FSF Certifies A USB Microphone For Respecting Your Freedom Plus Some Network Adapters

[M@GOid]

I'm being sacarstic. Of course I know about that. It's just downright aggrevating that only two USB 80211ac chipsets are compatible with a mainline kernel when there are more than 30 out there and we are moving on to 80211ax.

Things aren't any better on the M.2 / PCIe side as well. The only 80211ac M2/PCIe chipsets that are reliably compatible with a mainline kernel are Intel and Qualcomm, and they make up only half the market. Realtek, Mediatek and Broadcom make up the other 50% and their compatibility is pathetic. Even Realtek, the so-called best of the worst, has spotty M2/PCIe 80211ac compatibility with mainline kernels.

I used to care about wireless tech and even bought a couple routers with the best and latest tech. Them I realized that there was a race to extract the biggest amount of money from tech nerds like me, with some routers getting north of 300 dollars, and it was not fun anymore. Your expensive router is only as good as are the devices connected to them, and obviously not all what you have can take advantage of the latest tech in WiFi speeds.

That was years ago, before even AC Wifi was launched. Now I just use what I have since all those great promised speeds and ranges where never achieved in real life. When I need speed, cable is the the only one delivering the promise.

Of course I'm not saying you should buy obsolete tech. Your needs may be much different than mine. But if you want speed, just use the cable, is simpler and way cheaper than high speed Wifi. And if your better half is allergic to cables, well, that is not my problem :-)

[Vistaus]

well the problem is this, is open source really more secure that proprietary software? one will tend to think that yes, but on the other hand there are some examples that is not always like that , one being WPA2 encryption vulnerability which windows was mostly unaffected.

Yeah, people keep saying "open source is secure because anyone can review the code", but if no one reviews the code, then how do we know it's secure? And yes, the same goes for proprietary software: if no one reviews the code, we don't know if it's secure. So neither is better than the other PER SE when it comes to security.

[Vistaus]

The main difference is that opensource is easier to audit, and it can be fixed by anyone interested (that has the resources to do so), not just the manufacturer. That WPA2 encryption vulnerability was rapidly fixed in any device running OpenWrt for example while any device on stock firmware is not going to receive any patch for it and will still be used for a long time.

Yeah, but how do you know someone is actually going to audit the code? There's a difference between being able to audit the code in the open and actually doing so. Not saying that proprietary software is better than that. Both FOSS and proprietary software requires willingness from people to actually audit the code.

[Vistaus]

Getting electricity inside a cave is a pain in the ass?

They could just use generators and smuggle new ones when the old ones are out of electricity?

[Vistaus]

Terrorists are not used to take over the world but to influence it by fear.

Those that took over world communications are those same government agencies that cry buckets of tears about end-to-end encryption in applications, and about how that is bad for "national security", or those in other nations where they mandate back doors or full access for themselves everywhere.

Or like our government: they complained and cried to the moon and back when it was revealed that the NSA was spying on everyone, but a few years later, our intelligence agency now has NSA-like capabilities thanks to a new law.

[starshipeleven]

Or like our government: they complained and cried to the moon and back when it was revealed that the NSA was spying on everyone, but a few years later, our intelligence agency now has NSA-like capabilities thanks to a new law.

The issue is NSA spying on them, of course.

[starshipeleven]

They could just use generators and smuggle new ones when the old ones are out of electricity?

There is this thing called fuel. You don't usually need to buy a new generator unless it breaks.

[starshipeleven]

Yeah, but how do you know someone is actually going to audit the code? There's a difference between being able to audit the code in the open and actually doing so. Not saying that proprietary software is better than that. Both FOSS and proprietary software requires willingness from people to actually audit the code.

Getting a work done requires someone doing the work, more news at 20:00.

With opensource code there is a much lower barrier to entry for anyone that wants to audit or fix stuff. Of course someone needs to do it.

[Vistaus]

There is this thing called fuel. You don't usually need to buy a new generator unless it breaks.

There's this thing called "fuel is scarce in war zones". So yeah, they *do* need to replace their generators. (also, what is this "buying" thing? I'm pretty sure ISIS just steals new ones)

[Vistaus]

Getting a work done requires someone doing the work, more news at 20:00.

With opensource code there is a much lower barrier to entry for anyone that wants to audit or fix stuff. Of course someone needs to do it.

And that's what was I was getting at: I'm a FOSS supporter and all, but when it comes down to security, it's not safer PER SE as someone still needs to audit it.