Posts by Greg J Preece

Re: Missing one thing...

Where are the games?

The creep toward major publishers putting games on Linux is starting. Metro: Last Light has just been put on Steam for Linux, Tripwire have been putting everything on Linux, as have Double Fine, Valve themselves, and Egosoft. All we need is for someone like Activision to start doing it, and a console might be that trigger.

Steam for Linux now has (I think) over 300 entries in the store.

Re: what xbox ?

for media playback i assume, not having discs is the whole point of steam, no

Actually, Steam does support installing from disc, and games only ever get bigger, so optical disc transfer might still be viable, at least for this generation.

Ever hear of the disposable society?

You know most people see that as a bad thing, right?

Re: So what did Google say about Android

So you should throw an android out after less than two years

Yes, that's what they implied by saying they wouldn't put Kit-Kat on the phone. In fact, if you can't get Kit-Kat on your phone, it instead downloads an update that makes it explode, so best to throw it away first. There's no possible way it could keep working otherwise.

Re: The point is

I can't replace the engine (myself) in my car either...

But you can replace the battery, surely? Or swap out a wheel when you get a flat? Or change the oil?

No-one's asking to be able to completely disassemble the motherboard and replace the A7 (the correct comparison to a car engine), just to be able to have some serviceable parts, especially the low cost ones that fail most often.

Re: Is there anybody who approves of this?

How often do you take your phone or tablet apart?

If it's broken? Pretty regularly. I'll happily rip a gadget to pieces if I can fix it myself.

Re: @Greg J Preece

In any case, If you are an operator responsible for machines and your system is *that* flaky that you need to be checking a mobile phone every minute or two, then might I suggest you have some serious problems?

Now what part of what I've said at any point implies that I'm constantly checking my phone? Alerts aren't something I generate - they come in when necessary. We have a whole bunch of servers hooked up to the same alerting system, some far more critical than others (including development servers that temporarily scream murder every time someone deploys a new test image). Unfortunately, the mobile client I use only lets me have one ringtone for each alert type, not each machine, and on vibrate it's all the same, so when that thing rings you can bet your wages I'm checking it.

Alerts are just an example I was using of how not all mobile phone use is talking to friends on the Twatters or idly playing games. That might be what the OP uses his phone for, but smartphones were originally invented for other uses.

Re: @Greg J Preece

I don't know about you, but it read to me like it is a company mobile and he's getting company-based alerts. I think he'd be fired for ignoring them, rather than answering them, but that's just me and my strange ideas of reading what people actually wrote before commenting.

You are correct, have an upvote. Checking the alerts on my phone to see if a server just keeled over is not "playing with my toy", especially given that it's a toy the company bought me for that exact purpose. Not sure the rest of you get how priorities work when you're a developer/admin.

As for the implied threat of "long memory", given that I posted with my real name, I hope that future employers do read this and understand that I have the required dedication to my role, which is partly to keep everything working.

I give presentations too, you know.

To the point where, if I'm giving a presentation, and someone is using a phone or tablet, I will stop the presentation, explain to everyone present that when we are all ready to continue, I will do so at their earliest convenience; and I will wait until anyone messing about with their gadgets has returned their attention to the meeting.

Man, I bet you're a riot at parties.

I also refuse to hold conversations with people who keep diverting their attention to their phone. I generally give them three warnings, after that I will simply leave, ignore them, or go about my own business, even if they try to pick it up again when they're done.

If you were ever so patronising to do that with me, I think I would pull out three different gadgets to get you to leave more quickly. I'm more than capable of listening to someone and simultaneously investigating whether the incoming alert on my phone is just another friend blathering on Facebook or something more important than you that demands my attention. And yes, it quite possible in my line of work that an alert on my phone is more important than whatever you're banging on about, in which case I'd save you the trouble of bemoaning connectivity and leave the conversation first.

If you need someone to lock their gaze on your steely visage at all times whenever you're speaking to avoid being offended, perhaps the problem isn't them.

Re: I am an Apple fan... (@AC)

I also think we're already several years past the point where people who like to upgrade their computers would consider a Mac?

I dunno. There's a difference between laptops not being that upgradeable, and not even being able to jam more RAM into it. With the new Macbooks you can't easily replace anything. Custom hard drive, RAM soldered to the motherboard (seriously Apple, piss off), etc. I'm typing on a Macbook Pro right now, and the first thing I did when I got it was shove 16GB of RAM into it. Apple were going to charge me 300 quid for an upgrade that cost me 100 quid, so I did it myself. Bollocks to the new Pros - this one's already had two hardware failures that I fixed for $100, and replacing those parts in the new ones would have cost me thousands.

Re: I'm getting uneasy

They'll pry 10.6.8 out of my cold, dead hands.... But now the latest versions of Netbeans require Java 7 and you have to hack the installer to get it installed at all. Works just dandy of course.

Yeah, that caught me off guard, but then I remembered I was on Kubuntu. One quick add-apt-repository later and I was running Netbeans 7.4 :-) Haven't bothered upgrading the OSX partition yet for exactly this reason, along with all the other reasons listed in the comment thread above.

Re: I am an Apple fan...

Steve would not have let this happen

Yes he would. Wasn't slowly turning OSX into iOS one of his master plans in the first place?

Re: How to spot a coders comment

I think they get paid by the line, including comments

I do a lot of Java. I doc the shit out of my method and class headers, because it makes code inspection and merging later far easier, and the IDE will pick up on them. Within my methods though, I keep the comments to what's required. I go with the philosophy that comments should not explain what you're doing, but rather why you're doing it.

Re: The scopes aren't why I'm upgrading

Just install Services for UNIX:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35512

Doubt it'll bring Windows completely up to scratch, but that still looks useful for when I'm in Windows. Thanks. :-)

Re: The scopes aren't why I'm upgrading

The Windows advantage is primarily in the Windows kernel performance, rather than the drivers....

Given that Valve have already proven that Linux builds of games can run faster than their Windows counterparts, I'm not really convinced by that. To be honest, there's absolutely no architectural reason why games can't run fast on any of the three main OS', and Linux builds have been used to demo very high-end graphics previously. Weren't the original multi-screen Eyefinity demos actually running on Linux?

Re: bye bye phonecalls...

I actually got so sick of Android on my Nexus 4, waiting constantly for Ubuntu's promised image, that I've resurrected my Nokia N900 and started using that again. Which leaves my Nexus wide open for a bit of Linux hackery, I reckon!

TL;DR - Think I'll be joining you on the brickwagon.

Re: The scopes aren't why I'm upgrading

Why not install Cygwin, then? http://cygwin.com/

It's not just the command line that makes Linux better for dev work, you know. There's a lot of tools that Cygwin can't run, GUI utilities that Windows doesn't have, and just straight-up better windowing systems. I'd rather work with KDE any day of the week, just because I can configure the crap out of it.

Re: The scopes aren't why I'm upgrading

Windows 8 is still faster for gaming:

I'd expect it to stay faster for a little while yet, while the Linux driver optimisation comes up to scratch. That said, if the Linux drivers are at least capable of running compatible games without noticeable slowdown, there's no need for Windows any more.

Ever since the beta of Steam for Linux dropped, gaming has been my primary reason for upgrading distro, kernel and graphics driver. My machines tend to run AMD, and the AMD Linux drivers have previously lagged behind nVidia's. If an upgrade gets my Linux box to the point where I'm no longer rebooting for a round of Killing Floor, that's alright by me.

Instead they will see people with British accents, entertaining them , whilst teaching them the values of friendship, helping others and politeness. They will be educated without realising it. All of which is absent from Nickelodeon, Disney Junior or, even worse, Tiny Pop.

I'm not entirely certain why British accents are required, but your post does imply a certain...bias towards the homelands?

And I believe Tiny Pop now has the new My Little Pony, which is in my opinion one of the finest, best written cartoons produced for children in quite some time. It is absolutely superb, and I'm pretty certain that a series subtitled "Friendship is Magic" covers all the bases of "friendship, helping others and politeness". But I'm sure you'll dismiss it because it's made in Vancouver.

If you don't like the BBC, that's your loss, you obviously enjoy trash TV of the lowest standard.

Well that's not snobbish or patronising at all.

Go live in America or Australia for while, watch the local stuff, and then realise what you're criticising actually produces some of the finest TV programmes available, anywhere.

As a British ex-pat currently hiding out in Canada, you're surprisingly ignorant. Sure, the US has some quite astonishing crap, as does the UK, and the BBC is more than capable of producing both quality and crap - see "Two Pints" or the state of the modern Panorama for examples of the latter. That said, shows like The Wire, Deadwood, The West Wing, and so on all come from our American friends, and are quite excellent.