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Daily Tech News 22 January 2022

Top Story

  • Intel is spending $20 billion on a new manufacturing facility in Ohio. (AnandTech)

    The new facility will initially include two factories on 1000 acres, with room to expand to eight factories.

    These won't come online until 2025, so they're not going to help you buy that video card you want, but they are in addition to the $20 billion expansion Intel already has under way in Arizona, $3.5 billion in New Mexico, $3 billion in Oregon, and $7 billion in Malaysia.

    Almost as if chip making was big business these days.


  • Weekends are question and answer time. Drop your questions in the comments today and I'll attempt to answer them tomorrow. If you left a question during the week I'll try to answer those too but I might miss seeing some of them.


Tech News

  • Google's inclusive language police are working tirelessly to prevent offense to inanimate objects. (Wall Street Journal)

    Not a surprise to see stories like this; we all know the lunatics have taken over the asylum at Google. Bit of a surprise to see the story being written by eminent theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss.


  • Athletes competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics should keep their mouths shut if they want to get out of China alive. (South China Morning Post)

    Interesting to see this article not quite directly accusing the Chinese government of genocide but liberally citing others who do level those accusations. The SCMP is owned by the Alibaba Group, which is not exactly on cordial terms with the Xi dictatorship.

    It also puts he boot squarely into the International Olympic Committee, which has entirely earned this kicking.


  • The Raden 6500 XT is a crap desktop graphics card because AMD never intended it to be a desktop graphics card. (Hot Hardware)

    The design choices are focused on reducing power consumption, not cost, for a laptop graphics solution. And it works fine... Works acceptably in that scenario.

    So for example it only has 4 lanes of PCIe. That's fine - acceptable - if you have PCIe 4, but slows things down significantly in older systems with PCIe 3. But in laptops that's irrelevant, because nobody is going to produce a laptop with a four year old CPU and the latest graphics chip.

    The only reason it's shown up on the desktop at all is the ongoing shortage of graphics cards - better to have something out there than nothing at all.

    That explains all the shortcomings of the card - the limited I/O and memory bandwidth, the missing video compression codecs, the lack of VRAM - they grabbed some spare mobile chips to try to keep up with desktop demand.

    It's still a bad card and you shouldn't buy one, but it's not malice aforethought.


Party Like It's 1980-ish Video of the Day





Disclaimer: Tried to start it up, tried to start it up but it don't pop. It's been running hot, think the carburetor might be shot.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 hiya

Posted by: JT at January 22, 2022 04:05 AM (arJlL)

2 Good evening Pixy

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 04:06 AM (2JoB8)

3 Hiya Skip !

Posted by: JT at January 22, 2022 04:07 AM (arJlL)

4 https://tinyurl.com/3c8sy9en
20 Tweets from Bad Blue

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 04:11 AM (2JoB8)

5 Morning all.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 22, 2022 04:13 AM (MqQvv)

6 I could have gone to this Stones concert, many of my fellow Airman did as it was in Hampton Virginia but in 1981
I was never a Stones fan.

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 04:13 AM (2JoB8)

7 I saw China is requesting every athlete download a tracking app on their phone, from Covid tracking nominally of course.
No, no and no, and best get a toss away phone to destroy when you leave.

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 04:16 AM (2JoB8)

8 Yeah, if you travel to China, plan to discard every electronic device you take with you.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 22, 2022 04:17 AM (MqQvv)

9 Good morning morons

Every Olympic medal awarded should come with a rag to wipe off the blood

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 22, 2022 04:18 AM (EZebt)

10 'No one knows how to make a pencil.'

I'll admit, I am completely ignorant on how chips are made (although I did some work in a lab working on thermal transfer compounds for Intel... Dear Lord- 25 years ago.) I was going to ask whether anyone had seen anything about new rare earth mines being opened in addition to the chip manufacturing plants. Then I thought: do they just dig rare earth material out of the ground and send it straight to the chip plant? It would have to be refined at some level, right? Are there separate refineries or are they done at the mining end (or the chip end?)

Regardless, from what I understand, it is not just the chip making infrastructure being largely controlled by China- it is the entire production loop from mining to chips. Smart move there, fearless leaders!

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:23 AM (dNqv+)

11 9 Good morning morons

Every Olympic medal awarded should come with a rag to wipe off the blood
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 22, 2022 04:18 AM (EZebt)

This.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:25 AM (dNqv+)

12 I should try and nap a bit more, was up until 10

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 04:29 AM (2JoB8)

13 Well, that video was good at a base level, but the chemistry seemed oversimplified. Also it did not mention how anything was obtained aside from silica. The silica ingots are cool.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:32 AM (dNqv+)

14 10 Regardless, from what I understand, it is not just the chip making infrastructure being largely controlled by China- it is the entire production loop from mining to chips. Smart move there, fearless leaders!
Posted by: Aetius451AD


China isn't that significant in chip production, not unless you count Taiwan. They do make mobile CPUs, DRAM, and some flash memory, but no leading-edge stuff.

All the advanced tools for making leading-edge chips actually come from the Netherlands, and China is banned from importing them.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 22, 2022 04:33 AM (MqQvv)

15 All the advanced tools for making leading-edge chips actually come from the Netherlands, and China is banned from importing them.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 22, 2022 04:33 AM (MqQvv)

So the Dutch are smart enough to realize the Chinese would immediately steal and reproduce anything they imported. Must be nice.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:35 AM (dNqv+)

16 "Annoying, condescending, patronizing..."
-Mark Geragos on Gavin Newsom

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 22, 2022 04:41 AM (EZebt)

17 16 "Annoying, condescending, patronizing..."
-Mark Geragos on Gavin Newsom
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 22, 2022 04:41 AM (EZebt)

And just defeated a recall by landslide.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:44 AM (dNqv+)

18 And just defeated a recall by landslide.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:44 AM (dNqv+)
===
Hopefully the SFUSD school board and the DA won't be as lucky.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 22, 2022 04:49 AM (EZebt)

19 "Nice of the Feds to show up for The March For Life". How could anyone not know that a bunch of men who all dress alike, have professionally made banners saying something like " Strong Familes. Strong Nations" and who are conveniently wearing their Chinese made masks are NOT glories. If anyone is silly enough to go to the March Against Mandates, they'll probably show up there too.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 22, 2022 04:49 AM (79JY7)

20 It's rarely the carburetor, the jets last forever, the venturi effect is freakin' physics; okay, sometimes the needle valves need changing.

Let it blow a seal or two every now and then, feed it some premium ethyl, and your carb will love you long time.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 22, 2022 04:51 AM (F0YaR)

21 Hopefully the SFUSD school board and the DA won't be as lucky.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 22, 2022 04:49 AM (EZebt)

I hope it can get past ballot harvesting. I honestly do not mean to be all black pill, things just seem shitty sometimes.

Hope is important.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:52 AM (dNqv+)

22 21 Hope is important.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:52 AM (dNqv+)

Yep.

Posted by: m at January 22, 2022 04:54 AM (Pk5po)

23 How is your wife feeling now, Skip?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 22, 2022 04:55 AM (79JY7)

24 Regardless, from what I understand, it is not just the chip making infrastructure being largely controlled by China- it is the entire production loop from mining to chips. Smart move there, fearless leaders!

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:23 AM (dNqv+)


Akchually, China is a market maker in the pure silicon ingot biz -- They make far too many of the ingots that get sliced, diced, doped and roped to make the basic printed etchings on which the world's IC manufacturers depend.

I'll give the commies credit -- They know how to identify our weaknesses and seize critical pathways.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 22, 2022 04:58 AM (F0YaR)

25 If anyone is silly enough to go to the March Against Mandates, they'll probably show up there too.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 22, 2022 04:49 AM (79JY7)

I worry that we are being trained. Trained to never respond en masse because any gathering communicated is one that will be staked out by the feds and thus the gatherers will be rounded up on trumped up/entrapped into crime charges.

Civil Rights marches show a way forward? Go anyway? Just be smart, but realize the risk? I dunno.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:58 AM (dNqv+)

26 You're probably right, Aetius. Better to go and be watchful but the Feds do seem to like to show up at January protests.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 22, 2022 05:03 AM (79JY7)

27
The decision by Serbia comes as it approaches a general election in April, and as relations between Belgrade and Canberra have soured after Sunday's deportation of tennis star Novak Djokovic from Australia over its Covid-19 entry rules.

[ ] Coincidence
[X] Not a coincidence

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 05:03 AM (dQvv7)

28
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 22, 2022 05:10 AM (DUIap)

29 "It's rarely the carburetor".

Yeah the old saw back in the day was 90 percent of carburetor problems are ignition related. Everybody always wants to dink around with that first. Or the ignition timing, that never changes, unless you change it. Oops. But anything that has sat around with alky gasoline and started to corrode is suspect. Water and corrosion really does a number on certain alloys in castings. Carburetors and the kits are no longer inexpensive, they've gotten pretty stupid money in some cases.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 22, 2022 05:14 AM (psL96)

30 good one from the badblue tweets:

@JackPosobiec
Have a margarita is the new let them eat cake

Posted by: m at January 22, 2022 05:14 AM (Pk5po)

31 Reposting from 1/16 for your Q&A:

1) I'd been thinking of trying to acquire a new desktop after the new year to replace my aging i7-950 / currently GTX 970 build. (Not liking change, I like to buy sweet-spot high-end and then ride it for a very long time with occasional upgrades.) Originally I was thinking of trying for an AMD 5950x / RTX 3080 system. But the AMD 7950x announcement and rumors of RTX 4000 later this year have me wondering if I should wait. Especially with the new mobo chipset with updated PCI and RAM support, and the sweet IPC bump on the CPU arch. Thoughts?

(1/22 addition: I write rendering code for a living. MOAR FLOPS!! NOM NOM NOM!)

2) You keep mentioning and linking this Hololive and related stuff. I'm out of the loop. What is that, and what's the background on it?

Posted by: Bitblt at January 22, 2022 05:15 AM (8n5xO)

32 I don't like falling asleep watching TV and waking up at 3am in a chair instead of my bed

Posted by: DB - the king is a fink! at January 22, 2022 05:19 AM (geLO8)

33 A Georgia pastor and his wife have been arrested on charges of false imprisonment after officials found up to eight people locked in their basement, police said.

"Up to eight", huh? 6, 7, maybe 9, who cares. Arithmetic not being taught anymore? Getting close is good enough, I'm told.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 22, 2022 05:21 AM (psL96)

34
I write rendering code for a living.

You write computer code to take leftover meat, fat, and bone and convert it into things like pet food and biofuels?

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 05:21 AM (dQvv7)

35
A Georgia pastor and his wife have been arrested on charges of false imprisonment after officials found up to eight people locked in their basement, police said.

Yeah, but that's Georgia. Something like that would never happen in New Jersey. One can only hope.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 05:24 AM (dQvv7)

36 Pixy, I like my 150$ Fire tablets. Is there any reason to spend more money if I have only use the tablet for surfing and bill paying?

Posted by: Jamaica Queens at January 22, 2022 05:36 AM (b+v9B)

37 I see from the tubes Arnold Governator out there in Cali just practically smoked some lady driving a Pious with his ginormous Yukon. Intersection of Sunset and AllenFord. So that will drown out the news for a week probably. She ain't dead, but just enough hollywood scandal to keep the rubes happy

Posted by: Common Tater at January 22, 2022 05:39 AM (psL96)

38 Vice grip garage will take a heap that has been sitting in a field for 30 years, spray a little ethyl, pour in a little go juice and bring the thunder. Sometimes he has to tweak the sparkalators, but that's fine.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at January 22, 2022 05:40 AM (F4b8f)

39 with his ginormous Yukon.

It was an electric, biofuel, free range organic yukon, right?

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at January 22, 2022 05:41 AM (F4b8f)

40 Only got in some cat naps

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 05:49 AM (2JoB8)

41 I skipped Highschool graduation to go see the Stones in Kansas City in 75. Parents were pissed. I moved out the next week and lived with sis until I went into the Army.

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at January 22, 2022 05:51 AM (HaPdD)

42 There is an on-going national debate over the efficacy of supervised drug consumption sites, which are prohibited by state and federal laws, and a continuing local debate over whether and where to open one in San Francisco. Mayor Breed and members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have advocated a supervised drug consumption site, and purchased two properties in the Tenderloin to serve people suffering from addiction. But the city never approved the creation of a supervised consumption site

It is illegal by federal, state, and city law but... let's spend taxpayer money to buy two sites and open it anyway.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at January 22, 2022 05:52 AM (F4b8f)

43
Skip -
A couple days ago the wife and I were hiking near Lock 60. The canal was pretty much frozen safe but there was a strange break in the ice not far from where some kids had an ice hockey goal set up. They had put some branches down on the ice as a warning to stay away from it. My wife follows local news on FB and it turns out the local fire company practices ice rescues there and they had been there the day before.

I'd hate to be the guy who had to go in the water. Major, major shrinkage.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 05:52 AM (dQvv7)

44 Getting breakfast down in Florida. You should hear two random guys (ages 43 and 60, it turns out) ranting across the room to each other about Biden, J6, Trump, etc. etc.! It's like a live performance of AoS. Very encouraging to hear.

Posted by: t-bird at January 22, 2022 05:54 AM (FSV7P)

45 g'mornin' everyone !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 22, 2022 05:56 AM (9CuDT)

46 > You write computer code to take leftover meat, fat, and bone and convert it into things like pet food and biofuels?

The offal things I do to pay the bills...

Posted by: Bitblt at January 22, 2022 05:57 AM (8n5xO)

47 Trader Joe my dad was a fireman and very often rescue squad member as he was a avid skin diver, they often went looking for bodies in ponds, and rivers. Bodies rise but sink in different cycles and would get caught in underwater obstacles like trees.
The thought of finding a body like in Jaws creeps me out.
I say my dad has seen more dead and accident victims than many military people.

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 06:00 AM (2JoB8)

48 KRAK OF DAWN HAS ARRIVED

Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at January 22, 2022 06:03 AM (2JoB8)

49 nood !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez (9CuDT) at January 22, 2022 06:04 AM (9CuDT)

50 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at January 22, 2022 06:04 AM (UnQlg)

51
The offal things I do to pay the bills...

Posted by: Bitblt at January 22, 2022 05:57 AM


Perfect response. Muldoon level.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 06:05 AM (dQvv7)

52 33 A Georgia pastor and his wife have been arrested on charges of false imprisonment after officials found up to eight people locked in their basement, police said.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 22, 2022 05:21 AM (psL96)

This doesn't sound good.

Posted by: m at January 22, 2022 06:09 AM (vF+oW)

53 52 33 A Georgia pastor and his wife have been arrested on charges of false imprisonment after officials found up to eight people locked in their basement, police said.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 22, 2022 05:21 AM (psL96)

This doesn't sound good.
Posted by: m at January 22, 2022 06:09 AM (vF+oW)

Here's a bbc link to that story:

https://tinyurl.com/9mve2e2n

Posted by: m at January 22, 2022 06:15 AM (vF+oW)

54
Trader Joe my dad was a fireman and very often rescue squad member as he was a avid skin diver, they often went looking for bodies in ponds, and rivers.

Posted by: Skip at January 22, 2022 06:00 AM


That's cool. My dad was a (volunteer) fireman, too.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 06:16 AM (dQvv7)

55 It's like a live performance of AoS. Very encouraging to hear.
Posted by: t-bird at January 22, 2022 05:54 AM (FSV7P)
---
How do you know they are NOT morons? Several of them live in Florida or pass through the state...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 22, 2022 06:35 AM (K5n5d)

56
You can say what you like about Australians, but when it comes to tennis they sure know how to return a Serb.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at January 22, 2022 07:02 AM (dQvv7)

57 Im lazy, and a lurker. I wouldnt mind seeing pixys thoughts on VR things. Im in a PS4 for the living room console but rarely game at this point. Im probably good for one more console but holding off. Interested in gaming but also virtual tours, not even sure whats available out there.

Thoughts on VR things? State of Affairs?

Enjoy reading you before work. Thanks for your efforts!

Posted by: TeeRoy Jenkins at January 22, 2022 08:14 AM (syfyG)

58 It seems to me that the blog is now locking down viewing of *very recent* posts, i.e., I tried to look at one of your tech threads at 0850 one morning (while the JJSMR was still active) and got the "Access Comments" note. This may be due to troll action trying to screw AoS up by posting bad stuff in old threads, so this is perhaps understandable policy.

But it would seem that there is a seemingly reasonable software solution, i.e., once the link specific transition to "Access Comments" is enabled if you then modified each post-specific "Access Comments" request to provide a direct url to the valid archive with that specific post number, it would make the blog much more user friendly (for me at least)!

And yes, I know there is a way for me to do a bunch of cut and paste while chanting in Python to access old threads, but it seems like a more desirable alternative would be to have some embedded code for efficient archive site access. I think this would be very useful and helpful for many blog readers.

Thanks for the Tech Thread, always an interesting read!

~Hrothgar

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~ Lie back and think of the sweet graft! ~ at January 22, 2022 08:22 AM (hOUT3)

59 Q and A:
I have a number of external HD devices, they have a lot of audio, pictures, etc.
While the devices still work my older computer, they don't work with my newer one (MacBook Air with the M1 chip running Monterey OS). The manufacturer of the external device (Western Digital) says they no longer make drivers to support older devices (which are about a decade old).
Is there any work-around?
thank you

Posted by: gourmand du jour at January 22, 2022 08:38 AM (jTmQV)

60 Question: If you haven't experienced this touchpad problem, maybe it's just me and you should disregard this question.
I'm looking for a laptop that doesn't have an oversensitive touchpad; I've bought a couple that seem to open links with the slightest, unintentional touch. I have adjusted all software settings.The Apple Mac works for me, but I won't have one. Is there a brand or model line that has the "right touch"?

Thank you for all you do.

--Once upon time Assembler and FOTRAN prommer.

Posted by: Zho Bai-den at January 22, 2022 10:20 AM (L7jyl)

61 Budget is $1500 US for a laptop.

--FORTRAN again.

Posted by: Zho Bai-den at January 22, 2022 10:22 AM (L7jyl)

62 since retiring a number of years ago, my computer skills have atrophied. Have a Thinkpad that's still operating fine on Win10 ... but never gets used unless my Surface bites the dust. Thinking of converting the Thinkpad to
linux. a) workable for a laptop? b) best distro to use? and c) wipe the hd and start from scratch, or go with dual boot?

Posted by: Wingnutt at January 22, 2022 10:23 AM (dU9zo)

63 Question Pixy, have you ever built a computer with all-in-one water cooling? I have an AMD 5600X and I'm thinking of water cooling instead of the stock fan. I'm not planning of over-clocking. Any suggestions?

Posted by: mutantman at January 22, 2022 11:22 AM (J9xQs)

64 Wingnutt, I'm sure PM will answer your questions well, but I'll offer you my $0.02 worth, given my decades of experience with Linux.

Every time I buy a new laptop or notebook, my first action is to nuke Windows and install Ubuntu Linux. There may well be distros out there that are better tailored to your situation, but I've gotten very good results with Ubuntu. The web site has detailed directions on how to download a distribution, and install it.

As for dual boot, that depends on whether you want to continue to run software that requires Windows. These principally are games, though there are business apps as well that require Windows. There are Linux versions of some popular Windows apps, e.g., LibreOffice, which can work with Office files (at least, with those files that do not use Office's more esoteric features). Also, I've found that the Linux version of the Windows remote desktop works well, so if you want to run Windows software on a remote Windows box, you can do so directly from your Linux desktop.

As I said, my $0.02 worth. YMMV.

Posted by: Nemo at January 22, 2022 11:48 AM (S6ArX)

65 What are your thoughts on the new steam deck? I have the 512gb reserved already.

Posted by: Edwin J at January 22, 2022 12:31 PM (YW3KC)

66 Gourmand: Your external HD's should work just fine with Monterrey unless they are really old and formatted as HFS, not HFS+. Apple recently dropped support for that, but since HFS was obsoleted in System 8.1 back in the mid 90s....

They should work just plug and play. Unless WD is requiring a kext system extension to access their HD, which would be 1) unnecessary and 2) really, really stupid.

But if they won't work, they won't work. Probably time to get new ones anyway if they are ten years old.

So: workaround is pretty simple: just network the two macs--old and new, and copy the files over to the new drive. Set aside a weekend to do it since transferring files can take a while.

Also: if the HD's are that old, are they only USB or do they have a Firewire port? Apple has a USB-C / Thunderbolt to Firewire cable. If they don't run on USB they very well might work on the firewire port as that's a totally different chipset which means different drivers. I have an Iomega HD about that old that has Firewire 400, 800, and USB connections. Be worth checking into!

Posted by: Rafal Gan Ganowicz at January 22, 2022 12:36 PM (DN0pc)

67 Now for my question: What is a great external SSD for a boot drive? Thunderbolt 3 is available, and from what I hear if you get a Thunderbolt SSD your speeds are about double of what a USB-C drive can offer.

I basically want to dual boot my Mac Mini and keep an install of Mojave around to use 32bit apps, but also run Monterrey and not be obsolete (Mojave doesn't have pre-built binaries in Homebrew anymore so I have to compile every single package update.... pain). So I'd like to toss one OS on the external. But I think a good OS boot SSD is different than a good SSD meant for doing video work and the like. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Rafal Gan Ganowicz at January 22, 2022 12:40 PM (DN0pc)

68 Good Morning,

Pine Phone, you did a review on the Pine Phone and its cousins and provided links. I didn't save the address to that post.

Do you have an updated opinion?
Can you provide a link to that old post?
Thanks

Posted by: Braenyard at January 22, 2022 12:41 PM (MS9b1)

69 As for dual boot, that depends on whether you want to continue to run software that requires Windows.

As I said, my $0.02 worth. YMMV.
Posted by: Nemo at January 22, 2022 11:48 AM


The big problem I had with dual-booting is that whichever one I mostly didn't run never got updated so whenever I wound up running the lesser used one, I always had to spend a bunch of time doing updates on it. For me, I think it's better to run two different computers and set up automatic updates. I use remote access to run programs on the one I'm not sitting at.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at January 22, 2022 01:17 PM (ezpv1)

70 Regardless, from what I understand, it is not just the chip making infrastructure being largely controlled by China- it is the entire production loop from mining to chips. Smart move there, fearless leaders!
Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 22, 2022 04:23 AM (dNqv+)

And even if the chips are not made in ORC, they often go there for packaging.

Posted by: Fox2! at January 22, 2022 01:26 PM (qyH+l)

71 The manufacturer of the external device (Western Digital) says they no longer make drivers to support older devices (which are about a decade old).

Got an e- mail from WD last month saying they were dropping support for my external HD, and that I should remove it from internet access. Still waiting for the follow-up they promised with coupon toward new HD.

Posted by: Fox2! at January 22, 2022 01:33 PM (qyH+l)

72 Do you have any idea when Apple is going to release a 27 inch iMac with the A series chip? The 27 is still being offered with an Intel chipset, which means immediate obsolescence when they finally release the A chip version.

Posted by: Fox2! at January 22, 2022 01:35 PM (qyH+l)

73 Apple releases about twice a year for computers, Fox2.

They have a spring event, usually iPads and computers, then WWDC where they may or may not update stuff, then the iPhone event in September, and then in October/November they fit in the other fall Computer update.

This year is when they are supposed to finish transitioning over to their M-series chips. The "Big boys" in the lineup are the desktops, the beefy ones, and they are the last to transition. So the 27inch iMac, the Mac Pro, and the "pro" Mac Mini are what is left on intel. I suspect the holdup is that all their current shipping M1 macs were sealed boxes, whether on Intel or now with the M1. But people expect expandability and upgradeability with the 27inch iMac and the Mac Pro, which takes work.

My guess is that we'll see the pro Mac Mini this spring, and the 27 inch iMac either at WWDC in June or in the fall with the Mac Pro.

Posted by: Rafal Gan Ganowicz at January 22, 2022 02:07 PM (DN0pc)

74 You say that Node and npm suck. I don't disagree with that opinion, so what do you consider to be the best alternative to Node for new web projects? Deno? Something else?

Posted by: WillowViney at January 22, 2022 04:05 PM (d3MA1)

75 There are several problematic issues with modern consumer tech (more or less related), and everyone would weight them differently. What would your hw/sw/service recommendations to minimize concerns for each of these:
1) concerned about surveillance capitalism
2) concerned that China is asshoe
3) concerned about hostility to conservative/traditional/non-elitist worldviews

Posted by: Nimrod at January 22, 2022 04:13 PM (ECNKF)

76 Have a Thinkpad that's still operating fine on Win10 ... but never gets used unless my Surface bites the dust. Thinking of converting the Thinkpad to
linux. a) workable for a laptop? b) best distro to use? and c) wipe the hd and start from scratch, or go with dual boot?

-----------------

You might want to check out the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2). You can install most of the popular Linux distros on it (ubuntu, etc). WSL2 runs as a native Linux subsystem inside the Windows kernel itself so there is very little overhead. It's great way to start learning Linux skillz without dual booting.

Posted by: WillowViney at January 22, 2022 07:47 PM (gYAkw)

77 Sorta tech question:
Is there an 8" tablet (or thereabouts - smaller can't read, bigger gets awkward), that runs a privacy oriented os, ie: something non-apple other than android.

Tired of having a nose (or two or three) up my ass.

Posted by: buddhaha at January 22, 2022 10:00 PM (agdGa)

78 >what do you consider to be the best alternative to Node for new web projects?

ASP.NET Core. Cross-platform, strongly typed, package ecosystem that isn't insane, mature web framework. .NET Core has a lot less cruft in it than the old .NET Framework, but it still has a pretty steep learning curve.

The problem with the current state of web development is that languages/frameworks that are easy to develop in are difficult to deploy, and languages/frameworks that are easy to deploy are difficult to develop in.

Posted by: Daniel Ream at January 23, 2022 05:15 AM (ArYuy)

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