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User: JoeMerchant

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  1. The 2006 generation of MacBookPros shipped with self-destructing batteries - Apple managed to recall them with less loss of face than Samsung is going through now, by far.

  2. Except, I got an iPad one, direct from Apple, sealed in the box. Used it for a few years and the (genuine, came in the box from Apple) charger cable had a strain relief failure. Took it to the Apple store to buy a replacement and had the "Genius" on duty harrangue me incessantly about how my cable was a shoddy knockoff and can you see the difference in how the genuine ones are made? Yeah, I see that Apple had really crappy strain relief on their charging cables, whether iPhone, iPad, or MacBookPro mag-lock, they were all crap from 2006 to (at least) 2010. "Genius" can go F himself and his attitude - as can the company that sold a $700 bullet-proof tablet and then proceeded to disable it through OS updates so that within 4 years it was completely worthless, and then they were selling $700 tablets that cracked and broke easier and easier with each passing generation.

  3. Re:Let us know if you need to support for older on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    What happens in the Windows world is that the hardware vendors (not the OS authors) write the drivers for their hardware before they release it.

    Both models can work, but what it means is that Linux is left playing catchup, especially with the "new shiny" stuff like HD video capture cards a couple of years ago. We convinced one vendor to write a Linux driver for us, but only after we quoted usage in the 1000s to them, and also let them know that we might go with another vendor (bluffing, but it worked).

  4. Re:I do. HP's Linux driver more up to date than Wi on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    The industry I'm in requires 7-10 years of future supply availability for things we design/validate... so, we tend to stay away from the EBay bargains - sure, they work great, but we've got to supply 1000 copies a year for the coming X years, and make multiple departments confident that we will be able to do that.

    The last driver nightmare I had was on a video capture card - we needed "HD video capture" and the selection in Linux was down to 2 potential vendors, whereas Windows had a dozen or more to choose from. That situation may be improving today, but 2 years back, it was pretty annoying.

    The current system I'm working on is a hybrid, Linux and Windows under a hypervisor - lots of reasons for that, some of them good.

  5. Re:So a bunch of retarded propaganda? on Stanford Researchers Release Virtual-Reality Simulation That Transports Users To Ocean of the Future (ieee.org) · · Score: 3, Informative

    You exhale chemicals that make water acidic - you can measure that in a tabletop experiment, bubble exhaled breath through water and read it on a pH meter. It takes a tiny change in pH to start killing coral.

    Now, that same chemical you exhale is exhaled by cars, trucks, and power plants by the tons per second. Every tree and plant on the planet can be burned to release more of that chemical, and we're deep into the process of doing just that, not only for the current crop of living trees, but also for the geologic deposits of plant growth from the "carboniferous period" when there were no fungi to rot plants when they died, so their dead bodies made coal deposits instead. New coal isn't forming (in bulk) because in today's biosphere, dead plants rot and convert to CO2 gas instead of solid coal.

    Is it enough to change the oceans? Surveys in places like the Great Barrier Reef, hundreds of miles from the nearest human activity, say yes - over the last 40 years, mass quantities of corals have bleached and died.

    Maybe some millennium new coral will evolve to be more acid resistant. Meanwhile, the ecosystems that depend on them will die off.

  6. Re:Because Windows Sucks on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    The thing I find most attractive is the open source software that is platform agnostic (Qt based, and otherwise). Those are the tools I use most often, and I hope that becomes the new standard. Crap like OsiriX that only runs in OSX, Autocad that only runs in Windows - they are best in class for what they do, but they remind me of the old Mentor Graphics suite that made you buy a Sun system just to use it - obnoxious.

  7. Re:That WAS true in 1998. Other way around now on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    Keep telling yourself that.

    Now, go purchase a printer from Best Buy (yes, some customers of ours still want things on paper, and there's a whole vampyric industry that serves them). You've got better games selection in Linux than you do printer drivers, and neither hits the high points.

  8. Re:Because Windows Sucks on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    The new Skyrim ads look pretty impressive. So do the Blizzard titles.

    The situation is improving. 40 years ago, Atari 2600 was the AAA games environment....

  9. Re:Because Windows Sucks on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    And I agree- especially with my Win10 boxes recently re-installing Windows Store launchers to my taskbar, reactivating Cortana, and turning "helpful tips" back on - GTFO! But, again, these OS failures don't diminish the ecosystem. The Linux ecosystem is growing, and getting more an more useable as a professional platform (yes, it always was used in _some_ professions, but I'm talking more about the mainstream than the cherry-picked examples).

    Lots of forces keep Windows in-play, many of them unsavory, but the fact remains, Windows is in-play, and you can't completely ignore it. Plenty of people can, and do, completely ignore Linux.

  10. Re:Because Windows Sucks on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    Photoshop, Autocad, Outlook - depends on your industry, and yes, there's Gimp, LamerCad, and any number of office replacements, but those really aren't cutting it in the larger corporations - the ones with deep pockets who pay for software...

  11. Re:Because Windows Sucks on OMGUbuntu: 'Why Use Linux?' Answered in 3 Short Words (omgubuntu.co.uk) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Windows may suck, but they own the hardware driver market, and they still have significant software applications that are Windows only.

    You can "get by" in Linux by picking and choosing your hardware to be supported, you can "get by" with open equivalent software, sometimes. Then there's games...

    For basic web browsing, document writing, and other daily use tasks, I agree, Linux is better. Taken in the big picture, No... even though Windows sucks as an OS, it still provides access to a wider universe of valuable things.

  12. Re:Many believe that we live in a computer simulat on Tech Billionaires Are Asking Scientists For Help To Break Humans Out of Computer Simulation (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 1

    >The only other option is convergent evolution - and to converge enough to be called human (say, able to interbreed?) is so outlandishly unlikely as to make the alternatives seem positively mundane in comparison.

    Listen to Carl say "Billlllionsss of Billllllionsss of ssstarsss" a few more times.

  13. Re:Many believe that we live in a computer simulat on Tech Billionaires Are Asking Scientists For Help To Break Humans Out of Computer Simulation (businessinsider.com) · · Score: 1

    All of this has happened before, and will happen again...

  14. I guess you just get used to the Linux permissions thing on the file system - I agree, it's more of a PITA than actual security, but once you're used to it, sudo chmod -R 777 ./* is always there if you need it ;-P

    I'll give Android points on the "sexy" front, and that's all about being integrated with the phone developers who are setting the styling trends. Widgets will be back when the fashion wheel takes another turn... meanwhile, Qt is playing catchup with "Quick," which, for the life of me, is the slowest GUI development system I've ever seen, and I absolutely LOVE (no sarcasm, really) throwing together Widget UIs in QtCreator - so, you would think they'd try to make Quick accessible to me? I guess I'm still Java impaired, even javascript.

    That UI as a fancy face on a couple of parameter controls is exactly what I've been trying to drive home in my designs for the last seven years or so... you can actually develop multiple UIs, all synchronized with each other and controlling the same thing - then present the "appropriate face in the appropriate place" while the "engine" just responds to the parameter controls.

  15. Yes,. really a couple of magnitudes - when you compare desktop to embedded development. Now, I'm saying nothing about the average/median quality of developer you get in each environment - desktop has a ton more "placeholder developer staff" than embedded, mostly because they can still muddle through with the tools, resources and support that's available and get something useful done, whereas: if you suck in embedded, it becomes painfully apparent rather quickly and you don't get re-hired (many actually have the good sense not to get into it in the first place, or at least don't try to stick with it because it's "scary.") It's because the land of desktop developers is so large, and diverse in skill level, that IDEs like Visual Studio - QtCreator have come so far, as well as the free support that's available on the web.

    Android (phone in general) is a stranger bird - tons of users and developers at the "app level" - though if you're counting "apps in the store", a lot of those apps are superficial / trivial stuff when you get down to what they really do. Getting Android out of the phone and into an embedded solution is much more of a trip to BSP/embedded land than deploying desktop OS software into embedded systems that can handle it. I must admit, I've got a bit of bad taste in my mouth from Eclipse because I used it for C++ development on Altera/NIOS FPGA embedded processors, I understand it's much better developed for Java. Still, when I've worked with embedded systems that run a desktop OS, I (and the whole team) can develop on any piece of commodity hardware - nobody gets stuck fighting over the 5 buggy development systems, learning their quirks that we put up with because there just aren't enough prototype systems available to work with.

    Linux is only a fragmented mess if you want it to be - stick with a reasonable Debian or Yum based distro, and don't un-necessarily customize your hardware too much, and it's really kind of a joy to use - when you're missing a dependency, just install a tested version from the repository - if they're too stale for you, there's the option of getting bleeding edge packages from the developers, but that's becoming less and less necessary as the years roll on. With a tiny bit of discipline, you can develop a list of dependencies into a script that patches the standard distro in one step for any developer on the system - I find that aspect to be superior to the Windows experience. Now, getting compatible hardware/drivers for Linux is quite a bit more challenging than for Windows, but still easier than embedded.

    All in all, I prefer the "confederation of independent systems" approach you described a few posts back, and it seems to me that a network of BroadCOM based systems (Pi-like) is rapidly entering the realm of economic feasibility for a lot of projects - but, at the same time, 4 and 8 core Intel systems can install a Hypervisor and get "virtual independence" in a single sub-$1K off-the-shelf module. Either configuration would support the "run your desktop(s) IN the embedded system" approach. I suppose Java-on-phone is starting to converge as a near-desktop-like platform, but I don't see it being as developer friendly, yet.

    So much depends on your background/prior experience. I've got co-workers who consider anything outside of Visual Studio "scary chaos land."

  16. I'm just going to take a pot-shot here and observe that you think they should use the stuff that you work on every day... I'm kind of the same way - but my reasoning is that the stuff I work on every day (more "desktop class" PCs and OSs) has a couple of orders of magnitude more developers working on them, the tool chains are more developed, the platforms are more standardized, and more capable. And, we're hitting convergence where a 2.5W BroadCom ARM chip is within spitting distance of the 5W Intel Core chips in terms of compute power, OS and dev tools compatibility, standard interfaces, etc.

    I would never recommend Windows in such an application, though I work at a shop where we're doing just that - because it's what the majority of the developers know and they'd rather stick with what they're familiar with than learn something similar that can operate in ALL OSs... Interestingly, they already acknowledge Windows' shortcomings, last generation they had a DSP doing some "heavy lifting" to avoid real-time processing problems in Windows. This go around we've got a real-time Linux on an Intel core doing the same thing - while Windows drives the GUI and maybe a printer. All the dev systems are flaking out this week as they're being force-fed the latest Windows 10 update - we'll go embedded eventually and hopefully get better control of that, but that in itself is a whole learning curve and configuration management problem.

    They all can work, sooner or later I hope that Android BSPs get tamed well enough that they're just another checkbox that you hardly have to think about, like BIOS in the desktop world.

  17. Re:If you really want to punish Sony. on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Oh, don't get me wrong, 2008-2010 were some very bad years for me and Sony - the only Sony thing we've bought since was somebody else's unloved PS3 just because we can combine its working disc player with our working controllers. Sony also sold me a high-end laptop (well, Intel bought it for me as part of a contest), but anyway... I ended up buying another laptop for 1/5th the price just so I could have something reliable while the Sony was off getting warranty repaired 3 times.

    The constant software updates, can't use my PS3 when I do turn it on because it needs to update for longer than I'm interested in waiting to play a game, the dick moves with OtherOS, the lack of game titles that do anything meaningful with the Eye, or other "advanced controller features" (sure, there are exceptions, but they seem like one-off excuses to sell hardware...) All in all, I'm just done with Sony.

  18. Oh, re: Broadwell, no Intel's Broadwell is their Core (i3/5/7) 5th generation, the one before the current Skylakes. Intel has taken a weird turn with Skylake, there seem to be a lot of reasons to stay back at Broadwell, including power consumption.

  19. Part of the company's focus was on integration with cell phone functionality... and the points raised above re: phones update on a virtually annual cycle did come up. As such, integrating with Android would be tempting, unless you want to work with that other major phone OS that sells to people who spend money more freely.

    In my view, the OS's function is to provide a constant interface to changing hardware, so the application level software doesn't have to be rewritten for every chip update. Beyond that, it should shut the hell up, do its job and get out of sight. Windows 10 is failing big on this front, lately. Back 7 years ago... I probably still would have leaned toward Ubuntu or Gentoo-becoming-Arch, not because they are magic, but because they're good enough to do the job at hand.

  20. Re:"Proof" required for the full payment on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    I'd agree, OtherOS wouldn't contact PSN - but, you don't think they're monitoring the HDD partitioning or other "indications of potential piracy activity" while the PSN is in contact? The whole OtherOS kibosh was put on in reaction to some unauthorized accessing of hardware, IIRC.

  21. Re:If you really want to punish Sony. on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    If you bought a PS3 and no games, you have already punished Sony on the financial end. You're a rare case, they made plenty of money, but those who bought only the hardware were getting more than they paid for.

  22. Re:That is poor compensation on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    We had a "Nettop" that ran alongside our PS3, it might have cost $299, and it was definitely a better PC than the PS3. However, being able to boot the PS3 into Linux was pretty cool, it ran a cron job that downloaded live webcam photos from beaches and threw them up as wallpaper on the new 42" flatscreen in the living room. Other than that, it was a mostly frustrating PC experience.

    However, if it weren't for the Nettop - having that lame PC in the living room was good for things like weather info, RSS feeds, etc. The Nettop did it better, but that's another $300 spend that maybe you didn't have the money (or space) for.

  23. Re:That is poor compensation on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Yeah, that's why a PS4 will never see the inside of my house.

  24. Re:"Proof" required for the full payment on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    What they won by winning the argument was payment of their legal fees. This was never about getting anything for the class members, only proving the point and making Sony pay for their time spent doing so.

  25. Re:"Proof" required for the full payment on You Can Now Claim Your Cash In the PS3 'Other PS3' Settlement (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    So, I'm one of the "OtherOS" users who was directly impacted by this - forced to dump OtherOS because I had an active PSN account that required me to update to continue using it - basically choose OtherOS or games, couldn't have both anymore.

    This was what, like seven years ago? That PS3 YLOD'ed in 2010, was in the recycling bin after a couple of repair attempts. Does anybody keep paperwork like this? I know Sony has records, if they care to look at them, my CC# was active on PSN at the time and I'd be absolutely shocked if they didn't have some indication in their records of my OtherOS usage. We have a newer PS3 that still uses that same account, and it still has records of the games we purchased back then.

    Kudos to the lawyers for "winning" this case so quickly, I'm sure they'll be getting paid. I wonder what percentage of affected class members will ever see anything out of this?