Posts by Arrrggghh-otron 438 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jun 2011
I think I am pretty much where you are. I've scripted and automated pretty much everything it is reasonable to automate and have implemented enterprise level features in SMEs for little cost and am equally as stumped as to how to move on.
Right now spare cash for training is non existent so I have turned to the free courses by Stanford and the like. Currently doing the "Introduction to Computer Networks" at Stanford as a bit of a refresher. Something to put on the CV I guess...
"At some point the Reg will let me write about the problems faced by recruiters, but I am not hopeful of getting much sympathy."
I very much look forward to hear what problems recruiters face. I also doubt you will garner much sympathy. Probably due to the fact that the recruitment industry, in relation to IT roles, appears to be woefully inadequate and you are addressing a largely technical audience who suffer at the hands of these recruiters.
Could you also explain why all they ever seem to do is match keywords without context? I once wrote a game for a set top box - it ran in the web browser on the STB. I have also administered linux servers. Both are mentioned on my CV and every once in a while I get emails from recruiters looking for a firmware developer for linux based set top boxes half way across the country.
Now that sounds familiar!
Glad to say that the servers under my purview are now in racks. Although after consolidation and virtualisation they look a bit empty...
Unfortunately when you have been out of work for nearly a year the first offer, however much of a come down, is the one that keeps a roof over your head.
"starbuck sizing of "Tall", "Grande" and "Venti" is a nonsense that deserves to be taken out and shot"
Not to mention their pricing and their baristas seemingly unshakeable desire to burn the fuck out of the coffee... (this applies equally to costa coffee when considering the above).
While it is disheartening to see all this government interference, we can take comfort in knowing that the internet is in a constant state of flux and while we all use the web as it currently exists, there is no real reason to do so other than it is easy because it is ubiquitous. Once the wider web is a corporate and government sanitized and monitored shadow of its former self we will transition to something else, be that an internet within the internet or heavily encrypted and anonymised client access or a combination thereof, be glad that the government will be forever playing catch up.
VPS providers are pretty cheap (~£3 a month) and can give you around 100GB data xfer - chuck openSwan on there and hey presto - your own private VPN endpoint for peanuts. You can disable local logging too if you are really paranoid...
Google for VPSs in Iceland (the country not the the super market).
I've been doing the same for Cardiacs. Since the creative genius that is Mr Tim Smith suffered a cardiac arrest (talk about irony - the band was originally called Cardiac Arrest) and hasn't been able to perform, the fans have, and regularly continue to, rally round to raise money for his continued care. His work is regularly and enthusiastically shared by fans. Some of us have even sold some of our collections of Cardiacs records and CDs (which currently fetch silly money on ebay) and CDs for his benefit. I have also repurchased the albums from iTunes (currently the only place to purchase his work) to replace the mp3s I ripped from my CDs and the ones I downloaded from other fans to replace tape and vinyl.
The date the article mentions seems to be an entry referring to the support for service packs. However if you read their support policy for service packs:
"When support for a product ends, support of all the service packs for that product will also end. The product’s support lifecycle supersedes the service pack support policy"
So the standard and extended support dates still stand.
OS Mainstream Support Extended Support
Windows 7 January 12, 2015 January 14, 2020
"Ah, so you are effectively writing the OS for the Arduino. So a suitable custom OS for the Pi could put it in the same bracket... assuming someone had the time and inclination to write it themselves."
Not so much an OS, that implies some ability of the OS to manage resources. You could probably write something simple to do that but on an Arduino you are likely going to use up the majority of your resources implementing resource management! (Maybe not so much of a problem on the DUE).
Think of it as a continuous loop (while true do{ My Arduino program}) within which you do stuff that you specify and only the stuff that you need to get the job done. You also specify the resources you use as a result of the code you write. You are responsible for knowing what resources are available to you before you start coding and ensure that you don't overstep those bounds. (Not usually an issue with simple projects)
Put simply there is no OS on an Arduino. The code you write for an Arduino and then upload is all that runs. You code much more closely to the hardware. If you want to know how long something will take on an Arduino, you can find out how many clock cycles it will take to execute that code, work out how long a single clock cycle lasts and multiply them together. It will always be the same (ignoring interrupts) as that is all you will be executing. Hence why you can do real time stuff really well on something so resource constrained.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the DUE is capitalized upon in the 3d Printing world where the Arduino Mega is currently running the majority of RepRaps.
Securekey is a pain in the arse... prompted me to sign up for text alerts (a paid for service) that texts me when something over £n goes in or out of my account plus a weekly text statement. Good for keeping an eye on things. Shame the lower limit for transactions is => £20. Be warned if you decide to set it up, the call centre staff in India have no idea (or at least they didn't at the time) how the service works and setting it up is painful if you get someone who speaks English but doesn't appear to understand it.
The laptop docks have all been left wanting.
They should have been cheaper*, worked with, at the very least, the sub set of motorola** phones that were intended to work with laptop docks and use the phone as a track pad and more... not to mention a bit more stylish as they all look odd with phones jammed on the back, they have all felt a bit clunky...
*Cheaper than a notebook.
**There was no technical reason for Motorola to make their own range incompatible.
Email is by the by for most people - just a nice to have for those than want, and those that want are usually the execs/senior managers. However, I work for a 24/7 operation. Admittedly it is usually quiet at night*, but if the execs/senior managers get calls at night, then them being able to VPN from whatever device and see what is going on usually avoids my phone ringing.
*The quiet time setting on Android is my favourite ever setting.
I kinda offer access for BYOD and have done for a long time. If users want internet access on their smart phone/tablet etc while at work, no problem, I'll add your device and give you a password. That connection is filtered and isolated.
If you need access to corporate email, then I will enable access and happily supply the details you will need to set that up. This however usually results in "How do I set that up" to which I can either give them pointers as to where the settings are likely supposed to go or I can't as I haven't a clue as I've never tried setting up email on $device before. Sometime this results in repeated whiney phone calls that ultimately end up with me googling for the setup details or the device mysteriously appears on my desk - presumably for me to configure. Sometimes ending in having to explain that it can't be done but they can access webmail instead. Cue more grumbling.
If a user really needs external access then they are given the VPN details. This is usually pretty much a repeat of above with the added joy of the discovery that they can't access their docs as their mapped network drive is no where to be seen and "why can't you fix it"... even when they can get access they don't usually have the right software installed. If the software even exists for that platform, we (the company) aren't buying it for their device. It is just easier to explain how to access their corporate desktop remotely... if possible, from their device!
On top of all that you get the calls of "well it was working until you gave me $details!". I do try and fix their problems. I don't consider it part of my remit to look after their personal hardware but I am the one to has to listen to the whining... but when they don't even know their own personal account log on details, for the accounts they set-up themselves, it does make you wonder...
All of that said, there are users who know what they are doing and can set up their own devices with the information I give them. To those users I am grateful that you know what you are doing, that you don't expect me to know everything their is to know about the nice shiny new toy you have, the shiny new toy that I have never used before, that I can't afford to buy along with all the other shiny new toys everyone else has.
"Looking at the online libraries of available things there is very little, gun parts aside, that is actually useful and most of those are probably best bought in a shop."
There are loads of useful things on thingiverse, you just have to get through all the cruft and have an application for the useful things (they are usually fairly specific replacement parts for cars, appliances and furniture).
I'm guessing you are printing ABS at those temperatures. Try dissolving some ABS in acetone and using it as a glue to prime the bed with... otherwise try printing in PLA at lower temperatures. I have only had a couple of parts come of the bed with PLA and never need to print rafts.
For the reasons I mentioned above, not being the in UK won't make any difference.
I suspect however that this is just one of those clauses that is so outlandish they put it in just so they can take it out when everyone makes a fuss, so they can say they are listening to us. It may also be there to distract attention from the rest of the bill...
They won't have to operate in the UK to be caught. They are saying that they would have to comply with the UKs proposed snooping plans (because the plans seek to apply to companies that don't operate in the UK) which may conflict with laws in other countries.
The question from the call for evidence is: How robust are the plans to place requirements on communications service providers based overseas? How realistic is it that overseas providers could be pursued for breach of duty?
Personally I have no idea how robust extra territorial laws could be, nor how realistic it would be to pursue overseas companies for breaches of duty, but common sense would suggest that if they don't have a physical presence in the Uk, that they just give the UK the finger and carry on... however we have seen time and time again that it doesn't work that way.
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