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CommentAlmost certainly. (Score 1)93

by OriolFM (#65206643) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Would You Accept a Free Ride Into Space?
It was my dream when I was a kid and grew up watching Sagan's Cosmos on TV. I'm 48 and already have kids. If I had the chance to go to space, or the Moon, or even Mars (despite requiring more than a year)... I'd probably take it without thinking too much: If I knew that my family would be taken care of should something go wrong, the only possible reply for me would be "Eff Yeah!".

CommentCopilot (Score 1)78

by OriolFM (#65184465) Attached to: What AI models do you usually use most?
When generative AI started, I tried some models, and found them lacking. When I found out how they trained them, I stopped using them.
Nowadays I mostly use the copilot summaries in my web searches (I like it because unlike Google, they add the data origin with a few links, and I can click and read the whole article if I need clarification).
I've also used Copilot occasionally to write some SQL Queries with complicated nested joins I had trouble with, which I then modified adding more columns or parameters. From my point of view, it works quite well.

CommentBeen there, done that. (Score 1)202

by OriolFM (#65146249) Attached to: 'I'm Done With Ubuntu'
I was using Ubuntu in the past (Hardy Heron, Karmic Koala, and so on). I, for once, liked Unity. I liked, back in the days of Google+, how easy was to find fellow users and get help on any topic that arose (and boy, did I need support back then... rare was the week that I didn't get any error, specially after trying some new software and breaking some dependency). I remember how heated arguments were in the community when Canonical wanted to move to Wayland, and all the rage there was around it (and here we are a decade later, and most distros are moving to Wayland anyways). When they pushed Gnome as the main flavour, it felt like a downgrade to me.
About that time, I happened to buy a Surface Pro with Windows 10. I started using some software that had support only for Windows (or MacOS, but there's no way I'm getting a Mac after the lengths Apple went to break support for iPhones and iPads in Ubuntu). I also got Microsoft365 for the cloud storage, and Office was an added bonus. The interface was more similar to Unity and it worked way better than previous windows.
So I ended up uninstalling Ubuntu and going back to Windows. I know, I'm a lazy user, but I just want something that works and it's available. And no disrespect to the OS community, but some alternative software is not up to par with commercially available software that does not have a Linux version (not talking about games, Steam has done great advances in that regard, but rather illustration, design and publishing software).
If I had to go back to Linux, I may try Ubuntu, but I doubt I'd have the patience to stand all the problems with dependencies, unstable software, and so on.
That said, when I moved to live and worked abroad, I setup my father's computer with Linux Mint. He was already using Libreoffice in Windows anyway, so it wasn't hard to do the change. He uses his computer just for writing, browsing the internet and listening to music, so something stable and simple was a good fit for him. He just does software updates for the applications, and only updates the core system if my brother or me are around to help, so he hasn't had so much trouble.

CommentRe:Battery and software (Score 1)132

by OriolFM (#65125421) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Matters When Buying a New Smartphone?
You're right. There's a lot of planned obsolescence, and the right to repair isn't yet guaranteed. The EU is creating laws to change that, but it's slow because there's a lot of lobbying by the big tech companies.
Some, like Samsung, have started selling spare parts and it seems they want to change their way of doing business, but only time will tell. It is difficult to do thin, IPxx rated phones that are also easy to disassemble, but I wouldn't matter to have a slightly thicker phone with a back cover that could be easily unscrewed. After all, you don't see the screws when you're using a phone case.

CommentUsability, reliability, battery, repairability. (Score 1)132

by OriolFM (#65121361) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Matters When Buying a New Smartphone?
I also look if the user interface is available in my mother tongue (Catalan). I can deal with English, but having the interface in my own language is definitely a "nice to have" option.
My first smartphone was an Apple iPhone 3GS. I didn't own any Apple device before that, but my phone company at the time (Telefonica) offered it to me and I got it. Because of an offer, I got an iPad later and shared my contract with unlimited 3G data (which was fine).
What bugged me at the time was the dwindling battery and performance (started slowing down to a crawl), and the fact I needed iTunes to put/retrieve data from the phone. When I switched from Windows to Ubuntu, there was a library that reverse-engineered the protocol Apple was using, and then it became as easy as drag-and-drop. In the next iOS update, Apple targeted that. The library eventually became able to do it again, and a few weeks later, a new patch cut that functionality again. I left Apple for good.
Next up in Android, I got a Samsung Galaxy 3 (that got stolen 3 months later on a trip). Then I got an HTC One (m7), and 2 years later, I got the One m9. I loved the aluminium body and the camera, but there was a bit too much bloatware for my taste, and they had no Catalan interface. Eventually, HTC mobile division went the way of the dodo.
Since then, I've been using Samsung phones. Their software updates are frequent, and their quality is good. All of them have SD slot (also important). As for their software, I actually prefer some of their options instead of the Google default apps (mail, file browser...). But some google apps could also be considered bloatware that can't be uninstalled (Google search, Chrome, GMail). I use MS Edge as my primary browser in both Tablet and Phone (and desktop), and I prefer it to Chrome because of the additional privacy settings, ad blocking, and safety issues. It just works better for what I do (unpopular opinion, I know). So yes, I wish Samsung would allow easier repairs (for batteries and screens, for instance), and a separate fingerprint sensor would also be nice (so that replacing the screen plus sensor wouldn't cost about 300€). As for the rest, I'm quite happy on how they treat us (customers) and the overall quality of their product. After that I tried a rugged phone from an obscure Chinese supplier with a 10.000 mAh battery that promised frequent updates (and did not deliver in that regard).

CommentMore like slight regret (Score 2)80

by OriolFM (#65003315) Attached to: Do stories about Bitcoin cause you to feel anger?
When they talked to me about Bitcoin for the first time, I didn't understand the appeal. I thought they were selling smoke, there was nothing behind it. They talked to me about mining (it was easier at the time), or you could buy one bitcoin for cents.
If I had invested just 50 euro then, at a few cents per bitcoin, now I'd be very wealthy. But chances are that almost anyone who bought bitcoin at cents would have sold them when they reached 1.000, or 10.000 euro. So chances are, I would have sold them much earlier (unless I had forgotten about them and suddenly found them again nowadays).
But that does not change the fact that they're still selling smoke, because as of today, there is still nothing behind bitcoin: no company producing value, no gold or other commodities... nothing. And so, the governments could decide to outlaw all blockchain currencies, make the exchange illegal, and normal people would have lost a lot of money. Sure, shady types in the dark web could still use it for their exchanges, but most cryptobros and other investors/scam victims would be left with something they can't use.
So yes, I may feel a slight regret not to have jumped in the wagon, but I'd feel devastated if I had jumped early and then sold everything when its value had grown thousandfold (now that it has grown a million times over).

CommentRe:Who, indeed? (Score 1)67

You have a point. However, the software companies (and the OS ones) tend to use (and offer) standard libraries more and more. The more a software uses standard OS libraries, the easier it is to port to another architecture (simply needing the precompiled libraries for the new CPU).
Microsoft released this partial emulation mode where they can use the arm64 native libraries whenever possible, and just emulate the non-standard parts of the code. This reduces the impact of emulation, but in addition, it is a nice nudge for the developers to try and use standard libraries whenever possible. It makes sense.
And this is not to mention that webapps packaged as individual apps (which are becoming more common nowadays) will work well, with no impact to execution, as long as you have a native browser. The steps that Microsoft has taken to allow Android apps (traditionally ARM) to run in a normal Windows PC (usually x86/amd64) might have to do with understanding emulation and executing code regardless of the architecture.

While it is true that in Ubuntu ARM I had the option to (theoretically) download the source code and compile it if I wanted to, the truth is that more often than not, trying to compile a program would send me into a spiral of non-native dependencies that also needed to be compiled, with dependencies of their own... and installing a program, which should be as easy as going into the Ubuntu shop or Synaptic, click on a program and install it, became an odissey that prevented me from doing whatever work I had planned on that day. It just wasn't practical for an everyday use.

CommentRe:Who, indeed? (Score 1)67

In my opinion, the Legacy code is becoming more and more of a niche use. At work I have to deal with industrial PCs still running Windows XP Embedded that run software which is impossible to update. The system ISO files won't run in any modern hardware. If those machines break, we'll need to replace them. Same for some old testing machines with Sun computers running Solaris... last time we got lucky and could find second hand hardware on eBay, but the next time it breaks, we'll have to dump a lot of cash in a new machine.
Therefore, I don't think the compatibility issue it's a problem for legacy. Nowadays, either you run it on legacy hardware, and when it breaks, you're done, or you can run it on a VM (and if that's the case, you don't care if the CPU is an x86, an a64, or a potato).
As for closed source and multi-arch, I just want to point out how Apple did it. They already changed CPU architecture several times, and it went well while they kept being extremely closed source. It's a matter of supplying a separate set of libraries and a compiler that can produce code for the architectures you need at the push of a button (or directly produce code for both, and during installation the right libraries will be selected). It doesn't have to be difficult.
I remember trying Ubuntu for arm64 some time ago, and despite being open source, the compatibility with applications was abysmal unless you started downloading source code and compiling every little widget and app you wanted to get except for the main ones. The experience was horrible. In the end, it is a matter of interest and chance. If Windows on ARM is the trigger for the suppliers to produce more ARM hardware (and therefore, drivers for it), this will also be good for Linux in ARM. Maybe we'll get more affordable, quiet and tiny desktop PCs.
To be honest, I've been waiting for ARM to jump to desktops for a long time, but there is no way in hell I'm getting an Apple. Despite my first smartphone and tablet being from Apple, they went the extra mile to block a library that allowed direct connection between their devices and Linux PCs. I ran Ubuntu at that time because most of the software I used at the time was open-source, and because this library allowed me to circumvent iTunes to transfer files in and out of my applications, add media to the phone and tablet. It was seamless, integrated inside Nautilus. Windows didn't have that. And Apple went actively against that library in every single update (even minor ones). Despite that, they keep getting their way changing architectures and giving support to legacy ones (They don't need to hold it for too long because of their planned device obsolescence). Microsoft are doing steps in the right direction, and even now, they're trying to get Android apps to run on Windows despite them being native ARM, so... I think there's real hope.

CommentRe:I, for one, am happy to hear that. (Score 1)160

This.

Most western brands are focused in luxury cars where they can get a bigger profit margin, but the part they conveniently forget is that the sales numbers will be low for that segment. And in order to reduce production costs, you have to do mass production (which they can't do because they don't have enough batteries for that).

Chinese companies are taking advantage and flooding the market with cheaper models. And the western companies will complain and whine, trying to get a ban on sales.

CommentMight as well try to produce cheaper cars. (Score 1)160

The problem with most car makers at the moment is that they try to focus on high-end models to make a bigger margin, and they forgot the lessons of the past. When you do mass production, you manage to improve fabrication and increase margins. VW made a fortune with the Beetles and the Rabbits, because they were AFFORDABLE and reliable cars.

I currently live in Germany and drive a second hand, old Mercedes Benz A-Class. I would really like to have a cheap alternative (no matter the brand) to update to an affordable electric car. The cheapest electric cars I can get cost about 10.000€ and they're all 2 seaters with barely 100 km of autonomy. I do between 25-50 km everyday commuting to work and my kids' schools. That means I'd have to charge the battery every day or two, at the very least. At the speed they degrade, that means I'd have to change the battery just after a few years.

What about a car with a decent range (a real 250-300 km) that is affordable? I don't need it to be very fancy, I just need something I can trust and that I can drive around. I don't want a luxury car, I want utilitarian.

My first car was a Ford Fiesta Ghia from the early 70s, and it was cheap to buy (I could get it second hand for about a month's salary). If I want to get a Fiesta now, it's more like half a year's salary, if I don't eat, drink, or have any other expense (spoiler alert: I have a wife and two kids, and pay a mortgage). Where are the electric Fiestas, Beetles, Fiat 500, and other utilitarian, cheap cars for the masses?

Nowadays, only Chinese brands seem to be thinking about normal people, and the rest focus on luxury models that very few people can afford. Even Tesla scrapped their project for a cheaper car, and they're the ones who have managed to bring the price down and get a bigger margin than the rest. These companies will complain in a while about having lost market share, and they will say that the situation was unpredictable. Well, it was not.

CommentRe: Just eat the boogs (Score 1)97

by OriolFM (#63421254) Attached to: These Angry Dutch Farmers Really Hate Microsoft Over Data Centers
Exactly the point. The article is misleading. Nitrogen is not the problem. Chances are, many of the farmers use fertilizers that have nitrogen in the form of ammonia.
The problem is usually emissions of nitrous oxide coming from diesel engines used in heavy machinery. Nitrous oxides are neurotoxins and in high concentrations, or over a long exposure to toxic levels, can impair or damage brain function.

CommentRe:Say what? (Score 1)18

by OriolFM (#63231856) Attached to: Google's Stadia Controller Is Getting Bluetooth Support

Of course it's a pity that I'll lose some of the savegames and can't sync them to my PC, and it buggers me that I can't keep playing some of the next-gen games on my TV, but this minor annoyance is easily balanced by the fun I had while playing.

I got fully refunded by Google, which means I got 2 controllers, 2 chromecast ultras, and a lot of game hours to play essentially for free.

In any case, during this time the GPU prices went down again and I was recently able to update my PC, so I used my refund from Cyberpunk 2020 from Stadia to get the PC version (at a discount, on Steam, with extra DLC added on), and I continue playing on my desktop. I don't see it as a bad deal.

However, I can only imagine the rage and frustration of many developers who invested themselves on this system, only to have their work scrapped. Those are the true victims of all this.

CommentAdams didn't pick 42 at random. It is ASCII. (Score 5, Interesting)98

I've seen many comments joking about base 13 and multiplication, but that's not the explanation. Adams picked 42 willingly: it is ASCII code.

42 (decimal) is the ASCII code for the character '*'.
As anyone in this website probably knows, '*' is one of the most commonly used wildcards representing any character or string.
So, of course, the answer to anything is always *, because * can mean anything as well.

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