About Me
Previously an architectural CAD technician and a GIS applications developer, in 2003 I moved to Spain with my family and have been freelancing as a web developer. I use PHP, MySQL & CakePHP as well as the other usual suspects. The life we live here is semi-off grid on a smallholding of hazels and olives with no water, dodgy electricity, radio telephone and 3G internet.
After being subjected, over the last twenty-odd years, to all versions of MSDOS and Windows, and most flavours of UNIX and Linux, I now use an ageing Mac G4 and OS X.
I read a lot. Books and magazines. Currently, I'm working my way through the complete works of John Le Carre.
My Awards & Certifications
BA (Hons) Industrial Design
Smallworld World Class Partner
My Experience
As a kid I built a Science of Cambridge Mk 14 (Google it!). With this computer and its calculator display, I failed to learn assembler. At School I used a teleprinter terminal (connecting to the university mainframe) and a Commodore Pet to play games like wumpus.
At college I got to cut my teeth on a punchcard Harris Mainframe and an Apple IIe. My real start in computing, though, was in the early(ish) days of architectural Autocad. After a couple of years I moved into geographical information systems (GIS). As a GIS consultant I worked in several European utilities companies over a period of about ten years, gaining experience of various systems, platforms and programming languages.
I have been taking things apart all of my life. I'm one of those rare people that can put them back together again, only occasionally streamlining the original design by eliminating extraneous parts ;)
My Latest Articles
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How to estimate the PSU rating of your computer?
You’ve upgraded your PC and now you’re worried whether the power supply’s up to the job, but how do you know how much power those components use? Well, there are a couple of easy ways...Published on May 24, 2011 to Computer Hardware
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When a Computer Power Supply Fails
Like everything else, computer power supply units (PSUs) eventually fail. Identifying the PSU as the problem in a broken computer is not always that easy. We explain how to diagnose and correct power supply problems.Published on May 19, 2011 to Computer Hardware
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How Do Wireless Headphones Work?
There are three technologies available for wireless headphones: infrared, radio and bluetooth. In this article, I explain the functional differences to help you choose between them and learn how wireless headphones really work.Published on December 8, 2009 to Computer Hardware
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