I bought a fully working //c last year for £120. Unboxed though. (And a working Apple II euro the year before for about the same) If you look about, then most of these old ones don't go for much at all really. The esoteric ones sometimes do. e.g. check old ebay listings for the MK14 and Jupiter Ace ... Apple /// and Lisa... Now they'll be worth something... -Gordon

Or a fluffy white cat...

The "Input and Validate"
The "Update"
and the "Print"

At least that's what a lecturer told me many years ago when I did COBOL at uny. I didn't get on with it initially, then I got bored and opened the book... Then I learned that what the lecturer was telling me was his idea of what COBOL ought to look like and not generic. It got a little more interesting after that (along with the student competition to see how many errors we could make the compiler generate with the minimal amount of syntax errors - one mis-placed full-stop managed to get it to the limit of 999 once)

I've not written a COBOL program for over 30 years now. I don't miss it.

-G

The price is affordable for "carriers" (ie. telcos and thererfore peanuts for mlitary), and you can buy true 1GHz full duplex units off the shelf today.

There is a problem with 60GHz though - range. It's the O2 absorption frequency, so max is 1-2Km...

However there are other frequencies in that area of the spectrum which I know are being investigated/used...

For some local dialling codes. Eg. Bristol has 0117 911 xxxx - so from a landline in Bristol you just dial 911 xxxx ...

-G

I recently bought an old Apple II.. And tried out some of the 30+ year old 5.25" floppies I had in storage all these years (I've got 100's). Most of them still work!

I'm suspecting that the bit-density is so low that it's hard for them not to work, but I was still plesantly surprised.

Now all I need is an Apple II serial card so I can get some of the source code for stuff I write way back then off the floppies onto something else...

They're a bit late then. There are already several kits out there - both breadboard and protoboard with solder holes in them. Get with the times!

Try this: http://shop.ciseco.co.uk/slice-of-pi/

Or this: http://www.skpang.co.uk/catalog/raspberry-pi-cover-with-breadboard-area-red-p-1071.html

etc. I currently have the SKPang one for my Pi.

So you're the getaway driver sitting in the stolen Merc - your partners in crime are runing towards you. You hit the 'start' button... "Please wait while we install the latest software update. This process will take approximately 5 of your finest German minutes." Fantastic!

Heh... ZZ needs 2 keypresses, :x three (because it's :x RETURN) Similarly :wq is 4 keypresses.

Of-course someone might argue that needing the shift key is really another keypress, but they're probably emacs users... ;-)

ZZ

What about Arduino plus a propellor? http://www.xgamestation.com/view_product.php?id=51

Looks fun - wish there was more time to the day to play with these things...

Eliza, is that you?

Maps aren't critical at all, however I just want to carry one device - not a separate GPS, phone, etc. If Nokia released OVI maps with turn by turn directions for the N900 then I'd be really happy.