Linux-Misc Digest #730, Volume #20 Mon, 21 Jun 99 20:13:11 EDT
Contents:
What if MicroTheft made Microwave oven software instead of buggy PC OS's? ("Free
Prettier Web Email")
Re: Lost disk space! (Wierd!) (Paul Kimoto)
Re: Run in background (ellis)
Re: Could Microsoft Cheat On The New Mindcraft Benchmark? (was: Mindcraft Retest
News (Philip Brown)
Re: Shared libraries: DLL hell for Linux (Philip Brown)
Re: The best IRC and ICQ applications for Linux? (Steve Lamb)
Re: What if MicroTheft made Microwave oven software instead of buggy PC OS's?
(Philip Brown)
LINUX Version Compatibililty (Brian M. Begg)
Re: Linux uid limits! (bill davidsen)
Re: The best IRC and ICQ applications for Linux? (Stewart Honsberger)
Re: Linux uid limits! (bill davidsen)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Free Prettier Web Email" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: What if MicroTheft made Microwave oven software instead of buggy PC OS's?
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 06:44:58 GMT
I hope this satire makes you laugh and lightens your load a bit.... it did
for me... I was just the initial author of the concept... please help with
it if you can...
After 15 years of watching MicroSoft (pronounced: MicroTheft) abuse the
world with its buggy rip-offs of other people's and organization's good
(better) technology, I finally took the time to vent these frustrations in
the most politcally correct way - a satire. Below is just a rough draft of
the concept, but I was wanting to compile more thoughts of others into this
satire and then publically display a really truthful and entertaining satire
in an effort to restore the balance of good and evil in the universe. How
would Microwave ovens be different if MicroSoft owned the monopoly on the
software that operates them? My satire tries to expose the horrendous flaws
of the most influential company on the face of our planet imposes on us in
our daily, already too busy, lives. If you like what I wrote below, please
write me at my next generation E-mail website, mail.PrettyText.com - where
you can get E-mail that is now way better than Hotmail - and soon to get
better and better. My address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] PrettyText is and
will be the neatest/coolest E-mail site on the planet - and all of it has
nothing to do with MicroSoft at all! It will even have stationary this
month. Linux and my stuff are the two coolest things I know of happening.
My suggestion is to install Linux, getting a PrettyText Web e-mail account,
and also check out Link To It! ( www.LinkToIt.com ) for some cool
surfing... Looking forward to your help with the final satire! I think
this would be a great story to tell the children who didn't live through
this Pirate's incarnation.
"What if Microsoft made the software that controls most everyone's Microwave
oven?"
Actually I was musing "What if MicroSoft instead had the monopoly on
'Microwave' software?" as a comedic satire. Microsoft could have just
targetted the embedded microwave control software market instead of the
larger desktop PC market - a more forbidding challenge in the mind of Bill
Gates back then I am sure... It could have happened!
{from this point in time a blurry / watery / dreamy fade-in forward to the
year 1995 from nearly simultaneous invention of the Microwave oven and the
first PCs in 1977.}
Microwaves sold in 1995 have now proven capable of only getting the food
half cooked, torched on one side, frozen on the other - requiring re-spins
every minute or less. The door still jams lock stuck shut unexpectedly on
each of us quite often leaving each of us just with the knowledge that our
food is inside, hungry for it more with each passing second - and the
display message reads "The door is jammed." - with an big annoying [OK]
button blinking yet serving no purpose to remedy the situation; each
machine, each essential and an integrated part of our own individual
universe possesses a "Just deal with it!" kind of robot personality back to
us. All microwaves now of course still need 10 minutes
to warm up every time we want to quickly cook something and between new
installations of different food items also - yet simply the Microwave is
still obviously faster than the conventional stove method however - to the
recognized applaudations of Bill Gate's genious technology and "ability to
innovate" by the public at large. If you have bought latest model however,
you may desire to try out the new MicroSoft integrated feature - whereby the
Microwave will try to automatically detect if you have beef of chicken in
there, or green beans or carrots - but the downside is that half the time it
won't detect anything at all and will refuse to cook your meal ... ad
infinitum. MicroSoft's Slogan - "What do you want to cook today?"
When a person intends to accomplish the task of cooking the Thanksgiving
turkey every year - the Mirco'Slave' invidual still has to visit the turkey
every 30 minutes or so and press "Next" for it to continue the cooking
process - you simply can't leave it cook to completion by itself. Each
different cut of beef, turkey, or chicken also needs to be sold with a
separate and unique driver for it on floppy disk wrapped in there with the
meat, and buckets of disks for the taking at the produce stand would need to
be provided for each different type of vegetable you may wish to cook up
later on in the evening. This would be common knowledge and generally
accepted practice. Of course, during this time up until now - only 50% of
the populous would consider purchasing and using a Microwave due to the
complexities of using one involved.
The big improvement of 1995 since it's introduction in 1977 was of course
that different kinds of food could be cooked together at the same time for
the first time. But most Microwaves over time would forever go through a
succession of software upgrades, each promising fully cooked food, less
lock outs, and a faster warm up - each stretches of the truth of course. And
worse yet - still with the same old problem with each door jamming episode -
one needs to restart their Microwave and wait for it to warm up again,
overdrafting hopes hinged on prayers that the door will eventually become
unlocked - all before that person could ever really hope to get a hold of
their plate again. Yet the sick entire effect lives on - of the whole
process that is - that people still become gratified when they
finally get their food - no matter how hard it was to get along the way....
and with nobody complaining about this to this day too much, the saga
continues... that is until Linux Brand Microwave control software starts
being developed in the underground and distributed at first to the cogni
gente of society in 1999... at least the people who care about not sharing
what they ate for lunch that day with the world of Bill Gates.
Interestingly, the world soon after still continues to witness the economy
still growing despite the top analysts projections of an anticipated mild
recession... People feel more free, as if God has granted them each more
more time for their day, especially during their lunches! People spend more
time loving each other, each feeling the shedding of disgruntled vibrations,
one by one, person by person, day by day - A happier world evolves. Linux
Microwave software is eagerly developed, distributed at cost, replaced
everywhere, and the Microwave sector suddenly expands rapidly; World tension
soon subsides more than ever before bringing the start a 1000 year peace
onto the map of our planet's history. Yet... after seemingly lasting
eternal peace with a few exeptions... the world finally comes to end in the
year 3794 (note: just as Michelle Nostradomous predicted in 1492) when the
whole world gets nuked accidentally after a computer virus infiltrates the
world's stockpiles set aside for interplanetary defense initiating a
completely unexpected simultaneous orchestra of worldwide atomic
detonations. The last few barely living survivers, including Cher after her
endless run of cosmetic surgeries and makeovers, and a few cockroaches
discover the achilles heal that destroyed the world - a code module written
in the Earth defense network by a 150 generation past decendent of Bill
Gates: William Henry Gates CLIII .
- The End.
Original letter motivated the above children's story...
Hey... thanks for the suggestion... I can tell you are cool. I mean... I
can tell you know some stuff. I used to be a jedi rebel, but I freelance to
the best technology these days. The Amiga, the first Multi-Media home
system '85, was where it was at - and is still is is many regards. I grew
up with spectacular technology for its time - all through college riding my
trusty 7 Mhz A500 workhorse in 1994, and still the philosphy of what has
happened rides strong in my blood.
I plan to install Red Hat Linux 5.2 with Netscape Monday on on eof my
servers and get Link To It! very very sweet for all major browsers - the
HTML will be replaced by 90% Javascript. I very much dislike the very buggy
and time (and CPU) consuming Windows OS and related materials. I spend most
of my time fiddling with Windows re-installs, waiting... salvaging data,
waiting... re-configuring, and achieving network stability - much more than
I do applying myself productively - writing code - which I love to do.
Hopefully I can iron out all these major faults in windows by finding ways
around this mechanism of continuous unstability they bubblegummed together
and painted the name "Windows" on. When I think of Windows, the os, as real
being windows on houses and buildings, I see them falling off and crashing
down, cracking in light breezes, people getting hurt, etc... all blame
seemingly being blamed on the silicon used to make the glass - the perfect
scapegoat! I see new competing silicon technologys being developed in hopes
of improvement - all promising to make better Windows - but to no avail in
the end.
Actually I was musing "What if MicroSoft instead had the monopoly on
'Microwave' software?" as
a comedic satire. Microsoft could have just targetted the embedded
microwave control software market instead of the larger desktop PC market -
a more forbidding challenge in the mind of Bill Gates back then I am
sure... It could have happened!
{from this point in time a blurry / watery / dreamy fade-in forward to the
year 1995 from nearly simultaneous invention of the Microwave oven and the
first PCs in 1977.}
Microwaves sold in 1995 have now proven capable of only getting the food
half cooked, torched on one side, frozen on the other - requiring manual
re-spins every minute or so. The door still jams lock stuck shut
unexpectedly on each of us quite often leaving each of us just with the
knowledge that our food is inside, hungry for it more with each passing
second - and the display message reads "The door is jammed." - with an big
annoying [OK] button blinking yet serving no purpose to remedy the
situation; each machine, each essential and an integrated part of our own
individual universe possesses a "Just deal with it!" kind of robot
personality back to us. All microwaves now of course still need 10 minutes
to warm up every time we want to quickly cook something up and between new
installations of different food items also - yet simply the Microwave is
still obviously faster than the conventional stove method however - to the
recognized appluadations of Bill Gate's genious technology and "ability to
innovate". If you have bought latest model however, you may desire to try
out the new MicroSoft integrated feature - whereby the Microwave will try to
automatically detect if you have beef of chicken in there, or green beans or
carrots - but the downside is that half the time it won't detect anything at
all and will refuse to cook your meal ... ad infinitum. MicroSoft's Slogan -
"What do you want to cook today?"
When a person intends to accomplish the task of cooking the Thanksgiving
turkey every year - the Mirco'Slave' invidual still has to visit the turkey
every 30 minutes or so and press "Next" for it to continue the cooking
process - you simply can't leave it cook to completion by itself. Each
different cut of beef, turkey, or chicken also needs to be sold with a
driver for it on floppy disk wrapped in there with the meat, and buckets of
disks for the taking at the produce stand would need to be provided for each
different type of vegetable you may wish to cook up later on in the evening.
This would be common knowledge and generally accepted practice. Of course,
during this time up until now - only 50% of the populous would consider
purchasing and using a Microwave due to the complexities involved.
The big improvement of 1995 since it's introduction in 1977 was of course
that different kinds of food could be cooked together at the same time for
the first time. But most Microwaves over time would forever go through a
succession of software upgrades, each promising fully cooked food, less
lock outs, and a faster warm up - each stretches of the truth of course.
And worse yet - still with the same old problem with each door jamming
episode - one needs to restart their Microwave and wait for it to warm up
again, overdrafting hopes hinged on prayers that the door will eventually
become unlocked - all before that person could ever really hope to get a
hold of their plate again. Yet the sick entire effect lives on - of the
whole process that is - that people still become gratified when they
finally get their food - no matter how hard it was to get along the way....
and with nobody complaining about this to this day too much, the saga
continues... that is until Linux Brand Microwave control software starts
being developed in the underground and distributed at first to the cogni
gente of society in 1999... at least the people who care about not sharing
what they ate for lunch that day with the world of Bill Gates.
Interestingly, the world soon after still continues to witness the economy
still growing despite the top analysts projections of an antipated mild
recession... People feel more free, as if God has granted them each more
more time for their day, especially during their lunches. People spend more
time loving each other, each feeling the shedding of disgruntled vibrations,
one by one, person by person, day by day - A happier world evolves. Linux
Microwave software is eagerly developed, distributed at cost, replaced
everywhere, and the Microwave sector suddenly expands rapidly; World tension
soon subsides more than ever before bringing the start a 1000 year peace
onto the map of our planet's history. Yet... after seemingly lasting
eternal peace with a few exeptions... the world finally comes to end in the
year 3794 (note: just as Michelle Nostradomous predicted in 1492) when the
whole world gets nuked accidentally after a computer virus infiltrates the
world's stockpiles set aside for interplanetary defense initiating a
completely unexpected simultaneous orchestra of worldwide atomic
detonations. The last few barely living survivers, including Cher after her
endless run of cosmetic surgeries and makeovers, and a few cockroaches
discover the achilles heal that destroyed the world - a code module written
in the Earth defense network by a 150 generation past decendent of Bill
Gates: William Henry Gates CLIII .
And for the sake of your concern, I just wondered what the purpose of this
current Netscrape vs. Internet Exploiter war is - what is this Hatfield and
McCoy situation all about anyways...
Netscape doesn't make a dime off people who use the browser and never paid
for it - which is most everybody. With plateued and falling revenues
expected, they will likely sell out to MicroSoft - being responsibile to
their investors - and Marc Andreesson will fly off to Europe at the age of
thirty barely a billionaire. Upon this News, Netscape Calls should be a good
bet - as MicroSoft will buy out Netscape for a premium. Maybe my friend
Dave Haynie on this list can comment and add his opinion. I will publically
protest this nonetheless, encouraging the government to invest in the
private technology sector and to always retain the ability to keep Microsoft
in check.
The community will produce browsers, so there is no fear there. Java will
continue to lead the way - MicroSoft or No Microsoft. My business plan is
to compete with MicroTheft head on in Cyberspace - as I am going to start
programming www.FreeWord.com more and more this upcoming week.
I'll try and reach you over the phone about our deal soon - feel free to
call.
Thanks,
Eric ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
www.LinkToIt.com
Get Free mail.PrettyText.com web mail here - a giant leap above the rest.
Very fast, and
constantly evolving with new features. Get rid of forwarding carets with one
buttonclick!
Reverse your text so it reads right to left! Etc... more to come... all the
time... always to be cooler
than any competition!
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Kimoto)
Subject: Re: Lost disk space! (Wierd!)
Date: 21 Jun 1999 02:57:48 -0500
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ryan T. Rhea wrote:
> Filesystem 1024-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
> /dev/hda6 446868 421366 2421 99% /
> /dev/hda4 118965 21885 90932 19% /extra
> /dev/hda6 doesn't look so good! The amounts of space used and available
> don't exactly add up.
They do after you take into account the 5% reserved for root's use
(in case of problems).
--
Paul Kimoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (ellis)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: Run in background
Date: 21 Jun 1999 22:07:16 GMT
In article <7km7ds$nm3$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
vineet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>How do I make my C program to run in background after getting initialised.
>I mean that the program should detach from the terminal and should run in
>background like a daemon.
Take a look at the source for any daemon that forks itself into
the background. There's lots of examples around.
--
http://www.fnet.net/~ellis/photo/
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Philip Brown)
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix
Subject: Re: Could Microsoft Cheat On The New Mindcraft Benchmark? (was: Mindcraft
Retest News
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 21 Jun 1999 21:29:31 GMT
On Sat, 19 Jun 1999 13:22:10 +1200, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>...
>Neither do MS apps. Outlook prompts to run or save when you double click on
>it.
and there's a little box to uncheck, "show this window again?"
I wonder what percentage of MS users ever see that window again.
--
[Trim the no-bots from my address to reply to me by email!]
[ Do NOT email-CC me on posts. Pick one or the other.]
--------------------------------------------------
The word of the day is mispergitude
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Philip Brown)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: Re: Shared libraries: DLL hell for Linux
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 21 Jun 1999 23:29:18 GMT
On Wed, 16 Jun 1999 13:50:23 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>...
>Perhaps somebody could point me to a howto or primer on shared
>libraries under Linux. Looking under /usr/lib, I see (for example), a
>libglib.so.1.0.4, a libglib.so.1.0.6, and a link to
>libglib.so. Obviously, there can only be one libglib.so, so is there a
>purpose to having multiple versions of the library around?
actually, youare mistaken. It is quite possible, and in fact beneficial, to
have multiple versions of libraries.
However, if the maintainers of libglib had their act together, it should only
be neccessary to have ONE library of version V.VV.X
Or if they are really good, only one version for V.X
in other words, in theory, if you have version 1.0.6, you don't need version
1.0.4
But if you also had version 2.something, it would be advisable to also keep
around some 1.something version.
>vendor sending binary distributions to customers. A vendor may not be
>able to ask customers to all upgrade their Linux distributions in
>lockstep. Yet, that vendor may be developing on a relatively
>up-to-date set of libraries. Does the only viable solution consist of
>shipping statically linked executables?
If you rely on professionaly maintained libraries, it should be sufficient
to request "version X.Y of library ZZZ, or greater numbers of Y"
--
[Trim the no-bots from my address to reply to me by email!]
[ Do NOT email-CC me on posts. Pick one or the other.]
--------------------------------------------------
The word of the day is mispergitude
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Steve Lamb)
Subject: Re: The best IRC and ICQ applications for Linux?
Date: 21 Jun 1999 22:46:09 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Mon, 21 Jun 1999 22:36:07 GMT, Stewart Honsberger
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>So what do you use instead? The only other viable one I've found is IRCII,
>but "/window next" to switch windows gets annoying when on two active
>channels.
So, script it. I used to use PhOeNiX and DJiNN when I used IRCII and
never had to completely spell out "/window next"
>I don't disagree. It's just less supported, you don't get the source, it's
>a pig (Java, by nature, is a pig), and compared to LICQ, it's (IMHO) crap.
Licq uses QT, doesn't it? I'd rather have something that uses GTK.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
===============================+=============================================
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Philip Brown)
Subject: Re: What if MicroTheft made Microwave oven software instead of buggy PC OS's?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 21 Jun 1999 23:37:06 GMT
On Mon, 21 Jun 1999 06:44:58 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>...
>I plan to install Red Hat Linux 5.2 with Netscape Monday on on eof my
>servers and get Link To It! very very sweet for all major browsers - the
>HTML will be replaced by 90% Javascript.
WTF?? What relavance does replacing M$ with linux, have to do with the
enourmous backwards-step of using javascript?!
Javascript is EVIL. do NOT use it.
--
[Trim the no-bots from my address to reply to me by email!]
[ Do NOT email-CC me on posts. Pick one or the other.]
--------------------------------------------------
The word of the day is mispergitude
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian M. Begg)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.questions,comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject: LINUX Version Compatibililty
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 22:18:20 GMT
June 21, 1999
Hi All:
I have LINUX 6.0, and I want to upload CGI
applications that I have compiled under this
LINUX 6.0 operating system.
QUESTION: Does the web-server (at my
web-host location) have to be running under
the same LINUX 6.0 operating system, or can
the web-server run on an older version? Can
the web-server run on UNIX?
If you could help me understand this, I would
greatly appreciate this assistance.
Regards,
Brian Begg -----> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
P.S. don't hesitate to e-mail me if you wish.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (bill davidsen)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Linux uid limits!
Date: 21 Jun 1999 21:35:35 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
James Hewitt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
| Okay, what is the "correct" way to specify an integer of a specific
| size so that code can be cross-platform? If there isn't an ANSI
| standard, is there at least a convention for Linux?
There is no standard way to limit size, X3J11 only promised minimum
size. You can use bitfields, but I believe they are limited in size to
sizeof(int) if you want to be totally portable.
When I left GE I package all my X3J11 notes and never unpacked them,
someone else will have to look up the wording.
--
bill davidsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> CTO, TMR Associates, Inc
The Internet is not the fountain of youth, but some days it feels like
the fountain of immaturity.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stewart Honsberger)
Subject: Re: The best IRC and ICQ applications for Linux?
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 22:36:07 GMT
On Mon, 21 Jun 1999 19:44:25 GMT, Glen Batchelor wrote:
>>IRC - BitchX (http://bitchx.org)
>
> I tried BitchX for a while but got tired of it.
So what do you use instead? The only other viable one I've found is IRCII,
but "/window next" to switch windows gets annoying when on two active
channels.
>>ICQ - Licq (http://licq.wibble.net)
>
> I downloaded the Java version of ICQ from their website. Works fine.
I don't disagree. It's just less supported, you don't get the source, it's
a pig (Java, by nature, is a pig), and compared to LICQ, it's (IMHO) crap.
--
Stewart Honsberger (AKA Blackdeath) @ http://sprk.com/blackdeath/
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Remove 'thirteen' to reply privately)
Humming along under SuSE Linux 6.0 / OS/2 Warp 4
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (bill davidsen)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Linux uid limits!
Date: 21 Jun 1999 21:39:39 GMT
In article <7kdvqt$r3o$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Villy Kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
| But with millions of users the plain password file would be very slow for
| the sequenctial searches, and a more appropriate db style password file
| would be needed. With a new pam module that shouldn't be too difficult.
Maybe. I'll pass on that, I'm not sure it would apply at login.
| There is or used to be an upper limit on the user id that was much
| lower than 65535. If that still is the case I'm not sure. However,
| I've seen problems with cpio or tar if a user id doesn't fit within a
| 16 bit integer; that was on an aix system with a user nobody user id -2
| equal to 0xfffffffe.
You are probably thinking of inode numbers. Some versions of tar (ie.
old formats) support only 16 bits. The most common cpio format also has
that limitation, although the ANSI form has 32 bits, and the "crc"
format does as well. I usually use that one, so I can be sure which
files are bad, if any.
--
bill davidsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> CTO, TMR Associates, Inc
The Internet is not the fountain of youth, but some days it feels like
the fountain of immaturity.
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
