news.volyx.in

Why does SSH send 100 packets per keystroke? (eieio.games)

662 points by eieio · 181 days ago · 362 comments on HN

Article summary

The article discusses the author's investigation into why SSH sends 100 packets per keystroke, which led to the discovery of keystroke timing obfuscation, a feature added to SSH in 2023 to prevent attackers from determining keystroke timing. The author found that this feature can be disabled client-side, but sought a server-side solution to improve performance for their high-performance game. By forking the go crypto library, the author was able to disable the feature server-side, resulting in significant performance improvements. The article also touches on the author's experience debugging with LLMs and the challenges of interacting with these tools.

Main themes

  • SSH keystroke timing obfuscation
  • Performance optimization
  • LLM debugging
  • Server-side vs client-side solutions
  • Game development

What commenters say

  • The overuse of certain phrases, such as 'smoking gun', by LLMs is noticeable and potentially annoying.
  • LLMs may be influencing human language, with some commenters noting that they have started to avoid using certain phrases or punctuation due to their association with AI-generated text.
  • The use of LLMs in debugging can be helpful, but also requires a new set of skills and intuitions to interact with effectively.
  • Some commenters believe that LLMs are deliberately designed to produce identifiable phrases and patterns to make detecting AI-generated text easier.
  • The emergence of LLMs has raised questions about the potential for AI to influence human language and communication patterns.
  • Disabling keystroke timing obfuscation server-side can significantly improve performance for certain applications, such as high-performance games.
  • Forking libraries to achieve specific goals can be an effective solution, but also requires careful consideration of maintenance and potential consequences.