Doug's Blog http://www.drj-electronics.com// Random thoughts on IT, Radio, Scouting and other topics.... en Copyright (c) 2009 Doug Jackson Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:34:00 GMT The OshonSoft Pic18F Programmer http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/PIC18FProgramming.html Recently, I was playing with a simple PIC18F4455 based board that had FORTH in rom. Just my cup of tea. Unfortunately, the programmer let me down by not correctly writing into the EEPROM. Having consulted the Microchip programmers manual, I have modified the devices.cfg file that is used so it correctly reads and writes EEPROM.

Attached is a zip file containing the software, as well as the schematic for the programmer. It is placed here as a backup in case the originals go away. If you are the rights holder, and you want them gone, then just let me know

 updated config file for PIC 18F4455 devices.
updated config file for PIC 18F4455 devices.
 Original sources from Oshensoft
Original sources from Oshensoft
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:34:00 GMT PIC18FProgramming
RSC Forth System - Forth Development ROM - R65FRx http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/RSC-Forth-Doco.html One minor Note - The rom I have here is v1.5, and there is an anoying issue with the floppy disk routines - prior to use, the disk buffers are located in a memory area that is outside of real RAM on the RSC board, therefore you MUST execute the following command before any disk routines will work.

HEX 1800 MEMTOP

If you are the copyright owner, and you are sadened that I have posted this information online, then I would appreciate it if you were to email me. Happy to remove the data - but, please keep in mind that I suspect that this is probably the final resting place for this information, and I am confident that there are individuals who would appreciate it if you were to make it available.

 R65FRx Forth Dev ROM
R65FRx Forth Dev ROM
 RSC Forth Board Doco
RSC Forth Board Doco
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:48:00 GMT RSC-Forth-Doco
Cosmac Elf System http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/Cosmac-Elf.html What is an ELF you may ask - Well - it is a single board trainer that first appeared ina magazine called "Practical Electronics" in about 1976. It is based on a RCA microprocessor called an 1802, has about 256 bytes of memory, and uses switches to manipulate the address and data busses to load software.

I first saw one about 15 years ago, and decided that it simpy wasn't practical to obtain the parts to build one - Well, thanks to the power of e-bay I obtained the hex displays, memory and CPU. A bit of scrounging around in my various parts bins nettwe me the rest of the components I needed, and a couple of evenings of effort later, and - Here it is.

My first program was a program to turn on and off the 'Q' LED based on the state of the input button - Gosh, Wow - Gee wizz.

Hmmm - Can I get an OO language for it

 Top View
Top View
 Front View
Front View
 Rear View
Rear View
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Sun, 04 Feb 2007 06:19:00 GMT Cosmac-Elf
Sian received her Grey Wolf Certificate http://www.drj-electronics.com/Scouting/SB-GreyWolf.html For those who do not know, in Australia, the Grey Wolf is the highest award you can earn in the Cub Scout section. It is the equivalent of the old Yellow Cord. She was one of 12 other recepients within the ACT for the last 6 months.

I am soooooo proud of my girl.

Here is the obligatory pic:

" Sian receiving her Grey Wolf Award"
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Scouting Sat, 25 Nov 2006 12:11:00 GMT SB-GreyWolf
Diebold Voting Machines are still insecure http://www.drj-electronics.com/Security/Diebold.html For the Australian's that don't know, Diebold make an electronic voting machine that is used across the USA to count elections. If we are *really* lucky, here in the ACT, we will get them soon as well, as we know that Electronic Voting is the only way to go (tm)..

There are unfortunately a couple of *minor* problems, most of them are too technical for non-technical readers to understand, but one problem that has just surfaced is that the locking mechanism that is used on the machine to keep it closed uses *exactly* the same key as come computers, and vending machines. Even the same key number. One researcher remembered seeing a key just like it in a previous job, and sure enough, it was the same.

It turns out that these keys are extremely common!!!!

Here is the Article

All I hope is that when the Australian Government decides to rattle down the Diebold voting path, that they employ some people with a clue to perform the security analysis of the solution. Until then, stick to the good old Pencil and Paper! ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Security Tue, 19 Sep 2006 05:18:00 GMT Diebold Google is flexing their trademark rights http://www.drj-electronics.com/General/Google-trademark.html Once upon a time there was a company called BIRO who made pens. Unfortunately, the integrity of their trademark has been compromised because everybody calls Pens Biros. Linux had a bit of a kick in the teeth recently as well, as they decided to try to trademark their brand after it was generaly used.

I wish Google luck in their quest to modify basic human behaviour. But keep in mind that there is a little bit of data available in the Australian Trademark Office - Google have only applied for a trademark under classes 9, 38 and 42. under trademark law, you have to specify the range of goods and services your mark applies to. This is to prevent name space conflicts. eg Ford have a trademark relating to cars, but not to hot beverage containers.

I thought it would be prudent to list what was included in classes 9, 38 and 42:

Goods & Services

Class: 9 Computer hardware; computer software including computer software for searching, compiling, indexing and organizing information within individual workstations, personal computers or computer networks; computer software for electronic mail and facilitating workgroup communications over computer networks; computer software for creating indexes of information, web sites or other resources

Class: 38 Providing electronic mail and workgroup communication services

Class: 42 Computer services in this class, including on-line personalized information services; information extraction and data mining; providing access to proprietary collections of information; creating indexes of information, web sites and other information sources; providing information concerning a wide range of text, electronic documents, databases, graphics and audiovisual information

Keep in mind that this list does not include the following products you may see on the shelves shortly:

  • Cuttlery
  • Dinnerwear
  • Picture Frames
  • Beverage Containers
  • Snack Food

Remember, you saw it here first... Isn't IP law silly (Kind of like genetic or software patents)... ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /General Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:28:00 GMT Google-trademark Sian is awarded her Grey Wolf http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/Grew-Wolf-Award.html She has spent the last couple of months finishing her Gold Boomerang, and making sure that she had completed the other requirements, and on Saturday, she finished her hike, so she made it.

Peta also finished everything for her award, and Sian and Peta wanted them to be awarded simultaneously. So it is official, Sian and Peta are the second Grey Wolf holders at Lake Tugg Sea Scouts.

I am soooo proud of all of the girls, well done

Next, they will be invited to a special presentation from the ACT chief comissioner.

 Sian recieving her award.
Sian recieving her award.
 Sian and Peta being howled by the pack.
Sian and Peta being howled by the pack.
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:00:00 GMT Grew-Wolf-Award
Sian's Grey Wolf Hike http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/Grew-Wolf-Hike.html Here are some photos.

  Sian walking up the hill
Sian walking up the hill
  The group at the top.
The group at the top.
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Tue, 08 Aug 2006 21:59:00 GMT Grew-Wolf-Hike
Megans new bike!!! http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/MegsBike1.html Megs is very excited, as this bike has gears (Which is a first for her). I am very proud of her achievements. We picked the bike up on Tuesday, and on Saturday, she rode with Sian and myself to Tuggers (about 10.2km return). Today, after church (Where I played flute again- cool), we both rode from home back to church for a cell group leaders meeting. (About 15km return.)

We are now aware of our legs and various other portions of our anatomy.

But it is fun.

]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Sun, 30 Jul 2006 10:08:00 GMT MegsBike1 Blue and Green must never be seen. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/BlueandGreen.html Being a male of the species, I operate under the simple color rule as mentioned above. "Blue and Green must never be seen". Well, you can imaging my concern when Catie pulled out a green shirt, and a blue tie.

Well, the only way of solving the problem is to go to the Internet. There was a helpful page on somebodys blog, but Cate dismissed that as being an unreliable source. Well, we all know that Wikipedia is the one true source for all things on the Internet, so I looked there. Hmmm There was no mention... Hmmm... I can fix that I thought, and within about 60 seconds, Wikipedia was improved to support my argument. Wo Hoo.

Here is the proof. Wow, my first Wikipedia article.

 My Wikipedia page
My Wikipedia page
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:46:00 GMT BlueandGreen
My First Ebay Experience - Yay! http://www.drj-electronics.com/General/EbayScammers.html You wont believe the last 2 days - On day 1 - I initially put the auction up with a buy it now clause - and within an hour, somebody decided to purchase it - Wo Hoo - Unfortunately, it was a Mary Smith, with an account created that morning, living in the USA - Well, I calculated the fedex shipping charge as $135 AUS, on top of the $500 they wanted to pay, and sent off an email. I get the following response -

Hi, I would like to pay for this item via Bank Transfer, you know

my address is in US,but right now i'm in Nigeria,i was sent there on a

Business Trip,and i want to give it to the Head of the Department as a

gift, so i will like to know if you can ship it to Nigeria,i dont mind

paying any amount for the shipping cost,pls if you can do this for me

i'll be very grateful.if you accept kindly send your full name and

account detials which am going to send it to.

Well, let me guess - An American, living in Nigeria, Just created an ebay account for dear little me - Gosh - Wow - I can't believe my luck - I just have to tell them my bank account details - << NOT >>

I sent them a response that indicated that I believed that they were Dirty Nigerian Scammers, and relisted the auction - In 7 days, ebay will refund me the $8.00 listing fee. - The relisting was without the buy it now option.

Next day, I discovered a bid - Yay - Looks like I might be selling the phone..

I also discovered a number of questions - All telling me that I can purchase similar crap from their ebay store. - Hmmm.

And finally, it looks like I am now receiving about 3 random text emails from russia every couple of hours. - I wonder what those are. Right now, I am using them to teach my spam filter what spam looks like

Yay!]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /General Tue, 11 Jul 2006 23:29:00 GMT EbayScammers Construction Night http://www.drj-electronics.com/Scouting/Construction_Night.html Tons of fun was had by all. We used light weight balls, so no injuries hapened when people were hit. We also has a game where we had to hit a target on the floor.

Here are some photos so people can build their own.. Thanks to Jackala for the ideas.

 A cool Catapault
A cool Catapault
 They Missed Jackala!!
They Missed Jackala!!
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Scouting Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:37:00 GMT Construction_Night
Sian has her Gold Boomerang. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/Gold-Boomerang.html Well done Sian. I am very proud of you..

 Sian getting her award
Sian getting her award
 Sian getting her award
Sian getting her award
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:37:00 GMT Gold-Boomerang
Cate spoke at the Legislative Assembly today!! http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/cate-legislative-assembly.html I was soooooo proud of her when she spoke. I thought the entire Trinity team spoke very well. Surprisingly (for me), I was impressed with the Speaker of the Assembly (Wayne Berry), as he spent the entire day with the kids chairing their debates. In fact, when he spoke, he provided usefull insight into the subjects that they debated.

Wo Hoo!

Here are some pics - Sorry, I didn't take my trusty SLR digital, I had to resort to the phone...

 Cate outside the Legislative Assembly during mornig tea
Cate outside the Legislative Assembly during mornig tea
 Cate talking during the debate
Cate talking during the debate
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:49:00 GMT cate-legislative-assembly
Digital Photography and Backups. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/DigitalPhotographs.html Anyway, at the Patent Office, I was heavily involved in a document imaging project that used a massive 450Gb disk array to provide copies of abstracts to patent examiners for their day to day examination functions. This disk array was in a 19" rack cabinet and had a StorageTec tape silo attached to it to ensure that the data was backed up, which it was. In fact, there was a team present to ensure that it operated correctly. We stored data as Tiff files to ensure readability later, and all was good in the land of document imaging.

Now, we move to the present day . I purchased a Cannon EOS 350 digital camera, and it is amazing. As a suitable replacement to my aging, but still superb Canon AE-1, it is brilliant. For the first time in years, I can take photos with no obvious consequences, just delete the ones you don't want, and all is right with the world. No more paying $30 - $45 to get a roll of film developed, and the pictures are so portable. I can email them, crop then for the web site, email then to the newsletter editor for the local scout group, etc, etc, etc.

But some quick math, and a little thought, suggests that there may be a problem looming. Under my bed is an old suitcase that contains all of the photos (and negatives) I have taken in the 20 or so years I have owned a camera. That is relatively secure, and is not subject to loss through a disk failure. So far, I have over 8 Gb of data amassed in the 6 months I have owned the camera. What is about to happen to my storage world? Am I able to ensure that there are no circumstances where the 16Gb / year I am probably going to use gets dropped onto the digital floor? I am confident that the mirroring strategy I have used will help, but I am also sure that Mr and Mrs Joe Average don't run mirrored servers, and have a backup strategy in place.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. What happens when the imaging or data storage standard changes. As an avid CP/M enthusiast from years ago, I have all sorts of storage devices, ranging from 8" floppy disk through to the Amstrad 3" floppy, through to a stringy floppy. Not to mention all of the data I have amassed on cassette tape. (Yes, I know that the data on those mediums is being compromised with age, I am working on digitising everything, but that adds to the digital problem). With storage formats and mediums changing over time, much of the worlds historic data being created today is probably under threat. Returning to Mr and Mrs Joe Average, I am pretty sure that they don't change their storage formats to ensure that their data is secure.

At least the media that is my old photos is fairly secure, at least until I die. How shall I protect the new material? Well, I have recently discovered the art of scrap booking. I think that may be a significant part of the answer. But, don't let that plan detract from the long term strategy of purchasing more and more disk storage. Remember the one who dies with the most toys wins ;-) ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:27:00 GMT DigitalPhotographs Full motion video done on an 8088 CPU. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Software/CGAVideo-8088.html Here is the link - www.oldskool.org/pc/8088_Corruption

Clearly this was done without a windoze front end.. So it begs the question, where would we be today if the operating system of choice wasn't so heavy.

]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Software Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:38:00 GMT CGAVideo-8088 Our Long Weekend In Numurkah. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/Numurkah-Holiday-6-2006.html We went on a pilgrimage to Megan's Mum's House in Numurkah. The drive down was uneventful, staying overnight in Holbrook, and getting there before lunch on Saturday. Double demerits apply during this weekend, so we have a real incentive to not get booked. And the boys in blue were out in force - good on them.

Maggie arranged for Megs and me to stay in a very nice Bed And Breakfast on the new highway (As it turned out, the B&B had just been sold, so we were the last customers). In all it was a great weekend, just spending time with family.

I have attached a large swathe of photos that Cate and I have taken, showing typical sutff we saw on our trip. Megs really enjoyed the oportunity to catch up on her reporting for school.

We also got to speak to Suzy, and her wedding is on 22 July at the registry!!! Wo Hoo!!!

 Cate and Sian on the road between Holbrook and Culcairn
Cate and Sian on the road between Holbrook and Culcairn
 Cate and Sian at the Howlong Park
Cate and Sian at the Howlong Park
 Sian trying to fly
Sian trying to fly
 Rutherglen Water Tower - A Wine Bottle!
Rutherglen Water Tower - A Wine Bottle!
 Inside the Bed and Breakfast.
Inside the Bed and Breakfast.
 Megan writing reports for school
Megan writing reports for school
 Numurkah footbridge repairs- Yes it really *is* closed
Numurkah footbridge repairs- Yes it really *is* closed
 See!!!!
See!!!!
 A fire Hydrant - Because Cate and I could!
A fire Hydrant - Because Cate and I could!
 Numurkah's Post Office - Very Typical Australian
Numurkah's Post Office - Very Typical Australian
 Water Wheel - Numurkah is an irrigated ares
Water Wheel - Numurkah is an irrigated ares
 Court House - No longer in use
Court House - No longer in use
 Cate thought this shop display was cool
Cate thought this shop display was cool
 One of the many pubs in main street
One of the many pubs in main street
 The War Memorial
The War Memorial
 Cate at the memorial park
Cate at the memorial park
 The Fire Station
The Fire Station
 The RSL Hall
The RSL Hall
 The flag at the RSL Hall
The flag at the RSL Hall
 A disused water tower
A disused water tower
 The old water plant
The old water plant
 Cate and Sian at the Train Park.
Cate and Sian at the Train Park.
 Cate and Sian at the Train Park.
Cate and Sian at the Train Park.
 Cate and Sian at the Train Park.
Cate and Sian at the Train Park.
 The Rotunda at the Train Park
The Rotunda at the Train Park
 Cate and Sian on swings
Cate and Sian on swings
 Typical inside house - relaxing
Typical inside house - relaxing
 Rutherglen Sign
Rutherglen Sign
 Mt Prior Winery - Mmmmm
Mt Prior Winery - Mmmmm
 Ruins outside Howlong
Ruins outside Howlong
 Morgan's Lookout
Morgan's Lookout
 Cate, Megs, and Sian at Holbrook - Submarine Park
Cate, Megs, and Sian at Holbrook - Submarine Park
 Enthusiastic Police presence on Double Demerit Weekend - Tarcutta
Enthusiastic Police presence on Double Demerit Weekend - Tarcutta
 Cate and Sian outside Dog on Tuckerbox - Gundagai
Cate and Sian outside Dog on Tuckerbox - Gundagai
 Look, I was there!!!!
Look, I was there!!!!
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:37:00 GMT Numurkah-Holiday-6-2006
Sian built a cool helicopter using Magmax pieces http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/sbj-helicopter.html
Sian-Helicopter1.jpg
Sian-Helicopter1.jpg
Sian-Helicopter2.jpg
Sian-Helicopter2.jpg
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:42:00 GMT sbj-helicopter
Sian performed in a duet, in a production at the Canberra School Of Music. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/Sian-Performance-ANU.html The show was really impressive, with a wide variety of pieces, including dance to poetry. All pieces had a spiritual focus, and were very interesting.

There was a great write up in 'Panorama' magazine on Saturday, where the work was described as 'Glimpses of the infinite through poetry, Dance and Music.'

All at the wonderful age of nine. I am really proud of her!

I didn't get any pictures of her performing, as that is not the right thing to do, but I got a great one of her waiting for the performance to start.

 Sian waiting for the performance to start
Sian waiting for the performance to start
 Sian and Megs outside the Canberra School of Music afterwards.
Sian and Megs outside the Canberra School of Music afterwards.
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Sun, 04 Jun 2006 21:40:00 GMT Sian-Performance-ANU
PS2 Keylogger http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/ps2Keylog.html It was a ton of fun to complete, and still needs a little work. Here are a couple of photos of the device. All it needs now is some heatshrink to protect it.

The next step, is to do the same task for USB, but I suspect that it will be more complex, as the USB bus is quite a bit faster than the PS/2 Bus.

 Front
Front
 Rear Closeup
Rear Closeup
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Sat, 03 Jun 2006 14:00:00 GMT ps2Keylog
Wastage in Toolcases http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/toolcases.html ----- That it contained a DIP insertion, and DIP extraction tool, kind of like those we would have used back when memory was in the form of a 16 pin DIP package. Gosh !!!! I haven't seen those parts in years.

The bit that scares me is that somewhere in China, a factory is producing these things in bulk.. When Will IT END (tm)..

  A toolcase - Check out the dip insertion and extraction tools in the middle...
A toolcase - Check out the dip insertion and extraction tools in the middle...
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Fri, 02 Jun 2006 03:20:00 GMT toolcases
Employees are an Agencie's biggest security threat http://www.drj-electronics.com/Security/EmployeesThreat.html Earth shattering information found:

" Federal employees pose a bigger threat to private data than the computer hackers most security systems are designed to thwart, privacy officials and lawmakers said.

Many agencies are vulnerable to the same type of security breach that occurred most recently at the Veterans Affairs Department, said Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit group concerned with technology.s impact on privacy. In the VA case, which was announced publicly May 22, a laptop containing names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of 26.5 million veterans was stolen from the home of an employee who was working on a project. "

It is about time somebody actually write that down...

Here is the link to the entire article:

http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=1829430]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Security Fri, 02 Jun 2006 00:14:00 GMT EmployeesThreat The TRS-80 Model 100 and PC 1 http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/OldComputers.html My first job was a summer job working for the School of Biochemistry at the ANU, writing a program for a Toshiba T-300 that controlled a Microplate reader, read the results from the plates, and plotted them.

All the code was written in Basic. Essentially, the researcher would fill a tiny sample plate that contained 12 rows of 8 wells with stuff, and the machine would robotically move each cell (under computer control) to an absorption measurement device that would record the transmission characteristics of the sample at a specific wavelength. The data would be shipped off to a computer, and the process repeated for 96 cells.

I don't remember the chemistry of what was occuring, but I do remember that the team ws trying to find a mechanism to seperate X and Y chromosome markers in Cow semen, so that a farmer could purchase a test tube containing only cows, instaed of bulls. Interestingly, this research was in 1986, and I saw on the news recently that a major commercial breakthrough had occurred and this technology is now commercailly viable.

As a summer project, it was pretty cool, and the most interesting part of the problem wasn't writing the serial code to do the controll, instead, it was writing the plotting software to deal with abritrary scales on the data.

The job was finished, and the final payment was a cheque to the value of a Shiny new TRS-80 Model 100 (with 32K of RAM). The ANU could not purchase a machine for me due to asset control problems, but they could make out a cheque. I remember depositing the cheque in mu parents bank, and marching into the Tandy shop, and having to attract the attention of the sales guy, as I surely wasn't really going to make a purchase.(Remember I wasn't 18 yet...)

It wasn't long before I discovered that the internal modem only worked in the USA (Using Bell 103 tones, instead of the CCITT standard we use here). I spent the time to understand how the op-amp based bandpass filters worked to calculate new resistor values for the CCITT tones. The mod to the modem chip was trivial (change the mode pin from Bell to CCITT, but the bandpass filters caused me grief for a couple of weeks.

The second mod was to allow the device to supply (or recieve power) along the serial cable (using pin 13 from memory), so I didn't have to carry around extra cables.

And finally, I modified the light pen interface on the side to accept an Atari joystick, and replaced the proprietary Expansion ROM connector to allow me to use normal JEDEC standard parts.

Those were the days - You could get the rom dumps, and make the changes yourself.

I have also found my TRS-80 PC1 - Never did any hardware hacking with it, as the doco wasn't available, but have found that he full doco is available now. Just don't have the time available now days!

 TRS-80 Model 100
TRS-80 Model 100
 TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1
TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Wed, 31 May 2006 22:23:00 GMT OldComputers
If the opposition doesn't want a nuclear power plant, then they had better hurry up and get into government. http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/politics-nuclear.html Mikal that puts into words all that we have been seeing here on the news... That the opposition party here (Labor) does not want a nuclear power plant. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1646199.htm> (See story Here).

The bit that Mikal neglected to bring to the attention of the world in his post was that Our Labor party actually isn't a Labor party in the true sense of the word. They are closer to being conservative, and are probably breaking some Trade Practices law by operating under the Labor party sign. All of those good votes from those sheep who have ALLWAYS voted Labor.

Come to think of it, the current ALP here is operating under the same ethos, they are not the true ALP I know of the 1970's who would shut any public health fund without even thinking. They are, of course, happy to sell of any public infrastructure they can, as they believe that a buck in the hand is better than a hydroelectric scheme any day!!!

In any case, it is a moot point, because the opposition is so far in opposition, that they have started launching debates in the House of Reps in inappropriate places - such as trying to replace all of the words after 'that' in the phrase "we would like to vote that the bill be read a second time....". OMG! Anything to get airtime in the house. They certainly won't win any votes, because they dont have the numbers.

My point.... Well, I'm getting to that... Why do the opposition even bother talking, when it matters not? While they continue to meander down the path of enlightenment they are currently going down, all of the votes directed to them by the sheep who have always voted that way, are being negated by the votes being given to the ALP by the similar sheep. Until they do something that causes the voters who consider each parties issues on their merit to vote for them, then all is lost.

All is lost... All is lost!

On the whole nuclear front, it is very interesting to note the overall cost of developing a Solar Cell to the planet, is considerably higher than the amount of energy it will ever return. In spite of focused research over 30 years, this hasn't changed. It is about time we looked at alternative technologies. Just don't make it it my back yard!!!

How about we start turning off the lights in the kids rooms when they aren't there, and turning off the PC's when they aren't being used. Gosh... ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Wed, 31 May 2006 22:20:00 GMT politics-nuclear New Blogging Software http://www.drj-electronics.com/Personal/NewBlog.html

I am now using Blosxom, which is a 'do it all yourself' environment. At least there are lots of examples from others, so it isn't hard. It is also statically generated, so the kiddies can finally go and get stuffed.

If you agregare from me, you may like to point to index.php20 instead of rss2.php.

love Doug ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Personal Tue, 30 May 2006 13:04:00 GMT NewBlog RSC Forth System - 65F11 65F12 Board http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/RSC-Forth.html I constructed my unit is a small enclosure, and originally installed a 720K 3.5" drive that I borrowed from tech. Tech wanted their drive back after a couple of months, so I installed a 80 track 5.25" drive. 4 years ago, I decided to replace the 5.25" drive with a 3.5" unit.

The 65F11 is an interesting device. It had a 6502 core, and all of the forth primitives in mask rom, as well as I/O controllers all on chip.

Many fun hours were spent developing forth code on this system, and I eventually used it to develop my multi radio controller as a tech project. It used the 65F12, which had tons of I/O.

I still have all of the doco rom Rockwell, as well as the binary images for the Rockwell forth development ROM, If anybody is interested, I'll post them online.

 Drive View
Drive View
 Front View
Front View
 Rear View
Rear View
 Inside View
Inside View
 PCB Detail View
PCB Detail View
 Box with M100
Box with M100
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Tue, 30 May 2006 12:12:00 GMT RSC-Forth
Acoustic Couplers and the TRS-80 Model 100 http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/AcousticCouplers.html From memory, I received my first formal warning when the system admin of our school looked at the teletype records that were printed whenever anybody dialed up (yep, I didn't know about that *early* logging technology.)

All at the blistering speed of 300 baud. At least it was battery powered, so the whole thing was portable.

Those of you with a clue may ask 'But the TRS-80 Model 100 was well known for it's internal modem... Why did you have to resort to an acoustic coupler? '

Well, 1) Originally the internal modem of the TRS-80 was set for Bell 103 tones, not CCITT (The component changes hapened later on, and yes, it worked a treat, and 2) The acoustic coupler worked a treat in public phone booths..

 TRS-80 Model 100 with an Acoustic Coupler
TRS-80 Model 100 with an Acoustic Coupler
 TRS-80 Model 100 with an Acoustic Coupler
TRS-80 Model 100 with an Acoustic Coupler
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Tue, 30 May 2006 12:11:00 GMT AcousticCouplers
The Inaugral Canberra Kub Kar Rally http://www.drj-electronics.com/Scouting/KubKars/KubKar-Rally.html Both Otama and Oxley packs were represented in the finals, which is an amazing effort.

Here are some photos. I'll supply more to our magazine editor, so that they get published.

Congratulations to Sian, Sam, and Megan from LTSS for being finalists.

  LTSS cubs receiving awards
LTSS cubs receiving awards
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Some Cars
Some Cars
  Registration
Registration
  Some Tracks
Some Tracks
  Racing
Racing
  Racing
Racing
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Scouting/KubKars Mon, 29 May 2006 04:06:00 GMT KubKar-Rally
Great effort from Otama Pack with their Kub Kars http://www.drj-electronics.com/Scouting/KubKars/KubKars-OtamaPack.html
 Sians Car
Sians Car
 Stephanies Car
Stephanies Car
 Petes Car
Petes Car
 Micks Car
Micks Car
 Daniels Car - What a great paint job!
Daniels Car - What a great paint job!
 A Car
A Car
 A Car
A Car
 A Car
A Car
 A Car
A Car
 A Car
A Car
 A Car
A Car
 A Car
A Car
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Scouting/KubKars Mon, 29 May 2006 03:44:00 GMT KubKars-OtamaPack
Here are some photos I took at the KubKar Seeonee earlier this year http://www.drj-electronics.com/Scouting/KubKars/KubKars-OriginalTrack.html
 This is a track that I saw
This is a track that I saw
 This is a track that I saw
This is a track that I saw
 This is a track that I saw
This is a track that I saw
 This is a track that I saw
This is a track that I saw
 This is a track that I saw
This is a track that I saw
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Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Scouting/KubKars Mon, 29 May 2006 03:43:00 GMT KubKars-OriginalTrack
Now I Understand !!! http://www.drj-electronics.com/Security/MicrosoftSecurity.html Now I understand why windows is so unmanageable without admin rights. None of the people who design the systems are subjected to the same controls that hundreds of millions of users have to put up with. Why on earth did they design a product, and then fail to use it in the way that they designed it? Here is the link: http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot?m=5621]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Security Wed, 24 May 2006 01:07:00 GMT MicrosoftSecurity Electrostatic Protection http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/ElectrostaticProtection.html We logged the service call yesterday, so the service is extremely prompt, and the tech that arived was friendly enough. He had all of the appropriate spares.

The faulty laptop was then disassembeld in it's entirety to replace the motherboard, on the coffee table... WITH NO ANTI STATIC PRECAUTIONS. The tech was wearing a large wollen trenchcoat, and was probably charged (it's a dry environment here..).

When I were a lad, we used wrist straps, and everything was grounded. Either (1) things are no longer static sensitive, or (2) he was slack.

We should know in a couple of months. ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Wed, 24 May 2006 00:07:00 GMT ElectrostaticProtection Reputational Risk http://www.drj-electronics.com/Security/Reputational_risk.html http://www.it-analysis.com/business/content.php?cid=8503

In the past, I have worked for some companies that would have benefited from having a read of this article. Chris T - I strongy recommend you have a read. ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Security Tue, 23 May 2006 01:37:00 GMT Reputational_risk IBM PC Power Suply Madness http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/IBM-PC-Power-Supply.html In the olden days, memory was a big deal. It was expensive and complex to manage in hardware. The IBM PC did not use the latest available memory technology when it was introduced; instead, it used 4116 chips from about 1974.

1974! I hear you say. Yes, the original IBM motherboard had the capacity to be shipped with 16Kb installed on the motherboard (expandable to 64Kb), using exactly the same memory chips used in the TRS-80 Model 1 from 1974. The original motherboard could support 64K on the motherboard, and could also support three 64K expansion memory cards, providing 256Kb in total. Remember that in that era, 256Kb was a big deal . the motherboard also had a cassette interface to allow data to be recorded onto tape.

Because the IBM PC used 4116 (16 Kbit x 1 bit) dynamic memory devices, a -5v power rail was required to provide a bias current for the memory chips. A suitable power supply was specified that provided +5v, -5v, +12v and -12v for the system to cater for the memory requirements.

Here is where it gets silly - We stopped using the -5v rail after 4164 chips (64kb x 1 bit) were common, but the brain dead, thoughtless, engineering involved in duplicating the IBM PC didn.t notice. Modern ATX power supplies still provide a -5v supply rail for these obsolete memory devices. But what about analogue cards you may say? In those cases, they use a -5v regulator off the -12v rail.

All of those components being installed into boards, to supply a function that is not required. All because the original design was .conservative., as IBM wanted to get to market quickly!

What a waste! ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Sun, 21 May 2006 13:26:00 GMT IBM-PC-Power-Supply 2006 e-crime and computer evidence conference http://www.drj-electronics.com/Security/ecrimeConf.html
From their web site, it appears as though they are yet to choose a theme, but they are interested in any of the following;

* Technical aspects of data recovery and analysis
* Technical aspects of network and/or internet investigation
* Legal apsects of investigation, prosecution or defence
* Criminological studies, theories and issues
* Use of computers in court
* Use of computers to support other investigations

Looks like it would be a worthwhile conference to attend.

Here is the link:
http://www.ecce-conference.com/ ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Security Mon, 08 May 2006 14:00:00 GMT ecrimeConf 4 Input 4 output RS485 Controller - PIC 16F84 based http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/4in-4out.html Here is the link

http://www.drj-electronics.com/projects/articles/4in-4out/index.html ]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Mon, 08 May 2006 12:49:00 GMT 4in-4out Fig Forth http://www.drj-electronics.com/Software/Fig_Forth.html As a card, it was kind of neat - 32K of eeprom space, and variable ram (remember 28 pin JDEC pinout parts).

The source code for the project is here;

http://www.drj-electronics.com/projects/software/figforth/index.html I have included the CP/M test version that I used to play with. It runs under any of the curent Z80 emulators (Joan Riff, etc).

To compile it, you will need a cross assembler called A80Z. It had a unique syntax.

Gosh, that has rattled some brain cells.]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Software Mon, 08 May 2006 12:45:00 GMT Fig_Forth Electronics Dumping and Recycling http://www.drj-electronics.com/Electronics/Electronics-Recycling.html http://news.com.com/2100-1040-844195.html

It would seem that recycling with the lowest bidder may not be the best thing for the environment.

On a recycling / recovery note, years ago when I was a trainee, one of the lab staff was recovering the silver from photographic solutions in a big plastic container under his workbench. I have a sneaking suspision that what made it economical was that it was done at work, and he wasn't paying for the energy.]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Electronics Mon, 08 May 2006 10:17:00 GMT Electronics-Recycling Forensics Boot CD http://www.drj-electronics.com/Security/ForensicsBootCD.html
This one is aimed at forensic investigations, in environments where the players have corporate credit cards, and limited time in their lives.

http://www.forensicbootcd.com/
It looks like a nice product from the supplied advertising, but I suspect that unless I part with some cash, I am unlikely to get to play with it.
]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Security Sun, 07 May 2006 14:00:00 GMT ForensicsBootCD Kub Kars http://www.drj-electronics.com/Scouting/Timers.html Progress note - The basic design of the timer is finished. Just have to get it down on paper, and cut the code. As far as the basic hardware goes, it is trivially simple.]]> Doug Jackson <doug@drj-electronics.com> /Scouting Fri, 05 May 2006 13:40:00 GMT Timers