I have a ZX Spectrum in the loft I often see when I go up there.
As far as RFI is concerned our regulations back then were non-existent.
I once saw a BBC Micro for the German market, it was encased in metal and built like a tank. The ones on the UK market were plastic and caused havoc with my Amateur Radio gear until I quietened it a fair bit by coating the inside of the case with graphite spray and grounding it.
TV's were another problem as they were susceptible to interference from Amateur radio transmissions operating within the legal limits and specifications and we had inspectors who audited our stations for compliance.
It was all down to the manufacturers saving may be a penny or 2 by using a cheaper front-end transistor for TV's sold into the UK.
Definitely not just age.
I was around 50 years of age when I started using Linux as my only computing platform.
I saw its possibilities from the first kernel that Linus put up for ftp and I started experimenting with it on an old 2 floppy drive Toshiba laptop the company then issued.
When I eventually switched to using Linux for all my computing needs both at work and at home I got lots of criticism from colleagues far younger.
My company manufactured mainframe and SPARC hardware, supported IBM and Solaris operating systems and associated peripherals so we were positioned at the high end of the computing ecosystem, the pinnacle of the industry, yet very short sighted.
My task to build a Linux mail server on a Sun E4500 eventually got terminated, though they began to take notice and tried to sell my services to customers already running Linux on mainframes but those customers were well ahead of our company and could support themselves.
I was once introduced to a customer who wanted to install Linux on his mainframe as a Linux bigot.
When the corporation eventually saw merit in Linux long after I did, at least my technical director had the humility to admit that when I was using Linux to do everything the job required, they thought I was crazy and gave me credit for my foresight.
Worked on the Univac 9700 which first came out with magnetic wire memory that replaced cores in earlier systems.
Fixing memory errors was done by desoldering the affected wire, sliding it along and resoldering it. The wire memory was much faster than the core memory and was about the same speed as the early chip memory.
This evening I was asked to look at firefox for a relative as she was getting this Bing thing that wouldn't go away. I was puzzled and thought there must be a virus that caused it.
However, tomorrow is the day when Pipex disappears as her ISP.
It was someone from Airbus who said the ultimate aim was to crew an aeroplane with a dog and a pilot. The pilot's job would be to feed the dog and the dog would be there to bite the pilot if he touched any of the controls.
I think Boeing got it right.
When you buy memory from an outlet, see how ESD damage is thought not possible if they grab the memory by the ends with thumb and forefinger.
I have had to tell shops that they would be sacked on the spot if they were working on building or handling memory at the manufacturer.
They proudly tell you they've never damaged memory, just because purchasers have not hot footed it back to the shop minutes later to say it's broken. The damage they've caused may not result in failure for months, but it will.
With a large antistatic mat and a monitored wrist strap I have found memory is the most frequent failing component.
Neither this or moonshine work, sites still still invite downloading Silverlight in order to play content. I have.NET sources that won't build under mono 2.2, so it's usefulness seems limited to code specially written for it.
I quite agree. Recently I wanted a new laptop, all the ones I preferred were hardwired with Vista. I searched until I found one that wasn't all I wanted but that was also hardwired to XP. I blasted away XP as soon as I verified the laptop would boot and installed Linux instead. This 64x2 laptop crawled with XP, but flies with openSUSE.
I have people using openSuSE and SimplyMEPIS as their only OS, doing everything they need on a daily basis, from surfing the web, burning CD's and DVD's, spreadsheets, wordprocessing, digital camera work, IM, Skype and more. One young lady has given up on her XP laptop and now uses her 80-year old dad's Linux box. Her sister just got a new Vista laptop and had asked me to install Linux on it for her, she's also used her dad's Linux box.
That said, I'm just about to start upgrading that Linux box from openSUSE 10.0 to 10.3 for them.
If I can get 68 year olds and 79 year olds with nil computer experience to use Linux desktops, bearing in mind the 79 year old guy had never used a keyboard of any kind before and had to be shown what the backspace, escape and delete keys did and the 67 year old only had a few months' computer experience with a donated old P166 with Windows 2000 installed, it can't be that hard.
I get minimal calls for help, all with "How do I?", the rest they are able to figure out themselves, while Windows traumas are numerous to the point where I'm refusing to help. As the man said, "We don't want no stinking Windows".
May be too many confused laws to begin with. Eliminate the lawyers and companies like Microsoft would find alternatives to do their extortion for them, probably ones who would come around to your house on dark nights. No niceties such as "See You In Court" either.
Try to find an advert for a PC or laptop that doesn't have Vista installed (I've spent the last 3 days looking for a laptop and only found one that's suitable - with XP which I don't want) and you'll know why there is that amount of cooption, not adoption. At least Robin Hood and the Jones boys stole from the rich and gave to the poor, while Bill Gates has scored a first, stealing from the poor and giving them back the odd morcel. If you consider what Microsoft gains in sales to poor countries against what Bill Gates doles out, you'll see that Microsoft is the main beneficiary. Even here in the UK, he donated a coach to Age Concern, with it being used to introduce seniors to Windows and Age Concern which is a charity that's always chasing donations, spends a goodly amount of cash it raises buying Windows -- and they are greatful to Bill Gates, a wonderful man. I for one will make sure that as a senior myself, I don't ever make a donation to Age Concern.
Apple and Windows are sold in a very measureable and exact way, Linux is not. Windows numbers get inflated, e.g I have been trying to buy a laptop and over the past 2 days surfing, zilch but Windows Vista or they don't sell you one.
OK, so you buy 6 Macs or 6 laptops and the numbers shipped and sold can be accurately determined as 6 in each case. You buy one copy of Linux if you are so inclined and you install it on thousands of PC's == Total of precisely 1 if you are counting. I go surfing with Linux, behind a Linux firewall and my IP address is the same whichever PC I use, the platform/browser is the same, so I'm counted as having one Linux PC according to statistics. I have 7 PC's with Linux and on 2 I have a number of Linux virtual machines as well. I am not alone either, vast numbers of people download and run Linux on multiple PC's and not one copy is sold to any of us.
About 20 years ago there was talk of using laser lighting. It was supposed to be able to provide lighting that could be brighter than sunlight, everlasting and using very little energy. Perhaps the lighting industry killed off the idea as their current light bulbs are on a par with under rated fuses. In very old houses you would find bulbs that were many decades old and still worked. No incandescent bulb lasts these days and you should really need a radio license to use the RF type bulbs that cause severe interference to radio.
I think most of these people work in the vacuum that is Windows and once it delivers for Windows, consider the job well done and dusted.
Microsoft would no doubt be proud of them, they already think their customers are stupid.
Yesterday I sent an email enquiring why Windows OS and IE were stipulated when I could watch Windows Media files on Linux with Firefox. I received this reply.
Dear Sid,
Thank you for your email regarding 4oD.
Unfortunately we cannot say when the 4oD service will be available to users
of other platforms, including Mac OS and Linux. The problem is, our content
providers (e.g. the production companies who make our shows), insist on
using a DRM licensing system.
The DRM (Digital Rights Management) system basically protects the video
content from duplication and broadcast outside the UK & ROI. Currently they
insist on using Microsoft's DRM, and because of this we can only support
Microsoft operating systems.
Linux currently has no such DRM system available and so our content
providers will not allow us to support the Linux operating system. Macintosh
do have a solution, however the closed DRM system used by Apple is not
currently available for licence by third parties and there is no other
Mac-compatible DRM solution which meets the protection requirements of our
content owners. Unfortunately, we are therefore unable to offer 4oD and
other video content to Mac users at this stage.
We are sorry to disappoint on this occasion and assure you that if changes
throughout the industry happen, as we would like, we will ensure the support
of other operating systems.
If you require further information, feel free to email me back or visit
http://help.channel4.com/4oD/
Regards,
Jack Harrison
Channel 4 Customer Support
Please read our Terms and Conditions at
http://www.channel4.com/4od/terms.html
We've updated our website! Check out our new help section and FAQ's for all
the things you've always wanted to know about our channels.
http://www.channel4.com/help
Channel 4 take no responsibility for third party websites
Original Message Follows:
Type=Email
Category=vodfeedback
Name: Sid Boyce
Problem Summary: 4oD
Case:
Comments: After seeing 4OD mentioned on TV, I thought I would give it
a try. As far as I could gather, the content is in Windows Media format
which I am quite capable of watching using the Firefox browser under Linux -
I do this all the time with content from other sources, so there is no real
need for C4 to specifically support Linux of Firefox.
I was greeted by a screen saying that my operating system and browser are
not supported and I need Windows XP/Vista and Internet Explorer. This does
not make sense and seems very much akin to the BBC's original idea of
disenfranchising viewers who do not use software from Microsoft.
Why can't you serve Windows Media content to other than Microsoft-based
platforms?
This appears to be filtering bias rather than practicality.
Session Log:
http://kana2/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=46,E=0000000000044184530,K=563
9,Sxi=0,T=SESSLOG
I visited the site as I had read the story on slashdot and elsewhere, then I signed the petition.
You would have thought that the BBC's long use of Linux in key areas would have been enough to warrant a Linux version.
Furthermore, Linux was not mentioned in their announcement and if there was that intention, it would have been stated in the release.
Hopefully their impact is beginning to show, the way BT was, we'd still be using 1200 baud dial-up links. I've supported their mainframes for many years and found their computer staff A1, but the rest of the organisation seemed to lag way behind in thinking and action - I've had heartaches with their telephone and data links over the years.
These analysts are like the old guy near me (sadly departed), well meaning, but could only play tunes from the 1940's. If they don't own the company, one day their employers will wake up to the fact that they are a spent force and get some new blood in that understands the world the way it really is. They have for too long enjoyed a cosy world where they only had to report on the greatness of Microsoft - that used to be the total breadth of the PC scene, no more so.
I don't see how they can even make a wild guess. I get a free boxed copy of openSUSE from Novell which I always give away and I don't know how many PC's it eventually gets installed on, but I know of 2 for certain. I have Linux installed on 7 PC's at home and 4 for other people. On my PC's I have virtualisation running currently running 6 other distros, total is 19 minimum. If the statistics are based on sales and if Novell counts their box set they send me, statistics says the total I have is one.
They say OSX is more widely used, obviously based on sales figures which are traceable by serial number. Novell, RedHat, PCLinuxOS, Freespire, Sabayon, Mandriva, Ubuntu, slackware, gentoo etc. haven't a clue how many boxes their distribution is installed on, but I bet it's many many times their traceable installed base.
Aint statistics great at surpassing damn lies - they have to publish something, even if it is totally bogus, as that's how they make their money - just another shed load of nonsense.
That is strange, I've used NForce based Asus motherboards for a long time and never once had to hunt down drivers for any SuSE, Gentoo or Mandrake/Mandriva distro.
Perhaps you got one of the first boards to be issued. The browser could be useful in certain circumstances, like when you don't have knoppix or other live CD's around. Access to external storage is pretty much a necessity along with being able to do BIOS updates within that environment.
When dealing with these latter day blockhead Luddites, you have to accept them for what they are, 17th. century throwbacks. If you have a Windows restore CD, buy another HD and restore to it. In my case with an Acer laptop, I restored to a smaller HD and used the previous one for Linux until it died. I had a problem with the CD-RW BIOS detection returning garbage, so could not be used. The Acer supervisor to the guy I spoke with said that Linux writes to the BIOS and may have corrupted it. As I was about to tell the guy that his supervisor was talking out of the wrong oriface, it started working again. The problem was the seating that drive, since replaced it with a DVD-RW. For my Acer, I need a Windows HD in order to install BIOS updates.
I've just got back from looking at that info and I'm gob-smacked. That statement and more such as their IP illegally in Linux, a display of "Stupidity of MacBridean proportions" I say. Once this stuff made you mad, now it makes you have a hearty laugh. The question has been asked about the whereabouts of Macbride, my recommendations were to check the SCO offices, next his and his cohorts' medicine cabinets and finally check their garages for bodies - died in the arms of Laura Didio no doubt. Fools can only travel along the narrow track of folly - as one of our nursery rhymes used to say, "For god has made them so".
Slashdot Mirror
Why? I can't see a reason unless there is some reason that dictates doing so, like other OS's.
I have a ZX Spectrum in the loft I often see when I go up there. As far as RFI is concerned our regulations back then were non-existent. I once saw a BBC Micro for the German market, it was encased in metal and built like a tank. The ones on the UK market were plastic and caused havoc with my Amateur Radio gear until I quietened it a fair bit by coating the inside of the case with graphite spray and grounding it. TV's were another problem as they were susceptible to interference from Amateur radio transmissions operating within the legal limits and specifications and we had inspectors who audited our stations for compliance. It was all down to the manufacturers saving may be a penny or 2 by using a cheaper front-end transistor for TV's sold into the UK.
Definitely not just age. I was around 50 years of age when I started using Linux as my only computing platform. I saw its possibilities from the first kernel that Linus put up for ftp and I started experimenting with it on an old 2 floppy drive Toshiba laptop the company then issued. When I eventually switched to using Linux for all my computing needs both at work and at home I got lots of criticism from colleagues far younger. My company manufactured mainframe and SPARC hardware, supported IBM and Solaris operating systems and associated peripherals so we were positioned at the high end of the computing ecosystem, the pinnacle of the industry, yet very short sighted. My task to build a Linux mail server on a Sun E4500 eventually got terminated, though they began to take notice and tried to sell my services to customers already running Linux on mainframes but those customers were well ahead of our company and could support themselves. I was once introduced to a customer who wanted to install Linux on his mainframe as a Linux bigot. When the corporation eventually saw merit in Linux long after I did, at least my technical director had the humility to admit that when I was using Linux to do everything the job required, they thought I was crazy and gave me credit for my foresight.
Worked on the Univac 9700 which first came out with magnetic wire memory that replaced cores in earlier systems. Fixing memory errors was done by desoldering the affected wire, sliding it along and resoldering it. The wire memory was much faster than the core memory and was about the same speed as the early chip memory.
This evening I was asked to look at firefox for a relative as she was getting this Bing thing that wouldn't go away. I was puzzled and thought there must be a virus that caused it. However, tomorrow is the day when Pipex disappears as her ISP.
Thanks, I altered the type of network card in the VM and login was successful.
I tried logging in using 1 google and one googlemail ID and passwords, nothing doing - using VirtualBox.
It was someone from Airbus who said the ultimate aim was to crew an aeroplane with a dog and a pilot. The pilot's job would be to feed the dog and the dog would be there to bite the pilot if he touched any of the controls. I think Boeing got it right.
When you buy memory from an outlet, see how ESD damage is thought not possible if they grab the memory by the ends with thumb and forefinger. I have had to tell shops that they would be sacked on the spot if they were working on building or handling memory at the manufacturer. They proudly tell you they've never damaged memory, just because purchasers have not hot footed it back to the shop minutes later to say it's broken. The damage they've caused may not result in failure for months, but it will. With a large antistatic mat and a monitored wrist strap I have found memory is the most frequent failing component.
Neither this or moonshine work, sites still still invite downloading Silverlight in order to play content. I have .NET sources that won't build under mono 2.2, so it's usefulness seems limited to code specially written for it.
I quite agree. Recently I wanted a new laptop, all the ones I preferred were hardwired with Vista. I searched until I found one that wasn't all I wanted but that was also hardwired to XP. I blasted away XP as soon as I verified the laptop would boot and installed Linux instead. This 64x2 laptop crawled with XP, but flies with openSUSE. I have people using openSuSE and SimplyMEPIS as their only OS, doing everything they need on a daily basis, from surfing the web, burning CD's and DVD's, spreadsheets, wordprocessing, digital camera work, IM, Skype and more. One young lady has given up on her XP laptop and now uses her 80-year old dad's Linux box. Her sister just got a new Vista laptop and had asked me to install Linux on it for her, she's also used her dad's Linux box. That said, I'm just about to start upgrading that Linux box from openSUSE 10.0 to 10.3 for them. If I can get 68 year olds and 79 year olds with nil computer experience to use Linux desktops, bearing in mind the 79 year old guy had never used a keyboard of any kind before and had to be shown what the backspace, escape and delete keys did and the 67 year old only had a few months' computer experience with a donated old P166 with Windows 2000 installed, it can't be that hard. I get minimal calls for help, all with "How do I?", the rest they are able to figure out themselves, while Windows traumas are numerous to the point where I'm refusing to help. As the man said, "We don't want no stinking Windows".
May be too many confused laws to begin with. Eliminate the lawyers and companies like Microsoft would find alternatives to do their extortion for them, probably ones who would come around to your house on dark nights. No niceties such as "See You In Court" either.
Try to find an advert for a PC or laptop that doesn't have Vista installed (I've spent the last 3 days looking for a laptop and only found one that's suitable - with XP which I don't want) and you'll know why there is that amount of cooption, not adoption. At least Robin Hood and the Jones boys stole from the rich and gave to the poor, while Bill Gates has scored a first, stealing from the poor and giving them back the odd morcel. If you consider what Microsoft gains in sales to poor countries against what Bill Gates doles out, you'll see that Microsoft is the main beneficiary. Even here in the UK, he donated a coach to Age Concern, with it being used to introduce seniors to Windows and Age Concern which is a charity that's always chasing donations, spends a goodly amount of cash it raises buying Windows -- and they are greatful to Bill Gates, a wonderful man. I for one will make sure that as a senior myself, I don't ever make a donation to Age Concern.
Apple and Windows are sold in a very measureable and exact way, Linux is not. Windows numbers get inflated, e.g I have been trying to buy a laptop and over the past 2 days surfing, zilch but Windows Vista or they don't sell you one. OK, so you buy 6 Macs or 6 laptops and the numbers shipped and sold can be accurately determined as 6 in each case. You buy one copy of Linux if you are so inclined and you install it on thousands of PC's == Total of precisely 1 if you are counting. I go surfing with Linux, behind a Linux firewall and my IP address is the same whichever PC I use, the platform/browser is the same, so I'm counted as having one Linux PC according to statistics. I have 7 PC's with Linux and on 2 I have a number of Linux virtual machines as well. I am not alone either, vast numbers of people download and run Linux on multiple PC's and not one copy is sold to any of us.
About 20 years ago there was talk of using laser lighting. It was supposed to be able to provide lighting that could be brighter than sunlight, everlasting and using very little energy. Perhaps the lighting industry killed off the idea as their current light bulbs are on a par with under rated fuses. In very old houses you would find bulbs that were many decades old and still worked. No incandescent bulb lasts these days and you should really need a radio license to use the RF type bulbs that cause severe interference to radio.
I think most of these people work in the vacuum that is Windows and once it delivers for Windows, consider the job well done and dusted. Microsoft would no doubt be proud of them, they already think their customers are stupid.
Yesterday I sent an email enquiring why Windows OS and IE were stipulated when I could watch Windows Media files on Linux with Firefox. I received this reply. Dear Sid, Thank you for your email regarding 4oD. Unfortunately we cannot say when the 4oD service will be available to users of other platforms, including Mac OS and Linux. The problem is, our content providers (e.g. the production companies who make our shows), insist on using a DRM licensing system. The DRM (Digital Rights Management) system basically protects the video content from duplication and broadcast outside the UK & ROI. Currently they insist on using Microsoft's DRM, and because of this we can only support Microsoft operating systems. Linux currently has no such DRM system available and so our content providers will not allow us to support the Linux operating system. Macintosh do have a solution, however the closed DRM system used by Apple is not currently available for licence by third parties and there is no other Mac-compatible DRM solution which meets the protection requirements of our content owners. Unfortunately, we are therefore unable to offer 4oD and other video content to Mac users at this stage. We are sorry to disappoint on this occasion and assure you that if changes throughout the industry happen, as we would like, we will ensure the support of other operating systems. If you require further information, feel free to email me back or visit http://help.channel4.com/4oD/ Regards, Jack Harrison Channel 4 Customer Support Please read our Terms and Conditions at http://www.channel4.com/4od/terms.html We've updated our website! Check out our new help section and FAQ's for all the things you've always wanted to know about our channels. http://www.channel4.com/help Channel 4 take no responsibility for third party websites Original Message Follows: Type=Email Category=vodfeedback Name: Sid Boyce Problem Summary: 4oD Case: Comments: After seeing 4OD mentioned on TV, I thought I would give it a try. As far as I could gather, the content is in Windows Media format which I am quite capable of watching using the Firefox browser under Linux - I do this all the time with content from other sources, so there is no real need for C4 to specifically support Linux of Firefox. I was greeted by a screen saying that my operating system and browser are not supported and I need Windows XP/Vista and Internet Explorer. This does not make sense and seems very much akin to the BBC's original idea of disenfranchising viewers who do not use software from Microsoft. Why can't you serve Windows Media content to other than Microsoft-based platforms? This appears to be filtering bias rather than practicality. Session Log: http://kana2/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=46,E=0000000000044184530,K=563 9,Sxi=0,T=SESSLOG
I visited the site as I had read the story on slashdot and elsewhere, then I signed the petition. You would have thought that the BBC's long use of Linux in key areas would have been enough to warrant a Linux version. Furthermore, Linux was not mentioned in their announcement and if there was that intention, it would have been stated in the release.
Hopefully their impact is beginning to show, the way BT was, we'd still be using 1200 baud dial-up links. I've supported their mainframes for many years and found their computer staff A1, but the rest of the organisation seemed to lag way behind in thinking and action - I've had heartaches with their telephone and data links over the years.
These analysts are like the old guy near me (sadly departed), well meaning, but could only play tunes from the 1940's. If they don't own the company, one day their employers will wake up to the fact that they are a spent force and get some new blood in that understands the world the way it really is. They have for too long enjoyed a cosy world where they only had to report on the greatness of Microsoft - that used to be the total breadth of the PC scene, no more so.
Quite an astounding suggestion bearing in mind it's coming from BT. It seems to make good sense to me.
I don't see how they can even make a wild guess. I get a free boxed copy of openSUSE from Novell which I always give away and I don't know how many PC's it eventually gets installed on, but I know of 2 for certain. I have Linux installed on 7 PC's at home and 4 for other people. On my PC's I have virtualisation running currently running 6 other distros, total is 19 minimum. If the statistics are based on sales and if Novell counts their box set they send me, statistics says the total I have is one. They say OSX is more widely used, obviously based on sales figures which are traceable by serial number. Novell, RedHat, PCLinuxOS, Freespire, Sabayon, Mandriva, Ubuntu, slackware, gentoo etc. haven't a clue how many boxes their distribution is installed on, but I bet it's many many times their traceable installed base. Aint statistics great at surpassing damn lies - they have to publish something, even if it is totally bogus, as that's how they make their money - just another shed load of nonsense.
That is strange, I've used NForce based Asus motherboards for a long time and never once had to hunt down drivers for any SuSE, Gentoo or Mandrake/Mandriva distro. Perhaps you got one of the first boards to be issued. The browser could be useful in certain circumstances, like when you don't have knoppix or other live CD's around. Access to external storage is pretty much a necessity along with being able to do BIOS updates within that environment.
When dealing with these latter day blockhead Luddites, you have to accept them for what they are, 17th. century throwbacks. If you have a Windows restore CD, buy another HD and restore to it. In my case with an Acer laptop, I restored to a smaller HD and used the previous one for Linux until it died. I had a problem with the CD-RW BIOS detection returning garbage, so could not be used. The Acer supervisor to the guy I spoke with said that Linux writes to the BIOS and may have corrupted it. As I was about to tell the guy that his supervisor was talking out of the wrong oriface, it started working again. The problem was the seating that drive, since replaced it with a DVD-RW. For my Acer, I need a Windows HD in order to install BIOS updates.
I've just got back from looking at that info and I'm gob-smacked. That statement and more such as their IP illegally in Linux, a display of "Stupidity of MacBridean proportions" I say. Once this stuff made you mad, now it makes you have a hearty laugh. The question has been asked about the whereabouts of Macbride, my recommendations were to check the SCO offices, next his and his cohorts' medicine cabinets and finally check their garages for bodies - died in the arms of Laura Didio no doubt. Fools can only travel along the narrow track of folly - as one of our nursery rhymes used to say, "For god has made them so".