Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Zelandeth]

New webpage now online for the Casio PF-3000 Calculator and Data Bank



An interesting little device from back when the designers hadn't quite figured out what form what we came to know as the PDA would take.

Noticed one typo already I'll need to go back and sort later...but think it's mostly done.

[mickthemaverick]

Following the discussion on old calculators I have been rummaging in the loft trying to find this chap. I came across him on Saturday but I wanted to find the rest before I posted this up. I uncovered the paperwork this morning so here is my old friend for your amusement. I hope you don't mind me putting this on here Zel but as you have one of his sisters I thought you'd be interested:

Own work

Say "Hello" old boy:

Own work

Now I can look forward to endless hours of fun solving things I can do with one click in Excel!!

[myglaren]

Haven't seen mine in at least thirty years. Was all black.

[mickthemaverick]

Haven't seen mine in at least thirty years. Was all black.

I believe yours would have been an Enterprise Programmable model if it was all black Steve, the successor to my one.

[myglaren]

No, it was the first one out and not programmable, only four functions.

Soon replaced by Commodore and TI calculators but kept for nostalgic reasons.
May still be lurking here somewhere.

[mickthemaverick]

That would be one of these then Steve?

[myglaren]

Not an "Executive" as far as I recall.

[Zelandeth]

Following the discussion on old calculators I have been rummaging in the loft trying to find this chap. I came across him on Saturday but I wanted to find the rest before I posted this up. I uncovered the paperwork this morning so here is my old friend for your amusement. I hope you don't mind me putting this on here Zel but as you have one of his sisters I thought you'd be interested:



Say "Hello" old boy:



Now I can look forward to endless hours of fun solving things I can do with one click in Excel!!

That's a nice one, looks to be in really tidy condition too. I really do need to add something from the SInclair range to the collection at some point, though I keep being put off by the price tags they seem to command these days...Which is somewhat ironic given one of their targets at the time being undercutting the competition on price!

At least I've got Commodore ticked off now, that was a pretty glaring omission before given I've been an Amiga fan since the early 90s until I picked up the SR4148 a couple of weeks ago.

I have to admit that there are quite a few things in the real world that I'll still grab an actual calculator for (usually the Casio fx-451M), as especially when I'm doing anything involving scientific notation I find that easier to keep track of on a calculator. I guess where complex calculations are involved as well because I've had that thing for so many years the whole workflow is pretty well ingrained into my subconscious.

Granted, things are a bit silly here right now...I've just counted and sitting in front of my keyboard there are currently eleven calculators within arm's reach. Ten of which are available for use - the Commodore one mentioned earlier needs a new battery fitted (or to be plugged into the mains) currently. The old one has been removed though - in the nick of time it looks like given the state it was in. That calculator gets a mention for having probably the most ridiculous button count of any I've come across so far - because there's no shift/2nd function etc key...So every single button only has one function. The result is that you end up with a calculator with 48 downright miniscule buttons.

Having a lot of the important names represented is kind of behind the most recent order as well, I know it's far, far, far removed from the original machines, but having something with the Anita badge on it seemed worthwhile given that that dates back to the very genesis of the electronic calculator. The 2nd generation 1211 can't be far off the last time it saw the light of day now I think about it.

[Zelandeth]

...And City Fibre have just turned up completely unannounced - I guess to install our connection - all attempts to actually communicate with them so far have been unsuccessful. The only thing I've got out of them is them F-ing and blinding at me about the amount of dog mess in the side garden.

Yes, we have two dogs. They're the only ones ever out there, and the weather's been awful so it's a bit longer than usual since I did a litter pick.

Had they you know...bothered to give us even half hour of warning they were coming I'd have made sure the area was cleared and the path thoroughly hosed down. If you turn up totally out of the blue what do you expect?!?

I'm honestly fizzing right now. Between being blatantly lied to now several times over by Vodafone and it appears City Fibre regarding the availability of installation dates, then having people turning up unscheduled at my door, I've had it. Now being utterly embarrassed by the state of their work area and pulled up on it is just the icing on the cake.

I just wish I'd never even thought about setting this ball rolling in the first place.

Edit: With precisely as much notice as of their arrival, they have now disappeared. Have to assume a completely different crew, who will probably appear equally at random, needs to drill a hole in the wall to route the cable actually into the house.

[CitroJim]

Oh my goodness Zel I can fully understand your upset over this... I'd be exactly the same...

I do hope this, so far, sorry tale will have a happy and satisfactory conclusion

[Hell Razor5543]

I would seriously consider lodging a formal complaint (after the work has been properly completed), making sure it is accurate, courteous and polite. I don't know if it will help, but done properly it shouldn't hurt.

A long time back, when I was unemployed, I had to deal with a problem at the DWP. It was something they had done wrong, but they were not prepared to do anything about it. Unlike others I have seen, I did not lose my rag; rather, I went to the opposite extreme, getting more and more polite as the meeting went on. The person I was dealing with got very nervous, and (excusing themselves politely) left the area for a few moments. When they came back I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked there was somebody from security there, watching me intently. The meeting then carried on, they were still unable to help me, and I got even more polite. Eventually that person excused themselves (again, politely), and somebody else took over (a supervisor). This person had the authority (and IT profile) to go digging far further into the issue, found exactly what the problem was (and resolved it) and we ended the meeting convivially. As I left the area (and building) the security guard looked utterly dumbfounded that they were not required to deal with a situation where a large person (OK, I am not the fittest person around, but I am tall and look solidly built (which is an illusion!)) had decided to let off steam violently.

[Zelandeth]

Oh there will be a written complaint going in, you can absolutely guarantee that. They won't even let you speak to a supervisor or anything on the phone. Just put you on hold for 15 minutes while they "talk to their manager" before repeating the same nonsense as before.

When I contacted their actual complaints resolution team rather than the main ordering/helpline I couldn't even get across to them that it wasn't OpenReach who were doing the works...after they repeated details I'd given them back to me incorrectly about five times and just kept talking over me I gave up.

Will need to figure out who the most annoying organisations possible to copy it in to before the letter gets sent...Do Watchdog even still exist? The threat of getting them involved fixed a year long issue we'd had with BT back in Aberdeen virtually overnight!

[Hell Razor5543]

Watchdog does exist (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74), and you might also want to consider contacting Rip Off Britain (BBC One, 09:15, week days, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wck32/contact) and possibly OFCOM.

[CitroJim]

Will need to figure out who the most annoying organisations possible to copy it in to before the letter gets sent...Do Watchdog even still exist? The threat of getting them involved fixed a year long issue we'd had with BT back in Aberdeen virtually overnight!

The JVS Show on BBC 3 Three Counties Radio would love to know about this Zel... The host, Jonathan Vernon-Smith, has an impressive track record of getting things like this resolved in a satisfactory way and once he get the bit between his teeth he's like a Rottweiler...

[Zelandeth]

Excellent. OFCOM were already on the list. I imagine with everything going on right now they'd be quite interested in a company by virtue of a balls up completely on their end potentially leaving us essentially without and usable internet service for a month and a half...why do I get the impression if we had kids relying on the service for school we'd have had things resolved in seconds...yet rendering three people having to commute - two of them significant distances, by public transport, is just fine...