Posts by eionmac

While waiting for the Linux train, Bork pays a visit to Geordieland with Windows 10

Re: Need a bit of Raspberry Pi action

Not to the user. Fault is outside our control, is a considerable defence to some in front of their boss.

Lenovo certifies all desktop and mobile workstations for Linux – and will even upstream driver updates

Best not to have USB devices plugged in at start up.

This is an old problem. I find it best on some machines not to have USB devices plugged in at start up; unless I am booting from an external USB hard drive with GRUB on that external hard drive.

Ever felt down after staring at your phone late in bed? It's not just you – mice do too

999 in power cut

So, you are glad you have never had to make a 999 call during a power cut. (Land line unused)

Laughing UK health secretary launches COVID-19 Test and Trace programme with glitchy website and no phone app

Efficient T&T sytem workin in a part of UK (in Far North).

Shetland have an efficient track & trace (HUMAN facing) system working. Have had experience with a previous disease

IBM Sametime could rise again as HCL makes shortlist for India's home-grown Zoom clone

A jitsi server in India would suffice.

A local server(s) in India using Jitsi would suffice. They could improve (whiteboard?) to it and pass back to Jitsi.

Not going Huawei just yet: UK ministers reportedly rethinking pledge to kick Chinese firm out of telco networks by 2023

Any foreign souced item can be useful against the buyer. Tarrifs once Brexit is 'in force'?

I remember the problems where the UK was forced by others to abandon space rockets, UK economy and lack of investment in UK by committed UK 'cash investors' will always make UK vulnerable. Chasing 'interest rate' by UK savers from Iceland banks, who had no backing from UK (Manx registration was not an appropriate 'backstop') and general idea that UK folk and always buy cheapest without thinking stops UK investment and ability. UK wage levels in firms are not wanted by UK buyers. This problem was 'solved ' for years by tariffs , but Cornwall etc. made it big by smuggling.

Will 'effective Brexit bring 'free trade and buy cheapest' or "tariffs and buy, design and make in UK"?

Answers on a small post card please!

Notable that Switzerland maintains an arms industry even though its home market is small.

Beer rating app reveals homes and identities of spies and military bods, warns Bellingcat

Years ago , got a hotel bill for many thousands for a seven day stay in a Middle East place. With a number of uncommon forenames but a common surname, it turned out I had an identically named UK 'Official' in same hotel organising a trade conference. Umm, found we were distantly related, but four identical forenames is unusual as two of them are not English names.

A real loch mess: Navy larks sunk by a truculent torpedo

"O" ring cost to replace

One time many years ago during 'cold war', I was in Canadian office of a USA pump company when the phones went red hot. Do you have in stock two "O" rings for xx pump. Answer yes and a spare pump. OK, then go immediately to airport with them we will ring police, and airport, a plane will be awaiting you! Thus off to Arctic Lands to replace pump for oil flow to engine which drove generator which supplied a NATO (read US) RADAR installation covering 15 degrees of arc over Russia. Cost of "O ring" about 2 Cda Dollars (at inflated spare parts prices), new oil pump less than Cda $ 300. Cost of personal planes (3 of them, at different airport changes, one a biplane ice lander on sled runners) about Cda $70,000. My salary as a P Eng in charge then was about Cda$2200 for comparison.

Later I understand the small planes carrying me and "O" rings were given flight clearance and stopped commercial flights for about 2 hours. It was a 'hot line' telephone call from USA to Canada. Lesson do not store elastomers in a dry but unheated hut in Arctic at 45 to 50 degrees below!

Capture the horrors of war in razor-sharp quality with this ruggedised Samsung phone – or just lob it at enemy forces

Re: Vocab

I used the word ChaeBol in the 1970s when in English language discussions in S. Korea.

If you're appy and you know it: The Huawei P40 Pro conclusively proves that top-notch specs aren't everything

Re: reviewer uses Google extensively

Doro will suit you. Seniors Phone.

Xiaomi Mi 9 owners furious after dodgy Vodafone software patch bricked their mobes

Re: Android One

Just (6 weeks ago) replaced battery in 6 or 7 year old phone.

Re: Android One

Our second car (For SWMBO) is only 23 years old. Mine is 12 years old. I bought this to replace my 27 year old car. Mother's house is only about 220 years old still works, walls 4 foot thick stone plus rubble, cold in winter but works.

Re: To be fair

Downvote , as main brand in internet search other than Samsung.

Stop tracking me, Google: Austrian citizen files GDPR legal complaint over Android Advertising ID

Re: The clue is the name, Google

Try changing name and report. please.

Openreach boss denies BT selling stake in UK's national broadband plumber

They were forced by HMG to sell O2.

Mirror mirror on the wall, why will my mouse not work at all?

Brilliant. Our office got an (IT supplied) pre-set left handed mouse, it took ages before we worked it out.

NHS contact tracing app isn't really anonymous, is riddled with bugs, and is open to abuse. Good thing we're not in the middle of a pandemic, eh?

I thought instructions were to switch OFF Bluetooth when wearing PPE as in a hospital setting.

Re: symptoms of covid-19 compared to common cold, flu and asthma

Will the app ask if user has lost sense of smell? (while also for common cold it appears to be a useful indication when taken in conjunction with the others)

Re: Old ladies

Some of us on this site have age related macular degeneration. Why screen on laptop is set to 500% area.

Re: Masks are working

You need to compare stats going back to at least 1970, to see how infection ramped up annual deaths , not just last two or 5 years. There is a great graph showing a real pandemic of 'Spanish Flue' with a 20 to40 times death rate increase. Covers years 1900 to 2016.

Re: Iceland and genetic tracing

This has proved very useful. Their database allows a great deal of medical tracking and for inheritable diseases has been most useful. See also reports of its use for Covid-19. They hope to incorporate it into database. Database also knows all relatives over 4 to 5 generations.

Re: Why, oh why...

Concur. I spent many years travelling in Japan, Asia, PR China, R.O. China etc. Masks were your way to HELP others.

UK finds itself almost alone with centralized virus contact-tracing app that probably won't work well, asks for your location, may be illegal

Re: And what about the people ...

Likewise in East of Pond. My street has 24 houses. only two have smartphones. 'Some' of rest have text/phone only old 2G phones. (I use a 2G phone. no internet capability, no apps)

UK COVID-19 contact-tracing app data may be kept for 'research' after crisis ends, MPs told

Re: False Positives

but funerals and weddings did

Hugs, much handshaking, kissing etc. Difference between an 'audience' and a funeral reception.

Re: No chance

Staying Home. No mask, but wearing scarf and gloves on shopping "expeditions". Expeditions due to long wait in a queue.

As Brit cyber-spies drop 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', tech boss says: If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother

Re: Irrelevent

But my ginger has faded with age.

I was brought up to associate Indian word "Caste" as referring to colour of skin. Higher castes had lighter skin. Lower castes had darker skin. Skin colour is deep inside the Indian thought processes.

Meaning of higher and lower being social rankings.

Three is the magic number, unless you're Apple. That's how many million iPad shipments it was down in Q1

Re: Overpriced

Linux phone ?

HP Ink to compensate punters for bricking third-party ink cartridges

Re: It's better to get a Japanese brand printer

Oki desktop Laser black & white printers are good. I changed first one after 7 years of 400 odd pages per month years ago for a second one. Present one in on 3rd set of ink at about 45,000 pages and about 8 years old.

Guess who's back, back again. SE's back, tell a friend: 2020 reboot looks like an iPhone 8 and even shares components

Re: but how is it selling?

Concur. Two of us in this household use old DODO phones. Does what we want phone calls and texts. In house there are about 4 large 15" - 17" laptops with Windows 10 (unused) and USB hard discs with about 8 Linux distros in use (Main driver openSUSE LEAP 15,1 with a Ubuntu 18.04 as spare). Knoppix, Linux Mint, Debian etc. on smaller (< 64 GB USBs).

Forget tabs – the new war is commas versus spaces: Web heads urged by browser devs to embrace modern CSS

Re: WTF

Can humans in ordinary speech define these colours?

Can humans eyes detect these colours as discrete unique colours ?

We have enough problems with humans not agreeing on 'blue' / 'green'.

Is it of any use to humans viewing a screen?

SE's baaaack: Apple flings out iPhone SE 2020, priced at £419

Re: iphone upgrade

GBP £90 pe ryear pocket money? UMMN! No on a state pension.

Samsung calls it a day on liquid-crystal display, says quantum dot is really hot

Re: So, QLED is best ?

You have the lights *on* when watching TV? or (!).

OK brainiacs, we've got an IT cold case for you: Fatal disk errors on an Amiga 4000 with 600MB external SCSI unless the clock app is... just so

Mechanical Druidic Magic

In times long gone, We reground to 'flat' (a specific very accurate specification in microns over 5 metre length) a large 'bed plate" for a very large bed grinder (about 3m x3m square bed area), as 'grinder developed errors' about once per month. Much to and fro with manufacturers who paid for this as warranty. By co-incidence, one day I was looking at moon-earth positions relative to calendar, and suddenly realised errors always and only occurred when the moon was closest to earth. I enabled stop work on that machine when The Moon was close to earth (perigee). It worked no errors when working and of course no errors when not working! Later after investigation we found foundations for machine was a 600 odd ton concrete pillar. The moon's gravity distorted the machine when close, relative to overhead machining arm supports, which were fixed independently to factory floor outside grinder base so the many motor rotations & vibrations did not effect grinding fixtures! We called this work routine 'this machine does not work when druids walk'.

Memory is fragile, but big foundations do distort with gravity relative to surrounding shallow machine beds.

Link: the words 'Druidic Magic' took me back to that problem of my early working days as a 'gentleman apprentice'.

Australian digital-radio-for-railways Huawei project derailed by US trade sanctions against Chinese tech giant

Re: I wonder if they can do it at all

I used to write these clauses for major international deals. They are very long, and have numbers of sub clauses (in case one sub clause is struck out - the others still are valid). About 10% of written contract and longer in negotiation time is for Force Majeure; especially in common law countries; sometimes this will shift the law of contract to a convenient Civil Law country law to be sure we got it workable, even though all parties were not in that jurisdiction.

Here's what Europeans are buying amid the COVID-19 lockdown – aside from heaps of pasta and toilet paper

Re: Lost post

Try a What3Words address giving a 3mx3m address to the garden shed. (Left open for deliveries) Works for me.

That awful moment when what you thought was a number 1 turned out to be a number 2

I have an odd name and cheques are signed with it. For some purposes, especially if you want 'data' advisable in court, send a cheque and photocopy it. Send by registered post.

Computer print outs of transfers can not be / are unable to be given by bank to next of kin!

Auf wiedersehen, pet: UK Deutsche Bank contractors plan to leave rather than take 25% pay cut for IR35 – report

Re: I do wonder..m

I walked away.

OK, which Dombås stuffed Windows 10 to bursting at Swedish flatpack flinger?

Re: Horror story reminder

It is for this precise reason, no REAL instructions to way out, that I have abandoned buying at two stories in Warrington Marks& Spencer and IKEA.

No ROOF marked guide (easiest way in flat topped warehouse size stores) to fire exits and no visible way out when in aisles.

The Curse of macOS Catalina strikes again as AccountEdge stays 32-bit

Re: You're kidding right?

Why, for legal reasons, I still use telex to some customers. I send invoice 3 times, 1) Telex, 2) email, 3) hard Copy by registered mail. If unpaid I immediately start a court action for recovery, the telex date of sending /receipt is the date for action.

Lynch lied about Autonomy's accounts, rages HPE to the High Court

Re: Didn't that used to be.......

Interesting. When selling to 'foreign powers', I tabled ("gave to them") a strict list of things they understood before I would sign any contract after negotiations were complete. The list was always also inside the signed text.

First item. The buyer must act understanding the term "Caveat Emptor" [ Let the buyer beware1] applies to all texts both before and after signature.

Second item. Only the jointly signed text in British English is valid.

Meanings are as used in England below the line from Bristol to The Wash.

[For USA folk this excludes all Scots English meanings, Yorkshire idioms etc]

All other texts, translations, and / or notes or personal records are invalid.

Third item. All delivery dates or production times are an 'estimate' and not a contractual committent.

A cheery New Year tale: How the Dundee Satellite Receiving Station might rise once more

And we need a 'hangover day' after the usual Ne'er day holiday

El Reg presents: Your one-step guide on where not to store electronic mail

Re: No Limits!

Dealing with "Soviet" contracts which run for over 15 years and upwards, I printed out every email to hard copy and stored locally in case of legal and technical problems later on site.

We changed ownership, drastic reduction in hard copy storage enforced by Finance, then I asked Finance to get copy of hard copy stored to show we were not liable for a lot of money to sort a technical problem. Oh, suddenly Legal sat on Finance (who had no iron curtain experience of knew how to deal with those brought up under it) regrettably to late to safe that cash to redo what we had never contracted to do. The addendums in emails never got put into original contract documentation hard files.

You can forget about that Black Friday deal: Brit banks crap out just in time for pay day

Sometimes a real problem with Imprest Accounts (e.g. a current account kept at certain level by top up or top down from or to another larger account, think type used by army or governments to give departments purchasing payment methods ) On the bank fail day they send all pre-set payments out at 8 am but never topped up so account went into technical overdraft. Big fail for many days. Had to top up almost hourly and when no log in major troubles. Sometimes no log in for 3 to 4 hours available. Real pain!

That code that could never run? Well, guess what. Now Windows thinks it's Batman

Re: Landlines

Answering cold calls in Latin or Lallans discombobulates them. They then cut off. Once I had an erudite Asian with better Latin!

Re: Where were you 20 years ago?

Ah! King Charles street with the very old furniture .

ZTE Nubia Z20: It's £499. It's a great phone. Buy it. Or don't. We don't care

Re: I am from Gdańsk and I beg for help

Polish pronounced POLE-ish

polish pronounced PAUL-ish

Who fancies a six-core, 128GB RAM, 8TB NVMe … laptop?

Re: What does it run?

Sorry read - as a spacing character. better to use 'discount $107"

IT protip: Never try to be too helpful lest someone puts your contact details next to unruly boxen

Re: Even after he'd left...

Unlearned here. What does "PBH" mean?

Sod 3G, that can go, but don't rush to turn off 2G, UK still needs it – report

Surmise, based on old research when in experimental military establishments, (1960s) apart from nuclear arsenal being triggered, Long Wave radio transmission is also listened to by land units. Cessation of signal for time X might involve land units taking action.