[slackline]

There in lies the crux, most are under the illusion that they are secure under M$ when in fact by default they aren't.

Unfortunately I've only one friend who I drink with who's also into Linux (although thankfully I've not alienated those who aren't into IT....yet!).  I have converted my wife and my neighbours (although neither get excited by it) and a guy I share my new office with is as unimpressed with M$ as I, but is a Mac fan (but hey, thats just a *NIX variant under the hood since OSX is based on BSD  ), but I have introduced him to LaTeX as a sensible alternative to Office software in the two weeks I've been there  , and he may well be trying out Linux again in the near future (having used it during his degree though).

[Jaspersharpe]

You sound like a crack dealer slackers.

[slackline]

You sound like a crack dealer slackers.

It is rather addictive moreish 

EDIT : To put in irreverent Peep Show reference

[tomtom]

You sound like a crack dealer slackers.

It is rather addictive 

Crystal Meth I recon.... 

Its a slippery slope.. next you'll be pimpin Ubuntu outside schools...

[cofe]

Its a slippery slope.. next you'll be pimpin Ubuntu outside schools...

i bet he'll still have to cut it with talc, or Lotus Smartsuite...

[BB]

but it's free and secure!   

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/03/karmic_koala_frustration/

[slackline]

but it's free and secure!   

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/03/karmic_koala_frustration/

Its as secure as anything else, if you leave holes in it then you'll be exploited.  The beauty is that by default there is no user with global access to everything as there used to be under other OS's.

Its a common misconception that new releases should work perfectly, thats never the case, with M$, GNU/Linux distros or any other piece of software (proprietary or FOSS).  Software is always under development (look at various threads about the latest photoshop/lightroom/whatever) and its not down to the hackers/coders fault, but to the users whose perception is wrong.  I'd be a bit miffed if I had problems with something I'd paid for, but if I've paid nothing for it then I can choose appropriate remuneration based on how good I think the product is and not feel cheated.

The above stated problems are only really associated with binary distros though where you jump versions of packages to a new standard.  Never have that problem with my source based distro, which just updates each installed package to the latest available in the package management tree (usually soon after its been stabilised by upstream, and often unstable versions are available for testing too).

[slackline]

My Word!


 

[lagerstarfish]

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH


My XP driven laptop (only computer) will not cooperate with any external devices - either through the USB ports, Firewire or any PCI card adapter. It pretends that it can't find the drivers. Have uninstalled and reinstalled SP3, but no joy.

internet searches reveal that this happens for all sorts of reasons

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

 Arse.

Bill Gates is coming round after he's been to the pub. If he can't sort it out I'm going to kick him in the nuts (again)

[Jim]

what external drives are they and what are they formatted with?
My experience of xp is that if it needs drivers it will download them for you and only work after a reboot

[lagerstarfish]

cameras, powered drive, usb powered drive, graphics tablet, usb stick, card reader, video camera - started off by new stuff not working, now even stuff that used to work seems to be driverless.

working my way through google, but am thinking that I may need to reinstall XP

[Tris]

Sounds buggered to me, I would boot off a linux live cd (say Ubuntu) and see if you can see external usb devices then. At least you will narrow it down to being a hardware or software issue. Linux live cd's allow you to boot into linux without installing anything so your xp installation will remain untouched.

Here is a guide which you can follow if you are unsure what to do (it is for getting files off an old computer but the first steps will be the same for you):

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

[Jim]

A reinstall should fix it fine, thought thats what you'd done, but you meant just the service pack

[lagerstarfish]

Tried the Umbongo disc and found my hardware to be fine. Cheers for the reminder Tris 

Have reset my laptop to it's factory condition and it's all going fine. Just need to reinstall software 

My first foray into the world of The Penguin was quite pleasant.

[Tris]

No probs - hope the re-install goes well.

A penguin permanently in your machine could cause issues though 

[slackline]

Glad you liked the penguin lagers   Next step dual boot?

I love the irony of people using Live Linux CD's to check/rescue/repair their M$ installs.

Surely M$ are missing a trick here and could develop and sell such an item to the masses, oh but wait, why pay for such a thing when you have one freely available 

[Tris]

Surely M$ are missing a trick here and could develop and sell such an item to the masses, oh but wait, why pay for such a thing when you have one freely available 

They do, it's called WinPE...and it's free

[slackline]

Surely M$ are missing a trick here and could develop and sell such an item to the masses, oh but wait, why pay for such a thing when you have one freely available 

They do, it's called WinPE...and it's free

Neat, never come across that (not that I've ever looked or would use it when there are Linux LiveCD's that I'm far more au fait with).

Surprised more people don't know about it (or recommend it).

[Tris]

Usually it makes sense to use a different OS live CD to check for problems on a machine, so you can overcome possible Windows software issues as I said to lagers above.

Maybe you could use a WinPE cd when you have issues with Linux? 

[slackline]

Usually it makes sense to use a different OS live CD to check for problems on a machine, so you can overcome possible Windows software issues as I said to lagers above.

Maybe you could use a WinPE cd when you have issues with Linux? 

Nah, I'd just use OpenSolaris or a BSD variant (or a different distro's live CD/different version of a LiveCD, but its not really an issue with Gentoo since "releases" don't exist at all).

[slackline]

Anyone using a 32-bit version of windows is vulnerable to a security attack (proof of concept has been shown to work on XP, Vista, Server 2003/2008 and Win7).

[tomtom]

OK. Before I ask the question I am going to say that I know that none of this would probably happen if I had installed Linux instead of M$ Windows7... but...

WHAT THE FUCK ARE SYSTEM IDLE PROCESSES???? EH? just what the fuck are they Bill? tosser.

I've a nice new machine, and it crashed for the first time last night (blue screen after a freeze) and now when I re-boot the HDD churns for about 1-5min (only when all the screens come up after booting) which when I investigate further turns out to be these mysterious system idle processes. I've had them before on other machines and am in the dark about them. So...
1. What the fuck are they...?
2. Why have they suddenly started on my machine....?

Grr... 

[Tris]

It's a sort of a fake process designed to show you how idle your system is - simple really

99% = 99% idle (i.e. not doing much)

[Tris]

2. Why have they suddenly started on my machine....?

Also - they have been present on Windows machines since Win 2000. I doubt very much they have just suddenly just started, unless you have just upgraded from Windows 95/98 

[tomtom]

2. Why have they suddenly started on my machine....?

Also - they have been present on Windows machines since Win 2000. I doubt very much they have just suddenly just started, unless you have just upgraded from Windows 95/98 

Yup - I've seen them around for ages, but on my new laptop they have just started immediately after booting - and this only happened after that crash. I would like to know what they are and how I can stop them!
I wouldnt mind, but they do actually chew up a fair chunk of resource and slow the machine down... grr.. (again!)

On happier matters you any plans to head out climbing sometime Tris? might be heading to the Stockport wall in the next few days..