Posts by Expectingtheworst

Re: Are we there yet?

I thought that was Fusion Power.

Re: How would Apple switching to USB-C reduce e-waste?

? What is a Wall Wart ?

Re: Ré causing, not curing chaos

I was in a remote are of Aberdeenshire in the early 50s.

Being a pre-teen I thought as Luxembourg was 208 meters I needed a long aerial. Looking round one day I spied the telephone wires all nice and bare.

I connected the radio aerial to the top one from the bedroom window. I was the only one at school who could listen to 208.

Problem later. As the aerial wire blew in the wind it caught on the lower telephone wire and intermittently caused phone problems as the insulation wore away.

Telephone engineer and my dad were not impressed !

Shortly after I connected it to the bottom wire. Back to normality (?)

Re: Uniformed lawyers

Jethro G will sort them out !

Re: Hard Card?

I updated my original (calculator type keyboard) Commodore PET which had 8k static ram with 32k of dynamic RAM. The RAM board was almost the size of the motherboard. Cost 1979 over £350

I think I was earning about £3k

Cannot remember the cost of the floppy drive but I kept that from my wife !

Then went to BBC B.

"Lots of examples of suspended sentences for killing someone."

We used to do that - It is called hanging !

Re: speak for yourselft

You were very lucky as my first house in 1964 was 5.5 x my annual wage. Luckily before my wife became pregnant she was also earning, but it was tight with very few treats and any holidays were B&B.

We did not complain much - then came Harrold W, then Ted Heath !!!

The problem was later when we moved to a new job when mortgage interest rates were 15 - 18%.

We were very relieved when they dropped to 10% ! a few years later.

New house prices may be more, but interest rates are vastly lower.

You do not seem to see many No win, No fee cases !

I wonder what would happen if all this type of ligation had to be, by law - No win, No fee

Re: Lol the joys

Watch the 74 and stuck in his ways bit.

75 and still going ! However I am still on WIN7 but glancing over my shoulder at WIN10. Maybe/possibly next year or so ! Main OS is Yosemity as I find it far more stable and much less hassle than Windows. I do also have a WIN7 desktop and laptop for programs that don't exist for OSX.

Before you all get on your high horses It does have its problems. but for what I do it is the better OS.

Ran my own business (11 employees) and started with Commodore PET 8k ! upgraded to 32k dynamic RAM at about £400 in 1979/80. Ram quite a few scientific programs I wrote in BASIC.

1984 got a BBC B which over time was upgraded and this produced better word processing than the PC till WIN3. Spread sheet and data base (Interword, Intersheet etc.) Good BASIC or alternate languages also available.

PCs all self built through 286, 386, 486 and Pentiums. Gave up and bought after 2008. Sold the business but the computers, network and backup bits are still in my spare bedroom.

Now act as consultant and the old stuff is still useful. Surprising what 'old' info is still useful.

Always upgraded about 3-6 months after software came out, but avoided Millenium, used WIN2000 pro but got caught by Vista ! Still got a stand alone XP for some legacy bits.

Computers were cheaper than any equipment we had and provided sales, technical and IT, all of which helped the business. Computers are very cheap now !!

Started in 1972 with HP FFT analysis machines. Used on Polaris I think. Cost the company I worked for £50,000.

Yes I used to use AMD chips on all my home-builds. The only problems used to be the drivers for the north and south bridge. Always had problems installing them. Some other drivers could also be a problem. However when working I never had any trouble and timings were always comparable with Intel, occasionally better. I think the money I saved gave me a free PC over the years.

Re: WOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

One upmanship (would use upwomanship but might be misinterpreted}

NR14

Took an old black MacBook back as screen did not work, neither did second screen.

replaced - one at a time - screen, mother board and HDD. Each time got it home it didn't work. Gave me £500 of a new one - It still cost me £350. Luckily the new white one has worked fine.

Re: landing barge "Just Read the Instructions"

Indeed - RIP

I will miss no new novels from his SF side. I will start reading his Ian Banks novels to see how much the M makes to the writing !

Re: Con trick

"Although to be fair to Radio 4 Extra, The Clitheroe Kid was recorded in mono."

But who ever listened ?

Re: Next

Used to make many electronic gadgets from amps in the 50s to computer bits for BBC B in the 80s to PA related bits in the 90s.

However the cost of the bits became more expensive than the retail items. It then was only worth it if you needed a specialist item. Luckily recently when I need a width controller for a PA setup - stereo too wide and mono bland so i need a narrow stereo sound field - I had enough components in my tray rack to build it.

I would have been pushed to get the bits from Maplin as when I tried to get an 8W bridge rectifier for my daughter's shower unit, which they said was in stock, my daughter who went to pick the ordered part up was given a bag with an 8 pin CMOS IC in it. When I took it back it took the third person I spoke to to know anything about components.

Liked their 100W MOSFET DIY modules

Voda have virtually no signal in our local village group (approx 4,000) only 6 miles south of Norwich. I was with 3 but got fed up with no signal, so on the 'guarantee'! that they had a better signal than 3 I went to Voda. I can drive round the villages and if lucky I may occasionally pick up a text. Arrive home and my SureSignal box, which I had to pay for, picks up all the missed calls. I thought that is why I have a BT telephone with built in answer-phone.

Found out that the transmitter is 4-5 miles away at Tacalneston.

The whole point of a mobile - in the name ? - is that you can use it away from home. Maybe most important when an accident happens or an emergency in the middle of nowhere.

Re: I seem to remember

The actual official international name is Aluminium.

The confusion started when Charles Martin Hall misspelt the word on a handbill publicising his aluminium manufacturing process and the spelling stuck. He thought it was too expensive to scrap and reprint.

So the citizens of the USA are perpetuating a misspelling.

Re: PMSE shifting again?

For me as long as the 170+MHz range of VHF spectrum Trantecs are still usable I am OK, but I understand since the last shake-up, it would not be possible to do another Olympic games as there are not enough mic channels now available. Hope the small UHF free band is still going to be available and free !

I must admit I am now watching 99.9% of the time on Sky (I Know!) As long as I switch off about once a week and let it do its thing I have had little problems. My old box is used with an old card for free to air channels.

The bit rate for BBC HD transmissions has dropped quite a bit since they just had BBC HD.

The BBC used to go for quality and innovation. Since they closed their research facility at Kingswood Warren, things have gone down-hill. Although the horrible DAB, I think was just meant for car use, was developed there. Pity they did not use the NICAM system which was in use for Television sound and is still used in the line for VHF FM.

They now seem to be putting quality after everything else.

Re: Other methods

Mmm, loosing a finger(s) or an eye.

I will have to think about that !

Re: Sonic Repellent

"The amount of horses "national minorities" were breeding in Bulgaria reached the level which can be best described as infestation"

Time for some cheap pepperoni.

Re: Excellent if it happens...

Coverage in most of rural Norfolk is virtually non existent.

My local Vodafone transmitter in miles away from the major block of villages I live in. 3 villages almost touching and extending along a major B road for 1.5 miles with a combined population of about 5,000.

I have no coverage, although there are small reception areas, but theses seem to vary day to day.

However Vodafone do alright as they sell little boxes to attach to your broadband at £50+ a go. No cost in providing transmitters, but a good income in box sales. However only registered users can access these boxes, so the only signal I get is 50ft round my house. Very helpful.

Pass the roaming law quickly, or force them to give full coverage - I don't get a lower monthly call rate for no local signal !

Re: Ambisonics - before its time

Poor Michael Gurzon must be turning in his grave. All the hard work he put in to develop the system over many years.

I heard it demonstrated a few times at AES conventions. It was in the form of Periphonics a three dimension version which gave full height reproduction with only 6 speakers. It was very impressive and when you turned it was perfectly natural, which ever way you faced. IMF (RIP) were one of the main proponents and Nimbus records produced quite a few discs.

The main problem was the NRDC who tried to make money from everyone in the chain, unlike Dolby, then in south London, working on Dolby A, who got it right. But how many government type quangos ever get anything right !

Re: 16-page document I was working on last night won’t fit onto a floppy

Lunar Lander - Yes! But what about Rhinos ?

Still got an original PET - calculator keyboard and built in Tape deck. 8KByte static RAM with a 32KByte Dynamic RAM upgrade board that was as large as the main board. £375 in 1979 I think !!

Been sitting around, with a BBC B for decades.