Posts by Paul Crawford

Re: Um

Yes, like your data...

I would happily spend the next couple of years on a "MP answer tour" in exchange for a billion or so dollars...

Re: And that's ...

Got any pies to go with it?

Re: However, we can report that Ubuntu runs an absolute treat on a Dell XPS.

In the USA Dell sell the "XPS Developer Edition" that comes with Ubuntu installed and a previous commentard said Linus uses one, so I guess they do check their chips & drivers all play nicely. In the UK they don't sell this specific version.

However Dell UK do offer various models with Ubuntu pre-installed from a cheap Inspiron to the XPS range.

Re: The issue is changing the password...

This is all about convincing the firmware in the disk itself that you are an authorized user to see the decrypted content of the data on the drive.

Basically this. In fact it is another example of a system storing the "password" in plain text. Really the SSD sector encryption key should never be stored in non-volatile memory, hence it should not be possible to simply bypass it by a firmware change. It should be generated on demand from the stored part and the user-supplied pass phrase.

If you need to change your pass-phrase then you decrypt using the old one, check its OK (e.g. CRC as part of the stored 'key') and then re-encrypt using the new pass phrase.

Re: send the Orion-ESM combo beyond the Moon to check it out

Its a real-world (or real-space) test doing what it is supposed to do, in the sort of sequence it is supposed to follow.

You would not drive a new design of car around the bock a couple of and then declare it fit to compete in a rally, would you?

Re: Size matters

To some degree the main difference is a "larger" organisation will typically have some or all IT support in-house and as a result typically will have policies for networking, patching, backups, etc, that are planned around good practice.

I say "typically" as we regularly see the big boys being shafted and often due to lax practices...

But the SME lot usually have no real IT support internally, maybe some bod whose job it is to arrange support/purchase, etc. And as already pointed out, you get many differing categories of user and business with the vast majority being based around folk with no real computing expertise. And no, being able to use an excel macro is not computer expertise! Hence solutions of using differing software, OS, network segmentation, etc, that would be argued about by the legions of commentards means absolutely nothing to them.

Most of what is needed to get SME in to a safer area therefore requires such expertise and that means paying folk to help set up stuff, train staff, deal with incidents, etc. Sadly that is seen as a pointless expense by many until they get shafted.

Re: I'm confused

What am I missing?

That post-Brexit we will be in a different legal position. Not just the loss of the "national security" get-out on slurping, but also that we might change our laws or interpretations as part of the Henry VIII bill being pushed through, and that we[*] have already stated we won't be bound by the European Court of Justice decisions.

So those on the other side will need to assess what we are actually doing when the laws have settled.

You did not think that simple logic and common sense would prevail? It hasn’t so far...

* = The government. Not necessary an indication of the people's views

Re: You can't save all of 'em ...

Indeed, good to see his children have seen through his shit and are brave enough to say so in public.

Re: Friends

Americans do.

America, maybe not.

Re: Photons are massless, but they have momentum

The thing about the em-drive is that the photons/EM waves are internal, so if (and its a big 'if') it works then it is defying the normal requirement for momentum transfer outside of the spacecraft, etc.

But you can use a light/heat source or radio to act as a (very weak) drive since the emission of radiation has a momentum transfer effect as it propagates away.

Edited to add: Seems the commentards further down the page have already answered as such!

Odd, I would have thought the commentards here would like to see Google having to offer a "price" for their data.

Re: Dear God,

I have an ex from Belgium, so I think I know where you are coming from...

Re: Mauve?

Mauve alert, are you sure sir? It will mean changing the light bulb!

Re: so...

No, it is never that simple and re-entry predictions are still not accurate for various reason (early on the difference in drag from differing atomic species along with the variation in solar atmospheric heating as sun spot activity, etc, changes, in the final orbit or two due to tumbling satellite orientation and bits coming off changing the drag characteristics).

But if you increase the area/mass ratio it falls in faster under all condition, so in a sense it is easy to see how to make it decay quicker.

Re: brake or steer

The problem with brake and steer is you only get up to 1g acceleration in any direction, so by changing direction (i.e. sideways acceleration) you have to give up some along-track acceleration (i.e. braking).

In almost every case you really want to lose that forward momentum as that is what causes the damage ultimately, hence the priority to brake. Of course there are some situations where a swerve could avoid a collision with a small object (human, animal) that appears suddenly and within the minimum braking distance, hence this discussion of what to do if the consequences of such a swerve would be another collision (e.g. mounting the pavement, hitting another "class" of small objects, or hitting a vehicle coming the other way).

To some extent I agree with various commentards who say the AI should always stick to the road and no doubt would not get bought if it did not preserve its passengers. So basically the swerve-to-avoid should only be done if it is moving to another lane of the road that will not apparently cause a collision, otherwise those who walked out without attention have to face the best-case braking (which for an automated car is likely to be better than a human in terms of reaction times and willingness to reach anti-lock operation).

Ultimately this sort of morality debate is not what I worry about, it is the reliability of AI to actually drive correctly in the first place!

Re: Does it even define what it means by "God"?

Laughing so much I'm double'd up!

I know, it was a long shot...

I think many (but not all) of the commentards are happy with the ideal of a CoC to stop abusive behaviour. The issue really comes down to what is "abusive" and what is simply getting stuff done in the face of those with an over-inflated opinion of their own status.

In the case of Linus has has not, to my knowledge, ever attacked someone using racially, sexually or personally derogatory means. What he often does is point out in rather uncompromising terms when people have done something wrong and refused to acknowledge or correct the issue.

Re: It's the same story over and over again - Shock... Horror... Grimace.. ROFLMAO

Actually you forget the zeroth rule - don't connect stuff in the first place.

If this is a network stack fault it could be exploitable before any IP style firewall/filter. Its more of a wakeup call, for those sleeping for a 100 years after eating the poison apple, that if you have connectivity you need an active patching/update system and some focus on security to make it happen without users having to do anything, As another commentard pointed out, that alone is also a risk.

Re: What's coming next, will Australia ban brains?

Why not? They already seem to have achieved that in government.

Re: Windows 7 "outdated"?

+1 for the VM suggestion. That is what I do: Linux host and a few VMs for w2k, XP and win7 for all Windows-only software. Added advantages are you can choose how many CPU cores a VM gets, how much host memory, etc. Also many of the nastiest malware will notice you are running on a VM and refuse to act in case you are a security researcher.

What it won't work well for is games, but increasingly they are available on Steam for Linux or folk simply buy an Xbox or similar for the single task of gaming. Also you should be looking at at least 8GB of host memory for a good experience (keep at least 2GB for host, rest can be given to VMs). But hey, that is what web browsers seem to need these days anyway...

Re: Ignition!

That book on liquid rocket fuel is a fantastic read, even for people with very little grasp of chemistry. It conveys the paranoia of the time (and thus lack of concern for the toxic nature of some candidates) along with a great insight to the complex issues around rocket fuel choice.

And yes, several people have been killed due to monopropelent failures during development and deployment. Such as the unfortunate sailors on the Kursk.

Trying to get others (like the ISPs) involved will not end well.

Simpler it to make the manufacturer and/or importer liable for GDPR-like fines for insecurity for the expected life of the product, which should be something like at least 5 years after last sold. With no exceptions.

Security costs and marketer-driven additions are all more liabilities to the end user, make sure those implementing IoT are held responsible for that.

Re: As things stand right now...

Realistically if security and privacy matters then you must keep stuff on-premises.

Of course if all you are looking for is cloud backup (not live data or VMs) then you could encrypt the data before it leaves your network, but I would not trust any cloud provider's own mechanism given the various oppressive "national security" laws in most countries that could be used to force them to add a backdoor. Which they are then legally obliged to lie about its non-existence.

Re: Well Done

You are assuming the Chinese government care more about its citizens and businesses than in preserving its ideological position & power through media control.

When I try that site (www.electronicsweekly.com) I simply get "403 Forbidden"

So either they are blocking EU addresses or singling out VPN use, shame as I will just ignore them from now on.

Re: @Michael Hoffmann

Entroware only claim to ship to UK/EU but it is worth asking them if you could do elsewhere. I suspect it is largely down to the effort of managing shipping/import duties versus the number of sales expected.

All of that is probably true but it is still not changing the fact that mainframe use is in slow decline. How many new or expanding businesses are thinking "You know what, lets migrate from Linux/Windows servers to a zSeries mainframe?"

Re: Bromide for Mr. Dabbs please!

This has already been covered:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/26/ipad_fleshlight_design/