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On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:51:30 +0100 John PNZ <jh.pcgb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi Helen. There are several of your contemporaries around, of whom I > am one. Glad to make your acquaintance. I have, over the centuries, done so many things in conjunction with Plymouth University/Polytechnic that we have probably met few times over the years, though your name doesn't ring any bells. > Did you ever hear "Beware programmers bearing a screwdriver" during > your career? I got that quite often into the 80s, after which > everybody had one. Yes! I used to say it often! ;) > I hope you enjoy ARM assembling. If you create a web wiki to record > your progress and invite all and sundry to make observations it might > add something to the experience. The ARM Assembly learning will only be a little diversion, which might happen later than next year. My main Raspberry Pi project is building my enormous digital library. I have, over the years, collected up ebooks running into the thousands; mostly in epub or epub3 format, but some in pdf which is not easy to convert to epub3. I also have hundreds of talking books, about 16 thousand BBC radio programmes (especially the old comedy ones like The Navy Lark, Beyond Our Ken, Round The Horne, etc). about 7 thousand BBC TV programmes, along with a few ITV series and ripped DVD films and music CDs, etc. The project is to build a big database system for my library collection, using PostgreSQL as the database engine, and integrate all my favoured packages such as Okular for reading ebooks, daisy-player to read talking books, and vlc for video and music etc. It is about twenty years since I did any serious programming, and so need to refresh all my skills, and familiarise myself with the latest versions of PostgreSQL which have changed dramatically in the twenty years since I used to use that database engine regularly. I am currently refreshing my skills in SQL programming, and beginning the basic structural design of the database, whilst working out what metadata databases I can find on the net, and how to read and decode their data into my own database. I am taking this phase of the development at a leisurely pace to ensure that I look at every aspect of the future use of the data, so that I design a really rock solid database structure. I will then have to do some serious practice at Python programming because I've only ever used Python for very trivial things in the paat, snd so am no expert in that language. But Python is the natural choice for a Raspberry Pi project, and so I will use it. > Welcome to the list, > John. Thank you, Helen. > On Tue, 10 Oct 2023 at 05:56, Helen McCall > <helen.wildnfree@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > Hello Members of Devon and Cornwall Gnu/Linux User Group. > > > > I am writing this post as a brief introduction to myself, for the > > group. > > > > I am a retired research scientist living in Plympton St Maurice. I > > first learnt to program computers using ALGOL in the 1960s, at > > Hatfield Polytechnic. I went on to use various mainfame computers, > > mostly ICL Prime series running PRIMOS. I went on to tinker with > > various microcomputers such as Z80 based machines running CP/M, BBC > > Micro, and Acorn Archimedes. In the 1980s I had wanted to buy an > > Acorn Archimedes, but couldn't afford it at the time, and so bought > > a second hand Canon AS100 running CP/M-86. That computer had a > > truly massive hard disk drive in its own cabinet, the size of a > > modern PC tower case, and had a capacity of a whopping great 5MB! > > > > At this time, in the 1980s, I switched from using mainframes to > > using Unix workstations including those from IBM, Silicon Graphics, > > and Sun SparcStation. I worked on several projects including the > > design of equipment used for calibrating Earth Observation > > satellites, and did some early research developing mathematical > > techniques for machine vision and machine learning. In those days, > > we had to build the digital cameras ourselves. And email had to be > > manually routed! > > > > In the mid 1990s I had started designing myself a simple Unix > > workstation built from computer scrap I saved from the laboratory > > skip, to run the Minix cut down version of Unix. I then discoved > > that a young man called Linus Torvalds in Finland had been doing > > the same, but had given up with the awful Minix system, and > > designed his own Linux. I experimented with shoehorning the first > > distributions of Yggdrazil and Slackware onto my Frankenstein's > > monster of a scrap-built computer, but fortunately then discovered > > the Debian version 1, which was a lot better put together, and just > > needed me to adapt a few drivers to work with the computer I had > > built from an odd assortment of bits and pieces from things like a > > Silicon Graphics Iris, and Kontron Analyser, and other diverse > > computing objects. > > > > That electrified scrap-heap running Debian Gnu/Linux fast became my > > favourite workstation, much to the chagrin of my institue director > > who kept telling me he wanted me to use a modern PC running that > > awful MS Windows operating system. I resisted that idiot's demands, > > and have been using Debian ever since, whilst building myself > > better and better workstations out of the much higher quality scrap > > that the computer department kept quietly passing my way whenever > > things broke down on their system. > > > > To cut a long story short; in 2012 a friend gave me a present of the > > new Raspberry Pi model B (the original one with the short gpio). I > > loved that Raspberry Pi at first sight. It reminded me of the simple > > elegance of the Acorn Archimedes I had once wanted. And it even used > > Debian Gnu/Linux as its official operating system, and had the > > option of using it with the RISCOS operating system like with the > > Acorn Archimedes. I still have that original Model B, which I > > intend to use next year to teach myself ARM Assembly, because over > > the best part of the last sixty years, I've used nearly 40 > > different programming languages, and think it is time I added ARM > > Assembly to the list. > > > > Currently I am using a Raspberry Pi 4B as my workstation, and am > > looking forward to getting a 5B next year. My RPI 4B is the most > > powerful computer I have ever used, and is also the most fun to use. > > The 5B is very much better, so I will be in clover next year! > > > > Lots of love, > > Helen McCall > > -- > > The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG > > FAQ: https://www.dcglug.org.uk/faq/ -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG FAQ: https://www.dcglug.org.uk/faq/