Posts by Andy Non

Re: PC ports...

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a go. Didn't know about the right analog stick click. I spent ages (ten minutes?) throwing rocks all over the place without luck. I've also got some headphones now too, so perhaps there is a better directional indicator to his shouts than the mono output from the TV.

Going back a few years, It was "piracy" that introduced me to some bands that led to me buying their music CDs. Same with the original DOS based Doom games, went on to buy the later versions.

I buy my PCs from the Chinese manufacturer (Eggsnow) via Amazon. It's the best way to buy a good quality high spec computer for around £500 that is ready for me to install Linux on. Haven't bought a computer from PC world since buying a Windows ME laptop - and that is going back a bit. I used to buy most Windows desktop computers from a local company that built them to my spec but they eventually went to the wall undercut by the likes of PC world. Very little choice on the high street nowadays for high spec desktop computers - take your pick Windows or Apple or nothing.

Re: The elevator did it

I remember listening to the radio while my Sinclair ZX81 executed code; distinct patterns of noise depending on what the computer was doing.

Re: Recovery

"IMHO, we make the criminals pay so heavily, make these actions state-level crimes"

In practice it would need to be a fully internationally recognised and punishable crime assuming the miscreants can even be identified. However I can't see European countries or the US etc getting any cooperation from China, Russia and North Korea to mention a few. From what I understand, North Korea actually has state sponsored units to steal international currency this way.

I agree with you about the wetware. A family member sent his staff on a security / anti-phishing course and a week later one of them fell for the telephone scam call from "Microsoft". The excuse being the Microsoft is one of their clients, but they basically allowed the scammers full access to their servers! Considering this was a firm of financial advisors handling many millions of pounds in investments for their clients it was very much an oh-shit moment.

Re: Adding a comment sometimes caused compile failure

Reminds me of the IBM 360 in my uni back in the 80's that kept crashing. Frustratingly coinciding with every time I tried to compile my COBOL program. Turned out there was a a critical full stop missing from my program and a bug in the compiler that couldn't handle this particular coding scenario and crashed the computer. Oops.

He's innocent I tell you, he wouldn't want to get his hands dirty.

Re: Brace yourselves for some wheely bad puns in the comments

Keep it up, you're on a roll.

Re: Well that's going to be quite restrictive

"I'm guessing SimCity still qualifies ?"

Sorry, you must demolish that tower block, you didn't have building permission from the local Communist party.

Yep, Netgear onto the "do not buy list" along with Sonos sound bars and a few others.

So many bad puns, difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Re: Alternatives are good.

One of our dogs had a liking for electricity cables in addition to all his other chew toys etc. He chewed right through the charger cable to the wife's laptop, luckily without shorting/trashing the transformer, I just had to join the cores back up again. Similarly one day while eating lunch there was a sudden CRACK with a little blue flash followed by a dog yelp - he'd chewed through a live mains cable. We tried some bitter apple spray on other cables, he found it a tasty relish to add to his diet and still managed to chew through a live lamp cable. He's now grown out of the habit. Wish we'd named him Sparky. I'll bear in mind the hot pepper spray if he goes back to his old ways.

Re: Lack of engagement with disable people

Well it sounds like there was something fundamentally wrong with Apple's approach if people can't do something a basic as ending a call using voice. What if two disabled people are talking to each other and neither of them can physically hang up the call, does it go on for days or until the phone's battery dies? I'd call that a serious fail of the most basic kind.

Re: I feel an overwhelming urge to quote Holly!

Hawking radiation is very feeble and has yet to be detected in practice. Most of the radiation from a black hole is from the extremely hot accelerated matter that is being pulled into it and swirled around it in ever decreasing circles - before disappearing over the event horizon. There are also the colossal magnetic poles around black holes that also cause matter to give off lots of light, x-rays etc as charged particles swirl through the field.

Re: I clicked on 'Accept All Cookies'.

No, just cookies cooties

Re: with respect to the UK app

Is the string the regulation two metres?

Re: Friend or foe?

No. Especially as they are not allowed to say who you may have caught the virus from for data protection reasons; so you have no anchor on reality to substantiate their claim.

I'd hear them out though, but the moment they want either financial information or to "take me through security" I'd hang up on them.

Re: with hour-long queues snaking down the road and around the roundabout.

On the one occasion I ventured into a McD and ordered a double cheese burger I was told I can't have one as they were still serving the breakfast menu... so I bought a cheese burger from a van on the market place outside. Jolly nice it was too, and cheaper.

Losing the second hand market would be bad as far as I'm concerned. I tend to buy mostly new, but have discovered that you can't take other people's ratings for a game for how much you will like them yourself. I've just finished Assassins Creed Origins and accumulated something silly like 100 hours enjoyable play time! Just tried Resident Evil 2 and found it so bad I deleted it after 10 minutes play, so that will be going on eBay. Both games have 5 star ratings on Amazon and with reviews that make them sound like my sort of game.

It would be annoying to pay full price for a game only available by download and no means to sell it if you don't like it.

He's got no shit left to get together, he's flung it all at anyone listening.

Re: So it doesn't even do what its creator needs ??

"I've got a family member who switched to a Mac when trying the UI of Win8."

Windows 7 was great, however, the dogs dinner Win8 was the reason I first tried Linux. KDE first by recommendation then on to Mint which I've stuck with ever since. Microsoft not only lost a user but a Windows application developer of around thirty years experience too as I switched to developing software for Linux and also browser based software. No more Windows for me thank you very much.

Too late Dee Dee is heading into your secret lab... (explosion imminent)

Re: Xyzzy (or PLUGH)

I remember those passages well. Got stuck down there for ages wandering around in the dark. xyzzy was the code for something, was it a magic rod or lamp or something that teleported you elsewhere... it was a very long time ago.