Posts by that one in the corner 5065 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Nov 2021
Nope.
There is an unfortunate lack these days, but a compiler ought (and in days of yore, most certainly did) contain wording in the licence that states the output retains whatever licencing was applicable to the input source. Although, by now, there may be a case for arguing that "it is accepted that the output of a compiler..." [1]
But even then, just because you've compiled some source doesn't mean you have carte blanche over the result - you try freely handing out a newly compiled exe you just made from some proprietary sources you happen to have. Or statically linking your company's code to an library under the (standard) LGPL.
Just because you've passed all the licenced code through an ML meat grinder doesn't mean the all those licences get stripped away, especially if the grinder is spitting out whole organs untouched, except for squeezing out the blood (aka attributions).
[1] However, I'm willing to bet that there are still compilers whose sellers try to impose more restrictions, such as "you can not give this compiled G-code to anyone else to run on their CNC-whatever, they've got to buy the compiler from us as well".
That is a reasonable approach to GPL code - assuming by "looking" you meant "reading" with a side order of "hard enough to understand it". After all, that is the reasoning behind the old BIOS creation efforts putting up Chinese Walls between documenters and coders, for example.
BUT be warned that you must also take that approach to any code that has an attribution clause in its licence (just in case you accidentally copy it and forget to include attribution) and definitely never sneak a peek at any third-party proprietary code you may have access to (e.g. you have a legit licence to use).
In other words, don't just use that as a way to denigrate GPL - if you need to take those precautions then do so properly and be wary of other licenced material as well.
(OTOH, that was a pretty good assessment of SO!)
Are you sure you understand what "public domain" means?
If you put anything into PD then you are explicitly telling everyone that they "can just use it as-is without understanding how it works."
There is no such thing as "theft of something in the public domain" pretty much by definition.
If all the material that Copilot had been trained on was public domain then there wouldn't be any issues with it (well, States where PD doesn't exist may be in a state of confusion over it, but in practical terms no-one would be trying to sue Github over it).
Throwing USB cables into your wastebin because you can't think of anything better to do with them - ok, that is e-waste.
Putting the same cable into my Useful Box is now hoarding and *also* e-waste, because what, I won't get around to using that cable for anything else for, oh, 6 months? 12 months? 24 months? Spotted one that was some 5 years old last week - because I'd used up all the newer ones that had landed on top. Maybe its time will come soon, maybe not so soon.
Yes, I have some Android 'phones (two, IIRC) that haven't been switched on for about 3 years now. Is this hoarding? Well, haven't been out of the UK in all that time, so no need for a "don't really care about it" 'phone each. Better to hold onto them or is that Bad Hoarding? When the batteries die, fine, no use keeping them around. Meanwhile, there are weird ideas floating around (glue one behind a mirror for a Halloween trick?) - in all honesty, good chance I won't get around to that, but if enthusiasm strikes better to be able to reuse than to go out and get something new (even if just second hand and "new to me").
Recycling valuable materials is definitely a Good Thing, but they are just going to have to wait until I pop my clogs (and everyone left around has picked over the piles), at which point the "hoarded" stuff will go into the proper WEEE streams.
Small correction:
"NeoPixel" (WS2812 or similar LEDs; "NeoPixel" is a monicker that Adafruit use) aren't I2C addressable, but are certainly easy to drive with any of the microcontrollers (using the FastLED library, for example). They are timing-sensitive so are a pain to drive directly from anything running a normal OS: you can use a Raspberry Pi Pico with ease, a full-fat Rapberry Pi is more troublesome.
SK9822/APA102 or similar LEDs (which Adafruit like to call "DotStar") are controlled using a similar-to-SPI connection (SPI, not I2C). These can also be driven by microcontrollers (and FastLED), of course, *but* unlike the NeoPixels they have separate clock and data liners and aren't fussy about the timing of the data signals.
Which means that you can control DotStar LEDs using the parallel port out the back of your PC and a program running under DOS. Or use the WinIo library under Windows. Linux/BSD/etc can probably just talk directly to something under /dev/.
Let the blinkies begin!
Bradford reckons that everyone will be using BitCoin in the Metaverse, when the fateful day in 2140 rolls around.
At which point, with the last coin mined, there is no longer any incentive to continue mining and the entire BTC blockchain simply - stops. Panic envelops the Metaverse, dog avatars living with cat avatars. One brave hero pulls off his visor and ventures out to investigate, daring himself to leave the room he has lived in for so long. There is a dramatic twist when he is confused by the sounds echoing through the Marabar Caves.
I agree with what you are saying, but there is clearly some disagreement on terminology, which really doesn't help :-(
According to Tom's Hardware about the device, where they report on a briefing given by MS:
"Unlike VR headsets, which produce visuals via OLED displays that are situated right in front of your eyes that you view through glass lenses, HoloLens is a passthrough device. That is, you see the real world through the device’s clear lenses, and images (holograms) are projected out in front of you, up to several meters away."
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-hololens-components-hpu-28nm,32546.html
FWIW my understanding of the phrase matches yours, not Tom's/MS's - e.g., "the system could fill that bit of the display with an unaugmented pass through from the camera".
Weird - I keep seeing people who don't need to wear corrective lenses wearing glasses every Summer. Even people who have contact lenses have been spotted wearing sunglasses. I'm informed that some even wear them indoors just to look cool!
It is almost as if people are happy to wear something that hooks over their ears to hold things over their eyes just as soon as doing so provides a benefit to them.
But there are also probably people with a crippling fear of specs who will try to divert attention from their own limitations by claiming to speak for *everyone* who is already lucky enough not to need a prescription.
Other facehuggers than Geiger's finest are available, which may reflect the intent more accurately (it can upset your customers to have the support rep burst halfway through the help desk consultation: that does not reflect Company Values, although it does make the rep feel better than having to dealing with that bunch of morons one more day). Those other huggers tend more towards mind control, creating a (literally) single-minded army bent upon World Domination (ref. CEO's Vision, para 3).
Such alternatives include Starro or my favourite, the huge one-eyed leaves that the Zero-X crew encountered back in the 60's: the botanist kneels down to look at the plant, the leaf unfolds and schwup! Hmm, wonder if Geiger or Scott ever read that story...
Also common design for things like old style hi-fi boxes, tape recorders etc: anything large, heavy and/or stackable where the mains came in the rear but the on/off was more conveniently placed on the front. Made life more exciting as the front switches were often just the same as the other function switches, so they all looked neat to the user, but when opened one set of tabs out the back of a line of switches had mains, the rest were quite safe.
Oh, and the generic switch design was double throw, so when the amp was off the unconnected tags were live.
Some designs were too cheap to run the wire rear to front to rear again so the front push was just a dummy stuck to a wooden (later plastic) dowel. Cheap 'cos they rattled but nice as they were safer!
"Webbie" : I tried to find a word that could be applied at whatever level in the org was appropriate, rather than just dumping it all on "web devs". Anyone who sticks their oar into the process, be that Marketing supremos or, and we know it does happen, sadly, an actual " dev" who just copy'n'pastes, trackers and all.
I'm open to suggestions for a better noun to use and apologies to the good guys who try to fight this stuff if they feel I've maligned them.
Aside from the obvious, for a techie crowd (cut the ends off and use for wiring elsewhere - for PCB work there are some really fine wires in the cheap leads):
- some are just the right size for LEGO figs to grip, Indibrick Jones style
- posh braided cables have been made into bracelets (purple works well)
- thin leads can be braided and used as handles for shopping bags woven from old plastics
If imagination runs out, just use one to tie the rest in a tidy bundle until a wild idea strikes.
Ah memories - working out just which combination of adapter plugs and gender-benders would connect two devices together (not forgetting a 25-way patch panel adapter in the middle) and then trying to get the resulting solid 18 inch (maybe boasting a bit here) long block to stay in the back of the box without tearing the socket out with the weight.
Oh, and every single one of the adapters had those screw fasteners on *both* sides; only the cabinet end was actually screwed into binding posts, so anyone walking past can knock the stack and the pieces fall apart. Did the null-modem have to go here or was it after that patch panel, yes, the one that now has all the leads on one end flapping about?
But at least you could try sticking LEDs across the patch panel and see if any flickered as someone continually tapped on the carriage-return key.
As noted by more than one commentard here, USB-C is already capable of delivering 130 plus Watts, which is more than the up to 100 W covered by this legislation.
If your bigger laptop, or even super gamer mouse with 500 LEDs and realistic gut-shot action electric shock, needs more than USB-C can happily provide it can use whatever connector is appropriate.
Up to 100 W, what need do you see for there to be any new charging connector, if USB-C can do the job?
The regs only cover devices pulling up to 100W.
USB-C is already good for 130 plus Watts.
So anything that needs more than USB-C can already provide is at liberty to use whatever connector and cable is appropriate; if they feel the need to use 5 AWG wire to handle the current at 24V then this EU reg won't stop them. Although I'd be wary of carrying in my pocket a phone that charged at around 1 kW.
Those cables you linked to - how on earth do you think they or any similer-but-different products, are incompatible with anything? Or that there is anything in the EU legislation that means you can't have such cables?
The EU has said that devices need to be chargeable via a USB-C port. The leads you've pointed us at claim to plug into a USB-C port and do so via a magnetically held coupling, which is the extra twiddly bit you are after. Just so long as you can shove the required electrics up the other end of the cable (hard to tell from that JPEG), you are in business.
Perfectly functional, perfectly compatible, perfectly allowed.
Of course, if you still manage to break one of those cables and decide to replace it with one from another manufacturer, there is no guarantee that the magnetic couplings will be compatible, but you'll have a full set of parts in the new box to connect to USB-C. No problem there. Well, except you'll have a broken lead and its ancillary bits to dispose of properly, just as you would after ripping apart a less expensive lead.
For stress-free pair programming, it is important that both partners are comfortable.
When you make your own copy of this innovative keyboard it will be vital to ensure that you use hot-swap key switches, so that they can be swapped between say, Gateron red and green between each line of code.
> I suggest that you investigate what Octave can do and what MATLAB can do
That is an even *worse* response! Octave does *absolutely* everything *I've* wanted it to do, as has MATLAB!
Why? How? Because neither of those has ever been important in anything I've worked on. Just never been appropriate (guys in the office have used both, at various times, and I've used their results - but have aso used their results from Excel, Casio calculators and the back of a timesheet; all the same to me).
I could compare the feature lists until the cows come home, but I'd still have a better idea of how useful the abilities of the cows are in practical situations than I would those bits of software.
Agreed, Standards and interoperability are the key.
(Deleted long rambling piece about the history of how to run trains, except to say that I miss the days as a BR *passenger* being allowed to break up a long journey by getting off, wandering around somewhere I'd never visited before then getting on to a later train; compared to being fined for detraining a couple of stops early as the wife happened to be there with the car).
If you can't get the ribbons any more, get the forms made up with an extra sheet of NCR on top - it can even be blank. May have to put some tape over the ribbon detector, if there is one. Hopefully no-one will get stroppy about not getting "the top copy".
Hope the rest of the kit stays alive long enough to need such a hack, 'cos that is actually a very nice position to be in, not having to chase the software dragon just because third parties can't be taught how to "save as" an older (but perfectly satisfactory) format.
It'd be good to have a pithy descriptive name for systems such as yours, which just keep going - in the olden days I'd be referring to it as a "calculator" rather than a "computer", as it is used for a single purpose and has no desire to change the software (whether that be in firmware or not). Not a literal "pocket calculator" of course: embedded systems like Pelican Crossing controllers were so described as well. But that usage doesn't seem to fly any more.
