April 2021 - Talk - lists.gtalug.org

Surveillance Capitalism [was another thread]
by Russell Reiter 08 Apr '21

08 Apr '21

Red Hat has just dropped its Free Software Foundation funding and support. Now that Red Hat is pretty well owned by IBM, wouldn't you like to ask all those people, how far back in IBM's own history of misdeeds; notwithstanding rumors, innuendo and just plain gossip; the rest of us should look when judging the actions of others. I sure would. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust Stallman was outspoken about surveillance capitalisim and WSL. Those are big cages to rattle with one tiny tin cup. Just in case you don't think an NGO is capable of such insider machinations. I highly recommend the following book which has a pretty good evaluation of how the powers that be; leveraged trends, NGO (charity) connections and industry (read IBM) influences which gave Bill Gates his silver spoon running head start with MS DOS. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2760759-the-making-of-microsoft Don't even get me started on WSL as an organized plan to disrupt linux freedom. Engage Encompass and Eradicate are proven techniques of imperialism and capitalisim. I think Red Hats "Woke Spoke" is Broke on this one, but with all that IBM money behind them, they will break this one guy out of the big picture, just because they can. Russell

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Re: [GTALUG] Has the graphics-card world gone mad?
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 08 Apr '21

08 Apr '21

| From: Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk(a)gtalug.org> | [GTALUG] Has the graphics-card world gone mad? Yes. For example, I've bought a couple ofAMD rx570-class video cards over the last two or three years. Each with 8G of RAM. $200 each, roughly. I recently saw a used one being offered for $500! These are obsolete! I ask the vendor if he was serious; he replied "yes, look at other folks prices." Insanity. The common wisdom (until the chip shortage became a meme) was that a lot of people in the US took their covid stimulus cheques and spent them on upgrading their rigs. I have no idea if this is a too-good-to-fact-check story or it is reality. There did seem to be a disruption in the shipping between Asia and North America, but video cards are so high price / mass ratio that that should not be a problem. Mining has gone crazy again. It's so crazy that apparently even less-than-optimal cards are being grabbed. But I don't actually know if this is just a myth. Perceived shortage brings on hoarding. That's going on for sure. Everyone building video cards wants to use TSMC's 7nm process. There's a bottleneck for sure. It should be possible to build mid-range GPUs with 10nm, 12nm or 14nm, I would think. | I made the mistake that I might want to upgrade my video card. I have a | Radeon RX 550 that is struggling to drive two 4K screens. It works, but | plenty of flickering under both Linux and Windows. Do you really mean flickering? Or to you mean laggy image updates. I would have thought that the card could do rock-solid 60Hz refresh but might have trouble updating the contents of the frame buffer in a timely fashion. My desktop use of a monitor has mostly static stuff so frame buffer updates need not be very quick. My use of a TV set to view streaming contents would get very annoying if the frame buffer updates were laggy. I use an AndroidTV box for streaming TV. Processor iGPUs are getting better. Perhaps a new processor's iGPU would be good enough and might not be bid up as much. Intel Xe seems really impressive (in 11th gen Core chips). AMD APUs might be good enough. It all depends on what you are really trying to do. You have the floor tomorrow. Perhaps a discussion on this would be interesting. | These don't strike me as cards powerful enough to do coin mining. Why are | they so rare and expensive? Is it the global chip shortage or something | else? And does anyone have an idea how long we'll have to wait this out ... | or how I can tune my card to support the screens? "Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." -- John Maynard Keynes Nobody knows. I've often found panics have been used to set people's expectation of pricing. I.e. prices will stick higher. Perhaps not at peak prices, but higher than previous prices. --- Post to this mailing list talk(a)gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk

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Cert Advisory FortiOS APT
by Russell Reiter 08 Apr '21

08 Apr '21

The advisory says even if your org doesn't use the os you should apply mitigations. https://siliconangle.com/2021/04/04/hackers-actively-targeting-fortios-vuln… -- Russell

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RMS on britannica.com
by Russell Reiter 07 Apr '21

07 Apr '21

I stumbled across this. I think it's concise and well written. Cuts through the fud pretty well. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Stallman https://www.britannica.com/technology/C-computer-programming-language -- Russell

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IBM DITTO def.
by Russell Reiter 05 Apr '21

05 Apr '21

Sorry about a previous attestation error, on another topic IBM DITTO is Data Interfile Testing and Transfer Object https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=DD&subtype=SM&h… Russell “Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.” F. P. Dunne

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Re: [GTALUG] SCO Linux FUD returns from the dead | ZDNet
by James Knott 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

On 2021-04-04 11:41 a.m., ac via talk wrote: > seems real, Docket No. 21 cv 31, US District Court of the Virgin Islands > but could also just be some free marketing, a stunt etc.... Courts tend to frown on that sort of thing, especially since this matter was resolved years ago, in the Supreme Court, IIRC.

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SCO Linux FUD returns from the dead | ZDNet
by James Knott 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

The zombie has arisen again! https://www.zdnet.com/article/sco-linux-fud-returns-from-the-dead/

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Has the graphics-card world gone mad?
by Evan Leibovitch 04 Apr '21

04 Apr '21

Hi all. I made the mistake that I might want to upgrade my video card. I have a Radeon RX 550 that is struggling to drive two 4K screens. It works, but plenty of flickering under both Linux and Windows. I looked at a few sources such as Tom's Hardware to get a good idea of what to buy, and it suggested a card in the $300-400 range. I wish. Canada Computers has the cards (GeForce GTX 1660 Super) listed in this price range but all are out of stock everywhere. Amazon and NewEgg have them listed for more than $1,100. These don't strike me as cards powerful enough to do coin mining. Why are they so rare and expensive? Is it the global chip shortage or something else? And does anyone have an idea how long we'll have to wait this out ... or how I can tune my card to support the screens? Thanks! Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada @evanleibovitch / @el56

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Re: [GTALUG] Surveillance Capitalism [was another thread] (fwd)
by Karen Lewellen 03 Apr '21

03 Apr '21

Before answering this Russel sending it to the list where it clearly belongs? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2021 08:35:19 -0400 From: Russell Reiter <rreiter91(a)gmail.com> To: Karen Lewellen <klewellen(a)shellworld.net> Cc: Dhaval Giani via talk <talk(a)gtalug.org>, Dhaval Giani <dhaval.giani(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Surveillance Capitalism [was another thread] On Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 11:07 PM Karen Lewellen <klewellen(a)shellworld.net> wrote: > folks, > Keeping with the in context process. > > You are correct, context is important. > > On Fri, 2 Apr 2021, Dhaval Giani via talk wrote: > >>>> >>>> Again, I say this again. RMS as a contributor, yes. RMS as a leader, > no. >>>> >>>> I am not going to step into your Godwin's law discussion >>>> (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law ). It is irrelevant to >>>> the issue at hand. >>> >>> >>> That wasn't my discussion. I'm talking about Surveillance capitalism, > which grows >>> more important to me day by day. I just think there is a lot of > shooting the messenger >>> with RMS. >>> >> >> Then this thread should prove to you exactly why RMS cannot be your >> messenger. You could be 100% factual, but it is what the other side >> receives is of greater importance. Your cause is lost, when your >> messenger causes your message to be lost. > > This is absolutely correct. > I had no idea who rms was until the current discussion. > Within ten minutes I came across an open letter demanding that the free > software foundation's entire board step down and that rms be removed. > This letter linked to gathered details about rms, not hearsay, but direct > posts with links from his own website, where he suggests that a women get > an abortion should she learn her child will have downs syndrome. > In Canada and elsewhere abortion is legal. This was the result of feminist activisim and the doctors who agreed that in some cases it is best to terminate a pregnancy. However abortinon is now universally available here, no questions asked, if a woman wants one. > And that laws against under age sex are wrong if the child is willing. > In Canada the age of consent is 16, absent positions of trust and even lower if both are in the 13 to 16 age group. I won't restate the rules for you, I'll just link to them. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/clp/faq.html Here is what Stallman actually said. "I think it is morally absurd to define 'rape' in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17," Stallman wrote. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/richard-stallman-leaves-mit-aft… Certainly, there were comments about the ways associates have enabled rms, > working around his stance and behavior. but that paled when his own > words called into question why I, as an outsider to he subject, should > give any weight to his opinion...about anything. > I will take your word that he is a talented coder, contributing much to > the free software movement. > Such does not make him a suitable leader, if one cannot stop wondering > how he can make such statements about human beings, and their right to be > born. > We are all entitled to our own opinion, however it's hard to formulate an honest opinion if the facts are dishonest. Just my take, Karen > > -- Russell

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April 2nd - International Fact Checking Day
by Russell Reiter 02 Apr '21

02 Apr '21

The day after April fools day. Who knew? Apparently Google does. https://canada.googleblog.com/2021/03/spot-misinformation-online-with-these… https://factcheckingday.com/ Since Russell is most definitely a Scots name. I post the following thematic conclusion with sincere apologies to the ghost Robbie Burns, for misrepresenting the facts of his craftsmanship, through omission and alteration of his historical words. To a Louse, On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church *O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursels as Google see us! It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An' foolish notion: What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, An' ev'n devotion!* Modern english translation and brief thematic analysis here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_a_Louse Complete text here. https://interestingliterature.com/2018/12/to-a-louse-a-poem-by-robert-burns/ -- Russell

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