/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2021/09/17/#ubuntu-uk.txt

zxmpidull and dreary that is how you spell dun leary10:34
daftykinshappy Friday!12:09
* zxmpi has just copied micromen to my media player for later12:10
daftykinsooh12:11
zxmpinow available on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM12:14
daftykinsfirst few mins suggest that will be fun12:42
zxmpiit is12:42
daftykinshmm he beat the likes of casio to the calculator eh o012:43
zxmpiit's more about the bbc micro birth 12:43
daftykinsyeah just didn't realise that wasn't a Japanese thing12:45
daftykinsok i'm finally doing it, i'm walking over to the post office with the Psion gear!14:32
zxmpigood luck!14:33
daftykinsnot sure how to really write out the customs form to not get clobbered with VAT on the way in, but ah well14:34
MattJ"Electronic programmable calculator, c. 1991, requires 2xAA batteries (not included)"14:43
zxmpithe 3mx batteries have lasted 20 weeks so far :-)14:48
daftykinsdecided to wing it with no cover in the end, declaring no value... ought to be fine15:29
zxmpimay it's journey be swift and true 17:23
daftykinsjust come to the end of Micro Men17:31
daftykinscor it's really beginning to look naff outside of evenings17:31
zxmpidull and dreary here today, had light on at lunch time it was so dark17:31
daftykinswhat an incredible story overall, must have been one heck of a rollercoaster ride from start to finish17:51
zxmpiso many of the 8 bit systems of the 80s had similar from nowhere to millionaires to nothing again journeys17:53
zxmpiapart from acorn who invented arm17:54
zxmpieven commodore the behemoth of the 80s died a death17:54
zxmpibut fans still keep commodore, sinclair alive through sheer force of will and loyalty17:55
daftykinsyip, probably only fade once the generation goes17:57
m0nkey_zxmpi: watched Micro Men last night. How I missed it when it first came out I don't know.18:33
m0nkey_And I totally forgot that Acorn was responsible for the ARM processor18:34
* m0nkey_ loved going into the computer room at school filled with BBC Micros18:35
m0nkey_I'd love to get my hands on an Archimedes to play with.18:38
* penguin42 flicks the big switch next to m0nkey_ and theirs a chorus of slightly mistimed Beeee......Beeep!18:40
m0nkey_haha! yeah.. totally forgot about the master power switch in the room18:41
penguin42and then the universe implodes from the simultaneous degauss on a rooom full of CUB monitors18:41
m0nkey_lol18:42
m0nkey_In that Micro Men movie, they talk about the QL.. my neighbour had one, complete with two working micro drives. 19:27
daftykinsany good?19:29
m0nkey_From what I remember. It was basically a 128k +3 with microdrives instead of a tape drive built in. The microdrives were pretty fast for their time19:37
m0nkey_then when amstrad got their hands on spectrum, the 128k+3 was released with a floppy drive19:38
m0nkey_i grew up on spectrums19:39
m0nkey_i think it was one of the first spectrums that could be networked19:40
penguin42m0nkey_: The QL was very different - it used a 6800819:41
m0nkey_sure, but the built in basic pretty much worked the same way as the original. the only difference is you didn't have to choose a function from the keyboard, instead of hunting around for the world 'print' you would type 'print'19:42
m0nkey_on my original 48k, I fondly remember hitting J for LOAD and two quotes ... LOAD ""19:44
zxmpithe spectrum disk drive as 3" not 3.5" just different enough to make them awkward and fail20:03
zxmpithe microdrives were brilliant but first ones were made cheap by contractor iirc and the tapes stretched when it got hot. was fixed but never quite shook the bad start20:04
daftykinsa bag of skittles i got has a code which just won me a free bag, but it requires a colour printer and wants me to run an 11 MB .exe to print the coupon21:15
zxmpieasy! buy more skittles to win the laptop and printer to do it21:16
daftykinsxD21:16
zxmpiyou could print to pdf and send that?21:16
daftykinshave a feeling they are able to detect PDF printing21:17
zxmpias a qr code just to annoy them :-)21:17
zxmpiconvert to jpeg and print at chemist as a pic21:19
daftykinsthat's the whole thing behind the secure utility, is it won't let you see it ahead of time21:19
daftykinsit wants to squirt toward a printer direct21:19
zxmpii last captured print output to a file in dos. only done it 1-2 times in windows21:20
zxmpii wonder if there's a usb version of an interfaker :-D https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6069/6074303957_8d92001eb8_b.jpg21:24
daftykinswell, their software doesn't do anything21:24
zxmpiit does something, i daren't imgaine what21:27
daftykins:D21:28
zxmpiit'd be nice if there was a hacking challenge page where you could upload the details of the skittle giveaway and see what they make of the 'offer :-)21:30
zxmpithe race for a free bag of skittles 21:30
daftykinshaving a real printer may well help, might have to victimise someone21:33
zxmpisee if there are any colour printers on your neighbours wifi networks :-D21:33
zxmpioh dear i seem to have sent it to the wrong printer by mistake 21:34
daftykinsbut then they get my free gear! D:21:34
zxmpihowever did that happen21:34
zxmpithey're british, they'd be too honest to not give you the printout21:34
zxmpiand of course if they didn't then that would mean war -bugs bunny21:35
zxmpiwhat % of houses don't have a printer at all anymore. it's getting quite high21:36
zxmpiand especially during the pandemic i have heard of people during lockdowns who needed to print 1 page with no printer available.21:36
daftykins:D21:36
zxmpiwas an issue in france during first lockdown where you needed to print off a form with reason you were out of house during lockdown21:37
daftykinsa couple a bit ago were trying to get fax going because of one lockdown task that they considered critical, i wasn't having anything to do with it21:37
zxmpii have pondered using an old fax machine as a cheap thermal printer for grocery lists, directions/maps sorta thing.21:38
zxmpithe zx spectrum thermal printer was a simple genius device. some have made printers like it but they are not cheap21:38
daftykinsDymo label printer! "here's my authorisation occifer, no you can't borrow a magnifying glass"21:39
zxmpii have the mechanical version with a dial here somewhere. used to label all power suppliers and leads with it. now i just use postal labels21:40
zxmpiwas never a fan of the electronic versions. fussy, expensive for a rarely used device21:40
daftykinsah the office minions love 'em, i just resurrected one at a new client the other day whilst tidying up his office / setting up a new PC21:41
zxmpii don't think the batteries in the one we bought at work lasted 3 months on batteries and did far less work then my psion :-)21:42
penguin42small random devices really should just be USB powered these days22:47
zxmpiwhich usually means an unreplaceable rechargeable battery that will be dead in 2-3 years23:20
zxmpielectronic landfill23:20
zxmpione of the reasons i love the psion. 23:20
daftykinsi think penguin42 meant tethered devices like desk-ridden ones23:22
zxmpiusb-c is moving in that direction... slowly23:27
penguin42well I meant actually small portable random things; get rid of the batteries in them, just put a USB socket on tehm23:28
zxmpii'd be ok with that for the most part23:29

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