I said short as POSSIBLE!

Yes, when you should have said, "as short as possible". This gave me the opportunity to accurately quote you for maximum -- though ever so slightly misleading -- effect. Hey, I gotta take it where I can get it.

And, just in case you were wondering:

Fail.

That was the quintessential example of a post "as short as possible". You're welcome.

 

Continuing with the C64 restoration project...a little reminder of The Days of 300 Baud....

Here is my old C64 modem, a must for opening up the world of BBSs


See those marks (deformations of the plastic)? I know what you are thinking...why would I repeatedly lay a hot soldering iron on top of a modem? Nope, that is not it at all. When I put it in storage, circa 1985, I wrapped cables (power, disk drive, etc...) around it and those cables somehow reacted with the plastic. There is no mistake, the cables were actually stuck on at the places coinciding with the deformations and I had to pull them off of the thing. This is not something I ever would have anticipated.

The board inside appears fine (I have no motivation to test it out). I was, however, surprised to see that they shaved the identification off of the chips. I guess they wanted to guard their design against copying.

 

Spring is here, and it brings its double edge.

It's beautiful and the flowers are coming up, but now all the projects to recover from the winter weigh heavy. We need some exterior painting, some roof slates need attention, the stone walkway needs repair, and the lawn... don't get me started on the lawn. But, you know what? We wouldn't give up what we get from this house. It's where we plan to live out our lives, and see our grandkids grow up, and build memories for them and us.

We are outrageously lucky to have it, and we are thankful for that luck.

 

As per my post #1327...As it turns out, I received my first circulating W mint mark quarter (see below).




It was actually pretty fortuitous to receive it as only two million were struck and released in certain cities and they were, apparently mixed in wit the usual P and D bags to generate interest in a search.

If I read correctly, they will eventually make at least 10 million of the W variety, but if anyone want to buy mine, I can let it go for a measly 20K . BTW I just saw on the bay that a few have already been bid up $30...geez.

https://coinweek.com/us-mint-news/u...nt-mint-mark-circulating-quarter-collectible/
https://www.usmint.gov/news/inside-the-mint/mint-releases-first-ever-w-quarters-into-circulation

 

I can let it go for a measly 20K

I'll offer you 100K ... in the year 2119, when they become reaaaaaally valuable ...

 

I'll offer you 100K ... in the year 2119, when they become reaaaaaally valuable ...

I don't think that is a good choice, there are many, many coins with lower mintages that are 100+ years old that go for a whole lot less. On the other hand, if we are both here in 2119, and we are posting in this thread, I will just give it to you...you know, because I am a nice guy

 

there are many, many coins with lower mintages that are 100+ years old that go for a whole lot less.

yeah ... but you forget about inflation ... and I'll take your word for it and go get my coin in 100 years more... thanks!

 

Sometimes it's the little things that are cool...

The other side of the pillow. Making six consecutive green lights. Good junk food.

 

But, you know what? We wouldn't give up what we get from this house. It's where we plan to live out our lives, and see our grandkids grow up, and build memories for them and us.

We are outrageously lucky to have it, and we are thankful for that luck.

@Yaakov I totally agree! Your home is absolutely beautiful! I also admire how u are giving your descendants gift of truth that a beautiful detached REAL home totally takes _pride of place_ over even vry expensive sterile condominiums _shelter compounds_! I say surroundings are a huge part of how we see life and so who we become! You and your family totally have my congratulations!

 

The draw on those chimneys should be able to ventilate the house. And a nice dipole support.

 

The draw on those chimneys should be able to ventilate the house. And a nice dipole support.

There is, in the attic, a dipole in the rafters fed to the bedrooms with wall plates and connectors. When we had the attic built out, I preserved the antenna, some day, I will try to load it up, I have no idea how well it might perform.

The house was built in 1941, which is about ideal. It means the materials are very modern while the techniques are very traditional. It’s a beautiful home.

 

As I continue with the Commodore 64 reincarnation project, I ran across this security measure (dongle) for some software.




Yep, it was a simple resistor and they made no attempt to hide that fact. I guess they figured that you didn't have the connector for the cassette port and/or didn't know what a resistor was.

 

Yep, it was a simple resistor and they made no attempt to hide that fact. I guess they figured that you didn't have the connector for the cassette port and/or didn't know what a resistor was.

That's pretty funny but I'm sure they were right. So 5% of the market will easily workaround it, so what? A 2¢ solution that is 95% effective sounds pretty brilliant to me.

 

That's pretty funny but I'm sure they were right. So 5% of the market will easily workaround it, so what? A 2¢ solution that is 95% effective sounds pretty brilliant to me.

I guess so and I guess they also must have had a source to get those connectors cheap.

BTW: Now, some 33 years later, you can buy just the dongle (looks home made) for only $15 https://www.ebay.com/itm/C64-Leader...167896?hash=item28667d1f58:g:6OcAAOSw8H1bkHde

 

Hello,

Yes, gamemakers have tried a lot to "secure" their product.
I know from the MSX time that one of the copy protections was a partly formated floppy.
When you did copy the floppy the usual way, the copy would not work.
When you used a "virgine" floppy that was not formated and ejected the floppy at track 70 of the 80 tracks, the copy would work.

Bertus

 

Hello,

Yes, gamemakers have tried a lot to "secure" their product.
I know from the MSX time that one of the copy protections was a partly formated floppy.
When you did copy the floppy the usual way, the copy would not work.
When you used a "virgine" floppy that was not formated and ejected the floppy at track 70 of the 80 tracks, the copy would work.

Bertus

Yep.All of those crazy schemes motivated me to learn. I was never a big copy guy, but it irked me when I would shell out for software and couldn't back it up or had some other ridiculous restrictions. Beginning with the Sargon tape for the TRS-80, I always looked into what they were doing and usually, I could figure it out, although I am a title embarrassed at how much time I would spend figuring it out.

For things like Photoshop, they ended up using a licensing server and you would have to deregister your copy to move it to another machine. Nowadays, they just rent the software.

 

Hello,

On my PC I try to use open source software as much as I can.
(my home PC is running Suse Tumbleweed linux).
Even my company has a list of approved open source software that I may install on my work laptop.

Bertus

 

We all make mistakes.

 

@Yaakov Just to let you know I just found and corrected stupid auto-speller typo (to descendants vs. decedents) on my response (which is post 1369) to your post showing picture of your home. This is very important because as admirer of beautiful homes I want you to know I was totally sincere, not just making one of my tasteless macabre jokes! Thank you!

 

@Yaakov Just to let you know I just found and corrected stupid auto-speller typo (to descendants vs. decedents) on my response (which is post 1369) to your post showing picture of your home. This is very important because as admirer of beautiful homes I want you to know I was totally sincere, not just making one of my tasteless macabre jokes! Thank you!

I took it as just that—autocorrection mischief. Thank you for explaining, though.