My Motley Meanderings

Here is a sneak preview of my entry for The Great Crystal Cyberdrome Exhibition that will be held at Orbital 2008 next week. ( Read more... )

I was hoping the weather would be fine this weekend because I had a long list of maintenance jobs I wanted to do on Fenchurch. That is why I've spent much of today and yesterday working outside in close to zero temperatures with a strong windchill factor and a constant light drizzle. I did manage to do most of the stuff on my list before it started trying to snow and I came back inside. It's unfortunate that the garage under my office that I did the respray in now contains a large trailer. The garage we have next to the house is just big enough to park the car in and squeeze around one side (if I clear a load of junk out first); it's too cramped to want to use it for jobs that involve taking all the wheels off.

When I wasn't getting cold and wet outside I've been doing a lot of reading about Nixie tubes and neon indicator lamps. I'd heard of Nixie tubes and even have an old piece of test equipment with a few in it, but they were obsolete before I was born so I've never worked with them. Recently there has been a resurgence in their popularity, usually in the form of digital clocks, as people come to realise that they actually look a lot prettier than the seven segment LED displays that replaced them. You can still buy them as New Old Stock even though the last factories that made them closed down shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Neon lamps are still commonly used as a power indication light in mains-powered equipment such as multi-way socket adapters. I didn't know that Nixie tubes are basically glorified neon lamps, and I had no idea how versatile the lamps are. They were even used to build digital logic gates in the days before semiconductors took over. Don't believe me? Take a look at this!

You might be wondering why I've suddenly developed an interest in obsolete optoelectronics. The reason is that I've decided to use Nixie tubes for the score display and an array of 200 cheap neon lamps as the main display of my retro-futuristic Tetris machine. I originally wanted to build a mechanical display but it proved impractical and would have cost far too much for the parts.

Next weekend is starting to look a bit busy. I'm going to the Morris Minor Owners' Club AGM in Derby on Saturday, a vintage slot machine fair in Coventry on Sunday, and at some point I need to pick up a heater for Fenchurch from a bloke who lives near Birmingham. I'm thinking of trying to stay in the Stratford upon Avon YH on Saturday, and if I do that it might be worth also trying to see a play at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre (they'll be performing Henry V).

Inspired by Pac Gentleman and Pongmechanik and of course The Great Crystal Cyberdrome Exhibition, I just spent an hour in the bath trying to devise an electromechanical computer that could drive a Tetris fairground game. Of course I could cheat and hide a microcontroller in the base (I've already implemented Tetris in C), but there's something terribly appealing to me about the idea of a clicking whirring machine that could theoretically have been built as far back as 1835 (when the relay was invented).

OK, I know I've been lax in updating my journal for the past few weeks. Work got pretty hectic for a while but I can't go into details in a public post. I guess it's time for another random update: ( Read more... )

Here is the video from Beyond Cyberdrome's Intermission Games (I'm Sorry I Haven't a Robot) at Contemplation, this year's Eastercon.


As an added bonus, we also have the Magnotron Crescent map.

The rip-off Swisscom Eurospot WiFi was broken throughout the hotel on Monday, so I didn't get a full 24 hours out of the "1 in 24" I bought on Sunday, and I wasn't able to post this until I got home on Tuesday afternoon. Monday's report has yet to be written but I think it'll be a short one because I didn't do a whole lot on the last day.

( What I did on Sunday at Contemplation )

I've just bought "1 hour over a 24 hour period" worth of Internet access for £6.50, so if I'm quick I should be able to check my email more than once today.

( What I did on Saturday at Contemplation... )

( What I did on Friday at Contemplation... )

I've done the packing for the trip to Eastercon unusually early for me - I'm not leaving until tomorrow morning, and it's virtually finished already. I was surprised to find that everything fitted into my rucksack with only a bit of pushing and squeezing, and I was even able to get it fastened. Then I remembered that I haven't packed my pillow yet (a neck problem means that hotel pillows are nearly always unusably thick for me). I think some of the Beyond Cyberdrome stuff will have to come back out and go into a carrier bag instead, but I can sort that out in the morning. I'm not bringing that pile of Foundation books home again on the train.

ETA: I repacked the rucksack, filled up my coat pockets with everything I could stuff into them, said the magic word[1] a few times, and it magically all fit except for the box of stationary supplies, which I've strapped to the top of my rucksack using the mesh of bungee cords that I've never found a use for until now.

Like last year, reports may be posted intermittently from now on because the Crowne Plaza's wireless Internet access is ludicrously expensive.

[1] "goinyerbugger"

Here's a quick teaser for the Beyond Cyberdrome Intermission Games I'm helping to run at this weekend's Eastercon:
( Read more... )
There's an A4 PDF version available if you want to print it out and decorate it yourself (regardless of whether you'll be at the con). The ones I'm taking with me will be printed on dayglo green, yellow, pink, and orange paper.

This really ought to be my last Concussion report. I'm back at work now, and my cold is finally clearing up after about twelve days of a perpetually bunged up nose and sore throat, three days of almost no voice, and two days of a chesty cough.

( Beyond Cyberdrome preparations, workshop, event, lessons learned, and plans for next year. )

( Thanks, post con hangover, volunteering. )

I'm writing this on Tuesday afternoon after getting back and unpacking the car.

( Choosing next year's BC theme, the gripe session, Mat Irvine's talk, Captain Tartan Saves the World Again, the closing ceremony, loading the car, fish and chips, mad Glaswegians, the Dead Dog party, and the trip back. )

Today has been a pretty eventful day.

( Yet more on the workshop, the bid session, the Beyond Cyberdrome event itself, eating out, and the masquerade. )

I'm posting this a day late as I didn't buy any Internet access yesterday.

( The shower, more on the workshop, the dealer's room, Doctor Who, It's not Easy Being Green, and the TAFF party. )

( The first day of the BC workshop, drive couplings, and Tales From the Green Room. )

( Wifi, the drive up, setting up the BC workshop, meeting new people, my bedroom, and the weather. )

( Rampaging Roger finished, packing, things to do differently when I'm preparing next year. )

Playing with electrickery. Designing electronic gadgets, to be specific. It started off as an idea to make a simple speed controller (SSC) for Beyond Cyberdrome, but after I got it working I got a bit carried away and have now also developed a dual radio controlled switch (DRCS) and a single radio controlled switch (SRCS), and am considering trying to sell all three designs as self-assembly kits (thereby hopefully dodging some of the burdensome legislation that applies to electronics manufacturers). This is far from the first time I've had ideas along these lines, but I usually don't get as far as a working prototype. Pictures after the cut...
( Read more... )