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| View from computer desk in common room |
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| Reminds me of an episode of Angel. |
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| View from computer desk in common room |
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| Reminds me of an episode of Angel. |
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| Zgemma H8.2H Plus |
Fetch make their money selling add on subscriptions to online movies & streaming series. The idea is you quickly tire of watching reruns on free to air TV & will sign up for paid streaming and movies (free streaming from the broadcasters is also available). Apparently they were not making enough money this way, and announced they were discontinuing the free service. So I searched around for another free service.
I came across the Zgemma H8.2H Plus, a small, low cost box (about $100), running free open source software. The box comes with OpenAT, which is sort of the Ubuntu of set box software. There is a library of extensions, which I needed to download some of, to provide the TiVo like guide. I manged to install the EPG Refresh plugin, which will turn on the box in the middle of the night and flip through the channels to collect all the over the air Electronic Program Guide (EPG). Another extension, Autotimer, will the search the EPG for keywords and automatically record matches. There is an alternative guide available via the Internet, but it requires more setting up.
Like Ubuntu, every thing works fine, up to a point. I reached that point when I tried to update the software. The system warned me to read the manual before proceeding, but I ignored this, & ended up with a box which was stuck on the boot screen. There are many websites explaining how to download a recovery file, copy it to a USB flash drive and restore the system. I thought I had done something terribly wrong, when I tried this and ended up with a completely blank screen.
I was about to consider the second restoration option, involving purchasing a special tool, and connecting wire to the mother board, when I noted two folders on the flash drive I had not put there. These were where the EPG, and any recorded programs, were stored. If these has been created by the box, then the operating system must have been restored, I reasoned. I wiggled the cables on the back of the box and discovered I had loosened the HDMI plug, while repeatedly pulling out the USB drive to try another recovery option. When I pushed the plug back in the screen lit up. The recovery had worked.
Now I have to go back and install the EPG extensions again. Then I will try the extension for using ABC TV iView streaming service.
This is to propose Australia build a fleet of uncrewed drone warships and crewed control ships to one common design. These would be stealthy, to avoid detection by radar. They would be about the size of an offshore patrol vessel, but multi-hull, using the expertise of Austal and Incat in building high speed ferries and warships. In peacetime the lightly armed control ships would perform constabulary duties in the region, without appearing threatening to Australia's neighbors. In wartime, with the drones, they would have the firepower of the largest warships.
The proposed Crewed Control Carrier (CCC) would be much smaller than the UK's Common Combat Vessel (CCV). This is because the CCC, focused on stealth, would not carry any offensive weapons, the launching of which could give away its position. In contrast the drone ships would be larger than most proposals from the UK & USA, as they need to be able to operate un-refueled across the expanses of the Pacific and Indian oceans. While having only defensive armament, the CCC could still be used alone for constabulary duties. The ship's auto-cannons, & short range missiles, would be sufficient to deal with pirates.
As an example, a starting point would be Austal's MRV-80 Multi-Role Vessel. This is to the same trimaran layout as the Independence class littoral combat ships built for the US Navy, but smaller at only 80m. The sides of the ship would be canted inwards, in the style of the experimental Sea Shadow (IX-529), to reduce the radar signature. Retractable panels would cover the helicopter deck, forming a hangar, and reducing the radar cross section.
The vessels would be made in three versions:
| Crewed Control Carrier, generated with Google AI. Tom Worthington 2026 |
2. Drone Missile Ship: The drone ship would retain the bridge of the command ship, for optional crewed use, but replace the accommodation with additional fuel and missiles. In addition to vertical launch cells, the ship could carry containerized missiles on the flight deck. Unlike other drone missile ship designs, the containers would be covered, when not launching, to reduce the radar cross section.
3. Sensor Ship: The sensor ship would have electronically steerable flat panel radar arrays built into the sloped surfaces for detecting aircraft, ballistic missiles and satellites. In a addition, a long range surface radar would be mounted on a telescopic mast. Like the missile ship, there would be a minimal bridge provided, but the ship would normally be operated remotely, as when actively scanning it would be a very visible target. The missile and control ships could also have receive only antennas to work in concert with the sensor ship.
According to an SBS News report, under the Australian Government's planned tax changes, knocking down a house and putting up a duplex, or a block of flats gets you a 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount. But will converting a McMansion into a duplex, or manor house, count as a "new build"? This would require an extensive rebuild. to convert one home into two three, or four, so I suggest should be allowed.
This could be a way to rapidly, cheaply & environmentally, increase the housing stock. It could include converting useless space in existing homes (studies, media rooms & garages full of junk), into useful living space. Built in garages could be replaced with carports having a roof made of solar panels, with space for batteries, car chargers & storage hot water systems.
We might see companies specialize in this form of home conversion. Most Australian households are 1 or 2 people. Rebuilding our hosing stock could provide homes better suited to this & eliminate the housing shortage.
A McManor house could be useful for a family as it grows and shrinks. However, this might need further tax reform. For example, reducing the current tax exemption on the family home, to an exemption on the average priced family home. There is no reason why someone with a $10M home should be able to sell it tax free. The median Australian home value is about $1M, with Sydney nearer $2M. So a limit on tax concessions could be set at $2M nation wide, or regionally at $1M to $2M.
Some weeks ago my car's Android Auto system upgraded itself from Google Assistant to Google Gemini. This has been mildly annoying, until I needed urgent medical care.
I didn't mind too much, that when I asked to be navigated somewhere Gemini would give me a tediously detailed description of the building, before asking if I wanted directions there. However, this week I was on the highway and needed urgent, but not life threatening, medical attention. So I asked Gemini the waiting time at the nearest Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, run by the ACT Government.. I was impressed when Gemini immediately responded that there was no waiting time and no patients in the queue. So I headed there, only to find a queue of 8 and a 45 minute wait. It actually took 2 hours to be seen, but then I received excellent care and am fine.
Had Gemini given correct information, I could have chosen a different medical service. Had my condition proved more serious, the outcome could have been much worse (last time I left the same clinic in an ambulance).
I have switched off Google Gemini in Android Auto.
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| Roma Street railway station Brisbane |
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| First class seat |
There is one USB & one mains power socket for each seat and a place for a bottle of water (with a complementary bottle in it). There is a pillow, doona, blanket and towel in an overhead locker. There is a toilet and a toilet shower at the end of the carriage (a very large shower by railway standards). The food is good (and included in the ticket price). There is a cafe car in the middle of the train.
While a tilt train, it is not particularly fast, due to the narrow winding track. But the ride is comfortable. We have had to divert around Gladstone due to flooding and there is water lying in the cane fields around Mackay, but the train is only one hour behind schedule.
The train has no WFi but Telstra's mobile coverage works most of the way. Queensland's tilt trains (there is an electric one to Rockhampton, as well as this diesel service to Cairns) have been remarkably uncontroversial. While other attempts to provide higher speed trains have faltered, the electric tilt train has been running for 28 years.
Postscript: Train arrived in Cairns only two hours late, with the bonus of another dinner onboard.
The SSSC report recommends stronger economic ties with Taiwan. They also recommend improving understanding of Australia's One-China Policy. This is a difficult task, as the policy is deliberately ambiguous and contradictory. The report recommends "Operationalise Australia’s whole-of-government approach to deterrence", which sounds like mobilisation for war.
There are perhaps areas Australia can co-operate with Taiwan on defence and industry. Australia has drone submarine and aircraft projects proceeding well with US companies. However there are no armed vehicle or surface vessel equivalents. Perhaps they could be developed with Taiwan. I asked the panel and they suggested the Australian government could encourage company to company dual use projects. This is a way to avoid upsetting China too much. I guess the projects could be a rugged robot off-road vehicle suitable for mining and an uncrewed offshore windfarm support vessel. The vehicle would be able to carry shipping container size fuel tank which can refuel mining trucks automatically, and also drone aircraft. The ship coul repair wind farms automatically and also rearm submarines.
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| Windrose electric prime mover, Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 20 October 2025 |
| Ghost Shark submarines at announcement, Photo by Anduril 9 September 2025 |
At approximately 5.8 m, the Ghost Shark is one third to one quarter the length of the USA's Orca extra-large unmanned undersea vehicle (XLUUV). The Australian vessel has the advantage of being about the size of a standard shipping container, so it can be transported by truck, train, ship or aircraft.
The range and power source of the vessel are classified. A reasonable guess is that initial units are powered by lithium batteries, with a diesel engine, which the Orca has,as a later option. Range is likely to be around 1,000 km, far less than the 10,000 km of the Orca, but still with an endurance of several months. These type of XLUUVs are not built for speed, as evidenced by the bulky shape.
These XLUUVs are likely to be used initially for surveillance, mapping, and patrolling fibre optic cables. They are too small to carry the heavyweight torpedoes used by crewed submarines and too slow for topedio attacks. They are also too small to carry ship or land attack missiles. While minatore torpedoes and missiles are available, the sea mine is likely to be the primary weapon. Australia has already taken delivery of smart sea mines from RWM Italia. These could be laid by the Ghost Shark outside harbours and approaches, programmed to allow civilian to pass, to enforce a blockade.
| Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat at 2023 Avalon Airshow, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, 5 March 2023 |
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| Ghost Gecko Concept |
A third arm not yet announced for Australia defence is the land equivalent of the Ghosts: a robotic land vehicle. To fill that gap I speculated about a "Ghost Gecko", an Uncrewed Ground Vehicle (UCV) for the Australian Army. This would be derived from the Hawkei four-wheel-drive protected mobility vehicle. The crew cab would be removed, to lighten the vehicle, and lower its profile. In its place would be an Australian made remotely controlled weapons station (RWS), with a cannon and missiles.
The main area for research and development of these platforms is not the hardware. The problem is the level of autonomous control available. Submarines cannot easily communicate when underwater. The Ghost Shark will need to be able to make decisions itself. The Ghost Bat can be communicated with more easily, however ione operator may be controlling multiple aircraft simultaneously, so a level of autonomy is still needed. Land vehicles have fewer issues, except where large numbers are used. These are issues which are addressed in computer and engineering departments of universities world wide, including in Australia.
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| Equipment to turn phone into a desktop computer, Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY, 6 September 2025 |
The phone display on screen looks like a giant portrait phone display. So I then needed to set the phone to the smallest font, and rotate it to horizontal, so it matched the screen. Within an application, such as web browsing or Google Document, the mouse and keyboard worked fine, like a desktop application. But for moving between applications I used the phone touchscreen. If you need to bash out a book chapter, this would be fine. But you would not be wanting to be working between applications.
The docking station plus power supply is much larger than the phone and there are a lot of cables. This would be fine to leave on a desk, but a nuisance if carrying around. There are smaller adaptors, but do they use DisplayLink? Also the station doesn't charge the phone via the USB cable (there are OTG adaptors which allow you to inject power, but I bought the cheapest one).
Google are working on a desktop mode for Android, currently in Beta for version 16. This will make it much easier to use applications on a large screen. For non-power users, this should be sufficient. You would just plug one cable into your phone and be in desktop mode.
I am not sure why I am here. I received an invitation via LinkedIn, but not sure who from. While a fan of alternate history war stories but who knows that?
The last time I was perplexed at an author talk they became a best seller.
It was an entertaining and informative talk on how to write and some book excerpts. I suggested crowdsourcing details from fans as John Birmingham did for the Axis of Time aeries.
| TP-Link TL-MR6500v, N300 4G LTE Telephony Wi-Fi Router |
My existing Telstra data only SIM worked fine in the new router. This might have been sufficient, if I could make emergency phone calls. However, I was unable to determine, with any certainty, if I could. I tried asking Google, but got conflicting answers.
When I did this search: "Emergency call on telstra data sim", Google AI said yes, I could:
"Yes, you can make emergency calls (000 or 112) on a Telstra data SIM, even if it's a data-only SIM and doesn't have a phone number"
However when I searched on "use telstra data only sim for emergency call", Google AI said no, I couldn't:
"No, a Telstra data-only SIM cannot be used to make emergency calls (like calling 000 in Australia). Emergency calls require a voice service, which is not included in data-only SIM plans."
I solved the problem by replacing the data only SIM with an ordinary voice/data SIM from another provider (Felix Mobile, owned by TPG). This is $5 a month cheaper than the Telstra data only service and like it is shaped to 1.5 Mbps when the data is used up (rather than being cut off).
I plugged the wireless modem into a phone socket on the wall with an RJ-11 cable (cost $1 at a second hand store). The wall phone in the kitchen, which has been unused for more than a decade, then worked (I kept the phone because it covered a large hole a lazy phone installer left). Felix Mobile uses the Vodafone network, which is different to the service I use for my phone, so if one fails, the other might keep working. The phone is powered from the wireless modem, which in turn is powered from an uninterruptible power supply, so it will keep working in a blackout.
The Felix Mobile SIM worked fine for calls and data on my laptop. But it did not work at all for my set top box. I am not using the set top box for video streaming, just downloading the program guide. Even so, it appears Felix don't allow more than one data device connected at a time, the service being intended for a smartphone. I could not find a reasonably priced service with shaped data which also had phone access. So I signed up for a year long Pay As You Go (PAYG) service from Amaysim, which uses the Optus network. This charges by the minute for calls and per megabyte for data. The charges are high, but I will not be calling out from the phone normally and I have switched off data access, using the modem just as an interface to the analog phone. I have replaced the Telstra Sim for data in my old modem. I paused the Felix service, so I still have an account if needed, but am not charged (it is sitting in my dual Sim phone). This is not an elegant solution, but workable.
Slug talks are very technical and practical. This is about advanced software which anyone can use. Tonight was on ZFS, with the speaker admitted not being an expert. They then went into detail, contradicting that. Of course it wouldn't be a Slug meeting without a free software zealot taking the speaker to task and someone pointing out a error. Also 85 is often something incidental which is useful, in this case that Gamma was used to generate the slides.
Backing up, the topic tonight l, is a very boring one, untill something goes wrong and you need it. Several decades ago my email stopped working when someone flew an aircraft into the office complex holding the server. It took days to recover.
Wherever you are in the world there will be a user group for something you use, so go along.