Dos_Box

It is a kinda legacy thing, especially from our early days when Win 98, Win 2000, Win XP+ were all in use at the same time, and as the lifespan of these was so long, it meant if a forum is still in use then we do tend not to archive it. With the Windows 10 debacle now (relatively) sorted out, it does mean we can do a bit of housekeeping in the near future. I believe that @ZeroHour has been looking at an iSpy replacement. We'll keep you posted.

They will be eventually, but generally only once people stop using them. The Server 2012 forum is winding down now, so will be on the cards, and Windows 7 has had only one post in the past year (yesterday by @NorthernNoel), so it looks like we'll be putting the old girl to rest soon too.

Moving to Network and Classroom Management Forum.

Indeed, merry Christmas to all, and I hope Santa bought you what you wanted (RAM, storage and GPU's exempted from this!). I hope you all have a great day

I am a huge fan of first contact movies, so very much looking forward to this

Closer Encounters of the Third Kind - The year they bring cake.

No about a tram shed in Blackpool then?

Another thing that BRSK told me is that they will pay up to £300 to buy you out of an existing contract. It turns out Mine doesn't run out until July 26, so may take them up on that in the new year.

Kinda glad I'm looking to ditch Virgin. Looks like 02 now want me to create\migrate my account with them to manage it, seems weird they want to do it this way:

They did both on my street. They have fibre up on the phone poles and they put some fibre in the ground last year.

Ta, I do have a couple of questions, which, whilst not exactly deal breakers, will put my mind at rest: Do they offer static IP's for home users? Does the router they supply have a modem mode as I have a decent UniFi EdgeRouter and Ruckus WiFi (ax) I'd like to keep using. They do offer much faster speeds than Virgin and at a much lower cost, so really looking at the possibility of switching.

**BUMP** My Virgin contract is up early next year and I've just had a flyer through for BRSK and wonder if anything has changed in the past couple of years since this thread was created. If any of you are BRSK customers then please let me know your thoughts as they do offer some very (very) competitive packages compared to Virgin and as my street is now fully fibred up I wouldn't mind making the change if they are up to the task.

I do follow a lot of economists over various platforms, and they do seem to be saying there is very likely to be an AI crash, similar to the dotcom bust. One problem they have is that a lot of money has been pumped into the platform (various) development and building of these data centres. It is a LOT of money. Should the AI bubble burst, then it will most likely there will be a big hit on the stock market. Similar to the dotcom boom though, I think that many of the technologies will be scraped by by the survivors and the 'good' ideas integrated into their AI products. Years ago I read a book called DotCon (IIRC) which covered the boom and bust cycle of it. What does come to light is that many of the companies that took a great deal of investor money but failed were working on things that we take for granted today such as same\next day delivery, the ability to request specialist services the same day (dog walking for example), but back in 2000 the infrastructure and technologies were not yet in place. Not every AI idea is bad, but chances are, they may need time to realise. As to my interactions with it, I have used it a bit, but so far, it's not doing much beyond what I could have done myself, that and you have to double-check anything it tells you!

I may just leave that playing on my second monitor.

That holiday won't pay for itself

I'm so glad I got a new SSD and GPU during the summer. I'd hate to think how much they would have gone up to should I be looking now. Now that schools are (mostly) out of the Windows 11 upgrade saga, this will hold many back from keeping their systems running as intended should all they need is a storage or RAM upgrade.

A couple of excellent last min deals for Carpuride head units here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carpuride-Wireless-Carplay-Android-Auto/dp/B0DPJSDS38?crid=3J2V0JLR0R4O8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pTOnmSV2OHq98M_EkK9afpUOYOdFfdwdDW0k2DKfiiUjOy8XnEMlHJ4CG1c-G6DcLY4QejKKLde91bJ-WhOm3hi5Jk-wp3i9jt_LVMnRdOjUuOpwQr8YlRKu9R6K1RhzRomYRHIdKMssv-u5GEcJkmHjMvRlrM_7qMDTWCvfjMCCQDLogap5Oxth4h5ZP48Mjtr4RbVRn8DMqBKn9L5bohaKrkUiu-YD-z6GbSgmeBI.atmeCeiJiW0IJwBTTfEKt7jYkhLJ-C4yp6sL6Epcx0I&dib_tag=se&keywords=carpuride&qid=1764591972&sprefix=carpuride%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.a56bf500-33e2-4a49-b21f-ee6fbd593a4c https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carpuride-W903-Portable-Wireless-Carplay/dp/B0CJ9CWRVF?crid=3J2V0JLR0R4O8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pTOnmSV2OHq98M_EkK9afpUOYOdFfdwdDW0k2DKfiiUjOy8XnEMlHJ4CG1c-G6DcLY4QejKKLde91bJ-WhOm3hi5Jk-wp3i9jt_LVMnRdOjUuOpwQr8YlRKu9R6K1RhzRomYRHIdKMssv-u5GEcJkmHjMvRlrM_7qMDTWCvfjMCCQDLogap5Oxth4h5ZP48Mjtr4RbVRn8DMqBKn9L5bohaKrkUiu-YD-z6GbSgmeBI.atmeCeiJiW0IJwBTTfEKt7jYkhLJ-C4yp6sL6Epcx0I&dib_tag=se&keywords=carpuride&qid=1764592063&sprefix=carpuride%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-10 I bought the 903 about 18 months back and am very happy with it (It was also over £150 when I bought it!). If you have a car with Bluetooth but no Apple Carplay or Android Auto, then these are excellent upgrades!

Took a trip out in Cumbria to visit a few neolithic sites, two of which, Mayburgh Henge and King Arthurs Round Table, were a first visit for me. I also fitted in Long Meg and Her Daughters and Castlerigg Stone Circle. I just made it to Castlerigg before the light went. It would have been glorious had I made it 20 mins earlier. Mayburgh Henge and the one (of four originally) remaining stone inside: King Arthur's Round Table: Long Meg (you can see the cup and ring marks on her if you look closely): And finally Castlerigg (note the mediaeval field system still visible). I just missed the sun going down behind the mountains:

The Manba One controller is now £55.99 on Amazon. You can get it cheaper on Temu etc, but obvs that is at your own risk (I bought a second (Xmas pressie for son) from there and it arrived fine). I can highly recommend this controller as long as you don't want to use it on the Xbox (PC, Switch and Android only atm. pending possible firmware updates). https://www.amazon.co.uk/ManbaOne-Interactive-Wireless-Controller-Remappable/dp/B0F3X3HM65?crid=1C5P5JYS7Q18X&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pF1DXUbqf4VPHXGcm2JyvNh7j0xv64IOxSbEpFZERpPGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.Ujfky22v2n9-M7TvmUz6Ocv9VnwCYCVD8by_ROa7wO8&dib_tag=se&keywords=manba%2Bone%2Bgame%2Bcontroller&qid=1763724318&sprefix=manba%2Bone%2Bgame%2Bcontroller%2Cspecialty-aps%2C90&sr=8-1&th=1

This is an excellent deal if you are after a home NAS that allows remote access and remote media playback on any device including your phone. I have one and I can recommend them if you are after a NAS that does some 'stuff' such as Plex. I got mine on the launch offer @ circa £155, now £135.99. A steal! - https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-DH2300-One-Touch-Connection-Beginner-Friendly/dp/B0FNWNF3GK?crid=3IDDP3TR7WLP2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tifslq9TjfIIE78NHp_WW6kLsWgSzbk9M4JhzueT2dijIn2SxT6M1pomuD4XFM7s8aY6Tt2HVW5Sks45W4c23gMpkbJmUiiauUBPJtnilOLGoXrfOoJM9R0CaS13RgGIYYYDbTaT7ao-W_xWNsGUvdzHTktlUC43jLbi1_TVzGMWCELLG4oSyjFw70HudHEK5BQfNAbHzoW6pmq-hp3xNVvsWd3dYYNrbmNobVcPc4W_zGipKSyHTsbZKOi6fGJGGyGJfS0U6qEdOuP4x-3tE3292AH3YbXxRBxmSnrbt8o.ELmdFQbbfT6OB8pPDrW0UiPnGiM5THG5GRral3LN33I&dib_tag=se&keywords=ugreen%2Bnas&qid=1763652600&s=computers&sprefix=ugreen%2Bna%2Ccomputers%2C104&sr=1-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.a56bf500-33e2-4a49-b21f-ee6fbd593a4c&th=1

I've had a Hisense for three years now, and I have to say I'm impressed with it's specs and features, but apparently I can expect (under ideal circumstances) 7 years out of it. I really hope I reach that mark with it! I've also noted that deals on solid state storage are thin on the ground this year, must be down to the RAM price increase ☹️

Just finished Harlan Coben's Lazarus on Amazon. It's very meh, and 75% of dialogue is delivered in an angry\shouty voice. It could have been much, much better.

And a good deal here, a mechanical LED keyboard for £19.98 (still £49.99 on Amazon) - https://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-function-minitkl-white-modular-mechanical-keyboard-gateron-red-linear-switches-per-key-rgb-usb

It's that time of year again when, after a month of hiking prices, major retailers discount their goods for a couple of weeks. Cynicism aside, there are some good deals coming to light, and as someone who has had to make an emergency dishwasher purchase in the past week, are very thankful for them. So, once more, we have created the Black Friday thread for the year and ask that if you see any really good deals to post them up in here. Don't forget to use browser plugins such as CamelCamelCamel to check if these are actual deals or not, and feel free to include the ridiculous such as a £1 saving on an item!

Went to see The Running Man on Friday. It's....meh. I don't think action\non comedy films are Edgar Wright's forte, I didn't get on with Last Night in Soho either.