ackalker

I find your example of installing a package to be somewhat amusing.

The fact that one can install a package in some OS means that somewhere, one or more people sat down and wrote a recipe for building and packaging it, and then hopefully performed some minimal QA on the final product to make sure it actually works.

This is not trivial, particularly not if multiple versions of a compiler may need to coexist (because of other packages depending on a particular version), and it needs to be done for each combination of compiler version and OS.

To me, examples like: "just run <insert package installation command here>", expecting a package to just magically install itself on some OS are the symptoms of a cargo-cult.

Rather, I think that using containers is more like outfitting a cargo container with a fully stocked and staffed workshop, then shipping the container and personnel to where the client needs it to be. The client then only needs to supply the storage space for the container and the goods that need processing (a shared directory in this particular case) and wait for the finished result. Sure, some of the workers may not speak your language, they may use different tools, but until (if?) the workshop gets rebuilt and staffed on "native soil", the inconvenience should be acceptable.

In my case the setting lists two languages, but "en-US" does appear to have a higher 'quality' factor, so there.

[...] The experience does not collect or share any data [...]

Wrong (unless proven otherwise).

From the Shield Studies FAQ[1]:

What data do Shield Studies normally collect?

[...]

Mechanism:

- at STARTUP, SHUTDOWN, INSTALL, UNINSTALL, - send a `shield-study` packet containing the Unified Telemetry Environment.

As was stated before, users report that they have had this extension pushed to their browser without their prior consent to sending any telemetry data.

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies

There would be "rioting in the streets" of the internet if Mozilla ever decided to drop support for ALSA in Firefox.

There are distros, Void Linux (which I am using right now) for one, which ship without pulseaudio (or systemd for that matter) installed by default, thank goodness.

[...] the extension gets silently pushed to all the US users(!)

Non-US user here, my Firefox got it, too.

This is about forwarding individual remote applications, not entire desktops.

Ah, memories of one of my very first lab assignments in digital circuits engineering class (back when computer science was still busy splitting off from applied mathematics and electrical engineering). We were given nothing but a breadboard, some chips with basic logic gates (NANDs, multiplexers/demultiplexers), an EPROM, access to an EPROM burner (w/ hex keypad!), some LEDs, switches, resistors, jumper wires and a power source.

The assignment was to build a traffic light simulator, set the whole thing running, change the traffic lights as a result of switch inputs acting as sensors and a simulated interval timer.

Some students were baffled by this (lectures hadn't caught up with lab assignments at that point): how could you build a small processor using only logic and an EPROM? There's no memory or registers to keep state!

This is what differentiates combinatorial logic from sequential logic: feedback. Use some of the EPROM's data outputs along with logic gates and switch outputs (using the multiplexers / demultplexers) as address inputs to the same EPROM.

Sweet memories of solving Karnaugh maps, Quine-McCluskey minimization, logic hazard mitigation, etc. Good times.

They're called proprietary video drivers, and yes, they pass unknown commands, without user authorization (think DRM) to PCI(e) devices (video cards) all the time.

In the same vein, do try ":help 42" as well... :)

An experimental, no, production feature I would love to have in every browser is a way to disable these excruciatingly annoying full-screen popups which some sites (including the one linked in the topic) show you on your first visit.

No, I don't want to subscribe to your newsletter, I don't want email notifications, I don't want to become a member (at least not until I've read a few posts first).

Make it possible for me to make those choices my global defaults and I'll be a very happy user.

Interesting fact: while not all shared object files are executable (or rather: do something interesting other than dump core), some most definitely are: try executing libc someday: $ /usr/lib/libc.so.6

See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1449987/building-a-so-tha... for more information.

Much better than that, actually: http://visualgdb.com/

This one has been around a bit longer, too, and despite its name is now much more than just a pretty face for GDB but rather a full cross-platform development environment which has IntelliSense everywhere, handles the installation of toolchains and BSPs for embedded targets, building kernel modules (with VisualKernel addon), etc.

Mmm, love the good ole'style hack. Find a hole in the system and peek through, good-natured of course. Reminds me of how I discovered that some hosting company's FTP server supported the somewhat obscure `cdup` command (which should work identical to `cd ..`), but didn't check if the connecting user actually had access rights to poke around that parent directory (it did for `cd ..`).

Much mischievous grinning ensued as I showed to my colleagues how i could "escape" from our allotted home directory and look at directories of some of the other clients, before I reported it to the hosting company. I don't know if they ever fixed that loophole...

...which allows selecting different distributions, including Arch Linux?

Sorry to rain on your parade, but there is _no_ official Arch Linux image on Docker[1], as you can easily verify[2]. Use at your own risk whatever Arch Linux image you happen to find on Docker Hub, such as this one[3]. It might work or it might break, but it ain't official.

[1] https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=214973

[2] https://hub.docker.com/explore/

[3] https://hub.docker.com/r/base/archlinux/

TL;DR: KISS+YAGNI :-)

It's so amazing, it was probably made with secret alien technology!

Maybe it time-traveled back from the future to save us from deadly attack by an alien probe, to give us a chance to get things right this time.

Exactly. The high current, if combined with unevenly split loads, improperly installed or maintained wiring, excessive use of spurs etc. can actually mean a greater risk of (fire) damage due to overload compared to 'star'-like circuits carrying less current per segment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_circuit has some of the gory details.

Those of us coding in GNU Radio, LabView, MaxMSP, PureData, Simulink, VEE, vvvv, etc., would object to such an overly general statement.

(Hint: those are all visual or hybrid textual/visual programming languages.)

Erhm, no local network setup? Why is it that nowadays all the so-called cool stuff requires me to sign up with some online service?

It may be my (somewhat archaic) sense of crypto humor, but any time I read the term "Dual EC", my mind says "CE lauD", making it sound like someone saying the word "cloud" with an accent expressing a lot of disdain[1].

Anyway, the Dual EC backdoor, if real, along with the extra randomness, may yet prove to be part of "the gubment's" very own cloudbusting operation, to make cloud services rain users' secrets at the push of a button...

[1]: cf. "my butt"

To add: you can use software like Raccoon: http://www.onyxbits.de/raccoon

Use it with a throwaway Google account to download apps from the Play Store, then use adb to install them on your device. This works fine for apps which don't rely on specific Google libraries or services being installed on your device.

I think it is about time that we (the users) reclaim the right to our data and what we do with it. Never since the days of mainframes and timesharing have we been turning over so much of our (personal) data and the processing of it to third-party, centralized servers. Our computers are starting to look like nothing more than fancy graphics terminals, just a few steps up from the VT100's of yore.

It's about time we start doing something about this.

I guess that you nave never been to a demoscene event then (or it doesn't count as a hackathon in your book). Lots of chance that there are teams there working in frenzy to finish their demo in time while across the table others are busy boozing till they drop (accompanied by the requisite loud banter).

If a team really need quiet time at such an event, they usually retire to (the basement/a hotel/someone's garage/a coffeeshop).

And no, they don't just hack software demos at such events, I've come across (noisy) 3D printers, pinball tables, slot machines, robots in many sizes and shapes, RC racing cars, drones, you name it.

Tough chance of any youth from my country trying to compete with him. Our government has imposed tough regulations on credit card ownership in order to curb personal debt.

Those who apply for a credit card must be 18 years or older and provide proof of stable income >= $2000/month before banks will even consider the application. Also, all credit cards are registered at our national credit registration office with their max withdrawal counted towards personal debt risk, so applying for or owning more than just a few CCs at any single time is very unlikely unless one has a very well paid job or other sources of income.

s/fuck/goodness/g # for goodness' sake, this is HN, not /.

One-time pad encryption, implemented correctly, cannot be broken or backdoored. There is the matter of key exchange of course, but that is as old as the use of covert communications itself. Anyone who cares enough about their communication remaining secret will find a way of exchanging keys for which any attempt at interception by a government entity is entirely impractical.

Isn't the "Malicious Software Removal Tool" from Microsoft supposed to scan for such things? Obviously it isn't a full-fledged virus scanner, but I would expect scanning the system for outdated DLLs and such to be well within its reach.

These governments and institutions should be called to task, PMs/ministers/MPs impeached if need be. Their negligence or refusal to act on this matter is a threat to national security. Literally.

I think the problem is not a language problem but rather both a set-theoretic and a technical issue specific to how NTP works.

Set-theoretic: what exactly is meant by "the pool"?

Is it: a) the set of all NTP servers on the Internet which cooperate with those on .pool.ntp.org, b) the subset of NTP servers with hostnames [0-9]+.pool.ntp.org, c) the subset of NTP servers with (one or more particular) "vendor" subdomains under .pool.ntp.org, d) a particular intersection or union of any of these sets?

Technical: Does the perceived restriction on who may or may not use "the pool" apply to NTP servers which wish to participate in "the pool", or to NTP clients which simply wish to synchronize their clocks?

I've found several documents, from ntp.org as well as from other sources, with varying levels of vagueness and contradictory language.

Some examples:

Server configurations should not use .pool.ntp.org servers (why?): http://www.ntppool.org/join/configuration.html#management-qu...

Client configurations may use .pool.ntp.org servers (when?): http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/NTPPoolServers

IMHO it is urgent that at least ntp.org official documents use much more precise language, in particular defining what exactly is meant by "the pool".