Posts by Ian Entwistle 81 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Aug 2008
Stood in the middle of Tesco on the phone walking a friend in India through a particularly nasty issue to do with internal security certificates on a WebSphere Application server NDM deployment, visualising the console GUI and even moving my fingers as if they were the curser to keep my head "in the zone". yep, you do get stared at and no I didn't care as I was on decent £££ for it ( that 20min call paid for the weekly shop and a nice bottle of whiskey to celebrate )
Today happens to be the 12 year anniversary of my Filco Majestouch Ninja KB.. still performing flawlessly and has seen me through many a major incident alongside my trusty Logitech Cordless optical Trackman... All safely transported between locations in my 25 year old Dell Leather Laptop bag.. all three of these I fully expect to see me long past retirement..
Bought the missus a TT device a number of years ago, it came badged with Lifetime Maps, that's great me thinks, as long as device works and I can connect it to the PC it will always have the latest version, only it doesn't because they decided that that device is no longer supported and cant possibly take the new maps they are producing. They of course offer me an amazing offer of 30% off a new device with you guessed, Lifetime Maps...
Waze/Gmaps and android auto it is then...
he reminds me a lot of my dad ( who would be 101 today and who fought in WW2. I also got a lot of history of my grandparents one of who was in WW1 and I have his war records. He had a club foot so wasn't allowed to fight but came back weighing just 6 stone and suffering from what we now call PTSD.
i know but its his work, his choice, in some ways I think its more to have something to keep his mind sharp although there is a very distinct smell of conspiracy theorist about him. I'm hoping when the time comes to persuade his daughters that it would be better legacy to publish it and I would be happy to make that happen.
I help and old chap ( 92 YO ) who has spent most of the last 50 years collating, correcting, updating ww1 war records for a particular battalion that was wiped out in a day or so. It was originally digitised in Word Perfect ( he even still uses the keyboard with the extra function keys including diagonal "cursor" keys) and he refuses to update it to anything more modern in software, I've been trying for 20+ years. So we keep him going by regular backups and begging old kit so when stuff dies as has happened a few times over the last few years we hack together a "new" old machine for him. We tried using a Virtualbox image on new kit, he couldn't get his head round it. so old machines, old software ( win 98 ) all running isolated from internet just for this purpose. We are also under firm instructions to destroy the records when he dies as there is a character who has previously stolen some of the work which they had published in a single book in our local library and published it commercially claiming credit. it kills me that all that work might just be electronically shredded into oblivion.
I'm with you... the amount of people i help on the basis that some day I might need their help , its better to have one or two favours already in the bank. plus if it wasn't for people giving time willingly would i have a nice shiny Linux OS to use ? There is more in life than money..
if only they would support the old blackberry kit like my old passport which was an amazing productivity tool. now its all been turned off I cant see BBerry having an issue? the only problem is that key in the secured boot side, surely they should open source that stuff now the phones are effectively paperweights...
One thing i instill in all the juniors I mentor is always always be in control of your own destiny when making a change on production systems, never rely on the infra backups being fit for purpose, never assume anything you haven't seen with your own eyes or done with your own fingers is there, even then be sure that you have copied what you think you have. Being able at very worst to just be able to put everything back how it was and walk away for another day is the key to a happy techie.
Optical trackman user here, had it so long I cant actually remember when i first got this but it was the replacement for a Microsoft trackball ( also finger driven ). realising I couldn't find another finger driven one for sale currently i kept an eye on fleabay and gumtree for them, as has been said they went for daft money( i saw 450 for an unopened one once) until one day a second hand shop in Glasgow posted one on gumtree for 30 quid... so I have one at home and one at work ( when i ever get back there... )
To compliment this I have a Filco Majestouch Ninja keyboard with the tiny letters on front of keycaps. No one ever tries to " take control" of my machine locally, only ever by remote access now :)
I do always wonder why IT professionals who typically earn good money in their majority use the cheap nasty basic kit that comes with equipment. Mechanics spend fortunes on tools, tradesmen buy decent quality tools, to us surely the KB and rodent are our tools that we interact with so having decent quality is a sensible thing making our physical effort as comfortable as possible.
Have you looked at Andronix? i have Ubuntu running nicely on my key2 with "reasonable" performance. ( Key2 is not a stunner compared to some other android devices). with a BT keyboard I could see a S10/20/Note10 being a very useful device if you don't mind the two bits aspect.
You will have seen above my cosmo is dead, it replaced a KeyOne and has been replaced by a Key2..
in terms of device, the cosmo is a different beast to do a different job. Whilst the KB on the 2 is good for most stuff I do the cosmo was capable of far far longer typing sessions than I'd like to do on the 2.
software wise the cosmo was OK for me, I had the odd quirk but as a techie i sort of guessed I'd be beta tester at best. it was fast enough and generally worked well once we'd sorted an autorotate mechanism for the few apps that prefer it.
so the q is what do you want it to be, a fancier Key2 or a scaled down laptop. former stay where you are for now to see how the Astro goes, latter jump right in.
+1000, back in 2005 I "invested" in one of the first ever megapixel ( well 1.3 ) camera phones a sanyo m570. the reason, was we'd just had our daughter and whilst I had a great camera I knew I'd always have my phone and I have hundreds of OK, not great quality pictures but i HAVE pictures that I wouldn't have if I'd set myself only to use my camera.
I take my ZX81 and VIC-20 when i do STEM events ( careers fairs, talks about careers in general, early days computing talks etc ). I find them great Ice breakers and the kids are amazed we could do stuff with so little RAM etc. when you explain tuning the TV in to see the screen you just get blank stares...
Still reckon it was THE best 50 quid I ever spent as I now have a great career that I love that pays far more than the "teacher" option that I was expected to follow.
Thanks Sir Clive!!!
Filtering is perfectly legal here in the UK, in fact during a bike test if you fail to filter when its safe to do so you fail for lack of confidence in your ability. As per original comment though even if said biker was doing something he shouldn't that doesn't give self driving cars the right to hit him... it is in situations like this where the gap it was going for is no longer a safe option yet abandoning the move leads to an accident that is the hard bit of programming as you have to now make a difficult choice, if in the case both would end up with a casualty which one do you want the computer to choose?
"And the Blighty weather is unlikely to hammer the aircon very often."
More likley to batter the heating/wipers/lights/heated seats/etc... plus batteries don't work as well in cold weather so I suspect that range will drop more
With the new Leaf expecting to be near 200 mile range ( in optimum conditions) by the tuime we get RHD models I suspect the competition will have passed the current range spec of the Tesla
( I have driven a P90D and loved it as a vehicle, it was just an absolutely stupid amount of money)
I do 120 miles a day round trip to the office and have done for 20 years... yes I could have moved closer except for the facts I have an elderly mother that needs looking after, all my friends and family are here, its MUCH cheaper to buy a nice house in a nice part of town here than near where I work, I have gorgeous countryside on my doorstep, the seaside less than an hour away. The people are friendlier and if I do for some god forsaken reason want to shop in a city I have a choice of the three major northern cities within an hours drive in my 5 litre twin turbo V10 dino powered monstrosity that averages a nice easy 35 mpg cruising at the legal limit...
I could choose a tiny engined car and sit two hours in a noisy, tin box or I can pay a tad more and sit in total luxury for that time being massaged on the heated//cooled seats in double glazed quiet with a superb stereo to chill out to... you pays your money and makes your choice but its not always about £ s d....
The thoughts of say riding a tube at rush hour.... nah, as they say, some things are worth every penny..
I'm with you having just "regressed" from a VW Phaeton with more control systems than can possibly be healthy to a old shape C70 Cab... IMHO all in car tech should be well segregated from the actual functionality of being a car. I use a Logitech Zerotouch to allow me to control music, start navigation, share location with the missus if running late, send/hear text/email/whatsapp etc if I want, instigate phone calls, yada yada. The music/audio is streamed through the excellent in built Dolby pro logic system via a bluetooth adaptor so I don't even need to hack the car with an aftermarket Halfrauds special disco delight.
All the "connected stuff" you could want in a car that can be fixed as and when needed ( currently on 142K miles and increasing at 2.5k/month) without taking out a second mortgage.
I love(d) my Passport and despite them having a Android build for it they will never release it unfortunately. I'd even be happy to pay a £20 "Google Tax" if necessary to switch mine to Droid life.. As it is I use a Priv for my everyday device... I still prefer the format and keyboard on the PP though...
What you mean like the Blackberry Priv? large screen, secured Android, physical keyboard, or if you are slightly more brave and aren't a slave to Candy crush etc the Passport is an excellent piece of kit. I have one and can't right now think of a phone other than potentially a PRIV that Id swap for and even that I can't see the cost/benefit bit making any sense for me as the PP does everything I need.
The UK is a BIG place, of course every supplier will have good and bad spots, surely the sensible ones of us test where we need/want to use our phones the most and go with the best in those areas? e.g. I live in a small town in Lancashire, work in Cheshire and have a holiday caravan in Blackpool. Vodafone work best for me at home and work but are a tad intermittent at B'pool. So I have voda in my phone and an EE Mifi for the caravan... Its not exactly rocket science....
BB Passport... job jobbed, physical keyboard and it acts like a touchpad for positioning the edit box accurately and for scrolling without having your fingers all over the screen. .
I can't think the last time that I genuinely haven;t got my eye on some new model... this thing is the most productive, intuitive thing I'd owned by far. the hardware is still top spec and best of all the battery lasts two full days of serious use. Add in the Hub for productivity and you can keep your Androids and iphones... I'll stay here quite happily.
Any specific android apps and I can test them for you to check they work. it appears the only ones that have had issues for me are ones that care if its been rooted( Banking/SkyGo till i binned SKY/some bespoke work apps that demand non rooted).
I can heartily recommend the PP though, I thought i was taking a bit of a risk and it turned out to be best decision on a phone I made in a long time.
I've used Android from 1.6, bought a Passport to replace my Note 3 in Jan as I have always preferred a hardware keyboard and like others, suddenly I stop thinking about how to do stuff on my phone and just got on with doing it. The Passport has been a revelation to me and took me back to how I felt about my Nokia N900 before I switched to droid, that I have a device really focused on function/usability over fashion. I quite like the quirky nature of the device, the square screen, the HUB, the amazing battery life and most of all the truly awesome keyboard and track pad function. I only miss one app that I can't run from Droid land for my Banking and can make do with the .mobi site for that.
I do quite fancy having a play with the PRIV but in all honesty it will have to be significantly "better" than my PP for me to make the switch. Having a normal rectangular ratio is not enough for me, I care little for a curved edge as I always use a case which would cover it anyway. The hardware in itself doesn't appear to be much better than the PP which has never felt slow or lacking to me either. right now I'm feeling less inclined to want to throw X hundred quid at something no better at doing what I want it to than what I have already.
coming from a N900 to the Note via a Dell Streak I was looking forward to a decent screen res and the ability to use a stylus but its so inaccurate its a joke
in ebay gallery you click and image and either the one below or above opens.
I very rarely get the thing out now and yet it was one of the main differentiators when I was buying.
I love the size of the thing and it does most of my casual computing but I can burn a battery in half a day in decent use. it can as others say get extremely hot.
Manic Miner was out on VIC 20(with 16K RAM pack) as well. I still have mine along with my ZX81. The text adventure cartridges of the VIC wasted many hours of my youth(Adventureland, The Count etc). you seem to have missed Jeff Minters awesome collection of games, Matrix, Lazerzone, Attack of teh Mutant Camels, Revenge OTMC, etc.
you do have to wonder how they managed to get so much quality gameplay into so little memory, now each time I decide I want a quick blast of GT5 on my rarely used PS3 it downloads gigabytes of updates.... In fact it would be quicker to get my VIC out the garage and wait for it to load up Manic Miner from tape than it is waiting for GT5 to update! progress eh?
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