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Linux Basics for Hackers (2019)

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Re: Linux Basics for Hackers (2019)

#41

Post by liotier »

opan wrote: post #39
markus_zhang wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

QQ: even when I use Linux as a daily driver I don’t use the cli much. I heard that getting a cheap vps, set up some popular services, and then exposing it to the Internet actually teaches a lot about sysadmin. Does this make sense? One big issue for me is that when I use Linux I only use it for a specific purpose, e.g. hacking kernels, and the cli commands are extremely limited. I have been using a Linux box for a ye…

Hosting a Minecraft server was pretty big for me. Learned about screen and tmux to keep it running and be able to detach and reattach. Learned vim to deal with configs on the headless server. Another thing that helped me learn a lot was what I call "anime playlist management", but may be too niche to recommend. Basically after I moved from VLC to mpv I had to create and add to playlists without a gui. I learned a lot…

> Hosting a Minecraft server was pretty big for me.

This seems to have been the gateway to systems administration for a surprisingly large number of contemporary young people - just like IRC, Quake and Counterstrike servers in my teen years, and futzing with config.sys & autoexec.bat for DOS games when I was a kid... And the hacking soon becomes more fun than the game itself !

Re: Linux Basics for Hackers (2019)

#42

Post by specproc »

Arainach wrote: post #35
iamalizard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of a better analogy than littering for pirating an item at more than 1 place. When you litter, you add to the trash. If everyone littered, it would be awful. But if everyone pirated the same content on a different site/platform/protocol, it would still be 1 pirated item. The better, IMO, analogy, is if you have an ad glued somewhere, say at a bus stop. Another person comes with their ad and wants to glue…

People trying to justify piracy was tired in 1997 and it's embarassing now. It would be better if you just embrace the fact that you're unwilling to pay for creative effort and OK depriving creators of money - that isn't my ethos but it's at least honest and consistent. Arguing that piracy doesn't hurt someone is trivially wrong, lazy, and self-centered. This isn't even abandonware. If you don't want to buy the book,…

People trying to justify anti-piracy was embarrassing in 1997. It's petty and sanctimonious now.

Not everyone lives in rich Western countries with cushy Silicon Valley pay grades; lots of folks are young, studying; they may be temporarily underemployed, or simply have to prioritise other costs.

Knowledge is a right, not the privilege of a moneyed minority.

Re: Linux Basics for Hackers (2019)

#43

Post by Arainach »

specproc wrote: post #42
Arainach wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People trying to justify piracy was tired in 1997 and it's embarassing now. It would be better if you just embrace the fact that you're unwilling to pay for creative effort and OK depriving creators of money - that isn't my ethos but it's at least honest and consistent. Arguing that piracy doesn't hurt someone is trivially wrong, lazy, and self-centered. This isn't even abandonware. If you don't want to buy the book,…

People trying to justify anti-piracy was embarrassing in 1997. It's petty and sanctimonious now. Not everyone lives in rich Western countries with cushy Silicon Valley pay grades; lots of folks are young, studying; they may be temporarily underemployed, or simply have to prioritise other costs. Knowledge is a right, not the privilege of a moneyed minority.

You have no claim to other people's knowledge or work. If they want to share it, it is on their terms.

If you're prioritizing other costs, then prioritize those. You don't have an inherent right to consume everything in history.

Re: Linux Basics for Hackers (2019)

#44

Post by specproc »

Arainach wrote: post #43
specproc wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People trying to justify anti-piracy was embarrassing in 1997. It's petty and sanctimonious now. Not everyone lives in rich Western countries with cushy Silicon Valley pay grades; lots of folks are young, studying; they may be temporarily underemployed, or simply have to prioritise other costs. Knowledge is a right, not the privilege of a moneyed minority.

You have no claim to other people's knowledge or work. If they want to share it, it is on their terms. If you're prioritizing other costs, then prioritize those. You don't have an inherent right to consume everything in history.

I'm a bibliophile. My current library stands at over 600 books, I'd wager I've purchased around a thousand in my lifetime. Please shed any assumption that this is the only way I read.

I am one of the book industry's better customers. This is pretty typical, AFAIUI. We see study after study suggest that pirates spend more on music and film than non-pirates.[1] Just the other week, I bought a physical copy of a book I'd first read from LibGen.

I pirate when I'm broke, or when living somewhere where certain books are hard to come by, as I did for a good 15-20 years of my life.

I have zero qualms about anything I've pirated. Not because of my prior "support" to authors, but because I'm aware most people in the world cannot afford to spend 65 dollars (plus postage) on a book.

Let me invert your claim on rights. What right do US lawyers have to deprive the majority of reading? Why should only the wealthy be able to access quality material on Linux? There is a particular irony in your gatekeeping of knowledge on an operating system which is designed to be free and accessible for all.

Imagine a world in which there was no Libgen, or Anna's Archive, or people sharing PDFs on forums. Would this be a better world? These things exist today, authors still get paid. In a world without, we'd have worse engineers, dumber people.

Frankly, I wish book piracy was much more mainstream. I'd much rather everyone was sat down of an evening with a copy of Linux Basics for Hackers, or The Leopard, or God-help-me, even Harry-chuffing-Potter, than doom-scrolling bile on their social media platform of choice.

Piracy is, all told, globally, a service to humanity, and we'd be better off with more of it.

[1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/study-again-shows-pirates-te..., https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/06/piracy-fi...

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