waider: (Default)
So there's a Windows box here on my desk to allow me to interact with Lotus Notes without killing someone (actually, it's supposed to be a dev platform for some project but that project got cancelled) and I decided I'd install some updates on it. From WindowsUpdate.com. In the optional section, there's the .NET runtime, so I figured I'd fling that on it. Fine, download, reboot, etc. Then I go back to WindowsUpdate out of curiosity and discover that it's now saying I need a critical patch (which it hadn't mentioned before). Turns out this is a critical patch for the .NET runtime I've just installed. Why, pray tell, can they not either update the base download, or include the patch as a non-mandatory dependency when you install the base?
waider: (Default)
my laptop spent most of this evening in Windows land, partly so that I could update the virus scanner that lives there and partly for some other reason that escapes me. While I was there I played with Firefox and Thunderbird for a bit and installed some extensions to the former. Things that I am noticing as a result of this toolery:
  • Thunderbird's RSS reader is pretty damned rough. You can't seem to drag and drop RSS URLs into it or do something like thunderbird <url to rss file>
  • Thunderbird needs at least two more display layouts: folder list + message list, and message list. I don't care if this is a "if you want Outlook/Evolution you know where to get them" statement.
  • Firebird extensions: good. Restarting to activate them: bad. Inconsistently placed configuration screens: very bad.
  • Deepest Sender is nice, but missed the one basic thing I thought was totally the point of browser-embedded web log clients: writing an entry based around the current page. Like, BLOG THIS ALREADY or something.
  • The del.icio.us plugin was okayish but needs to be two-way, i.e. rather than just grabbing my stuff off del.icio.us, it should be possible for me to locally frob the del.icio.us folder and have the results mirrored on the site.
  • WeatherFox (check the firefox extensions site as I couldn't be bothered digging up the URL again) is neat.
And that is all.
waider: (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] jwz asks for some help with video-on-linux, redux. The reason I am linking this is because this has to be some sort of record: it was posted at 11:35pm PDT which is, like, HOURS ago and there's not a single followup. Possibly because there's a threat therein to ban people who just post ME TOO crap or I USE THE FROBNITZ WURLBOTZ 2.X AND IT ALMOST WORKS ON TUESDAYS.

Since I don't have anything useful to contribute over there, I will mention that (a) you can watch WMVs with marginal success by using CodeWeavers' CrossOver Plugin and Windows Media Player, but I suspect that would invoke the "I'd rather eat glass" reaction, and (b) I'm pretty damned sure that MPlayer used work with .wmv files, since I've got a few of them scattered around. But no, I tried looking at one and it crapped out, so either I watched them with some other Damned Thing or the MPlayer guys broke their code.
waider: (Default)
So I am attending the Novell Brainshare conference in Barcelona next week. After some poking around I found the website (which at the time I found it was still referring to BrainShare 2003, even though the dates were all in 2004). It invited me to register, which required, among other things, the mandatory provision of a company fax number (sorry, we seem to have left our fax in, uh, 1984) and way too much demographic information. Sigh. I forged ahead.

dear lord, the man's STILL whining )
waider: (Default)
I have no joke here, I just like saying, "warning: tragic and traumatic. Windows Media."

disksizing

Apr. 22nd, 2004 05:30 pm
waider: (Default)
The release I'm burning right now has grown to 270-odd MB. That includes graphicics for all the possible products, plus some AVI animation, plus a complete Linux install, plus the application I wrote, plus, oh, stuff and things and wibbly bits.

It's still a disk and a half smaller than the corresponding Windows-based product, in no small part because Windows takes up a CD by itself and the graphics for the Windows product appear to be uncompressed BMPs (mine are the same files converted to PNG).
waider: (Default)
There's an article over at Infoweek (referenced by Dan Gillmor, in turn referenced by Karlin Lillington, which is how I stumbled across it) about how Fred Langa tried to install Linux on new (but unnamed) hardware and couldn't get the sound working. Fair enough; sound support in Linux is lamentable in places, particularly if you're trying to get real-time sound/video sync going on, but also if you've got stuff like the emu10k1-based cards that aren't documented because, you know, frobbing the speaker is a trade secret and all that. Langa then went to try a Virtual PC running on the hardware, emulating a SoundBlaster, and lo, 8 different Linux distros still refused to work the sound interface. The followups to the article appear to be the usual flood of kneejerk responses ("Infoweak", "What do you expect from a windows user" "sure, sound is broken, but have you tried running Windows$version on $esoteric_hardware" etc. etc.) but in typical Linux flamer style there's no actual thought behind the posts. Me, I had a look at the article Langa references when he mentions the Virtual PC software, and lo, it's a review of Microsoft's Virtual PC. Now, why on earth would a bog-standard SoundBlaster interface fail to work under Linux? Could it perhaps be because Someone Doesn't Want It To Work? (mutter mutter where's me tinfoil hat mutter mutter millennium hand and shrimp I telled 'em)
waider: (Default)
Now this isn't from an official source or anything, but while trying to sort out a problem on Mom's computer I found this piece on APM/ACPI support in Windows 2000:
An installation gotcha!: APM support must be enabled in the BIOS when Windows 2000 is installed. A non-ACPI system that has APM disabled in the BIOS will not have power-management capabilities installed under Windows 2000. Guess what. To get APM support, you have to reinstall W2K with APM support enabled in the BIOS.
I'm not in any ivory tower on Linux, because the ACPI support is so gacky I can't run it on any of my hardware (they've taken the Opera line on standards, i.e. if your BIOS doesn't work with our ACPI it's because your ACPI doesn't follow the standards which, well, doesn't work in the real world) but still. An entire OS reinstall just to switch on APM? What?
waider: (Default)
Hackers with the code could exploit the operating system and access machines running Windows.
  • ...like everyone does with OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, MacOS X (well, the Darwin core, anyway)
  • ...which they're not able to do right now
  • ...as soon as they stop laughing

well then!

Jan. 9th, 2004 11:21 am
waider: (Default)
So, the project that I spent my first year at Doolin working on, and which has been on hiatus for a few months - migrating large chunks of a Windows network to Samba on Linux - is officially dead. The company in question is migrating everything to either 2K or 2K3 by the end of February. Not out of lack of performance or stability from the Linux end, either, but simply because (a) the company has no in-house Linux people other than the guy we've put there on long-term loan, and (b) a new director insists that Windows is the Way Of The Future.

I'm glad to see the end of the project, but sad that it happened this way.
waider: (Default)
echo "<dir>/home/waider/crossover/support/dotwine/fake_windows/Windows/Fonts</dir>" >> ~/.fonts.conf
waider: (Default)
There's this bug and there's this bug, but Microsoft have said, "no patches this month"

iCh00nz

Oct. 26th, 2003 11:59 am
waider: (Default)
I was okay with this
Important: After installing iTunes 4.1 for Windows, you'll only be able to transfer music to your iPod using iTunes. To transfer music from MusicMatch Jukebox or Audible Manager to your iPod, you'll need to first import the music into iTunes. For more information, search iTunes and Music Store Help.
since I don't have an iPod, but
The iTunes Music Store is not available in your country yet. You will be able to browse and listen to previews, but you won't be able to purchase music unless your billing address is in the United States.
is a bit more of a showstopper for now.

*blink*

Oct. 14th, 2003 12:01 pm
waider: (Default)
iTunes for Windows
waider: (Default)
Watching traffic in #samba, the Samba discussion/help channel, is kinda funny. Part of the time it's like what I imagine the mailing list bozos list might have been like, with people running in, yelling newbie questions, and then getting upset when noone replies. Part of the time it's like watching a tutorial class, where someone patiently guides the newbie through the process - usually this happens when the newbie is showing signs of having read the docs. And sometimes the newbies help each other, sort of like a bunch of kids in a playground slowly discovering the world around them.
waider: (Default)
Waider 1, Windows Networking zero.

I cannot say enough about how crappy the Windows Networking Model is. Especially when you read "hints and tips" which tell you flat out that "sometimes things disappear off the network for no good reason". And have an anonymous Microsoft engineer back them up on that. There are nice things about Windows Networking; I have yet to see as easily managed a security model (ha, yes, Microsoft and security, but no, really) with its trust relationships and domain control and the like, but the crap, especially the legacy crap that should have died in the fires of hell long ago, is just PAIN and AGONY and WRONG WRONG WRONG.

And now to bed.

straw poll

Jun. 30th, 2002 07:22 pm
waider: (Default)
I'm kinda curious how Joe Consumer reacts to what I see as a very real threat to my livelihood and lifestyle (as detailed in earlier lj entry). To that end, I've been thinking about how I'd ask someone who's not technically savvy, or more to the point, doesn't want to be technically savvy. I think the line of questioning would go along these lines, perhaps with elaboration where necessary:

Do you have a computer?

Does it run Windows?

Do you use it to access the Internet?

At this point, you'd have to start branching out a bit, I guess.

Do you use Microsoft's Windows Update feature?

Are you aware that some of Microsoft's Internet tools have errors in them that can allow other people to access your computer? (can you think of a better way of phrasing this that is not disingenuous? I'm not trying to indulge in FUD here.) Are you aware that Microsoft provides fixes for these tools via Windows Update?

Before Microsoft provides you with these updates, they ask you to agree to a license for their use. Are you aware of the contents of such licenses?

Now, you can see what I'm getting at here. I am trying to get the person on the other side of this conversation to understand that they are between a rock and a hard place: on one hand, your machine is at risk if you do not update it, and on the other hand, you're giving Microsoft certain rights to your machine if you do update it. I am trying to present this in a simple, non-biased, unquestionable fashion, such that there is no doubt about your choices.

I have an ulterior motive; I'm going to contact my local government representative, and I'd like to be prepared for the eventuality that he has no idea what I'm talking about. And more to the point, I'd like to get other people to contact their local government representatives, and I'd like them to understand what they're asking the reps and why it's important. I'm also thinking about a similar line of questioning regarding the proposed Palladium/TCPA systems.

I don't even know if clickwrap licensing is legal in this country. I don't care. Last week when I cleaned up the Klez.E infection on my parents' computer, I told them to keep it up-to-date with patches from Microsoft's site. Now I'm going to have to tell them that that may not be such a good idea any more.
waider: (Default)
I am really, REALLY getting tired of Klez.E emails. If you use Microsoft Outlook, STOP NOW. If it's your employer's mailer of choice, well, your employer is a fool. It's very nice that you can have shared calendars and yadda yadda yadda, but it's not so very nice that you are susceptible to random strangers receiving mails purportedly from you, occasionally containing potentially private documentation - and, in one mail so far, hardcore pornography.

Note, Klez.E is exploiting holes that have already been fixed. Why haven't you patched your machine? It's just a simple matter of going to that irritating Windows Update site and downloading whatever bundle of fixes Microsoft have posted there this week. There is absolutely no excuse for YOU to be sending ME a virus that for fucks' sake will not even RUN on my MACHINE.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
waider: (Default)
Just trying to resurrect my Windows partition again; I hate these reformat-to-restore CDs, and I also hate the fact that you can't add anything to Windows without risking killing the entire system. Hardly bolsters the argument that non-free software is of higher quality.

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