* Posts by mikecoppicegreen

72 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2013

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Small ocean swirls may have an outsized effect on climate, NASA satellite shows

mikecoppicegreen
Joke

Just for once

A useful SWOT analysis!

User complained his mouse wasn’t working. But he wasn’t using a mouse

mikecoppicegreen

Re: they were "hovering" it a few mm above the surface.

Me too - I'm guessing there will be many people doing exactly this today :)

SAP says GenAI will help solve legacy migration skills shortage

mikecoppicegreen
Unhappy

Re: Curious timing

Your flight is delayed - due to a lack of lemon-scented napkins.

(obligatory Douglas Adams reference....)

Digital River runs dry, hasn't paid developers for sales since July

mikecoppicegreen

Most recently....

Bought software licences at the end of 2023..... via their Ireland subsidiary, MyCommerce.

Time to wait and see, I guess.....

LinkedIn started harvesting people's posts for training AI without asking for opt-in

mikecoppicegreen
Big Brother

Hey ho

The biggest surprise to me in all this is that LinkedIn haven't banned people from posting how to disable the scraping!

Missing Fujitsu PCs? It's back with a fresh lineup of 16 models

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Do they......

The AI will do that automatically......

Microsoft sends Windows Control Panel to tech graveyard

mikecoppicegreen

Settings has some way to go

Just search for "Baud" - some of us still have to use PCs to talk to actual other devices!

BOFH: Come on down to the dunge– erm … basement

mikecoppicegreen

And there was me expecting some dark matter....

Obviously, the packing material that all this hoardinium was originally supplied in (with due respect to Douglas Adams)

Microsoft dusts off ancient MS-DOS 4.0 code for release on GitHub

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Early Windows source code versions

Me too - definitely stepped over DOS 4 from 3.x to 5.

They call me 'Growler'. I don't like you. Let's discuss your pay cut

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Depends on your definition of growler I guess.

Similarly - I forswore the rough scrumpy in the student union bar, as the floor tiles around the pump were bleached beyond recognition.

Curious tale of broken VPNs, the Year 2038, and certs that expired 100 years ago

mikecoppicegreen

What' time is it, Eccles?

for those who like a bit of ancient cultural reference -

https://www.hexmaster.com/goonscripts/what_time_is_it.html

UK PM promises faster justice for Post Office Horizon victims

mikecoppicegreen

Re: No Justice

It appears that she has handed it back.

Former infosec COO pleads guilty to attacking hospitals to drum up business

mikecoppicegreen

I'd like to see those claims verified by the hospital he attacked!

UK throws millions at scheme to heat homes with waste energy from datacenters

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Assumptions

... If the electricity network can deliver the power.

Shock horror – and there goes the network neighborhood

mikecoppicegreen

Hall effect clamp meters for DC were available in the mid 1980s - I worked for a test and measurement distributor during 1984 & 5, and we stocked the HEME brand - british made - ones.

CompSci academic thought tech support was useless – until he needed it

mikecoppicegreen

Re: It just seems that way.

There's an old saying - if other people describe someone as an expert, there's a fair chance that that person is an expert, and if someone describes themself as an expert, there's a strong probability that they are not!

Millions of smart meters will brick it when 2G and 3G turns off

mikecoppicegreen

Re: No corruption here.

the meters do not have the 2G built in. SMETS2 meters and most SMETS1 meters have an exchangeable communications module.

Scripted shortcut caused double-click disaster of sysadmin's own making

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Is there anyone

And this is why we used to hack command.com to remove the del command - for some reason, typing erase used to give me just enough pause to (mostly) see my error before completing the command!

Beta driver turned heads in the hospital

mikecoppicegreen

for documentation, I tend to have two or three portrait windows open on a 4k landscape format monitor, with loads of other windows (email, browsers, etc) around the edge!

4k monitors have saved me forests of print over the last few tears.

'Small monthly payment' only thing that stands between X and bot chaos, says Musk

mikecoppicegreen

Updated version of the "Fletcher Memorial Home"?

Well, I left Twitter before Musk bought it, and I don't miss it at all!

(We need a Toxic Environment Icon)

Watt's the worst thing you can do to a datacenter? Failing to RTFM, electrically

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Check the power supply

Back in the analogue world, I used to supply pencil galvanometers, which had a max current of 75 mA in most cases. These were not cheap, at around 200 pounds an item.

Some expert in a stores decided to test a batch of these with an AVO 8 - which was capable of a couple of hundred mA if I remember correctly. I think they got through 100 or so before figuring out that they have made an error........

Man who nearly killed physical media returns with $60,000 vinyl turntable

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Plywood

Came here to say this!

UK's GDPR replacement could wipe out oversight of live facial recognition

mikecoppicegreen
Pirate

Re: The reward for your support

The ultimate expression of unregulated free enterprise is the stocking mask and the sawn-off shotgun.

Unplug that Anker battery pack now: House blaze sparks recall

mikecoppicegreen

Always a surprise....

when people find out that stored energy has the potential to do harm as well as good.

(by the way, not intended to offend anyone here - I'm assuming the average El Reg reader is one of the enlightened!)

Energy, by it's nature, has to be managed. the management challenges vary on the type of energy and the type of storage.

No, you cannot safely run a network operations center from a corridor

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Losing face

I'e had similar within Europe. I was tech support for a range of digital panel indicators, and these were supplied from my English employer to our french importer to a local distributor to a panel builder for a new bakery conveyor oven for a large french bakery. The RS485 comms on these panel indicators was simply not talking to their computer.

With a bag full of laptop and testgear, I arrived on site with the importer to find the bakery company, the oven manufacturer who was supplying the computer and RS485 controller, the panel builder and the local distributor all on site ready to give me a hard time.

I requested 30 minutes to set up my testgear, and the crowd went off for a coffee, and I tested the indicators, and all looked good, they all worked correctly.

When they came back from their coffee, I showed them that the indicators were all good - which was followed by a collective shrug, and the inevitable "why are they not working with our RS485 converter" I requested the manual for the converter, and it showed that they had connected everything correctly - except for two optional wires.

I said - why not connect those?

They said - we never need to.

I said let's try - and 30 seconds later all was working perfectly.

The bakery owner was furious with the oven supplier - who lost huge amounts of face by having an english guy read a french manual and add two wires that had delayed the project for several weeks. I thought our french importer was going to explode - he was trying so hard not to laugh!

Twitter engineer calls out Elon Musk for technical BS in unusual career move

mikecoppicegreen

After you've received a long stand

Rare hexagonal diamond formed by crash of dwarf planet and asteroid, scientists believe

mikecoppicegreen

if it's 58% harder than diamond. how did they slice it for electron microscope scanning?

Voyager 1 data corrupted by onboard computer that 'stopped working years ago'

mikecoppicegreen

Does fixing the hydraulic clutch on my 1970 land rover count?

You need to RTFM, but feel free to use your brain too

mikecoppicegreen

There used to be a standard for writing test procedures used in part of the armed forces, and these had to be of the detail of:

1) remove device under test from from travel case

2) plug power lead into device

3) plog power lead into test supply socket

4) switch on device

5) Connect red lead from red socket on device to red socket on test source

6) connect black lead from black socket on device to black socket on test source

7) ensure test source outlet switch set to zero

8) switch on test source

9) allow all to stabilise for 20 minutes

10) ........

It's mind bending to write, and even then stuff can go wrong!

Thank you, FAQ chatbot, but if I want your help I'll ask for it

mikecoppicegreen

Re: I am here to help. What can I do for you today?

Good reason just to buy from someone else!

What a bunch of bricks: Crooks knock hole in toyshop wall, flee with €35k Lego haul

mikecoppicegreen

Bricks to get rid of?

There's an organisation in Bradford that helps autistic people that is always grateful for Lego. https://autismbricksuk.org/donate-your-lego/

Reg scribe spends week being watched by government Bluetooth wristband, emerges to more surveillance

mikecoppicegreen

Re: What do you want from your surveillance state?

Ande then we invented mass travel

We have some sad news about Facebook. It has returned to the internet after six-hour mega outage

mikecoppicegreen

I'll just leave this here.......

http://www.dorktower.com/

Computer shuts down when foreman leaves the room: Ghost in the machine? Or an all-too-human bit of silliness?

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Power and lighting together

The short answer is to reduce fire risk. a short in a light bulb, connected to a 30 A circuit, can cause ignition long before the circuit protection operates. the same short circuit in a 5A circuit is much more likely to cause the circuit protection to operate.

The other benefit is that the lights don't go out if the appliance circuit goes over current (like when my compressor trips out the circuit in my garage, and plunges me into darkness)

mikecoppicegreen

Re: US Residential Wiring

Easy, that's what your Tesco loyalty card is for. Other cards may also work, but Tesco's is my go to card for hotel room power switches.

(yes, I know, the switch doesn't read the card, it's only a mechanical switch)

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

mikecoppicegreen

Rest in peace

Condolences to Sir Clive's family

I never met the man myself,

I had one of the kit scientific calculators - reverse polish notation, ate AAA batteries for breakfast, lunch and tea, but was a real calculator that people could make and use for tiny money.

My first programming was on a borrowed Heathkit 6502 machine (late 1970s?), but the Spectrum was the computer that really got me into programming, with the "one touch" basic, and the odd PEEK and POKE to liven things up!

Sir Clive's biggest contribution is to make a whole generation of people willing to take on computer technology - before the spectrum, computing was a niche activity, after the spectrum, computing was for the masses.

Rest in peace.

Visual Basic 6 returns: You've been a good developer all year. You have social distanced, you have helped your mom. Here's your reward

mikecoppicegreen

Visual Basic Sucks

But for a quick and dirty development, or for a tool for a skilled user, it got the job done.

OVH says burned data centre’s UPS, batteries, fuses in the hands of insurers and police

mikecoppicegreen

20,000 Volts is a substantial grid connection. 20,000 watts is nearly possible through a modern domestic connection (230V gives 87A).So, maybe a little confusion here?

Amazon coughs up $62m to shoo away claims it stole driver tips, cut pay rates without telling them

mikecoppicegreen

The ultimate expression of free enterprise

is the stocking mask and the sawn-off shotgun.*

Anti-monopolistic, anti trust, labour protection and inside trading legislation which are punitive and enforced are the tools needed to ensure that stuff like this doesn't happen. While large corporations fund politicians, though, there are limits to the likelihood of sound regulation being put in place.

*I got this from Mike Harding, the UK comedian/folk singer, but he may have got it from somewhere else!

Oh, no one knows what goes on behind locked doors... so don't leave your UPS in there

mikecoppicegreen

Re: MicroVAX II Mayflower

Ah - PAFEC. referred to when I was in college as "Pissed as F**k Electronic Computer", by some students who enjoyed their finite element analysis coursework!

There are two sides to every story, two ends to every cable

mikecoppicegreen

there is alway's the looped mains lead

I recall on one occasion going to sort out a "my PC won't power up" issue, where the user had elected to plug the 4 way adaptor back into itself.

They appeared to think that, as long as it was plugged in somewhere, all would work. Unplugging the adaptor from itself, and then plugging the adaptor into a wall socket magically fixed the problem.

We're going underground, and this time it's not an inebriated banker crapping themselves, but Transport for London

mikecoppicegreen

Re: That API is public

Beat me to it :)

mikecoppicegreen

Re: That API is public

use the realtimetrains website. already plugged in to that API.

IBM to GTS staff: Not volunteering to leave with a redundo cheque? We'll give you a helping hand

mikecoppicegreen

Re: So, Covid 19,..

Is Lotus Notes still a thing?

Serial killer spotted on the night train from Newcastle

mikecoppicegreen

Re: It is perfectly adequate technology for this

Address would also imply to me that it is RS-485. In which case, no CTS, etc. just the X-on/x-off

The time PC Tools spared an aerospace techie the blushes

mikecoppicegreen

I seem to recall "editing" command.com to disable del as a command., forcing use of erase. Somehow, typing the 5 character command rather than the 3 character command would give me just enough pause to dramatically the occurrences of erroneous delete, and reduced the workload on my pctools disk dramatically

It's a billion-ton, 14-million-mile long mysterious alien formation – and Earth is heading right into it

mikecoppicegreen

Re: Pure genius

Upvote from me for Arthur c Clarke. Also the author of my favourite riposte to people who want to “future proof” things. “The future is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

Bose customers beg for firmware ceasefire after headphones fall victim to another crap update

mikecoppicegreen

Re: thank god.....

I’m well into my 50s and my gearing is fine. The general problem with such stereotomy is that It requires a little concentration to appreciate.

Heads up from Internet of S*!# land: Best Buy's Insignia 'smart' home gear will become very dumb this Wednesday

mikecoppicegreen

Re: This is inevitable

Buy a monitor with hdmi and a cheap august400 box. Works fine.

Defense against the Darknet, or how to accessorize to defeat video surveillance

mikecoppicegreen

Re: new fashion statement

... or berlin brigade camouflage.

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