asciilifeform: because modern111!1111 browser won't build there

asciilifeform: incidentally, the postel crap reminds me of the fountain through which the bulk of modern pc retardation flows forth: the web browser. as in, literally the only reason one cannot use os setup circa, e.g., 2001 (with a patch here & there)

asciilifeform: perfectly sane 2nd half is like a needle through which 1st clause is injected through your brain.

asciilifeform: it's a little gibblet of dreary nonsense parroted in defense of the the kind of crap described earlier.

asciilifeform: somebody gets fucked, regardless, just like something had to burn to power my computer to write this (precious little fission or hydro where i live)

asciilifeform: other times - no

asciilifeform: forced mistake, in many cases - sometimes, you have the luxury of setting fire to the whole shebang and walking away

asciilifeform: because someone decided to be 'tolerant.'

asciilifeform: when you turn up one of these pieces of junk, on your desk, or worse yet, chained to it (yes, you bought one set - can buy another, what'll the crapolade be in the next gadget?) - it happens because other folks - lived with it.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: my turd, if it had a point, mainly had the point of - the grave harm of 'tolerance.'

asciilifeform: somehow, the world arrived at a handful of precisely defined thread types that are interoperable.

asciilifeform: i recently had the occasion to read a treatise on machine screws.

asciilifeform: why the everliving fuck does there have to be more than one way to talk to a mouse ?

asciilifeform: yes. but it didn't happen in empty space, but from the 'tower of babel' situation

asciilifeform: but that's not sane.

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: moral: turdware is everywhere

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: 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: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-input/msg33095.html << turd? yes. but here's a little story behind it. think, why would anyone build a device like this?

asciilifeform: a turd is not a sausage, even if you eat with relish.

asciilifeform: bounce: that is not a laptop.

asciilifeform: the correct solution would be to quit doing work that requires laptops, but i cannot afford this.

asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: at any rate, these are legion.

asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: not this one.

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)