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Nebulon

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Posts posted by Nebulon

  2. Posted

    Ah yes, the switch. Interestingly, that's how the machine arrived to me. I had to switch that off straight away.

     

    I was hoping for a way to access them with a Control or Apple key combination so that they could be generated in a text file along with $ and other symbols from the set I'm using currently. I wonder if it's okay to flip the switch while the machine is on.

  6. Posted

    All this talk about multitasking... you know the iPhone couldn't even multitask until iOS 4 in 2010? Yet it still did pretty well without that feature.

     

    Most people do not care a whit about multitasking. Humans can't multitask - it's a myth. The most we can do is task switch quickly, but we lose efficiency when we do so. So nobody really needs a multitasking OS and most people won't ever use more than one program at a time. I personally do, but I'm a weirdo like that. (Even if I do, I'll usually just have one app running in the background on a second monitor while I do something else on the primary monitor.)

     

     

    Wow. I wonder what most people's employers would think nowadays if their employees stated that "nobody really needs a multitasking OS and most people won't ever use more than one program at a time." Where I work, that would pretty much be grounds for dismissal.

     

    So you mean there's no need to download or install a file in the background while you write an email to someone? No need to generate a PDF while doing something else? No need to make edits to video while rendering an image sequence in another app?, No need to work in a spreadsheet or word processor while the computer does a virus scan or indexes files? No need to have someone run a remote desktop connection to your machine while showing them something in another app? No need to have two audio apps share information with one-another while playing a sequence? No need to run a video/screen capture app while running another program? I could go on, but I think just about everyone on this forum can find multiple cases in which they made good use of a multitasking OS to save time and do things more efficiently.

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    I keep seeing CRTs in the electronics drop-off bins in the city that I'm in. And I'm willing to bet they work just fine.

     

    So that's definitely a possibility. Perhaps scout out where all the 'drop-points' are in your area and visit them once every couple of weeks.

  19. Posted

    I'm a crap programmer, but I still recognize the advice about walking away from the computer is good (and applies to a lot of computer-user situations).

     

    I recall my Dad telling me that many years back. It really does help.

     

    The first hint that you need to take a break is when you try to think and thoughts just won't form. Sort of a kind of stunned brain-freeze brought on by fatigue.

  20. Posted

    I spent a few hours playing that game several years ago when it came up in the MAME HSC. The concept is great and I thought it was a lot of fun at first. But it didn't take long before I just had to stop playing it because it was so damn frustrating, to the point where I was wanting to punch my cabinet. A very common way to die was having an enemy appear right on top of you when you move from one room to another and boom, all of the work you've done collecting stuff is lost in the blink of an eye. I am generally willing to tolerate a great deal of brutal difficulty in classic arcade games, but stuff like this goes beyond the realm of "challenging" to "cheap" and cheap is just not fun. I tried the game again for a few minutes semi-recently and quickly arrived at the same frustration level so I moved on.

     

    It's funny that you mention that. I got hit a couple times last night by things that just materialized right on top of my ship. Like, how is that possibly fair?! I've recently started to dodge in and out of the same doorway to force it to reset the enemy positions. I shoot toward the room that I'm moving into and just go back and forth, build up score, and rack up a ton of extra lives. Then I zip around, pick up treasure, and shoot out those damn wall-laser-sniper things as soon as I enter rooms with them. What kills me is that damn thief doesn't die when you shoot him. In fact, he just looks stunned for a second and then picks up more treasure and scurries off to steal more stuff somewhere else. At least in Gauntlet the thief stays dead. ;-)

    • Like 1

  22. Posted · Edited by Nebulon

    So I was reading an issue of Electronic Games and a reviewer was going on about how much he loved the port of the 1981 arcade game Space Dungeon on the Atari 5200. He only wished he could tie two controllers together so that he could play it better. And he couldn't understand why the arcade game wasn't more successful than it was.

     

    In my mind, the answer is that the arcade game is too damn tough.

     

    So here's what I'd recommend if you want to get into this game:

     

    Throw MAME for XBOX onto a modded original XBOX. The game is already mapped as:

     

    Left analog stick = move

    Right analog stick = fire

     

    Then map the coin-op settings to the d-pad and set the arcade machine Location Programming to:

    Ships per game = 6

    Bonus Increment (000) to 1

     

    I originally tried setting ships per game higher, but it seems to ignore anything past 6. So I instead opted to set it as a bonus ship for every 1000 points.

     

    The game's laid out on a 6x6 grid. It's a bit like playing Robotron on a huge map. There's continuity, so monsters will follow you from room to room. There's also a timer, so the longer you wait around, the more waves of monsters will appear. Similar to Gauntlet, there's a thief on level 2. So if you can't find any treasure, he's the reason why. Once you nab him, he'll drop all the treasure. You'll drop all your treasure in the room you were killed in. The flashing square on the map marks the last room that you died in. The light yellow square is the room you're currently in.

     

    On each level, you collect treasure (crosses and asterisks). Bring those to the room marked in dark yellow and drop them off in the box that reads, "Collect Bonus". That'll take you to level 2. Similar to Xenophobe, you don't have to collect all of the treasure to qualify for moving on to the next level of the dungeon.

     

    Enjoy!

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Dungeon

     

    https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9648

     

    https://www.giantbomb.com/space-dungeon/3030-19413/

    • Like 2

  24. Posted

     

    uh lets be fair and say that the C64 was released in 82, same as the XL series so its real competition is the XL series ... which are weak and flimsy

     

    its also a concept that things that are big and heavy are better quality, which can be true, but can be false as well, a 400 is big and heavy, but its shit to type on, its a bit of a old fashioned notion

     

    and if curb weight really meant a single thing, the PET series would be still the most baller computer to this day, swear you have to have a pallet jack to get those bastards on your desk

     

    The XL series is neither weak nor flimsy.

     

    And two words: Space Harrier.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    My memory from day care of seeing an Atari 400 that a kid brought is the first thing that comes to mind. I think the NES was already out and only knew of the VCS at the time. So, I thought I was looking at a new console from Atari and thought PAC-MAN looked amazing on it. Since I was looking at it from child eyes I don't think I was thinking of it as a computer. Well, not a serious one anyway. More like a video game console that was also an all-in-one with things like the Speak & Spell and other electronic toys. I just kind of had a feeling like,"Yes! This is the thing that Santa is getting all the kids this year! It will be able to play any video game imaginable and I will be able to talk to video game cartoons!"

     

    Now imagine seeing Pac-Man on the Atari 400 back in 1982. Mind blown! And to think the 400 was already over two years old by that time...

    • Like 1
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