AdamCon.org > chat > 2000-09-20

Chat for 2000-09-20 21:00:00

Dale: Hi Rich.
Rich Drushel: Hi Dale, just got in a little early today.
Dale: So did you meet with HLM/GMK yet?
Rich Drushel: Not yet...turned out that George was out of town for 2 weeks and not due in until last weekend sometime. Herman and I tentatively scheduled this Saturday night, assuming that it was okay with George.
Dale: I'll be good to have a date set for the next 'Con.
Rich Drushel: I have to decide whether I want it to span my 15th wedding anniversary, 19 July.
Dale: I suggest you pick a week or two earlier.
Dale: I've been pretty burned out when I ran AC.
Rich Drushel: Joan, however, will be lucky to get any one week of time off in July...even after 13 years on the same floor, she isn't high enough seniority.
Rich Drushel: This summer it worked mostly because Christina was finally old enough to babysit the younger 2 while Joan went to work.
Dale: Always a problem.
Dale: So my company progressing towards going public.
Rich Drushel: Did you have your big announcement yet?
Dale: We had a stockholder's meeting on Friday, and they voted in favour of it.
Dale: So now we just have to close our financing, and take our fir web site live.
Rich Drushel: I wish more things were private...the owners tend to be more interested in their actual business, rather than just in maximizing short-term profits at any cost.
Dale: It's gradually coming together.
Rich Drushel: Will you be able to retire after this all goes throough? :-)
Dale: Well, a public company offers us the freedom to run our business instead of having Vetnure Capitalists run it.
Rich Drushel: I guess as long as you remain the majority stockholders.
Dale: We are a small cap company, and with this financing we can become a global player.
Dale: No, I have to build an actual business, with real value. Then I can retire in four years ;-)
Rich Drushel: 4 years...I think I am looking at never retiring.
Dale: Actually, I'll probably do another startup when I finish at this company. The startup feeling agrees with me more than a big company.
Rich Drushel: How can you do another startup in the same field without all kinds of conflict-of-interest?
Dale: Rich, you just have to invent something that every slug needs! You'd be rich beyond belief.
Rich Drushel: Thneeds from Truffula seeds that everyone needs :-)
Dale: It's a big world, and there are lots of other things to do, that are still in computers. It's just a mater of having the business savvy to do start again.
Dale: "Thneeds"? I guess I'd have to be a slug.
Rich Drushel: I don't claim to understand business...seems inherently illogical to me. In engineering, time and time again the better, more technically-elegant solution loses. Too disheartening to a Wile E. Coyote like me.
Rich Drushel: "Thneed" is from Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax", as are Truffula seeds.
Dale: Ah, of course. Must review that material for other good business ideas. <grin>
Rich Drushel: All the Truffula trees were converted into Thneeds (some weird 3-armed sweater-type garment), so a whole ecosystem went extinct.
Dale: Hmm. Maybe I should treat it as a how not to book after all.
Rich Drushel: It's a good read...
Dale: Last year I read "The Dilbert Principle"...
Dale: and the year before I read "Pooh on Management".
Dale: Winnie the Pooh, has some interesting insights into the study of management.
Dale: Strangely I've never seen him on speaking tour.
moved to room Meeting Place
Dale: Hello.
changed username to scott
Dale: Scott, you're early today.
scott: Whatttsssssupppp
scott: No more Wednesday class
Rich Drushel: My talents don't seem to be suited to a resource-rich environment like we've had the last decade...like Robinson Crusoe, I can build anything out of stone knives and bearskins.
Dale: Just pre-chatting with Rich.
Rich Drushel: Hello Scott.
scott: The master is here!
scott: How are you Rich?
Dale: Slay any dragons this week?
Rich Drushel: My expected long-distance phone call last Wednesday never materialized, so I missed the chat for nothing.
scott: Do slain dragons yet.
Rich Drushel: Rich is busy, doing some productive research programming. I should be able to make a 3 October deadline for one bit of modelling code.
scott: Getting my apartment setup
scott: Got my computer/phone line/internet connection going.
scott: Still a lot to do.
Dale: You've got dialup Internet access now?
Rich Drushel: What year are you now, Scott?
scott: For the moment, I'm dialing in with my modem.
scott: But we've got DSL, ISDN, everything out here in Aurora.
Dale: So you're actually talking to us from your new place. Congratualtions.
scott: Yes.
scott: Thank you.
scott: Dale -- You said that you have a server connection to the internet, a dedicated server?
Dale: Yes. I get it through my cable modem.\
scott: I've been interested for some time now in doing this.
scott: How much is it costing you?
Dale: around here I pay $39.95 CDN/month.
scott: Is it costing you an arm and a leg?
Rich Drushel: I just had a crack of lightning directly overhead (sudden storm)...I am going to logout now and power down.
Rich Drushel left chat session
scott: We'll be here.
scott: How does that work?
Dale: That's for 1 IP address. And pretty reliable service.
scott: Sound like you're just paying for access.
Dale: Good enough for non-commercial work.
scott: Are you using special hardrives, as in SCSI?
scott: Special processors, or multiprocessor systems?
scott: At least PIII's???
Dale: At the office, we have a 2.5 megabit DSL connection, for about $599 CDN with 5 IP addreses.
Dale: For my AdamCon server you mean?
scott: The office -- is this a company you work for or is it your software company?
scott: Yes, the ADAM Server.
Dale: I have SCSI disks, and a dual P133 (with only 1 CPU).
Dale: At the office is the company that I co-founded a year and a half ago, and is going public shortly.
scott: Do you think I'd be ok with a Dual PII 333mhz box?
scott: So you are running your own business?
moved to room Meeting Place
Dale: I am V.P. Web Systems, with a team of 6 out of a 10 person company.
scott: That I did not know.
moved to room Meeting Place
scott: Sounds like I need to look at prices for having a dedicated server.
Dale: Well, it depends, what do you want to do? Will it be under Linux? Under Windows? How many hits will you get? Static? Database? Perl? Servlet?...
changed username to Mr Jive
Mr Jive: Hi folks
Dale: For just a realtively simple site, it is hard to beat he.net (Hurricane Electric).
Dale: That's what my brother uses for most of his web sites.
scott: Will have to research the platform, will have Database, Perl (meaning in all likelihood Unix), eventually a larger # of hits.
scott: he.net?
scott: Thanks. I'll give them a look.
Dale: It is in the same building as one of the three main backbone hubs in the US. (Mae-West).
scott: I need to research this.
scott: I'd like to start off simple, but eventually get more into streaming video and database.
scott: Which requires a lot of oomph.
scott: Hi Mr. Jive.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to BobSlopsema
changed username to james
scott: Here everyone comes.
scott: Hello Bob.
james: *yawn* morning.
BobSlopsema: HOLY COW!!! I'm late!!!@
moved to room Meeting Place
scott: Hello James.
Dale: Well, Linux is a pretty good platform. Even a PIII-700 should be able to handle 100,000 hits a day.
changed username to Guy B.
scott: How is your LOGO project going?
Guy B.: Greetings!!!
Dale: Hi Mr Jive.
scott: I haven't even touched Linux yet, that's why I hesitate to say "Linux"
Dale: You missed Rich D.
BobSlopsema: well shcucks! i am only 4 minutes late!
BobSlopsema: hi ALL
scott: 100,000 hits a day is more than enough.
scott: That's 1 million every 10 days.
Dale: Well, my home machine hosts several database backed sites, but I get only 25,000 hits a month total.
scott: That's a lot of hits!
Mr Jive: I have an announcement.....I bought another ADAM computer.
scott: Yay!
BobSlopsema: COOL!!!
james: logo project has been on the back burner for a couple of weeks but i hope to get back at it soon.
scott: That's good information, Dale. Thank you.
Guy B.: Where did you get it from?
Dale: Congrats! Time to celebrate with a game of Donkey Kong.
BobSlopsema: on Ebay??? and how much???
Dale: Hi Guy.
Mr Jive: Thirty dollars.....from a Marty Yeager in Georgia.
scott: Didn't even see you Guy.
scott: How are you?
BobSlopsema: dat's cheap enought
BobSlopsema: does it work???
Mr Jive: I'll find out when I get it. :)
Guy B.: Yeah, I'm here. Just got on a few minutes ago.
Dale: Scott, the chat server is a Java application running right here in my livingroom.
BobSlopsema: OH MAN, ya don't even know???
scott: That's exciting to ponder.
Mr Jive: I can fix it if it doesn't work....have a degree in small computer repair.
scott: I can't imagine using the capacity of my drives for storage on the Internet.
scott: Or the applications on it.
BobSlopsema: then all yo need is parts......
Guy B.: Hey, we got another repairman if he can fix his Adam.
scott: I have a 60 GB Ultra-DMA 100 drive that would be perfect for a server on the Internet.
Mr Jive: What I need is info on an ide driver.
scott: Hopefully there's drivers for it in Linux.
Guy B.: Ultra DMA 100 now Scott. I thought Ultra 66 was the highest?
Mr Jive: For a hard drive and a 3 1/2 drive.
Dale: The only disadvantage is, I can never reboot that machine, so it sits and serves, and nothing else.
scott: Can't reboot? Really?
BobSlopsema: Doug, Scott is the man with that info
scott: Guy -- 60GB isn't even a large drive any more, Maxtor just came out with an 80GB model and soon a 100GB
Dale: Scott, I suspect that the hard disk is rarely the bottle neck for anything you are apt to do, but the bottle neck is your connection.
james: connection. oh yes. there's definitely a bottleneck here when it comes to that.
scott: Sure -- good point Dale.
james: it's called "ntt".
Guy B.: I knew 75Gig existed, but it looks storage will keep increasing as we go into 2001.
scott: And getting cheaper.
Mr Jive: Cool
Dale: Well, if I reboot it, then all of my web sites go down. I try and keep an uptime of 4 months before rebooting. Linux is pretty solid that way.
scott: IDE driver, eh?
james left chat session
scott: Sounds like you need two machines.
BobSlopsema: lost james....
Mr Jive: I have two machines now.
Guy B.: Heck, I've only got a 4.3GB in this system and I'm trying to decide what size for my new one next year.
scott: Just in case you want to take the one down.
scott: I bought my 60GB drive for $235.
Dale: I actually have 4 on my LAN at home. A server/firewall, desktop, laptop and Jill's. Then I have the Adams and assorted others. <grin>
scott: Great price/GB
scott: A firewall?
Mr Jive: That is a good price.
scott: Now we're talking money.
scott: Every Firewall that I've seen is expensive
Guy B.: I've seen the 13GB and above for just over $100 and you're right, they will keep coming down.
scott: I bought the drive from www.compgeeks.com.
scott: They did me really good on that drive.
Dale: Sure. I only have 1 IP address, so I use amasquarading proxy firewall that is transparent to the other machines. I even have it running a DHCP server.
Guy B.: Catchy name.
scott: I told myself that I wouldn't buy another until the 100GB models came out.
Dale: That's an amazing price. Di you get it yet?
scott: The drive? Yes, I've had it for a month. Works great.
Dale: The firewall is based on IP Chains, and is free with Linux.
scott: I even captured video with it at 30fps.
scott: 640X480
Guy B.: And I made a bid on Yahoo for Windows 95 with USB and so far I'm the highest bidder. So step 1 for my new system.
scott: You know sooo much more than I do. How am I supposed to catch up?
scott: <grin>
Dale: Sounds like the perfect drive for you.
(Guy B. smiles)
scott: It was made for me!
scott: Hey -- we lost James?
scott: And then there were five.
Guy B.: Wonder if he lost his connection.
moved to room Meeting Place
left chat session
Dale: James vanished shortly after taking the name of hiw phone company/ISP in vain.
scott: Hey, while I'm here, does anyone have any articles of ALAN NEELEY (ADAMLink of Utah)?
Mr Jive: lol Dale
scott: Got a little excited about those HD prices.
scott: Mr. Jive -- working on any software?
Guy B.: Scott, you did pretty well. But later, you might regret it. The price of that same could be less later on.
scott: ADAM software???
Mr Jive: Software? How do you mean?
scott: It always is.
scott: The nature of the business.
Guy B.: Just can't keep up.
scott: In 5 years, we'll be talking terabytes.
Mr Jive: Uh, no.....I haven't used my ADAM in about 10+ years.
Dale: Confusious say, he who waist for best price preformance will wait forever.
scott: Shame, shame...
BobSlopsema: agree with that, BUT you gotta wait tillit shrinks down a little.....
scott: What software would everyone like to see developed for the ADAM?
Mr Jive: lol I just got my old one back from my cousin....without the smartBasic tape.
scott: How about a web browser?
BobSlopsema: YES!!!!!!
scott: Dale can write firewall software for us.
Mr Jive: Thanks to Bob I now have a smartBasic tape.
scott: LAN ADAM...
scott: er, ADAMs...
Dale: Yeah, how 'bout an Ethernet card for the Adam?
BobSlopsema: no prollem Doug!!!
scott: How about Windows for the ADAM
scott: Linux for the ADAM.
Dale: You mean like GoDOS?
scott: I'm just playing...
Mr Jive: Does anyone know where I can get Assembly Language software?
scott: But the thought was kinda fun...
scott: Yes, you steal it...
Dale: Go to http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/mayan/ for one answer.
Mr Jive: lol Scott
Dale: There is a "Unix" for the Z80 called UZI.ARK.
(Guy B. laughs heartily)
Dale: I've downloaded it from ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/ but haven't tried it yet.
scott: /mayan/ is also a good place to find all types of hi-tech products: ADAM streaming/compression software, SQL for ADAM...
Guy B.: I have GoDos with GoBasic and I have yet to try it out,.
scott: You name it, Dale's got it at /Mayan/
Dale: Okay then, how bout some NLV editing software (Non-linear video)?
scott: I played around with GoDos/GoBasic
scott: 60fps?
Guy B.: What did you think of Scott?
scott: 1024X768?
scott: I liked it a lot.
scott: Although half of the stuff didn't work.
Mr Jive: Cool I'll check it out.
scott: As Mr. Jive said, "No space to do anything"
Dale: No, no, no! I want S-Video with 256x192 preview. I'm happy with 20 fps.
scott: Two colors?
scott: Black and White?
moved to room Meeting Place
Dale: Full palette of course.
changed username to Guy B.
scott: How about we develop a multiprocessor ADAM to do this.
Guy B.: Ok, I'm back. I lost my connection.
Mr Jive: lol Scott
scott: Are you serious? Is this something that you're actually considering doing?
scott: It would be fun, do doubt.
Dale: Just get an Adamnet/side port video card with IDE interface for direct to 60GB drive recording.
Dale: No problem.
Mr Jive: string 100 Adams together for a 800 MHz processor.
scott: But I think ADAM would only be able to handle 1-2 frames / sec.
Dale: Exactly Mr Jive.
scott: And an overdrive processor.
Mr Jive: The Z80000 processor!
scott: Like 4.5 mhz >> 800
Dale: No, the eZ80 runs at up to 80 MHz.
scott: There you go!
scott: Then we just bug my dad to design it.
scott: He's not doing anything important.
scott: Right?
Dale: My Adam has an AIM graphics board which operates at 21MHz with 192k of RAM. Unfortunately there was only ever one AIM made while the parts were still available :-(
Guy B.: And how long would that be?
Dale: March 3
Dale: 2158.
scott: I'll just lock him in the basement and when he starts foaming at the mouth, we'll evaluate where he's at.
Guy B.: It's too bad that Gary Bowser never could get that off the ground. That could of have changed the entire Adam around.
Mr Jive: lol Scott
scott: He should have asked for help from my dad.
Dale: It would have been interesting.
scott: My dad was interested in how Gary was doing it.
scott: He mentioned that the boards were off by 1/16th of an inch or something.
Dale: His problems were parts-related and money-related -- an unfortunate combo.
scott: Very unfortunate.
Dale: He made over 200 TIMs (the same board with the crystal for the TI-99).
Guy B.: It was mentioned almost every month around 1987 or 88 in the Niad newsletter, then poof. Dropped off the sight of the earth.
scott: Dale -- do you know if he still can be reached?
scott: Maybe someone can salvage his work and do something with it.
Dale: Not by me.
scott: But would it be worth the effort?
Dale: He is probably still in town.
Guy B.: Question is where does he live now?
Dale: The parts are no longer available for that design. A new design would be needed.
scott: Maybe we could find him on the Internet somewhere.
scott: Dale -- no problem. I'll just take a few classes and become an engineer.
scott: Piece o cake.
scott: Have a new design before you know it.
scott: Want a 1ghz ADAM? Multiprocessor? No problem...
scott: Anyways...
Dale: I actually took a project course at University where we all made embedded hardware designs with firmware drivers.
scott: Enough being goofy...
Mr Jive: Hey that reminds me....I still have that 300 baud modem in my old Adam......Hmmmmm.
scott: So do I.
scott: Mr. Jive -- build us a browser.
scott: And they will come...
Dale: My project was to make a b&w video digitiser attached to MIDI out, to allow a musician to play music with gestures.
Guy B.: It's good to use it for file transfers between the PC and the Adam. I've tried it and it works.
scott: Cool.
Mr Jive: Sure.....type in a www address and.....three days later it's loaded!
Dale: I noticed on Zilog's site that they have one chip 33.6 modems, that could be adapted for the Adam, I'm sure.
Dale: It might be a worthy project.
scott: What speed could the ADAM handle.
scott: No more than 19200 for sure.
Mr Jive: Hmmmm I don't think the Z80 processor could keep up with 33.6
Guy B.: That's what I was going to say. Adamserve can handle that speed.
Dale: Well, a text terminal in AdamLink V can keep up with 4800 baud as I understand it. But all present Adam modem/serial slot 1 or 2 cards aren't interrupt driven.
scott: Yes, a very worthy project.
BobSlopsema: BEFORE the local freenet went down, I had ADAM online in text mode and it went very well, faster than my eyes could read
Dale: But 19,200 is no problem with an external screen.
scott: Definately fast enough for online gaming.
scott: Such as an RPG.
Mr Jive: I remember hitting the billboards at 300 baud.....it was awful.....
scott: Areas that are 1-2K would load resonably fast.
Dale: 19,200 is the fastest a present day Adam can do because that is the fastest the MIB-3 or Orphanware designs could handle.
scott: Dale -- there's also that hardrive project.
scott: We talked about it before.
Dale: Well, 19,200 with an external 19,200 would be 38,400, so theoretically yes.
scott: And you had mentioned the embedded hardrive.
BobSlopsema: no, now jive ........300 baud was"lightning" for 1983....
scott: My father knows of places to manufacture the boards (they may be out of business now)
Dale: I double checked the Disk-On-A-Chip prices, and they were much higher than I remembered, about $200 for 64MB, which is solid state technology.
scott: I have his schematic.
scott: Wow
scott: That's far too expensive.
Dale: Bob, the AdamLink modem was called an AdamLink 1200, because they originally intended to have it run 1200 baud.
Mr Jive: 300 baud isn't "lightning" at any time. lol!
Guy B.: Memory prices are really high this year.
Dale: They must have switched late in the game to somnething that could work.
scott: Should be able to find small drives at garage sales for a few bucks.
Dale: Syd Carter made a do-it-yourself modification project where you could convert it into a 19200 baud serial card.
BobSlopsema: well.......can the ADAMlink modem be juiced up to say....14.4 or 19.2?????
scott: Makes me nervous that I only have one HD for my ADAM.
scott: I also read about an ADAM Mouse?
BobSlopsema: heck Scott, IDE hd's are everywhere cheap!!!
Dale: What about Adam House?
scott: I saw that Sol Swift got it working with PowerPAINT.
Guy B.: Yes, I remember that from the old Niad newsletters.
scott: I have an article or two on my site about it.
scott: Saw it at ADAMCON IV
scott: Along with Dale Wick.
Dale: I agree, go to any mom and pop computer store and they'll have a heap of IDE 80, 120, 540 drives all of which should work for $5-15.
Dale: The Adam Mouse, that was out of Calgary, right?
scott: If you buy in bulk, you could probably get them for less.
scott: Don't know.
scott: Have to look at my articles.
BobSlopsema: Think it was....Thomas Electronics, I believe
Guy B.: The last computer show I went to had used hard drives going very cheap, but higher that those you mentioned.
Dale: They phoned me a couple of times to talk about mouse drivers.
scott: Has anyone been to my old site lately?
BobSlopsema: and also there is a mouse design to make one out of a commodore mouse
Guy B.: That's higher capacity.
Dale: Yup Thomas Electronics is the name.
BobSlopsema: made one MEself, me did.........
Dale: What's happening on your site, Scott?
Dale: How do you have it hosted?
BobSlopsema: been a wekk or two
scott: It's still at Web2010. Just curious if anyone's using the site.
BobSlopsema: looks the same to me so far......
scott: I haven't until recently.
Dale: Scott, you started out the night asking what software we wanted, not what we were working on.
scott: I'm kinda jumping all over the place, aren't I?
Dale: Is your hosting expensive?
scott: $24.95/month.
scott: I will move my site.
scott: I would REALLY like a dedicated server, of course.
scott: But I need to do a lot of research.
Dale: Not too bad. check out he.net's prices. They are cheap and quite reliable.
scott: Pat offered to let me place my site on his server.
Dale: A dedicated server starts at about $260/mo.
scott: I could do that while I get my server set up.
scott: Is that what you're paying?
Dale: No, I pay $39/mo for a server in my livingroom.
scott: I'd like to find a way to do something like you are doing, Dale.
scott: Otherwise, it's big money/month.
Dale: Well, I'm using a cable modem. What you are allowed to do depends partly on your local cable company.
scott: We have cable out here.
scott: What should I ask?
Dale: he.net is a good tradeoff between service, price, and features.
Dale: Well do they offer the @Home service or Internet on cable?
scott: Ok.
scott: I will find out
Dale: Also DSL might be a good option for you. Depending again on your local ISP's offerings.
scott: I'm just asking, because I'm not sure how to get started.
Guy B.: DSL is still high at the moment. Around $40 a month.
Mr Jive: Does anyone here do assembly language programming?
scott: $40 is reasonable if one can get a dedicated server running in their living room.
Dale: I do.
scott: I do.
Dale: What do you want to know?
scott: Where do you want to go today?
(Guy B. laughs heartily)
Mr Jive: Cool....I was thinking, with the slow processor speed of the Adam, that assembly would be the best language to use.
scott: Can't do it any other way.
Dale: I've been teaching Bob and Guy at AdamCon, and they are learning through Osmosis, as opposed to practice.
scott: He's even trying to teach me, which is a lost cause <grin>
Guy B.: Though I haven't really tried anymore since Adamcon 12.
Dale: Assembly is a great language to use on the Adam. There are other options too. Most often mixed assembly and something else.
Mr Jive: (smiles) I remember learning Basic on the Adam....but the smartBasic really had it's limitations.
Guy B.: Agree with you on that.
scott: LD Dalewick, 00 28 ;Per month
Dale: PowerPaint was written as about 20% SmartBASIC and 80% assembly (though Sol did only hand assembly :-( yuck!)
BobSlopsema: IF Guy and I stick around Dale LONG enough.....we WILL get some knowledge rubbed off... :-)
Mr Jive: lol
(Guy B. laughs heartily)
scott: Sol -- the crazy bipolar hand coder.
scott: We need some articles.
Dale: What was that Scott about 00 28?
Guy B.: Something where we won't get lost by. AND IN PLAIN ENGLISH.
Mr Jive: Did Coleco come out with an assembly DDP?
scott: If anyone can find out what happened to Mel Ostler, we can republish his books.
scott: Online.
Dale: This year's session didn't work how I wanted it to. I tried to be over ambitious.
scott: 00 28 -- good question.
Guy B.: No, a macro assembler was made PD some years ago.
scott: Over ambitious is good.
scott: I like over ambitious.
Dale: It is from CBS in France.\
Dale: Is it publically available somewhere for download right now?
scott: We also need the Hacker's Guide to the ADAM online.
Dale: I got it from Compuserve.
Dale: I taught a session on it at AdamCon 06.
Guy B.: What about Geoff's FTP site?
Dale: Mel Ostler gave me permission to reublish any of his books ot the hacker's guide.
scott: Ha! Good point. What about Geoff's site?
scott: Yoooou have permission?
Dale: Sorry I meant the survival guide not the hacker's guide.
Dale: Who has a copy of Geoff's site?
scott: So we could republish "Learning to Draw with ADAM"?
scott: I do.
Dale: Yup.
Dale: Is it public?
scott: This is a worthy OCR project. The text isn't so bad to OCR.
scott: I don't think that copies are easy to find of it.
scott: Will look around.
Dale: Where is geoff's ftp site then?
Dale: Also where is Rich Cossaboon's site?
scott: I think ADAM's House sells copies of it.
scott: It is on my hardrive.
scott: Always meant to put it online.
Dale: Both had lots of Adam software. My ftp site has only very select amount of Adam software.
Dale: I've added some software to http://www.adamcon.org/12/
scott: I have the Compuserve FTP site (Cossaboon) and Geoff's FTP site.
scott: Dale -- are you using a script on some of your ANN articles. I noticed awhile ago that a few are mangled.
Dale: I have a copy of many of Mel Osler's books.
scott: Me too :>
scott: Some I cleaned up and published on my site.
scott: Are these static HTML or Dynamically created.
Guy B.: Scott, do you links to those FTP sites from your website?
scott: The ANN directory, that is.
scott: Guy -- I was actually going to place them on my site.
scott: Point it within my own.
Dale: I use a script on all of my ANN articles. I gradually fix the articles as I go. It is a lot of articles to repair though.
scott: It's around 5-6MB I think.
scott: Sure, I understand.
Guy B.: Ok, I wasn't sure. I couldn't remember the addresses anyway.
scott: I'll take a look at your site again and see which I've cleaned up.
scott: That way you can repost the cleaned up versions.
Dale: If I gave you an ftp account, could I mirror both of those on adamcon.org?
scott: Sure.
scott: It's my fault. I've been given both of these important directories and done nothing with them.
scott: Geoff's site is on my computer at work.
scott: I can e-mail it to you from there.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Ron
Ron: allo
Guy B.: Hi Ron.
Ron: everyone alive?
BobSlopsema: hello Ronald!!!!!
BobSlopsema: nope......
Guy B.: Using the iMac or the PC tonight?
scott: Dale -- I have a SmartBASIC directory on my hardrive.
Ron: Mac'puter
scott: It's from Geoff's FTP site.
scott: It contains a Z80 assembler.
BobSlopsema: a wee bonnie thing???
Ron: but not a REAL 'puter
Dale: Hi Ron.
Ron: Hi dale
Guy B.: That what Ron called my old TI notebook by that name.
moved to room Meeting Place
Ron: aye. It's a bonnie wee machine but....
changed username to james
scott: 73 SmartBASIC files.
Guy B.: James, you're back.
scott: 700K
BobSlopsema: welcome back James
james: morning.. again.
scott: Do you want it?
Ron: hey James!
james: my connection bailed, decided to take windows 98 with it.
Mr Jive: lol
Guy B.: Oh no. What did you do?
Ron: couldn't have happened to a nicer OS
Mr Jive: lol Ron
Ron: :)
BobSlopsema: see???...and it is not the year 2000 and you are using win98......
james: *i* didn't decide to do anything. i guess the lines have been rusting out or something.
james: talk to ntt..
Mr Jive: Y2K bug.....
james: hi ron :) how are things in vancouver?
scott: Dale, want it or not, you're going to get it.
Guy B.: Now WinME is out and it's already having problems and more trouble for Microsoft.
Ron: It rained before noon...and then the sun appeared
scott: I'm going to log off for a moment and send it to you through AOL.
Ron: cooler
Guy B.: Darn cool here in Chicago.
scott left chat session
james: it's been really nice here lately. 25 or 26 and sunny during the day. a little cooler at night.
BobSlopsema: I just got Streets & Maps 2001....and it is all screwed up!
james: or as my friend from l.a. put it, "freezing".
Dale: I've created an ftp account for you.
Mr Jive: WinME aka windows 7.1
Ron: we had just around 65F all day
Dale: I'll email you the password.
BobSlopsema: 84 megs of hd space and it wants 24 megs, and won't run......
james: all this windows crap is enough to make me switch to a mac. permanently.
BobSlopsema: Microsoft's website is even screwed up as far as suppor,...."server error"
Ron: Hell James, I wouldn't do that either
Guy B.: Plus 150 mhz minimum for WinME. Might as well get Win98 instead.
james: anyone here ever used beos?
Mr Jive: amen james
Ron: Over the past 2 days I have filled up about 10 gig of hd space with Country and Western Videos
Ron: need a bigger hd
BobSlopsema: or less videos.........
james: why not get a dvd ram?
james: you can store them on that and keep your hd free.
Ron: actually, that's what I need if I keep this up
Dale: Scott, I've sent the ftp password to your AOL account.
james: bobs - do you sell adam stuff?
Ron: nah... he gives it away
Mr Jive: Country and Western...wow I thought my cousin was the only one.
BobSlopsema: ONLY after Rich is exhausted......but yes to your immediate question
Dale: No where si Scott?
Ron: nope. me too
james: okay, from what i can garner, rich doesn't have any ide interface cards. got any?
Mr Jive: Gives it away????
BobSlopsema: oh, oh, got dumped????
BobSlopsema: yes sir.........
BobSlopsema: I does.....
Ron: thot so
Guy B.: No, he didn't get dumped. He said he'll be back.
Dale: Scott just bought a new 60GB drive for 250US, I think.
james: how much you asking?
BobSlopsema: for you..........10,000 yen........plus TAXES
BobSlopsema: ok, wrong.......
Ron: Geez Dale, that's less than I paid for 6 gig a year ago
Dale: Unless Bob has IDE cards, you have to get them from Adam House.
james: 10,000 yen.. roughly $95 us..
Ron: James, my Atari mouse arrived today.
Ron: E-bay be praised
BobSlopsema: $75 US plus shipping includes card; hd setup to work, cables, instructions to connect power and stick inside ADAM's little tummy
james: cool :) been using it, i presume?
Dale: He mentioned the URL at the beginning of the transcript. I'll publish it later tonight.
Ron: yes yes
james: okay. i'm very interested.
Ron: Now I want to find a copy of the MIDI software they used
Ron: Notator, I think
BobSlopsema: A.H has 2 of them and he raised his price, doesn't give any docs OR software OR explanation to put it togther.......
james: atari st midi software. yeah. alot of people were using them for midi, weren't they?
Ron: all of this of course takes me away from what should be the chief purpose of my life
Ron: ADAM
BobSlopsema: should just buy the 2, but was holding up and noe he raised the price.... :-(
Ron: yea, it was the standard midi in early days
BobSlopsema: shipping to japan would probably cost , I am guessing, about $20 ??????
Dale: I agree Ron. I paid about that much for a 6 gig about a year ago too.
james: okay, i'm going to e-mail you and we can discuss it through e-mail.
james: yeah, how much does it weigh?
Ron: My 20 Gig on this here iMac cost me $300
BobSlopsema: hmm.......maybe 2 pounds????
james: hmm 2 pounds even by airmail wouldn't be too bad at all for shipping. i've had much heavier sent.
Ron: is that with pushpins or not?
BobSlopsema: I checking now.....
BobSlopsema: WITHOUT pushpins, customer MUST supply his own!!!!
Dale: With push pins, I'd wager.
Ron: :)\
BobSlopsema: Twenty dollars US for 4-7 dayas it says......
Mr Jive: Well folks I'm going to go get some supper.
Ron: Hey you e-bay guys.... a question
james: ron - present for you: http://www.crosswinds.net/~notator/docs/software.html
Mr Jive: Nice chatting.
BobSlopsema: ONLY my canadian buddies use pushpins......hmmm, james...you native canadian, eh>????
Guy B.: Take it easy Mr. Jive.
Ron: once the buyer receives the article, and the seller receives his money, does e-bay have to be advisecd?
BobSlopsema: see you Doug! have agood week
Dale: Check out my mayan page Mr Jive.
Ron: see ya Jive
james: sounds good bob - can we firm up via e-mail within the next day or so?
Mr Jive: If Scott comes back on tell him I'll try to call him later this week.
Dale: If it doesn't meet your needs, I'll have some alternatives by next week.
BobSlopsema: NO, but it is a nice courtesy to leave good feedback for the seller if you are happy
james: ron - about your e-bay question. no, but you can post feedback about your transaction.
Mr Jive: Will do Dale.
BobSlopsema: will do James!!!!
Ron: ah ok
Ron: it went well, so I suppose I should say that
james: sounds good - can you give me your e-mail. i'm sure i've got it somewhere, but just to be sure.
Mr Jive left chat session
james: ron - did you get my present about 10 lines up?
Ron: yessir James, I note that. So that's what I'll do
BobSlopsema: adamcomputer@netzero OR rslopsema@core.com
BobSlopsema: either works
Dale: Ron, earlier we were soliciting ideas for needed software for the Adam.
james: great :)
james: i've pasted it into my address book.
Ron: Yes, and as the Lord is my witness, I do mean to input to that
BobSlopsema: NO, NO, NO,;......now I will get various and damaging emila viruses!!!!! :-)
Dale: Bob, I haven't switched you over to AV's service?
james: i wouldn't do that to someone i like :)
BobSlopsema: oh, got an address ther too, and a yahoo address....BUT
Ron: faith Bob
BobSlopsema: I have the webpage on corecomm now, and don't want to change again
Dale: All of my Adam ideas seem to require more hardware.
moved to room Meeting Place
BobSlopsema: true.......but hardware is what life is about, ask Ron!
Dale: Well, you still need to go and tell everyone else to update their links to your site. There are about 30 sites that point to your old ANN URLs.
BobSlopsema: scott back????
changed username to Groo the Wandrer
Ron: Well, there might be some software that doesn't
Dale: Hi Groo.
Ron: I am surrounded by Hardware
Dale: Looking for a fray?
james: hello.
Guy B.: Well, looks like we have a new one.
BobSlopsema: and i think your's is one of them!
Groo the Wandrer: Unga Bunga, Bunga Unga, blah, blah <yack>!
BobSlopsema: tried to update some sites that point my way, but got ignored
BobSlopsema: lessee.........chinese!!!!
Ron: sounds like an ADAM user
Groo the Wandrer: <Yack>
Groo the Wandrer: Unga Bunga, Bunga Unga, blah, blah <yack>!
BobSlopsema: or maybe.........FRENCH!!!!
Dale: Well, it is worth a try at least. They may take a couple of weeks too.
Groo the Wandrer: <translation>
(Guy B. laughs heartily)
(Someone throws a brick at Groo the Wandrer)
james: it's not japanese.
Groo the Wandrer: You now have the SmartBASIC FTP programs, Dale
BobSlopsema: maybe Tibet.anese
Dale: Super.
james: ron - got any plans for tues july 24th and wed july 25th, 2001?
Groo the Wandrer: Just sent it from AOL
Groo the Wandrer: About a 300K Winzip file.
BobSlopsema: GuRu the Wonderer?????
Groo the Wandrer: I'll have more files for you tommorrow.
Groo the Wandrer: The Wunderer?
Guy B.: That has to be Scott.
Ron: mysterious
Groo the Wandrer: Ya think?
Groo the Wandrer: You guys never have any fun with the names.
Dale: Please ftp them, as per my email. It is much easier for me.
BobSlopsema: it's the abominable snowman...or m,aybe.....the missing link?????
(Guy B. laughs heartily)
BobSlopsema: true, but we all knows who we are!
Guy B.: Well, guys I have to get going. I'll see you all next week.
Groo the Wandrer: Me Groo. Me angry. Me eat white man.
Dale: later Guy.
BobSlopsema: white men taste yucky.....didn't ya see the movie?
Groo the Wandrer: Groo need go too. Groo need sleep. Groo not happy without sleep.
BobSlopsema: bye guy, see ya!!!
Ron: Nite Guy
Dale: Catch ya later then Scott.
Ron: be good
Groo the Wandrer: Groo OCR ADAM articles for The ADAM Resource
Guy B. left chat session
BobSlopsema: grow...groo..........see ya's later
Groo the Wandrer: Then Groo go to bed.
james: bob - i've been meaning to ask you cause i keep forgetting. where do you live?
Groo the Wandrer: See you next week.
james: bye :)
Groo the Wandrer left chat session
BobSlopsema: Michigan........that's just south and west of your stompin' grounds.......
Ron: sleep well
Ron: groo
BobSlopsema: course it is WAY east of Ron's island grounds.......
Ron: quite a bit east
james: :D really west and little north now :)
BobSlopsema: got NO scenery here......
Ron: but then some of us are too far west
james: i've been to boston. nice city.
BobSlopsema: long as your feet don't get wet Ron, you are OK
Ron: that's true
Ron: so far I haven't drowned
(A dog howls in the distance)
BobSlopsema: oh, that's good
Ron: Ok here's a start on my list of required software.... (more to follow)
Ron: Patch for Filemanager to incorporate a search and replace function
Ron: Cleanup of the VT100 emulation for Qterm
Ron: ADAM based CP/M tutorial
Ron: Front end Configurator for ADAMSERVE
Ron: a MIDI Juke Box
Ron: It's a start
BobSlopsema: and MORE time to use the computer!!!!
Ron: you got that right Bob
Dale: Isn't there a MIDI jukebox that comes with SEQual 2?
Dale: That's a good start.
Ron: Yes, but I think with a memory expander, the functionality could be improved
Dale: The MIDI jukebox idea is a good one.
Ron: It's not actually Sequel 2, it's a program called MINI Recorder that
Ron: was distributed earlier
james: i'm eager to get going on the logo stuff.
Ron: one out of 5 ain't bad
Dale: It seems to me that the code used for MUD could be used...
Dale: to make a MIDI/Adam jukebox.
Dale: That seems like it might be a nice weekend project, if I found all the bits.
james: bob - which part of michigan are you in?
Ron: indeed.
BobSlopsema: Grand Rapids area......30 miles east of Lake Michigan about due west of Windsor/Detroit
james: neat. i've been to windsor, was at the casino there and about 95/100 plates were michigan ;)
Ron: leading our neighbours astray are we?
BobSlopsema: casino.....very bad place.......money goes bye,bye!!!!
Ron: this is true
BobSlopsema: could be better spent on ADAM
james: :D i played a few of the slots just for fun but there were some serious gamblers there.
Dale: Good for the Casinos.
Ron: OH.... there's another idea..... an ADAM LOTO Tracker
Ron: Lotomeister
Ron: if it makes me a millionaire... it's good
Dale: One of our members wrote one.
james: freakin' cows are driving me nuts.
james: how about something to shut them up?
Ron: Mooooo
Ron: !!
Dale: Cows? Are they also practicing their English on you?
Ron: You really are rustic eh James?
james: yeah, yeah. you ever live within 30 feet of a dairy farm?
james: never knew how much i hated cows.
Ron: hey! works for me, all the cheeze I can eat
Dale: Fortunately not. I pet their English needs some work too.
james: i'd like to take my father in law's katana and carve out their tongues.
Dale: Milk is good though.
Ron: awww
Ron: that's cruel
Ron: they're only being cows
james: i don't like milk, don't like beef and if it weren't for cheese, it'd be all the same to me if the species went extinct.
Dale: Hey did you have calss early today James?
BobSlopsema: oh man, GOTTA have agood steak!!!
james: haven't started yet. now that summer vacation is over, my mornings are free.
james: bob, shall i cut one fresh for you? ;)
Dale: You usually don't come back until later.
james: today, my connection bailed on me and took windoze 98 with it.
Ron: murder in Japan!
Ron: who dunnit!
Dale: Mooo?
BobSlopsema: please!
james: there are a good 50 some-odd cows next door and they just don't shut up.
james: i'm guessing the farmer is in his 60's. not that i'm counting..
Ron: news item: A probe was launched by the Japanese government today into the mysterious death of cattle in a rural area of Japan
BobSlopsema: they are saying...LOGO...in japanese!
Ron: Fields littered with dead cows were uncovered overnight......yada yada yada
james: speaking of which, i'm still on chapter 3 of the manual. i've been super busy lately planning a trip to canada for some of my students next year.
james: maybe i'll just get some aliens to come down. they're supposed to be into cattle mutilations, right?
Dale: What dates?
Ron: :)
Dale: Can you add a side trip to AdamCon or an
Dale: MTAG meeting?
james: i'm looking at landing in hong couver on jul 24th 2001 and being in toronto on the 26th.
BobSlopsema: ya sure!!!!
Dale: Uh oh. Have you played AdamBomb 2 yet?
Ron: rotfl
Ron: Hongcouver
Dale: MTAG meets on the Forth Friday evening in July.
james: i don't know if i'll be able to get very far. i'll have about 15 students with me and we're running a pretty tight schedule.
Ron: I tell ya, that's the way it is
Ron: shouldn't that be fourth Friday Dale?
Ron: or do you meet to study Forth?
Dale: Sorry. My mind must have been elsewhere.
james: i'll be in ottawa by then.
james: we're landing in toronto, then i'm taking them to niagara falls. we'll get there at night, see the falls lit.
Ron: Speaking of Ottawa James
Dale: Oh well. That's too bad, but I can at least meet you anyway.
james: the next morning, the boat tour, maybe the bit behind the falls and them i'm getting the hell out of that tourist trap.
BobSlopsema: hey guys, gotta hit the sack here.....
BobSlopsema: see ya's next week, eh????
Ron: Had a message from Doug Paterson - longstanding buddy and longer time ADAM User Friendly Group member than I
james: i'll be talking to you soon bob :)
Ron: He's going to look for the earlier editions of the newsletter.
james: GREAT!
Dale: =Nite Bob.
Ron: niters Bob.... no stopping at the bar getting drunk
BobSlopsema: see ya guys!
BobSlopsema: ok
BobSlopsema left chat session
Ron: If anybody's got 'em James, he will
james: if you'd like to meet up dale, my current iteration of my itinerary puts us in toronto on july 26th (thurs)
james: from about 4 to 9 p.m. hope to go up the tower at around dusk.
Ron: Wonder when ADAMcon is gonna be.... we could all be in Cleveland
Ron: probably earlier than that
Dale: Fine by me. I'll look forward to it.
james: that'd be great if he does have them. never could find lou.
Ron: well.... one way or another..... haven't heard from my other contact yet
Dale: Rich promised me that it would be before the MTAG meeting, if he remembers.
james: we get into toronto from niagara falls around 4 pm. so i'm going to give them some time to shop at eaton centre.
james: from there, it's on to the tower. we've only got a few hours so that's probably the best plan.
Ron: Is there still an Eaton Centre?
Dale: Absolutely.
james: why wouldn't there be?
Dale: "The Centre of it All".
Ron: Eaton's went bankrupt
Ron: Sears bought out some of the stores
Dale: Sears bought that store.
james: we catch our bus back to ottawa that evening around 9
Ron: ah ok
james: oh yeah. i vaguely remember reading something about that a few months back.
Ron: country is going to hell in a handbasket
Dale: They siad that they plan to run a full store under the Eaton's brand by this christmas.
james: i dunno, after what i saw on tv last night, canada is not doing too badly at all.
Ron: oh? how so?
james: well, we don't have an aids infection rate of 20%, most people can eat. we don't live in constant fear of being killed.
Ron: Well, when you put it that way
Ron: On another subject....
james: on the more upscale, canada has excellent communications infrastructure, the economy is on the mend and our currency is holding out
james: alot better than others.
Ron: Anybody got any use for an IBM PS-1
Ron: had one given to me
james: ibm ps-1.. how old?
Dale: Hmmm...not right now.
Dale: What CPU?
Ron: well, it's a 286 with a 30 meg hard drive
Ron: I'd heard of the PS 2, but not PS-1
james: 286.. hmm... could run win 3.1. maybe. how much ram?
Dale: PS-1 was a low cost home machine from IBM.
Ron: It has a 2400 baud modem and a single 3-1/2 in floppy. Looks like Proprietory software
Ron: yeah.... looks like ... turn it on and start doing something
Ron: it has IBM dos Ver 4
Dale: Sold for about $1500CDN in 1988, I think.
Ron: Microsoft Works ver 2
Ron: and some real old looking Norton Utilities
james: hmm.. don't know what i'd use it for. sounds heavy too.
Ron: cute little beastie
Ron: yes... very solidly made and very heavy
Dale: Sounds right on the money.
Ron: the monitor plugs into the back of the computer ... with a non-standard plug
Dale: With IBM, weight=value.
Ron: looks to be powered from the CPU
Ron: well maybe I'll try installing my minimum Linux system on it
Ron: but you need memory management for Linux don't you
Dale: Some of their early Pentium notebooks had lead bars in the screen, to make it seem heavier/more valuable.
Dale: Then they were heros with a new lighter version (without the lead bars).
Ron: yeah, I can believe that
Dale: 286 can't run Linux. Try Minix, maybe.
Ron: well, so much for that idea
james: for what it would cost to ship, i think i'll pass.
Ron: well, it's about to become part of the collection here I think
Ron: nothing get's thrown out while ever it still works
james: would be a waste if it were.
Ron: every now and again, I put one of these beasties in our garage sales on the street, and usually end up
Ron: taking it b ack again
Dale: I'd better go soon.
Ron: yeah... getting late for you Dale.
Ron: My room here looks like something out of NASA in the mid 60's
Dale: That sounds like the TPUG user's group annual auction, where the items appear year after year.
Ron: :)
james: :D with more processing power in all likeliness.
Ron: Our local Mac club stopped having it's swap meets for that very reason
Dale: Probably just the iMac would be competitive.
Ron: Anyway Dale, I shall work on the list over the coming week , and maybe give MTAG an article
Dale: Well, that way every member gets a crack at a given piece of hardware.
Ron: yep
Dale: Cool, Ron. I'll look for it.
Ron: I got more sE's around here
Ron: right on sir.....see ya next week
Dale: bye now.
Ron: you going James?
james: not if you're not. i was going to lay some patio stones around my school but i'm feeling run-down today.
Dale left chat session
Ron: you must have energy to lay patio stones
Ron: I've been there, done that
james: yes, and i think i'm fighting something. i may even take a nap before i teach today. i've been pushing myself kinda hard lately.
Ron: Do you have regular work hours?
Ron: Drink hot rums until you can't see the end of the bed
james: not really. i ususally teach from about 4 or 5 until 9 or 10.
james: for some reason, alchohol inhibits my ability to fall asleep.
Ron: ic
Ron: oh yes, I remember that well. Don't drink these days. Got tired of waking up face down in the street
james: today i teach 4:30-10 with a half hour break from 6:30-7..
Ron: sounds like a different routine indeed
james: ouch. well every once in awhile i'll get a little tipsy, but generally, i'm too busy.
james: yeah. fortunately, i'm an evening person. i don't do mornings very well so it agrees with me quite well.
Ron: in other words, you're normal
Ron: sounds like something I could live with.
james: :D mornings are gross. don't even talk to me before 9:30 :D
Ron: Fortunately for me, I don't have to do mornings any more
james: i'm really quite nasty if i'm underslept.
Ron: tell me about it
Ron: I'm a night owl, and If I have to do mornings, everybody better leave
james: :D yup. i'm especially unpleasant around 7:00
Ron: one of the things I really like about retirement is the absence of routine
Ron: I would fight to the death now to preserve that one thing
james: i don't mind routine for now. but since i work every day, including sundays, i'll need some time off soon.
Ron: hmmm..... interesting.... is that the norm in Japan, or just in your particular line of work?
james: most people work a 6-day week. school is also 6-days a week with saturdays being half days and every other saturday being
james: free.
james: i'm hoping to get my sundays back soon. i only have two classes and may be able to re-arrange them next spring.
Ron: Indeed
Ron: I spent most of my career on one side or the other of union/management discussions, and hours
Ron: of work was always a top issue
Ron: Unions wanting fewer hours, management always wanting more flexibility in scheduling of work
james: i can see that. air traffic controlling is pretty stressful too.
Ron: That's what the Controllers would like you to think. In this country, we don't really have a busy airport.
Ron: However, the perceived stress can become real in certain situations
james: i know i'll be getting some major turnover in about 3 years time. there are days when i look forward to it.
Ron: The guys now have a 34 hour work week
james: once i've got a significant portion of the mortgage on the school paid, i'll be comfortable losing even a third of my students.
Ron: And I see from the management web site, there's a proposal to increase that
james: but for now, i want the work.
james: 34 hours hmm... what's the current definition of a full work week?
Ron: well most public servants in Canada work 37-1/2 hours per week
james: i just reached 34.5 hours a week. as of yesteday i have 60 students.
Ron: Let me get this straight.... you're buying your school there?
Ron: is it a private setup?
james: well most public servants in canada are employed for 37.5 hours a week is how i'd phrase it.
Ron: :)
Ron: yeah... true
james: yeah, i've built my own school. i do this privately so i don't have the stress of a boss or other red tape to deal with.
james: i call the shots.
Ron: well I can see that there'd be benefits
Ron: So students (or parents thereof) come to you out of choice?
james: alot of work of course too. i make my own teaching aids when i can't buy them and i'm developing my own curriculum.
james: yes. almost all of my students are there because they *want* to be. this of course makes life alot easier on everyone.
Ron: Do you have to meet certain course standards set out by the gov't/
Ron: ?
Ron: sure would
james: nope. no standards to meet at all because it's private lessons and not at all associated with the school board.
Ron: Well... so your reputation is all
james: spaking of which, canada could learn a lesson. as far as i can tell, there is one school board in this country.
Ron: we could learn many lessons
james: i've built my school entirely on word of mouth.
Ron: we've got a real trend to private schools now in this province
Ron: people who can afford it are sending their youngsters to private schools
james: well someday, when they realize that they've filled every classroom with administrators, they'll see why.
Ron: public education is financially on the ropes
Ron: exactly
james: too many chiefs, not enough indians. a general north american affliction.
james: not to say, that it doesn't happen here. i'm sure it does.
Ron: So you're principal, teacher, administrator and janitor?
Ron: as well as in charge of patio stones
james: yeah. i'm also the groundskeeper, landscaper, public relations and whatever else :D
Ron: a real man of all trades
Ron: Must provide both frustrations and satisfactions
james: not having to deal with a beaurocracy far outweighs any frustrations. actually, despite how busy i am, my stress level is alot lower
james: than when i was working for a very mediocre high tech company in ottawa.
Ron: I can see where it would be. Having spent most of my life in a bureaucracy, it felt good to leave
Ron: Wasn't much fun being a mid-level manager in the Canadian Public Service
james: i'll be on very solid ground by this time next year. right now i'm working on getting my father in law paid off.
james: middle management has got to be rough because you're right at ground zero on both sides.
Ron: Well I tell ya.... the world made sense when I was behind a radio console talking to airplanes and ships
Ron: but when I started climbing the ladder, I got too far away from that
Ron: In OIttawa, you have to find out how to get the ear of the guy with the cheque book...and
james: i'll enjoy being president for now. i'm quite happy to keep my school small. i'm looking to get into some computer/internet stuff
Ron: there are at least half a dozen other yapping at his heels
Ron: With your background, that would be a natural
james: next year. mostly knowledge transfer. maybe some e-business if i can get around the bandwidth/price issue.
Ron: I'm really interested in tutorial software... and programs that explain and teach something
james: ottawa is very .. what's the word.. there's alot of nepotism. you need to know someone to get anywhere.
Ron: exactly
james: what kind of tutorial software?
Ron: well, it's not so much the subject, but more the framework
james: ie: what subject?
Ron: where a subject is presented, with the ability for the student to move back and forth from
Ron: one part of the subject to another..... practice.... testing of skills etc
james: okay. so framework that you can fit course material into modules and tests etc?
Ron: We were working on instructional material for field sites when I retired.... for places where a classroom
Ron: situation wasn't possible
Ron: talking about ATC refresher training, and remedial training
Ron: localized subjects such as geographical knowledge
james: okay. would this involve simulation too?
Ron: the ways of getting this stuff out to the towers and Flight Service Stations was beginning to change
Ron: yes, for example, we had a basic primer on aeronautical terminology in use at an airport
Ron: it actually simulated the field, runways, ramps, approaches, and provided vehicles running around in the middle
Ron: of all the airplanes
Ron: It was kinda neat when the programmer made the snowplow do a run up and take off down the runway
james: hee hee. that i'd like to see :D
Ron: sorta got everybody's attention. Actually, have you ever used Microsoft Flight Simulator?
james: quite awhile ago, i think on a c64.
Ron: well, it's got quite a bit more sophisticated.... and we actually had a contractor working on an interface that would
james: i crashed almost as much as windows does.
Ron: allow pilots and controllers to work together.... (in a classroom)
james: no dog fights?
Ron: Think they have a commercial product now
Ron: yeah right.....
james: that is a really good application though because you've got the "engine" right there.
Ron: Anyway James, I have some bookeeping to do for a meeting tomorrow night, so I better get at it
Ron: so I shall see ya next week
james: sure thing. take care :)
Ron: nite (or morning... as the case may be)
james: toodles :)
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james: hmm. i've got the room all to myself.
james: *poof*
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AdamCon.org > chat > 2000-09-20
Send comments to dmwick@home.com. I am Dale Wick