Posts by f4ff5e1881 46 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Jun 2017
I had an Acorn Electron back in the day, and bought Elite, but never really progressed very far with it. My problem was that I was rubbish at docking with the space station, and when you crash into the space station, that’s it – game over. If the docking procedure had a been a bit more, shall we say, ‘forgiving’, I might have got more into the game.
Fast forward a few years, and I had an Acorn Archimedes, on which I spent a lot of time playing Black Angel. This game was very much inspired by Elite, but used the Arc’s extra power to render stunning, colourful 3D graphics. The game-play was a bit different from Elite in that it focused more on puzzle-solving rather than trading, and in my case at least, that allowed me to progress quite far into the game. So I have to admit I enjoyed that game more than Elite.
On a side note, I find it ironic, and rather nice, that I’m spending more time (and having more fun) with my Acorn-related stuff now (in my fifties), than I did ‘first time round’ in my youth. That’s due, in no small part, to some frankly brilliant emulator software - written by people who are several orders of magnitude cleverer than myself!
Same here. I remember feeling quite aggrieved the first time I typed EDIT into a Windows 7 64bit command console, only to be presented with the grumpy "'edit' is not recognized as an internal or external command..." message. I think I even tried copying over edit.com from a 32bit install just to see if it would work (obviously an act of pure, misguided optimism). Of course, it didn't work.
Since when I've used Notepad as a substitute for Edit. I'm not overly concerned with what MS do with Windows nowadays, since my focus is now on Linux, but Edit was a nice little tool and MS could do worse than give it a second life.
I appreciate the sentiment, but 'Just' is the wrong word. It takes a considerable amount of research, testing, planning, and perhaps a dollop of faith, to migrate one's personal computer setup from one operating system to another. For your average techie, who may have grown weary and exasperated as to what Windows has become and is becoming, there's the drive (and technical challenge) to make it happen. For Joe Public, the situation is not so clear-cut.
But I agree, the more Windows becomes irksome and more trouble than its worth, the more people will feel that pull towards a viable alternative.
Many thanks, Recluse. I'm actually using the Windows version of VMware Player for my VMs (started off shelling out for Workstation several years back, before realising that the free Player did all I required).
It's reassuring to hear that the Linux version seems to be of equal quality. Thanks once again!
May I ask what VM software you're running under Linux? I'm currently doing the opposite - running Zorin in a VM under Windows 10. But my long-term goal is to use Linux as a host thereby completely doing away with Windows. Thanks!
Running in VMware, I have a Windows 7 virtual machine.
Within the Windows 7 virtual machine, is Arculator, emulating an Acorn Archimedes.
Within the Windows 7 virtual machine, within Arculator, is Acorn’s PC Emulator, emulating an x86 PC.
Within the Windows 7 virtual machine, within Arculator, within the PC Emulator, is Digital Research DOS.
Within the Windows 7 virtual machine, within Arculator, within the PC Emulator, within DR DOS, is Lotus 123 v2.
Within Lotus 123 v2 are my old secondary school reports, meticulously typed out and formatted with keen attention to accuracy and symmetry.
Why? Why not!
My elderly father used to bank with Barclays. When his health deteriorated due to dementia, my brother and I had to apply for Power Of Attorney to handle his financial affairs. We went through the proper channels, got the POA, and assumed we could then begin to handle my dad’s finances. But that wasn’t good enough for Barclays - we had to go through another whole procedure with Barclays themselves – their own POA setup, if you will. Thus began an exercise in frustration I hope never to repeat. We were lucky that there was a branch in the next town, but actually getting to speak to someone in authority was a nightmare. When we eventually did manage to get an appointment with someone who could handle the POA, it took weeks of back-and-forth to get it all sorted, and we faced ineptitude from Barclays at every turn.
When my father passed away a few years later, we arranged for a solicitor to deal with Barclays on our behalf, to transfer his estate and close the account. No way were we going to deal with them ever again.
As someone who's been ensconced in the Windows world for more years than I care to mention, I’ve dabbled with Linux over the last few years, but it’s only recently that I’ve made a serious effort to migrate away from Windows. I’ve been subjected to Windows 11 at work, and to say ‘I really don’t like it’ is a colossal understatement.
I’ve tried various Linux distros in the past, but the main stumbling block has always been compatibility with my own selection of hardware.
The distro that finally ticked all the boxes for me, was Zorin. It works flawlessly on my older ‘spare’ laptops. On my main laptop, which admittedly is running Windows 10, I have Zorin running in a couple of VMs (Windows 10 is really only acting as a host for the VMs, doing little else). I was very impressed that Zorin recognised it was in a VM during installation, and helpfully installed the VMware tools – now that’s forward thinking.
The ultimate goal, for me, is to have a Linux laptop, running Linux VMs, but that’s for the future. I think I need a bit more experience under my belt before I make that leap. For now though, I’m happy that I’ve mostly purged Windows from my home computing setup. And I have Zorin to thank for that.
Well, tally-ho with a bing and a bong and a zing zang spillip! Absolutely spiffing prose!
Marvellous to cross paths with a fellow Englishman who has, like me, been out in the mid-day sun, but whose dogs are certifiably not mad.
Alas, I have never been to a British tea party, grand or otherwise. But I have been to a street party – the King’s funny Coronation (Zadok the Priest is still rattling around my head). My giddy aunt, what a splendid day that was.
Let me set the scene. The sun was shining. The street was closed at both ends, and people had brought out tables and chairs. On the tables were sandwiches (of all sorts), crisps, little pies, pizza, sausage rolls, chicken wings – wonderful fare. Lots to drink as well with a choice a wines, beer, fizzy drinks, or just sparkling water. For dessert, on our table, we had an enticingly placed Victoria. Sponge.
The street was full of people chatting away, reminiscing about the BBC Micro, and having a jolly nice time. What bliss.
Sat opposite me was this one gent. Mr Windows. Everyone knows him. He’s a bit middle-aged now – not quite as sprightly as he used to be, and somewhat podgy around the middle. One of those chaps who lets out a little fart when he stands up, poor sod. He’s evidently a fairly dependable sort of cove, but for some time now I’ve felt there’s something a bit off with him. Not quite on the level, if you know what I mean. I’m not saying he’s a ne'er-do-well or anything like that, but let’s just say it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s living a double life involving a certain degree of espionage. I try to keep my distance from him these days.
At the next table was this chap who’s a right hoot! Young Mr Linux. Bags of energy. Can’t sit still for one minute! And so much personality – it’s like there’s ten people in there vying for attention! And there’s often a cadre of people around him who think the sun shines out of his…. well, you know what I mean. Apparently his old Uncle Unix (no longer with us) was a bit fruity too – I’m told he caused quite the sensation in the 70s. I gather young Linux is self-employed – something to do with computers – he’s apparently very capable, but desperately needs help with the marketing.
And then there’s old Mac. Kind of a strange old wizard. I’ve certainly heard of him. I’ve seen pictures of him in the local Gazette (it’s a local paper, for local people). But he wasn’t at the street party. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in the flesh. Neither has anyone I know. Apparently he just keeps himself to himself, and does his own thing. Which is fine. A bit like Dumbledore with agoraphobia.
And so here ends my little reverie. Toodle pip, stout yeoman!
> The only remaining problem is the internet connection. if you can't afford to eat, you can't afford internet access.
To add to the situation, a looming problem here is the switching off of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) in the UK, by the end of 2025. I'm surprised this hasn't garnered more public attention, because it will mean the end of ADSL, and force a great many people to upgrade to a fibre connection (if it's even available), with the associated higher subscription costs.
One of the good things about Linux is that you can use it to give an old laptop a ‘second life’ and extend its usefulness beyond its ‘normal’ lifespan. If the laptop was originally running a version of Windows which has reached end-of-life and no longer getting updates, I think desktop Linux is, finally, a viable alternative as hardware compatibility seems to be pretty good these days (in my experience, at least).
Having experimented with several distros, for this purpose, I’ve settled on Zorin. The Core version is suited to more recent hardware - computers up to five years old, whereas the Lite version is optimised to function on machines as old as 15 years.
I have the Core version running on an old Lenovo ThinkPad, and the Lite version running on an even older Toshiba Tecra, keeping both machines happily alive. No doubt in a parallel universe where Linux is not a thing, both those old laptops would’ve eventually found their way into the garage with the rest of my junk, never to be used again.
Also, you have a fair degree of certainty, that when a cheque clears, the intended recipient has received their money. Contrast that with, say, a BACS payment, where you plug in the account / sort code details, send it off into the ether, and hope for the best - there's no confirmation the money has reached the intended recipient.
Sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience with Zorin, but to provide a bit of counterbalance, my experience has been quite positive.
I’ll admit I tested it quite a bit before using it in anger, so to speak, but now have it running on two old laptops (thereby keeping them happily alive) and on my main laptop in the form of a couple of VMs (albeit with Windows as the host).
I was impressed that after installing Zorin in a VM, it automatically installed the Vmware Tools – that was a nice touch.
I like that its hardware compatibility seems to be very good, and as a long-time Windows user (I’m not proud), the WINE integration was a big plus for me. The WINE configuration is a bit fiddly and basic, but it worked for me – my ‘fist pumps the air’ moment was when I got Arculator running under WINE (Arculator is an Acorn Archimedes emulator).
I faced a couple of issues with running Zorin in a VM – notably sharing a folder with the host (files over a certain size wouldn’t copy), and a disconnecting sound card, but these weren’t insurmountable problems and with a bit of detective work I was able to solve them.
So as someone who’s trying to wean himself away from Windows (or at least, use Linux wherever I can instead of Windows), Zorin turned out to be the ideal distro for me.
For any Acorn users out there who may have had an Archimedes back in the day, I’d like to recommend Arculator, which is a freeware Acorn Archimedes emulator for Windows and Linux.
I had an Archimedes A310 which entertained me during the late 80s-2000s, until its hard disk packed up and I meandered over to the world of Windows laptops (alas the Arc ended up in the garage and later got thrown out).
I had previously discovered Red Squirrel, another Archimedes emulator, which kept (most of) my backed-up Archie stuff alive, but it was flaky and couldn’t go full screen without crashing. I also used an older version of Arculator, which allowed me to do most of the stuff that Red Squirrel had problems with, but again was quite basic.
Fast forward a few years, and I think the Arculator developer must’ve had some spare time during the coronavirus lockdowns, because in September 2021 they released a fantastic new version (2.1), which took the emulation to a whole new level.
First off, it includes the ROM images for Arthur and RISC OS 2 and 3, so works out-of-the-box without having to grab ROM images from a physical machine. The fact that Arthur is included allowed me to resurrect some old software (Electromusic Research’s SoundSynth), which previously I could never get running. I’ll admit I fist-punched the air that first time it ran, after a gap of about 25 years!
Secondly, you can create hardware profiles, so you can have a profile for an Arthur machine, a separate profile or a RISC OS 2 machine, and so on. This is great for organising your software between appropriate hardware configurations.
Thirdly, a ‘Host OS’ filesystem has been added that links to a folder on the local computer, making file transfer into the emulated computer a doddle.
There’s lots of other good stuff such as support for hard disk images, podule emulation, etc.
Having used Arculator 2.1 for several months now, I’m actually of the opinion that the emulated platform is better than my old Archimedes A310. Running on a modern laptop, it looks better, sounds better… old software that sat in my cupboard for 25 years has been brought back to life… I could wax lyrical all day but I think you get the gist!
Arculator 2.1 can be downloaded here: http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/arculator/
Here’s a fun fax machine anecdote.
You may (or may not) recall that Nick Leeson, the original ‘rogue trader’, brought down Barings Bank in 1995, through unauthorised trading on the Singapore stock exchange.
His problems came to a head when an audit discovered a $78 million black hole in Barings' finances, and Leeson was told to send details of the missing $78 million to the auditors.
He forged the relevant documents (including his bosses’ signatures with crude photocopy/cut/paste), and sent them from his home fax machine, not realising (or forgetting) that ‘NICK & LISA’ would appear at the top of the pages at the destination fax machine… indicating the documents could be traced back to his apartment. Oops.
I recall, earlier in my career, that I had a monthly task that involved sending a three page fax to about 10 shipping companies, in various locations around the world. The one going to Algeria I knew would always be a pain, as it would take about four or five tries before the damned thing would eventually go. The whole process would take a couple of hours, standing at the fax machine (with legs getting increasingly stiff) and sometimes I’d have to give up on a number that wouldn’t connect, and try again the next day.
So imagine my delight when email came along, and I was able to set up a ‘mail-merge’ from Word to Outlook, and the job was reduced to about 10 minutes of blissful pointing and clicking, from the comfort of my desk.
Suffice to say that the fax machine was a component of my working life for a few years, but it’s not something I miss or regard with particular fondness.
I posted this a few days ago on the same subject, but it got pulled by the Moderator. I really don’t understand why. No profanity, no trolling. Just exceedingly mild satire. Perhaps it hit a nerve somewhere? I’ll give it another go and see what happens!
Fawlty Server Towers.
Overheard in the IT control room at TSB server farm, Monday 23rd April 2018, 11:17 BST (of course not, it’s just a bit of fun, okay?):
Sabadell manager: “We bring sweet food, is nice, you like!”
TSB techie: “That’s awfully kind of you but we’re a bit busy at the moment.”
Sabadell manager: “Qué?”
TSB techie: “We’ll have some of it later?”
Sabadell manager: “But is nice!”
TSB techie: “Well, okay then. That’s very generous of you. Look at all the doughnuts. Surely there’s too many doughnuts on those trays?”
Sabadell manager: “No, no, no. Not ‘on those trays’. Uno dos tres!”
And TSB lived happily ever after.
“This stuff isn't rocket surgery”
I guess that’s a cross between rocket science and brain surgery?
In which case I’d say it’s at the very heart of the matter.
Rocket science – ICBMs, and brain surgery – the psychology of computer UI/human brain interaction.
Okay, a bit of a stretch, but worth it for the comedy value?
I bet the Russians start cutting the cable just as I’m typing this mess hage ….......... ong I blobddggggggg eeekkkkk ….....…. … rrrr rrrrr rrrr rrrrr …............ erg39f883 429egjejrg390j …...... ..... schnell! schnell! kartoffelkopf! ….. htijeerg … ......... .. 293i2ergei09iereg … ...... .. . until the name Maudling is almost totally obscured.
Since the cancellation of the Space Shuttle programme, I’m really looking forward to the return of manned space flight towards deep(er) space.
I’ve just finished reading NASA astronaut Mike Massimino’s thrilling biography about his time in space, repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. A cracking read, and believe me, trained astronauts know all about risk. A slightly increased risk of cancer is just one more obstacle to be dealt with, and deal with it they will.
The development of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft (the successor to the Space Shuttle), is a monumental task, but it’s getting done. I for one can’t wait for SLS+Orion to be on the launch pad, ready to take astronauts to Mars. Exciting times.
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