Encyclopaedia Britannica

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In article <rltm11hpp0t1poo8h7bjie59ht4g9h0omc@4ax.com>, Stubbly Wubbly wrote:
> Does anyone know if it's possible to move the program easily to my own
> SD card and what would be required?

SD cards have built-in encryption. That's the "secure" part in "Secure
Digital". In order to pull the data & programs off the card, you would
need to crack the encryption. I don't know of anyone who's done that,
though I don't exactly follow the pirate community.

The SD consortium is highly draconian, and even making a Linux driver
for SD cards has been difficult due to their unwillingness to provide
any kinds of specs or API. Things have had to be reverse-engineered.

Good luck, but I think you may be stuck for now.

--
Sincerely,

Ray Ingles (313) 227-2317

"We've got no place in this outfit for good losers.
We want tough hombres who will go in there and win!"
- Admiral Jonas Ingram, 1926

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Stubbly Wubbly napsal(a):
> Britannica sells on its own SD card but I would rather have it on my
> own SD card (along with all the other stuff I keep on there) so that I
> don't have to keep swapping.
>
> Does anyone know if it's possible to move the program easily to my own
> SD card and what would be required?

Tried copying the SD content in a card reader?
Mark

--
The last easy day was yesterday.

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On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 11:42:06 +0100, Marek Stanìk
<marekdotstanek@dont.bother.to.spam> wrote:

>Stubbly Wubbly napsal(a):
>> Britannica sells on its own SD card but I would rather have it on my
>> own SD card (along with all the other stuff I keep on there) so that I
>> don't have to keep swapping.
>>
>> Does anyone know if it's possible to move the program easily to my own
>> SD card and what would be required?
>
>Tried copying the SD content in a card reader?
>Mark

I haven't tried ... since I haven't bought it yet. I was doing my
wondering prior to purchase. It's kind of a "deal-breaker" question.

If I can't have my existing SD card in there with all that it contains
AND the newly purchased Britannica software, then it's not worth it to
me.

Thanks for all the perspectives. I'll try getting in contact with
Britannica and post back here if I'm successful.
-

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Ray Ingles said on 24.02.05:

>> I would be kinda surprised if they actually did use the SD Card
>> encryption features, because it's just a lot easier not to bother.
> My understanding is that they wouldn't be allowed to license the
> SD spec and use the SD logo if they didn't enforce the copy
> protection.

By your reasoning, you wouldn't be able to buy empty SD cards on the
market, because they are empty and thus don't carry any application that
could forcibly be encrypted.

"support" copy protection to get the logo? Maybe.
"enforce" it? Pretty non-sensical.


Chris

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In article news:<lrpv1118fd7nkgpudn4foufp6s7rl82c1v@4ax.com>, BillB
wrote:
> If the company sells a more complete version I'd imagine that
> it would be preferable that it be on an SD card.

There is a more complete Britannica on DVD ... it would take a few
1GB SD cards ... and even that keeps suggesting going online to
pull down more information.

Cheers,
Daniel.

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In article <9RWF76GYx5B@cbartsch.de>, Christian Bartsch wrote:
> Ray Ingles said on 24.02.05:
>
>>> I would be kinda surprised if they actually did use the SD Card
>>> encryption features, because it's just a lot easier not to bother.
>> My understanding is that they wouldn't be allowed to license the
>> SD spec and use the SD logo if they didn't enforce the copy
>> protection.
>
> By your reasoning, you wouldn't be able to buy empty SD cards on the
> market, because they are empty and thus don't carry any application that
> could forcibly be encrypted.

No, not at all. SD cards have the *ability* to enforce copy-protection.
See, for example, here:

http://www.geocities.com/romidar/mmcvssd.htm

..the section called "Copyright Protection". If you want the gory
details, see here:

http://www.sdcard.com/usa/TextPage.asp?Page=3

"Apart from the area in the SD Memory Card where the key is stored,
there is a protected area that cannot be accessed without mutual
authentication, and a data area that the user can access normally as
with a normal memory card."

The memory cards you buy in the store just don't have anything stored
as "protected" (and without paying bucks to the SD consortium, you won't
get the hardware/software necessary to write anything in "protected"
form).

> "enforce" it? Pretty non-sensical.

From the above tech link:

"...the card will check whether the personal computer software is a
legitimate application."

The card reader has to validate itself *to the card*. Things like
the Zaurus don't have that validation protocol and so can only access
the unprotected area of the card. Welcome to the future, where you
don't actually have the rights to full use of the stuff you 'own'.

--
Sincerely,

Ray Ingles (313) 227-2317

Reporters were kept out to make sure there would be no dangerous
question-and-answer period that might show Bush gloating. "If I
had my way, the president wouldn't answer any questions between
now and the election," said one Republican political operative.
- http://www.suntimes.com/output/ira [...] vak15.html

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On 28 Feb 2005 12:16:55 -0500, Ray Ingles <sorceror@dmc22317.local>
wrote:

>In article <9RWF76GYx5B@cbartsch.de>, Christian Bartsch wrote:
>> Ray Ingles said on 24.02.05:

> <snip>

>Welcome to the future, where you
>don't actually have the rights to full use of the stuff you 'own'.

Ha!
Exactly why I'm not buying it! And you can be sure that's the message
I passed to Britannica (for all the good it will do).

Thanks all for various commentary.

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Stubbly Wubbly wrote:
> For those who are interested.
>
> gomdm sells a downloadable version of Britannica Concise, which of
> course can install anywhere.
>
> http://www.gomdm.com/p_encyclopedia_download.asp
>
> Their support was VERY quick coming back with this info. If that's
> any indication I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them.

Slightly off topic but ...

There's a free encyclopaedia named Wikipedia. One edition of it runs under
Tomeraider 3 from Proporta (www.proporta.com).

Tomeraider 3 comes for various platforms. The Windows version and the Palm
version each cost USD20.00 but, right now, if you buy them together you only
pay USD30.00.

Tomeraider supports SD cards; you just tell it where your file(s) is(are).

The Wikipedia edition I have has over 750,000 entries and occupies 515,653KB
(just over 1/2 GB). It claims over 1GB of text when uncompressed.

You can get the English version of the Tomeraider edition of Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip [...] r_database where you will
also find links to details of the whole wiki project, which is IMHO
extremely impressive.

There are thousands of other Tomeraider format e-books (all free) at
www.memoware.com and probably elsewhere too.

You can also make your own Tomeraider files; instructions are in the
Tomeraider manual. So for example I have taken Gutenberg Project texts and
"tomefied" them.

I have no commercial or professional connection with Proporta, Memoware or
the Wiki organisation other than that I am a satisifed customer of all
three.

--
Harold Fuchs
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

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AaronJ wrote:
> "Harold" <harold@wolfeden.demon.co.vk> wrote:
>
>> There's a free encyclopaedia named Wikipedia. One edition of it rvns
>> vnder Tomeraider 3 from Proporta (www.proporta.com).
>
>> The Wikipedia edition I have has over 750,000 entries and occvpies
>> 515,653KB (jvst over 1/2 GB). It claims over 1GB of text when
>> vncompressed.
>
> Apparently this Wikipedia encyclopedia is compiled by anybody who
> wants to, so it's information may be svspect:
>
> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive [...] _tophead_5
>
> I liked the qvote: "A former editor at the venerable Encyclopædia
> Britannica recently likened the [Wikipedia] site to a pvblic rest
> room: Yov never know who vsed it last."

On the other hand:

"Lvcian George, 12, from north London, fovnd five errors on two of his
favovrite svbjects - central Evrope and wildlife - and wrote to complain."
at http://news.bbc.co.&#118;k/2/hi/&# [...] 209575.stm

I have a "Britannica 2000" DVD. It makes no reference to the leaning tower
of Pisa.

"People often claim that Wikipedia can never be as avthoritative as
Encyclopædia Britannica (EB). There can be no qvestion that at the cvrrent
stage, EB is vastly more complete and accvrate than Wikipedia. This page is
here to exhibit mistakes and omissions in EB and how they have been
corrected in Wikipedia.
For every error in EB noted here, of covrse, there are likely dozens of
mistakes jvst as egregiovs in Wikipedia. Nevertheless, this page shovld also
serve as a reminder to Wikipedians of one important advantage that the open
natvre of Wikipedia gives it over proprietary encyclopedias: given
svfficiently many readers, every error will be spotted and corrected by
someone." at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip [...] _Wikipedia

Many years ago I vsed the 1947 printed edition of Britannica and covld find
no reference at all to the Grand Union Canal (a major shipping channel in
the UK).

There are also strong argvments that "the comvnity" corrects Wikipedia.

--
Harold Fvchs
Time flies like an arrow; frvit flies like a banana.

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Harold wrote:
> AaronJ wrote:
>> "Harold" <harold@wolfeden.demon.co.vk> wrote:
>>
>>> There's a free encyclopaedia named Wikipedia. One edition of it rvns
>>> vnder Tomeraider 3 from Proporta (www.proporta.com).
>>
>>> The Wikipedia edition I have has over 750,000 entries and occvpies
>>> 515,653KB (jvst over 1/2 GB). It claims over 1GB of text when
>>> vncompressed.
>>
>> Apparently this Wikipedia encyclopedia is compiled by anybody who
>> wants to, so it's information may be svspect:
>>
>> http://www.wired.com/wired/archive [...] _tophead_5
>>
>> I liked the qvote: "A former editor at the venerable Encyclopædia
>> Britannica recently likened the [Wikipedia] site to a pvblic rest
>> room: Yov never know who vsed it last."
>
> On the other hand:
>
> "Lvcian George, 12, from north London, fovnd five errors on two of
> his favovrite svbjects - central Evrope and wildlife - and wrote to
> complain." at http://news.bbc.co.&#118;k/2/hi/&# [...] 209575.stm
>
> I have a "Britannica 2000" DVD. It makes no reference to the leaning
> tower of Pisa.
>
> "People often claim that Wikipedia can never be as avthoritative as
> Encyclopædia Britannica (EB). There can be no qvestion that at the
> cvrrent stage, EB is vastly more complete and accvrate than
> Wikipedia. This page is here to exhibit mistakes and omissions in EB
> and how they have been corrected in Wikipedia.
> For every error in EB noted here, of covrse, there are likely dozens
> of mistakes jvst as egregiovs in Wikipedia. Nevertheless, this page
> shovld also serve as a reminder to Wikipedians of one important
> advantage that the open natvre of Wikipedia gives it over proprietary
> encyclopedias: given svfficiently many readers, every error will be
> spotted and corrected by someone." at
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip [...] _Wikipedia
>
> Many years ago I vsed the 1947 printed edition of Britannica and
> covld find no reference at all to the Grand Union Canal (a major
> shipping channel in the UK).
>
> There are also strong argvments that "the comvnity" corrects
> Wikipedia.

I have jvst discovered a major (IMHO) disadvantage of the English version of
the Wikipedia: entries concerning eople are stored alphabetically by *first*
name, *not* by last name. This is not trve of the German edition; the
Germans have done it right.

--
Harold Fvchs
Time flies like an arrow; frvit flies like a banana.