Operating Systems

Sorry this took so long.
This week's post is going to be directed towards Operating Systems, as you already knew. Most computer users know what this is... Windows' (Vista, XP), Apple's (OSX), The People's (Linux), and Corporations' and Universities' (Unix)... to name a few of the well-known. Many users, even the Geek Squad and alike, fail to realize what an operating system is. Not that i'm judging them, because i'm really ignorant on many things, but it is really important that we understand what we are to expect from our operating systems.

"Why?" you ask.

Well, because there are so much advertising for your dollar these days. You get Microsoft's lie that everyone likes them and Apple's funny old man cool man ads. How are you supposed to know which is the better buy?

Well, let me try to sort things out for you.

Basically, we're going to need to remove any preconceived idea of what you think an operating system is. Basically, your mind is marketed to look for shiny things. Yeah, shiny things are good, but only if everything underneath it works.

So, remove your ideas.

An operating system, in it's most distilled form, is software programed to control hardware.
Hardware= processors, hard drives, memory, keyboards, graphics cards, network cards ... engines, radios, mircrowaves.... and so on. Yes, you have computers with an operating system in your car.

This the basic of an operating system. This, however won't do for most personal computer users. Most of us want to perform more computation than just running hardware. We want to type papers, browse the internet, play video games, do our taxes and so on. For this, operating systems have been programed to accept other software. This is an important step, because now that we have alien software, they can do some damage. Not because the aliens are bad, but because they don't know the customs. So, a good operating system has an abstraction layer that protects software from accessing the wrong hardware. This adds a few roles to the operating system, it must provide system calls for programs, maintain user accounts, and provide for hardware drivers...

I'm going to stop here... only because i'm boring myself. Hopefully you are getting my point though. Most marketing today for operating systems are ignoring the actual purpose of the operating system... this is the main explanation to why windows vista (and windows 7) has failed. They were trying to make things look to pretty and add rediculous amounts of crappy software to their operating system.
A good operating system is lean, small, and is able to adapt to whatever software you want to put on it. Yeah, you might like your desktop reminder that you recieved mail, but it shouldn't be standard on the os installation. This is a bad operating system... windows vista (and windows 7) is a bad operating system. They have made too much crap, as well as forgot that their operating system needs to be useful (Cough driver problems cough).

So, which OS am i supporting? Linux of course! cause it's open sourced... but, i have to admit, it's not fully functional. I'm hoping to help in that area, but you can't beat that nearly every program is programmed for windows xp. OSX is ok, but again, they program to much crap into it... i think. I don't need a standard application for my web cam... i don't have a web cam... i don't want one.

Unfortunately we're hitting a point in time where there's a bunch of cool stuff coming out, but no operating system is going to be good enough for it. We're going be in a little operating system black hole for a few years, but don't fret... java is heading in the right direction.

Java is a programming language who's goal is to make the programs be able to run on any platform.

A quick look at this is the program used to upload videos to google. It is programed in java and perfectly runs on linux, mac, and windows. Well done.

This is not practical for everything, but again, a step in the right direction.

Any Questions?


Hopefully over the next few months i will be putting together a really sweet computer. I hope to make a computer that is:
1. designed for gaming- this means fairly highend
2. inexpensive- under $700
3. maintains a low cost of ownership- very low energy footprint
4. using experimental technologies- you'll find out.

I will also post all my tweaks in case you'd like to do the same.

The Airwaves are Liberated, so what?

Hopefully you have read the re-posted information on the FCC's vote to free up the "white space" that is unallocated. There is a lot of speculation of what can be done with this extra broadcasting space, but no one has really set plans.

To those of you who do not bother about why or how things work, you just know that they do and want to use them, you may not understand the giant impact that this may have.

Yeah, you may have read somewhere that they could use these airwaves to implement global wireless internet. Yes, this is true, and is the most speculated plans for the white space; however, this is just a face-value perspective of what all this would involve. Yeah, we could have internet anywhere we go, but we need to understand what would need to be involved behind such an infrastructure to support that.

(techy part)
I prospect that in order for such an implementation, IPv4 would not be able to support the amount of users to connect them to the internet. Yes, the Whitespace ISPs (whoever they're to be) could implement a NAT system like cellphone providers provide, or something like that, but i think that enough people could be brought on board (and enough capital invested) to spur the IPv6 transition.

Those who know networking (and a few of those who don't) have been waiting years for people to see such an opportunity.

Many people have written much more specific descriptions of the benefits to IPv6 implementation, so i won't get into it very deep, but here's a general idea:

Right now we have IPv4 addressing to route information over the internet. No matter what type of computer you have, or what country you're in, you're using one of the addresses to access the internet. Addressing in networking is similar to house addressing. Every website, service, or person has to have one in order to recieve information (mail) on the internet. The problem is, we now have more people trying to access the internet than there are addresses. If you know your IP address, you know that it consists of 4 sets of numbers (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx). IPv4 addressing is difficult to explain to a person who has no prior knowledge of how these things work, and i'm trying to keep these descriptions in those ranges. Don't put too much thought into it, the addresses are all taken.

So, how do people still get on the internet if they're all taken? Well, ISPs keep economic control on the IP addresses that they give people. If they start to run out, they use computing techniques to push out more addresses. A small example of this is in your house. If you are connected to a wireless router and have many computers connected, then you are using what is called Network Address Translation (NAT) to "give out" more addresses. Your router is a computer. It takes the single address that your ISP has given you and creates tables and routes to split your connection to the different computers in your house. This is where the problem comes in. Every time your connection gets hit with these computers used to route traffic, your bandwidth quality decreases.

Ok, so simply put, IPv6 has enough addresses that we'll never (i use that word lightly) run out. This will free up alot of the routing congestion that slows down people's connections now.

It would be a huge technological advance.


Next Week: What is an Operating System?

One for the team

So, i haven't kept up with the "/week" plan, but i'm within the month, so i'm doing well. I've been sick again. No matter.

To the stuff that counts. Well, at least for the *nix brethren(Linux, Mac, OpenBSD and the like. NOT MICROSOFT)

Most of you that i know who are into multimedia production are using the "school's" software to run their editing software. Well, for those of you who are more inclined to open-source, or those who are looking for a simply great multitrack editor, there is Ardour. Ardour is a fantastic program. It is, however, by no means "polished." It is fairly new, being in it's second revision. They haven't even devised the naming scheme yet.

So, why should you use Ardour instead of the more main-stream programs?
This, to me, is an easy answer; although you may not quite have a full grasp on the glory of open source just quite yet, so let me throw some words at you.
When you use an open source program, you become part of the development team. You say, " i don't know how to program, how is this so?"
As you start to use the program, becoming familiar with all it's intricacies, you start to develop a judgement of how that program functions. Just as a master carpenter or mason knows the utility of his tools, you will understand what your "tool" has or is without. So, with this developed understanding and judgement, you decide how to better perfect your tool. This is where the beauty of open source steps in. You spend about 3-128 minutes writing a wall post on Ardour's forum (or any open source program's forum). Then, in the next edition, your input will have assisted in it's design. Trust me, the programmers know that it is the users who have developed that program. Open Source programs take away that impersonal corporate level that ruins the perfection of programs.

I have more to say on that, but i'll leave it there.

To close this post, i have a special request. An acquaintance of mine's lung collapsed. He had surgery today to try to fix this because all other treatments have failed. If you know me, you know that i don't like to express concern like this; however, this person is not well liked. He doesn't have a bunch of people who care about him. Most people think he's a jerk. I think he's a jerk. However, i also am concerned for him on a certain 'above normal' level. I'm not asking you to care for him (or the vain 'pray for him'), but i am understanding my feelings for people. So, maybe consider someone around you.

Radio For All!

Podcasts, streaming, and mp3 files... etc. We have many choices these days to get some sort of online audio. I used to subscribe to a free service (you pay for premium services) at a hub for internet radio live365.com. This was a really good way to find obscure music. The only issue i found is that some radio stations just repeated the same 30 songs over in over. You had hundreds of choices though. You guys know of pandora, itunes radio, amarok radio, and the like, but what if you're looking for something more? I was. I often like to listen to talkradio when i'm doing work because music seems to serve me a different purpose. One of my favorite talk shows is "The Glenn Beck Program." The local talk radio station (104.7) streams his program during the Live hours of 10-12pm. There are two issues that i have with that. First of all, the program starts at 9pm, so i'm missing an hour. Second, i am usually in class or just waking up during that time. So, i was looking for a solution. Glenn streams his shows from his website, but you have to subscribe to a service. I did that for a while, but then i ran out of money. So, i searched and i searched. I went to the "affiliates" section of his website and hoped from each station's website looking for a stream replay of his show. This was quite tedious and because i was trying to do work, not doing me any good.
In comes,

This Week's Featured Website: www.radiotime.com

This website allows you to search for a program or whatever you're looking for. It has a large database of streaming radio stations. So, i just searched for The Glenn Beck program, and found what i was looking for. It gives you a schedule and remaining program time. I'm sure there are many other features to this website that i just haven't investigated yet. Be sure to check it out.

Two talkradio shows i recommend:
The Glenn Beck Program - independant entertainment
Neal Boortz - freedom speaker

My brain is back!

For the past week, since i started this blog, i've had a terrible sinus infection. Those who know me know that i am incapacitated when i get them. Today i'm feeling alot better and am really ready to do some intellectual shit. (yes, using inappropriate words completely nullifies my reputation, and it is a joke.)

Ok.

My friends have spent alot of their time lately writing dissertations about their beliefs on issues that they have either just been enlightened upon and what to share their knowledge, or really feel that other people should know.
I must first welcome their ideas and willingness to actually sit down and compose a sort-of literature. I am currently writing a book and find it hard to even find the courage to put myself out there.
I can't help feeling, though, that they are publishing these pieces because they feel some authority on their subject and feel that it is necessary for them to enforce their opinion on their readers. If this is their true intentions, then they are severely in the wrong.
It's not that i don't like reading their opinions on things (i spend a good amount of time reading books that are dogmatic by nature), it's that i feel they don't have the true authority to speak on it (Then again, who does?), as well as the writings seem to purpose some self-gratification.
Either way, i think that any time we write something, we should check our motives. I would love to trust their opinions and not have them be tainted by ulterior motives.

What i wanted to actually write about today was philosophy. A lot of the people i encounter (including my friends mentioned above) are involved in some philosophical mission. It may just be that age, or some trend, the epistemology behind the "philosophical mission" is not really what I'm worried about (today). I'm having a difficult time with understanding their conclusions. It seems that the way they go about their assessment is to look at a picture, gather small facets, then section them off into little partitions. It seems like if they're able to label it, or to establish a general tag, then they are satisfied in their understanding. The problem with this is that they're going to find themselves with too many partitions and are not going to be able to refer to their "directory of beliefs."
I used to think that their thought process was anti-philosophical and anti-scientific, but the more i read the more i see famous philosophers doing the exact same thing. That bothers me, of course. (Then i consider their motives to be money and how can you earn money if you run out of subjects to talk about?)

Is it not better to develop a scientifically distilled viewpoint with which to look at everything?
Is it not more satisfying than a constant struggle?
I do not know for sure, but this is the way I'm leaning- heavily.
Problems with this are close mindedness, or too-open mindedness. Either way, please consider your motives in everything. And stop being assholes.

Open

I'm not really sure what to write about right now.
My main objective was to post about OpenDNS.

If you don't really know what DNS (Domain Name Service) is, it's how a web browser knows to go to "facebook.com". Basically, you use this service as a giant directory, like a phone book. Most people use the DNS servers that your internet provider sets up for you. So what is OpenDNS? It is a free service that sets up custom directory options. The thing is, your internet browser can only go as fast as the DNS. Most DNS servers, like comcast's, are overloaded. Comcast doesn't really care if you have a slow DNS server because you are just a dollar sign to them. If your Internet seems slow, you'll probably ask them to up your bandwith (which means more cash for them) when you don't really need to. OpenDNS is dedicated to providing the best DNS service, all for free. Not only that, but you can customize what websites you allow access. That means, pornography blocking for the children (or anyone).
I've been using OpenDNS for about a year now and couldn't be happier. One of the most useful facets of OpenDNS is their statistics and caching. I am able to speed up the more common websites that i visit. Check it out at www.opendns.com

On a little side note, you need to go visit my friend's website. He is an awesome artist. Like, awesome. www.Revolution77.com

Why Write(blog)?

All of my friends are doing it.

I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now. There is always a large amount of traffic going through my mind, but i have had a hard time justifying putting myself out there.
So what has changed?
Not a whole lot. I think i've just become more uncomfortable with loosing my thoughts. So, i'm sad to say it, but this is more for me than it is for you. I don't really care about .
I do, however, care about most issues that i plan on writing about here. It is for this reason that i have titled my blog "credo". I was going to title it "important shit worth talking about," which is opposed to my other blog "non-important shit worth talking about," but i felt that might be too presumptuous.
I do find myself with a natural inclination to write mindless words, because this is "The Internet."
I will try to keep that to a minimum.
So, to the actual information.
There is a lot of talk about waste these days. People talk of wasting resources like water and oil, or goods like food and plastics, but no one ever talks about wasting services. Services? Huh? As you know, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is in charge of delegating band ranges for our radio and television communications. Few know, however, that the FCC holds an abundance of non-commissioned "white space," or areas where broadcasting is not permitted.
These non-commissioned spaces are in waste because they could be used in valuable applications, specifically, broad wireless Internet. Yes, national wireless Internet is possible. This is all explained, with better words, on many websites. What I'm asking is that you, my friends, would go and learn about it. After some investigation, if you'd like to support it, you can sign a petition here.