Week of  23rd August 1999

Last Week

Monday, 23rd August

Night shifts again. Still waiting on an interview appointment.

Before going to work today, I decided to try another upgrade. Celery has one of the original 266MHz cache-less Celeron processors, but the motherboard is capable of handling a 366MHz chip, using a 5.5 clock multiplier. It just so happens that I bought one of the last 366MHz Slot 1 Celerons (with 128kB cache) earlier this year. Now to fit it.

Take the cover off Celery - the first time I've done this since the CD-Writer went in. The CPU is not easy to get at, the power supply is in the way. OK, unbolt power supply. Now I can get at the processor. Pull the 266MHz unit, plug in the 366 - making sure that the module is fully seated, and that the heatsink fan is plugged in.

Now for the smoke test. Power it up. Things start to happen, but then it hangs completely, just where the BIOS is trying to identify the processor. Oh. Replace the 266 processor. Machine starts with no problems.

Back to the 366. It hangs again. Oh, dear, I think I need a BIOS upgrade. This motherboard has flash ROM for the BIOS. I can download the updater, and do it myself.

In your dreams. The way things are at the moment, if I try this, Mr. Murphy will have a field day. Much safer to take it back to the shop, and let them do it. I'll get a quote on my way to work.

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Tuesday, 24th August

The charge to upgrade the BIOS is UKP20, plus the dreaded VAT. It's worth it for the peace of mind. I'm quite happy to install and reinstall applications, and even the OS, but BIOS upgrades are risky - with my luck, I'll end up with a useless motherboard.

Later: Celery has had his brain transplant, and seems to be faster - he should be, the processor clock is now over a third higher, plus the effects of L2 cache. I haven't done any benchmarking, so there are no objective data, but I can live with that.

The saga of the new transmission facility and how, and by how many people, it will be staffed, drags on. There is now even more FUD than before - rumours abound, and no-one is willing to stand up on their hind legs and say this is where we stand at present for the record, or even off it. There is even less firm information about future plans and events.

I had a chance to bend the ear of one of my current employers' legal department (this is the only company I've ever heard of where the legal people also act as a personnel department - or should I call them "Human Resources"? I am not a resource, I am a free man! with apologies to "The Prisoner"). She was not impressed by events, and took copious notes with a view to trying to find some concrete data. I, and colleagues, were rather impassioned, I'm afraid. Ah well, if I get fired for protesting, I'm no worse off.

The new operating company is rumoured to be aghast at the amount of missing information in the original contract documents, which were drawn up by my present top bosses (none of whom have ever worked at the sharp end of broadcasting, although they like to think that they know better than the horny-handed labourers who actually run the system). I was expecting something like this, but never in my worst nightmares was the effect so severe. If the operating procedures are this ill-defined, Finagle help us with the actual hardware.

Apropos this, my spies inform me that one of the commercial TV broadcasters in the UK had this manufacturer's kit installed over a year ago, and they have only just started using it in earnest. This is proper, grown-up TV, not the Mickey Mouse operation I work in, so what hopes have we got?

Ancient Chinese curse:     May you live in interesting times

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Wednesday, 25th August

Jane and Sarah will be back in London this evening, ready for the latter's GCSE results on Thursday. They will travel up by train, returning to Cornwall for the rest of their holiday tomorrow afternoon. I will meet them at Paddington rail station, and play chauffeur. Must try to tidy up a bit before they arrive.

Later: Well, I tried - it wasn't enough, or wrong, or both. It seems that, as far as housekeeping goes, I can only be wrong whatever I do.Mind you, I shouldn't cast stones; when it comes to computers, I'm the same.

Jane brought Cornish pasties back for all of us, plus the makings for another cream tea. Yum.

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Thursday, 26th August

Obtaining Sarah's exam results was a shambles. No-one (except one girl, whose mother is a teacher at the school) knew when to attend, although letters were alleged to have been handed out. What letter? Sarah denied all knowledge.

Results were, however, good. Of 10 subjects (I only did 8!), Sarah got 'B' or better in all but two. Unfortunately, one of these was her main subject, Geography, in which she got a 'C', and the other was Latin, which she failed. She can continue to the Sixth Form with these results, with the same specialism. Well done, Sarah!

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Friday, 27th August

Interesting developments over the last two days - thye've finally extracted their collective digit and put something on paper. All the videotape operators have blanket job offers with the new company, no questions asked - no interview or anything - at current salary. This is on paper, dated today. Maybe my rants on Tuesday have had an effect. It's too late for some of the lads though: at least two are leaving completely. I did warn my bosses.

While Jane has been away, I've been shuffling video equipment. The second VCR (the one without the modulator) is now plumbed into the satellite receiver so that it can be watched. I couldn't do this before, the lack of modulator was a bugbear, although I could use it to record - that's what I bought it for.

Where it is now, I can plug Fujisan into it to record audio clips. There are two I particularly want to get - the telephone ringer from the movie "Our Man Flint" and Commander Susan Ivanova's 'avenging angel' speech from "Babylon 5". I've got to find my off-air recordings of these before I can do the grab. This finding is not trivial. I'll be using Cool Edit from Syntrillium for audio recordings. I've just installed the evaluation version on Fujisan - Celery already has a copy.

I commented elsewhere (in "Equipment") that Sky is getting too greedy for my taste. Well, it has happened. The subscription is going up to UKP32 per month for everything, starting 10th September. Not me, though. I've ceased subscribing to the sports channels. So Sky is actually UKP3 per month worse off because of the subscription hike. It won't make a blind bit of difference - they've got several million subscribers, and one change like this is a drop in the bucket.

I'm going to start experimenting with facsimile and data reception on the HF bands, particularly weather data. To this end I've bought an HF receiver (cheap, end-of-line - cheapskate again! - but it has had good reviews). Now to search for appropriate shareware, if the modem so permits. More on this later.

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Saturday, 28th August

I started the search for Ivanova's speech today. One of the two tapes it could be on is in the house, the other is in store. Of course, Mr. Murphy got his oar in - the tape I want is the one in store.

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Sunday, 29th August

More freelance work tonight - fairly short notice (earlier this week).

This afternoon I'm going to visit some friends, who are also science fiction fans - the televised sort that is. They are less into consumption of the written stuff, although Julia writes fan fiction for her favourite series.

I know it's well after the fact of original publication, but this quote from the "IT Sneak" column in IT Week, dated 1st Feb 1999, is rather good (or perhaps not if your employers are among those who are unprepared for the Millenium Bug):-

Y2K - JUST SAY NO

Dear Mr Sneak, our records indicate that you have not used any vacation time over the past 100 years. As I’m sure you are aware, employees are granted three weeks of paid leave per year or pay in lieu of time off. One additional week is granted for every five years of service. Please either take 9400 days off work or notify our office and your next pay cheque will reflect payment of $8,277,432.22 which will include all pay and interest for the past 1200 months.

Sincerely, Automated Payroll Processing

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