HOBBIES

• Electronics
  My interest in electronics stems from when my parents bought me an electricity kit, which comprised of wires, bulbs and batteries. Lack of funds meant that a lot of my early collection of components were salvaged from scrap valve radios found on the local tip !

• Computers
  My first computer was a self build computer called the Mk14, which I would have bought in 1978. I was based on the National Semiconductor SC/MP uP, and came with a whopping 128 bytes of RAM, and was programmed in hex. My next computer was also a self build, the Sinclair ZX80 which had a whopping 1k of RAM, and the next was again a kit, the Acorn Atom, which had 6k of RAM and later colour graphics. These were followed by a Acorn BBC Model A, and then an Atari 800 (which had some staggeringly good games software). My first non 8 bit micro was an Atari ST with hi-res mono monitor. I finally was forced into purchasing a lowly 12MHz 80286 PC in which to install my B004 transputer card. My PC was again put together from components and upgraded as funds allowed, and is presently a Pentium Classic 200 PCI with Matrox Millenium graphics card. I run NWDOS 7, Windows 3.1, and grudgingly boot Windows 95 to run magazine cover CD ROM demo programs. For Internet access I run Netscape in X windows on a system running Linux Slackware '96 (kernel 2.0.22).

• Pinball
  I have been a pinball fanatic since I was a kid. I remember the days when seaside amusement arcades had rows upon rows of electro-mechanical pinball machines which made a cacophony of noise. At university I continued to play pinball whenever I could and my favourite machine was "Eight Ball Deluxe". Over the next few years my interest in pinball waxed and waned, but was finally re-awakened when I started to read the Usenet newsgroup "rec.games.pinball". It wasn't too long after this that I bought an Eight Ball Deluxe Limited Edition from a member of the Pinball Owners Association. It was non-working, but I was able to use my electronic skills to restore the machine to working condition.

• Satellite
  For £50, I bought an unwanted BSB receiver from a friend at work (who had bought it by mistake at an auction). With this I was able to watch the new live football games from the new Premiership, and I started to take an interest in satellite technology and hacking. When the Marco Polo satellite stopped transmitting I bought a PACE SS9200 receiver, but continued on a project to convert the old Philips BSB receiver to pick up D2-MAC transmissions. Firstly this was using software grabbed from the internet, but after that I re-wrote the firmware from scratch, and made various hardware hacks including the addition of a card interface. I particularly enjoy watching Italian TV transmitted from "Hot Bird" since I am learning the language. My favourite TV program on RAI is "Scommettiamo Che" with Fabrizio Frizzi and the gorgeous Milly Carluci. Recently I have enjoyed watching the Spanish game show "Grand Prix" on TVE, even though I don't speak a word of Spanish.

• Italian
  Having been given he chance to attend Italian lessons at work with colleagues who were contracted to work in Catania, I got the bug to continue learning the language. Last year I attended evening classes at Cotham Grammar School, and this year I have continued with evening class at Monks Park School.