Now I will be the first to admit I don’t like how the Rail Network is set up at current [1, and 2].

However Let us quickly compare the cost and subsidy with the UK road network:

• Externalities: £48.7 bn
• Road Building: £9 bn
• sum £57.7 bn

Car Drivers pay directly the following:

• Car Tax (VED): £5.4 bn
• Fuel Duty: £24.9 bn
• Other Costs: £17.8 bn (This is made up of VAT on Fuel, Cars, and Parts etc).
• sum £48.1 bn

This shows a subsidy of £9.6 bn per year. (Numbers from I Pay Road Tax).

Recently the 8km (4.97 miles) M74 motorway extension in Scotland was finished; it cost £692 million that is about £138.5 million per mile (The M74 project was a partnership project between Transport Scotland, Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Renfrewshire Council).

Recently Bombardier was awarded a £187 million contract to build 135 railway carriages (£1.4 million per carriage). I am sure that 135 Railway carrages can carry more people than 8km of road, (Don’t get me started on what may/will happen to them in terms of ROSCOs) and makes for a better long term investment.

The current political Railway football being kicked around is HS2. The Department for Transport say that “HS2 will cost a total of £32.7bn” and will be completed by 2026, the current route is for Phase 1 is 140 miles, of which 79 miles will be in tunnels or cuttings and 40 miles will be on viaducts or embankments linking London to Birmingham; Phase 2 will leave Birmingham, and link Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.

I am not too sure about the advantage of a Third corridor from London to the North; that can’t be achieved by upgrading the existing alignment; or by investing in Rolling stock designed to the british loading gauge and for our track; In the 1980s There was a project called the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) that in 1984 an APT completed the London to Glasgow journey in 3hrs 52min in 1984, remember this is before any of the west cost route modernisation and modern works; back when people complained that BR was terrible, in 1996 a Virgin Pendolino completed the Glasgow to London journey in 3hrs 55min (details).

If that could be done then; why are we not re-looking into investing in what we have, with a view to getting back to 1980s performance, for 1980s Funding?

There are two things you may spot on my Schematic Diagram;

1. My cunning use of Ethernet over CAT 5 for Data.
2. I forgot to draw the lights on – ah well.

The cunning Plan is to use one Arduino Mega (2560), with an Ethernet Shield for the control; and interface (serve a webpage with all all the controls on it). and use an Ethernet Camera for Vision Feedback.

I used .:oomlout:. as my supplier for the Arduino Mega and Ethernet Shield, after they were recomended by Nat Poate, however oomlout don’t stock, and have no plans currently to stock the Teensy.

If I need more than one Microcontroller in my ROV I can interface them together using I²C (“i-squared cee” or “two-wire interface”), However the Arduino Mega has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, and I cant see myself running out even with the Ethernet Shield connected.

Hopefuly this will be waiting for me when I get home, so I can have a play

Cars and Lorrys give you much more respect than they do when you are a cyclist; they seem to be much more tollerent of you making mistakes (i.e. Stalling) than if you are a learner in a car;

Random Zero has on a number of occasions told me that as a motor cyclist I have the right to the road (where as Cyclists paying no Road Tax don’t). Despite my pointing out that its Vehicle Excise Duty and that there is no such thing as Road Tax (Road Tax was abolished by Winston Churchill in 1937) that even if bikes had to pay Vehicle Excise Duty it would be Band A (up to 100g/km) at £0.00.

However some idiots still don’t see you; Riding along the B4063 (East bound parst Merssier-Dowty) this morning on a duel lane part of the road; overtaking a slower moving white car with plenty of space; dressed in my rather subtil new leathers; ok it was a bit damp (read pissing it down), The Driver swerved into my lane overtaking cyclists, now the Cyclests were doing nothing wrong; the driver had approached them too fast; leaving the driver no room to pull out, and as such almost causing an accident.

One Place you still get treated like you have no place on the road is pinch points; or anywhere else you have priority over on coming vechials; As drives dont yeald to your priority.

On Saturday I managed to liberate my Christmas present from my Farther; a set of proper motorcycle clothing;

George Whites shut down (went into administration) on Thursday last week, meaning that it was off to Art Deans (the only other supplier that I know of in Swindon);

On Sunday I went off for a ride up to Abingdon, Oxford, Clifton, Chipping Norton and Then back to Swindon; in my Sexy new Hi-Vis (Well Sexy if you have a Hi-Vis Fetish or Motor Cycle Fetish (I DON’T!!)).

Jon Ody of Ody Automation managed to get these photos of me:

However After leaving Chipping Norton, Steph suffered an electrical fault, causing me to break down next to the side of the road; at the little fish shop in the ley-by just south of the A40. I Managed to jiggle the wires together and off we went;

However this morning she died on the way to work; so I am going to have to look at her tonight; lucky for me I have the Yamaha SR125 Service Manual, and The Supplementary Service Manual (can be found here). I have printed off the wiring Guide; however mine has now been scribbled all over with things I know have changed.

Dear Skippy,

I am writing to both cyclists and drivers to remind them to take care on London’s roads.

Cyclists are reminded to:

• Be aware of blind spots all around large vehicles. It’s often safer to hang back
• Make eye contact with drivers to make sure they have seen you
• Not ride through red traffic lights. It’s dangerous and you can be fined £30
• Allow space between you and parked vehicles. Doors may be opened suddenly

Cycle training courses are available in most London boroughs.

For more information, please visit tfl.gov.uk/cyclesafety
Yours sincerely,

Ben Plowden
Director, Surface Planning

To which I have drafted the following response:

Dear Mr Plowden,

Thank you for your email, As a cyclist I find the advice you have given to be common sense, however I note that you have not included any reminders for Car, or other motor vehicle drivers.

Road users are reminded:

• To use ASL/Z (Advanced Stop Lines/Zone)  Correctly. (Rule 178 [Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10, 36(1) & 43(2)])
• of the correct use of Box Junctions (Rule 174 [Law TSRGD regs 10(1) & 29(2)])
• of the correct procedure for turning Left when around Cyclists (Rule 182)
• of the correct procedure for overtaking other vehicles and Cyclists (Highway Code 162 – 169) Including:
• Giving motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see also Rules 211-215)
• Making sure that you have enough room to complete your overtaking manoeuvre before committing yourself. It takes longer to pass a large vehicle. If in doubt do not overtake
• You MUST NOT overtake if you would have to cross or straddle double white lines with a solid line nearest to you (but see Rule 129)

This is not an exhastive list of what Road Users should rmember when driving, for that they can refer to the highway code, which is available online, or available to purchase at most bookshops.

Regards

Skippy

I am sure that Cycling in London could benefit from Drivers, and those in charge of vehicles from following the Highway Code, Road Traffic Act, and other laws and statutes; oh and COMMON SENSE, but it would also benefit hugely from better understructure for cyclists, and I don’t just mean ASL/Z, or ‘Cycling Superhighways’ but properly maintained segregated cycle paths, and where that is not possible cycle paths of decent width with better junction integration.

While I was speaking to nbWonderinStar’s owner Betty, Zero, and Dan had a look round the shopping centre and the museum.

[View with PicLens]

There may be a problem with buying nbWonderinStar; in that the boat they were looking at may have been sold. Will find out on Tuesday. However until then I can keep looking.

I have just been told that due to the boat they were looking to buy being sold to some one else; nbWonderinStar is being taken off the market. ergo I will have to keep looking.

As said previously most people use PVC pipe for the hull construction, Looking round the internet for ideas I have come across Ian Leverington’s site ROV Robot Submariner, that sells a how to guide for building an Remotely Operated Vehicle, complete with on-board video camera for under £200 for £6.50; I have bought a copy of the guide. soI can use it as a starting point for my design;

Also on the internet I found a kit called the SRV-1 by Dry Dock Products, sold via Mike’s Subworks, it looks like a simple design; and suggests that it is also possible to use the motor pods for fully functional vector control instead of requiring the use of the dive planes, or rudder for steering.

The rotating thrusters allow you to power the sub nearly straight down, or up to the surface, with the dual motor control option, the sub will be able to spin round on its axis.

Most model submarine hulls are made of fibreglass. but more RC submarine kits are being made out of ABS or Styrene plastic because of the reduced cost and ease of construction; however I don’t think these materials are as strong as PVC pipe, due to the nominal wall thickness being much thiner, and not designed for the external pressure being as high (Most model submarines have an operational depth of between 2 and 8 feet).

There is a hole in my water tight box…

While making a completely sealed water tight box that is resistant to pressure would be relatively easy; it leads its self to some problems;

1. Just how do you get all your wires in and out?
2. How do you make things move outside the water tight box?
3. how do you keep it watertight?

Wires

The holes where wires pass through your pressure vessel are the easiest to deal with; as they can be made secure using potting compound, like Epoxy.

There is a good How-To on this very subject at http://www.homebuiltrovs.com/howtosealingwireexits.html, Home Built ROVs show all the cables having there insulation stripped out in the epoxy bung; so that ingress outside the pressure vessel, will not propagate along the conductor, or bundle into the hull;

As this makes total sense to me; its the method I shall go with at the moment; unless I can think of something better. although I am sort of a fan of having two sets of water proof bulkheads with a monitored interspace between them (working at CCFE has left some impression ).

Push and Pull Rods

These tend to be delft with by tight bushes, or ruber bellows; neither of which I am convinced are as impervious to ingress as I would like; I guess that using the two in combination, and filling the bellows as much as possible with hydrophobic grease would help.

Another option would be to use magnetic sliders; meaning that there would be no penetration of the pressure vessel.

Propeller and rotary shafts

Prop shafts for RC boats are generally not designed for large pressure differentials, however there are some prop shafts that are designed to be ‘waterproof’, one example consist of a brass tube and inner bearing housing with a stainless steel shaft. The outer bearing is made from Delrin and the inner bearing from sintered Bronze with a lipped G ring seal that make these tubes water tight.

I don’t know how these would cope at larger pressure differentials.

Water ingress detectors

The easiest way I can think of for ingress detection is the use of Printed circuit boars with a large number of parallel tracks so that any moisture will complete the circuit;

A similar pattern can also be laid directly onto the inside of the pressure vessle with copper tape.

The voltage signal from these sensors can then be passed to the control circuit.

The job is an intresting one

However it’s very unlikely there will be any posts like the East London Line, MASCOT, or Flywheel posts from here

Sorry guys.

Hobby ROVs

With an increased interest in the ocean by many people, both young and old, and the increased availability of once expensive and non-commercially available equipment, ROVs have become a popular hobby amongst many. This hobby involves the construction of small ROVs that generally are made out of PVC piping and often can dive to depths between 50 to 100 feet but some have managed to get to 300 feet. […] Most hobby ROVs are tested in lakes where the water is calm, however some have tested their own personal ROVs in the sea. – From Wikipedia

As with most water craft (boats etc) the part of a ROV that is underwater should be water tight; while boats have a large amount of them above the water that can be full of holes, ROVs and Submarines loose out on that grace, also boats can be almost water tight; and rely a number of methods of either sinking very slowly; kicking ingress water out faster than it comes in (pumps, sponges, etc) and or using prop tubes that are interspaced with grease that stops water at atmospheric pressure sneaking in, However ROVs operate under larger presure (RC Subs tend to not be designed to operate as deeply as miniature ROVs).

Under Pressure

Pressure increase at depth, as the little diagram acquired from CalcTool shows the greater the depth, the greater the pressure; I used their assumption of the density of sea water to be 1025 kg/m³ (‘Fresh’ water is less dense), which means that pressure increases by approx. 1 atm with each 10 m of depth.

I ran the calc tool a small number of times and came up with the following graph; The Calculator gives the total pressure – not just the pressure due to the water, so it includes the 1 atm ambient air pressure at sea level.

This 1 atm ambient pressure should be the same 1 atm as inside the ROV at the surface, so the net force on the hull at the surface should be 0 atm.

As well as atm I ran the pressures as kgf/cm^2 and all the way to 60 meters below the surface;  I doubt very much if I will need to build that level of pressure resistance into my first attempt; but its worth illustrating.

Also at some point it may be worth re-running this in SI units (1 atm = 1.03 kgf/cm^2 =  101 kPa)

Most hobby ROV builders use PVC pipe from plumbing suppliers, despite it comming with the following warning:

PVC pipe tends to shatter into small splinters or shrapnel when it explodes and not all PVC is pressure rated.

NEVER pressurize PVC pipe with air, hydro-testing (water) is the only way it should be done. If you don’t know what that means DON’T TRY IT, PERIOD.

However since PVC pipe is a known for hobby and home made ROVs I will follow their lead. however I am not happy about using re-purposed bilge motors for thrusters; and am sure I can come up with something more graceful.

More Posts will follow (follow this project on “My 1st ROV” Project Page).

I don’t know how accurate these numbers are; as despite the numbers being listed as coming from ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) but I can’t find the raw data.

The author of The Public Transport Marketing Blog writes:

I think the average traveller will be surprised how much money Network Rail takes from the pot, the costs associated with running a train company and the net profit they actually make.

I am not all that surprised at how much Network Rail take from the pot; as well unlike a TOC (Train operating Company) or a FOC (Freight Operating Company) they have to look after physical assets; including thousands of miles of track, a huge number of historical structures, as well as all the staff they employ, the amount of equipment they have etc.

Maffi has written a post about Bombardier’s being awarded a contract for new rolling stock; £187 million to build 135 rail carriages. which works out on about as £1.4 mill per carriage.

What pisses me off is that that £187 million is not the train companies buying them out right; but they ten have to lease them back; so rather than coming out as a single gross out going, they appear every year as a rented item, so that 11p goes to a ROSCO (ROlling Stock Company) who owns the trains and then they leased to train operators.

All three ROSCOs (Angel, HSBC and Porterbrook) are owned by major high street banking groups – Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Abbey National respectively. As the train owners, ROSCOs are also responsible for overhaul and heavy maintenance of the Rolling Stock, however despite over the the last few years new Stock being purchased and subsequently leased to TOCs they still charge what appears to be an unresnobly large amount for older or lower quality trains.

First Great Western run 54 HST Sets (here) owned by three ROSCOs First Group, Angel and Porterbrook (details) made up of two Class 43 HST Traction Units (built between 1975 – 1982) and a number of British Rail Mark 3 coaching stock (1975 – 1988), funded by British Taxpayers as they were built by BR while the railway was a Nationalised industry, at Privitisation they were sold off, and ended up hands of ROSCOs.

(FGW routes served by HSTs).

Nationalisation, or at least better regulation of the UK Train Franchise could be used as both a stick and a carrot to provide more affordable Travel Costs to the end user; without moving all the liability on to the Tax Payer (who at the moment gets shaffted with it anyway).

Also I feel that the Tax Payer should not Subsidise the Rail Industry; and where investment can be construed as a subsidy; it should be looked at closely by an independent group who have the power to do something about it. I have no problems with the Tax Payer Investing in National Infrastructure.

“Wanderin Star” would make a comfortable live aboard. She was built by Oxley Marine in 2003, she has a Beta B 38 diesel engine with RPM 120 gearbox. She has 1 double bed and also a casual double sofa bed. She is also kitted out with a gas hob,grill and oven, washing machine, fridge, flat screen tv/dvd with radio and cd, big fresh water tank, holding tank with gauge, shore power, 2 new 12volt batteries, 55ltr calorifier, 2 x alternators, galvanic isolator. She is also fully carpeted throughout .She was out of the water in 2008 for 2 coats of bitumen and 4 new anodes. Boat Safety certificate until 2013. She now also has doors between the saloon and toilet and again into the bedroom.

I cant get the Photos from the Channel Yacht Sales page so you will just have to look on their page, or on the PDF. but here are some I managed to grab from outside on my wondering round:

[View with PicLens]

I had a look round the inside and met the current owners Last week; I am tempted, as its a nice boat; and it is already in the area I am planning on moving to, and they are planning on moving out about March-ish, just need to contact them, and sort out the details relating to getting it surveyed and re-blacked.

Swindon to Staverton by Car takes 56 minutes and is 37.1 miles (according to google) and according to fuel-economy.co.uk This journey would cost me £6, or by train will about an hour ten (not including the half hour to get to Swindon Town Station, and the Half hour from time to get from the Station to Staverton, both of which either means getting Busses, Walking or Cycling).

The costs for a session ticket last year was:

This year the Costs are:

Which makes that an 5.96% rise on the prices last year; I suspect that FGW will claim that its not 6%; as for Busses; Stagecoach sell a megarider plus (West Mega Plus) for £15.50 per week; this allows me to travel anywhere in the Cheltenham, and Gloucester area, ergo to and from Staverton.

Now assuming Steph is not as fast; An hour 20 seems like a  safe guess, however she should give me much more distance for the same fuel.

Even though fuel goes up in price every so often, TOCs (Train Operating Companies) force a HUGE price increase on the poor people who use there services; Michael Roberts (The chief executive of the ATOC – Association of Train Operating Companies) and others in his position jabber on with something like the following every year (this is the clap trap he said this year):

“Money raised through fares helps pay for new trains, faster services and better stations. The longstanding government approach to sustaining rail investment is to cut the contribution from taxpayers and increase the share paid for by passengers. The industry is working together to continue cutting costs as a way to help limit future fare rises and offer better value for money for taxpayers over the longer term.”

Which since I have been travailing on trains for years I feel that i can safely call bollocks on this one! First Great Western has been running HSTs (High Speed Trains – InterCity 125) since privatisation, and every so often changes the number of seats in the carriages, removing legroom, tables and storage space packing more and more cattle commuters into each carriage. I am also fed up of getting onto a train at London Paddington to find that it has not be cleaned.

First Great Western like all TOCs are private companies driven by share holder return, ergo they do not invest all the money they make into the railway; they need to hand over some of our hard earned cash (the money we pay to the TOC) and any “subsidisation” from the government to the individuals who own shares, not to count the money they hand to managers for doing a great job in increasing Profits…

Stagecoach, owner of the South West Trains and East Midlands Trains franchises, has risked the ire of passengers, green campaigners and trade unions with plans to return £340m to shareholders – including an £88m windfall for the brother and sister who founded the group. (from here)

Stagecoach said “Only around 4p in every £1 of the cost of a rail ticket in the UK is the profit train companies make on their rail services, with the rest going towards the significant cost of running train services themselves.” (from here)

While I can’t find anything like this from FGW I am sure that it won’t be a hugely diffrent outlook for their share holders.

AS for Only 4p in every £1; well that is 4%; I am sure that i would appreciate not having most of my price increase passed to share holders…

Oh and as for the clap trap about Tax Payers “subsidising” people travailing on trains; well the tax payer subsidises Car Drivers over and above the cost of Fuel Tax, and vehicle excise duty (NOT called ‘Road Tax’).

• Fisher-Price Online – some of these games will work with this thing too. They’re free and not too bad.
• Knee Bouncers – An awesome ad-free site supported by annual membership.

If you know more sites with similar please leave them in the comments below.

I may also build a Baby Interface Device for my niece

It was nice to have the cast off as it meant I could wash my hand for the first time in five weeks.

I have got a thumb support now

However I hurt my hand by knocking my hand while packing so am wearing my splint.

I am using the Arduino IDE (from arduino.cc) and the Teensy Loader (from PJRC) this gives me the following pin out:

My current code for the moment sits at:

#define NORT 0  // North
#define EAST 1  // East
#define SOUT 2  // South
#define WEST 3  // West

#define LEFT 6  // Left Click
#define DOUB 7  // Double Click
#define LOCK 8  // Click Lock
#define RIGH 9  // Right Click
#define SCRO 10 // Scroll Lock

#define LED 11   // On PCB LED
#define CLED 6  // Click Lock LED
#define SLED 7  // Scroll Lock LED

void setup()
{
  // initialize the four pins for the D Pad
    pinMode(NORT, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(EAST, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(SOUT, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(WEST, INPUT_PULLUP);

  // initialize the Five Pins for the Buttons
    pinMode(LEFT, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(DOUB, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(LOCK, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(RIGH, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(SCRO, INPUT_PULLUP);

  // initialize the Three Pins for the LEDs
    pinMode(LED, OUTPUT);   // This is the LED on the Teensy PCB,
    pinMode(CLED, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(SLED, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
  int X;
  int Y;
  int speed;
  X = 0;
  Y = 0;
  speed = 1;  // number between 1 and something bigger, if speed = 0 well… FAIL

  if (digitalRead(NORT) == LOW)
    {
      X = 1;
    }
  if (digitalRead(EAST) == LOW)

    {
      Y = 1;
    }
  if (digitalRead(SOUT) == LOW)
    {
      X = -1;
    }
  if (digitalRead(WEST) == LOW)
    {
      Y = -1;
    }
  Mouse.move(X * speed, Y * speed);
}

I would appreciate any one who can poke my code for me to help me write better code

This is my set up at the moment, I haven’t yet got a desk; so I work on my bed,

My name is Philip McGaw and owner of skippy.org.uk.

A website that your company hosts (according to WHOIS information) is infringing on at least one copyright owned by myself.

An article was copied onto your servers without permission.

The original article, to which we own the exclusive copyrights, can be found at:

http://skippy.org.uk/windows-2008-r2-on-my-macbook-pro/

The unauthorized and infringing copy can be found at:

http://www.gadgetdegree.com/gadgets/windows-2008-r2-on-my-macbook-pro/

This letter is official notification under Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”), and I seek the removal of the aforementioned infringing material from your servers. I request that you immediately notify the infringer of this notice and inform them of their duty to remove the infringing material immediately, and notify them to cease any further posting of infringing material to your server in the future.

Please also be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to remove or disable access to the infringing materials upon receiving this notice. Under US law a service provider, such as yourself, enjoys immunity from a copyright lawsuit provided that you act with deliberate speed to investigate and rectify ongoing copyright infringement. If service providers do not investigate and remove or disable the infringing material this immunity is lost. Therefore, in order for you to remain immune from a copyright infringement action you will need to investigate and ultimately remove or otherwise disable the infringing material from your servers with all due speed should the direct infringer, your client, not comply immediately.

I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that rights I own are being infringed. Under penalty of perjury I certify that the information contained in the notification is both true and accurate, and I have the authority to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright(s) involved.

Should you wish to discuss this with me please contact me directly.

Thank you.

Philip McGaw

philipmcgaw.com

{Address block removed}

I got the template letter for my DMCA takedown notice from IPWatchdog,

While I have never received a DMCA takedown notice, and probably would laugh at some one for sending me one; (my server is in Leeds, UK) because they don’t have any legal standing in the UK, and while as far as I am aware there is no UK equivalent of the crazy US law, I would probably act on it; or at least work out a way to mitigate.

unfortunately for GadgetDegree they are in the US, and so are their Servers.

My mum works with a young man with special needs, who among other things has trouble using a computer using off the shelf consumer Human Interface Devices, while mouse alternatives are available, such as the OPTIMA Joystick (here) they start at at £169.00 plus the cost of the extra buttons (here) at £27.00 per; I spoke to the young mans mother; and came away with a rough idea of what would be useful to him as an interface.

Why a Joystick as a mouse?

• Many computer programs, e.g. drawing-programs, demand the use of a mouse.
• Many users have difficulties in handling a standard mouse.
• The joystick mouse is used instead of a standard mouse, but demands less motor ability from the user.

A while ago I remember watching the Make Video on The AWESOME Button, and remembered one of the cool features of the Teensy USB, after looking round the site I ordered two. Also a while ago I looked into making my own MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) box, and as part of that research I came across Balltop Joysticks & Arcade Buttons from Arcade World.

I now have a box of Joystick and Buttons to play with and two Teensy USB boards, so over the next few weeks I will have a go at making a much more accessible version of the Joystick, but designed to the young mans needs.

While other people have had some success with this kind of project; their starting point tends to be a USB gamepad and some software to make it act as a mouse; where I am looking to try and make it as system agnostic as possible

The ideas for requirements are

• The joystick is handled like the wheelchair joystick.
• Mouse pointer speed is adjustable.
• The mouse-keys can be used in two ways,- with or without toggling.
• External switches are optional.
• To facilitate double-clicks, the joystick mouse has an automatic double-click-key.
• Presents its self to the OS as a generic USB Mouse

I plan to make the buttons external to the joystick as that will allow the mouse to be operated by two hands. I also plan to put LEDs in some of the switches to give visual feedback on function.

The following button functions should be supported (with an * signifies a LED for feedback)

• Left Click
• Double Click
• Click Lock *
• Right Click
• Scroll Lock *

Scroll Lock turns the Joystick off mouse pointer mode and makes the up and down act as up and down on a scroll wheel.

• Cornish: Nadelik Lowen ha Blydhen Nowydh Da
• Dutch: Prettige kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
• French: Joyeux Noël et bonne année
• Irish (Gaelic): Nollaig shona duit/daoibh (Happy Christmas to you)
  Bliain úr faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit/daoibh (Happy New Year to you)
• Klingon: QISmaS DatIvjaj ‘ej DIS chu’ DatIvjaj (sg)
  QISmaS botIvjaj ‘ej DIS chu’ botIvjaj (pl)
• Latin: Natale hilare et annum faustum
• Manx: Nollick Ghennal as Blein Vie Noa
• Quenya: Alassëa Hristomerendë! Alassëa Vinyarië!
• Scottish Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil
• Welsh: Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dad

NB: Christmas is not universally celebrated and there are a number of different dates for Christmas and New Year depending on which calendar is used. Orthodox Christians who use the Julian calendar, for example in Russia and Serbia, celebrate Christmas on 7th January. and the Pagan new year evening is October 31st.

The idea behind Tiny7 is that most of the useless junk that comes with 7 is stripped out, leaving only the bare essentials. This leaves you with a functional OS that’s much smaller and faster than the original bulky 7.

Sure, it’s ¿piracy? (since you’re downloading a hacked ISO that bypasses registration), but I actually own a legal copy of 7. That doesn’t make using Tiny7 legal, but in my mind it makes it morally okay.

I have chosen to use VirtualBox from VirtualBox.org as the software to run the virtual machines, its free, and open source; This is the procedure for making the Base Tiny7 SolidWorks 2010 disk (SolidWorks 2010 TPB)

Click on New

I have called it Solidworks, and Chosen Microsoft Windows as the Operating System, and Windows 7 32 Bit as the Version (there are two options, 32, and 64 bit)

increase the Memory from 512 MB to 1024 MB,

The next steps are for the Harddrive:

I prefer Dynamically allocated as they grow as you add more data; I am not sure if there is a performance hit doing it this way.

However its an idea to make the Maximum size larger than you should ever need, as you can’t edit this early after you have started filling it

You will still need to poke some files at this stage; but you can go ahead and create it now

So now click settings; its next to new

Increse the Video Memory to 128 MB, and enable 3D and 2D Video Acceleration

Now its the time to choose the Tiny7 iso file that you downloaded from TPB, and then click OK

Now clicking Start and we will install Windows Tiny7

Choose the Hard drive and walk away

Next we install Guest Additions, since Auto run is disabled on Windows Tiny7, we will first need to go “Devices > Install Guest Additions…” or click the Host Key (in this case the Left Cloverleaf key ‘⌘’) + D. then double click on the CD.

And you have to trust Oracle to install the drivers and the ilk, (it is up to you if you always trust them or not),

At this point its a good idea to try and make the “Documents” folder on the host os available on the Guest OS, as this will save hassle and then all documents will be available.

Click on the plus Folder

You will want to Auto-Mount and not be read only

This then shows up as a network location under the computer

Because we can’t index the files in the folder, we won’t be able to add it to the Documents Library on Windows Tiny7, but this does give us a quick and easy way to access the Host OS documents from the Guest.

At this point its a good idea to shut down the guest Computer, and duplicate it

Full Clone with a Reinitialised MAC address. (i assume this means that Virtual Box issues a new MAC address to the Network cards)

The Full clone should mean that I can use that as a Base image for any other software I wish to use (I could have done the Windows Tiny7 install then Cloned to the SolidWorks install).

All the install files for SolidWorks have been downloaded and placed in my Documents folder on the Host OS, but since the install file is a .ISO DVD image, and windows has no native way to mount them, (and WinRar doesn’t by default) I recommend grabbing a copy of Virtual CloneDrive (although I can mount the .img file using VirtualBox).

The Crack on the SolidWorks 2010 install above is as follows:

1. Install SW2010 SP0.0 Win32 using SW Serial 0001 0001 0736 0361 JK3Q HDJ3
2. Copy “sldappu.dll” to <SW2010 Win32 progdir> and overwrite original one

Other Software I install are Autodesk 123D and 123D Catch, both are Beta software, and look interesting:

Autodesk 123D - http://www.123dapp.com/

• 123D - Design makable objects using free 3D CAD software that lets you start with simple shapes and then edit and then tweak them into more complex designs. (windows)
• 123D Catch - Take photos of your favourite people, places and things and let the power of the cloud magically transform them into detailed 3D models. (windows)
• 123D Make - Automatically turn your 3D model into a pattern of flat parts that can be cut and assembled into an artful creation. (mac OS)

Oh and please see statement of opinion on Do Not Try This at Home if you think I am a bad person Regarding Copyright Theft.

Although Lion shows up as available to install on the App Store, it returns an error when you try to install it

I tried to re-download OS X Lion on my macbook pro, but it knows that its installed already, and prevents you from re-downloading; however there is a work around, if you hold down the ‘option key’ (⌥) you can click on it to re-download.

After copying the install file to the mac mini, and trying to run it, the installer returns the following screen:

Telling me that MAC OS X 10.7 requires at least 2 GB of memory, which is still annoying since my mac mini only has 1 GB of memory; however this shows that the only thing the installer seems to be worried about is my lack of RAM…

There seems to be a  way around it, download a copy of Pacifist fromhttp://www.charlessoft.com/

Pacifist is a shareware application that opens Mac OS X .pkg package files, .dmg disk images, and .zip, .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, and .xar file archives and allows you to extract individual files and folders out of them. This is useful, for instance, if an application which is installed by the operating system becomes damaged and needs to be reinstalled without the hassle of reinstalling all of Mac OS X. Pacifist is also able to verify existing installations and find missing or altered files*, and Pacifist can also examine the kernel extensions installed in your system to let you see what installer installed them, and whether the installer was made by Apple or a third-party.

Pacifist is not yet compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” so the next steps were completed on my Mac Mini:

The File you need to open is OSInstall.mpkg in the Install Mac OS X Lion (right click ‘Show Package Contents’) > Contents > Shared Support >

Jump to Resources, and click on the padlock in the top right

The File you need to edit is the Distribution File

Changing var minRam = 1048; to 1024, re-package the distribution file, and see if the changes help (here is my copy of OSInstall.mpkg.zip)

Now while I now get the following screen, suggesting I can now attempt the install

It returns the following error

I will have to have a look, and see if the hackintosh community can offer any help.