Category Archives: Misc

Website hosting…

I have been doing website hosting as a hobby since the mid-1990s. I just set up a “business card” site for a local cafe (Douglas Cafe in Urbandale) we frequent. We’ve also done projects for them including making new menus, table top signs, window vinyl lettering, and street signs. To help boost their new website, I just wanted to post it here for the search engines to find:

https://www.douglascafe.com

While I do not actively persue website hosting anymore, I still have about 75 sites hosted here. My web hosting account is going up 25% my next renewal, so I may very well have to re-activate this as a business that takes money.

More to come…

My early 90s CoCo room.

Forty years ago, this is what my room looked like… UPDATED with photos!


Allen's room (so far):

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | VCR,Jag,Etc.| | | CM8/VCR | | TV | || | C= Mon.| ||
.\ |_____________| |_|_________|_|________|_||_|________|_______________||
. \ | _________ ______ ___ ||____ ____________ ....... ||
. \ | | .CoCo3. | MPI ||Dsk||| HD | Amiga500 | mouse ||
- |_|_________|______||___|||____|____________|________||
|------| CHAIR CHAIR |_____| |
| Boxes| |Term.| |
| | _|_____|_|
|______| | Ans. ||
|Shel| ______ Floor Space! | |---| ||
|-ves| |file| | |DMP| ||
| | |thng| |_|___|_||
| | |____| -----------------------------------------------------
|____| | | "
| | My Double Bed | "
| /\ | | "
| \K\ |___________________________________________________-
|# \4\ | Term.| | Lamp/ |
| # \/ | | | Radio |
+----|.......|---------------------------------------------------------------+

Door into room on top left, closet on bottom left, window on bottom right.
Going clockwise:

Starting at top, metal "erector set" shelving containing misc. junk on top
shelf, two VCR drawer cabinets and Jag on second, SVHS and editing gizmos on
third, fourth has complete Sega Genesis/CD setup, and below is Sub-Etha
Software stuff (paperwork, software, etc.)

First computer desk is CoCo system with CM8 on VCR, and TV to the right. A
set of medium sized powerer stereo speakers sits on the CM8 and another on the
Amiga monitor for great stereo seperation. Dual power strips below this, too.
(One with modem line and CoCo on it, the other is on "all the time" for VCRs
(clock) and TV).

Amiga desk is metal frame (not wood like CoCo) and has Amiga setup and
monitor, and TONS of books on shelves below right of desk. A pull out sliding
"table" at the right has a WYSE terminal on it w/CoCo cube stored below it.

Next is a printer table (came with the desk) with the Friday and printer and
power strip.

Bed.

Table with clock, radio, and lamp.

Another table with hardware terminal (so I can hack while in bed, via serial
port on CoCo).

K4 keyboard setup with amp/speaker, sequencer, Midi disk drive, etc.

Bookshelf with magazines and misc. junk, and filing cabinet (on wheels, lid
opens from top).

Storage bins (used to lug CoCo stuff to 'Fests) stacked three high, full of
junk.

And this, my friends, is my room. <whew>

Allen

And here is me, in all my nerdy glory.

And this is what the other wall looks like, after returning home from a CoCoFest.

Don’t panic! The room didn’t always look like that…

Until next time…

Our magazine ads, before they were typeset…

While going through some random disk images, I found some text files that seem to be the Sub-Etha Software ads, before we took them to the printshop to have them typeset by a professional.

First, this looks like the first ad we planned to run in Rainbow magazine, before we got a deal to do a quarter page inside. Note the company name was going to be Forty-Two Technology and the phone # listed was before I had a dedicated line.

Multi-Basic-- Ever wonder why, with 128K or 512K, you cannot use even 32K under RS-Dos?  Well now there's MultiBasic, making possible, without adding ANY commands, the use of ALL of your CoCo3's memory by basic.  Have several programs loaded in memory at once, able to call subroutines from each other, move between each other, even load other programs from disk, all without variable loss or interruption of program flow.

Shadow BBS-- Finally, a CoCo3 RS-Dos BBS with power, speed, and flair. Uses RS232 Pak or serial port. Features include full ANSI, X/Y Modem, 28 line 40/80 column support, 240 byte onscreen status window, software clock, up to 255 independently numbered message areas, borderlines, one-liner discussions, surveys, auto-messages, doors to external programs, user profiles, full sysop utilities, much, much more! See for yourself, call ShadowBBS HQ at (409)63-REALM. Order thru BBS or thru: Forty-Two Technology, PO Box 4242, Lufkin, TX 75901. (409)637-7604.

Next up is the prototype for the ad we did run, featuring MultiBASIC and SHADOW BBS by Terry Todd. We didn’t have a dedicated phone number yet, so the 632-4200 was just a made up one for the mockup.

 _____________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| MULTIBASIC - Use all 128K/512K of your CoCo 3 without |
| learning ANY new commands! Have several programs loaded |
| at once sharing subroutines and variables! Load programs |
| without losing variables, and more! INTRO. PRICE: $24.95 |
| |
| SHADOW BBS - An RS-Dos BBS with Power, Speed, and Flair! |
| ANSI, X/Y Modem, Clock, Surveys, AutoMessage, Up to 255 |
| Msg Areas, User Profiles, Doors, Borderlines, Full SysOp |
| Utilities, and Much, Much More! Runs on 128K CoCo 3 with |
| Disk Drive(s), Serial Port OR RS232 pak! Call and see |
| for yourself! (409) 63-REALM INTRO. PRICE: $34.95 |
| |
| Sub-Etha Software Call or write for information! |
| P.O. Box 152442 Add $2.00 S&H and $3.00 C.O.D. |
| Lufkin, TX 75901 Texas residents add 8.25% tax. |
| (409) 632-4200 "Don't Panic!" |
|___________________________________________________________|

Next, another prototype… Much closer to what ended up being typeset and published – and even has the real phone number. These blank spots at the top where were the logo was going to go. I did these ASCII ones to show them exactly what we wanted.

 _____________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| Ever wonder why, with a 128K or 512K CoCo 3 you cannot |
| even use 32K under RS-Dos? Well, now there's MultiBasic, |
| making possible without adding ANY commands the use of |
| your CoCo 3's "hidden" memory by Basic. Have several |
| programs loaded in memory at once able to call |
| subroutines from each other. Move between programs and |
| load other programs from disk without variable loss or |
| interruption of program flow. A "must-have" utility for |
| Basic programmers! |
| |
| INTRODUCTORY PRICE ............................... $24.95 |
| |
| |
| /) Shadow BBS (\ |
| Complete RS-Dos BBS with Low Hardware Requirements! |
| |
| Finally, an RS-Dos CoCo 3 BBS with power, speed, and |
| flair! Uses RS232 Pak OR serial port! Features include |
| ANSI, X/Y Modem file transfers, 28 line 40/80 column |
| support, 240 byte on-screen status window, software |
| clock, up to 255 independently numbered message areas, |
| borderlines, one-liner discussions, surveys, automessage, |
| doors to external programs, user profiles, full SysOp |
| utilities, and much, much more! And unlike most BBSs |
| you've seen, no hard drive, RS232 Pak, or memory upgrade |
| is required! Shadow BBS will run on a 128K CoCo 3 with |
| one disk drive and a modem, yet it is capable of taking |
| advantage of all the hardware your system includes. A |
| full appreciation of Shadow BBS comes not, however, from |
| it's many features or it's low hardware requirements, but |
| from the flair and smoothness of the program itself. We |
| want you to see what this incredible BBS can do. Call |
| The Shadow's Realm, the official Shadow BBS HQ system, at |
| (409) 63-REALM (300/1200 Baud, 24 Hrs.) and see for |
| yourself! |
| |
| INTRODUCTORY PRICE ............................... $34.95 |
| |
| |
| Sub-Etha Software Call or Write for Information! |
| P.O. Box 142442 Add $2.00 S&H and $2.50 C.O.D. |
| Lufkin, Texas 75915 Texas residents add 8.25% tax. |
| (409) 639-ETHA [3842] "Don't Panic!" |
|___________________________________________________________|

And this one, AD4.txt, is another variation:

_____________________________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|___________________________________________________________|
|| ||
|| *: MultiBasic :* ||
|| More Memory for Basic without Learning New Commands! ||
|| ||
|| Ever wonder why, with a 128K or 512K CoCo 3 you cannot ||
|| even use 32K under RS-Dos? Well, now there's ||
|| MultiBasic, making possible without adding ANY commands ||
|| the use of your CoCo 3's "hidden" memory by Basic. ||
|| Have several programs loaded in memory at once able to ||
|| call subroutines from each other. Move between ||
|| programs and load other programs from disk without ||
|| variable loss or interruption of program flow. A ||
|| "must-have" utility for Basic programmers! ||
|| ||
|| INTRODUCTORY PRICE ............................. $24.95 ||
|| ||
|| ||
|| *: Shadow BBS :* ||
|| Complete RS-Dos BBS with Low Hardware Requirements! ||
|| ||
|| Finally, an RS-Dos CoCo 3 BBS with power, speed, and ||
|| flair! Uses RS232 Pak OR serial port! Features include ||
|| ANSI, X/Y Modem file transfers, 28 line 40/80 column ||
|| support, 240 byte on-screen status window, software ||
|| clock, up to 255 independently numbered message areas, ||
|| borderlines (quotes), one-liner discussions, surveys, ||
|| automessage, doors to external programs, user profiles, ||
|| full SysOp utilities, and much, much more! And unlike ||
|| most BBSs you've seen, no hard drive, RS232 Pak, or ||
|| memory upgrade is required! Shadow BBS will run on a ||
|| 128K CoCo 3 with one disk drive and a modem, yet it is ||
|| capable of taking advantage of all the hardware your ||
|| system includes. A full appreciation of Shadow BBS ||
|| comes not, however, from it's many features or it's low ||
|| hardware requirements, but from the flair and ||
|| smoothness of the program itself. We want you to see ||
|| what this incredible BBS can do. Call The Shadow's ||
|| Realm, the official Shadow BBS HQ system, at (409) ||
|| 63-REALM (300/1200 Baud, 24 Hrs.) and see for yourself! ||
|| ||
|| INTRODUCTORY PRICE ............................. $34.95 ||
||_________________________________________________________||
| |
| Sub-Etha Software Call or Write for Information! |
| P.O. Box 152442 Add $2.50 S&H and $3.50 C.O.D. |
| Lufkin, Texas 75915 Texas residents add 8.25% tax. |
| (409) 639-ETHA [3842] "Don't Panic -- We Ship Fast!" |
|___________________________________________________________|

I guess by this next one we trusted the typesetting person, since it was just the raw text:

Happy Holidays From...

SUB-ETHA SOFTWARE

"In Support of the CoCo"

Thanks to those who stopped by our booth at the CoCo Fest!

*: MiniBanners :*
Multiple Line Banners on ANY Printer!

NEW! Create single or multiple line banners with adjustable heights and
widths. Up to 16 lines of text with independently sized characters. Even
works with daisy wheel and non-graphic printers! Includes over 30 fonts!

INTRODUCTORY PRICE ................................................ $14.95

*: MultiBasic :*
More Memory for Basic without Learning New Commands!

PRETTY NEW! Tired of being limited to 22K for Basic? We were too, so we
created MultiBasic, a utility which allows you to use the "hidden" memory of
your CoCo 3 without learning ANY new commands. Load multiple programs, disk
chain, share subroutines and variables, all without interrupting program flow.

HOLIDAY PRICE ..................................................... $24.95

*: Shadow BBS :*
Complete RS-Dos BBS with Low Hardware Requirements!

ALSO PRETTY NEW! Finally, an RS-Dos BBS with power, speed, and flair. Uses
RS232 Pak OR serial port. Does not require a hard drive or memory upgrade!
Features: SysOp Utilities, Up to 255 Msg Areas, X/Y Modem, ANSI, Status
Window, Clock, AutoMessage, User Surveys and Profiles, and too much more to
mention here! A full appreciation of Shadow BBS comes not, however, from it's
many features or low hardware requirements, but from the flair and smoothness
of the program itself. We want you to see what this BBS can do. Call the
Shadow's Realm, the official Shadow BBS HQ, at (409) 63-REALM (300-2400 Baud,
24 Hrs.) and see for yourself!

HOLIDAY PRICE ..................................................... $34.95

I wonder what else I will find as I go through these things…

ISO 8601 for dates and times

In a comment on my recent post about C and concatinating strings, there were some very cool suggestions about ways to handle creating a string full of comma separated values (like a .csv file to open in a spreadsheet).

The always helpful MiaM asked:

“Why slash for dates? ISO 8601 specifies the minus/dash sign :)”

-MiaM

In my posted example, there was a date/time at the start of each entry like this:

2024/10/18,12:30:06,100,0.00,0,0,0,902.0,902.0,928.0, . . .

I recall these log files certainly had date/time in them before I ever touched the code, though I do not recall what the format was back then. In the USA, the standard convention for a date is month/day/year using slashes, such as 10/21/2024.

When I started using the OS-9 operating system on my Radio Shack Color Computer, it would prompt for date/time on startup using a different format — yy/mm/dd:

OS-9 Level 1 on a 64K Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (emulated).

And yes, that would have caused problems when Y2K came around, but by then we already had updated utilities that allowed four-digit years.

But listing year first seemed “weird and backwards” to me. Folks who started using PC-DOS on an IBM PC got used to it in a more “normal” way, it seems:

IBM PC DOS 1.00 | PCjs Machines

At some point, I got used to it, and learned a great reason to putting the year first: sorting! Over the past 28 years, I have taken hundreds of thousands of digital pictures. The default filename on my first camera was:

1031_001.JPG - taken October 31, image 001 of that day.

This was due to the 8 character filename limit that PCs had back then. If they had put the year in, like “103196”, there would only be room for a 2-digit number after it like “10319601”, “10319602”, “10319603”, etc. Considering the lack of memory on that early camera, that might have been fine for most folks. After UPGRADING the storage to 5MB, the camera could take 99 photos before you had to hook it up to a computer via an RS232 serial cable and download the images.

But I digress.

Once long filenames were a thing, I started naming photos with the full date. I could have used “MMDDYYYY_number.jpg” like this:

01011996_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1996
02011996_001.jpg - first photo taken on 2/1/1996
01011997_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1997
01011998_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1998

…but if you sorted those photos by filename, you would not get them in date order:

01011996_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1996
01011997_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1997
01011998_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1998
02011996_001.jpg - first photo taken on 2/1/1996

Above, you can see it shows me a photo from 1996, then 1997, then 1998, then 1996. Placing the year as the first number solves this, and allows files to be grouped by year, then month, then day. (I mean, I know we like “mm/dd/yyyy in the USA, but how often do we want to sort to find “all the files taken in January of any year” beyond looking for birthday or holiday photos, anyway?)

By doing year first, everything sorts as we expect:

19960101_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1996
19960201_001.jpg - first photo taken on 2/1/1996
19970101_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1997
19980101_001.jpg - first photo taken on 1/1/1998

Side Note: I gave up on image numbers waybackwhen, and use the format YYYMMDD_HHMMSS.jpg for my photos. See my theme park photos, and my Renaissance festival photos, for an example, though many of the earliest photos may still be in the old MMDD_XXX format. I highly recommend the Mac utility ExifRenamer for renaming photos to various formats.

Anyway . . . MiaM brought up ISO 8601:

ISO 8601 – Wikipedia

It specifies a universal standard for date/time values. This table was copied from the wikipedia page:

Date2024-10-21
Time in UTC11:24:56Z
T112456Z
Date and time in UTC2024-10-21T11:24:56Z
20241021T112456Z
Date and time with the offset2024-10-20T23:24:56−12:00 UTC−12:00 [refresh]
2024-10-21T11:24:56+00:00 UTC+00:00 [refresh]
2024-10-21T23:24:56+12:00 UTC+12:00 [refresh]
Week2024-W43
Week with weekday2024-W43‐1
Ordinal date2024‐295

The use of a dash in the year (2024-10-21) versus the slash like we tend to do in the USA would be a simple change. Yet, when I look at Excel, when you select the “short date” format, it defaults to “mm/dd/yyyy” (see image to the right).

I might expect slashes were used so the .csv file could import in to Excel, but Excel doesn’t seem to care. It figures it out. I also now wonder if using this format was intentional, and it may have originally been mm/dd/yyyy to match what Excel defaults to.

Speaking of defaults … in other parts of the world, the date/time format is different (such as dd/mm/year in Europe, which always message me up if the day is 12 or less since I cannot tell if 1/10/2024 is January 10th, or October 1st).

But now that I have been pointed to this standard, I think I am going to try to force myself to adopt the ISO 8601 standard when I start representing dates in software. No doubt, seeing the USA format in the Windows application I maintain may be odd to folks in other parts of the world. If I switch it to use the ISO 8601 standard, it might seem odd to some folks, but at least there is a reason that can be referenced.

The more you know.

“You’re not wrong…”

This statement is now on my pet peeve list.

It is great to use when you know someone is right, but cannot tell them that.

Is there a name for this type of negative agreement?

I can just picture what such a High Score screen might look like…

If you agree, you can tell me ‘you’re not wrong” in the comments… ;-)

The most mysterious song(s) on the internet

In recent years, YouTube decided I had an interest in “lost media.” Famous examples of lost media include the episodes of Doctor Who that were not saved by the BBC. Over the years, many episodes have been recovered as copies were found in personal collections or at overseas TV stations. Perhaps my interest in Doctor Who is what led YouTube to decide I was interested in lost media.

In recent years, a video called “the most mysterious song on the internet” caught my attention. I do not remember which video I first watched, but today there are hundreds of copycat videos that regurgitate the same information over and over. Basically, there is a recording of part of a song with lyrics folks think are singing “Like the Wind.” Music identification services like Shazam cannot match the song, so for years folks have been trying to figure out where the song came from.

Wikipedia entry: The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet – Wikipedia

Another example is a song being called “Everyone Knows That” which is an 80s pop sounding song that most thought was a female singer, but today many are thinking it was actually a male. This song, also, has yet to be identified.

Wikipedia entry: Everyone Knows That (Ulterior Motives) – Wikipedia

I wanted to share an example of something that would 100% be considered “lost media” if someone shared a clip today: Y99.

I don’t actually know if that was the name of the song, but I seem to recall it actually singing that — and that would have been a clue to help locate the song. Back in the 1980s, a local radio station in East Texas held “battle of the band” contests. This was before I moved there (Y99 the radio station no longer existed, becoming 99.3 KUEZ which was easy listening then, later, oldies). A winner of the contest got some recording studio time, and a number of vinyl single records were produced of their song.

A guitar player I knew had one of these singles, and he played it for us. This song was also played on the radio as part of the contest prize. Beyond anyone hearing it on that one small East Texas radio station, or owning one of a handful of single copies, the song basically does not exist. If the band did not make it big and bring that song with them, the story of “Y99” would have ended there. (Though, I think folks would have figured out Y99 was a radio station.)

And this was in deep East Texas. Similar contests with recording studio prizes likely happened more often in larger markets, especially back in the day when “battle of the bands” was a more common concept.

Like The Wind” could has been such a song, and someone recorded it when it played on their local radio station. Just being on radio doesn’t mean it was some big artist backed by a major record label. (Indeed, I have had dozens of things I have made played on local radio stations–usually parody or comedy songs–and those existed nowhere else except there, and on my hard drive.)

Everyone Knows That” is suspected of being recorded from TV, which makes a “battle of the bands” concept a bit less likely but still possible. Over the years, one-time performances of various songs have appeared on TV for talent shows, fundraisers, etc. so I really have no thoughts on that one.

And of course, anyone who has ever worked in radio probably remembers all the “music libraries” stations would license for use in commercials. Some are just music, and others have vocals–usually with an option to sing at the start and end with music in the middle to talk over (a “donut”), or some combination of that.

Few ever owned any of these records/tapes/discs beyond radio stations. I could pull a track from my “Instant Access Music” collection that I bet no one could find.

Just some thoughts.

I hope one day they find these (and other) similar songs.

PONG 1993

File:  PONGTEST.TXT - Revision 1.1 (5/16, 5/18/93) - By Allen C. Huffman

                          In the beginning there was...

                           XXXX    XXX   X   X   XXXX
                           X   X  X   X  XX  X  X
                           XXXX   X   X  X X X  X  XX
                           X      X   X  X  XX  X   X
                           X       XXX   X   X   XXXX (tm)
                                                       
             And now, two decades later, Pong(tm) will live again...


  [DISCLAIMER:   The  game  name  "Pong(tm)"  is  a  TRADE  MARK  of   Atari
  Corporation.   None  of us have anything to do with Atari and we are using
  this name strictly as a term to define a video game concept.  Read at your
  own risk.]


       And to think...this rather bizarre idea all started with an impromptu
  P.A.  announcement at the 2nd Annual "Last" Chicago CoCoFest in May, 1993.
  The announcement, written by Sub-Etha founding partner  Terry  Todd,  went
  something like this:


               Sub-Etha Software, in voluntary cooperation with  StG
          Net,   StrongWare,  Intelligent  Algorithms,  Dave  Myers,
          BARSoft, Burke & Burke, HawkSoft, the National  OS9  Users
          Group  of  Australia,  and  more  of  the rest of the CoCo
          Community will be sponsoring a programming competition  in
          which  each  participant  will  create  a unique, original
          PONG(tm)-type game.  This contest is open to all who  wish
          to  enter.  The programs will be impartially judged at the
          1991 Atlanta CoCoFest on the basis of  Memory  Efficiency,
          Speed   Efficiency,   Originality,  Special  Effects,  and
          Playability.  The programmer judged best in each  category
          will receive a cashiers check in the amount of ONE DOLLAR!


  THE BEGINNING

       Video  games  all  started with Atari's original PONG(tm) game.  This
  tabletop two-player game, reportedly created in 1972 with a production  of
  8000  units  (see  "The  Killer List of Video Games", Dec 1992 version, in
  text-file format  available  from  various  sources),  became  an  instant
  success.   The  original  PONG(tm)  units  are rumored to have broken down
  their first day(s) in service...from jammed coin mechanisms.  (Atari could
  not be reached to comment on this bit of video game lore...)
       It occurs to me, though, that many of our fellow CoCo/OS9 users might
  not  have  even been BORN or, if born, might not have even been old enough
  to have ever seen a PONG(tm) game either as a console game  or  the  later
  home  versions  (before  the  Atari  2600,  even).   For  those...a bit of
  background...

  WHAT IS PONG(tm)?

       PONG(tm) was a digital version of table tennis.  A  black  and  white
  image   consisted  of  a  dotted  line  down  the  middle  of  the  screen
  (representing the net), with a small vertical line on  each  side  of  the
  screen  representing  the  paddles.   A small square represented the ball,
  which would bounce back and forth, hopefully to be deflected by a  paddle.
  Score  was  kept  it  the upper corners and typical tennis rules applied -
  the first one to 21 won.
       It  was  simple,  and  it  was  amazing.   (I first remember seeing a
  PONG(tm) game in a Shakey's  Pizza  Parlor  in  Houston...)   Sadly,  many
  people only remember this classic as a cartridge that used to be available
  for the  old  Atari  2600  called  "Video  Olympics"  (or  something  like
  that...it's  been  awhile)!   Even  the  original  stand-alone  home  game
  machines that did nothing but play PONG(tm) (or the many numerous  clones)
  have long since been forgotten...until now.

  WHAT'S THE DEAL?

       It  occurred  to us that PONG(tm), one of the simplest video games of
  all time, might be an interesting target  of  a  programming  contest.   A
  PONG(tm)-type  game  could  be  written in BASIC and be quite playable, or
  souped up in assembly for some real speed.  What we  propose  is  an  open
  challenge  for  programmers.  What would YOU do with a PONG(tm)-type game?
  Perhaps a "classic" version (how close can you make it  to  the  original,
  "beep"  sounds  and  everything?) or an updated colorized version, perhaps
  with  better  sounds?   Maybe   something   completely   different   -   a
  PONG(tm)-type game with "power-ups" or weapons.  Let your imagination take
  control.  Points will be awarded in a number of categories.  Just follow a
  few basic rules.

  THE RULES

       There  aren't any, really.  Your version of a PONG(tm)-type game must
  run on a CoCo under Basic or Assembly (either 6809 or 6309), or under  OS9
  ('C',  Basic09,  whatever)  or  even  under  OSK (MM/1, TC70, etc...).  If
  enough entries are received,  categories  will  be  created  for  as  many
  "types" as possible.
       To qualify as a PONG(tm)-type game, it must follow a few  guidelines.
  First,  you  should  have  a  bouncing  ball.  Second, you should have two
  paddles (and support one or two players) with which  to  bounce  the  ball
  back  and forth.  Scoring should go until 21 with whoever gets there first
  being the winner.  The ball should start from the middle of the screen and
  head  towards one side.  Whoever scores a point gets to "serve" again, and
  the ball will launch towards the opponent, just like  in  tennis.   That's
  it!  The "net" I guess would be optional.  <grin>
       To summarize:  Make it recognizable as a PONG(tm)-type game then  use
  your imagination!

  JUDGING

       All  received  entries  will be judged at the Atlanta CoCoFest (which
  will probably be held in October) by an  impartial  individual  or  group.
  Several  categories  have  been  established,  with  more  added  later if
  necessary.  These categories are as follows:

       o Memory Efficiency
            Awarded to whoever writes the "smallest" PONG(tm)-type game.

       o Speed Efficiency
            Awarded to whoever writes the fastest PONG(tm)-type game!

       o Originality
            Anything goes!  This will be awarded for the most original
            twist on the old classic.

       o Special Effects
            The game with the most "bells and whistles" will get a prize,
            too!  Music, graphics, whatever...basically, the version that
            looks/sounds the best.

       o Playability
            No  matter how memory or speed efficient, original, or "special"
            a game may be, if it's no fun to play, it's not a good game.
            The will be one overall winner of all entries judged to be the
            "funnest".

  THE PRIZE

       The "press release" states an award of ONE DOLLAR for winners in each
  category.  This may not sound like much of a prize, so let's make things a
  bit more interesting.  Al  Dages  of  the  Atlanta  Computer  Society  has
  decided  to  throw  in  a  TEN  DOLLAR  prize  to  the overall winner, and
  (although maybe jokingly) Dave Myers talked about  chipping  in  an  extra
  BUCK  too.   If  $13  for  top honors still doesn't appeal, let's go a bit
  further.
       Marketing,  my friends!  We will attempt to compile a disk (or disks)
  of all winning entries and a "reasonable fee" will  be  charged  for  this
  disk.   Funds  generated  will be split amongst the programmers.  Sub-Etha
  Software (with hopeful support from other vendors) will  "foot  the  bill"
  for the disks, labels, and duplication costs.
       If that's still not enough, there MAY be more!  We will be talking to
  other  vendors and see about getting together more prizes for the winners.
  This part of the contest will depend entirely on the response  from  other
  vendors (who are, by the way, ALLOWED to enter, too!).  It may never be as
  good as winning the lottery, but it certainly should be fun!

  HOW CAN I ENTER?

       Simply write a PONG(tm)-type game and get it  to  Sub-Etha  Software!
  As mentioned earlier, you can write it under BASIC, 6309 or 6809 assembly,
  OS9, or even OSK.  "Cheating" is allowed for all versions, by the way.  We
  are  more  concerned  with the outcome than "how it got there"...just make
  sure it doesn't do anything too bad!
       The  competition  should  be  interesting.  Several "well known" CoCo
  programmers are rumored to be interested in working on PONG(tm)-type games
  for  this  "for  the  fun  of it" contest.  Don't let that discourage you,
  though!  We'll do our best to try to make it as fun as  possible  for  all
  involved!   So...ready?   Then  let's  get started!  The clock is ticking.
  Get those balls bouncing, and let's have some fun!

  DISCLAIMER

       Please note that we are in no way connected  with  Atari  Corporation
  and  have  neither  their  permission  or  praise  to hold a PONG(tm)-type
  contest.  The game name, PONG(tm), apparently remains  property  of  Atari
  but,  over  the  years,  has fallen into such common usage that we felt we
  should be able to get away with using it to describe this contest  without
  fear of a nasty lawsuit.  (BUT, it is NOT acceptable to call a game simply
  "PONG(tm)".  That has been used...  ;)
       Of  special  interest, though, will be my attempts to contact someone
  at Atari for more official information on the history of PONG(tm) as  well
  as  possible  "official" permission to actually use the name legally.  Who
  knows!  Maybe we'll be able to take the winner and have it released  as  a
  "real"  PONG(tm)  game with Atari's blessing...but don't hold your breath.
  Let's just have some fun.

  THE END

       Terry, just look what you have started!  Any  vendors  interested  in
  upping   the   stakes   can   try   to  contact  me  via  electronic  mail
  (COCO-SYSOP@GENIE.GEIS.COM) or leave a message on the Sub-Etha OSK Midwest
  Division line at (815) 748-6638 (24 hours a day) and it will be relayed to
  me.  Of course, U.S.  Mail is always available...

            Sub-Etha Software
            P.O.  Box xxxx42
            Lufkin, Texas  75915

       Have fun!  I will be looking forward to your entries!   (OSK  entries
  can  be  directed  to Joel Hegberg and perhaps might even be better mailed
  directly to  Joel...Leave  a  message  to  JOELHEGBERG@DELPHI.COM  to  get
  instructions on how to get something to him...)  Thanks!

  ADDENDUM

       On  5/18/93,  I received a return phone call from a lady at the Legal
  Department of Atari.  She  is  currently  checking  into  some  "official"
  PONG(tm)  history for me, as well as finding out some legal guidelines for
  using the name PONG(tm) in this text file.  Suffice it to say that  I  had
  to revise this file and make sure that the TRADE MARK was clearly visible.
  To further disclaim all of this...we are NOT writing PONG(tm)...but  games
  that  are  PONG(tm)-like.   (Thus,  all  the changes in this document from
  Revision 1.0...)

My unreleased MIDI program for the Kawai K4 synthesizer

I recently shared the story about my first commercial CoCo product, the Huffman K1 Librarian. This was a MIDI librarian for the Kawai K1 synthesizer. In that article, I mentioned that I later sold my K1 to buy a more-better Kawai K4 synthesizer. What I did not remember is that I apparently made a K4 librarian, as well!

The K4 version was very similar to the K1 original, but the menu was updated to reflect how patches were organized on the K4. It appears the K4 has single patches, blocks of patches, and a way to transfer everything at once.

It also had the same disk command menu.

This version shows a 1991 copyright, so two years after the K1 original in 1989. Although the title screen references Rulaford Research, I do not recall it ever being a product they sold. I’m not sure if anyone ever had a copy of it other than myself. If you know otherwise, please leave a comment.

Thirty two years later and I am still (re)discovering stuff.

Until next time…

Escape rooms: 99% looking for lock combinations, 1% “other”.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to experience the Back to the Future “escape room” experience by Universal Studios. I have been aware of escape rooms for some time, and while I thought they sounded interesting, I was never interested enough to try one. But this one was different… I had no idea how different it was until I visited a traditional escape room later.

Universal Studios’ experience is automated, and the puzzles involved pressing buttons and plugging things in. Not once did I have to find some four digit code written on the brim of a hat hanging on the wall in order to open a box that would leave me to another four digit code.

But I digress.

At Universal, your experience begins with a preshow (video of the rules), then you enter the initial room. This is where they set up the story through a video presentation (which featured Christopher Lloyd voicing his Doc Brown character from the movies). The room would have various puzzles that were randomized (allowing for re-playability) and if you got stuck, the show system would give hints. Eventually, a door would open and you’d go in to the next room (even if you didn’t solve anything).

Since each room had several levels of puzzles, you might get none, or all, but you still get to proceed. If I recall, this experience featured five (or six?) different rooms, and kept you moving.

There was great sound, music, effects, lights and even smoke.

And that set the bar too high.

Recently, we went through an unlicensed (*cough* copyright infringement *cough*) E.T. the Extra Terrestrial escape room in Branson, Missouri. We spent an hour in two rooms, mostly trying to find codes to various combination locks.

Retromania – Branson, Missouri

Most were four digit number locks. One was a five letter combination lock. And one was a school-locker style three digit combination lock.

That was the majority of the experience! Tryingto find (mostly) four numbers that opened a lock!

There was one different bit where you used a magnet on a string to retrieve a key from the end of a pipe (after you found the pipe), and another puzzle involving getting a code by counting blinking lights. The final puzzle, where time ran out on us, were a few knobs that displayed numbers in LED panels. We couldn’t figure that one out before the hour expired.

What I am curious about is — how many escape rooms are mostly just looking for four digit codes and opening locks? We did a local one, ran by a friend, and it did feature many four digit codes, but it had alot more puzzles and was vastly more interesting.

What is a “normal” escape room?

Comments welcome.