Author Topic: The computing stuff rant thread  (Read 396447 times)

Kim

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Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1375 on: 08 March, 2017, 10:56:19 pm »
An impromptu teaching segment on SSH tunnelling ensued with a subsequent delay of 20% of the teaching time.

Always time well spent, thobut.

simonp

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1376 on: 08 March, 2017, 11:39:15 pm »
Being told off at work for not having synced any files to Box Sync in months.

Here's why: I haven't created any documents on my laptop in months.

I write code on the Linux system and I create all my documents in the cloud. There's nothing to back up.

simonp

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1377 on: 09 March, 2017, 11:23:31 pm »
Grr. Ran out of registers, will you? Are you going to give me any clue about how to fix it? Like the old version of the tool did? Nope.

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1378 on: 10 March, 2017, 05:59:31 am »
And I made it possible to remotely access his computer from my home.
This. I use TeamViewer, probably as recommended by someone here. Free (with the occasional nag) for home use.
Doesn't help when Mother's kittens have run across the keyboard and turned the wifi off, but we're used to that one now.
And in other news TalkTalk will be blocking TeamViewer as an anti-fraudster measure.  May only be temporary.  More info. here.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
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Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1379 on: 11 March, 2017, 04:39:19 pm »
Dear Android app developers, please remember that your app may not just be used on phones and tablets, it could be used on television boxes as well, where we need landscape mode.  Too many apps work in portrait only.  It's doing my neck in.

You may think no-one would want to use your app at home if it's primarily designed for travelling, for example, but even that is not always true.  Anyway, phone users sometimes prefer landscape mode, too.

I would also complain about lack of special alternatives to touch screen control, but that can mean a lot more extra work so it can be forgiven.  We mostly have enough control with a remote touchpad, fortunately.  Landscape support is not so hard.


Other rant:  Bloody Dolphin browser keeps auto-filling form fields against my will and incorrectly - to explain why you might have seen my name in place of the subject title on my posts (before I realise and edit).  I'm not that much into self promotion!
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Kim

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Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1380 on: 11 March, 2017, 04:55:57 pm »
Dear Android app developers, please remember that your app may not just be used on phones and tablets, it could be used on television boxes as well, where we need landscape mode.  Too many apps work in portrait only.  It's doing my neck in.

Seconded.  Plus, as soon as you add a keyboard case to a tablet landscape mode is needed.


Quote
You may think no-one would want to use your app at home if it's primarily designed for travelling, for example, but even that is not always true.

As the device is more likely to have a keyboard attached when away from home, that means travel-related apps need to support landscape properly, too.  I'm glaring at you, Met Office.  And you, Strava.


Quote
I would also complain about lack of special alternatives to touch screen control, but that can mean a lot more extra work so it can be forgiven.  We mostly have enough control with a remote touchpad, fortunately.  Landscape support is not so hard.

No, I'm going to complain about this too:  All we want is a keybinding to open the notifications drop-down, FFS.

I'll be a bit more charitable about the piss-poor mouse control of text selection, that's a bit more niche.  But with a bit of practice you can make the open-the-notifications gesture with a mouse, so it's not a complete waste of time.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1381 on: 21 March, 2017, 04:04:33 pm »
Do printer woes come under general computing rants? I kind of think they deserve a circle of hell thread all of their own...

Trying to print out a 52-page booklet from Adobe Acrobat, using the clever 'booklet' preset to organise the pages in the right order and double-sided. Neat, efficient and less wasteful of expensive paper...

Four attempts later, I finally get it right, but only by printing the front side of each spread first, then manually reversing the order of the printouts, putting the pages back in the printer the right way round, then printing the back sides.

After some googling, I eventually worked out that the reason it was printing the back sides upside down was because printing two A5 pages on an A4 sheet it treats the long edge of the paper as the binding side. And there is no option to set the binding to the short side. And no option to turn binding off because that's part of the booklets preset.

I managed to resist the temptation to put a boot through the printer. Just.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1382 on: 09 April, 2017, 10:23:07 am »
I'm going to hunt down the software developers who think it's 'this page can't be restored' is a useful error message and make trained weasels eat their eyeballs.

 {Well reasoned and extremely articulate disquisition on the failings of lower order life forms removed for the sake of brevity.}

Then I input it all over and you guessed it. Someone tells me to clear my cache again and I'm going to clear theirs. Permanently.

On past form, see above, I think our resident Shiny Haired (Is it varnished? A world desperate for answers is yearning to know.) Thought Leader is most likely to appreciate this, but the rest of us followers (Oh _definitely_ lower case 'followers'; we know our place and only Leaders deserve capital letters.) might enjoy it as well....   read on.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

ian

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1383 on: 10 April, 2017, 09:38:53 am »
Yes, I like that. And it's Tidy Haired™. Which it is. Buzzcut down to a precise 3 mm. Unlike the Beard of Authority®, which is command-level hirsuteness. I pass through parts of London and they gentrify in my wake.

A special shout-out to my Samsung Blu-Ray smartbox thing which every now and again gives up with English and blasts something in Korean at me. Followed by 'OK'? I've no idea if it's OK. I keep meaning to take a picture of the screen and ask a friendly Korean.

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1384 on: 13 April, 2017, 09:48:19 pm »
Who the feck got the bright idea, that it would be a grand idea to delete a calendar invite in outlook email when you click accept/decline. Just poof gone, never to be found, ok if you accept it now lives in the calendar.

Continued stamping on their fingers is too good for them.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Chris S

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1385 on: 18 April, 2017, 11:59:29 am »
So, not content with TWO server failures last week (One RAID drive failure, and one motherboard Kaput), this week my local IT's idea of fun seems to be to install Windows 10 Creator Edition (1703) without asking; and then fucking itself in the arse, and failing to start.

A side effect of the upgrade appears to be to un-register the PC with the domain controller. WTF?  ???

ian

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1386 on: 21 April, 2017, 04:26:51 pm »
Is there any more perfectly delightful error message in the entire universe of computerdom than 'Excel failed to save your file'?

I think not. Finestre, the Demon of Such Things – if she could die (and she can't, obvs) – would have it on her gravestone. Of course, being a demon, she'll put it on your gravestone and make sure it features highly in your eternal torment.

Of course, I could actually be experiencing my eternal torment.

Which would explain a lot.

Afasoas

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1387 on: 21 April, 2017, 04:50:03 pm »
We run an APS SmartUPS at the office with a network card. PCNS is installed on Windows clients. APCUPSD is installed on Linux boxen.

We've had an infuriating issue for a while now where the Linux boxen would occasionally bleat about losing connectivity to the UPS. A colleague firmware upgraded the UPS yesterday in an effort to resolve the issue. And of course that's backfired and made the problem much worse.

I've done some digging into APCUPSD. It is reliant up on receiving UDP broadcast MASTATUS packets from the UPS at ~25 second intervals. After every 3rd packet, the UPS waits ~19 seconds and emits an MACONFIG packet, which APCUPSD silently ignores. ~25 seconds later the cycle starts again with the broadcast of another MASTATUS packet.

Occasionally (five times this morning, just once this afternoon) the UPS emits two consecutive MACONFIG packets. That means APCUPSD goes ~69 seconds without seeing an MASTATUS packet. The longest it will wait for an MASTATUS packet is 60 seconds (equal to 25 * 2 + "a bit"). Thus the regularly reported commfail event.

I suppose I can try contacting APC but I don't think I'll get too far without a support contact. :/

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1388 on: 21 April, 2017, 04:57:05 pm »
Time to switch to NUT?

Afasoas

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1389 on: 21 April, 2017, 05:36:47 pm »
Time to switch to NUT?

I'll investigate that option Monday morning. Thanks Kim.

Afasoas

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1390 on: 27 April, 2017, 02:17:47 pm »
Dear People,

A business/self-employed individual shouldn't rely on 'free' email. It's not so much that it looks more professional, it's more that the email address is portable so if you have problems with the underlying email hosting, you can still switch to a different mail provider. Relying on free email just doesn't cut it.

One of the most important qualities in any self-respecting computer nerd is to not spread miss-information to non-technical people, and not to act based on such assumptions. Basically don't bulls**t people and don't mess with their things unless you know what you're doing. Especially if those people are self-employed/running businesses.

Regards
Grumpy IT Person.

Pingu

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Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1391 on: 28 April, 2017, 11:13:34 am »

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1392 on: 28 April, 2017, 11:15:33 am »
Dear People,

A business/self-employed individual shouldn't rely on 'free' email. It's not so much that it looks more professional, it's more that the email address is portable so if you have problems with the underlying email hosting, you can still switch to a different mail provider. Relying on free email just doesn't cut it.

One of the most important qualities in any self-respecting computer nerd is to not spread miss-information to non-technical people, and not to act based on such assumptions. Basically don't bulls**t people and don't mess with their things unless you know what you're doing. Especially if those people are self-employed/running businesses.

Regards
Grumpy IT Person.

A touch of the LART required?
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1393 on: 28 April, 2017, 07:34:57 pm »
BBC bork get_iplayer: https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/announcement-23.html
I hit that last night.  >:( >:(
Part of me can understand and it's a bit of a surprise get_iplayer has lasted this long, but it's still a pain.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Maverick

  • One of the rural idle
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Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1394 on: 29 April, 2017, 09:10:50 am »
BBC bork get_iplayer: https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/announcement-23.html

Ah, a possible explanation as to why the iPlayer app on my Plex server wouldn't work last night.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1395 on: 03 May, 2017, 01:57:35 pm »
'Pages cannot open rtf files.'
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?
SINCE WHEN?
SHEEEEIT!

ian

Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1396 on: 03 May, 2017, 03:15:02 pm »
Pages opens rtf fine here.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1397 on: 03 May, 2017, 05:00:17 pm »
I think this file might have a double extension, which might be the problem.
I'll attempt to rename the file and see what happens. I downloaded a Will Norman's answers to the London Assembly tried to open the download and got Pages does not support rtf formats.
GGRRR!

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1398 on: 03 May, 2017, 05:10:09 pm »
Opened OK (in TextEdit) after I changed file extension to rtf.
Unimpressed that download from official body had been incompetently loaded though.

Mr Larrington

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Re: The computing stuff rant thread
« Reply #1399 on: 09 May, 2017, 07:12:44 pm »
Latest update of Chrome for iOS seems to have slowed the bloody thing to a crawl again.  Prod link, count to ten, new page displays.  This post comes courtesy of Puffin.
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