The print time, and certainly the queue time for the printer head, for many things probably exceeds the delivery time.

New install of Windows? Not suspicious at all - it's a new computer, or it got "corrupted by a virus", and you had your helpful nephew reinstall it for you.

Universal Basic Income, funded by the recognisation that if the only things in the loop are energy and material resources that are rightfully property of everyone on planet earth, and robots manufacturered from said resources, then everyone should get a share.

By all means, have bonuses for those who like to innovate, but Luxury Automated Communism!

That would be one seriously impressive Kickstarter....

"For the first step, we will breach the barrier into the next world..."

The thing I've had most trouble with is USB caddies - they die, I presume because the stress of spinning up the drive gets too much for them.

Particularly 2.5" caddies. There was one point at which I was going through them every few months - they're all made from the same shitty chipset, so it doesn't matter which brand you buy, they all fail.

I eventually just went for an SSD for my portable storage needs and the problem stopped. They don't draw nearly as much current, and what you give up in storage capacity, you gain in performance. And not shelling out for a new drive caddy every few months.

I just had a 3.5" caddy fail after about 6 years of service - again, the drive works perfectly, it's just the power electronics on the controller. This has prompted me to put in a NAS.

The second biggest thing is ATX PSUs.

> I put my time and effort into creating it so it is MY choice.

He would be right up there with the notion of personal choice. His contention is that closed software removes your personal choice to do what you want to with your hardware, because the hardware is under the control of the software, and the software isn't under your control.

The freedom to do whatever you want with a given piece of GPL software is enshrined in the license, where it does not conflict with the freedoms of the next person to receive the software. You can use it to build a kitten-immolating satellite deathray if you like.

And he's right - some people have to make the choice to have Free Software, or there will be no choice - we'll all be stuck with hardware that only does the bidding of it's maker.

e.g.

* It's no longer your choice to be able to scan most banknotes. The firmware in most scanners has a feature that will terminate your scan if it finds particular features.
* If you use your cable provider's hardware, your abiity to retain recordings may be limited - even though the right to timeshift is enshrined in law

etc.

Using GPL components as part of your software is another choice - your project benefited from a lot of work by others given freely, so you choose to either pay it forward (but ONLY if you distribute, unless you're using AGPL parts) or not use those components.

> Why should I give away my source code if I don't want to?

You don't have to, as explained above - it is definitely your choice.

The detail on the electron micrographs at the bottom is really good.

That kind of level of detail fundamentally changes not just how fast you can print (which is just a matter of time), but what you can do with it. Imagine suspeding catalyst particles in the resin and printing fluid channels with incredibly large surface areas. Or other things that require lots of detail.

Changing WHAT you can do is more interesting than how fast you can do it.

Probably works better when the tape is further from the camera, and suspended in air for a bigger difference in refactive indices, as it would be in a typical camera enclosure with a shroud to make it less likely that objects touch the lens. The tape scatters the light - but if it's stuck on a thin piece of glass, not so much.

Plus in Europe, various jurisdictions have different tax rates on fuel.

It makes a lot of economic sense for truckers to have an extended tank and fill up in the place with the lowest fuel tax, and avoid places like the UK with high taxes.

Knight Rider : the car automatically drives up a ramp into the back of the truck where an attractive brunette personally sees to your charging needs while the truck continues toward your destination.

Gay Porno : The attractive brunette is David Hasselhoff.

In America, there would be a strong argument that this is in contravention of the Fifth Amendment of the consitution (as it would be self-incrimination). Not sure how that's played out though.

But yes, in the UK, there is a specific criminal offense of "Not disclosing your encryption key" which carries a 2 year sentence... and you can of course, be asked to disclose your key again once you've served it...

The price rapidly went up to £400 for the Model B (as the Wikipedia page states, lower down) due to supply issues.

This is true, but you had to go somewhere to obtain them.

I very fondly remember my trips to the public library with Mum (a lot of the time I would bring back these excellent Usborne programming books).

But you had a 3 book limit (and Mum was usually kind enough to let me get something on her card as well). I'd go through that very quickly. When the library is a 40-minute round trip on foot (and you're not allowed to ride on main roads on your bike by your parents), that's a major investment of time. Faced with that, the kids of today (and despite things being much safer... they're allowed out on their own much less..) are going to plump for instant gratification every time - visit the App Store for a new pesterware game, or YouTube.

Yeah, it cost £400, which is £1,400 adjusted for inflation.

The "inexpensive" version (the Acorn Electron) still cost £200. My grandparents chipped in to help my parents buy me one.

In real terms, the Raspberry Pi (which is a fair-ish comparison - not as much I/O, but still doesn't have it's own screen, like the BBC) costs less than £10 adjusted to 1981.

Price is not the issue. People found the money back then. Computing hardware is incredibly cheap now. You can get a full laptop with screen, for a small fraction of what the BBC cost.

The issue is the wealth of distractions available to youth BECAUSE computer hardware is now incredibly cheap and ubiquitous.

.. and I'm not sure what will.

The reason that kids of my age were "into computers" and we had a "great generation" of bedroom programmers who subsequently became tech workers was because simple, programmable computers were one of the few forms of entertainment available to the kids who didn't want to go out and kick a ball around or ride their bike.

This was an era when

* Things were more expensive (the toys cost.. about what they do, in numbers, these days. Only inflation means that £30 is not even 10 pints of beer for dad these days when it was more like 60 pints of beer back then.) A £200 home computer was a MAJOR expense rather than an impulse buy.
* There was an hour of kids TV on weekdays

And of course

* NO INTERNET - no personal portable devices of bottomless instant gratification

I saw a great article that explained that the no.1 quality a programmer needs is persistence - in the face of ridiculous odds of getting even simple things to work.

Back then you persevered with things because the only other thing to do was go and watch Coronation Street with mother, or re-read one of the few books you could afford this month. Even deciding to start playing a game wasn't exactly an impulse choice because to load it took about 5 minutes (from audio cassette tape).

Producing more simple, programmable computers these days is missing the point, although they are greatly appreciated by folks from that great generation of bedroom programmers who like a new toy to tinker with.

What's probably needed is better software. Better like A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer better.