Posts by esterill

The micro YOU used in school: The story of the Research Machines 380Z

Great Nostalgia

That's a great article - thanks. I hadn't really realised how important the 380Z was to my education until recently. Our school had one and it was the first microprocessor I had seen. Until then, we had used the 300baud modem link to Birmingham Council treasury computer to program in BASIC with a teletype (in a cupboard). I managed to get a book on 8080 assembler (the 380Z was a Z80 which had the 8080 instructions as a subset) and wrote an assembler in machine code. From that, I was able to write a noughts and crosses game using the teletext graphics. I learnt another great lesson from that - never write or invent a game no-one can win. They get angry very quickly!

After the 380Z things moved quickly: TRS-80, PET, Nascom, Acorn Atom (I built one - 2000 solder joints!), Atari 400/800, CBM-16/64, Dragon, Lynx(?), BBC (of course). I eventually worked on 68000s at college and HP-85s at work. Still in the biz, and still coding...

iPhone 5: skinny li'l fella with better display, camera, software

Re: Question to the Androiders

And the obvious point to come out of that comparison table is that the iPhone5 is smaller (especially thinner) and lighter than the competition. That alone has sold it to me. it is, after all, a phone that people like to carry around in my pocket. I think what the fanboys (in both camps) are missing is that these products are used by a wide range of non-techie people who look beyond the endless acronyms and specifications and focus on usability.

And the obvious point to come out of that comparison table is that the iPhone5 is smaller (especially thinner) and lighter than the competition. That alone will sell it to many. It is, after all, a phone that people like to carry around in their pocket. I think what the fanboys (in both camps) are missing is that these products are used by a wide range of non-techie people who look beyond the endless acronyms and specifications and focus on usability.

Safety wonks condemn digital TV satnav

I am so getting one of these

for my Motorbike!