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As Frosty The Snowman once said:
"Happy Birthday!"
The commodore 64 turned 20 years old -- this year!
H a p p y N e w Y e a r !
Been busy and this is what I've done!:
So long ago...it seems like a dream...risen like the Phoenix, from the depths, of a system partition, buried away in a folder out of sight, lay the long forgotten backup of.... The Xone!
Too much stuff? Try these links (be sure to flush all images from your cache before loading these pages):
Xone Page A
Xone Page B
Xone News Page A
Xone News Page B
Xone News Page C
More to come!
Well, today I hacked my TV. I have this RCA 27 inch TV I got from a yardsale last year. There is no remote. It uses channel 0 for video linein. You cannot use the channel selector, neither on the remote (I borrowed the universal remote from upstairs) nor on the TV to select channel 0. You have to type in 00 on the number pad of the remote. The universal remote upstairs and rather than run up and get it, with the possibility of spacing it off and leaving it down here, I hacked the TV.
How? I called up the menu, strictly by accident (all the best hacks are by fluke) and saw that the TV's alarm was off, but channel 0 was the default -- nothing had been entered. The TV's time was set and said 3:10 PM. I set the alarm on to ON and the time on to 3:11 PM. I turned the TV off and waited less than a minute and valla! The TV was on and channel 0 was selected and there was my Amiga 1200 screen! 2cool.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Radio Silence iii?
Well, ok, not really. I have been proofing pages via the computer reading to me. The ThinkPad has some special softs that allow me to hear the text on the web pages and I get more errors fixed than when I simply look at it. You see, it's something I realized long ago -- I can't proof my own work as well as someone else can. No one can. When you read what you wrote, you tend to read what you thought you wrote -- not what actually got recorded. When you hear someone read it to you, you can catch stuff that reading simply misses.
The current project is getting Mand2000 animations to MPEG. I have actually done it, however they play way too fast. So I need to figure out how to time them better. A 1.3 Meg file that plays in less than a second is simply silly! More (soon!).
I am also planning to go through the archives and make a list of what I've missed and what I've planned to do in the "stay tuned" category and write up that info. So....Stay tuned!
Happy Easter!
Well, the grass is showing signs of that strange disease, you know, the one where it gets green patches and swells upward. Soon the green will take over and the swelling will reach the point where the loud box on wheels will have to be brought into play to reduce the size of each blade.
I am not fortunate enough to have a scanner hooked to the 128D, but the A2000 has an HP ScanJet IIc hooked up and I often scan materials for home schooling. Mia has use of the 128D's LaserJet, so I email the scans to her and she prints them at her leisure.
Sometimes I'd like to quickly scan a page and print it. The only computer, other than the 128D (and the iMac in Mia's office) that has a printer on it is the A1200, but it appears to have problems. :/
I used to move files over to the 128 via a CrossDOS save on the Amiga, then read the PC-formatted disk on the 128 with Little Red Reader. Pretty slick. However, the 128D's internal 1571 drive tends to have fits -- especially if I need to do something fast. It simply does not let the system bootup properly. It does not save time. Also, in the name of speed CrossDOS is in storage on the Amiga and I have to manually execute it (easy enough, open storage, devs, dos, click on pc2:).
I have hit upon a rather slick solution. On AmiNet at:
http://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/aminet/dirs/misc_emu.html
you will find a file called c1581.lha by Pasi 'Albert' Ojala, that has all that is required to make the 3.5inch disk drive in the Amiga read and write commodore 1581 format floppies. It installs like CrossDOS and other DOS readers on OS2.04 and up.
I did have some problems with it as it seemed to work sometimes and other times it didn't work at all. So I unarchived everything to a floppy disk. Then when needed, I open the floppy, open the drawer (1581) and click on c2. Upon doing so, it finds the handler and installs invisibly on my system. It seems to work this way every time. I also found that sometimes the first file may become corrupt on the disk (this may be my floppy as I am lazy and didn't get a fresh floppy -- format it on your real 1581). To avoid any problems I put a sacrificial file onto the disk -- a file I didn't care about and didn't plan to use from the disk anyway.
I would do a scan on the A2000 using Scan Center. Set at 75dpi, and 2 color black and white, but it is really large and will need some serious reducing. Next I employ Image Studio to reduce it to 640*720*256. Since Image Studio only works with 16 million color pictures, it needs to be converted to 16 million colors and then reduced to 640 by 720. I save it as a 256 color .GIF as I have found the C64/128 PRGs handle them the best. Also, when down-sizing that much, there is a fair amount of gray-scale involved that it'll be really different from the original.
Next I either save it to c2: (the 1581 disk) or my HD, then open the drawers up to drag and drop the file to c2: After the file is on floppy I go over to the 128D and pop the disk in the 1581/FD drive and simply copy the file to the REU. Using Randy Weems' geoGIF I convert it to a geoPaint file. I always check it (and at the right resolution it always works right) before printing. Any small text on the page may be illegible at this point and I can retype it from inside geoPaint.
NOTE: this is not a practical way to scan pages into GEOS that contain lots of writing on them. However, this works for many things that are not particularly detail intense. The homeschool materials I scan are made for k-2 and are usually larger writing and pictures on black and white pages. This may not suite everyone's needs as it may just make a copy that is unusable. But it illustrates just one practical use of both c1581 and geoGIF.
Happy Conversions!
Spring has, well...Sprung!
?
Actually I now have a ThinkPad that can run GEOS64 2.0. It is slow, but seems to be more stable than the OS that is native to this model (Win 95). Can I program in it? Not sure.
I have been trying to get Planetarium (a.k.a. Sky Travel) on a PC for some time now. The closest I ever got was PC64 running on a 386 DELL notebook. It worked beautifully, until I selected an object to get info -- it would freeze when I pressed [f7].
Well, I got really tired of fighting with the display on the DELL. It has something that's not making a connection it should, so last year I got on eBay with the intention of getting a ThinkPad.
It's a P133 with 65Megs of RAM, a swappable CD-ROM and floppy. A beautiful Active Matrix, color display. Stereo Sound Blaster. Built in Mic. 33.6 Fax/Modem.
VICE is the VersatIle Commodore Emulator. It's a group of programs that emulate various commodore computers -- the PET, the VIC20, the C128 and C64. The emulation is amazingly good. I can play SID music from my ThinkPad, plug it into the stereo in the living room and rock the house! Since it's only a 133MHz job, some SIDs have to play catch-up, but over all it is good.
geoBEAP. It makes .BEP and .D64 files from within GEOS. Both are archive formats designed to make sending files over modems easier.
I had some troubles with the 128D (mostly getting the system configured with the drives the way I need in native GEOS (verses Wheels)), so I moved over to what I call the 128DD. This is a 128D with sound and video digitizing stuff hooked up. It happens to have a GEORAM and runs GEOS2.0 quite nicely.
The procedure I used was fairly simple. I had sys files in the REU as drive B:, the 1571 was drive C: and the 1581 was drive A:. geoBEAP was on the 81 -- it's small and there was plenty of room on an 81 disk to put several .D64 files. All I had to do was open geoBEAP, select the 1571 drive as the source and the 1581 drive as the destination. Hit the button at the bottom to begin, give it a name, answer ok to the single sided disk in 1571 drive question (.D64 files are disk images of single sided 1541 disks), and off it went. geoBEAP has a progress bar to keep you informed of it's progress and lets you know when it's finished. It's a rather slick program. It was published on LOADSTAR, 179. Click on that and you will also find a link to the VICE page.
Having an Amiga that can read both PC and commodore 1581 disks has made me lazy. Rather than fight with a drive I need to replace on the 128D, I simply turned around to the Amiga 2000, copied the files from the 81 disk (c2:) to RAM: then copied them to PC1: I guess I could have just copied straight over from the 81 to the pc disk using both drives, but I wanted copies on the Amiga as I deleted them from both the PC floppy and 81 floppy to make room for more files.
The next step was fairly simple, I just put them in my vicearea folder on the ThinkPad and opened them up by clicking on the ones I wanted to open -- GEOS.D64 in this case. It opened up x64 (the C64 emulator), and to my surprise and delight, booted GEOS!
Next, I went to the menu and selected devices and turned drive 9 on as a 1541 and attached an image of my geoapps disk. I also selected mouse emulation. I used GEOS's pointer via the track-stick thingie (technical term there) to move the GEOS pointer and open configure to select drive B: as a 1541. Everything worked well, albeit kinda slow. But it looked great on that nice crisp screen!
REU!
Well, I still do not have a working Planetarium program on the ThinkPad. More to come.
Happy Mother's Day!
Here's an oldie, but funny, in the form of an Urban Legend....
A language instructor was explaining to her class that in French, nouns unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. "House," in French, is feminine -- "la maison." "Pencil," in French, is masculine "le crayon."
One puzzled student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?" The teacher did not know, and the word wasn't in her French dictionary. So for fun she split the class into two groups appropriately enough, by gender, and asked them to make group decisions whether "computer" should be a masculine or feminine noun. Both groups were required to give four reasons for their recommendation.
The men's group decided that computers should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computer"), because:
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("le computer"), because:
May 12, 2002
I am approximately 45 kilometers from the actual spot that "The View From The Underground" was written, so many, many years ago. I am typing on an IBM ThinkPad using geoWrite. The version that comes with GEOS2.0 for the commodore 64. geoWrite is being run within GEOS, which is running inside VICE (a suite of commodore emulators) inside Windows 95, over very little, if any DOS. I am sitting in our new camp trailer, in slot 8 at Bruneau Dunes.
It is the early a.m. Last night, Mia took Antony and Natasha to the Observatory for the show and the viewing (there is a 25inch reflector telescope there). There was a new moon. It was to be one of the darkest skys of the year. Octavia and the babies were sick. I wasn't feeling too great myself, so I stayed here with them. I haven't heard much about the trek as they got back late and are not up yet.
Meanwhile, back to the emulator I have warp on, and it seems to be having a fair time keeping up with my typing. I do type slower on this Kb as with most semi-modern notebook Kbs it is a bit choppy, nowhere near as smooth as a real 64's. It's kinda funny typing on this as I have to remember where the C64's keys are -- what was IBM thinking not putting the keys in the right spot, and where are the graphics characters?!?!? Surely IBM knew this machine was destine to Greatness as a slick, CBM portable package! ;)
Well, I'd better get back on my programming -- I told Dave the PRG was coming along, and it is -- I just need to get crankin'.
Happy Father's Day!
Getting that last posting (see below in case you missed the May supplement) was not easy. I wasn't sure what was going on. But GEOS64 was the answer.
I made another GEOS disk image on the 128D. geoBEAP performed admirably. Wrong is Write was one of the utilities I had put on the image, along with a few others. I guess I didn't need to do this as I wound up getting the 128 involved again after the conversion. I spell checked with geoSpell on the IBM as well.
I saved the geoWrite file as a True ASCII file. Then I moved the image back onto the 128D to put onto a 1541 for reading within GEOS. That's where I hit a snag.
geoBEAP can make disk images, without displaying a directory -- you just select the disks involved. Going from image to disk, however, needs a directory to select the image. I didn't have one. I turned the SuperCPU off. Still none. I turned JiffyDOS and the SCPU off, rebooted -- still none. Then it occurred to me -- this must be a GEOS64 program! Forty column should have been my first clue.
I shut everything off, short of the computer and booted GEOS64. The same one I made the image I run on the ThinkPad. Opened up geoBEAP and there was the directory. I then made a disk from the image and put the file on a 1581, read it on the Amiga 1200 and put it here.
2cool!
I officially typed part of last month's article on my portable IBM C64!
Well, the last couple of months have been very, very busy. We took a vacation to the Washington Coast, there have been swim lessons, summer music, art, all kinds of things that have taken my time away from the keys.
I have been faithfully keying out the code for what started as Connect Tac Toe and has turned into Meta Tac Toe, during those early hours of vacation and camping mornings. I had it almost finished when I got a chance to take a retreat for myself, by myself, just me.
The ThinkPad accompanied me, to the Monastery of the Ascension, in Jarome ID. And to the sounds of Gregorian chant from my ThinkPad's speakers, I keyed the last bits and bytes of code to finish the game -- at least to Beta stage.
Upon playing the game, back home with Octavia, a couple of requester texts were found to be needed to keep players informed, but all else seems to work well.
I was reading the latest issue of the New Amigans, last month the editor needed to reinstall his Surf Squirrel software and found the disk was bad. He send out an S.O.S. to the Amiga community. He got several responses to his cry for help, one of which told of a web site where install disks for no-longer supported software could be found:
http://www.l8r.net/install/index.html
I had done a similar S.O.S. a while back for the Vidi-Amiga software. Actually, I emailed a couple of people who, graciously sent me copies of the software. Unfortunately they didn't work. I was told when I got the hardware (that included an Amiga 1200), that it all worked. So I thought maybe the icon for the PRG was needed. I didn't get to mess around with the stuff right away, and I lost track of the people I got the softs from.
Well, I got on Installer's Heaven and found the software. It turns out that the RT version of the hardware does not work with the non-RT version of the software. On this site, I found the RT and non-RT versions of the program. Needless to say, I'm a happy camper!
Speaking of installing, I've spent much time of late, installing games on my Game Frame A1200. The HD installing has come to a close for a while. I'd gotten many titles installed on the Game Frame A1200's HD, including Trolls and Addams Family, both favorites here.
Aminet has many, many HD installers. They come in mostly one of two varieties; those that copy stuff to the hard drive and make it work, and those that alter the originals then install them to the HD. The former are the one's I like best, as preservation of the originals is my goal. If I didn't care, I would just play the games off the original disks. If you're not as picky as me (if these are old -- you should be ;) you do have more options open. Check them out at Aminet:
Or do a search for HD Installers.
Well, after a couple of early mornings at the keys with an espresso, the game is done. Meta Tac Toe is off to LOADSTAR (coming to an issue soon ;).
The Vidi-Amiga hardware vanished. I don't know why, perhaps the plug for the cable to the box was not making the connection, but the software said no interface. I powered down and tried some moving and unplugging and replugging and notta. Upon taking the modem cable out and the parallel cable out and plugging the Vidi-Amiga right in to the back of the computer, it worked with no problems.
I figure when I first plugged it all in, the Vidi was a bit big for the box, but everything was making a connection. Then a baby walked by and knocked the box from the camcorder onto the floor and the cable to the Vidi moved just enough that things were not quite connected. If I push things in, they still don't make the connection as the Vidi pushes on the cable and things don't quite line up. I really need to have it on the box and it does work from the box -- I had it working for two days on the box. Perhaps plugging the cart in with a support slightly lower than the table may work. (It's not really on the table it's sitting on an HD case for the A2000, but you get the idea.)
I have made a time-laps animation (anim5) using the Vidi and an Omnivision camcorder. It starts before sunrise and ends after sunset. The clock on the camcorder was on for reference. I hope to post it as an MPEG....
by
Brian Crosthwaite
Well, the air is cool and the sun is hot. It takes only a one degree change in the temperature for the day to go from cold to hot, and vice versa. The days are slowly getting shorter and my time at the keys has grown scarce.
Now that school has started, my days have filled to beyond the brim. My morning is a fleeting moment when, if I am fortunate, I can check my email and answer a few while I have a brief moment of quiet and a day-beginning-espresso.
I distribute babies to wife and children for morning cuddles, and finish up what little I have time to do -- usually grocery budget stuff (which I do on my 20MHz commodore 128D -- wee!). Then I'm upstairs, making bread, getting new diapers on babies, getting teeth brushed and getting the general chaos of the day underway. I have a slight break when I get to grab a quick bath, then it's off to the IBM NetVista for K12's online school via the Idaho Virtual Academy. This fills the day up to lunch time, along with Home Schooling Octavia and keeping the Babies out of stuff while getting them some stuff to do. Lunch ends at 12:10 and we bundle babies up, load them up in the buggy, get Octavia and Natasha ready for our first outing of the day -- taking Octavia to kindergarten.
Ahh, then comes naptime! But after that it's back to the O.L.S. (online school). If all goes well, we finish at 2:30 and Natasha can practice piano and be done for the day, otherwise after piano she's back to the wireless. Mia takes Natasha and Antony to piano lessons. A slight break, but not really, there is cleaning to do, then dinner. Sometimes when the timing is right, I can participate in a TVBUG meeting. By evening, I'm usually beat.
So thus has been my life as of late.
Natasha's O.L.S. uses Flash V6 and won't load into Voyager (one of the Amiga browsers I use). Otherwise we could do some of our online stuff on the 27 inch monitor on the Gameframe Amiga downstairs. K12 has a real good curriculum and despite a few bugs along the way (mostly errors in the material as opposed to programming bugs and glitches), it works rather smoothly. It isn't only online. The amount of materials they sent to our house was well over 7 large boxes full of books, paints, science materials (spring scale, balance and much more), more books -- and not just books, really great books, including the likes of Jr. Great Books, (something we discovered home schooling Antony).
In Antony's Home Schooling, he uses a computer for research on the net, playing games that go with some of his text books and typing papers and composing music. He uses a Mac.
Both, modern day machines. Fast. Tons of memory. Modern day marvels. Despite the heavy hardware of the 21st century, the kids still enjoy games on the commodores, Amigas and Ataris in our playroom. Ah, yes, high technology. ;)
.....end of line.
Back to top.
It was the time of year that the night creeps up on you un-noticed. The air has a chill and the sun feels hotter than in the summer. 59 degrees is cold and 60 is hot. When the wind blows it chills you to the bone, when it stops the sun bakes you.
I was twelve at the time. I started going to the Bellevue Cinema in the summer. They had 25 cent shows. It was great and only a hop, skip and, a stumble from home. Just down the road a couple of blocks, through the old cemetery, across the empty field and onto Bleaker Street.
The Matinees were ok at 25 cents, you got one movie and three shorts. The 50 cent evening shows on Friday were the best! Two Creature Features. Usually the first was not very long, and tame compared to the feature. The features were awesome. Even the SciFi movies scared the heck out of me, movies like The Last Day On Earth.
As the season cooled down and the days grew shorter, that short summer walk through the cemetery became a long haul that was best taken at a breath taking speed. It was hard to run, at least in parts, but the straight-a-ways were taken at break neck running to be sure. The toughest place was near a wall where many of the graves were staggered. You see, it creeps a kid out to step on someone's grave. Just behind that wall, it was told, was a place were the dead would rise out of their coffins unseen.
Tony told us that one. To scare us, at least that's what Mike and I used to think. We looked behind the small wall a couple of times -- under the protection of daylight. There was nothing there, not even graves, just a bench, and an old shed, probably to house a lawn mower and maybe some hedge trimmers.
Upon hearing this report, Tony said the gardener used a great, big, old rusty scythe, like that of the Grim Reaper, himself. Tony smiled his maniacal smile then ran into the school building as the bell had just rung. You really couldn't win with Tony. But, that weirdness aside, we thought he was an ok kid.
That October, there was a really great run of monster movies -- The Creature Features! Bella Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing (we knew who played the monsters, but never the heros nor heroines). It was one horror filled month. And I wasn't blind-sided. I had seen it coming and saved my last two month's allowance to be sure I didn't miss a single one.
Mike and I would meet outside the theater. Popcorn was mandatory. It provides a sort of busy reassurance that the monsters weren't real and we -- Mike, I, and the rest of the shivering kids -- were the only things in the theater eating.
Mike lived in the opposite direction of the theater. It was a long, lonely walk home, especially throught the cemetery.
You know, when you are scared, your hearing is increased ten fold. Possibly, so you don't miss the hopeful sounds of other people talking in the not too far distance, letting you know you're not really alone. My hearing was so keen, the silence in the cemetery was overwhelming. I'd never really thought about it before, but no one else ever was in the cemetery. I almost didn't want to listen. What would happened if I heard something I didn't want to hear? Something more foreboding than the silence that seemed to encase the night there.
In early October, every night's passage through the cemetery passed without incident. But, as the month wore on, I started to feel a little uneasy as I had to slow my pace through the grave tangled areas. Then it happened. There was a creaking sound.
I was near that wall. I was really out of breath as I approached the grave tangled corridor that slowed me down the most. I had been almost looking forward to slowing down, as I'd been in high speed run mode that night as the movie was particularly terrifying. It was a slow, full, medium pitched creaking. In my mind, it could only be one thing -- a coffin -- being opened slowly by it's occupant!
I didn't stay to find out. Last time I saw someone open their own coffin, it was Count Dracula, and I didn't want to be any Undead's dinner!
I was home in record time. I don't recall the journey home. I slept that night with the covers over my head.
Strange as it may seem, the next time, even anticipating it, I was not as scared. Perhaps the movie wasn't quite as scary, perhaps curiosity was getting to me. I don't know. I slowed down before I got to the corridor. I stopped at the place I had heard the sound and even waited for the creaking to begin. It was a still, silent night. Then, as if by que, that great unknown something started to creak! I stood still for as long as I could take it. It felt like three, five -- ten minutes. Then I bolted out of there as fast as I could go! Looking back I must have only stood there for a fraction of a second, for when I looked at my watch, I had lost no time. In point of fact, I had made it through the cemetery in record time that night.
Well, Halloween had fallen on a Monday that year. So the Bellevue had planned two monster nights of fright for Friday and Saturday. Now, Saturday, was normally the gushy movie night. The movies like Gone with the Wind, and Breakfast At Tiffany's. And while there was a fair number of grumbles from the older crowd, we kids couldn't have been more excited.
I had told Mike about the creaking sound the second time I'd heard it. He said, "Are you sure it wasn't just the old shed door creaking?" It didn't seem logical though, who would be there getting into it at night, in the dark? Even though, the moon was waxing to full, it had been cloudy and really dark. I was now getting more curious than ever.
It was the Saturday Night I'll never forget. The movie was one that had both Mike and I looking behind ourselves as we walked down the sidewalk. Mike and I both bid each other our reluctant goodbyes. I know he wanted me to go with him, and I wanted him to go with me, 'cause when it comes to spooks, there is definitely safety in numbers.
"Maybe I could come to your house and you could have your mom drive me home," I said.
"Can't. Car's at the mechanic." There was a pause, we needed to figure this one out.
"I'm sure my Mom wouldn't mind driving you home from our house."
It was a deal. Mike and I would venture together through the cemetery to my house just before Halloween. It was an uneventful walk. We took it slow. Partly because of the carefree presence of friends and partly because we didn't want to bump into anything. Anything that might go bump in the night.
We cautiously reached the corridor. It was cloudy, but the moon was full and eerie. Now and then we were blessed with clear bright vision. I stopped and turned to Mike. I didn't need to tell him where we were and what was about to happen. The look of grief on his face agreed with my feelings that we really didn't need to hear the unexplained creaking sound after the movie we had just seen.
Unexplained? Tony said it was the dead rising behind the wall, unseen.... Then we heard it. We froze in our tracks. Mike looked like he was about to bolt, but my curiosity had over-rode my fear.
"I have to know." That stopped him.
He gave me a pleading look of -- "Do we have to now?"
I crossed the darkness and crept to the wall, I turned and Mike reluctantly fell in behind. We looked over at the same time.
There was something there. We couldn't really tell what though, as it was dark. And then, the moon came out. The object slowly came into light. It was dark with silver stripes or lines at the side. Then our eyes adjusted to what little light there was.
We saw it at the same time. It took a moment that lasted forever for our brains to register what the dark, long object was. Then it hit us like a ton of bricks at the same time. It was a coffin!
We almost hit our heads together as we spun about and ran out of there as fast as our feet could carry us. It took 1 minute to make the normally 3 minute run, but felt like an eternity.
I never went back to that cemetery. I found a different route that suited me just fine.
I often thought that perhaps it was a coincidence and that we looked past the wall on a night a coffin just happened to be there, and that the creaking sound was just the shed door moving due to a slight breaze or some other thing with a reasonable explanation. But I didn't want to verify it. Somethings are best left to rest.
Somethings are Best Left to Rest.
The Double-Double Feature
Happy Halloween!
I managed to get Meta Tac Toe finished and emailed to LOADSTAR. I went a lot of places this summer, including Seattle, Fort Canby, and many places here in Idaho. As far as other computing goes, I managed to write a couple of new formulae (one I wrote in Chipmunk BASIC, but may have not saved it to a safe place before backup). Using geoBASIC running under VICE emulation, I got a couple I hope to get to LOADSTAR as soon as I can manage.
The Stay Tuned Project is under way. Not a lot has gone into it, but the basic outline is ready, all that remains are those pesky details. Who knows, with a four-day weekend in November, I may indeed do something in the classic vein.
In the meantime, keep those old machines crankin'!
Archaic Computer
by
Brian Crosthwaite
Well, LS 217 came out and Meta Tac Toe was on it! Kinda cool to see it in lights, along with the kind words directed at the author (me ;) Lots of time has passed and I have been feeling the pull to eBay. I haven't managed any more time, but I've felt the pull. There are magazines and old computers in need of a new home (both ones I'm looking to sell and those I'm looking to get).
We have been watching movies lately. My love for film has been rekindled . I kinda slowed way down when I got married, my video collection is rather huge. Having turned one of those decade numbers on my last birthday, (I don't recall which, it has to be over ten, at least ;) my family decided they needed to get me a big present -- a DVD player. Nothing too fancy, but DVD boxes are smaller than tape boxes. I can store two or three in the same space that one tape normally fits in. I prefer VCDs as they play on my old notebook computer (IBM 760ED). Albeit, some are rather choppy, but that's the P133. They play beautifully on the DVD player.
Computers, are still my passion, and I plan to get back into the swing of things when I figure out how to do it. Sometimes I have been able to get up early on the weekend and do some things. At present, I have a small project (Project Topcat), which consists basically of getting the magazines I have laying around filed and the disks gathering dust put away -- I have a pile of disks that I had been sorting (before the twins?) that has come to just sitting. The actual sorting will be later, but the preservation is now. That's where I'm at now.
Once in a while some one offers me a new machine, but I have yet to get one. I still have some in the garage I need to find homes for. It has indeed been a while.
I looked at my eBay pile and saw lots of treasures I've been planning to post. Mostly books and software. I have gotten another posting ready, but I have yet to post it. They are books. I haven't posted them for the simple reason that I would have to make time to get to the post office to ship them, and I just don't have the time right now. Perhaps, one of those box places that ships as they are open late, but who wants to pay more for slower shipping? I use UPS for the computers and that's reasonable, but for books I ship book rate, and for that you've got to go to the Post Office. Any express mail I'd send from here, would cost $8 for pickup, so there is no point in that. So, I wait. I wait in quiet hopes that a day will come when I have a little more free time.
Now, that 4 day weekend is coming, but that is a holiday and the "Stay Tuned" list awaits those mornings. We'll see, we'll see.
.....end of line.
Back to top.
What does one get friends and family, when one is a computer geek? Unfortunately, it isn't any easier for us, and maybe a bit harder, as the places we haunt tend not to sell stuff for Ordinary Mortals (OMs).
So what of it? Online to the rescue! While I'm inclined to shop at places like the Commodore Computer Center, or Papa John's Pizza online, there are places that sell just about anything you could want to buy.
eBay, Amazon.com, to name a few. So maybe it is indeed easier for us! I prefer eBay, and many sellers use the buy it now option, and take PayPal. Why are these important to me?
Well, it is nice to know I don't have to stress the time to watch an auction. My time is very limited when it comes to getting online. So when I see an item, I can make the purchase almost instantly. It's nice to have the option open to bid also, as some items can be had at a lower price, should I wish to take a chance and bid.
PayPal allows me to make purchases online via my bank account. No credit card is necessary for those who do not have one. It also allows online purchases from a seller who does not take credit cards. PayPal can also search closed auctions and have all the info auto-fill for me -- all I have to do is authorize the purchase and the transaction is complete.
So, where does a geek go?
Old Computers:
actionpc.com - also, these people have auction items on ebay
www.usedtech.org ("Well, I've never really bought anything from them, sure would like to play in their warehouse, though!" -- John T. Maguire)
New Computers:
microcenter.com - also several brick and mortar stores across the nation...
www.compgeeks.com
www.salescircular.com
apple.com
Books:
Toys:
Amazon.com
kbtoys.com
toysrus.com
Food:
figis.comEducational:
hometrainingtools.com
mindwareonline.com
Clothing:
eddiebauer.com - if you're into trendy and pricey...
cabelas.com - for the outdoorsy type...
Electronics:
Movies:
DVD/VHS:
VCD:
Music:
Brain Toys:
Gifts of All Sorts:
Everything above and more:
I'd like to thank Mia, Roy, and John for sending their lists of favorites for this list.
OMs can shop these places as well! As technology progresses and infiltrates lives everywhere, more and more people find themselves with computers. When I think of what I did as a kid, or what it must have been like for my folks when they were kids, and see Antony go upstairs with the iBook to get online onto Moo using the wireless network we have at home, it astounds and amazes me. It almost seems like science fiction come true. And maybe it is, just a little. After all, it is the year 2002. What next?
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