A bit of nostalgia...

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Charl @ Apr 21 2008, 10:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WOnder if a DVD drive would handle that disk? Might have to trim it a bit 'round the outside first...

Thanx for the technical advice Charl ...... cant seem to get it to work ?
Any ideas .... help please ... someone

[chickenman]

I was an Apple fan. I had an Apple ][e from 1983 until I upgraded to a 286 in 1992. try getting 10 years out of a computer these days! Although I did upgrade from a monochrome to a 'color' monitor in 1987.

Seriously love those old PC's, you could use tham as a heater as well. I first played the Simlogic version of flight simulator in 1984, I'm pretty sure it was version 2.

Even today I still break out taipan and karateka on the IIe emulator.

Jamie

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Apr 20 2008, 01:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

1998 ... that was the era of the first NZ scenery GURU , Sir or Mister Phillip Middlemiss who covered all NZ airports for us plane nutters 10 years ago .. this scenery was available on 2 3.5 " floppies , heck time has flown
From Christchurch , Phillip , I consider is the father of NZscenery and airport design for Microsoft Flightsim in 95-98 plus , hoping, i'm sure your watching results of todays efforts

I still have his scenery on an FS98 box I have, he was a legend for sure. No glass mountains either!

Jamie

[Timmo]

AH yes..as an early 80s baby of a father that was/is quite IT literate and picked up a variety of machines from around the place, I think I had quite an early start to computing considering my age.

We didnt start with a Vic20 but that is the earliest I can remember. I have memories of sitting down with my brother and a 'games book' full of code on our brown carpet and typing away.

Then of course, we got high tech! A 286...then a 386...then a 486 (DX66) and onto Pentiums by the time I started University. Dot matrix printers were the bane of my existence back then as the computer was in the same (large) room as me and my older brother and sister were forever printing asignments late at night which kept me up (It was actually probably no later than 8pm haha)

My brother used to do long flights in Flightsim and I did a bit of flying in FS4 and FS5 (I remember marvelling at the detail of Meigs field and the mountain near Seattle....3 dimensions!) Then there was Artic Fox (?...Tank sim), Test Drive, Ally Cat etc and later on Duke Nukem and Captain Keen....oh and who can forget the Leisure suit Larry series

[kiwibarguy]

Can you remember buying magazines for zx81, amstrad, amiga just so you could spends days typing in game data just to have her say

SYNTAX ERROR on line 52

AAAARGHH!!!!! bad memories.

Another thing that got me about the zx81 was the amount of characters on just one key and yet it was so small. But on the good side it was the first portable computer, and your mates could bring it around to play ping-pong, but they would say 'oh i haven't typed it in yet, do wanna help me, we'll take turns" ARGHHHHHHHH! bad memories, but still loved it, and these nostalgic little ones below.

9+1=bridge!

head punch, chest punch

Astro wars, i wonder how many of these they sold!

What was cool in school in the 80's. It was a game AND a watch!!!

[greaneyr]

QUOTE (kiwibarguy @ Apr 21 2008, 02:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

9+1=bridge!

OMG we had one of these. It had a musical mode where the numbers played musical tones. It was also capable of playing "Oh when the saints go marching in" all on its own.

The most useless feature in the world for a calculator, when you look back on it.

[Charl]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Apr 21 2008, 11:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanx for the technical advice Charl ...... cant seem to get it to work ?
Any ideas .... help please ... someone

He's gonna derail this whole discussion!
Ian...Noooo...right tools for the job, mate, you of all people...

[toprob]

Those 5 1/4" discs were pretty cool at the time -- 170Kb storage, but you could use the other side as well, if you cut a notch out with a craft knife. (You had to flip the disc over to use the other side.) I liked the footnote from Wikipedia --

QUOTE

Many users came to dread the telltale "RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT" knocking noise, since such knocking contributed to eventual disk drive alignment failure.[/quote] Remind me of the Red Ring of Death on my Xbox 360 -- the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I remember my work sending me to Paraparaumu for training, and when we stopped off in Wellington I found a mouse for the C64 -- wonder of wonders! It cost a hundred bucks but I think I forgot to tell my wife that bit. Unfortunately it had a very limited use as it was -- there were no drivers available, except those included in the basic drawing software which came with it. However I do remember writing my own driver for GEOS, a graphical operating system. Now when I think about it, I mighta been a bit more nerdy than I thought at the time....
GEOS was revolutionary, kinda Windows but slower. GeoPublish was my first desktop publishing tool -- you wrote the text in GeoWrite, then imported it into GeoPublish, and to 'flow' the text through the document (where you'd already placed the graphics etc) you left it running over-night. In the morning it would be finished, and if you had any text which didn't fit you made adjustments and re-imported the text the following night.

[Ian Warren]

The Tec- na .. no log i GEE ...... Heck the PC repair tools you use Charl ... wow system lockdown and ready to defrag

Hey Rob .. Many users came to dread the telltale "RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT" knocking noise, since such knocking contributed to eventual disk drive alignment failure. ....

Bugger ...... I thought that was me FS machine guns ..."RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT""RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT"

[ZK-MAT]

OMG the memories! I had the two Casio calculators (from LV Martin via mail order - "If it's not right I;ll put it right"!) and I had Astrowars. It was well cool

[greaneyr]

QUOTE (toprob @ Apr 20 2008, 12:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, that's my main recollection -- this came with a huge manual and charts, and you'd need to do some serious study of the manual first. The manual assumed that you were flying for real -- there was no dumbing down just because it was a sim -- so you ended up straining to get your head around flying for real, and the result was an immersion which is difficult to get nowadays.

I remember there was almost an entire chapter devoted to flying the ILS approach to runway 32 at KCMI. I've always had a soft spot for that airport ever since, and it's entirely because of that book.

I totally agree - the manual did assume you were flying for real. I've always been a fan of a physical 'book' versus a digital or online manual. I do wonder if newcomers to the world of simulation today would find the same level of immersion as we did back then? I also agree with your earlier comments about people who complain about 20fps being slow when we used to live with 1fps.

By the same notion, I wonder if today's emphasis on graphics and what 'looks' real above all else distracts from the theoretical side of things, at least just a little. We didn't really have much to look at - either white lines marking the edges of the runway and taxiways, or a black runway with a white centreline and that was our 'airport', yet we kept coming back to FS2. The real world looked just the same then as it does now so it's not as though we didn't know what we were missing out on. Why then did we keep coming back? It obviously wasnt the graphics or even the 'feel' of flying.

I hadn't thought about the immersion factor until reading your post but I think you might be onto something.

[SeanG]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Apr 20 2008, 01:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

1998 ... that was the era of the first NZ scenery GURU , Sir or Mister Phillip Middlemiss who covered all NZ airports for us plane nutters 10 years ago .. this scenery was available on 2 3.5 " floppies , heck time has flown
From Christchurch , Phillip , I consider is the father of NZscenery and airport design for Microsoft Flightsim in 95-98 plus , hoping, i'm sure your watching results of todays efforts

Umm, Ian... My NZ Scenery pre-dated Phillips by a fair margin ;-) In the same era was Bob Jones, and Alfred Grech.... Speaking of Sir Phillip... what ever happened to him? Last time I spoke to him was...err... a while ago, he was on holiday in Hanmer, and not very well...

I did southern North Island scenery for FS4, then converted to FS5.1, and did the whole country, complete with accurate hand drawn coastlines and 3000 hand drawn mountains NZVA it was called, and I think there is even a website around somewhere <lol> Now THAT is going back aways!

Sean

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (SeanG @ Apr 21 2008, 07:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Umm, Ian... My NZ Scenery pre-dated Phillips by a fair margin ;-) In the same era was Bob Jones, and Alfred Grech.... Speaking of Sir Phillip... what ever happened to him? Last time I spoke to him was...err... a while ago, he was on holiday in Hanmer, and not very well...

I did southern North Island scenery for FS4, then converted to FS5.1, and did the whole country, complete with accurate hand drawn coastlines and 3000 hand drawn mountains NZVA it was called, and I think there is even a website around somewhere <lol> Now THAT is going back aways!

Sean

Hey ya Sean I think Mister P Middelmiss's was my first entire NZ scenery load that appeared to cover the entire NZ , pre that i was just the typical Combat shoot em upper Don't mention the WAR Warian ... With Phil's scenery the thing that caught my eye was lookin down Rwy11 towards the port hills - that was CHCH ! .. I still try and point this out , the shape of the skyline , coppers knob to sumner cliff an slope sheild of Cashmere - this was the first .......... one thing i point out is how much Christchurch has grown , from the observation at NZCH deck in the 80s , one could see the Riccarton Race Course grandstand , its red tin roof .... today due to growth no .... only thing would be the skyline , now superb . I missed yours and Bob Jones and Alfred Grech early Works , now i guess the Foundary with a group of four .
Speaking of Sir Phillip... what ever happened to him? Love the guy to put some input in ,

[Naki]

head punch, chest punch

Hey I have that - it still goes - it must be about 25 years old!

Flight Sim nostilga for me:

F-117 Nighthawk (Microprose)
Chuck Yeager
Falcon 3.0 (many hours put into this in the early 90s while I was at university - bombing missions over Iraq etc)
Whatever FS version that ran on a C64

Going back further to the 70s - ping pong on telly with a game box you plugged into the TV - m parents still have it and that still goes as well!

[Charl]

QUOTE (Naki @ Apr 21 2008, 09:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey I have that - it still goes - it must be about 25 years old!

Ooh then you'd be able to write "hell" upside down (7734), and other witty things to impress the girls...

[Naki]

...or Shell Oil

[kiwibarguy]

or my fav 'boobless' oh the chuckles we had in school. "hey look , hey look ....boobless haw haw haw"

[greaneyr]

LMAO at those two (shell oil and boobless). I was there too!

[NZ255]

then theres the boring old hello, oh and ALL OF THESE!!:

BE GO HE HI IS LO SO BEE BEG BIB BIG BOB BOG BOO EBB EEL EGG EGO ELL GEE GEL GIB GIG GOB GOO HIS HOB HOE HOG ILL LEE LEG LIE LOB LOG LOO OIL SEE SHE SIS SOB SOL ZIG ZOO BEES BEGS BELL BIBS BILE BILL BIOS BLOB BOBS BOGS BOIL BOLE BOLL BOLO BOOB BOOS BOSS EBBS EELS EGGS EGOS ELSE GELS GIBE GIGS GILL GLEE GLIB GLOB GOBS GOES GOGO GOSH HEEL HELL HIGH HILL HISS HOBO HOES HOGS HOLE HOSE HOSS IBIS ILLS ISLE LEES LEGS LESS LIES LOBE LOBO LOGE LOGO LOGS LOLL LOSE LOSS OBOE OGLE OILS OOZE SEES SELL SHES SHOE SHOO SIGH SILL SILO SIZE SLOB SLOE SLOG SOBS SOIL SOLE SOLO ZIGS ZOOS BEIGE BELIE BELLE BELLS BEZEL BIBLE BILGE BILLS BLESS BLISS BLOBS BOILS BOLES BOOBS BOOZE GEESE GILLS GLEES GLOBE GLOSS GOOSE HEELS HEIGH HELLS HILLS HOLES HOSES IGLOO ISLES LIBEL LIEGE LISLE LOBES LOESS LOOSE LOSES OBESE OGLES OOZES SEIZE SELLS SHELL SHIES SHILL SHISH SHOES SIEGE SIGHS SILLS SIZES SLOGS SLOSH SOILS SOLES SOLOS BELIES BELLES BESSEL BIBLES BILGES BOBBIE BOBBLE BOGGLE BOGIES BOOGIE BOOZES BOSSES GIGGLE GLOBES GOBBLE GOGGLE HISSES HOBBLE HOLIES IGLOOS LESSEE LILIES LOOSES LOSSES OBLIGE OBSESS SEIZES SHELLS SHILOH SIEGES SIZZLE SLEIGH BELLIES BESIEGE BOBBLES BOGGLES ELEGIES GIGGLES GLOSSES GOBBLES GOGGLES HELLISH HOBBIES HOBBLES LEGIBLE LOBBIES OBLIGES SLEIGHS EGGSHELL ELIGIBLE

[toprob]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Apr 22 2008, 09:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

then theres the boring old hello, oh and ALL OF THESE!!:

BE GO HE HI IS LO SO BEE BEG BIB BIG BOB BOG BOO EBB EEL EGG EGO ELL GEE GEL GIB GIG GOB GOO HIS HOB HOE HOG ILL LEE LEG LIE LOB LOG LOO OIL SEE SHE SIS SOB SOL ZIG ZOO BEES BEGS BELL BIBS BILE BILL BIOS BLOB BOBS BOGS BOIL BOLE BOLL BOLO BOOB BOOS BOSS EBBS EELS EGGS EGOS ELSE GELS GIBE GIGS GILL GLEE GLIB GLOB GOBS GOES GOGO GOSH HEEL HELL HIGH HILL HISS HOBO HOES HOGS HOLE HOSE HOSS IBIS ILLS ISLE LEES LEGS LESS LIES LOBE LOBO LOGE LOGO LOGS LOLL LOSE LOSS OBOE OGLE OILS OOZE SEES SELL SHES SHOE SHOO SIGH SILL SILO SIZE SLOB SLOE SLOG SOBS SOIL SOLE SOLO ZIGS ZOOS BEIGE BELIE BELLE BELLS BEZEL BIBLE BILGE BILLS BLESS BLISS BLOBS BOILS BOLES BOOBS BOOZE GEESE GILLS GLEES GLOBE GLOSS GOOSE HEELS HEIGH HELLS HILLS HOLES HOSES IGLOO ISLES LIBEL LIEGE LISLE LOBES LOESS LOOSE LOSES OBESE OGLES OOZES SEIZE SELLS SHELL SHIES SHILL SHISH SHOES SIEGE SIGHS SILLS SIZES SLOGS SLOSH SOILS SOLES SOLOS BELIES BELLES BESSEL BIBLES BILGES BOBBIE BOBBLE BOGGLE BOGIES BOOGIE BOOZES BOSSES GIGGLE GLOBES GOBBLE GOGGLE HISSES HOBBLE HOLIES IGLOOS LESSEE LILIES LOOSES LOSSES OBLIGE OBSESS SEIZES SHELLS SHILOH SIEGES SIZZLE SLEIGH BELLIES BESIEGE BOBBLES BOGGLES ELEGIES GIGGLES GLOSSES GOBBLES GOGGLES HELLISH HOBBIES HOBBLES LEGIBLE LOBBIES OBLIGES SLEIGHS EGGSHELL ELIGIBLE

You musta been a bundle of fun on a long trip.
See how times change -- now you could add 'GOOGLE'.

[HardCorePawn]

OMG... the 9+1 space invader game thing... we had a running family feud on that game... some truly epic battles... and before dad finally finished doing up the kitchen (about 10-15 years after we stopped playing it ), the high score table was scrawled on the bare gib-board in pencil... it covered an entire wall!

And the boxing game... take that!

My cousin had Astrowars... that thing was very addictive...

I had Donky Kong Jr... one of the flip-up 2 screen jobs... clocked it several times...

QUOTE

Even today I still break out taipan and karateka on the IIe emulator.[/quote]

OMG... Taipan... Opium dealing FTW! that game soon became a "stick down the '2' key and go away for 1/2 hour while battling 350 pirates" epic mission... did you ever figure out how to get ridiculously rich by paying Big Brother Wu back more than you owed?? I found out by accident one day... Apparently credit interest was at the same rate as debit interest

Karateka was awesome... I still hate that stupid bird!

Last edited by HardCorePawn on Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:18 am, edited 1 time in total.