The two big events recently were the Vintage Computer Festival at Bletchley Park and the annual bubble car rally at Keynsham.


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Oh no, it's been two months since my last update here! Lots been going on, but also lots not getting done ( Read more... )

I'm starting to look forward now to the Maker Faire in Newcastle in mid-March. I need to get a few things fixed up, like the Compukit UK101, to take along. I also need to make a couple of things pretty much from scratch, to take along and see if they generate enough interest that I could make them into products ( Read more... )

I have just received word from O'Reilly that I have been accepted to exhibit at the Maker Faire in Newcastle, March 13-14th 2010 ( Read more... )

Today, I sent off my proposal for the 2010 Maker Faire in Newcastle. I should find out in January if I've been accepted. It'll be the same Compukit UK101 exhibit as last year, plus some new goings-on with the Arduino and maybe some other 8-bit chips ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I received a small parcel containing two SID chips (6581) rescued from doomed Commodore 64s. My plan is to wire one of them up to the Arduino, which I'm currently doing. I'll need a 1MHz Phase2 clock, which means dividing down a 16MHz oscillator module with a 74HC393. Wish the Arduino had a 16MHz clock output pin! Once I have a clock, ( Read more... )

Saturday was Dorkbot Bristol's Mad Hatters and Mad March Makers and Shakers day (or something), and we all turned up at Hamilton House for it. Only to find that we didn't have the right key for the fifth floor doors. Once that was sorted out, hat-making began in earnest. It was millinery, but with electronics! My modified hard-hat (from ( Read more... )

Day Two at the Maker Faire in Newcastle was just as busy, in fact I was told that there were 2700 visitors on each day. I met Martin Ward, another UK101 user and preservationist. Lots of other visitors remembered the UK101 and machines of that era, and one even told me that his first computer was a UK101 ( Read more... )

The trip to the Maker Faire in Newcastle started off with a trip to Bedminster to collect an eBay purchase: a monitor swing arm, for 99p (shame shipping was expensive, due to weight). Then, pack the car and set off up the M5, M42, M1, M18 and A1 to Newcastle. Arrived by 7pm, but promptly got lost just south of the Tyne -- and my destination was ( Read more... )

After the frustrations of the last three weeks at the office, I have had a productive day! I've tidied up both the garage and the garden, and then, with the loan of a Workmate from aminorjourney, I did this:


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