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NoahsMyBro

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Posts posted by NoahsMyBro

  1. Posted

    MODS: If this would be better in the 5200 forum, feel free to move me.

     

    For years I've wanted to add an A/V out to one of my 5200s. A recent post inspired me to get off my butt and do it already.

     

    So, I went to Radio Shack this evening to gather the parts. Not at all surprising, they don't carry everything I need.

     

    Have any of you done this mod? For any of you in the NJ area, where do you usually find the parts you need for projects like this?

     

    Thanks. I'll be waiting for the answer, soldering iron in hand...

  3. Posted

    Where are you guys looking at this list? If I go to the qbstatus.txt page linked to in the first message in this thread, it makes no mention of anything being packed. It only says that carts #x-xx will be shipped the week of .......

     

    Is there another status page I'm not aware of?

     

    Steve...waiting for #86, as patiently as I can.....

  4. Posted

    Al -

    I'll bet most people don't even nbotice this forum. I'm guessing if you mention the poll in one of the more popular forums (2600, 5200, etc...), or on the main page, you'll get a greater response.

     

    I'm using Opera 5.12. Over the last week or so, I've noticed one weirdness. I mentioned this in a previous post, but it might have been overlooked, so if you already read this, sorry, I don't mean to nag.

     

    When I load the message board, it fails to load completely/correctly at first. Opera thinks it's finished, but either only shows a small amount of the top of the page, or shows incomplete, unrendered code, or shows nothing at all. Yet the browser thinks it has the whole page; the indicator that toggles between 'stop' or 'reload' shows the 'reload' status, and the progress indicator behaves as though the page is completely loaded. At that point, if I hit reload the board loads perfectly. I'm pretty sure this isn't directly related to the new software, as I believe it worked fine at first when the new board went live. However, it might be related to some tweak or another that has occurred since the board went live.

     

    Steve

  5. Posted

    I agree non-2600 games should not count, but I have to add my 2 cents anyway:

     

    By far the most competitive head-to-head game I can think of, without a doubt has to be that cool video-game/hologram thing from the 80's James Bond flick where as you did worse you felt genuine pain through the controller. (I read about a real-life thing like that recently at /.) I think it was the same scene where James Bond shot his opponent under the table at the end.

     

    Getting back to the real world, my friend and I were never more at each other's throats than when we played Marble Madness head to head, Trak Balls flying!

     

    Another very competitive head-to-head coin-op was Discs Of Tron.

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    A few days ago I noticed a quirk on the board, whereby when I click on the Message Boards link, all that loads is the header graphics. Nothing below the orange/blue stripe appears. My browser thinks the page is complete. Consistently, if I then hit reload the entire page loads just fine.

     

    I am not positive, but I am pretty sure this was NOT happening from the start of the new boards. In other words, I think something has changed more recently than the implementation of the new board that is causing this. Perhaps a tweak was made somewhere that affected this.

     

    My browser is Opera 5.12; I realize it's not really mainstream but I strongly prefer it over IE or Netscape, so if you can figure out what's going on I'd be thrilled. And I'll even try to remember to thank you guys in person at the next PhillyClassic.

     

    Steve

  7. Posted

    I realize this is really, really pathetic, but I can't stop playing Minesweeper until I successfully clear the medium board in around 30 seconds. And several years ago I stopped marking the bombs, in an attempt to increase the challenge. I no longer remember how to play marking the bombs, and when I try I confuse myself!

  8. Posted

    You guys keep suggesting a disk drive, cd-rom drive, discman/supercharger/cuttle-cart mod, etc....

     

    In the interests of weight and dimensions, why not implement some sort of flash-storage? Memory Stick, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, etc... All of those can be connected to a PC/Mac easily using readily available USB adapters. While we'll all likely have different formats, most of us probably already have at least one of these types of cards for some other consumer electronics product, so at least a subset of us will possibly have a headstart, at least on the media.

     

    The flashcards are lighter, smaller, and have ample capacity. I'm guessing they use the least juice as well, less important in a home system as opposed to a portable device, but still nice in an environmentally sound sort of way.

     

    I personally don't have a clue how a flashcard like those I've mentioned could be integrated into a homebrew thing. I suspect there's a lot more grass-roots knowledge/docs/ability to use the more mainstream storage ideas like the disks (floppy, hard, zip, cd). But if it's feasible I think a flash-card is the way to go.

  9. Posted

    meekly, I ask.....

     

    I've programmed in Quick-Basic and VB 4.0. Years ago I took an intro-level C class in college, did very well, never used C outside of the class, and only remember how to write comments (I think).

     

    Assuming I want to write a graphically very simple game for the 2600, with minimal sound & collision-detection/fast-controller/reaction requirements, how ambitious a task would this be?

     

    I'm assuming that the biggest hurdle (not meaning to minimize this) would be having to learn assembly. That alone would probably prevent me from even a Hello World program, but I'm just curious about this.

     

    Thanks,

    Steve

  10. Posted

    Hi Chris. I just finished reading your interview with Bill Kunkel. It was a good read. Thanks for the time and effort you put forth - I enjoyed it.

     

    One note though:

    I'm not very skilled/knowledgeable regarding web design, but your webpage has a slight quirk. I'm browsing with Opera 5.12, and when I try to view your page, most of the text doesn't appear. Opera allows the user to toggle between 'document mode' and 'user mode'. These settings refer to how style -sheets are handled, I think. I'm not sure about this stuff, but basically I think it means I can choose to view the page as it was written, or, in the case of colors, fonts, backgrounds, etc... I cna choose to override the original code and view the page using my pre-defined style settings.

     

    On your page, in order to see the majority of the text, I needed to override your design. Until I did that, the page looked almost completely blank to me - just black nothingness.

  11. Posted

    I don't remember how the game is implemented on the 5200. According to the manual archive here at AA, firing is accomplished by pushing the joystick in the direction you wish to shoot, and pressing the fire button.

     

    Technically, I think 2 of the 4 fire buttons on the 5200 controller are electronically identical; IE, simply duplicates of the same contact. If that's the case, obviously the 5200 controller then has only 3 unique fire buttons.

  12. Posted

    I don't even remember the home game. I didn't really like the arcade game, and so I wasn't interested in the home version when it came out. I have it for the 5200, and maybe for the 2600, I'm not sure.

     

    Maybe I should give it another try, now that I'm 20 years different than I was then.

     

    8-)

  14. Posted

    Man! After I read Thomas' post, I was (naively?) thinking he meant I'd be angry, because I was so blown away by other, far higher scores than my own. I never even thought somebody may have cheated, or that there would be minimal entries.

     

    Earlier, when I first read about the contest, I was hoping there would be so few entries I had a legitimate shot, but as I saw more posts I realized that was just a pipe-dream.

     

    As I reserved spot #51 (!!), winning slots 4-10 will be effectively meaningless, but I still hope I make it into the top-10 anyway.

  15. Posted

    Just for the record:

     

    * I think the off-center AA in the circular logo at the left of the forum index does look cool.

     

    * I don't think I've noticed any change in the speed of the board. If there has been a change, I suspect things are faster than they were.

     

    * I'm using Opera 5.12, and have since sometime last year. I like it immensely, and the board works very well with it.

     

    * Whenever I add an emoticon to any of my messages, the cursor relocates itself to the top-left of the textbox.

     

    *Stylistically-speaking, I'd also lose the Forums Flowerbox. However, I have no complaints about the rest of the board.

  18. Posted

    :?:

     

    Where does Atari Age get the moolah to pay for things like the new server, bandwidth, etc... ?

     

    For that matter, do you guys (Al & Al) have other 'real' jobs to earn a living, or are you the Lords of Atari Age full-time?

     

    Enquiring minds want to know!

  21. Posted

    I'm sooo stupid!

     

    I was improving at the game, and I gave up too soon. I must have been really tired last night, because at about 10:30 or 10:45PM EASTERN time, I added an hour instead of subtracting an hour, and determined that I only had about 15 minutes to submit my score, so I didn't bother trying again. Man, I could have played for another hour!

     

    D'OH!!!

  22. Posted

    Well, With only about 30 minutes left I gave up. I'm guessing I'll end up in the 6-10 range, but as I was #51 (!!!!) to reserver a copy, even if I am in the 6-10s I won't win squat.

     

    But, I gave it a shot, and I've got the cramped left hand to prove it!

     

    Another week & I'd be much, much better. I think I could hit 200k if I had another week. More if I had the rest of the month. Hell, if I was using a more suitable controller I'd have probably broken 200k already.

     

    Oh well. This has definitely brought back to me the competitive feelings I used to get playing the 2600 25 years ago. Even down to the typical 'blaming it on the controller' excuse!

     

    Congrats to the winners. This game is tough!

  23. Posted

    Thomas -

    First, I've got to say, Thrust is as good or better than any professionally published 2600 game I've ever played. It is amazing!

     

    Secondly, in the first page of this thread you said that the last digit, modulo 5, indicates how many 100,000 points the player scored. I remember nothing of my advanced math, and don't know what that means. I just scored over 100k for the first time, and the last digit of my score is zero, just as it's always been, so my score looks like I scored under 10,000 points, rather than over 100,000.

     

    Could you explain how 'modulo' works, for the ignorant (like me) among us?

     

    Thanks,

    Steve

  24. Posted

    Shoot!!!

     

    I'm stuck on Level 6, dying at about 37k. This is very discouraging.

     

    I don't suppose there could be some sort of consolation prize for best effort, huh?

     

    Steve....wistful for those days of yore when he was a wee lad of 15, and could kick-butt-and-take-names in the videogaming realm....

  25. Posted

    Well, I couldn't get any emulators & Thrust to work satisfactorily under Win2k, so for this I'm booting into Windows 98SE.

     

    I've been thinking I should try altering my parallel port setting (Std, ECP, EPP, etc..), but I haven't had the time to deal with this since I posted. Considering I wanted to do this in order to compete in the Thrust+ contest, and that ends June 9, if I don't get this resolved soon it's all moot. If I figure anything out over the weekend I'll post back and let you guys know.

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