[10:34] <zxmpi> dull and dreary that is how you spell dun leary
[12:09] <daftykins> happy Friday!
[12:10]  * zxmpi has just copied micromen to my media player for later
[12:11] <daftykins> ooh
[12:14] <zxmpi> now available on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBxV6-zamM
[12:42] <daftykins> first few mins suggest that will be fun
[12:42] <zxmpi> it is
[12:43] <daftykins> hmm he beat the likes of casio to the calculator eh o0
[12:43] <zxmpi> it's more about the bbc micro birth 
[12:45] <daftykins> yeah just didn't realise that wasn't a Japanese thing
[14:32] <daftykins> ok i'm finally doing it, i'm walking over to the post office with the Psion gear!
[14:33] <zxmpi> good luck!
[14:34] <daftykins> not sure how to really write out the customs form to not get clobbered with VAT on the way in, but ah well
[14:43] <MattJ> "Electronic programmable calculator, c. 1991, requires 2xAA batteries (not included)"
[14:48] <zxmpi> the 3mx batteries have lasted 20 weeks so far :-)
[15:29] <daftykins> decided to wing it with no cover in the end, declaring no value... ought to be fine
[17:23] <zxmpi> may it's journey be swift and true 
[17:31] <daftykins> just come to the end of Micro Men
[17:31] <daftykins> cor it's really beginning to look naff outside of evenings
[17:31] <zxmpi> dull and dreary here today, had light on at lunch time it was so dark
[17:51] <daftykins> what an incredible story overall, must have been one heck of a rollercoaster ride from start to finish
[17:53] <zxmpi> so many of the 8 bit systems of the 80s had similar from nowhere to millionaires to nothing again journeys
[17:54] <zxmpi> apart from acorn who invented arm
[17:54] <zxmpi> even commodore the behemoth of the 80s died a death
[17:55] <zxmpi> but fans still keep commodore, sinclair alive through sheer force of will and loyalty
[17:57] <daftykins> yip, probably only fade once the generation goes
[18:33] <m0nkey_> zxmpi: watched Micro Men last night. How I missed it when it first came out I don't know.
[18:34] <m0nkey_> And I totally forgot that Acorn was responsible for the ARM processor
[18:35]  * m0nkey_ loved going into the computer room at school filled with BBC Micros
[18:38] <m0nkey_> I'd love to get my hands on an Archimedes to play with.
[18:40]  * penguin42 flicks the big switch next to m0nkey_ and theirs a chorus of slightly mistimed Beeee......Beeep!
[18:41] <m0nkey_> haha! yeah.. totally forgot about the master power switch in the room
[18:41] <penguin42> and then the universe implodes from the simultaneous degauss on a rooom full of CUB monitors
[18:42] <m0nkey_> lol
[19:27] <m0nkey_> In that Micro Men movie, they talk about the QL.. my neighbour had one, complete with two working micro drives. 
[19:29] <daftykins> any good?
[19:37] <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 time
[19:38] <m0nkey_> then when amstrad got their hands on spectrum, the 128k+3 was released with a floppy drive
[19:39] <m0nkey_> i grew up on spectrums
[19:40] <m0nkey_> i think it was one of the first spectrums that could be networked
[19:41] <penguin42> m0nkey_: The QL was very different - it used a 68008
[19:42] <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'
[19:44] <m0nkey_> on my original 48k, I fondly remember hitting J for LOAD and two quotes ... LOAD ""
[20:03] <zxmpi> the spectrum disk drive as 3" not 3.5" just different enough to make them awkward and fail
[20:04] <zxmpi> the 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 start
[21:15] <daftykins> a 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 coupon
[21:16] <zxmpi> easy! buy more skittles to win the laptop and printer to do it
[21:16] <daftykins> xD
[21:16] <zxmpi> you could print to pdf and send that?
[21:17] <daftykins> have a feeling they are able to detect PDF printing
[21:17] <zxmpi> as a qr code just to annoy them :-)
[21:19] <zxmpi> convert to jpeg and print at chemist as a pic
[21:19] <daftykins> that's the whole thing behind the secure utility, is it won't let you see it ahead of time
[21:19] <daftykins> it wants to squirt toward a printer direct
[21:20] <zxmpi> i last captured print output to a file in dos. only done it 1-2 times in windows
[21:24] <zxmpi> i wonder if there's a usb version of an interfaker :-D https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6069/6074303957_8d92001eb8_b.jpg
[21:24] <daftykins> well, their software doesn't do anything
[21:27] <zxmpi> it does something, i daren't imgaine what
[21:28] <daftykins> :D
[21:30] <zxmpi> it'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] <zxmpi> the race for a free bag of skittles 
[21:33] <daftykins> having a real printer may well help, might have to victimise someone
[21:33] <zxmpi> see if there are any colour printers on your neighbours wifi networks :-D
[21:34] <zxmpi> oh dear i seem to have sent it to the wrong printer by mistake 
[21:34] <daftykins> but then they get my free gear! D:
[21:34] <zxmpi> however did that happen
[21:34] <zxmpi> they're british, they'd be too honest to not give you the printout
[21:35] <zxmpi> and of course if they didn't then that would mean war -bugs bunny
[21:36] <zxmpi> what % of houses don't have a printer at all anymore. it's getting quite high
[21:36] <zxmpi> and especially during the pandemic i have heard of people during lockdowns who needed to print 1 page with no printer available.
[21:36] <daftykins> :D
[21:37] <zxmpi> was an issue in france during first lockdown where you needed to print off a form with reason you were out of house during lockdown
[21:37] <daftykins> a 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 it
[21:38] <zxmpi> i have pondered using an old fax machine as a cheap thermal printer for grocery lists, directions/maps sorta thing.
[21:38] <zxmpi> the zx spectrum thermal printer was a simple genius device. some have made printers like it but they are not cheap
[21:39] <daftykins> Dymo label printer! "here's my authorisation occifer, no you can't borrow a magnifying glass"
[21:40] <zxmpi> i have the mechanical version with a dial here somewhere. used to label all power suppliers and leads with it. now i just use postal labels
[21:40] <zxmpi> was never a fan of the electronic versions. fussy, expensive for a rarely used device
[21:41] <daftykins> ah 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 PC
[21:42] <zxmpi> i 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 :-)
[22:47] <penguin42> small random devices really should just be USB powered these days
[23:20] <zxmpi> which usually means an unreplaceable rechargeable battery that will be dead in 2-3 years
[23:20] <zxmpi> electronic landfill
[23:20] <zxmpi> one of the reasons i love the psion. 
[23:22] <daftykins> i think penguin42 meant tethered devices like desk-ridden ones
[23:27] <zxmpi> usb-c is moving in that direction... slowly
[23:28] <penguin42> well I meant actually small portable random things; get rid of the batteries in them, just put a USB socket on tehm
[23:29] <zxmpi> i'd be ok with that for the most part