Computing | Software and Hardware

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Nonc Hilaire
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

Typhoon wrote:Spenglerman takes a bite of the Apple.

A rare agreement. When it comes to Apple products and environment, count me out.

Acquired a LG G4 mobile phone with Android 5.1 before my current trip. So far, rather pleased with it.
The advantage of the Apple platform is the relative seamlessness between desktop and mobile documents, and the ultra-simple scripting language which lets 100% of desktop apps interact intelligently without a formally trained programmer.

As a simple smartphone a 6+ it's nice but not that big a deal. What Apple is moving toward is a completely integrated mobile/desktop system which can be managed to intelligently interact on the fly by paraprofessionals. Spengler and Typhoon don't need this capacity, and it isn't quite soup yet, but it's this enterprise potential that will be the big deal.

It's the difference between Androgenous smartphone builders building for current advantage, and Apple building towards capacity and vision. ApplePay alone is an indication Apple is thinking way ahead of the next quarter.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”

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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

The size limit of a smartphone seems to me always a big downer, no matter how well integrated the platforms.
Deep down I'm very superficial
noddy
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by noddy »

my note 4 'phablet' thing is the first smartphone ive had that the size was truly useful.
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

Still fingering my Samsung Galaxy S3, so far nuf for my modest needs. Another recent gadget I enjoy is a $104 micro pc full W8.1 that I use for popcorn time home theater, samsung 47" TV, plus hifi audio setup. Attached a USB asynchronous DAC connected to my old Technics amp that does still fine. With a wasapi plugin Foobar playing flacs and alacs gives pretty awesome sound over my Magnat standing boxes.
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YMix
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by YMix »

MK0SrxBC1xs
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Typhoon
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Typhoon »

Parodite wrote:The size limit of a smartphone seems to me always a big downer, no matter how well integrated the platforms.
I would have been perfectly happy to continue to use my Softbank - Samsung 707SCII flip phone

Image

to make phone calls if not for the fact that everything going mobile and app-like has made it inconvenient to not have a so-called smartphone.

Typing on a smart phone is a pain-in-the-neck.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Nonc Hilaire
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

Smartphone texting is a plan by our Reptilian Overlords.

Just look at T-Rex little claws. Perfect for texting. If he wants a flip-phone, he would have to engineer one out of an anklysaur.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”

Teresa of Ávila
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Typhoon
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Typhoon »

Nonc Hilaire wrote:Smartphone texting is a plan by our Reptilian Overlords.

Just look at T-Rex little claws. Perfect for texting. If he wants a flip-phone, he would have to engineer one out of an anklysaur.
I think you've nailed it . . .
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

I like my smartphone for occasional texting and checking my mailbox. And wordfeud to kill time. My son and his girlfriend are on a three months holiday in Indonesia and getting some updates via whatsapp, especially the share your location option is pretty cool. They are climbing volcanoes and touring on scooters and motorbikes in the inlands.. so to keep track of their whereabouts in case they are in trouble is nice. :)
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Alexis
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Haiku Microsoft Error Messages

Post by Alexis »

In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku poetry has strict construction rules - each poem has only 17 syllables; 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. They are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity.


The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.

---

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

---

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

---

First snow, then silence.
This thousand-dollar screen dies
So beautifully.

---

The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao-until
You bring fresh toner.

---

Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.

---

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

---

You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

---

Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.


From Haiku Error Messages (find more there)
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YMix
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Re: Haiku Microsoft Error Messages

Post by YMix »

Alexis wrote:Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.
Sheer poetry.

Image

Image
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Alexis
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Re: Haiku Microsoft Error Messages

Post by Alexis »

YMix wrote:Sheer poetry.
Image
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

Anyone having experience with Windows 10 yet?
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Heracleum Persicum
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Heracleum Persicum »

Parodite wrote:Anyone having experience with Windows 10 yet ?

After 25 yrs with PC, changed to Apple yr ago .. strongly recommended


.
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

Heracleum Persicum wrote:
Parodite wrote:Anyone having experience with Windows 10 yet ?

After 25 yrs with PC, changed to Apple yr ago .. strongly recommended.
Can imagine that! But I'm kinda addicted to PCs in trouble and try fix them. Love-hate thing. Sounds like W10 would be good for me.
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

Deep down I'm very superficial
noddy
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by noddy »

a pair of articles which i found interesting and that other people who arent ymix might also.

http://hackaday.com/2014/12/15/home-com ... n-curtain/
http://hackaday.com/2015/08/03/hacking- ... al-system/

The personal computers of that time were pretty expensive, but it was not the main problem. If you lived in Yugoslavia, you simply couldn’t buy them. It was not specifically forbidden, but you couldn’t import anything worth above 50 Deutschmarks. So I asked a friend of mine from the US to split my freshly ordered TRS-80 model 1 into two units and send them to me in separate packages, as inconspicuously as possible. Having to cut the ribbon cable that went between two PCBs (there was no connector) was frustrating but, after some hesitation, he grabbed a pair of scissors and went for it. A good while later, I received them tax-free, labeled as “technical junk”, then “repaired” it. My own computer revolution had started.

The basic model had 4KB of dynamic RAM, so when I saw the commercials for the 16KB expansion kit, I wondered who would ever need more than 4KB! Ironically, I soon found myself using not 16, but 48KB, arranged in three piggyback layers. The main PCB got numerous hardware upgrades: Shift hold, 2×clock, single step mode, speaker, and an additional EPROM with my own disassembler and editor/assembler.

Step by step, microcomputers were spreading everywhere, but the government still did not recognize the potential of the new technology. We asked for a new legal treatment of computers, but nothing had changed for an entire decade. Our main argument was that we need the technically skilled people and young software experts, and one politician gave us the famous, widely known answer: “I’ve heard that Americans will create self-programming computers, so we shall need no programmers.”

There was no other way but to continue smuggling, bribing and hiding the equipment deep under the laundry in a suitcase.
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Typhoon
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Typhoon »

May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Typhoon
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Typhoon »

Parodite wrote:Anyone having experience with Windows 10 yet?
Have been using Windows 10 x64 for over a week now.

The upgrade was trivial

Rather pleased with the layout and performance.

One key point in deciding to upgrade is that reinstalling all applications is no longer required.

[Edit: after several Tuesday patch releases Windows 10 x64 is running solid.]

tl;dr. Win 10 x64 is now what an OS should be: easy to use, inoffensive, and unobtrusive.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Typhoon
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POSware a.k.a. Open Source

Post by Typhoon »

I do use the occasional open-source software solely for R&D purposes.

With a few notable exceptions, such as the C++ Boost library, open source software in my experience is synonymous with POSware [Piece-of-Sh*tware]:

1/ Building, compiling and linking, the software is typically a career in itself, especially on Windows.
The antithesis of a well designed one-click-to-install package.
One can spend hours or even days getting some open source POSware to build and run.

2/ The software architecture is often cumbersome, inefficient, and amateurish in design.

3/ The documentation is often sparse or effectively non-existent.

From my experience, I don't understand the point of the open-source free-software movement:

1/ Why should people work for free?

2/ What is so special about software?
I would not want to try to drive a car or fly in a plane built by such a collective, so why would I want to use their software?
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YMix
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by YMix »

Typhoon wrote:tl;dr. Win 10 x64 is now what an OS should be: easy to use, inoffensive, and unobtrusive.
<cough, cough>
Microsoft will explain only 'significant' Windows 10 updates

[...]

The Register asked Microsoft for clarification on the policy after the company issued a new cumulative update for Windows 10 and refused to say what it does other than to say it offered “improvements to enhance the functionality of Windows 10.”

To your correspondent's mind, Microsoft's stance flies in the face of years of sensible security advice to trust nothing. Asking users to just swallow Windows 10 updates is very hard to consider as best practice.`

Microsoft will say that Windows Update is super-secure and back that stance until the heat-death of the universe. And it probably is, but as Cisco's recent admission that attackers have crafted malicious firmware shows, nothing is completely secure and attackers know the value of subverting vendor software. Updates that offer minimal information about their functions don't inspire confidence. They should inspire the opposite – suspicion - not least because of Microsoft's historic sermonising about trust.

Second, Microsoft has recent form flubbing patches. If Microsoft's papering over the cracks of a failed patch with un-explained updates, and therefore failing to disclose to users that they remained vulnerable at a time they felt Microsoft had their back, it's using a nasty form of misinformation.

Third, suspicion of Microsoft is justified because Windows 10 is a data-slurper par excellence. An “enhancement” to Windows 10 that benefits Microsoft might therefore be to the detriment of your privacy. If Microsoft had nothing to hide, surely it would let us know what it's up to with each update? Or is it hiding behind the fig leaf of the permissions assigned when Windows 10 was installed?

Fourth, Redmond has form charging more when it thinks it's done enough to deserve it, as it did for Office 365. If hiking prices because of enhanced functionality is Microsoft's policy, surely it owes users an explanation about just what enhancements it has bestowed upon them.

Lastly, we also asked Microsoft if it intends to release unexplained updates for Windows Server 2016. The spokesperson told us “Microsoft has nothing to share on this matter in regard to Windows Server 2016 as it’s not available yet.” Which doesn't rule out unexplained patches appearing in Windows Server, complete with the assumption you'll happily use them in production environments.
'Free' Windows 10 Makes Expensive Software Changes

Windows 10 scandals keep coming: forced updates (causing crash loops), disabled user preferences, outlandish privacy invasions, blowing through user data allowances. Each is taking the shine off what is actually a very good core operating system, but I’m sorry to say they don’t stop there…

The eagle eyes over a tech blog Alphr have spotted a remarkable permission in the Windows 10’s services agreement: the operating system has the right to scan all software and hardware on your computer and disable anything it believes is illegal.

Section 7b reads: “We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the [Windows] Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorised hardware peripheral devices.”

If you’re running Windows 10 and don’t like this, too late. Users have to agree to all terms in the Windows 10 services agreement before it will install. And it isn’t just Windows 10 which can do this.

Microsoft quietly added this terminology to the service agreements for Windows 10, Windows Phone and Xbox Live back in June, but it only came into force from 1 August.

[...]
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

My three 8+ year oldies and new mini pc all run on W10 now. I liked the W7 GUI, not the W8.1, W10 is good. Feels indeed solid, and smooth.

As for the possible privacy intrusions I figured that maybe nothing much changed in fact. Microsoft will always be able to know what software runs on what hardware on my PC anyways and it did so in the past. And on android phones.. which apps don't try to read out loads and God knows what information is already be send out through the backdoor ports.

VPN and some add-ons in my browser narrow the playingfied somewhat for the stalking corps. Some trouble with my VPN though (the TAP driver won't install) in W10 where I upgraded from W8.1. In a clean W10 install that problem doesn't occur.

That from now on W10 is free is a plus though.
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YMix
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by YMix »

Parodite wrote:That from now on W10 is free is a plus though.
Image
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent? Take a look at what we’ve done, too.” - Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
The Kushner sh*t is greasy - Stevie B.
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Parodite
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Parodite »

Big Bother is Now. :cry:
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Typhoon
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Re: Computing: Software and Hardware

Post by Typhoon »

May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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