Posts by Michael
119 posts • joined Wednesday 12th April 2006 14:58 GMT
Quick answer
RAID 5 can handle one disk failure. If there is a sector failure also you can not recover the associated data.
RAID 6 can handle two disk failures, or one disk plus one sector but not two disks and one sectors, or even one disk and two sectors.
The proposition is for encoding of sectors to enable recovery of disk failure and a simultaneous disk failure. By adding additional parity to the disk contents you can recover from a disk and sector failure in RAID 5 which you could not do normally.
Re: do for building what Linux did for software
Will slowly over time take control of the mobile home world?
Apologies, that was bad.
There has been a work around for years
I have no speakers attached....
Re: Glad I don't work for the firm that developed the original software
No, I'd be quite happy if I was able to massively over charge because I didn't want to spend the time developing one algorithm.
Re: All your IP rights are belong to...
An algorithm can not be patented.
Of course, solving a problem that potentially you could sell for thousands more may be considered stupid, but is does show you skills off and perhaps some of these people will be employed by the supposed market leaders to improve their software.
Posted in Linux HTPC <£300
Thought I'd update on my purchases:
£180 Lenovo Q180, ebuyer
£55 PCTV 290e USB dual DVB-t USB stick, and USB DVD drive. PC world
£30 samsung se 208ab tsbs external slimline DVD writer
Total cost £265
Installed mythbuntu, TV tuner just worked, sound for live TV and recordings no problem. Still haven't got sound working in mythbunutu dvd plyer, but works in VLC.
HDTV not working unfortunately. I assume that this is a driver issue as the ATI 6xxxx series graphics card should handle it no problem. Tried the AMD drivers rather than the ones in the repository but to no avail.
PC fan could be quieter, but you don't notice when the TV is on.
Still to get a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Using my android phone for the remote.
Posted in Linux HTPC <£300
No display required
Plugging this into the TV, so need HDMI only.
I like the sound of your setup. Nice and simple.
I was considering a lenovo Q180, dual DVB-t USB stick, and USB DVD drive. Should be a similar price point and looks nice in the living room.
Posted in Linux HTPC <£300
Linux HTPC <£300
I'm looking for hardware recommendations to build a Linux based HTPC for less than £300.
System needs to have HDMI and support for 1080p. Not overly fussed about blue ray, but definately want DVD support. This can be via USB.
Also looking to record and watch live TV simultaneously so DVB-T tuner suggestions would be welcome. Everything has to be on one system, running in the living room and as close to silent as reasonably possible for the price.
Posted in Raspberry Pi signs big-name sellers
Re: Re: And Splat!
Yep, very pissed off I can't get on to either to order components.
EST UTC - 5 hours
The post is required, and must contain letters.
Is this a problem
Maybe they are trying to hire someone who can do the job, rather than the normal muppets government agencies always seem to find.
Or maybe not...
Nice to see
that screwing things up the first time around has been tried out in England first. Makes for a pleasant change.
removal of wires
How exactly? You still need the wired back haul to the room. Personally I'd rather the hospital paid for a nice reliable cable if they need network access so that the receiver/transmitter doesn't get block for any reason.
Or you know, use maybe a tube to focus the light beams to a specific point in the room....
Posted in Booze for wrinklies: Good or bad?
learn to read?
You aren't a regular reader are you?
Trick cyclists = Psychiatrists
study-study, did you read the article? The study was a study of other studies. Or a study-study.....
Muppet
Hydrogen -> Methane
And why not then convert from hydrogen to methane.
Sure it is even less efficient use of the energy, but we have this massive distribution network already in place and power stations that can use it when required.
Posted in 4G auctions - illegal and immoral?
Lease the frequency
Why can't the government just lease the frequency for say 5 year periods with the current holder guaranteed the lease again so long as they meet minimum requirements?
Place minimum requirements on operators for usage of the spectrum, and coverage, with the requirements becoming more stringent over time. This enables operators to build up nation wide coverage over time, ensures people don't hold on to spectrum they aren't using and reduces the one off cost to operators. Longer term, they may pay the government as much, or more for the spectrum.
Posted in Want an untracked Android? Here’s how
sarcasim
I think El Reg could do with adding a clear colour code system to highlight this in future. Will save confusion....
try blocking scripts
their website is piss poor. The flash and background scripts constantly hang and cause issues when loading. Block scripts and it is surprisingly quick at loading.
nope
TI have been buying up fabs over the last year or so. They have now got massive capacity. So it is more an issue of chip shortages for everything but TI parts...
Posted in Nokia: Keep codin' for Symbian and Qt!
yep great phone
Nokia sent me one to apologise for cancelling training on Qt due to the MS announcement. The phone has far better reception and battery life. It has been quite nice to play with. Pity it is now not worth switching to Qt.
Posted in Football goal-line tracking tech delayed
muppet
check your figures.
I know that crowds at matches in scotland over a weekend can easily clear 100K and that is only those attending the match.
English premier league averages a higher number of spectators a week than your figures:
http://www.footballeconomy.com/stats/stats_att_04.htm
cause of death
"People who spend excessive amounts of time in front of a screen - primarily watching TV - are more likely to die of any cause and suffer heart-related problems.
more likely to die of any cause? So someone who spends all day watching TV is more like to be killed in an avalanche whilst skiing than anyone else? Amazing bit of research that, probably the avalanche will be a result of the heart disease....
Anyway, I'm off for a mars bar supper and to catch up on some TV.
Posted in BT mulls upping apprentice numbers
which is how it should be here
Technicians fix things and the engineers design them.
real measurements
I don't have one of the phones Jobs' mentions, however, here are some real numbers for the HTC hero.
Lying on desk signal strength -95dBm
holding single handed (left or right) signal strength -101dBm
completely shielded with both hands I eventually managed to drop it to -109 dBm.
Is this unacceptable or unexpected. Not really, there isn't much that can be done if you have an antenna internal to the phone and someone picks it up. Fortunately, I rarely use my phone with both hands wrapped completely around it to answer/make calls.
The iPhone 4 I tried at the weekend immediately dropped ~22dBm when I placed one finger over the link between the antenna. Add that to the problem of shielding and signal reception degrades beyond use very quickly. Other smart phones share the problem of shielding, some are better at coping with this than others. The iPhone is the one that is incompetently designed because it looks better. Style over substance as per usual.
Posted in Brazilian banker's crypto baffles FBI
negative stance
Well as far as I'm aware he is still innocent. They haven't yet convicted him of anything yet have they?
We are all just happy that a bank somewhere in the world has heard of security.
how thick
do you need to be to waste £1200 on hoopla?
I can agree that the stall being set up such that the items were wider than the rings is wrong. But surely people aren't that stupid to spend so much money on hoopla. Go buy the bottle of champagne.
Muppets.
Posted in Acer Easystore H340 2TB Nas box
no RAID?
why? I like the idea, but I would need to have RAID support.
Wikipeadia?
The day that teachers accepted that it was a trusted source of information was the day that education died.
to be fair
it is standard and accepted practice to define acronyms. Especially when people might not have heard of it, when we are talking about, what for many people, is a new technology.
sounds good to me
jmp 0x00
Market forces
Doesn't this imply that market forces can work for the installation of faster broadband? As far as I'm aware the shareholders expect to see a return on their investment in 2-3 years.
I find it ironic after the arguments for the 50p tax for broadband a community has shown an alternative that relies on market forces. Of course it would have been easier if BT hadn't been dragging their heels over the installation.
I still think that the network should be nationalised and fibre to the cabinet rolled out nationwide at the very least. But that isn't likely any time soon.
Posted in CEOP renews attack on Facebook
El Reg next
When are the register going to supply a panic button to refer people to the music and film industry for clearly being pirates!
This is unacceptable behaviour!
Sorry but the whole idea of the panic button is pointless. Lets be completely honest, if you don't want your kids chatting and meeting with stranger don't let them use the computer unsupervised.
If the police want to justify the formation of incompetent groups of specialists do it based on evidence of the group being effective. Don't blame industry to distract people from your own inadequacies of lossing track of people.
The police should stop trying to be politicians and get on with their job.
3 databases?
"the one that holds the fingerprints and facial image, the biometric data, and then the other information which is broadly what is on your passport already and the third bit is the one that links the two"
Also known as one database with 3 tables?
What is wrong with just storing the info on the chip?
Posted in Apple turns the flamethrower on Android
pish
Sorry, but this is complete and utter pish.
The sooner software patents are banned the better. The whole patent system needs re-thought and the bloody obvious ones should stop getting granted. The whole point of the system was to provide access to new innovations and enable inventors to be re-numerated for sharing their knowledge rather than keep it secret. This in turn should enable further innovation.
Wide ranging non-specific patents should not be allowed in almost all cases.
Posted in Apple is suing HTC
seriously
As we haven't been told what the patents are then you can hardly comment on double standards. The likelihood is that it is once again bloody stupid US software patents which should be banned combined with a load of bloody obvious patents which shouldn't have been granted.
However, I'll reserve judgement until we find out what these patents are.
Posted in Apple iPhone tops 2009 smartphone sales
volume or price
The real question is the cost of sales at a given volume. Apple I agree have a tiny share of the total phone market. But they are getting to charge through the nose for it. There is an advantage to having only one phone. Also, the phone is helping sell other Apple kit.
seriously?
title says it all.
Why would anyone take that seriously?
Posted in Pupil database claimed to be breach-free
retention?
So, let me get this straight. The database has been running for around eight years and they haven't yet got a data retention policy?
Posted in Google yanks IE6 love from web apps
yes I could
I happen to know of several people at microsoft and M$ sponsored labs who run Linux day to day. Not difficult to imagine really.
Posted in Intel linked with HPC boost buy
Corrections
You can already use gcc with FPGAs. Stick a processor on the FPGA and you can run the code on the FPGA itself. Otherwise, it is just a case of complying with an IO interface that your processor can use to talk to the FPGA and an agreed set of commands on an appropriate bus. What gcc doesn't directly allow you to do yet is recompile the hardware to update it to run algorithms you want. Although as software programmers are cheaper and easier to find this probably will happen sooner rather than later as there is a movement towards direct translation of software into hardware.
Ignorance may be bliss, but come on. I thought el reg readers weren't supposed to be complete muppets.
child at 19
sorry but they really are taking the piss. A child is up to 16. I can sometimes accept the up to 18 as you can't vote or drink I can see the justification on the grounds that you aren't treated by law like an adult in these situations. But 19? I was at Uni had a job and busily getting completely pissed every pay day at 17.
How about just making it possible for people to be able to afford these things for themselves. Having a shiny new computer and broadband access at home isn't much use if you can't afford to turn them on.
tinfoil hat anyone?
Maybe we can advise him and his fellows to wear blue tinfoil hats thus making them easier to round up....
Although anyone wanting to blame apple for everything can't be all bad....
Long Term Evolution
A replacement for existing third generation (3G) mobile standards, Long term evolution (LTE) is the the project name for the fourth generation (4G) mobile wireless communication protocol providing support for peak download speeds of 100mbps and upload of 50mbps.
gimme ma bean!
don't give them a phone
Simple solution.
Same goes for computer use. Keep it in an area open to all the family and it is easy to monitor.
The real problem here is bad parenting. Not technology.
just works
Admittedly on a fresh install on a new machine. Downloaded in around 40 minutes and installed and logged in in under 20 minutes. The only depressing thing was the time to transfer my old virtual machines to the new machine.
Posted in Apple blueprints the iShoe
obvious
Patenting the obvious again, a headset to listen to music. What will they think of next?
works here
ff v3.0.14 on ubuntu
apps?
So Apple control what installs in an Apple device? Amazing. I never thought that would happen.
They have always done this. Why the surprise with the iPhone?
I have to agree with the AC. If people what to be able to do something and the iPhone doesn't do it get a different phone. There are plenty to choose from. It is an apple device, you agree by buying it that you don't mind getting to choose what Apple wants you to choose to run on your device. You agree with your service provider to certain conditions as to what your device is allowed to do, be that data limits or free call minutes. If your phone doesn't do what you want get a different one.
There are plenty of Android based devices available now and more out in the coming months. You can install what you want on that platform. Or write your own apps.
@ Anonymous Coward Posted Thursday 27th August 02:05 GMT
Nice to see that music industry arseholes in the US do actually keep an eye on the Register. Maybe they are aware that most of the world think their tactics are ridiculous.
intranet?
I'm curious to know if all PCs in the hospital network are directly connected to one another and the internet at large? I'd like to think that all machines needed for patient care would operate on a separate network with no internet connectivity and no access to USB ports or local installation of apps. Somehow I suspect that all machines are on one network and all have internet access. Because you NEED to be able to check your email on any machine.
