@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

GreyAreaUK

@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social

Elite:Dangerous Commander.
Whisky Drinker.
Muppet.

Bluesky: @greyareauk.bsky.social
Twitter: https://mastodon.social/@GreyAreaUK (not posting there any more though)

Orbiting inside the Roche limit of sanity.

Living on the coast to the east of Edinburgh, Scotland
Love tech and retro-tech. Have been know to mess about with Trainz

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

jynersolives, to random
@jynersolives@mastodon.social avatar

Talking about things like Doctor Who on the Fedi is really nice. The entire performative absurdity of Twitter is totally absent. As if only grown-ups are here (or grown-ups who can remain grown-up when talking about their fandom).

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@jynersolives Iโ€™m 57 and I refuse to admit to โ€˜growing upโ€™.

Growing old is mandatory, growing up is not ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ™‚

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@jynersolives I ditched my 15yo Twitter account when it became obvious that Musk was a white-power fascist. I wasnโ€™t happy about it, but needs must. Masto (and Bluesky to some extent) are far better.

llamasoft_ox, to random
@llamasoft_ox@toot.wales avatar

And finally this is working properly again.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@llamasoft_ox Nice! Is it an rPi-based system, or something similar?

GreyAreaUK, to animals
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

Shoogle is 10yo, and heโ€™s a Very Good Boy. Had a lovely time on the beach today.

mentallyalex, to random
@mentallyalex@beige.party avatar

"No, stop, get out of my way I'm trying to see your dog."

Me just now as this lady walked past me with her awesome dog.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@mentallyalex Dogs are awesome.

Hereโ€™s Del. Delโ€™s an arsehole (in the nicest way)

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@mentallyalex Heโ€™s not big on chewing, but he has to be carrying something. Blankets, shoes, you name it. Heโ€™s awesome. A nine-year-old puppy.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@mentallyalex Heโ€™s a cuddle-monster ๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿ‘

Hereโ€™s Shoogle. Lord Of All He Surveys. A very Scottish spaniel. A year older physically, 50 years older mentally ๐Ÿ˜‚

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@mentallyalex it has been known ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ‘

Ironically, Shoogle isnโ€™t a very cuddly dog. Del, however, will let you cuddle him for weeks ๐Ÿ™‚

Theyโ€™re both very different, but utterly awesome.

mentallyalex, to random
@mentallyalex@beige.party avatar

Cat roommates of the ActivityPub may I ask...

Do you play fetch with your furry little roomie? Zara, my cat, likes to chase rubber balls. Those super bounce ones you used to find in bubblegum machines?

She runs around the house with one in her mouth. Batting them into walls and chasing them across the floor.

She'll walk up, set the ball down and look to me to throw it. It's very funny and we both seem to enjoy the time. I have had cats my whole life and I'm familiar with them. But I haven't had a cat play fetch before. I'm just curious if others have this experience with their cats?

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@mentallyalex

Here you go :)

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/yes-some-cats-like-to-play-fetch-its-science/

ianRobinson, to random
@ianRobinson@mastodon.social avatar

Skipping my visit to the cinema to see the new Ghostbusters film today. Chilling out at home instead.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@ianRobinson I see what you did there ๐Ÿ‘

GreyAreaUK, to retrocomputing
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

Thinking of starting my own Retro Repair channel on YouTube. Each episode of "Gray Tech" will involve me opening up a classic computer, looking at the motherboard thoughtfully, saying something along the lines of "Well, that's a bag of arse!", smashing it in half across my knee, and then binning it.

GreyAreaUK, to random
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

Well, fuck. My wife had a call from her doctor about a diabetic test she had (as it's in her family). She was expecting to be told that she was 'pre-diabetic', but no, she's full-on Type 2 (with no symptoms).

Granted if you're going to get diabetes then Type 2 is the one you want (manageable by diet) but even so it's still a kick in the teeth.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@ianRobinson she has an appointment to discuss it
Monday. Iโ€™m sure itโ€™ll be fine, but itโ€™s definitely something we could do without.

GreyAreaUK, to retrocomputing
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

I could use some recommendations for connecting old computers/consoles to modern TVs/monitors. In other words, something that can take the output from the retro device (be it SCART, Composite, potentially RF) and convert it into HDMI.

Any ideas? There's a few things out there but (for instance) a lot of the SCART->HDMI won't do digital RGB, which is a must.

Needs to be off-the-shelf sadly, my electronics construction skills areโ€ฆnot great ๐Ÿ˜Š

Many thanks.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@peter OSSC sounds interesting - what actually is it?

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@edinburgh_man @peter OSSC actually looks quite good to me - what shortcomings are you aware of?

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@edinburgh_man @peter Thanks. Suspect Iโ€™ll be using it more for thinks like BBC Micros/Orics etc, but it's worth knowing. Thank you.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@Hundstrasse I suspect my best approach might be to assume I can get a cable for (machine) to SCART, then find a good SCART->HDMI solution. Has to support digital RGB SCART though, which the cheaper solutions don't seem to.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@Hundstrasse Thank you - it's largely hypothetical at this stage, but it's good to have options for the future ๐Ÿ‘

bynkii, to random
@bynkii@mastodon.social avatar

Another cursed thing:

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@bynkii Don't open it. We've enough going on this year as it is.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

My thought on Neuralink implanting tech in human heads for the first time:

Brain implants are one of those technologies where the MTBF for the implant MUST exceed the MTBF of the implantee. And there must be lifetime after-sales support, Or else the execs who made the decision to pull support should go to prison for the rest of their lives.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@jwz @cstross I'm going up-market and having a Gotek fitted ๐Ÿ‘ ๐Ÿ˜‚

TodayInTwitter, to random
@TodayInTwitter@mastodon.social avatar

The Taylor Swift deepfake cesspool on X situation continues. The guy who made the pictures has apparently been doxxed.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@TodayInTwitter generally not a great idea to get on the wrong side of the Swifties.

GreyAreaUK, to retrocomputing
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

Well, that was exciting :)

Powered on my ancient BBC Master 128. Checked the battery pack first - looks ok (although it's probably dead...easy replacement)

Machine worked fine. For five minutes.

Then...FIZZ! CRACKLE! SMOKE! BURNING MATCHES SMELL!

Yep - power supply cap has blown. I haven't opened it up yet (it's outside, venting) but I'd put money on the X2.

Hey ho. I'll look at it in a week when it's safely discharged ๐Ÿ˜…

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@simonzerafa Heh! Probably not a Rifampin as I donโ€™t think they were used in Master power supplies. It also didnโ€™t smell like rotting rat ๐Ÿ™‚

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@simonzerafa I successfully recapped the three main caps in my B+ last week, so Iโ€™m willing to give this a try.

GreyAreaUK,
@GreyAreaUK@mastodon.social avatar

@simonzerafa last time I used a soldering iron was about 30 years ago, for about 2hrs! So I was very happy when I managed to do this.

Re-cap kit for a Master is about ยฃ16, so Iโ€™ll order it in the week.

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