Posts by Martin-73

BBC points Russians to the Tor version of itself

I was with him till the (totally not) canadian truckers thing.

EU cuts off key Russian banks from SWIFT system

Unrelated to the article content

"the EU's international partners including the UK..."

THAT made me almost as sad as the war itself .

Co-inventor of Ethernet David Boggs dies aged 71

Re: 50 ohm coax

This rabbit hole is deep, i remember installing a proper connection (cut the cable and install 2x N connectors) rather than a simple vampire tap, for the head of our dept (not IT back then, it was relegated to a division of the electrical estates crew, namely me and my mentor).... then putting a 'fanout unit' on the end of the AUI connector. And the boss arguing he wanted his OWN transceiver ... lol

Re: Ethernet turned out to become the network winner

Ah i recall 10base5 (aka etherhose) being coaxial, but HEINOUSLY thick.... I am pretty sure we used N connectors (think PL259 on steroids and with a constant 50 ohm impedance) ...was there an earlier variant?

IBM cannot kill this age-discrimination lawsuit linked to CEO

Re: Guilty until proven guilty

Indeed could be..... given global events, my 'nationalism' deserved the downvotes tho

Re: Guilty until proven guilty

downvotes? because a joke was against america? really? The register is a British publication, despite the inexplicable change of domain suffix

'Hundreds of computers' in Ukraine hit with wiper malware as conflict continues

Re: "Of course you realize, this means war"

Not sure why the 2 downvotes, maybe russians*? Or maybe people don't like the truth. You're absolutely, and depressingly correct.

For the time being, that word doesn't get capitalized

Microsoft veteran demystifies Abort, Retry, Fail? DOS error

Re: because MS-DOS was "heavily inspired" by 70s CP/M

I also heard there was another reason in that windows 95/98 (and to a degree Me) were commonly known as win9x, and win9 could cause confusion (whether by the user or actual software i am not sure)

Dark-mode Task Manager unveiled by original's creator

Re: Light and dark mode but

2000's colour choice was a little better in my opinion, i seem to recall it wasn't exactly grey... there was an element of colour to the taskbar etc.

Car radios crashed by station broadcasting images with no file extension

Re: Mazda's Infotainment is a pile of garbage

There's definitely something as nasty as DRM in ford's head units from the 2008 era... the exact same model was used in the fiesta and the ford transit connect. With firmware altered. Meaning a transit connect unit will only ever allow one set of speakers to exist. If you connect a rear set, the front (door) speakers quit working. I found that out AFTER spending ages mounting speakers to the bulkhead. Gits. Utter gits.

File suffixes: Who needs them? Well, this guy did

Re: It is transparency what is going on below!

>Which browser took over PDF without asking again?

Raises hand and hops up and down... that'd be edge ...again. I've learned a new use for the term 'bleeding edge' :\

Re: file extensions

copy of copy of New Folder (3), shirley?

Fibre broadband uptake in UK lags behind OECD countries

Re: Why I'm spoiling the statistics

>3. You know it will be a bad experience switching over. It involves openreach after all.

If it actually involves openreach it will likely go ok. If they send kelly's, be terrified. Had one come to install my new VDSL line, utterly separate from the existing house line (which is in regular use by my mother and an alarm system). I caught him in the act of nicking the pair the existing house line was using!

Ceefax replica goes TITSUP* as folk pine for simpler times

Re: Watching the numbers tick by

Yes, quiz pages like bamboozle often used pages with numbers above 9, to keep the space clear, and to stop people cheating i guess? I remember having a cable box in the mid 90s with built in teletext but you COULD enter pages in the "Hex" range.. there were several test pages with graphics character set dumps, full character sets etc in the 7A0-7FF range on one channel, but i forget which now :(

Re: old VHS

IIRC the data would get corrupted not because of bandwidth limitations but the mechanics of the head switching interval and where that occurred precisely... just 'somewhere off the broadcast screen' would do.

Re: Ah yes

PText had their own website too. The editor if i recall correctly was responsible for the whole thing, using salvaged or cheap equipment. You could submit comments via the website, i think, but it was mainly done by phone, and transcribed by HOOMANS!

Not looking forward to a greyscale 2022? Then look back to the past in 64 colours

Re: To be fair on BMW

actually would be useful in ANPR equipped private car parks. Swap your plate to the managing director of the 'parking company's plates upon entry... not even illegal as it's off the public road

Re: To be fair on BMW

Yes the repainting should be reported to DVLA. My uncle called the police when a carpet he'd cut for a group of flats owned by a housing association got stolen from the hallway during lunch. All the flats were identical, so it would've fitted pretty well and been well within DIY skills to fit (some of the flats on that level had been sold under the right to own legislation and maybe the owners of said flats were sore that theirs weren't being done?). Anyway, the police couldn't do anything about that because of 'lack of evidence' but they were very interested why the white transit van he was driving was listed on their system as 'yellow'. He used to buy 'beater' vans for cheap then run them till they failed MOTs... he'd never checked the documents to see what colour it was listed as.

Re: To be fair on BMW

I have the disadvantage of being slightly colourblind, the white i used to touch up a repair on the side of my van apparently does not match the rest of the vehicle ...oops

'Can you identify your assailants?' Yes, they were pixelated! I'd know them anywhere!

sigh... i still have a replacement seal for our machine. not fitted it yet, as i rotated the seal through 90 degrees to put the small tear at the top of the door. it's been 100% effective, aside from the drain holes no longer being at the bottom so some water gets trapped there.

Seal was less than 20 quid, but ugh, it requires 2 hrs to strip the machine almost entirely to pieces to get the inner spring off and on!

No help for IT contractors on IR35 tax errors

Re: Okay

The question is, is the clusterfuck claimable as a business expense? If there was wine, maybe?

'Boombox' function sparks Tesla recall

"The styling isn't to everyone's taste"

That is the understatement of the year. The front looks kinda okay, but from the B pillar back, their styling dept must have been on holiday

Re: "The company disbanded its media relations unit in 2020"

*nods enthusiastically*

Re: The press has really gone all in on these headlines

Their cars are overhyped hot garbage, and they're ugly as sin. The Polestar is a much nicer looking marque

'At least' 6.5 exabytes lost after contamination hits Kioxia/WD 3D NAND fabs

Re: I'm getting too cynical...

Exposure to reality will do that to a person.

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

Re: Several times...

I've had a case (in my own home no less) where a 486 - that will tell you how long ago it was, kept giving me minor shocks when i moved the keyboard. Long story short, the earth/ground pin on the IEC inlet was loose, and had cracked its solder joint inside the filter assembly they used to fit, so the chassis was floating at about half mains potential (120v here in 240v land). The metal baseplate of the keyboard was connected to chassis ground. There was enough leakage through the remaining components of the filter to deliver a tingle, and that odd 'corrugated' feeling if you rubbed your finger over the metalwork.

Took me a while to find because replugging the lead would fix it, for a bit, till the solder joint moved out of contact again.

The 40-Year-Old Version: ZX81's sleek plastic case shows no sign of middle-aged spread

Re: Retro-Wreckers

We Sinclair users are by and large a welcoming bunch. The ZX spectrum 128 was awesome looking with a huge heatsink on the side :)

Brit accused of spying on 772 people via webcam CCTV software tells court he'd end his life if extradited to US

Re: No more extradition to USA

totally agree. I got moderated for my original response. But complete spurning of this treaty till the alleged killer is returned for trial is the least that we should ask

Re: It Couldn't Happen in France.

I have always admired France's dedication to its own citizens. Pity the UK doesn't follow suit

He was not in the US

Therefore he has committed NO crime there. He may have had VICTIMS in the US... but that does not mean he committed a crime in the USA. This creep of jurisdiction is, sorry for the crudity, utter bollocks. He has committed a crime in the UK, and should be punished under UK law. I am fairly sure the victims can be awarded compensation under UK law, from his own funds. He has been stupid, and a criminal, and should not get away with it. But the US is not known, globally, for being 'just' or following the rule of law. So yeah, I understand his position. screw merikkka till they start obeying the rules

Wire fraud is not a crime in the UK for example... therefore is not extraditable, ever.

Unionised BT Technology workers vote for industrial action as more compulsory job cuts hit UK telco's IT crowd

Re: Dear BT,

Tory?

Did I or did I not ask you to double-check that the socket was on? Now I've driven 15 miles, what have we found?

Re: Apocryphal story ...

having experience of the public, I am not sure if the story's apocryphal, or has actually happened so many times it's assumed to be...

Re: Ah yes, USB switches.

That's because USB plugs exist in 5 dimensions...

Building regs have now changed that, 450mm minimum height in new builds, and 1200mm height for light switches. All about accessibility.

Re: Qualified Electrician?

As an electrician I can sadly confirm that a large number in my trade are box ticking monkeys. In several electrician forums on the book of farce, we get questions that could readily be solved by reading the ladybird book of batteries bulbs and magnets!

Standard safe isolation/testing procedure. Good to see someone actually using it :)

I keep a proving unit (basically a HV inverter with built in batteries) in my toolbag along with 3 different 2 wire testers (multimeter, modern LED one, and an old Drummond filament test lamp.) The latter lamp is useful for quickly identifying a circuit, run from L to E and go down and see what RCBO has tripped...

Re: Failing switches?

BS546 roundpin plugs/sockets are still legal and available. 15A is often used in theatre wiring (having a fuse in the plug is a nightmare if a failing par can takes it out high up in the lighting rigging) and you'll often see 5 or 2 amp ones in restaurants/pubs for the 'mood lighting' table lamps, to prevent customers unplugging them to charge their mobile device.

Re: I have never had a socket switch fail

That's typically dust in the switch that causes it. The switch doesn't QUITE make, and the high resistance contact heats the moving contact. That contact is pressed on by a tiny nylon widget in the switch rocker (via a spring). The nylon widget melts slightly and sticks to the metal. Bad cases can cause the switch to completely jam (usually open). Slight cases will cause the symptoms you describe

Re: I have never had a socket switch fail

As an electrician, word of warning. Specify MK Logic plus accessories. NOT MK essentials. They're made in china to no standards whatsoever. The mighty MultyKontact (no really that was their name) have fallen :( They don't even make their own distribution boards anymore. But MK Logic plus is still ok.

The rot only started a few years back so any older MK stuff is likely to outlast all of us and the cockroaches.

Re: Local Authorities

Ah yes, back on my first ever job as an electrician, the professor of physics who couldn't figure out the new (for the 1980s) pushbutton lightswitches...

Re: Poor On-Call this week

One quite common brand of budget UK socket (LAP) has a failure mode where it will test ok with probes, and actually work fine if the plug isn't all the way in, but will cut off the current (usually on the neutral for some reason) when the plug is fully inserted. Have had a few of them lately

Another eBay exec pleads guilty after couple stalked, harassed for daring to criticize the internet tat bazaar

Re: A little too far

While I agree entirely with your evaluation of FleaBay, having been a seller, your comment isn't really related to TFA other than tangentially is it

What a Hancock-up: Excel spreadsheet blunder blamed after England under-reports 16,000 COVID-19 cases

Re: Spreadshit

I came here to see if any of the downvoters had attempted to explain what spreadsheets were for. I do admit to having ONE very particular use for one. At great tedium, I set one up to do my end of year taxes. Can't remember how I did it... but i just have to use the calculator to do month by month totals. Any more involved would be tedious. Excel is the single most user hostile application I've come across... That giant '+' instead of a cursor... WHAT?

Re: Spreadshit

Indeed, I've never understood what it is actually FOR? Nothing it does can't be done with a calculator and a word processor?

Mark Zuckerberg, 36, decides that having people on his website deny the deaths of six million Jews is a bad thing

Re: Thinks...

However, hate speech IS illegal. Hint, facebook operates in multiple countries. And clearly he was supporting hate speech prior to this announcement.

From the Department of WCGW: An app-controlled polycarbonate lock with no manual override/physical key

Soon to be renamed to gulag-dong

Re: Welcome back

Indeed, and she's just teasing... in order to spring 2021 on us...

'I don’t want to see another computer for the rest of my life'... Brit Dark Overlord cyber-extortionist thrown in an American clink for five years

It is. We have to prove stuff. The septics just need to suspect. Utterly farcical treaty.

Re: Five years - Not Enough

It's to do with America. And like Germany during the years running up to WW2, the Führer will be associated with the country, until it dies. (either him or the country)

Ancient telly borked broadband for entire Welsh village

Re: OFCOM

Maybe a couple of decades ago. These days they don't give a monkey's. People calling from easily identifiable UK companies despite the TPS list?... they don't care. BT themselves supplying 'wifi extender plugs' that can wipe out shortwave for hundreds of yards... they won't do bugger all :(