new and old - part two

Made it safely home. Here are couple of shots of the load of treasures. Once we get it unloaded we may post a couple more photos.

still old and new...

Yes, it is strange that today's entry can share the same theme. Here we are 5 hours from home picking up antique furniture that belonged to my great grandparents. And it is "New Year's Eve." Get it? Okay, whatever. I knew it was a stretch.

My uncle contacted me recently as ask if I would be interested in my grandfathers old roll top desk along with a few other things that came over from England. We will rent a trailer and load it up this morning.

I will post some pictures of these treasures.

One more day in this old year...make it a good one!

The old and the new

The photo seems so appropriate for this blog title for a couple of reasons. First of all you technicians will notice that the meter my son and I are playing with is an antique. I found some batteries for it and my son and I decided to see if it worked. We were using it to measure the voltage of a small battery. As a three year old, this was Jesse's first experience with a meter. And thankfully, he learned how to use one the old fashioned way (zeroing the needle and all), before he ever learned to use a digital meter. That's the old part of the story.

Jess is now almost 20 years old. He is an electronics/computer engineering honors student at a local college. He has always had a bent towards the technical side of things. Just like his dad.

But the "new" part of the story is that he has moved on to the latest and greatest in technology. We enjoy talking about the future of computers and electronics. We prophesy that electrons will not be capable of handling the speeds and miniaturization of the new systems, so everything will have to move to transfer of information within particles of light. You are probably already aware that miniaturization has reached the point that electrons are too large to move "through" the wires. Can't wrap my "old" mind around that concept.

I know there are much smarter folks out there reading this who know the ins and outs of this idea. But what excites me most is that my son and his generation will be on the development side of that breakthrough technology.

However you feel about the ongoing debate of Microsoft, Apple, and their floundering world of operating systems, you must admit that it was our generation that made this present level of technology a reality.

And looking at this picture, it kinda feels good to know that this old Dad had a part in it all. However so humble.

Just found this...

I know it is a little strange! But I told you he really was our first child!

Kinda looks like a Heath/Zenith Advertisement, eh?

ko

Theo - again

OK I promised some new friends I would begin writing about the Hero Jr Robot. This might get a little technical so - tune out and check back later if this bores you. Some of you old guys might find some humor in this, however.

Just a few facts to get us on the same page. The best source I have found for technical support and the latest in upgrades to your RTW-1 is Robert L. Doerr. His address is all over the place so I feel comfortable publishing it here: rdoerr@bizserve.com

Mr Doerr has developed a multicartridge for the Hero Jr. It includes all the cartridges that were ever produced for the robot - 12 in all. This may come as a surprise to some of you - especially if you are getting tired of hearing your robot sing daisy. Actually, I had several cartridges and traded them in for credit towards one of these multicarts. It is wonderful! He even provides all the documentation for each program. I don't know if he is still doing the trade in deal, but the one cartridge is worth every penny.

He also has a ROM upgrade that is addresses the Y2K calendar issue.

In a recent communication (December 2007) with Mr Doerr, he said that he is developing some new things for this robot "that will make it easy to add new things to Jr." So keep in touch - and we can rediscover this great old friend together.

I have had a lot of fun with HJPL, so please share with me your coding and stories about this great feature.

Also I have written many JrBasic programs - regrettably I did not save any of them. But if you are interested, we can chat about the various interfaces we have done on a computer and the robot working together. One that is worth a separate blog entry involves my "Theodore" keeping an eye on my pet cockatoo while we were at work. Long but funny story.

Connecting your robot to the PC is easy once you get the pieces together. Was even successful in programming him with a Palm via the serial port. Completely portable!!

Finally, I built a wooden head that had a motorized mouth and blinking eys. (Pictured above) The eyes blinked and mouth moved in sync with the robot's talking and singing. It fit nicely in the top of the robot. I got a lot of good laughs over that one. It was powered by the robot's batteries.

Remembering old friends

"Theodore"

Build Date: circa 1984
Died: December 1991
Restarted: December 26, 2007

Seems a little dramatic, I know. Theo was our first child. Denise and I built him in the mid 80's. I remember when we brought him home in late January. It was a cold and snowy day. It is great to have Theo chattering away again. He is an old friend - who taught me a lot about electronics and programming.

We spent many long hours building and programming him. Even sent a few lines of code to Heath Zenith. They loved the code and paid me for it. But very soon after this, Heath Zenith dropped their kits production. A dead hobby I suppose. How did I get started in electronics? That is the topic of this blog entry - old friends.

John Ely was a dear friend. He was an old old man who taught me to love old and new technology. He had an electronics shop in his basement and a recording studio in his attic.

He would make reel to reel tapes of his private "radio show." John would record himself talking for hours on any subject with background music of his favorite collections. He loved to listen to organ music. His recordings had the feel of a late night monologue. His deep voice, mostly in depressed tones, would reflect on his late wife, and his progress on the many heatkits he bought. He talked about the full-sized electronic organ kit from Heathkit. Why did he buy and build this kit? He was not musical - although he loved music. I never heard him play it. Ever. MOstly he just wanted to pass the time.

John loved technology. So making these recordings - hundreds of hours of them- was his way to blog his life. Dozens of years before anyone knew what a computer or a blog was.

They say that when we look at our children they sometimes remind us of our past friends and family. Funny. When I look at Theodore, I remember John.

John has been gone for many years - 25 or more now, I guess. I sometimes wonder where all his stuff is today - all those hundreds of vacuum tubes, all those miles of recording tape. That Heathkit organ?

Actually, now that I think of it, I have some of John's Heathkit projects in my attic. An amplifier or two. An FM tuner. A couple of pieces of Heath test equipment.

Here's to you John. I am looking forward to seeing you again in Glory. We will pick up where we left off...

P.S. My mom just wrote to tell me a little more about this story. In his earlier years, John was an accomplished pianist. He was featured in a recital in a big hall in Chicago. So there you have it. The organ was an attempt to get reacquainted with his musical performance days.