* Posts by Roland6

12429 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Apr 2010

UK dumps £2.5 billion into fusion pipe dream that's already cost millions

Roland6 Silver badge

Nuclear energy has been “successful”, however, it’s not lived up to the 1050s hype…

I expect fusion to be similar.

Plus we can expect Westminster politicians, full of their particular party’s’ economic beliefs to look the gift horse in the mouth and stitch up UK taxpayers and businesses.

But I do agree, we should be investing and believe by doing so we increase our chances of having a better future.

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Re: Rewrite needed

>” £2.5bn over 7+ years”

A key point missing from the article.

Perhaps we need a fusion levy on big energy users eg. Data centres and AI.

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Re: @juice

>” Except we banned fracking and with prices coming down the price doesnt thanks to the UK market being structured to make unreliable forms seem viable.”

Fracking is largely a waste of time, due to the high energy costs, which are trending towards 1:1 (put in one barrel of oil to produce one barrel…)

In the UK once you crunch the numbers fracking is all about economic activity and wealth generation for a few, it is totally unable to produce the amount of product we consume for any significant amount of time. I seem to remember total UK frackable gas reserves were sufficient to supply 100 percent of UK demand for 2 years, in reality it was more like 5% for 10 years.

Yes, currently other than oil and gas, nuclear is our only viable fuel for guaranteed energy, shame once you look at world energy consumption, you will find there isn’t that much Uranium around…

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>” The UK has the fourth highest domestic energy costs in Europe”

Given the sums of money being thrown at fusion, it does look like we are aiming the top spot. As I don’t see the cost of building and operating a facility capable of generating the massive amounts of energy we need cheaply.

Also once fusion is viable, expect private business to step in and charge “market rates” for the product…

>” So none of them are going to get us out of this hole.

We need something new. And fusion is currently the main candidate.”

Fusion isn’t going to get us out of this hole; fusion is investing in a lottery ticket - we might get lucky, but the odds are we won’t. So in the real world we need to be looking elsewhere to help us get out of the hole rather than expecting the lottery to get us out.

UK unis to cough up to £10M on Java to keep Oracle off their backs

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Given (too our knowledge) only humans are commenting, and we know AI hallucinates; are labels such “ChatGPT”, “Co-Pilot” simply flags to indicate what follows is something “I’ve made up in the style of a chatbot”…. So the real issue going forward isn’t determining whether some work is or isn’t human, but whether what is claimed to be “AI” output is in fact AI generated…

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Re: Students don't have to be paid for

>” Arguably if a "personal" device is running an enterprise licensed version of, say, Word then that doesn't fit their criteria and suddenly... whammy.”

And given they are running academic 365…

US Navy backs right to repair after $13B carrier crew left half-fed by contractor-locked ovens

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> Sod that, Ride of the Valkyries and helicopters would be much better

That’s the engineer collection service…leaves no doubt, we’re coming to get you, no point trying to avoid this assignment…

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> Those who don't report will be court-martialled, and sent to Guantanamo.

Surely, it s have their US citizenship rescinded and sent to Trump’s El Salvador detention centre. Because why would a true American not support their country?

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Surely, as this is the US navy, they should be forcefully chaperoning the field service engineer(s) to wherever the vessel is in the world (*), its not like the engineer is at risk: remember all the performers who entertained the troops in Vietnam…

(*) Delivery of said engineer can include Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning style of submarine link up.

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Re: UK's F35 engines

Not totally kicked off until 2022:

Turkey to keep making F-35 parts through 2022

Cisco president says dredging coding syntax from wetware memory wastes engineers' expensive synapses

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Re: Thinking about Syntax

I think you and Jake’s later comment indicate what this is actually about: using people who are not skilled in the art of programming and more specifically fluent or confident in a language.

The trouble is being fluent in a language also means your thought processes are aligned and coherent. Which is going to give problems, just like translating English into German creates problems due to their different grammars.

So it would seem the intent of using AI isn’t really to free experts up to think, but to enable their replacement by less skilled people.

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“Imagine what would happen with AI companies if infrastructure was not scarce,”

What does this actually mean?

Field support chap got married – which took down a mainframe

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Re: Bah!

I kept my pear shaped ring and hung it on a necklace (I just had a jeweller repair the cut needed to get it off the finger). When asked about rings, I would show my scar and the deformed ring…

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Re: VAX field service engineers

> Bow ties are cool,

Particularly, when after a meal you can relax and undo it James Bond style, and so discover most of the people around you are wearing clip ties…

Roland6 Silver badge
Happy

From very early in my consulting career I learnt wearing a suit massively reduced the number of clients who expected me to deal with hardware issues or write programmes…

In my later career, I was grateful for the changing business dress code, I could replace the suits with more comfortable and cheaper clothes.

Tinfoil hat wearers can thank AI for declassification of JFK docs

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Re: when something is online is not a question of "IF" will get leaked but "WHEN"

>” exfil data to a "safe" offsite storage facility.”

I’m sure Putin and Xi Jinping would say their storage facilities were “safe” from US eyes…

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Re: Yes that AI really helped

Logic may not win, but the Trump-Epstein evidence suppression fact or conspiracy is entertaining and winding the Orange one up…

Peep show: 40K IoT cameras worldwide stream secrets to anyone with a browser

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Re: I was doing this over 20 years ago...

20+ years ago, we were putting webcams on the internet, calling them Surf cams etc. and encouraging people to connect and watch…

Ukraine strikes Russian bomber-maker with hack attack

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Re: Washing Machines no longer spinning

@Cow, do you understand what “ Taking the claim at face value” actually means?

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Re: Washing Machines no longer spinning

> Just as a PS.. This is a great video-

Agree definitely an interesting and relevant video.

Interestingly, I saw this then watched Clarkson’s Farm series S04:E07 & E08. It contained a much abridged but similar observation about sourcing ALL the ingredients for his pub restaurant from within 30 miles or even from within the UK.

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Re: Are Basic Missiles a thing in 2025

>” Can we just accept it's not true for many reason, ”

But the best lies have a grain of truth in them.

Hence I suspect parts were seen that are not Mil spec. and are or could be used in (some) white goods.

I would not be surprised if the R military havent looked at white goods to see their potential. As Ukraine has shown, you don’t need bespoke Mil spec stuff, off-the-shelf consumer stuff with some modification can make some cheap but effective weapons.

>” the attempt to denigrate the industrial capabilities to suggest that our violence is superior technologically and therefore morally righteous..”

This is probably why it has been repeated across the media without fact checking. However, I wonder if Putin is laughing at the denigration and dismissal of his industrial base when he is sitting on large stockpiles of parts awaiting assembly…

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Re: Washing Machines no longer spinning

>” Anyone person who thinks flying is about cpus. It’s not its about SENSORS.”

I think you are making a lot of assumptions about the sophistication of the missiles - something we are not being told.

A very basic missile only really needs a timer: fly level for x minutes then dive into the ground.

However, I agree if the R are making sophisticated missiles, where are they getting the sensors they will need from - stockpiles or new production/imports.

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Re: Washing Machines no longer spinning

>” WHy doesnt R simply order boxes of the same chips found in washing machines straight from china ?”

They may well be doing exactly this.

There are two parts to this conundrum: equivalence of components and sourcing of those components.

Taking the claim at face value, would suggest semiconductor components (*) with the same markings as used in domestic white goods have been found in R missiles.

We have the step increase in white goods shipments to countries neighbouring and favourable to Russia. Now the challenge is determining whether these are connected. Practicalities and economies of scale suggest salvaging semiconductor parts from white goods is not a good plan; but it makes a good news story.

(*) From what I have seen, no one has suggested the R have been using complete assemblies, ie. Fully populated circuit boards.

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Re: > In fact I'm appalled by some people's celebration of it. This is not a film or game

Remember the protests were because of Trumps ICE action. Prior to the ICE action, LA was, by US measures “peaceful and law abiding”.

We should also remember Trumps questionable determination that “ the protests constitute a rebellion against the federal government.” and so deploy the national guard and protentially inflame matters further.

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Re: Washing Machines no longer spinning

I came across this misleadingly titled YouTube piece:

How Putin uses washing machines to produce missiles: Russia’s neighbors help to bypass sanctions

Which whilst showing a step change increase in white goods consumption by a group of neighbouring countries, favourable to Putin, also notes Russia is in dire need of household appliances which could mean they are destined for consumers rather than salvage.

> One showed an early '90s vintage TI DSP chip

This the line of thinking I was favouring: whether early 1990s mil tech is broadly equivalent to recent white goods tech, thus permitting some level of reuse. We achieved a lot with 8 bit processors and FPAs and very limited amounts of memory. Given these were still largely discrete components and my pre 2010 white good also contain a lot of discrete components and modules it is not implausible that some components could be repurposed.

However, I am skeptical about the really modern stuff, given the amount of miniaturisation, integration and surface mounting in today’s electronics. However, I would not be surprised if discrete components have not been replaced by a more capable compute module that can be programmed to support internet and associated functionality: an Atmel AVR could run a washing machine or a missile.

Forked-off Xlibre tells Wayland display protocol to DEI in a fire

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Re: Code talks

> We agreed then and there to use 'primary' and 'secondary' instead

That’s fine in small implementations.

For one critical system we had three component controllers (primary, secondary and tertiary) each operating in master/slave configuration…

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Re: It's explicitly free of any "DEI" […] or similar discriminatory policies."

Like the joke!

This is a project devoted to X11 and “pure” X11, so it is not interested in accommodating Wayland et al, it’s all about X11. So yes it will be explicitly free of DEI.

If your interest is in Wayland say, then don’t expect this project to welcome and accommodate you - X11 is what is says on the tin and that is what’s in the tin.

Apple-Intel divorce to be final next year

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> Neither would be much good at matrix inversion

But I expect it would still be faster at it than the ICL-1900 my university had when I was studying matrix maths.

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Interesting that with mixed cores (performance and efficiency et al), Intel themselves are depreciating hyper threading, because it complicates swapping execution threads between cores.

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Re: Take it or leave it...

Not really. In all the surveys over several decades: Windows on Intel has been overwhelmingly the dominant platform with Apple accounting for circa 10% and everyone else less than 5%.

As for Windows on ARM etc. until there is a catastrophic event, don’t see this as being anything other than an attempt to discourage Non-Microsoft on ARM growing out of the phone market.

Thus as a serious user you have few real choices. A few governments could take China’s lead and major on a different OS and thus encourage standardisation of platform around that OS (ie. Instead of Windows compatibility being the primary consideration, it becomes a secondary consideration).

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Re: Take it or leave it...

It’s a luxury Apple have because they were and still are a minor player in the market.

I get that there is no real choice in the marketplace: it’s Apple, Wintel or Linux on Wintel.

Google outfoxed by crafty squatters in $1B London HQ's rooftop garden

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Joke

Re: 3 years

Perhaps that’s a reason why the fox is an apex predator…

Please tell us Reg: Why are AI PC sales slower than expected?

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Re: High end laptops are a problem, not a solution

>” and it's impossible nowadays to find a decent 10 or 11" laptop”

Back in the day it was also very difficult to find any decent 10 or 11” laptop that was actually in stock and purchasable.

However, it was very easy to buy under powered and limited netbooks…

Intel and MS killed the small form factor laptop. Firstly by crippling the netbook and secondly by making decent ones excessively more expensive than 15~17” laptops; Apple with the iPad had a product that largely satisfied the demands of this demographic at a “reasonable” price.

Today, I use an iPad with a keyboard case instead of a Wintel laptop. Yes it was ~£1000, but it fits my use case.

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Re: Because nobody wants AI in their PC?

Poor?

I think not, unless only having circa $1bn in the bank is the new poor…

Europe's cloud datacenter ambition 'completely crazy' says SAP CEO

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When I saw a customer’s AWS bill was circa £500 pcm for a simple web fronted client relationship database application, I knew they were being scammed. Moved the application to a LAMP stack on a VM, now paying £200 pcm for a fully managed service, with no sudden bills due to AWS deciding to depreciate component services.

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Re. I agree that trying to compete with AWS, Azure, GCP is a non starter

Agree, trying to ape the US majors is a non-starter, but we are not working under normal economic conditions. Trump only needs to wave his Sharpie out and suddenly a non-US business has no IT; under these conditions the US majors just can’t compete, the field is open to anyone who can get that companies IT up and running again.

Thus building a comparable cloud infrastructure is just good sense and exploiting a market niche. However, Christian Klein is correct, we don’t need 20 different operators, we need to back a couple. There are probably enough datacentres already being constructed in Europe (or being emptied by companies moving to the cloud) to enable a rapid initial build out.

I suspect it only needs the French, German and British governments to commit to a home/europe first cloud service and businesses will follow.

Huawei founder says USA overestimates its semiconductor prowess

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Re: Working where the energy is

And why the US invested in aluminium smelting in Iceland, only to have Trump put an import tariff on it…

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Re: "Huawei is not that great yet"

“Rather good” is relative, from the amount of Huawei kit in mobile networks and the problems they are having removing and replacing it, it would seem Huawei had a product people wanted and were rather good at selling it.

Waymo problems in La La Land as robotaxis set aflame

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Re: Unintelligent AI

Nicely timed demonstration of the stupidity of self-driving AI, unable in real time to take account of dynamic events and so reroute around the protests, instead continue on their pre-planned flight path.

> Guess soon Google SatNav will have another red marker

Expect Waze to get it first.

BT won't budge over pay hike for manager grade employees

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Re: Management is not a specialist skill.

The give away in the article that this is about “manager entitlement” is:

“ Members will find it deeply frustrating that the company are refusing to improve an offer that on average is worth a third of that offered to team members, but is also worth nothing at all to nearly five thousand managers and professionals.”

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Re: Help

I would have expected BT to be spreading the Openreach approach to call handling across the entire business, namely no call centres and a Chat bot that provides no way to actually talk to a human. It seems e only way to actually talk to any one at OR is to get an engineer to visit any get them to call their supervisor. (Currently trying to resolve an “Internet upgrade” none of the ISPs serving a site admit to knowing anything about and the OR communication doesn’t name the ISP they are doing the work on behalf of.

Seagate still HAMRing away at the 100 TB disk drive decades later

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Re: Bah and Double Bah (BDB)!

The use of abbreviations, probably helps to make the article less useful as AI training data. Plus for the human reader reduces the verbiage and length.

Microsoft cuts the Windows 11 bloat for Xbox handhelds

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Re: You can have it

Was going to write something witty about how expensive WS is, but checked nerdused.com and got a WS2025 Std 24 core licence for £23. Obviously, just need to grab the bargains as and when they occur.

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Expect this build to be forensically examined, so that the unofficial slimmed down installers get a lot better and produce more stable environments.

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Probably when someone builds a laptop that looks like a handheld gaming device to MS update and so gets the gaming version of Windows…

As Europe eyes move from US hyperscalers, IONOS dismisses scaleability worries

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>” If a redneck in a Wisconsin wood, casting a vote, can control your IT strategy, you've got the wrong IT strategy.”

Nice to see NextCloud are HQ’d in Europe, need more open source projects to relocate their Hq’s and repositories to locations outside of the US, so they can side step US export bans.

Given the speed things are moving, I expect we (RotW outside of the US) will need to “fork” several of the US HQ’d open source foundations within the next four years.

Blocking stolen phones from the cloud can be done, should be done, won't be done

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Re: I would hope for more nuanced reporting on this

>” This is more about having a nice way to block "people of interest" from the cloud / screw up with their phone usage at will”

I would agree, as I know my phone/device and if it gets lost or stolen, I can log into my account from another device (assuming I have correctly set up account recovery in the event of my primary phone and/or device being lost or stolen) and deny access to my Apple/Google account from it. Okay this isn’t as simple as calling up a mobile operator, passing a simple security check and they then barring the device, but it is doable.

This seems to be more about the authorities saying to Apple and Google - we have this phone, please block logins to your cloud service, sorry we don’t know the account name.

Which suggests Apple and Google need to include IMEI validation as part of the cloud service sign in and connection maintenance.

Unhappy with the cloud costs? You're not alone

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Plus we have the opportunistic price gouging, two obvious examples being MS licensing on anything other than Azure, Broadcom and VMware.

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Re: The one advantage cloud had ...

> is that the servers often had better Internet connectivity than could be obtained on-prem.

You could obtain them, but for many businesses (and particularly web startups) they were eye wateringly expensive. Cloud allowed that cost to be shared.

The reason why “elastic” was a big thing, was how seemingly frequently new websites crashed due to unforeseen surges in user traffic, which tended to reduce to more predictable and manageable levels after a few days.

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But remember it was Gartner who recommended the lift-and-shift approach and then do the work to make it Cloud native.

With hindsight we can see the effect was to get businesses to jump and with no easy way back, to commit to the expense of making Cloud work…