The really crazy thing is that, IIRC, Mandrake is based off of Red Hat. So, for Mandrake to be past RH, it means that they must have some sort of time machine!
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
I've owned every US-marketed version of the gameboy (stupid cosmetic changes (like pokemon shells) not included, I mean hardware changes):
* The original, with the screen of spinach green.
* The "Pocket", with a gray screen and much improved size (smaller) and battery life (longer).
* The "Color", with which the main change was the addition of color.
In addition to these, I own a Sega Nomad--this is a portable Genesis with a backlit screen and horrible battery consumption--and a Neo Geo Pocket Color.
Out of all of these systems, I like the NGPC the best. The Nomad's 2-hour battery life condemned it from the start, even if you can play Toejam & Earl on vacation. The Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color were nice when they were all I had, but I honestly haven't played any of them since I got my NGPC. The main advantages it had was it's better screen (both in size and colors available IIRC... I also seem to remember it having a little bit more in the CPU department, but I'm not sure). That, combined with one of the overall highest-quality software lineups around made it my favorite from the first time I picked it up.
However, the almost complete and utter lack of 3rd party support drove it (And SNK as a company) out of the picture.
All of this brings me to my point, which is incidentally the only thing so far that will address the article at hand.
The GBA is going to be like having these three general platforms I've described rolled into one. It will have:
* The Gameboy's userbase and marketing power/brand recognition, plus a lot of software, much of it decent.
* The Nomad's whole "play your console games on the go" thing. GBA will be able to have many SNES games ported to it, with F-Zero and Super Mario Kart already done/being worked on.
* What the GBC looked like next to the NGPC, the NGPC will next to the GBA. It's sort of the next level of handheld graphics.[1] So it's similar in that respect to the NGPC. Plus, I expect much quality software from Nintendo for this (like SNK and the NGPC.... ever played SNK vs Capcom: MotM? Best handheld fighter, ever.)
The current version of GB, Game Boy Color, is really just a Game Boy done up with color as the name implies. Sure, it has a little more horsepower etc, but it's not that much of an improvement.
Nintendo has essentially stuck with the same handheld for around a decade or more (assuming that my memory serves me right and the GB was a mid- to late-eighties release). The GBA brings a long overdue update to Nintendo's handheld juggernaut.[2]
--Psi
[1] No, the Virtual Boy didn't count. I still own mine, though. Dropped it a while back, and now it gives you [more of] a headache [than before].
[2] Just so you know, kids, the Game Boy was big even before Pokemon!
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Being the early adopter that I am, I've already picked up some cutting-edge equipment to play back analog music.
It's called a 'record player'. See, it's like a CD player, but with a 'needle' instead of a laser. This needle thing then moves around the record (which is a circular black object) in a 'groove' which has 'bumps'. It's in these bumps that the song is stored, in analog form.
I wholeheartedly agree with this tactic to stop the RIAA's madness, and I'm changing over most of my music from CDs to this technology.
It's taking longer than I expected, though. I've purchased most of my Bee Gee's albums in this new format, but little else in my CD collection. I just can't find any of them. It's probably because of the relative youth of the technology.
Being an early adopter is hard sometimes.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
John Byrd emails and reads the dc-dev mailing list (which I'm on) fairly regularly. The general consensus is that he's legit.
The archives of the list can be found here (not too up to date as Dan Potter, who runs that site, has yet to find a good solution to archiving the list).
For more on dc dev, see Jules' site, which is more or less a good hub site for everything dc dev related.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Damn... I guess he's becoming a paranoid through osmosis. I mean, what with the constant barrage of comments about Foo Company's latest Bar a secret plot to overthrow the constitution, it seems likely that some of it would have rubbed of on Hemos.
I would imagine that he got an email, a story submission from someone who also got it, and then automatically assumed that the whole world must have, too.
Shit does happen to systems every day, and backups aren't always available/up-to-the-minute.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
I hope you've gotten leaf switch joysticks, and not microswitch ones. Microswitch-based joysticks make a quiet click when used, and, while it may not seem like much, it's very, very annoying after a while (IMHO of course). Leaf switch joysticks can be expensive (I've seen them for more than twice the price of microswitch ones), but this is one of those things where you get what you pay for.
Oh, and about how you should hook them up: I'd suggest figuring out some sort of clip system where you could change things out easily. Arcade controls do take quite a bit of abuse during normal play, and if you aren't too terribly skilled with soldering, it can be a real pain to desolder things to replace them.
One other thing: if you're not already, try to make the controller panel support as many different types of games as possible; things with trackballs, etc. It may not look as arcade-esque, but it would be a good idea.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Yes it does help. I've just installed the newest version. Still not great, but much better than the one I had previously tried. Thanks for the heads-up.
That auto -1 sucks, eh?
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
...is what makes it, for me at least, unusable. I've tried it, and I downloaded a few things, but it was just too cumbersome to present a real p2p solution for me.
Note that when I tried this was a while back, and if an easier GUI has come along, feel free to point me towards it.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
I don't know about you folks, but I'd rather have a case constructed out of LEGO bricks. Some fine examples are here, here, here, here, here, and finally here.
Having a case made out of LEGO would be great... need a new piece of hardware? Out of drive bays? No problem! Just build another one!
Also, a LEGO computer case would go great with the LEGO desk I plan to get when I become obscenely wealthy.
(I should probably mention that LEGO and related marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of the LEGO Company, which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this post. You have been duly warned.)
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Couldn't find a link to it on The Onion's site, so here's a quote: "Explorer 2, like its predecessor, had been headed for the sun, where it was to be the first spacecraft to land on a star. "We'd hoped to bring back and study sun rock," Toshikima said. The straw ship had been equipped with a special reinforced wicker basket to hold the sun lava for its journey back to Earth. A straw-enforced robot arm was constructed to scoop the lava--which scientists say is as hot as the center of a nuclear holocaust--and place it in the basket. The ship's debris is slated to be used as mulch."
Great stuff; I heartily reccomend both of their books.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
You never know, they could be using something other than windows, and be playing a Java or shockwave version of minesweeper. I'm sure there are some out there.
Or maybe they played one of those minesweeper games written in perl that placed in TPJ's obfuscation contest a while back... now there's a real game. Console mode. None of that pansy GUI business, no sir!
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
I think that the "godsday" bit is to try and make this (IHMO) cold and inhuman 'math calendar' seem more warm and reassuring. Also, it could persuade the religious zealots to be more accepting, as they would probably be hard set in their current ways.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
And the seven days of the week would simply be named after numbers -- Oneday for Monday, Twoday for Tuesday, and so on. Flansburg suggested Sunday be Godsday, and each month be named after a virtue. Is it just me, or is that incredibly stupid sounding? Now, this may just be because I'm used to what we have now, but I can't imagine being able to ask someone if they'd like to do something next "Sixday" and keep a straight face.
The entire thing, however well thought-out, strikes me as being incredibly impersonal.
Also...
Individual nations would decide what to name each month, under Flansburg's plan. Wouldn't it be better if each language had different names, not each nation? AFAIK, anyone who speaks English will know what I mean by "January". If each nation made up it's own names, that wouldn't hold true.
One last thought...
Flansburg's calendar has 13 months of 28 days each, adding up to 364 days. Making New Year's Day a monthless day, designated "00" brings the tally to the regular 365. This calendar is supposed to be nice and logical, right? Then what in the world is this "monthless day" nonsense about? It seems to me that Mr. Smart Math Guy came up with some bright idea for a calendar, figured it all out, and then--whoops. One day short.
"Well, we'll just stick another day in there... can't put it in a month, though, as each month has to have the same number of days. Oh, I know! It doesn't have to be in a month! *whew* Thought for a second there that I'd have to lengthen the measurement for a day and try and implement it with the calendar."
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Hehe, anyone want to take any bets on how many troll comments are in it when it gets archived?
Also of note would be how many karma whoring posts there are. Any article centering around open source licensing issues is a metaphorical mad-lib for the karma junkies.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Before long, the paper clips will take on the task of organizing all of those toasters running Linux into a formidable army. I'd bet that they take on the people who eat Pop-Tarts and bagels cold first... it's people like that that are driving toasters to oblivion.
Viva la revolucion!
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Hehe, I was going to post this, but you beat me to the punch.
Although you have skipped several systems... Game Gear and Game Boy being the most noticable, though it's my understanding that the Game Gear was really nothing more than a Master System in a smaller package--hence most SMS emulators also capable of running Game Gear ROMS. I'm pretty sure that Game Boy is fairly different from the NES, though.
Also, what about those great TI calcs? Aren't they 8-bit? IIRC, the ones that are graphing but not the 89, 92, or 92+ are running on a Z80. Considering everything that those wonderful machines have had coded for them (my 86 has Zelda, Lemmings, Mario, Tetris, and various other things on it right now), it would just be a matter of time until we could be running all of those wonderful java games during math class.
Yes, I'm joking, obviously... but if someone were to do this, you can bet that I'd be one of the first to check it out and fiddle with it. It'd be YAIODIBYC - Yet Another Instance Of Doing It Because You Can.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Thanks to all that replied. This one, in particular, was quite informative.
I bow before your vastly superior Amiga knowledge.
Of course, it's understandable that I would not know this... I was but a wee lad of three when these things would have been going on. At that time, I was actually on computers (my mom has a pic that she loves to drag out of me at about 2 hitting at a keyboard), but IIRC (and I probably don't, as I was three...) they were DOS, that blasted thing. I remember being completely awed by a little christmas program that played music and had crude animations of reindeer, santa, etc.
To think, there were machines with programs running metaphoric loops around that thing at that time....
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Slashdot Mirror
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
I thank you immensly.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Check those out, and if that's not enough, just do a search for "maxwell's demon" or a similar phrase.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
* The original, with the screen of spinach green.
* The "Pocket", with a gray screen and much improved size (smaller) and battery life (longer).
* The "Color", with which the main change was the addition of color.
In addition to these, I own a Sega Nomad--this is a portable Genesis with a backlit screen and horrible battery consumption--and a Neo Geo Pocket Color.
Out of all of these systems, I like the NGPC the best. The Nomad's 2-hour battery life condemned it from the start, even if you can play Toejam & Earl on vacation. The Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color were nice when they were all I had, but I honestly haven't played any of them since I got my NGPC. The main advantages it had was it's better screen (both in size and colors available IIRC... I also seem to remember it having a little bit more in the CPU department, but I'm not sure). That, combined with one of the overall highest-quality software lineups around made it my favorite from the first time I picked it up.
However, the almost complete and utter lack of 3rd party support drove it (And SNK as a company) out of the picture.
All of this brings me to my point, which is incidentally the only thing so far that will address the article at hand.
The GBA is going to be like having these three general platforms I've described rolled into one. It will have:
* The Gameboy's userbase and marketing power/brand recognition, plus a lot of software, much of it decent.
* The Nomad's whole "play your console games on the go" thing. GBA will be able to have many SNES games ported to it, with F-Zero and Super Mario Kart already done/being worked on.
* What the GBC looked like next to the NGPC, the NGPC will next to the GBA. It's sort of the next level of handheld graphics.[1] So it's similar in that respect to the NGPC. Plus, I expect much quality software from Nintendo for this (like SNK and the NGPC.... ever played SNK vs Capcom: MotM? Best handheld fighter, ever.)
The current version of GB, Game Boy Color, is really just a Game Boy done up with color as the name implies. Sure, it has a little more horsepower etc, but it's not that much of an improvement.
Nintendo has essentially stuck with the same handheld for around a decade or more (assuming that my memory serves me right and the GB was a mid- to late-eighties release). The GBA brings a long overdue update to Nintendo's handheld juggernaut.[2]
--Psi
[1] No, the Virtual Boy didn't count. I still own mine, though. Dropped it a while back, and now it gives you [more of] a headache [than before].
[2] Just so you know, kids, the Game Boy was big even before Pokemon!
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
"Please forward this to as many people as possible"
I mean, it's not chain mail if it doesn't tell you to forward it, right?
-Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
It's called a 'record player'. See, it's like a CD player, but with a 'needle' instead of a laser. This needle thing then moves around the record (which is a circular black object) in a 'groove' which has 'bumps'. It's in these bumps that the song is stored, in analog form.
I wholeheartedly agree with this tactic to stop the RIAA's madness, and I'm changing over most of my music from CDs to this technology.
It's taking longer than I expected, though. I've purchased most of my Bee Gee's albums in this new format, but little else in my CD collection. I just can't find any of them. It's probably because of the relative youth of the technology.
Being an early adopter is hard sometimes.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
John Byrd emails and reads the dc-dev mailing list (which I'm on) fairly regularly. The general consensus is that he's legit.
The archives of the list can be found here (not too up to date as Dan Potter, who runs that site, has yet to find a good solution to archiving the list).
For more on dc dev, see Jules' site, which is more or less a good hub site for everything dc dev related.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Damn... I guess he's becoming a paranoid through osmosis. I mean, what with the constant barrage of comments about Foo Company's latest Bar a secret plot to overthrow the constitution, it seems likely that some of it would have rubbed of on Hemos.
I would imagine that he got an email, a story submission from someone who also got it, and then automatically assumed that the whole world must have, too.
Shit does happen to systems every day, and backups aren't always available/up-to-the-minute.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Oh, and I suppose it'd be a waste if I didn't go for a "1st post!" WHeee.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
How big is it exactly? I need to know how much to delete.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Oh, and about how you should hook them up: I'd suggest figuring out some sort of clip system where you could change things out easily. Arcade controls do take quite a bit of abuse during normal play, and if you aren't too terribly skilled with soldering, it can be a real pain to desolder things to replace them.
One other thing: if you're not already, try to make the controller panel support as many different types of games as possible; things with trackballs, etc. It may not look as arcade-esque, but it would be a good idea.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
That auto -1 sucks, eh?
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Note that when I tried this was a while back, and if an easier GUI has come along, feel free to point me towards it.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Having a case made out of LEGO would be great... need a new piece of hardware? Out of drive bays? No problem! Just build another one!
Also, a LEGO computer case would go great with the LEGO desk I plan to get when I become obscenely wealthy.
(I should probably mention that LEGO and related marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of the LEGO Company , which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this post. You have been duly warned.)
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Couldn't find a link to it on The Onion's site, so here's a quote:
"Explorer 2, like its predecessor, had been headed for the sun, where it was to be the first spacecraft to land on a star. "We'd hoped to bring back and study sun rock," Toshikima said.
The straw ship had been equipped with a special reinforced wicker basket to hold the sun lava for its journey back to Earth. A straw-enforced robot arm was constructed to scoop the lava--which scientists say is as hot as the center of a nuclear holocaust--and place it in the basket.
The ship's debris is slated to be used as mulch."
Great stuff; I heartily reccomend both of their books.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Or maybe they played one of those minesweeper games written in perl that placed in TPJ's obfuscation contest a while back... now there's a real game. Console mode. None of that pansy GUI business, no sir!
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
There's really nothing particularly minesweeper-esque about it...
It's just your standard, everyday map, divided into a grid, and with X's to mark things. Nothing to intersting there.
Or am I missing something, and there's now a version of minesweeper that lets you draw shapes and mark mines anywhere, regardless of the grid?
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Is it just me, or is that incredibly stupid sounding? Now, this may just be because I'm used to what we have now, but I can't imagine being able to ask someone if they'd like to do something next "Sixday" and keep a straight face.
The entire thing, however well thought-out, strikes me as being incredibly impersonal.
Also...
Individual nations would decide what to name each month, under Flansburg's plan.
Wouldn't it be better if each language had different names, not each nation? AFAIK, anyone who speaks English will know what I mean by "January". If each nation made up it's own names, that wouldn't hold true.
One last thought...
Flansburg's calendar has 13 months of 28 days each, adding up to 364 days. Making New Year's Day a monthless day, designated "00" brings the tally to the regular 365.
This calendar is supposed to be nice and logical, right? Then what in the world is this "monthless day" nonsense about? It seems to me that Mr. Smart Math Guy came up with some bright idea for a calendar, figured it all out, and then--whoops. One day short.
"Well, we'll just stick another day in there... can't put it in a month, though, as each month has to have the same number of days. Oh, I know! It doesn't have to be in a month! *whew* Thought for a second there that I'd have to lengthen the measurement for a day and try and implement it with the calendar."
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Also of note would be how many karma whoring posts there are. Any article centering around open source licensing issues is a metaphorical mad-lib for the karma junkies.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Before long, the paper clips will take on the task of organizing all of those toasters running Linux into a formidable army. I'd bet that they take on the people who eat Pop-Tarts and bagels cold first... it's people like that that are driving toasters to oblivion.
Viva la revolucion!
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Although you have skipped several systems... Game Gear and Game Boy being the most noticable, though it's my understanding that the Game Gear was really nothing more than a Master System in a smaller package--hence most SMS emulators also capable of running Game Gear ROMS. I'm pretty sure that Game Boy is fairly different from the NES, though.
Also, what about those great TI calcs? Aren't they 8-bit? IIRC, the ones that are graphing but not the 89, 92, or 92+ are running on a Z80. Considering everything that those wonderful machines have had coded for them (my 86 has Zelda, Lemmings, Mario, Tetris, and various other things on it right now), it would just be a matter of time until we could be running all of those wonderful java games during math class.
Yes, I'm joking, obviously... but if someone were to do this, you can bet that I'd be one of the first to check it out and fiddle with it. It'd be YAIODIBYC - Yet Another Instance Of Doing It Because You Can.
--Psi
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Thanks to all that replied. This one, in particular, was quite informative.
I bow before your vastly superior Amiga knowledge.
Of course, it's understandable that I would not know this... I was but a wee lad of three when these things would have been going on. At that time, I was actually on computers (my mom has a pic that she loves to drag out of me at about 2 hitting at a keyboard), but IIRC (and I probably don't, as I was three...) they were DOS, that blasted thing. I remember being completely awed by a little christmas program that played music and had crude animations of reindeer, santa, etc.
To think, there were machines with programs running metaphoric loops around that thing at that time....
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.