Posts by RNixon

Don't be a fool, cover your tool: How IBM's mighty XT keyboard was felled by toxic atmosphere of the '80s

Nope.

Not only is it not mechanical, it's not even halfway decent.

All the reviews I read of it when it finally dribbled onto the market were basically 'Cute, but impossible to type on.'

Games Workshop finds that in the grim darkness of the 3rd millennium, there is only ERP

I read ERP as 'erotic role play' and was VERY CONFUSED.

Apple now Arm'd to the teeth: MacBook Air and Pro, Mac mini to be powered by custom M1 chips rather than Intel

Meh.

macOS has been annoying me more and more lately. I think it's time to replace my Mac mini with something Linux-y.

Probably on Power, just because.

Touchscreen holdout? This F(x)tec Pro1 X phone with sliding QWERTY keyboard might push your buttons

Re: I would totally buy one...

Turning off the cover display on the Cosmo drastically increases the battery life. At the cost of making it damned annoying to use unless you also have a smartwatch to cover those functions.

Whoa-o BlackBerry, bam-ba-lam: QWERTY phone had a child. 5G thing's newly styled

An existing OS is best

Because building your own OS is pointless because no one will support it.

Blackberry 10 was damned nice. But there were basically no apps for it except BB's.

Chicago: Why I just grin like a dork... It's my kind of Bork

Re: Jumped up quiche?

Hate to break this to you, but any kind of pizza can be called a pizza pie.

It's the typical term in New York. 'Gimmie a large cheese pie.'

And that certainly doesn't have two crusts.

US Air Force inks deal with Raytheon on Windows 10 (and other) support for ARSE

Re: A serious question for US commentards...

Most Americans wouldn't have a clue what 'arse' means without context. In context, most of us would go 'Huh, must be a British spelling of 'ass'.' but I'd say most people have never run across it.

Father of Unix Ken Thompson checkmated: Old eight-char password is finally cracked

Re: ARM slowed down to help Intel marketing department?

My home machine is a Mac, and I can't unlock it with a fingerprint.

Now here's a Galaxy far, far away: Samsung stalls Fold rollout after fold-able screens break in hands of reviewers

Re: Introducing the all new Allegro*...

>> What's wrong with a clamshell with a keyboard and a hinge - remember those - I remember those, I feel so old.

Well, if you want one, buy one! I have one of these https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gemini-pda-android-linux-keyboard-mobile-device--2#/ and rather like it.

They're coming out with a more expensive, fancier version too. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cosmo-communicator#/

US mobe owners will get presidential text message at 2:18 pm Eastern Time

Not on my phone.

I have a world phone imported from overseas - it doesn't get these alerts at all. (it's a Gemini PDA.)

Nor Amber alerts, etc.

And not every cell provider in the US participates, also. The big ones do ,but not all the small ones.

The Gemini pocket PC is shipping and we've got one. This is what it's like

Looks like there's a problem with the first run of Geminis - people are reporting they've got an x25 CPU, instead of the x27 that's specced.

A comment over on the Indiegogo page says Planet have confirmed it but haven't yet said what they're going to do about it.

(the x25 is a bit slower and a bit more power-hungry than the x27.)

How's this for a stocking filler next year? El Reg catches up with Gemini

When I first saw this I thought it would be a good companion to a smartwatch. The watch makes up for the lack of an external screen by showing notifications and having convenient music controls and such.

There is a selfie-cam in it, specifically for video calls - they've demo'd that at a few events.

I have one on order, and plan on replacing my Blackberry Priv with it. The only thing that concerns me is using it for navigation - some sort of fairly funky dash mount will be needed, I think.

Re: Linux

From what's been shown in some of the updates, they intend to have both dual-boot and the VM solution, although it hasn't been mentioned in a while. There's a demo video showing it booting straight into Debian then rebooting into Android.

GarageBanned: Apple's music app silenced in iOS 11 iCloud blunder

Re: Yawn

Overnight? OS X was released in 2001 and didn't lose the ability to run Mac OS 9 programs until Leopard in 2007.

PowerPC Macs had a Motorola 680x0 emulator, so old programs kept working. There were compatibility issues with some, of course. Intel Macs came out in 2006, and PowerPC programs worked until the 2011 release of 10.7 Lion.

Dell's flagship XPS13 – a 2-in-1 that may fatally frustrate your fingers

Modern printers and scanners connect wirelessly, as do quite a few keyboards and mice.

If you really want to use a wired keyboard AND mouse AND monitor, get a USB-C docking station that has HDMI, multiple USB, ethernet, and will also charge the thing at the same time. Or better yet, get a Thunderbolt docking station, since one of the ports is Thunderbolt. Oh, and both of the USB ports also work as DisplayPort outputs, if you just want to plug up a projector for a presentation.

What's the obsession with lading a slim'n'light laptop up with legacy ports the vast majority of customers will never use? Subnotebooks have never had a plethora of ports without adding a big ol' docking station.

(And a price note: While the 2-in-1 XPS13 does 'start at' $999, the version with the 4K screen is $1600 list. Is El Reg comparing the 4k UK price to the 1080p/i5 US price?)

Windows 10 Creators Update preview: Lovin' for Edge and pen users, nowt much else

Alas, Edge is the only browser that doesn't suck on Windows with touch.

I'd really like to have a browser choice for my small Windows tablet, but Chrome and Firefox both removed their touch UI options, and non-touch-UI-aware browsers are a pain to use on an 8" touchscreen.

I don't use it on my desktop, but on my tablet Edge is about the only browser that's usable.

(I do use the pen quite a bit, so the pen input updates will be nice, as will the new software keyboard.)

WannaLaugh? Funsters port WannaCrypt to Commodore, Cisco, Nintendo and Tesla

Re: Does anyone seriously use the in-car stuff ?

Toyotas typically use a standard double-DIN design. My old Corolla had a standard single-DIN.

Sometimes they round the corners off a little, though.

BlackBerry's comeback: El Reg gets its claws on the QWERTY KEYone

Re: @Rnixon Sadly, I predict failure

Nope, I was never able to find a demo model anywhere, and it was expensive enough I wasn't going to take a shot on it. It was the three-row keyboard that had me hesitating more than the wide shape.

Re: Sadly, I predict failure

The same thing when you want to use an HTC Desire Z and its keyboard in portrait mode, I'd expect.

(I have a Priv. I simply don't use the keyboard as a keyboard in landscape mode. You COULD, but it's awkward as hell. You use it as a trackpad when the phone is in landscape. But frankly, the only time I type in landscape at all is when a game forces landscape and you have to enter a username or something. Even my SSH client I run portrait, 80 columns by 62 rows.)

I'm still bummed there's no BB10 version of the Priv. I vastly prefer BB10 to Android, and I can even deal with BB10's lack of apps, but I wanted a bigger screen than than my Q10, and the Passport was just a bit TOO weird.

Firmware freakout sends Epson Wi-Fi printers into reboot loop

Sometimes a modern printer does need a software update.

If a printer can print, for instance, PDF files from a USB stick or a memory card, it's perfectly reasonable for it to need a software update to support new PDF features. (Adobe is still adding those, right? I ignore PDF as much as possible. It's a terrible format.)

Or it might need to update the APIs used to access third party cloud printing services. (I think those are silly, but if the printer offers them it'd be best to keep them working.)

Chap creates Slack client for Commodore 64

Aprotek sold a 2400 baud modem that worked just fine on the C64 without any problems.

Aprotek also sold an RS-232 interface and with that, a US Robotics modem, and a copy of Novaterm64 you could get 4800 baud on a C64. No, it didn't shut off the screen.

And if you had a 128 and a copy of Desterm, you could even get 9600 baud! But you had to have an 80 column screen and put the CPU into Fast Mode (which DOES disable the VIC II) to do it.

Virgin Galactic and Boom unveil Concorde 2.0 tester to restart supersonic travel

Re: Concorde: proof engineering and beauty are not exclusive.

The TU-144 entered commercial service before the Concorde did.

The plane was unreliable and the Russians knew it, and it was insanely noisy, but they had it on passenger-carrying routes. They eventually converted them into freighters, which seems like a really bizarre choice.

Nest Cam: A compelling piece of hardware-software

But for how long?

These service-backed smart home gizmos are great, until Nest decides it's no longer profitable to support, turns off the server, and your $300 hardware is now a useless brick.

You know, like they did with their Zwave hub.

20 years to get Amiga Workbench 3.1 update, and only a fortnight to get first patch

Re: Workbench update..my ass

No original Amiga, as shipped, can run AmigaOS 3.9. And these days, getting a hardware upgrade for them can be a pain in the ass. So there's at least some value in an updated 3.1.

I'm not sure how MUCH value there is, but they're not asking much.

They also sell it in a bundle with a set of Kickstart ROMs, which makes for a handy way to get a legal emulation environment without buying Amiga Forever if you don't like Cloanto for whatever reason.

They probably did the work for the Amiga Classic emulation environment built into AmigaOS 4.1FE. It would be nice if they'd released it for free, but Hyperion is operating on a serious shoestring, so 'sell it cheapish' isn't a surprise.

Apple to automatically cram macOS Sierra into Macs – 'cos that worked well for Windows 10

Meh.

The only reason I ever update my Mac's OS is to get security fixes.

There hasn't been a new feature I've actually wanted in years. If it wasn't abandoned, I'd still be happily running Snow Leopard.

When I went from Snow Leopard to Yosemite the only thing I really considered an improvement was 'you can turn off the transparency effects all the way'. Everything else just felt like 'change for the sake of change'.

2,000 year old man found dead near 2,000 year old computer

They just need to RTFM.

I always figured the Voynich Manuscript was the documentation for the Antikythera Mechanism.

'I'm sorry, your lift has had a problem and had to shut down'

Well, not a BSOD, but...

Back in ye olde days (the '80s and early '90s) sometimes we'd tune into the program guide channel on the cable TV and get a big red flashing GURU MEDITATION error. Or sometimes a Workbench screen, occasionally with the mouse pointer moving about as someone restarted the guide.

New Firefox versions will make you activate all new add-ons – except one hacker favourite

Actually no, you pay the license fee and you still don't get the content if you're outside the UK.

Not only can a Canadian not purchase a UK television license, if a UK resident who has a license is outside the UK, they can't access the content on the web site.

The reason for this is it would be 'technically impossible' to enforce 'only licensed users from outside the UK'.

Apparently they have never heard of 'accounts' and 'passwords'.

Dear Windows, OS X folks: Update Flash now. Or kill it. Killing it works

Old Flash Stuff

The problem with just killing Flash is that there's a lot of older content out there that needs it.

Some of which is fairly nifty stuff. Independent animations especially.

I keep it installed but set to click-to-run.

Now if I could only find a way to prevent HTML5 video from autoplaying. All the plugins I've tried that claim to do that don't work.

Apple Fools: Times the House of Jobs went horribly awry

Re: Apple peripherals....

I use the wired Apple flat keyboard and rather like it. It did take me a while to get used to it, of course, but typing on a long-stroke keyboard irks me now.

Logitech also make some similar keyboards (the term for the things is 'scissor action' because of the frame that holds the keycap).

I won't get near an Apple mouse, though. I use a Kensington ExpertMouse. Which isn't a mouse at all, it's a trackball.

The big problem with the flat Apple keyboards is that they just can't be taken apart to clean them. So if you spill a Coke on it, that's the end of that.

Little warning: Deleting the wrong files may brick your Linux PC

Re: if EFI and Linux is problematic

It does if you're running Linux on it.

I think the point being made was 'Linux works fine on Macs, which use UEFI, so UEFI must not have to be disabled to run Linux'.

And re all the 'UEFI sucks' comments: Isn't UEFI the only widespread firmware standard suitable for non-x86/x64 hardware? Lots of ARM things use totally custom firmware, but quite a few PowerPC/POWER vendors use UEFI.

And of course you can't install Windows on those boxes atall.

Reverser laments crypto game protection, says wares dead after 2018

Re: Just works

There is not one single game on GOG that has DRM.

Every single game can have its installer downloaded (without a special client), sneakernetted to an internet-less PC, installed, and played.

There are some games that need a CD key for an online component (generally older titles) or require a login on the developer's server for multiplayer, but even those play just fine offline.

13,000 Comcast customers complain to FCC over data caps

Comcast without a cap.

I have Comcast with no data cap atall - I have business class service.

The reason I have business class is that there weren't any wires run on my street. Residential wouldn't install; Business was willing to waive the install fees in return for a three year phone/internet contract.

I pay considerably more than residential customers for the same speed, but I get a different call center with far less hold time when I call, priority over residential customers if I need a service call, my traffic is theoretically QoS'd over residential traffic, and I can run servers.

There wasn't any BS involved, either. The business sales team didn't even try to upsell me. The only 'extra service' they even asked about was, 'Do you need a static IP?'

All the Comcast Business people I've dealt with seemed to feel the Comcast Residential people were morons. It's almost like an entirely separate company.

I also got a letter in the mail of written apology when my service was out for half an hour during the workday, which rather surprised me. (I hadn't even called to complain. It went out, I checked their site on my phone, saw an estimated restoral, and went about my day.)

So yes, I pay about a hundred bucks a month for 16/3 internet and unlimited landline phone, but given that the options were this, satellite crap, or AT&T could get me ISDN for $700 a month (or an Nx6 T1 for $2719.60 per month), it beats the alternatives! Though once my contract is up I'll drop the phone.

Still running IE10? Not for long, says Microsoft

Re: A serious browser question.

PaleMoon's UI is much nicer than standard Firefox, but it's still nigh unusable on an 8" touchscreen. I've got a Dell Venue 8 Pro and it's actually quite a handy little slab, but Edge is the only browser that's really usable via touch on it. Opera is better than FF or Chrome, but it's still not 'good'.

A serious browser question.

Are there any Windows browsers with a decent touch UI other than Edge?

Firefox and Chrome removed their touch UIs. I've got a Win10 tablet and I haven't found a browser that has both adblock AND a usable UI.

Child abuse, drug sales, terrorism fears: Why cops halted a library's Tor relay ... for a month

Re: impressed

There might not be much in the way of taxes involved. I have no idea how it's structured there, of course, but a lot of small town libraries in the US are largely self-financing through donations, fees for services (copy machines, movie rental charges, renting out meeting rooms to clubs, etc), bake sales, and the like.

I worked in a library for several years and while we did get some tax funds - they were part of the school budget vote - we could've survived without them. We had a mostly volunteer staff and a local lawn care place cut the grass free, and so on.

Although probably without quite so many copies of new bestsellers.

Hats off to Nintendo’s platform supremo Super Mario Bros at 30

Re: Other platforms

Those usually get lumped in with the other Nintendo LCD games and just called 'Game and Watch'.

The game you're thinking of is called "Fire", and actually just has two random firemen, not Mario & Luigi. (There is a version for the Game Boy in a "Game and Watch Collection" that has Marioverse themes.)

There are some Mario games in the series; Donkey Kong/Jr/2/III, Mario Bros., Mario's Bombs Away, Mario's Cement Factory, Mario the Juggler, Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Circus, and Donkey Kong Hockey.

There are also a few non-Nintendo-console Mario games; edutainment for the PC, and shovelware crap for the CD-i. (Hotel Mario is best forgotten. Really.)

Storage boosters: Six mSATA format SSDs on test

Re: [e-mail]

Because you can't cram the 2.5" 850 Evo in a laptop that only has an mSATA slot.

Sorry, Californians, you can't have this: Asus to build WATER COOLED notebook

I've got some Asus stuff, and been quite pleased with it.

That said, I've had several friends who had to deal with Asus support, and all of them quickly got lost in a Kafkaesque nightmare. So their stuff is generally good but if you DO need help with it, pray.

FCC hosts Reagan-off as it enters 21st century

Re: Don't stop now!

Pay attention.

They cannot get free phones AND free broadband.

They can get a free phone OR free broadband.

The Lifeline program currently allows people on the program to choose from a landline OR a cell phone. The expansion means they will choose from a landline OR a cell phone OR internet access.

Is letting broke-ass people decide which form of communication their subsidy goes toward really that terrible?

(It's not even much of a subsidy. $9.95/month. Which, if telcos are willing to provide service for that, tells you something about how much they're overcharging everyone *else*.)

Pitch Black: New BlackBerry Classic is aimed at the old-school

I originally got a Blackberry Q10 because I simply couldn't find an Android with a decent keyboard.

Having used it for a year and change, I do not want to go back to Android, even if I find a nice slider. I vastly prefer BB10 to Android or iOS.

I want a phone 'from ancient history' because it's better at being a phone.

Re: Who stole my QWERTY

LG sells the Optimus F3Q which came out in 2014.

It's actually quite similar to the Droid 4, specs-wise, but runs a somewhat newer Android. Slightly lower res screen, slightly smaller (LxW), slightly thicker, somewhat lighter.

Microsoft: We bought Skype. We make mobiles.. Oh, HANG ON!

I miss the Sidekick.

The article's right, but the picture caption's wrong - Microsoft didn't make the Sidekick. The Sidekick was made by Danger, who Microsoft later bought.

Frankly, the Sidekick was the best messaging phone I ever used. The IM clients were very tightly integrated into the OS, as was the Twitter client. I don't recall if it did Facebook or not. (I think there was an app for it, but since the appstore is gone, I can't fire up my old one and check.)

The SSH client was rock solid (critically important for me), the keyboard was excellent, and the web browser was one of the better mobile ones at the time. The apps were pretty weak - some games, calendars, and so on - but it was more of a mobile terminal than a smartphone.

I wish I could get a phone that handled messaging as well now. My Blackberry comes close, and could match it if someone wrote a good BB10 Hub-integrated multi-IM client.

An e-reader you HAVEN'T heard of: Cybook Ocean 8"

Re: Missing a trick?

Well, there was the Entourage Pocket eDGe. Two 7" screens. Admittedly, one was e-ink and one LCD, for more tablet-y things. It worked well enough; I have one.

It also seriously stunk up the marketplace and wound up being clearanced at less than cost, so apparently no one wanted one.

Tough Banana Pi: a Raspberry Pi for colour-blind diehards

I'm waiting for the Banana Jr. 6000 model.

Oliver Wendell Jones is my hero.

BlackBerry chief vows: We'll focus on 'core devices' and on, er, not losing money

You... you DO realize that Blackberries haven't depended on BES for years, right?

I mean, they still support it, and it has advantages for enterprise, but they don't need it.

Re: What's the need they're trying to fill?

Blackberry Maps is quite good now. I've found it better at routing me around traffic than Google Maps, though it doesn't have Google's satellite image view, which can be handy.

When I first got my Q10 BB Maps was only so-so; I sideloaded Google Maps and used that till BB Maps was on par.

And regards to B: Have you found a multi-IM client with good hub integration? I need to talk to a bunch of old farts that still use AIM and ICQ, and that leaves one BB native paid client with horrid reviews, or Android apps with no Hub use.

Old hat: Fedora 21 beta late than never... and could be best ever

Accessibility.

"why should other applications be able to see other windows?"

Because that's how screenreaders for the blind work.

It's the WORST game ever, just pulled from a desert DUMP ... now ET can be yours for $500

Don't blame the game for bad management.

ET is not the worst game ever.

It's bad, certainly. But I've played far worse. The Akira game, for instance, makes ET look .. well, not good, but at least mediocre.

And at least it was possible to both win AND lose ET, which puts it one up on Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.

Red Bull does NOT give you wings, $13.5m lawsuit says so

Chump change.

Red Bull sells over five billion cans a year. (5.387 B in 2013.)

1.4 million people get ten bucks.

So that's 0.2% of people who bought a can in the last year. And this lawsuit covers twelve years.

I think Red Bull can shake this money out of the couch cushions and not even notice.