Posts by Trygve Henriksen

Ukraine's secret cyber-defense that blunts Russian attacks: Excellent backups

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!

Re: "Maintaining offline backups is expensive and a lot of boring, repetitive work."

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.

BOFH: You'll have to really trust me on this team-building exercise

Re: Ahh, Team building/break the ice exercises....

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!

Prototype app outperforms and outlasts outsourced production version

Re: So

Manglers are easily distracted by shiny reports.

That users need to be able to actually enter data or do other operations is not something they understand.

Chromium-adjacent Otter browser targets OS/2

Re: I always feel a certain nostalgia...

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...

Technology from the 1980s?

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...

Real-time software? How about real-time patching?

Re: Not necessarily an Osborne

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.

Re: Portable? Shirley you mean luggable ...

The Compaq Portable is also rather sewingmachine-shaped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Portable

Also, I have the Lemmings game for the Z88...

Re: Portable? Shirley you mean luggable ...

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 technician jailed for wiping school's and pupils' devices

Re: 14 different steps

It's England. Odds are that step 2 involves making a pot of tea instead of coffee, and 5 is 'add milk and sugar, stir and sip'.

Nothing's working, and I've checked everything, so it must be YOUR fault

Re: "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Best Seasons ending ever!

Yeah, I also have the DVD set.

Playing jigsaw on my roof: They can ID you from your hygiene habits

Only one thing to do; get one of those oldfashioned galvanized steel bathtubs, and fill it with water you heat on a woodstove..

You forced me to use this fancypants app and now you're asking for a printout?

I bet your hay fever starts close to Christmas?

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.

LAN traffic can be wirelessly sniffed from cables with $30 setup, says researcher

I think this is imagine used on an airgapped computer sitting somewhere by itself in an otherwise secure facility. And then it's a means for malware that's already on it to use the patch cable someone were considerate enough to leave hanging on it to transmit the stolen data.

Config cockup leaves Reg reader reaching for the phone

Re: Me too...

Run his COMMIT first...

US school districts blame Amazon for nationwide bus driver shortage

Re: Bus drivers...

Are you mad?

Do you know how much soldiers get in combat pay?

It'd blow the budget within the first week!

(No, it's not all that much, but it can't be less than the pittance the school bus drivers gets.)

I would drive 100 miles and I would drive 100 more just to be the man that drove 200 miles to... hit the enter key

Re: Did someone mention ILO??

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.

Re: You had to be there

Been there, done that. Server supposed to handle 150+ users couldn't even deal with 50.

Why did they even decide to include those Screensavers on Win NT Server?

Re: N Yorks to Edinburgh

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.

Relics from the early days of the Sinclair software scene rediscovered at museum during lockdown sort-out

Re: I donated some stuff to them.

You may want to check this page for the required SW... and a lot of other stuff...

https://www.jaapsch.net/psion/connect.htm

Re: I donated some stuff to them.

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.

RIP Sir Clive Sinclair: British home computer trailblazer dies aged 81

Re: Z88?

Wonderful machine.

I have 3...

2 of them are still in the cardboard 'briefcase' packaging...

I'm going to dig out a few of the machines and play a few games.

Jet Pack on the ZX Spectrum, of course, Lemmings on the Z88.

A developer built an AI chatbot using GPT-3 that helped a man speak again to his late fiancée. OpenAI shut it down

Re: An AI company that can't work out how to use its own product?

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.

Report details how Airbus pilots saved the day when all three flight computers failed on landing

Re: "I can stop a car much quicker without the interference of the ABS system."

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.

Re: Automation Issue

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.

When everyone else is on vacation, it's time to whip out the tiny screwdrivers

Re: Two observations:

Trust me, it's a lifesaver. Or at least a hand-saver.

but as said, get the rechargeable with lights.

The one with 2x AAA batteries is slightly weaker, and the battery terminal design is just hopeless.

Re: Two observations:

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.

Re: Two observations:

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.

'No peeing towards Russia' sign appears on country's Arctic border with Norway

We don't see it like that...

In fact, we consider 1814 as a better year to count from. The Swedes may disagree, but then again, who gives a ... about them.

Boston Dynamics spends months training its Atlas robots to perform one minute of parkour almost perfectly

I wonder how well they would do in a random layout course with similar difficulty.

Q: Post-lockdown, where would I like to go? A: As far away from my own head as possible

Re: New "Thing" at work

No, text from the Necronomnomnom.

Re: Cordon Bennet ...

I once had the chance to try a cake covered in slices of boiled ham.

Weird. I only think I had two large pieces...

Ch-ch-ch-Chia! HDD sales soar to record levels as latest crypto craze sweeps Europe

Re: Quick buck

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.

On this most auspicious of days, we ask: How many sysadmins does it take to change a lightbulb?

Re: Demarcation

Mythbusters did an episode on that and how to get out of a car that the power line had landed on...

Very enlightening.

What is your greatest weakness? The definitive list of the many kinds of interviewer you will meet in Hell

Re: Missing type

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.

BOFH: But soft! What light through yonder filing cabinet breaks?

Re: Hilarious!

you missed out on the Prosignia servers, and the SystemPro servers before them...

We had a Prosignia tower with a full load of 16 HDDs in it. It could have doubled as a mooring point for a large ship if you welded a chain to it and dumped it in the ocean..

BOFH: Where there is darkness, let there be a light

Re: Diesel...

The tanks for the generator?

That would put the servers at risk!

Re: Definitely pick which battles you want to fight...

Not BlackBox muxes, I hope.

Sure, when they worked, they worked great because they dynamically allotted capacity to whichever terminal or printer needed it... but when they stopped working right...

BOFH: When the Sun rises in the West and sets in the East, only then will the UPS cease to supply uninterrupted voltage

Hobnobs sounds good about now...

FBI paid renegade developer $180k for backdoored AN0M chat app that brought down drug underworld

Re: Trojan Shield?

You need to read up on the classics.

Trojan war, and the wooden horse the Greeks used to gain access to Troy.

BOFH: I'm so pleased to be on the call, Boss. No, of course this isn't a recording

Re: Duplicate Asset Tag numbers!

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.

The future is now, old man: Let the young guns show how to properly cock things up

Re: Back door in to the comms systems

That or an Epson PX-4 or PX-8 would be my guess.

Wonderful machines.

The HX-20 only runs at 0.6MHz, but it feels blazing fast because it's a Dual CPU system.

The swift in-person response is part of the service (and nothing to do with the thing I broke while trying to help you)

And this is why every server should have ILO, iDrac or similar tech installed.

Volunteer-run pirate Manga website attacked, loses hashed passwords, has ‘nobody’ to fix the mess

Re: which rather diminished publishers’ chances of securing distribution in nations outside Japan

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)

To have one floppy failure is unlucky. To have 20 implies evil magic or a very silly user

Re: if it works...

It uses sensors, and they are definitely IoT. And if you use IFTTT scripts, thne it's all online. Yeah, there are people who do that.

IoT is a tool(the same can be said about most of the designers of the devices) and automation of some sort is usually the goal.

Re: if it works...

I know of one good reason to invest in some IoT or at least some proper home automation...

I read in a forum that one guy had set it up so that when he sat down in his favorite chair in the evening, his TV came on and the lights adjusted for best possible viewing comfort.

BOFH: Postman BOFH's Special Delivery Service

Re: Still laughing..

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...

Re: Still laughing..

That's Trygve Lode. Cool guy, but not me.

Re: Still laughing..

I wouldn't mind one, either. Of course, I collect vintage computers...