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Comment Re: Wayland?? (Score 1) 108

by yhetti (#63179764) Attached to: X11 Server Development Pace Hits a Two Decade Low

In my experience, this behavior varies heavily based on what connection the monitor uses. HDMI and DVI, things tend to work great. DisplayPort is uniquely bad for a desktop use-case, where even permanently connected monitors go away from a desktop connection when you power them off. Or, I should say, that behavior is implementation specific depending on who built the monitor.

KDE seems much worse at handling monitor add/removal that other DEs, too. But I haven't seen it being a problem with X. Maybe the Nvidia drivers? I switch to AMDGPU a few years ago and stopped buying NVidia cards. My multi-monitor support is much, much better under AMDGPU.
Security

Can Iris-Scanning ID Systems Tell the Difference Between a Live and Dead Eye? (ieee.org) 93

Posted by EditorDavid from the eye-for-an-eye dept.
the_newsbeagle writes: Iris scanning is increasingly being used for biometric identification because it's fast, accurate, and relies on a body part that's protected and doesn't change over time. You may have seen such systems at a border crossing recently or at a high-security facility, and the Indian government is currently collecting iris scans from all its 1.2 billion citizens to enroll them in a national ID system. But such scanners can sometimes be spoofed by a high-quality paper printout or an image stuck on a contact lens.

Now, new research has shown that post-mortem eyes can be used for biometric identification for hours or days after death, despite the decay that occurs. This means an eye could theoretically be plucked from someone's head and presented to an iris scanner. The same researcher who conducted that post-mortem study is also looking for solutions, and is working on iris scanners that can detect the "liveness" of an eye. His best method so far relies on the unique way each person's pupil responds to a flash of light, although he notes some problems with this approach.

Comment Re:I do this currently.. (Score 1) 278

by yhetti (#44419595) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Hardware Accelerated Multi-Monitor Support In Linux?

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "Monitor0"
        VendorName "Unknown"
        ModelName "Unknown"
        HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
        VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
        Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Device0"
        Driver "nvidia"
        VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
        Option "SLI" "1"
        Option "Coolbits" "4"
EndSection

AH.... thanks for asking. I forgot teh "SLI" part : )

The NVS450 has 4 outputs; I'm using three of them. And they're not in the right order on the desk (according to the card)

Comment Re:I do this currently.. (Score 5, Informative) 278

by yhetti (#44401909) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Hardware Accelerated Multi-Monitor Support In Linux?

I can confirm that BaseMosaic on an NVS450 works under LMDE (Debian Testing) using:

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device "Device0"
        Monitor "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth 24
        Option "BaseMosaic" "True"
        Option "MetaModes" "GPU-1.DFP-0: 1680x1050+0+0, GPU-0.DFP-1: 1680x1050+3360+0, GPU-0.DFP-0: 1680x1050+1680+0; GPU-1.DFP-0: NULL, GPU-0.DFP-1: NULL, GPU-0.DFP-0: 1680x1050"
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth 24
        EndSubSection
EndSection
Crime

Should Developers Be Sued For Security Holes? 550

Posted by samzenpus from the who's-to-blame dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A Cambridge academic is arguing for regulations that allow software users to sue developers when sloppy coding leaves holes for malware infection. European officials have considered introducing such a law but no binding regulations have been passed. Not everyone agrees that it's a good idea — Microsoft has previously argued against such a move by analogy, claiming a burglary victim wouldn't expect to be able to sue the manufacturer of the door or a window in their home."

Comment Re:Stone age technology. (Score 1) 464

by yhetti (#40176161) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Type of Asset Would You Not Virtualize?

This is such a ridiculous comment I had to actually reply, and that doesn't happen often. I would have dismissed it as a troll, but I think you're serious. I'm a DBA (mostly MySQL + random stuff like DB2, Mongo, etc) and we're heavily virtualized on real workloads, real 24x7, on a product you've definitely heard of. And we're not incompetent. Doing real virtualization (we use VMWare with VSphere) is fantastic because:

1) Moving VMs between hosts with no downtime.
2) Hardware abstraction layer
2.a) Hardware upgrades with no downtime to any service
2.b) VM failover on the fly
2.c) Move VMs between datacenters
3) Cloned spinup
4) Snapshot backups (with OS integration)
5) On-the-fly storage expansion
6) multi-SAN connectivity
7) Resource pooling
8) Cost effectiveness
9) Resource oversubscribe (production, but typically unimportant machines get things like the memory balloon driver)
10) Rebalance of resources as workloads change.

Where virtualization really sucks (at least on VMWare)

1) SMP/multi-core VMs
2) Purple Screen of Death
3) 2TB limit on LUN size on ESX 4.x
The Almighty Buck

iPad UK Pricing Confirmed; Apple UK Tax Applied 248

Posted by kdawson from the dig-deep dept.
The iPad will be available in the UK and eight other countries from 28 May 2010; both models will be available for pre-order on 10 May. Reader marcopolo007uk adds a note from iPad-Review.co.uk with pricing: "WiFi Models: 16GB / 32GB / 64GB — £429 / £499 / £599. 3G versions: 16GB / 32GB / 64GB — £529 / £599 / £699. These are a little higher than some had guessed... The Apple Tax stings the UK consumer again." At the current exchange rate, these prices are right around 150% of those offered in the US.
Government

House Passes Massive Medical Insurance Bill, 219-212 2424

Posted by timothy from the house-of-representin'-in-effect dept.
The votes are in: yesterday evening, after a last-minute compromise over abortion payments, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill effecting major changes in American medical finance. From the BBC's coverage: "The president is expected to sign the House-passed Senate bill as early as Tuesday, after which it will be officially enacted into law. However, it will contain some very unpopular measures that Democratic senators have agreed to amend. The Senate will be able to make the required changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics." No Republican voted in favor of the bill; 34 Democrats voted against. As law, the system set forth would extend insurance coverage to an estimated 32 million Americans, impose new taxes on high-income earners as well as provide some tax breaks and subsidies for others, and considerably toughen the regulatory regime under which insurance companies operate. The anticipated insurance regime phases in (starting with children, and expanding to adults in 2014) a requirement that insurance providers accept those with preexisting conditions, and creates a system of fines, expected to be administered by the IRS, for those who fail or refuse to obtain health insurance.
Star Wars Prequels

Jobcentre Apologizes For Anti-Jedi Discrimination 615

Posted by CmdrTaco from the these-are-not-the-benefits-you-are-looking-for dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Chris Jarvis, 31, is described as a Star Wars fan and member of the International Church of Jediism. Said church's intergalactic hoodie uniform is at odds with the strict doctrine of the Department for Work and Pensions, which may require Jobcentre 'customers' to remove crash helmets or hoods for 'security reasons.' Following his ejection, Jarvis filled out a complaint form and within three days got a written apology from branch boss Wendy Flewers. She said: 'We are committed to provide a customer service which embraces diversity and respects customers' religion.'"
Communications

FCC's Broadband Plan May Cost You Money 318

Posted by kdawson from the one-hand-giveth dept.
At ten minutes past midnight the FCC released their National Broadband Plan. Judging by the available coverage, few reporters spent the night poring over it. The BBC at least posted something in the morning hours, but it quotes Enderle, so that gives you some idea of its sourcing. Business Week notes the plan's cool (not to say frigid) reception among broadcasters. Dave Burstein of FastNet News did some real digging. His take as of 4:00 am Eastern time is that the plan will cost most Americans money, and won't provide much if any relief to the poor. We'll see many more details and nuances emerge over the day. Update: 03/16 19:53 GMT by KD : The FCC plan (PDF) is here.
Image

The Smashing Book Screenshot-sm 51

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
Michael J. Ross writes "Of all the online resources devoted to assisting Web designers and developers, Smashing Magazine is one of the most highly regarded, primarily because of the depth and consistent quality of the articles that appear on its website. This apparently motivated many of its readers to encourage the magazine's editors to develop and release a book on Web design, which the company did in 2009, appropriately titled The Smashing Book." Read below for Michael's review.
PC Games (Games)

Civilization V Announced For This Fall 326

Posted by Soulskill from the more-cow-to-be-cashed dept.
sopssa writes "2K Games announced today that they will be releasing Civilization V in the fall. For the first time in the series, the square tiles will be changed to hexes, which 2K Games says provides 'deeper strategy' and 'more realistic gameplay.' Civilization V will also include a new graphics engine, new combat system including ranged bombardment, multiplayer and good support for the modding community. 'Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team. Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we're excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series,' Sid Meier said. In addition to Civilization V, the Facebook-based Civilization Network will also be released during 2010."

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