In the where the hell have you been department... :)
It's WAY too long a story. Lots of personal business to attend to and a career change have seriously messed up my CoCo enjoyment time these last many months. I DID scan through my private email (captcpu@clubltdstudios.com) account and see many CoCo related emails. I will endeavor to answer every one of the ASAP, with my sincere apologies to the senders. The weeding of the copious amounts of junk mail and advertisements is about finished.
Things have only slowed marginally for me, though, so I won't be on terribly much for the immediate future. However, I'm making a strong effort to spend more time with my beloved CoCo and will post those outings and opines when possible.
I'm posting a not-so-quicky on copyrights and CoCos that I wrote back in January (See below). This has ALWAYS been an issue with CoCoists, with a lot of misinformation floating around, so I decided I'd finally wieght in on the issue. This is not to stir things up, nor is it intended as any sort of final word. It's is strictly IMHO.
On the CoCo side, mostly I've gotten to pop in a program pack now and then. I also wrote a quick BASIC program to help my eldest daughter (8) with her math skills. It was actually a lot of fun. Not terribly challenging and nothing particularly new learned, but it's nice to find ways to actually use the CoCo in a practical sense. If you've done similar stuff, be sure to post about it! I think we NEED more "simple" stuff in the CoCo world from all levels of experience and expertise.
As for the site(s) and such, expect big changes as I come back online more and more this year. The first order business will be severely streamlining everything to make it more usable and compact. That includes only one site (this one) for everything. My inclination at this point is to remove the message board and all external, non-blogger material. Anything that can be posted to the blog format will be reposted. Following that, more contributors to the blog would be awesome. I'll post specifics as they happen.
My sincere thanks to Brian and the rest of the gang here for posting. And my sincere apologies to anyone I haven't responded to via email. The collector updates on eBay, the new CoCo experiences and the "where the hell are you?" messages are greatly appreciated.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Showing posts with label Comment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comment. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The CoCo & Intellectual Property Rights
I've been studiously avoiding weighing in on this issue for about three years now. heh! :) But seems it's time to have a go at it. The issue is, of course, intellectual property rights (primarily copyright, but also includes Trademark and Patent) for CoCo stuffs. First some explanation...
What kicked this post off was, of course, the discussion about Hot CoCo. In a bit of odd timing, I also got a rather legal sounding email recently from a CoCo programmer who objected to one of his old programs being posted to a portion of the site. It was an accident (the files were mistakenly included in an archive of other stuff) and resolved amicably for all parties involved, but it's definitely not something we want to make a habit of having to deal with. To that extent, public announcement:
If an original author of a CoCo program (or anything for that matter) discovers something that belongs to them on any Club LTD Studios site, that shouldn't be there, email me immediately at captcpu@clubltdstudios.com. I'll pull it off right away. I do not "police" the other areas of the site. I rarely use downloaded software on my CoCo or emulators, except for the modern stuff, most of which I buy. Most the older stuff is simply not of interest to me. CoCo MAx and Max 10 were great programs back in the day, it was a flash-back blast to play with them again (I own the originals) but I'll take Photoshop and OpenOffice now, thank you. Using those old programs is a chore. Occasionally I come across a program that IS still fun to use on the CoCo, like Musica II, in which case I acquire it for my collection by buying the original on eBay and running off of backups. That's about it. I do browse through the message boards, posts here on the blog, and the file areas, of course. But I don't examine them particularly closely if they aren't my bag of dough nuts. So, if you see something that should not be there, give me a shout. I'll take care of it. :) By the same token, if you WANT your stuff posted, drop me a note, as well. We'll work something out and I'll shout to the world that it's here!
So what's all this have to do with CoCos and intellectual property rights? Well, a lot of people want to preserve the CoCo and the publications and software that were produced for it. A noble goal, to be sure. Occasionally, though, there's a bit of a fight about ownership and in the enthusiasm to share, property rights can get pushed aside. And that ain't right. That fight always boils down to the "what should be" side and the "what is" side.
"What Should Be"
These folks basically argue that 20-30 (older) year old software for a defunct 8-bit computer should be released into the public domain. Most of it is abandoned (no attempt to conduct commerce using it and/or insufficient attempts to protect the rights) and none of it has any real commercial value any longer. As such, the law should reflect this "abandonware" and, after a suitable period of time, it should default into the public domain. The main reasoning is that without such a mechanism in the law, historically important information (including code, articles, designs, art, et al.) will disappear long before the property rights expire.
"What Is"
This group's argument is pretty simple. It's the law. The original creator of a work should (and does) have a right to do with it as they please. They own it and if they want to let it fade into oblivion that's their right.
I've been in content creation and media, in some form of another, my entire working life; frequently independently, as well as for the likes of America Online and The Borders Group. I've signed so many non-disclosure agreements and property transfer contracts I can't talk about half the stuff I know. Regardless, I have an acute awareness of intellectual property rights and how creators can get royally screwed if they aren't careful and diligent. As such, I'm a big supporter of intellectual property laws, particularly copyrights, and due compensation to the original creator.
Unlike trademarks (and to some extent patents), copyright is pretty much rock solid. Ownership can get muddled, but the rights themselves are firm. If you hold a trademark, you have to defend it vigorously and consistently. For example, if you've ever run a moderately successful website or published something in print, you've probably gotten the "proper use" letter from a company.
"In [publication] you used the term "clorox" as a generic adjective/verb for bleach products. Please be aware that Clorox brand liquid bleach is a trademark of [company]. It should always be used as a proper noun... etc." Annoying, but they have to do that and send out those letters to protect their trademark. The law requires that effort if they ever need to take legal action to protect their brand. Copyrights are under no such restrictions, though. To protect a copyright the owner has to do.... absolutely nothing.
A copyright (after 1978) lasts the life of the original copyright holder, plus 70 years. That's it. It doesn't fade, and there's no mechanism to change the duration. Copyright covers several aspects of a work, as well, including original presentation. To use a recent example from the CoCo world, you can't reprint Hot CoCo in print or digital form, without permission, because the copyright is still in effect. The copyright covers whatever rights the owners purchased, plus the original presentation including format and artwork. Copyright doesn't cover the title of the publication (that's trademark), but does cover the logo (font, colors, etc.) artwork used to represent that title. So, you can't reprint the original Hot CoCo (e.g. scan it cover to cover and release it) without permission from whoever owns the rights to the publication. But...
Hot CoCo had many authors in the form of contributors. How's that work? Well, the original publishers of Hot CoCo would have purchased rights from the original authors. That's the hang up with the current owners of the publication. They have no idea or records of which rights were originally purchased or from whom. And even if they did, they probably would figure out pretty quick that there would be no profit in digging up that information and sorting it out just to appease a few 8-bit computer hobbyists.
Lonnie Falk was in a similar situation when he was negotiating "The Rainbow on Disk" project. Any rights not originally acquired by the publication are, by law, still owned by the original author. The publisher has an obligation to do their part to protect those rights. Which means they can't just release the original publication into the Public Domain for free. The publisher never purchased that right. If they just release the author's work, included in their original publication, for free then they could be held liable to the original author for deluding their rights as copyright holders. (In other words, if the publisher gives away the work for free, the original article authors could claim damages because the potential to resell the articles, which they still hold the rights to, is greatly diminished, if not obliterated.)
Most common rights purchased by a publisher of a magazine, here in the U.S., are First North American Serial Rights. Most will also purchase, as part of the deal, non-exclusive Reprint Rights or First Reprint Rights. That's pretty much standard. That gives the exclusive rights to be the first to publish a work in North America, and the right to reprint that work as they see fit in the future. The author retains the right to sell reprint rights elsewhere, as well as the right to republish the article as they see fit, including internationally and in digital format. (Though it is common for publications to acquire digital rights these days, of course.) I remember getting the writers guidelines long ago from The Rainbow, and FNAS rights were part of it. I don't remember if others were specified, but if Lonnie was able to negotiate a deal then they obviously had some sort of Reprint rights as well. With Hot CoCo, there's just no record of those rights, but from the authors I've spoken to, it wasn't an "all rights" deal. The original authors can still authorize reprints to other formats, apparently. (Not a lawyer. Don't own the rights myself. Talk to appropriate counsel. Etc.)
As such, an enterprising individual COULD contact those authors, gather up Reprint Rights through some form of arrangement, and then reprint the articles in a NEW format. An "originally appeared in" notice would probably be required or appropriate, but as long as it wasn't the same format and presentation as the original publication, it should be good if the original author a) still owns those rights and b) authorizes the publication. (Again with the "consult appropriate legal council before proceeding, IMHO, etc.")
CoCo software is a slightly more straight forward. In most instances, software companies buy ALL rights to the original author's creations. There may have been limited distribution deals, but in most cases, the ownership is going to be pretty clear. Either the original author still owns all the rights, or the company that bought those rights still owns them. Tracking down those owners could be challenging, though. Some would also have some form of reversion clause, so that rights revert back to the author if, say, the company goes out of business or chooses to stop publishing the material. If not, and in the event the company is no longer in business, the rights would have fallen to one of its principles; the owner in a sole proprietorship, or one of the partners/officers in a partnership or corporation. Either way, those rights aren't going to expire in our lifetimes.
Confused? It can get messy pretty quick. The short version is: Copyright last Lifetime + 70. Period. Prior to that, if you're inclined to put on the Net something created by someone else, get their permission first. You might be surprised to find quite a few creators are more than willing!
Now the promised opinion part...
As I said, I'm a big believer in intellectual property. Sorry, but you don't have the right to do whatever you want with someone else's stuff. Whether you agree with what they do with their stuff or not, that's kind of the whole concept of personal property.
But that doesn't mean some changes aren't in order. I do support the notion that abandoned works, including CoCo software, should be defaulted into the public domain at some point prior to the copyright statute based on very strict criteria. Absolutely. It's insane that a creator would ignore a work that is useful to the public, or of historical significance, for 30 years and then suddenly start screaming when a few hobbyists start sharing it around. Time to move out of the 1980s there, ya know? They have every right to do it, but that doesn't make it right.
The problem is that there's no easy way to do that. To my mind, it is simply not possible and still protect creator's rights.
In particular, and here's the debate, it's been suggested 20 to 50 years as a good benchmark. If the work has not been reasonably solicited commercially in interstate commerce for more than 20 (or 30 or 50 or whatever) years, or has not been published or maintained by reasonable standards in that time, it defaults into some form of non-commercial use public domain status.
The problem with this is obvious. Let's say, for example, Bob created Superhero X for the CoCo back in 1980 and it quickly faded into obscurity. It's not published or used at all until 2008 when suddenly, Superhero X is the hottest thing ever. Hell, Spielberg options the rights, for cryin' out loud! Under the proposal above, Bob is screwed. He never sees any money or credit for his creation. Does it matter that he created it 28 years ago? Of course not. He made it, and if someone's enjoying it and making money from it, he should get compensation for his work.
But that's not going to happen with old CoCo software, now is it? Well... the chances are probably pretty slim. But that's why the copyright expiration is set where it is. After much debate (back in 1978, actually) the time line for defunct works was set. Life +70.
That built in difficulty between the two arguments is why I've done two things here at the CoCo Hut. First, I promote CoCo collecting as much as possible. Take care of your CoCos and that original software. CoCo collectors are the first (and in some cases only) line of defense against some of that stuff disappearing forever. Second, track down and encourage original authors to share their works with the CoCo Community. There are plenty of options to do so that should be quite equitable to the authors themselves.
CoCoists, don't just assume. It's not yours to redistribute, so despite what you believe, don't take it upon yourself to make a decision for someone about their rights. It's condescending and rude, you do not know better than they do. And it is illegal, of course. And authors? Don't be stingy. You know as well as anyone that there's little or no commercial value in old CoCo software and publications. Seriously. Protect your property. But work with webmasters and CoCoists around the world to get your work back into circulation.
Here's two proposals, though there are tons of other ways to do this:
Set up some sort of micropay system for your vintage CoCo creations. Easy to do with places like PayPal. For a buck or two (think iTunes model) CoCoists can snag old software. This is a particularly good option for those looking to start developing (or are developing) new software for the CoCo. Use that older stuff to build a fan and customer base. Don't think you're going to get a lot of people willing to pay $20 or $30 for old CoCo software. Or even $10 for that matter. Your competition is too tough. Old CoCo games are fun, but you can download better to your cell phone for $1.99. A buck or two is probably your best price point, and don't expect to sell many. The market isn't that big. However, at that price point, you'll get a huge number of the hardcore users supporting it (even some of those that have the originals!), AND you'll pick up some of the casual retro-gamers that pop in and out of the CoCo scene.
I'll even consider setting something like that up here if there's enough interest from authors. Takes a few buttons clicks, so it's not rocket science. (Good thing, too, cause... well... I'm an idiot.) The main goal would be to get that old software out there for people to enjoy (at a more than reasonable cost) and encourage more modern development by some of those same authors. I've maintained for ages that the CoCo Community needs some form of expanded commerce, or developers aren't going to develop for it. There's one way to encourage it and I'll be happy to help in any way I can.
Option 2 is pretty straight forward. Set up some sort of arrangement for a CoCo website to distribute it to the community for free. Doesn't have to be here (though happy to do it, of course!). There's plenty of sites that would jump at the opportunity. If you're not going to use it, you're not going develop it, and it's just a "it's mine, so there!" thing, give it up. There's just no greater gift to the entire CoCo Community than letting that old software free. It will be greatly appreciated and recognized, I assure you. Better, release the whole thing, source code, art, tools and all. Help others pick it up, develop it, and make something new out of it. You won't get monetary compensation, but I suspect there will be some hearty recognition and thanks for doing it.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
What kicked this post off was, of course, the discussion about Hot CoCo. In a bit of odd timing, I also got a rather legal sounding email recently from a CoCo programmer who objected to one of his old programs being posted to a portion of the site. It was an accident (the files were mistakenly included in an archive of other stuff) and resolved amicably for all parties involved, but it's definitely not something we want to make a habit of having to deal with. To that extent, public announcement:
If an original author of a CoCo program (or anything for that matter) discovers something that belongs to them on any Club LTD Studios site, that shouldn't be there, email me immediately at captcpu@clubltdstudios.com. I'll pull it off right away. I do not "police" the other areas of the site. I rarely use downloaded software on my CoCo or emulators, except for the modern stuff, most of which I buy. Most the older stuff is simply not of interest to me. CoCo MAx and Max 10 were great programs back in the day, it was a flash-back blast to play with them again (I own the originals) but I'll take Photoshop and OpenOffice now, thank you. Using those old programs is a chore. Occasionally I come across a program that IS still fun to use on the CoCo, like Musica II, in which case I acquire it for my collection by buying the original on eBay and running off of backups. That's about it. I do browse through the message boards, posts here on the blog, and the file areas, of course. But I don't examine them particularly closely if they aren't my bag of dough nuts. So, if you see something that should not be there, give me a shout. I'll take care of it. :) By the same token, if you WANT your stuff posted, drop me a note, as well. We'll work something out and I'll shout to the world that it's here!
So what's all this have to do with CoCos and intellectual property rights? Well, a lot of people want to preserve the CoCo and the publications and software that were produced for it. A noble goal, to be sure. Occasionally, though, there's a bit of a fight about ownership and in the enthusiasm to share, property rights can get pushed aside. And that ain't right. That fight always boils down to the "what should be" side and the "what is" side.
"What Should Be"
These folks basically argue that 20-30 (older) year old software for a defunct 8-bit computer should be released into the public domain. Most of it is abandoned (no attempt to conduct commerce using it and/or insufficient attempts to protect the rights) and none of it has any real commercial value any longer. As such, the law should reflect this "abandonware" and, after a suitable period of time, it should default into the public domain. The main reasoning is that without such a mechanism in the law, historically important information (including code, articles, designs, art, et al.) will disappear long before the property rights expire.
"What Is"
This group's argument is pretty simple. It's the law. The original creator of a work should (and does) have a right to do with it as they please. They own it and if they want to let it fade into oblivion that's their right.
I've been in content creation and media, in some form of another, my entire working life; frequently independently, as well as for the likes of America Online and The Borders Group. I've signed so many non-disclosure agreements and property transfer contracts I can't talk about half the stuff I know. Regardless, I have an acute awareness of intellectual property rights and how creators can get royally screwed if they aren't careful and diligent. As such, I'm a big supporter of intellectual property laws, particularly copyrights, and due compensation to the original creator.
Unlike trademarks (and to some extent patents), copyright is pretty much rock solid. Ownership can get muddled, but the rights themselves are firm. If you hold a trademark, you have to defend it vigorously and consistently. For example, if you've ever run a moderately successful website or published something in print, you've probably gotten the "proper use" letter from a company.
"In [publication] you used the term "clorox" as a generic adjective/verb for bleach products. Please be aware that Clorox brand liquid bleach is a trademark of [company]. It should always be used as a proper noun... etc." Annoying, but they have to do that and send out those letters to protect their trademark. The law requires that effort if they ever need to take legal action to protect their brand. Copyrights are under no such restrictions, though. To protect a copyright the owner has to do.... absolutely nothing.
A copyright (after 1978) lasts the life of the original copyright holder, plus 70 years. That's it. It doesn't fade, and there's no mechanism to change the duration. Copyright covers several aspects of a work, as well, including original presentation. To use a recent example from the CoCo world, you can't reprint Hot CoCo in print or digital form, without permission, because the copyright is still in effect. The copyright covers whatever rights the owners purchased, plus the original presentation including format and artwork. Copyright doesn't cover the title of the publication (that's trademark), but does cover the logo (font, colors, etc.) artwork used to represent that title. So, you can't reprint the original Hot CoCo (e.g. scan it cover to cover and release it) without permission from whoever owns the rights to the publication. But...
Hot CoCo had many authors in the form of contributors. How's that work? Well, the original publishers of Hot CoCo would have purchased rights from the original authors. That's the hang up with the current owners of the publication. They have no idea or records of which rights were originally purchased or from whom. And even if they did, they probably would figure out pretty quick that there would be no profit in digging up that information and sorting it out just to appease a few 8-bit computer hobbyists.
Lonnie Falk was in a similar situation when he was negotiating "The Rainbow on Disk" project. Any rights not originally acquired by the publication are, by law, still owned by the original author. The publisher has an obligation to do their part to protect those rights. Which means they can't just release the original publication into the Public Domain for free. The publisher never purchased that right. If they just release the author's work, included in their original publication, for free then they could be held liable to the original author for deluding their rights as copyright holders. (In other words, if the publisher gives away the work for free, the original article authors could claim damages because the potential to resell the articles, which they still hold the rights to, is greatly diminished, if not obliterated.)
Most common rights purchased by a publisher of a magazine, here in the U.S., are First North American Serial Rights. Most will also purchase, as part of the deal, non-exclusive Reprint Rights or First Reprint Rights. That's pretty much standard. That gives the exclusive rights to be the first to publish a work in North America, and the right to reprint that work as they see fit in the future. The author retains the right to sell reprint rights elsewhere, as well as the right to republish the article as they see fit, including internationally and in digital format. (Though it is common for publications to acquire digital rights these days, of course.) I remember getting the writers guidelines long ago from The Rainbow, and FNAS rights were part of it. I don't remember if others were specified, but if Lonnie was able to negotiate a deal then they obviously had some sort of Reprint rights as well. With Hot CoCo, there's just no record of those rights, but from the authors I've spoken to, it wasn't an "all rights" deal. The original authors can still authorize reprints to other formats, apparently. (Not a lawyer. Don't own the rights myself. Talk to appropriate counsel. Etc.)
As such, an enterprising individual COULD contact those authors, gather up Reprint Rights through some form of arrangement, and then reprint the articles in a NEW format. An "originally appeared in" notice would probably be required or appropriate, but as long as it wasn't the same format and presentation as the original publication, it should be good if the original author a) still owns those rights and b) authorizes the publication. (Again with the "consult appropriate legal council before proceeding, IMHO, etc.")
CoCo software is a slightly more straight forward. In most instances, software companies buy ALL rights to the original author's creations. There may have been limited distribution deals, but in most cases, the ownership is going to be pretty clear. Either the original author still owns all the rights, or the company that bought those rights still owns them. Tracking down those owners could be challenging, though. Some would also have some form of reversion clause, so that rights revert back to the author if, say, the company goes out of business or chooses to stop publishing the material. If not, and in the event the company is no longer in business, the rights would have fallen to one of its principles; the owner in a sole proprietorship, or one of the partners/officers in a partnership or corporation. Either way, those rights aren't going to expire in our lifetimes.
Confused? It can get messy pretty quick. The short version is: Copyright last Lifetime + 70. Period. Prior to that, if you're inclined to put on the Net something created by someone else, get their permission first. You might be surprised to find quite a few creators are more than willing!
Now the promised opinion part...
As I said, I'm a big believer in intellectual property. Sorry, but you don't have the right to do whatever you want with someone else's stuff. Whether you agree with what they do with their stuff or not, that's kind of the whole concept of personal property.
But that doesn't mean some changes aren't in order. I do support the notion that abandoned works, including CoCo software, should be defaulted into the public domain at some point prior to the copyright statute based on very strict criteria. Absolutely. It's insane that a creator would ignore a work that is useful to the public, or of historical significance, for 30 years and then suddenly start screaming when a few hobbyists start sharing it around. Time to move out of the 1980s there, ya know? They have every right to do it, but that doesn't make it right.
The problem is that there's no easy way to do that. To my mind, it is simply not possible and still protect creator's rights.
In particular, and here's the debate, it's been suggested 20 to 50 years as a good benchmark. If the work has not been reasonably solicited commercially in interstate commerce for more than 20 (or 30 or 50 or whatever) years, or has not been published or maintained by reasonable standards in that time, it defaults into some form of non-commercial use public domain status.
The problem with this is obvious. Let's say, for example, Bob created Superhero X for the CoCo back in 1980 and it quickly faded into obscurity. It's not published or used at all until 2008 when suddenly, Superhero X is the hottest thing ever. Hell, Spielberg options the rights, for cryin' out loud! Under the proposal above, Bob is screwed. He never sees any money or credit for his creation. Does it matter that he created it 28 years ago? Of course not. He made it, and if someone's enjoying it and making money from it, he should get compensation for his work.
But that's not going to happen with old CoCo software, now is it? Well... the chances are probably pretty slim. But that's why the copyright expiration is set where it is. After much debate (back in 1978, actually) the time line for defunct works was set. Life +70.
That built in difficulty between the two arguments is why I've done two things here at the CoCo Hut. First, I promote CoCo collecting as much as possible. Take care of your CoCos and that original software. CoCo collectors are the first (and in some cases only) line of defense against some of that stuff disappearing forever. Second, track down and encourage original authors to share their works with the CoCo Community. There are plenty of options to do so that should be quite equitable to the authors themselves.
CoCoists, don't just assume. It's not yours to redistribute, so despite what you believe, don't take it upon yourself to make a decision for someone about their rights. It's condescending and rude, you do not know better than they do. And it is illegal, of course. And authors? Don't be stingy. You know as well as anyone that there's little or no commercial value in old CoCo software and publications. Seriously. Protect your property. But work with webmasters and CoCoists around the world to get your work back into circulation.
Here's two proposals, though there are tons of other ways to do this:
Set up some sort of micropay system for your vintage CoCo creations. Easy to do with places like PayPal. For a buck or two (think iTunes model) CoCoists can snag old software. This is a particularly good option for those looking to start developing (or are developing) new software for the CoCo. Use that older stuff to build a fan and customer base. Don't think you're going to get a lot of people willing to pay $20 or $30 for old CoCo software. Or even $10 for that matter. Your competition is too tough. Old CoCo games are fun, but you can download better to your cell phone for $1.99. A buck or two is probably your best price point, and don't expect to sell many. The market isn't that big. However, at that price point, you'll get a huge number of the hardcore users supporting it (even some of those that have the originals!), AND you'll pick up some of the casual retro-gamers that pop in and out of the CoCo scene.
I'll even consider setting something like that up here if there's enough interest from authors. Takes a few buttons clicks, so it's not rocket science. (Good thing, too, cause... well... I'm an idiot.) The main goal would be to get that old software out there for people to enjoy (at a more than reasonable cost) and encourage more modern development by some of those same authors. I've maintained for ages that the CoCo Community needs some form of expanded commerce, or developers aren't going to develop for it. There's one way to encourage it and I'll be happy to help in any way I can.
Option 2 is pretty straight forward. Set up some sort of arrangement for a CoCo website to distribute it to the community for free. Doesn't have to be here (though happy to do it, of course!). There's plenty of sites that would jump at the opportunity. If you're not going to use it, you're not going develop it, and it's just a "it's mine, so there!" thing, give it up. There's just no greater gift to the entire CoCo Community than letting that old software free. It will be greatly appreciated and recognized, I assure you. Better, release the whole thing, source code, art, tools and all. Help others pick it up, develop it, and make something new out of it. You won't get monetary compensation, but I suspect there will be some hearty recognition and thanks for doing it.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
August Poll and some bits
Let's see...
The August poll was about what we'd would like to see next on the CoCo Hut. An image gallery came in first. That is fairly easy to impliment and I'll see about getting the software installed on the server for that ASAP. Second place was an online store, which would be trickier, but certainly doable. I have a few ideas on the subject I'll post on the message board. Comments and thoughts are more than welcome. I wouldn't expect anything to come of it until next year, but it would be good to start laying the groundwork and chatting up ideas.
If you're in the mood to buy CoCo stuff hit the CoCo Hut Gift shop for T-shirts, mugs, and... well, whatever else we get in the mood for. :) That's actually kind of cool. Anything you want to see, just drop a note. If you've got an image you want a T-shirt or something, cafepress can do that. No prob. And other people might like it, too!
The current poll has to do with the commercial at the top of the main page, and is just... well for silly. I love YouTube. I don't even have cable TV anymore. I mean really, the stuff on YouTube is WAY more entertaining. heh... :)
A 2008 CoCo Calendar? Tried to get one done last year and just couldn't get the images together. Is this something folks would like? Cafe Press has some excellent calendar options, so if I had the images and text to pop in there, we could have one whipped up pretty quick. I managed four CoCo photos that would be suitable. If you're interested in contributing a very high quality image for it, drop me a note. We'd need, oh, I'd say about... 12. :) Proceeds (US$1 per calendar) would go to support the Hut, of course. Depending on the format chosen, that would make the retail price between $4.99 to $20.99. I'll post the options to the message board.
Some questions I've gotten via email the last few months:
What happened to the Sunday CoCoist? My scheduled changed and I don't have Sunday free anymore. So that wasn't gonna work. With more contributors, CoCo Downunder joining us at the Hut, and the message board running along nicely, the hope is that eventually we'll have something CoCoish for you if you stop by, say, once a week or so. Might be interesting threads, new blog posts, or files to play with but it'll be something. We can build it from there.
(paraphrased) When's the GloCo gonna be done??? Well... I dunno. When it gets there. The mods that need doing are finish soldering the socket, covert to a PC power supply, and do the keyboard decals. Not much, but will require, say, an hour or two each uninterrupted. I haven't had a couple of hours uninterrupted in months, so we'll see how it works out. :) I'll post something in Pimp My CoCo as soon as there's something to tell.
How do I get my auction mentioned in the CoCo Collector? You can't. :) It has to be something one of the bloggers here sees and thinks is interesting or mentionable. No placement or promotion by request, I'm afraid. What I DO recommend is emailing me when you post an auction. I'll certainly be happy to take a look. (Other bloggers here may feel differently, so ask before spamming, please.) I look for items that are of a collectible nature. That mint Personal Finance pak isn't gonna get my CoCo lust going.
Sellers should also feel free to post a list of their current or upcoming auctions into the General forum of the message board! I have no problem with this at all, and if there's enough interest in it, I'll bring it up with the board admins and mods and see about setting up a separate forum for those types of posts. Hey, promoting yourself is essential, so jump on in. I recommend listing when the auctions will start, how long they will run, and a couple of pictures, at minimum.
Okay, that's enough for now... :) If I can stop playing WoW long enough (that game is pure digital crack), I'll play with image gallery software and see what we can get going.
Angel's Luck,
Capt
The August poll was about what we'd would like to see next on the CoCo Hut. An image gallery came in first. That is fairly easy to impliment and I'll see about getting the software installed on the server for that ASAP. Second place was an online store, which would be trickier, but certainly doable. I have a few ideas on the subject I'll post on the message board. Comments and thoughts are more than welcome. I wouldn't expect anything to come of it until next year, but it would be good to start laying the groundwork and chatting up ideas.
If you're in the mood to buy CoCo stuff hit the CoCo Hut Gift shop for T-shirts, mugs, and... well, whatever else we get in the mood for. :) That's actually kind of cool. Anything you want to see, just drop a note. If you've got an image you want a T-shirt or something, cafepress can do that. No prob. And other people might like it, too!
The current poll has to do with the commercial at the top of the main page, and is just... well for silly. I love YouTube. I don't even have cable TV anymore. I mean really, the stuff on YouTube is WAY more entertaining. heh... :)
A 2008 CoCo Calendar? Tried to get one done last year and just couldn't get the images together. Is this something folks would like? Cafe Press has some excellent calendar options, so if I had the images and text to pop in there, we could have one whipped up pretty quick. I managed four CoCo photos that would be suitable. If you're interested in contributing a very high quality image for it, drop me a note. We'd need, oh, I'd say about... 12. :) Proceeds (US$1 per calendar) would go to support the Hut, of course. Depending on the format chosen, that would make the retail price between $4.99 to $20.99. I'll post the options to the message board.
Some questions I've gotten via email the last few months:
What happened to the Sunday CoCoist? My scheduled changed and I don't have Sunday free anymore. So that wasn't gonna work. With more contributors, CoCo Downunder joining us at the Hut, and the message board running along nicely, the hope is that eventually we'll have something CoCoish for you if you stop by, say, once a week or so. Might be interesting threads, new blog posts, or files to play with but it'll be something. We can build it from there.
(paraphrased) When's the GloCo gonna be done??? Well... I dunno. When it gets there. The mods that need doing are finish soldering the socket, covert to a PC power supply, and do the keyboard decals. Not much, but will require, say, an hour or two each uninterrupted. I haven't had a couple of hours uninterrupted in months, so we'll see how it works out. :) I'll post something in Pimp My CoCo as soon as there's something to tell.
How do I get my auction mentioned in the CoCo Collector? You can't. :) It has to be something one of the bloggers here sees and thinks is interesting or mentionable. No placement or promotion by request, I'm afraid. What I DO recommend is emailing me when you post an auction. I'll certainly be happy to take a look. (Other bloggers here may feel differently, so ask before spamming, please.) I look for items that are of a collectible nature. That mint Personal Finance pak isn't gonna get my CoCo lust going.
Sellers should also feel free to post a list of their current or upcoming auctions into the General forum of the message board! I have no problem with this at all, and if there's enough interest in it, I'll bring it up with the board admins and mods and see about setting up a separate forum for those types of posts. Hey, promoting yourself is essential, so jump on in. I recommend listing when the auctions will start, how long they will run, and a couple of pictures, at minimum.
Okay, that's enough for now... :) If I can stop playing WoW long enough (that game is pure digital crack), I'll play with image gallery software and see what we can get going.
Angel's Luck,
Capt
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Coco Leisure reading
Having a touch of OCD :-), I find myself searching the net for anything coco related quite frequently. For example, the other day I found a couple of interesting articles (outdated of course), that mentioned the Coco (by doing a google search for 'Tandy Color Computer cut costs'). Dont ask me why. The first one was called "Price War in Small Computers" ,which talked about the price wars going on back in the early 80's with the 8-bit computers of the day. Its funny how its seems so similar to the price wars of video gaming consoles of today. Another one was called "David Versus Goliath" and talks about how Microware had big plans to squash Bill Gates with OS-9 set-top boxes. Theres some references to the Coco 3 in there. I believe the system is still used today in cable boxes, not sure. A system called "DAVID". If you haven't already seen these articles, I think you'll find them some interesting reads. Some more tidbits for the Coco history books.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Thanks for the Welcome!
Thanks for the greets all! I'll try my best to post something worthwhile in the near future. Thanks for letting me onboard. Now where did I hide my last 20 cents? :-0
Friday, August 10, 2007
Welcome NavyDave to the best coco blogger
I second Captcpu's welcome to NavyDave. Welcome to the best coco blogger in the world.
All we need now is some well known Coco Programmers dropping in and leaving their 20cents worth and the website will rock.
laters
Briza
All we need now is some well known Coco Programmers dropping in and leaving their 20cents worth and the website will rock.
laters
Briza
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Welcome NavyDave!
Just want to take a moment to welcome our newest blog member, NavyDave!!! Besides having an enviable CoCo collection, Dave is also an accomplished musician. I'll let him post an introduction with all the gritty details, but you can catch him on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/navydave1. Welcome to the CoCo Hut!
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Stinkin' message boards :)
Well, apparently I ganked the stinkin' message board. Been trying to restore it for three hours, but so far, dead as a doornail. I shall take it up again on the morrow. Until then I ask, how gung ho is everyone for an alternate CoCo message board? Your thoughts?
I'm more than willing to do it, of course. I love it! But is it something that others are going to use? Let me know.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
I'm more than willing to do it, of course. I love it! But is it something that others are going to use? Let me know.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Cris invited them, I'll welcome them!!!
Welcome Bob, Briza and everyone else from CocoDownunder!!! Hearing from Cris that he invited our Aussie CoCoNutz was great news. Hopefully, and indeed it looks to be happening, you guys can bring some life to the bolg since Cris has been dealing with Harry Potter mania and I've been dealing with life. It looks like it'll be around October before I get back to my sarcastic self. Hopefully by then, I'll have Evil Lab Florida up and running. Noe guaranteesm tho...
Later,
Brian
Discuss this entry and its comments in The CoCo Hut Message Board!
Later,
Brian
Discuss this entry and its comments in The CoCo Hut Message Board!
Welcome to cocodownunder part 2
Discuss this entry and its comments in The CoCo Hut Message Board!
I'm hoping to have the old topics from the old website called cocodownunder over to this blogger in a few days time. Sure Wordpress was a dream to use. But in time I'll get the hang of this blogger.
And as Cris mentioned in a earlier email to me. In a few days time. He will have a storage area setup to hold the former zip file contents from the old website. So fellow coconuts you can all rejoice. Part2 of cocodownunder is up and running.
laters
Briza
I'm hoping to have the old topics from the old website called cocodownunder over to this blogger in a few days time. Sure Wordpress was a dream to use. But in time I'll get the hang of this blogger.
And as Cris mentioned in a earlier email to me. In a few days time. He will have a storage area setup to hold the former zip file contents from the old website. So fellow coconuts you can all rejoice. Part2 of cocodownunder is up and running.
laters
Briza
Hello from Down Under!
Thanks for the invitation to this blog site.
I'm looking forward to being able to upload all my coco document files to share with others. I have *so* many. :)
Regards, Bob Devries
Dalby, Queensland, Australia
Discuss this entry and its comments in The CoCo Hut Message Board!
I'm looking forward to being able to upload all my coco document files to share with others. I have *so* many. :)
Regards, Bob Devries
Dalby, Queensland, Australia
Discuss this entry and its comments in The CoCo Hut Message Board!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sockmaster non-CoCo Fun
While searching out weekend project do while on vacation, and figuring out a Fall project as well (I know I haven't finished the two projects I have going for summer... sheesh!) I stumbled upon this on Instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/member/sockmaster/
Both LED projects by our very own Sockmaster! My wife took one look at the fridge project and said "That's awesome! If you touch my fridge I'll kill you." (On the other hand, both our iRobot cleaners died recently, neither of which I was allowed to touch before, so now I get to have a whack at those... bwahahaha!) From reading through it, looks like it could be modified to go somewhere else. Then I got to thinking about how cool it would be to build an LED grid and then hook it up to the CoCo somehow so that you could program it via a PIC to display simple pictures like this... and then promptly realized I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to go about it. Still, it'd be cool... heh
Anyhow, if you like to Make stuff, be sure to check out Instructables, and in particular Sockmasters contributions. The LED indirect light project is one I've already got several uses for and have started putting together to light bookcases and my wife's makeup stand. Very cool stuff!
Angel's Luck,
Capt
http://www.instructables.com/member/sockmaster/
Both LED projects by our very own Sockmaster! My wife took one look at the fridge project and said "That's awesome! If you touch my fridge I'll kill you." (On the other hand, both our iRobot cleaners died recently, neither of which I was allowed to touch before, so now I get to have a whack at those... bwahahaha!) From reading through it, looks like it could be modified to go somewhere else. Then I got to thinking about how cool it would be to build an LED grid and then hook it up to the CoCo somehow so that you could program it via a PIC to display simple pictures like this... and then promptly realized I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to go about it. Still, it'd be cool... heh
Anyhow, if you like to Make stuff, be sure to check out Instructables, and in particular Sockmasters contributions. The LED indirect light project is one I've already got several uses for and have started putting together to light bookcases and my wife's makeup stand. Very cool stuff!
Angel's Luck,
Capt
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007
No CoCo news or updates, but I got a new PC! :)
I surfed around CoCo-land a few days ago, and actually for the last few weeks, and just haven't really found anything interesting to write about. And alas, that damn Harry Potter has been eating up all my time of late. Being a bookseller by trade, I suppose I do have to prepare for the biggest fargin' book release in history. But it really cuts into my CoCo time.
On the pimping front, I did manage to get the 6309 socketed in the GlowCo, but it wouldn't fire. Pretty sure I botched a connection, so I'll have to go back through all 40 and figure out which one(s) a goofed. I suck at soldering almost, but not quite as, bad as I do at desoldering. heh. On the other hand, I'm learning loads about the guts of the CoCo and electronics in general. Fun stuff. And handy, too. I wired up a cool LED wand for my HP costume. (Yes, I have to hold a giant party at the store, and yes, I have to go in costume. If you're in Tulsa, stop by! It's going to be a blast). CoCo stuff can lead and lend itself to all sorts of interesting things.
Mostly, though, I've been playing CoCo games. Pretty much anything and everything, which will be great for website updates, if I ever get around to doing that again.
I did buy a new PC, as well. Just a Dell out of the cheapseats, but considering it's the first new PC I've had in many, many moons, it seems pretty sweet to me. Nice big fat widescreen monitor, gobs of hard drive space. I actually like Vista, though I need to spend some time gutting out all the crap MS and Dell loaded on it. I know it has nay sayers, and saying you like an MS product is tantamount to heresy in the CoCo world... heh... but I'm enjoying the hell out of it. The CoCo is partially an MS product, after all.
Alas, it has no floppies (nor anyplace to hook one up) and no serial ports. So that means no DriveWire! Arg! From a modern standpoint, it simplifies the crap out of the thing. The machine is small, quick, and easy to use. From a retro-point of view, it's a nightmare. I suppose it's a good thing, though. I'll get an opportunity to try out how DriveWire works when run through a Serial-to-USB adapter. I'll letcha know how it works out.
Anyhoo... If you have any CoCo News, send it this way. There's not whole lot of action out there at the moment, but there's plenty of stuff in progress from what I can tell. If you'd like me to post an update on your projects, or any other CoCo announcement for that matter, drop a note to coco@clubltdstudios.com
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
On the pimping front, I did manage to get the 6309 socketed in the GlowCo, but it wouldn't fire. Pretty sure I botched a connection, so I'll have to go back through all 40 and figure out which one(s) a goofed. I suck at soldering almost, but not quite as, bad as I do at desoldering. heh. On the other hand, I'm learning loads about the guts of the CoCo and electronics in general. Fun stuff. And handy, too. I wired up a cool LED wand for my HP costume. (Yes, I have to hold a giant party at the store, and yes, I have to go in costume. If you're in Tulsa, stop by! It's going to be a blast). CoCo stuff can lead and lend itself to all sorts of interesting things.
Mostly, though, I've been playing CoCo games. Pretty much anything and everything, which will be great for website updates, if I ever get around to doing that again.
I did buy a new PC, as well. Just a Dell out of the cheapseats, but considering it's the first new PC I've had in many, many moons, it seems pretty sweet to me. Nice big fat widescreen monitor, gobs of hard drive space. I actually like Vista, though I need to spend some time gutting out all the crap MS and Dell loaded on it. I know it has nay sayers, and saying you like an MS product is tantamount to heresy in the CoCo world... heh... but I'm enjoying the hell out of it. The CoCo is partially an MS product, after all.
Alas, it has no floppies (nor anyplace to hook one up) and no serial ports. So that means no DriveWire! Arg! From a modern standpoint, it simplifies the crap out of the thing. The machine is small, quick, and easy to use. From a retro-point of view, it's a nightmare. I suppose it's a good thing, though. I'll get an opportunity to try out how DriveWire works when run through a Serial-to-USB adapter. I'll letcha know how it works out.
Anyhoo... If you have any CoCo News, send it this way. There's not whole lot of action out there at the moment, but there's plenty of stuff in progress from what I can tell. If you'd like me to post an update on your projects, or any other CoCo announcement for that matter, drop a note to coco@clubltdstudios.com
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Buying Cars, CoCo Updates, and Other Fun Stuff
Sorry about the lack of posts, folks. (Although the concern and emails have been greatly appreciated, and no I'm not dead or incapacitated. heh!) My old Ford Escort finally died a horribly death and I've been stressing and scrambling through the process of buying a new car. Which, by the way, is a wholly evil and mind numbing experience. Sheesh! Just looking and price bickering took a four freakin' days! Anyhoo, that's about over...
CoCo-wise, there hasn't been too much to report, though I urge everyone to keep up with the V.R. CoCo 4 project. No website yet, but the message board at coco3.com is a good place to keep tabs for now. Hopefully we'll see some designs, code and testing soon. Should be a blast! I did pick up a few bits for The Sunday CoCoists, which will be back at it's irregularly scheduled time next week. Probably. :) And I'm prepping a CoCo Collector post for late tonight.
I haven't gotten to get on my CoCo for a week. I know, horror, right? It's hell believe me. But I did steal a couple of minutes to start cleaning up the GloCo's main board where I'd unassed the 6809 and will hopefully get a shot at soldering in the socket for 6309. This will be the B version (2 Mhz) for now, but I'm looking forward to trying it out with NitrOS-9 and anything else I can dig up that will use the chip's advanced features. Also, have to locate (or upgrade) an MPI soon, so that's on the list. Of course, since I just sold my soul to the bank for the next three years, we'll have to see on that one. heh... More as it develops.
Tune in and Stay tuned!
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
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CoCo-wise, there hasn't been too much to report, though I urge everyone to keep up with the V.R. CoCo 4 project. No website yet, but the message board at coco3.com is a good place to keep tabs for now. Hopefully we'll see some designs, code and testing soon. Should be a blast! I did pick up a few bits for The Sunday CoCoists, which will be back at it's irregularly scheduled time next week. Probably. :) And I'm prepping a CoCo Collector post for late tonight.
I haven't gotten to get on my CoCo for a week. I know, horror, right? It's hell believe me. But I did steal a couple of minutes to start cleaning up the GloCo's main board where I'd unassed the 6809 and will hopefully get a shot at soldering in the socket for 6309. This will be the B version (2 Mhz) for now, but I'm looking forward to trying it out with NitrOS-9 and anything else I can dig up that will use the chip's advanced features. Also, have to locate (or upgrade) an MPI soon, so that's on the list. Of course, since I just sold my soul to the bank for the next three years, we'll have to see on that one. heh... More as it develops.
Tune in and Stay tuned!
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007
What?!? No Sunday CoCoist??? (Sorta)
Okay, the timing is a little off this week. I really wanted to post a Sunday CoCoist, but the CoCo Collector reeeeally needed an update, and so did the main site. So Sunday I did the Collector, and updated the Price Guide, and tonight I did some on the website. Heh... So, theoretically and baring, oh, life in general, the plan is to have the Sunday CoCoist on Sunday and The CoCo Collector on Tuesday. These will be late night posts, and yes I'll miss occasionally. If I do miss, I'll try to post something. :)
Changes to the this blog, thus far, are re-adding the syndication feed. (I'll add the feed Collector tomorrow, too tired! But if you want it: The CoCo Collector Atom Feed.) The feed is via Atom's XML syndication feature. Most readers can read this format. If anyone wants it, I'll add RSS as well (might just do it anyhoo).
For those that aren't familiar with site syndication, let me 'splain. A syndication feed let's you pull the contents, or part of the contents, of a website to you. Usually, this is in the form of an abbreviated list of headers, labels, or headlines. You can then read the full article when you're ready. The benefit is, you don't have to keep jumping from site to site looking for updates. If the site has been updated, the update will show up in your feed list. If it hasn't, it won't. Easy. And handy. :)
Making this work is dirt simple. Two examples:
In Firefox, if the site is syndicated, you'll see an icon appear in the address bar. Click, select where you want the link to live in your booksmarks, and you're subscribed. From now on, whenever you mouse over that bookmark, you'll see a list of updates to that site/blog. Click and you'll get the whole article.
You can also feed the syndicated site to an aggregated feed collector. There are many available, both programs you host on your computer, and web based aggregators. I use My Yahoo, since it's my default home page anyhow. Now when I fire up my browser, for example, the latest updates from, say, Curtis Boyle's CoCo Games List site are listed nice and neat in a My Yahoo content box. So as soon as Curtis updates the site, I know it. You can do the same thing with the CoCo Hut blog, The CoCo Collector, Brain's CoCo/Model III Repak blog, etc. If you look to the right pane of this blog, under Blog Feeds, you see that THIS site is acting like an syndication aggregator! Fun, eh?
The point is that it's easier than ever to stay up to date with your favorite CoCo sites and blogs, as long as the authors are syndicating the sites via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or Atom (an XML API used by google.com/blogger.com which can also do RSS).
If you're currently syndicating your CoCo site or blog via RSS or Atom, drop me a note with the feed URL. I'd love to feed it into this blog, and add it to my own list as well.
[Note: blogger's Add Site Feed feature seems to be down tonight, so I'll try to get more feeds added soon. Do send them in, though! They'll get it working again shortly.]
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Discuss this entry and its comments in The CoCo Hut Message Board!
Changes to the this blog, thus far, are re-adding the syndication feed. (I'll add the feed Collector tomorrow, too tired! But if you want it: The CoCo Collector Atom Feed.) The feed is via Atom's XML syndication feature. Most readers can read this format. If anyone wants it, I'll add RSS as well (might just do it anyhoo).
For those that aren't familiar with site syndication, let me 'splain. A syndication feed let's you pull the contents, or part of the contents, of a website to you. Usually, this is in the form of an abbreviated list of headers, labels, or headlines. You can then read the full article when you're ready. The benefit is, you don't have to keep jumping from site to site looking for updates. If the site has been updated, the update will show up in your feed list. If it hasn't, it won't. Easy. And handy. :)
Making this work is dirt simple. Two examples:
In Firefox, if the site is syndicated, you'll see an icon appear in the address bar. Click, select where you want the link to live in your booksmarks, and you're subscribed. From now on, whenever you mouse over that bookmark, you'll see a list of updates to that site/blog. Click and you'll get the whole article.
You can also feed the syndicated site to an aggregated feed collector. There are many available, both programs you host on your computer, and web based aggregators. I use My Yahoo, since it's my default home page anyhow. Now when I fire up my browser, for example, the latest updates from, say, Curtis Boyle's CoCo Games List site are listed nice and neat in a My Yahoo content box. So as soon as Curtis updates the site, I know it. You can do the same thing with the CoCo Hut blog, The CoCo Collector, Brain's CoCo/Model III Repak blog, etc. If you look to the right pane of this blog, under Blog Feeds, you see that THIS site is acting like an syndication aggregator! Fun, eh?
The point is that it's easier than ever to stay up to date with your favorite CoCo sites and blogs, as long as the authors are syndicating the sites via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or Atom (an XML API used by google.com/blogger.com which can also do RSS).
If you're currently syndicating your CoCo site or blog via RSS or Atom, drop me a note with the feed URL. I'd love to feed it into this blog, and add it to my own list as well.
[Note: blogger's Add Site Feed feature seems to be down tonight, so I'll try to get more feeds added soon. Do send them in, though! They'll get it working again shortly.]
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
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Saturday, April 28, 2007
Stinkin' Spammers, Part 2
I think I ticked someone off... heh... :)
I sent out email to all registered users of the CoCo Hut message board, but here it is again just in case:
Basically, some porn got stuck in there. And it wasn't even good porn. Sheesh! I change the scripts a bit and added a phpBB update tonight. So it should be locked down. Posting a dirty picture or two, by the way, is about the worse thing they can do. No serious damage. But, if it offended anyone, I am truly sorry. Steps have been taken to purge this peril from our midsts. :)
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
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I sent out email to all registered users of the CoCo Hut message board, but here it is again just in case:
Unfortunately, some spammers got through to the board today and posted some, er, rather graphic pictures. I sincerely apologize to anyone who stumbled into them before I could get them nuked.
The board IS completely safe (well, as safe as any phpBB board). It won't execute scripts or anything like that, or anything that someone could use to compromise a remote computer. If you see a message from someone who's name is not underlined (linked), those are the ones to avoid. Shouldn't see those anymore, but just in case, that's how you can tell. I have locked down the forums they got into, as well, and modified the scripts to stop the issue from happening again.
Again, my apologies. If you have any concerns, please don't hesitate to write.
Basically, some porn got stuck in there. And it wasn't even good porn. Sheesh! I change the scripts a bit and added a phpBB update tonight. So it should be locked down. Posting a dirty picture or two, by the way, is about the worse thing they can do. No serious damage. But, if it offended anyone, I am truly sorry. Steps have been taken to purge this peril from our midsts. :)
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
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Friday, April 20, 2007
@#$&*#ing Spammers
We now break from our regularly scheduled CoCo-loving for a quick word from our maintenance department:
All spammers must die.
Thank you.
I've spent the last couple of days fighting off an attack to my email accounts. Sigh. After 6000+ spams in 24 hours, I finally had to break down and turn on the servers spam filters. I use Yahoo Small Business Internet Services and their SpamGuard is actually pretty good. I just like to have all my mail and deal with it myself. heh.
Anyhow, I had to turn on the spam filters and ramp 'em up to the most aggressive level. As of right now, all legitimate mail I was able to snag has been answered. If you haven't had a response from me (and are expecting one) please drop a note here (hit comment below) and let me know. I'll get it fixed and email you right back.
And to my lovely secret spam admirer: I've tracked where you're broadcasting from, I know it's out of this country... but someday I will be ripping both your arms off and make you eat them. In the meantime there's a little surprise waiting for you at your hub connection. Enjoy figuring that one out, you @#$&*er. Have a nice day.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
All spammers must die.
Thank you.
I've spent the last couple of days fighting off an attack to my email accounts. Sigh. After 6000+ spams in 24 hours, I finally had to break down and turn on the servers spam filters. I use Yahoo Small Business Internet Services and their SpamGuard is actually pretty good. I just like to have all my mail and deal with it myself. heh.
Anyhow, I had to turn on the spam filters and ramp 'em up to the most aggressive level. As of right now, all legitimate mail I was able to snag has been answered. If you haven't had a response from me (and are expecting one) please drop a note here (hit comment below) and let me know. I'll get it fixed and email you right back.
And to my lovely secret spam admirer: I've tracked where you're broadcasting from, I know it's out of this country... but someday I will be ripping both your arms off and make you eat them. In the meantime there's a little surprise waiting for you at your hub connection. Enjoy figuring that one out, you @#$&*er. Have a nice day.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
DK A Hit!
The consensus is in! 100% of little girls under the age of seven in my house say Sock Master's Donkey Kong conversion is a hit. (Hey, if Al Gore can claim a consensus on "global warming" I can claim a consensus with a test set of two little girls. heh!)
DK is a huge hit here!
In other CoCo goings on at the Evil Lab, I'm gathering materials to do the electronics work on the GloCo but have questions. I've also embarked on another game project. I wouldn't keep my fingers crossed, but if it works it'll be absolutely... er... odd.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
DK is a huge hit here!
In other CoCo goings on at the Evil Lab, I'm gathering materials to do the electronics work on the GloCo but have questions. I've also embarked on another game project. I wouldn't keep my fingers crossed, but if it works it'll be absolutely... er... odd.
Angel's Luck,
Capt.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Armchair CoCoFesters
Okay, maybe "fester" isn't the best word. Still, those that couldn't attend the CoCoFest in Chicago managed to congregate in the coco3.com chat room and were treated to some great times. Rumor at this early date is that a lot of folks took video and pictures at the Fest. Hopefully we'll be seeing those soon, and I've course I'll link them here as I come across them.
The big announcement, of course, was SockMaster's "translation" of the original Donkey Kong to the 6809 CoCo. The Donkey Kong arcade machine was originally run on a Z80 processor. SockMaster has all the technical bits on his website. What was great about it was the anticipation and build up to the release. Lots of CoCoists, lots of excited CoCoists. The CoCo community really needs to do this sort of thing more often!
http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/dk/index.html
On Sunday, we got word that Steve Bjork was there (yes, THE Steve Bjork) and had all sorts of goodies. The main one that made everyone's eyes pop was an unfinished version of The Last Ninja. This game was done for other systems, but never finished for the CoCo 3. Alas, Tandy had too tight a deadline and by the time Steve got to it, it was too close to the deadline to finish. Is it possible it could get finished now? Stay tuned. And check out Steve Bjork's CoCo site at:
http://coco.etechwds.com/
Apparently there was a forum about creating the CoCo 4 and a project was started along those lines. This would be a "VR CoCo 4" with super enhanced graphics capabilities and other goodies. Stay tuned for more on this project as it develops.
Briza and I logged some of the chats. While unedited, they are currently living at:
http://clubltdstudios.com/files/coco/cocofest07/
Some great reading in there if you can wade through. If not, wait for the edited versions. ;)
There's been a bit of controversy of the last year regarding attendance at the Fest, versus folks that just want to (or have to) armchair it. I won't get into that here. :) But I will say that this "Fest" brought more CoCoists online and in contact with each other than anything else over the last couple of years. As I write this, there's still a large crowd in the coco3.com chatroom discussing lost games, the coco 4, and other CoCo items. There's even people just bantering. It's a Good Thing. We need more of this... if we can have a VR CoCo, then we can certainly do more things together for VR CoCo gatherings!
Give the chat a try. Give a message board a shot. Post something. Just sit and chit chat. But get out there and show your CoCo Love!
Angel's Luck,
Capt
The big announcement, of course, was SockMaster's "translation" of the original Donkey Kong to the 6809 CoCo. The Donkey Kong arcade machine was originally run on a Z80 processor. SockMaster has all the technical bits on his website. What was great about it was the anticipation and build up to the release. Lots of CoCoists, lots of excited CoCoists. The CoCo community really needs to do this sort of thing more often!
http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/dk/index.html
On Sunday, we got word that Steve Bjork was there (yes, THE Steve Bjork) and had all sorts of goodies. The main one that made everyone's eyes pop was an unfinished version of The Last Ninja. This game was done for other systems, but never finished for the CoCo 3. Alas, Tandy had too tight a deadline and by the time Steve got to it, it was too close to the deadline to finish. Is it possible it could get finished now? Stay tuned. And check out Steve Bjork's CoCo site at:
http://coco.etechwds.com/
Apparently there was a forum about creating the CoCo 4 and a project was started along those lines. This would be a "VR CoCo 4" with super enhanced graphics capabilities and other goodies. Stay tuned for more on this project as it develops.
Briza and I logged some of the chats. While unedited, they are currently living at:
http://clubltdstudios.com/files/coco/cocofest07/
Some great reading in there if you can wade through. If not, wait for the edited versions. ;)
There's been a bit of controversy of the last year regarding attendance at the Fest, versus folks that just want to (or have to) armchair it. I won't get into that here. :) But I will say that this "Fest" brought more CoCoists online and in contact with each other than anything else over the last couple of years. As I write this, there's still a large crowd in the coco3.com chatroom discussing lost games, the coco 4, and other CoCo items. There's even people just bantering. It's a Good Thing. We need more of this... if we can have a VR CoCo, then we can certainly do more things together for VR CoCo gatherings!
Give the chat a try. Give a message board a shot. Post something. Just sit and chit chat. But get out there and show your CoCo Love!
Angel's Luck,
Capt
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