Monday, September 25, 2023

Diamond Mike – Timex/Sinclair Computers

This is a videogame I wrote in 1985.  I thought that it was lost forever.  I had given away my Timex Sinclair stuff to my cousin when I moved to Utah in 1993.  I wish that I had kept it.  She said that eventually the computer died.

I contacted the website manager and asked him to look out for the game. He not only found a copy but sent me the tape from 38 years ago!

He made a downloadable online version.  I tried to run it using an emulator.  With the emulator, I was having trouble getting the controls to work.


The Atari ST version I wrote in 1986 looks better but is essentially the same game.  I have a copy of this, but no hardware to run it on.

I made money on this stuff in the mid-1980s but eventually had to get a real job.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

My 7940hs computer order

The problem with trying to order from Ali Express to save money is that they can slow to deliver the products. My past purchases took between 2.5 to 5 weeks to arrive.

I ordered this computer four weeks ago today. They claimed that they were offering a guaranteed on time delivery of a week ago.

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Interview with an Emacs Enthusiast in 2023 [Colorized]

I don't recommend watching more than a minute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urcL86UpqZc

This video brings back memories.  There was an editor war among computer programmers in the late 1980s and 1990s.  Two of the factions were "VI" and "Emacs".  I heard plenty of arguments for both.  I was forced to learn "VI" on the job in 1988, which is so complex that I wouldn't recommend anyone try to learn it.  However, once I got past the learning curve, I really liked it and I still use it.

The problem is that these editors are complex systems with many powerful features that are difficult to learn.  You can write code that changes how the editors work.   They were born out of a previous era where graphical user interfaces didn't exist, but programmers still wanted powerful editing features.   However, if all you wanted to do was edit text, these editors were overkill by a very wide margin.

Thanks to modern graphical user interfaces, there are editors that are simple to use, like Visual Studio Code, which still have all the features a computer programmer could want.

Friday, September 15, 2023

My computer order is delayed (due to COVID?)

This is what I get for ordering from China.  I ordered from Ali Express to save some money. 

However, the manufacturer is in China anyway.  I could have ordered from the manufacturer and still faced the same delays.

I ordered this computer 23 days ago. The estimated delivery day was September 12th. There has been no tracking information, although the Ali Express app claims that the computer is still in China and that there are delays.
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Do you have any information about if the computer has left China or when it will be delivered?
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This was advertised as "Guaranteed On Time Delivery." This led me to believe that the delivery would take 3 weeks.
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04:50
发货提醒客户好评: Hi Dear, We send your order out earlier and update tracking number already. Due to serious COVID-19 epidemic in Shenzhen and Hongkong, transit and tracking info updating will be delayed. Thanks for your patience and cooperation. Hope you can give us 5 stars feedback with pictures if you are happy with our product. Please contact us if you have any problems before leaving negative feedback. We will serve you to satisfaction. Thanks. Best regards

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Apple Built The Vision Pro to FAIL, and it's GENIUS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNEni_DP4fY

Realistically, the amount of hardware needed to make this work is not going to fit in an unobtrusive pair of glasses.  Not in this decade.  Maybe in the next one.