Posts by David Viner

Jupiter takes a serious knock

It was probably...

...just Mr Ballmer throwing chairs around yet again - one of them obviously reached escape velocity...

Mozilla downplays risk from unpatched flaw

Amiga

(and no I didn't Google)

Firefox 3.5 - it's not a 'web upgrade'

@Speed is good

"Now I have to wait for a few of my favourite extensions to catch up."

Most of them you can do yourself .

If you're using windows XP look in:

C:\Documents and Settings\LOGONNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXX.default\extensions

where LOGONNAME is the name you log onto Windows with and XXXXX is the random value that Firefox uses for your default profile.

Under Windows 7 (and, I presume, Vista) the location is:

C:\Users\LOGONNAME\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXX.default\extensions

Under Linux you need to cd to:

~/.mozilla/firefox/XXXXX.default/extensions

Look inside the various directories under there for the install.rdf files. Open each one in a decent (NOT Notepad) text editor and look for:

<em:maxVersion>X.X.X</em:maxVersion>

where X.X.X is probably either 3.0.* or 3.1.* - change this to 3.5.* and save the file - in many cases the extension will then start working again.

Hope that helps.

David

CGI Thunderbirds sadly not go

Sod Thunderbirds....

...I want Primeval series 4....

11 Time Lords plan charity shindig

Been done in fiction...

...several times.

One of the best is here:

http://comics.shipsinker.com/category/dr-who/

Google toys with plug-in free YouTube

HTML5

Well, I'm sure Microsoft will get around to implementing HTML 5 before 2020...

....just...

Chrome feels the need - the need for speed

Interesting/Confusing....

I just updated my V1.0.154.something version of Chrome via the normal update and, without any warning/message, it became version 2 (2.0.172.28 to be precise) - that isn't the latest V2 beta though (which is 2.0.181.1). Is V1 now dead?

Google buffs Chrome with security update

@Version oddness

Version 2.xx is the beta, version 1.xx is the current "stable" release (yeah, amazing, something from Google that ISN'T a beta!)

Firefox finds more pesky bugs

Killing the MS reboot demand - whose PC is it anyway?

The MS "Reboot Now/Later" annoyance can be killed (on XP anyway) by running the following in a command prompt:

net stop wuauserv

This stops the Windows update service. You can also create a batch file containing the above line and make a short cut to it from the desktop. After updating windows click the "Restart Later" option and then run the line or batch file, and you won't be annoyed (well, not by that particular pop-up anyway). The windows update service will start as normal after the next restart (which you will do when YOU want to do it and not at Microsoft's nagging insistence).

David

Windows 7 — It’s like Vista, only less annoying

@Tony Paulazzo

Your MS drone is incorrect - a company I worked for could always get XP re-activated on the original licence even after changing the MB on a PC. Phone MS back and insist that they allow you get activated on your original licence. Explain slowly and persistently that the motherboard failed and you could not obtain a similar one so had no choice but to replace it (motherboard production life is measured in months, not years so getting an exact replacement is nigh-on impossible nowadays) . Also, tell them in no uncertain terms that if they effectively steal the use of your licence from you then you will definitely NOT be buying another Windows licence but will be installing Linux instead (they won't like that!).

Don't take no for an answer without speaking to a manager or two first (give the impression that you are prepared to take things much further if you don't get activated).

Good luck!

David

Mozilla update quashes nine bugs

First!

Whoopee!

Hey, where is everyone? Watching the budget? Sad....

Oh no...

...not another update. I'm so sick of these updates that waste almost 15 seconds of my time, I'm going back to IE 3/Mosaic/whatever.

Just thought I'd say it before some clueless idiot (who actually means it) does - bet I'm too late though ;-)

Brussels to sue UK over Phorm failures

Excellent

Apart from who will pick up the tab....

But, hopefully, this will dissuade Virgin and Talk Talk from going ahead with their own schemes to introduce Phorm.

It's about time the government remembers who they answer to.

Where's that V for Vendetta icon....?

Businesses will postpone Windows 7 rollouts

@Goat Jam

Yep, I agree with most of what you said. My main PC is a dual boot Vista/XP that stays in XP about 99.9% of the time as I can't stand the Vista restrictions. However, I have been running the W7 beta on it via VirtualBox - which is also running various versions of Linux and W95/98/2000 - and W7 does seem like a large improvement over Vista and I'm definitely not an MS fanboi - I'm a web developer who regularly curses IE (*ALL* versions including the supposedly web-standards compatible version 8) and uses Gentoo Linux for my test web servers.

Massive Sun cuts planned as IBM focuses on software trio

VirtualBox

And what about VirtualBox? Any plans/rumours about that?

Tata to release UK's first 'serious' electric car

Indica Vista EV

"Vista" - hmm, will probably wait until SP1 arrives for it before thinking about buying one...

Fasthosts to offshore support staff

@Still using them

Mr ChriZ

If your requirements aren't too huge then give PlugSocket a go (www.plugsocket.com) - I've been using them for years for both myself and my customers - probably the biggest site that I've done is www.panoramicearth.com and that seems to run fine (it used to be on FarceHosts until they screwed things up). PlugSocket have technical people who know what they're talking about, they respond quickly to the few problems I've encountered and are always helpful.

David

SCO boss to customers: 'Blah. Blah. Blah'

SCO boss to customers

Bloody hell! They still have customers?

Ballmer talks 'post-PC' Microsoft with Windows 7 beta

...PC in every desktop and every home...

"IN" every desktop?

On top is usually the preferred location ;-)

ITU plots third dimension

"Magic"

"rendered using some sort of dynamic holographic display, or magic, depending on which is developed sooner"

Good'un. That make I laff!

What if computers went back to the '70s too?

Gnome's Computers

Great stuff, Guy!

Back in the late 1980's I used Compunet. Another user on that system, John Marchant, who went by the name of Gnome, had uploaded the extremely fascinating story of his life with old computers including the Elliot 803 and Molecular 18 Mini-computer before he ended up using Commodore 8-bit computers like the PET. I kept a copy of his story and in 2004 managed to contact him. He gave permission for me to upload his story to my own web site but then his email address stopped working so I lost contact. If anyone out there knows if he is still around then please contact me.

His story is here:

www.davidviner.com/gnome.php

David

Windows 7, June 2009 and the technologies of antitrust

Another Transcript vote

Ditto - mainly because I really can't be bothered to watch/listen.

Prosecutors gather evidence on secret BT-Phorm trials

@Spider

And, speaking as a Virgin Media customer and wondering whether to jump, when Phorm's share price drops to zero I'll really be laughing. Bring it on!

Rock-solid Fedora 10 brings salvation to Ubuntu weary

RPM Hell

But have they fixed RPM hell yet?

I tried Fedora a couple of years ago. Installed most things I wanted to try and then ran the update to get the latest versions. Then I tried installing a couple of extra things from the CD (Apache and PHP if memory serves). These refused to install, requiring specific library versions that had been updated out of existence in the previously mentioned update. I gave up and decided to avoid all RPM-based distros ever since as their* more trouble than there* worth (also had a similar problem with Mandriva around the same time).

Debian-based systems have been able to handle this sort of thing properly for years - can anyone tell me if RedHat have fixed it yet? If so, I may give it another try.

David

* Yes, I know both of these should be "they're" - it just seems to be standard practise to always use the wrong one around here ;-)

Adobe, profs working on web time-machine app

If you want to look into the internet's past...

...then look here:

http://www.vcn.bc.ca/help/guides/turnip.html

That page hasn't changed since 1996.

First self-inflicted identity donor cards to ship in late 2009

Pre-register...

Can I pre-register my disinterest?

Mars lander has probably carked it, says NASA

@Next year?

>Any chance of it rising from the ashes next summer? Or will the batteries be shagged?

If they're Sony batteries they'll either die or explode...

AVG tags ZoneAlarm as Trojan

AVG + ZA = Gone to the dogs

LIke others I stopped using AVG8 not long after upgrading from the previously good 7.5 and now use Avast. I dumped ZA years ago after a major upgrade made things go titsup and now have a hardware firewall. Had no problems since.

Microsoft's 'ordinary Joe' promises Windows 7 bliss

W7 Features

"According to Osterman, it's the Windows 7 feature teams are calling the shots on cutting features with management "standing behind them." "In Vista it would have been much harder to convince senior management to abandon features," Osterman reckoned."

So, after they cut out all the features they can't finish in time to hit the release date, what's the betting that W7's main features over Vista will end up being:

1) Replaced all ocurrences of "Vista" with "Windows 7"

2) Upped the kernel version number from 6.0 to 6.1

3) Erm.... that's it - now pay up please for your shiny new OS.

OpenOffice.org overwhelmed by demand for version 3.0

Current message

I love the current message I'm getting when trying to access www.openoffice.org:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /servlets/ContentHelmNoodle on this server.

So what exactly IS a ContentHelmNoodle?

Say hi to Haumea - our fifth dwarf planet

We're therefore lobbying the IAU that...

...the next dwarf body be dubbed "Dave" and its satellites "Chantelle" and "Chelsea".

I'm all for it! First a TV channel named after me and now this! Go Reg go!

Microsoft will show world+dog how to write secure code

Microsoft will show world+dog how to write secure code

I nearly sprayed half-chewed prawn sandwich over my monitor when I saw that headline!

Not sure about now but in the past their code creation abilities were far from ideal - read the book "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" by Jennifer Edstrom and Marlin Eller for more on that.

IE8 beta 2 locks down some XP lovers

Still broken...

Re: latest version of its Firefox browser

Nope, because Firefox can display www.panoramicearth.com just fine whilst IE8 beta 2 screws up the Google Map zoom control (and probably other things as well) while FF3 have no problems. Mind you, IE8b1 put the entire Google map in the wrong place on the screen - blimey, even IE6 (heap of shit that it is) gets that right!

And before anyone asks, yeah, I've submitted the error to MS.

Firefox 3 Download Day falls flat on face

Timed out!

Well, I think the downloads have started - must be cos, at this moment (18:08 BST), it's totally impossible to get to either mozilla.com or spreadfirefox.com. What's the betting the only record broken here will be that this becomes the biggest Denial Of Service "attack" ever mounted ;-)

Asus announces 10in, HDD-equipped Eee PC

How could you?

Where's the beach bird?

Keyboard PC design recalls Amiga era

Been done before...

...for PCs as well. By Amstrad/Sinclair with the PC200. Here's one:

http://www.nvg.org/sinclair/computers/pc200/pc200.htm

The spec was appalling - yuk!

Sun invites VMware to virtual desktop dance

Hmmm, and Sun also recently bought...

...Virtual Box.

www.virtualbox.org

Interesting...

1&1 says sorry to one in ten

@Ok, smart people!

Recommended: PlugSocket.com

Small but efficient, they know their stuff. On the rare occasions that problems arise, they fix them PDQ. Based in Suffolk. I've got several of my customers using them (both single or multiple accounts).

One to avoid: FastHosts

They are shite.

Dell to pump out Ubuntu servers

Buy? Why? Oracle?

And why bother to even buy it as it can be downloaded free! And why not run with MySQL which is installed anyway? Ubuntu server is simple to set up and can do standard LAMP-type things "out of the box". I've resurrected an old Sun Ultra Sparc box with it. Works fine...