At a seemingly random point in the competition I've finally got an hour
to do a round-up of the current projects and any progress, including my personal
thoughts, and a gratuitous Top Gun quote to boot...
In order of date of entry:
Maverick: Uh, sorry, Goose. *We* happened to see a MiG 28 do a 4g negative dive.
Without an imagination of my own, I've shamelessly stolen ideas from other contestants.
When I got bored of that I decided to take random bits of kit apart in my nightgown. That's it so far.
Hollywood: Don't tease me.
The ressurection of a Sega Game Gear, another device containing the nicest processor ever invented (MOS 6502).
Needs to be pushed face first into 6502 assembler, to progress past Hello World.
Goose: Come on, Mav, do some of that pilot shit!
To emulate a console, with a console? How very dare you! Successfully booted a Sega Saturn, that's all to report so far.
Viper: Top Gun rules of engagement are written for your safety and for that of your team. They are not flexible, nor am I. Either obey them or you are history. Is that clear?
Our Scottish contingent is applying the infinite monkeys principle to his Chrimbo BBC Electron and it appears to be paying off. First letters, then lines,
I can feel an Elite clone in the making...
Charlie: Hello, Pete Mitchell. I heard the best of the best were going to be back here, so uh...
Hugo promises an old video game such as pong but has yet to deliver. Looks like he's a man who can, so watch this space.
Goose: Great balls of fire!
Engrossed in his CBM 64 and 1541 (another 6502 combo!) he's been playing games, scrubbing between keys and randomly poking SID chips.
We expect great things Pukka!
Hollywood: Gutsiest move I ever saw, Mav.
Taking a beautiful Epson and a beautiful film Silent Running and the beautiful English language Aliennerd is to create a text adventure in a few KB. Good luck my friend!
Cougar: God dammit, Mustang! This is Ghost Rider 117. This bogey is all over me. He's got missile lock on me. Do I have permission to fire?
Working his way through the Intel 86 lineup to serve up the website is no comparison to a flaming carburetor. Hopefully crazy will tame the petrol wolf and
show his prowess in the applications department.
Maverick: I can see it's dangerous for you, but if the government trusts me, maybe you could.
Loads of funky green stuff, what this man can't do with an Apple II video connector isn't worth knowing. It's been a rollercoaster of low-res snaps,
flowcharts and 2D graphics. One to watch (did you see what I did there?)
Goose: (checking out the plaque with names of the best of the best) No, boys. There's two "O"s in Goose.
Our glorious leader is fitting it in where he can - in other words using RetroChallenge to tart up RetroNET. Hey, it's all retro at the
end of the day!
Charlie: That is right, but I held something back. I see some real genius in your flying, Maverick, but I can't say that in there. I was afraid that everyone in the tax trailer would see right through me, and I just don't want anyone to know that I've fallen for you.
This man won't settle until he's got Zork running on his Rainbow. It's just a case of getting the right characters, in the right order,
in the right linked list.
Simples, innit?
Maverick: This is what I call a target-rich environment.
Fixing, polishing, using - is a man's work ever done? Now the Heathkits' are all shiny and operational, our man is putting his mind to
6800 machine code and telling the time. Remember, though, time goes slower in the UK...
Maverick: I feel the need...
Yet to get out of the RetroChallenge blocks (well, no blog entries of progress yet at least) Rob has been on the bike crossing
the border. A first class alibi in my books! Hopefully there will be some retro-art related goodness later in the month.
Stinger: And if you screw up just this much, you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong!
Tom hopes to get his dream cast on a phat display but needs to pull his finger out and get the gear bought. Has got permission
from the management however, so hopefully we'll see inch high pixels by the end of the month.
Viper: [discussing Maverick] Let me ask you something. If you had to go into battle, would you want him with you?
The 'arf enlightens us on how to tunnel through from your pre-internet retro joy to the vast expanse of the internet using Linux and
a four letter word 'ATDT'. I like it!
Merlin: You're gonna do what?
Keeps us all in the dark so far about his secret weapon, but does like talking to himself which is always a sign of greatness (well, in my book anyway!).
Hopefully he'll get his camera out later in the month and show us some of his retro gaming goodies.
Maverick: Sorry, Goose, but it's time to buzz a tower.
To blend an original PDP-9 console with an emulated backend. The plans are afoot, time to get sawing man!
Merlin: Mustang, this is Voodoo 3. Remaining MiGs are bugging out.
And the angels walk among us. Earl cunningly uses solder and code to connect practically infinite storage to his PET. Next, he needs to
apply himself to some software goodies, but keep it tight man, only 8K to play with!
Wolfman: Thirty seconds. We went like this, he went like that. I said to Hollywood, "Where'd he go?" Hollywood says, "Where'd who go?"
Turbo Pascal on an early HP DOS machine is the 'Barts target for a useful program, no OOP, no blog post either yet. Hang in there man, and do us proud. Pictures would be good too!
Maverick: Just a walk in the park, Kazansky.
This post intentionally obscure. A great start. He's teasing us with Apple I basic, but it looks like he's going to mix Apple I with Apple II.
We'll understand in the end, honest!
Goose: It's the bottom of the 9th, the score is tied. It's time for the big one.
On my todo list is to fire up a DOS box and try Mr Loves magnolia adventure. He's also promising a VB word processor, which will also be one to try.
Maverick: I'll hit the brakes, he'll fly right by.
Joel is a hardware hacker on a higher plane - he needs more static RAM to up his machine in the OS stakes. Static RAM is fun, but he needs to
sort out the decoding.
Maverick: Talk to me, Goose.
Looking to boot up a Zenith 286 laptop into CPM or something else Mr. ChEng has yet to get off the starting blocks, but there's plenty of time
yet. I love those old Zenith's, so am hopeful of progress (and pictures!)
Viper: Damn, this kid is good!
Jason is a late starter but has flexed his assembler knowledge to good use already to code up the forgotten display potential of CGA.
I'm not a big fan of 80x86 assembler, so you've got to hand it to the man. Good work so far matey!
Crickey, that was a slog. Hopefully for those coming to RetroChallenge afresh this will give some indication of what's going on.
There's some impressive stuff out there. Keep up the good work folk, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the challenge.
The encounter was a victory, but we show it as an example of what not to do.
