Posts by TrumpSlurp the Troll

Zorin OS 16 beta claims largest built-in app library 'of any open source desktop ever'

Linux and Windows 7

A lot of scorn and down voting from people who only connect mainstream devices like printers and scanners.

Anything niche, such as a sat nav, a blood glucose monitor, bicycle computer seems to come with software and drivers for the most popular OS.

Which is still Windows.

I was a long term Linux user (and Unix before that) but I have found no need to use Linux recently and am still dragging my feet over moving to W10 from my W7 systems.

Yes, I have W10 systems and W8.1 but W7 seems to be the sweet spot for "mainly just works".

It seems that there is still a lot of religion over using Linux instead of Windows.

It still doesn't hit the spot of "does everything I need and supports every niche device I need" but Windows does.

Until all devices come with Linux support then Windows is still the default.

Saying "use a VM for Windows specific hardware" to me is complicating the issue.

If I don't need anything that only Linux provides then why complicate things?

Or fire up a Linux VM, of course. :-)

Global chip shortage probably won't let up until 2023, warns TSMC: CEO 'still expects capacity to tighten more'

Difficult investment strategy

If it takes 2 years and billions to build a new fab then you want to be sure that when it comes on line the demand still outstrips the supply.

Or be prepared to run at a massive loss until demand picks up or another supplier goes bust.

Given the eye watering 50% and above profit margins I assume the established players are keeping a wary eye out for new entrants and have a lot of scope for cost cutting which could undermine many a business case.

Customs raid rumbles black market for primary school e-learning materials in fiercely competitive Hong Kong

But why?

In the UK remote teaching is available when schools are in lockdown.

Granted that a significant number of children can't access it due to lack of PCs or tablets, plus limited Internet.

However to buy these blackmarket services you would need the IT bits.

So what is driving the market?

Lack of authorised tutors, so unlicensed ones being employed who are using copyright material?

Sounds strange.

To have one floppy failure is unlucky. To have 20 implies evil magic or a very silly user

Rubber band

My first exposure to a PC was an RML something or other.

Back before the first IBM PCs were common.

I did something you weren't supposed to (no idea what) and the 8" floppy drive stopped working.

After a certain amount of "oh shit, what now?" I took the lid off.

It turned out that the floppy drive was driven by a rubber band (much like many older record decks) which had fallen off.

Refitted it, all good.

Still a little bemused at that particular design decision.

Spy agency GCHQ told me Gmail's more secure than Microsoft 365, insists British MP as facepalming security bods tell him to zip it

Non-technical issue?

Like the non-technical people the spook knew were administering the system?

Beloved pixel pusher Paint prepares to join Notepad for updates from Microsoft Store

Microsoft account?

I may have one (or had one on a previous PC) but haven't knowingly used one in recent memory.

This doesn't seem to have stopped me doing anything.

No Paint updates?

Domage.

A floppy filled with software worth thousands of francs: Techie can't take it, customs won't keep it. What to do?

Re: The trouble with the British...

Eastern European friend asked how much it would cost if stopped in his car by the Police.

I didn't think that would work, but I've never tried it.

Allegedly one problem is when the police aren't paid a decent wage and are expected to make do with other sources of income.

CERN boffins zap antimatter with ultraviolet lasers in the hope of revealing the secret symmetry of the universe

Re: Wait a minute

I didn't know it was that kind of parti(clue).

Ice Lake, Baby: Intel's 10nm 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable server processors to arrive at last

Who the what?

Galois Field New Instructions (GFNI)

After a look around it is the mathematician, not the Gauloises cigarette.

Had me confused for a bit though.

Ofcom says no price controls on full-fibre broadband until 2031, giving BT's Openreach the kick to 'build like fury'

How long

Does it take between cabling up those fibre terminations to the local poles and offering a service?

Must be a couple of years now at least.

Partial beer print horror as Microsoft's printer bug fix, er, doesn't

Is the glass

Half full, half empty or half missing?

Running joke: That fitness gadget? It's, er, run out

Re: why? strap it to your dog?

For one horrible moment I thought that was code.

Still, mind bleach.....

Big US election coming up, security is vital and, oh look... a federal agency just got completely pwned for real

Got them all?

Given the broad ranging and sophisticated attack I do wonder if they have traced everything.

Brexit travel permits designed to avoid 7,000-lorry jams come January depend on software that won't be finished till April

World Beta?

Permanent, that is.

Trucking hell: Kid leaves dad in monster debt after buying oversized vehicle on eBay

Does anyone

Read all the emails from PayPal about recent transactions?

I know I should but I use PayPal so rarely that I sometimes assume that the email in the next couple of days relates to my known recent transaction.

We've heard some made-up stories but this is ridiculous: Microsoft Flight Simulator, Bing erect huge skyscraper out of bad data

Re: Intentional Error? Fries land?

Perhaps just an early chippie?

Physical locks are less hackable than digital locks, right? Maybe not: Boffins break in with a microphone

Random background noise?

Mechanical upgrade to generate back ground noise when the key is inserted?

While the world pushes back against COVID-19, Facebook has a pandemic of a different sort – medical misinformation

Re: TSDR and Darwin

Please note that natural selection usually relies on the selectee being removed from the gene pool before breeding or on them passing on negative characteristics to offspring.

I suspect many may be early breeders (gee, how did that happen?) so successful Darwinism regrettably mainly relies on them damaging their offspring.

Which antivaxxers at least seem to be able to do.

However Covid quack remedies and the like are more likely to harm the more "mature" individual.

Dido 'Queen of Carnage' Harding to lead UK's Institute for Health Protection because Test and Trace went so well

Key plank?

I couldn't possibly comment.

Sun welcomes vampire dating website company: Arrgh! No! It burns! It buuurrrrnsss!

Re: Inappropriate garb - Dublin

At one time I used to commute from London to Dublin every month or so to visit a supplier.

This was the time before gas canisters in ring pull cans could generate a creamy head on Guiness. The solution at that time was to have a small plastic syringe to suck up some beer and then squirt it back. Not generally available in the UK. Anyway.

Being pre EU there were duty free limits, which included IIRC 50 litres of beer. So there I was with my baggage stuffed with all the novelty beer I could reasonably carry. Not 50 litres, mind.

So I would approach customs with a trolley full of bags which rattled and clinked and I would see the customs officers almost roll their eyes before stopping me to ask "Are you aware of the duty free limits?" "50 litres for beer" was my reply. Always got an extra check over in case this was a distraction ploy.

Still ---->

Black, of course.

Made in China? Not for much longer, reckons Foxconn boss

Re: Capitalism baby

Reminds me of the UK Ford management process. Promote you until you are above your level of competence then fire you.

The UK has gone so far up the value chain that it has fallen off the top.

Next step is to start at the bottom again.

Snakes and Ladders is a useful reference.

Wi-Fi 6 isn't signed off yet, but boffins are already teasing us with specs for venerable wireless tech's next gen

Is that a hedgehog in your pocket?

Or just the latest MiMo device?

Xiaomi turns 10 and celebrates by sitting down to relax in front of its new transparent television

Re: Transparent TV

Wondering what it looks like when viewed from behind.

Also if it would effectively project a blurred mirror image of the picture on the back wall.

Or is it like a rainbow, only visible from one side?

UK.gov to propose new rules for online political campaigns after last election marred by an avalanche of fake news

Proposal

According to the article this is a proposal.

To stop or severely limit activities which gave the Tory party an 80 seat majority.

I'm sure this will get fast tracked as essential new legislation.

Geneticists throw hands in the air, change gene naming rules to finally stop Microsoft Excel eating their data

Biologists?

There's been a lot of similar commentardery with two common themes:

(1) I've spent my entire sad and geeky life buried in data. Why can't these people do what I do?

(2) Biologists should be able to deal with this.

Please remember that these people are just Lusers. They have all the aspects of the vast herd of non-biologists who drive the average IT support person to drink on a daily basis.

Your average Luser will, early on, learn to use a word processor and spread sheet at a very simple level and will then be bound by the few functions that they learned for the rest of their working life.

Trying to break them of the habit, or educate them, is a way to profound despair.

Hammer/nail. Financial people will do everything in a spreadsheet, however unsuitable this seems. Marketing people will use PowerPoint in a similar way.

Deciding to change what you can control instead of another decade or more of fighting what you can't control seems eminently sensible to me.

Just thinking about it makes me need ->

Fun fact: If you noticed a while ago Zoom's web client going AWOL for a week, it's because someone found a passcode-cracking hole

Whatever happened

To the reports that Zoom was profiling your machine and storing all sorts of information unrelated to the Zoom call?

We're not all about rockets, says NASA: Balloon tech is good enough for economical star scanning

Tourist potential?

Stratospheric cruise a lot cheaper than rockets, perhaps.

Motorola Moto G 5G Plus: It won't blow your mind, but at £300 we're struggling to find much to grumble about

Lots of Apps?

On my Galaxy S5 I have to remove Apps on a regular basis because the updates keep eating more and more space.

As far as I can tell there is no way to remove old patches and keep the App.

It has just occurred to me that if the base App is updated with the new code an uninstall followed by a reinstall might work but I am not hopefully.

So I am now being pushed towards a new phone because my old one is suffering drift accretion.

Yes, I have moved what I can to the SD card.

UK government shakes magic money tree, finds $500m to buy a stake in struggling satellite firm OneWeb

Oooh look! Over there! -> Bunnies!!

Sequence:

(1) Fuck off you Euro twats we don't need you!

(2) What do you mean we can't use the system? We designed and built most of it!

(3) Fuck you double, we'll build our own!

(4) How much?

(5) Oh shit, what do we do now? We need a distraction.

(6) Hey, this firm does satellites. Close enough. Hint that it could do navigation as well and they'll be too busy arguing about it to remember the original cock up.

And, dear reader, the rest is history.

Hey, Boeing. Don't celebrate your first post-grounding 737 Max test flight too hard. You just lost another big contract

Re: Boeing in a serious bind?

Could always give off the planes as, say McDonald Douglas, and bring in new management.

It's National Cream Tea Day and this time we end the age-old debate once and for all: How do you eat yours?

Re: The one true way...Nubile?

For my sins I once looked the word up.

It means "marriageable".

So technically gender neutral.

However it seems to have morphed into the assumption that only young and statuesque females are worth marrying. On which I couldn't possibly comment.

Beware the fresh Windows XP install: Failure awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth

Re: There's a rat in mi kitchen...

Upvoted for the welly boot suggestion.

One of our cats used to bring mice in to play with.

Let them run a bit, then trap them between fore paws.

Rinse and repeat.

Usually about 3 in the morning.

We were woken by the sound of "patter patter patter bump" repeated many times as the mouse was released and caught.

I had to wait until the mouse was frozen between the front paws and pop an inverted welly over it.

Lay it down and the mouse legged it up to the toe end.

Out into the cold dark night to shake a welly. {Not code!}

Windows 10 once more in print condition: Microsoft applies out-of-band fix to Patch Tuesday cock-up

W10 print spoolers

I have a mixed network including W7, W8.1 and W10.

Every now and then W10 seems to lose contact with the HP networked printer while W7 and W8.1 still print happily.

Restarting the printer (single action instead of tinkering with multiple PCs) seems to cure it.

This predates the latest updates so the W10 spooler may have been dodgy for some time.

The girl with the dragnet tattoo: How a TV news clip, Insta snaps, a glimpse of a tat and a T-shirt sold on Etsy led FBI to alleged cop car arsonist

Re: To all the "conservatives"

True Communism is Christianity for atheists.

NASA scientists mull sending a spacecraft on a 13-year mission to visit Neptune's 'bizarre' moon, Triton

Re: Just a flyby?

I did wonder if they could drop a small probe off into orbit for the longer term.

Only true boffins will be able to grasp Blighty's new legal definitions of the humble metre and kilogram

Re: acre feet?

I have those.

Trouble me something chronic before rain.

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

Thank you

For the sermon on the mount.

Sub-routines?

Don't.you mean hierarchically different?

As Uncle Sam flies spy drones over protest-packed cities, Homeland Security asks the public if that's a good idea

Re: Purpose of survey questions

I am occasionally cynical, and I wouldn't trust the intent behind this survey.

However the questions being asked would also be needed for a genuine survey trying to understand perceptions.

Do you know a lot about the subject and have a high degree of experience?

Do you know very little about the subject?

A valid result might be that:

(1) People who understand the uses, limitations and capabilities support the use of drones but people without this information distrust the technologies.

or

(2) People who really understand the issues are deeply uncomfortable with current and planned future uses but people who have a hobby drone think the whole thing is cool and see no problems.

So the questions themselves may be valid and could also highlight where there are real or perceived issues. Cynicism suggests it is just the start of a propaganda exercise to justify what they are doing and intend to keep on doing.

EU aviation wonks give all-electric training aeroplane the green light – but noob pilots only have 50 mins before they have to land it

Re: Reserve power?

Comparing eCar range is obviously very interesting but is it strictly comparable with keeping a plane in the air?

I assume the range calculations should be for accelerating up to cruising speed then just cruising, which is more or less motorway miles. I think.

They stopped using this figure because it didn't reflect real life driving and now calculate fuel consumption and range based on mixed driving patterns.

It may be that the comparisons are the same, or it could be that the urban part of the test favours the eCar and the range difference may be larger.

Oh, and don't mention VW!

If Daddy doesn't want me to touch the buttons, why did they make them so colourful?

Re: Press the button Max ...

Not just Basingstoke (which is very tempting) but in the same blast radius (from memory) you would also get Newbury and Reading.

In fact they are far more likely because Aldermaston is beside the river Kennet which is in a vey deep valley with very steep sides. As are Newbury and Reading.

Still, very evocative image.

Legal complaint lodged with UK data watchdog over claims coronavirus Test and Trace programme flouts GDPR

You need electronic tracking of some sort.

Noted by some above, ignored by others.

Phoning someone up and asking them to identify their contacts is more or less pointless if they have been in a shop or on public transport (just two of the many obvious cases).

Electronic recording of close(ish) contacts, such as with low power BT recording beacons, is not reliably accurate to identify close contact but it seems the best available at the moment.

Yes, mapping every cell phone into a massive central database linked to personal identity could do much the same but there may be minor privacy issues in that approach.

The BT approach at least gives a nod to maintaining anonymity.

Writing it off because of obvious edge cases is not a sensible approach, although much loved by techies. If it offers even 75% accuracy it is far better than an outsourced call centre which has all the failings detailed up stream.

Brit MP demands answers from Fujitsu about Horizon IT system after Post Office staff jailed over accounting errors

Sue

Haven't they already done that and settled?

Enriching lawyers but not fully compensating themselves.

There's always a coronavirus angle these days: Honor intros new smartphone with built-in temperature sensor

Re: I'd rather like that function on my phone

I've been grumbling on and off for years that with all the built in sensors you get on a phone there is never a thermometer.

I assume one reason is isolating the sensor so battery temperature, pocket temperature etc. don't distort the reading. Protective cover could also cause issues.

Hmmmm....BT thermometer to talk to your phone?

Contact-tracer spoofing is already happening – and it's dangerously simple to do

Re: This is not how security works

If, on the other hand, the caller sounds confused, uncertain, and then breaks down part way through and admits that they don't know what they are doing because they haven't had any training you can be reasonably sure that it is genuine,

'Beyond stupid': Linus Torvalds trashes 5.8 Linux kernel patch over opt-in Intel CPU bug mitigation

Re: git broke English

Painful to recall the times a partner has informed me that I have unpulled.

As anti-brutality protests fill streets of American cities, netizens cram police app with K-Pop, airwaves with NWA

Re: Cui bono? Not racists.

Flags all the way down.

SpaceX Crew Dragon docks at International Space Station

Return

Isn't the Crew Dragon much the same as the cargo version which has been going to and fro for a while?

Das reboot: That's the only thing to do when the screenshot, er, freezes

Re: Hilarious...

Sadly I have been guilty of trying to touch scroll printed media.

Too long on the tablet. :-(

For the price tag, this iPad Pro keyboard better damn well be Magic: It isn't... but it's not completely useless either

Re: Because ... it’ll just work : Nope

I'll see your XPS 1330 and raise you an XPS 1530.

Still in daily use with an SSD and rocking Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell.

I did a test upgrade to W10 a year or so back so I know that runs.

Unless something biodegrades there could be a good few more years in it.