[Slashdot-mailer] Slashdot Daily Report (11/6/2000)
David Jacoby
jacoby@ecn.purdue.edu
Mon, 6 Nov 2000 11:00:02 -0500 (EST)
Slashdot Daily Report ( http://slashdot.org/ )
News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters.
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What's The Best Linux Distribution For Clustering?
A askslashdot article from the "the-right-distro-for-the-right-task" department
sent by Cliff
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/02/2242242
syn1 asks: "There has been a proliferation of
Linux distros over the last couple years. Many are
specialized for specific tasks or needs. In terms
of Beowulf Clusters, there are a growing number of
distros specialized for these clusters. Although
the old favorite among specialized Beowulf distros
is Extreme Linux, other distros such as Syclid
Linux and Scali Linux are catching up in terms of
user share. Additionally, more people are using
conventional distros (Red Hat, Debian, Mandrake,
SuSE, etc..) and adding Beowulf support. I am just
wondering what fellow Slashdotters think about
these various distros when it comes to Beowulf
Clusters and which ones they think are best."
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NewsForge 'Previews' GPL3
A articles article from the "not-quite-there-but-interesting" department
sent by Hemos
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/143255
Meltr writes: "NewsForge has an interesting sneak
preview of the 3rd version of the GNU Public
License. Among other things, RMS will make V3 more
business friendly and will close the ASP loophole
in V2. Check it out here." Now, take things with a
grain of salt - RMS[?] doesn't feel comfortable
calling this even a "draft" so there's much work
still to be done. But's a good article, and
interesting to see what's happening.
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Worst Band In The Universe
A books article from the "timothy-sings" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/24/1552200
For Slashdotters lucky enough to have kids, small
siblings, cousins, or the occasional need to
babysit for those who do, NVH Engr's review of
Graeme Base's Worst Band In the Universe might be
helpful. Finding kids' books interesting enough to
read out loud without destroying the reader's
brain cells is a tough job, but it sounds like it
might be just slightly easier now. [TABLE NOT
SHOWN]
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Using Linux To Get Your Dreamcast Online
A articles article from the "pretty-cool-idea" department
sent by Hemos
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/1410255
katananja writes: "This article shows how you can
connect your DC to Linux and make use of your
high-speed Internet access: 'I finally found the
combination of what works and what is needed to
properly set up Linux to act as a dial-up ppp
server and allow my DREAMCAST console to access
it. What led me to actually work on this project
was my desire to utilize my current method of
Internet access (CableModem) because I just didn't
feel like tying up my phone line every time I
wanted to use my DC on the Internet.' "
--------------------
Clinton Vetoes Classified-Leaks Bill
A yro article from the "good-on-'im" department
sent by jamie
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/1444212
Last night, I read this New York Times article
(free reg. req.) about Clinton's veto of what
would have been a new law to prevent leaks of
classified information. But I didn't understand
its significance until I read this earlier
Salon.com article by Daniel Ellsburg, who had
leaked the Pentagon Papers so that U.S. citizens
could learn how their government had lied to them
about Vietnam. "If Congress were so scrupulous
about the First Amendment, it wouldn't have passed
this law," says Ellsburg. I'm gratified to see a
politician refusing on principle to extend
government's powers. Here's the President's
statement; and here's the bill (sponsor: Rep.
Goss, R-Fla.).
--------------------
FRG on W2K: No CoS
A yro article from the "but-didn't-cruise-quit-that-outfit?" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/1335233
Anonymous Coward writes: "Germany pressured MSFT
into removing the defrag tool in Win2k because it
was developed by a software company whose CEO is a
Scientologist. They were afraid there were
security risks from using software from a
Scientologist. No joke." The outcome of this
bizarre and long-running story stemming from the
interaction of Germany, Scientology, and
programming, according to reader telstar, is that
"Microsoft has decided that they would provide
step-by-step instructions in German on how to
uninstall this utility."
--------------------
Do It Yourself Cool Cases
A articles article from the "some-are-amusing" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/1630224
wiZd0m sent us a nifty collection of cool cases.
Not for sale or anything, just user designs and
pictures. The site is kinda a mess with zillions
of these things sorta cluttered on long pages, but
some of the cases are quite clever. They range
from useless (neon lights and glass panels) to
bizarre (putting an AMD chip in a G4 case) to the
practical (blow hole fans). Tons of ideas for the
do-it-yourselfer.
--------------------
Jello Biafra's H2K Keynote
A articles article from the "up-on-the-soapbox" department
sent by michael
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/151228
Hyena writes "Jello Biafra's surprisingly
brilliant H2K address is now available online
compliments of 2600, with many more H2K panels to
follow. Expect further civil unrest in coming
years." Here's a description of the speech written
at the time. Despite being given at H2K, it isn't
technical in nature, it's primarily a reflection
of Biafra's decidedly anti-establishment views.
--------------------
Microsoft Cracked again?
A articles article from the "isn't-that-special" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/1624234
Dominic writes: "Seems microsoft have been hacked
(possibly) again, acording to infoworld." They
don't seem to have a lot of evidence, but there's
some interesting commentary related to this, and
the earlier crack where the source code to Windows
and Office was supposedly stolen (I'll believe
that when I see it).
--------------------
Quantum Security
A articles article from the "entangling-bits" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/05/1512247
Triode writes "In this months issue of Physics
Today there is a very interesting read entitled
'From Quantum Cheating to Quantum Security' which
delves into encryption. Talks about ads and disads
of popular encryption (keys, public keys, DES
etc), the size of current encryption and why it is
not (theoretically) good. Quantum computers could
make breaking our current methods of encryptoin
easy, so we need to start now with methods of
encrytption that would not be so easy. A pretty
basic example of a implementation of the B92
protocol is given using a single photon source
over a 48km optical fiber. Worth a read. Check it
out at the AIP website." This is the best
walk-through of quantum encryption I've seen, and
one of the few that points out the flaws and
unknowns which could plague a completed system in
the real world. And depressingly enough, there is
a note on the Physics Today main page which reads:
"All editorial content from the magazine is
available on the Web. In the near future,
restrictions will apply." As a selfish site
junkie, I hope this only means NYT-style
registration, not WSJ-type subscribers-only
service.
--------------------
MS ‘Whistler’ Looks Solid To ZDNET
A articles article from the "but-then-what-doesn't?" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/06/016212
dynoman7 writes: "eWEEK Labs has tested the first
public beta release of Whistler, which became
available Oct. 31. They think it is 'stable.'" He
points to a review at eWEEK, also playing on
MSNBC. It's a bit of a mixed review, actually --
the review points out that by "leaving its Windows
9x code base behind, [Microsoft is] creating many
potential Windows platform compatibility problems
in the process," and notes of the included "remote
help" feature, "[G]iven Microsoft's
well-documented security gaffes, sites will have
to carefully evaluate the potential security risks
of such a widely deployed remote-control feature."
Whatever its faults, this Windows-to-come is
supposed to have improved type handling and other
goodies which every other OS will inevitably be
scrutinized for, including [your favorite].
--------------------
MS 'Whistler' Looks Solid To ZDNET
A articles article from the "but-then-what-doesn't?" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/06/016212
dynoman7 writes: "eWEEK Labs has tested the first
public beta release of Whistler, which became
available Oct. 31. They think it is 'stable.'" He
points to a review at eWEEK, also playing on
MSNBC. It's a bit of a mixed review, actually --
the review points out that by "leaving its Windows
9x code base behind, [Microsoft is] creating many
potential Windows platform compatibility problems
in the process," and notes of the included "remote
help" feature, "[G]iven Microsoft's
well-documented security gaffes, sites will have
to carefully evaluate the potential security risks
of such a widely deployed remote-control feature."
Whatever its faults, this Windows-to-come is
supposed to have improved type handling and other
goodies which every other OS will inevitably be
scrutinized for, including [your favorite].
--------------------
Quova Inc. Completes Trace of 4 billion IP Address
A yro article from the "wait-till-IPV6-for-the-real-fun" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/06/0521235
RatzMilk writes: "Quova Inc. claim they have
completed a global scanning system [Note: first
mentioned on Slashdot in July -- timothy] that
pinpoints the geographic location of Internet
users in real time. The information gathered is
then sold as a tool called 'GeoPoint' that can be
used by advertisers to better target their
advertisments to people based on their location.
It doesn't rely on cookies or voluntary
submissions from users, instead, using a data base
built by scanning every host on the Internet. In
gathering this information, they set off alarms
all over the world, and yet, it seems that this is
an accceptable practice in the eyes of the law.
Individual people are having their computers
impounded and in some cases are being incarcerated
for doing the same. ... Further details on this
story can be found at Security Focus." (Sorry, but
Security Focus is not designed for direct linking;
click on the link that says "Scanning Mystery
Solved.") [Updated 5:58 GMT by timothy] Scratch
the comment about deep linking; I've restored the
link RatzMilk provided, which originally brought
me only "page not found" errors. Hope it works for
everyone ...
--------------------
Higher Pay For U.S. Federal Computer Jobs
A articles article from the "bacon-bringing-home-the" department
sent by timothy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/06/0539239
nemo writes: "The United States government is
giving a raise of up to 33% to all workers
employed by them in the tech industry. The are
apparently doing this to lure younger people into
these positions and to compete with private tech
companies. Read more here." Still sounds like a
substantial salary gap, but the benefits of a
Federal job can be pretty sweet incentive. Anyone
out there on a Federal paycheck care to comment?
--------------------
Analysis of Amiga Virtual Processor ASM
A articles article from the "stuff-to-poke-at" department
sent by CmdrTaco
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/11/06/1333214
An anonymous reader sent us an analysis of the
new Amiga Virtual Processor assembly Language --
unlimited registers, register naming, high-level
looping constructs, a tool-based architecture, and
object-based assembly programming, complete with
some cool examples.
--------------------
The info is Rob Malda's
The code is mine
MOTD: -----------------------------------
I am no longer associated with Purdue, except for being a former
student, former employee, and active member of the Linux Users Group.
As such, I'll either be moving this service to another server or
killing it entirely. Your input is requested as to what you'd like.
Then again, when was the last time I changed the MOTD? And when was
last time it was read?