Posts by smot

Boeing aircraft sales slump to historic lows after 737 Max annus horribilis

Their managers came from McDonalds? Sheesh.

Must watch: GE's smart light bulb reset process is a masterpiece... of modern techno-insanity

Re: Child-proof reset operation

We had biscuits in a biscuit jar.

BT Tower broadcasts error message to the nation as Windows displays admin's shame

Re: Why is it even connected to the console drivers?

Effin ell. Even a Raspberry Pi would do the job better.

And here's Intel's Epyc response: Up-to 56-core, 4GHz 14nm second-gen Xeon SP chips, Agilex FPGAs, persistent mem

Re: Heat

Some datacentres already provide heat to local communities: https://www.eniday.com/en/technology_en/warming-swimming-pools-data-centres/

or

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171013-where-data-centres-store-info---and-heat-homes

Twilight of the sundials: Archaic timepiece dying out and millennials are to blame, reckons boffin

Re: Innovative sundials?

I use a torch to look at mine at night. As long as I stand in the right place, the time is spot on.

iPhone price cuts are coming, teases Apple CEO. *Bring-bring* Hello, Apple UK? It's El Reg. You free to chat?

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

I figured. I don't have a bike.

Apple: You can't sue us for slowing down your iPhones because you, er, invited us into, uh, your home... we can explain

"All the high priced lawyers arguing against Apple can surely come up with that as a counter argument."

But these are American lawyers....

Microsoft sends a raft of Windows 10 patches out into the Windows Update ocean

Re: Jet

And there's JET Green - made from Real People!

You were told to clean up our systems, not delete 8,000 crucial files

...or the Atari Portfolio used in Terminator 2 to open a door security lock....

Mark Zuckerberg did everything in his power to avoid Facebook becoming the next MySpace – but forgot one crucial detail…

Re: No one likes a lying asshole

What is it about donkey's bottoms?

We (may) now know the real reason for that IBM takeover. A distraction for Red Hat to axe KDE

Re: Very Happy With GNOME Shell

1. No desktop clutter

2. Easy app launching (only one mouse click or one to two keyboard actions)

3. With Wayland, apps can run across mixed HiDPI and standard DPI devices scaled on the fly

4. Good useful set of Gnome-associated apps

5. No scrolling around endless menus.

That's a few off the top of my head. Petty issues, you may think, but they are key to my desire for a simple and mess-free environment.

I originally spent a long time originally pitching KDE against Gnome to make my decision and I found KDE to be a most frustrating experience.

My environment uses only three Gnome extensions although there are stacks available for the dedicated hacker, all that can be enabled directly from a web browser.

Cinnamon is OK, but like KDE, is based on the same type of experience as WIndows passim and Gnome 2.

I really don't think it helps for the constant DE bashing that seems to populate these pages - people simply can't accept that their choice is not necessarily the One True Choice.

I prefer Gnome - if someone else prefers something different, that's fine - I'm grateful that we can make a choice that works as we would like. Unlike poor Windows users who have to live with what they're given.

Re: But I LIKE KDE!

The complete reverse here - Gnome is my favourite (UK spelling), and KDE my least. To me, KDE is a massive kludge that gets in my way, while Gnome is something that just gets the job done easily and without fuss.

Horses for courses.

Love Microsoft Teams? Love Linux? Then you won't love this

Re: Linux client for Skype?

And Skype for Linux is not Skype for Business, which doesn't have a Linux client app.

Teams will be replacing much of the S4B functionality soon, so that will narrow the choice even further.

I'm required to use this shit at work where I'm surrounded by MS devotees.

Microsoft flings features at Teams to close the Slack gap

It's shite

Maybe it's just taken a dislike to me, but the Teams app is the flakiest thing since I stopped using Head & Shoulders.

Slow and unwieldy even on a Core i7, and yet I'm required to use it now.

If this is the world of modern software, gawd 'elp us.

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ZX Spectrum reboot latest: Some Vega+s arrive, Sky pulls plug, Clive drops ball

Re: What we need

And don't forget that massive 6502 stack - a whopping 256 bytes.....

Windows 10 Insiders see double as new builds hit the deck – with promises to end Update Rage

I suspect the progress bar is counting files, not bytes, and there's only one BIG file....

I predict a riot: Amazon UK chief foresees 'civil unrest' for no-deal Brexit

Re: Vogon

"non-binding and advisory"

Well said!

And voted for by 17.4 million out of an electorate of 46.5 million. Hardly a majority of any sort.

Apple MacBook butterfly keyboards 'defective', 'prone to fail' – lawsuit

Re: I love my Cherry keyboard!

Ah, the A1048 - all the way to Hartlepool....

Apple to devs: Code for the iPhone X or nothing from April onwards

Re: The Notch is the new Apple

How sad.

Re: Reg got it wrong in the headline. Again.

My £500 OnePlus 5T unlocks from my fizzog instantly, with or without glasses, and in low light.

My colleague's £1000 X does neither.

Apple agrees to pay £136m in back idiot taxes to UK taxman

Re: Let me guess ..

I meant £136m not £180.....

Re: Let me guess ..

Well it'll buy a few yards of HS2 track.

Here come the lawyers! Intel slapped with three Meltdown bug lawsuits

Re: OK, I'll bite

I'm quite affected by this post.

Pro tip: You can log into macOS High Sierra as root with no password

"The Debian distro for the Raspberry Pi allows passwordless sudo from the default account."

But everytime you log in while it's set that way you get a reminder that you should change it. Gets quite annoying too, so you end up changing it just to get rid of the message.

'Break up Google and Facebook if you ever want innovation again'

Re: Regulation

"as all business has a duty to its share holders to maximise returns, so they spend a fortune looking for ways to bypass the existing law"

Not so. It's up to shareholders collectively to decide on the business strategy, however done, and maximising returns does not have to be the sole mantra. Suggesting that spending a fortune on ways to bypass the existing law is therefore a non sequitur and is disingenuous to many organisations.

Everybody without Android Oreo vulnerable to overlay attack

Re: Sick of new

"Slurping your data is Google's business model. Search, Maps, Android, Chrome, etc. are just means to that end."

And slurping money from your wallet is Apple's.

Re: "will need updating"

Hmm. My jolly old original HTC One has only recently received a bundle of updates to Android. Apps still update regularly.

And with "power saving" switched on, I'm still getting a full day's use, sometimes two if I'm frugal.

Labour says it will vote against DUP's proposed TV Licence reforms

@Natalie Gritpants

Possibly not - perhaps it should read "I'm thick, I spelt cult correctly".

Toyota's entertaining the idea of Linux in cars

Re: The REAL benefit

Up vote for correcting the typo.

Init freedom declared as systemd-free Devuan hits stable 1.0.0 status

Re: No - systemd doesn't offend me

I clicked it. No joke.

Systemd doesn't offend me - it boots my lappie, just like the old initd used to.

Things still start, I can still view logs.

Nope, it doesn't offend me at all. But then neither did the old way.

Oh snap! UK Prime Minister Theresa May calls June election

Re: @ wolfetone

"Just as 50% of schools will be below average no matter what we do".

I accept your sentiment, but the statement is incorrect. If I have 4 gifts priced at £1, £9, £9 and £9, 75% are below (cost more than) the average of £7, while 25% are (is) above. Conversely, if they are £1, £1, £1 and £9, 75% are above (cost less than) the average of £3, while only 25% below.

As always, it depends what you are measuring and how it is being reported. There will, however, always be at least one school below some specified average - unless all are equal.

Ubuntu UNITY is GNOME-MORE: 'One Linux' dream of phone, slab, desktop UI axed

@oneguycoding Thought I was alone in this echoing chamber of anti-Gnome3 sentiment.

For me, Gnome 3 sets the standard for all desktops - Mac, Windows and backwards-harking things like Cinnamon and Mate (Ok, I'll let Mate past as it's useful for stuff with old CPUs and teeny RAM).

Even in its first incarnation it was refreshingly new, with a clean intuitive interface. Now, it's even better. But if you like squillions of icons, folders and files slapped all over your hi-res desktop, it's not the interface for you. If, however, you want something that doesn't get in your way, or impose itself on your work, it's spot on.

I'm sitting waiting for the ready stream of downvotes, but I'll win.....

Munich may dump Linux for Windows

Re: Adam 52

"Dedicated currency keys that I (would very much like to but still can't) use right there on my laptop next to the arrow keys - do they work in Linux?"

Um... yes. You said so yourself: "There is some help scattered around on how to chase the codes through several OS layers and get them correctly mapped under X".

The point is that the Munich IT team produced their own distro which means the end user doesn't need to be concerned with any such configuration - it's a standard in-house release specifically set to their corporate requirements. All necessary software and privileges can be pre-installed. Once set up, a simple "dd" to install to a new PC is all it takes.

SQL Server on Linux: Runs well in spite of internal quirks. Why?

Re: stored procedures are not enabled,

It's a SQL database. Use it for its intended purpose - SQL. Stored procedures are not - they're the spawn of the devil.

Ghost of DEC Alpha is why Windows is rubbish at file compression

Re: Obvious bull

"I mean why does Windows Explorer take 30 minutes to unzip a file that 7Zip can manage in 30 seconds??"

And why does it unzip first into a temp folder then copy into the destination? What's wrong with putting it straight into the target? Saves space and time and avoids yet more crud in the temp folder.

Microsoft: We're hiking UK cloud prices 22%. Stop whining – it's the Brexit

"Specifically, how the 52% would respond to it."

Specifically, how the 37.4% would respond to it.

FTFY.

"We had a split vote, and we now have a split society when at this time, we should be rallying around each other more than ever."

We're split because those that didn't vote to leave (62.6% of electorate) are watching as those few that did vote to leave cause havoc on our society.

I have cut off contact with some of my relatives who voted almost exclusively on the basis of "immigrants out". One even tweeted that he'd decided to vote "leave" because the Eurovision Song Contest always ignores the UK. That's how intellectual their argument was. Oh - did you know that "they" are going to build a mosque that's larger than St. Paul's in the East End?

Utter f*ckwits. And you expect me to rally together with people like this??

Re: £

"My money's on the pound in the long run."

And I predict there will be a man on Mars in the long run.

The damage to the economy from a long-running decline in sterling and leaving the EU will, in the meantime, be extensive and costly.

If you voted for it, enjoy the increasing cost of living you selected.

If you didn't - like 62.6% of the electorate - weep.

Re: Work the problem?

"Waiting for the 'community' to build something that exactly matches their requirements is never going to happen".

Funnily enough, all my company's specialist software is written for Windows, yet runs quite happily on the Linux desktop. Firebird replaces MS SQL Server for the database, but even this may not be necessary if MS releases the Linux version in 2017 as proposed.

So no need to wait in many cases unless the software uses specific Windows hardware drivers.

Four reasons Pixel turns flagship Android mobe makers into roadkill

Re: This....

Hey, "fluffy_bunny2.6"? I'm still using "fluffy_bunny2.5". What improvements are they? Is it worth upgrading?

Official: Windows 10 has hit the 400 million device mark

> online habbits

Avatars of hobbits?

Re: Well, mine's no longer in there.

Ubuntu Gnome + VB here. Win 10 happily confined to a VDI file.

Re: Ads

> Only in Skype I think?

No - I get regular "notifications" asking me to try Office 365 for 30 days for free". Are these really notifications? I think not.

The start menu is littered with soft ads - Candy Crush, MS Solitaire Pack, and a few other doorways which lead to items for sale.

One may argue that I got Win10 for free, so MS are entitled to push ads. However the price of the laptop (or desktop etc) included the MS licence, and so is not really free at all.

If it were just ads - offered in a small quiet corner of the OS - I might, just might, go with it. But it's the data gathering that accompanies it that really bothers me, so I use Win10 as little as possible, and certainly avoid Cortana.

On a positive note, whilst I still prefer Win7, Win10 is miles better than Vista and 8.x.

I mostly use Linux OSs these days, but need the odd (virtualised) MS device for apps that only work that way. If it weren't for my work, these VMs would go too.

Ad-blocking ‘plateaus’, claims hopeful ad industry

Re: the production of decent content costs money

And how many people can still "wonder where the yellow went"?

Free Windows 10 upgrade: Time is running out – should you do it?

Re: Windows8.2=10 is a fraud and a scam!

> You don't buy new pots and pans just because you replaced the stove...

We had to - our new stove is an induction hob, and most of our old pots and pans were non-magnetic.

Just sayin'

Parliament takes axe to 2nd EU referendum petition

Re: Of course the original referendum is only "advisory" it is not legally backed.

Of course, a majority DIDN'T vote "out" - only 37.5% voted "out". Conversely, only 34.7% voted "Remain". The correct statement is that 51.9%, OF THOSE WHO VOTED, voted to leave the EU.

A more correct strategy for referenda is to count the non-voters in some agreed way. Typically, they may represent "status quo", or other proportion. This would then be used to set a benchmark point at which the result carries validity. It may be that the valid pass mark was then 60% or 65% in either direction as seen appropriate.

Nigel Farage tried to make this point in a rather cack-handed way by suggesting that if the outcome was close, "say less than 5%", that a second referendum should be held. Clearly he's gone quiet on that now as he has the result he wanted.

But parliament can still make a suitable judgment on whether they agree that 37.5% does indeed represent the "majority" view and choose to accept or ignore the result.

Linux Mint hacked: Malware-infected ISOs linked from official site

Re: In your dreams.

"Primary school - good place for it.."

Indeed - it's easy to use, and easy on the school budget. Loads of educational software, and a decent UK support infrastructure.

Glad you pointed it out.

Caption this: WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Winston thought that the new mobile Big Brother was possibly a tad more noticeable than the home edition.