Here's some of what you missed at The Thirsty Robot:
Technical Musings
Technology Topic - Alternative Operating Systems
Not what you might be expecting... There was no mention of Windows or macOS in this discussion. Instead the chat circled around alternative Linuxes, and particularly Kali - the specialised 'security-oriented' community-project offering from Offensive Security.
If you aren't familiar with the extreme customisation that security people prefer in their operating systems, then the words 'specialised' and 'security' are the most important keywords here. Kali is not intended to be used as a general purpose operating system by ordinary people - for that you should use something designed to be as easy to install and maintain as possible: Mint Linux being just one example of a popular 'distro' that fulfills those 'straight-forward' and 'easy to use' criteria. A lot of people use Mint Linux as an alternative to the W and M operating systems that the general public assume are the only two contenders.
But Kali is a serious tool for security professionals, and wannabe professionals, and is put together in a very different way, with a carefully curated set of applications that would never be mistaken for Microsoft Office. In Mint Linux, then a user might sometimes need to log in as root, whereas in Kali, the exact opposite is true. If you don't know what 'root' is, then Kali is not for you.
Kali runs on desktop, laptop, mobile, bare metal computers, as well as cloud, containers and live booting (and more!). For mobiles, then one option is GrapheneOS, intended for mobile phones where 'privacy' and 'security' are important to the user. Another is Calyxos, which might sound like a Greek island, but is actually focussed on 'Privacy by Design'. Again, if you don't know what 'Privacy by Design' is, then this might not be for you, but here's an introduction or two , and you might find yourself very quickly reading about GDPR... (Warning: some of these documents get very formal and dry...)
More alternatives to Kali? The game here is to try and avoid the web-sites that are just click-bait and trying to get you to visit them and see all their adverts. So here goes:
FOSS (Ok, so this is a list of 'Pen Testing' distros, and Kali is at the top of the list!)
Technology Topic - Games Console Emulation
The Thirsty Robot is known for its sudden changes of direction, and so you won't be surprised that at exactly this moment, discussion took a tight right hand turn into PlayStation emulation. If you have a very fast, very powerful PC, then one of the things that you might like to explore is a virtual PS3.
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| Photo by Nikita Kostrykin on Unsplash |
Now this is much closer to the Thirsty Robot mind-set: how can you do something difficult that requires expensive hardware and spending lots of time and effort, in order to do something which is several generations old, and which will go completely over the heads of most ordinary people: "Is this difficult, then?"
Given that there's typically a 'starting' cost ratio of something like 4x (and rising as you inevitably want better, easier and faster) when you try to emulate a games console, then some people take the view that emulation only makes sense when so many generations have come and gone that the hardware is getting difficult to obtain. A Sinclair ZX Spectrum would seem to be a good example - but, even after nearly 40 years, then eBay managed to come up with quite a few working examples at very reasonable prices (a price ratio of more than 10x in most cases). But when you add in the tricky task of finding a cassette player and cassettes, then emulation starts to look more attractive. Ultimately, here's the thing: it really doesn't matter that the PC will cost 4x,10x, or more, times the cost of the games console, there's a challenge to achieving things which are difficult, and that's where you will find a thirsty robot person...
Technology Topic - Reverse Engineering
There was a final twist, where conversation turned to alternative firmware - for printers and other devices. Unfortunately, DCMA and various other bits of legislation, make this type of 'reverse engineering' activity potentially awkward, (or not) and so there seems to be a lot less activity these days... Some opinions:
Documentary Corner - Lego
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| Not all documentaries are made in corners! Photo by Chandler Media on Unsplash |
There's a documentary series on Netflix (and it has made it to the 'almost impossible' Third Season!) called 'The Toys That Made Us' which is about toys! Toys are those things that people buy for themselves under the pretence of buying them for other younger people (sometimes even when they don't have children themselves...) - especially when they haven't discovered the almost mythical transition from child to adult (and who here has?).
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| Orange bricks, of course! Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash |
The Lego episode was particularly recommended, but it was a fan that was saying that... There was some discussion about which came first: Mindstorms or Techic, and eventually Wikipedia settled it (Technic!). How did we find facts before the InterWeb? Answer1 Answer2 Answer3
Recommended Media - Bumper Edition
It is summer, and terrestrial TV seems to have even less than usual on it worth watching. There's a rumour that they spent all their budget buying decent films during the lockdown last year... But anyway, here are some streams that might be worth watching...
Oh yes, and here's a little secret: Just Watch (For when people ask: "What streaming service is it on?")
They Live - Currently streaming on Netflix in the UK
I Am Mother - Currently streaming on Netflix in the UK
Bubba Ho-Tep - Beyond cult status - So much so, that it isn't currently streaming in the UK!
(But you can get it on DVD imported from the USA from Amazon!)
Professor T - Imported from Belgium, tweaked, localised, and reimagined for the UK - and Currently streaming on ITV in the UK
Katla - Scandi Volcano Drama - Currently streaming on Netflix in the UK
Death of Stalin - Currently streaming on Chili in the UK
(Nope, we hadn't heard of Chili either...)
Sexual revolution TVprogrammes that you never expected to be made:
Motherland: Fort Salem - Currently streaming on iPlayer in the UK
It's a Sin - Currently being continually interrupted by adverts on All 4 in the UK
(Are there more adverts than programme on All 4?)
As always, we think that you know as little about a movie or TV series beforehand, so you should avoid trailers and reviews.
Media Related - People and trivia and things...
(If you ever wondered what Peter Jackon did before he was famous... And whatever happened to Trini Alvaredo - why isn't she a household name?)
Bruce Campbell - the man, the movies and more... (What, you've never heard of him?)
POV-Ray, the classic 3D rendering environment, was written on the Commodore Amiga! Most people assume that it was written on/for the PC first, and they would be wrong...
DevelopHer Awards - Know anyone good?
Repo - The Genetic Opera - A musical that is currently streaming on Apple TV in the UK
A quick glimpse into YouTube Kids TV media Empires... (This is a deep rabbit hole!)
Talking of media empires - Did you think that the UK invented totally constructed pop bands? Do not read this... How many generations? Surely it can't be that complex?
The 2020 Olympics (in 2021). Seems that lots of people wondered why the BBC ripped off Kenji Kawai's music from the original anime of 'Ghost in the Shell'... Turns out that it may have been licenced! There were lots of anime theme tunes, and the Boxing went all 'Street Fighter'! We won't comment on how little coverage there was on the BBC in comparison to Discovery, who seemed to have everything (you know, like the BBC used to do!).
Oh, and a Japanese Heavy Metal band who are slightly different to what you might be used to... Ah yes, and for contrast, the Japanese really do take Metal very seriously...
For some culture-shock, here's the web-site for an amazingly good band of hyper-talented musicians that you will never have heard of. Here's an example 'song' to listen to... OK, Baby Metal, so there's just weird and complicated, yeah? So try this...
Of course, for the ultimate on constructed Pop Stars, then there is Hatsune Miku, who is almost a small industry in Japan. Here 'she' is on the David Letterman show in the US - in 2014...
Possibly the biggest touring band in Asia is Perfume, who you've almost certainly never heard of. Perfume are quite good at live computer graphics, live video interaction, projection mapping, and lots more... A lot of the graphics come from Rhizomatics... who are ever so slightly good...
70s anime, anyone?
Security-related, hacking, that kind of thing...
Games that don't suck!
Overcooked - Fast-food franchise simulation from Team 17
The Day Before - Post apocalyptic on Steam (Don't you just LOVE those impossibly shiny cars!)
Over-used games genre number 21...
Books with words in them...
Kingpin - Something similar in the news recently...
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A lot of discussion happens at The Thirsty Robot. This blog is an edited, biased summary of just a small fraction of the conversation, links/URLs and references that were mentioned. It is an imperfect record and is definitely not complete - for that you should visit The Thirsty Robot!
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The next online meeting at The Thirsty Robot is on Thursday 26th August 2021 at 7:30pm GMT.
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