Posts by cheveron

The New ROM Antics – building the ZX Spectrum 128

They had an upgraded graphics chip in the form of the SCLD developed by Timex in 1983 (which Sinclair was planning to use in the Pandora). This had a 512x192 pixel mode that was capable of 80x24 text using a 6-pixel wide font. But the 128 development was driven more by Investronica than Sinclair and it didn't know about the existence of the SCLD. In recent times it's become possible to retrofit the Timex modes to the 128 using replacement ULAs. But there wasn't enough interest to sustain production.

For the price tag, this iPad Pro keyboard better damn well be Magic: It isn't... but it's not completely useless either

You could get two custom printed Vortex Poker III mechanical keyboards for that price

I love the 12" iPad Pro. I also loved my old PowerBook 165. So I got WASDkeyboards.com to make a custom mechanical keyboard for my iPad. No batteries required and it works with the screen in vertical mode too. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2785426364831905

Clive Sinclair Vega+ tin-rattle hits £300,000

If on the other hand it is entirely emulation, then outputting to HDMI may not be so expensive, depending on the chip used.

The biggest expense with HDMI is licensing the thing. The original Vega is an ARM SoC, 16 meg of RAM and 64 meg of flash storage. There's no kernel. It's a bare-metal emulator, and it's using almost all of the capacity of the SoC. Vega+ may take a different approach though.

Sir Clive Sinclair in tech tin-rattle triumph

It doesn't have Head Over Heels. But apparently Jon Ritman owns the rights to it and permits non-profit distribution, so if you get a copy from an online source you can stick it on an SD card and play it.

It's enough to get your back up: Eight dual-bay SOHO NAS boxes

Re: Macs can be problematic

I use a Synology DS214play with two NAS-rated 4TB Seagate drives. Time machine backups from multiple machines work fine. No problem playing transcoded video over WiFi on the AppleTV either.

Get root on an OS X 10.10 Mac: The exploit is so trivial it fits in a tweet

Re: OS X

I recently went into an Apple reseller and was quite shocked at the pathetic looking keyboards and mice they make.

The last decent keyboards and mice Apple made had ADB connectors.

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

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

'Utterly unusable' MS Word dumped by SciFi author Charles Stross

Re: Content and Style

Well as I wrote earlier, I use a manual typewriter for the first draft.Makes editing a pain in the neck and enables you to just get on with writing.

Re: Who says LO is useable?

I'm sure el Reg had a recent article about another writer sticking with WordPerfect because it has a better workflow (I still use a manual typewriter for the first draft when I'm writing fiction). As I understand it there is a version of WordPerfect available as part of WordPerfect Office for current MS operating systems. On the Mac I may have to dig out version 3.5e again and see if I can get it working under SheepShaver.

Sinclair is back with the Spectrum Vega ... just as rubbish as the ZX

Re: 1000 copyright violations

At least read the Indiegogo page before making assumptions like that. No copyrights are being violated. Having said that I think they'll struggle to get licenses for 1,000 titles.

Snapper's decisions: Whatever happened to real photography?

Re: I'm a techno luddite

The one I have is an old model. This is the current model. http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/84531/show.html

It can handle negs and slides and the software has settings for different film types. The reason it is cheaper than equivalent scanners from Nikon is that it doesn't include a powerful computer for image correction. But it will scan at a higher resolution than a flatbed and I find PhotoShop is a perfectly adequate substitute for the image correction engine. It just takes longer.

I'm a techno luddite

One advantage of the digital revolution is that it is possible to pick up used film cameras and lenses that I never would have been able to afford in the past. I have a Nikon FM2 and selection of Nikkor lenses. I use Fuji film, long may they keep making it. I stopped using a darkroom a long time ago though. I can still get one hour film processing where I live. But then I have my own dedicated negative scanner (good resolution but not much image correction) and finally PhotoShop. I'm happy with this setup and the results I get. And it didn't cost me a fortune as I was a student when I bought my copy of PhotoShop.

Yes, yes, Steve Jobs. Look what I'VE done for you lately – Tim Cook

Re: Tim will be remembered for allowing Yosemite on his watch

Indeed. Steve would have picked a name non-Americans would know how to pronounce.

Your chance to win the world's only handheld ZX Spectrum

And if you don't win ...

a Nintendo 3DS XL with a homebrew card and Patrik Rak's excellent ZXDS emulator works just as well.

Elite Systems promises to order ZX Spectrum revival in two weeks

Re: GameX 2:

GameX 2: The Wulf of Wall Street. ;)

AV for Mac

Re: Intego

Another vote for Intego. If you're doing admin for your whole family the five machine small business license is worth getting.

SCIENCE explains why you LOVE the smell of BACON

It's how you cook it

I live in Britain, but I like my bacon crispy. Most people I know cook bacon in oil, but I prefer to cut the fat off and gently heat it until it melts and then cook the bacon in its own fat. You need to get the fat really hot before you add the bacon and then adjust your cooking time depending on how crispy you want it.

MacBook Air 13-inch: If you squint hard enough, you'll see a lesser-spotted Apple Price Cut

I hope they've done something about the keyboard

My daily drive is a 2010 MBA13. I went for a build-to-order with 256GB SSD, 4GB of RAM and a 2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo. It still feels pretty nippy, even in comparison to a recent MBP. But the keyboard is terrible. It's weak and flimsy and I think next time I buy a laptop I'm going to go for something a bit more rugged.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Ancient Fear of, er, a cheese-tastic title?

You are all missing the point.

Whatever it is, at least it won't be a pointless remake of Empire.

10 PRINT "Happy 50th Birthday, BASIC" : GOTO 10

ANSI minimal BASIC

I learned BASIC from reading the keycaps on a ZX Spectrum Plus. It got me into programming. I went on to learn C. Then when emulators took off I taught myself Z80 assembly language. When I went back to university I learned Java. I think BASIC did what it set out to do, which was to give non-technical people an easy entry point to get computing tasks done. I think the modern equivalent is probably spreadsheet programming. I don't think it's as rewarding though.

BLUE BIRD DOWN: Turkey wipes out Twitter 'scourge'

Simple DNS block?

As I understand it, the Turkish system of blocking sites is much simpler than the Chinese method, and can be bypassed without requiring a VPN. Just point your machine at a different DNS server: http://www.thesimplest.net/pc/simplest-way-bypass-dns-block

Nokia launches Android range: X marks the growing low-cost spot

When can I get one?

Swype clone plus Nokia maps. I'm sold.

Loki, LC3 and Pandora: The great Sinclair might-have-beens

Loki

If you take a close look at the Loki specification it's basically an MSX2 with a Spectrum compatibility mode. Perhaps Sinclair could have condensed some of the design onto a ULA and cut production costs to deliver a sub £200 machine, if they hadn't already been in deep financial trouble.

You’re NOT fired: The story of Amstrad’s amazing CPC 464

Correction

The BBC didn't have an AY chip. It had the similar Texas Instruments SN76489.

Sinclair's ZX Spectrum to LIVE AGAIN!

Awful to type on

But the original worked quite well as an oversized game pad.

Stephen Fry rewrites computer history again: This time it's serious

Douglas Adams

Would have been the guy to get to write the article if he was still alive. If memory serves he was the UK's first Mac owner. He was friends with Fry, and so Fry got one as well.

The Mac at 30: Hardware and software wars – again and again and ...

A mention for Jef Raskin would have been nice

Given that the Mac was his idea.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/28/jeff_raskin_obituary/

Apple’s Mac turns 30: How Steve Jobs’ baby took its first steps

Re: Floppy Eject

As I understand it Jobs actually had a phobia of buttons (koumpounophobia).

Undercover BBC man exposes Amazon worker drone's daily 11-mile trek

Sounds like a cushy job ...

... compared to doing night shifts in a UK supermarket warehouse. I expect the pay is better too. I did all kinds of jobs between graduating and getting a job in my chosen profession. If Amazon had been around at the time I'd have been happy to work for them.

Who’s Who: a Reg quest to find the BEST DOCTOR

John Hurt

Because he's John Hurt.

Woz: Google Glass will be SO COOL... just like BLUETOOTH

D cell batteries?

I thought you were supposed to wire it up to a streetlight.

Do dishwashers really blunt knives

corrosion

I've noticed corrosion on my V-Sabatier knives since my wife has been putting them in the dishwasher. I can't say if they are getting dulled by the process as she also sharpens them regularly with a grinder. I'm willing to believe stainless is more hygienic, but it won't hold as keen an edge as non-stainless. After sharpening with a pocket whetstone, my sailmaker's knife will cut through eight layers of flax sail cloth without much effort. I can't get the same edge on my rig knife, but then it has to deal with salt water.

Apple's Hacker Princess really needs to stay away from Idaho cops

Choose your own job title

Janitor. Because I'm always cleaning up other people's messes.

Deploying Turing to see if we have free will

quantum non-determinism

I assume that if the universe is non-deterministic at the quantum level, then we have free will. Probably just not very much.

Alfresco's IPO is bad news for tech stock junkies

I don't wear suits to interviews as it filters out employers I don't want to work for. Alfresco was one of them. Which is a shame, because it's a good product.

DEAD STEVE JOBS kills Apple bounce patent from BEYOND THE GRAVE

Re: Regardless of the merits of the Apple patent

In the US patents could be applied for within 12-months of disclosure. In the rest of the world the patent must be applied for before disclosure. Once you've told the world about your great idea it cannot be patented. As I understand it, the US patent system now works this way as well for new patents.

Dog bites man: Apple's Macs trounce all Windows PCs in customer love

I'm an Apple owner ... and to be honest the laptop keyboards aren't as robust as they used to be. I've had this one for less than three years and the mylar is already wearing off a couple of keys.

Apple’s iOS 64-bit iUpgrade: Don't expect a 2x performance leap

Re: iOS-based laptops?

I agree. Most MacBook Air users probably aren't running a virtual Windows desktop and wouldn't care what CPU they were using as long as their apps all worked (although that would noble anything running on Cider). Switching from x86-64 to ARM64 would probably mean higher margins for Apple.

Finns, roamers, Nokia: So long, and thanks for all the phones

I love my Nokia 700

I know Symbian is dead but my phone does at least one thing the other main smart phone don't. Swype (missing from Windows Phone and iOS) or offline HERE maps (missing from Android and iOS). As MS is not acquiring HERE, I hope the offline version makes it to Android, or that Apple or MS adds Swype to their OS.

Mail.ru says 'да' to half a BILLION dollars, flogs its 14m Facebook shares

satisfied customer

I've been using mail.ru as my primary email account since 1999 and even after they ditched English language support I sill don't have a compelling reason to change provider. If you can navigate Cyrillic, it's a really great service.

Give up your privacy so Big Data can FIX GOVERNMENT

During a sojourn in New Zealand I worked at the Ministry of Youth Development (http://www.myd.govt.nz), a sub-ministry of the MSD. I was impressed by the concerted effort to engage with young people and provide them with a better future. Other nations could learn a thing or two from New Zealand. The privacy concerns are reasonable, but if relecant data sharing can improve people's lives then it's hard to argue against it.

Peter Capaldi named as 12th Doctor Who

the Doctor can take on any form imaginable...

...so they've cast a white bloke again. Capaldi's a fantastic actor but they could have been braver in their choice. It's the 14th time (if you count Hurt and Cushing).

The hammer falls: Feds propose drastic controls on Apple's iTunes Store

Re: Eventually, they became the Microsoft they hated

There are many criticisms you can level at Jobs, but Woz did fine out of Apple. Now compare and contrast that with how Gates tried to dilute Paul Allen's stock when he got cancer.

Sky falling: 119,000 Brits flee O2, Be after Murdoch broadband gobble

... off its own *bat*

Please get your cricketing cliches right.

Gone

Probably TAILS (https://tails.boum.org). However, the weak link isn't the OS, it's the user.

MSX: The Japanese are coming! The Japanese are coming!

Sinclair Loki

Oddly enough the alleged specification of the Loki 'Super Spectrum' looks pretty similar on paper to the MSX2.

Partying, beer and C++: How to choose the right Comp-Sci degree for you

or you could do a degree in meeja

I did an A-level in comp sci back in the early 1990s. We were using Xenix on a network of 386s and as there was no Pascal compiler installed on the system our tutor reluctantly taught us C. We did our editing in vi. We did a little bit of assembly coding. I remember covering CISC CPU architecture, networks and databases (I think we had an Oracle 5 site license) in a fair amount of detail. With this knowledge of UNIX, a real-world programming language and relational databases I went on to do a degree in journalism.

Who should play the next Doctor? Nominations needed!

Idris Elba

Although he's probably too busy.

FLABBER-JASTED: It's 'jif', NOT '.gif', says man who should know

Giraffe or Jiraffe?

There is no "correct" pronunciation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

Re: nah mate

> In America, Jif refers to peanut butter. End of story.

Not quite. GIF files are named after Jif. If you accept any pronunciation other than the one intended by the author that makes you a post-modernist. If you're ok with that, then that's ok.

What kind of pirate are you: Justified, transgressor or just honest?

Everyone loves a bargain

I'm told it's really trivial to torrent movies in HD before they are released. People I know who do this think I'm mad for waiting until the DVD is massively discounted and paying £3 for a film. I'm no saint though. I'll hold my hands up to using a VPN to watch region-restricted content like iPlayer (when I'm out of the UK) and Hulu (when I'm out of the US).