Posts by jake 26679 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007
No, because one is for system binaries, and the other is for shared read-only user executables. Yes, there really is a difference, and yes, there really are multiple reasons for keeping them separated. But that's OK, you go on believing that it's just a pants artifact of history if it makes you feel better.
I use X.org ... Wayland is an interesting experiment that has far too many loose ends for me to consider using it in a production environment. It is nowhere near ready for prime-time. I suspect this will not change any time soon. Slackware includes a rather stable Wayland setup (available from AlienBOB since around 2017; ta, Eric!), and I've fiddled about with it quite extensively, so this isn't a typical "I hates it because different!" comment.
The GUI/window manager I use doesn't really make much difference to me, other than the fact that I utterly abhor Gnome. No, I'm not a plasma kind of chap, but I do use a cut-down, basic KDE for most of my friends and family's desktops ... so I often use it for myself, too, just to make life easier. ThisOldLaptop runs XFCE, though (I'm sure you can guess why). Thankfully, Slackware (including the upcoming 15.0) ships with both.
"Some years ago, my system was being regularly crashed by Cinnamon."
Some years ago, the citizens of the United States re-elected President Obama to a second term.
Both statements are true, and yet completely meaningless in the context of today's conversation.
Tell them exactly what software you had running, your exact hardware configuration, and what you were doing, that caused the memory leak. That way, they might be able to replicate it.
Until then, they should ignore it. If they can't see it, they can't fix it. Period. Causing a restart at pretty much random isn't any kind of professional answer, all it does is mollify the user-base.
Which reminds me of one of the old AI koans ...
A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on.
Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: “You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong.”
Knight turned the machine off and on.
The machine worked.
"may I suggest that if this situation actually comes to pass that you right click on the Update Manager icon and select 'Quit' until you are good and ready?"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that works. Today. But did you bother reading TFA? Lefebvre said “In some cases the Update Manager will be able to remind you to apply updates. In a few of them it might even insist.”
See that word "insist"? Do you understand what it means for the future?
"Depends what the patch is for."
No, it does not. THEY have no idea what I am doing with my system, nor why I am doing it that way. Making a so-called security update without my permission might very well fuck up whatever it is that I am doing. This is a cardinal sin of computing.
"And that they can't even replicate it, which makes it a bit problematic?"
If they can't replicate it, does it even exist? What, exactly, are they working around? From my perspective (as a long-term Linux dev), it's operator error induced by computer illiterate end-users who don't even have the computer sense to describe how they made the error in the first place![0].
This is not cause for a temporary "kill and restart it", this is a rather obvious CAN'TFIX ... at least not until they have more info to go on.
[0] Browsing dodgy pR0n sites would be my guess ...
Yes, I'm a Slacker.
But as a Linux advocate, I sometimes recommend other distros for various reasons. Mint was one of the ones I recommended. Was. This latest example of following the Redmond Way of doing things (which started with their mindless inclusion of the systemd-cancer because Ubuntu told them to) is just the last straw.
Bye-bye, Mint.
May I be the first to say "Fsck you, Mint devs"? I may have perfectly sound reasons to not apply a patch at this particular moment in time.
As for the "we don't understand it, so we'll just force a restart", what numpties. Sadly, Microsoft has TheGreatUnwashed brainwashed into thinking this is normal, so they will probably get away with it.
Exactly. There was no "mysterious die out", the two groups merely assimilated each other and moved on, all the stronger for it ... with the caveat that it's possible that the Sapiens branch was more resistant to a new strain of influenza (or whatever) than the Neanderthal branch, thus the disparity in gene percentage.
Regardless, I have met Neanderthals, and they is us. (With apologies to Walt Kelly, but I rather suspect he would have approved.)
You can read RFC-1392 for yourself here, but I'll paste what it says below, for the terminally lazy among you. That's from January of 1993, BTW, and pretty much represents the consensus of computer/network/Internet folks of the era.
Sadly, however, AOL had launched their Windows software a couple months earlier, and then unleashed the GreatUnwashed on Usenet in September. The Internet would never be the same ... and the journalists of the Mass Media struggled to report on this new phenomenon, corrupting, bastardizing and perverting an already well-established lingua franca in their wake. Marketing completed the corruption.
Hackers are people who know how to take apart systems, from hardware to firmware to running code, and then put it back together again so it works properly/better (or for pranks). They are the people who gave us modern computing.
Crackers are the criminals who use info learned and shared by hackers for their own nefarious reasons. Crackers rarely have any actual ability to hack. This is the term that journalists should usually be using when they use the word "hacker".
Skiddies blindly run code created by hackers and crackers in order to attempt to look kewl among their peers. This is the word to describe teenagers on 4chan and the like.
Here's what RFC-1292 has to say:
"hacker: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular. The term is often misused in a pejorative context, where "cracker" would be the correct term. See also: cracker."
"cracker: A cracker is an individual who attempts to access computer systems without authorization. These individuals are often malicious, as opposed to hackers, and have many means at their disposal for breaking into a system. See also: hacker, Computer Emergency Response Team, Trojan Horse, virus, worm."
Skiddy: This term wasn't in widespread use before AOL did it's bull in a china shop routine.
Here is another, similar abode, just down the road from the first ... but this one is tucked delightfully into the trees.
A snip at a mere £6,000.
Even with your exorbitant petrol costs[0], it won't cost a couple grand for a few days. 4 US gallons (15 liters, close enough) is more than enough to keep an American sized fridge, large deep-freeze, a window mounted 12,000 BTU air conditioner, and all the lights, TVs, comms gear and computer stuff going for a family of four for a day, during the height of summer here in Northern California. (Some, if minimal, plug-juggling required.)
That's running the genset for a couple hours in the morning, a couple hours mid-day, and pretty much all evening.
Keeping the contents of the fridge & freezer from going off more than pays for the fuel.
Keeping the lager cold on a hot day without lugging ice from the convenience store is worth the price of admission alone.
Keeping the kids/wife from whining about the heat: priceless.
[0] I'd actually recommend Natural Gas for a permanently mounted home unit, not petrol. And not just for cost, either ... long-term petrol storage is a royal pain in the arse.
I've been using GSHPs for many years. Yes, they are quite spendy to install. But once in place, they continue giving (and taking away) for decades, with almost zero cost of upkeep. Most installs spread loops of plastic pipe out horizontally, but if space is an issue you can usually go vertical.
I have installed a couple of new-fangled water heaters with built-in ASHPs as pre-heaters for on-demand hot water. They work, off-setting the cost of heating water by a fair amount ... but even here in the moderate climate of Sonoma, I doubt they will pay for themselves before they start leaking. In the future, I think all my hot water needs (including home heating) will be GSHP, with gas to bring it up to scalding for the kitchen, the hot tub, and the Wife's shower.
Yes, natural gas is the over-all cheapest (TCO) way of adding energy to your home. Propane is a close second, if you buy in bulk. Note that most natural gas appliances can be converted to propane (and back) with simple jetting and swapping supply lines. Where possible, my non-portable gensets run on natural gas, but in the event of disaster where that is cut, I can swap 'em over to the emergency propane stash in a couple minutes. Also note that propane stores indefinitely, unlike gas/petrol or diesel (my propane tanks are buried, so no unsightly blight).
One thing to invest in, regardless: Insulation. Everywhere.
You don't really have any remote locations in the British Isles. Seriously. You don't.The place just isn't big enough. Well, to be fair, there is always Rockall ...
We have plenty of generating capacity here in the States, but yes, some of the transmission and distribution infrastructure is aging and in need of maintenance/repair/replacement. Sadly, that would cost money, and the Boards of companies like PG&E would probably not get huge bonus checks if they were forced to spend their profits on such obvious things. Rule number 1 is "don't piss off the shareholders". Rule two seems to be "fuck the end users".
Eyeball various folks documenting their off-grid electricity trials & tribulations on YouTube. There are some horror stories out there, a whole lot of "meh", and a handful of success stories, all of which cost a LOT in the short term, but over the long haul will more than pay for themselves. All of these last ones allow for a real house, with all mod cons. Seems that fiddly-farting around with little piddly shit just to prove how frugal you are is contra-indicated. It just nickle and dimes you to death in the long term.
"Wouldn't you be better off with Solar and a Battery (11kWh) backup rather than a generator?"
No. The sun is rarely shining when I need backup power. (Ask anyone in an off-grid situation how often they have to use their genset to recharge their battery during inclement weather.)
Your numbers are ... interesting.
You can get a whole-house automatic natural gas or propane[0] powered genset in the 18kW range, installed, for about 12 grand. With warranty. And no need to dick around with other people's problems from the junkyard.
[0] Can switch from one to the other in a matter of minutes if the natural gas supply gets cut off.
I live out in the sticks in earthquake country, just a couple hundred yards from the Rogers Creek fault, a probable home of California's next "big one". I fully expect to have to do without PG&E power for a couple weeks at some point during my life.
PG&E has recently taken to powering down the grid during high winds to keep from sparking wildfires. Seems it's cheaper than doing routine maintenance. (Yes, they are getting screamed at. It won't last. Hopefully.) Sometimes the power is out for several days at a time.
Plus, the power goes out occasionally for all kinds of other causes. That's a price you pay for not fully living in civilization.
I am also my own water company. Pumps require electricity. We house around 200 head of livestock on this property at any given time. Plus the Wife and I. And a foreman and his family. And four permanent field hands & their girlfriends. And half a dozen families in trailers who haven't managed to get home after various wildfires (yet). All of us drink water. Some of us bathe in it occasionally.
Make more sense now?
The 1403 was built in 1963, originally for a 1401 system. 1963 is pre- bus&tag, if only just.
Slackware -> rubber chicken -> IBM 2821 Model 1 -> 1403 & 2540
The 1403 started life as a Model 1 and was field-modified (by IBM) into a pseudo-Model 3 in about 1974. If you squint, it kinda acts like an N-1, but without the fancy sound deadening. I keep her on rubber isolated feet, in a lead-foam box with a triple-glazed plexi window instead ... the neighbors are thankful.
"It'll get progressively more difficult to find fuel for any internal combustion engine as the last generation of ICE vehicles dies out."
Nah. Virtually any homeowner who is interested should have no problem making enough alcohol to keep most gasoline (petrol) engines going for years to come. Used cooking oil fuels the diesels.
That's my thought, too.
If you own your own home, a whole-house 13KW+ fully automatic Generac system is one of the best upgrades you can purchase.
At the very least, an 8.5KW contractor grade Generac system will keep your fridge & deep-freeze cold, run your AC during the heat of the day, allow you to do laundry, and keep your computers and coms gear powered up, plus more than enough lighting & etc. Not all at once, of course, but if you can code in C, figuring out the algorithm to keep you and yours happy isn't all that difficult.
Here in the states, homeowners are allowed to do the installation themselves. If you can follow directions, you should easily be able to pass your insurance company's inspection when you are done. If you don't think you're competent, don't have the proper tools, or whatever, an electrician will be able to do it for you fairly inexpensively.
I've added them to a couple of previous houses. Each time I've later sold the house, the realtor told me that they added at least five times what it cost me onto the value of the place. My insurance company has actually dropped my premium by a fair amount each time, too. Call and ask, squeaky wheel and all that.
Yes. For smaller motors, just buy a new one. Sometimes you can even get away with the really cheap chinesium ones. Check online before plonking down coin, though. It's hit & miss. (Fortunately mixers are easy to clean, so no need for a replacement.)
""Doesn't hurt them none" - Said as they blew smoke into a pack with the cover removed..."
And away went your warranty. There is a reason that Glass Rooms were the first areas of the workspace that went smoke free.
"air conditioning intake was right next to the exhaust from the paint shop"
I'm surprised that DEC didn't flag that. I would have when I was in field circus.
I use my ultrasonic cleaner more for carburetor bodies, jets, airbleeds & the like than for electronics components these days.
Hint: Scrape off all the gunk you can before running it in the cleaner, just use it for stubborn varnish and interior passages. If you toss in a typical filthy junkyard carb, all that gunk will find it's way into the interior passages & you'll be worse of than when you started.
Hint 2: Use Pinesol instead of carb cleaner. It's cheaper and does as good a job. Just make sure to remove all plastic & rubber parts first (pinesol will eat some types of rubber and plastic). I use one part pinesol to five parts hot water ... it helps if your cleaner has a heater function.
Hint 3: Rinse well, three or more times, in warm water. Blow dry with shop air immediately.
Hint 4: If you have a very good fume hood, use it. Otherwise, run the cleaner outdoors and down-wind! Pinesol fumes permeating your shop isn't fun, and sticks around for days.
"You could keep a pretty good sized greenhouse growing veg all winter, though."
That can easily be done with a so-called "earth battery". Works by blowing air through underground tubes. Stores heat in the summer, releases it in the winter. Maintains proper humidity, too. One of the greenhouses I help run is 300 by 400 feet (2.75 acres, 1.1 hectares near enough). The "climate" is maintained by a couple of small blowers (under one tenth of a horsepower total) that run 24/7. On very hot days, roof and floor level vents open automatically, using wax filled actuators (similar to the thermostat in your car). The battery that powers this is an 8D, which is kept charged with a 1kW solar panel that is overkill for the purpose.
Pork is spending large sums of money at the federal level for projects that only affect a small, local community, not the US as a whole. (See Senator Robert Byrd's "Federal" highway system and many other, similar projects in West Virginia for one of the canonical examples).
The word you are looking for is Graft.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
