rich-c: 3.00 rich-c: 3.10
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changed username to Daniel B Daniel B: hello Rich! soory to miss chat sessions rich-c: bon apres-midi, Daniel rich-c: c'est rien rich-c: de temps en temps, things do come up Daniel B: I'm worrying about what you said one day about bugs in the coleco bios rich-c: that wasn't me; I don't know anything about the Coleco BIOS rich-c: well, I do know that for whatever reason, the final Adam was revision 80, which is suggestive! Daniel B: I'm writting on the routines in the bios and , yes, I saw one bug... but only one. rich-c: the one who would know best is Dr. D., though Dale knows a bit too rich-c: btw, Dale was on on Wednesday, talking about Adamcon Daniel B: actually, the bug was confirmed by another programmer named Steve. He explain it to me. rich-c: so you know how to cop[e with that now Daniel B: but the other bug about complex objects routine, I still don't have a clue on this one. rich-c: are you working from the BIOS ROM or a disc image? Daniel B: Actually, I'm working on the absolute coleco bios source code I restored, based on the listing in the adam technical reference document. rich-c: ok. from a paper copy then, and you'll be running from a disc image, right? Daniel B: I'm trying to explain in words what these routines do. rich-c: that's one of those things I might or might not comprehend Daniel B: I'm running nothing, I just use the information I have on paper. rich-c: the direction I'm going is, you can't re-burn the ROM, but you can edit a disc image rich-c: so teh bug should be fixable (if you know how) by changing the appl;icable code and re-saving Daniel B: I take some information from the hackers' guide you ship to me, the cv faq and the adam tech doc. rich-c: but sooner or later you are going to have to have a BIOS image to run your games under, n'est-ce pas? Daniel B: Actually, all coleco games including mines run with these coleco routines. rich-c: then does the bug not affect the running of the games anyway? Daniel B: and I sent an email to Marcel de Kogel about a solution to path his coleco library I'm using to prevent the bug. Daniel B: if the actual coleco games works, it's probably because they knew how to avoid the bug rich-c: I trust Marcel will appreciate that - does he speak French, btw? rich-c: I know he has Dutch, Portuguese (apparently) and English Daniel B: he learn french when he was young, and he wanted me to write him in french. because of its car accident, we lost contact for awhile and he lost what he learn with me. rich-c: a car accident? I didn't know about that. What happened? Daniel B: I'm not really sure but it happends between 2001 and 2003 Daniel B: he still have pain in his back rich-c: I would gather from his time out of the loop that he must have been badly hurt Daniel B: he sent me an email about his car accident last year. he stoped answering his emails and I were afraid rich-c: yes, that can be pretty worrisome, for sure Daniel B: I finally re-contact him in january this year, he sent me a picture of him and his wife... visiting paris (i think) rich-c: she is Brazilian, is she not? Daniel B: I think you're right. rich-c: I remember at one point he was talking about moving to Brazil to be with her Daniel B: well they are not in brazil, he come back to his country. she had difficulties to feel "at home" in her new country. rich-c: the Dutch are very tolerant and social, but the culture is very, very different Daniel B: About pictures, my mother takes pictures of the Quebec Carnaval last week. rich-c: yes, I gather things were pretty lively rich-c: me, I don't like cold, and now my medications make me even more sensitive Daniel B: what is the word for someone that makes artistic things with a block of snow? rich-c: essentially he would be classed as a snow carver rich-c: anyone who carves images from any material - snow, ice, wood, even metal - is a carver Daniel B: well, I have many pictures of these snow blocks and what they become after one or two days. rich-c: on a number of beaches world-wide there are sand carving competitions each year rich-c: if he's very artistic some might call him a scultor rich-c: sorry, sculptor Daniel B: it was mostly abstraction/symbolic arts. Daniel B: gemetrics solids arranged in some ways that make them look nice rich-c: that would be hard to decide, then, whether carver or sculptor rich-c: many professional sculptors do that in metal, of course; some in wood rich-c: but snow and ice are perhaps too ephemeral to be taken so seriously rich-c: also, the colour palette is somewhat limited ; - ) Daniel B: but there was also some non-abstract forms like a giant little boy with his toy, a spirit of snow, animals, and more. Daniel B: yes, very limited rich-c: Toronto has an ice sculpture competition every year in City Hall Square Daniel B: there was ice sculpture also but not at the same place than the snow things. rich-c: unfortunately it's often too early in the winetr and melts too quickly rich-c: yes, well in Quebec City's climate ice sculpture can be quite enduring Daniel B: because of the temprature, the scupltures didn't stay in good shape more than a day or two. rich-c: really? did you get a bit of that warm spell too? rich-c: I didnt think it would have made it that far north Daniel B: yes, it was too warm... that was strange for this period of time. rich-c: we have had a number of warm spells this winter - they are offering us +8 tomorrow! rich-c: we did have one week of seriously nasty cold, but mostly it's been tolerable Daniel B: here it was more -0,5 celcius and the sun was so hot rich-c: yes, in direct sunlight we get melting now even when the air temperature is -5 or so Daniel B: I saw a river in the street last week rich-c: yes, our streets are wet on the sides but mostly centre-bare now rich-c: I can tell you our snowfall lasst Wednesday really messed things up rich-c: it hit late morning and by noon the tire tracks had polished it to very slippery rich-c: we had to go out shopping - I used main streets because I didnt dare try my regular more direct route Daniel B: to return to my coleco document I'm working on, I remember that someone talks about an official message that prevent programmers in the coleco industry about the bugs in the bios... this message was not diffused to the other companies and it probably explains why only games made by coleco used these routines very complex without any problem. who may know about this bug, about his message? only Dr.D? rich-c: after our first turn, Frances asked innocently "Have you ever spun a full 360°"? Daniel B: a 360 degrees? iiiiiiiiii rich-c: let's say Dr. D., likely Dale rich-c: well, I've never managed that but on very slippery surfaces I won't try to steer around a corner Daniel B: what happens to the programmers that works on the coleco bios and on the games coleco made? rich-c: I cut the wheel, kick the rear end out, then pull it out of the sikid in a new direction rich-c: again, if anyone knows it will be Dr. D., he has tried to track many of them down rich-c: he's found the guys who wrote Adamcalc and JKL Untilities rich-c: I'm sure Marcel would have some ideas too Daniel B: He didn't find the one that works on the coleco bios and the adam tech reference guide? rich-c: there, I just don't know Daniel B: I saw two names in the OS7 listing, and one of these names is also written at the beggining of the adam tech guide rich-c: remember I didn't even know a bug remained till you told me just now rich-c: have you tried Googling them? rich-c: and some of teh obsolete computer museums might know something Daniel B: yes, I find something but I'm not sure it's the same guy. Daniel B: no email address to contact him rich-c: you can always send an email and ask rich-c: oh, that makes for difficulties Daniel B: I have to go now. I have to buy something for eat. talk to you wednesday... if I don't forget. rich-c: do try to remember - see ytou then rich-c: au reviiour Daniel B: au revoir!
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