Archive for September, 2007
R-Type monitor mounted and working!
I got news on the Jr. Pac-man progress yesterday, and it lit a fire under me to get back at the R-Type again.
This whole hooking up the monitor to an isolation transformer inside the cab would have been something easy for just about anyone. But I was paranoid. I didn’t want to ruin a working monitor, and worse yet, I didn’t want to have something happen to the tube, or something else exploding if something was hooked up wrong.
All that was left when I got home from work yesterday was to put wire nuts on the power lines for the R-Type monitor and power it up.
I got power, the neck glowed, but I got no image on screen. I figured it had to do with the weird RGB configuration and that I would have to make a new connector.
Later, when I got home, I had some time. Sarah needed to use the computer so time to finish the R-Type monitor task. I found a molex connector in my bag of connectors that would work. I took a look at the older connector that I left on the Mr. Do! machine, wired the new one up, and on the first power up I had a picture!
I was pumped. It was flipped so one dip switch fixed that. The image was a little stretched too, so a little pot adjustment and that was taken care of took. I put the WG4700 series monitor in the R-Type and got everything wired back up correctly and played a game.
I feel proud I figured it out, and I took the time to research everything. Hopefully tomorrow I can finally list it on ebay.
Nokes almost got a squirrel
I was having a snack before dinner after I got home yesterday, and Nokes was whining to go out. Immediately after I let him out he went full speed to the back by the tomato bush. It wasn’t until he was almost all the way back that I saw what he was after, a squirrel. It was hard to see by the bush, and we don’t get a whole lot of squirrels in our yard anyway. That may be the first I can remember seeing.
He almost got him too. The squirrel dashed one way but couldn’t get out and then went the other way and got under the fence.
I really didn’t want to have to clear a squirrel out of Noksie’s mouth anyway.
It was today that I really saw him chase the birds with such focused intent that Sarah was talking about as well. We were on our afternoon walk and we went right by a fence full of birds. They scattered as we went by and he about went into a tizzy.
This Old Game has started Agent X artwork kit
After a month of not hearing anything on how this project was going for Rick, over the past week Rich at This Old Game posted on both KLOV and BYOAC with an announcement about producing an Agent X kit.
Here is Rich’s post along with the included image;
ThisOldGame.com is pleased to announce are Biggest and rarest project.A Full art package for Atari’s Agent X and Cloak & Dagger!
Special thanks to *removed* @ KLOV for bring this to light and to Scott Evans for providing the orginal Atari Art films for the screenprinting. Only 25 original dedicated cabinets were mfg by Atari with the rest being conversions.
I will also be posting up cnc router files and cab plans for this orginal cabinet. There will also be art ran designed by Atari but never released – the agent X marquee and an alt speaker overlay, that was most likly changed for the Cloak & Dagger release. I will be posting the entire production run with pics of the orginal art, pantone color matching, and the screenprinting process.
Anyone interrested in this art package should PM *removed* on KLOV for more info as this is a private, onetime limited run.
The colors are off from my kickplate from the original films, but they said they were going to take care of the color matching process and I didn’t have to worry about it.
Watching the threads is pretty exciting, Rich is going to keep an online blog of progress. There is going to be a ton in this kit, and I am sure that everyone is really excited. I was happy to be a part of the Agent X project, and excited that it will actually be produced. I got an acknowledgement from Rich, so that was great too.
It took a lot of time to do the kickplate, and I am glad he has the art for everything else. It was worthwhile this time around.
Wizard of Wor RAM boards in the mail
I have been talking with Mark Spaeth for a month or so now. He said that he could easily, and for an affordable price, fix my RAM boards for the Wizard Of Wor. I was pretty pumped, and finally got those WOW boards in the mail on Saturday.
I still don’t know if the sound is having issues or not. That will be the next piece of the arcade game to troubleshoot.
Nokes is getting stronger
Lately he has been really into playing tug with his frisbee kong. Sarah doesn’t like to do this with him, but I think it is pretty fun, so I do. Sometimes he’ll win, but usually only if I let him. But he really shakes the heck out of my arm. But in the last few days, I have found it even more fun to let him win on his back tug. He tugs so hard that sometimes he springs back up on his back legs, almost flipping himself over. At the very least the motion causes him to throw his head back and the frisbee above his head.
Dave saw Nokes this week after a hiatus, and called him a monster, so he must be getting a little bigger. We heard this week from some friends that a dog will grow 75% of their total size in the first year, and the last 25% in the second year. So, I suppose he could get a little bigger yet, which would be great. He is getting thicker, and I love that about him.
Got a small feeling of accomplishment
This week has been so crazy between meetings, follow ups, the laptop breaking, and whatever else that I haven’t been able to stick to the whole, “Transfer one section of Rotheblog posts per night”. So, I finished up three sections I had started and were in progress, the Movies sections A-F.
I want this finished by October, and need to have it to move onto my studying. I have a lot of work left, but hopefully this week will be better for updates.
BW3’s has the worst service on the history of the planet.
After church, I met with Rick to take a look at the computer lab. I wanted to see what was on the computer there for an operating system and other software so I knew what to expect when I ran my work / training session on using WordPress to maintain the church website in 3-4 weeks. That is, if they had sufficient resources, and I think they do.
From there, we heading out with Wes and Kate and Brown’s down to BW3 or Buffalo Wild Wings in Greenwood. Now, this would have never been my first choice, but we were celebrating for a reason I can’t disclose. (Not for us) I have never thought much of Buffalo Wild Wings, but I don’t really do wings. I think their menu is overpriced for the food you get. They just seem to have a really good marketing campaign.
So, it was just before the game, and it was crazy of course. But we sat there, and we waited an hour for our food. The people behind us who came in after us, same waitor, got their food without ours in sight. The tv’s were horrible for the game, projection screens with the sound distorted you literally couldn’t understand what they were saying. Plus, they had the damn tv’s programmed to all sorts of different games, and only one or two to the Colts. Who cares about Buffalo and New Orleans? Seriously, turn it to the damn Colts, every channel. And stick the random Bengals fan off in the corner.
So, we got up and left. It was total crap how long we waited for something simple. The waitor just kept telling us 5-10 minutes, he must have known we were going to tip him crap even if we ever got our food. But why did the people behind us get priority? Sounds like someone isn’t pushing hard enough in back. I may not be sympathetic to the wait staff crowd here, but seriously, think that through and you know I am right.
Sarah was more angry than me, and is going to write a letter. We’ll see if she has the time.
So we went down to Brown’s, got Donato’s pizza, and just chilled with Deuce to watch the game. It was a nail biter, the Colts almost gave it away to a much improved Titans team with Vince Young full of confidence this year.
When we got back, I was supposed to play Tennis with Dave, but things didn’t work out. I still had to finish the quote I was working on, do some follow up calls, and do the website updates from yesterday.
Soon after the phone calls started. We talked with her parents, and I talked with Justin for awhile and got to play some minesweeper. Sarah headed to bed at a decent time, I stayed up and did some post transfers on Rotheblog and then watched a half hour of the Lonely Hearts movie we rented on Saturday.
