May 2004 Archives

My Very First Operating System

[this post has been partially damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has been possible to recover only a part of it]

[more of this post was recovered on 13 October 2018]

I’ve just written my very first Operating System! And I’m putting it here, online, so that you can give it a go if you like. And no, you don’t need to install it – just put it on a floppy disk and try it from there (no, you can’t boot it from a CD yet)!

Don’t expect too much. There’s no user interface (not even a command line). All it is is a bootloader and a kernel that ‘displays pretty squares’ (I stole the ‘pretty squares’ code from somebody else – my Assesmbly needs some work!).

Hardware Requirements
386SX/25MHz or faster processessor
520K or better memory
Floppy disk drive

Instructions For Use
1. Download the floppy disk image file [34K]
2. Download and install WinImage 6.1 (this program lets you write floppy disk image files to floppy disks).
3. Open the image file in WinImage, insert a floppy disk, and select “Format And Write Floppy Disk” from the “Disk” menu. The Operating System will be written to the floppy disk.
4. To run it, you need to reboot your computer with the floppy disk in the drive. If this doesn’t …

I AM Scared Of Bootloaders

I’ve spent the evening looking at bootloader source code (small programs, crucial to every Operating System, which do the first fundamental steps towards loading the kernel, the ‘core’ of the OS). Just to show you quite how scary this stuff is, here’s a snippet of code to “stop the floppy drive motor from spinning”:

mov dx,3F2h mov al,0 out dx,al

Remember Microsoft vs. Netscape?

Then you’re old enough to appreciate this: OSNews is running an article about the upcoming fight between Google and Microsoft. Where the Netscape/Microsoft battle involved web browsers, the weapons of the Google/Microsoft battle will be search engines and e-mail services.

If you’re confused as to how companies can be fighting by trying to increase the market share of their free product, read the article.

EU To Use Quantum Crypto-Key Passing To Beat ECHELON

[this post has been partially damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has been possible to recover only a part of it]

[further parts of this post were recovered on 13 October 2018]

Now here’s an interesting article [security.itworld.com]. It seems that the European Union is investing €11 million over four years into developing a secure communication system based on quantum cryptography.

For those of you not in the know, quantum cryptography (for passing crypto keys) works like this:

Quantum Cryptography For Dummies

Alice wants to send Bob secret message, confessing her undying love, but doesn’t want anybody else to know how she feels.
She fires some photons out of a special tube, so that some of them spin in different directions.
Numbers are assigned to the different directions of spin, and she multiplies these together – along with a few prime numbers, for good measure – to get a Really Big Number.
Then, Alice does some clever sums on the letters in her love letter, using the Really Big Number.
Alice posts the first line of the new love letter to Bob (the line that says “Dear Bob,”). This is known as the ‘message header’. If Bob sends a message back saying that he got this, Alice will send the rest of…

Is There Anything More Romantic?

Claire and I stayed up late and played multiplayer Civilization 3: Conquests together. When the Carthaginians picked on her, I stuck up for her and razed one of their cities. We’re hoping that by working together, we might be able to get a spaceship to Alpha Centauri before 1900.

We played until it started to get light. Then we went to bed and rolled around, laughing. Then we had sex as the sun rose.

A long multiplayer games session followed by a shag. Is there anything more romantic?

All Questions Answered

This article is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

This repost was published in hindsight, on 11 March 2019.

Ruth wrote:

Today we have been…

…testing Dan. Earlier I sent in to ask how many times the big Panda said ‘nice’ in Panda Ko Panda (12, 5 times referring to bamboo). When we were getting food at the Chinese, Dan accused Bryn of having sent that in (he was logged on at the time), I might have got away with it but I burst out laughing.

Then just now, Bryn and I were wondering how many cups of coffee you could make using all the water in the pacific ocean. In case anyone wants to try it, the answer is 259 million cups, using 518 million tablespoons of ground coffee. That’s a lot of caffeine!

Bryn: “Can you imagine the size of the coffee filter?”

Half-Life 2 To Be Released As Twin-Pack

Yay! Take a look at this piccy (especially you, Paul).

From The Minutes Of Our Office Staff Meeting

Just extracted this from the just-released minutes of our last staff meeting. It’s from a section about what tasks are assigned to whom:

Dan:

Hmmm, what new projects can we give Dan to do. Got it, Bovini version 2;
Remote desktop connection;
Something about Apache;
Blah, blah, blah, terminal services, blah, blah, blah, on Pandora, blah, blah, blah, multiple users;
A guide for all the office technophobes;
And have some Bovini for good measure.

How very right.

Common OS Myths Debunked

[this post has been partially damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has been possible to recover only a part of it]

In this era of pro-Linux and pro-Windows hoo-hah, it’s good to see an article who’s writer really has his head screwed on: Common OS Myths Debunked is a wonderful piece; go read it.

Linux is not the answer!

Windows is not the answer either!

Don’t even get me started on MacOS…

Operating…

Mmm… Pathogens

Typhoid in my left arm. Hepatitis A in my right arm, and a heap of Malaria tablets to boot. Decided that the best way to get this lot into my bloodstream as fast as possible was a quick sprint around Aberystwyth. Now I feel slightly dizzy and nauseous. Lovely.

On the up-side, I didn’t have to pay for any of this medication. Today was the last day that the surgery I attend isn’t charging for those which are considered ‘holiday medication’.

Feeling a little more woozy now. Think I’ll dance for a bit to make sure it’s worked it’s way into my system properly (better to make myself hideously sick for a day than ill for a week, I say), then take a rest.

Hooray for pathogens!

New XML-Based Markup Language: MRML

Take a look at this, fellow geeks.

“To Test Security On Your PC, You Must First Make It Inherently Insecure”

WTF??? If you go to Symantec’s Online Virus Scanner using most browsers, you’ll be told that you need to use Microsoft Internet Explorer to continue! Isn’t this just asking for trouble? It’s like saying, “Yes, we’ll check your house is secure. Now just unlock your door…”

Just plain weird.

Re-Arranging The Flat

Yes, the the rumours you’ve heard are true – The Flat has been rearranged. In a mighty effort (and with the help of Claire, Paul and Bryn), we’ve pretty much ‘mirrored’ the room widthways. This change provides several benefits:

Space saved has been reinvested in floor space and room for two sets of shelves.
Computer equipment is no longer stored beside the sink.
Instead of not being able to reach any of the shelves in the flat, Claire can now not reach merely some of them. =o)
Computer monitors are now not affected by the magnetic fields of the stereo speakers.
Webcam has a better view of the room, and possibility has been opened for a second webcam to be added (Troma Night veterans beware!).
Less stacking of boxes.
More space for seating at Troma Night.
More space for games on…

[damaged post partially recovered on multiple occasions]

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The ID Card But Were Afraid To Ask

The Register are running an article about the new UK ID card, and what it all means. They’re always a great source of information on such things, if slightly cynical… and this document is no exception. Go read it. Then throw rocks at Mr. Blunkett. <grin>

Last Few Dreams

Last night’s dream
Claire was complaining at me because I’d bought online driving lessons, which she considered to be significantly worse value for money than ‘traditional’ ones. I argued that I didn’t actually want the lessons, but they were only 10p each and I only had 20p pieces and I needed 10p pieces, so I bought them so as to have them give me 10p pieces in change.

After I was woken by the alarm and hit the snooze button…

This morning’s dream
I wake up on Ynyslas beach, and (despite wondering how I got there) decide that I ought to go to work, so I start trekking South towards Borth. Alex, a coworker, overtook me, driving his old car (he replaced it a few months ago).

Monday night’s dream
Somewhat reminiscent of Far Cry (a first-person shooter I’ve been playing too much of recently), I was armed to the teeth and shooting heaps of mercenaries. As time went on, I began to have a conflict of morals, and began wondering who was the ‘bad guy’ – me, or them. Then, perhaps to prove it, I raped one of the hostages I was supposed to be rescuing. Hmm.