* Posts by brassedoff

19 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Dec 2009

Commodore 64 makes a half-sized comeback

brassedoff

Re: I find such projects a bit sad

Maybe we should instead make a Commodore PET clone, with a small microcontroller running a 6052 emulator as the CPU and perhaps video output. That way we could have a machine again which would be understandable by everyone, yet powerful enough to do things.

...or even a 6502. Ah, the days of zero page addressing...

El Reg partners with Action for Children to give IT industry an uncomfortable night

brassedoff

Well done!

Nice one... but:

Or if you’re really lucky, a Reg scribe who’s gotten lost on the way home from the Friday night debrief.

Gotten. Really?

Queen's speech announces laws to protect personal data

brassedoff

Re: Ex-queen

AC: "The ex-director of the CIA spoke out against the CIA. Presumably the ex-queen can do similarly."

From the "other side"?

BOFH: Halon is not a rad new vape flavour

brassedoff

Re: Halon?

FM200 : http://www.firesuppression.co.uk/fm200-gas.aspx

Europe loves to pay by bonk* - survey

brassedoff

Security?

I'm pretty certain my phone needs to be unlocked before I can use Android Pay. That alone makes it more secure than my card.

'I found the intern curled up on the data centre floor moaning'

brassedoff

Firearms licensing

The local plod revamped all their firearms licensing forms, sadly paying little attention to the phone number on the forms. As a result, we had a few weeks of guys on the shop floor getting phone calls about punters wanting to renew shotgun licences.

Hands on with the BBC's Micro:Bit computer. You know, for kids

brassedoff

Re: The same memory as the BBC Micro Model A of 15 years ago...

Snow was a problem on the original CGA cards on IBM-PCs (but not the monochrome adapters IIRC). Likewise, I don't recollect it being a problem on my ModelB! The mode switch on Elite also enabled the scanner view on the lower part of the screen to display in colour so you could see the goodies and baddies.

Ah, t'good old days... writing up assignments in Wordwise, printing them out on an old Juki NLQ dot matrix printer, saving to single density 40 track 5.25" discs... The youth of today don't know they're born...

What to call a £200m 15,000-tonne polar vessel – how about Boaty McBoatface?

brassedoff
IT Angle

Whatever, mission accomplished because all the media (and many many people) now know about the NERC's new research vessel, all because of a silly name

)FWIW, I also voted for Boaty McBoatface. Just because)

Flying Scotsman attacked by drone

brassedoff

Re: Think of the cost implications

More likely a volunteer if it's the NYMR

You've come a long way, Inkscape: Open-source Illustrator sneaks up

brassedoff

Re: open source video editor

For video editing, Openshot is also worth a look. I prefer it to kdenlive

Range Rover to fit trendy new SUV with FRIKKIN' LASER HUDs

brassedoff

Re: Call me sceptical

Agreed. The speed limit on motorways is, in my experience, always shown as 70mph (or whatever). After roadworks, it's not unusual (and seems to be the norm) to get a de-restricted sign (we have plenty of practice with those on the M1 around Sheffield at the moment!)

Quick Q: How many FLOPPIES do I need for 16 MILLION image files?

brassedoff
Mushroom

8" FTW

I've got an unused box of 8" floppies here that were destined for a PDP11 years ago. Any takers? Perhaps the US nuclear arsenal chappies? I doubt the Royal Mail would take them as small letter these days though...

Google scrambles to block backdoors

brassedoff

Re: This is the reason for my strange hobby

...or the complete works of Shakespeare...

El Reg contemplates the ultimate cuppa

brassedoff

Tea...

Northern Tea Merchants small leaf assam http://www.northern-tea.com/

Failing that, Yorkshire Gold tea bags

Splash of milk, definitely no sugar.

Nuisance calls DOUBLE, Ofcom vows to hunt down offenders

brassedoff
Go

Re: Regulation is useless

My Mrs has set our answering machine to filter out any call that isn't whitelisted (i.e. in our list of known numbers) to go straight to answering machine whereupon a 12 year old (slight variant on the six year old) invites spammer to hang up now. Surprisingly, most of them do.

The best smartphones for Christmas

brassedoff

Re: Razr i

Agreed re the Razri. I bought one off-contract and I'm delighted with it. Using SmartActions to turn off wireless sync gives me between two and three days use out of it (I'm not a big user). Critics have slammed the somewhat 'industrial' look and feel, but that appeals to me. The interface is pretty much clear of clutter as well.

Google, Facebook cop for preposterous patent potshot

brassedoff
FAIL

When will it end?

Probably when the US Patent Office wakes up to the real world.

Royal Mail promises 2nd class service on postcode data

brassedoff
Stop

The details are here?

Ok, what's the password?

http://data.hmg.gov.uk/blog/almost-150-new-data-sets