Bits and PCs - a Computers and Tech Miscellany

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by SR71

Anyone know COBOL? The news says some states need people to help get their mainframes to process unemployment requests or something like that. Hard to find people who can work it.

What I've heard is it's not the syntax, it's the spaghetti.

[JoeP]

Indeed... Technically I learned cobol in the 80s (when it was already supposed to be dead), but nothing about libraries or packages or frameworks, which are surely there in any government / commercial system, are also 30 years old, and take as long to learn as cobol itself.

Regretfully I'll have to pass on this exciting opportunity.

[ShottleBop]

I learned COBOL, and ALGOL, and even some FORTRAN, in college back in 1970/71, but it was pretty basic stuff. I enjoyed it, and even looked into taking a major in computer programming (I considered it, at base, to be akin to linguistics), but back then the only path to doing so was to major in Applied Physics. Seeing as how I'd switched colleges at UCSD (from Revelle to Muir) specifically to avoid having to take chemistry and biology (and to go to Spain my junior year), that was a no-go.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

pic.twitter.com/HhZxBibMRk

— The Pirate Bae ⚖����*⚖⛤☠ (@Esquiring) April 21, 2020

[SR71]

file under

shit that doesn't really need to be networked

see also

shit that is harder to use if you can program it

[Ari]

Pretty impressive background noise cancelling by NVIDIA RTX Voice.

This AI actually WORKS!!! - NVIDIA RTX Voice -...

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Weird thrad:

Hi @VeilBroadband. I have been having a series of problems with my wifi and have had no response from your customer service team via email. I will detail the problems here to see if I can get a response. Here’s a thread:

— Adrian Gray (@AdrianRMG) April 27, 2020

[ceptimus]

Arrgh!

New versions of Microsoft Word to flag two spaces after a period as an error.

When I learned to type, two spaces after a period was considered the correct way to do it. I suppose it looked better with old mechanical typewriter output. I still tend to do it automatically.
On the internet, HTML doesn't display consecutive spaces anyway        unless you force it to.

[beyelzu]

Looks like Microsoft found a way to stop me from pirating Microsoft Word.

Besides not using it anyway.

[ceptimus]

Originally Posted by beyelzu

Looks like Microsoft found a way to stop me from pirating Microsoft Word.

Besides not using it anyway.

I use Libre Office most of the time now, even on my work PCs where my company would like me to use Microsoft Office. I find I can send .docx files and .xlsx files created and saved by Libre Office to colleagues and customers, and it's vanishingly rare that anyone notices the difference or complains.

[Stormlight]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Indeed... Technically I learned cobol in the 80s (when it was already supposed to be dead), but nothing about libraries or packages or frameworks, which are surely there in any government / commercial system, are also 30 years old, and take as long to learn as cobol itself.

Regretfully I'll have to pass on this exciting opportunity.

COBOL is still a thing?? Bloody hell! Didn't Queen Victoria already use it?

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Stormlight

COBOL is still a thing?? Bloody hell! Didn't Queen Victoria already use it?

But of course. Victoria learnt it from Ada Lovelace, who reconstructed it from ancient Sumerian rituals by summoning the goddess Tiamat.

[ShottleBop]

I've been having trouble with my project to consolidate all my computer backups onto a single drive and to eliminate duplicates. Large transfers from my computer to my external drive start out fine, but once about half of the files are transferred, the transfer rate drops to less than 100 kB/sec. I'm thinking that my external drive might be a POS that I need to replace.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Code can be seen on the commit https://t.co/71xM6c1Dgr
The important thing to realise is once a device becomes connected it can become a trigger for almost anything... the video use case shouldn’t give a “why?” but rather, what else is possible? Tv control? Yep. https://t.co/bFQubiZPYC pic.twitter.com/4LCVtu3lgx

— Ian (@imduffy15) May 3, 2020

[Ensign Steve]

the video use case shouldn’t give a “why?”

Shouldn't it, though?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

How else we gonna justify an accidental release of grey goo? "I just wanted to see what's possible!"

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I think my BBQ just offered to be my default browser? pic.twitter.com/dSfHZRTGAB

— Kate McNamara (@kaydo) May 11, 2020

[Pyrrho]

Imma recharging an ancient Roomba for which I found a power supply that won't burn out the circuits. If that works I will proceed to test it, will let you know the cat's opinion.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Here's the bar to beat:

Cat In A Shark Costume Chases A Duck While Riding...

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Here's the bar to beat:

Cat In A Shark Costume Chases A Duck While Riding A Roomba #CatOnRoomba - YouTube

Inaccurate title. Half the time the duck is chasing the roomba.

I'm OK with the hammerhead pibble not being in the title, because you can't reveal the entire plot.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Pyrrho

Imma recharging an ancient Roomba for which I found a power supply that won't burn out the circuits. If that works I will proceed to test it, will let you know the cat's opinion.

Ah, but will you control it using your toothbrush or your grill?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Pro level:

[Pyrrho]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Ah, but will you control it using your toothbrush or your grill?

Imma train the cat to tap the CLEAN button! Will let you know how that goes.

[Pyrrho]

Well it appears to be charged...at least the light glows green...but when I tap the CLEAN button it sings to me a bit and does exactly nothing.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Pyrrho

Well it appears to be charged...at least the light glows green...but when I tap the CLEAN button it sings to me a bit and does exactly nothing.

Your roomba is older and more jaded. It's not satisfied with just a full battery, it requires further offerings.