I’ve been experimenting a bit more with the thermal receipt printer I bought recently. Inspired by Tom’s daily digests I’ve been trying some of my own. You only get 48 characters per line using the default font. The alternative font (font B) is much denser, with 64 characters per line. The second printout is only […]
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Microprinter
Inspired by Tom Taylor’s microprinter project, I’ve bought a Citizen CBM-231 thermal reciept printer of my own. I picked it up for just £20 on eBay, including shipping. It’s great. Tom uses his to print the weather, his diary, where his friends are (according to Dopplr) and more. As soon as I saw it, I […]
Wrapping Up
As you might know, I’m enjoying a relaxing couple of weeks off, wrapping up the year with family and friends. Staying with family means bonfires, Rock Band and eating copious quantities of rich and delicious food, like this: My wonderful Mum made them my combining a broken up Christmas pudding with dark chocolate, rolling it […]
There is no plan
My last engagement of the year was also one of my proudest. On Wednesday, I was invited to be the guest speaker at my old school’s presentation evening. This is the annual event at which GCSE and A-Level students collect their certificates and awards for academic excellence. I helped award some of the certificates and […]
My Computer(s)
I have owned many computers, and not all of them have had names. The Commodore 64 and BBC Micro B I grew up with didn’t ever have names. Nor do I remember giving one to the first PC my parents had (a second hand 286 IBM PS/2). I think I’ve forgotten a few, but here […]
Licensed with a Licence
I’m hoping the title will help me remember: License, verb. Licence, noun. Back in December, I explained why I didn’t have a TV licence, and hadn’t for many years. I also said “As the BBC (hopefully) continues to open up ways of me watching content on my terms, of course I’m open minded…” That post […]
A tale of two ISPs (and two social networks)
I’ve been increasingly frustrated with the speed, reliability, cost and (worst of all) usage limits on my ADSL service from PlusNet. Last night, following up on some new from a friend about O2, I asked Twitter whether I was mad to be considering switching to O2. With 1000+ Twitter followers (how did that happen?) it’s […]
Pick me up and pour me out
I’ve been twittering madly about my bad back since Thursday. Excuse me while I offload. ‘morning tea‘ by kittykatfish On Thursday night, I was taking off my shoes while sitting on Nick‘s floor. Twisting while simultaneously pulling caused some momentary weirdness at the base of my spine. I barely noticed it at the time but […]
We could be guitar heroes
Before I went on holiday, I began to think about getting my Rock Band guitar controller to act as a MIDI instrument in GarageBand. I’m still fiddling with it, and since implementing a couple of extra features, I’m increasingly happy with the results. The setup in ControllerMate, initially quite straightforward, is gradually becoming fairly hairy. […]
Family Fun
Just back from a very relaxing family holiday in the Algarve. 7 days of exploring, sunbathing, swimming and reading. I couldn’t feel more relaxed. We stayed in a lovely villa between Silves and Algoz (about an hour from Faro airport). Six of us stayed in the villa, which was large, clean, well equipped, had a […]