Re: So much to do
> bring it back to a usable state is massive
Define usable. I have many use cases that riscos on Rpi's serve.
Posts by DuncanLarge
1007 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Apr 2017
RISC OS: 35-year-old original Arm operating system is alive and well
Record players make comeback with Ikea, others pitching tricked-out turntables
Wednesday 15th June 2022 15:49 GMT 
Re: That vinyl sound
> When you digitise, you lose information, based upon the sample rate.
Well to be exact, the sample rate dictates the band limit you can capture. In the case of 44,100Hz that is everything from nothing up to 22,050Hz.
Within that bandwidth, everything is fully reproducible. You lose nothing, no waveform of any kind.
Anything that IS lost, is above 22,050Hz, and is unwanted and would have very likely been filtered out anyway so as to no ADD distortion, which is known as aliasing, because there is a chance that one of your sample points will fall onto part of a waveform above 22,050Hz, but as it is beyond your band linit, you only have part of that waveform, thus trying to reproduce it adds aliasing.
Thus you filter it out. Well actually, we dont...
What we do is record at a HIGHER sample rate that what is needed. Thus we can capture the junk above 22,050Hz with NO NEED to filter any of that out at all. We edit at this higher sample rate also, any noise and junk we add due to that editing again, gets pushed beyond 22,050, like sweeping crap under the carpet. Sampling high really does make that capturing and editing process so easier to deal with the noise. Then when we are ready, we downsample to 44,100Hz.
This literally sends the crap above 22,050Hz into the void. Giving us a nice small file (our master is at 192kHz and is much bigger) and perfect reproduction of ANY WAVEFORM that existed at the time of recording, but not higher than 22,050Hz. Nothing is lost apart from what we dont want, and cant even hear. Nothing.
In fact, we do it when playing back too.
CD players, when they say 6x Oversampling, well that isnt just a "wank feature" but a very good way of playing back the waveform. The 44,100Hz samples are upsampled to 6x 44,100, resulting in a sample rate of 264.6kHz.
Now, sure there is nothing in there. Above 22,050, there is nothing, because we already dumped that crap, but the CD player now can deal with the noise that it adds during conversion. The D-A converter and filtering stages can now be designed to filter out any noise added by the CD player itself using much simpler and gentler filters.
An old CD player that does not oversample will have a harder filter at 22,050Hz which is harder to make and more expensive.
So: Nothing at all is lost that we want. Nothing. Everything that is lost, was not wanted in the first place.
> Can you prove information isn't lost?
Yes, we can. In fact you can see it on youtube. You can do it yourself. In a band limited signal, nothing is lost when converting to digital samples and back again. Nothing. Each sample is like a dot in a connect the dots picture, the dots make the picture, they can only make that picture. The only solution, is the exact original signal that was recorded.
"Perfect audio forever" is not just a tagline. This technology nailed digital audio in the 19 bloody 80's. No matter how may audiofools want to think otherwise.
GPL legal battle: Vizio told by judge it will have to answer breach-of-contract claims
Wednesday 18th May 2022 16:55 GMT
Re: There Oughta Be a Law
> That's pretty much digital now. So you'll need software to decode it and convert it to a format usable to run the physical display
Still doesn't need to communicate over a network (over the internet I'm saying), nor does much of the work need to be done by software, it can be done by ASICS.
This is how my older than 2012 sony freeview recorder does it. Yes it has an EPG etc and software to burn discs but much of the work especially with decoding is done by dedicated decoder chips. The OS basically just responds to the remote.
My TV however, slow and outdated it may be (so slow and old that iplayer and netflix are not even worth starting on it anymore) it still connects to the wifi and still pulls down adverts and still uploads strange things.
Wednesday 18th May 2022 16:48 GMT
True, but the most important thing that has happened here, ignoring the fact that it may come to nothing as GPL2 does nothing against tivoisation, is that this case proves that the GPL is more than just a copyright license that "gets it wrong" as Vizio suggested, but also that its is a contract.
Thus from now on, GPL defense will be easier as both copyright and contract law apply. Vizio were trying to wiggle out of compliance by saying that the GPL is a copyright license, which means it (as they claimed) was invalid as it added extra restrictions and conditions. But now, the fact that this is the contract side is set as a precedent.
Thus Vizio may not be breaking copyright law, but they are breaking the terms of contract set out i the GPL.
Thus even if this doesn't amount to much with the TV, the GPL suddenly got a bigger pair of balls.
Cars in driver-assist mode hit a third of cyclists, all oncoming cars in tests
Wednesday 18th May 2022 16:28 GMT
Re: Try Scooters in Madrid
> "I pay my taxes too, mate", and toddle along at 15MPH
I agree but, they dont pay road tax.
Also "toddle" along is subjective, depending on your point of reference. IN a car you are faced with a toddling speed, but yet if you are another cyclist or a pedestrian then the many cyclists doing 15MPH are a menace for the opposite reason.
Wednesday 18th May 2022 16:26 GMT
Re: Try Scooters in Madrid
> This is the mess we’re in, we have compressed our lives’ timelines so much that we require cars to function properly
Yes, but it has been like this for over a hundred years now considering that cars have been about for ages and you have the trains too that have been about way longer.
If everyone switched to bikes, well there wouldn't be enough room anyway, but lets say they all did. Well that would be like having to "go back to the good ol' days" a hundred years or so ago when everyone used horse and cart or simply walked.
I agree with your point but I think it's damn near impossible to roll back the clock so far and silly to think this is anything new.
Perhaps it is more useful to think about reducing the distance needed to travel to work more than extending the time needed to travel there.
Debian faces firmware furore from FOSS freedom fighters
Thursday 28th April 2022 16:29 GMT
Re: What do you mean nobody reads the source?
>> -> I read the source. OK, not all of it,
< = You do not read the source.
How did you navigate that weird logic. Even if the poster read only 1 function or whatever, then that is reading the source. How can the poster, read the source of just 1 function, without reading the source?
Explain...
Thursday 28th April 2022 16:26 GMT
Re: ROM
> I would contend that there is almost no ROM in your computer
EEPROM Is a type of ROM
Flash is a type of ROM.
We are not only considering mask ROM here, they are all ROM. Well, ok flash is much more writable than you would expect ROM to be so it may fall into your argument, but not EEPROM
Wednesday 27th April 2022 11:39 GMT
Re: Fighting the wrong people in the wrong place
> If it means I have a working computer, so what? Some people just don't get it. It's more important to me to have a functioning computer than an earful of pedantry about firmware which I will NEVER look at.
Ah, so you are the type who would sign away anything if it is convenient for you.
Wednesday 27th April 2022 11:27 GMT
Re: Fighting the wrong people in the wrong place
> but you can't argue that Nintendo haven't added value doing that
Yes you can.
It is in the eye of the beholder.
DO your kids NEED that switch or is it YOU need them to have that switch?
Do I need a switch (yes, I have one). I don't need it. I need a front door, yes, but I don't need a switch. It merely fulfills a role which many things can do instead of the switch.
So it can be argued whether Nintendo added value or not, because that value is entirely arbitrary. You can get the same value from any computer. If you only look at it as a form of entertainment, you could replace the switch with anything from a board game to a cardbaord box.
Kids existed and played just fine before the switch. My C64 was perfectly fine, before that my books and a football worked fine.
Wednesday 27th April 2022 11:26 GMT
Re: Fighting the wrong people in the wrong place
> GPL is a horrible licence. Pick the BSD licence instead
What is your problem with copyleft?
I have yet to hear anything that is convincing and not just about being the most free.
Society is full of freedom, plus rules that curb that freedom in certain circumstances. Those rules are there to cover exceptions. For example. I'm free to walk anywhere I like, but private property laws still exist, I can still be done for tresspass. In some countries you can own a gun, but you can not do certain things with it. Ok, a gun is an extreme example but it still is one, I don't have to shoot it but I'm still going to be in a worse off position if I were to wave an unloaded gun about during an argument.
Lets have another example, I have the freedom to own as many telescopes, binoculars and cameras as I like. I can take all sorts of photos ranging from the stars and moon, to the birds in the tree to people out on public property. But, I cant freely use such things to take covert photos of certain sensitive things like military bases. Nor can I take photos of someone on private property without the permission of the property owner. In fact if I do take a photo of someone on public property, which in most cases I would be free do do so, I still don't have the freedom to use such a photo commercially without a model release form (where the person can be identified). In fact France are even more strict, not allowing any public photography of anyone without permission.
So.
Why should a developer be free to remove freedom from users?
Wednesday 27th April 2022 10:26 GMT
You could suggest that firmware could be loaded into the devices via the UEFI.
Originally the BIOS would bring everything up and hand over to the BIOS' on cards etc. Well I don't see why we can not leverage the UEFI somehow to load the latest firmware into such devices, thus helping being those devices up and ready for the OS, which then can be allowed to ignore the firmware issue.
BUT this wont be the case with USB devices. I would imagine the OS having to load in that firmware, makes sense as they are removable. I'm speaking about the firmware for devices that are non-removable, such as the wifi or SATA cards/chips. Not something a user will pull out every day.
Doesn't solve all the issues
First rocket launch from UK soil now has... a logo
Epoch-alypse now: BBC iPlayer flaunts 2038 cutoff date, gives infrastructure game away
Friday 18th March 2022 12:23 GMT
Re: (not sure why they are broadcasting both series at the same time!)
> Indeed, I re-read the Verne original very recently -- in fact, just after thinking "I don't remember any of that" during Tennant Ep.1).
Pretty typical for adaptions of the book.
As a kid I remember learning of the existence of the story by watching an annoying cartoon of it with a Lion playing Fogg
Friday 18th March 2022 12:11 GMT
Re: A fix for this
> Or paying a subscription to watch streaming services without adverts
That's not always true. Paying a subscription does not stop you from being forced to watch the adverts.
Example: Babylon 5 on Amazon Prime. Adverts automatically inserted at the most annoying moments. Broadcast TV at least makes it clear where they go and when they are coming but on Amazon Prime you are there watching the action unfold as the Vorlons finally attack the Shadows and boom 3 adverts. The SAME 3 adverts you see, over and over and over.
Unskippble, even if you have ALREADY watched them because you got distracted and had to wind backwards to re-watch that action.
Microsoft veteran demystifies Abort, Retry, Fail? DOS error
Monday 14th February 2022 16:14 GMT
Or when you are like me and install DOS 6.22 in Qemu one sunday morning for fun. Then fiddle with freeing up as much conventional memory as possible to let you run a game that you just pkunzipped from a shareware CD-ROM image that you have, only to find that you now know why turbo buttons were invented and why you should have uses DOSBox in the first place.
Russian 'Minecraft bomb plot' teen jailed for five years
Feeling virtuous with a good old paperback? Well, don't. Switching to traditional media does not improve mood
Final PCIe 6.0 specs unleashed: 64 GTps link speed incoming... with products to follow in 2023
Insurance giant Lloyd's hires DXC to migrate org off legacy mainframes to AWS cloud
Canon: Chip supplies are so bad that our ink cartridges will look as though they're fakes
Another Debian dust-up with Firefox dependencies – but there is an annoying and awkward workaround
Monday 13th December 2021 16:14 GMT
Re: Install Firefox directly from mozilla.org
> Because Mozilla does not publish distro packages, just tarballs
yes, which is the simplest and easiest way to install Firefox.
It self updates, can be installed in your home directory or system wide in /opt.
Why is that harder than flapping about with flatpack??
Go on give it a go. Go to Mozilla.org, get the latest ESR firefox, download, untar with your fave archive app and run it.
> It is harder to do and requires strong tech knowledge
WHAT? Its a case of RIGHT CLICKING AND SELECTING EXTRACT!
Have you ever opened a zip file? How is this hard?????????
> It will not receive updates
Mine just updated all by itself. My god it must be self aware or something.
> It does not interact well with the rest of the OS
BS. First of all you haven't even run the download, how can you? You cant even extract an archive. The only issue I had with it was getting the spellchecking working and that was because FF ESR 91.x has a bug in that you cant install the UK dictionary easily without also having the US english language pack installed, weird but there it is.
None of your points make any sense. Although I have a degree in computer science I was able to upgrade to FF 91.x ESR by doing what I was able to do as a kid with windows 95 and winzip. I didn't need any hyper IT skillz to do it.
Your response here calls into question everything regarding your article. Basically you dont know what you are talking about.
Cant extract a zip. Next up: Clicking an icon is too technical
Monday 13th December 2021 16:03 GMT
What is all the fuss
What is all this nonsense about Flatpack and GNOME etc?
Just go and download the Firefox ESR tarball of Mozilla.org (click the big download button) and extract it.
Extract it into your $home or for the whole system on /opt.
Point your shortcuts/icons whatever to use that version.
Run it.
Works fine on Debian 10.
Updates itself!
If you install into /opt then as Firefox runs as non-root it will tell you there is an update it cant install, thus run it as root and it updates.
Its just a tarball, the simplest installation method ever. Everything works out of the box.
Shocking: UK electricity tariffs are among world's most expensive
Prisons transcribe private phone calls with inmates using speech-to-text AI
Monday 6th December 2021 17:17 GMT
Re: Difference?
> A bunch of my rights were taken away by a referendum I wasn't even eligible to participate in.
I think I know what you are referring to, but from the other side:
Funny that, when I was 13 a bunch of my rights were also taken away from me in 1993 when we signed an agreement that we were never going to get a referendum on, I also had no chance even if we did because I was 13 and not old enough to vote for my future.
Luckily however I finally got my chance to fix that injustice a few years ago...
When the world ends, all that will be left are cockroaches and new Rowhammer attacks: RAM defenses broken again
Tuesday 30th November 2021 16:29 GMT
Re: @msobkow
> And the chance of someone doing damage and/or getting restricted info using a Rowhammer attack on the PC on reception is probably very low.
Where did you hear that guff?
Ahem, look up RSA.
Reception computers should be considered in a DMZ!
> No. The real place for ECC memory is in server systems
What??
If your employees are doing nothing but use the IT equipment to play candycrush, sure. But I bet they are doing many critical things, involving secure keys, certificate validation, file share access, oh and how about a bit of bitlocker and the good old LOGIN SCREEN.
You know that ADMIN accounts tend to be used to make changes to user machines, adding hardware etc. Guess where all that validation happens. Hint, its not in the keyboard.
If you cant see just how critical the memory contents in an endpoint is these days then you clearly have no idea how a computer works. Things have moved on since the C64 mate.
EVERYTHING should have ECC ram, its literally just a few extra bits on a word! Tablets, phones, laptops. It wont stop all attacks, it cant handle too many bit flips, but it will stop the vast majority of attacks as they will go for the weak targets.
> No. The real place for ECC memory is in server systems
I post that again as I want to ask.
What systems talk to your servers?
What systems send and pull data from your servers?
Laptops perhaps?
QED
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Impressively average, which is how corporate buyers like it
Thursday 25th November 2021 13:24 GMT
Re: 8 GB RAM
Totally agree. Our Dells have 8GB and the way finance use them, buy opening every f*cking speadsheet that exists on the shares and never saving anything, let alone understanding the concept of closing something, the poor machines run all day with ram use above 90%.
Then we get the "my laptop locked up, all my unsaved spreadsheets, are they gone now?" or the "Hello IT, everything is slow". Or my fave (when in a masochistic mood) is "My Excel just closed. Its installing an update that I have been avoiding for the last 2 weeks. IT can you recover my unsaved spreadsheets?"
Thursday 25th November 2021 13:19 GMT
Re: Eeewww
Try not to sneeze on your macbook. They cant handle any increase in dampness, heck they even detect the stuff to inform Apple of your "accident" when you take it in for repair which wont be too long from now I bet.
Apple standard repair cost is to give you a slight discount on a new model as they cant repair thing that they are not legally forced to.
Thursday 25th November 2021 13:13 GMT
Re: old faithful
> My employer decided Dell XPS were the hit.
We went down that route, well partially. When they started failing and dropping like flies we held off and went for better cheaper models.
We still have them. The users like them till they try and plug anything into them and they realise they need adapters and docks just to use the HDMI cable in the meeting room. Usually that ends up with use being called down to rummage through our junk piles to find an adapter that we have not loaned out yet, that is to say we still possess it as they never come back.
After many BIOS updates they seem to run ok, till the MB dies and Dell cancel your replacement request as due to the chip shortage there will not be any dell XPS parts in the UK for the next half a year (Dell's estimation).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
