Posts by Long John Brass

HP Inc's rinky-dink ink stink: Unofficial cartridges, official refills spurned by printer DRM

HP ain't the only ones

Used to love and trust Epson for their printers

They are now doing exactly the same thing WRT their printers

To the point where the fricking scanner on my all in one style printer won't go unless ink carts are "good"

Dear sysadmin: This is how you stay relevant

Re: There really is a change afoot...

increasingly it's possible for developers to bypass the admins and deploy their own stuff.

Yep and the story goes something like ....

Dev: Hey Mr Sysadmin, the new-foo.bar isn't working all our clients are complaining

Sys: New-foo.bar? I thought we were running bar.baz for our clients

Dev: Yeah we did a dev-ops implementation & migration last night and now it doesn't work anymore

Sys: it's 8am ... When did you test it?

Dev: Last night, it worked fine from my desktop

Sys: Just cut back to the old system

Dev: We can't we migrated all the data in the DB the schema's aren't compatible

Sys: Ok ... where is all this running and where is the documentation

Dev: In the cloud????

Sys: Fuck

the end.

The next Bond – Basildon or Bass-Ass? YOU decide

Re: Here is an idea

Hmmm how about this for continuity....

Dan Craig as an outgoing Bond ... Only really see him in the last 5 min of the flick

Mark Strong as the bad guy(tm) and at the end becomes the "new" Bond

To cheesy?

Here is an idea

What about a bond movie from the PoV of the bad guy(tm)

Henchmen disappearing left & right

betrayed by your favourite wench

That sinking feeling as the remorseless Bond moves in for the kill

Mark Strong

Seems to have the appropriate menacing air about him.

Bond is a killer the only thing that should separate him from the people he hunts is who his employer is

IE: He works for Her Maj therefore good guy

PCI Council wants upgradeable credit card readers ... next year

Why not ask the l33t h4x0rs

They seem to be able to upgrade this kind of kit at will :/

Google's AI finds its voice ... and it's surprisingly human

Our AI overlords

I always thought they would have a female English RP accent.

International Space Station astros prepare to rejoin us Earthlings

Re: Honkin big engines

> You've done that deliberately haven't you?

Yes

But seriously, there seems to be a trend for "Oh it's not efficient enough" or "how do we protect the crew during a 6 month flight", "We need a new set of ultra light, ultra strong materials"

How about a MSR style rector(s) driving a VASMIR style set of engines, bolt on more until you hit the ability to make 2 Gravity's, then run the damned thing at 50%

Sometimes the right answer is in fact a bigger hammer

and MechJeb, cuz you always need a Jeb on board :)

Honkin big engines

Don't understand what all the faffing about trying to solve all the medical issues WRT low-G space travel. Strap on some humongous engines and drive there at 1G; at halfway point start braking at 1G

Simples

Having offended everyone else in the world, Linus Torvalds calls own lawyers a 'nasty festering disease'

Linus is GOD

And I wish I could be more like him

The number of times I have wished I had the leeway to tell other parts of $ORG I work in to pull their fucking heads out their arses and do their fucking jobs ....

These $diots are the reason we can't have nice things as a species.

But; I have a mortgage, bills to pay etc .... So I play nice, and things slowly keep getting worse

Because the shit flinging monkeys outnumber me :(

Microsoft has open-sourced PowerShell for Linux, Macs. Repeat, Microsoft has open-sourced PowerShell

Re: Have you used Powershell?

There was also a REXX for windows

*Sniff* I also used to use REXX back in the days of nt3.5.1; Nice thing was that REXX also had a linux port at the time.

Just checked ... seems like the REXX interpreter is still there!

$ apt-cache search rexx

regina-rexx - Regina REXX interpreter

Re: "On Linux we’re just another shell"

I feel your pain ...

<tinfoilhat>

Systemd is a Microsoft plot to destroy Linux, along with the abhorrent abortion that is akonadi which makes modern mail clients about as reliable as a wet paper tissue in a tornado, recently kmail/akonadi decided to upgrade my e-mail data to /dev/null, not corrupted, not moved ,empty fucking directory! :(

</tinfoilhat>

I read the Systemd whitepaper and some of the ideas there were not that bad; But oh my god the implementation is crap, bloated and pure fucking evil

Colour me sad :(

Google's brand new OS could replace Android

Re: Lost my interest and lunch at C++

FWIW, not all OOP is necessarily as bad as that aspect of C++

Quite right; It's often worse; See Java

Lost my interest and lunch at C++

Because we all know that a big dose of OOP always makes things better and faster

300 million pelicans? Pah. What 6 billion plastic bags really weigh

Re: Niche scenario - but annoying regardless

Am I the only person who can't understand why we can't just have truly disposable bags free of charge? E.g. recycled paper bags. In this day and age it can't be beyond our technology or economics to provide a bag that won't murder a million turtles if it ends up in landfill by mistake?

When I were a lad I can clearly remember my teachers at school haranguing us to remind our parents to always ask for the new plastic bags instead of the old paper ones. The idea being that plastic is recyclable and doesn't murder trees

Funny how the world turns eh :)

Get yer gnashers round 64-layer 3D NAND, beam WDC and Toshiba

Re: Layer limit?

My guess is thermal limits will start becoming the issue after a while.

Integrated Inter-layer Cooling solutions anyone?

Smartphones aren't tiny PCs, but that's how we use them in the West

Re: Cool... err say what?

So all I have to do is to live on slave wages, give up any ridiculous notions I may have of human dignity, the right to a fair trial or even the right to read a book of my choosing and I can use QR codes?

They use QR codes in the USofA?

Kotkin on who made Trump and Brexit: Look in the mirror, it's you

Re: Really?

Apart from workers rights, human rights, a free trade bloc, a free travel zone, a more stable Europe, and who could forget... cheaper roaming charges! Then there was the (arguably) greater economic stability. And intangibles such as being part of a European community.

Yeah but apart from that what have the Romans EU ever done for us?

SETI mulls reboot: Believing the strangest things, loving the alien

Step 1.

Step 1 Find life

Step 2 Find intelligent life

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit

Linux on PS3 white flag

Here is an idea

When $company decides to drop support for $hardware; they are then legally obliged to open the $hardware platform.

wailing and gnashing of teeth in 3, 2 1....

Should we teach our kids how to program humanity out of existence?

I for one welcome our new machine overlords

Given the choice between uber klop sturm fuhrer Trump and the kill all humans AI; I choose the AI.

Re: "a massive drain on my television-watching time"

Vision-On was also a favourite :)

The Sons of Kahn and the Witch of Wookey

Re: "Maketh My Teeth Hurt Just Reading This"

Gesundheit

Label your cables: A cautionary tale from the server room

RE: Label your cables: A cautionary tale from the server room

Bwhahaha....

I only laugh because I too have been there

Remember years ago after been asked to diagnose a twitchy Solaris machine + software; System was running some mission critical financial app, so I thought to myself, Hey I have an bradn spanking new identical machine sitting right next to it that wasn't in use just yet (and wouldn't even get an install for another week), I will restore the back to THAT machine and start poking around to see why ${mission_critical_server} was having the odd bad hair day...

Nearly had a heart attach when during a reboot of the new "test" machine I saw the host name of said mission critical server fly past on the serial console.... A kind of "Oh shit which machine did I actually reboot? moment" Lucky for me it was the test machine, but still nearly shat myself :)

Can ad biz’s LEAN avert ADPOCALYPSE?

Re: Advertorials, etc

It haz wut plants crave

because electrolytes

Love it or hate it, it's time for that Software Power Meeting again

"It’s not like these fast-moving DevOps people are just shipping shitting code gleefully, they’re testing and reviewing at almost a nauseating level for old timers who enjoyed throwing the testing tasks over the wall to QA."

There fixed that for you

You can always rely on the Ancient Ones to cock things up

Blood Sacrifice

Back on the day when building PCs for myself or for $company

I found that the razor sharp, nay these things put cut throat razors to shame

would exact a not insignificant amount of blood as payment; these machines would always work fine. On the odd occasion where tired from the blood loss and looking like I'd lost a fight with a possessed helicopter made of razor wire, those machines would always have issues until the appropriate blood sacrifice was made.

The old gods always require payment and will not be satisfied until the bill is settled

Router hackers reach for the fork: LEDE splits from OpenWRT

Re: What we really need

You mean something like this

http://routerboard.com/products/group/11

or maybe this?

https://www.element14.com/community/community/dreamboard

I agree with you wish for an ADSL chipset OSS systems can talk to, maybe a USB modem of some sort?

Google found 760,935 compromised web sites in a year

Re: 760,935 breaches Google detected

Yes, that is because a windows box requires an admin 24/7 to keep rebooting it every time it hangs or crashes. A *nix box on the other hand will run for years without intervention and thus get lost and forgotten in the noise of day to day work.

NZ Pastafarians joined in noodly wedlock

Re: Please be careful how you mock.

> And I don't see anyone burning people alive in the name of Pastafarianism

Quite right we boil em, with a dash of salt.

Having said that, I myself am a Discordian Ninja.

All hail *ERIS*

Neighbour sick of you parking in his driveway? You'd better hack-proof your car

So what you're telling me is ...

That I now need an Anti Virus and Intrusion Detection System for my car

And how will the updates be delivered?

Ahhh from the Authorised dealers only, should have known

*sobs*

Kinda lost for words now ... The will to live failing ... The *rage* building ...

<coat> Mines the one with the tickets off this damned rock in it </coat>

George Bush naked selfie hacker Guccifer gets his day in US court

"No matter where they are in the world, those who commit crimes against U.S. citizens will be held accountable for their actions, pursued by our investigators and prosecutors and brought to justice."

Meanwhile US "citizens" can do whatever the fuck they like as long as its not in the USofA cus it's not our jurisdiction.

Here's a great idea: Let's make a gun that looks like a mobile phone

This from a country...

That makes it illegal to cross a road unless at appropriately marked areas with signs, lights and painted sections of tarmac , cus people can't be trusted to look both ways.

But firearms of all kinds? Yeah , no worries.

These people have nukes...

NASA discovers black hole here on Earth – in its software budget

I'll do it myself for $100 million

Just make the cheque out to cash

Only half joking, for that sort of cash I'm sure I could build up a team, then do the bloody thing from scratch.

Cunning scam: Mobe app stalks victims then emails booby-trapped bogus speeding tickets

Nice to see

That someone on the internet has an actual business model

Linus Torvalds wavers, pauses … then gives the world Linux 4.5

Re: Steady as she goes

Yup - The latest rev of KDE makes me very very sad

Looking for a non-gnome replacement, but ...

Obama puts down his encrypted phone long enough to tell us: Knock it off with the encryption

Here's a thought...

Given how devout the US Clergy Politicians present themselves to be

If you need to decipher something ask ${deity} for the key, If ${deity} gives you the correct key the person was ${evil} if not they're innocent

Simples

Behold, Microsoft SQL Server on Linux – and a firm screw-you to Oracle

DB2 for the win?

Damnit, where did I put those FoxPro diskettes

Powerbuilder maybe?

<Icon=oldFart>

GCHQ: Crypto's great, we're your mate, don't be like that and hate

Re: Goodwill GCHQ ?

Goodwill?

<voice=blade_runner_narrator>

The various government organs have burned through whatever little goodwill they had left

Overreaching councils snooping on your bins or police "just checking up" on neighbours, ex wives/husbands. Security agencies drag-netting all cell & internet comms (but its ok cuz it only meta data)

All because the ${badGuys} and ${boogyMen} will get us.... Won't somebody think of the ${emotionalHotButton}

</voice>

Mines the one with the meds in the pocket

Microsoft joins Eclipse Foundation. Odd thing for a competitor to do

Re: Oh. Woo. Yay.

I'm old enough to remember when IBM was the evil monster that all and sundry went out to slay.

MS in those days were the plucky upstart, my how things have changed.

And will again no doubt.

Blah Blah blah ... I don't care! To hell with your tech marketing bull

Re: @Long John Brass - I can haz electrolytes

> Only after you manage to get the rest of the operations team fired.

Out of a cannon? Or will a stint in the tape safe do?

I can haz electrolytes

Because DevOps

So If I read that right, If I implement Puppet/SaltStack/etc a dash of source control to manage my infrastructure, then I'm a DevOps not a SysAdmin any more?

Microsoft has made SQL Server for Linux. Repeat, Microsoft has made SQL Server 2016 for Linux

> they tend to come from someone trying to run a big DB on inappropriate hardware

With sufficient thrust pigs fly just fine

Mountains of madness found on Pluto's Cthulhu Regio

This pleases me more than I would like to admit

“a mountain range located in southeast Cthulhu that’s 260 miles (420 kilometres) long.”

South-east Cthulu?! This is a place!?

Just too awesome for words

Raspberry Pi celebrates fourth birthday with fruity version 3

Re: Whichever way you slice it

@Someone_Somewhere

> there isn't enough RAM to do anything sensible with it

Oh I don't know, I have one Model2 running the SimpleMetal printer via OctoPrint and an old 256MB modelB running SimH which runs RSTS, RSX11, rt11 and VaxVMS

That is 3 PDP/11's and a VAX off one old ras-pi

Re: programmable means i can use itself to program it

@BurnT'offering

> So I can't interest you in some fresh punch cards?

Why yes, that would be marvellous!

I'll take two decks please

Your xenophobia is killing us, Silicon Valley warns US Congress

It's a brave new world...

We've always been at war with Eurasia Eastasia

European Space Agency lights up new Australian antenna

Re: New Norcia

I thought it was where you found norcs... The nice ones at any rate :)

TTIP: A locked room, no internet access, two hours, 300 pages and lots of typos

Welcome

Welcome EUisians to the the hell that the APACians are living in.

One day Corporatism will be mentioned in the same section of the dictionary as Fascism, Communism etc under the section that reads "Turns out THAT was a bad idea" or "-Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself."

But until then I for one welcome our new corporate overlords... Oh hell who am I kidding.

Private clouds kinda suck, you know?

Re: Also Confused

> So what's a private cloud then? Someone else's computer that you own?

Yes, exactly