In order to address the emails I've gotten from a couple of Risorgimento Represso fans, asking about when the sequel is coming out, I thought I'd post this publicly.
Progress is still very slow. I've still been mainly concentrating on the final, never-going-to-make-another-even-if-I-have-a-paper-bag-over-head-bug release of RR, which adds the Glulx target, and provides true context-sensitive hints (which I now wish I hadn't bothered starting to do, as it's quite time consuming). Once I get that out of the way, I can get back to alternating work between the Risorg2 transcript of expected gameplay, and the actual coding.
Patience is a virtue. Anyway, look at this way, even if it was 100% finished, I still couldn't release Risorg2, as I have no idea what I'm going to call it.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Linksys's wireless-B media adapter
So there's only a couple of issues I've discovered with the Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter. The control is really good, and the browsing works great.
However, even when you're not actively serving out files from the PC to the adapter, the service that runs in the background regularly chews up CPU cycles, hitting 35% at times. Ouch! And guess what needed to be installed before I could install this? Windows .NET Framework v1.1. Gee, I wonder if that's why it's slow?
I regularly kill the service if I've booted and know I'm not going to be using the adapter.
The other annoying thing is the service doesn't show up in the Services list, so there's no way to stop or restart it easily. I've resorted to killing it in Task Manager, but then I have no way to get it going again--running the Linksys's "Manage Shared Folders" application doesn't restart them, neither does launching their EXEs directly. In fact, launching their EXEs gives you a (Microsoft) message that "You can't launch this service this way, you should do it from the Services tool".
Argh.
Apart from those concerns, it's working great--we have to keep the CDs hidden away in a closet, or one or more of the kids gets into them and starts opening them, so having a way to stream MP3s from the PC to the stereo is great. It was certainly worth the minimal cash I spent on it.
However, even when you're not actively serving out files from the PC to the adapter, the service that runs in the background regularly chews up CPU cycles, hitting 35% at times. Ouch! And guess what needed to be installed before I could install this? Windows .NET Framework v1.1. Gee, I wonder if that's why it's slow?
I regularly kill the service if I've booted and know I'm not going to be using the adapter.
The other annoying thing is the service doesn't show up in the Services list, so there's no way to stop or restart it easily. I've resorted to killing it in Task Manager, but then I have no way to get it going again--running the Linksys's "Manage Shared Folders" application doesn't restart them, neither does launching their EXEs directly. In fact, launching their EXEs gives you a (Microsoft) message that "You can't launch this service this way, you should do it from the Services tool".
Argh.
Apart from those concerns, it's working great--we have to keep the CDs hidden away in a closet, or one or more of the kids gets into them and starts opening them, so having a way to stream MP3s from the PC to the stereo is great. It was certainly worth the minimal cash I spent on it.
Friday, January 13, 2006
The grapes of wrath...
I picked up a Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter for cheap from TigerDirect, and it arrived yesterday.
It's only 802.11b, and doesn't do video, but it does understand JPG and MP3 files, so it's a really handy way to play MP3 files from the PC on the home stereo. It also features a nice interface, and understands MP3 tags, so after you select the folder to share from your PC, you can browse on the TV via folder, artist, genre, song name and so on. Very nice.
I got it home yesterday, and set about hooking it up before supper. I was just moving the entertainment unit out from the wall to plug it in when Michelle voiced her suspicion that the kids might have been sticking things into the bass exhaust ports on the speakers. These are Monitor Audio Silver 8 speakers, with two bass drivers and one midrange each, and thus two exhaust ports each--one at the bottom and one at the top. I paid a bundle for them when I bought them in 2001 (or was it 2000?), and they're an amazing set of speakers. We've often found the kids sticking things into the ports, but usually it's items that are large enough that they remain sticking out, or they're not in far enough that we can reach in and grab them.
So once both kids were in bed, I pulled the fronts off, and started with the bottom driver. I unscrewed it and pulled it out. Behind it, nestled in the bottom of the cabinet, were a piece of chalk, a piece from a magnetic Caillou fridge puzzle, and a plastic harmonica. However, these were all things that had been missing for quite some time, and not what Michelle suspected was in there.
The next step was to open the midrange driver, as it's separated from the two bass drivers by foam inserts inside the cabinet--thus, anything dropped into the upper exhaust port is likely to stay up there behind the midrange. So I pulled that driver out and lo and behold, I found them: six grapes which had been stuffed into the upper exhaust port, and were sitting right behind the driver on the foam insert. Thank goodness Michelle had noticed the boys lingering around the back of the speaker while they were eating grapes. Now, to be fair to the kids, Nicholas did admit that he'd put grapes into the speaker when Michelle asked, and as far as we can tell, he's always truthful--we frequently rely on him to tell us what's happened if we come into the room and one or more of the kids is crying.
After recovering the grapes, I asked Michelle if they'd been near the other speaker--it's a little harder to get to, as the piano sits close to that side of the entertainment unit, and she thought not. But, I was already in speaker-opening mode, and I had the tools, so I thought I'd check. Clean of grapes, but behind the bottom driver, I found an AA battery that someone had slipped in there.
So my speakers are now gloriously free of all foreign substances. Short of covering the exhaust ports though, I'm not sure what I can do to stop them doing this. I suppose I'll have to resort to yearly checking of the cabinets--sigh.
And any comments talking about "sour grapes" run the risk of deletion by the anti-atrocious-pun filtering software.
It's only 802.11b, and doesn't do video, but it does understand JPG and MP3 files, so it's a really handy way to play MP3 files from the PC on the home stereo. It also features a nice interface, and understands MP3 tags, so after you select the folder to share from your PC, you can browse on the TV via folder, artist, genre, song name and so on. Very nice.
I got it home yesterday, and set about hooking it up before supper. I was just moving the entertainment unit out from the wall to plug it in when Michelle voiced her suspicion that the kids might have been sticking things into the bass exhaust ports on the speakers. These are Monitor Audio Silver 8 speakers, with two bass drivers and one midrange each, and thus two exhaust ports each--one at the bottom and one at the top. I paid a bundle for them when I bought them in 2001 (or was it 2000?), and they're an amazing set of speakers. We've often found the kids sticking things into the ports, but usually it's items that are large enough that they remain sticking out, or they're not in far enough that we can reach in and grab them.
So once both kids were in bed, I pulled the fronts off, and started with the bottom driver. I unscrewed it and pulled it out. Behind it, nestled in the bottom of the cabinet, were a piece of chalk, a piece from a magnetic Caillou fridge puzzle, and a plastic harmonica. However, these were all things that had been missing for quite some time, and not what Michelle suspected was in there.
The next step was to open the midrange driver, as it's separated from the two bass drivers by foam inserts inside the cabinet--thus, anything dropped into the upper exhaust port is likely to stay up there behind the midrange. So I pulled that driver out and lo and behold, I found them: six grapes which had been stuffed into the upper exhaust port, and were sitting right behind the driver on the foam insert. Thank goodness Michelle had noticed the boys lingering around the back of the speaker while they were eating grapes. Now, to be fair to the kids, Nicholas did admit that he'd put grapes into the speaker when Michelle asked, and as far as we can tell, he's always truthful--we frequently rely on him to tell us what's happened if we come into the room and one or more of the kids is crying.
After recovering the grapes, I asked Michelle if they'd been near the other speaker--it's a little harder to get to, as the piano sits close to that side of the entertainment unit, and she thought not. But, I was already in speaker-opening mode, and I had the tools, so I thought I'd check. Clean of grapes, but behind the bottom driver, I found an AA battery that someone had slipped in there.
So my speakers are now gloriously free of all foreign substances. Short of covering the exhaust ports though, I'm not sure what I can do to stop them doing this. I suppose I'll have to resort to yearly checking of the cabinets--sigh.
And any comments talking about "sour grapes" run the risk of deletion by the anti-atrocious-pun filtering software.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Low Budget
So, fresh from his stint as the dancing construction worker in Sony's "The World of Sony" commercial (sadly, no longer accessible on their website), Patrick Thornton has just starred in Low Budget, which played very briefly at the Bloor Cinema.
Normally, this wouldn't be news, but my formative years in Mississauga were spent hanging around with Ben Thornton, Patrick's older brother, who has a small role in the film. I keep in touch with Ben via email, and he's a movie geek^H^H^H^H buff like I am, so he was pretty thrilled when he saw he was on IMDB... I just hope, when he finally makes it big, that he remembers his old elementary school buddy who stuck by him through thick and thin. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I kind of bailed on him: we moved to Guelph, and then, two years later, to Winnipeg, pictured below.
This picture was taken from our apartment window downtown on May 5, 2002, one week after we got married. Feel free to now quiz me on exactly why we moved to Winnipeg.
It's worth noting that the kids all moved here with our parents, who have since relocated to Edmonton, leaving us all stranded here, except for my younger sister, who had the smarts to bail back to Toronto.
Normally, this wouldn't be news, but my formative years in Mississauga were spent hanging around with Ben Thornton, Patrick's older brother, who has a small role in the film. I keep in touch with Ben via email, and he's a movie geek^H^H^H^H buff like I am, so he was pretty thrilled when he saw he was on IMDB... I just hope, when he finally makes it big, that he remembers his old elementary school buddy who stuck by him through thick and thin. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I kind of bailed on him: we moved to Guelph, and then, two years later, to Winnipeg, pictured below.
This picture was taken from our apartment window downtown on May 5, 2002, one week after we got married. Feel free to now quiz me on exactly why we moved to Winnipeg.
It's worth noting that the kids all moved here with our parents, who have since relocated to Edmonton, leaving us all stranded here, except for my younger sister, who had the smarts to bail back to Toronto.
HP Lovecraft meets Cthulhu
My current pulp campaign--which is sort of a mesh of CoC-type adventures with Rolemaster Pulp rules, has stalled somewhat with Marianne's arrival... we've only had "normal" adventures so far, and every supernatural thing that's been hinted at has turned out to have a very prosaic explanation.
However, as we slowly build towards the terror in true Lovecraftian fashion, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this.
I thought my bait-and-switch of the prosaic explanations for the supernatural was fun, but the juxtaposition of the Family Circus with Cthulhu trumps all.
Right when I'm rereading The Road to Madness too.
However, as we slowly build towards the terror in true Lovecraftian fashion, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this.
I thought my bait-and-switch of the prosaic explanations for the supernatural was fun, but the juxtaposition of the Family Circus with Cthulhu trumps all.
Right when I'm rereading The Road to Madness too.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Falling off the planet...
... is far less painful than one would think, especially when it's only figurative.
The reason for the long absence of updates here is obvious when you see the picture below.
That's our oldest (Nicholas, 34 months) with our youngest (Marianne, 2 months). And then we've got Alexandre as well, who's 17 months. Here he is, looking at Marianne.
So we've been pretty busy adjusting to this new person, and helping the kids adjust as well. It hasn't been too bad; Nicholas was young enough when Alexandre arrived that he never really knew what it was like to be the only child... and Alexandre's in the same position viz Marianne... he's going to forget that she wasn't always around.
MAME cabinet building, basement finishing, and interactive fiction game development have all stalled, of course. But the kids seem well adjusted now, and are back to sleeping quite a bit better than they were. The two boys wake up perhaps once or twice during the night each, and Marianne usually sleeps for about 9 or 10 hours at night, which is great.
We finally got around to buying some Duplo for the kids the other day. I'm a big Lego geek, and have piles of Lego sets downstairs waiting for the kids including some big boxes of just bricks that I bought recently. I've got about 3500 Lego pieces in never-opened boxes, not to mention all my "themed" Lego sets from when I was a kid. However, they're just a bit too small for them to play with right now.
We have some Mega Bloks that someone gave us (the big, clunky, non-Lego compatible ones*), and Nicholas liked playing with them, but never for very long.
(*they are actually Duplo-compatible, but only one way. They'll stick to the Duplo, but the Duplo won't stick to them, as the Mega Bloks are much bigger).
The other day, Duplo was on sale at Toys-R-Us, so we picked up a couple of boxes. The Duplo has been the exclusive toy of choice for the kids for three weeks straight now. It's the first thing Nicholas wants to do in the morning, and he plays with them all through the day, and in the evening with me when I get home. It's great. I think the big difference is that the Duplo sticks together so much better than the Mega Bloks, so it's easier for the kids to use, in spite of being a bit smaller. With the way kids tend to build, they don't always pay the most attention to structure, so if your bricks don't stick together well, the structures won't stand up under their own weight.
One of the boxes was a 50th anniversary limited edition Duplo box with some limited edition gold bricks, as loudly proclaimed on the box. Okay, neat, I thought, but no big deal. Well, limited was right. There are just six of the gold bricks, and they're all the small 4-bump one, the smallest Duplo block there is. I don't know why they bothered. The other tub we purchased was a generic large Duplo tub, with a nice assortment of bricks. Not as many pieces as the limited edition, but it was cheaper and had some unique features that weren't in the other one (such as the propeller piece).
There was a limited edition Lego tub available, with gold bricks, for $15. At a paltry 500 pieces, though, it didn't seem worth it. They also had a big red 1000-piece tub with 500 bonus bricks for $30, so we bought that instead. Same price as two limited edition tubs, and 150% more pieces. And given the "limited edition" doublespeak, I'm glad I didn't let the siren lure of golden pieces talk me into buying an inferior set for a measly handful of gold bricks.
I've got some road pieces as well, when the time comes to set up a whole Lego town, but I've got the old style roadplates with the grey border, whereas the new ones have the green border. So the green plates are nice, but if I need any additional plates, I may order the grey ones, just so they match--assuming the grey is still the same as the old. Also, the grey ones are $5.99 for two pieces, and the green are $9.99 for two. Of course, the green are available now, and the grey are backordered until the end of this year or February 2006 for some of the styles.
How can you tell it's nearing Christmas (as Leela says in Futurama, I "must be using an archaic pronunciation"), when I've got an entire blog post filled with talk of Lego? Lego was always my present of choice for Christmas, and was always what I asked Santa to bring. And there were usually a couple of other small boxes of Lego from mum and dad under the tree--prelocated by judicious pre-Christmas shaking... though I can remember being deceived and disappointed by a particularly noisy-pieced puzzle one year. I loved puzzles too though, so I think I got over it...
... apart from growing up into a Lego-obsessed engineering geek. But no one ever said that was a bad thing.
The reason for the long absence of updates here is obvious when you see the picture below.
That's our oldest (Nicholas, 34 months) with our youngest (Marianne, 2 months). And then we've got Alexandre as well, who's 17 months. Here he is, looking at Marianne.
So we've been pretty busy adjusting to this new person, and helping the kids adjust as well. It hasn't been too bad; Nicholas was young enough when Alexandre arrived that he never really knew what it was like to be the only child... and Alexandre's in the same position viz Marianne... he's going to forget that she wasn't always around.
MAME cabinet building, basement finishing, and interactive fiction game development have all stalled, of course. But the kids seem well adjusted now, and are back to sleeping quite a bit better than they were. The two boys wake up perhaps once or twice during the night each, and Marianne usually sleeps for about 9 or 10 hours at night, which is great.
We finally got around to buying some Duplo for the kids the other day. I'm a big Lego geek, and have piles of Lego sets downstairs waiting for the kids including some big boxes of just bricks that I bought recently. I've got about 3500 Lego pieces in never-opened boxes, not to mention all my "themed" Lego sets from when I was a kid. However, they're just a bit too small for them to play with right now.
We have some Mega Bloks that someone gave us (the big, clunky, non-Lego compatible ones*), and Nicholas liked playing with them, but never for very long.
(*they are actually Duplo-compatible, but only one way. They'll stick to the Duplo, but the Duplo won't stick to them, as the Mega Bloks are much bigger).
The other day, Duplo was on sale at Toys-R-Us, so we picked up a couple of boxes. The Duplo has been the exclusive toy of choice for the kids for three weeks straight now. It's the first thing Nicholas wants to do in the morning, and he plays with them all through the day, and in the evening with me when I get home. It's great. I think the big difference is that the Duplo sticks together so much better than the Mega Bloks, so it's easier for the kids to use, in spite of being a bit smaller. With the way kids tend to build, they don't always pay the most attention to structure, so if your bricks don't stick together well, the structures won't stand up under their own weight.
One of the boxes was a 50th anniversary limited edition Duplo box with some limited edition gold bricks, as loudly proclaimed on the box. Okay, neat, I thought, but no big deal. Well, limited was right. There are just six of the gold bricks, and they're all the small 4-bump one, the smallest Duplo block there is. I don't know why they bothered. The other tub we purchased was a generic large Duplo tub, with a nice assortment of bricks. Not as many pieces as the limited edition, but it was cheaper and had some unique features that weren't in the other one (such as the propeller piece).
There was a limited edition Lego tub available, with gold bricks, for $15. At a paltry 500 pieces, though, it didn't seem worth it. They also had a big red 1000-piece tub with 500 bonus bricks for $30, so we bought that instead. Same price as two limited edition tubs, and 150% more pieces. And given the "limited edition" doublespeak, I'm glad I didn't let the siren lure of golden pieces talk me into buying an inferior set for a measly handful of gold bricks.
I've got some road pieces as well, when the time comes to set up a whole Lego town, but I've got the old style roadplates with the grey border, whereas the new ones have the green border. So the green plates are nice, but if I need any additional plates, I may order the grey ones, just so they match--assuming the grey is still the same as the old. Also, the grey ones are $5.99 for two pieces, and the green are $9.99 for two. Of course, the green are available now, and the grey are backordered until the end of this year or February 2006 for some of the styles.
How can you tell it's nearing Christmas (as Leela says in Futurama, I "must be using an archaic pronunciation"), when I've got an entire blog post filled with talk of Lego? Lego was always my present of choice for Christmas, and was always what I asked Santa to bring. And there were usually a couple of other small boxes of Lego from mum and dad under the tree--prelocated by judicious pre-Christmas shaking... though I can remember being deceived and disappointed by a particularly noisy-pieced puzzle one year. I loved puzzles too though, so I think I got over it...
... apart from growing up into a Lego-obsessed engineering geek. But no one ever said that was a bad thing.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
MAME cabinet: joystick complaints
I opted for the J-Stik ball-top joystick from Ultimarc when I put the control panel together.
Overall, it's a nice joystick. The travel is good, the switch action is nice, and I like the 4-way to 8-way switching feature. Playing Pacman with a 4-way joystick is much easier than with an 8-way.
They also top-mounted quite nicely, and I left just enough of a cutout around the top plate that I can reach the screws and remove the joystick without disturbing my laminate... leaving the plate buried in the laminate. Of course, this wouldn't be possible unless the ball-top was also removable. And it is.
This is touted as a feature, and rightly so. However, in the (very) limited MAME playing I've done, with the PC and TV set up in the basement while I'm supposed to be working on the cabinet, I've noticed that the tops have a real tendency to unscrew just under normal gameplay. I'll tighten them up and play for maybe half an hour, and they'll loosen again.
It may not sound like much, but it can really affect the game play when you shove the joystick up and the knob spins in your hand... or even spins off, if you haven't been noticing the increasing looseness. And then it goes bouncing across the floor, sending you scrambling after it to catch it, and then you've got to madly try to thread it back on while Sinistar laughs evilly, or Binky, Inky, Pinkie and Clyde zero in on you. It adds a certain amount of excitement to the games, but it's not exactly what I was looking for.
What I may end up doing is putting a little bit of Loc-tite thread-locker on there. Enough to prevent accidential loosening, but weak enough that I can still break it and unscrew it if necessary.
The cabinet hasn't really progressed much since the last post. I've traced out all the cuts for the second sheet of MDF, and even cut out a few of them. It won't be long now until I can start putting it together.
Overall, it's a nice joystick. The travel is good, the switch action is nice, and I like the 4-way to 8-way switching feature. Playing Pacman with a 4-way joystick is much easier than with an 8-way.
They also top-mounted quite nicely, and I left just enough of a cutout around the top plate that I can reach the screws and remove the joystick without disturbing my laminate... leaving the plate buried in the laminate. Of course, this wouldn't be possible unless the ball-top was also removable. And it is.
This is touted as a feature, and rightly so. However, in the (very) limited MAME playing I've done, with the PC and TV set up in the basement while I'm supposed to be working on the cabinet, I've noticed that the tops have a real tendency to unscrew just under normal gameplay. I'll tighten them up and play for maybe half an hour, and they'll loosen again.
It may not sound like much, but it can really affect the game play when you shove the joystick up and the knob spins in your hand... or even spins off, if you haven't been noticing the increasing looseness. And then it goes bouncing across the floor, sending you scrambling after it to catch it, and then you've got to madly try to thread it back on while Sinistar laughs evilly, or Binky, Inky, Pinkie and Clyde zero in on you. It adds a certain amount of excitement to the games, but it's not exactly what I was looking for.
What I may end up doing is putting a little bit of Loc-tite thread-locker on there. Enough to prevent accidential loosening, but weak enough that I can still break it and unscrew it if necessary.
The cabinet hasn't really progressed much since the last post. I've traced out all the cuts for the second sheet of MDF, and even cut out a few of them. It won't be long now until I can start putting it together.
Monday, September 12, 2005
MAME cabinet: a one-sided discussion
I was on sod duty Friday evening and Saturday morning, and we now have a grass lawn in the back. Putting down sod is great; you go from boring dirt backyard to grass in a matter of hours. It's far more satisfying than the topsoil, and takes far less time to do. I was very pleased with the results, though it is now stubbornly refusing to rain.
Michelle very kindly took the boys out to the grocery store, and then the toy store on Sunday afternoon, giving me about four hours to myself, with the idea that I'd work on the cabinet. I had a few things I wanted to do on the PC, so I got that out of the way, and then went downstairs. I'd put in about an hour of work, and then the power went off in the house. Argh! If it's not one thing, it's another. I finally had some free and clear time to make as much noise and sawdust as I wanted, and the hydro company shackles me.
The power came back on after a couple of hours, and I managed to finish all the cuts to the first sheet of MDF. I now have one complete side panel, which looks pretty impressive standing against the wall.
I maneuvered the second sheet of MDF onto the table, and I'm ready to mark all the cuts on it, and then get cutting. I think I'll just put the existing side panel on top of this sheet, stencil around it, and and then cut. Once both sheets are cut, I'll clamp them together and sand the edges to ensure they're the exact same size.
I also got around to trying the melamine edging on the control panel. It's a 50' roll of black edging that you iron on. I got that done, and it looks pretty spiffy.
Given the amount of effort T-molding is going to take, and the fact that I've got a non-standard MDF thickness (11/16" versus 3/4", which wasn't available), I think I'll just try this edging on the whole panel. Saves me having to router that channel for the T-molding.
It's great to see this thing start to take shape. It's going to be a blast starting to put the thing together.
Michelle very kindly took the boys out to the grocery store, and then the toy store on Sunday afternoon, giving me about four hours to myself, with the idea that I'd work on the cabinet. I had a few things I wanted to do on the PC, so I got that out of the way, and then went downstairs. I'd put in about an hour of work, and then the power went off in the house. Argh! If it's not one thing, it's another. I finally had some free and clear time to make as much noise and sawdust as I wanted, and the hydro company shackles me.
The power came back on after a couple of hours, and I managed to finish all the cuts to the first sheet of MDF. I now have one complete side panel, which looks pretty impressive standing against the wall.
I maneuvered the second sheet of MDF onto the table, and I'm ready to mark all the cuts on it, and then get cutting. I think I'll just put the existing side panel on top of this sheet, stencil around it, and and then cut. Once both sheets are cut, I'll clamp them together and sand the edges to ensure they're the exact same size.
I also got around to trying the melamine edging on the control panel. It's a 50' roll of black edging that you iron on. I got that done, and it looks pretty spiffy.
Given the amount of effort T-molding is going to take, and the fact that I've got a non-standard MDF thickness (11/16" versus 3/4", which wasn't available), I think I'll just try this edging on the whole panel. Saves me having to router that channel for the T-molding.
It's great to see this thing start to take shape. It's going to be a blast starting to put the thing together.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
MAME cabinet: why is the work progressing so slowly...
... I hear you not asking.
What with one thing and another, putting up the fence has taken up a lot more time than I would have liked, mostly because the available time to work on it has been limited.
We had family things to go do the last weekends of July, and the first weekend of August, so that really delayed the fence building.
However, it's finally all finished now, except for putting the post caps on top of the posts to keep water from getting into the grain. I just did the gate on Sunday, so now we can just close the gate and throw the kids out of the back door. Of course, all they have to play with right now are weeds and dirt.
I have also finally started cutting bits out from the first sheet of MDF. Hooray! It cuts nicely and with a finishing blade on the circular saw, the MDF gets a really smooth, clean edge on it.
My second sheet of MDF has a bit of a crack in one corner, so I've been trying to plan out how I can cut around it. I'm already making the doors, front and back, out of left-over 5/8" plywood. It saves me buying a third sheet of MDF, and I prefer the idea of a lighter door hanging on there than I'd get with the MDF.
I was also having doubts about the weight of the TV sitting on a shelf inside the cabinet. I was worried it was going to be too heavy--more a conceptual thing though: the TV just seems so heavy when you're trying to move it. I threw a couple of 2x4 scraps on the floor and slapped a piece of plywood across them and proceeded to stand on it. It supported my weight without flexing at all. So if it can support me, it will definitely support the TV, especially if I add some bracing underneath. Thus, my TV stand in the cabinet is going to be made out of plywood. This means one less piece to cut out of the MDF, so I won't have to use the cracked portion.
So far, I've cut out the kickplates, one of the 3.5" spacers for the front of the cabinet, and the front and back halves of the bottom. I've opted to go with a 5" kickplate at the bottom (versus 3.5" on the reference plans) and reduce the door height on the front and back accordingly. I'll probably recess the floor to 1 or 2" above the bottom, but that depends on what sort of wheels I decide to go with.
I also picked up a Dremel tool from a coworker for relatively cheap, along with a Rotozip spiral saw, so those should come in handy for trimming the small fiddling detail bits on the cabinet outline, and even cutting a groove for the T-molding if I end up going that route.
It's nice to see it starting to progress, even if at a snail's pace. Once winter rolls around, there'll probably be more time to work on it, as I don't be building fences or laying sod down.
I will of course be shoveling gargantuan amounts of snow in inhumane temperatures, but that's only to be expected.
What with one thing and another, putting up the fence has taken up a lot more time than I would have liked, mostly because the available time to work on it has been limited.
We had family things to go do the last weekends of July, and the first weekend of August, so that really delayed the fence building.
However, it's finally all finished now, except for putting the post caps on top of the posts to keep water from getting into the grain. I just did the gate on Sunday, so now we can just close the gate and throw the kids out of the back door. Of course, all they have to play with right now are weeds and dirt.
I have also finally started cutting bits out from the first sheet of MDF. Hooray! It cuts nicely and with a finishing blade on the circular saw, the MDF gets a really smooth, clean edge on it.
My second sheet of MDF has a bit of a crack in one corner, so I've been trying to plan out how I can cut around it. I'm already making the doors, front and back, out of left-over 5/8" plywood. It saves me buying a third sheet of MDF, and I prefer the idea of a lighter door hanging on there than I'd get with the MDF.
I was also having doubts about the weight of the TV sitting on a shelf inside the cabinet. I was worried it was going to be too heavy--more a conceptual thing though: the TV just seems so heavy when you're trying to move it. I threw a couple of 2x4 scraps on the floor and slapped a piece of plywood across them and proceeded to stand on it. It supported my weight without flexing at all. So if it can support me, it will definitely support the TV, especially if I add some bracing underneath. Thus, my TV stand in the cabinet is going to be made out of plywood. This means one less piece to cut out of the MDF, so I won't have to use the cracked portion.
So far, I've cut out the kickplates, one of the 3.5" spacers for the front of the cabinet, and the front and back halves of the bottom. I've opted to go with a 5" kickplate at the bottom (versus 3.5" on the reference plans) and reduce the door height on the front and back accordingly. I'll probably recess the floor to 1 or 2" above the bottom, but that depends on what sort of wheels I decide to go with.
I also picked up a Dremel tool from a coworker for relatively cheap, along with a Rotozip spiral saw, so those should come in handy for trimming the small fiddling detail bits on the cabinet outline, and even cutting a groove for the T-molding if I end up going that route.
It's nice to see it starting to progress, even if at a snail's pace. Once winter rolls around, there'll probably be more time to work on it, as I don't be building fences or laying sod down.
I will of course be shoveling gargantuan amounts of snow in inhumane temperatures, but that's only to be expected.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
MAME cabinet: testing the TV out
My Radeon 9250 and cheap Chaintech sound card arrived last week from Tiger Direct and I finally got around to plugging them into the old machine on Sunday evening.
I plugged in an old 20" TV that we've got lying around and set things up so that the Windows desktop would come up on the TV-OUT all the time. The desktop didn't look great, but I increased the font size so it's usable. I fired up Mamewah, and it looked pretty good.
When I launched Pacman to give that a go, I was really surprised at how much better it looked on the TV than it had on the monitor. The sharp edges of all the graphics were softened, and the end result was that it looked much more like Pacman used to look in the arcade.
The picture wasn't perfect, as it's not a very good TV, and it doesn't have S-Video in, so I'm using a homemade S-Video to RCA cable.
With the experiment considered a success, I hauled the old PC downstairs, along with the control panel. When I get a moment, I may set it up with the old 27" Sony, just to see what it will look like. If I get it set up on a table down there, then it can even be used for quick gaming sessions in between working on the cabinet. I've got to keep up my enthusiasm, naturally.
I may have to start thinking about coin doors and mechs again soon, as well as Plexiglass or Lexan for the marquee. Over at Jeff's ultimate MAME arcade machine, he used the marquee retainer PVC from Happ Controls, which looks like a pretty easy way to secure the marquee--certainly beats trying to screw it in place, which can be difficult with some of these materials, especially near the corners. Seeing I'll probably be ordering coin doors from Happ Controls anyway, it might make sense to grab some of this too. It comes in ten foot lengths, but the excess can be sold off to others... such as my brother, who's contemplating a MAME cabinet of his own.
I'm holding off on ordering from Happ Controls yet, though. I want to get nearly finished the cabinet first, because I know the minute I place the order, I'll remember something else I can only get from there.
There's wheels, mounting brackets and a host of other little hardware items that I'm going to need, but I think I'll just depend on local hardware stores for that kind of thing. I'm still not certain exactly what I want for wheels and/or leg levellers on this thing. Ideally, the wheels will be recessed under the unit so that they aren't visible, but you can still push it around easily. Not sure how I'll mount the leg levellers, or how they'll be adjusted once the unit is stationary, but I guess as long as there's enough clearance underneath to reach in with a wrench, that should be fine.
I plugged in an old 20" TV that we've got lying around and set things up so that the Windows desktop would come up on the TV-OUT all the time. The desktop didn't look great, but I increased the font size so it's usable. I fired up Mamewah, and it looked pretty good.
When I launched Pacman to give that a go, I was really surprised at how much better it looked on the TV than it had on the monitor. The sharp edges of all the graphics were softened, and the end result was that it looked much more like Pacman used to look in the arcade.
The picture wasn't perfect, as it's not a very good TV, and it doesn't have S-Video in, so I'm using a homemade S-Video to RCA cable.
With the experiment considered a success, I hauled the old PC downstairs, along with the control panel. When I get a moment, I may set it up with the old 27" Sony, just to see what it will look like. If I get it set up on a table down there, then it can even be used for quick gaming sessions in between working on the cabinet. I've got to keep up my enthusiasm, naturally.
I may have to start thinking about coin doors and mechs again soon, as well as Plexiglass or Lexan for the marquee. Over at Jeff's ultimate MAME arcade machine, he used the marquee retainer PVC from Happ Controls, which looks like a pretty easy way to secure the marquee--certainly beats trying to screw it in place, which can be difficult with some of these materials, especially near the corners. Seeing I'll probably be ordering coin doors from Happ Controls anyway, it might make sense to grab some of this too. It comes in ten foot lengths, but the excess can be sold off to others... such as my brother, who's contemplating a MAME cabinet of his own.
I'm holding off on ordering from Happ Controls yet, though. I want to get nearly finished the cabinet first, because I know the minute I place the order, I'll remember something else I can only get from there.
There's wheels, mounting brackets and a host of other little hardware items that I'm going to need, but I think I'll just depend on local hardware stores for that kind of thing. I'm still not certain exactly what I want for wheels and/or leg levellers on this thing. Ideally, the wheels will be recessed under the unit so that they aren't visible, but you can still push it around easily. Not sure how I'll mount the leg levellers, or how they'll be adjusted once the unit is stationary, but I guess as long as there's enough clearance underneath to reach in with a wrench, that should be fine.
Learning to fence...
Constructing the fence has been taking up all my spare time lately.
All the runners were finished by last Thursday (the 28th), and so I was able to start putting up fence boards on Friday night and a lot of the day Saturday. I did a few more on Monday as well, but haven't managed to get out there since then. I'm roughly half-finished with the fence boards, though there are still a few areas with gaps to fill, where a full fence board wouldn't fit at the end of a section.
It's been over 30 degrees here over the last few days, so the fence was pretty hot work, with the sun beating down out of a clear blue sky. My skin has started to lose its geekly white pallor, but I've managed to avoid any burning by dousing myself liberally in sunscreen before venturing outside.
And in other pointless news, I got my second sheet of MDF hauled down the stairs, so cabinet construction should be beginning soon (fingers crossed).
All the runners were finished by last Thursday (the 28th), and so I was able to start putting up fence boards on Friday night and a lot of the day Saturday. I did a few more on Monday as well, but haven't managed to get out there since then. I'm roughly half-finished with the fence boards, though there are still a few areas with gaps to fill, where a full fence board wouldn't fit at the end of a section.
It's been over 30 degrees here over the last few days, so the fence was pretty hot work, with the sun beating down out of a clear blue sky. My skin has started to lose its geekly white pallor, but I've managed to avoid any burning by dousing myself liberally in sunscreen before venturing outside.
And in other pointless news, I got my second sheet of MDF hauled down the stairs, so cabinet construction should be beginning soon (fingers crossed).
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
A 4x8 sheet of 11/16" MDF...
... is extremely heavy!
I got the MDF delivered along with all the wood for the backyard fence. Those sheets are seriously heavy! The guy who delivered the MDF carried both sheets at once into the garage for me, so I figured I should be able to manage one sheet down the stairs at a time, as I've done with plywood before.
No such luck. This stuff is dense. With Michelle steadying one end, I managed to maneuver one sheet down there, but every time I look at the second sheet in the garage, I lose all desire to try again.
Maybe I should do some cutting of this sheet in the garage.
I'm really eager to get going on the cabinet construction, but it's going to have to wait. I have a pile of wood in the driveway that I want to turn into a fence.
All the posts have been set for the fence, and I got all the fence clips in place. Sunday and Monday evening, I got a few of the runners in place, so one side of the yard is "runnered" at the moment. That represents about 29' of fence, so only another 80' to go, and then I can start in on the fence boards.
Fenced lot, here we come.
I got the MDF delivered along with all the wood for the backyard fence. Those sheets are seriously heavy! The guy who delivered the MDF carried both sheets at once into the garage for me, so I figured I should be able to manage one sheet down the stairs at a time, as I've done with plywood before.
No such luck. This stuff is dense. With Michelle steadying one end, I managed to maneuver one sheet down there, but every time I look at the second sheet in the garage, I lose all desire to try again.
Maybe I should do some cutting of this sheet in the garage.
I'm really eager to get going on the cabinet construction, but it's going to have to wait. I have a pile of wood in the driveway that I want to turn into a fence.
All the posts have been set for the fence, and I got all the fence clips in place. Sunday and Monday evening, I got a few of the runners in place, so one side of the yard is "runnered" at the moment. That represents about 29' of fence, so only another 80' to go, and then I can start in on the fence boards.
Fenced lot, here we come.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
No more Scotty...
Just read at WWdN that James Doohan, aka Scotty from Star Trek passed away today at age 85.
He had a good innings, but it's sad to see him go. He was everybody's favourite fictional engineer (fictioneer?), and I can't remember how many times I've wished my engineering job could be more like Scotty's. *Sigh*.
He had a good innings, but it's sad to see him go. He was everybody's favourite fictional engineer (fictioneer?), and I can't remember how many times I've wished my engineering job could be more like Scotty's. *Sigh*.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
MAME cabinet: another man's cabinet
I found out about this arcade project in a comment on one of my MAME cabinet blog entries. It looks like they're building a pretty neat little cabinet there, and hitting some of the same stores as me. You've got to love Canadian Tire. They're a little further along on the cabinet end, so I'm going to give a read and see what problems they've encountered.
I am still undecided as to what material I want to use for the cabinet. The plywood option is expensive, but would certainly be the lightest and strongest. MDF is really heavy, and I don't like the way it tends to chip easily. It also tears around screw holes too. Of course, the plywood can be a little harder to work with, and it's easy to chip the top veneer. And there are all kinds of people all over the net building cabinets with MDF, so it can't be that big of a deal.
I am still undecided as to what material I want to use for the cabinet. The plywood option is expensive, but would certainly be the lightest and strongest. MDF is really heavy, and I don't like the way it tends to chip easily. It also tears around screw holes too. Of course, the plywood can be a little harder to work with, and it's easy to chip the top veneer. And there are all kinds of people all over the net building cabinets with MDF, so it can't be that big of a deal.
Monday, July 18, 2005
MAME cabinet: my kids love the control panel
The ultimate goal with my MAME cabinet is to create something that my kids will enjoy. I want them to enjoy some of the same feelings I used to get playing these games.
When I was growing up, I never got to spend as much time in arcades as I wanted to. In fact, until I hit university, I don't think I'd ever been to an arcade as such--more the local 7-11 stores and laundromats that had machines. There was one place in downtown Winnipeg, Magicland, where you paid a flat fee ($5 per hour, I think) and all the machines were set on free play.
I used to go there from time to time in my teens, but it was not the same thing: the games lost their magic when they were on free play. You tended to get hold of a good game and play it to completion, using guy after guy. Or, if the good machines were all taken, you tended to snack: wandering around, taking a nibble at this game, then that game, for just a few minutes each time.
When I was younger, the idea of arcades was also out of the question because, for one thing, my parents didn't view them as a safe place for a 10-year-old to hang out--and rightly so.
At that age, I'd often only see arcades (or just arcade machines) when out somewhere with my parents. I would gaze at them for the longest time, either watching the attract screen or watching someone else play, or just gazing at the vast array of all the machines, if it was an arcade.
It felt like I wanted nothing more in the world than to play those games. I fantasized about my parents noticing and asking me if I wanted to play a few of the games. It never happened, but I dreamed about them handing me a few quarters and telling me to go try some of the games.
Keep in mind that they weren't deliberately stopping me from playing. I suspect if I had asked them for money to play, the answer would have been no, but if I had produced the quarters myself, they might have let me.
That was the other problem, which sounds silly now. Fear. I was nervous about trying these games. I was always a pretty shy kid, and somehow I found it hard to imagine myself boldly walking up and playing. What if someone said something? What if I got kicked off for playing so badly?
So any chance I got to play these games--usually whenever I had a few quarters and could find a place with only a couple of machines--less fear in the smaller places... I played. And really enjoyed it, except for not being very good, due to lack of practice.
When I got to university, and there was a non-smoking arcade in University Centre, and very boring physics classes (it was a repeat of the I.B. physics I'd taken in grade 11) every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, I spent a lot of time in that arcade. At least, I did whenever my buddy Wayne was also inclined to bail out on physics. If he wanted to go to class, I usually tagged along. I'd sit there listening for a while, and once the professor got to a particularly boring part, or said something I, in my infinite 18-year-old wisdom, found asinine (such as "We're finished now with the meat and potatoes of this course, and we're moving on to the dessert"), I'd extend my hand to Wayne, and say "Book!" and he'd hand me whatever book was in his bag that he was currently reading. I worked my way through Margaret Weis's "Star of the Guardians" trilogy in that class, along with Wayne's entire Time Wars series.
Now that I've rambled on, let me renew my focus. I want my kids to be able to play these video games in safety and comfort. I also want to be able to set reasonable limits on their playing, through use of tokens rather than quarters. And I like the idea of a dedicated arcade machine that they play in the rec room downstairs, rather than a game console that they lock themselves into their room with and play nonstop.
The two boys are only 2 and a half and 1 year old at the moment, but they've already shown a propensity for MAME. While the control panel was plugged into the desktop computer (for "testing" purposes), they were forever pushing buttons on it, causing random keypresses during my attempts to use Windows, with the requisite hilarity ensuing.
So with the leftover laminate, and some pieces of 1/4" panel I had kicking around, I decided to do something fun for them. I got a bunch of switches, some that I had sitting around, and some that I picked up fromRadio Shack The Source, and a few different types of LEDs (clear, red and blue) and wired them all up to a little 9V battery. So now the kids have this laminated panel with 6 buttons of various types on it. Toggle, rocker, momentary, push-on, with each wired up to a different LED. They love it. The 2.5 year old played with it for almost an hour the first time. The 1 year old loves it too, but after a few minutes of playing, he always wants to turn it over and look at the insides to see how it works.
Must be a second son thing: my dad's an engineer. I'm the second son and I became one, and now my second son looks like he's heading the same way... not that it's a problem, just interesting.
When I was growing up, I never got to spend as much time in arcades as I wanted to. In fact, until I hit university, I don't think I'd ever been to an arcade as such--more the local 7-11 stores and laundromats that had machines. There was one place in downtown Winnipeg, Magicland, where you paid a flat fee ($5 per hour, I think) and all the machines were set on free play.
I used to go there from time to time in my teens, but it was not the same thing: the games lost their magic when they were on free play. You tended to get hold of a good game and play it to completion, using guy after guy. Or, if the good machines were all taken, you tended to snack: wandering around, taking a nibble at this game, then that game, for just a few minutes each time.
When I was younger, the idea of arcades was also out of the question because, for one thing, my parents didn't view them as a safe place for a 10-year-old to hang out--and rightly so.
At that age, I'd often only see arcades (or just arcade machines) when out somewhere with my parents. I would gaze at them for the longest time, either watching the attract screen or watching someone else play, or just gazing at the vast array of all the machines, if it was an arcade.
It felt like I wanted nothing more in the world than to play those games. I fantasized about my parents noticing and asking me if I wanted to play a few of the games. It never happened, but I dreamed about them handing me a few quarters and telling me to go try some of the games.
Keep in mind that they weren't deliberately stopping me from playing. I suspect if I had asked them for money to play, the answer would have been no, but if I had produced the quarters myself, they might have let me.
That was the other problem, which sounds silly now. Fear. I was nervous about trying these games. I was always a pretty shy kid, and somehow I found it hard to imagine myself boldly walking up and playing. What if someone said something? What if I got kicked off for playing so badly?
So any chance I got to play these games--usually whenever I had a few quarters and could find a place with only a couple of machines--less fear in the smaller places... I played. And really enjoyed it, except for not being very good, due to lack of practice.
When I got to university, and there was a non-smoking arcade in University Centre, and very boring physics classes (it was a repeat of the I.B. physics I'd taken in grade 11) every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, I spent a lot of time in that arcade. At least, I did whenever my buddy Wayne was also inclined to bail out on physics. If he wanted to go to class, I usually tagged along. I'd sit there listening for a while, and once the professor got to a particularly boring part, or said something I, in my infinite 18-year-old wisdom, found asinine (such as "We're finished now with the meat and potatoes of this course, and we're moving on to the dessert"), I'd extend my hand to Wayne, and say "Book!" and he'd hand me whatever book was in his bag that he was currently reading. I worked my way through Margaret Weis's "Star of the Guardians" trilogy in that class, along with Wayne's entire Time Wars series.
Now that I've rambled on, let me renew my focus. I want my kids to be able to play these video games in safety and comfort. I also want to be able to set reasonable limits on their playing, through use of tokens rather than quarters. And I like the idea of a dedicated arcade machine that they play in the rec room downstairs, rather than a game console that they lock themselves into their room with and play nonstop.
The two boys are only 2 and a half and 1 year old at the moment, but they've already shown a propensity for MAME. While the control panel was plugged into the desktop computer (for "testing" purposes), they were forever pushing buttons on it, causing random keypresses during my attempts to use Windows, with the requisite hilarity ensuing.
So with the leftover laminate, and some pieces of 1/4" panel I had kicking around, I decided to do something fun for them. I got a bunch of switches, some that I had sitting around, and some that I picked up from
Must be a second son thing: my dad's an engineer. I'm the second son and I became one, and now my second son looks like he's heading the same way... not that it's a problem, just interesting.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Component video goodness
My component video cables arrived, so I got them hooked up last night and watched a little bit of LOTR:FOTR, swapping between watching through S-Video versus component video. The difference was incredible: far more significant than I thought it would be.
So now I get to be all pleased about my new television purchase all over again.
In other news, I'm going to put the fence up in the backyard in the next little while, so plans for ordering a bunch of lumber are proceeding, and I think I'll throw a couple of 4x8 sheets of MDF into the order, so that I can get started on some serious MAME cabinet building. Upright cabinet, here I come.
So now I get to be all pleased about my new television purchase all over again.
In other news, I'm going to put the fence up in the backyard in the next little while, so plans for ordering a bunch of lumber are proceeding, and I think I'll throw a couple of 4x8 sheets of MDF into the order, so that I can get started on some serious MAME cabinet building. Upright cabinet, here I come.
Monday, July 11, 2005
MAME cabinet: television selection
My ultimate plan is to use a 27" TV in the MAME cabinet, for cost reasons.
A large computer monitor is cost-prohibitive, and a large arcade monitor is pretty pricey too. A large TV will give a great screen size, and offer video that looks similar to what the arcade monitors look like. It's not perfect--it's a compromise.
The target television needed to have S-Video in, and a nice 27" size, with a fairly flat screen. I also wanted something with a minimal cabinet, i.e. no silly speakers mounted on the side--a look I hate and one that would make the TV too big for the proposed cabinet.
I wasn't planning to get this TV right away, as I'm nowhere near starting work on the cabinet, but with our current Sony displaying more problems every time it's turned on (thanks to kids who like nothing better than switching it on and off) when the Toshiba 27A34 went on sale at Sears for $260 CDN, I decided to spring into action.
It's a pretty nice television. It's got component video inputs, which is unusual on that size of a tube TV. The screen isn't pure flat, but pretty close--it's flatter than my 16-year-old Sony. It also has quite a smaller cabinet than the Sony, and is about 40 pounds lighter (at 80 pounds) than the Sony, so I'll feel better about putting it into the cabinet.
It's even, in theory, controllable via the universal remote that I have on my digital cable box. Unfortunately, the Toshiba setup codes for the universal remote all start with 0, and I can't enter 0 on that remote anymore, thanks to the day my 1-year-old introduced the remote to a tall glass of water. Numerous buttons never recovered from that incident, the 0 among them.
So for the time being, the new Toshiba is replacing our Sony upstairs, the idea being that I'll switch back when the arcade cabinet is closer to completion... or perhaps not. Maybe I'll find a way to make the Sony work in the arcade cabinet on a temporary basis... until we can get our dream TV purchased.
So I ordered a component video cable from RP Electronics, who sell a 6-footer for $15, a far cry from the $50 that most retail stores want. Seeing I was ordering, I also grabbed a couple of 120mm AC fans for the MAME cabinet. They've got some nice ball bearing AC fans with metal impellers, which should help them last a little longer. I also ordered a few other miscellaneous goodies that will be useful in the guts of the cabinet (AC plugs with wire leads, power bar with EMI/RFI filtering, external AC socket that will allow me to plug computer power-supply style cords into the cabinet to power it--much nicer than having a static cord sticking out of the box).
As it stands, the TV gives a very decent picture, even though, due to someone, most likely one of the boys, or maybe even me, treading on the end of the S-Video cable from the amp to the TV while it was unplugged and bending the shell, it's only running on a composite cable at the moment. Colours look bright and vivid and it was great to fire up LOTR:FOTR the other day and look at Orthanc without it being all squiggly.
The gun on the Sony was off, so most straight lines were squiggly, though you'd be amazed at how well the brain ignores that sort of thing and just sees the line as straight. I used to have to pause the image to verify that it was happening. It was really noticeable on vertical wipes though, where a straight object was being drawn on the screen, and you could see the bits of it shift as the picture was wiped on to the screen. Most noticeable on the boys' Baby Mozart DVD. Maybe I should drop that in and check it.
A parent *and* a geek: using a kid's video to check out my new TV. Sigh.
A large computer monitor is cost-prohibitive, and a large arcade monitor is pretty pricey too. A large TV will give a great screen size, and offer video that looks similar to what the arcade monitors look like. It's not perfect--it's a compromise.
The target television needed to have S-Video in, and a nice 27" size, with a fairly flat screen. I also wanted something with a minimal cabinet, i.e. no silly speakers mounted on the side--a look I hate and one that would make the TV too big for the proposed cabinet.
I wasn't planning to get this TV right away, as I'm nowhere near starting work on the cabinet, but with our current Sony displaying more problems every time it's turned on (thanks to kids who like nothing better than switching it on and off) when the Toshiba 27A34 went on sale at Sears for $260 CDN, I decided to spring into action.
It's a pretty nice television. It's got component video inputs, which is unusual on that size of a tube TV. The screen isn't pure flat, but pretty close--it's flatter than my 16-year-old Sony. It also has quite a smaller cabinet than the Sony, and is about 40 pounds lighter (at 80 pounds) than the Sony, so I'll feel better about putting it into the cabinet.
It's even, in theory, controllable via the universal remote that I have on my digital cable box. Unfortunately, the Toshiba setup codes for the universal remote all start with 0, and I can't enter 0 on that remote anymore, thanks to the day my 1-year-old introduced the remote to a tall glass of water. Numerous buttons never recovered from that incident, the 0 among them.
So for the time being, the new Toshiba is replacing our Sony upstairs, the idea being that I'll switch back when the arcade cabinet is closer to completion... or perhaps not. Maybe I'll find a way to make the Sony work in the arcade cabinet on a temporary basis... until we can get our dream TV purchased.
So I ordered a component video cable from RP Electronics, who sell a 6-footer for $15, a far cry from the $50 that most retail stores want. Seeing I was ordering, I also grabbed a couple of 120mm AC fans for the MAME cabinet. They've got some nice ball bearing AC fans with metal impellers, which should help them last a little longer. I also ordered a few other miscellaneous goodies that will be useful in the guts of the cabinet (AC plugs with wire leads, power bar with EMI/RFI filtering, external AC socket that will allow me to plug computer power-supply style cords into the cabinet to power it--much nicer than having a static cord sticking out of the box).
As it stands, the TV gives a very decent picture, even though, due to someone, most likely one of the boys, or maybe even me, treading on the end of the S-Video cable from the amp to the TV while it was unplugged and bending the shell, it's only running on a composite cable at the moment. Colours look bright and vivid and it was great to fire up LOTR:FOTR the other day and look at Orthanc without it being all squiggly.
The gun on the Sony was off, so most straight lines were squiggly, though you'd be amazed at how well the brain ignores that sort of thing and just sees the line as straight. I used to have to pause the image to verify that it was happening. It was really noticeable on vertical wipes though, where a straight object was being drawn on the screen, and you could see the bits of it shift as the picture was wiped on to the screen. Most noticeable on the boys' Baby Mozart DVD. Maybe I should drop that in and check it.
A parent *and* a geek: using a kid's video to check out my new TV. Sigh.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Humour: God annoyed at having to "sort 'em out"
By Michael Coyne
Heaven - An annoyed God expressed his frustration today at the site of a recent massacre. "What the hell?" muttered the omnipotent one as he sorted through the bodies.
"They're all dead already," explained God to visiting representatives of various faiths. "I was sitting around and figured I'd come down from heaven in all my glory and do a little divine visitation. I arrive, and I'm saddled with this. Thanks."
"Aw, geez," God added, as he poked further through the mess of bodies. "They're all mixed together and stuff," he complained loudly. "Now I've got to sort them out. Gross."
God expressed disappointment at the lack of understanding among the faithful. "It's easy for you guys down here to just say "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out", but you don't realize just how much work it generates. I can't even tell how many bodies are here, for starters. I've got to pick my way through them all before I even know if we've met quota this month... and don't even get me started on the paperwork this entails!"
The Supreme Being picked an arm out of the pile in obvious annoyance. "And then look at this, an arm. Does that guy count as dead? Or just maimed? Where the hell is the rest of him? Is it somewhere in this pile or a different one? Or is there some guy wandering around wondering where his arm is?"
Asked if he intended to descend upon his chosen people in all his majestic wrath, God was cagey. "Sheesh, in the days of the old Covenant, I would have been all over you people like those nine plagues I sent against Egypt. What? Ten? Okay, maybe it was ten. You smite someone ten times more than three thousand years ago, and see if you remember all of them. But am I descending in wrath these days? Honestly, who's got the energy? Maybe I'll just get the whole descending in wrath thing outsourced. I've got someone in mind. He used to work for me, but left a really long time ago to do his own consulting work. He thought the prospects for advancement with me weren't good enough. I hear he's got a hell of a lot of wrath and anger, so he could probably handle the work, but you think I'm busy these days? He's swamped."
Heaven - An annoyed God expressed his frustration today at the site of a recent massacre. "What the hell?" muttered the omnipotent one as he sorted through the bodies.
"They're all dead already," explained God to visiting representatives of various faiths. "I was sitting around and figured I'd come down from heaven in all my glory and do a little divine visitation. I arrive, and I'm saddled with this. Thanks."
"Aw, geez," God added, as he poked further through the mess of bodies. "They're all mixed together and stuff," he complained loudly. "Now I've got to sort them out. Gross."
God expressed disappointment at the lack of understanding among the faithful. "It's easy for you guys down here to just say "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out", but you don't realize just how much work it generates. I can't even tell how many bodies are here, for starters. I've got to pick my way through them all before I even know if we've met quota this month... and don't even get me started on the paperwork this entails!"
The Supreme Being picked an arm out of the pile in obvious annoyance. "And then look at this, an arm. Does that guy count as dead? Or just maimed? Where the hell is the rest of him? Is it somewhere in this pile or a different one? Or is there some guy wandering around wondering where his arm is?"
Asked if he intended to descend upon his chosen people in all his majestic wrath, God was cagey. "Sheesh, in the days of the old Covenant, I would have been all over you people like those nine plagues I sent against Egypt. What? Ten? Okay, maybe it was ten. You smite someone ten times more than three thousand years ago, and see if you remember all of them. But am I descending in wrath these days? Honestly, who's got the energy? Maybe I'll just get the whole descending in wrath thing outsourced. I've got someone in mind. He used to work for me, but left a really long time ago to do his own consulting work. He thought the prospects for advancement with me weren't good enough. I hear he's got a hell of a lot of wrath and anger, so he could probably handle the work, but you think I'm busy these days? He's swamped."
BBspot: God annoyed at having to "sort 'em out"
MAME cabinet: routering and laminate application
My parents have been visiting us from Edmonton for the past week, and my dad brought his router along so that we could do some routering work on the control panel.
In order to get maximum height out of my Ultimarc joysticks, I wanted to top-mount them under the laminate. So we routered down just enough to fit the top plate, and then we drilled out the screw holes in the top plate so that the screws would countersink a bit. We were able to get the plates mounted nicely in the top of the control.
Then came laminate adhesion time. I had picked up some contact cement made by LePage's to glue the laminate to the plywood. It's pretty nice stuff, cleans up with soap and water, spreads easily, has no toxic components.
We applied a fairly thin coat to both the plywood and the laminate, waited about an hour, and then just jammed them together, using a rolling pin to push the laminate down into place. The bonding was immediate, and very strong, and we had the really neat-looking control panel pictured below.
We left it to firm up until the next day, just in case. The last thing I wanted was for the laminate to start pulling away when we started routering.
We began the next day by routering around the edge of the laminate, giving a nice clean edge--in fact, that's shown in the picture above.
We also drilled down and then routered around all the button, trackball and joystick holes, cleaned up all the edges and then, deep breath, I was ready to go, starting the wiring.
I got the buttons and everything else installed, chose a suitable mounting point for the Optipac and Ipac boards, screwed them into the underside of the panel and then started on the wiring. I opted to use the quick-connect crimps, instead of soldering just in case I wanted to rewire things some day.
After working on it over a couple of evenings, I had all the crimping and connections finished, and the finished control panel was ready to go.
So I plugged the whole thing into the PC and tried it out. It all worked perfectly, and my dad and I even managed to get in a two-player soccer game on MAME.
So I now have a fully working control panel. It's not completely finished. I've got to add the trim around the front edge, and I'm going to touch up the paint on the front to remove a couple of blemishes. The MAME fund was depleted with the purchase of all the controls, so everything's on hold for a few weeks until we build it up a bit more. There have been quite a few 27" TVs on sale for $200 lately, and I've almost picked one up. Our current main TV is on the fritz, so we're going to need another one soon to tide us over until we can afford our dream TV... and once we get the dream TV, whatever main TV we have (27" or under) will go into the MAME cabinet.
In order to get maximum height out of my Ultimarc joysticks, I wanted to top-mount them under the laminate. So we routered down just enough to fit the top plate, and then we drilled out the screw holes in the top plate so that the screws would countersink a bit. We were able to get the plates mounted nicely in the top of the control.
Then came laminate adhesion time. I had picked up some contact cement made by LePage's to glue the laminate to the plywood. It's pretty nice stuff, cleans up with soap and water, spreads easily, has no toxic components.
We applied a fairly thin coat to both the plywood and the laminate, waited about an hour, and then just jammed them together, using a rolling pin to push the laminate down into place. The bonding was immediate, and very strong, and we had the really neat-looking control panel pictured below.
Control panel with laminate (click to enlarge)
We left it to firm up until the next day, just in case. The last thing I wanted was for the laminate to start pulling away when we started routering.
We began the next day by routering around the edge of the laminate, giving a nice clean edge--in fact, that's shown in the picture above.
We also drilled down and then routered around all the button, trackball and joystick holes, cleaned up all the edges and then, deep breath, I was ready to go, starting the wiring.
I got the buttons and everything else installed, chose a suitable mounting point for the Optipac and Ipac boards, screwed them into the underside of the panel and then started on the wiring. I opted to use the quick-connect crimps, instead of soldering just in case I wanted to rewire things some day.
After working on it over a couple of evenings, I had all the crimping and connections finished, and the finished control panel was ready to go.
mostly finished control panel (click to enlarge)
So I plugged the whole thing into the PC and tried it out. It all worked perfectly, and my dad and I even managed to get in a two-player soccer game on MAME.
So I now have a fully working control panel. It's not completely finished. I've got to add the trim around the front edge, and I'm going to touch up the paint on the front to remove a couple of blemishes. The MAME fund was depleted with the purchase of all the controls, so everything's on hold for a few weeks until we build it up a bit more. There have been quite a few 27" TVs on sale for $200 lately, and I've almost picked one up. Our current main TV is on the fritz, so we're going to need another one soon to tide us over until we can afford our dream TV... and once we get the dream TV, whatever main TV we have (27" or under) will go into the MAME cabinet.
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