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Cor!! That brings back memories of when I was a kid. Mind you, some of those things weren't even generally available when I was a kid - plastics, for instance. Most of our time was playing Cops and Robbers amongst "abandoned and crumbling buildings" or spending the whole day over the fields eating whatever berries you could find when you felt hungry and drinking whatever water was available.
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Just when you think it can't get any worse! Tide Pods really, I remember in my student days people eating dish washer tablets. 
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I like sprouts.
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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Ok, they still look like something fom a 1950s sci fi movie. But I like the planet where they come from.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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What, Baby Cabbages? They good (fried with bacon and chestnuts).
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Me too!
Keep your friends close. Keep Kill your enemies closer.
The End
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Me too. I've got a recipe for roasted Brussel sprouts that's [excuse me while I wipe up drool ... there, that's better] really good (it includes bacon).
Software Zen: delete this;
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It's more complex than just that. Though to your point a lot of kids don't know what its like to work for something. It just looks like a generation lost without any goals to achieve, leaving them to play stupid games...
Common sense is admitting there is cause and effect and that you can exert some control over what you understand.
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Seems you are going against the Tide 
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I've always been the Bold sort.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Then you need a wig
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I keep mine by the window; but only one Persil.
Gotta go - Surf's up!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Darwin explained a perfectly good theory on why we should let this kind of thing continue unabated.
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I need a vacation from all this modern stuff and want to build something out of my parts box. No stone knives and bearskins this time, just a CPU and some memory on a board for starters.
And that's exactly the problem. It will be blind and deaf at the beginning, which will make testing it a little difficult. I also see no point in adding lots of components that I will only need for initial tests and never again after that.
The solution is so simple that it already worked for the Altair 8800: a VT52. Or a VT100.
These used to be huge and expensive, but nowadays you could just hook up something from a VGA monitor, some PC keyboard and all that held together by some little microcontroller. The microcontroller should be programmed and also have something like a MAX232 onboard to get true RS232 signals, but otherwise this should not be much of a problem.
Does anyone know where to get such a microcontroller set up as VT100? I have not found one yet, but I can't believe that they do not exist.
Edit: Speaking of stone knives and bearskins: I was thinking of 3d printing this[^] as a case.
Edit: Found this[^], but I would prefer not having to build it myself.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
modified 13-Mar-18 8:44am.
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Or ... you could just install a free app on your lappie for initial testing: Remote Terminal[^] includes VT100 emulation. Chuck in a USB / RS232 device and you're off.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Terminal emulation would work. I still have an old Pentium II/Celery era notebook that still works good enough to be a compact terminal. My current notebooks tend to be a little too big. I still need some room for soldering, power supplies and the Oscar.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Yep. VT100 emulators worked fine on a 8086 machine! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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And stone knives and bearskins on video: Including wire wrapping![^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Yes and no. That's a terminal emulation that runs on a PC. It would do the trick, but I would need a PC on an already full desk. If the terminal emulation runs on a microcontroller, I would just have to plug in a keyboard and a monitor to get going. The microcontroller's board itself is tiny, I already have an older monitor for the oscilloscope and the keyboard can easily be set aside when it is not needed.
Edit: Sorry, I misread. This runs on a microcontroller. That's great, but I still would have to program and modify it myself. Any microcontroller board will not be able to output proper serial signals (RS232). I would have to shift the signal levels with a suitable IC, like the good old MAX232.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I saw this comic[^] in this morning's CP email and it got me thinking about my smart phone and my 4 yo tablet.
My last phone is out of support -- no more updates. My tablet is in the same situation (it doesn't help that the battery is on life support and changing the battery resembles a combination of brain and heart surgery at the some time).
Let's say I buy a "smart" refrigerator. 3 years (or 5 or 7) from now the vendor says, "sorry, we're no longer supporting that model".
Does this mean I need to replace a working refrigerator because I can't update the software?
The silliest part of this is the question is valid ...
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The obvious solution would be to not buy a smart refrigerator, but instead, a good one.
Unfortunately, they may not make those available.
Oh, the horror of it! You get up at night to raid the fridge - and when you open it up to look inside it complains, in a telemarketish accent, that you interrupted its beauty sleep and the thing is now looking back at your.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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And what if you just don't upgrade?
The horror! The horror!
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Even worse would be if the firmware locked the refrigerator door because it's no longer supported.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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