From the company that brought you crash-by-wire flight to save a sensor's cost and to lie to the regulators about the implications.
Posts by Paul Crawford
5659 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Mar 2007
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Boeing wants autonomous flying cabs in US airspace by 2030
'Last man standing in the floppy disk business' reckons his company has 4 years left
Tuesday 20th September 2022 14:55 GMT 
We used to have an old Sun SPARC box that has the same issue of the CMOS clock was a chip with built-in battery so no practical option to replace it. Instead we had a laminated sheet of the boot parameters needed to get it going again if the power went off.
To be fair to that box, it ran as our mail server for something like 20 years without issue, bar the odd UPS going "bang" and failing to do the single duty a UPS has...
Tuesday 20th September 2022 14:15 GMT
We have a 17 year old spectrum analyser with a FDD, though it also has USB which would be easier to use.
I wrote some conversion software to get document files from may father's ancient Sharp "word processor" floppy disks in to a sensible readable / formatted text some years back, finding FDD that were working and not going to trash the disks was a challenge!
Personally good riddance, but obviously in some cases they are your only choice.
Internet Society recommends development of Solar-System-scale routing framework
Tuesday 20th September 2022 11:04 GMT
You might be joking, but in reality:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AX.25
It is an awful choice for data encoding, as bit errors cause a shift in frame position making error correction a practical nightmare. There are good reasons to use the CCSDS standards, but sadly for many cubsats they still go back to AX25.
The gimp, as that is the best thing to do with X25 and derivatives =>
Tuesday 20th September 2022 08:02 GMT
Pointing
The thing is space is BIG, and to get any decent radio or optical link you need to focus it really tightly. And that means to sender/recipient generally has to have directive antennas pointing at each other. So it is not just down to how you bounce data around, you also need mechanisms to make sure various nodes can align themselves for comms when needed, and hours later when a reply might be due.
So they all need to be passing physical coordinates / propagation vectors as well so they have some sort of knowledge of this.
Can reflections in eyeglasses actually leak info from Zoom calls? Here's a study into it
Former Reg vulture takes on Nominet – by running for board seat
Former Cisco boss launches upstart to rattle old employer's cage
Thursday 15th September 2022 15:55 GMT
The assumption that zero-trust will work for everything is a bit strange. Yes, you can make an automaticity configured network router if you can assume that all devices fall in to a specific category of use/authentication, and that all use-cases are basically along the same lines.
Still, will be interesting to see how it pans out in real life when someone wants to fit one to a complex legacy environment.
Ex-Broadcom engineer asks for house arrest over IP theft
SAP user group questions value for money amid plans to increase support fees
Thursday 15th September 2022 15:06 GMT
Re: Value for money?
Open source comes with no expectation of support, but you might find a fix or even get it done yourself.
Commercial software comes with costs and support fees, but my experience is you get less support than many OS products.
But you do get an SLA (soft, strong, absorbent) that allows you to point the finger of blame when things do fsck up...
Microsoft rolls out stealthy updates for 365 Apps
White House to tech world: Promise you'll write secure code – or Feds won't use it
Thursday 15th September 2022 10:54 GMT
Re: The first blow has been struck...
The problem is money. Companies are always going to chose on price for software they buy, or 'engineers' they employ, unless there are real consequences for screwing up.
For years software suppliers have got away with EULA that absolve them of practically everything, unlike any building or physical product. What is needed is regulation that enforces acceptable EULA that imposes quality/reliability/security requirements on suppliers. All suppliers. To make it an even playing field between those who can and do produce good tested software at high cost and those seeking to push QA on the uses. Like MS of late, etc.
Yes, that could be an issue for open source but not if anyone who uses it commercially is on the hook for problems, maybe they could pay for some support and QA?
Twitter whistleblower Zatko disses bird site as dysfunctional data dump
Ex-Googler Eric Schmidt's think tank warns China could win global tech race
Twitter datacenter melted down in Labor Day heat
Patch your Mitel VoIP systems, Lorenz ransomware gang is back on the prowl
FCC Commissioner demands review of Starlink rural broadband subsidies
Tuesday 13th September 2022 16:57 GMT
Re: Quite Impressive
The other point is if you do FINALLY get fibre run in to a remote area you will have far more bandwidth available than Starlink can offer. Any symmetric bandwidth as well (probably, the fibre does not care) so if you are doing video conferencing, etc, you don't have the typical legacy assumption of high download requirement versus light upload.
Draft EU AI Act regulations could have a chilling effect on open source software
Sunday 11th September 2022 11:07 GMT
As far as I can see from a very quick look, it says nothing of the sort about open source. Just that AI applied to anything has to still meet the rules on safety and discrimination that any other technical or business method would have to.
If you use anything in your company you ought to do due diligence on it and/or have supervisory capacity to control it. AI is just another tool.
Uncle Sam sanctions Iran's intel agency over Albanian cyberattack
Sunday 11th September 2022 10:59 GMT
Re: IRAN's Persian Luck...
Iranians are interesting. They are a democracy albeit a theo-democracy.
Iran, its people and enormously long history of culture are indeed very interesting. However, they are not a democracy, just like Hong Kong and Russia are no longer democracies, as no one can stand for election that oppose the current regime's views in any meaningful way. In fact, simply expressing a view can get you jailed or result in an accident involving a high hospital window.
Aren't the religious right in murica also interested in this sort of thing for their Middle Eastern Religion too? Sure they are... How many Southern Fried Idiots have you heard say, "We need to bring God back into our Government." I thought Trump was God... My heavens didn't the colonist learn a damn thing about secularity from the Church of England?
Sadly I have to concede you have a point there.
Windows 11 update blocking some users from logging in
US warns cryptominers must cut power use to avoid busting US carbon goals
Friday 9th September 2022 21:16 GMT
Re: Comparing wax apples with silk poppies
I'd rather they start with dirty and inefficient ones like rail traffic, shipping and trucking, industrial processes and other problems that are the other 99% of energy used.
You mean the ones that actually deliver food to the shops and goods to industry?
Other than Ponzi-scheme funding, what do cryptocurrencies deliver that others don't?
Dump these small-biz routers, says Cisco, because we won't patch their flawed VPN
Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II – Britain's first high-tech monarch
Judge tells Elon Musk he can't stall Twitter trial
CERN draws up shutdown plans to save energy
As Cybersecurity Week begins, Beijing claims US attacked Uni doing military research
California passes bill requiring salary ranges on job listings
Tuesday 6th September 2022 19:52 GMT
Re: Will this actually help ?
Yes, some of the reporting could be but a sensible approach would be to stage things so small business just give the salary ranges, larger have to do some reporting, above 500 or so employees then detailed analysis, etc.
A few UK gov surveys have a couple of obvious choices for race/gender/religion and for each there is usually "prefer not to say" or "other" so folks who get in a tizzy about not matching some very specific minority (or are generally pissed off about being asked) can use those. In most cases you just need the obvious male/female and black/white/Asian sort of choices to show any biases.
Assuming you compare the results to the distribution of possible applicants, of course.
Tuesday 6th September 2022 19:13 GMT
Re: Will this actually help ?
I think it will help as it allows everyone to see what is on offer for the job, and maybe compare it to their own job. Here in the UK it was the norm that all job adverts gave a salary range, but that has been less common of late for whatever reason. As you say, it avoids you wasting time applying for low-paid posts that are hyped up.
I really don't understand the claims it is too hard to administer, FFS you must have some idea of your budget before offering a post!
The crime against humanity that is the modern OS desktop, and how to kill it
Monday 5th September 2022 10:54 GMT
Re: Agree and disagree
The win95/2k start menu idea was great, but the MS habit of grouping programs by company and not application type (as seen with Linux) was a bit dumb.
Win7 has been OK for me, stable and not too stupid but still a bit odd to find where control things were hidden from w2k/XP.
Recent experience of win10/11 leaves me bitterly disappointed and thankful for Linux, even (dare I say it) with systemd's infestation.
NASA scrubs Artemis mission yet again because SLS just can't handle the pressure
Sunday 4th September 2022 10:35 GMT
Re: ... but it is pain to handle.
Yes, but the main advantage of methane is not bigger bang for your mass, but a lower volume and difficulties of handling it (hydrogen gets in everywhere, making metals brittle) and more importantly if you are designing a new engine you can make it full-flow staged combustion so turbo pumps have an easier and cheaper job.
Saturday 3rd September 2022 18:11 GMT
Re: Hydrogen is HUGE
There is a lot on this in "Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants" where the multiple trade-offs in terms of specific impulse, storage size, and handling difficulties is covered.
TL;DR H2 & O2 has the highest specific impulse of and sane-to-handle fuel choices, but it is pain to handle.
Underwater datacenter will open for business this year
California to try tackling drought with canal-top solar panels
Musk tries to stall Twitter takeover trial following whistleblower claims
LG makes a TV roughly the size of a queen-sized bed
T-Mobile US and SpaceX hope to deliver phone service from space
LastPass source code, blueprints stolen by intruder
80,000 internet-connected cameras still vulnerable after critical patch offered
Smartphone gyroscopes threaten air-gapped systems, researcher finds
Windows 10 update breaks audio for some systems
Rocket Lab CEO reflects on company's humble beginnings as a drainpipe
Big Tech is building the metaverse of its own dreams. You don't want to go there
Microsoft looks beyond the US with Windows Subsystem for Android
The truth about that draft law banning Uncle Sam buying insecure software
Friday 19th August 2022 14:32 GMT
Re: What's the point?
What is needed is a requirement for vendors to fix bugs in any software in less than X days after notification and for Y years after it was sold, or face big fines on behalf of everyone.
All complex software has bugs of some for or another, but what differs between companies is the way they fix (or don't) those bugs and the time it takes to do so. If they turn out crap software due to piss-poor QA (looking at you MS) then they will have to work hard to fix it or pay up a LOT!
Skyrora fires up second stage of XL rocket
Thursday 18th August 2022 14:10 GMT
Re: What? Why?
The containers are relatively cheap and can be transported on standard trucks without police escort (assuming they are not above 3m wide, etc) and re-assembled easily. Also you can keep stuff in them!
Yes it might have a bit of a Heath Robinson look about it but it seems to work well.
Microsoft to drop price for Teams Rooms, add free Basic tier for SMBs
This tiny Intel Xeon-toting PC board can take your Raspberry Pi any day
Wednesday 17th August 2022 05:58 GMT
Re: the same.
Depending on your use-case you can save a lot of SD car wear by changing the ext4 file system commit time from the default 5s to something like 120s. Of course if you get a reboot or power failure you loses the last 2 minutes of changes, though journaling should mean the file system is at least consistent.
Microsoft's Secure Boot fix sends some PCs into BitLocker Recovery
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
