Tony is a Geek

I missed out on the CP/M hey-day, however, just recently, thanks to the RC2014 Z80 device and my re-ignited usage of the Amstrad CPC, I have learnt to use CP/M and respect just how genius it is/was. My first personal computer was an Amstrad CPC 464, that just booted up into Locomotive BASIC, which was fine for the 4-5years of usage, at school I used a BBC B that ran BBC BASIC, I learnt early on about porting from one BASIC to another and how it was more about getting the design/architecture right and then applying whatever syntax was needed to make it happen.  I then acquired an Atari ST 512 ( funny enough from a friend called Gary ) and I was amazed at using the GEM TOS user environment... I then upgraded to a PC-clone, it was a 286 PC that came with DR.DOS 6, on 2 3.5" disks.  I actually still have those 2 disks.  My first introduction to PCs was using DR.DOS, it did annoy me that when I went to college I had to use MS-DOS 5 that just didn't have the same things that I ...

Although titled: "How to corrupt my intern robot", there is a LOT more information contained within this video than you would actually expect.  I would highly recommend a full watch, or zoom FWD to 11:39. Okay, so Misty the robot is pretty cool   CLICK HERE TO SEE / READ / VIEW MORE I think its great that they've made different ways to code the robot, from 100% beginner using BLOCKLY (a person fav. of mine for non-coders to get to understand coding) You also have the option to code using the Python SDK, Web APIs and C# SDK; which is pretty cool.  So, you can go from total novice through to expert coder, well, as expert as calling HTTP APIs or using Visual Studio is...no C-code level for the hardcore.... except, oh wow! https://docs.mistyrobotics.com/misty-ii/robot/misty-backpack-for-arduino/ They have a backpack module that is an Arduino, so you can extend and enhance the robot yourself...and use C (coz that's what Arduino is coded in), so it looks like they've c...

So, I finally managed to take a week off... no work stuff was done during this time period ( at all ).  Very hard to resist, but I forced the scenario.  How?  Well, I took a photo of my home/office work desk area, attempting to fix two old PCs and get the netgear pci cards to work ( I failed ).  How did this prevent me from doing work/work?  Well, here is the photo in question: ....and when I looked at it I realised I had subconsciously made a "Sam cave" ( rewind many years ago to a nice old gentleman who I once knew, ex-marconi, fixer of PCs, loved drinking guinness / whiskey, wore sandles all year around, bearded, pot belly, coded in C - the stereotype before the stereotype was made cool - he had a home/office that had a desk and his chair in the center, everything else was stacked around him.  There was only his chair, that, I'd like to believe is so that you could enter the room, stand near the door, but not get too comfy or outstay your 10 minute welco...

 In continuing with my love / obsession with all things technical and laptops / palmtop related, I managed to get my hands on an IBM z50. "What is that?", I hear you say... well, it is a very rare device that IBM made for 1 year. ...and YES, it can run Linux if you want it to :-) As it states in the above website :  https://www.hpcfactor.com/reviews/hardware/ibm/workpad-z50/ This is a bit of an oddity, as it's not really a laptop and it's not really a palmtop and it is not really a PDA, but it runs Windows CE. Now, I used to write code / apps for Windows CE, back in the early days 2000-2008 for a huge variety of customers and I still have CD-roms full of PDA specific software, I even still have an Embedded C++ for Windows CE cd-rom in a drawer about 4 foot behind me.  Actually, I wonder if I should install that onto my Elonex P1 PC, just for some amusement and write an app or two. Well, as I say, I managed to acquire one of these devices and it is in REALLY good condi...

Last week, I republished my "old" article on IBM developerworks as it had defaulted into "draft" mode as I hadn't kept it up to date.  So I make a few tweaks and republished it. https://developer.ibm.com/recipes/tutorials/create-a-3d-digital-human-with-ibm-watson-assistant-and-unity3d/   I then noticed that I could potentially use it for the content of an internal IBM badge for Intellectual Capital, so I applied for it and got the badge. https://www.youracclaim.com/badges/b851fb86-d554-4d56-ba80-dc37199a8b94 Then I was asked by the reviewer, James Belton, if he could publish on LinkedIn / Twitter about the article as he was genuinely impressed and was actually going to follow it himself this weekend: This got me thinking.  Maybe I should do a refresh, start again article, seeing as this article originally started life in early 2018.  I mean technology has moved on soooo much since then, hasn't it?.... .....well, apparently not!.... An internal request came u...

Well, the plan is to "finish" off the mess I made in the garden during Lockdown v1.0... but current snow & freezing weather conditions may put a halt to that, we'll see.... it might be nice to get outside for 4-5 hours per day, moving soil around and filling in the failed "canal" that I built.... anyway, if it does end up being a week of sitting inside with the heating on....I'll make sure I flick through this book: Although, that IBM PC 110 will always be winking at me from the background, wanting me to "do something" with them....we'll see...

Yes, you read that correctly.  I've finally managed to get my IBM PC 110 devices running MS-DOS and hooked up to the internet.  The follow page is basically a reminder for myself on how to take a stock device that may or may not have been purchased from Buyee.jp and get it configured for Internet awesomeness... CLICK THE LINK BELOW to READ & SEE HOW IT IS DONE: https://tonyisageek.blogspot.com/p/setting-up-ibm-pc-110-for-wifi-from-ms.html It is indeed possible - if you have enough time and patience, which funny enough I seem to have an abundance of at the moment..... BTW - for context, the IBM PC 110 device is SMALL and I mean really small, considering it was made in 1995, the dimensions are: (HxWxD) (158mm x 113mm x 33mm) - it's the size of an external 3.5" floppy drive ( if you're old enough to remember what one of those is ) https://tonyisageek.blogspot.com/p/setting-up-ibm-pc-110-for-wifi-from-ms.html CLICK THE LINK BELOW to READ & SEE HOW IT IS DONE: CLICK...

" Soooo....what ya' been up to today? ",  " It being a Saturday, y'know that day of freedom and no work? "... Well, working, but playing, if that makes sense.  Okay, so I decided that today was going to be a day of "going back Marty, going back.... to 1995/6" I have burnt a LOT of time trying to get the IBM PC 110 laptop device to work with a vast array of WiFi cards - yes, I know I'm asking a lot to get it to run from MS-DOS, but, y'know, my other device, the HandBook 486 doesn't seem to be having any trouble with the config/setup. I've narrowed it down to the hardware.  I had to have a bit of a refresher on the device, I'm glad this guys website is still up and running (I'll leave links here for the future, also if they every disappear the WayBackWhen machine can be used to go fetch the archives, if they have been archived) http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/pc110idx.htm Pressing F1 on the physical device (with the external ...