Posts by jake

Why would a keyboard pack a GPU and run Unreal Engine? To show animations beneath the clear keys, natch

No, thank you.

Seeing as I never even notice the keyboard when I'm typing, I fail to see the point.

I'll stick with my 1988 Model M, and save some money.

_{If anyone cares, I've seen working 122-key Model Ms on fleabay for 20 bucks ...}

Patch Tuesday update is causing some Windows 10 systems to blue screen

Re: On a positive note ...

Nearly half a century.

And STILL people defend this ...

It's nearly 2023 and still ...

... the fine folks in Redmond don't properly test patches before rolling them out.

I'm absolutely astonished that the Corporate World keeps falling for it, year after year, decade after decade. You'd think they'd have learned by now.

I wonder how many tens of billions of dollars have been lost in man-hours alone due to Microsoft incompetence. And the Corporate Lawyers allow this crap in the building? Still? Mind boggling.

Big Apple locals hire Russians to game New York's taxi system

Re: What is this shit?

It's not a fee to drive somebody out of the airport. It's a standard fee to drive to a specific location. One fee for Manhattan, one for The Bronx, one for Yankee Stadium, etc. This is to stop unscrupulous cabbies[0] from doing several laps around Central Park, followed by a quick lap of Hoboken, just to to bump up the fee.

And quite frankly, fifty two bucks from JFK into lower Manhattan (13-14 miles, a trifle over half an hour on a good day) is a fair price[1] ... Sure beats walking!

[0] Not that such a thing would ever exist, of course. Honest as the day is long, those NYC hacks ...

[1] Drive it yourself once to find out. You'll never do it again ... Guess how I know.

How? Easy ...

"The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York did not immediately respond to an inquiry to explain how the scheme was ultimately detected."

My guess is that one or more (comparatively) honest taxi drivers got fed up with watching the same dozen drivers always getting bumped up in the queue. The human brain is really good at seeing that kind of anomaly. Four or five drivers making calls to the Port Authority would probably be enough to flag it as being worth looking into.

The REAL question is why it took the Port Authority so long ... I'll bet the first complaints were rolling in within a couple weeks, a month at the outside.

Microsoft reports macOS Gatekeeper has an 'Achilles' heel

Re: I detect a trend here

And everybody else.

Good thing. NO company wants to announce their own bugs. This way, we (us GreatUnwashed) get to see things that might otherwise be swept under the rug.

Re: My word, what a conveniently timed release..

"the specific CVE appears to have been addressed"

Yes. That's why it's being announced now, not earlier. There is indeed a fix. Have you applied it yet? Did you even know it was available? Good thing Microsoft put it in the spotlight, no? ... Apple sure as hell wasn't going to announce it to all and sundry!

Re: Insert your Trojan joke here

We don' need no steenkin' badgers!

Server broke because it was invisibly designed to break

Re: A service provider that doesn't bill because their attempted fixes failed?

"When I was in college 50 years ago I had the pleasure of spending a year working in a lab with an ancient DEC PDP-8. "

In 1972 (50 years ago) the PDP8 was hardly an "ancient relic". They had first been released a mere 7 years earlier, and in fact were still in production.

"There was still someone at DEC who knew how to do this."

There were many people at DEC who knew how to do this. The PDP-8 was still rolling off the production line.

Re: A service provider that doesn't bill because their attempted fixes failed?

Good fishing? Nowt but tiddlers in Ka-bek ... that's all you can pull through an 8 inch hole.

_{Although you can occasionally pull a hoquet player out from under thin ice.}

Re: It is a fine idea

"backflipped over an entire table"

And now you know why they call it a flyback circuit ... Seriously, kiddies, don't dick around with old CRTs without getting expert instruction. There be dragons there. This is true even if the box has been powered off for a long, long time (years).

Re: guesswork

"Why the hell does replacing a little gizmo like that (~€35) cost so much?"

Last century's Johnson/Evinrude small single cylinder outboards in the 4 to 6.5 hp class (sometimes called sailboat pusher motors) have a copper water line from the water pump down by the prop up to the power head. The connection between engine block and tube is sealed with a simple o-ring. When the engine is run, the o-ring gets wet. When the engine is shut off, the o-ring dries out. Leaving behind anything dissolved in the water. Especially salt, if the motor is run in the ocean.

These deposits build up over time, gradually putting pressure on the o-ring. Either the iron block, or the soft copper has to give. The copper loses, of course. So eventually, the copper pipe is pinched off, and the engine no longer gets fresh water, and so it overheats.

The fix is simple. Remove the copper pipe, heat it up, run a mandrel through it to pop out the pinch, replace the o-ring (a 19 cent part) & Bob's your Auntie.

Unfortunately, R&Ring the pipe involves pulling the entire power head, which is just short of a complete engine overhaul. About a 4 hour job. At $165/hr shop rate. Plus any parts that may need to be replaced because they are too worn or corroded to be reassembled. Plus the cost of removing stuck bolts, of course. And you might as well put in a new water pump, replace the gearcase prop seal and change it's oil while you're in there.

Bottom line: An honest shop might have to charge well over $1,000 to replace a 19 cent o-ring ... on a motor that is worth maybe $500 if it runs well and looks pretty.

Re: It is a fine idea

That's actually common here in the US. A logically wired house has three walls and the ceiling wired to one breaker (which also feeds the fourth wall (and maybe the floor) in another room)), and the fourth wall (and possibly the floor) wired to the three walls and ceiling in another room. The theory is that in the event of a tripped breaker, every room will still have power/light. Exceptions in this house include hallways/stairwells, bathrooms, garage, basement, laundry rooms, mudroom, etc. The machineroom/museum/mausoleum/morgue has it's own solution, soon to be up and running. Hopefully.

Took a week to plan, a week to rip out the old wiring, a week to pull new wire, and a week to button it back up. Not a job to be taken lightly.

Re: A service provider that doesn't bill because their attempted fixes failed?

Or "important software" because it was one of the C*'s favorite pR0n viewers.

_{Yes, I've seen it. The viewer, I mean. Although ultimately I had to see the pR0n, too. Fired him for it.}

"Anybody who opens one up to work on it without turning the power off first"

Shirley you mean "without unplugging it first"?

"Server fans are no joke"

There's a reason that ties were fair game for anyone with a pair of scissors at most early Silly Con Valley companies ... hand-built one-off prototypes often had voracious cooling fans. The theory was that if we starved 'em of ties they'd be too weak to do much other damage. Not even IBM Field Circus folks were safe from the shears ... HP, somewhat wisely, decided ties were pretty useless fairly early on, as did DEC's Palo Alto contingent. Most of the other big names followed. Some of the Military Brass working out of Ford Aerospace, Varian & etc. had special dispensation to do without neck-ware "so they'd fit in with the locals" ... We had high hopes that it'd become a world-wide movement and we'd be done with the useless things for good.

Re: A service provider that doesn't bill because their attempted fixes failed?

"rolled into a single larger tax, HST"

Nicknamed "Hard Shit, Taxpayer"? Curious ...

A friend of mine reached behind a large bank of relay racks and managed to get his Rolex watchband across the 48V supply ... The resulting loud "CRACK!" and fans spinning down, coupled with the smell of roasting/burning pork, were rather disturbing. To say nothing of the screaming. I managed to calm him down & get him to the ER ... Xrays showed little balls of gold melted into his wrist behind the 3rd degree charring. The surgeons later told him he was lucky to still have full use of his hand. Today, 25 years later, the scarring is still impressive, despite skin grafts. He got a new band for the watch, and now wears it on his other wrist. It still works.

And people wonder why I always take off my wedding ring when working on electrical stuff. Yes, that includes cars, trucks, boats etc.

Re: The Interlock and Health and Safety

I always had a coffee pot and tea kettle in my office. Mini-fridge, too.

I suspect I only got away with it because Security saw me coming in first thing in the morning, sans coffee, once too often ... Early morning emergency calls are fun for nobody.

Bill Gates' nuclear power plant stalled by Russian fuel holdup

"I have seen at least some evidence to suggest it was true"

Unfortunately, according to Warren Nyer, who was actually there on the day the pile first went critical , the man with an axe was "a bunch of baloney". See my post later in the thread for more.

Re: The "scram is an acronym" myth is just that ...

"The rope and guy with an axe are described in Richard Rhodes' book"

Sadly, Richards Rhodes bought the "man with an axe" myth hook, line and sinker. And promptly spread it far and wide.

Read the NRC link(s) and you'll discover that the myth is "a bunch of baloney", per Warren Nyer who was actually there on the day the pile first went critical. Further, in the event that the reactor started getting away from them, Nyer was one of those responsible for "pouring a liquid cadmium solution on CP-1 to poison the reaction" (his words).

I find the concept of five(ish) guys with buckets more compelling and likely than "a guy with an axe". The former will work even if two or three parts fail completely, the latter will fail if any one of a number of parts fail.

As for the supposed "acronym" coined for this ... the word "scram" (short for "scramble", meaning "Get the fuck out NOW!") was quite common in the American English vernacular of the era. You can find it in popular literature, movies and radio show scripts. In this case it's just a backronym, made up to support the myth.

That'll teach me to talk too much! :-)

Have a beer.

The "scram is an acronym" myth is just that ...

... a myth. See this link.

That link has a link to a copy of Fermi's paper on the first pile. Interesting reading, and contains diagrams. No sign of a rope or a guy with an axe, unfortunately.

Here's a plain-text version of that link, for the copy/paste set:

https://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/2016/02/18/refresh-putting-the-axe-to-the-scram-myth/

And one to Fermi's paper:

https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4414200

Musk bans private-plane-tracking @Elonjet on Twitter, threatens legal action

Re: say it with me, folks

Of COURSE it's funny!

Have you not noticed Musk is doing EXACTLY what he and other right-leaning folks were whining about? Nobody (here) is suggesting that he shouldn't be allowed to do it, rather we're laughing at his ham-handed handling of the situation.

Re: stalker

Elon's not a private person any more than any other celebretard is.

Why would anyone want to do that? Same reason the National Enquirer or People Magazine exist ... page hits. It makes money, and it's not illegal. Note he's not tracking the induhvidual, he's tracking an airplane. And he's getting the info from already public sources. You or I could do exactly the same thing. In fact, I'm tempted to release a bit of code that ANYONE could paste into their Web page to do the exact same thing. I personally think hundreds of thousands of "Elon's plane is X here! And was -------X-----X----------X there!" pages would be a hoot at this stage of the game. :-)

The Apple tracking devices have been multiple lawsuits in the making since they were released. Nobody with a clue is surprised by the outcome. But that's a whole nuther kettle o'worms, unrelated to what's going on in Elon's camp.

Elon, you're a ...

...fucking hypocrite, completely untrustworthy, and in way over your head.

Have fun!

NetBSD 9.3: A 2022 OS that can run on late-1980s hardware

Re: MSDOS 2.11

Some of us were using both MS-DOS and UNIX.

Early DOS had no command-line editing except destructive backspacing over the current line.

Later, we had 4DOS (even later, NDOS, which worked in a couple places 4DOS didn't, & vice versa).

Later still, Microsoft included rudimentary command line editing, but we still used 4DOS.

Voice assistants failed because they serve their makers more than they help users

Re: "... they serve their makers more than they help users"

"The Internet" (note CAPS) is a collection of wire and switches that allows computers to communicate using an agreed upon collection of protocols known collectively as TCP/IP. There is no "entity".

Re: Yeah, smart appliances are DUMB.

"Instead no new vehicles with ICEs will be produced after a certain point and the price of petrol will be sky high on account of its relative scarcity."

Actually, I rather suspect that if they stop making ICE vehicles, he price of gasoline will plummet due to a major glut on the market. Really, think about it ... We will still be pulling the same amount of crude out of the ground, because we use it for so many other things. Do you really think they will simply dump the vehicle fuel fractions? Sure, some of it will no doubt be used for other things ... but all of it? Nah. Ain't going to happen.

And note that many ICE engines are made today that aren't destined for the new vehicle market. As long as there is a rolling chassis and a motor to put into it, somebody will.

Re: Yeah, smart appliances are DUMB.

We grow the fuel. My "Mustang" is a Cougar, and she runs on corn (maize to you Brits). Running the car is a net carbon sink ... The corn pulls carbon out of the air, and the car only returns some of it. The rest stays in the ground.

_{4V 351 Clevelands really, really like running on ethanol.}

Re: Yeah, smart appliances are DUMB.

"In this case, the generic "we" as in society."

What? You think there is only one?

Re: Yeah, smart appliances are DUMB.

"Even on your ranch, there will eventually come a day when the only tractor you can get will be "smart" tractor."

Considering I just bought a 70 year old Farmall Super M in working condition, that day will be long after I'm pushing up daisys.

"On the other hand, what if the use of ICE engines is banned in say 30 years time?"

Won't happen. Any politician that suggests banning the family heirloom Mustang/Camero/'57 from the open road will be tarred and feathered and run out of town on the rail. And the bastards know it, too.

With that said ... If they do manage to ban all ICE engines, I'll switch to running my ECE engines. The current fleet includes a couple of working Case traction engines.

Re: Don't know.

"Two Four Seven Radiooooo Oneeeeeee! (Just showing my age!)"

Ah, but do you remember John Peel pretending to be a "real DJ" and playing "Radiooooo Oneeeeeee! Good Morning!" and a couple other pre-recorded sound checks, followed by his official Radio1 name check, and then dedicating a song to one Graham Caddis, of Ardrossan in Ayrshire? The song was Penetration's "Life's a Gambol", so roughly late 1978.

Was the only time Peel played his name check on-air. Was funny, still makes me smile. Somehow I managed to record it.

Re: Yeah, smart appliances are DUMB.

"Why are we doing this to ourselves again?"

Who is "we", Kemosabe?

Siri(Alexa) ...

... How can I show the world I'm a brain-dead consumer without saying I'm a brain-dead consumer?

Re: Has anyone tried ...

In 1972, ELIZA (as "The Doctor", at BBN (tenex?) ) and PARRY (at SAIL) had a conversation at the first ICCC ... Well, they had a conversation that was followed over the ARPANET during the ICCC. It was immortalized in RFC 439.

Not much has changed in half a century.

Re: Not trusty

"Would you expect to find such people at Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon or Google?"

FTFY

Re: This is a bad take

"because Siri was never intended to create a revenue stream or harvest user data."

Keep telling yourself that, Sunshine. Saint Jobs of Marketing would approve.

Re: Lights, FireTV and heating

"Which bell is mum's, and which is her down't road?"

I can hear three of the neighbors variations on the theme. They have a completely different sound to my two ... one is "the dinner bell", a traditional triangle in my case. The other is "emergency", a WWII surplus hand-cranked air-raid siren. This last brings the neighbors running, too (although they know they are welcome to respond to "come and get it!" if they are hungry).

US Dept of Energy set to reveal fusion breakthrough

Re: Not even close

"So we've been wasting billions on 'renewables', not building reactors."

As I said, whistling past the graveyard.

So-called "renewables" might give the greenaholics a warm, fuzzy feeling ... but it won't keep their kids warm on a winter night, every winter night, long-term. We need to start building fission plants, now. Today. Before it is too late.

Re: Cold Fusion PR

Nah. ChatGPT is far more lucid and logical than QAnon.

The source code is far less messy, too.

What did Unix fans learn from the end of Unix workstations?

Re: PanelSim, SimH, Hercules Studio, etc.

I think you'll find that ALL tape units of the era were less good than they could have been.

Re: HDD removed +

I made an AT case out of plexiglass (perspex, acrylic, whatever) once, in an attempt to make computers somewhat less inscrutable. Nowhere did I.need copper tape, everything was properly grounded with the ground lines in the cables. Yes, it was a trifle noisy from an RF perspective, but I rarely fired it up ... it was more a visual aid when teaching newbies.

Re: We were so poor...

Back in my day, that sketch were in black and white and shown on ITV ... That were The Good Old Days, that were.

Re: Pinch points

Stuff 'em all in a small container & ship 'em with the rest of your household stuff. Or get a bigger container and ship your car/motorcycle(s), too. The cost is probably a lot less than you might think.

Re: Dissenting .... K pages of Intel docs, just ignore..what to read

Every CPU has it's quirks, some are more quirky than others. They all suck, but we use 'em anyway.

Except ...

... Sun was one of the first four companies involved in CDE, the others being HP, IBM and AT&T (through USL).

CDE worked as expected across the wide range of systems that eventually adopted it. I even ran it on some Slackware systems back in the day.

New research aims to analyze how widespread COBOL is

Re: Micro Focus

At the end of the '80s, Micro Focus Workbench was written in COBOL ... but their COBOL compiler was written in C. They were probably looking for an answer along the lines of "because COBOL is not self hosting".

_{Not entirely true, but close enough for government work ...}

All you have to do is point out all the Rust job ads that require 20 years experience, or all the Windows 10 job ads that require 10 or 15 years experience, and then explain to them that HR years and human years are completely different beasts.

Newcomers ARE learning COBOL. I've been tutoring several every year for decades. I can't possibly be the only one left.