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markb139

237 karma · joined February 25, 2013

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markb139··on SpinLaunch: Giant catapult launching satellites
I think Newton is on the phone... Once the accelerating force is removed the object will go into an orbit that includes the point at which the force stops. This however is Earth
markb139··on MicroPython on Flipper Zero
From my experience on the Raspberry Pi rp2040, adding C code to a micropython build is very straightforward
markb139··on J2ME-Loader: J2ME emulator for Android devices
You think you're old? I was part of the team at the other end of that stack building and debugging the Java runtime for the Nokia Symbian phones :)
markb139··on The final release of PalmOS, 6.1 Cobalt: colour, multimedia, and multitasking
I ported a Psion phone manager app (contacts & sms) to PalmOS. I can clearly remember the thrill of sending a message via the Bluetooth add on via a Nokia 6310i
markb139··on Horses may have been domesticated twice
I know very little about horses, but find myself surrounded by them thanks to my wife’s interests. We have a horse who is quiet natured and well behaved. But, the fight or flight instinct wakes up very quickly and he’s 600kg.
markb139··on Creating an autopilot in X-Plane using Python
25 years ago I did the same thing with MS flightsim as an interesting project. I took a similar approach except I was using Java. I got as far as being able to navigate to lat/long fixes. Learnt quite a bit in the process
markb139··on A Plea for Lean Software (1995)
>I've come to suspect the normal way large companies are organised makes performant software almost impossible.

I think this is a bit of an over generalisation. There were (and still are) many large companies producing performant and reliable software. I suspect when things just work (think of the global phone system) people don't realise how much software is involved. When was the last time you picked up a fixed line hand set and there was a software bug preventing you from calling any other handset on the planet - without varying delays or dropped packets?

markb139··on Apple iPod Shuffle USB interface pinout
I recently replaced the battery on a gen 2 shuffle. It was reasonably easy though required good eyesight
markb139··on CCP members threaten British public piano player [video]
I think the train station is private property.
markb139··on Rare 2,100-year-old gold coin bears name of obscure ruler from pre-Roman Britain
It may not be on the same scale of other countries, but the UK has gold deposits which have been mined for quite some time.
markb139··on Giving up the iPad-only travel dream
We have an 87 year old who is a real fan of her iPad for staying in touch, reading and audio books. I personally use 3 ipads - I hate to throw stuff away: 1) old 9.7 pro as main device 2) old Air 2 for Zwift (this will sadly retire when updates are no longer available 3) Even older Air for connecting to FlightSim for charts
markb139··on My 20 year career is technical debt or deprecated
Some of the stuff I’ve worked on (Nokia phones) have been museum pieces for some time
markb139··on RePalm
Way back in about 2001, I developed a text messaging (sms) and phone book management app for palmOS. I bought an m505 and a new fangled Bluetooth adapter. For the time it seemed revolutionary to be able to sync to a phone in your pocket without having to align IR ports
markb139··on Apple doesn’t want you developing hobby apps
In 2008 I applied for the program just to learn and write hobby apps. What put me off was after paying I had to prove to Apple who I was by sending a scan of my (uk) passport. As a non US citizen my data has very little protection, so i requested a refund. It took a long time, but got a refund and made a small profit thanks to the exchange rate.
markb139··on Ask HN: Math books that made you significantly better at math?
I had a similar thought back in 2014. I had only studied the maths required for various engineering courses I’d taken.

So, I decided I wanted to study maths for the maths. I was in the fortunate position of being able to self fund myself through the Open University (uk based) Maths and Statistics BSc. One module at a time I’m now on my last module. There many things I’d studied before (calculus, sequences) and many new to me (group theory, graph theory)

markb139··on Thonny – Python IDE for beginners
Yes, I can set breakpoints in the C code and run the firmware on a Pico. It’s all running on a Pi4, so it was just a matter of adding the debug pins on the Pico and configuring vscode (instructions followed in docs).
markb139··on Thonny – Python IDE for beginners
I’ve been doing the same, except I went one step further. I’m currently extending Micropython to add a DMA class to the RP2 port. I can build and debug Micropython via VSCode and use Thonny to write some Python to test. I could with the setup being a bit quicker (maybe an 8GB pi 4 would help)
markb139··on The Importance of Elders
Not all of us did
markb139··on Symbian Source Code
Just before the iPhone, I think Nokia were shipping about 70 million Symbian phones a 1/4 and had about 50% of the market profit. Then, it didn’t
markb139··on Symbian Source Code
The first Symbian based Nokia device was the 9210. I helped integrate the fax functionality - was amazing to see the first faxes sent and received :)
markb139··on Mark Zuckerberg on Messenger (2013)
We had instant messaging in the 80’s at college on a VAX. Admittedly only 8 people in any one chat.
markb139··on Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?
I use my Pi4 for raspberry Pico development work using vscode. The simple (press f5) debugging and a uart for printf() makes things super easy.
markb139··on You don't ever own an electric vehicle
Recently had water ingress on an Audi hybrid (thankfully covered by warranty). It turned out, after many calls, there is one service centre that could do the work in Scotland. It’s 250 miles away. It would seem even the official channels are struggling to fix the vehicles. Any young people looking for a career you won’t go far wrong training up to fix EV’s
markb139··on Senior devs. Is anyone else insulted by coding exams?
I interviewed for a 6 month contract and there was a programming exercise. My first question was, what unit test framework is available for the Python code they wanted me to write? “Errr, there isn’t one”. Ok, let’s create a simple one first then. I was offered the role, but I declined it.
markb139··on Bringing Palm OS devices back online – A journey into vintage computing (2019)
I ported the rather nifty Psion 5 app called PhoneMan to the Palm pilots. It allowed managing address books and sending and reading sms messages. I never quite got around to finishing the picture message functionality. I even had sync working with the Bluetooth module and an Ericsson phone.
markb139··on Does the human lifespan have a limit?
I’m in my 50’s and I’m a much better golfer than I was in my 20’s. Partly club technology has enabled me to hit the ball more consistently and partly I now don’t try and hit the cover off the ball each shot :)
markb139··on Ask HN: How can I make a “kid's computer” today as good as an Apple II?
A couple of years back I bought a microbit (in fact I bought two). "it's just a microchip" was the response.

I think he might be a future product owner as he was more than happy to give me requirements for a simple game, but had no interest in how it worked.

markb139··on What’s the Difference Between American English and British English?
There are others that work the other way. If you visit the uk and fall over don’t say ‘I fell on my fanny’ Or ask for a fanny bag
markb139··on Ask HN: Are most of us developers lying about how much work we do?
I’ve worked with a genuine 0.1x developer. Not only were they unproductive (which is fine if you are new or inexperienced in an area), but they actually reduced the productivity of others in the team. I think sometimes this was deliberate as a plan to get the team reassigned. Luckily I was a contractor and could largely ignore the politics and just get on with work.
markb139··on Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO
Aren't the schematics here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberr...
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