Posts by altis2011

Voyager 1 passes another milestone: It's now 138AU from home

Re: Not sure what they used...

I think the only rad-hard CPU around at the time was the RCA 1802:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_1802

A completely static design with no minimum clock frequency and you could use any register for the program counter.

The Z80 wouldn't have been released in time for this mission and certainly wasn't rad-hard.

Edit: I've just read the Wiki page and even the 1802 wasn't around in time for the Voyager. Also read:

http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/1802_spacecraft.html

DON'T PANIC: No FM Death Date next month, minister confirms

DAB Fail

By most measures DAB is, IMV, no replacement for FM:

Audio quality : FAIL

Coverage : FAIL

Price : FAIL

Battery life : FAIL

User interface : FAIL

It's only saving grace is the number of channels available but invariably that just means more of the same.

*IF* we need to go digital then we should be looking at using DRM+ which is far more useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Radio_Mondiale

After all:

"[In] 2011, the paneuropean organisation Community Media Forum Europe has recommended to the European Commission that DRM+ should rather be used for small scale broadcasting (local radio, community radio) than DAB/DAB+."

Readers fret over LOHAN's chilly bits

Use AAAs

Energizer Ultimate Lithiums are also available in size AAA.

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/l92.pdf

1200mAh but only half the weight.

Wireless breakthrough: one frequency, multiple signals

Yer, circular polarization, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_polarization

Fujifilm Finepix X10 compact camera

And not a single mention of 'orbs'....

;)

Five amazing computers for under £100

HP palmtops

You forgot the HP palmtops such as the 200LX and the 1000CX. They have a great reflective LCD screen that they can be used outdoors and they will run for weeks on a pair of AAs. They will also run many MS-DOS applications - including custom ones. I still use a 1000CX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX