AdamCon.org > chat > Wed 2005-08-03

Chat for Wed 2005-08-03 20:57:45

rich-c: verify
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Rich-n-Rin
Rich-n-Rin: Hi Richard.
rich-c: Greetings, both
Rich-n-Rin: Hope things are cooler in Toronto than here...it is quite hot and muggy.
rich-c: didn't realize you were in Toronto so soon, Rich
Rich-n-Rin: I'm not:
Rich-n-Rin: Erin came here last Friday morning.
rich-c: oh, you're in Cleveland?
Rich-n-Rin: Yes.
Rich-n-Rin: We won't leave for Toronto until this Friday morning.
rich-c: OK, when are you returning here?
Rich-n-Rin: Should arrive sometime in mid-afternoon.
moved to room Meeting Place
Rich-n-Rin: Then I will stay until Monday morning, after taking Rin to work.
changed username to Harvie
rich-c: greetings, Harvie
Rich-n-Rin: Saturday, of course, we are planning to clean out your basement.
Rich-n-Rin: Hello, Harvie.
Harvie: Hello all
rich-c: well, remember we are looking at triage, not the Sack of Rome
Rich-n-Rin: I assumed it was going to be the Sack of Rome.
Rich-n-Rin: Frances and I did triage already.
rich-c: OTOH, there is a great deal that is disposable and Frances and I are not good on stairs anymore
Rich-n-Rin: Eveything keepable I think will fit on less than one of your existing storage racks.
Rich-n-Rin: Everything
Rich-n-Rin: The rest, the intent was to pitch it.
rich-c: one question: does Rin want an Adam?
Rich-n-Rin: Yes (she says)
rich-c: fine, do you feel like picking it, testing it, and assembling it Saturday?
Rich-n-Rin: So basically anybody who wanted dibs on a system, that was the time to claim it.
Rich-n-Rin: Yes...I have all day Saturday, at your convenience.
Harvie: How did the modem work out?
rich-c: actually I've just had an inquiry from a guy on the way to Hawaii for a full ADam
Rich-n-Rin: "Absolutely fabulous, thank you very much. It is a lifesaver!" says Rin
rich-c: and another wants a power supply today
Harvie: You are moist welcome
Rich-n-Rin: If they will pay to ship, and you are willing to ship, then that is your prerogative.
Rich-n-Rin: <Rin blushes>
rich-c: right - forgot you had that for her, Harvie - that was very good of you
rich-c: exactly, and that is what I have told him
Rich-n-Rin: She has been using it from the phone port in her bedroom.
rich-c: told him to take a busted Adam instead, for the shielding of the power supply
Rich-n-Rin: And I got her a jack splitter for the phone/desktop in her living room, which she had not had before.
rich-c: Rin, what is the processor in your laptop?
Harvie: Now you gotta step up to dsl
Rich-n-Rin: Pentium of some sort, she says, but she does not have it here to look exactly.
Rich-n-Rin: I can look when we get back to Toronto.
rich-c: OK, it looks like my P166MMX will be redundant shortly
Rich-n-Rin: If she got DSL then we could do VoIP phone and bypass Ma Bell :-)
rich-c: the hard disc just stared acting odd, though, so I have to check it out
Rich-n-Rin: I think it is more than that, Richard, she got it from one of her brothers IIRC.
Rich-n-Rin: Just recently.
rich-c: yes, Frances said she got it from Garth
rich-c: Rich, I'm holding an Adam with an Orphanware hard disc drive for Michael
Rich-n-Rin: Michael Hurst, I presume you mean.
rich-c: he wants to ditch it but says it needs reesuscitation from George and Harmen first
Rich-n-Rin: I have not heard from him for some months; he said he was very sick then.
rich-c: there are also issues of who owes who how much for what
Rich-n-Rin: You would have to ask Herman and George...
rich-c: yes, he has been under treatment for lung cancer
Rich-n-Rin: That I did not know; ouch.
rich-c: I reckon that's between Michael and those two
rich-c: he has a park trailer out in the country and is there most of the time
Rich-n-Rin: I have not heard from Herman since way before ADAMcon and not from George since his declaration not to attend.
rich-c: It occurs to me that whatever the resolution is
rich-c: it would be better if the Adam were in Cleveland
Rich-n-Rin: Well, Oware-type HDs are not so common...assuming that the controller board is still good, it would be worth saving.
rich-c: where there is the possibility of resuscitation
Rich-n-Rin: Yes, I could probably do it. My Oware HD system still works, could easily swap in a drive to see if that is the problem.
rich-c: btw, Pamela is here but just leaving so she will be late
Rich-n-Rin: I even have a PC-XT system here with dual MFM drives in it, could pull one if that is the problem.
Rich-n-Rin: Hi Pam
Harvie: IIRC the screen on that unit fills with a herringbone pattern, the drive was OK
Rich-n-Rin: Ah, that is a game board problem then.
rich-c: can I give it to your care then, and let Michael sort it out after? He was talking of that solution
Rich-n-Rin: Yes we can do that Richard.
Rich-n-Rin: How much $$$ are we talking on your end?
rich-c: right now he is very volatile, but he did suggest getting it into your harnds
rich-c: I think he has ambitions of raising some money from it
Rich-n-Rin: I see.
rich-c: the price will be decided between Michael and the buyer; I will have no part of it
Rich-n-Rin: Rich just stepped out so hi gents :-)
rich-c: he is btw answering his email vairly promptly, I believe
rich-c: hello Rin, didn't realize you had the time off
Rich-n-Rin: yep...took a week of vacation
Rich-n-Rin: figured I had better before the house resumes in the fall
rich-c: I assume you got the laptop from Garth because your mother didnt want one?
Rich-n-Rin: I got it from him because I was willing to pay for it
rich-c: ah yes, I forgot the session was over - nice to be out of the hotbox
Rich-n-Rin: Mom is probably lamenting not having the second computer in the house
rich-c: then if it's working do you think your mother might like the P166?
Rich-n-Rin: she might indeed
rich-c: hey, if we could get it working, she could have the old desktop too that I was preparing for you
Rich-n-Rin: it will allow her access for when Garth is asleep downstairs (which is where the computer is)
rich-c: OK, shge has dsl, doesn't she?
Rich-n-Rin: yes they do
rich-c: well, we'll se what works out after August 13th, then - she staying with you?
Rich-n-Rin: yes she will be
rich-c: then one thing that can leave the basement is that computer, likely
rich-c: or would she want only the laptop?
Rich-n-Rin: I don't know I guess we should ask her :-)
rich-c: mind you, if the laptop is dying we can offer teh desktop
Rich-n-Rin: that is very true
Rich-n-Rin: probably see how it goes and then go from there
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Dale
rich-c: whatever which way, we should be able to recycle stuff to her that she will find useful
Rich-n-Rin: hi Dale
Dale: Hi all.
Harvie: Hello Dale
rich-c: hello Dale
Rich-n-Rin: most definitely Uncle Richard
Rich-n-Rin: I am sure she will appreciate it
rich-c: now if we could only get her interested in an Adam ; - )
Rich-n-Rin: hehe
Rich-n-Rin: not sure that will happen
rich-c: must admit I consider it unlikely - can't even interest Pamela in one
rich-c: so Dale, all sorted out from the convention now?
Dale: Pretty much.
Dale: I've got my Adam set up again.
Dale: Lots of cables to untangle still though.
rich-c: well, I managed to get my laptop back in operation afgter Guy messed it up
rich-c: at least there is one useful thing about XP - it has system restore
Rich-n-Rin: Ouch that is bad to have to use the system restore...it wipes everything.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Guy B.
Guy B.: Greetings!!!1
rich-c: no it doesn't, only changes since the chosen restore date
Dale: Hi ya Guy.
Harvie: Hello Guy
Rich-n-Rin: Hi Guy
rich-c: hi Guy, just saying I've got the laptop back on line again
Guy B.: Great to hear that Rich. What did you do?
Guy B.: We have some rain here in Chicago tonight.
rich-c: used system restore to set it back to July 13th
Guy B.: That will do it.
rich-c: as you may have heard on the news, we had a pretty heavy storm yesterday afternoon
Rich-n-Rin: Time travel :-)
Harvie: It was so cold they had to burn a plane to keep warm
rich-c: my personal suspicion is that that is why all the survivors were able to get out
Guy B.: Yes, I did hear about that, especially when the plane was just landing at the airport when that happened.
Rich-n-Rin: I am lost here...what are you talking about?
Guy B.: Dr. D. Did you hear about the Air France crash in Toronto yesterday?
rich-c: well it was a real cloudburst - I'd guess enough to suppress the spread of the fire for the critical seconds
Rich-n-Rin: Rin told me there was a crash, nobody was hurt, that is all I know.
Rich-n-Rin: I did not read Toronto Star online today.
Rich-n-Rin: I had to go to work :-S
Guy B.: The plane was just landing when heavy thunderstorms hit and the plane skidded off the runway.
Guy B.: Everyone survived.
rich-c: let's say it was pretty spectacular - a loaded Air France A340 overshot the runway, crashed and burned
Rich-n-Rin: That sounds lucky.
rich-c: that's one way to understate it, Rich
Rich-n-Rin: I am not being facetious...
rich-c: there's some aeriel footage of teh crash site taken today at canada.com
Rich-n-Rin: I was more worried about the shuttle frankly (guess my USAian bias showing)
rich-c: my perception is that the shuttle is fine and teh "worry" pretty much spin
Rich-n-Rin: I was watching a lot of NASA TV live via streaming webcast.
Guy B.: Rin, they got the pieces removed, but now they might go out again.
Rich-n-Rin: Watched the launch live, cried a bit actually.
Rich-n-Rin: Space travel was a Big Thing (tm) when I was a kid, never grew up out of it.
rich-c: well, whenever folks undertake a dangerous mission for good cuse, that's a reasonable reaction
rich-c: it isn't as if they haven't lost shuttles before...
Rich-n-Rin: I cried for that, too...both of them...
Rich-n-Rin: (Rich talking, not Rin)
Guy B.: The one in 1986 really hit because of the teacher on board that one.
Rich-n-Rin: I saw it live...we skipped the last class of med school that morning to watch the launch from the student lounge.
rich-c: Pamela now has her Avon order phoned in
rich-c: and will be leaving shortly, grab something to eeat on the way home
rich-c: with luck should join us by 10.30
Guy B.: Thought I let everyone know that my webpage has been updated and there is a link to the Adamcon 18 webpage.
Rich-n-Rin: We will try to hold out 'til 10:30...
Rich-n-Rin: Is there an ADAMcon 18 webpage:?
Rich-n-Rin: did you all look at my photos anyhow
rich-c: OK, does it have all the utilities and stuff?
Guy B.: Just a preview, but it will be updated once I have everything together.
Guy B.: Yes Rich. It does.
rich-c: I'm assuming I'll have to download the Emulator again, the get the tuilities
Harvie: That's futilities rich :)
rich-c: emulator still at Komcon.org/~deKogel?
Guy B.: There is a link to my Yahoo Briefcase that has the emulator and utilities without going to Marcel's website.
rich-c: OK, let me see if I have you bookmarked
rich-c: can't see it immediately; like to repeat it here?
Guy B.: www.geocities.com/bonag_3
rich-c: got it
rich-c: the laptop; doesn't have a floppy drive and I don't have a USB null-modem cable (yet)
rich-c: and I'm not up to setting up a network at the moment
rich-c: so I am hiving difficulty transferring stuff between computers
Guy B.: That's becoming a trend now. No more floppy drives on new computers. Unless you build one yourself and have one installed.
rich-c: oh, you can buy external USB ones
Guy B.: Lucky all mine have floppies.
Harvie: Don't you have a router rich?
Rich-n-Rin: Christina's new Dell laptop has a removable floppy bay, to swap with the DVD-R/W drive
Guy B.: That's perfect fer her Dr. D.
rich-c: the idea seems to be that CDs and even DVDs are cheaper than floppies and more permanent
rich-c: which sort of limits the market 8 - )
Rich-n-Rin: I *WISH* someone made a 5.25" external USB floppy drive...
rich-c: be happy if you can get an internal one, especially double density
Guy B.: Yet, floppies are still being sold in the stores. Even with blank CD media. I still have my Zip drives and I do use them for backing up.
Rich-n-Rin: I would think someone would have cobbled one up as a homebrew project by now...but not yet.
rich-c: not the 5.25", and definitely not double sensity
Guy B.: Just found out Iomega has dropped support of the Zip 100 and 250 drives and are encouraging those to upgrade to the 750 drive.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to On the Island
rich-c: come to think of it, I do have an external LS120 drive, and LS120s will read 1.44 floppies
Guy B.: HI Ron
On the Island: Hi all!
Rich-n-Rin: hi Ron
rich-c: greeting, Ron
Harvie: Hi Ronald
rich-c: got home safely then, we gather
On the Island: Harvie, Rich, Guy- R&R
Guy B.: That LS120 drive did not take off.
rich-c: pity because I have one on my desktop too
On the Island: yassir
Harvie: One of my laptops has an LS120 in it
rich-c: it was a serious failure of marketing, driven by grees
Rich-n-Rin: HEY, WE ARE R&R HERE!
Rich-n-Rin: (sorry to yell)
Guy B.: How I remember Tigerdirect was heavily promoting that drive over the Zip.
On the Island: Brother Dave and friend Gail are visiting from Calgary
rich-c: you have guests - how do they like your new digs?
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Daniel Late
On the Island: very much. It worked well. My sis and hubby and his daughter were here - so we had 6 for supper on Sat
Guy B.: Hi Daniel
Daniel Late: Hello
Harvie: Hi Daniel
On the Island: Hii Daniel
Rich-n-Rin: Hello Daniel
rich-c: oui, Daniel, tu es beaucoup en retard - mais, salut
rich-c: Daniel do you know of anyone looking for Colecovision game units or power supplies for them?
Daniel Late: well, yes a few...
Rich-n-Rin: When moving ADAM stuff here, I found a box of CV power supplies I bought from American Design Components.
rich-c: I am about to throw out a number of them unless I get an offer soon
Daniel Late: How much you want (or need?) to ship them to me.
rich-c: I have a bunch of CV units that don't work, and some that do
Rich-n-Rin: They were to fix up Orphanware 80-column units IIRC.
Rich-n-Rin: Which used them as power supplies.
Rich-n-Rin: I had totally forgotten that I had them.
moved to room Meeting Place
rich-c: Daniel, email me your address (again) and we'll see if we can think of something
Daniel Late: ok
changed username to Rich-n-Rin
rich-c: looks like someone dropped off and came in again
Rich-n-Rin: Closed the wrong window here, sorry.
Rich-n-Rin changed username to Doofus
Doofus requested to ban Rich-n-Rin
rich-c: not sure I want to ask what THAT means...
Harvie confirmed ban
rich-c confirmed ban
Doofus changed username to Rich-n-Rin
Rich-n-Rin: Two logins with same name...I needed a different name so I could request to kill the old one.
Guy B. confirmed ban
Daniel Late: you email still ... at tamcotec.com ?
Harvie: I have a CV powersupply with a Molex connector
rich-c: yes, it has never been anywhere else - Pamela and Harvie are there too
On the Island confirmed ban
rich-c: cleechez@tamcotec.com
Daniel Late: "you got mail"
Dale confirmed ban
rich-c: OK, will grab it after I leave chat, but don't necessarily expect an answer tonight
Daniel Late: i understand :-)
Harvie: Too long at the keyboard, must go, goodnight all
Daniel Late: what you guys talked before I were online with you tonight?
Daniel Late: goodnight Harvie!
On the Island: BRB - have to clean my glasses- can't see a damn thing
On the Island: nite Harvie
Rich-n-Rin: Bye harvie
rich-c: night Harvie
Harvie left chat session
Dale: Hi Daniel
Dale: Richard, I have a colecovision but it has as long as I can remember lacked a powersupply and black joysticks.
Dale: Maybe I can pick some up before the weekend, if you have appropriate ones.
Dale: I'm also interested in a boxed Adam for picture taking purposes.
rich-c: be my guest, Dale - when do you want to come by?
rich-c: if you want those you'll need to take them here - boxes I do not part with
Dale: Maybe Friday morning at around 11am. Would that suit you?
rich-c: let me check the calendar
Daniel Late: lucky Dale, you will be able to play again with your ColecoVision ;-)
On the Island: nostalgia rules!
Rich-n-Rin: Richard, will you have a dumpster or bin or something for us to discard stuff in on Saturday?
Rich-n-Rin: That was the plan...
Dale: I've powered it up with my Roller Controller power adaptor for the Adam.
On the Island: I take it Saturday is the day of the great disposal
Dale: Murray was planning to come right?
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to rich-1
rich-1: sorry folks, got dropped
Daniel Late requested to ban rich-c
Guy B. confirmed ban
Rich-n-Rin confirmed ban
On the Island confirmed ban
Dale confirmed ban
On the Island: (somewhere in the universe an ADAM flag flies alone at half mast)
rich-1 confirmed ban
Dale: He left the power cable for his laptop at the AdamCon, and suggested that he could pick it up this weekend. I will be out of town. Maybe I could take it to your place too Richard.
Rich-n-Rin: I don't know if Murray is coming or not.
rich-1: anyway, Friday is fine Dale, 11 OK but noon is better
Rich-n-Rin: Nothing has been said.
Rich-n-Rin: All I know is, Rin and I will be there Saturday after Richard gets up, 1 PMish most likely, and stay 'til the job is done.
rich-1: no, Murray phoned and I declined
Dale: I'll try to get there slowly. But it'll still be closer to 11, I think.
rich-1: OK, bring your camera for the box, and a box for the power supply
rich-1: sorry, whose cable was left behind at AC?
Dale: No problem. Do you have any black joysticks?
rich-1: yes
rich-1: not only that, they work
Dale: Murray's laptop power cable.
rich-1: do you remember how to get to my place, Dale?
rich-1: better he should pick it up from you, Dale; you are much nearer
Dale: I believe so, just take the Alan expressway and turn left and right a few times.
Dale: 'Can't miss it.
On the Island: That's about it Dale
On the Island: as I recall
rich-1: Allen to Lawrence, left (east) at rasmp top.\
rich-1: after you clear teh bridge complex, keep red brick buildings on your left
Dale: You're address is on my floppy disks. Mapquest is my friend.
rich-1: if they start to turn yellow, turn up the dividing street (Brookview)
rich-1: then it's second stop sign, turn right, driveway first right
rich-1: maybe so but a lot show Rondale being connected to a street it only has a pathway to
Dale: I remember the way there well
rich-1: anyway, 21 Rondale Blvd. should let MapQuest handle it
rich-1: think of any other Adam small stuff you may need and we'll see if we can do something
On the Island: If you're eastbound on Lawrence and you get to Bathurst, you've gone too far
Dale: a couple of keyboards with no keys missing would be welcome
rich-1: yes, our intersection is tricky because it's unsignalled and on the left side only
rich-1: can do, Dale
Dale: all of my keyboards seem to snap off keys on the way to or from some historic AdamCon or other
rich-1: well, I've never suffered that fate yet, but one never knows...
rich-1: hope you're good at cleaning them as some are a bit grotty
rich-1: btw Dale, time to change that "Guiness" action to "St.Ambroise"
Dale: Dr. D seems to think that the yellowing affected some keys more than others. I wonder how many bacthes of each key they made.
Dale: You can always add your own actions.
Rich-n-Rin: I always thought it was smokers' keyboards...
On the Island: In some cases it was
rich-1: I have always heard it was aUV or something - how much sunlight fell on which part for how long
On the Island: but discolouration seems to happen, smoking or not
rich-1: oh, how do I add my own action?
Daniel Late: I'm writing a message in the CCJVQ forum to see if someone will want a power suply.
Dale: Under Edit, "Create new action"
rich-1: OK, I see it, and will edit accordingly
rich-1: in fact, it's time now for me to fetch my biere noire - brb
Dale: I previously believed that it was smokers, but since then I've seen other verifiably non-smoker's keysboards change colour.
On the Island created action P/act
(action is as action does)
Daniel Late: message done
rich-1: good show Daniel - you could ask if anyone knows how to fix CV units and wants some to fix
Daniel Late: I added a note in the message about it.
rich-1: good - I even have one or two that I suspect don't need fixing
Daniel Late: asking if someone one a Coleco to play, to modify or to repair. ;-)
Daniel Late: ...if someone WANT (not one) a Coleco...
rich-1: that pretty much covers the situation!
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Pamela
rich-1: welcome daughter, see you made it
Pamela: and here I am, as promised, dinner in hand at 10:30
On the Island: Hi Pamela
Pamela: Hello Ron
rich-1: I am not going to ask what constitutes dinner - I doubt I want to know
Rich-n-Rin: Typing one-handed then? (Rin says hi)
Pamela: Hello, Rich and Rin
Rich-n-Rin: Poutine a la mode
Pamela: Greetings Daniel, Dale and Guy
Rich-n-Rin: au jus
Pamela: ewww
Daniel Late: Hey Pam!
Pamela: scrambled eggs with cheese (slightly over done) and toast
Rich-n-Rin: I like my suggestion better
Pamela: poutine a la mode??? where do you get these ideas?
On the Island: sounds like my kinda dinner
rich-1: a bit heavy on the cholesterol, but I've seen worse
Rich-n-Rin: Fevered brain I guess
(Daniel Late hugs Pamela)
Guy B.: HI Pam
On the Island: bought a barbecue last week. the whole fam damily christened it
Rich-n-Rin: I had a nice healthy salad for supper
Rich-n-Rin: (we both did)
Pamela: it coulda been worse - coulda been a quarter pounder with cheese and fries
Rich-n-Rin: Plus one last piece of KFC
rich-1: that is true, Pam
(Pamela hugs Daniel Late)
(Guy B. gives Pamela a can of Diet Coke.)
Rich-n-Rin: Daniel Latte?
Pamela: lucky you Ron
Pamela: we loooove to bbq
rich-1: I can't even remember the last time I was in a McDonalds - or Wendy's - or KFC
On the Island: :)
Daniel Late: It's Daniel Bienvenu... late, but it didn't fit in the usename string ;-)
Guy B.: Me neither and I really don't miss it.
Rich-n-Rin: I know Daniel :-)
Pamela: last time I was at Wendy's, I had a salad - they're pretty good
On the Island: actually, it's fun.
Rich-n-Rin: I am too tired
Rich-n-Rin: It is too hot here
Rich-n-Rin: Getting sleepy
Daniel Late: James, GuyF and all Coleco (or not) my friends think that I'm depress.
On the Island: stil?
On the Island: hot I mean
rich-1: we very rarely eat out, or when we do it's in so remote a place we have to take our lunch anyway
Rich-n-Rin: Need to sit in a cold bathtub or something.
On the Island: played golf today - so I'm donw a quart too
On the Island: it's warm enough out here, and I think I have a sunburned face
Rich-n-Rin: Putt-putt is my golfing speed Ron :-)
Pamela: are you guys getting our weather in Cleveland?
Rich-n-Rin: I like dodging the windmills
rich-1: hot enough to have you sweating, wss it, Ron?
Rich-n-Rin: No rain here, just heat
On the Island: No, not really, but I'm burning now
Pamela: well we still have a way to go before all the lawns green up again
On the Island: had hat and sun screen, but I still get roasted
Daniel Late: After the Adamcon, the real life is not exciting. I think I have the blues, I want to see you again.
rich-1: actually lawns haven't been too bad, at least they have been modest in their water requirements
On the Island: Post Adamcon Stress Disorder
Guy B.: Same here, but our governor is going to ask for help, especially with the farmers.
On the Island: I know it well
rich-1: yes, Adamcons are like that, Daniel, sort of addictive
Pamela: I know it well Daniel - you're so excited about the convention and it goes by so fast, that afterwards is a big letdown
Guy B.: But, we all have a great time being together for four days and we always look forward to the next one when it's over.
Rich-n-Rin: Agreed, Guy.
rich-1: now, only Dale is left as the one who has been to evry Adamcon
Pamela: Guy, any idea on dates for next year yet?
On the Island: Ya got that right pilgrim
Guy B.: Not yet.
Guy B.: I do have a checklist on what I need to do and to look for.
Daniel Late: I'm happy to know that my feelings are normal
Pamela: ah lists, I know them well
On the Island: Oh yes Daniel, they are indeed
Pamela: I have lists, and more lists, and lists of lists
Rich-n-Rin: I think next on my list is a cool shower, I am sweating like a pig...
Pamela: best thing you can do
Rich-n-Rin: So...I think I will sign off for tonight, folks.
Guy B.: I started it when I got back. And I'm really busy this week at work. I have to run the mailing labels for our magazine this Friday before the network goes down for maintenance.
Rich-n-Rin: We will see Pam and Richard this weekend.
Guy B.: Byr Dr. and Rin
Daniel Late: Goodnight Dr.D and 'Rin
On the Island: Must do my AC17 report - Promised Dale I would
Guy B.: Bye Dr. D. and Rin
Pamela: night R & R
Rich-n-Rin: Bye to the rest until next week.
rich-1: night you two, see you Saturday
Daniel Late: thanks again for the Coleco doc
Rich-n-Rin: Closing hailing frequencies...
On the Island: be well Rich 'n' Rin
Pamela: Drive safe
Rich-n-Rin: Rin blows kisses
Daniel Late: :-)
Pamela: Pam catches them
Rich-n-Rin: <poof>
Daniel Late: <wave>
Guy B.: Tell her we miss her.
Dale: That's right Ron. I was going to come by and threaten your cats soon.
On the Island: :)
On the Island: it will be done sir
Pamela: Dale, are you travelling again soon?
rich-1: DSale is always travelling
Dale: I'm headed to Vancouver near the end of the month.
Pamela: how often is your presence required out there?
On the Island: well Hey! At least you're headed in the right direction
Dale: I try to go for a few days every 6 weeks.
On the Island: Weekend after Labor day, I'm headed to PEI
Pamela: wow, that must be rough
Dale: That keeps things running the best usually.
Pamela: what's in PEI, Ron?
On the Island: expect Jeff and Francesca here for the long weekend complete with wedding proofs for me to see
Pamela: yay, pictures!
On the Island: the place of my birth, and 3 cousins
Daniel Late: Prince Edward Island? I like it
Pamela: nice
rich-1: scan 'em abd post 'em, Ron!
Pamela: I seem to remember enjoying PEI : )
On the Island: will see what I can do Rich. Already scanning some my brother took
Pamela: Dad's keyboard has a headcold!
rich-1: as I recall, you did, Pam
Pamela: I'd love to go back someday
Pamela: and I want to go out west again, and show Russell this time
Pamela: I don't think I appreciated it as much as I could have
On the Island: we could arrange that Pamela
rich-1: if you ever have teh time, it's a very interesting drive, especially if you're not under time pressure
Pamela: we'll get around to it someday, I expect Ron
rich-1: in fact, easst or west are worthwhile
On the Island: want to do the Cabot Trail this time. And I have friends in Nova Scotia to visit
Pamela: Enjoy it well, Ron
rich-1: some folks rank the Cabot Trail in teh ten great roads of the world
On the Island: oh yes
Pamela: I think I caught the travelling bug from Mom and Dad
Pamela: it took me a while
On the Island: and there is only one Island; this isn't it
rich-1: the North American three are Cabot Trail, Going to the Sun, and Trail Ridge Road
rich-1: I have driven all of them
Pamela: when did you drive Going to the Sun, Dad?
rich-1: when we were out west I think in 1986 - it's in Glacier National Park (the US one)
Pamela: ahhh - the one I missed. Okay.
rich-1: think we may have done it again some time later
Pamela: Dad, what glacier were we on where I fell into the goop?
Daniel Late: When I was young, my familly did camping each summer during about a month in PEI.
Pamela: that sounds wonderful, Daniel. Tent camping?
rich-1: oh dear, that was on the Glacier Highway between Jasper and Banff - not sure of teh name
Daniel Late: And it's in PEI, one night, I saw the ufo I talked about in a previous chat session
Daniel Late: yes, Tent camping
Pamela: ask Mom
rich-1: she'll remember the road but not the glacier name - could have been Athabsca, maybe
Pamela: I didn't start tent camping until Girl Guides, and by then was spoiled by the trailer
Daniel Late: we lost for an hour my sister in the camping one time. she went at the beach without waiting us.
Pamela: actually, maybe it was earlier. Seems to me we went tent camping with the school in Grade 5
On the Island: That's where Francesca and Jeff went on their honeymoon
On the Island: Jasper/Banff
Pamela: Oops, Daniel. Your parents must have been frantic
Pamela: I was still spoiled by the trailer.
Pamela: that's a lovely trip Ron. Are they driving?
rich-1: your mother says your fateful glacier was part of the Columbia Icefields
On the Island: Yes they did. They're back now
Pamela: okay, that's what I thought. Tell her thank you.
Daniel Late: Well, it's more a funny anecdote now than bad memories.
Pamela: I guess so - it's been a month already
On the Island: Indeed it has
Pamela: now it is, I'm sure Daniel - but I'll bet your parents didn't think it was very funny then
Daniel Late: oops... firefox tell me to do an update
rich-1: you have the auto update enabled?
Daniel Late: yes
Guy B.: Well folks, got to run. I'll see you all next week.
Daniel Late: byte Guy!
rich-1: there is a new version out; I have it on the XP
Pamela: Dale, I'm sure this was asked earlier but how are the three of you feeling now?
Daniel Late: .... err... bye Guy!
On the Island: One thing I detest is perfectly functional software telling me I'm out of date. I tend to take it personalls
rich-1: OK Guy, take care, see you then
Pamela: Guy, g'nite - is there an e-mail for me?
On the Island: personally
rich-1: maybe we'll talk more about your Adamcon
Guy B.: Will let you know Pam.
Guy B.: Poof
Guy B. left chat session
Pamela: okay. I'll be looking for it
On the Island: I'm gone too good folks. Better tend to my company
On the Island: nite all
Pamela: g'nite Ron.
Dale: See you Ron.
On the Island: poof
rich-1: right, Ron, glad you could make it for a while - till next week
Dale: Don't forget about your report.
On the Island: :) oh no!
Daniel Late: you're right Pam, it was the panic, looking in the tent, at the bathroom, in the amusement park... and finally find her at the beach
On the Island left chat session
Pamela: the important thing is it turned out fine Daniel
Daniel Late: yes.
rich-1: still, when you're kid goes missing, cool rationality is hard to come by
Pamela: that's one I never pulled on you, is it Dad?
Daniel Late: personnaly, I were lucky one time. We were in a camping, not in PEI, and there was two path to return to the tent: one is the road, the other in the forest.
rich-1: well, thre was a time when you got diverted on teh way home from kindergarten, and were found in Lawrence Heights
Pamela: actually I think I was older, but we'll talk about that some other time
Daniel Late: My older brother and I taked sometimes the path in the forest
rich-1: I remember I was quite prepared to murder someone, but the cops wre very close-mouthed when they brought you back
Pamela: yes, I seem to recall you were a bit upset
Daniel Late: one day, my mother says that a young girl was discovered in this forest, attached and not in good shape, during your vacancy at this camping.
Pamela: I must have been older Dad, I was on my two wheeled bike
rich-1: not ruddy much, that's for sure
Pamela: I must have been seven or eight, just before I got the folding bike - I was on the little red bike I learned to ride on
rich-1: vacacy = vacation?
Daniel Late: er.. well, yes
Pamela: I think vacancy = absence
Daniel Late: well, this time, I wnated to say vacation
Pamela: okay
rich-1: don't fuss it Daniel, your English is far better than our French - as you know
Pamela: where was this Daniel - do you remember?
rich-1: james can maybe keep up with you but he isn't here tonight
Daniel Late: no, I was too youg. I only remember all was written in english, everywhere.
Pamela: so you probably weren't in Quebec then, or New Brunswick
rich-1: yes, that is the casse pretty much everywhre outside Quebec
rich-1: right - bilingualism in New Brunswick is pretty recent
rich-1: anyway, time for me to shut down - tomorrow comes early
Daniel Late: I'm not sure but it can be in a KOA, I remember that we always wanted to go to a KOA, before going to the PEI.
rich-1: Dale, see you Friday; Pam, see you Saturday
Pamela: okay, night Daddy
Daniel Late: before the period of PEI
Pamela: KOAs are everywhere Daniel
Daniel Late: I know it doesn't help
rich-1: et Daniel, bonsoir; a la prochaine
Dale: See you Friday Richard.
Daniel Late: bonsoir Ric
Daniel Late: h
Dale: Daniel,
rich-1: colour me gone
rich-1 left chat session
Daniel Late: which colour is that?
Pamela: yes, I want to know that too : )
Dale: I've got a wird bug with my background music in a game I'm working on for the 1k mini games challenge.
Daniel Late: ho! a bug?
Pamela: well since Dad screwed up my plans for the evening, i guess I'd better go and find out how many spams I have
Dale: I'm wondering if I showed you my source code, if you'd know what I was doing wrong.
Daniel Late: can you describ it?
Pamela: gonna go check my email, so good night, guys
Pamela: kerpoof
Daniel Late: Well, my reccent effort on Coleco sounds can certenly help
Dale: Sadly the bug is: I make all fo the OS calls in the documentation, and no music plays, but my timers trigger (also in the interupt handler)
Daniel Late: bye Pam!
Pamela left chat session
Dale: Can you open tar balls (.tar.gz files)
Daniel Late: Show me your code. 1k is small enough to find a bug
Daniel Late: yes, I can with 7z
Daniel Late: (opensource and working fine)
Dale: http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/adam/watorsrc.tgz
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Scott
Scott: Hello
Scott: Are you guys still here?
Dale: Hi
Dale: Not paying close attention.
Dale: Just told Daniel to look at my source code to try and find a bug.
Scott: It's been a long time since I've seen you in the chat room.
Scott: Heard that you're busy with your startup that you sold off to Best Buy
Scott: Hope that's going well.
Dale: Well, AdamCon makes it more likely for me to show up.
Daniel Late: The sound data is ok, looking at sound table and sound calls.
Daniel Late changed username to Daniel Bienvenu
Dale: It seems to be going pretty good. We went from 12 employees to about 96 now, including the manufacturing part (which used to belong to our customer)
Scott: Wow.
Scott: Now you can buy that condo in Maui that you always wanted
Dale: Defiantely some growing pains to chnage an organization that much.
Dale: :-)
Scott: Sure. You must be VERY busy.
Scott: How did ADAMCon go over.
Scott: Once again I didn't make it.
Dale: The trick is that the head office is now in Vancouver, and I'm based in Toronto. There is some travel involved in there somewhere.
Scott: Has it been decided where the next one will be?
Dale: Chicago.
Daniel Bienvenu: Dale, is it possible that the IF condition in the sound data makes the only sound code available 0xd0 (end sound)?
Scott: That's right. Rich told me that you were doing a lot of traveling.
Dale: Hosed by the one and only Guy Bona III.
Scott: What program are you debugging?
Dale: Daniel, hmm...they are defined at the beginning of that file.
Dale: I think that they are on. Certainly the .rom file is huegly bigger.
Dale: http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/adam/watorsrc.tgz
Dale: If you can open .tar.gz files.
Daniel Bienvenu: you have the rom file somewhere?
Dale: I could put it in a .zip if you can't.
Dale: Let me get it for you...brb
Dale left chat session
Scott: Hi Daniel. How's it going?
Daniel Bienvenu: It's going good
Daniel Bienvenu: programming for a coleco project makes me happy
Scott: Sorry I haven't been around for awhile.
Scott: This is the first chance I've had.
moved to room Meeting Place
Scott: I am also gravitating back to my ColecoVision projects.
Daniel Bienvenu: no problem Scott.
changed username to Dale
Dale: I'm back.
Daniel Bienvenu: welcome back Dale
Dale: I have to reassemble it...
Scott: Daniel - which project are you working on?
Daniel Bienvenu: ok
Daniel Bienvenu: well, I'm working again on my Spectar project, abandonned mid-december in year 2000
Dale: http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/adam/wator.rom
Scott: My wife is working now, so more free time in the evening to program ;)
Daniel Bienvenu: I sent my source code to Scott Huggins, he did a playable version and bring the source code back to me to optimize it
Scott: Awesome
Scott: Has it been decided where the next ADAMCon will be?
Dale: Scott, I did a programming presentation at AdamCon, and I even made powerpoints this year. You can check it out at http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/warmfuzz/
Dale: Chicago, hosted by Guy Bona III.
Scott: I'll check it out.
Scott: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that the first time
Dale: AdamCon 18, next summer.
Scott: Ok, Chicago. That's relatively close.
Scott: My sister lives in Illinois (Peoria), so that would work out great.
Daniel Bienvenu: Well Dale, my Sound Extractor Tool that helped me to extract sounds from Coleco games to build my soundbank project.... wasn'T able to find sound in your rom
Dale: Daniel, would the .lst file be of assistance to you? It shows the compiled code.
Daniel Bienvenu: so there must me an error in the init. part
Dale: I define the table in SoundAddrs block of notes.z
Dale: I call SOUND_INIT with HL=SoundAddrs, and B=7
Dale: Scott, what kind of CV programming are you working on?
Scott: I'm back. Looking at your slides, Dale. Very interesting.
Scott: The last thing I was working on was the Dragon Master RPG game that would span 3 cartridges
Scott: I am programming in assembly with some homemade tools.
Dale: The presentation is based on one lecture of a game design course I took over the winter.
Scott: You're even busier than I thought, Dale. Wow.
Dale: Right now I"
Scott: I had to stop for a few months to complete my studies.
Scott: Just got my associates degree from the Community College of Aurora.
Dale: I'm taking a course in level design for games and game production, both taught in 3D Studio Max, Maya and UnrealEd from Unreal Tournament 2004.
Scott: Am thinking of getting my Bachelor's at The University of Colorado at Denver
Scott: Hey, they offer those courses at the Community College
Dale: Seemed like a good school when I visited it.
Scott: There's a class in the Unreal Engine and also another on Game Development using Visual Basic
Dale: Level Design and Game Production?
Scott: They're just single classes, not part of a degree/certificate program that I'm aware of
Dale: These course are targeted at 3D artists though, not programmers.
Daniel Bienvenu: (I'm still looking at your code, Dale)
Dale: Daniel, is it that bad?
Scott: We also have Maya classes offerred through the film school at CCA
Scott: Those are more for the artists.
Dale: I'm sure it is really close, because I read the CV Technical Manual chapters to verify the output, and it is really close.
Scott: Metro State College has an entire BS degree in game development
Dale: Maybe I'm overwriting the memory at 7100h where the play buffer is located.
Dale: Well, the courses I'm taking are how to create 3D levels and art assets to populate the level, as opposed to program it.
Dale: The instructor is currently working for a game studio making a PS2 port of the XBox game Pariah.
Scott: I'm not sure what the focus is with these Game Development classes (CCA).
Scott: Wow, that's really cool.
Scott: Is this part of a degree program?
Dale: Part of a 6 course "Certificate in Game Design"
Scott: Ahhh
Daniel Bienvenu: Dale, my Sound Extractor cannot find a sound in your rom because the first entry of the soundaddrs is invalid.
Daniel Bienvenu: I know, it looks ok in your code, but not in the rom
Scott: So are you planning to put a team together and develop content for the XBOX 360?
Scott: Nintendo DS?
Dale: 2 theory, two practical, and Maya, 3DS Max (as prereqs.)
Dale: Scott, I have to stick with my current post for a bit.
Dale: But eventually I expect that I'll be starting a studio. I'm just saving up a nest egg to get it off the ground.
Scott: That's great.
Dale: 8427 SoundAddrs:
Dale: 8427 4C83 DW Notes1
Dale: 8429 0071 DW SongDataArea
Dale: Tha'ts not correct?
Daniel Bienvenu: based on thedisasm, what is at 8427 is : d0 4c 83 00 ... so invalid
Scott: Did you guys read about the Atari 24 hour challenge where teams of programmers built a game in a day?
Daniel Bienvenu: so it's offset?
Dale: Let me check for assembler phase errors...
Daniel Bienvenu: yes, it's offset. by one byte
Daniel Bienvenu: I don't understand why the compiled verison makes the first byte value at SoundAddrs the last byte of the notes,
Dale: Let me try it in BlueMSX, now that I know what I'm looking for...
Daniel Bienvenu: an hex editor or a dismassembler show that this SoundAddrs is not right
Daniel Bienvenu: if you manually set to 8428, it will work
Dale: Hmmm...it doesn't work in BlueMSX. VColeco seems to run it okay though.
Daniel Bienvenu: strange
Daniel Bienvenu: but VColeco is not the best emulator to test
Dale: I think I have a theory of what's wrong. It is the dreaded CR LF problem...
Daniel Bienvenu: Well, I don't know why but it looks like the compiler added "db 0d0h" as part of SoundAddrs: ...
Daniel Bienvenu: CR = Carriage Return? and LF = Line Feed?
Dale: my byte 0a somewhere is preceeded by a 0d maybe?
Dale: Correct.
Daniel Bienvenu: can you put the SoundAddrs table "apart" in another file, to avoid this problem?
Scott: Dale, I did have a question for you about ColecoVision programming.
Scott: How do you get input from the controllers? I am doing this in assembly and trying to learn
Dale: I think that my makefile is creating the problem.
Scott: Have you seen/written any good tutorials on this?
Dale: Let me see if I can fix it.
Daniel Bienvenu: Scott, the best thing to do is using controller routines
Scott: The OS7 ones? I have disassembled the code, but still not sure how to use them
Dale: Scott, there is a good example of it at http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/mayan/
Daniel Bienvenu: :-) I know how you feel, Scott.
Scott: Oh, yes. You sent me that code awhile ago
Scott: I will look it over.
Dale: Great.
Scott: The only real hurdle I face is getting input from the controller
Daniel Bienvenu: Well, you probably know that I'm working on a coleco programming document based on the coleco bios.
Scott: I have a document from you on that. It's early, I think
Daniel Bienvenu: well, the controllers routine part is not updated yet... but your version is certainly older than the version I did reccently
Dale: I've fixed my makefile...
Dale: http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/adam/wator1.rom is 1 byte shorter.
Dale: Ahha! Music plays.
Dale: Actually, the wator game I'm debugging uses the controller, with both fire buttons and the keypad.
Dale: It might be an example too. Look at main.z80.
Scott: I'm looking over main.z80 from mayansrc right now
Scott: Will play around with your example.
Scott: Looks like everything's there that I will need.
Dale: The 5 seconjd version is in the file os7def.z with a one line description of the POLLER OS7 call.
Dale: I program OS7 from the guide that Daniel now has a copy of.
Daniel Bienvenu: "Welcome to the planet Wator"?
Daniel Bienvenu: yes, the music is playing ;-)
Daniel Bienvenu: but my sound extractor still unable to extract your music :-( I'm wondering why
Dale: It is supposed to be a life simulation of sharks and fish from Planet WaTor (which is a water covered torus -- wraps around in both x and y)
Dale: Now what did I do wrong?
Daniel Bienvenu: I don'T know. maybe it's simply a problem of lack of memory ... windows bug
Dale: I'm having trouble. The original version of WaTor I did as a boot block program in 1989. I thought it might make a 1k game.
Dale: But the music uses up tonnes of space.
Dale: I'll have to compress the music I think.
Daniel Bienvenu: I think I can compress the music by using freq sweep to play two notes by code.
Daniel Bienvenu: 2 notes per code
Dale: And my simulation software expects to have 1.5k of buffers to calculate the next step. I need to compress the RAM usage.
Dale: You loose a lot moving from Adam to CV.
Daniel Bienvenu: you gain challenge
Dale: I was planning to compress the music with 4:1 compression, but I may not have the RAM to spare to have an uncompressed version around.
Daniel Bienvenu: Scott, I can email you the new version of my Coleco prog document that is based on the coleco bios and soon on the coleco prog document Dale is talking about.
Dale: I'm not sure if I should go to 4k to have the music I want, with 3 voice sound or not.
Daniel Bienvenu: Try 1K, and if it's going to be a 4K, we will be 3 then with a 4k coleco game for the minigame compo ;-)
Scott: Sorry, I'm back. Reading sourcecode for controller input
Daniel Bienvenu: don't be sorry Scott
Dale: I may be no music, just sound effects then.
Scott: Sure, if you would like to send it, I can read through it and give you comments.
Scott: The last serious piece of code that I wrote for my RPG was a dialogue box routine.
Dale: The music plays too fast. I'll have to lower the tempo.
Dale: The music is generated from my prof's music representation of "KERN".
Dale: I wrote the converter about 6 years ago.
Daniel Bienvenu: Dale, if you still have a document about that format (KERN or whatever), send me a copy.
Dale: I'm puzzled by BlueMSX
Dale: I can get it to control the fire buttons when I set the controls to Mouse.
Dale: But I can't find the keymap for any of the other modes to work with arrow keys.
Dale: Did you see the .krn file I send with the .tgz?
Scott: I bought space back in March to build a ColecoVision development site. URL: http://www.trilogy-games.com
Scott: There's just a simple entry page
Dale: I'm sure I have the kern format document around. It is also somewhere on the Internet. I'll look for it.
Scott: What happened to Daniel?
Dale: He disappeared.
Scott: Are you still planning to release some ColecoVision/ADAM games?
Dale: Yes, I've been working on games lots.
Dale: All different sorts of games.
Scott: You could easily port your code over to the Sega Master System/Game Gear
Dale: I'm hoping to get involved in James' project to build some PCBs and plastic shells.
Scott: Very similar architecture
Scott: What project is that?
Dale: James is working on a project to make self-published titles for the CV easier.
Scott: Plastic cartridge casings are the expensive part
Dale: He is working with Daniel and Guy Foster on the idea.
Scott: My dad gave me the design for a cartridge board
Scott: One of the last Micro Innovations products he developed
Dale: Guy Foster has a design for the cartridge board also.
Scott: He said it works, but never manufactured it.
Dale: Didn't you do something in the past with Good Deal Games?
Scott: With my current financial situation improving in leaps and bounds, I was thinking of doing a run.
Scott: Yes, we published Daniel's games
Scott: Game Pack I & II
Dale: Where did the plastic cases come from?
Scott: GDG wants to release more cartridges, but we ran out of boards. We have all the other parts, though.
Scott: Mike got a hold of 100 or so common games which we gutted and reused the plastic
Scott: I last spoke with a man in Taiwan who was willing to manufacture plastic casings in low runs
Dale: I see.
Dale: What kind of run size?
Scott: But it would still be 5000-6000 dollars
Scott: Actually, Eduardo Mello was supposed to manufacture cartridges in Brazil
Scott: But he disappeared and never spoke to Mike or I again. Good thing we didn't send him any money
Scott: We offered to.
Scott: I think the guy in Taiwan would let us do runs of 500 - 1000.
Scott: Can't remember off the bat
Scott: I manufactured 50 Game Pack I, 40 or so Game Pack II and 20 or so of Cosmo Fighter 3
Scott: They sold out, of course
Dale: My goal was to get the shell to be <$1 each, if possible.
Scott: Yes, but the plastic mold is what really costs you the money
Scott: Then the shells can be easily made from that.
Scott: It would need to reside with the manufacturer if you were to do this out of country
Scott: At least, that's my recollection
Dale: That makes sense.
Scott: We planned to also do these in different colors as well as a clear case
Dale: So the mold costs $3000, or more and the run is a few hundred dollars?
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Daniel
Scott: At the time, we just didn't have the money, so we opted for cannabilizing old carts until we could afford it
Daniel: my windows... crashed
Scott: The mold was probably a little more expensive than that, but once it pays for itself, doing the runs is reasonable
Scott: Sorry I can't be more concise. I spoke with this guy about 3 years ago
Daniel: the mold?
Daniel: which mold?
Daniel: making new casings?
Dale: I;m asking Scott about the injection molding plastic shells for cartridge plastic shells.
Scott: Dale - we're talking about the same thing
Dale: PCBs.
Scott: You have to have your perfect master which you can make subsequent casings from.
Scott: That's what I'm referring to
Dale: Right.
Scott: I originally went to Telegames
Scott: They were willing to do it, but they kinda wanted to screw me over
Daniel: Scott, you really have to talk with James de Carlo, he is lokking for the same things
Daniel: finding a way of making new casings and pcbs
Daniel: the mold is about 4000$
Scott: They were expensive, the design was shaky, and would not make additional casings if we needed them
Scott: Sounds about right
Scott: "The mold" as in the "master". Correct?
Scott: Not the total cost
Daniel: as the master, yes. James de Carlo is living in japan and think that he can find a way to make a deal in asia to build the mold and the new casings ... maybe you and James can manage something together.
Scott: I have lost the e-mail address from the Tawainese contact
Dale: Daniel, James hasn't been on to talk about this stuff with the last two weeks, so I've talked with GuyF and I was asking Scott what he knows.
Scott: But I know the person I got it from
Scott: Is James willing to put up this kind of money?
Scott: He could easily spend 6-8K
Scott: What about the PCBs
Scott: The person I was buying from got greedy, wanted to much money, and I would prefer to get them from another source or print them myself
Scott: Are you planning to have PCBs manufactured in the US or also in Japan?
Dale: I had a local source for PCBs, which was a company that was recommended to me by someone who has worked with them in the past.
Daniel: James is looking for new casings, pcbs and boxes. it's for the Colecoshop web site he's building
Scott: Perhaps he and I should talk
Daniel: I think so
Scott: Myself and Mike Thomasson at GDG would be willing to put some money into the project
Dale: Their pricing for 4 layer boards was resonable, and 2 layer cartridge PCBs would be a cinch.
Daniel: James too
Scott: I already have a good supply of EEPROMs and 7408s
Scott: Only have about 20-30 cartridge casings
Scott: Do you have his URL handy?
Daniel: I have actually about 90 cartridges, 40 pcbs, 50 eeprom 27c256 and no TTL7804
Dale: No, but I could find it again, if I looked around.
Scott: I've got about 200+ EEPROMs, 150 7408s, 20-30 casings, but no PCBs
Scott: Ahh, thanks.
Daniel: my last reply to GDG telling you guys to contact him.
Scott: Will e-mail him when I get done talking with you guys
Scott: You guys can reach me at: sgordon@trilogy-games.com
Scott: That's the ColecoVision site I'm building
Daniel: you know Scott, I lost all my emails in April this year. So I lost a lot of email addresses
Scott: Dale, are you planning to attend the next Wed meeting, Dale?
Dale: I expect to be on by about 10pm.
Scott: I found an excellent supplier of EEPROMs from a guy on eBay
Scott: Basically, he sold me brand new chips for dirt cheap
Dale: I need a USB eeprom burner.
Dale: Any suggestions?
Scott: I'm using the one my dad used in his Micro Innovation days
Scott: Would you like me to get you the name?
Daniel: My EEPROM burner came from a kit by Batronix. I think they also have an EEPROM burner that use USB port
Scott: His eBay Username is cool-lynx
Daniel: http://progshop.com/shop/programmer/comparison_test/index.shtml
Dale: Batronix definately has an appropriate one.
Daniel: a site that compare some eeprom burners
Daniel: well yes, it's batronix web site :-D
Scott: Crap! He's not currently selling any 27C256 or 27256 chips
Daniel: 27c256 are discontinued for a long time, no?
Daniel: I mean, no one is making more 27c256 eeprom
Daniel: but I got some from old motherboards
Scott: Not sure, but they can be found quite easily on eBay and Jameco
Scott: You're probably right. They most likely don't manufacture them anymore
Dale: Anyway, it's late here.
Daniel: We talked also about making pcbs to use bankswitching
Daniel: Goodnight Dale. Keep me informed about your project
Dale: Thanks for helping me with my bug Daniel. I have much compressing to do to make my stuff all fit in 1k RAM+1k ROM even with 16 of VRAM.
Daniel: send me an email ;-)
Scott: Have a good evening, Dale
Scott: Nice finally talking with you
Scott: Will see you next week
Dale: If I get it playable, I'll send you an email.
Daniel: ok
Daniel: talk to you next week
Dale: bye all.
Daniel: bye Dale
Scott: Bye
Dale: poof
Dale left chat session
Daniel: hey Scott, are you also planning to make pcbs that can hold bigger rom size than 32k?
Scott: Oh yeah
Scott: Yes, I was looking into that very thing
Daniel: to make an rpg game with a lot of graphics, it needs bankswitching.
Scott: I talked with Sean Kelley about developing a multicart
Daniel: unfortunatly, rpg game on colecovision is more a dream than a real possible game project, because of the 1k ram
Scott: He did one, but it was pretty arcane, with a physical switch on the outside of the casing
Scott: No, it's quite doable. VRAM can compensate for this a little.
Scott: And, of course, spanning the game over multiple cartridges
Scott: That's my idea, at least
Daniel: VRAM is slow, and using VRAM also mean to not use bitmap pictures
Scott: Not necessarily. Graphics are tile based anyways. if you are using the name table correctly, this shouldn't be an issue
Daniel: Scott : 1, Daniel 0
Scott: I setup VRAM to point all 3 regions to the same area of the screen
Daniel: yes, that free up VRAM space
Scott: So, yes, there's only 256 8X8 images
Scott: But what takes up most of the screen?
Scott: Graphics of brick, walls, grass, water, etc.
Scott: This can be done rather cleverly with the 256 images, even though it has to include the character set
Scott: What I think really eats up the space is the text in an RPG
Scott: I was shocked at how quickly space was eaten up.
Daniel: Well, the rpg project I calculated used more than a 256 charset and only for the tiles.
Scott: But you'
Scott: But you're right. The game still has to remain fairly simple
Scott: Then your 3 regions can't point all to the same pattern table and your name table would need to remain unaltered
Scott: To extend the 256, I was going to swap out the last row when in different regions of the game
Scott: That way it don't appear that everything is made up of the same boring graphics
Scott: Are you planning to program an RPG?
Daniel: well, I abandonned the idea to concentrate my effort on making documents and updating my library GETPUT
Scott: Well, I'm just now getting back into ColecoVision programming. School and the controller issue hindered my progress
Scott: I did, however, earn a degree, so I can't complain terribly much.
Scott: I did fix that error with The Font Suite
Daniel: Hey! if you have time, try programming a minigame for the minigame compo 2005... like Dale , Guy Foster and I did.
Scott: What is Compo 2005?
Daniel: an URL is better than words...
Daniel: http://www.ffd2.com/minigame/
Scott: Going there now
Daniel: you can visit the pages for the previous years of this compo
Scott: Sure, this looks like fun. Is there a cut off date?
Daniel: Well, I thin it's september
Daniel: it must be mentioned somewhere
Scott: Looks like the end of September
Scott: Did you read about those Atari programmers who stayed up 24 hours creating new games?
Scott: So it looks like entries can be between 1K - 4K
Daniel: no, i didn't heard about it
Scott: It was actually all over the news
Scott: Also in EGM game magazine
Scott: I think I also read an article on the web
Scott: Let me look
Daniel: my personnal records is programming a game in QuickBASIC in less than 3 hours.
Scott: For this month's feature Matt Hawkins told about his experiences serving as a mentor for a six-student team at the Retro Redux challenge at Parson's in April. The challenge, sponsored by Parsons and Atari, was to develop Atari Flashback (Atari 2600 technology) games in 24 hours.
Scott: http://blender.rutgers.edu/~njigda/meetings/2005/200505.php
Scott: Let me find a better link
Daniel: six-student team to program new coleco games... could be cool.
Scott: http://general.gamerfeed.com/gf/pr/8546/
Scott: Yeah, the event was really interesting
Scott: One could only imagine what could be on ColecoVision in 24 hours
Scott: The students were using a specialized tool built for making Atari games
Scott: Some teams had multiple entries
Scott: I've always hated the Atari 2600, and felt they should have at least given the students Atari 5200s to program
Scott: There's a lot more possibilities with a 32K ROM
Scott: As you showed us with your Game Packs
Scott: Here's the link I'm looking for!
Scott: http://retroredux.parsons.edu/
Scott: Downloadable tools
Scott: Tools are about 781K
Daniel: you know, I will not download them... my knowledge about atari 2600 is not good enough compared to the one who already build new games for this system.
Daniel: But it's interresting
Daniel: if you suggest me to download the tools to see what they look like, I will do it
Scott: I will take a look at them later on tonight and let you know if they're worth the effort
Scott: Some of the students coded purely in assembly
Scott: So I'm not sure how extensively they used this design package
Daniel: well, maybe the one who bought the name coleco and colecovision will takes the idea and ask for new games to build a tv-game "coleco flashback" or something like that.
Scott: That would be nice.
Scott: This site that James is building really sounds great
Scott: The problem is having a reliable supply of parts. PCBs and casings go fast
Scott: I better let you go.
Scott: It's almost 2 am on your side
Daniel: hey! the tools! it's not tools! it's files for the software "Game Maker"
Scott: Hmmm
Scott: Yeah, I don't see the actual program
Daniel: James want a "coleco community" web site. That's why the forum is done to make every coleco fans talk about coleco, exchange about coleco information and even make trades.
Scott: http://gamemaker.nl/
Scott: The program looks really good
Daniel: yes, and I know there is a summer camp for kids where someone teach them how to use this software
Scott: And it's free
Scott: I'm downloading v6.1 now
Daniel: it's free ... except if you want 3D things
Scott: Unfortunately I've got dialup. Ugh!
Daniel: me too.
Daniel: modem 56k
Daniel: actually slower by Yahoo Messenger and this Chat applet
Scott: You're right. A whole slew of 3D effects is included in the full version
Scott: Oh yeah, and the logo is plastered on the game unless you upgrade to the full version
Scott: Registration is only $20 US
Daniel: so, if I understand well the kit proposed by this "24h contest", it's simply a design of a game "look and feel" as an atari 2600 game, and the atari development team will probably program in asssembly the real game for the flashback system after the contest.
Scott: Some students actually coded in assembly, though
Scott: But I doubt that this tool actually was used to render atari 2600 ROMs
Daniel: well, maybe they have a tool to convert the game maker source code (the .gm6 file) into assembler, but i think the 24h doesn't include this part. I think this tool is only used by the Atari development team
Daniel: if it exists
Daniel: The little Game Maker Tutorial in the Game Design file is interresting.
Scott: You're probably right
Scott: Almost got the sucker downloaded
Daniel: with steps to build a game based on the sample added in the packadge, and links to other games source code
Daniel: well, I have to return programming spectar a little bit before sleeping. talk to you next week. and don't forget to talk with James and check your emails.
Daniel: Goodnight!
Daniel: Goodnight Scott!
Daniel: * poof *
Daniel left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Scott
(Scott snickers evilly)
Scott left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to rich
rich left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place

AdamCon.org > chat > Wed 2005-08-03
Send comments to the feedback page. I am Dale Wick