Author Archives: zedstarr

Well that was a long ‘un! One of those never-ending days at work, but unusually, one where I feel like I actually achieved something! Useful meeting, presentation went well, couple of useful phone calls where people actually had the right info. and were helpful! Wonders will never cease. Just popping out for a spot ofContinue reading “Phew – what a day!”

ok, so she’s asleep next to me, here I am typing (poking & prodding more like!) on the laptop keyboard, trying to keep it quiet… it’s 11:27 and I’ve got to be up at 04:30 – am I mad? night night!

“Welcome to WordPress.com.” They said. And that was it. Thrust onto the informational-super-blogospere-way. And so it begins…. cxf.

“My eyes have turned to toast, and my ears are bleeding” – surely one of the all-time greatest lyrics, ever. I’ve just discovered it on Japanese Spam Hammer‘s “Bra Hair” – a debut album from 1998 that still sounds fresh today. But more than fresh – it will knock into a cocked hat any “madeContinue reading “Japanese Spam Hammer”

Had a trip to two interesting places in Texas today: 1. Dinosaur Valley State Park, near Glen Rose, Texas and 2. Pate Museum, near Forth Worth, Texas. Both places contained evidence of Dinosaurs. The first, the Dinosaur Valley State Park, has real dinosaur footprints in the rock of the river-bed. The footprints were made aboutContinue reading “Dinosaurs – prehistoric & post-war”

EMOS what? EMOS who? It’s a phrase from my days in the Marconi TAC24 (Technical Assistance Centre – 24 x 7). EM-OS was the GPT/Marconi SDH Element Management Operating System – basically an SDH Network Element manager running on HP-UX on HP J2240/J210 and similar workstations. (Later EMOS was merged into Marconi’s “ServiceOn” product portfolio,Continue reading “EMOS Heaven”

Well, what do you know? You’re happily plodding along, doing your usual day to day stuff, and life goes and throws a spanner in the works! Reminds me of the John Lennon quote “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans“. In this case my other plans included a business tripContinue reading “Pneumonia + Pleurisy = NOT GOOD”

Well, my quest for world domination from the back bedroom continues… Latest project – a dedicated stratum 1 NTP server for Farrow HQ! Got the 1PPS, ToD etc. coming out of the Symmetricom TimeSource 3100 (see previous post!) so all I need is a ‘puter to do the NTP bit 😉 Fancy one of theseContinue reading “NTP server – what time is it?”

OK, so this working from home lark – not really possible when your home-office is in the dining room which is right next to the front door, at the front of the house. Everyone that comes through the front door wants to say hello, and then there’s the postman, and all the other distractions justContinue reading “Moved upstairs”

well… I’ve gone and done it. ebay was truly my friend, and produced a mini-mac mini (mac) and now it’s living in my house. Un-ceremoniously dumped on the floor for the time being (study/office move to upstairs pending…). So now there’s a mac living in my house! And it’s great. Just plug in and go.Continue reading “gone over to the light side :-)”

Well, things on here went kinda quiet for a while, all because I went and got one of those pesky “new job” things! Lots of travelling and working and other distracting things…. But things have settled down a bit now, and I’m lucky to be able to work some days from home… But I’m notContinue reading “Working from home….”

just days after the warranty expires, the hard disk in my Toshiba Qosmio decides to do impressions of a chug-chug clunk-clunk fan with rattling loose bits inside! Yeeeeeeuch! And even though I’ve got back ups, since the last one I’ve done a mammoth amount of work… ouch! At least it’s only £50-ish for a newContinue reading “Goodbye Qosmio….”

You know, all this computer geekery is sometimes a bit too much, and what you need is a good dose of low-tech. I love a good drill, and this B&Q own brand one is a corker! And it’s cheap. AND it’s got a completely useless LED light…. genius. cxf

Hmmm. Things don´t always go to plan do they? My euphoria at being in Mac OS X land was short-lived… that portion of my pennies earmarked for a venture to the light side has been diverted to…. wait for it…. a new dining table (a monster!), 10 chairs and a dresser/sideboard thingy! So no shinyContinue reading “Switched off… on to wood.”

I think I´ve found computing Nirvana! Mac OS X is such a nice place to be I don´t think I ever want to leave! I´m now officially on the hunt for a Mac! So impressed was I when I tried OS X, that I think I´ve been converted! There´s no clutter in OS X´s GUIContinue reading “Switched?”

aka the pondering of the Apple OK, so first there was Apple’s own switch campaign. If money was no object, then I would gladly add some Cupertino goodies to my technology stable (currently full of Windows, Linux, Symbian and Solaris mongrels) – BUT – cash resources being finite, Macs have always been on the wishContinue reading “To Switch or not to Switch…”

Since Marconi has died (or about to be swallowed up by Swedish Giant Ericsson!) I thought I’d auction off my remaining Marconi branded items, before it’s too late! Or look at it another way and perhaps I should be holding on to them for thenext 50 years until they’re really valuable?Who knows?And in other newsContinue reading “Marconi and Rabbit clear out!”