Posts by Carabus

How Microsoft can keep Win XP alive – and WHY: A real-world example

Re: Re:Linux running most of the world's servers

The 747 Jumbo Jet started flying in 1970, and large numbers are still flying today. Until a year ago I work on the maintenance of some of its onboard systems. There weren't any cheap computer systems in 1970 but as soon as these became available they were used to assist and automate the testing of onboard systems. So this time last year I was working with elderly PCs that ran DOS, Windows 3.1 and the like. So the firm kept a stock of ancient PCs in an attempt to maintain the capability of maintaining these aircraft systems. The cost of getting new software to run on modern computers, and getting it certified for testing passenger aircraft is quite prohibitive.

There are all sorts of elderly software/hardware systems running on these aircraft too. Bear this in mind on your next cheap flight.

Asus NV550JV 15.6in full HD notebook - the one we didn't have to send back

Re: Mandatory

1080 is not quite tall enough to display an A4 page at 100% zoom using Word 2011, so I guess 1200 might just do the job. 1440 would be better. Similarly large Excel sheets like tall screens, you can see more data without scrolling.

1080 and 16:9 is just for TV screens.

Blighty's great digital radio switchover targets missed AGAIN

Re: If...

I live about 20 miles from London, in Slough, and here DAB radio is far superior to FM. I listen mostly to classical music on Radio 3, broadcast at 160k or 192k, and DAB has the edge in two ways. Firstly, background noise is much lower. Radio 3 is compressed much less than other stations, so can be much quieter, as can classical music - switching between DAB and FM reveals significantly higher noise on FM.

Secondly DAB is practically immune from the effects of aircraft passing by to and from Heathrow, just a few miles away. FM copes badly with lots of flutter from the dramatically changing signal levels.

I suppose this is to be expected, as FM is an 80 year old system, with stereo being a bodge which greatly degrades the mono performance. The DAB standard was designed to reduce the problems I describe, but alas the broadcasters try to cram as many stations as possible into each multiplex, with low bitrates and high audio compression. If we adopted the more recent digital radio systems I suspect things would be unchanged as even more stations are crammed into each multiplex.

Pass the wine, dear. Yes, that papier-mache thing

That 'fine Rioja', if bottled in Spain, still comes in a bottle with a cork, as the cork is compulsory according to Spanish law.

Royal Navy halts Highlands GPS jamming

Skipper dead??

Most folks here are assuming the skipper is still in charge during the emergency. But the nature of the incident may be that the skipper has sustained injury, illness or died. In such cases the big red button may be the only thing the crew or passenger can operate.