Notices by Dave Morriss (perloid@mastodon.sdf.org), page 2

@chalkahlom
On the CityLink bus to Glasgow
@kevie @thelovebug

It was reported to be the hottest day on record in Edinburgh yesterday: 31 centigrade. It has cooled a lot today, around 24 degrees here, and tomorrow rain (possibly heavy) is forecast and it'll be cooler still.

@chalkahlom I don't recall it being on our VAXCluster (nor on the DEC Alphas we replaced it with), but maybe a VAXstation running DEC Windows (an early X environment) could run it - slowly 😉

@chalkahlom I remember the name but forget what it was. Was it a Circuit Simulator (the only reference I can find)? I don't think we ran it, even though the university I worked at was largely engineering-oriented.

@chalkahlom I will record the process if I can!
At the moment I'm digging my way through the attic, through the stuff that tends to accumulate in attics, with regular trips to the local waste management facilities and the local charity shops along the way!

@chalkahlom Thanks! That looks interesting. I have used a number of devices I saw when scanning the videos already available on that channel: the IBM 029 card punch, Friden Flexowriter, Facit mechanical calculator, etc. I probably said before that I have an old VAXstation in my attic which I'd dearly love to get working again, though I'm sure my skills aren't up to fixing it if there's a loud bang when I turn it on!

@Jason_Dodd @clacke It's not so much the position of the reply (though putting it before the thing you're replying to is weird in my world), it's leaving the endless piles of crud that make up all the previous messages in the thread in the email. The thread should contain the thread, not each email!!
In the case I was referring to where the university didn't want to spend money on enough disk space, this practice brought the messages stores to their knees.

@clacke Love this! UK academia were late with SMTP mail because we had our own "Coloured Book" protocols. Once it arrived the university I worked at used /bin/mail and MH with xmh on Ultrix, etc, then stuff like elm and pine. I was into exmh, a Tcl/Tk client on top of MH. It still exists and I use it manage mail on my local network. HTML mail was a horror once it arrived, primarily a repugnant Microsoft thing we felt. In no time our mail stores overflowed with unedited, top-posted messages!

@beni It's an obscenity! The whole thing should be re-nationalised!

beni@wirebug.ch
Just tried that site and got the following message when trying to get a return booking:
"Your inbound date is too far in the future. Timetables and advance fares may not be available."
So you probably booked in the best way!

@beni Cool. I need to do the same for Edinburgh/Manchester.

@chalkahlom Haha! That stuff was appalling too! it was like dust that blew everywhere unless you fixed it to one place with milk. My parents tended to avoid these awful products and make their own food, though we tried stuff. It was the experiences of Smash, Ready Brek, Instant Whip and the like that convinced me that the world of advertising and "branded" products was 99% crap.

@clacke The situation in HK looks terrible at the moment. Hope you can keep clear of it all.

@timttmy Probably a good idea. I plan to run mine without a card, straight off an SSD on the USB like the 3B+ beside it. This feature isn't available yet on the 4B as far as I know - they rushed this model out it seems.

@chalkahlom Tried strenuously to avoid it.
I also found that for mash I should absolutely not ever in a million years 'get Smash'.

@timttmy Nice looking screen! Apparently there's a firmware update which will make it a bit cooler, but it needs to be run from Raspbian. I haven't done it yet myself but am currently looking at https://www.retrorgb.com/raspberry-pi-4-firmware-update.html and https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update for information on how to do so.

@chalkahlom I have never used "love" and "advert" in the same sentence since ITV was invented in the 1950's!
I never "wondered where the yellow went, Pepsodent", "nor did I find the "Murraymint, the too good to hurry mint", nor did I accept any of the other drivel that followed up to the present day.

@Jason_Dodd It throttles and slows down considerably as it heats up. There's a firmware update coming (or even available, not sure) that helps it keep cooler. The fan I have is silent - or at least I can't hear it.

@lnxw48a1 I so agree. I use a Chromium plugin that blocks the autoplay annoyance.

@Jason_Dodd It gets very hot without something to cool it. The YT video I referenced showed that heatsinks alone aren't enough, so I'd recommend a fan.