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JohnBuell

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Posts posted by JohnBuell

  1. Posted

    I've been looking for a way, without a cable, without loading 68757 emulators on my laptop (already up to 3) to be able to pick out a .atr image file (or similar), "mount" it in whichever OS (OS X, Windows whatever or Linux) and just get a view of the .atr's contents. Is there a quick and dirty way of doing this? I'd love to be able to screenshot everything so that I have directory listing images, or even hardcopy, but this isn't a requirement. I just want to know "ok, disk123.atr has game xyzzy" on it, load that in the emulator or SIO2whatever and go play! Help?

  2. Posted

    Hmm,

     

    besides Speedscript, I think there is something like Speed Calc, both from Compute! magazine. In my collection of BBK tools, there is also something like BBK Calc. And err, the german GUI "SAM" (Screen Aided Management) also has a calc program. Attached these PD programs here (note: SAM is the type-in version)...

     

    -Andreas Koch.

     

    Vielen Dank, Andreas!

     

    Ich werde heute, nach der Arbeit, diese Programme ansehen müssen!

    (I'll have to take a look at these programs tonight after work!)

  3. Posted · Edited by JohnBuell

    Well I've only ever used Visicalc, SynCalc and Mini Office II... and I can see where there could be some great improvements.

     

    My grandfather used SynCalc for his business for a while. I've got it in a box somewhere. My evil enemy somewhere. ;)

    So much Atari, so little time! :)

     

    No, wait, better: Atari longa, vita brevis est!

  4. Posted

    While we've all been drooling over the custom XM301/1064 cases for SIO2SD, has anyone attempted the same thing for other connector kits, like SIO2PC serial or SIO2PC USB? I'm just wondering what a little maze of boxes would look like, and should I get a couple more XM301 modems for someone other than myself (who is nearly completely skill-less with drills/saws/solder/etc)? :)

  5. Posted

    Now that our own flashjazzcat has released probably THE ultimate 8-bit word processor, (no wonder he calls it 'The Last Word'), is there anything as slick and powerful out there in spreadsheet land? Should we beg and plead with someone to start working on "The Last Cent"? ;)

  9. Posted

    I did what had to be done,both here and on JS-II,because things have gotten so out of hand.Also,Albert and Tempest seem to have blind eyes and deaf ears to everything here on AA,for some unknown reason known only to them.

    Congratulations on getting yourself banned from this thread.

     

    ..Al

     

    <- Celebrates quietly ->

     

    I wish I knew what the heck was going on, or perhaps maybe I don't.

     

    Any other news on discoveries in EOTB, Eric? Any new screenshots? Beat the game yet? ;)

  11. Posted

    I've always been frustrated when starting at level 0 in this game. I can find (I think) all of the secret rooms, but I only ever go as far as getting the saw and the extra metals, because I have NO idea what to do with the gas monster, the radioactive room, the room of monsters that look like jewels... Is there any explanation for these? I mean, I can get through levels 1-10 okay, but this one has long perplexed me.

  12. Posted

     

    Personally I would recommend a multisystem TV rather than converter. The picture is better for one, and I think (bear in mind it;s been a few years) that you can get a small tv for the same cost of a convertor... Of course space is always an issue.

     

    Space is more of an issue for me right now, but for $10 more than a converter, I could have a 14" multi-standard TV, which might make more sense for demos. Hm....

  17. Posted

    A multi-standard monitor like some Amiga 1084s models will handle PAL

     

    Not all the 1084S monitors were so versatile. My 1084S-P monitor is NTSC and will only show PAL in monochrome. I have not see any dual standard Commodore monitors in the U.S.

     

    Being in Chicago though you are close to at least two world-standard appliance vendors who still stock CRTs able to display composite pictures in PAL and NTSC. Alternatively some LCD monitors can also do it. My gallery has a Samsung TW215 with my PAL 800XL connected.

     

    Some people have suggested buying multi-standard monitors off EBay too. The was a JVC unit recently that was popular but I forget the specs.

     

    Just for the sake of doing the occasional demos, I was thinking about just getting a basic PAL to NTSC converter from 220 Electronics in Elk Grove. The other PAL stuff I have is on DVDs, but I can get my laptop to handle those. ;)

  19. Posted

    Haha - at my last place we used an old Macintosh as a door stop for our equipment room...

     

    Here at work we use an old APC UPS for a door stop when we need one. Good old lead batteries.

     

    Ibaeza: Maybe I should have kept my Timex-Sinclair hunk of junk from 1983. Lord knows where it is now. A landfill, probably.

  22. Posted

    I recently remember seeing a thread that said, essentially, that if you get the right parts and cut a hole in the back of the 600XL, you can basically set it up for the same monitor connector as the 800XL. Is this correct? Are there other options for a 600XL?

     

    And what options, if any, exist for the 400? The cord is hardwired, correct? What kind of signal is it sending? It doesn't look as if you can plug it into a standard RCA video jack....

  23. Posted

    Star Raiders - aspects are loosely based on the Star Trek games doing the rounds, especially the Galactic Map.

     

    Star Trek was on the mainframe possibly before most home computers existed. The thing is, probably all those classic mainframe games are just turn-based text only. I can't recall any having even vector graphics, you'd have needed a 3179 compatible terminal to run that anyway. And even then, it wouldn't be realtime - terminals just didn't work that way.

     

    All those dictator/serf type games might have orignated from mainframes. I remember first seeing such a game for the TRS-80. Another case of being turn-based and having minimal to none reliance on any graphics.

     

    No idea what language the games would have used. Most likely a compiled high-level language like Fortran or PL/1... or maybe they even took the trouble doing them in Assembler.

    Some of the games floating around might have been in CLIST or REXX - it's a fairly simple job to translate that to Basic.

     

    And of course, Zork. Was Star Raiders based on Star Trek or Spacewar (which is splitting hairs a bit, but Spacewar had already been Atari's first video game attempt)?

  24. Posted

    So, sadly, I recently acquired an 800XL that I didn't know was dead until I got it home and tried to hook it up. The right light comes on, and the monitor "blanks", but nothing else happens. Any troubleshooting suggestions? Might it be salvageable? Any parts that I should pry out of it if it isn't? Anybody want to take the cartridge port, joystick ports, and my 7" lcd tv and try to make a portable out of it? :)

     

    Or should I just go the doorstop route? :)

     

    is the keyboard good? that's always worth a few bucks

     

    I can't really tell yet, I haven't started taking anything apart.

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