Posts by Stuart 22
243 posts • joined Tuesday 16th June 2009 11:28 GMT
A message from Murdochia ...
ITS THE SUN THAT DUNNIT!
Re: Windows only for now?
Its been test marketed on Linux under the alias 'Chromium' so you would never know. Posting from it right now. Will Opera XP be catching up RSN ...
Re: Fallacy
Absolutely. We are an IT outfit. Updating websites and running SSH doesn't take a lot of grunt. We are 50/50 XP/Kubuntu. When XP is retired next year then why should we be forced to buy new kit to win Win 8 and have to relearn/relicense stuff that is of no discernible benefit?
Going 100% Kubuntu looks easier. Only takes 30 mins to re-load and no more re-activation issues. Wow, MS seems to pushing us that way ...
Posted in Ubuntu support periods slashed
Re: Where is the problem here?
First we must distinguish between servers and desktops. Most server admins value stability over everything else. At the OS level the changes over 5 years are not great. Stepping from one LTS to the next is usually the most logical policy. I agree only idiots would do leading edge on a production server.
BUT .... five years on a desktop is a very long time. Remind me what version of LibreOffice/OpenOffice(?)/Firefox/Thunderbird was running. The xUbuntu policy of a release every six months over Debian was why most of us chose xUbuntu in the first place. Most stuff out of the box was reasonably up to date and adding extra stuff from the repository straightforward.
However there are glitches. KDE4 first time round was challenging. The same could be said of Unity. There are times when it is sensible to skip a release until a major component has had time to mature. That s why I rolled my eyes at 9 months. Why that only gives a 3 month gap to do a supported upgrade. Skipping a release is now a no-no for some of us. I can understand the financial imperatives in reducing the 18 month figure. But taking it the short side of 12 months is decidedly uncomfortable. A botched new release (we've had 'em and we will have 'em again no matter what they say) will cause more mayhem at the user and support level if it has to be diagnosed, fixed, proven fixed and implemented company wide inside a 3 month window.
Re: Nothing new under the sun
The chance of a city being wiped out by a medium sized rock are probably quite remote. Most of the earth is ocean and most of the rest is relatively sparsely populated. Even at worst it is a little local difficulty. Most of the globe will only suffer from the news coverage. In other words thinking globally these are hits we can take and recover.
Whereas its the biggies that we really have to worry about. Those that it doesn't matter where they impact - the effect is global. Looks like we have a good fix on spotting them. Just the problem of stopping them.
That's where we need to focus and not be distracted by recoverable catastrophes when the real problem is the end of life as we know it.
Bang On!
Reminds me when I worked for a (then famous) computer company at the top of TCR in the 70s at a time when our Irish chums were a bit fractious. A mysterious bomb threat was received most Fridays around 3pm. Those that had returned from the pub returned to the pub and hence unable to hear the all-clear call, or anything else.
In those non-digital days it took sometime to trace the calls to an extension inside the building ...
Re: re. ".. left of Birmingham and south of Dudley ..."
They are if they mean Brierley Hill
Re: Well you could hack it for passwords ... or upgrade to LaserJet 4L
My 4L has successfully resisted all hackers since 1995 with no patches (eat your heart out Microsoft). It does now have a USB plug so it can serve as the office CUPS network printer hung off a RaspberryPi.
Re: Tested a drivers skill...
Why did not the first line read drink driving IS AS DANGEROUS as using a phone?
Those of us who have had several life threatening moments due to the inattention of someone driving using a phone can actually see that and consider the penalties, or rather lack of enforcement, for these offences are insufficient. Drink drivers are invisible unless tested hence enforcement is even more hit and miss.
Driving is inherently dangerous to other vulnerable road users. Whilst it is economically and socially unacceptable to restrict responsible driving that does not mean that unnecessary indulgences such as illegal drinking and mobile use in making it even more dangerous should not be treated extremely harshly and not mollified on the basis of one is not particularly 'more' dangerous than the other.
An idiotic sheep baaaaas ...
I'm complaining and i have used it for years across all my devices. Change is an unhelpful burden.
Which is the point - Google have lost me as a client before by changing/updating products without a thought of how their current users might be screwed up. Here is an instance when NO CHANGE is good. It is a RSS aggregator full stop. Nothing is going to change in RSS or users reading habits that requires change. Google don't have to spend a bean on development. The cost is the servers and with such a lightweight app this is minimal especially as the updating is probably scheduled to use the dips in demand of its server farms.
I suspect turning them off and suffering the aftermath is more effort than keeping them on till the last Reader user has twittered away. Let's hope the head honchos clock this and beat a welcome retreat.
Trusting Google is a USP that is worth more than Reader's cost.
Re: Supprised companies on XP
Microsoft were selling XP on netbooks up to 3 years ago (when I bought my last one). Windows 8 don't do netbooks so where do they expect me to go? Or do they expect me to throw away perfectly good 4 year old kit?
A great Redmond plan to get Linux on the desktop? Sigh.
Re: Not only shorter...
Well Vodafone should have made 0845 part of their inclusive minutes!
They would have picked up the Infernal Revenue and other call centre 'on hold' business. The reason why many of us still maintain landlines ... apart from broadband. The good news is even they will be switching to 03 numbers this summer. Maybe in a decade or so non-business landlines will have gone the way of the telegram and the fax.
Re: What's the alternative?
I am a fondleslab lover. I probably spend more time on a fondleslab then any other device when I'm not working.
I never use a fondleslab (or its mini smartphone equivelent) for work except in emergency when a conventional desktop/laptop or even netbook is not available. You really can't be seriously creative without a keyboard and (if you are artistic) at least a mouse. One wonders if this particular University thinks education is the consumption of information rather than the production (or at least value added reprodoction) of information.
If I was an Ozy this would move this University way down my wish list.
Not Neasden
It would have been more accurate to say digital computing began in Dollis Hill. Just sayin' UK might give supporters of the Neasden Football Club ideas above their noses ...
Ostrich Corp
Did anyone here the Intel guy on the Today programme this morning?
Interviewer: Isn't the market swinging to Smartphones & Tablets?
Intel: Yep, we are addressing that with Ultrabooks and Windows 8
Interviewer: But Windows 8 is not a great success?
Go to PCWorld and 70% of the computers are running Windows 8
Interviewer: But isn't the market swinging to Smartphones & Tablets?
Intel: Yep, we are addressing that with Ultrabooks and Windows 8 ...
... et infinitum ...
I paraphrased but that was the essence. The company they grew great "by eating its own grandchildren" needs now to be eating somebody else's (hello Qualcomm & ARM).
Are they in complete denial?
Re: HELL YES!!!!
AFAIR Sipgate 0800 VOIP calls have always been free. But nice to add 0845/0870.
As a sidenote we broke down a week ago and had to call the AA. It as nice to see they had added a 0121 number to their regular 0800. So it was a bundled minute call to get us home. Nice!
Re: Altas 2
Yep I remember the CADC Atlas. It was still there in the late seventies. It looked just like the computer used in A for Andromeda or is my memory fading? Of course it was a bit nouveau for those of us who started life on an English Electric Deuce ...
Re: With the mighty sword of truth and trusty shield of British fair play...
A wrong move methinks. Be very careful of appearing to protest too much.
How can anyone judge who is in the right from two partial accounts? That's why we have a judicial or quazi-judicial process to get to the bottom. More likely (but still not certain) of getting the right answer. And the one I'm probably going to run with.
I doubt any judge is going to take a blind bit of notice of any website statements by HP or the old guard. On oath and cross examined is bound to be more fruitful. So why the website?
If truth is on their side then using as a blade in court rather than a sledgehammer online is what they should be concentrating on. And if they win then a tidy defamation case should very well compensate for any diminution of their reputation by HP's allegations.
I will shed a tear for Comet
If only because they were a true innovator in selling great HiFi equipment at bargain prices from small back street warehouses 40 years ago.
Sadly they chased the Currys/PC World model but were less ruthless about it. Hence they fail and DSG profits on ... for a while. British retail is a cruel game.
Re: In the end
Or is it Asus & Lenovo are finessing Apple?
This must be a good thing for joe public (well those more interested in functionality rather than branding). It would help if Apple responded by finessing Asus & Lenovo rather than look for any excuse to sue them.
Re: Mixed feelings..
One has to be careful that safety systems which may protect the driver do not put other people at risk. Whllst air-bags, ABS etc which can made driving safer are mitigated risk compensation. Hence the rise in pedestrian and two wheel casualties.
More effective might be an all electronic system that automatically deducts £100 from the driver's bank account when they drives too close or too fast. I predict a rapid change of behaviour and drop in crashes Toyota could only dream of ...
Posted in Sinclair BASIC comes to Raspberry Pi
The point is getting a result
Only a couple of years ago I needed to generate a load of very similar HTML pages. I could have used a proper language but the project was so simple that it was much faster to do in the ultimate procedural language where syntactic errors were flagged up 'in flight'.
Object orientated coding is not optimal for quick & dirty one-offs. IT 'professionals' sometimes forget that.
Re: Only Himself To Blame
You are obviously too young to have watched Star Trek. Not only English, but American English .... but then I always suspected Men in Black was an admission that Republicans were all from another planet.
Posted in WTF is... RF-MEMS?
Re: What..?
Yep, much more important and surely Apple will be an early adopter. It ensures, if the fixed battery doesn't, that one pride and joy will wear out and need replacing just as the new model comes on line. Brilliant!
Sent from a nearly two year old San Francisco. Remember them?
Posted in KDE 'annoys the hell of' Linus Torvalds
Re: Every user interface gets this way!
The function of an OS is silently and transparently make things happen. The prime function of a GUI is to seamlessly get you to the application of choice as easily as possible.
So some people want to clutter and decorate their desktop. Fine - but we don't design desks to have fiddly bits for everything somebody else might want to do. Maybe people who do need another layer on top of a standard GUI. Just as a GUI should be an optional layer on top of the OS.
When MS tried to Vistaise me with bloated inefficient eye candy and layers of jobsworthian control I didn't want I went happily to KDE 3.5. Possibly the best Linux alternative to WinXP. Instead of seizing their advantage KDE galloped (and overtook?) MS on bloat and clutter with KDE4. I'm too lazy to change existing installations but new ones get LXDE. That's getting back to basics, its fast, it does the job, everything needed is one or two clicks away without having to spend time configuring it.
XFCE is probably just as good. Lets hope kids exposure to RPi will convince them that simplicity is nearly always better. If LXDE can make a £25 computer hum then just think what it can do to a real computer ... and with the RPi our kids may realise that before Windows/KDE/Gnome developers do ...
We wuzz robbed!
I can (almost) see only three ...
Missing the point?
There is no ideal size for a tablet. At home bigger screen size is good, on the move pocketable is good. And Cook may be right that soon tablets will outnumber PCs. And how many of us have just one PC? A desktop is just that. Many of us have a netbook or a laptop - or all three.
So whilst I currently have a 10" tablet - and love it - it now being fondled more than any of my other computing devices - I could be tempted to buy a smaller tablet. My 3.5" smartphone is useful but doesn't cut it for comfortable browsing or emailing. Even Samsung's 4+ jobbies can't do that. But a 7" certainly can (having loved my old EEEPC 701). Maybe the extra .8" may make the experience marginally better - but can never touch a 10". Its fitting into my bag or pocket or being able to use it on a crowded train that will make the difference.
Which is 7" would be a better form factor for me. YMMV
Posted in Jam today: Raspberry Pi Ram doubled
Re: Hmmm
Ordered my 512mb RPi @ 9.50 this morning. Despatch note received @ 11.43 for delivery tomorrow. On past form I expect Farnell to fufil on time.
I dunno who is the dumber - RS who obviously can't get their act together - or the whingers who complain about RS when they ignore advice to switch their order from other suppliers (not only Farnell) for next day delivery. Yes there was a period of 3 days last week when you could not get an RPi overnight. Now we know why ;-)
Re: I went xubuntu - Fantastic it all just works.
I use Kubuntu but while I like KDE - version 4 suffers from severe bloat.
I also have a few Raspberrypies. At first LXDE was so slow as to be a joke. With the latest Debian release it does perform adequately and I've been playing around with the Midori browser. Going back to basics is quite enlightening. Because it doesn't understand Flash etc it automatically strips much of the bloat in many websites so the end to end performance is not that far short of a 'proper PC'.
Perhaps it is a bit too basic. Xbuntu may be a middle way. I may give it a go ...
Re: I have gone to Mint KDE
Hopefully Kubuntu will remain a Amazon free zone.
Am I alone in thinking the unity desktop looks aweful with or without Amazon.
Posted in Apple iPhone 5 review
Re: Obviously A Fanboi ...
From early reports it appears the map problem is proportionate to the distance from Cupertino. So its clearly a customer fault. So let's have less of this blasphemy please ...
Posted in Apple slip-up slows iOS 6 upgrades
Just askin ..
Were any of these reported bricked iPhones from:
1) Fanbois who actually have one? or
2) Jailbroken or otherwise configured to Apple's displeasure?
Re: Ballmer says...
Getting back to reality:
Windows 3.0 was a breakthrough which got refined through WfW 3.11.
Windows 95 was a breakthrough only because of the GUI which got refined through Win98
Windows NT was a breakthrough that laid the foundations for Win2000 and refined in XP
Let's forget about Vista, except MS had to improvise Win 7 to cover the gap
Is Ballmer saying 95 was greater (commercially or technically) than 2000/XP?
Now if I was a MS stockholder I would be overjoyed if Win 8 achieved the same dominant success as 2000/XP (and lived so long after its planned demise). Tell me its going to achieve more and I'd sell fast and short.
Remember the Hudson
I seem to think that evacuation was a 100% success. Everybody did their job and followed the manuals as far as they could.
Indeed one lesson was that the manuals needed to be updated to get more stuff done in a limited time. Easy if it is in electronic form. More challenging if they have to reprint and re-collate. These things are life and death.
Re: Good heavens, is Firefox still around?
Yes I switched to Chrome too. Until that became bigger, more controlling and so I have half switched back. What we really need is a modern slimline browser like the original Chrome ...
Will they think about the hinges
The GPO boxes were made of cast iron built to withstand a nuclear blast
The BT boxes were made of sheet metal to withstand the rain
The Virgin boxes were made of disposal panels ... except I can't recall what used the hang on the hinges ...
It would be nice if all street furniture could be mandated to designed to look good and not fall to bits the first time a kids football hits it. A choice in shape and colour would be nice too. The council could choose that. Apart from ensuring they don't obstruct then that's it for the council. Bunging £50 to the owner of any adjoining property would silence 99% of objections. Except from folks who would like it outside their property instead ...
Punishing the disabled for being disabled
This is just another case of punishing the disabled for being disabled.
Anybody in the suicide prevention business knows that you can't stop able bodied people committing suicide. All you can do is to try and remove the reasons for committing suicide. That can be surprisingly effective.
For those you can't persuade you can at least offer comfort during the process. For many its the one decision they have left and its one I wouldn't want to take away. So if they can do it themselves - I'm in the clear. For those that are too disabled to do it themselves - they are robbed of that choice. Does that prolong lives? Maybe. But against that you have the quality of life. Living a life they do not want. They can get quite fixated on that.
Paradoxically giving them the option to die can save life. The decision is not hypothetical, it is real, and they are going to examine the meaning of their life in the deepest way. That again can open their minds to choose another way. It is not always possible but overall live or die people get the choice they want.
I find it easier to deal and empathises with these people then those that insist they must continue to suffer no matter what.
Re: No mention of Kubuntu?
Yep - with all the Gnome & Unity hoohah its nice to be able to resort to a stabilised KDE4. Trouble is now Kubuntu is not officially supported are we going the same way as the other *buntu distributions and be broken by Canonical's obsession with Unity?
If so - then I'll be off to a proper mainstream KDE based distribution. Any suggestions?
Re: OS?
Yep tasks get in the way ... the joy of the first generation micros was being able to code (or at least copy) EVERYTHING to make your pride and joy work. And could we make those 8080 & Z80s sing? I remember the first atempt to address a disk on a TRS-80. Mind boggling. And when TRSDOS didn't do it very well people created NEWDOS to pass round and improve.
I've pretty poor understanding all the latest coding fads but I can still hold my ground against the younger lads 'cos I have a clue what's happening underneath their bloated (if better documented) code.
Wish I could say the same about cars. You used to be able to understand 'em. You could fix anything on a basic mini that had not fallen off. And even some of those. Hence my favourite chat-up line."The fan belt's gone again, take off your tights!"
Modern BMWs are pretty poor in that department.
Posted in Lexmark dumps inkjet arm, sacks 1,700
Betrayed by your management
Really sorry for the 1,700 but the closure of the inkjet business leaves me cold.
Lexmark were even more enthusiastic than HP in virtually giving their printers away in order to sell ink. Trouble is, unlike HP, their printers tended to throw in the towel before the included cartidges were empty. Too engineered down in price. Self defeating business model.
I don't know whether quality improved as when you have disappointed a customer once too often they seldom return to find out.
The A to Z of Computing
Yes, Zuckerberg was of a generation, understood that generation and used that generation to conquer the world (well almost). Trouble is young people grow up and go different ways, have babies or even become Zillybuck CEOs. They lose touch with each other. Sometimes they don't realise ...
Facebook is heading for disaster. Apple went there and bounced back with avengence. Facing off disaster creates a hardness which continual success can whither. Somehow, somewhere long down the line I'm thinking one of these companies is going to buy the other ... but which?
If you have ever been to Ofcomm HQ you know they can keep an eye on their yachts parked out on the river with the best views in London. Plus their bathrooms you can not only bendover in style but swing a catamaran or two.
You need to understand they live in another world apart from those that have to live with their decisions.
Not Only, But Also
Errr ... is that a Z80 board schematic to the right?
Re: Will a leopard change its shorts?
I am a Nominet Member with as much power to control Nominet as do my local MP. I do not recognise the organisation you paint. Imperfect? yes. Evil? no. It is dangerous to extrapolate from a single case they did not go your way.
Who is Nominet for? Well that's a question Nominet does keep asking itself in its continual navel gazing. Actually the fact there is no clear answer is a blessing. I as a registrar and a domain user have no problem with them. I am better protected at lower cost than using ICANN domains. I guess that's a decent bottom line.
Re: Well DUH!
The issue is that Apple are probably not interested in agreeing anything. Its not primarily about patent money but market disruption. Hence whatever verdict Apple will almost certainly win their game.
Given that the grounds are so murky it is unlikely that anyone is going to see any Apple patent failure as more than an unproved case and thus not impose aggravated penalties to dissuade Apple from moving down to the next patent claim.
Trouble is there is no incentive to reform patent law. Too many big companies (backers of both GOP & Democrats) have too much invested in rocking the boat. Or the lifeboat as Eastman Kodak shareholders might say ...
Re: Limitations?
My experience is they don't detect tethering. Mind you, I'm careful not to make it obvious. They do, however, detect a 'voice' SIM being used in a dangle after a couple of days. Hence I had to tether. Silly really as it halved their revenue.
Re: Please could you run this past me again?
Cuts no ice in Redmond. XP dies in 2014 and any planet that dares defy MS. You have been warned
Re: A small question
It is a bit difficult in this country - but not for some others. I believe Denmark (lots of windpower) and Norway (lots of hydro) have an exchange agreement. When there is wind Denmark can export it and save Norway's water reserves. When the wind doesn't blow that saved water can generate extra power in return. Seemingly more efficient than pumping water uphill as an effecive electricity storage system.
The nice thing about gas powered generators is that they don't consume gas when not required and the fuel cost is a higher percentage of the total cost (ie capital costs are lower). So in a perfect world they and realtime demand management can cover non-fossil shortfalls. Trouble is a market where each individual generator is trying to maximise their income - the system result may be suboptimal.
Posted in Intel prunes SSD prices
Re: Going Down ...
"Unless the "very, very soon" is meant as "in the next few years, maybe".
Are you crazy? Prices are already around 55p/Gb. Falling at 50%/pa this means around a month - not many years. Yep something might happen to stop it - but how likely is that in a month?
Posted in Intel prunes SSD prices
Going Down ...
Very, very soon we are going to get our first 50p/Gb SSD offer on UKHotDeals. The decline since this time last year has matched anything I can remember in the IT business in the same timeframe. SSDs are going to regain the ground they had in netbooks and other portable stuff any day now. Performance and energy saving is going to knock all but the budget stuff in the sub-terabyte business.
