[Blast Off!]

I tried the AUDC / AUDF route : http://atariage.com/forums/blog/7/entry-1897-are-you-ready-for-this-pt-2/and it kinda-sorta worked (not really) although it would be interesting to try to see whether pure voice (versus music) would sound any better.

[New computer time]

 

And a Vectrex

 

Yep, I'm with you on that one.

 

I have Win10 on my work laptop and it's not bad - at least with the interface I use. In fact, I've grown to like the search for installed apps rather than hunting through the start menu.

 

Upgrading also means you'll get a more powerful computer, which is probably quieter! It's also a good time to review your needs list and check out your options rather than just doing a like for like replacement. e.g. laptop vs desktop and Chromebooks are great if all you need is a browser.

[Tempest 2017 - value of an unfinished project]

Turns out the guy doesn't want it enough to make an 8 hour journey. But maybe I'll see if I can at least find the time to make up a home stretch checklist for it.

[Progress in Programming]

Some suggestions

 

master[MAXSIZE], working[WORKSIZE]; // declare as global or use malloc so they use the heap rather than the stack

 

Replace for (i = 0; (a = fgetc(fp)) != EOF; i++) master = a; with fread

Or, make the code line based & use fgets rather than trying to load the entire file into memory at once.

 

All of those hexcode comparisons are ugly. Better to use the actual characters so you don't make errors remembering ASCII codes. You should probably also look at the ctype.h functions.

 

Looks like you're doing a tokenizer. Wouldn't hurt to see if you could use strtok rather than brute forcing it yourself. (Although strtok isn't the easiest function to understand & use.)

 

I'd also use pointers rather than array indexes - more efficient code.

 

That all being said - sometimes being told you can't do something is enough to motivate you to prove them wrong. And there's nothing wrong with brute force code to get you over the initial challenges. But learn the libraries and leverage those functions - you don't have to re-invent the wheel (why write your own quick sort routine when qsort exists), there's less risk of introducing your own bugs and they are typically faster because the library can be in native code.

[My Humble PC Software Collection]

Null-modem - a serial cable with the transmit & receive wires crossed. I think I used this: http://www.pcxt-micro.com/dos-interlink.html

[My Humble PC Software Collection]

Yeah. Before I junked my last 5 1/4 equipped tower PC I went through my stash of floppies and copied them to an external hard drive.

 

Butt that was easy in comparison to recovering the files from a proprietary format backup CD. In that case I lucked out 'cause I still had the original software, the parallel port CD burner, and an old laptop which could support both.

 

I also managed to do some backups using a laplink null-modem cable with a PC to PC copy program.

[Why can't things be black and white? How about black and grey?]

Black is easy - the absence of light energy coming from an object. Of course, black might just be very little light energy, or the colors the object reflects aren't those being generated by the local light sources, or the colors aren't those which can be detected by the observer.

 

White is much more difficult. For humans it's when the signals generated by the three adjacent "RGB" cones are high and relatively equal. Then our brains say "that's white".

 

Black is primarily a function of light energy, white is primarily a function of the observer.

[My Humble PC Software Collection]

I few years ago I went through my stash of (legal) PC software (games), seeing what would still run. Stuff which ran on DOS was basically no problem, and I'm sure a bit of fiddling with DOSBox would handle any exceptions. Anything which needed Windows 3.1 was a write-off, mostly because of stuff like Win-G and obsolete video codecs. Windows 9x software had a better chance of working, although some still had "wrong version" install issues.

[Games I've beaten over the years]

I know what you mean. But at the same time, sometimes playing a game stops being fun. So while I want to complete the game, I don't want to keep playing the game.

 

However, I do remember completing several N64 games like Super Mario 64 (100%), both Zeldas, both Banjos and Diddy Kong Racing.

[this ain't my first rodeo]

Roll the Ball™ - slide puzzle on the App Store

 

Yeah, that was the game which got me to thinking about making my own - mostly because I wanted to experiment with a different play and goal mechanics.

[Swift 3 catch 22]

Looks like Swift 2.3 is now "deprecated", so I will need to upgrade the code to Swift 3 to submit it to the app store. (Assuming I manage to shake my funk and get enthusiastic about it again.)

[3D TV is dead]

It appears manufacturers are still making 3-D Blu-Ray players, although who knows for how much longer.

 

Although it does make me wonder whether the lack of new 3D TVs will have a "trickle back" impact on the sales of 3D Blu-Ray discs, and from there on 3D films.

 

 

The HDR standards increase both the dynamic range and the color gamut which, in theory, will make the resulting video more realistic (ignoring the differences between RGB and full spectrum).

[3D TV is dead]

I agree with both of you on all points.

 

IMHO 4K is only good when you sit really close to a really big TV - and when the signal isn't severely compressed. (Although 4K+ does make more sense on the production side.) And not only would I have to replace my perfectly good HDTV for 4K, but I'd need to replace my home theater amplifier (plus a source of 4K content).

 

HDR is a nice bullet point on the box, but I doubt it will make many inroads beyond the console crowd.

[Around the World in 385 BBSs]

BBSs were also big for file sharing, especially in the 90s.

 

I played around on BBSs quite a bit. In the 80s the BBSs were mostly single user. While you were connected other callers got busy signals. Mostly text based message boards - lowest common denominator as this was the time of 8 bit home computers.

 

In the 90s I remember big multi-user BBSs. Lots of phone numbers to handle the different modem flavors. The BBSs were often interconnected with others (e.g. FidoNet). Some had lots of files with new ones evry day - this was the time of shareware and the PC dominated (although I'm sure there were Amiga and ST specific BBSs).

 

There were also the big guys - CompuServe, Genie, Delphi, AOL.

[A Missing Chromosome BBS]

Yeah, I imagine any VoIP based phoneline (e.g. MagicJack) would trash modem audio. Modems were designed for analog copper connections and the the simple codecs used by old channel based telcos. The 56K modems actually required a digital connection from the BBS to the digital to analog converter at the caller's end.

[this ain't my first rodeo]

No video yet, but I have put up the instruction guide (with screenshots) at http://slidetiltroll.walkerville123.ca/

[Additions and Possible Losses]

If the cat is meowing, it's trying to tell you something (literally - feral cats seldom meow, even two house cats don't meow to each other). I'd say give him a good once over to see if there's anything which seems to hurt. Also make sure the cat is drinking and urinating - that's a common issue with older cats (especially toms).

[Rogue One - A Spoiler-free Movie Review]

Cool video - I'll have to watch the whole thing later.

 

I like the part about the kit bash library. Maybe the problem Eric mentioned was that they didn't use enough CG glue when putting everything together.

 

I agree, a very interesting video - thanks for linking to it.

 

Now knowing how they probably created it, I don't think it was a texture / model issue (although I have to wonder why they didn't start with the 8 foot model, maybe it doesn't exist anymore...), more a paint & shadow problem I think. It was just too smooth and too perfect, maybe. Something to freeze frame when it comes out on Bluray.

[How to play Star Raiders with a 3 year old]

Might I suggest buying some real arcade buttons? http://www.recroom-amusements.com/would be a place to start. Personally I'd recommend using leaf-switch buttons instead of microswitch. Just make sure you get the ones for metal panels (instead of wood).

[Rogue One - A Spoiler-free Movie Review]

Saw it in IMAX 3D yeterday. I think part of the problem with 3D movies (especially those not shot in 3D) is the dichotomy between depth of focus and 3D depth. This really (really) stood out in the hanger scene with Cassian being in focus and "in front" of the out-of-focus volunteers. But then the camera changes focus for just a moment to put the crowd in focus, and Cassian out of focus. Ugh

 

Nathan, do you know how they created the CGI models of the Star Destroyers? For some reason they sometimes looked to me like they were made from LEGO.

 

My only problem with the movie is it's a one-shot. While it does a great job filling in the backstory for a couple of lines in A New Hope, I'm not sure there's a lot of other similar opportunities in the movie canon.

[Star Wars Rogue One - Spoilers Talk n'at]

Finally got to see it yesterday - in IMAX 3D

 

I think Leia worked much better than Tarkin because of time, little / no dialog, and scale. The more Tarkin filled the screen, the less "life like" he looked.

 

But on the CGI front, I found the Star Destroyers looked like they were made of LEGO.

 

Re R2D2 and C3PO while a cool cameo, it begs the question - shouldn't they have been on the blockade runner?

 

I agree it was a fine movie.

[TabloTV Part 2]

Back when I subscribed to Schedules Direct (to feed the MythTV box I had) I put together a program to extract out the movies playing in HD. So each week I could look though the list of movies and see if there were any I might want to tape.

[Now he’s in trouble]

It could get worse . . . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Amuck

[Nintendoes what Atari did]

At least Nintendoes what Sega don't

 

For now. But I don't see how the Switch can compete against phones, tablets and "free to play" games on one side, and the far more powerful and established Microsoft and Sony consoles on the other. The only sensible alternative is to become a third party developer (like Sega).

[iOS programming - a non-programming roadblock]

I had a flash of insight last night and realized what I used for a password. So now I should be able to sign up as a full fledged Apple Developer.