Re: "Maintaining offline backups is expensive and a lot of boring, repetitive work."
They forced you to use DAT tapes for backups?
Those... those... FIENDS!
764 posts • joined 4 Jul 2007
If you have to worry about inserting the wrong set, or labelling tapes, you don't have a large enough robot.
In a robot, there are 3 sets of tapes; protected(tapes written to, and that should not be reused for a certain period), the 'Scratch tapes'(any tape not protected by a time limit) and the cleaning tapes...
Tapes you NEED to remove for offsite can be exported, and you replace them with scratch or new tapes.
And you can get LTO tapes already labelled from the factory.
I think the idea being that the team members will stop calling the people in other departments for simpering idiots or neanderthals, and actually start cooperating with them...
The only thing a Teambuilding dofus manage to get them to agree on is that the dofus needs to be taken out back and playfully rolled through a few cow patties.
Other than that, what everyone wants to do is forget everything that happened, and hope that the simpering neanderthals in the same group also does, otherwise they might have blackmail material on you.
NO ONE has yet managed to prove that Teambuilding exercises actually work!
One of those components was the HPFS file system. M$ owns that, and IBM paid royalties from it, so every time IBM sold a license, BillG got tingly...
I believe at least some M$ marketing drones were told to FUD OS/2 as much as possible, too.
I heard one once say that HPFS was critically flawed. (He was pushing NT server 3.51... talk about flaw... )
I immediately stood up and asked when M$ was going to fix it, then since it was their product and all...
I feel the urge... to hit someone...
Also, since OS/2 is being maintained you're allowed to use present tense when mentioning it.
I can never remember seeing an error screen on an OS/2-based ATM. But you can't walk through a large shopping mall or international airport without seeing at least a few winblows-based ATMs, ticketmachines or info-screens with either white text on blue or a dialog box that someone needs to click away...
He should NOT feel guilty about the guard.
It was the guard who decided to move what he believed to be a dangerous explosive device. Or some mangler or other ordered him to do it.
Had he done his job, and called it in, the bomb squad would have told him to under no circumstances toucht it. Then they'd send a team to deal with it.
It could also have been an Osborne, a Compaq Portable, possibly a Kaypro(can't remember the size of the screen).
It probably wasn't the Commodore Sx-64, though, as it had a smaller screen.
And the Panasonic Sr. has a 9" screen, not a 7" as mentioned in the article.
Trade me the sr for a Cambdridge Computers Z88? New in box... Yes, original carboard 'attache case' packaging.
No?
It's not hayfever, it's allergy.
Probably to the pollen from Euphorbia pulcherrima
Commonly known as 'Poinsettia' and very popular as Christmas decorations.
One of the big bosses at my office was allergic, and she finaly got the building owners to stop giving one of those wretched things to every employee in the building.
Compaq servers had so many quirks that they brought with them to HP, that ILO was a must unless you had your office right next to the server room.
Proliant 1600 with a triple PSU instead of the single?
Will halt on boot if one of the PSUs doesn't have power or is non-working for other reasons.
AAAARGH!
At least my insistence on ILO saved me from an hour-long journey to push a key.
I actually have something where that is a real issue. That being the wires going to the seat belt tensioner on my first Gen Citroën Berlingo. Whenever the airbag light doesn't go off a few seconds after switching on the ignition, it's time to reach under the seat, find the plug and unplug and plug it back in a few time, and it'll be OK for a year or two again.
I have one of those Organisers. Not 'Organiser I' or 'Organiser One' as they're listed on some sites. The original.
No it wasn't all that useful... Unless you got the Math Pak for it. That contained an early version of OPL.
(Organiser Programming Language)
I want that Pak.
I have a few IIs, too. A CM, an LZ64, a POS250 and a POS350(same as a II XP, but with 96KB RAM and none of the regular programs installed)
I even have the printer. And incredibly, the 'Plug'n Play' works! Plug it in, switch the II on(or off, then on if it was on when plugging it in), and drivers were loaded from the Printer. The same with the serial cable.
I actually used the LZ64 actvely until about 10 years ago. I kept lists of my comics and book collection on it, and used it when browsing in used book stores.
Please, NO!
Every time someone mentions Asimos 3 bloody rules I want to barf!
The whole concept is so feckin flawed it's not funny.
Here's a better worded explanation than I can put up:
https://mindmatters.ai/2019/09/the-three-laws-of-robotics-have-failed-the-robots/
For a funnier, but still relevant view, read the comic FreeFall by Mark Stanley.
I challenge you to try the Slippery Road courses here in Norway...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnzvsRZE8CQ
When your wheels lock they create too much friction, and heat up and melts the top layer of ice so that your wheels suddenly float on top of water cushions. No 'snow buildup' will stop that.
I call BALLS on that. I drive all year round in Norway, on any and all conditions.
Wintertime is the time of the year that I really wish I had ABS in my car. Icy roads aren't uniformly icy or wet, so grip with one wheel can be extremely different from what a wheel on the other side of the car experiences. without ABS you end up braking, correcting, braking, correcting, braking, swearing, correcting, swearing... with a bit more swearing mixed in if you need to stop quickly.
And no, you don't brake better if the wheels stop rotating. That just means they're now sliding on the surface and you've lost control of your vehicle.
On an icy surface this means your wheels are melting the top layer as it passes over, and creates a very thin layer of water to ride on. That's nature taking it's Friction toy back and ppointing its nose at you.
Yes, I know Petter Solberg does powerslides in his rallycar... and that the Finns and everyone else also does it. It's still loss of control. And quite a few of them go end over ass into the geography. It's a calculated risk for them. We try not to calculate that in on public roads. Those of us that don't intend to wreck our cars, that is...
I've been driving for 30 winters on icy roads now, and somehow I'm still alive...
Still want ABS, though.
The print outs is because sometimes they use sodding different length and diameter all over the place.
Sure, the bottom may be fastened with M3 screws, but one is 4mm and the rest is 6mm long, and if you install a 6mm in the place of a 4mm, you break something expensive. And I suspect they've designed it like that on purpose.
The Magnetic trays are good, but take it one step further;
Take pictures of the area you're working on, and print those and place over a magnetic sheet.
Draw with a red marker around every screw you replace for that step. And place the removed screw on top of the picture of it.
Also, check out a Wowstick on whatever's your favorite/least hated Chinese shopping site. The 1F+ model has a built-in rechargeable battery, LEDs around the tip, and comes with a magnetiser/demagnetiser thingie.
I bought my first Wowstick after I had to open HP Elitebook 840 G3s... They have literally a DOZEN screws holding the bottom in place.
And are you willing to pay for large capacity HDDs that has been used for a year or three, in an environment you know nothing about?
I just threw out a crate of old 3.5" size HDDs(from ancient 40MB PATA, to 1TB SATA that were still 'among the living')
Just made a couple of holes with an 8mm drill bit first...
(One was an old IBM 'Deathstar' HDD... they make a funny sound when the bit hits the platter)
I would have trusted those HDDs more than random disks used in any mining rig.
There's 3 large machines from 'Pelican Rouge' on the floor my organisation has. All 3 are rented by the organisation, and they also pay for coffee beans(2 different roasts), instant, chocolate powder and creamer, tea bags and even portion packed Buillon for those of us who need an energy replenishment in the afternoon.
Not all office places have a nearby starbucks or other overpriced place to buy the daily coffee.
And if the weather is bad, are you certain you want to run outside even if it's just across the street?
The ONLY thing to look for on machines like these is if they have a coin slot or not.
Then you can ask who owns it.
If it's the building owner, or possibly the company's oldboys soccer team, it's probably OK.
If it belongs to a third party, it's usually not OK.
Both HP and DELL are willing to sell you pre-labelled computers if you order enough of them.
All they need is the Logo, text and a number range.
They'll even email you a list of serial numbers and the corresponding asset tag as they ship them.
and those are slightly more secure than what your Dymo or Brother labelprinter can produce.
For one series that I was interested in years ago(can't remember which now), they sold the European publishing rights to a French company. Which of course only made a French edition.
I don't really bother with Manga any more.
What gets translated to Norwegian usually ends up 'age shifted' to fit young kids even if the contents is 'somewhat more mature'. And Japanese puns are almost never explained, but instead horribly 'remade' into whatever the translator thinks is funny.(It never is)
I'm sorry, but most of the stuff I have is in working condition...
Well, a couple of portable computers, supposedly once used on an English Navy ship doesn't work, but with 3 of them, I might be able to get one to work...
I think one of my SUN workstations need a new HDD.
One of my Psion S3a machines has an issue with the battery compartment, and the same with the S5...
My Canon laptop with built-in inkjet is broke... literally. Crappy hinges...
If you have something nice and working, then I can be found as Gadgetman over on the berlingoforum.com
Just create a user, and respond to one of my many posts about my car. It's old and French, there's alwys something...
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