!Snowy Egret
Current Wx: Temp: 75.6°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 0mphWords: 85
Went out to get the paper this morning, and it actually felt nice. Almost cool. That's because the temperature was ~73°F! Humidity was still high, but you can deal with that. So I walked a little early, before the sun was over the trees. As a result, it was a little dim for photography. I wouldn't usually shoot in this light, but I figured it might be the only bird I'd get this morning, so I tried. Turned out ok, I think. Snowy egret.
✍️ Reply by emailBloggin' Like It's 1989
09:19 Sunday, 25 August 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 77.22°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 77% Wind: 1.01mph
Words: 695
Yesterday, I installed the internal/external drive switch for the Floppy Emu in the Apple //c. The video RCA cable arrived. The connectors are loose, but they work. I'm displeased, but dealing with it, as one does. When I move the //c around on my lap, I can lose the connection to the TV, but a touch brings it back.
All is not well just yet. I have no 5.25" floppies on hand. I've rectified that, but they won't be here for a while. I can switch the Floppy Emu to be the internal drive and boot from that, and I've played Frogger with it and enjoyed it. Choplifter requires a joystick. I've also rectified that, but it won't be here for a while.
But what I wanted to do was install my ABIDE system onto the micro-SD card in the Floppy Emu. Alas, I configured ABIDE (Apple/Beagle Integrated Development Environment) for my Virtual //e, which is much more robust in its hardware configuration than my stock //c. So I'll spend some time this morning in Virtual II setting up a single drive configuration.
ABIDE includes ProDOS BASIC.SYSTEM, so I can talk to the OS from BASIC, Program Writer from Alan Bird for editing Applesoft programs, Beagle Compiler for compiling those programs, and a bunch of utilities for debugging. That all fits on two drives with room for some programming projects, and I would typically move much of it to the RAM drive in the Virtual //e. To be perfectly frank, I configured the Virtual //e with a hard drive that I boot from, so I don't really need the floppies at all; but I'd set up the floppy configuration back when I had an actual Apple //e and needed to make some actual disks. I figured I'd use that with the //c, but with no physical media, I'm still effectively a 1-drive system. So I need to split the thing up across a couple of disks with the editor and debugging utilities on one disk, and the compiler on another.
Write and debug using one disk, then swap to the compiler disk when I want to play with speeding things up. That's not essential, but it was fun to see what kind of speed improvements might be realized.
This will all get much easier once I get some 5.25" disks, then I'll have a 2-drive system. More importantly, I'll be able to boot into ProDOS using the internal floppy, then be able to configure the Floppy Emu into a 32MB SmartPort hard drive.
As it stands right now, it doesn't appear that I can use the 32MB SmartPort HD as a boot drive, or the HD .IMG files on the micro-SD that shipped with the Floppy Emu aren't bootable. It's possible I'm misunderstanding something, but I tried booting into an HD image yesterday with no joy. I think I should be able to mount them from ProDOS, once I get the OS into memory, which, again, requires a floppy.
I'll get ABIDE set up, then do some more digging around to see if I can boot a HD image from the SmartPort. That would be the ideal solution. I've got the ROMxc inbound as well, and that will also afford some non-volatile storage, and it at least seems like, at this moment, that I'll be able to boot into ProDOS from ROM. That should give me access to virtual hard disk in the Floppy Emu and then just run everything from that, no floppies required.
At some point, I'd like to get a //c RAM expansion card, but there doesn't seem to be one actively on the market at the moment. So I'll have to keep an eye out. That'd give me a large RAM disk to use as the working directory, though I think the ROMxc should give me some of those advantages, minus the ability to write.
Anyway, it's fun playing around with this stuff. Chris Aldrich collects typewriters and sometimes posts images of typed cards as blog posts. Maybe I'll take a picture of my TV screen and post that!
The beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailBefore the Sunset
Current Wx: Temp: 57.56°F Pressure: 1010hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 6.06mphWords: 151
We were watching After the Sunset, a semi-entertaining bit of fluff from 20 years ago with Pierce Brosnan and Selma Hayek, during a thunderstorm. I glanced out the window at one point and noticed some red in the sky, so we paused the movie and looked out the window.
I should probably get more "serious" about photography, because I grabbed the E-M5 when the OM-3 was sitting right next to it, and I might have enjoyed working with the file a bit more. Failing that, I should have tried some exposure bracketing. -.7ev exposure compensation was a bit much.
We got about an inch and a half of rain, and it came down hard. Haven't checked, but I'm sure it hasn't helped the driveway. I welcomed the rain for the black walnut, which seems to be doing okay.
Anyway, I love the views here.
The beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailDitch
Current Wx: Temp: 59.54°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 5.21mphWords: 622
I'm writing this at the dining table because the Apple IIc Plus is at the desk grinding away on a Mandelbrot set. Once it's finished this run, I'll save it, turn it off and get the MBP set back up.
I've had a little success getting applications transferred to the MegaFlash virtual drives. Where I have had some difficulty is with getting the Floppy Emu to mount hard drive images.
For reasons I don't understand, a 32MB hard drive image must be stored in contiguous blocks on the microSD card. In the past, the way to deal with this was to copy everything from the microSD card to the Desktop on the Mac, delete the contents of the microSD card, and then copy the folder back.
It didn't seem to work for the latest version of Total Replay, a collection of several hundred games for the Apple II, which have been converted to ProDOS and wrapped in a launcher platform. I have an earlier version that came with the MegaFlash, but they're often adding games and squashing bugs, so I wanted the latest one.
I'll try again later, perhaps reformatting the microSD first.
What has been successful is getting 5.25" and 3.5" disk images to mount. I haven't tried booting any, but I haven't needed to either. I just need them to mount so I can copy the files to one of the virtual drives in the MegaFlash.
Some of those applications work, others don't. VIP Professional was a sophisticated 8-bit GUI spreadsheet in its day, but I can't seem to get it to launch. I'll have to experiment with it some more in Virtual II and see if I can't figure out what's missing.
I did manage to get 8/16 Paint, Dazzle Draw, and Mouse Paint all copied to the A2.DeskTop virtual disk. As their names suggest, they're all paint programs that were popular back in the day. Less so, probably, for Mouse Paint by Bill Budge, though it came bundled with the Apple II mouse, so if you bought a mouse you had Mouse Paint.
Mouse Paint was intended for use on all Apple IIs, so it was limited to standard hi-res graphics, 280x192 in monochrome or 140x192 in six colors. The other two take advantage of "double hi-res" graphics, 560x192 in monochrome, and 140x192 in 16 colors (15 since there are two grays).
Prior to the Apple mouse, most graphics programs on the Apple II relied on a tablet of some kind, usually the Koala Pad, a light pen, a joystick, or even the keyboard for input. Some pretty good artwork could be created with those peripherals, but the mouse really made it more rewarding as an experience.
The virtue of those three programs is that they were all ProDOS based and there are unprotected versions of them. Dazzle Draw has very limited file system features for use with a hard disk, which limits its usefulness somewhat. But I'll see what I can figure out.
A program called Fractal is running now. It's very slow by today's standards, but the experience of entering the parameters and watching it run feels much more like you're using a computer. It's plotting in double hi-res graphics, but the pixelated output can still evoke the mystery of the Mandelbrot set. With the Apple II, you're watching as each point is calculated and plotted, line by excruciating line. Using an iOS app, it's more like you're just watching a slideshow.
Much less exciting.
Lots of action today and tomorrow on the house, if the weather cooperates. Not as cool this morning, and less wind, but it's cloudy with a chance of showers later in the day. We'll see.
✍️ Reply by emailStill Crunching
Current Wx: Temp: 61.74°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 85% Wind: 6.4mphWords: 179
Went outside and had a good chat with the electrician. Realized we hadn't planned a penetration for the fiber, though I guess I thought it would just come in with the power. We're cutting the main floor penetrations today, so we could cut one near where the conduit is.
But I do have a penetration for an antenna from the Dave Cave. It's much bigger than I need for a couple of runs of coax, so they're going to stub out the conduit near that penetration. It'll come up to just above grade, and then they'll cap it off. When Empire Access comes out to actually run the fiber they'll have a long pull from the power pole to the house, but no major bends.
Once it gets inside, we can run it through the floor trusses to wherever it makes the most sense. I think I want it on the main, but I'm not certain yet.
Meanwhile, the IIc Plus is still crunching away, about two hours since it started.
This brings me joy. Maybe because I'm old.
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