* Posts by Andus McCoatover

2969 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Nov 2007

Why Windows 10 on Raspberry Pi 2? Upton: 'I drank the Kool-Aid'

Andus McCoatover
Pint

"...it was a conversation in a bar.."

IIRC, similarly was Arduino conceived. If I'm right, the name "Arduino" is the Italian coffee shop where the folks drew on the ubquitius 'fag.packets' on.

Pint, because the fruit machine at my local bar spewed out enough money for me to buy one today.

Turbocharged quad-core Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed, global geekgasm likely

Andus McCoatover
Windows

STAP ME VITALS!!!!

I only went onto Farnell's page to look for ESD diodes for a Sim-card....

Now I've spent the bloody morning trying to access raspberrypi.org - understandably down at present...

This thing's got twice the ram, four times the grunt as my trusty old (15 years) Thinkpad T30...

Did someone say something about Windows 10???

WAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!!!

Blind justice: Google lawsuit silences elected state prosecutor

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Selling narcotics or fake drugs over the Internet is a serious matter?

Not necessarily....

Just think 'Merkan for a second.

"Selling" becomes "Enhanced Gifting". There. Legal. Fixed it for ya.

Simples.

Sacre block! French publishers to sue Adblock maker – report

Andus McCoatover
Windows

https://www.microsoft.com/ie ??

Lost on me.

All I got was:

Looking for Internet Explorer?

You’re in the right place, but Internet Explorer requires a Windows PC.

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Re: How much value to users put on web sites

Ye Gods, even been caught out a couple of times from SOURCEFORGE! Got a toolbar when I wanted a nifty bit of s/w. Who'd a thunk it...(I think we've all been there at least once...)

HEY! Cunning Plan! A competition by El-Reg.

1) take a 'sacrificial' computer. Use that thus:

2) everytime you're offered another free toolbar, ACCEPT it.

Winner is the first commentard who can display a screenshot of a browser so full of toolbars, it's impossible to see *any* content on a page....

(I'd have spruced up this post a bit, but <marquee> isn't in the allowed HTML....

FTDI yanks chip-bricking driver from Windows Update, vows to fight on

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Exqueeze me, but...

"there is no damage, the PID in the chips ROM is simply set to 0 instead of the FTDI PID the driver wants"

Or:

"There is no damage, on detecting a non-licenced copy of XXX the program simply executed " cd / && rm -rf * "...

No damage either way. Or is there?

Billionaire's pet DRAGON SPLASHES DOWN off Pacific Coast

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Neat!

'Suppose the ISS arm just gave it a gentle push.

Impressive! Awaiting news of the recovery.

At one point in the video, it seemed like internal lights came on. For a brief second, wondered if it was carrying Felix Baumgartner, wanting his record back after one of Google's 'top bananas' scotched it...

Red Bull does NOT give you wings, $13.5m lawsuit says so

Andus McCoatover
Linux

Website crashed under the weight of interest.

No fucking wonder - rumour is the offer is time-limited so they hosted the site on a Raspberry Pi...

(There - fixed the IT angle...)

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Almost did to me...

I was playing Billiard against a bloke once. It was a 'beer game' - the loser bought a round.

Now, I had a meeting in the morning, so no way am I going fo have more than one the night before.

So, I opted for RedBull instead.

This fuc*ker wouldn't ever win, nor would he let me stop playing until he won one game. After 6 games (and 6 rounds), I was getting bored, he was getting pitifully drunk, and in my desire to walk home, I 'accidentally' ptted the black.

Got home, suddenly the Red Bull hit me! Had to lie on the floor with feet on the sofah, really thought I was about to have a heart attack. Lasted an hour (cell phone had no power, else I'd have called 112)

In neighbouring Sweden, there were a couple of deaths from mixing vodka and RB. Several times in one session...So I guess the advert. is true in that case...

Was Nokia's Elop history's worst CEO?

Andus McCoatover

Re: Too slow

Ironically, it was Nokia who came out with the slogan "Data in <strikeout> packets </strikeout> pockets!"

Inflatables in SPAAACE! ISS 'nauts to enjoy bouncy castle spaceship

Andus McCoatover

"What this means is that he is looking forward to an era when private companies have fully colonised the edge of space."

Don''t ya mean:

"What this means is that he is looking forward to an era when American private companies have fully colonised the edge of space®™."

'Could we please not have naked developers running around the office BEFORE 10pm?'

Andus McCoatover
Windows

When Nokia Networks shared a bed with Siemens...

...to form Nokia Siemens Networks, the culture shock for the Germans joining us in Finland was,..well, I felt sorry for them! I think thaat was a large reason why it really didn't produce the 'synergies' promised.

Hawking: Higgs boson in a BIG particle punisher could DESTROY UNIVERSE

Andus McCoatover
Black Helicopters

Re: George Osborne is the saviour of the Universe

Has Al-Qaeda-with-an-interest-in-science-in-order-to-beat-the-Infidel-at-their-own-game commenced a "Kickstarter" account? If £20 gets you 46 virgins, stick me down!

Oh, wait - what's that ominous "chop chop chop" I hear in the sky above my house?

LOHAN premieres spaceplane mission summary vid

Andus McCoatover
Joke

Couldn't you save some wedge and send it from Scotland in a week or so?

Well, if they become a new emerging country, they'll need some presence in the International community.

(See Icon...)

Google recommends pronounceable passwords

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Remembering the bloke who was Admin for the PDP11...

I asked him for the 'root' password once.

He replied "Its a complex key sequence"

It was. Precisely that.

Kate Bush: Don't make me HAVE CONTACT with your iPHONE

Andus McCoatover

Hmm..

Unfortunately, I'm not going to Ms. Bush's concerts (living a thousand miles away). Pity. Love her music.

If I did however, and given the inclement weather expected, I'd take my umbrella.

Bulgarian variety, sharp pointy thing on the end. Iphone-camera-sized.Or, iBall sized...

Detroit losing millions because it buys cheap batteries – report

Andus McCoatover
Joke

Re: @ Ian Emery (was: Smoke Alarms....)

Simple solution to the battery-running-down alarm..

Fit a snooze button!

(Thanks, Jeremy Clarkson for that gem!)

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Re: Only a complete idiot...Horovitz & Hill

Oh, gawd, that book...mine's 25 years old, and still in regular use!

Microsoft: Just what the world needs – a $25 Nokia dumbphone

Andus McCoatover

Pity not available in Finland...

Wonder if "Nokia" is doing the old Ringo trick? Released a dirt-cheap phone for 1G networks (NMT system - one radio transceiver in the base station for each connection!) maybe to breathe a bit more time in the old analog system. Nokia made infrastructure for it.

When I was at Nokia in mid-200's we were told by Sari Baldauf no less that 2G was expected to be extinct by 2010. Well, that might be the plan in Europe to phase it out soon - hence the phone not available in Europe, but in the countries mentioned in the article, maybe there's still seen life in the old dog, yet...

Russia: There is a SPACECRAFT full of LIZARDS in orbit above Earth and WE control it

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Bet the male lizard can't get it up....

....having no idea in spaaaace which way 'up' is...

PayPal post-checkout cash slurp a FEATURE not a BUG

Andus McCoatover

Works fine for me...

As I won't give my CC details to paypal, I just simply add up my purchases, and transfer to PayPal that amount. From Finnish banks, at least, I can credit PP within 1 hour - free of bank charges.

Only card I have authorised through PP is my Visa Electron card (for transferring back when I felt flushed some time ago, and stuck €50/mo. in there. I don't do that anymore).

Not a problem.

Chips are down at Broadcom: Thousands of workers laid off

Andus McCoatover
Unhappy

Double whammy for Oulu

Reported in the local rag "Kaleva" (Kaleva.fi - in Finnish, natch), a double whammy in a week for my city, Oulu. First, 500 from Microsoft when the Peltola site closes, then another 430 from Broadcom...

This city aint that big....A significant loss, almost 1,000 unemployed.

Microsoft swings axe at 18,000 bods in its largest ever round of layoffs

Andus McCoatover
Unhappy

Hitting my adopted city - Oulu.

One of the larger employers in the city will close. Papers suggest Microsoft's former units at Peltola and Technology Village is out. They're big sites, and I can't see many takers for the buildings.

Knock-on effect for Oulu University's Radio facility, I guess.

This place'll be a ghost town soon....

Chow rocket blasts off for ISS: Awww, freeze-dried ice cream AGAIN

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Sorry, but is this another El-Reg measurement?

Can a 'Storey' be measured in London Bus heights?

Just curious....

Mobile, cloud, social? Data? Nadella strings sexy words together

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Ex-Nokians, natch

Nokia has always had a reputation for outsourcing its redundancies. (Accenture, anyone?)

http://yle.fi/uutiset/bloomberg_microsoft_plans_to_let_go_ex-nokia_staff/7356293

Warrantless snooping on American man was LEGAL in terrorism case, rules US judge

Andus McCoatover
Windows

An AK 47

Beats a lawyer in any trial...Damn Right!!!

Nokia paid off extortionist in 2007: Finnish TV

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Just a thought....

Is that the real reason Symbian was shafted?

Looks like there's a lot of meat on this bone, yet....I vote the Orloski Rottweiler to be assigned to this, to "Kill, Maim, Disfigure!"

If anyone can get to the bottom of this, he can.

Andus McCoatover
Facepalm

Oh, c'mon. You're having a Giraffe, or what?

Supposed to be a "Drop-and-arrest operation" yep?

What fuc*king Plod'd use REAL money for that????

Oh, FFS!!!!

Boris: Look on 'London's digital tentacles', ye mighty, and despair!

Andus McCoatover
Joke

Re: Adolescence?

I dunno why I reply to children. Maybe to humour them....Nonetheless....

When I started working (1974) I'd already built my first transmiiter a few years before. I was 12 when I made it.

Intel 4004, anyone? 74LS181? AMD 2900 RISC processors, that needed a "NOP" after a "JNE", because it'd 'skid' past the last instruction of a branch?

Yeah. Done that, been there.

Nokia networks biz slurps Australia's Mesaplexx

Andus McCoatover

S'funny....

"Reducing the footprint of....Flexi BTS's"

OK, it's some years since I last worked for Nokia Slurp Networds, travelling the globe training customers about its Sexi-Flexi BTS's (EDGE then..) but the design was to fit into a 19" rack...Vertically doesn't help much, N-type connectors have a fixed size...

Must've changed a lot since I were a lad...

HALF of London has outdated Wi-Fi security, says roving World of War, er, BIKER

Andus McCoatover
Windows

My WiFi is unsecured by design. Apartment block has a lot of elderly living here, and they want to use bank, Skype/FB for the family and relations. No problem.

Isn't it a bit posessive to protect your WiFi, if your computer is secured?

Farmer Giles: "GET ORF MY LAAAAN(D)!!!!" springs to mind....

Google in NOT EVIL shocker: Bins student email ad scanning

Andus McCoatover

Certainly fine with it.

While planning a trip once, I remember seeing a 'targeted' ad, clicked it and remember saving a bob or two...(Some years ago, don't remember the details, think it was a better offer on the same hotel I had decided upon. Probably a 'coupon'.)

Microsoft beats cloud drum as revenues remain solid but flat

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Explain "Nadella said in a canned statement. "

I always thought that cans were for putting worms back in...after they'd been released from a smaller one.

My bad.

Innovation creates instability, you say? BLASPHEMY, you SCUM

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Ace response to an ace article!

Ta Muchly!

Red-faced LOHAN team 'fesses up in blown SPEARS fuse fiasco

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Sorry...but...

Why a fuse in the first place??

Thing's designed to go 'bang' anyway, and unless the intrepid playmonaught has been trained to replace it in flight, just seems like excess weight to me.

Facebook, you fools! Forget Oculus, you could have bought TRON-type headsets

Andus McCoatover
Windows

WAAAANT!!!

Can't imagine how clear my Nokia 5110 is gonna look...

Microsoft frisked blogger's Hotmail inbox, IM chat to hunt Windows 8 leaker, court told

Andus McCoatover

Re: Win 8 trade secrets

...nobody wants or likes...

Hasta la Vista, baby...

ROBO-SNOWDEN: Iraq, the internet – two places the US govt invaded that weren't a threat

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Re: Traitor?

Is losing the ability to live in America such a bad thing?

Just asking....

LOHAN bloodhound unleashes solar-powered minitracker

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Oh, we Geriatrics looove microelctronics..

Couldn't find my glasses Monday (they were hanging on my Zimmer frame, natch!)

Put Sleepy Pi* onto Raspberry Pi, and misaligned by a whole row. Result? 5V onto 3v3.

Dammit! Foresdt Pi (the one that was addicted to Saunalahti's 3G network) dead in a nanosecond.

I'm on the smegging dole. FFS, thinking of buying a new Pi is kinda like dreaming of waking up with George Formby. (Each to his own..)

Beercans and begging, here we go again....

*http://spellfoundry.com/products/sleepy-pi/

I'l get there..I will!. 'kinell...

Blighty goes retro with 12-sided pound coin

Andus McCoatover
Windows

You got a downvote for that???

I had to go outside - my laughter was gonna get me barred!

Andus McCoatover
Windows

I bought a house in the mid-90's

Lovely place. Woodside Cottage.

£69,000.

Didn't even haggle, as a 'yuppie' then taking home £4,000/mo, and my (then) missus getting about £2,000, £500/mo mortgage was chicken-feed.

In the house, forgotten by the previous owner was a porcelain pot, full of 3d bits.

Took me back awhile. I remember burying a 3d piece when I was a kid of about 10, remembering even 47 years ago *precisely* where I've hidden it. Sadly, 1500 Km from where I am now.

Gave 'em away. Now, if I had a pot of silver paint....and as I'm on the dole now...

Nah.

Flying Toaster screen savers return on GitHub

Andus McCoatover
Joke

Rooting your wife??

Westboro Baptists'll be around in a flash!

Indian supremes demand $573m in Nokia-Microsoft phactory selloff deal

Andus McCoatover

cost-effective over the next few quarters...

Yeah, I remember working for a company that was so obviously going down the U-bend,

Drinking in a bar with the bosses, where one of the managers lit a cigarette with a £20 note. The same day they'd laid off about a third of the workforce, leaving 6 of us to hold the fort.

Then, some 'cunning stunt' by a salesman convinced them to use factoring to enhance their cashflow.

Yeah. Does. Until the customers realise "Factoring" == "Cashflow Problems" and left in droves.

Wondering if this escrow thing is a bit of a trick, to scupper the whole deal? It'd work..

Microsoft to get in XP users' faces with one last warning

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Re: so... friends and relatives...

Not really decision time. Stick one (or more) of those on your list, and dual (tripe...) boot.

Just alter the boot order as you get more comfy.

(I'm assuming dual-booting with Android is possible...)

MtGox: Yup, we're pretty sure your Bitcoin were stolen. Sorry about that.

Andus McCoatover
Windows

The MtGox writer....

...will have no trouble finding new employment. As a spam mail author.

Inquietante testimonio gráfico: Electrosonda orgásmica anal aplicada… ¡a un TORO!

Andus McCoatover
Windows

"No DS18B20 waterproof probes

were harmed in this experiment".

Passenger jet grounded by two-hour insect attack

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Re: Balancing Imbalance

Hehehe!

That'll be why they sent British miscreants to OZ.

"Stick 'em in open prisons! That'll thin the buggers out"

What's up with that WhatsApp $19bn price tag? Answer: Voice calls

Andus McCoatover
Windows

450 million?

Whew! Thank Gawd it's restricted to USA only. Isn't it?

Bolshy investor pushes Juniper Networks into restructuring plan

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Am I missing something???

Or are two juorno's spending lunchtime in different bars???

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/21/nokia_may_consider_merging_with_juniper_report/

Jolla announces Sailfish OS 1.0, says Android love-fest soon to come

Andus McCoatover
Windows

Damn....

Wish my N8 hadn't bit the dust...Photo competition in the local rag (Kaleva.fi) to win a jolla. I'd choose my "Onkia" snap - poked on el-reg. a couple of years back.

But, can only enter by sending said snap from a phone. Backup? Meh...