Try Ratpoison (http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/) to get rid of the mice.
Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
31–40 of 60 posts
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#32I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware.
I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did.
Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it again.
Fast-forward, now we have news that nuclear programs had malfunctions caused by cyber-attacks. Ok, not exactly the same "software doesn't damage hardware" we talked back then, but...
I'm willing to consider that using software to make some catware cause damages to the hardware should be acceptable too :D
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#33Very strange. Neither of my cats have ever paid the slightest bit of attention to the contents of any screen on any device I own. Yet I know people whose cats like to watch television, so there's some thing going on where some cats see screen images as significant and others don't. I should go looking for info on that!
In any case, I don't see how this is XFCE's problem. Just change the wallpaper.
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#34Very strange. Neither of my cats have ever paid the slightest bit of attention to the contents of any screen on any device I own. Yet I know people whose cats like to watch television, so there's some thing going on where some cats see screen images as significant and others don't. I should go looking for info on that! In any case, I don't see how this is XFCE's problem. Just change the wallpaper.
> I don't see how this is XFCE's problem. Just change the wallpaper.
While any user who notices they're affected by the issue can fix it on their own, this is only likely to happen after damage has already been inflicted. XFCE can help people preemptively by changing the default to something less likely to attract cats.
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#35I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did. Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it…
>when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware.
A more recent debate (TL;DR: yes, software can cause damage to hardware): https://superuser.com/questions/313850/
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#36I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did. Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it…
I remember trying to prove that this was impossible... Until I killed a floppy reader.
But now? When microcode can be patched? I'm waiting for tamperproof ransomware, that holds your hardware as well as your data as the hostage.
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#37I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did. Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it…
>when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. A more recent debate (TL;DR: yes, software can cause damage to hardware): https://superuser.com/questions/313850/
As the person who wrote the accepted answer to that question, I'm flattered to see it linked here. (I'm also a bit embarrassed at reading some of my older rambling-style writing, but nothing beats experience :)
While my forray into malicious floppy disks didn't end with physical damage, I did manage to make one similar to DBAN. If you booted the computer with the floppy inserted, all drives would be formatted instantly, without any user input.
Fortunately, even in highschool I realized they probably imaged the school machines anyways. Probably...
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#38I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did. Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it…
> "software doesn't damage hardware" [not parent's claim]
Isn't this trivially false?
Of course we can design hardware (+ firmware) that allows software to damage or irrevocably destroy it.
So even if we're not willing to accept that alone, it surely follows that some hardware (+ firmware) will (accidentally) be physically vulnerable to malicious software?
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#39I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did. Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it…
> there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware.
Ever broken a monitor with a bad X config?
Re: Xfce bug: “default desktop screen causes damage to monitor”
#40I remember my early days of computers (not as old as some folks here, I know) when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. I remember programing a small .asm that would move the head of a floppy to a farther point and it stoped working. Probably not all models would fail, but one particular brand did. Then a intense debate followed that I was wrong. Never talked about it…
>when there was an intense debate on whether a software could cause damage to some hardware. A more recent debate (TL;DR: yes, software can cause damage to hardware): https://superuser.com/questions/313850/
Previous related discussion (about the new MacBooks having their speakers blown out when running Bootcamp) : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13063325