* Posts by Old Used Programmer

629 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Sep 2010

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It's that most wonderful time of the year when tech cannot handle the date

Old Used Programmer

Say, what? The leap-day-every-four-years is part of the *Julian* calendar, and that dates back to Julius Caesar. The correction that makes on century years leap years if they are evenly divisible by 400 is the correction that was introduced with the Gregorian calendar.

Old Used Programmer

If only it was that simple...

The English-speaking world changed in 1752. Catholic countries changed in 1582. In places where Orthodox Christian churches dominate, civil calendars changed at various other years. Greece, for instance, didn't switch until 1923. At least some Orthodox (e.g. Russian Orthodox) churches still use the Julian calendar as their liturgical calendar.

All of this has led to one of my favorite questions... If it is claimed that someone was born on 29 February 1900, can that be true? Lots of people have such a poor grasp of the Gregorian calendar that they don't see why there is a problem. Those that do understand the calendar ask, "Where were they born?"

India’s homebrew RISC-V CPU goes on sale in new development board

Old Used Programmer

Not the only comparison

That Indian RISC-V board has specs that are a lot closer to an RPL Pico MCU--as are the suggested uses--but has a minimum price 5 times higher.

Work for you? Again? After you lied about the job and stole my stuff? No thanks

Old Used Programmer

Re: Being polite is great

My late wife made the transition from typewriter to computer--by way of the MTST AND MTSC--to the point that she wrote an entire novel using vi and nroff.

Standards-obsessed boss ignored one, and suffered all night for his sin

Old Used Programmer

Many years ago, my late wife had a temp secretarial job at the UC Berkeley Space Science Lab. One of the people there came to her with an MS Word question. She said, "I know this isn't rocket science because I'm a rocket scientist..."

Junior techie had leverage, but didn’t appreciate the gravity of the situation

Old Used Programmer

Re: Shaky location

Talking about big things in basements... When I was a student there was a motor-generator set in the basement of the EE building, Cory Hall. The DC output side was 1000v at 980A.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Curious 6000kva?

More like 4.2MW. Multiply VA figure by 0.5 * square root of 2 to get W.

CLIs are simply wizard at character building. Let’s not keep them to ourselves

Old Used Programmer

Re: GUIs were and are intended to demystify the computer

First time I ever encountered a Mac, I couldn't figure out how to do anything. "Double clicking" is not intuitively obvious. (And, no, I couldn't look it up in the manual. The owners of the Mac didn't have the manual yet. It was a test and evaluation system owned by UC Berkeley.)

Old Used Programmer

Re: Intuitive GUI? My arse.

Try "cal 09 1752". Then figure out why the output is correct.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Intuitive GUI? My arse.

Check out the "apropos" command.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Intuitive GUI? My arse.

I can give it a shot...

vi is dual mode. You're either in command mode or append mode. In append mode, what you type goes into the file. So...<esc> gets you out of--or makes sure you're out of--append mode. Then, because vi is built on top of a line editor (which is why it can do global commands), you use ':' to tell it you're going to issue a line command. Followed by 'q' (quit) and '!' don't save, just do it. Unless I've screwed things up, I'm much more likely to use '<esc>:wq'.

You don't get what you don't pay for, but nobody is paid enough to be abused

Old Used Programmer

Re: Resilience and redundancy

Some years ago, the University of California at Berkeley had two backbone lines to somewhere on the US east coast. The contract required independent routing of the lines. One day, a farmer in New Jersey took out both lines with a backhoe. To the best of my knowledge a significant amount of money changed hands in compensation for both lines being in the same place, contrary to the contract.

Raspberry Pi OS goes goth

Old Used Programmer

Re: Why dark mode

You might be surprised. There are people that have been using them as "primary" desktop systems. Some have been doing that as far back as the Pi3B, and it became more common with the Pi4B. That trend will most likely accelerate with the Pi5, as the specs aren't that far off an entry level x86 PC.

Old Used Programmer

Re: My Pi5 arrived today. One happy bunny

I got one today, as well. Actually, it's the second one I ordered, but the first to arrive. The first--pre-ordered--is waiting on the reseller getting in some black/grey cases.

UK govt finds £225M for Isambard-AI supercomputer powered by Nvidia

Old Used Programmer

A bridge how far...?

I presume these various systems are named after Isambard Kingdom Brunnel.

Ask a builder to fix a server and out come the vastly inappropriate power tools

Old Used Programmer

Re: Most-Inappropriate Computer Repair Tool

I knew a retired master machinist whose motto was, "Never use force. Just get a bigger hammer." On one job he worked on, they were putting together a press-fit pipe...6 feet in diameter. The "bigger hammers" were two guys with 100 lb. sledges driving the fitting home.

Windows 11: The number you have dialed has been disconnected

Old Used Programmer

Re: Tim Cook's punishment?

I make considerable use of fruity named company computers. Just not *that* fruity named company.

Take Windows 11... please. Leaks confirm low numbers for Microsoft's latest OS

Old Used Programmer

Re: <Shrug>

As regards "most people can't install Linux"... The Raspberry Pi folks have a solution to that one. It's still in beta, but if you update the EEPROM on Pi4B/Pi400, just put in a blank uSD card, connect to the internet and you'll get prompted to install the OS. While that feature will--I'm sure--be in the Pi5, I don't know if it'll be there right out of the box. Still, it'll probably be in the EEPROM as it comes off the production line within the next year. (And, if it comes to that, the Pi5 is probably enough machine for 90-95% of all users. Had a chance to play with one over the weekend.)

Workload written by student made millions, ran on unsupported hardware, with zero maintenance

Old Used Programmer

Re: A quick question

For code I wrote for companies, no idea. I retired a decade ago. However, I have a convention registration system that I wrote in 2002 (to run on a Dual Opteron 240 running SuSE 9.2) that I'm still maintaining and using for con reg. Now running on a Pi4B-4GB running PiOS. I'll probably update the hardware next year. Not because there's any problem with the current hardware, but some of the features and add-ons for the Pi5 will make for a neater package.

Russia to ban all VPNs – again – says senator

Old Used Programmer

Re: Everyone's at it..

Well... No, actually. Hilary Clinton got about 3 million more votes than Trump in 2016. Biden topped him by about 8 million votes in 2020. It the 18th century Rube Goldberg contraption of the Electoral College that let Trump win on 2016 and lose in 2020. Biden's EC vote was about the same as Trump got in 2016....and then claimed it was a "landslide".

Beta driver turned heads in the hospital

Old Used Programmer

Re: Black screen

My home-brew alarm clock has both of those features. But that's because it's based on a Pi2Bv1.2.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Landscape/portrait

I was once helping out as the support (is the software installed? is the network working? is everything plugged? if "yes" to all, go sit in the back of the room and wait for something to break) for the trainer to test the *training* instructions on a naive user. Because everything was working as it should, this left me to just sit and observe. The trainee was having a terrible time using the mouse. When there was a break, I went to the trainer and informed her that (a) the trainee had a death grip on the mouse and (b) the trainee appeared to trying to rotate the screen pointer by rotating the mouse. After the break, the trainer worked her way around behind the trainee and checked, then went to back to the usual spot and launched into a lecture on how the mouse worked and that you *couldn't* rotate the screen pointer. The trainer gave me very thorough thanks at the end of day for uncovering why the trainee was having so much trouble.

Old Used Programmer

And here I remember when having a *flat* display was a top-of-the-line option (instead of one that bulged toward to user).

Right to repair advocates have a new opponent: Scientologists

Old Used Programmer

Re: Expose

Randall Garrett claimed to have been at the lunch with L. Ron Hubbard and John W. Campbell when the exchange took place.

Google Street View car careens into creek after 100mph cop chase

Old Used Programmer

Re: For readers outsie the US

US 1 (or parts of it, anyway) started life as the Boston Post Road.

The other requirement for Interstate highways is to have enough clearance under overpasses for a tank on a transporter to go through. As tanks have gotten bigger, older Interstates sometimes get overpasses re-built for more clearance. (The four in the town where I live got re-done by raising them about 18 inches within the last coupe of years.)

California man's business is frustrating telemarketing scammers with chatbots

Old Used Programmer

The doctor probably needs to think about what he says when someone answer the phone. I get calls that are obvious recordings that start with, "this is a call from your utility company." My utility company starts with "This is <name of company>." Therefore, the former start is clearly spam.

Old Used Programmer

I refuse to give them any data they don't already have. I would have stopped at the "you have the wrong number."

Old Used Programmer

I get calls for my late wife. I tell them that she is no longer at this number. If they persist, I tell them that I do not have a new number for her. If they then try to pitch *me* for whatever scam they're on about, I have no compunctions about how to deal with them.

Techie wasn't being paid, until he taught HR a lesson

Old Used Programmer

Re: Unique keys

Actual Social Security cards have text on them stating that they are not to used for ID purposes. I pointed that out to a bank official when he asked for mine as verification. He said that impersonators almost never thought to carry a matching SS card. Might be different now. The late 1960s was a more innocent age.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Unique keys

He missed "All names, when rendered in the Latin alphabet have at least one vowel."

Old Used Programmer

Re: Unique keys

Then, of course, there is Iceland, which is still using patronymics.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Unique keys

My maternal grandfather had a hyphenated last name (Ravn-Jorgensen). He dropped the hyphen and following when he came to the US through Ellis Island and later changed his last name because no one could properly spell or pronounce it (Ravn to Rawn).

My son's fiancee used a stage name, but (like so many aspiring actresses) lacked funds, so my son legally changed his name to the surname of her stage name, and when they married, she changed her name for free.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Unique keys

My wife hated her middle name, so when we married, she just dropped it and used her (prior) last name as a middle name/middle initial. My mother had a second middle name, but I never saw or heard of her using it.

Old Used Programmer

Re: Unique keys

My uncle (my father's older brother) got the same name as my grandfather. As did my cousin, and--by now, so far as I know--a couple more generations.

Decision to hold women-in-cyber events in abortion-banning states sparks outcry

Old Used Programmer

Needs to be a floow up...

I look forward to a report on how the conference(s) go. Do the organizers have plans in place if they lose their (financial) shirts?

FYI...the cost of function space in hotels depends, in large part, on how many room-nights get booked and picked up. If you can't get people to show up and pay for hotel rooms, the areas in which you hold the convention get to be *very* expensive.

That old box of tech junk you should probably throw out saves a warehouse

Old Used Programmer

Or any official RPF PSU from the Pi2B (5V, 2A) onwards. Pi3B was 5V, 2.5A.

Thanks for fixing the computer lab. Now tell us why we shouldn’t expel you?

Old Used Programmer

There are others....

Don't forget the data entry supervisor and the IBM System Engineer for your installation.

Today's old folks set to smash through longevity records

Old Used Programmer

Re: "life expectancy in [the USA]"

With Alzheimer's you're likely to forget you've got the gun and what you got it for. If you come down with ALS, you'll remember, but you won't be mobile enough to go get it or strong enough to hold up to use it.

How Arm aims to squeeze device makers for cash rather than pocket pennies for cores

Old Used Programmer

Re: Licencing Per-Device

Sort of...you can buy Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual Cortex-M0 microcontroller modules. They go for $1 each. A full RP Pico is $4 to $6 per board.

This whole pricing scheme might be pretty favorable to Pis. The retail list price for the most expensive current model is $75 (Pi4B-8GB) with the Pi-400 running a close second at $70.

Unknown actors deploy malware to steal data in occupied regions of Ukraine

Old Used Programmer

What's old in new again?

Hackers as 21st century privateers? If you have a Letter of Marque from your government, you needn't fear your government's policing authorities...

John Deere urged to surrender source code under GPL

Old Used Programmer

Not the only one....

Once they get through getting Deere to comply with the GPL, they can go after Medtronic.

Techie fired for inventing an acronym – and accidentally applying it to the boss

Old Used Programmer

Re: We have a few names - for people

As regards SMS... There is the problem that (at least in the US), the military is extremely rank conscious even with civilians that don't have a rank. My father worked as a field service engineer (aka "tech rep") first with the USAF, who classed the tech reps as sort of generic commissioned officers, and later with the Navy, who class tech reps as generic NCOs. When he died, he was a civilian employee of the Navy. It was while doing the subsequent paperwork that his boss, a Navy lieutenant, found out that a bit over 20 years earlier, my father had left the US Maritime Service as a Lieutenant Commander. Thus, the "dumb civilian" that he actually liked a lot, outranked him. Ooops...

Texas mulls law forcing ISPs to block access to abortion websites

Old Used Programmer

Paint with *that* broad a brush...

The inclusion of "transport" in the list of kinds of web sites that would be banned would include the US Postal Service. Good luck with blocking that.

Biden: I want standard EV chargers made in America by 2024 – get on it

Old Used Programmer

Somehow...

Somehow, I don't think USB-C is going to win this one.

Uncle Sam backs right-to-repair battle against Big Ag's John Deere

Old Used Programmer

Re: It’s about increased profits, of course

They make a substantial amount of their profit on parts and repair services.

Learn the art of malicious compliance: doing exactly what you were asked, even when it's wrong

Old Used Programmer

Re: Smoking computers

My solution was to build a plywood shelf that fastened to the front bezel and had about 4" standoff legs at the back. The cat in question loved it. It was warm for the cat, but the vents weren't blocked, so no thermal issues with the monitor.

Meta, which pays for web scraping, sues to stop web scraping

Old Used Programmer

Re: Ergo

Be a lot better to claim 29 Feb 1900. If their date routines choke on it, just claim to have been born in a country that was still on the Julian calendar. There are several to choose from.

It's been 230 years since British pirates robbed the US of the metric system

Old Used Programmer

Re: The amount of times...

1 tonne ~ 1 long ton, the two being, respectively, 2204 lbs and 2200 lbs. The "common" US ton (i.e. what you mean if all you say is "ton") is 2000 lbs. None of them to be confused with the displacement ton, which is 35 cubic feet.

Stranded ISS astronauts are getting a new Soyuz to ride home

Old Used Programmer

Suit or seat?

One would think that, on the ground, it would be easier to swap in a seat to fit a different sort of spacesuit than to make duplicate suits for everyone who goes to the ISS.

TSMC ramps up 3nm chip baking at Taiwan plants

Old Used Programmer

Re: Oh come on

The top of the line Raspberry Pi, the Pi4 series is using 28nm node for the SoC. They're still selling earlier versions that use a 40nm node for the SoC. One kind of wonders what the specs of a 3nm node Pi would look like...

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