@benryves

Croydon-based web developer, retro gaming and computing enthusiast and electronics hobbyist

 London, UK
benryves.com/
Joined March 2011
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426Media
Here's a little program for the Sharp PC-1500 to draw a crude Christmas tree on its CE-150 printer. The listing can be found at benryves.com/bin/sharp-pc-15… and I've uploaded an abridged video of the plotter in action to youtu.be/2_ubK1qhZ2k Merry Christmas!
Scan of a printout of a crude colour drawing of a Christmas tree. The tree has blue baubles with red stars hanging on each branch, and there is writing that says "Merry Christmas" in alternating red and green letters above the Christmas tree and "Best wishes from Ben Ryves" in black text underneath.

ALT Scan of a printout of a crude colour drawing of a Christmas tree. The tree has blue baubles with red stars hanging on each branch, and there is writing that says "Merry Christmas" in alternating red and green letters above the Christmas tree and "Best wishes from Ben Ryves" in black text underneath.

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As I'm passing through I thought I'd also mention that I don't really check here very much any more, preferring a place with somewhat SEGA-compliant bluer skies.
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Picked up a charity shop flash for my charity shop camera sitting on a charity shop tripod. Shame charity shop film isn't a thing!
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私've 決ed to 始t 書iting 私y 英語 with some 漢字 in it, just to 見ee 何 起ens. The 振ri仮名 will be a bit 恣意的 at 一st, but that's 大丈夫. Nothing 始ts 完璧. 個人的ly, I 思ink it's not too 悪, I 出来n 読ead 何 私've 書itten here without much 難ty, but some 人 might not 好e it.
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Plotters were often mentioned in computer books as a child but I never saw one in real life. Having learned the PC-1500 had one as an attachment I searched eBay and saw one going for a very good price with only a few minutes to go, so stuck a bid on it and surprisingly won.
Photo of a Sharp PC-1500 connected to its CE-150 plotter and cassette interface.

ALT Photo of a Sharp PC-1500 connected to its CE-150 plotter and cassette interface.

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I bought a cheap pack of gel pens, pulled the tip off one, wedged it into a piece of plastic tube from a bottle of bleach spray and wrapped it in tape until it was roughly the right size. It... almost works? It's definitely trying, even if the lumpy thing jams the carriage.
Photo of a crude plotter pen made out of a gel pen tip, tube from a bottle of bleach and masking tape.

ALT Photo of a crude plotter pen made out of a gel pen tip, tube from a bottle of bleach and masking tape.

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After that first attempt I cut up a second gel pen. It's still not perfect but does a much better job printing text (even tiny text) and drawing some graphics (here's a sample program from the computer's applications manual).
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Lucky timing with the charity shop today, apparently this had been out for all of ten minutes by the time I got there. That's a lot of camera and accessories for £10 - for years I've been using an A710 (from a different charity shop!) so this SX30 IS should be a nice upgrade.
Photo of Canon PowerShot SX30 IS camera and accessories

ALT Photo of Canon PowerShot SX30 IS camera and accessories

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The zoom on this thing's not bad at all (shot hand-held in P mode to knock the exposure down a little).
Photo of the moon.

ALT Photo of the moon.

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Won a microcassette recorder on eBay but the seller found it wasn't working before posting and offered a refund. As it was only a fiver and I had assumed it would need a bit of work anyway I asked them to please still send it. I'm sure you could have guessed the problem...
Photo of a disassembled micro cassette recorder. In the middle is a bag with fragments of a belt drive.

ALT Photo of a disassembled micro cassette recorder. In the middle is a bag with fragments of a belt drive.

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In place of a refund the seller offered to also include a faulty Discman. Couldn't say no to two repair projects! Whilst waiting for a new belt I cleaned up the Discman and after adjusting tracking balance it seems to work well. Struggles a little with CD-Rs but it is from 1995!
Photo of a Sony Discman ESP D-345

ALT Photo of a Sony Discman ESP D-345

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