Posts by Richard Lloyd

Mozilla finds a way to tunnel Firefox into iOS

Re: This "hole" has always been known

The problem Firefox has had on mobile is that from day one (unlike the desktop, where it was fighting awful versions of the IE incumbent for years), the shipped browser on Android (initially just the Browser, then later on switched to Chrome) was "good enough". The same will apply to iOS - the vast majority will stick with Safari.

I do think Apple's policy about forcing the use of WebKit on iOS is horrendous - it stifles innovation and leaves all iOS browsers open to the same bugs (including security issues). Firefox can offer extensions though (a major plus on Android over Chrome and why it still remains the best Android browser), but I doubt that's enough to sway iOS users...it didn't get Android users to switch after all. Being the pre-installed browser on a platform immediately gives you massive market share and you only lose it if the browser is poor and that hasn't happened for a decade or so.

Robots.txt tells hackers the places you don't want them to look

Welcome to 'olds'

I'm surprised this article hasn't died of old age considering its information has been known for 21 years (i.e. since the robots.txt standard was created in 1994). Yes, it will flag up some sensitive areas, but that's what IP/username/password /2-pass-auth (and so on) restrictions are for. Also note that hackers know where all the common CMS'es have their admin interfaces (most installs don't change that), so they don't need robots.txt to find them.

Although robots.txt can be ignored by "bad" spiders, it's often useful to stop spiders that do read it from battering your site (e.g. constantly hitting a script with varying parameters - a classic one is a calendar that hyperlinks every day even if there's no events plus has nav going backwards and forwards for centuries in either direction :-) ).

Didn't buy a tablet in Q1? You're not alone

Tablets are now both cheap and "good enough"

Like PC desktops, tablets are now pretty cheap (Apple excepted!) and have good enough specs to keep well beyond the typical 12-18 months refresh period we saw in the early tablet days. Everyone who's interested in a tablet has got one or more already - I personally prefer them to phones because of the larger screen size, though you have to stick to under 9" screens if you also want portability.

Windows tablets gained market share because 8.1 with Bing is free to OEMs, which has allowed for some truly aggressive pricing. Heck, even I bought an HP Stream 7 and I'm by no means a Windows fan (yes, the tiled interface is truly awful in 8.1, even with a touchscreen). For 50 quid, once I'd stuck on Classic Shell and stayed 100% in the desktop, it was cheaper than buying a Win 8.1 license to run in a VM!

Microsoft: Free Windows 10 for THIEVES and PIRATES? They can GET STUFFED

Will pirates bother "warm" upgrading to Windows 10 anyway?

I always have a policy of cold installs of OS'es (after backing up what I want to keep) instead of "warm" upgrades regardless of whether it's a server, desktop or laptop. That way, you start from a fresh slate and restore back only what you need onto the clean new OS, leaving behind unwanted crud from the older OS.

So surely if pirates have Windows (of any version, even XP) and want to go to Windows 10, wouldn't they just backup stuff they want to keep, cold install a pirated copy of Windows 10 and restore their backed up data? This would make the whole pirate upgrade issue in this article somewhat moot...

El Reg knocks a fiver off 16GB USB stick

Lack of info

When I buy USB sticks, I need to know:

1. The price (7.99 here).

2. The capacity (16GB here, which of course translates to less in reality).

3. If it's USB 2.0 or 3.0 (no clue on the product page).

4. The read and write speeds in Mbytes/sec (no clue on the product page).

So it's already 50% failed :-( I'll stick with a 64GB Grixx USB 3.0 stick (89 Mbytes/sec read, 30 Mbytes/sec write) for 13.25 quid on 7dayshop.com at the moment.

Woeful groans over Game of Thrones' spill on piracy sites

I'll wait...

Let me see, it's an SD copy in stereo with a blurred watermark in the corner and if you watch all 4, you'll have to wait another month to see episode 5 (unless 5-8 are leaked soon too!). I think I'll wait for the broadcast version thank you very much...

Eyes on the prize: Ten 23-24-inch monitors for under £150

24" 1920x1080 - been there, done that 5 years ago

24" 1920x1080 screens were around 125 quid 5 years ago and haven't really dropped since tnen, so this really is a completely yawnsome non-article.

Of *much* more interest is what are the specs and prices of larger monitors, which have actually started to see a gradual price drop in recent years. Prices though, sadly still go exponentially through the roof as you add only a few inches at a time. You can just about get a 2560x1440 (which a few 10" tablets have!) 27" monitor for about 300 quid if you shop around a lot - yep, more than double the price for 3 more inches!

Some good 27/28/30" really hi-res monitors would have been an interesting and useful review. Sorry, but 24" 1080p monitors are a basic commodity now and have been for years.

Don't be stiffed by spies, stand up to Uncle Sam with your proud d**k pics – says Snowden

YouTube video link no use for UK readers

Not great to link to a YouTube video that UK readers can't watch (well, without using block bypassing methods). Maybe a "(US only)" suffix would have been nice?

Sky Atlantic in the UK airs the show a day after the US, but since that's part of a ludicrously overpriced Sky package, it's a no-go area too.

I just get my weekly John Oliver fix via the letter "T", but don't forget he does the occasional (and not US-only) YouTube-only shorts as well.

Want to have your server pwned? Easy: Run PHP

expose_php=off

I wonder how many installs run expose_php=off in their php.ini, therefore hiding the PHP version and mucking up these stats? As people have said, the latest three (5.4/5.5/5.6) PHP stable releases have all had security fixes, but the researcher claims that they're now magically "secure"? Er, they've just had a few security holes removed from the likely hundreds they still have!

Better research might have determined exactly which PHP versions have a proof of concept/active exploit that is deemed serious and then list the percentages of sites running those versions.

Grab a SLIM MODEL for Xmas cheer: Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact

Like the specs on this, but a little pricey

This tablet has good specs and a decent aspect ratio (unlike the terrible 4:3 ratio on the Nexus 9, which was a dealbreaker for me), but - like the Nexus 9 - it seems somewhat overpriced to me. It costs the same price as the Galaxy Tab S 10.5" (thanks to a cashback offer), but has nowhere near as good a display.

The Tab S 8.4" and 10.5" models can run CyanogenMod - which is my #1 requirement of *any* Android device so I have no bloatware and frequent updates - and it looks like work has started on CM12 for this Sony tablet. I wouldn't personally consider the Sony until a reasonably complete/stable nightly CM build was available for it. A shame reviewers of Android devices *never* mention CM availability status - to me, it's a major selling point that improves the user experience no end.

YEAR of the PENGUIN: A Linux mobile in 2015?

Can you easily buy a Linux desktop/laptop from a major OEM yet?

Apart from the odd model that Dell sells that's well hidden on their Web site (often with different specs from the Windows model, also doesn't get any of the Dell offers and usually costs the same too!), Linux on the desktop still sticks around a stubborn 1% because you simply can't buy a desktop/laptop easily from a major OEM with Linux pre-installed.

It really doesn't matter how easy Linux is to install and run (and it does both admirably now) if virtually nothing comes with it pre-installed! The average WIndows user *never* does anything "technical" with their OS other than Windows Updates and almost all of them never bother upgrading to the next major Windows release either (they buy a new PC with it pre-installed instead). So the chances of them installing Linux on a Windows PC is near to zero - it's amazing that Linux even has 1% share to be honest.

So this article about Linux desktops/laptops was mostly hot air and some hopelessly wishful thinking about Linux on mobile platforms tacked on the end. Still, you've got to remember that Linux powers much of the Internet and several devices in your home (routers, TVs and PVRs in particular)...

Feast your eyes: 10 'fortysomething' smart TVs

Why does a TV need to be 'smart' at all?

I'm completely confused as to what benefits at all a "smart TV" has over a dumb one. I'd even like a TV that has *no* tuners or built-in sound at all (just a load of HDMI inputs for external devices/surround sound systems) - yes, I know that's a "monitor", but 40-50" monitors don't really exist at sensible prices (if at all).

After all, tech changes and you want to be able to plug in whatever the latest HDMI external device is, thus completely ignoring any tuners or smart TV facilities built in to the TV. At the moment, I have an Humax HDR 1000S Freesat PVR (neat kit with twin tuners - yes, I like to record TV programmes - shock horror) and a Chromecast plugged into my smart TV plasma and have never, ever bothered tuning in the TV using the built-in Freeview HD tuner! I think I looked at the Panasonic smart interface about twice before abandoning it in pure bewilderment why they even bothered. Next year? Who knows what I'll go for - that's why built-in TV "smarts" (and tuners) are an utter waste of time, IMHO.

What's MISSING on Amazon Fire Phone... and why it WON'T set the world alight

Needs CM11 and Google apps

If 1) it cost 140 quid in the UK unlocked/off contract and 2) could be rooted and CyanogenMod/Google apps installed, then it might actually be an alternative to the current budget champion (Moto G 2nd gen). Since neither looks likely to happen, this is one big white elephant. Maybe they'll throw a load into their Black Friday deals to get them off their hands?

Androids in celluloid – which machine deserves the ULTIMATE MOVIE ROBOT title?

A bit difficult to take seriously without the Terminator robots

OK, movie robots - the *immediate* thought is surely The Terminator movie franchise? Which model you pick is up to you (I'm partial to the T800 cos that's the model number of my new Samsung Tab S 10.5" :-) ), but it's frankly a complete joke that The Terminator has been ignored here.

Top 10 SSDs: Price, performance and capacity

SATA 3 SSDs - performance limit reached years ago

I'm sorry, but it's difficult to get excited about SATA 3 SSDs any more when they reached their performance limit about 2-3 years ago. Sure, the price has dropped a *lot* since then, but the performance has barely moved because of the SATA 3 bottleneck.

It's why I went for a (refurb'ed) PCIe SSD as my most recent SSD purchase. 1600 Mbytes/sec read, 1000 Mbytes/sec write and 200,000 IOPS. Yes, it's still expensive, but it's massively faster than any other SATA 3 SSD out there.

YES, I have ridden the Unicorn: The Ubuntu Utopic unicorn

Re: Ubuntu 14.04

The GNOME 2 issues you've noticed are mostly fixed with some simple tweaks. Right clicking on the GNOME 2 panel and choosing Properties allows you to increase the height of the panel (I use 48 pixels myself), which then auto-scales the icons too, making them much bigger.

Make sure you have the "Windows List" running (panel right click -> Add to panel... if you don't have it), which gives you the list of windows, even if they've minimised, plus a "glow" if there's an update to the window.

Don't forget that GNOME 2 can have 2 panels as well, but I've never seen the point of that (lots of mouse traipsing?) despite a lot of distros bizarrely configuring GNOME 2 that way - at least you can delete the unwanted panels! In fact, what I do with any GNOME 2 install is remove *all* panels and create one at the bottom to my liking (e.g. the GNOME main menu icon in the bottom left, a set of app icons, Window List, notification area and then a clock with seconds [something Windows can't do :-) ]).

BOFH: The Great Backup BACKDOWN

Re: Stupid request for advice

For a home user, a USB 3 external drive isn't a bad idea, along with your appropriate backup software of choice (on Linux, something like rsync isn't too bad, but you might want to rotate its destination dir to keep more than one backup on the external drive). I have an IcyBox USB 3 enclosure with a relatively cheap and fast Seagate 3TB HDD stuffed inside - seems to do the job OK and I get 100+ MB/sec write speed, which you really want if it's media you're backiing up.

You probably want something that will regularly nag you to backup (or can be hooked into your shutdown sequence) - remember that most of the time, the USB drive will be turned off, so you need something at least to prompt you to turn it on!

The END of the FONDLESLAB KINGS? Apple and Samsung have reason to FEAR

It's the price, surely?

The reason Apple and Samsung are losing market share is surely the price of their gadgets? Apple have a massive (and unjustified) mark-up on all their hardware and Samsung have either under-spec'ed and/or overpriced pretty well all their Android tablets in their history.

Samsung have finally produced a tablet to match/beat the iPad Air - the recently launched Galaxy Tab S - and what do they go and do? Set the RRP *higher* than the iPad Air! All they had to do was price it at 10 quid less and it would probably fly off the shelves (no sale to me until CyanogenMod works on it, because you really don't want Samsung bloatware).

It also doesn't help that Samsung have released far too many phones/phablets/tablets in recent years (something HTC was hugely guilty of several years back with their phone range) - there's a bewildering number of Samsung models out there and it can be quite confusing to differentiate between them.

Update: Looks like Expansys have the Tab S 10.5" in at 324.99 pounds (as a "pre-order" despite it already having been launched - I think they mean it's out of stock and they'll get more stock at some point). At this price point, it's surely *the* tablet to buy right now?

Mozilla fixes CRITICAL security holes in Firefox, urges v31 upgrade

Confusing wording indeed

Twice in this article, the wording seems to imply that there's been an update to Firefox 31 (e.g. to, say, 31.0.1 or something): "a bug-and-security update to Firefox 31" and "users are advised to update to the latest version of Firefox 31 and Thunderbird 31".

As another poster pointed out, the update is actually from Firefox 30.0 to 31.0 and from Thunderbird 24.6.0 to 31.0 (yes, I know, 7 major version jumps in one go - Mozilla like to sync the Firefox/Thunderbird versions occasionally, which is a bit perplexing).

On Windows, the Mozilla Maintenance Service should take care of this (assuming you didn't disable it) and on Linux, the usual updating commands (apt-get upgrade, yum update etc.) will bring in the new release when it's ready.

Attack of the clones: Oracle's latest Red Hat Linux lookalike arrives

No mention of CentOS?

I'm surprised that an entire El Reg article about Oracle Linux 7 failed to mention CentOS 7 at all. The major CentOS 7 devs are now employed by Red Hat and I suspect CentOS 7 is actually more compatible with RHEL 7 than Oracle Linux 7 is (e.g. don't Oracle tweak the kernel somewhat?).

I can just about see the argument for large database shops who already pay millions for their overpriced Oracle licenses to go with Oracle Linux, but I'm not sure about anyone else going for it. I suspect large businesses not running Oracle would prefer the "original" Red Hat support and smaller businesses would opt for CentOS since it's the most compatible RHEL clone out there (and to be honest, support usually isn't worth paying for, especially when both CentOS and RHEL bug trackers can be used for free).

WORLD CUP TRAUMA? Just Streaming Stick a Roku in it

Re: Me too

Technically, the NowTV box hasn't been hacked (though one guy out there managed to get a root shell apparently) - you can't replace its firmware for example (e.g. with the Roku LT's firmware). What you can do is sideload one app in developer mode, the obvious ones being either Plex or Mediabrower3 to get the painfully missing DLNA support that actually makes the NowTV box useful.

I've ordered a NowTV to play with, but have prepared my router to block the IP 72.3.235.78 (aka windsor.sw.roku.com) to stop any firmware updates. Word out on the net is that the latest firmware has a lot of bugs and causes stuttering, random returns to main menu etc. plus also forces some of the Sky-brand channels to the top of the channel list and they can't be moved/removed.

What I don't like about NowTV is their insistence on a credit/debit card even if you're never going to buy anything from their service. It appears that reboots and firmware updates check you have a validated payment card and will whinge if you don't, which is quite nasty.

Android to drop Dalvik VM for high-performance ART in next version

Some apps run into trouble with ART

For those who didn't know, you become a "developer" in KitKat by going to Settings -> About phone/tablet -> Build number and tapping the build number 7 times. Now going into the new Developer Options item in Settgings and tape on Select Runtime, choose ART and then reboot your device.

I found some apps misbehaving when running in ART mode, so I went back to Dalvik - whether the devs or Google are actively fixing such apps, I have no idea but there could be some grief if ART becomes the default if they aren't. I also didn't really notice a huge performance gain in ART mode - it's also a *lot* slower to "optimise" your apps after a ROM update.

Huawei Ascend P7: We review the PANORAMIC SELFIE smartphone

Just be wary about lack of updates

After the farcical "we will update it honest guv (months later...) er, no we won't" with their first foray in the range - the P1 - don't be surprised that as soon as the successor to this model comes out, you won't see updates for the P7 any more.

Sorry, but if you're actually going about-turn (I was almost going to say "lie", but let's give them the benefit of the doubt) about updates to end-users, then you've burned a lot of goodwill, Huawei, and it makes your later models a really hard sell.

As ever, my advice for *any* Android device is either buy the Nexus/Silver/Google Play Edition or at the very least make sure you can get CyanogenMod on it. Any other route will result in update delays ranging from months to, er, never.

Container-friendly Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hits general availability

3 changes not mentioned...

I'm a bit surprised this article didn't mention 3 changes in RHEL 7 that will affect sysadmins used to RHEL 6:

1. Grub 2 instead of Grub 1. To me, the newer Grub seems to add a layer of arguably unnecessary complexity to creating a boot menu. Gone are the days of simply editing /etc/grub.conf by hand now :-(

2. GNOME 3 instead of GNOME 2. Yes, I know, you probably don't run RHEL/CentOS on your desktops, but I do at home and work and this is a *big* shift in the UI department. Using MATE is probably the best way to smooth the upgrade path here.

3. systemd instead of System V init scripts. Another "trickier" system that replaces a venerable setup and I can see the benefit (parallel service startup), even if again the complexity is increased significantly beyond the average sysadmin's comfort level.

Like another poster, I'm now in countdown for the CentOS 7 release which this RHEL 7 has prompted some new postings at the site to watch for this: http://seven.centos.org/

Chap rebuilds BBC Micro in JavaScript

Can recommend the Android Beeb emulator...

If you're on the Android platform, I'd recommend grabbing Beebdroid from the Play Store. It's not just the emulator that's impressive, but also the easy way you have access to almost all the classic BBC Micro games (not just Elite/Welcome), though I'm not sure about the legality of that...

Archos ArcBook: An Android netbook for a measly hundred-and-seventy clams

Idea's good, specs are awful

I do wish the netbook format with a relatively "normal" OS would return - the Chromebooks are all we've had for several years, but Chrome OS is quite restrictive (though getting better - Google finally realised people *do* have to use them offline occasionally!) and hard to install Linux on.

How easy is it to dual boot this Archos with a Linux distro (or even wipe Android altogether)? Mind you, even though this is very cheap, the specs are so bad (1024x600 10.1" display, WTF?!) that I wouldn't even touch this at half the price. We need the specs of the latest Chromebooks, but with Linux (and maybe Windows dual booting if you really must).

'25,000 Windows Server 2003 boxes' must be upgraded A DAY to meet OS support death date

Why doesn't MS stop selling the OS half-way through and also stop releasing software for it too?

If OS support is going to span 2 or more lifetimes of equipment (e.g. 10 years or more), then half-way through, Microsoft should:

1. Release a successor OS (they usually do this no more than 5 years apart).

2. Stop allowing the older OS to be sold either pre-installed or as a post-sale install.

3. Stop producing new versions of software (SQL Server, Exchange, Office related stuff etc.) for the older OS.

That way, users/orgs will naturally gravitate to the successor OS in the second half of the lifespan of the older OS, so that when the deadline looms, you won't get stupid numbers of people still on the older OS like we've seen with XP and now with Server 2003. Of course, this idea is actually far too sensible for Microsoft to actually consider. :-(

Top tip, power users – upgrading Ubuntu may knacker your Linux PC

Use the VM, Luke

The best thing to do with any new Linux release is to run it in a VM first (e.g. VirtualBox) and have a good play with it to make sure it behaves itself. Then you should wait a month or so for updates to fix the initial release problems (because the wider audience will discover stuff not found in testing) and if you're still worried, set up a dual boot between the old and new Linux versions so you have an easy way to go back if something insurmountable still crops up.

Sadly, I'm finding neither Fedora nor Ubuntu particularly attractive at the moment, so I have now-unused VMs with them in and stick with my trusty CentOS 6.5 as the bare metal OS (along with a dual boot to Windows for games of course).

New Reg mobile site - feedback here!

At least it doesn't show the mobile version for tablets

Well done for actually detecting phones only (and not tablets) for redirection to m.theregister.co.uk - it's one of the few sites I seen actually get this right. Having said that, I never Web browse on a phone (way too small) and use Firefox with the Phony extension on tablets to fake a desktop browser, but still at least you've got one thing right :-)

Not sure if you're STILL running Windows XP? AmIRunningXP.com to the rescue!

User Agent Switcher in Firefox easier than installing a VM :-)

I installed the User Agent Switcher extension in Firefox and set it to "Internet Explorer 6 (Windows XP)" and managed to get the "You ARE running Windows XP" on a CentOS 6 desktop running Firefox :-)

Of course, being a Microsoft site, there was no way in hell they were going to tell you that there were any other routes away from XP other than installing, er, Windows 8.1?!

Official: British music punter still loves plastic

CDs usually better value for money

I've found that CDs are often cheaper than equivalent MP3 downloads, but it should be noted that some online stores (iTunes, I'm looking at you) including "exclusive bonus tracks", which effectively make the CD less desirable.

What MP3 downloads did kill was the CD single - this used to be a great medium: 4 different tracks for 99p/1.99 pounds or 8 remixes for a similar price. Of course, this was far too much like value for money and the music industry destroyed CD singles by halving the max tracks allowed and often doubling the price.

The CD vs. MP3 situation isn't that much different from the e-books vs. hardbacks - you can often find the hardback the same or cheaper price than an e-book, which is scandalous overpricing for the electronic version (whilst usually including onerous DRM to cheese you off even futher).

For Windows guest - KVM or XEN and which distro for host?

I multi-boot *and* use VMs :-)

I've tended to always multi-boot (mainly between Linux and WIndows) and then use VMs (in Linux using VirtualBox) to try out new OS releases. My primary desktop is CentOS 6.5 and I boot into WIndows purely to play games, which is currently the only advantage Windows has compared to Linux really (though SteamOS/Steam boxes might make inroads into this).

Some obvious hardware tips: max out your motherboard RAM (usually 32GB is the limit), get a fast CPU (i7 or equiv) with at least 4 cores, get one or more large/fast SSDs (as well as fast 3TB or 4TB hard drives - I like Seagate's 3TB model myself) and one or more large monitors (I just went to 27" 2560x1440 for my main monitor).

Although you have to register for it, I can recommend the free Paragon Extfs for Windows at:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/extfs-windows/

It's just about the only free software on Windows I've found that will handle ext2, ext3 and ext4 - very handy if you use any of those fs'es on Linux.

The next "exciting" OS release for me will be CentOS 7, although I've some trepidation about this because I don't really consider systemd, GRUB 2 or GNOME 3 as improvements compared to their predecessors.

Android users running old OS versions? Not anymore, say latest stats

98.2% of Android devices run old OS versions

The latest Android release is KitKat (4.4.X) and only 1.8% of devices run that, leaving 98.2% running "old OS versions". Hence a major WTF for the article title including the phrase "Not anymore".

Countering that, Google have managed to push updates to older OS'es without a version change, either by splitting previously core code into a Play store app (e.g. Google Keyboard) or by silently updating Google Play Services.

It's probably the only ways to work around the huge disincentive barriers there are for carriers to upgrade Android on their models (1. It costs them time and money to put their unwanted bloatware on top and have it go through certification and 2. They want to sell you new Android device every year, so if they upgrade old ones, people may keep the old device for another year or two, the horror of it).

My attitude to all of this is simple - only buy Nexus devices or devices that you can install a custom ROM (e.g. CyanogenMod) on - that way, you'll be quickly onto the latest release without having to wait many months or not see an upgrade at all (I'm looking at you Huawei, with your Ascend P1).

A BBC-by-subscription 'would be richer', MPs told

Freeview (HD) was last chance to intro subs

I was always surprised that smart card-capable hardware wasn't a pre-requisite for Freeview SD (and later on Freeview HD) set-top boxes. It was the last time that the concept of a subscription BBC could have been put in place.

Assuming that the BBC is still going to be delivered via terrestrial aerials, then surely every TV and set-top box in the country is going to have to be replaced with a smart card version? This probably means around 10-odd years before subscriptions could be introduced.

As far as I'm concerned, the current BBC output is mostly dire, having copycatted much of ITV's dross output in recent years. What I'd be *far* more interested in is a sub to the massive BBC archive that their employees have access to - now that is something worth subscribing to since much of it isn't available elsewhere (legally or not).

We see ya, Ouya, you tasty Android games console gear

Lack of the Google Play Store makes it basically useless

I really cannot understand anyone releasing an Android games console that doesn't use the Google Play Store (and preferably a compatible controller too). Such a console has to not only create its own game store and try to woo the big names to appear on it, but it also misses out two obvious Google Play Store plusses:

1. If you bought a game on the Google Play Store for another device, you'd be able to play it without another purchase on a Play Store-compatible games console.

2. You can use Google Play Store gift cards to credit your account and avoid having to tie a credit/debit card to your account. This is a major advantage that is overlooked by a lot of reviewers of the Ouya.

This is exactly why, no matter how cheap the Ouya gets, I won't buy it. *Any* Android device without the Play Store is massively unattractive in my books.

Red Hat teams up with community-based RHEL lookalike CentOS

RHEL (final release) isn't free

The current RHEL 7 beta is indeed a free ISO you can download and install but, like the final release (which requires a sub from day one), you can't do installs/updates to it without a subscription. I can't say I'm keen on the fact that RHEL subscriptions can't be split into updates vs. support (Oracle did the same "all or nothing" trick with its DB software many years ago), because firms with in-house tech support don't really need RHEL support (posting to the RHEL Bugzilla is free, even without a sub).

As for this "collaboration", it seems a bit like providing a scheme like Fedora Spins for CentOS with a bit of assistance from some RHEL folks. It could be interesting, particularly if it makes the horrible installation experience with OpenStack a lot better.

BTW, am I the only one who still can't work out why there are free clones of free clones like Scientific Linux out there? I keep thinking that the free clones should all merge into one free clone to rule them all, but maybe that's just too sensible and obvious.

Ten classic electronic calculators from the 1970s and 1980s

Odd Commodore choice

Considering it's placed inbetween two programmable calculators in El Reg's list, picking the non-programmable 1976 F4146R instead of the far superior programmable 1977 PR-100 is a mystery to me. I had a PR-100 and it was a great calculator for its time (even the manual had some nifty programs you could type in, including one for showing which date Easter Day fell on, which until then I had no idea was based on an algorithm!).

The PR-100 may even be the last programmable calculator that Commodore made, if this page is to believed:

http://www.vintage-technology.info/pages/calculators/commodore/calccommodore.htm

HTC: Shipping Android updates is harder than you think – here's why

Less phone models and less customisation is the answer

A few years back, HTC were horrendously guilty of releasing new phone models every few weeks - they'd be slight variations on existing models and probably caused extreme customer confusion about which model to buy. It lead to an HTC culture of not providing many (if any) updates for a lot of their Android models, on the assumption that everyone would be getting a new HTC model once a year and nothing needed updating beyond that.

Eventually, HTC saw some sense and reduced the number of new models (I'd still argue there's too many!), but the "everyone updates annually" mentality is still there. It does surprise me that Google don't lay down some rules about this for everyone in the OHA:

* Minimum hardware specs. Nothing causes defections away from Android quicker than a lousy experience due to poor hardware. This issue is thankfully gradually fixing itself (e.g. Moto G for 100 quid at Tesco) - it would have been handier in the early Android years.

* Maximum elapsed period after Nexus devices get Android update for non-Nexus devices to update. If the manufacturer fails to provide a timely update, have a rolling points system where they can be thrown out of OHA if they exceed a certain total.

* Minimum update support period - Google has 2 years for Nexus devices, so why not other manufacturers? Again. failure to update for that minimum time would incur more penalty "licence points".

* Some sort of rules about the "bloatware" that manufacturers and carriers needlessly add. For example, nothing should be added that causes update testing to be extended beyond, say, a total of one month (again, with penalty points if this is exceeded). If this means dropping some of the bloat, than that's a good thing.

Datawind's low cost Aakash tab comes to UK, US

It's actually 40 pounds

It seems like pretty well no IT sites actually bothered to "pretend" to order one of these. The only place you can buy them is the Datawind site - add one to the basket, go to the checkout and there's a 10 quid postage fee. So the tablet is actually 40 pounds, not 30 - I've yet to see a single site mention this.

As for the tablet specs, they're so low that I suspect this will be a very nasty tablet experience (and the 3 hour battery life barely makes it portable!). It reminds me of those early Chinese import tablets that were priced half of anything else but were, again, not a nice experience (latest Chinese tablets now have good specs to match the good price though).

If you really want to buy this, get it as a second tablet as a reserve for your first (better) tablet or maybe as a "who cares if it's lost/broken/stolen" tablet for your kids. If it's your first experience of an Android tablet, it might sour you on Android though. No idea if CyanogenMod is or will be available for this tablet, but you suspect even CM couldn't rescue this woefully underpowered device.

CyanogenMod Android firmware gains built-in SMS encryption

Isn't CM11 the main nightly platform now?

It seems a bit strange to put this in CM 10.2 nightlies first, when CM 11 nightlies are out for many devices now. In fact, the link to the CyanogenMod download page in the article lists a *ton* of CM 11 nightly downloads and far fewer CM 10.2 nightlies!

Mind you, it would be nice if the CM team put back a lot of the CM 10.2 config options they seem to have dropped in CM 11 first before worrying about SMS encryption. I can't get rid of the pointless Google Search bar from my home screen in CM11, the home screen itself is barely customisible now, plus the separate percentage+icon battery indicator has gone from the status bar (replaced by a horrible tiny percentage encircled, which doesn't show any figure at all when it's at 100%!).

Google slips Chromecast stick into SAUCY new partner: HBO Go

Not in the UK then....

I'm surprised this article didn't state that both HBO Go and the Chromecast itself actually aren't available in the UK. OK, you can pay 38.72 quid on Amazon UK (so much for the "25 quid" that IT sites foolishly branded around earlier this year) for what I suspect is a US import of the Chromecast anyway.

So, c'mon Google, when are we officially getting the Chromecast in the UK? Christmas is coming and you really need to launch it right now. It seems strange that virtually no UK IT sites - El Reg included - have bothered to hassle Google about the non-appearance of the Chromecast in the UK, especially since the actual Chromecast app has been in the UK Google Play store for months now!

Congrats on MP3ing your music... but WHY bother? Time for my ripping yarn

grip on Linux does a nice job

I used grip on Linux myself to rip hundreds of my CDs - the config options are nice on it (e.g. I like my file naming layout (no spaces for easy wildcarding/copying!) to be Artist_Name/Album_Title/01-First_Track_Title.mp3 - I suspect not many ripping progs will be that flexible).

Worst thing is that the online track DB it uses often has wrong spellings, so I have to correct those. But when the track names are right, it's literally feed in, wait a few mins, auto-eject, feed in next one etc.

There's always Amazon with its Autorip - I got 39 CDs downloaded (had to use a Windows client to do them in bulk, WTF!) without having to put a CD anywhere near the PC.

I was hoping that Google Play Music would be a nice place to upload the ripped MP3s (20,000 tracks for free), but it was painful to get a CentOS Google Play Manager client working (had to use an old version) and it really screwed up pretty well all my Greatest Hits CDs by merging multiple GH CDs into one tree (arrgh!) - and yes, all my MP3s are properly tagged and in separate artist/album dirs. It couldn't even separate the excellent "Bedtime Stories" (David Baerwald) album from the not-so-good Madonna equivalent - both ended up in the same online directory :-(

Behind the candelabra: Power cut sends Britain’s boxes back to the '70s

UPS and radio control for the rest :-)

Two possible solutions here - one is to use a UPS (mine has four battery-backed sockets and cost under 70 quid) where possible and try and get radio-controlled devices for the rest (unlikely for an oven/microwave/central heating timer, even though they *should* really be readily available).

Wall clocks are certainly available radio controlled - my analogue one actually moves the hands many rotations to get the time right and it's amusing to watch and also listen to the chuck-chuck-chuck noise as it desperately tries to get the time right :-)

BTW, if your microwave doesn't do timer-based cooking (and very few do, yet it's an obvious feature to have), then a clock on the front is a total waste of electricity (it should go into standby and turn off the display after 2 mins of non-use in that case).

Things I have to change the time on because of daylight savings time twice a year: my central heating timer and my ancient Pansaonic alarm clock (hooked to a UPS). I ignore the clock on an old Toshiba microwave I have since it's pointless. Oh and yes, all my watches are radio-controlled too.

Ten top new games for phones ’n’ slabs

Real Racing 3 - great except for the awful grind (unless you're rich)

I really like Real Racing 3 and the fact they keep adding new content (the odd new circuit and cars - some new Shelby motors just turned up recently).

What I really, really hate is the awful grind they put you through unless you make seriously big in-app purchases. Repairs, new cars, upgrades and time to complete the aforementioned are all charged through the nose and the helmet coins are in particularly short supply. At the rate I progressed, I reckoned it would be *years* before I could actually buy and race all the cars available without spending any money.

In the end, sick of the horrendous grind that was completely destroying my enjoyment of the game, I resorted to, ahem, a method of gaining a large number of R$/coins that I was surprised the programmers hadn't protected against. Once I could buy and upgrade everything, the game became a lot more fun.

I'd have happily paid a few quid for this game to avoid the in-app purchases (i.e. have the cars/repairs etc. cost less R$ and "free instant delivery" instead of paying to deliver now), but the fact you'll have to spend a few hundred quid of real money to complete this made my "workaround" more guilt-free than it really should have been.

DON'T PANIC: Amazon's Chromecast late-ship email was a blunder

What about UK users?

As often happens, here's another El Reg story that's US-only without making that clear or stating the situation for UK users. It seems at the moment, there's no UK price, no UK pre-ordering and no UK release date.

Even tne dubious delay between the US and UK Nexus 7 2013 (has *any* UK site pressed Google on this to explain the reasons for this?) has been resolved and we now have UK pre-ordering, prices and release date. The Chromecast was released at the same time in the US, so why silence for this product?

Penguins, I give you: The SOLAR-POWERED Ubuntu laptop

Price is now $350

Price has jumped to $350 and the product isn't actually available to buy yet (so there's a chance the price will jump again). The specs claim 1080p graphics and then have a display res of 1366x768, hmm. Still an Ubuntu laptop that's "submersible" (!) with solar panels for $350 does sound interesting, though it'll be 350 quid if it ever gets sold to UK users of course.

Did Linux drive supers, and can it drive corporate data centers?

Linux market share unknown....

Yet again, another article on the Net that quotes revenue as the market share decider (Linux vs. Windows server). We don't know Linux's market share in servers in actual physical numbers because many server purchases intended to run Linux are made with no OS (besides, have you *seen* Dell's prices for their various RHEL combos - cost several times more than the equivalent Windows server licences!).

A lot of smaller shops that don't need support will buy a no-OS server and put a free OS on it (e.g. CentOS, openSUSE, Ubuntu Server, Debian etc. - there's plenty to choose from). I wouldn't be surprised if there's more no-OS-shipped servers running Linux than there are ones shipped with Linux, but no-one knows exactly.

Even Netcraft's Web survey - which shows Apache miles ahead of IIS, suggesting that Linux is well ahead of Windows - only covers Web servers and the majority of those will be more than a year old, so it's a rolling trend at best.

Conclusion: quoting market share based on revenue is somewhat misleading, because it's likely (though unprovable) that more than half Linux servers were shipped with no OS and therefore aren't reported as Linux in the revenue market share figures.

Battery-boosting breakthrough grows on trees – literally

Would love to see some battery progress

I've always been surprised at how slow battery tech is progressing compared to the seemingly much faster rate shown by the rest of the electronics industry. To the average punter, Li-Ion and Ni-Mh based batteries have been around for many years now and there's nothing come to the mass market yet to supersede them.

We haven't seen either a large increase in their capacity (for the same size), significantly longer life per charge, quicker charging or reduced prices. This might not too bad if we don't keep hearing about the "next big thing" in battery tech every few months, only for us to wait and wait with nothing ever coming to market even years after announcements.

I suspect most people reading battery tech news must be as jaded on the subject as I am. Better batteries are becoming increasingly important as the desktop PC market dwindles due to users switching to portable devices, so I'm hoping that we do some significant improvements in the next few years.

Fedora's Schrödinger's Cat Linux gives coders claws for thought

Boots quickly in VirtualBox...

Just tried it in VirtualBox with the vdi image on an SSD (and two virtual cores on my i7 plus 8GB RAM in the VM) and really does boot extremely quickly (3 seconds from Grub to graphical login).

Anaconda is still pointlessly shouty (lots of headings entirely in capitals for no good reason) and the custom disk partitioning is painful - no obvious option to use all remaining space on device for a partition. I ended up putting in a big size value and let it truncate it down, but that's not great. They're still annoyingly mixing size units (K, MB and GB all on the same screen) too :-(

Still no package size or description is displayed when the packages are being installed and the placement of the ever-changing banner during the package installs (at the bottom of the screen, leaving a lot of space above it) made it look like a rotating banner ad, which most people automatically tune out now. The banner should have been slap bang in the middle of the install screen (i.e. above the progress bar).

Am I the only one who actively dislikes those white/blue coloured multiple progress bars at the bottom of an otherwise black screen when Fedora boots (yes, the ones that tell you zero about what's going on)? You can press ESCAPE to get a textual boot, but if you're doing a (barely) "graphical" boot, I'm sure it couldn't take too much effort to produce a better booting screen.

When I first logged in, I got about a dozen file explorer windows open (this is a known bug that will be fixed, but it just looks sloppy, even for a beta). I also got an immediate SELinux balloon warning which is bad for a vanilla install, so I did the classic disabling of SELinux (though is there any GUI to do this?).

I do like the MATE Desktop in general though (it's good with Linux Mint 15 too) - refugees from Fedora 14/CentOS 6's GNOME 2 desktop will feel at home with MATE. I hope CentOS 7 comes with MATE, because without it, the GNOME 3 desktop experience is painful.

Ubuntu's Shuttleworth: Microsoft no longer dominates PC biz

Hmmm...closing a bug they didn't fix...and shouldn't have closed either...

It seems to me that the main "fix" for the bug was the emergence of Android, which has nothing at all to do with Ubuntu, so I don't think we can heap any plaudits on Canonical at all for fixing this bug. The very first sentence mentions "the new desktop PC marketplace", which I would argue actually excludes most Android devices anyway (unless you want to get into hybrid tablet arguments I suppose) and hence Shuttleworth's on very thin ground indeed closing this bug.

It could even be argued that from the non-mobile point of view, we're in almost a bad a state as we were a decade or so ago. How many stores have you gone into (or even major online stores) with non-mobile machines running any Linux distro at all? I'd say it'd still be pretty close to zero after all these years. MS's grip on desktop and laptop OEMs is as strong as ever.

It's so bad, that I've switched away from the major OEMs and am buying from whitebox shifters now, who will let me customise both the hardware *and* the OS (in my case, no OS shipped at all). It still irks me that Dell are happy to sell their PowerEdge servers with no OS and yet, as far as I can tell, they've never sold a single laptop or desktop without an OS.

Yes, there's been the odd Dell device with Linux on it, but they don't put them in the main desktop/laptop sections and they refuse to ship them identically spec'ed to Windows equivalents in case we work out what the Windows licence actually costs them. In fact, it often works out cheaper to buy the Windows version (which gets discount offers that the Linux ones never seem to), wipe it and put Linux on it!

Sadly, it doesn't matter how easy it is install Linux (and it's close to trivial now) because the vast majority of people stick with the OS that the device was shipped with and only ever change their OS when they buy a new machine. Until the OEM strangehold is broken and Linux desktops/laptops can be bought right alongside Windows ones (not hidden somewhere else on their Web site), Windows will have a monopoly on desktops/laptops and in my mind, bug #1 should still be open.