So, I’ve now got 22 items listed on e-bay. I think that’s about my limit for one sesh, as it were. Otherwise I’m going to lose track of things.
Although I might start listing the chips; then again I’ve no idea if the chips are worth anything – I think John took most of the useful ones, so I’m slightly tempted to throw one auction for a bunch of 1980s chips up. Then whoever wants them can grab them.
Meh.
Anyhow, some things that I’m not selling (‘scuse the lousy photos, but this is what my pathetic digital camera produces) – points for guessing what they are before reading the answers…
So, hands up who can guess what my dad did before he became a ‘good guy’?
Yeah, that’s right, he was a phone phreaker. And quite impressively too; at some point I’ll get some some shots of the incredibly organised system which allowed him to make long-distance calls for the cost of a local call. Somehow, despite it being a big hunk ‘o paper and electronics, I can’t throw it away. The top one is his original piece of kit, simply a dial in a tin, essentially. Which allowed you, when hooked up, to send the pulse dials required to dial your call. The later one is sadly incomplete, but shows off my dad’s engineering prowess, it’s a tone-dial generator for achieving the same thing. He never did finish it though.
Despite being, by the time I was growing up, the most insanely law-abiding citizens I’ve ever met, both my parents have (/had) a mischievous gleam in their eyes – and my dad used to have some highly interesting hobbies – it’s from him I learned to pick locks (although I can’t do that anymore, sadly). From him that I learned lots of tricks for breaking padlocks; and I distinctly suspect his desire to explore didn’t stop before he got on-line.
His desire to explore also gave rise to interesting things like the third shot. That was the complete set of master keys to several buildings in London. We went to his university reunion about 10 years ago and were disappointed to find that while quite a lot of doors still sported potentially the same locks, they also sported keypad or swipe access *grins*.
Apparently, his adventures included making his way from his university, underground, into the bowels of the science museum. He said he never could get into the display areas, the relevant doors locking from the outside.
Anyhow, I’m going to eat lunch and take the motorbike out for a test-run.
