For those using Win 10....

[upahill]

Agree it would be pretty crazy, something is not ringing true about it though - a sophisticated, expensive, trackable hardware based hack that could be circumvented by simply not using that hardware. If I was a spy agency I would consider that a poor investment over software based hacking and a helluva liability when it eventually gets traced back through the supply chain. If it was firmware on an existing chip that had been compromised then maybe. These chips would need to be able to update themselves (through an existing network) to modify against security measures and it just seems like a crazy way of going about it.

Not really a hardware guy but what they are talking about squeezing in this chip seems pretty advanced for the supposed size. Like bordering on advanced tech....

Wait... maybe its S.H.I.E.L.D!

[JamesF]

53 minutes ago, upahill said:

Agree it would be pretty crazy, something is not ringing true about it though - a sophisticated, expensive, trackable hardware based hack that could be circumvented by simply not using that hardware.

Super Micro are one of the biggest suppliers in the world however.  The number of businesses capable of supplying in the volumes they do is probably very small.  I believe Apple were talking about an installed base of multiple tens of thousands of machines.

I can't disagree though.  Something about it doesn't quite sit right.

If anyone wants to read the original Bloomberg post, it's here:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

James

[Ruud]

No idea if there is any truth to this. The new update may have a serious bug

 

[stash_old]

3 hours ago, JamesF said:

Super Micro are one of the biggest suppliers in the world however.  The number of businesses capable of supplying in the volumes they do is probably very small.  I believe Apple were talking about an installed base of multiple tens of thousands of machines.

I can't disagree though.  Something about it doesn't quite sit right.

If anyone wants to read the original Bloomberg post, it's here:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

James

Paranoid  or not the US/UK and others have been sifting code produced by chips/driver etc from China etc for a good few years - it would be very lax to do otherwise ! I bet China does the same to US stuff !

If the US bugged phones of PM's of EU ( and others) then who knows - Harris Computers use to specialise in Decrypting digital phone systems.

Have to see how it pans out truth or lie - ? 

Funny since I commented on this here my land line keeps clicking when I use it LOL  

[AstroNowt]

On 04/10/2018 at 12:13, coatesg said:

I kinda think this is the worst of both worlds - not only do you not get security updates (unless you manually apply them?) but you're still allowing the PC unfettered access to the internet (and are therefore liable to driveby attacks and the like). 

If you are manually applying the security fixes only, there does come a point where you have to take the feature update to allow the patches to apply.

+1

This is absolutely the worst of both. Not only are you exposing an updated OS to the Internet you are also potentially exposing every device behind your proxy and the data held on it to whatever male are you end up with. 

The only safe way to run an out of date OS is to use an 'air gap' as was suggested  earlier and not have the device connected to a network at all.

Also downloading on a pc with AV software running does not mean that the files do not contain malware as was suggested earlier. Often malware may only be detected during the installation process and a machine without an Internet connection will not have up to date protection. This will not be a problem as long as you maintain that air gap and for instance move image files only using an sd card or USB etc. But the temptation will always be there to just hook it up for a few minutes to copy those files. 

You can never be too careful.  The question is why does everyone stress so much about MS tracking the pc errors etc but no one cares what Google or Facebook etc have on you?

Try this. https://myactivity.google.com/

You may be surprised who 'big brother' actually is. 

[mark skelton]

Had problems with my new laptop (windows 10 ) talking to my mount. had install/uninstall then reinstall the driver to get it working. Now 2 weeks later its doing it again. Thinking of  down loading windows 7 pro and giving that a try.

[wornish]

Are you using the same USB port on your laptop to connect to  the mount ?  Windows 10 does not like it if you change ports.

 

 

[AstroNowt]

23 minutes ago, mark skelton said:

Had problems with my new laptop (windows 10 ) talking to my mount. had install/uninstall then reinstall the driver to get it working. Now 2 weeks later its doing it again. Thinking of  down loading windows 7 pro and giving that a try.

I think that it is more likely to be your cable than Windows 10. As in cables with 'Prolific' chipsets have a large chance of being made with 'fake' chips in them. Recent (Windows Update?) drivers will detect this and stop working. FTDI based cables do not suffer from this issue.  It is not that Prolific chip based cables are not reliable, just that a lot of them are not actually Prolific chips.

[don4l]

23 minutes ago, dhb368 said:

I think that it is more likely to be your cable than Windows 10. As in cables with 'Prolific' chipsets have a large chance of being made with 'fake' chips in them. Recent (Windows Update?) drivers will detect this and stop working. FTDI based cables do not suffer from this issue.  It is not that Prolific chip based cables are not reliable, just that a lot of them are not actually Prolific chips.

Do these chipsets work with Windows 7?

How do we know if we have real "Prolific" chipsets?

[AstroNowt]

I don’t know how you can find out if you have a real chipset. IF the issue is fake chips then Windows 7 default drivers may be older and may not block the chip. 

Sorry. Not a real answer. 

 

[fozzybear]

14 minutes ago, dhb368 said:

I don’t know how you can find out if you have a real chipset. IF the issue is fake chips then Windows 7 default drivers may be older and may not block the chip. 

Sorry. Not a real answer. 

 

you could have a look at this

https://www.trishtech.com/2018/02/how-to-check-if-prolific-usb-to-uart-adapter-is-fake/

[mark skelton]

23 hours ago, dhb368 said:

I think that it is more likely to be your cable than Windows 10. As in cables with 'Prolific' chipsets have a large chance of being made with 'fake' chips in them. Recent (Windows Update?) drivers will detect this and stop working. FTDI based cables do not suffer from this issue.  It is not that Prolific chip based cables are not reliable, just that a lot of them are not actually Prolific chips.

The one I'm using at the moment is :-https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html

[stash_old]

5 hours ago, mark skelton said:

The one I'm using at the moment is :-https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html

If its an old one than it could be most likely a Prolific chip.

As "Fozzybear" suggests check the make when its connected to the PC.

There isn't a problem with FDTI  , CH340G or CP102 (?) chips on Windows 10.

Unless you have caught the cable or your USB port has a "sleep mode" https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices

[mark skelton]

17 hours ago, stash_old said:

If its an old one than it could be most likely a Prolific chip.

As "Fozzybear" suggests check the make when its connected to the PC.

There isn't a problem with FDTI  , CH340G or CP102 (?) chips on Windows 10.

Unless you have caught the cable or your USB port has a "sleep mode" https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices 

Saying that last night when I was checking my mounts motor  I had noticed that one of the plugs had come undone so I had to plug it back in 

[upahill]

1 hour ago, mark skelton said:

Saying that last night when I was checking my mounts motor  I had noticed that one of the plugs had come undone so I had to plug it back in 

Looks like that might be the polar scope illuminator?