test-drb July 2001

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

301 participants
824 discussions

by cmurillo＠emtelsa.multi.net.co

Yes, but contiguous 0's are special and easy enough to detect, and, it would not be difficult for the assembler to include some initialization code. In the end, this is a difference in philosophy, asm vs. higher level languages. You don't expect an assembler to optimize that sort of thing, but rather, to do exactly as it is told. Now, I remember when g77 would actually include the image of a zero-initialized array within a common block in the executable.... at one point I had a 130MB executable :-) . This is the opposite case, a high-level language not optimizing that sort of thing. Carlos. At 06:37 PM 7/18/01 -0700, you wrote: >On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner wrote: >> some_buffer db 4096 dup(0) >> end segment > >That EXPLICITLY calls for 4K of 0's. >Virtually no assembler is clever enough to do a run-length compression. >OTOH, If you wrote > some_buffer db 4096 dup (?) >it would set up 4K of "UNINITIALIZED" space, which it COULD compress out >of the file, particularly if it is at the end. > >> . . . So it would be easy enough for a virus to scan the >> executable for a portion that is nothing but zeros, and hide in there. >It could always make space within the MICROS~1 copyright message. > >-- >Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com > > -------------------------------------------------------------- Carlos E. Murillo-Sanchez carlos_murillo(a)nospammers.ieee.org

25 years, 1 month

Superbrain and Altair

by KenzieM＠sympatico.ca

Today I have received a hint that there is a Superbrain available for the right price and another mentioning an altair, with modem and manuals. I've seen Altairs on E-bay but not a superbrain, what would be fair offers for these? Also, does anyone know of newer kits similar to the altair or mark-8. I found 1 advertised as a computer kit and it consisted of a mother board, video card, drives, PS and case and you put them together.

25 years, 1 month

where did you happen to 'pick up' that heathkit Microprocessor training kit?

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On July 18, Richard Erlacher wrote: > For about a year there was one sitting in the back room (surplus) at the Denver > Gateway Electronics store, overpriced at $40. Overpriced at $40? I had two, sold one on eBay for $200.00 a year or so ago. I'd pay $40 for one quite readily even if they didn't have such a high resale value...they're just *cool*. :-) > They show up from time to time. There's a Heathkit Logic Analyzer there now, > IIRC, not to mention an old HP model. Really? What models might they be? -Dave McGuire

25 years, 1 month

OT: Virii

by Glenatacme＠aol.com

OT, yes (maybe some virii are >10 years old??) but related to programming in general. Plus, if no one on this list knows the answer, then there probably *isn't* an answer ;>) I received a virus in an e-mail attachment a few minutes ago. The sender is a wholesale supplier I'm acquainted with. NAV spotted the "W32.Magistr.corrupt" virus, could not repair the infected item, and asked for permission to delete the item, which I granted. I looked this virus up in the list of 50K+ virii that NAV currently claims to cover. No information was available, except that this virus is rare, it infects .exe files, and it is zero bytes in length. Now, I've cranked out a couple of boatloads of code over the last 19 years, and the smallest useful program I ever wrote was 3 bytes in length. It's easy enough to create a zero byte file, but as far as I can tell such a file can't *do* anything. How can I write a zero-byte program? How does NAV identify this virus if it's zero bytes in length? What real threat to my PC is an e-mail-propagated virus of length zero? WTF??? TIA, Glen 0/0

25 years, 1 month

parcel post from U.K. to U.S.A. ?

by Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com

>I would very much appreciate the help of a U.K. resident in >calculating postage to ship an approx. fifteen pound box of >manuals (and floppies) from England to the U.S. We need to >do this without mortgaging the farm, so a slow boat across >the pond is preferred. The originating location is: The originating location is (I think) irrelevant as long as it is within the UK mainland (which yours is, unless Cheshire has been badly flooded lately ...). If noone else chips in first, I'll have a play on the scales tomorrow. That would give a price via Parcelforce (or whoever the Royal Mail use). I don't have much experience with shipping in either direction but I'll ask to see if anyone in the office can find out how DHL or UPS calculate their charges. As a very rough estimate, work out how much the reverse route (i.e. US->UK) would set you back. I would be surprised if there is more than a factor of two (but I bet UK->US costs more !) A 2kg manual cost about $20 US->UK about a year ago. Antonio

25 years, 1 month

Seeking Mark Gregory???

by claudew＠videotron.ca

I sent Mark Gregory a large quantity of Amiga Worlds about a month ago and he was to send me a Amiga 1200 for my collection. No news I a long while. He also offered some books on here IIRC. Anybody talked to this person recently? Thanks Claude http://computer_collector.tripod.com

25 years, 1 month

(OT) Sgi Indy

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

On July 18, Pete Turnbull wrote: > > The chapter did mention NIS (yp) so that *might* be an option. > > No, NIS is *never* an option ;-) BRAVO!! -Dave McGuire

25 years, 1 month

where did you happen to 'pick up' that heathkit Microprocessor tr aining kit?

by ML_WOOD＠ColoradoCollege.edu

I'm interested, where did you happen to 'pick up' that heathkit Microprocessor training kit? Thanks if you can reply!

25 years, 1 month

HP1000/A600 worth saving ?

by jos.mar＠bluewin.ch

The above might be avaliable ( with some peripherals ) : it is worth saving ? I could not find too much info in the net . Around 1980's I assume. I don't even know if it is a mini or if it is microprocessr based... Any comments ? ( BTW location Zurich, Switzerland ) Regards, Jos Dreesen

25 years, 1 month

Grey Wall in NYC

by allain＠panix.com

I have a lead on a DEC "Grey Wall" in NYC. Contact me off list if you're interested. There are about 20 vols on VMS and 8 vols on VAX-GKS. The owners will likely toss in one or more vt320's too if you want 'em. The owner has enough conscience not to just throw stuff out; I got him to wait another week or three. My cup runneth over. John A.

25 years, 1 month

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test-drb July 2001