My two main hobbies are electronics and software development.
For electronics Im fairly big on modding. My latest project was a Portable NES modded from the original 8Bit NES that yes, it does use the original carts and i use the screen from a PSONE portable screen. Ive also modded my TI calcs to be rechargeable and use QI wireless charging.
In software i have tons i started on a Commodore 64 when i was 8 playing with basic. So i do remember booting and backup up to a cassette tape. Anyone else remember hitting the record+pause buttons together and connecting the remote lead to the C64? Probably some of my larger projects is a GCC based compiler/linker+IDE toolchain to be used with asm/c for my TI Calculator projects. The IDE is a clone of VS Since my largest TI project is a clone of Windows. I call it WinTI (pronounced Win tee). WinTI is not finished however most of the kernel and psapi is completely done. With preemptive multitasking and dynamic module loading. One thing i would like to do with the kernel is add pipes (another IPCS object for those who don't know). User is about 65% done and GDI is only about 20% done. Most of the window based API is done (CreateWindow etc..) and all in all WinTI currently exports 491 API's. All of which work identically to the original so the only documentation you would need would be the same MSDN you would use for big windows. The biggest challenge is i have less than 1MB of total storage for both storage and running programs.
Ive also made a host of extension dll's for mIRC and consulted and worked on some others (such as MDX which was popular before our channel did DCX to replace it). Of course im just a hobbyist so these things take a back burner quite often.
Professionally I own A&C Cleaning. We clean anything but specialize in large restaurants and Health inspection cleaning. We offer a guarantee if you cant pass the inspection we don't get paid even if what failed you was not on our part. Currently i have 7 TGI Fridays stores and 4 Laundromats I manage and 12 employee's (not counting me and my partner). Ive been doing this for almost 13 years.
Music i listen to pretty much anything. I also play music and some of my fav's are Metallica, Pantera, Judas Priest, Slayer, and Dethklok. Im into oldies (for me sorry to the older folks here) and my all time fav group ever is the Monkee's. However pretty much anything ever played on KLOU 103.3 over the past 15 years.
Im a huge anime fan. I current have 3.8TB of anime and i usually watch 3-4 hours worth a day. on my days off i sometimes marathon it and watch entire seasons at once.
Ive messed it to a decent level 32 spoken languages and have reached mastery in several. Although since i rarely use them ill admit to forgetting quite a bit. lol. Japanese of course being my fav.
I have a spouse and 2 children. Both daughters (non biological from my spouses previous). One is 15 the other 17. Im super active in our community schools here and have guest lectured in several of their "Computer Tech" classes. Ive done many technical surveys in my district and neighboring ones to learn how this generation uses technology as a whole and in specific which devices/software they prefer.
I like meeting new people in online tech forums (such as here). Especially those who are older and/or more experienced than I. I get many great idea's and learn a huge amount from folks.
Im the youngest of 3 Children. My brother is 15 years older than I and got me my start into this world (don't know if i should thank him or shoot him sometimes). My sister is 2 years older than he. My mother is a civil attorney (im not sure of her work anymore as she keeps changing things and we don't talk as often) and my father is an endocrinologist. Despite being a part of a fairly well off family i don't consider myself privileged in some respects. My extended family (Uncle and grandparents) own and operate (well grandparents have passed away since) an auto salvage (junkyard) and many times you would find me out there taking out a transmission for a customer. I cant say im a auto mechanic whiz but i have done a lot and i never need to take my cars to the shop. Im into classic muscle cars (60's and 70's cameros and mustangs) and performance aftermarket parts. I have even less time for this and any auto work i do is only because i have no choice (main vehicle breaks down) aside form modding of course. I have a 2008 Ford focus modded about as far as it can be. Things like Motorized retracted USB charger ports and iPOD sync/charging built in (i have a friend with an iPOD because he's an idiot but meh). Voice operated mechanics for things such as mirrors and seats (more to come hopefully) and a slew of additional lighting.
Anyway i hope this give you guys a better idea of who i am. im glad i got the chance to meet you all. I like talking to folks of differing opinions but its good to have like minded people to relate to. I look forward to the many conversations and laughs (at the idiots im sure) to come.
Not in any particular order my hobbies are: Cooking; Mainly Mediterranean Drinking Red wine Reading - Mainly Sci-Fi Peter F Hamilton, Asimov, Heinlein, Herburt, John Gwynne, Patrick Rothfuss Listening to Music - Baroque, Pink Floyd, Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Marillion Led Zep, Blues, Soul, Jazz -Last count I've got #3.4k tracks into flac ripped from my CD collection. My Wife & I live close to Liverpool (UK) and we have recent adopted a 33Kg Shepherd Dog that's around 18 months old, thinks he's still a puppy and is leaving a train of destruction in his wake (including 3 pairs of my shoes and my mobile phone... We have a little place in France on the Charente/Dordogne border (Hardly any light pollution - Noel would love it there)
Edit: You forgot Philip K. Dick. One of the most prolific and completely insane authors ever. Asimov and Clarke were friends and ridiculously brilliant.
Last Edit: Oct 21, 2015 22:20:18 GMT -6 by Overwatch
I've had a passion for doing electronics since the about the sixth grade in school. Working on and with computers came much later as it grew out of a need for something I was developing for the company I was working for at the time. Starting out, I've had a few different technical positions here and there, but over the last thirty years, I've been primarily involved in the satellite communications industry. Yes, I got in at the time when doing home, big dish TVRO systems was still very much a new thing. My job has since evolved into doing commercial V-Sat systems while I was still doing electronic and data system servicing on the side. My hobbies still very much include doing electronics and computers and most anything related to these.
Post by Locutus deBorg on Oct 19, 2015 14:42:02 GMT -6
:Top
I am Locutus of Borg
windows is futile
Microsoft's life as it has been is over
from this time forward Linux will service us (at least on the web)
oh ya
about me goto Top
REM I make batch files REM I use those batch files for running things that the GUI just can't ever do REM eg. how does one compare 1 file with another, FC/b "file name 1" "file name 2" or "location 1 \ file name 1" "location 2 \ file name x" REM now that was an easy command, but run through about 10,000 files in over 200 Directories to compare REM my next batch / cmd file will be comparing the contents of 2x 1.5TB disks
I find the lack of configuration options disturbing !
I felt a great disturbance in the force.. as if millions of win 7 systems suddenly cried out in terror.
no worries Bob I have been called an axe murder, a mountain man, druggie when i goto public places, the crowds part as i walk by. Thats just the way i like it
so i take it that's a irl pic of you? That's kool i once gave someone a pic of me (i was 13 at the time) and in 2 hours found it floating around the net on some unsavory sites. I stopped doing that.
I've had a passion for doing electronics since the about the sixth grade in school.
hey, here's a thought: let's consider all of us who've done electronics since grade school (or whatever), and THEN compare our experiences to how the media has fawned over "clock boy", who basically took a clock apart, put the pieces back together in a different case [which made it look like a bomb], and was invited to the White House because he was SO! SMART!!!
(yeah I wanted to hurl and consume mass quantities of pink liquid)
because when _I_ was 14, I was _DESIGNING_ my own guitar amplifiers. From scratch. Using spare parts. Because I was too poor to buy decent ones.
hacking since, like, *FOREVER*. But does anyone give accolades to *ME*? FUCK! NO!!!
Pleading with people to pass along their old radios, tape recorders, TVs so I can strip them for parts to build up my next project. Been there, done that, only because Grandma's Christmas and birthday money could only go so far. When I look back, it's amazing how resourceful we had to be back then. Nowadays, almost everything is pre-built, nobody from the new generation really knows how to roll-their-own anymore. As for "Clock Boy" got his accolades, I could only think that would be the reason why.
I've had a passion for doing electronics since the about the sixth grade in school.
hey, here's a thought: let's consider all of us who've done electronics since grade school (or whatever), and THEN compare our experiences to how the media has fawned over "clock boy", who basically took a clock apart, put the pieces back together in a different case [which made it look like a bomb], and was invited to the White House because he was SO! SMART!!!
(yeah I wanted to hurl and consume mass quantities of pink liquid)
because when _I_ was 14, I was _DESIGNING_ my own guitar amplifiers. From scratch. Using spare parts. Because I was too poor to buy decent ones.
hacking since, like, *FOREVER*. But does anyone give accolades to *ME*? FUCK! NO!!!
One of my earliest projects was a digital clock. of course using a 555 timer and a few modulo chips (dont remember the numbers now) and some 7 segment displays. I won first place in a science fair for my reproduction of a basic processor using all transistors for everything including registers, alu, bus controller, etc.. All it would do was flash some led's but i proved i could build a cpu and program it with asm (dont remember the chip i used for sotoring the program i think it was a group of dual JK's).
I dont remember the year i was in but i have the trophy at my moms house so i could easily find out.
Listening to Music - Baroque, Pink Floyd, Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Marillion Led Zep, Blues, Soul, Jazz -Last count I've got #3.4k tracks into flac ripped from my CD collection.
Saw Knopfler at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, The Chicago Theater, Northerly Island in Chicago, outdoor, the Alliant Center in Madison, and saw his brother David at a Blues Festival in Thunder Bay, Ont. along with Robin Trower. Just love that guitar.
Ami, you are most certainly a talented one! The 555 timer was one of my favourite chips to play with being such a versatile chip. I've played with digital logic stuff too and have built clocks using DTL/TTL chips with Nixie display tubes for read-outs just to add a bit of nostalgic flare. Mind you, the kind of clocks I built did look more like a doomsday clock as it had a analog clock face built out of LED's that would light up as the minutes and hours passed In addition to the Nixie Displays in the middle showing digital time. It was probably was just as an involved project as your central processor project was. For me, most of my early electronics experience came at a time when many things were still very much analog built mostly with discrete components, but alway hoping the next new chip to come along would somehow make that job easier. I think Bob can relate to this as I think we are both about the same age.
hey, here's a thought: let's consider all of us who've done electronics since grade school (or whatever), and THEN compare our experiences to how the media has fawned over "clock boy", who basically took a clock apart, put the pieces back together in a different case [which made it look like a bomb], and was invited to the White House because he was SO! SMART!!!
(yeah I wanted to hurl and consume mass quantities of pink liquid)
because when _I_ was 14, I was _DESIGNING_ my own guitar amplifiers. From scratch. Using spare parts. Because I was too poor to buy decent ones.
hacking since, like, *FOREVER*. But does anyone give accolades to *ME*? FUCK! NO!!!
As an electronics hobbyist myself who was making all kinds of stuff at 14, I was kind of "meh" on that story until your posting prompted me to research the story further. Turns out he didn't "make" anything at all; all he did was repackage a prebuilt clock into a case that many of us have been conditioned to associate with bombs. Now he's been awarded a visit to the White House, received a bunch of free stuff from Microsoft, invitations from prestigious schools, has even set up a "Go fund me" page to raise $60,000 dollars, and is about to leave the country (with his family) for Qatar. For the curious:
Meanwhile, an innocent white girl named Star Simpson who actually did make something (and also made the mistake of going to an airport with it to pick up a friend) gets arrested SWAT style—almost getting killed in the process—and gets no fame, no free stuff, no scholarships to prestigious schools. Instead, she got her name smeared as a "suicide bomber" all over the media, had to do 50 hours of community service and make a public apology. She didn't even pass through security in that airport! In fact, where she was, people are even allowed to "open carry". Can anyone say "reverse racism" ? Just sickening how much the liberal media can bias and influence people's awareness of reality these days.
Last Edit: Oct 21, 2015 21:05:52 GMT -6 by Techie007
Microsoft, is Windows 10 the best you could do? Really? After promising to listen to our feedback, what a letdown!
Interesting read. Now I can see why Bob is reaching for the Pink Liquid. I think I might join him on that! You're right though, people who have actually do have a natural talent rarely get the proper recognition for it and yet someone pulling off a hoax like that gets rewarded for it. Modding an old digital clock, I do that kind of thing in my sleep!
THAT is *real* award-worthy stuff! By making a CPU out of discrete components, you PROVED that you UNDERSTOOD how they work!
YOU should've gotten a white house invite. Not "clock boy".
I might have been able to do that sort of thing back then, if I'd had the financial backing (and available computers) to get all of the stuff to do it.
Instead, I built a lot of stuff using vacuum tubes. But it worked. [glowy bottles look like they're actually doing something].
Post by big bad bombastic bob on Oct 22, 2015 12:47:57 GMT -6
wait, that should've contained a quote - what's with the editor?
I quoted this:
"One of my earliest projects was a digital clock. of course using a 555 timer and a few modulo chips (dont remember the numbers now) and some 7 segment displays. I won first place in a science fair for my reproduction of a basic processor using all transistors for everything including registers, alu, bus controller, etc.. All it would do was flash some led's but i proved i could build a cpu and program it with asm (dont remember the chip i used for sotoring the program i think it was a group of dual JK's). "
it was a bit difficult to edit, though. maybe that's why it choked?
Meanwhile, an innocent white girl named Star Simpson who actually did make something (and also made the mistake of going to an airport with it to pick up a friend) gets arrested SWAT style—almost getting killed in the process—and gets no fame, no free stuff, no scholarships to prestigious schools. Instead, she got her name smeared as a "suicide bomber" all over the media, had to do 50 hours of community service and make a public apology. She didn't even pass through security in that airport! In fact, where she was, people are even allowed to "open carry". Can anyone say "reverse racism" ? Just sickening how much the liberal media can bias and influence people's awareness of reality these days.
Notice how the focus of the media is on the CIA chief is on the HS kid who hacked him, and not him for having sensitive info on his personal AOL email account?
Another HS kid they want to give 11 years of prison to for hacking his HS grades and changing a 94 to a 100? What the fuck?
Bill and Paul wrote a program they sold to count traffic on a hacked HS timeshare computer.
They also wrote Altair Basic on Harvard's computers.
Last Edit: Oct 22, 2015 14:35:20 GMT -6 by Deleted
Notice how the focus of the media is on the CIA chief is on the HS kid who hacked him, and not him for having sensitive info on his personal AOL email account?
Considering how Hillary's emails have made the front page so many times and have gotten her into hot water, I find it rather ironic that the CIA chief seems to be getting away with having used his personal email address for sensitive information. They ought to thank the kid for discovering the vulnerability. I think it's rather revealing that he couldn't regain control of his account because they'd keep rehacking it. I can only imagine how much worse this could be in srfreeman's biometric world.
Microsoft, is Windows 10 the best you could do? Really? After promising to listen to our feedback, what a letdown!
I was, born and raised in a very small town in Wisconsin, and attended middle and high school in Appleton. I was a 19-year resident of Racine, a seven year resident of Kenosha and now three years living near Madison. I operated a local business, involved in the sale and support of business computer systems for 15 years. I am a veteran of the US Army U.N. Peace keeping force in South Korea, a former Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa and former Illinois high school and Community College teacher. I have also taught at Milwaukee School of Engineering. I am a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign with a BS in Education, and stopped my education halfway to a Master of Arts in Education/Adult Education & Distance Learning degree.
I was involved for seven years in corporate technical training and course development for International Harvester and JI Case companies which took me to North Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and then back to Wisconsin. I am also a former member of the Racine Unified School District board of Education and the Town of Mt. Pleasant Zoning Board of Appeals.
I retired last year as the Executive Director and President of Tech Corps Wisconsin, Inc. a non-profit volunteer group dedicated to helping provide children with computer and Internet technology access, which I founded and ran for seventeen years. This included refurbishing thousands of corporate surplus computers for use by kids. My two decade long passion was working to improve employment and educational issues related to bridging the digital divide by providing computer access to schools, non-profits and low income families. My business experience involves creating and managing these two $250,000 plus businesses for more than a decade each.
When not working on computers in my shop, on the forums or writing stories, I stay busy taking care of this property.
<Rick> Good video. It's almost hard to believe that at one time Windows 98 was the resource hog, but even then, it still ran circles around what Windows 10 can do on today's modern hardware and look a heck of alot better doing it.
May 25, 2021 22:55:12 GMT -6
<Rick> As stated elsewhere, So much for the launch of Windows 11, "The Great Crash." Myself, I had a hard time getting into the site listed above, when I did get in, the video was partly done and then it crashed. There has been many other reports of crashing.
Jun 24, 2021 9:52:33 GMT -6
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<Rick> I see Microsoft has been very quick to pull down reports of site crashing regarding the Launch of Windows 11 on the Microsoft Insiders forum.
Jun 24, 2021 9:57:31 GMT -6
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<Rick> The rebroadcast is working okay.
Jun 24, 2021 11:00:25 GMT -6
<Rick> With reports of people being able to install the dev-edition of Windows 11 on machines not meeting spec, I thought I would give it a what-the-heck try. Lucky me, I'm caught in the downloading, doesn't meet spec, clearing, re-downloading loop on my machine!
Jul 2, 2021 7:08:46 GMT -6
<Rick> I've recently purchased a license for ArcaOS from www.arcanoae.com/ to play with. First impressions, it's still OS/2, but it now has a Linux twist to it.
Jul 2, 2021 7:32:53 GMT -6
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<dozrguy> laptop shit out and am stuck buying a new one. os win11 as fucked as win10 was?
Oct 2, 2021 12:56:10 GMT -6
<Rick> Let's see ..., my impression of Windows 11 is that it is a spruced up version of Windows 10 requiring a 64-bit processor plus a piece of security hardware that is less than 4 years old in order for it to run.
Oct 4, 2021 18:25:49 GMT -6
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<Rick> On the plus side, Microsoft is supposed to be supporting Windows 10 for some time to come for those of us still using systems with I7 or older processors.
Oct 4, 2021 18:44:35 GMT -6
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<dozrguy> i tried installing win10 om the 'shitout' pc this morning usung media creation. EPIC FAIL! went into an endless bootloop. win7 reinstalled just fine
Oct 21, 2021 11:23:38 GMT -6
<dozrguy> STILL so much bullshit and so little time for the kiddie ideas from the hill. My new laptop (MSI GE 11-UH461) would be an awesome "10" machine but because of Winblows I can only give it a "2"......wasted $3500
Oct 27, 2021 9:36:47 GMT -6
<Rick> Hello. Just checking in.
Mar 17, 2022 10:46:54 GMT -6
<isidroco> Each new w10 update adds >100000 useless files to \Windows\Servicing\LCU\Package_for_RollupFix... folders. Even in a SSD takes time to delete that stuff. In each version they manage to worsen stuff.
Mar 27, 2022 16:14:51 GMT -6
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<dozerguy> still traffic here?
Oct 9, 2022 17:32:44 GMT -6
<Rick> No, there does not seem to be very much traffic these days. I still check in from time to time.
Oct 9, 2022 20:08:58 GMT -6