NewtonNet - HOME

What's this site all about then? Good question - and as soon as I can put my finger on it you'll be the first to know!

The site started in 2002 (it's not an intentional 'retro' look - I just haven't updated the style/format since!) as a cursory attempt at broadening my knowledge of web hosting, running a server, networking etc. It soon became apparent though that without any real content to publish the motivation would soon wane so I decided to document our ongoing house renovation (we've moved on now but kept the pages up for posterity, and an eternal warning for when you buy a house thinking it only needs a lick of paint!). Things developed from there to include subjects such as boiler diaphragm repair, repair reference resources for the Hyundai Coupe, the design and development details of my Internet-Enabled Cat Feeder and a bird trainer designed and built for the BBC's Natural History Unit.

So, all-in-all, there's no real common thread (unless I've just not spotted it!) so it's probably best just to give you an overview of what lurks in my forgotten corner of the Internet:

		Every website needs a homepage and this is it...
		My Internet-Enabled Cat Feeder invention... the world's first to support IPv6. The page went up in 2009 and, as of 2014, has been viewed over 90,000 times and still ranks #1 on Google's search results for 'internet cat feeder' out of over 250,000 other results!
		Having seen my cat feeder, the BBC's Natural History Unit commisioned me to design and build an automated bird trainer/feeder in support of an animal behaviour research project being undertaken by them and the University of Bristol. The project was based on 'operant conditioning' and involved training crows to drop litter into a bin in order to receive a food reward. The feeder was fully automated using light beams to detect deposited litter and could also be triggered remotely to aid the training process.
		Bored with just a homepage, I created a housepage to chart the progress (or otherwise!) of our house renovation project. It started in 2002 when we moved in, and I had every intention of stopping at some point however as my Dad always kept telling me; it's a never-ending task and will never actually be 'finished'! He was so right... [Edit Aug 2010: Actually, we did eventually 'finish' and have now moved on but have kept the old pages up lest we forget what we went through! ;-)]
		If the diverter/diaphragm in your Worcester Bosch 24CDi combi boiler (or similar) is on the blink then this page is possibly for you - judging by the visitor count and number of e-mails I receive it seems there are quite a few of you! Whilst never intended as a 'HowTo' guide it seems the photos of the various stages gives some people the confidence to give it a go themselves... and others to not go near it so either way it seems to be useful!
		IPv6 - The so-called next generation Internet Protocol. As the pool of remaining IPv4 addresses diminishes something has to come in to fill the gap... For better of for worse it looks like IPv6 is the only viable candidate to choose from. This part of the site details my experiences of it, or at least how I have brought it into use in my otherwise IPv4-only corner of the Internet.
		Various service manuals for all generations of the Hyundai Coupe along with a number of guides and walkthroughs on subjects such as brake overhauls, engine removal and cam swaps.
		As per the Coupe above but for the Ford Fiesta instead!