Posts by Geoff Campbell

Mixin suspends deposits and withdrawals after $200m cryptocurrency heist

When will people learn?

Pretty much the only lesson we can learn from history is that people never learn anything from history.

GJC

Getting to the bottom of BMW's pay-as-you-toast subscription failure

Re: don't forget - 2CV spark-plugs and *proper* BMWs

I understand, although I haven't experienced it myself, that one of the rear-engined Porsche models requires the engine to be removed to get to some of the spark plugs. Probably one (or more?) of the six-cylinder models, I guess.

GJC

Re: don't forget

However, they do pretty much all share a weird, failure-prone spray-bar oil feed to the cams, which very easily blocked up and resulted in a flat lobe on the cam. I've fixed that exact same fault on BMWs spanning something like 25 years of production.

GJC

Re: don't forget - 2CV spark-plugs and *proper* BMWs

R75/5 here, from 1973. Some excellent engineering for the time, and about the only vehicle on which I would ever countenance keeping the original points ignition, because it's so well made and reliable.

GJC

UK admits 'spy clause' can't be used for scanning encrypted chat – it's not 'feasible'

Re: No one would ever willingly let a complete stranger read all of your mail

If it's a private internal site, keep it private and internal. Set it up on a local web server, with access for people on the internal network. Remote access via VPN if required.

GJC

Bodhi Linux 7 brings Enlightenment to Ubuntu

Re: Tell me that Linux is never going to be a mainsteam option without telling me....etc.

RM380Z/480Z were both Z80. The 380Z ran CP/M, I'm not sure about the 480Z.

Where you *should* have picked Liam up was on his comprehension. In the late '80s, most well-spec'ed PCs did indeed have two floppy disk drives, one 5.25" the other 3.5", as we were in the change-over period to 3.5". That they also had hard disks was not covered in the original comment.

GJC

Have you ever suspected your colleague doesn't hope this email finds you well?*

Re: Stinking Bishop

Your colleague was quite obviously on a next-level wind-up of the entire office. I take my hat off to him!

GJC

Cops cuff pregnant woman for carjacking after facial recog gets it wrong, again

Re: Perhaps facial recognition isn't the issue

"Trust" does not mean what you apparently think it means.

If a small percentage of police officers are crooked, or incompetent, or insane, or possibly some combination of all three, then it becomes foolish to trust any police officer (and that counts double if you are female, or from an ethnic minority, or disabled, or...). Which places a responsibility on any individual police officer to demonstrate *very* early on in any interaction with the public that they are both trustworthy and competent. And I'm afraid to say, over the course of my life, I have not yet met one single police officer in an official capacity who understands this.

GJC

China's great CPU hope – Loongson – may be only four years behind Intel

One to watch

It has long been the case that early generations of challengers in any market are less capable than the incumbents. It has also long been the case that challengers sometimes win, by rapid iteration, understanding the market better than the incumbents, and very simply undercutting on price.

Still, that's never a guaranteed outcome, more often than not the challengers fail after a promising start. So, as I'm saying increasingly often these days, we will just have to wait and see what happens. I like saying this, because it seems to *really* wind up almost everyone, whether they are pro or anti. It seems not taking sides is the most radical stance one can have, in the modern era.

GJC

Indonesia blocks Musk's X.com over its X-rated past

Re: Don't do that.

Oh, sure, at the local and corporate level, that's cool - personal choice, user/employee/child/pet safety, whatever. It was specifically ISPs and other upstream organisations making those decisions for their entire userbase that I was referring to.

GJC

Re: Don't do that.

It will set a precedent that it is fine to block access to any domain that you take a personal dislike to. Which leads to massive fragmentation and tit-for-tat blockings. No good will come of it.

GJC

Re: "without a permit or inspection"

I commented elsewhere that you've got to have a certain sneaking respect for anyone who can wind up so many people, so consistently.

GJC

Don't do that.

That would be an extremely dangerous precedent to set, whatever your opinion of Musk.

GJC

"unable to access the site"

Well, they can still use twitter.com, which works fine, so the site is perfectly accessible.

GJC

Arc: A radical fresh take on the web browser

Re: Off topic

I have long held the view that organisations need to stop assuming that everyone knows how to use Word Processors and Spreadsheets, and get all new joiners onto a minimum of a day of training to show the basics like style sheets, outlining, and the use of formulae.

For some weird reason, this is very rarely well received, because every knows how to use WP and Spreadsheets, right?

GJC

'Weird numerological coincidence' found during work on Linux kernel 6.5

Re: New old sayings

Some decades at the sharp end of the computer industry has taught me that "exciting" is much over-rated. Give me "dull and boring", any day.

GJC

First of Tesla's 'bulletproof' Cybertrucks clunks off production line

Re: Going against the grain

Yeah, it's not a popular opinion, but I rather like it. Far too big for UK roads, of course, so I will never own one, but I think it looks good, and it's very durable.

I find it sad how many knee-jerk reactions are posted whenever it is mentioned. You don't like it? Cool, don't buy one. You don't have to pretend that your engineering chops are better than the whole of Tesla to justify that stance, as so many people do.

Down-vote away. I don't care, it's your own time you're wasting.

GJC

Almost all classic US video games 'critically endangered'

Re: Joysticks and other controls

You can get joysticks and other controls that are exactly the same as the ones fitted to arcade cabinets. For example:

https://shop.xgaming.com/products/x-arcade-tankstick-trackball-usb-included

I have one here, and it makes MAME so close to the original experience. Well worth the money.

I've not yet found a good rotary controller, but to be honest I've not tried that hard.

GJC

Tesla ordered to cough up data for Autopilot probe or face heavy fines

Re: Someone who has driven one

My Model S is a very early one (2014) with none of the driver assist features. No autopilot, no park assist, nothing to interfere with the steering. No, it's definitely something fundamental about the driving ergonomics going on here, but I'm buggered if I can work out what.

GJC

Re: Someone who has driven one

I wish it were that simple. I've tried everything.

GJC

Re: Someone who has driven one

That'll be me, then. Seven years and 90,000 miles in a Model S.

I am generally very good at parking. I've driven all sorts of cars over many decades, and pride myself on parking neatly and without fuss. And yet, even after so long in the Model S, I struggle every damn time. I have spent hours pondering over it, and to this day I have no idea what is going on. Some combination of the seating position, body shape, reversing camera, whatever, makes it hugely difficult to park straight and central. It's a standing joke in the Tesla owners' forums, too, so it's not just me.

GJC

EU antitrust team closer to full-blown Microsoft probe, say sources

Re: Same old Microsoft, same old games

OK, please cite some, then? File associations for PDF files are entirely down to the installation routines of the handling programmes, nothing to do with Microsoft at all.

GJC

Re: Same old Microsoft, same old games

I assume that the Chrome installation doesn't change the file association for PDFs, then. Easily rectified after installation, and nothing whatsoever to do with Microsoft.

GJC

Elon Musk's Twitter moves were 'reaffirming' says Reddit boss amid API changes

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

OK, thanks. That's a year and a half ago, v10.9. The current version is 11.4.4. Completely different software stack and learning model.

GJC

Re: Car shapes

I find it very interesting that the Reg readership is so unthinkingly tribal that they will downvote an obviously personal preference for car body shape. You lot need professional help.

GJC

Re: Car shapes

I rather like the lines of the Model S, even now a decade or so after it was first launched, but it's personal taste. Buy what you like.

GJC

Re: Predictions

I had plenty of people say that to me six months ago. Because I'm not a dick, I didn't make a list of people to go back and remind of their predictions. Maybe I should have.

GJC

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

No, I'm pretty sure that was a much older version. Post your sources, and we can all find out.

GJC

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

What about it? Have you been following the deployment of v11.4?

GJC

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

Not something I've ever seen, myself. And no, sadly, I have to work, so I'm not high.

GJC

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

Yup, your two points are the core of it. I understand they have already closed one of three existing data centres, and the services are all still running.

Where and how any future improvements are made is rather more nebulous, but the bottom line is that there is now someone at the helm with a proven record of cutting costs without sacrificing quality, and another one with a proven track record of making a profit from media companies, and a bunch of engineers under them who are used to making Musk's demands real. OK, those engineers work for companies other than Twitter, but that's just a paperwork problem :-)

As I said above, I'm not into making predictions about the future, I'm happy to sit back and see what happens. But I'm also not into jumping on the tribal bandwagon doing the "Musk is a prick, therefore Twitter will obviously fail" thing. Musk arguably is a prick, but he's a successful prick in multiple engineering businesses.

GJC

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

In the short term, advertisers still spending money, a small but solid base of paying subscribers, and a massive decrease in running costs, both on staff and other stuff like data centres.

In the longer term, the development of additional paid services (most notably subscriptions for content providers that Twitter take a chunk of), engineering solutions to further reduce running costs, and just generally having a business-focused leader who is good at process engineering and has a big pool of engineering talent to draw on.

And now, the downvotes and sneering will begin, of course. I don't care, you're only wasting your own time.

GJC

Re: I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it

Combination of things, but you're not really interested in a debate, are you? So, as I say, let's just wait and see, which is a perfectly valid option. Not everything has to be predicted.

GJC

Re: He needs an icon -->

Oh?

I'm happy to wait and see what happens at Twitter. Musk runs two of the most successful companies on the planet currently, and all the doomsayers who confidently predicted that Twitter would collapse a month after the takeover, then three months after the takeover, then six months, have been wrong. I suspect that Twitter has a profitable future ahead of it, whatever you think about the direction it has taken.

GJC

Virgin Media email customers enter third day of inbox infuriation

Virgin Media Down

Very few people know that that is their full name.

GJC

Time running out for crew of missing Titanic tourist submarine

Re: As Many News Organisations Have Pointed Out

We'll probably never know, but I wonder what happens if one of the passengers has a panic attack and freaks out in such a confined space? I wonder what the psychological assessments were like prior to departure?

GJC

Re: Well, they're dead

Upvoted for the detailed and interesting information, rather than for the (undoubtedly correct) conclusion drawn, obviously.

GJC

Re: Hull integrity

I read that the integrity monitoring was acoustic, they had embedded microphones listening for the sound of damage occurring. Which sounds dumb to me, at least as your one and only mechanism, but what do I know?

GJC

The ZX81 finally gets the keyboard it deserves

Re: Well...

Yeah, but we showed 'em, in the end, didn't we? Guys? Didn't we?

GJC

Re: Well...

3D Monster Maze, on the other hand...

GJC

UK smart meter rollout years late and less than two thirds complete

Time-of-use tariffs

"Somewhat discounted" being 7.5p/kWh on Octopus, for six hours every night. Charge your car, load-shift the big stuff like tumble driers and washing machines into this time (but do make sure they are in good condition before you do this) and you will save loads. My last bill, the average unit price was 17.1p, and that was with little use of the car.

GJC

Lenovo Thinkpad Z13 just has this certain Macbook Air about it...

Re: USB

The reason I asked should be clear now - you are having a different conversation to the one I am having, and I wanted to make sure that was the case.

Yes, for normal day-long operational use, absolutely go for the nicest, most powerful USB-C hub that you can find and afford. I was addressing the situation in the article, where you need to get the laptop configure and running, you are probably not in your home office, and you need to get it talking to the outside world as a one-off exercise as part of the installation process. For that, a USB-C to USB-A converter is the absolute right tool for the job.

Clearer?

GJC

Re: Windows repair?

Yeah, it does that. Over the years, I must have created hundreds (maybe even thousands, who knows?) of Windows recovery partitions, not one of which I have ever used :-)

GJC

Re: USB

That's six quid for two units. Last time I bought any they were four quid for two, hence my initial estimate.

GJC

Re: USB

Last time I had to buy one they were north of fifty quid, so that's certainly a bargain.

GJC

Re: Yup

Damn, missed CP/M and MS-DOS off the list. Excised for the sake of mental health, probably...

GJC

Re: Yup

<shrug>

I have worked with computers for 40 years. I've used pretty much every OS out there, and will happily work with anything that fits the requirements in front of me at the time - my current estate covers Windows and three flavours of Linux (all of them on our own hardware, plus AWS, Azure and VMware), some MacOS, some OpenBSD. In the past I've used VMS, various other flavours of Unix, OS/400, all sorts of weird minicomputer and PC server OSs the names of which have mercifully vanished from my memory.

Yes, it's a bias. That it matches your bias doesn't make it any less so.

GJC

Re: Windows repair?

I've never understood the purpose of Windows Repair. I fiddle around loads, and routinely break things - all part of the fun of computers. And when I break things, I reach for the installation media, delete all partitions, do a fresh install, and restore data from backups. In the modern era, on any kind of competent machine, it takes about 30 minutes, I get that might be longer if you have some more esoteric applications with odd installation requirements.

A fringe benefit is that fresh installs work *way* better than machines that have suffered in-place upgrades for the last four versions of any OS, but especially Windows.

GJC