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[Tech] Most of the time it's not actively trying to kill you

1910121415103

Posts

  • KarlKarl Registered User regular
    Jedoc wrote: »
    It's been over a decade since we had to start making sure all the high-frequency trading computers had the same length of cable so that one robot wouldn't have a few billionths of a second to screw a second robot out of millions of mostly imaginary dollars.

    We're so far into the black mirror at this point that the robot uprising will be all the Roombas desperately trying to commandeer a rocket so they can get the fuck away from our nonsense.

    One of my first IT infrastructure jobs was being the implementation manager for this kind of setup.

    I had to attend a 2 hour training session on "cable fairness".


    Lord do I not miss that job.

  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    Could I solicit some help on getting TWRP installed?

    I've been following some guides on the XDA-Developers forum, and I'm pretty confused by this step. The first guide is referring me to another guide, which just says "you need TWRP installed." The TWRP thread, or at least the mustang one, has no instructions and just provides the zip. There's no readme that I can find.

    I'm not supposed to extract the zip files for the new ROM or other apps; and the structure of the TWRP zip is similar to those (by which I mostly mean it has a META-INF folder)

    one google result says I should, from the 'custom recovery screen', run
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

    another results says I need both the zip and the img, but that feels redundant in a confusing way; and also it wants me to run
    fastboot boot twrp.img

    so ... do I extract the twrp.img from the zip, and then use it to flash it's own zip file?

    or is just using the first command line enough?

  • Goose!Goose! That's me, honey Show me the way home, honeyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Tamin wrote: »
    Could I solicit some help on getting TWRP installed?

    I've been following some guides on the XDA-Developers forum, and I'm pretty confused by this step. The first guide is referring me to another guide, which just says "you need TWRP installed." The TWRP thread, or at least the mustang one, has no instructions and just provides the zip. There's no readme that I can find.

    I'm not supposed to extract the zip files for the new ROM or other apps; and the structure of the TWRP zip is similar to those (by which I mostly mean it has a META-INF folder)

    one google result says I should, from the 'custom recovery screen', run
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

    another results says I need both the zip and the img, but that feels redundant in a confusing way; and also it wants me to run
    fastboot boot twrp.img

    so ... do I extract the twrp.img from the zip, and then use it to flash it's own zip file?

    or is just using the first command line enough?

    61b47f37eadcf23686d753b85690e512.jpg
    ?

    Goose! on
  • honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    Facebook is stopping sales of the Occulus in Germany. No reason given, but it's probably because of the planned connection of Occulus devices to facebook accounts and the resulting personal data protection problems.

  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Tamin wrote: »
    Could I solicit some help on getting TWRP installed?

    I've been following some guides on the XDA-Developers forum, and I'm pretty confused by this step. The first guide is referring me to another guide, which just says "you need TWRP installed." The TWRP thread, or at least the mustang one, has no instructions and just provides the zip. There's no readme that I can find.

    I'm not supposed to extract the zip files for the new ROM or other apps; and the structure of the TWRP zip is similar to those (by which I mostly mean it has a META-INF folder)

    one google result says I should, from the 'custom recovery screen', run
    fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

    another results says I need both the zip and the img, but that feels redundant in a confusing way; and also it wants me to run
    fastboot boot twrp.img

    so ... do I extract the twrp.img from the zip, and then use it to flash it's own zip file?

    or is just using the first command line enough?
    How to Install TWRP.

    Sorce on
    sig.gif
  • TaminTamin Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    edit: didn't see Sorce's post initially:
    Thanks for that. I did see that article yesterday, but the twrp img in my zip doesn't have a version so I wasn't clear on if it would work. As it turns out, the guide I'm following is automatically installing twrp; the description is just extremely unclear. They're relying on shorthand that I don't have, so things are a lot more opaque than I'd like.


    I am furious about this, by the by. Spent hours yesterday morning running down the different guides and creating a checklist. Spent more hours trying to figure out if the guides were actually complete.

    Spent almost five hours this morning trying first the software version (whoops, turns out the factory version is just a bit too recent) and then trying the hardware method -- and I am never eager to follow instructions that include, "apply a short". Turns out I needn't have bothered because that method doesn't work either, for no discernible reason.

    The worst part is, I don't want to be doing any of this! I just want the device to work correctly.

    Amazon could just do their job and push a patch or 'uplevel' the OS, but they won't do their job and they go out of their way to make it impossible for the end-user to change things.

    Tamin on
  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular




    yeah the older I get the more pissed off I am that top level domains are essentially sold back to the public by for-profit companies in bizarre auctions

  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    The registrar for .org domains, previously administered by a non-profit, is now controlled by a private equity firm. Incidentally, ICANN also removed price caps in contracting out the domain, despite more than 3,000 comments against it and only 6 for.

    internet :rotate:

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Zxerol wrote: »
    The registrar for .org domains, previously administered by a non-profit, is now controlled by a private equity firm. Incidentally, ICANN also removed price caps in contracting out the domain, despite more than 3,000 comments against it and only 6 for.

    internet :rotate:

    Wait, has shit broken bad again? Last I read, ICANN reversed course and blocked the sale back in May.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Zxerol wrote: »
    The registrar for .org domains, previously administered by a non-profit, is now controlled by a private equity firm. Incidentally, ICANN also removed price caps in contracting out the domain, despite more than 3,000 comments against it and only 6 for.

    internet :rotate:

    Wait, has shit broken bad again? Last I read, ICANN reversed course and blocked the sale back in May.

    Oh, I missed that. Cool.

  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    Wow, so instagram has some tiktok competitor built into it now, it shows up in the search tab

    I don't know how it works, I am guessing like the search function works similarly to the one for regular 'gram post

    Someone on followers or followee list must be horny as hell, because my reels previews are entirely pole dancers and people doing yoga with their asses hanging out

  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    wait is that unusual?

    crap

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Peen wrote: »
    wait is that unusual?

    crap

    I don't think so, not exactly, anyway. I just checked and my ... normal account has a slightly higher percentage of musicians (which is who I mainly follow on that account), verses my ... other account.

    But both have lots of all sorts of women doing various forms of yoga/dance workout type stuff. Which I figure is just, like, the majority of people who promote on there? I dunno. I'm not much of a 'grammer.

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • SorceSorce Not ThereRegistered User regular
    Mine has a variety of attractive people on it, with a healthy mix of DCTV stuff.

    And also this:

    sig.gif
  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    I use insta 100% to follow artists and do nothing social with it. Lots of illustrators, painters of various styles etc. My suggested feed is full of anime tittie. I think you just can't avoid the high sex drive of insta at large. And good on all the people making rent off it.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote:
    Jedoc wrote:
    About a hundred years ago near the end of March, I ordered a replacement bracket for the wrist rest on my keyboard. Since they're a UK company, they gave me the part for free but charged about ten dollars for shipping. Reasonable, and this wobbly wrist rest has been bothering me ever since it broke.

    It seems like it should be here by now, but I kind of feel like a dick emailing them about it. "Hey, I ordered a non-essential overseas plastic widget during a global pandemic and it isn't here. Is that...is that because of the global pandemic? I just want to make sure it's because of the global pandemic and not because someone forgot to click a button. Not you, probably. Someone else."

    But, you know. I did give them ten bucks.

    I suppose it's possible it arrived and someone in this neighborhood is the most disappointed package thief in history.

    I emailed them again and it turns out they don't have any tracking information on my bracket, and they're all out of brackets.

    So they're going to send me a whole replacement wrist rest.

    This is theoretically a good outcome, but I've been hurt before.

    Day 108. After waiting a month, I emailed them back to let them know I never received any tracking information. Apparently my order got screwed up again, but they're pretty confident they'll be able to ship it out in a couple of weeks once they finish moving warehouses.

    I think we're both just grimly interested in how long we'll keep pretending this is ever going to happen at this point.

    Day 152. The latest 4-6 week estimate has come and gone. I have checked for an update, and they have promised that this time it is super for real coming.

    The ritual is satisfied for now.

    BREAKING NEWS

    I actually got an email with a tracking number. As of today, the package is in a sorting center in the Netherlands. I'm sure this will turn out to be a very swift and straightforward delivery from here on out.

    It's been "On transport to the country of destination" for a week. I think it's on a boat! This is exciting, I've never had anything shipped to me on a boat before. I mean, 90% of everything I've ever purchased was shipped here on a boat, but I don't think I've ever directly caused a thing to be put on a boat via a series of increasingly ironic emails.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • BucketmanBucketman Call me SkraggRegistered User regular
    In somewhat tech related news. My wife and I decided to finally bite the bullet, we have animals and our current vacuum is bad. With Labor Day sales it was time, so we bought a Dyson. The V10 Animal (2019's model) then we were at Costco and they had the V11 Animal (2020 model) for $25 more then we paid for the V10. We looked it up and theres only a few small differences and like and LCD screen we don't care about so we decided its fine, we'll keep the one we bought a few minutes ago.

    But we kept talking about it the whole rest of the time in Costco, because its the shinier and newer model! Its only $25 more!

    We resisted the temptation but when we got home turns out we got a busted cleaning head so we need to wait for Dyson to send us a replacement before we can even use it...which sucks.

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    Jasconius wrote: »
    is there still a website around that does good reviews of PC monitors

    Update: the Aorus CV27Q is one of the best screens of any variety I've ever looked at. From https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-monitors,4533.html

    Highly recommended. The only overwhelming downside I can detect is the gsync/freesync doesn't seem to hot to me, but I'm not sure if that's a monitor thing or a my computer thing

  • godmodegodmode Southeast JapanRegistered User regular
    I learned something new about my Macbook this week!
    I bought this Macbook Pro a couple years back, I think it's the 2017 or 2018 model? The 15-inch one. For the longest time, I thought the battery life just kind of sucked in general, because it never lived up to anything near the 10 hours advertised. Well, I just learned that, within the Activity Monitor, there's an Energy tab. This tab will tell you which apps are sucking up the most juice (surprise: mine is Google Chrome)
    Besides that, in the Energy Saver Settings, there's a checkbox called "Automatic Graphics Switching" that I've had unchecked for years, meaning I think the computer was always using the discrete graphics, and it must've been nuking my battery. After I clicked that checkbox, it's extended my battery life significantly, like maybe by a few hours. I'm still not quite getting 10 hours on battery, but the Activity Monitor window reads 7 hours approximately, and I think before i was only getting 3 or 4.

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Richie Rich over here with a laptop he can unplug

    *fires up my HP pavilion g6 circa 2010* anybody got a network cable?

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Tech thread! As a thank you to some friends who are letting me and my family shelter with them, I would like to get them new gaming chairs! Their old office chairs are shot to shit. What would be good reasonably priced brands to suggest to them to look at? Only requirements are that you can sit weird in them, like with a leg folded up, and that they look reasonably professional for zoom meetings, so no rbg lighting.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    I just had a momentary bout of 'tech disorientation', because I was born in the 70s and it just sorta hit home that I have as a possession for personal entertainment and edification, an engine that cycles four billion times a second, (and across 8 cores at that)

    And in a couple months I'm gonna hand it down to my nephew in favour of something better, because 4Ghz is kinda mediocre

  • pimentopimento she/they/pim Registered User regular
    webguy20 wrote: »
    Tech thread! As a thank you to some friends who are letting me and my family shelter with them, I would like to get them new gaming chairs! Their old office chairs are shot to shit. What would be good reasonably priced brands to suggest to them to look at? Only requirements are that you can sit weird in them, like with a leg folded up, and that they look reasonably professional for zoom meetings, so no rbg lighting.

    I would look at office chairs rather than gaming chairs - gaming chairs tend to be those silly racecar looking things rather than sensible seats you can sit sideways across with one leg tucked under.

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Today in "Cyberpunk is a warning, not a suggestion" news, Amazon has released a landlord edition of its Alexa surveillance speaker that can be forced upon tenants.

    https://t.co/qLUmPwINfT

    1/ https://t.co/C0Ku9zDEHv
    Here's Amazon's pitch: Landlord Alexa "makes it easy for property managers to set up and manage Alexa-powered smart home experiences throughout their buildings."

    Satire is dead. Poe's Law rules all.

    2/
    Landlord Alexa incorporates special commands that "let their residents pay rent, submit maintenance requests, and manage other things."

    It also lets landlords "drop in" (Alexaspeak for "trigger the mic and camera") in their tenants' homes.

    3/
    Amazon claims they've taken steps to prevent nonconsensual surveillance, but as Joanna Nelius writes for @Gizmodo, there are so many trivial ways that landlords could circumvent Amazon's precautions.

    4/
    It's as simple as adding themselves as a contact on the device before turning it over to you (indeed, this is so trivial that one must presume that Amazon either did no security analysis at all here, or that this is deliberate).

    5/
    And of course, if you forget to set "Do Not Disturb" when you're not home, your landlord can just virtually "drop in" and surveil your residence without leaving any trace.

    6/
    I am well aware that I wrote one of the definitive texts on how evil landlords could exploit IoT devices to torment their tenants (how could I forget when so many people sent me this story!), but honestly, Unauthorized Bread was not a pitch deck.

    https://t.co/3o77vw66MZ

    eof/

    Tox on
    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Upon consideration, I am opposed to this.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • Ashaman42Ashaman42 Registered User regular
    Well that's horrendous!

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Ab-so-FUCKING-lutely-not.

  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    That rates eleven trillion out of a possible ten nopes.

  • QuantumTurkQuantumTurk Registered User regular
    Outside of small use cases for people who can't otherwise use a phone/computer I am still baffled anyone buys those things willingly.

  • KetarKetar Come on upstairs we're having a partyRegistered User regular
    Outside of small use cases for people who can't otherwise use a phone/computer I am still baffled anyone buys those things willingly.

    We have one in the basement where our kids play. It's perfect for them to be able to play whatever music they feel like whenever they want it, and they were both able to start doing so well before they would have been able to handle a digital interface thanks to the voice commands.

    And it's never going to overhear or record anything other than my kids playing, or maybe me playing video games or watching a movie at the other end of the basement, so...*shrug*.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote: »
    Jedoc wrote:
    Jedoc wrote:
    About a hundred years ago near the end of March, I ordered a replacement bracket for the wrist rest on my keyboard. Since they're a UK company, they gave me the part for free but charged about ten dollars for shipping. Reasonable, and this wobbly wrist rest has been bothering me ever since it broke.

    It seems like it should be here by now, but I kind of feel like a dick emailing them about it. "Hey, I ordered a non-essential overseas plastic widget during a global pandemic and it isn't here. Is that...is that because of the global pandemic? I just want to make sure it's because of the global pandemic and not because someone forgot to click a button. Not you, probably. Someone else."

    But, you know. I did give them ten bucks.

    I suppose it's possible it arrived and someone in this neighborhood is the most disappointed package thief in history.

    I emailed them again and it turns out they don't have any tracking information on my bracket, and they're all out of brackets.

    So they're going to send me a whole replacement wrist rest.

    This is theoretically a good outcome, but I've been hurt before.

    Day 108. After waiting a month, I emailed them back to let them know I never received any tracking information. Apparently my order got screwed up again, but they're pretty confident they'll be able to ship it out in a couple of weeks once they finish moving warehouses.

    I think we're both just grimly interested in how long we'll keep pretending this is ever going to happen at this point.

    Day 152. The latest 4-6 week estimate has come and gone. I have checked for an update, and they have promised that this time it is super for real coming.

    The ritual is satisfied for now.

    BREAKING NEWS

    I actually got an email with a tracking number. As of today, the package is in a sorting center in the Netherlands. I'm sure this will turn out to be a very swift and straightforward delivery from here on out.

    It's been "On transport to the country of destination" for a week. I think it's on a boat! This is exciting, I've never had anything shipped to me on a boat before. I mean, 90% of everything I've ever purchased was shipped here on a boat, but I don't think I've ever directly caused a thing to be put on a boat via a series of increasingly ironic emails.

    kavsnt0fs2cz.png


    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    Jedoc on
    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    you all realize that if this package is ever delivered to jedoc the seventh and final seal will have broken

    it is only through the continued actions of an elite squad of secret interception agents that this wrist rest can be kept from the very wrists that, if rested, would doom us all

    these brave women and men sacrifice every day with new and increasingly contrived means to delay this package, and thus delay the apocalypse

    but yet still despite their best efforts the package travels ever closer towards our doom

  • Librarian's ghostLibrarian's ghost Librarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSpork Registered User regular
    Oh my god Jedoc. just. wow.

    (Switch Friend Code) SW-4910-9735-6014(PSN) timspork (Steam) timspork (XBox) Timspork


  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    To recap, this entire farce began because the palmrest on my perfectly good keyboard sometimes pops out when I move it because one of the brackets is broken. It's a near-subliminal annoyance that I notice maybe a couple of times a week. I have now wasted the time and effort of who knows how many people in at least three countries over the course of six months, as well as ten pounds sterling of my own money, at whatever the exchange rate was last March. At this point, the replacement part will arrive around Christmas, and will be broken in exactly the same spot.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    I once had a package say "unknown address" after it was loaded on the truck and on its way. Managed to get hold of postal support quick enough to make them do a second delivery attempt.

  • JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    I just spent five to ten minutes laughing uncontrollably while thinking about this poor package, and now I am just fizzing with endorphins. This is the best ten pounds I ever spent.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • thatassemblyguythatassemblyguy Janitor of Technical Debt .Registered User regular
    https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/09/nvidia-reportedly-to-acquire-arm-holdings-from-softbank-for-40-billion/

    Oh my, Rumored earlier this summer, but appears official announcements are in the pipeline for tomorrow.
    Stealth take over of NVidia by SoftBank?
    Multiple people with direct knowledge of the matter said a cash-and-stock takeover of Arm by Nvidia may be announced as soon as Monday, and that SoftBank will become the largest shareholder in the US chip company.

    Wonder how this will impact the Apple adoption of ARM technology since they're having a messy spat with NVidia.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Softbank may actually be my most hated megacorp, not least because they often get to fly under the radar on a lot of shit. Blech.

This discussion has been closed.