Posts by Down not across

I asked the person who passed it to me if the record number of the last record was 32,767? How did you guess that he asked? It turns out that the record number column was defined as an integer and had reached its limit. I redefined the column as a long integer, which fixed the problem in about 10 seconds at the cost of bugger all.

That is fine if it is a standalone system.

I would, however, advice word of caution as these days it is very common for all kinds of systems to refer to each other, and that situation redefining a key column in on could very well break all kinds of things.

Re: When recovery is not an option

Boss was not happy, but at least I'd fessed up straightaway and we did an immediate backup of everything again.

He should've been. For fessing up, rather than trying to dodge it. Mistakes happen. Most bosses (at least any decent ones) will appreciate owning up, Not to mention that trying to dodge and getting caught is almost certain to get you dismissed.

Re: I have ended up helping the field engineers that are proudly billiing me...

I had a similar situation when Sun released their first Sparc stations in France. Their maintenance engineer knew Sun OS 3 very well, but OS 4 had everything changed, swap place, etc. I had to guide him to find the various configuration files that were no more where they used to be.

Even bigger change when Solaris 2 (Sunos 5.x) came out due to the BSD to SysV change. Many were sticking with 4.1.3 and avoiding Solaris 2 for quite a long time.

Re: Hidden beef

Why would any rational customer, having evaluated all cloud options available to them, and considering all parameters of cost, functionality and security, choose to buy Oracle? Seriously—for what possible reason would you actually choose Oracle?

As you later on hinted at, the only reason would be someone already locked-in in Oracle products wanting to get out of managing datacentres/hardware. If, for example, you need to continue to run the RDBMS, Oracle's own cloud offering is likely to be better value for money than for example AWS especially after Larry hiked up licensing costs in AWS.

Anyone other situation, in my most humble opinion, it would be utter madness to consider Larry's offering,

I just don't see the need for 12GB RAM.

If you read TFA, you might have come across this:

running more, or larger, apps in RAM at the same time, while juggling data coming in from multiple sensors and cameras, and information beaming to and from 4G and 5G networks, plus all those graphics for larger screens.

Whether all that justifies 12GB of RAM, is of course a valid question. Quite possibly not, but for example given the current trend of multiple cameras and fancy image manipulation having plenty of RAM is only going to be a good thing.

My laptop where I do run several applications at once and also occasional spin up a VM doesn't even have 12GB, yet I have not found the need to upgrade its RAM.

Just because you don't need to, doesn't mean othes don't.

Re: "US, Canada finally ground 737 Max jets..."

From what I've been reading over the last few days, there has been evidence aplenty, particularly for South West Airlines pilots that MCAS is a pig and Boeing have been working on a patch for some while because they already know there are issue with MCAS.

Yes, apparently pilots have reported quite a few issues with MCAS.

You would think, that in light of that, perhaps better documentation/warnings should have been distributed by Boeing/FAA to be absolutely crystal clear to any operators of the aircraft what those issues are and how to address them. Especially since failure to do so is likely to result in rapid disassembly of the aircraft.

We had a 2Mb ADSL back in 1997 and for close on two whole years they never charged us

I find that highly unlikely. All you were likely to get back then was analogue dial-up (or leased line). IIRC first ADSL was in the noughties and I don't think it was PIPEX. TeleWest rings a bell for some reason.

Re: And I thought my home bill was bad..

Ah yeah normally I got moaned at during Half Life patches where you would have to Queue on sites like FilePlanet and on a pre-Freeserve ISP.

Ah yes, Freeserve. I hooked up cisco 2503 to HomeHighway and configured it to drop the connection every so often to stay within the free call limit. It even worked bonded. For a while. Eventually Freeserve realised and stopped bonded connections.

Re: Home security!

"redesign Aibo to be the size of a pony with huge fucking razor teeth"

That, for some reason, conjured up image of AMEE from Red Planet.

Re: C5, C6, C7, C8, C13, C14

Is C14 the C13 with a notch?

No, C13 is the plug and C14 is the socket on the appliance. Also it is misleading to call C13/C14 "kettle" lead as C13/C14 is only rated for maximum pin temperature of 70C, where as the notched C15/C16 is rated at 120C and hence actually suitable as kettle lead.

Thanks, I didn't know that. I'll call the C5/C6 a cloverleaf in future. I'm sure most people don't know those C numbers. Kettle lead (13A?), Kettle lead without notch (6A?), figure-of-eight (2.5A) and cloverleaf will I think work for the average person.

To be fair most people wouldn't know which C any connector is if you don't deal with them often enough. Both C13/C14 and C15/C16 (ie notchless and notched) are nominally rated at 10A from connector perspective. Many leads are fused much below that allowing for cable of lower cross sectional area for example. The current limits I've mentioned are IEC rating just for the connector so actual maximum current could be lower depending on cable used. You may also find some (for example UL-listed ones from US) that specify higher current ratings.

For more current you would need to use C19/C20 (rated at 16A max) that you often see in PDUs and UPSes.

Re: DXC Erskine

Some unknown company policy says that we are not allowed plantslife in the buildings...............

TFTFY

Re: Progress?

Could it be that LEDs don't draw enough current?

Not only that. You got things like BMW's LCM (as an example) where all lighting is controlled via a module rather than direct from switch so current draw on many switches is unlikely to be that high these days even without external lighting changing to LEDs.

Not me who originally raised the point, but I continually find that my error rate on the chicklet style keyboard is much higher than on the older style keyboards

I thought it was just me since it seem increasingly the only type available. I hate the feel of typing on a chicklet. It feels all wrong under my fingers, can't tell what you're hitting and fingers easily slip.

At work its been Dells and HPs and the keyboards are dreadful. I've been waiting for the chicklet/island fad to die out, but so far no luck.

I remember many old keyboards (Dec VT100 and VT220, IBM 3278 etc.) whose keys were significantly dished, giving very positive location feedback. Flat keys of the type I first saw on Apple systems are just wrong.

Precisely. Those are the kind of keyboards I learnt to type on.

Don't we all. Likewise I wish they would have retained SD card slot and 3.5mm headphone jack. On the plus side it has Qi charging and fingerprint sensor on the front.

Re: Tere's simply no rational reasons to run ARM servers.

But none of them able to compete to x64, what makes you think ARM will be any different ?

Compete with which metric? Pretty sweeping statement without knowing what someone's requirements might be.

Re: Use of Swear words in test / demo systems is never acceptable

But be aware anything entered into the test system will end up being projected in a senior stakeholder meeting at a crucial demo or will be used in training systems which will usually be cloned from test to save time. If there is anything you don't want them to see that's what will pop up.

Source code/test data is sometimes the last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted. No, it probably doesn't help resolve anything, but lets you vent your spleen.

There will be a time when you are past caring about repercussions.

Re: Is this how far we have sunk?

Even though I was released after a couple of hours interrogating, and all charges dropped a few days later - it took a year for them to return my broken and dismembered equipment.

Criminal Damage Act 1971 should apply there. Whilst they may be entitled to disassemble, surely they would need to return (especially since charges were dropped) anything they confiscated, in same condition they were when confiscated.

I know. Wishful thinking.

Re: BBS's - those were the days

I used to run (or help run) few TBBS systems back in the 80s on Kaypros (2, 10). Later on I ran the MS-DOS version as well for a company for their support.

I did also run Waffle on UNIX with a dial up UUCP link for mail and news. Needless to say access to email or Usenet wasn't particularly widespread in late 80s, early 90s.

Those were the days indeed when incoming text flowed in at 300bps, so you read it more or less realtime.

Re: "criteria in the request for proposals, which it says are "unduly restrictive""

Oracle is miffed that DoD might actually want cloudy features that its cloud offering doesn't have. Anyone who has worked with both OCI and AWS know that OCI is pretty bare bones compared to AWS.

Also, I would've thought DoD is quite within their rights to determine what they need fulfilled in the contract. If Oracle can't fullfill those requirements, then tough.

Re: Tracks nearest the centre sound worst

Of course it does as vinyl is CAV so linear velocity is much greater on the outer edge, so you have much longer distance to "encode" an amount (in time) of audio, compared to near the centre of the disc. So to think of it in digital terms, the outer edge will have much higher bitrate than inner track(s).

Re: FreeNAS upgrade

I prefer HP Microserver with nas4free myself. Or if 4 bays is not enough, then eBay is full with quite decent second hand systems with more bays.

Re: Yay landfill!

Who uses Garmin or TomTom GPS's these days?

I do. Yes, my Garmin does occasionally point out that maps are getting bit out of date, but not every time it is turned on. Yes, there is one "Do not use while driving" or something like that warning that pops up on power on. Tap once on screen and its good to go.

I can update the maps when I want (if new ones are available). It gets traffic via built-in FM etc. It even works as hands free kit for the phone. Oh, and it doesn't phone home.

It does of course keep some limited history on where you've been, average/top speed but those are easy enough to reset.

The very first computing book I ever bought was Rodnay Zaks' How To Program the Z80, when I was 14 or 15.

Excellent book. Much time was spent with that and a Kaypro.

Re: Pi is a mini computer?

...we're well clear of the mini computer era now.

"Cl...cle"

What?

Sorry, what did you say? I can't hear you over the fans of the VAXen.. and assorted other mature computing platforms.

Re: Hardware mute buttons which didn't mute

At a previous job the support and sales teams had headsets (sorry, cannot remember the brand but I'd recognise them if I ever saw them again) which had a headset which could be disconnected from the adapter box and a mute button on the headset adapter box that sat on the desk next to the phone (there were 3 controls on the box, can't remember what the other two did)

Plantronics had adapter box like that that plugged betwen handset and phone. If I recall correctly one button was to switch between headset and handset, one was mute, and one was volume control.

Re: Wells hastogo

Kludge this, fudge that. I will never put one cent in their incapable hands...

What makes you think it is any better at any other institution?

Re: Putting dates in names

*As it turns out, neither mv nor cp complains about copying a file over another one. I thought they did. Time to become more nervous.

Yes they do. Both of them. Have you tried with -i ?

Disclaimer: Presence and function of -i option may depend on your implementation.

Re: you could simply not put the creepy things in your home

The remote server is required for the quality voice recognition.

Considering old Nokia phones were quite capable of dialling a number based on what you spoke, something like Pi3 would have no trouble at all recognizing something more complex. Granted some training would be required, possibly for each person talking to it, but would that be such a bad thing? At least it wouldn't act on something it might hear on television or radio.

Re: Facing us?

The dark side (as in unknown side) is the hemisphere most of which is never visible from earth.

It's where the alien overlords have their base.

No. At the risk of invoking Godwin's, it is where Nazis have their base. Just don't take a smartphone with you in case they try to use it to get the Götterdämmerung going.

Re: Why buy from them anyway?

Much much cheaper as someone who, for his sins, likes O2 but really dislikes the expensive way in which they sell contract handsets (take out a credit agreement for this handset at RRP, take out another credit agreement for a mobile tariff).

After two years the device has been paid off and you only have airtime contract to pay for. Are you getting that with CPW, or are paying the one "convenient" bill forever until you upgrade/cancel?

Some O2 Refresh contracts, when I last looked couple of years ago, were lower TCO than buying the device outright.

Re: Re:No Display Detected

I know for a fact that NT4 would not boot in its default outta the box configuration if you hadn't plugged in the keyboard and mouse.

Many of us are old enough to remeber "No keyboard detected. Press F1 to continue", which was at BIOS level so entirely OS agnostic. Eventually BIOSes did offer the option on what errors to halt, so you could choose "All errors, except keyboard".

Re: Author rescinds GPL license retroactivly (yes he can do that)

You rest your argument on your completely ignorant notion that OSS licensed software has been dedicated to the Public Domain. It has not.

This is an important point, that perhaps sometimes gets missed. Most OSS software is indeed not Public Domain, but licensed under more or less restrictive licenses. Copyright is retained, the license is granted for copying,modifying,using etc.

Re: The room doll was removed

Your plastic pal who is "fun" to be with?

A Cherry 2000 gynoid?

Re: The truth will set you free

That is unlikely to do anything at all. Unless there is a line missing from the top and that is a constant definition. Variable assignments are done with ':=', and not '=' in pascal. Unless the compiler/interpreter on CDC did some funky stuff.