[extropy-chat] Commentary: Does Karl Schroeder's opinion reallymatter?

Thu Apr 27 14:34:21 UTC 2006

On 4/26/06, Brian Atkins <brian at posthuman.com> wrote:
>
> Oh, one other thing - stop using Internet Explorer if you commonly browse
> with it, and make sure you keep up to date on your Windows patches,
> including Office software patches.

"Like, Oh My Gawd!" you are still using Windows?!?  (said in my best
val-girl voice).

As noted on several discussions on /. -- given the current frequency of
attacks on the web it is difficult to do a new install and download the
patches and do the upgrades *before* your machine becomes infected.  This is
not simply a Windows problem -- I had an open sshd server for a few days and
there were at least 2 attempts of "general" login cracking (throwing a
variety of "common" user names at the machine) during that period (one from
Russia and one from China).  The machine is also port scanned (looking for
communication ports which have possibly unpatched security holes) every
couple of days.  These attempts come from all around the world.  Security
counts!  (You think we have problems now... just think of what happens when
the "F"AI cracks the security protocols for your body emplaced nanorobots.)

I've been using Linux 2.6.12+ and Firefox almost exclusively for 5+ months
now [1] and it works fine.  I've even got Windows 2K running under
"Parallels" [2] in a virtual machine (VM) under Linux though I'm working on
moving to Xen which is open source.  The Parallels solution is good in many
situations because though you can connect it to the network and anything
that you "pick up" by accident can only cause a problem with the virtual
machine.  If you've got large hard drives you just make a copy of the entire
VM disk (takes minutes to copay a 1-1.5GB fully installed C: partition).  If
Windows picks up a bad bug you just copy the "pure" post-install C:
partition back onto the corrupted one.  You have to be a little clever about
this as you don't want to store any work files, etc. on the C: partition
since you may need to overwrite it.  In this case you simply do something
like email your data to your gmail account (offsite backup) or store it on a
USB Flash Drive (got a great deal on a 2 GB flash drive which can store
anything but large #'s of music/video files which can be mounted under both
Linux & Parallels). [3]

Alternatively, you *can* use Wine under Linux instead of Parallels or Xen.
This provides Windows emulation which will work fine for most Windows
programs.  You can run them directly off of an installed C: partition on
your disk (something you can't do currently with Parallels).  There are a
few programs where the Windows emulation is still lacking but Wine
development is moving very quickly.

Obviously Linux, Firefox & Wine/Xen are open source, are "*free*! as in
beer, and from the "security bug" perspective are likely to have fewer bugs
or have them fixed more quickly -- at least if you believe Eric Raymond's "With
enough eyes, all bugs are shallow" argument.  For people who have never
"dabbled" in Linux before, I started with Gentoo which has a good package
managment system and extensive documentation -- but Ubuntu seems to have a
much easier installation process for the novices (its being engineered for
non-technical people so it really has to be).

Also for those who don't want to "switch" over right away, you can now run
Linux from a variety of "LiveCD"s meaning you don't have to deal with
changes to your drive configuration until you decide you like it. [4]

Robert

1. I'm not a UNIX "newbie" as I first started using the *real* UNIX in
1974.  I used Unix and/or Linux for server applications since the mid-'90s
but this is my first long-term use of Linux as a desktop machine on
relatively robust hardware.
2. Parallels costs ~$50 which is tolerable vs. VMWare which costs ~$200.
3. While Linux 2.6 will run on *old* machines (I've got it on a 75MHz
Pentium with 96MB of memory), if you want to run X-windows, Firefox or
virtual machines you need at least mid-range Pentium 3 or 4 and a minimum of
512MB of memory (1GB *much* better).  Firefox, if you leave it running for a
couple of days and visit a lot of pages *will* eat memory and eventually
drive the machine into the ground (Windows or Linux).  But if you regularly
restart it there will not be any problems.  (This is a fundamental
architectural problem that they are aware of, and fingers-crossed, will
hopefully be fixed sometime this year.)  [Also as a personal plug -- if you
are thinking about new machines -- seriously look at something with AMD
processor(s) -- AMD is very much ahead of the curve compared with Intel
IMO.  AMD's open hypertransport protocol is allowing DRC in the UK to design
FPGA processors which can do lots of things [5,6,7] in muti-socket AMD
motherboards better than the general purpose processors can.)
4. I'm happy to answer questions on this via email since its rather a
technical discussion for the ExI list (Subject change presumably required at
least).
5. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/21/drc_fpga_module/print.html
6. http://www.drccomputer.com/pages/company.html
7. Of course various people may ask why do I want a FPGA coprocessor in my
multi-socket AMD motherboard?  Obviously to run molecular modeling
simulations for nanorobot parts that you have designed (a much more useful
activity timewise than say rebuilding motorcycles, hanging out in virtual
worlds, etc.).  Now of course if you've hacked the processors on your PS3 to
run the simulations as well and have them cooperating with you PC
((Cell+GPU) <--> (AMD+DRC)) you have a *real* kick-ass setup at home.  Gives
one real justification for going out and getting a very large HDTV to have
running the nanopart simulations on when family or friends come over for
Thanksgiving or Christmas.
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