Re: At the AC, re: Zipping Windows.
Clonezilla.
Posts by DrAJS
26 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Feb 2011
Happy birthday Windows 3.1, aka 'the one that Visual Basic kept crashing on'
Intel is offering more 14nm Skylake desktop processors, we repeat: More 14nm Skylake desktop processors
Fun fact: GPS uses 10 bits to store the week. That means it runs out... oh heck – April 6, 2019
Sysadmin sank IBM mainframe by going one VM too deep
Beyond code PEBCAK lies KMACYOYO, PENCIL and PAFO
Help desk declared code PEBCAK and therefore refused to help!
I want it hot and wet – preferably with Wi-Fi
Hell desk thought PC fire report was a first-day-on-the-job prank
Kindle Paperwhites turn Windows 10 PCs into paperweights: Plugging one in 'triggers a BSOD'
Thursday 25th August 2016 08:40 GMT
Not all Kindle Paperwhites do this
My boss and I both have Paperwhites bought on the same day, from the same batch, with the exact same firmware (5.8.2). Mine has caused BSODs on 2 Win10Ann machines (one a completely fresh build) and his just connects normally.
On one machine my Paperwhite triggered a RAID rebuild as well (4 disk RAID10)!
Sound and battery: 20 portable Bluetooth speakers
Cable guy, Games of Thrones chap team up to make Reg 'best sci-fi film never made' reject
Overclocking to 5GHz? We put Intel Devil’s Canyon CPU to the test
Tuesday 1st July 2014 12:51 GMT
Re: Why is anyone so stupid as to even think of using air coolers with top end CPUs.
I can't help but think you've got the wrong end of the stick here. CLC was never really about achieving significantly cooler temperatures on the CPU - ultimately they are still using ambient air to cool the heat exchanger. It is much more about moving the heat directly out of the case. Most high-end air coolers are massive things with loads of metal fins and a couple of fans mounted right in the middle of the case. In comparison the heat block of a CLC unit is tiny and the main heat exchange is in a very efficient arrangement blowing the hot air straight out the back of the case.
CLCs take up far less case space than an equivalent air cooler and don't get in the way of other components (eg. RAM). I've been running a CLC (single 120mm fan) cooled i920 ever since that chip first came out and have never had a problem with either the cooling performance or the ability to easily change other components in the case.
CLC ftw!
Apple SOLDERS memory into new 'budget' iMac
Friday 20th June 2014 22:58 GMT
Soldered RAM is not the problem
a) 8GB is plenty (something more shiny will come along soon enough)
b) This is the bottom end product so most iSheep will be spec'ing the bigger version
c) it's an iMac so it can only really be classed as a toy anyway
d) Nobody will actually being doing anything of any worth on it
e) the sooner it gets to landfill the better.
Google's driverless car: It'll just block our roads. It's the worst
Thursday 29th May 2014 15:12 GMT 
Real issues
The article misses an opportunity to raise some of the real issues that will come from driverless cars:
Who would be held responsible (ie. sued) if a driverless car is deemed to have caused an accident?
Who pays the speeding fines if a driverless car inadvertently exceeds the limit?
How are insurers going to be able to assess the risks associated with driverless cars?
Who is going to ensure the interoperability of different manufactures' driverless control systems?
With no manual controls how would occupants deal with a sudden control system failure?
These questions are far more relevant than "what happens if it snows?", especially given the dubious way most humans deal with difficult driving conditions!
DEATH-PROOF your old XP netbook: 5 OSes to bring it back to life
Thursday 28th November 2013 23:16 GMT
Win 7 on the NC10
I have an NC10 that I just upgraded to 2GB (£20), 320GB 7200rpm HDD (gathering dust) and Win 7 (left over after a full upgrade to Win8 on my desktop) and it works very well. The XP install was creaking after 4 years of pretty hard use but the upgrades have rejuvenated it. Don't get me wrong: it's no where near as good as my 13" i5-2410 VAIO (with hybrid drive) but is still way preferable to a tablet for proper computing/video.
Definitely try Win7 on Mr 12's netbook.
PS. You can also get a touch screen upgrade for the NC10 on ebay for 50-60quid if you just have to have finger prints all over your screen.
Microsoft announces execution date for failed QR code-killer
Tuesday 20th August 2013 14:50 GMT
Love QRs
I do occasion wedding photography. Before the big day I set up a holding page on my website and then print a load of business cards with the QR code to the holding page on the back. The guests pick up a business card scan the code and can see all the pictures as they are uploaded. Works a treat.
I am also trying get the budget to upgrade the asset management system at work so each bit of kit has a QR code on it that links into the asset tag page for that asset. That way when an engineer goes to a machine to do an upgrade he can enter the new details there and then. I've done a proof of concept that worked really well.
Never had any trouble reading them on Note2, Atrix or even a San Francisco (which had a camera almost as bad as the ones they put in Blackberrys)... but that wouldn't stop someone misusing the concept by encoding a broken link or misprinting it!
BOFH: Go on, beancounter, type DROP TABLE asset;
Thursday 13th June 2013 20:07 GMT 
Update as a select
This works well in SSMS:
select * from <table name>
--update <table name> set <field> = <value>
where <clauses>
Run the whole statement, check you are updating the rows you want and then highlight from the update command and hit F5. It's not idiot proof but it is fool proof.
Every time I show that to someone they say "Oooh, that's a good idea!".
British bookworms deem Amazon 'evil'
Cache 'n' carry: What's the best config for your SSD?
Friday 15th February 2013 19:25 GMT
Re: Missing - hybrid drive?
I've got the 4GB/500GB Momentus XT hybrid drive in my laptop and it transformed it. Before (500GB, 5400rpm HDD) startup took 2mins 20 secs. Now I can do a full restart in 26 secs... and I've still got 500GB of storage. Very much the best of both worlds.
Vaio S, i5-2410, 4GB RAM.
Ten external battery packs
Sunday 23rd September 2012 21:05 GMT
This sort of thing really annoys me
What's the point of this article?
It's not a review because you don't add anything that I couldn't find in the marketing material for each device.
It's not a comparison because you don't provide any meaningful figures to compare.
How hard would it have been to fully charge each device and then see how long it would power a reference device for?
That would have been a useful article.
Microsoft: It was never 'Metro,' it was always 'Modern UI'
Sigma SD1 Merill 46Mp DSLR
Sunday 15th July 2012 18:35 GMT
Cityscape
If I was seriously considering buying one these cameras that shot of the cityscape would put me right off. It's not even the heavy blurring and lack of contrast, it's the sensor's inability to render accurate colours. Look at the full size image and consider the sky and water. The sky seems to change randomly from blue to purple and the water is either green or blue. I can only assume this picture was taken at crazily high ISO but even so it's a poor effort from a device asking 1800 quid.
I'd be disappointed if my phone (Atrix 4G) took pictures that bad let alone 1800 quid's worth of supposedly-pro-grade SLR. Anybody considering one of these should save themselves a load of grief and get the 5D plus 50mm F1.4 or the 7D and the 24-70L. Nikon probably do stuff that would equally blow the SD1 out of the water but I've only used the Canon gear.
And despite what the Sigma marketing department would have you believe the SD1 is a 15MP camera not 46.
Users: 'Personalized internet? Fuggedaboutit!'
Sunday 11th March 2012 23:54 GMT
Re: Personally tailored adverts are good.
It really is scary how badly you guys have been conditioned.
All I hear is "ads are bad", "I block all ads", "I not only block all ads but I install software that was advertised to me to help me block all ads". Feel free to miss out on the bargains. Also feel free to miss the entire point of the article.
Why not do the right thing and block all ad supported websites as well.
Leeches.
Saturday 10th March 2012 10:15 GMT
Re: Personally tailored adverts are good.
Of course I'm not talking about responding to random spam. I'm talking about responding to advertising from retailers that I have dealt with before who are telling me about specific offers they have that might interest me.
It is all too easy to become conditioned to respond to all advertising as being bad. Apart from all the very useful services on the web that advertising pays allows to be offered for "free" (including this site) it is also an opportunity for consumers to be made aware of stuff they might like to buy.
The problem at the moment is that the process is far too random and we all end getting inundated with crap. All that I am saying is that it would seem to make sense to support ideas that have the potential to cut down on the crap.
And for the record I have no connection with any advertising or marketing firm in any way, shape or form.
Friday 9th March 2012 23:36 GMT 
Personally tailored adverts are good.
I love adverts. Adverts more closely tailored to my browsing history can only be a good thing.
In the run up to Christmas I received a brazillion email ads for all sorts of stuff. To be fair the vast majority of them didn't really interest me but in amongst all the chaff were a couple of tasty gems. I picked up one of those Toshiba 1.8inch 120GB drives for 38 quid. That is an absolutely cracking bargain.
I also got a Lexar 32GB C10 micro SDHC card for 22 quid - another cracking bargain.
And I got an external USB powered DVD writer for my netbook for 20 quid. One of the ones that can act as AV connectivity for your telly.
These are things that I wanted but just couldn't find for the price I wanted to pay... until I got the targeted email advertisement.
Getting the stuff you want for the price you want to pay has got to be a good thing.
The real problem is I bought 3 three things from the hundreds of emails I received. If those emails were better targeted to me then I would get more bargains and less chaff to delete.
That has to be a good thing.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
