Pedro Lambrini wrote:Welcome bloke! So, are you actively coding or doing anything else interesting for the VIC or are you like me and just plan on hanging about to see what's going on? Either way I hope you have fun here.
I am a VIC n00b at the moment . I might get into actively coding on it at some point.
My name is a testament to my wife and goes back to my AOL days...AT was my wife's initials and when making an account AOL gave me ATX2931205 as a main account and I stuck with it.
The DARK part came later as a bit of a bad mood thing in an ill-fated chatroom meeting.
I been using it for over a decade man...
The moniker comes from an adventure book by that title that I read in high school (a long time ago in a galaxy
far, far away . . .) because everything else I tried was already taken! Anyhoo, after high school came my
first attempt at collage (I wanted to be a cop) but, in the middle of things, Viet Nam exploded. I beat the draft
by 10 days by a delayed enlistment. By a curious stroke of luck (actually, some one up there had other plans
for me!) I wound up doing electronic eves-dropping in the Army Security Agency. An interesting 4 years. Got
out in '69, re-entered and completed my Police Science Degree, but then, completely changed my vocational
preference by pursuing electronic's maintenance at a local vo-tec school and then spending 14 years as an E.T.
in Manned Space Flight per Bendix Field Engineering Corp. out in a little place called Goldstone Tracking Facility
just north of Barstow, Ca. That career started in 1973. They taught me tape recorders - voice, video, high data
rate, scientific - if it pulled tape, they stuck me in there. That also meant learning the Shuttle Ground Video equip-
ment, Telemetry, and a smattering of dish antenna (500 ton, 85') control. Most interesting! One of my many projects
during my off time was developing a simple brain for a very large model boat. It was a timing motor turning a
stack of cams with leaf switches attached, but, by '84, it was getting out of hand, so, I bought a used VIC-20. BINGO!
Lots of problems solved. Made my own tape interface using the tape output to any tape recorder and an external
equipment interface; a break-out box for the p/s to see what the VIC needed (the VIC p/s got VERY warm during
use - I didn't like that). Any 5V,1.5+A p/s works just fine. Anyway (anyhoo), work with Bendix ended in '87.
Worked with under water robots for a while in the Gulf of Mexico oil fields. Stuffed computer boards for DEC Equipment
in Albuquerque, N.M. for 2 years (they're no longer there). Came back to Ca. and drove Limo's for 2 years (M.S.F.
at Goldstone had closed); went back to school for machinist (from which my dad retired, but, I went one step further
and became a tool maker). Now that I'm retired, it's time to get back into the fray. My VIC has lost an address line -
(it's true - the adage is true! 'Don't fix what ain't broke' as I bang my head against the wall - bang, bang, bang, bang).
There are times my stupidity amazes even me!!!
I hope this has been enjoyable for you - until next time - it's the little old toolmaker, me.
Phil Potter.
I don't know what's going on, but, on my computer every topic I get into shows only a "?" for ANY time/date stamp
anywhere on the page. Admin., can you help?
Phil Potter. Fri., 12:20 p.m., 06 Mar 09
Ian Colquhoun wrote:Welcome BBQedIguana! Nice to see another Ontario face around. BTW, I validated you on Realms of Mystery. Hope it brings back some fond BBS memories!
Thanks Ian! This whole retro thing has been quite a trip for me! Your BBS is totally awesome, dude (that's how we would have spoken back in the 80's, right?) LOL!
Commander#1 wrote:I don't know what's going on, but, on my computer every topic I get into shows only a "?" for ANY time/date stamp
anywhere on the page. Admin., can you help?
It sounds like you have a bad setting in your profile:
In my profile it defaults to "D M d, Y g:i a". There are other syntaxes possible too, see the PHP manual page linked from the page, but that one should work.
While you're there, you may also check your time zone so it reflects to your actual time.
ral-clan wrote:Wow! A very diverse and interesting series of jobs, Commander #1. Neat to think a VIC-20 was used to control a remotely operated boat.
Yes - as the model is very large, the VIC will have lots of room; it's a 1/4 inch = a foot representation of a Great Lakes ore carrier that measured about 640' in length making the model a little over 13' long and 16" wide. Most functions are either on or off making for easy control. But the steering vectors are going to chew up memory rather quickly, so, incase I run out of memory, I'll have to switch over to a '64. Time will tell.
And talking about time - I have no clue what I did, but, all the time/date stuff now shows correctly! I didn't change any preferences or settings - but - there it is!!! Interesting!!
This is odd - after some experimenting, if I visit this site without logging in, all the time/date stamps are good; if I log in, then ALL the time/date
stamps come up with "?" (question marks). Interesting!!
Phil.
p.s. - maybe it's because it is 4:40 in the A.M. Time to go to bed (do not pass 'go' and do not collect $200 dollars). Nighty-night!!
Hello all, my user name is simply a re-arrangement of the letters in my first name: Shane. I'm primarily a C64/128 user, but I own a VIC as of this year and plan to continue using it. I guess my next VIC purchase will be an expansion cart... 8k should do, probably?
My interests in the VIC have to do with gaming and graphics. Is anyone aware of an NTSC VIC graphics editor? I know of Picasso, but that's PAL I believe. Also, are there any NTSC VIC scene groups?
I have an uIEC, and it's great for 64/128 so now I'm ready to try it with my VIC!
Jeff's TenTen is what made me realize I wanted to get an account here! I'm just getting involved in this scene, but he really seems like a binding agent for the VIC community.
You might want to check out the VIC-20 Software Releases of 2008 and 2009 to see how alive the VIC-20 community is. Some really fantastic games have been released in the last few years.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
Welcome aboard saehn! have you seen the Mega-Cart? It's maybe a bit expensive to buy right away but it contains RAM expansion up to 32k. If you're just after an expansion on it's own I'd, personally, just go for the 16k (maybe switchable?). They cost pennies on eBay and it means you're covered for all software out there.
As far as the scene stuff goes I'm in PAL land but I'm sure somone'll be along in a mo' to point you in the right direction...
"...That of the Eastern tribe being like a multitude of colours as if a rainbow had settled upon its brow..." Daniels 1:3
saehn wrote:
Jeff's TenTen is what made me realize I wanted to get an account here! I'm just getting involved in this scene, but he really seems like a binding agent for the VIC community.
I didn't think anyone outside of a few regulars ever played my games! I'm so excited about this. And flattered!
. I might get into actively coding on it at some point.
