From kkeville at mit.edu  Tue May  4 08:59:46 2021
From: kkeville at mit.edu (Kurt L Keville)
Date: Tue, 4 May 2021 12:59:46 +0000
Subject: [Discuss] "vBeer v2" online Party!
Message-ID: <68404df5b26e48f0b77f0f68acee8075@oc11expo16.exchange.mit.edu>

May the 7th be with you, But be prepared to start drinking early our time...
https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/general-discussion/1254599-events-vbeer-v2-online-party-7th-may-at-3pm-utc

Also, May the 5th and 6th be with you as well...
https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/events/delltechnologiesworld/index.html


From gaf.linux at gmail.com  Thu May 13 12:34:39 2021
From: gaf.linux at gmail.com (Jerry Feldman)
Date: Thu, 13 May 2021 12:34:39 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting Wednesday, May 19,
	2021 - Assorted Topics
Message-ID: <d91ebe25-4120-fc60-f423-5da07eb55e47@gmail.com>

When: May 19, 2021 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)
Topic:Assorted Topics
Moderators: BLU Staff and members

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Live stream: https://youtu.be/Pj1ooiEoljE

Summary:

An open-ended discussion of Linux, UNIX, and FLOSS topics

Abstract:

Our scheduled speakers had to cancel at the last minute, so we'll have 
an open-ended discussion. Jerry Feldman will lead off with his 
impressions of the recently released Fedora 34. However, we will 
entertain any other Linux oriented topic.


For further information and instructions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux at gmail.com <mailto:gaf.linux at gmail.com>>
Boston Linux and Unix http://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1? 3050 5715 B88D 6F6
B B6E7









_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce at lists.blu.org
http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

From jdm at moylan.us  Tue May 18 11:07:09 2021
From: jdm at moylan.us (dan moylan)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 11:07:09 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] kindle files
Message-ID: <YKPYHd0VGHqJIuSM@aldeberon.localdomain>


a long time ago, when i had bought my first kindle reader, i
was able to plug it into a usb port of my laptop (running
fedora core) where it readily mounted enabling me to
transfer files easily back and forth.  times have progressed
(?).  i currently read my kindle files on a samsung android
tablet to which the brookline library as well as amazon
download books.  the library books are loans, of course, but
i'd like to copy/transfer the books i purchase from amazon
to the hard drive of my laptop as well as send mobi files
from project gutenburg the other way.  i've googled for info
on how to do this, but do not seem to be making progress.

any suggestions?

tia,
ole dan


j. daniel moylan
84 harvard ave
brookline, ma 02446-6202
617-777-0207 (cel)
jdm at moylan.us
www.moylan.us
[BLM]

From richard.pieri at gmail.com  Tue May 18 11:23:43 2021
From: richard.pieri at gmail.com (Rich Pieri)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 11:23:43 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] kindle files
In-Reply-To: <YKPYHd0VGHqJIuSM@aldeberon.localdomain>
References: <YKPYHd0VGHqJIuSM@aldeberon.localdomain>
Message-ID: <60a3dc00.1c69fb81.d07e2.7100@mx.google.com>

Calibre can do most of this but not with DRM-encumbered files without
some extra plugins which I'm not going to explain because DMCA
considerations.

On Tue, 18 May 2021 11:07:09 -0400
dan moylan <jdm at moylan.us> wrote:

> a long time ago, when i had bought my first kindle reader, i
> was able to plug it into a usb port of my laptop (running
> fedora core) where it readily mounted enabling me to
> transfer files easily back and forth.  times have progressed
> (?).  i currently read my kindle files on a samsung android
> tablet to which the brookline library as well as amazon
> download books.  the library books are loans, of course, but
> i'd like to copy/transfer the books i purchase from amazon
> to the hard drive of my laptop as well as send mobi files
> from project gutenburg the other way.  i've googled for info
> on how to do this, but do not seem to be making progress.
> 
> any suggestions?

-- 
Rich Pieri

From lconrad at laymusic.org  Tue May 18 12:00:46 2021
From: lconrad at laymusic.org (Laura Conrad)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 12:00:46 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] kindle files
In-Reply-To: <60a3dc00.1c69fb81.d07e2.7100@mx.google.com> (Rich Pieri's
 message of "Tue, 18 May 2021 11:23:43 -0400")
References: <YKPYHd0VGHqJIuSM@aldeberon.localdomain>
 <60a3dc00.1c69fb81.d07e2.7100@mx.google.com>
Message-ID: <877djwdob5.fsf@laymusic.org>

>>>>> "Rich" == Rich Pieri <richard.pieri at gmail.com> writes:

    Rich> Calibre can do most of this but not with DRM-encumbered files without
    Rich> some extra plugins which I'm not going to explain because DMCA
    Rich> considerations.

Calibre is perfectly happy to transfer and store DRM encumbered files.
It just can't read them without the plugins.

-- 
Laura   (mailto:lconrad at laymusic.org)
(617) 661-8097	233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139   
<http://www.laymusic.org/> <http://www.serpentpublications.org>

In North Carolina, where the statewide vote is often close, a
Republican lawmaker was asked why the G.O.P.-led Legislature drew
district maps that gave Republicans 10 congressional districts and
Democrats only three. He responded, ?Because I do not believe it?s
possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.?

New York Times Editorial Board, September 30, 2017


From gaf.linux at gmail.com  Tue May 18 19:54:02 2021
From: gaf.linux at gmail.com (Jerry Feldman)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 19:54:02 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting reminder, tomorrow, Wednesday,
 May 19, 2021 - Assorted Topics
Message-ID: <39901a04-888f-fdb4-307d-48b567a8d7f8@gmail.com>

When:May 19, 2021 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)
Topic: Assorted Topics
Moderators: BLU Staff and members

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Live stream: https://youtu.be/Pj1ooiEoljE

Summary:

An open-ended discussion of Linux, UNIX, and FLOSS topics


Abstract:

Our scheduled speakers had to cancel at the last minute, so we'll have
an open-ended discussion. Jerry Feldman will lead off with his
impressions of the recently released Fedora 34. However, we will
entertain any other Linux, UNIX, or FLOSS oriented topic.


For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:
http://www.blu.org

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux at gmail.com <mailto:gaf.linux at gmail.com>>
Boston Linux and Unix http://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1? 3050 5715 B88D 6F6
B B6E7









_______________________________________________
Announce mailing list
Announce at lists.blu.org
http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

From worley at alum.mit.edu  Tue May 18 19:58:10 2021
From: worley at alum.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley)
Date: Tue, 18 May 2021 19:58:10 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Flashback humor: Shouting in the Datacenter
In-Reply-To: <mailman.14886.1621382083.7345.discuss@lists.blu.org>
 (discuss-request@driftwood.blu.org)
Message-ID: <87mtsrmw6l.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>

> From: David Kramer <david at thekramers.net>
> Subject: [Discuss] Flashback humor: Shouting in the Datacenter
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDacjrSCeq4

They said on Usenet:

"In the machine room, no one can hear you scream."

Dale

From kentborg at borg.org  Wed May 19 13:00:11 2021
From: kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)
Date: Wed, 19 May 2021 10:00:11 -0700
Subject: [Discuss] nmap output question
Message-ID: <6cae03f9-d621-12bf-0030-7d1b7a37c0f2@borg.org>

What does this nmap output mean:

> 6001/tcp open? X11????? (access denied)


Thanks,

-kb


From dsr at randomstring.org  Wed May 19 13:49:49 2021
From: dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)
Date: Wed, 19 May 2021 13:49:49 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] nmap output question
In-Reply-To: <6cae03f9-d621-12bf-0030-7d1b7a37c0f2@borg.org>
References: <6cae03f9-d621-12bf-0030-7d1b7a37c0f2@borg.org>
Message-ID: <20210519174949.sozldybspbtwz6ri@randomstring.org>

Kent Borg wrote: 
> What does this nmap output mean:
> 
> > 6001/tcp open? X11????? (access denied)
> 

6001 is a TCP port that is commonly used for X11. Something is
answering at that port, but your IP address is not on its xhost
allow list, so it won't talk to you.

-dsr-

From kentborg at borg.org  Wed May 19 15:10:00 2021
From: kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)
Date: Wed, 19 May 2021 12:10:00 -0700
Subject: [Discuss] nmap output question
In-Reply-To: <20210519174949.sozldybspbtwz6ri@randomstring.org>
References: <6cae03f9-d621-12bf-0030-7d1b7a37c0f2@borg.org>
 <20210519174949.sozldybspbtwz6ri@randomstring.org>
Message-ID: <9f30bb81-a71b-3ad3-ffb6-6e6e08f307f6@borg.org>

On 5/19/21 10:49 AM, Dan Ritter wrote:
>>> 6001/tcp open? X11????? (access denied)
>>>
> 6001 is a TCP port that is commonly used for X11. Something is
> answering at that port, but your IP address is not on its xhost
> allow list, so it won't talk to you.

In this case it is vncserver that I fired up (the intention being to 
only use it from an ssh tunnel).

When I run xhost I get "access control enabled, only authorized clients 
can connect".


So it looks like while I have the vncserver running I am not opening up 
a risk from this port.


Thanks,

-kb


From eric.chadbourne at icloud.com  Thu May 20 10:12:00 2021
From: eric.chadbourne at icloud.com (Eric Chadbourne)
Date: Thu, 20 May 2021 14:12:00 -0000
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
Message-ID: <3df477c4-e53e-46b4-b243-f32170a1a51a@me.com>

Hi All,



Any tips on favorite places to look for work or contracts?? I tend to wear hats with three letters but ^C.? Dev, Sec, Ops, and the like.? 100% remote.? Usually burn out or get bored in three years.? A contract shorter than seems to be the best.



I tend to avoid the bigger places like Dice.? I used linkedin way back in the day when they got hacked and notified everybody by snail mail.? lol Imagine companies doing that now?? The post office would be wealthy!? I tend to avoid the smaller people like craigslist as it's littered with scammers.



Freelancer feels like a rush to the bottom.? Not sure if I could survive on that or on one of the bug bounty services like ZDI.


My current favorite method is to listen to tech podcasts and if I like what they are talking about, look up the company, and see if they are hiring.? This morning I listened to Darknet Diaries and applied at Cybereason.? Usually one or two leads a week.



So are any of you looking around in odd ways??



Thanks,



Eric





From Joe at Polcari.com  Thu May 20 11:07:44 2021
From: Joe at Polcari.com (Joe Polcari)
Date: Thu, 20 May 2021 11:07:44 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
In-Reply-To: <3df477c4-e53e-46b4-b243-f32170a1a51a@me.com>
References: <3df477c4-e53e-46b4-b243-f32170a1a51a@me.com>
Message-ID: <2C3B639A-C0E7-46A0-8697-41A36FD4367D@Polcari.com>

https://jobs.comcast.com/

 

 

From: Discuss <discuss-bounces+joe=polcari.com at lists.blu.org> on behalf of Eric Chadbourne <eric.chadbourne at icloud.com>
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 10:13 AM
To: "discuss at blu.org" <discuss at blu.org>
Subject: [Discuss] work search question

 

Hi All,

 

 

 

Any tips on favorite places to look for work or contracts?  I tend to wear hats with three letters but ^C.  Dev, Sec, Ops, and the like.  100% remote.  Usually burn out or get bored in three years.  A contract shorter than seems to be the best.

 

 

 

I tend to avoid the bigger places like Dice.  I used linkedin way back in the day when they got hacked and notified everybody by snail mail.  lol Imagine companies doing that now?  The post office would be wealthy!  I tend to avoid the smaller people like craigslist as it's littered with scammers.

 

 

 

Freelancer feels like a rush to the bottom.  Not sure if I could survive on that or on one of the bug bounty services like ZDI.

 

 

My current favorite method is to listen to tech podcasts and if I like what they are talking about, look up the company, and see if they are hiring.  This morning I listened to Darknet Diaries and applied at Cybereason.  Usually one or two leads a week.

 

 

 

So are any of you looking around in odd ways? 

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________

Discuss mailing list

Discuss at lists.blu.org

http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

 


From eric.chadbourne at icloud.com  Sat May 22 15:38:30 2021
From: eric.chadbourne at icloud.com (Eric Chadbourne)
Date: Sat, 22 May 2021 19:38:30 -0000
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
References: <20210520154129.GA4732@csail.mit.edu>
Message-ID: <d31fbfb5-a9a6-4849-92f6-238cdeed7843@me.com>



On May 20, 2021 at 11:41 AM, Gregory Galperin <grg at csail.mit.edu> wrote:


On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 02:12:00PM -0000, Eric Chadbourne wrote:

Any tips on favorite places to look for work or contracts?

I like startups - often they have a wider variety of work to be done, and
the work evolves. given your boredom threshold, you might like them too?
and if you don't want a job to last more than 3 years, many startups are
perfect for that ;)

for startup jobs:
* angel.co - browse jobs, and/or get your resume up there and see who bites.
* the monthly ycombinator/hackernews thread "Ask HN: Who is hiring?", e.g.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27025922
* again ycombinator, post a resume at https://www.workatastartup.com/
* https://startup.jobs/ (sometimes stretches the definition of 'startups')
* if you're looking for something in a specific niche, this is a pretty
good list of niche job boards: https://github.com/tramcar/awesome-job-boards
* remote jobs, not all are startups: https://weworkremotely.com/

if other people send you ideas about where startup jobs are listed, I'd be
interested in seeing their ideas.

--grg




Funny I never thought to poke around startups.



Gregory & Joe thanks for the ideas!? Very useful.



- Eric

From malassimilation at gmail.com  Tue May 25 02:21:53 2021
From: malassimilation at gmail.com (Bill Horne)
Date: Tue, 25 May 2021 02:21:53 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Please help with a sed script
Message-ID: <82b3bb65-1916-4267-b015-e602c5f95ea5@gmail.com>

Thanks for reading this: I appreciate your time.

I'm the Moderator of The Telecom Digest, which is the oldest e-zine on 
the Internet.

The readers send in pointers to articles of interest, and each day, 
other readers whom subscribe with the "digest" option receive an email 
with all the previous day's stories.

Here's the table-of-contents from a typical day:

    * 1 - [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - "bob prohaska"
    <bp at remove-this.www.zefox.net>
    * 2 - Re: [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - Bill Horne
     ? <malQRMassimilation at gmail.com>
    * 3 - [telecom] Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
    identifiers
     ? - Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>

And here's what I'd like to change it to, using (if possible) sed:

        (tr)(td)Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
        (tr)(td)Re: Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
        (tr)(td)Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
        identifiers(/td)(/tr)

        ("less-than" and "greater-than" symbols have been changed to
        parens here for obvious reasons.)

Things to note:

 1. The Subjects lines vary in length, and may contain hyphens.
 2. The name and email of the contributor is also published with the
    actual post, further on in each digest, so it doesn't have to appear
    in the Table of Contents.
 3. The "m" option of sed, which the manual says will do a multi-line
    "s" command, doesn't appear to work on the OS I'm using, which is
    Ubuntu 16 LTS.

Up until now, I've been doing this change every day, with emacs macros 
and the rest by-hand. I want to automate a lot more of the daily work, 
so I'm hoping that there's a way to get Linux sed to do that. I don't 
need sed per se: if awk or some other utility would be a better choice, 
please tell me about that possible solution instead.

Thanks you again.

Bill

-- 
Bill Horne


From dsr at randomstring.org  Tue May 25 08:46:10 2021
From: dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)
Date: Tue, 25 May 2021 08:46:10 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Please help with a sed script
In-Reply-To: <82b3bb65-1916-4267-b015-e602c5f95ea5@gmail.com>
References: <82b3bb65-1916-4267-b015-e602c5f95ea5@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20210525124610.cnnbpegwfqzkjxji@randomstring.org>

Bill Horne wrote: 
> Thanks for reading this: I appreciate your time.
> 
> I'm the Moderator of The Telecom Digest, which is the oldest e-zine on the
> Internet.
> 
> The readers send in pointers to articles of interest, and each day, other
> readers whom subscribe with the "digest" option receive an email with all
> the previous day's stories.
> 
> Here's the table-of-contents from a typical day:
> 
>    * 1 - [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - "bob prohaska"
>    <bp at remove-this.www.zefox.net>
>    * 2 - Re: [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - Bill Horne
>     ? <malQRMassimilation at gmail.com>
>    * 3 - [telecom] Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
>    identifiers
>     ? - Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
> 
> And here's what I'd like to change it to, using (if possible) sed:
> 
>        (tr)(td)Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
>        (tr)(td)Re: Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
>        (tr)(td)Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
>        identifiers(/td)(/tr)
> 
>        ("less-than" and "greater-than" symbols have been changed to
>        parens here for obvious reasons.)
> 
> Things to note:
> 
> 1. The Subjects lines vary in length, and may contain hyphens.
> 2. The name and email of the contributor is also published with the
>    actual post, further on in each digest, so it doesn't have to appear
>    in the Table of Contents.
> 3. The "m" option of sed, which the manual says will do a multi-line
>    "s" command, doesn't appear to work on the OS I'm using, which is
>    Ubuntu 16 LTS.
> 
> Up until now, I've been doing this change every day, with emacs macros and
> the rest by-hand. I want to automate a lot more of the daily work, so I'm
> hoping that there's a way to get Linux sed to do that. I don't need sed per
> se: if awk or some other utility would be a better choice, please tell me
> about that possible solution instead.

It might be easier to get your digest software to emit this.
What are you using?

Also, why single-line tables rather than ul and li ? Then you
could just insert (ul) at the beginning, turn the first \*
encountered into a (li), and then pop a (/ul) at the end.

-dsr-

From malassimilation at gmail.com  Tue May 25 18:35:24 2021
From: malassimilation at gmail.com (E. William Horne)
Date: Tue, 25 May 2021 18:35:24 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Please help with a sed script
In-Reply-To: <20210525135427.GB10043@csail.mit.edu>
References: <82b3bb65-1916-4267-b015-e602c5f95ea5@gmail.com>
 <20210525135427.GB10043@csail.mit.edu>
Message-ID: <352e488c-da44-a4f4-4d9b-51f2c86c71f1@gmail.com>

THANK YOU for the scripts.

I apologize: I didn't write my request more clearly:

 1. As with the discuss list, users whom subscribe to the Telecom Digest
    mailing list can choose to receive either each email that is sent to
    the mailing list, or to a "Digest" version, with all the emails for
    a day concatenated into a single "Digest" email. I receive a copy of
    The Telecom Digest's "Digest" edition, which is sent to me from a
    SYMPA email reflector at iecc.com in New York. The email message I
    used to test the scripts quoted here is at
    http://telecom.csail.mit.edu/archives/back.issues/recent.single.issues/test-e145.txt
    <http://telecom.csail.mit.edu/archives/back.issues/recent.single.issues/test-e145.txt>
    - it is a verbatim copy of the email, taken from my mbox after it
    arrived, with a few edits to help prevent spam.
 2. Since some viewers prefer to get the Telecom Digest online, I
    prepare an HTML version of the daily digest email. To do that, I've
    been doing a lot of edits by hand, and I need a more automated
    method. To that end, I'm asking for help to write either a sed or
    awk or whatever-works script, which will convert the daily "Digest"
    email into an HTML page with that day's messages on it.
      * I will write a table-of-contents with the subjects from all the
        emails in it.
      * The email User ID's and addresses are to be removed before
        outputting the table.
      * There are other edits, but they not nearly as hard as the Table
        of Contents, so I'm asking for help with that

Today's Telecom Digest Table of Contents looks like this:

Table of contents:

* 1 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at
 ? just?? $10 a month - "John Levine" <johnl at taugh.com>
* 2 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at
 ? just $10? a month - Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation at gmail.com>
* 3 - [telecom] Opinion: CTL is going downhill fast - Moderator
<telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>

I tried the sed script:

sed 's|^\* [0-9]* - \(.*\)\[telecom\] \(.*\) - 
.*$|<tr><td>\1\2</td></tr>|g' test.txt >t1.txt

The result was:

* 1 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at
 ? just?? $10 a month - "John Levine" <johnl at taugh.com>
* 2 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at
 ? just $10? a month - Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation at gmail.com>
<tr><td>Opinion: CTL is going downhill fast</td></tr>
<telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>

So, it looks like the sed option is going to need some refinement. ;-)

 1. I could try testing if the line started with "* 0-9 - [telecom]" and
    ended with ">", and then figure out if there were extra hyphen in it
    and edit it using the last one as a delimiter.
 2. If the line started with "* 0-9 - [telecom]", but didn't end with
    ">", then I'd try to write it out to the "hold" buffer, and read in
    the next line to see if /that/ /line/ ended with ">", and if it did,
    I'd like to combine the two lines in the hold area, move the hold
    area to the pattern space, and edit it there as if it were a single
    line.
 3. I haven't thought of how to deal with three-line entries yet. I need
    a bigger thinking cap for this.

I then tried the awk script:

awk  '/^   \* [0-9]* - .*\[telecom\]/{if (NR>1) print ""} {printf $0} END{print ""}' <test-e145.txt

and got this (edited for brevity) output:

: 5783Lines: 144telecom digest Tue, 25 May 2021Table of contents:* 1 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at  just   $10 a month - "John Levine" <johnl at taugh.com>* 2 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at  just $10  a month - Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation at gmail.com>* 3 - [telecom] Opinion: CTL is going downhill fast - Moderator  <telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>----------------------------------------------------------------------

Which is better in a way: if awk can produce continuous output, without newline characters, then it can probably edit the input as if it were one continuous line, which would make things easier. I'll have to find the awk manual and do more studying.

My thanks to Mr. Galperin for his help. I need all I can get!

Bill Horne


On 5/25/2021 9:54 AM, Gregory Galperin wrote:
> awk  '/^   \* [0-9]* - .*\[telecom\]/{if (NR>1) print ""} {printf $0} END{print ""}' | \
> sed 's|^   \* [0-9]* - \(.*\)\[telecom\] \(.*\) - .*$|<tr><td>\1\2</td></tr>|g'
>
> notes:
>   * I assumed the 3 spaces before the * were part of the data (rather than
>     just formatting by you in this particular email)
>   * other than that, whitespace is considered unimportant and left alone,
>     since html doesn't care.  if you want to squeeze redundant whitespace,
>     | tr -s ' '
>   * hyphens (and even the string " - ") can be in the subject, no problem
>   * if the string " - " is in the free text part of the email name, then any
>     part of that free text before the " - " is considered as part of the subject
>   * if the subject has the string [telecom] in it a second time or more,
>     only the last [telecom] gets eaten -- so e.g. a subject
> 	Re: [telecom] Why do all subject lines have [telecom] at the front?
>     becomes
> 	Re: [telecom] Why do all subject lines have at the front?
>   * the string [telecom] can be in the email field, no problem
>     (but note that if the email field has both [telecom] and a " - " after it,
>      the " - " makes everything before that show up in the subject, and then
>      in the subject only the last [telecom] before the " - " gets eaten)
>   * on the off chance the wrapping breaks a subject so that the continuation
>     starts with a *, has one space and then a number and then " - " and has
>     the string [telecom] somewhere on that line, this will consider that
>     continuation to instead be a new message.
>
> maybe try it on a couple months of digests and look through the results?
>
> --grg
>
>
> On Tue, May 25, 2021 at 02:21:53AM -0400, Bill Horne wrote:
>> Thanks for reading this: I appreciate your time.
>>
>> I'm the Moderator of The Telecom Digest, which is the oldest e-zine on the
>> Internet.
>>
>> The readers send in pointers to articles of interest, and each day, other
>> readers whom subscribe with the "digest" option receive an email with all
>> the previous day's stories.
>>
>> Here's the table-of-contents from a typical day:
>>
>>     * 1 - [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - "bob prohaska"
>>     <bp at remove-this.www.zefox.net>
>>     * 2 - Re: [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - Bill Horne
>>        <malQRMassimilation at gmail.com>
>>     * 3 - [telecom] Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
>>     identifiers
>>      ? - Moderator<telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>
>>
>> And here's what I'd like to change it to, using (if possible) sed:
>>
>>         (tr)(td)Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
>>         (tr)(td)Re: Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
>>         (tr)(td)Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
>>         identifiers(/td)(/tr)
>>
>>         ("less-than" and "greater-than" symbols have been changed to
>>         parens here for obvious reasons.)
>>
>> Things to note:
>>
>> 1. The Subjects lines vary in length, and may contain hyphens.
>> 2. The name and email of the contributor is also published with the
>>     actual post, further on in each digest, so it doesn't have to appear
>>     in the Table of Contents.
>> 3. The "m" option of sed, which the manual says will do a multi-line
>>     "s" command, doesn't appear to work on the OS I'm using, which is
>>     Ubuntu 16 LTS.
>>
>> Up until now, I've been doing this change every day, with emacs macros and
>> the rest by-hand. I want to automate a lot more of the daily work, so I'm
>> hoping that there's a way to get Linux sed to do that. I don't need sed per
>> se: if awk or some other utility would be a better choice, please tell me
>> about that possible solution instead.
>>
>> Thanks you again.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> -- 
>> Bill Horne
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.blu.org
>> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

From worley at alum.mit.edu  Tue May 25 20:54:25 2021
From: worley at alum.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley)
Date: Tue, 25 May 2021 20:54:25 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
In-Reply-To: <mailman.15596.1621946796.7345.discuss@lists.blu.org>
 (discuss-request@driftwood.blu.org)
Message-ID: <87k0nms4am.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>

> From: Eric Chadbourne <eric.chadbourne at icloud.com>
>
> Any tips on favorite places to look for work or contracts?? I tend to
> wear hats with three letters but ^C.? Dev, Sec, Ops, and the like.?
> 100% remote.? Usually burn out or get bored in three years.? A
> contract shorter than seems to be the best.

The best algorithm I know of is (1) know what you're looking for, and
(2) ask everyone you know if they know of someone who wants that.  My
last job-hunt, it took me about 3 months from starting to offer-in-hand,
by far the best I'd ever done.  In this case, you have spread the word
widely that you are looking but left it remarkably unclear what exactly
you want to do (and know how to do).

(Also, write in solid standard English -- that skill is not so common
and will superstitiously impress the natives.  That is, don't stick
random question marks on the ends of sentences.  Then again, perhaps
that is the result of some odd transformation done by the listserv, in
which case, well, you're the computer expert, how did you get messed up
by that?)

Dale

From worley at alum.mit.edu  Tue May 25 21:08:36 2021
From: worley at alum.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley)
Date: Tue, 25 May 2021 21:08:36 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Please help with a sed script (Bill Horne)
In-Reply-To: <mailman.15596.1621946796.7345.discuss@lists.blu.org>
 (discuss-request@driftwood.blu.org)
Message-ID: <87h7iqs3mz.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>

> From: Bill Horne <malassimilation at gmail.com>

> Here's the table-of-contents from a typical day:
>
>     * 1 - [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - "bob prohaska"
>     <bp at remove-this.www.zefox.net>
>     * 2 - Re: [telecom] Can robocalls be tracked? - Bill Horne
>      ? <malQRMassimilation at gmail.com>
>     * 3 - [telecom] Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
>     identifiers
>      ? - Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>

First off, you're not specifying how the line breaks work.  Are the line
breaks we see here actually in the ToC text, or are they just an
artifact of how you inserted it into this e-mail message?  I ask because
line-breaking is one of the harder things to get sed to change, so we
should be clear about it.

> And here's what I'd like to change it to, using (if possible) sed:
>
>         (tr)(td)Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
>         (tr)(td)Re: Can robocalls be tracked?(/td)(/tr)
>         (tr)(td)Verizon Media debuts ad-targeting solution without
>         identifiers(/td)(/tr)
>
>         ("less-than" and "greater-than" symbols have been changed to
>         parens here for obvious reasons.)

It's not quite clear why, as < and > are transparent in ASCII e-mail,
except for the first column.

> Things to note:
>
>  1. The Subjects lines vary in length, and may contain hyphens.
>  2. The name and email of the contributor is also published with the
>     actual post, further on in each digest, so it doesn't have to appear
>     in the Table of Contents.
>  3. The "m" option of sed, which the manual says will do a multi-line
>     "s" command, doesn't appear to work on the OS I'm using, which is
>     Ubuntu 16 LTS.

You should do "sed --version" and report what it says.

The above example suggests that the title is separated from the
contributor by " - ", but you don't say that.  The contributor appears
to be optional.  And you don't specify whether the sequence " - " may
also appear as part of the title, which means parsing the two apart is
ambiguous.

The final "Moderator" line is distinguished how?  It appears that item
lines start with "\* [1-9][0-9]* - ".  Does the Moderator line start
with " \? - "?  That is, how do we distinguish it from a continuation of
the preceding title?

As others have noted, it's likely easier to generate the HTML form you
want from an earlier stage of processing, one where there's a data
structure that rigidly differentiates each title, and ideally, separates
the titles from the contributors.  But if you can't do that, the first
step is to really nail down how you parse this text apart conceptually.
After that, it's much easier to implement the transformation.

Dale

From tmetro+blu at gmail.com  Wed May 26 01:56:33 2021
From: tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)
Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 01:56:33 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Please help with a sed script
In-Reply-To: <352e488c-da44-a4f4-4d9b-51f2c86c71f1@gmail.com>
References: <82b3bb65-1916-4267-b015-e602c5f95ea5@gmail.com>
 <20210525135427.GB10043@csail.mit.edu>
 <352e488c-da44-a4f4-4d9b-51f2c86c71f1@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <317ddede-5469-019d-ed45-15c3fade2406@gmail.com>

E. William Horne wrote:
> I'm asking for help to write either a sed or
> awk or whatever-works script, which will convert the daily "Digest"
> email into an HTML page with that day's messages on it.

I agree with others that you avoid a lot of corner cases if you can
capture this info "upstream" rather than parsing it from an already
formatted digest, but I assume you have your reasons for preferring that
approach.


> Today's Telecom Digest Table of Contents looks like this:
> 
> Table of contents:
> 
> * 1 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at
> ? just?? $10 a month - "John Levine" <johnl at taugh.com>
> * 2 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at
> ? just $10? a month - Bill Horne <malQassRimiMlation at gmail.com>
> * 3 - [telecom] Opinion: CTL is going downhill fast - Moderator
> <telecomdigestsubmissions at remove-this.telecom-digest.org>

% ./toc.pl test-e145.txt
<tr><td>Re: Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at just
$10 a month</td></tr>
<tr><td>Re: Cell phone bills too high? Here are some that start at just
$10 a month</td></tr>
<tr><td>Opinion: CTL is going downhill fast</td></tr>

or...

% curl -o -
http://telecom.csail.mit.edu/archives/back.issues/recent.single.issues/test-e145.txt
| ./toc.pl


> So, it looks like the sed option is going to need some refinement. ;-)
> 
> 1. I could try testing if the line started with "* 0-9 - [telecom]" and
> ?? ended with ">", and then figure out if there were extra hyphen in it
> ?? and edit it using the last one as a delimiter.
> 2. If the line started with "* 0-9 - [telecom]", but didn't end with
> ?? ">", then I'd try to write it out to the "hold" buffer, and read in
> ?? the next line to see if /that/ /line/ ended with ">", and if it did,
> ?? I'd like to combine the two lines in the hold area, move the hold
> ?? area to the pattern space, and edit it there as if it were a single
> ?? line.
> 3. I haven't thought of how to deal with three-line entries yet. I need
> ?? a bigger thinking cap for this.

A Perl solution is below. I think it addresses the items you list above.

It's written for clarity and ease of modification rather than brevity.
For example, I didn't attempt to do this as a "one liner", and instead
have used multiple statements. Similarly the process of unwrapping the
per-message TOC entries is handled in one loop, while another deals with
reformatting the subjects.

The text matching patterns are written to be resilient to minor
formatting changes, which means it never looks specifically for a space
(instead one or more whitespace characters) or a single digit. In other
circumstances I'd allow for optional whitespace before the "*" character
that delimits TOC entries, but in this case requiring that to appear at
the start of the line improves the chances that the parser won't get
tripped up by the associated pattern appearing elsewhere on the line.

Also note the code makes use of the HTML::Entities module (which you can
find in the libhtml-parser-perl package on Ubuntu 16.04) to escape HTML
entities that appear in the subject lines.


The unwrapping code relies on the pattern
<start_of_line>*<whitespace><digits><whitespace>-<whitespace> as the
delimiter for splitting up the existing table of contents into one line
per message. It should handle TOC entries that wrap across an arbitrary
number of lines.

Initially I was going to strip out all the newlines and process it as
one string, but that makes it slightly more possible that the pattern
might appear in a subject line.


It then iterates over the TOC entries and for each of them it uses a
"greedy" expression to split each entry on the last " - " found. From
there it processes the subject portion to remove repeating whitespace
(not really necessary, as Gregory points out), strip the [telecom] tag,
escape the HTML entities, and output as HTML table rows.



Gregory Galperin wrote:
> ? * if the string " - " is in the free text part of the email name,
> then any part of that free text before the " - " is considered
> as part of the subject

Likewise.


> ? * if the subject has the string [telecom] in it a second time or more,
> ??? only the last [telecom] gets eaten -- so e.g. a subject
> ????Re: [telecom] Why do all subject lines have [telecom] at the front?
> ??? becomes
> ????Re: [telecom] Why do all subject lines have at the front?

My code strips the first occurrence in the subject and ignores the rest.



> ? * the string [telecom] can be in the email field, no problem
> ??? (but note that if the email field has both [telecom] and a " - "
>     after it,  the " - " makes everything before that show up in
> ??? the subject, and then in the subject only the last [telecom] 
>???  before the " - " gets eaten)

Likewise.


> ? * on the off chance the wrapping breaks a subject so that the
>     continuation starts with a *, has one space and then a number
> ??  and then " - " and has the string [telecom] somewhere on that
> ??  line, this will consider that continuation to instead be a
> ??  new message.

Similar, but [telecom] is presumed to be optional. My code requires that
the "* N - " sequence appears at the start of a line, and given
continuation lines are always prefixed with several spaces, this
sequence embedded in the subject shouldn't be mistaken for a delimiter,
even if it starts a continued line.

 -Tom


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

use HTML::Entities;

# read STDIN in "paragraphs"
$/='';

# grab the first several paragraphs of the message
my $header = <>;
my $title = <>;
my $toc_heading = <>;
my $toc_body = <>;

#print "raw\n$toc_body\n\n";


# process a TOC body consisting of lines like
#
# * 1 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are...
#  ...
#  just   $10 a month - "John Levine" <johnl at taugh.com>
# * 2 - Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high? Here are...


# undo the per-message line wrapping and strip line numbers/prefix
my $unwrapped_toc = '';
foreach my $toc_line ( split(/^\*\s+\d+\s+-\s*/m, $toc_body) ) {
    next if !$toc_line;
    $toc_line =~ tr/\n\r//d; # strip line endings
    $unwrapped_toc .= $toc_line . "\n";
}
$toc_body = $unwrapped_toc;


# further process lines like
#
# Re: [telecom] Cell phone bills too high... - <email>
# [telecom] Opinion: CTL is going downhill fast - <email>

foreach my $toc_line ( split(/\n/, $toc_body) ) {
    #print $toc_line, "\n";
    chomp($toc_line); # strip newline

    # when splitting the subject from the author's email address a
    # "greedy" expression is used, which splits on the last " - " found
    # (This could be a problem if that string appears in the authors
    # real name.)
    my ($subject, $from) = ($toc_line =~ m/(.*)\s+-\s+(.*)$/);

    $subject =~ tr/ \t/ /s; # collapse repeating whitespace to a single
space
    $subject =~ s/\[telecom\]\s*//; # strip unneeded [telecom] tag

    # escape HTML entities and format output as HTML
    my $html_subject = HTML::Entities::encode_entities($subject);
    print "<tr><td>$html_subject</td></tr>\n";
}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Tom Metro
The Perl Shop, Newton, MA, USA
"Predictable On-demand Perl Consulting."
http://www.theperlshop.com/

From gaf.linux at gmail.com  Wed May 26 07:01:13 2021
From: gaf.linux at gmail.com (Jerry Feldman)
Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 07:01:13 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
In-Reply-To: <87k0nms4am.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>
References: <mailman.15596.1621946796.7345.discuss@lists.blu.org>
 <87k0nms4am.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>
Message-ID: <CAEvgogGXDOY7sw5z_JWmmzmB4XG8nvBWcP7Qqi0xGSTNtB=D2Q@mail.gmail.com>

I've been out of the contract game for a while.
I always used a head hunter
Networking is goid to. That can back door you into a job.

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux at gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unix http://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1  3050 5715 B88D 6F6
B B6E7

On Tue, May 25, 2021, 9:56 PM Dale R. Worley <worley at alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> > From: Eric Chadbourne <eric.chadbourne at icloud.com>
> >
> > Any tips on favorite places to look for work or contracts?? I tend to
> > wear hats with three letters but ^C.? Dev, Sec, Ops, and the like.?
> > 100% remote.? Usually burn out or get bored in three years.? A
> > contract shorter than seems to be the best.
>
> The best algorithm I know of is (1) know what you're looking for, and
> (2) ask everyone you know if they know of someone who wants that.  My
> last job-hunt, it took me about 3 months from starting to offer-in-hand,
> by far the best I'd ever done.  In this case, you have spread the word
> widely that you are looking but left it remarkably unclear what exactly
> you want to do (and know how to do).
>
> (Also, write in solid standard English -- that skill is not so common
> and will superstitiously impress the natives.  That is, don't stick
> random question marks on the ends of sentences.  Then again, perhaps
> that is the result of some odd transformation done by the listserv, in
> which case, well, you're the computer expert, how did you get messed up
> by that?)
>
> Dale
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.blu.org
> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>

From worley at alum.mit.edu  Wed May 26 21:45:28 2021
From: worley at alum.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley)
Date: Wed, 26 May 2021 21:45:28 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
In-Reply-To: <CAEvgogGXDOY7sw5z_JWmmzmB4XG8nvBWcP7Qqi0xGSTNtB=D2Q@mail.gmail.com>
 (gaf.linux@gmail.com)
Message-ID: <87k0nl54qv.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>

Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux at gmail.com> writes:
> I've been out of the contract game for a while.
> I always used a head hunter
> Networking is goid to. That can back door you into a job.

I found networking to be astonishingly effective, once I understood it
was a way to scan for employers who are looking for [whatever].  The way
I implemented it was to connect on Linked-In with everybody I'd ever
worked with, then search among them for suitable employers.

Dale

From eric.chadbourne at icloud.com  Sat May 29 10:34:17 2021
From: eric.chadbourne at icloud.com (Eric Chadbourne)
Date: Sat, 29 May 2021 14:34:17 -0000
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
References: <20210520154129.GA4732@csail.mit.edu>
Message-ID: <13d74168-4064-4bb8-b6a7-0ce97d6fd95d@me.com>

On May 20, 2021 at 11:41 AM, Gregory Galperin <grg at csail.mit.edu> wrote:


On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 02:12:00PM -0000, Eric Chadbourne wrote:

Any tips on favorite places to look for work or contracts?

...
for startup jobs:
* angel.co - browse jobs, and/or get your resume up there and see who bites.


?I'm checking this one out now.? So many questions on first sign up.? It's like a dating site lol



- Eric

From eric.chadbourne at icloud.com  Sat May 29 10:46:28 2021
From: eric.chadbourne at icloud.com (Eric Chadbourne)
Date: Sat, 29 May 2021 14:46:28 -0000
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
References: <87k0nms4am.fsf@hobgoblin.ariadne.com>
Message-ID: <7cac9225-a35e-47a4-8b25-363f50bbb27c@me.com>

On May 25, 2021 at 9:55 PM, worley at alum.mit.edu wrote:



(Also, write in solid standard English -- that skill is not so common
and will superstitiously impress the natives. That is, don't stick
random question marks on the ends of sentences. Then again, perhaps
that is the result of some odd transformation done by the listserv, in
which case, well, you're the computer expert, how did you get messed up
by that?)





I did not purposely place the additional question marks.? I can't find the message in question.? However I know what you mean.? Could be Apple Mail + listserv.



Solid standard English?? Who's standard?? Usually I don't use caps or double space.? This is about as adult and standard as I can get.? ;-)



- Eric? C.?

From malassimilation at gmail.com  Sat May 29 12:58:23 2021
From: malassimilation at gmail.com (E. William Horne)
Date: Sat, 29 May 2021 12:58:23 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] work search question
In-Reply-To: <13d74168-4064-4bb8-b6a7-0ce97d6fd95d@me.com>
References: <20210520154129.GA4732@csail.mit.edu>
 <13d74168-4064-4bb8-b6a7-0ce97d6fd95d@me.com>
Message-ID: <a03f08c6-1187-8a9e-f292-3a740fb73bfc@gmail.com>

On 5/29/2021 10:34 AM, Eric Chadbourne wrote:
> for startup jobs:
> * angel.co - browse jobs, and/or get your resume up there and see who 
> bites.
>
>
> ?I'm checking this one out now.? So many questions on first sign up.? 
> It's like a dating site lol

Job boards and dating sites have many things in common:

 1. Don't assume that the first offer is the best
 2. Think long term - people notice
 3. Always be ready for surprises

Bill


From julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org  Sun May 30 08:03:30 2021
From: julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org (Julian Daich)
Date: Sun, 30 May 2021 14:03:30 +0200
Subject: [Discuss] Avoiding paying Windows license in the US
Message-ID: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>

Hi,

I got a new HP laptop from Microcenter and still did not open it- Any
idea how to
avoid paying the Windows license before installing GNU/ Linux?

Best,

Julian

From richard.pieri at gmail.com  Sun May 30 10:23:36 2021
From: richard.pieri at gmail.com (Rich Pieri)
Date: Sun, 30 May 2021 10:23:36 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Avoiding paying Windows license in the US
In-Reply-To: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <60b39fe9.1c69fb81.79b3.29d2@mx.google.com>

On Sun, 30 May 2021 14:03:30 +0200
Julian Daich <julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I got a new HP laptop from Microcenter and still did not open it- Any
> idea how to
> avoid paying the Windows license before installing GNU/ Linux?

If it shipped with Windows then you already paid for that license. Only
sane way to get a refund is to return the machine (in box, unopened)
and buy something that doesn't ship with Windows installed.

-- 
Rich Pieri

From bogstad at pobox.com  Sun May 30 23:32:17 2021
From: bogstad at pobox.com (Bill Bogstad)
Date: Sun, 30 May 2021 23:32:17 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Avoiding paying Windows license in the US
In-Reply-To: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAJFsZ=qw-0G-mLXGVb5PHwxyQ1t8pLx9bWwGeuL1qSozxaPFVg@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, May 30, 2021 at 8:05 AM Julian Daich
<julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I got a new HP laptop from Microcenter and still did not open it- Any
> idea how to
> avoid paying the Windows license before installing GNU/ Linux?

While I have heard of people managing to get small amounts of money
back, I'm not aware of anybody doing
this in a repeatable way in the US.   FYI, wikipedia actually has a
relevant article on this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows

Good Luck,
Bill Bogstad

From julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org  Mon May 31 17:38:54 2021
From: julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org (Julian Daich)
Date: Mon, 31 May 2021 23:38:54 +0200
Subject: [Discuss] Avoiding paying Windows license in the US
In-Reply-To: <CAJFsZ=qw-0G-mLXGVb5PHwxyQ1t8pLx9bWwGeuL1qSozxaPFVg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAJFsZ=qw-0G-mLXGVb5PHwxyQ1t8pLx9bWwGeuL1qSozxaPFVg@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAFhQbGi30hspOuiDE1-X2jih23sWQD9+BWKHhY8=4zAhzixP6Q@mail.gmail.com>

El lun, 31 may 2021 a las 5:32, Bill Bogstad (<bogstad at pobox.com>) escribi?:
>
> On Sun, May 30, 2021 at 8:05 AM Julian Daich
> <julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I got a new HP laptop from Microcenter and still did not open it- Any
> > idea how to
> > avoid paying the Windows license before installing GNU/ Linux?
>
> While I have heard of people managing to get small amounts of money
> back, I'm not aware of anybody doing
> this in a repeatable way in the US.   FYI, wikipedia actually has a
> relevant article on this:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_of_Microsoft_Windows
>

Hi Bill,

Thanks. I talked today with an HP representative. for almost 40
minutes Their position was taking it as it comes with WIndows or
returning the laptop to be refunded for all. Seems that getting
refunded only for the OS is a hard and time consuming process.

Best,

Julian
> Good Luck,
> Bill Bogstad

From richard.pieri at gmail.com  Mon May 31 18:23:52 2021
From: richard.pieri at gmail.com (Rich Pieri)
Date: Mon, 31 May 2021 18:23:52 -0400
Subject: [Discuss] Avoiding paying Windows license in the US
In-Reply-To: <CAFhQbGi30hspOuiDE1-X2jih23sWQD9+BWKHhY8=4zAhzixP6Q@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAJFsZ=qw-0G-mLXGVb5PHwxyQ1t8pLx9bWwGeuL1qSozxaPFVg@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAFhQbGi30hspOuiDE1-X2jih23sWQD9+BWKHhY8=4zAhzixP6Q@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <60b561f9.1c69fb81.f9a8e.f6c8@mx.google.com>

On Mon, 31 May 2021 23:38:54 +0200
Julian Daich <julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org> wrote:

> Thanks. I talked today with an HP representative. for almost 40
> minutes Their position was taking it as it comes with WIndows or
> returning the laptop to be refunded for all. Seems that getting
> refunded only for the OS is a hard and time consuming process.

Yup. The license data is programmed into the ACPI SLIC table. Wiping
Windows and installing something else does not remove the license data.
You need some specialized software tools to do this. Even if you can
prove to your OEM that you removed the license data, if you have the
tools to reprogram the SLIC table then you have the tools needed to
back up that table and restore it at a later date.

TL;DR: if you don't want to pay for Windows then don't buy a computer
that shipped with Windows on it. Go check out System 76.

-- 
Rich Pieri

From julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org  Mon May 31 23:04:41 2021
From: julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org (Julian Daich)
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2021 05:04:41 +0200
Subject: [Discuss] Avoiding paying Windows license in the US
In-Reply-To: <60b561f9.1c69fb81.f9a8e.f6c8@mx.google.com>
References: <CAFhQbGiiBPXaF3LvOSvj_H30LyD_Vy+sO7kiU4KvkM08uss9FA@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAJFsZ=qw-0G-mLXGVb5PHwxyQ1t8pLx9bWwGeuL1qSozxaPFVg@mail.gmail.com>
 <CAFhQbGi30hspOuiDE1-X2jih23sWQD9+BWKHhY8=4zAhzixP6Q@mail.gmail.com>
 <60b561f9.1c69fb81.f9a8e.f6c8@mx.google.com>
Message-ID: <CAFhQbGjDvvu5BySo89_1Tqh=rbem3TUK8+bMA==k-BDD8joaGQ@mail.gmail.com>

El mar, 1 jun 2021 a las 0:23, Rich Pieri (<richard.pieri at gmail.com>) escribi?:
>
> On Mon, 31 May 2021 23:38:54 +0200
> Julian Daich <julian.daich at freecomputerlabs.org> wrote:
>
> > Thanks. I talked today with an HP representative. for almost 40
> > minutes Their position was taking it as it comes with WIndows or
> > returning the laptop to be refunded for all. Seems that getting
> > refunded only for the OS is a hard and time consuming process.
>
> Yup. The license data is programmed into the ACPI SLIC table. Wiping
> Windows and installing something else does not remove the license data.
> You need some specialized software tools to do this. Even if you can
> prove to your OEM that you removed the license data, if you have the
> tools to reprogram the SLIC table then you have the tools needed to
> back up that table and restore it at a later date.
>

Hi Rich,

Whatever the tech behind it is, the license states
"By using this software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept
them, do not use the software. instead, contact the manufacturer or
installer to determine their return policy for a refund or credit."

This will show up to you after you paid and they cannot force you to accept it.

> TL;DR: if you don't want to pay for Windows then don't buy a computer
> that shipped with Windows on it. Go check out System 76.
>

Vendors cannot really force you to buy something and to force you to
accept a privative EULA for using something you buyed existing free
alternatives. I find a better deal to get a second hand computer and
put whatever I want on it.

Best,

Julian
> --
> Rich Pieri
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> Discuss at lists.blu.org
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