Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

How Did You Spend Your Vacation?

Posted on September 4, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Monday was Labor Day, a federal holiday in these United States, making a three-day weekend.

I spent quite a lot of it looking at a computer that kept saying this:

We're sorry; the installer crashed. Please file a new bug report at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+filebug (do not attach your details to any existing bug) and a developer will attend to the problem as soon as possible. To help the developers understand what went wrong, include the following detail in your bug report, and attach the files /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity”, line 210, in
main()
File “/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity”, line 205, in main
install(args[0])
File “/usr/lib/ubiquity/bin/ubiquity”, line 58, in install
ret = wizard.run()
File “/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtkui.py”, line 358, in run
File “/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtkui.py”, line 989, in process_step
File “/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtkui.py”, line 743, in progress_loop
RuntimeError: Install failed with exit code 139; see /var/log/syslog

Mind you, I was doing something that may be fairly silly:

  • take a moderately ancient machine with a tiny ISA drive with Windows on it,
  • shove a low-budget SATA card into it, a Rosewill RC-209
  • ignore the fact that the BIOS will see the drive but won't offer to boot from it
  • leave Windows XP on the ISA drive
  • install a massive (half-terrabyte!) drive on the SATA card
  • partition the drive to give Windows a little more room to play
  • install Ubuntu to the bulk of the SATA drive.

It was the last step that kept croaking. Even thought the CD I burned passed all integrity checks.

So I filed a bug report. Currently, I'm downloading the alternate Ubuntu installer, and doing a full scan of the (brand new) disk's integrity in case it has some physical fault. Takes a long time to scan half a terrabyte.

Earlier, a similar install using the same model card and a similar SATA disk alone on a similar computer (without the attempt to dual boot on two drives) went swimmingly.

But this one would croak even if I unplugged the ISA drive with windows on it. So There's Something Funny Going On….

Update: disk checks out fine.

Meanwhile, thanks to the Super Grub Disk I managed to rescue Windows from a non-functioning entry I'd put into the MBR. Three cheers for the Super Grub Disk! I'm now back to where I was 40 hours ago!

(Lest anyone feel too sorry for me, this isn't my main machine, and I actually like solving problems like this, even (especially?) if I caused them.)

Posted in Software, Sufficiently Advanced Technology | 8 Comments

Why Don’t You Come For a Visit?

Posted on September 4, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

My colleague David Abraham has taken over the lateral hiring committee (we have two, one for entry-level people and one for more experienced scholars). In addition to permanent hires, they find us interesting visitors (in some cases a prelude to something more permanent perhaps).

David writes with this year's call for visitors,

The University of Miami School of Law is looking for several visitors for the 2008-09 school year. We are particularly interested in commercial law, civil procedure, family law, and T&E.

If coming to Miami for a year of work and intellectual stimulation and is something that might appeal to you, please let me know of your tentative interest.

Prof. David Abraham
University of Miami School of Law
PO Box 248087
Coral Gables FL 33124

dabraham@law.miami.edu

(We do one-semester visits too if a year is too much tropical paradise for you.)

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on Why Don’t You Come For a Visit?

He Deserves This

Posted on September 1, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Tor fame has won a Hugo.

He deserves it. Thanks in substantial part to him, my eye has been trained to look for the Tor symbol in the bookshop. I may not buy each one, but I think about each one. The only other publisher who's come close to this is Baen, and I buy a lot fewer of those.

Posted in Readings | Comments Off on He Deserves This

Science Fiction Writers of America Caught in DMCA Abuse

Posted on September 1, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Cory Doctorow is mad, and he has good reason: Science Fiction Writers of America abuses the DMCA.

You'd think they'd know better.

Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA | 2 Comments

Virtual Confession Isn’t

Posted on August 31, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Edward N. Peters, an authority on canon law, states unequivocally on his blog that On-line confessions are absolutely null and utterly void. Even if there's a real priest on the line, he writes, “the confessions themselves are of absolutely zero sacramental value.”

Not to mention that you don't know who's on the other end of the line — and if it's someone pretending to be a priest then this could be the best blackmail wheeze since the cleartext-only anonymous remailer that secretly kept logs.

Why are modem-mediated confessions worthless? Apparently a key reason is Canons 960 & 961, although how they prove it is … I confess … lost on me. (I would get it if the reason were Canon 964.)

Let me, by the way, say that to this non-Catholic, Edward N. Peters's blog In the Light of the Law: a canon lawyer's blog on current issues makes very interesting reading. Often I'm following right along, whether or not I agree with the assumptions — lots of legal analysis has similar properties — and then every so often there's stuff that shows such a very different mindset and instincts from mine at work…

Continue reading →

Posted in Internet | 3 Comments

Healthcare Politics in a Few Words

Posted on August 31, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

In We Are All Uninsured Now the Mahablog pithily describes the sorry state of current health care politics.

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Healthcare Politics in a Few Words