Posts by David 132

Debian 12.9 arrives, quickly followed by MX Linux 23.5

Re: timeshift

Ahem.

Linus Torvalds offers to build guitar effects pedal for kernel developer

Re: Guitar effects? Cue the music!

I saw the Wurzels perform live in the courtyard of a pub in Swindon about 14 years ago. Wonderful night, with cider & pork baps on sale as refreshment. They didn't perform The Combine Harvester in its original form - some mumbling about a performance rights issue or something - so we got the 2001 Remix version instead which has a charm all of its own.

A friend of mine stood there through the whole performance with an expression that said "is this what Humans refer to as 'fun'?" on his face - clearly puzzled as to why we'd dragged him along.

Proper job!

Re: There are only so many ways of clipping a signal.

Now I have a lovely vision of the Apollo circuits being entirely composed of interchangeable Denshi blocks :)

Boeing going backwards as production’s slowing and woes keep flowing

Gratuitous plug here for the book "A Higher Call" which narrates a real-life incident in the later stages of the Second World War, when a Bf-109 pilot encountered a very, very swiss-cheesed B-17 barely limping through the air over Germany, and - in defiance of orders - escorted it out of Axis-controlled airspace, with the bomber subsequently landing in England.

The incident was hushed-up for decades afterwards; for obvious reasons, the German pilot didn't tell his superiors what he'd done. On the Allied side, the American crew of the B-17 were sworn to secrecy; essentially, USAF/RAF high command didn't want their pilots to assume that if they got into trouble, they could rely on the mercy and humanity of any intercepting Luftwaffe pilots.

The story only came out years later, when the captain of the B-17 met the German pilot at a reunion, and they became firm friends for the rest of their lives. The book is well worth a read; the author frames the incident with the back-story and war experiences of both the B-17 and the Messerschmitt pilots.

Sonos CEO steps down after smart speaker app upgrade hit bum note

Re: $7,500 a month

I believe the appropriate response in this case is:

"D'oh!"

...but I wouldn't say that because I am well-bred. Still, I toast your contribution.

Even modest makeup can thwart facial recognition

Re: "However, gait recognition is becoming quite powerful..."

...and was offered a role on the Anglo-French silly walk project - Le Marche Futile!

Absolute Linux has reached the end – where to next?

Re: I'm old enough to remember

As long as you weren’t responsible for the infamous Amiga Format “Type Some Shit In Here” subheading incident :)

(referenced here)

Re: Not for me anymore.

Best possible reason for UEFI - Booting straight to Nyan Cat!

Re: I'm old enough to remember

> on a 16mb P200 with 1.2gb of RAM […] I don’t remember any performance issues…

No, with 1.2 gigs of RAM I don’t suppose you would. Although the paging and trickery necessary to get a P54CS Pentium to address that amount must have been impressive :)

Re: I'm old enough to remember

I still remember a friend in my hall of residence at York Uni, circa 1995, showing us his new 1 Gigabyte hard drive. Why, it seemed practically to glow, like a sacred artifact from Indiana Jones, and we all marvelled at how he would ever, ever fill it.

These days, of course, I mothball or even throw out perfectly working drives in the Terabyte range because they’re too slow or won’t fit in a chassis.

UK prepared to throw planning rules out the window for massive datacenters

Re: "an overly complex planning system that has lacked clarity"

> Too low for a sheep to graze...

...but ideal height for Haggis to graze under, whilst being protected from aerial predators.A perfect ecosystem.

Re: Curious? Not really.

What amuses me is when new solar and - especially - wind farms are built, to hear the solemn undertakings from the owners that they'll be responsible for cleanup/disposal/restoration costs at the site's end-of-life.

"Yes", they say, trying hard to suppress sniggers and with their fingers crossed behind their backs, "in 30 years' time we'll pay to haul away these turbines, we'll pay to remove the giant concrete pads each one sits on, and we'll pay to restore the site to its previous pristine beauty."

In reality - and correct me if I'm being too cynical - when that day arrives, the company will have been sold, taken over, or gone into liquidation, and all those commitments will mysteriously no longer be the responsibility of the present asset owners.

And as for restoring the land to its former beauty? "Hey, look, a post-industrial site with lovely views of more countryside! It's brownfield! That means we can put 2500 Luxury Executive New Build homes on it!"

Grrr.

Miscreants 'mass exploited' Fortinet firewalls, 'highly probable' zero-day used

Re: Question

Or a Finglonger.

They've only gone and made Doom run in a PDF file

Re: In the far distant future...

> Because everything in Archeology is put down to a ritual if they cant work out a practical answer...

…or that other go-to explanation, “a fertility cult”.

Intel, AMD engineers rush to save Linux 6.13 after dodgy Microsoft code change

A sad trombone, more like.

Celebrating when EVs went to the Moon with a Lego Lunar Roving Vehicle build

Re: "We asked Lego why it did not create a custom part for the dish"

Should I mention that I also have in my home office my 8865 kit, bought when it was first released?

Re: "We asked Lego why it did not create a custom part for the dish"

Fair point. It wasn't an Exclusive or, was it?

"We asked Lego why it did not create a custom part for the dish"

Noooo!

There are more than enough "custom parts" already. I miss the days when Technic Lego (and the other ranges) worked their wizardry with a comparatively limited stock of infinitely-repurposeable standard parts.

An example: the model of Shackleton's Endurance that was reviewed here recently. I noticed, and approved of, the fact that the designers used rack-and-pinion toothed pieces as "staircases" between the decks. The usual modern Lego way seems to be "let's mould a special staircase piece just for this one kit".

I still have my original 8860 Car Chassis model from 1980 - perched on a stand right behind me as I type this, in fact, although I admit I've had to replace the elastic bands that control the seat-recline and fanbelt mechanisms a few times over the decades.

Am I just being an old curmudgeon, or does anyone else agree?

Tongue-zapping spoons, tea-cooling catbots, lazy vacuums and more from CES

Re: I scanned the article quickly...

Actually, my first thought was that it was one of these!

Free-software warriors celebrate landmark case that enforced GNU LGPL

Re: Good

Actually, what I had in mind was the BSD licence - still FOSS but none of the pesky "do unto others and be nice" obligation of the GPL.

Re: Good

> Perhaps they have seen the light as they didn't appeal.

We can hope. The acid test will be whether they continue to use (L)GPL-licensed code in their products, or move to using building blocks licensed under more commercially-permissive terms. Fingers crossed that they don't draw from this experience the lesson that "GPL is too onerous" :(

Just when you thought terminal emulators couldn't get any better, Ghostty ships

Re: Head or Tail

I might have done - honestly, my recollection is all a bit of a Hayes...

Re: Kitty

Ah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves Calibre but struggles with its UI.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not one of those superficial form-over-function types who wants everything to be skeuomorphic or artfully pale-grey-on-white with vast areas of unused space. But Calibre's UI is unnecessarily awkward, which is a shame because it's such an amazing tool for converting and editing e-books.

Re: Emulators?

I never had any problem quitting vi. Helped by a local support group and weekly meetings, I've been clean now for ten years.

More seriously, the fact that the Ed editor on the Amiga shared many of the same interface paradigms as vi meant that when I encountered the latter, I wasn't completely blindsided (and yes, was able to figure out how to exit, and even use it productively too.)

I often use Cool Retro Term for preference - no, really - something about the amber text and scanlines puts me "in the zone" for terminal work. The CRT distortion, noise, flicker, and other visual effects are fun but perhaps not for long-term serious use :)

Yes, yes, I know. I am clearly weird and deranged and should be shunned.

Re: Head or Tail

I tried reading a file at 9600 once but quickly got baud.

Look for the label: White House rolls out 'Cyber Trust Mark' for smart devices

Re: 'Cyber Trust Mark '

Then let me be Frank with you - Shirley you can't be serious?

Short-lived bling, dumb smart things, and more: The worst in show from CES 2025

Re: making an essential appliance too damn complicated

> door closed and you have no idea as to what state the freezer might be in

Schrödinger’s Freezer?

Tired of begging, Microsoft now trying to trick users into thinking Bing is Google

Re: Moving on

Ah, so you’re a waffle man.

Re: Devious yet inept

Wandering somewhat off topic but have you seen the Jeep commercial from a few years ago with Bill Murray, reprising his role in Groundhog Day?

Here: https://youtu.be/P3qH4TKLP0c

Re: Devious yet inept

Indeed. The point I was trying and yet failed to articulate is that if someone tries to force a product on me - with popups, dark patterns, nags - I will in most cases refuse to use it even if it is actually useful, as a point of principle. Yes, the words "nose", "cut off", "spite" and "face" come to mind, but I am what I am. Bing could be the best search engine in the multiverse - spoiler, it isn't - Edge the best browser, and signing in with a Microsoft account could cause cherubim & seraphim to sound celestial trumpets... but I won't use them.

Is that you, Penfold?

Re: Zero innovation so they manipulate users.

Upvoted. With a 3 quatloos deduction for making the common typo “better […] that” vs. “better than” - which for irrational reasons I don’t understand, annoys me far more than other common typos (“lose/loose”, “rogue/rouge”, etc.)

Not your problem. I should probably seek help.

Devious yet inept

I can't speak for anyone else here, but my nature is such that I will use, or not use, something on its merits. If it does a better job than what I was using previously, I'll switch - BUT if someone tries to cajole/browbeat/trick me into using it - nope, I will rebel, kick sharply backwards, and make a point of not using it, because I dislike being manipulated. Other examples: Microsoft's constant nagging to use a Microsoft account to sign in; their tricks and wheedling to prevent me setting Firefox as my default browser; and their pushing of OneDrive.

Hmm, come to think of it, all those examples involve Microsoft. Maybe they're just more inept and unsubtle at manipulating me than other companies.

Japan's wooden satellite exits International Space Station

Re: Guidance?

...and a Poplar one too, judging by the number of upvotes!

Re: Satellite carpentry - a job of the future?

Or a space plane, possibly?

Or even easier, just glue a Tile™ or an Apple AirTag™ to the satellite and never lose it again, with the only requirement being as long as it's in bluetooth range of someone's phone.

On a related note, remind me, how "low" is "low Earth orbit"? Cos if we're talking 32' or less, this is definitely a viable solution and I are a rocket scientist and should get an award.

Microsoft declares 2025 'the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh'

Re: Insert smug grin here

Dunno if this helps, but I have found MusicBee to be a good iTunes replacement for managing my tunes collection - album art, lyrics, artist bio information and all - and although there isn't a native Linux version, it apparently runs well under Wine. Might be worth a look?

Re: When is Microsoft going to realise?

New Windows 11 slogan - “it’s not as bad as a rat’s anus”?

Re: Kicking and screaming

It’s also far from unheard of for this progression to occur over successive Windows updates:

-feature you don’t like can be turned off or bypassed with a button click

-> nope, but now it’s buried somewhere in Settings

-> no longer exposed in Settings but can be configured via Registry or GPOs

-> no known Registry keys; disabling the feature now requires arcane keypresses during setup and obscure & undocumented commands/switches

I’m thinking here primarily of the “set up Windows with a local account” functionality, but there are soooo many more examples.

A normal company, confronted with telemetry or anecdotal feedback that customers are turning off a feature, would re-think that feature, or at least make it better. Microsoft’s approach when confronted with such feedback, frustratingly, is to think of ways to stymie and block their customers from avoiding the feature.

>[1984] is a warning, not a guide!

Mmm. Could you tell various politicians & governments across the world that, please? They seem to have missed the memo.

Eutelsat OneWeb blames 366th day for 48-hour date disaster

Re: You would think....

Obligatory XKCD.

Re: Rocket Science

Thank you. Made the point that I would have made if I wasn't nervous that I'd missed some subtlety and would make a fool of myself. C#'s DateTime structure was precisely the one I was going to offer as evidence.

Re: Rocket Science

> But getting it right for all years as far as it is currently planned is really still easy.

Conversation circa 2097:

"Sir, we have an impending crisis. Many of our critical IT systems here on Earth-1 and throughout the Musk Galactic Empire will fail in just a couple of years time!"

"Why?"

"As far as we can tell, they were coded by - quoting job posting literature of the period - 'stupid junior programmers', who utterly failed to calculate the correct number of days for 2100."

(shocked pause)

"My goodness. This will make the reprogramming we had to do in '78 to account for the Great Collapsing Hrung Incident look positively trivial..."

December 31st is an entirely respectable day, and any smears you may have heard are a sordid & baseless tabloid fabrication.

(Yes, yes, I know the meaning of "smear" in this context, but allow me my moment of silliness...)

How the OS/2 flop went on to shape modern software

Re: Developers! Developers! Developers!

Also, the point that - forgive me if I've missed it - no-one's made here yet is that OS/2's ability to run Windows applications was both brilliant, and extremely dumb.

Brilliant, because it opened up an immediate catalogue of software to OS/2 users.

Dumb, because why would developers now bother to write a separate OS/2 version, when they could simply write for Windows - as mentioned above, with enthusiastic support from Microsoft - and have both the Windows and OS/2 markets? And so in the longer term, it guaranteed OS/2's irrelevance.

Balmer was right about one thing - it really is "developers, developers, developers". Forgive me if I don't leap around the stage and scream that, though.

Shackleton's Endurance sets sail for polar peril in Lego

Re: The Joy of Assembling

…and the Swede might offer you some Surströmming, the ambrosia of the Gods (…I typed with a straight face…)

Re: And then there's...

I, too, had Denshi blocks. I remember buying the kit to upgrade the Gakken EX “frame” with a voltmeter-type gauge in place of its original blanking plate (ie EX-150 spec).

Thanks for the memories.

Tech support warrior left cosplay battle and Trekked to the office

Re: What's the weirdest outfit you've worn to a tech support job?

And good on you for wearing full leathers.

My brother, in his wild and carefree youth, was a keen biker, and sometimes grumbled about how hot and uncomfortable his leathers were on summer days.

Well, two incidents convinced him to endure a little discomfort!

The first was him piling at 60mph into a tractor and muck-spreader that turned out from a field onto the road straight in front of him. Weeks in hospital, surgery, metal plates in various bones, but he made a full recovery - no small thanks, the surgeons told him, to the kevlar reinforcement in his outfit.

After that, he found new purpose and pursued his first love - medicine, starting by volunteering with the St John's Ambulance, and progressing from there. Part of this involved him working stints in the A&E ward of the local hospital, where he saw with his own eyes the result of young lads coming off their bikes at speed clad in only T-shirt and jeans.

I believe the term used in that situation is "meat crayon".

My bruv never, ever again went out on his bike without full leather armour.

How a good business deal made us underestimate BASIC

Re: A generation of gray-haired IT folks

You bastard. You owe me a new keyboard and possibly monitor for the effect that mental image had on me - see icon --->

:)

Also @Fruit and Nutcase - if they did, and such a transplant was performed on me, I suspect I'd end up looking like Cousin It. There is no shortage of donor material.