The grumpy thread

[loserone]

21 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

It is built in obsolescence, the modern world demands that we consume whether we want to or not.

I really don't think it is.  As soon as computers can connect to each other via the internet or otherwise, it is a constant effort to find new ways to compromise and new and better ways of avoiding it.  Want to play an offline games console like a Megadrive or NES? Fill your boots and have fun.

But if you want to connect it to a network with the rest of the world also connected to it, you now should have a responsibility to not allow it to be vulnerable, to detect compromise or infection, and not to allow it to be used maliciously against others.  And if you don't take basic steps to do that, I'd 100% support your ISP disconnecting you.

Sadly there have been manufacturers who haven't taken this seriously, but Microsoft can be admired for managing to provide support and updates for operating systems for a remarkable length of time.  Windows XP has NO SUPPORTED BROWSER.  There is literally no safe way to connect it to the internet.  Want to play Doom? Fine.  But keep it off any networks.

[SiC]

On 12/17/2020 at 10:17 PM, eddyramrod said:

but both my puters are running on XP

Christ, you're using XP on the internet in 2020?! Thats as risky as going bareback in Bangkok with a ladyboy, just you don't get the happy ending. Might have got away with it a decade and half ago but god knows what you might pick up in 2020. 

[robinmasters]

15 minutes ago, SiC said:

Christ, you're using XP on the internet in 2020?! Thats as risky as going bareback in Bangkok with a ladyboy, just you don't get the happy ending. Might have got away with it a decade and half ago but god knows what you might pick up in 2020. 

I don't find Windows operating systems attractive, they're just confusing.  [/partridge]

[strangeangel]

22 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

It is built in obsolescence, the modern world demands that we consume whether we want to or not. So products have a limited lifespan and the landfills get another load. On a planet with finite resources it’s fucking ridiculous but will it be too late before a majority of people realise this? My 23 year old volvo, 30 year old pug and 37 year old ford may not be the cleanest but the main part of their emissions occurred when they were created, the next worst part will be when (IF, I hope) they are destroyed.

 

It's annoying when hardware manufacturers simply stop supporting  expensive peripherals. I have a Terratec soundcard that I use for digitisng vinyl and an expensive 35mm scanner for which no drivers exist post Windows XP.  Neither of these devices was more than five years old when they were effectively obsoleted. This is precisely why I have an old Dell desktop running XP in the house - not that I'd be letting it anywhere near the internet, mind!

 

Philips pulled a similar trick with their Streamium multi-room listening systems, turning off the server they went through for their internet radio, firmware upgrades and other online features when some of the devices weren't even eight years old. It seems to be the expectation that that's a decent lifespan for tech gear, but they were well expensive when new and mine are still working well (barring the aforementioned online stuff) at 15+ years old.

 

[Sham]

5 minutes ago, robinmasters said:

I don't find Windows operating systems attractive, they're just confusing.  [/partridge]

Seriously, 2 more versions of WIndows have gone out of support since XP. Theres no supported apps that are secure enough for online use for a really good reason. XP, Vista and even 7 to a degree are just not capable of running secure enough encryption standards.

When you can buy a Chromebook for less that £200 new, or about £50 secondhand - why on earth would you still use XP online?

[hairnet]

43 minutes ago, RobT said:

I'm an anti-social bastard who doesn't like mixing anyway, so makes no difference.  A Christmas at home with the cars, perfect!

dont pretend to stroke them and stroke yourself dont get excited

 

[Tamworthbay]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

I really don't think it is.  As soon as computers can connect to each other via the internet or otherwise, it is a constant effort to find new ways to compromise and new and better ways of avoiding it.  Want to play an offline games console like a Megadrive or NES? Fill your boots and have fun.

But if you want to connect it to a network with the rest of the world also connected to it, you now should have a responsibility to not allow it to be vulnerable, to detect compromise or infection, and not to allow it to be used maliciously against others.  And if you don't take basic steps to do that, I'd 100% support your ISP disconnecting you.

Sadly there have been manufacturers who haven't taken this seriously, but Microsoft can be admired for managing to provide support and updates for operating systems for a remarkable length of time.  Windows XP has NO SUPPORTED BROWSER.  There is literally no safe way to connect it to the internet.  Want to play Doom? Fine.  But keep it off any networks.

I don’t see the connection between that and obsolescence, there is no reason why they couldn’t keep producing updates/ patches. Very occasionally there may be a fundamental issue that cannot be solved but I simply don’t believe that is always the case. Just look at the examples from strangeangel above. It’s all about selling new stuff.

[loserone]

9 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

fundamental issue

I think that describes windows XP quite well, actually.

[dozeydustman]

Colossally hairy balls, growling bushy twats and turdfingers.

I’ve been putting some massive hours in at work of late because 2 other supervisors are off sick (non covid). I’ve had sod all chance to get any work done on the Suzuki or the Toyota.

With today’s announcement has meant we’ve had to post a number of xmas presents; to ensure they’ll arrive in time Special Delivery 1pm. Two at great expense because heavy. Weighed them all, entered the weights in online with a generous safety buffer of 20g.

2 parcels of the 8 rejected (inc my AS secret santa) - each one 1 gramme over the declared weight. Outright rejection by mardy bitch behind the counter.

Parcel A was 1558g on our pretty good scales, I declared the weight as 1.578kg, label printed out as 1.58kg; post office weighed it as 1,581 grammes.

Not even a “that’ll be ok”. Outright rejected the parcel.

 

Paid & posted the parcel at a declared weight of 1581g, the label printed showed it as 1.85kg.

 

how fucking petty.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, Tamworthbay said:

I don’t see the connection between that and obsolescence, there is no reason why they couldn’t keep producing updates/ patches. Very occasionally there may be a fundamental issue that cannot be solved but I simply don’t believe that is always the case. Just look at the examples from strangeangel above. It’s all about selling new stuff.

They could but that requires developers working to develop the fixes. This takes time and developers aren't cheap. The fix then needs testing not only for fixing the problem but regression and reliability on many different system configs, etc, etc. This takes times and testing isn't cheap. Once tested it needs releasing, this takes time and requires a lot of organising. Guess what, that isn't cheap either. Plus there are other stages involved too. 

Add into all this that the code base is old and hacked about. So any fix requires progressive more work to do. In some cases the architecture of the application will need substantial rework to fix the problem. 

It'll get to the point where it's easier to say to users that they need to upgrade to something more modern. Even when organisations and even government are prepared to throw big numbered dollar bills at you. 

[iainrcz]

Met my dad's new woman/girlfriend/boiling piece today.
I'm not grumpy about it, she seems ok, it was just weird.

On the upside, I seemed to be a hit with her cockerpoo Deefer.
As in D for dog.

[High Jetter]

Because XP just works? As does 7? 10 insists on shutting down and updating on a weekly basis.  Why can't they just get it right? [/argumentative pedant]

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Because XP just works? As does 7? 10 insists on shutting down and updating on a weekly basis.  Why can't they just get it right? [/argumentative pedant]

You can schedule the updates.

To be honest, as somebody that has to support staff using home configurations (fortunately less now that we've given out over 500 laptops) I'd much rather the inconvenience of the updates than ever see the state of some computers.  One person I was trying to support a couple of weeks ago had a Windows 7 installation (bad enough) that hadn't been patched in over six years.  Microsoft have made the updates more intrusive for a reason.  A large number of end users never patch their systems and that is just not a good idea.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Oh, and if anybody saw an '05-Reg MkIV Golf Estate on the M2 about an hour and a half ago with what looked like a fridge freezer crammed into the back, you did see that.  Because about half an hour after Tier 4 was declared, our fridge freezer stopped working.

The day of the March lockdown, the washer-drier broke.  My white goods just have a talent.

The only place that was still open by the time we declared that it was definitely dead is IKEA in Lakeside nearly 60 miles away.  Just over an hour.  Drove down, accident on the A2 coming out of Gravesend, skipped around it (cunningly using a service station) and got to IKEA with 17 minutes to spare before closing.  I had the receipt in my hand by 08.56.

Grumpy because we had to shell out for a new fridge freezer (which is an improvement over the old one and quite a lot bigger) but I've officially saved Christmas.  So I'll take that.

Still got to clean all the polystyrene and shit out of the back of the car in the morning, mind...

[RayMK]

11 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Oh, and if anybody saw an '05-Reg MkIV Golf Estate on the M2 about an hour and a half ago with what looked like a fridge freezer crammed into the back, you did see that.  Because about half an hour after Tier 4 was declared, our fridge freezer stopped working.

The day of the March lockdown, the washer-drier broke.  My white goods just have a talent.

The only place that was still open by the time we declared that it was definitely dead is Ikea in Lakeside nearly 60 miles away.  Just over an hour.  Drove down, accident on the A2 coming out of Gravesend, skipped around it (cunningly using a service station) and got to IKEA with 17 minutes to spare before closing.  I had the receipt in my hand by 08.56.

Grumpy because we had to shell out for a new fridge freezer (which is an improvement over the old one and quite a lot bigger) but I've officially saved Christmas.  So I'll take that.

Still got to clean all the polystyrene and shit out of the back of the car in the morning, mind...

Similarly, our washer has got main bearing trouble and I was planning to order a new one next week. It makes one hell of a racket, so I've set the rev limiter to 500rpm - it still works, but for how long?  The dishwasher top shelf collapsed a few months back but there's just the two of us and we manage with the lower shelf only. Again, the plan was to replace the dishwasher next week.  The upstairs loo flush failed a couple of weeks  ago, now requiring violent handle action to get it to do the business after we've done ours. You get the general drift - replacement innards was planned for next week. Life can be shit at times.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I'm just grateful that we have the disposable income to go out and get a new appliance on a whim.  The only reason that we took such decisive action and didn't wait until the morning (when much more local shops would be open) is that we genuinely don't know if they'll even be open.  If Curry's or Argos was open and we could pick up from the store.  No guarantees on either front and it's a bad time of year for all the food you've literally just got in specially to go off...

[warren t claim]

My home is a white goods graveyard. Tumble dryer dead. No fridge freezer lasts longer than a year and any washing machine I buy shits itself a month out of warranty. Place your bets on how long the dishwasher I got this week lasts.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

20 years.  It's really simple.  You take how absolutely necessary the appliance is and apply an inverse algorithm so that it always shits the bed just before you really need it.  Dishwasher is useful and brilliant to have but not essential - so it will last 20 years.  The washing machine, fridge, freezer and oven?  You're fucked.  Microwave is double fucked when the oven dies.

[Tetleysmooth]

I fitted a new ceiling light in the lounge yesterday. Turned off the power to lights down. Had a helluva job fitting the new unit, but got there in the end. Now the ceiling light in the hall by the front door refuses to work. Changed the bulb, but no, won't work. Seems weird it happened at the same time I fitted the new unit in the lounge. Co-incidence? Anybody else had this happen?

[Dippy]

29 minutes ago, Tetleysmooth said:

I fitted a new ceiling light in the lounge yesterday. Turned off the power to lights down. Had a helluva job fitting the new unit, but got there in the end. Now the ceiling light in the hall by the front door refuses to work. Changed the bulb, but no, won't work. Seems weird it happened at the same time I fitted the new unit in the lounge. Co-incidence? Anybody else had this happen?

You probably got.a loose wire in the light you changedcausing the other not to work or its a terrible coincidence.

[Floatylight]

5 hours ago, RayMK said:

Similarly, our washer has got main bearing trouble and I was planning to order a new one next week. It makes one hell of a racket, so I've set the rev limiter to 500rpm

Good luck with that! If it's been made in the last 10 years you will probably find the bearing isnt replaceable, it's an integral part of the drum, had this with our Panasonic a couple of years ago, new drum £285! Bought a second hand washer off @Kiltoxfor £50 which is still goin strong..

[Tetleysmooth]

5 minutes ago, Dippy said:

You probably got.a loose wire in the light you changedcausing the other not to work or its a terrible coincidence.

New ceiling light works absolutely fine. So looks like coincidence. Can't go and buy a new light fitting today as all non essential shops closed around here now. Oh well, ebay and a few days wait.

[Dippy]

4 minutes ago, Tetleysmooth said:

New ceiling light works absolutely fine. So looks like coincidence. Can't go and buy a new light fitting today as all non essential shops closed around here now. Oh well, ebay and a few days wait.

If you had more than one of each colour wire the other wires  will feed the next light in the circuit.

[taranaki]

Summer here. Wet and warm. Lawn is growing like deranged pubes, only mowed it last week. Back at it again today, with the catcher off. Looks like a hay paddock.  Chute blocked up, couldn't shake it loose. Turned off the engine, waited until it stopped, reached in and still managed to cut myself on the blade. Bollocks.

[ruffgeezer]

1 hour ago, taranaki said:

Turned off the engine, waited until it stopped, reached in and still managed to cut myself on the blade. Bollocks.

I don't care if the engine had stopped, there's no way I'd have stuck those down the chute! 

[Tetleysmooth]

1 hour ago, Dippy said:

If you had more than one of each colour wire the other wires  will feed the next light in the circuit.

Now this is where it gets confusing. When I removed the old light fitting, the earth and neutral were joined. Not good thought I, so I separated them and wired the new fitting correctly. Maybe they were joined for a reason. I'll try a new light fitting in the hallway and see what happens. Could've done without this

[Jazoli]

12 minutes ago, Tetleysmooth said:

Now this is where it gets confusing. When I removed the old light fitting, the earth and neutral were joined. Not good thought I, so I separated them and wired the new fitting correctly. Maybe they were joined for a reason. I'll try a new light fitting in the hallway and see what happens. Could've done without this

If you don't know what you are doing and are making alterations to existing wiring I suggest you step away and get someone who does know, you could burn your house down for a start, I'd suggest you put the wires back how they were asap as it sounds like you don't have a scooby do

[Tetleysmooth]

Cheers mate.

[MikeR]

Sounds like it was bodger using 3 core instead of 4 core wire ,or just poor planning , the earth wire got used as a supply wire 

[Timewaster]

8 hours ago, warren t claim said:

My home is a white goods graveyard. Tumble dryer dead. No fridge freezer lasts longer than a year and any washing machine I buy shits itself a month out of warranty. Place your bets on how long the dishwasher I got this week lasts.

In our house it is ovens. 

First Hotpoint one lasted 9 years then gave up. That was last August. 

Yesterday I was making shortbread with my 7yr old daughter. Cooking time 12 minutes. 

After 20 minutes it was still dough.  Oh well I thought, I'm a useless Baker and it was a cheap bake kit from Aldi. We have probably cocked it up. 

But no, later my Mrs was cooking tea and after half an hour everything was just as raw as when it went in. 

Guess what I am going to buy today? 

Lucky we are still T2. 

Beko ovens are shit.