Retro Thing

"RPG Quest - Minimæ" Ultima Style Adventure For iPhone

I have to admit that I've never participated in a role playing game. In the 80's, a group of my friends wanted me to join their... I dunno what to call it... coven? This was the time of D&D's popularity, and also heightened fear of the occult being invoked by 20 sided dice. That's not what kept me away, but I saw the appeal in RPG's. The vast adventures and the lengthy campaigns all made for an intriguing and flexible game. Now as an adult, I sadly don't have the time to devote to such a thing, not even the computer variants that have cropped up in all the years since.

Ultima was the biggie in the 80's on North American computers (the rest of the world mostly did battle via Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy). Ultima captured the sprawl of the RPG world, but also included "feelies" in the box. These were props and souvenirs that appeared somewhere in the game. These coins and cloth maps inspired other publishers to do the same. One only has to look at the madness of Infocom packages to get a feeling of how extensive & massive these game packages got. These "feelies" also formed part of the copy protection of the game - you needed these physical props to complete the adventure.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is my very clever friend Robin Harbron. A few years ago he created a Commodore 64 Ultima styled adventure game, and managed to fit it into an astonishingly tiny 2K (later bloating the game up to 4K adding, among other things, joystick support)! The game has been very popular, even making it as a hidden game onto the famous C64 plug & play joystick.

Now you can join in the fun without digging out your old Commodore. Robin and his P1XL partner Sam Washburn bring us appealing new retro-inspired graphics, and an all-new chiptune score that's both authentic and appealing. Minimæ's interface is simple--just swipe and tap to move your brave adventurer. The rules are simple but the gameplay is surprisingly deep, with a variety of pixellated nasties, puzzles to solve, and secrets to reveal. It's everything you'd expect from an old-school RPG in the shiny black modern trappings of the iPhone.

Robin is one of my favorite Canadians, and that's not just because he brings Coke sweetened with sugar (instead of corn syrup) to the Chicago Commodore 64 expo every year. His games are super clever, and you'd be lucky to meet a kinder soul. This first release from P1XL is only $2.99 from the App Store, so let's try to make it a hit, eh?  Don't worry about the medieval "æ" character confusing your search. A search for "Minimae" or "Minima" will still turn up the game... and that's only your first search along the way to greater treasure, adventurer.

links:

Minimæ homepage
Start your adventure by visiting iTunes

related:

New hombrew RPG for Sega Genesis
Myst comes to iPhone
The iPhone even has LED Football

Celebrating The Arrival Of Windows 7... By Reinstalling XP

It has been eight long years since the arrival of Windows XP. It was a dramatic improvement over Windows 95 and I vividly remember installing it within days of release. In fact, XP went on to become the most popular operating system in the world with 66.2% market share in August 2009 (despite the introduction of Windows Vista several years ago).

Fast forward to last weekend.

I found myself standing in my favorite independent computer store fondling a copy of Windows 7, but couldn't bring myself to take it home. $120 is a lot of money, especially when my office shelf is littered with countless abandoned versions of Windows dating back to the paleolithic era.

So I bought a shiny new 500 GB hard drive instead. It cost a mere $49 and offered much needed room for my ever-growing media collection.

To celebrate my sudden change of heart, I held a low key Windows XP relaunch party yesterday afternoon. Four hours and sixteen glorious reboots later, my new drive held a brand new install of Windows XP. My machine was snappier than it had been since 2007. Best of all, I still have $70 in my pocket to squander on something far cooler than an operating system.

Besides, this is Retro Thing. The occasional leaky boiler and stripped gear is to be expected around here.

Commodore PetSynth: Hardcore Chiptunes

Chiron writes, "I've written software that turns an old Commodore PET into a playable synth. I've created [a] website and have released it as GPL open-source software, so anyone can download it, use it, share it, and modify it if they're interested. The original PET didn't have a dedicated sound chip, so the vibrato, distortion, and drums sounds represent unique innovations."

Build Your Own Digicomp Mechanical Computer!

The Digicomp is a plastic mechanical computer from the 1960s. It offered three bits of tabletop computing, back in an age where corded telephones were considered high-tech. The machine arrived in kit form; your first task was to assemble the jumble of tubes, rods, and elastic bands into something that resembles a Jetson's parking garage. Once complete, it's a fantastic hands-on way to teach Boolean algebra and binary numbers.

I'm a bit too young to have enjoyed the Digicomp era, but enthusiast Larry Groebe explained the attraction of these clever toys to me, "Digicomp 1 in particular (the cheaper model) started a bunch of kids on a career in computers -- myself included. I got mine for Christmas in 1968 and took it to the 5th grade show and tell, where I tried to explain binary numbers to a deeply suspicious teacher and uncomprehending class." Larry went on to start the "Friends of Digicomp" on Yahoo Groups -- an excellent source of information about this nifty device.

And now for the best part... Group member Tim Walker has introduced an updated $49 version this cool little machine, in an era where classic Digicomps change hands on eBay for up to $100 a pop. Unlike the original, the new machine is manufactured from laser die-cut 80-point binders board. The box contains the necessary assortment of jig-formed steel rods; plus rubber bands, plastic tubes, and various odd-looking widgets. An attractive spiral-bound 48-page user guide contains illustrated assembly instructions plus over 30 hands-on experiments.

Digi-Comp I (v2.0) Mechanical Computer Kit

A Trailblazing Palmtop By Atari

Write-ups for the 1989 Atari Portfolio always describe it as "about the size of a VHS tape." Not much help in our tapeless world. These days, we'd have to compare it to a stack of DVDs or a half-dozen iPhones.

The Atari Portfolio was a marvel of late 1980s miniaturization. Designed by DIP in Guildford, UK, it was more-or-less IBM-PC compatible. The biggest compatibility challenge was the monochrome 40x8 character non-backlit screen -- few programs could run acceptably with so little screen real estate, and even fewer developers produced Portfolio versions of their work. The machine featured an NEC V30 processor (Intel 8088 clone), a meager 128K RAM, and a Microsoft DOS 2.2 compatible operating system that was idiotically named "DIP-DOS." There was no room for internal floppy or hard drives so everything was stored in battery-backed memory cards. A special card reader was available to transfer information to your desktop PC.

Oddest quirk: When turned off, the screen flashed briefly every couple of minutes as the machine woke itself to check the calendar.

The Portfolio was years ahead of its time, but its non-standard design kept it from being easily adopted by the business community. It (and Atari Corporation) disappeared quietly into the mists of time in the early 1990s.

Atari Portfolio palmtop computer (The Obsolete Technology Website)

Stunning Sequel To "Don't Copy That Floppy"

When some of us do something embarrassing and ineffectual, we learn from the experience. Others among us don't. So here's a video sequel that absolutely no one was asking for...

A while back, we wrote about "Don't Copy That Floppy", a 1992 music video campaign aimed to teach "the youth" that it's wrong to copy computer software. Their approach uniquely centered on the growing software industry, and how it was jeopardized by rampant piracy. The video seemed to me to be a bit out of touch with pop culture of the time, and came off so whiney that I couldn't imagine it having any possible effect on its intended audience. Fortunately a VHS copy found its way to the internet, and DP's message could hit a wider audience than he could have ever imagined.

A new video from the same crew (I use the 90's lingo for "posse" deliberately) just hit the internet. It stars the same ebullient rapper from the earlier opus, but tougher now. The message is similar, with more emphasis on criminal aspects of software copying. The video opens with college aged kids laughing at a rerun of "Don't Copy the Floppy" on television (they must be watching "Totally Chill PSA's" on VH1). Maybe it's the film school teacher in me, but it feels pretty dangerous to undermine the authority of your new project by poking fun at your famously ridiculous prior work.

Shopping For A New Printer... Retro Thing Style

There was a moment in the 1980s when the idea of spending $500 on a dot matrix printer seemed perfectly rational. Even Apple sold one. Back then, computers were all about word processing, programming, grainy girly pics and games - not necessarily in that order. There were no digital photos to print, nor did the idea of printing a CD cross anyone's mind.

Fast-forward a quarter century and dot matrix printers are as common as steam-powered cars. I own a laser printer (the cheapest way to print large documents) and an ink jet (for pretty pictures). But the idea of whacking little pins into a ribbon at 80 characters per second seems absolutely barbaric. 

Oddly enough, I'm considering buying one - a tank-like Epson MX-80, perhaps. They were so common that you can still buy new ribbons. More to the point, they work with the prehistoric multi-part tractor feed forms that the (Canadian) post office insists I use to send packages overseas.

There are numerous online stores that will sell me a shiny new dot matrix for a couple of hundred bucks, but that seems silly. I'll wait until I spot a nice one for $5 at a thrift store or garage sale. I shouldn't have much trouble connecting a 25-year-old printer to my almost new PC so my neighbors can enjoy its melodious mechanical grind from across the street. Heck, maybe I'll even make some music with the thing.

Epson Dot Matrix Printers

This Weekend: Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0

Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0 promises to be the largest ever, with 23 registered exhibits.

Ted Hurewitz will discuss the RCA Bizmac and RCA 501 computers designed in Camden, N.J. in the 1950s, you'll have the opportunity to build your own PockeTerm, and Mike Loewen will be on hand to make VCF East 6.0 punched cards.

It all takes place September 12-13, 2009 at the InfoAge Science Center in Wall, N.J. Tickets are $10 (1 day), $15 (both days), free for 17 and younger.

Link: Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0

Commodore 64 Returns To Chicago Suburbs September 26th

Soon Chicago's western suburbs will be host to a great Commodore 64 show with some of the finest C64 luminaries in attendance. Oh, and I'll be there too. Vic 20's, Amigas, and other retro computers are welcome, but be ready to celebrate the best selling computer of all time.

The Emergency Chicagoland Commodore Convention 2009 is on September 26th from 8am to 1am on Sunday. Yup - the bleeps and bloops know how to party all night. There will be dealer tables, demonstrations, and lots of systems set up for playing games and checking out new projects. Admission is... get this... free!

Mind you, the event is not just about reliving the C64's past. You can bear witness to some of the newest innovations on the 27 year old platform... and yes, there are many. Did you ever think that you'd see the ol' breadbox with an ethernet connection? Or how about an MP3 player? Or playing video from a hard drive?

It's all amazing, and amazingly fun - even for those of us who never had a C64 back in those heady days. I'll be hanging out a good chunk of the day & well into the night (that's when I'm the least appropriate), so please make sure to find the loud bald guy and say hello.

Visit the official show website

related:
The Commodore 65: a sequel that never happened
Shredz 64: Guitar Hero on the C64
Commodore 1702 monitor: still a superior display

An 8-Bit Tribute Done In Lego

If you ever got a not-so-legal copy of a game back in the 8-bit days, you rememebr what "crack-tros" are. Enterprising hackers would show off their kung-fu (a bigger pun than you realize) by pushing computers like the Commodore 64 to their graphical limits. These graphical demos were often added to the intro of a pirated video game. Eventually these intro graphics became their own thing, with many demo coders enjoying a certain level of pre-internet fame.

This video captures many of those lo-fi graphics aesthetics by modeling them in Lego. The NES is also well represented in this music video that took 1500 hours of snapping apart the colorful bricks. This is a really professional looking effort. Check out the depth-of-field effects and many smooth camera moves. While the graphics they're simulating seem primitive now, they were cutting edge back in the 80's. This music video is a fitting tribute to computer fans who spent the that decade in the basement starting at those early computer screens.

The Virtual Apple ][

I had an overwhelming urge to play Lode Runner the other day, which led me to discover Virtual Apple ][. This nifty emulator site offers nearly every Apple II and Apple IIgs game ever made. 

"Virtual Apple ][ now runs on two emulators. While Windows is still required for the Apple IIgs programs, the Apple II Programs now run on any platform using a Java based Emulator. This web site currently uses both an ActiveX application for the Apple IIgs emulator and a Java based Apple ][ emulator to automatically download and play most Apple 2 and Apple IIgs disk images online. This site is completely spyware free and usage of the emulator is completely free!  Documentation and actual disk images are available for download from the site."

As icing on the cake, joystick control is mapped to your mouse or touchpad. Game on!

Try Virtual Apple ][

The Briel PockeTerm

Vince Briel designed the PocketTerm as a low cost terminal for vintage microcomputers. It lets you use a spare VGA monitor and PS/2 keyboard for input and output.

Dual serial ports are included for debugging and development - you can transfer data to/from a PC while still attached to the host device. The tiny 4.5" x 2" board uses a Parallax Propeller microcontroller and is VT-100 compatible. The only thing it doesn't include is a case.

The DIY kit is now on sale for $60, or purchase your PockeTerm assembled and tested for $90. Blank PC boards are available for $18, if you happen to have a few spare Propeller chips lying around. 

The Briel PockeTerm

New Gakken 4-bit Micro Computer Kit

The Gakken GMC-4 single board computer includes a 20-key hexadecimal keyboard, 7-segment LED display, and a row of seven discrete LEDs. It includes seven built-in programs including an organ, sound game, whack-a-mole, tennis, music player, morse code generator and a simple timer. It requires 3 x AA batteries and minor assembly.

The tiny machine is based upon the 4-bit F-Maikon (microcomputer) R-165 that Gakken released in the early 1980s for their Denshi Block series. There are only 32 op codes to learn, making this a unique opportunity to hone your machine language skills. After all, if machine language was good enough for Woz, it's good enough for the rest of us.

The GMC-4 is bundled with Vol. 24 of Gakken's “Otona no Kagaku” Magazine that features advanced science kits for adults, available on eBay for a mere $32.80 plus shipping from Japan.

Gakken GMC-4 4bit Micro Computer [scroll down for English]

FreeDOS: Like MS-DOS, Except Free

Fifteen years ago, Microsoft announced they were leaving DOS behind and pinning their hopes on a futuristic operating system called Windows 95 . Jim Hall wasn't happy about the change. He recalls, "In 1994, I was a physics student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Most of my work up to that time had been done using DOS. But then Microsoft announced they were moving off DOS in the next release of Windows. So I started an effort to recreate DOS. PD-DOS was announced to the world on June 28, 1994."

OK, so nobody in their right mind would pay for a copy of MS-DOS these days. But if you find yourself in need of such a beast, you need FreeDOS. This compact operating system is more-or-less MS-DOS compatible and incorporates modern enhancements such as a mouse driver, media player, multi-boot and USB support.

There. Now you have no excuse not to revisit 1994.

The FreeDOS Project

The Floppy Drive That Changed The World

Sometimes, seemingly small innovations have an enormous impact. A classic example is the nondescript Apple Disk II floppy drive. Its introduction propelled Apple II sales into the stratosphere.

Back in 1977, the Commodore PET, Radio Shack TRS-80 and Apple II led the first wave of the home computer revolution. Each machine used audio cassettes for program storage. While the Apple's 1500 bps transfer rate was fastest, it was also notoriously sensitive to minor level changes. Set your cassette deck's volume control too high or low, and the program load would mysteriously fail. This was a significant problem because, at $1298, the Apple II was more than twice as expensive as the others. It was the only machine to offer internal expansion and color graphics, but that alone wasn't quite enough to justify spending an extra $600 dollars on a fancy toy.

The finicky cassette interface drove Apple president Mike Markkula crazy. He grew tired of rewinding, fast-forwarding and countless minutes of boredom while waiting for software to load. And so, in a December 1977 executive meeting, he put "floppy disk" at the top of his wish list. It was a move that cemented Apple's position as a market leader for years to come.