Posts by RAMChYLD

A lot of product makers snub Right to Repair laws

Re: firmware needed to effect repairs on a Hakko soldering iron

Temperature control?

Back in the 80s all soldering irons only have two presets: room temperature (off) or hot-af (on).

I feel old.

I'll see myself out.

How to get free software from yesteryear's IT crowd – trick code into thinking it's running on a rival PC

Reminds me of the PC-98

Or as it's known in English-speaking countries, the APC-III. I somehow ended up in possession of a box of APC-III software including a MS-DOS 3.3 boot disk. Now, my PC clone (a Sharp PC-7000A) only had MS-DOS 2.11 which certain newer MS-DOS games would refuse to run on, so having a DOS 3.3 disk would be a total upgrade (mind, this was back in the days where having a hard drive meant you were stinking rich in this region, so us plebs made do with floppies, with the added advantage that they could be copied and swapped with your cousins).

Except that the disk wouldn't boot proper, it would just bootloop, showing the Sharp BIOS screen, the Starting MS-DOS message, and then reboot a second later. All the programs in the box also rebooted the system when run. I wrote it off as the box of disks being faulty and threw them aside.

I later found out that NEC had injected extra code into their version of MS-DOS for APC-III/PC-98, as well as their pack-in software, to look for a "Copyright NEC" string in the BIOS, and not finding it, reboot continuously until the machine is shut off.

Cheeky.

I later found a copy of MS-DOS 4.02 from an Epson machine and that one isn't sabotaged in that way. Sure it was widely considered the worst version of MS-DOS ever created, but it offer me reprieve in that games that previously refused to run with a "Requires MS-DOS 3.3 or Later" error could at least now make it to the title screen before locking up.

Exif marks the spot as fresh version of PNG image standard arrives

APNG?

I thought we already had that, it's called MNGs.

I'm just a Barbie Girl in a ChatGPT world

Re: Long Term

Oh believe me this has happened.

I bought a Fisher-Price Smart Toy teddy (mostly out of curiosity). Weird mindcraft-y shaped thing with a camera for a nose but somewhat endearing.

Stopped working after 2 years when Mattel disabled their servers.

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

Re: Personal view.

> So, what does Wayland give you that's actually BETTER...?

Closer to hardware.

X11 is built for a networked environment. You can SSH into another machine, run an X program, and if you have a local X Server, that program will then appear on your system as if it's running locally.

However, the networked environments adaptation also means inherently higher latency. Your program must still talk to the X server through a port. This also potentially means data has to at least go to the network stack and then back to the CPU, inherently introducing more delays.

Three ways to run Windows apps on a Linux box

Re: I thought...

Actually you can. Except the GPU has to be a secondary GPU assigned exclusively to the OS. Meaning you can't use it outside of the VM, ever.

Re: I thought...

Nah, I don't buy Nvidia cards on the grounds that they cost 5 digits cash at where I used to live.

I use AMD almost exclusively now. The only Nvidia things I have is my Nintendo Switch which is only ever explicitly used for Animal Crossing, and an old Shield Pro which I use to put on live youtube and twitch streams as background noise when I sleep.

I have one: Magix Vegas 19. I have tried to wrap my head around Cinelerra but it's difficult (you complain about GIMP's UI being illogical? How quaint. Becase Cinelerra is windowing hell and needs at least two monitors to be even remotely usable) and has many missing features. KDenLive doesn't cut it either (it's not as powerful, and the latest version has broken hardware encoding and acceleration), and the Linux version of DaVinci Resolve is hopeless in all caps (can't support H.264 and derivatives like AVC, or AAC audio. Meaning videos made by 95% of devices in the market can't be opened). And Magix doesn't seem to want to do anything to make it compatible with Wine.

PS: The article says Steam is a subscription service. This is blatantly wrong. You don't pay a monthly fee to use Steam. It's a storefront.

No. Because Windows will detect that the hardware has changed and then prompt you to reactivate which has a likelihood to fail if you reinstalled just recently.

You can use a popular cemetery tool to reactivate it, but of course you're on your own when the BSA comes knocking at your door.

Re: I thought...

> I thought most VM solutions had native GPU pass through

Not all. The usual suspects like Virtualbox and VMWare doesn't. The ones that do - Qemu via KVM - requires you to sacrifice the GPU to the VM in entirety even if the VM isn't running if I understand the Looking Glass project documentation right. This isn't an acceptable solution to folks who want to dynamically repurpose the GPU as needed, say maybe use the GPU in Linux if no VM is running. Maybe in the future Linux (and BSD and illumos) would gain the ability to "lease" hardware out to VMs and reclaim them as needed. But that functionality doesn't exist at the moment.

OpenAI model modifies shutdown script in apparent sabotage effort

Re: I'm sorry Dave

*inhales* One.... *exhales* *pause*

*inhales* Two.... *exhales* *pause*

*inhales* Three.... *exhales* *pause*

Re: Obligatory Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference

How about the classic counting to 10 slowly but clearly? With any luck AI will give in to you.

Teens maintained a mainframe and it went about as well as you'd imagine

Re: fax Feeding the Beast

Must be a Brother.

I had a Brother fax machine that used Thermal Transfer. You need to load it with a roll of thermal transfer carbon. After which you could load normal A4 paper into a tray on the top and it would print onto that. The advantage is that those don't fade like regular thermal paper. Yes, it's more expensive to use in the long run, but indispensable if you archive the faxes you receive for paper trail purposes!

Automatic UK-to-US English converter produced amazing mistakes by the vanload

I think you made a huge blunder

A van is a van in the US.

A lorry, however, is a truck. So...

Catch Java 22, available from Oracle for a limited time

Having developed in both Java and Python, I was about to agree with you.

Then you brought up Javascript and claimed it superior, and lost all credibility.

I went through college being taught Java is the future. And then came out and not only had Oracle bought over Sun, the hot programming language on the block is now C# and ASP.NET. I was just lucky it was easy enough to learn that I could pick it up in 6 months and secure a job with that even if all I've been taught at college is Java.

AMD is Ryzen to the SMB occasion with a bundle of baby Epycs

I think OP's issues with these Ryzen-based Epycs is that they support less RAM than their desktop counterparts. Desktop Ryzen 9s support up to 256GB, while these Epyc 4004s support only up to 192GB. Which is kinda baffling.

Re: The most important variant is missing...

The 4484PX and 4584PX are the 3D cache offerings IIRC, being counterparts of the 9950X3D and 9900X3D respectively. However apparently there is no counterpart for the 9800X3D.

Watch out for any Linux malware sneakily evading syscall-watching antivirus

Clam

But does Clam monitor the io_uring?

Your graphics card's so fat, it's got its own gravity alert

Re: Card orientation

Apparently my CoolerMaster Q500L case can be operated in a desktop form factor. But honestly, I can't use that feature due to water cooling. Was told that the radiator has to be hanging off the top or the pump will prematurely fail. If I use the desktop form factor mode the radiator would be on it's side and I was told that isn't good for the pump.

Pretty much any game?

Seven year old Vega and Ryzen 7 2700X rig struggles with Satisfactory...

Redis 'returns' to open source with AGPL license

Re: Redis 'returns' to open source with AGPL license

Already happened.

Arch has dropped Redis in favor of Valkey.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1k29sq4/arch_linux_replacing_redis_with_valkey/

Maybe the Redis people should have thought things through before making their move.

Asia reaches 50 percent IPv6 capability and leads the world in user numbers

Re: Inflection point?

Eh, I moved to Singapore. I live in an apartment now. I did a network scan and both the 2.4 and 5GHz range are /absolutely/ saturated. However, my 6GHz-ready gear says 6GHz is crickets chirping. I'm all for hopping to 6GHz at earliest convenience.

Re: And Malaysia

However they only give you the bare minimum amount of IPv6 addresses tho: /60. At least on UniFi.

Developers feared large chaps carrying baseball bats could come to kneecap their ... test account?

Re: Bats..

I'm honestly surprised to see Malaysia, Singapore and Australia on the list. Being from Malaysia and currently living in Singapore, it's rare to hear about baseball here let alone witness a live game on TV (closest we've gotten are live games from Japan relayed via NHK World Premium on Pay TV). I thought we're cricket people.

TSMC blew whistle on suspected verboten exports to Huawei – that may cost it $1B+

The lesson you learnt today: Don't dickride.

You already know annoying orange is out for everyone in the world including you, and has already imposed a tariff on everyone including Taiwan as an example, and yet you kiss his ass, and for what?

You reap what you sow.

Zorin OS 17.3 takes the Brave step of changing its default browser from Firefox

I'm inclined to try Badwolf just because it sounds like a Doctor Who reference tho.

Edit: Took a look at their projects site and I'm right on the money. Defo trying it tonight on my Arch laptop.

As for Brave... Shame on Zorin for supporting a Homophobe who's deep into crypto. This is definitely one distro I will not be recommending.

China’s chip champ Loongson teases trio of new processors for lappies, factories, maybe servers too

Re: Good for the whole world

But ARM is now owned by the Japanese tho? And it's no longer European since Brexit?

Ubuntu 25.04 beta takes flight – but this Plucky Puffin is still molting

Re: Interesting

> install Firefox directly from Mozilla's repo

I feel the need to clarify this but afaik Mozilla doesn't really have a repo. The repo you're talking about is called Ubuntuzilla, and is run by volunteers who repackage Mozilla's generic binaries. Still way better than snap tho.

RISC OS Open plots great escape from 32-bit purgatory

Won't get fooled again.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Asahi Linux loses another prominent dev as GPU guru calls it quits

Re: Don't buy closed hardware in the first place

If I could buy a Framework laptop I would had a long time ago. Except that they won't ship to Asia aside from Taiwan. And they're openly hostile towards people using forwarding services.

Microsoft trims more CPUs from Windows 11 compatibility list

Re: Stay alive!

If she could unlearn VBA and learn Java or LibreBASIC, she could probably make the switch.

HP Inc settles printer toner lockout lawsuit with a promise to make firmware updates optional

Re: Update optional?

Possibility of weasel words? Ie not stopping, but they are not denying that they degrading printout quality?

Official HP toner not official enough after dodgy update, say users

Someone on reddit swears that HP printers will actually detect if the paper is HP OEM or it will purposely waste ink to make the print more expensive. I'm not sure if it's a joke.

Re: if a customer HP has invested in

TBH I was also looking at Pantum to replace my Oki (not that it's as bad as HP, but the formula they used for their magenta cartridge is arse and turns the toner powder into clumps of rocks in the hot and humid climate of Malaysia. Also their Linux support is kind of atrocious with a barely working community made driver that seems to have been abandoned). Pantum apparently uses PostScript 3 which should be compatible with a lot of ancient, exotic and modern systems across the board.

Oh Brother. Printer giant denies dirty toner tricks as users cry foul

I think they do print to card stock tho. And maybe it's just Oki's toners but aren't laser printouts glossy? Maybe combine that with a card stock and you have photo prints?

I had a color dot matrix printer that could print A2... Wish it still worked, the rubber pulleys inside disintegrated.

Also getting a color ribbon for that thing is impossible.

Re: " Brother firmware updates do not block the use of third-party ink in our machines."

Funny thing is tho, it doesn't happen to toners of other laser printers sold in the country, only Oki ones, and only specifically Oki Magenta toners- the printer always only reports Magenta Toner error, never Cyan, Yellow or Black. And indeed, the magenta cartridge was the only one with colored rocks formed from toner powder in it.

And getting to get their printer to work in Linux... Let's just say I actually made a donation to the Foo2ZJS project and hooked Oki up with the developer, just so I can get the printer working. The driver is slow because compression is not supported, and color management still isn't a thing.

Re: Security risk

I read that PDF. Some BS about the ink cartridge's flash chip injecting malware that makes the printer send a copy of your prints to China or something.

Sounds more like HP engineering epic fail if you ask me.

Re: " Brother firmware updates do not block the use of third-party ink in our machines."

Oki has other problems tho.

I own a C3300N. Printer clogged so frequently in the two years I owned it I gave up. Apparently the Magenta toner turns into rocks in the hot and humid Malaysian weather for mysterious reasons and clog the thing.

My Epson inkjet lasted less than 6 months. Ink clog. Annoying.

For the records, I rarely print, but when I do it is something really important, like tax returns to be sent off for filing.

Developer sabotaged ex-employer with kill switch activated when he was let go

Well, he was laid off. Probably also found out that he would be laid off but the head of the corporation would be getting a huge raise instead.

Some people can take that train of thought. Some people just couldn't.

India wants backdoors into clouds, email, SaaS, for tax inspectors

Malaysia being Malaysia again

Here's my two cents.

1. Why not RISC-V, OpenPOWER or OpenSPARC?

2. Malaysian currency is already shit. This outflow of cash will only hurt the currency more. This is stupid spending done without long term thinking that would only hurt the people even more.

More Voyager instruments shut down to eke out power supplies

Re: I could only wish my work lasted that long

I feel you. I once wrote a Certificate dispensing system for the previous company I work for. I also set up an SFTP server for a project. Boss was proud of it, I was proud of it,

But the head IT manager. Wanted everything moved to Sharepoint. Project was shut down two or three years before I was laid off, and they kept me kicked upstairs all that time before finally letting me go.

Scientists create woolly ma-mouse by looking at mean genes from the Pleistocene

Re: Boring

A clone of Abraham Lincoln doesn't sound like a bad idea at this point in time. Anything goes.

AMD looks to undercut Nvidia, win gamers' hearts with RX 9070 series

Re: Reality

I get you. Too many griefers and trolls.

Framework Desktop wows iFixit – even with the soldered RAM

Afaik LPCAMM2 is designed to be quad channel from the get-go to match the requirements of DDR5. So it's a non-issue.

Should've just went with CAMM modules.

Then again, I'm in Asia. Framework hates Asians and won't ship to the region and even goes as far as cancelling your order and then blacklisting you if you use a forwarding service, even mentioning forwarding services in the forum gets you permabanned. My opinion doesn't matter.

WINE 10 is still not an emulator, but Windows apps won't know the difference

Re: OK, I'll bite

Wine will still happily run some malware tho. You gotta be careful with that.

If you're going use Wine, it's wise that you have ClamAV with ClamOnAcc enabled and pointed to your Wine prefix.

Nah, bottles is run buy a bunch of weenies who refuse to let you use the software your way. Ie native installation instead of through flatpak, even going as far as to DRM copy-protect the software so it won't run if it detects that it's not in a flatpak. Very stupid. If people don't want flatpak, they don't want flatpak. Forcing flatpak on them makes you no different from Microsoft.

Re: Soooooo....

That bar has moved to 2007 tho- which is the bare minimum to support the new common DOCX format. I have no problems getting that one running in Wine since Wine version 6.

There's also reports that the 32-bit versions of Office 365 will install and run flawlessly. Although I have not have such luck myself. As for adobe... it's the DRM. Copies with the DRM "defanged" will run just fine on Wine.

Icon because of the irony of the things you need to do to run Adobe stuff in Wine.