asciilifeform: moral3: it is contagious. because it is impossible to implement a sane os which handles this insane device and adds up to sanity.
asciilifeform: moral2: 'crashes as response to unexpected inputs - incl. lack of input - are ok' attitude is a plague that corrupts everything it touches.
asciilifeform: i don't even have to disassemble the beast, extract the fw, and reverse it to have a pretty solid guess
asciilifeform: and only updated guess where - interrupt handler (that's only entered if os is using the digitizer, naturally)
asciilifeform: i.e., register that cycles its power if not updated every x msec.
asciilifeform: and incidentally, i know just how the author arrived at this - he probably used the 'watchdog' feature of the micro which implements the device
asciilifeform: but build a system where it isn't milked (usb pipe with non-null payloads kept going) and drown in shit.
asciilifeform: why i even mention it? because it's an example of a device that loudly, proudly, pisses on the usb spec (spirit and letter thereof) but is tolerated because for most people - it appears harmless.
asciilifeform: (what kind of device? a 2d plane digitizer that sits on usb, meant to be used as 'touch' gizmo. and it pisses GBs of usb disconnect garbage into log -if and only if you don't use it-.)
asciilifeform: kakobrekla: quite a few of the newer boxes deliberately choke if you install an aftermarket card (if you can even find one that fits the slot)
asciilifeform: <ninjashogun> I think you can improve your device by communicating with the host in any other way (LED and webcam, speaker and microphone, whatever), other than as a USB device, which I don't think is the most secure interface for your usage case. No, I didn't have anyone else tell me to tell you this!
asciilifeform: that, e.g., you can't switch off (how does the usb dongle behave on power-low mode? etc)
asciilifeform: then it isn't a laptop, but a crate of crapolade on wires
asciilifeform: bounce: only really an issue on laptops, where you can't install a civilized replacement for $gizmo
asciilifeform spent 3 days getting a wireless card to work, all because some shitgnome silently removed support for 'wireless extensions' in a driver (e.g. 'iwconfig') in the name of chope and hange.
asciilifeform: <ninjashogun> you're not correct that I have any connection with the u.s. government. (or any other government). Other than holding citizenship and in the interests of absolute full disclosure, I served briefly in the military. This isn't text or me saying it
asciilifeform: i sympathize with any poor sod who grunts in a salt mine doing something bloody ludicrous and humiliating, but this has to break some sort of record.
asciilifeform: ninjashogun: let's start with the basics. you come here, knowing that the sole purpose of allowing you to speak is, more or less, public vivisection for our pleasure. and yet you come. this suggests that you are carrying out your duties to earn your bread.
asciilifeform looks forward to seeing butterfly collections fill up with folks banging on the door of the wot, 'i'm not a spammer! here's 150 friends who swear! and none of them are in, it's because you drink koolaid'
asciilifeform: humint bugger has to tend, befriend, schoozle, bamboozle - before he is ever permitted to hire. at least in the civilized world - can't speak for crazyland
asciilifeform: like the static on a screen contains many 'movies'
asciilifeform: sufficiently abject failure can look like other kind of sufficiently abject failure
asciilifeform: mats_cd03: see, you have to understand, poor fella's just trying to do a job here. station chief said, 'recruit mole, your budget is initially $0.' so he's gotta do it, or at least fail convincingly.
asciilifeform: if you need one - straight to them. take a few $m.
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: 'narus corp.' (il. they supply a good chunk of nsa's hardware infrastructure) sells these.
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: given that tcp/ip lets you fuck with ordering, that trivially parallelizes. at least, as fast as you can physically clock the bits off the wire to individual comparison registers, and then back on
