I'm working on a laserharp for some months now.

What? A what?
Okay, maybe I should explain first...

I like the music of the French electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre. I visited lot's of his concerts (next sunday again in Belgium!), and his music inspired me often.

One of the most well-known gadgets Jarre uses in his shows is a musical instrument called a laserharp, like this one:


More picture of Jarre using a laserharp can be found on Google.

Years ago (over 15 years) I decided to build a laserharp myself.
So I built a simple laserharp with 10 red laserdiodes and some light dependant resistors, and that worked great! I could touch one of the beams and music came out of the speakers, produced by a Yamaha CS1x synthesizer I had back then.
I already used the ZX Spectrum to control the midi to the CS1x and read the sensors from the laserharp.

But I always wanted to make it better, more flexible, more like the harp Jarre uses himself, and with a more bright laser.
So some months ago I picked this project up again, as you can read here:
http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/lis ... /1396122/0 (in Dutch).
Also I am discussing some aspects on WoS:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/s ... mp;t=28923

I just finished a new interface with DAC and sensor input:




I only have to finish the software now that controls the midi output.
So this week or the next I must be able to play on my new laserharp again!
High-tech, but with a ZX Spectrum! ;)

Pfffff, I'm so tired... Being awake and very busy with lot's of stress from 2.00 this morning until now...

But the product is worth every second!!!

I'm finishing another batch of DivIDE's this week, here a pic of the work in progress of the beloved interfaces:



Last week I had enough about the missing keywords on the +2A/B/+3's keyboard, so I decided to find keyboard stickers.
To my surprise I could only get them in white (from Sintech), probably because they can be read better.

But I wanted black ones.
So I printed the stickers myself, on normal paper, with an inkjet printer (I should have used a laser by the way, more sharp).
I then put tape over it, cut them, and glued the 'stickers' with .. glue.. on the +2.
Here's the result:









Download the files here.
Leave me a message when you liked them!

I'm working on a document that describes how to make a composite video output on the ZX Spectrum +2A / +2B / +3.

The document also describes how to enhance the composite video signal on the 128K heatsink model and grey +2.

Here's a half finished version: I hope to have the complete document ready next week.

Click here to download the document

Allthough this weblog is mainly for retro computer related things, once in a while I have something to report about modern computers ;)

This time about the mobile internet stick and subscription from Vodafone.


No Windows 7 support with Vodafone Mobile Connect 9.4.3 and the K3765 USB stick
I received the (as it seemed newest) USB stick with documentation last friday.
On the stick there is already some software that auto-starts when it's plugged in. So normally you should not need anything else except for the stick, to start surfing.



But, as you may know, I am already using Windows 7 on a lot of my machines, and also installed the retail version on various computers from others (I sell computers as one of my hobbies).

So the stick did not work on Windows7... :(


Calling the Vodafone helpdesk
After a few days of experimenting with various settings, and googling around, I decided to call the Vodafone helpdesk (I don't do that a lot, calling helpdesks ;) ).

The main anwser was that there is currently no support for Windows7 in combination with the stick I received, the blue K3765.
Support should arrive with Vodafone Mobile Connect software version 9.4.4, still unavailable.


Finding version 9.4.4
So I already had some scenario's in mind, installing XP on my netbook in the meantime, maybe a dualboot, you know what I mean.
But I thought: let's try once more to google for this new version, 9.4.4.
And to my surprise the Italian website from Vodafone already released this version!

Here's the URL (click on it):
http://www.areaprivati.vodafone.it/190/ ... ip_md=true

So I downloaded and installed that version, and voila, the K3765 is detected.


Getting rid of Ras-error 635
Still, when I tried to connect, I got a 'RAS-error 635' or something.
I called Vodafone once again, and the solution is:
1. Try to create a new mobile connection profile with default settings.
and / or:
2. Remove the installed network driver for the modem: the modem is installed as both modem and as network adapter. The Vodafone Mobile Connect software can only handle the modem-driver at the moment.
So I had to delete the network adapter, and after that I could connect to the internet with succes! And 3G!

Edit: Disabling the modem-driver should solve the problem once and for all, but you will have to disable the modem for each different USB port you connect the dongle to!!


So I'm a happy user of a netbook (MSI Wind U90, 80GB, 1GB, Atom 330) with Windows 7 (32 bit, Release Candidate) and fast mobile internet! What does a tweaker (Dutch word for computer nerd) as myself want more!


Not the best netbook to see, but for less than 150 euro and after installing Windows 7, I really like this little creature!

;)

Please let me know if this info helped you to solve your problem, by leaving a comment!