* Posts by Jotrav

23 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Mar 2023

Microsoft hits back at claims it slurps your Word, Excel files to train AI models

Jotrav

Not just Office or Outlook, I do not run anything at all from Microsoft, but still have a familiar U/I. Hang a mo. Linux Mint (along with many other distro's) runs SystemD. Surely that isn't a Microsoft product infected by spyware, is it? Yet?

Look who the lead developer works for now!

Techie invented bits of the box he was fixing, still botched the job

Jotrav

When I joined DEC in 1977 one of the first sites I visited had a couple of RPR02's, a whole 20Mb each, and I recall being advised that head positioning was based on a mechanical ratchet. Significant entertainment occurred when this ratchet became worn... Regular backups to magnetic tape were an essential recovery activity, and often required.

However, I cannot remember which OEM the drives came from before DEC slapped a badge on the outside. To be fair, that was most of half a century ago, I must be getting old, or something like that.

Has Windows 11 really lost marketshare to Windows 10?

Jotrav

W11? Nah..

A few years ago I bought a laptop that came with W10. After a very long and expressive shudder I borked it and installed Linux Mint.

No chance of ever going back to the Borg.

Rarest, strangest, form of Windows saved techie from moment of security madness

Jotrav

Dec & Alpha, great shame they died.

There was a time that a desktop Alpha was technically considered to be a supercomputer (those rules soon got changed). That model never actually shipped, DEC slowed the clock by 10% so it didn't need a supercomputer licence & sold it as (I vaguely recall) a DEC pc AXP 150.

A major marketing screwup, imagine a slogan 'Supercomputer on your desktop, only $100k (or so), or 90% of the performance & no licence for a lot less'. Then, DEC & good marketing was an oxymoron...

I still have most of the bits of one, but the PSU died a long time ago. Nostalgia!

Microsoft really does not want Windows 11 running on ancient PCs

Jotrav

Re: 7 years old designed for win 10

> "Also last 32 bit Linux Mint is 19.3"

Not so.

Mint also has 'Linux Mint Debian Edition' for which a 32bit edition is still current. Please look at LMDE6, which is based on Debian12.

linux_mint.com/rel_faye.php

Clearly future support for 32bit depends on what Debian continues to offer.

The end of classic Outlook for Windows is coming. Are you ready?

Jotrav

Re: Thunderbird is the replacement for Outlook Express

I want something that works, not something that is pretty. Thunderbird works for me, and the classic U/I is vastly superior to pretty.

Three line entries in your inbox? Surely an invitation to malware infection by the fact of having to open the email body to read the first line. Yes, I do feel that Thunderbird could be improved, but I'll take what I have in preference to any 'modern' U/I.

Microsoft's February Windows 11 security update unravels at 96% for some users

Jotrav

Re: Windows 11 might "face installation issues."

So glad I am not running Windows, I have not had an update failure of any kind since upgrading to Linux Mint at least six years ago.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, openSUSE to get better installation

Jotrav

Have you tried Linuxint? That seems to play nicely when it finds a Windows installation, and asks if you want to install LM alongside Windows, or replace it.

Microsoft might have just pulled support for very old PCs in Windows 11 24H2

Jotrav

Re: Linux's moment

>> Linux on the desktop or something similar, only for usage rates to remain basically flat...

Ahh, but Linux usage rates being flat is largely due to Microsoft having put an arm-lock on PC manufacturers to pre-install Windows on their user facing products.

What about the server world, where machines do not normally have a pre-installed OS? I understand servers mostly run an enterprise grade Linux.

There is no single Linux distribution even nearly big enough to combat the MS pre-install lock-in on consumer machines, and few retailers offer an OS-free product range, probably even fewer offer a Linux pre-install.

Worried about the impending demise of Windows 10? Google wants you to give ChromeOS Flex a try

Jotrav

Re: But it's Google...

>> if I can't find a Linux distro I'm happy with

I strongly recommend Linux Mint. I would never contemplate going back to any version of Windows.

Just write the ISO to a USB stick and boot from that.

It will NOT bork your windows installation (though clicking on the 'Install Mint' icon and selecting a 'replace windows' option will offer to erase your boot disk).

It WILL give you a clean (and highly customisable) user interface that is an easy transition from Windows.

Jotrav

Re: Waste of fucking time.

Not necessarily. Most of the many PC users I have had contact with are barely even aware of whatever OS they are running.

All they need is a way to run their applications. If ChromeOS Flex works for them, fair enough, but they will not change unless they are effectively forced to do so.

A recent example, a colleagues laptop failed to boot. Attempts by a 'windows expert' to fix it only made things worse. I was able to recover all of the relatively few files they had on the machine and re-install Windows10. I also installed Linux Mint alongside W10, and showed him how to boot into that instead of W10.

Two days later I had a call to set it to default boot into Mint, and apparently he has never booted W10 since.

However, all this would not have happened if a failed W10 update had not borked it's boot.

Jotrav

Re: Not worried

>> A true Linux expert would write /smug not \smug :)

<smug>

So would anyone familiar with hand-coded HTML... (written from Linux Mint in a windows free household!)

</smug>

Windows 11 unable to escape the shadow of Windows 10

Jotrav

Who needs an OS?

What we need is an 'Application Environment', that while it has all of the underpinnings that are part of an 'OS', the user need never know about them. Finding the app you want to use? Make 'the menu' a customisable and replaceable app just like any other, listing only what you have on YOUR machine (it belongs to you or your employer, not Ms!). Updates - politely notify you once a week (or month!) that tested & verified updates are available. More often for urgent security updates.

For most users the OS should be a largely invisible, behind-the-scenes, application helper.

I have a lot of this in Linux Mint, not quite all, a categorised menu rather than a long alphabetic list of apps, look and feel sort of familiar to classic windows, even most keyboard shortcuts the same. Even use of the terminal is gradually dwindling away for normal daily use.

Windows 12: Savior of PC makers, or just an apology for Windows 11?

Jotrav

Re: This is why I abandoned Windows.

User experience crap? Wrong Linux. Try Mint. Not perfect, but what is?. Built by a small but highly responsive team, user feedback says it is just what they want, with a bonus that most keyboard shortcuts are the same as in W7...

I, for one, would never go back to any version of Windows.

'The computer was sitting in a puddle of mud, with water up to the motherboard'

Jotrav

Foundry

Back in the late 70's I had to fix a failed PDP8 in a Bronze foundry. Considering the (conductive) 'snow drifts' against every component in the machine I was surprised by the report that it had only stopped working that morning.

I do recall that contract being renewed...

Microsoft issues deadline for end of Windows 10 support – it's pay to play for security

Jotrav

ESU only delays landfill.

The only thing that will wake up Microsoft, and the PC maker cartel backing them, is a mass migration to something offering long term support without extra cost. While there are a lot of Linux distributions to choose from, one of the easiest transitions for windows users is Mint.

(No purchase price, but donations welcome.)

I have the latest Linux Mint, 21.2, running on a 13 year old laptop. Granted it is a bit slow, but still useable for most purposes, and very long ago rejected by Windows as too old.

(Note however, 21.2 will not be the latest for long, 21.3 is due out soon, and 22.0 next year!)

Steam client drops support on macOS, but adds it on Linux

Jotrav

Re: The entire x86-32 platform is declining

32bit Linux? Look up LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), there is still a 32bit version in the latest version (LMDE6) if what you want is something sort of similar to W7 (definitely not a clone though). There are a few others out there, mostly based on Debian, so you still have a choice of desktop environment.

How long these 32bit versions will remain available is anyone's guess, but at least for now they are still kept up to date.

Microsoft will upgrade Windows 10 21H2 users whether they like it or not

Jotrav

Re: marketing lies

Take a look at Linspire, supposedly a windows clone based on Ubuntu Linux.

Jotrav

Re: Well, we have almost 2 years

Windows clone on BSD? no. But Linspire is claimed to be a near-clone user interface based on Ubuntu Linux.

I have not tried it myself, I am more than happy on Linux Mint.

Let's take a closer look at these claims of anti-ransomware SSDs

Jotrav

When I read this article my first thought was "three (and a bit) weeks late"...

More ads in Windows 11 Start Menu could be last straw for some

Jotrav

Re: You don't have to use the native start menu - there are better alternatives

I put start10 on my son's pc, and will need to do something more when W10 goes EOL, despite having a Ryzen CPU, it's not supported in W11.!

Adverts in the start menu? Thankfully, I upgraded to Linux (mint) years ago. Since then I have only twice needed real windows, once to reset my printers internal counters, and the other to update a satnav firmware. Neither would work in a VM, an offline W7 partition sorted those.

For everything else, M$ can get stuffed.

Linux Mint 21.2 and Cinnamon 5.8 desktop take shape

Jotrav

Re: Meh. It's still using systemd

Never too old to learn something new. Just takes I bit longer past retirement age. I built a systemd hack to automount my Nas shares if, and only if, I am on my home network. All done after 70.

Jotrav

I've been a Mint user for a few years, first installed 17.1 when a replacement main board arrived with more ram than XP could hack, & W7 licence didn't arrive. Had to have something to play with over that Xmas... Never went back to the Borg. Now have 21.1/cinnamon on a 12yo laptop. A tad slow, but works perfectly.

As for Warpinator, works great if you let it apply firewall rules. Only anomaly I have seen is between 2 Android devices. Mint to Mint & to LMDE and the one windows instance (booted once a year!) I still have all works great.