Posts by Antron Argaiv

Microsoft Windows Media Player stops serving up CD album info

Re: Fair Use Doctrine

MPAA and their DRM can f*ck right off with that crap. I bought it, I'll do what I want with it, including breaking encryption to back it up, or play it from a USB drive, or anything else I want to do.

Winamp.

It really whipped the llama's ass...

Re: CDDB

WMP is useless. From time to time, I have tried it and I cannot remember a time when it did not return a message saying it did not have the necessary codec to play whatever media I had asked it to play.

VLC is my go to for videos, and there are so many audio players, I don't have a favourite. But WMP would not be missed if it disappeared entirely. Possibly next to GameBar, it's the least used app on a Windows machine.

Boffins probe commercial AI models, find an entire Harry Potter book

Re: Law?

Rosetta Stone...

I saw it, at the British Museum. You would have missed it if you weren't looking for it. Leaned up against a wall, not specially marked. Next room over had the Elgin Marbles. Almost the way it had been discovered, I suppose. Anyhow, it made an impression on me.

Help desk read irrelevant script, so techies found and fixed their own problem

Re: DIY

Same here. In my career, I found it helpful to gain a basic understanding of fields outside of my direct responsibility. This helped me, and our support organizations. Me, because the fix, when it was possible, took a lot less time, and our support orgainzations, because, when they got a call from me, they knew I wouldn't be wasting their time.

In the late 80s, Data General switched us engineers from in-house schematic capture on DG machines, to ViewLogic on Sun workstations. Dumped on our desks, with the instructions to configure them and get them running. "Learn UNIX", they said. Luckily, we all enjoyed a challenge...and then we discovered xnetrek and Usenet! Learned just enough to be dangerous.

The "little something" to the support folks at the holidays helped a bit, as well.

FAA signs radar deals to drag US air traffic control out of the 1980s

Re: U.S. ATC Problems

...and the computers (and code) that run them, or so I've heard.

Your smart TV is watching you and nobody's stopping it

Re: "all this is old news"

I own a two year old LG. It wants me to agree to T&Cs and insists on being conneted to the net for that. I have declined. Still works on OTA (until ATSC 3.0), media server and attached streaming devices while isolated from the net.

Re: Look at the bigger picture

My ISP is not going to be selling access to *anything* on the other side of my router. That's kind of the point of the router/firewall.

Re: My next TV will be a big monitor

MY LG can listen all it wants,but it's MAC blocked from access to the Internet, so it can't tell anyone what it sees. Nor can it update its firmware. It keeps whining at me that I need to agree to its terms and conditions, and go online to do so, but it plays files from my media server and the FireStick and AppleTV attached to it just fine.

Has anyone else noticed that the WebOS is ridiculously slow to do almost anything? I can easily get ahead of it clicking buttons on the remote. And this has been the case on every WebOS TV I've encountered.

(there seems to be no "middle finger" icon, so this is the best I can do...)

Starlink to lower orbits of thousands of satellites over safety concerns

Re: strange idea

We're going to end up dodging bits of falling Starlinks in a few years, aren't we?

The Y2K bug delayed my honeymoon … by 17 years!

Re: What goes up ... must come down

Over the century change, one problem we experienced was the coffee machines stopped work, so people working through the night could not get their dose of caffeine. The boss brought in his coffee maker.

Good on the Boss. Never trust a computer-controlled coffee maker.

It's just part of the job. Government will always be, at a minimum, inefficient, and typically a bunch of self-serving wankers. Given the chance to profit from their positions, they will first carefully look around to see if anyone's watching, then give the contract to their friends in industry. It's the way of the world, unfortunately.

(Although, every now and then, you find an honest one -- see prosecuter Jack Smith in the US -- and his lack of success prosecuting The Orange Menace)

How Microsoft gave customers what they wanted: An audience with Bill Gates

Re: I think he was too busy preventing other people stealing Microsoft innovation /s

There is a prevailing suspicion that tSCOg was being "coached" in their baseless suit by a much larger company which had more to lose if Linux succeeded. There was also a suspicion that some of the costs of litigation were being underwritten by the same large company. That tSCOg was using the same firm of lawyers as said large company had used added to the suspicions.

UNIX V4 tape successfully recovered: First ever version of UNIX written in C is running again

Re: /usr

My first thought is that "dd" could stand for "disk dump" or "data dump".

But, I'm probably wrong...or as right as anyone else at this point!

Re: point of order

As Brooks said, "clearly specified interfaces" are key, set them up and then turn the various groups loose to implement their parts.

/usr

I have been told...take this for what it's worth...that "usr" stood for "Unix System Resources"

Garmin autopilot lands small aircraft without human assistance

Re: Beware of the Musky one's pet troll

Before you hate too much on VW, they restarted after the war as a make-work project by the Brit officer in charge of the Wolfburg area. He figured putting the residents to work getting the factory back up and running would keep them out of trouble and bring in some money.

My first car was a 1959 Beetle, much used and in need of repair. Sixteen yearold me learned a lot from fixing up that car, including how not to do a brake job and how to handle a sudden loss of brakes (yikes!). I still think it was an excellent example of simple, functional design.

Sadly, VW is now a much different company.

There's one at Katama on Martha's Vineyard as well. Good food, right off the bike path to South Beach.

Re: 22th december on VASAviation

Even if the pilots "recovered", there's no guarantee they're 100% functional after blacking out. Safer to let the autoland continue.

Sight of Clippy, Internet Explorer scares baby

+1 for the ASCII art

Nice to see respect for tradition.

Grandkids are here for the holidays, they brighten up the place. Hang in there, Wolftone, it gets better!

What the Linux desktop really needs to challenge Windows

Re: Not just Zoom

Yeah, that was kind of a bummer. The native Linux Teams worked just fine...I used it for about a year before they killed it in favor of the browser-based version.

Re: Happy Mint user here

Also a happy Mint user. Retired now, but have successfully used the Teams version for Linux (both native and browser-based versions) and Zoom, with the usual start-up issues, but quite reliably afterwards. I have a couple of options including a Windows 10 VM for the Windows programs that must be run, but 95% of my computer needs can be met with Linux.

Also have a VOIP PBX running on an old Dell Latitude laptop that used Debian and is very reliable. That connects the various members of our family who don't live in this house. Grandkids love being able to pick up the phone and call us. :-)

A valid point.

But, the more technical you are, the more you will be able to get out of your computer and OS. Perhaps not everyone can install and configure Linux (or Windows), but that doesn't mean they couldn't take advantage of a Linux PC if it was given to them (and I have a couple of examples of that among my family and friends)

Re: re : Chromebooks "are the path toward the desktop."

I have recently installed Debian XFCE on a Dell 3180 Chromebook. It wasn't easy, but I figured it out, and it is now a vehicle for GW-BASIC and UCBLogo running on DOSBox. Going to introduce my granddaughter to programming. Total cost: $30 for the Chromebook and another $40 for a new battery.

This was an experiment on my part to determine whether there was life after Chrome for this hardware.

Re: Mint

I disagree with your final point. If Joe or Josephine can install Windows from a CD, then they can download a live DVD and install Mint

Re: Mint

I've used several operating systems in my career, starting with CDC's COMPASS in college, DG's AOS and Sun Solaris during the early part of my career, then Windows 3.1 through Windows 11 in the latter half of my career. I've used Linux since it first showed up in the early 90s, and it has been my full-time home desktop OS for the last 20 years, first Ubuntu, and then Mint.

Linux, like every other OS, has its quirks, but I find it just as useful and more flexible and customisable than Windows. Make of that what you will. Linux driver support seems to be much improved, and in most cases, it has simply worked (I prefer Dell Latitudes, but have installed on HP ZBook and Gigabyte I7 motherboards as well).

Microsoft wants to replace its entire C and C++ codebase, perhaps by 2030

Re: “Our North Star is ‘1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.’”

Microsoft has just invented auto-enshittification!

Also: they could start by removing a lot of cruft from Windows...

North American air defense troops ready for 70th year of Santa tracking

Re: NORAD need more computing power

Nice. Sapporo JP, and it came right up. They even have Rudolph.

Happy $HOLIDAYS to all!

New boss was bad, his attitude was ugly, so the tech team pranked him good

Lesson One:

DO NOT annoy, piss off, disparage, or belittle your IT or administrative people. They are being paid [not nearly enough] to make your life easier at work, and you should remember that, and treat them with gratitude, respect, and, if you're at all clueful, a "little something extra at the holidays".

Remembering the above will make your time at the office much more bearable.

User found two reasons – both of them wrong – to dispute tech support's diagnosis

At a former employer, the owner was himself multinational and frequently travelled to several countries around the world. He wanted one cell phone that would work everywhere (multiple SIMSs was OK). This was maybe 15 years ago, when GSM was supposedly the common denominator. However, try as he might, there was always some glitch...usually involving data, calls usually went through. SMS and even worse, email, was a repeating issue as the various carriers tried to "improve" their services. He was not happy when he couldn't access his inbox.

Our poor Finance person (this was a small company) who had fixed things for him once, was designated by him to be the resolver of difficulties. Since I sat near her desk, I would listen to her calling service providers in other countries, trying to determine why his plan wasn't working the way he thought it should. As GSM interoperability between national telecoms improved, her burden lightened, but I don't think she was ever free of the albatross he hung around her neck. Our IT folks sympathised with her, did all they could, but sometimes, "the bear gets you", and it's even worse when you have to deal with multiple "bears" who speak different languages (technical and marketing)).

Techie 'forgot' to tell boss their cost-saving idea meant a day of gaming

Not quite -- I investigated it a bit and there are some tricky requirements around how the system shuts down and boots up as the car is shut off and started.

But, yes, it was thing -- DIN slot CarPC. For nav and music, gaming (yikes!) and engine data. Before the car companies put infotainment systems in and enshittified the whole thing.

BOFH: If another meeting is scheduled, someone is going to have a scheduled accident

Re: Talk about flash·backs…

Twist lock connectors at the base of the rack/cabinet.

Bus bars hanging from threaded rods through the ceiling tiles

Drum printers staring up in the morning sonding like jet engines warming up

Motor/generators in the basement (for the 400 Hz power)

"These are a few of my favourite things..."

User insisted their screen was blank, until admitting it wasn't

Re: "I found that a strange concept of 'nothing,'"

Years ago, my definitely no-technical brother declared that he wanted to see what he was missing on The Internet. So, I set him up with a Windows machine, showed him how to use it and left him to it.

About once a month, he would call and tell me "it wasn't working", so I'd run over the few miles to his house and sort out whatever Windows Update had broken.

Finally, I got fed up and told him I was going to upgrade him to Linux. Same as Windows, I told him, but a bit better. He was unsure, so I did the old "pull the hard drive" move, and saved his Windows HDD while installing a new on for Linux. Fast forward a couple of months and he's banging away on Linux like he's used it for ever...and no phone calls. I reinstalled his Windows drive so he could pull some files off it, and he's down to a "service call" maybe a couple of times a year.

I draw no conclusions from this N=1 data, but I have heard it works for others in similar situations. All I can say is that it worked for my brother.

Re: Reminds me of the time ...

As the old joke goes:

Q: How do you tell if a blonde has been using a computer?

A: There's White-Out (Tippex) on the screen.

(hey, I just report 'em)

Rocket Lab ready to send a Hungry Hippo into space

Re: You Only Live Twice

About that Bond villain...loves gold, German ancestery, plays (and cheats at) golf, surrounds himself with women...I think we have a candidate...

And the winner of the Microsoft Christmas sweater is...

Re: Playing with the future

Certainly wearing it would be a sure way to [i]prevent[/i] even the opportunity for conception?

Apply here to win a Microsoft Ugly Sweater. It's uglier than ever

Re: Start it up

Developers!

Developers!

Developers!

A bit too large for me (I'm on the borderline btw M and L, which is annoying) but I have friends who can wear it (but will they?)

We need an annual Linux holiday sweater

Hegseth needs to go to secure messaging school, report says

As is typical in this administration

1. The holder of the office is woefully inexperienced and unqualified

2. In the case of a female, nice curves, blonde hair and experience at Fox News is pretty much all that's needed

3. The rules don't apply to them (until someone rebalances the Supreme Court)

As a USAian, I hate this, and I have three more years to get through.

Sorry, folks, I didn't vote for the Orange Menace, but our election system is broken and susceptible to manipulation (since the individual states actually run 50 different versions of the election).

Vendor's secret 'fix' made critical app unusable during business hours

Re: Similar Story with FTP

Instead, the kids compromised it within an hour, and then they were all telling the people at the conference how crap it was.

Hands up anyone who did not anticipate this sentence.

Waymo chalks up another four-legged casualty on San Francisco streets

Re: Not the only automated thing to kill dogs around here

I call them "dishmop dogs". Annoying, but that's probably because the wetware only has enough memory for a simple "if it moves, bark at it and attack" program.

Re: Animals can't handle cars.

Turkey.

Flapping like its life depended on it (it did), barely cleared the front of my car.

God, they're big birds!

/ and they CAN fly...barely.

Owner is under the control of the cat, is why.

Re: The ghost of Tirebiter?

Wife had a whitetail deer bounce off the side of her car. When she got home she was picking deer fur out of the gap between panels on the driver's side.

Deer shook it off and gave her an "I meant to do that" look.

Windows 11 needs an XP SP2 moment, says ex-Microsoft engineer

Re: There's no slowing down this fecal train

Happily using Mint at home since switching from Ubuntu in protest of the "Unity" desktop.

Used Windows (and Linux) at work, with increasing frustration due to Windows and slowly converted my boss (SW guy) to Linux. IT guys all supported my use of a (technically illegal) Linux system alongside my official Windows machine, for doing the stuff Windows made difficult. I cannot say enough good things about an OS that started out as a hack and ended up being head-to-head as good (or better) than what a multibillion dollar corporation could produce. It seems to me that Windows is pretty far along the path to "corporate use only" as most individual users seem to be getting frustrated with the way it's evolving. Maybe, maybe not, but I see Linux being mentioned a lot, as a friendlier alternative for the individual user.

Re: Windows 11 is pretty bad

...because at least you know that the OS manufacturer isn't actively working to thwart your efforts...

Re: Windows 11 is pretty bad

"Hello, IT...have you tried turning it off and on again? Right, bye!"

Re: 'we stopped trying to add value'

How long, and how much money, does it take to make a workable desktop OS? I'll accept that there need to be periodic improvements, but shouldn't Windows be pretty much "finished" after 30 years?

In any case, wouldn't it by now be modular, so that improving, for example, the networkd drivers, wouldn't break the entire OS?

BOFH: Forward-facing AI brand experience meets forward-facing combustion risk management

Re: Dear Santa

Yikes! [winces]