Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2002:December:09 Monday <Sunday, Tuesday>
Berkeley CSUA MOTD
 
WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ
http://csua.com/feed/
2002/12/9 [Computer/SW/Security, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:26754 Activity:high
12/8    Has anyone been able to get sound working when running DOS 6.22
        under VMWare?  I want to play old DOS games and having no sound
        sucks.  thx.  --sky
        \_ I know there is a windows program that emulates an old sound
           blaster so old dos games can use sound, maybe oyu can hunt that
           down and use it?
           \_ VDMSound? http://ntvdm.cjb.net
              \_ sweet.  I will try that.  thx  --sky
                 \_ It works great!  --sky
        \_ Maybe http://dosbox.zophar.net Doesn't do protected mode tho.
        \_ there are several dos emulators around.  Which game?
           \_ old DOS adventure games.  VDMSound seems to work with
              them all.  --sky
              \_ which ones? (just curious)
                 \_ space quest, king's quest, monkey island, maniac mansion
                    \_ for the LucasArts games, you should use ScummVM instead.
                       http://scummvm.sourceforge.net
2002/12/9 [Recreation/Computer/Games] UID:26755 Activity:high
12/8    Ice Wind Dale II: Finally finished this fucker after setting it
        aside for a month.  What a nightmare.  I don't know how this game
        is supposed to be beatable without cheating.  And the outro was
        *really* weak considering what they put you through to get there.
        When playing on normal difficulty it shouldn't take multiple reloads
        and abusing game bugs to finish the final battle.
        \_ how many hours did you spend on this?
           What are the most addicting games the rest of you have played?
           \_ I find Doom 1&2 pretty damn addicting. I've been replaying them
              on ultraviolence using the stuff at http://www.doomsdayhq.com
           \_ Nethack.
           \_ I didn't keep close track but maybe 60?  Disk space recovered.
2002/12/9 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:26756 Activity:high
12/8    I'm building a Quiet PC. Anybody have opinions about the
        Seagate Barracuda IV? It's supposedly the quietest drive
        on the market. I'm also considering putting a 5400 RPM
        Western Digital drive in a SilentDrive enclosure. But
        the performance won't be as fast.
        \_ Performance is loud.  If you want performance you don't get
           quiet.  Let's be honest here, you don't need performance.
        \_ i have a silent pc with a barracuda iv.  works fine by me.
           it is a little eerie when the computer makes no noise.
           \_ Wimp.  If it doesn't scream like a banshee it isn't a computer.
              If you want quiet get a Palm Pilot.
           \_ Hmm, ever used a laptop before?
              \_ My laptop sometimes seems louder than my desktop.  I *asked*
                 for a cool and efficient celeron, I *got* a monster that
                 sucks power and makes noise.
                 \_ Next time, tell Santa the exact model numbers to get.
2002/12/9-10 [Computer/SW/Mail] UID:26757 Activity:kinda low
12/8    Has anyone installed sendmail on a RH 8 machine that is MXed
        somewhere else, so doesnt need a listening sendmail?  If I
        remove the -bd flag, it doesnt sendmail out. Do I have to
        leave the -bd flag on? [it's secure against relaying but I'd
        rather not have it be listening at all].
        \_ chkconfig sendmail off
           \_ I hate how Linux invents new ways to do things when there's
              already perfectly good old ways.  And it's Linux's fault for
              the spread of the evil that is the bash shell, too.
2002/12/9 [Transportation/Motorcycle] UID:26759 Activity:kinda low
12/8    What about scooters? Are they practical in Berkeley? I am thinking
        of buying a 50cc model to get around the city. BTW, if 50cc enough
        for a big heavy guy or does it not matter for a scooter?
        \_ Walk or RIDE BIKE! you lazy fuck and you won't be so heavy(fat).
           \_ Maybe it's all muscle.
        \_ I weigh 150 and a 50cc scooter was barely enough to get me
           to 30mph. You probably need at least an 80.
2002/12/9-10 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA] UID:26760 Activity:nil
12/6    contract position over winter break ...  details in
        /csua/pub/jobs/Starvine   -jenn
2002/12/9 [Uncategorized] UID:26761 Activity:very high
12/9    I tried.  I tried to stop fantasizing about my friend's duck.  But I
        failed.  I avoided her for a while after our leg touching encounter at
        dinner that one unforgettable night.  Not seeing her only increased my
        fascination with her.  When I'm awake, I'm thinking about her.  When
        I'm asleep I'm dreaming about her. I'm going crazy over another man's
        duck!  My friend's duck!  This is so wrong.  But why does it feel so
        exciting at the same time?
        \_ did you repost this troll from several months ago from memory, or
           do you have it saved somewhere?
        \_ Hmmm... duck.
        \_ To borrow a phrase: Just Do It!
        \_ motd poll:
           fuck that duck: .
           duck that fuck:
2002/12/9 [Uncategorized] UID:26762 Activity:nil
12/8    This Modern World: .
        Red Meat:
        Tom the Dancing Bug: .
2002/12/9 [Computer/HW/CPU] UID:26763 Activity:very high
12/8    Just exactly how fast is USB1.1 vs USB2?
        \_ Isn't this highly googlable?
           \_ You think we'll all think you're cool cuz you made up
              that adj.  But we don't.
              \_ You imply too much. "Googlable" has been around for awhile.
        \_ USB 1.1 has a data rate of 12 Mbps. USB 2.0 has a data rate
           between 120 and 240 Mbps. To a rough approx. 2.0 is between
           10x and 20x "faster" than 1.1. You should really have google'ed
           this.
        \_ Thought 2.0 was 480 mbps...anyway USB is CPU dependent,
           thus my experience is that when I'm pushing lotsa data
           through the bus my computer starts chugging.
        \_ Someone erased this, but it's 12 Mbs versus 480 Mbs. --dim
           \_ The speed is also dependent on the devices. The slowest
              device dictates the speed of all the devices. If you
              plug in a 1.1 device on a 2.0 chain, the entire chain
              degrades to 12Mbps.
2002/12/9-10 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus, Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:26764 Activity:moderate
12/9    help, i can't seem to figure out how to get the group info for a given
        user from c.  In perl i'd just do @theuser=getpwnam USERNAME;
        $theuser[3] would be what i'm looking for.  How do i do this in c?
        \_ man getpwent
        \_ getpwnam()
2002/12/9-11 [Uncategorized] UID:26765 Activity:nil
12/9    Christmas music, with a few solos belted out by yours truly
        http://www.pacificmozart.org --scotsman
2002/12/9-11 [Computer/SW/Unix] UID:26766 Activity:kinda low
12/9    How do I make the output of "tar cvfz some-directory" deterministic?
        My guess is that tar is putting some kind of header in the tar file
        which contains the date.  I ask because I don't want to send a tar
        archive to be backed up if it hasn't changed since the last time I
        tar'red up 'some-directory'.  Thanks
        \- i dont think you can do that, but you can use "find | tar".
           i'd be interested to hear if there is a way. gnu tar has a
           info node that is liek 150pp, so maybe there is a way. --psb
        \_ crc's and checksums.
                \_ yup, and a standard feature of any build/backup/long process
2002/12/9-10 [Computer/HW/Display] UID:26767 Activity:insanely high
12/9    Where's that nvidia fanboy who recommended a ti4600? Check this out:
        http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Mzk2LDM=
        Beats a 4600 and will be ~$150.
                          \_ "will be" being the operative phrase here. --aaron
                             \_ well, it's still under 200 now which is msrp.
                                ti4200 msrp was 189. ok maybe it will be $170.
                                15% street discount is typical.
                                \_ http://mirror.ati.com/shopati/pricespcusa.html
                                   Looks like $219 to me.
                                   \_ damn, the article lied. that sux.
        \_ 1) it doesn't yet exist.  2) time changes everything.  You're trying
           to compare last year's best card with next year's mediocre one.  Are
           you going to compare it to a Matrox Millenium version 1.0, too?
           \_ 1) wrong: http://csua.org/u/68e
              2) 4200's and 4600's are still the only alternative. the post i
                 referred to was from a couple months ago.
                 \_ Because months ago there was the 4600 and nothing else.
                    There was no alternative at all.  You're still comparing a
                    card designed and built for the last generation with one so
                    new it only just started shipping.  What's the point?  Of
                    course the new card is faster than the old.  And?  I don't
                    see where you're going with this.
                    \_ i'm going the same place that guy (you?) went with the
                        4600.
                        \_ I never bought a 4600.  I'm still using my GF2 from
                           when that was newish.  I'm waiting on the NV30 and
                           AMD hammer, etc, in spring to get a new system.  No
                           point in putting a hot video card in my 1997 box.  I
                           keep up with all the tech and products though so I
                           have the best chance of getting something I'll be
                           happy with when the time comes.
2002/12/9-10 [Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:26768 Activity:nil 66%like:26124
12/9    how do i setuid in perl?
        \_ $> = newuid
           (this sets the effective uid; perldoc perlvar for more.) -geordan
2002/12/9-11 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:26769 Activity:insanely high
12/9    What's the legal limit on rent increate in SF?  Thanks.
        \_ What's the % slav-jew ethnicity of your landlord?
           \_ Hardy frickin' har.
        \_ 42
        \_ I thought that the rental market in SF crashed along with
           the .com boom.  Was that just for commercial property?
           If it also applies to residential property you should
           tell your landlord "Rent increase?  You on crack?  BYE" --PeterM
           \_ Rents are still way higher than they were even four years
              \_ I'm actually considering buying a house and collect rent to
              ago, so if you have been in a rent controlled apt, your
              rates are less than market.
              \_ I'm actually considering buying a house and collecting rent to
                 cover (part of) the mortgage, and I'm thinking whether I
                 should buy in SF or in the Fremont area.  Houses in SF seem to
                 appreciate faster, but because of rent control I might be
                 collecting much-lower-than-market rent 10 years down the road
                 if the tenant I find now doesn't move out by then.
                 \_ I wouldn't want to be a landlord in SF, unless it made
                    it possible for me to be a home-owner there.  You have
                    almost no rights, besides charging whatever the market
                    will bear when you have a vancancy.  Private property
                    means very little.
                    \_ Death to landlords!  You have an obligation to provide
                       affordable housing even if it means you're paying more
                       in property taxes than you're taking in in rent and
                       losing money.  Tax the rich til they aint rich no more!
                       \_ And yet landlords still find it profitable to
                          invest in San Francisco rental housing. Ain't
                          that  something?
                          \_ Nonsense.  As a SF landlord you're not allowed to
                             sell your property.  Clue up before opening mouth.
                 \_ Don't pay more for a mortgage than you are collecting
                    in rent. That is bad business. --dim
                    \_ But the higher the mortgage payment is, the faster the
                       interest goes down and the faster you pay off the
                       principle.  Doesn't this also apply to rental property?
                                   \- if you dont pay taxes on this rental
                                      income that could make a sizable diff
                                                             --psb
                       \_ Is this a troll? --dim
                 \_ Well, yeah, that is sort of the point of rent control,
                    isn't it? To stop out-of-town real estate speculators
                    from profiting from the housing shortage in SF.
                    \_ No.  Not at all.  Rent control is there to force private
                       property owners to subsidize the socialist system in SF.
                       If it wasn't for rent control, it wouldn't be such a
                       nightmare to find housing and the housing you'd find
                       would be better quality instead of the rat infested
                       closets you get now for an arm and two legs.
                       \_ Only if you'd made your millions on the tech
                          bubble.  Rent control exists to prevent landlords
                          from evicting tenants unreasonably and raising
                          rents to ridiculous levels in boom times.  Remove
                          rent control and the only place a middle-income
                          family could afford would be a rat-infested
                          closet costing an arm and a leg. --erikred
                          \_ do you have any real world examples of this?
                             on the other hand, high rents would encourage
                             greatly the creation of more housing, and with
                             rent control they have little incentive to
                             improve the buildings because they can't get
                             more rent than the other guys anyway.
                             \_ dont ask for evidence/proof of any hot button
                                socialist issues or you'll get censored.
                             \_ Don't you read newspapers?  I have seen quite
                                a few articles about this with interviews
                                with families.  I don't like rent control
                                though.  I like building more housing, but
                                there are a lot of vested interest,
                                bureaucratic hurdles that makes that
                                difficult.                      - !op
                             \_ Are you actually asking for real world examples
                                of places with expensive rents that do not have
                                rent control? How about Los Altos, Hermosa
                                Beach, Tiburon and The Hamptons. Somehow high
                                rents have not had the effect you claim in
                                those places.
                                \_ Rent control as a short term solution
                                   to housing problems is ok, but the
                                   real solution is building more housing.
                                   When no new housing is built and rent
                                   control drags on and on forever, it
                                   becomes a problem itself.  Newly built
                                   housing should not be under rent-
                                   control.
                                \_ You know what? You don't find many rat-
                                   infested closets in those places. It just
                                   means it's an expensive area...rent control
                                   cannot make an expensive area inexpensive.
                                   It just fucks things up in other ways.
                                   \_ But it does makes expensive areas
                                      inexpensive, for people who have lived
                                      in rent controlled apartments for a long
                                      time. I know a bunch of long time San
                                      Franciscans who would have had to move
                                      if they would have suffered rent
                                      increases like the market in the late
                                      90s. You can argue that is unfairly
                                      pushes the burden onto new tenants, but
                                      you cannot claim that it does not lower
                                      rents for most. Also, study what happened
                                      in Boston after rent control went away.
                                      Median rents went up much faster than
                                      inflation.
                                        \_ Basically what you are saying is
                                           that the owner and new tenants
                                           have to subsidize the "poor"
                                           people because they have a "right"
                                           to live in a nice neighborhood
                                           even though they can't afford to
                                           pay the fair market rate for that
                                           property. Yeah that sounds fair.
                                           I can understand if its someones
                                           fixed income grandma, but most of
                                           the the time its some luser arts
                                           major who can't get a job outside
                                           of food service because (s)he
                                           wasted four years in college taking
                                           worthless courses about envirno
                                           senitivity (subsidized by donations
                                           from eng. alumni) instead of
                                                \- berkeley funding is pretty
                                                   float you own boat so i
                                                   think you can to some extent
                                                   avoid funding the flakes.
                                                         --psb
                                           learning anything useful.
                                           \_ People shouldn't be suddenly
                                              thrown out of their homes
                                              because of wild market
                                              fluctuations caused by
                                              oppurtunistic speculators.
                                              Squatters are bad, but there
                                              having people evicted all of
                                              the time is a recipe for social
                                              instability and an increase
                                              in the homeless population.
                                              Rent control should prevent
                                              people from suddenly being
                                              booted, but it shouldn't
                                      \_ Restored!
                                              depress prices once someone
                                              moves out.
                repairs? That's bs. If some landlord was that strapped he'd have
                to sell his building, great. Traffic? The city is already
                                                 \_ I know this will sound
                                                    callous and insensitive
                                                    to you, but its an apt.
                                                    not a home. If you want
                                                    home buy one. If you don't
                                                    own it (and never will)
                                                    then its the same as a
                                                    motel and the owner can
                                                    and should be able to
                                                    raise the rates on you
                                                    in order to maximize his
                                                    roi on the property.
                                              \_ Step #1 - tenant gets notice
                                                           of rent increase.
                                                 Step #2 - tenant plans to move
                                                 Step #3 - tenant moves
                                                 I don't see where
                                                 "instability" steps into the
                                                 process of an adult planning
                                                 their future. If you have any
                expensive with bad traffic and I really don't think rent control
                is keeping that in check. Landlords with a bad record will have
                problems, well that's their own fault. I think you're over-
                estimating the magnitude of these bubbles. As for a retail
                shortage, actually it would just mean high retail prices. Which
                is again fine, if people are willing to pay for it, if not, let
                them go away.
                                                 illusions as to the
                                                 replacibility of people,
                                                 go visit a graveyard.
                                                 Letting markets work, works.
                             \_ Witness the numerous "family-member wants
                                to move in, so I'm evicting you" cases that
                                occurred in San Francisco circa 99-00 where
                                no such family member moved in and landlords
                                simply jacked up the rent.  Also, according
                                to Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board,
                                landlord can raise rents to reflect Capital
                                Improvements (Reg. 1267C).  There are lots
                                of things wrong with Rent Control, but
                                trusting the landlords to play fair doesn't
                                seem to work either.  Until we get a better
                                proposal, I'm for keeping it. --erikred
                                \_ what's so wrong with letting a landlord
                                   evict/raise rents? as long as they have
                                   to allow enough notice time. why do they
                                   owe you anything?
                                   \_ There is more to life than profit.
                                   \_ If all landlords raise rents to cash
                                      in on economic bubbles, the only ppl
                                      who will be able to live in a city will
                                      be families who bought houses early or
                                      ppl making money in the current boom.
                                      Small business owners and retail
                                      workers, already living on a small
                                      profit margins, will no longer be able
                                      to live in the city, making traffic
                                      worse or resulting in a shortage of
                                      retail services for the boomers.
                                      When the bubble bursts, prices will
                                      remain horribly inflated and no one
                                      will be able to afford them; land-
                                      lords will have to lower rents to
                                      compete with each other, lowering
                                      money available for repairs, and
                                      new tenants will be wary of signing
                                      leases with landlords with a rent-
                                      raising record.  It makes the whole
                                      system unstable. --erikred
                                      \_ Wisely spoken.
                                      \_ Acutually, stupid opportunistic
                                         landlords go out of business,
                                         and the system works as usual.
                                         If there was money available for
                                         making repairs before this bubble
                                         why would it not be there *after*
                                         the bubble?
                What you say doesn't make sense to me. Why would prices _/
                remain horribly inflated if no one could pay them? No money for
                repairs? That's bs. If some landlord was that strapped he'd
                have to sell his building, great. Traffic? The city is already
                expensive with bad traffic and I really don't think rent
                control is keeping that in check. Landlords with a bad record
                will have problems, well that's their own fault. I think
                you're over- estimating the magnitude of these bubbles. As for
                a retail shortage, actually it would just mean high retail
                prices. Which is again fine, if people are willing to pay for
                it, if not, let them go away.
                \_ Look what happend to those cities without rent control in
                   the 1970's: Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis, when people
                   just went away. Look at the cities with rent control:
                   Boston, New York and San Francisco. Which are better
                   off today? Societies have a vested interest in keeping
                   neighborhoods intact. I think this beats out a few
                   wealthy loudmouths complaining about not making more
                   money than they already are.
                   \_ uh, they were better off back then also. but also they
                      had more heavy industry that suffered nationwide.
                      keep in mind most people "make money off the current
                      boom." the wages of "little people" go up to cope.
                   \_ Agreed.  --erikred
                   \_ I will agree to the correlation, but the causal?
                      more data please.
        \_ What all of you are missing out in this SF rent control thing is
           the evils of the rent controlled tenant who sublets out rooms in
           the apartment for more money than the landlord is allowed to charge
           this primary tenant.  WTF makes it ok to let this one person make a
           profit off the land lord's property and efforts for doing nothing
           but sharing the same place they'd be sharing anyway if the land lord
           was allowed to control his own property?  Subletting out should be
           illegal and instantly force the property out of rent controlled
           status.
           \_ This is a lot of why I didn't vote for EE. --erikred
              Clarification:  subletting _with_ the permission of the landlord
              is fine.  The right to sublet against the landlord's wishes
              is not.  --erikred
2025/03/15 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
3/15    
Berkeley CSUA MOTD:2002:December:09 Monday <Sunday, Tuesday>