* Posts by David Paul Morgan

334 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Aug 2007

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Paper mountain, hidden Brexit: How'd you say immigration control would work?

David Paul Morgan

Re: Simple is best

NI can just join Ireland - NI/UK citizens are already allowed to be Irish Republic citizens. Good Friday agreements etc.

No, the VCR is not about to die. It died years ago. Now it's VHS/DVD combo boxes' turn

David Paul Morgan

later models had rgb/s-vhs connections

I had this:

"There was a Philips Matchline S-VHS machine (VR813) from the early nineties that could be set to output RGB in the setup menu. The picture in RGB wasn't that great as it tended to enhance the flaws in the VHS format (such as poor blue colour reproduction and dot crawl etc).

It was quite a feature packed machine in its day, as it also had an on-board Fastext decoder, which meant it could record and play back subtitles and teletext pages from S-VHS recordings. You could even use it to set timer recordings via Ceefax by selecting the desired program with a cursor"

which was able to supply RGB to my Philips TV

It also had the 'S' connector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Video

David Paul Morgan

Re: I think I was waiting for the VHS to be invented!

Mackross was off queen street - became Allders? Sort of where Halifax BS/Queens Arcade entrance is now.

defo not Maskreys - now also recently gone, I think.

David Paul Morgan

I think I was waiting for the VHS to be invented!

I remember when I saw a demo of the Philips 1500 in Mackross (sp) Cardiff when I was 11 - 1972

http://www.rewindmuseum.com/philips.htm

When I asked my dad when we were getting one, he said "no chance".

Fast Forward (see what I did there?) to very early eighties and I was home for christmas - either Dec 1980 or 1981. My cousin worked for DER and my dad had managed to 'borrow' a Fergusson 3v22 from him (purple clock, big piano keys, tapes £15/E-180.)

We liked it so much, we went shopping at the weekend and came home with an Hitachi VT8000 vhs. It had nice silver touch-solenoid controls and the air-damped eject tray 'sighed' when you ejected the casssette.

so, for a while, we had 2 VHS recorders! the bees knees or what - one in each lounge.

You had to leave a £50 cheques as a deposit when you rented a film from one of the VHS rental boutiques. I think the first one we rented was Carrie! happy days

David Paul Morgan

Re: Actually VCRs still exist

The other industrial derivative was Hawkeye or M-Wrap.

While the Hawkeye uses the same size cassette as VHS, it incorporated new circuit technology, etc. The wrap had at times been referred to as “M” wrap.

Also, VHS is short for "Video Home System"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS

hence, "I'll record that on the VHS"

(in the USA, they seemed to use VCR - Video cassette Recorder?)

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

David Paul Morgan
Coat

Re: Nahh, the old Star Trek was for nerds...

that's this one: The Game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

bet there have been a few treasure hunt episodes.

eg The Chase where they hunt DNA fragments in competition with Romulans, Cardassians and Klingons (Oh My)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

or Gambit, where Picard does his archaological pirate bit looking for a vulcan/romulan artifact?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambit_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

Steve Jobs, MS Office, Israel, and a basic feature Microsoft took 13 years to install

David Paul Morgan
Happy

and then there's Yiddish too!

Written RTL but a transliterated germanic language!

Yiddish גוּט טַק אִים בְּטַגְֿא שְ וַיר דִּיש מַחֲזוֹר אִין בֵּיתֿ הַכְּנֶסֶתֿ טְרַגְֿא

Transliterated gut tak im betage se vaer dis makhazor in beis hakneses trage

Translated May a good day come to him who carries this prayer book into the synagogue.

(from Wikipaedia)

Apple's 'lappable' iPad Pro concept is far from laughable

David Paul Morgan
Coat

5 word question

Where is the mouse pad?

Dutch students serve up world's first 'drone café'

David Paul Morgan
Pint

As a regular visitor to Amsterdam...

I sincerely hope it never gets introduced here

http://cafegollem.nl/raamsteeg/

or here!

http://beertemple.nl/

to name just two of my favourite watering holes!

3D printers set for lift off? Yes, yes, yes... at some point in the future

David Paul Morgan

In a post-oil economy...

Each neighbourhood would have its own replication units, where consumer goods could be fabricated from bio-materials, sourced locally.

I don't see the requirement for domestic units, but on industrial and commercial business parks, it could work.

Some raw materials could come from recycled rubbish from the Council with electricity coming from wind, solar, tide and Energy-From-Waste plants.

Contactless payments come to in-flight entertainment units

David Paul Morgan

how about...

getting the programming supplied by Google, Netflix or Amazon and being able to use your existing account (commission to go to the airline).

HOWEVER, I'd expect the quality to be seriously better than the crap screens available atm.

Ideal use for in-flight VR headsets?

(however, on the budget airlines: pay-and-display seating. coin-operated oxygen masks [Oh, you'd like to /breathe/ during the flight, sir?] )

Google tried to be funny, cocked it up, everyone thought it was a bug

David Paul Morgan
FAIL

I don't get it.

what does it mean?

the phrase 'mic drop' I mean.

Apple stuns world with Donald Trump iPhone

David Paul Morgan
Happy

Re: Good phone makers start to recognize there's a market for 4" devices...

when I was between handsets, I had to use my HTC Desire - too small for me now, (He's 55, you know...?) if compared to my Z1Compact & now Xperia Z3 Compact, which seems to be the optimum.

It just seems to me that all iDevices are the 'wrong shape' somehow.

One in five PCs will be a tablet with detachable keyboard by 2020

David Paul Morgan

Re: To be fair

it's horses for courses.

I had the transformer tf101 and my partner had a tf201.

I always used mine undocked and he used his docked.

I now use my Xperia Z2 occasionally with the 'sort of matching' PS3 keyboard and my partner uses his Z4 with the matching keyboard as a mini-laptop - he does a lot of typing on the train.

I've been using my trust asus 1050 , but upgraded it to Win7/SSD and now win10.

I think my next PC will be a Win10, but 12" screen combo.

It really depends on what applications you want to use and that determines the platform.

LG builds a DAB+ digital radio radio into a smartmobe

David Paul Morgan
Go

Re: Bad for the Consumer

... but if you use the Amazon music player, then anything you buy as CD becomes available in your prime cloud library?

David Paul Morgan
Thumb Up

Re: DAB would have some great potential if you get propper equipment

I love DAB for the extra stations.

Yes, I'm disappointed that the PVR functions have not become widely available.

The DAB stations like BBC 6 Music and Planet Rock have actually encouraged me to buy more music - and on vinyl, no less.

I have a Pure portable DAB which I use when out and about, rather than use data.

I think this LG proposal is quite interesting. I've certainly used the built-in FM radios on my HTC and Sony handsets.

Most useful is the 'listen again' functionality in the BBC Radio and individual stations 'apps' for the shows you've missed. sort of makes live recording redundant...

$17 smartwatch sends something to random Chinese IP address

David Paul Morgan

Re: It's the app that leaks, right?

Beware of leaks bearing gifs?

Apple hasn't announced the new iPhone 5SE and pundits already hate it

David Paul Morgan
Happy

Re: The 5C was different

I agree. the Z1/Z3 compact screen size is 'right' for me.

I had to go back to using my HTC Desire 3.7in screen when between handsets and it was way too small (or I'm getting older as I need my reading glasses to view all the screens these days!)

Microsoft buys SwiftKey, Britain's 'stealthiest software startup'

David Paul Morgan
Happy

call me old-fashioned

but Swype and (Palm) Graffiti are my favourites.

I can get quite a speed up with a stylus and graffiti

You've seen things people wouldn't believe – so tell us your programming horrors

David Paul Morgan

My first "real job" mess-up

My first job from college was as 'junior operator/programmer' for a carpet manufacturer. My manager was a fearsome ex Midland Bank executive - she was good as gold once I got to know her - and my technical manager Bob, was a really cool ex USAF guy from Colorado.

I was responsible for the end of day and lunchtime orders consolidation batchwork.

ICL ME29 a bit like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/wades_world/4385072758/ with EDS-80 'exchangeable' disk packs for backup. (72MB formatted!!!!)

Anyway, I'd inherited the JCL and CL command files. The command to backup to disc was CRAFTSEC and the command to restore the files was CRAFTREST - note that you can type them with the left hand...

Of course, on the afternoon shift, I typed CRAFTREST instead of CRAFTSEC and overwrote the afternoons data files.

Fortunately, I was able to restore the lunchtime backup and 'roll forward' the afternoons TPMS transaction log files! (once I'd worked out how the system hung together - phew...)

Needless to say, I changed the names of the commands to something harder to type and rewrote the content to something a little more robust on the checking.

Nice machines the ME29's.

reset - enter - load - enter

to reboot it.

LD #ABCD

GO 21

to start a program from the console!

8" floppy discs for loading microcode updates and for me to keep copies of my COBOL programs!

I have a lot of respect for the old-school ICL engineers. The South Wales guys were bonkers, and great company. They really knew how to look after the hardware and the customers.

[sigh] I still miss my ICL VME Series39 machines too! but that's another day...

David Paul Morgan
Alert

Re: rm -rf /etc /bin /usr

yep, done that one.

We had a set of near identical ICL DRS TeamServers same monitors, same chassis etc.

I was housekeeping on machine-a , turned around and was distracted by something, turned back and ran the rm command on the machine-b (I think it was development housing allocation, so not production, phew).

but, yes, was able to boot from the tape cartridge and recover from the most recent backup!

Boeing just about gives up on the 747

David Paul Morgan
Thumb Up

nostalgia ahoy!

This reminds me of my first 747 experience.

I'd won a competition prize-draw for a trip to India.

1993, I think.

My mother and I were 'VIP' guests of the Gov. of India tourist board and our Air-India flight was on a very new 747-400.

The interior surfaces were decorated with a traditional flower design and when the inflight monitor/displays were not in use, they used the same motifs as on-screen wallpaper, which I thought was a nice touch.

I've been on a few El-Al 747's since and a Heathrow to San Francisco but it's the Air India flight that sticks in my mind.

Friends Reunited to shut down. What do you mean, 'is it still going?'

David Paul Morgan
Happy

Funny things, social networking sites

I reckon one of the first 'modern' sites was out "out in the UK" which became "out everywhere" and was primarily for gay mane, at the time. Emphasis was on going out and meeting people via "coffee posses" which were very popular ISTR. All this was soon after 1995. It too has died a death mainly due to (a) Facebook & (b) hand-held dating apps.

I am in contact with quite a few of my primary and secondary school friends on Facebook.

The nicest part is definitely the old photos. Most of the nastiness seems to have gone as peopkle have mellowed with age :-)

DEAD MAN'S SOCKS and other delightful gifts from clients

David Paul Morgan

when 'on strike' working for a local authority...

during day 2 of a three day strike, we had a powercut in our area.

Naturally, when I received the telephone call, I did NOT reload their IDMS/TPMS systems.

However, I had to pop into my local pharmacy to pick up my prescription...

The locum on duty was an older retired chap and it was not his pharmacy.

They had an Amstrad CPC computer that they used for printing the labels for the medicine - not working after the power came back-on.

I said I'd take a look, otherwise I couldn't have my medicine.

Fortunately, I was able to restart his amstrad, start the labelling program and get my label printing for my medicine.

As a reward, he gave me a bottle of aftershave, that we was going to put out as a tester! Quids In!

Microsoft shelves 'suicidal' Android-on-Windows plan

David Paul Morgan

Virtual 'Droid?

I'm sure I ran a version of ICS in a VMWare player VM on my 2003 laptop.

If anyone has a dire need to do this, then build a VM or just get a 65GBP Lollipop Smartphone off eBay (other online retailers available)

I am seriously considering getting a transforming Win10 laptop. As long as the common apps are available (facebook, twitter etc) then why bother porting...

Microsoft is about to launch a UK store within a store

David Paul Morgan
Happy

another vote for CPW here

Dixon group / Carphone Warehouse would be ideal.

They already manage stores on behalf of Samsung.

The high street really needs to have more shop-window/demo space to advertise the goods and services, which people can then buy online.

Smartphone boutique OnePlus reveals another model you can’t get

David Paul Morgan

Re: Stock android

SWIFT in stock. STORM more stock 4 days...

Top boffin Freeman Dyson on climate change, interstellar travel, fusion, and more

David Paul Morgan
Happy

Re: Scientists - Dyson 'sphere'

Also name-checked in Larry Niven's "Ringworld" - which is a cut-down Dyson sphere as a 'strip' and also in a joint work with Gregory Benford - and this one is truly awesome!

http://us.macmillan.com/shipstar/gregorybenford

their hemispherical Dyson 'sphere' the self-propelled ShipStar

Sony phone chief vows to keep losing money forever and ever

David Paul Morgan

Re: Would be a shame too

follow-up.

My Z1C was discharging and not charging properly from the micro-usb.

Went into Carphone Warehouse (18months into 24 month contract)

unfortunately(!) they could not repair OR replace the Z1C, so I had to have a Z3C instead :-)

only realised when we tried to fit the nano sim into the micro-sim slot!

(replaced gratis as I was still under warranty with CPW)

I might still get a pair of Z5C's in March, though...

David Paul Morgan

Re: Would be a shame too

we have a pair of Z1C Xperias at home. Did almost all our hokliday snaps & videos with them last year. I have the Z2 Tablet and it's great.

I don't have an upgrade until next March, so I hope they'll be around long enought for the Z5 compact! Especially if they persue the minimal Android skinning plan.

David Paul Morgan
Happy

Re: Z3C owner here

LOL - my emergency backup and travel-sim handset is my trust HTC Desire (aka Bravo?) but with CM7 installed. Tough as old boots and works well as a roaming wifi hotspot. (see above for Xperia comments)

David Paul Morgan

we had an Xperia S...

... with the slight yellow-tinted screen.

As soon as I noticed, I took it back to the store and the screen was replaced. Under warranty.

Another Xperia had a power supply / battery discharge issue and was fixed - under warranty. 2 different issues, supported by Sony and the shop. Also, all the Android updates for the Z series have been fairly timely. 9not as fast as some, granted...)

Wileyfox smartphones: SD card, no bloatware, Cyanogen, big battery – yes to all!

David Paul Morgan
Go

Re: Say it is true

I have "registered my interest".

The price is very right, the features look good.

Very very tempted.

I hope that it supports OTG interface, so you can plug in external memory, keyboard etc and use it with an HDMI TV.

A dual-SIM smartphone in your hand beats two in the bush

David Paul Morgan
Thumb Up

Re: Saygus dual-sim dual microsd waterproof android phone

nice to know, but "dual sim" does not weem to leap out at me, from the website(s).

Perhaps I need to put my specs on!

:-)

David Paul Morgan
Go

Re: Saygus dual-sim dual microsd waterproof android phone

nice unit, but not dual-sim (and a bit chunky for my taste). however, worth a look!

Sony Xperia Z4 4G Android tablet – gift of sound and vision

David Paul Morgan

I love my Z2 tablet...

and I use it with the playstation bluetooth keyboard - which allows 'nipple' mouse control too.

use the Z4/Z2 in conjunction with google docs and it's very handy on the move

Android Wear 5.1: A more enduring wristjob for your pleasure

David Paul Morgan
FAIL

I know I don't watch much 'live' TV...

... but /what/ adverts? I cannot recall seeing any advert (tv, billboard) for these products.

Commodore PET lurches out of its 1970s grave – as a phablet

David Paul Morgan
Go

looking at the specs...

... it seems half decent. Dual-micro-sim which is a plus for me.

form-factor and design seem quite respectable.

microSD expansion.

What's not to like? Even if they are relying on a 'brand revival'.

Chinese takeaway, hold the Google: Xiaomi Mi4 LTE Android

David Paul Morgan
Facepalm

What's the Mandarin for Caveat Emptor?

well,

something of a hobbyist handset!

Three years ago, I bought a non-name dual sim chinese handset.

yes, once I installed the google services and changed the launcher it was really good. Also had a micro-sd slot. Cost me about 100GBP. came with an extra swappable battery too.

Unfortunately, after 14 months it stopped charging.

I really hope Xiomi do well in the west. we need an alternative to Samsung over here and Sony seem to be dropping the ball - or at least, advertising that they have the best ball!

China's best phone yet: Huawei P8 5.2-inch money-saving Android smartie

David Paul Morgan

Re: Does it still have that hateful front end

agreed.

I've always hated that ios/copycat look of all the programme icons spewed over the home screen.

that's where the widgets are supposed to be.

It's also how they displayed the samsung devices in the apple vs samsung court cases, to make sure that the supposed copycat device looked like the apple interface.

So tablets, if you want to get anything done travelling get a ... yes, a laptop

David Paul Morgan

Re: Apple Crap again....

I think these are android-based.

Good old walkman...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-NWZ-ZX1-128GB-Walkman-Resolution/dp/B00I3YIRJQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1431355890&sr=8-5&keywords=sony+walkman

Toyota Yaris Hybrid: Half-pint composite for the urban jungle

David Paul Morgan

Re: very practical commuter around London

is it exempt from the congestion charge?

David Paul Morgan
Thumb Up

we're two years into our current Yaris lease/hire

and this means that they'll have the bugs ironed out by apr/may 2016!

Seems like a worthy addition to the prius/toyota hybrid family.

The coming of DAB+: Stereo eluded the radio star

David Paul Morgan

Re: Satellite

slingbox solo?

http://uk.slingbox.com/go/slingbox

would be one way.

I also use a scart --> UHF transmitter plugged into the TV aerial socket (don't use the aerial) to 'pipe' the TV tuner signal to the rest of the house TV's.

David Paul Morgan
Happy

Re: DAB...

yep! Planet Rock, err, Rocks!

as does BBC 6 Music.

I actually have three DAB radios - A 'pure' upstairs, an Asda cheapy in the kitchen and a 'pure' portable for the car. (I used to tuck the 'speaker' cable along the edge of the windscreen before plugging it into the head unit. nowadays I have to use an FM transmitter!)

In the house, I usually use the freesat version, or stream to chromecast or use PS3, depending on where the station is.

Most often in the car, I 'send' from my Xperia using the RadioPlayer 'app'. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.radioplayer&hl=en_GB (yes, I have plenty of data!)

Google Chrome suffers brain freeze on Android Ice Cream Sandwich

David Paul Morgan

Re: And what do you *lose* moving off ICS ?

I put a kit-kat variant on my tf101 and gave it to my brother.

runs perfectly well.

£280k Kickstarter camera trigger campaign crashes and burns

David Paul Morgan
FAIL

never invest what you can't afford to lose

I have backed 2 projects via Kickstarter.

One is a new thin wristwatch which is 18 months late delivering.

the other is a 'fan' CD/DVD theatre project.

I may never see the wristwatch. I will be slightly disappointed, but the investment was only the cost of a Chinese dual-sim android device!

The CD/DVD was worth a few rounds of drinks. I suspect that they will get the funding for that and they are not re-inventing the wheel, just renting/buying studio facilities.

caveat emptor quod veteres Romani, ut dictum est;

OLPC spin-off teases modular 'Infinity' computer

David Paul Morgan

This sort of thing reminds me of...

... the old ICL DRS-300 computers that were modular and could multi-window.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICL_DRS#DRS_300

ICL were often way ahead of their competition, but never quite set a global standard...

Each module was, unfortunately, the size of an A4 box-folder, but flexible despite that!

Red-spattered Android figures sinkhole Sony's healthy financials

David Paul Morgan

Re: what puzzles me ...

there was plenty of poster advertising for the Z-Series.

I walked past an entire Samsung demo in my local shopping centre to buy a an Xperia 'T' outright from CPW.

Moved to the Z1 Compact for the 4G - although I could have waited, as it took ages to arrive on O2!

As I've said many times before, love the sony Camera experience (still & video on the Z series) and I like the Walkman software "I'm listening to it on my walkman" sounds so much better....

(and the design language and the minimal skinning and the NFC connectivity)

The Samsungs are soooo plasticky!

Smartphones merge into homogeneous mass as 'flagship fatigue' bites

David Paul Morgan

Re: I don't know why anyone buys a locked phone

my preferred method is definitely to buy the handset up-front and keep the connection + data part separate. I was on £10+£7(unlimited data) for ages.

I did go the 24month route for my Z1 Compact which has 5GB data/month, but by going through Carphone Warehouse, it meant that the handset is 'unbranded' by the network operator, but I still kept the same network operator. I probably won't CyanogenMod this handset, as I like the Walkman & Sony Camera parts. To be fair to O2, their handsets are only lightly 'branded' and certainly not sim-locked to Network. (or have not been, in my experience)

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