CaptainBreakout

Wow... these Nibble articles are intense. So I pieced together a working copy of Formula Nibble... thanks to the archive from Nibble Magazine itself and the pointer from Polymorph. Little did I realize most of the basic files are actually MAKE files... of sorts. (In the December 1986 directory of NIB29A.DSK... to save you some time if you want to join me in this rabbit hole). They generate the tracks, tables and graphics when you run them, and then save all those files on the disk. The main game program needs to have all these support files on the disk before it will run properly. Neat! Does anyone have this actual magazine in hard copy, or Mike Harvey's DVD set? It would be cool to add a title screen from the graphics in the magazine and make it a bootable DSK file, I think.

Yeah, me too. Just subscribed to his mailing list.

I love that you are bringing your offspring into the fold. Now only is it great father son bonding, it plants a deep love and appreciation for this material. Way to go!

Wow... will here's the silver bullet for Nibble magazines. Thanks, and yes, this probably saved me a giant amount of time.

I'll look for it tonight if I have time. I love mysteries like this. It must have worked for me at one time, or I wouldn't have added it to my emulator menu. I have vague memories of a red dot moving on the rim of the steering wheel that was supposed to indicate your direction. Anyway, thanks ill check for that issue.

Yeah... just as an update, I was able to dig around in a save-state IMG file from ApplePC and view the basic file. Something is really buggy in there. I transferred the basic file to a DOS 3.3 disk image, but after looking at it it seems all the BIN support files are missing. This is quickly turning into a complicated situation. If I can't find the source dsk from whereever this came from, it might be time to start over, if we can find a copy of that issue of Nibble. I do have a bunch of .SHK archives of various issues of Nibble that contain all the programs, so if we're lucky we can find it in one of those if we can pin-point the issue it appeared in.

Interesting. I actually have that game in my emulator menu. I figured I can just post it here for you, but I tried running it and found out the zip archive is corrupt. I extracted the dsk anyway but the game bugged out, but got to the point of showing the f-1 car and steering wheel. It also said "typed in in 2005". It very well could be something I did and completely forgot about it. Weird that the file is corrupt. It's also corrupt in all my backup folders, so it must have happened a long time ago. I'm searching through the archives to see if I can find a work disk of it from back then. Do you know what issue of Nibble this game was published in? That might help.

It's a nice vindicating feeling that these things are now collectible and valuable. Certainly makes the time I spent rummaging through boxes of loose computer cards at liquidation specialty stores feel worthwhile. The nice part about these is it tickles a very specific geekery reward when you get them to work. The music on them sounds amazing. It's the same rewarding payback of fixing a pinball game or getting an old game console or computer to work. Or even comparable to the first ride of a restored motocycle, or catching a fish with a refurbished rod and reel. I wonder if there's a name for this specific kind of payback. So yeah, makes sense the cost of them is ballooning. Hmm... amongst the rarer cards I have is a boxed Roland PCIMCIA sound canvas card. Ok Google... what's the model name... SCP-55 (thank you google... didn't even have to hit Enter). Also got breakout cables and instructions, and the box too I think. You think this is worth anything, given that it's a laptop card?

Here's another one... completing the Halloween trifecta! A simple game, but fun. A little like checkers. Two players or you vs. the Apple II. This game was previously on a compilation, but now features instructions, title and boot screens, and of course self-boot. Happy Halloween! Witching Hour, The.dsk

Hmm interesting! It surprises me that Turtle Beach is right up there with Gravis. They weren't even on my radar. What would you rate a pro audio spectrum, original Adlib/Adlib gold, or Diamond Monster Sound w/daughterboard (even tho that last one is a PCI). How about 1st Gen Sound Blaster? GUS Extreme has to be 5x$. Only model I've never seen.

Wow. That's all I have to say. I hesitate to make a list of what I've got, considering that I might be tempted to sell out. I've got probably 2 dozen rare sound cards. Sheesh. Who knew? I told a friend at work today... "thirteen years ago I told anyone who was throwing out a PC... check the sound card... if it's not green, pull it! Keep it! It's probably worth something. ... and even if IS green, check it... the Roland cards were always green and you shouldn't toss those!"

Yee gods! I've still even got the box. I swear, old sound cards are a sound investment.

Hahahaha... Go for it! Would love to see this!

Nice! Excellent write-up and I concur. A great gem of a game for the Atari 2600, and standing one or two steps before the realm of too-rare and highly-desirable. Anyway nice review. I laughed.

Thanks for the kudos... I really appreciate it! So, after some effort- here's another! Got to love it... can't hide the fact that it's Galaxian, but done on an Apple ][ with remapped HGR text. The pacing should be familiar to those who played a lot of Apple ][... clunky if you're not used to it, but natural feeling if you had this machine. Tim Victor was really good at this stuff. Enjoy! It's got a creeping "these are spiders" feeling that shows through over the Galaxian clone. So it counts towards a Halloween game. ( Great job on the patch, Usotsuki! ) Spiders.dsk

That's good to know. I haven't actually used MEK on floppy drives, truth be told. I've had to use MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) professionally on U-matic decks, betamax and mostly video related stuff, but then these things are exposed to literally miles of tape and all the crazy fungicides and polymers that are on that stuff. I know it's a bit of a different world with disk drives. Still, I've encountered VCR heads that totally would not clean up even with 90% alcohol and a lot of rubbing, but would run good as new with a wipedown of MEK. Works noticeably better then acetone too. I've let go of a few flaky Disc II units and at least one AE 5.25 unit in the past before I knew about MEK. I would have tried it if I knew then what I know now... so I just threw this out there.

Alright! Here's another one... Big thanks to Usotsuki for the brilliant ProDOS patch. Halloween is coming... so here's a game with a fitting theme. Be the first on your block to play this in 30+ years. Instructions included too. Things in the Dark.dsk

If you still have trouble, the secret weapon for heads when I worked at a video-transfer place was MEK. It's especially nasty stuff and illegal in many states now, but possible to find (paint shops, or talk to a house-painter that's been in the business for awhile, they used to use it to cut certain types of oil-based paint and stains). If your drive still has seek issues and you suspect the heads, try this stuff. Either on your cleaning disks or direct and careful with a q-tip. It cleans heads better then anything else, just try not to breath it.

Years ago (after a nice Venezuelan package arrive at my door), I invited a friend of mine and his three kids (all boys between 4 and 9) over to the house for an Atari game party. At first the kids kinda sneered at the games. The oldest kept saying the word "old-fashioned". Anyway, it was Motorodeo that fianlly got them really hooked. At first it was amusement, then real competitive play between the two older boys. The youngest was parading and skipping back and forth in front of the TV saying "Zoom Zoom!" We had trouble getting them to stop playing when it was time to leave. Totally memorable experience. This game gets an A all the way from me.