828873
submission
LWATCDR writes:
I work with a group of young men 16-18 and I am thinking of starting a computer class for them. I was thinking about teaching them how to clean off spyware, virus scanning, defrag, and removing craplets. You know the stuff that geeks are typically asked to do for their friends or what the Geek Squad charges way too much for.
After that I hope to move on to hardware repair. Thinks like installing RAM, replacing hard drives and power supplies.
Maybe even move on to building a PC.
I really want to hit on the evils of piracy. I intend to show the young men where they can find free alternatives to pirating software. Things like OpenOffice, Gimp, Thunderbird, Linux, and so on. I hope that if all goes well I might even teach them the basics of networking and setting up servers.
The problem is that I know that I want to include how to use Windows XP, and Vista. I might even include Windows server and WHS after I learn it myself.
The problem is I don't want to pay for that software myself and the organization has no money to spend on it. The Linux stuff is free but the Microsoft software would cost money. Does Microsoft offer a program for small not for profits? If not I will be limited to teaching XP and Linux. Not a terrible thing but I would like to teach these young men how to deal what every they might run into.
773157
submission
LWATCDR writes:
From Endgadget http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/15/evidence-mounts-for-august-eee-pc-carnage-with-299-dell-e-launc/
It looks like Dell is going to launch a EeePC competitor.
The Specs look very good.
1.6GHz Atom processor
512 Mb of RAM expandable to 1GB
1,024 x 600 display
3x USB
SSD
integrated webcam
WiFi
2.2 pounds
and a $299 price.
Other rumors are an Instant on Linux "A flavor of Ubuntu?" and XP as an option.
They also mention WiMax, WiWan and BT as wireless options.
They are also bringing out a 12" model no info on the price yet.
Well if they deliver it for $299 sign me up.
760121
submission
LWATCDR writes:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9107239&source=rss_topic122
From the article.
"Developers have created an easy way to load Android, Google Inc.'s mobile phone operating system that is still in the works, on Nokia Corp.'s N810 open-source handheld devices.
The development is of interest to people who are trying to build applications for Android rather than to general users. "So, from the point of view of someone who just wants to use his N800 and doesn't necessarily want to experiment for the sake of experimenting, what does running Android get me?" one person asked on the Internet Tablet Talk Web site that is sharing the technique for loading the software on the devices. "
While this is kind of cool what I really want it for someone to port it to the Treo or Centro :)
752017
submission
LWATCDR writes:
Yes it looks like Microsoft is going to a rental program for Office.
From the article.
"The software bundle, which also includes Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software, will be sold at nearly 700 Circuit City stores for $70 per year."
Well I for one will be happy to stick with OpenOffice for now. From Microsoft's point of view it means a constant flow of money. For the customer it means you only have to pay a little each year instead of a lot every few years. I don't think this will save the average user any money and I wonder about problems with "activation".
So will this fly or will it give a big push to OpenOffice.
Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_office_subscription;_ylt=Aglfs.0Rrm.XlMNYRXVQuI5Y.3QA
751141
submission
LWATCDR writes:
ZFS looks like the best thing since sliced bread. Any post about file systems will soo end up talking bout how great ZFS is and or about why it can not be used under Linux except using FUSE.
But there is very little information about ZFS and how to use it. Wikipedia offers some information but I have yet to find anything that looks like a how to or even good documentation for what looks like a very powerful but complex file system.
Anybody know of any in depth sites on how to use ZFS under Linux, BSD, and Solaris?
678552
submission
LWATCDR writes:
A company out of the UK has an Intel Atom based Mini-ITX mother board available. http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Motherboards.html
It has a riser for for two PCI cards , two SATA ports and an IDE ports so it could make a grate little NAS, firewall, mame box, or low power workstation.
To add to the fun it has a real parallel port "perfect for hardware hacking", a real RS-232 port "perfect for data acquisition", and two USB ports. The price is around $100 give or take so the price isn't bad and hopefully will come down over time. All in all a nice system to run Linux, WindowsXP, BSD, or maybe even OpenSolaris on.
473770
submission
LWATCDR writes:
First there was the Everex gPC running gOS Linux, then the ever hackable Asus eeePC notebook, then the Everex cloudbook, Shuttle's new KPC and now the Mirus $199 Linux PC hits your local Sears. So what do you get for the money?
Intel Celeron 420 1.6GHz processor
1GB Memory
80GB Hard Drive
Card Reader
Modem
CDRW
Keyboard, Speakers, and Mouse
Freespire 2.0
CNR Basic Service — providing one-click access to free and commercial Linux software
Nothing great but a good starter PC.
So this makes me wonder.
Is this a sign that Linux is going to finally break into the mainstream?
Did Palm make a big mistake by killing there Linux based sub-notebook?
381063
submission
LWATCDR writes:
AMD has stepped up to the plate and now have a new middle price graphics card that can challenge the NVidia 8800GT.
Life would be so easy if the new ATI card was faster, cheaper, and used less power than the NVidia card but life isn't that simple.
The new AMD card is a little slower then the 8800GT but it looks like it may end up being a lot cheaper at around $169 and uses a little less power.
The end result is a card that gives you a little more bang for your buck than 8800GT which was already a great value.
So is it good enough? Take a look http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2217044,00.asp
BTW since the 8800GT is sold out this maybe a great option.
366157
submission
LWATCDR writes:
It is as simple as this. A piece of software that's only purpose is DRM/copy protection makes Windows XP and Windows Server vulnerable to a complete system take over. The name of the product is called SafeDisc. One has to wonder if it is from the author of Quickprotect of Dillbert fame?
From Yahoo news http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20071105/tc_zd/218871
"The vulnerability is in the Macrovision secdrv.sys driver on supported editions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. The affected product is Macrovision SafeDisc, a copy-protection application written for Windows.
FrSRT reported on Oct. 19 that the trouble is a memory corruption error in the Macrovision Security Driver when processing user-supplied data. The vulnerability can be used by local attackers to gain so-called Ring 0 privileges and take complete control of an affected system."
349755
submission
LWATCDR writes:
Under Windows there are multiple RAID solutions. Some are even built on to the Mother board. For Linux things get a bit messy.
If you want a high end raid system you have lots of good options from companies like 3ware. But when it comes to inexpensive solutions I just can not seem to find good information.
1. What if any motherboards have a RAID that is supported by Linux?
2. Do they support RAID 0.1,10, and or 5?
3. Is it a true hardware raid, does it just off load the CRC calculations, or is really just a software?
4. Can you boot from it?
5. Is the driver in the kernel or is it a binary blog?
Even phoronix doesn't seem to have a lot of interest in RAID controllers. Tom's hardware ran this a few years ago but it was very windows specific. http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/06/25/cheap_and_reliable_raid_5_storage_compared/page8.html
So besides the Linux software RAID what options do we have under Linux for a good if not inexpensive RAID solution?
271285
submission
LWATCDR writes:
Yahoo News is reporting that Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday announced an extension to the X86 instruction set, which the company calls "SSE5".
The set of instruction extensions — 47 base extensions, expanding to a total of 170 instructions — will be included first in the "Bulldozer" processor family, scheduled to be released in 2009.
The new extensions will be optimized for high-performance computing workloads. AMD designers examined existing instruction sets, such as the Apple/IBM/Freescale Altivec instruction set, then identified three software types to optimize SSE5 around: compute-intensive applications, such as financial simulation and life sciences; multimedia applications, like high-definition video encoding and image processing; and security applications, where data is encrypted across the Internet as well as an entire hard drive.
The article has one statement that I found odd, "Traditionally, Intel has issued improvements to the X86 ISA used within PCs, crafting all of the earlier SSE extensions, which AMD has eventually supported. This time, the shoe's on the other foot.". Wow how soon they forget. I guess that whole X86-64 things just slipped their mind.
226773
submission
LWATCDR writes:
I would put this under the category of "You have got to be kidding me!"
Sony's brilliant PR streak just keeps going and going like a little bunny running on Sony batteries.
Endgadet is reporting that Sony honcho Howard Stringer apparently accused Steve Jobs of being "greedy." The report claims that Mr. Stringer went on to say that the Steve-man "Wants a world where only he makes money."
Unlike Sony who embraces open formats, safety, security, and consumer rights above all else? Things that make you go "WHAT!!!!"
173529
submission
LWATCDR writes:
From Linux Devices. A U.S. government- and industry-led coalition aiming to equip every car and roadside in America with wirelessly connected computers has tapped Linux for a prototype design. The Vehicle Infrastructure Integration Consortium (VII-C) hopes to lower driver death rates, reduce traffic jams, and media-enable cars before 2017.
The plan seems to be to make each car a node in a massive mesh network. Your car know the location, speed, and direction of every car around it. This could prevent many accidents a year. The system could also provide media and navigation services to vehicles. On a trip you car could know the current price of gas at each exit and suggest when you should stop for gas. The system could also include sensors for windshield wipers and weather sensors to proved large scale real time weather data and could monitor traffic flow and route cars away from congestion. The current prototype uses a Celeron based PC104 board. I would think that a PPC or XScale would be a better fit for this type of application but since they are using Linux they are not tied to any single ISA.
Of course nothing is perfect. Such a system could track every movement every car makes as well as monitor speed and other potental traffic violations. There is also the fact that this would be a massive computer monoculture. Security better be close to perfect since it will make a very tempting target.
157651
submission
LWATCDR writes:
Miguel de Icaza is at it again. He is claiming that he can add support to for Microsoft's Silverlight to Mono. While I am not a big fan of Flash or Silverlight adding support for Linux users is usually a good thing, except this comment scares the hell out of me. "Fortunately, Microsoft released the source code of .NET's new Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) — a critical component of Silverlight — under a highly-permissive open source license. According to de Icaza, Microsoft's DLR can be incorporated into Mono and won't have to be reimplemented." So Mono will have honest to goodness Microsoft code in it. I hope some really bright lawyers from the FSF have looked at this highly-permissive open source license from Microsoft.
