The frosty temps here the last few days have really hit my pumpkin vines so I'll be harvesting the pumpkins today (once it warms up a bit more) and the carrots on the other side of the shed should also be ready to pull (which I'll do after the pumpkins as it's so much cooler on that side).

Anyhow I reckon that it must be time for a 2nd coffee break now.

Cheers.

We've got multiple GBytes devices here... And for the sake of an old BIOS on already installed hardware that still works perfectly fine, there is this arcane 31kiBytes limit to boot up some new software...

... And the new boot loader for the new software is just a few bytes too big...

More arcane reading to find the trickery to fix that...

(Hopefully just a parameter... Somewhere...)

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Well I'm certainly going to have to severely upscale the size of wicking tub for growing carrots in, but what I did harvest this morning are very good looking 1's, and I also harvested 26 butternut pumpkins with almost as many still on the vines growing (for how much longer though will be the big question).

Anyhow I might as well get my 3rd coffee break for the morning in before I decide on doing something else before LLB time arrives.

Cheers.

on already installed hardware that still works perfectly fine

Welcome to the corporate monster of planned obsolesce a/k/a a permanent revenue stream always sucking the customer's bank account

on already installed hardware that still works perfectly fine

Welcome to the corporate monster of planned obsolesce a/k/a a permanent revenue stream always sucking the customer's bank account

Yes...

Except to be fair for this case, I am attempting an incremental upgrade to new, and somewhat more elaborate, software to run what is now very old hardware. The hope was for a 'quick' revamp without needing to shut things down and change (expensive) boxes, and then to have to rewire and untangle a new bucket of foibles and undocumented fun... At least the new add-on device can be left idle without any adverse impact.

Still... Would be good to get this going whilst all is quiet and to have it ready for the morning.

Now down to 47kiB. Just another 16kiB to shave off!

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

on already installed hardware that still works perfectly fine

Welcome to the corporate monster of planned obsolesce a/k/a a permanent revenue stream always sucking the customer's bank account

Yes...

Except to be fair for this case, I am attempting an incremental upgrade to new, and somewhat more elaborate, software to run what is now very old hardware. The hope was for a 'quick' revamp without needing to shut things down and change (expensive) boxes, and then to have to rewire and untangle a new bucket of foibles and undocumented fun... At least the new add-on device can be left idle without any adverse impact.

Still... Would be good to get this going whilst all is quiet and to have it ready for the morning.

Now down to 47kiB. Just another 16kiB to shave off!

Old hardware, here that can be 9yrs to 44yrs here... Still its been a long time since I had to run something in 48K or less.
Half of Dish Network here is down, well the 14 channels the county pays for at least. Still I did find out the uhf tv antenna that I use to receive those 14 channels is better than a bigger one that I'd bought, size isn't everything.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

... Old hardware, here that can be 9yrs to 44yrs here... Still its been a long time since I had to run something in 48K or less...

Yep, the microcontroller in my dishwasher at home most likely has more memory/storage...

Don't let Pootin know!!!

And...

Ta daaa!!!

Some more bit twiddling and the magic sub-31kiB has been surpassed by a smaller number. Scarily by only a meager few bytes but in the binary world of works/don't-work, it works!


Celebrations later in the day...

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I just got back from paying a bill at the post office and enjoying a few beers at the pub on the way home so now it's time for a bite to eat.

Cheers.

Old hardware still works here. I have a number of drives to store all those 1’s and 0’s. With partisans out to P:. As long as it still works with windows 7. Im happy.

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I`m glad i don`t have to go to the post office anymore to pay a bill.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

I don't have to go Mike, but it's a good excuse to stop at the pub on the way back. ;-)

Anyhow I guess that I'd better think about having some dinner now.

Cheers.

Same here. It’s been so long I forget what a stamp costs. The last check I wrote was so far back. I still have the first box of checks with the first book barely used.

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Never had a cheque book and I don't buy stamps, but the post office here is handy for paying bills with cash. ;-)

Cheers.

Yikes! Our old postage stamps are now new barcoded fully traceable stamps...

No more the game of careful steaming to see how many times an old faithful can be "recycled"!...

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Old hardware still works here. I have a number of drives to store all those 1’s and 0’s. With partisans out to P:. As long as it still works with windows 7. Im happy.

Keep an eye out on the batteries, some leak and destroy motherboard traces.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

This thing is more like a daughterboard rather than motherboard sized...


... And... No celebrations yet...

The thing booted fine and ran and blithely ignored the new bits.

Checking through some rather opaque overly terse documentation uncovered that...

The new bits use a whole new interface protocol/format. The code for those convolutions add up to more than the entirety of the existing software/firmware!

And lo! At great expense... A full additional 2MiBytes has thus been plugged into the system...

And whoah!! We have binary life!

So... That all fits a lot better but I'm not entirely sure all the bits are working as expected. Testing/checks ongoing...


(Is this where the 2GiBytes of the RaspberryPi systems can take over the world?!)

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

This thing is more like a daughterboard rather than motherboard sized...


... And... No celebrations yet...

The thing booted fine and ran and blithely ignored the new bits.

Checking through some rather opaque overly terse documentation uncovered that...

The new bits use a whole new interface protocol/format. The code for those convolutions add up to more than the entirety of the existing software/firmware!

And lo! At great expense... A full additional 2MiBytes has thus been plugged into the system...

And whoah!! We have binary life!

So... That all fits a lot better but I'm not entirely sure all the bits are working as expected. Testing/checks ongoing...


(Is this where the 2GiBytes of the RaspberryPi systems can take over the world?!)

Pretty awesome thing that RaspberryPi. I'm looking at a 6pin input Pico 300w psu so that my main pc can support four 3060-3070 cards, if I put the motherboard and the ssd on the 1500w then I'd need a 2nd psu for a 4th card. With the pico I wouldn't need a 2nd weighty psu(950w vs 300w).

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Winning on a chilly Good Friday morning on top of this mountain.

Time for the usual coffee.

Cheers.

Certainly damply chilled yet thrilled...

Nearly there...

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

It's finally nice and sunny here again as I'm about to go out and check/water my veggie tubs.

I also got the supermarket fixed up earlier so I'm getting close to running out of things to do this morning.

Cheers.