Posts by phuzz

Re: PEBCAK?

If you need to communicate out-loud, you can always mention the "eye dee ten tee" error code...

_{(aka ID10T)}

Re: Google issued a fix for CVE-2023-24033 affecting Pixel devices in its March security update.

None of the Pixel 6 devices (6a here) have received the March update yet.

Re: ...on the feeble pretext that he designed the C language.

Whoever wrote that rule was probably long gone, and in their defence, they probably weren't expecting one of the authors of C to turn up.

The real idiot was whoever his boss was, who didn't just tick the "passed the C test, ok to commit code" box, manually.

Re: Why?

Yup. It's really hard to get your head around, but really most of the moon is about as bright as tarmac. It just looks white to our eyes because the sun is so bloody bright.

Maybe, but you'll have to pay Oracle a lot of money to find out

Re: That brings back some memories

I remember seeing a friend's PC, that he refused to upgrade to XP SP2*, which kept getting spammed with messages from the internet. He was very thankful when I showed him how to disable the service and stop them. I have no idea how he put up with them for so long.

*(he was already running XP, he just didn't want to install the service pack because he's a stubborn sod)

Re: I've got a better idea...

In terms of orbital mechanics it's actually easier to raise an orbit, than lower it (because you're getting further away from the Earth and the effects of it's gravity lessen). The big difference though is that as you reduce your altitude you get more and more drag from the atmosphere which does the work of slowing you down for free.

So to put the ISS (say) 100km further up would take a lot of energy, but to bring it down 100km to the ground, you only really have to get it into the thick part of the atmosphere.

Of course, then you have to work out where it's going to land. Predicting where a uniform shape like an Apollo or Soyuz capsule will land is tricky but possible (within a few miles). Predicting where a big complex shape like the ISS will land is much more difficult. Even aiming for something as big as the Pacific ocean is tricky.

Re: Time to update

I periodically think that, then remember about the Vampire FPGA accelerator boards, then I wonder about the stand-alone versions, then I look at the price, then my bank account, then I forget about the whole idea for another year.

They didn't forget how to build the RS-25 engines, they only shut down production in 2007/8. Instead they're building a new, cheaper*, non-reusable version (RS-25E).

* They claim it will be cheaper, but I'm sure this is a cost-plus contract so we can guess how that will turn out.

Re: Why would one ...

A couple of friends of mine came back from the pub, stuck a pizza in the oven, then sat down on the sofa to wait for it and fell asleep.

They were shaken awake by a fireman, who had been called by a neighbour who had seen the smoke, and they'd arrived to find the front door wide open. They'd walked in, turned off the oven, put the fire out and somehow* my friends hadn't ever woken up.

* spoiler, it was the booze.

Re: minty fresh

Don't feel like you have to wait and then switch over. Try installing Mint (or any other linux) on a spare computer, or in a VM. There's a good chance it won't do everything you want, but you'll pick up a bit of knowledge, and it's just a spare computer so it doesn't matter if you just wipe it off afterwards. Then next time you try you'll have a little bit more starting knowledge, and can get just that little bit further.

I still don't run linux as my main desktop, and I don't think I ever will, but I do now 'have' to have a linux VM constantly accessible, just so I have an outlet when I need to do linux-y stuff.

Re: UEFI revocation list

Even once the checksums of the vulnerable binaries have been added to the revocation list, that list still needs to be imported into the UEFI of each device.

Presumably Microsoft could make sure that the dbx update wasn't applied until after the bootloader had been updated in the same way that fwupdmgr on Linux checks before it applies a dbx update that it's not using binaries that are about to be blocked.

I guess you could run into a problem if you update your 'BIOS'* and that updates the revocation list, before you've upgraded your OS

* Technically it's a UEFI not a BIOS any more, but I keep using the old name

Re: Moon time?

If you hang around my orbit, you'll plenty of those ;)

Re: Customisation != setting pretty colours

every other retrograde step in UI design over the past decade or thereabouts

People have been complaining about the GUI changes in Windows since at least 98. (and a few were still complaining about the move away from DOS at that point)

Re: Ah.

Ok, now that is news. Do tell, who is this manufacturer?

I mean, you could imagine that maybe some of the high end brands selling luxury cars have to take care of their customers, but from what I've heard they're even worse than the 'normal' manufactures. Ferrari, for example, treat their customers like absolute mugs.

Re: The irony

It's not news that they were doing that, they literally broadcast themselves doing it. It's news that they've had to admit to doing it in court.

DVD-RAM was first released in 1997, so this must have been after that date (realistically a couple of years after, to give it time to be widely available).

Re: (Not) Bringing the Boys Home

More likely they don't have a new Soyuz ready for the next crew, until near September (because they're effectively down one craft now).

So the current crew get an extension, otherwise there'd be a gap with no Soyuzs docked to the ISS, and that would be embarrassing for Roscosmos. (Although the US was in a similar situation for several years after the Shuttle stopped flying, and they got over it.)

Re: Religion bashing?

I always got the impression that part of the reason that people were happy they left, was that they were insufferably tedious, in the way that religious fanatics still are.

Re: bullshit detected

In Chrome (and Chromium I think) you can set allow/block-lists of urls and domain names.

Re: Republicans have a lot to answer for

That would be the case if the regulations were written with safety in mind, rather than the train companies profits.

Mint is based on Ubuntu LTS releases, but from their attitude towards Snap, I guess they'll strip all this out.

Alas poor WinFS, we never knew ye