PC footprints 1981 - 2010

At the Eden Project there is a sculpture which depicts the e-hardware an average Jo will use and dispose of in a lifetime (those teeth are made up of computer mouse). Overall this amounts to 3.3 tonnes.

I've listed this before on W2tQ, but my micro - PC footprint runs as follows:

• Sinclair ZX81 - 1981
• BBC microcomputer model 'B'
• BBC Master 128 - 1986
• Elonex 286 PC
• Dell 486 PC
• MacBook Pro - October 2008
• Evesham Pentium 4 PC - November 2002

This w/e after Drupalcon I am adding to my pile. I've managed very well, but it is definitely time for a new PC.

Additional link:
http://weeeman.org/html/impact/about.html

Nursing Variables and Constant Values

From the ancient days of BBC BASIC I am today still trying to pick up some PHP to help me grasp Drupal (and Ruby).

In declaring variables - a key element of computer programs - I thought about the following both as a VARIABLE -

$nursing_care = "variable"

- and as a CONSTANT.

Which made me wonder: when do we want nursing to be a 'variable' and when a 'constant'?

The answer is of course obvious.

Nursing care must be a VARIABLE when it reflects the care plans and objectives that relate to a person - a unique individual.

Alternately, what must be declared as CONSTANT are -

safety, values and good-high quality nursing care.

You may wish to consider what other aspects of nursing and your practice are either variable or constant in nature?

Personal PC timeline - What's Your Footprint?

Like many IT enthusiasts my interest goes back a long way. Trying to pin this down though is quite difficult. Back in the late 1970s I bought every copy of a magazine - OMNI - that mixed technology, science and science fiction. At school some of my friends did computing, visiting the nearby technical college. I missed the boat on that occasion.

Then in OMNI they started to advertise the Sinclair ZX80 and in Nursing Times there was a computers in nursing supplement, it was called CINNEWS I think. There were no doubt other influences, but I decided to wait for the ZX81 before jumping on-board.

After the ZX81 3.25 MHz 1K of RAM (added 16K RAM pack) it goes as follows:

• BBC micro MODEL 'B'
• Elonex 286 12Mhz
• Elonex 486 33Mhz
• Dell Pentium II 266Mhz
• Evesham Pentium 4 2.66Ghz

The Evesham PC was 6 years old last November. It's still going strong, though would benefit from a major sort out and its days are numbered as the main machine.

The latest purchase is an Asus Eee PC. Although we are still getting acquainted, I really like this little piece of kit. It seems I've done a Palin and gone full-circle.

I hope so - because back in 1981 BASIC and programming really took hold for a couple of years at least before the family came along and now the youngest is 14 - how time and technology flies....

Mindsets and Desksets

Trying to pick up the programming handle again (literally in the case of Ruby) has reminded me that it isn't just a matter of mindset, an effective working environment is essential too. At work I noticed how the systems developers frequently use two monitors. The penny has dropped recently as I've realised; on the old BBC micro I actually used two monitors, one of them was a 12inch Philips mono that was really clear for all its limited palette. The other screen was a Grundig portable TV. The BBC micro was brilliant with its varied graphic modes including teletext. Funny that trying to identify what graphic mode you needed to achieve the learning (program) objective, which in turn affected the amount of RAM. Happy virtual juggling times.

Watching display technology evolve at the Which Computer Show in Birmingham, I could never afford a Microvitek proper jobbie. Now though if I feel given some 'progress' I can justify another monitor and reconfig the desk space - then ...