Comments on: Geek post

By: mefoley

mefoley — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:16:40 +0000

I still use my Apple Newton. The cover is broken off and the plastic flap over the place where you plug in the charger is hanging at an angle, but the handwriting recognition system is great. Somebody saw it a while back when I was going through airport security and said “That’s a real dinosaur!” Yeah, okay, fine. (But dinosaurs were powerful!)

By: Blue Eyes

Blue Eyes — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:04:24 +0000

Do I get commission (beer is a widely accepted currency)

By: Stressedoutcop

Stressedoutcop — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:23:52 +0000

Good Man – buy one and that’s another royalty towards the company I own shares in … all helps towards the university fund .. I appreciate it BE

By: Rob F

Rob F — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:48:06 +0000

I still play ‘Lords of Midnight’ and ‘Avalon’ on a Spectrum emulator, occasionally. Oh, and I also still have fond memories of playing ‘The Hobbit’, especially that time in 1984 (maybe!) where we locked Thorin in the trolls’ cave early on, but still went on to complete the game. Serves the silly bugger right; there’s only so much sitting down and singing about gold that a sane hobbit can put up with.

And yes, I know I’m sad!

By: Furor Teutonicus

Furor Teutonicus — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:11:30 +0000

XX ut you don’t get that with computers.XX

Which is what most modern engines appear to consist of.

Nothing like stripping, and putting back together an old Harley Knuckle-head to relieve a boring Sunday.

By: Philipa

Philipa — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:43:20 +0000

Yes, it’s great to find fellow nerds, or as I call them, friends.

There’s something very sexy about stripping down an engine though that you just don’t get with computers. It’s the smell. And the feel. And the sound. Of yes, the sound. Now that is sexy. You know when it’s running sweet. Now if you mix the smell of engine oil with the smell of man..

Ok I’ll go.

But you don’t get that with computers.

By: El Kevo

El Kevo — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:13:34 +0000

I had one of those Macs too. Great.

The ipad looks brilliant as well – there is only so much miniaturisation that can be handled properly.

By: measured

measured — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:09:35 +0000

What an informative childhood, BE.

My mother bought my father one of the very first hand-held calculators as his main Christmas present in the 1970′s. We lived in the Middle East where all the latest electronic goods were sold.

I remember us all oggling at this thing on Christmas Day, completely oblivious of its significance in the development of human culture. It was manufactured in Japan, has only basic functions and I guess it must have cost over £150 then. It is the size of a narrow chunky paperback book and has a small display. My mother still has it so I might photograph it when I visit her and post a picture of it on Twitter. Memories, eh?

By: Dave H

Dave H — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:59:43 +0000

Wish I’d seen that programmme. And I don’t mind at all if a prototype is knocked up in a night. If true they must have been extremely clever. It’s the one they finally put to market I was grumbling about; from the poshest store in Cambridge too. My dad was not poor but also not rich, and £300 in those days hurt.

Mind you, part of the BBC Micro project involved Neanderthal, sorry, Netherhall School so I can’t say I’m too surprised.

(BTW I was going to call my Beebs in the loft the Acorn Antiques but then realised I’d best stick to boring. There’s a relic called a Nascom up in there with them. Z80s, 555s, 741s, BC108s. Happy days.)

By: The Lakelander

The Lakelander — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:47:34 +0000

Like The Engineer, my first computer was a ZX81.

It didn’t have a proper keyboard as such and if you pressed too hard on one of the “keys” the memory pack that slotted rather loosely onto the back of the ZX81 would wobble and cause the computer to crash.

Someone actually made a living out of making a simple metal clip that would hold the memory pack in place.

It’s the only thing that was designed by Clive Sinclair that I’ve ever owned. Just about everything he invented had design faults.