tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42101392533442191322024-02-02T10:30:21.503-05:00Catching up with technologyLearn to balance the technology you had yesterday with the technology you will have tomorrow.<br> I will gladly answer any technology related questions you have, regardless of the era from which the technology hails. I am also available for computer repair, and website administration/design for those in the Metro Atlanta area.
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Please <a href="mailto:catchingtech@gmail.com">Contact Me</a> with any questions, or requests.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-534939866159085252013-02-07T12:29:00.000-05:002013-02-07T12:29:02.092-05:00On The Theremin<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/w5qf9O6c20o?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w5qf9O6c20o?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-53984949155749499192011-08-07T15:02:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.805-05:00All on Paper (old news?)<a href="http://journoterrorist.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/paperball3.jpg?w=212&h=219" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://journoterrorist.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/paperball3.jpg?w=212&h=219" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">In a stunning and, if I may say, terribly interesting move College journalists from Florida Atlantic University have produced an entire issue of their newspaper the 'old fashioned' way.<br /><br />The whole thing has a very Don Drapper/Mad Men feel to it, which is a Good Thing.<br /><br />They typed on typewriters, took photos on film (which they developed in house), cut and pasted with scissors and glue, and made plates by hand.<br /><br />I can't tell if they are crazy or brilliant. I want to try it. (Hit the link for the full story.)<br /><br />Part one: <a href="http://journoterrorist.com/2011/07/26/paperball/">http://journoterrorist.com/2011/07/26/paperball/</a><br />Part two: <a href="http://journoterrorist.com/2011/08/02/paperball2/">http://journoterrorist.com/2011/08/02/paperball2/</a><br />Read the issue yourself: </span><a href="http://issuu.com/upress/docs/up1234-2">http://issuu.com/upress/docs/up1234-2</a> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Be sure to read through the comments for some interesting and useful contributions. (Like this gem, the same thing as it was done 'back in the day.') </span>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-7116968551238039342010-08-24T12:32:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.818-05:00Disney Shot KennedyA new indie film, from local movie house modest conspiracy films, Disney Shot Kennedy will be screened this Friday (August 27th) at 8:30 PM at The Eyedrum in Atlanta as part of the Atlanta Underground Film Festival. <br />
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Everyone's favorite record store proprietor, Jim, plays a long haired man with a gun. It looks to be a fun event, and I hope to see everyone there! <br />
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Tickets are $8 at the door, and go on sale 30 minutes before the movie starts.<br />
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<object height="480" width="100%"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/WpEDk5c5ITw?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/WpEDk5c5ITw?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="100%" hight="480"></embed></object><br />
You can find more information about the event <a href="http://festivalleague.com/disneyshotkennedy.cfm">here</a>.<br />
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Also, be sure to check out the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Disney-Shot-Kennedy">Disney Shot Kennedy facebook page</a>, for more news and updates.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-59959439578147671442010-08-19T14:03:00.000-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.811-05:00Love Sculpture- Sabre Dance/Think of Love - British Blues RockI'm a blues junkie. I heard a song today that moved me, it was the B-Side to a novelity cover of the classical piece "Sabre Dance."<br />
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I'm presenting both songs here. Listen to them, let them move you. <br />
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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XPT0V1y--vk?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XPT0V1y--vk?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5Bm8CsTk3I0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5Bm8CsTk3I0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-83910558212641016972010-04-13T13:43:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.834-05:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 36px; font-weight: bold;">Record Store Day is this Saturday!</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><div><h2 style="text-align: right;">Free Stuff</h2><div style="text-align: left;">All Peter Frampton and Humble Pie records are buy one get one <b>FREE </b>on Record Store Day! </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4TRVSUbgvs31MYmPEg1-TrcenRK5fqoq_TEODYJ7lJprhu140INl82cirW4JDzkIrxMWyLH4yejZNr6bNfJrp6TNdNQtkrXSpHCFxWv63Tlxz3Nfe7s-twrYG1gnbOnmm6AJtUUzLxE/s1600/2010-04-13+12.49.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4TRVSUbgvs31MYmPEg1-TrcenRK5fqoq_TEODYJ7lJprhu140INl82cirW4JDzkIrxMWyLH4yejZNr6bNfJrp6TNdNQtkrXSpHCFxWv63Tlxz3Nfe7s-twrYG1gnbOnmm6AJtUUzLxE/s320/2010-04-13+12.49.23.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Sweet Melissa Records has just received a shipment of exclusive Record Store Day bags. Made from 95% recycled woven polypropylene, these bags are, at the same time, awesome and environmentally conscious. Be the envy of all your friends, with this amazing Record Store Day, 2010 bag.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The perfect size for carrying all the new releases and vintage vinyl you'll be picking up, it also features a pocket for singles.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipsSjFpCC1D-R97vkKj_Pi3F2xChfnMHcw0tnarfBSPWUS7I86zet1J1nzCA7UAUKmJGuTj8FqBjBCudAb_j_ZiPFen74vyQJ86Sek2J2XFDwD89uZYfaD6c-bUEDnMfGxhIhlSPqmMFM/s1600/2010-04-13+12.49.33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipsSjFpCC1D-R97vkKj_Pi3F2xChfnMHcw0tnarfBSPWUS7I86zet1J1nzCA7UAUKmJGuTj8FqBjBCudAb_j_ZiPFen74vyQJ86Sek2J2XFDwD89uZYfaD6c-bUEDnMfGxhIhlSPqmMFM/s320/2010-04-13+12.49.33.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The best thing about these bags is the witty prose that is at the same time entertaining and informative. "Are you unhappy listening to music with a compressed and brittle sound?" Such a powerful question is quickly followed by the proud proclamation "Records reproduce music featuring something known as Quality Sound." </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Be proud to be a vinyl junkie! Be the envy of the neighborhood. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The bags are <b>free </b>with a purchase of $50 or more, while supplies last.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-BnAFE3NvSSk1oOfK1HeeYJz6uJlXtM55wqExsFzVyE17Ns8Q69V4aL2P979PS4tzIzeTzV7tqfP5k-AhPTP8V2PIlaApFCoN9_Rbn6CB7-2Gt14S3CgKx_nsgeIUfRjIKIAXcWAay3c/s1600/2010-04-13+11.42.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-BnAFE3NvSSk1oOfK1HeeYJz6uJlXtM55wqExsFzVyE17Ns8Q69V4aL2P979PS4tzIzeTzV7tqfP5k-AhPTP8V2PIlaApFCoN9_Rbn6CB7-2Gt14S3CgKx_nsgeIUfRjIKIAXcWAay3c/s320/2010-04-13+11.42.08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In keeping with the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6aa84f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: lime;">Green</span></span> theme, we are proud to offer these custom made bowls. Each record was warped, scratched, and generally unplayable. They were rescued from the dumpster and turned into these magnificent show pieces. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>Artists such as Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and even Miles Davis are represented. </i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Available on a first come first serve basis for 6.95.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>Free with purchase of $50 or more while supplies last.</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 27px;"><b>New Stuff</b></span></span></div><b><br />
</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">We will have the finest in new vinyl. From, The Doors Live in New York to The White Stripes- Under Great White Northern Lights, even She and Him Vol 2! Not to mention the hundreds of vintage albums that we are putting out <b>EVERY DAY</b> in anticipation of Record Store Day. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">We are also proud to announce that we will have a ton of limited releases, and other various giveaways, <i>some that we aren't even allowed to talk about yet! </i> We've got special RSD releases from Soundgarden, Bon Iver, Peter Gabriel, Phoenix and more! </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>Please do keep in mind that a good number of the Record Store Day Releases were pressed in extremely limited quantities. Supplies are very limited, and everything is first come first serve.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 27px;"><b>Live Music</b></span></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPX6mw4d28QCx8rjSlZWxlplVfLP-vJgJFMaTjb1kt3bKUcf9UwI9AoRrcFf2MBxCUczdNlQdRIg6P82wImxvOh2xP-GURRyRNRXVgMXt6ueiyQxvxznbYlcR8VcVqSs65kIlsl208eLk/s1600/myspace2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPX6mw4d28QCx8rjSlZWxlplVfLP-vJgJFMaTjb1kt3bKUcf9UwI9AoRrcFf2MBxCUczdNlQdRIg6P82wImxvOh2xP-GURRyRNRXVgMXt6ueiyQxvxznbYlcR8VcVqSs65kIlsl208eLk/s320/myspace2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Don't forget that there will be special performances from Noble Thieves, Davin McCoy and the Coming Attractions and more! </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Noble Thieves go on at noon with artists following regularly throughout the day!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">For the last several weeks they have been doing construction in front of our building. We don't know if it will be done in time for RSD, but we surely hope so. Rest assured that we will be here either way, and we will make it worth the trip! </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span> </b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Sweet Melissa Records</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">146 South Park Square NE</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Marietta GA </span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">30060</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Inside Antiques on the Square</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span> </b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">770-429-0434</span></b></div></div></span></span></span><br />
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</b></div>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-1770947946262389512010-04-06T01:25:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.715-05:00Open Source iPad alternativesFor the past year and a half I've been looking for a touch screen 'tablet' devic, with a screen larger than a cell phone and smaller than a laptop. I wanted it to have a good web browser, desktop resoltuion, the option to pair it with a keyboard, a good selection of high quality applications, and great battery life. I wasn't looking for something to use as a computer, but rather something to supplement my computer. The idea is that it's small enough to keep with you all the time, versitle enough to fill whatever niche you need it to, and enough unlike a computer to never feel burdened with a lack of understanding. <br />
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The iPad is those things. It is an increadibly well built, well engineered peice of hardware. It is running well written, visually pleasing, useful software. Using it feels good, more like a book or a magazine than a computer. It scratches the itch that I had and if Dell or HP had released the iPad I would be shouting from the roof tops. <br />
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But Apple made the iPad. It looks and feels like an Apple product, polished clean, well thought out, and utterly limited. The iPad is a perfect walled garden. If you don't use iTunes, you can't use an iPad. If you write an app apple disapproves of, it can't be on the iPad.<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/04/ibooks-censortron-do.html"> If your book says 'sperm' it will be censored on the iPad</a>. Apple has built an ecosystem that reminds me more of Nintendo or Sega from the 90s than any computer company. The mantra seems to be 'people can't be trusted with the things they buy.'<br />
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So I have gathered together a list of some of the most promising iPad competitors from the open source world. Most of these existed before the iPad, and each comes with it's own caveats, but if you are looking for iPad alternatives, you'd do well to start here.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2432/3573548588_daa3d1b1a7.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2432/3573548588_daa3d1b1a7.jpg?v=0" width="320" /></a></div>SmartQ v7 - This is a . It runs Android, windows mobile, and Ubuntu.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-75363430657907679702010-03-30T17:13:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.825-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://recordstoreday.tuneportals.com/photo/418453:280" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://recordstoreday.tuneportals.com/photo/418453:280" /></a></div><a href="http://www.recordstoreday.com/"><br />
</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Record Store Day 2010 is fast approaching. Here at Sweet Melissa Records, we are preparing a HUGE celebration to honor the spirit of the indie record store. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We are celebrating with live music from local artists, Limited Edition RSD releases, and huge discounts, across the board. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Over the course of the next 18 days we will be putting out more than 1000 vintage albums, and receiving several large orders of new releases. There will be prizes, giveaways, and rare albums moving through the store all day. Bring a friend, and spend a few hours listening to some great local jams, and perusing our huge selection of records! </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If you've never heard of record store day, fear not! Wikipedia sums things up nicely :</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Record Store Day is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special Vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day, and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. " </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We're pleased to announce that indie sensation <a href="http://davinmccoy.com/">Davin McCoy</a> will be appearing in store for a special unplugged set. Time to be announced. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">With all the events and specials that we are running for RSD, it can get a bit hard to keep track of things. Just for you, we've set up a</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104442032928804&ref=mf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Facebook Events page</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, and a </span><a href="http://www.recordstoreday.com/Venue/6238"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">listing on recordstoreday.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">! all of our events should be posted to both of these pages as they are announced, and of course you can always find relevant info here. </span></span>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-1288819226042781582010-03-30T00:33:00.002-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.711-05:00Douglas Adams Lecture - Parrots, the universe, and everything. I haven't had the chance to rewatch this yet, but I've read several samples from the transcript. He is greatly missed.<br />
<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_ZG8HBuDjgc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_ZG8HBuDjgc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
<br />
(<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/28/douglas-adams-lectur-1.html">via boingboing.net</a>)Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-57965414137253542232010-03-27T01:46:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.807-05:00Text adventure game consoleAndrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-18689327661315223052010-03-27T00:41:00.000-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.771-05:00Ostrich Legos! O!S!T!R!I!C!H! L!E!G!O!S!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cache.lego.com/images/shop/prod/7570-0000-xx-12-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://cache.lego.com/images/shop/prod/7570-0000-xx-12-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Between this and a good set of lego knights you could build a recreation of joust with legos! <br />
<br />
Throw in a few mindstorm kits and you could motorize the whole thing. <br />
<br />
Cost is approximately $10 per ostrich. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?p=7570&cn=632&d=70">Available for purchase here.</a><br />
<br />
I plan on ordering some at some point in the near future. Even if I never do anything with them, Ostrich Legos have to be one of the coolest inventions ever.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-24296660994195465922010-03-25T09:00:00.004-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.773-05:00$100 dollars - a laptop or a pair of jeans? (A discussion of value)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cherrypal.com/secure/images/Cherrypal_Africa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://www.cherrypal.com/secure/images/Cherrypal_Africa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I am continually amazed at the inconsistencies of our modern society. I look around and I am confused. The things that people spend money on, the values that <i>we</i> assign to things. <br />
<br />
The laptop pictured at the left cost $100. It isn't a great laptop by today's standards, but it is comparable to $2500 computers from 10 years ago.<br />
<br />
That is to say, it will do everything you need it to do, slowly.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.acquiremag.com/2009/10/13/wikireader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://www.acquiremag.com/2009/10/13/wikireader.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The other device featured in this post is called a Wiki-Reader. Designed for people who want Wikipedia but don't want, or can't afford, the internet. The concept initially struck me as ludicrous: Wikipedia is fluid, dynamic, changing; that's what makes it great. But it is also a fantastic, if often inaccurate, resource and access to it shouldn't be limited to those who pay their monthly fee to access the internet. I realized that the wiki-reader is probably as close to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we will ever see in my lifetime. <br />
<br />
That same $100 could buy you a laptop, one album (<a href="http://sweetmelissarecords.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&category_id=7&product_id=32&Itemid=99">The Beatles White Album</a>), two PS3 games, a <a href="http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_10901_615658_-1_12236_12202">pair of jeans</a>, or a Wiki-Reader. <br />
<br />
<br />
Let that sink in, for the cost of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch you could have access to the wealth of uses afforded by a computer, or the cornucopia of information that the Wiki-Reader provides. <br />
<br />
Knowledge - Communication - Music - Jeans - Same price across the board. <br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><b>CherryPal Africa</b></span><span style="background-color: #666666; color: #666666;"></span><br />
<br />
The specs for the laptop from the <a href="http://www.cherrypal.com/secure/product_info.php?products_id=9&osCsid=74935f9eb846e387a11c8beab6253ce1">Cherrypal website:</a> <br />
<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Laptop "Slow and Sufficient."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* The 7" Cherrypal Africa is a 'net book' powered by a:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* 400 MHz processor, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* 256 MB DDR / 2 GB NAND-flash </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* and runs Linux </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* 7 inch high-resolution TFT .(800 x 480 pixels)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* LAN:10/100M</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Ethernet Access</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* WIFI: IEEE 802.11 b/g </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Ethernet RJ-45 </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Keyboard: QWERTY 86 keys </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Mouse&Touch pad:build-in touch panel, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* set two shortcut key,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* and support usb port mouse </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* USB Port: USB 2.0 x 1 (aid external memory) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* USB 1.1 x 2 (aid keyboard & mouse only) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* External Memory : SD card , U-Disk , USB-HDD </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Card port: SD / MMC card slot (8GB) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Battery: 7.4 V 1800Mha built in Lithium battery 1800MAH Last time:4 HRS </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Sound effect:build-in realtek sound effect chipset, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Built in 2 x 0.5W </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Built in speaker 1 x microphone </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Weight:1.2kg Size: 213.5 x 141.8 x 30.8 mm</span></li>
</ul></blockquote>It is targeted at the developing world, but they will ship it anywhere. I can see uses for such a machine in nearly any community. It's size and price would make it a great first computer for children, it's portability makes it great for people on the go. I have considered getting a machine like this to replace my 200LX, though it is still a bit larger than I would like. <br />
<br />
The fact that it isn't running windows is seen as an issue by many consumers. The only real issue is that Linux tech support is not going to be found a Geek Squad. That being said, the kinds of things Geek Squad fixes tend not to go wrong on a Linux machine.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Be aware that the africa running 'Windows' is actually running the version of windows used for cellphones. It is a much less robust operating system than the (cheaper) linux. I wouldn't buy that or any other machine running 'windows mobile' or 'windows ce.' (The 'bing' laptop appears to be running windows XP, though it is far from the cheapest XP laptop available.)</i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #666666;">The Wiki-Reader</span></b><br />
<br />
Specifications are less important for the Wiki-Reader. It reads Wikipedia, it has three buttons, it has a touch screen. It costs $100. If you pay an extra few dollars a year they will mail updates to your door. The one feature that would seem to matter most, battery life, is amazing. They are claiming the device can run 15 minutes a day for 365 days on 2 AAA batteries.<br />
<br />
This video sums things up nicely:<br />
<object height="240" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/okkhi_GnI8k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/okkhi_GnI8k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<br />
I want to get one for my grandmother, though I fear the screen might be a bit small. I'll probably end up building something for her. For the price, and ease of use, it actually seems like a pretty neat little device. I think a parent could do far worse than giving their kids something like this. <br />
<br />
<hr /><br />
Even though the price tag of $100 is well outside the 'impulse buy' zone for most of us, it is hard to argue that the value brought to the table by the wiki-reader or the cherypal laptop seems to far outweigh the value of a pair of jeans, or a night at the cheesecake factory.<br />
<br />
What a world we live in.<br />
<a href="http://secure.cherrypal.com/">Cherypal</a><br />
<a href="http://thewikireader.com/about.html">Wikireader</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Note: I've never ordered from either of the companies listed. In my research I found that the reviews for both were commonly favorable, with very few complaints. </i></span>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-84558299090156942542010-03-25T02:36:00.001-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.840-05:00$100 dollars - a laptop or a pair of jeans? (A discussion of value)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cherrypal.com/secure/images/Cherrypal_Africa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://www.cherrypal.com/secure/images/Cherrypal_Africa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I am continually amazed at the inconsistencies of our modern society. I look around and I am confused. The things that people spend money on, the values that <i>we</i> assign to things. <br />
<br />
The laptop pictured at the left cost $100. It isn't a great laptop by today's standards, but it is comparable to $2500 computers from 10 years ago. That is to say, it will do everything you need it to do, slowly. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.acquiremag.com/2009/10/13/wikireader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://www.acquiremag.com/2009/10/13/wikireader.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The other device featured in this post is called a Wiki-Reader. Designed for people who want Wikipedia but don't want, or can't afford, the internet. The concept initially struck me as ludicrous: Wikipedia is fluid, dynamic, changing; that's what makes it great. But it is also a fantastic, if often inaccurate, resource and access to it shouldn't be limited to those who pay their monthly fee to access the internet. I realized that the wiki-reader is probably as close to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we will ever see in my lifetime. <br />
<br />
That same $100 could buy you a laptop, one album (<a href="http://sweetmelissarecords.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&category_id=7&product_id=32&Itemid=99">The Beatles White Album</a>), two PS3 games, a <a href="http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_10901_615658_-1_12236_12202">pair of jeans</a>, or a Wiki-Reader. <br />
<br />
<br />
Let that sink in, for the cost of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch you could have access to the wealth of uses afforded by a computer, or the cornucopia of information that the Wiki-Reader provides. <br />
<br />
Knowledge - Communication - Music - Jeans - Same price across the board. <br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;"><b>CherryPal Africa</b></span><span style="background-color: #666666; color: #666666;"></span><br />
<br />
The specs for the laptop from the <a href="http://www.cherrypal.com/secure/product_info.php?products_id=9&osCsid=74935f9eb846e387a11c8beab6253ce1">Cherrypal website:</a> <br />
<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Laptop "Slow and Sufficient."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* The 7" Cherrypal Africa is a 'net book' powered by a:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* 400 MHz processor, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* 256 MB DDR / 2 GB NAND-flash </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* and runs Linux </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* 7 inch high-resolution TFT .(800 x 480 pixels)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* LAN:10/100M</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Ethernet Access</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* WIFI: IEEE 802.11 b/g </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Ethernet RJ-45 </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Keyboard: QWERTY 86 keys </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Mouse&Touch pad:build-in touch panel, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* set two shortcut key,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* and support usb port mouse </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* USB Port: USB 2.0 x 1 (aid external memory) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* USB 1.1 x 2 (aid keyboard & mouse only) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* External Memory : SD card , U-Disk , USB-HDD </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Card port: SD / MMC card slot (8GB) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Battery: 7.4 V 1800Mha built in Lithium battery 1800MAH Last time:4 HRS </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Sound effect:build-in realtek sound effect chipset, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Built in 2 x 0.5W </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Built in speaker 1 x microphone </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Weight:1.2kg Size: 213.5 x 141.8 x 30.8 mm</span></blockquote>It is targeted at the developing world, but they will ship it anywhere. I can see uses for such a machine in nearly any community. It's size and price would make it a great first computer for children, it's portability makes it great for people on the go. I have long considered getting a machine l<br />
<br />
The fact that it isn't running windows is seen as an issue by many consumers. The only real issue is that Linux tech support is not going to be found a Geek Squad. That being said, the kinds of things Geek Squad fixes tend not to go wrong on a Linux machine.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Be aware that the africa running 'Windows' is actually running the version of windows used for smartphones and older PDAs. It is a much less robust operating system than the (cheaper) linux, and will not be supported officially by Microsoft for much longer. ' </i><i>I wouldn't buy that or any other machine running 'windows mobile' or 'windows ce.</i><i>(The 'bing' laptop appears to be running windows XP, though it is far from the cheapest XP laptop on the market.) </i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #666666;">The Wiki-Reader</span></b><br />
<br />
Specifications are less important for the Wiki-Reader. It reads Wikipedia, it has three buttons, it has a touch screen. It costs $100. If you pay an extra few dollars a year they will male updates to your door. The one feature that would seem to matter most, battery life, is amazing. They are claiming the device can run 15 minutes a day for 365 days on 2 AAA batteries.<br />
<br />
This video sums things up nicely:<br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/okkhi_GnI8k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/okkhi_GnI8k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<br />
I want to get one for my grandmother, though I fear the screen might be a bit small. I'll probably end up building something for her. For the price, and ease of use, it actually seems like a pretty neat little device. I think a parent could do far worse than giving their kids something like this. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Even though the price tag of $100 is well outside the 'impulse buy' zone for most of us, it is hard to argue that the value brought to the table by the wiki-reader or the cherypal laptop seems to far outweigh the value of a pair of jeans, or a night at the cheesecake factory.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
What a world we live in.<br />
<a href="http://secure.cherrypal.com/">Cherypal</a><br />
<a href="http://thewikireader.com/about.html">Wikireader</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Note: I've never ordered from either of the companies listed. In my research I found that the reviews for both were commonly favorable, with very few complaints. </i></span>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-49908463051161991222010-03-21T01:20:00.002-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.798-05:00CCTV and Free software<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2202/2241661584_1f12ba29e0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2202/2241661584_1f12ba29e0.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Image by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><a data-ywa-name="Account name" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12614773@N07/" rel="dc:creator cc:attributionURL" style="background-color: #0063dc; color: white; text-decoration: none;" title="Link to jordi.martorell's photostream"><b property="foaf:name"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">jordi.martorell</span></b></a></span><br />
I do a lot of work with local businesses. I design websites, install point of sale systems, and do computer repair. Several weeks ago a local business owner who I've worked with in the past approached me with a computer that was refusing to boot. He needed it back quickly, as this PC controlled his CCTV.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
"I had someone look at it, and they said the power supply was bad" he said to me. Normally I would run the system through its paces and test it throughly before I returned it. This machine, however, was the controller for his security cameras. He need it back quickly, so I replaced the power supply. I turned it on, watched it boot, shut it down and returned it.<br />
<br />
Long story short, two days later I have the same computer sitting in front of me. The power supply is fine, but the motherboard is shot. I've got a week to build a CCTV system as cheaply as I can. Hardware is easy, generic (linux compatible) capture card, new motherboard/processor 1GB ram, 2 HDs.<br />
<br />
Software was a little less easy. I was unfamiliar with the whole scene, but it was highly recommended to me that I try Zoneminder. So I installed Xubuntu, downloaded and installed all the codecs that Zoneminder requires, and installed zoneminder and XawTV. None of this was anything out of the ordinary. I had to follow some basic set-up instructions as detailed <a href="http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_9.10_Server_32-bit">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Everything appeared to be working. I took the machine back to the shop, plugged it in and started Zoneminder. I pulled up a firefox window and was able to get video feed for 4 of his 13 cameras. Things are going much more smoothly than normal, and 4 cameras is much better than no cameras. But as a long term solution 4 just isn't enough!<br />
<br />
I was confused, I expect all the cameras to show up. The card billed itself as having 16 inputs through a special dongle. It turns out that the card has 4 chips that support 4 channels each, for a total of 16 multiplexed channels. Apparently this is the common way for capture cards to be built.<br />
<br />
So each of the digitizers, the chips on the card, appears as a separate device to the computer. I can pull 1 frame at a time off of four cameras. Then I 'change the channel' so to speak, and pull 1 frame off of four more cards, repeating this until all the cameras are accounted for. This means that I'm pulling down 3-5 FPS off of each camera.<br />
<br />
As I've never done this before, I still had a hard time figuring out exactly what was going on. I used the wonderful XawTV to figure out which channels on which devices lined up to which camera. Within minutes I had the software recording live feeds. With a little more configuration, I had each camera recording while the store was open, and running motion detection when the store was closed. If a movement was detected, the camera would start recording, and even send out an email!<br />
<br />
<br />
All in all it has been a rewarding and interesting experience. and I've discovered that a security camera system can be set up cheaply and quickly. A basic set up, with 1-2 cameras shouldn't cost more than $400! I look forward to the opportunity to set up some more!Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-36719000328053396982010-03-19T03:05:00.005-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.790-05:00Heavy Rain and the future of Interactive Fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1399/1357184126_8ba100ee6c_o_d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1399/1357184126_8ba100ee6c_o_d.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Photo by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/believekevin/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0063dc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: white; text-decoration: none;" title="">believekevin</a></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently I've heard a lot of Buzz about a new console game called Heavy Rain. I've not played it personally, but I've read several reviews, I've watched the game be played, and I've done a fair amount of research on it. It's being called a new paradigm in gaming, and hailed as incredibly original. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I listened to all the hype that surrounded the game, I was met with something akin to Deja Vu: an intense sense of 'this-has-already-been-done-to-great-effect.' Heavy Rain is billed as an "interactive Drama" one player I spoke with went so far as to say "It's like a movie, only you're the main character, you write the story." </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><a name='more'></a><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">When I heard that, it clicked. These games aren't new and innovating, they are moving a time tested format (that dates back to the 1970s and Colossal Caves) known as interactive fiction from words to pictures. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Interactive Fiction games are a small subset of the 'Text Adventure' style of games.There are hundreds upon hundreds of Text Adventure games that are <b>not </b>interactive fiction. These games often have a sparse setting, and a more sparse plot. They don't understand what you tell them, at all. They are frequently frustrating, and rarely fun. If your only exposure to Text Adventures was the 1980s Scott Adams style, please consider giving them another chance. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">There are, however, a large, perhaps equal, number of 'Text Adventure' games that are interactive fiction. These games are works of fiction in which the player assumes the role of the main character. He wanders through well crafted prose, marveling at the locations that the author has beautifully formed, conversing with the characters that inhabit this world of prose. The things the player says are understood, or at least mis-understood in a helpful (or amusing) way. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">If Heavy Rain is a movie, then a Text Adventure is a Novel, a Short Story (occasionally, a poem). They are rarely as easily accessible as they're screen counterparts, but they are often far more fulfilling and complex. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">As I said, Text Adventures have been written for as long as we have had computers. The first, Colossal Caves, (which became Dungen, which become Zork, which became the Zork trilogy that launched Infocom, who was acquired by Activision, who still makes good video games.) was written in the late 70s on a mainframe at MIT.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"> I have a hard time calling Colossal Caves and games like it "interactive fiction." It isn't the quality of the prose that prevents them from attaining this distinction. The prose is actually quite nice, with some highly detailed descriptions, and some incredible bits of humor. What limits these games to being 'text adventures' is that there isn't really any <b>fiction </b>with which one may <b>interact. </b>What plot is there is just an excuse to string together some puzzles, and explore a cave/dungeon. It's a fun game, but it's just a game. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">For my money, the first real work of interactive fiction was the game "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" published by Infocom in 1984. This is the first time that a Novelist collaborated with the programmer to create not just a game, but an entire world which a player might lose himself as the protagonist. (<i>I know I've mentioned this game in several recent posts. But it's a good game. You should play it.</i>) This was a story first and a game second, in much the same way as Heavy Rain. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy was one of many incredibly rich and plot driven works that Infocom published in it's heyday. No commercial works have been released since the late 80s (or the early 90s, depending on how far you stretch your definition of Text Adventure), but Text Adventures are not a lost art form, any more than the novel is. They are still being written, and written well. It's about as easy to pick up a text adventure game as it is to read a book, provided you're willing to take the time to do it properly. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">From the collapse of Infocom circa 1990 until very recently, text adventures haven't needed to be particularly friendly. The people who were playing them were, by and large, the same people that were producing them. This became a bit viscous cycle, as authors began to make their games less and less accessible to the novice user. Many of these are good games, but they lack the polish often found on the really stellar games and the better commercial titles. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">This all changed right around the year 2000 with a game called <a href="http://www.ifiction.org/games/play.phpz?cat=&game=332&mode=html">Photopia</a> (click to play online.) Photopia is a non standard Text adventure. It's a game that can be enjoyed by someone who has never played a text adventure. It is not a simple game, though it is a straightforward one. You make choices that dramatically effect the outcome of the plot, but there isn't much problem solving involved. The prose is eloquent, the plot is stunning, and the game is fueled by emotion. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the written word goes, it falls closer to short story than it does to novel but, I for one, would not fault the game for that.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since Photopia, other games have emerged, seeking to bridge the gap between interaction and story, and to really open up the idea of Interactive Fiction to a new audience. Games like <a href="http://www.eblong.com/zarf/dreamhold.html">'The Dreamhold'</a> and '<a href="http://www.wurb.com/if/game/55">Curses</a>' are highly recommended introductory games, that were specifically targeted at new players. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">I've just started playing Interactive fiction again recently, with all the hype around heavy rain, so expect to see a few more posts on the games I enjoy. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b>Playing</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">All of the games I discussed here to day are written in the wonderful <a href="http://www.inform-fiction.org/I7/Welcome.html">Inform </a>programing language. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">On <b>Windows </b>systems they can be read with one of several programs:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/interpreters-multi/gargoyle/gargoyle-2008-12-25-windows.exe">Gargoyle</a> - This is an installer. For people who like things to be simple, download this. Download a game, save it to a folder, double click on it, and it open.s </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FROTZ (see the link below.) . Frotz is a far older program, that is sadly, beginning to show its age. It is slightly more difficult to use than Gargoyle.</span></li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">There isn't yet an iTunes like library system for Text Adventure games, but the community is working on it. When it launches, you'll hear about it here. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">On <b>BSD</b>, <b>Linux</b>, and other *<b>nix </b>system, I suggest Gargoyle (sudo apt-get install gargoyle from <b>ubuntu</b>/<b>debian</b>) There are several other programs available, and they work to varying degrees, but Gargoyle remains my favorite. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">For <b>Mac OS X</b> users I suggest <a href="http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpretersXzoom.html">ZOOM</a> , it supports the big three text adventure languages. The more esoteric games might require an additional interpretor, but good games for anything other than Inform or Tads are so rare that I wouldn't worry about it. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b>iPhone </b>users should do a quick iTunes search for Frotz. I think its a free download from the app store. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b>Android </b>users should look at Twisty and Hunky Punk. Neither is perfect, but both are good. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><b>Resources </b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><a href="http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/beginnersguide.html">A Beginners Guide to Interactive Fiction</a></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.eblong.com/zarf/ftp/dreamhold-frotz.zip">The Dreamhold-</a> bundled with Frotz. Unzip- Drag the game file onto the file called Frotz. Drop it and play. Alternatively, install Gargoyle from the link above. It makes life a bit easier. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Files</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/zcode/curses.z5">Curses</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.eblong.com/zarf/ftp/dreamhold.z8">The Dreamhold</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/zcode/photopia.z5">Photopia</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/competition2007/zcode/lostpig/lostpig.z8">Lost Pig</a> - Lost Pig is a very funny, well written, and challenging game. It is fair, has a good hint system, and has a much larger plot, and much richer characterization than it might initially appear. Expect a full review very soon. </div>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-17805888457374192052010-03-14T08:57:00.002-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.769-05:00GET LAMP: THE TEXT ADVENTURE DOCUMENTARY<a href="http://www.getlamp.com/order/">GET LAMP: THE TEXT ADVENTURE DOCUMENTARY</a><br />
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</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.getlamp.com/order/package1s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.getlamp.com/order/package1s.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>I want it! I discovered that it existed while I was doing a little research for my last post. Anybody want to make it a belated birthday present? </div><div><br />
</div><div>No? </div><div><br />
</div><div>A Housewarming gift? <br />
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This, apparently, is also the reason that MC Frontalot's amazing video "it's pitch dark" was created. (video after the jump)<br />
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</div><div><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/4nigRT2KmCE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/4nigRT2KmCE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="400"></embed></object></div><div>Enjoy</div>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-48874316947251549372010-03-14T07:57:00.010-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.796-05:00Dining at Milliways, and other Interactive Fiction<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2556/3686476450_5b7e513dd8.jpg?v=0" /><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">photo by </span><b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bre/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">bre pettis</span></a></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Licenced CC non comercial </span></b></b><br />
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It should come as no surprise to most of you that I am a long time fan of Text Adventure (or Interactive Fiction) games. I've played through hundreds of them, and was planning on doing an article detailing the best way to do that on an HP200 LX (Short answer, DOSFrotz and patience!). In light of the fact that my 200lx is now little more than a waterlogged mess, I bring you the Douglas Adams interactive fiction tribute. <br />
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In 2001, shortly after Mr. Douglas Adams took his leave from the planet earth, a competition of sorts was held to honor him. The original rules stated "Create your own tribute to Douglas Adams in no more than two hours. Sign the location below when you've finished the game." with a deadline of just a few days later. In true Adams style, the deadline was quickly extended to "when no more games come" which means the contest is technically still open.<br />
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Though technically most of these works are infringing copyright (something I point out only in order to highlight how ludicrous current laws are), they are among some of the most enjoyable text adventures I have ever played.<br />
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The two hour time limit means that some of the games lack polish. There are occasional 'Guess the verb' moments, times where you have figured out the action that is required of you, but fail to find the syntax. That being said, many of the games featured here are absolutely brilliant, and a fitting tribute to one of the authors that kept the genre alive with his wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game.<br />
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<b>If you're new to IF or you'd like more information about playing Interactive Fiction, I suggest reading </b><a href="http://ifwiki.org/index.php/FAQ"><b>this</b></a><b>, as the IFWIKI sums things up much more thoroughly than I would.</b><br />
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<b>The Sofa At The End Of The Universe </b><br />
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You are Dirk Gently. You have a SEP Field Generator (Somebody Else's Problem.) There is a sofa wedged in your stairwell.<br />
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Witty prose, fantastic puzzle, evokes memories of the man himself.<br />
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<b>A Night at Milliways</b><br />
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You're about to go to Milliways, and you've got a table with a view.<br />
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Less polished than the last, but just as enjoyable. For those that aren't veteran interactive fiction gurus, the proper syntax for asking someone for something is ASK person ABOUT thing. <br />
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This game made me cry a little bit.<br />
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Catharsis- it's not a word I get to use often. This game was cathartic.<br />
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<b>The Death of two great Minds </b><br />
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You're in the desert with Ford and Fenchurch. You find Marvin. He isn't doing well at all.<br />
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Not as difficult or as well written as the previous two, but still very enjoyable. Great concept, well executed.<br />
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<b>How Many Roads Must a Man Walk Down?</b><br />
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You have arrived at the abode of Wonko the Sane.<br />
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Clever and thoughtful. At the same time, irreverent, silly, and heart-wrenchingly sappy.<br />
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<b>Into that Good Night </b><br />
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Turns out Mr. Adams wasn't the only one to pass on. You find yourself playing the roll of one Dirk Gently as he navigates the afterlife in order to finish his case.<br />
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Some of the best prose of the whole show. This game is very polished. (Although the first time through I was confused as all get out. if you get stuck, help is <a href="http://ifarchive.ifreviews.org/if-archive/solutions/speedIF_DNA.html#baf1723">here</a>) Of all the games of this competition, this one had the most enjoyable writing. It's a shame the game itself wasn't better. (There are really only two puzzles, and neither of them is particularly obvious.)<br />
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<b>Deadline: or Being Douglas Adams</b><br />
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Not really a game, no puzzles, no goal. You are in a bathtub. A deadline approaches, and passes.<br />
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(I don't have a HUGO interpretor, the title of the game doesn't make it sound fun. I decided it wasn't worth the effort.)<br />
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You can find all of the games in a wonderful little zip file at this<a href="http://ifarchive.wurb.com/if-archive/games/mini-comps/speedif/SpeedIF_DNA.zip"> IF Archive Mirror</a>.<br />
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As an added bonus, the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game: You can play it on Mr.Adams' website: <a href="http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocom.php">http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocom.php</a> (serial number is in the screenshot), or on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml">BBC HHGG page</a>.The first requires Java, the second requires flash. <br />
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-or through a bit of HTML source code digging download it directly- <a href="http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/hhgg.z3">http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/hhgg.z3</a>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-79738231128800030582010-03-14T06:01:00.002-04:002013-02-07T12:28:37.830-05:00Flooding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9U_57n0vDDbueYDcPMUl5pwIK_9tYszB3VuGa91hJwz3Zg9q8cJS1ms6i1iznW9F-j7XOsLcKndMAqo-pfe0YNBgs88SX_0h3NQ_nOGdYfqyteT6KMV5F5IilIFmmnZk82v6svYJ8hok/s1600-h/car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9U_57n0vDDbueYDcPMUl5pwIK_9tYszB3VuGa91hJwz3Zg9q8cJS1ms6i1iznW9F-j7XOsLcKndMAqo-pfe0YNBgs88SX_0h3NQ_nOGdYfqyteT6KMV5F5IilIFmmnZk82v6svYJ8hok/s320/car.jpg" /></a></div>There has been extensive flooding in the area that I live. Several months ago, my girlfriend and I were coming home and our car was washed off the road. For whatever reason, I had both my laptops, and my palm top stowed in that car, as well as two analog SLRs, and lots of other personal effect.<br />
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Needless to say, I was left just a bit devastated by all of this. It's been quite an ordeal to try and rebuild everything. I lost several posts that I had been working on, documents and pictures, not to mention the film that was in those cameras.<br />
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As a result, I'm a bit behind. I've got several posts in the works, but I'm having a hard time picking up steam. Expect that you will get far more frequent posts, and some interesting photographs (mostly technology related.) from this point forward.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI6nFnnja1n-0rkpLDJNSbqggQtzWTEJjBRKXf1Z3TKeVU_nKTqDwZioVZnPtifTzagwRlVjwxg3u015c9iEms-Q0pLXTMgbL07SPhDiXCDI7tdEJdGB7aHJ9E-zEOEmwJeAt0KFeTL2k/s1600-h/camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI6nFnnja1n-0rkpLDJNSbqggQtzWTEJjBRKXf1Z3TKeVU_nKTqDwZioVZnPtifTzagwRlVjwxg3u015c9iEms-Q0pLXTMgbL07SPhDiXCDI7tdEJdGB7aHJ9E-zEOEmwJeAt0KFeTL2k/s640/camera.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My poor cameras. It used to be a nice Minolta</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I think the most difficult item to replace will be my beloved 200LX. I paid far too much for the first one, and I doubt that I'll have the time to find another one, or the money to pay for it at any time in the near future. For the time being, I'm considering a Tandy Model 100, or perhaps a portable word processor. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But, as they say, life goes on. No use dwelling on that which was lost. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the wake of this, I scored a new desktop computer (a svelte Acer Aspire Revo) to replace my fallen laptop. I managed to replace my old cameras with some new old cameras acquired via Goodwill. I also finally got my hands on an android handset (sadly, not a nexus one or a Droid) and I am as pleased as I thought I would be with it. </span></div>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-24719987793320493342009-12-19T01:25:00.005-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.775-05:00JoustI tend to enjoy vintage video games, from my Atari VCS 2600 to the NES, SNES, and Sega Genisis. But Joust holds a special place in my heart as one of the greatest games of all time.<br />
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<img border="0" class="fw_image_url fwSizeProp" src="http://pagesperso-orange.fr/atariforce/vcs/images/scans/joust.jpg" style="height: 576px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-top: 8px; width: 422px;" /><br />
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Look at that box art, and tell me it's not a great game. You've got Ostriches (ostrischi?) Buzzards, Knights (pron. Kuh-NIG-its), and an unexplained landscape, complete with floating spheres. But, as has been said time and again, you can't judge a book by its wonderfully crafted cover. So here to settle the score, a wonderful flash remake of the original arcade game:<br />
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<div align="center">Joust<br />
<object align="center" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" height="422" id="joust.swf" width="422"><param name="movie" value="http://www.freegaming.de/components/flash/joust.swf"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"><param name="menu" value="false"><comment><embed src="http://www.freegaming.de/components/flash/joust.swf?affiliate_id=941efa0f97e566c4" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" width="422" height="422" name="joust.swf" menu="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><noembed></noembed></comment></object><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">I challenge you not to be amused!</div><br />
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</div>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-66945782479594427642009-03-03T11:04:00.011-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.816-05:00Atari 2600, meet HD tv.Today, I am back to discuss the difficulties of hooking up an Atari 2600 to a modern TV.<br />
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There are half a dozen or so different ways this can be accomplished, ranging from beginner to expert, from cheap to expensive, and from likely to work to likely to destroy your Atari.<br />
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Proceed with caution.<br />
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I purchased my Atari's from a generous vendor on craigslist. I managed to score 3 units and a handful of games for roughly twenty dollars. The catch, however, was that there were no power cables or TV adapters mixed in with the deal. So I had to go on an adventure.<br />
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I picked up my atari, and headed around the world trying to find somwhere that sold replacement power cables. This proved to be not only fruitless, but also incredibly frustrating. No one would take me seriously, or even listen to me, after they saw the <span style="font-style: italic;">dinosaur</span> that I was carrying.<br />
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So after an evening of fruitless searching, I turned to my old trusted friend, Google. It still took quite a bit of searching to discover the specifications:<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', Arial, HELVETICA, Geneva;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Frutiger, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, Frutiger, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva; font-size: 85%;"><b>Power Supply<br />
</b></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Frutiger, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva; font-size: 85%;"><b>Input:120VAC,60Hz<br />
Output:9VDC,500mA<br />
Polarity:Center+,Outer-</b></span></span></span><br />
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And in-spite of my substantial computer knowledge, I had only the faintest idea of what that meant, and the information I could find was contradictory.<br />
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So for the record, here is the necessary information:<br />
<ul><li>The input isn't important, as long as it will plug into a power-jack for your region.<br />
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<li>The output voltage cannot exceed 9v. On occasion, working with less will make your atari crash, but working with more can do permanent damage.</li>
<li>The Current listed (500mA or .5 A) is the minimum I would recommend for an adapter, but using more <span style="font-weight: bold;">will not</span> hurt the machine in any way.<br />
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<li>The tip is the same shape as a standard headphone jack. It's an 'F' tip at RadioShack. </li>
<li>The tip must be positive, This is backwards from most chargers.<br />
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<li>The people at RadioShack didn't know what current was.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzPvH2JRISFlB3UmQ5MkCAi6J2CWESzvn__1qZTY6eH2E93ZQ4C_tpItuJRMwgX6jDbRb5uQOXotRxrhlzA63Kap8ji8Q5oGjq3DJ_CmSeuKTcVi29V9KUviTXyhJQKlekfulsibiaF4/s1600-h/100_1686.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309019062015987698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLzPvH2JRISFlB3UmQ5MkCAi6J2CWESzvn__1qZTY6eH2E93ZQ4C_tpItuJRMwgX6jDbRb5uQOXotRxrhlzA63Kap8ji8Q5oGjq3DJ_CmSeuKTcVi29V9KUviTXyhJQKlekfulsibiaF4/s320/100_1686.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
If you live in the metro area, it might be easier to make the trek to acworth, where a small game shop called Gamer's Trade (Or is it Game Trader's?) supplies original and replacement power cords for ~15$, as apposed to the 19$ that this cost me.<br />
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Now, I assumed that connecting it to the television would be a relatively simple affair. I was wrong.<br />
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The plug coming out of the back of the atari looks like the A/V plugs that we use today, and I assumed thats what it was.<br />
I was Wrong.<br />
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The plug is, in fact, little more than a Coaxial plug without the Coaxial part. (It's a regular cable, without the twisty bit.) Presumably this is because Coaxial had yet to become the standard at the time of release.<br />
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJyY4q75x2cqxsKxlodoqX1nNRNHDTYKyiWEs4aPLW37e3erpF24Zn__XuOx3TLrnh2zRSc_QdwLopyD5jiSRQy-tzFDJiOPc48myoRUxAL8ezbF1lY6ux-zFrubI6J6mFg_IzVVarg4/s1600-h/100_1674.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309019050951006466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJyY4q75x2cqxsKxlodoqX1nNRNHDTYKyiWEs4aPLW37e3erpF24Zn__XuOx3TLrnh2zRSc_QdwLopyD5jiSRQy-tzFDJiOPc48myoRUxAL8ezbF1lY6ux-zFrubI6J6mFg_IzVVarg4/s320/100_1674.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
Unless you have a significant amount of technical experince, while at Radio Shack you will want to pick up a RF-to-coaxial adapter. You can try asking for this at the desk, as I did, though you will probably be told, as I was, that no such thing exists. In Radio Shack land, this adapter is referred to as a Phono>coaxial adapter. The little thing shouldn't run more than a few dollars, but it is essential to atari nirvana.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg13VD87XeXxQl8OF7jLPUtgWu3i2TOA48Pror4BRYu-cJasfV0vocx7jPFA9NJxHk8Y7mot2V7jwoWjdIKBAOdYgNp-YzOTORqiGzifH-9-OivvOdDgYlB93apJtQn6YrNCJRNp2bRcII/s1600-h/100_1680.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309019060146136002" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg13VD87XeXxQl8OF7jLPUtgWu3i2TOA48Pror4BRYu-cJasfV0vocx7jPFA9NJxHk8Y7mot2V7jwoWjdIKBAOdYgNp-YzOTORqiGzifH-9-OivvOdDgYlB93apJtQn6YrNCJRNp2bRcII/s320/100_1680.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
From there the process is simple: plug everything in, twist everything on, and hope that she still works.<br />
<br />
For those with the technical skills, and foolhardiness, to try something a bit more adventurous, several different composite video mods <a href="http://www.cheeptech.com/2600mods/2600mods.html#index">exist</a>, with varying degrees of difficulty (and varying degrees of success.) I don't have the time or the money to attempt one of these yet, but when I do, I'm going <a href="http://benheck.com/05-11-2007/vcsp-rev-51s-starting-to-roll-off-the-line">all out.</a> (Ben Heck sells an amazing little book about doing various console mods. Maybe someone wants to buy it for me?)<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;">All images in today's post belong to me. all original content available under the creative commons attribution share-alike license. </span>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-82306975950728933362009-03-01T01:54:00.004-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.832-05:00Code MonkeyI am a bit of a digital rights activist, and while scouring the internet looking for muscians that don't support DRM, and who don't punish their fans for building publicity, I found this amazing song by Jonathan Coulton.<br />
<br />
Jonathan Coulton is an independent artis who publishes all of his work under some form or another of the Creative Commons .<br />
<br />
The video is not going to get pulled during youtube's next raid, because it does not violate any copyrights, which is what makes JoCo so cool to me. :-)<br />
<br />
<br />
For more information on DRM visit DefectiveByDesign.org.<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aqTaqVi9J8k&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aqTaqVi9J8k&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-7310678153090739312009-02-25T23:11:00.003-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.823-05:00XKCDAlright, today's post isn't going to be some grand piece of technological insight. Instead, I offer a link to what I consider to be the cleverest thing said this year.<br /><br /><h3><a href="http://xkcd.com/548/">http://xkcd.com/548/</a></h3><br />That's all, but it made me genuinely laugh, chuckle and chortle.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-71979001075960140822009-02-17T22:50:00.001-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.821-05:00Palm Pre, iPhone, Android. Oh My! (smart phone extravaganza)<span style="font-size: 100%;">Today, we discuss the up-and-coming smartphone technologies, and how they compare to the established giants.<br />
<br />
For many years the smartphone market has been dominated by two players, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.<br />
<br />
Though Blackberry has enjoyed much success, Blackberry's newest offering, the Storm, has been widely panned by critics and users alike as being a rather ill-conceived mess. The same has been said about nearly all Windows mobile phones.<br />
<br />
And so people were left with two options, neither of which offered much freedom.<br />
<br />
Then, in a flurry of activity, several things happened at once:<br />
</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: 100%;">The iPhone was launched. It is a sleek, hip, net-enabled </span>smartphone<span style="font-size: 100%;">. On the surface, it appears to be everything anyone could ever want. But, it is tied to a proprietary app store, and requires </span>iTunes<span style="font-size: 100%;"> to work. (And that leaves us </span>linux<span style="font-size: 100%;"> dorks out on our butts.)<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Google announced Android. Android isn't a phone, but rather an operating system for phones, a free, Linux-based replacement for Windows Mobile. The only phone with Android on the market today is the G1 from T-Mobile. But oh, what a phone it is.<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 100%;">Palm, rising from the ashes of five years with only one new product, announces the Palm </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;">, boasting a new and improved Web OS. And, though Web OS isn't compatible with older Palm apps, it looks promising.<a name='more'></a><br />
</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: 100%;">Of the three, the iPhone is by far the most popular. Although, as Android is introduced to more phones, it will probably overtake the iPhone in terms of popularity.<br />
<br />
The rogue agent in all of this is, of course, the Palm P</span>re<span style="font-size: 100%;">. Until it hits the market, no one can be sure what kind of an effect it will have on things. Although the folks over at <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/13/palm-pre-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know/">Engadget</a> seem to be quite smitten with it.<br />
<br />
Here is a rough comparison of the capabilities of each Phone.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
The T-Mobile G1<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwsulLdMWhzVsE_Hr9SJamTsqMULXv3fT5njx_ohchcXeFfv8zuOO0ufe2QT1hqXBl9C26SRf31SN8rvAUhoupaz0GewnVSWu76lwyYZnIdu6srwtbcou1daqUF8mohOxj0k65dzWPA1s/s1600-h/T-Mobile_G1_launch_event_2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304067322994681138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwsulLdMWhzVsE_Hr9SJamTsqMULXv3fT5njx_ohchcXeFfv8zuOO0ufe2QT1hqXBl9C26SRf31SN8rvAUhoupaz0GewnVSWu76lwyYZnIdu6srwtbcou1daqUF8mohOxj0k65dzWPA1s/s320/T-Mobile_G1_launch_event_2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 258px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Image by </span><a class="external text" href="http://flickr.com/photos/13147327@N00" rel="nofollow" style="font-style: italic;" title="http://flickr.com/photos/13147327@N00">Michael Oryl</a><br />
</span></div>The Apple iPhone<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0f7CGQJ4iOxmPvJo3E4A3Y_21lkfNYWYAOCTYPX4kS1RtZqAfqGqYWjyl6lSte7ev12bDCZmGT1fKzFj2X7K8arzpwqToJaJatyGoCT33kq_Nif6uDeSL-on5FYlOlYp4v_0iZ3LAKg/s1600-h/20080522201423!IPhone.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304067316131008194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0f7CGQJ4iOxmPvJo3E4A3Y_21lkfNYWYAOCTYPX4kS1RtZqAfqGqYWjyl6lSte7ev12bDCZmGT1fKzFj2X7K8arzpwqToJaJatyGoCT33kq_Nif6uDeSL-on5FYlOlYp4v_0iZ3LAKg/s320/20080522201423!IPhone.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 213px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 78%; font-style: italic;">Image by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IPhone.JPG">Adrian Ilie</a></span></div><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">The Palm Pre<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonq_MZKD31UYp-58dME8EjjRVtQinZMzIq6fBbJsPUMMys8haCKWnzmelc71X7Qg8oIHxrLztoFnfqNiAVYhX5X5QeEUda_qbFKDqBYY2cJgHBAn2d7MBZEn5BMg8UsLUzaUJ855abAs/s1600-h/palmPre.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304067316892455058" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonq_MZKD31UYp-58dME8EjjRVtQinZMzIq6fBbJsPUMMys8haCKWnzmelc71X7Qg8oIHxrLztoFnfqNiAVYhX5X5QeEUda_qbFKDqBYY2cJgHBAn2d7MBZEn5BMg8UsLUzaUJ855abAs/s320/palmPre.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 213px;" /></a><span style="font-size: 78%; font-style: italic;">Image by <b><b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/malkoff/">Dave Malkoff</a></b></b></span></div><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Hardware</span>:<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Size:<br />
<br />
The phones are all roughly the same size. The G1 is the largest of the three, being slightly longer and thicker than the iPhone. (The extra thickness is to accommodate a physical keyboard, something severely lacking on the iPhone.) The </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;"> is slightly smaller than the iPhone when closed, but slightly larger when opened (to reveal the keyboard).<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Multi- touch:</span><br />
<br />
G1 Android<br />
Technically the G1 is Multi-Touch capable, and some apps even support it out of the box. However, fearing lawsuits from Apple, the G1 does not support Multi-Touch yet.<br />
<br />
iPhone<br />
The iPhone is the standard by which all other Multi-Touch devices are measured. It can track up to three fingers at a time, and has intuitive gestures for many common tasks (zoom in/out, etc.)<br />
<br />
Palm </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
The Palm </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;"> supports Multi-Touch. The screen and the area under the screen, all the way to the edge of the phone, are touch sensitive. Though the P</span>re<span style="font-size: 100%;"> cannot mimic the </span>iPhone's<span style="font-size: 100%;"> gestures, it does a fair job of coming up with its own.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Input:</span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div><span style="font-size: 100%;">The iPhone loses out here, in my book, as it is the only phone listed without a dedicated keyboard.<br />
<br />
The </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;"> would have to come in the middle. It does have a dedicated keyboard, but it is rather small, and there is no option for a software keyboard.<br />
<br />
The G1 is a clear winner on input. Not only does it have an excellent hardware keyboard, but there are also several options for software keyboards.<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Software:</span><br />
<br />
Interface<br />
<br />
Each of the three new smartphones have a gorgeous interface. The most fluid seems to be that of the Pre. Palm has always had a smart clean interface, and though Palm OS 5 (as is on their current smartphone) seems rather dated compared to the iPhone or Android, WebOS (as we will find on the Pre) shines. Sadly, until the Pre enters into production, we won't know how the pretty user interface performs.<br />
<br />
The iPhone is, at the moment at least, the final word on sleek user interfaces. All applications are tightly integrated with the phone and everything has a uniformed look. But the Pre is poised to knock the iPhone off its high horse.<br />
<br />
The user interface is one area where the G1 falls short. Its interface is good, better than that of the Blackberry or Windows Mobile, but it is not great.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Applications:</span><br />
<br />
Applications are another area where the G1 and the Pre are poised to outshine the iPhone.<br />
Yes, the iPhone has a lot of applications. Yes, many iPhone applications are free, and most are cheap. But, and this is a big one, Apple must approve every app that goes into the app store. That means Random J. Developer can spend months working on his new iPhone app, only for Apple to tell him that it just isn't good enough for the iPhone.<br />
<br />
Even large companies aren't free from this barrier, Apple refuses to work with adobe to bring flash to the iPhone. Probably for fear of loosing money on apps. (Flash is easier to write for, and will be available for the Pre and Android, meaning cross platform apps.)<br />
<br />
The iPhone is a very closed system.<br />
<br />
The G1 is on the other extreme. It is Linux-based, and most of its applications are written in Java. Nearly every programmer can write in Java and you can download applications for the G1 from anywhere. There is an app store, but for the next few months all apps in it are free, and most are planning to stay that way.<br />
<br />
This does pose some security questions, which Google, T-Mobile, and the Android development team are working to correct.<br />
<br />
The Pre strikes a happy medium here. Palm has stated that all applications will be written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making the number of potential developers HUGE. Palm will have an app store, and will require applications to be submitted for approval, but will only refuse applications for security reasons.<br />
<br />
One of the greatest features of the Pre (though we have yet to see how it works in practice) is building your address book based on your various accounts (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, Myspace, etc.)<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Operating System:</span><br />
<br />
Oddly enough, the OS on all the phones have similar roots. The iPhone's operating system is based on OS X, which in turn is based on Berkly Software Distributions (BSD, which is based on the original UNIX, but that is a post for another time).<br />
<br />
The G1 and Pre are based on Linux, which, along with BSD and Solaris, is a free Unix-like operating system.<br />
<br />
Unix is, by nature, a multi-tasking operating system. Sadly, the iPhone can only run one application at a time, the G1 does a little better and the Pre seems to be even a step beyond that.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Misc:</span><br />
<br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%;">The Pre is notable for being the only phone we have discussed today that has the ability to be tethered to a laptop. Meaning that you can use your Pre's Internet connection from your laptop.<br />
<br />
The Pre will launch first with Sprint.<br />
<br />
</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%;">The G1 is currently T-Mobile only, and the iPhone, of course, belongs to AT&T.<br />
<br />
Though with the open nature of the Android operating system, it is likely that phones like the G1 will be available on all networks soon enough, and Palm will not likely limit themselves to one carrier.<br />
<br />
In my mind it is a close call between the G1 and the Palm </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;">, the deciding factor being that I prefer the for-factor of the G1 to the </span>Pre<span style="font-size: 100%;">. But both are solid phones, and are poised on the </span>precipice<span style="font-size: 100%;"> of greatness.<br />
<br />
Further Reading:<br />
The following three sites have far more information about these phones and various other gadgets--the search box is your friend.<br />
<a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/">www.Gizmodo.com</a><br />
<a href="http://gadgets.boingboing.net/">http://Gadgets.boingboing.net</a><br />
<a href="http://www.engadget.com/">www.engadget.com</a><br />
<br />
* Full Disclaimer, Sadly, I am not yet high enough on the journalist's food chain to merit units to review, so all of this information has been obtained from brief tests and second hand sources.*</span></div>Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-26284342701679588942009-02-17T01:52:00.001-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.777-05:00Make Linux Work For You--Today.It is no secret the I am a huge fan of Linux and Free (open source) software. Of all the computers I own, only one (my new best friend, the HP 200LX) does not run Linux at some capacity.<br />
<br />
A lot of my friends and co-workers have expressed curiosity about Linux, or confusion as to why I would use it, I hope to clear up those two questions in this post.<br />
<br />
First and foremost, I use Linux because:<br />
<ul><li>It gives me the control I want over my computer (For example, The CapsLock key on <span style="font-weight: bold;">all </span>of my computers has been remapped to control. When I work with other people's computers I end up typing "Z END UP T" a lot).<br />
</li>
<li>I didn't have to search through online auctions (or resort to piracy) to find a version that will work on my older computers.</li>
<li>There are software packages to handle everything I would like to do.<br />
</li>
<li>I feel safe. My netbook (Asus eeePC 701), which stays on me nearly all the time, runs Debian. It boots to a command line (there is a GUI, but I tend to prefer the command line for quick work). Most people, when presented with a Linux command line, would be lost. </li>
<li>Its fun!<a name='more'></a></li>
</ul>There are two linux distributions that I commonly suggest to those that express an interest.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.puppylinux.org/">Puppy Linux</a>:<br />
A light weight LiveCD. That is, a Linux Distribution that runs from a CD and does not require a hard drive. (In fact, I use puppy on several 'Diskless' workstations.)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu</a> Linux:<br />
Ubuntu is a bit heavier than puppy, though it should run on any reasonably recent system. Ubuntu is much larger than puppy, and to use it at any real capacity, you need to install it to your hard drive. You also need a working internet connection.<br />
<br />
<br />
Installation:<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">PUPPY</span><br />
For those with older computers or generally weaker systems I would recommend the Official puppy linux CD.<br />
<br />
For those with a bit more Ooomph, there is wNOP:<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u30ciyNkPAk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u30ciyNkPAk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Puppy is fairly easy to use. Download the ISO file, use an ISO burner to put the file on CD. <a href="http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm">BurnCDCC</a> works well. Put the CD in the CD drive and reboot the computer. If all goes well, Puppy comes up. There are simple wizards to setup video, sound, and networking, and most of the time things work well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">UBUNTU</span><br />
The first few steps are the same. Download an ISO, burn it to CD, put the CD in the drive and Reboot.<br />
<br />
Then things get a bit more complicated. Ubuntu will present you with a menu from which you can choose either option one or option two. If you choose option one, you are welcome to play with the included applications, before choosing the install icon off the desktop.<br />
<br />
From the installation menu, just follow along. Ubuntu's developer's have made what is normally a frustrating process rather simple. The most complex part of the ordeal is setting up disk partitioning. If you are planning to take the plunge and make ubuntu your only operating system, the it is easy enough to choose the option of guided, use whole disk.<br />
If not, you need to resize your existing partitions to make room for ubuntu. Ubuntu needs ~2 GB to be usefull, plus a swap file (The same size as available RAM on your system, if you plan on using the suspend to disk feature.)<br />
<br />
Other than that, the installation is fairly simple. If you run into a hitch, the Ubuntu forums are a fantastic place to find help on a myrid of topics. And Google is your friend. (Search for "Ubuntu *version* *Name of your computer or device*".)<br />
<br />
Ubuntu is a much more feature-rich distribution than Puppy. It includes a fantastic package managment system (found under Applications-> Add/Remove Programs.)<br />
There are programs to do nearly everything you would want preinstalled. If you do need something more, the package manager has programs for every need.<br />
<br />
If there is a specific program you feel you can't live without, or you are ever looking for a substitute, <a href="http://www.osalt.com/">OsAlt</a> is a fantastic resource.<br />
<br />
Even some great games: first person shooters (Nexuiz, Doom, Doom 3); Guitar Hero (well, technically Frets on Fire, but who's keeping score?); platformers (Secret Maryo Chronicles, Super Tux) are available for Linux.<br />
<br />
All things considered, installing Linux is a relatively simple thing to do. However, especially with some of the larger distributions, it is easy to make a mistake and leave your computer nonfunctional. (Then again, it is easy to fix it using the same tools.)<br />
<br />
If you are serious about trying Linux, go for a live CD (if not Puppy, there is <a href="http://www.knoppix.net/">knoppix,</a> <a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">DSL</a>, <a href="http://www.distrowatch.com/featherweight">featherweight linux</a>, and many more.) And if you decide to take the plunge, don't be afraid to ask for help, whether here, in the forums or from a friend.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-16611816783239643482009-02-14T01:19:00.000-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.713-05:00Atari 2600 Review - HEROHERO, Sometimes referred to as H.E.R.O. (standing for: "<b>H</b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">elicopter-</span><b>E</b>quipped <b>R</b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">escue</span> <b>O</b><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">peration</span>" or "Human Extraction and Rescue Operation") is one of my all-time favorite video games, and a big part of the reason that I own an Atari.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsLYzMZ2IqEc_Nrta6H1UTC16lCGhUEx7HC5PyxL1Y-Up_VujhmUzro0bo0iCDCHXufZQfiPTlFksOKM9K4VL_qya-wV5GDHjzFwecM_PVXI6I2cod36Go_UHOiNnCO2FGnK-pR5_9N5E/s1600-h/1061867277-00.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsLYzMZ2IqEc_Nrta6H1UTC16lCGhUEx7HC5PyxL1Y-Up_VujhmUzro0bo0iCDCHXufZQfiPTlFksOKM9K4VL_qya-wV5GDHjzFwecM_PVXI6I2cod36Go_UHOiNnCO2FGnK-pR5_9N5E/s320/1061867277-00.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302541049702651714" border="0" /></a><br />The graphics, though they don't look like much, were far beyond anything else available at the time.<br /><br />The Atari 2600 had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">a lot</span> of limitations. The system is only capable and aware of two sprites (the graphics for characters) at a time, and each sprite is only one color. (The three sprites and multiple colors seen in this picture are evident of how people pushed the system beyond what it was designed to do.)<br /><br />Graphics aside, the beauty of this game lies in the game play. The concept is simple enough: Man enters mine shaft to rescue miner, but that alone would not make a good game. In order to insure that the game is interesting the rescuer is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">equipped</span> with various amenities:<br /><ul><li>A backpack ( With integrated helicopter) <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">allows</span> him to fly (and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">surprisingly</span> enough, he has to fight gravity to do it.)<br /></li><li>A Laser cannon allows him to kill bats, spiders, snakes, and other bad things that stand between himself and the miner.<br /></li><li>A healthy supply of bombs, to break through walls (though the laser cannon can do this as well, slowly.)</li><li>A battery (shown as a power gauge at the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">bottom</span> of the screen) which serves to limit the amount of laser-beam-shooting/flying you can do per level (and add to your score).</li></ul>You fly around a bit, shoot at things, rescue people. The first few maps are rather generic and, to be honest, after playing through them nearly 10,000 times, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">boring</span>. But they quickly give way to more interesting and confusing <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">arrangements</span>. (I don't think I've ever gotten passed level 6, and I <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">s</span><span style="font-style: italic;">till</span> love this game.)<br /><br />All in all, HERO is a great example of what a good <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Atari</span> game should look like, and if you <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">haven't</span> played it, I suggest you do. (If you're not keen on buying an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Atari</span>, there is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">all ways</span> the <a href="http://www.classic-retro-games.com/H-E-R-O_199.html%20%5B+%5D">windows remake</a>, it was also included on the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Activation</span> Classics disk for the PS1.)<br /><br />Of course there is always emulation, yet however much I disagree with current copyright laws, I do not wish to attract legal action, so I must discourage you from emulating the game.<br />(Though it runs well in most emulators, including <a href="http://thechuckster.homelinux.com/%20%5B+%5D"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">StellaDS</span></a> for the Nintendo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">DS</span>).Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4210139253344219132.post-27231641695481283822009-02-12T02:49:00.004-05:002013-02-07T12:28:37.783-05:00Data Transfer on an hp 200LXI Recently acquired an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX">HP 200LX</a>. For those of you too lazy to click the link, The 200LX is a PDA and a PC/XT in one pocket sized case.<br />
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It was released in the early 90s, a simpler time, when people had serial ports on their computers. It came with a null modem cable with a special plug for the non standard shape of the serial port, and software to transfer files from DOS, windows 3.X and windows 95.<br />
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And for a time things were grand. Windows evolved, as it is notorious for doing, Computers grew up and lost their serial ports, and slowly the little bubble of HP's perfect transfer scheme was breached.<br />
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But then, a miracle from the heavens, HP releases <a href="http://super.hplx.net/transfile.html">Transfile200</a>. A majestic application that works on even the latest incarnations of Redmond's beast, even over USB (or for the adventurous, <a href="http://www.drreddy.com/palmtop/bluetooth.html">bluetooth</a>).<br />
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Of course this all assumes that you still have the original null-modem cable, or any cable that will plug into the 10 pin slot on the palmtop. I, sadly, do not.<br />
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At this point things get interesting. There are three options for file transfer assuming that you don't have the connectivity cable:<br />
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<ol><li>Buy a cable, alot of websites (maybe even HP) still sell them.</li>
<li>Build a cable</li>
<li>Get a CF card and CF to PCMCIA adaptor.</li>
</ol>Of the three, the Compact Flash card is by far the simplest option. According the the Documentation I have been able to find, any adaptor will work, and *<span style="font-weight: bold;">most</span>* CF cards are supported (although some need a special "acecard" driver, available <a href="http://super.hplx.net/super.html">here</a>.)<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Sadly, the SanDisk Ultra II CF cards Do not work with the Palmtop. </span>This is probably because they are based on a newer technology (NAND Flash, or some such nonsence.)<br />
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So, that was a waist of $30 (Card + Adaptor), but we live and learn.<br />
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Since buying a cable from HP would have been too easy, I decided to subject myself to a little torture, and to build one myself.<br />
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The short version: The serial port on the palmtop is the same as a regular DB9 port, but smaller (the extra pin is another ground), you need to wire up a null modem cable, and then connect it to your computer.<br />
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The long version:<br />
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I ripped the serial port out of an unused computer case, for whatever reason there was one in the front with a nice little ribbon cable coming out of it.<br />
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I stripped the motherboard connection off of the wires, leaving just a little gold piece that slides onto the pins of the palmtop.<br />
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I put each wire onto the appropraite pin, depending on the context. ( [1-1 2-2 ...] for a mouse or other standard serial device)<br />
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The pinout of the LX looks something like this:<br />
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IR/ Backup Battery [12345 ] Power Port<br />
[678910 ]<br />
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To do file transfer the wires need to be aranged like this:<br />
Pin 1 of the cable to Pins 7-8 of the palmtop<br />
Pin 2 of the cable to Pin 3 of the palmtop<br />
Pin 3 to pin 2<br />
Pin 4 to pin 6<br />
Pin 5 to pin 5<br />
Pin 6 to pin 4<br />
Pin 7 to pin 1<br />
Pin 8 to pin 1<br />
and pin 9 can remain unconnected.<br />
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For those keeping score, this is actualy cheating just a little bit, but it works, so don't complain.<br />
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File transfer is slow (9600 Baud!) but it works, just don't wiggle the palmtop while its going, or things will come grinding to a halt.<br />
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Now those of you who actually read this far may be thinking to yourselves, <span style="font-style: italic;">but what good is it all?</span>. All in due time, all in due time.Andrew Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06743390982368672307noreply@blogger.com6