Posts by James Hughes 1

Linus Torvalds goes back to a mechanical keyboard after making too many typos

The 400 also uses the improved keyboard.

Back online after 'catastrophic' attack, 4chan says it's too broke for good IT

Re: Explain please

Have you really never heard of 4Chan? Or used Google?

CVE program gets last-minute funding from CISA – and maybe a new home

Re: No more Euro freeloaders!

Did you miss the bit about playing devil's advocate?

Re: No more Euro freeloaders!

Interesting take. To play devil advocate, Microsoft/American SW companies in general make a lot of money out of the rest of the world, and generate many of the CVE's. Why should the rest of the world pay to track CVE for America's buggy software? Perhaps the funding should be in relation to the number of CVE based on country of origin? If US has 75% of the CVEs, then they should pay 75% of the cost? Does anyone know the percentage figures for CVE country of origin?

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

Re: Lotsa lookups

Why are you incrementing the counter?

Raspberry Pi Power-over-Ethernet Injector zaps life into networks lacking spark

Re: Buy a poe splitter

Be careful with splitters, some have terrible design faults. We did some testing on one particular make and on startup it spiked at over 9v (should be maximum of 5 +-10% IIRC), which blows up the DA909x PMIC on the Pi 3/4/5.

5v5A is an optional feature on USB-PD so many PS don't support it. The latest Pi supply obviously does. And to head off the "Why not support higher voltages" question, it's a matter of board space and heat dissipation.

You need to tell the Pi it's being supplied with 5A with the appropriate config.txt entry if your PS can supply 5v5A. If its USB-PD, then check it can supply 5A at 5v, most cannot. 25W from the PoE is absolutely fine, in fact overkill for the 500 unless you have lots of high power USB devices attached.

Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller now available to mere mortals

Re: OK, but what are the practical applications?

The Javascript Generation?

Re: Bargain!

It always amazes me when people complain about the prices of silicon. These are extraordinarily complex things, made in fabs that cost billions of dollars, and yet, are actually cheaper than potato crisps which are grown in a field and fried in oil.

Trump says US should kill CHIPS Act, use the cash to cut debt

Re: As Trump said there is nothing he can do to make them happy or smile.

So, Trump is also shit at business? Who knew.

Re: Sooo

I accidentally got on their mailing list, cannot remember how, and can find no way to unsubscribe (didn't look that hard, time is money and delete button is quick). Some of the far right nonsense they send out is sickening.

Re: still blaming Biden

His brain will already have forgotten Obama.

Raspberry Pi launches CM4 variant that laughs in the face of frostbite

Re: Extended temperature

I've run the CM4 to 85 ambient, run `stress` on all four cores, and the CPU get to about 100degC, so has to throttle but still keeps going nicely.

Re: I wonder if...

I'd be interested to know how you got that information. Pi hasn't tested the devices to launch levels of vibration but have tested to railway level requirements, where they passed fine.

US Dept of Housing screens sabotaged to show deepfake of Trump sucking Elon's toes

I'd like you to provide a source too.

I want to know where all these millions of jobs are going to come from. Please note, they need to be roughly equivalent to the current pay levels of any sacked employees in order for the tax receipts to be roughly the same. i.e Not just jobs that miraculously appeared once you throw out all the illegal immigrants.

Why do younger coders struggle to break through the FOSS graybeard barrier?

I think we may have discovered why you have such a strange attitude. Microcontrollers are a multi billion dollar area, and if you don't know that, what do you know?

Trump tells Musk to 'go get' Starliner astronauts

Re: And here we go..

Then they see a Starship launch, and realise that a company isn't just its head, but a huge number of other people, actually run by someone who isn't Musk, and realise it ain't too bad.

SpaceX are a great company, with a head who has gone a bit off the rails. But it's still a great company doing great things irrespective of the guy in charge.

White House asks millions of govt workers if they would be so kind as to fork right off

Re: X barely breaking even

People have been saying its going to crash for years. Why hasn't it already done so?

The UK had Austerity, which is similar. And that has proven to be disastrous, with the government now trying to recover from years of underinvestment in the NHS, roads, and many other other public services. And there is no money to actually fix it.

DeepSeek isn't done yet with OpenAI – image-maker Janus Pro is gunning for DALL-E 3

Re: It's still all theft-based

Quite. These things learn (AIUI - could be completely wrong) in a similar way to humans - lots of repetition and lots of source data. Just faster. So the results are similar to what you might be from an average human trained on the same data. Do we accuse humans of theft when they draw a picture that looks a bit like someone else's picture? No, but copyright maybe infringed.

Same with text, there are only (according to Booker) 7 plot lines - so all books have their basis in those 7 plotlines, or are derivatives of those plotlines. Writers take those plotlines and build around them in their own style. Is it any different with AI?

Dunno, but it's all quite interesting.

DeepSeek limits new accounts amid cyberattack

The weakest model can run on a Raspberry Pi, apparently 200 tokens/sec.

How to leave the submarine cable cutters all at sea – go Swedish

Re: What a load of bollocks

Anyone with the handle "VoiceOfTruth" is certainly behaving in the exact opposite way, and has a massive dose of overexaggerated self importance.

The ultimate Pi 5 arrives carrying 16GB ... and a price to match

Re: What's wrong with RAM slots?

Cost of the connector, and memory interface on the SoC.

Raspberry Pi 500 and monitor arrive in time for Christmas

Re: Junk

Not sure why you got downvoted for this, it's completely correct.

The additional cost for the NVME components is actually fairly high. Its not just the board components, but a new casing with hatch, because splitting the case to fit the drive is a no-no for a consumer product.

Of course, there is no need for the NVME drive for many many use cases, the faster SD card capabilities of the 2712 SoC when combined with command queueing means that even with an SD card the device is very useable, and for most people good enough.

Re: re: I suspect that last one isn't particularly profitable....

Linux is literally the homebrew software holy grail, so I really don't understand what you are getting at there. You can write in whatever software you want, in whatever language you prefer, all for free.

Its not a touchscreen, although some people think that is a shame!

Using the CM5 makes the internals MUCH more expensive. A custom board is many many dollars cheaper, and this really counts at prices like this. Irrespective, this is clearly a major upgrade. 2 to 3 times performance is the real improvement.

Re: Off-grid computing

Yes, fully HDMI compliant, so EDID all present.

You missed an audience group.

Industry.

Pi sell over 70% of Pis to industry or commercial customers. Which is good, because those sales means the prices can be kept down for the other groups you mention (everyone pays the same price, which is often forgotten).

The Pi 400/500 are great thin clients. Do they need NVME? They are great replacement desktops for people who just use a browser to access the cloud? Does that need NVME?

Re: Off-grid computing

I'm biased, but I have been using the monitor on and off for a year, and really like it. The three mounting mechanisms work really well, and being able to power from the Pi or from a standard USB PS has made exhibition demonstrations much easier to do. I hope schools really like them.

Re: Pictures, pictures, pictures

Yes, I believe more keyboard layouts to come - awaiting all the compliance to be completed for the different countries.

Wubuntu: The lovechild of Windows and Linux nobody asked for

It's the only way to be sure.

Chinese engineers wire Raspberry Pi into 600-meter railway tunnel to find any holes

Re: Awesome

A Raspberry Pi Pico perhaps.....or is that what they actually used?

Ford CEO admits he drives a Chinese electric vehicle and doesn't want to give it up

No, the ICE doesn't power the wheels, it powers a generator. Which means the ICE is always running at optimal RPM/efficiency. Better than a hybrid.

Although the best efficiency is a small jet turbine, but the exhaust can melt the road.

Not too quick. Saving me a fortune. Although worth noting that all the EV charging at the office is supplied by the huge number of solar panels on the roof....and the spare goes to powering the servers.

And I just had a letter from the DVLA saying I now have to pay road tax. Bastards.

Re: The future is electric

You know what is hideously expensive? Protecting all our farming land and properties from rising sea levels (I live in the Fens, 2m above sea level, 30+ miles from the sea, an area that provides a LOT of food for the UK). That'll dwarf the costs of solar panels.

Re: Famous prediction

So what do we do when the oil runs out? This is a nonsensical take. ICE is way too polluting. If a better option turns up (like, what?) then good, but EVs are clearly the only option we have at the moment. H2 is a pipe dream.

Re: chargers that won't connect with the app,

The last service station charge I did was a "swipe card" job, didn't need a phone at all...which was annoying as I could have got a cheaper rate.

Re: Charging infra (in the US at least) is dying

"Nobody wants these cars"

Nonsense. I've got one, I doubt I will go back to ICE, EVs are SOOOO much better. Recent figures say they have over a 90% (maybe even 95) "I'll buy another one" rate, which is pretty good.

And worth mentioning, proper petrol head here, having built and raced ICE cars, and running a petrol powered Dad/Lad kart team. And have a garage full of Crossflow parts. I still think EVs are the way to go.

I suspect this is the more accurate take.

Re: :)

You are not unique, but then, neither are the people who can use EVs with no problem. I've had one for a few months now, it's bloody brilliant. Ridiculously fast (0-60 3.8s) and costs bugger all to run. I do have off-street parking, and a home charger, but usually charge at work (Free!!!). My 60 mile round trip commute is easy, the gadgets mean it's a relaxing trip in as the car follows the one in front.

The car has a 7-year warranty including the battery, so far no real issues (It keep forgetting my phone - needs a SW upgrade)

It's Chinese (but I think designed in the UK?)

So, what I am saying is, yes, there are loads of people (although a reducing number) for whom an EV might not be an option, but the corollary is that there are also many many people for whom an EV is an excellent option.

$180 for an overpriced, dubious SSD drive? Maybe don't join the USB Club

Nope, still no idea what this product is all about.

Linus Torvalds affirms expulsion of Russian maintainers

Re: PSA: This forum thread is flooded with Russian trolls

TBH, it's fairly obvious.

There are some good actors, but the rest....

Re: I personally feel sorry for the Russian people.

Is that lack of protest because they will immediately be put in prison for ten years, or worse, executed? I can see that being a disincentive.

Opening up the WinAmp source to all goes badly as owners delete entire repo

Re: Simplest solution

sed/fuck/feck/

Cloudflare beats patent troll so badly it basically gives up

Re: Well done Cloudflare!

Just out of interest, how would you class a piece of software that has subsequently been implemented in HW (e.g. ASIC)?

It's true, social media moderators do go after conservatives

Re: Brainwashed

Sad I can only downvote this once.

Re: Who is the judge ?

My thoughts exactly. Viruses are indeed small, but water droplets are their chosen form of commuter vehicle.