8/5     Any recommendations for wireless networking setup (card/AP)?
        Requirements: robust, work w/FreeBSD & Linux, work with Berkeley
        network, reasonably secure, reasonably cheap.  Performance
        is not a major concern (basically I got sick of wires in the
        apartment, and want to replace them with 802.11b).
        \_ be careful, it looks like the current encryption scheme (WEP?)
           sold in most wireless LAN products today isn't strong enough
           keep your data from curious neighbors. saw an article in sj
           mercury news about it yesterday.  something to do order of
           "anyone with a laptop and wireless pcmcia card can break into
           most wireless crypto methods in about an hour"..
           \_ so use ssh.  duh.  -tom
           \_ Its Wireless Equivalent Privacy. WEP is not an encryption
              scheme. Its purpose is to make it just as hard to tap a
              wireless link as it is to tap a cat5 or fiber link. Its
              not designed to make the link more secure than standard
              ethernet.
              Just using wires doesn't make it any more secure. Even
              on wired switched ethernet its possible to read cleartext
              passwords using snoop or a catos/ios packet capture prog.
              BTW, if its poorly shielded cat5k cable, you perform a
              wiretap without splicing cables.
              If you are worried about security, use strong encryption.
              \_ But you can physically secure the cat5 wires as well as the
                 switches and routers, specially on a home network. Also, since
                 the switched ethernet is becoming more common it should be
                 very hard to sniff anything if at all and to get to the
                 switch/routers you likely need access to the secured area
                 where they are located within most organization. With 802.11b
                 you can sit safe and cozey in your office and sniff as far as
                 the other guy's laptop across the hall.
                    \_ So you are using double sheilded zero leakage cat5k
                       cable in your home? Wow! Are you using serial console
                       only to your networking equipment with the physical
                       console on a lcd so the FEDs can't read your screen?
                       \_ The KEYBOARD. You forgot about the KEYBOARD cable.
                 \_ It is simple to sniff switched wired networks if you
                    can plug into them.  -tom
                 \_ I thought many of these boxes (in particular Apple Airport,
                    but probably others) offer access lists based on MAC
                    address... wouldn't that help with sniffing?
                    \_ No. MAC based authentication is required for joining
                       the network and using active attacks. The WEP "attacks"
                       are all passive.
                       BTW, for all you cordless phone users, did you know
                       that with a few hundred dollars worth of ham radio
                       equipment I could listen to all your calls?
                       \_ Yea, but I use CDMA cell phones.
                          \_ Good for you. I guess I can put my parabolic
                             mic away now.
                             \_ Are those round transparent things on the
                                sidelines during a NFL football game parabolic
                                mics?
                 \_ Good point!  I keep my home network secured by keeping all
                    of my routers inside locked Faraday cages and covering the
                    outside of my house with aluminum foil.
        \_ WEP fallibliity aside, I find the Linksys BEFW11S4 to be a pretty
        good box, does wireless, network switch, DSL/Cable connection, the
        whole deal, and fully configurable through web browser. I've used
                                   \_ Does this mean that if I have e.g. an
                                      ATT Cable modem, this will be enough
                                      hardware to allow multiple machines w/
                                      wireless ethernet cards to access the
                                      Internet?
                                      \_ Yes. You can even get them with 4
                                         port switches. DHCP is supported
                                         out of the box.
        several wireless products, and as an Access point the linksys is
        the best I've seen so far. The lucent/(now Agere) wireless cards
        are really nice too, and they have linux/BSD as well as windows
        drivers.  -ERic
           \_ I also have one of the linksys PCMCIA cards. Not as nice as
           the agere/lucent one, and no option for a range extender antenna,
           which is kinda annoying. And yeah, the linksys card sucks
           for reception.  I find it odd that most of the complaints on
           the amazon reviews of the ACCESS POINT were actually complaints
           about an entirely different product, the wireless cards. -ERic
        \_ Thanks for the info.  I am aware of the security issues with WEP,
           but imho having an internet-connected computer exposes you to
           a comparable (if not greater) risk.  I am interested in hands-on
           experience people have with different hardware.  Linksys box
           has mixed reviews on Amazon, and I've seen postings to lists
           about protocol conformance issues (might be fixed in recent
           releases.)  Has anyone tried SMC? NetGear?  Lucent is nice,
           but it's also more expensive.
           \_ I've tried the addtron AP.  Works fine without WEP, could
               not get its encryption to work with anything else.  The
               lucent AP is damn nice, but really pricey.  I wouldn't
               recommend it for home use, unless you have money to burn. -ERic
        \_ I have a SMC Barricade wireless access point with the extra 3
           ports.  The documentation that comes with the product is spotty,
           and I had to download new firmware as soon as I got the box.  But
           it's been fairly trouble-free otherwise.  DHCP, PPPoE supported
           in-box with (very) limited control over the DHCP.
           I have a Mac with an Airport card and a PC with a Lucent WaveLAN
           gold on the network.  Unfortunately, the Airport only
           supports 40-bit WEP, the WaveLAN only supports 64-bit or 128-bit,
           and I believe the SMC only supports 64-bit, so I don't run WEP
           but rather ssh for all my non-web browsing activity.
           \_ I wanted WEP just to keep the idiots from piggy backing on my
              net.  Running without WEP and trusting ssh to keep your data
              secure doesn't help against parasitic denial-of-service when
              someone hooks up their computer to do WAREZ through your wireless
              link.

8/5     I need to capture about 5 minutes of a DVD (normal Blockbuster
        movie) in any sort of format: mpeg, mov, real, avi, etc. Any
        suggestions how to do this? Thanks.
        \_ Video capture card. DVD software viewers bypass the OS,
           and write straight to the screen so you can't capture
           video directly. Copyrights. You have to get a capture card.
        \_ do you have a DVD-ROM drive?  if so, then you could try getting
           some ripping/decryption utilities.  otherwise, as the above poster
           stated, a capture card is your best bet, but you may run into
           problems with Macrovision.
        \_ isn't there some program called 'flask' that does this?
        \_ 1) rip dvd from DVD drive to hard drive (vobdec)
           2) use flask mpeg to convert dvd mpg to avi
           3) use program (premiere or any others) to cut clip from avi
           4) convert avi to whatever (mpg, asf, mov)

8/6     I HATE streaming video ad.

8/6     ``Silicon Valley is arrogant,'' she said. ``There is too much focus
        on degrees here.'':
        http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/special/downturn/docs/slow080601.htm
        \_ WTF is this woman talking about? If anything, there is way too
           little focus on degrees. Our Senior Architect here had a BA in
           philosophy and designed and wrote some of the sloppiest code
           I've ever seen. And now I'm cleaning up after the fool after
           he left. I'm glad the job market is tight because it's only
           squeezed out all the pretenders.
           \_ she's trying to do an 'end run' around the little detail
              that the ratio of females to males in compsci degree programs
              is ludicrous.
              \_ EE/CS doesn't interested women. There is nothing that
                 can be done about that. Its like asking a guy to learn
                 romantic poetry. Most guys would find that exteremely
                 dull.
                 \_ Here in the boudoir, the gourmand metamorphosizes
                    into the voluptuary!
                 \_ right. This is most likely an extension of the tired
                    old argument "women earn less", and ignoring the detail
                    that they dont want to do the actual work required
                    for high-paying jobs.
                 \_ I disagree.  I think the problem is that many women
                    are not encouraged to pursue EE/CS degrees and/or do
                    not know people who can tell them how much fun EE/CS
                    can be.  My fiance used to think that workin on a
                                \_ fiancee
                    computer all day would be really dull.  Then once she
                    started doing some small web and database work she
                    trying to learn programming on the job. -woman
                    \_ I disagree. Women are less intelligent and simply want
                        more for less work. -man
                        \_ "...more for less work."  Yes, this is
                           unique to women.  It is good you clarified this.
                    \_ Your fiance... she..  signed "woman"?  Where's the
                       lesbian wedding happening?
                 \_ on wonder you dont get laid
                    realized how much she liked programming.  Now she is
                    trying to learn programming on the job.
                    \_ The number of women who find programming interesting
                       is exteremely small. My mom used to be a AI researcher
                       and of 150 other people in her building only three of
                       the women were technical, all of the others were admin
                       staff and disliked computers and even refused to do
                       simple html web pages.
                       Personally I've know women who made better grades than
                       me in math and physics refuse to study engineering (esp.
                       ee/cs) because it was "too dull". They just didn't like
                       the sitting in your cube thinking and tinkering aspects
                       of coding. Almost all of them went to med school or bio
                       because there was more human interaction.
                       Men and women are different and like different types of
                       work. You cannot "encourage" women into a field they
                       don't want to work in.
                 \_ no wonder you dont get laid
                    \_ There are more things in heaven and earth than
                       are dreamt of in your dorm room
           \_ I agree. We have too many coders at work who are either
              dropouts are grads in non-engineering majors in key
              developement positions.

8/6     "Defense contractor General Dynamics said on Monday it plans to
        buy communications giant Motorola Inc.'s Integrated Information
        Systems Group for $825 million to strengthen its position in
        communications and information technology."
          Goes back to my statements about Dyncorp, EDS, IBM.... Dyncorp
        scored big when they bought GTE's IT group for a billion. However
        that tranaction seemed to get no press at all. Its like people
        just don't talk about this sector, but from everything I see,
        these are the companies which are going to be able to correctly
        be the "outsource" IT suppliers. However the mindset needs to
        change and all the damn consultants need to change there pitch
        from dot com/ msft/ erp bandwagon and jump onto network
        outsourcing bandwagon
          BTW notice keyword "communications"  this should read "network"
        however seems like "network" is now a bad word
        \_ Is this Kinney?

8/6     "Defense contractor General Dynamics said on Monday it plans to
        Systems Group for $825 million to strengthen its position in
          Goes back to my statements about Dyncorp, EDS, IBM.... Dyncorp
        that tranaction seemed to get no press at all. Its like people
        these are the companies which are going to be able to correctly
        change and all the damn consultants need to change there pitch
        outsourcing bandwagon
          BTW notice keyword "communications"  this should read "network"
        \_ Is this Kinney?
           \_ lack of coherence: check
              lack of content:   check
              lack of use:       check
              Yeah, that's kinney.

8/6     Someone asked about intel price cuts. Aug 26
        http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6792635.html?tag=mn_hd

8/6     SW Ep.2 = Attack of the Clones. Definitely a B-movie title.
        \_ A better title would have been SW Ep2: Plan 5 From Skywalker
           Ranch!

8/6     I have two pair of copper phone wires going from point A to point B in
        my house.  Is it possible to create a functioning 10 base T connection
        with these wires?
        \_ Probably not.
                \_why not?
        \_ Yes, and I'm speaking from experience. 4 of the lines are used for
           shielding and you might get some signal degredation but nothing
           you'll notice running on a 10bT network (at least I didn't). -jeff
            \_ thanks.  It worked for me too.
        \_ I run 100bT over my extra copper in my house. --aaron

8/6     is there an easy way to tell whether an indian name or a chinese name
        is male or female?
        \_ Its is not easy to associate indian names with either male or female.
           Even people with indian backgrounds have a hard time with this.
        \_ For most Chinese name it's easy to tell if you can see the Chinese
           characters.  It's harder if you have the English phonetics, because
           1) many Chinese characters "translates" to the same phonetics,
           and 2) you don't know which dialect it came from.  If you can post
           the phonetics and if it's Cantonese, maybe I can guess.
        \_ Jack off now, ask questions later.

8/6     FirstWorld no longer provides DSL service in SF. I need a new ISP.
        Any recommendations (or "stay away from"'s)?
        \_ I got screwed by FW as well. I ended up ordering from http://Sonic.net.
           They use PacBell as a line provider but they handled all the
           pacbell interactions and you still get a static IP (all for ~
           $55/mo). They have even called me to make sure my account and
           line were working and have sent me email everytime something
           was done to process my order. So far I'm quite happy.
        \_ Covad 385kbps UP for $75/mo
        \_ Ahem. That would be Third World.
           \_ Not available in all areas. Bummer for me.