* Posts by bombastic bob

10507 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015

'It's really hard to find maintainers...' Linus Torvalds ponders the future of Linux

bombastic bob Silver badge
Happy

Re: "COBOL programmers of the 2030s?

oh come on, show at least SOME optimism...

(This is an opportunity to revive interest in 'C' coding)

smiley face icon even if it's "forced"

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: The next generation will attempt to port the kernel to Javascript...

Saying that the next generation will want to use a "not C" language, one NOT intended by its very nature to be the language of OS kernels [think early days of UNIX and the 'B' lingo, which became 'C'], is rather CONDESCENDING in my view. It assumes that future kernel programmers won't be able to comprehend the need for a lingo that's ALREADY very close to the assembly code, and can even be hand-tweeked to generate efficient assembly, if you understand enough about how the compiler works and the way it generates code.

It would also be assuming that assembly isn't being used, assuming that garbage collection and excessive validation are allowable, and that complex operations should be "programmed inside the language" where they're almost GUARANTEED to generate less-than-optimal solutions for MOST problems that require things like threads and process control in general.

We have SEEN the results of "this kind of thinking": WINDOWS

How long does it take to open up a "File Open" dialog box these days? Then go back to Win '95 or even Win 3.1, and that less "functional" file open dialog box that DID! NOT! USE! OBJECT! ORIENTED! HELL! on EVERY! STINKING! FILE! ENTRY! popped up SO fast you're like "what?"

And that's my point: when EVERYTHING is being done using "we have fast CPUs now" as an excuse, with bureaucratic top-down "everything is an object as a member of a collection" kinds of thinking, you end up with GROSS inefficiencies that nobody knows how to fix any more... because we're NOT using a lingo like 'C' any more... one that reminds us of how the CPU actually WORKS, because it's low-level enough to be close to the machine code!!!

[and it has the decency to support "native integer" types, particularly UNSIGNED integers]

Seriously, though, give "the next generation" some credit. We, the experienced kernel programmers of the world, should MENTOR them, and turn them into proficient C coders instead!

[then they'll look back and say "why the HELL dd I ever *FEEL* (the 'F' word) that we could program a kernel in RUST ???]

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Just give it to Poettering...

...I'm sure he'll do the right thing by it

you meant that to be satire, right?

Stinker, emailer, trawler, spy: How an engineer stole top US chip designs, smuggled them to China to set up a rival fab

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Trolled?

the term 'troll' (spelled that way) is just a geeky pun [I thought everyone knew that...]

Old school gamers should remember "the troll bridge" [another pun and reference to an old kids' tale about a troll and 3 goats and a bridge]. Then 'trawl' sounds like 'troll', making it good PUN-ishment.

So multi-reference pun "for the lulz". You're welcome. Captain obvious says so.

Unfortunately for SAP, major ERP upgrade projects are the last thing customers want to think about right now

bombastic bob Silver badge
Happy

anaglyphic 3D "pause" pic on the main page

not bad. I was compelled to 'get my geek on' and wear the red/cyan glasses to view it.

It's now safe to turn off your computer shop: Microsoft to shutter its bricks-and-mortar retail locations worldwide

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Isn't it obvious......

"In which case I absolutely *DON'T* want to picture it."

Here, have some 'brain bleach'. you're welcome

Macs, iPhones, iPads to get encrypted DNS – how'd you like them Apples?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

considering how Micros~1's phone OS has been such an *EPIC* failure, the award for "late to the party" REALLY belongs to Micros~1 !!!

And when you consider that the encrypted DNS providers are probably SNOOPING on everything themselves, it's kinda pointless outside of a public wifi or "behind the filtering firewall" setting. Oh, but you get to CHOOSE who snoops on you! O...K...

Detroit cops cuffed, threw a dad misidentified by facial recognition in jail. Now the ACLU's demanding action

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: The facial recognition report has said outright there were no grounds for arresting anyone.

what was also "sub-optimal" (apparently) was the JUDGE who would have to approve an arrest via an arrest warrant, AND any bail setting in an arraignment that would leave him sitting in jail awaiting trial...

"wrongful arrest" does happen from time to time, which is why we have judges and courts to minimize it. But if the "evidence" of facial recognition is being used to BYPASS normal rules of evidence, and incarcerate people (even if it's awaiting trial), then it's GOT to STOP.

Instead, fingerprints, DNA, and "unexplained income" from the fencing of stolen property, OR the actual stolen property itself - those things would be REAL evidence. Apparently they didn't have any of those.

NOTE: a search warrant may be fine, based on facial recog, but that would just authorize them to LOOK for "the REAL evidence". Not the same as arrest+jail.

California Attorney General asks judge to force Lyft and Uber to classify drivers as employees – or else

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Lyft argues that AB5 is poorly drafted and has destroyed thousands of jobs.

(from the article)

Lyft argues that AB5 is poorly drafted and has destroyed thousands of jobs.

And, they're right. People like musicians and handymen are probably the hardest hit by this. You know, the kinds of things that people do OUTSIDE of a corporate+payroll environment, the kinds of which have been done "since civilization", from services like cleaning and gardening, to a clown at your kid's birthday party, and the accountant that fills out your tax forms. Most often these people ARE independent contractors, now apparently ILLEGAL because you didn't pay the payroll taxes, offer them insurance, paid vacations, minimum wage, and deduct various 'withholdings' from their paychecks and THEN distribute those withholdings to the multiple tax authorities, etc. etc. etc.. The 16 year old kid who babysits your offspring is an independent contractor, too. So much for earning money when you're a kid... [the list of things WRONG with AB5 is huge]

And, apparently, all of this was done to "get" Uber and Lyft. No need to ask 'why' either. 'Gummint'. It's what they do.

Sorry to drone on and on but have you heard of Ingenuity? NASA's camera-copter is ready to head off to Mars

bombastic bob Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: Eye in the Sky

"I just hope neither the US Space Force nor Elon takes over the concept."

Why not? (see icon)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Hard to test this

have you seen a photo of it? The blades are long and wide and apparently fold up nicely for the trip to Mars. I think the total rotor diameter is over 1 meter, and they would have had to construct them from super-light-weight material, maybe like model airplane wings? [yeah I used to build those when I was a kid, paper and balsa wood]

Although i would expect carbon nanotubes from NASA...

(duckduckgo search, "mars helicopter photo", lots of hits, some with people so you can get a size reference)

OpenJDK lands on Windows 10 for Arm: Not 100% there yet but enough to start tinkering

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Is Java still a thing?

Android uses Java. That's something. Last I checked, Kotlin uptake was still pretty small (TIOBE index)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: Is Java still a thing?

"now that Oracle want to start charging a per-user annual fee for the runtime."

wouldn't OpenJDK fix that? It comes with OpenJRE [in case you were not already aware] for the runtime, and it's iicensed under the GPL. There are also Linux distros using something called 'IcedTea' so that they can get pure-GPL-compatible builds of OpenJDK and OpenJRE for the package system (apparently there's some minor proprietary component for some of the java classes without IcedTea being in there).

So if Oracle wants to license their java run-time "per user" for commercial use, with their 'Oracle JDK' binaries, let them. We still have OpenJDK, it's "fork-able", and GPLd.

Windows 10 Insider wondering where Notepad has gone? Fear not, Microsoft found it down the back of Dev Channel

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Good Grief...

someone forgot to finish the 2D FLATTY ADWARE "The Store": version before the update shipped...

(the respons was SUPPOSED to be "it's in The Store" and then, like games, make everyone download the ad-ridden crippled FLUGLY version of what used to be a useful tool...)

But they were caught, and had to quickly put it back while whistling in the air like nothing happened...

Maze ransomware gang threatens to publish sensitive stolen data after US aerospace biz sensibly refuses to pay

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: An sensible response, indeed

dare them to carry out their threat

make sure the cops are involved

follow the money

eventually they'll get caught. Seeing them spend a decade or two in the iron bar hotel is worth it.

Things that make you go foom: Destruction derby as NASA and SpaceX test rocket components to failure

bombastic bob Silver badge
Boffin

Re: Hot LOX

good observation - I was going to comment on this.

in short, metals are typically embrittled as temperature goes down. So failure at low temps is typically brittle fracture, which tends to be catastrophic. Ductile failure, at higher temperatures, can cause swelling before it finally bursts, but in essence the dynamics of the test change considerably when you drop temperature down to LOX levels.

A fairer test might be liquid nitrogen to avoid explosive reactions with O2

Release the pressure: Win16 support arrives for version 3.2 of Free Pascal

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: And in the next release ...

6502 systems like Apple and C64 might just get more attention if there's a compiler that supports them. OK emulation, especially emulation with an RPi, might be the way to get these environments to work, but there's enough ancient-computing-hardware fandom out there, it might just work...

maybe simh ? xmame ?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Granny pix

I wrote my first PC-compatible program with Turbo Pascal. Went to Turbo C quickly after.

I guess I'll need to check out Free Pascal now. Haven't coded Pascal in DECADES, though... might have to re-learn it.

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses... but not your H-1B geeks, L-1 staffers nor J-1 students

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: H-1B visas [*] Silicon Valley to fill engineering departments with top intl talent

"willing to work for 35% of market prevailing wages."

I'm not 100% convinced of the 35%, but it is already pretty much well known that people brought in under H-1B (or similar) visas might be willing to accept positions at a lower wage, in exchange for being brought in under such a visa (it's like competition, right?).

Seriously, though, if the USA has an unusually high unemployment rate, for whatever reason, importing more people to do work (potentially at a lower wage) is NOT helping...

Question: which candidates are supported by Siicon Valley mega-corps, the same ones who've allegedly colluded with one another to 'not recruit one another's employees' to keep overall wages low? (I know there was an El Reg article about this a few years ago) What is THEIR standing on H-1B (and other) work visas?

Virgin Galactic inks deal with NASA to train astro-tourists looking to buy a seat to the International Space Station

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

all good news, really

think about it - multiple private companies trying to offer space-related things, which maybe in 5 years or so would be actual space craft launching with private citizens in them, to an orbital getaway.

Could it help to pay for a "hotel wing" to the ISS? Maybe. One of those inflatable add-ons perhaps. Inflatables. Heh. And a new level to achieve for the mile-high club.

All good! (think of the history of flight in general, and we're on a good path right now)

Huawei going to predict the future? Nope, say company leaders when asked about Joe Biden winning US election

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

Re: Biden hardly gets a mention here in the UK

I am not at all convinced that Bush 41 would have lost in a traditional 2-way race.

More than likely, he would not have lost. But if Sanders were to play the role of Ross Perot in 2020, he'd siphon away the already pathetic number of votes for Biden, making it even MORE laughable when Trump wins in November. Polls aside, they were 20 points off 4 years ago at this time in the race, and that was NO coincidence [many people believe that these political polls are deliberately used to drive Republican voters away from casting their votes, by depressing them or making them believe their votes won't count, so they stay home... and so the wording of the questions is carefully crafted, or the population samples are deliberately 'not representative'].

Trump is an efficiency-thinking business guy, and goes for the win in an efficient and planned way. So a clear margin in the electoral college is how you win, NOT the popular vote, and THAT will be the strategy. Again. The Trump 2020 campaign really just started 2 days ago. With the lamemainstream media against him in ALL ways possible, often deliberately stretching anything even remotely resembling truth into outright lies and falsehoods, while simultaneously leaving out ANYTHING that even REMOTELY resembles 'good news', it's a wonder that his numbers are as high as they are at the moment, except to simply say that MOST of us aren't fooled by it, not one bit. But there are a few I think that are losing hope, with the latest assault of doom, gloom, and daily pessimism. That should turn around VERY quickly (Trump's best talent, infectious optimism).

Huawei is trying to appear like they're not making any bets. But if I were them, I'd plan on 8 years of Trump, Republicans dominating elections across the USA (again), manufacturing leaving China, and more tariffs. Then again, they COULD become more open about things, particularly when it comes to the security concerns (China government snooping via any networks Huawei owns, for example), go out of their way to respect intellectual property (even for domestic products), and become the friendlier, more honest, more customer-oriented company we'd like them to be.

Sure is wild that Apple, Google app store monopolies are way worse than what Windows got up to, sniffs Microsoft prez

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I clicked on 'Accept All Cookies'.

just flush when you're done...

(If you're using chromium, "rm -rf ~/.cache/chromium/Default/*" erases all history, etc. in Linux; for firefox, you can tell it to erase all history on exit. You're on your own otherwise)

The incumbent President of the United States of America ran now-banned Facebook ads loaded with Nazi references

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I didn't know of the triangle badges in the prison camps

"Nazis _were_ socialists."

Correct (government takeover of businesses is one of the characteristics that defines socialism).

I expect that if Nazis hate socialists, they hate themselves, but they hate OTHERS MORE (like Daleks) and so "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

(there should be a Dalek icon. Cybermen are their 'rival enemies' and so I can't really use the terminator icon, now can I?)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Spoken like a true FOX news viewer

What was the inspiration of using an inverted red triangle?

because it's shaped like the down button on an elevator/lift ?

there's a lot of missing context here... and a LOT of unnecessary overreacting.

Strangely, this triangle-thing is being said about one of the most Israel-supporting U.S. presidents EVAR.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: I'm still not sure how much of this is pulling our leg

"when you go actively looking for them, you see them 'everywhere'"

Just like conspiracies.

To a hammer, everything is a nail. etc.

icon, because, nothing says "conspiracy" like black helicopters

(if it had been 666 we'd be laughing at it)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I'm still not sure how much of this is pulling our leg

Yet, 8 is perfectly symmetrical. It can be cut 4 different ways to produce perfect symmetry.

(those who do not get the reference, you're missing out on something awesome)

And don't forget how many CPUs have had 8 bit words (including microcontrollers), along with the standard 'Byte'.

I've also seen '88' used a LOT in COBOL code, in the DATA section.

It sure is a stretch to make a big deal out of 8 and 88... it's almost like you HAVE to be WANTING it to "mean something" that can THEN be used for UNDO CRITICISM.

(and pointy-down triangles are OFTEN used for elevator/lift buttons and indicator lights... "going down")

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

According to Media Matters...

Title is a short quote from the article, a 'reveal'.

That particular organization (and its funder) are well known for political bias and related activities.

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others have exposed them many times for who they are, what they do, how they operate, and so on.

big FACEPALM icon since it's *THEM*

By emptying offices, coronavirus has hastened the paperless office

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: For the last 45ish years ...

tree harvesters re-plant their forests (unless they WANT to go broke!). In some cases I believe it's require by LAW. Canada produces a LOT of lumber (/me sings the lumberjack song), and I'm pretty sure that the leftovers from the saw mills end up in paper mills, along with a lot of recycled paper. It's an efficient business, NOT like a bunch of humanoid termites swarming a forest and turning it into mud.

Seriously, it's a true *RENEWABLE* resource. We don't lose 8 billion trees. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're GAINING trees, because of re-planting and putting out forest fires, etc..

Hayfever in Haymarket, or has Windows sneezed out a BSOD?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Joke

Re: I just don't understand why this is supposed to be hilarious

OK this is the joke: a sign has an OS failure report on it instead of the usual content

(and windows is infamous for this happening too often on our personal computers)

It's a bit like The 3 Stooges, but I laugh at them, too. And if I shave my head and beard, I look like Curly. Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk Woobwoobwoobwoob...

icon for irony

Splunk to junk masters and slaves once a committee figures out replacements

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Where will this end....

And, is it unfair to call irrational numbers "irrational" ?

And if some numbers are "imaginary", are the NON-imaginary numbers being excluded? Do they LACK an imagination?

(this will never end as long as FEEL supplants COMMON SENSE)

Microsoft disbands three-ring Windows Insider circus and replaces it with 'channels'

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

what about a channel for...

what about a channel for things that don't go b0rk?

Wow, Microsoft's Windows 10 always runs Edge on startup? What could cause that? So strange, tut-tuts Microsoft

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Remember when...

now there's not only the system registry, and the user's registry, but also the task scheduler (which I've only looked at long enough to dislike it, especially when compared to something straightforward like crontab), in addition to a common startup directory and a user startup directory. All of these have the ability to start processes automatically on bootup.

So yeah. need to check all those things. Or maybe there's a background service that's running on startup for Edge now, and for some *weird* reason it spawns on the desktop...

sad icon, because this really happens [apparently]

Don't like Mondays? Neither does Microsoft 364's Outlook Exchange Online service

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Ah The Cloud

maybe it was Just a Test...

Micros~1.364 - heh - and counting

GitHub to replace master with main across its services

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: "There's no slave in git though"

I don't mind calling it 'main'. I mind why it's being changed.

There have been too many instances of this already. My overall comments and opinions remain the same, regarding activism forcing (read: bullying) the rest of to comply with ever-changing "rules".

That last part is why I do NOT like it.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Coffee/keyboard

Re: I look forward to M$ sensoring the classics...

oops, my coffee and keyboard...

(keep the PUN-ishment coming, though, I need a laugh)

Windows Server to require TPM2.0 and Secure boot by default in future release

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

not THAT hard to argue against this...

From the article: It's hard to argue against the change because Secure boot is a more-than-useful way of ensuring that servers boot into know and trusted environments..

It's not THAT hard to argue against this. LINUX. FREEDOM to put the OS of YOUR choice on the hardware YOU pay for. And NOT require us to use hardware that RESTRICTS us with "featuers" like 'secure boot'.

Now... if the requirement to BE ABLE TO DISABLE IT is included with secure boot "by default", then I won't object to it. But I'm not seeing this in the article. Shouldn't it be? Remember, it's NOT the case for ARM devices that run windows to REQUIRE the ability to disable secure boot... [that was part of the licensing thing from a decade or so ago, remember? x86 devices needed to have secure boot "disablable", but *NOT* ARM !!!]

Facebook's cool with sharing the President's nonsense on its mega-platform – but don't you dare mention 'unionize' in its Workplace app

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: A real problem

A solution to this might be simple: As part of the service, provide everyone with a relatively un-moderated "water cooler" area within the company-paid-for thing, as a standard feature.

ZFS co-creator boots 'slave' out of OpenZFS codebase, says 'casual use' of term is 'unnecessary reference to a painful experience'

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Bollocks.

after having looked at that web site I'm not seeing anything particularly compelling.

But I still like the possibility of using S&M terms like "dominant and submissive". Being cynical and snarky in the choice of terms would make up for not being able to use master/slave.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Master and Servants

"What is to stop someone getting offended by those words also?"

I propose a new internet rule: If someone says it, someone else will be offended by it.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: For those who learn only one side of the history

It's also possible likely for a politician to mindlessly align themselves with popular opinion of the time

Seems more likely (to me) than just possible.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

In my own code, I could use "bastard" for background threads, instead of "child"

A friend of mine once used 'semprini' in the code [as a function name] and I had to ask about it, having forgotten that particular Monty Python episode. I think I've used it at least twice since then.

So now you got me thinking of terms I could cynically sneak in to just about any code I write. Wouldn't be the first time. Adding subtle references to "fridge moment" jokes is a programmer's perogative, and helps deal with the tedium. Heh.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Intereasting... you started your post with: "Are you a child?"

I recognize this particular technique. It ALWAYS seems pejorative to me, and very irritating (and I can add many more adjectives to this list, but I digress). I wonder how many 'incorrect ideas' such a leading question spreads? Ah, the irony...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

"there are much more important things to worry about than semantics."

That, and the alternative of living in fear of whether you might *accidentally use* one of these "offensive" terms and then become a target for "cancellation" for the rest of your life...

I must say one thing about the ZFS mods, which were submitted as a pull request. So in this case, it was not a hunch of activists *whining* about it, attempting to use 'activist techniques' to force OTHERS to do the work, but INSTEAD it was someone who literally took the time to do the work HIMSELF, and then submitted it to the project, "all ready to go".

After IBM axed its face-recog tech, the rest of the dominoes fell like a house of cards: Amazon and now Microsoft. Checkmate

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: What about face recognition for ROBOTS?

I think you missed the point about the tech itself being useful OUTSIDE of "big brother" surveillance... and AGAIN, just because some might ABuse it [such as a "big brother" gummint], you don't abandon the ENTIRE tech because of it [and, of course, because of any kind of activism].

And, keep in mind, "those places" ALREADY do 'abuses', and nothing WE do is stopping them...

So yeah, I want to see face recog for robots, so they can recognize YOU, your friends, and those you don't want inside your house [as an example].

OOP there it is: You'd think JavaScript's used more by devs than Java... but it's not – JetBrains survey

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

to add to the credibility of the JetBrains survey, see The TIOBE Index, where Java has been _the_ most popular language for the most of the last few years, occasionally trading places with 'C' in popularity (as with the last couple o' months, it seems).

C: 17.2%

Java: 16.1%

JavaScript: 2.3%

(but if you combine C with C++, that would make the two of them together the most popular, something worth pointing out)

So now that JetBrains has results that are at least _similar_ to the long-running TIOBE index, I tend to believe them more. As opposed to "the other one".

[now I would just like to see IntelliJ made more efficient, and particularly made more useful for C and C++ dev on Windows and POSIX/X11 systems, like a 'DevStudio' might be, otherwise it's good enough for 'droid dev]

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: I just can't get away with them...

/me facepalms

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Take it with a grain of salt

"And of course a good fancy editor to put it all together."

pluma! Or I suppose, you COULD use IntelliJ... or Eclipse...

/me does a LOT with embedded web thingies on RPi and pluma is an excellent editor when you run the editor on the RPi itself, but ALSO use an X Server on a networked Linux box via the DISPLAY environment var on the RPi side. I've tried remote X11 with things like IntelliJ before, from within a Linux VM specifically, and the results weren't that impressive.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: re: The server is coded in Java.

Kotlin, yeah.

I think 'droid adopted it as a backup plan to the ongoing legal dispute between Google and Sun/Oracle. I've chatted online with people who really like it, but they admit there's a somewhat steep learning curve of a month or so before they become as competent with Kotlin/Droid as they already are with Java/Droid.

Something to consider, maybe...

(last I checked Kotlin was barely a blip on the TIOBE index, below COBOL at number 30)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

"I bet those figures would have given a completely different picture."

We should ask them. Though if the TIOBE index is any indication, it might not be the results you are looking for...

Speaker for yourself: Looks like 5 patents are table stakes as Google countersues Sonos

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Invention?

"The idea of broadcasting media to players in different rooms of a house isn't new"

You can also do this with an icecast server and feed it with your own playlist, though the music may not be entirely synchronized, depending on the players/PCs involved. [the internet radio I was given years ago lets you specify a custom station in its cloud thingy, and so I use a LAN address for the icecast server, running on FreeBSD and being fed with sometimes random, sometimes planned, songs from all of the audio CDs I've ripped to OGG format].

But yeah, NOT a new idea. Since, like, broadcast radio. And it's possible to do your own.