Then why are so damned many of them so piss-poor with that work? Not the Engineers...the Managers.

Finance "Engineering"? Seriously? I can see why you posted that Anon Coward. I wouldn't want that associated with myself- ever...

And one should design for those limits instead of falling back on "it's the software"- it's a brown paper bag moment to have breakable parts like that exposed in the firmware so that drivers or applications can break things.

I don't know about you, but I've spent decades making sure on digital designs and the like you CAN'T do that sort of thing. I can't be the ONLY one doing it- and it wasn't acceptable then for those items (they got REPLACED on the spot...) and it's not acceptable now (and it's illegal, pretty much like I said, to DO it the way Dell's playing it.)

Indeed. Enough Said.

And they're not fooling anyone either.

If there is software that can damage those speakers in the manner that Dell's trying to claim, it fails upon UCC 2-314 and UCC 2-315 out of box.

Per Mangusson-Moss, it's not legally possible for them to claim that their warranty is voided just because there is a piece of software put onto the machine because they didn't limit their warranty in this case in writing (and if they did put it in a fine-print manner, few would buy and they'd be in deep trouble with the Texas and other States Deceptive Trade Practices Act for doing so- because it's something that is deemed unconscionable (In fact, the TDTPA has the act in question as a laundry-list item for the law...it's illegal out of box...)) and therefore, they have to PROVE (not just CLAIM) that it was the software in question for Mangusson-Moss to NOT apply here, that they did something deliberate to damage the product. Because of the explanation from one of the VLC crowd on the forum pretty much shoots that out of the water (Not realistically possible to damage the speakers unless the speakers were substandard or defective...), the Warranty STANDS. At this point, Dell has one of three options allowed them by the Uniform Commercial Code: Fix, Replace, or Refund. Seriously.

Heh... I've got a ball-buster PC when I bought it that's still a bit of one- and it DOES NOT BOOT UEFI.

That kind of pisses me off, all things considered- I have to go buy a bunch of new boards that have it as an option just to try this out.

I bet someone does a re-spin that supports it- it wouldn't be hard since it's Debian derived and in order for it to "work" as they claim, they need OpenGL support- so...

Heh... There's levels of "intrepid Linux hacker"... Some go where angels fear to tread, after all... >;-D

...if you're doing Linux gamedev or are already using Steam on Linux...you may well be ready for that.

Me?

BRING IT

Actually, depending on the State in question, it *IS* defined as a Deceptive (hint...class of fraud...) Trade Practice. Falls under unconsionable clauses in a contract.

The fact that they're applying to the party absolutely not involved with the deal...heh... That IS clearly Fraud.

Yeah, as do some of the 4-digit crowd as well...

Heh...they were complaining about the predecessor, Chips and Dips, from it's day 1... >:-D

Dude...lay down the crack pipe. It's making you post bullshit- and Anonymously at that.

Any OS? Really? This would mean you're using OpenCL or OpenGL/OpenGLES to do things- just for starters. But, in truth, there's no inbound/outbound pathway from or to the GPU (The GPU generally doesn't have I/O access to things and for good reasons...) without an additional OpenGL/OpenCL application as a front-end. Which would be VERY OS specific.

Sorry, but the person in question that claimed that it was possible hasn't the foggiest about what he was talking about. But...nice try.

If it's using some sort of communications ("ultrasonic networking") it's **NOT** airgapped in any way, shape, or form.

"Airgapped" means no remote automated communications of ANY kind would be possible. You can't interact with it by remote, period- you have to have a human being log into a local console to do things with it. This is a failure of the airgapping measures being exploited is all- or it was never really airgapped to begin with.

Vaseline? Try Teflon....