A 500% Effiency Machine - Eh?

[Norman]

A new topic so Jerry can turn the helicoptors off.

Personally I think it as a hoax (that's the nice word), especially
considering all the spelling mistakes. Tapping into random energy
bursts from space to produce a constant 500% efficiency is - well
-a hem. However I thought I would run it past you guys before I
confined it to the B-bin.

http://www.geocities.com/area51/shadowlands/6583/project014.html

Best

[Drew]

I read the previous two topics and 'fraid too much data for me. But
the pair of you seem to bounce off each other admirably so there are
only two points which (for me) are still loose.

>How many light bulbs does it take to change a surrealist?
It's a one line joke!

>4 = 4; 5 = 5; 6 = 6; 7 = ?
Apart from the obvious...... pass.

--------------------------

The link is not a hoax, it's just (almost) complete bollox. Virtual
particles do present attractive unlimited energy but you'd need
something a tad more subtle than spinning magnets to suck it out. I
have read that it is virtual particle random fluctuations which are
responsible for fluorescent tube functioning but there is still no
energy gain. (Still to authoritatively second source that
data).Terminology is skewed too, it's 'vacuum energy' not "zero
point energy" which refers to the energy at absolute zero, curiously
not zero. The 'homopolar generator' surfaces every so often but
languishes in the realms of "We don't understand why so it must be
God's work" territory.

Best

[Norman]

My thoughts too.

4=4; 5=5; 6=6; 7=3; 8=?

Tomorrow the first ten terms if you dont get it tonight.

Best

[Jerry]

>> 4=4; 5=5; 6=6; 7=3; 8=?

That looks like 3 bit binary to me - in which case 8=0; 9=1

RHS = LHS And 00000111b

No it is not, it is some sort of rotation, 100b 101b 110b 111b

Or is this looking at rings in the Periodic Table ... ?

While I reckon that the 500% rotor is probably crud, I must confess
that -273 is darn cold, and there is a lot of potential hot water in
our ambient temperature.

I see no problem in some sort of bi-metal plate that is colder on one
side than on the other
- energy is conserved, it is just a little confused

[Jerry]

BTW - thanks for the new threads
- it is a pain having to listen to the helicopter

[Norman]

Nothing so damn complicated jerry - think simple; think of the guy it
occurred to.

8 = 7; 9 = ?

As a scientist I shouldnt be asking these questions - what actually
happens at -273.2°C does the hydrogen electron loose angular momentum
and does the quarks etc in the proton loose angular momentum. If so
what does this actually mean. Photons travel through space which we are
reminded is not empty but parts must be near absolute zero. -273.2 is a
temperature it is not practically possible to go below but what are the
physical (or EMR) attributes of what can exist at this temperature?

Best

[Drew]

By perverse logic I can get the next number to be 11 but the answer's
much simpler than that I would imagine. Having successfully completed a
hexadoku this should be a dawdle.... 42? I too headed for the periodic
table, but no. BTW, three bit binary would be trinary would it not :-)

I should have been a bit more precise with 'zero point energy'. It
is actually the same as 'vacuum energy' but the latter is more
appropriate in the context. Basically though, at absolute zero there is
a quantum term which is non-zero, hence energy. It is an embodiment of
the uncertainty principle and represents the minimum possible system
energy -- apparently:-) Seem to recall mentioning the Casimir effect
whereby a force is exerted between very close parallel plates. That's
virtual particles for you, leaping in and out of existence and bouncing
between off things before disappearing into the nothing from whence
they came. Sounds like the American presidency.

I would pull you up on 'photons travelling through space'. Photons
don't 'travel' because they don't have the luxury of
experiencing as many dimensions as non-photon particles -- George Bush
excluded. Bit like Humans and Trafalmadorians. We measure photons as
travelling but they don't give a damn about that. As far as they are
concerned they snapped their fingers and arrived at the edge of the
universe. Easy eh.

Best

[Norman]

Sounds like you have been reading The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

It is not mathematical, well only so far as it involves numbers.

0 = 6; 1 = 2; 2 = 5; 3 = 5; 4 = 4; 5 = 5; 6 = 6; 7 = 3; 8 = 7; 9 = 6

You have got to have it now!

Nodding sagely at this particle stuff but don't have the courage to
call the King an exhibitionist.

Best

[Drew]

Can't figure it. Hint? Foot is ready and poised to kick oneself.

Best

[Norman]

It is a sequence most people see every day, although they never think
of it in this way. In its most commonly found cyclical form the
sequence builds to a certain level when a second sequence is launched.
Both sequences run together until a point is reached when the whole
thing repeats.
In an application of its infinite form the series is often practically
limited by the design specifications of your vehicle.
When experienced in connection with food the sequence often runs
backwards.

I the unlikely event you don't yet have it, here are some more points
to note. The highest second number is 7 and cannot be higher; the
lowest second number is 2 and cannot be lower, unless the sequence does
not appear at all as sometimes happens in the cyclical form. 6 & 9
have the same value as do 2; 3 & 5 which are all variations on the same
theme.

Finally, it cannot be that difficult if occurred to Me.

Best

[Drew]

Well *obviously* I was confused by 7 which often = 4. And in any case,
I (and especially Jerry) continue :-

10 = 6
11 = 5
12 = 4
13 = 5
14 = 5
15 = 4

Kinda suspect about 0.1% of people would get it and I had a little help
from actually having designed such systems. Nevertheless, good one. Now
if you key into the "Elektor" web site you can have a go at the
Hexadoku and help me out for the latest one. Takes bleedin ages but I
want the prize. You get some squares and I'll do likewise and we can
save time and both submit the answer. Is that cheating?

Best

[Norman]

Couldn't find Hexadoku on the Elektor site - sorry can't help
you.

Woke up about a week ago, dark all around and thought not again. Looked
at the clock which said 4:56 and instead of turning over and trying to
sleep I just kept staring at the numbers and then I thought "that's
odd, I will have to run that one past the guys when an opportunity
presents itself". You got there in the end.

Any Ideas for a new topic?

Best.

[Jerry]

Finally I follow

- something to do with that pernicious digital alarm clock of yours

Oddly I seldom look at them, my bedside clock is analog.
- Cab Sav prevents detailed analysis

Once my parents bought an amazing alarm clock, it really glowed in the
night.
When it finally gave up the ghost, they went out to buy another
- only to be told that the company that made them had gone out of
business, all the employees had died of radium poisoning.

A quick check on 'Westclox' indicates that the problems were known in
the 1930's.
- Hmmm

[Drew]

Norman, you're not trying!

http://www.elektor-electronics.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=27&year=2006&month=3&art=53009&PN=On

It's a pdf download, and Jerry can work out an Excel macro for solving
it.

Best

[Jerry]

Can you check this table ( it looks better in a fixed font) :-

.D1A|.C.9|42B8|F..7
....|538.|..07|.6..
...2|.4.7|.6.C|.A..
...0|....|3...|24.9
---- ---- ---- ----
...D|..6.|....|0..2
28.F|49D.|...E|.7A6
.37B|F.A.|D.26|9.41
..4.|2.7.|80FA|5.D.
---- ---- ---- ----
...7|1.4.|...D|CB.0
.90.|B.5.|...F|1..4
B.25|.E..|.1..|689.
C4..|.2.8|.E5B|...A
---- ---- ---- ----
9..4|.021|.7..|.D..
A.F6|.5..|....|...8
7...|86..|9.A.|.0.F
..BE|...A|05..|.96C

So far I've got the 'pretty' display
- isolated the Rows, Cols and Boxes
- isolated the 'givens' for each cell (piss easy) They are Blue
- isolated the 'Possibilites' for each cell - they are Red when
tentatively filled in
- isolated the definites for each variable cell - Red turns Green when
Locked
Problem is, I've tried various strategies,
- first 'brute force' and my XP just lingered - 16! (Factorial)
- then subtlety - let it learn the 'dead certs'
- tried a little 'heating' - shaking its neural network randomly

So far the results are brilliant, visually, but I'm stuck
- possibly I've imbibed a few too many and lost the plot
- but more likely, I have copied the data incorrectly
(right bitch Acrobat for getting data)

Anyway, I'll probably solve it when sober, but input data validation
would be appreciated

I might have screwed the table

Regards

[Drew]

You rose to the challenge :-) Shall peruse your musings more fully when
I'm also sober.

Best

[Jerry]

I've double checked the table
- it was 2:00am tiredness that made me miss the 'possibilty' for the
row that I thought was impossible.

So far I've isolated things down to three 'generic' blocks that look
the same internally
- I can detect the 'impossible'

I think that the trick is to treat the thing as 256 'entities'
- I have my teeth into this one

Funny,
I think I've come up with a topic
- in IIRC 1977 I had my first encounter with a computer
- a teletype printer running APL
- I got it to sing, but in return it warped my mind, as a result I
aquired a mechanistic approach which is fairly unusual
- normally I find a solution by intuition, then track forward from
starting point to justify it
- but 'systems' (computer or paper) have to be rigid and procedural
- simplistic in the extreme

I am darn sure that machine taught me a different approach

[Norman]

Any of you guys know anything about Null A Philosophy, It is a term I
came across on the inet today?

[Drew]

>Null A Philosophy
Null Andy Philosophy.
Nope. If I was paranoid I might be inclined to think that this was an
international conspiracy against me lead by the CIA, rather than just
the people I know. Is it interesting enough for me to look up or had
you just reached 'N' in your web searches?

Hexadoku. Table looks OK. Hard slog may be easier than macro (or C?)
solving but looks like they intend doing one a month for the
foreseeable so a solver would be nice.
Anyroadout, I have found the easiest way is to print out on A4 (to give
writing space) and fill in all the boxes with 'possibles'. From
that there will be one or two unique numbers but mainly there will be
multiple possibilities. However, within each 4x4 or in each column and
row there will be boxes where within the multiples will be some where a
number only occurs once. Ergo.....
Further to that one has to do elimination type stuff, such as four
boxes in a 4x4 etc with possibilities 12, 12, 1234, 1234 -- obviously
the third and fourth boxes cannot be 1 or 2. Not too trivial a program
I guess, not because of the formulae but because each box has to be
addressed with formulae.
BTW, I've filled three boxes so far. Makes a change from reading in
the 'library'.

Best

[Norman]

I didn't give this enough attention. Thought I had to open an account
see the details so just answered the question as it was posed in words.
Now I have opened the PDF and realise it is not so simple as the
question in words. Hmm requires more thinking. I wondered what all the
fuss was about.

Null A phillosophy is to do with symbolism and false logic. Like
convincing soldiers that defending a countries flag is the same thing
as defending their countries land. The same thing can be applied to
concepts of loyalty; freedom; patriotism etc. so now you know.

Best.

[Jerry]

The False Logic stuff sounds interesting - but for another day - like
tomorrow

However - right now I am crowing !

Finally I've cracked the bugg*r
- program on the way to both your Emails (Drew - I've sent to your
IDPS account, Norman, the A/C you mailed me on)
- source if you want it, it is VB5 (same as VB6), needs a little
cleaning, but you are welcome.

Not an easy one, it took time to tease out the logic, then it cracked
wide open.

On Sunday, I started by reading the Matrix and putting it on the
screen.
- nice to have something to look at
Then I produced three identical 'structures' that pointed to the
'Groups'
- Row, Column and Box
- the Matrix (obviously) contains 16 of each of those

At that point I got lost and started thrashing around.
- tried brute force - tried drunken coding
Monday was a write off - a combination of a hangover, a late night, and
an early start on the booze - extraneous reasons also for that.

Today I realized that one could examine each Cell in the Matrix and set
up an 'eliminated' list of possible letters
- if the list was one char long, then it was a dead cert (those are in
light blue)

Nice for the first cut.

I tried a 'back tracking' system, rotating the possiblity list, then a
frequency eliminator, then using random hits to decide which cells to
start with.

At that point, it was clear that I was onto a no-hoper, so I bit the
bullet and mapped the Screen so clicking on a Cell would show the
Cell's attributes. (Nice to re-write Windows in Windows).

( let the system solve the problem, then click on the Cells, you'll see
the primary possibility list for the cell at the top of the screen.)

Clicking around, and looking at the Cells, the penny dropped.
If any two cells in the same 'block' have the same possible letters and
there are only two letters, then it is clear that all /other/ Cells in
the same logical block /cannot/ contain those two letters.

Running a Row + Col + Box elimination for pairs, (eg: if 05 occurs in
two Cells in a Block, then zap 0 and 5 from the possible list for all
other cells in that Block)
- revealed a load of 'dead certs'

Reducing the possibility list for each Cell after accepting the 'dead
certs' gives one another go at finding identical 'pairs' of possible
numbers in each block.

At that point I thought I would need to expand it to locate three
'triples' in each Block, which would eliminate their contents from the
possible list for the rest of the Cells in the Block.

However to my delight, I found that simply checking pairs and zapping
the remaining Cells in the Block opened up joyous new pairs for the
next iteration
.... and to my surprize the program marched through and solved the
bugg*r
.... just like that !

The algorithm is :-
Eliminate impossible, take Ones resulting. try again
Eliminate possibles due to pairs, take Ones resulting, try
again.
Eliminate possibles due to triples, take Ones resulting
Eliminate possibles due to quads - nope - nothing to
eliminate there
( Quads indicate no one solution - I think )

Tomorrow I shall tidy up the code, make it 'maintainable' and
internally self-documenting.
- also add support for 'triples' - just in case the next one is a swine

I've not been so chuffed since I solved deletion in a Knuth B*tree in
1982 or optimizing Currency Traded Options Margins for PaineWebber in
1983.

Thanks Drew, that was diverting.

Regards.

[Drew]

Hell's teeth, that's incredibly cool Jerry. Stunned. We are not
worthy.

You identified independently one of the techniques I mentioned but I
hadn't appreciated that it could be used so effectively as the prime
system. So does it draw the data from the .txt or did you hard-wire the
software? If you want to streamline it for the next one, a 16x16
fill-in thingy would be good. Suggest you submit the answer to Elektor
'cos you've done the work admirably and you might have use for the
prize.

Off now to poke sharp things up my nose to jiggle my brain cells in the
hope they get rearrange as efficiently as yours.

Best

[Drew]

The Null A stuff sounds like a fancy term for 'there ain't no fool
like a willing one' or 'you can fool all the people etc', or
'there's one born every minute'. Interesting little term I came
across recently is 'scenario fulfilment' which means if you are
convinced that someone is a terrorist, everything they do will be
mis-interpreted as reinforcing the view -- and they get murdered in a
subway.

BTW, I nearly star rated Jerry's post, but resisted.

Best

[Jerry]

Drew,

The program reads the data from the text file : Table.Txt
- it needs to be in the same directory as the EXE
- otherwise the EXE squawks with a meaningful message.

I was talking nonsense about 'Quads', wine and tiredness, if one finds
four cells in a group with the same letters, then it works just the
same as 'pairs'
- it is eight cells with eight possibilities that is indeterminate

Definitely, you enter the competition, for a start you instigated the
challenge, also one of those 'starter kits' is about the least likely
thing that I would want.

You are talking about selecting the evidence to fit the hypothesis, not
uncommon amongst UK's finest. I am still seething from some sterling
evidence manipulation in a case in which I was tangentially involved.

Regards.

[Drew]

Hope you had a laugh at my suggesting you might want the 'starter
kit'. Best softy guys and gals I've worked with didn't even know
what a micro looked like, though I know you are not quite as divorced
from hardware.
So is it odd that I'm electronic yet softy and micro ignorant? I
would counter that within electronics there are many disciplines and
I'm at home with sensors, displays, PSUs, magnetics, interfaces etc,
all of which can be micro supervised but need hard electronics at the
core. See, I don't really consider micros as being electronics -- but
I guess I shouldn't make a virtue out of ignorance. Thing is though,
it's quite an outlay for each micro one plumps for so if you just
want to make a board to flash lights it'd cost £hundreds.

Anyway, still humbly impressed by your skills which would seem to lend
themselves to reverse engineering :-) However, here's an interesting
thing, how are sodoku (and hexadokus) generated? For the life of me I
cannot work out how they could be done by hand, then with numbers
removed avoiding ambiguity. So are they generated by software? You
interested in the intellectual challenge of generation? Just a thought.

Here's another interesting thought. I was recently web searching for
central heating kerosene suppliers in this area (for reasons of a
horrid long story which I have avoided mentioning) and found that many
of them don't have a web page, let alone on-line ordering. Perhaps
Scotland is a bit of a backwater but there do appear to be many
businesses who would benefit from web presence but because Joe Bloggs
and Son (established 1066) are doing it the same way they always
have........ So there is a targeting opportunity there for a roving web
facilitator I would have thought. Bit infra dig for you but it's
there for someone, preferably not an IT expert of course. Those experts
furnished Girvan library with half a dozen PCs, wide-band (or hard
cable?), free use but running XP with 128 Mb -- and shared by video!!!!
One wilts as one waits.

Sorry about your 'seething'. Interestingly I seethe a bit for years
too, Norman also I think? Is this an engineer (and allied)
characteristic?

Best

[Jerry]

When I first got involved with custom hardware it became glaringly
obvious that the optimum situation was to have an electronics guy
working very closely with a software guy.

I know of one case where the hardware guy also programmed, he used a
GAL for decifering the tracks on a credit card reader (something that
should be done in software) resulting in power usage that pulled down
the host machine.

One time I was busily implementing another credit card reader, a simple
device that read in a stream of bytes from a port (pseudo parallel)
without handshaking. My hardware guy was in the office describing how
/slowly/ the data came in relative to the speed of the CPU.
He illustrated this with a slow motion demonstration of a bowler.

Within minutes it became obvious that the data was piling in at an
incredible rate, and ones only hope was to store it in RAM as quickly
as possible without any processing or testing other than whether the
byte in the port had changed.

Hmm, thinking about it, years later I visited him at home and found he
was very depressed, the worst thing was that all his taps were leaking.
I returned with tools and fixed the lot, cleared out a 20 year
collection of plastic bags, piles of electronics mags dating back to
the steam age, resulting in a considerable improvement in morale.

Softies are more used to interfacing with the real world, a competent
coder has to understand the importance of 'presentation'.

I am pretty sure that Sudokus (and probably that Hexadoku) are machine
generated, the easiest way is to 'seed' a table, probably with random
numbers, then 'solve' it, then rub out cells. If one wants a unique
solution then I guess one needs to stress test it, which is what I'm
going to play with today.

Incidentally I've seen Sudoko machines advertised.

I looked into setting up simple web pages for smallish businesses some
time ago, my idea was to have a local directory at the 'front' and
styaalized advertisements at the lower level.
Frankly the idea got nowhere, partly idleness, partly because I could
see no real cash in it, also, at the time I was generating a very
healthy income.

There are people who set up simple pages for such businesses, I once
bought a pair of Loake shoes from a small shoe shop in Scotland that
turned up in a search. It turned out that someone had got in with the
local business organization and 'webbed up' their members.

Personally I don't much like doing Web design, I've done a few, but
generally as favours.
I prefer 'auto generating' HTML from data bases rather than designing
each page meticulously.

You have a point though, the real hurdle for people is buying the Web
space and doing the FTP.
There are plenty of page design packets about, Compuserve gave one out
in 1996 and MS Word is quite adequate for what is required.
If one is looking for a plumber then one hardly wants the guys Email
address.

Girvan library must be mad, one or two ADSL lines, a router, a switch
and a pile of GBP 250 machines running floppy-less XP Home or even
better a flavour of Linux, would do the trick just fine. A smart
operator would restore an image on bootup.
Also I would install the HDs in disk caddies so one can exchange them
in seconds.

While they have 'keys' a simple glue on security lock would be a good
idea, although they come with a security device that ensures they can't
be removed if the power is on, and I guess that could be jury rigged.

It is crazy running Virtual machines unless you want to centralize
administration (and vulnerability) which is the opposite of what one
wants or needs in a library.

In this case I'm seething because I suspected incompetence, it was 6
weeks after the death that I figured out what had probably happened - I
found a note made while on a telephone
- curiously a mobile, rather than my two land lines.

I figured I could get the call records myself, but failed. A year
after the event I got a copy of all calls physically on the 'phone -
the last two had been erased - 99% chance while it was in the hands of
the 'UK's finest'. It took me 24 hours to work out why.

It also explained why 'UK's finest' did their best to slag me off at
the inquest.
The amazing thing is that nobody even wants to explain what really
happened.
Ironically the person I'm 80% sure was responsible (albeit unwittingly)
is now suffering hell.
Actually I think I'll drop you an Email - you might have some ideas.

[Norman]

This is all getting a bit hard for me. I even have to think out
chemistry these days. But since you have both worked on ATM's here is
what should be an easy one for you. Why is the number pad on an ATM in
the reverse order of what it is on a conventional computer keypad? On
an ATM (at least in Belgium and I DO realise that the Belgians do
everything backwards) the line of figures 7; 8; 9 is towards you
instead of away from you as is normal. I recently had to get the bank
to send me a new pin code because I used my debit card to tank in a
garage which had a regular computer keypad (7; 8; 9 away from you) and
when I entered my pin code my fingers followed their usual dancing
routine they do to get cash from the bank. Couldn't work out why it
kept rejecting the number but realized when it was too late. Is there a
thought out reason for it or is it a NCR F up or is it an undisclosed
convention like the buttons on mens' and womens' coats?

Best

[Drew]

Mmmm, one has to admire the chap's ability to do the logic on a GAL
(Gate Array Logic, Norman) but not his wisdom for failing to appreciate
that there was a slightly more elegant solution. Needless to say I
don't like GALs, PALs, FPGAs etc either and they ain't my thang. I
do however generally recognise what is most appropriate. Ground rules
are changing though and if housekeeping logic needs more than half a
dozen gates, it's sensible and cheaper to simply slap in a cheap PIC
or similar. High speed stuff, discrete still rules of course and I tend
to capitalise upon the analogue capabilities of discrete logic for
nefarious functions. For me, 5 volts is often not simply a '1'.
That's because I do *electronics*. Each to his own, and as you say
co-operation between softies and hardies does the business.

Didn't realise you were into a bit of plumbing too Jerry. Guess the
old hardware guy asked for your advice on 'joints' and it went on
from there :-) I resist the temptation to discuss plumbing, there's
enough of it on the DIY site at the left of the screen. You looked at
it BTW? A lot of enthusiasm and one of the few groups which post into
the hundreds. How's your plumbing Norman? Man of your age and all :-)

Uhhu, HTML isn't what you'd call rock and roll. One *could* make a
living targeting all the medieval businesses in this area but
wouldn't get rich. Nor would you get rich telling Ayrshire Council
that their IT department is pure incompetent mince, even though it is.
Like the time they kitted out the Girvan school with their new PCs,
neglecting to equip them with CD drives. Siemens Fujitsu or something
like that too. One suspects shady dealing. In the area which kept
voting in *that* Andy Hill corrupt thicko.

UK's finest (receptive of course to email).
If that's as good as we can do then gawd help us all. Think it must
be irony. Bit like 'the beautiful game'. Don't actually object to
rugby though, especially when we give England a drubbing...... :-)

---------

Think I asked someone about the keypad but (to quote the famous
Belgian) 'my little grey cells' can't remember the answer. I'll
ask again next time I'm called upon to sweep the floors. Probably
something with Yanks being awkward just for the sake of it -- still
working on the Harley. Jeez no wonder the shuttle craft was a lemon.
But sense you mentioned chemistry can you answer this one? Since a
battery is basically the PD between two dissimilar metals in an
electrolyte, why does and how can the open circuit voltage drop with
discharge? Always thought this was a bit weird, after all the
international voltage standard is (was?) just a cell.

Best

[Jerry]

Ironically the guy I was talking about rang me yesterday
- synchronisity or what ?
I've not talked to him for about a year.

The voltage drop is different for different battery types, IIRC lead
acid batteries tend to drop under load, but NiCads keep the voltage up
until they die.

I also remember that charging a NiCad with too high a voltage makes it
remember the voltage, which sounds insane, but I saw it happen. Some
idiot changed lead acid batteries for Nicads, but did not modify the
chargers - as a result the Nicads were over voltage, so the idiots
opened the voltage limiter on the machine.

Astonishingly the CPU and memory did not burn, but the mechanical
printers screamed like demons and burnt out. Probably there were a few
more Zener diodes lurking around, at that time I knew what they were,
but not how to spot them.

Ironically the idiots who replaced the lead acid batteries with NiCads
were worried about an aircraft crash in Thailand that was carrying a
load of cheap watches - using Lithium batteries
- Lauda Air - ain't Gurgle wonderful

The old hardware guy is more into cookies.

The HTML stuff is something that needs organization, the back end needs
to be routine, scanning a business card and typing in a few keywords,
the front end needs a sales guy, even if it is just for extracting a
business card and a few key words.

I can't remember what the third component is, but I did set up
something like that a long time ago, and could not be bothered to kick
start it.

Darn good idea not putting CD's into machines in schools
- I would also disable all USB ports, obviously no floppies and
re-image from an inexpensive drive that has the write 'pin'
disconnected.

Kids can be quite smart.

I must have a good look at the next keypad I see.
Oddly I've never noticed that it is reversed or inverted.
Probably it is because the machines are targeted at non
calculator/computer literate people
- I remember that my A - Z keyboard was much appreciated

I've a memory of losing my temper with a cash machine, the queue behind
me let out a resounding sigh when I vented my fury. The machine was
strangely robust, and for two weeks I skulked around, but
un-necessarily as obviously the video cameras were (as usual) not
working.

M'Lud - It ate my card so I drop-kicked it - would have been an
interesting explanation.

Actually I was composing an Email to you when my old hardwire (sic) guy
rang, so he got an earful.

Since I need to resolve my source of irritation (and de-pension a lying
toe rag) before I move on, I'll probably need to avail myself of both
of your abilities to ensure that It does not go off half cock.
There is a lot to be said for revenge and a sudden reversal of 'public
opinion'
- but it needs lucidity and precis.

[Norman]

Essentially it is local interference. As you say, in theory they should
continue to produce a constant voltage until their energy is used up
and then suddenly drop dead. As experience tells us practice does not
parallel theory. Take the standard zinc / carbon battery often used in
kids toys. The most common electrolyte for this is what used to be
known as sal ammoniac (ammonium sulphate). When the circuit is made
sulphate ions travel to the zinc terminal and give up their electrons
forming zinc sulphate. The zinc goes from Zn -> Zn++ (+2e) (+SO4'')
-> Zn++SO4''. The Zn++ should in theory migrate to the carbon
terminal but what tends to happen is that the zinc metal gets encased
in a layer of zinc sulphate which gradually reduces the sites the
sulphate ion can access. And the reaction slows down.
Duracells are alkaline but if you have ever taken one apart there are
maybe 10 very tiny batteries connected in series even encased in an AA
battery. This is to reduce the effect of local interference.

A car battery is quite clever in that if you apply a current in the
reverse direction the reaction will also reverse. This has the effect
of cleaning the terminals (poles). Since you only need the battery to
start the car (and also to provide an earthing system) and the
alternator is capable of producing more than 12V, the excess current is
diverted via the voltage regulator back into the battery in order to
charge it up.

Hope this helps

[Drew]

Synchronicity. Got a phone call this morning from one of my ATM
contacts and he didn't know why number pad is different. So there we
go. I'll ask again, though if you ask a NCR top guy where his arse is
he'd struggle to find it. Probably go to committee.

Re batteries, yea that's about what I reckoned, local interference.
Talking off-load of course so removing internal resistance from the
equation. So the PD isn't simply that between two dissimilars. Still
can't quite grasp the physical arrangement, but a slightly better
picture anyway.

Direct NiCad replacement for lead acid, duh. That's why you need
analogue sparkies. They / we tend to have a better grasp of shades of
grey. As the saying goes, knowledge is knowing what you know and
knowing what you don't.

Synchronicity, that all started with good ol' Phil. The sensitive
nature conduiting, so he must have 'looked in'. How you doing Phil?
And us, we are entering the area of getting our own back. Jerry one
(?), me four (that immediately come to mind), Norman (too mature).

Best

PS five
PPS six (includes Thatch)

[Norman]

Forgot to say that it is not a good idea to have liquid electrolyte
inside A7's so they make it into a paste and that hinders free movement
of the ions to a lot of extent.

Too mature huh, te he he, he he.

[Jerry]

Interesting stuff.

Next time a Duracel dies I shall attack it with a hacksaw

Actually the problem with the Nicads was down to a Chinese hardware
house in Malysia, I've noticed that they tend to 'solve' problems in an
unconventional way.

For my radio I now use rechargeable NMh AA batteries, annoyingly they
are 1.2v rather than 1.5

It makes me wonder why they don't have two in series within each case
and drop the output voltage using a Zener diode. As I learnt to my
cost, it is easy dropping voltages and painful stepping them up.

The other annoying thing is that you have to be careful with the
charger, the darn thing has no timer - and if you overcharge the
batteries they fail.

[Drew]

There are composite batteries, but they are much more expensive and
less space efficient. Zener controlling is all very well but you lose a
lot of energy heating up the zener (and dropper). Much more sensible to
use a switcher PSU which if well designed will reach over 90%, step up
or down. One of my favourite subjects, magnetics, most sparkies fave
hate. Many of the current breed of white LED torches simply drop the
voltage and are pretty poor. No regulation either so light o/p is
inconsistent. In response to this I designed a maglite module the way
it should be rather than the expensive, poor efficiency ones kicking
about. Tell you, it's a bugger soldering sub-miniature surface mount
component by hand on home made non-masked PCBs. Ah such is perversion,
the same sort of derangement which entices people to spend a couple of
days creating a hexadoku solver. Hey, how about 3D soduko?

Best

[Jerry]

Interesting idea, 3D Sudoko, one for the physical games manufacturers I
think.

Sudoko seems to be a 'wimmin thing', so I'm not sure of the viability
- they tend to like pen and paper

Have you ever read David Lodge's 'Changing Places', the American
professor wanted to produce the definitive work on Jane Austen, so that
nobody could ever write anything about her again.
eg: put her to rest

Similar motivation with the Hexadoku - I'll probably release it into
the wild when I've added a Table Editor (stress testing by flipping and
rotating was yesterdays minor improvement to the opus).

I've not played with LED torches, but noticed that they appear to be
turning up in cars.
Quite some years ago a guy from Epson told me that they were working on
LCD displays on flexible plastic - a sort of roll up screen.

Your maglite must have been the most labour intensive one ever
constructed.

[Drew]

Who's Jane Austen? Must have worked.

I wondered if you had thunk to release your prog into the wild. No harm
in it really, and could lead to other opportunities. Dunno how one
would arrange 3D but the thing about the 9x9 is that once you've
cracked the techniques they become too easy. As you say, a wummin
thing, so it would appear. My mith does them, then Pa comes along and
shoves a wrong number in. A source of much friction.

Yup, roll-up LCDs are on the way. Polymer LEDs too. Still can't beat
a big CRT for top end pro stuff though. Suits me 'cos there is not a
lot of fixing one can perform on flat screens and roll-ups will be
completely non take-to-bits-able. Gonna see white LEDs for illumination
big time soon. Hopefully with more integrated drive electronics than my
effort. Regardless of the plethora of fancy switch mode LED drivers
available, I couldn't find any which optimised to the extent possible
with discrete components. So there is a hell of a lot of cramming in my
torch. And there are millions of small inductors now for the express
purpose but none of them could match the efficiency of a hand wound.
Dumb or what. Actually wrote it up as an article for publishing but
after acceptance the mag changed ownership and they wanted to turn 9k
words into 3k. I declined, somewhat miffed. Send you a copy if you want
a laugh.

Best

[Jerry]

I've pondered over that Hexadoku thing.
- the thing is, that by releasing it, one destroys the concept.

It reminds me of a time when we coders started doing crosswords at
lunchtime, then one of the guys brought in a crossword solver gizmo,
and the whole thing ceased to be interesting.

I'm not much interested in graphics so I think I'll give the 3D Sudoku
thing a miss.

While I'm tempted to get an LCD, for space reasons, I'm well aware that
they are only useful in their 'designed' resolution, so I'm sticking
with CRT for now.

When those screens come out big time, they should radically change the
market, for a start they should be pretty cheap - and they'll
revolutionize the design parameters for small devices.

Do I understand correctly that your 'maglite' design is substantially
better than existing versions ? Also that you had to create your own
assemblies from hand built components ?

If so, the design should be pretty marketable to component
manufacturers, once one has established a 'benchmark' people find it
pretty easy to get the same result by a slightly different route.

I probably would not understand the paper, but I would be interested in
an idiots guide on how the thing works.

[Drew]

Don't know if you have come across it but one of the projected uses
of roll-up LCDs if for newspapers. Instead of buying landfill every day
you just do a quick download at your newsagent.

Yes my maglite is substantially 'better' than existing designs, or
was anyway. Things have moved on in the last couple of years. More
powerful LEDs, better colour too. Magnetics are still not optimised
though as far as I am aware. My design however was never intended for
production, too labour intensive, more it was an examination of the
principles and functional optimisation. I'd be pleased to send you
the article, nice if *someone* read it. It's over 12 megs because I
never scrunched the drawings so let me know.

Best

[Norman]

How Stuff Works are doing a piece on Sudoku but each page of the
article wants to set so many cookies I got fed up deleting them out and
never got to the end.

For someone not up on electronics, what is the difference between LED
and plasma screens in terms of quality and lifetime.
I must say that when I use my CRT on the desktop it does not appear too
bad but when I put my laptop on next to it seems as though I am looking
at it through net curtains.

I don't know about roll up screens but I did see a roll up keyboard
at the last computer fair. I thought that it seemed a good novelty but
couldn't imagine a good use for it. I am sure somebody bought one
though.

Best

[Drew]

LED, CRT, LCD, plasma (aka cold cathode), electro luminescent, and a
bunch of less well known such as the projectors which use hundreds of
thousands of little flipping mirrors. Nice to know that such amazing
micro-miniaturisation and technical genius should be employed for such
vital function -- football in pubs! Anyway, CRT at its best is still
the most vibrant but many prefer the 'solidity' of LCD. Certainly
the old cathode ray tube's days are numbered, just when it became
perfected. Lifetime is generally not an issue as long as they last five
years, which most do. Failure of LCD is usually permanent other than
backlight or cable failure. Early days they suffered badly from
poisoning or in-gassing but all sorted now. CRTs themselves virtually
never fail though I have (once) come across scan coil shorting, they
now being bonded to the tube in manufacture. The electronics are a
different matter and usually repair can be readily effected but I'm
about the only person in the world who bothers.
Large size LED displays have not yet reached viable manufacture but
they're coming. Main problem is the materials just don't lend
themselves to large scale fabrication. LCD have drive transistors
associated with each pixel but they are 'plated' on rather than
being cut from a muckle big wafer. Can't vapour deposit traditional
LED materials. However, organic LEDs can be low temperature grown on
flexy substrate, so too of course roll-up LCDs.
So you pays your money and takes your pick -- or in my case you browse
the skips.

There was a SF series or film a few years back with a roll-up music
keyboard. Can't remember where I saw it. Star Trek perhaps?

Best

[Jerry]

Interesting stuff

>From a layman's point of view I consider Plasma too darn dangerous.

LCDs are nice, provided they are working at the right resolution, but I
use 800 x 600 on a 17" screen, so I'm pretty sure that it would look a
bit rough.

The concept of roll up LCDs really intrigues me, I'm less sure about
roll up keyboards as you would not get much tactile feedback.

[Drew]

800x600! I much prefer 1024x768 on my 17 inchers but I do a lot of CAD.
Just waiting for a 19 to come my way. Does one take it that your ocular
organs are less than perfect? Finally I have got a KVM switch for
running two machines at the same time with one keyboard and mouse.
Could have slapped one together of course but when things are so
cheap..... ebay from Hong Kong, eight days. OK one of the cables was
short circuit but that's just my duff luck.

Yea I think too that roll-up keyboards would lack responsiveness, bit
like when your blow up doll gets a puncture.

Best

[Norman]

I put a KVM on my wish list for when I get Linux. €29 was mormal but
I found one guy at the computer fair selling them for €20 with
cables.

I shall send bicycle repair man around to see you.

Best

[Drew]

Maybe you know all this but if not it might help with your selection.

'Tis very useful now I've fixed one of the moulded cables. Cheap
ones like mine have a click switch to toggle the channel. Couple of
LEDs indicate which is active. You have to make sure the correct LED is
lit before it boots past POST otherwise Mr PC can't find mouse
/keyboard -- and you have to wait for the OS to load before powering up
the other PC (after toggling the switch). More expensive ones probably
detect automatically but you'd probably be locked out whilst the
second one boots.
Theoretically the keyboard and mouse could be simulated so you
wouldn't have to wait but the switch would probably have to load the
parameters from the mouse/keyboard and that would be messy. Even if all
devices can run with the same parameters, the protocols are not trivial
so gets more expensive.
Power is supplied from the keyboard and if the serial port can't
supply enough juice you'd have to plug in a small PSU. I didn't
have any problems in this respect.
Some switches have a software hotkey but some people don't like this
'cos it isn't necessarily configurable which screws up game players
a bit.
As I suspected, the video degrades quite noticeably. Not a prob for me
'cos I wanted two screens up and running but any cheap one will
probably suffer the same.

Best

[Jerry]

I use a four channel Belkin KVM switch
- no problems with bootup

However annoyingly I got a model with just one button that involves
cycling through the channels
- they do one with 4 buttons

Yes, Drew, I'm short sighted, but refuse to wear specs while on the
computer
- IMO computers degrade the eyesight

[Norman]

I need reading specs even for the computer; the thing IMO that buggers
your eyes is not taking them off when you do very short term actions
like getting a coffee off an adjacent table. I think it is the laziness
of looking into the distance when you still have them on that causes
the problems.

Best

[Drew]

...and if you haven't heard the story.....

"So remember class, self abuse leads to blindness."
"Please Sir, is it all right to do it till you need glasses?"

Best

[Jerry]

The problem with computers, and reading, is that ones eyes remain at
the same fixed focal length.

It can help focussing on something else periodically.

I only really need specs for television, driving and street signs
- navigating using a map in a car is a nightmare
- forever removing and replacing the specs

[Drew]

My eyes are getting so ropey that I need to wear spectacles for
dreaming.

Best

[Norman]

Ah, but do you use reading mirror shades so that the people in the
dream can't see you?

Best

[Jerry]

Oddly, I once knew a copper who had a breakdown.
He had a peculiar machine with goggles that generated psychedelic
images
- dreaming specs ?

[Drew]

....a copper who had a breakdown -- did he go to PCs? Ha ha ha ha ha.

Remember all those ads you used to get for X-Ray specs? How did they
work then?

Best

[Jerry]

Actually he got paid off rather well
- I was never sure how much was an act

Too right, I remember them, in the back of 'Superman' comic books
- there is something to be said for the Trade Descriptin Acts