* Posts by GrizzlyCoder

30 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Mar 2013

I didn't touch a thing – just some cables and a monitor – and my computer broke

GrizzlyCoder

Re: IT Crowd

Aaaaargh... the Philips V2000 ... device of the devil with he heads mounted on piezo-electric cells so they had "dynamic tracking" -- the only good thing (YMMV) I remember from those was being sent on a course about them down to Philips HO in Croyden in the days when this was a big deal....

New Windows 11 build boasts inbox updates and UI tweaks

GrizzlyCoder

Not interested in tabs with still only one pane

I haven't used the built-in file explorer since they did away with the twin-pane version yonks ago.

One pane is useless to me and I can't be doing with keep having to open 2 instances when there are free (and much better) options out there like FreeCommander, though I paid the one-time fee for that a while back given I had been using it for years and got a pang of the guilts about it

Hey, I wrote this neat little program for you guys called the IMAC User Notification Tool

GrizzlyCoder

Mini utilities

I have a tendency to create mini utilities to solve in-house problems (using the open-source scripting language AutoIt) and one of these was to allow the resetting of passwords and unlocking of accounts for a University admin system called Banner without having to be a fully-fledged user with admin rights to either Banner or the Oracle database it sits upon.

As far as I know, the Banner User Management Utility is still in use at a North Yorks Uni and possibly by HP in the ROI.... (and with the final acronym letter pronounced fully as "you").

Cheapskate Brits appear to love their Poundland MVNOs as UK's big four snubbed in survey again

GrizzlyCoder

Re: Reminds me of a story

Thank you for the pointer....now in the process of swithcing to 1p mobile.

I have no real complaint about GiffGaff (been with then for many years) other than the constant irritation of, even on their tariffs, never having used the full complement of what I was paying for and always being a bit leary of using data in case I went over my (pretty low) limit.

This way I only pay for what I use full stop. I know that the 'hidden rip-off' is 1p for texts but I hardly send any so this is offset by the freedom of using data worry-free. Also if it doesn't suit, I can always go back to GiffGaff with my tail between my legs...

Excellent!

Sysadmin shut down server, it went ‘Clunk!’ but the app kept running

GrizzlyCoder

Re: Reminds me of a story

"This rings a distant bell. I may have worked at the same seat-of-the-pants telco as well."

Likewise, especially if they started out by buying the "London Hydraulic Company"....

I served a short time as the trainer for the GIS system they were building to try and map the underground plant so that they didn't have to keep toting the drawings from Bracknell every time they expanded/modified the network

User stepped on mouse, complained pedal wasn’t making PC go faster

GrizzlyCoder

Re: Reminds me of a story

I have exactly the same problem having had plastic lenses fitted for cataract problems. I need 3 prescriptions: one for reading, one for computer work and one for distance (driving/TV). I tried varifocals for the reading/computer ones but had to ditch them because the bottom of my 24" monitor went out of focus if I didn't tilt my head down so I wasn't looking through the 'reading' bit at the bottom.

Fitbit picks up Pebble, throws Pebble as far as it can into the sea

GrizzlyCoder

Sony Smartwatch anyone?

The missus bought me the SW2 last Crimbo and it is excellent. I think that v4 is on the horizon but I feel no burning desire to 'upgrade' as it is still doing a sterling job of being a discreet calendar/incoming call/text notifier when I am sat in meetings (or even just in our open-plan office) and allows me to take or cancel calls depending upon their urgency. I switch it off after work and on again as I reach my desk and it lasts the 5-day working week on a single charge. I believe the v3 has a larger capacity battery so would probably last a bit longer but have no actual user-experience proof of this.

Seminal adventure game The Hobbit finally ported to the Dragon 64

GrizzlyCoder

Home 'putering

My upgrade path was ZX81 -> Dragon 32 (the BEST version of Donkey Kong around) -> Amstrad CPC464 -> IBM PC clone. As I was a TV/VCR/audio engineer at the time, I built the ZX81 from a kit and fell at the final hurdle when I couldn't get the thin plastic ribbon to slot into the on-board socket and had to pony-up the extra tenner for them to do it. Annoyingly all the rest of the stuff was bang-on and it worked perfectly.

Along the way I got a listing printed in "Amstrad Action" and a 2-page article printed about fixing cassette problems in "AMTIX!". I just got sick of reading the crap that other people used to say in the letters columns about dealing with cassette issues so decided to offer my professional (at the time) advice. Then I had to pester the life out of the editor to get paid for it (a princely sum of £30 a page).

My biggest regret was missing out on the Pi-Man adventure game challenge (on the CPC464) where you had to meet up with them at a place that was clued in the game to win something in the order of 10K, a huge amount at the time. Having mapped the rooms and seen that it was vaguely horse-shaped it did occur to me that the place might be the big white horse at Uffington but as I had a young family and lived in the NW at the time I couldn't justify the expense of trying to get there on an offchance. No prizes for guessing where the meet-up place was (and no bugger turned up so it would have all been mine!!).

Similar to everyone else, I've now been key-bashing for a living for some 32 years or so, so I guess it served a purpose in the end.

Field technicians want to grab my tool and probe my things

GrizzlyCoder

Do not speak of what thou knowest little....

As an ex-field TV engineer of the 1972-1985 vintage I can tell you that you are way off even for then. We did NOT "align electron guns", we converged the beams by twiddling potentiometers that subtly affected the waveforms of the current in the scan coils.You may remember a fold-out panel that the engineer used to do this twiddling while gazing at Carol Hershee (or, more accurately, the edges of the screen around her). This was quite a scary thing to do as it also involved setting the static convergence which shifted the RGB images as a whole so that one overlaid the other (this was what the cross was for on Carol's tic-tac-toe board -- it was dead centre of the screen) by twiddling magnetized discs around the neck of the tube whilst simultaneously holding a mirror to see Carol's 'X'. These were also attached to the scan coils which were capable of shoving some fairly high amperage current at line-scan frequency (15kHz I think) up yer jumper if you weren't careful.

Another fun job was when the EHT (about 20Kv) connection started arcing due to smoker's gunge settling around the cap. Even with the set off, the CRT acted as a very efficient capacitor that retained this charge even after a couple of 'shorting to chassis with crossed screwdriver' attempts. Because it was deep inside the set, a crack off a charged CRT usually caused you to involuntarily snatch your hand out of the set and gain several parallel laceration scars across the back of it from the soldered joints on the panels.

In the end I got sick of getting yelled at by customers who had had to spend an evening talking to their spouse instead of vegetating in front of their electronic drug and kneeling in cat-piss behind their tellies (why did cats always choose to piss in the corner where the TV was?) so I took a drop in dosh and gave back the "company car" (a big deal in the day as it was an Escort estate) to go fixing Microvitec monitors and AV equipment at a local college. Thus was the start of my back door entry into the wunnerful world of IT. So now I spend my time fixing software but still for a bunch of shouty numbnuts... plus ca change....

This is why copy'n'paste should be banned from developers' IDEs

GrizzlyCoder

I'll name that app in one...

I contracted for a company who were supporting a Higher Ed management system called 'Banner' across 14 sites and no-one had had the wherewithall to write an app that would auto-login to each site in turn and allow the management of user accounts (drop, expire, create, etc.) across all the SaaS accounts. The team lead asked me if this could be done as I had already written an app that would run a script in each account and log the results, so I hacked the baseline user account control system to facilitate this, stuck on a reasonably user-friendly front end and gave it to him. I dubbed my app the "Banner User Management Utility" and named the executable by the acronym.... not sure if it's still in use but I left it with them...

Day 2: Millions of HSBC customers still locked out of online banking

GrizzlyCoder

Perhaps they should enlist the help of First Direct whom they own and who seem to never suffer any outages

Hipsters ahoy! Top Ten BOARD games for festive family fun

GrizzlyCoder

I'd say Articulate is mostly for adults as you need a fair bit of general knowledge for the 'people' and 'places' categories. Every time we play I have to watch 'er indoors like a hawk cos if she has used her one allowed 'pass' she tends to make up her own (that she knows) rather than what's on the card (that she doesn't). A similar one is Outburst which causes lots of child-like bickering when items on the list are disallowed because the *exact* answer is not given (e.g. disallowing "pen" for "10 items found in a Bank" when the listed answer was "pen ON A CHAIN"). Both games are great fun and cause lots of laughs at some of the rubbish prompting in Articulate especially when you pit men against women.

GrizzlyCoder

A good one for people that like word games is Bananagrams.... takes seconds to learn and can be handicapped to level the playing field (I have a self-imposed 4-letter mimimun when I play 'er indoors). We take it on holiday as it beats playing cards in those timeouts in reception. It's also only about a tenner from Amazon and doesn't need a board, just a flat surface.

GrizzlyCoder

Re: Can anyone recommend a starter gamer for 9yr old?

If you can get it, try Flibbix. You build the track then play using cards so every game is different. Unfortunately you might not get it before Christmas if you are in the UK as I had to order mine from the US. I haven't managed to play it yet (no visits from grandkids/neices/nephews yet) but it has great potential! Also you can customise it to suit different ages with special 'DIY' cards and you are encouraged to vary the rules to suit (in fact you write the rules before you start as well as build the board) so if you don't like a rule you can change (or even not use) it.

'Could we please not have naked developers running around the office BEFORE 10pm?'

GrizzlyCoder

This was a fine article and very "view from the inside-ish" -- grand stuff for those of us who are ABLE to "cut the ropes" and venture out even if only on a contract basis...in return I would like to offer some info on the ROI... a REALLY pleasant place to work....great people (LOTS of multinationals -- the best haircuts I ever got were from my favourite Albanian barber!).... in general the Irish jokes are based upon factual experience! LOTS of laughs and fun, they are in the Euro-pool and cynically resigned to its effect upon the cost of living -- expect to pay the same rental on a 2-bed apartment as you would for a 4-bed semi with full CH in the north of England (but then again you can say that about the south of England). Be careful on the roads - they have NO CLUE about 'motorway etiquette' and will happily sit in their lane of choice until they want to leave. If you are going to be there any length of time and are likely to Ryanair in and out a bit make sure you try to book early -- Ryanair's prices vary wildly based upon how early you book and the Man Utd/Liverpool fixture list. If you are going to be using the internal motorways (what few there are) it's worth investing in an eflow tag to put behind your rearview mirror....my main usage was the M50 to and from Dublin airport but it simplifies your life immensely wherever you are if you go through tollgates or over tollbridges. And don't go drinking/eating in the Temple Bar area of Dublin unless you are prepared to wake up next day wondering where the hell your Euros went!

Emma Watson should 'shut up, all this abuse is her own fault'

GrizzlyCoder
Big Brother

'Private' photos? For what/whom?

I don't need 'private' photos of my wife/partner, nor she of me. If we want to see each other in a compromising situation the we can simply disrobe and do whatever in front of a mirror! The only need for such photography (especially if you class yourself as a "sill-y-eb") is for future revenge/blackmail so don't agree to it in the first place you numpties. Icon indicates status of anything posted online....

Apple iPhone 6 Plus: GORGEOUS FAT pixel density - but it's WASTED

GrizzlyCoder

Massively missed opportunity by Redmond...

I've said it before so at the risk of incurring "yawn" responses, I'll say it again.....M$ missed out massively by scrapping the "Courier" -- I would have been definitely first in the camp-out queue to get hold of one of these and it would even now run rings around the competition (it was a 'digital filofax')... to date the nearest I can get is the Sammy Note 2014 but it doesn't fold in two like the Courier....if you have no clue what I am wittering on about, google for it and watch the 2-minute or so demo video

Don't bother with Apple's 9 Sept hype-day: Someone's GONE AND BLABBED IT ALL

GrizzlyCoder

How I decide upon what mobile technology to buy:

I weigh up on its longevity and maintainability (especially limited timeframe items like the battery) as I do not upgrade 'for the sake of it'.

Does it simplify or complicate my life? Prior to the advent of smartphones, I used to carry around an electronic dictionary, a foreign phrase translator, a calculator, a personal mpg player, a map and that's just for starters, so the answer to that is a resounding 'simplify'.

DOES IT WORK WELL AS A PHONE? I.e. holds it's charge for several days if I don't use it for anything else, doesn't drop a call just because I am in a car/train, does it have loads of adverse publicity of "you aren't holding it right" just to make a call (OK I admit it, that was a bit of a low blow/easy target!) -nope.

If I decide to get a bit 'tricky' with it by dabbling with open source (which I tend not to but it's nice to have the option) is it easy to go back to a 'bare metal' install -yup.

Are there lots of alternatives that all work the same way but have differing options for their capabilities (

(such as camera resolution) - yup.

Can you easily dabble with code (using an open source IDE that can actually emulate your smartphone environment) to experiment at writing your own apps? -yup

This is why I am pro-android and anti-apple.

Apple is for techno-pseuds like Stephen Fry who have (a) more money than sense and (b) no clue as to why everyone else with any technological nous whatsoever hates them.

Video: Dyson unveils robotic tank that hoovers while you're out

GrizzlyCoder

Simplest answer: do not harbour animals in your dwelling then there won't be hairs all over the floor. THEN incorporate the 'manual chore' (hah! tell that to (for example, not the only one) native Africans beating clothes on rocks to clean them and see them laugh at your 'chores') of pushing a machine around the floor into your daily Wii-moderated exercise regime. FFS people get real -- if bits on the floor bother you that much that you need a robot to pick them up every day then stop being so sloppy in your daily life or just get used to it and sort it yourself once a week. Jeez.

GrizzlyCoder

Re: sounds neato

If my sofa is only inches above ground then I don't really care what's underneath it...I ain't gonna shift it anytime soon and what I can't see doesn't matter.

IT blokes: would you say that lewd comment to a man? Then don't say it to a woman

GrizzlyCoder

Re: This article's about the minority

Absolutely spot on....though this is not really the forum for your forthright and (by many folk considered) radical opinion

Steve Ballmer: Thanks to me, Microsoft screwed up a decade in phones

GrizzlyCoder

I've said it before and I'll say it again... they should never have canned the Courier.

This was their best chance of getting into the tablet market with an innovative product that would have out-ipadded the ipad and Ballsforbrains canned it.

I saw the 2-minute demo teaser-video and immediately knew I wanted one... and now have the nearest thing to it, the Sammy Note 10.1. But I really wanted what would have been an electronic Filofax in both form-factor and capability.

If you don't know what I am wittering on about, Google for "microsoft courier", in particular the CNET article about why and how it got canned that you can find here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20128013-75/the-inside-story-of-how-microsoft-killed-its-courier-tablet/

This would have been an apple-killer device given a seamless Windows desktop interface, and there is STILL nothing like it out there.

Zuck you! Facebook introduces 'Dislike' button... in Messenger

GrizzlyCoder

@dssf

Nice bit of misandry there..... so there are no 'undesirable women/nutters' then?

I can assure you that there are plenty and most of 'em use faecesbook

El Reg Contraption Confessional No.1: The Dragon 32 micro

GrizzlyCoder

Ah... memory fail on the assembler cartridge....it was called Demon/DASM

GrizzlyCoder

I thought that the Dragon was the best thing in town at the time.. no "dead flesh" keys for me...I learned how to poke stuff into the video on it and then write 6809 assembler with a MASSAM cartridge (which I later considered to be a RISC instruction set compared to the Z80). This was aided by my well-thumbed copy of "Inside the Dragon" that actually looked like it had been typed on a manual typewriter but surely must have been Wordprocessed.

I also remember being quite pleased at managing to get it to play intelligently on a screen-based version of a board game I owned called "Zonkers" that I created.... I was so surprised at how well my algorithm played that I had to show the cards it was 'holding' to prove it wasn't somehow 'cheating' by randomizing the cards! It seems that I got the weighting of which card to play so close to optimum that I rarely beat it...hardly A.I. I know, but I was only a hobbyist programmer working as a TV engineer at the time and I felt like I had written the Zonkers equivalent of the "Deep Thought" algorithm (which didn't yet exist, but you get the idea). Happy days, and something new learned or achieved almost every day.

In defence of defenestration: Microsoft MUST hurl Gates from the Windows

GrizzlyCoder

They should have listened to the Courier team

Am I the only one that was gagging to get hold of a MS Courier after seeing the "teaser" vid of it? It was EXACTLY what I was after in terms of a PDA -- essentially an electronic filofax.... and some dopy git murdered it in its infancy. I now have sammy tab 10.1 but it doesn't fold in the middle the way the courier was meant to do but it's all there is......hmph

Live or let dial - phones ain’t what they used to be

GrizzlyCoder

No correlation betwixt one and t'other

The order of the numbers around the dial has no connection with the direction of rotation of the dial itself....why should it?

In fact it the numbers went clockwise 0-9 then the 9 would be the nearest the endstop resulting in the fastest dialling for the emergency number. (which should have actually been 111 with the anticlockwise configuration)

Six things a text editor must do - or it's a one-way trip to the trash

GrizzlyCoder

Re: um

Sorry, can't see anything "trollish" about my post -- I couldn't find a quick and easy to use tool to do what Ms Stob gave as an example so I wrote one using AutoIt - give it a try if you think I am 'avin a larf.

I will now add a "Move" function because it couldn't do one of the 4 requirements. Seemples.

GC

GrizzlyCoder

Back on topic

As far as editors go, mine of choice is Notepad++ for the many built-in lexers and the fact that it reopens everything you had open before (important for me because I shut down each evening but it gets me back up and running that bit quicker next day)

Also the search/replace function is a masterpice

GrizzlyCoder

I couldn't find one so I wrote one

Hey all, I can see exactly where stob is coming from cos I searched for something that could "mung" her example into the output she specified and there is NOWT out there. So I wrote my own. You can find it at jollybean.co.uk under the Textreme button and it will do all bar one of what stob asked of it -- the move of field 2 to the end. If you want to see the 3 functions that almost get there look here: http://sdrv.ms/YnWb3o. So....time to add function number 9 methinks!

The moral is: you want summat doing, do it thi'sen!

GC