Check out the width of that Debian display

Rear view of a large dark billboard beside a corrugated fence, grassy verge and road under a partly cloudy sky. Won't somebody - anybody - login BORK!BORK!BORK! Wide, super wide, ultra wide, and monitor-munga screens might be all the rage these days. But check out the girth of this Debian display in Scotland. Spotted by eagle …

[Bebu sa Ware]

just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Back when terminals (and early PCs) were 25± lines × 80 columns I would have thought 1200 × 320 heavenly — 7x9 (w × h) pixel characters would have given me 170 columns by 35 lines although in10×12 cells so realistically 120×26.

I recall one of the terminals (Visual 102) had a mode with very small characters 132×24 that was as wide as line printer paper.

Even today my xterms etc are typically 96×48 but with large characters (point size) which is about right on a 4K display.

[Lon24]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Anybody been round the back to look for a HDMI socket? Got a redundant RPi4 pre-loaded with GIMP and a few ideas of how to attract the attention of any passing motorist.

BTW is it a real video screen or is that a projector stuck out front?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Generally these are LED walls, so real blocks of pixels

[monty75]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Adult-oriented entertainment involving the other kind of gimp would certainly attract attention.

[Gavsky]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

I feel a crowd-funding round coming on...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Tell me more about this crowd fondling.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

What kind of adult orientated content would fit into a 4:1 aspect ratio ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Nearly every bed on the planet.

[cyberdemon]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

> BTW is it a real video screen or is that a projector stuck out front?

I reckon that's probably a camera, intended to verify that the display is not er, bork, bork, borked..

Presumably after the company went bust, there was nobody left to check the camera feed and fix it

[Kenny Millar]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

I can confirm it's an LED panel.

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Yeah, 1,200 X 320 pixels, but the base makes it look rather too close to 9:4 ratio for my liking. Can anyone on site confirm if the depth is precisely 1/9 of the width before I need to start worrying about a black inert monolith just sat there appearing to be doing nothing?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: just 1,200 x 320 pixels

Worst that can happen is a bunch of locals learn how to use simple bone tools

[Fruit and Nutcase]

lights being on, but nobody's in

And wasting electricity. Either someone's getting billed, or if it's powdered by an unmetered connection, where the billing will be on scheduled service times and expected consumption (like the street lights), the billing may well have stopped due to the business going under, but the electricity supplier hasn't disconnected the supply.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: lights being on, but nobody's in

At least it's mostly black so not _that_ bad I guess. Less than it would draw in actual use.

[ravenviz]

Re: lights being on, but nobody's in

We waste electricity generation on a huge scale in this country.

I work in university buildings of all sizes and everything is always on, even during holiday time, air conditioning, heating, lights, screens, whole rooms of PC’s.

It’s scandalous.

That is not to say that universities are to blame, they’re not specifically, it’s just symptomatic of our lack of focus on issues of waste in all arenas.

[Don Bannister]

Re: lights being on, but nobody's in

Absolutely this !

What annoys me about it is the buildings will probably have good EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) ratings which are very much required these days, even though they are wasting energy like there's no tomorrow. Grrr ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: lights being on, but nobody's in

It is CRITICAL to not turn off heating and air conditioning for more than a day or two. Mold growth is a major problem. Change the setpoints to something much wider, sure, but don't turn it off.

Lights, screens, PCs - yes, definitely turn those off. Double savings - once for the electricity used by the computer, and again for the electricity needed to cool the room.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooo, the possibilities

A hard hat, a hi-viz vest, a clipboard... plus some, er, 'handy cables and electronics'... and that baby is mine! Mine, I say!

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Ooo, the possibilities

You're gonna need a bigger house

[Azerty]

eagle-eyed?

Missed chance to label a reader vulture-eyed

[just4this]

Sometimes …

it’s worse when the massive screen is not broken.

There is one in Liverpool that when first installed caused traffic accidents,

It was so bright that at night when you drove round a sweeping bend it suddenly loomed into view and near blinded you as you were trying to switch lanes to not miss your turn at a set of traffic lights that were now out-shined by the monster screen.

[Gavsky]

Re: Sometimes …

Legend has it that some aircraft were on final approach, until they realised...

[Gene Cash]

Greenock

That used to be the site of the IBM plant that made the Model M keyboards back in the day.

The 4 keyboards I have (here in the US) have them listed as the manufacture site on the sticker.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Greenock

IBM, which came to Inverclyde in the 1950s, will move out of its premises in a month's time.

The company's sprawling plant at Spango Valley on the A78 corridor enjoyed decades of growth.

It employed over 5,000 people on site at its peak but supported thousands more posts across Inverclyde.

https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/23427264.ibm-closes-last-greenock-offices-170-jobs-lost-area/

[Gavsky]

Tsk, a basic requirement is 'size of object/a thing to judge scale by'. Blue Whales, London double-decker buses, an area the size of Belgium, Olympic swimming pools - these are the internationally accepted units. In lieu of these, it is permissable to Photoshop them, or a human, into an image. But any funny business regarding accuracy & you're in deep trouble.

This display could be a few inches long, for all I know - albeit unlikely. Or, it could be multiple, double-deckers tall - again, probably not....

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

It's Scotland, who is going to recognise a banana for scale ?

[Fruit and Nutcase]

This may help

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=david+milliband+banana+image

[JT_3K]

You missed the Titanic

[PB90210]

The problem with the London double-decker is that it's now larger than the 'stsndard' London double-decker!

[just4this]

Easily fixed.

A banana is 1.5 fried Mars bars.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Is that the 1992 mars bar found on a house clearance this year , or the 2026 standard mars bar ?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

A Swallow can't carry a 1992 Mars Bar

[ravenviz]

African or European?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

The Scottish Swallow is non-migratory

[ecofeco]

Sign of the times

Just another sign of a company too cheap to even hire a low level tech.

[registershift]

Oh hey, I saw one of those yesterday next to one of those self-store units. Same 75media login prompt on the same wide panel and everything.

The fact that it was not blasting lumens of light at me stuck out more than the borked login prompt.