Coffee Shop XXXIX-9/21/2013

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I was looking through some old MS-DOS software here and I found my old Zork I CD. I put it in the computer and it still works fine. Played Zork I for a while this morning. I then looked into the 'Extras' directory (this CD was put together by a friend of mine, not Infocom). There I found several things of interest including the online link where I could download the other Zork games. Since the time this CD was burned the link evidently was changed as I didn't find it on the first try. A quick search led me right to the current link. The downloads were in the form of ZIP files so you better believe they were very well scanned before I opened them. So now I have Zork II and Zork III. I'd heard of a fourth game and after a bit of searching I found and downloaded Zork Zero. It's the only Zork game to have any kind of graphics. So now I can play Zork again. It may give me some ideas for my own game as well.

 

[rzw0wr]

Good afternoon all.
I got the frame built for my layout.
Just started cutting the plywood for the top.
Since I sold all of my power equipment to make room for my train I have to cut everything by hand.
I am way too old to be cutting plywood sheets by hand. Even with a good saw.

Oh well, it looks good and I ain't in no hurry.

Have an outstanding day.

 

[tootnkumin]

I sold most of my tools when we did the shift from NZ to Aussie. Biggest mistake ever. Could never find the high quality stuff I had again.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

No post for 4 1/2 hours? It's slow in here.

Well it's time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

 

[GPwrangler]

No post for 4 1/2 hours? It's slow in here.

Yeah, I've been doing this whole "work" thing. Getting off work at midnight is getting old.

how is the graphiti mural done on that hopper car?

 

[tootnkumin]

I read a message on here somewhere asking about Texas & Pacific locos wanting to buy (can't find it in there). Just to let the inquirer know that Power Hobby-Online (ebay) has some in HO.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Sun 10/20/13

Temperature in TIPTON IN

High temperatures will range from 54 to 59 degrees with partly cloudy skies. Winds will range between 13 and 19 miles per hour from the south. No precipitation is expected.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Yeah, I've been doing this whole "work" thing. Getting off work at midnight is getting old.

how is the graphiti mural done on that hopper car?

That was a decal I picked up somewhere. It was really bright so I sprayed it with Matte-Finish (after the decal was applied of course) then went over it with an alcohol/black dye wash. The effect was what I wanted. It looks like the paint has been on there for years.

 

[Boris]

Good Sunday Morning!

I started assembling material to rebuild my reverse loop. One would think I have enough flex track and cork road bed on hand. I do and it's a good thing, as Atlas C83 is again scarce. Now, if I could only find the joiners and track nails........

This morning is cool and sunny, like it's supposed to be this time of year. The NJ Devils finally won, beating the Rangers 4-0. So, something went right. Early trip to Walmart this morning, before the world wakes up.

Have a good Sunday.

Joe

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 47° with 100% humidity. The high will be 75° and will feel like 79°. It'll be sunny today.

Woke up this morning to find that fall has indeed fallen. It was 45° outside but about 70° inside with the exception of the office where I am now. It's not tied into the central ac/heat the rest of the house has. Instead it has an ac/heat window unit. I have it turned to heat and cranked up to 80°. Until it heats up in here I have two T-shirts on.

I have no set plans for today. As one of my relatives was fond of saying, 'You have no idea what's going to happen so setting plans in stone is like pouring a concrete foundation before you know where the homes walls will be.'. Not surprisingly he built houses for a living. I may do a bit more planning for more work on 'Native Fury' later. I need to lay out the blocks for the final subcharts of part two.

 

[blackz28]

jeffery, again ur so far south i didnt think u had to have heat in
the winter

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

jeffery, again ur so far south i didnt think u had to have heat in
the winter

You should live here for a year or two. It would definitely broaden your horizon. I came here from El Paso Texas at the ripe old age of ten. Couldn't believe the humidity! Some places I lived before that: Williamsburg Virginia, Heidelberg Germany, Stuttgart Germany, La Rochelle France, Vicenza Italy. None of those are as hot as here! I traveled more in twenty years than most people do in an entire lifetime. What's listed above spanned ten years.

 

[rzw0wr]

I started laying plywood on my layout frame today.
I would not believe how far out of square a 6' x 14' 2x4 frame can be.

Even with the precision cutting I did. HAHAHAHAHA

I kept all of my cuts +- 1/16 of an inch.

Looks OK, not too bad for an old woodworker.

Dale

 

[Espeefan]

Just got back from the RPM meet in Lisle. Lots of work but we had fun. The clinics at those meets are awesome.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Sounds like you're making progress Dale.

*

Well today I received one of the parts I needed for my mothers old Apple IIe. The drive controller card. I tested the card and it works like new. It's now installed. This particular machine is one of the early IIe's and had to be shaken down due to the problems that were inherent of those early offerings. Apple had all those corrected for the 1983 line. This one has had the original Revision A logic board replaced with a revision B board so it would be compatible with the expansion cards offered later. These wouldn't work on the original Revision A boards. These boards shouldn't be confused with the enhanced '"-A"' boards offered in later years. Those were in functionality Revision B boards. The only thing different besides the enhancements was the letter. One thing that made the early IIe's recognizable at a glance was the keyboard. White letters on tan keys as opposed to the black letters on tan keys that started in 1984. However that doesn't mean every IIe with black and tan keys was an '84 or later model. Lots of older IIe's got the newer keyboard when the keyboard had to be replaced as happened with my IIe.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I was a bit busy today but not at what I wanted to be doing. No, my father wanted me to look up for him the medicinal and nutrition uses of cactus plants and mesquite trees. So that kept me busy for a while. I didn't get any programming time in today. Maybe tomorrow.

Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Mon 10/21/13

Temperature in TIPTON IN

High temperatures will range from 56 to 44 degrees with mostly cloudy skies. Winds will range between 8 and 12 miles per hour from the west. Rain amounts of less than a tenth of an inch are expected.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 53° with 97% humidity. The high will be 78° and it will feel like 81°. There's a small chance of rain today.

with a

Yesterday was a bad day for Mickey's cousins living in the kitchen cabinet. Two of them got caught in traps. One was on a glue trap and was very much alive when I discovered it trying to drag the trap away (and it was doing a pretty good job of it too considering it had only one foot to work with). A rap on the head with a small household hammer put it out of it's misery. I wrapped it up trap and all in a paper towel and asked my nieces husband next door to dispose of it as it's quite difficult for me to get outside without help. The second one got snared by a snap trap and was very much life challenged when I discovered it this morning. I wrapped it in a paper towel and as no one is home next door I put it in a plastic bucket and set it outside the front door. I checked the glue box traps and there was nothing of interest in them. So far their only customers have been a brown recluse spider (good riddance!) and a very unfortunate largish grass hopper.

Well today I hope to get some more programming done on Native Fury. I'm sure there are bugs to be worked out. I usually work bugs out of the blocks as I go along but sometimes they creep into the code that ties the blocks together. I just hate to be playing a game and suddenly get a 'GOSUB WITHOUT RETURN' or a GOTO with no address to go to or something like that.

 

[rzw0wr]

Whining..Crying... More whining....more crying... throw myself on the floor and kicking my feet.....kicking chair..... whining to the wife..... crying....
WILL IT EVER END?????????????????????????

I just found out that the turnouts I need for my layout from Atlas will not be available until April 2014.

ENOUGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I redesigned my layout (again) with Peco turnouts.

I am so done with Atlas track. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I have to admit, Peco turnouts do look better and hopefully they will work better.

Sigh..... Model railroading IS fun, isn't it?

Dale

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeffrey: Have fun with that Apple II. I've been working up a virtual Windows 95 machine to run some older games I liked to play as well. I still have some minor issues with the sound, but it may be the more Modern laptop I'm using.

It'a probably a hardware/software issue with laptops sound circuits. I have some old DOS games I play in Windows (XP) and some of the sounds that came through fine on the old Sound Blaster and Sound Blaster 16 don't come through on this computers Realtek Legacy device.