Re: [gentoo-user] insane backends
On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 22:39:31 -0400, Philip Webb wrote: > 'sane-backends-1.0.27' just stabilised, so I updated to it. > Previously I had selected 4 items from the list in SANE_BACKENDS, > which is shown by 'emerge', ie 'epson epson2 plustek plustek_pp'. > My scanner is an 'Epson V550 Photo'. > > Wanting to test which of the 4 items above was needed, I tried each. > Inadvertently, I tried emerging 'sane-backends' with none included > & discovered that my scanner still works regardless ! ISTR that with use_expanded variables like this, if you don't set the variable then all options are enabled, so you've just built an un-gentoolike version that works everywhere. You could check this by using qlist to see what has been installed with and without SANE_BACKENDS set. -- Neil Bothwick In plumbing, a straight flush is better than a full house. pgpsqEorXPnbQ.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 14:46:02 -0500 Dale wrote: > I've always seen UPSs as the best insurance of decent power. I find > them handy for almost anything electronic. No matter where a person > lives, good power is sometimes just not going to be there. I spent an instructive 1990 summer afternoon in Minnesota talking to an experienced linesman. He described a two-phase, 110V 60Hz supply to most consumers in USA (180-degree phase angle), with floating earths and immensely long, thin links between population centres. I was appalled at the rickety, piecemeal system he described - though of course the geography necessitates the long links. That was just one view, of course. In the UK our supplies are three-phase, 230V at 50Hz (120-degree phase angles), with all earths tied down securely at distribution voltages (33KV and below - the ones on wooden poles where they're above ground). Grid and supergrid lines are delta-connected though, rather than the star connections of lower voltages. Today's forecasts of doom are the result of 30 years of dithering by governments of all stripes, neglecting to invest in new generation in spite of its absolute indispensability. Not to mention the squandering of North Sea gas on small-scale generation to fill gaps. Whatever happened to the long-term, whole-system view? It all makes me want to weep sometimes. -- Regards, Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Monday, 30 October 2017 09:10:07 GMT Peter Humphrey wrote: > Today's forecasts of doom are the result of 30 years of dithering by > governments of all stripes, neglecting to invest in new generation in spite > of its absolute indispensability. I'll refrain from jumping into arguments on political neo-liberal decisions to privatise utilities, which are /natural monopolies/ and how the financialisation of our anglo-saxon economies has reduced the attention span of corporations and the politicians funded by them to tomorrow morning's news headlines. The point of indispensability of centralised energy generation though may no longer be as absolute as once was. Microgeneration technologies and emerging storage solutions could mean the future electricity grid resembles more of a local mesh network, than the national scale infrastructure of the previous century. Now, I better look into finding a way to silence this new UPS fan which seems to be going on 24/7 with or without load on it! o_O -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
[gentoo-user] UFO: 'No. You make ME a sandwich.'
Hi, when trying to re-emerge libreoffice I get the strange message No. You make ME a sandwich. Has anybody seen this before? This occurs after having re-emerge 3500 packages from an emerge --emptyworld Many thanks for some hints, Helmut
Re: [gentoo-user] UFO: 'No. You make ME a sandwich.'
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 1:59 PM, Helmut Jarausch wrote: > Hi, > when trying to re-emerge libreoffice I get the strange message > No. You make ME a sandwich. > Has anybody seen this before? > This occurs after having re-emerge 3500 packages from an > emerge --emptyworld > > Many thanks for some hints, > Helmut > > You probably want to contact the libreoffice maintainers about this. The code that generates the message you were asking about seems to be this: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LibreOffice/core/master/Makefile.in check-if-root: @if test `id -u` = 0 && ! grep -q 'lxc\|docker' /proc/self/cgroup; then \ echo; \ echo 'No. You make ME a sandwich.'; \ echo; \ exit 1; \ fi
Re: [gentoo-user] UFO: 'No. You make ME a sandwich.'
Hello, * Helmut Jarausch [30.10.2017. @11:59:09 -]: > Hi, > when trying to re-emerge libreoffice I get the strange message > No. You make ME a sandwich. > Has anybody seen this before? Really ?! I have never seen this message, but it remindsme that: https://xkcd.com/149/ Maybe the message is a joke from developers? (would it mean that there is an issue with root rights?) Regards, JC signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] UFO: 'No. You make ME a sandwich.'
> check-if-root: > @if test `id -u` = 0 && ! grep -q 'lxc\|docker' /proc/self/cgroup; then > \ > echo; \ > echo 'No. You make ME a sandwich.'; \ > echo; \ > exit 1; \ > fi That code means "if current user is root and it is not a docker/lxc container then fail". Libreoffice maintainers just warns you that you shouldn't run build process under root (so, add "userpriv sandbox usersandbox" and so on to the FEATURES). and the sandwitch is just reference to the https://www.xkcd.com/149/
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On 10/30/2017 03:15 AM, Mick wrote: On Monday, 30 October 2017 09:10:07 GMT Peter Humphrey wrote: Today's forecasts of doom are the result of 30 years of dithering by governments of all stripes, neglecting to invest in new generation in spite of its absolute indispensability. I'll refrain from jumping into arguments on political neo-liberal decisions to privatise utilities, which are /natural monopolies/ and how the financialisation of our anglo-saxon economies has reduced the attention span of corporations and the politicians funded by them to tomorrow morning's news headlines. The point of indispensability of centralised energy generation though may no longer be as absolute as once was. Microgeneration technologies and emerging storage solutions could mean the future electricity grid resembles more of a local mesh network, than the national scale infrastructure of the previous century. Now, I better look into finding a way to silence this new UPS fan which seems to be going on 24/7 with or without load on it! o_O Some new UPS systems are designed to have the fan running all the time. I don't think it's a good idea to stop it... Dan
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Monday, 30 October 2017 14:09:58 GMT Daniel Frey wrote: > On 10/30/2017 03:15 AM, Mick wrote: > > Now, I better look into finding a way to silence this new UPS fan which > > seems to be going on 24/7 with or without load on it! o_O > > Some new UPS systems are designed to have the fan running all the time. > I don't think it's a good idea to stop it... > > Dan Right, I suspect it is meant to be running all the time, at high speed when running on battery and low speed at all other times. This is a 2nd hand HP T1000 G3 I bought cheaply, because many of the new entry level UPS appliances being sold today are not fit for human consumption, judging by user reviews. -- Regards, Mick
[gentoo-user] mostly OT: qemu sparc64 emulation
I built the gentoo qemu package [1] with support for a couple of non-x86 arches. Trying the sparc64 one, I installed FreeBSD-11.1 into it. It kind of works, but: 1. It's very slow - I estimate about 5x-10x slower than an emulated x86_64, also running FreeBSD-11.1. 2. 1 processor on the host (a 4-way Phenom) is always at 100%, even when the guest is completely idle. This makes me think there is a virtual interrupt line that is always on, and this probably is the cause of #1. Again, this doesn't happen when the guest CPU is x86_64. 3. There is no emulated network device. This could be related to the ne2k_pci issue mentioned at [2]. I'd be willing to debug this, _if_ it were not for #1 and #2 ... anyone has a guess what is happening here? [1] the one in gentoo "stable" i.e. app-emulation/qemu-2.10.0 [2] https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Platforms/SPARC -- Please don't Cc: me privately on mailing lists and Usenet, if you also post the followup to the list or newsgroup. Do obvious transformation on domain to reply privately _only_ on Usenet.
Re: [gentoo-user] mostly OT: qemu sparc64 emulation
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 08:43:50AM -0700, Ian Zimmerman wrote
> I built the gentoo qemu package [1] with support for a couple of
> non-x86 arches. Trying the sparc64 one, I installed FreeBSD-11.1
> into it. It kind of works, but:
>
> 1. It's very slow - I estimate about 5x-10x slower than an emulated
> x86_64, also running FreeBSD-11.1.
Think this through; when running an x86_64 VM on an x86_64 host,
you're usually doing *HARDWARE* "emulation"; i.e. the compiled code
machine language instructions are handled native by the physical cpu if
you lanch with "qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm". Try software-only
emulation by launching with "qemu-x86_64" instead. Guess what... it's
also very slow. Since x86_64 does not have native sparc instructions,
it *MUST* use software emulation; hence the slow speed.
> 2. 1 processor on the host (a 4-way Phenom) is always at 100%, even
> when the guest is completely idle. This makes me think there is a
> virtual interrupt line that is always on, and this probably is the
> cause of #1. Again, this doesn't happen when the guest CPU is x86_64.
>
> 3. There is no emulated network device. This could be related to the
> ne2k_pci issue mentioned at [2]. I'd be willing to debug this, _if_ it
> were not for #1 and #2 ...
>
> anyone has a guess what is happening here?
I run an OS/2 VM with a bunch of parameters that may not apply to your
case. Are any of them relavant to you, e.g. "-parallel none"?
#!/bin/bash
cd /home/misc/qemu/os2
sudo /usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -runas waltdnes \
-cpu pentium3 -monitor vc \
-drive file=os2c.img,format=raw \
-drive file=os2d.img,format=raw \
-netdev user,id=mynetwork,tftp=/dev/shm/xfer \
-device pcnet,netdev=mynetwork \
-rtc base=localtime,clock=host \
-m size=64 -name "OS/2 VM" -boot order=c \
-vga std -parallel none \
${@}
--
Walter Dnes
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications
Re: [gentoo-user] mostly OT: qemu sparc64 emulation
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 10:43 AM, Ian Zimmerman wrote: > I built the gentoo qemu package [1] with support for a couple of non-x86 > arches. Trying the sparc64 one, I installed FreeBSD-11.1 into it. It > kind of works, but: > > 1. It's very slow - I estimate about 5x-10x slower than an emulated x86_64, > also running FreeBSD-11.1. > > 2. 1 processor on the host (a 4-way Phenom) is always at 100%, even > when the guest is completely idle. This makes me think there is a > virtual interrupt line that is always on, and this probably is the cause > of #1. Again, this doesn't happen when the guest CPU is x86_64. > > 3. There is no emulated network device. This could be related to the > ne2k_pci issue mentioned at [2]. I'd be willing to debug this, _if_ it > were not for #1 and #2 ... > > anyone has a guess what is happening here? > > [1] > the one in gentoo "stable" i.e. app-emulation/qemu-2.10.0 > > [2] > https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Platforms/SPARC > This may be unavoidable, but it would likely be best to report this on the QEMU tracker or mailing list. QEMU has a fairly sophisticated JIT compiler. Cheers, R0b0t1
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On 10/30/2017 07:47 AM, Mick wrote: On Monday, 30 October 2017 14:09:58 GMT Daniel Frey wrote: On 10/30/2017 03:15 AM, Mick wrote: Now, I better look into finding a way to silence this new UPS fan which seems to be going on 24/7 with or without load on it! o_O Some new UPS systems are designed to have the fan running all the time. I don't think it's a good idea to stop it... Dan Right, I suspect it is meant to be running all the time, at high speed when running on battery and low speed at all other times. This is a 2nd hand HP T1000 G3 I bought cheaply, because many of the new entry level UPS appliances being sold today are not fit for human consumption, judging by user reviews. Yeah, I found that out. One of my UPSs crapped out after a power failure a couple weeks ago, then I realized it's from 2006... I did some looking around (I had an APC) and all the APC branded crap you get in the stores are cheaper, inferior options. I found out the BX-prefixed models don't even have proper AVR (they only correct when the voltage drops below a certain point, they don't do anything in an overvoltage situation. The BR-prefixed models are like the old UPS of lore, they offer true AVR for both undervolt and overvolt situations, and the one I have even has an option for an extra battery pack for extended runtime (BR1500G.) Basically anything in Best Buy, Staples, or similar stores is guaranteed to have the consumer BX model junk. APC gave me a reseller that sold me the BR1500G model and it was about $50 more. And as a bonus, it still works with apcupsd. I heard some newer APC models are using some new proprietary communication protocols. Never seen one in practice though, I wonder if that's the consumer junk I was reading about. Dan
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On 10/30/2017 12:33 PM, Daniel Frey wrote: I did some looking around (I had an APC) and all the APC branded crap you get in the stores are cheaper, inferior options. I found out the BX-prefixed models don't even have proper AVR (they only correct when the voltage drops below a certain point, they don't do anything in an overvoltage situation. The BR-prefixed models are like the old UPS of lore, they offer true AVR for both undervolt and overvolt situations, and the one I have even has an option for an extra battery pack for extended runtime (BR1500G.) I should add that at least APC designated the BX and BR models as different product lines... the BX models are known as Back-UPS XS models, and the BR line is knows as Back-UPS Pro models. Dan
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 3:33 PM, Daniel Frey wrote: > > I did some looking around (I had an APC) and all the APC branded crap you > get in the stores are cheaper, inferior options. I found out the BX-prefixed > models don't even have proper AVR (they only correct when the voltage drops > below a certain point, they don't do anything in an overvoltage situation. > The BR-prefixed models are like the old UPS of lore, they offer true AVR for > both undervolt and overvolt situations, and the one I have even has an > option for an extra battery pack for extended runtime (BR1500G.) > > Basically anything in Best Buy, Staples, or similar stores is guaranteed to > have the consumer BX model junk. > This is my experience as well. I went with a Cyberpower CP1500PFC and have been very happy with it, and I think it falls into the better-quality level of stuff (though I'm sure the server-oriented stuff is better still if you're willing to pay). I have no idea how long the battery will last but when it dies I'll probably replace it. The stuff sold in stores tends to be junk. -- Rich
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 14:46:02 -0500
> Dale wrote:
>
>> I've always seen UPSs as the best insurance of decent power. I find
>> them handy for almost anything electronic. No matter where a person
>> lives, good power is sometimes just not going to be there.
> I spent an instructive 1990 summer afternoon in Minnesota talking to an
> experienced linesman. He described a two-phase, 110V 60Hz supply to most
> consumers in USA (180-degree phase angle), with floating earths and
> immensely long, thin links between population centres. I was appalled at
> the rickety, piecemeal system he described - though of course the geography
> necessitates the long links.
>
> That was just one view, of course.
>
> In the UK our supplies are three-phase, 230V at 50Hz (120-degree phase
> angles), with all earths tied down securely at distribution voltages (33KV
> and below - the ones on wooden poles where they're above ground). Grid and
> supergrid lines are delta-connected though, rather than the star
> connections of lower voltages.
>
> Today's forecasts of doom are the result of 30 years of dithering by
> governments of all stripes, neglecting to invest in new generation in spite
> of its absolute indispensability. Not to mention the squandering of North
> Sea gas on small-scale generation to fill gaps.
>
> Whatever happened to the long-term, whole-system view? It all makes me want
> to weep sometimes.
>
This is just one way of thinking. When a company, or companies, are
individually owned or family owned, they are generally passed down to
the next generation. When in that situation, one tends to look at the
long term goals. They look at the bigger picture and not just 'what
have we profited on today'. However, when a company is public, stocks
and such, then it is about what have we made today with no one caring
about years from now. After all, the people owning the stocks may not
even own them next week.
Think about it this way. Some large power company that is publicly
owned goes out and says they are about to invest hundreds of millions or
billions of {whatever currency} in improving the grid and
infrastructure. What would that do to their stocks to know that they
are about to spend money that won't have a return for decades maybe even
longer? Odds are, they just dropped. It's about the same thing that
happens when a company is sued and has to pay a huge settlement, fine
etc. Only difference being, one may have a return and one won't for
sure. One is a 'gamble' if you will.
I think we both agree that companies should look long term, it's not
likely they ever will. Their stock owners would cringe if they did, the
Govt types are going to get in the way if they can, regulate it to death
if nothing else, and here we sit.
So, in the meantime, we have to buy UPSs because the power we are
getting is not as dependable as it should be. In all honesty, odds are
the power I get here is a lot more stable than some other countries,
even some areas in my country. Generally, it takes a storm of some kind
to knock our lights out. Some areas, it just takes a warm day.
Dale
:-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
if the fan is running all the time, i'd keep it of the floor and out of the dust as much as possible. might add a filter to the inlet, i've done it on processor fans and it doesn't seem to have any negative effect, though you have to remember to check it occasionally. The fan likely makes it much more robust and allows smaller heatsinks inside. If you're handy, you could also replace the fan with a more silent fan as long as you at least match the airflow rating of the current fan. There is a wide range of fans the same physical size but widely varying air flows and power consumption, any thing from 0/0r amps to 2 amps in the 80mm, and that's just what i've seen. The fan also likely extends the allowable ambient temperature as well. mad.scientist.at.large (a good madscientist) -- "The U.S. intelligence community concluded in a report made public in January that the Kremlin sought to disrupt the 2016 election and sway the race in Trump's favor." From "thehill.com". Only Trump and his duplicitous supports try to say it was Clinton who conspired. Frankly Trump is likely guilty of treason, the sooner he's impeached and indited the better, along with ALL of his supporters in goverment. 30. Oct 2017 08:47 by michaelkintz...@gmail.com: > On Monday, 30 October 2017 14:09:58 GMT Daniel Frey wrote: >> On 10/30/2017 03:15 AM, Mick wrote: >> > Now, I better look into finding a way to silence this new UPS fan which >> > seems to be going on 24/7 with or without load on it! o_O >> >> Some new UPS systems are designed to have the fan running all the time. >> I don't think it's a good idea to stop it... >> >> Dan > > Right, I suspect it is meant to be running all the time, at high speed when > running on battery and low speed at all other times. This is a 2nd hand HP > T1000 G3 I bought cheaply, because many of the new entry level UPS appliances > being sold today are not fit for human consumption, judging by user reviews. > > -- > Regards, > Mick
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
Rich Freeman wrote: > On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 3:33 PM, Daniel Frey wrote: >> I did some looking around (I had an APC) and all the APC branded crap you >> get in the stores are cheaper, inferior options. I found out the BX-prefixed >> models don't even have proper AVR (they only correct when the voltage drops >> below a certain point, they don't do anything in an overvoltage situation. >> The BR-prefixed models are like the old UPS of lore, they offer true AVR for >> both undervolt and overvolt situations, and the one I have even has an >> option for an extra battery pack for extended runtime (BR1500G.) >> >> Basically anything in Best Buy, Staples, or similar stores is guaranteed to >> have the consumer BX model junk. >> > This is my experience as well. I went with a Cyberpower CP1500PFC and > have been very happy with it, and I think it falls into the > better-quality level of stuff (though I'm sure the server-oriented > stuff is better still if you're willing to pay). > > I have no idea how long the battery will last but when it dies I'll > probably replace it. > > The stuff sold in stores tends to be junk. > I have a CyberPower as well. Two actually. One is old, 2003 old and the other is a few years old, bought it a little while after building this rig. Before I bought, I went online and found pics of the insides to see what was in them. When I find one that has good reviews and some good surge protection, that is the one I buy. I have been known to take the cover off to make sure mine has them too. We do get surges and such during storms. While it is usually plugged into a surge strip already, the more the better. Actually, surge at the wall, UPS, then another surge strip that all my stuff plugs into. There isn't enough plugs on the back of the UPS for everything anyway. On my old UPS, I had to replace the battery a few months ago, second time. Both of them actually ripped apart. They didn't explode or anything but they did split apart badly. If it had been a liquid battery, it would have been nasty. That said, they do last a long time. I get 7 to 8 years pretty easy from a set of batteries. If that little light comes on to check battery, check it. It isn't kidding around. ;-) Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 4:50 PM, Dale wrote: > > have we profited on today'. However, when a company is public, stocks > and such, then it is about what have we made today with no one caring > about years from now. After all, the people owning the stocks may not > even own them next week. > Nor should they be concerned with the long-term. This should be the role of the regulator. If the regulator wants spare capacity, then they should take bids for companies to have spare capacity available and they get paid to just sit on their excess capacity. If the regulator wants more redundancy in the transmission network then they should set specifications for what is desired and take bids from those able to build it out. If the regulator wants everything to be replaced within a certified lifetime based on testing then they should specify this, and take bids from those willing to maintain the grid to this standard. The problem is that the general public does not see the value in infrastructure, so they don't think about it when they're voting. Instead they vote based on whatever fringe issues the politicians want them to focus on instead. If a company is going to get paid the same whether they build for extra reliability or not, they're going to opt not to. Not only does this give them more profits, but it makes their bids more competitive vs some other company that would just undercut them for "over-providing." Lax regulation just punishes conscientious market participants. -- Rich
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Monday, 30 October 2017 20:50:16 GMT Dale wrote: > I think we both agree that companies should look long term, it's not > likely they ever will. Their stock owners would cringe if they did, Not really. Pension funds would not cringe at all, but feel relieved they found a company with clear focus on long term profit sustainability to invest in. Short term algo-traders skimming the market will of course be displeased. > the > Govt types are going to get in the way if they can, regulate it to death > if nothing else, and here we sit. Regulation is the 'fix' governments have come up with to address market failures, oligopolistic cartels and lack of true competition, instead of admitting the obvious: natural monopolies like most public utilities are not a good fit for privatisation, if the public good and tax payers' interests count for anything these days. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Monday, 30 October 2017 21:04:00 GMT Rich Freeman wrote: > On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 4:50 PM, Dale wrote: > > have we profited on today'. However, when a company is public, stocks > > and such, then it is about what have we made today with no one caring > > about years from now. After all, the people owning the stocks may not > > even own them next week. > > Nor should they be concerned with the long-term. Not all shareholders flip their stock in milliseconds to front-end retail investors in market movements. There are also few(er) long term investors, but they have been crowded out by big banks and hedge fund algo desks. > This should be the > role of the regulator. If the regulator wants spare capacity, then > they should take bids for companies to have spare capacity available > and they get paid to just sit on their excess capacity. If the > regulator wants more redundancy in the transmission network then they > should set specifications for what is desired and take bids from those > able to build it out. If the regulator wants everything to be > replaced within a certified lifetime based on testing then they should > specify this, and take bids from those willing to maintain the grid to > this standard. The problem is the regulator is typically a toothless entity, a paper tiger, put in place to apply soft touch intervention by issuing corrective notices, when step-in required to curtail the abusive behaviour of market participants is long overdue. The regulator does not hold the budget, central government departments do and the regulator cannot (or will not) control abnormal profits privatised utilities are making year after year. However, the regulator will engage enthusiastically in the a theatre of regular reviews of market conditions, in an attempt to convince consumers and tax payers the most gratuitous abuse of power is kept in check. > The problem is that the general public does not see the value in > infrastructure, so they don't think about it when they're voting. > Instead they vote based on whatever fringe issues the politicians want > them to focus on instead. > > If a company is going to get paid the same whether they build for > extra reliability or not, they're going to opt not to. Not only does > this give them more profits, but it makes their bids more competitive > vs some other company that would just undercut them for > "over-providing." Even worse, on the usual design-build-operate contracts they are often motivated to undercut reliability for a more competitive price, hoping to bail out of the operate part just as the infrastructure is about to fall apart. > Lax regulation just punishes conscientious market participants. On tenders evaluated on a quality:price ratio basis this does not happen as often, although it is hard to change entrenched behaviours among competitors. -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 3:59 PM, Mick wrote: > On Monday, 30 October 2017 20:50:16 GMT Dale wrote: >> I think we both agree that companies should look long term, it's not >> likely they ever will. Their stock owners would cringe if they did, > > Not really. Pension funds would not cringe at all, but feel relieved they > found a company with clear focus on long term profit sustainability to invest > in. Short term algo-traders skimming the market will of course be displeased. Unless a pension wants to dump a ton of money in one stock that becomes hard to liquidate I'm not sure why they'd be any more attached to the long-term prospects of a stock than anybody else. If they think a stock will go up short-term they can buy it, and then sell it when it no longer looks like it will go up, the same as anybody else. Lots of institutions have money they will be investing a long time, and yet they still vote for boards that are short-sighted. >> the >> Govt types are going to get in the way if they can, regulate it to death >> if nothing else, and here we sit. > > Regulation is the 'fix' governments have come up with to address market > failures, oligopolistic cartels and lack of true competition, instead of > admitting the obvious: natural monopolies like most public utilities are not > a good fit for privatisation, if the public good and tax payers' interests > count for anything these days. Well, it depends on what your privatize. There is nothing wrong with the government hiring other companies to provide services, just as there isn't anything wrong with one business outsourcing work to others. The problem is when people think of privatization as a panacea and just do it wholesale in a natural monopoly without any kind of structure to ensure that companies have incentives to provide good service/etc. Often there are elements of a traditionally public service that aren't natural monopolies which can be outsourced for a benefit. Electrical generation is often a case of that, but as I suggested you do need to ensure you're paying to have extra capacity online. -- Rich
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Monday, 30 October 2017 21:01:35 GMT Dale wrote: > While it is usually plugged into a surge strip already, > the more the better. Actually, surge at the wall, UPS, then another > surge strip that all my stuff plugs into. I'm sure I have read in some UPS manual that it should be plugged directly into the mains socket and not via a surge protector. I assumed the manual stated this because when the varistors in the surge protector start conducting excess current during a surge, this could start competing against the AVR in the UPS, flipping the battery on/off and perhaps causing a race condition. I haven't looked into it, but that's how I perceived it at the time. Of course we're talking of normal transients here, not a direct hit by a lightning! LOL! -- Regards, Mick signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 4:28 PM, Mick wrote: > On Monday, 30 October 2017 21:04:00 GMT Rich Freeman wrote: >> On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 4:50 PM, Dale wrote: >> > have we profited on today'. However, when a company is public, stocks >> > and such, then it is about what have we made today with no one caring >> > about years from now. After all, the people owning the stocks may not >> > even own them next week. >> >> Nor should they be concerned with the long-term. > > Not all shareholders flip their stock in milliseconds to front-end retail > investors in market movements. There are also few(er) long term investors, > but they have been crowded out by big banks and hedge fund algo desks. If the big banks thought that investing for the long term would make them more money they would do it. They have no loyalty to the companies they invest in. If they can invest in a company one month, and make more money by investing in a competitor that will put them out of business the next month, they will. I'm not sure why a "long term investor" wouldn't do the same if they could make money doing it. They have money for the long-term, but that doesn't mean that they have to keep it in once place. I think liquidity was what ultimately killed long-term investing. That and a lack of information. Unless you decide to go the Buffet route and actually take over the management of a company it is really hard to tell if a company is eating its seed corn. With the modern market where you can sell millions of dollars of shares in a microsecond with a reasonable spread there is rarely a reason to stick with a company if you have even a speck of doubt as to its future. And then of course there is the trend towards passive investing. Ironically there the investments actually do tend to be long-term in the same companies but the investors don't even care what the earnings of those companies are - they'll hold the stock as long as most other people are also holding the stock. Also, the long term is probably not the main issue here as much as the focus on the public good. A utility that doesn't engineer for reliability isn't thinking short-term, they're just maximizing profit. If things break they can just fix them after they break. Maybe a hospital is out of power for a week, but that probably doesn't cost the utility as much as preventing the outage. The utility isn't going to go out of business - they're still in it for the long-term. This is why you need regulators that look out for the public good. >> This should be the >> role of the regulator. If the regulator wants spare capacity, then >> they should take bids for companies to have spare capacity available >> and they get paid to just sit on their excess capacity. If the >> regulator wants more redundancy in the transmission network then they >> should set specifications for what is desired and take bids from those >> able to build it out. If the regulator wants everything to be >> replaced within a certified lifetime based on testing then they should >> specify this, and take bids from those willing to maintain the grid to >> this standard. > > The problem is the regulator is typically a toothless entity, a paper tiger, > put in place to apply soft touch intervention by issuing corrective notices, > when step-in required to curtail the abusive behaviour of market participants > is long overdue. > Sure, but there is no solution to this problem other than the public taking attention and fixing the regulator. The same issues would exist with a public utility. You can't compare a well-run public utility to a poorly-run regulator of a private utility. > Even worse, on the usual design-build-operate contracts they are often > motivated to undercut reliability for a more competitive price, hoping to bail > out of the operate part just as the infrastructure is about to fall apart. Oh, they won't bail out. They'll happily offer to sell their services to fix the mess. That actually is long-term thinking. Anybody looking to buy-and-hold utility stocks should be looking for opportunities to invest in companies that have planned obsolescence like this with regulators willing to let them get away with it. :) -- Rich
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
no, varistors (what's in nearly all surge suppressors) either clamp the voltage at about twice what it should be, or fail shorted which they tend to do eventually (harmlessly blowing a fuse hopefully). the issue is with plugging one thing, into another, into another and then into the wall, most outlet strips are cheap, they don't use proper sockets and often have/develop a significant resistance, which creates a hazard etc. Outlet strips also tell you not to plug one into the another, in this case it's the resistance problem and the risk that some consumers will run outlet strips all along a wall etc. pluged one into the other, which will eventually cause problems, because no one maintains outlet strips and few keep them clean and dry (it's easy to imagine someone in an older apartment having 10+ strips plugged into each other). And that's without pets, cat's for one have been known to urinate on outlets when mad, doesn't hurt an isolated cat but plays havoc with the outlet besides smelling terrible (likely the cats' motive). The reason newer houses have so many outlets is precisely to discourage the use of extension cords and prevent fires, an outlet strip isn't much better, and the fuse/breaker in any device only offers short circuit protection, a small overload or partial short in the load won't do it (unless you choose fuses/breakers very near the rated current, in which case you get nuisance blows/trips). note that when the connectors develop a higher resistance that the current actually decreases, but the energy dissipated in the connection produces excessive heat, which generally drives resistance higher until there's enough to start a fire or be noticed. the varistors are not the problem, note that computer power supplies and many peripherals include varistors for surge suppression and don't cause ups problems. on the other hand, you probably shouldn't use gas arrestors after an ups, when they conduct they short hard (gas plasma) and show a negative dynamic resistance which is a really good way to make something oscillate (not good for the ups) and definately will produce an excessive load for half a power cycle. gas arrestors are slower, but have unlimited short capacity, MOVs are faster but can absorb less energy typically. Thats why really good multistage arrestors use both, the MOVs conduct quickly and help limit the peak voltage, then the gas discharge tubes conduct and take most of the surge energy. either/both on the input side of the ups won't cause problems (and will help protect the ups), on the output side gas discharge tubes would be bad, varistors are fine at least until they short and blow a fuse, that's what fuses are for. there is a slight problem that some varistors start getting hot under normal conditions (failing but not yet shorted) which is why the manufacturers recomend adding a series thermal fuse thermally coupled to the varistor to disconect them in this case (and ideally the load depending on how things are wired). There are actually multistage devices that can protect low voltage lines (i.e. control lines on a transmitter tower) from a direct lightning strike assuming they have a good enough ground connection. of course it's likely to destroy the surge arrestor, which isn't cheap, but it protects far more expensive equipment when it self sacrifices. mad.scientist.at.large (a good madscientist) -- "The U.S. intelligence community concluded in a report made public in January that the Kremlin sought to disrupt the 2016 election and sway the race in Trump's favor." From "thehill.com". 30. Oct 2017 17:39 by michaelkintz...@gmail.com: > On Monday, 30 October 2017 21:01:35 GMT Dale wrote: >> While it is usually plugged into a surge strip already, >> the more the better. Actually, surge at the wall, UPS, then another >> surge strip that all my stuff plugs into. > > I'm sure I have read in some UPS manual that it should be plugged directly > into the mains socket and not via a surge protector. I assumed the manual > stated this because when the varistors in the surge protector start > conducting > excess current during a surge, this could start competing against the AVR in > the UPS, flipping the battery on/off and perhaps causing a race condition. I > haven't looked into it, but that's how I perceived it at the time. > > Of course we're talking of normal transients here, not a direct hit by a > lightning! LOL! > -- > Regards, > Mick
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
Mick wrote: > On Monday, 30 October 2017 21:01:35 GMT Dale wrote: >> While it is usually plugged into a surge strip already, >> the more the better. Actually, surge at the wall, UPS, then another >> surge strip that all my stuff plugs into. > I'm sure I have read in some UPS manual that it should be plugged directly > into the mains socket and not via a surge protector. I assumed the manual > stated this because when the varistors in the surge protector start > conducting > excess current during a surge, this could start competing against the AVR in > the UPS, flipping the battery on/off and perhaps causing a race condition. I > haven't looked into it, but that's how I perceived it at the time. > > Of course we're talking of normal transients here, not a direct hit by a > lightning! LOL! I've read that too but I've also read that if the UPS never sees the transient spike then the UPS shouldn't react to something it never sees. Thing is, the UPS costs more than the surge strip does, at least mine does anyway. I'd much rather the surge strip burn out than it damage my UPS. I'd rather sacrifice the cheaper component first. As you point out, if it is a direct hit, or even a not so direct hit, nothing is going to help the UPS at that point or anything connected to it. Lightening is a evil and mean thing to electronics and even motors and such when big enough. I've seen surge protectors blown completely apart like someone stuck explosives in there. Sometimes, the stuff attached is unharmed. Sometimes it is. Depends on just how hard a hit it is I guess. I'm hoping to get me a whole house surge protector that goes in the main breaker box soon. They have come down in price since more companies are making them and there is some competition. If I use one of those, the UPS is going to have a surge protector in front of it anyway, whether I have one at the wall or not. I haven't found one but read that there is one that goes under the meter that works very well, if grounded real good. I've read they are expensive and the power company has to install them, since they are under the meter. Either way, I hope I don't get hit, at all. I don't want to even a little bit. Heck, I don't like the little spikes/brownouts either. We all know how weird that can make a computer act up. Random resets, memory issues, CPU issues and no telling what else. Dale :-) :-)
[gentoo-user] [OT] Extracting printer settings from a gcode file?
Hi, currently I am starting with 3D-printing. I have watched a lot of videos of how to create models, do bed leveling, (bad leveling, sometimes ;) choose filaments, and what else... Say one use a 3D-printer, which uses the a SDcard to read the gcode files. Beside some basic settings (hot end temprature, bed temperature, filament feed speed...I think that's it) all informations about the print process are in the gcode file. There is no other way of feeding informations to the printer as the gcode on that certain SDcard. And slicer settings optimzed for a certain printer are seemingly one of the treasures hunted a lot... The printer I ordered (and which still hasn't arrived yet ...) comes with some example gcode files. I would guess that the manufacturer has trimmed the slicer settings he has used for these example files, are optimized to give the best results with this printer -- its kind of an advertising. Would be nice, if it could be possible to extract them from the gcode example files in a way, that made it possible to feed them back into the slicer software manually (not expecting to get a config file ready to be read directly with that certain slicer software I want to use...) And as one has already feared...the question:;) How can I do this? Cheers Meino PS: I know qcode is an ASCII format...but understanding the codes to extract the slicer settings is a totally different kind of task... ;)
Re: [gentoo-user] Alternatives to knutclient
On 10/30/2017 12:40 PM, Rich Freeman wrote: On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 3:33 PM, Daniel Frey wrote: I did some looking around (I had an APC) and all the APC branded crap you get in the stores are cheaper, inferior options. I found out the BX-prefixed models don't even have proper AVR (they only correct when the voltage drops below a certain point, they don't do anything in an overvoltage situation. The BR-prefixed models are like the old UPS of lore, they offer true AVR for both undervolt and overvolt situations, and the one I have even has an option for an extra battery pack for extended runtime (BR1500G.) Basically anything in Best Buy, Staples, or similar stores is guaranteed to have the consumer BX model junk. This is my experience as well. I went with a Cyberpower CP1500PFC and have been very happy with it, and I think it falls into the better-quality level of stuff (though I'm sure the server-oriented stuff is better still if you're willing to pay). I have no idea how long the battery will last but when it dies I'll probably replace it. The stuff sold in stores tends to be junk. Yes, that's a good UPS, it's a pure sine wave UPS. APC makes those too, but generally in the server/enterprise class (thinking Smart-UPS among others) and not the home oriented market. I figure for home use their better (best?) home oriented model should suffice. I don't have a picky power supply that needs a pure sine wave UPS, although I have realized a lot of newer power supplies strongly recommend a pure sine wave and not a stepped sine wave such as in the home models (the entry- and mid-models.) From what I recall if your PSU buzzes while on battery, that's bad and your PSU is not happy... Dan
