On 10/10/2011 2:55, Invisible wrote:
>>>> Microsoft never did, that was an Amiga error code.
>>>
>>> I know. And I always thought it was a really weird name...
>>
>> So did I. For that matter, I still do. :)
>
> Also, it contains far less information than a STOP message does. Basically
> an error code (plus textual translation) and a memory address. Good luck
> working out, say, what was *at* that address or anything...

That's why the power light flashes 3 times before the message comes up. 
That's you're cue to hit DEL on the serial terminal plugged in to the back 
to launch the kernel debugger.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

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On 10/9/2011 21:43, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I didn't catch that assertion. OK. It's fairly unique in being a
>> standard searchable format with an API, but not in that it stores binary
>> data.
>
> grep -ri text /etc/*
>
> Works pretty well for being a standard searchable format on Linux. ;)

Without an API. Or transactions. And there's really no standard searchable 
format there besides "a text file". Tell me what standard Linux tool will 
give you a list of all the Document roots that Apache is serving.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

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On 10/10/2011 3:04, Invisible wrote:
> On 07/10/2011 11:53 PM, Darren New wrote:
>> On 10/7/2011 15:04, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> No - that's just poor program design. Everybody has that... ;-)
>>
>> Actually, I think it stems from programmers targeting in-house experts.
>
> Targeting a program at somebody other than who your eventual users are going
> to be? Yes, that would be... "poor design". :-)

Having the eventual users completely change after you've finished writing 
the code due to events completely outside the realm of said code? No, not 
really poor design.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

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On 10/10/2011 3:11, Invisible wrote:
> RC4? Man, how ancient is that? You realise it was a weakness in RC4 that
> allowed WEP to be broken, right?

No. It was sending the key with each packet of data that allowed WEP to be 
broken. A stream cipher is a terrible tool to encrypt a packet-switched network.

> (Sadly, on further investigation, it appears that TLS 1 still uses RC4 or
> Triple-DES. So much for HTTPS being secure...)

RC4 hasn't been broken if you don't restart the stream for every packet.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

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On 10/10/2011 3:15, Invisible wrote:
> Have you ever tried explaining all that over the phone to somebody who can't
> even work a mouse properly yet?

Yep.


> Of course, you would also need to poke a hole in the firewall for that to
> work.

No you don't.

> And make sure I edit whatever settings it is necessary to turn on
> encryption.

It's encrypted by default.

> And add a secure password. (The current admin password on the
> machine is trivially breakable.)

That's kind of stupid. You'd be better off with no admin password at all.

> ...or I could set up a *real* VPN, which is *actually* secure...

What's insecure about RDP, other than you don't actually believe it's 
encrypted and/or you don't understand encryption?

(*I* know the ways in which it's insecure, but I suspect you don't, which 
means setting up your own VPN is unlikely to be more secure. ;-)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   How come I never get only one kudo?

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On 10/10/2011 05:56 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 10/10/2011 2:52, Invisible wrote:
>> My favourite one is how inserting a CD is enough to completely lock up
>> the
>> entire Windows GUI. Or how if your DHCP server doesn't answer, Windows
>> locks
>> up until that times out. Or...
>
> Neither of these statements is true. Not sure what you're smoking there.
> :-)

Sure. I mean, I've been seeing this behaviour on a daily basis for over 
ten years now. Obviously I'm mistaken.

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On 10/10/2011 05:57 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 10/10/2011 2:46, Invisible wrote:
>> In my humble opinion, if you need to *search* for a file on your local
>> system, you're doing something horribly wrong...
>
> Or you do real work with it. Or you're sitting at someone else's
> computer. Or you collaborate with other people.

How about, I don't know, organising stuff in a logical and consistent 
manner? You know, like how people do stuff in the physical world...

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>> Also, it contains far less information than a STOP message does.
>> Basically
>> an error code (plus textual translation) and a memory address. Good luck
>> working out, say, what was *at* that address or anything...
>
> That's why the power light flashes 3 times before the message comes up.
> That's you're cue to hit DEL on the serial terminal plugged in to the
> back to launch the kernel debugger.

Uh, what's a serial terminal? Also, what's a kernel debugger?

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>> Targeting a program at somebody other than who your eventual users are
>> going to be? Yes, that would be... "poor design". :-)
>
> Having the eventual users completely change after you've finished
> writing the code due to events completely outside the realm of said
> code? No, not really poor design.

Then perhaps that should be "poor management".

You don't design a defibrillator to be operated by medical experts, and 
then start telling them to the general public. If you want the public to 
have them, you carefully design them to be operated by untrained people. 
It's called "designing the product for the target audience". You don't 
just take a product that you already have lying around and try to sell 
it to a completely different audience...

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On 10/10/2011 06:04 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 10/10/2011 3:11, Invisible wrote:
>> RC4? Man, how ancient is that? You realise it was a weakness in RC4 that
>> allowed WEP to be broken, right?
>
> No. It was sending the key with each packet of data that allowed WEP to
> be broken.

Technically, it was
1. Restarting the keystream for each packet.
2. Using related keys for each packet.

> A stream cipher is a terrible tool to encrypt a packet-switched network.

Probably. (Personally, I don't like stream ciphers, but anyway...)

>> (Sadly, on further investigation, it appears that TLS 1 still uses RC4 or
>> Triple-DES. So much for HTTPS being secure...)
>
> RC4 hasn't been broken if you don't restart the stream for every packet.

RC4 has weaknesses concerning related keys. Also, the first few KB of 
the keystream is quite weak. Also, the keystream has certain statistical 
weaknesses. Also...

Wikipedia says something about AES being supported in TLS. But not the 
version(s) that everybody actually uses, by the looks of it.

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