Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Unix

Submission + - Linux Gains Completely Fair Scheduler (kerneltrap.org)

Submitted by SchedFred
SchedFred writes: KernelTrap is reporting that Ingo Molnar's Completely Fair Scheduler, or CFS, was just merged into the Linux Kernel. The new CPU scheduler includes a pluggable framework that completely replaces Molnar's earlier O(1) scheduler, and is described to "model an 'ideal, precise multi-tasking CPU' on real hardware. CFS tries to run the task with the 'gravest need' for more CPU time. So CFS always tries to split up CPU time between runnable tasks as close to 'ideal multitasking hardware' as possible." The new CPU scheduler should improve the desktop Linux experience, and will be part of the upcoming 2.6.23 kernel.
Space

Submission + - Man flies 193 miles in lawn chair (cnn.com)

Submitted by
bradgoodman
bradgoodman writes: "BEND, Oregon (AP) — Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks — and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons.

Balloons suspend Kent Couch in a lawn chair as he floats in the skies near Bend, Oregon, on Saturday.

With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise — Couch headed into the Oregon sky."
Security

Submission + - Secretly monopolizing the CPU without being root

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This year's Usenix security symposium includes a paper that implements a "cheat" utility, which allows any non-privileged user to run his/her program, e.g., like so

cheat 99% program

thereby insuring that the programs would get 99% of the CPU cycles, regardless of the presence of any other applications in the system, and in some cases (like Linux), in a way that keeps the program invisible from CPU monitoring tools (like 'top'). The utility exclusively uses standard interfaces and can be trivially implemented by any beginner non-privileged programmer. Recent efforts to improve the support for multimedia applications make systems more susceptible to the attack. All prevalent operating systems but Mac OS X are vulnerable, though by this kerneltrap story, it appears that the new CFS Linux scheduler attempts to address the problem that were raised by the paper.
Announcements

Submission + - Mythbuntu 7.10 Public Alpha 2 (mythbuntu.org)

Submitted by
superm1
superm1 writes: "Today the Mythbuntu team is announcing our second alpha image. This is being deliberately released shortly after Ubuntu 7.10 Tribe-2 because Mythbuntu is now tracking Ubuntu 7.10 for all packages. Also, all of our derivative specific changes are being submitted into the 7.10 repositories. Consequently, by tracking Ubuntu 7.10, we will adapt an identical target release date. See the Mythbuntu website for more information."
The Courts

Submission + - Is RIAA's Linares Affidavit Technically Valid? 1

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In support of its ex parte, "John Doe", discovery applications against college students, the RIAA has been using a declaration by its "Anti-Piracy" Vice President Carlos Linares" (pdf) to show the Judge that it has a good copyright infringement case against the "John Does". A Boston University student has challenged the validity of Mr. Linares's declaration, and the RIAA is fighting back. Would appreciate the Slashdot community's take on the validity of Mr. Linares's "science"."
Software

Submission + - Open Source File Transfer Server Software?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: My company is looking for a solution to securely transfer files between our branches, clients, etc. It has to be stable, support multiple platforms, multiple protocols, be very auditable, allow secure access, provide reporting capabilities, send status emails, and (hopefully) expandable. I'm way beyond the simple sftp or rsync scripting, but not quite to EDI (yet). I need to support multiple simultaneous transfers, and prove beyond doubt that file "x" (in a wildcarded list of unknown size) got picked up at such-and-such a time from server "A", was a certain number of bytes, was no longer being written to, and that yes, it *did* in fact get transfered to it's destination (on yet another server) safely after trying a given number of times to do so. Afterwards the source copy was archived by various means, and now peacefully reposes in another location or format. I've found a goodly number of closed solutions that do this kind of thing, from simple software to enterprise EDI solutions, but I'm having trouble finding open solutions. My boss is willing to consider them, but they have to compete feature-wise with the closed choices. Has anyone done this before with open solutions? Do you have any software recommendations?
Security

Submission + - Grand Theft Auto mod virus uses YouTube to spread

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to CNET, someone is using a Grand Theft Auto mod video as a way to trick viewers into infecting themselves. Although YouTube videos remain safe to view, that hasn't stopped criminals from finding new ways to entice YouTube viewers to get infected with the latest Trojan horse. The latest example is a Grand Theft Auto video for a mod called Hood Life. Watching the You Tube video is safe. The danger comes at the end when the video displays a site where you can download the game mod itself. Should you download the file and install, your computer will be compromised upon reboot.
Data Storage

Submission + - New Mass. draft proposal allows OOXML (consortiuminfo.org)

Submitted by
mw13068
mw13068 writes: "New story from Standards Blog:

The Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD), the state agency that effectively launched the voyage of ODF around the world in August of 2005, has released a new version of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model. And this new draft includes Microsoft's OOXML formats as an acceptable "open format." http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/articl e.php?story=20070702101415578"
Security

Submission + - British Bomb Scare Prompts U.S. Camera Call (thehill.com)

Submitted by mattnyc99
mattnyc99 writes: Senator Joseph Lieberman is riding the successful capture of several terror suspects by British authorities in an alleged car bomb plot this weekend as ammunition to call for wider use of surveillance cameras in the U.S. It turns out the U.K. is already testing new flying police drones equipped with closed-circuit TV cameras. So is constant urban surveillance on the horizon? Or is Britain just ready to foil the next threat even faster, with better tech than we have back in the States?
Networking

Submission + - IP address doomsday: 2011? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
carusoj
carusoj writes: "The head of the American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN), John Curran, this week said we would run out of IP address space under IPv4 in 2011. According to a Network World article, he said that 68% of all available IPv4 addresses are gone and only 19% are available. The remaining 13% fall into a strange category of being unavailable, which means blocks of addresses that belong to a large company, a university or an ISP and are not used."
The Courts

Submission + - DrinkOrDie warez leader jailed for 51 months

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After being arrested for copyright infringement in 1999 during Operation Buccaneer, Hew Raymond Griffiths (the former leader of the infamous DrinkOrDie warez group) has finally been sentenced in the US to a 51 month prison term. As Griffiths has already spent the past 3 years in an Australian jail, he will only need to serve 15 months of this sentence in a US prison. Griffiths is a British national who was living in Australia at the time of the crime, but was controversially extradited to the US to face punishment. Other members of the warez community arrested in Operation Buccaneer have received punishments ranging from a slap on the wrist to 46 month prison terms.
Security

Submission + - AACS LA loses another code... (doom9.org)

Submitted by
SmoothTom
SmoothTom writes: "Seems that AACS LA has lost yet another code to the folks ferreting them out. Subsequently, I will not be posting that code on any of my sites. It has been redacted it from the following list of possible codes.

45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A AF
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B0
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B1
[redacted]
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B3
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B4
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B5

(One of these days, the AACS LA folks will learn that it is a losing battle.)"
The Internet

Submission + - Sweden opens Second Life "Embassy"

Submitted by MLease
MLease writes: Apparently Sweden is the first to spot a new tourism marketing strategy. According to CNN, they have opened the first cyber-embassy in Linden's Second Life. It doesn't actually offer any consular services, but merely serves as a place to "promote the Nordic state's image and culture". Sweden's Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, attended the opening of the "embassy" in the form of an avatar, as well as announcing it in a Stockholm press conference.

Slashdot Top Deals

Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers. -- Leonard Brandwein

Close