@timholyoake.uk
RetroComputing. Liberal Democrat. Caterham 7 Owner. In remission from Mantle Cell Lymphoma. More often at https://oldbytes.space/@psychotimmy Blogs at https://z80.timholyoake.uk/ , https://mcl.timholyoake.uk/ & https://railwaywalks.timholyoake.uk/
My problem with Labour. Policies matter, and language matters too. Starmer and Mahmood repeatedly use language and propose policies that validate Reform's rhetoric.
If they spend the next 3 years telling voters that Reform are basically right, will they be surprised that's what people vote for?
"Families of failed asylum seekers will be offered up to £40,000 to leave the UK under a trial scheme announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood."
Previously, on the "Island of strangers"...
It was very useful for sorting my emulator out, along with a lot of experimentation to find out where the manual didn't quite match up with the delivered s/w and h/w. Much more useful than the 80K BASIC manual, which uses a very literal translation of Japanese into English!
There are a lot of compromises in the 700. The 2nd character set for example - you can't PRINT them, only POKE! My understanding is that it was thrown in at the very last minute. The 700 seems more of a colour 80K than a colour 80A - it's a shame the 700 wasn't based on the 80A way of doing things.
Ported my Spectrum Rick Roll code across to the Sharp MZ-700. What took the longest was writing the code to match graphics to the highly restricted SharpSCII character set
tautology.org.uk/blog/2026/03...
I know from my Pico MZ-80A & MZ-700 emulator that scrolling is handled differently on both. The 80A implements it in h/w, so is available to the monitor, BASIC etc. You can toggle between 80A & 80K (no scroll) mode. The 700 implements s/w scroll in Sharp BASIC - so not available to the monitor ROM.
Boring, boring thought - perhaps that shows there was no 'don't know' option, so people pointed randomly and/or the interface for the map was cumbersome to use.
It’s not. Its political results are that of a standard European democracy in 2026, mediated through a worse electoral system.
Hi Tom, I have one 5.25" disk that contains the first programs I ever wrote for an RM 380Z under cpm. Happy to let you have this, as I have no way of recovering the data and the disk is somewhat warped. If you could recover anything off it it would be a bonus!
A trio of floppy disks: a big 8" disk, a fairly ordinary 5.25" disk for PCs, and an Apple FileWare (aka Twiggy) disk.
Do you have 5.25" and 8" floppy disks that are spare, low-quality, degrading, or just generally in bad shape?
I'd like to take my floppy disk data recovery game to the next level. I have equipment, but there's no substitute for experience.
Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.
Is there anything more boring than football fans and pundits talking endlessly about VAR? It's just a game for goodness sake.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Feeling smug that I've never felt the need to join a discord.
The end of a game of Reverse on the Pico MZ-700 emulator. The score was 59 to me, 5 to the computer.
More testing for my Pico MZ-700 emulator. I do like it when a computer tells me I've played the perfect game and that I'm great 😀
#RetroComputing #RetroGaming #PicoMZ700 #SharpMZ700
It's been reasonably dry today (a couple of heavy showers) but there's another weather warning in place for tomorrow. I only moved here in August and I've clearly brought the rain with me!
River Otter, Ottery St Mary, Devon. The river is high, but not flooding.
Ottery St Mary afternoon #SilentSunday
Just day 19 and 20 left to finish now - the weather has been dreadful and there's not much improvement on the horizon :( #adventofcode2020
github.com/psychotimmy/...
The real reason I'm leaving The Great British Baking Show Trump is threatening bombing the likes of which Tehran has never seen Prue Leith
the Spectator accidentally recycled a subhed from a previous day’s article about Tehran
Good choice :) Asteroids plays nicely on my MZ-80K emulator too! z80.timholyoake.uk/the-pico-mz-...
A close-up of the Sharp MZ-80K computer, shown running running Asteroids.
Doing a little exhibition refreshing. We've put the Videopac G7000 away for a while, and brought back an old favourite, the Sharp MZ-80K:
An advertisement promoting the development of telephone infrastructure to combat unemployment. It uses a bar chart to compare telephone penetration per 1,000 people in various countries, highlighting the low rate in Great Britain. The ad emphasizes the employment opportunities and the numerous industries benefiting from telephone development. Telephone development helps to solve the unemployment problem Every million pounds spent on developing the telephone in this country gives employment to 6,500 people. Upwards of 40 different industries are directly concerned in the manufacture of telephones and accessories, and every new subscriber means more work for British industries. These industries form the "Telephone Development Association" by whom this advertisement is issued. Among them are the following: Telephone Instrument Makers. Exchange Equipment Manufacturers. Cable Makers. Copper Wire Trade. Metal Trade. Accumulator Makers. Timber Trade. Insulating Material Manufacturers. Tool Makers. Duct Manufacturers. Lead Trade. Brass Founders. Cotton and Wool. Chemicals, Lacquers and Plating Materials. Iron Castings. Precious Metals. Carbons. Electrical Instruments. Contractors for Road Works. Etc., etc. The figures on this chart indicate clearly the necessity and scope for development of the telephone in this country. The British Public is only now awakening to the advantages of the telephone and to the fact that at its rental of 2s. 6d. (or less) per week it affords an economic, as well as a rapid and convenient, means of communication. It will be interesting to trace its growth through the next few years. Issued by the Telephone Development Association, Aldine House, Bedford Street, W.C. Tel: Regent 2155
Advert Lucky Dip: Jan 1926: Telephone Development ad from Telephone Development Association (more at @OldUKPrintAds.bsky.social)
(+Telephones; Telephone Instrument Makers; Exchange Equipment; Cable; Copper Wire; Metal; Accumulator; Timber; Insulating Material; Tool; Duct; Lead; Brass, and more)
Ottery St Mary #Devon afternoon.
457 British troops lost their lives in Afghanistan.
Trump avoided military service 5 times.
How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.
My goodness the weather in Ottery is hideous today (and has been all week). As my normal outdoor activities have been curtailed, I've started #AdventOfCode 2020 in #Fortran 77 (mostly). 11 days completed. Will I get to the end before the weather perks up?! #RetroComputing
github.com/psychotimmy/...
Britain is one of the best places in recorded history to be born, live, work and grow old. Lots of room for improvement obviously but combat the pessimism, it’s the forerunner of fascism.
As someone who grew up in America & is very fond of the American people, I never thought I would see the day when an American president would threaten the UK with tariffs for refusing to allow them to ‘buy’ the territory of another sovereign country and NATO member against its clearly expressed will
“Trump announces plan to hit UK, Denmark and other European countries with extra tariffs over Greenland”.
Starmer’s US policy lies in tatters. Trump is now punishing the UK and NATO allies just for doing the right thing.
Time for the PM to stand firm against the bully in the White House, and work with European and Commonwealth allies to make him back down from this reckless plan.
Liberal England: Saying Reform UK are "just the same old Conservatives" may not be the smart line some think liberalengland.blogspot.com/2026/01/sayi...
“Britain has been in decline” says Robert Jenrick who served in the Conservative government for 12 years.
BBC Breaking News: Robert Jenrick sacked as shadow justice secretary after "plotting in secret to defect", Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says Ed Davey: One more rat is leaving the sinking ship - the Conservatives are out of ideas and Reform only have bad ones.
One more rat is leaving the sinking ship - the Conservatives are out of ideas and Reform only have bad ones.
