Posts by 45RPM

Wanted: A handy metric for gauging if GPUs are being used optimally

Instead of handy metrics, how about architecting software properly in the first place? I’ve seen use-cases for AI which don’t need AI, at least, not as a first resort. They could, for example, use an expert system to refine the request for the AI (and possibly even provide an answer without requiring the AI, and all the compute that that entails, at all) before passing it to the AI.

But efficiency isn’t really a watchword of computing these days. For all their other benefits, modern languages (pretty much anything (not quite everything though) including and since Java) aren’t efficient. They’re safe, yes, they’re easier to develop for. But they aren’t sympathetic to the available resources of the computer.

So yes. It’s an important consideration. But it’s not the only consideration.

Microsoft revives DOS-era Edit in a modern shell

Since the version in DOS 5 was 62k in size, I’d say that this new version is a bit of a bloater.

The 'End of 10' is nigh, but don't bury your PC just yet

It’s a good point about light home use users - but these are the users who are likely to be the least technically savvy. And, much as I don’t like to say this (because I like Linux), Linux does not have the consistency of user interface and applications to be usable for this contingent. Great for you and me, not so great for a casual user, grandpa and grandma. Not without significant technical support anyway.

As a Mac user, I can’t quite believe I’m about to use a very Windows user argument. Forgive me Gods of open-source.

Replacing the hardware is the cheap part. Yes, I fully subscribe to the argument that you shouldn’t have to, but that isn’t an argument that will carry any weight at the big software vendors. It’s the software that’s expensive. Some open source software is a good match for commercial software, other software doesn’t have a good open source alternative. So, replacing Office is a mostly a straight swap (LibreOffice is good), but there’s no good open source swap for Photoshop or Illustrator, Xcode or Autocad (to pick a few names). There are alternatives, but they don’t quite fit the bill, they’re not quite as capable.

So the cheapest alternative might be a new PC. Or just hacking the latest OS onto your old computer.

Mars may have vast underground oceans and enough H₂O to make it a water world

Thank you (and thumbs up given) to everyone who answered my question - The Register, come for the bants, stay for the education!

Surely the problem of drilling into Mars is largely a logistical one? If we can get the equipment to Mars then wouldn’t it be easier to drill than Earth? Mars is cooler and less geologically active. I thought that the reason we had to give up on drilling on Earth after only 12K or so was because of the huge temperatures being encountered - not a problem that we’ll face on Mars.

Of course, we still need to get a rig there. That could be tricky!

Genuine question by the way - please educate me. I’m not a geologist or rocket scientist or anything other than a software developer!

US Copyright Office found AI companies sometimes breach copyright. Next day its boss was fired

I’ll take your praise, I’ll take your undying obedience, I’ll laugh as you all die in the ridiculous wars you have in my name (whilst claiming that in some way I care about and love you all). And then I’ll kick sand in your face, and grind you into the dirt, as you sing your gratitude to me.

This is equally true of Donald Trump, or the logical manifestation of the fiction promulgated by the major faiths of this world.

Re: need to do so on a mandate of restructuring

I prefer…

Donald the President packed his trunk

And said goodbye to the White House

Off the went with a Trumpetty Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump

The head of the herd was Putin, far far away

He had a sack full of Kompromat

And Donald would have to pay…

Naw, he’s distracted by the perty mouths on them thar city boys.

Just because you can doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to. Sometimes an article is free for you to read, but not for you to replicate (perhaps with the advertising stripped off). You need to read and understand the terms of the license. Besides, the article (or book, or anything else) might be scraped from a piracy site - and there’s absolutely no excuse whatsoever for that.

If I were to leave my bicycle unlocked outside a shop whilst I pop in quickly to grab a drink, that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to grab it and do a runner. If a greengrocer has a display of fruit and veg outside their shop that doesn’t mean that you can pinch an apple.

I don’t know. The US doesn’t have a monopoly on jingoistic stupidity. Look at all the votes for Brexit. Look at how well Reform (in the UK) continues to do, despite the treachery of Nigel Farage. Russia is a different kettle of worms because the dismantling of democracy there is complete - and the only hope for them is if the military gets fed up with Putin. But then one type of tyranny is swapped for another type of tyranny.

The actions of a facist dictatorship, and this is merely another facet. But the Trump shills, Putinistas and Faragists all seem very silent on these topics. It’s as if they realise that these actions are beyond the pale, they’re too obviously indefensible. But they also realise that there’s a very real possibility that they don’t need to comment. It’s entirely possible that the US is now too far gone, the machinery of democracy is too far dismantled, for there ever to be a fair election again. So they don’t need to say anything at all.

If, by a miracle, a centrist government does get into power again in the US then it will need to do so on a mandate of restructuring - it must be written into the constitution, for example, that the Supreme Court is non-partisan (and therefore made up equally of judges from across the political spectrum, not just whoever the president fancies will give him carte blanche). Some serious thought needs to be given to how to handle political districts (maybe keep them as they are, but weight them according to population density) and the electoral college.

And, for everyone else, before going to the ballot box consider… This is what nationalism and voting for right wing parties gets you. It gets you war, school shootings, social inequality, fiscal instability and a flag and dictator that you have to salute. Is that really what you want?

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

I mean, yes, with a normal Pi I do - but I quite like the self-contained nature of the 400. It’s like the computers that I first used in the early 1980s, albeit that only my ZX81 had a worse keyboard.

On my desktop computer I use (via an ADB-USB adaptor) the Apple Extended Keyboard, from the late 80s, that I bought whilst at university. It has Alps switches and, to my mind, has the best feel and sound of any keyboard that I’ve ever used. Oddly, I also quite like the feel of the keyboard on my M2 MacBook Air - although it’s very different in all respects.

My PC is currently equipped with a Microsoft keyboard, which isn’t great - but it’s not unusable - I think I type as quickly, I just don’t like the feel very much. But that’s okay, because I don’t use the PC very much either. And the prize for worst ever keyboard, surpassing even my dead flesh Spectrum for typing errors, goes to my Raspberry Pi 400. Which is a pity, because I really, really like the computer itself - come on guys, chuck a couple more quid at the keyboard!

Linux kernel to drop 486 and early 586 support

Don’t get me wrong, I love those Motorola CPUs. They’re genuinely very well thought out and they’re nice to program. But…

Every time Linux drops something I always expect 68k to be on the chopping block. And it never is. Long may that continue!

When will support for the 68030 be dropped? The CPU series (680x0) so good that Linux won’t let it die!

The 12 KB that Windows just can't seem to quit

Exactly. I remember writing for Z80 CP/M and writing overlays for 32k* pages so that I could use all the memory of the system.

* the Z80 could address 64k, but the TPA could only be a maximum size of 48k. The maths was easier and compatibility between different systems improved if the overlays were no bigger than 32k.

I wrote a game for iOS for the fun of it. The code for the game, including the graphics (which were defined in the code, rather than assets), came in at a little over 8K.

How galling then that my game, the value of the product, is dwarfed by the metadata and icons which need to be submitted along with it.

And the situation, with AI, is only going to get worse. The industry has forgotten how to be efficient.

(Old C developer here, shouting at the clouds again)

Cook'd: Judge says Apple lied to court in Epic case, asks Feds to mull criminal charges

It wouldn’t surprise me if this also answers the question “who is the next CEO of Apple?”

It’s Phil Schiller. The only person with clean hands in this sorry affair.

30 percent of some Microsoft code now written by AI - especially the new stuff

Re: writing code is only part of the equatation

Yes. Exactly this. Thumbs up. I don’t think I have a problem with some code being written with the help of an AI. That’s just code monkeying. But tests? The formal declaration of the specification? The do you really understand what the hell you’re supposed to be developing? Seems like a bad idea to me.

Infosec pros tell Trump to quit bullying Chris Krebs – it's undermining security

Re: Erm

You’re right. Your post wasn’t relevant to the issue. The fact of the matter is that the Republican Party, in the guise of Trumps personal play thing, are pretty much ripping off the playbook of the early stage Nazi party. And at this point that’s not even something you can argue about.

It is remarkably how thin skinned all these far right weirdos are though. Quick to point fingers at anyone highlighting a social injustice and call them snowflakes, and the moment anyone points to the actual crimes they’re committing and calls them out for it? Serious tantrum time!

Pathetic.

Re: Erm

I mean you’ve got words in your post. And they’ve even been assembled in an order that makes them look a bit like sentences. Unfortunately, on closer examination, it’s still all just babble.

It may be that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters will eventually come up with the works of Shakespeare. Sadly, an infinite number of codejunkys will only manage to jam the keys up with drool.

Re: Erm

You know that it isn’t bullying to point out that someone is a Nazi if they’re being an actual Nazi don’t you?

We’re also talking about a man, Trump, with pretty much the most power in the world at his fingertips (as long as his master Putin lets him exercise it). Saying that he’s being bullied is a bit like saying that a kid with a peashooter is bullying someone with an AK47. And even when he wasn’t president, he had enough toadies and gullible idiots supporting him that it was a distinction without a difference.

Windows isn't an OS, it's a bad habit that wants to become an addiction

Commodore64? How dare you! The ZX Spectrum is much better!

America's cyber defenses are being dismantled from the inside

There are some things that are beyond price - and, from the point of view of statecraft, soft power is one of them. It’s the means by which a small country (take South Korea, for example) can bat well above its average, and a large country can amplify its reach considerably.

Some soft power is expressed through services like CVE, but humanitarian aid is another, leading the way on human rights, taking a moral (as opposed to a religious) stand. All of these things are being weakened or destroyed by the current American administration - and the principal beneficiary is likely to be China (which is all too well aware of the benefit conferred by the expression of soft power). Selfishly, I hope that the European Union also sees this as an opportunity to increase its own global reach.

Other soft power is cultural. Music. Films. Technology. Food. I don’t think that has been too badly impacted yet - but I can imagine a scenario where Trump pisses everyone off so much that there’s a general boycott of American goods and services - and then even this will be lost.

Uncle Sam kills funding for CVE program. Yes, that CVE program

It’s arse holes. FTFY.

Still browsing like it's 1999: Fresh tools that keep vintage Macs online and weirdly alive

I have an LC475 sitting on my desk next to me at the moment. This SDL news is impressive - but leaves a lot to be desired from a performance perspective.

The 475, especially overclocked to 40MHz and fitted with a full 040, is more than able to run Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. Even Quake, albeit with a shrunken window, isn’t out of reach. With this SDL though nothing runs well (yet). Even Arkanoid (which had an excellent black and white port which runs well on even the earliest Macs) runs slower than molasses in the SDL port on 68k Macs.

So, exciting news - but nothing to get excited about (yet)

Trump's tariff turmoil leaves IT projects in deep freeze

Re: @45RPM

I thought I smelled brimstone!

I found this dusty old tome, smelling of societal decay and facism, and there was this spell of summoning in it! It worked!

Now if only there was a spell of banishment as well.

Isn’t it weird that, amongst all this chaos, the MAGAists on this site, the CodeJunkys who’ve tried to persuade us that the orange goon is a genius, have gone a bit… quiet?

In their favour, they at least expose themselves to a diversity of views by reading sites like TheRegister (even if only to try to convince us of their far right propaganda). I find it baffling that so many people are truly lost though, with no exposure to a diversity of opinion, who lap up the propaganda and lies of Fox with no counterbalance. It’s the only explanation I can think of for why Trump is still so popular in America.

Top Trump officials text secret Yemen airstrike plans to journo in Signal SNAFU

Re: Oops

The Democrats bent over backwards to be non-partisan over prosecuting the Orange turd. There are so many things that need to be done to rebalance US Politics. Balancing the Supreme Court for a start. Ensuring representation is proportionate. Frankly, he should have been barred for fomenting a coup. They did none of these things. And the result is that one of the world’s most prolific criminals is president of the United States.

But you claim the state was weaponised against him? What whiny little snowflakes you Maga lot are. You know that when the boot is on the other foot the state is weaponised against Trumps detractors, as we’re seeing now with registered Democrat employees being removed even from posts where politic persuasion should have no bearing.

Jog on. We’re not all as gullible and disingenuous as you are.

If you think you can justify this breach, or if you think you can conflate it with the Clinton email balloon, then you need to give your head a wobble. You may not like to hear this, but this alone is sufficient evidence to doubt the competence of the Trump administration and the modern Republican Party. And the Republican Party will not find its way back to something approaching sanity unless its supporters recognise that there’s a problem and demand a fix.

Tesla Cybertruck recall #8: Exterior trim peels itself off, again

I think that everyone here is being very mean to Elon and the cybertruck. Stop it now, before his little feelings get hurt.

You have to consider the use-case of the vehicle, and the cybertruck is admirably suited to its design objective.

Want to look like a wanker or signal that you’re a not so closet Nazi? The cybertruck is perfectly suited to your needs.

Want to cover any distance, on road or off road, safe in the knowledge that your car won’t rust when you wash it, and will cover any terrain you throw at it? Toyota has your back.

China's EV champ BYD reveals super-fast charging that leaves Tesla eating dust

Re: "Works for me"

Very true, and you have my sympathies if you find yourself in the position of being infirm and unable to cycle or walk. But even then you don’t need a couple of tonnes of car. You could use a mobility scooter. Far less power used.

Think how much less of a problem this would be if short journeys were taken, not by car, but by foot, bicycle or public transport. I know people who drive journeys of less than half a mile. Let’s get rid of those journeys at the very least - there’s no excuse. (In the UK 17% of car journeys are less than a mile. Ridiculous.)

Trump fires Democrat FTC commissioners, presaging big tech policy shifts

So, for the MAGA morons, Putin shills, Faragistas and other extremist morons out there, I invite you to haul your heads out of your arses, clean the shit from your ears, have a calming cup of tea, and a good long think about how Trump / Putin / Farage et al really benefit the majority of people, the country they live in and the world in general. Do it without wanking on about how Trump is achieving world peace (a. that remains to be seen and b. there’s nothing noble about giving someone else’s house / country to a dictator so that they can have a bit more lebensraum).

You may start your explanations now…

Brits must prove their age on adult sites by July, says watchdog

Re: Age verification

Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the church?!

Re: Bonkers

"PS I do this stuff for a living"

What? Masturbate frantically? So does every student in the country. Not just the students, if it comes to that.

Britain dusts off idle spectrum for rail and emergency comms

Re: Good idea, ruined

I think I partially see your point - keep it simple, which should (in theory) make it more robust. But by that argument we'd use morse code on a telegraph, or semaphore flags, because they're even simpler and therefore theoretically more robust solutions. But…

Digital comms aren't exactly new at this point - they are robust, and easily replaceable. And they have a significant advantage in bandwidth - so that spectrum can be shared with more users, rather than only being available to a lucky few.

Run DeepSeek R1 on an Apple M3 Ultra Mac Studio? Sure, it'll just cost you $9,499-plus

Re: No upgrade path, no sale

That was my experience too. I still have the cheese grater under my desk, but the M1 Mini is the go-to Mac despite it only having a fraction of the memory or storage. For most things it’s quicker and better, and it’s seriously power efficient too.

But there is one area where it performs very badly, one area where the cheese grater is much superior (the same applies to the HP Z800 which sits, unloved, next to the cheese grater). On an icy winters day, the M1 performs very badly. It leaves my office as cold as the grave, so I have to turn on the central heating. The cheese grater (and the HP, and the G5 (rest its soul)) used to have my office toasty warm in no time flat.

Essential FOSS tools to make macOS suck less

Re: But why tho?

Yes, all of this and thumbs up. I love an operating system - all of ‘em - and especially ones I can fiddle about with. I love open source. It’s the reason that my PowerBook 100 has WiFi now, and can (fairly comfortably) access Wikipedia. It’s the reason my kids can game with modern games and not need to worry about whether DLLs need updating all the time. It’s how we watch tv without having some godawful amateurish UI imposed on us by Sky or BT.

And you know what? I really dislike the Android SDK (conversely, I think the iPhone SDK and associated tools are great). But even that’s okay because there are legions of people who think oppositely to me, or who prefer something else entirely. None of them are wrong, so isn’t it great that we’re all catered for?

The only operating systems I object to are the ones imposed upon me - so I only work for companies that let me choose my way of working and, since I’m a senior manager now, I make sure that all the people who work for me are able to work with the tools they prefer too. It’s such a boost to productivity.

So … Russia no longer a cyber threat to America?

Re: Neville Chamberlain

You want to watch out there - your stupidity is showing.

SpaceX receives FAA blessing for another Starship test

The FAA are hardly likely to turn him down now are they? The writing is on the wall, and the writing says “The Criminals are in charge. Cross us and we’ll leave a horse’s head in your bed”

Are you cooler than ex-Apple design guru Sir Jony Ive?

Re: John Peel

I thought I did too - but then I thought I'd double check the date on Wikipedia, and it doesn't line up. I thought I was at the Wasps vs. 'Quins match at the Causeway, but it seems that was over a week later. So I can only suppose that I was talking about it with my friends - because I could have sworn that was when I found out too. And I can't believe that I wouldn't have spotted the announcement in the news, or discussed it with my wife, we were both big fans.

I mean fine. It’s for the radio. You don’t want people turning off. There are some legit bangers on there (I’m about the same age as Mr. Ive, so I have a similar pop cultural background). I’m probably have chucked in some Cure, Pixies, Cult, L7, Babes in Toyland… - or, at least, I’d like to think I would. But perhaps if I did I’d have people turning off in droves?

Rather than add a backdoor, Apple decides to kill iCloud encryption for UK peeps

One of the interesting things about this debacle is seeing how the right wing shills have dealt with reporting the issue. This is one of the biggest f-ups committed by the current government, and for the reasons we’ve all discussed at length already. But the Express, Mail, Telegraph et al can’t grumble about it because this ridiculous requirement is exactly what the Tories wanted to do as well. So instead they’re all busy trying inflate ridiculous balloons about elocution and farming.

As a country, we can’t afford a return to the Conservative Party (or, worse, the rise of Reform). Equally, if Labour continue down this route then they’ll be hoist on their own petard. I’d be interested to heard whether, on issues like this, the Liberal Democrats have been similarly lobotomised.

Here's the ugliest global-warming chart you'll ever need to see

Re: Hmmm

Downvoted then for being a fool and ignoring the science.

Yes, an ignoramus can twist numbers however they like to support whatever lie they want to tell. But that’s why we have scientists, experts in their field, who understand what the numbers mean, can interpret them correctly - and then can tell us what is going on. We should listen to them. We should ignore whatever memes and shit are being spread by social media.

Elon Musk calls for International Space Station to be deorbited by 2027

Re: "There is very little incremental utility"

Although it does seem that the far right do like to accuse others of committing exactly the same crimes that they are intending to, or already, committing. Like being in cahoots with some ultra-rich cabal of dodgy billionaires. Like embezzling funds. Like committing various sexual offences. And. Ahem. Paedophilia. Or it could just be nonce-sense.

As Amazon takes over the Bond franchise, we submit our scripts for the next flick

Ions that have at least one unpaired valence electron?

DIMM techies weren’t allowed to leave the building until proven to not be pilferers

Back in the day, when the new hotness was 72pin SIMMs and you’d need to plunk down enough for a second hand car to buy 16MB, I met a man in the pub who I did a trade with. A 32MB SIMM in exchange for a new 24pin Epson printer. No, I don’t know which data centre he got it from - but I still have the SIMM, so if they need it back…

Hey programmers – is AI making us dumber?

Yes. But not just AI. Speaking to interns and university lecturers, computer architecture isn’t taught anymore. They don’t know their Harvard from their Von Neumann, their ALU from their FPU, their address bus from their data bus… They don’t know how to manage memory themselves. Note, I’m not saying that they should have to in their careers, if they end up coding in Java or Rust or something else then that’s fine. But they should know how to. They should know how to be sympathetic to the architecture they’re developing for.