Robin Harbron

Carla and I got married 10 years ago today. In some ways it seems like it could hardly be such a long time, we’re just getting started… but then, we’ve got five kids to show for it, and I can remember many joys and trials we saw in the two houses we owned for five years each… and all that makes me think, has it only been 10 years?

I get a little bit more thankful each day for Carla and our marriage, and I respect her more and more each year as she takes on more responsibility with each little Harbron that arrives at our home. Most every other path I could have taken would have led somewhere very different from where we are, and yet this particular path has allowed me opportunities I couldn’t possibly have arranged for myself even if I had tried.

I had some thoughts on love and faithfulness, but Rich Mullins’ lyrics kept popping into my head instead, so here they are until I can say it better (which may be never):

They said boy you just follow your heart
But my heart just led me into my chest
They said follow your nose
But the direction changed every time I went and turned my head
And they said boy you just follow your dreams
But my dreams were only misty notions
But the Father of hearts and the Maker of noses
And the Giver of dreams He’s the one I have chosen
And I will follow Him
–Rich Mullins, “The Maker of Noses”

I don’t usually play along with this sort of thing, but it seemed easy enough… thanks Alex.

1. One Book that changed your life:
The Commodore 64 Programmer’s Reference Guide.

2. One book you’ve read more than once:
The Hobbit.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: (note: not the ONLY book)
Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham.

4. One book that made you laugh:
Monty Python’s Flying Circus Television Scripts. Something about a penguin moulting on a TV set in London, England in March 1990 was incredibly funny. And we broke a bed.

5. One book that made you cry:
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat

6. One book that you wish had been written:
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
(I don’t have any book wishes).

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Code Three by Rick Raphael

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, eor The Totah Trilogy by Fender Tucker.

10. Now tag people.
RP whenever he has time, and actually starts reading again, and Papasmurf.

I’ve been back to work for two (short 4-day) weeks now, after my nine-month parental leave. I had a great time while I was off, fulfilling several life goals. But it’s also good to be back at work, with a new position and a new boss and plenty of potential future projects there that might be really cool.

During my leave, I was able to take a more active role in my kids’ education. I went to a bunch of the homeschool group meetings that I had never done before – things like skating, helping out with electives (puppets and teaching gym class for the little ones), bringing the kids to gymnastics and swimming, and teaching computer programming and guitar lessons to my oldest daughter and several of her peers.

Personally, I made substantial gains on organizing my geek room and various collections, and also had time to read and play with stuff that had just been sitting on the shelf for a long time. I was able to share a whole bunch of my interests with my kids, such as classic gaming, and movies. We watched all six Star Wars films twice during my leave, and also watched a bunch of other (mostly) age-appropriate favourites, such as Labyrinth, Treasure Island, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

I didn’t completely slack off, though – I was able to partially fund my leave by getting a contract to program a commercial Game Boy Advance game. The project lasted approximately 3.5 months though I think I worked about 5 40-hour-per-week months in that time to meet all the deadlines. It was entirely worth it, as it was a big break to be involved with something as mainstream as a GBA game. Previous paid projects, while cool, were really considered toys by the games industry.

I hadn’t dropped by Winners for a while, and it hadn’t occurred to me that they would be selling off some of the Plug & Play (aka TV Games) now. They generally get toys once they’re a year or two old, and that’s about when the TV Games kind of hit their popularity peak.

There were two different systems available for about $10 each. Both had some very funny (like, stupid) packaging. The one I didn’t buy had a stereotypical advertising family of 4, sitting on the couch together apparently having a great and exciting time playing with this game system. You know, mom and dad clapping their hands and gasping at the screen, while brother shouts and points at the screen while sister holds the controller.

Sad thing is, this system consisted entirely of card games! Like, digital Go Fish, and Poker, and so forth. “Watch out Sally, the computer is about to play a Queen!!!!!!”

I really wasn’t interested in that one, so I bought the other one with “50” games. The kids and I played through the lot of them today, and there’s a good mix of puzzle games (clones of Columns and Bejewelled), sports games (a rip-off of archery from Hyper Sports was fun), racing, and shooters. However, a lot of the racing and shooter games were almost identical code-wise, with just replaced graphics (a boat in one game, a motorcycle in another) and slightly changed mechanics. But still, good fun for $11.

The packaging was also good for a laugh though. I think they got the french right for “For Ages 5 and Up”, but sort of forgot the “and Up” or “Plus” in the english version. Even better was the “Play at home… or in the car”. The kid “in the car” seems to be playing on a 27″ TV on a pedestal in a large white room.

The SWRAP Chicago EXPO is cancelled this year, but we’re still going to have an event anyway – ECCC Chicago Expo, September 30, 2006.

I’ve now put up two of my old Loadstar Letter articles on C64 programming – you can find them on my pages here.

Might as well put in another plug for the fun game review site It’s No Hard Truck: Apocalypse.

If you’re reading this, and you’re in Thunder Bay this Saturday around supper time, you’re invited to my place for a BBQ. Email me for details.

(note: I don’t actually get around to reviewing HTA this time – too much related stuff to blab about beforehand).

I have possibly never anticipated a game as much as Hard Truck: Apocalypse. My friend Jason first pointed out previews of it last fall. The game was nearly complete at that point, but only for it’s native Russian release. I followed it all through the winter, while the developers tried to secure a North American publisher. One was finally found in May, and they announced an early July release.

The release date arrived, and I went out to buy the game. No stores in Thunder Bay had it. After a bunch of prodding, staff at EB Games at least acknowledged the game existed, but it must have been delayed. Several phone calls and a couple visits later, it still hadn’t arrived, and the staff were then telling me that I could put a deposit down and then they might be able to get it. Might??

I finally decided to try to buy it online, and even then there were very few choices. EBGames.com was the cheapest choice, even with a crazy $15 shipping fee, on a $20 game! A few days later, even though I was home, I missed the courier drop off. Of course, it was on a Friday, so I’d have to wait until Monday. So, nearly 2 weeks after the release, I finally received the game.

I bought a new PC in anticipation of this game, sort of. It’s become obvious that my OS of choice, Windows ME, was just not cutting it for new games anymore. Nearly all new releases are now requiring WinXP. The WinXP Home upgrade costs $140 at the stores around here. A refurbished PC (Athlon64 3200, 512MB RAM, 160GB hard drive, dual-layer DVD burner) with WinXP Home was $280 at tigerdirect.ca. Not too tough a choice to get a whole new computer for $140 more than upgrading my current computer.

I was having problems with the game (or computer) acting irratically. Based on previous lessons, I did a RAM test and yup, that was the problem. Strangely, I thought the 512MB in my older machine was the same type as in the newer machine. So I put it in, thinking I’d have a full gig of RAM to speed up the game. Duh.

I pulled the RAM, and the game was stable now, but the audio was gone! This took me ages to figure out, but I did finally narrow it down to knowing that only the HTA audio was gone. A re-install didn’t fix it, but digging into the configuration for the game, somehow the two audio settings were set to false. The audio had been working properly before, and there didn’t seem to be any in-game way of entirely disabling the audio, so how that got changed, I have no idea. Bizarre!

Next time, I’ll actually review the game, but in the meantime check out the reviews that Jason and I have been doing at It’s No Hard Truck Apocalypse.

Some people might think I have too much stuff. I still figure I just don’t have enough space, but I realize that I have an awful lot more space than most people, so it’s time to get rid of a bunch of stuff again. First, I round up all the least interesting stuff I have, and then I further sort it by least useful/functional.

Least interesting means Windows/DOS-running x86 hardware and related accessories, like non-composite monitors. So, out of the 22 computers (if I can include 2 laptops, 2 luggables, and my music recording PC that’s lived at Richard’s place for the last few years) and 14 monitors that qualify as x86-related, 10 computers and 8 monitors are leaving because they’re broken, or in a couple cases, completely uninteresting.

Where possible, I’ve stripped useful parts out of the computers, and also partly seperated the metal parts (like, the cases) from the components, in the interest of being (somewhat) more environmentally friendly.

A tip for all of you people that need to move largish numbers of useless monitors largish distances manually: normally it’s difficult to carry more than one monitor at a time due to their size and shape, but it’s easy to carry two at once if you just grab them by their video/power cables. Of course, I recommend steel-toed shoes or boots, and for good measure, safety goggles.

I’ve been working on organizing my geek room again lately so it’ll be a bit more presentable for a couple coming events. Alex (A Beggar at the Table) will be visiting me for some geeky fun on July 13th (this Thursday) while he’s passing through town, and we’ll probably be having another Hullabaloo on July 29th. You’re welcome too!

While organizing, I discovered that one of my CBM 8032 (PET) computers wouldn’t boot anymore. I went about seeing if I could fix it, but instead, I think I discovered the very reason that until recently, personal computers were very much the domain of men. In fact, I think the designers of these pioneering personal computers went out of their way to make the ladyfolk feel unwelcome.

First, the sheer weight of these computers excludes a lot of women from trying to service them, in the same way that the weight of people trapped in burning buildings excludes a lot of women from being firefighters.

Then, there’s the fasteners used. Should any computer require it’s owner to have a Robertson #2 screw driver? I’ve taken a picture of the PET screw dwarfing it’s more modern equivalent (yes, that was a sentence ripe with potential misunderstanding). Many modern computer cases have nearly done away with screws altogether.

Once the two case screws are removed, the top of the PET – keyboard and monitor – pivot up, and somewhat bizarrely, a “hood prop” is provided to hold it up. I have no idea why the props are two different lengths between the two computers.

Finally, here’s a pretty good look at the interior of one of these PETs. That power supply is downright frightening. And the big green cylinder? I assume it’s an absolutely massive capacitor, but it reminds me of something that some of the bad guys in Mad Max had hooked up to their car engines… nitrous oxide?

I can think of few other male-dominated, female-unfriendly places than an old school auto-repair shop, so it’s obviously part of the conspiracy to borrow automobile concepts whenever possible.

Just in case I’m wrong, I also have a back-up theory about why few women got into personal computers. It may have had something to do with the men who were using them.

Never before have I seen so many errors in so small a space. Read the text in the blue box on this page about the C64. I’m compelled to correct this, so here we go:

The Commodore 64 and Vic-20 were the first affordable personal computers to hit the market.

This statement is arguably true for the Vic-20, released in 1980, but the C-64 wasn’t released until 1982, obviously after the VIC-20, and also after some very affordable Spectrum computers.

They had a Z82 cpu ,

I’ve never heard of a Z82 CPU… he’s probably thinking of the Z80, but both the VIC and 64 used a processor from the 65XX family.

could display up to 16 colors (that was a lot for the time!),

They did have 16 colours, but that wasn’t a lot for the time – the various Atari computers and video game systems first released in the late 1970s could display 128 colours.

three sound channels and one noise,

True for the VIC-20, while the C64 has three sound channels total.

and were about the size of a modern keyboard although a little thicker.

I’d say two or three times thicker, but that would be nitpicking.

They brought the arcade experience into the home for a very reasonable price(around 300$) ,

The Vic-20 did debut around $300, though the C64 initially sold for $595. The price did drop fairly rapidly during the first couple years until it sat at around the $200 mark for quite a while.

and used 5 1/2 in. floppy disks

5 1/4″.

which held roughly 650k, I think.

170k.

The VIC-20 had a littleover 2k

The unexpanded machine had 5k, though only about 3.5K was available from BASIC.

and used a 20×20 chr display

22×23

as opposed to the C-64s 40×40.

40×25

I’ve spent countless hours on both these systems with my friends swapping games and trying to beat each others high scores. In fact, I still mess around with my C-64 every now and then! Talk about lasting power!

I can’t prove this wrong, but given his track record so far, I’m very doubtful.

This system made its debute in 1983!

1982.

Thanks to MagerValp for the link and the title.

“I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human, than someone who doesn’t believe anything.” – David St. Hubbins.

Yesterday I was being a good-deed-doer, helping a non-profit organization with some computer stuff, and helping a friend move out of his place. In between deeds, I made a (lately rare) visit to the Memorial Ave. thrift shops.

At the Salvation Army store, I passed on a Turbo Graphix-16 console because it had no controllers or games. I’d like a TG16, but I’ll hold out until I find one that’s useable as is.

At Value Village I found one of those 300-in-1 electronic kits that Radio Shack used to sell. It was nearly complete, and most importantly, still had the manual. It also still had the receipt – $90 in 1995… $5 in 2006. I think Peter and I will have a good time with it, and some other smaller, similar kits I’ve found.

When I went to purchase it, the cashier asked “Did you find everything you were looking for?” What an entirely bizarre question for a store that almost entirely depends on random donations of junk for merchandise. I said something similar to this thought to her, and she replied that some people came there looking for something in particular, and not just to browse around.

Well, I suppose that everyone goes there looking for something (or multiple things), but they simply don’t know what it is they’re looking for until they see it.

But back to her question – the only truthful answer for me is “no”. I didn’t find every single computer and video game system ever made. I didn’t find every video game ever made. I didn’t find every handheld electronic game. I didn’t find every game book ever published. I didn’t find every post-apocalypse movie ever released on VHS or DVD. I didn’t find boxed sets of every Lego set ever made, and I especially didn’t find mint-in-box Classic Space sets from 1978-1982. I didn’t find a big flatscreen TV, or a set of LCD TV screens to install in my truck.

But what is she going to do if I answer truthfully? I guess sometime when I’m not in a rush I’ll try, and find out.