rich-c: aha, you're on early Dr.D.: Hello Richard. rich-c: how's things over in Cleveland? Dr.D.: I was hoping for some news of Pam, since yesterday was her last day of work... Dr.D.: Cleveland is cold and sunny. rich-c: I have a hunch project number one may have been to sleep in... Dr.D.: Feels like -15 C though, even though it's -3...spoiled by warmer weather the last couple weeks. rich-c: we're cold and clear here too, not a cloud in sight Dr.D.: Yes, sky is very blue, grass is getting green in places. rich-c: it's close enugh to freezing that the sun has melted away almost all teh recent snow Dr.D.: We have only the odd patch in a shadow somewhere. Dr.D.: Plus some icicles. rich-c: Frances was remarking that our grass has a green tinge, and crocus shoots are showing Dr.D.: I have seen a few little daisy-type flowers, but nothing else yet. rich-c: we ended up with a huge snwbank when they had to clear a big fall away to get at a gas leak next door Dr.D.: Many noisy singing birds, though. Dr.D.: Gas leak, ouch! rich-c: yes, our grackles arrived en masse yesterday, accompanied by a red-wing blackbird rich-c: well, with our freeze and thaw weather, we always get gas and/or water leaks this time of year Dr.D.: The first robin (actually, a whole treeful of them) was here on Groundhog Day...silly birds. rich-c: we also had a water leak on the othr side of the street earlier rich-c: the backlog was so bad it took them four days to get here to fixit Dr.D.: No burst pipes anywhere near us that I have seen, fortunately. Downtown, during January, though, there were some big leaks. rich-c: we have had two or three winter robins but now I think they are getting company rich-c: still haven't seen a chickadee, though, now for almost two years Dr.D.: I can send you ours :-) rich-c: wish you could, we really miss them rich-c: we used to have haorades but then they just suddenly vanished and never came back Dr.D.: I saw a group of 3 or 4 crows earlier in the week, so they must be recovering from the West Nile decimation. rich-c: and our flocks of English sparrows and house finches are pale shadows of their former selves Dr.D.: I even saw them in eastern Ohio when I was driving out I-90 to Toronto. rich-c: we see crows individually once in a while, but the flocks seem to be history Dr.D.: I guess give them time... rich-c: used to be I had to fill our feeder every second day - now it's every second week if that Dr.D.: Any big local habitat destructions, or was it just illness? rich-c: our cardinal family seems to be holding up OK but they aren't posting territory yet rich-c: well, there's a lot of construction, but not enough to matter rich-c: the house next door to us will be coming down soon and replaced by a monster house
moved to room Meeting Place Dr.D.: One bird we are overrun with is the Canadian goose (no offense)...and they are still considered endangered.
changed username to Daniel Bienvenu Dr.D.: Hello Daniel. rich-c: bonjour, Daniel Daniel Bienvenu: Hello Rich brothers! rich-c: if you are short of Canada Geese, Rich, we have a rather large surplus we';re giving away Dr.D.: Haha brothers. Dr.D.: No shortage...they are everywhere. Dr.D.: Big and messy... Dr.D.: I'm sure they would be fine eating, too. rich-c: not kidding, btw, we've been rounding up Canada geese during moulting season and shipping them out of town Dr.D.: The lagoon in front of the Art Museum must have 30 of them now. Dr.D.: The strip mall up the street has maybe a dozen nesting on the grounds. rich-c: don't worry, you'll soon have LOTS more - trust me! rich-c: we're talking birds, Daniel - any migrants in Quebec yet? Dr.D.: But last summer an artist was put in jail for collecting the feathers from *roadkill* geese to make pens out of--"the law says, no part of an endangered animal can be used for anything, whether you killed it yourself or not". Daniel Bienvenu: maybe... i didn't check it Dr.D.: An Ohio artist, I meant to add. rich-c: there are times when the law is an ass - and that is one of them Dr.D.: I thought it pretty sad. rich-c: I can understand the intent is setting up teh law that way - but it assume the cops wil use discretion and not bring it into disrepute Dr.D.: Well, now that the geese are "back", numbers-wise, maybe they will un-endanger them. rich-c: I can't imagine how they got endangered in teh first place rich-c: but I know there are a lot of area cities here that wouldn't mind arranging it Dr.D.: I believe it was something about nesting grounds at the endpoints of the migrations. rich-c: so Daniel, how are sales of teh games holding up? Daniel Bienvenu: err... how are sales? no so good rich-c: just that one sort of bulge at teh show, then quiet, is that it? Daniel Bienvenu: i'm not sure of that rich-c: are you hinting at difficulties collecting your royalties? Daniel Bienvenu: that's a good question. honnestly, I don't know rich-c: I have a selfish reason for hoping your efforts are a roaring success rich-c: a basement full of Adams would become a significant asset in that case Daniel Bienvenu: well, that is without knowing that AtariAge will show and sale 4 other coleco games at the same time. Dr.D.: Have either of you heard that Nintendo has filed a patent on emulation of Nintendo game systems? rich-c: assuming they see a market, I am aure they will produce and offer anything they feel they can sell Dr.D.: Nobody thinks it has merit, but nobody in the emulation community has the $$$ to fight it... Dr.D.: If it holds up, then real game systems might have some more value again. rich-c: a patent on the emulator? I'd have expected more a copyright infringement suit Dr.D.: Nope, patent on whatever is needed to emulate their hardware. Dr.D.: Copyright would be for any ROM images. Dr.D.: So, even if you dupe your own ROMs, using someone's unlicensed emulator gets you in trouble. rich-c: but the emulation is a software not a hardware thing Dr.D.: Word is, expect to see any new game system that comes out having pre-patent filings on the emulaton of said system... rich-c: or has someone come up weith a Nintendo machine clone? Dr.D.: But the algorithms needed to emulate the hardware are a software patent. Dr.D.: All the game systems have emulators. Dr.D.: Probably even the makers of the hardware have (internal) emulators to help them write and debug the firmware. rich-c: yes, so I have heard - forget the name; MAME or something? is the engine Dr.D.: Even ADAM had an emulator, part hardware, part software, via the VAX system. Dr.D.: Emulators for sure for peripheral hardware, disks and tapes. rich-c: why bother if you have the original machine to hand anyway? rich-c: by the way, shipped an Adam off to Miami yesterday Dr.D.: Original machine is big and bulky and needs a soon-to-be-obsolete NTSC TV. Dr.D.: People carry laptops and PDAs everywhere now, so they want their Playstation or N64 to run on that. rich-c: that aspect just isn't part of my world Dr.D.: Nor mine :-) but we are not 25 years old. rich-c: quite, for which at times I am inclined to be thankful rich-c: I wonder how many of the Coleco units I have still actually work? Dr.D.: If they worked going into storage, so long as they haven't gotten wet, I would venture to guess all of them. Dr.D.: Or if a mouse hasn't eaten some wiring. Daniel Bienvenu: here, i have two colecovision working units... I lost about 5 colecovision rich-c: I don't know, they are cranky things, and very prone to corrosion Dr.D.: I found a mummified mouse inside a CPU once that I had disassembled for repair. rich-c: well, I can understand why it might have needed repair Dr.D.: Not sure if there was cause and effect :-) rich-c: back when Dave Hill was dealing in Adams he said many of the non-working units he got started working again once he cleaned them Dr.D.: That is the #1 best place to start with non-working anything, clean it up, and it will probably help. rich-c: and Daniel, how did your five non-working CVs fail? Daniel Bienvenu: most of them because of the power supply and problem with the videochip rich-c: you had problems with teh power supply? that is I believe unusual Dr.D.: If the CV power supply goes, often it is the +12V needed for the VRAM. Dr.D.: Everything else may work, but no video. rich-c: and were the problems with the TI9918 chip or teh supporting memory chips? Dr.D.: I've never seen a truly dead 9918 VDP, but YMMV. Dr.D.: I have seen lots of bad +12V in power supplies, also bad VRAM chips. rich-c: are the power supplies repairable at all? if so, economically? Dr.D.: I got to play with the giant pile of ADAM game boards that George Koczwara bought for conversion to MiniWini hard drive systems. Dr.D.: The CV power supply is not reparable: you can saw it out of the plastic box, and the circuitry is embedded in a cube of epoxy resin. Dr.D.: I once tried to dissolve it away with xylene (a nasty organic solvent), no dice. rich-c: guess they wanted to be sure no one could fool with them - revenue protection or liability worries? Dr.D.: You would be further ahead to make an adapter for an ADAM power supply, using the ColecoVision power supply plug. Daniel Bienvenu: one of my cv had problem with colors. antoher was unable to play well any games. one power supply doesn't work at all. antoher one become too hot in a short laps of time. Dr.D.: Or any other commercial power supply that can give +5, -5, and +12 at the right current. rich-c: well, Adam power supplies are a dime a dozen - lots of dead printers around no one wants Dr.D.: Used to be lots of surplus CV power supplies around, many folks used them (e.g., Orphanware 80-column box). Dr.D.: You might even find a wall adapter if you look at a place like Digi-Key; I bought some replacements for battery chargers in the robot lab, and remember seeing some multi-voltage wall transformers. Maybe pricey, though. rich-c: I imagine if you know the outputs needed there are likely stisfactory generic units to be had Dr.D.: Yes. Dr.D.: I have to run, guys... rich-c: there's a project, Rich, for you to publish on your website - first the outputs, then maybe sources Dr.D.: Say hi to Pam if you see her; I sent her mail to tempest this morning. rich-c: OK, is Christine home yet, by the way? rich-c: now that she's home Pam will be checking her mail more often Dr.D.: Should be landing in Philadelphia at 3:49 PM. Then a layover until 10:20 PM. Dr.D.: Arrive Cleveland at 11:40 PM if all goes well. rich-c: you better log some sack time, you're going to be up late tonight Dr.D.: I will send a message to coladam when she bets back. Dr.D.: Haha, it will be late, that's for sure. rich-c: is she coming into Cleveland International or Burke? Dr.D.: See you both in chat on Wednesday! Dr.D.: Hopkins. rich-c: OK - take care, see you Dr.D.: <poof>
Dr.D. left chat session Daniel Bienvenu: dr.d is gone rich-c: yes, he likes to get on even if he can't stay all that long rich-c: but as you can see, he's very talkative (not that he's the only one ;-) ) Daniel Bienvenu: and i'm quiet most of the time. :) rich-c: yes - well, we ralize that sometimes you have to translate both what you are rrading and what you are writing rich-c: and I think you type more carefully than some of us too rich-c: I notice you talk more when we are throwing in more French Daniel Bienvenu: je suis démasqué :) rich-c: oui rich-c: my problem is, my last formal study of French was before you wre born rich-c: I have trouble enough calling up the English words I want, let alone French vocabulary Daniel Bienvenu: i need more practice. rich-c: for what it is worth, these chats probably are good for you rich-c: pity you don't have an online dictionary rich-c: I don't thinkthere are any useful online translators, are there? Daniel Bienvenu: the one i used sometimes is babel fish (altavista) Daniel Bienvenu: world.altavista.com rich-c: yes, but there you have to input text into a remote machine, do you not? Daniel Bienvenu: yes, i have to type the text and the result is not always good rich-c: I have a little utility sits in my system tray called ME Tool Bar, has a whole lot of things like that rich-c: the language translator goes to a site "powered by AltaVista" where you type in what you want... Daniel Bienvenu: i suppose it's babel fish :) rich-c: haven't used it but I suspect it well may be rich-c: I will have to give it a try one of these days rich-c: it offers to translate English to and from about five other languages Daniel Bienvenu: it remembers me that babel fish translate "quoi de neuf?" in "what is nine?" :) rich-c: guess it isn't too good on interrogatives or tenses Daniel Bienvenu: "quoi de neuf?"... it's "what's new?" rich-c: yes, I know - don't worry, if I can't figure out what you're saying, I'll usually ask Daniel Bienvenu: just to be sure. :) rich-c: but neuf is a very irregular form of nouvelle rich-c: but how it confused quoi with qu'est-ce que I can't figure out Daniel Bienvenu: un chapeau neuf. un nouveau message. une nouvelle couleur. rich-c: yes, I should have said gender rather than tense Daniel Bienvenu: it's 16h. and it's cold here. I don't want to be sick again. let's continue this dicussion later. see you wednesday! :) rich-c: OK Daniel, fair enough - enjoy the weekend and see you Wednesday rich-c: bye now Daniel Bienvenu: aurevoir!
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