AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2003-11-01

Chat for Sat 2003-11-01 15:04:06

rich-c: bonjour encore pour l'apres-midi, Daniel
Daniel Bienvenu: bonjour Rich, comment vas-tu aujourd'hui?<
rich-c: je sais que je suis un peu en retard - desole
Daniel Bienvenu: En retard? non! :)
rich-c: je vais assez bien, merci, Daniel
rich-c: cinq minutes, plus ou moins
Daniel Bienvenu: Je continuais la programmation du programme "Dithering"
rich-c: c'est tres bien fait
rich-c: je sens que les autres le trouve tres utile
Daniel Bienvenu: Et pourtant, ils n'ont pas vu encore la version actuelle :)
rich-c: c'est vrai, mais ils ont vue les resultats
rich-c: the attachments on your announcement emails wre fascinating
Daniel Bienvenu: The way I compute (select) the two colors for the 8 pixles is different than bmp2pp.
Daniel Bienvenu: I used the exact same formulas for the gamma.
Daniel Bienvenu: The result is so-so... and I don't know why
rich-c: to me it is all a black art
rich-c: that you achieve anything is amazing
rich-c: though actually of course it happens every time Frances transfers a jpg or gif from my DOSbox to her Amiga
Daniel Bienvenu: IF C = Original Colors, C1 = one Color from Coleco Palette, C2 = another Color from the Coleco Palette
Daniel Bienvenu: My program compute the best two colors by searching the smallest sum of...
Daniel Bienvenu: difference between (C,C1) + difference between (C,C2) ... / SQRT(difference between (C1, C2))
rich-c: this is working from the numerical TGB values in the original?
Daniel Bienvenu: The sum is for all the 8 pixels , the 8 colors C
Daniel Bienvenu: I used RGB
Daniel Bienvenu: if you change the color selector in BMP2PP with my formula, the result will be the same as mine.
Daniel Bienvenu: The result of my color selector is finding two colors where the 8 original colors are between them.
rich-c: on that, I'll have to take your word for it as I'm not familiar with thedse things
rich-c: I just happen to think it is great that we have people - so many people - who do have this level of interest
Daniel Bienvenu: It's why most of the time, the dithering is 50% color selected #1 and 50% color selected #2
Daniel Bienvenu: this make the result impossible to compress for my Coleco project :(
rich-c: and you can't modify the algorithm to compensate?
Daniel Bienvenu: the rle compression need many identical values...
Daniel Bienvenu: to do compression
Daniel Bienvenu: I tried to "compensate" but the result is getting poor each time i try
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Ron
Daniel Bienvenu: the only way I didn't try is something like a composite effect.. but this kind of effect is impossible to compress and the visual effect is a "white" line, a "black" line, etc...
rich-c: wish I could suggest something, but that's beyond me
rich-c: hello Ron
Ron: Yo
Daniel Bienvenu: Ron ... hello! :)
Ron: How are you all this grey, Saturday afternoon?
rich-c: hanging tough - my hip has been really acting up last few days, but Tylenol seems to control it
rich-c: still I am looking forward to Monday morning
Ron: hot rums?
Ron: What happens Monday?
rich-c: much that I could wish that wre the case, that isn't the prescription for this ;-)
rich-c: that's when I trade the joint for a new one
Ron: Ok guys.... hang tight.... I'm going to switch machines....back in a few min
rich-c: have to be up at 5 a.m., leave here 5.45 for 6.15 checkin at the hospital
Ron left chat session
rich-c: by the way, Daniel, Frances says hip = hanche en Francais - does that help?
Daniel Bienvenu: I learned this word last weekduring the chat session :)
rich-c: ah, OK, didn't realize I'd mentioned the translation then - or did you just look it up?
Daniel Bienvenu: I used a translation web site (babelfish) :)
rich-c: right - I know they're there, just don't know which is preferable
Daniel Bienvenu: my dithering software save "powerpaint" 40k files
Daniel Bienvenu: i realized that you guys used the 10K format for your "chirstmas demo"
rich-c: again, sort of know they exist, but not much about them
rich-c: unfortutely Frances and I seem to lack time to create those cards any more
Daniel Bienvenu: the year I created a new image convertor tool, it's already too late to test it in a Coleco Adam's Chirstmas demo disk :)
Daniel Bienvenu: ZUT! ZUT et RE-ZUT!
rich-c: well, not necessarily - I do believe Ron is still assembling the disc
rich-c: of course getting word out to the contributors might be dicey
rich-c: but you need to know that the deadlines in teh past have shown a certain elasticity
rich-c: wonder where Ron has got to? he's usually pretty quick
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Ron
rich-c: ah, with luck, there's Ron now
Ron: ok...that's better
Daniel Bienvenu: hello again, Ron! :)
rich-c: just wondering whre you had got to - the Mac getting sulky?
Ron: Buddy of mine has loaned me a wireless base station and PCMCIA card for evaluation
moved to room Meeting Place
Ron: So now I'm upstairs
changed username to Dr.D.
Ron: on the Toshiba
Daniel Bienvenu: Dr.D ? a saturday?
Ron: It's warmer up here
Dr.D.: Here at last, sorry for the delay.
Ron: Hi Dr. D
rich-c: hello Rich!
Daniel Bienvenu: hello :)
Dr.D.: Wouldn't miss it, since Richard will be away for a while after Monday...
Dr.D.: Hi all.
rich-c: so how is the wireless network going so far, Ron?
Ron: very well surprisingly well
Dr.D.: Wireless at home, Ron?
Ron: tried this before with my son's gear, and couldn't even get the Toshiba to see it
Ron: This one is Microsoft, and it works like a hot damn
rich-c: and the explanation - it's a computer
Ron: Yep Dr. D... a friend of mine had a setup that was surplus to his requirements
Ron: exactly Rich
Dr.D.: Same setup as at the convention this summer?
Ron: No, that was Jeffery's.
Ron: And I never did get my Toshiba hooked successfully to it
Ron: so..... needless to say, I am pleased
rich-c: have to see how it goes - maybe I should think about such a setup
Ron: Well, after my experience at the 'con, I wasn't about to go out and spend a pile of money
rich-c: though if Frances could tap into mine from the Amiga, we'd never get her off the 'net ;-)
Ron: :)
Ron: hate to admit that Microsoft gear actually works..... but
rich-c: meanwhile I have no idea how long I will be off, though all next week seems likely
Dr.D.: M$ must have licensed it from *someone*...
Ron: oh probably.... it's an Orinoco chipset
rich-c: generally they seem to think minimum five days, likeliest ten, sometimes twelve
Ron: Are you being Admitted Rich?
Ron: next challenge is to get it working with my Red Hat 9
rich-c: technically I think they class me as admitted now, though I don't report for teh operation till 6.15 a.m. Monday
Ron: ic Rich
Ron: never satisfied am I. Always something more must I do
rich-c: once I cleared teh tests and paperwork Wednesday I wasw pretty well in the stream
Dr.D.: Speak like Yoda you do, too :-)
Ron: mmmm
Dr.D.: Well, my computer-man Halloween costume was well-received yesterday.
Ron: computer-man? Is there a pic of this?
Dr.D.: Hope you all had a chance to stop by http://drushel.cwru.edu/ugly/ to look at it.
Dr.D.: More like "Rich of Borg".
Ron: is it still there?
rich-c: yes, I actually got to see that website Wednesday, Rich
Dr.D.: It was my Ugly Professor costume this year, not very "ugly" (people were disappointed, they wanted to see more gore).
Dr.D.: Still there, it's my own website.
rich-c: incidentally, our Hallow'een was a bust - exactly one customer
Dr.D.: But it was a big hit Trick-Or-Treating.
Ron: brb
Dr.D.: I actually made some little kids cry in fright :-)
rich-c: now I have to get rid of eno9ugh candy for about 80 kids
Dr.D.: Not on purpose, though.
Ron left chat session
Dr.D.: Give it to Pam :-)
rich-c: somehow or other I deem that a bit unwise
Dr.D.: She wouldn't take it, I don't think.,
Daniel Bienvenu: HEre, because it raining during night... only 50 visitors during Halloween :)
rich-c: I'm afraid candy is not something she seriously needs
rich-c: we had beautiful clear, warm weather, nicest Halloween in years
Dr.D.: It poured rain for about 3 minutes just after we left home walking, but then it stopped and there was nothing else.
Dr.D.: Agreed about the warm and clear.
Dr.D.: Some year's it'
Dr.D.: oops it's been drizzly and almost snowing.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Ron
rich-c: welcome back Ron
rich-c: yes, most of our Halloweens seem to be drizzly with a very chill breeze
Ron: unable to get it ... probably finger trouble ..... www.drushel.cwru.edu/ugly
Dr.D.: Nope
Ron: is that right?
Dr.D.: http://drushel.cwru.edu/ugly/
Ron: aha...
Ron: ok
rich-c: as in, no www
Dr.D.: No www for any of my stuff.
Ron: well.... we'll try it again after
Ron: meanwhile, let's hear it for unclaimed Halloween chocolate
rich-c: you dont have to sign out of chat to go look at it, Ron
Dr.D.: Just recycled Apple computer parts.
Dr.D.: No live stuff was sacrificed to make the costume.
Ron: our kid-count was way down last night
Dr.D.: And when I stopped by the Film Society later that night, everyone was very positive about it.
Daniel Bienvenu: hehe! "resistence is futile" hehe!
rich-c: yes, I think it's the sort of thing that would really appeal there
Dr.D.: At our house, Christina stayed home to pass out candy, had a couple friends over to watch a movie and eat pizza.
Dr.D.: She said we had only 3 kids come.
Dr.D.: Some years we've had none, last year I think we had about 15.
Dr.D.: Just totally variable.
rich-c: I can semi-explain only one here, but only three for you, Rich? What gives?
Dr.D.: You will be assimilated, Daniel.
Ron: there it is....
Dr.D.: We live on a very busy main street, 5 lanes.
Ron: very cool Dr. D, but I can see where the students might have a point
Daniel Bienvenu: hehe! it's already done... I'm a Coleco fan :)
Dr.D.: Behind us is lots of housing, so no need to come out to busy Mayfield Road.
Dr.D.: Across the street it's the same way, more housing on side streets, but not much on the busy main frontage.
Dr.D.: Our girls are happy, since they have laid claim to the leftover candy...
rich-c: no controlled intersections where they might cross to do your block?
Dr.D.: Film Society people wondered why I didn't do Nature Boy as my costume.
Ron: I'll bet they did
Dr.D.: There is a stoplight, but maybe 100 yards up the street.
Dr.D.: I just wanted to do something different for me. The Borg costume is well-made (lots of Drushel craft), so it is reusable for many years to come.
rich-c: well yes, but that would let them circle your whole block, to make the hike worth it
Ron: talent galore
Dr.D.: The other winning entries in Ugly Professor have mostly just been having few enough inhibitions to do something shocking.
Ron: which monitor got killed to support the effort?
Dr.D.: It was a dead monitor from my boss's old beige G3.
Ron: aha
Dr.D.: The keyboard was a sacrifice to Coca-Cola.
Ron: :)
rich-c: dead monitors aren't that rare - wonder how long the average monitor lasts?
Dr.D.: And the mouse had had its tail yanked out accidentally.
Ron: We had a parking lot full of 'em two weeks ago
Dr.D.: (the green circuit board epoxied to the front of the monitor was the guts of this mouse)
Ron: recycle day
Ron: creative
rich-c: I am wondering when my current monitor will go west
rich-c: would not mind an excuse to replace it now that LCD units are getting affordable
Ron: there's a couple in the snakepit like that
Dr.D.: I wish that LCDs would get cheap before NTSC TV standard goes away.
Ron: My Mac dealer is trying to convince me I need a new iMac
Dr.D.: I would love a bunch of flat-panel monitors for ADAMs.
Ron: with the flat panel and all
Dr.D.: And cheap enough for me to risk building my dream project of an ADAM laptop.
rich-c: by the way, I gather with teh newer keyboardss if they get coffee'd or Coke'd, just toss them in the sink
Ron: hey now there's an idea
Dr.D.: This keyboard was actually identical to the ADAM keyboard internally.
Dr.D.: Membrane folded over, little rubber domes to lift up the keys.
Ron: my get Diet Coked and Sandwiched
rich-c: I think Adam keyboards leaked too much to put them in the washing machine
(Daniel Bienvenu smiles)
Dr.D.: You have to totally disassemble an ADAM keyboard to clean it.
(rich-c gives Daniel Bienvenu a can of Diet Coke.)
Ron: there really is a reason for the rule about no eating in the computer room
Ron: a rule which I ignore
Dr.D.: Elanor spilled a glass of milk on my Tandy 286 laptop's keyboard, when she was a toddler.
Dr.D.: That's why that system was de-cased and put into an external box with external keyboard.
Ron: and she probably hasn't heard the end of it yet
rich-c: back then, a 286 laptop cost an arm and a leg
Dr.D.: That's the system I described resurrecting in a TWWMCA article.
Ron: yes...I seem to recall
Dr.D.: Paid $2500 for it, with built-in 2400 bps modem, EGA LCD screen, the blue "Supertwist" monochrome.
Ron: Still wondering what to do about my Toshiba 386
Dr.D.: The backlight had died on it before the keyboard was trashed, though.
Dr.D.: So you could only use it in broad daylight or with a spotlight shone on the screen.
Ron: hate to recycle it, but I never use it
Dr.D.: Or through the external EGA monitor port.
rich-c: will a 386 support enough memory or hard disc to support say Win98SE, let alone the programs that run under it?
Daniel Bienvenu: I think a 486 is enough... not a 386
Ron: would probably run in real mode, rich...right now this one's using Win 3.1.1
rich-c: in fact, the 386 BIOS was limited to about 540K in hard disc, wasn't it?
Ron: not sure, but you might be right
Dr.D.: I think Win95's minimum was a Pentium 66.
Ron: Well, I have a 486/33 with only 20 meg of RAM that's running Win 95
rich-c: that was the minimum recommendation I believe, Rich, but some folks got it going on lesser machines
Ron: but you have to wait for it
Dr.D.: I vaguely remember reports if "tricking" the install program by using a Pentium to install it on a hard drive, then swap the hard drive into a 486, and it worked.
Ron: as Bob Slopsema discovered
rich-c: he would
Dr.D.: make that "reports of "tricking"
rich-c: though I'll bet it was DOug who came up with the basic idea
Ron: that's the one I have the 5-1/4 inch floppy drive in... for use with emulator stuff
Daniel Bienvenu: Microsoft claims the minimum requirement is 386DX20 with 4Mb RAM. This will most likely work, however, the speed, size, and number of applications which can run is very limited. Our recommended configuration is the minimum for all practical purposes.
Daniel Bienvenu: Ic opied this info from web
Ron: It's actually quite stable, but it takes its own sweet time
Dr.D.: Interesting, Daniel!
Dr.D.: Just like this machine here I'm using, a 486DX2-66, running WinNT 4.0.
Daniel Bienvenu: and I can see "486 DX2/66" 8Mb RAM and 540 Mb Hard Drive
Dr.D.: Originally it had 16 MB RAM, now upgraded to 32 MB RAM.
Dr.D.: If the 30-pin SIMMs to give it 64 MB RAM ever got cheap enough, I would upgrade it.
Dr.D.: But they still sell for about $15 apiece, and you need 8 of them.
rich-c: the 386s tended to use very small capacity memory chips and not too many of them
rich-c: I think my 386 had 16 chips of 256K each
Ron: our community net tends to make keychains out of 30 pin SIMMs -- interesting PF
Ron: PR i mean
Dr.D.: Sacrilege! Like people making sculptures out of core memory units...
Ron: :)
rich-c: let's just hope they only use ones that have been terminally fried
Daniel Bienvenu: funny... for windows 98, another site suggest (the hardware requirements) 486, 16Mb RAM, 200Mb typical disk space.
Dr.D.: A 486 for Win98? I am amazed.
Ron: Gerry, my Mac dealer has a couple of those at his front door....... wooden sculpted beings...covered in circuit cards
rich-c: I think they're dreaming in Technicolour, Daniel
Daniel Bienvenu: http://www.windows-help.net/windows98/start-001.shtml
Ron: Had a 486/DX4-120 with 64Meg RAM that did quite well on Win 98 2nd edition
Ron: donated that to our local heritage train station
Dr.D.: Someone loaned me a DX4-100 to try in this machine; I couldn't make it work unless all the cache was disabled.
Dr.D.: And then it was too slow.
Ron: where, I understand, it still plays a mean game of solitair
Dr.D.: So I gave it back.
rich-c: yes, that b64 MB memory was the key, I suspect
Dr.D.: Otherwise, I would have bought it for $25.
Ron: :)
rich-c: isn't any computer a little too modern for a heritage train station?
Dr.D.: Babbage Analytical Engine? :-)
Ron: hides in the manager's office..... manager is a friend of mine
Ron: never gets seen by anyone except the manager
rich-c: aha
Dr.D.: Calculation by steam...
Ron: he is a solitaire addict
rich-c: actually, I suspect it is still a highly usable computer, depending on the size of hard disc it will support
Ron: The hard drive i had in it was 2 gig....think he's still using that
rich-c: does he prefer Klondike, Free Cell, or one of the other Solitaires?
Ron: had upgraded it a couple of times
Ron: Whatever comes with Win 98....think it's Klondike
Ron: looks familiar anyway
rich-c: would the 486 support a 2 gig or did you have to subdivide it into four virtual 55 mb drives?
Ron: there's a utility that Western Digital put out... EZ (something or other) that tricks the BIOS into seeing the full size
Dr.D.: Yes, had to do that on coleco.cwru.edu, to get it to accept a 60 GB drive.
rich-c: yes, I know about teh utility, not too sure how it works
Daniel Bienvenu: for someone who like card games like klondike, i think freecell is the ideal "timewaster"
Daniel Bienvenu: because you need your brain
Ron: I have no idea either, but have used it many times....with some of the older stuff that I get around here
rich-c: oh, I am very much a Free Cell addict - run about an 82% success rate
Ron: Daniel, anything that requires me to use my brain is suspect
rich-c: 98SE has four games - Klondike, Free Cell, Hearts and Minesweeper
Ron: My favourite mindless activity on a computer is to load up the golf game and go to the driving range, and just hit balls
Daniel Bienvenu: your are right... 4 games
Dr.D.: Folks, I am being called to supper...so I have to go.
Dr.D.: Richard, best of luck on Monday.
Ron: supper? Oh yes...forgot
Daniel Bienvenu: bon apétit!
Dr.D.: Please have Pam let us know ASAP when there's something to know.
Ron: feed well
rich-c: thank you, Rich, I'll have Frances or Pam keep the gang posted
Dr.D.: I'm sure everything will go well.
Ron: yes, Rich.... keep us posted
rich-c: meanwhile, enjoy your dinner, Rich
Dr.D.: Good bye, everyone...Starbase Cleveland closing hailing frequencies until Wednesday.
Dr.D.: <transporter effect>
Dr.D. left chat session
Ron: energize
rich-c: well, the O&A Institute is a top rank facility with a fantastic record, so I'm optimistic
Ron: yes, Rich, I expect they've done this before
rich-c: they've been in teh business for over half a century
Ron: Well folks, this recliner chair I'm in is growing increasingly more comfortable. May drift into a coma
rich-c: they are a teaching facility for the University of TOronto, part of the University Health Network
Ron: So I shall sign off before I become completely incoherent
Ron: Good luck Rich. Let us know how it goes
rich-c: OK Ron, glad you came by - see you in a couple of weeks
Ron: yup
Ron: be well Daniel
Ron left chat session
rich-c: guess we're sort of lasst left, Daniel
rich-c: shall we hang it up for now, then?
Daniel Bienvenu: ok... good luck for monday
rich-c: merci, Daniel - et au revoir
rich-c: a la prochaine!
Daniel Bienvenu: reviens-nous en plein forme :)
rich-c: meilleur que l'original ;-)
Daniel Bienvenu: a la prochaine!
Daniel Bienvenu: take care!
Daniel Bienvenu: bye!
rich-c: bye now!
rich-c left chat session
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AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2003-11-01
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