|
I build UI's for our commercial inkjet printing systems. This means a display on top of a cabinet that's the operator panel for the machine.
I really, really hate getting "screen captures" that are phone pictures. From three feet away  .
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
Aside from the usual gripes about the over complicatedness of CSS from a usability standpoint, I have problems with it from an implementation standpoint.
CSS requires a DOM, just like JS does. With JS it's understandable. With CSS it's because they added a lot of more or less quasi-useful "convenience" features to their selectors.
If you could only do class and id based selectors your entire document could be parsed top-down, which is much more efficient than loading it all into RAM.
Why does it matter? Because embedded things exist, and HTML is so prevalent. If it wasn't for CSS a lot more devices could render a reasonable subset of HTML5.
I think they should at least come out with a standard like say eCSS (for embedded) that's a subset for forward only processing.
CSS is illustrative of what happens when you give a standards committee nothing better to do for decades.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
|
|
|
|
|
I have a friend who was given a lighting console and was told that the previous owner thought the hard drive was on its way out. We're thinking about trying to replace the drive, the problem being, we need to copy over the OS as well, and there's a really good chance it's not Windows or Linux like most modern lighting desks; it's quite probably something custom. The other problem is this desk is officially obsolete, so the re-imaging kits that used to be available are no longer listed. We'll try to locate one, but not holding out much hope.
So here's the thing. The disk isn't very large (haven't checked but unlikely to be more than 250GB), so a replacement won't cost much, but I'm not sure what the best way would be to, essentially, do a "tape-to-tape" copy of the disk.
Any suggestions?
|
|
|
|
|
There are hard drive reimagers that literally take hard drives in two slots like they were bread in a toaster.
If you want something to produce an exact copy regardless of filesystem, it's a pretty safe bet, as long as your ailing drive survives.
Here's one[^]
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
|
|
|
|
|
Ring around, sounds like you are unpunctual, forwarded. (10)
|
|
|
|
|
Circulated ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
modified 1hr 10mins ago.
|
|
|
|
|
That is a pretty good guess.
Does "around" mean "sounds like" ? I thought it was a clue that the text is within the word, like Cir-something-cle.
modified 1hr 20mins ago.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sounds like you are unpunctual = u late
|
|
|
|
|
This part was clear. I understood so far the word "around" as : the word along with it would be cut in syllables which would be put "around" the rest of the clue. So in this case "ring around" = "Circle around" = "Cir - rest of the clue - cle". In this case however, "around" means "sounds like". Which I did not expect.
Not only does explaining it break the charm, but it seems that I cannot even bring it to my point.  Silly me  !
|
|
|
|
|
You are absolutely correct in your logic - there was a mistake in the clue
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ah okay ! Sorry for the question, I am still trying to understand the subtleness of CCCs, so sometimes need an explanation. I managed to solve only one since DD started with them, so I still hope to up the count.
|
|
|
|
|
Ring around, sounds like you are unpunctual, forwarded. (10)
So, when I was starting this out, the thought process was:
Circled was the ring, and it would go around the rest of the answer. That means that Circled should surround the other part of the answer. However, my mistake was dropping the l and e here.
So, with the rest of the answer, Circled would have gone around ulate. That pesky l/e was my blindspot here, if I had left it in, that would be Circlulateed.
|
|
|
|
|
To be honest, I'm surprised you got this because it was a one minute clue and I've just spotted a mistake in it.
|
|
|
|
|
I spotted the mistake and took a guess Pete - ulate and circ gave it away
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
A customer showed me their internal system yesterday.
It runs on an IBM AS/400 and it's written in IBM RPG.
RPG was originally developed in 1959, but the latest stable version is from 2020.
I must say it looks surprisingly modern: Coding in RPG IV - a beginner's tutorial[^]
Not sure if that's also the version of RPG that their software is programmed in, but I'm guessing it isn't as it's 40-something years old.
Other than that it looks like a fancy DOS program (colored letters on a white background, so no retro black/green, and completely keyboard driven, although mouse works too).
Apparently, they've been trying to replace it for 25 years, but without much success.
Meanwhile it's still actively being developed and their supplier has a development team just for this client (all other customers switched to the newer version of the product).
My client is now looking into buying the entire product just so they can keep using it 
They could buy the product, but the programmers are of course in no way obliged to move with the software.
My guess is they'll HAVE TO replace it in the coming ten years or so and it would be better to start working on a replacement NOW rather than buy something that's already obsolete.
But just out of curiosity, how many here worked on RPG and how many still do, could and/or want to?
|
|
|
|
|
I have worked for a short period on a IBM S/36 with RPG II some 30 odd years ago.
Forgot all about it besides the fact that it looked a lot like assembler and after checking your link doesn't even remotely resemble RPG IV.
After some 4 months I switched to the client side development which was done in Clipper 5 synchronising data with the S/36.
|
|
|
|
|
Loved Clipper - my first paying language
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
In 1998 a contractor came to our place of business to give a short course in RPG.
I must say I was impressed with how primitive it was.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
|
|
|
|
|
You have to play as a Lawful Paladin.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
|
|
|
|
|
last time I saw that was 1996. Interesting how much "old" code is still around and needing support.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
|
|
|
|
|
We don't have a setter for Fridays
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
I've dropped a one for today.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
