* Posts by Leigh Brown

25 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Apr 2008

Raspberry Pi sizes up HAT+ spec for future hardware add-ons

Leigh Brown

Re: Local storage

Pimoroni are going to offer something that pretty much gives you that...

https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/nvme-base?variant=41219587178579

Dependable Debian is like a rock in a swirling gyre of 'move fast and break things', and version 11 is no different

Leigh Brown
Linux

Re: Breaking things

One issue 16 years ago. I'll take that.

Yes, you need to take precautions such as taking a backup or maybe testing a few times in non-production servers, but the dist-upgrade process works really well.

Buffer the Intel flayer: Chipzilla, Microsoft, Linux world, etc emit fixes for yet more data-leaking processor flaws

Leigh Brown

Re: Where are the benchmarks?

Phoronix has done a lot of benchmarks on this topic which you may find informative. Not all on Intel architectures either:

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=search&q=Spectre

Why does that website take forever to load? Clues: Three syllables, starts with a J, rhymes with crock of sh...

Leigh Brown

Re: Easy to fix: Firefox with uMatrix

I second your comment, although I have to say it took me a while to get the hang of uMatrix. However, once you know what you are doing it is amazing.

With uBlock and uMatrix running in Firefox, my web browsing experience is generally lightning fast.

Mozilla security policy cracks down on creepy web trackers, holds supercookies over fire

Leigh Brown
Joke

Re: About time

Or rather, do forget them, every time you close the browser...

If you have inner peace, it's probably 'cos your broadband works: Zen Internet least whinged-about Brit ISP – survey

Leigh Brown

Re: Another happy Zen customer here

As opposed to the ISP provided router.

Leigh Brown
Thumb Up

Another happy Zen customer here

Very happy with my Unlimited Fibre 2 because:

* No throttling

* No blocking

* 8 static IPv4 addresses (pay extra though)

* IPv6

* Fairly reliable (three outages in the last few years that I am aware of)

* Northerners providing support

* They don't piss and moan when I tell them I'm using a Linux router

Drink this potion, Linux kernel, and tomorrow you'll wake up with a WireGuard VPN driver

Leigh Brown

Re: Because it's still a module?

Exactly. This is incredibly advantageous for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if somebody else changes an in-kernel API that your code uses, they will generally have to update all users of that API. If your module is part of the tree, they will update it - saving you effort and avoiding bit-rot.

Secondly, it significantly increases the likelihood that your code will be integrated into general purpose Linux distributions, as all they have to do is include the modules in the kernel configuration they build. In the case of WireGuard, some distributions are already including it (using DKMS for example), but this will make it even simpler.

Leigh Brown

Re: Why?

It is a module. From the patch:

+config WIREGUARD

+ tristate "WireGuard secure network tunnel"

+ depends on NET && INET

+ select NET_UDP_TUNNEL

+ select DST_CACHE

+ select ZINC

+ default m <------------ compile as a module by default

+ ---help---

+ WireGuard is a secure, fast, and easy to use replacement for IPSec

+ that uses modern cryptography and clever networking tricks. It's

+ designed to be fairly general purpose and abstract enough to fit most

+ use cases, while at the same time remaining extremely simple to

+ configure. See www.wireguard.com for more info.

+

+ It's safe to say Y or M here, as the driver is very lightweight and

+ is only in use when an administrator chooses to add an interface.

+

Citrix snuffs Xen and NetScaler brands

Leigh Brown

spawned?

"Others are happy that Citrix’s kit is no longer tied to the open-source hypervisor it spawned."

Surely Cambridge University spawned said hypervisor, Citrix just bought XenSource.

Ad 'urgently' seeks company to build national e-ID system

Leigh Brown

Re: Children's fingerprints

Or.....you can say no and they get issued a pin. Apparently my kids can type their pin faster than the other kids read their fingerprints because it can take two or three goes to work. They have to provide pin as an alternative because some kids fingerprints are too hard to read apparently.

BT engineers - missed appointments

Leigh Brown

How topical

I just had a BT line installed today (for the Zen FTTC product that I have ordered). I was given an 8am to 1pm slot. The engineer arrived at 12:30pm and left about half an hour ago (3pm). Apart from the fact he went past the alloted time, I'm pretty happy. I told him exactly where I wanted the copper cable to be attached to my house, and exactly where I wanted the socket and he did exactly what I requested.

For some reason I had to get a separate appointment to do the FTTC part so I'm crossing my fingers that will go just as smoothly.

JK Rowling's adult novel arrives on ebook full of FAIL

Leigh Brown

Re: Tax

or rather the same differential exists. Oh, to be able to edit my posts.

Leigh Brown
Unhappy

Re: Tax

And nobody has noted that even though the eBook does not have a hardcover (or any paper or cardboard of any description), it is priced at the hardcover price until the paperback comes out?

Apple lands slide-to-unlock patent blow on Motorola

Leigh Brown

Re: Truly great ideas

I was under the impression you can't patent an idea, only a novel way of implementing it. Since the implementation of said idea is (in my opinion, of course) both obvious and trivial to someone having ordinary skill in the art, it would seem to me that the patent should not have been granted.

Let's face it, most people can come up with great ideas, it's only if the actual implementation of them requires an inventive step that patents should come in to play. I'm generally against software patents due to ongoing farce around them, however I would probably concede (if pushed), that certain very limited software patents could be reasonable. One example would be font hinting and anti-aliasing. It's all very well saying "I've had this idea of making fonts look good on a screen", but actually it took some effort to invent an algorithm to do the job.

Schoolteachers can't teach our kids to code, say engineers

Leigh Brown
Thumb Up

Re: Big Trak

*Massive* attack of nostalgia!

Where did you get it from?

Philips GoGear Muse 3 PMP

Leigh Brown

Re: iPod alternative

I'm looking for such a thing for my son so very interested in recommendations...

Android rebellion: How to tame your stupid smartphone

Leigh Brown

That made me laugh

Yes it did.

Star Wars set for 3D rehash

Leigh Brown
Thumb Down

No thanks

Money grabbing, no more, no less.

BT feathers ruffled over pigeon-based file transfer caper

Leigh Brown

Great bandwidth, shame about the latency

Onling gaming wouldn't be so good using IP over avian.

Then again, it's pretty poor on Virgin.

Apple files chip block stack patent

Leigh Brown
Coat

re:

""I'm far from being an expert about these things, so someone will probably chip in an tell me I'm all wrong.""

I'm sorry that doesn't stack up.

Linux gets jiggy with more filesystems in 2.6.34 kernel release

Leigh Brown
Linux

Studiously avoiding feeding the troll

"Laidback Linux founder Linus Torvalds characteristically understated the relevance of the latest 2.6.34 release in a post about the final release candidate."

That's because he's talking about the difference between the final release candidate and the previous release candidate.

A much more reader-friendly overview of this release is here :-

http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_34

Google Voice goes call-forward crazy in US

Leigh Brown
Thumb Down

Pond

""Outside the US calls to a mobile are expensive for the caller, which in this case would be Google, so the service won't work on this side of the pond until we get rid of termination fees (and start paying to receive phone calls).""

So, that'll be never then, I hope.

Dell UK releases Ubuntu netbook but favours Windows

Leigh Brown
Linux

Give Dell a break

Okay, not too much of a break. BUT, they will sell a lot less of the Ubuntu ones presumably, and there will be a support cost associated with that (especially with lower volumes). They will also want to avoid numpties sending them back because they don't have Windows on them.

Personally, I'll be ordering one from Tesco as soon as they get the stock.

Nintendo Wii 'like a virus', games boss sniffs

Leigh Brown
Thumb Up

My kids use theirs too much

When the kids misbehave I ban them from the Wii. I can do that because they love it (two boys, 8 and 6). I know when they are teenagers they will want a hardcore gaming console, but for the next 5 years or so I'm sure they will continue to enjoy the Wii (bought for Christmas 2006).

We have about half a dozen Gamecube games that they really like - Mario Kart Doubledash (sadly, soon to be displaced by Mario Kart Wii), Luigi's Mansion, Windwaker, Monopoly and Mario Dance Craze (with a dance mat, and surprisingly good fun).

They love the virtual console games (I wonder if they are included in the games-per-console figures?), especially Paper Mario and Mario 64. In fact, I played through Paper Mario (25 hours accumulated play time omg), and both my sons have played that through twice themselves. That's a hell of a lot of value out of a £4 game.

As for actual Wii games, Wii sports is of course great, we have Ravin Rabbids (apparently Ravin Rabbids 2 is even better), Super Paper Mario (massive let-down after Paper Mario), Fifa 2008 (can't stand it myself but my eldest loves it), Galaxy (astonishingly good), Twilight Princess (put in about 20 hours but got stuck), Star Trek Conquest (utter rubbish), and Mario Strikers Charged (got supplanted by Fifa 2008). I also have Resident Evil but I don't let the kids play that one. The Wii is perfect for that sort of game and I'll probably buy House of the Dead too.

I just bought Mario Kart Wii for them, as I said, so it looks like we'll be playing that solidly for the next month or two. I'm hoping the Network play will be good as the Wii is crying out for this.

Finally, we will of course getting the balance board when it comes out - really looking forward to that.