Medical Device Developer Linux
We desperately need a Medical Device Developer Linux distro. I know I’ve blogged about this before, but with all the wet-behind-the-ears kids thinking Agile is software engineering (it’s not) and…
Our Recent Blog
Your Roku OPT-OUT Letter
Like many of you I have some Roku devices. Once the streaming services managed to compress/strip Standard Definition television far enough the pathetic 25Mbps download speed Internet services available in…
Linux and USB Floppy Drives
Everybody thinks they are dead, but floppy disks are still around and you basically need a USB floppy drive to use them because modern motherboards don’t have a header connection…
C++ — Never Do’s
No, Never Do isn’t a new loop type though it can be what happens when you ASS-U-ME a default value for a loop variable. These are some things you should…
A Linux Distro That Doesn’t Force Updates Like Windows
I really hate it when a search takes me to a “Stack” site, especially a Linux based “Stack” site. Everybody who does anything serious with Linux is looking for a…
C++ – Defaults and Deletes – Pt. 3
In this installment for Defaults and Deletes we finish the code for the example program. So far, among the things you have learned is that the default deconstructor does basically…
C++ – Defaults and Deletes – Pt. 2
Before we go much further with this discussion on Defaults and Deletes, I need you to read the section titled Near Heap in this blog post. It’s a short read…
C++ – Defaults and Deletes – Pt. 1
Defaults and Deletes tend to be needlessly confusing for new C++ developers. Trying to learn this topic is why so many put on a diaper and go code Python. Hopefully…
C++ — That Const Thing
Const is what makes C++ great. Const is what makes C++ too horrible to work with. Developers who read those “Effective” books on C++ really screw the pooch. The developers…
Windows Update KB5034441 and Error 80070643
Error 80070643 is something that won’t “fix itself.” Part of me thinks it was deliberate because most of the “fix” recommendations consist of “upgrade to Windows 11.” Nobody wants Windows…
C++ Initialization and Constructors Explanation
While many of the tools I and other developers use making medical devices require C++17 much of the code we write is C++11. Usually this is mandated by the shop….
Dice – This is Broken
You would think, Dice, a site branding itself as being for “technology jobs” would know better than use Agile and off-shore labor. Nothing screams “I’m just a hack!” like using…
#CancelMenards
Yeah, it’s time to #CancelMendards. I’ve bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff there, but management hasn’t got a clue. Obviously they are using Agile and off-shore labor…
std::optional Example and Explanation
std::optional is an attempt by the academics on the C++ standards committee to “fix” what they believe to be abhorrent behavior. As usual they created a committee quality result. To…
C++ std::string_view Example
If you work in IT long enough you will learn that academics have overrun standards committees. std::string_view is an example of why an elephant is a mouse designed by academic…
The Myth of QML
I have railed against the incredibly poor design of QML for years. Even wrote about The Death of Commercial Application Frameworks because just like the RAD (Rapid Application Development) tools…
The Myth of Smart Pointers
On page 206 of Beginning C++17 ISBN: 9781484233665 published in 2018 you will find the following about smart pointers. Always use either the std::vector<> container (to replace dynamic arrays) or…
C++ Arrays and Pointers Example
C++ arrays and pointers really originate with the C programming language. There have been massive improvements since the 1980s. Back then declaring arrays of structures was a bit iffy. Much…
std::list – Example and Explanation
Our discussion of std::list, like our discussion of std::vector will start with a bit of history. It wasn’t until the IT industry was inundated with tiny x86 minds that people…
Review – Bitdefender Premium Security
Bitdefender Premium Security is yet another shining example of why no company should ever be allowed to use Agile software development. Thank God I only put this on three machines!…
Review – McAfee Total Protection
McAfee Total Protection is a shining example of why no company should ever use Agile. I’m a long way from newbie in the software world. I mean over 30 years…
A std::vector Example and Explanation
If you want a really good method of identifying a legacy C++ library/framework, see if it provides a vector class. For C this would be a set of vector functions….
The Danger of Tuples
No matter how much academics and the industry tries to shit on BASIC, C++ and every other newer language tries to move closer to it. Tuples are the re-introduction of…
Trigraphs and Digraphs
I remember thinking trigraphs were a cheap hack when they were first introduced. Now that I’m old I get called on to help “modernize” legacy code. Keyboard images courtesy of…
Ubuntu 22.04 USB Drives Don’t Sleep
Ubuntu 22.04 really screwed the pooch when it comes to external drives. USB drives don’t sleep anymore. Install the Linux Mint version based on this same LTS and it doesn’t…
Eclipse and Doxygen
Eclipse and Doxygen can be a bit non-obvious to configure. Once again StackOverflow allows people who know absolutely nothing to close questions. I have written about the closed question more…
Scrum Destroys Consulting Firms
Agile and Scrum are quickly destroying the human species, I’ve even written a book about it. Here is how it is single-handedly destroying IT consulting firms. I’ve been at IT…
NVIDIA 390 and BOINC
There has been great wailing about BOINC dropping support for the NVIDIA 390 series driver. I’m told some Linux distros don’t even include it anymore. Windows 10 users got to…
Myth – Nobody Wants to Work
I’ve been hearing this myth, nobody wants to work, repeated by Qanon nutters and Trump supporters (same thing?) who are too stupid to look anything up for quite some time…
Titan Sub – How All Agile Projects End
The Titan submarine crush is yet another shining example of how all Agile projects end. Complete catastrophe with developers complementing each other on a “great sprint!” using phrases like “we…
It’s time for all AI to be FDA regulated
There have been a lot of calls for Congress to regulate AI (Artificial Intelligence). Congress by itself can never achieve such a goal, though I thank Ted Lieu for trying….
Linux Cheats
Here is a list of Linux cheats I just want to keep handy. They will be added to as time goes on. When creating OpenSource software, you have to develop…
Cinnamon – Remove Launcher from Menu
It happens to everybody at some point. When you created a desktop launcher it asked if you wanted to add it to the menu and now you need to remove…
The Fall of Intel®
When I read the story about the massive shellacking Intel® stock was taking I cannot say I was surprised. AMD® has been mopping the floor with them for years. It’s…
FDupes
We are all pack rats. “Safety copies” is how we justify duplicate files. Duplicate files used to require we kept stacks of floppy disks, remember those? Sony used to sell…
The Great Visa Worker Purge
Welcome to the Great Visa Worker Purge! Here we have corporate America running a fake cover story about a recession so they can purge well over a quarter million visa…
The Death of Commercial Application Frameworks
I was going to title this post “The Death of Qt” but it is really all commercial event driven application frameworks. To understand this you need to take a journey…
In Praise of the Z2 G4
I have a hatred for HP that the English language can’t really articulate. From them getting in bed with Microsoft and being paid to kill off OpenVMS to selling printers…
Windows 7 Ultimate in 2023
Despite Microsoft’s claims of Windows 7 being officially killed off, it’s alive and kicking. I don’t personally use it, but I’ve posted about it and the cycle of computer hardware…
Manjaro and ClamAV
Yes, it is true that the vast majority of Linux users don’t run ClamAV or any kind of virus protection. The list of known viruses for Linux is quite small…
LTS == 15 Years Not 5
Once again the battle between tiny x86 minds and reality has happened. They continually claim an LTS is only 5 years when it needs to be a minimum of 15….
Fixing That Annoying Ubuntu Password Policy
We’ve all been there and the Ubuntu password policy is only getting worse. They really need to print their justification arguments on a roll of toilet paper and wipe their…
The Fake Recession
You have been hearing lots of recession talk in the news. It’s all marketing for a fake recession to hide the fact companies got caught with their hand in the…
Medical Device Companies Using Qt
A discussion arose on the Qt-interest mailing list a while back about medical device companies using Qt. Given that damned few people read that list I decided to post the…
KDE Abandonware
It’s that time of the year again. The time when those of us who used to utilize KDE (an ever shrinking number given the fact most of us are dying…
Your Personal Bin Directory
My personal Linux pet peeve is the complete anarchy around a user’s personal bin directory. I have to use and test on many different Linux distros so this annoys me…
Manjaro 5.15 LTS and BOINC
Manjaro and BOINC have had a troubled relationship over the years. Perhaps you read my previous post on this matter. The machine I’m using today is an HP EliteDesk G2….
Manjaro XFCE Desktop Goes Away
Don’t you just hate it when your desktop goes away? You are toggling between the three-twelve systems you have hooked up to your dual monitor KVM and the one system…
Why Manjaro is Taking Over
I’ve written about Manjaro many times on this blog. Other than a lack of testing with NVidia cards/drivers, it’s hard to find fault with this distro. They are definitely doing…
PageEdit – BlueGriffin
PageEdit is a true pleasure for editing html files that will be use for things like online documentation or even in-app help. For many years I used BlueGriffon but the…
Getting Rid of Thunderbird Threading
Every young hacker who volunteers for an OpenSource Project wants to put “their mark” on the thing, that has to be where Thunderbird threading came from. For over a decade…
Emacs GDB Breakpoints
Most books only give you a once-over-lightly when it comes to GDB, especially GDB breakpoints inside of Emacs. They show you how to set a breakpoint. While that is important,…
Using Your Core Dumps
So, you read the last post and now know where to find your core dumps, great. Now what? That always seems to be the question, doesn’t it. What good is…
Finding Your Core Dumps
Admit it, you and every other developer hates debugging other developer’s code, especially when it core dumps. Can it get any worse than hearing them say “works for me” when…
I Hate Mercurial
Mercurial is one of those source control management systems that a token few people like and the vast majority of the world shuns. Most of us shun it for good…
Gecko Linux NVidia and BOINC
This is a sad little journey involving Gecko Linux NVidia and BOINC. There will be some overlap with my TerraMaster post because I went down that road before getting BOINC…
TerraMaster F4-210 and Gecko Linux
Gecko Linux is a wee bit different than my original article on this topic. Still, you can kind of muddle your way through using that Debian based article. Gecko is…
Too Big to AGILE
You won’t find a professional willing to touch AGILE with a hundred mile pole. No, getting paid to write software doesn’t make you a professional anymore than winning $20 shooting…
We’re All Contractors Now
Recruiters seem shocked that we are all contractors now, but that is the way it goes for tech workers, especially those in the medical device/embedded systems world. Honestly, that’s the…
Windows 10 – No Video Display After Update
No video display after update will be a relentless theme over the next few months. You have already seen my post about Manjaro breaking with updates. Yes, had I paid…
RedDiamond AppImage
It has been a while since I posted about RedDiamond, the editor with EDT keypad navigation, but there is finally an AppImage of it. Granted the New World Order wants…
So, Did Manjaro Quit Working for You Today?
Manjaro quit working today, but it is Friday. Did I deploy my tried and true embedded systems root cause analysis skills? Hell no! It’s Friday and it was working before…
The Closed Question #2
A closed question is the mark of a site that is letting those without knowledge run amuck. Today I ran into another one. Others had already commented that this question…
Oracle Virtualbox 6.1.38 export bug
If you upgrade from Virtualbox 6.1.34 to 6.1.38 because oracle nags you about it, get ready for export to stop working when the destination is a TNAS or possibly any…
Nuking unattended-upgrades
If you ever needed physical proof AGILE is a false methodology you need look no further than unattended-upgrades in Ubuntu. This Canonical produced and preinstalled piece of software well and…
Oracle Virtualbox Guest Additions Won’t Install on Ubuntu 22.04
Oracle Virtualbox Guest Additions won’t automatically install under Ubuntu 22.04. Even if you haven’t been there before, you are going to be there now if you install Ubuntu 22.04 in…
So You Can’t Find Yocto People
I have been somewhat hounded since February, perhaps as late as March about a project that needs yocto skills. Like most embedded systems people who are professionals, I dabble in…
Your Sonim XP5800 Won’t Delete Contacts
It’s really annoying when your Sonim phone won’t let you delete contacts. Oh, you can delete some, just not the ones you want. I finally got fed up enough that…
Linux Mint Random Shutdowns
A jaded computer geek would tell you Linux Mint random shutdowns can’t be fixed. As popular as Mint is, it really tries to offend everyone. There are no end of…
Setting HP EliteDesk BIOS Date and Time
Setting the HP EliteDesk BIOS Date and Time has been a bit of a dark art since the machines were first made. In HP’s traditional gotta-scam-a-buck way, they don’t include…
TerraMaster F4-210 and Linux
TerraMaster has software for Windows, but almost everyone wanting to use it uses Linux. Here is how to get it working with Linux. I’m going to use Ubuntu because I…
LinuxLite 5.4 to 5.8 Upgrade Breaks NVidia
If you are using the easy update button on LinuxLite to upgrade from 5.4 to 5.8 be warned the upgrade breaks NVidia support. It’s not a hard break, just a…
Why do actual senior developers walk out when a coding test is mentioned?
The simple answer is every senior developer will hang up the phone, walk out, or tell you to F-yourself when you ask them to take a coding test while those…
The Truth About Bootcamps
Bootcamps exist to part fools from their money and pretty much for no other reason. This post is a follow-on to my #cancelQuora post. Featured image courtesy of brokeassstuart.com. When…
Setting up a Ubuntu 10.04 LTS VM in 2022
Sometimes you need to use a really old version of Ubuntu for maintenance. Here is a quick run down on how to set Ubuntu 10.04 up now that the repos…
Remembering Lotus Symphony
I never used the DOS version of Lotus Symphony. (Windows wasn’t an operating system until Windows NT. Microsoft committed criminal fraud putting “operating” system on the box because it was…
Starlink – We’ve Seen This Movie Before
Starlink is beating the same drum John Deere beat back in 2011 to cover-up the fact they used AGILE and produced a shit system. I can’t believe I’m writing about…
Internet Explorer Tombstone
Truer words were never etched into a tombstone than the ones on the Internet Explorer tombstone. The only thing you ever willingly did with it was download Firefox and Opera….
VCRUNTIME140_1.dll was not found
I hate it when I have to touch anything Microsoft or running on Microsoft. VCRUNTIME140_1.dll is just the latest in the never ending battle with The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot…
CsScintilla – CopperSpice Port of Scintilla Now Available
There is now a CopperSpice port of Scintilla available on SourceForge: CsScintilla. Currently it is configured to only build for Linux. If you wish to submit a pull request for…
How to Fork a Mercurial Project on SourceForge
Forking a Mercurial project on SourceForge isn’t as straight forward as one might think. If you jump straight to fork without first creating a project, you are going to end…
Beware DilyStore Fraud
I buy a lot on-line, almost never get screwed. Made the mistake of thinking DuckDuckGo vetted their shopping. Bought from dilystore.com; got Screwed. Complained to PayPal; got screwed. Involved the…
Beware GlassDoor Company Reviews
Some fools believe they can trust company reviews on Glassdoor.com because they are “vetted.” More fool you! Not long ago I was attempting to place this review for both IBM…
Collabera and IBM at Navistar
It’s rare in IT consulting to find a pair of companies with fewer ethics. Even rarer when they require you to take ethics training. I’ve written about corporate ethics many…
I Miss Head Crashes
I know it seems unreal to wax nostalgic for head crashes, but at least then you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the drive was bad. Today’s drives seem…
Killing Hyper-V
Microsoft has a habit of embedding its own viruses into Windows. Hyper-V is the latest such virus. You are probably all familiar with Microsoft Edge, the buggy useless browser that…
The HP Z820 and Windows 10
There are quite a few HP Z820 machines coming on the aftermarket. Their days of being high end CAD and board layout systems are behind them, but their days of…
So You Are Looking for a New Web Host?
I’ve had my share of shit hosting services over the years. Sometimes it feels like I’ve had them all. EIG Companies owns so many it is hard to avoid shit…
Best Linux Word Processor in 2022
It’s been some time since I wrote the 2019 version of this post covering Linux word processor products. Much has changed in the world of Linux word processors and not…
Anti-Tivoization
Anti-Tivoization is once again rearing its ugly head in the OpenSource world. I have never understood the mindset of busting other people’s things then expecting them to fix the things…
VERSION, SOVERSION, and Tiny x86 Minds
The tiny x86 mindset keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Lately they’ve done it with SOVERSION. It wouldn’t be so bad if their decisions didn’t jack up…
CopperSpice Experiments – Pt. 19
My first real computer job was midnight computer operator for Airfone Inc. There I learned respect for automated update procedures and bare metal backups. I’m not talking about that hokey…
Getting Started With Doxygen
Whether starting a new project or trying to decipher OpenSource code that has near zero comments, Doxygen is a tool you need to know. It can shine a light in…
The 486SX
It’s not just COVID-19 vaccines receiving large quantities of disinformation. Even the 486SX has its own Holocaust Deniers. I couldn’t believe this popped up again months ago. Image by Michael…
The CUTE Journey
Every now and then you will find yourself needing to install a really old Ubuntu version. I stumbled into this with CUTE and Scintilla. You see, the RedDiamond project really…
Some Mainframe Nostalgia
I only dabbled on the IBM mainframe over my 30+ year career. One thing that gives me great nostalgia now is SPF. SPFLite2 in particular. I don’t actually remember what…
Long Hours Kill You
The WHO (World Health Organization) recently published a study claiming working long hours will kill you. I agree, though I routinely do it. Here’s the difference for me. I routinely…
Was Getting Rid of Norton on Your Weekend To-Do List?
What started off as “fix Norton” became a “get rid of Norton” item on my to-do list this weekend. I am soooooo happy now. Let me be up front and…
Business/Enterprise Class Computing
We now have a generation of kids who never worked on real computers, only x86 platforms; so Business Class Computing needs to be explained. This all started with an exchange…
Greylisting
Here’s an idea! Let’s add a new feature called Greylisting, set the default to be on, and push the update out without a word. What could possibly go wrong? Back…