Posts by Boothy

Hegseth signs flying memo to expand military use of cheap drones in oddball video

Re: Poor old Pete

Quote: "They're [Russia] still recruiting around 10,000 troops a month..."

Ah, so enough to cover about a third of their losses in the same time period then, so still a net reduction in their armed forces, good to know.

Security company hired a used car salesman to build a website, and it didn't end well

Re: That reminds me

Not as serous as banking, but reminds me of a parcel tracking service for a major transport company (everyone in the UK at least, would know them), this was very late 90s, into the early 2000s.

Basically they had a system that customers (of the transport company, i.e. retailers, companies that produce goods that need shipping etc etc), would access to download their tracking data. Dial-up!

This data (good old plain CSV back then) included the typical stuff we are used to these days, like picked up at, arrival and departure from depots, out for delivery, delivered, signed by etc. This also included the actual addresses of the pickup and delivery sites! Some of this data would be very handy to rivals, who were often also customers of the same transport company!

Each customer had a unique ID, that was used for both login to the service, but also controlled where they picked up the data from (based on a simple directory structure). On login they were basically rooted into their own sub-directory, so could only see their data. (I'm guessing people can see where this is heading already!).

We (part of the 3rd line support team) discovered, completely by accident, that if you didn't include the unique ID, it still let you in! Seems the code only checked for invalid IDs, not actually empty ones! Worse still, the 'rooting' process still ran, but now without the ID in the path name, so instead of locking you into <path>/<ID> it locked you to <path>, and if you knew the other IDs, you could grab anyone else's data!

Worse still, these IDs were not nice long UUIDs or similar, they were very short 4 character alpha-numeric codes, a hangover from a much older system many years before my time there (originally managed via a mainframe). So were not exactly hard to guess!

I think the fix was something like adding a AND ${id} != "" to the login code!

As far as I know, they had no idea if anyone outside the company had figured this out, as they also didn't have any logging enabled at the time (later fixed)!!

Post Office and Fujitsu execs 'should have known' Horizon IT system was flawed

Re: The criminals involved need to go to jail

The Post Office is state owned, it's a private limited company with one shareholder, the Government of the United Kingdom, and has been since 1987 through to the present day. It's never been private sector owned in that time.

Here's the companies house page for details.

Britain's 5G experience 'among the worst in Europe' says MedUX

Re: Cancer

You need to learn about Causation and Correlation.

Cell towers are placed where there is demand, i.e. where people live and work.

Guess what else happens in those areas? Lots of traffic and factories belching out pollution etc. etc.

Which is more likely to be causing cancer? Some non ionising radiation from very low power emission levels (remember one of the reasons for 5G over earlier generations is reducing the power, i.e. saving on the elec bill for the telcos).

Or is it more likely to be being caused by particulates in the air from things like car and truck exhausts, or from local polluting industries?

If you don't live near a tower, then that means your out in the countryside somewhere (because everyone in a Town or City is near a tower), where you are much more likely to get fresh air as well!

In the UK, perhaps we could blame Gary Waterman for a little bit of poor coverage?

He apparently filmed himself disabling a mobile/cell tower a couple of weeks ago (suspicion is somewhere in Scotland) and posted it to Youtube, under his own name! Video is still up at time of writing and he's been encouraging others to set fire to masts.

He's one of these nut jobs that thinks 5G is an energy weapon of some kind, and thinks there is some sort of international fraud going on, driven by Satan! (and I'm not joking, the guy is bats!).

VMware must support crucial Dutch govt agency as it migrates off the platform, judge rules

Re: Wider Issue

Years ago now, I purchased a HP microserver to use as a home NAS/media server, nice hardware, basically silent other than HD ticks, low power, 4x3.5 (1x5.25) bays etc.

Hadn't realised at time of getting it, that access to things like driver and BIOS updates were time limited after purchase (fool me once!). You had to sign up, and so pay, for ongoing support if you wanted access to any updates after the initial access ran out. As this was just for home use, I did not take them up on this 'offer'.

So HP went on to my permanent ban list. Not that they'd notice!

French city of Lyon ditching Microsoft for open source office and collab tools

Re: I can understand the wish, but...

Ah yes, Teams (also forced to use in at $WORK).

The fact that Teams does not remember window positions between uses, and always just opens on a fresh boot in the middle of my main monitor! This has been a mainstay of Windows apps for decades, MS seems to be going backwards!

The Teams calendar, which in 5 working days mode is a perfect fit for my $WORK Laptop screen (which I use as a secondary display), and shows all 5 days and all my regular working hours all at once, very nice for a quick glance if I need to check availability etc. Except Teams automatically scrolls the window up and down, so the current hour of the day is in the centre, meaning in the AM I can't see what I have planned for the PM, and when it gets to the PM, I can't see what I'm doing in the following AMs, (without manually scrolling the page around)!! FFS, the entire calendar already fits on screen without a need to scroll, so why move it at all!!

The Teams built in spellchecker just stops working at seemingly random intervals, and seems to do this most days! A restart gets it working again, but why does this happen?

The integration with Outlook, for showing current Teams status in Outlook, also just stops, leaving everyone as a blank/white dot, but if you hover over the person in Outlook, and open a chat, which opens in Teams, the correct status (which is working fine in Teams) suddenly shows in Outlook, but only for that 1 user. Everyone else is still a blank/white dot! Again a restart of Outlook usually gets in working again, but it's only temporary, and will eventually break again typically within a day or two.

Spy school dropout: GCHQ intern jailed for swiping classified data

Re: re: How

You can access to TOP SECRET with just SC, although it's mean to be supervised access only.

Quote from gov.uk: (In relation to SC)

Who needs it [SC] and what it provides access to

Individuals who are to be employed in posts which:

require them to have long-term, frequent and uncontrolled access to SECRET assets and/or occasional, supervised access to TOP SECRET assets

Tug reaches flaming ship carrying electric cars off Alaska coast

Re: 'Noticing' smoke

I was wondering the same thing, as it seems maritime regulations do require such things on board transport ships (and presumably other types of vessels). So were these ignored, or not functional at the time?

Re: I think the last similar case was 2023

Similar in that cars and a ship were involved, but not in regards to how the fire started. The 2022 example was directly caused by an EV, for 2023, that was not the case.

In the Fremantle Highway case, the root cause is still unknown as far as I'm aware, but we do know that all the EVs on board (498 of them) were all in good condition after the fire (they were on a lower deck than where the fire took place), so whilst we don't know what the actual cause of the Fremantle fire was, we do know it wasn't related to the EVs. Which I'm guessing is why the Reg referenced the 2022 incident, which was an EV fire, rather than the 2023 fire, which wasn't.

Meta pauses mobile port tracking tech on Android after researchers cry foul

Re: One rule for them

Interesting site, apparently I am unique, have a Gyroscope and my batteries are charging just fine.

PS: I'm on a home built desktop, so no Gyroscope or Batteries, hmm!

Ukraine strikes Russian bomber-maker with hack attack

Re: Thank goodness

Quote: "Ukraine fighting with the Germans in WW2 doesn't endear them to Russia either"

Hmm, Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact anyone?

Russia (more specifically the Soviet Union) being a 'friend' of Germany from 1939 to 1941 (formally a non aggression pact), and both parties instigating a joint invasion of Poland in 1939, and so Russia was one of the direct causes of WW2 kicking off in the first place.

The Pact only ended in 41 due to Germany terminating it, when they decided to turn on Russia (Operation Barbarossa). The Pact was originally meant to last 10 years, so if Germany had not have terminated it, then who knows what Russia might have gotten up to during 1941 and onwards, if they'd have stayed 'friends' with Germany during that time?

Three ways to run Windows apps on a Linux box

Re: I just wanna game.

If a game is marked as 'Verified' for 'STEAM DECK COMPATIBILITY', then as a certain studio head some times has said, 'it just works'.

Note, often a lack of Verified for the Deck, simply means the game doesn't like the Decks control system, or the screen res, rather than an actual incompatibility with Proton/Linux itself.

Go have a look on Protondb to see what works and what doesn't, they also differentiate between Steam Deck, and just regular desktop Linux.

If you link your Steam account, it can check your existing Library as well, although be aware, the site works on reports sent in by users, so if games are really old, so no current users, there may not be any reports for it, so if you've had Steam a while, a library check might look worse than it actually is!

The only current games that tend to have issues, are some competitive multiplayer games, as some of these have horrible anti-cheat systems that can hook into the Windows kernel, and those don't work via Proton. Examples of borked games being PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS and Destiny 2. So if you don't play these type of games, you'll likely be fine.

As a general rule, if it doesn't work under regular Proton, try experimental (you can set a default Proton in Steam, and also per game if needed).

If that doesn't work, grab GE-Proton and try again.

If that doesn't work, check Protondb for fixes (the submitted reports include any tweaks if needed).

Honestly though, most games for me just work, or might need GE, and that's it.

Proton for Lutris and Bottles

Quote: 'Another tool is Valve's Proton, which combines WINE and other tools. Proton, though, isn't available on its own: it is part of the Steam client, Valve's subscription service. The only way to use Proton is to install the Steam client and sign in.'

For info, you can also use Proton via Lutris and Bottles.

For Lutris, if you select an installed game, right click and 'Configure', switch to the 'Runner options' tab, and the 'Wine version' drop down lets you select Proton versions, including Steams, but also custom versions such as GE-Proton (if installed under Steam).

I suspect it's reading these from the Steam install, as the GE-Protons are a manual install by myself and only placed under Steam, but Lutris still sees these as well, and only the ones I installed, so you likely still have a dependency there with Steam anyway.

For Bottles, it also supports GE-Proton as a runner (but not regular Proton), and it lists lots of versions. (Bottles > Preferences > Runners : 'Proton GE' is at the bottom). So seems to be independent of Steam.

I jumped about 18 months ago now, and it's all been fairly smooth. Some new releases (at the time) had many Windows users complaining about things like crashing, stuttering GFX etc, and waiting for patches etc, but they ran fine on Linux without those issues, at least for me! So it can actually be quite good on Linux.

Just on this : Quote: 'The other gotcha to watch out for is that ideally for best performance your games need to be installed on a Linux partition (eg Ext4) and not NTFS, which once committed to Linux could be a lot of reinstalling/downloading.'

Agree on the Ext4 etc. Don't use NTFS for Linux Steam!

But a tip on the reinstalling/downloading side.

If moving OS on the same machine, and you have the drive space, you can just mount the NTFS drives in Linux, and just copy/paste the Windows Steam game installs onto the Ext4 drive, or even somewhere temp, like a NAS or external drive first, then a local Ext4 drive afterwards (such as if planning to reformat the original NTFS to Ext4).

Although this is likely only worth doing if it's a large game, and depending on your Internet speed etc.

For ref, the installed game files for Windows games are literally the same irrespective of being installed under Steam within Windows, or Steam within Linux. So you can just copy the game directory straight from the NTFS drive, onto an Ext4 drive, and Steam will use the files as-is.

So as an example, you might have games in Windows here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common

So just boot into Linux, mount the drive (for example in Mint the NTFS drives are just listed in the file explorer under Devices, just click the drive wanted to mount and access). Browse to the Windows game install locations, i.e. under 'common' above, find the game/games you want (say 'Fallout 4', and just copy the game folder to the new Ext 4 location.

e.g. : /home/<username>/.steam/steam/steamapps/common

Tip: Don't bother copying any other files from Steam, as they'll just be recreated anyway. You just need the game folders (and potentially save games if not using cloud saves).

Once the game has been copied, just go into Steam in Linux (it won't know the game is there yet), pick the game in the Library, click install, and make sure you select the drive you copied the files to, if not the default location (i.e. if using a separate SteamLibrary), and it will change from installing, to verifying instead. Once verified, you are good to go. (If doesn't switch to verifying, then there might be a path issue, or permissions, but as long as you copied the files under the same account you use Steam under, it should be fine).

I'm a hoarder, and also replay some games over and over (strategy games etc), so tend to have lots of games installed at the same time, so this saved me many hours of downloading and installing. Just a quick local M.2 NVME transfer (or SATA SSD), a verify, and done.

Tip: Adding 'gamemoderun %command%' without quotes, to the game launch options, can help gaming performance (any game, including native Linux), but it's hit and miss as to how much, if at all.

Have fun!

Europe warns giant e-tailer to stop cheating consumers or face its wrath

Re: Hmm, maybe not Amazon.

I was looking at some external drives cases on Amazon (SATA to USB). Saw one with good reviews, checked a few of the reviews out, and they were all for sticker books. You know the sort of things kids stick on their school pen cases and lunch boxes. Some reviews they even included photos, definitely nothing to do with SATA drives!

Trump's wind farm funding freeze is so much hot air, say states as they blow sueball to Washington

Re: Erm

For anyone in the UK, this site might be of interest : GB Electricity Bills

It gives a break down, based of the average annual electric bill in the UK, and how much goes to what, such as wholesale cost of the electricity itself, transmission, supplier costs, subsidies etc.

For some highlights, looking at the 2024 figures:

Only about a third (34%) of the bill, was actually for the generated electricity, and the wholesale cost there is mostly due to the current high price of gas (and the weird way the unit price is set in the UK).

About a quarter (~23%) went to transmission and grid balancing, so national grid plus local distribution up to the house itself.

Then there are the subsidies!

~11% went to the old Renewables Obligation (stopped in 2017, but still paying off the existing contracts).

A little under 4% to the Contracts for Difference (CfD), which is the new and current way to of subsidising contracts.

The old Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme for solar PV, which ran from 2010 to 2019, was at 2.5% (still paying as again this is existing contracts yet to run out).

So ~17.5% of a typical bill is going to subsidies.

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

Re: Card orientation

You can get risers to do this, basically a mounting frame with a PCIe slot that holds the card vertically instead, then a cable with a plug on the end that goes into the mother board. Some cases come with these as standard, or as an optional extra, and have their card slots orientated for vertical cards, rather than horizontal.

The issue here is that the vast majority of GFX cards use fans for cooling, and expect to be pulling in air from bellow, and blowing the heated air out above. In a vertical position the air intake is pointing towards the side of the case, and the exhaust is pointing directly into the motherboard. There are mitigation, such as side intakes on the case etc. Although the better option here is going water cooled for the GFX card.

The risers themselves can also cause other issues, as it's effectively an extension cable, so they can cause stability issues in some use cases.

Doesn't help that there seems to be no card length standard to stick to, even for cards within the same class. Length varies by brand, even for the same models.

Plus then the depth differs as well, depending on the cooling, so you can go from low end cards being a single slot card, to the mid at 2 or 2.5 slot, and top end being 3 or more slot cards, so even the position of the bottom of the card, isn't at a consistent height above the bottom of the case!

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

Re: Starting points

TBH it's probably been 2 years since I tried to move it to Linux, and it was just being a pain (not launching etc), so I just left it on the Windows install.

I'll no doubt try again at some point.

Assuming it does work, I'll likely wipe the Windows drive at that point and install a fresh Arch Linux on there for a bit of testing (Or maybe Steam OS if that's properly available for desktops by then!).

Re: Definitely an addiction

On your last paragraph.

If you want to check compatibility of your Steam library (without money buying a card etc), go check out Proton DB, you can check games individually, but you can also link your Steam account, and it will show compatibility for your entire library. I've got a 20 year old account now (jees!) and my entire library (around 400!) shows as only 1% borked, and 2% run but have major issues, such as regular crashing. The rest run fine on Linux out of the box, or with some minor tweaking (and the tweaking info is included on Proton DB).

Also just a tip, if going Linux, I'd get an AMD GFX card, rather than Nvidia, AMD are far more pro Linux and Open Source in general, and there are AMD drivers built into the Linux eco system (aka Mesa). AMD basically just works out of the box, no 3rd party drivers needed. Nvidia can be a little more of a challenge.

Have fun!

Re: Starting points

Re Games on Linux

If using Steam for games, Linux works well thanks to built in Linux support (native Linux Steam + Proton (aka Valves game tweaked Wine) for the Windows games).

I've been dual booting Linux (Mint) and Windows 10 for about 2.5 years now. I've not had a single game I've gotten via Steam that hasn't 'just worked' on Linux in all that time.

A few examples of recent and/or popular games I've got via Steam, that all run fine in Linux: Baldur's Gate 3, Atomfall, Satisfactory, Oblivion Remastered, Ghost of Tsushima, Star Wars Outlaws, Cyberpunk 2077, AC Mirage, Pacific Drive, etc etc.

The only game I still have installed under Windows, is MS Flight Sim, hmm, winder why that doesn't play nice under Proton! Plus a heavily modified version Fallout 4, but that's only so my Linux install of Fallout 4 remains nice and clean.

Even other stores can be used, such as Epic Games, EA, Ubisoft, GOG etc, although these take a little more effort, and need tools like Lutris (others are available).

The only real caveat to note is competitive games, some of these use quite invasive anti-cheat systems, some of which don't work via Proton (or regular Wine). So if you play these type of games, check first before jumping to Linux (or just dual boot).

To check out specific games, have a look on Proton DB. It shows Steam Deck and Desktop Linux compatibility.

RIP, Google Privacy Sandbox

Re: Do we even need cookies?

I've also been blocking 3rd party cookies by default for a few years now. (Also running a Pi-Hole for DNS and DHCP).

I've not noticed any issues directly related to cookies, and any sites that do break (typically due to blocked DNS), I just go somewhere else for the info instead.

EU gives staff 'burner phones, laptops' for US visits

It doesn't help that the US Department of Homeland Security basically just made up the tattoo stuff.

One of the examples they have on their web site, on Detecting and Identifying gang members, is a 10 year old Instagram post from a guy in Nottingham, UK, who had a clock tattooed on his arm (date and time of his daughter's birth).

BBC News - British man's tattoo wrongly linked to Venezuelan gang in US government document

You'd have thought if tattoos were a reliable way of identifying gang members, there would be enough real examples available, without Homeland Security needing to browse Instagram for random completely unrelated ones!

Self-driving car maker Musk's DOGE rocks up at self-driving car watchdog, cuts staff

Saw this mentioned by Jake Broe on YT last night.

Before any announcements, someone massively started buying options in the US, enough to cause a large visible spike in prices.

A short while later, Trump posts "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" on truth fake social.

Then hours after that the US announces the tariff roll-backs.

Just smacks of insider trading!

Microsoft lists seven habits of highly effective Windows 11 users

Re: So, the argument is that Win 1 0 support is ending, right ?

Similar here, also a gamer.

From the mid 90s I was upgrading (new Motherboard, CPU and RAM etc) every 2-3 years.

In 2013 I built a Intel i7 3770K system and used that till 2019, so 6 years.

In 2019 I switched to AMD with an AM4 3800X system.

That system is still my primary gaming system today, so 6 years later. Although I did drop in a 5800X3D in a couple of years back, and more recently a new 9070XT.

The GFX card, which is a good card, the fastest available from AMD currently [*], is still the bottleneck in almost every game (if I don't set an FPS limit), so I see no reason to upgrade the CPU any time soon, as that wouldn't benefit me much (this would also require a new MB and RAM as a minimum, so not too cheap either!).

I can't imagine me doing another CPU upgrade for at least another 2 to 3 years, and even then it's going to be a case of demonstrating that the CPU is now a real bottleneck.

I also ditched Windows as my main OS over two years back, so game on Linux these days (thank you Valve and their Proton in native Steam!)

* The only GFX cards faster than the 9070XT are top end NVIDIA cards, and they are all way way way overpriced! (and not as Linux friendly).

Microsoft goes native with Copilot. Again

Just to add to this, in case anyone sees this in the future.

Turns out it was VirtualBox was at fault, and having the issue with 6.11.

Installing the same Mint 22.1 under KVM on the same host, and that works fine with the newer 6.11 kernel.

The newer Kernel also worked fine for the host machine (same Mint 22.1), although I've since switched to 6.13 on the host, as I got new 9070 XT which needed 6.13 as a minimum.

So I'm now migrating from VirtualBox to KVM!

(Not my downvote).

Don't know if it's related, but I also have VirtualBox installed on a Mint host (regular, not LMDE), and I have various VMs, including a Mint VM I use for testing things on first.

The Mint VM has worked perfectly for about 2 years now, but a recent Kernel update (from 6.8 to 6.11) broke things. After updating to 6.11, a boot would either hang, or after several minutes I'd start getting lots of time-out errors in the boot up log. Managed to get into the Desktop once, but it just hung instantly, after that never got to the Desktop again, just the time-outs.

Tried investigating, but couldn't find the root issue. So went back to an earlier snapshot (I always take one for any major changes), so back to 6.8, and it boots up fine again. Installed all updated other than the 6.11 kernel, and still working fine.

No idea if this is just a VirtualBox issue, but for now I'm not risking going to 6.11 on the host machine either any time soon.

Will likely try a 6.11 point release in a few weeks, or wait for 6.12 or 6.13 to drop (in the Mint repo), then try the VM again.

Vodafone: Be in the office 8 days a month or lose bonuses

Haven't thought about Demon for years!

Was using them back in the 90s, when I was still accessing the Internet with Amigas!

I had a Demon hosted web site, providing instructions on how to set up a TCP/IP stack in Amiga OS, and control your dial up etc.

Good old #disa (Demon IP Support Amiga) IRC channel, we even organised a few meet ups! Those were the days.

Icon: That's what we did on the meet ups!

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

Re: OK, I'll bite

Was not aware of massgrave, am now, added to the tools collection. Thanks.

Suddenly my Win 10 VM I use for testing (host is Mint) allows me to get rid of that annoying 'Windows spotlight' background, amongst other things.

Cheers!

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

Hopefully some real competion in the market for Nvidia (hence icon)

As someone above posted, I've also got a 6900XT and a 5800X3D.

No plans currently for a CPU upgrade (and that would need new motherboard + RAM as well of course, as a minimum, so is not going to be cheap!).

A little tempted on the GPU side. I play a few AAA types, and at 3440x1440, so not quite 4K, but more than just plain 1440p. I can usually still play on High or Ultra, at native. Perhaps with some tweaking for things like shadows etc. But I am noticing my frame rates are now regularly starting to hit around 60fps and even below sometimes if I don't start turning things down to medium, or using up-scaling etc. And this is whilst avoiding ray tracing.

One thing that does have me concerned a little (overall, not directly specific to AMD), is that some new games coming out now seem to have RT baked in, with no means to turn it off fully (you can increase it, but not remove it). Star Wars Outlaws is an example, RT is built into the game engine, and does it in software on older hardware that can't do RT in hardware!

Apparently the new architecture in the 9070s doubles the RT capability over the previous 7900 GRE. So whilst rasta is getting a bit of an uplift over a 7900 GRE, the RT uplift is meant to be quite considerable. Be interesting to see what impact this will have on games like Cyberpunk 2077 with RT on?

Current estimates seem to paint the 9070XT rasta around the same as the 5070 Ti, and RT around the 5070 (non Ti), whilst being ~$150 (or more at the moment!) cheaper than the 5070 Ti.

But we'll see about performance over the next couple of days, once real reviews come out, from the likes of Hardware Unboxed, and Gamers Nexus etc.

So I'm watching these new 9070XTs with a little interest myself, although waiting for those independent reviews (the reviewers have cards already, review embargo lifts on the 5th, before the cards come out on the 6th).

Also, just on availability, apparently the cards have been in full swing production for over two months, with retailers saying they have way more stock of these new AMD cards ready to go, than they have had for the new Nvidia cards in total, since launch!

uBlock Origin dead for many as Google purges Manifest v2 extensions

Yup, about right on the 10 mins.

Wiped and rebuilt mine just this Monday (and old Ras Pi 3). Took myself about 12-13 mins total, but I was also setting up DHCP and some static leases as well, which not everyone will need.

Microsoft trims more CPUs from Windows 11 compatibility list

Re: I only use Windows for the unimportant things ...

You likely know this already, but Proton is not an emulation, it's a Valve customised version of Wine, and Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's an implementation of Windows APIs (Direct X etc) within Linux, and does not use emulation or virtualisation.

You also don't really need to do anything much to 'get that working on linux', just install Steam and it handles Proton for you by default for supported titles, of which there are many now, mainly I suspect thanks to the Steam Deck (which is on Arch Linux and also using Proton).

If you want to try it with everything in Steam, just go to Settings > Compatibility, and switch on 'Enable Steam Play for all other titles'. You can now try to run anything.

Just note though, if you play competitive multiplayer games (which I don't), I've heard some of the anti-cheat systems try to hook into the Windows Kernel, and some of these don't work under Proton currently.

If you have specific games in mind, check out protondb.com

Even Linus Torvalds can have trouble with autocycle … autocracy… AUTOCOMPLETE!

Ah the joys of autocomplete.

Just last week one of my neighbours sent me a text asking if I was going to be at home the following day, so that I could take in a parent for her, as she was going to be at work!

She of course meant parcel. :-)

Icon, well why not?

Does this thing run on a 220 V power supply? Oh. That puff of smoke suggests not

Re: "built to survive minor accidents"

Back in the 90s I worked in an electronics lab (well, a couple of brick rooms). We built and repaired custom electrical and electronic systems (think custom control systems for industrial systems).

We had a bad batch of electrolytic capacitors at one point, and they would randomly pop during burn in testing!

We ended up making a case and lid for the test bench, to literally keep the lid on.

Windows 10's demise nears, but Linux is forever

Re: Linux for a heavy gamer

Just my experience, but I'm a Linux desktop gamer here, and a VR user, both on Linux. Although can't comment specifically on the Oculus side of things (Index user here).

I have a couple of desktops...

Desktop 1: None VR system. My main gaming rig: AM4 5800X3D + 6900XT, and an Ultrawide 3440 x 1440. Using Mint Cinnamon, with dual boot into Windows 10.

Both CyberPunk 2077 and GTA work perfectly. In fact in the early days of CyberPunk, when lots of people were complaining about performance issues, crashes etc. Mine was working fine, performance was a little poor (like everyone at the time), but I never had any of the crashing other people seemed to be having.

The only game I can't run reliably is MS Flight Sim (2020/4th anniversary edition), hmm, I wonder why! This is currently the only game I boot into Windows for.

Latest game to play has been Assassin's Creed Mirage (via Steam), no issues, and that uses the annoying Ubisoft Connect launcher.

Desktop 2: Dedicated VR system. Also AM4, using a hand-me-down 3800X CPU + 7800XT with a Valve Index.

(Dedicated as my office where my main gaming rig is located is quite small, so this set-up lives hidden in a cupboard in the open plan dining/kitchen area, as it's the biggest room in the house!).

This uses Arch Linux (same as the Steam Deck), specifically EndeavourOS. This was done due to issues I had under Mint when using VR on my main system (this before building the dedicated VR rig).

As this was a new system, I thought I'd try Arch first, as that's what Valve are using for the Steam Deck, with the backup plan being to install Windows if really needed.

So far everything I've tried has just worked. That includes for example The Gallery, The Lab, Beat Saber, Space Pirate Trainer, Half Life Alyx, Helblade (VR version) etc.

I was planning on making the system dual boot, so Arch and Windows, but so far haven't bothered installing Windows on the VR system.

Notes:

Almost everything I play is via Steam, so Linux support is built in.

Also I'm using AMD GFX in both systems, and I've heard that AMD makes things easier, as their Linux driver support is much better than say NVIDIA.

The bottom line is, I'm not going back to Windows on a personal system.

Re: Linux is best for servers, not good for desktops

Similar experience when I installed Mint on my home built desktop system a couple of years back, plus updates since then have all been smooth. (Now on 22.1).

This system has wifi, bluetooth, LAN, wireless gaming mouse etc. All that just worked.

The only single bit of hardware that didn't work out of the box on initial install was the back-light RGB control on my keyboard (an old first gen Corsair Strafe I've had for years now). Although the keyboard itself worked fine, and the back-light did switch on, it was just using defaults, with no control.

A quick search, and I found Ckb-next listed in the software manager, installed, and the RGB control now worked fine.

Re: Linux is best for servers, not good for desktops

Most of the above can either be reworded and equally be applied to Windows, or seem to be a skill issue on your part.

Give someone who has never used a computer before, a Windows system, and ask them to do all those things, and you'll have all the same type of issues.

As an example, spaces in path names, oh look, I have a directory called 'Calibre Library' in my home dir, opens terminal, types 'cd Ca' hits tab (autocomplete), hits return, done. Alternately you can just escape the space, so for 'Calibre Library' you type 'Calibre\ Library' (without the quotes). Not exactly difficult stuff. Similar for shell scripts, just put quotes around any variables you might be using spaces within e.g. "$mypath", this is just good practice anyway.

For file sharing, for me it's just right click on a directory icon, and select 'Sharing options', (this uses Samba), although for me personally, I do all filesharing via a NAS (also Linux), not directly on my desktops (I just browse on the desktop to the network shares, then bookmark the ones I use regularly).

Erm, you do know FreeBSD is not Linux??

Quote: 'Where are my programs installed?' why do you care? You could ask the same for Windows, has it gone under 'Program Files', 'Program Files (x86)', 'Program Files\WindowsApps', or has it been hidden somewhere under AppData, or some other custom location? But again, who cares, does the program work?

Display drivers updates are built into the software manager, and just work, have for me anyway for years now. No fighting required. Easier than Windows.

Re: Gaming on Linux

I think the Steam Deck launch (almost 3 years ago now!) was quite critical.

Games that previously needed some tweaks, don't anymore, plus most devs now aim for deck compatibility (including big studios and indies), which also automatically means desktop Linux compatibility.

2+ years ago, I was doing more tweaking (wine/proton tricks to install runtimes etc.), and had a few issues with games that used custom launchers (2K, Ubisoft etc).

The only thing I do now is...

1. Add 'gamemoderun %command%' to the launch options (completely optional, but can help game performance a little sometimes). Really wish Steam had the option to just set this globally!

2. I also install GE Proton, (simple unzip the .tar.gz to a dir under Steam (e.g. .steam/root/compatibilitytools.d) and restart Steam, GE proton is then selectable under Compatibility (globally or individually per game)).

If a game doesn't work with the default Proton from Valve, I set Compatibility to GE proton instead for that game, and it just works. Typically only needed for brand-new releases,

Note, I don't (apart from one *) play competitive games, so whilst I'm aware of some multiplayer anti-cheat systems having issues, this hasn't impacted myself.

* War Thunder is the only competitive game I play (occasionally), and it's Linux native, so no Proton needed.

Gaming on Linux

Quote: ' if you're really serious about games, why are you on a desktop anyway?'

Erm, because I'm serious about gaming!

More seriously, this is horses for courses, consoles are easier and cheaper, but are also more locked down, with more platform exclusives etc. (Which is a bad thing).

PC gaming is far more flexible, and I'd argue for many games, such as strategy games and FPS games, mouse and keyboard are king. Plus for those games that a controller is better (driving games, 3rd person games like Assassin's Creed etc), you can just plug one in anyway. Also many big strategy games are just not available on consoles, or when they are, they are cut down limited versions, due to lack of resources in the consoles..

Ultimately, one is not better (from a usage point of view) than the other, as it depends on your use case, what games you play, if you prefer K+M over a controller etc. So play on what you want, on what you want!

What I will say though, is I've been gaming on Mint Cinnamon for over two years now, and the only game that I had real issues with was MS Flight Sim (the 2023 version), which is of course from the MS XBox studio!

Intel pitches modular PC designs to make repairs less painful

Re: If they were

Same here. Also built a AM4 system back in Aug 2019, with a 3800X (was on offer, so same price as the 3700X at the time, so why not), plus a hand-me-down RTX 2080 which was in a old i7 system (from the days before i9 was a thing).

Popped a RX 6900 XT into this (again it was on offer) in July 2022, then a 5800X3D into it back in Sep 2022. So for CPU, it's basically as fast as it's going to get for gaming, and I don't need 16 cores for productivity on this machine.

I'd like to swap the GFX out at some point, but I'm not in a rush, and have no currently plans to switch over to AM5, as I can still play at Ultra or High settings, and maintain typically 100+ FPS anyway for the games I play.

Linux Mint 22.1 Xia arrives fashionably late

@ mark

Quote 'But it does mean its only for Linux newbies as I have been daily driving it since 2012.'

I'm guessing you meant 'doesn't' rather than 'does'? As you state it's only for newbies, but also used it as a daily since 2012, which are at odds! :-)

PS: Also a daily Mint user.

UK prepared to throw planning rules out the window for massive datacenters

Re: Possible gains that almost certainly won't happen

There is still a district based system in London, in the Square Mile, it provides heating, electricity and cooling to residential and commercial properties, including the Guildhall, the Barbican Centre etc, apparently 60 sites in total.

It's called Citigen (implemented by e-on).

Blurb: 'Using a modern tri-generation system with internal combustion engines, Citigen provides district heating, electricity and cooling to this highly populated part of London with ever-growing and changing energy needs.

The network covers over 6km of heating and over 4.5km of cooling to commercial and residential property from the Guildhall to the Barbican Centre, providing heating and cooling for the equivalent of 11,300 homes. Citigen is a key part of the solution for the City of London’s environmental targets.'

The ultimate Pi 5 arrives carrying 16GB ... and a price to match

Quote: 'and he still wasn't able to play video's back at higher resolution / frame rate.'

Sounds like a driver issue perhaps?

I'm using a Pi 5 as a media player (LibreELEC+Kodi, no plugins/extensions) plugged direct into my TV (old model LG 4k), and it plays back 4k 60fps files (from a NAS) just fine for me.

PS: The downvote wasn't from me.

How the OS/2 flop went on to shape modern software

Re: floppies

In case you don't know, web based version of Space Cadet:

https://alula.github.io/SpaceCadetPinball/

Left/Right mouse for paddles, hold middle mouse and release for the ball.

Christmas 1984: The last hurrah for 8-bit home computers

Re: Don't forget the Oric !

I remember my neighbour getting an Oric for Christmas in 1982 (or 83?) when I was 12/13, he was maybe 2 years younger than myself and had no real idea what to do with it! I figured it out, and ended up basically being kicked out of their house to give him a chance to use his own computer! Chuckle.

I then pestered my parents for one relentlessly for months and months.

The following Christmas arrived, and there was a brand new ZX Spectrum 48K and my disappointment was immeasurable, where was my Oric!!! What's this weird rubbery keyboard thing!

This feeling lasted maybe a few minutes. Loved that machine, oh happy days.

Re: Well...

Completely agree, author seems to be almost a decade out.

I had a ZX Spectrum from new (48k rubber keyboard), upgraded it to a '+' via a DIY kit (after wearing out the rubber keyboard, and I mean the actual electrical membrane, the text on the keys had long since gone!). I then moved to a +3 (floppy disk version) around 1988.

I did switch to 16bit, with an Amiga 500, but this was a 2nd hand one, perhaps around 1990?

I was also one of the first ones amongst my friends to move to 16bit, so at least 6 years after 1984! (Also had no interest in consoles).

I got an Amiga 1200 (32bit) in early 1993, this time new (actually had a real job by this point!). I also picked up an Amiga 4000 2nd hand a couple of years later (a 68030, but I got hold of an 68040 board).

Still have the Amiga 1200 and 4000, although the 500 and the Spectrum were sold long ago, back in the 90s.

Re: History....

Quote: 'S41 Newbold area of Chesterfeild[sic]'

@ spireite : Ah, now the username makes sense :-)

Small world! This speaking as someone who lives in Chesterfield, on Spire Heights to be exact! :-D

PS: For anyone that doesn't get it, Chesterfields footy team are known as the Spireites, they had a new football ground built in a new location over a decade ago, and new housing was built on the old site (it was basically in the middle of a residential area), with 'Spire Heights' becoming the new name, as a homage to the old site. There is also an art 'installation' commemorating it's old use.

British Army zaps drones out of the sky with laser trucks

Quote "... with additional provisions for dedicated power sources to ensure sustained operation."

So that to me looks like they can only ensure sustained operation when using additional power sources.

Which in turn likely means using the vehicles power system only allows for non-sustained, operations. Likely charging something up, then fire, then wait to charge again.

But if you want sustained fire, time to get the extension cord out!

Not really an issue, as this is only a demonstrator anyway.

Badass Russian techie outsmarts FSB, flees Putinland all while being tracked with spyware

Re: "Always keep a second passport"

Quote 'I would venture that, in every country that delivers passports, having a second one is against the law.'

Can't comment on other countries, but certainly in the UK you can have more than one British passport, these are known as 'additional passports' and you have to provide a valid reason for wanting one.

Valid reasons include things like being a frequent business traveller, if you need visas, as often you need to send your passport to a embassy or consulate to get the visa, and this can take time, several weeks, meaning no passport for that time, and if you travel every week or two, or even just monthly, this can be impossible without a second passport.

Another reason is incompatible countries, having stamps for some countries can make it difficult to get into others. A friend of mine years ago was a language teacher, and did volunteer charity work overseas, sometimes to countries that were not all that friendly with each other, or the West in general. The charity suggested getting a second passport, and to use his original one for the West and West friendly nations, and the second one for some of the less friendly ones. This wasn't just a case of getting into the other countries easier (as it was obvious where he'd come from of course), but more about getting back into places in the West, such as the USA, without having a passport full of visas and stamps from places like Libya etc.