Posts by Sandtitz 1712 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Oct 2010
"Anyone remember how Microsoft screwed their users last time by abandoning Windows 8 on ARM?"
AFAIK, those Windows 8.1 RT devices (both of them) are still getting security updates, and the Windows store is still functional.
The product didn't sell, so why should Micros~1 continue flogging a dead horse?
"Most of the USB cams seems to be stuck in 2004."
How so? In 2004 the USB webcams had a video resolution up to 480p.
A quick search online: a 1080p webcam costs €15. I'm sure I didn't even spot the cheapest one. At the higher end there are Logitech 4K webcams with HDR/stereo mics/bells/whistles.
What else do you need from a webcam?
Unfortunately NVidia has for a long time sold same models with DDR (slow) and GDDR (fast) memory configurations. The difference in gameplay can be night and day as you wrote.
One really needs to dig into the specifications and read the small print when buying GPUs.
Yes, they're bastards.
"Franking machine - that's electrical and connects to the network (in a bizarre sort of way that in no way works for normal corporate networks - so this is a bit of a fringe case)"
Ah, Pitney Bowes. Franking machines from hell requiring numerous non-documented ports with nonstandard communications. Don't even try to scan the traffic - straight to its very own DMZ zone those bastards.
"Sure it is using ports 80 and 443 but the traffic is not HTTP nor HTTPS"
Intel has not launched mobile 13th Gen CPU's which these tablets are using. The mobile parts are coming perhaps later this year - or not.
Micros~1 - like any other PC manufacturers - need working CPU samples for testing early in the design phase. Because the devices are coming out in couple of weeks, they should be mostly built and waiting in warehouses/transit. This means that Intel would have had mobile 13th Gen's built in quantity already. Intel would also have generally launched them already to counter AMD and ARM.
"Given the proximity to the Russian border this alone would justify the so-called "SMO"."
I can't fathom the mental gymnastics you need to perform to come to this conclusion.
In the face of multiple mass graves in the Ukraine liberated areas; shelling and missile attacks on several cities, hospitals and other non-military targets; Russia's staging of fraudulent and illegal elections in the East Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea and now other parts of Ukraine as well?
That 2014 "coup" was against a Russian backed crook who wanted to turn Ukraine into Belarus of sorts, a satellite state for Russian empire, throwing political enemies into prison and so on. Yanukovych actually fled to Russia before a vote on the parliament took place to impeach him.
"But I suppose its only OK if we're doing it."
Who is this 'we'?
I am not allowed to be appalled and to condemn the Russian terroristic bombings, rapes and whatnot?
"I see it's a 35 minute "moderate" difficulty swap out on iFixit on the 6s, whereas the iPhone 14 is a 2-3 hour operation (also "moderate")."
So, is it any easier with Androids?
Battery replacement for iPhone 6s seems to be something between €40 to €60 (including labour) here in Finland. I'll gladly pay for the service. Best case I make an appointment for their service desk in the local shopping center and pick the fixed phone after having a cuppa / buying groceries in the meantime.
IPhone 5s is got its latest/last(?) security update on August this year. That's already 9 years of support. Google, the tiny underdog in mobile phone market of course cannot be expected to have such support resources. /s
"can we use the term autumn?"
Is that the 'royal we'? Sure, you can use the term autumn. Your point?
Merriam-Webster says that both fall and autumn originated in Britain.
"I didn’t know that Faecebook was still relevant. I don’t know anybody who still uses it"
Sadly, Facebook does not turn irrelevant by just saying so.
I have never been an FB user but the Wikipedia article states that they have close to 3 Billion users despite being blocked in China (and elsewhere) and is one of the most visited websites.
"Question :. Developers don't usually need access to actual documents,"
You misread the article. He was "Information Systems Security Designer", not a developer. If you design the security systems and implement them, you may have a lot more access for good reasons.
"Question : Don't the NSA thoroughly vet all candidates ? Even for the States a debt of 250000 is quite substantial and not easy to hide."
Many people have debts, that shouldn't deter employment. Perhaps he has a housing loan? According to the article he has two University degrees so he probably has accumulated student loans as well. If debts would automatically unqualify from NSA jobs, then NSA could only hire those graduates who were already wealthy.
Also, that 250k is just what Dalke claimed to the undercover agent. May be true or not, although I cannot understand why you would say such things since it would put you in worse position to negotiate payment, but he doesn't seem to be the sharpest crayon in the box...
"Of course, it was basically a monitor with a PC built into it - and it cost more than a similar quality monitor and a similar quality PC."
They're called All-In-One PCs. Most PC vendors sell them. Apple has had iMacs for a long time as well.
Their selling point is just a tidier desktop than with a separate PC+monitor. Less cabling and such. People buying these are not interested or perhaps not even aware that the computer part may be obsolete after some years. Style over substance.
Tying a PC behind a monitor can still be done with various VESA mounts but the PC power button typically ends up behind the large monitor so isn't very accessible so you'll end up with a kludge, like enabling power-on via mouse/keyboard which excludes Bluetooth.
"I think people will simply switch to Chromium forks where it still works."
A minuscule proportion of all Chrome users will switch. They're the technical people like the El Reg forum dwellers.
Think about your next door neigbours, your CEO or your parents/children. Most people are just using "a browser". Just like the blue E letter used to mean Internet access some years ago, now it's that multicoloured ball icon that is the internet for most people in the world.
Of all Chrome users (billions of them?), a minority know about, or use adblockers or other plugins that will stop working. Those in the know will move to Firefox or whatever Chromium fork will survive but masses won't.
I once plugged in an ISA card while the PC was running. I want to say it was a Sound Blaster AWE32
20+ years ago I was working on my powered on home PC, probably changing a fan or something on the go. A screw fell and landed on my AWE32 and killed the left channel permamently. :'-(
On another occasion (20+ year ago as well) I had a work computer without side panel because I was often testing different hardware with it. I inserted an Adaptec PCI SCSI card and hadn't noticed that the computer was on (noisy area, monitor sleeping), so I was amazed that Windows 2000 noticed a new card and started installing drivers without any problems.
Later I tried hot removing the same card to see what would happen and a BSOD ensued immediately.
"UK workers rights often exceed EU ones - e.g. 52 weeks maternity leave (39 paid) v. 14 weeks paid, 2 weeks paternity leave v. none"
I don't think UK has anything to be ashamed about maternity leave and compensation.
But your '14 weeks paid' is only the EU mandated minimum and does not reflect reality. Every country has their own individual parenthood compensations.
There's a handy Wikipedia table about parental leave around the world. In many EU countries the Maternity/paternity leave can be extended with a parental leave which can last for up to 3 years and be paid from 0-100% depending on the country. I don't think UK is especially high in that list.
"28 days annual leave vs 20 days..."
20 days is - once again - the EU mandated minimum. Netherlands has 28 days of annual leave - equaling UK - all the other EU countries have at least 30 days total paid leave per year.
Corrections.
"The rebellion was financed and armed by the USA and the UK."
Partly financed and armed by US and UK. China provided loads of weaponry.
Saudis had major part in financing and Afghans greatly received private donations from other Muslim countries.
"The USSR gave up after a year and went home"
Soviets forces crossed borded in 1979 and started withdrawal in 1987, so well over 1 year before giving up.
You don’t need an Apple device to watch Ted Lasso. Just an AppleTV+ subscription. And you can get that on a Samsung or Sony TV (and, doubtless, other brands as well). It’s well worth it by the way, not only for Ted Lasso but also for The Morning Show, Bad Sisters, See, For All Mankind…
AppleTV+ is a shit show.
My daughter received a new iPhone last year and it included 3 months worth of AppleTV.
I watched all content forth watching easily in that time, maybe 5 movies (=50% of all AppleTV+ movie content!), and a couple TV series. It is baffling how empty the store is. Windows App Store looks packed to brim compared to AppleTV+. It's like arriving at an empty airplane hangar.
For All Mankind is a great show. Ted Lasso also worked for me. Foundation looked good but it's mostly empty and has quite nothing to do with the Asimov books.
Unlike Netflix et.al, AppleTV+ only has content produced by Apple. They also offer other content through their service but you need to pay for them.
Because Apple has started producing movies, TV shows and documentaries only quite recently, it is hard to justify buying into AppleTV+ when all the competition has hundred times (and probably more) more material available for roughly the same price.
Perhaps Apple is aiming only for quality, although it's mostly mediocre. IMHO, Netflix typically has maybe one good movie/series among 10-20 new (crappy) ones But they have done this much longer so there's a whole lot more good stuff to watch. And if you run out of their original programming, there's a whole lot more of classic TV series from Monty Python to ST:TNG to Seinfeld and whatnot.
Outside of iThings, Apple only produces an app for AndroidTV, but nothing for Android phones / tablets. Due to this I ended up watching everything on my Android tablet / PC laptop at AppleTV+ website with browser. Unpleasant and I ended up canceling the subscription before the trial ended.
I have WSL on w10 and w11, and I just don't see the point.
I'm a bit puzzled here. Browsing through your posting history you've stated that you completely gave up on M$ software on 2001, and then you gave up on Windows 10 completely as well, and now you're still using Windows?
Seems like Windows is still quite relevant even to you.
"Not under either of my Chromebooks."
I think some models had the date printed in the bottom. Anyway:
"Every Chrome device receives regular updates from Google until it reaches its Auto Update Expiration (AUE) date, listed below, subject to support from component manufacturers. When a device reaches AUE, automatic software updates from Google will no longer be provided."
Ref: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366
"Since I started using them, I have watched and awful lot of Wintel lappies die the obsolescence death."
Perhaps.
I'm typing this on my Win8 era laptop, and the (free) Windows 10 is still getting the monthly updates. It won't be getting Windows 11 (due to Micros~1 planned obsolescence...) but unless the hardware dies, it will have had way over 10 years of service life. HP ended BIOS updates stopped 2 years ago, so there is that, but wouldn't call it obsolete just yet.
Outside of Star Trek universe I can only name one other title she was in, Truck Turner. Saw the film uh, 25 years ago or so and still remember it fondly.
Nichelle played a really tough bitch, pimping (!) her harem of prostitutes, check the trailer.
Not a high quality blaxploitation picture but fast paced, jiving + high fiving, outrageously good times. And proper music score as well.
"For early '90s my monitor could do 1600x1200 but my computers could only do two colours at that resolution."
That was due to lack of graphics memory on you adapter. 640x480x256 (8-bit) is just 300kB, so perhaps you had only 512kB on your card? A low-cost Trident 8900 ISA card in my 286 PC had 1MB onboard RAM so I could use 1024x768x256 graphics.
Anyway, OP wrote "some time around Y2K", not early 90s.
My 22" Samsung 1200nf from 2001 (?) had 2048x1536@75Hz resolution (almost unusable); Sony GDM-W900 and (later on) FW900 were the ones everyone drooled after but they were ludicrously expensive.
2048x1536 with 32-bit color depth equals 12MB, so my late 90's era 16GB Nvidia TNT card could output it, but the limitations of analog output and the less than perfect geometry of that CRT with only 75Hz produced a picture that wasn't satisfying. (also, any 3D gaming like Half-Life wasn't anywhere near playable at that resolution)
"When you further take into account the language background of that area and the recent laws passed by Kiev making life much more difficult, is it really so hard to understand why you would want to not be part of the country that is making your life a misery."
In Kiev you can call the Russian attack a war. In Russia you'll get several years of jail for such grave offence.
Duma is about to pass a law where any talk about non-heterosexual relationships cannot be presented in positive or neutral light. Talk about trampling people's rights. Ukraine doesn't seem to have problems with human rights unlike Russia that continues all the bad Soviet traditions.
"Also if you live in England you have the most dishonest government"
No. I'm Finn living in Finland, as I've earlier stated here. Perhaps your team members failed to pass you the notes...?
BUT, earlier on you wrote that you live in England. Now your wording says you are somewhere else.
It would be much easier for you to converse here if you didn't have to remember all the earlier lies.
"Really, that's you saying Boris Johnson"
I've said nothing about BJ. Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else on another forum?
"It was reported in Ukrainian Media - so totally impartial unbiased sources with no dog in the fight"
It happened in Ukraine, so of course it was reported in Ukrainian media.
Of course, if it was posted in any reputable western media you would call it biased as well, unsurprisingly.
"A lot of rubbish is reported, but the people clearly have spent a lot of time trying to keep the LPR/DPR idea alive for a referendum you claim was rigged."
The whole world knows the referendums were rigged. Only Russia, Syria and North Korea (!) recognise the LPR/DPR as sovereign states, the rest of the world does not. Syrian government in power exists only because Russia supports them, so tit-for-tat there. Norks - who cares what they think in these matters.
I posted a link to OSCE where the referendum was described as total bollocks. You too have posted links to their site so you are also considering it a reputable site.
I'm done with you.
"The referendum took place, that's what the link shows."
No. The link shows that a totally bogus referendum took place and Russia instated just another puppet state similar to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"The people living there voted, they don't care what you or the yanks, or I for that matter think."
Yanks had nothing to do with it. It was the imperialistic Russia that dictated from start to finish how the referendum took place.
"This is rubbish, the people living there have a right to self determination, the referendum was said to be fair"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Donbas_status_referendums
Are you just betting that people won't bother checking your links?
The day before the referendum, it was reported in Ukrainian media that a group of pro-Russian separatists in possession of a 100,000 ballots already marked with a 'yes' vote for the referendum were captured during the ongoing government "anti-terrorist" operation, and that the ballots were seized by government forces. Local news reported that polling in some occupied schools had already begun a day in advance.
A campaign of intimidation, beatings, and hostage taking has forced many pro-Ukrainian activists and known opponents of secession to Russia to flee the region, leaving the referendum to take place without any dissent or opposing voices
That referendum was the complete opposite of fair and you know it.
"So what your saying is the parts of the world that occupied the other parts of the world, are doing better than the places they bombed the shit out of, and occupied for hundreds of years in some cases."
Sigh...
I was replying to Eel's accusation of the lack of freedom of press in the 'Western World' and showed that it is not a concern here in Finland. Or in the Scandinavia. Or most parts of the West anyway.
Your article is just showing that the press can publish all sorts of critical editorials and news here. Thanks for the confirmation!
As of 22 June 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 10,465 civilian casualties in Ukraine
"Which is far fewer than say, the 650,000 or so civilians killed during the Iraq war(s). Or the 176,000 or so in Afghanistan."
So you're comparing 4 months of Russian assault to the (wrong*) total of a 20-year war in Afghanistan?
*That 176,000 in the Wikipedia article about War in Afghanistan is the total loss of life, including forces from all sides. The same source for that 176,000 state that there were about 46000 civilian deaths.
Extrapolating this 4 months to 20 years - we're way past those figures and closer to Soviet-Afghan war that lasted 9 years. Soviets lost 14,500 personnel during that war, and they've already (probably) lost as many in the last 5 months.
Life in Soviet Union was cheap and this continues into the current Russian era.
"Uhuh. You know wiki isn't a reliable source?
Which part of the article was not reliable to you?
Either the KH-22 a) was aimed at the shopping mall, or b) it is very inaccurate, or c) both.
Which one is it?
"Ukraine used to operate Kh-22, then probably sold them."
No. Trying to muddy the waters some more?
That KH-22 Wikipedia page contains a link to a Russian aviation industry website article dated 2006 where the disposal of all Ukrainian KH-22 missiles and the Tupolev bomber fleet is detailed. The only launch platforms for this missile are select Tupolev bombers which only Russia uses.
I'm sure you can read that website more easily than the Finnish press websites I asked earlier.
"Curious why you think a missile designed to hit a carrier or other large warship is 'highly inaccurate' though. It uses INS, just like a Tomahawk, and we've fired plenty of those around the world."
Let me satisfy your curiosity then. I'm afraid you already revealed your lack of knowledge on this field when comparing Tomahawks and KH-22's. They have the same usual missile shape, I grant you.
KH-22 only has an inertial guidance system, and a radar homing system for the last moments. The inertial guidance is prone to drift. Drift happens in all missiles and aircraft, not just Russian ones.
The sea is usually quite level and a big lump of metal in the middle of it is for that radar homing part. Doesn't matter if the drift was say, 50m - 100m, by then the radar homing takes over and corrects the misguidance.
Obviously this doesn't work in an urban area. Separating a shopping mall from a railways for a 60-year old radar technology is impossible. Probably impossible for even latest radar tech.
Tomahawks have INS, but they also have military grade GPS, and they are also loaded with terrain maps as well for more accurate hits. KH-22 in its 60-year history has not received guidance upgrades. They were already mothballed in early 2000's but reinstated for the Ukraine war.
"The West only uses 'precision' weapons, Russia uses 'indiscriminate' weapons."
Russia has more precise missiles for land operations than these KH-22's which are more effective for ships as I just explained to you in detail.
I don't have any rational reasons for Russias ongoing usage of them.
Maybe all newer missiles exist only on paper but the funds ended up on someones superyacht or dacha.
Or perhaps there's just a surplus of 10k missiles with no navy to shoot them at, so why not use them even if the chance for collateral damage is big.
"But you're also making the mistake of assuming the mall was the target. Not the large factory or anything in the rail yards behind it. Which is actually where the missile struck."
There were two missiles. Not one. The other hit the shopping center, verified by multiple people already. The aftermath pictures of the shopping center are there for all to see.
"Or why, if there were 1,000 people in the mall and there was a direct hit by a 1,000kg warhead, there were so few casualties."
Only in Russia 20 casualties are "so few". Human life was cheap in Soviet Union and that hasn't changed in modern Russia.
"Err.. Ok. Except I'm not Finnish [...] Can't read Finnish"
So you're trying to weasel out of this?
You made the claim "No democratic Western government would manipulate the 'free press'".
The burden of proof is on you.
Looking at the Press Freedom Index, it's the 'Western World' that is leading the rest of the pack in press freedom. Things are never 100% perfect anywhere, but your justifying Russian oppression against independent press is plain pitiful.
"Then there's media censorship, which is of course 'fake news'. No democratic Western government would manipulate the 'free press'. Read all about that in RT, or Sputnik. Oh, wait.. they're blocked to those without a VPN."
I can read RT.COM just fine without VPN here in Finland. Russia has however denied access to most of our media, and they need VPN to access our online newspapers.
Please give me examples how the Finnish government has manipulated our press. If you cannot, I'd like to call you a liar from now on.
"I expect to collect more thumbs down"
Happy to oblige. See icon.
"As for the rest, obviously Putin soo hates Ukrainian music that he ordered the deliberate targetting of a concert hall. But that's really the problem with a lot of the Ukrainian/Western propaganda. It makes no military sense to waste expensive missiles on concert halls or shopping malls."
Yet they do it! Nobody claims that kleptocracy would be efficient.
Russian operatives have been disastrous from the beginning. Incredible waste of soldiers, tanks and other armored vehicles - not because of the materiel, but the way the were lead into their destruction by weak command and things like unencrypted communications (in 2022) leading to shelling of Russian command posts.
The tank columns without support were easy pickings for Ukrainian forces. I'm sure you've seen the videos. The sinking of Moskva, their 40+ years old Soviet Union era flag ship showed how sad state the Russian navy is in.
This is not due to Russia not funding their armed forces, but because a lot of that money ends up lining the pockets of the Oligarchs running the war machine.
"Or perhaps the missiles were old stock, after all the one allegedly aimed at the shopping mall"
It is not alleged. The missile was identified as KH-22, and only Russia operates them. This is a Soviet era (again!) highly inaccurate anti-ship missile and therefore "it makes no military sense to waste expensive missiles on concert halls or shopping malls", yet they use them.
Are you really claiming that all those residential buildings, shopping malls, schools and others hit with Russian missiles were all accidentally misaimed, and Russian forces have not deliberately aimed at them?
"You may also want to look into media & political repression, inlcuding assassinations that have been going on inside Ukraine since 2014. There's a reason it's considered the most corrupt country in Europe..)"
What exactly are you trying to justify with these sentences?
Oh yeah, Russia is even worse than Ukraine according to the Transparency report. Russia is just above Myanmar and below Togo. Nice company.
"When it comes to unhinged....we've got those Ruskis well beat."
Looking at what people are spouting in Duma, what Medvedev has stated about Ukraine and how Russia jailing opposition for calling the war on Ukraine a war, I think you are mislead - or more likely - trying to mislead.
"That said, the continual dissing of everything Russian and Chinese in the western media is seriously tiring -- we tend to make a very big deal of every flaw we can find in 'them' while completely overlooking anything naff that comes from 'us'."
Name a few positive news from Russia from the last week. Should be easy then.
If you had any visibility to the Russian state controlled media (=all media), they are doing dissing everything Western. Are you not tired of that? And if/when they cant find anything to diss, Russian media are just inventing stuff.
I never understood why anybody bought sharepoint.
I think most smaller companies that use(d) Sharepoint just installed the free Windows SharePoint Services (later on renamed Sharepoint Foundation) that was a component within Windows Server or could be downloaded from Micros~1 website. Simple to initially setup - although the management and troubleshooting has never been! Free versions of Sharepoint are not available anymore.
The free Sharepoint was adequate for file sharing, creating lists and forms, and MS Office had built-in support for working with SP sites and files, but it was a lite version of what Micros~1 wanter to sell to the bigger organisations.
"It's a bad clone of some free open source Wiki software, except it doesn't work properly, and you have to pay for it."
It's the integration with Office and Windows that sure beats Wiki. I don't think SPS is so much used for internal websites but more for file sharing, questionnaire forms and such, it is quite customisable. The Sharepoint folder structures can be easily synced to your PC's.
I'm not advocating Sharepoint and I have a strong dislike to the HTML interface, but I can see why it is used in many companies. Purely for document management in all its glory I would choose something else, M-Files for example.
"In addition, it's become a rare thing over the years for people to custom order a new car - most now buy something off the lot that meets their requirements."
Citation needed - unless you meant buying a used car.
Driving a new car off the lot is unlikely because of supply chain problems. Last time I bought a new car (2019), I would have faced several months to just get a new Toyota no matter how I would have spec'd it, because of their 'Just In Time' process. The car would be built, painted and trimmed at the factory with whatever components you order, and AFAIK it doesn't really matter (time wise) what factory options you choose as long as they don't run out of components.
What I've read and heard, delivery times are much longer than before 2020 due to COVID.
customer who screamed "Why did you do a RAID0! Now my data is lost!"
I once had a small customer who spec'd the cheapest Proliant ML310 server with two IDE (or SATA?) drives and insisted on RAID0 despite protests from me and my colleagues. I ended up honouring the request for RAID0, but I also slipped a note inside the server for future administrators to show it was the customer's idea!
the RAID controller silently switch to RAID0 instead of raising an alarm
Sounds made up so must be true! Which vendor/controller was this? Name and Shame please.
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