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Mcinwwl

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Posts posted by Mcinwwl

    Yandex is harvesting data from millions of iOS users - Confirmed Report by Apple Insider.

    in Technology News

    Posted

    Well, most of the article covers what is a data data harvesting and pseudo-privacy (yeah, you are anonymous, we just send you ads based on your psychological profile, location, and usage history directly to your face) with one exception:

    https://www.ft.com/content/c02083b5-8a0a-48e5-b850-831a3e6406bb

    Quote

    Seven of the VPNs are made specifically for a Ukrainian audience. Total installs of apps that include the AppMetrica SDK are in the hundreds of millions, according to Appfigures, an app intelligence group.

    Conversely, more than 2,000 apps have added the AppMetrica SDK since the invasion of Ukraine, including several that appear designed to track Ukrainian users. “Call Ukraine,” for instance, is a “free messenger for Ukrainians” that launched in the Play Store on March 10 using the blue and yellow flag as its icon. Once downloaded, the app can see a user’s identity and read their contacts. The developer includes a dummy email address: “help.service@internet.ru.”

    Which might mean usage of Yandex data for one of the sides of biggest military conflict in Europe since WWII.

    Yet still, one can argue that every big tech company is tied to their governments and baidu/google/amazon/whoeva will do the same with their data which up to me is very likely true. Thus, who's worse is a matter of political preference, which I'll purposedly avoid for the sake of the community and following the rules :worship: So my main point is that the data harvesting is a problem, not the Yandex itself. But sadly, I do not see there is any turnback, as the technology is there, it pays off, and average user is held back by "prove me I do not collect your data" argument.

    Another thing is that such apps as the described above can be taken down by content reviewers in google/apple store, only if these people were allowed to use their brains. I've been working in such place and believe me, it was painful and harmful to be in such place. It was M4 not G or A, but I doubt it matters.

    1

    Only Germany saves us, like it always does, when Elon Musk puts a reading paywall on Twitter.

    in Technology News

    Posted · Edited by Mcinwwl

    Mastodon is online for 7 years and it never went near the popularity of Twitter. And i doubt it ever will, as I can't imagine your cliche GenZter or boomer parents get through the whole federation idea and choose their instance, after years of being assured that in the internet you just sign up and let the big company manage the whole thing, for better and for worse. Thus, I might be biased after 10 years of making my mom computer-literate :P

    Yet still, other so-called big tech alternatives are for now either for tech savvy people, paranoids (like me), or some specific groups. Co-host is for nerds, Mastodon is said to be a gathering for left-wing supportes, and most niche YT alternatives are full of Christian broadcast and right-wing politics. Yet still, some channels I watch on Nitter, do have Mastodon backup, so with enough time it might change and p2p recommendations it might change. And then we will see how those services will mitigate the scaling and recognizability challenges, like load-balancing, anti-spam, anti-ddos, paid propagandists channels and many more.

    0

    The funny outcome of modern social media

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 7/6/2023 at 3:09 PM, Tripredacus said:

    The primary mistake of those large platforms was that they wanted to get everyone onto there, and didn't understand how people on the internet are. You can't have a platform for everyone, especially not everyone in the world. There are too many disagreements and too much funstering that exists to make it viable.

    Well, from what I've read, this is INTENDED - social media dramas and arguments make people more engaged, thus spend more time and look more at ads. And how cool data they're leaving for political profilers, woo!

    I personally hate social media. I signed to facebook when I had to, as everyone at the university used it and I stayed, but using messenger only - everything blocked what's possible and never opening the board. Instagram, snapchat, tiktok - those are crap for me, never signed in. For twitter, I decided not to sign up and try to go with nitter - redirecting proxy. The only site that is considered social media and noone can get without is youtube, as too many content is being posted only there. that's major thing I hate about social media - they consume smaller sites, and many things are updated only on FB. Blogs I've been reading years ago are now social media exclusive, and I never checked them again. As for alternatives, there are some, but they are used either by political extremists or geeks and thus miss the big point of social media - connecting with a lot of people via one hub. recently, CoHost got my attention, as they promised to be free of profiling, tracking and feed selection, but I always see such initiatives as a potential trap. Anyone remembers Brave being advertised as ethical and privacy-friendly?

    1

    Installing windows 98 SE next to windows XP from partition

    in Windows 9x/ME

    Posted

    On 5/29/2023 at 11:12 AM, jaclaz said:

    BUT, exactly because the active partition is NTFS, it won't be easy to dual boot XP and 9x (without using an advanced boot manager like grub4dos or a "special" MBR such as MBLDR).

    Sounds like fun for lazy Sunday. Worry not, this is a toy machine, I might loose only some game save states and time spent to handpick xp updates that live well with non-sse2 CPU.

    Every guide I stumbled upon said it's the best to go with clean install of win98 and then install XP, but I'm glad to know there's an alternative. There's a fun to be had in going the stubborn way.
     

    One question that went unanswered is whether i can somehow feed a separate partition with win98 installation files and make it bootable, so i can install without floppy/cd/rufus prepared pendrive. I guess the answer is "no"... ?

    0

    Installing windows 98 SE next to windows XP from partition

    in Windows 9x/ME

    Posted

    Hi!. I'm upgrading my retro gaming PC. right now it has windows XP, and I'd like to add windows 98 SE paralelly.

    What I have:

    - windows 98 SE OEM ISO

    - windows XP installed on C, NTFS formatted

    - 2nd partition F, FAT 32 formatted

    And what I want to achieve

    - make F bootable

    - put win98 installation files over there

    - boot from F

    - install win 98 without breaking win XP install

    the deal is, I haven't been using win 9x since I was a kid, and Now I cannot find any instruction how to get this done. there are instructions how to make bootable usb stick with rufus, but not from hdd partition. Is it possible, or am i leaving in the realm of fantasy?

    0

    Emoticons/Smilys for old software and bulletin boards

    in Networks and the Internet

    Posted

    Hi, for reasons I prefer not to disclose, yesterday I found myself looking for a way to obtain sets of emoticons for old forums, bulletin boards and messaging software. to my greatest astonishment, I hadn't have find anyone hosting a general collection of such in an organized manner. All I have found was a metric crapton of highly positioned, useless websites, small emoticons packs and shady software. As if internet have forgotten glorious pre-emoji standard emoticons.

    What's harder, i cannot really say what I'm looking for, like some smileys I've seen on some obscure BB before update years ago or on some defunct website. For some I tried to lurk the websites that are still online, but the smiley sets I remember are long gone :/

    What I DO remember are:

    - old pixelated-style smiley changing into red vampire with devil-ish look

    - set of emoticons that is probably from Skype 7.

    rest is mystery.

    what I "probably" look for are emoticons from phpbb2, phpbb3, phpbb by przemo, mybb, simple machines forum, php fusion, AOL, MSN messenger... in general, things from 2005-2010 era.

    Anyone knows where to find 'em, except from scrapping them one by one hoping it's it?

     

    0

    CD-IN audio in YMF724F no-logo PCI audio card

    in Gamers Hangout

    Posted

    Ok, I made it to work the way I intended in this single game by disabling the newer CD-rom, running the game when it was disabled and then re-enabling it back, and thus this way my audio goes from CD-ROM to audio card "the old way".

    Thus, the problem remains, as I'd need to get this done for every game OR disable 2nd drive permaeantly.

    I dug a bit more and found out that windows enumerated LG HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8525B as CD-ROM 0 and LG DVD-ROM DRD8160B as CD-ROM 1, and I assume this might be the case.

    Is there any way to switch the assignment given by windows PNP?

    0

    CD-IN audio in YMF724F no-logo PCI audio card

    in Gamers Hangout

    Posted · Edited by Mcinwwl

    So, I doped my good old 2001 machine with audio card based on YMF724F Yamaha chip, consisting hi-fi 1999 quality, sound blaster support, proprietary midi standard extensions and a set of MIDI samples, buff n fluff etc. As, said, it's no-logo, so chipset on board is Yamaha, but I failed to find exact exact pinouts, and the number of on-board jumpers and internal ports is different. This is important, as I intended to use old-school analogue cd audio input from cd palyer to the Yamaha. but, I cannot find exact pinout, and I'm troubled how exactly to connect it.

    Here's exact cabling and pins I can use. Please mind that none of them is explicitly marked as CD_IN, so if producer intended them for other uses, I cannot tell.

    index.php?action=dlattach;topic=334.0;at

    What I did is that I put the "grey" connector into the "black" slot, as both seem to have both gnd inside, worst I can do is to invert channels, or, in case of different prpose of the connector,send some useless signal. That's what internet sources suggested as the best, as the extra port is "redundant" due to dual standard by both cd drive and audio cards manufacturers. But in case there is some hidden knowledge, to connect it the very exact way in order to short circuit some jumpers or so, I'd be pleased to know.

    Still, despite my attempts, CD audio in quake II was not present. So i went for system settings, which is, our favourite windows XP 32bit home ed. As suggested in guides, I disabled digital CD audio - no bonus. But then I reminded, taht I aleready had problems with dual cd drive in my PC... I have

    LG DVD-ROM DRD8160B with CD audio support

    LG HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8525B with no audio support.

    And it looks like Quake decided to prioritize the latter, as putting CD into this drive and enabling digital audio, actually, worked. Geez, QII without soundtrack feels half-baked at best...

    Still, the question is, what can I do to make Quake, or, best, all programs, prioritize one drive over another? software, reg trick?

    I need to get it into full retro glory :)

    0

    Cannot install Window Update Agent 7.6, Cannot create folder Error

    in Windows XP

    Posted

    Hi,

    As you know, I'm restoring my @2001, Athlon 4 SSE PC and I had to reinstall windows XP. And I started with updating it and succeed with EVERY update except this one, I managed to update certs and register my XP online. When I try to install, installer creates 10001 empty folders in C:\ drive - yes, exactly 10001, every time - then I receive message "Installer cannot create folder" and it terminates, clearing up every empty folder prior to shutting down process. What's worth mentioning, folders have random names, starting from 00-something-something and ending with FF-something-something. Ah, and no entry in windows log regarding this one.

    I tried every trick described on the forum, with extracting files from within, /wuforce and all. No reaction. also, no information on the forum that it will not install without SSE2.

    Same error was mentioned by two netizens in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/windowsxp/comments/lhtoxa/guide_how_to_fully_update_windows_xp_with_windows/

     

    Any ideas what might it be?

    PS I did not try installing any proxy yet, as this is always mentioned as prequisite anyway...

    0

    Updating Windows XP using WUMT and proxy

    in Windows XP

    Posted

    A way of updating XP past M$ revoking old encryption on Windows Update that I stumbled upon on reddit

    Quote

    Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86)
    Download Link

    Install - Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.256
    Download Link

    Install - Internet Explorer 7/8
    Download Link

    Download WSUS_Proxy_NT5
    Download Link

    Download Windows Update MiniTool
    Download Link

    Launch WSUS_Proxy_NT5/Add_wsus.bat when it says press any key to close it, close it.

    Launch WSUS_Proxy_NT5/Run_wsus.bat and dont close it. leave it open.

    In en_wumt folder, Launch wumt_x86.exe for 32bit windows, for 64 bit, wumt_x64.exe

    Press "Check for updates", O shape button, After searching for update done, you will get list of all updates, Click "Select All" on top, than click "Install" button. Arrow down button 3rd from left.

    I tested on freshly installed Windows XP, and have fully updated Windows XP.

    link:

    Alternative to what our members are attempting in here:

     

    Did anyone test it? Machine I'm restoring right now does not have SSE2, so I'm afraid I cannot give it a try.

    Also, does it stack up well with POSReady updates?

    1

    PS/2 Keyboard for old PC with high KRO

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    bump! for a reason, as, for my surprise, Unicomp employee answered me:

    Quote

    No, we do not support NKRO on any of our keyboards, though the Matrix on our Mini M is expanded to allow up to 10 keys concurrently pressed.

    A more technical explanation of our rollover situation follows below:

    Given the way we connect our switch matrix, our statement about phantom keys and rollover is, unfortunately, complicated. Our keyboards meet and exceed the Microsoft and IBM standards for multi-key combinations. Our keyboards will support any one to four modifier key combination (Shift, Control, Alt and/or GUI keys) plus a fifth key as long as:

    1) No Left+Right modifier keys (Left+Right Shift, Left+Right Control, etc.) are involved in the combination, and

    2) Neither the Up Arrow, Pause key, nor the Caps Lock key are the fifth key.

    Our original intent was to support multi-key sequences required by any Microsoft OS or Application and to the best of my knowledge, that's still true. Of course our keyboards will support other key combinations larger than five key sequences without generating a phantom key situation and there are some 3 key sequences which will generate a phantom condition. Consequently, it's difficult to make a generic statement beyond the one above.

    As for rollover, the USB HID and boot protocol standards limit our USB keyboards to six key rollover. The buffer sizes and key processing in our PS/2 controller limit those keyboards to 7 or 8 key rollover.

    Not what I'm looking for, though...

    0

    PS/2 Keyboard for old PC with high KRO

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted · Edited by Mcinwwl

    As cool lists as they are, they are fairly incomplete, but the hint that many G80 variants support NKRO, while others do not, is important. Model F AT is no go due to kay layout and high price for a remastered model. cmon, over 300 bucks?

    I sent requests to Unicomp and cherry to check out if they do know what their keyboards actually can do :)

    also, some other cool data source I found:

    https://telcontar.net/KBK/

    https://deskthority.net/wiki/Main_Page

    https://www.devever.net/~hl/usbnkro

    0
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