uRandom
Sat 31st Jan 2009 @ 15:27 2009: VMWare ESX on SATA
If you want to install VMWare ESX (or indeed RedHat Enterprise 4) on a more recent machine, which only has SATA devices, you will find that the SATA drivers are not included, so it cannot see the hard disk(s).
If so, this workaround works for me, on a Lenovo 3000 N200:
- Boot the PC, press F1 to enter Setup.
- From the Advanced menu, change "SATA HDD AHCI MODE" to "[Disabled]"
- From the Exit menu, select "Exit Saving Changes"
The hard disk should now be detected as an IDE device.
Fri 30th Jan 2009 @ 01:30 2009: Obama - NPfIT
As the NPfIT programme was launched in 2002, and due to be ready by next year (2010) and is now due 2015, it will be interesting to see how Obama achieves his plan to Computerise the nation's health records in 5 years Once the USAians have sorted it out, those of us in the UK who have been working on a problem one-tenth of the size (at best) can copy their perfect solution. Methinks this could be a problem for them, but maybe I'm just cynical because I've seen how we go about these things in the UK...
Sun 25th Jan 2009 @ 19:19 2009: Ubuntu Gnomebaker Bug 308323
I can't believe that Ubuntu bug 308323 - gnomebaker crash when adding multiple files has been open for more than one month now, and has not even been assigned to anybody.
I do not get this bug with the same version (0.6.4) of Gnomebaker in Debian Lenny; it appears to be a Ubuntu-induced bug, and nothing is being done about it.
When the bug was posted in December, there was not even any acknowledgement.
This really does seem very unprofessional, I am sad to say.
Fri 23rd Jan 2009 @ 01:19 2009: Wishlist
I have sent an email to everyone with a current WishList (if you don't use it, you should!) but here is a more general plug.
The WishList now comes with a set of RSS feeds - each user gets their own feed:
Subscribers will be updated when the user adds or removes items from their WishList; when they add new WishLists, and when the status of their items change (for example, if someone goes and buys that thing you were thinking of getting, it will let you know if someone else has beaten you to the post).
I may bring this down to the per-wishlist level if people want it; for now, let's just put it out there and see if people think that it may be useful.
Thu 15th Jan 2009 @ 00:02 2009: ID Cards ... yet again
The Register have an article about a NY cop who wrote his login and password for others to use so that they could use his credentials to access personal data for a totally separate case.
A New York City Police Department sergeant has admitted he illegally obtained a name contained in an FBI terrorist watchlist and gave it to an acquaintance to use in a child custody case.
According to documents filed in federal court in Manhattan, Khalil lacked the authority to access the information, so he used a fellow cop's username and password to gain entry. Remarkably, the fellow officer left his credentials on a notepad so his co-workers could access the system when he wasn't around.
This is why the claims about ID cards, and the database(s) behind them, do not hold water - the weak link is the human link.
A national database covering all details of an individual's life - medical, political, criminal, education, etc - that is "secured" to the level that access is restricted to a legitimate chain of rights (your GP can grant access to your medical records when referring you to a specialist, for example) falls apart when it meets the reality in which we work. People will do this kind of thing.We are promised that the system would not allow it, but this real life example means that your probation officer could access your medical history, or your teacher could access your criminal record.
If you've dated a nurse, a cop, a teacher... do you want them to be able to access all your personal data? On the one hand, if you are in a position to do so, it would be incredibly tempting to check out a new potential partner; On the other hand, that would make a huge change to the way in which society works. If half of us can spy on the other half of us, and it is a purely one-way system, does that seem fair?
That seems to be the polar opposite of the secure, controlled society that we are being promised ID cards would bring. Random and uncontrolled access to private data about any individual, to anybody who either has access, or can convince a friend or colleague to provide access (which - as this real world example shows - is not difficult).
That is the reality behind ID cards.
ID cards have not been in the public eye much recently; that does not mean that work is not going on to implement these schemes:
ID Cards
First ID Cards are Issued (24 November 2008).
The latter page states that "Ultimately, identity cards will be mandatory for all foreign nationals." As a British citizen, I will logically need to be able to provide some form of proof that I am a British citizen and therefore exempt from carrying an ID card. That would have to be ... an ID card. Do the Home Office really think we are totally stupid? Or is it that they are that daft not to have thought through the logical implications?
Wed 14th Jan 2009 @ 23:07 2009: Fifth Gear crash test: 7-Seater Family Car
When this episode was broadcast a few weeks ago, I saw the first part of this clip in a shop, but couldn't hang around to see the end of it.
They pointed out that the NCAP tests don't test a rear-impact, and that these "mini-MPVs" with 7 seats, like the Vauxhall Zafira (which they tested with) have very little space between the rear window and the passengers on the 3rd row of seats.
I was in the back of a mini Metro years ago, when the driver treated the motorway slip-road like a T-Junction: Came to a total stop as the wagons rolled by at 56+ mph. That must have been 20 years ago, and it's still a fresh memory! Anyway, feel free to watch the clip and see how the modern car deals with a rear impact:
Crash Test
It's Channel 5, so there are lots of adverts on the website, and it apparently tried to open a pop-up window, too... Sorry about that, you have been warned!
Mon 12th Jan 2009 @ 23:06 2009: 2009 most bizarre reason for naming a F/OSS project
http://live.gnome.org/Istanbul
Why the name Istanbul?
I named it Istanbul as a tribute to Liverpool's 5th European Cup triumph in Istanbul on May 25th 2005
Mon 12th Jan 2009 @ 01:57 2009: FSF
The FSF BadVista Campaign has declared victory in its PR objective of pointing out that Vista was more focussed on DRM (Wikipedia, Microsoft, DRM.info, FSF) than on improving the user's experience of their computer.
Vista is synonymous in the public eye with failure, and we are declaring victory.
As the FSF say in their statement:
Microsoft's attempt to create pressure on users to change from prior versions of Windows to Vista created an opportunity for us to suggest that if users were going to take the trouble to change their operating system -- something inertia often works against -- then they should switch to GNU/Linux instead. In this way, we were successful in transforming Microsoft's unprecedented marketing blitz into a moment introducing many new people to free software.
Fri 9th Jan 2009 @ 20:15 2009: Google's new Favicon
Google's new favicon.ico reminds me of the South African flag...
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