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Robert M

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Blog Comments posted by Robert M

    Cybergoth

    Posted

    Have you ever tried "StreetBeat" (C64) aka "GhettoBlaster"? You play as a DJ searching for great music. You explore a city looking for tapes (flashing doors). You take tapes you find back to the studio. Then you have to play them and get 10 people to dance in order to make the song a success. There are gang members trying to ruin your day, but you can start them dancing with a blast of music from your boom box. There are drug addicts that you can not stop and you have to run from them. The ending is lame, but the gameplay is very enjoyable.

     

    Cheers!

    Robert M

    Posted

    -> BUG! There seems to be a bug in the compiler for the multisprite kernel. It seems that sprite images are stored in ROM with both a leading and trailing zero byte.

    Yes, I discovered this some time ago and fixed it. The additional zero was removed and the space is recovered, and the bug with the player0 sprite is fixed.

     

    Cool, Is the fix available to the public yet, or is it still unreleased?

     

    -> The way the language defines sprite images and sets them to a particular sprite does not allow you to reuse a sprite definition for different sprites.

    Yes, though there is way to do this. I should document it.

     

    ...snip...

     

    Thanks for the tip! That's a handy trick to know.

    Guest

    Posted

    Sorry to see that the last post is two years ago. A 4 player Indy 500 would be great. Wonder if it could be done with 4 paddles instead by just changing the way that the controls work a little. Hmm... this would be easy in bB with multisprite kernel. Maybe I'll do it!

     

     

    Yeah I had bold plans 2 years ago. I have switched jobs twice, moved across the country, and added baby to the family since then, so things have been on hold for a while. :)

     

     

    If you want to tackle a 4 player indy in bBasic go for it! Although, the multisprite kernel does not support reading the paddle. You could use the standard kernel, and flicker the sprites at 30 Hz which in my opinion if they are high contrast on a monochrome background, it is hardly noticeable. Venture flickers all sprites at 30 Hz for example.

     

    Cheers!

    Robert M

    Posted

    Thanks for the feedback from both of you.

     

    I just noticed that the virtual sprites can not scroll smoothly off and on the top of the screen as they can on the bottom. They just vanish 4 lines from the top. It looks like the horizontal positioning of the first virtual sprite happens in the top 4 lines on screen. Its no biggie, just a characteristic about the kernel worth noting.

     

    Cheers!

    Robert M

    Posted

    First, put your "on...goto" statements in their own subroutines, so you can "gosub" to the one you want. But you do *not* need to put a "return" after each "on...goto" statement. (On the other hand, putting a "return" after each one *would* keep you from falling through if none of the "goto" branches are taken.) Then end each *frame* subroutine with "return"

     

    That's a good work around. Thanks!

    Robert M

    Posted

    I think Fred/batari is going to have "on...gosub" in the next version, because it turns out that it's easy to implement.

    Yeah, the code is in place and working, though not officially released yet. I remember making a DOS/Windows build with this functionality and sent it to someone in a PM but I may have posted it to the forum as well.

     

     

    That's great news. I think ON...GOSUB will prove very useful. Do you have a planned release date?

    Robert M

    Posted

    -> Looking at the .asm output from the compiler I see that the entire language library is included even if I never use most of the functions. Randomize for example and all the PF scroll functions are included in the image even though I didn't use them. I understand why this was done, but it would greatly reduce ROM consumption if unused functions were not included leaving more room for user defined code.

    The entire library isn't included (math routines need to be manually included, not unlike other languages) but yes, the random number generator, pfscrolling and plotting are by default whether they are used or not. But it's easy to change this.

     

    To build a binary without these files, you can make a custom includesfile. The 4k standard kernel uses default.inc, so just copy that to your current directory and edit it, commenting out the libraries you don't want. Or if you prefer, you can rename the includesfile to something else and place " includesfile name.inc" at the beginning of your program.

     

    Thanks for the tip!

    supercat

    Posted

    Hi,

     

    Sorry for the delayed response. I left my previous job, and started 2 new ones in the past week and its been sucking up all my energy. As per your suggestion in a PM I will avoid quoting your prevoius post and simply post a block response. As a base point of reference about this case I propose using the Wikipedia article because it provides a general timeline and numerous links to back up the chronological points made. Please feel free to present an alternative. The Wiki article is here: Terri Shiavo

     

    I want to make 4 points:

    1. You assert that Judge Greer had too much control over the case and his decisions were not subject to review by other judges and people of authority. I will show that this is false.

    2. You assert that Michael wanted Terri dead because he would inherit her trust fund. I will show that Terri's parents had similar motivations in wanting to keep Terri's corpse animated.

    3. You assert that Michael changed his position on Terri's health, but I will show that it was really here parents that changed their position.

    4. I have an example of the wonderful Texas law I mentioned before that was backed by national Right to Life groups (the same groups that fought to keep Terri's corpse animated) and which gives hospitals the right to take away treatment an leave concious people to die. Even if they have money to pay for the treatment!

     

     

     

    1. Nearly all of Judge Greer's decisions were appealed by her parents. That means the decisions were all reviewed by a panel of judges. None of the appeals support the position that Micheal's decision to have Terri's corpse removed from life support was for monetary gain. In addition, at least 3 different guardian ad litem assigned to Terri found no evidence to back your claim that Micheal was after the money in Terri's trust fund. At least one of those guardians for Terri was assigned outside the juristiction of Greer's court in response to a law signed by Jeb Bush in Florida. Another guardian was assigned by the federal court when Bush signed Terri's Law. How is it that all these professional people working on this case do not see what you as a distantly connected observer claim to see? Why is it that the only professionals that support the position of Terri's parents (legal or medical) are those being paid by Terri's parents. Yet all the people who have no financial stake in the case see something else? I think the task is on your shoulders to show that all those professionals were either incompetent or corrupted. About the only way its possible is if Micheal's lawyer really does have supernatural mental powers as you mentioned.

     

    2. If Terri's parents had guardianship of her when she "died", then they would inherit her trust fund. How is that any better than Michael inheriting the trust fund? Terri's parents gained considerable fame from the press coverage. They became folk heros to the Christofacists. If they had control of Terri's animated corpse they would have hauled her body around the country like a freak show exhibit. People would have gathered to pray and donate money and watch the corpse twitch. It would have been sick and a real tragedy. Luckily the courts at many levels saw that Terri's parents did not have any good intentions for Terri and rejected their plan.

     

    3. You point to Michael having moved on with his life and fathering children by another woman as reason that he should not have a say in Terri's medical decisions. You ignore that Terri's parents encouraged and supported him in doing just that . It is only when Terri's parents changed their long held position that Terri was in a PVS, but rather in a minimally conscious state. I think it is up to you to explain why the behavior of getting on with his life which was supported by Terri's parents is relevant. I think you have failed so far. If her parents supported it when he started, they can't later use it against him in court.

     

    4 Here is an example of the Texas law I mentioned earlier: Legal Murder. Note that there is no issue here with money, the woman in question has active health insurance and can pay her bill. The law that makes this possible was backed by all the big national right to life groups. How can that be? Its because as I said in my first post, this is all about abortion and controlling women's bodies. The right to life groups wanted Terri to "live" because it would mean control of her body. They want the law in Texas because it means control of women's bodies. Note that the actions to help Terri (Terri's Law) tried to circumvent the courts with a congressional subpoena. The Texas law takes the courts out completely, and replaces them with an anonymous eithics board that meets in private and produces no public record of the meeting. They have taken the courts out of life and death medical decisions. Its an end run on Rowe V. Wade by removing the courts from the issue. So you see, I think the term Christofacists is starting to have some real meat to it in this country. Unfortunately the facists can't see that they are simply tools of the insurance companies who now have an anonymous way to kill people and boost profits. Hooray!

     

    Sorry that this is late and rushed at the same time.

     

    Cheers!

    Rob

    supercat

    Posted

    I should thank you for your post, Robert M. I'd not understood Michael's supporters, but you gave me some useful insight. Because many (though by no means all) of the people who happen to support Terri happen to be opposed to abortion, you feel that you must oppose them in this instance without regard for the merits of the case at hand. I guess that is understandable, though I find it rather sad.

     

    I hope I have clarified both my opposition to keeping Terri on life support and why I see it as a wedge to control women's bodies over abortion. I think it is you who really need to reconsider the merits of the case. How can we measure love in a court room? Your position is romantic and noble, but not practical and I would argue that it is also very dangerous.

     

     

    I used to be a liberal once, btw, and would instinctively disbelieve anything certain conservative groups said. But once I started listening to what conservatives were actually saying, rather than dismissing it out of hand, I came to realize that there was a lot of truth to it. To be sure, I sometimes have a knee-jerk reaction against liberals, but there's a difference between my new style and the old: if the Washington Post says the sky is blue, I would expect to look out the window and find it pink, but if I looked out the window and observed that it really was blue, I wouldn't continue to believe that it was pink.

     

    Uggh! The world is not black and white, good and evil, liberal and conservative. It is a horrible gray mish mash. Some conservatives and liberals are both complete trash. I would never give any time to Ann Coulter for instance. I am actually quite fiscally conservative, but I am also strongly libertarian, and I believe in liberal goverment programs that enhance personal liberty by helping individuals to overcome some of the more heinous inequaties inherent in our world. Doing so I believe will make the world a better and more just place.

     

    If I came on strong in the first place it was because of all the slandering of Mr Shiavo. I think it has no place in the discussion of what is truly and important issue for anyone in our society. I hope I have clarified my position. Very many of us will be unconcious or feeble at some point in our lives and we will need a safety net of laws to proteect us from predatory people, especially predatory relatives.

     

    Cheers!

    Rob

    supercat

    Posted

    Terri's parents would have been willing to take their daughter into their home and care for her, and her siblings volunteered to help in that effort. As to whether they would have had the stamina to provide such care year after year, I don't know, but it wouldn't have had to cost taxpayers a dime.

     

    Terri's primary needs were: (1) food and liquid: Ensure or similar product, at about $8/day, and (2) periodic change of diapers. Nothing high-tech; nothing particularly expensive (some teenagers probably cost more). People were willing to provide them. Why should they have been forbidden?

    They were not forbidden from Terri. Terri did not want them and the court SUPPORTED TERRI'S RIGHT to not be forced to endure those actions to her body. You support forcing Terri to receive treatment she clearly stated to her husband that she did not ever want under any circumstances. Terri was an adult. That means she is free to control her own medical care. Being incapacitated, by law, that responsibility falls to her husband. This is no freak case here. We are talking about a situation that arises daily in America. There is a long legal standing that adults have the right to refuse medical treatments. We are talking about Liberty and Diginity. You can't put a price on those things, and we certainly do not let them be bought in the America for any damn price.

     

    If a pregnant woman wants an abortion because she can not afford to raise the child, should her parents be able to force her to carry the child to term by putting up the cash to raise the kid? Is a person's body for sale to relatives with enough cash? I thought we outlawed slavery a long time ago in this country for good reasons. Terri did not wish to be on life support. That is her right. You need to respect Terri's right to die with dignity.

     

    What is your alternative? Any relation, or maybe even a stranger, can take control of people with medical conditions that they do not want treated and force them to be treated? Is that what you support, because that is what this case is really about. You can slander Mr. Schiavo, but the court heard all the "evidence" and found it lacking. That is the law. If adults should not control their own bodies then who should?

     

    No christians were out protesting their deaths. Why not?
    If someone had offered to pay for the equipment to keep the people alive, would the government have prevented it? That a person needs something does not imply that the government should compel taxpayers to provide it.

     

    I am not the pro-life person here arguing that every life is precious and must be protected at the expense of individual rights or treasure. I am arguing that Terri's supporters who gave plenty of money to Terri's legal fund suddenly became tight wads when another opportunity to save a life presented itself. Why couldn't a special law be written for those individuals?

     

    Congress held a special session and President Bush flew in from his vacation in Texas to sign Terri's law. A law that applied only to Terri! Do you think that didn't cost the taxpayers anything?!!!?! A fucking law for a specific person. That has never ever been done in U.S. history BTW and it is a terrible precedent. Since corporations are individuals there is now a precendent for passing a law targeting a specific corporation. I suspect we will see one used to break a Union strike within our lifetimes, but I am drifting from the original topic and I am sorry for that.

     

    If Terri's plight was so great, why hasn't there been a follow on law that applies to everyone? Terri's situation is not unique. Do you think family members of other families have not had similar disagreements? This stuff happens all the time. Its why the public approval ratings for this action by the Republicans are so low.

     

     

    It was the government you love so much that insisted that Terri Schiavo be fatally dehydrated. Us EvilNastyHorribleChristianFascists wanted the government to allow Terri's parents to care for their daughter.

    The judicial branch of the government (Thank the founders for checks and balances) did its job and protected Terri from being abused and violated by her parents, Congress, and the President. That was Terri's wish, and I am thankful that they did because it protected all of us even you terrible EvilNastyHorribleChristianFascists ;) You guys wanted to strip Terri of her humanity and reduce her to a thing that can be bought. A teddy bear of sorts for Terri's parents so that they could cuddle her and feel all warm and fuzzy. I know you believe you knew what was best for Terri, but only Terri really did. You aren't allowed to control other people that way. Even parents are forbidden to control their adult children that way. That is the law. If the law is so bad, then why don't the Republicans change it to fit the view of Terri's supporters? They can pass any law they please since they control the whole government. I think the lack of a follow up law to apply to everyone highlights the politcal sham festival that this stunt really was. It was a shameful desecration of Terri, IMO.

     

     

    I do not want the government to control my body, which is why I supported the Schindlers. If I am incapacitated, I would hope to be cared for by those who love me. If it ever becomes clear that my caregiver (whoever it might be) does not love me, I would hope to be given over to someone else that does.

     

    The Republicans passed a freaking law to do exactly what you say you would never want to have done. They overruled Terri's wishes and turned her into a political tool. Was that love? Why should Congress and the President have had any say at all in Terri's medical affairs? Did they truly know and love Terri? If they can mess with Terri, they can do the same thing to anyone. How about forcing gays to attend reeducation camps so they can be cured? If Terri could be forced to live, then its only a small jump to force gays to be cured. After all we love them and they simply can't make their own decisions. I mean they chose to be gay right, and AIDS is a risk to their lives as gays, so they clearly are not rational adults that can make their own decisions. We would be protecting their lives :ponder: First the gays, and then the jews and atheists, right?

     

    I would not want the government to allow someone who no longer loves me to order my death for his own selfish interests, even if he invents some supposed "wish" on my part not to live as I do.

     

    In what way am I being unreasonable?

     

    You presume to judge how much love one person has for another and use that as a basis for determining the civil rights of person being loved. You presume to know what Terri and Michael shared in their most initimate and private conversations. Are you God? That is not how our law works. There isn't a love meter in the courtroom you have to squeeze and make the top lights turn on to prove you really love your spouse and be allowed to make a medical decision on their behalf. Terri was an adult. She was legally married. Her medical care decisions by law fall to her husband. The amount of "love" and "happiness" in the marriage can not be measured by you or anyone. It is irrelevant. That is one of the major tenets of the marriage contract. What's love got to do with it? Do you want to alter one of the most basic structures of our society? Her parents presented their arguments that he was an unfit husband many times, to many judges over fifteen damn years, they even had access to high powered attorney's paid for by the EvilNastyHorribleChristianFascists, and the judges still all said "No way". If Mr. Shiavo is truly as bad as you say, then how is that possible? Was there some vast conspiracy of judges out to kill poor Terri? What was their motive for forcing her to die?

     

    Do you really want these sorts of very common legal battles to resolve down to who has the most love for the incapacitated person? How that hell do you judge that? Or worse, how about the party that brings the most money to the table. This is about basic principles of liberty and dignity. I am sorry her parents feel left out in the cold. They should have built a stronger relationship with Terri when she was capable of making her own decisions and created a living will with her. That is the law. It is precise, it is blind, and it is necessary to prevent total chaos and truly heinous crimes against people incapable of defending themselves. Terri's parents presented only circumstantial evidence that Terri would want life support. That just isn't good enough and we should all be thankful that the judges threw it out in court. Even you should be thankful, or else it very well may come to pass that someone who does not love you would get to make all your decisions for you if you became incapacitated. Do you have a living will? You should.

     

    For fun. Let's assume that you are right and the best case scenario is true. Terri's parent's are sinless angels and Mr Shiavo is el Diablo. Terri is given to her parents and a miracle occurs and she becomes 100% healed! It sounds great, but now a precendent is set, and parents can override the medical decisions of their children at will. They just have to tell the court that they love their children and need to protect them. It worked for Terri by God, so the court must give parents control over their children at will for life. What a hellish world that would be and no I am not exaggerating the problem because you propose to use "love" as a standard for making judicial decisions. Holy hell, what a nightmare that would be.

     

    JUDGE: So how much to you love this man.

     

    Plaintiff1: I love him from my toes to my nose sir.

     

    Plaintiff2: I love him from here to the sea, and all around the pretty moon. My love is ever so much bigger you see.

     

    JUDGE: I see. ;)

     

    Cheers!

    Rob

    supercat

    Posted

    The whole Terri thing is a farce. There have been a number of cases since Terri where people who were concious,but needed life support were purposely removed from it because they couldn't pay the bills. Those people begged for their lives, and were put to death by the Texas government. No christians were out protesting their deaths. Why not? (partially because they were minorities), but mainly because this whole thing is to build the pretext for complete government control of women's bodies including life and death. This is a wedge issue on the abortion debate. Nothing else. If you want the government to control your body, then please support Terri. If you want to have even basic liberty and control of your body, then please support Michael. He may be a complete jerk, I don't know, but he is on the right side on this issue and I would back him 100% even if the first thing he does everyday is strangle 100 puppies and drink their blood.

     

    Cheers!

    Robert M

    Posted

    Hmm, Doom 7800 . . .

     

    Okay, store the sprites as prescaled 3 color images in ROM. Hopefully you don't run out of space - ~16K at 2 bits/pixel. Mapping x,y,z to x,y (and display list+sprite), might be tricky to do quickly without some massive look up tables. I'm also thinking there might be some benefit to having a sprite table with each 16 line zone having a pointer & width to most efficiently use the ~16K of holey sprite ROM.

     

    Which then leaves the next major challenge - backgrounds. I'm thinking that the only easy way to do it is to have an extra 16K RAM on cart which could be used as two 160x200x4 color (2bpp) frame buffer bitmaps. There would also be two display lists so the game could update one while the other is being displayed.

     

    Of course the biggest difficulty is going to be getting any kind of frame rate out of the 7800's 6502 with MARIA stealing half of the CPU cycles.

     

    Many, many years ago (late 90's) I spent some time trying to develop a wolfenstein 3D engine for the C64. I never got far past the design stages, but one thing I came up with was what I called a Square lens. It was like a fresnel lens made of binary 1's and 0's arranged in a square array. Traveling along a row or column of the table you would add 1 to one of axis of travel, and the result was a reasonable aproximation a ray casting at the angle corresponding to the row or column you are traversing in the lens table. I am not explaining it well. I need to dig out my old notes. The big advantage it had was it was optimized for the instruction set of the 6502. I think it would be possible to do say a 128x64 pixel Wolfenstien 3D style game engine for the 7800. If the display was just the 128x64 3D window plus a status bar below. There could be many blank lines on the screen to free up processor time.

     

    If I can find those old notes I will post the details in my blog.

     

    Cheers!

    Robert M

    Posted

    Looking at the engine, I can't help but wonder is a primitive FPS would be possible on the 7800.

     

    It might be possible to do a pseudo-3d game using wireframe graphics. I don't think texture mapping would be practical, though.

     

    I agree, texture mapping would not be practical, but I think solid colored walls limited to being vertical in orientation combined with prescaled 2D sprites for enemies could be done.

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