Post #250

Only 250 posts since 2006. That’s disappointing. Pathetic even. The content of this post isn’t much either.

Attention Trekkies: the medical tricorder is here!

Attention Facebook: I won’t join until there’s a ‘Dislike’ button.

Attention Hoover: your products still suck.

What do I want from life: tubes, filaments, tubes, filaments, and THESE filament-free Tubes.

What do I want from life: a REAL android.

What do I want from life:

a

Microsoft

Windows

system

which

is

not

so

terribly

painfully

slooowww

to

boot.

D-Star still marginal?

I always wondered how many ham radio operators use D-Star. Now I know: according to the organizers of a D-Star forum at Dayton Hamvention 2013 there are now slightly more than 25.000 registered D-Star users around the world. Quote:

“D-STAR continues to grow in popularity with over one thousand interconnected gateways and over twenty-five thousand registered users. The last year has seen new hardware and software offerings that continue to expand the capabilities of this already feature rich protocol. The speakers for this forum will review the things you might have missed in the last year and announce some exciting new hardware and software.”

A large portion of those 25.000 users doesn’t use airwaves at all, but use a (cheaper) dongle instead. Personally I would not hesitate to take dongle users out of the equation, but let’s not be too picky today.

Time to put all of this into perspective. There are now an estimated 3.2 million licensed ham radio operators in the world (source: IARU). This translates into 0.78% of them using D-Star. That isn’t much.

So, is D-Star still marginal? Apparently so. However, acceptance of new technologies always takes time. Some potential users couldn’t care less about digital modes, some don’t like the hefty price tag. Then there’s competition in the form of cheap (sometimes really cheap!) DMR radios. Digital is here to stay.

I’m waiting for someone to link all popular digital technologies and make them available to anyone with (for example) an Echolink account. Now that would be cool.

ISS dumps Windows into the vacuum of space

Laptop computers essential to the day-to-day operations of the International Space Station (ISS) crew will be switching operating systems from Windows XP to Linux, according to published reports.

The laptops, which are on the space station’s “opsLAN” network, are used by astronauts to interface with onboard cameras and complete several other routine tasks, Joel Gunter of The Telegraph explained on Friday. While Linux had already been used to run several systems on board the ISS, this means it will now be the exclusive OS used onboard the orbiting laboratory, he added.

“We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable – one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust or adapt, we could,” Keith Chuvala of the United Space Alliance, the organization that operates opsLAN for NASA, told Gunter.

Getting rid of viruses
Dropping Windows in favor of the Unix-like, open-source operating system is “probably a good idea,” according to Jamie Condliffe of Gizmodo.

“Back in 2008, a Russian cosmonaut managed to take a laptop to the ISS that spread the W32.Gammima.AG worm to all the other laptops aboard the station. Using Linux would make that impossible,” Condliffe said. “The only hitch might be switching all the current, Windows-based software – for everything from viewing stock inventory to carrying out experiments – to Linux.

Let’s hope they don’t use WINE.

(via redOrbit)

The Internet Sucks

Throw away your smartphone. Don’t use Google. Stop reading this blog. Before it’s too late.

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