* Posts by Martin Dunn

18 publicly visible posts • joined 2 Aug 2007

Is this possibly the worst broadband in the world?

Martin Dunn
Megaphone

Tried Wimax?

Try vfast wimax. They serve a lot of Kent (unfortunately not my house)

www.vfast.co.uk

We use their business service at work (as an industrial estate on the outskirts of Maidstone strangely has fudge-all in the way of half decent connectivity - even ADSL).

It costs $450 in marketing to make someone buy a $49 Nokia Lumia

Martin Dunn

My ideal phone..

would be an Android device with Nokia build quality. In my 'man-drawer' of defunct mobiles from the past years,it's the Nokia ones that all still work.

The Great Smartphone OS Shoot-out

Martin Dunn
Linux

I hate to admit it but..

.. I do like the look of the WinPho7 interface.

and this is from a guy who generally detests all things Win.. My work laptop is linux, all my home pc's are linux, my tv runs linux, I one owned a debian phone (now on Android).. you get the idea.

The fact that it look like Win8 desktop rather Win7 does present a small problem to me - what will they call the mobile platform when the similarly Metro styled Win8 surfaces?

Ballmer disses Android as cheap and complex

Martin Dunn

Meanwhile back in the real world..

Windows phone will never be as being as 'sexy' as the iProducts in the eyes of the average consumer.

Personally I'm sad the Nokia went the WinPho route. An android phone with Nokia's build quality would be perfect!

Citroën lifts lid on looming diesel hybrid

Martin Dunn
FAIL

Engine is at the front..

The Reg got the engine configuration wrong as well.. Hybrid4 uses a conventional 163hp turbodiesel up front where you'd expect to find it and the 37hp electric gubbins take up the space normally reserved for the spare wheel in the boot.

So.. you still get the same boot space, just with a can of gunk instead of a spare wheel. If it's a bad puncture, you're stuffed. That said 200hp and 99g/km is nice combination even if I doubt it would get anywhere near the quoted mpg. The 163 diesel alone with the auto box manages only just over 40 mpg.

Martin Dunn
Alert

Not first use of Hybrid4 powertrain...

The first Hybrid4 powered car will be Peugeot's 3008 Hybrid4 due for european launch very shortly.

Want to use WD diagnostics? Buy Windows

Martin Dunn
Linux

Linux Specialist?

Surely a company 'specialising in Linux' would use the standard command line tools instead.

Failing that, modern distros such as Ubuntu have GUI tools installed as standard that do everything the WD software does.

Maybe I'm in the wrong job.

Leica Pinmaster rangefinder

Martin Dunn

Not as daft as it might seem.

Leica made some binoculars a few years with an integrated distance measurement system. They were around £2500 having initially been produced for the military market.

They sold loads to golfers.. Probably giving them the idea for this.

Nokia snaffles user data on the down-low

Martin Dunn

Maybe it's just me..

but I got an N900 recently and performed the PR1.2 upgrade and have received no SMS messages whatsoever.

Given that I hadn't learnt the nuances of the phone operation by then, I doubt I magically skipped a stage.

Glad Nokia are sticking to Meego for future phones. The N900 has it's quirks, but it's light years ahead of other Nokia devices.

E-car driven from Dover to Calais

Martin Dunn

Not the first electric car from UK to France

First electric car from UK to France.. rubbish!

Eurotunnel has a fleet of electric Peugeot 106s that are used in the service tunnels that lock onto a guidance rail in the floor so that they can pass easily in the narrow tunnel.

They also have a buzzer that goes off on the dashboard that you have to press a button to de-activate after a number of crashes caused by dozing drivers!

Intel reveals Atom CPU speeds and feeds

Martin Dunn

Mini-ITX?

Should Intel decide to roll this out in a mini-itx format, they could have a winner. Especially considering that Intel is somewhat more 'open' with their hardware for open-source development than Via.

Wal-Mart stores drop cheap-as-chips Linux PC

Martin Dunn
IT Angle

@ Anonymous Coward - Re: printer install

Last time I installed a printer in Linux, I plugged it in and was greeted with a message saying that 'an HP LaserJet blah blah' had been configured and would I like to print a test page.

Took 15 secs, required no disks and all I had to do was plug it in and click on 'OK'.

Must admit, I was quite impressed!

90mph police chief cops 42-day ban

Martin Dunn

For all those moaning about the lack of points

I did an average of 117mph on a motorway once.. £400 fine & 30day ban, but no points. You either get points or a ban - the ban affects your insurance too. Quite a bit as I found out!

I'm not condoning his speed, but it does appear that he was punished to the same guidelines as everyone else. However, I didn't have a police car waiting to take me to work the following morning!

Now driving slower cars. :)

Shuttle lands Linux SFF PCs in the UK

Martin Dunn

Re: Idiots get their act together

On linux, 2Gb is more than sufficient and Intel is probably the most stable and supported platform to run it on.

Even Intel's on board graphics run a 3D desktop that would embarrass a high spec Vista machine.

However, why Shuttle used one of their older cases is a mystery. It could have looked a bit nicer!

Ubuntu laptop clan trapped in hard drive hell

Martin Dunn

Using the command prompt

..is all very well, but as David Wiernicki states, Ubuntu is supposedly created for the masses, and not everyone is confident tinkering in terminal.

That said, I am pretty sure that if this really is an issue then a fix will be posted to the repositories in the next few days.

This was written using Ubuntu 7.10 on a PC largely composed of laptop components and no ticking hard disk.

'Ads-funded' Microsoft Works pilot barges onto your PC this year

Martin Dunn

Where are Microsoft heading?

I really can't see the logic in M$'s current strategy. I have nothing really against them (despite being a Linux user), but if you're going to offer 'software as a service' then I think occasional users would rather stump up a few pence for access to proper Office via the web than get something for free that is full of ads and generally incompatible with everything.

Yes, OpenOffice will do most office tasks for most people, but the fact it's free means you won't see 100ft high posters for it in central london, like you do for Office 2007. Only the more technically minded tend to know of it's existence.

As Vista doesn't seem to have captured people's imagination as well they might have hoped it does appear that Microsoft is clutching at straws. Come on guys - you're the biggest player out there, give us something truly innovative!