While in college, I threw together some web-based games when I was teaching myself CGI programming. By the time I graduated, I had discovered the games had become extremely popular with WebTV users, since they couldn't play any Java-based games. (The average age of a WebTV user seems to be 'senior' too, it seems, so the games were pretty entertaining to them.)
Anyway, when I graduated, I decided to get an actual domain name for the site and run ads on it. For a while (in the 'boom'), I was even able to live off of the ad revnue for a few months between jobs.;^)
Some of the games are even kind of educational, sort of;^)
A long time ago, at a university far, far away... Rather than writing a real printed paper for one of my GE biology classes, I decided to whip something up on that newfangled Interweb.
The SL-5500 has 64MB of SD-RAM, but it's typically divided between 'storage space' (like a hard drive on a desktop) and 'place for programs to run in' (like RAM on a desktop), much like other PDAs do it.
This gives you, by default, 32MB of 'RAM' and 32MB of 'storage.'
On the new SL-5600, they've got only 32MB of SD-RAM, but it's all used as 'RAM'. So no loss there (unless you were doing something funky with your SL-5500 to get more than 32MB; like running your filesystem off an SD card).
But it's got a lot of flash (64MB, IIRC) available for storage, so compared to the SL-5500, you get twice the _space_ (for data and programs), and an added bonus of not worrying about the data getting lost if the batteries die. (Some would say "when" the batteries die. But honestly, I use my SL-5000D regularly, and charge it over night, and haven't had it die completely in almost a year!)
*shrug* Sorry.:^) To us geeks, it's exciting news. Sure it happens to be news about a new commercial product / discounts for an existing commercial product.
Ok, one demo is a TAD larger than 2K of source, and uses 5K of data (a MOD music file). The other is EXACTLY 2048 bytes of source, and is a simple little T*tr*s(tm) clone.
> 1: Why not a single task system? Eliminates VM (and associated overhead).
I happy to enjoy being able to stop what I'm doing, looking up a phone number, and going right back to where I was without digging around to find the application I was running.
I also enjoy talking on IRC or checking my email while a web page loads. Or calculating some numbers while a new program is being installed.
> 2: Why soo big monitor? 640x480 is a lot of power to keep lit. Try 320x240
Hmm... Because you can see a lot more on it, no doubt? Perhaps that's why people keep making bigger monitors and TV sets. Or maybe they're all crazy, and it's an LCD conspiracy!
As for being 'big' physically (you seem to think it's a lot more space to 'keep lit'), it's no bigger than the SL-5500. The screen is about the same size as pretty much every other PDA out there. (It's the same as my Palm III, if I count the silkscreen area, which is 'soft' (ie, screen space) on most newer Palms)
> 3: WHy is monitor color? If it's a pda, you need text and grayscale images. Needless energy waste.
Since when do I need greyscale images? It's hard to read a map if all of the lines are black and white. And frankly, having a To-Do list item highlighted in red when it's past due is a pretty reasonable way to make it noticable.
> 4: People want devices that do XYZ. Why not have plugin devices that power themselves (on their own batteries)? Your 802.11 card dies. big deal. You can still use yoru pda.
I see what you're getting at here, but batteries aren't light. If everything had batteries in them needlessly, the thing would weigh way too much to be comfortable to hold. Besides, spending the extra cash on a low-power device is probably much cheaper than if the device had its own battery!
> 5: Have no keyboard onboard. Makes things too klunky. Have the gui able to handle all touch access but have a keyboard adaptor (along with keyboard battery) so you dont have to hunt letters.
You'll be wanting the SL-A300 then.
> 6: Why not use a slower processor but have dedicated circuits that are only used when demanded (music decompresser).
I guess maybe you don't know much about modern PDA CPUs...
> I want something that works, not something to make a political stand.
It does work. And trust me, Sharp's not exactly a bunch of singing hippy freaks. There's no "political stand" involved on their part. All of Japan just seems to be chosing Linux to run their consumer electronics.
> It's got a larger everything. The fucker's just a mini-laptop.
Did you even look at the photos? It's barely any bigger than the SL-5500, which is barely bigger than a typical PalmOS or PocketPC PDA. Or were you looking for one of those "PDAs on a memory card" 'Rex' things?
My Zaurus lives happily in my pant pocket, along with my cellphone, a pen and a stick of lip balm. Maybe you have very small pockets, or something...?
One of the few arguments I have FOR color screens on handhelds is that maps (and similar data) can be easier to read when in color.:^)
This isn't saying that full-color JPEG photos and MPEG videos, and 3D 3rd-person shooters don't need color... they just aren't the best argument for it.;^)
Sega Genesis 3-button controllers work fine as a joystick on the Atari 2600 and 8-bit computers. (And possibly even on C=64, Amiga and ST; don't take my word for it, though.)
I even wrote a game for the Atari 8-bit computer that took advantage of the multiple buttons available on the Genesis controller.
More so today than it was when it was owned by that hard-drive manufacturer back when Atari Corp. closed its doors.
Hasbro did marginally better with it. Infogrames seems to actually be trying to use the name and sticking good titles to it.
Of course, it's changed entirely since back in the day when Atari Corp. was (trying to) compete in the home computer and console markets. But at least the good ol' Fuji is still getting stamped on products.
S.T.U.N. Runner was ported excellently (in my opinion) on the Atari Lynx handheld. 3D graphics, digitized voices, and all! Info on it at AtariAge.com...
Actually, the new incarnations of some classic games have been quite well-done, game-play wise. Designers have apparently finally woken up to the fact that the premise and the name aren't all that makes a game. (Apparently, the new 3D Centipede and Missile Commands were abominations; I admittedly haven't tried them.)
Go out and rent Midway's Defender for the PlayStation 2 and give it a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised. So far, my favorite "next generation, 3D whiz-bang" remake of an early-1980s game has to be Spy Hunter.
(Of course, this doesn't count Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. It took the original and far surpassed it, in most people's opinion.)
Slashdot Mirror
While in college, I threw together some web-based games when I was teaching myself CGI programming. By the time I graduated, I had discovered the games had become extremely popular with WebTV users, since they couldn't play any Java-based games. (The average age of a WebTV user seems to be 'senior' too, it seems, so the games were pretty entertaining to them.)
;^)
;^)
Anyway, when I graduated, I decided to get an actual domain name for the site and run ads on it. For a while (in the 'boom'), I was even able to live off of the ad revnue for a few months between jobs.
Some of the games are even kind of educational, sort of
http://www.billsgames.com/
Enjoy!
Here's a completely web-based 'turtle graphics' programming language I wrote quite a while back.
Non-Java, no special plugins needed. Just type code, hit SUBMIT, and out comes the picture.
http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/webturtle/
Enjoy!
Another one I wrote instead of a paper for one of my GE biology classes in college.
http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/projects/bio115l/
Enjoy!
-bill!
A long time ago, at a university far, far away...
Rather than writing a real printed paper for one of my GE biology classes, I decided to whip something up on that newfangled Interweb.
http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/projects/anthro201/
Enjoy!
It's actually a shortening of an anagram we came up with. ;^)
Sounds like the open-source VOIPs are finally in for some serious usage.
:^)
Might I point your attention to: tkcPhone by theKompany.com?
See IceFoxes comments with exact specs.
The SL-5500 has 64MB of SD-RAM, but it's typically divided between 'storage space' (like a hard drive on a desktop) and 'place for programs to run in' (like RAM on a desktop), much like other PDAs do it.
This gives you, by default, 32MB of 'RAM' and 32MB of 'storage.'
On the new SL-5600, they've got only 32MB of SD-RAM, but it's all used as 'RAM'.
So no loss there (unless you were doing something funky with your SL-5500 to get more than 32MB; like running your filesystem off an SD card).
But it's got a lot of flash (64MB, IIRC) available for storage, so compared to the SL-5500, you get twice the _space_ (for data and programs), and an added bonus of not worrying about the data getting lost if the batteries die.
(Some would say "when" the batteries die. But honestly, I use my SL-5000D regularly, and charge it over night, and haven't had it die completely in almost a year!)
-bill!
*shrug* Sorry. :^) To us geeks, it's exciting news.
Sure it happens to be news about a new commercial product / discounts for an existing commercial product.
But it's news! (for nerds!)
-bill!
Ok, one demo is a TAD larger than 2K of source, and uses 5K of data (a MOD music file).
The other is EXACTLY 2048 bytes of source, and is a simple little T*tr*s(tm) clone.
ftp://ftp.sonic.net/pub/users/nbs/unix/x/2k/
> 1: Why not a single task system? Eliminates VM (and associated overhead).
I happy to enjoy being able to stop what I'm doing, looking up a phone number, and going right back to where I was without digging around to find the application I was running.
I also enjoy talking on IRC or checking my email while a web page loads. Or calculating some numbers while a new program is being installed.
> 2: Why soo big monitor? 640x480 is a lot of power to keep lit. Try 320x240
Hmm... Because you can see a lot more on it, no doubt? Perhaps that's why people keep making bigger monitors and TV sets. Or maybe they're all crazy, and it's an LCD conspiracy!
As for being 'big' physically (you seem to think it's a lot more space to 'keep lit'), it's no bigger than the SL-5500. The screen is about the same size as pretty much every other PDA out there. (It's the same as my Palm III, if I count the silkscreen area, which is 'soft' (ie, screen space) on most newer Palms)
> 3: WHy is monitor color? If it's a pda, you need text and grayscale images. Needless energy waste.
Since when do I need greyscale images? It's hard to read a map if all of the lines are black and white. And frankly, having a To-Do list item highlighted in red when it's past due is a pretty reasonable way to make it noticable.
> 4: People want devices that do XYZ. Why not have plugin devices that power themselves (on their own batteries)? Your 802.11 card dies. big deal. You can still use yoru pda.
I see what you're getting at here, but batteries aren't light. If everything had batteries in them needlessly, the thing would weigh way too much to be comfortable to hold. Besides, spending the extra cash on a low-power device is probably much cheaper than if the device had its own battery!
> 5: Have no keyboard onboard. Makes things too klunky. Have the gui able to handle all touch access but have a keyboard adaptor (along with keyboard battery) so you dont have to hunt letters.
You'll be wanting the SL-A300 then.
> 6: Why not use a slower processor but have dedicated circuits that are only used when demanded (music decompresser).
I guess maybe you don't know much about modern PDA CPUs...
> I want something that works, not something to make a political stand.
It does work. And trust me, Sharp's not exactly a bunch of singing hippy freaks. There's no "political stand" involved on their part. All of Japan just seems to be chosing Linux to run their consumer electronics.
> It's got a larger everything. The fucker's just a mini-laptop.
Did you even look at the photos? It's barely any bigger than the SL-5500, which is barely bigger than a typical PalmOS or PocketPC PDA. Or were you looking for one of those "PDAs on a memory card" 'Rex' things?
My Zaurus lives happily in my pant pocket, along with my cellphone, a pen and a stick of lip balm. Maybe you have very small pockets, or something...?
But can it play Tux Racer?
:^)
No, but you might like Interstellar Flames.
(Admittedly, it's a port of a PocketPC game.)
Can I slap this thing down on a LAN and have a reasonably well performing, instant QuakeWorld server?
;^)
I dunno. But... I can play networked Doom on my SL-5000D, against someone running Doom on a desktop PC.
Unix based things have always been suited for servers. Linux is just a re-implementation of a Unix system.
MSDOS was, more or less, an attempt at a re-implementation of an OS much like Unix.
What's your point?
A PDA should have a battery that at the minimum lasts a full day, so that the appointments for the day are accessible without recharging.
That's 3 and a half hours of continuous use. When's the last time you used your Palm for such a long time all at once!?
I know I don't need color
:^)
;^)
One of the few arguments I have FOR color screens on handhelds is that maps (and similar data) can be easier to read when in color.
This isn't saying that full-color JPEG photos and MPEG videos, and 3D 3rd-person shooters don't need color... they just aren't the best argument for it.
hey also created many PS2/gamecube/xbox titles
Err.. you sure you're not thinking of the Atari brand name being used by Infogrames?
Sega Genesis 3-button controllers work fine as a joystick on the Atari 2600 and 8-bit computers. (And possibly even on C=64, Amiga and ST; don't take my word for it, though.)
I even wrote a game for the Atari 8-bit computer that took advantage of the multiple buttons available on the Genesis controller.
Well, Star Raiders was made back before Atari split up into Atari Games and Atari Corp.
:^)
:^)
Still, it was an excellent game, and I believe the first 3D game for home users.
I have a tribute to Star Raiders online. One of these days, I'm gonna clone it for the Zaurus.
the only projects they've come up with have been consoles or handhelds...
:)
Wrong company. You're thinking of Atari Corp. (now owned by Infogrames), not Atari Games (who just laid off their last 30 employees).
I thought I made that clear in my post, but not everyone RTFA I suppose.
Ah, Slashdot readers...
It's not as if I was saying "hooray! those 30 employees got fired! whoopty-doo!"
so not so much "alive and kicking"
More so today than it was when it was owned by that hard-drive manufacturer back when Atari Corp. closed its doors.
Hasbro did marginally better with it. Infogrames seems to actually be trying to use the name and sticking good titles to it.
Of course, it's changed entirely since back in the day when Atari Corp. was (trying to) compete in the home computer and console markets. But at least the good ol' Fuji is still getting stamped on products.
S.T.U.N. Runner was ported excellently
(in my opinion) on the Atari Lynx handheld.
3D graphics, digitized voices, and all!
Info on it at AtariAge.com...
Actually, the new incarnations of some classic games have been quite well-done, game-play wise. Designers have apparently finally woken up to the fact that the premise and the name aren't all that makes a game. (Apparently, the new 3D Centipede and Missile Commands were abominations; I admittedly haven't tried them.)
Go out and rent Midway's Defender for the PlayStation 2 and give it a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised. So far, my favorite "next generation, 3D whiz-bang" remake of an early-1980s game has to be Spy Hunter.
(Of course, this doesn't count Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. It took the original and far surpassed it, in most people's opinion.)
About the last arcade piece they produced that
did anything was "San Francisco Rush 2049".
Yeah... that would have been the title I was going to work on. At the time, they were also working on the first new Gauntlet installment.