The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.

[alice]

But like most utopian conworlders, you say that things will happen in a certain way because you want it to. People are cogs in a system and must behave like the machinery you allow them to be. You don't think about what a human living under your system would think or feel.

Not just utopian conworlders, either; many authors of speculative fiction are guilty of this, as are advocates of certain political philosophies. As a friend once said to me, "you make a perfect world into which you then put people".

[Ahzoh]

Need help.

Using Windows 10 Home still. Still under ESU.

Windows Update won't install KB5120249 and KB5121647. Keeps giving me 0x80070057 error. I even tried manually downloading these things and my PC simply won't install them.

Trouble shooter detects no issue, I have cleared the windows update cache a million times, something like this:

Code: Select all

net stop wuauserv /yes
net stop cryptSvc /yes
net stop bits /yes
net stop msiserver /yes

ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old

net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

rmdir /S /Q C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.old
rmdir /S /Q C:\Windows\System32\Catroot2.old

I have run sfc a million times, nothing fucking works.

Most fixes involve running DISM but I can't run DISM because it can't find any source. I even downloaded a fresh Windows ISO using the media creation tool and tried to use both an esd file and a wim file as the source and it still couldn't find the source.

I am at my wits end.

[Travis B.]

zeptoforth 1.17.0 is out!

[Raphael]

Does anyone here know anything about, or know of a good place to learn about, the ONIX format and/or system for handling electronic media? I admit that I find the texts about it that I've seen so far have mostly confused me a lot. I'm asking because the German National Library demands that I should send them the audio recording of my novel fragment that I recently posted on the ZBB using ONIX.

[bradrn]

Does anyone here know anything about, or know of a good place to learn about, the ONIX format and/or system for handling electronic media? I admit that I find the texts about it that I've seen so far have mostly confused me a lot. I'm asking because the German National Library demands that I should send them the audio recording of my novel fragment that I recently posted on the ZBB using ONIX.

Why do you need to send a fragment of a recording of an unfinished novel to the German National Library?

[Raphael]

Does anyone here know anything about, or know of a good place to learn about, the ONIX format and/or system for handling electronic media? I admit that I find the texts about it that I've seen so far have mostly confused me a lot. I'm asking because the German National Library demands that I should send them the audio recording of my novel fragment that I recently posted on the ZBB using ONIX.

Why do you need to send a fragment of a recording of an unfinished novel to the German National Library?

They can be pretty strict about mandatory delivery of online publications.

[bradrn]

Does anyone here know anything about, or know of a good place to learn about, the ONIX format and/or system for handling electronic media? I admit that I find the texts about it that I've seen so far have mostly confused me a lot. I'm asking because the German National Library demands that I should send them the audio recording of my novel fragment that I recently posted on the ZBB using ONIX.

Why do you need to send a fragment of a recording of an unfinished novel to the German National Library?

They can be pretty strict about mandatory delivery of online publications.

Surely that doesn’t count as an ‘online publication’, any more than these forum posts do?

[Raphael]

Why do you need to send a fragment of a recording of an unfinished novel to the German National Library?

They can be pretty strict about mandatory delivery of online publications.

Surely that doesn’t count as an ‘online publication’, any more than these forum posts do?

Well, I don't really know. Would have to re-read their answer to my question.

[Travis B.]

Things like the need for Impressen and the need to register any copies of documents published only make me wonder about Germany ─ the former are definitely against the idea of anonymity, and the latter could easy be used for mass surveillance...

[Ahzoh]

Need help.

Using Windows 10 Home still. Still under ESU.

Windows Update won't install KB5120249 and KB5121647. Keeps giving me 0x80070057 error. I even tried manually downloading these things and my PC simply won't install them.

Trouble shooter detects no issue, I have cleared the windows update cache a million times, something like this:

Code: Select all

net stop wuauserv /yes
net stop cryptSvc /yes
net stop bits /yes
net stop msiserver /yes

ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old

net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

rmdir /S /Q C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.old
rmdir /S /Q C:\Windows\System32\Catroot2.old

I have run sfc a million times, nothing fucking works.

Most fixes involve running DISM but I can't run DISM because it can't find any source. I even downloaded a fresh Windows ISO using the media creation tool and tried to use both an esd file and a wim file as the source and it still couldn't find the source.

I am at my wits end.

I still have not found a solution to my problem. It seems my computer simply doesn't want to install updates at all, whether it's Windows Update or the standalone installer. And the DISM function refuses to accept any source even when it is directly linked to the file pathway.

[Ares Land]

@Raphael: considering this is only a fragment, and not intended yet for widespread distribution, I'd also double check to see if it’s worth the hassle.

Other than that, I don’t know about that specific format, sorry I can’t help more!

Things like the need for Impressen and the need to register any copies of documents published only make me wonder about Germany ─ the former are definitely against the idea of anonymity, and the latter could easy be used for mass surveillance...

As for the latter, that’s just legal deposit. It’s a requirement in many if not most countries, not just Germany: the US have the same requirement, including self-published ebooks.
In France, I know one problem is the sheer volume of digital publication. The BNF only archives internet sites deemed of partivular historical interest, but going by the strict letter of the law they should basically replicate the Internet Archive. (A endeavor vastly over budget, needless to say, even if you consider only French websites.)
Anyway, legal deposit is nothing unusual a legitimate request in my view -- for one thing, it’s of great interest to (future) historians.

As for Impressum, briefly checking what the legal requirements are, it looks like it applies to websites only if they’re commercial or professional in nature. If so, it’s not uniquely German - we have the same requirement in all of the EU.
Again, that feels reasonable? It’s not a great idea to allow people to sell stuff anonymously.
But I don’t have the full story. The English wikipedia page hints at predatory practices on the part of some German lawyers. Maybe someone here knows more about that?

[Raphael]

@Raphael: considering this is only a fragment, and not intended yet for widespread distribution, I'd also double check to see if it’s worth the hassle.

I've asked them and am waiting for their answer.

As for Impressum, briefly checking what the legal requirements are, it looks like it applies to websites only if they’re commercial or professional in nature. If so, it’s not uniquely German - we have the same requirement in all of the EU.
Again, that feels reasonable? It’s not a great idea to allow people to sell stuff anonymously.
But I don’t have the full story. The English wikipedia page hints at predatory practices on the part of some German lawyers. Maybe someone here knows more about that?

Yes, there are law firms that specialize or partly specialize in sending cease-and-desist letters accompanied by demands for money (I don't know about other countries, but that's a thing under German law) to people not complying with the Impressumspflicht.

It's not only commercial stuff - though keep in mind how many people do commercial stuff without having any business premises or phone lines online these days - but also stuff that is meant to have an editorial impact on public debates, which, of course, includes all political blogs.

Personally, I think that when pretty much all decent people on the internet agree that doxxing people is very bad, it's downright horrible to have laws, no matter whether German or EU-wide, that make it mandatory for people to doxx themselves. I effectively comes down to the laws and the authorities systematically helping and enabling stochastic terrorism.

[Ares Land]

Ah, thanks. That clear it up a lot.

Yes, there are law firms that specialize or partly specialize in sending cease-and-desist letters accompanied by demands for money (I don't know about other countries, but that's a thing under German law) to people not complying with the Impressumspflicht.

Sounds horrible! Makes you wonder why they're still allowed to operate; that's just legalizing a predatory kind of scam.

It's not only commercial stuff - though keep in mind how many people do commercial stuff without having any business premises or phone lines online these days - but also stuff that is meant to have an editorial impact on public debates, which, of course, includes all political blogs.

Personally, I think that when pretty much all decent people on the internet agree that doxxing people is very bad, it's downright horrible to have laws, no matter whether German or EU-wide, that make it mandatory for people to doxx themselves. I effectively comes down to the laws and the authorities systematically helping and enabling stochastic terrorism.

Oh, OK. I do agree that extending the requirement to editorial content is incredibly dangerous!

Can you at least use a mailbox service or something similar instead of a personal address?

[Raphael]

Can you at least use a mailbox service or something similar instead of a personal address?

That's apparently a legal grey area, which makes it risky.

[jcb]

Behold! The techbros' latest glorious idea: Uber, but for drug trafficking.
- https://x.com/superalbs/status/2081291778116747611

[alice]

Behold! The techbros' latest glorious idea: Uber, but for drug trafficking.
- https://x.com/superalbs/status/2081291778116747611

And, presumably, bitcoins?

[Nortaneous]

Behold! The techbros' latest glorious idea: Uber, but for drug trafficking.
- https://x.com/superalbs/status/2081291778116747611

The press release announcing this was published on OpenPR, a free platform. No successful funding rounds have been publicly disclosed.

[Richard W]

Did the Elisp expression (setq x) have well-defined meaning? I think it used in Emacs 20.2, and probably later, but now it's being rejected as having too few parameters. I believe it set the variable x to t; or at least, it resulted in the variable having a value other than nil.

[bradrn]

Did the Elisp expression (setq x) have well-defined meaning? I think it used in Emacs 20.2, and probably later, but now it's being rejected as having too few parameters. I believe it set the variable x to t; or at least, it resulted in the variable having a value other than nil.

I can’t recall having ever seen it.

[Travis B.]

Did the Elisp expression (setq x) have well-defined meaning? I think it used in Emacs 20.2, and probably later, but now it's being rejected as having too few parameters. I believe it set the variable x to t; or at least, it resulted in the variable having a value other than nil.

I can’t recall having ever seen it.

I didn't know that (setq x) was ever well-formed Lisp of any sort myself.