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Off Topic / Re: any oldheads still on this forum?
« on: February 28, 2020, 01:30:13 AM »
Guess I'm sort of here.
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Off Topic / How Many Computers do You Have, and What are They Running?
« on: January 11, 2020, 08:48:00 PM »
Saw this question elsewhere, and thought it'd bring it up here.
I have too many systems to properly keep track of by now (at least 10 currently running).
Mostly of my systems are servers running Fedora Linux, but I have one server running Debian and the firewall to my network is running pfsense (though I'm considering other options as I'm frustrated with the underlying FreeBSD system, especially its unscalable network stack).
I also have many systems that currently have no OS as they're not in use, or are in need of repair, including an IBM PS/2 type 8580 that is currently non-operational due to a damaged floppy drive.
I have too many systems to properly keep track of by now (at least 10 currently running).
Mostly of my systems are servers running Fedora Linux, but I have one server running Debian and the firewall to my network is running pfsense (though I'm considering other options as I'm frustrated with the underlying FreeBSD system, especially its unscalable network stack).
I also have many systems that currently have no OS as they're not in use, or are in need of repair, including an IBM PS/2 type 8580 that is currently non-operational due to a damaged floppy drive.
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Off Topic / Re: When Someone Says "I Have Some Old Computers"
« on: December 22, 2019, 12:22:04 AM »wowe, have fun with all that stuff
any particular machines of note?
The guy used to do repairs as well as building custom DVR solutions for surveillance systems.
It seems they really liked to over-build some of their systems.
I got a few prebuilt DVR boxes (a couple still had the GeoVision brown townog capture cards). Then a system with an Asus ROG Maximus VII Hero board, and another with with an Asus Z87-Pro board (and an extra of each board + and extra SFF Asus board of some sort) with various i7 and i5 CPUs.
A couple of them were old personal rigs. One with dual GTS 450s the other with a GTX 650 TI + an extra GTX 650 TI and a normal GTX 650. GPUs wasn't such a but haul, but that's fine.
I also got: a box of mixed DDR3 and CPUs, a couple of spare gigabit ethernet cards, a Rosewill 4U (I think, could be 3U) rackmount sever chassis (new in box), two boxes of assorted hard drives (mostly 500GBs, but a good few assorted 1-2TBs too, plus some larger), a minor assortment of Samsung and OCZ SSDs, a number of CoolerMaster 120mm case fans, assorted CCTV cameras (including one that's hilariously tiny), a CCTV power supply unit, two GeoVision brown townog CCTV network hosts, an assortment of spare 500-600W PSUs, a box of assorted optical drives, an eight port gigabit network switch, an Acer 1080p LCD screen to replace the aging Dell 16:10 screen that I've been using for forever, a four-port KVM switch, a USB 3.0 hub, a mixture of brackets, adapters, and cables, and a single OEM copy of Windows XP Professional.
I'm interested, you think you'll be able to show us some of the stuff you got from wherever you got it all from some day?
I'll take some pictures as I work on it a bit, for now, I'm still sorting it out.
i also hoard old machines
they make for perfect vps servers
I have a rack of actual server, so this isn't a problem for me.
You never know when you could use a spare machine, of a prototyping system though.
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Off Topic / When Someone Says "I Have Some Old Computers"
« on: December 21, 2019, 02:46:45 PM »
-And you leave with a truckload of machines, parts, drives, and old brown townog security equipment ranging in age from last decade to only a few generations old.
I have a boxes of hard drives ranging from less than 160GB to 2-4TB+.
I'm quite satisfied with this transaction.\
I can now safely pass out, as I haven't slept up to this point.
I have a boxes of hard drives ranging from less than 160GB to 2-4TB+.
I'm quite satisfied with this transaction.\
I can now safely pass out, as I haven't slept up to this point.
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Off Topic / Re: what's your worst injury (2019 edition)
« on: December 09, 2019, 01:15:26 PM »I put a forget load of micro-fractures up the right side of my right hand by punching things. Pinkie and Ring finger knuckle hurt to touch and move on a consistent basis.
Things I've punched:
Dry Wall
My monitor
PS3
Wood Log
Metal barrel
Concrete wall
Bed
200 IQ. Will most likely regret everything I've punched when I turn 30.
You're punching wrong. One of the first things they teach you if you're learning to fight is to angle your punch so you never hit with your fingers or ring/pinkie knuckles.
You keep the knuckles of your index and tertiary fingers lined up with the bones of your wrist and arm, that way you're absorbing the force using your strongest bones and causing yourself the least amount of damage.
I punch things like walls, doors, metal carts, etc. all the time and it hurts bad if you hit at the wrong angle. I've punched my knuckles bloody before, and there are dents in the back of a metal door to serve as a reminder of this.
Anyway, I've never personally had anything bad enough that I had to go to the hospital or anything, but I've accidentally sliced my hands open on many occasions.
I once slipped with a very sharp knife and sliced the side of my thumb wide open. I probably should have gotten stitches for it, but doctors are expensive. I didn't even go when it got infected, I just used some antibiotics we had from when the dad cut off the tip of one of his fingers off at work. I still have the scar.
Interestingly enough, once it had stopped bleeding, I took a closer look at it, and could see where I had almost cut into a blood vessel, so it was almost way worse than it was.
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Off Topic / Re: Linux is absolute trash, and the community is made up of entitled liars.
« on: November 22, 2019, 06:06:11 PM »On a side note, it is true that Linux is great for programmers. Almost all Linux distros have common build tools like GCC (a C compiler) and all useful libraries for it that are so easy and convenient to install (compared to Windows). Installing a C/C++ library on Ubuntu is simply a matter of typing in a command, whereas in Windows you have to jump through many hoops to do so. Linux also has vim, which by some is considered to be the best text editor that has ever existed. Linux also has the best C debugger (gdb) and a suite of tools for memory brown townysis (valgrind).
I'd like to quickly point out that a distinction shout be made between 'gcc' (the command), and "GCC" (the toolchain).
Yes 'gcc', when referring to the command, refers to the 'GNU C Compiler' and can be called directly from the terminal to compile C code. However "GCC" (written as all caps) typically refers to the "GNU Compiler Collection", which can include (depending on the package implementation), not only 'gcc', but also 'g++' (the C++ compiler), 'gfortran' (a Fortran Compiler), 'gdb' (the aforementioned debugger), and a number of other libraries and programming front ends, tools, and utilities.
Just clarification an case anyone gets confused, because it is a bit confusing.
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Off Topic / Re: Sometime All it Takes is to Say Something
« on: November 17, 2019, 02:26:32 PM »
While a nice thought, they're in another state, and I don't think they're hiring (or at least there's nowhere to put in an application).
While I could live with a telecommute job, they're also using Windows servers, as evident by the fact they're running Microsoft SQL Sever and IIS.
Even when I had machines running Windows, I never really used them to host anything. I only ever used Windows for user machines, especially since I never exactly had a copy of Windows Sever Edition lying around that I could play around with (and I did actually want a copy). The few times I did experiment with using Windows as a host OS, I still never played with IIS or MSSQL (Actually I've never needed to use SQL in general, but I should be implementing logins into my personal site soon, so I'll get to figure it out then).
Maybe if I convinced them to switch to nginx as their web server, but even that seems like a stretch.
While I could live with a telecommute job, they're also using Windows servers, as evident by the fact they're running Microsoft SQL Sever and IIS.
Even when I had machines running Windows, I never really used them to host anything. I only ever used Windows for user machines, especially since I never exactly had a copy of Windows Sever Edition lying around that I could play around with (and I did actually want a copy). The few times I did experiment with using Windows as a host OS, I still never played with IIS or MSSQL (Actually I've never needed to use SQL in general, but I should be implementing logins into my personal site soon, so I'll get to figure it out then).
Maybe if I convinced them to switch to nginx as their web server, but even that seems like a stretch.
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Off Topic / Sometime All it Takes is to Say Something
« on: November 16, 2019, 03:47:39 PM »
Remember the post I made a few days ago about the website with terrible security?
So after poking around their system a but more (and accidentally shutting down one of their databases using SQL injection), I decided to make another attempt to contact them and warn them about the issues with their security.
I managed to find the number for their support desk and I called it.
Amazingly, I immediately got a real person! (I was so shocked I just stood there in disbelief for a few seconds before saying anything.)
So I told them that there was an issue with security and that I wanted to speak with someone from their IT staff. Their tone instantly became one of concern, and they went to find the person I needed to speak with.
Unfortunately the person I needed wasn't available, but they told me where to send an email and assured me that they would get it where it needed to go (Yes I was skeptical of that too).
So I wrote an email giving a detailed description of my concerns and the issues I had encountered.
I waited a couple days to hear back. But finally, I got a reply.
After receiving this I waited a few more days for the issues to be resolved.
Today when I checked, they had disabled all but TLSv1.2 (Unfortunately, the sever they're running doesn't currently support TLSv1.3.), and the SQL injection code, no longer worked.
This is the sort of thing I love to see.
While I wouldn't say that they fixed everything, this is certainly a step in the right direction.
All it took, was for someone to speak up.
So after poking around their system a but more (and accidentally shutting down one of their databases using SQL injection), I decided to make another attempt to contact them and warn them about the issues with their security.
I managed to find the number for their support desk and I called it.
Amazingly, I immediately got a real person! (I was so shocked I just stood there in disbelief for a few seconds before saying anything.)
So I told them that there was an issue with security and that I wanted to speak with someone from their IT staff. Their tone instantly became one of concern, and they went to find the person I needed to speak with.
Unfortunately the person I needed wasn't available, but they told me where to send an email and assured me that they would get it where it needed to go (Yes I was skeptical of that too).
So I wrote an email giving a detailed description of my concerns and the issues I had encountered.
I waited a couple days to hear back. But finally, I got a reply.
After receiving this I waited a few more days for the issues to be resolved.
Today when I checked, they had disabled all but TLSv1.2 (Unfortunately, the sever they're running doesn't currently support TLSv1.3.), and the SQL injection code, no longer worked.
This is the sort of thing I love to see.
While I wouldn't say that they fixed everything, this is certainly a step in the right direction.
All it took, was for someone to speak up.
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Off Topic / Re: (Rant and PSA) God No: How Not to Internet Security
« on: November 10, 2019, 12:07:56 AM »
The EU's GDPR was created to help prevent just such issues, however due to the fact that the company is based exclusively in the US, and the US generally lacks any similar legislation, it's not required of them to provide the proper protections to their users.
US data protection laws are forgeted.
US data protection laws are forgeted.
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Off Topic / (Rant and PSA) God No: How Not to Internet Security
« on: November 09, 2019, 08:43:54 PM »
Today I went to file an application for a new job (Yes I'm still on that).
However, when I went to do so, I noticed something concerning.
I can forgive the company for offloading job applications to a third part. I've seen that before.
I can forgive the crappy 1998 web design of the third party's site.
What I can't forgive is the fact that they are exclusively using outdated, weak, and insecure encryption methods (TLS version 1.0 and earlier) to secure the channel they're using to transmit personal information including full names, work history, and even Social Security Numbers!
My personal site has far better security, and it cost me nothing to set it up!
There is no excuse!
Needless to say, I didn't apply for that job.
I sent a message to the email listed under the domain's whois, and I even contacted the home office of the company to inform them of the issue with the third party handling their employee's information.
A reminder to everyone:
Always check, before sending any personal information over the internet anywhere, that the page your using is not only secured, but secured using protocols that aren't horrendously obsolete.
(I will not point to the offending domain, as I want to give them a chance to respond and correct the issue.)
However, when I went to do so, I noticed something concerning.
I can forgive the company for offloading job applications to a third part. I've seen that before.
I can forgive the crappy 1998 web design of the third party's site.
What I can't forgive is the fact that they are exclusively using outdated, weak, and insecure encryption methods (TLS version 1.0 and earlier) to secure the channel they're using to transmit personal information including full names, work history, and even Social Security Numbers!
My personal site has far better security, and it cost me nothing to set it up!
There is no excuse!
Needless to say, I didn't apply for that job.
I sent a message to the email listed under the domain's whois, and I even contacted the home office of the company to inform them of the issue with the third party handling their employee's information.
A reminder to everyone:
Always check, before sending any personal information over the internet anywhere, that the page your using is not only secured, but secured using protocols that aren't horrendously obsolete.
(I will not point to the offending domain, as I want to give them a chance to respond and correct the issue.)
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Off Topic / Re: C or Go
« on: November 09, 2019, 12:27:56 AM »anyway needless to say choose C. go is a google thing which means they'll stop supporting it in five yearsExcept for the fact that now the language has a specification and a userbase, so now it's entirely out of their hands.
Look at Objective-C. Apple has been trying to push people to transition away from it for years now, but people already know it, and the specification exists.
Hell there's an Objective-C compiler as an official part of the GCC and LLVM toolchains!
Once a programming language has been described in an official capacity, it's not as simple as dropping support for it. If it where, we probably wouldn't still have Cobol or Fortran compilers.
Go's not going anywhere, any time soon.
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Off Topic / Re: C or Go
« on: November 08, 2019, 12:56:42 AM »if you don't think the platform will run python why would it have a go compiler homie........... C is practically the only language that's a given on any architectureThe issue isn't in assuming if it can run python, but that python will even be present on the system.
You can always cross compile, but this program should be able to execute in even a minimal environment.
Also, I should mention, there's a go compiler for the gcc toolchain, so any system that can run gcc can, in theory, compile go.
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Off Topic / Re: C or Go
« on: November 08, 2019, 12:41:49 AM »neither: pythonThis wouldn't be a great choice, for a number of reasons.
If I were building a high-level user utility where I wanted to be able to build it quickly, or if I were writing heavy automation, or back-end scripting for a website, or any number of uses where execution speed isn't necessarily the highest concern, then python would be a great choice.
Really, it's just not as conducive to what I'm doing. It's absolutely possible to do it in python, and I have, in fact, seen it done, but the only way to make it practical would either be to use a JIT compiler, which I can't assume the target environment will have (I can't even assume it will have python), or to compile to a binary, which, while possible isn't something that is quite as straightforward in python.
Meanwhile there are plenty of other languages that will work great for what I want to do, without making assumptions about the target environment, or messing about with any of the slue of python compilers that exist in various states of functionality.
It's more of a "right tool for the job" situation where python is concerned.