Daniel Bienvenu: hello rich! Daniel Bienvenu: I read your tif files rich-c: bonjour, Daniel rich-c: right, they;re old but still valid rich-c: did they give you some idea of my approach? Daniel Bienvenu: I'm not sure. rich-c: and by the way, did you realize they were done on my Adam? Daniel Bienvenu: I never see a doccument made with an adam printer before. rich-c: check - we may be having a buffer delay here rich-c: nope, OK on buffer Daniel Bienvenu: check Daniel Bienvenu: :) Daniel Bienvenu: it's ok! rich-c: that was on a 9-pin dot matrix printer running from the Adam rich-c: to be precise, my trusty old Star NX1000 rich-c: if only my inkjet printer were so thrifty with consumables Daniel Bienvenu: a 9-pin dot printer? it's not the normal Adam printer then rich-c: no, it's run from a parallel printer interface card in the centre slot rich-c: the document was basically composed and edited in Powerpaint using its native fonts rich-c: apparently if you accept the native default settings, Adam will run an inkjet or laser printer too Daniel Bienvenu: Really? rich-c: yes, if you look closely at the Adamcon pictures, at the left end of teh front audience table is an inkjet running off an Adam Daniel Bienvenu: I didn't realize it was an inkjet printer "running off an Adam". rich-c: anyway, about my catalogues - if you saw the U.S. edition you would see all the prices are the regular prices set by the software writers rich-c: actually, I add a buck or so and quote them postpaid - Americans are paranoid about shipping charges from foreign countries Daniel Bienvenu: I didn't compare the prices. Daniel Bienvenu: I saw "Adam bomb" game in the list. rich-c: but like American cars, the software prices to Canadians are lower than the exchange rates would suggest rich-c: yes, the only obstacle there is it needs a 64K expander and I don't have one to offer rich-c: Bob Slopsema might be able to come up with one, and Dale has a few but I don't trust them to last Daniel Bienvenu: and I need to fix my disk drive. rich-c: we have big problems on getting disc drives fixed now rich-c: Phil Kosowski seems to have faded from the scene, Howard Pines has retired and is rather reluctant rich-c: there was another guy out in Kansas but he seems to have joined some back to nature movement and given up on technology rich-c: there is a p[ossibility Geoff Oltmans might be able to help - he is a just-graduated electrical engineer in Alabama
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changed username to NewColeco
NewColeco requested to ban Daniel Bienvenu
rich-c confirmed ban rich-c: had a problem with your connedid you, Daniel?
NewColeco changed username to DanielBienvenu rich-c: sorry, your connection DanielBienvenu: yes, a problem with my internet connection rich-c: we sometimes have buffer problems on this server, but most connection problems are with the individual ISP DanielBienvenu: check! DanielBienvenu: 1..2.. test rich-c: have you joined the Adam mailing list yet? DanielBienvenu: errr... it doesn't work... wait rich-c: you are coming through to me; are you losing your local echo? DanielBienvenu: buffer problem? DanielBienvenu: hello DanielBienvenu: ok! it's working now rich-c: can't be sure but there is some evidence this caht program establishes an individual buffer for each person DanielBienvenu: I have no news about the Adam mailing list. rich-c: well, the list is how we communicate among ourselves as a community rich-c: it is run by Dale - I regret to say he tends to be slow to edit it rich-c: to join, send an email with the subject "subscribe" DanielBienvenu: Did you receive some e-mails from the adam mailing list? This week? I did receive anything DanielBienvenu: I send the e-mail with "subscribe" rich-c: send the email to:coladam-admin@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca DanielBienvenu: the day I receive an e-mail from you about "how to join the mailing list" rich-c: just a second while I check for mail DanielBienvenu: do you think it's a good idea to send another e-mail now? rich-c: sorry - except for spam I don't see much from the mailing list the last several days rich-c: anyway, I believe you can post to the list at the moment rich-c: just send your message to "coladam-list@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca" rich-c: you might want to send out a general inquiry to see if anyone can fix your drive or has a 64K expander for sale DanielBienvenu: yeah, but last time I tried I received some e-mails (firwalls). DanielBienvenu: dr.d didn't scan or post schematics?& rich-c: oh, when the list gets bounces it returns them to you, but don't worry about them rich-c: just proves Dale hasn't edited the list since @home changed to rogers.ca and shaw.ca! rich-c: Rich has scanned the schematics but has to edit them so they are useful to you rich-c: and with four daughters and a wife who is a full-time nurse, spare time is not something he has much of rich-c: he actually gets incredible amounts of things done, but some jobs do slip through the cracks rich-c: the schematics are rally mine but so big I don't have access to a scanner that can handle them rich-c: so I gave the to Rich to do on one of the university machines rich-c: it took him two years to get around to it DanielBienvenu: two years... do you think I will be able to fix my disk drive ? rich-c: all I can suggest is that you nag Dr. D. at regular intervals for the schematics rich-c: then if your skills are up to it, you should be OK rich-c: I gather from the laval email address you are a university graduate - what subject? DanielBienvenu: I study in computer science. I try to finish a master in Computer Imaging. rich-c: OK, you are a software type then, in fact following a similar course to Dale, though I don't think he has a master's in mind right now rich-c: do you know any computer hardware engineers or technicians who are willing to work from schematics? DanielBienvenu: a friend of mine are good in electronic rich-c: my guess is that floppy disc controllers are basically very similar rich-c: if you have a problem with the drive mechanism, then any old generic floppy drive will work rich-c: if the problem is on the controller board, most of the chips and stuff should be replaceable rich-c: the problem comes if it is the custom disc controller chip which controls the specific logic of the Coleco interface rich-c: is there any way your friend could test and tell if the fault is in the drive mechanism, board, or controller chip? DanielBienvenu: I think so. I have some floppy disks for the Adam computer and I can let him test the drive with my own Adam.
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changed username to George DanielBienvenu: Hello George! rich-c: hello George you're late DanielBienvenu: Long time no see! :P (joke) George: Hi Rich, Daniel rich-c: from your description, Daniel, the problem seems to be in the I/O ciruitry rich-c: but that is not necessarily very much help George: I fell asleep DanielBienvenu: and this is bad? rich-c: I don't know enough about electronics to guess, Daniel rich-c: I suspect your drive mechanism is OK, and also the kaster controller chip rich-c: beyond that, I am lost George: so am i rich-c: one of those warm sleepy afternoons, George? George: yes, i never know when a nap is going to hit me rich-c: I had my problem that way this morning, oddly enough - could barely keep my eyes open at 10.30 a.m. DanielBienvenu: I think it's my turn... I'm sleepy right now |-) zz George: :-) rich-c: well, it's about 26 here at the moment, and little breeze - that's about 79F, George George: i guess both of you are ready to break for thr day rich-c: and I'm in a small rather airless room with a 300 watt computer DanielBienvenu: I have to fix a bug in my paint tool "CVPaint v1.7" rich-c: not only that, got a UPS yesterday so that will be adding to the heat DanielBienvenu: A friend of mine visit me this afternoon rich-c: this is part of your package, Daniel? rich-c: (remember, I can't get the emulator working to try it) DanielBienvenu: CVPaint? it's a simple Paint tool for Windows to do Coleco screens? rich-c: again, that's something those who have the emulator working will know about DanielBienvenu: You can download CVPaint .. if you visit my Coleco web site : http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/tools.html George: i'm still using central airconditioning it's about 78 F rich-c: we have been having cool night so we have not used the air conditioner DanielBienvenu: It's for Windows .. no need emulator to run this tool George: my apartment is about 90F inside rich-c: we have a double exhaust fan we put on at night instead rich-c: in that case I shall have to take a look at it DanielBienvenu: I have no airconditioning ... but it's not warm today rich-c: yes, you are just that much north of us to have it nicely cooler DanielBienvenu: :D DanielBienvenu: =P rich-c: mind you, we won't be jealous of you in February! George: my apartment always absorbs the heat from the sun and holds it rich-c: our house is older and solid masonry so it's a pretty effective thermal sink too rich-c: but it usually takes three days in spring to heat up and three days in fall to cool down DanielBienvenu: Like I said before.. I need to fix a bug in CVPaint. But you can use it like a viewer, doing some PowerPaint pictures, etc... rich-c: right now the days are short enoo9ugh and nights cool enough that the house is staying cool in its structure George: i wish it works the same way in January rich-c: well, if you get enough sunshine in January, it will, George rich-c: I will have to take a look at it, Daniel George: it does a little rich-c: what is the bug, do you know? DanielBienvenu: It's a problem with "copy-paste"... rich-c: Daniel, have you ever taken a look at Nicholas Bren's "Slowview" program? DanielBienvenu: there are some other small bugs. DanielBienvenu: I didn't see Slowview program George: i found a program that gives you over 100 windows wallpaper tiles DanielBienvenu: CVPaint support PP, MLT, SCR, GRP files rich-c: it is primarily a file viewer that will handle a huge number of formats, with some paint/editing capabilities DanielBienvenu: SCR and MLT are Spectrum format rich-c: it is also freeware and well worth downloading DanielBienvenu: I suppose there is no source code..
moved to room Meeting Place rich-c: sorry that's just me - I was trying to get you the url rich-c: hold on a sec rich-c: test George: there rich-c: OK - the url is: http://slowview.at/?page=download DanielBienvenu: I have done CVPaint because I needed a tool to quickly load,edit,save and convert pictures. I implemented the rule "2 colors by 8 pixels" in CVPaint. rich-c: right - then you can actually give the effect of 256 colors on the Adam, right? DanielBienvenu: it didn't give any effect. I use the standard Coleco palette. rich-c: George, if you often get that screen about "what program do you want to use to open this file", you should get Slowview too rich-c: yes, but the standard Coleco palette is only 16 colours rich-c: there is a way to play with the structure of the Colecovision sceen pixels to give 16 x 16 = 256 colors DanielBienvenu: that's right. CVPaint use only 16 colors. It's like a very simple version of PowerPaint tool but for windows. rich-c: Daniel, if you choose to get Slowview, my guess is that Nicholas Bren might well be willing to let you see the source code DanielBienvenu: Slowview didn't support Powerpaint files. rich-c: that means that if you're going to import a clip with more colours you have to dither it down to Coleco's 16 rich-c: no, Skowview caters to the DOS and Apple world, not the classics folk George: forget about 16 bit hicolor then DanielBienvenu: For now, I use BMP2PP to convert a picture. BMP2PP save into PowerPaint files. So I use CVPaint to open the pp files, edit, save or export into a C. rich-c: right Daniel. I was not suggesting you get Slowview for Adam use, rather as a DOS program to see how it handles cut/paste and such DanielBienvenu: After, I add the C file in my Coleco projects. DanielBienvenu: I have to go now... see you next week! bye! rich-c: ok Daniel, till WEdnesday - au revior DanielBienvenu: au revoir! George: Bye Daniel DanielBienvenu: ou DanielBienvenu: aurevoir! DanielBienvenu: bye! rich-c: anyway, George, you did notice my suggestion that you get Slowview? George: what is it? rich-c: it is a file viewer. it handles text and picture files, and many music and video formats rich-c: it is very clean, very simple, very flexible - and free George: how do you use it? rich-c: actually, I have it set up as the default viewer for a big number of file formats rich-c: that means that whenever I click on a file to view it, Slowview automatically jumps out and does it rich-c: you just download it and install it and configure it and you're on your way George: what does it do to music files? rich-c: well, I know it plays MP3 files - hold on a sec and I'll see which others rich-c: MP1, MP2, George: can you set it up so it is not a default viewer? rich-c: WAV AIF AU SND MID r WMA WM WAX George: where do you get it again? rich-c: yes, in fact I was copying its capabilities from the settings box whre you can designate whether it is to be default or not for any file type rich-c: www.slowview.at/?page=download George: is Daniel still with us? rich-c: by the way, the file types I mentioned I leave for Windows Media Player rich-c: he looks to be but I think maybe he just signed off in a way that fooled the server rich-c: it is nice though to have a backup if Media Player or Quicktime gets shirty with me rich-c: anyway, do you want to go get it now? George: what does .at stand for rich-c: at a guess, Austria - hold on a sec George: i wrote the url down so i can do it later rich-c: yes, it is Austria - I have a little program that shows me what all the extensions mean rich-c: well maybe not all, just 3158 of them ;=) George: ok George: is that country codes? rich-c: I have all sots of neat little programs - like the one I used to convert temperature C to F earlier in this chat rich-c: it includes all the coountry codes but also top level domains and file types like .com, .rtf, .mid, and so on George: neat rich-c: yes, having these little aids on the desktop can be fun' rich-c: I do a fair amount of surfing look for free neat stuff rich-c: the latest is an email filter that spots spam, and when you say OK bounces it back to the sender rich-c: that way the spammer gets a message your email address is no longer active and eventually stops wasting bandwidth on you George: just as long as they don't crowd out your desktop rich-c: oh, even on my 800 x 600 resolution half the space is left, and that's with large icons George: i use active desktop it has a photo of center city i took and a background border wallpaper rich-c: I have always been happy with the traditional Windows cloudscape, stretched to fit the full screen George: oh rich-c: from what I have seen, most users prefer to supply their own backgrounds or wallpaper George: i use animated cursors too rich-c: I don't know what an animated cursor is rich-c: but I do have the changing tips and do not use mouse tra8ls rich-c: by the way, I use the Clouds background because the program icons show up well against it George: they move i have a hopping rabbit and a dancing bear and an arrow that changes colour as my mail cursor rich-c: I have seen programs like that but one comes from a spyware company so I wont have it anywhere near my machine rich-c: anyway I am going to have to break off soon - time is getting on George: i never think of spyware George: ok see you Wed. then rich-c: well, as long as you don't care about someone unknown being able to read and record your every keystroke rich-c: personally, I prefer to keep my social security number and credit card number and passwords to myself
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changed username to Dan Dan: hello gain! Dan: again! rich-c: you're back, Daniel? Dan: it's me! Dan: yes! George: i figure if i did i would get too paraniod
Dan changed username to Daniel Bienvenu rich-c: well, George, go to www.lavasoft.de, read about AdAware, and you might download and install it Daniel Bienvenu: I forgot to ask you if there is any "bank" of Powerpaint files to test CVPaint. Daniel Bienvenu: I use AdAware here... it works just fine Daniel Bienvenu: it's the fastest. rich-c: yes, Daniel, there are some sample files in Powerpaint itself if I recall, and lots of public domain files floating around rich-c: I'd say ask Ron to send you some, sine he is expert in the conversions George: i think i did i couldn't configure it to work properly with aol Daniel Bienvenu: I extract the adamcon 14 picture from one of the "adamnewsnetwork disk" rich-c: George, that means AdAwae is telling you something about AOL you need to know George: i had my Charlie try with Earthlink Sprint he had the same trouble Daniel Bienvenu: I fixed to copy-paste bug in CVPaint... I will update my Coleco web page tonight. I need to test the new version first. rich-c: I assume you are running Zone Alarm too, Daniel? Daniel Bienvenu: I used ZoneAlarm sometimes but not now Daniel Bienvenu: I use no firewall right now rich-c: oh, is there are firewall you like better? Daniel Bienvenu: no zonealarm is free and very good George: trouble is i don't want any filtering at all Daniel Bienvenu: I still have this tool but I disactivate it. rich-c: judging by the number of probes I'm getting every day, I'd recommend against that, Daniel George: aoll does too much filtering rich-c: well, AOL is doing a lot of filtering to you - you just aren't seeing it Daniel Bienvenu: zonealarm beep each time there is a timeout... you know when your computer stop downloading for awhile... rich-c: I have never had that happen with me, Daniel, and I download quite a bit with ZA active Daniel Bienvenu: I notice one time... one attack... the ISP I use is very CLEAN. rich-c: in fact with Zone Alarm I have all sounds turned off; I rely on the visual boxes rich-c: are you on a dialup or broadband connection, Daniel? Daniel Bienvenu: modem 56k George: no matter what you do your keystrokes are on the internet forever anyway Daniel Bienvenu: it's a dialup rich-c: interesting - I just this second had an attack rich-c: yes, I'm on dialup too Daniel Bienvenu: really! congratulations! =P rich-c: the reason I asked is that on broadband many ISPs now offer firewalls and some spam filtering George: this wisdom is from the FBI and they know they use it to their advantage rich-c: actually, George, anything you do while online may be recorded Daniel Bienvenu: The firewall (if there is any) is at the university. Globetrotter ISP I use is based at the university rich-c: but what you do offline is not unless you have spyware in your machine Daniel Bienvenu: the cookie I have everytimes is "doubleclic" rich-c: my guess is that if they are going to keep the system up, the University has to have some pretty fierce safeguards in place rich-c: doubleclick is a third-party ad counter - I always block all third-party cookies Daniel Bienvenu: Right now there is a WORM problem at the university because some computer are not CLEAN. rich-c: sometimes I'll move first-party cookies from block to prompt rich-c: as long as you have your own good antivirus program watching your email you should be OK George: i'm not 100 % sure you filter out all spyware your isp already has consideral amount of spywhere on you anyway Daniel Bienvenu: I think there is a better version of AdAware.. I think it's AdAware Pro... to detect the "spy" cookies during you surf. rich-c: not true, George - my ISP installs nothing of that nature - as AdAware makes clear George: this goes for all isp's rich-c: I have a couple of other cookie blockers for general surfing - my machine stays clean rich-c: my ISP knows my user ID, where I go and how long I stay, maybe how much (but not what) I download George: i bet if i try i can find cookies on your machine Daniel Bienvenu: I tested PestPatrol too (AdAware-like tool). It's the slowest tool I never use. rich-c: this is all necessary information; the internet can't operate without it George: i always do rich-c: George, you would lose your bet - absolutely, no doubt about it George: hidden cookies rich-c: I've heard of Pest Patrol and that it's effective - but if it's too slow and AdAware is free, who needs PP? rich-c: they can't hide from me and the programs (note plural) I use to root them out Daniel Bienvenu: PestPatrol is more complex than AdAware... it's like a Norton Anti-Virus. George: i've proven the best in the business wrong rich-c: I use Norton Anti-Virus, but I'm not sure that is a recommendation rich-c: define best in the business, George - names? Daniel Bienvenu: New virus detect presence of anti-virus to deactivate 'em and/or infect 'em without any repost. rich-c: I have heard rumours of such a thing, Daniel, but the word is not quite yet Daniel Bienvenu: Norton change his identity in registery to avoid this problem. rich-c: I believe there is a virus that has a payload that tries to deactivate any antivirus program running rich-c: the problem is it gets spotted before it can install itself Daniel Bienvenu: The solution is a good boot disk (CD-ROM) with a virus scan tool. rich-c: anyway, gentlemen, Frances is going to be very upset with me Daniel Bienvenu: Norton use this strategy Daniel Bienvenu: Frances? rich-c: I still have much left undone this afternoon and time's a-wasting rich-c: my wife, Daniel George: see you Wed. rich-c: right - see you both Wednesday George: bye Daniel Bienvenu: ok! bye bye! and if you can send my some public PP files... rich-c: bye and au revoir Daniel Bienvenu: aurevoir! George: i'm going too Daniel Bienvenu: me too!
rich-c left chat session George: bye Daniel Bienvenu: bye
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changed username to Prohor Prohor: Hey
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Newcoleco requested to ban DanielBienvenu
Newcoleco moved to room not at my desk