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doctorclu

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Blog Entries posted by doctorclu

  1. doctorclu
    So not long ago I was looking at my collection of Bubsy games and said "Man I wish I could download the Bubsy game for my collection of the museum game. I could preserve it, make a special box for it, ect."
     
    Well my weird twisted dreams came true. As of a few days go you can download PC or Mac version AND it has a epilogue to the game where Bubsy has his own exhibit.
     

     
    It's about as weird and pointless as the last game. But makes you think, and makes me want to visit this museum.
     

     
    Actual significance to me? Well, never really cared for Bubsy "growing up" into a old man. Nice to see through it all, Bubsy is still Bubsy in the epilogue. The older man asks Bubsy to grow up and accept it and Bubsy famously answers "No."
     
    That's the Bubster for you. Life has recently asked me to grow up, or give up. My answer was the same.
     
    Keep it up, just keep it up.
     

     
     
     
  3. doctorclu
    I've been really excited about the news of the new Bubsy game , and while I've been reading the official Bubsy website, and even got a e-mail from Bubsy himself I subscribed to his fan club (wow that's just weird but cool) soundcloud has some of the most interesting commentary this side of YouTube.
     
    So after some poking around Soundcloud, here are the highlights...
     
    Here is a good podcast released a month ago that talks of the series, but talks in depth on Bubsy 3D with game tips and tricks.
    https://soundcloud.com/theframesavers/tfs-pocket-12-bubsy
     
    A track for Woolies Strike Back? I would love it if the Hill Stream Blues were part of the new game.
    https://soundcloud.com/emotional-snail/hill-stream-blues-classic-mix-bubsy-the-woolies-strike-back
     
    At 1:06 minutes they talk about Bubsy
    https://soundcloud.com/thecomicspals/video-games-at-the-oscars-pokemon-direct-reactions-e3-pre-show-the-video-game-pals-episode-7
     
    About 10 minutes in they talk about Bubsy for three minutes...
    https://soundcloud.com/hrisrankames/jun-9-bubsy-apple-vr-e3-predictions
     
    22:45 minutes in... Bubsy is back! They like how it is fun.
    https://soundcloud.com/everythingstakenpodcast/ep-5-new-metroid-smash-bros-on-nintendo-switch-new-bubsy-etpodcast
     
    Here is a mashup of the Sonic Forces and the Bubsy theme, pokling fun at the Bubsy appearance in Sonic which has now been debunked BTW...
    https://soundcloud.com/highqualityguy/bubsy-in-sonic-forces
     
    This one is freaky and released three months ago.. Dr. Jekyll's theme to the Bubsy soundfont. Just spooky awesome.
    https://soundcloud.com/ultramario/jekylls-theme-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-bubsy-soundfont
     
    Talked about Bubsy about four minutes in.
    https://soundcloud.com/senshudo/610-bubsy-the-610-not-bad-podcast-episode-4-10th-june-2017
     
    A podcast released 8 months ago that talks a lot about the Bubsy 3D museum online game.
    https://soundcloud.com/duckfeedtv/check-it-out-comrade-14-bubsy-3d-frog-fractions
     
    A pocast that talks aboutn Bubsy 2
    https://soundcloud.com/duckfeedtv/abject-suffering-17-bubsy-ii
     
    Bubsy dropping the beat...
    https://soundcloud.com/trey-campbell-857703410/trey-what-can-possibly-go-wrong-new-bubsy-theme-song
     
    Bubsy Vs. Bonker D. Bobcat - (Added since that was a favorite topic of SpongeFox for a while.)
    https://soundcloud.com/kgbronies/bonker-d-bobcat-vs-bubsy
     

     
    Oh this is fun, a One on One with Bubsy...
    http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/395875_c01fda4d0ad143c0b479efac92312203.pdf
     
    Bubsy joins the Cheetahmen?
    https://soundcloud.com/babzai/bubsy-joins-the-cheetahmen
     
    Bubsy Six-eed Times Wool Change SNES OST by Aizakku Horooee, someone I've had the chance to talk to on Soundcloud and someone who is also a bit of a Bubsy fan.
    https://soundcloud.com/aizakku-horooee/bubsy-six-eed-times-wool-change-snes-ost
     

     
    A mash up of the Bubsy theme and drowning with the sickness? A reaction to the new Bubsy game posted on a few days ago.(Language)
    https://soundcloud.com/drcabbageman/sweet-fucking-jesus-theyre-making-a-new-bubsy
     
    More adult Bubsy stuff... this one is catchy.
    https://soundcloud.com/regi_is_gay/bubsy-gon-give-it-to-ya
     
    Gameboy Color first Bubsy game? Yes please!
    https://soundcloud.com/dizzydiggy98/bubsy-und-die-spielzeugdiebe
     
    https://soundcloud.com/ultimate-combo/bubsys-yarnball-frenzy
     
    https://soundcloud.com/musical-ideas-184812759/herotale-bobcat-king-in-german-bumbsy
     
    https://soundcloud.com/g-n-374363320/bubsycore-planktovaina
     
    https://soundcloud.com/musical-ideas-184812759/song-that-might-play-when-you-fight-sans-recreation
     
    A lot of fun hitting Soundcloud tonight. More Bubsy news soon, and I am hearing a lot from a lot of sources.
     
    Until later, Doctor Clu
  4. doctorclu
    So for a while I've had this yellow cat that I've had in mind to look more Bubsy like. It was the place I stored my Bubsy kit cap.
     
    Some orange spray paint was passed my way, I tried it out on the yellow cat, and liked it and went to work....
     

     
    Looks better with the hat...

    And decided till I can make a better one, how about the green exclamation mark from the second player Bubsy made with the same frog tape I used to cover the face during the painting. Made for a nice touch. Add a whiskey bottle for whimsicalness and there we go!
     

     
    So anyway, a larger plushie of Bubsy that looks a bit closer to the character. One to add to the collection!
     

     
    (Guess you can say the cat's orange themed for October!)
     
    Until next time Bubsy fans.
     
  5. doctorclu
    Naturally I love collecting, within reason, anything for the Bubster. I have picked up copies naturally in English both UK and American, Japanese, and Russian. I have copies showing up in Dutch, and I'm also seeing a beautiful copy in German out there. And I was thinking tonight how great it's be to see a Spanish copy. Well ladies and gents, it's out there!

    Just not as cool a box as I'd like it to be.

    So here is my collection so far. Bindings. It is all about the bindings baby.



    As you can see the Japanese and Russian boxes really deliver. They show their unique languages.

    The Spanish copy however you get the usual front, and bindings in English. Blah.





    As you can see the manual is "en espanol" and the back is nice. But you can't show it off at a glance on the shelf.



    And here is something else I found, a magazine in Spain that had an article on Bubsy:



    So yet another chapter of the game mascot that actually got a lot of air time around the globe. Do I want to spend $70 after the price and shipping to get this from Spain? Well, maybe one day. But first I need to get the German one. At least that one is in German on the binding.

    Adios mi fanáticos Bubsy!


  6. doctorclu
    Discovered a website called Scratch where people make online applications and programs:
     
    What is great about this is there are a few Bubsy games on this site!
     
    I'll feature some on this link but one is Bubsy in Scrtchnapped.

     
    A cute game. I have downloaded the Scratch file. Not sure how that would work normally aside from the Scratch environment on the browser, but thought it was worth a mirror here.
     
    Other games to be reviewed soon.
  7. doctorclu
    So today I got two new Bubsy cases from Russia.
     
    A comparison of the Bubsy cases with the Russia cases on the bottom and the Genesis (USA) and Mega Drive (UK) cases on the top row.

     
    A comparison of the Bubsy II cases with the Russia cases on the bottom and the Genesis (USA) and Mega Drive (UK) cases on the top row.

     
    Here we have pictures of the back of the Russian cartridges.


     
    And if you want to see more, here are other pictures I took comparing the Russian cases with the other cases I have for the Genesis/Mega Drive.
     
    Genesis Comparisons.zip
     
    But the greatest thing about the Russian cases, and the last picture I'll post, is just how small they are. Here is how it is compared to the Gameboy Box and a and Hotdog on the Atari Lynx.
     

  8. doctorclu
    Today I saw Bill Kendrick get his Atari 1200XL on Facebook.

    "Posting via my Atari 1200XL (telneting to my Linux laptop, and running Links browser to visit FB mobile site). Did it work!?"



    Honestly, if I had to connect up the Intellivision today, and I've been thinking about doing it again for fun BECAUSE I CAN , I would need to do much of what he did.

    And I say "again" because in April of 2014 I was able to use an Intellivision, an Entertainment Computer System (ECS), a Cuttle Cart 3, a loopback adaptor (since the Cuttle Cart 3 serial port only has send/receive/ and ground), and InTVNut's Terminal program.


    , and from there I would manage to get the Intellivision on IRC chat, and eventually telnet out to a shell account with a Lynx browser. From there with great difficulty I was able to log into Atariage and post the message:

    "Looking at the first message from an Intellivision keyboard on Aatarige. Was hell getting here but where thres a whip theres a way. :)"

    And if you wonder why my grammar was so bad, have you seen the ECS keyboard for one?



    The keyboard is like a mock-up toy you would give a five year old. You know, the type you give them to think they are computing that they can bang on all day and you don't care. As you type on this keyboard the corner of the keys stick. And to add to that, you had to hit a key combination for return and backspace. I believe Control H and Control M come to mind.

    And with a 20 x 12 screen (hey this game system is from 1978 what do you expect), the screen looked like this:



    So you are guessing what you are typing. Don't get me wrong, the terminal kept up with 9600 baud quite well, did great at recognizing the text and color. Just didn't have the room to display it all. Oh and when I was on Atariage to post in that thread I had manually type in the URL of the message to find it. But I did it and I will probably never post a message on Atariage with my Intellivision and ECS ever again. Did it, managed to be the first in recorded history to do it, happy.

    A year later I would when then the Electric Dreams BBS Podcast was released. I think going forward I might just call BBS's from time to time.

    As for possibly getting on Atariage or Facebook again (though I said I probably never will): The shell account I called into in 2014 is no longer there. But if I were to access another computer in my house with a Lynx browser then I could use that to point to the interwebs.

    Also my home line is now a digital line so the option of using the dialup modem is out. So will probably use a Lantronix with the Intellivision when I do. And then point that to my internal IP to the Linux server (been thinking it would be cool to get my Dreamcast up with Linux for that) and visit the internet. In all the Intellivision 20x12 glory. Hehe...

  9. doctorclu
    Tonight was a great night.
     
    So I've been playing with porting the mod files from Bubsy: Fractured Furry Tales from the Atari Jaguar to play on the Sega Genesis. As I posted previously, I got the mods to play on a mod converter (Toy Story mod). There were NTSC and PAL mod binaries made. The NTSC binaries played better but faster, the PAL binaries were at about true speed but with more static. In the end, I went with the PAL mod binaries.
     
    So then I learned of the Sega emulator on the Mac: Fushion. Played the mods, recorded VGM files.
     
    Then I learned how the VGMoptimizer program worked. The regular VGM files are about 49 Mb. Optimized it is 5.7 Mb. Naturally the Genesis games are a 4 Mb limit, at least with the program that churns out VGM Player binaries.
     
    [[BTW, the trick they don't tell you in the optimizer program is that you have to make a "optimised" folder in the directory with the optimise.bat and optvgm.exe and the .vgm files. There were no instructions and it took me a moment to figure out that was why the process kept bombing.]]
     
    Then after learning how to compress the VGM files I learned how to tag the files with the VGM Tool.
     
    All of this detailed here:
    http://project2612.org/tutorial/01-getting_started.htm
     
    So there we go. I guess where to go from here is to figure out how to properly module and loop the samples. THey are just straight up recordings right now which is why they are in two binaries for all eight tracks. There are VGM collections with like 20 tracks that will easily fit on a single binary, so still have some learning to do.
     
    Also I think there are utilities to straight up convert .mod to .vgm or a bit more direct and better quality than what I churned out here, but learning!!
     
    So in the meantime fire these up on your Sega Gopher or Sega Flashcart and enjoy some Jaguar Bubsy tracks!
     
    Until later!
     
    -Doctor Clu
  10. doctorclu

    Dark Realms

    By doctorclu,

    Telnet: darkrealms.ca
    Software:Renegade
    Connection:Telnet
    Nodes:4
    Web:http://www.darkrealms.ca
    Location:Toronto, ON, Canada

    From the Telnet BBS Guide:
    "Since 1994, Darkrealms has served as an on-line roleplaying community for the Greater Toronto Area and is one of the worlds largest Renegade BBS’s still remaining. LORD, TradeWars 2002, Usurper, and more. Full Fidonet backbone and thousands of Usenet groups on-line, as well as Internet Email."

    --------------------

    So we'll do things a bit differently. I won't post all the pictures, but I will post the cool ANSI art, and if you want to look a that the screen shots I took just download the compressed file with all the pictures in it.

    The BBS itself was alright.
    -Different login screens for the four times I logged in.
    -Not a remarkable menu screen (all text).
    -No goodbye screen.

    LORD was of the older version where you did not need the strength or vitality for weapons and armor. Always nice. I like having a Death Sword at first level if I get the money together. I posted the picture of the players below. Some of the names are hilarious which is part of the fun flair of the BBSs, the user names.

    The General message area was fairly active with the last post from January 14th, so about two weeks ago. And yes, that is fairly active for a lot of BBSs and their local user traffic.

    And many many fido message areas.

    The reason I logged on four times was due to being kicked off three. The BBS would kick me off if I paused for like 15 seconds while composing a message. And with no goodbye screen I got the impression they were ready to have me leave. Just saying.

    I asked the usual question what they liked to do on the BBS. I tried to cut and paste my usual just stopping through message but the BBS kicked me off when I did.

    And that is the Dark Realms BBS. Next we'll visit a BBS from the letter E.
  11. doctorclu
    I was asked what got me interested in the Atari and later what got me to move onto other computer platforms.

    So this is my story:

    1977 - Dad had the Sol Terminal 20. Cool machine. Lots of Trek80 and Targ played.
    -------- We got a Sears Telegames system, which got us into Atari stuff.
    1980 - Sold newspaper subscriptions and got my own Atari VCS.
    1981 - Sold the VCS, got a Atari 400 when I saw Choplifter, Miner2049er, and Archon
    -------- on the computer. Also learned about floppy disks and piracy!
    1982 - Later in this year got on my first computer BBS. Now I could get games over
    -------- the phone! Whoo hoo!
    1984 - Attended Atari user meetings at the Dallas Infomart.
    1986 - Dad had already upgraded the 400 to 48K, but installed a Atari 1400 keyboard
    -------- from Radio Shack.
    1989 - Bear in mind, no internet yet, really believed Atari was dead. Saw a friend's
    -------- Mac SE with Dark Castle and managed to score a Mac 128K. Later would
    -------- upgrade that to 4 mb.
    1993 - I get onto the text internet while in college computer labs.
    1994 - While in Guam, scored a Mac Plus. Lots of BBSing while on the island.
    1995 - I see my first graphical internet page on Mosiac. (Didn't think it'd catch on.)
    -------- Dad gives me my first Newton 110 when I returned from Guam.
    --------At first didn't know what to do with it.
    -------- First home internet service... through a BBS (Chrysalis BBS in Dallas)
    1996 - Picked up a Performa 550 (68030) later upgraded to 68040
    -------- with math co-processor.
    1997 - Picked up the amazing Newton 2000. 10x faster than my Newton 110. Played video!
    -------- Started using graphical web browsers. (I was a slow adopter on that one.)
    1999 - Out of college, found out Atari user group was still around. Borrow 520 ST
    -------- (upgraded to 4 mb) for newsletter. Used Pagestream and had a laser printer!
    2000 - Managed to score an Atari TT030, Lynx, Atari Jaguar. Atari user group folds due to
    -------- having to move from the Informart that they had for nearly fifteen years.
    -------- I learn of Bubsy Bobcat on the Jaguar!
    -------- Continued using TT030 alongside Performa 550 for internet.
    -------- Featured in the Dallas Morning News, Atari Jaguar on front cover.
    -------- I meet the local Dallas Amiga User Group as they were also in the newspaper article.
    2001 - Got an IT job, used a Athlon 1 Ghz processor with Win98. Later used Linux.
    -------- Still tinkered with retro computers (Atari XE and ST)
    -------- Get my first DVD player as the spiritual successor to the Jaguar, the Nuon
    --------- Samsung 2000.
    2002 - Scored two Macintosh G3 Powerbooks for my wife and I. I was back in the
    -------- Mac world!! Using OS 9.
    2003 - Join Amiga User Group. They help me get an Amiga 3000 working that I picked
    -------- up at JagFest in 2002 in Austin, TX. Even had a ethernet card!
    -------- Attended the JagFest in St. Louis (while visiting wife's family).
    2004 - Upgraded to OS X.3
    2005 - Won the retrochallenge (like the first or second year of it) using nothing but an
    --------- Atari 800 for one month. Figured out I didn't need portable computing right
    -------- before smart phones.
    -------- My Newton 2000 and Duo Macs became used less.
    -------- Year I was handed a G4 12" 800 mhz Powerbook. Beautiful little computer!
    -------- Well I was handed it in parts and I managed to reassemble it.
    -------- Tinkered heavy in the Dreamcast after a friend showed me that system.
    -------- For the next five years lots of calling BBSs and internet with beige Atari 800.
    -------- Many discussions over Atariage and Atari IRC channels.
    2008 - Started the Bubsy Fan Blog.
    2010 - Got a Macbook Pro dual Core processor laptop in parts, fixed it up. Hated it.
    -------- Traded for 1.2 ghzG4 12" laptop. Used that G4 through my time in Kuwait
    -------- along with a 1.4 Ghz G4 Mac Mini.
    2011 - My first Android device, the Archos 32, and my first experience with Angry Birds!
    2012 - Got my first Intel iMac 1.5 ghz from a sidewalk sale.
    2014 - Picked up a Amiga 500 from a friend. Fix it up to 8 mb and SD card slot. Then
    ------- get a Amiga 1200. Been part of an Amiga group since 2003.
    ------- This was also the year I tinkered hard on the Intellivision and used it to call Atariage
    ------- and leave message. Also created concept for the dual action controller.
    2015 - Picked up a Macbook Air 1.8 ghz from a friend. (what I'm using to write this.)
    -------- Help with some development and testing on Atari Jaguar games. Mainly Joust
    -------- and Moon Patrol.
    2016 - Picked up a 27" iMac 2.7 Ghz 32 GB ram from a friend.
    -------- Set up Internet server on the Newton 2000 for a while.
    -------- Bubsy Fan Blog interviews Bubsy creator Michael Berlyn.
    -------- Get the Atari Flashback Portable from Atgames that gets me back into the
    -------- Atari 2600. Help in testing hundreds of games to see what is compatible with the
    -------- SD card slot. Then work with fan hackers to get dozens more tuned up and working.
    2017 - Get the Sega Flashback Portable from Atgames, causing me to get into some
    -------- tinkering on Sega Genesis.
    -------- To date, Bubsy Bobcat Fan Blog on Atariage has had 175,398 visitors.
    -------- Still call computer BBSs and write a blog on that as well.
    -------- And local Amiga user group in Dallas, TX is still active with live YouTube
    -------- broadcasts every month.

    Wow, 40 years of computing. Been a fun ride.


  12. doctorclu

    Capitol Station BBS

    By doctorclu,

    Capital Station BBS
    telnet://csbbs.dyndns.org
     
    I was watching Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey over last weekend so naturally when I saw this name I said to myself "STATION!" (Was a saying of victory based on the scientist/"Martian" named Station)
     
    So Capitol Station BBS first visit...
     

     
    Asks for English or German first off. Interesting!
     

     
    So about BBSing: software was mostly created in the 90s pre-internet, and they asked validation questions like your name, telephone number, and that was cool because they would call you up and validate you. But your address? Get real. So just so you know, this is what I put down for my information in our current age of information secrecy. I will give a accurate name and number when applying, but the rest? Well if you are a hard core Doctor Who fan you'll appreciate what I wrote.
     

     
    The BBS bulletins. Yep, I just said "Bulletin Board Systems Bulletins" basically. I know, redundant, but here is where you will find out about the BBS software and recent things. Generally "Hey the BBS went down, but we are back up again!" And that bulletin 9 times out of 10 will be posted like nine years before as a lot of these BBSs are left on autopilot and the system operators go off to get married, have kids, hold down careers and what not. I once found a BBS that was operating in a college closet and the system operator completely forgot he had it running still (and pulled the plug on the BBS after that) But this BBS bulletin list was the general "hey we are trying new things" or "here is the BBS software".
     

     
    Finally the menu...
     

     
    Pretty standard. Didn't see a online game menu, but I did see the option "!" for the demos and I didn't get too far into that, but I did like the ANSI art animation you get greeted with:
     
    MPL.mp4
     

     
    Not much local flair. Ok, let's check the networks:
     

     
    Now this is a bit more like it. Naturally of course, this is networked. Still interesting. So "FSX" net. Never heard of it. Granted in the past I have frequented FidoNet, DoveNet, GatorNet, even some AtariNet back in the 80's. And naturally on the BBSs you would have had the UseNets. What was/is the Atari one? Go go gadget Google!!
     

     
    Yep those. Hit a lot of those from the Family-Net BBS. Was great. Basically internet trafficed message boards great for tons of information. Now days mostly just Bravo Sierra ads. (Atari Dealer) Hey he can't help it, it looks like it's all him and well, that's because it is. Those UseNets and News Groups were replaced by Atariage and Facebook. Still fun to shout into these networks though and say "You're still here? Cool!"
     

     
    So there is also a Net267? Kinda generic name if you ask me. Reminds me of a Borg (Star Trek) species designation, like "Species 8472" or something. Again, there are many message networks I have not heard of, hope to cure that somewhat in my BBS Trotting, but other networks were creative with "Fido" with the dog icon, or "Gator", or "Dove". But "Net267"? LOL! Again, very Borg.
     

     
    I tried two sections of the Net267 group and they were empty, but then saw some activity in one of the section, and from only three days ago! Good to see. I left the BBS Trotter calling card in there and the question I like to ask to paraphrase Socrates in "What makes you so smart?" and ask "What makes Net267 so great?" We'll see at some point if someone answers.
     

     
    And we have seen this guy before. I did a quick image search on Google, no hits yet. Would like to know what the name of this mascot is. Maybe we should give him a name.
     
    Anyway, so there we go, Capitol Station BBS. Some networks I had not seen before. Later on my Amigos. - Doctor Clu the BBS Trotter.
  13. doctorclu

    B4BBS

    By doctorclu,

    And now... The Prologue...

    And there was a creature in the universe, according to the Hithhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by the name of Bowerick Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged is an immortal being who became immortal after an accident with a few rubber bands, a liquid lunch, and a particle accelerator. After a period of total boredom, especially on Sunday afternoons, he decided to insult everyone in the entire universe in alphabetical order.

    Being not immortal, nor as infinitely bored, I have decided to not visit every BBS in alphabetical order. I would be a month or two before leaving the A's. No, if I should not complete this task of visiting all the existing BBSs in the world, at least let it BE said that I was not alphabetist. (Alphabetist is like racist, but against treating all letters of the alphabet equally.)

    That said, I will now move on to the letter B, and tomorrow C, and so forth. Or maybe I'll just visit a BBS as it is brought to my attention and then go back to some assemblance of order.

    (Yes, please do mention your favorite BBS and I'll pay it a visit.)

    So today is the B4BBS

    B4BBS
    b4bbs.sampsa.com



    Hey a BBS from London! How ironic that I had the Up Pompeii and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references since they are both British shows!!

    This is about where my joy ended on this visit. :/



    Tried to leave a validation message on the BBS. It would not create a new line. I had to erase what I had to abort the message. It flagged me that I needed to leave a message to be validated. What could I do. I tried again, the system locked up, had to log back in.

    On the second go around I was able to see the menu and message areas..





    The game menu...



    Part of the BBS link. I think the Manilla BBS is linked to that too.







    And yes I was already there.

    So I played as a new character "Doctor Clu" and got halfway through the game before the system locked up. When I tried to log back in to try other terminal programs to see if I would have any other luck with the message posting, the BBS would not let me back in.

    Normally a BBS experience is not this frustrating, but with 386 more BBSs out there, I probably won't be revisiting the B4BBS.

    Good luck B4BBS, hope you work out your technical problems.

    -Doctor Clu

  14. doctorclu
    Tonight's episode can be found here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg8RvqhdM5E

    [[i've decided in this series of Space Patrol review when someone mentions something other worldly sciency, (or in other words contrary to science) I will declare "Science!"]]

    01:00 So the scientist, on Mars, looks into a telescope and sees Mars and two moons. Science!!!
    02:10 Col. Raeburn is a old grouch. Complaining on why they would alert them in a rogue asteroid and ask to run a computation. Why? Because it's your job! (Nice Teletype) Wotan, is the Martian capitol.
    04:20 Marla "A Venusian has the facility to anticipate what her employer wants." (Also confirms there
    04:30 Professor Haggerty. And his eggs. He is famous for eggs. Don't call him Pop.
    Katherine wants to be called Cathy.
    05:30 So Professor Haggerty is asked to help with an asteroid heading towards Mars and his answer is "I'm a scientist Colonel, how can I help you with this?" Why would he be asking you? Because it's your job!!
    BTW, YouTube has a Close Captioned option for videos. It was hilarious to see what Closed Captioned came up with when Professor Haggarty gave his full name (Professor Aloysius O’Brien O’Rourke Haggarty)



    05:53 So we just established it will take seven months for the asteroid to hit Mars and within the span of five minutes people on Mars are getting concerned? Well that's advancing the plot for you.
    06:24 to Paraphrase Professor Haggarty "Damnit Raeburn! I'm a Scientist not a demolition man!"
    07:23 Venusians, complete with pointy ears, are known for being logical. Mind you, Star Trek would not air for another three years. (September 8, 1966) This episode aired for the first time in the UK on July 5, 1963.
    09:21 So the crew of Gallisphere 347 give up their leave when they learn that an asteroid heading towards Mars must be stopped. Dart asks Slim if he wants to stay and he simply replies in logical fashion "that is a suggestion of Nonsensical import". Love that answer. Then Dart answers in this age of future enlightenment "Good, I would be lost without your slang way of talking." Wow, there is 22nd century open mindedness for you. But then it is only early 22nd century.
    10:31 So here we learn of the stakes of this mission: Blow up the asteroid completely or the little pieces will do just as much damage. And no pressure Dart, but if you fail the capitol of Mars will be destroyed and millions will be homeless. (But cool that they evacuated the capitol just in case.)
    10:55 So Dart would like to pull the freighter with the dynamite to blow up the asteroid from the Moon. Raeburn says he will have to pull it from Earth. Dart objects that pulling the freighter from Earth will slow the gallisphere down. But relatively speaking, when traveling to Mars, there seriously is not THAT much difference between hauling from the moon or Earth. SCIENCE!!!
    11:10 So in the first episode they had to use gallisphere 024 instead of 347 because they had to get to Jupiter in a hurry. So, for most of the episodes they go through this launch sequence saying the wrong ship designation.
    13:08 Cruising at 500,000 MPH. Gallispheres are known to reach 800,000 on average, and can increase with a dangerous boost speed beyond that.
    13:30 So they are dealing with an asteroid 50 miles in diameter. Takes the gallisphere about 12 hours to reach the asteroid. Takes them two hours to get the line for the freighter back which had floated off into space due to the low gravity of the asteroid. Not sure about the time involved though. I know transits to Venus and Mars only take a few days in this show. Have to look into this some more.
    18:50 It struck me as funny that the Martian professor suggests that Professor Haggarty should have gone along on the mission. The reason for this is that in the contemporary puppet Sci-Fi show, Fireball XL5 they have Professor Matthew Matic that was part of the XL5 crew.


    19:30 So we have the whole plot that we would again see in the movie Armageddon in 1998. They have to drill into the asteroid to plant the charges. They have trouble using the Gamma guns as the asteroid is not made of a material they are used to. I'm thinking to myself what a pity to blow up a rare asteroid. Then again, wasn't this an asteroid from the asteroid belt knocked off it's course by the asteroid that flew in from outside the solar system? SCIENCE!!
    20:02 Husky does one of this moments where he bungles a word this time "disintegrated" and Dart corrects him. So they have a universal translator, but everyone in the Space Patrol, Earth, Venus, and Mars alike all have to speak English? What a rip! And Dart sets the charges to blow in THREE MINUTES? What the Fu..?!?!
    23:23 So Dart manages to get the fuse working 60 seconds before it is all going to blow. The most funny moment is when they try to distance the gallisphere from the asteroid they realize they do not have enough speed. Husky offers to throw himself off the ship since he is the large one. But naturally they ditch the freighter, that lightens the load, and they are free at that point. And big surprise, once Mars is safe, Husky is hungry again.

    Great episode all and all. Seems at most we are only a few days removed from the last story. Wonder if they ever got the eight weeks of leave after working for a year? What a life. Sure their lives are displaced by all the sleep time, but they have probably only been awake for under a month of the year they have been on patrol. So work under a month for a year, and get eight weeks off? What a deal!

    As a extra bonus, a video someone did showing the gallisphere in more detail!






    Tune in next time for....
    Space Patrol 01x03 The Dark Planet

  15. doctorclu
    So I was cruiz'in Soundcloud as I do from time to time looking for new stuff on the Bubster, and low and behold, I didn't just find the usual remake of the original Bubsy opening tune, or sound samples in a techno beat. I found a whole new soundtrack!
     
    Check out some of these new and refreshing tunes. I think they really captured the whimsical nature of Bubsy.
     
    1 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - A Hole Lot Of Magic
    2 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - Bubsy's Inlet
    3 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - Nightmolly Of The Century
    4 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - Starry Orbits
    5 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - The Far Outside
    6 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - What My Paw Is Telling Me
    7 Bubsy in Return of the Bobcat - Yarn Times 

     
    All these by Aizakku Horooee. Great tunes which I also saw on YouTube. Enjoy!!
     
    [October 2016 written in Janaury 2017 by... timey whimey means...] - Doctor Clu
    -Doctor Clu
  16. doctorclu
    Awesome news folks. I mean extremely awesome.

    There is a new game that Bubsy has been added to.




    Isn't that just amazing?

    You can find the patch file here:
    http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3275/

    Also I found the Russian Bubsy version and added it to the Bubsy set. I believe the sound is better in it when used with the Sega Flashback Portable but try it out for yourself.

    --------------

    Also on a more somber note, when I was sharing the above video on Michael Berlyn (creator of Bubsy for newcomers here) Facebook site, I saw that SpongeFox made a great tribute to Carrie Fisher. Yeh, this article is actually written in early January and still hit pretty hard by that. Just glad she appeared in episode 7 and 8. She was a great princess, and a awesome General. As they said, she will always be royalty to me. Thanks for this SpongeFox.

  17. doctorclu
    Tonight's Space Patrol is watchable here:
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1UDaPtA9tU
     
    I've seen the entire Space Patrol series and it is a blast. I've also seen all of Fireball XL5. In fun, Space Patrol would have been the lead up to Fireball. Both had producers who had worked with each other in the past. Space Patrol had the lesser budget.
     
    Sooo... where to start on Space Patrol? Can we land on Jupiter? Well we sent a probe into Jupiter and it was crushed before it got into the upper atmosphere so.. no. But the best way to look at Space Patrol is to realize that Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski said that it was his favourite TV show as a child. When you watch this show you can see similarities. Naturally the humans are Earthers, the Narns are Martians, and Minbari are Venusians. The races after that get a bit more where they don't have as easy parallels with the exception of Vorlons are definitely Deltans, a planet around Alpha Centari.
     
    Rather than think of each planet being the literal Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc with a habital solid planet to land on teaming with it's own life; think of each world as a star system. Besides, often in Space Patrol they refer to the solar system as a "galaxy". :/ And even in the beginning of this episode, they say:
     
    "This is earth the year 2100 new york is the headquarters of space patrol and men from Earth, Mars, and Venus live and work there as guardians of peace. This is the story of those men whose courage made the universe safe for us all."
     
    The Universe? That is a big place. But I will say this, during this course of this story space exploration is remapped. Maybe these are the forefathers who made traveling to the rest of the universe possible? Captain Dart and his crew experience a career where they put themselves in a deep freeze for months to arrive at planets. The way I see it, Earth probably sent out hundreds of Galaspheres (the space ships in the show resembling a spinning top) all patrolling the solar system one after the other, all able to be woke up if needed and if they were in the area. Very elaborate but functional. By the end of the series they have light speed travel and that puts an end to many men and women making a living sleeping most of the time. But it was a sweet deal while it lasted.
     
    One thing I want to do is figure out how many years pass during this show. Takes six months to reach Neptune, and six months to get back? Well that is one year the life of Captain Dart and crew are displaced from the life they once knew. Should be fun. So at the beginning of the show they say the year is 2100 and New York. Now let's say that the environment is the same then as it is now. There is no appearance of snow, so it is not the winter time, so let's set the calendar to sometime in March to start out with.
     
    And there are other ongoing puns in this show. So let's check them out.
     
    --------------------------------
    About this episode:
     
    Poor Captain Dart just gets back to Earth and he is sent immediately back out. But Captain Dart is a good sport about it. But life wears on him eventually in the series. Husky and Slim are already complaining.
     
    03:30 - I find it funny that the other Galaspheres had a malfunctioning Orbital Drive but still manages to land on Earth? Wouldn't just need a Orbital drive to land?
     
    03:50 The Venusian secretary Marla says something new each episode. Or at least says some quip or line about Venusians. This one she says - "A Venusian has the facility never to forget."
     
    Raeburn - Goodbye and good luck. (See you in 49 days.) I mean can you imagine that? Raeburn just assigns these people who just got back from a long patrol and says "Go forth..." and then doesn't see them again for nearly two months? And wait till they have trips to Neptune and Pluto!!
     
    BTW, in real life the Juno Probe was reported to be the fastest manmade object to date of estimated top speed of about 165,000 mph (265,000 km/h), being launched from Earth on August 2011 and arriving at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. So a little under five years.
     
    Granted the Gallisphere made a straight shot while Juno sling shot around the sun to gain speed, so other probes in the past have managed some better times.
     
    Pioneer 10 - 640 Days in 1973.
    Pioneer 11 - 606 Days.
     
    Voyager 1 - 546 days in 1979.
    Voyager 2 - 688 days.
     
    Galileo - 2,242 days in 1995. Took a more indirect path to not just flyby but orbit the Jovian moon system!
     
    Juno - 1,795 days in 2016. Hey we're improving!
     
    Oh and an estimated Europa mission will be launched in 2022, reaching Jupiter in 2030. Must require more special deceleration to actually slow down enough to land on a moon. But then... Cassini and the Hygens Titan lander... oh well nevermind. >End tangent. <
     
    06:17-
    "Gamma Rays on, Yobba rays on..."
     
    06:51 - Meson power.
     
    07:26
    The Martian Husky always also has a comment as they leave Earth. Captain Dart asks Husky about the view of Earth which Husky says "Partly hidden by clouds but there is a good view of Australia." Captain Dart asks this of Husky after watching a monitor of view as they launch.
     
    08:15 Zergon way. A way
     
    08:44 Slim has to explain the freezer to Husky? They must really be a new crew.
     
    Takes 24 days 12 hours to reach Jupiter.
     
    09:00 Sonar Beam? In space? LOL!
     
    10:40
     
    11:00 - After all these times of approaching Jupiter and they haven't figured out deceleration to not nearly crash into Jupiter? Newbs!!
     
    It is established that Captain Dart is a Space Patrolman. Actual combat is handled by the Galactic Forces.
     
    Husky establishes that Martians are a warrior race. (Much like Narns!)
     
    12:30
    Husky - "What is Jupiter like?"
    Captain Dart - "Like the Florida Everglades with Newfoundland fog."
     
    13:00 It takes Gamma rays to see Jupiter enough to get a view that you would see from Earth?
     
    13:30 Ahhh.. the rocky surface of Jupiter under all those perky clouds.
     
    15:00 The Jovians looked and sounded cute. What is interesting is they are blimp like almost like other depictions of cloud dwellers for a gaseous world. But then they are depicting Jupiter as a solid surface sooo... I da know?
     
    17:00 The air and water on Jupiter is poisonous. Good to know.
     
    17:30 Compass is going mad because someone is using a vibra-gun?
     
    18:00 Bang! Wow actual violence for a children's show.
     
    20:00 Again, the Jovian (I believe this is Joe the Jovian) has a really cute voice. I love how the translator has a dial for Jupiter. And it is kinda bulky too What if you didn't need translating? You would have this encumberance on your chest.
     
    21:30 Scientists eh? And the Lumays are the only life on Jupiter? What about the Jovians? Later you hear of snakes.
     
    22:30 Awesome fist fight scene.
     
    23:00 Plastifoam? Future handcuffs.
     
    23:45 Joe wishes Captain Dart would stay there and make home with him? Ok, Joe has a sweet voice and that is cute, but if I didn't know better I would say we had a really early homosexual hint there. But hey, it is 2100!
     
    2400 you get the mechanical heartbeat of New York. The amazing thing about this show from 1962 was it being the first to have an all electronic music score (as simple as it was).
     
    And that is the first episode. Next Episode "The Wandering Asteroid".
     
    CALENDAR: We started on let's say March 10th, 2100. 24 days 12 hours to get to Jupiter and the same amount of time back (maybe not in as big a hurry, but we'll just keep it consistent), probably half a day on Earth and on Jupiter, a total of 50 days pass in this episode.
     
    Final Date April 29, 2100.
  18. doctorclu
    Evening all. Tonight we look into playing Bubsy 1, Bubsy 2, and Bubsy in Sonic 2 on the Sega Flashback Portable, or Sega Gopher, or whatever you want to call it!




    (Apologies for the sound being out of sync... blah!)
    If you would like to try these out on your Sega Portable Flashback the Bubsy compilation is attached.

    -------

    We had a fun side chat at the video was recording:

    David B hi
    
    Some Call Me Anto This is preferred over the Switch presentation
    
    Some Call Me Anto That is what could go wrong
    
    David B i don't have any emulaters like that
    
    Some Call Me Anto The music gets hit hard here
    
    Some Call Me Anto I find Bubsy 2 to be the least playable
    
    Some Call Me Anto Bubsy > Fractured Furry Tales > Bubsy 3D > Bubsy 2
    
    Some Call Me Anto That's my favorites from best to worst
    
    Some Call Me Anto I need more Bubsy merch, I do have a Bubsy figure
    
    Some Call Me Anto I REALLY want the costume
    
    doctorclu Hey everyone!!
    
    doctorclu You have a Bubsy figure? Where did you find it?
    
    Some Call Me Anto Fist4figures, I can send you a picture if you'd like
    
    Some Call Me Anto He's an etsy user that creates custom figures
    
    Some Call Me Anto It is a bit expensive though
    
    doctorclu Oh cool, please do send a picture.  [email protected]
    
    doctorclu Of the Bubsy merchandise I have the first shirt, the portable hole, a pin.
    
    Some Call Me Anto I still hope Bubsy makes a comeback soon
    
    doctorclu I would like Bubsy to re-emerge at some point. I think someone would like to cash in on him at some point.
    
    doctorclu So you have any other merchandise of Bubsy?
    
    Some Call Me Anto I only own the figure, shirts and posters, oh and the games of course
    
    doctorclu Oh yeh posters. All good. Well send a pic of that figure. Might be good to pick that up at some point.
    
    Some Call Me Anto I believe I sent it through gmail. It is supposed to come with a Woolie next to Bubsy but unfortunately it was damaged during shipping

    It was (pricey)..however the seller is very open to negotiation on price
    He also refunded me for the Woolie snapping off, so he's very nice and his work is amazing
    https://www.etsy.com/shop/Fist4Figures


    ---------

    At that point the chat closed when the video was wrapping up, but that is an amazing figure. Thanks for sending that picture!
  20. doctorclu
    The above picture was one I found when looking for something New Year related to Bubsy. And I found that JustinandDennis on DeviantArt not only had the ticket, but some good Bubsy material, so check it out.

    There have been some challenges in 2016 but you know what? This year had it's gems as well.

    This is the year that we got to see Bubsy make a come back, kinda. The Bubsy Two-Fur game was released to steam. Nice stuff. And some activity with the Modern Bubsy project.

    We saw the Bubsy episode on the Jaguar Game by Game podcast.

    Had the honor of talking to creator of the Bubsy character,
    .

    And I got to talk the producer of the Bubsy game for the Jaguar, .

    Not Bubsy related but more for the victories of 2016, we Jaguar gamers got to see a serge of games as ST games were ported to the Jaguar. I got to help on Joust and Moon Patrol which was just fun. And many other personal victories. There were handships, and tragedies so much so I wanted to write off this year, but you know, many many victories as well.

    For all of you out there, such as my co-Hort here Sponge Fox, or our friends Robert R, Sauron, Serguei2, GoldLeader , Kaug, BubRayBobCatt, AtariLBC, Shinto, Cafeman, and all you hundreds of readers and lurkers out there!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR and here's looking forward to a great 2017!!

    -Doctor Clu
  21. doctorclu
    Speaking from the future, I know 2016 was rough, but here's wishing you at least an... interesting... 2017.

    Just think, only 83 more years until you will see Meson power, and better yet, to find out what the heck a Yobba ray is.

    (More talk on Space Patrol in the year to come.)
  22. doctorclu
    Our story today starts with me using a phone without buttons. Yes, it drives me nuts. What happened was naturally I needed a phone with a good data plan and my phone carrier at the time was all like "no, we don't have a better data plan, sit down, keep using our outdated service and keep sending us money."

    So I moved networks. And many other people probably did too because they updated their networks after I left.

    Now you know how this works. I've been through three phone carriers since 2001 and honestly, they will be good for a while and just get complacent and someone else will come along, offer something better, and people will switch to that network will they become either overloaded or complacent. But competition in networks and people switching like the great herd keeps things from being stagnant forever. So I got the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime, a low end model phone which was the basic model of this network in 2015, they of course have moved on since.

    One thing I am enjoying about more modern Android phones over my Galaxy Pocket from 2011-2012 is the ability to more readily accept Bluetooth devices. The projection keyboard works. And I picked up a chicklet key keyboard that feels much like my MacBook Air keyboard, just a bit smaller. Bluetooth is basically the answer to phones with no buttons. There are also USB keyboards but all the apps I've seen required a hack at the root level, so this was not easily done.



    Now, if I had my druthers, I would get a keyboard the size of phone case. You just open up the case and there is a small Bluetooth keyboard. I tried to get the smallest Bluetooth keyboard I could find. Well, for cheap. So what I found before moving onto other projects was this keyboard that work work with a tablet.



    Speaking of tablets, I am impressed by what is available for the iPad like the keyboard attachment above. Even seen joystick attachments, things to make iPad part of a drum, part of a guitar, just amazing tactile stuff to give more feel to a tactile-less computer experience.



    But the only problem is when you go to put a protective case on a iPad and then it is too thick to slide in a dock like the one this keyboard stand has. Oh well.



    So what I was working with was not quite for the cell phone I had. So what I finally did was put some small metal plates in the back of the rubberized protective case. That way I was able to keep the phone in place with some strong, rare earth magnets from a old hard drive.

    [[For those that might remember the Red Green Show, Red had duct tape as the handy man's secret weapon. My secret weapon used for about everything? RARE EARTH MAGNETS! ]]

    So the screen is in place, and I have a Bluetooth keyboard so I have actual BUTTONS!!!



    And while the screen is view-able, I add another trick of magnifying the screen. Yes, I am playing with ChromeCast to project the screen onto a HDMI monitor. But a lower tech solution? A magnifying screen bought from Jo-Ann's Fabrics set just a little apart from the phone to magnify it by about ... I'd say 20%. Still an improvement though. So I hold the magnifying screen in place with a drinking straw and binder clips.

    So here is a comparison of how the magnification looks:



    Fun trick. So I've been playing with this a bit and it is getting more seamless. I turn the power on to the keyboard and that wakes up the phone when a Bluetooth device connects. At which point I can select on the main menu what app I want using the arrow keys.

    Most of the time I use terminal programs for getting on various Atari BBSs through telnet which has been fun. This blog is mostly about devices with buttons or adding buttons to devices so with that I'll end there. But I will be starting ANOTHER blog about my BBSing experience and part of which using my Android to make that happen. Thank you Atariage for the awesome opportunity to start many blogs for us to share many innovative ideas.

    And so I leave you with my phone, sitting next to a laptop, trying and mostly succeeding at mimicking a laptop. Phones... they are computers too, just stripped down and dumbed down for the average user.


  23. doctorclu
    "Ron Glass, who shot to fame with his role on the television series Barney Miller, has sadly died at the age of 71. The actor died on Friday (November 25) after a battle with various illnesses, his rep told TMZ."

    More from this TMZ article here.


    https://external-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQDEYshZstPiV8nw&w=476&h=249&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn01.cdn.justjared.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fheadlines%2F2016%2F11%2Fglass-dead.jpg&cfs=1&upscale=1&sx=0&sy=16&sw=1500&sh=785

    I'm so thankful I got to meet him at ComiCon in 2014. Here is the video I found on Youtube about that panel:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xULDyDkKbX8

    Great Ron Glass moments from that panel can be found in the following video links:

    https://youtu.be/xULDyDkKbX8?t=4m53s
    https://youtu.be/xULDyDkKbX8?t=11m48s
    https://youtu.be/xULDyDkKbX8?t=21m49s
    https://youtu.be/xULDyDkKbX8?t=25m2s
    https://youtu.be/xULDyDkKbX8?t=36m

    He was so much fun because he was a grounded man in a sci-fi series. We are really going to miss him. :/ Naturally we liked him first in Barney Miller and Firefly. Two shows on completely other ends of the spectrum and show the diversity of this talented actor.

    "Looks like it's fun" -Ron Glass.

















  25. doctorclu

    The Planet Boldlygo

    By doctorclu,

    On my Facebook page my profile picture was altered with the Star Trek 50th anniversary theme. I had all these four themes made into memes before that event passed. At the bottom of the pic it says “TO BOLDLY GO"
     
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153974375173651&set=a.426260258650.199598.513018650&type=3&permPage=1
     
    On my profile pic someone left the comment:
     
    "Why havent they ever been to boldlygo hahaha”
     
    This is a good and valid point. Apparently other people on the internet are asking the same question:
     
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/comments/3wk2qj/despite_years_of_travelling_the_universe_the_star/
     
    This is why I hope in some Star Trek story, someday, the crew visits a planet named Boldlygo. If we can have a dwarf planet named MakeMake certainly we can have a planet Boldlygo. Just sayin’.
     
    And then they can go to Boldlygo… where no one has gone before.
     

    Greg

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