Next Project is to MAME

I just got delivery of real arcade machine parts so I can build a 70s arcade machine game using the Rasperry  Pi and MAME.

Arcade bits assembled for testing

Dreaming and the Raspberry Pi

I took delivery of my new Rasperry Pi today.

My new Raspberry Pi2

The raspberry Pi is a very basic computer on a credit card sized circuit board. It was created by an organisation aimed at providing cheap and basic computer fundamentals training to all but particularly school kids. Its inception was spurred by tertiary institutions realising that coding skills/behaviours are lacking something compared  to those in people that grew up during the evolution of computers think 80s. The thinking being that the removal from this basic machine understanding has a cost.

I bumped into this and another such device the Audrino, through my exposure to the university research projects where these devices are popular in prototyping all manner of things. It rekindle so many fond memories of pouring over the latest copies of Electronics Australia or Electronics Today International when I should have been in class. I dreamt of owning such machines as the Mini Scamp, Dream6800, RCA COSMAC VIP, DSE Super 80, SinclareZX80, Micro Bee etc but couldn't afford them so just studied their circuit boards and schematics. (sorry got a bit carried away with my memories there)

The original Dream. can you remember this picture from the EA artical? I can

I thought going back to some of these basics might inspire me so I ordered the Raspberry Pi 2 and am now enjoying learning a bit of Linux and Python. I feel compelled to get back to breadboaring and controlling stuff if only to relive those early child hood feelings of exploration and excitement. Might have to drag out my copy of  "Sole of a new machine" also.

OS installed and ready for action

Summer in Denmark

Its summer here in Denmark although you wouldn't know it. We have had some gloriously sunny days but today is not one of them so no big adventures just little ones. Like, out with the camera and off to the coffee shop via  slotssøen (The castle lake)

Summer in Denmark

Frisør next door to my fav kaffe hus (frisør = Hairdresser)

Hard wired Daisys - Silkaborg

After much net surfing I finally deciphered the Garmin turn by turn route planning process. I have  now loaded my favourite twisty ride to date from several sources and my unreliable memory.

The sun was out so I headed north to test it. Yippee It worked perfectly and I rediscovered the incredible ride I found about a month ago but thought I'd lost forever. To celebrate I stopped in Silkeborg for a coffee. Mmmm very average latte for $8 AUD this coffee situation is dire

Silkeborg coffee stop

The route now securely stored in GPS

Børn to Grill

Finally the BBQ is set.

After lugging my rather expensive and very cool BBQ all the way from OZ it was a little disheartening to find all the gas fittings etc were wrong. So no BBQs or as they say here "grills"

It has taken a few weeks to suss this out but after many trips to hardware stores, caravan shops and servos I have been directed to a gas specialist shop about 35k away in Haderslev. So onto the Beemer and south to the industrivej (every town seems to have an Industrivej - street name meaning industry st) in Haderslev to find the Kosan gas centre. Well the guy couldn't have been more helpful. We spent some time trying to find correctly threaded adaptors with no success. We did however confirm that my regulator was equivalently spec'd to the DK ones. Finally we chopped off my old regulator and headed into kitchen to find some dish washing liquid and hot water to force fit the Aus tube onto a DK regulator. Success. After some testing and many hints on how to find cheaper gas and bottles across the boarder in Germany (remember this guy works for the gas company) I was riding north to Kolding.

Now for a gas bottle. This is another expensive step as the bottles here are very light weight fibreglass and see through so cost about $150AUD. Every service station or hardware person I talked to chuckled and quipped when I asked about buying the first bottle. At least after the initial reaming it's the same process as in OZ ie exchange for a full one  at any servo or hardware store for about $28AUD.

Now with the full bottle strapped to the back seat of the Beemer and the hardware guy giving me "nice knowing you" looks whilst asking if I had far to travel, I rode home for install and steaks.

BBQ post transplant

Chasing Daiseys - Fyn Helnæs

Today we decided to head to Fyn the central main island of Denmark. We bypassed the pulled pork burger coffee stop in the hope that a suitable coffee stop later in the day.

The destination today was Helnæs Light house. A tiny light house that sits on a tiny spit of land on the south west of Fyn. The round trip is only about 250km but with 80km/hr limits on most roads and 50km/hr in towns, of which there are shit loads, progress is slower than one perceives.

The Route

The ride out was pretty bloody great with several daisy diversions to some little country roads, large stately farm houses and tree covered lanes. Finally as we reached Helnæs the land fell away leaving only a little strip to access the island and we were suddenly surrounded by sea. The island itself was very small but had some nice narrow roads which eventually lead to the light house where we stopped to take in the scenery which today included included some tall ships rounding the point and of course get a coffee. Or so we thought, you guessed it in spite of the loads of visitors all walking around and taking in the scenery which included some tall ships rounding the point not a bloody cafe in sight. So we saddled up and took a more direct route back to Kolding for coffee and sustenance at my favourite cafe.

The spit of land to  Helnæs

Helnæs Light House

When in Denmark

Finally tightened up the Papillionaire town bike and pumped up the tires for her maiden voyage into town for a coffee. Boy these cobbles are bumpy. Now I know exactly how the Paris - Roubaix riders feel (apart from the whole elite athlete thing, 100s of Kms, excellent diet, training, speeds of 60kph etc that is)

Papillionaire outside Grev Axel Cafe Kolding

Danish 101 - The Summer House

Under Danish law you are only allowed to own one untenanted house, but you are allowed one "Summer house". Think Ozzie beach shack, UK holiday cottage or NZ Batch these are usually situated somewhere on the coast and usually small. The catch is you are not allowed to officially live in it and are only allowed to stay during the six months of summer. 

You can own other properties but they must be rented ie they are considered business investments. As far as I can fathom its basically designed to ensure rich bastards don't have five huge houses sitting idle and people with no home. It also promotes the time with family and take a real holiday theme by making a small (some are log cabin sized) holiday house more affordable.

Cool idea

Windscreen test

The sun is out and I'm over my man flu or more accurately Ebola Lite. Time to dust off the Beemer and tests this windscreen.

The route was a test of my ability to program my GPS with a downloaded route of the Daisey Route. I loaded the section I wanted to follow pressed go and headed north to Århus. The ride followed freeways at 110 and 130kph so gave a good test of the screen. 

And the results? Well it certainly takes the presume off the body but it buffets my helmet around and the once noiseless Scubert C3 now is drumming if I open the vents. The vibration is similar to my R1200GS stock screen when upright with the result being that my eyes jitter for an hour or so after the ride as my brain has got used to the vibration and compensated. For me (6 foot with longish torso) the design is may be 2 inches too tall and/or the rake is too steep. The turbulent zone is too deep at about 20cm when it hits the rider. The still zone is fine and the laminar zone is quite. Swept back screens tend to reduce the turbulent zone depth and allow laminar flow over helmet and have a high still zone, they do however provide higher pressure in where the thinner turbulent zone hits the rider (hopefully at shoulder height).

I'll keep it going for a bit before I piff it or take the jigsaw to it as removing it is too much hassle. Lets see how I adap. I may try the power bronze it looks like it is swept back more and also looks easier to trim down if needed.

The ride? Well more manual Daisey chasing I'm afraid as the GPS route stopped giving directions just after Århus (yes I know a first world problem) . I lost the route and road aimlessly through suburbs until I spotted a fellow motorcyclist that I hoped was heading somewhere nice. Sure enough, a daisey appeared, so for a short while nice curves at 80 following the coast northwards through villages and summer house areas. It even took me past the Rosenholm Slots.

Rosenholm Slots

This didn't last too long as I encountered the "Margueritruten special" an unmarked T intersection. Taking the wrong turn lead to some nice roads but mostly less desirable ones that didn't resolve to anything useful. I had run out of puff and needed coffee so hit the home button on the GPS and zoomed back to Kolding. 

On this coffee  thing. Denmark has many small villages but their adoption of the cafe culture and espresso machines is immature at best. So the destination coffee shop ride list is empty so far. You can go all day and not pass a cafe.

Good to be back on the Beemer.

New Screen

Took delivery of my new Wunderlich touring screen for the F700GS today. Took about 1 hour to install as tollerances were quite exact and headlight needed to be removed and re aligned. You can see result for your self but I'm a little concerned it maybe too large and/or not raked enough rearward. It certainly looks the part and purpose made for this Beemer. It gives the bike an overall bigger GS look. Now for a test ride.

Original

Wunderlich

Original

Wunderlich

Well Done

As in cooked.

Just got back from our first motorcycle tour on the new beemers in heat wave conditions for Europe ie 36deg here's the route.

Copenhagen

Today we rode north to Rostock at the top of Germany where we took a ferry across to Denmark and rode north to Copenhagen to visit my friends Ange Tim and Ella who were staying there for a week.

The ride was pleasant if not exciting and the ferry trip was 2 hours so I managed a little kip on the deck in the sun. By the evening we had arrived in Copenhagen and met up with my friends at the little apartment they had rented.

The next day (hot again) we decided to take the train north and visit the Louisiana Gallery that had an African exhibition on the go.  Louisiana is a spectacular gallery set within the rolling grounds of its sculpture park  featuring sculptures of Max Ernst, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubbufet and Joan Miró. All of this overlooks the coast with glimpses of Sweden on the far shore. This is a must see if you come to Copenhagen

We return to Copenhagen and decide that we had not had a good enough catch up so we stayed another night in the sweltering heat and I made nachos for all for dinner.

Next morning we headed out for the 3 hour motorway ride back to Kolding so Gerty could get to work.

Waiting for ferry to dock

Dog toilet on the ferry WTF

Louisiana Art Gallery

Ang Tim and Ella at Louisiana (Thats Sweden on the horizon)

The gang Just before goodbyes

Potsdam

 

We arrived at Potsdam and checked in to a wonderful hotel on the river just across from the University. 

As the sun lowered and the summer river swimmers had retired we wandered down the avenue  to find a restaurant. We wandered in an took a seat at a packed street restaurant only to find they served a  eye fillet steak with shaved truffle. This was one of the best steaks I have ever eaten and that include the Tassie Strahan hotels masterpiece.  Day two we toured the University's Human Interaction Design school and labs. Some really cool research going on and some great workshop/maker/hacker/fab Lab  set ups.

Day 3 was reserved for a visit to San Soucci Palace. I have visited this once before but its grounds and its situation is brilliant. This time we were lucky enough to tour the palace. These places always remind me of how small people were before improved diet and health caused a growth spurt. I expect I could handle the lifestyle of the privileged but hate to think of the middle and lower classes' plight.

We also had a formal duty here which was to visit the Hasso - Plattner institute in Potsdam University. We met with a colleague of Gertys, Patrick who is the Professor of computer science and chair of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Lab. He took us on a tour of the facilities and got to see some incredible research. See some of the research here I especially liked the "Haptic Turk" and the "Protopiper", brilliant.

The visited ended with Danielle giving a lecture to an undergrad engineer class. This certainly disturbed some of the students (Danielle would say constructively disrupted) and gave them a good shake up.

Oh, and one of my favourites is that lots of places in Europe seem to have robotic lawnmowers, and the one at the uni is priceless see below.

 

The Robot Lawn Mower

View from the hotel balcony

Good Lady Wilde outside our room in Potsdam

Sanssouci  Palace

Cant visit the palace without taking this one

Check this mini bar treat. A giant pickle in a can

Best steak in a long time. Fillet with red wine and some berry goop, topped with shaved truffle. Yep I ate the potatoes very un paleo

Weimar and Bauhaus

After much 160km-h autobahnstorming we  arived late in the afternoon in Weimar. A cute little town with a rich history. We checked into a boutique hotel and quickly got out of our sticky )40deg today= bike gear and sat on the roof top terrace for a bit before heading out to the town square for a feed and a well earned beer.

The reason for our visit was that the professor had to give a lecture at the original and famous Bauhaus University. We were treated to a tour of the facilities by one of the professors collegues. Not a pretty campus compared to some but it had a great feel. The history of the Bauhaus movement is well documented and a quick wiki seasrch will give you the details but for now I'll give you my take away.

It was an artistic movement between 1919 and 1935 that seemed to want to return function to form as a priority driven also by the modernism movement. Students of the movement we first grounded deeply in building things or "Making" in todays terms. This meant all students were first taught the trades inc carpetry, metal work, ceramics etc etc etc before perrsuing their "Art". Hitler put an ewnd to the movement as he saw it as a threat as too left wing and intelectual.

I was blown away by the workshops at the uni. Huge wood, metal, ceramic, plastics etc workshops as well as the more common making environments of today 3D printing, laser cutting and arduinos.

I loved the place. you may find the old schools output a bit harsh. but you can see its influence on Industrial design, architechure, and art today. The Maker culture of today would love it.

The Professors Billing

The original Bauhaus Mark

Rooftop terrace at our hotel sans G&T

A lazy Rodan lying around in the foyer

Bahnstorming

Gerty, had some work trips scheduled in Germany so we decided to ride our motorcycles and make a bit of a first tour of it. Gerty, had some work trips scheduled in Germany so we decided to ride our motorcycles and make a bit of a first tour of it. We had two nights in Weimar and 3 nights in Potsdam booked for Gerty's work and tacked on three extra nights to get there and back.

In the usual fashion we had got off to a late start so our goal was to get as far as possible towards Weimar as we could. This involved taking some major roads. We soon found our selves on a autobahn. This was a bit of a foreign concept so we spent some time sussing it out but once we had worked out the rules we were soon travelling at 140 to 160kph most of the time. What a hoot. I even got the F700gs up to its maximum speed of an indicated 205kph that the GPS measured at 195kph. This later figure aligns with the stated BMW max speed. To reach this I had it pinned (no more twist in the throttle) and had to lay flat on the tank to avoid the wind and also to place extra weight on the front of the bike to stop it wobbling. I even had to ride one handed to stop the wind buffeting feeding back into the steering.

Apart from being adrenaline filled max speed fun travelling at this speed is tiring so 140 -150 became our average. I did learn pretty quickly that the 700s windshield has to go, its far to inefficient for highway travel.

At a coffee break we had booked a motel on line at Wittenberg. Which seemed about half way to Weimar. We had no idea what his place was about but when we arrived we realised we had booked into a year round indoor ski centre. Outside it looked like a big shed in an industrial area, inside however people were tromping around in ski gear having après ski drinkies etc like any other ski resort. After a quick kip we dined overlooking people skiing well into the evening. My meal consisted of schweinaxel and beer with Kraut and potatoes. Brilliant. 

What a cool and bizarre place.

Sense of Direction

It was time for the Beemers first service just in time for our trip to Germany. Up at 6:00 and off to Ølgod and our friends at Xpedit. The service was straight froward and we were allowed to watch and talk to the mechanics which is a pleasant surprise. My bike needed a bit of a rear wheel alignment and chain tension but apart from that all was as to be expected.

I also took this opportunity to get Xpedit to install my new Garmin LM390 GPS and show me how its done so I can install Gertys. A GPS is very useful here where I can't full understand the signs. Finally I can get lost and just press home when I'm tired or my sense of direction fails me.

Vstream GPS mount

Garmin 390 installed

Pulled Pork and Chasing Daiseys N Jylland

Needed to get the Ks up for my first service tomorrow so Gerty and I headed out for a pulled pork burger then try and revisit the Daisy route I found the other day.

Said Pulled Pork Burger and gratis kaffe

Well the burger was up to its usual standard ie bloody great, so we headed out. 

Now the daisy route is poorly signed at best. For example after following a set of linked signs for some time you may come  to a T intersection with no sign. Today was one of those cases and I unfortunately chose incorrectly and got lost. Alas we did not re experience the mini twisites.

Oh well next time.

N Jylland - Chaising Daiseys

Today I went chasing daises again but this time headed north to where the the land wrinkles due to the receding ice sheet, back in the day (the ice age day that is). I'm sorry but no map or pictures, but what a ride. I managed to track most daises and fluked the correct turns when the signs disappeared. There was a bit of everything, lots of little twisty country lanes, jump ups, forests, tree covered roads, lakes, wild life (voles, pheasants, and squirrel looking things) and no traffic. I'm not really sure where I rode but I roughly headed to Horsens then west in and around Silkeborg finishing in Ry before bolting back to Kolding via the Motorway as I'd been out for 4 hours.

I hope I can find my way back here again and hopefully find a decent bloody cafe.

Pulled Pork

Denmark seems to produce a shit load of pork for Europe,  I think it must be the biggest export even before wind turbines and LEGO. So today's ride consisted of Gerty showing me a great little motorcycle cafe just near Midlefart on the island of Fyn.

We rode out of Kolding eastward across the bridge joining Jylland and Fyn and shortly afterwards we came upon a little cafe with loads of motorcycles parked out side. The cafe does a roaring trade and there must have been 50 bikes there all getting their free coffee and great burgers. We followed the lead of a group of Scuba divers that were refuelling after a mornings dive (Dry suits all year around here) and ordered the Pulled Pork Burger. My God what a taste sensation. This little cafe will now definitely become a regular launching point for rides in Fyn which allegedly contains some real danish twisites.

Said Cafe

Gerty and the Beemers post Pulled Pork Burger

There had apparently been a motorcycle festival just north of Kolding hence so many bikes but it is apparently always busy. Danish motorcyclists are no different from motorcyclist in OZ. It was only moments before they were chatting to us (luckily in English) sharing the usual enthusiasm and openness that I've come to enjoy in the Australian motorcycling fraternity.

Chasing Daisies SW Jylland

Today Gerty and I set out for our first real ride. My bike is in its run in period so nothing to hard. So We went chasing daisies.

There is a famous route around Denmark taking in all the most spectacular parts and roads outside the major cities, its called the "Marguerite route".  It is signposted by small brown signs with a daisy on them, and there are so many you can pretty much spot a sign turn off and enjoy the ride. The total route is about 3,600km and hopefully I'll get to see all of it eventually, but for now its a good way of having random adventures by just chasing daises.

The sign to follow

All 3,600km of the Marguerite route

Today we headed out to the south west of Jylland which is the western most lump of land making up three major bits of Denmark along with the island of Fyn and the island of Sjælland (where Copenhagen is situated). We rode about 300 kms of country roads skirting the sth east coast almost crossing the German boarder before we decided to head back on a more major road to Kolding. We enjoyed a quick bite to eat in a seaside town of Hejlsminde in the brilliant sunshine which has been pretty rare this summer. I'm sorry I cant publish a map but The GPS is not yet hooked up and quite frankly I'm not sure what roads we took.

The New Beemers at their first Lunch stop

Did I mention Denmark is flat. Really flat. It was formed buy the leading edge of the ice sheet during the ice age. Consequentially its land forms are basically the dirt wrinkle formed in front of the ice sheet. Its highest mountain (read lump) is only ~270m so twisties in the traditional sense are very rare. It is however undulating and very rural so it is easy to find very entertaining rides only minutes from home.

New Beemer for European Assault

Today I took delivery of my new BMW F700GS from Xpedit my new BMW dealer here in Denmark.

It has actually been sitting at the dealer for ten days fully paid up and proud whilst I waited for my residency number (CPR number) to come through so it could be registered.

By the way this was also my second attempt to pic it up as two days earlier we drove out (2hr return) to pick it up only to be faced with driving rain  that did not let up. So we had to retreat back to Kolding to regroup.

The dealer was kind enough to let me take my new Schubert C3 pro helmet, Rukka gloves, jacket, trousers, Dayton boots, inner bag for the BMW top box all on account to pay him when my transfer comes through. Plus he gave me a great discount. Thanks Rune.

Happy birthday to me in the Koldinghus rape dungeon

Gerty took me for my birthday dinner at the Madkælderen Koldinghus a spectacular restaurant in the cellars of the old castle.

As you descend the stairs and loose the natural light I couldn't help but think "Rape Dungeon" and was bracing myself for the gimp suit and ball gag. But as our eyes adjusted to the lower light the atmosphere revealed itself to be cosy and viking like with lots of wood, sheep skins, barrels and candles with not a hint of PVC to be seen.

The food was spectacular. It was a set menu of never ending courses each one weird and delicious. For example the first dish was a potted asparagus with edible dirt made from honey and a substrate of some form of mayonnaise. The wine service was also interesting it was a self serve selection on a side table with about 12 different wines to match with all the courses. We were guided through this performance by charming a and helpful waitress.

Definitely coming back here. Thanks Gerty

The cellar at Kolding haus

Entree

And the winner is?

BMW  F700GS

So why the F700GS?

Well I still have my trusty R1200GS in OZ and would have loved the same here in Denmark. However, due to the very high upfront tax on motor vehicle purchases here in Denmark (ie 180% of purchase price) I could not afford the $60,000 price tag for a bike that costs 22k in OZ.

So it was downsize or don't ride (yeah right)

Of all the test candidates it came down to the F800GT or the 700GS. The GT had my heart because of its looks but after much deliberation I decided the F700GS the best fit, best all round and most suited to my European aspirations. It made sense as Danielle has also just purchased a F700GS so it will be nice to be able to take those dirt roads together without second thought.

I got a good deal from Xpedit as some one had managed to taken it for a ride in Copenhagen instantly making it a demonstrator. This and the fact its last years colour made it a bit cheaper but still has 2015 first rego and full new warranty with only 325km on the clock.

I still can't quite get my head around the fact that it still costs more than a new R1200GS in OZ but I'm sure once on the road all will be forgotten.

Sweet,

Oh and its silver so it will look just like a baby version of my R1200GS when I farlkle it with shiny aluminium panniers and crash bars etc.

Testing 1, 2, 3 .........8

Over the last two weeks I have driven to the west coast of Denmark to test ride motorcycles eager to purchase one and begin my adventures in Europe with Danielle.

After much searching on the net and use of Google translate I discovered Suzuki and BMW dealer about an hour away. The Dealers were both helpful but the BMW dealer in Ølgod (Translation = Beer Good) was a great find with the owner Rune Bach Anderson looked after us with numerous test rides (~7 over six visits) and buy keeping the shop open after hours for us. He has also kindly lent us gear whilst we wait for ours to arrive by ship and has let us take gear that we have purchased before international transfers of cash have actually landed.  I'd highly recommend Rune (pronounced Roona) and his teams in both the Ølgod and Copenhagen Xpedit A/S dealerships.

Anyway to the candidate bikes. All were given a thorough test and here are my thoughts

The F800GT was great fun, best brakes, best power delivery and best looking. But it is more expensive, not as easy to load up and I did feel more comfortable on the dirt roads on the dual sport format bikes. I really loved the ride but it did entice me to speed at every opportunity and the speeding fines are horrendous here. I'm not saying its all that powerful compare to what I'm used to but its light and does provide a grin inducing pull up through the revs.

The F800GS was as expected and didn't handle on road nearly as well as the others and for the extra money it just isn't as suited to Europe as the 700. There is no doubt though I would choose this for extended off road and dirt or RTW though. It would be a great around and through OZ bike.

The Vstrom 650 was great value, very planted, has a comfy seat and a smooth if dull delivery but, it's very ugly and lacks any personality. I found its finish is fairly agricultural and it felt too big and heavy for what it was given its low power. A real down side was its screen which delivered the worst buffeting regardless of position. Its probably a sensible economic choice but bugger that.

The F700GS felt really familiar, friendly, rock solid in the corners and feels very light and flickable. Its power is a bit down on the other beemers but it delivers what it has in all the right places making it better than the the others, all things considered. The seat and screen that so many complain about did not bother me but I am braced to replace if needed.

Mmmmm GT or GS ?