Derek Fountain : News
Programmer, Writer, Consultant, News Reporter
About Me
I am a software developer and technical writer.
I work with open source and free software technologies and specialise in C, scripting and PHP.
I live with my partner, Tina, in the New Forest, England.
News
ZX Spectrum interposer board
74xx165 Shift Register
Microdrive Emulator
ZX Spectrum Projects Page
Old News
Random Photos
Random Links
Our website - Scratters
NASA
Earth Observatory
News from the archives - Newest first!
ZX Spectrum interposer board
Sep 23 - A small interposer board for the ZX Spectrum's edge connector
74xx165 Shift Register
Aug 23 - Driving a clever chip the clever way
Microdrive Emulator
Jul 23 - ZX Spectrum Expansion System, Recreated
ZX Spectrum Projects Page
Jul 23 - Bringing all my ZX projects together in one place
ZX Spectrum Pico ROM Interface
Feb 23 - My open source ZX Spectrum ROM interface
Open ZX Spectrum Lower RAM Module
Jan 23 - My own, open source ZX Spectrum lower RAM module
ZX Spectrum Lower RAM Module
Oct 22 - A ZX Spectrum fix
Bricklaying
Oct 22 - Q:Can I lay bricks? A:Not really, no
Fixed Well Handle
Aug 22 - I fixed the well with a bit of firewood
Wonky on Hardware
Aug 22 - Venturing back into ZX Spectrum hardware
Space Raiders Disassembled
Jul 22 - My Z80 disassembly of the ZX Spectrum classic
Another Spectrum Game
May 22 - Another game for the ZX Spectrum
The Maples Survived
May 22 - Update on those repotted maples
Repotting Maples
Mar 22 - Repotting potential bonsai
More Intruders
Feb 22 - Another intruder with a raised tail
BBC Corrected
Jan 22 - Putting the BBC right
New Windows Finished
Dec 21 - The new windows are finally complete
Intruders in the Garden
Dec 21 - Cows broke in!
New Windows Installed
Oct 21 - Finally! The new windows are going in
End of the Moles
Sep 21 - Nothing against moles per se...
New Back Gate
Aug 21 - I made a gate!
Moles
Aug 21 - Problem in the garden
Summer Clear Out
Jul 21 - Getting rid of some stuff
Postbox Indicator
Apr 21 - Technological triumph
Snake!
Apr 21 - A snake? In England?
Profound Change
Apr 21 - 25 years a Ltd Co contractor, no more
Pony on the Verge
Jan 21 - A photo of a pony. Nice though
Oaklet
Nov 20 - A sappling takes its chance
AA Ripoff
Nov 20 - The Great AA Ripoff
Joule Thief
Nov 20 - Playing with a joule thief circuit
Hedge Trimming
Oct 20 - We had our hedges trimmed, the big way
Trees Down
Oct 20 - Our neighbours cut the pine trees down
Keyboard fix
Sep 20 - Fixing a keyboard membrane with conductive paint
More Birdies
Aug 20 - The spotted flycatchers came back for another try
PCB Assembled
Jul 20 - I put my PCB creation together
My First PCB
Jul 20 - My first PCB creation
Birdies
Jun 20 - Warning, distressing ending
Lockdown Ending
Jun 20 - Back behind the wheel
Chalkboard
Jun 20 - Lighting up a chalkboard
Pocket Holes
May 20 - I finally used my pocket hole jig
Half and half flower
Apr 20 - An unusual flower
Lockdown Lunch
Apr 20 - A bite to eat, under lockdown
Double Rainbox
Apr 20 - A double rainbow seen from home
New Postbox
Dec 19 - I made a new postbox
Double Mouse Kill
Nov 19 - A double kill on the glue traps
Pi LED Board
Oct 19 - My Raspberry Pi powered LED lamp
Insect Faces
Oct 19 - Insect faces, under a microscope
Bodkin 3D Print
Sep 19 - A 3D print to help a seamstress
Yucca Roots
Aug 19 - The pretty roots of my Yuccas
Fuse Symbols
Aug 19 - Symbols in the Fuse debugger
Glue Trap Fail
Jul 19 - Defeated, once again
Trinket Box
Jul 19 - A 3D print for a trinket box
A Flickering LED
Jun 19 - A flickering LED from a Christmas light
Google+ Photos Lost
Jun 19 - A sad tale, with a happy ending
Gluetrap Cam
Jun 19 - A camera to monitor glue traps
Tina's Tick
Jun 19 - Ew.
Tyre Gauge
May 19 - Dissection of a tyre pressure gauge
Wonky
Mar 19 - I finally released my Spectrum game
Blogger Blog
Feb 19 - My new personal trivia dumping ground, Google+ posts transferred!
Google+ Stream
Feb 19 - Google killed my Google+ stream, so I archived it in one big HTML post. Better than losing it!
Spectrum/BE Debugging
Oct 18 - A look at a debugging technique in Spectrum development
Wood Burner Installation
Aug 18 - Photos of the wood burner installation in our lounge
Z88DK Debugging with Fuse
Aug 18 - A techie one for Spectrum C programmers
Z88DK Guide again
Mar 18 - My Z88DK ZX Spectrum Getting Started Guide continues to develop
Snow, in Hampshire!
Mar 18 - It snowed this far south. Can't not photograph that
Z88DK Guide
Jun 17 - I wrote a series of articles on C development for the ZX Spectrum
MeArm
Jun 17 - A foray into the world of robotics
East Australia 2013 photos
Nov 16 - 3 years after the holiday, my East Australia photos are finally done :)
Tree disaster
Aug 16 - Oak Sudden Limb Failure is a thing
Water Treatment Unit
Jul 16 - Water Treatment Unit installation
Farnborough 2014
Jan 15 - Photos from the Farnborough Airshow, 2014
Baby donkeys in the New Forest
Aug 14 - Cuteness
Lancaster bomber at Jersey
Jun 14 - I put a video on Youtube! Don't get too excited...
San Francisco 2011 photos
Jun 14 - A long lost set of photos from the USA, 2011
Scotland 2013 photos
May 14 - Photos from our Scotland trip
Wombats in Tasmania
Nov 13 - Wombats in the wild
Mindarie Car Hire Review
Nov 13 - An miserable experience with some unpleasant people
Big Scary Spider
May 13 - Spider. Big one. Gulp.
Wales 2012 photos
May 13 - Photos from our trip to Wales
Beach photos
Apr 13 - Beach with friends
New weather station
Jan 13 - New toy!
Google+ account
Jan 13 - My Google Plus account
An update on life
Apr 12 - A summary of a difficult 3 months
UK Photos
Nov 11 - Photos from our travels around the UK
Depth of Field Calculator
Jul 11 - My Android Depth of Field Calculator app goes live
Vienna Photos
May 11 - Photos from our Vienna city break
Jersey Photos
Nov 10 - Finally, photos from Jersey in July
Florida Photos
Jun 10 - Photos from our Florida trip earlier this year
Speccy Nostalgia
Feb 10 - My first dose of programming fame remembered
Time Lapse Raking
Nov 09 - Tina, a blur in the garden
Mud Plugging
Oct 09 - 4x4 Driving
iii.co.uk Greased
Sep 09 - Greasemonkey script to fix iii.co.uk portfolio layout
Sparrowhawk
Aug 09 - Carnage in the Close
Feeding Blackbird
Jun 09 - A happy event
Nesting Blackbird
Apr 09 - Industry in the garden
Car Photo Shoot
Mar 09 - A handful of car photos
derekfountain.net, for security testing consultancy
Feb 09 - Time to let Google et al find this
Miami and New Orleans Photos
Dec 08 - Photos from our trip to the southern USA
Hedgehoggery
Aug 08 - Hedgehoggery is word, y'know...
Farnborough 2008
Aug 08 - Photos from the Farnborough Airshow
Iceland Photos
Aug 08 - Photos from our recent trip to Iceland
c99madshell Review
May 08 - A look at a hacker's utility
Scenes from the River Bank
Feb 08 - Some photos from a cold morning by the River Itchen
LAB mode channel blending
Jan 08 - A spot of experimentation with an advanced Photoshop technique
Boston Photos
Dec 07 - Photos from our recent Boston trip
Perth evening photos
Sep 07 - A small set of photos taken one evening in Perth
Marwell Zoo photos
Sep 07 - Photos from Marwell Zoo now online
Articles on local site
Aug 07 - Someone pointed out that many of my old articles have fallen off the web, so I uploaded local copies
Daily-Exercise.com goes live!
Aug 07 - The next phase of Core Minutes is up
Birdies!
Jul 07 - Gluttony in the garden
HP3392 and Linux
Jun 07 - The sad and painful story of how a great device is poorly supported under my favoured OS
Adverts!
Jun 07 - Adverts on this site? No way?!
Perth Surfing Photos
Jun 07 - I've made a start on the Perth holiday photos
Core Minutes Goes Live
May 07 - Finally, the Core Minutes project goes live
Aussie Holiday
Apr 07 - Aussie Holiday Next Week
Time Lapse Tulip
Mar 07 - A Wonder of Nature!
Lukas Portrait
Mar 07 - Fixing a Portrait with CurveMeister
CurveMeister
Mar 07 - The CurveMeister Course
Holiday silliness
Jan 07 - Painting with light
Google Puzzlement
Dec 06 - Confusion during a site clean up
Contract Over
Dec 06 - Now for something different
Another unscientific test
Aug 06 - I had a ponder and took some photos to explore the effects of focal lengths for portraits
Not heading back to Oz
Aug 06 - Turns out we're not going back to Oz after all. Sigh.
Wherwell Fete
Jun 06 - Wherwell Fete - very British!
Tallinn photos
Jun 06 - Photos from our recent trip to Tallinn with Tina's parents
70-200mm Lens performance
May 06 - An unscientific test of the performance of my 70-200mm f/4.0 L lens
Rome photos
May 06 - Photos from Rome
New photos website
May 06 - Complete overhaul of the photos section
Animal Portraits
Apr 06 - Manor farm in springtime with a 200mm lens
USA - New York
Mar 06 - And finally, nearly a year after we went, New York
USA - Washington DC
Mar 06 - Washington photos are up
USA - Chicago
Mar 06 - After far too long, the Chicago photos are online
Heading back to Oz
Mar 06 - Tickets back to Perth bought!
Moving house
Jan 06 - Moving house
A decision on spam
Dec 05 - I've stopped skimming my spam for false positives
USA - The Rocky Mountains
Dec 05 - Moose spotting with a camera in the Rockies
USA - Aspen
Dec 05 - Added a few photos from Aspen, Colorado
Another hardware failure!
Dec 05 - I've had a bit of a problem...
USA - Kodachrome Basin
Dec 05 - Added half a dozen shots from Kodachrome Basin, Utah
USA Index page
Dec 05 - Created a map page for our USA trip
RAW vs JPEG
Nov 05 - My investigation into the issue of RAW vs JPEG images
More photos from USA 2005
Nov 05 - Photos from a scenic drive
Disk failure!
Nov 05 - I've had a bit of a problem...
Slot Canyons photos
Oct 05 - Photos from the Slot Canyons of Utah
Bryce Canyon photos
Oct 05 - Bryce Canyon photos now online
8 Lark Close for sale
Oct 05 - 8 Lark Close is now officially for sale
Zion to Bryce photos
Sep 05 - More USA 2005 photos, the drive from Zion to Bryce
Car photos
Sep 05 - A couple of shots Richard and I took of our cars
Poppy online!
Sep 05 - The car got washed, so I photographed it!
Zion National Park
Aug 05 - Photos from Zion National Park
Las Vegas Photos
Aug 05 - The USA photographic tour continues
Friskers Photos
Aug 05 - Photos from San Francisco
Hawaii Helicopter flight photos
Aug 05 - Photos from the Hawaii helicopter flight
Second batch of photos from Hawaii
Aug 05 - West coast Hawaii photos
First photos from Hawaii
Jul 05 - East coast Hawaii photos
Cairns photos
Jul 05 - Photos of Cairns online
Life restarts in England
Jul 05 - Normality resumes, kind of...
Final Perth Photos
Apr 05 - A final collection of Perth photos before we leave.
Handhold or tripod?
Apr 05 - An exploration of when I need to use a tripod.
Joondalup Photos
Apr 05 - A brief attempt at Aussie Architecture and wildlife.
Hillarys at Easter
Mar 05 - A few shots taken at Hillarys Boat Harbour.
A few shots of Ocean Reef Harbour
Mar 05 - Some rather nice shots I took at Ocean Reef Harbour.
A test of my new lens
Mar 05 - I put up an unscientific test of my new 17-40mm f4.0 L lens.
Trigg Beach photos
Mar 05 - The first photos I took with my new 20D camera.
New Camera!
Mar 05 - I just got my new camera!
Separated photo galleries
Mar 05 - I split photo collection over a couple of pages.
Old news added
Mar 05 - I made the old news stories directly accessible.
CV now online
Feb 05 - I finally rewrote my CV. It's now online.
Aussie passports!
Feb 05 - Our Australian passports have arrived.
Trip itinerary updated
Jan 05 - The travel agent phoned...
England via the silly route
Jan 05 - Details of our trip to England.
Heading to England
Jan 05 - A tough decision is made.
Website redesign!
Dec 04 - Does this site look better to you?
Melbourne photos uploaded
Dec 04 - Some photos of Melbourne online.
Articles published!
Nov 04 - More writing efforts published.
Site and content Copyright 2005 Derek Fountain - All Rights Reserved