Posts by Baudwalk

GCC 13 to support Modula-2: Follow-up to Pascal lives on in FOSS form

Re: Had M2 become popular...

The year of the Penguin^W Walrus operator.

Microsoft reportedly mulls a does-everything 'super app' to expand mobile search

I actually ...

...quite like New Microsoft.

Windows 11 is visually a step in the right direction, IMHO, and their webby stuff works quite well in Penguin land too.

But to really win me over, they would have to disable all the ads for 365 subscribers.

Musk says spat with Apple over App Store ejection threat for Twitter was 'misunderstanding'

Re: Yes, but...

>>>if they try, we go all goudere on them......<<<

Mildly cheesy?

Apple forgoes cooling systems in M2 MacBook Air

What's crap about this one?

At my pre-corona employer I had an Air M1 to play with, and it was an absolutely amazing machine.

That kind of speed (including emulated Windows 3D games) in a fan-less laptop with instant (not just the near-instant seen on the best Windows laptops) wake-up, was fscking amazing.

When I left, was tempted to buy one for myself. I 100% would have if I trusted Apple to maintain the Rosetta Intel emulation layer for any length of time. Apple's track record didn't leave me with confidence in that regard, so I opted for a Ryzen 4700U powered HP Envy 13 convertible.

Predictive Dirty Dozen: What will and won't happen in 2022 (unless it doesn’t/does)

Re: "All office chairs are gaming chairs"

Forget about those crappy gaming <insert anything vaguely computing related>.

For a proper office chair (also good for extended gaming sessions, if you have that sort of time to spare), get a HÅG Creed 6002.

Pricey but built to last, and at least you don't look like you're using your teenage kid's chair in Zoom^WTeams meetings.

My older model is well over 20 years old and still as comfy as ever.

Your back will thank you.

How much would you pay me to develop a COVID tracking app that actually works? Ah, thought so: nothing

Is the place full of…

…data leeks?

New IETF draft reveals Egyptians invented pyramids to sharpen razor blades

As Pratchett himself wrote:...

..."A Pyramid, properly viewed as a device for manipulating time, doesn't so much keep a razor blade sharp as remind it of a time in its life when it wasn't blunt, and to make a suggestion that this would be a nice time to revisit, for just long enough to do Pharaoh's legs."

The Audacity of it all: Version 3.0 of open-source audio fave boasts new file format, 160+ bug fixes

Pretty it isn't...

...but i can't recall an audio editor that was, to be honest.

And with wxWidgets, at least it looks like a desktop application with clearly marked UI elements, rather than a web page where everything is a muddled together, indistinguishable porridge.

Blind man sues Dell over 'inaccessible' website

As a blind person writing and reading code, do you have any comments on how various programming languages' syntax translate to screen readers?

Any favourites or pet peeves?

Python Package Index nukes 3,653 malicious libraries uploaded soon after security shortcoming highlighted

C/C++ library discovery and building is...

...tedious.

But it's stories like these that make me love even these deficiencies of the C++ ecosystem.

It does mean reinventing the wheel more often than developers who exclusively code in Rust, Python, Go, Java, C#, JavaScript, Perl, Ruby, OCaml, Haskell, ... *sigh* (wipes tear away) *sniffle*

But at least the risc of catching, and distributing, something nasty is lessened.

Devuan adds third init option in sixth birthday release

Re: In other Linux news ...

I ran Slackware Current for some years.

It was the most stable OS, I've ever used.

But as it didn't come with a huge set of packaged applications, it did take more time to manage and keep current than most distros. Not helped by me compiling everything non-core from original sources.

The thing really was rock-solid, though.

When that PC needed replacing, general life had gotten in the way, so I went the way of the lazy and installed Debian.

Re: PulseAudio?

OSS was the Linux sound system when I started on the Righteous Path of Tux in '96.

There was some kerfuffle about 4Front and licence terms, and (IIRC, which I may very well not) that lead to the development of ALSA.

Linux developers get ready to wield the secateurs against elderly microprocessors

Re: what is linux good for?

As well as any PC with less than 8GB of RAM and/or a spinning rust drive.

I know. I've been a penguin botherer since '96.

Re: what is linux good for?

Well, large-ish embedded anyway.

Not the small stuff.

Re: what is linux good for?

Also nice on, funnily enough, Microsoft Azure servers.

The Nord N10 is OnePlus's cheapest 5G handset and, boy, does it show

Are 4GB...

... classified as "little" memory in a phone, these days?

Chr*st al-effin-mighty!

SW devs need to step back and... well, I would have said optimise, but if a phone needs 6GB of RAM to not be sluggish, it's beyond optimisation to fix, it's more like time to “unlearn what you have learned".

BBC Micro:bit with boosted specs and onboard mic to go on sale from next month

Re: Sadly

But you can have it scroll BOOBS across the 5x5 LEDS.

He was a skater boy. We said, 'see you later, boy' – and the VAX machine mysteriously began to work as intended

Rather than...

...reminding us that unlikely named "Ethan" is a pseudonym, why not use more natural names like "Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel"?

Better Java than Java: Kotlin 1.4 introduces new compilers for JVM and JavaScript

Kotlin itself is quite nice...

...but getting the exact incantations right for including some of the popular dependencies is pure hell.

Kotlin and even Java itself these days are actually pretty nice languages (Clojure is better, IMHO), but Gradle is a big no. Just No!

Even the C++ ecosystem's way of tracking down, downloading and building by hand each library feels less onerous.

Can AI-enhanced virtual sports presenters do the job? It's a big ask

Ananova...

...?

How did I miss that phenomenon?

The only Ana Nova I remember, was an actress, the IMDb blurb on DuckDuckGo assures me starred in some health video involving colonic yoga.

Re: To be fair...

Underfloor heating takes a while to, well, heat up.

Snakes on a wane: Python 2 development is finally frozen in time, version 3 slithers on

'Tis but a scratch! ...

... Just a flesh wound.

We live so fast I can't even finish this sent...

>>>However, I think you might be missing the point<<<

Surely better than missing the bowl.

How do you ascertain user acceptability if you keep killing off the users?

Launching vegetables...

...at the missus?

Unlike self driving cars, you're aiming for that 100% assured fatality rate, I see.

BOFH: I'd like introduce you to a groovy little web log I call 'That's Boss'

intestate...

... no balls?

'No more room for wars in the new world'? Who are you and what have you done with Microsoft?

I was...

...thinking more along the lines of the Borgias.

(Lovely people.)

With Oracle...

...doing everything they can to cast doubt on Java's future, Microsoft don't even need to play dirty anymore.

And .NET Core 3 is actually pretty good.

Also, my utter hatred of JavaScript means Blazor looks damn tempting.

The OS is 'no longer' important to Microsoft, and yet new Surface kit has 3 Windows flavours

If selling Windows licenses isn't important...

...then could they please throw their weight, and insider knowledge, behind Wine.

Rather than running Linux programs in WSL, I'd much rather want 99.9% of Windows programs running on Linux without too much faffing about.

Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google told: If you could cough up a decade of your internal emails, that'd be great

Reminds me of Yes, Minister...

...

Sir Humphrey: "This file contains the complete set of papers, except for a number of secret documents, a few others which are part of still active files, some correspondence lost in the floods of 1967..."

Jim Hacker: Was 1967 a particularly bad winter?

Sir Humphrey: No, a marvelous winter. We lost no end of embarrassing files

Let's see what the sweet, kind, new Microsoft that everyone loves is up to. Ah yes, forcing more Office home users into annual subscriptions

It's still good value...

...IF you want cloud storage.

1TB OneDrive for you and 1TB each for 5 other family members.

I like DropBox' interface a lot more, but this price is damn hard to beat. And that's before adding in the Office pack for everyone, should they want it.

And with rclone, the Linux <-> OneDrive experience has been very nice for me too.

Could an AI android live forever? What, like your other IT devices?

>>>stay the hell away from me!<<<

Why?

Are you an android?

Windows 10 May 2019 Update thwarted by obscure tech known as 'external storage'

Re: Can we have a....

Have an upvote, but why the joke icon?

iOS 13 leaks suggest Apple is finally about to unleash the iPad as a computer for grownups

Well...

...I don't have an iPad, but when my son's Android tablet broke last year, some research revealed that the 2018 iPad was the best bang-for-the-€ gaming tablet around.

Apple's phones and, to a lesser extent, their OSX boxes are overpriced. Not so the non-pro iPad.

Surprisingly, to me anyway, I was able to actually open!!! the thing and fix it (so we still don't have an iPad), but not until I'd already done the research.

I used to be a dull John Doe. Thanks to Huawei, I'm now James Bond!

Have you seen a doctor...

...about that buzzing in your Wha-Hey?

Happy new year, readers. Yes, we have threaded comments, an image-lite mode, and more...

Re: Collapsible comment tree?

>>>So feature request logged<<<

And upvoted.

Tumblr resorts to AI in attempt to scrub itself clean from filth

Re: But I'm Canadian!

>>>Many years ago a woman named Gwen Jacobs fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to walk topless on Canadian streets during warm summer days.

She won, enshrining the principle that male and female nipples should be treated equally.<<<<

Truly, not all heroes wear capes.

Sorry friends, I'm afraid I just can't quite afford the Bitcoin to stop that vid from leaking everywhere

You must have vanilla tastes...

...in carnal entertainment, Mr. Dabbs.

My blackmailer wrote: "I am in shock of your fantasies! I've never seen anything like this!"

What's Big and Blue – and makes its veteran staff sue? Yep, it's IBM

Here's a thought...

...if IBM youngins are "more innovative and receptive to technology than baby boomers", it might have something to do with the IBM of yore, that your older minions persevered through, having had somewhat of a reputation for not exactly encouraging thinking outside the box, blue or otherwise.

You know, back when young-and-hip Microsoft (how times have changed) were having your lunch.

You know all those movies you bought from Apple? Um, well, think different: You didn't

You pretty much have to approach iTunes, Google Play, Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, …

... as you would Netflix and Spotify: You’re only renting the stuff.

When buying apps on Google Play, I do so in the full knowledge they may (and some do) stop working at any time.

But the prices have to match.

That’s also why I only buy heavily discounted games for my son’s Xbox. Luckily, like me, he’s not into the latest multi-player FPS, so that’s never been an issue.

Similarly, PC games I only buy from GOG.com. They don’t have the latest AAA titles, but I can find what *I* want to play. And I don’t have time to fit in on-line multi-player anyway, so DRM-free single player (or LAN/off-line multi-player) titles fit my needs perfectly.

Funnily enough, when games are removed for sale from GOG, they’re still left in the libraries of those who bought them when GOG did have them for sale.

No, seriously, why are you holding your phone like that?

Say Mr. Dabbsy, anyone ever tell you...

...your stubbly self looks a wee bit like Detective Miller from The Expanse?

GitHub given Windows 9x's awesome and so very modern look

It looks old fashioned and...

...quite frankly a bit ugly.

But, at the same time much more easily navigated than the current everything-must-be-flat-and-indistinguishable design language.

The "commits, branches, ..." bit needs to be tabs too, though.

Personally, my idea of peak pretty AND functional desktop GUI design was one of the KDE 3.x themes (can't remember the name).

IBM fired me because I'm not a millennial, says axed cloud sales star in age discrim court row

"Our leaders wear jeans"...

...Seriously?!?

>>>"IBM has devoted countless millions of dollars to its effort to rebrand as a hip, millennial-centric tech company,"<<<

Those guys are so unhip, it's a wonder their bums don't fall off.

(With apologies to President Beeblebrox.)

Git365. Git for Teams. Quatermass and the Git Pit. GitHub simply won't do now Microsoft has it

I'm just waiting for...

...SharePoint to be renamed to GitHub for Business.

MSDN unleashes a fresh round of unintentional innuendo bingo

I particularly liked...

... >>>The performance power slider controls knobs <snip> <<<

Microsoft loves Linux so much its R Open install script rm'd /bin/sh

Still better than...

...InstallShield.

*shudder*

Microsoft tries cutting the Ribbon in Office UI upgrade

Re: Stop complaining

Give me WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, updated with support for the clipboard, arbitrary console window dimensions and long file names.

GNOMEs beat Microsoft: Git Virtual File System to get a new name

IntelliFile

System

Electron patches patch after security researcher bypassed said patch

Re: What is Electron?

>>>yet has very little actual functionality.<<<

Little functionality, you say?

But with Atom, your syntax highlighting theme can easily make parts of your source (e.g. TODO comments) gently fade between different background colours.

And all that essential functionality for only an installed size of 715MB!

Tesla inches toward GPL compliance in low gear: Source code forcibly ejected into public

Re: That'll scare them off

So be it.

If they willfully break the GPL, better to sue if need be, and scare them and their likes off in future, IMHO.

Otherwise, what's the point of the GPL?

Commercial vendors expect money for their product.

Contributors to GPL projects have a right to expect reciprocity in the form of source code.

That's the deal.

TANSTAAFL.

Except BSD, perhaps, but they didn't choose that for whatever reason.

Can't log into your TSB account? Well, it's your own fault for trying

I’m with you...

...on Baron Munchausen. Gilliam’s best, IMHO.

As for French flicks, few seem to know about, but should, may I nominate quirky action comedy “Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec“ and arty-farty “Le Scaphandre et le papillon”?