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Comment Re:macbook (Score 1) 287

Sorry, I could not find any official Mac disassembly and repair docs. I just don't buy anything without such a documentation. Without it any computer becomes a costly single use toy. I have lots of IBM and Lenovo equipment and it has such documentation.

Comment From West to East (Score 1) 125

Here in Siberia the winds blow mostly from West to East. For instance, if we want to know the weather for tomorrow we listen about current weather in some city some 1000 km in the West (Sorry, my exact location is classified).

So if you see a big spot of Ruthenium in South-West Siberia and North Kazakhstan then it's source is somewhere between Russia and the EU.

Comment Re:The stuff that comes out of tailpipe is bad (Score 1) 432

Your renewable energy requires storage. The cheapest energy storage is lead-acid. So the environment impact of lead mining, battery production and battery recycling, with occasional loss of the batteries into the environment, should be taken into account.

Or, if you prefer, there should be a big subsidy to replace lead-acid with anything less toxic which also is to be taken into account.

And while you Americans do it we Russians just improve our nuclear cycle.

Comment Re: You all presumably know why. (Score 1) 359

Look, there are at least 3 styles of programming:

1) int a[16]; index=something(); SOMECODE; b=a[index];
2) int a[16]; SOMECODE; index=something(); b=a[index&0x0f];
3) int a[16]; SOMECODE; index=something(); if((index=16)) process_error(); b=a[index];

The first one is a disaster waiting to happen because you rely on something() to return proper values and on SOMECODE to not change index and not to allow jumps inside it. And as I understand the problem it was closed by 1st way.

Comment Re:End the War (Score 2) 126

The next batch of rebels were allowed by Assad to leave Damascus district Qaboon for Idlib with their wives, children, guns and possessions. I could not imagine that Stalin could allow Nazis to be evacuated to Berlin after they are caught in Stalingrad. I also could not imagine the same about Japanese and USA in WWII, Saddam and USA, Gadhafi and USA, Chechnya and Russia in 2000 and Taliban and USA after 911.

Comment Re:FIDOnet or Citadel w/cell phones? (Score 1) 168

It's trivial to implement, but:
1) You have absolutely no motivation to do it during peace times (in condition that you are not a Revolutionary)
2) When the substance hits the fan you have absolutely no time and equipment to do it.
3) During the unrest the cell networks shall be blocked. So the only means of distant communications are CB radios.
4) You should resolve the legal conflict between you (the law abiding citizen) and Revolutionaries that use your node - both from your point of view that they use YOUR equipment for THEIR revolution you don't want and from point of Law enforcement that thinks that YOU help the Revolutionaries and are to be punished. Fidonet resolved it just by enforceable prohibition of any illegal or commercial activity.
5) If you are a Revolutionary then your cell traffic is monitored. And so all your contacts are known. It does not mean that your messages are intercepted but your contacts could be interrogated and they dislike it. It's quite difficult to monitor CB packet but it's possible too. You could invent some new ultra fast CB data protocol that THEY could not monitor - and then THEY just enter your org and obtain the protocol.

Comment Re:Ham Radio Mesh Networks. (Score 1) 168

Amateur Radio has the severe legal usage limitation. It could be used for exchange of amateur radio and emergency related information ONLY. So it could be used as an experimental base ONLY and then the technology should be transferred to commercial or community area.

I could spend my money for creation of general use network that could continue to operate in emergency but I have no motivation to make a network that could be used exclusively for emergency.

Comment Re:Community Wireless Networks (Score 1) 168

Just getting people together create and maintain a wireless network is a lot of effort.

Not only an effort but it also exposes all the community to the Competent Organs (Russian euphemism for law enforcement). You could do it relatively securely in countries with strong legal system somewhere in Europe or in countries where Organs are integral part of the community (as is in Havana and as it was in Russia in 90s when Office of Internal Affairs kept a Fidonet hub). But I doubt that it should be done in modern Russia, USA or, say, Turkey.

Comment Re:Open Source Mesh Networking Platform in the Wor (Score 1) 168

... and each face should have a separate outdoor-class WiFi router that costs about 0.25 of average monthly income. But you increase antenna gain 4* giving distance only 2*. 500m instead of 250m are not a solution. The problem of only 4 separate 2.5 GHz channels (1 5 9 13; 3 channels in USA) is secondary.

Comment In Soviet Russia, Roskomnadzor has YOU! (Score 1) 168

Well, let us imagine for some time that we have unlimited WiFi spectrum. But let's assume that the dipole antennas give maximum 250 meters. So in order to traverse Moscow (Yes, I said Moscow!) (about 25 km in diameter according to Wikimapia) you need 100 hops which require all equipment to not only work but to be placed in good high places. The ping times also would be quite.....

You could install a 20dB dish to access a local mesh router and it would give you about 2.5 km of distance. But it does NOT solve the problem of these 100 hops.

In order to have something better you need not a mesh but a STRUCTURE of longlinks. 2 dishes could give you 25 km (really less due to obstructions and atmospheric loss). But this structure is 1) highly visible and very suspicious for Competent Organs 2) Very expensive. Basically every node should have at least 4 longlinks and a local mesh router. It's about 2 average Russian monthly incomes + installation + construction of antennas.

There ARE such networks in Athens, Barcelona and Havana since the price of Internet is quite high there. But please take in account that Athens and Barcelona are in countries with good legal systems, and in Havana the local Competent Organs are quite sober and don't object if you don't show your dislike of Castro. I prefer not to discuss USA or Russia from this aspect; it's a hint.

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