scruss

scruss, 10 days ago to random

There's a small beagle(ish) dog on the commuter train with me. It's alternating between carefully sniffing everyone's legs and getting snoozy when the sun warms its snout.

scruss, 13 days ago to random

The first electronic stored program run on the SSEM in Manchester on 21 June 1948 was effectively this:

big=2^18
FOR test=big-1 TO 1 STEP -1
remainder=big
WHILE remainder>=0
remainder=remainder-test
WEND
IF remainder+test=0 THEN PRINT test : STOP
NEXT test

(that is, find the highest factor of 262144)

It didn't print anything: it stopped and the operator had to read the value from memory. It took 52 minutes to complete, proving the reliability of the machine's memory

Walrus, 14 days ago to ArtificialIntelligence

#computers #RaspberryPi

Deep joy. Greedy RealVNC is taking away the ability to use more than three copies of it at home, free. I shall, of course, switch to TightVNC. I expect they thought aged hobbyists had loads of money they could grab...

scruss, 14 days ago to random

In The Jailhouse Now
by Jimmie Rodgers — https://archive.org/details/in-the-jailhouse-now/In+The+Jailhouse+Now+(remix+2).wav

scruss, 14 days ago to random

Hello Dad ... I'm In Jail — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFW8INMFmds

scruss, 14 days ago to random

10 MODE 7
20 FOR count%=1 TO 34
30 PRINT "Count "; count%; " - guilty"
40 NEXT count%
50 END
#bbcmicrobot

peter, 15 days ago (edited 15 days ago) to retrocomputing

The Amstrad Notepad Computer NC100 from 1992, sporting a Z80, 64K of ram, parallel printer port & RS232 serial port.

Runs off 4 AA batteries & one CR2032 for backup.

This one needs some work as it keeps saying the lithium battery is low when a new one is inserted & the stop key sticks, but otherwise works well.

#retroComputing #amstrad

scruss, 15 days ago to random

Consider celebrating #Metric Day on September 23 this year. It'll be the 25 anniversary of the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter slamming into the planet because one contractor (Lockheed Martin) disregarded NASA spec and calibrated a sensor in lbf instead of N.

This was a US $327.6 million project. This is the only image of Mars that the probe produced, taken at over 4 million kilometres away from the planet. The 576 non-zero pixels effectively cost $568,750 each.

scruss, 18 days ago to random

Does anyone still make (non HiDef audio $$$$) mp3 players?

There's an iPod nano 7th rev around the house that we'd still like to use, but the screen is shattered. We want to use it where you probably wouldn't take a phone. So cheap(ish) and sturdy is good.

Canada Computers still have the Sandisk Clip on their site, but no stock. This is the sort of thing that Factory Direct used to do, but they shut down.

MLE_online, 20 days ago to random

My local bike shop guy heard about my quixotic quest to adapt a 40 spoke Sturmey Archer hub to a 36 spoke rim with machined adapter plates, and give me another hub to play with.

It looked nice on the outside, but it did not make the expected ratcheting sound that a freewheeling hub should make when spun. It also did not work correctly.

I thought maybe it would just be full of gummed up grease inside so I poured a bunch of paint thinner in there and let it sit, but that did not fix it, so I disassembled it and found it to be extremely crusty, rusty, and gunky inside.

I'm going to try to make it work again, even though this hub still won't work on my bike because it's drilled for 28 spokes lol. It just seems fun to see if I can clean it up and fix it.

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scruss, 20 days ago to random

Just went into Best Buy in perhaps the first time in a decade. I blame being lightheaded after donating blood.

(I had many "Why is this store even?" moments while I was in there)

scruss, 20 days ago to random

Why* does the questionnaire that Canadian Blood Services ask you every time you donate include questions that the answer will never change? Like, "Were you born in South America?" That's gonna be pretty damn invariant for everyone, but nope, you get asked every time

*: https://donotreply.cards/en/do-not-reply-to-this-post

scruss, 21 days ago to random

time for my monthly visit to LinkedIn blecch blecch blecch

andypiper, 22 days ago to VintageOSes

Oh! #RISCOS for #RaspberryPi now has wifi and Ovation Pro bundled... I wrote all of my university essays in Ovation, now if only I'm able to recover them from the old Risc PC to a Pi... this is great! https://www.riscosopen.org/news/articles/2024/04/27/risc-os-5-30-now-available

scruss, 22 days ago to RaspberryPi

RISC OS updated to include #RaspberryPi wifi support: https://www.riscosopen.org/news/articles/2024/04/27/risc-os-5-30-now-available

If you want a charmingly different OS for your Raspberry Pi, RISC OS might just be it.

scruss, 25 days ago to random

The birch canoe slid on the smooth planks.
Glue the sheet to the dark blue background.
It's easy to tell the depth of a well.
These days a chicken leg is a rare dish.
Rice is often served in round bowls.
The juice of lemons makes fine punch.
The box was thrown beside the parked truck.
The hogs were fed chopped corn and garbage.
Four hours of steady work faced us.
A large size in stockings is hard to sell.

scruss, 25 days ago to retrocomputing

Someone's just listed an Amiga 1200 locally for … $2100 🇨🇦 (~ €1400 / £1200 / $1500 🇺🇸)
#RetroComputing #Amiga #LOLPrice

scruss, 27 days ago to random

Thinking of making a
"Loud Bikes Get Piano Wire"
sign for our street (effectively a crescent, with a school on it) 'cos we've recently gained a couple of twats who like to razz up and down it way above the speed limit on racing motorbikes.

I'd like them to stop, please.