Totally random thoughts from deep within the brain
When I got home from the office, I got out of my truck and it felt like you could almost reach up and touch the clouds.
Or if you looked down the street, it felt like you were in a giant box with a blanket hanging overhead.
I believe the clouds would be classified as stratocumulus undulatus. Here is a Wikipedia entry with a bit more information about them.
I found an interesting article that discussed research from the CDC where they compared how much of the flu virus remained viable after an hour.
In short, at 23% relative humidity, about three-quarters of a sneeze could cause a secondary infection while at 43%, only 14% was capable of spreading the virus.
Here is the link to the original article: http://www.wunderground.com/news/humidity-flu-20130228
Being that I am from Texas, you might see some Texas news and such here.
And being from Texas, I’ve seen and driven over my share of tumbleweed. It’s not unusual to see hundreds caught up in fence lines for miles at a time.
However, for one West Texas family, a wind storm came from the wrong direction causing hundreds of tumbleweeds to pile up on his home.
Here is a news story to show you more.
I was thinking about the s100computers.com web site and looked up and remembered that I had another S-100 processor card on my shelf a bit less common than the Cromemco ZPU.
This one has two processors, one being the standard-fare Z-80 for maximum software compatibility and the Motorola 68000 16-bit processor.
I never used this card myself but when it was offered to me, I took it because of the uniqueness and the possibilities it would have offered in “the old days.”
There is more information about the card including the manual for it on the s100computers.com web site.
Link: Cromemco ZPU on S100Computers.com
I was thinking about the old Cromemco, S-100 and CP/M days when I ran across a most interesting web site, www.s100computers.com.
They have a great history and technical section plus active NEW board designs. The author has created his own S-100 bus based system from scratch incorporation modern designs and equipment.
If you have any interest in CP/M or the S-100, this is a must visit site. And if you’re curious about the early days of microcomputing, this site will give you a taste of what it was like in those days.
Link: www.s100computers.com
I’m not promising a picture every day, but I might throw one in as I think about.
Today’s picture is of a Cromemco ZPU board featuring a 4 MHz Z-80A microprocessor for the S-100 bus architecture.
This board has no memory, no input or output capability, no video capability, no sound or anything else.
What you see here is called a Western Electric Type 60 AP Selective Signaling System or sometimes called a Model 60 AP Selector.
It was a gift from a friend of mine in Illinois after he saw my fascination with the device. He has an extensive knowledge of mechanical telephone systems and a fully working vintage telephone system.
In a nutshell, it was used on railway dispatching telephone circuits for a couple of purposes.
Up for my first quick review is the Sangean CL-100 AM / FM-RBDS / Hazard Alert NOAA Weather radio and alarm clock.
When you first hold the unit, it feels quite solid and the rubber buttons operate very nicely. The MENU button allows access to everything from the time and alarms but also a strong set of customization features navigation by the arrow and SELECT buttons.
Of course, the primary purpose of this radio is to receive NOAA weather broadcasts and play audible alerts with triggered from one of 7 weather frequencies. The display will show the alert, such as SEVERE T-STORM WARNING, and illuminate a corresponding alert LED.
Okay, I know those are some pretty bold words but when you see what I am trying to accomplish, it will be clear.
Elsewhere are vents for things like the RAM, hard drive, video processors and CPU support chipset. The battery isn’t cooled and who knows whether these vents get any measure of forced air to conduct heat away.
Normal laptop coolers are somewhat beneficial in that they will supply the fan with some air (reducing back pressure), provide a general influence of cooling to the bottom of the housing plus at least stir up the air around the vents.
My problem is that I often leave my laptop stationary and on for weeks at a time and I want to keep the components as cool as practical to extend component life.
As the opening post for Shared Engrams, I just wanted to record for all that the Casio IH-10 ink cartridge used by the Casio PJ-160L is actually the same cartridge used in the HP ThinkJet, HP part number 51604A. My local office supply store had the HP part in stock and it works perfectly! No need to seek out the original Casio part.
Briefly, the Casio PJ-160L is a full-size desktop calculator, clearly with an inkjet printer on-board with a 16-digit back lit LCD display. It can also do basic time calculation, print some basic graphs as well as the usual calculator and tax functions.
Key feel is good, responsiveness is adequate and certainly better than most average calculators. Print quality is very legible although some might consider the characters a bit light / fine in their appearance.
The only real negative I see is that it reverts to showing the time and date after a few minutes (nice) thus losing the last calculation and result (boo.)