All Eric, All The Time
ComputerTech
Just Say No To SOPA
Jan 17th
“In 2012, I will only support candidates who stand for Internet freedom and who oppose the PROTECT IP Act and SOPA. I will work against any candidate, of any party, who votes to censor and stifle the Internet.”
Vote For The Net, Don’t Censor The Net, End Piracy, Not Liberty.
We need your help to stop a serious threat to the Internet. The House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act would censor the Internet and create massive legal uncertainty and regulation for websites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook — not to mention killing emerging mobile and social startups before they get off the ground. SOPA’s regulations leave any website with user-contributed content — that’s pretty much all of social media — no choice but to pre-screen their site’s content for copyright violations, effectively killing them. Court orders may even require DNS providers to block certain websites. Who decides what’s infringing, and which sites you can and can’t visit?
Vote For The Net, Don’t Censor The Net, End Piracy, Not Liberty.
Today, Wednesday 18th, 2012. You will find many big name sites shut down in protest of the 2 bills in congress mentioned above. The trouble with these bills, is that in a desire to protect intellectual property rights, these bills restrict the liberty of everyone else.
It’s unfortunate that the entertainment industry has taken to punishing it’s own customer base as a means of retaining the profits of their dying medium. They have failed to realize, that it’s all shareware now, and have failed to think outside the box to create new financial opportunity. You don’t blame your customer base for your failure…
Vote For The Net, Don’t Censor The Net, End Piracy, Not Liberty.
Playstation Network
Jun 26th
I’m not really that much of a gamer (aside from the original Unreal Tournament), but the wife is.
We have our PS3, connected to the net, and to Playstation Network.
Is it my imagination that they send out updates on a monthly basis ?
It seems like every time she log’s in, there’s a firmware update…
How I keep a clean Linux/Win dual boot
Jun 11th
I read an article on Raidens Realm this morning, about how updating Windows broke someone’s dual boot laptop. I sympathize completely, I can’t count how many times I’ve been disappointed in how Windows handles even the most basic of admin/maintenance tasks. Not that I’m some guru, but I do like to have control over my machine.
Now, this isn’t going to be a tutorial, but just a quick overview of how I keep Windows happy, while enjoying the benefits of my favorite Linux distro. This is on my desktop machine, but can probably be replicated on a laptop with an external drive.
What I’ve done is setup multiple drives, but I control the boot sequence via the BIOS.
I’ve install Windows 7 on the primary drive, Linux on the secondary drive, and a large storage drive.
Step by Step – very simple…
1) Preformat your drives – I use Parted Magic as my tool box.
- primary(Win), NTFS
- secondary(Linux), ext4, swap,
- tertiary(Storage), NTFS
Obviously you can define your Linux drive as you desire.
2) In the BIOS, set the boot sequence to boot to the primary drive, install Windows as normal. Set all personal libraries to appropriate directories on the storage drive.
3) In the BIOS, set the boot sequence to boot to the secondary drive, install Linux, Set the GRUB boot sector to this drive, DO NOT put it on the Windows drive. GRUB will recognize Windows and add it to the boot list.
4) In Linux, install NTFS config, set it to automount the storage drive, but leave the Windows drive alone. Linux will save all your setting to the /home directory on it’s drive, but you can save all your user files to the storage drive.
That’s it, now when doing a Windows update, reset the boot sequence to boot to the Windows drive. it will make all the necessary changes and will not touch the GRUB boot sector, then just set the boot sequence back to the secondary drive when done.
Clean, no conflicts, and Windows can’t screw it up…
Win7 and the onboard LAN
Sep 26th
So apparently, taking the lan card out and activating the onboard lan is a no no…
I had to reactivate win 7 today…
But I couldn’t just do it online, I had to call the toll free number, and recite a litany of numerals to the computer, so that it could recite 7 sets of six digits back to me to enter into the activation window.
Ummm… WTF !!!!
It’s just a minor change ?
OK, I get Microsoft wanting to make sure the the software isn’t pirated, but to inconvenience the end user in this way is just obnoxious…
