Re: iPod as an option...

Andy Hewitt <thewildrover@xxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Andy Hewitt <thewildrover@xxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[..]
I'm not at all convinced that the MacOS X 10.6 firewall is doing
anything useful myself - I certainly don't feel that I've got any real
control over it.

There are ways to make it better I believe.

<pained> Not for normal users - it's impossible to learn what you need
to learn to control the MacOS X firewall with any intelligence.

Well, it's not 'impossible',

Oh yes it is impossible for normal users to do so.

but is certainly not particularly user
friendly if you really want control over it. I gather it needs some
skill with Unix to get the best from it, so it is possible, but only
with the right knowledge.

No, you need to be a highly skilled hacker to be able to get anywhere
with it - normal users can't learn the needful.

Having said that, altering a firewall's settings without understanding
what you're doing is just as useless anyway, so *some* knowledge of
firewalls is needed in any case.

Except that there's no way a normal user can get any useful
understanding of the MacOS X firewall - I've tried, oh yes I've had to
adjust the settings, but I've no idea at all what effects I've had
except that things can talk whereas before they couldn't. But what
nasties am I opening myself up to in opening up whatever I've opened up?

Since it's not possible to find out what you've done, well - the normal
user is operating blind.

Most end users haven't a bloody clue (I
only have a partial clue myself, so tend to just leave it alone).

There are some third party apps that offer better control, but at an
extra cost.

There used to be a free third party app that was better than any of the
commercial firewall control apps for Macs. ISTR `Brick' was in the
name.

Mind you, I also have the
firewall in my router too, so it's just an extra level of protection.

It's no protection at all if it's doing nothing useful.

Or is it?

You what? If it's doing nothing useful, it's doing nothing useful and
is therefore no protection.

And the normal user simply cannot find out.

[..]
With a wired setup, you're fundaamentally more secure because the only
way in is - well, via the wires, down *that* path, hard to spoof in
novel ways that can't be ruled out completely (as is more likely with
wireless).

Paranoid? Yes, but they're after me anyway... They're after all of us.

Maybe so, but it can be a convenience for some.

And therein lies the risk...

There is of course *some* risk, but I feel that by using a long password
and WPA2 encryption, I at least have a good chance against those using
older technology, or crap passwords, or even nothing at all.

I'm talking about the fact that the passwords and so on might well be
totally irrelevant - because it's a wireless rig, you can't be sure that
there's no way of evading the password control by going round the side
of it.

I certainly wasn't ever
convinced by wireless, but it has become something I found was a
convenient, and economical, solution to being able to move around my
house freely. I do have some ethernet around my house, but it does
restrict where I can sit with my MacBook, and I'd need to run a cable
across whatever room I'm in, and then fix myself to the spot.

We have flying Ethernet leads - which means gigabit Ethernet to all Macs
(bar the old G4 iMac) and no real worries about tripping over anything.
/Yet/ anyway - we might have to re-think (as has probably occurred to
some).

Yeah, there is that of course. I can easily use Ethernet in some
locations, but if I want to sit in the lounge and use my MacBook, I have
to trail a cable across half the room.

Works for me.

[snip]

Any chemists or metallurgists in the room who might actually know some
facts in this case?

I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to do a few resistance or voltage drop
tests to see what coatings give the best conduction.

Erm. Oh yes it is hard. Simple DC tests aren't a lot of use in this
sort of case anyway. And you need to do tests of this stuff over long
term service.

Of course it's easy
to work out in theory, but what about in the real world.

Eh? It's very hard to work out in theory - which is why this sort of
thing is worked out by empirically after taking into account the various
basic facts like `We know that gold and silver and nickel work well as
plating in this sort of application from past experience' and so on.

Of course,
you'd need some reasonably stable data to work with (such as ambient
temperature, humidity maybe, length of cable, resistance of cable,
standard core metarial for the connector, all that kind of thing.

<puzzled> I thought you wanted to know about real-world service? That
means exposing the connectors to the full range of operational
environments in long term service to find out how they perform - much as
you'd test an aeroplane once you'd built it.

It probably wouldn't hurt to test some of the cables you actually own
though, and find out which ones are the best. At least you'll know what
ones to use!

Hah!

No-one can test a cable to find out if its audio properties are better
or worse than any other. The only way is to listen - and I can't hear
any bloody difference.

(I'm talking about cables of the same type - obviously, balanced lines
work best down twisted pairs, and screening does what it says on the
tin, and you'll get lower effective capacitance with a guard *and*
shield - and so on and so forth, - for all I know, cable impedance does
make a difference in domestic audio rigs, which would be worth trying to
make measurements about.

but once you've dealt with the basic engineering facts, it's all down to
hot air if you ask me)

Rowland.

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