Posts by The Specialist

'It's really hard to find maintainers...' Linus Torvalds ponders the future of Linux

Re: I wonder why?

Yes, I recently jumped in that pool (again) - now that I do get to work from home a lot longer than initially planned.

I am using OpenBSD for servers facing the enemy and FreeBSD for the rest.

I was screwed over by Cisco managers who enforced India's caste hierarchy on me in US HQ, claims engineer

Re: The great, the good, and the ugly

We have our Secretary of State for the Home Department in UK behaving the same way.

Macs, iPhones, iPads to get encrypted DNS – how'd you like them Apples?

Re: Good & Bad

No it wouldn't work fine if you are running a proper firewall.

Re: Better late than bleeding edge?

PF you say.

Here you go:

pass in quick to $bad_dns rdr-to $adblock_server

Also you can replace add block with

https://geoghegan.ca/unbound-adblock.html

and extend via:

https://geoghegan.ca/pfbadhost.html

Top Euro court advised: Cops, spies yelling 'national security' isn’t enough to force ISPs to hand over massive piles of people's private data

I expect the rapists and molesters get convicted here in courts where the crime took place, be Her Majesty's guest for a period then upon completing their sentence, got deported!

The IoT wars are over, maybe? Amazon, Apple, Google give up on smart-home domination dreams, agree to develop common standards

Re: In all seriousness, though...

Step this way sir:

https://www.home-assistant.io/

Criminalise British drone fliers, snarl MPs amid crackdown demands

Re: criminalising the flying of any drone within three miles of a licensed aerodrome.

Do we get to keep our taxes inside M25 as well? Then you have a deal.

Brexit: Digital border possible for Irish backstop woes, UK MPs told

Re: 41 good, 44 bad?

There is the "small" matter of GFA - which states along the lines of there shall not be a hard border in Ireland. Are we to renegate on our word?

Hi! It looks like you're working on a marketing strategy for a product nowhere near release! Would you like help?

gym / out running

I spent good money for these calories OK! Not gonna throw money on any gym membership to spend all those hard earned calories.

'Software delivered to Boeing' now blamed for 737 Max warning fiasco

Re: does this affect more aircraft than the ill fated 737 max?

Here is a very comprehensive write up on the source of the issue specific to this aircraft:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/aviation/how-the-boeing-737-max-disaster-looks-to-a-software-developer

Julian Assange jailed for 50 weeks over Ecuador embassy bail-jumping

Re: @I M Grumby

Sir, on one hand you acknowledge

"war is hell and civilians do get maimed and/or killed when you live in a combat zone"

and next

"released operational details that did get servicemen killed"

Which is it?

What is good for goose good for gander I'd have thought. War is hell - I agree..

I'm sure his fellow inmates will "persuade" him to clean after himself.

Sky customers moan: Our broadband hubs are bricking it

Wireshark

When I was using Sky as my internet provider, I used wireshark to capture the user/pwd info and rolled out my own Draytek 28something modem/router. Now I am with most excellent A&A - no more pesky consumer ISPs.

And in current affairs... Apple recalls three-prong AC adapters after some shocking behavior

Re: Apple PSUs are a rubbish design.

Or use a stick of SUGRU next time you repair it. Job's done.

Three-quarters of crucial border IT systems at risk of failure? Bah, it's not like Brexit is *looks at watch* err... next month

Re: What possible delay?

Indeed, and should it were binding, the courts would throw away the results and ask for a fresh referendum due to "alleged" foreign influence and irregularities.

Fake broadband ISP support scammers accidentally cough up IP address to Deadpool in card phish gone wrong

Re: Well?

>"actual bank details of the scammer"

You could at least set up some dd for a few charities using the crook's bank account details.

IBM insists it's not deliberately axing older staff. Internal secret docs state otherwise...

Re: Just to play devil's advocate here

I can relate to that. Back in eatly 00's I was made redundant "due to restructuring and based on performance I was the weakest (ie I was paid the most)" after merely 18 months of service. When they told me regardless of service one gets 3 months pay, I asked them where to sign and whne can I get the hell out of there.

Alas, before long (few days) I had a phone interview for another job to start the day after I finished my employment - thank you very much!

For the past 20+ years my motto is "career for life - jobs come and go".

Sticking with one mobile provider gets you... Oh. Price rises, big exit fees, and lovely, lovely lock-in

Re: And another thing.....

If I were you, I would have gotten the PAC code, move to another service provider (ege. Voda) PAYG porting my number, and await for BlackFriday / Xmas sales then get my PAC code and join EE again at a tarif of my liking.

Oh, I just remembered, that's what I did :)

Poor people should get slower internet speeds, American ISPs tell FCC

Re: Well, if they don't think it's fair...

@CrazyOldCatMan said: "because people like you refuse to do your Christian duty to help the poor"

Leave the religion out will you? Not everyone has invisible friend(s) but still help people in need nevertheless!

Total Inability To Support User Phones: O2 fries, burning data for 32 million Brits

999

Not sure anyone mentioned before but dialling 999 / 112 from any mob regardless of network / with or without sim card is possible. It will latch on whatever network is available.

US told to quit sharing data with human rights-violating surveillance regime. Which one, you ask? That'd be the UK

Re: When someone bad mouths you--what do you think?

@Aaodhhan

"For those who think America believes it pushes their will upon other nations and has double standards"

They all that sir, it is just US is brazen about it.

How else would you justify US imposing embargoes to other nations without the support of UN and threatening any nations / corporations if they choose not to take your advise even if they have no business interests in US nor use USD as payment?

Old adage was speak softly carry a big stick. Nowadays, US policy is to shout from roof tops and threaten.

Re: People in glass houses ...

To add to my earlier comment, I don't condone behaviour of British Government either. 2 wrongs and all that.

People in glass houses ...

shouldn't be throwing stones!

Facebook to appeal against ICO fine – says it's a matter of principle not to pay 18 mins' profit

Re: Facebook are appealing?

No, they put the "e" in the wrong word.

Microsoft sysadmin hired for fake NetWare skills keeps job despite twitchy trigger finger

Re: Nothing beats them

"And they're surprisingly useful for beating uncooperative equipment into submission."

Ah, re-percussive maintenance - used to be one of my favourite way of fixing faults when I used to don hw engineer hat.

Microsoft slips ads into Windows 10 Mail client – then U-turns so hard, it warps fabric of reality

Re: Got Linux?

@JimmyPage

> The problem is, if you want to use an @hotmail.com email address (I've had mine since 1997 - it's [e-mail]...

I used to have similar setup back then and I decided to own my own domain (surname.co.uk and several variation of TLD since) for just a few bobs and initially diverted my email traffic to "free" services until I learnt how to run my own / use hosting services. This way, my email address never changes irrespective of who / where I choose to host my email data.

Re: You paid

@BobChip "I pay good money to build my own (desktops)."

What? You're not running your Postfix server? How cute!

p.s. Please return your geek badge asap.

If Shadow Home Sec Diane Abbott can be reeled in by phishers, truly no one is safe

Re: Eh?

> You get the government you deserve.

Perhaps the reason behind it is that political parties target the population to the left of the IQ bell curve ( I dare say they are more pliable ) and telling them what to hear regardless if it is in the best interest of the country in general.

Re: Eh?

She might be a decent person - no arguments but she is not an MP material. We "look up" to these people to protect our interests.

Mourning Apple's war against sockets? The 2018 Mac mini should be your first port of call

@DuncanLarge- I'd love to tell the dudes at Genius bar regarding my Mac Minis are not vintage, but to date I had no reason to take any of them to Apple for "servicing".

Never know, I might get the opportunity to do that next decade or the one after.

I must be doing something wrong.

Re: Macs typically have a longer usable life than Windows PCs ...

Oh it is running OS X.

The only things that are plugged into them are power cord and network cables.

I also have Raspberry PIs as well for dedicated tasks like hosting HASSIO & messing about for IoT stuff before I promote them to "production" level.

Re: Not bad

> DELL precision 5510 about 1200 quid, 32GB RAM, 256GB SSD, can drive 2 4k external displays.

Now you're comparing oranges to potatoes. Mini is not nor meant to replace a laptop. Despite having had MacBook Pro's since G4 days, my next laptop will be Thinkpad running Linux. Just don't know which ThinkPad yet.

Reason to switch - Apple's decision to glue / bond everything to chassis - I cannot even replace the liquid damaged keyboard without having to buy a new chassis.

Re: Mac OS X Server isn't what it used to be

I am almost certain all those services you listed are there, just not easily visible by default. But I agree, Apple is doing us a disservice by making OS X server less relevant.

Re: Macs typically have a longer usable life than Windows PCs ...

> I just upgraded a old M6400 to a quad core CPU which will keep it going running Windows 10

That reminds me Trigger's quote regarding his broom from "Only Fools and Horses"

I've had the same broom for 20 years - I only had to change the head 17 times and the handle 14 times.

Mini or not Mini ...

> But my 8-year-old laptop has a VMWare virtual machine on it with MacOS from my "proving" the same thing to somebody else.

BFD. I can run windows on VMWare partition on a 2010 series Mini. And that Mini cost me less than £500 new! How much did you pay for your super-duper laptop?

Horses for courses my dear. Just because a <insert your hw> doesn't do what you want doesn't mean it is bad for everyone.

Macs typically have a longer usable life than Windows PCs ...

> Macs typically have a longer usable life than Windows PCs

I can vouch for that. I have one from 2010 still going strong (headless server) and 2 from 2012 editions - again running one of them as headless server and the other as my working from home kit.

I used to build my servers and run *BSD on them for 24/7 operations but I could not get anywhere near the low power consumption + small footprint + near silent operations of Mac Mini's hence I switched.

I stack them in a cupboard and forget they are there.

5.1 update sends Apple's Watch 4 bling spinning into an Infinite Loop of reboot cycles

There's a sucker born every minute?

@AC

> My watch only needs recharging about every three years with a new battery @ £3.

And one of my watches never needs recharging, and another needs sunshine for recharging. Does that mean your watch is cr@p and you have to buy the watch I have?

Does your watch allow you to take phone calls / listen to music / send sms etc etc?

Please stop rubbishing people's life style choices.

Believe it or not some people have disposable incomes and they like new pioneering technology and it is their choice alone how they spend their hard earned money.

I sometimes buy things because "I *want*" not "I need".

Virgin Media? More like Virgin Meltdown: Brit broadband ISP falls over amid power drama

Re: Status page

Well, the internet was out in the area and they could not login and update the status pages. Mine is the biker Jacket ---->

Re: Should they email you notices

>Really should have an auto service that sends an SMS to customers...

At least 1 ISP (A&A) send sms / email notifications already and much appreciated.

Shortages, price rises, recession: Tech industry preps for hard Brexit

Re: And all we can do...

Imagine you are on the ledge of a cliff, 100m below you is the ocean with and at the bottom of it is full of rocks (you don't know how deep is the water) and may be laser shooting sharks.

The crowd gathered around you and 52% of them are baiting you to jump.

Would you?

On a second note, ironically, the people who are going to be most effected negatively are the ones who wants BREXIT. Although I have voted to remain, I say let them have it - because "I'm alright Jack" I can and will go where my job is going.

Take my advice: The only safe ID is a fake ID

Starbucks

That serves you right for going to Starbucks and expect to get coffee. The stuff they try to pass it as coffee is horrible - yuk!

Farewell, Android Pay. We hardly tapped you

>the number of transactions are far too many for the typical user to be able to identify when they get their statement.

I do not know your definition of "typical user" but I get notifications whenever there is a charge to my card - be it via web, contactless (card / phone) or via entering the pin. I use my card for almost everything.

Apple hands €14.3bn in back taxes to reluctant Ireland

Re: This:

Good thinking but wrong. The interest accrued will also be paid to the escrow account.

If the funds eventually transfer to Irish Govm't does that mean EU will get some of the money back as the GDP for Ireland will have been different? Also, will that reduce the burdens on the other states contributing to EU coffers and if so, will they take that into account should UK finally severs the ties with them?

Yay! Gonna be difficult to unravel that clusterf**k.

Vodafone sues Ofcom to reclaim 'overpaid' mobe spectrum fees

Re: So that means...

> I would be very happy with 50Gb (bit) for £20 but slightly less so for 40GB (Byte).

Are you sure you have your bits and bytes the right way?

UK.gov finally adds Galileo and Copernicus to the Brexit divorce bill

Re: TL;DR

>The fall in value of the pound is indeed a good thing.

This is true if only you sell more than you buy using USD. If you are buying your energy / medicine / industrial products and paying them in USD then how does £1 buy fewer $s than what it used to is a good thing?

Don't put the 'd' and second 'i' in IoT: How to secure devices in your biz – belt and braces

Re: Or...

"Oh, and don't use 192.168.0.* or 192.168.1.* for your internal network.". Curious. Why these 2 address ranges but not any other RFC1918 addresses?

UK networks have 'no plans' to bring roaming fees back after Brexit

Re: 3 did it in desperation

Or sometimes, one of the "big guys" buys the underdog and business is back to "normal".

Apple in XS new sensation: Latest iPhone carries XS-sive price tag

Re: The important question

My guess is: R for reduced or redacted (as in features)

Raspberry Pi supremo Eben Upton talks to The Reg about Pi PoE woes

Re: Been looking for decent/affordable PoE for years, this looks interesting

Does it support 1Gb?

Advanced VPNFilter malware menacing routers worldwide

Re: excuse me!

Resetting to "factory default" ¬= Version downgrade.