prowla

3 hours ago, lozkerr said:

I have rather too many memories of Xenix. It should have been strangled at birth. SCO was a lot better until the company sued itself into the ground. I used to run a SCO-based Usenet news server as part of my BBS set-up back in the 90s.

 

Never knew Solaris ran on PCs though - I thought it was SPARC only?

Sun purchased another company (begins with a I but can’t remember)(searched - Interactive) for the PC product and then rebranded it. 
I’ve still got a set of SCO on floppy disk media in a box somewhere. 

1 hour ago, chriswareham said:

 

Not true. Most Linux kernel development is by programmers employed by major companies that benefit from it, such as Intel, Amazon, Google, IBM/RedHat and MicroSoft. The latter may be surprising to some, since their ex-CEO once called it a "cancer", but they benefit from people using it on their Azure cloud platform or running it virtualised from within Windows. Most work on the other key elements that make up a Linux "distribution" (the complete operating system built on top of the Linux kernel itself) is also done by commercial developers. As for being "public domain", that is again wrong - and why Steve Ballmer called it a cancer - since the Linux kernel has a license that insists any changes that are distributed in binary form are also available in source code form. True "public domain" software, or even software with less restrictive licenses than the one the Linux kernel uses, can be sold in binary form without providing the source code.

Amusingly, Micro$oft used to take a royalty fee on every PC-based UNIX (SCO & Solaris), because it was part of their deal in producing Xenix.

I had a Washburn, but then I got a real one of these; it was a completely different instrument. 
I’ve still got my Status - just a great bass!

19 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

 

I recently stopped using a Yamaha UX-96 USB MIDI interface, which I bought over twenty years ago and used with my laptop as my other USB MIDI interface is a bit bulky. I only stopped using it as a friend offered to buy it off me since it seems to have some special functionality when used with a specific bit of Yamaha kit he owns. And my laptop? A 2011 vintage MacBook Pro which has run Linux for the last eight or so years since I bought it. My main music composition tool is a Roland W-30 workstation, which is 1989 vintage (although the floppy drive in it has been replaced with an emulator that uses SD cards).

 

When it comes to computer add ons, look for USB "class compliant" devices. There are standards for things like MIDI and audio that mean compliant devices don't need vendor specific drivers, and will use the generic drivers that come with Windows or Apple's operating systems.

 

(Ironically, the UX-96 I mention above wasn't class compliant as I think it predated the USB standard for MIDI, but Linux has a dedicated driver for it).

Yep - Linux seems to be fine supporting older kit.

Incidentally, I have a couple of VMs on my Linux box running older versions of Windoze for obsolete kit.

7 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

Whilst I understood what @prowla meant by pace/dynamics in a hi-fi context, I've never found a bass combo, head, pre or power that's been lacking in immediacy so much that it's been particularly noticeable,  let alone an issue. 

 

I've got a couple of pedals which do it, though: the HX Stomp and a SansAmp

These "top 10" studies are great as talking points, but are very subjective.

I think it's impossible to generalise; I like rock/metal/prog/jazz-rock and have a number of US and UK bands in my preferred listening.

Synth-pop was OK, new wave had some decent acts, grunge had some standouts, but whether "the UK" liked them or not wasn't me - I was going to Rainbow, Rush, Yes, Judas Priest, UFO, Scorpions, Schenker, etc. gigs at the time.

I couldn't tell you what is in the charts at the moment, but I can't be doing with autotune as an effect and the awful oversinging, regardless which country it's from. (And as for country, my achy-breaky dawg divorced me is meaningless to me.)

I'm in my lane and I like what I like.

I'm sure there are lots of Yanks and Brits who like similar music, and a heck of a lot more who don't!

Since different brands of Hi-Fi sound different, I don't think there is an absolute; some Hi-Fi systems strive for tonal perfection whilst others lean towards pace and dynamics.

The only thing I can say for sure is that low-fi is easier to identify.

If you ever plug in an instrument and think it's lost something of the sound, then it's low-fi; I have one or two pedals like that.

I sold an Itanium HP-UX server in Novermber; it had been sitting under my desk for years.

I've still got a HP workstation and a Sun 1U server.

My first job was writing Fortran on a PDP-11 running RSX-11M.

Ah - happy days...

I’ve just been cleaning my bath with Cillit Bang; stupid name, but it beats any of the other domestic cleaning products. 

13 minutes ago, Shambo said:

 

 

That reminds me of possibly the worst service I ever got.

 

I booked a full service & MOT at my local Kwik-Fit. Three months in advance to coincide with a week off I'd booked to do some life laundry.

 

At 10am I parked my Fiesta out front and went in to reception to ask for said service & MOT and the chap behind the counter immediately proclaimed that "we don't do servicing here 'cause we don't have a servicing engineer".

OK I thought, that's a bit crap. You took my money and you had plenty of time to warn me. Perhaps they quit recently? I don't know, but I'll still needed an MOT regardless.

"Yeah, the thing is, the MOT tester hasn't turned up yet either. You can leave your car and see if they turn up in a bit. I'll give you a ring if they don't".

 

Reluctantly I agreed, left my keys and went to hop on a bus. Half an hour later on said bus, they called to tell me the MOT tester had rang in sick, so I should fetch my car.

I got on the next bus back and went back into reception. Chap behind the counter booked another MOT for 10am two days later.

 

I pulled up two days later and the whole building was still locked up. I approached the car out front and inside were two young lads in kwik-fit shirts smoking a joint and giggling.

"Yeah mate. The fella with the keys hasn't turned up again"

 

I drove home defeated and rang Kwik-Fit customer services to tell them my whole sorry story. Thing is, they immediately apologised profusely, booked me in for the service and MOT at another Kwik Fit on the other side of the city and gave me a partial refund. The other place did a great job and turned it round in two days (my car failed and needed two new rear suspension springs which they fitted free of charge).

 

That's when I learned that all Kwik-Fit's are not created equally. Some are good and some are beyond bad.

They don't make my sh*t list created from my own hubris, but they're on a different list of companies that I can't trust.

I've had good and bad at Kwik-Fit.

I had the Bracknell one do my tracking; it took several hours and they didn't do a good job of it.

I've been to the Reading one and there is one bloke there who really knows what he's doing, but he's been promoted so you have to make sure you get him and his full attention; the 2nd time I went there it took 3 attempts before I made sure it was him and he really did it.

Hewlett Packard - now there's a company that went from hero to zero. I used to work a lot with their kit and then the Carly Fiorino person took over and things got all wobbly. They then made the mistake of firing one of their execs for expensing a "good time" in Vegas, but unfortunately he was a pal of the Oracle boss man who said Oracle were no longer supporting HP so their customer base disappeared. They acquired one of the consultancy companies and made a stab at it, but I don't think people were buying. What was their offices in Bracknell has now been demolished and I think a warehouse or storage facility has been built in its place.

Oracle then went on to buy Sun Microsystems and killed that product, then they restructured their pricing (again) to fleece their customers, so the customers stepped away. I don't know if the Sun brand still exists.

Oh, and talking of database companies, Informix was one who got it completely wrong: they had a great product but then decided that they were going to tell all of their customers that they were doing fundamental changes which meant they had to completely re-think their strategy and architecture; well, the customers went elsewhere (ironically to Oracle!). IBM bought Informix at some point, but I think they just let it fade away into oblivion.

ICL - I did some work for them, but the place was just full of grey people straightening paperclips. When my contract was approaching the end I said I was going to move on and they said "but we need you to stay"; I pointed out that I had done about 3 days work in the 6 months I had been there, so I didn't think they really did need me. They were later taken over by Fujitsu. And no, I wasn't on the Post Office side of things - I was working on a system pulling call records from telephony networks.

I saw Blackmore's Night a few years ago - they were quite good and Mrs Blackmore is a fine singer.

Blackmore got bored towards the end and turned up and started playing songs the rest of the band didn't know, so that was a bit naff.

Parking companies: I was out and looking for a place to eat and pulled into a Miller's Steak House, but the car park was plastered with signs warning of fines, saying register by phone and so-on, but that it could be validated by the restaurant. That sounded like a proper faff - did I have to register by phone and then get the restaurant to validate it or what? So I just turned the car around and left.

I'd been to another shopping precinct and its car park had a parking limit and I was worried if I ate there I might overstay, so i left too.

2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Status- My Streamline was a bitter disappointment. Sounded OK, but I've heard and owned better. Wasn't happy with the volume jump in the series/parallel switching. Fretboard delamination in several places at once.

Cracks appeared in the lacquer around the bridge monorail. Then the batteries leaked 9 months in... never happened before or since. It was cursed. 

Sold at a horrendous loss. Wouldn't buy another. 

 

Ashdown- Been cut up whilst driving on the highways and byways by Mr Gooday more than once. 

That's reason enough for me...

 

Hastings Insurance- My car was hit by another whilst parked. Only partial details were left,  not including the other party's insurance provider. 

I contacted Hastings (my insurer) to find out who the insurer might be so I could make a claim. Basically was told it was my problem and to go and do one. 

So I have.  You'll not see a single penny of my money again. 

 

KFC- I'd rather starve. 

 

TGI Friday's- Ditto.

My local KFC was pretty grim, I reckon they didn't get the fryers up to temperature, but then I had one a few months ago and it was really good. I had another since and it was OK.

I went to a TGI's last summer and the staff couldn't give a damn; there was some rubbish on the floor and they just kept walking around it or accidentally kicking it. Then one bloke came out from the kitchen, saw it and picked it up and pit it in the bin; I had a chat with him. The food was mediocre and arrived warm because the staff were too busy talking to bring it to my table. My son came over and wanted to go there last week and I said I don't think so.

1 hour ago, Dicey said:

My 4003 on tour yesterday. The tone through an Ampeg SVT is 🔥 🔥🔥

That'll do nicely!

Ah yes - Apple for bricking 2nd hand iPhones & iPads. 
Apple for artificially reducing the lifespan of their batteries via software. 

On 12/11/2023 at 19:02, TheGreek said:

Here are the photos I took on the day. 

 

@TheGreek Have the photos gone awol?

1 hour ago, Alexx said:

Curry's-PC World after a bad experience with a faulty telly a few years ago. 

 

I try not to use Amazon, partly because it seems increasingly hard to be confident about what you're buying and from where. Also recently had a laptop nicked/swapped out for a different parcel. If you can't treat/pay drivers well enough to get honest ones to work for you... 

 

 

29 minutes ago, Skybone said:

Currys / PC World - their "Sale" prices are usually everyone else's everyday prices.

 

Hotpoint / Whirlpool / Indesit / Candy / any other white goods manufacturer within the group - After having a washing machine, tumble drier & fridge freezer need major repair work after owning them for a few months, and then repeated work a few months later, any confidence in the group was non-existent. 

 

Music related, unfortunately, Rotosound strings will be avoided because of too many dead strings in new packs.

Ah yes,I forgot them.

Go to the shop and they say check online; well, I shouldn't have bothered coming to your stupid shop then!

I did buy some things online, but they sent me a lesser model; I sent it back so they sent me the very same ones again; back they went again, then they had to do an "inspection" before refunding, and took months to finally return my money.

Ford - I had several and they all had some issue which was impossible to resolve and the garages lied about having fixed them.

Vauxhall because one failed on me and the garage stonewalled me.

Tech21/SansAmp and Panda Future Impact - there was an incompatibiity between their kit and they both said both tough.

Brighton - the council pursued me over a parking fine despite acknowledging that I had a valid ticket; fortunately they messed up their procedures and had to accept failure, however their dishonesty was not to my liking so I steer clear of the place.

My local Tory MP - I wrote regarding a parking issue at a shopping centre and he replied saying not his problem. I also wrote to my local Tory counciller and he responded similarly; when he knocked on my door coming up to the local elections I told him I wasn't voting for him and why, he lost his seat. Plus I don't go to that shopping centre anymore.

Most soft drinks companies, because I disike the taste of artificial/substitute sweeteners, so there's no point in buying their products. As it stands, there's only Coke Original, Fever Tree, and some Romanian ones left for me to buy. On the plus side my meals out are usually cheaper, because I only have tap water to drink.

10 hours ago, Tove said:

 

How muck did you pay for your CMI? I got one and this is the only one i can find that is close to being the same as mine. - And i would like to sell mine, but i dont know for how much. Ive been looking through the internet for hours.

Prices are all over the place; this one looks like a rather nice but not quite top of the pile (eg. the tuners) thru-neck.

It's a shame its logo has gone and

Amusingly, they tended to put theTreble pickup surround on the wrong way round on these; real Rics have the wider flange toward the bridge and it always twinges my OCD.

I'm thinking around the £600 mark; if it had the logo £650.

Price is dependent upon binding (is it separating from the body), neck (neck lift), and tailpiece (tail-lift) condition; I can't tell those from the picture.

If you're on Facebook, there is a thriving fakers community.

@Bassassin may have comments to add.

My black CMI cost me £150 in 2018; it had neck-lift, which needed work to sort out - I half-fixed it to mitigate the issue and sold it on for £250.

FYI, neck-lift is due to a design issue: the Bass/neck pickup bay cuts out a significant chunk of wood which creates a weak point in the thru-neck and the pull of the strings can cause the neck to bend forward at that point; fixing it requires remedial work. The issue manifests itself as a high action which can't be adjusted by the bridge height.

Not so common, but £650 is a bit steep.

Dated June 2020 - it's almost vintage now!

5 hours ago, AMV001 said:

 

No skunk stripe though, and what is the deal with the TRC?

Chickenbacker perhaps?

It’s not a Chickenbacker. 

4 hours ago, Simon C said:

I've done some adjustment on mine: intonation, action and string spacing.  It was easy to adjust - I'd heard the older bridges were more difficult (but have never had the pleasure).  I'd have liked to get the action a little lower (or at least tried with it a little lower) but can't lower the E string any further at the bridge.  I think it is more to do with depth of the nut slot on the E string though, rather than just being a bridge limitation.  So I'm going to play the bass for a while longer before deciding whether I want the nut slot cut a little lower or not.

 

Mine will get its 1st outing tonight: Jam Night at McAfferty's Epsom.

Yep - I think they're a nice unit and may get them on a couple of my basses.

The issue is with the bass itself - they've moved the end of the body out so there's a gap after the tailpiece.

FYI, I got some with clovereaf keys.