• rc primak

    rc primak

    @rc-primak

    Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 4,361 total)
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    • in reply to: Mac mini setup — KVM update #2752790

      Upon reviewing my notes, it appears this issue with HDCP is in the monitor inputs for HDMI signals, not in the PCs themselves. HP says HDCP is present in nearly all monitors sold in the US which have 1040p and above resolutions.

      Any incoming HDMI signals which lack HDCP won’t be displayed on most high resolution monitors. I have encountered this issue with nearly all PC outputs, and all outputs from HDMI splitters except for one splitter.

      If you record directly to a USB device, you won’t encounter HDCP issues. (USB doesn’t necessarily have HDCP.)  Other display inputs, like Displayport, VGA and DVI don’t necessarily have HDCP, so this is not an issue. But if you try to display captured video directly to a monitor’s HDMI inputs, there’s a fair chance it won’t display.

      Video capture cards sold in the US can’t capture video with HDCP encoding. (That’s a legal requirement in the US.) This includes the HDMI output signals from PCs running most modern OSes.

      Sorry if this is a bit off-topic for this thread.

      -- rc primak

      2 users thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Mac mini setup — KVM update #2752739

      Thanks also for including the information on how videos and stills were captured from the setup and preboot screen displays. Question: Do these capture devices work as well with DRM-protected (HDCP) HDMI signals? I’ve had difficulty finding streaming or capture boxes which are compatible with HDCP protected signals (like the ones put out by most PCs).

      -- rc primak

    • in reply to: What do we know about DeepSeek? #2752738

      AI as the term is now being used, is limited to LLMs. There are other AI applications, which do show the kind of promise you foresee. But LLMs are a dead-end street. They don’t have any actual intelligence, in the human sense. They just aren’t built that way. General AI is decades from posing any serious challenge to general human intelligence, if ever. Expert systems are limited to very specific use cases, where certain efficiencies of machine learning outperform human abilities. But these are edge cases so far.

      -- rc primak

    • in reply to: What do we know about DeepSeek? #2752736

      You need to review the extensive discussions (including here at AskWoody) about the legal issues surrounding Fair Use. There have been wars over content distribution by libraries through e-books, with publishers enforcing draconian limitations on “fair use”.

      No, you do not have the legal right in the US or Europe, to wholesale copy entire libraries of books and publications, let alone whole art galleries and collections of images, videos and audio content, and retain all that content in  your own commercial database. You do not have the right to use all that content for commercial purposes without compensation to the copyright owners. This applies equally to content available on the World Wide Web, but owned by commercial interests.

      -- rc primak

    • You can make anything illegal. But the truth is, kids will get their hands on any technology that’s available. Even toddlers know how to order from Amazon on their parents’ smart phones or using a home voice assistant hub, as has been pointed out in several recent news items.

      By making social media illegal, you are increasing the desire of young people to use these platforms, not decreasing their access. What they do in secret is far more likely to cause harm and go undiscovered until it’s too late than what they can do out in the open, with responsible adults watching over their shoulders every minute. And then leading discussions and activities where kids can express their feelings and ask questions about what they have seen and heard on social media.

      We have  (in most US States) required Drivers Education classes. Why don’t we have required Social Media classes, and for that matter, Personal Finance classes?

      What it takes are parents and other responsible adults making time every day to guide their children in appropriate use of social media, giving hands-on experience, and guided training. The same way we train young people to drive. In Europe, for generations parents taught their kids responsible alcohol consumption by having the kids drink a little wine at meals and on special occasions.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: What do we know about DeepSeek? #2749051

      If Deepseek’s code is truly open source, then it can be examined by anyone with the time and the technical skills to understand what it’s doing. And if there’s bias or filtering, the filters can be revised to comply with standards of free countries or open source communities. But at the end of the day, this LLM has upended the industry, making it obvious that there are fast, efficient and low-cost ways to build, train and deploy LLMs. This residue is not lost on open source developers.

      I would caution anyone curious about Deepseek not to use their apps. But that means hosting your own version, which would still have bias and censorship baked in.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: MS-DEFCON 1: Controlling features — 24H2 pushed hard #2747111

      My concern is with posting in a publicly viewable forum your email address. This has a lot of security and privacy implications. The use of an email address for communication immediately removes the discussion from the public forum just as much as the use of a PM.

      -- rc primak

    • in reply to: Why is software security so hard? #2747110

      The CISA Phishing-resistant MFA  link was fascinating and relevant reading. The table in that paper really puts various security measures into perspective.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: How good is Mac software vs. Windows software, really? #2747082

      Build your own and business class networking have never been strong selling points for Mac. Apple prefers you just take the configurations they offer right out of the box. Networking, especially with Windows and Linux machines, is not easy, when it works at all.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: How good is Mac software vs. Windows software, really? #2747081

      Crossover is the commercial version of WINE for Linux, maybe also for Mac. Quicken is said to be reasonably compatible with this arrangement.

      Faststone Capture is said to have worked in the past under WINE, but not so much recently.  Never said to have worked on Mac.

      Synctoy does not appear to be planning to offer a Mac version.

      -- rc primak

    • in reply to: Make the most of the snipping tools in Windows #2747078

      Thanks for the article showing all the screenshot options built into Windows.

      Windows 11, 23H2 — I generally leave the Snipping Tool for Win 11 in all of its defaults. If I want to do something with a capture in Word, I might have to extract the text, but otherwise, I find it’s safer just to save the capture to my Desktop, import it into Word or LibreOffice writer, and work from there.  (LibreOffice also has a module called Draw.)

      If I want to do more serious image editing, I use whatever app is available in my Windows setup. Paint is a nice default, but sometimes the added power of The GIMP or a Windows-specific image editing program is needed.

      (As a mostly Linux user, I have different drawing, editing and screenshot options when using Linux.)

      -- rc primak

    • in reply to: MS-DEFCON 1: Controlling features — 24H2 pushed hard #2745883

      The existing GP settings will remain in effect, unless you release control. Releasing control would reverse those settings. Taking control with inControl won’t change anything which is not in conflict with the settings the program would add. InControl doesn’t change any settings other than the ones it is specifically concerned with.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: MS-DEFCON 1: Controlling features — 24H2 pushed hard #2745879

      All you do is download the inControl program and run it as instructed here and at the GRC website. It’s very simple, usually a single mouse-click. The program takes care of all the rest. Works in Pro and Home Editions. If you have previously set all or some of the Group Policies and Registry Keys, in Control won’t undo your settings unless you release control. Then everything would be undone.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: MS-DEFCON 1: Controlling features — 24H2 pushed hard #2745878

      My doubt about accuracy relates to information provided 3 years ago and whether those same requirements are needed today.

      InControl only changes its settings when Microsoft changes the relevant Registry Keys and/or Group Policies.

      Microsoft has not changed these keys in the past three years, AFAIK.

      -- rc primak

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    • in reply to: MS-DEFCON 1: Controlling features — 24H2 pushed hard #2745874

      @ Richard Newman: Private Messaging is available at AskWoody without posting your email address in the Forums. It’s safer to use the Private Messaging feature.

      -- rc primak

    Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 4,361 total)