Posts by Mage

Microsoft moved the goalposts once. Will Windows 12 bring another shift?

Re: Reasons not to upgrade to Windows 12

I ran Win 7 for 2 months. I have two systems with Win 10 I don't use. Using Linux 100% instead of Windows since December 2016. I'd occasionally run a VM with a clone of my 2002 Laptop's XP on a VM. As an aside, why does Vbox add all those Bluetooth devices wasting my serial ports? I know NT can have 256, but stupid programmers did SW that only supported 4 or 8.

MS lost the plot during Vista development (about 2003?) and Win7 should have been free to Vista users.

Linux kernel to drop 486 and early 586 support

Re: beginning of the rot

And Atoms that couldn't address enough RAM, so cheap tablets / "Netbooks" with those had 32 bit Win10, though 64 Linux works fine on them with the limited RAM if you fixed up the boot loader to be 32 bit to suit the BIOS. Even ONE more pin!

Re 386 & 486 & Pentium 32 bit

Effectively for many they are already gone because various apps and frameworks only support working x86-64-AMD cpus. Last Mint with 32 bits was 19.3. There is no mainstream browser and now no apps using current QT as it no longer supports 32 bit.

I agree it's a shame.

Hubble is a bad example as it won't get new Linux code.

Commodore OS 3 is the loudest Linux yet

Re: You do realize each people have their own tastes, right?

I have multiple desktops installed on some computers. Handy if you break one. I do have XFCE, but there are more differences than you suggest.

However

Mate is good, not too heavy unless compiz is enabled and very versatile. I've used more desktops and Linux distros than I can remember easily and Mate is my favourite on 4K workstation, server, ex chromebook, lenovo laptops (all Mint) and a RasberryPi4b (not Mint) and another laptop with MX Linux.

Microsoft tries to knife passwords once and for all - at least for consumers

Re: M$ Wants Biometric ID - Sure Hold-on a second ... - NOT.

They are only better than bad passwords and the same password used for different services.

Also Biometrics are only equivalent to a username that can't be changed. Actually a stupid idea for security.

Microsoft to preload Word minutes after boot

Re: Bring back the BBC B.

Wasn't the Mac like that originally too?

Re: IOW

LO Writer Less than 10 s on my old workstation (SSD + HDD). Templates, dictionaries, docs etc on 4T HDD. Linux Mint.

My wiped Chromebook with Linux Mint 22.1 is 15 to 20 second boot and LO Writer in about 2 to 3 seconds. A 64 G EMMC and 256 G microSD card. I disabled suspend as it shuts down instantly and boots fast enough when lid opened.

Load and restore of XP VM on the old Linux Workstation 11 s. Loading Word 2002/XP is <4s (but bits might be lurking from last run as it's not a cold boot, LO Writer 5.2 is 15s

Every Windows since 1994 I have been disabling stuff at boot to get decent boot time. Win7 made me decide to move 100% to Linux. I still have a Win10 laptop with its hugely slow boot and shutdown that's even worse, atrocious actually, if there is an update. Updates on Linux, even Kernel, are no bother at all. NT 4.0 hadn't the issues of Win7 and Win10 with updates (and yes, I applied HotFixes).

Thunderbird joins Firefox on the monthly treadmill

Re: glumly suspect

I've used Firefox (occasionally others) and Thunderbird for over two decades because the alternatives are worse. Up till Jan 2017 on Windows. Trying Vivaldi on one box for a while.

I used to use Newsgroups (NTTP) and RSS, but not for years now. Due to NTTP servers closing, or not carrying the groups I wanted. Groups.io has I suppose replaced NTTP. It's so long I can't remember the last RSS feed I used.

Also "Aptisaction" of internet. People complaing this or that App not working when a browser even on a 5" phone for the same site is functional, Stupid "Mobile" and "Desktop" perversions of webpages when one properly designed web site will work. Do Developers run their browsers full screen and never in a window?

I used to develop SW (Desktop, drivers, embedded, websites etc) and wonder to these developers live in the real world. I have K9 mail on Android because the built-in email client seems like a Google terminal with all the server credentials used on a Google Server. Though K9 supports POP3, it doesn't delete downloaded email, so I have Thunderbird on Linux do that for those accounts after 20 days.

Stupid

They have gradually made Thunderbird UI as bad as Firefox. Arrogance. Why not use the current OS theme instead of a dumb UI? Thunderbird 91.x was last that followed OS, and only if you edited hidden settings.

Each new install of Firefox is worse, with having to change more stupid defaults.

There should be updates when needed for security, which might be twice today and none for months. Only significant feature updates should change major version number.

Also far too much bloat.

Mozilla has lost the plot.

808 lines of BBC BASIC and a dream: Arm architecture turns 40

Re: alive and well in the 1980s under Maggie Thatcher

No, she killed Inmos. Thomson bought the IP.

Thatcher only wanted trading, not manufacturing. Sadly many economics books are marketing handbooks: "don't own the mill, outsource".

The Transputer was brilliant compared to 386. So was ARM.

1984: Release of 16 bit transputer

1985: Release of 32 bit T414.

The 80386 pre-production samples was October 1985. The 80286 was a flawed design compared to 68000 and ARM 16 bit CPUs.

AI training license will allow LLM builders to pay for content they consume

Re: second hand bookshops

Someone bought those and unless they scanned them no longer have them. The author / publisher did get paid.

License to plaglarise?

They should have less rights than ordinary humans. Parasitic corporations and rich people. Is the whole AI thing a tax fiddle?

Build your own antisocial writing rig with DOS and a $2 USB key

Re: DOS? What about CP/M

DOS in a VM isn't it. CP/M on a Z80 or DOS native boot might be.

But the argument about solitaire or turning on networking is about discipline. Even if you have dedicated writing machine (I have a typewriter in the attic) you can go and do something else. I actually have a 14.25" Android and decent keyboards that work on it as good as a Thinkpad, but I prefer LO Writer, Cherry Stream TKL keyboard and my paper like 23" 4k LG screen on Linux Mint. I still have two slim line PCs that boot to DOS and a decent LCD with a VGA in. Also a VGA to HDMI adaptor somewhere.

I have still copies of NewWord, Wordstar 6.0, my own effort at a DOS editor (with audio control foot-peddle set for joystick port and SB file control for audio transcription).

Unless you have no electricity, no books and no gadgets and live in a locked room with a typewriter you can find distractions.

Re: back when 1200 baud was cutting edge

I used 300 baud dialup to an X.25 PAD. Email, Telex and Fax via a BT server in London from the wilds of Western Ireland in mid 1980s.

DOS? What about CP/M

Wordstar on CP/M is just as bad as on DOS.

Jota on Android or KATE on Linux is distraction free writing. Turn off all notifications, or even networking (esp on Windows).

I was running DOS Daggerfall and DOS Arena on Linux in DosBox last week. They are free, though the sample DosBox conf files are for windows so real graphics, mount path and sound lines need an edit.

My coat is the one draped over the 12" mono screen and Apple II with a Z80 card for CP/M. Actually I have an Amstrad PCW8512 mobo in the attic.

Europe hits Meta, Apple with €700M in fines for flouting DMA

Re: I won against Facebook

Those groups should pay for their own hosting.

No business or group should be using Xitter or Meta for their customers / members.

CCIA Europe and Delicate time?

Yes, they would says that. What do they make money from?

Also law etc (data privacy, safe chicken, contaminated products etc) can't be at the whim of people wanting trade deals.

How to stay on Windows 10 instead of installing Linux

don't include the Windows Store or any "modern" apps

Thats's good.

Now how to change my VM install, and my 2016 laptop?

California sues President Tariff

Re: claiming the president can't be prosecuted.

Can't be for official acts. Which seems to be in the constitution. The problem is what is an "official act".

Since the beginning they gave the President "Kingly" powers.

Japan serves Google a cease and desist order over its Android bundling deals

iPhone is *enormously* dominant in japan

That's whataboutism. Maybe that needs looked at too.

However a major issue is that most Android phones and tablets are not Google products, so why should makers be forced to include Google apps?

No-one does iPhones other than Apple.

Musk's DOGE muzzled on X over tape storage baloney

Re: Optical

Only pressed optical or magneto-optic disks have decent life. Writeable CD/ DVD disks (using dye) are poorer than HDDs.

UK's attempt to keep details of Apple 'backdoor' case secret… denied

Re: 1984

It was really about 1948.

How do you explain what magnetic fields do to monitors to people wearing bowling shoes?

Re: "Transparent aluminium[aluminum]"?

Closest real thing is sapphire. It's a transparent Aluminium oxide. Other ones are opaque and sapphire is synthetically produced in large sizes.

There is SF and there is Magic by another name.

Pointless impossibilities can be in good Fantasy.

Bill Gates unearths Microsoft's ancient code like a proud nerd dad

Re: The Moral of the Story

And ported from Dartmouth Basic. Not from scratch.

Microsoft to mark five decades of Ctrl-Alt-Deleting the competition

Re: DHCP and DNS servers

On a small LAN you used static IPs and the DNS was only needed for the Internet. There might have been a proxy like Wingate (a router was rare on dialup or ISDN). No local DHCP or DNS server needed. Later the router for ADSL or Cable provided the DNS & DHCP server functions. We'd been setting up all small LANs with TCP/IP since 1993 and using one PC as a proxy for analogue dialup or ISDN, if Internet was required.

CD autorun was a security issue and from day 1 of it, so we disabled it on every install (Win 95, NT 4.0, Win 98 etc). The Amiga autorun viruses already existed, so what was was MS thinking of? Then later we had to disable it for Network shares, USB storage etc. Stupidity of the highest order.

Re: Win 10 is not bad.

It's abysmal compared to NT 4.0, XP, Linux Mint with Mate, or even RISC-OS on a Pi. Even crippled Crostini Linux on a Chromebook is better.

Re: MS-C

In 1987 I was writing my own memory management, because the MS C never checked if the freed block was contiguous to a previously freed block. Eventually (in the stupid program I was writing & debugging libraries for) the Malloc would fail out of memory. So since it was DOS, my memory manager grabbed most of the free memory and each time memory was freed it checked if was contiguous. Previously the the program would crash after about 40 minutes, with the change it could run indefinitely.

But I'd been programming with Pascal, Modula-2, Forth, Occam and C++ and designed two programming languages before I was using MS C for DOS.

Re: hadn't been invented yet?

The USB was a bad example. Wikipedia does indeed claim 1996.

The first integrated circuits supporting USB were produced by Intel in 1995 and the official release was Jan 1996. I think the Win95a got USB.

The really stupid things in Win95 was CD autorun and lack of TCP/IP as the default network (NetBEUI was the default).

I don't know why I put "USB".

Re: Windows 7 rose to the level

Win7 was really a SP for Vista.

Especially bad or good versions:

Good DOS: 2.11, 3.3, 6.22

Bad DOS: all before 2. 4.0

Good Windows: Win 3.1 family when 32bit drivers, TCP/IP and Win32s added. Win98SE

Bad Windows: Any before 3.0, Original Win95 (no USB), Win ME.

Good NT: 3.5/3.51, NT 4.0, NT 4.0 Cluster, XP after 2002.

Bad NT: Vista, Win8, Win10, Win11

Musk's xAI swallows Musk's X in ego-friendly, all-stock deal

Re: So they're both going down ?

Incest too?

Nvidia GPU roadmap confirms it: Moore’s Law is dead and buried

Moore's law?

It was only ever an observation and was revised. Been essentially dead for a decade or more in original form.

Nothing can have exponential growth for very long.

Now Windows Longhorn is long gone, witness reflects on Microsoft's OS belly-flop

Re: AT and clones should have established

The problem was IBM picking the 8088. The AT (286) was nearly a decent 16 bit CPU, but crippled by 8088/8086 architecture that made porting CP/M and 8080 assembler easy. Really the 80386 was the first really good for a proper OS cpu from Intel. OS/2 was crippled by 286. The various UNIX versions (inc Xenix, then still from MS) on '286 inferior to many on other 16 bit CPUs.

The success of the PC and DOS held back personal computing for nearly 10 years.

Decent DOS versions: 2.11, 3.3 and 6.22. Ultimately little better than CP/M with sub directories. Then CP/M relaunced on the PCW8256/8512/9512, with similar programs to similar performance as a PC without an HDD running Hercules. Only an adaptor cable needed to have a 720K 3.5" floppy.

Re: Deeper problems

Why is everyone adding automatic snap features if you move a window near an edge? At least in win10 you can turn it off. Apparently not on ChromeOS. Also you can't disable updates on ChromeOS. Google has become MS 2.0, so arrogant.

Maybe I'll wipe the Chromebook and install native Mint if I figure how to run Android apps & Playstore on it, which is the only advantage at all of ChromeOS + Crostini Linux, hence the ChromeOS Flex is pointless except for ChromeOS apps.

Re: Vista was quite an improvement

Only when they fixed it with the Service Pack called Windows 7. NT 3.51 with the Explorer Preview Shell was better than Vista. Though no USB till Win2K. I did have a preview of a never released NT4.0 SP that added USB. Stupidly most things needing USB looked for Ver 5.x or higher rather than looking for USB. MS always said don't check OS versions, but check for features. As a result of that being ignored they had to skip Windows 9. Even Win7 had some disadvantages over NT 3.51 to XP. The Server 2003 seemed a bit bloated compared to XP, so we went to Server 2000. We had been running Win 4.0 Server. Then when we had few XP machines we shut down Windows Server which by then was only used for Update Service.

The default theme on XP and Vista was stupid, but at least you could disable it and the real GUI wasn't that dfferent from Win9x/NT4.0/Win2K. Windows 7 was less flexible. Then they lost the plot on UI, probably from Office 2007 onwards.

"Modern" in the context of GUIs seems to mean stupid and less usable each year. The word "modern" has never in any context automatically meant better. Actually the "Early modern period" started in about 1433 in Europe.

Modern UK mains plugs and sockets will soon be 80 years old. The Electrical Age started in 1800 due to Volta's "Battery".

IMO the modern UI was invented in about 1976 and in the last 30 years more degradation than improvement.

Signalgate storm intensifies as journalist releases full secret Houthi airstrike chat

Re: Hysterical - sorry, Historical

And wantonly invaded Canada in 1812. Sacked York.

Who will burn down the Whitehouse this time?

ReactOS emits release 0.4.15 – its first since 2021

Re: 2 gig for the system and 2 gig for the kernel

The default on XP was 2G for applications and 2G for OS. You could change it to 3.5G & 0.5G in the ini for booting, Of course any PC with shared rather than separate video RAM reduced application space, especially bad was Intel Integrated graphics. You could lose another 0.5G.

It depended on the applications if PAE was a problem. Much, much faster than disk paging for multiple applications, which was the best way to take advantage of > 4G on 32 bits. Still is the most likely reason to need mote than 4G on 64 bit Linux.

Re: 32-bit line all the way to Windows 10

Because Intel crippled the 64 bit Atom. It couldn't address enough RAM for decent Win 10 64 bit performance. So they put 32 bit BIOS on those tablets / netbooks and 32 bit Win10. You can install a 64 bit Debian (or mate) if you edit the installer. The ARM 64 Debian with Mate still works OK on 2G RAM. Certainly Mint x86-64/AMD with Mate works OK on 4G. The 64Bit Windows really needs a bit more than that.

As an aside, too many versions of Windows.

They should have a less crippled Home, a Professional that is similar to Server, and Server. On all Windows versions the default services, applications and options are still stupid.

But an advantage for Linux. Install the bits you need.

I used Windows for nearly 25 years. I won't go back. Glad I didn't have to sell or support it, or give training, after 2005 when I went back to R&D.

Server 2003 Enterprise: only 32 bit windows

I had NT 4.0 Enterprise for years. It also was 32 bit and supported PAE. I think there was a Win2K version also. They deliberately crippled XP 32 bit. By default it only allows 2G RAM for apps. Who wanted Itanium 64 bit XP ever? Short-lived.

Various people stopped doing 32 bit builds for no good reason leaving even supported 32 bit OSes orphaned (Firefox, QT etc).

Museum digs up Digital Equipment Corporation's dusty digital equipment

The first IBM AS/400 I saw was the size you imagined a mainframe was. The last AS/400 I saw was the size of a tower PC.

The last VAX I saw in 1986 took up one entire wall of a sizeable room. It had a "priest".

Re: possibly /var and /home

With an SSD of 128G or 255G and HDD of 2, 4 or 6 T Bytes, having /var and /home as two partitions on the HDD works well.

Datacenters near Heathrow seemingly stay up as substation fire closes airport

Re: I count 6...

Croydon? Or is that too far?

Re: sure safety-critical airport functions

You'd hope they have a day+ of backup power. Are cost conscious accountants in charge of spending rather than analysing and forecasting for budgets etc?

Google slips built-in terminal, Debian Linux VM into Android 15 March feature drop

Re: Linux Touch Screen

Mint with Mate desktop (Linux) works no worse than Win 10 on a dedicated tablet and better on the Lenovo X201. The only issue is you need to add a script to manage screen rotation.

Really both Win10 and Linux Mint are not idea without a keyboard and mouse.

Re: Crostini

The biggest limitation with Crostini (Linux based on Debian 12 on Chrome OS in container) is no direct USB Mass Storage device access. Other USB devices can be accessed. The files are "shared" from the ChromeOS as 9p filesystem mounts.

The x86-64 ChromeBooks are inferior in power consumption to ARM, but running WINE (for old XP 32 bit apps) on x86-64 is simpler.

A Linux on a VM on Android that doesn't support GUI is a bit limited. Also Android is abysmal even on 14" screen at "Windows". ChromeOS has Windows. Also what point is there to ChromeOS Flex, Might as well run a real native Linux on that HW as it doesn't have the Playstore. Having Playstore apps (multiple Windows) and Linux programs on same desktop is the only decent reason for ChromeOS. The "native" ChromeOS apps do now work off line, but are underwheliming to rubbish compared to Linux programs. There also are very few.

There are terminal applications for Android that I've used with USB Serial, but Linux on ChromeOS works better, PuTTY on IP connection or USB Serial.

Apple has locked me in the same monopolistic cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

Re: If you want a general purpose computer ...

And do Apple make computers or outsource?

Free95 claims to be a GPL 3 Windows clone, but it's giving vaporware vibes

Fantasy

Absolute fantasy.

Google begs owners of crippled Chromecasts not to hit factory reset

Re: seemed to serve no purpose

About 30c for a 3.5mm jack. Maybe less. The HW to drive it is probably there as well as there are built in speaker(s) & mic.

Ah, Net MD minidisk. Eventually they did a model where you could copy off your own recording via USB rather than analogue. Horrible stupid arrogant software. Sonic Stage? Now at least this works on Chromium. https://web.minidisc.wiki/ Tested on real Linux, Crostini Linux on Chromebook and also Chrome on Chrome OS

Re: Google "smart" speaker

If a speaker doesn't have an analogue connection and the TV hasn't then they are dumb!

I had to add an inline HDMI box that extracts L & R audio between TV and Home Theatre amp because no headphone socket on TV and maddeningly the headphone socket on the Yamaha Home Theatre amp (otherwise brilliant) turns off all six speakers. The previous 42" HD TV had a separately controlled headphone socket and the previous amp had a headphone socket that didn't kill the speakers.

My Rotel Stereo HiFi amp earphone socket doesn't interfere with speakers. The speakers have a switch: Off, Set 1, Sets 1+2 and Set 2.

We are going backwards on useability.

At least my two phones have 3.5mm sockets (not too old Oppo & TCL) as well as BT that work with anything. I have one set of headphones that are BT or 3.5mm jack. I also have some standalone BT adaptors for either analogue source to BT or BT to analogue destination. Battery and/or USB power.

I hate Andriod TV, where apps is higher priority than inputs or TV channels. Also designed for someone at a desk and 32"

Tesco's Tablet.

They shut down the server and a factory reset would then brick them.

1. A Factory reset should ALWAYS work without the Internet.

2. Products should state on box and /!\ warning label on product (not on a cable) if a device depends on a server that might shut down.

3. Don't buy anything that does local stuff and depends on someone's Internet server (thermostat, doorbell, weather station, smoke alarm). The basic important functionality should work without internet or remote servers.

4. IoT products should have a public API so that you can put your own server (like email, web, FTP has) at home/office or remotely.

5.The password on your own gadget should be user settable without Internet, 2FA, or email.

6. Factory rest on Android can now lock you out of phone / tablet if you don't delete the Google Android account first! Even a reboot can if non-Google keyboard and text password is set. This is security gone wrong!