Rob Miles University Lecturer and Microsoft MVP. And tall.
March 21, 2020 5:19 pm
If you are into electronics you should be into Fritzing. It’s a fantastic way to visualise circuits at breadboard level, schematic level and finally on a PCB. I’ve been using it for ages. I’ve just installed it again on my newly built PC and I noticed that this time there’s a proper option to pay. Which I was very happy to do. Software of this quality deserves to be supported. Read more →
March 20, 2020 5:06 pm
I’ve been self-isolating now for a couple of days and so I now feel that I have acquired sufficient experience to be able to give out a few tips to you, dear reader. After all, it is only a matter of time before you have to do it too.My biggest tip so far is to do something that I’ve been doing for a while anyway. When I stopped having a “proper” day job a few years ago I found that it was hard to… Read more →
March 19, 2020 5:02 pm
Looking forwards to playing Animal Crossing on your Nintendo Switch but not looking forward to spending fifty quids to do it?You can reduce the hit on your wallet a bit by heading over to ShopTo where you can pick up the download for about ten pounds less. Read more →
March 18, 2020 4:27 pm
I thought that the Facebook Portal TV was an interesting device when it came out, but at the time I didn’t think that I had a particularly good reason to own one. That changed this week, with the prospect of spending a while unable to meet up with people in person. So I’ve got one. It works rather well. You clip it to the top of your TV and plug it into your TV and the mains adaptor and away it go… Read more →
March 17, 2020 4:19 pm
These are the strangest times that I can remember. And I go back a long way. Today we discovered that one of our family was showing some symptoms that meant that we have to go into “self isolation” mode. The good news is that self-isolation doesn’t stop you from sitting in front of a computer for multiple hours a day, and so I think I’ll be just fine. Read more →
March 16, 2020 4:13 pm
The Little Bookshop in Leeds is one of my favourite places on the planet. Really. It’s just a lovely place with a great selection of kids books and a splendid cafe. We went there today for lunch and it was great. There was a definite “end of term” feel about the whole affair, as if we were doing something for the last time for a while. I really hope that the nasty things that are coming down the t… Read more →
March 15, 2020 3:47 pm
If you’ve ever played with a Raspberry Pi you’ll be familiar with the annoying way you have to configure the device before you can use it. You might have no intention of using your shiny new Pi Zero W with a keyboard, screen and mouse but to get it set up you have to connect them all.I thought I’d found the answer to my problems in the form of these serial connectors. You can connect them to the s… Read more →
March 14, 2020 10:18 pm
Today I completed the installation of the Evohome system. The system comes with two remote controlled relays, one for hot water and the other for heating. There’s also a remote temperature transmitter which you attach to your hot water tank. Once I’d done the wiring I had to take the controller unit around to each device and “bind” them together. This was slightly hampered by the fact that the con… Read more →
March 13, 2020 10:20 pm
I’ve been meaning to do this for literally years. A while back I got all enthusiastic about replacing the radiator valves in the house with computer controlled ones, found out how much it would cost and then backed off a bit. Earlier this week, armed with my “You’re not going to the MVP summit” bonus (in the form of a hotel room refund) I ordered a bunch of bits from these very helpful people and… Read more →
March 12, 2020 10:16 am
On the plus side, I’ve finally got Una the Ultimaker to print something that has actually turned out quite well.On the minus side, the dishwasher has just produced a load of soaking wet dishes. Read more →