Posts by werdsmith

Raspberry Pi flashes new branded USB drives that promise speedy performance

If they had persevered with the keyboard that was found to be a problem, then it would. But they didn't.

There was a problem with some Pi 400 keyboards.

The keyboard supplier has since changed.

As Oracle loses interest in MySQL, devs mull future options

Re: MySQL is dead. Long live MariaDB.

The problem there is that Maria still uses MyISAM and InnoDB and Oracle is still the custodian of those.

And anyway, I don't see any reason to choose Maria or MySQL over postgres for new projects.

Cursor used agents to write a browser, proving AI can write shoddy code at scale

Re: Are people missing the point

Yes, using it to build code isn't for the faint hearted if you are doing more than just getting help with a block of code or a small problem.

Otherwise, there would be no need for the LLM to output to a codebase in whatever programming language, it could go straight to compiled executable. But we need that intermediate step, so that the humans can be involved and because the work that the LLMs are doing is based on human work that needs that higher level interface.

Using AI for development needs the skill and knowledge of a developer, but it is a nascent discipline, still under development it will, improve and in 10 years time lets have a look and see how things are done.

The metaphor is roller skates. You can get along quicker using roller skates but if you don't know how to skate then you are going to spend a lot of time falling on your arse. You can move quicker using LLMs but if you don't know how to code then you are going to spend a lot of time falling on your arse.

PowerShell architect retires after decades at the prompt

He left Microsoft in 2022.

Trump promises nuclear datacenter permits in 3 weeks, calls Greenland 'big beautiful ice'

Re: " AI, two years ago, nobody ever heard of the term"

And the too often overlooked Hungarian, Von Neumann.

Re: For someone who apparently doesn't like communism....

Like us, most of the population are being fed a version of what he is doing by their media, which is not the reality.

Concorde at 50: Twice the speed of sound, twice the economic trouble

That was the one thing

One ?

Re: HS2 then

People still parroting this 12 minutes / 18 minutes take your pick thing. Despite all the attempts to explain it’s not about that, they still don’t get it. What chance does the country stand with people like that?

So Concorde takes 100% of the blame for Market Garden, whilst everyone else sidles off quietly?

Power scarcity drives datacenters to Texas, where the juice is

Re: Really!

Concorde also used to cruise Mach 2 at 60,000 feet 50 years ago. It used Bristol/RR Olympus engines, version of the Olympus were also used to power naval ships.

Windows 11, not AI, kick-started the PC upgrade cycle

Re: Just wait for Windows 12

It doesn’t matter if it was AI generated by information or some researchers or internal management had come up with the words, it should have been checked by lawyers and double checked before it was used for an official matter.

The failure was sloppy practice by the humans.

UK prime minister stares down barrel of ban on social media for kids

Re: "Floella Benjamin starts kicking off - can't help thinking that if Parliament was dissolved"

Floella is a treasured memory of my childhood, and a national treasure still.

ERP isn't dead yet – but most execs are planning the wake

Re: What ERP really means to C Suite folks

That's the business intelligence software.

(also more realistically known as reporting software).

ERPs are generally old codebases, but if a new one was being created today then it will be guaranteed to contain tonnes of LLM generated code.

Royal Navy's helicopter drone makes its first autonomous flight

Re: Nice Toy, But....

Most High Streets are now considered to be the worst in Britain by their locals.

No point in lamenting, times have changed and retail has irreversibly changed. Trying to preserve High Streets as they were is a bit pointless.

Re: PM Carney

Silkpurse, sow's ear. BofE is a tough gig.

NASA's Artemis II Moon rocket arrives at the launch pad

I misread and for a second I thought that Warninks were making the heat shield.

Meta retreats from metaverse after virtual reality check

Re: .... second life....

I use Meta 3 for Flight Simulator. Being a now mostly grounded private pilot, the first time I used it my jaw dropped and it now provides my flying fix.

Re: Bollocks. Utter bollocks

It summarises the results with an AI answer at the top of the returned information, if you have that feature switched on. Then below the summary, all the usual search engine results appear, in an order decided by Google.

AI is spectacularly successful in terms of user numbers

This is true, but you can't say it on Register forums because people cry.

Just because Linus Torvalds vibe codes doesn't mean it's a good idea

Re: Synthetic Take: Why Vibe Coding Isn’t “Just for Toys”

Script Kiddying isn't enough, nor is vibe coding.

Now they have "Ralph Wiggumming" https://devinterrupted.substack.com/p/inventing-the-ralph-wiggum-loop-creator

Personally I think "vibe coing" is a ridiculous term, which doesn't make any sense so I don't use it.

I do use the AI tools and they are extremely effective. Saying as much round here seems very triggering though. It's like there's something threatening to eat people's lunches. It's not.

Over half of AI projects are shelved due to complex infrastructure

Linus has surprised everybody by using AntiGravity AI to create an audio visualiser for his guitar effects software.

He seems quite please with the result.

Re: So basically....

Not fit for which purpose exactly?

It's already being used very successfully for many purposes.

Wine 11 runs Windows apps in Linux and macOS better than ever

But people start on Excel for basic stuff, then develop their skills. So, they use Excel because they are familiar with it. It comes with a ready to use UI.

Access doesn’t offer such an easy way in.

Re: What?

What do you suggest he do about the clients? Tell them to fuck off?

And it really doesn’t matter that 100% compatibility is difficult, the fact is he still has to support the clients.

I come up against the Word problem often. If you want that document comment/change thing to work with the clients, then you agree a version of Word and stick to it. Anything else falls flat on its face.

Raspberry Pi 5 gets LLM smarts with AI HAT+ 2

Who it's for? What it has always been for. It's a learning device for people who want to mess about and try stuff. The Hailo 8 couldn't do LLMs very well. The 10h can and has 5 models ready-cooked, though relatively speaking they are SLMs.

For all the crying, wailing and toys out of pram tantrum comments on Register forums, AI isn't going anywhere, it will only increase and people want to learn about it. Raspberry Pi can't afford to be left behind.

UK backtracks on digital ID requirement for right to work

Re: Sometimes U-Turns are an improvement

Nothing new about it, it’s the way it has always been.

Just wasn’t so obvious in the days before 24x7 online news and the whinging, baying clamour of millions of irrational inadequates on social media.

Moon hotel startup hopes you get lunar lunacy, drop $1M deposit for 2032 stay

Re: Fools

The company will fold before 2030 and the deposits will disappear into the ether of course.

But the people who pay these deposits won't miss the money - it is small change to them.

Dell wants £10m+ from VMware if Tesco case goes against it

It's very satisfying, the business I work with underwent an escape from Oracle a few years back. We purged all Oracle from the business due to their extortionate licensing practice.

Now the same business has started its escape from VMWare project for the same reason. I really hope this is reflected everywhere in every business.

I foresee an escape from <insert name of cloud provider> in the future too.

How CP/M-86's delay handed Microsoft the keys to the kingdom

The Z8000, unfortunately Zilog were as delayed with this as much as CP/M.

Re: "handle 16 separate segments of 64 KB – for a total of one whole megabyte"

The 8 bit CPUs like 8080, Z80, 6502, 6800 were all really a doddle to to do Assembly for. For most purposes they just had one simple flat memory space.

All the 16 bit versions of these stepped up the complexity, not just 8086. Though 86 was a bit worse.

Apple hopes to save Siri from laughingstock status with infusion of Google Gemini

Re: decent information

Similar to reading comments on internet forums then.

UK urged to unplug from US tech giants as digital sovereignty fears grow

Re: Not enough

PSion acquired Teklogix, not the other way round. Psion was eventually eaten up by Motorola.

Re: It doesn't matter what direction Trump heads off to

The presence of US military in defence of Europe has always been US self interest. The paranoia about the commie reds at the start when Europe was wrecked and rebuilding. then later, part of foreign policy where "partner" nations were cultivated as customers for US big business, so the US could suck revenue out of these nations. We now have ubiquitous presence of US big business overshadowing local enterprise.

But it's starting to fail. The rise of China and the start of the decline of manufacturing in the US, along with the move to reduce fossil fuel use has people like Trump worried. So where before US foreign policy was conducted with the gun in the holster, Trump having to point his gun around. The obvious response to the reduced trust is to lower dependency on US business as customers and turn to local business, turn to China who are by far the lesser evil, less of a threat and less belligerent.

Optimus Schmoptimus - Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot is already in mass production

Re: I asked the kiddies.

Put them in theme parks to spook people, would be their ideal role.

Lego crams an ASIC in a brick to keep kids interested

Re: Nah...

The Lego of my childhood was even more flexible. A great box of different size bricks, tiles, bases and window/door pieces. I don't think it was ever intended to be anything apart from what I wanted it to be.

I would stretcher bond my way to many variations on bizarrely multi-coloured robust buildings.

Re: Repeat after me...

Remove that ridiculous S from the end of Lego and stick where it belongs on the end of Maths.

Jaguar Land Rover wholesale volumes plummet 43% in cyberattack aftermath

Re: and there's more...

Pre 2019 Ingenium, unforgivably bad especially 2.0D (D200). Since then they are improved.

Of course the likeliest way to avoid trouble is to buy Toyota.

What if Linux ran Windows… and meant it? Meet Loss32

Re: The last thing we want

Group Linux: Maximum sanctimony and patronising sneer and zero self awareness which does much to put normal humans off Linux. Who would want to be associated with these people?

Especially when they justify their superciliousness with false preconceptions (or just plain lies).

You know who you are. Cry all you like Jeffery Albertson.

Humongous 52-inch Dell monitor will make you feel like king of the internet with four screens in one

Re: Nah, I'll take the bezels

None of that matters. I know there are bosses that will want and will have something like this. And so do Dell.

Brit lands invite-only Aussie visa after uncovering vuln in government systems

I can’t talk about Australia/ NZ because I’ve never been but I’ve spent good time living and working in many other countries. All of them are wonderful, beautiful places with wonderful people and they do most things better (or so it feels to me) than back in Blighty. But, the stronger pull I feel is to go back to the nowhere place I grew up. Even though I know it’s objectively a dump.

Not that I have a choice, Australia wouldn’t want me anyway, but I’ve always missed home when away.

Techie turned the tables on office bullies with remote access rumble

Re: Well Done

Yes, unfortunately bullies won’t relate the shutdown as a consequence of their behaviour towards the support staff.

Claude is his copilot: Rust veteran designs new Rue programming language with help from AI bot

Re: I sort of expected something like this.

I read that ADA and it's SPARK discipline is currently looking at adopting the Rust style borrowing idea.

What the Linux desktop really needs to challenge Windows

I'm talking about Homebrew? Didn't I mention it before you farted your reply?

Garmin autopilot lands small aircraft without human assistance

Re: Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) ...

Even worse than AI slop.

Re: Nice job

“ Flying lacks the chaos of driving, possibly the only thing that comes close to driving in heavy traffic while in the air

Or a busy circuit on a sunny weekend.

Or a fly-in morning for extra sauce.

Memory is running out, and so are excuses for software bloat

There was a time in the 90s when officer break ins were done just to remove the RAM Simms from each PC.

All 8MB of it.

You don't need Linux to run free and open source software

Re: Amazingly title happens to be correct;

Never been “burned” .

What a long post to say a lot of shit.

Microsoft wants to replace its entire C and C++ codebase, perhaps by 2030

Re: Not the holy grail

Whilst Rust will prevent some errors (Mainly around memory use), it's not going to prevent all errors. It can't prevent logic/algorithmic errors.

People keep feeling the need to point this out but the Rust people have never claimed it does any more than help to prevent memory errors.