Posts by Vic

Re: real OS

I'd run a "decent OS" if there was a decent free OBD2 reader program for it

This is the first one Google found for me. You can run it on a variety of platforms.

Vic.

Re: "kernel driver providing a rootkit-like functionality to hide activity"

Who in their right mind will take a concept like 'push/pop', which have traditionally been used to work on a stack or a fifo or other buffer-like construct (maybe), and then applies it to an array?

In Perl, it means you can take an array type and use it like a stack. It's exactly the concept you expect - just that Perl doesn't worry too much about the base types used...

Vic.

Re: Patents: Sought by the Wright brothers while Europe built planes

First to file means if I put a product on the market with a feature I think isn't worth patenting, you can then get a patent and turn around and sue me all apple-style.

No, that's not the case. If the product is on the market before the patent is filed, it is clearly prior art, and that is an absolute defence. Indeed, no sane patent owner would ever file suit against the product, since it would invalidate their patent.

Vic.

Re: XOR != "Exclusive Operator" ?

I am not an expert in this field

We'd never have guessed...

Vic.

1 John 3:17 - But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

Bill 1:1 - Be excellent to each other.

Vic.

Re: They still have IE

so you can actually manage **YOUR** policy

If people were to manage their own security, life would probably be pretty good.

But what we know from experience is that they won't - the vast bulk of them will just accept whatever defaults they're given...

Vic.

uti nsa im cu si

Ufuti si nsa cum yffalow tstire?

Vic.

Dalvik basically = Java.

Dalvik != Java.

Seriously, if ever you are tempted to post such things, read up on what Dalvik is. It isn't Java, and that is deliberate.

Source code is generally written in the Java language. but is is not compiled for the JVM - it is compiled for the Dalvik VM. These are very different in a number of ways. It's worth properly grokking this - Java bytecode won't run on a Dalvik VM, and the conversion to Dalvik bytecode is non-trivial.

Java language != Java VM != Dalvik VM. But many people would have you believe otherwise. It's worth considering what motivates them to take that position...

Vic.

Re: Wow!

INMOS was taken over by ST - their office building is also 5 mins walk from me

When I got a job there, it was by far and away the best gig I'd ever had. I loved that job[1].

I was really quite shocked to hear the site had closed :-(

Vic.

[1] Owing to the quite fantabulous way the internal management worked, our (new technology, customer focussed) group was swapped for a different (legacy development) group in the same building. Neither group was happy about the exchange, and most of us left. So by the end, it was amongst the worst jobs I'd ever had :-(

Re: There is a sensible argument

bring back "penal servitude" ie hard labour

Although it sounds somewhat mediaeval, there are a couple of arguments for it.

Prisoners working that hard every day are unlikely to have the energy to be able to cause much trouble at other times - thus making for an easier environemt in the prison.

Aditionally, physical exertion is good therapy for many forms of depression - so it would actually be good for the prisoners as well.

Counter-intuitive though it might seem, hard labour is probably a good punishment all round - although I really don't expect many of the General Public to see it that way...

Vic.

Re: Unwanted ad injectors aren't part of a healthy ads ecosystem

They got arseraped by OFCOM for their pains.

£50 fine?

Vic.

Re: DAB...

Why don't they turn off the Freeview multiplex which carries all the shopping channels

Because that is the multiplex that makes the most money...

Vic.

Re: TYhe real tragedy is that ...

I am waiting for the BBC to pick this up based on their coverage of the 'disaster'.

That's only going to happen if someone posts the story on Twitter...

Vic.

Re: Funny isn't it?

Guys can we please stop propagating FUD that they are not insured

It isn't FUD. They are almost certainly not insured in most jurisdictions - and definitely not in Germany.

It is a COMMERCIAL policy, and does not act like the ones you have on your PERSONAL vehicle.

The policy on my vehicle is a COMMERCIAL policy. And, in common with every policy I'v ever held, it explicitly and specificly excludes travel "for hire or reward". So although I have a COMMERCIAL policy that permits use of my vehiicle in the pursuit of my business, I would be completely uninsured if I tried driving as an Uber driver.

this is a paradigm change and it benefits the consumer

As with all such illicit activities, it does until such time as something goes wrong - and then you find it really doesn't. If I were driving an Uber customer, and I crashed and paralysed that passenger, my insurance would not pay out. Not a bean. And I haven't got the money to pay for ongoing care. So although the fare would have been cheaper than a properly insured taxi, the end result is a massive loss for the traveller. This is not a Good Thing(tm).

so we can hear informed opinions

This is an informed opinion - carriage for hire or reward costs *significantly* more[1] in the UK than other forms of insurance. And in Germany, it's not available unless you're properly licensed. This might not be what you want to hear, but it is the truth.

Vic.

[1] Last time I got quoted for H&R, it was double the cost. I didn't take that option...

Re: Congressman John Carter

and will hire specialists to explain things like encryption if it's not something they've had experience of.

... should hire specialists to explain things ...

The Dunning-Kruger effect is powerful...

Vic.

Re: Odd?

True, but I'm guessing this is aimed at small companies without the resources to do their own CA. To you and me it's not that hard to do, but I can think of several small business owners I know that wouldn't have the slightest idea.

Many small businesses don't have the resources to wash their own windows, or change the oil in their vehicles. So they pay someone else to do it for them.

IT in all its guises is no different - it's just that many businesses think that getting a favourite nephew in to do the job is a viable approach...

Vic.

Re: UM

The dual license open-xchange means you can't provide a paid for service using the free version

Says who?

Given that a chunk of what they're shipping is GPL, to try to put such a restriction on the code would remove their own right to distribute.

Vic.

Re: Business as usual

and why do they do that - use more power - surely it is not byond the wit of engineering to make them more frugal?

Digital radio involves a fair bit of number-crunching. That uses power.

And that's on top of the tuner, demodulator, and audio output stages that made up the FM radio - you still need all those.

Vic.

Re: not enough runtime

AC is, I believe, more efficient to transport around a building.

It isn't. The inefficiency comes from power drop in the cables - which is determined by their resistance (effectively fixed) and the current flowing. It matters not whether it's AC or DC. The main reason AC is pumped around the building is that it has historically been very easy to change the AC voltage with minimal loss, whereas changing DC voltages has, until recently, involved much cost and power loss. It's probably still cheaper to change AC voltage, but the discrepancy is much reduced.

And any electrician can come in to sort out the 240v, not all of them will touch deadly voltages at DC

An electrician will not be worried about 50VDC. There's no more risk to life - in fact, probably less - than 240VAC.

The circuitry to generate 240v AC from 12v DC is actually commodity hardware. The circuitry to distribute and step-down huge DC voltages is not.

It's pretty much the same hardware. There's a small difference in the configuration. Maxim[1], for example, make devices that work in either direction within limits.

Vic.

[1] A friend of mine who's rather good with hardware design hates Maxim converter products because they don't vary their LO frequencies properly - they tend to pulse-skip. This leads to all sorts of nasty sub-harmonics that are more work to filter out. But I like Maxim because they give me free samples when I'm putting a new design together :-)

Re: " from selling a Bentley to selling a Ford to selling a used Vespa.”

They were not able to make their brands, such as Realistic or Micronta as recognisable as the Japanese companies (like Technics, Sony etc)

I disagree. At the time, Realistic was a very recognisable brand.

It just wasn't a very desirable one...

Vic.

Re: Yarr! @Stupid AC

Are posting AC because you just want to troll or are you just gormless?

You say that as if those options are exclusive...

Vic.

RALPH was doing that twenty years ago.

The TRRL were playing with this half a century ago. It was somewhat more restrictive - requiring cables in the road - but it was rather impressive for its time...

Vic.

Re: So why is Amazon pursuing the idea?

I can't see the aviation authorities in other countries being any more likely to allow drone operations than the FAA and the UK CAA

The Germans have already allowed it.

Vic.

Re: Exactly what problem does this solve?

If you ever find yourself inside a burning metal wreck, please tell your surviving family to come and lecture us on cost/benefit analysis.

If I ever find myself in the aforesaid burning metal wreck, are the emergency services going to get there quickly enough to make a difference to the outcome?

A vehicle fire is quite hot...

Vic.

Re: "retro" gear like valve radio sets

CRTs were crap by modern standards.

That depends on your criteria.

For picture quality, they are the gold standard. For everything else, they are surpassed.

Vic.

Re: Welcome to software written in C

After seeing some of Chuck Moore's work, I'd say he makes a compelling argument that Forth can have better performance.

No, Forth doesn't out-perform C except in a few (generally contrived) situations. This is why the two primary Forth systems on the market today[1] are compilers in just the same way as a C is.

Where Forth really does score is in code density; it tends to be heavily-factored from the outset, and words will requently be refactored as a maintenance exercise - code complexity tends to increase rapdily as word size grows.

Vic.

[1] MPE and Forth Inc.

Disclosure: I used to work for one of the above...

Re: Could be a good way to get out of a wedding...

a Pint is a bit early for Monday morning!

Ahem

Vic.

Re: @Mark 85

anyone can reverse them without struggling to remember the complicated method of steering a normal trailer

Complicated?

You grab the bottom of the steering wheel, and move your hand in whichever direction you want the trailer to go...

Vic.

Re: Dumpster diving, yes or no?

but it'll get you arrested. Nicking stuff shops have chucked out is still theft, apparently

Taking anything with an intent to deprive the owner of it is theft. There are a couple of "kinda sorta" exceptions for salvage, but that's a law unto itself, and unlikely to trouble too many here.

The trick with taking stuff from bins is to *ask* for it. You're usually met with a strange "why would he ask me that" look, followed by a stammered "yes, of course". At that point, the items belong to you, and you can take them. But taking them without asking first is theft, and that gets you busted.

I've had loads of stuff from bins over the years - I've even had the owner drive stuff to my house to drop it off. Most people (and many shops) are happy for you to take their crap away. But if you haven't asked them for it, it isn't yours, so taking it is stealing.

My food bill comes to FAR more than £10pw, simply because, thanks to the NHS's war on anything remotely healthy, the cost of everything is astronomical. My meat alone costs £50.

I lived for nearly 2 years on quite a lot less than £10/week. It's tricky, but doable. And very, very tedious. If you're spending £50/week on meat, you're eating far more meat than you *need*. Whilst that's very nice to do, it's not a necessity.

Vic.

I think they are truly the only books that have ever consistently made me chortle out loud

I've had the same effect from reading Robert Rankin and David Langford. And both of those authors had forewords by Pterry[1].

Vic.

[1] Which is why I read them in the first place :-)

Re: What can you do with a 74HC00?

trying to explain why double-clicking a Python program "just makes a black square flash up for a fraction of a second"

If the python code works, I've found renaming it to a .pyw leads to fewer questions.

Of course, if it fails (as implied by your post), that can just make matters worse :-(

Vic.

Re: "four to six million recorded telephone calls a day"???

I'm not naturally a stabby person

Awesome. I'm pinching that :-)

Vic.

Re: Ain't so bad

Vote them out, now, before it is too late.

How?

Vic.

Re: ...there's a reason for that...

I suspect the effective video bandwidth of a digital signal is much higher - in theory you could encode adjacent pixels as white and black, whereas an analogue signal was much more restricted (test card with frequency bars, anyone?).

Actually, it's quite the opposite.

Digital TV is compressed - even prior to transmission, the signal is invariably quantised in the frequency domain, so you will lose all that detail.

Analogue baseband material does not have that problem, and only loses effective bandwidth at broadcast due to noise (per Shannon's Law). Given a clear transmission channel - which was certainly possible with UK terrestrial broadcast - the displayed picture could closely match that baseband image. The SNR of a digital signal will necessarily be much lower, unless you're using a very noisy channel (poor antenna, far from source, reflection interference, you name it...)

Vic.

Re: The problem is in applications

There probably aren't a lot of ext3 systems around even today.

There are. ext4 is really quite bad at dealing with improper shutdown - power failure and the like. The configuration I and many others use is to create a (smallish) root filesystem with ext3, and use xfs/ext4/whatever for the other filesystems. This means that a machine can usually boot properly after a hard power-down.

Vic.

Re: Dear custommer move to free Linux or else we fine you...

what was RedHat's response to the latest Ghost exploit for RHEL4 boxes? We have 5000+ RHEL 5+ servers and 2-300 still running RHEL4

I don't know about RH's response - but RH aren't the only ones who can support RHEL4.

I had an RPM rolled within about 20 minutes. It's not hard. My support customers all had it within a couple of hours.

Vic.

Re: common sense vs profit (1-0)

As long as drones don't have sensors to inspect, return and assess the situation around them - I can't see how they could be used safely beyond visual light of sight

DHL's drone does just fine[1] .

That's not in the USA, of course...

Vic.

[1] I had a better link last week - I'll try to find it again...

Re: Tired of Samsung

my Samsung TV won't play many common types of media files including: DivX, XVID, anything from Apple even if its been fully paid for.

Really?

I have a Samsung DumbTV[1]. It plays everything I've thrown at it.

I wouldn't go buying one of these "Smart"[2] TVs, though. On the one occasion I tried to plug a wireless adaptor into my telly, it refused to use it. And that's probably for the best...

Vic.

[1] The UE40H5000, in case you're interested.

[2] Ha!

Re: How long can this go on for?

the Atom was succeeded by the BBC Micro and the Electron.

The BBC Micro, of course, was the "Acorn Proton" before the BBC came along and signed the contract...

Vic.