* Posts by Mike Lovell

79 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Feb 2007

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Natty Narwahl: Ubuntu marine mammal not fully evolved

Mike Lovell
Megaphone

Ey

Surely in rescue mode it hangs at/after a specific point? Otherwise it sounds rather like graphics driver issues. When I've upgraded a machine to 11.04 I usually kill the "xorg.conf" file after I've done so. Especially if I'm running an ATI graphics card, fglrx has been replaced with the Open Source driver.

Mike Lovell
Megaphone

Unity does suck but the rest is good

Is really couldn't get used to Unity, but you can just add the gnome3 PPA's in and install that on 11.04 so it's pretty much a non-issue for me. That or just run classic gnome 2 if you really can't bear change.

Ubuntu 'Natty Narwhal' breaks the surface

Mike Lovell
Happy

Since alpha, all good

I moved over to 11.04 while it was in early alpha but I can't really deal with Unity.

But fortunately you can just put the gnome3 PPA back in and put gnome-shell on (which is what I do).

It's been pretty rock solid for the last couple of months, both the underline kernel, packages and gnome-shell. The Open Source ATI driver finally does 3D out the box without messing about, which is nice (fgrlx always gave the ugly text based boot - Not the end of the world but not impressive when people look over your shoulder).

Microsoft profits soar 31% on Office, Xbox

Mike Lovell
Stop

Erm

"However I don't believe that people will migrate to Mac or Linux on mas"

Oh yes I forgot, Apple are the NICE heartless multi-national! :-)

Microsoft and Apple users are the same. Linux users are the only ones breaking away.

Horror AVG update ballsup bricks Windows 7

Mike Lovell
Alert

Erm

Assuming you have more than one PC or Internet capable device and can reach the advisory web page to fix your machine they bricked in the first place!

US politician: 'homosexual agenda' behind TSA groin grope

Mike Lovell
Thumb Up

Russian System?

When I flew out from Moscow I was patted down by a female security guard. Personally I prefered it!

Linux servers for Windows folk: go on, give it a bash

Mike Lovell
Joke

Aha

Ahhhh, the old "over engineer it, make it unnecessarily complex for its purpose and make sure you're the only one who can work it" job protection rouse.

Classic IT tactics, well played.

Home Secretary swats away calls for Mosquito ban

Mike Lovell
Coat

Re: Dont make me laugh

You should note the heavy sarcastic tones of his post. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously I'll wager! ;o)

UK plastic fraud losses fall for first time in 3 years

Mike Lovell
Happy

Good way to stay safe

Don't use Argos Online!

Win 7 remote kernel crasher code released

Mike Lovell
Alert

@WebDav people looking for a client

It's built into Windows BTW, but if you have Office 2003 installed it screws it up - There is, as always, a patch workaround.

Google is your friend.

I use it all the time, it does kick FTP's arse big time

Revolting postmen force early Windows 7 launch

Mike Lovell
Thumb Up

@John 104

Me too, weird to think it's only just being released to the unwashed masses. I've been running RTM for 6 weeks, then RC before that for months.

I can't even remember what life was like before Windows 7...

Blighty customers see some Windows 7 prices halved

Mike Lovell
Happy

Running it on my EEE PC

Works like I charm, mind you I had no issues with the RC either

Please don't eat your horse, EU asks owners

Mike Lovell
Joke

As the old saying goes...

You can't have your horse and eat it!

Jacqui whacks shock jock crock

Mike Lovell
Flame

"Coming to the UK is a privilege"

Is it bollocks

Tory who claimed brother's tech gear on expenses quits

Mike Lovell
Joke

What?

MP's have been claiming excessive expenses? I wish this was mentioned in the media somewhere, talk about cover-up!

Dell claims Latitude E4300 glitches 'fixed'

Mike Lovell
Flame

@Inachu

Not entirely sure you know what you're doing from reading your post!

Also it was very nice of you to sell it to the kid rather than give it to him, even though it got hot enough to bend memory sticks and probably untold unseen damage rendering it worthless!

Where were you using it, in a sauna???

Hiding secret messages in internet traffic: a new how-to

Mike Lovell
Joke

@John Sanders

Surely piracy is dead now the Pirate Bay founders are in jail!

ho-ho-ho

Teens reject Microsoft's Zune

Mike Lovell
Flame

@xjy

"Who the hell should need IT skills for a mass market entertainment product??"

Beause perhaps you're ripping media from a source that the film industry does not want you to rip from, and you want to use OpenSource tools to do it (VideoLAN)? It's not exactly complicated though - Just beyond the original comment posters capacity.

"This "IT skills, bitch!" is the line constantly hawked by Anti-Linux MicroShitters. And now they turn it on themselves!"

Well actually I use both Linux and Windows, they aren't mutually exclusive you know.

"Next they'll be hyping the IT skills needed for Windoze and Orifice."

You do realise there are Windows engineers and architects in the world right?

Geez, another tard.

Mike Lovell
Alert

Re: Zune is crap , can't even play AVI files

"Zune is crap , can't even play AVI files

By Anonymous Coward Posted Saturday 11th April 2009 17:09 GMT

without converting , my wife bought it for our son , been sitting in a drawer , he is waithing for a creative or archos player that plays ALL formats , not just DRM crap . Take a hint micodudes"

No offence, but is your son a total 'tard (as well as ungrateful!)? You drag something onto it and it automatically converts the media into WMV3 format - What you really should say is "I don't know how to even play AVI files on it" ;o)

You move MP3’s or AVI’s onto your Zune no DRM is setup on those converted files either. If you really are having problems here, let me give you some advice:

<ANY SOURCE> => Video LAN (VLC) Transcode => Zune

... Although if you really don’t want it because your IT skills aren’t up to this, why don’t you give it to someone who might!

The Zune is class, especially v2 - Unfortunately it suffers from the "Vista effect". All their new products seemed to be getting panned by people who've never used them these days. Having 'Microsoft' stamped on it is the kiss of death, no matter how good it is.

Entire class fails IT exam by submitting in Word format

Mike Lovell
Joke

@EvilJason

"Odd that there has not been any lawsuits from this?"

They tried to serve them with the papers, but the exam board said they were in the wrong format...

A-thank-you, I'm here all week.

Linux at 17 - What Windows promised to be

Mike Lovell
Flame

@Rob Beard

"well, maybe not just yet but it's pretty much there once she learns how to turn the computer on!"

She already knows how to turn me on Rob

Ambulance Service not patient enough for Vista

Mike Lovell
Flame

Must be done

I am another happy Vista user, but couldn't resist the joke...

[ERROR: The drivers for 'ambulance dispatcher' are not digitally signed]

- "Guys, is that important?"

UK crypto boffins turbo-charge quantum cryptography

Mike Lovell
Alert

@Vladimir Plouzhnikov

"If they manage to increase the bitrate further one will soon be able to transmit VCD quality pr0n videos in complete security. Who knows, maybe they will even manage to achieve DVD-quality soon!"

With the new obscene publication laws we'll probably all be using quantum cryptography by next year! Just the boost people needed to take this all underground!

How the fate of the US economy rests on a Dell workstation

Mike Lovell
Joke

@goggyturk

"Playing the Devil's Advocate: given that these supercomputer simulations failed to predict the current mess we're in, why should we trust them to get us out? It seems the model Bernanke created actually works at some level."

What happened was that they finished the program a couple of years back, ran it on the supercomputer and then got their management to take a look at the results, he said...

- "What the hell is this? Economic meltdown, credit crunch, massive forclosures, established banks going under - Go back and redo it, this is total garbage"

The rest is history.

California train smash driver sent text seconds before disaster

Mike Lovell
Flame

re: re:It strikes me as odd...

"If we could automate the london underground we could have trains 24 hours a day, no strikes, no delayed due to drivers not turning up etc."

Are you mad? If that happens then the tube workers will not have an iron grip on their management's (and the City of London's) collective balls - They might also have to take a pay cut, further reducing their ridiculously low wages and high work hours. Who can afford to live on 40k a year for a couple of hours work a day.

Oh, wait, hang on...

'First production-line energy weapon' now shipping

Mike Lovell
Joke

Pah

That's nothing. I made my own my following a youtube instructional video. Now my converted lazer pointer pen can set a pile of kidling on fire within 4 minutes. Take that rip-off matchstick makers!*

* Requires 4 x AA batteries to light each fire. You must replace the pointer after every other usage. Needs around 400 quids worth of tools to build it.

German man arrested after UK gamer's murder

Mike Lovell
Coat

Was always going to happen

I think the guy had no alternative but to take it outside the game. He got serious p0wned last time I saw him play.

There's only so much of an online kicking a man can take.

Judge slaps Fasthosts for rubbish kit and support

Mike Lovell
Coat

Once more, with uptime

"Seconded! I've used them too and they've never let me down once in 45 years. The CEO wears very tight trousers.

PS. I am also not an employee or owner of this company."!

See you at the AGM next week Joe.

Mike Lovell
Flame

Re: Any recommendations

Yes, you should check out <insert name of hosting company>, they are great. Never any problems and the CEO is hung like a donkey.

No I'm not affiliated with them in any way.

That password-protected site of yours - it ain't

Mike Lovell
Stop

Re: Experts Exchange

Hey, you guys do know that if you just scroll down to the bottom of the page, the Expertexchange article has the answers (not obscured).

Try it! ;o)

But keep it under your hat, don't want them to fix that one!

Ex-Googlers reinvent web search

Mike Lovell
Coat

@Daniel

Dude, stop treating objects like women

Tory leader's stolen bicycle surfaces on eBay

Mike Lovell
Stop

Erm...

"The problem isn't the scallys that nick the bike, the problem is you and the choices you make about how to secure your property."

I beg to differ! They damn well are the problem mate.

Happy Sysadmin Day!

Mike Lovell
Coat

But...

"I for example thank the cleaning lady about once a week for keeping my office (and particularly my trash bin) clean."

That really depends on if she's a CLILF or not.

US Air Force may allow killbots to be flown by non-pilots

Mike Lovell
Thumb Down

@Frank Bough

"..I wonder what these gamers are going to do when they find hman enemies are a bit more sophisticated than XBox AI? Surely this is just handing WW3 to the Chinese on a plate?"

Sir, you do the XBox AI a great disservice

NASA: The Moon is not enough

Mike Lovell
Flame

Erm...

"Based on the research I've done every dollar spent on space exploration has returned 3-7 dollars to the world economy"

Well I don't know about everyone else but I'm convinced. Are you by any chance an author on Wikipedia! :op

Boffins invent 42GB DVD

Mike Lovell
Joke

I know

Here's my thinking out the box idea, now I doubt it would have occurred to anyone reading the article - Certainly nobody would have posted a comment suggesting this - As it requires pretty abstract thought, but...

Why don't we use this on BluRay

tum-te-tum, won't bother reading any of the comments before this.

Pentagon hacker vows to take extradition fight to Europe

Mike Lovell
Coat

Aha

"its not may it did. So if hired a Hit man to kill princess Diana in the US but he kills her in the UK , you would be content for me to be tried in the US ??"

So Mohammed Alfied was right! Terrible slip up of MI5 to post what they did to theregister comments section.

Microsoft! offers! Yahoo! less!

Mike Lovell
Coat

Re: meh - yahoo isn't worth toss

"meh - yahoo isn't worth toss"

Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a currency called a 'toss'. In which case I could have been literally splurging all my money down the drain all these years*

* Well, into tissues first

So what's the easiest box to hack - Vista, Ubuntu or OS X?

Mike Lovell
Alert

@Scott

"You're absolutely right, if not a bit harsh.

However, I've been running Vista Home Premium for about 5 months now, so I speak from experience when I say that it definitely shipped before its time. In fact, Vista just crashed this morning and refuses to boot at all (even booting to the "recovery partition" won't work). I know this isn't a hardware problem because I can boot Ubuntu just fine and mount (and access every part of) the NTFS Vista partition."

Well in your case I'll allow the criticism! All these other sheep though, they get right on my tits.

"Brimful" is definitely a tosser though, I stand by that.

Mike Lovell
Flame

@brimful

"I admit that Vista is completely rubbish hence why I haven't installed it even though I have a MSDN license"

I always here this shit. "Vista is completely rubbish" then you ask them "How long you been running it", then they usually say "I'm not running it" or "I installed it, didn't like it, then installed XP again". Oooo, scary change!!!

Do we really have to do this EVERY time something new comes out!

Tosser!

Porsche to challenge London CO2 penalty in court

Mike Lovell
Flame

No tax!

How about some incentives, rather than just tax-smacking.

If they gave you a big discount on alternative fuel cars and also made sure that by 20xx, x% of garages would have to provide this fuel. Might just help.

But of course it has little to do with the environment, and a lot to do with raising tax from the moral high ground.

Also on the subject of public transport I know many a person verbally abused or threatened on the London transport networks (I hear the buses are the worst). Any police about?

PayPal buys Israeli security firm

Mike Lovell
Stop

Yes, security!

I thought security at eBay consisted of them losing your password to a hacker, then emailing you to tell you that you've obviously clicked on a phishing email link and that their system is 100% secure!

Autothrottle problems suspected in Heathrow 777 crash

Mike Lovell
Coat

@Robert Lee

"its a very complex piece of machinary, to get everything 100% working all the time is almost impossible, so crashes are bound to happen."

I hope you're not a sales executive at Boeing, no wonder sales are plummeting!

Mozilla security chief confirms data leakage bug in Firefox

Mike Lovell
Flame

@BitTwister

"Vulnerabilities are not dependent on the number of users, and as the source code has been freely available for download since day one you'd think this would be a more efficient method of being "open to scrutiny". Yet still FF remains more secure, quite likely *because* it is open to scrutiny."

Hang on a second, didn't we recently have a report that in fact more vulnerabilities were found in FF over the same period of time than IE.

Of course then all the FF fanbois at our place started saying "Well, that just means they're better at finding exploits" ... Of course they wouldn't recognise such an argument if I made it about Windows!

Like arguing with a brick wall.

Caffeine doubles miscarriage risk

Mike Lovell
IT Angle

erm?

erm?

Perl.com sends visitors to porn link farm

Mike Lovell
Flame

LOL!!!

"Honestly, you don't fuck with the type of lads and lassie using those sites."

Scary!

- "Oooh, the Perl guys are mad at me... I'm so scared! Oooooh, the Germans... Uh oh..."

- "'Stop it, Burns"

- "The Perl guys are coming after me... Oh, don't let the Perl guys come after me... Oh, the Perl guys are coming after me... No, they're so big and strong... Protect me from the Perl guys! The Perl guys!"

US boffins create GM 'supercarrot'

Mike Lovell
Coat

"paris hilton connection, i danced with her"

Me too, but we were horizontal at the time.

Plague: The new Black Death

Mike Lovell
Coat

"Sanitation has really changed since the Midieval times"

Can someone please tell that to my neighbour, he insists on coming home drunk and taking a dump on my lawn!

Man uses mobe as modem, rings up £27k phone bill

Mike Lovell
Flame

Re: Vodafone suck!!!

"I had a similar experience with Vodafone last month. Not quite as bad as what this gentleman did, but a £346.40 private bill really hurts! Especially just before Christmas!

They (Vodafone) claim I used 108mb in the space of 30 minutes downloading mail from my mail server! I've produced logs proving I did not use that amount of data yet they are not prepared to do anything about it. At the time my phone only had 64mb worth of storage so downloading 108mb is physically impossible! Currently i've got no clue what more I can do! I've cancelled my direct debit, written letters, etc but still sit £280 out of hand because of this.

Any advice?"

Yes, they are probably right :o) ... Don't forget that the size of information you received isn't going to be the same as the amount of data transferred (you have to take into account the data being encapsulated, and of course most forms of mail transfer aren't very efficient).

Mail attachments are much bigger than the original file as they're Base64 encoded. Your phone probably compresses this or stores it in a different format once the mail arrives (crazy to keep it in Base64).

Your mobile probably has some hela-stupid ways of getting your mail.

Windows Service Pack refuseniks offered temporary respite

Mike Lovell
Flame

Lloyd???

"but the reason I refuse to install the damn things is because they try to install on the drive that has the largest amount of disk space which is one that I don't want it to install from, if MS could sort their s**t out and just install on the Windows drive then I'd do it."

Err, why??? I'd rather it didn't unpack anything onto the Windows drive if another drive is available. Multiple paritions, modest sized C:\ drive, very common! :op

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