Not a good idea!
Apple's small print would probably mean that anything published by said boffins would be wholly owned by Apple from that point onwards!
Posts by DJV
2539 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Aug 2009
Page:
Boffin's blog blast births boycott of publisher Elsevier
iPad Fleshlight lets fanbois express their love
Google boots out contractors for allegedly damaging OpenStreetMap
Virgin Media broadband goes titsup for 3 hours
McDonald's punters offered sex in exchange for Chicken McNuggets
Crossley cops two-year suspension
French court fines Google $65k over search suggestion
German cops hacked in revenge for dad spying on daughter
The Commodore 64 is 30
Monday 2nd January 2012 13:48 GMT 
1571 drive
I had a C-128 with a cut down 1571 in it. It was a nightmare! It regularaly decided the drive wasn't there when you attempted to use the relative file commands. Also, it lacked RAM buffers and would often screw up data. It only ever really worked in CP/M mode! For a long time Commodore denied that the errors existed but the final ROM that was released did sort of fix most of the bugs.
Monday 2nd January 2012 13:35 GMT
@Torben Mogensen
121 colours is correct - there were 16 shades of each of the 16 main colours, but all the shades of black were also black which is why they couldn't say it had 128!
However, the TED chip that replaced the VIC II/SID chips didn't have sprites and the sound wasn't anywhere near as versatile (later on some people built synthesisers out of SID chips).
I used to work for a small company that built a 64K memory upgrade for the C16 to bring it up to almost the same capability as the Plus/4 (but minus the built in office software). Unfortunately, there were a few deluded souls who thought that the 64K upgrade meant the C16 could also run the C64 games/programs.
Monday 2nd January 2012 13:28 GMT
@Oliver Jones / BASIC into RAM
My nefarious use was to copy the BASIC into RAM in places like Debenhams and add a few POKEs to change the "syntax error" message to something rude. Then I'd sidle off to wait for unsuspecting kiddies to bash the keyboard a few times before asking their mothers what *THAT* meant!
Those were the days...
Apple's TV killer 'on shelves by summer 2012'
NASA to place twin probes in Moon orbit as you snog beneath mistletoe
Latest El Reg project: Rise of the Robot Sheep
Thursday 22nd December 2011 14:29 GMT 
Also...
Will it have a container for the clippings and, if so, then, when the container is full, can you get it to locate the compost bin (even if I have to stick one of Chistoph's QR codes to it), climb up it, remove the lid (optional, I may possibly be capable to remembering to do this before starting the mower) and deposit said clippings in the bin before carrying on where it left off?
Microsoft copies Google with silent browser updates
Ballmer can exhale: Bill Gates rules out Microsoft return
Concerns over plan to boost pharma by releasing NHS data
Monday 12th December 2011 10:54 GMT
But...
...if any patient's personal data is compromised in any way whatsoever by sloppy security, bad administration or crappy processes then EVERYONE in the chain from the person who released it right back up to David Cameron should be held fully responsible, fined heavily and sacked immediately. And THAT should be written into the document in BIG RED BOLD TEXT as well.
WD dries out flood-trashed fab, pumps out first disks
BUSTED TWO: Carrier IQ monitor-ware on iPhones too?
Developers get new IE10 for Windows 8 preview
Wednesday 30th November 2011 14:28 GMT 
HTML 5 Test
Interesting to see that the version of IE10 that comes with the Windows 8 Developer preview currently scores 300 points (+ 6 bonus) on www.html5test.com.
The IE10 preview, however, is a vast improvement - it scores a massive, erm, um, 299 (+6)!
So, another step back for MS - actually, the missing 1 is because the preview doesn't provide any custom search providers (no address/search bar in the preview). Still, I was expecting rather more than this... the current stable Chrome is already up to 343 (+13 bonus) points. Of the non-IE browsers, only Opera with 286 + 7 is currently trailing IE10 (IE9 currently scores 141 + 5).
The BBC Micro turns 30
Wednesday 30th November 2011 14:10 GMT
Atom kit
The Atom was also available as a kit. A local shop bought them that way and I assembled a few for them.
The keyboard was a nightmare! Each key had two stiff springy metal wires that had to be located into corresponding holes in the PCB and then soldered in place. The keyboard was one unit and there were over 60 keys so that meant locating 130 or so wires AT THE SAME TIME. I remember discovering one wire had been squashed between the keyboard frame and the PCB after soldering up more than half of the damned things - not a good moment!
I think I assembled about 3 Atoms before giving up as they took far longer than what they were paying was worth.
I also remember upgrading a BBC A to a B for a customer of another local shop. However, it was a very early model with an inadequate power supply, which meant that the computer wouldn't work properly with all the extra chips in. So the whole thing went back to Acorn for a free (possibly?) upgrade.
Russia successfully launches Glonass-M
UK.gov to build child army of software coders
Ubuntu savaged by rivals infected with fondleslab fever
Thursday 24th November 2011 14:40 GMT
And the server version, too
I run a couple of test servers and upgrading from 9.10 to 10.04 (or maybe it was 10.04 to 10.10, I forget) on one of them totally screwed it. Now, I only update major revisions now when I build a new server or replace the main hard disk.
However, I detest the RPMs that some non-Debian ones use and am thinking seriously of switching from Ubuntu to Debian for the next update.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
