* Posts by Unicornpiss

1616 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Oct 2011

Still sniggering at that $999 monitor stand? Apple just got serious about the enterprise

Unicornpiss
Alert

Re: Shiny, shiny

About the only thing I can think of that Apple actually invented from scratch that I use is CUPS on *NIX systems. Which works well and was light years beyond its predecessor. Many other things they really didn't innovate, but instead built on others' inventions or outright ripped off. (not that Microsoft or Android can't be said to have done the same) I am truly glad that Apple has survived and thrived and offers something different, even if it's usually not my thing.

I suppose you could argue that Apple made the tablet and current format of the smartphone ubiquitous, but they were by no means the first to invent them. And they brought the personal .mp3 player to the masses, but again, weren't the first. But to be fair, I'm not a fanboi and I may be speaking with some ignorance, despite having been a technophile for decades.

Homage should be paid to Apple, but perhaps more so to the likes of Xerox and Commodore, as well as Nokia, Palm, and Blackberry. (and Microsoft) And let's not forget IBM. (although on some level I think the world would be a better place if we were all using Amiga-format instead of PCs) And Microsoft's Kinect is also a real innovation. You could argue that MS's Active Directory is innovative, but you'd be forgetting Novell Netware in doing so. And the ARM processor has some spiritual heritage to MOStek as well as Digital's PDP series. And ARPANET deserves more than a little mention. I could think of probably 50 more without trying too hard.

All of these shaped the face of modern computing, for better and worse. Unfortunately it might be said that aggressive and cutthroat marketing tactics and competition shaped what we're doing now as much as true innovation ever did, and the same could probably be said of life on this planet as we know it.

Apple kills iTunes, preps pricey Mac Pro, gives iPad its own OS – plus: That $999 monitor stand

Unicornpiss

@Veyron

The Veyron is an amazing car. 1100HP? Or is it more now? But routinely pro racers and backyard hobbyists get this much HP out of crate engines for less than $20K, or even beefed-up junkyard LS motors with bolt-on parts and some common sense and tuning for much less than that. And oil changes are about $50-$100. And some of these cars may go on to the 200MPH club at Bonneville, while some are even used as daily drivers. And some may not be as pretty or a status symbol, but you can build quite a few for the price of a Veyron, and for a couple more thou, they will handle and brake as well or better. Or just buy a few Hellcats or Teslas for the price of a Veryron if you're not the do-it-yourself type.

It all depends on what you want to spend your money on--image or practical performance that's infinitely customizable. Same with Apple vs. others. While Apple does make some well performing devices, I don't feel that most people that buy Apple do so for the performance, but to be able to boast that they have one. IMHO if you're into Apple, the iPhone8 is a much more usable device and a much better bargain than the X, but naturally all the upper-level managers at our company are drooling for the X, while the 8 gets little love.

Unicornpiss
Alert

Re: 1.4kW???

The last generation of Dell Precision workstations had 1.3KW power supplies if I remember right. Nicely swappable too by just pushing down a tab and sliding the old one out, plus built-in diagnostics.

Just because it's rated at X amount of max power delivery doesn't mean you're drawing that. There always is a margin, likely of a couple hundred watts at least, for that power rating. And most of the time you're probably only drawing about half of the max capacity. Often there is significant extra capacity for future expansion, or taking into account drawing every last amp from every USB connector and card slot simultaneously. (at least for most manufacturers selling ready-built PCs, if they're wise and not cheaping out) Just as you're not normally drawing the full capacity of the circuits in your home, or you'd be tripping breakers left and right.

But I would be curious to put an amp probe on one and run it at the limit, just to see if it's over-engineered or not.

Unicornpiss
FAIL

Re: Nobody mourns iTunes?

What really would have been nice, and a very missed opportunity for Apple would be an Enterprise-grade version of iTunes with no emphasis on selling music or other content. Instead, a logical, intuitive interface that works reliably for backing up, restoring, recovering, diagnosing, and generally managing multiple users' i-stuff would have been most welcome and something that I would have happily paid a reasonable sum for, being tasked with managing hundreds of these temperamental little lumps.

At one point I'd written a little script to 'clean' iTunes, removing all data from the user profile and Program Data folders, to reset it to factory fresh before plugging in a different user's iPhone. It would be very nice to not have to kludge iTunes into cooperating in a corporate environment. I'm sure many feel the same in the Educational realm as well.

Unicornpiss
Meh

PowerMac (and cheese)

The specs sound about the same as a few years-old Dell Precision workstation, only more expensive. Dell's current offerings are likely even better. Unless you need to run MAC-specific software, I know what I'd rather spend my money on. I'm no Windows fan, but the sheer range of CAD, CAE, games, and other software makes this a much better choice IMHO. Better warranty too, most likely.

And what's the deal with mouse support? On a bet I plugged a mouse, CD-ROM, and even a USB floppy drive into my ancient Android phone. All worked perfectly. I suspect that they would work on existing Apple devices too, with the appropriate adapter or Bluetooth.

It's good to see Apple trying. The new Mac does look like a cheese grater though..

Microsoft Bing is 10: That thing you accidentally use to search for Chrome? Still alive and kicking

Unicornpiss
Meh

DuckDuckGo

I really like the concept of DuckDuckGo. And I occasionally use it. Often I will try it first. But the content just isn't there. Love, hate, or just grudgingly tolerate Google, when you need to find relevant results, it's still the search engine of choice, spying and advertising be damned. Sometimes it uncannily seems to read my mind when I type the first few characters of my search and it autocompletes what I'm looking for. When I want to find something relevant on Microsoft's Technet for example, I generally have much better results doing a fresh search with Google than using Bing, whether from outside or within Technet. I wish it wasn't so, but it is what it is.

Let's make laptops from radium. How's that for planned obsolescence?

Unicornpiss
Linux

@Toshiba Tecra

When it gets too old to run Windows, either due to the processor being too slow for the latest bloatware, or because drivers are no longer available, throw Linux on it and give it a 2nd life. You probably won't do any serious gaming on it (though I'm suspecting that isn't your thing), but it should be more than acceptable for everything else.

I work in IT (like so many here) and am still using a desktop that I built in 2011, which is pretty old by today's standards. I'll upgrade it someday, but there's so many other things I'd rather spend $500-1K on right now.

Unicornpiss
Pint

Re: Friend of mine had a Chevette with that 'feature'

(some) American cars went through a dark period in the late 70s and 80s like that. I had a 1981 Pontiac Firebird. (which I don't admit to just anyone) While the body was sound, the doors sagged and had to be lifted to close, the leaf springs wore out, water would need to be bailed from the trunk when it rained, and it had an electrical system that needed an exorcist. It would burn out a brake or tail light every week or so. The turn signal stalk fell off. When I installed an aftermarket amplifier (wired correctly), the gauges would "boogie" in time with the music. At night I finally discovered a solution when I saw sparking near the ashtray and found a poorly secured ground wire. I provided a better ground and no more disco gauges.

On the other hand I had a 3rd-hand rusty 1980 Chrysler New Yorker, purchased in 1995. Despite having over 150K miles on it, it had zero squeaks and rattles (except the bottoms of the rusty doors chattering when you shut them), and I had pretty much zero trouble with it in the 5 years or so I owned it. The air con even worked until the last year or so until it got too expensive to keep pumping R12 into it. (too bad some of the other Chrysler products I had weren't quite so good)

Unicornpiss
Pint

Re: Brilliant idea

Wow "Jawa", that's not a brand I've heard of or seen for a long time. A friend of mine had a Jawa moped when I was a young teen. It literally fell apart, piece by piece. I had no idea they dabbled in cars--I thought maybe a manufacturer of plastic dog crap or other novelties had branched out..

Unicornpiss
Coat

Re: Brilliant idea

My favorite was always "F*ck, our ride died!"

Wanted: Big iron geeks to help restore IBM 360 mainframe rescued from defunct German factory by other big iron geeks

Unicornpiss
Coat

Divorce..

"Oh, I can well imagine what mine would say. Well, I can imagine the words, but I don't think she'd be saying them - they'd be more likely delivered in writing from a solicitor who specialises in divorce law."

Well, you could rest assured at least that she wouldn't want half of it.

It's 50 years to the day since Apollo 10 blasted off: America's lunar landing 'dress rehearsal'

Unicornpiss

Re: From the dictionary definition

Translation: Nominal= "Working pretty much the way we had hoped, don't screw with it!"

Have you always wanted an algorithm that can search like Bing? Well, if you change your mind, one's on GitHub now

Unicornpiss
Meh

Re: I gave up on Bing when I tried search Microsoft's own website with it

These are my feelings exactly--while I don't necessarily trust Google's business practices, I have to say their search engine is the best in the business.

Of course, comparing the ethics of Google and Microsoft is like trying to choose the less worst candidate in the last US presidential election..

Now if Google would also stop salting the results with sponsored ads for worthless crap, we could all live happier, more productive lives.

Buffer the Intel flayer: Chipzilla, Microsoft, Linux world, etc emit fixes for yet more data-leaking processor flaws

Unicornpiss
Meh

Karma?

Perhaps Intel is finally beginning to experience the full force of Karma for its deceptive and monopolistic business practices?

Of course the thing about Karma is it always seems to be a day late and a dollar short. Like locking the gate after the horse has gone, lived a full life, passed on, and the farm burned down and was replaced with a strip mall years ago.

Here's what Autonomy told its salesmen they were allowed to do

Unicornpiss
Alert

Do what we want you to do, not what we say you should do

Double standards abound in every company I've ever seen. It's not illegal until we get caught, right? (Wink Wink, nudge nudge)

Tractors, not phones, will (maybe) get America a right-to-repair law at this rate: Bernie slams 'truly insane' situation

Unicornpiss
Flame

Re: "When"

Trump may have 'lowered taxes', but myself and everyone I know actually got less money back in their refunds than ever before this time. Some paid taxes where they always got refunds before. I'm not a Bernie fan at all, but I'm not even going to address the rest of the opinions and inaccuracies.

But that said, you're really drunk the Trump Kool-Ade, huh? Your reactionary rant might be better placed on a political forum. the only relevance to John Deere is that it is pure fertilizer.

Unicornpiss
Alert

Re: Clarity needed here

You can actually do these kinds of repairs and mods yourself, at least on many manufacturers' vehicles. True, it often requires a factory-level scan tool or programmer, and possibly a not so cheap subscription to the "dealer net" or whatever they call their distribution channel if you want to obtain updates, but you can do these mods and updates yourselves.

One of my current vehicles (2015 Chrysler) has the ECU protected against unauthorized tampering. But you can buy an aftermarket "jailbroken" ECU fairly cheaply, then mod it to your heart's content with also reasonably-priced software tools. And it will interoperate with the rest of the vehicle. (whole cost well under $1K USD) FCA won't try to stop you, but you will void any warranty you have left, which is reasonable. My 2006 is even easier--with a cheap handheld programmer you can adjust many aspects of engine tuning from getting a mild performance boost with higher-octane fuel, to destroying it if you don't know what you're doing.

I'll, er, get the tab? It's Internet Edgeplorer as browser pulls up chair to the Chromium table

Unicornpiss
Meh

If it's going to use the same underpinnings as Chrome..

..why wouldn't everyone just continue to use Chrome? Microsoft keeps making up features that no one asked for or cares about. Sometimes I think the only reason some of their more absurd choices get any play is that young-uns entering the workforce have not experienced logical, consistent UIs, and as such don't know any different.

Apple stock hits bottom ... as AirPod exits man's backside and still works after colonic travels

Unicornpiss
Coat

41% power

Good thing they aren't solar powered. As we know, the sun never shines there.

The Year Of Linux On The Desktop – at last! Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 brings the Linux kernel into Windows

Unicornpiss

Redmond says Windows 10 1903 will need 32GB..

>5GB of that will likely just be for random crap like "Candy Crush Saga" and "Feedback Hub", "Paid Wireless Plans" and all the other useless pandering and half-broken live start menu tiles that most don't use and that are hard to completely get rid of.

Unicornpiss
Meh

Re: I looked at the MS link provided

"The WSL kernel will be built using Microsoft’s world-class CI/CD systems and serviced through Windows Update in an operation transparent to the user"

I'll believe it's world class... if you can tell me the color of the sky in that world, and how many light years it is from ours. And Windows Updates.. if ever something needed to be taken out to the woods and shot.. I realize that the well-working beauty that is Linux's updating system is partially because of the file system(s) being superior in many ways to NTFS, but a little verbosity in the Windows Update process would be most welcome. With most newer machines not even having drive activity lights these days, it's hard to tell if it's stuck on something or actually updating much of the time.

Personality quiz for all you IT bods: Are you a chameleon or an outlaw? A diplomat or a high flier? Vote right here

Unicornpiss
Alert

You forgot the brown nosers..

..the people with little IT skills except for passing the buck and throwing colleagues under the bus. The ones that fail upward by being unctuous suck asses, but given a project will do it half-assed at best, and in a crisis will stare blankly at the flames and try to get you to fix it.

NASA fingers the cause of two bungled satellite launches, $700m in losses, years of science crashing and burning...

Unicornpiss
Coat

Re: Aluminum

Wikipedia was wrong before, I think, but it was updated for the new millenum.

Unicornpiss
Alert

Re: Self certification?

Self-certification is fine as long as you audit it a bit more than once every 19 years!

We regret to inform you the massive asteroid NASA's all excited about probably won't hit Earth

Unicornpiss

Re: What's in a name?

In Stargate, Ra wasn't such a nice guy either..

Unicornpiss
Meh

Re: Save the date!

"Date booked as Out of Office, in Outlook365. Any bets on if the cloud will still be thing?"

Not sure about the cloud, but if it misses, Outlook will still randomly periodically remind you of the past event until the actual end days..

Unicornpiss

Re: 3 football fields?

How many Bulgarian Airbags will fit in it?

And in current affairs... Apple recalls three-prong AC adapters after some shocking behavior

Unicornpiss
FAIL

USB-C

"Personally I think USB-C was worth the change."

I can't disagree with the benefits of USB-C, but I still wish the connectors were more robust. Working in a place that has the current generation of laptop docks with USB-C, we've had dozens of users break the flimsy tips off these in the last year, to the point that they now receive some education on using them with their new laptop. All you have to do is slide the laptop against the wall or lift it such that torque is applied at an angle to the connector to destroy these. In the same time period, we'd see maybe one or two people manage to break a barrel connector or older style dock.

In this case, Dell is partially to blame for putting such a large plastic collar on these that allows a lot of unwanted leverage on the flimsy metal bit. The less said about the quality of their current generation of docks, the better as well.

Unicornpiss

Re: But...

"..but we had Dell before; coincidentally the connectors are identical and the lappies get powered OK with the other brand's PSU"

--That's true, but HP adapters won't charge batteries on Dell, or vice-versa. They will power the machines in most cases though, but they don't exchange the correct identification/telemetry to allow battery charging.

I suspect that the same manufacturer makes Dell, HP, and probably other adapters.

Unicornpiss
Coat

Re: Duckhead?

"Actually, even chrome's spellchecker suggests that I should have typed "dickhead"

The Dickhead adapter is from an entirely different range of peripherals, meant for much different ports..

Unicornpiss
Meh

Re: But...

"How many times has the likes of Dell and HP changed their power connectors in that period"

I can't speak to HP, but you can still use a Dell power adapter from a 2006 Latitude "D-series" with most of Dell's current offerings with no problem. Some of the really slim newest ones need a $5 pigtail to connect, but will still exchange telemetry and power/charge the battery. Meanwhile, at least for iPads and iPhones, Apple has made a lot of changes in the same time period.

One thing I find irksome is the trend to Thunderbolt. While this is a great idea in a lot of ways, the physical connectors are not as robust as they could be. You look at it askance and you've bent that flimsy metal tip. And it's a bit concerning running that much wattage through such a dinky path of conductors. I've not yet seen one overheat, but I have encountered a few that were noticeably warmer than room temp at the connection point.

What are we more likely to see? A smooth Windows 10 May release... or a xenon-124 decay? Oh dear, bad news, IT folks

Unicornpiss
Joke

Re: “the rarest thing ever recorded.”

I had a BMW driver as a passenger once. I put on my signal to turn left and he said "What's that funny clicking sound?"

Eggheads confirm it's not a bug – the universe really is expanding 9% faster than expected

Unicornpiss
Coat

Measurement standards..

How many Bulgarian airbags will fit in a megaparsec?

(I could probably calculate it out, but my head already hurts this morning)

Canadian woman fined for not holding escalator handrail finally reaches the top after 10 years

Unicornpiss
Pint

I'd rather..

Be covered in Maple syrup and licked to death by a female Curling team..

Unicornpiss
Happy

Re: Handrails

I open restroom doors (that open in) with a paper towel. I know you should wash your hands after using the restroom, and I usually do. But I've seen many restrooms where I'm sure my willy that I just touched, and just washed in the shower is the cleanest thing in the room, including the faucet, soap, towels, etc. In which case I touch as little as possible.

Unicornpiss

Re: Handrails

This is why copper pipes are great for water distribution.

Aussies, Yanks may think they're big drinkers – but Brits easily booze them under the table

Unicornpiss
Meh

Manipulating the price of alcohol

Regardless of where or why some folks (that probably never drink) are thinking of punishing the unwashed masses by increasing prices, it's just more "feel good" legislation that will not solve anything except to give the powers that be the ability to say that they're "doing something about this tragic problem" In reality, they are just punishing everyone else that enjoys alcohol more responsibly. True addicts of any kind will find a way to finance their habit, whether it breaks them or takes food from the mouths of their kids.

Apple disables iPad for 48 years after toddler runs amok

Unicornpiss
Meh

I've seen this

I had an iPhone brought to me with a "try again in.." message that worked out to 48 years and change. Of course you can wipe and re-image the device. The user had no idea how it happened.

Idiot admits destroying scores of college PCs using USB Killer gizmo, filming himself doing it

Unicornpiss
Coat

But how would it fare..

..against a Lighting connector?

Yay, you lose weight and get rad hardened in space! Nay, your genes go awry and your brain slows down when you return to Earth!

Unicornpiss
Pint

Very cool, but..

One set of twins is not a big enough sample set to conclusively prove all of these effects. Some of the damage may also be from the ordeal of readjusting to a full G after nearly a year of micro gravity, which I think may be even more damaging on the body than the radiation dose. And cognitive tests can be influenced by many things, including just having an off day or being slightly depressed or distracted.

Beer icon, because perhaps his cognitive deficiencies compared to his twin can be explained by missing out on his daily pint.

All's fair in love and war when tech treats you like an infant

Unicornpiss
Meh

Re: new sign

Two favorites:

On a packet of peanuts: "Packed in a facility that processes nuts"

On an instant soup: "Caution. Contents may be hot after heating."

Unicornpiss

Re: Modern grownups

I mostly agree, but I LIKE Harry Potter and many of the Star Wars movies..

International Bullying Machine? Big Blue seeks exposure of corporate canary

Unicornpiss
Thumb Down

Either way..

If IBM legally laid off their people to bring in contractors, they are scum. If they illegally targeted older employees, or ones they felt were making too much money for dismissal, they are lower than scum.

Stop us if you've heard this one: IBM sued after axing older staff, this time over 'denying' them their legal rights

Unicornpiss
Flame

Using IBM..

If I was picking a firm to provide goods or services in IT, hmm... which would I pick? A firm that has no respect for its own talent base, treats its employees like expendable garbage, and has nothing but inexperienced Millenials in key positions, or someone else? (I think you all know the answer here) Same applies to any company that believes in outsourcing everything so it doesn't have to pay its workers' benefits.

Dead LAN's hand: IT staff 'locked out' of data center's core switch after the only bloke who could log into it dies

Unicornpiss
Meh

Maybe he wanted it that way?

It sounds like he was a bad admin. But he may have seen the writing on the wall about getting fired and purposely felt like making things as difficult as possible for his successor, not knowing that it would be his successor in a literal sense. People seem to be speaking ill enough of the dead in the article that it didn't sound like he was very cooperative.

And I can't deny that in a crap job situation many of us would not have outright sabotaged anything, but would have felt this way, right or wrong. In the end, it was management's fault for letting things get this way, and possibly for both either maintaining an incompetent employee or so neglecting a once-useful employee that he ended up indifferent and apathetic.

Unicornpiss

Re: All right, what's all this, then?!

Perhaps they should consult with Oracle. After all, Oracle's some of Oracle's old icons were a ripoff from Ouija's pointer or "planchette" as I think it's called.

College student with 'visions of writing super-cool scripts' almost wipes out faculty's entire system

Unicornpiss
Pint

Dawning horror

I'm not going to share a specific anecdote, but let me say (and I know we've all been there), that there's nothing more horrifying in IT than running a script like this that you expect to take a few seconds to complete, and seeing it run.. and run.. and run.. while you think: "What is it doing??" and then you realize it's doing something very, very bad. Something that's likely to skyrocket your blood pressure and wreck the rest of your day, at the least.

How many Reg columnists does it take to turn off a lightbulb?

Unicornpiss
Meh

Nicer hotel than I was at..

..on my last trip.

My desk lamp didn't work, so I asked for a replacement bulb for it at the front desk, only to be met with a blank stare. A light bulb. Surely you've seen one of these in your admittedly young life at some point? After 5 minutes of explanation, they sent someone up to change it, which was also a struggle, as apparently Hercules had put the old bulb in. Cue the "how many --- does it take to change a light bulb" jokes.

Burn an offering and backup your system cuz Windows 10 19H1 might actually arrive for spring

Unicornpiss

19H1

..reminded me of H1N1 when I read it.