Linuxers October 2005

linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in

100 participants
128 discussions

Re: [ILUG-BOM] [INFO] Software Liabilities.
by sherlock＠vsnl.com 06 Oct '05

06 Oct '05

On Thursday 06 October 2005 12:13, Kenneth Gonsalves wrote: > On Thursday 06 Oct 2005 9:32 am, sherlock(a)vsnl.com wrote: > > You do get exactly the above - a formal warranty for fixing bugs > > that can be reproduced by a well defined set of conditions - when > > you purchase hardware & software from good vendors.And you fix > > the cpu-ram-mobo-whatever problem by making customised products > > defined to do just what u specified. People who need such things > > - petrochem, pharma industry, defence, medical electronics - pay > > fat sums for the privelege. > > ahh. this is what i mean. Why cant a quality conscious team > developing a foss app aspire to this? Just because some companies > give crappy warranties that warranty nothing it doesnt mean that > open source developers should follow suit. Not at all. The opensource developer is giving "everbody" an opportunity to define his conditions and warranty the software, mundanely referred to as SLAs and AMCs :-). You could test some combo, warranty it and sell it. M$ is desperately trying to do the same with their stuff. The poor sods who plugged M$ crap to businesses will now be cut out of the loop, cause only M$ can provide fixes. Ditto (almost) for RH / Novell / IBM / HP. > > ppl would be willing to pay fat sums to us too for the priveledge. Bulls eye. RH / Suse / IBM are laughing all the way to the bank graciously accepting the aforementioned fat sums. rgds jtd

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Re: [ILUG-BOM] [INFO] Software Liabilities.
by sherlock＠vsnl.com 06 Oct '05

06 Oct '05

On Wednesday 05 October 2005 21:19, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > On 05/10/05 17:25 +0530, Kenneth Gonsalves wrote: > > On Wednesday 05 Oct 2005 5:08 pm, Devdas Bhagat wrote: > > > Go ahead. Software developers will issue warranties only in > > > cases where they know and control the entire state of program > > > execution. You can't complain if a car refuses to run under > > > water and it was never advertised as doing so. If it fails > > > under a set of controlled conditions, the manufacturer is > > > liable. Multitasking operating systems just aren't controlled > > > environments. > > > > spose i gave a warrantee like: warranteed to work with > > > > os distro x version y > > apache version x > > python version x > > wxpython version x > > No. You have to guarantee exactly what is running on the CPU. And > you need the exact same model of CPU. If you CPU switches registers > too early, too late, has a few cycles more, the guarantee is void. > You would want something like kernel version x.y.z, glibc a.b.c, > apache version x with compile time flags C,O,M,P.I,L,E running with > priority X and every file matching MD5 hashes...., and running on > CPU <foo> over motherboard <bar> with hard disk model M from vendor > v with firmware version F.v, etc running no other programs > (including interactive shells)... > > > and that the defect complained off should be demonstrated on my > > box with the above setup? (this is just a rough idea, to be > > refined before we issue the GPW) > > This is about what you get currently. If a bug can be reproduced, > it can be fixed. Just no formal warranties. You do get exactly the above - a formal warranty for fixing bugs that can be reproduced by a well defined set of conditions - when you purchase hardware & software from good vendors.And you fix the cpu-ram-mobo-whatever problem by making customised products defined to do just what u specified. People who need such things - petrochem, pharma industry, defence, medical electronics - pay fat sums for the privelege. Now try fixing your problem running some closed program on your defined-to-the-last-solder-joint-hardware. Even M$ gives you the source for windows CE - even a mad man wont touch it otherwise. Which only goes to show how much faith they have in the drivel they dish out in their ads and PR.Libre software makes no assumptions and tells u point blank. I dont see a problem with that. The author of the bbc article is cunning (or clueless ?), while pretending to take issue with all software merrily goes on to make idiotic pronouncements about libre software which truthfully states facts. Someone gifts u a pen and says it's great for signing. You sign a check without enough dough in the bank and get clobbered in court. So sue the pen gifter for inducing you to sign checks without educating you in law, commerce, economics etc. fater all he told u it's great for signing. rgds jtd

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RE: [ILUG-BOM] 64 bit linux with max device compatibility
by Pillai, Gishu R (GE Energy) 06 Oct '05

06 Oct '05

*snip* Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] 64 bit linux with max device compatibility >1.What 64bit architecture are you on? (AMD or INTEL). AMD Sempron 2500+ >2.What kind of HDD are you using (SATA or IDE) IDE >3.What OS are you looking for a 64bit or a 32bit OS (64bit processors are >compatable with 32bit OS's). Actually a Linux OS that runs with all my devices (dual boot with win2k) >4.Do you have a DVDRom? Yup. but on another machine. I tried getting Knoppix (smaller download) yesterday from http://www.applia.fr/contents/knoppix64.html. But the download links don't work

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RE: [ILUG-BOM] 64 bit linux with max device compatibility
by Pillai, Gishu R (GE Energy) 06 Oct '05

06 Oct '05

*snip* >Fedora supports a huge range of hardware including 64 bit machines. I am on >AMD 64 and ASUS K8N mobo, and everything works just great, out of the box, >including the LAN card. Please specify your mobo and LAN card model. If you My Mobo is ASUS K8SMX and the lan card is the one onboard Don't get me started on distro wars here. If everything is open and available for investigation, I don't see how distros are so apart...can't see some devices which are auto-detected by knoppix or suse (my picks). What happened to that myth of 'reuse' and 'not reinventing the wheel'. Debian is solid on M/C A but on M/C B it won't install stating some stupid modprobe failure. It boots from the CD and then says can't mount cdrom midway What is even comical is that it is the moved drive from my other machine which has Debian installed from that very drive. See earlier posts for my rants on both Fedora FC4 and Debian 3.1 Gishu

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Re: [ILUG-BOM] [INFO] Software Liabilities.
by Aveek Bhattacharya 05 Oct '05

05 Oct '05

It must be kept in mind that it is very unfair (to put it mildly) to expect free (as in beer, if not speech) software to come with a warranty. One cannot expect a certificate of quality and terms of warranty for software developed by volunteers. However, when I buy some software (let's not get technical on whether I buy the software or a licence), it is quite reasonable to expect that the software developers give some sort of quality assurance (warranty or otherwise). Aveek Bhattacharya M.Tech., Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com

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Re: [ILUG-BOM] 64 bit linux with max device compatibility
by Yasar Curtay 05 Oct '05

05 Oct '05

Hey .. i have used debian on my amd64 laptop.. everything works just fine. didnt see any problems. i just get a problem that is i cant get it to show how much battery is left. other then works great. and if you are lookin to download the amd64 os .. you can download the dvd .. i can burn and give the dvd to you. bye regards Yasar

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64 bit linux with max device compatibility
by Pillai, Gishu R (GE Energy) 05 Oct '05

05 Oct '05

Hi, MTNL Triband is on and I am on the lookout for downloading a 64 bit OS. I need something that would help me get started without hassling me with inane device issues. (FC4 fails in trying to 'line discipline' my serial mouse and doesn't see my ASUS onboard lan card and Debian went modprobe -v ide-detect failed in installation) Back to 64-bit So I tried Knoppix, which seems to have only Live versions. Next on my favourites list was Suse, here 64 bit is only available as a DVD image. (Sadly no DVD writer... yet :) So in short my query/plea here is pls help me find a 64-bit Linux distro that will know how to work with all my peripherals (keyboard + mouse) and help me see 64 bit computing at work. The smaller the download the better, I won't use this for anything other than a File/Web server and to continue my exp with Ruby. Need a Gnome GUI though.. not that confident at Linux yet. Thanks, Gishu Pillai

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Need a ip based SMB scanner
by BIJU KRISHNAN 05 Oct '05

05 Oct '05

Hi, I would like info on a windows share scanner (something similiar to Xsharez or Legion on windows). Currently am using Smb4k, also tried a host of utilities like komba smbspider e.t.c but none of them help me list - machines with shares. For Ex. Smb4k is good but lists all machines in the network. I have to click on each to check if they have shares. In legion i just supply a range of ip's, say 10.12.88.2-254 and i get list of shares available on my LAN. Anything similiar to use on my tux would help. Regards, biju __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: [ILUG-BOM] Spare computer without HDD
by Pillai, Gishu R (GE Energy) 05 Oct '05

05 Oct '05

Blooper - Common CPU :)) >Hi >I think the LTSP solution holds true if I have a spare monitor/mouse and >keyboard >Apparently I have only the CPU and no spare peripherals. Get a Video switch with mouse and keyboard inputs. (So Common Monitor,Keyb and Mouse and the Display port of each CPU is conn to the switch) Gishu -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers

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RE: [ILUG-BOM] 64 bit linux with max device compatibility
by Pillai, Gishu R (GE Energy) 05 Oct '05

05 Oct '05

>> So in short my query/plea here is pls help me find a 64-bit Linux distro that will >> know how to work with all my peripherals (keyboard + mouse) and help me see >> 64 bit computing at work. The smaller the download the better, I won't use >> this for anything other than a File/Web server and to continue my exp with Ruby. >x86_64 SuSE 10.0 OSS is available on 5 CDs @ www.opensuse.org or it's >mirrors. Got it. Thanks. Unless anyone has any other tried-n-better distros, I'm on this.. Gishu

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Linuxers October 2005