New MacBook, old data card

So anyway, I have a brand new (to me) MacBook for my playtime. And work, and stuff. It was a brilliant purchase from eBay (except when it arrived, it seemed to be missing a key) and I am delighted with it.

It took a little sorting out when I upgraded to El Capitan a couple of weeks ago, but I am very pleased.

Then, a couple of days ago I decided to log in when I was at a show in London, with my Virgin Media data card plugged in to the USB. Ah, no device. Tried again. Still no device. Now the USB port knows something is plugged in, and the package to install pops up on the screen, so its not a low level problem. Must be the software, I thought. I go Googling at home, can't find anything sensible, so I decided to phone Virgin Media.

I phoned the number on the web site for mobile data, and got through after a few minutes. I described my problem to the nice person on the phone. Hmm, let me transfer you to the technical department.

Oh, sorry they are busy. I'll just put you on hold, as I want to make sure I pass you over properly (la,l a, music, la, la) Sorry about the delay. To make sure I can pass you over, I need to take some details from you first.

(Go through process of saying no, I can't give you the phone number of the card as when I plug it in, it DOESN'T WORK - followed by my postcode, house number, Nicholas Sargeant - yes, you may call me Nick, the first two characters of my password etc).

Transfer to technical department. Describe problem again.

" I need to take some details from you first. " (Go through process of saying no, I can't give you the phone number of the card as when I plug it in, it DOESN'T WORK - followed by my postcode, house number, Nicholas Sargeant - yes, you may call me Nick, the first two characters of my password etc).

Technical department tell me that it's not a known problem, but it's usually an issue with Windows 7 migrating to Windows 10. I tell him I am using Mac OS X and I am on El Capitan now.  Ah, ok. Well, it's the same thing. The manufacturers can't keep updating device drivers, so we encourage customers to look at Mifi products now. Really? I ask .. having been Googling in the background. Well, I don't need Mifi, and it seems to be a little more expensive, but would be a lot easier than having a special launcher on the machine, so I say Please tell me more. Ah, yes sir, I'll just pass you over to our sales department.

Welcome to Virgin Media. So we can serve you better, please listen carefully to the following ...

Get through to another person. Lovely girl.

" I need to take some details from you first. " (My postcode, house number, Nicholas Sargeant - yes, you may call me Nick, the first two characters of my password etc). I'm interested in your Mifi products, and wondered if you would tell me something about them.

Yes sir. I will need to transfer you to Mobile Data to deal with your query though. Just let me pop you on hold ..

Get through to another person. Lovely girl.

" I need to take some details from you first. " (My postcode, house number, Nicholas Sargeant - yes, you may call me Nick, the first two characters of my password etc). I'm interested in your Mifi products, and wondered if you would tell me something about them.

Yes sir. I am a little new to Mobile Data products, but I will do my best to help you.

Long conversation ensues, followed by me choosing a product I wanted, giving my credit card details and so on. Oh, sorry sir, that one is out of stock. We do have the 3GB per month model available for only 15 quid a month ..

Not convinced, I explained I would need to do some research and come back. Meanwhile would it be possible to cancel the contract on my USB stick, that DOESN'T WORK?

Yes sir, of course. I will just transfer you to Cancellations ..

Oh, sorry they are busy. I'll just put you on hold, as I want to make sure I pass you over properly (la,l a, music, la, la)

Get through to another person. Lovely girl.

Blah, blah,  Go through process of saying no, I can't give you the phone number of the card as when I plug it in, it DOESN'T WORK - followed by my postcode, house number, Nicholas Sargeant - yes, you may call me Nick, the first two characters of my password blah blah ...

My new USB stick comes from O2. Works fine out of the box, even on El Capitan on my Mac. They thoughtfully send me an email when I cross 80% of my data usage, so I can either squeeze my usage until month end, or I can buy an additional GB of data to tide me over. So far, I have managed to keep within the allowance. My only gripe is that while the contract comes with mobile wifi hotspots, they aren't all that prevalent, with one huge exception. The hospital where I spend most of my time at work ;-)

BLM ideas ..

I thought it would be a good idea to try to build a BLM, with at least 16 x 16 matrix of full colour LEDs and push buttons.

For very few pennies, of course.

So, ideas are flooding in and some experimental prototypes are starting up now, and I will be posting some bits and pieces as they assemble.

That is all. I didn't want the blog to get lonely.

When last time you have election?

My prediction for the outcome of today's election is ....

.. and that is why I am going to stick to Electronics, Music, Motorcycles and computers. A man's gotta know his limitations, and mine clearly include forecasting outcomes of elections.

OK, I am playing around now. I've thought of a new MIDI gizmo to add in - a cross between a real-time sampler, sequencer and arpeggiator. I am also thinking it will be a MIDI master clock as well. I am using one of my boards from the Hakked! soldering iron, with ATMega328 processor and the flourescent display interface. I added a small daughter board to accept a MIDI interface (the five pin DIN style, not a USB one) and to wire the rotary encoder to.

Works so far ..

.. now off to write some code to update internal variables based on the encoder and the VFD display, and then I'll borrow some code from very clever people on t'Internet to make it all work.

New D-Link router in da house

MIDI setup

So the setup for the studio / office / playroom looks something like this now .. the space in the bottom RH corner is the new semi-modular synth. The rest is all there, and working!

Soldering pencil update #2

Aw, I like it!