Posts by oiseau

FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall

What happens if ...

What happens if you tell BMW to shove their POS car up their corpotate asshhole and buy a decent car?

A subscription to use a part of the car I have already paid for?

WTHF is going on?

Has the world gone absolutely mad?

O.

x86 Raspberry Pi Desktop is a great way to revive an old PC

32-bit Linux distributions

There are other 32-bit distros still out there.

Indeed there are, Liam. 8^D !

The most important among them is probably Devuan Linux.

ie: a Debian based 32-bit distribution without systemd.

I have been using it for years on my ca.2010 Asus 1000HE/Atom N280/2Gb RAM netbook with a 10" 1024x600 LED-backlit panel.

Works a wonder, serves as the hardware I use for my coffee roasting software and always goes with me when Ieave town and need a portable.

O.

Choosing a non-Windows OS on Lenovo Secured-core PCs is trickier than it should be

Hello:

... also been known in the past to not bother to support any flavour of Linux ...

Which is the main reason I do not come near that crap.

Should I receive one (or similarly crippled) for my birthday/anniversary/xmas or whatever (doubtful but remotely possible) I'll quickly sell it at a discount to some WinFan and go purchase decent hardware with the cash.

Or maybe just blow it all on something worthwhile.

Like broads and booze.

O.

... doing who knows what.

Who knows what?

Hmmm ....

Remember what went on with the ME also known as the Intel Management Engine?

The autonomous subsystem incorporated in virtually all of Intel's processor chipsets since 2008?

Well. it is probably that and who knows what.

That's what.

O.

Boris Johnson set to step down with tech legacy in tatters

Re: Sub-sea nukes

... main problem I see with BoJo's resignation is who's going to replace him.

Hmm ...

Half cooked/unfinished brain's resignation?

A problem?

Just what have you been sprinkling on your tea?

Are you sure it was sugar?

O.

Systemd supremo Lennart Poettering leaves Red Hat for Microsoft

Re: Maybe he was working for them all along

Maybe?

Think so?

I've been saying it for the longest time.

And now we know.

O.

Re: Not an expert, but...

It's not a purity war. Most of us are init-agnostic.

Perfectly explained.

I have always thought that Poettering was an inside man.

Now I'm convinced.

O.

Re: one step forward

I wonder if he will do ...

systemd is exactly the very same strain of virus as the registry in MS OSs.

No need to do anything.

O.

Has Intel gone too far with its Ohio fab 'delay' stunt?

Hello:

ANY tax incentive to ANY company bigger than a mom & pop operation is a waste of taxpayer money.

Finally, some common sense.

In the US and all over the world, the same thing.

Not to mention the outrageous bailouts to those who were/are too big to fail after effectively failing while playing craps with loaded dice and other people's money.

Get the fucking shareholders put up the moolah and invest in a new fab if they want to stay in business and earn money instead of paying ridiculous dividends and off-shoring their facilities.

Not Friday yet but still, have one on me --->

O.

Rufus and ExplorerPatcher: Tools to remove Windows 11 TPM pain and more

Almost ...

Almost?

No, not yet.

It's not Friday yet ...

... it does seem that Windows 11 is gradually gaining market share.

A lot been said about fools, their money, how there's one born evey minute, and so on.

No need to dwell on that.

Evidently it's true.

O.

Getting that syncing feeling after an Exchange restore

Re: That syncing feeling ...

Sync is either great or a vision of impending doom - it never goes "a bit" wrong.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Brought back bad memories.

No, don't ask. 8^/

O.

PowerShell pusher to log off from Microsoft: Write-Host "Bye bye, Jeffrey Snover"

Ditch Windows ...

Problem solved.

Hmm ...

Ditch the problem and then you won't have a problem to solve.

O.

Big Tech silent on data privacy in post-Roe America

Re: Canada

What ever happened to separation of church and State, anyway?

What happened?

It has gone down the drain, that's what happened.

Ina vote of 6 to 3, the SC has recently ruled Maine may not exclude religious schools from a state tuition program.

In their dissents, Sotomayor and Breyer expressed dismay at the direction of the court.

Sotomayor said the decision was another step in dismantling “the wall of separation between church and state that the framers fought to build.”

It will get much worse, sooner than later.

I fear that there's no stopping this now.

O.

Lenovo reveals small but mighty desktop workstation

Re: Missing a market.

That nvidia card isn't that great.

Great or not, I've already been shafted by Nvidia once.

So no Nvidia cards ever again for me.

Same thing happened to me with Matrox cards years ago.

I took the loss and learned the lesson.

Yes, I've been using Linux for years.

These days, Linux Devuan.

O.

Don't ditch PowerShell to improve security, say infosec agencies from UK, US, and NZ

Suggesting time?

Some have therefore suggested ...

Hmmm ...

Not to use MS operating systems?

Shit, man ...

It's been suggested for decades.

But you know, some people never learn.

O.

Password recovery from beyond the grave

Re: The Real Hero of the Story

Absolutely. She was one of the smart ones ...

Again ...

She?

Just where in the article does it say that the receptionist was of the female gender?

---

... they had been poorly for some time ...

Their sudden departure ...

---

Why is it taken for granted that the receptionist is was a woman?

Well?

O.

Re: The Real Hero of the Story

"I've been asked to give you a letter," said the woman.

Yes, I've read the article.

The woman you are making reference to was the deceased recepcionist's friend.

ie: the person charged with handing the envelope over to the tech should he show up at the wake.

You don't think it was the the deceased receptionist, do you?

O.

Re: There's no such thing as too much planning

Hello:

This was a good move on the doctor's part.

Read again.

No doctor involved.

It was the receptionist's good move*.

* which has got me seriously thinking about this today.

O.

Re: The Real Hero of the Story

Hello:

> But also told her friend: only give it to Mark ...

Indeed.

But ... her friend?

Just how do you know they what gender they were?

The article's wording is conspicuously uses they, their, etc to obscure the fact.

... by being informed that they no longer had any need of my services.

I'm sure there's a clue to that somewhere.

Just not evident.

O.

Sony responds to inflation with $3,700 gold-plated 'Walkman'

Re: Whats next?

... just to let everyone know that you are a super rich dick suffering from 80s nostalgia?

No.

This is for people (?) who desperately need to let others know that they are absolute assholes and have way too much money in their pockets.

The things we see these days.

We are doomed, the gods have evidently forsaken us.

O.

openSUSE Leap 15.4: The best desktop on the RPM side of the Linux world

Re: btrfs - ready for prime time. Not.

As such it should not be the default file system on anything.

Quite so. +1

I use Devuan Linux on my box/portables so I don't care for otther distributions but like to read about what esle is happening.

I found these two bits to be particularly interesting, to put it mildly:

"... the "perpetually unfinished" Btrfs readily gets corrupted in the event of a power failure ...

... because repairing a corrupted volume is difficult and dangerous."

Even though I am quite fond of reptiles, I wouldn't come within a mile of this SUSE thing.

O.

GitHub drops Atom bomb: Open-source text editor mothballed by end of year

S. Sharwood in 2018

Hello:

This article was written by Simon Sharwood back in 2018.

I then commented on another commentard's comment:

------------------------

“We want to wait for the dust to settle and better understand what Microsoft’s plans are for GitHub."

I see ...

To better understand what Microsoft’s plans are.

Really now ...

Is it possible that at this stage of the IT game (2018) you actually need to wait for anything to better understand Microshaft's plans?

I believe this phrase applies, improve by using "ignore" in lieu of "don't know" :

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

------------------------

As you can see, four years later things seem to be right on track for MS.

In the meantime, everyone else has their thumb up their ass.

O.

Japan's asteroid probe reportedly found 20 amino acids

... only question is "Will it be intelligent?"

Hmm ...

If it is from the bag of amino acids at present occupying N° 10, forget it.

One thing it's not is intelligent.

O.

The next time your program is 'not responding,' (do not) try these steps

... but do you use systemd or not?

I was about to say "Good question" ....

But as by now we all know the answer to that, I'll assume it was a rhetorical one which by definition needs no answer.

Just in case it was not (rhetorical), the answer is no, as in "no, you do not use systemd".

O.

Tweaks to IPv4 could free up 'hundreds of millions of addresses'

Re: Party Line

All of my important stuff is in the cloud already.

Really?

All of it, in the cloud?

"All clouds are made up of basically the same thing: water droplets or ice crystals that float in the sky."

I would not be caught dead in that situation.

Nevertheless, I cannot but commend you for your unbridled optimism.

As for me, I stay away from all that and avoid the eventual* leap into headlong despair.

*ie: not if but when.

O.

Version 251 of systemd coming soon to a Linux distro near you

So my line was not a joke: it was a bet.

A fairly safe bet.

Hmm .... (apologies if I seemed to come across the wrong way, not intended)

As a horse track enthusiast, I can certainly understand your point of view and even sympathise with it.

But if there's one thing I've learnt at the track is that there's no such thing as a given when a bet is involved.

It cost me quite a few $$$ to realise that.

O.

Re: I hate to say it but it's working

This isn't an accident or an inability to function at an interpersonal communication level.

I have been saying the very same thing for a few years now, only to get booed.

It gives the systemd team defacto control of the future direction of Linux, which is ...

To slowly but steadily infiltrate the MS way into the Linux ecosystem.

ie: the 30+ year ol "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" method.

... you'd think that governance of OS that is critical infrastructure for the world would receive more attention.

But it did ....

From Microsoft.

The writing has been on the wall for ages.

O.

Re: Systemd is not a virus. It doesn't reproduce itself. Yet.

Systemd is not a virus.

I think we share the same love for it.

So we can probably agree that it is just as damaging.

... doesn't reproduce itself.

Not by itself, but by successive iterations. ie: developer induced.

But you've nailed it: yet

Short, descriptive, accurate ...

It's my many years' experience with the MS registry speaking.

Best,

O.

... and you can expect it to feature in the next version of your preferred distro.

@Liam Proven

Are you sure that was sugar you sprinkled on your cup of tea?

I am not expecting any such thing.

Quite the contrary, actually.

Ah ...

It was a joke, eh?

Granted, there is some solid funding behind Poettering's antics but that is only money, it is not a substitute for intelligence.

He codes crap and eventually, everyone with some common sense will realise that.

O.

... and its codebase is complex, ever changing, and monolithic.

Quite so.

A virus, exactly like MS's registry:

---

Systemd is a virus.

It works just like the registry does in MS operating systems.

It's a developer sanctioned virus running inside the OS, constantly changing and going deeper and deeper into the host with every iteration and as a result, progressively putting an end to the possibility of knowing/controlling what is going on inside your box as it becomes more and more obscure.

Systemd is nothing but a putsch to eventually generate and then force a convergence of Windows with or into Linux, which is obviously not good for Linux and if unchecked, will be Linux's undoing.

So it does not seem as there's nothing new here: it's the well known MSBrace at work.

Now go and tell me that Microsoft has absolutely nothing to do with how systemd is crawling inside/infecting the Linux ecosystem.

---

O.

... surprised even Poettering ...

Don't be.

The man is a DH.

Besides, there's good money behind all that he is doing.

Wait for it.

It will all eventually reveal itself.

O.

Re: Software Junk

... I could run a normal Linux distro on it ...

Most probably.

I run Devuan Linux 32bit on an Asus 1000HE Atom N280/2Gb RAM and take it with me when I need to go out of town, does everything I need. When not on the road, it works as the hardware behind my coffee roasting application.

Purchased it used back in 2011 and six years later snapped up one for a song as a donor for the a couple of shaky USB ports and a couple of plastic parts that were in bad shape.

US$50 (recovered by selling the donor screen) plus a couple of hours of my time and it was as good as new.

So yes, I'd expect that you may be able to do something with it.

O.

Failed gambler? How about an algorithm that predicts the future

Dabbs' best phrase

Everyone is talking about coffee and algorithms and skinning bouncing cats.

But I have not seen a single mention on the best phrase in Mr. Dabbs' last article:

... will be popular in the world of finance and other such crooks.

+1 Mr. Dabbs.

Have a good week-end and one on me. --->

O.

Logitech Pop: Stylish, portable, but far from the best typing experience

Greatest keyboard ever ...

Hmm ...

I've gone through a fair number of keyboards in the past 27/28 years.

The best* one by far was one of the first ones I ever used: the IBM Model 'M'.

Many years later I was able to get a used (ca. 1995) US made model for all of US$29.00.

Took it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, replaced a damaged spring and spliced in a PS2 to USB converter.

It has been working perfectly well ever since and will probably outlive me.

* runners up were a couple of second hand Wise WS kbs and, given the price/quality ratio, the worst one in every sense was a Sun Type 7.

O.

I think you meant Duracell's more leak prone cells.

Beat me to it.

I stopped using Duracells long ago, lost two of my beloved MiniMaglite AAs to them.

Never again.

O.

It looks like a bad fisher-price toy in a colour that only an insect would love.

Hmm ...

Did you mean to say that it looks like an expensive POS?

Right ...

That's what I thought.

O.

Will this be one of the world's first RISC-V laptops?

Re: Some serious questions.

... the lack of an Intel Management Engine, AMD Secure Technology or equivalent.

Indeed.

+1

And, quite obviously, no BIOS or a 100% open source whatever it needs to boot the OS.

O.

The sad state of Linux desktop diversity: 21 environments, just 2 designs

Re: Brilliant and exhaustive work of research

You're looking at it wrong.

I beg to differ.

While I am looking at it from exactly the same perspective as the author, you are looking at it from the perspective of those ... people, or small groups of like-minded people doing their own thing ...

Not wrong, just a different point of view.

And of course, mine is more valid than yours. ;^P <---- just tasking the piss, right?

When I look at it from your point of view all I see is an absolute lack of collaboration between all those ... people, or small groups of like-minded people ... to work towards the same goal.

ie: the advancement of Linux on the desktop.

Because they are just ... doing their own thing ... instead of being a part of the huge collective that Linux is has become.

Because Linux is what it is today mainly because of Linux Torvalds and all those people who, with the same purpose in mind, give their time and efforts generously to work in the same direction.

O.

Re: Brilliant and exhaustive work of research

That, I submit, is a vast waste of the time and effort of thousands of volunteer developers.

Thank you for that.

+1

I have been saying the same thing for years:

---

To be a maintainer is to be part of the team.

And in a/any team (*), each member has a place and a task to fulfill.

---

(*) "... group of people who are interdependent with respect to information, resources, knowledge and skills and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal".

Thompson, Leigh (2008). Making the team: a guide for managers.

---

"The Linux ecosystem is home to literally tens of thousands of highly qualified coders/programmers, a rich pool of talent which could be harnessed towards the same goal and put Linux firmly on the desktop.

But ...

If they all want to be able to shout "Look Ma!!! I rolled my own [fill in here]! and be a primadonna for all of 15', that is certainly not going to happen.

Ever."

---

O.

RISC-V needs more than an open architecture to compete

Re: still not getting it

... Intel is in cahoots with Microsoft at the moment ...

At the moment? 8^D !!!

Not for the past 30+ years?

Really now ...

O.

Nato expansionism has properly upset the cart.

Ahh ...

Finally, some fresh air.

+1

... not sure if the inevitable consequences were unforeseen or unintended.

Well ...

I've recently read that, since 1776, the US has not been at war for only 21 out of 239 years.

Bear in mind that the all powerful corporations that manufacture the tools of war are not the only interested/benefited parties.

War is a very lucrative activity for a great many and there's always a fantastically huge amount of moolah to go around.

Draw your conclusions.

O.

Windows Subsystem for Linux gets bleeding-edge Ubuntu

Re: Crap on crap?

Why am I not surprised.

Why?

Because the writing has been on the wall for the longest time.

When you saw it, you both read and understood what it meant.*

This is all part of the same MS 30+ year old modus operandi : embrace, extend, and extinguish.

That's why you are not surprised.

Unfortunately, there's a legion of naysayers saying it is all nonsense.

O.

* See: Deadly Embrace

Not recommended?

"This is not recommended for production development. It may be unstable and it will have bugs."

Really?

A bit too optimistic, methinks.

How about this:

This is not recommended. It will be unstable and it will have bugs.

There you go, fixed it for you.

I'd say that it adjusts more to reality.

Not that I'd let that crap anywhere near my Linux installations.

O.

Open-source leaders' reputations as jerks is undeserved

Re: Prety broad brush

... which can show up as impatience with those who don't pick up concepts particularly quickly ...

Could be, I can easily relate to that. Maybe I'm a member of that club and did not know.

But, does not suffering fools/idiots/assholes lightly also count?

eg: just how many times did I have to explain in detail that _you_do_not_ turn off the expensive/new ca. i486 1995 PC by just flipping the switch because it screwed up the hard drive?

There's a point where just plain foolishness/idiocy/assholiness comes into play and that does not get fixed with honey.

Been there, done that.

O.

Re: Offensive and poorlt thought through

That's reasonable because all users are wankers and arseholes.

No.

Not all, but a great deal of them are.

Part of it is not their fault.

A huge percentage of users at some point were convinced early on that using a computer was easy as 1-2-3 and for everybody.

MS was the creator of this misinformation machine, with IBM close behind.

After all, they had to sell their software with the kit and telling the truth (ie: it was not easy as 1-2-3 and certainly not for eveybody) would certainly hinder their objectives.

So people drank the new kool-aid and every TD&H who could afford one went along: puchased an x86 PC, connected everything, started it up and presto!: the future was before them.

And it was just an <Enter> away!

This, of course, dripped down into corporate/government structures and every one with a PC at home knew how to use one so very few people actually got proper training.

ie: the type of training that a desktop support person needs the user to have so they can do their job properly.

If I had a US$1 for each time (another life, long ago) I had to explain basic-basics ie: how to save documents to drive or diskette, make a backup, shut down properly a PC, directly deleting (instead of opening) *.exe files arriving at the inbox, etc., etc., etc., many times to the same users over and over again, I'd be a wealthy man living out my retirement on the St. James coast in Barbados.

If you add to this that sometimes users are also assholes, the combination can be quite annoying and the only way to deal with it is ignoring them, being rude, or downright bad.

The second time one of the assholes ran an *.exe from their mbox and called me to get things sorted out, I asked him if he had not understood my previous instructions.

His answer: "No matter, get it fixed. That's what your are paid for."

My reply: "You're right"*

* A low level format of his C:\ with all the personal files he should have (as instructed) backed up to the diskettes I provided for him, didn't bother look to see if any were recoverable.

From then on, that was the standard procedure for those events and after a couple of months, *.exe calls were no more.

O.

Ransomware the final nail in coffin for small university

Re: could I be hearing Queen singing?

... if you didn't have to have a truck load of cash to go to one ...

Actually, if college education and student loan corporations were not such solidly established businesses in the US.

Because ...

God Almighty forbid that college education were to become a right and/or or subsidised by the federal goverment.

ie: instead of dealing out tax cuts for billionaires and financial bail-outs from the FED for investment banks who gamble with other people's money and end up losing it all, only to end up giving out millions in premiums to the greedy assholes who caused the mayhem.

Just a thought.

O.

Nvidia open-sources Linux kernel GPU modules. Repeat, open-source GPU modules

Re: Lost sales

... no they don't....

... except for those cards that Nvidia decides ...

Quite so.

I've never purchased close to the edge hardware, my kit has always been a few years back excellent hardware which I was able to obtain in almost new condition for pennies on the £/US$ in relation to what it that kit would have cost me when it was released.

For the past seven years my box has been a ca. 2010 Sun Ultra 24 WS/8Gb running Linux Devuan on an Intel Q9550 and twin Nvidia Quadro FX 580s, It works perfectly well and save faster drives/SAS card or monitors, I do not think much will be done for the next three or four years.

The FX580s run on Nividia's legacy proprietary drivers (v340.108) which Nvidia decided to stop supporting late April this year.

This means these cards have no support past the 5.40 kernel.

In light of this decision by Nvidia, it makes you wonder why they did not do the same with the legacy drivers it dropped support for.

After all, those cards that are no longer manufactured.

Best.

O.

Switch off the mic if it makes you feel better – it'll make no difference

Wonder?

I wonder what technical limitation is at play, here.

Wonder?

Wonder you say?

Where's the joke icon?

O.

Palantir expands from Covid role, wins $90m deal with US Department of Health

The beginning of the end

— was awarded a Blanket Purchase Agreement …

This is the beginning of the end for any and all privacy plain mortals could aspire to.

Not that things aren't really bad now, but they will only get worse and worse from now on.

Just wait for it ...

Soon you won't be able to shag anywhere without BB knowing all about it.

O.

Engineer gets Windows 11 working on a Surface Duo

Re: The reason for the hardware requirements

... 7 was definitely a big improvement on XP.

Can't say.

Never bothered as, after many years of suffering MS, was already quite fed up and migrating everything I had to Linux.

That was ~ 12 years ago, never looked back.

O.