Posts by werdsmith

Astra Space to launch satellites from Shetland

Re: Isn't it a bit far from the equator?

A plane change does cost fuel. But you launch and boost into the direction of your plane, regardless of where you are, you avoid a launch on one plane and changing to another. A high latitude launch is for high inclination orbits as it loses the advantage of being launched to the East to gain from the Earth rotation. It seems stupid to restrict launch sites to high inclination orbits only just for the sake of being able to launch from sovereign territory. There must be places available near the equator with an unpopulated north and eastern downrange that would be a better launch site.

RISC-V CEO seeks 'world domination' by winning over the likes of Intel

Re: re: Redmond tells us they are looking at RISC-V to diversify their risk.

It isn’t a decision for Raspberry Pi. When MS decided to support Raspberry Pi with the IoT version of Windows, it was welcomed by Eben, who made some comments about MS Windows validating Pi as a proper computer.

It is Ms that would have to do the work to support api, and it is MS that have chosen to go with a sap dragon. For their ARM version.

Re: Less about world domination...

They can see it coming, RISC V is already winning the hearts and minds battle and is starting to snowball. It will be used in education and develop just like ARM did, stealing ground behind ARM as ARM steals ground from Intel. It is ARM's next move that is going to be really interesting because they can't go on like they are forever.

Re: That RISC-V TRS-80 M100....

The RISC-V module comes with a lot of warnings about being rough-edged and unfinished, unstable software requiring a lot of experience.

Re: re: Redmond tells us they are looking at RISC-V to diversify their risk.

They didn’t attempt any switch to other cpu. They attempted to use others alongside x86.

Tesla sues former engineer, claims he stole Dojo supercomputer trade secrets

Re: but most of their competitors are years ahead of Tesla

I’ve had a look at the Mercedes EQ cars, and Stuttgart appears to have eaten Teslas lunch. Only Teslas charging network is keeping it up with the opposition.

Twitter buyout: Larry Ellison bursts into Elon's office, slaps $1b down on the desk

Re: Larry

Smart investors and entrepreneurs always have plenty of failed projects in their history.

Re: Whose money?

For clearly a very smart man, the fact that he didn’t see this coming is somewhat surprising

“Fact”? Do you know he didn’t see it coming for a fact, or is it all planned in? I find it somewhat surprising that people think Musk is doing this all by himself and not using a number of advisers.

Re: Dickheads?

worse QA checking than the cheapest Kia/Hynudai/Honda

Why pick on those brands, they are known to be among the better QA products?

Re: Dickheads?

That being said @elonmusk … you can count on me for £GBP25 in cash, £100 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers and a packet of Toffo’s to add to your war chest

I am going to rival bid with 250 bazooka Joe comics and a book of green shield stamps. If that isn’t enough I’m going to break out the Embassy cigarette tokens.

Arm China CEO refuses to go despite SoftBank taking control

“Is there anything wrong with what I said?

If you were trying to come across as a pub-bore then no, perfect execution.

Re: B b b Boris

Any Boris success in the elections is largely due to the totally dire alternatives that were offered rather than any particular confidence in him.

The electorate decided that if they are going to have to select from a choice of cretins then they might as well have some comedy out of it.

Engineer gets Windows 11 working on a Surface Duo

Re: I wonder who in the world would like to run Windows 11

If the OS, whether it’s Windows 10 or 11, a billion variations on a Linux UI, or Mac or whatever, is forgotten about, then you wouldn't need to even think about using RISC OS for distraction-free writing, let alone actually use it.

That’s deliberately obtuse. And rubbish.

I don’t look at The Register when using RISC OS.

Re: I wonder who in the world would like to run Windows 11

It’s not surprising that on The Register an article about someone who has done a technical challenge turns into a whingathon about Windows UI.

I run any OS not because “I want to” but because it is the means to get into the applications I want to use. I switch on, launch my application and work away. The OS, whether it’s Windows 10 or 11, a billion variations on a Linux UI, or Mac or whatever, is forgotten about. I don’t directly use the OS except to get into my productive applications. At which point, for any practical measure, the OS is irrelevant. I don’t even pay for any of them myself.

The only OS I specifically choose for its direct benefit is RISC OS. I use this for writing when I want no distraction.

Apple's return-to-office plan savaged by staff

Re: Horses for courses

What is clear is that there are two types of remote workers, production heroes and work-shy wasters.--

There are two types of in the office workers, production heroes and work-shy wasters.

The MP was in the office when he was looking at his tractors on his phone.

Isaac Newton was working from home at Woolsthorpe when the apple fell.

Re: No real surprise

"I would't call either of your examples lazy, they were just working on outside projects."

That would be covered by my "colleague who was not lazy" words.

But the point is, it doesn't matter that they were in an office under the nose of management, or they were at home. They could have been working on a novel, or looking at tractor websites, where they were working was not relevant.

Re: No real surprise

I my experience, if someone is lazy then they won’t do much work regardless of where their desk is.

I also recall a colleague who was not lazy, but worked hard on his code in an open plan office just a few metres from his managers. He was working hard on a project where he developed software unrelated to the company business. He then started a side hustle with the software and eventually struck out on his own and had a very successful business.

Another colleague spent her time writing a masters dissertation, in the office under the noses of everyone.

Samsung unveils hardened SD card that can last 16 years if you treat it right

Re: capable of surviving a five-meter fall

I thought that was an odd spec too. It ought to survive a fall from any altitude as it will not reach a high enough speed to damage it even on concrete. I have just lobbed a couple of SD cards out of the second floor window and you would never know.

Re: over engineered?

My first dashcam lasted a couple of years. My second one is still going after three as I don't leave it in the car on hot sunny days having learned from the short life of the first one. I've used the same SD card for all those three years.

ZX Spectrum: Q&A with some of the folks who worked on legendary PC

It's equally valid either way.

Re: Thanks

Count me in that group. I was absolutely hopeless and going nowhere until the home micro happened.

Worried about being replaced by a robot? Become a physicist

Re: I wouldn't worry too much

It's nothing new. There was even a full length film made about the skilled car upholstery ladies of Ford, Dagenham when Ford insisted they were unskilled. Even today there is much human involvement in car seat assembly.

Re: Doing my bit for the little guy(gal)

To keep people happy then we should go back to harvesting wheat with a hand sickle. so many thousands of people will be needed but the cost of food will increase massively. So you might not be paying extra tax to feed those people but you will be paying far more to keep them in work.

Automate me out of work? I absolutely love the idea. Bring it on, there are many things I could be doing with my time that I will enjoy much more.

Microsoft points at Linux and shouts: Look, look! Privilege-escalation flaws here, too!

Re: Hey Microsoft ...

Nothing to do with whatabout. Major funders of the linux foundation, major linux users and contributors Microsoft, their research teams doing their jobs.

Re: What is the actual exposure?

Yes exactly. MS, as an active part of the Linux world now, have found a vulnerability and addressed it. Nothing to do with whataboutery. The Register has mischievously baited the zealots with its headline and judging by the hilarious indignation in these comments, quite a few have bitten.

Re: Cry me a river

Linux is not a for-profit enterprise, so there is no Linux marketing department doing things in the "opposite direction" to Windows

Are you new to Register comments?

Apple's self-repair service finally launches after months of silence

I used to do regular screen and battery replacement on iphones up to version 7. I found that the non OEM batteries I could buy were better than the Apple ones, would give more battery life and last more charge/discharge cycles.

Screens were variable quality. I rejected quite a few for pinky casts.

I stopped doing this for other people when Apple started selling phones as water resistant.

Elon Musk's Twitter mega-takeover likely imminent

Twitter is only important in the minds of its users, most of the world doesn't use it and doesn't give a shit.

Talking of giving shits, being free to write whatever you want on Twitter is the same as being free to shit in the ocean.

ZX Spectrum, the 8-bit home computer that turned Europe on to PCs, is 40

I didn't know that WHSmith sold the ZX-80s, there were generally mail order. The ZX81 was retailed in WHSmith, it is where I got mine.

The ZX80 had a flat hard membrane keyboard, not a rubber keyboard. The rubber appeared with the Spectrum.

Re: Inflation calculator

The BBC Model B was £399 after its introductory pricing expired, making it £1400 ish equivalent. Which was out of my league and the reason that the Sinclair stuff was so important.

Re: ... sinclair taught me how to touch type...

When you are 10, one year is 10% of your entire life. When you are 50, one year is just 2% of your life.

Re: Pre ZX81

Science of Cambridge Mk14 I think. As I write, there’s one on EBay for £400.

Re: Yeah

I have the first ZX81 I ever used. Converted tuner works with monitors. It's a Rev.1 with a display distortion fault that was accepted back then because of CRT scan coil inconsistency masking it a bit. I always maintain this this was the breakthrough, that made the programmable micro available at a price that got people to pay attention.

The teacher that allowed us to use it, donated it to me.

I get my retro fix using RISCOS on a Pi 400 which is effectively an updated Acorn Archimedes that can run BBC basic. Nice escapism from the modern OSes and I've happily discovered that for writing, it offers a distraction free solution for me.

Re: Where it all began...for some

Dragon had a good keyboard but it was £175 and went alone at on the 6809, consequently the business was finished by 1984.

Re: Where it all began...for some

That was indeed an absolutely magic time and I hit it at the perfect age. I don't think the planets have aligned like that since.

I still look up at the windows above InnerSpace every time I go along Kings Parade.

I also look at the gap in Gap on Market Hill, which was left open the other day allowing me in for a little look. I could have posed that press photo on the steps.

SoftBank aims to keep control of Arm after IPO – report

If Softbank expect the value to increase, then it will also increase for small investors.

Everything depends on the strategic response to RISC V. The newcomer holds emotional favour right now because of the open source ISA but that won't necessarily make it cheaper in the market. It is likely to be preferred in the education sector where it was born, which will give it the advantage in the lower power devices and it will grow upwards from there. The brains at ARM will be considering what they need to do to maintain their place or what new position to take.

OpenBSD 7.1 is out, including Apple M1 support

Re: OpenBSD is Faaast!

As a desktop, you probably have an accelerated gui with drivers for your GPU under linux, but not under bsd. I don't think this is how I would measure the performance of this type of OS.

British motorists will be allowed to watch TV in self-driving vehicles

Re: Long time coming

But AI would realise that there would be no more rewards. Already AI is better than you.

Re: Good luck in the real world!

Yes, everyone ought to drive like that. But we are talking about humans here and they don't. Some don't because they are not able to focus all the time.

Re: Too early.

It's not about believing it. There is a wide range of abilities and they all have a chance to drive.

Re: Clippy behind the wheel

You'd be surprised how high that bar actually is. Even though it doesn't seem like it, the AVERAGE human driver is pretty good and pretty safe. The assholes stick out like a sore thumb and you remember those.

But it only takes one asshole and there are hundreds of thousands of them. Just look at how many Audis there are on the road.

Re: Clippy behind the wheel

You say that driving better than a human will be easily achievable. They were saying that ten years ago and haven't managed it yet

Yes that has been achieved in many ways.

For instance, a self driving car doesn't road rage.

Re: Bah!

Isn't that prospect rather like taking the train?

No, unless you could cover a whole country with railway stations even more densely than the tube network in central London.

Re: It's a paradigm shift

At least in the early days there will be roads that self driving cars can’t use. Over the years, the cars will improve and the roads will be adapted. I would think that this is obvious,

I was on a road to an English Heritage Iron Age hillfort last week. I was a passenger in a RAV4, which had to go carefully. Some cars should not attempt it.

Re: kinda proves my point, really

“autonomous car decides to go and get charged”

And where the car parks.

I would suggest that these are trivial problems to fix. My cat could probably tell you how that would work.

Re: Too early.

There are some people that are good at that, and there are others who are hopeless. There is a wide range of natural abilities in such things as hand-eye, spatial awareness, ability to catch etc. They are all allowed to drive after passing the very easy driving skills test.

Re: Clippy behind the wheel

Self driving cars need to be safer than human drivers. That is not a high bar and will be easily achievable. Humans are appalling drivers.

However, the existing roads and Highway Code are set up for humans and they will need to be adapted to accommodate the self driving cars, rather than trying to make the self driving cars adapt to human environments.

Twitter faces existential threat from world's richest techbro

I'm sure it must be the cesspit of social media that has led to the use of this way of beginning a comments with "I'm sorry but...".

If you feel you need to apologise for your comment then what is it worth to anyone else? Have the courage to comment without a whimpering apology at the beginning.

Twitter preps poison pill to preclude Elon Musk's purchase plan

Re: And again, no.

I am all for free speech, as long as I agree with what is being said. If I don’t like it then it must be lies and should be banned.

Raspberry Pi goes back to the future with the CM4S

Well, at least you apologised, I’ll credit you that.

But they haven’t been called Raspberry Pi Trading since November 2021.

Clueless.