Posts by Steven Raith
841 posts • joined Tuesday 26th June 2007 19:52 GMT
Re: couple of years late
One of the best things about Islington are it's socioeconomic dynamics.
Take a couple of wrongs turns after exiting one of the trendy bars on a friendly road, and you end up somewhere like the wrong end of North Road. Where I once watched some kids on a scooter smash the back window of an Audi A3 and whup the laptop in there while the owner was in the council office.
And then, as I walked up the road around about the parks/greenspace office, they tried to sell said laptop to me. I politely declined, they politely made their exit.
Even stranger is that 300yds down the road towards the recycling centre is a pretty well known garage that preps full on racespec porsche 911s for privateers IIRC.
Other end of that road is....shall we say, somewhat grittier. My memory might be foggy, but if you know the area, you probably know what I'm talking about.
Funny old place, Islington - but really interesting on multiple levels once you get off Upper street and start floating around the rest of it.
Steven R
Posted in Boffins build headless robo-kitties
Re: Obstacles
I can't recall the last time I saw a housecat jump more than two meters up. Most have owners to help them with that, signalled by mewling and squawks to get their attention....
Steven R
Also...
Software lets you create a RAM drive with it - handy for editing photos/videos surely?
Surprised that's not in the article TBH, an easy way to make a RAM drive is something that's interesting from a consumer product.
Steven R
A quick google suggests..
A gig of DDR3 according to Buffallos website.
To be fair, for most stuff, that's well more than enough and would probably do no harm with small file transfers (assuming the host OS can keep up) but it'd be interesting to see how it copes with a 3gb file transfer.
I tend to bang a few hundred meg of photos over to a backup drive at a time - that'd suit me fine, assuming of course the drive has a DRAM battery somewhere...
Steven R
Re: The reality
...and even if you could circumvent the activation prompts (remote bluetooth trigger in the pocket, kill the 'camera active' light etc) you'd still have to be staring right at them.
Sure to be interesting when said kiddy-filmer comes out of the restroom to find Little Jonny pointing at him saying 'Daddy, it was him, he was the funny man looking RIGHT AT HIM while I was having a wizz'.
Closely followed by a loss of teeth police interaction.
It's not hard to envisage. Think of the children? Try just thinking, for a start.
Steven R
Re: Dragon Animation
Three browsers, mail app, remote desktop app, database client, music, text editor for note taking.
OS X and Linux and older versions of Windows can handle this fine (well, Windows has a problem with lacking multiple workspaces, but it's doable)
To do it in Windows 8 I have to ensure that the TIFKAM apps are explicitly exluded from default launching anything - otherwise the whole thing becomes schizophrenic as fuck.
Not the end of the world, and TIFKAM is fine for content consumption, but it's a proper PITA if you actually want to *do* stuff.
I don't see why Microsoft have taken so long to work this out, and have only partially resolved it by all accounts despite extremely heavy criticism and insinuations that they may actually be a causative part of the recent slump in desktop and laptop sales.
Steven R
Guy Martin
He'd constantly be disappearing off the set only to be found two hours later under one of the on-location vans, stripping the gearbox, having overheard the driver moaning that the syncro on fourth was a bit flaky. Or drinking tea. And he'd insist on flying the tardis at a mental lean, scuffing his knees out the front door.
I really rather like the idea of Sean Pertwee - preferably in Sergeant Wells guise from Dog Soldiers.
"The only people who go looking for Daleks are Kamikazes, glory boys and full-on f*cking f*ckwits."
"Sausages!"
Etc.
Steven R
Punative carbon taxing - slight problem
The working class.
Taxing carbon-spitting cars is all very well, but most people can't afford to buy a new car, nor a new electric car, and the second hand market of sub-£3k cars that most real, non-highly paid, financed-up-to-the-hilt people in the first world survive on won't have electric cars in it (that are a realistic proposal - IE aren't public beta tests with unsupported tech in them, due to the change in pace of technology) for another twenty years.
Otherwise, much as though I love my popping and farting little shed of doom, I tend to agree - once the economics of scale and tech viability come into line, even as a 'petrol'head, I'd have no issue with 'leccy cars, as long as they drive as nicely as their equivelant petrol-fuelled brethren.
All that torque from idle - yum.
Steven R
Re: Peril Sensitive Sunglasses? ala HHGTTG
Dude, I think you just created the template for the Daily Mail Glasses app!
Steven R
Someone doesn't care about network infrastructure?
You liar, everyone loves network infrastructure!
Steven R
PS: Can't see a usage model for a watch-phone combo if I'm honest, but then I didn't see a model for a tablet.
After buying a (halfway decent one) I still can't, but plenty of other people seem to like 'em....if it filters down some shiny new tech, then I won't grumble.
Re: I'm not sure that this statement is correct
I don't mind Top Gear as entertainment, but as we both say, it's not really a car program any more, except by loose association.
Fun, but I don't take anything on there seriously. As a result of that, I don't bother with TG mag either. Tend to stick to Evo.
Mail online
As Rupert Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry (PDF), the Mail Online is "unrecognisable as part of the Daily Mail"
I dunno, they're both pathetic excuses for actual journalism, so there's definitely a resemblance.
Re: Lucky
Who did he alienate, and how?
I'd google it, but about to go to work, natch. El Reg Forums, edumacate me while I toddle off to install a server....
Steven R
Re: Addiction broken
We had LCIIIs and Performas in our high school computing labs.
Suffice to say a lot of time was spent playing this when we should have been working.
Still got an A though, arf.
Steven R
Re: More and better support for 64-bit ARM chips
Dell do OEM Linux still do they not, and Alienware are getting in on the act WRT to SteamForLinux?
And who wants a touch laptop? I work in PC retail, and I've *never* been asked for one. I have, however, had people ask 'why would you want one' when the subject comes up. These are normal people, not IT loons like us, too. It's a human-machine-interface disaster for those who like our shoulders joints being smooth rather than achy and creaky.
Still, good Eadon retort B-)
He says, posting from his OS X laptop, shuffling some files around on his Linux box upstairs, about to go and prep for a Windows server install ;-)
Steven R
NASA PAV engines
Gas Turbines, a flat twelve of some description (everyone loves a flat twelve, and anyone who doesn't is a TRAITOR), and, quite specifically given the design of the intake plenum chambers, an LSx Corvette engine.
I do hope that's what they wanted, rather than it being the only model they could find in Autodesk.
Steven R
Re: Where is Eadon when you need him?
Some say that if you say his name three times in a mirror...
"Eadon, Eadon, Eadon!"
He appears behind you and installs Slackware on your laptop! :-0
Steven R
Re: Plastic back maybe?
I'm not so fussed about scratches (it's a daily hack for me, not a work of art) but I do find I have to remind myself not to set it on the edge of the sofa, lest I hear that solid 'thunk' of it hitting the carpet eleven seconds later after I've settled!
Not that I'm complaining - nice little phone, I tells thee.
BITE
Now there's a site worth archiving!
Beer In The Evening - saving you from going to atrocious scum filled (and run) pubs, and highlighting hidden gems since the early noughties.
Invaluable in London.
Steven R
Re: I'm not sure that this statement is correct
Drive is a good example of this - if you want actual *proper* car reviews, particularly of performance or modified/custom cars, it walks all over Top Gear et al - because that kind of program simply wouldn't get the viewing figures on 'normal' TV.
Chris Harris on Cars is always worth a watch if you like your things that go vroom vroom.
On a semi related note, I'd probably pay a couple of quid a month to see Game Of Thrones at the same time it's available in the US, too.
Really, really dependant on the content and how it's packaged for payment though.
Steven R
I think that one is probably best reserved for Cowell, too. Otherwise every time you see him on TV, you'll end up channel hopping to the naughty channels...
Re: @Badvok
Uffish - I can confirm I have never seen similar things done with shotgun cartridges.
The first time the bung flew and out in an unexpected direction and nearly twatted someone in the face, though, it stopped.
(I was twenty feet away, sensibly being a pussy, of course, and never did work out exactly how they were doing it given how a shotgun cartridge is constructed - although this was before the air rifle incident when we were still young and carefree. And utter numpties...)
The Acer thing
in my experience of building enough of them for domestic and business customers, Acer have put a shitoad of effort into sorting out the software environment to the degree where a basic install of a basic Acer is actually allright.
They went through a few periods in their base models of having different sysprep environments:
A few years ago, having everything under the sun installed on FirstRun - tedious waiting 40mins for it to install loads of pish, including AV, media playback bloatware, etc. Not even joking. It was a grind.
Then they switched to giving you a selective first run installer on some models - untick all the crap and leave Virtual XP Mode, thankyouvery much. Much nicer.
Now they seem to be giving a fairly light selection of apps preinstalled that are just there from the off, with installer links to other things (Skype, etc) that you can install if you like. They get the kickback from the software company, without me having to wait half an hour for the machine to boot up.
I still find myself uninstalling some bits and bats depending on the requirements of the customer (A small office does not need an eBay link on the desktop, etc - which for some reason has an installer) but generally it's not bad now. Certainly better than the shit Sony put on their machines by a wide margin.
The hardware on Acers has been perfectly acceptable for a while now (I see far more HP laptops in for broken DC jacks or mobo faults at that price range, believe me), the software was the issue.
Their base level Win8 machines are (WIn8 aside, natch) pretty nicely setup in terms of the sysprep they do. Really can't argue at the price.
It's at the stage where if someone just wanted a machine to do Office and Youtube stuff on and no other specific requirements, I'd actually suggest a low level Acer. They are the Kia Cee'd of the IT world. Inoffensive, well enough made, reasonably specced, seem to last pretty well - a perfectly acceptable basic workhorse at a perfectly acceptable sticker, frankly.
Steven R
(Clarification - work for a reseller who sells Acers a lot, but believe me, I remember back in the day where you'd expect a third of the Travelmate laptops you had to go back under warranty for genuine hardware faults - it's taken a long, long time for me to warm to Acer as a hardware supplier)
Re: What if
I tend to agree with Seanie. To be honest, even if someone *had* lost an eye, her intent and her attitude after the fact would be a better determination of whether she should face full on criminal charges for what would likely be best described as an accident.
I shot my mate in the chest once with an air rifle - completely accidentally, the silly bugger had set the trigger up to be far too sensitive, and it went off when I closed the barrel after loading it. Yes, it was loaded. Yes, I learned a lot about weapon control that day. He now has what he describes as a third nipple. Neither he or his parents even considered talking to the police about it when they had seen how white from shock I had gone at the result of my carelessness, and how utterly awful I felt about it. They considered taking me to hospital too because they thought I might have gone into shock (whereas in reality I was just shitting myself at the consequences of what I had done).
He was fine, incidentally, didn't penetrate far. Big plaster for a few weeks, and he was fine and we were shooting again.
Had I, however, been bragging about how he deserved it for being a twat or some other such crap, I dare say it would have turned out different, and the police would probably have got involved.
There's a time and a place for learning from your mistakes, and there's a time and a place for criminal charges - and it's entirely dependant on intent and consequences of what you've done, and how you are perceived to behave afterwards.
As Seanie says, 'what if' hypothecations are pointless in this instance - no-one was harmed, there is no insinuation that she was trying to harm anybody, and as a result it seems like a massive overreaction by some do-gooding cockend who has about as much idea about how a kids head works (something important if you work in education) as the average dormouse.
Until I see evidence to the contrary (IE that is was anything other than teenage hijinks with no ill will intended) then my position is the assistant head and the other authorities involved are just plain stupid.
Steven R
Re: This article is also worth a mention
The comments on that post are also well worth reading - 'Joy' goes into a bit more detail on a few notes and delivers some fantastic ripostes to trolls and numpties.
Re: Aperture Science
I now have Cave Johnsons voice in my head saying:
"God-dammit Toby, that's why we gave you a flipbook."
Re: And yet, and yet ... @Steven Raith
"Sadly, many Linux fans play that both ways, inferring the meaning to suit whichever defence they choose to use. Problem with a Windows app? "Use Linux!" Riiight. Ignore the whole kernel/app thing. Unwilling to use Linux because the app you want isn't on Linux and you can't find a suitable replacement? "That's not a Linux problem - Linux is just a kernel!" Ahh - we remember when it suits us. Not everyone does it, but sadly it does tend to be the more prolific posters. Snappier is all well and good for marketing types, but relying on inference just seems a lawyery thing to do."
I'm too idle and drunk to respond to all your points - maybe one day, eh? - but I agree that the sort of people who use that argument are sad bastards who really need to get a fucking grip.
Sometimes Liux fits. Sometimes OS X fits. Sometimes Windows fits. Sometimes a fecking notepad fits.
Pick your tool to suit the job or GTFO is my motto, frankly. Anything else is pathetic, and tragic on multiple levels, professionalism being No1.
I'd never employ a fanboy of any description - too blinkered.
Posted in Review: Disgo 8400G 7.9in Android tablet
Re: "the video phones many have been waiting for"
I've always used computers for video calling - much better video compression.
Mind you, a Nexus 4 on Gchat can push what looks like 480p video in near real time over wifi.
Phones are *finally* getting there....
Re: 119 MB is lightweight?
Yeik, youy clearly aren't European.
Vauxhall Nova - twenty years old - sub-850kg wet.
Current Corsa (same class, technically) - well over a ton wet. Adam is no better
Power outputs - other than the current crazy models pushing 200hp, pretty much the same.
A Nova with 180hp and suitable suspension will destroy a Corsa with 180hp with suitable suspension, everywhere, in every condition.
No debate, it just will.
Cut christ, I'd rather live with, and crash a current Corsa.
Steven R
(Puma Millenium edition - nice subtle car, and a good compromise between those two extremes....google it...)
Re: 119 MB is lightweight?
Atrocious car analogy coming up, but you find me a modern, safe, quiet car that weighs less than a ton.
Twenty years a go, a car weighing over a ton (that wasn't a luxury saloon) would have been seen as being a bit lardy.
As today - a modern, complete desktop running in less than 128mb of RAM is even more impressive given how feature creep has caused users to want more and more by default.
If you really want a lightweight linux and can justify it by having proper old hardware, you still have options like Puppy etc, AFAIK. As none of the machines I own has less than 2GB ram (and that's my bros scabby lappy - none of my machines have less than 8gb of RAM, even my phone has 2gb....) it's really less of an issue.
If you have less than 256mb of RAM in a system, then you need to specialise these days - it's as simple as that.
Steven R
Good old Shure
I'm not audiophile, whatever that really means, but I do like music to sound fairly clean and not overly exaggerated.
I've had low-mid range shures (from their 1xx-3xx) range over the years as walkabout in-ears for the commute in london for years, always been happy with them. The abuse they got meant they didn't always last too well (but to be fair, I only took them off to go to bed...) but Shures customer service is just utterly bob on - polite, friendly, and accomodating. If the headphones are out of warranty, when I did that last, they offered me 25% off a new pair.
Not bad at all in my mind.
That said, since I left London (now in North Yorks) I've had less need for them. Or headphones, at all. No commute, natch...!
Steven R
Re: Crikey...
I can hear the new playground taunts now. No more speccy bastards and commie twats, but who ate all the Pis, and Beagle-humpers.
Good times!
Posted in Review: Disgo 8400G 7.9in Android tablet
"the video phones many have been waiting for"
....what people?
Re: And yet, and yet ...
"They whole question is fatuous and rather pathetic."
No, that would be your unfunny and rather sad pedantry.
The rest of us who live in the real world and have communication skills comparable with actual human beings were able to parse the implied meaning from the context in which it was given; that is, is it possible to run a business based around the ecosystem provided by desktops and servers running Linux based distributions?
Just saying 'can I run a business on Linux' is a tad snappier, and those asking the question and providing a meaningful answer know what it means.
You are the reason people think anyone who is interested in IT is some kind of antisocial malcontent.
*slow handclap*
Steven R
Re: Two steps too far...
"Hi Brin.
We said think different, not think stupid."
Re: Not a Pi rival, more a Mac-mini clone
It'll be fun fun fun till your daddy takes it away.
(apologies)
Damn it.
I have now downloaded all the current big hypervisors (Xen, ESXi, HyperV) and am pricing up smart switches and cheap CPU/mobo combos that can handle 16gb+ RAM.
Have an old Phenom II 920 (quad core, 8gb of ram) but not sure that'll suffice these days. Maybe as a backup node...although it'll need an Intel Server NIC for VMware to see it (damn you, Nvidia and your poorly supported NICs).
I think I might suggest work pick up a nice 48port smart switch mit POE/L3 management (should suffice - and not too pricey these days) and then move my lab into there.
Steven R
Hmm.
Information about you...reveals information about you.
Welcome to Tautology Club.
The first rule of Tautology club is the first rule of Tautology club.
( (c) XKCD, of course.)
Steven R
Re: High Hopes
Hi Chemist,
I Tried Debian circa 2001, and had to manually setup my wireless cards, which then broke my network stack because i did it wrong. I gave up and went back to Win2000.
I then came back to it with Umbongo Dapper Drake, and it all just worked, which gobsmacked me. At which point I stuck with it and have been using it daily since.
A survey of one is not consistent with everyones experience, in both regards, but to dismiss Canonicals input is to be quite staggeringly idiotic.
Canonical have, in the last five years, made Ubuntu usable to the degree that the average numpty in the street can use it - such as my brother, who cares not for...well, anything computer related.
That's a massive leap for Linux, and anyone who denies that is a complete imbecile who has no concept of usability and stability.
Steven R
Interesting....
...to see how well the UI works, after the Unity stuff (which I've migrated to fine if I'm honest.
Got a managed wireless system to install in the next few weeks which requires Wifi Analyser on the current Android build of me Nexus 4 (which are widely available again, kids! got mime three days after ordering...) but once that is out of the way, I think I'll have a play with this.
Steven R
Re: Infinity Option 2
I had a call yesterday, and questioned whether or not there was a FUP.
No, catagorically no limits on use.
Well that's fine, I don't want to go on an ISP that lets people abuse it's service willy nilly - which is what a FUP is there for when done properly.
Perfectly happy with IDNet thanks...!
Steven R
Hope it wasn't....
A Nexus 4. I have one, and it has...girth.
Or worse, a Galaxy Note II.
*goes off to break out the mind bleach and cerebral scrubbers*
Steven "I made myself feel ill" Raith.
"I'll be your interviewer today...
...my formal name is Grey Area, but my 'friends' call me MeatFucker."
(Iain M Banks reference, natch)
Steven R
Re: Play hard to get
I'll buy you fish and chips to do my patio.
Deal?
Re: hmm, no likey cvt but....
The thing about sporty cars, is that you want to have a degree of control.
I like manual boxes because I can blip it into second and drop-kick the car past some numpty doing 40 on an NSL road, bap-bap-bapping off the limiter as I pass (Yes, I'm a fucking child).
A decent auto will let you manually select - and hold - gears, giving you the control to do this when you want, but giving you syrupy smooth changes when you just want to get to, and back from, Tescos after a long day.
A CVT gives you neither of those control options to any degree that could be considered fun or sporting, hence has no place in a sporty car. That said, give it another ten-fifteen years, and that might change. People (not me...) are willing to accept the laughable concept that a turbo diesel with a 2000rpm powerband can be considered sporty these days, the nimrods.
No, I dont care about your torque.
I'll stick with my 40 litres of Super Unleaded, 6000rpm of usable power, and pops and farts on the overrun, thanks.
Steven R,
Ford Puma Millenium,
North York Moors
(Not my car, but same sort of noise... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B9450NnnJQ )
Re: Couldnt agree more, @N2, 1824
I am a fan of IDnet, they're a good bunch and I can't recall any time I've had any bandwidth/shaping/etc issues - even right now, in peak time, I've downloaded a Linux ISO (no, really), at 5.5-6MB/sec, on a line rated at approx 60mb - not going to grumble with that, pretty decent when you take routing, packet loss, and other HTTP overheads into account..
I also like the fact that if you do have to call them up, you mention you are using a Draytek, and they automatically drop into SysAdmin mode, and are more than happy to get down to the nitty gritty without worrying about whether you have checked your microfilters (back in the ADSL days, natch) etc - they assume you have a degree of competence, which is refreshingly good.
Costs a bit, and has (fairly decent, admittedly) bandwidth caps, but well worth it for a good service from a technical, and customer service POV. Must admit, I found Be* to be pretty good too in the same respect when I was down south, and would have gone with the again had they had a card in the exchange up here.
It's not a business line though, and if I were forced to WFH, I'd be getting one. At least that way I can say I've done what I can to ensure business continuity.
Point is, quality costs. Yes, up to a point you can't get perfect service from any supplier (too many variables) but you can get very good service from some.
Steven R
Holy shit
72 upvotes at the last count - that helps offset the RAGE I got after misinterpreting the locked bootloader affair a few months ago, eh?
I'm guessing other than getting general agreement from people, I appear to have, for want of a better phrase, touched a few people. Good stuff. I was (genuinely) expecting a more negative response, or possibly even to be moderated out given how blunt and personal I was about it all.
Mental illness - painful, vicious, fascinating stuff.
Cheers all. That's made my day.
Steven R
PS: I've seen a couple of people elsewhere mention that Swartz 'chose' to commit suicide.
Trust me, it's not a choice - it's a last resort.
Re: Comparing Turing to Swartz? Complete FAIL!
Andrew Moore - having been there, and come close enough on a couple of occasions, in hindsight, yes it is a selfish act. Took a full blown nervous breakdown, and two years of psychotherapy and having some good friends who were prepared to stick with me through some truly horrific times (hint - depressed and suicidal people are not generally sociable beyond a surface level) to get me clear of that state of mind and realise that.
I don't feel guilty about it - my head was a complete mess through stress, anxiety, and various other contributing factors in my life history that made me conclude that I was the biggest see-you-next-tuesday (phonetecise it yourself, I'd rather not risk this post getting moderated out due to swearing) walking on the earth, and that I deserved to die, and everyone would be better off without me. I don't see why I should feign guilt or shame because I was messed up in the head. Not much I could do about it at the time. Might as well say someone should feel guilty because they got cancer from doing, according to the tabloid press, anything. Stuff that.
Back to the depression itself and suicide specifically, unless you have been to that point, it's impossible to describe the utter, gut wrenching, mind numbing pain, fear, guilt and self-hatred that leads to that. It is about as close to a genuine living hell as an average person could get to. Even worse, quite often it can be wholly irrational. The closest I can describe is imagining yourself holding on the inside rim of a volcano, trying to scrabble up as the lava rises to meet you and you're being burned by the heat, and never being able to get a handhold. Get the concept of that sort of raw, rabid panic, the inevitability of it, that nothing you can do can stop what's about to happen.
I'm still generally depressed, and have major low points a couple of times a year (and I'm not talking about feeling a bit down in the dumps - I'm talking about days where I literally dread leaving the house, or even getting out of bed) but not as bad as I used to be. If you've never been to the stage where suicide genuinely seems like the only way out, I'll swear on my mothers grave that I genuinely hope you (the collective you, rather than you specifically) never do.
Steven R
PS: If you have been affected by the contents of this post (sounds like an after school special, eh?) then dip into some psychology books - start with the soft-core 'dealing with anxiety/depression' types, and then move up to more scholarly stuff. Learning how your own brain works is A: fascinating and B: very useful in terms of devising coping strategies, recognising mental loops and culdesacs leading to circular paths of doom and how to break out of them, etc. I still refer back to them these days, very helpful stuff.
And if you are definitely feeling proper shitty, go see your GP. Sounds like a copout, but at least if you do something untoward, there's a record of it somewhere, and you're more likely to get some kind of treatment. NHS Psychology wards are surprisingly good, and no, they don't section you on sight, and if they do, it's almost certainly for a good reason. Because think about it, if you're so rubbish, why would they want you hanging around? (that's a little joke to my depressive cohorts, ho ho :-) )
PPS: Ironically, I work in customer service and am generally seen a terribly jovial chap. Fifteen years of depression makes you an amazing actor....
Re: Fimo
Andrew, the last time I came across some uncooked pastry, it was trimmings from a pie my brother was making.
I managed to form the letters T, N, C and U, and arrange them creatively on the surface of said pie.
To say he was impressed when he removed it from the oven would be an understatement.
Steven R
(I would supply a pic of said pie, but I suspect it would fall foul of the house rules)
Command line essay
"If that's not enough command line fun for you over the festive season, you can still download Neal Stephenson's seminal essay In the Beginning was the Command Line here."
Just to say, that's a very interesting read - cheers for the link.
Steven R
