6 ms·

This reminded me of the best TCP timeout story I've ever heard, the case of the 500-mile email: http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibibli

This reminded me of the best TCP timeout story I've ever heard, the case of the 500-mile email: http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html

michaelx386 12y ago
Great story with the added bonus of showing me the GNU Units command. What a fantastic program, no more Googling when I need to convert stuff.
- MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
  Indeed, I just checked OSX - sadly, units doesn't know about millilightseconds ("586 units, 56 prefixes").
  - abecedarius 12y ago
    "milli lightsecond" should do it.
    - gregsadetsky 12y ago
      "milli lightsecond" doesn't work on OSX unfortunately (under 10.6 at least). One value which does work is "3 c-millisecond". (I learned this by reading the /usr/share/misc/units.lib file and finding the lightyear definition: "c-yr")
      - abecedarius 12y ago
        Ah, whoops, I assumed it was GNU Units. Thanks and c-millisecond is cute.
  - taejo 12y ago
    GNU Units (available in Homebrew) is much more complete than the OS X version.
    - MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
      Much better: "2562 units, 85 prefixes, 66 nonlinear units" Since it took me a moment to figure it out, heres how to install it: brew install gnu-units then run as: gunits So it lives happily besides the default units command.
    - wmil 12y ago
      It still won't let me convert 'bytes / square mm' to my prefered data density format, 'libraries of congress / football field'. So it needs work.
  - astrodust 12y ago
    It does, amusingly, know about nanoacres, a unit of measurement sometimes employed when describing chip die surface area.
- marcosdumay 12y ago
  Take a look at qalculator. You won't even remember about Units after it.
- mamcx 12y ago
  Also good: http://futureboy.us/frinkdocs/ http://futureboy.us/frinkdocs/
- rdc12 12y ago
  Or were you using GNU Units the whole time? http://revealingerrors.com/google_miscalculator http://revealingerrors.com/google_miscalculator
MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
Good read. I guess now we'd be interested in hearing your 2nd best TCP timeout story.
- longwave 12y ago
  I realise you're trying to be facetious, but probably this one: http://mina.naguib.ca/blog/2012/10/22/the-little-ssh-that-sometimes-couldnt.html http://mina.naguib.ca/blog/2012/10/22/the-little-ssh-that-so...
  - heymishy 12y ago
    thats a great set of TCP timeout stories, enjoyed reading. In what circles do you travel that you comea cross multiple niche stories like this?
    - desas 12y ago
      Not the OP but both have been posted on HN before..
  - MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
    That was quite impressive, not sure I would have found that out. I know I'm stretching my luck, but since those were great reads - do you have a 3rd best TCP timeout story? :)
    - qznc 12y ago
      Here is one on IPv6 not TCP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709952
    - j_s 12y ago
      For more stories, see the hacker news discussion on that SSH packet corruption issue: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709438
  - 12y ago
viraptor 12y ago
And since we're adding random related things, lcamtuf's museum of broken packets is an old, but always interesting read: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/mobp/ http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/mobp/
rdc12 12y ago
That may be the most well researched bug report I have ever heard of.... and from a user too

This reminded me of the best TCP timeout story I've ever heard, the case of the 500-mile email: http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html

michaelx386 12y ago

Great story with the added bonus of showing me the GNU Units command. What a fantastic program, no more Googling when I need to convert stuff.

MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
Indeed, I just checked OSX - sadly, units doesn't know about millilightseconds ("586 units, 56 prefixes").
- abecedarius 12y ago
  "milli lightsecond" should do it.
  - gregsadetsky 12y ago
    "milli lightsecond" doesn't work on OSX unfortunately (under 10.6 at least). One value which does work is "3 c-millisecond". (I learned this by reading the /usr/share/misc/units.lib file and finding the lightyear definition: "c-yr")
    - abecedarius 12y ago
      Ah, whoops, I assumed it was GNU Units. Thanks and c-millisecond is cute.
- taejo 12y ago
  GNU Units (available in Homebrew) is much more complete than the OS X version.
  - MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
    Much better: "2562 units, 85 prefixes, 66 nonlinear units" Since it took me a moment to figure it out, heres how to install it: brew install gnu-units then run as: gunits So it lives happily besides the default units command.
  - wmil 12y ago
    It still won't let me convert 'bytes / square mm' to my prefered data density format, 'libraries of congress / football field'. So it needs work.
- astrodust 12y ago
  It does, amusingly, know about nanoacres, a unit of measurement sometimes employed when describing chip die surface area.
marcosdumay 12y ago
Take a look at qalculator. You won't even remember about Units after it.
mamcx 12y ago
Also good: http://futureboy.us/frinkdocs/ http://futureboy.us/frinkdocs/
rdc12 12y ago
Or were you using GNU Units the whole time? http://revealingerrors.com/google_miscalculator http://revealingerrors.com/google_miscalculator

MrBuddyCasino 12y ago

Good read. I guess now we'd be interested in hearing your 2nd best TCP timeout story.

longwave 12y ago
I realise you're trying to be facetious, but probably this one: http://mina.naguib.ca/blog/2012/10/22/the-little-ssh-that-sometimes-couldnt.html http://mina.naguib.ca/blog/2012/10/22/the-little-ssh-that-so...
- heymishy 12y ago
  thats a great set of TCP timeout stories, enjoyed reading. In what circles do you travel that you comea cross multiple niche stories like this?
  - desas 12y ago
    Not the OP but both have been posted on HN before..
- MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
  That was quite impressive, not sure I would have found that out. I know I'm stretching my luck, but since those were great reads - do you have a 3rd best TCP timeout story? :)
  - qznc 12y ago
    Here is one on IPv6 not TCP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709952 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709952
  - j_s 12y ago
    For more stories, see the hacker news discussion on that SSH packet corruption issue: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4709438
- 12y ago

viraptor 12y ago

And since we're adding random related things, lcamtuf's museum of broken packets is an old, but always interesting read: http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/mobp/ http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/mobp/

rdc12 12y ago

That may be the most well researched bug report I have ever heard of.... and from a user too