Date   : Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:53:18 -0000
From   : dm.hunt@... (David Hunt)
Subject: Curse of the long TUBE cable

> What will happen to all the Teletext adapters when the 
> analogue TV system gets switched off?
> 
> I had one that I sold, then I picked up another one with the 
> stuff I got from Wales. IMO the least useful cheese-wedge, 
> unless anyone can tell me otherwise...
> 

Sounds like a nice hairy project for someone! A box that modulates a
Teletext signal from a embedded PIC/FPGA/CPU board etc. the data comes from
a web site that keeps a bunch of info, e.g. news, tv listings, beeb user
group etc. Would be "nice" to have an Ethernet wired/wireless interface so
it is self serving, just use a desktop to configure it. It would also work
fine with domestic TVs with Teletext. Wow, you could even re-awaken
Telesoftware! 

I'd pay ?50 for one of these, I could host the site and write the data
scavenging software if someone comes up with the hardware. Worth a Google
around to see if someone's already done it, though.

But, alas, if this magical device doesn't materialize, it'll just be a
basket case wedge when the switch-over comes. I believe it is possible for
the digital cable TV (not sure about Sky/Freeview) to carry a Teletext
signal, but it is stripped at source - I do notice the odd Teletext page on
one of the music video channels. Perhaps petitioning the BBC, ITV etc. might
get them to turn it on, but don't hold your breath. I did attach a 14.4k
modem inside my Prestel Adapter (makes it far more useful - plus leaves the
original guts intact) I was also using the IEE488 wedge until a couple of
years ago to control some data acquisition devices - alas - now USB2 and PC.


The longest TUBE cable I managed to get away with was 70cm (it was 1 metre,
but I took 10cm off at a time. It started to work at 80cm but not all the
time) That was with a 32016 big board that sat inside an old rackmount case,
it was still a guitar string at that length ;) I believe they use the same
ULA so I guess 70cm is the max. You could try wrapping aluminium foil over
the ribbon then covering with Sellotape, like the good old UDMA IDE before
UDMA cables were available... (oh, what a bodge) - it might help? 

My BBC PSU couldn't provide enough power to drive the 32016 board, it just
sat there making a gentle ticking noise (like a really posh bomb would), the
Master PSU is fine powering it, just gets damn hot, much better in the rack,
me thinks.

Dave ;)