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I think so.If someone started stealing kernel code, i think IBM (who have donated a great deal of code, and its own developers to linux) might step in and throw its weight around a little.But it will cost the writers of software such as LAME to sue SONY.And sony can afford better lawyers.Also, it will be very hard to sue for damages, since things like LAME as free asin BEER aswell as SPEACH.Sony are beeing the bood guys by helping end users to break DRM protected media, but there beeing bad guys by stealing code to do so.My Thinks sony is beeing tempted by the DARK side ???Trying to be good, but taking shortcuts by beeing evil.Is Sony a modern day Anakin Skywalker ???

As you may or may not know, SONY has released a Anti- DRM root kit. Allowing home users to remove copy protection and other nasties on media they own legally. However, it seems that Open source programmers have been analysing the Closed Source Software, and found that it contains many functions and lines of code stolen directly from open source projects such as LAME (an Mp3 encoder) and deCSS ( de-crypts DVD video) The Open Source Licences these projects are released by allow anyone to use the code, however they demand that any modifications of the code, of programs directly using the code be makde free and open themselves. SONY's rootkit is NOT open source. Linkage: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Linkage: http://hack.fi/~muzzy/sony-drm/ The Legal issues here are complicated.... But what wbout the moral issues ??? These Open source developers have not lost any money, as they were giving the code away for free. However, the programs are free, under the condition that any further work done to them is given back to the comunity. Are there any legal experts here at Xisto ? Is anyone familiar with the GPL ? I have no doubt that SONY and First4Internet will get away with this theft. But i think in all fairness, SONY should be forced to change the licence of this software from its own Closed Source licence, to an OpenSource Licence. Not the whole rootkit, just the specific parts containg the Stolen Code. Alot of reverse engeneering and work must have been done to find the stolen code in a closed souce binary program !! Which gets me thinking, How often is open source code stolen by huge major companys, and never discovered.

Im my limited experiance, windows XP can generally survive even the most insane hardware changes.In desperation before i discovered rescue disks like knoppix, i often removed hard disks with working versions of windows on them, and put them on completely alien machines and sucessfully booted them.So i dont see why your "ghost images" could not be used on differant machines.The "Found New Hardware" Window goes insane, and you have to keep clicking "next" untill you have RSI (not literally)but it works.I wouldnt dare try somthing like this on a mission critical server, or a machine using a RAID array.

"nc" is netcat.its just like the program "cat" except it reads and writes to network sockets instead of files.simlar to telnet, except it treats all data passed through it as raw binary data.you couldnt use telnet to pass a disk through a network, it would interpret things like EOF EOL \n \r \0 as ends of lines files etc etc and corrupt the filesystem.I often use netcat to transfere files across networks when i cant be bothered to setup an ftp server or samab.Plus, telnet is useless for pipeing. ntcat pipes beautifully.you can send / recieve to console, keyboard, files, or piped onto other programs.

I think thats the best feedback ive ever had ! Dont you just love the black arts of Unix piped scripts. With all the GUI's around today, people tend to think your performing miracles by pipeing programs together. Windows has all these fancy programs to backup disk images, make virtual CD's etc etc etc. and all you need is 'cat' and 'gzip' piped together.. (possably with 'netcat' to add a pimp factor )

Here's what i do (like everything else computer related, involves the use of *nix) You will need, either a space disk (or some free space on a spare disk) or a second computer. Install Windows, with service packs and all, get it in a perfect state. then take a snapshot of the disk image. If you have 2 computers......... # boot linux on both machines (use a rescue disk like knoppix)# on the machine you with to keep the backup run...nc -l 6666 > /mnt/backupDisk/WindowsSnapShot.iso.gz#this will start a server listening to port 6666 tcp, and save all data that comes through.# on the machine you want to packup, run the commandcat /dev/hda1 | gzip -c | nc IpAddressOfOtherMachine 6666#this will read all of the windows disk, pipe it to a compression program (gzip) then sind it accross the network to the manchine holding the backup.#OR, if you have a spare disk.... (e.g. /dev/hdb1)#you can create the dsk image more simply withcat /dev/hda1 | gzip -c > /mnt/hdb1/WindowsSnapShot.iso.gzWhen windows becomes corrupt, and needs backing p from this disk image, all you need to do isgzip -c WindowsSnapShot.iso.gz > /dev/hda1good old *nix :) [/code]

You do not need to program to make a new distro. however, for the sake of answering your question..... Linux itself is written in C and Assembly. GNU is written mostly in C. Libraries are written in C and C++ (QT is written in C++, GTK i believe is C) Boot scripts are USUALLY written in Bash Script, but there is no reason you couldnt use some other scripting language To create a differant distro, here's what you need to do.... 1) Decide on a package management system. You can use a currently existing system such as RPM, Debian PKG, Gentoo's Portage, or Slackware's TGZ. Alternativly, you could choose to have no package management system, and the user will needto compile everything from source (similar to Linux From Scratch) OR Ideally, Program your own package management system (the language of your choice) 2) The Kernel.... Most distro's patch the vanilla linux kernel. For example, Gentoo has many krnels available, some patched to be optimised towards desktop use, some optimised for server use. You need to decide on what makes your distro differant / beter than other distro's and patch the kernel accordingly. For example, you may decide that disk IO is more important that disk reliability on your distro, so you may want to patch your kernel with the experimental file system Reiser4. Alternativly, you could use the kernel from anouther distro, for example the Gentoo kernel for performance, or the Redhat kernel for a more server oriented kernel. Alternativly, you could just use the un-patched vanilla linux kernel from kernel.org 3) Boot scripts. Many disto's use differant methods for selecting what scripts are executed dureing boot up. Slackware just executes every script that has executable permissions. Redhat / Fedora executes every script that has a symbolic link in the runlevel folder. Gentoo uses a tool called rc-update, Either use a currently existing method, or create your own method. 4) Create an Install CD. This doesnt have to be complicated. a simple install CD could be a simpl bootable CD, that just coppies a default install folder to the root of the hard disk, and installs GRUB to the MBR. Their are2 reasons i can think of for creating a distro... 1) for fun and learning 2) because there are no distro's that work exactly the way you like. For help getting started, you may want to look at Linux From Scratch. http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ this is a book with step by step instructions on how to start with a completely empty hard disk, and download and compile a full linux distro. the end result is a completely customised, lightning fast minimal distro. then books like Beyond Linux From Scratch will help you turn this into a full OS with all the features of any top quality distro. Many people create there own distro's using LFS as a base to work from. Enjoy.

so adsl-setup didnt work ???

Ahh, so now we have yet anouther question to ask Blix.Is his *modem* a plain ADSL modem, or an ADSL modem and router ???I assumed that he does not have a router because he mentioned needing to enter his broadband username and password on his computer, in the config files.when one uses a broasband router, it is the router that needs the passwords and usernames.Wether or not he has a router built into his modem is very important in terms of configuration.a dedicated broadband modem requires the modem to be configured as a PPPoE interface.if he has internet shareing router, then the network card needs to be configured as an ethernet device.PPPoE and ethernet are two very very differant protocols.

Also, noone has yet to mention portability.C++ is very portable.C++ can be used to code Windows, Linux, Unix, PlayStation, XBox, Virtually anything with a processor.C# is a microsoft invention, and will only work on MS platforms nativly.

Its not that simple. Linux by default will configure network cards to be interfaces to an Ethernet. however ADSL modems to not provide ethernet acees to the network card. they provide a PPP (Point to Point Protocol) interface. so you need to configure the card to use PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet) its not as simple as copying default gateways, and DNS IPs.

Is there not a pre-compiled version on your install CD's ?What distro are you using ? i know there are pre-compiled RPM's avaiable for RPM based distro's.to compile software, rread the README and INSTALL files.they will probably give the usual instuctions,./confgure && make && make install.

Im sure they are probably many ways of setting up and using aDSL. Especially now broadband is so popular. So many different people and tutorials may give differant advice. I havent setup ADSL for a long time, so my method may not be the best, but here is how i did it a few years back. I used the program rp-pppoe this may already be installed, try to run the commands "adsl-start, adsl-status, and adsl-stop." as root. if you get a command not found error, then you need to unstall it first, the porgram can be downloaded from http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Alternativly, the program may also bo on your install CD's you will need to know the following things... 1) Your broadband username and password 2) <possably> your broadband DNS server IP. (this is often auto-detected) then run the following commands.... adsl-setup<enter your settingsadsl-setup (again)<enter your broadband password><enter more network settings> you can now start and stop the broadband with the commands /sbin/ifup ppp0 (connect to broadband)/sbin/ifdown ppp0 ( disconect ) Like i said earlyer, this is the old way of doing it, there may be a better graphical way with newer linux distro's. but i hope it should still work for you.

Thankyou ;)I dont think anyone has ever given me such good feedback from a post.Welcome to Xisto.

How is the modem connected to your machine ?USB or Ethernet ?

Its got nothing to do with forking. Its got nothing to do with Multi-users. And windows IS a multi-tasking OS. and the time seen by the user is CPU cycles required divided by CPU speed. cpu cycles required is a very good measurement, because it is not effected by CPU load, nor other things that would interere with a clock method of timing. again you misunderstand. with a 3Ghz cpu, 700,000 cpu cycles is only a tiny tiny fraction of a secong... As is 5 million cycles. this is not a performance benchmark. just an indication of kernel sophistication.

You dont seem to understand what is being said. The Linux kernel can start a new processor thread in that many cpu cycles. No matter wether you are loading the echo command, or HalfLife-2, a process thread is a process thread is a process thread as far as the kernel is concerned. Half-Life2 process will take no longer to start than a simple echo command in terms of cpu cycles. you are confusing process starting, with program and resource loading

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Be sure to download and read th actual 40 page report. MS compares WindowsXP sp2 to GNU/Linux and FreeBSD, and in many tests, Windows loses. Example of one instance... Number of CPU cycles required to start and run a new process.. Linux: 719,000 FreeBSD: 1,032,000 WindowsXP SP2 5,376,000 When i have some free time and i finish the report, ill post back with some more comparasons.

A few days ago i was wondering why the portage tree wasnt indexed for fast seaching (similar to slocate) And there it was all along, eix. Ive been using gentoo for years, and im still learning new things thanks for that.

Its not that i dont like BSD,Its just that Gentoo Linux has all my my favorite FreeBSD features, none of linux annoyances, nor BSD issues with nvidia.(why would Nvidia develop x86 and x86_64 frivers for Linux, but only x86 for FreeBSD ???)Anyways thanks... I expect sooner or later a BSD guru will hopefully show up and tell me where i went wrong

I will start off by admiting that i am Biased towards Gentoo. However, i dont have many negative tings to say about FreeBSD, so i suppose thats a huge compliment to the FreeBSD developers. What seperates Gentoo (my favorite linux distro) from toher linux distro's is the package management system (portage). Which i know is inspireed from the FreeBSD packege management system Ports. So i decided to give FreeBSD a try (just incase i was a BSD user stuck in a linux users body) Portage vs Ports... I liked the way FreeBSD Ports uses make for most things that gentoo has a sperate prgram (emerge) for. For example, to search for, and install a program such as gaim... Gentoo emerge -s gentoo<printed program list of packegs with gaim in the name>emerge gaim FreeBSD cd /usr/portsmake search name=gaim<printed list of gaim programs, and paths>cd <gaim's ports path>makemake install Using "Make" has a much more unix feel to it all. (and yes, the make scripts take care of dependency's just like emerge does in gentoo) Pro FreeBSD points: Searching the ports Free is lightning fast! running a portage search into gentoo takes upto 5 seconds. Also, pre-compiled binary's were more available for FreeBSD. Those with slower CPU's and Internet connections dont need to spend all day downloading and compiling thigs like Xorg or KDE / Gnome. Pro Gentoo Points: some packages have differant compile options, for example audio programs can be configured With or without support for different formats, like CS's m3's ogg vorbis, midi, flac etc etc. with gentoo, these preferances are all stored in USE flags, and done automatically. with FreeBSD, a menu screen is poped up before package compilation with checkk boxes. The FreeBSD system is easyer that configureing USE flags, but is a minor inconvinience having to set them each time, i prefer gentoo's automated method. Although Both FreeBSD and gentoo have similar boot scripts, After installing Xorg and Gnome GDM, i could not find a pre-written boot script for graphical startup. in gentoo, all daemons and services come with a boot script which can be added to a rn level with the command "rc-update" In FreeBSD i had to write my own Graphical Login Boot script. There was also virtually zero help on doing this on-line. The FreeBSD website listen my hardware as compatable with FreeBSD-6 amd64. However my dmesg logs are fill of "nve0: timeout" "nve0: link down" "nve0: link up" nve0 is my nForce-3 network card. Networkin works fine, but my logs are getting full of these errors. Also, im having alot of trouble getting my sound cad to work. Attempts at running the media player causes the system to crash. And through no fault of there own, Nvidia have not released an Amd64 Graphcs driver. however, the Xorg nv open source GeForce driver is very vry very smooth, but unfortunatly, takes upto 28 seconds to switch from Xorg to a console by hitting Ctrl+Alt+F1 so, in conclusion, i will be sticking with Gentoo, but FreeBSD was very impressive. I will be keeping it installed on my system, and will continue to attempt to get sound and networking working correctly.

no not at all. all opinions and critisism is welcome here. Infact i would agree with everything you said. Currently, there is a debate between the linux kernel developers. It has been surgested that Linux should contains a stable, binary driver API. basically, what this means, is linux would contain a layer that would allow hardware manufacturers to write a single linux driver for there devices, that would work on any linux version. This would have good points and bad points, The good point, would mean that like windows, all hardware could be supported. Some hardware manufacturers dont like Open sourcing there code, The dont want to put the money into maintaining a linux driver, and they dont bother properly documenting there hardware. Which is why there is no driver support for complicated hardware like winModems. The bad point world bo stability. Drivers run at the kernel level. A bad driver has the ability to crash your whole system. Many times when MS windows crashes, its not MS's fault at all, but the fault of a buggy driver. Linux is currently imune to such issues because the kernel developers write all the drivers. If hardware companys were allowed to wrtie drivers, Linux would suffer the same instability risks that wiondows does. Even though that Driver layer would eliminate the number one linux critisism (hardware support) It looks like the kernel developers (and definatly linux himself) will decide to keep hardware manufacturers out of the kernel. Linux doesnt want hardware companys to open their source, or to write there own drivers, it wants them to properly document the hardware, so that linux kernel developers can write their own drivers. I like the way linux chooses hardware incompatability, rather than isk instability.

Managed to boot with... Seems there must be a mistake in the FreeBSD documentation. The correct Code to boot BSD is.... rootnoverify (hd0,2)makeactivechainloader +1boot the makeactive line was missing.

Ive downloaded the latest FreeBSD-6.0 for amd64. All MD5's passed. Hardware... CPU: Athlon64 3400+ Socket 754 Ram: 2 * 512 Kingston ValueRam DDR400 (DoubleSided) Chipset: nForce3-250 Motherboard: Asus K8N (Bios 1006.001) Partiton setup: 1: Windows - 20Gb (FAT32) 2: Linux root (XFS) 3: FreeBSD 3a: FreeBSD root 3b: FreeBSD swap 4: Linux Swap 5: boot (reiserFS) HoldsGRUB filesand Linux kernel. Attempting to boot with Grub using both of the following commands... (from grub) root (hd0,2,a)kernel /boot/loaderboot rootnoverify (hd0,2)chainloader +1boot Both give the same result. The FreeBSD boot sceen shows, and presents several boot options including (Boot FreeBSD (default) single user, Safe mode, etc etc. and a timer counts down from 9. when it hits 0, or when i select any of the boot option numbers, the system freeses. It will not boot. the FreeBSD website said my hardware is supported, the install process went fine.. i dont know what do do ? is this a bug ?

Its called Dual Booting.There are some good tutorials out there.Search google or linuxquestions.orgBasically, if you choose to use Mandrivia, Just download it, burn to a CD, and then install it by booting the CD.Mandrivia's installer Can *shrink* the windows drive C:\ to make space for Linux.Mandrivia will also setup dual booting automatically.When you are finished, when you turn on your computer, a screen shows up with a menu showing "Linux" and "Windows" you simply select which one you want to boot.its all very simple.