* Posts by RAMChYLD

723 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Nov 2010

Page:

Heartbroken app-maker Qt sneaks into Android's bed

RAMChYLD
Pint

But... KDE has always been Qt's mate!

Always has! KDE to Qt is like Gnome to GTK!

Dr Who shoves BitTorrent in the Tardis

RAMChYLD
Trollface

Channel BT?

So British Telecom is into the TV On-Demand bandwagon too huh? And they allow Australians to view the service?

Pray tell, do they allow Malaysians to use their service too? Because last I checked, BBC iPlayer won't let you have a crack at it if you're outside the UK, and ABC iView won't let you have a crack at it if you're outside Australia.

And as it stands, I waited almost 3 years for BBC Entertainment Asia to become available in Malaysia again, and Essledoc just regenerated into Tennant last fortnight. It'll probably be a while before I can catch up with the rest of the world.

T-Mobile USA: Our new unlimited data plan is actually unlimited

RAMChYLD
Flame

...

"All four carriers say such measures are only an issue for the greediest of data gobblers and that ordinary users will never hit their data ceilings"

I call bull. My WiMAX ISP currently has a 4GB cap. Between windows updates (the second worst offender, especially on Patch Tuesdays), antivirus updates, driver updates, Steam game updates (the worst offender, hitting at least 100-200MB every other day, due to the multitude of updates for Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Garry's Mod), iPad app updates, a few youtube videos and a bunch of my usual sites, I hit the cap in 3 weeks flat.

Nokia CEO: No shift from Windows Phone

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

Re: Kudos to them: they tried

No. The real problem with MS is that there's still no Zune, no Games for Windows Live, and no XBox Live in many parts of the world.

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

No, OVI was competent

At least their store was available in Malaysia, sold music and videos in Malaysia, and N-Gage is open to Malaysians. Microsoft's problems with Malaysia that they won't launch Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live (and and utterly limited app store) are unjustified.

Someone please just boot Elop out of Nokia. I will never buy another Nokia phone as long as he's CEO.

Doctor Who gets one-off special to mark Time Lord's 50th year on telly

RAMChYLD
Facepalm

Re: Must be ...

Forget it, I was wrong. That was Peter Kay. My memory rusted through the three years without DW...

Since that's the case, +1 for Fry to appear on Doctor Who. Especially since he's good friends with the late Douglas Adams, who wrote three stories for Doctor Who...

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: Must be ...

But I thought Fry has already appeared in the show as that green pudgy alien with a face on it's belly? Saw it on Doctor Who Confidential a long time ago.

Google to skew search results to punish PIRATES

RAMChYLD
Pirate

Find content from legitimate sources...

Like that is possible. Half of the time I try to view legit content, I get the dreaded "Not available in your country" taunt.

If the f*cking copyright holders want people to go for legit sources, don't f*cking region code! Simple as that!

Valve opens Steam store to non-gaming software

RAMChYLD

Re: Whats the fuss though?

I'm pretty sure Steam could, all it needs to do is check if certain calls in the APIs is unimplemented.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

> I'd go for this if they had a direct replacement for MSAccess and Outlook that links into our

> exchange servers without any fuss.

Evolution has Exchange server support with the right plugin installed.

As for MSAccess tho, well, that's the only one that had me stumped. Although, a quick google brings up Kexi which is part of the Calligra suite.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: I don't like them app stores very much.

>If you buy something from a reteiler, and there is something wrong with it

Last time I bought software from a retailer, I was told that the software I wanted was only available at their flagship showroom and not at the shops they distribute to. Which is located smack in the middle of a business park that was apparently designed by a toddler and thus is plagued with traffic, route and road obstruction issues. Took a good half of my day to get what I want and then get home.

I was glad Steam came around that I don't need to go through that madness anymore.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: Not necessarily

> I just hope that the ubuntu updater doesn't get confused when updates happen without it doing anything.

I have a bad habit of issuing a sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y the moment I turn on my debian and ubuntu rigs (this being because I did not install a similar mechanism on my debian box, which runs Sid), and I can affirm that ubuntu updater doesn't get confused when that happens :P

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: Connected to the possible movement to Linux?

> Visio

There's something called "Dia". It comes pre-installed with most Linux distros.

Party like it's 1999: CDE Unix desktop REBORN

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

Well...

If it means less CPU consumption, I may just try running Steam for Linux once that comes out, just to see how much FPS it would gain me compared to XFCE or any of those fancy blingy desktops that run OpenGL 24/7 like Gnome, Unity or KDE.

Nokia straps Qt into ejector seat and hits the shiny red button

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

Re: The ex-MS-beancounter Trojan Horse is doing its hitjob...

I still refuse to get a WinPho device. No XBox Live and Zune in Malaysia, and the store is still extremely restricted, meaning that a WinPho device only has basic phone functions- and at it's price, even one of those cheap no brand Chinaphones is much more desirable.

Even the fruity toy maker has launched Music and Movie store support last month, and Sony has launched the PSN store over two years ago, and the chocolate factory has Google Play music and movies since their launch. And MS has still not made a move.

I was told that MS still thinks that Malaysia has lousy broadband connections. 20Mbps not good enough for you then MS? Your funeral.

Curiosity needs OS upgrade before getting down to science

RAMChYLD
Boffin

40mbps

That spacecraft has it good. My fiber internet connection only runs at half of that!

YouTube app wrenched from next Apple iPhones, iPads

RAMChYLD
Facepalm

No big loss I guess

The Youtube app was seriously lacking, and there's no way to sort search. To the point that I prefer using Safari to view videos.

Still, it doesn't bother me, my first gen iPad wouldn't be receiving iOS 6 anyway.

Doctor Who to unwrap new sidekick in Christmas TV special

RAMChYLD
Coffee/keyboard

Re: Daleks?

Man, I thought Daleks look and talk cheesy enough as is, even the pre-Teletubby ones. But this clip has me trying to contain my laughter XD

RAMChYLD
Trollface

Re: pre-watershed....

Surely it's a mistake, anything written by Steven Moffat is not suitable for kiddies? ;)

Android app DRM quietly disabled due to bug

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: "Designed for piracy"?

I thought it was "Designed for homebrew". Given how the chocolate factory practically gives their SDK away for free and allows anyone to install unencrypted apps on their devices. Comparatively, I have to buy a Mac just to develop my app, and then pay US$99 just to test my own app on my own iPad, when coding for the iOS platform. Google's "designed for homebrew" policy makes it easier for me to test my software and deploy it.

Valve: Games run FASTER on Linux than Windows

RAMChYLD
Linux

Re:

OpenGL 4 does support Tessellation, Ambient Lighting, and yes, Volumetric fog. I won't post links here, but a quick google search will show that this is all possible.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

re:

Well, again, statically compiled binaries. Like those you can get of OpenOffice, Firefox, etc. Sure, they're quite a bit larger than your average dynamically-linked-at-runtime binaries, but they keep dependencies at minimum if not zero.

I imagine installing steam would be much like the HLDSUpdateTool script:

[leecy@ubuntu32 leecy]$ sh ./steamInstaller /home/leecy/steam

And the script will grab the necessary statically-linked binaries from Valve's server, and finally create a desktop shortcut.

It could even be easier- the installer could be a Tcl/Tk script instead that presents a pretty frontend to the user. Or a statically-linked binary itself with a GTK+/QT GUI. The possibility are endless.

Microsoft: MED-V won't help you escape WinXP end-of-life

RAMChYLD
Linux

Re: Or Wine on Linux?

Drivers isn't really much of a problem in Linux anymore actually. One of my Linux box is running on a very exotic setup (two GeForce450s in an SLI configuration, and a SoundBlaster X-Fi E-MU PCI card). NVidia proprietary drivers for the graphics card aside (which required me to agree to enable a repository in Ubuntu and running the proprietary driver detection tool), the rest of the hardware were recognized and worked without a hitch on installing Ubuntu.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: Time to move to reactOS I wonder...

Well, here's hoping ReactOS 1.0 goes gold the day MS shuts off support for XP (or worse, shut off XP's activation servers). I'd really love to dump all the MS crud I have and switch to ReactOS, but sadly, there's just games I have that cannot be run under ReactOS or even WINE because of stupid copy protection mechanisms that for some reason fails in ReactOS, or because it used undocumented calls that ReactOS cannot handle. Hopefully, by then ReactOS would've ironed out all their bugs and problems by then.

Slim debut sales for fatter Nintendo 3DS

RAMChYLD
Linux

Actually...

I'm still waiting for the 3DS Animal Crossing game to be released before I get mine. As long as they don't put that out, my card stays in my wallet.

Tux. Because he's the only animal on the icon list.

Japanese govt sucked dry for TWO YEARS by Trojan

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

Just wow.

"The ministry has yet to identify exactly how the PCs became infected and has replaced the hard disks on all affected computers, the report said."

Wow. Replace all hard disks? No kill like overkill I guess.

Mushroom cloud. That's probably the fate of the old infected disks.

Apple iOS 6 beta limits number of apps per device

RAMChYLD
Boffin

that's an improvement

I only have 154 apps on my first-gen iPad running iOS 5.1.1 and it has already slowed down to a crawl, not to mention a handful of apps started randomly crashing when I hit the 100 mark!

Sony preps PS3 with old-school design

RAMChYLD
Pint

Re: Old School

Damn you had me for a second :/

I'd do anything to have my PS3 play PS2 games again. Given that my PS2 just started exhibiting clock troubles recently :(

Beer. Because I have a few games I was playing on my PS2 when the clock trouble arose and now want to drown my sorrow.

Valve to raise Steam for Ubuntu

RAMChYLD
Boffin

This is why I start up Steam as soon as I get to my PC, then I let it run in the background while I go browse El Reg for a bit. Then when I'm ready to play, the update's either done or almost done :P

I have no problem with that actually. It's no different from other online games I have.

But yes, as pointed out before, you can disable updates on a per-game basis. Just don't complain when a server refuses to let you on when you want to play multiplayer, because you're running an outdated version of the game.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Well, Macs don't use direct x, and there's a Steam client for it.

I'll bet that the Linux version of Steam is actually a port of the Mac version, given how Macs are pretty much Unix boxes with lipstick anyway. Sure, it uses a BSD kernel instead of the Linux kernel, but uses most of the same core libraries that Linux does (including zlib) - even using OpenGL. The only difference is the low-lying sound layer and the low-lying video layer. They'd need to change from PortAudio to ALSA and QE to MESA. Which shouldn't be too much work.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: Other distros

> "it is insane to expect users to constantly be upgrading their distribution every 6-ish months

> to keep up with the latest bleeding edge distributions."

Not really. The simplest trick in the book would be to build every dependency into Steam and it's game as static. That way, the games would run regardless of your other libraries' version. Sure, each game would become bloated as heck compared to their windows counterparts, but then Valve is already doing that with their Mac releases anyway.

An alternative is to bundle the required libraries in steam's directory (Linux is usually smart enough to try to match the binary's call to the most compatible library) and have the games call those instead of the libraries that shipped with the distro. Unfortunately, this will only work well with Valve's own games. Third party games distributed through Steam will either need to build their games using the libraries Valve use, or ship with their own libraries as well.

Behold: First look at Office 2013, with screenshots

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Toolbars that SCREAM at you

I'm sorry, but I'm not a fan of ALL CAPS. It feels like Office is SCREAMING at me. And I DON'T like it.

Office 2013? Join Win8 in the rubbish queue, please.

Sleek new Macs violate fanbois' Retinas with display garbage

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

Actually...

I see that happen to Windows 7 all the time. On both AMD and NVidia kits.

Ex-Nokia staffers team up to revive MeeGo

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

@AC

Let me see...

XBL? Nope, not available in Malaysia

Zune? Nope, not available in Malaysia

Store? Yes, but very limited compared to other countries'.

Bah, even Apple has finally gotten off their asses and launched the music store and movie store in Malaysia now.

WinPho? No thanks, for the crap support MS has in store for Malaysian users, I'd pass.

Apple unveils tightened Mountain Lion requirements

RAMChYLD
Flame

Just you wait

I'm sure someone would come up with a bootloader or such that'll allow Mountain Lion to run on older Macs. It has been happening since the PowerPC days, and I suspect it will continue happening.

That said, I will consider first before upgrading. I needed to wait donkey years for Oki to put out Lion drivers for my color laser printer (Let's see. Bought new Mac with Lion in October 2011. Oki C3300N drivers for the darn OS only shown up in April 2012). Reason? The driver code was PowerPC, which required Rosetta, which wasn't present in Lion.

Also, Lion broke NTFS3G. Was a PITA to re-enable (needed to patch some of the binaries). And I refuse to pay for Paragon or Tuxera.

Mozilla shoots down Thunderbird, hatches new release model

RAMChYLD
Boffin

The problem is...

Web-based email has been around for almost two decades (assuming Hotmail is the first, that's 16 years). These web-based mail have became the defacto mail for almost everyone. If it's not hotmail, it's GMail or Yahoo Mail.

Facebook signs on for Malaysia cable

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Singapore as a gateway?

Maybe only Time Broadband. On my Telekom Malaysia FTTH line, and all the tracerts I've done to date shows traffic being routed through Taiwan instead. But on my YTL WiMAX line, the last and only tracert I've done on it so far seems to be going through Japan via NTT.

What is the Nokia Secret Plan if Windows 8 isn't Windows gr8?

RAMChYLD
Joke

Re: Plan B

Or it could be the reason Elop doesn't know the plan yet- only the investors- the plan is to stuff Elop into a giant shoe, put on a catapult, and have the investors scream "You're fired" at the top of their lungs before launching said shoe towards the ocean.

And then, they'd just elect one of the investors as CEO. Hopefully one that's far more competent than Elop.

RAMChYLD
Thumb Up

Re: Obvious to me

Heh, what I was hoping for too.

Microsoft: Don't overclock Windows 8 unless you like our new BSOD

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Branded PCs

I have a few problems with them. Firstly, they're mostly Intel chip boxes. I am a AMD fanboy. That doesn't work.

Secondly, I want fancy features like SLI and hardware SPU in the form of an E-Mu equipped soundcard with it's own RAM. No branded PCs ship with that either.

Lastly, I don't like bloatware. Windows included, Will be ditching it for ReactOS the moment ReactOS goes gold (which sadly, will most likely not happen in my lifetime).

Breaking: Megaupload seizures illegal says NZ High Court

RAMChYLD
Trollface

Re: BAU for the US then?

It just finished pouring over here.

Boffins program peripheral visions for ultra TV immersion

RAMChYLD
Boffin

computer kit makers have done better

I've been seeing all those "3D surround" setups demonstrated by Nvidia and AMD, and they certainly provide clearer peripheral vision view. And all you need are three identical LCD displays which is certainly cheaper than one LCD display plus two projectors (or if you're the kind of guy, three LCD projectors).

So, what's the advantage of MIT's solution again?

Sony slams Nintendo Wii U functionality

RAMChYLD
Flame

Re: Nintendo has already won just by not being Sony

> wasn't actually a rootkit

Explain then, why it hijacks the filesystem and OS and makes Windows Explorer hide certain files even if the user has Explorer display all files including System files. More egregiously, It also obfuscates it's process name in the Windows Services console and in the task manager- legitimate programs don't have a reason to do that.

And it was that hijacking feature that many malware for windows that was later spotted in the wild took advantage of, too.

Also Sony made the big mistake of playing the "people are idiots" card in public. Saying "people don't know what a rootkit is, why should they care?" isn't a smart move at all.

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Sony is just butthurt

The slamming is coming from the same people who's rushing the Playstation 4, sorry, Orbis, after Nintendo announced the Wii U.

And, Sony's hate for Nintendo can be traced all the way back to the SNES CD-ROM fallout. Both sides are in the wrong here- Sony shouldn't have been too greedy and put weasel-words into the contract to make it so they effectively own all the games published for the add-on, and Nintendo should've confronted Sony with an army of lawyers and having them rape Sony thoroughly instead of silently roping in Philips and then suddenly announcing the change in an act of revenge upon finding out.

Can't watch Flash vids in Firefox? It's not just you

RAMChYLD
Mushroom

Re: Affects Linux too, differently

Hmmm, I've been having a different problem on Linux - Flash video colors comes out all wrong if hardware acceleration is enabled. Had to turn off hardware acceleration and now every time I watch a video the CPU load shoots up. Thankfully, tho, it's a quad-core Phenom 2, so it's still not too bad.

As for windows- well, I'd think it's probably a potent combination of Firefox 13 and Flash, and probably Aero. I'm using Classic with Seamonkey 2.10.1 and I'm still able to watch flash videos fine.

Crytek says future is free-to-play

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: SWOTR...

Boot Camp? What ever happened to Crossovers and other Wine distillations?

Windows Metro Maoist cadres reach desktop, pound it flat

RAMChYLD
Boffin

Re: Oh sweet jesus...

Recreated Program Manager? More like took a few steps back from Program Manager. At least Program Manager supported grouping icons into categories. I don't see it happening with Metro.

That said, without all the 3D bling, at least systems will run cooler and be able to put more juice into the programs running. I personally shunned Aero and still use Classic in the face of 7, because it frees up GPU cycles which I can then put towards getting more FPS out of the running game. Plus, I'm using 64-bit Windows. There's a nasty exploit that targets Aero on x64 platforms that MS wasn't arsed to fix.

Speaking in Tech: Dell loves acquired firms like 'adopted kids'

RAMChYLD
Coat

Adopted kids...

Aren't they the ones usually abused by their step-parents? Snow White, Cinderella, etc?

The one with the copy of Grimm's fairy tales in the back pocket, thanks.

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