
These different uses of the name do not seem to me to necessarily exclude each other.
The uproar seems to have been generated solely in response to the PSF's blog. However if the blog was in fact written by a lawyer, then my natural instinct is to treat it as most likely specious. In my experience lawyers, politicians, and other such shysters have a rhetorical concept of truth; whereas engineers, scientists, and technical folk favour a more mathematical or logical distinction between true and false.
Re: Silly inventor
Patents are for lawyers, no-one else.
Re: What lax security?
Is it? The article doesn't say.
The article does say that he gave an on-air demo for local television.
Re: prior art
I can distinctly remember lying in the bath listening to a Radio 4 program extolling Mr Baylis's "invention" sometime in the early 90s. I was listening using a portable AM/FM wireless powered by four "AA" NiCd cells. There was a small (pretty ineffective -- i.e. incapable of providing power at the rate the radio used it) solar panel, and a serviceable hand-cranked dynamo to recharge the batteries. There was also a socket for a mains adaptor, when not in the bath or garden. This was a small, cheap device that would have cost £5-£10. My recollection was reinforced by going to the pub a couple of hours later to be informed by two friends about this marvellous wind-up radio they had just heard about on the BBC.
I think that the Baylis radios were designs, rather than inventions, and he should have thought of Trademarks and copyrights rather than patents.
Re: grease monkey ?
and Toby Pedley claimed to have worked in a bookies up until 2011.
grease monkey ?
This is probably a horse-racing story. there appears to be a Carl Harris, tipster at the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Re: These guys are clearly humourists
Quick look at companieshouse.gov.uk and whois:
Veber Ltd was the name of POBox hosting Ltd prior to 2003.
python.co.uk is registered to Our Host Ltd which claims to be a dormant holding company with a PO Box address in Devon.
Their apparent caginess in disclosing who they are etc. does not inspire confidence. However registering the name solely for use with a hosting business need not necessarily impact on the use of "Python" with regard to the language. "Python" is Guido's trademark by use, it's just not registered everywhere. Registration is to provide goodish documentary evidence if required in any future lawsuit.
Cooking on gas^H^H^H leccy?
If this works like an induction hob, passengers could heat up soup, or make a quick stir-fry or fried egg while waiting for the bus.
Re: Security issues
@jake
Friend Eadon really doesn't know when to stop digging and look around before the horizon disappears does (s)he? Some people are so over-enthusiastic and naive that it's really embarrassing when they decide to join the party you just want to leave. So much "knowledge", so little wisdom.
Sometimes you wonder just who is working for MS (double-agent?).
['nix and Internet admin >30years, Linux admin ~20years (= boring old fart). ]
Re: This is something that should have been sorted at filing
... and as the Patent Office charged for examination and filing, it should have to pay legal costs plus damages to sort the mess out.
Posted in When open-source eats itself, we win
Re: Redundancy = Resilience
@Alan Brown
Hmm, phage assisted sex. Mammals have more fun!
Posted in When open-source eats itself, we win
Redundancy = Resilience
"you can fork a project ... but it also dilutes development effort "
Redundancy enables resilience and evolution. Think about DNA, meiosis, non-lethal mutation and natural selection. The parallels are forking, innovation, sharing, competition, and progress.
Re: Laptops with no OS.
Without an OS how do you know that what you bought actually works? Unless the hardware is supplied with functional OS and drivers it becomes very difficult to demonstrate that any feature does or does not perform as described.
The real problem is using UEFI and not being able to load your own secure boot keys.
Re: 1980s?
If we are going to have quotas (carbon emission, milk, taxi licences, or anything else), they should be non-transferable. Otherwise we are effectively printing money, which is inflationary, and benefits the incumbents to the detriment of the general public.
Re: UK Govt IT Policy and SMEs
"collapsed UK tech giant 2e2" is an SME?
Re: Stop Outsourcing things!
should all of the people involved in the olympics been hired full time and then laid off
Isn't that exactly what the outsource contractors planned to do?
Re: FOIA Requests
"So, in a nutshell, I do not believe the BBC has a blanket exemption"
But the premise of the article is that by trotting out the "reasons of journalism" exemption whenever disclosure is deemed inconvenient, the BBC is acting as if it had a blanket exemption.
Re: "Michael Gove is destroying our school system"
:% s/advice/advise/
"Michael Gove is destroying our school system"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/30/michael-gove-destroying-school-system
My sympathies to English schoolchildren. Sold to Google, et al as a job lot.
This is on par with asking the tax-avoidance industry to advice on corporation tax.
Re: The law should work in both directions -- @Trigun
I agree that he was guilty
Of what exactly?
Re: Carmen Ortiz
Well that rather depends on what that name would be.
Re: Bah!
You guys *are* aware that in this case there was a physical breaking and entering part to the crime, aren't you?
Where exactly was the breaking and entering? My understanding is that the activity in question took place on an open campus, using an open network. By using a battery powered device he cannot even be accused of stealing electricity.
What he seems to have done is gone to a library (that he was a member of), and drawn the attention of the security staff by looking at (not taking away) a whole lot more books than is usual. Security called the local police. While he was being questioned, the matter was brought to the attention of the librarians, who on consideration decided that he was being a nuisance, but not causing any harm and should be sent on his way with a request not to do it again. They did not apparently even ask to revoke his library ticket. The cops were annoyed at their time being wasted, so decided that they would charge him with something to justify their existence and have something exciting to put on their time-sheets. Government had created a pile of draconian catch-all anti-terrorist, copyright and computer-crime laws designed to be efficacious in every case. So they used those. The Procurator Fiscal, or whatever the chief jobsworth is called, needs to relegated to a position where she can cause less harm and embarrassment.
Re: Yup, and in other news, water is wet
Are your cost figures per rated Mw or per delivered Mw?
Re: May have a point
AC -- what time-zone are you in? Wake up. Don't take everything so seriously. It was mildly amusing. Enjoy a grin/smirk while you have your coffee.
Or are you one of MS's attack dogs just doing your job?
Re: @Eadon
@James O'Shea - That's funny
It may be funny, but I would buy it as probably (>80%) true. I work for company that has been pure GNU/Linux for 12+ years, before that we were predominately Unix (The nearest we get to MS is supplying WinXP vms for two clients who require them to access archived accounts). However I could/would never approach a . prospective or existing customer with the attitude that you show here. There has to be a sound business case for any acceptable solution, and it should be presented rationally.
AC- 17:16 and W. Anderson-17:20 made good arguments against the validity of the article's general premises. Once these arguments are accepted there is no point in railing against Microsoft products. Many of the points you eventually raised were valid. However your initial hysterical rhetoric does give the impression that you are a double-shill working for MS. This is reinforced by your continual advocacy of "Open Source"; true believers shun OSS in favour of Free Software.
Re: That's not open source
You are absolutely right, but then when did anyone expect Matt Asay to know much about the GPL, or in this case Apache Licence?
Re: @vagabondo
Tom,
I thought that "pre-invention agreements" related to agreements prior to invention; not agreements w.r.t. prior inventions or copyrights.
This Harvard Journal of Law & Technology article seems to support my interpretation:
http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v13/oldNonPaginated(DONOTUSE)/13HarvJLTech001.pdf
But I am an engineer, not a lawyer.
fork?
Or he could continue as a contributor. The article does not say that VMware have banned him, they just seem to be asking for control of their trademark, domain etc. that they paid for.
