* Posts by Vic

5860 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Dec 2007

Raspberry Pi signs big-name sellers

Vic

Re: Element14

> there was a company called Element 14 that was spun-off from Acorn Computers.

Quite a large part of it actually came from ST in Bristol.

> Rather apt if this is correct

It isn't, I'm afraid. I made much the same gaffe at a trade show. I was busy asking the salesdroid if he knew all me former oppos, only to find out that the two organisations are entirely unrelated.

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I'm going back to bed

Farnell's site is properly titsup, RS has allowed me to "register an interest" on the third attempt ignoring all the timeouts...)

RasPi's twitter feed says Farnell have sold out.

Looks like that's all there is for today...

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'Kill yourself now' - Torvalds throws openSUSE security tantrum

Vic

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Linux is just a kernel

> whiners who believe proprietary binary blobs for drivers and the like are in violation of the GPL

The kernel sources come with a file named COPYING which explains why binary blobs - although unfortunate - are acceptable as kernel modules.

The biggest problem with the GPL is the number of self-appointed "experts" who don't appear to have actually read the thing. It's not nearly as difficult to use as many would have you believe :-(

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Re: Linus is right.

> it's set to the first users password by default.

Really? The root password is the same as the first user's?

Wow. I didn't realise that. It's been a while since I used any flavour of Suse - and if they're doing that, it's going to be a long time before I go back. That's *awful*...

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Re: "he's proven his level of genius"

> You'd have to be able to turn that requirement off for certain installs, and on again for others.

Polkit - which I believe is in OpenSuse - does exactly that; fine-grained policy control over loads of stuff.

Unfortunately, the configuration system stinks. It *really* needs a tool, but I'm not aware of anything other than a text editor at present :-(

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Re: Because he is a narcissistic asshole

> what kind of ego would you need to name an OS* after yourself

He didn't. Someone else did that.

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Powerful, wallet-sized Raspberry Pi computer sells out in SECONDS

Vic

Re: Re: hopes to similarly jumpstart interes (like the BBC micro)

> it was the BASIC ROM that came with it.

If it's Basic you want, you could always run it on the Pi...

> you first have to install a Linux distro, configure it, install source libraries

If there is demand, someone will pre-configure a distro for that. The images will be available for download, and the SD cards will be available for purchase. Anyone can do this.

The only thing to prevent it happening is if no-one really wants it to.

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Vic
Joke

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sells out like Glastonbury. Computer Science is the new rock and roll.

> RS 1100 hits/s (1M hits in 15 minutes).

Oh - so I was the only one refreshing the RS site, then? :-)

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Vic

Re: They could still ramp up production

> After all those 10k just take a day or so to run though the SMT mounter

I have a suspicion there was something of a cashflow issue getting more built.

With a bit of luck, the banks might see the demand that has been shown today, and not be such utter dicks in future.

Vic.

Vic

Re: RS and Farnell notice traffic increase?

> I would call that an impressive boast if it's actually true?

Both sites completely toasted for several hours. Yeah, they noticed[1].

> Anyway - barebone dev kits have been around

This isn't a barebones dev board - you want the STM32F4-discover for that.

The Raspberry Pi is a complete computer. Just add ancillaries (power, keyboard, display) and it runs a full desktop.

> Is this new thingy really proper special step change stuff in some way

That's certainly the plan. I suspect it will be - if they can produce enough of the things (hint hint, James - ten to bloody six I got up this morning, and for nothing).

> should I apologize for imagining I maybe smelled some hype?

Probably, yes.

Vic.

[1] Let's face it, you'd have to be *seriously* incompetent not to. Even Farnell, "special" as they are, aren't that bad...

Vic

Re: ""It's been a phenomenal day"

> I pity the poor fools who got up before six this morning

*waves*

> and expected it to be any different than it was.

We didn't, really. We all knew the chances were exceedingly slim.

Still worth a pop, though.

Vic.

IBM peddles used servers, PCs in China

Vic

Is it just me?

> IBM's Global Asset Recovery Services division inside of its Global Financing arm

Doesn't that sound remarkably like a debt collector? Is IBM flogging on repossessed kit?

Vic.

Microsoft drops 'risky' Windows 8 preview on World

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Re: @ Nya

> I am sure HR people receive plenty of CV's

Many of them including grocers' apostrophes...

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Vic

Re: Re: Re: Re: Not going to use this mess

> forget ubuntu linux or fedora, they come with a tabletizd, dumbbed-down, dogs-breakfast of a UI

Oh God, yes.

I installed Fedora 16 a week or so ago. I spent some time really trying to get on with the new Gnome Shell.

I failed. It is just *awful*. I mean Really, really terrible.

I spent most of yesterday and some of today taking the BlueBubble port of Gnome 2.32 and porting it to F16. I'm not finished yet, but it's usable. And all of a sudden, I like that computer again.

Why on Earth do people think that such things are a good idea? Fedora used to be an awesome distro; post-F14, it's dire.

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Microsoft's Azure cloud down and out for 8 hours

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Re: Re: Uptime

> 99.997% availability is like 15 minutes down in an entire year?

Yes. Well calculated.

Customers frequently demand "five nines" availability (99.999%) until they see the cost. But 15 minutes a year will usually give you one reboot even if you haven't got spare hardware (which you should have).

I have a policy to reboot at least every 1000 days. Just because...

Vic.

Vic

Re: Re: Re: probably someone plugged in a USB scanner

> Vista in 2012? Are your IT Support guys snails?!

I've recently been contracting for a company that is rolling out a managed image to its desktops. It's been a slow start, but they're now getting there.

The image is Vista. I met precisely zero users who were happy with it - some saw XP as being more performant, others saw Win as being a more useable choice. But no, Vista was the thing on the cards.

I found an old box & put Fedora on it. I had quite a few users by the time I left :-)

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Microsoft demos 3D desktop with transparent OLED

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Re: Pr0n

> then we can have real 3D BOOBIES!!!

Many of us already do :-(

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Ancient Iceman murder victim was lactose-intolerant, sickly

Vic

Re: Re: Murder is a big assumption

> a bizzare consensual sex-ritual.

I'm not sure they'd have had MPs back then...

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> some berries and mushrooms (believed to be for medicinal use)

The excuses are always the same, aren't they? :-)

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France: All your books are belong to us

Vic

Re: The state grants you "copyright", the state takes it away.

> I would rather think it depends on strong copyleft.

Copyleft depends entirely on copyright. It is the only way to enforce the licence.

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Microsoft tripped up by Blighty's techie skills gap

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Go

Re: Re: Skills Gap

> Managers are easy to find

*Good* managers aren't; they're a very rare breed...

Vic.

IT staffers on ragged edge of burnout and cynicism

Vic

Re: so, no one seems to disagree, only point and wave at smaples...

> managers are generally managers through being good at their own jobs

It's called the Peter Principle; everyone rising to his own level of incompetence.

If someone is good at his job, he is promoted. Often, that means changing job.

Once that someone is no longer any good at his job (because it's not the job he applied for), he ceases to be promoted, and is stuck there.

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Vic

Re: Re: Re: IT security staff?

> I've only had one good manager in the years I worked in IT

I though I had the worlds best manager at one point.

He sat in his corner of the office, apparently doing nothing. But the entire team knew *exactly* what was going on all the time. Light touch management at its very best...

Then he got his own office, and it dawned on us that the reason we'd known what was going on was that we could hear all his phone calls. It turns out he was just sat in the corner doing nothing all along...

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Linux PC-in-a-stick to cost coders £139

Vic

Re: Re: I'm setting the alarm for R.Pi Day...

> going to be up at 6am hitting Ctrl-R like it's going out of fashion

Well, that's both RS and Farnell thoroughly DDosed...

I get the feeling someone doesn't understand how keen we are to get these things...

Vic.

[knackered, going back to bed]

Vic

Re: I'm setting the alarm for R.Pi Day...

> I'm steeling myself for the prospect of either (a) sleeping through it

You're not going to get one. You might as well stay in bed.

That goes for the rest of you lot as well. Stay in bed. Don't go to the site. It's not going to work for you.

Vic

[Who's going to be up at 6am hitting Ctrl-R like it's going out of fashion :-) ]

Child abuse suspect won't be forced to decrypt hard drive

Vic

Re: Re: Re: The British way of thinking

> If I remember correctly Britain is a democratic country.

You misunderstand British "democracy".

> If the majority decide not to vote against laws

Nobody got the opportunity to vote against these laws.

There are essentially three parties with a cat in hell's chance of getting elected. Precisely *none* of them took a stance against RIPA at election time (even if some in opposition had used it to slag off their opponents earlier).

So what do we do? Vote for a party that embraces RIPA? Refuse to vote and be described as "apathetic"? There is no "none of the above" option in our voting system, and raising the capital to field enough candidates to make a difference is far from trivial, even if you had the support.

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Vic

Re: The British way of thinking

> the need to create a "5th Amendment"

There is no such need.

The Fifth Amendment already exists.

> In Britain it has become a crime to withhold information ... they have

> simply understood that there is now a need.

Not so. We have merely had this illiberal legislation forced upon us by a government with no effective opposition. It's not as if they didn't know what they were doing - I, along with many others, wrote to the Home Secretary to point out the issues with this dreadful law. Didn't that do a lot of good...

It's going to be a long time before we get a government with the balls to do something about this travesty :-(

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Vic

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Meanwhile, back in Blighty...

> In vain would the Defence say "he doesn't know it" because you have presumed guilt

This is actually the law in the UK.

A disclosure notice may be issued under Section 49. Section 53 makes it an offence to comply with such a notice.

The onus is upon the defendant to demonstrate that he does not have the key. Failure to do so can get you 2 years (or 5 years if someone mentions "National Security").

RIPA 2000 is one of our shittiest laws.

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Meanwhile, back in Blighty...

> The police would already require a warrant.

This is not true.

Section 49 of RIPA 2000 allows "any person with the appropriate permission under Schedule 2" to issue a disclosure requirement notice. Note that the people descried under Schedule 2 are not all police or judiciary.

There is very little control over who can issue S49 notices :-(

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Apple wins battle in Motorola patent war

Vic

Re: Tales from the front

> Mueller, the Neville Chamberlain of this particular war.

ITYM "Mueller, the Lord Haw-Haw of this particular war"...

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Oracle extends Linux support to 10 years

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Re: I don't really understand this ploy

OK, I give up.

Why are people downvoting my initial post here? I thought it was rather innocuous...

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Re: Oracle vs. Red Hat?

> they also allowed others (CentOS) to utilize the whole open source aspect as well;

RH didn't actually have much choice there; it ships GPL code, and the GPL explicitly permits obtaining source & rebuilding for any purpose whatsoever.

Where RH is really to be praised is the amount of effort RH engineers put in to helping the various rebuild projects to get the job done. This is *way* beyond what the GPL requires of them.

And it pays dividends; CentOS/Scientific/Whitebox/whatever aren't competition, they are *feeders*. This is, ultimately, where much of RH's business comes from.

> Still, this is something I don't see Oracle do anytime soon.

Oracle doesn't get the choice. This is GPL software.

If Oracle decides to try to stop someone rebuilding the GPL sources they ship - that's the end of Oracle's licence, and there will be no more Oracle Linux...

> I'm convinced that their first reaction to a move like CentOS' would be "We'll sue!!".

That would be interesting. They would both fail (having explicitly licenced exactly that operation) and also have to stop shipping their own Linux product. Oracle's lawyers have done some daft things lately, but I don't think they'd be quite that stupid...

Vic

I don't really understand this ploy

Ksplice is an interesting technology. I've used it - just to see how it goes. But I can't see me using it again - it was too much effort for too little return.

So why does Oracle see this as a big deal in the Enterprise space? It saves you a couple of minutes of downtime during a kernel change. If that puts the system out of its SLA requirements, then I would suggest there isn't enough hardware there.

Vic.

The cyber-weapons paradox: 'They're not that dangerous'

Vic

Re: Is SCADA particularly difficult?

> could somebody make all of our traffic lights give the wrong instructions?

Traffic control systems are actually pretty safe; there are hardwired backup systems checking the consistency of all the signal heads.

In the event that something goes wrong - e.g. conflicting greens - the safety system crowbars the power supply, and the junction shuts down.

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Court rejects Tesla’s latest libel spat with Top Gear

Vic

Re: Re: Where are the steam trains these days?

> Fisker Karma? Much more effecient way, especially when the

> electric motors produce more torque to the wheels

That was the design of the Porsche-Lohner Mixte. That was selling in 1901...

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Re: Calor gas

> you visit a garage and swap your battery for a fully-charged one

It's a little more complex than that.

Lithium batteries have a very finite lifespan - they permanently degrade just by being in existence. Additionally, the more charge is in a cell, the greater the rate of degradation. Similar for heat.

So one battery is not at all like another; each one would need to be tracked, and its current worth (i.e. maximum capacity) reckoned into the cost of replacement.

It's all possible, but the propensity for fraud seems rather high...

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Vic

Re: Defeating the object.

> No, is the simple answer.

"Not yet" would be the more accurate answer.

The power for electric vehicles does generally come from fossil sources, as you say - but that might not always be true. If the grid ran on nuclear power, it would be a lot greener.

Upgrading the grid to get that much extra power out to consumers might be a different matter, of course...

> The only way forward is hydrogen powdered cars.

Again, not yet.

There are two common methods of producing hydrogen - steam cracking of methane and electrolysis. The former produces *loads* of CO2, the latter requires all the electricity requirements of a plug-in electric, plus a bit more to cope with the loss of H2 in the distribution chain...

> No extra electricity needs to be generated

This is, of course, quite, quite wrong.

> no pollution is produced.

As is this. No pollution is produced *at the tailpipe*; it's all somewhere else...

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Vic

Re: I guess Tesla are operating on the US damage control model.

> what would have been a *non* story

Indeed.

Lotus showed everyone how to do it.

Clarkson reviewed an Elise, IIRC, and didn't like it, making all sorts of claims about how it didn't perform like it should[1].

So Lotus sent a test driver down to show him that it *did* do what he said it couldn't[2]. It was just his ham-fisted driving style that was getting in the way.

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[1] There is a simple rule to whether or not Clarkson will give something a good review: if it oversteers slightly without spinning, he loves it. If it understeers, he whinges about the steering. If it spins, he describes it as "uncouth" or similar. I live in hope that one day he will figure out that the fact it doesn't behave the same way when someone talented is behind the wheel doesn't mean that there's a problem with the car...

[2] Clarkson had moaned that the car understeered through every corner. So the Lotus driver took him round the track oversteering every corner. Maybe they changed the car. Or the track.

Hey Commentard! - or is that Commenter?

Vic

Re: Re: We're all special now

> Where does that leave Special Ops personnel?

Very special indeed...

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Re: I don't trust thereg enough to run their js code" ..

> you want 110% of everything we have to offer, for free...

Yes. And a cherry.

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Re: Jap

> Jap is an offensive word, because that's the purpose for which it was originally formed

Oh, I don't know.

It was a pretty popular engine before it was commonly used as a racial slur...

Vic.

LOHAN's flying truss: One orb or two?

Vic

Re: @Vic

> Isn't that what I said?

I don't think so. You said they were "purely gravity (acceleration) based.". But they're not gravity-based...

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How about

> P.S. All aircraft have slip ball indicators which are purely gravity (acceleration) based. :-)

They're acceleration-based, not gravity-based except during level flight.

In a turn, the ball doesn't point down...

Vic.

Will Windows 8 sticker shock leave Microsoft unstuck?

Vic

> No they're not unmet dependencies, they're versioning dependencies

So they're dependencies.

Are they met? That would work fine. If they're not met - then they're unmet dependencies.

Easy, huh?

> that conflict with the versioning dependencies of other packages

This is why packages are versioned - so that the correct one can be picked up. I have many versions of libraries on my machines - the app gets the right one by virtue of it asking for the right one. This system breaks, obviously, if you've --forced an installation despite not having the correct version of a dependency.

> or they're packages that share the same subset of files (love those)

A package clash such as that is inevitably caused by someone using --force on the package manager.

If you *really* want two packages to have files in the same area, you make one of the packages relocatable such that the problem goes away. This is part of the deal with package managers.

> or they're one of the hundred other problems package managers have

> because the world isn't perfect.

Again - anecdotal issues form someone who forces packages into a system against the advice of the package management system. This is hardly unexpected.

> please cease to prescribe your advice.

Ah. I see. You're allowed to make unsubstantiated allegations, but no-one is permitted to rebut your claims? I figured we'd get here eventually.

> just using it to claim your apparent superior system administration knowledge

I'm doing no such thing.

What I'm trying to point out is that you are incorrectly identifying the source of your problems.

> As I said we get along fine with what we do - and don't.

Your posts imply problems with package dependencies, having to --force packages into the system, having version management problems. I wouldn't describe that as "get[ting] along fine".

Vic.

Vic

Re: @Vic

[Edited to avoid the 2000 char limit]

> it's my fault the package manager borks the installation.

The package manager *hasn't* borked the installation.

You are attempting to perform an installation with unmet dependencies. *That* is the problem to fix; forcing it without fixing those dependencies just stores up problems for the future.

> Guess what they end up doing when looking at my stuff? Yeah, --force.

Then you're talking to the wrong people. This is the software equivalent of someone telling you to hammer six inch nails into your foot because it'll take your mind off your headache - yes, it will, but things will get very much worse afterwards...

> Plus how many systems with >365 days uptimes do you have to install new packages on?

Many. 365 days uptime is not a lot in my field. I like to reboot machines at least every 1000 days - but that's for historical reasons, not necessity.

> Those dependencies sure get messy when you can't stop things.

You only need stop a service when you need to replace it; that takes ~2 seconds. If that breaks your SLA, you haven't bought enough hardware.

> Last time I managed a Linux desktop I ended up needing to edit

> freedeskop entries by hand most of the time.

Why? I've generally only ever done such things when I wanted to do something rather peculiar. The only exception to that is when I want to create a station that will allow system-wide installations from a particular set of repositories without the use of an administrative password.

> I'm glad you like your Linux stuff and I like my Unixy things - cool?

Not really. I'm somewhat concerned that you state your previous problems as issues with Linux, when they would appear to be problems with administration - and indeed, those problems may well have been caused by an attempt to circumvent the usual methods of administration.

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Vic

Re: Homecoming?

> I may extend the olive branch to Apple and return home.

You should.

OSX isn't my favourite platform, but I'll still use it in preference to WIndows. It's pretty good.

Vic.

MP allegedly cuffed after scrap in Commons bar

Vic

Re: Re: On conflation

> Copyright violation in the form of downloading without paying the asking

> price, is therefore not only theft,

Except that it simply isn't. Not in the UK, at any rate.

Theft is described in the Theft Act 1968. A core part of the definition is that it must be an attempt permanently to deprive the owner of his property.

So even if we use your "copyright is property" argument[1], downloading a copyrighted work does not deprive the owner of his property. That means it is not theft.

Copyright infringement is a problem - although I couldn't say how big a problem. It deserves to be dealt with by the courts. But conflating it with theft is simply an error; copyright infringement is not theft, just as driving at 95mph isn't burglary.

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[1] I don't accept your premise, actually - but that makes no difference to the point I'm making here.

Foxconn allegedly hid underage workers from inspectors

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Re: @arctic fox

> sit on their asses and watch Jeremy Kyle?

I have a pet theory: I reckon the Jeremy Kyle Show is an effort to pressure people back to work by making daytime TV as shit as it could possibly be...

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CIA tells big biz to serve up bite-size software

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Re: Re: Pun alert!

> Hebrew: means 'watchful' (CIA, yes)

In Latin, it means "anger".

Vic.

Crap PINs give wallet thieves 1-in-11 jackpot shot

Vic

Re: Why not just insist less chance of failure.

> why not just give someone 2 chances instead of 3

Not tried getting cash out when you're pissed, then?

Vic.