Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Steve: February
And the Bletchley Bombe replica.
- 10:54 am
Comments:
Tim: Right, I've had a look at the slightly complicated bus/train timetable. How about BSK at 10:34?
nick: nice picture of all the dials Steve
10.34 BSK sounds OK... you could come back to mine for breakfast, or we can catch the same train and go up to London then?
Tim: I was assuming we'd be meeting on the train (except it looks possible to me that the bus will get me to Soton Airport in time for an earlier BSK train than the timetabled one). Obviously there are later options if you're likely still to be scoffing by then.
Tim: More planning...
So, I quite fancy a quick look in the Science Museum at their electronic music thing, and the 3D printing. That's probably about an hour altogether if you're up for it, can do any other bits that you fancy. Nick suggested some Tate; Britain maybe?
What else can we line up?
Steve: Both of those are fine, I can go with the flow assuming plenty of eating is involved. Music shops are always good fillers, not done Oxford St area for ages.
Tim: So I was about 90 minutes late getting back to Southampton Airport, at least that's nice and symmetrical.
Steve, I noticed on the tube two markedly different sets of opening hours for the drain. Here's when it became useful for Barbican events.
nick: I think we got home about 12.40. Then up early this morning to be at church for 8.15 (coffee duty), then drive Lesley to LHR. Managed to do a bike ride but it was pretty windy.
Pictures from yesterday: panorama of tate roof, staircase at tate, tim on the underground.
Also, for Steve the picture he liked but it wasn't quite straight so I had a go at lining it up a bit
Steve: BTW my RFH membership just ended and I'm not sure I can justify £65 for another year. We didn't seem to get much out of it last year did we? Only really went to Mogwai as the seats were going to be good. Sod's law that Kraftwerk will be on after it lapses.
Good pictures and you can still tell it's Tim. Are you sure that was the best one? :)
Played some LPs yesterday, was lovely. Even Yes bootlegs. My phono stage has USB so I will try to record them as well.
Tim: No, the South Bank doesn't seem to compare to the Barbican, shame.
So here's a thing. The Fennesz is free, could just go to that (after...something else) but Neil loaned me a F*Buddies album once and I remember that being pretty good. Anyone?
Tim: And there's an event on the 30th March here that Nick should have alerted us to (except there doesn't seem to be any info anywhere).
nick: I think I am free 25th April, would go if anyone else is going. Hadn't heard of the Philip Glass thing, but good to know classical music is alive and well at QMC
This entry is being written from my Raspberry Pi - thanks Tim. Seems to work OK (raspbian), and I installed emacs which works fine... although it's a bit slow to use as a general Linux workstation. So I think I'll have a look for mediaserver type things I can play with
Tim: There are some cheap NAS servers about that I'm looking into.
Also, just found a SD slot in my netbook that I didn't know about.
nick: I already do have a 2TB NAS drive which has go loads of video on it, which I can watch via DNLA on TV/PS3/ipad etc. So I think I could have raspberry pi host that (the problem I have with the NAS drive is that it's got embedded software which you can't control/modify). Feels like it should be possible to do some more configurable stuff if I had the pi serving stuff off the NAS drive. Need to think a bit really.
Harold Budd interview in the paper
Tim: Tbh I can't remember what you're aiming at. Need a diagram.
I could do with one for my setup too while you're at it.
Tim: OK, hopefully the short answer to that is that NOOBS has done stuff that's not in the partition I see when looking in the SD card on my netbook.
nick: NOOBS - I assume what it does is that when you boot for the first time, it's offering you the different distro (e.g. Raspbian), and whichever one you pick is installed into some partition on the card, with the boot file updated to start that when you reboot.
I don't know if the choice of distro is once-only, or whether you can boot in "recovery" mode (boot with shift pressed I think) and get the choice again - I didn't try that.
It may be that Windows won't show you all the contents of the SD card - I'm not sure how good it is at doing this. I'll have a look on my macbook to see what it looks like tonight
> Tbh I can't remember what you're aiming at
not sure myself actually! I think options vaguely are
1) have it as a DNLA client that's plugged into a TV upstairs and so can serve up video from my NAS drive. At the moment I can do this by booting either my quietpc or the PS3, so this wouldn't be new functionality but may be nicer (more customisable) and would need less power. However it'll need to be wired to the router for this
2) have it as headless DNLA server which provides better functionality than NAS drive. can just leave it plugged into router (which also has USB out so can power it)
Tim: Yes NOOBS can do it all again, and install a (/different) os, but it blows everything else away too. Apparently you can also add other distros to its list.
The partition I was looking at has an /images folder, and a few things in the root, none of which appeared to have been modified, so I couldn't guess what had happened. Pretty sure the answer is nothing because all the action was elsewhere.
Should your new headless DLNA server be able to serve up files from the existing NAS drive, would you think?
nick: > Should your new headless DLNA server be able to serve up files from the existing NAS drive, would you think?
yes, I think so. And I would hope it may be able to do so more reliably (sometimes the DNLA software on the NAS drive needs nudging before it works properly).
Need to experiment though
Tim: Good. That would also be my long-term plan, stuff on a NAS.
But initially my ambition is to do something just with a music file on the SD card.
Steve: I can do the 25th FB thing, there are seats towards the back of the circle, shall I book it on the way home? (To avoid booking fees.) Maybe I should rejoin Barbican (to avoid booking fees), but Nick complains about the transport links (and I never got their emails).
nick: Transport back from Barbican was OK last Saturday, it was just the havoc at Waterloo that made the journey painful.
Bus from WAT to Barbican is fine, and I've never had to wait very long. Coming back they seem a bit more irregular
Tim: I'd better just check in case Neil wants to go too if that's OK... emailed him.
The W&C line now seems quite handy for when time is a bit tight.
nick: windows? - pah! I've got a Mac! I can get at all that stuff natively (err... well I think I can)
Steve: Ok I rejoined (it's only £40) and booked 4 tickets. I couldn't be bothered to walk over there and back.
nick: just had a browse of the volumio web page. It sounds good, I'll give it a go. Also it can do Airplay which is nice.
nick: So I tried to book a doctor's appt about my wrists (still sore 9 weeks after I fell off the bike). My surgery has an online booking system. But, no appts available with my GP for 2 weeks (and no way to select another GP).
Went on NHS Direct website - they have a questionnaire sequence of pages where you can ask a question and receive a mailed response. I did that and asked "my wrists are still sore 8 weeks after I fell off my bike, is this normal or should I see someone?"
2 hours later I got an email response, saying "sorry we do not diagnose medical conditions online".
The response had a URL for a "feedback" page. You can't click on it though, because the response is a PDF document and the text is not clickable or select/copiable.
So I copied the URL by hand into a browser and did the feedback, multiple pages, saying "it would be helpful to say at the start of the questionnaire that this is not for diagnosing problems" (the web site doesn't really make it clear).
Got to the end, pressed "submit" and got "404 page not found". So I don't know if my feedback went in or not. Think I'll just phone the surgery...
nick: Mike Oldfield's new album reviewed in the Guardian. She seems to like it, although I find it a bit hard to take seriously when she uses the expression " a cri de coeur" (too much Partridge)
nick: I did read that and didn't click that it might actually be useful (I've got a network SE railcard). But you're right that might be something we could use. So long as it doesn't prohibit bikes...
Tim: Minor pi progress: I've got some header things to go in P5, and some ribbon cable to connect it to other headers. Soldering iron and solder on order. I need to rustle up a DC 9-15v psu for my dac boards. Maybe could use an old PC psu? Perhaps I need a meter. Meanwhile, installed that utility for accessing linux partitions from windows, doesn't seem to work, and I can't find much in the way of clues - all it says on their website is "Intuitive user friendly interface".
nick: well I just am trying to stick volumio on an SD card to see whether I can then boot it.
The "piwriter" program they point at didn't work, so I am using the command-line method, trying not be too worried about all the scary warnings "Please double check this step, wrong operations may result in a wiped hard disk!"
Says it'll take a long time so I think I'll go out on my bike now, ready to come home and restore my entire system from backups.
> Meanwhile, installed that utility for accessing linux partitions from windows, doesn't seem
> to work, and I can't find much in the way of clues - all it says on their website is "Intuitive user friendly interface".
what are you trying to do this for? I can't remember
nick: ok, only took a couple of minutes to flash the card, and volumio boots ok and I can browse to the web interface. It can find my NAS drive and says it's updating its library, and seems to have found various music that I've got on there.
But I get no sound at all (through HDMI, although forums suggest it should work). I can't tell from the UI whether it is actually sending sound or not - it's a bit unclear to me whether it is playing stuff or waiting for the NAS scan to finish or something.
Will have a look when I get back from my ride
nick: ok, it's working through the HDMI. It seems a bit hit and miss - when HDMI is connected and I reboot, then sometimes I see the console appearing on the screen (and then I can play music); other times I see nothing on the screen, and the AV amp complains about no input signal. It looks like you're meant to use non-HDMI for audio really though.
It takes a long time to scan all the music on the NAS drive. And it seems to want to do that every time it reboots, so if I were doing this I would want it left on all the time.
The UI looks quite nice but it's not obvious to me what it's doing or how to make it do things.
Have you booted yours yet Steve?
Tim: Well done!
The thing I was going to use the ext utility for was sticking Volumio on an SD card (etc).
Tim: OK, that seemed to work, and volumio looks like it loads and tries to do stuff (and mainly fails because it's not on a network).
You don't get any user interface on your raspi, right?
nick: > You don't get any user interface on your raspi, right?
Well as I mentioned it seems a bit hit-and-miss as to whether the HDMI works, but if it does, then I do get a console appearing on the TV, and I can use the keyboard to log in and do stuff. username pi, password raspberry. No GUI though, just a command line.
I can also ssh to the pi when it's running (whether or not the display/keyboard is plugged in). I believe the idea is that you never have to do this (you should be able to do all you want via the web UI) but when I was browsing forums last night quite a few of them seemed to end up telling you that problems could be fixed using command-line tools.
I don't know if Windows 8 (I think that's what you have) has a ssh client? you can presumably download one though (mac has it as standard)
nick: Not read all of this but one of the conclusions that caught my eye was this:
We found musical sophistication to be related to certain personality traits (foremost, openness to experience and extraversion) and also to be associated with socio-demographic and socio-economic markers. These markers point to a stage in late adolescence and early adulthood where sophisticated engagement with music peaks for large parts of the population.
The Musicality of Non-Musicians: An Index for Assessing Musical Sophistication in the General Population
Steve: BTW I'm pretty sure Nick and Lesley are coming to D's thing on the 12th. They are not sure about overnight as Ella's shifts change. What about you Tim?
There's a possibility of a bike ride on the Sunday morning if the weather's good.
And I realise that I am away for the weekend of the IoW Randonnee, nevermind I'm going out later. Will try to take it easy but the headaches are worse - maybe I have weakened over the winter.
nick: Steve - Lesley and I will be there, not sure about Ella. I think we'd like accommodation if that's still OK.
Lovely weekend - I was out in my cycling top and shorts! Only downside on Sunday was I was tempted to take a long route so by the time I got to the tea shop it had shut.
Steve: Yes I did about 20 Saturday, 50 yesterday(!) and big headache all night. And a bit now. Coming back was horrible as there was a constant headwind and I had over-dressed. Was lovely out there though, went to Bedford and faffed by the river for a bit.
nick: 50? how long did that take? I did 50 on Saturday but it took about 4 hours with food breaks...
nick: hmm 2000km is a bit longer than I'd anticipated but traffic-free does sound nice, I'll check it out.
Review of a Denon DAC in the Guardian - I started reading and thinking "hmmm this sounds good" but the more I read the more I started to doubt whether the writer knows what's going on here...
nick: So his tracker thing says ~1880km, which is about 1200 miles. Which would be about 12 days at ~100 miles/day.
I do very much like the sound of avoiding traffic and dual carriageways etc. although up until now I'd mentally been preparing for something more like 900 miles/10 days so that would be a bit more of a challenge to consider. What do you think, Steve?
Tim: He seemed to have a very wiggly route through Cornwall and Devon, there must be a decent shorter option for that bit. The Scotland route looked good though, going straight along the glen.
Steve: Well done keep up the research, maybe you can cure headaches as well!
My ride's looking at it was nearer 45 and I took about 3.5 hours and did faff a fair bit. My legs are not any where near what they were. I can carry on for ever on the flat but hills hurt still.
BTW I wanted to do a MTB ride the morning after D's do. Rachel's husband Keiran has just joined a club (although not been yet). I have one or two spare bikes of course. Of course the weather might be terrible and it get cancelled.
I am going to THIS Friday if anyone's up for it. The second act is the drummer from the famous ESB Trio. And looks like guitar jazz instead of sax - winner!
nick: The thing on Friday looks good I think I can make that - have you bought a ticket already steve?
Steve: I haven't booked, just spotted it last night in the Guardian booklet - AGAIN!
I will book 2 then Nick, I've just looked at the location, how handy for me.
Will try to remember stainless bolts for your bike stem. If you need others for bottle cages etc let me know, I bought bags of them a while back.
nick: thanks Steve - let me know how much I owe you.
Venue is slightly less convenient for me but maybe I can find a bus
Tim: For a minute then I thought that was a bus straight to Hampton.
I bought a USB SD card reader in Poundland today. Seems to work, so I'll be able to get files onto my volumio sd while in raspbian gui, maybe. Thing is, I can't have the card and the keyboard and the mouse all in use at once. Need a hub. (Didn't have those in PL.)
Steve: £19.50 no rush. I opted for numbered seats rather than a £9.50 get what's left. I guess the artists get more money.
Having an LP-fest - Sky is surprisingly good. It seems I didn't buy every LP on CD after all. Got the USB turntable interface working on an XP laptop, maybe Windows 7 was the issue. It was clipping so I assume more bits being output than the recorder expected. Found another 2 Yes bootlegs Tim!
Bargain on the USB thing, still not fired my one up yet.
Bit shocked Bob Crow's gone. Only 52.
nick: thanks steve, paid £19.50 to your account
I had some Yes bootlegs on LP - not sure what happened to them. I nearly bought you an LP Steve: was in the Heart Foundation shop at the weekend and they had a second hand copy of "Yes" (it looked huge).
£20 though so I gave it a miss. To think I gave away hundreds of my LPs - should have held on to them as an even better investment than the Fax CDs.
I'm using a wireless keyboard/mouse setup which uses a single USB receiver thing, so I've got a spare USB on my pi even when they're both plugged in - maybe you need one of those Tim
Tim: Possibly, but I think there still might be need for more usb. Also, I'd get a hub that will power the pi.
I've got vinyl in the garage if anyone wants some.
Steve: Well vinyl seems to be very expensive to buy considering how much of it there was. But selling it sounds like you'd get little for it. I heard a system with a £4000 turntable on it the other day and it was lovely indeed. And virtually no surface noise on a secondhand LP. I definitively heard the odd crack on a new-looking copy of Kraftwerk's Minimum Maximum. It made me want to upgrade but I need to get a grip.
Tim: Possible Lejog option: there are sleeper trains between London and Inverness/Edinburgh/Penzance (subject to track existing), bike reservations possible.
nick: Think I need a new bracket thing for my rear derailleur on my Whyte- it tangles in the spokes when in low gear and won't go into high gear at all. I had a go at adjusting it at the weekend but couldn't fix it. Hope that it's not the frame that's bent.
Went out on the Felt for the first time - feels a bit more bumpy than the Whyte, but lighter and faster. Hmm maybe I need a new road bike.
Try the "speech to sound" test on this web page - pretty amazing
Steve: Well you did fall off so it's probably just an adjustment (back at the shop). Or a new hanger?
I also went on my Felt and it was amazingly easier but gives a right old pounding. New wheels turned up, need to decide what bike to try them on. Of course it's a faff as you have to strip and re-fit tyres and tubes. Might try them on the Dawes.
nick: New guy working here spent some time working on the project doing Oyster cards. So I asked him, "why do you have to nominate the station where your electronic top-up will be applied?" He said there's no technical reason for this so far as he knows - the stations are all constantly on line to the central database and so there's no reason from that point of view why you shouldn't be able to collect your topup anywhere.
He thinks it's most likely an anti-fraud measure - the rest of the system is designed so as to minimise fraud possibility, and he suspects this restriction is for the same reason
nick: Saw "Under the Skin" last night. I'd read the book some years ago but couldn't remember it much except for the premise - have you read it Steve?
Film has "divided critics" and I can sort of see why: I didn't really like it as much as I'd hoped, but I've a niggling sense that it was something special. It was a bit art-housey, and at the time felt a bit of a let-down, but I find today I can't stop thinking about it.
Steve: Not read that and looking at it, it's supernatural which I can't be doing with. Watch Moon and see how long you keep thinking about that one compared to this one!
Finally ordered Node 2 and Searching for Jupiter. The gig was amazing and despite there being no CD sales on the night, both Nick and I ordered it right after. Similar to Pat Metheny I suppose but with a proper non-synth guitar sound and less obvious tunes? I didn't really detect noodling but some serious grooves.
Steve: Thought this was funny. D's Guides have visitors next week so she tells them that their patrol work should be spiffing. She then explains what that means. They make a weekly prayer which this week included the hope that everyone has a "spiffing week". You just can't tell if they are taking the Michael or not...
Steve: Erm, shock. I suppose she hasn't been milking the remasters so needs some retirement money. This will be stupidly difficult to book. Not sure if I want to go or not to be honest. Prices HERE
nick: So Hammersmith isn't very near you Steve? otherwise you could nip out and buy some tickets and avoid agents fees.
Not sure if I'd want to go or not - it could be a bit of a letdown
nick: Kepner Tregoe - that was the same company who did the "Analytical Troubleshooting" course I mentioned to you Steve - the one I did when I joined customer support in Digital (would have been 1985).
I remember that course as being pretty good and I still use it today ("Think beyond the fix" was one of the maxims).
Hope you enjoy yourself!
Tim: I'm off work today so I had a go at buying Kate Bush tickets, might as well. I spent a couple of minutes in a queue and by the time I got to the front the tickets that I could find were pretty rubbish, didn't seem worth forking out £100 each for (and I imagine if I'd tried to buy them it may well have not worked anyway).
nick: Tim - well done! I'd forgotten about that.
Have been pretty busy this week, sorry for lack of comms. Going to Exeter at the weekend and planning on cycling there (or at least some of the way there) tomorrow. It's around 120 miles but fortunately there are lots of railway stations that I could stop at
I think we provisionally had weekend of 5 apr booked to do something but I don't know if anything was confirmed. I am busy on the Friday 4th evening
Tim, should be able to do CC this sun at 6.30 if that's any good for you
nick: The weather turned out fine, so I did the Basingstoke to Exeter ride on Saturday. I think this is roughly the kind of distance that we'd need to be doing for E2E so was interested to know how achievable it would be. Plus, the bike shop fitted my rack and at last did my rear brake so bike was ready to go.
Things I noticed:
- I had a bike rack with one bag on it (so not a huge amount of extra weight, but some). I didn't particularly notice the extra weight
- Took me 10 hours door to door, so average 12mph, although riding average speed was more like 15mph, which I think is fairly brisk.
- I stopped for 45 mins at my mum's house (which was en route) and for odd 10 mins elsewhere for snacks. Total stopping time around 2hrs 20, which sounds like longer than it felt (I certainly didn't feel I was taking long breaks). So not a lot of opportunity for looking around/sight-seeing
- I took the A30 nearly all the way, which turned out fine mainly because it was not very busy. Near 90 mile mark I cut a bit off A30 (where A30 gets busy) and went cross country. This involved hills, and was pretty hard. In fact I was thinking of giving up and getting train. But once I got back on main road I was fine (did a fair amount of the last 15 miles at around 20mph)
- Went out for drink in the evening with Ken and didn't go to bed until about 10.30, so I was still capable (I'd thought perhaps when I arrived I'd want to go straight to bed)
- Felt somewhat tired on Sunday but no major problems: I think I *could* have cycled home again
In summary, 120 miles achievable (and I think I could have gone longer). Maybe 100 miles/day would be more typical and that would be fine I think - however, winding country roads/hills make a big difference. I made very fast progress on A road, but I wouldn't want to do too much of that if A road is busy.
So I think some careful route planning is in order.
Tim: For a moment I had high hopes for this interactive traffic map:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/traffic-counts/cp.php?la=Devon
But the interaction isn't quite what I imagined.
Tim: But they do have some downloadable data that might be usable. E.g. their "Major roads" spreadsheet has 30 measurements for the A33 and the quietest is the bit from North Waltham to Kings Worthy. 4800 vehicles per day compared to 46000 for some bit near Reading. It also has Northings and Eastings. Must be able to do a map of that somehow.
Steve: Yes I did mention this weekend a few weeks ago but stuff seems to have piled in so I'm not available I'm afraid.
Did no cycling last week of course or at the weekend due to busy-ness. But well done Nick for doing that distance, the most you have ever done.
Steve: I rode in to work yesterday and it was all of 3 hours including quick shower time. It's 35 miles and pretty busy traffic-wise (even leaving at 6) and tedious in the most part. I was trying to use cycle paths next to roads but they can be pretty bumpy and you have to cross side-roads. I got hugely held up in London and then got a bit lost around Oxford St area. I'm sure this took me 2.5 hours previously and I did it on MTB the first time. That was always going homeward so maybe the holdups are not so prominent. You don't seem to be able to sneak up the inside and bus lanes were blocked with buses/taxis plus lots of traffic lights. This was the A41 so I could try the A5 or the A1
This time was on the Dawes with clothes in a pannier. It is locked up under the building currently.
Neck/shoulders pretty bad to be honest and not great today. Legs were tired when I climbed stairs but okay today.
I will ride home Friday night.
Are people around for Sunday lunch on the 13th? I was planning a MTB ride the morning after to remind you.
nick: Well done Steve, 3 hours seems a fairly long commute time so I don't suppose you'd be likely to do it regularly. Were there many hills? I guess 12mph means you were not thrashing it.
I did have a bit of neck ache towards the end of my ride but I think that was simply from having been in a more-or-less fixed position for 10 hours, and it went pretty much as soon as I got there. Wish I could suggest something that could help you.
Am thinking of getting these panniers (they come as a pair) based mainly on the reviews being so positive.
I think the intention was that we stay on Sat night and I remember you saying about the bike ride so I would aim to bring mine, and that would mean Sunday lunch. I'll verify with Lesley though
Tim: I think we'll be off to somewhere on the Sunday, on the way home sort of thing. I'll check with the boss tonight.
Steve: Yes well that time includes shower etc so let's say 15MPH shall we!
Those panniers are exactly the sort I would get although Paul doesn't want us to look like "old men". Can't remember the quote but I know what he means, clothing is crucial, especially socks (Tim).
nick: So Steve, I took off my mudguards and rack at the weekend when getting the bike into the car. Put them back again yesterday - all fine except I didn't tighten up one of the bolts and it fell out so the mudguard is now loose. So I need some more of those bolts like the ones you gave me (only smaller). Did you say they came from screwfix? Do they have a particular name? There is a bewildering array of stuff on the screwfix site and I'm not sure if there's a keyword I can search on. I think I just want a bag of various length/sizes of bolts that have allen key fitting at the top, maybe with washers and nuts too
Steve: Yes and look how cheap they are! The penny-pinching that goes on is worrying.
You can also buy stainless locking nuts that have nylon shake-free inserts. You can probably use these on the fixings on the rack. As usual I have a load.
Been playing the Troy-estra loads this week long with the Magnus Ostrom.
And cycling home tonight which is still exciting (until you are half-way into it).
nick: I went to screwfix last night and got some, so have now firmly reattached the mudguard. I'm out this evening otherwise I'd be going for a ride.
Steve, yes I recognise that feeling of excitement leading up to setting off on a significant ride - it's nice to be going somewhere (rather than round in a loop). Hope you have a good time
Steve: Hmm, the best part of 3 hours again and I can't work out why it is so slow as I put more effort in this time. I'll get better organised clothes-wise and try the Felt/train maybe this week and see what happens. And maybe a different route somehow...
nick: How's your neck/head, Steve?
I was a bit surprised by the Basingstoke->Exeter thing where I felt I was averaging quite a good speed (by the speedo - ~15mph) but door-to-door turned out notably slower (~12mph). I see that when I did Luton->Basingstoke last year the door-to-door average was 12mph as well, so maybe that's a realistic measure.
Talking with Tim last night, I think that aiming to do 100/day would probably be about right: achievable without being too hectic, and leaving time for a bit of faffing/stopping to look at things.
Needs some looking at maps to see what would be sensible legs for each day.
Tim: I've got some A2 maps from Sustrans (free plus p&p) for getting a general idea. If I can identify some low-traffic A roads from that .gov data then we might be on the way to an outline plan.
There are a couple of route bottlenecks, and roughly speaking Googlemaps says:
LE-> Bristol 200 miles
Bristol to Scottish Border 300
Border to JOG 300
That doesn't really help much, but still.
nick: > LE-> Bristol 200 miles
> Bristol to Scottish Border 300
> Border to JOG 300
800 miles altogether is shorter than I was mentally picturing (and only 8 days at 100/day). So if we did that it would give quite a bit of contingency. So I think I wouldn't mind doing more distance (if it meant fewer main roads).
Theoretically there are 17 days to do this (9-25 Aug) so there could be room for a rest day or two I suppose
Accommodation-wise I think it would be a good idea to book in advance but that does mean committing to doing a specified distance per day so some kind of daily itinerary is what's needed I think.
Tim: I'm assuming the actual route won't be quite as direct. Also various faff will mean that the first and last days cover <100 of the route.
Maybe we need to start at the beginning...which direction are you going and how are you getting to the start point?
nick: I was assuming LE -> JOG, and using train to get to/from endpoints (although it may well be possible to get lifts).
Gordon (my brother-in-law) says he'd be up for doing the first leg (from LE) with us, although if you did LE->Exeter by the shortest route, it would be about 120 miles, and I'm not sure going through Exeter would be ideal, so I don't think we'd be ending up at his house at the end of the day. But in any case there is a reasonable chance of getting a lift from Exeter if that helped.
nick: I've enrolled on a course from these people and am now getting mailshots advertising other courses such as this one Good brain, bad brain which actually look interesting.
I don't know if I have time to sign up to all of them but they're free and I don't think there's a catch
Tim: I see that it's 3 hours on the train from Exeter to Penzance, and 10 miles from there to LE.
From there, 50 miles (plus route wigglyness) gets you to somewhere like Bodmin. 80 miles to Bude/Launceston/Plymouth is probably overdoing it?
Tim: ...alternatively, to do a longer first leg you could stay somewhere in/beyond Penzance overnight, or do the sleeper train from Paddington/Reading. Then you could get started first thing.
Or join it at Exeter (4:35, perfect).
Steve: I saw that, it is good. All I have seen is an email asking us not to comment on it to customers.
Steve: Tim's planning sent me to the Sustrans site and it looks like their panniers are not much more than say Wiggle plus they would raise money. I'm looking for maps for our Northumberland holiday.
Steve: Ride to work update while I wait for a patching...
Rode in this week on the Felt - what a flipping difference! Carried nothing and worried all the way here I would be missing some trousers or something. I trained to St Albans which makes it 25 miles - much more civilised. I also came down the A5 Edgware Rd which is a lot better for traffic. Only dual-carriageway for about 300m (and then some in central London) and more usable bus lanes. About 2 hours of riding.
The following day I had the start of a nasty back-of-the-neck one coming on but was determined to ride home. Riding was fine and I feel okay today so no idea what went on there. Was wondering whether to get a whistle like the guy I was following. Police riders use them to stop traffic at junctions as they get through car windows.
So looking forward to having another go, it is pretty time-consuming though and a 12% on the way home. And still a low average speed - must be the traffic lights...
nick: So you're allowed to take your Felt on the train?
Was speaking to someone here who's a keen cyclist (and who's planning on doing the Randonnee); he said that he had back problems some time ago that meant cycling was too painful, but he found using a recumbent was fine (and he regularly uses one now, although he's also back on the normal bikes).
He really likes the recumbent but it looks quite fragile to me (I often see him cycling in/out of work on it). But I guess that might be another option (certainly I wouldn't mind having a go on one)
Steve: I can train as far as St Albans at peak so I got off the train at 7AM roughly. No way am I getting a recumbent don't worry. You can't stand up so how do you get up hills?
Tim: It's the Barbican thing a week on Friday then. Are we doing anything else? I think I'm free on the Saturday...
nick: Ken and Julie are visiting us that week so will be with us on the Sat. And Lesley is doing a "pop up curry restaurant" on the Saturday (I think it's a charity thing, not sure). So I'll be in NW but you'd be welcome to come and have some curry with us
Tim: So I bought a £90 USB HD for various purposes, possibly including storing music files for the pi.
First up though, I was upgrading my netbook to Windows 8 and did a full backup first.
It used 2% of the available space on the drive. This is getting silly.
Steve: Cycled in and out yesterday (St Albans). Feeling a bit wiped out today and I really struggled getting up Hitchin Road last night. I did crack on on the inward journey, mainly as I hugely underestimated how cold it would be. My hands were killing me in fingerless gloves for the first half of the journey. Then a bit too hot going home in the same garb.
So I am probably not as fit as I was still. My neck knows it's done something but no headache so maybe I am strengthening it.
nick:
I cycled to house group last night (about 13 miles each way). Shorts and t-shirt on the way there but it was pretty chilly riding home (at about 10pm) - I left my jeans on (which weren't as bad as I'd expected). Hands were very cold in fingerless gloves though.
Also I used my pannier (just one) for the first time. It makes the bike feel pretty heavy if you're lifting it up, but I didn't notice any difference while cycling (or maybe I was just unconsciously going slower)
Tim: I suppose you'll just be a little bit slower going uphill. But that's ok because on the lejog route there will hardly be any hills.
Steve: Oh the irony... due to power downs late Friday we are all going to be WFH. So I will be travelling in to the concert that evening as well.
I have the tickets.
Tim: Neil is going to be in London (generally) on Friday, and might prefer to meet at the Barbie somewhere than come back out to Waterloo.
Is anyone planning to go to the pregig talk?
Steve: I can try to get there for 6:30 if someone is keen, might be pushing it - I have the tickets and should have given them out the other week. Looks like maybe you don't need the ticket to get into the talk?
nick: I'm planning on getting 17.50 from Hampton, arrives Waterloo at 18.35.
I don't mind hanging around near the pasty stalls waiting for others.
In other news - went to Sainsbury's yesterday to get some shopping and can confirm that full pannier DOES make cycling harder work (maybe I didn't have much in them before).
Tim: OK see you there.
I suppose there's more inertia which is a pain when accelerating. And decelerating. But the rest of the time, no problem!
nick: >I suppose there's more inertia which is a pain when accelerating. And decelerating. But the rest of the time, no problem!
you're forgetting wind resistance....
Steve: I will not be anywhere near Waterloo as I am WFH so Barbican for me.
Pannier weight has to be pulled up all of the hills and you get little benefit coasting down them.
nick: not sure if I can remember what Neil looks like but I'll keep an eye out for someone...
We can get a bus!
Tim: That bus map: maybe we should try a 243 next time for a change.
Not a bad gig, and the Eastleigh thing worked OK, I was home about 1:20 and there was another train 20 minutes later as a fallback that wouldn't be disastrous. So that looks good for future Barbican stuff that might finish around 11.
I've had a look at monolake.de to find out what the Henke thing in July is, and it *looks* good but I can't spot any clues yet as to what it might *sound* like. (It's not likely to be all go or he'd probably call it monolake.)
Tim: Documentary here. I'm up, for it, anyone else? Decent seats still available. I'll check with Neil too.
Tim: My 2GB dimm for my netbook arrived today. Just spent over an hour dismantling stuff to get to the old one (underneath the main board), then putting it all back together. Some of the connectors seem very fragile. But it still works!
Only a few tiny crumbled bits of plastic and one screw left over.
Current memory usage (doing nowt but surfing) is 40%, which is a lot better than 80% obv.
Steve: On a similar note our disk recorder stopped receiving any signal yesterday. I searched and found it is a common fault. Replaced a capacitor with one from my stock and back in business within 20 minutes. Amazing.
Looks like I am away the 19th of July so can't make that. Seems that similar circle tickets available.
nick: 19-July I think I'm free, and sounds interesting so yes I'd like to go to that please.
The following weekend is Basingstoke Big Wheel 22
Steve: Yes I'm sorry I'm not going to that one. I saw you pointing at it the other night but it didn't click who he is.
nick: Took my MTB in for a service. Turns out it needed a few things doing - new bottom bracket (the pedals were getting a bit wobbly), new chain, new rear cassette. Also rear wheel needed new hub (cones have gone) but he said may as well replace whole wheel because the rims have nearly gone.
Hmmm,.. maybe I should just get a new MTB. But at least this will now be all fresh ready for the rides between HE and MD this summer!
Going to Rick Wakeman at the RAH tonight. No tubes after 9.30pm so may be late home...
Steve: Hmm and you laughed at the rate I get through bottom brackets. I thought you had it serviced a year ago???
On a new bike no more rim wear with disk brakes. Shimano don't do sealed cartridge bearings that I know of but a new BB and wheel you fit might do so end of maintenance issues.
My original MTB had rear wheel bearing issues after about two years - water must have got in. I have replaced ball bearings and although a bit lumpy it's fine.
Rode in today and traffic noticeably worse. Why don't you get a bike from RAH to Waterloo? Looks like they are around that area.
nick: Been listening to Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" album and really getting in to it. Looking on Wikipedia it turns out to have been one of their most successful albums and I can see why. Any of you listened? Pretty good riffs and tunes, I'm having trouble not bopping around to it
Steve: I just can't listen to them as they were Genesis clones. I remember Andy Pyett (sp?) raving about them and none of us taking any notice :) Do either of you remember that he had his record collection stolen?!?
Tim: That tracklisting looks pretty familiar, I think I must have borrowed/taped that one and got some mileage out of it.
nick: The Rick Wakeman concert I went to has been reviewed in the guardian. The last user comment (at the time of writing) is from Tony - I think he sums it up pretty well.
I didn't think the sound quality was that great but it was pretty powerful stuff - orchestra, choir and electronic instruments all coming together
Steve: I read Wakeman's biography a while back. He comes across as a twit (no surprise), but he ploughed money back into musical ideas and you have got to admire that.
Was it not sold out then?
I have ordered Marathon's for the MTB as I got 2 slow punctures after the last 2 rides and I think the supplied tyres are pretty naff.
nick: The guardian seemed to say that RAH wasn't sold out, but I thought it was pretty full... there were some empty seats around the edges but they were places where you couldn't have seen very well.
Plus it was a tube strike that day so I guess perhaps some people might not have made it.
Didn't get time to plan JOGLE stuff last weekend, but will be doing so soon.
Steve did your cycling go OK at the weekend? Did you manage to keep up?
Steve: We did one ride which was about 12 on a disused railway and then 12 on roads up and over the Peaks. 10% hills that were a bit long I suppose and one of the guys had to push and was cursing. He had a new bike and the chain was coming off a fair bit but he hadn't practised or tested it beforehand. It has put me off of doing those rides to be honest. We did some walking and loads of eating.
I assume you did not do the Randonneee then? Paul is racing this weekend but I fear rain.
I have tried the vinyl cleaning with glue and it's really a problem with the handling you have to do. I can get the glue on and off okay but try doing that without dropping the LP or putting fingers all over the other side. So I might not continue with that.
BTW Lloyd Webber's Variations is still a good old album. And mine is in pretty good nick. Just recording it to WAV for ripping and cleaning.
Steve: Well done looks like a good speed. I rode in Wed on the Dawes and it felt noticeably more difficult. Someone commented on it at some lights, it must be a classic.
If you look at your calorie rating you will see why eating all the time is the key. I'm not doing 5:2 and ride to work or Paul would kill me.
Also I see that you have missed the boat Nick. Rockhoppers only come in 29er size which looks pants to me. Hardrock does either 26 or 29.
This thread is getting too much to scroll through if anyone has a picture...
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Tim: Right, I've had a look at the slightly complicated bus/train timetable. How about BSK at 10:34? nick: nice picture of all the dials Steve10.34 BSK sounds OK... you could come back to mine for breakfast, or we can catch the same train and go up to London then?
Tim: I was assuming we'd be meeting on the train (except it looks possible to me that the bus will get me to Soton Airport in time for an earlier BSK train than the timetabled one). Obviously there are later options if you're likely still to be scoffing by then. Tim: More planning...So, I quite fancy a quick look in the Science Museum at their electronic music thing, and the 3D printing. That's probably about an hour altogether if you're up for it, can do any other bits that you fancy. Nick suggested some Tate; Britain maybe?
What else can we line up?
Steve: Both of those are fine, I can go with the flow assuming plenty of eating is involved. Music shops are always good fillers, not done Oxford St area for ages. Tim: So I was about 90 minutes late getting back to Southampton Airport, at least that's nice and symmetrical.Steve, I noticed on the tube two markedly different sets of opening hours for the drain. Here's when it became useful for Barbican events.
nick: I think we got home about 12.40. Then up early this morning to be at church for 8.15 (coffee duty), then drive Lesley to LHR. Managed to do a bike ride but it was pretty windy.Pictures from yesterday: panorama of tate roof, staircase at tate, tim on the underground.
Also, for Steve the picture he liked but it wasn't quite straight so I had a go at lining it up a bit
Steve: BTW my RFH membership just ended and I'm not sure I can justify £65 for another year. We didn't seem to get much out of it last year did we? Only really went to Mogwai as the seats were going to be good. Sod's law that Kraftwerk will be on after it lapses.Good pictures and you can still tell it's Tim. Are you sure that was the best one? :)
Played some LPs yesterday, was lovely. Even Yes bootlegs. My phono stage has USB so I will try to record them as well.
Tim: No, the South Bank doesn't seem to compare to the Barbican, shame.So here's a thing. The Fennesz is free, could just go to that (after...something else) but Neil loaned me a F*Buddies album once and I remember that being pretty good. Anyone?
Tim: And there's an event on the 30th March here that Nick should have alerted us to (except there doesn't seem to be any info anywhere). nick: I think I am free 25th April, would go if anyone else is going. Hadn't heard of the Philip Glass thing, but good to know classical music is alive and well at QMCThis entry is being written from my Raspberry Pi - thanks Tim. Seems to work OK (raspbian), and I installed emacs which works fine... although it's a bit slow to use as a general Linux workstation. So I think I'll have a look for mediaserver type things I can play with
Tim: There are some cheap NAS servers about that I'm looking into.Also, just found a SD slot in my netbook that I didn't know about.
nick: I already do have a 2TB NAS drive which has go loads of video on it, which I can watch via DNLA on TV/PS3/ipad etc. So I think I could have raspberry pi host that (the problem I have with the NAS drive is that it's got embedded software which you can't control/modify). Feels like it should be possible to do some more configurable stuff if I had the pi serving stuff off the NAS drive. Need to think a bit really.Harold Budd interview in the paper
Tim: Tbh I can't remember what you're aiming at. Need a diagram.I could do with one for my setup too while you're at it.
Tim: OK, hopefully the short answer to that is that NOOBS has done stuff that's not in the partition I see when looking in the SD card on my netbook. nick: NOOBS - I assume what it does is that when you boot for the first time, it's offering you the different distro (e.g. Raspbian), and whichever one you pick is installed into some partition on the card, with the boot file updated to start that when you reboot.I don't know if the choice of distro is once-only, or whether you can boot in "recovery" mode (boot with shift pressed I think) and get the choice again - I didn't try that.
It may be that Windows won't show you all the contents of the SD card - I'm not sure how good it is at doing this. I'll have a look on my macbook to see what it looks like tonight
> Tbh I can't remember what you're aiming at
not sure myself actually! I think options vaguely are
1) have it as a DNLA client that's plugged into a TV upstairs and so can serve up video from my NAS drive. At the moment I can do this by booting either my quietpc or the PS3, so this wouldn't be new functionality but may be nicer (more customisable) and would need less power. However it'll need to be wired to the router for this
2) have it as headless DNLA server which provides better functionality than NAS drive. can just leave it plugged into router (which also has USB out so can power it)
Tim: Yes NOOBS can do it all again, and install a (/different) os, but it blows everything else away too. Apparently you can also add other distros to its list.The partition I was looking at has an /images folder, and a few things in the root, none of which appeared to have been modified, so I couldn't guess what had happened. Pretty sure the answer is nothing because all the action was elsewhere.
Should your new headless DLNA server be able to serve up files from the existing NAS drive, would you think?
nick: > Should your new headless DLNA server be able to serve up files from the existing NAS drive, would you think?yes, I think so. And I would hope it may be able to do so more reliably (sometimes the DNLA software on the NAS drive needs nudging before it works properly).
Need to experiment though
Tim: Good. That would also be my long-term plan, stuff on a NAS.But initially my ambition is to do something just with a music file on the SD card.
Steve: I can do the 25th FB thing, there are seats towards the back of the circle, shall I book it on the way home? (To avoid booking fees.) Maybe I should rejoin Barbican (to avoid booking fees), but Nick complains about the transport links (and I never got their emails). nick: Transport back from Barbican was OK last Saturday, it was just the havoc at Waterloo that made the journey painful.Bus from WAT to Barbican is fine, and I've never had to wait very long. Coming back they seem a bit more irregular
Tim: I'd better just check in case Neil wants to go too if that's OK... emailed him.The W&C line now seems quite handy for when time is a bit tight.
nick: windows? - pah! I've got a Mac! I can get at all that stuff natively (err... well I think I can) Steve: Ok I rejoined (it's only £40) and booked 4 tickets. I couldn't be bothered to walk over there and back. nick: just had a browse of the volumio web page. It sounds good, I'll give it a go. Also it can do Airplay which is nice. nick: So I tried to book a doctor's appt about my wrists (still sore 9 weeks after I fell off the bike). My surgery has an online booking system. But, no appts available with my GP for 2 weeks (and no way to select another GP).Went on NHS Direct website - they have a questionnaire sequence of pages where you can ask a question and receive a mailed response. I did that and asked "my wrists are still sore 8 weeks after I fell off my bike, is this normal or should I see someone?"
2 hours later I got an email response, saying "sorry we do not diagnose medical conditions online".
The response had a URL for a "feedback" page. You can't click on it though, because the response is a PDF document and the text is not clickable or select/copiable.
So I copied the URL by hand into a browser and did the feedback, multiple pages, saying "it would be helpful to say at the start of the questionnaire that this is not for diagnosing problems" (the web site doesn't really make it clear).
Got to the end, pressed "submit" and got "404 page not found". So I don't know if my feedback went in or not. Think I'll just phone the surgery...
nick: Mike Oldfield's new album reviewed in the Guardian. She seems to like it, although I find it a bit hard to take seriously when she uses the expression " a cri de coeur" (too much Partridge) nick: I did read that and didn't click that it might actually be useful (I've got a network SE railcard). But you're right that might be something we could use. So long as it doesn't prohibit bikes... Tim: Minor pi progress: I've got some header things to go in P5, and some ribbon cable to connect it to other headers. Soldering iron and solder on order. I need to rustle up a DC 9-15v psu for my dac boards. Maybe could use an old PC psu? Perhaps I need a meter. Meanwhile, installed that utility for accessing linux partitions from windows, doesn't seem to work, and I can't find much in the way of clues - all it says on their website is "Intuitive user friendly interface". nick: well I just am trying to stick volumio on an SD card to see whether I can then boot it.The "piwriter" program they point at didn't work, so I am using the command-line method, trying not be too worried about all the scary warnings "Please double check this step, wrong operations may result in a wiped hard disk!"
Says it'll take a long time so I think I'll go out on my bike now, ready to come home and restore my entire system from backups.
> Meanwhile, installed that utility for accessing linux partitions from windows, doesn't seem
> to work, and I can't find much in the way of clues - all it says on their website is "Intuitive user friendly interface".
what are you trying to do this for? I can't remember
nick: ok, only took a couple of minutes to flash the card, and volumio boots ok and I can browse to the web interface. It can find my NAS drive and says it's updating its library, and seems to have found various music that I've got on there.But I get no sound at all (through HDMI, although forums suggest it should work). I can't tell from the UI whether it is actually sending sound or not - it's a bit unclear to me whether it is playing stuff or waiting for the NAS scan to finish or something.
Will have a look when I get back from my ride
nick: ok, it's working through the HDMI. It seems a bit hit and miss - when HDMI is connected and I reboot, then sometimes I see the console appearing on the screen (and then I can play music); other times I see nothing on the screen, and the AV amp complains about no input signal. It looks like you're meant to use non-HDMI for audio really though.It takes a long time to scan all the music on the NAS drive. And it seems to want to do that every time it reboots, so if I were doing this I would want it left on all the time.
The UI looks quite nice but it's not obvious to me what it's doing or how to make it do things.
Have you booted yours yet Steve?
Tim: Well done!The thing I was going to use the ext utility for was sticking Volumio on an SD card (etc).
Tim: OK, that seemed to work, and volumio looks like it loads and tries to do stuff (and mainly fails because it's not on a network).You don't get any user interface on your raspi, right?
nick: > You don't get any user interface on your raspi, right?Well as I mentioned it seems a bit hit-and-miss as to whether the HDMI works, but if it does, then I do get a console appearing on the TV, and I can use the keyboard to log in and do stuff. username pi, password raspberry. No GUI though, just a command line.
I can also ssh to the pi when it's running (whether or not the display/keyboard is plugged in). I believe the idea is that you never have to do this (you should be able to do all you want via the web UI) but when I was browsing forums last night quite a few of them seemed to end up telling you that problems could be fixed using command-line tools.
I don't know if Windows 8 (I think that's what you have) has a ssh client? you can presumably download one though (mac has it as standard)
nick: Not read all of this but one of the conclusions that caught my eye was this:We found musical sophistication to be related to certain personality traits (foremost, openness to experience and extraversion) and also to be associated with socio-demographic and socio-economic markers. These markers point to a stage in late adolescence and early adulthood where sophisticated engagement with music peaks for large parts of the population.
The Musicality of Non-Musicians: An Index for Assessing Musical Sophistication in the General Population
Steve: BTW I'm pretty sure Nick and Lesley are coming to D's thing on the 12th. They are not sure about overnight as Ella's shifts change. What about you Tim?There's a possibility of a bike ride on the Sunday morning if the weather's good.
And I realise that I am away for the weekend of the IoW Randonnee, nevermind I'm going out later. Will try to take it easy but the headaches are worse - maybe I have weakened over the winter.
nick: Steve - Lesley and I will be there, not sure about Ella. I think we'd like accommodation if that's still OK.Lovely weekend - I was out in my cycling top and shorts! Only downside on Sunday was I was tempted to take a long route so by the time I got to the tea shop it had shut.
Steve: Yes I did about 20 Saturday, 50 yesterday(!) and big headache all night. And a bit now. Coming back was horrible as there was a constant headwind and I had over-dressed. Was lovely out there though, went to Bedford and faffed by the river for a bit. nick: 50? how long did that take? I did 50 on Saturday but it took about 4 hours with food breaks... nick: hmm 2000km is a bit longer than I'd anticipated but traffic-free does sound nice, I'll check it out.Review of a Denon DAC in the Guardian - I started reading and thinking "hmmm this sounds good" but the more I read the more I started to doubt whether the writer knows what's going on here...
nick: So his tracker thing says ~1880km, which is about 1200 miles. Which would be about 12 days at ~100 miles/day.I do very much like the sound of avoiding traffic and dual carriageways etc. although up until now I'd mentally been preparing for something more like 900 miles/10 days so that would be a bit more of a challenge to consider. What do you think, Steve?
Tim: He seemed to have a very wiggly route through Cornwall and Devon, there must be a decent shorter option for that bit. The Scotland route looked good though, going straight along the glen. Steve: Well done keep up the research, maybe you can cure headaches as well!My ride's looking at it was nearer 45 and I took about 3.5 hours and did faff a fair bit. My legs are not any where near what they were. I can carry on for ever on the flat but hills hurt still.
BTW I wanted to do a MTB ride the morning after D's do. Rachel's husband Keiran has just joined a club (although not been yet). I have one or two spare bikes of course. Of course the weather might be terrible and it get cancelled.
I am going to THIS Friday if anyone's up for it. The second act is the drummer from the famous ESB Trio. And looks like guitar jazz instead of sax - winner!
nick: The thing on Friday looks good I think I can make that - have you bought a ticket already steve? Steve: I haven't booked, just spotted it last night in the Guardian booklet - AGAIN!I will book 2 then Nick, I've just looked at the location, how handy for me.
Will try to remember stainless bolts for your bike stem. If you need others for bottle cages etc let me know, I bought bags of them a while back.
nick: thanks Steve - let me know how much I owe you.Venue is slightly less convenient for me but maybe I can find a bus
Tim: For a minute then I thought that was a bus straight to Hampton.I bought a USB SD card reader in Poundland today. Seems to work, so I'll be able to get files onto my volumio sd while in raspbian gui, maybe. Thing is, I can't have the card and the keyboard and the mouse all in use at once. Need a hub. (Didn't have those in PL.)
Steve: £19.50 no rush. I opted for numbered seats rather than a £9.50 get what's left. I guess the artists get more money.Having an LP-fest - Sky is surprisingly good. It seems I didn't buy every LP on CD after all. Got the USB turntable interface working on an XP laptop, maybe Windows 7 was the issue. It was clipping so I assume more bits being output than the recorder expected. Found another 2 Yes bootlegs Tim!
Bargain on the USB thing, still not fired my one up yet.
Bit shocked Bob Crow's gone. Only 52.
nick: thanks steve, paid £19.50 to your accountI had some Yes bootlegs on LP - not sure what happened to them. I nearly bought you an LP Steve: was in the Heart Foundation shop at the weekend and they had a second hand copy of "Yes" (it looked huge).
£20 though so I gave it a miss. To think I gave away hundreds of my LPs - should have held on to them as an even better investment than the Fax CDs.
I'm using a wireless keyboard/mouse setup which uses a single USB receiver thing, so I've got a spare USB on my pi even when they're both plugged in - maybe you need one of those Tim
Tim: Possibly, but I think there still might be need for more usb. Also, I'd get a hub that will power the pi.I've got vinyl in the garage if anyone wants some.
Steve: Well vinyl seems to be very expensive to buy considering how much of it there was. But selling it sounds like you'd get little for it. I heard a system with a £4000 turntable on it the other day and it was lovely indeed. And virtually no surface noise on a secondhand LP. I definitively heard the odd crack on a new-looking copy of Kraftwerk's Minimum Maximum. It made me want to upgrade but I need to get a grip. Tim: Possible Lejog option: there are sleeper trains between London and Inverness/Edinburgh/Penzance (subject to track existing), bike reservations possible. nick: Think I need a new bracket thing for my rear derailleur on my Whyte- it tangles in the spokes when in low gear and won't go into high gear at all. I had a go at adjusting it at the weekend but couldn't fix it. Hope that it's not the frame that's bent.Went out on the Felt for the first time - feels a bit more bumpy than the Whyte, but lighter and faster. Hmm maybe I need a new road bike.
Try the "speech to sound" test on this web page - pretty amazing
Steve: Well you did fall off so it's probably just an adjustment (back at the shop). Or a new hanger?I also went on my Felt and it was amazingly easier but gives a right old pounding. New wheels turned up, need to decide what bike to try them on. Of course it's a faff as you have to strip and re-fit tyres and tubes. Might try them on the Dawes.
nick: New guy working here spent some time working on the project doing Oyster cards. So I asked him, "why do you have to nominate the station where your electronic top-up will be applied?" He said there's no technical reason for this so far as he knows - the stations are all constantly on line to the central database and so there's no reason from that point of view why you shouldn't be able to collect your topup anywhere. He thinks it's most likely an anti-fraud measure - the rest of the system is designed so as to minimise fraud possibility, and he suspects this restriction is for the same reason
nick: Saw "Under the Skin" last night. I'd read the book some years ago but couldn't remember it much except for the premise - have you read it Steve?Film has "divided critics" and I can sort of see why: I didn't really like it as much as I'd hoped, but I've a niggling sense that it was something special. It was a bit art-housey, and at the time felt a bit of a let-down, but I find today I can't stop thinking about it.
Steve: Not read that and looking at it, it's supernatural which I can't be doing with. Watch Moon and see how long you keep thinking about that one compared to this one!Finally ordered Node 2 and Searching for Jupiter. The gig was amazing and despite there being no CD sales on the night, both Nick and I ordered it right after. Similar to Pat Metheny I suppose but with a proper non-synth guitar sound and less obvious tunes? I didn't really detect noodling but some serious grooves.
Steve: Thought this was funny. D's Guides have visitors next week so she tells them that their patrol work should be spiffing. She then explains what that means. They make a weekly prayer which this week included the hope that everyone has a "spiffing week". You just can't tell if they are taking the Michael or not... Steve: Erm, shock. I suppose she hasn't been milking the remasters so needs some retirement money. This will be stupidly difficult to book. Not sure if I want to go or not to be honest. Prices HERE nick: So Hammersmith isn't very near you Steve? otherwise you could nip out and buy some tickets and avoid agents fees.Not sure if I'd want to go or not - it could be a bit of a letdown
nick: Kepner Tregoe - that was the same company who did the "Analytical Troubleshooting" course I mentioned to you Steve - the one I did when I joined customer support in Digital (would have been 1985).I remember that course as being pretty good and I still use it today ("Think beyond the fix" was one of the maxims).
Hope you enjoy yourself!
Tim: I'm off work today so I had a go at buying Kate Bush tickets, might as well. I spent a couple of minutes in a queue and by the time I got to the front the tickets that I could find were pretty rubbish, didn't seem worth forking out £100 each for (and I imagine if I'd tried to buy them it may well have not worked anyway). nick: Tim - well done! I'd forgotten about that.Have been pretty busy this week, sorry for lack of comms. Going to Exeter at the weekend and planning on cycling there (or at least some of the way there) tomorrow. It's around 120 miles but fortunately there are lots of railway stations that I could stop at
I think we provisionally had weekend of 5 apr booked to do something but I don't know if anything was confirmed. I am busy on the Friday 4th evening
Tim, should be able to do CC this sun at 6.30 if that's any good for you
nick: The weather turned out fine, so I did the Basingstoke to Exeter ride on Saturday. I think this is roughly the kind of distance that we'd need to be doing for E2E so was interested to know how achievable it would be. Plus, the bike shop fitted my rack and at last did my rear brake so bike was ready to go.Things I noticed:
- I had a bike rack with one bag on it (so not a huge amount of extra weight, but some). I didn't particularly notice the extra weight
- Took me 10 hours door to door, so average 12mph, although riding average speed was more like 15mph, which I think is fairly brisk.
- I stopped for 45 mins at my mum's house (which was en route) and for odd 10 mins elsewhere for snacks. Total stopping time around 2hrs 20, which sounds like longer than it felt (I certainly didn't feel I was taking long breaks). So not a lot of opportunity for looking around/sight-seeing
- I took the A30 nearly all the way, which turned out fine mainly because it was not very busy. Near 90 mile mark I cut a bit off A30 (where A30 gets busy) and went cross country. This involved hills, and was pretty hard. In fact I was thinking of giving up and getting train. But once I got back on main road I was fine (did a fair amount of the last 15 miles at around 20mph)
- Went out for drink in the evening with Ken and didn't go to bed until about 10.30, so I was still capable (I'd thought perhaps when I arrived I'd want to go straight to bed)
- Felt somewhat tired on Sunday but no major problems: I think I *could* have cycled home again
In summary, 120 miles achievable (and I think I could have gone longer). Maybe 100 miles/day would be more typical and that would be fine I think - however, winding country roads/hills make a big difference. I made very fast progress on A road, but I wouldn't want to do too much of that if A road is busy.
So I think some careful route planning is in order.
Tim: For a moment I had high hopes for this interactive traffic map:http://www.dft.gov.uk/traffic-counts/cp.php?la=Devon
But the interaction isn't quite what I imagined.
Tim: But they do have some downloadable data that might be usable. E.g. their "Major roads" spreadsheet has 30 measurements for the A33 and the quietest is the bit from North Waltham to Kings Worthy. 4800 vehicles per day compared to 46000 for some bit near Reading. It also has Northings and Eastings. Must be able to do a map of that somehow. Steve: Yes I did mention this weekend a few weeks ago but stuff seems to have piled in so I'm not available I'm afraid.Did no cycling last week of course or at the weekend due to busy-ness. But well done Nick for doing that distance, the most you have ever done.
Steve: I rode in to work yesterday and it was all of 3 hours including quick shower time. It's 35 miles and pretty busy traffic-wise (even leaving at 6) and tedious in the most part. I was trying to use cycle paths next to roads but they can be pretty bumpy and you have to cross side-roads. I got hugely held up in London and then got a bit lost around Oxford St area. I'm sure this took me 2.5 hours previously and I did it on MTB the first time. That was always going homeward so maybe the holdups are not so prominent. You don't seem to be able to sneak up the inside and bus lanes were blocked with buses/taxis plus lots of traffic lights. This was the A41 so I could try the A5 or the A1This time was on the Dawes with clothes in a pannier. It is locked up under the building currently.
Neck/shoulders pretty bad to be honest and not great today. Legs were tired when I climbed stairs but okay today.
I will ride home Friday night.
Are people around for Sunday lunch on the 13th? I was planning a MTB ride the morning after to remind you.
nick: Well done Steve, 3 hours seems a fairly long commute time so I don't suppose you'd be likely to do it regularly. Were there many hills? I guess 12mph means you were not thrashing it.I did have a bit of neck ache towards the end of my ride but I think that was simply from having been in a more-or-less fixed position for 10 hours, and it went pretty much as soon as I got there. Wish I could suggest something that could help you.
Am thinking of getting these panniers (they come as a pair) based mainly on the reviews being so positive.
I think the intention was that we stay on Sat night and I remember you saying about the bike ride so I would aim to bring mine, and that would mean Sunday lunch. I'll verify with Lesley though
Tim: I think we'll be off to somewhere on the Sunday, on the way home sort of thing. I'll check with the boss tonight. Steve: Yes well that time includes shower etc so let's say 15MPH shall we!Those panniers are exactly the sort I would get although Paul doesn't want us to look like "old men". Can't remember the quote but I know what he means, clothing is crucial, especially socks (Tim).
nick: So Steve, I took off my mudguards and rack at the weekend when getting the bike into the car. Put them back again yesterday - all fine except I didn't tighten up one of the bolts and it fell out so the mudguard is now loose. So I need some more of those bolts like the ones you gave me (only smaller). Did you say they came from screwfix? Do they have a particular name? There is a bewildering array of stuff on the screwfix site and I'm not sure if there's a keyword I can search on. I think I just want a bag of various length/sizes of bolts that have allen key fitting at the top, maybe with washers and nuts too Steve: Yes and look how cheap they are! The penny-pinching that goes on is worrying.You can also buy stainless locking nuts that have nylon shake-free inserts. You can probably use these on the fixings on the rack. As usual I have a load.
Been playing the Troy-estra loads this week long with the Magnus Ostrom.
And cycling home tonight which is still exciting (until you are half-way into it).
nick: I went to screwfix last night and got some, so have now firmly reattached the mudguard. I'm out this evening otherwise I'd be going for a ride.Steve, yes I recognise that feeling of excitement leading up to setting off on a significant ride - it's nice to be going somewhere (rather than round in a loop). Hope you have a good time
Steve: Hmm, the best part of 3 hours again and I can't work out why it is so slow as I put more effort in this time. I'll get better organised clothes-wise and try the Felt/train maybe this week and see what happens. And maybe a different route somehow... nick: How's your neck/head, Steve?I was a bit surprised by the Basingstoke->Exeter thing where I felt I was averaging quite a good speed (by the speedo - ~15mph) but door-to-door turned out notably slower (~12mph). I see that when I did Luton->Basingstoke last year the door-to-door average was 12mph as well, so maybe that's a realistic measure.
Talking with Tim last night, I think that aiming to do 100/day would probably be about right: achievable without being too hectic, and leaving time for a bit of faffing/stopping to look at things.
Needs some looking at maps to see what would be sensible legs for each day.
Tim: I've got some A2 maps from Sustrans (free plus p&p) for getting a general idea. If I can identify some low-traffic A roads from that .gov data then we might be on the way to an outline plan.There are a couple of route bottlenecks, and roughly speaking Googlemaps says:
LE-> Bristol 200 miles
Bristol to Scottish Border 300
Border to JOG 300
That doesn't really help much, but still.
nick: > LE-> Bristol 200 miles> Bristol to Scottish Border 300
> Border to JOG 300
800 miles altogether is shorter than I was mentally picturing (and only 8 days at 100/day). So if we did that it would give quite a bit of contingency. So I think I wouldn't mind doing more distance (if it meant fewer main roads).
Theoretically there are 17 days to do this (9-25 Aug) so there could be room for a rest day or two I suppose
Accommodation-wise I think it would be a good idea to book in advance but that does mean committing to doing a specified distance per day so some kind of daily itinerary is what's needed I think.
Tim: I'm assuming the actual route won't be quite as direct. Also various faff will mean that the first and last days cover <100 of the route.Maybe we need to start at the beginning...which direction are you going and how are you getting to the start point?
nick: I was assuming LE -> JOG, and using train to get to/from endpoints (although it may well be possible to get lifts).Gordon (my brother-in-law) says he'd be up for doing the first leg (from LE) with us, although if you did LE->Exeter by the shortest route, it would be about 120 miles, and I'm not sure going through Exeter would be ideal, so I don't think we'd be ending up at his house at the end of the day. But in any case there is a reasonable chance of getting a lift from Exeter if that helped.
nick: I've enrolled on a course from these people and am now getting mailshots advertising other courses such as this one Good brain, bad brain which actually look interesting.I don't know if I have time to sign up to all of them but they're free and I don't think there's a catch
Tim: I see that it's 3 hours on the train from Exeter to Penzance, and 10 miles from there to LE.From there, 50 miles (plus route wigglyness) gets you to somewhere like Bodmin. 80 miles to Bude/Launceston/Plymouth is probably overdoing it?
Tim: ...alternatively, to do a longer first leg you could stay somewhere in/beyond Penzance overnight, or do the sleeper train from Paddington/Reading. Then you could get started first thing.Or join it at Exeter (4:35, perfect).
Steve: I saw that, it is good. All I have seen is an email asking us not to comment on it to customers. Steve: Tim's planning sent me to the Sustrans site and it looks like their panniers are not much more than say Wiggle plus they would raise money. I'm looking for maps for our Northumberland holiday. Steve: Ride to work update while I wait for a patching...Rode in this week on the Felt - what a flipping difference! Carried nothing and worried all the way here I would be missing some trousers or something. I trained to St Albans which makes it 25 miles - much more civilised. I also came down the A5 Edgware Rd which is a lot better for traffic. Only dual-carriageway for about 300m (and then some in central London) and more usable bus lanes. About 2 hours of riding.
The following day I had the start of a nasty back-of-the-neck one coming on but was determined to ride home. Riding was fine and I feel okay today so no idea what went on there. Was wondering whether to get a whistle like the guy I was following. Police riders use them to stop traffic at junctions as they get through car windows.
So looking forward to having another go, it is pretty time-consuming though and a 12% on the way home. And still a low average speed - must be the traffic lights...
nick: So you're allowed to take your Felt on the train?Was speaking to someone here who's a keen cyclist (and who's planning on doing the Randonnee); he said that he had back problems some time ago that meant cycling was too painful, but he found using a recumbent was fine (and he regularly uses one now, although he's also back on the normal bikes).
He really likes the recumbent but it looks quite fragile to me (I often see him cycling in/out of work on it). But I guess that might be another option (certainly I wouldn't mind having a go on one)
Steve: I can train as far as St Albans at peak so I got off the train at 7AM roughly. No way am I getting a recumbent don't worry. You can't stand up so how do you get up hills? Tim: It's the Barbican thing a week on Friday then. Are we doing anything else? I think I'm free on the Saturday... nick: Ken and Julie are visiting us that week so will be with us on the Sat. And Lesley is doing a "pop up curry restaurant" on the Saturday (I think it's a charity thing, not sure). So I'll be in NW but you'd be welcome to come and have some curry with us
Tim: So I bought a £90 USB HD for various purposes, possibly including storing music files for the pi.First up though, I was upgrading my netbook to Windows 8 and did a full backup first.
It used 2% of the available space on the drive. This is getting silly.
Steve: Cycled in and out yesterday (St Albans). Feeling a bit wiped out today and I really struggled getting up Hitchin Road last night. I did crack on on the inward journey, mainly as I hugely underestimated how cold it would be. My hands were killing me in fingerless gloves for the first half of the journey. Then a bit too hot going home in the same garb.So I am probably not as fit as I was still. My neck knows it's done something but no headache so maybe I am strengthening it.
nick: I cycled to house group last night (about 13 miles each way). Shorts and t-shirt on the way there but it was pretty chilly riding home (at about 10pm) - I left my jeans on (which weren't as bad as I'd expected). Hands were very cold in fingerless gloves though.
Also I used my pannier (just one) for the first time. It makes the bike feel pretty heavy if you're lifting it up, but I didn't notice any difference while cycling (or maybe I was just unconsciously going slower)
Tim: I suppose you'll just be a little bit slower going uphill. But that's ok because on the lejog route there will hardly be any hills. Steve: Oh the irony... due to power downs late Friday we are all going to be WFH. So I will be travelling in to the concert that evening as well.I have the tickets.
Tim: Neil is going to be in London (generally) on Friday, and might prefer to meet at the Barbie somewhere than come back out to Waterloo.Is anyone planning to go to the pregig talk?
Steve: I can try to get there for 6:30 if someone is keen, might be pushing it - I have the tickets and should have given them out the other week. Looks like maybe you don't need the ticket to get into the talk? nick: I'm planning on getting 17.50 from Hampton, arrives Waterloo at 18.35.I don't mind hanging around near the pasty stalls waiting for others.
In other news - went to Sainsbury's yesterday to get some shopping and can confirm that full pannier DOES make cycling harder work (maybe I didn't have much in them before).
Tim: OK see you there.I suppose there's more inertia which is a pain when accelerating. And decelerating. But the rest of the time, no problem!
nick: >I suppose there's more inertia which is a pain when accelerating. And decelerating. But the rest of the time, no problem!you're forgetting wind resistance....
Steve: I will not be anywhere near Waterloo as I am WFH so Barbican for me.Pannier weight has to be pulled up all of the hills and you get little benefit coasting down them.
nick: not sure if I can remember what Neil looks like but I'll keep an eye out for someone...We can get a bus!
Tim: That bus map: maybe we should try a 243 next time for a change.Not a bad gig, and the Eastleigh thing worked OK, I was home about 1:20 and there was another train 20 minutes later as a fallback that wouldn't be disastrous. So that looks good for future Barbican stuff that might finish around 11.
I've had a look at monolake.de to find out what the Henke thing in July is, and it *looks* good but I can't spot any clues yet as to what it might *sound* like. (It's not likely to be all go or he'd probably call it monolake.)
Tim: Documentary here. I'm up, for it, anyone else? Decent seats still available. I'll check with Neil too. Tim: My 2GB dimm for my netbook arrived today. Just spent over an hour dismantling stuff to get to the old one (underneath the main board), then putting it all back together. Some of the connectors seem very fragile. But it still works!Only a few tiny crumbled bits of plastic and one screw left over.
Current memory usage (doing nowt but surfing) is 40%, which is a lot better than 80% obv.
Steve: On a similar note our disk recorder stopped receiving any signal yesterday. I searched and found it is a common fault. Replaced a capacitor with one from my stock and back in business within 20 minutes. Amazing.Looks like I am away the 19th of July so can't make that. Seems that similar circle tickets available.
nick: 19-July I think I'm free, and sounds interesting so yes I'd like to go to that please.The following weekend is Basingstoke Big Wheel 22
Steve: Yes I'm sorry I'm not going to that one. I saw you pointing at it the other night but it didn't click who he is. nick: Took my MTB in for a service. Turns out it needed a few things doing - new bottom bracket (the pedals were getting a bit wobbly), new chain, new rear cassette. Also rear wheel needed new hub (cones have gone) but he said may as well replace whole wheel because the rims have nearly gone.Hmmm,.. maybe I should just get a new MTB. But at least this will now be all fresh ready for the rides between HE and MD this summer!
Going to Rick Wakeman at the RAH tonight. No tubes after 9.30pm so may be late home...
Steve: Hmm and you laughed at the rate I get through bottom brackets. I thought you had it serviced a year ago???On a new bike no more rim wear with disk brakes. Shimano don't do sealed cartridge bearings that I know of but a new BB and wheel you fit might do so end of maintenance issues.
My original MTB had rear wheel bearing issues after about two years - water must have got in. I have replaced ball bearings and although a bit lumpy it's fine.
Rode in today and traffic noticeably worse. Why don't you get a bike from RAH to Waterloo? Looks like they are around that area.
nick: Been listening to Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" album and really getting in to it. Looking on Wikipedia it turns out to have been one of their most successful albums and I can see why. Any of you listened? Pretty good riffs and tunes, I'm having trouble not bopping around to it Steve: I just can't listen to them as they were Genesis clones. I remember Andy Pyett (sp?) raving about them and none of us taking any notice :) Do either of you remember that he had his record collection stolen?!? Tim: That tracklisting looks pretty familiar, I think I must have borrowed/taped that one and got some mileage out of it. nick: The Rick Wakeman concert I went to has been reviewed in the guardian. The last user comment (at the time of writing) is from Tony - I think he sums it up pretty well.I didn't think the sound quality was that great but it was pretty powerful stuff - orchestra, choir and electronic instruments all coming together
Steve: I read Wakeman's biography a while back. He comes across as a twit (no surprise), but he ploughed money back into musical ideas and you have got to admire that.Was it not sold out then?
I have ordered Marathon's for the MTB as I got 2 slow punctures after the last 2 rides and I think the supplied tyres are pretty naff.
nick: The guardian seemed to say that RAH wasn't sold out, but I thought it was pretty full... there were some empty seats around the edges but they were places where you couldn't have seen very well.Plus it was a tube strike that day so I guess perhaps some people might not have made it.
Didn't get time to plan JOGLE stuff last weekend, but will be doing so soon.
Steve did your cycling go OK at the weekend? Did you manage to keep up?
Steve: We did one ride which was about 12 on a disused railway and then 12 on roads up and over the Peaks. 10% hills that were a bit long I suppose and one of the guys had to push and was cursing. He had a new bike and the chain was coming off a fair bit but he hadn't practised or tested it beforehand. It has put me off of doing those rides to be honest. We did some walking and loads of eating.I assume you did not do the Randonneee then? Paul is racing this weekend but I fear rain.
I have tried the vinyl cleaning with glue and it's really a problem with the handling you have to do. I can get the glue on and off okay but try doing that without dropping the LP or putting fingers all over the other side. So I might not continue with that.
BTW Lloyd Webber's Variations is still a good old album. And mine is in pretty good nick. Just recording it to WAV for ripping and cleaning.
Steve: Well done looks like a good speed. I rode in Wed on the Dawes and it felt noticeably more difficult. Someone commented on it at some lights, it must be a classic.If you look at your calorie rating you will see why eating all the time is the key. I'm not doing 5:2 and ride to work or Paul would kill me.
Also I see that you have missed the boat Nick. Rockhoppers only come in 29er size which looks pants to me. Hardrock does either 26 or 29.
This thread is getting too much to scroll through if anyone has a picture...
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