Stefan Vorkoetter's Web Site

Two More Pens in my Fountain Pen Collection

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 22:31:56 GMT

I've just added two new pens to my fountain pen collection page, one that I've had for a while,

and one brand new one:

A Comparison of Fountain Pens, Inks, and Papers

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:08:03 GMT

As a fountain pen user, I'm always on the lookout for good quality paper. Most of today's mass-market paper is made for laser printers or ballpoint pens, the needs of the fountain pen user having been long forgotten. As a result, many notebooks, pads, and loose leaf papers are horrible for writing on with a fountain pen. These papers often have a rough texture, and produce excessive feathering, echo (show-through), and bleed-through

Fortunately, good paper is available, and it isn't always expensive (nor is expensive paper always good). In this article, I look at five different papers, and try each one with seven different pen-and-ink combinations.

My Fountain Pen Collection

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:45:00 GMT

I didn't plan on becoming a fountain pen collector. I really didn't. I've always had at least one fountain pen since 1976, but I've never had more than three at once. Suddenly, in late 2010, I started to acquire more of them. Even though that was very recently, I don't recall what triggered that sudden interest, but it was certainly helped along by The Fountain Pen Network, an on-line forum for fountain pen afficionados. In the space of two months, I went from four pens to fifteen!

This page shows each of my pens, describes it in detail, and recounts how it became part of my collection. The pens are shown in the order that I received them. All of the pictures were taken from the same distance and with the same zoom settings, so the pens are shown with their correct relative sizes. Clicking on any of the pictures will display a larger, higher resolution version (generally 1400 pixels wide).

Software Portability by Virtual Machine Emulation

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 01:59:21 GMT

I completed my Master of Mathematics degree in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo in 1989, under the supervision of Dr. Gaston Gonnet (now at ETH Zurich). The topic of software portability arose out of my work in 1987 porting the Maple computer algebra system from the 32- and 36-bit mainframes and minicomputers it had been developed on, to the then-new 16-bit IBM Personal Computer family.

Much has changed in the computer world since then. All personal computers now have at least a 32-bit bus width, with most new ones being 64-bits wide. The typical amount of memory available has increased two-thousand-fold from the typical megabyte found in an 80286-based PC of the late 80s. Applications that are now much larger and more complex than the mainframe applications of the late 20th century now comfortably fit on a PC.

Review: Tenergy Centura Low Self-Discharge Rechargeable 9V Battery

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:27:40 GMT

Every since I tested the first AA low self-discharge NiMH rechargeable battery, I've been waiting for someone to produce one in the 9V (PP3) size. It seems like everyone is producing the AA size, and some manufacturers are also making the smaller AAA, but no one has taken the trouble to make a 9V battery. Until now...

So, I was quite happy when I received an e-mail one day from Tenergy, asking if I'd like to review their new Centura line of line of low self-discharge AA, AAA, C, D, and 9V batteries. So far I've tested the AA and AAA sizes (included in my low self-discharge battery comparison), and the 9V size described here.

Faber-Castell Novo-Duplex 2/83N

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:04:58 GMT

The Faber-Castell 2/83N desktop rule (and its less common pocket-sized sibling, the 62/83N) is probably the most sought after slide rule, especially after Dr. Clifford Stoll's Scientific American article, When Slide Rules Ruled, drew attention to this epitome of slide rule development. As Dr. Stoll writes, the 2/83N "is considered by some to be the finest and most beautiful slide rule ever made."

I purchased this 2/83N directly from Faber-Castell as new old-stock. In other words, it sat unopened on the manufacturer's shelf since it was made, and has never seen the inside of an office or lab. I was the first to open it.

Faber-Castell 111/38 Stadia 360°

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:54:54 GMT

The Faber-Castell 111/38 Stadia 360° desktop surveyor's rule seems to be extremely rare. My searches of the Internet have brought up a few examples of the 111/38 Stadia 400g, but almost none of the 360° version. My father found this one in an antique shop, in nearly mint condtion, complete with its case. Thanks Dad!

The 111/38 is a full-sized rule, with scales on only one side of the stator, but both sides of the slide. The front contains L, A, B, CI, C, D, P, S, and T scales (the P scale computes 1-x2, which is also the cosine of the angle on S) These scales are all self-documenting, with the scale name at the left end of the scale, and its mathematical formula at the right end. A noticeable ommission is the K scale. Perhaps surveyors don't have much need to compute cubes or cube roots.

Update to Low Self-Discharge Battery Tests

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:59:24 GMT

Although I hadn't planned to perform tests for storage periods longer than seven weeks, I recently discovered my pack of Powerex Imedion AA cells, which I hadn't used since I completed the 7-week test on them 16 months earlier. Out of curiosity, I decided to see how much capacity they retained.

Rejuvenating and Expanding a PAiA 1550 Stringz'n'Thingz Synthesizer

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 22:49:49 GMT

When I was in the 8th grade, I was nuts about analog synthesizers. I'm not talking about the "analog revival" here, but the original heyday of analog synthesis. Although I'd read about Moogs and Buchlas and ARPs, those were clearly out of my league. Instead, I had my sights set on a PAiA 2720 system, and I spent a lot of time looking through the 1977 PAiA catalog.

Radio-Electronics February 1979 In 1979, I picked up a copy of Radio-Electronics magazine featuring PAiA's new model 1550 Stringz'n'Thingz. Unlike the monophonic 2720 system, the 1550 was fully polyphonic. It's internal architecture was more like an organ than a synthesizer, but it specialized in the production of the rich orchestral string sounds common in pop music at that time. It could also do a reasonable piano imitation.

Fast-forward to late 2009. The analog days had come and gone, and come back. A lot of old analog gear was showing up on eBay, and the prices were slowly rising. I'd been watching for old PAiA gear to find a small synth to supplement my 1962 Hammond organ. 1550s showed up from time to time, but the price always rose beyond my budget. Whenever a promising one turned up, I'd place a bid and hope for the best. I finally got lucky and got my Stringz'n'Thingz for $249.

New Low Self-Discharge Battery Test Results

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:53:59 GMT

I've just completed the tests on another brand of AA batteries (E8GE) and posted these to my low self-discharge battery review page. I've also posted my test results for three brands of the smaller AAA size (Sanyo, Powerex, and E8GE) and added a section for these to the page.