* Posts by JEDIDIAH

2525 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Jan 2009

Senator threatens FAA with legislation over in-flight fondleslabbing

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Sometimes you fight the battles you can win. It might make sense to secure the entire cabin but we know that won't happen on a civilian flight. People will get their panties in a bunch over a minor inconvenience.

That's all this really is. It just took this long for someone sufficiently powerful to run afoul of this particular rule.

Some senator was inconvenienced, so now suddenly things much change.

If you can't be unplugged long enough for a plan to get into the air then you really need to be unplugged for purely therapeutic reasons.

Reminds me of a certain recent Dr Who episode... Upgrades!

Goldman Sachs: Windows' true market share is just 20%

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Few use the "smart" features of smart TVs

>> someone claims that streaming Netflix makes a TV a "smart TV" I'll preemptively disagree. ... - you're still using your TV as a TV.

>

>Which replaces using your Windows PC as a TV.

Nope. A Roku doesn't quite manage that. Neither does an AppleTV. Both represent pre-alpha releases of what a PC was capable of doing 6 years ago. That's why those of us prone to using PCs with our TVs are not stopping any time soon.

We are demanding early adopters. We won't eat dirt. We might even pay a premium that "normal" people would refuse.

That's why there will always be a place for something that's not an appliance. That's what caused the rise of the PC to begin with. (people needed/wanted more)

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: @Trevor

A large number of things are being lumped together her just to manufacture a number that's troll bait. They're not equivalent or interchangeable. The only bits that really are are the Macs and PCs. The rest is just silly spin, "statistics", and wishful thinking.

Although the idea that computing is more than just "secretary terminals" is hardly a new idea. So there is nothing new or shocking in these cooked numbers. They're really nothing to get excited about because nothing has actually changed.

Phones can now be conflated with desktop PCs but that doesn't alter the big picture much.

Even if consumers get broken out of their "must be DOS compatible" mindset, you still have to worry about apps and legacy apps especially. "Work" will probably still require terminals.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: @mutatedwombat

> You lack imagination and an understanding of how to make technology work

No. He just realizes that a toaster isn't a computer. He realizes that many devices being conflated with general purpose computers are extremely limited in functionality or usefulness and aren't being bought primarily for their computing characteristics.

They are PCs masquerading as appliances. Why contradict the manufacturer?

I would love to see Microsoft knocked down a peg as much as the next Linux Zealot but I would rather not be so obviously delusional about it.

Apple TV demand may drive Samsung-sapping sales

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Fanboy misses important details; more news at 11

The music industry had an entirely different marketing model and did not already have entrenched encumbents that were complete vertical monopolies including distribution to the consumer.

Someone else already brought up the problem of trying to sell Pay Per View to people that view the BBC as free.

Samsung's smart TVs 'wide open' to exploits

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: If it looks like a computer....

> So your average retired grandmother is going to get a Linux computer up and running on a TV is she?

Why not? All she has to do is plug it in.

It's not 1990.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: I don't want a smart TV.

> Nobody forces you to buy a Smart TV.

Therefore all ethics and morality and LAW should be ignored?

Will you still feel the same way when you are arrested because your technology is running amok and engaging in highly illegal acts on your behalf?

WD to crash down five terabyte desktop job, mutterings suggest

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Standard Units?

Standard units for storage? Try these:

CD -> 800M

DVD9 -> 9G

BD35 -> 35G

So a kBD would be just shy of 4TB.

I use 35G for the BD because of the prevalence of BD videos between 25-35G. Never seen one where the main title uses up the full 50G (or even 40G).

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: More Green Drives

What's supposed to be the time frame on that? I have one of those drives. When should I expect it to die?

It seems to be chugging along fine.

It doesn't host / or /var though.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Meh Consumer NAS

I have a similar "home built" NAS that's nothing more than a ready made box from a web vendor that has a hot swap rack shoved into it. It has a respectable amount of bays and can easily and cheaply accommodate more. This box can saturate a GigE connection. I wonder if any of the "appliances" can manage that.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Are you kidding?

2 hours of HD video in a nicely packaged consumer format is 35GB.

A few trips to some picture worthy destinations and you can easily eat up a mere 600G just with homemade vacation videos. Never mind accumulating stuff you might have paid for from places like Walmart, Amazon, or iTunes.

Microsoft notices Xbox gamers actually slack-jawed TV fans, adds 43 new apps

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Three Thoughts

Your "clear purpose" there is missing a few things.

An AppleTV really does very little to get the content from your PC onto your TV. It's a lot better if you jailbreak it but who really wants to bother with that. It's the sort of thing that seems more appropriate for Linux users than Apple users and the Linux users are already using MythTV.

Microsoft realizing that the "computing appliance" that plays games can also be a "video appliance" is rather obvious actually.

The first Xbox WAS a PC. This point is especially obvious if you've ever seen the original Xbox dev kit.

It's a concept that might not play well to blithering Apple fanboys (or Linux Zealots) but that doesn't seem to be hurting the concept any.

Review: Apple Mac Mini 2012

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: I wanted one of these

> My Win7 Acer Aspire Revo, which was less than half the price, is a bit underpowered for high-res video. And its HDMI support is patchy.

A Revo is more than capable of handling high-res video. The Nvidia GPU does all the work.

It can happily even play BluRays. That's about as rough as you're going to get in terms of high-res video.

It's stuff like Hulu and Amazon Prime that an ION box won't be able to handle (due to the weak CPU).

JEDIDIAH
Linux

A pretty superficial review...

As an HTPC, there's just a little bit more than having a cable that connects to your TV. The fact that the machine is tiny may or may not make a difference depending on your setup. You might actually want a larger machine for better heat dissipation or a better GPU. How it interacts with the rest of your AV gear is important.

Talking heads like to beat this particular dead horse but I don't think any of them actually put Macs through their paces in this area.

I used to use Minis as HTPCs before it was trendy.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Quality?

It doesn't matter who you try to redirect the blame at. This sort of thing should have not made it out of QA in Cupertino.

Stallman: Ubuntu spyware makes it JUST AS BAD as Windows

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: If veryone did what the bearded hippie wanted....

> ... there would be know internet, no amazon, no ebay, nothing.

There is nothing about the Internet, Amazon, or Ebay that requires bending over and saying ahh for every corporate overlord that comes along. Amazon in particular benefits very much from Free Software. They probably could not run their operation without it.

Amazon probably owes it's existence to Stallman.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Bearded man has informed opinion

> Apparently people shouldn't be allowed to opt-in to a service Stallman disagrees

Except that is NOT what is happening here.

Something sinister is being installed by default. The clueless and the unwary won't be aware of what's going on here. They will be spied on without their knowledge or consent. That is why the parallels to Microsoft are being drawn here. This is precisely the sort of thing you expect from Microsoft or some random bit of Windows shareware.

It's an OS level default rather than something that requires a "spy on me please" button.

TVShack's Richard O'Dwyer sent home with £20,000 fine

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Missing key relevant details...

O'Dwyer was not a pirate. What he's accused of is running a search engine for pirates. That's a subtle but meaningful difference.

It boggles the mind really. You and various people in the industry are ready to boil this kid in oil when what he's really doing is giving you a map and a flashlight. That's right: a map and a flashlight. He's cataloged all of the infringers for you.

Everyone involved should have just let him be and allow him to be an unwitting pawn for law enforcement.

Oi, Apple, stick to phones, forget about TV - Time Warner CEO

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Apple needs TV networks more than TV networks need Apple

That's not the problem.

The problem is that the cable providers own the data networks.

You are trying to unseat the platform owner. It's a lot like Netscape trying to unseat Microsoft.

If I decide to go crazy with my Roku, my local physical monopoly can just go crazy with the bandwidth caps. Plus current tech already limits what you can do with HD material.

JEDIDIAH

Re: TV is not music.

You are ignoring key relevant details (like a fanboy).

There are multiple monopolies at play here including physical distribution monopolies. Most video content is delivered through a local physical monopoly. THAT is something that Apple never had to deal with in the music realm. Also, music already had a well established payment model. Most people simply don't buy the stuff they watch ala carte. They buy subscriptions to services.

Virgin Megastore was never a monopoly. It was also never a monopoly that controlled access to the user. It was also not a monopoly over which all Apple product needs to traverse.

It's not just another example of "Apple uber alles".

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Just trying to protect their balliwick

Apple is really the only vendor that pushes it's own exclusive ecosystem and suffers from NIH syndrome. Most other vendors at least try to be more flexible. Although ARM hardware will only let you do so much.

Most other video appliances are closer to an HTPC that is MORE compatible rather than less.

Playing video formats from across the pond is a good example of this.

DRM is a problem but most other services are hardware agnostic.

Intel insists Mac Mini HDMI fix inbound

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: nope

No. The problem for Apple is how do they stop this sort of thing from happening again.

This is an Apple QA failure and there's really no way to whitewash it.

If the shoe were on the other foot, you would be screaming bloody murder and declaring how an Apple curated solution would avoid such nonsense.

Ten technology FAILS

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Blu Ray

That still leaves rentals. Physical media may seem "quaint" but it's still the most effective transport mechanism available. Streaming formats are inferior either in terms of quality or their ability to actually be streamed. I recently experienced that with a high quality stream. It looked pretty good but playing it in real time just didn't work.

Spinny disks allow for fewer compromises when you're actually watching the content.

Netflix streaming quality is generally pretty crappy and their selection isn't much better. Plus the lack of personal property rights on "streams" means that companies like Netflix are always at the mercy of upstream content owners. That's why their spinny disk library is much more comprehensive.

Google, Apple, eBay shouldn't pay taxes - people should pay taxes

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: I run a company....

You don't even have to be hired by Google. You can be an independent accountant and still make out like a bandit by fleeing into the private sector. Mine is an ex-IRS auditor. So some of the skills do trickle down and are available for "the little guy" to take advantage of.

The tax code is much easier to personally exploit as a "non-employee" than a member of the Google collective..

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Randoid bolllocks eh?

Can't comment on the UK tax code being from the other side of the pond. However, all of this nonsense with proles trying to defend the rights of corporations reminds me of scenes from the show Tudors. It shows a complete lack of understanding of how businesses are run and how the tax code already favors them. The poor and powerless are desperately shilling for the high and mighty and the King.

Texan schoolgirl expelled for refusing to wear RFID tag

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: She has options

...yes her choices are "anal probing" or "being cast out".

Great list of so-called "choices" there.

According to you it's all good. Doesn't matter if it's someone like Stalin or Hitler in charge. They always have the choice to go live in the ghetto or get themselves a nice farm in Lancaster county.

Microsoft said to be building Apple TV adversary

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Yeah, but...

The problem with streamers is content. You have to fight with legacy monpolies that have no interest in seeing you succeed. That includes both the content and the delivery mechanism (network). While the mechanics are pretty simple, you can be starved for content.

Any device that can be a cheap PVR client for Tivo or MCE or MythTV quickly has a leg up on any device that doesn't. The same goes for playing "legacy" content the user my have on hand.

However the price point the market will actually bear seems to be about $100. So there's not a lot for companies to work with. Although Sage was already there a long time ago.

HDMI hitch hounds Mac Mini holders

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Isn't choice grand

Some of us actually expect our overpriced luxury branded goods to actually work as advertised.

Apple fanboys make excuses for nonsense that they would eviscerate Linux or Windows over.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Isn't choice grand

Your window of opportunity for getting a refund on a Mac is very small. Beyond that you will be forced to deal with their warranty replacement system and even that will only last as long as the warranty does.

For a company that is often compared to BMW, they really don't stand behind their product.

Whether or not they are on par with Dell here isn't the point. They aren't supposed to be "just another Dell".

Furthermore, you won't get an "immediate fix". It will "stay in the shop" for awhile.

Been there. Done that. That's why I recommend putting a Mac through it's paces as soon as you can. Make sure it's not a lemon as soon as you can. Otherwise the "refund" option may simply disappear.

Republicans deny Hollywood pressure to pull copyright proposal

JEDIDIAH
Linux

More like a communist party purge...

There is another perspective to consider here. The Republicans are really big on "party discipline". The current state of the party is such that it's starting to look like the communists under Stalin. Members are expected to vote with the collective. The GOP is much better at enforcing this in practice than the Democrats are. Anyone that deviates (including Presidential candidates) gets collectively walloped by all of the relevant media talking heads.

This may have been just far too much academic freedom for the party leadership to handle.

It simply could have been a matter of Darth Vader choking an upstart General Tagge.

Design guru: Windows 8 is 'a monster' and 'a tortured soul'

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: OMG!!

I'm not sure I even know what you are on about.

Although I am sure I can find the relevant features by using the mouse to poke around whatever interface you happen to be talking about.

Ten four-bay NAS boxes

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: @ZFS Fanboys:

> the arcane spells that need to be typed into the shell, and so on.

Like what RAID level you want? Yeah, I could see how that could be a bit of a burden. Then again, that crowd probably isn't even aware of NAS appliances at all.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: not enough bays

Intel parts aren't nearly as power hungry as they used to be. Power management is a lot better across the board. So there are fewer and fewer reasons to shell out the cash for an appliance.

...and while there are more "robust" appliances, those are even more rediculously overpriced than the small ones that are the subject at hand.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: @Matt

>> "Why does Oracle Linux use OCFS2?"

>

> Because ZFS' license is not compatible with the Linux kernel's GPL one,

Huh? Oracle OWNS ZFS. They own it along with everything else that was part of Sun Microsystems.

If they really wanted to use it then licensing it would not be a problem. They own it. They aren't some random 3rd party.

The fact that ZFS is not a clustered filesystem is likely why Oracle uses OCFS2 instead.

It's kind of like comparing apples and potatoes.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: not enough bays

Putting an array together is 5 minutes of work. You Google it once and you are set for the next 5 years or however long your setup manages to meet your requirements.

Just knowing "what buttons to push" on an appliance is going to put you way beyond the skill or comfort level of most people. The shiny happy interface (or lack of one) really isn't the biggest problem here.

4 disks just isn't enough. Not enough bays to handle redundancy or parity and hot spares and such.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: I don't get NAS boxes...

A n00b is going to have a problem with fixing any NAS. This goes for appliances as well as Windows boxes. There is simply no magic in Windows (or even MacOS) that hides the complexity of this stuff. "Normal people" just have trouble with the idea that they can create a shared drive under Window and use it on another machine.

Never mind anything that's really interesting.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: HP Proliant Micrpserver

With what I save on not using overpriced appliances, I can have a completely redundant array.

That nullfies much of the typical marketing bullet points associated with NAS appliances.

Plus you've got a whole other copy of everything.

Woz: Microsoft's innovation lead 'worries me greatly'

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Why?!?

Why? Because he's actually built something. He has demonstrated an understanding of technology. He's shown that he has a clue.

Plus he wasn't a jerk about it. He didn't engage in artistic megalomania.

Dead Steve Jobs was dead wrong on Flash, bellows ColdFusion man

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Apple makes even Microsoft look good.

> Sorry, I'm missing the bit where Flash, a closed propriatary format, helps the open web.

That closed proprietary platform is cross platform. That's more than you can say for some phone app.

It may not be perfect. It may be far from perfect. It's still better than what the Mr. Flash-Killer wants to offer you.

OMG! Aaaah! Apple TV! Yes! No ... Probably! Sometime!

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: XBMC not as scalable

> I backed up some of my DVD collection to an iTunes, spent $99 on an Apple TV box, turned it on and *it just worked* and I knew that any serious attempt to deploy XBMC in a similar fashion would not be as trivial in my time

Bullsh*t.

iTunes does squat in terms of media management. It doesn't just do BAD media management. It does NO media management.

It does not "just work".

The experience of what you are describing is nowhere near as "polished" as XBMC.

You might have better luck making up bogus nonsense about a $800 or $2400 product. AppleTV's are just too cheap. Plenty of the rest of us can run them for lulz and see how they really perform.

Belize PM: McAfee boss is 'bonkers', should 'man up and talk to cops'

JEDIDIAH
Linux

The painfully obvious...

Of course the guy is paranoid. He's in the security business. He wouldn't be doing what he does if he weren't paranoid. A little nuttiness probably goes along with the territory too.

Paranoid security guy? Imagine that...

Industry in 'denial' as demand for pricey PCs plunges

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: HD video? Good enough for me

> Except it makes cheap ION gear look seriously overpriced for the performance you get.

Both the CPU and GPU in an ION run circles around a PI.

It has better video decoding support and enough CPU power to do a lot of decoding in software. If your GPU doesn't support something, you're not completely out of luck.

Atoms only look pathetic next to real x86 CPUs.

Wishful thinking any stinginess only gets you so far.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: HD video? Good enough for me

A Raspberry PI may or may not be able to handle whatever HD video I have on hand.

What it can handle, it will only be able to handle because it's got special purpose silicon for the task.

If I need to do anything else computational, I will be just plain out of luck.

It's just like cheap ION gear.

Apple 'less innovative' at laptops than Lenovo

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Lifestyle choices are not innovation...

Making the machine less maintainable so that it can be prettier is not "innovation". It's a lifestyle choice and being a slave to fashion.

Apple just makes more noise about doing it. They are great at marketing and they have a willing cabal of astroturfers.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Right click

Using two fingers is nothing like using just one finger.

Talk about obscure.

At least the bit about "secret corners" on the trackpad has some possibility of being something the user has seen before and can relate too. It's less of a "secret handshake".

35 US states petition for secession – on White House website

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Say no to magic underwear

I thought this whole election was a riot. Romney was basically a closet case. It all reminded me of when I was forced to go to church when I was younger. It was an evangelical congregation and they did things like propagate anti-Mormon propaganda videos.

....really made me think about Beghazi. Wondered if Romney would ever have the balls for a "I know how you guys feel, really" kind of moment.

Magic underwear is just the tip of the iceberg.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: @White v Hispanic and Black

> because they wouldn't be expecting the Mexican invasion

Are you kidding? It's Texas. The Drug Lords would be outgunned just by the Boffins.

Intel plans Core i7 bare bones mini-PCs

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Not just that....

...but you would have a mounting bracket ready to go in the box. Just bolt it onto an old monitor and you've got your dirt cheap iMac knockoff.

The GPL self-destruct mechanism that is killing Linux

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: Hurding Cats

MacOS is going nowhere.

PhoneOS is being marginalized.

The academically objectionable approach is still doing very well both in terms of pure performance and it's ability to drive sales. Linux continues to thrive in the server room and on mobile devices and in embedded applications.

The main problem with a Mach kernel running on a Mac is not the kernel the hardware is running but the fact that you've got very narrow limitations when it comes to that hardware and what kind of system design tradeoffs you can make.

You are better off running MacOS in a VM on a cheaper and much more powerful Linux machine.

JEDIDIAH
Linux

Re: @Pete : Divide and conquer

> Some very intelligent people indeed, who just happen to not be IT people, don't even understand the concept of a repository,

They understand App Stores and GUIs.

That's all that's necessary for a suitably complete distribution.

The entire situation is an artificial legal issue that has squat to do with the underlying usability of Linux.